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
Red Planet Pictures has launched a Writers Room initiative to bring on a new generation of showrunners.



The indie behind shows such as The Death in Paradise has invited four screenwriters to join the programme, where they will be paired with an established showrunner to develop an original idea from seed to production.



In the first programme, the writers will develop a new eight-part series. The contemporary crime thriller, set in London, will be developed from start to finish by the Writers Room, led by Red Planet CEO Tony Jordan.

Under Jordans leadership, the writers will create not only an initial script but also storyline the entire series and develop a show bible. Uniquely, post commission, all four writers will then work across all aspects of production, from casting to edit, gaining show running experience.



The writers selected for the inaugural Red Planet Writers Room are Maya Sondhi (Mount Pleasant, EastEnders, The Kumars), Laura Poliakoff (Holby City, EastEnders, Casualty), Johnny ONeill (The Accident, Community Service, EastEnders) and Nathaniel Price (The Job, Baller, The Break II).



Red Planet Pictures CEO Tony Jordan said: "Were thrilled to announce this new initiative, building on the work weve done with new writers for more than ten years. Developing the Red Planet Writers Room programme, we are building a creative model that will not only give new writers a chance to learn what goes into being a showrunner but will also generate successful new series ideas for years to come."



The drama company also runs The Red Planet Prize. Last years winner, Tom Nash, is currently working with Red Planet to develop his winning script Percentages and previous finalist Robert Thorogood created the BBC One hit series Death in Paradise. Now starring Ardal OHanlon and produced by Red Planet Pictures, the series returns to BBC One for a seventh season next year.

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As Republicans continue efforts to repeal and replace the federal Affordable Care Act, Louisiana advocates say that without additional details they worry about the impact an overhaul could have on potentially thousands of families in the state.

"We all have a responsibility to make our voices heard," Fr. Rick Andrus, of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, told a crowd packed into a mid-city Baton Rouge health clinic on Tuesday. "We all need to do something."

U.S. Senate leaders are expected to unveil the latest proposal for overhauling the federal health care law, commonly called "Obamacare," later this week. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has said he is pushing for a vote next week before lawmakers recess for the July 4 holiday.

Few details have emerged about how the Senate plans to alter the American Health Care Act that passed the House in a party-line vote in May. In the meantime, advocates like Andrus have grown more anxious.

Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops director Rob Tasman stressed to the others gathered at the clinic  among them doctors, parents with disabled children, AARP representatives  that health care should be treated as a basic right.

"This is a life issue," Tasman said. "A life and death issue."

They noted that if the Senate proposal resembles the House plan, it could leave thousands in Louisiana without health care or paying higher costs, according to a new analysis from the Louisiana Budget Project.

"It would be very bad for Louisiana," LBP director Jan Moller said Tuesday.

Louisiana expanded its Medicaid program last year through the Affordable Care Act and now covers more than 431,000 newly-enrolled people  mostly the working poor.

LBP's review of the House-passed AHCA shows some 540,000 Louisiana residents who are projected to sign on to Medicaid by 2020 would lose their coverage. Beyond the expansion population, the report suggests the drastic reduction in federal Medicaid funding would force Louisiana to raise taxes or decrease services for children, people with disabilities and older residents who have traditionally relied on the program.

+4 Joyful House Republicans vote to repeal reviled 'Obamacare' WASHINGTON (AP)  Delivering at last, triumphant House Republicans voted Thursday to repeal 

Another 110,889 Louisiana residents who receive premium tax credit subsidies to purchase private insurance would see that assistance reduced by an average of $3,013 a year.

"The AHCA is just bad policy," said Dr. Roberta Vicari, a pediatrician at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. "It brings a lump to my throat ... One illness for your children and you would feel that need."

President Donald Trump's administration has pushed for a speedy process to repeal and replace the Obamacare federal health care law.

"The American people can't afford to front the bill for this failed law a single day longer," White House press secretary Sean Spicer during his regular briefing Tuesday. "It's time to repeal and replace Obamacare, as Republicans have promised for a while."

Trump backed the House version of the plan, of which every Republican representing Louisiana in the U.S. House voted in favor, but has since indicated he would be supportive of changes in the Senate.

Spicer didn't offer up specifics and couldn't say whether anyone in the administration has seen the latest version of the Senate's proposal, but he touched on what he said Trump hopes to see.

"The President clearly wants a bill that has heart in it," Spicer said. "He believes that healthcare is something that is near and dear to so many families and individuals ... the more that we can do produce a bill as it works its way through the process that achieves the Presidents goals, I think thats something that we can all agree on."

He dismissed concerns that Democrats have raised about being closed out of the process.

"They have chosen to not make themselves a part of this process," Spicer said. "They didn't want to repeal and replace Obamacare."

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who has proposed his on version of a repeal and replace plan, took part in a Bloomberg BNA event on Monday that he would like to see two or three Democrats step forward to work toward a bipartisan agreement on what the legislation should include.

"I would love to have a conversation that's bipartisan," Cassidy said. "We're looking at health care with us as an issue for some time."

He declined to speculate on the specifics of the Senate plan that will be released on Thursday.

"There are rumors afloat, but I can't comment on the rumors except to say I expect it to be soon," said Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge.

Cassidy's own proposal includes an automatic enrollment provision, which he touted at the forum as a way to get buy in from a larger segment of the healthier population. It's unclear whether Senate leaders will adopt that idea in their own version. Cassidy has spoken out against the House version.

U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy, R-Madisonville, cited the shrinking support for the ACA as proof that something needs to be done.

"The American people deserve a health care plan that looks like it was designed on purpose. Its indisputable that Obamacare is failing our people. In many parts of the country, its completely collapsed," he said in a written statement. "Weve got to do better; weve got to offer our families affordable health care that actually works."
Leaders in East Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes said Tuesday that workers were picking up debris in ditches, off sidewalks and clearing drainage canals in one precautionary step as Tropical Storm Cindy looms and reawakens concerns about the flooding that enveloped parts of the region last August.

The National Weather Service for Baton Rouge and New Orleans said Tuesday that they expect 4 to 8 inches of rain as part of the storm, although the potential exists for 10 to 15 inches of rain in localized areas. Baton Rouge could see some flash flooding during the tropical storm, which officials said is more of an initial concern than the kind of backwater flooding experienced in August when area rivers couldn't drain and water was forced back into their tributaries.

Throughout East Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes, people prepared for the storms by filling up sandbags, replenishing nonperishable food and reading the frequent "turn around, don't drown" warnings about driving through flooded streets.

"We're worried about the initially heavy rain, the initial rises on rivers," said Alek Krautmann, a National Weather Service meteorologist. He called backwater flooding a "down the road" issue.

East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, Baker Mayor Darnell Waites and Central Mayor Jr. Shelton encouraged people at a joint news conference Tuesday afternoon to have a game plan and extra supplies available, as well as to check on neighbors and friends. Summer schools, camps and summer feeding programs in the East Baton Rouge School System were scheduled to remain open Wednesday.

"From a Baton Rouge perspective, we have in advance had our [Department of Public Works] workers going out picking up debris to avoid unnecessary clogging that could take place in light of a prospective storm," Broome said. "We're asking you also if you know of specific areas that you think could have potential for being clogged, please call our office and we will immediately respond ... I will tell you that our team is working very diligently to prepare a comprehensive drainage plan for our city and our parish, and we will be working collaboratively with Central and Baker and Zachary as well as we move forward."

Despite weather, East Baton Rouge public schools to stay open for summer activities Wednesday Tropical Storm Cindy wont stop summer activities from continuing as scheduled Wednesday in 

Sandbags are available at Baton Rouge Fire Department stations 7, 9, 13, 14 and 15, along with the St. George Fire Protection District headquarters where people are asked to bring their own shovels. Those in Central can pick up sandbags at Central Fire Station 31, and at the Baker Public Works Department and the Baker Municipal Building.

Broome said the city-parish is in contact with BREC and the American Red Cross about possible shelter locations. Baker has created a temporary shelter at Redemption Life Fellowship Church.

Mark Harrell, Livingston Parish director of homeland security and emergency preparedness, said Livingston Parish had already put out 12,000 sandbags at 21 locations across the parish by midday Tuesday. He said residents in his parish, which was hit hard in August, are leaning forward this time, taking precautions, and the parish is obliging them by leaning forward with them.

"This is the first possible major storm or flood that we could have after August and, with that uncertainty, people are preparing, and I'm really thankful they are," Harrell said.

Ascension Parish school district cancels summer school, camps for Wednesday Due to Tropical Storm Cindy, the Ascension Parish school district has cancelled all activiti

Officials in Ascension, Assumption and St. James parishes also said their parishes had established sandbag operations and were, like Harrell, monitoring regular updates on the rainfall forecasts. Ascension closed summer school classes and camps for Wednesday.

In St. James, officials also called on residents to help clear a path for coming rain and to keep debris out of ditches. In a statement, they asked people to clean fallen leaves, tree branches and debris from their yards, catch basis and storm drains.

But parish officials also suggested that based on current predictions, Tropical Storm Cindy poses primarily a flash flood problem and not a backwater event that was a major source of flooding in the Amite River Basin in August.

Tracking tropical system as it nears Louisiana: 'Even unnamed storms can be devastating' An area of low pressure near the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula has an 80 percent chance of becoming a tropical depression or tropical storm in the next 48 hours and a 90 percent chance over the next five days, the National Hurricane Center said on Monday morning.

Rick Webre, director of the Ascension Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said the tropical storm appears to be more of a concern for low-lying areas that traditionally have problems during heavy downpours.

"I dont believe the projections are showing severe backwater flooding like we did get in August," he said. "It's the localized flash flooding we normally get in a heavy rain."

After testing and some maintenance Monday of Ascension's pumping systems, parish officials have turned on the Marvin J. Braud Pumping Station in the McElroy Swamp, according to Ascension government spokesman Martin McConnell.

The six-pump station, which drains a large chunk of East Ascension, including parts of Gonzales, Prairieville, Sorrento and St. Amant, is draining down water levels in area waterways as a proactive measure to better handle the coming rainfall.

East Ascension drainage officials have long noted that there is a delay between when rain falls in more northern parts of the parish and when runoff can make it through miles of bayous, canals and ditches to reach the pump station in the southeastern corner of the parish.

Video: 5 things to know about Tropical Storm Cindy A tropical storm warning has been issued for all of the Louisiana coast, with Tropical Storm

Todd Baumann, data chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's Louisiana Water Science Center, said an expected east wind will also push water from the Gulf of Mexico and into Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, piling up water at the mouth of the Amite River and slowing drainage. The river basin drains much of the greater Baton Rouge area.

"The thing is it's just going to depend on how the rain falls," he said. "That's always the X Factor. If you get the right cell that pops up in the right part of the basin, then we could see some flooding, and if that cell is somewhere else, then we're going to be OK."

In Assumption Parish, which is west of the Amite River Basin, there are further complications. The Lake Verret area still has backwater from the Atchafalaya River escaping after a reaching a peak nearly two weeks ago. Water levels have dropped nearly a foot in the Atchafalaya since then.

Parish officials said the 4 to 6 inches predicted for Assumption should only pose a concern for low-lying areas or those with regular flash-flooding problems, including Daggs Street in Paincourtville, the Lake Verret area, Belle Rose Lane and the Marais area between Napoleonville and Labadieville.

Assumption's homeland security director John Boudreaux said 4 to 6 inches of rain should be fine, but more than that could trigger flooding concerns.
"I mean with Channel 10 going down and the absolute proliferation of reality shows - which I think are pretty dull, it's the bottom of the barrel really - the drama is floundering a bit.

"The industry is not in a great state," Wood said.

Ex-'Blue Heelers' stars John Wood and Julie Nihill will perform at The Q in 'Bakersfield Mist'. Credit:Jodie Hutchinson Photography

The Gold Logie winner and former star of Rafferty's Rules and Blue Heelers believes our national television broadcasters should go back to doing what they do best - homegrown drama.

Long-time Australian television actor John Wood can't understand Australia's current obsession with The Kardashians and The Real Housewives.

"I think the networks have dropped the ball ... drama's always been their bread and butter ever since television started in Australia, going right back to Homicide.

"It seems silly to tuck away what you've proven yourself to be best at - which is making relatively cheap homegrown drama."

The much-loved Australian television actor, now 70, arrives in Queanbeyan on Thursday for a three-night run of Bakersfield Mist - a theatre dramady (drama/comedy) inspired by true events in the US.

Wood stars as Lionel Percy, an art appraiser summonsed form New York to California to determine the authenticity of an alleged Jackson Pollock painting found in an op shop by unemployed bartender Maude (played by fellow Blue Heeler Julie Nihill). Wood said he's loving being on stage with his former Channel Seven colleague - both played the only two characters to survive the full 12-year run of Blue Heelers.

"It's fabulous - it's great to be working with her again and it's great to be doing a show that's so personally challenging with an old friend," Wood said.
The battle over federal education funding has shaken up Australian politics. Uncertainty remains about both the funding model and the amount of money offered by the Turnbull government under Gonski 2.0. State by state and sector by sector complications make outcomes difficult to predict and hard to explain clearly to the community, especially when the implications of the new scheme cover a 10-year time frame.

All this is happening when school education everywhere is under enormous stress to meet the demands of growing needs and population increases.

Many interests, including political parties, pressure groups, churches and unions, are involved and internal party rebellions are matched by external pressures. It is testing the unity of political parties at federal and state level. Traditional relationships are also fracturing just as new alignments are being forged. The situation in the Federal Parliament remains so uncertain that both houses and almost all MPs remain relevant as the critical vote approaches.

The federal government is struggling to keep its own MPs, especially some Catholic ones, in order, while at the same time it is trying to stitch up a Senate majority for its proposals, either with the Greens or the crossbench. Labor has turned its back on the government's plans despite criticism from friendly circles that it should support something based on its own original ideas. The Greens' leaders are negotiating compromises with the government while also trying to quell dissension within their own ranks. The crossbench is negotiating, too, but for once it is largely out of the limelight.
An urgent, comprehensive audit of the fire safety of the hundreds of apartment blocks that have proliferated across Melbourne's skyline  and indeed of all such buildings in the nation  is imperative. The catastrophe caused by the highly flammable cladding on London's Grenfell Tower could happen here, because the same materials have been placed on an unknown number of buildings. The 24 storey Grenfell Tower went up in flames on June 12. Credit:AP The potential consequences of failing to undertake this vital investigation are devastating, as evidenced by the images of the Grenfell Tower fire, an event so calamitous that the death toll is continuing to rise towards 100, but only five of the bodies have been identified. The London inferno  in which combustible cladding is suspected to be responsible for the speed and ferocity of the blaze  is but the latest, if most dramatic, wake-up call to Australian authorities and developers.

As our reporter Aisha Dow has revealed, the Australian Building Codes Board was warned by a fire safety consultant seven years ago that Australian buildings are cloaked in "millions of square metres" of combustible cladding. Four years after that alert, which should have triggered urgent action but was derailed by bureaucratic wrangling, combustible cladding fuelled a fire  in which, mercifully, no one died  at the Lacrosse tower in Docklands. Far too little has been done. An ongoing audit by the Victorian Building Authority has found close to 100 Melbourne buildings with suspected non-compliant cladding. The City of Melbourne building surveyor reckons many such buildings are safe, but firefighting authorities are worried about approximately 800 buildings with suspect cladding that are not required to have sprinklers because they are less than 25 metres high. We have scant confidence in Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne's brazen assurance that a fire of a similar size to the one at Grenfell Tower is not possible in Melbourne or elsewhere in Australia because we have "the best building codes of any first-world country". The best codes in the world are useless unless complied with. Again, given the potential consequences, we urge the authorities to be extremely cautious. We are not alleging the risk reflects negligence by the developers that installed the cladding. We are saying that, like asbestos, cladding has been found to be hazardous. Once the essential audit is expedited, the community will debate how the cost of removing the risk should be apportioned between owners, developers and, perhaps, taxpayers.
Students with disabilities should be removed from mainstream classrooms because they are putting a strain on teachers and schools, One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson has told parliament.

"These kids have a right to an education by all means," Senator Hanson said.

"But if there is a number of them, these children should go into a special classroom and be... given that special attention because most of the time the teachers spend so much time on them.
The government was on the verge of a hard-fought victory on Wednesday night after agreeing to pump $5 billion more into schools, fast-track its spending plan and give Catholic schools a 12-month reprieve before removing their prized system-based funding arrangements.

An extra $24 billion is set to flow into the nation's schools over the next decade under a landmark deal struck between the Turnbull government and the Senate crossbench on the "Gonski 2.0" school funding changes.

Despite ferocious opposition from Labor, the Catholic school sector and public sector teacher unions, 10 members of the 12-person Senate crossbench announced their intention to support the government's new funding model on Wednesday.

The government has sealed a deal on school funding thanks in part to the support of the Nick Xenophon Team. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The crossbench deal cut out the Greens, who achieved all their key negotiating demands but were too paralysed by internal division to seal a deal with the government.

The Senate was set to sit until late on Wednesday night to debate school funding, and a final vote may not be taken until Thursday.

The government was confident of success but alive to the possibility it could be cruelled by a last-minute defection from the crossbench or one of its own senators.
In the end, it was a vacuum cleaner that led Senator Lucy Gichuhi to one of the defining epiphanies of her life.

Having arrived in Australia from Kenya with her husband William and young daughters Peris, Agnes and Joy on a warm summer day in 1999, Senator Gichuhi had already learnt much about life  the power of education, the importance of family and faith, the need to protect freedom of thought, to cherish the ability to choose your own destiny.

Senator Lucy Gichuhi delivers her first speech in the Senate. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But it wasn't until she stood in her new family home in Kilburn, frightened and alarmed by the "tortoise lookalike gadget" attached to the wall, so foreign-looking she banned her children from approaching it, she truly learnt to open her eyes.
Centrelink's 'robo-debt' effort should stop immediately, a Parliamentary committee says, after finding the program had a "profoundly negative impact on the lives of thousands of Australians."

The committee says the 'online compliance system' lacked procedural fairness at every stage and had put thousands of innocent Australians through the trauma of having to prove they do not owe the money the welfare agency demanded.

WA Greens Senator Rachel Siewert.

In a report published on Wednesday evening, the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs, which has spent months investigating the controversy, recommended the program be stopped and overhauled "before more harm is done".

But two Coalition senators on the committee published their own report on Wednesday, dissenting from the view of the majority Labor-Greens members and rejecting their central conclusion that robo-debt lacked procedural fairness.
Rauner said the proposal "move us to middle ground." It is balanced, funds schools, higher education and human services, he said. About that promised property tax freeze? Rauner says the compromise "provides a real path" to property tax reduction. He doesn't say it in the speech, but Illinois income taxpayers will see the flat rate hiked to 4.95% - something that won't set well with taxpayers.

But here's the part the Democrats won't like about "compromise": The proposal suggests spending reductions, limits on expenses, debt reduction and term limits on legislative leaders and statewide office holders.

Is that a state budget "we all" can support like Rauner said?

Text:

Good evening,

Thank you for joining us here in the historic Old State Capitol in Springfield.

It was here in Representative Hall that Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech that would change the course of history, where he proclaimed: a House divided against itself cannot stand.

Our history reminds us of our states great capacity for change  and for our limitless potential when those elected by the people put the peoples interests ahead of all else.

Right now, our state is in real crisis  and the actions we take in the days ahead will determine how history remembers us. We can all do better. We MUST all do better for the citizens of Illinois.

Weve asked the General Assembly to come together in a special session for the next 10 days  not as Democrats and Republicans  but as leaders who share bipartisan concern for our states future.

We must agree on a balanced budget plan, and get it to my desk before the end of the states fiscal year  one week from Friday.

Last week, we reviewed a compromise budget plan that I can sign  one that we can all support. It moves us to middle ground on key issues. It is truly balanced. It funds schools, higher education, and human services. It provides a real path to property tax reduction.

The plan also stands tall for fundamentals. Spending reductions. Limits on expenses. Debt reduction. And term limits on legislative leaders and statewide officeholders, including the Governor.

If we can agree to pass it, this plan will send a message across our state and around the nation that we are serious about making Illinois a more attractive destination for investment, new businesses, and new jobs.

If we can agree to pass it, we will stop this unnecessary crisis.

Failure to act is not an option. Failure to act may cause permanent damage to our state that will take years to overcome.

Over the next 10 days, we have an opportunity to change the State of Illinois for the better. To give our people a future they can believe in. To give job creators a reason to come, and families a reason to stay.

We CAN reach an agreement. After all, we share a common mission. We seek to achieve a greater good, to create a better life for our children and grandchildren here in Illinois.

The proposals before us represent a common-sense compromise to put us on a better path.

So, on the eve of what may become one of the most important legislative sessions in Illinois history, were asking the General Assembly to do what those who came before us did that changed the course of history: have the courage to dare to do what is right ... to act for the people.

And together, we will create a brighter future for every family across Illinois.

Thank you. God bless you. God bless our beloved State of Illinois. And God bless the United States of America.
Travis Kalanick has stepped down as chief executive of Uber, the ride-hailing service that he helped found in 2009 and that he built into a transportation colossus, after a shareholder revolt made it untenable for him to stay on at the company.

Kalanick's exit came under pressure after hours of drama involving Uber's investors, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, who asked to remain anonymous because the details were confidential.

Earlier Tuesday, five of Uber's major investors demanded that the chief executive resign immediately. The investors included one of Uber's biggest shareholders, the venture capital firm Benchmark, which has one of its partners, Bill Gurley, on Uber's board.

The investors made their demand for Kalanick to step down in a letter delivered to the chief executive while he was in Chicago, said the people with knowledge of the situation.
A sheriff's officer has been attacked with an axe while executing a search warrant in Cranbourne, south-east of Melbourne.

Sheriff's officers take action against people who do not comply with debt-related court orders.

A 37-year-old man remains in a critical condition after the stabbing. Credit:Georgia Matts

Victoria Police spokeswoman Natalie Savino said a man in his 60s had been taken to the hospital following an incident in Cranbourne on Wednesday.

"It is believed a sheriff's officer attended a property on Wallace Drive about 3.45pm to serve a civil warrant and was confronted by a man with an axe," Ms Savino said.
The man in his 60s had visited Phuket for 10 days in early May and began to feel lethargic on day eight.

A Victorian man visiting Thailand has died from the rare and potentially fatal virus Japanese encephalitis. Credit:Frank Greenaway

It it is believed to be only the 10th case of the disease recorded in Australia and the second case reported in Victoria.

A Victorian man visiting Thailand has died from the rare virus Japanese encephalitis.

Symptoms, which include headaches, a fever, convulsions and focal neurological signs, appear between five and 10 days after being infection.

After returning home he struggled to stay awake and was admitted to hospital a few days later in a confused state.

He was eventually admitted to the intensive care unit, where he died.

It's believed the man was from Shepparton in the state's north.

Japanese encephalitis can cause a brain infections and is fatal in about 20 to 30 per cent of cases.
Mr Chaarani, brothers Hamza and Ibrahim Abbas and Mohamed Ahmed, all aged in their 20s, are charged with planning or preparing a terrorist attack.

Investigators discovered a patch of scorched ground outside Melbourne, where they allege the improvised explosive devices were tested. One of the men, Abdullah Chaarani, was seen at the site, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Wednesday.

Police suspect four men charged with planning a Christmas Day terror attack on Melbourne landmarks tested bombs at a remote site, a court has heard.

Another alleged target was St Paul's Cathedral. Credit:Eddie Jim

The men were arrested in December last year. Investigators alleged at the time that the quartet planned to carry out the terror attacks on Christmas Day.

The court heard on Wednesday that after their arrests, the Abbas brothers were seen by a prison guard scribbling in notebooks in their cell, which had radicalised graffiti on a wall.

Defence counsel Sarah Condon, for Hamza Abbas, said the graffiti was "connected to radicalised ideology".

The guard did not see who scrawled on the wall, prosecutor Pat Doyle said, but the graffiti and the brothers' writings in the notebooks were photographed.
What do you do when you don't like the messages someone is cooking up?

If you're John McKenzie, aka IG McSporren, you try to put a major al dente in their operations.

The 50-year-old Pastafarian from Prahran has taken it upon himself to "happify" the mysterious Jesus bikes that keep popping up across Melbourne's CBD.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster follower has spent the past week or so in his colander headgear pasting over the Christian sermons welded on to the bikes with his own satirical messages.
Australia's bollard industry is experiencing rapid growth as councils and businesses move quickly to deal with the threat of vehicle rampages and truck bombs on city streets.

The state government has installed temporary concrete bollards at several major public spaces in the city, including Federation Square and Bourke Street Mall, following a spate of terrorism attacks at home and abroad, several involving vehicles driven into pedestrians.

This image shows the moment a speeding truck hits a bollard. Credit:AG Security

Councils and businesses are quickly following suit, looking to turn busy footpaths into safe spaces and ring-fence alfresco areas outside shopping centres.

AG Security Group says that in the past two months it has quoted on 1000 high-strength bollards; before the recent attacks in London, Paris and Bourke Street, it sometimes struggled to sell a single unit a month.
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.
Local councils across the country are split over a fresh push to find a new date to mark Australia Day.

In a narrow vote at the annual National General Assembly of the Australian Local Government Association, delegates approved a motion for councils to consider ways to lobby the federal government to switch the date from January 26.

Fremantle has changed the date of its Australia Day celebration. Credit:Getty Images

Only 126 delegates from the 560 councils represented at the meeting in Canberra voted on the motion, which was passed by the slimmest of margins with 64 in favour and 62 against.

Hobart City Lord Mayor Sue Hickey, who led the push for change, says Australia Day shouldn't be on a date that many indigenous people regard as "Invasion Day" because it marks the arrival of the first fleet from England in 1788.
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.
Jakarta: Bali police have confirmed that four fugitives including Australian Shaun Davidson were not stuck in a water tunnel, after fears they may have drowned while trying to escape.

Davidson and three other foreign prisoners pulled off a brazen escape from Kerobokan jail on Monday.

The criminal investigative chief for Badung police, Mikael Hutabarat, said police had confirmed no bodies were stuck in the tunnel after digging halfway through.

He said the police could not confirm whether the four prisoners were still in Bali or had left the island. "We are still searching for them," he said.
In all those years, many other formerly communist governments have changed people and philosophies. The Soviet Union broke up, and many of its former vassal states have embraced free markets and free people. Several others outside the Former Soviet Union have as well but Cuba never did. Cuba is still run by Raul Castro, the mass murdering enforcer of the 26th of July Movement of the 1950s.

The Castros spent their sixty years not only oppressing their people  robbing, raping, beating, imprisoning, torturing, and killing, as all communist governments do  but they also spent those years, particularly the years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, spreading violent revolution across the third world. They spent thirty years as the might, partnered with the Kremlins money, leading revolutions in Africa, Central and South America, and Asia.

In 1959, following six years of organized Marxist-Leninist rebellion, mostly run by Fidel and Raul Castro and their partner Che Guevera, the Battista government of Cuba was overthrown and Fidel Castro claimed dictatorial powers, which he eventually turned over to his brother Raul, in 2008.

The man who rules Cuba doesnt figuratively have blood on his hands; in this case, the term is applied literally.

The Obama Administration

The USAs approach to the presence of a violent communist satellite 90 miles from our shores has changed back and forth over the years. We had nearly complete sanctions  no business commerce of any kind, almost no private personal travel at all  for most of those 60 years, but the Obama administration, being from the socialist wing of the Democratic Party, worked to undermine such sanctions, to the extent that they could, politically.

The public understands the original reason for our sanctions on Cuba; they remember the violence, the Stalinist stories of secret police and torture chambers, perhaps even the original murders and robberies, the original nationalization of American-owned property during the revolution. But the public has been fed a line  by celebrities, by Democrat politicians, and by the mass media  that those days are past, that the Cold War is over, so Cold War policies should go by the wayside.

What this line neglects to acknowledge is that only part of the Cold War is over, not the whole thing. The Soviet Union fell, but Cubas revolutionary communist government did not. So its not the same thing at all but the political Right in the USA has not been as effective as has our political Left in making its case to the American people.

In many ways, Cuba is today the last hope for Marxism on earth. The Soviet experiment collapsed the Chinese have found peace with a joint venture based socialism-capitalism fusion but Cuba lives on, still every bit as Stalinist as it was in the 1960s.

So the Obama administration did what it could to soften our opposition to Cuba, painting it as a human rights issue: People are starving, why not allow generous Americans to send money to their relatives? People are poor, why not let generous Americans help them out? People want to work in resort hotels and casinos, why stop American tourists from giving them business?

In framing it this way, the Obama administration was able to sidestep the more critical human rights issues involved: The REASON that people are poor, people are hungry, people are starving, people are unemployed, is that they live in a communist command economy, with massive numbers of political prisoners, tortured and killed in government prisons, even today. The reason is that their government is concerned with maintaining its absolute power over an enslaved people, rather than being concerned with the peoples betterment.

But we dont see this. The Obama administration obstructed our once-clear vision of the problems of Cuba, and rewrote policies. They reopened diplomatic relations, allowed cruise ships to call their ports, allowed more American tourists to travel their directly, allowed Americans to just send money.

It sounds so generous, its hard to oppose. If we believe in freedom, then shouldnt we believe in allowing generous donors to make donations, any way they want? It all sounds so reasonable, so big-hearted, and so modern.

The Problem of Fungibility

The problem is, like so many political issues, this approach doesnt tell the whole story.

The Cuban military owns the hotels, or tolerates semi-private ownership with massive taxation. So yes, a US hotel chain can open a hotel in Cuba, but their profits will be confiscated by the government.

One would assume that no sane business would want to operate on such terms, but they would, because of the nature of the modern global economy. A company that lacks a Cuban presence may lose business to a competitor that has a Cuban presence, so they will establish a hotel there, or a port call there, even though it will operate at a loss, just to gain market share.

The definition of fungibility is that money that goes into a fund can be thought of as financing everything else that the fund finances, even if you had different intentions, even if you disapprove of the use.

So, no matter what you target money for, in a command economy, that money will eventually go into a pool and be spent on whatever the government wants to spend money on. This is unavoidable.

Those taxes paid by the hotels, those port fees paid by the cruise ships, those convention hall event fees paid by associations visiting on business, those tourism dollars spent by individuals, those checks sent by American Cubans to their cousins back home in Cuba what happens to all that money once it gets there?

The Cuban government takes it.

Thats really all there is to it. The Cuban government takes the money, in taxes and fees and other confiscations employees are paid, and taxed businesses earn fees for their dinners and hotel rooms and tours, and are taxed every tax  up to 90% for businesses  is poured into the governments treasury.

And what does the Cuban government spend its tax dollars on?

Tyranny.

Yes, we must use that word, because it is the right word, however unpleasant.

The Castro government has not changed: they still have soldiers listening at street corners for dissent. They still use the schools to teach global communism and Marxist economics. People still disappear, to be tortured in prisons or executed for crimes against the state, just for advocating liberty. Just like in the 1960s.

In Cuba, nothing has changed except the fact that their old gravy train  the Soviet Union  dried up in the early 1990s.

Ever since the fall of the USSR, Cuban communists have been trying to find a way to get Americans to replace Russia as their enabler. This would have been unthinkable forty years ago, but today, anything is possible, in a world gone mad, a world that has forgotten the laws of economics, and of reason and logic.

It should be self-evident that any money spent in or sent to Cuba just props up the Castro regime. This shouldnt even need to be explained but tragically, it does.

Every cent we spend there  from port calls by pleasure boats and cruise ships, to trade shows at Havanas resorts, to cash that we wire to our cousins  every cent just goes to prop up the bloodthirsty regime a little longer.

Every tourist dollar and investment dollar enables Castro (and his hand-picked successors, already waiting in the wings) to keep running their prisons, to keep snatching people in the dark of night, to keep whipping and beating the innocent, to keep murdering the vocal.

The Cuban government is the diametric opposite to everything that we Americans believe government ought to be. It is unconscionable that we would even consider doing anything to prop it up further, when it should so clearly be close to its deathbed at last.

The Trump administration is now working to reverse at least some, possibly many, of the afore-mentioned Obama-era regulatory changes regarding Cuba. Its high time, and the Trump administration is right to do so.

This is a challenge, from a PR perspective, for the reasons mentioned above. Many dont remember why we put these sanctions on Cuba in the first place. Many dont realize that the situations between Cuba and Russia are no longer analogous, since the Kremlin fell but the Castros did not.

And many do not realize that money is fungible, so our well-intentioned efforts cannot alleviate human rights abuses, they can only prop them up.

What we need to understand  specifically, what the Trump administration needs to better communicate  is that WE are the ones who have compassion for those suffering in Cuba, not the Left. We are the ones who understand not just THAT they suffer, but WHY they suffer.

And we are the ones who understand that we cannot send a suffering Cuban any salve for their wounds without providing the energy for their tormentors to keep inflicting those very wounds in the first place.

Sending money to Cuba doesnt reduce human rights abuses; it IS a human rights abuse.

Compliments to the Trump administration for understanding this, and for having the courage to try to do the right thing.

The time to prop up a tyrannical government is never. When Cubas communist government falls and the people rise in freedom, thats the time to restore trade with Cuba.

But not one day sooner.

Copyright 2017 John F Di Leo

John F. Di Leo is a Chicagoland-based trade compliance trainer, actor, and writer. His columns are found regularly in Illinois Review.

Permission is hereby granted to forward freely, provided it is uncut and the IR URL and byline are included.
London: Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth, will spend a second night in hospital for treatment for an infection but remains in "good spirits", Buckingham Palace says.

The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to the King Edward VII Hospital in London on Tuesday as a precautionary measure for treatment arising from a pre-existing condition.

Asked how the 96-year-old Duke was faring, Philip's son and heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles told reporters: "He's getting better."

A palace spokesman said the Duke would remain in the private hospital in central London on Wednesday night.
COSTA MESA, Calif., June 21, 2017 -- New-vehicle quality is at its highest level ever, improving a significant 8% from last year, according to the J.D. Power 2017 U.S. Initial Quality Study,SM (IQS) released today.

Initial quality in this iconic study is measured by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100) during the first 90 days of ownership, with a lower score reflecting higher quality. In this year's study, quality improves across seven of the eight categories measured, with 27 of the 33 brands in the study improving their quality compared with 2016.

"Automotive manufacturers are responding to consumer feedback and producing vehicles of the highest quality," said Dave Sargent, vice president, global automotive at J.D. Power. "The industry has improved significantly in each of the past three years. Today's vehicles have more things that could go wrong but fewer things that actually do go wrong."

Following are some of the study's key findings:

Technology improving but still problematic: Audio/communication/entertainment/navigation (ACEN) remains the area where new-vehicle owners experience the most problems. However, this category shows the most improvement since 2016 with a score of 22.8 PP100, or 2.7 PP100 better than last year.

Early warning bells for autonomous technology: The only category to worsen this year is features, controls and displays. The largest increases in problems are for cruise control (primarily adaptive cruise); lane departure warning; collision avoidance/alert systems; and blind spot warning. These features comprise some of the building blocks of autonomous vehicles, and an increasing number of consumer-reported problems sounds warning bells for automakers and suppliers. Consumers will need to be convinced that these systems are foolproof before they will give up driving control to autonomous vehicles.

Domestic brands continue to show improvement: The "Detroit Three" outperform import brands for the second year in a row but for only the third time since the study was first published in 1987. In 2017, domestic brands receive a score of 93 PP100 compared with 99 PP100 for import brands. Last year, domestic brands also had fewer problems (103 PP100) compared with import brands (106 PP100).

"The Initial Quality Study continues to demonstrate the critical importance of automakers responding to consumer feedback regarding vehicle quality," Sargent said. "Any automaker that stands still will quickly start to fall behind. For consumers, the great news is that significant improvements are occurring in all model segments, meaning that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get a quality vehicle."

Highest-Ranked Brands

Kia ranks highest in overall initial quality for a second consecutive year with a score of 72 PP100.

Genesis (77 PP100) ranks second overall followed by Porsche (78 PP100). Ford and Ram (86 PP100) tie for fourth.

MINI is the most improved brand, with owners reporting 33 PP100 fewer problems than in 2016. Other brands with strong improvement include Ram (28 PP100 improvement), Acura (19), Volvo (18) and Ford (16).

Segment-Leading Models

The parent company receiving the most model-level awards for its various brands is Hyundai Motor Co. (five model-level awards), followed by General Motors and BMW, each with four.

Hyundai Motor Co. models that rank highest in their respective segments are the Kia Cadenza ; Kia Forte ; Kia Niro ; Kia Sorento ; and Kia Soul .

General Motors models that rank highest in their segments are the Chevrolet Silverado ; Chevrolet Silverado HD ; Chevrolet Sonic ; and GMC Terrain .

BMW models that rank highest in their segments are the BMW 2 Series; BMW 4 Series; BMW X6; and MINI Cooper.

Other models that rank highest in their respective segments are the Chrysler Pacifica; Ford Expedition; Ford Mustang; Infiniti QX80; Lexus GS; Mercedes-Benz GLA; Nissan Frontier; Porsche 911; Porsche Macan; and Toyota Camry.

Plant Quality Awards

Toyota Motor Corp.'s Kyushu 2 plant (Japan), which produces the Lexus ES and Lexus RX, receives the Platinum Plant Quality Award for producing models with the fewest defects or malfunctions. Plant quality awards are based solely on defects and malfunctions and exclude design-related problems. General Motors' Fort Wayne (Ind.) plant, which produces the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, receives the Gold Plant Quality Award for the Americas region, while Porsche's Leipzig plant, which produces the Porsche Cayenne and Macan, receives the Gold Plant Quality Award for the Europe/Africa region.

Historical Notes

In 1987, when the IQS was first published, Mercedes-Benz ranked highest as a nameplate while the Toyota Cressida was the highest-ranked model.

Domestic brands have scored better than imports in only three years (2010, 2016 and 2017).

Mass market brands have scored better than premium brands in only three years (2006, 2016 and 2017).

There have been four generations of the study (IQS1: 1987-1997; IQS2: 1998-2005; IQS3: 2006-2012; IQS4: 2013-present). The industry has shown significant improvement in each iteration, with the best IQS scores occurring in the most recent year for each generation.

The U.S. Initial Quality Study is based on responses from nearly 80,000 purchasers and lessees of new 2017 model-year vehicles who were surveyed after 90 days of ownership. The study is based on a 233-question battery organized into eight problem categories designed to provide manufacturers with information to facilitate the identification of problems and drive product improvement. The study was fielded from February through May 2017.

Find detailed information on vehicle quality, as well as model photos and specs, at jdpower.com/quality

For more information about the 2017 U.S. Initial Quality Study, visit http://www.jdpower.com/resource/us-initial-quality-study-iqs

See the online press release at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2017085.

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., and has offices serving North/South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. J.D. Power is a portfolio company of XIO Group, a global alternative investments firm headquartered in London, and is led by its four founders: Athene Li, Joseph Pacini, Murphy Qiao and Carsten Geyer.
The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum will host the College Station Noon Lions Club's "I Love America" Fourth of July Celebration at the George Bush Presidential Library Center at Texas A&M University.

The College Station Noon Lions Club has organized the event for more than 50 years, growing from humble beginnings to now one of the largest July Fourth Celebrations in the Brazos Valley.

The museum will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. with free admission for everyone all day. Concessions begin at 5:30 p.m. and live music at 6 p.m., including performances by Kane Alvarado and Xchange with special guest Courtnie Ramirez, who was featured on the singing competition The Voice. The Kids Zone, complete with games and bounce houses for children, will be open from 6 - 8:30 p.m. The evening will culminate with a performance by the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra at 8:45 p.m. and a fireworks show at 9:30 p.m.

Free parking is available at Fan Field, the gravel parking lot on Research Parkway on the Texas A&M campus. There will be no shuttles from West Campus Garage or Reed Arena. Barbara Bush Drive will close at 4 p.m.; all event attendees must enter through Discovery Drive or John Kimbrough Parkway. Handicapped parking is available in Lot 41 in front of the museum entrance. Come early and bring lawn chairs, picnic baskets and blankets. No pets or glass containers.
Garyth Juarez has always dreamed of building his own house.

Equipped with minimal woodworking skills learned from his older brother during his childhood, the Brenham resident knew he needed a better foundation in construction to accomplish his goal. Juarez  along with six other students  registered for the first-ever Carpentry Boot Camp offered by Blinn College, the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service to learn the skills necessary to work on a residential construction site.

I always have had an interest in how things work, Juarez said. I signed up for the boot camp with the intention of broadening my basic knowledge of woodworking and construction machinery. This camp gave me the introductory skills I need to assist a construction crew in building a house.

The two-week course, held at the AgriLife Extension facilities at The Texas A&M University Systems RELLIS Campus in Bryan, is designed for students with no prior experience in construction. Juarez and his classmates learned the roles of all the members of a framing crew and learned to use tools commonly utilized on residential construction sites.

Even if you have never swung a hammer, you can enroll in the Carpentry Boot Camp and within two weeks you will have the skills necessary to succeed as the member of a framing crew, said Jay Anderson, Blinn College Dean of Technical and Community Programs.

Graduates were recognized Friday for successfully completing the course with a Certificate of Completion and an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) certificate.

The accomplishments of the Carpentry Boot Camps first graduating class is a great indicator that this partnership between Blinn, TEEX, and the Agrilife Extension is thriving, said Ron Peddy, Division Director of TEEXs Infrastructure Training and Safety Institute. This program was strategically designed to address the skills identified as needed in the local community. We are excited for this opportunity, and we look forward to future collaborations with Blinn College.

The course covers job-site safety, the safe operation and use of basic residential construction tools, the basic elements of residential framing, reading residential architectural drawings, and basic building code requirements. At the conclusion of the course, students are able to:

discuss basic safety issues related to residential and low-rise multi-family residential construction;

demonstrate the safe and proper use of typical hand and power tools;

demonstrate the ability to construct the typical elements of residential construction, including wall systems, door and window openings, floor and ceiling systems, and gabled roof systems;

select appropriate sizes of floor and ceiling joint from building code tables;

and demonstrate the ability to work as part of a framing crew.

Residential construction is unique, Instructor Alejandro Torres said. A house should be built with precision and attentiveness to ensure its quality, and that is what we are teaching our students at Carpentry Boot Camp. Quality is a very high priority.

Course graduates are qualified to become members of a framing crew on local job sites without additional training from their employer. Juarez is aspiring to work in the construction industry and will begin constructing his own house in the near future.

There are many options for me now that I have finished this course, he said. I can go directly into the workforce or I can continue my education, but one thing is for sure: I can now achieve my dream of building my very own home.

In addition to the Carpentry Boot Camp, Blinn offers plumbing and carpentry programs. These courses are designed following the nationally recognized National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) curriculum. Students who complete these courses earn the OSHA 10-Hour Construction Certificate, the NCCER Core Construction Certificate, the NCCER Level I Certificate for plumbing or carpentry, and the Blinn College Certificate of Completion. Scholarship funds are available for all programs.

For more information regarding the Carpentry Boot Camp and carpentry and plumbing programs, visit the Bryan Post Office Campus at 301 Post Office Street in Bryan or call 979-209-7205.
The Blinn College Board of Trustees approved a $112.6 million budget Tuesday, which represents a 4.5 percent increase over the previous year.

The budget for Fiscal Year 2018 includes a 3 percent salary increase for staff and full-time faculty that will total $1.8 million, an increase in contingency funds to $3 million and a $1.1 million increase to the replacement and renovations budget.

Tuition and fees will represent $60.2 million, or 55.9 percent, of Blinn's total revenue. The budget includes $23.6 million in state funding and $1.8 million in tax revenue. Blinn College only collects property tax revenue in Washington County, and per state law, those funds can only be used on the Blinn-Brenham campus.

The board also extended the contract of Mary Hensley, who serves as district president and CEO, through June 30, 2020. Effective July 1, her title will change to chancellor.

The college also was authorized to seek bids or proposals for equipment costs related to the fall 2018 opening of the RELLIS campus, including furniture, fixtures, audio-visual technology, food service, security, laboratory equipment, building commissioning, signage, graphics, installation, professional fees and other soft costs.

Trustees authorized the college to award and execute contracts totalling $261,560 for fitness equipment, furniture and concessions equipment to be used in the Brenham Campus Kruse Center; a $147,031 contract to replace two hot water boilers on the Bryan campus; and a $95,848 contract for Bryan campus parking lot maintenance and repairs.
District Judge Steve Smith decided Tuesday that a former Texas A&M doctoral candidate found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2014 stabbing of a nurse should not be committed to a state-run psychiatric hospital.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed last August that Yuchen Lei, a 26-year-old mathematician, suffered from mental issues that triggered him to stab a 53-year-old nurse in January 2014 while getting treatment for bronchitis at the College Station Medical Center.

The nurse was treated for a punctured lung, while fellow employees disarmed Lei, court documents state. Police charged him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years behind bars.

During a four-day hearing last week to decide the next step for Lei, witnesses testified that he suffered from delusions at the time of the stabbing. According to his attorney, Shane Phelps, Lei believed the Chinese government was targeting him for creating a type of digital currency.

Prosecutors told the court that Lei should be committed for up to 180 days to a mental health facility where a panel would eventually determine whether he was dangerous; Phelps and defense attorney Jon Miller argued for their client's release and treatment at an outpatient community center.

Lei, released from jail within weeks of the stabbing, was again arrested less than two months later for violating a criminal trespass warning when he went to the college campus of his former employer without permission.

A former student in one of Lei's classes testified last week that Lei, her then-teaching assistant, ignored her rejection of his repeated romantic advances. At some point, he bought her a Tiffany's engagement ring and made multiple attempts to contact her, which prompted her to feel "scared for my safety." The student has since graduated and moved, officials said.

Phelps said it was safe to release Lei because he voluntarily has been taking medications for his mental illness for about a year.

In his closing argument, Ryan Calvert, an assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case along with Jessica Escue, called Lei "a good man who has been afflicted with a tragic illness" which "makes him dangerous." A psychiatrist testified last week that Lei could be dangerous if he stopped taking his medicine.

Calvert made clear that the state was not "asking to lock him up for the rest of his life" but said "there is no harm in putting him in a hospital and gradually stepping down those restraints."

In her closing argument, Escue said the court didn't know how Lei would respond to real-world stress, so commitment would give them a better understanding of how he would respond to treatment outside the confines of a cell at the county jail.

"He needs a sort of mental health halfway house," she said.

Various mental health professionals testified last week that Lei had a serious mental illness but had improved since 2014. They disagreed on whether he was ready to be released back into the public.

Phelps, who throughout the hearings repeatedly noted Lei's good behavior and willingness to take his medication for the past year, argued his client had already proven it was safe to release him back into the community.

"It's got to mean something that for 3 1/2 years he's been fine," Phelps said during his closing argument.

Lei -- who in 2013 moved from China, where he was a top student at his undergraduate university, to the U.S. to pursue a doctoral degree in mathematics from Texas A&M -- likely will be held on a U.S. Immigration hold once he is released in 30 days.

His student visa was voided after he was expelled from A&M in February 2014. Lei has applied for asylum in America. If his asylum request is denied, he will be deported back to China.

Phelps said in his closing argument that while it was "pretty unlikely" Lei will be granted asylum, "he has a right to his freedom."

Smith's decision pertains to Lei's commitment to a state-run mental health facility. The district judge has no jurisdiction over federal immigration policy or Lei's application for asylum. Once Smith outlines Lei's treatment plan and he is released, Lei likely will remain in the Brazos County Jail for another 48 hours on the immigration hold, during which Lei could be transported to a detention center in Houston.

Smith said he put prosecutors and defense attorneys under a gag order following Tuesday's hearing, which means they're not allowed to speak with the media about the outcome of the case.
Judge Kyle Hawthorne, 85th District Court judge, denied attorney Lane Thibodeaux's motion for a new trial for Talawrence Tennell, a 38-year-old Bryan man convicted in April for the 2015 killing of 7-month-old Hailey Burleson. Tennell was high on PCP at the time, according to officials.

Thibodeaux argued in hearings last week that the Brazos County District Attorney's Office had failed to pass along crucial information to defense attorneys Amy Banks and Earl Gray before the original trial, and that new information discovered after Tennell had been sentenced could have changed the trial's outcome. Thibodeaux said such evidence could have led to the jury finding Tennell guilty of a lesser offense, shortening his sentence from life without parole.
Kirbyville school trustees say they stand by their decision to hire embattled former Bryan superintendent Tommy Wallis, who faced a fresh round of criticism from residents at the most recent school board meeting in the small East Texas town.

Reading from a prepared statement Monday, according to Beaumont-area media in attendance, board president Chad George said Wallis came to the district as an "award-winning administrator" with a favorable recommendation from his previous employer when he was hired in Kirbyville three months ago. And following the apparent suicide of the high school principal and recent media reports about ethics complaints made against Wallis during his time in Bryan, George said the trustees fully support him as the community moves forward.

"During the search process, he was open and honest with this board about his previous employment at Bryan ISD, and about the lessons that he was learned as a result," George's statement read in part, according to KFDM-TV. "No one 'pushed' the board to hire Dr. Wallis."

George also individually polled each of the trustees on their support for Wallis, according to the TV station. All explicitly said they support him, except for trustee Joe Brecht, who said he "stand[s] for peace." The statement followed the school board's first public comment session since the death of principal Dennis Reeves, who was found dead in his truck outside the high school nearly a month ago shortly after a meeting with Wallis and another administrator, who had confronted him about an alleged affair with his former secretary.

Since then, The Eagle also has reported on a complaint filed last fall detailing at least 14 ethical violations Wallis was accused of before Bryan trustees forced his resignation. As part of that resignation, the Bryan school board paid Wallis' salary for the remainder of the year and gave him the supportive reference letter George referred to in his comments to the Kirbyville community.

According to KFDM-TV and residents who attended Monday's meeting, more than 100 residents of the town of about 2,000 crammed into the room for the public comment session, during which only six people were able to speak due to time constraints. Residents questioned the Kirbyville school board's decision to hire Wallis -- Brecht has acknowledged to The Eagle that no one from Kirbyville discussed Wallis with Bryan trustees or administrators -- and condemned the handling of Reeves' death.

"Our school has recently been on a really big anti-bullying campaign, and I pretty much said the school was supposed to have no tolerance for bullying, but they tolerate the bully-in-chief, Mr. Wallis," said parent Rikki Meredith, who spoke at the meeting.

Meredith, who has three daughters in the district, said it's her opinion that Wallis should never have been hired. She said that the trustees and administrators have been entrusted with the well-being of the district, but have "tarnished the reputation of our schools" and behaved in a "shameful" way -- she said that during the meeting she specifically called out a demeaning and sexist remark the ethics complaint states that Wallis made toward a female administrator in Bryan.

"I think that the people who mishandled the situation, specifically Wallis and Chad George, the board president, should resign," Meredith said.

Her husband, Mark Meredith, said that outside of parents attending every board meeting until Wallis' contract expires or new trustees can be elected, there's not much that can be done on the issue.

"My opinion is the Texas Education Agency needs to step in and clear the whole lot out, because minus that, we're stuck with at least the school board until the next election next year," Mark Meredith said.

The Merediths are both part of a local "Community for Change" activist group, which is pushing on with a petition to remove Wallis from the school district. David Mauer, another member of the group who attended Monday's meeting, said the statement made by the board president didn't come as a surprise.

"I think it's exactly what we expected from them -- to do absolutely nothing," Mauer said.

Mauer estimates there are about 625 members of the activist group, and said his opinion along with the rest of the members is that Wallis either needs to resign or be terminated. George should also step down as board president, Mauer said, or resign from the board entirely.

"We just feel like they made a grievous error, and instead of admitting it, they would rather just push forward blindly than to admit to making a mistake," Mauer said.

The statement George read from Monday also questioned the intentions of the lawyer hired by the Reeves family, accusing him of making misleading statements to the media, saying that the actions "suggest a greater interest in making sensational headlines than learning the truth about Mr. Reeves' suicide."

The lawyer, Chip Ferguson, responded with his own letter in response on Tuesday, calling the meeting a "dog and pony show," according to KFDM-TV.

"While KCISD can read and release a lawyer-written statement, it remains steadfast in its refusal to provide even a kernel of insight to Dennis Reeves' family," Ferguson said in his letter obtained by KFDM-TV. "Further, while the board was prodded to make a show of support for Thomas Wallis, it has yet to provide any show of sympathy for this family. As one of the speakers said at last night's meeting, 'Shame on you.' "
According to Bryan police, Jose Ramirez-Medina, 30, was arrested Friday and charged with burglarizing a home on Lucky Street. Ramirez-Medina once lived in the home with a man and his family,but was kicked out after he allegedly became involved in illegal activity. Police say Ramirez-Medina was spotted by a neighbor entering the home Friday morning and was arrested. According to authorities, the man who lived in the home told police for several months the family had noticed valuables going missing, and in March the family came home from a trip and found two televisions, a laptop and cash gone. Ramirez-Medina now is charged in that burglary.
The Texas A&M University System RELLIS Campus is looking to add a new data center to its upcoming facilities -- a move officials said could be an attractive addition for potential industry partners.

A&M System administrators had an open meeting Tuesday with industry representatives interested in developing the public-private project to share the institution's vision for the data center and its place at the rapidly growing campus.

Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs Phillip Ray led the meeting, where he said the center has potential to bring added momentum to the campus mission.

"The potential is unlimited if this thing takes off the way we think it will," Ray said. "We think there is a lot of potential collaboration being in an engineering-centric campus -- particularly when you've got world-class leaders like the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, the College of Engineering and all these different folks out there."

In a statement, Chancellor John Sharp said the project itself has been under discussion since 2013 but noted the creation of the RELLIS as a major step forward in making it a real possibility thanks largely to the availability of land on the 2,000-acre campus, forthcoming infrastructure and ability to access to an adequate power supply.

Ray said the center's primary function would be to act as a traditional data center, backing up data and providing information technology services -- such as revenue-producing server hosting -- to a variety of entities.

Secondarily, he said the center would also afford the possibility of workforce training, educational classroom opportunities and some data analytics work.

Ray said the data center has the added benefit of being planned on a developing campus expected to house a number of state-of-the-art research projects such as autonomous vehicle technologies.

Additionally, Ray said system officials believe the potential center's Central Texas location and distance from the hurricane zone of the Gulf Coast will be an attractive feature for Houston-area businesses interested in a removed location for data storage.

"The data center is much more comprehensive than just offering business IT services to clients, but that is the engine that produces revenue you can count on every day," Ray said. "That's what's going to enable new technology, new applications and allow researchers to collaborate and share information."

Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering M. Katherine Banks said during the presentation the data center is expected to have strong ties to the system's engineering programs through workforce development, coordination with degree programs and research like from programs like the system's newly announced cybersecurity initiative.

"There are many opportunities for collaboration between engineering and the data center," Banks said.

While the project is currently allocated with 30 acres of land, Ray said the final product could end up using less -- or more -- space dependent on the plan outlined by the winning bid.

Proposals for the project are due July 28.
Nicki Stone has a passion for helping people. Thats why she became a Waco police officer.

She knows what its like to feel bullets whizzing past her head as she rushes toward a crime scene.

She has held the head of a shooting victim while coaxing him to hang on while medical help was on the way.

She knows the satisfaction of finding the home of a child predator after a three-hour search based on the sketchy description of the location from a traumatized young sexual- assault victim.

Now that Stone is fighting breast cancer, the 34-year-old single mother of two said she knows what it feels like for the city she risks her life for to turn its back on her and her fellow officers trying to help in her darkest time of need.

City employees are allowed to accrue sick time over the years, and officers have offered to donate some of their sick time to Stone while she is missing work after a double mastectomy and chemotherapy sessions.

But the city said no, citing a longstanding policy against such practices.

Some of the same officers also have offered to donate their sick time to a Waco police detective who has missed work because his 7-year-old daughter has cancer. The city also said no in that case.

But, Waco City Manager Dale Fisseler disagrees. The city did offer to grant the officers additional sick time, but only after they use up all other time off they earned, Fisseler said.

He met with Waco Police Chief Ryan Holt on the topic of the officers donating their sick time to the two officers.

Holt would not discuss the meeting and instructed the departments public information officer, Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, to retract a statement he gave the Tribune-Herald on the subject and to decline comment.

If I had been in that meeting, my question would have been, Why not?  Stone said. We are risking our lives to save others on the street. I am literally fighting for my life now, and if someone wants to bless my life and theirs as well, because I believe helping others blesses your life, also, if someone wants to help save my life, what is there to question? But the city wont allow other officers to help me. That makes no sense. Its the city saying, Dont do the right thing. It blows my mind.

Officers volunteered for more than a month to work Stones 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift, pulling double shifts and allowing her to continue drawing a salary from the shifts they worked for her. But its different in the detectives case because its not feasible for other officers to pick up a detectives caseload and work it.

Waco Police Association President Ken Reeves said a lot of officers came forward to donate their sick time to Stone and the detective, who declined to be interviewed for this story.

Reeves said officers can bank thousands of hours in sick time, but when an officer retires, the city pays only for 720 of those hours. If the city allows officers to give 40 hours to another officer, for example, the city views that as an expenditure that it otherwise wouldnt have to pay, he said.

More than just money

We would just like to see the city look at their employees in terms other than just dollars and cents and more than just money, Reeves said. We would like to see them take care of our brothers and sisters. We arent even talking about that much money.

The officers have already earned that money in terms of benefits. It is their money, and they should be able to use that money in any way they want to, especially if it is to help someone sick or dying. The citys best commodity is its employees, and taking care of them ought to be paramount.

Fisseler said donating sick leave to a fellow employee is contrary to longstanding city policy and we dont think it is a good idea for a lot of reasons.

We dont have a policy that allows that because you earn your own sick leave. If you donate yours to everyone and then you need it, then you can have a problem, Fisseler said. Right off the bat, if you get the city to pay for more by donating it to others, it is going to have a negative impact on the citys costs.

Fisseler did, however, approve a plan for employees to earn extra sick leave, but employees must first have used up all their leave time before they can have access to it.

They asked for additional sick leave, and we granted it, Fisseler said. We have existing policies to do what they need. They are trying to create new policies, and its been working like this for a long, long time.

Reeves said the problem with what the city is proposing is that officers cannot earn additional sick time until they use all their earned time off, including sick days, comp time, vacation and holidays.

The sad thing about that is after you zero out all your time off, you could work two years and not get a vacation, and who wants to work as a police officer, which as you know is very stressful, for two years without a vacation? Reeves said. The things police see on a day-to-day basis, they have got to get away. It is not something you can do every day and not have some time off.

The officers are trying to create a new policy when one is not needed, Fisseler said.

They are speculating, because they havent asked for it, Fisseler said, referring to future time off. So the question would be, What is it in the future they are afraid of us not doing, because I have never turned one down. Why is that a problem? If you use it all up, we still granted it when they have needed it. So it sounds like they are concerned about trying to get some in the future when they may not need it.

Short-term disability

Stone, who has been a patrol officer for three years, used up the 480 hours granted under the Family and Medical Leave Act and is now on short-term disability. That allows her to draw 75 percent of her pay while raising a 12-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter.

Stone, who has no history of breast cancer in her family, found a quarter-size lump in November 2016 and was diagnosed with breast cancer in February. She underwent a double mastectomy Feb. 24 and started chemotherapy in April.

She has had three chemo treatments so far and undergoes one every three weeks. She likely will start radiation treatments after that and hopes to be back at work in mid-August.

She knows it could be some time before she is back on patrol, but the department is working with her to find other jobs, perhaps in the area of training, she said.
A top secret woodland location on the outskirts of Royal Leamington Spa became the brand new home for some charming yet endangered inhabitants.

The hazel dormouse - now extinct in 17 English counties - was reintroduced to Warwickshire on Tuesday (June 20) as 18 breeding pairs, plus one extra female, were released by People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and some dedicated and willing volunteers.

These dormice will spend the next 10 days in their purpose-built mesh cages where they will be checked and fed by volunteers whilst they learn to gather food themselves. When they are ready to be released, a small door will be opened in the cage to allow them to access the woodland, whilst still benefiting from the safety of their nesting boxes.

Given that hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) will generally only produce one litter a year averaging just four young, it's no surprise these charismatic little creatures are struggling for survival.

They face pressures from lost habitats and changes in woodland and hedgerow management - as the practice of coppicing trees such as hazel, hornbeam and sweet chestnut has become more rare, so too have the dormice.

This secret Warwickshire location was selected based on its excellent suitability for the new residents. Being both arboreal, and nocturnal, the dormice rely on tree cover, using the branches to travel through the canopy and through shrub layers.

As they were released into their new homes, they were given a selection of berries, dried fruits, mealworms, and other dormouse delicacies but over coming weeks, they will learn to forage for themselves.

Since 1993 PTES has reintroduced more than 898 hazel dormice in 22 different sites across England.

Leading this latest reintroduction, Ian White, PTES' Dormouse Officer said: "Climate change is one factor having a serious impact the dormice population, but the biggest issue is woodland management.

"At this site the management of woodland will have to continue to ensure the dormice can thrive. They need successional vegetation and all the video evidence we have shows they actively look for that arboreal cover."

Before the dormice were released they had to be reared, quarantined and health checked by various volunteers and organisations. They were captive bred by members of the Common Dormouse Captive Breeders Group, of which Neil Bemment is the chairman. Neil has been rearing dormice and attending release events since 2000. He says: "When the dormice are two years or under we pair them up, ensuring they are genetically matched - as far from being related as we possibly can. We aim to release 18 pairs each year. We are trying specifically to reinstate them in the counties where they would have originally thrived."

The dormice underwent thorough health checks with vets at the Zoological Society of London and Paignton Zoo in Devon, ensuring they would had the very best chance of survival and also in a bid to prevent the accidental introduction of any new diseases to the wild. They will continue to be closely monitored and it is hoped that they will have settled and paired up in just two weeks - with baby dormice born by the end of the year.
Canada's assistance to Mindanao will continue amid the war in Marawi and the declaration of martial law in the region, an official said.

Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines John Holmes said Canada "stands ready to help" as he conveyed his government and people's condolences to the government and people in Marawi after terrorists attacked the Islamic city.

"In terms of our aid program, Mindanao has been our focus the last few years and continues to be our focus. We have different programs that are already operating in Mindanao and one of them.. is we continue to contribute to the Mindanao trust fund. So that will continue," he said in an interview.

Members of local extremist groups Abu Sayyaf and Maute attacked Marawi last May 23, prompting President Rodrigo Duterte to put Mindanao under military rule.

The clashes, which are now on its 4th week, have left thousands displaced and hundreds killed.

Holmes said Canada continues to contribute to the Mindanao trust fund while other programs are ongoing as well.

He also noted that Canada is ready to provide humanitarian assistance upon the Philippine government's request

"We stand ready to help. Normally in terms of assistance, after a humanitarian or in this case a person-made disaster, we wait for instructions and request from the government of the Philippines," he said.

Holmes also said Canada is ready to work with the Philippines and offer assistance in fighting terrorism in terms of capacity building and information exchange.

"We stand ready to work with the Philippines in that regard. We don't normally... we wouldn't be sending troops or anything like that but we do capacity building, exchanges of information, things like that. That's been ongoing," he said.

Meanwhile, a Philippines politician said residents fleeing besieged Marawi City had seen scores of dead bodies in an area where intense fighting has taken place between security forces and Islamist militants over the past three weeks.

"Dead bodies, at least 100, scattered around the encounter area," Zia Alonto Adiong, a politician in the area who is helping in rescue and relief efforts, told reporters, referring to accounts he had received from fleeing residents.

The military said it could not confirm the report.

The army has said 290 people have been killed in the more than three weeks of fighting, including 206 militants, 58 soldiers and 26 civilians.

Lieutenant Colonel Jo-Ar Herrera, a military spokesman, said troops were advancing toward the commercial center of Marawi City, which is held by the militants who have sworn allegiance to Islamic State.

"We intend to finish the fight as soon as possible. Our tactical commanders are doing their best," Herrera said.

But troops still faced up to 200 fighters, many of whom had taken up sniper positions, he said.

"The battlefield is very fluid," he said.

Meanwhile, a report said Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has withdrawn from public duties for a week because he is tired and needs to rejuvenate, as government forces battled Islamist militants in the biggest crisis of his rule.

Duterte, 72, has not been seen in public since Sunday and missed a scheduled appearance the following day at annual Independence Day celebrations in Manila, sparking speculation about the state of his health.

Hes just taking some time off to rejuvenate, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters.

Abella said there was no date for when Duterte would resume his official duties, although he insisted the president was healthy.

Im saying that theres nothing to worry about in terms of sickness, he said. The president is well.

Duterte imposed martial law over Marawi and the rest of the southern region of Mindanao, home to 20mn people, on the day the fighting erupted to head off what he said was an attempt by IS to carve out its own territory there.

Abella said Duterte was taking time off because of a punishing schedule since then, which included regular visits to military camps and hospitals to support troops.

It has been really brutal, so it is important to allow him this kind of rest, Abella said.

Duterte had repeatedly denied during last years presidential election campaign that he suffered from cancer.

Nearly 300 people have been killed in the violence, including militants, government forces and civilians in the Marawi conflict.

The hostilities have also displaced more than 220,000 people and left Marawi City in ruins.

On the 24th day of the crisis, an Australian journalist covering the crisis was hurt when a suspected stray sniper bullet hit him in his neck area.

Adam Harvey, 43, of the Australian Broadcasting Corp, was inside the provincial capital compound in Marawi City when the bullet hit him. He was rushed to hospital, but declared out of danger.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella urged media members in Marawi City to take precaution while doing their work.

While I understand that you would not shirk your duty in the pursuit of any story, bear in mind that theres no story more valuable than ones life, he said. Take the necessary precautions and stay safe while covering conflicts.

An estimated 300 to 500 civilians are still trapped in the conflict zone, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Circumstances are dire for those who are left behind, it noted in a bulletin. Their lives remain in danger within the fighting zone, and its impossible for humanitarian organisations to provide them with much needed assistance due to access and security issues.

The Red Cross also expressed concern about the plight of the displaced, amid limited supply of food and water and lack of access to sanitation facilities.

The rainy season has started, and this poses increased health risks to displaced families, especially children and elderly staying in evacuation centres, it said.

Protracted stay under such circumstances makes the more vulnerable to waterborne and communicable diseases, the Red Cross added.
Analysis by Ted Alcuitas

Philippine Canadaian News

It is the courts true wish that you learn from this experience that you are bound by the law and you must comply with court orders even if you do not agree with them. The court will compel obedience to its orders and punish disobedience. The protection of the rule of law must be a paramount concern of society. Justice F. L. Myers

In a stunning verdict that could spell the end of one of Canadas oldest Filipino newspaper, Teresita Tess Cusipag was sentenced to 21 days in jail for criminal contempt of court.

Cusipag was immediately whisked to an undisclosed provincial jail after the sentencing delivered by Judge Frederick L. Myers of Ontario Superior Court on June 12 at Ontarios Court of Justice.

Cusipag is the widow of Ruben Cusipag who founded Balita in 1976. It has gained a reputation as a fierce advocate against martial law and continued its community advocacy after the downfall of Marcos. Tess Cusipag took over the newspaper when Ruben was disabled due to a car-pedestrian accident in 1996. He died in July 2013.

Balita Newspaper, Balita Media Inc., Tess Cusipag, Romeo P. Marquez (A.K.A Romy Marquez) and Carllos Padilla (now deceased) were found guilty of contempt of court on June 2, 2107 for violating the order dated July 13, 2016 by Mr. Justice Lederman to refrain from continuing to publish libellous articles about Senator Enverga.

The defendants continued to publish articles prompting the filing of contempt charges by Senator Enverga.

The courtroom was jam-packed with supporters from both sides according to the Toronto-based Philippine Reporter.

The other defendant and Balita writer Romeo P. Marquez was in court to hear the sentence.

Senator Tobias Enverga did not attend but his wife,Rosemere attended together with supporters.

Cusipag, supporters in tears

According to The Philippine Reporter, Cusipag supporters, including fellow respondent Romy Marquez, were visibly shocked at the verdict. Cusipag appeared in total disbelief upon hearing the conviction. Atty. J. Chow, Cusipags legal counsel, took a chance of asking reconsideration and was chided almost instantly. Myers said No which sent Cusipag and her supporters to tears. Marquez kept his silence and seemed to be making an effort to ready himself and his camera to document the whole proceeding.

Cusipags supporter stayed in the courtroom to pray over her . Cusipag and her lawyer refused to give a statement to the media.

Justice F. L. Myers found the defendants to be continuing an avowed, malicious, very public quest to destroy the plaintiffs reputation in face of and despite an order of the Superior Court of Justice.

Myers said Cusipag was not deterred by the substantial damage award in a previous libel case: All that it seems to have done is prompted her to transfer her house to her son for free and to transfer two condominium units to others. She tries to avoid the courts judgment rather than comply with it.

Cusipag delivered a very brief affidavit for this sentencing hearing in which she corrects what she says are translation errors in evidence filed by the plaintiff for this hearing. Ms. Cusipag and Balita chose not to file an affidavit explaining their contempt, apologizing, demonstrating their respect for the orders of this court, or evincing an intention to refrain from repeating their contemptuous misconduct in future. They arrive for sentencing unrepentant, says the decision.

Cusipag declined to give live evidence at the hearing to explain her intentions after being invited by the judge to do.

In finding Ms. Cusipag in contempt, Justice Myers saysI signaled to her the need to demonstrate her respect for the authority of the court and the need to obey its orders. She made no such demonstration. She has not admitted any wrongdoing. She has not voiced words that indicate that she accepts that she must comply with the courts order or that she intends to do so in future. Rather, her defiance establishes that she and her business are a law unto themselves and are ungovernable without coercion.

[34] The Balita entities cannot be sentenced to jail as they are corporations. I acknowledge that they do not appear to function independent of Ms. Cusipag. Accordingly, I sentence each of Balita Media Inc. and Balita Newspaper to a fine of just $5,000. Tess Cusipag and Balita defendants are also jointly and severally liable for the plaintiffs costs of these contempt proceedings on a full indemnity basis.

Justice Myers admonished Cusipag and other defendants  remain bound by Justice Ledermans order both in letter and in spirit. It is the courts true wish that you learn from this experience that you are bound by the law and you must comply with court orders even if you do not agree with them. The court will compel obedience to its orders and punish disobedience. The protection of the rule of law must be a paramount concern of society.

http://philippinereporter.com/2017/06/15/court-sentence-on-balita-cusipag/

This piece was originally appeared in Philippine Canadian News.

See http://www.philippinecanadiannews.com/canada/breaking-balitas-tess-cusipag-jail/
By Jeremy J. Nuttall

New Canadian Media

As a Vancouver society working to support refugees fears closure after being denied federal funding, a similar organization in Manitoba said Ottawa approached it to talk about providing funding earlier this year.

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the government needs to provide consistent support as increasing numbers of people claiming refugee status cross the U.S. border.

Thats extremely disturbing, Kwan said of the situation. There needs to be consistency and fairness on the approach and they need to recognize their responsibility on this.

The Tyee reported on the possible closure of the Inland Refugee Society of BC, which has been overwhelmed by a wave of refugee claimants crossing into British Columbia from the U.S., many avoiding official border crossings.

The number of people seeking support has more than doubled, executive director Mario Ayala said, and the societys annual funding has been exhausted already.

In the first five months of this year, the society has helped 700 undocumented refugee claimants find shelter. Ayala said if the organization closes, Metro Vancouver could see a spike in homeless refugees.

The federal government has said it will not pitch in to close the funding gap, saying the undocumented asylum-seekers Ayalas organization is helping dont qualify for federal assistance.

The B.C. government has also turned down the organization, he said.

Ayala said Marta Morgan, the deputy minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said part of the reason the society wouldnt receive funding is because the federal government cant be seen to be helping undocumented refugees.

Department spokesperson Nancy Chan said it does not comment on private conversations.

Canada recognizes two broad classes of refugees: people who apply for asylum in another country before being accepted; and those who apply once in Canada, often referred to as undocumented refugees because they have not been vetted before arrival.

Refugee claimants arriving from the U.S. can be turned away at official border crossings because Canada recognizes it as a safe country for those seeking asylum.

As a result, an increasing number of asylum seekers have been crossing the U.S.-Canadian border between official points of entry to claim refugee status.

Kwan said Canada has signed international agreements to recognize refugees who make a claim once in the country, and shouldnt abandon them.

If the government is taking the position to say no, we cant be seen to be supporting these refugee claimants, then that is very troubling, she said.

But while the B.C. society was told the government wouldnt provide help for such refugee claimants, the head of a Manitoba organization offering the same services said Ottawa actually approached asking them to submit a funding request.

The Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council helps refugees find temporary shelter and settlement services and has assisted 618 people this year.

Executive director Rita Chahal said the government asked her several months ago what kind of support the organization needs.

I was approached by a couple of project officers to submit a budget, which we did, Chahal said. No one has followed up on it, no one has contacted us to see if they reviewed it and what their position might be.

Chahal said the federal government has always held the position that it would not help undocumented refugees.

Despite the request for a funding proposal, Chahal said she isnt expecting any money.

She said the Manitoba government helps her organizations efforts with $110,000 per year in funding. The council also raises money from other donors.

The Manitoba Ministry of Education and Training, citing a June 13 byelection, said it couldnt comment on the decision to fund the council.

But a press release in February quoted Manitoba Progressive Conservative Premier Brian Pallister.

Just as we have opened our arms to newcomers for centuries, our province continues to provide significant supports to those organizations offering direct services to refugee claimants, Pallister said. Our focus remains on measures that will ensure both the welfare of refugee claimants and the continued safety and security of residents of border towns.

Kwan said the federal government cant encourage one society struggling with lack of money to apply for funding while telling another theres no chance of getting help.

She said shes worried a wave of homeless refugees will be forced to the streets of Vancouver if someone doesnt step up with support.

This piece was originally appeared in New Canadian Media.

See http://www.newcanadianmedia.ca/item/41719-double-standard-inadequate-support-hurt-refugee-claimants-says-kwan-double-standard-inadequate-support-hurt-refugee-claimants-says-kwan

UN praises Canadas refugee program

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has praised Canada today for providing solutions to the plight of a record 46,700 refugees through their resettlement to Canada in 2016.

This is the largest amount of refugees admitted in a year since the implementation of the 1976 Immigration Act and a significant contribution to UNHCRs global appeal to increase much needed refugee solutions.

This is a tremendous achievement which reflects Canadas longstanding tradition of welcoming refugees and assisting them with their integration into Canadian society, said Jean-Nicolas Beuze, UNHCR Representative in Canada. Without this support, scores of refugees would have been left in life-threatening situations and without any hope. Canada has again shown the world that successful resettlement is possible, particularly when government and civil society work together. Building on this success, UNHCR will continue to work closely with Canada to expand resettlement solutions to benefit the most vulnerable refugees.

Canada is proud to work with UNHCR to bring vulnerable refugees to our country. These newcomers help us build our society, culture and economy in long lasting and enduring ways, said Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. Canada hopes to increase global refugee resettlement and support civil society and other jurisdictions to expand resettlement along with developing other solutions for the worlds most vulnerable.

Historically, Canadas largest resettlement effort was with the Indochinese movement, which at its high point resulted in 40,271 refugees being admitted in 1980. In 1986, the Nansen Medal was awarded to Canada and its people in recognition of its response to the Indochinese Movement that directly helped thousands of persecuted individuals to start new lives Canada. Thirty years later, Canada proves once again that the same spirit of compassion and altruism continues to be present.

Compared to 2015, the 2016 resettlement level reflects a striking 133 per cent increase. This is due in part to the success of Canadas humanitarian transfer of Syrian refugees carried throughout 2016 with UNHCRs support, and which combined efforts by both the government and civil society to support the resettlement and integration of Syrian refugees into various communities across Canada.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to come to Canada. Having two of my children going to school and the smiles I now see on the faces of my other three disabled children is a dream come true. Back home, they would have been made fun of, or ignored, but here, everyone wants to help out, says Shamsa, a Syrian mother of five who arrived to Canada in 2016. I am so touched by this and cant wait to also give back to the community.

With the current levels of forcible displacement worldwide (21 million refugees) and an estimated 1,190,000 individuals in need of resettlement in 2017, UNHCR continues to appeal to countries, including Canada, for solidarity with refugees: only one per cent of refugees ever get a chance to be resettled. Resettlement continues to be a unique and tangible response to those in need of protection as it offers extremely vulnerable refugees an opportunity to restart their lives in safety and dignity.

Over the last four decades, Canada has generously welcomed some 700,000 refugees.
WACO gets a crack at the first state championship game in school history
More days, more tickets, more events for car buffs.

Thats what Barrett-Jackson is planning for 2017 after its inaugural Northeast auction sold out more than 10,000 tickets on opening day last year at Mohegan Sun.

New to the festivities will be the New England Concours dElegance auto show and competition, sponsored by Barrett-Jackson, on Saturday and Sunday, June 17 and 18, followed by the second annual Barrett-Jackson Northeast Auction preview on Wednesday, June 21, and the much anticipated auction, Thursday through Saturday, June 22 to 24.

The company is known for its high-end automotive lifestyle auctions in some of the wealthiest areas of the United States: Las Vegas, Palm Beach, Fla., and at its headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz. In order to bid on autos, one must register well in advance with the company. The vast majority of those who attend the auctions do so as spectators rather than as participants.

John Lyons, the founder and chairman of the Concours dElegance, said his show and competition will be outdoors on more than seven acres, with a capacity of more than 300 autos. In a recent telephone chat, he said these types of events appeal to a wide range of visitors, regardless of age or gender.

On Saturday an array of vehicles, from restorations, muscle cars, hot rods and custom, will be featured, he said. For a $10 donation, participants may enter beginning at 8:30 a.m. until the field is full. Sundays event is by invitation only, featuring collectible gems from about 1903 to the 1970s; judges will choose the best from the entire field.

In effect, its a beauty pageant for cars, Lyons said, laughing. We see our mission as one to inspire future generations in the curation and preservation of these beautiful works of art and design.

More Information Mohegan Sun, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville. Northeast Auction tickets June 21-24, $165-$85 (children); $95-$40 (children), in advance. Daily activities begin at 8 a.m. 480-421-6694, www.barrett-jackson.com See More Collapse

Lyons said the Concours gives visitors a peek at the 25 or so cars that will be on the block at the auction. The June 22-24 auction will take place in the complexs indoor arena.

We are extremely grateful to all those who supported our inaugural Northeast Auction last year, said Craig Jackson, chairman and CEO of Barrett-Jackson, in a statement. The electricity generated at last years record-setting event was unforgettable. This year, we decided to build on that high energy by creating even more collector car activities for the whole family, first by serving as the presenting sponsor of the New England Concours dElegance and continuing with our Northeast Auction.

The company announced consignments include one of the worlds most desirable supercars, a 2017 Ferrari 488 Spider (preview), which can only be purchased outside of this auction by joining an extensive waiting list. This Corsa Red prancing horse has only 77 miles and features a power retractable hardtop, 3.9-liter V8 engine, seven-speed F1 dual clutch transmission and over $90,000 in optional equipment. Also crossing the block is an incredibly rare 70 Ford Mustang Boss 429 (preview). With a fresh restoration and only 10 test miles on the odometer, this Grabber Blue Boss 429 is an extremely coveted Mustang and includes the Drag Pack convenience group, competition suspension and 429 Boss engine with 375 horsepower.

Its clear from the unprecedented response to our inaugural Northeast Auction that Barrett-Jackson is a perfect fit for the area, Steve Davis, president of Barrett-Jackson, said. We bring in enthusiasts from across the region, as well as international guests. I have no doubt that this years auction will bring a whole new level of energy to the collector-car community across New England.

pasboros@ctpost.com; Twitter:@PhyllisASBoros
For teachers looking to break into Connecticut schools, Fairfield County offers plenty to be excited about, according to one new report.

Niche, a website which collects and analyzes public data on schools and neighborhoods, recently looked at where teachers are most likely to enjoy their employment in Connecticut, with a number of local schools ranking highly.
I started my entrepreneurial journey in 2014 (if you don't count my run at poker) with an idea for digital and social media marketing as a service. All right, let's be honest, it wasn't an entirely original idea but I knew I had the heart and hustle to get something off the ground.

In the beginning it was a lot of cold calls, a lot of Google searches and a lot of "what the hell is this" whenever Facebook changed their ad platform. What I really wanted to focus on, though, was content development. I found there was a lot of value in providing that as a service, as opposed to just "social media marketing." Three-and-a-half years later, prospective clients are still wondering what that really means.

I've always found a lot of value in blogging. I love writing, and decided I could do this for my clients. There are the obvious SEO and branding benefits for the client when they're original pieces. From a business building standpoint though, it was a deliverable that I could say "hey, we provided this for you" if it ever came up in a monthly recap meeting. Of course, there are only so many articles you can write before you realize you have to grow your business.

This is where my activity on Twitter paid off more than any other marketing tactic I've ever tried. From my former company's account, I "favorited" one of Hannah Moyer's tweets which led to a quick twitter conversation. She is a freelance copywriter and I was overwhelmed. I needed some help, so I decided to DM her about her services. The initial interaction was shaky, at best but over time it did wonders for my business. Here's how.

Related: 101 Places to Find Freelance Writing Jobs

1. I freed up time to grow the business.

As much as I love writing, my biggest strengths are sales and business development. Hiring Hannah freed up time to acquire more clients and build more strategic relationships. Just that was such a huge benefit to my business. As an owner/operator, it's important to free up time for sales. Additionally, it gave me peace of mind that I was able to deliver for my clients more efficiently.

2. I was able to raise rates of my services.

By offering more services, I naturally was able to increase my monthly retainer for clients. Here's the kicker though, it wasn't just about offering more services, it was about offering quality services. Hannah's attention to detail and willingness to go as far as to interview my clients or do additional research on them led to exceptional pieces. It's important to not just sell a service, but to deliver a product and deliver it well.

Related: Freelancers Make Up 34 Percent of the U.S. Workforce. Here's How to Find, Hire and Manage Them.

3. I got referrals.

As a fellow digital marketer, Hannah ran into some situations where she wasn't able to fulfill a clients request. When this happened, she referred more business back to to me since we had developed a great relationship over time.

It's amazing what happens when you treat your vendors and contractors as equals, pay them on time and promote their services. If you think word of mouth is powerful, imagine what a positive review from someone who works with you can do.

Hannah and I have been working now for over two years. In that time, we've worked together on a podcast, and recently started a Facebook Live series. We started our professional relationship remotely -- she was in Nashville, Tennessee and I am in Orange County, CA. Since then she's moved to the West Coast to work more more closely together, despite the fact that I've exited my former agency.

The next article I write may have to be about the ROI of a friendship, which is incalculable at best.

In closing, remember that hiring someone is not an expense, it's an investment to allow you to manage other aspects of your business, close more sales and allocate some much needed "me time." Hiring the right person to help you with your work is one of the best decisions you can make for your business and for yourself.

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This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


NORWALK  Jericha Robinson was only one semester into her education at Norwalk Community College when she found out she was pregnant.

Suddenly, finding the time to pursue her education  let alone affording it  seemed impossible, and she dropped out.

Now, with her son in kindergarten and a revived determination to pursue her dream of being a social worker, shes attending the University of Connecticuts Stamford campus.

I decided it was time for me to go back and make something of myself, Robinson said. But I couldnt do it without the Norwalk Housing Authority.

Robinson, a 2007 graduate of Brien McMahon High School, was one of 50 students awarded scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 this week at the 19th annual Scholarship Awards Ceremony hosted by the NHA and the Norwalk Housing Foundation. The foundation awarded a total of $205,000 to students Tuesday, and has awarded more than $1.7 million in scholarships since the programs inception. This is the second time Robinson has received the scholarship.

It helps with little things like transportation and books, Robinson said. All of those things add up.

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must live in public housing maintained by the Norwalk Housing Authority and be pursuing education at a two-year, four-year, vocational or graduate school. The NHA is one of the only housing authorities in the country to have a comprehensive education initiative, which includes after-school learning centers for children in kindergartern through high school, as well as the scholarship program.

The scholarship program is entirely donor funded, and every dollar given to the program is distributed to a student, according to Harry Carey, chairman of the NHF Scholarship Committee.

We dont have black tie dinners, we dont do fundraisers, Carey said. We have really good kids that know education is the way up and out of public housing, and our donors understand that.

The scholarship program boasts a 75 percent graduation rate  higher than the state average  thanks in part to the programs additional services. The program provides a support structure to ensure scholarship recipients attend class regularly, perform as well as possible in school and understand additional avenues of support and financial aid. All recipients are required to participate in a summer workshop led by NHA staff, and new college students participate in a workshop that focuses on self-advocacy, time management, early creation of an on-campus support system and establishing positive relationships with professors.

Returning scholarship recipients also give advice about what to expect in college and how college is different from high school, and participate in a workshop that reiterates key points from the new student workshop and highlights areas important to upper class students. Students are also encouraged to participate in workshops about financial literacy.

Carey said its important to note many of the scholarship recipients also work full or part-time jobs to fund their education. Nearly all of the students are first generation college students who self-identify as African-American or Hispanic, and all of the students are from low-income families. Carey said the average annual family income of NHA residents is below $20,000  that compares to the 2016 poverty threshold of $24,250 for a family of four.

One student in the program, Tiahna Spencer, is entering her third year at the University of Connecticut Medical School and hopes to pursue orthopedic surgery and emergency medicine. Spencer grew up next door to one of the NHA community centers and often took advantage of the services offered, later volunteering at the center to help younger students.

Im not sure if I would have gotten this far without them, Spencer said. They're there for you all the time. I really appreciate the NHA and I hope they have the opportunity to reach out to more students like me.

kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt
From Mark Zuckerberg to Bill Gates, a number of big-name tech entrepreneurs were college dropouts. However, dont be fooled by these successful leaders. Today, major companies such as Facebook, Google and Apple employ thousands of college graduates to fill the needs of their organizations. And graduates who land gigs at some of these high-paying companies make big bucks.

Related: Bet You Can't Guess the Number-One City for Recent College Grads

Online career website Paysa analyzed more than 286,000 resumes of people around the world who work at the top 100 companies in the tech sector. Paysa uncovered information about where most tech employees attended college, the educational diversity of employees at tech companies, the average salaries of graduates and more.

If you want to land a job at a place like Facebook or Google, you may want to consider going to school out West. The University of Washington was the most common college found on tech employees resumes, with Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California also in the top five. For those who prefer the East Coast, coming in second to the University of Washington was Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Proximity to companies gives students an edge in forging connections that lead to jobs. At Seattle-based Microsoft, 6.5 percent of employees are graduates of the University of Washington. Meanwhile, 5.4 percent of Googlites are Stanford grads.

Stanford alumni also make up much of social media company Snap Inc.s workforce -- in fact, a whopping 16.1 percent of employees at Snap went to Stanford. And many employees at San Francisco-headquartered Yelp hail from another competitive California college: Eleven percent of Yelp employees graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.

Out of all 100 companies surveyed, Google, Microsoft and Amazon had the highest proportions of graduates who came from the same schools and even the same graduating classes. At Google, an employee can expect an average of 9.2 fellow alumni from their class to join them in the workplace. Its almost the same case for Microsoft and Amazon -- there are typically around eight employees with the same alma mater at these companies.

Related: Stop Chasing College Graduates Away: Instead, Employ These 4 Tips

Paysa found that while these major companies employ graduates with similar educational backgrounds, employees at smaller companies such as Optiv, Prosper Marketplace and Zillow come from a diversity of educational backgrounds. On average, only one employee will have attended a given college at each of these organizations.

So, which colleges grads reap the most money from their employers? Turns out the highest-paid grads working at tech companies arent from the most prevalent college backgrounds in the industry.

Graduates from Seattle University and the Pacific Lutheran University who work in tech are raking in an average $265,000 a year. (They went to school near the headquarters of both Microsoft and Amazon.) Of course, high-paid workers live outside of the U.S., too -- former students of the University of Cambridge in England and the University of Toronto are among the top 10 highest-paid groups of tech employees. A Cambridge alum working in tech makes an average salary of $252,645, and the average salary of a former Toronto student in the industry is $252,639.

Related: How to Find the Right Tech Talent (for the Non-Tech Entrepreneur)

Related:

Where Most Employees at Facebook, Google, Apple and Other Top Tech Companies Went to School

It's Time The Indian Student's Entrepreneurship Streak Is Tapped in School

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This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


ST. PAUL  Wheels were spinning early Wednesday morning from the strength and willpower of nearly 500 cyclists participating in Tour de Nebraska.

This is the 30th year of the ride, which goes on Wednesday through Sunday.

The riders traveled from St. Paul to Loup City on Wednesday and will travel to Broken Bow on Thursday. After spending the night in Broken Bow, they will go to Ord to spend Friday night. On Saturday, the riders will have their choice of various side trips and will spend the night in Ord again before riding back to St. Paul on Sunday.

In total, the cyclists will ride more than 200 miles.

Charlie Schilling of Lincoln is the special projects director for the event. Its his second year helping, and he said the 30th annual ride is exciting.

"It showcases the best of Nebraska," Schilling said of the event, which was founded by Rich and Susan Rodenburg.

The tour has had a number of different routes in the past. He said this route shows the landscaping and beauty that are Nebraska.

The route is unique this year and offers a variety of sights, Schilling said. On the five-day and four-night trip, cyclists will have opportunities to explore the area towns. Schilling said people can go tanking while in Ord on Saturday.

Rest stops are organized about every 15 to 20 miles. On Wednesday, the Danish Baker in Dannebrog was the first rest stop of the journey. Others included Whitefoot Market and the Gold Nugget in Boelus.

Volunteers in towns along the way and the towns where the cyclists spend the night help organize food and lodging. Schilling and a handful of others organize the event more than a year in advance.

Cyclists traveled 46 miles on Wednesday and will go 65 miles on Thursday, 55 miles on Friday and 48 miles on Sunday. Saturdays ride can vary from 20 to 100 miles depending on whether cyclists choose to take a paved or gravel route.

Though its tough work biking for hours each day, its a thrill. Schilling said many people train in advance for the event by taking spin classes, though everyones training is different. After leaving around 7:30 a.m., Schilling said, cyclists usually arrive to the destination from noon to 4 p.m., which makes for a full day of riding.

He some people go on the Tour de Nebraska for vacation. Some riders said they took off work so they could participate.

"Its a fun adventure," Schilling said.
Jose Lugo-Parra, who is charged with threatening a police officer and third-offense driving under the influence, was bound over Tuesday to Hall County District Court.

Grand Island Police officer Tyler Noel testified at Lugo-Parras preliminary hearing in Hall County Court.

Lugo-Parra, 26, was arrested March 11. Noel said that Lugo-Parra was driving a red Ford Explorer east on Second Street, which is a westbound one-way at that point. Noel did a traffic stop on the vehicle at the intersection of Division and Kimball Avenue.

The driver, who was later identified as Lugo-Parra, ran from the vehicle. Noel caught up with the suspect in a yard.

Noel said he detected the odor of alcohol and noticed the defendant had bloodshot, watery eyes.

He administered a preliminary breath test, which had a failing sample, Noel said. He said he did not conduct a field sobriety test because of Lugo-Parras combative behavior and the fact that he had attempted to flee. One other person was in the vehicle, Noel said.

Lugo-Parra was taken to CHI Health St. Francis. After a search warrant was obtained, his blood was drawn. An exhibit at the preliminary hearing showed Lugo-Parras blood alcohol level was .266.

At the hospital, Lugo-Parra threatened to kick Officer Jose Rodriguezs rear end and shoot him in the head when he got out of jail, Noel said.

He was charged with five crimes. The felony charges are driving under the influence, third offense aggravated, and making terroristic threats.

Noel was questioned by Deputy Hall County Attorney Stephen West.

Lugo-Parras attorney, Bruce Teichman of Lincoln, questioned whether his client was serious or if he made the threats in a joking vein. He also asked if Lugo-Parra was familiar with Rodriguez before that night.

Rodriguez said Lugo-Parra made several threats that night at the hospital, Noel said.

Teichman said making a terroristic threat requires specific intent, and argued that the case should not be bound over.

Judge John Rademacher concluded that probable cause exists to bind the case over on the two felony charges. Lugo-Parra will be arraigned in District Court at 9 a.m. July 11.

He is also charged with driving the wrong way on a one-way street, which is an infraction, and two misdemeanors  obstructing a peace officer and first-offense resisting arrest.
At any livestock show, detailing your cattle before they enter the show ring is a vital part of getting that animal to shine before the judges, your fellow competitors and the audience.

On Tuesday, fitting show cattle was a hot topic at the American International Junior National Charolais Show, taking place through Friday at Fonner Park.

The more than 470 Junior Charolais members attending the show from 20 states attended clinics on proper grooming techniques and competed in a cattle fitting competition. It was all about pampering the Charolais  washed, blow-dried, trimmed and the whole works.

The president of the American International Junior Charolais Association is Ty Dybdal, 21, of Hartington. He has been showing Charolais since he was an 8-year-old.

Dybdals family operates a 300-head, purebred Charolais, with 100 head of commercial cattle that they run Charolais bulls on. They also farm 1,200 acres of cropland. He is a third-generation Charolais operator.

The Charolais breed brings a lot of good aspects to the feedlot life, such as how feedlots can improve their cattle, Dybdal said. That is what Charolaiss are all about getting better meat production.

He said the Charolais is popular in Nebraska. Seventy-five youth from Nebraska attended the show, which was second only to Missouri, where the National Charolais headquarters are located.

We are up more than 100 contestants and about 200 cattle, Dybdal said. There are nearly 600 Charolais cattle being housed at Fonner Park this week.

For the first three days of the show, Dybdal said there are a lot of educationally fun activities, such as the fitting clinic and show on Tuesday.

Theres plenty to keep them active, he said. There are photo contests, poster contests, speech contests and interview and resume programs. On top of that, they have the fitting and showmanship competitions.

In the fitting contest, the kids get into teams of four. They present the calf and are judged, then quizzed about what they wanted to accomplished by fitting their animal.

It is all about making these animals look sharp, Dybdal said.

Dybdal said there are young people at this weeks show that he first met when he attended his first junior national show 13 years ago.

It is all about meeting new people, networking and getting involved in your industry, he said. That is huge because you can better market yourself and your animals.

Dybdal now attends the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he is studying agricultural economics with an animal science minor. My plan is to eventually come back home and run the farm, he said.

Cody Jedlicka, 11, of Missouri, has literally been coming to the Junior National Charolais Show all of his life.

I went the first year I was born, Jedlicka said. My sister was showing cattle. My cousin was also showing. It was in California. I attended the show here in Grand Island five years ago.

His family operates a purebred Charolais operation.

This first time I showed, I was 4, Jedlicka said. I had a Charolais bucket calf at the country fair in Howell County.

For Jedlicka, the junior national show is an opportunity for him to develop friendships with other kids associated with the Charolais breed. Being able to know that there are people that I know in the breed is important to me, he said.

It has been non-stop since Jedlicka and his family arrived in Grand Island on Sunday. As soon as we got here, I helped unload the cattle and then we started going to our contest, he said.

The show continues through Friday at Fonner Park. For a show schedule, visit charolaisusa.com.
The Regional Planning Commission will decide whether to forward a blighted and substandard study for an area of Howard Street to the Grand Island City Council at a special meeting at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.

The blighted and substandard study is for 0.74 acres of property in proposed Community Redevelopment Area No. 24 in lots 1, 2 and 3 of Westview Subdivision and adjacent buildings located at 701, 711 and 715 N. Howard. The study was commissioned by TAM LLC.

It is on Howard Street, just north of Faidley, right across the street from the hospital, said Regional Planning Director Chad Nabity. It is a little micro-blight area that we discussed on May 23 (at the City Council meeting).

Nabity added there is one house and an outbuilding on the property. According to information provided in the meeting agenda packet, blighted conditions of the study area include:

- 100 percent of sidewalks in a deteriorating condition.

- 100 percent of the curb and gutter along Howard Avenue in a deteriorating condition.

- 100 percent of the alley is unpaved and is dirt/gravel.

- One-half of unimproved property over 40 years old.

It certainly meets the qualifications to be considered blighted and substandard if council wants to do that, Nabity said.

Nabity added that the reason for the special meeting on the study is because the item was supposed to be on the agenda for the June 7 Regional Planning Commission meeting, but was mistakenly omitted. A special meeting is needed as the commission needs to consider forwarding the study to City Council before the councils Tuesday (June 27) meeting.

If the Regional Planning Commission votes to forward the redevelopment plan to the council and it is approved, Nabity expects an application for tax-increment financing to be brought forward.

In other news, former commission member John Hoggatt submitted a letter of resignation to Grand Island Mayor Jeremy Jensen since the last Regional Planning Commission meeting, according to the minutes of the June 7 meeting. Nabity said Hoggatt resigned because he took a job in Kearney and moved there.

Jensen said there is an appointment application online for those wish to serve on a board or commission to fill out. He said City Clerk ReNae Edwards keeps these applications on file and when a vacancy comes up, he will visit with her to appoint a replacement.

Jensen said he will also consult with department directors  in this case Nabity  about the open position to to get their feedback and see if they have anyone in mind.

As we come up with a name, we will ask how the fit will be with the group, he said. Do they have the knowledge that is going to be an asset for this particular group? From that point, then, it is just a matter of approving it with the person (that will be appointed), making sure we have the proper documentation and putting it on the council agenda for approval.

Jensen said he plans to appoint Hoggatts replacement within the next week.

I visited with Chad and we actually have somebody in mind that I know we will be talking with, Jensen said. It is somebody that applied previously. We need to make sure we get moving on that to make sure weve got adequate numbers to make sure we have quorum for their meetings.
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.
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Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 08:20 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a617d07 4 Editorial #Editorial,#IdulFitri,#IdulFitriExodus,Idul-Fitri,Idul-Fitri-2017,idul-fitri-exodus,#Ramadhan,#Ramadhan2017,Ramadhan-2017,Transportation,safety Free

About 29 million people will be traveling to their hometowns starting early this week to celebrate the Idul Fitri holidays, a 6.8 percent increase over last years 26.36 million. Of that figure, 19 million are using public transportation.

For many, especially those working far from home, going home for Idul Fitri is necessary not only to reunite with parents, but most importantly to ask for their forgiveness.

A healthier economy and better intercity connectivity have triggered an increase in the number of travelers. This definitely causes a headache for the government to make sure that the exodus is less troublesome.

The Transportation Ministry records that out of the 29 million people, some 6 million will use motorcycles, a slight difference from the 5.4 million who prefer to fly. The rest are using buses, private cars, ferries and trains.

Despite controversy about the safety of long-distance journeys on motorcycles, as well as the governments attempt to persuade people to opt for safer modes of transportation, for many, motorcycles are the only choice.

The police have warned motorcyclists of the high number of traffic accidents.

Some ministries and private companies even encourage motorcyclists to send their motorbikes ahead of them free of charge because of safety concerns.

People argue they need their motorcycles to travel in their hometowns from one family to another and they are cheaper than other transportation services. Toll roads make trips easier for private car users and bus passengers.

However, the government must learn from last years so-called Brexit tragedy when heat and severe congestion in the Brebes exit toll gate caused at least a dozen people to die from exhaustion.

As the Transportation Ministry estimates that the number of cars will total almost 3.5 million, a half million higher than last year, the police, relevant ministries, local administrations, toll road operators and the military must work hand-in-hand to avoid a similar disaster.

The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry has sped up completion of the remaining section of the Pantura (northern coast) toll road connecting Pejagan and Semarang, which is 145 kilometers long, so that it will be ready for the exodus.

Pertamina has ensured the public that fuel supplies  especially during the exodus peak time  will not be disrupted despite fears that the strike on Monday involving thousands of tanker truck drivers would continue to affect operations around the holiday. Workers are mainly demanding permanent employee status.

Going home for Idul Fitri is not only about chaotic traffic along the Pantura. Like it or not, these travelers boost the economies along the road and especially in their hometowns. After working hard in cities where they live, they are willing to spend a lot back home. As a tradition, it is impossible to ban these people from (homecoming).

As Idul Fitri is approaching, travelers should pay more attention to road safety so that they can reach home and gather with families. After all, that is the main goal of homecoming.
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Linkedin Tutik Rachmawati (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 15:09 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a62a6df 3 Opinion procurements,corruption-case,social-cause,corruption,infrastructure-project Free

Accountability in public budgeting is such a difficult thing to be conducted. This difficulty roots in the characteristic of public budgeting that those who pay the bills are not the ones who make the final decisions on how the money is to be spent. The decisions on the spending are then carried out by parliaments as the community representatives. This is also the very reason as to why public budgeting is politics. The separation of payer (community) and decider (legislative and executive power holders) (Rubin, 2000) creates difficulty in providing accountability in the use of public monies, how to make sure that every cent is spent as agreed and to report accurately to the public on how money was spent.

According to the latest finding by Indonesian Corruption Watch 56 percent (33 out of 59) corruption cases during 2002  2007 are in public (goods & services) procurement. Further, in 2007 procurement agency is among the 60 percent of suspects of corruption.

Further, by November 2016, out of 366 of corruption cases, 142 cases (30percent) were related to procurement. As a response to the problem of accountability in the public monies use, initiatives such as participatory budgeting is thought as providing greater role of the community in the planning. Likewise, opentender.net provides more chances for community to monitor the public monies use. It is hoped that these two initiatives reduced the occurrences of corruption cases.

Participatory budgeting is intended to make sure that accountability takes place prior to budget decision. This is done by involving all members of the community to brainstorm ideas on what kind of project development they need, and further to decide how much tax money will go for that project.

Participatory budgeting is considered as the re-invention of democracy as community finding back their right by deciding (through voting) which project development they think will benefit most people in the community.

On the other hand, opentender.net provide an early warning system for corruption detection. Through opentender.net community and other parties will be able to see how much tax monies are spent on what kind of projects procured to private sectors and which enterprise or business entities win the project.

In regards to the enterprise, institution or any business entities that win the procurement, researchers have been providing proves that even small and medium enterprises are hardly winning the procurement. In fact, winning the procurement does not always mean certain enterprises are having the ability to do the projects being procured. Many factors define the winner of the projects being procured and most of these factors are political.

In the other side of the world, the United Kingdom has started an approach to social economy betterment so-called The Public Services (Social Value Act (http://www.socialvalueuk.org/) in 31 January 2013. The Public Services (Social Value) Act requires people who commission public services to think about how they can secure wider social, economic and environmental benefits. It is intended to get more value for money out of procurement. Further, it encourages commissioners to talk to their local provider market or community to design better services, often finding new and innovative solutions to difficult problems.

Within the UK, this social value act has been implemented by city councils across the country. In cities such as Liverpool social value act is embedded in public procurement. This will mean that the government incorporates social values as one of the requirements for any agencies enroll in procurement of public works or public services provision. Social value may contribute the better use of public monies for it emphasize not only efficient use of public monies but also effective public procurement. The goal of obligatory inclusion of social values in public procurement is value for money and further deeper and greater social values, hence reducing the corruption occurrences in public procurement.

Social values based procurement will provide greater opportunities to social enterprise. Social enterprise is understood as business with social purpose, and this social purpose is embedded in the provision of works and services provided by the government. Social enterprise has three distinctive characteristics. First, it has social mission core to their purpose.

Second, it generates the majority of their income through trade in which revenues mainly from goods and services provide not grants or donations. Third, it reinvests the majority of their profits toward the social mission. These three characteristics make social enterprise a perfect candidate of the winner of social values based procurement.

One of fine example is Bulky Bobs in Liverpool City. Bulky Bobs is a social enterprise under the name of FRC Group and has social purpose of ending furniture poverty. Through Bulky Bobs, FRC has work in partnership with the government by winning the social values based procurement, in providing services of free unwanted bulky household item collection without which will end up in landfill site as wastes.

Through the social value based procurement, any public work or public services will be no longer prone to corruption. In traditional public procurement, the winning organization or enterprise is aiming only on the economy of the work or the services, hence easy targets for corruption. However, social value based procurement will give way to social enterprises to play their role in providing services, in which the profit will be reinvested into their social purpose, not the personal or solely enterprise profit. Re-investment to the social purpose will be a solution to the corruption in procurement. In Government of Indonesia, brace yourself, there are many social enterprises in Indonesia at this moment.

---------------

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 Elin McCoy (Bloomberg)  Wed, June 21, 2017 09:03 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a618c80 2 Food wine,food,#food Free

The worst wine and food combo Ive ever tasted was a soft, gooey-textured Krispy Kreme doughnut coated in a sugary glaze with a decadent, opulent 1975 Chateau dYquem. They were both delicious on their own; the problem was that the doughnut was way sweeter than the wine. The Bordeauxs fabled lusciousness came across as battery acid.

I tried it because I was at a dinner honoring a noted wine collector, and it was his personal favorite pairing. You know what else it was? Proof that even serious wine lovers make serious errors when matching food with wine.

Curious about the mistakes we all make, I quizzed a half-dozen sommeliers, who spend their time trying to suggest the best pairings to their customers, about the most common goofs. Even though all of them had strong opinions about the subject, they were anxious not to criticize their customers choices.

After all, one told me, its hard to describe any food and wine pairings as purely disastrous. We each bring our own taste buds to the table, and the biochemical processes that combine to create the thought, Hey, this wine goes great with pepperoni pizza, are highly individual. Still, there are some general principles.

Read also: Drinking wine a form of exercise, study says

Here are the six mistakes they say many people make.

Insisting on only white wine with fish

Aldo Sohm, the chief sommelier at three-star Michelin restaurant Le Bernardin, dreams up unusual food and wine pairings while jogging on Manhattans Upper West Side. Imagining what will go with what is always on his mind, which is a thing youd expect from someone once named "Best Sommelier in the World."

Fish reigns at the restaurant, and Sohm said some customers still think they have to order white with every fish dish. You dont, he said. You can often do a red. It all depends on the sauce. Look at the menu first and read the description. (Or, I might add, ask the sommelier for advice.) Sohm admitted, however, that a muscle-bound California red such as Screaming Eagle isnt the ideal choice to accompany the delicate fish on Le Bernardins menu. So choose with care.

Read also: China is building a Disney World for wine

Serving champagne with wedding cakeor any kind of sweet dessert

June is the big wedding month, and at many nuptial dinners, brut Champagne will be sipped with sweet, frosted cake as guests toast the bride and groom. That match is going to be a bad marriage, sighed master sommelier Evan Goldstein, who has written two books on food and wine pairing and is president of Full Circle Wine Solutions. The tartness of the wine will clash with the sweetness of the cake, he said. The wine will taste even more acidic, like lemon juice. The solution? Serve a light sweet Italian moscato or prosecco with the cake. Serve Champagne as an aperitif.

Choosing rose as a compromise wine

Master sommelier Ronan Sayburn has worked as executive head somm for the Gordon Ramsay Group and luxury hotel chains, and now oversees wine at exclusive London wine club 67 Pall Mall. Working as a sommelier, you often see some bad choices, like martinis or cosmopolitans drunk with an entire meal, he complained. (I imagine his shudder.) But his personal bugbear is that many diners opt for rose when one person has ordered fish and the other a steak.

They think it will match both, he said, but it wont go with either one. Instead, consult the by-the-glass list so you each can order something appropriate.

Read also: New research shows how red wine may protect neurons

Always drinking red wine with cheese

A common mistake among diners at New Yorks Restaurant Daniel, said Raj Vaidya, the head sommelier, is finishing a dinner red with the cheese course.

Very few reds can balance out the tart acidity of most goats milk cheeses, especially those coated in ash or herbs, he explained. Theyre better with Champagne or chenin blanc. A rich, cows milk triple-cream cheese needs a round, creamy white Burgundy that complements its texture, not a tannic cabernet or syrah. If you want to sip red, Vaidya recommends choosing aged cheddar or mimolette, which are less tart and have chewier textures.

Ignoring the structure of the wine and food

Master somm Pascaline Lepeltier heads up the wine program at Rouge Tomate, whose list just won the World of Fine Wines award for the best long wine list in the world, believes pairing is a highly complex subject. People wrongly focus on flavors and aromas when choosing a wine with their food, she said.

Its more important to match the fat, acid, sweetness, and texture in the dish with the acid, alcohol, tannins, and sweetness of the wine. If you mix a highly spicy dish awash in barbecue sauce with a high-alcohol wine, she explained, the flavors may match, but the hot spice will enhance the alcohol and make the wine taste almost burnt. To tame the spice, pick a slightly sweet white.

Read also: The perfect match: How to find the right culinary pairing for your favorite wine

Believing there is one perfect wine for a dish

U.K.-based Fiona Beckett is the mastermind behind one of the bestand most sensiblewine and food pairing sites: matchingfoodandwine.com. She pointed out that people have different palates yet still think there are hard and fast ideal combinations. People like to say sauvignon blanc is the best match for goat cheese, she said, but what if youre not a fan of sauvignon blanc? There need to be options.

Her view is that matching wine and food is like cooking: If a fruit goes with an ingredient (such as cherries with duck) a wine that includes those flavors, like pinot noir, will work, too. How a dish is cooked, not the base ingredient, should the starting point when selecting a wine.
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Linkedin Jessicha Valentina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 13:03 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a622af3 1 Science & Tech mudik,#mudik,Kudo,Communications-and-Information-Ministry,Idul-Fitri,#IdulFitri,Idul-Fitri-2017,idul-fitri-exodus,#IdulFitriExodus,application,technology,#technology Free

The Communications and Information Ministry launched an integrated homecoming application on Thursday.

Dubbed Ayo Mudik, the app was developed in collaboration with tech start-up company Kudo.

Available at Google PlayStore, Ayo Mudik aims to accommodate travelers during mudik (the annual exodus homecoming) period by providing them with important information, such as routes, support facilities and congested areas.

Read also: Six tips to stay safe during mudik

On the map-based application, travelers can also check the details of the nearest police stations, healthcare facilities, gas stations, mosques, ATMs and the latest traffic updates.

Dubbed Ayo Mudik, the app was developed in collaboration with tech start-up company Kudo.(Kudo/File)

Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said in a press release that Ayo Mudiks content was supported by various parties, including the Transportation Ministry, Health Ministry, state-owned energy company Pertamina, state-owned toll road operator Jasa Marga, police, telecommunications companies, internet service providers and more.

Rudiantara also mentioned that Ayo Mudik was developed by Kudos team of developers in less than a month.

Meanwhile, Kudo CEO and co-founder Albert Lucius expressed his hope that the application would help travelers have an easy mudik journey. (asw)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 11:08 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a61ba41 1 Food Korea,instant-noodle,halal-food,pork,samyang,Nongshim,BPOM,South-Korea Free

Along with the wave of Korean pop culture that brought music, TV series, fashion trends and makeup to Indonesian audiences, Korean cuisine is making headway in popularity, including packaged food products.

Scenes in Korean drama programs in which characters enjoy a bowl of noodles have inspired some viewers to do the same.

On social media, the "Samyang Challenge" trend quickly took hold, which saw people devouring the South Korean spicy "fire noodles" as fast as they could.

The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), however, recently announced that several Korean instant noodles contained pork without displaying a clear label, despite a 2016 regulation stipulating the requirement.

The agency has subsequently revoked the distribution licenses for four instant noodles products, including Samyang's U-Dong and Kimchi-flavored instant noodles, Nongshims's Shin Ramyun Black instant noodles and Ottogi's Yeul Ramen.

Here are three tips to ensure Korean food is halal, as compiled by Antara news agency.

Spot the halal logo

Several products are clearly labelled halal by displaying a logo depicting a green and white image of a mosque and the word "HALAL."

Samyang's spicy Buldak used for the Samyang Challenge has a halal and non-halal version. Samyang Buldak products that do not contain the halal logo are presumed to be haram, according to Instagram account @jeomsimid, or Jeomsim ID, which imports Korean products into Indonesia.

Read also: 5 Korean restaurants in Jakarta to try this weekend

Read the food label

It may be useful to learn some written Korean words to make sure of the food composition, which may not all be translated into Indonesian or English on imported products, according to Jeomsim ID.

"I always avoid the words   (dwaeji gogi) [which means] pork and (sul) [which means] alcohol," said Hafifah Rizky, a fan of Korean food.

In addition to pork and alcohol, ensure that there is no  (donji), or lard, written on the back of the packaging. Some dessert products may also contain gelatin, which is made from pig parts.

Get help from technology

An application called Halal Korea, available for Android and iOS devices, helps ensure that food is halal, which works by scanning the barcode of a South Korean product.

Users can choose from various filters to be detected, including halal certification, artificial ingredients, alcohol, pork and pork derivatives.

The scan gives a green display when the ingredients are safe to eat and red when there is any undesirable ingredient.

The application is also able to notify the user if the food is produced in a factory where other food products that are not halal are also processed, which could leave undesired traces.

Products that do not contain pork may also be marked "contains traces of pork" by the application, according to Antara news agency. (liz/kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 16:51 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a633813 1 National KPK,Handang-Soekarno,taxation,corruption Free

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors have demanded senior tax officer, Handang Soekarno, be sentenced to 15 years behind bars for allegedly accepting bribes from a businessman who asked for his favor to evade paying taxes.

Court evidence has convinced us that the defendant accepted bribes in this tax evasion case, prosecutor Ali Fikri told the Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday.

The prosecutors also demanded that Handang be fined Rp 750 million (roughly US$58,000).

Handang has been charged with accepting bribes from businessman Ramapanicker Rajamohanan Nair, a former director of Jakarta-based export firm PT EK Prima Ekspor Indonesia. He was said to have promised Handang Rp 6 billion in a purported attempt to dodge his companys tax obligations amounting to Rp 78 billion.

KPK caught Handang accepting $148,500 cash from Nair on Nov. 21. The court found Nain guilty and sentenced him to three years in prison in April.

The bribery case has attracted public attention as it has implicated a relative of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, businessman Arif Budi Sulistyo. Arif testified as a witness in Nairs trial in April, where he acknowledged he was a business partner of Nain, but he denied being involved in the bribery. (kuk/ary)
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Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar, Bali  Wed, June 21, 2017 22:33 1968 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a63d8a4 1 National Obama,bali,BarackObama,Barack-Obama,Michelle-Obama Free

Former US President Barack Obama is expected to spend a five-day vacation in Bali before he departs for Yogyakarta and Jakarta. He will reportedly be accompanied by his wife Michelle, their daughters Malia and Sasha, and other Obama family members. He will also bring several special staff members on the vacation.

Ninth regional military command (Kodam IX) Udayana commander Maj. Gen.Komarudin Simanjuntak said his team was ready to safeguard Obamas visit to Bali. However, he further said the military command did not have a security operation command for the visit.

As of now, we have not yet received any official notification. However, we have heard about that [Obamas vacation plan], said Komarudin.

Citing unofficial information he had received, Komarudin said Obama would arrive in Bali on June 23 and vacation with his family on the island until June 28. We havent been invited to attend any meetings related to the visit, however, he said.

Komarudin added that he did not yet know where Obama would stay during his vacation to Bali. In which part of Bali he will stay  Gianyar, Kuta or Nusa Dua  I dont know yet, he said. .

Komarudin emphasized they were ready to safeguard Obama's visit. "The Army, especially VVIP security personnel, never choose days. The Army has always been trained to face any situation. So, once he [Obama] says we will go to Bali, thats the time for us to work," he said. (ebf)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 19:07 1968 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a63c257 1 City drug-smuggling,woman,soekarno-hatta-airport Free

Officers from the Customs and Excise Office at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have arrested a Chinese woman, identified as JWY, for allegedly hiding crystal methamphetamine inside her sanitary napkin.

It is reported that the woman arrived at the airport from Kuala Lumpur. When she had to pass a security check, she was found to have inserted 5 grams of meth in the napkin she was wearing.

"A body check procedure also resulted in the discovery of four ecstasy pills inside her shoes," said the head of the office, Erwin Situmorang, in a press conference on Wednesday as reported by kompas.com.

JWY had intended to deliver the drugs to a man, identified as LD, at a night club in North Jakarta, Erwin said.

With this information, the officers then arrested LD and two other men, identified as FDD and CCY, at the club.

"We found ketamine powder [an anesthetic drug that can cause trance-like effects] and two pills of [nimetazepam] happy five," said Erwin. (agn)
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Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 17:11 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a634b1b 1 National Bela-Negara,defense-cooperation,Ryamizard-Ryacudu Free

In efforts to promote the state defense program to a wider audience, the Defense Ministry has teamed up with several government institutions and civil organizations.

The ministry signed a cooperation agreement with the Law and Human Right Ministry, the Education and Culture Ministry, the Social Affairs Ministry, the Communications and Information Ministry and dozens of community groups on Wednesday regarding the campaign that encourages all civilians, particularly children, to love the Republic of Indonesia and be willing to defend national unity.

Children must be taught to be proud of and to love the country as early as possible, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu told a gathering at the Defense Ministry during the signing ceremony.

The ceremony also included a launching of two nationalist children songs, Aku Bangga Jadi Anak Indonesia (I Am Proud to Be Indonesian Children) and Kau dan Aku Indonesia (You and I are Indonesians).

Bela negara (state defense) is not military conscription. It is not even militarism, Ryamizard emphasized in a gesture to respond to criticism against the program.

The state defense program has raised opposition from civil society organizations as the ministry includes training in military skills for civilians participating in the program. (dmr)
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Linkedin Ika Krismantari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 12:29 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a621067 1 Business Garuda-Indonesia,AirlineRatings,Indonesia,Skytrax Free

Indonesias flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has won the worlds best airline staff award for the fourth year in a row according to a survey conducted by international rating organization Skytrax.

Garuda Indonesia took first spot in the category at this years World Airline Awards, dubbed as the Oscars of the aviation industry, beating other prestigious airlines in the region such as Singapore Airlines and Thai Airlines.

In the same category, Japans largest airline All Nippon Airways came second, followed by Taiwan-based international airline Eva Air and Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines. The awards were announced at the Paris Air Show yesterday.

According to Skytrax, the award recognizes the highest all-around performance of an airlines cabin staff as well as the quality of staff members techniques and efficiency and their enthusiasm, attitude and overall hospitality.

The survey was conducted from August 2016 to May 2017, involving 19.8 million votes.

This year, Garuda Indonesia improved its position in the best airline category, climbing one spot to enter the top ten carriers on the worlds best airline list.

The worlds best airline award for 2017 went to Qatar Airways, which took the title from fellow Middle Eastern carrier Emirates. (ika)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie and Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 18:10 1968 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a637ced 1 National Golkar,GolkarParty,KPK,graft,corruption,setya-novanto,Bengkulu,Bengkulu-Governor-Ridwan-Mukti Free

The Golkar Party has pledged to support the Corruption Eradication Commissions (KPK) investigation into alleged bribery implicating Bengkulu Governor Ridwan Mukti, a member of Golkar.

Responding to Ridwans arrest on Tuesday, Golkar chairman Setya Novanto said he fully backed the legal process against the partys cadre, who was reportedly offered Rp 1 billion (US$75,000) in bribes from businessmen.

Setya said he respected Ridwans move to resign from his position as governor, saying it was the best decision for the sake of the KPKs investigation.

We entrust [the handling of] the case to the KPK as we are upholding the supremacy of the law. Golkar will give legal assistance that may significantly help the investigation, Setya said on Wednesday.

Setya, who is also the speaker of the House of Representatives, went on to remind cadres to refrain from engaging in corruption and nepotism, the same message Golkar executives delivered during the partys national leadership meeting on May 21-23 in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.

Ridwan, who was arrested on Tuesday alongside his wife Lily Maddari, is the third Bengkulu governor to be arrested by the KPK over corruption allegations. (ebf)
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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 17:23 1968 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a636541 1 City city-budget,budget-ceiling Free

The Jakarta administration has agreed to include all the programs of governor-elect Anies Baswedan in the 2018 budget, the documents of which have been sent to the City Council.

Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head Tuty Kusumawati said that after deliberation, the executives agreed to include all Anies programs in the 2,000 activities that will require Rp 74 trillion (US$ 5.5 billion) next year.

The budget allocations are to support them," Tuty said on Wednesday.

The sum was higher than the city's 2017 budget, which was agreed at Rp 70.1 trillion.

The deliberation results had been listed in the city's budget priorities (KUA-PPAS) document, Tuty added.

"The documents were handed to the councilors on Jun 16," she said. "However, we dont yet know when the councilors will deliberate the budget with us."

Tuty said she hoped that the city officials could discuss the issue with the councilors soon so that it could be agreed by the end of July.

In 2017, she said, the budget was mostly allocated for the Education Agency, the Transportation Agency, and the Health Agency.

Separately, City Council deputy speaker Triwisaksana denied having received the budget documents.

Hence, he added, they had yet to learn when the council would meet with the executives to discuss the documents.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Bogor  Wed, June 21, 2017 14:23 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a626adb 4 National Jokowi,birthday,bogor Free

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo distributed 3,000 packages of staple goods to residents in Ciawi village, South Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday as part of his 56th birthday celebrations.

Accompanied by his wife and children, as well as Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Jokowi arrived at the location at 8:54 a.m. and was welcomed by thousands of residents holding the staple goods coupons.

He handed over the staple goods and even shook hands with some of the residents, who enthusiastically greeted him, some even shouting "Happy birthday Pak [Mr.] Jokowi."

"Thank you, Pak Jokowi for the presents. I have not checked the contents yet, but thank you pak and happy birthday," a 45-year-old woman named Puji said as quoted by tempo.co.

After Ciawi village, Jokowi was also scheduled to hand over packages of staple goods in Caringin village, also in Bogor.

Jokowi, the seventh president of Indonesia, was born on June 21, 1961, in Surakarta, Central Java. (yon/dmr)

Topics : Jokowi birthday bogor
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Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 13:40 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a624c71 1 Politics DonaldTrump,Jokowi,bilateral-meeting,US,Indonesia,Indonesia-US-relations Free

President Joko Jokowi Widodo is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with President of the United States Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany next month.

Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said on Wednesday that she and US Foreign Minister Rex Tillerson had talked in a phone call on Tuesday night related to the bilateral meeting.

President Jokowi and President Trump are expected to talk about several issues including the terrorism threat, Retno told reporters.

She added that Tillerson also told her that Trump was very impressed with a speech delivered by Jokowi at the Arab Islamic American Summit in May, in which he emphasized the importance of a soft approach in the fight against terrorism.

Therefore, President Trump is hoping to follow up the speech as well as open possibilities of cooperation in counterterrorism action, Retno continued.

Nineteen country leaders, two European Union leaders and nine invited guest country leaders are scheduled to meet at the upcoming G20 Summit in Hamburg from July 7 to July 8. (dmr)
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Linkedin Aman Rochman (The Jakarta Post) Malang, East Java  Wed, June 21, 2017 17:45 1968 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6370bb 1 National Malang,brawijaya-university,mechanical-engineering,invention Free

Asri Anjani and Prayogo Bintang, mechanical engineering students of the University of Brawijaya in Malang, East Java, have created a device they claim is capable of preventing road accidents caused by drowsy drivers.

The device uses a heart rate sensor, which is put on a drivers wrist, and another panel placed on the bottom of the driver, which will vibrate and squeeze the user if he or she is detected becoming drowsy.

Human heart pulse is 80 bpm [beats per minute] or below when sleeping. The device detects if the heart pulse is approaching that rate, Asri said while conducting a test of the device at the universitys campus on Wednesday.

Asri Anjani (right), a mechanical engineering student from the Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java, examines the driver drowsiness detection device she and fellow student Prayogo Bintang have invented, in Malang on Wednesday, June 21. (The Jakarta Post/Aman Rochman)

The students said they created the device due to concerns over the high rate of accidents involving cars and motorcycles.

She said the device could be very useful especially for motorists on long journeys such as those currently on the Idul Fitri exodus.

We did not use an electrical shock to alert the driver because that could surprise the driver, she said.

Read also: Malang students create eco-friendly plastic from banana peel

She said they were still finalizing the ideal shape of the wrist sensor and the bottom panel, to make the product more practical and comfortable to wear.

Bintang said they planned to file a patent application for the device. They also plan to enter their invention into competition during the upcoming National Student Science Week (Pimnas). (bbs)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21 2017

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian has said that with Idul Fitri just around the corner, the force is heightening security measures over possible terrorist attacks.

He said he had ordered all police personnel to watch out for terrorist networks, especially 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.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 17:49 1968 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a637968 1 National novel,novel-baswedan,National-Police,national-police-chief,Tito-Karnavian,KPK,graft,corruption Free

The National Police are hoping that the help of a key witness to the acid attack against Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan will reveal the real perpetrators behind the heinous crime.

National Police spokesperson Insp.Gen. Setyo Wasisto said investigators still needed to probe further into the testimony of the witness, who they believe will be helpful in uncovering Novels attacker.

Setyo has refused to reveal the identity of the witness.

He believes the witness can describe the physical characteristics of the perpetrator, who remains unknown. The witness directly saw the attack committed against Novel on April 11.

[The testimony] will be followed up by the National Polices Inafis [Indonesia Automatic Fingerprint Identification System] personnel to sketch what the face of the perpetrator might look like, Setyo said as quoted by Kompas.com on Wednesday.

From the sketch, we might get a fuller picture [of the perpetrator], he added.

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian earlier said there was a new witness who had directly observed the acid attack against Novel. The key witness is now under the police protection for safety reasons. (afr/ebf)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 17:27 1968 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a636a7c 1 City armed-robbery,West-Jakarta,Davidson-Tantono Free

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochamad Iriawan has said the police have arrested seven out of 11 members of the armed robbery group behind the deadly shooting of a bank customer at the Daan Mogot filling station in West Jakarta on June 9.

We are still hunting down four other suspects to settle this case, Iriawan said Wednesday.

According to Iriawan, the armed robbers, dubbed by local media outlets as Jakartas Oceans Eleven, are on the polices wanted list. The gang often targets bank customers.

They have committed 24 robberies in separate locations so far. Some in West Java, Jakarta and Bogor, Iriawan said.

Police have arrested seven suspects, DTK, TP, M, RCL, NZR, IR and SF. The last two were shot dead upon their arrest.

The robbery went viral minutes after the incident with eyewitnesses circulating video footage and photos of the victim, Davidson Tantono, 31. The robbery took place in broad day light on the busy Jl. Raya Daan Mogot. (dmr)
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Riyadh  Wed, June 21, 2017 13:20 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a622e69 2 World Saudi-Arabia,King-Salman-Abdulaziz-Al-Saud,Prince Free

Saudi King Salman ousted his nephew as crown prince on Wednesday and installed his son Mohammed bin Salman -- the first of a new generation set for power in a conservative kingdom used to ageing leaders.

His appointment completes a gradual removal of powers from Mohammed bin Nayef, 57, who has been fired, with his rise symbolising the hopes of Saudi's youthful population, more than half of which is under 25.

According to a royal decree issued by the official Saudi Press Agency, Mohammed bin Salman, 31, was also named deputy prime minister, and maintains his post as minister of defence.

His appointment caps a tumultuous two years since Salman, 81, ascended the throne and named the thick-bearded Mohammed bin Salman deputy crown prince, or second in line to the throne.

Mohammed bin Nayef, a veteran law enforcer well-regarded in the West for his efforts to combat Al-Qaeda, was also fired from his post as interior minister, the decree said.

The hard-charging Mohammed bin Salman's public profile rapidly eclipsed that of the crown prince.

Salman had already set a precedent for removal of a crown prince when, in April 2015, he appointed Mohammed bin Nayef and fired Prince Moqren bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud, who had assumed the post under the late King Abdullah.

The move left Mohammed bin Nayef as the first of the second generation, or grandsons of the kingdom's founder, Abdul Aziz bin Saud, in line to lead the Islamic kingdom.

With Mohammed bin Salman now poised for the throne, an even younger generation is set for power.

As deputy crown prince, he took on an unusual amount of responsibility, most prominently as the main proponent of a wide-ranging plan, Vision 2030, to bring social and economic change to the oil-dependent economy of a country where women's rights are among the most restricted in the world.

He also chaired the Council of Economic and Development Affairs which coordinates economic policy, and oversaw a body overseeing state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

It was not immediately clear if Mohammed bin Salman would continue in those roles.

As defence minister he holds overall responsibility for the kingdom's military intervention in Yemen. Saudi Arabia leads a coalition supporting the internationally-recognised Yemeni government against Iran-backed rebels.

A foreign diplomat had told AFP on Tuesday that Mohammed bin Nayef was politically "getting weaker, more marginalised", after continuous chipping away at his powers and influence.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 17:13 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a635837 4 National sniper,Idul-Fitri-2017,#IdulFitriExodus Free

East Java's Jember Police has deployed snipers from the East Java Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) Corps to secure the routes around Mount Gumitir, on the border between Jember and Bayuwangi, during the Idul Fitri exodus.

We have prepared [snipers] to anticipate bajing loncat [highway robbers], who have been active in the area since four years ago. Besides, the area is mountainous and quite susceptible to crime, Jember Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Kusworo Wibowo said, as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.

The police and related authorities have also prepared heavy equipment to anticipate natural disasters, especially in areas prone to landslides located along the border of Jember and Bayuwangi, Kusworo added.

We strive to do our best to secure the travelers journey until they arrive at their respective destinations, Kusworo said, adding that he hoped the police measures would protect all people traveling during the homebound exodus season.

The Transportation Ministry has predicted that during this year's exodus, the country would see a 4.8 percent surge in the number of people traveling by public transportation to 19.04 million. The homebound Idul Fitri exodus season has been under way since Monday. (afr)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 12:42 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6211dc 1 City #IdulFitriExodus,exodus,jakarta,Ramadhan-2017 Free

Even though Idul Fitri is still four days away, 62,729 Jakarta residents left the city from June 15 to June 19 to take part in the annual mudik (exodus) tradition to celebrate the end of Ramadhan in their hometowns.

The Jakarta Transportation Agency recorded that the residents were served by 4,321 buses departing from seven bus stations in Kampung Rambutan, Kalideres, Tanjung Priok, Muara Angke, Pinang Ranti, Lebak Bulus and Grogol.

Agency head Andri Yansyah advised the homebound travelers to check the official bus fares at ticket booths in each station.

"All fares should be processed through the ticket booth and passengers should be charged in accordance with the price ceiling," Andri said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

Andri said his agency would monitor the implementation of the price ceiling, while promising to impose sanctions on those selling fares higher than the ceiling. (cal/dmr)
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Linkedin Eric Newcomer (Bloomberg) San Francisco  Wed, June 21, 2017 14:04 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6252b9 2 Business Uber,CEO,investors,resignation Free

Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick has resigned, capping a series of controversies thatve rocked the worlds largest technology startup and exposed fundamental problems with its male-dominated culture.

The man most closely identified with the ride-hailing giants meteoric global ascent said he was ceding to investors wishes that he step aside, in part to avoid yet another conflict. Ubers been dogged by drama this year, from allegations of sexual harassment to the use of software to bypass regulators.

The outgoing CEO joins a string of departures, including head of business Emil Michael and President Jeff Jones. Kalanick admitted his leadership failings after Bloomberg posted a video showing the executive arguing with an Uber driver, an incident that helped shore up resentment among its chauffeurs. His departure comes weeks after the death of his mother in a boating accident.

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, Kalanick said in a statement. He will remain on the board of directors, Uber said separately.

Kalanicks resignation was reported earlier by the New York Times.

As Ubers public face, Kalanick has embodied the startups success. Earlier this month, he told staff of plans for a leave of absence, leaving the company to be run by a management committee.

This month, the company shared the recommendations of an investigation it commissioned into workplace culture problems by the law firm of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. More than 20 people were fired as part of a separate probe by another firm.

Despite recent turmoil, Ubers business is growing. Revenue increased to $3.4 billion in the first quarter, while losses narrowed -- though they remain substantial at $708 million. Kalanick remains a billionaire given his stake in the company, with a net worth of $6.7 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Uber itself has been valued at $69 billion.

The company has sought to head off a defection of drivers by adding a function to its app that lets customers provide tips, a feature that has long been offered by main U.S. rival Lyft Inc. The company has also said it would start compensating drivers for trips canceled more than two minutes after booking and offer new insurance plans. Garrett Camp, an Uber founder and board member, wrote an email to employees Tuesday, trying to shore up morale.

This is a bold decision and a sign of his devotion and love for Uber, Ubers board of directors said in an emailed statement about Kalanick. By stepping away, hes taking the time to heal from his personal tragedy while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Ubers history.

Topics : Uber CEO investors resignation
People looking to exchange their money for newly printed bills wait in long queues at a Bank Indonesia (BI) exchange center in Vantenburg Fort, Surakarta, Central Java, on Tuesday. As demand increased on the last day of the service, BI only allowed the exchange of a maximum of Rp 4.4 million (US$331) per person. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)(BI) exchange center in Vantenburg Fort, Surakarta, Central Java, on Tuesday. As demand increased on the last day of the service, BI only allowed the exchange of a maximum of Rp 4.4 million (US$331) per person. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
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Linkedin Melissa Lin (The Straits Times/Asia News Network) Singapore  Wed, June 21, 2017 07:03 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a617127 2 News Scoot,Airlines,#airlines,low-cost-carrier,Athens,Singapore,Singapore-Airlines Free

Low-cost carrier Scoot's first long-haul flight to Europe took off from Changi Airport at 2.45 a.m. on Tuesday, with 316 passengers on board.

The 111/2-hour flight to Athens, Greece on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the longest flight operated by Scoot, with the flight distance exceeding 10,000 km.

On board the inaugural flight was marketer Hendric Tay, 29, who was on his second trip to Greece.

"It's exciting that a low cost carrier is flying to Europe and finally Singaporeans can fly to Europe for cheap," he said.

Read also: Norwegian's Singapore-UK route a boon for Changi Airport

Scoot operates its Singapore-Athens route four times a week.

Scoot, a Singapore Airlines (SIA) subsidiary, had said the long-haul market will become a "significant part" of its network and in the next two to three years, it could triple its long-haul offerings.

Amid mounting competition, SIA has been expanding its budget operations through subsidiaries Scoot which operates medium- and long-haul flights, and Tigerair which operates shorter flights within the region.

Both budget carriers will soon be integrated under a common holding company, with Tigerair officially coming under the Scoot brand on July 25.

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  Wed, June 21, 2017 12:01 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6200a8 1 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Tourism-Ministry,Wonderful-Indonesia,France,research,university,tourism,#tourism Free

The Visit Indonesia Tourism Officer (VITO) in France was specially invited by the University of Angers to give a presentation on the Wonderful Indonesia tourism brand at the Tourism International Festival from June 15 to 17.

We feel honored; usually we have to pay to conduct a presentation at an international tourism marketing event, but this time we were actually invited to the event. The French people are interested in getting to know Indonesia, said the Tourism Ministry's deputy for overseas promotion, I Gde Pitana.

Read also: French tourists explore spiritualism on Java

Held for the first time by the university, Indonesia was invited as a guest country to participate in the festival.

Some of the activities during the festival included a discussion forum with Indonesian university lecturers, traditional dance and gamelan performances as well as an art market.

A conference about Indonesia was also held for three days in Angers city, Pitana added.

VITO's country manager for France, Eka Moncarre, said university students in France loved to explore and travel the world. Although they dont usually have a lot of money, they can be found working and save money for traveling, she said, adding that the students usually travel for two months, visiting undeveloped and adventurous destinations across the globe.

Read also: Reflections from a pilgrimage in Europe

These students are the biggest potential market for homestay projects in Indonesia because they prefer homestays over hotels, said Moncarre.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said France was among the top three European tourist markets, right after England, Sixty percent of French people who travel to Indonesia are from the outskirts of France, said Arief.

The number of French tourists coming to Indonesia increased by 20 percent last year, reaching 250, 921 visitors. This year, the ministry is targeting to attract at least 330,000 tourists from France. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 17:38 1968 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a636f8f 1 News Times-Square,Barack-Obama,tourism,travel,traveling,Tourism-Ministry,#travel,#tourism,#Obama Free

The Tourism Ministry is set to promote the archipelago's tourist destinations in Times Square in Manhattan, New York, during former US president Barack Obamas visit to Indonesia.

Obama is set to deliver a keynote address to the 4th Indonesian Diaspora Congress in Jakarta on July 1. He has also been invited to the Bogor Palace by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo prior to the congress.

Aside from that, the 44th US president will also reportedly enjoy a vacation in Indonesia.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya has said the ministry will boost the promotional material in Times Square when Obama arrives in Indonesia.

He said Times Square was considered a strategic place for marketing as at least 24 million foreign tourists visited the location each year.

Read also: Obama to enjoy nostalgic vacation in Indonesia

People from around the world gather there, he told kompas.com.

Similar types of promotional material were put on by the ministry during the visit of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Arief says 50 percent of the ministrys tourism promotion budget with Al-Jazeera was spent during King Salmans 11-day visit.

It was effective because there was a momentum, he said.

The ministry also placed three billboard advertisements promoting Indonesian tourism in Times Square in May. (mas/kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21, 2017 11:25 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a61c001 1 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,South-Sulawesi,Joko-Widodo,island,Jokowi-Island Free

They say a man is not an island but President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is apparently so admired that he has had an island named after him.

The regency of Selayar, South Sulawesi, has reportedly named an island "Jokowi Island" as a token of appreciation toward the president.

This is our form of appreciation. It isnt merely a tribute, the name also catches tourists attention, said Selayar Islands Regent Basli Ali.

Read also: Jokowi's personal chef shares President's favorite dishes

Regarding the island's development, the administration is set to partner with a business consortium to build a five-star hotel on Jokowi Island. The telecommunications network is currently being set up and will be directly connected to the neighboring regency, Jeneponto.

Apart from Jokowi Island, the Selayar Islands still has around 130 virgin islands.

Jokowi reportedly plans to visit the island in the near future. He is scheduled to visit Makassar, the capital city of South Sulawesi, to commemorate National Cooperative Day (Harkopnas) on July 12. (kes)
More than 75 years later, the remains of a Lakewood, NJ, U.S. serviceman from World War II have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today.

Machinists Mate 1st Class Earl R. Melton, 24, of Lakewood, New Jersey, will be buried June 28, in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Melton was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Melton.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nuuanu Cemeteries.

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Melton.

In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the NMCP for analysis.

To identify Meltons remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial, Y-chromosome Short Tandem Repeat and autosomal DNA analysis, which matched a niece and four nephews, as well as circumstantial evidence and laboratory analysis, to include dental comparisons, which matched Meltons records.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 73,052 service members (approximately 26,000 are assessed as possibly-recoverable) still unaccounted for from World War II.
A structural engineer working for Beth Hamedrash Hagadol says the fire-ravaged synagogue at 60 Norfolk St. is in dire condition, and saving even small portions of the Lower East Side landmark will require a lot of effort and more than a little luck. This assessment came during last nights meeting of Community Board 3s landmarks committee. The synagogue recently filed a request for demolition after the Department of Buildings determined the remaining structure is unstable.

Thomas McMahon, the synagogues consultant/attorney, opened the presentation by summarizing the unfortunate situation in the aftermath of a devastating May 14 fire, allegedly set by teenage boys. The blaze, he said, was tragic in many ways and has forced the demolition application because, McMahon explained, it is really a severely dangerous situation. The decaying building has been vacant for about a decade. In the days before the fire, said McMahon, the synagogue had been close to reaching a deal with a neighboring property owner, the Chinese American Planning Council, to finally restore the 167-year-old building and to build affordable housing.

Bryan Chester, a project manager at Howard L. Zimmerman Architects, then guided community board members through a grim report about the buildings current condition. He arrived on the scene the morning after the fire and was on site for about two weeks. The building, said Chester, is so unstable that inspectors were forced to evaluate it from a safe distance (photos and a man lift were used to inspect the facade). At the end of the day, he explained, we werent even able to get investigators all the way in to finish the investigation due to the instabilities.

There are certain portions of the building which just cannot be saved, said Chester. There are other sections that we are going to do our best to save, he added, but it wont be clear what, if anything, can be salvaged until the demolition crews go to work.

See selected slides from the presentation here:

The biggest concern is the stability of the two towers in front of the building. In some spots, said Chester, a single brick is holding up several feet of the tower above it. During the fire, the roof collapsed, taking out a lot of the synagogues masonry and ripping apart critical support infrastructure. Firefighters, for their own safety, knocked down unstable pieces of the building. Some of the stone, Chester said, came loose as workers put up a sidewalk safety shed around the site.

The north tower, said Chester, is in very severe condition and must be demolished. While the south tower looks more stable at first glance, he said, it is also in bad shape. As anyone can tell walking along Broome Street, the north side of the building is in tatters. The facade is largely gone and theres very little to be saved.

The rear of the building does look (to be) in relatively good condition, Chester reported, but he added, Its still not in great shape, and we wont really know the damage thats been done to that wall (until crews get a closer look). The masonry on the southern wall was badly damaged, but engineers are at least somewhat hopeful parts of it can be saved.

The rabbi and the congregation, Chester concluded, are committing to try their best to save as much as they can. While no one wants to see the building demolished, he said, the reality of the situation is that its probably going that way, but we will do our best.

Rabbi Mendel Greenbaum of Beth Hamedrash Hagadol also spoke during last nights meeting. He said the building has great sentimental value to him (Greenbaums father-in-law, the great Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, led the congregation for a half century). Referencing the plans with the Chinese American Planning Council (CPC), he said the synagogues board of directors remains committed to re-establishing the shul on the Lower East Side. The rabbi indicated that the synagogues air rights were worth about $12 before the fire. The development site at 60 Norfolk St., which will not be a city-protected landmark much longer, is now worth about $18 million, he estimated. For the first time, Greenbaum said publicly that the synagogue had no fire insurance.

Alan Gerson, a former Lower Manhattan City Councilman, is CPCs lawyer. During the meeting, he said the original plans would have included restoring the synagogue, establishing a public events space and a shul on the lower level. The vision was also to create housing, including significant affordable housing, said Gerson, serving a cross-section of the community. The idea, he explained, was also to create a revenue stream (presumably through at least some market rate apartments and facility rentals) to support CPCs social services for young people and seniors.

While Gerson acknowledged that CPC has signed an option agreement with a developer, the Gotham Organization, for the project, but he said its only an exploratory contract, not a finalized deal. Gerson said CPC remains committed to the plan and he pledged to work with the community and to honor the heritage of the site.

We will respect the preservationists desires expressed at this meeting (to save as much of the building as possible), said Gerson. We share them. We reflect them. We are not the owners of that property and we have not taken legal title to that property, but we are certainly committed, to the extent feasible, to proceeding in partnership in such a way that as much (of the building) as possible (is preserved).

Several community members spoke out last night about the demise of Beth Hamedrash Hagadol. Some of them argued that far more should have been done in the past decade to save a cherished Lower East Side Jewish site. Others expressed concern that profits from the sale of the Norfolk property stay in the community, rather than benefiting private individuals. We will have a separate story later today detailing their arguments.

The landmarks committee last night approved a resolution stating the importance to the Lower East Side community of Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, which has been a city landmark since 1967. The resolution called on the property owners to preserve as much as they possibly can of the distressed building. A vote of the full board will take place later in the month. The Landmarks Preservation Commission has scheduled a hearing on the matter for July. The Buildings Department has not insisted on immediate demolition, saying the structure does not pose a danger to the surrounding neighborhood.
As The Lo-Down first reported May 30, the Department of Buildings has allowed the owners of the Rivington House building to perform exploratory work for future renovations. A stop work order had been in place since April of 2016 at the former nursing home, where one of the biggest scandals of the de Blasio administration has played out. Now  on the same day Mayor de Blasio heads to the Lower East Side for a town hall meeting  work crews are on site to begin their explorations.

Activists with Neighbors to Save Rivington House have been on high alert since the Buildings Department approved the work permit. This morning, we received the photos you see here from Tessa Huxley, who lives next door to Rivington House. A truck from Aquifer Drilling & Testing arrived a short time ago. She reported hearing the sounds of jackhammers inside and witnessed workers taking soil samples.

The permit allows for the, miscellaneous removal of areas of flooring, walls and ceiling finishes throughout the existing building in order to expose the existing structure and masonry elements for future renovations. In a June 6 letter to the mayor, local residents wrote, We believe that this (work) could well do permanent damage to the property as well as foreclose options that may yet result from outstanding investigations.

The city lifted deed restrictions on the Rivington House facility, clearing the way for Slate Property Group, Adam America Real Estate and China Vanke to purchase the building for $116 million. A luxury condo conversion is planned. The mayor has blasted the developers but insisted the city has no legal means of getting the building back for the community. The state attorney general has been investigating the matter for many months.

The mayor is hosting a town hall meeting tonight at the Houston Street Center. Hes sure to face sharp questions about his administrations bungling of the Rivington House matter.

Meanwhile, Neighbors to Save Rivington House has urged people to call 311 to urge Mayor de Blasio to reinstate the stop work order at 45 Rivington St.
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U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-12th District), Donald Norcross (D-New Jersey) and Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin), along with Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa and UAW President Dennis Williams, sat down with residents to discuss the future of manufacturing jobs in the country.

The talk, called Future of Work, Wages, and Labor, was part of a series of town hall style discussions that are being held across the country.

There also was a follow-up event open to only local workers and union leaders held at the UAW Region 1A offices in Taylor.

Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-California) is also normally part of the discussion group, but he was unable to attend the Michigan event.

The representatives are hoping that these meetings will help them formulate a series of policy recommendations to be released sometime in September.

Many people in Michigan and across the country have not recovered from the 2008 economic downturn, Dingell said. The fear and anxiety is still there. People are concerned about their pensions, another trade deal shipping their job overseas, and the impact automation could have on their industries. We need to do everything we can to address the challenges facing working men and women and ensure theyre getting the skills they need.

Dingell said Michigan is one of the key homes to the new labor movement.

We know how important the continued growth of the middle class and the creation of quality jobs are to all Americans, she said. I look forward to working with my colleagues to develop policy recommendations that will expand opportunities for working families in Michigan and across the country.

Norcross, a member of the IBEWs Local No. 351 before being elected to office, said it was good to hear from the local leaders in Michigan about their issues.

Its great to be joining my colleagues in Michigan and around the country as we hear from local experts on how to create good-paying jobs, he said. It is particularly interesting, here in Michigan, to hear from labor leaders in a right-to-work state where unions have been marginalized.

Before becoming a lawmaker, Norcross was an electrician.

I know firsthand that hard-working men and women are the backbone of our economy, he said. Im honored to be part of this group of lawmakers working to shape policies that raise wages and put American workers first.

Pocan said he has been working toward creating a better working environment since before Donald Trump was elected president.

Long before Donald Trump began talking about a rigged economy, Reps. Dingell, DeSaulnier, Norcross and I began investigating the ways conservative policy makers have been stacking the deck against workers in favor of big businesses and wealthy campaign donors, he said. Whether it is the evaporation of retirement security or the misclassification of workers as independent contractors, hard-working families have been suffering the consequences of conservative policies for nearly four decades. In Wisconsin, we have seen the GOPs war on workers under Gov. (Scott) Walker.

Pocan said Trump appears to be mimicking the failed policies of his own states governor.

President Trump seems to be taking a page out of Walkers playbook by sticking it to the very people who helped elect him, Pocan said. I look forward to continue working with my colleagues to create a comprehensive set of policies to help working families get ahead.
'That's madam governor to you': Record 12 women elected to serve in 2023
It's our annual Labour Weekend tradition ...The Sound 'Hall Of Fame' Countdown... Where we honor the greatest 500 songs of all time as voted by you.
San Francisco, June 21 (IBNS): Following a revolt from major shareholders of the company, Travis Kalanick resigned as Uber CEO on Wednesday, media reports said.

"I love Uber more than anything in the world and at this difficult moment in my personal life I have accepted the investor's request to step aside so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight, Kalanick said in a statement obtained by the New York Times.

Kalanick will remain on the tech giants board of directors, the Times reported early Wednesday.

Kalanick on June 13 took few days leave to grieve his mother who died in an accident.

Kalanick founded Uber back in 2009 and later developed into it into a transportation giant, operating in different parts of the world.

Reports suggested five out of major shareholders demanded his resignation which included venture capital firm Benchmark. He held meetings with few officials to finally announce his decision to step down.

The shareholders felt that there is an immediate need for Kalanick to step down as CEO, since the company needs a better leadership.

Earlier this month, Uber was marred in a controversy as a top executive of the riding giant obtained the medical report of a raped woman in New Delhi by its driver in the year 2014. Later the executive was reported to be fired.

The fired executive Eric Alexander, the president of business in the Asia Pacific, had then showed the medical records to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and SVP Emil Michael. In addition, numerous executives at the car-hailing company were either told about the records or shown them by this group, the report said.

The 26-year-old Delhi woman was allegedly raped by an Uber driver in 2014 during a ride in the capital. She had filed a lawsuit against the company, saying that Uber's "hollow" safety and driver screening practices was the cause for her unsafe situation."

The woman had said that despite the San Francisco-based companys claimed that it maintained high safety standards, there was no practice of adequate screening of its drivers which puts at risk the safety of commuters.

She had filed a suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Image: By Heisenberg Media /Creative Commons
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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 ...
New Delhi, June 21 (IBNS) : The Government has allowed banks and post offices to deposit the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs1,000 currency notes with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by July 20, reports said.

The junked notes can be deposited provided they are collected from customers within the specified time period.

In a gazette notification published on Tuesday, the Finance Ministry said banks and post offices have to give the reasons for not depositing the withdrawn notes within the specified time period subject to the satisfaction of the RBI.

The Government had withdrawn the high-value currency notes worth 86 per cent of money in circulation on November eight to tackle the problems of black money and fake notes.
Job Title: Human Resources Administrator

Organisation: Vision Group

Duty Station: Kampala,

Uganda

Reports to: HR Business

Partner

About Us:

The Vision Group incorporated as the New Vision Printing &

Publishing Company Limited (NVPPCL), started business in March 1986. It is a

multimedia business housing newspaper, magazines, internet publishing,

television, radio broadcasting, commercial printing, advertising and

distribution services. NVPPCL is listed on the Uganda Stock Exchange, with an

expected turnover of over UGX 60 billion (FY 2010/2011).

Job Summary: The Human

Resources Administrator will provide administrative support to the HR function

and manage the employee health and welfare benefits scheme & processes

companywide.



Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:

The jobholder will manage the staff

medical scheme in order to ensure that all staff & their dependants

are properly registered & receive appropriate medical assistance by

the service provider.

Coordinate the HR operations function

including; processing IDs, issuance of relevant official letters,

supervising Office Attendants, coordinating out of country travel,

monitoring office supplies.

Maintain leave records for all employees

in order to ensure leave is taken as per labour law guidelines and company

policy.

The incumbent will ensure the HR database

is up to date, accurate and complies with legislation.

Ensure employee understanding of benefits

programs by regularly generating communication on the schemes.

The incumbent will resolve employee

complaints related to health and welfare benefits.

Organize company-wide road shows that support

staff welfare and advancement.



Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:

The ideal candidate for the Vision Group

Human Resources Administrator job placement must hold a Bachelors degree

in Human Resource Management or Organisational psychology.

A minimum of three years experience in a

busy HR environment.

Strong administration skills.

Computer literacy skills i.e. proficiency

in Microsoft Office

Demonstrated ability to develop and

maintain excellent working relationships.

Possess a high level of confidentiality.

Excellent interpersonal and

customer-facing skills.

Excellent written and oral communication

skills

The ability to work accurately, with

attention to detail and results oriented.

NB: Male candidates are

encouraged to apply.

How to Apply:

All those reeling to work in Ugandas leading media house, Vision

Group, should send applications and updated CVs to: Chief Human Resources

Officer, The New Vision Printing and Publishing Company Ltd. P.O. Box 9815,

Kampala, Uganda

th June 2017 Deadline: 28June 2017
Job Title: Senior Livelihoods Associate

Organisation: United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Position No.: 10026743

Vacancy Notice No.: 021/2017

Duty Station: Uganda

Reports to: Assistant WASH

Officer

Position Grade: GL7

About UNHCR:

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was

established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly.

UNHCRs mandate under the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Refugees is to lead and co-ordinate action for international protection to

refugees; seek permanent solutions for the problems of refugees and safeguard

refugee rights and well-being. UNHCR has an additional mandate concerning

issues of statelessness, as it is given a designated role under Article 11 of

the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

Job Summary: The Senior

Livelihoods Associate will support the design, development, implementation,

monitoring and evaluation of the livelihoods programmes in the country. This

will include assisting with the implementation of Refugee and Host Population

Empowerment Strategic Framework (ReHoPE) Strategy for Economic Inclusion of

Refugees reflecting UNHCR Global Strategic Priorities for livelihoods as well

as Minimum Criteria for Livelihoods Programming (socio-economic assessments,

market/value chain analysis, institutional mapping, targeting, strategy

development, activity development, implementation as well as monitoring &

evaluation). The Senior Livelihoods Associate will also collaborate closely

with UNHCR livelihoods partners, government agencies, private sector and

financial services actors as well as other relevant stakeholders to enhance

access to income generating opportunities and to improve self-reliance of both

PoCs and host community nationals. The incumbent will also be expected to

deliberately explore opportunities of collaboration with other UNHCR cross

cutting areas such as energy and environment, durable solutions and innovations.

To document good practices, results and to generate knowledge, the Senior

Livelihoods Associate will work closely with the Head of Field Office using the

Results Based Management approach and by monitoring effectiveness of

livelihoods programmes and partnerships. Lastly, the Senior Livelihoods

Associate will in collaboration with the Assistant WASH Officer and the Head of

Field Office identify new partnership opportunities that positively resonate

with the strategic direction of ReHoPE and UNHCR Uganda Livelihoods Strategy

for 2017 -2020, as well as advise on strategic issues



Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:

Support the Assistant WASH Officer and the

Head of Office to implement and track the Minimum Criteria for livelihoods

programming. This will include coordinating the completion of

Socio-economic assessments, market/value chain analysis, institutional

mapping and partner selection, targeting of beneficiaries, strategy and

work plan implementation, monitoring & evaluation, reporting.

Oversee the implementation of ReHoPE for

Economic Inclusion of Refugees strategy (2016-2020) and report regularly

on progress of livelihoods related activities as outlined in the logical

framework.

Coordinate the implementation of

agriculture related activities that will ensure food production, food

security and markets for food commodities in partnership with strategic

partners.

Actively participate in livelihoods sector

working group meetings and to ensure UNHCR Uganda visibility by taking

lead of coordination and tracking of strategic action points.

Formulate a comprehensive livelihoods work

plan and budget for the zone of influence in tandem with UNHCR Uganda

livelihoods strategy 2017-2020. This will include identification of and

engagement with strategic partners (NGOs, private sector, service

providers, Government agencies) as well implementing and operational

partners

Deliberately explore and bring on board

strategic partnerships with the private sector, business and financial

services providers and enterprises that will support PoCs to gain either

self or wage employment or establish income generating opportunities that

can lead to their self reliance.

Coordinate with other UNHCR sectors

(energy and environment, child protection, gender, community services,

education etc.) to ensure that the developed livelihoods work plan

deliberately integrates protection safeguards and includes other possible

relevant and innovative practices that may benefit PoCs

Provide direct day to day technical

assistance to livelihoods implementing and operational partners on issues

related to implementation of programmes and flagging barriers that may

require advocacy support or strategic responses with government and other

institutions.

Coordinate monitoring of activities in the

work plan, regular collection of data, drafting and submission of UNHCR

required reporting as well as documentation of case studies that

demonstrate UNHCR impact to promote learning and knowledge sharing. This

will include tracking of updated global livelihoods indicators being

piloted in Uganda.

Evaluate submitted concept notes and other

project documents to ensure that these conform to UNHCR quality standards,

regulations and internal requirements before approval by senior

management.

Coordinate meetings, workshops, trainings

and other events organized by UNHCR to ensure that they are of high

quality, results oriented and that they are well documented.

Represent UNHCR Uganda in meetings,

workshops, trainings and events organized by strategic partners, implementing

and operational partners.

Coordinate the work plans and activities

of livelihoods field staff and affiliates implementing various livelihoods

programs under UNHCR.

Identify technical training needs and

requirements for UNHCR livelihoods field staff, implementing and

operational partners, and work with the Head of Field Office to develop a

training needs plan.

Share consistently livelihoods related

data or information that may be requested by the Assistant Livelihoods

Officer, the Head of Field Office, UNHCR Uganda Senior Management, the

Senior Livelihoods Officer based in Nairobi or the Livelihoods Unit in

Gene

Key Performance Indicators:

Livelihoods related activities under the

ReHoPE Strategy for Economic Inclusion are implemented, progress measured

and reported.

Operation has implemented parameters of

the Minimum Criteria for livelihoods programming (Socio-economic

assessments, market/value chain analysis, institutional mapping and

partner selection, targeting of beneficiaries, strategy and work plans)

and shared documentation with the Country Operation.

Livelihoods Sector Working Group/s are

functional, well-coordinated, have in place terms of reference to guide

their mandates with UNHCR as lead agency.

Operation has high quality implementation

work plans for the period 2017-2018.

Strategic partnerships for livelihoods

(with both development organizations and the private sector) are engaged

and official MoUs endorsed.

Livelihoods implementing and operational

partners receive regular technical assistance, their training and capacity

building needs identified and measure put in place to address these.

Livelihoods activities are regularly

monitored, data updated and reports shared with the operation. This

includes documentation of case studies for communication purposes and

knowledge sharing.

UNHCR policies, standards and procedures

relating to Livelihoods are constantly and coherently applied in the area

of responsibility (AoR).



Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:

The ideal candidate for the United Nations

UNHCR Senior Livelihoods Associate job opportunity should have completed

secondary education with post-secondary certification in the field of

Development Studies, Development Economics, Business Administration,

Social Sciences, Agriculture or related field.

At least eleven years of professional

experience (extensive field experience essential) in development projects

and/or Livelihoods sectors interventions, ideally in a humanitarian

context.

Significant experience in two or more of

the following; socio-economic assessments, market/value chain analysis,

strategy development or monitoring and evaluation.

Demonstrated experience working with the

private sector or private sector partnerships is required.

Prior exposure to UNHCR refugee operations

and functions relating to office administration and programme activities.

Previous experience with UN or other

international, national NGOs.

Prior exposure and experience in cash

based interventions, access to financial services, access to business development

services, M4P (Market Access for the Poor) and policy advocacy.

Fluency in English. Excellent knowledge of

the local language in Yumbe

How to Apply:

All interested Ugandan nationals who wish to join the United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the aforementioned capacity are

encouraged to click on the link below and follow the application instructions

after reviewing the job details.

st June

2017 Deadline: 21June2017
Kolkata, June 21 (IBNS): All customs and DGFT processes will go online soon, informed Rita A. Teotia, Union Commerce Secretary at an interactive session on the Mid-Term Review of foreign trade policy, here on Wednesday.

The mid-term review aims to make the foreign trade policy relevant in the era of Goods and Services Tax, she further stated. The mid-term review of the Foreign Trade Policy for the period 2015-2020 will be notified on June 30, 2017 just when GST will be launched.

In course of addressing the queries and difficulties in import-export which were raised by the traders, Teotia remarked, foreign trade policy schemes are revised from time to time to address the needs of the business community.

A seamless IT background will resolve most of the issues, she said.

The Commerce Secretary also stated that issues involving other ministries and departments of the Government will be duly taken up with them by the Commerce Ministry.

About GST, Teotia said, it is a well-needed reform that will bring an end to the dysfunctional and complex taxation system. But any historical transition faces problems and for that, Government is providing support by extending the time for filing returns by two months and will not be harsh in enforcement of the new tax regime for a certain period of time, she further stated.

The Director-General of Foreign Trade A K Bhalla also participated in the interactive session and addressed various queries raised by the trading community.
Patnaik's close aides say that to understand him, one has to understand his empathy

By Pratul Sharma/Photos Sanjay Ahlawat
The Centre's Make in India plans got a big boost this week, with the US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin striking a deal with the Tata Group to make F-16 fighter jets in India. Many have termed it as an unprecedented deal where the US firm will move the assembling of the fighter jets to India.

However, there is no surety yet on when the planes will be made, let alone take-off from India.

Lockheed Martin told THE WEEK the deal is only an intention to make F-16s in India and a final decision will depend on the discussions between the respective governments and if India decides to buy F-16 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force.

We signed a letter of intent with Tata Advanced Systems Limited to work together on F-16 production in India. This does not represent a decision by either the Government of India or the US Government. The Indian government is still determining its requirements and government-to-government discussions are ongoing between India and the US, the company said.

Lockheed Martin already has a partnership with Tata Advanced Systems. The two companies had inked a joint venture in 2011 and it manufactures aerostructures for Lockheed Martin's C-130 military transport aircraft.

N. Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons said, This agreement (for making F-16s) builds on the already established joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Tata and underscores the relationship and commitment between the two companies.

However, for Lockheed Martin, the deal will only make sense if it wins the contract from India to supply the fighter jets.

When specifically asked if it would be open to shift its assembly line in India and make planes for export, even if there were no orders from India, it said, Our focus remains on supporting Make in India and F-16 Block 70 aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

Indian Air Force has 32 fighter squadrons, while the need is for 42 squadrons. India is looking to replace its ageing fleet of Mig-21 and Mig-29 fighter jets. But, F-16 is not the only option on the table.

Sweden's Saab is also in the race. It has offered the Gripen E fighter jets to India and said in the past that it will not only manufacture in India, but also build an entire fighter technology ecosystem here.

India had earlier sought 126 medium multi-role combat aircrafts. France's Rafale was shortlisted, but due to various issues, including delays and costs, only 36 Rafale jets were bought from Dassault Aviation in fly away condition.

Dassault CEO Eric Trappier had said in an interview to PTI last year that it too was open to manufacturing the fighter aircraft in India if it was shortlisted for a bigger order.

So, there is clearly competition for Lockheed Martin and its F-16s. A past proposal by the US company for selling F-16s to India had been rejected.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to the US later this month and this deal may even be discussed. If the deal does go through, it could create thousands of high skilled jobs in India. However, President Donald Trump has been stressing on companies to increase manufacturing and jobs back in the US. Therefore, getting the US government approval for this deal, may also be a hurdle.

The company said the US administration has been briefed on its proposal, including moving the production lines. However, the details will eventually depend on government-to-government discussions, it added.

The President has been clear that his administration is focused on jobs, strengthening manufacturing, and increasing the competitiveness of the US economy. F-16 production in India supports thousands of Lockheed Martin and F-16 supplier jobs in the US and creates new jobs and other opportunities in Indiaa clear win-win for the US and India, said Lockheed Martin.

Although the company is offering the F-16 Block 70 aircraft, the latest version of the fighter jet originally developed in the 1970s, the US is getting ready the successor of F-16, the F-35. Therefore, some have even criticised the plans to sell an older aircraft to India.

Is India a dumping ground for obsolete weapon systems? questioned defense expert Brahma Chellaney this week.

The company maintains that the plane offered is the most advanced version of the world's most successful, combat proven fighter aircraft.
Air India, the national airline of the country, was started by J.R.D. Tata and if reports are to believed, the airline could return back to the Tatas.



Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had recently re-ignited the talk of privatising the loss-making carrier. A business news channel, on Wednesday, said that Tata Group in partnership with Singapore Airlines may be looking to acquire the state-owned company. Tata Group chairman N. Chandrasekaran has reportedly held informal talks with the government regarding buying a controlling stake in the airline.



When asked for a comment, a Tata Group spokesperson said, we do not comment on such matters.



The Tatas are already present in the aviation sector through two companiesVistara, a full service airline in partnership with Singapore Airlines and Air Asia India, a low-cost airline venture with Malaysia's Air Asia.



The Tata Group's interest in Air India is also not new. After all, it was the airline started by J.R.D. Tata, the group's founder. It had started off as Tata Airline in 1932.



On the possibility of privatisating Air India, Ratan Tata, now chairman emeritus of Tata Sons had told reporters in 2013 that "as and when it happens, we would be happy to look at it."



In an interview to national broadcaster Doordarshan in May, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that Rs 50,000 crore worth of public money invested to run Air India could have rather been used for other things like school education.



The government think-tank Niti Aayog too has proposed the privatisation of Air India.



A similar privatisation plan was mooted under the previous NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999, but didn't materialise.



Under a financial restructuring plan announced in 2012, the airline received Rs 24,000 crore of the little over Rs 30,000 crore equity infusion promised by the government.



Struggling to compete with fast growing private carriers, its woes only increased when Air India and Indian Airlines were merged by the UPA government in 2007.



Finding a buyer now will be a equally difficult task, considering Air India has been a loss-making entity for many years now, currently accruing a debt close to Rs 50,000 crore. Its market share domestically stands at 14-15 per cent.



Furthermore, any new buyer would have also to deal with the many employee unions, which include the Air India Employees Union, Air Corporation Employees Union and Indian Commercial Pilots Association, which will be a difficult task.



As Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said recently, the tax payer's money could not be committed for eternity, but finding a bakra (scapegoat) who would by Air India was difficult.



The cabinet is expected to take a final call with regard to the divestment of Air India, minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha said.




The exit of Sandeep Dadlani, former president and head of Americas for Infosys, is unlikely to make much of a difference as large customers come to the company because of its brand name and not because of a single individual.

Though Dadlani had been instrumental in building the American business for the company, many other senior officials are ready to bring in more business from the North American market for Infosys. According to experts, the exit of Dadlani does not mean that top level exits, which had haunted the company sometime ago, have resurfaced. They point out that Dadlani, who had been with the company for more then 15 years, left on his own and does not seem to have been pressurised to leave.

Infosys is a big company with more than two lakh employees and has a pool of managers who are actively ready to take over senior positions. There are around 1,000 very high level mangers who work at Infosys, and for customers, it is the company first than an individual. It appears that the move by Dadlani is a very well thought of one as he is moving on to another senior level position and does not seem to be a result of any pressure...On the other hand, an individual exit in a mid-tier or a small IT company matters as the company is dependent on that individual to get clients, but in the case of Infosys, it is the brand that matters, Amit Chandra, IT analyst at HDFC Securities told THE WEEK.

Some experts have also questioned the management style of Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka, but it is a known fact that many new people join a company with a new CEO and many exit when the CEO leaves. Spate of exits, which had happened a couple of years back at Infosys, will not be back at least for the next few quarters as the investors and shareholders will be watching the performance of Sikka and other high level senior people in the company. However, in case growth does not return to Infosys and Sikka is not able to deliver over the next few quarters, then the shareholders will question the top management. This may lead to some top level people leaving the company. It is too early to say as to how Sikka and his team will perform over the next few quarters as the overall IT environment is also challenging, said Kris Lakshmikanth, the founder of the recruitment firm Head Hunters India Limited.

Experts also point out that though it is not clear why Dadlani left, but as a head of the company's America business, there is always some pressure to deliver as majority of business for the company comes from North America. It was a very calculated move as finding a suitable opening at this level otherwise takes at least six months or more. As the chief digital officer at Mars Inc, there will be less pressure on Dadlani as his new position is more of a service function and is not directly a performance driven post, added Lakshmikanth.
Uber Technologies Inc co-founder Travis Kalanick stepped down as chief executive of the ride-hailing service, following intense pressure from investors, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

Kalanick's resignation comes after a months-long investigation led by former US Attorney General Eric Holder, who was hired by Uber to look into its culture and workplace practices after a female former employee publicly accused the company of what she described as brazen sexual harassment.

Five large investors, including venture capital firm Benchmark, demanded that the CEO resign immediately in a letter delivered to Kalanick while he was in Chicago, the New York Times reported citing people with knowledge of the situation.

In the letter, titled "Moving Uber Forward," the investors also said the company needed a change in leadership.

Kalanick discussed with at least one Uber board member and after hours of discussions with some of the investors, he agreed to step down, the report said. He will remain on Uber board.

"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," the paper quoted Kalanick as saying.

Kalanick told employees last week, he will take time away from Uber, part of the series of measures the ride-hailing company is taking to claw its way out from under a mountain of controversies.
Three-time Academy Award winner, Day-Lewis has announced his retirement from acting, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Leslee Dart, publicist of the Gangs of New York star shared a statement, which read, 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 actor, who has played presidents, writers, and gang leaders in a career that has spanned four decades, has one final film awaiting release, an untitled drama set in the world of high fashion.

While it has been reported to have the working title Phantom Thread, the film is still officially listed by its distributor as Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project.

According to Dart, the actor plans to participate in promotion for the movie, which is expected to be an awards-season contender.

Day-Lewis is the only performer to ever win three best actor Oscars.

His last Oscar came for the title role in Steven Spielberg's movie Lincoln, while his other two wins were for There Will Be Blood and My Left Foot.

This is not the first time Day-Lewis has retreated from films. In the late 1990s, he took a sort of semi-retirement to return to his main love, woodworking, and at the time also moved to Florence, Italy, where he took up shoe-making.

It was veteran Hollywood director Martin Scorsese who brought the actor back to filmmaking in Gangs of New York.

He also famously quit the stage in 1989 when he walked out on a production of Hamlet mid-performance at the National Theatre in London, saying that he had seen his father's ghost.
All political parties and organisations in the country should impart yoga education to help India emerge stronger, said social activist Anna Hazare.

Anna Hazare during the Yoga Day celebrations in Bengaluru

Youth power is the strength of this nation. Awakening of the youth can secure the future of India. Yoga helps achieve it, said Hazare, while addressing the third International Yoga Day celebrations at Kanteerava Outdoor Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, which saw participation of around 5,000 yoga enthusiasts.

New York-based world's oldest yoga guru Tao Porchon-Lynch (98) and and India's oldest Yoga guru Amma Nanammal (97) from Tamil Nadu demonstrated yoga postures to send out a message that yoga was for health and longevity.

Hazare told the audience that yoga helped him fight tough battles, even at 80.

At 80, I wake up at 4 am, walk two kilometres, practise yoga and Pranayam daily. So, I am healthy to take on the challenges and fight for the causes I believe in. I believe rural development and fight against corruption are two most important struggles for India. We have to stop the percolation of corruption to ensure progress of India.

Mooting a success formula for a Tandrusht Bhaart ( healthy India), Hazare appealed to people to adopt yoga for safeguarding one's charitra (character), Achhar (good conduct), Vichar (good thoughts), nishkalank jeevan (untainted life), tyag (sacrifice) and the power to swallow insults.

This will take you a long way in life. Don't allow yourself to be tainted in life, because if it happens, you will get no sleep even in an air-conditioned room. You will need a sleeping pill to get sleep. Many people today suffer because of it. Our country preaches sacrifice. In farming, you see that unless you sacrifice a grain and sow it in the soil, you cannot harvest a good crop. We need that selfless grain in life to develop. In the last 80 years, there has not been a single blot on my character. This gives me the strength to fight the powerful. What do I have? No money, no wealth. I live in a temple and posses an eating plate, and a bed. But I have worked towards framing eight crucial legislations in this country, including RTI, Lokpal and Gram Sabha act, said Hazare, adding that the youth should fuel the development of this country.

You should be young at heart and dream big for your nation. You turn old the moment you lose enthusiasm to work for your country, he reminded.
The Indian Army has, after 10 years, re-established camp in Shopian  a move aimed at curtailing the free movement of militants across south Kashmir's Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama districts that have emerged as the dominant militant influenced zones. The Army intends to set up two more such camps in the area as part of its area domination strategy in coming months.

The camp has been established by Armys 62 Rashtriya Rifles in Public Health Engineering (PHE) department at Nagisharen village, 10 km from Behibagh Army camp.

The 62 RR is responsible for operational duties in Shopian and Kulgam, which is only 8 km away.

The residents have resented the move and see it as re-militarisation of the area. The camp will cover villages like Haji Pora, Chakoora, Manzpora and Tachloo.

The decision to re-establish the camps at Shopian has come after a spate of attacks on police in the last two weeks in which eight policemen were killed, including six in one attack at Achabal in Anantnag.

Another reason is the impression of liberated zones created by videos by militants in south Kashmir. In some videos, a group of militants was seen parading orchards and having a meal in another.

On May 4, Army had carried out a day-long search operation spanning nearly two dozen villages with a bridge level strength in Shopian district. The operation didn't result in any engagement with militants or in apprehending any of them.

The security forces are expected to intensify the anti-militancy drive in south Kashmir after Eid.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement recently that the government is working on a permanent solution to Kashmir issue, sources said, is the multi-pronged strategy of which intensifying operations against the militants is an important component.

Army sources said the re-establishing the camp in Shopian is aimed at area domination and denying space to militants to operate freely.

The Army and other security agencies  police's special operations group and CRPF  have also increased operations against suspected militants and their sympathisers across Kashmir. Intensifying operations against the militants and NIA investigations against the Hurriyat Conference and other separatists is being seen as a multi-pronged strategy by the Centre to get a handle on the situation.
Delhi's Safdarjung hospital has denied allegations of negligence in the case where a baby, who was declared dead, by the hospital was found alive by the family on Sunday.

The news hit headlines when a 28-year-old Delhi-based patient Shanti, who was in her 20th week of gestation, "aborted spontaneously a fetus of 410 gms". A statement issued by the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the hospital confirmed the weight of the fetus that was declared dead after two hours.

"The fetus was observed in the labour room for two hours and it did not show obvious signs of life clinically. It was handed over to the father, " the hospital said. However, the family allegedly found signs of life after the boy wrapped in a polythene was taken home. The baby was brought back to the hospital, and, on Monday, was declared dead.

The hospital clarified that "limb movements after three hours" is a possibility "because abortuses below 22 weeks of gestation often have prolonged periods of cessation of respiration and feeble heart which may lead to difficulty in appreciating clinical signs of life".

According to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, a fetus of 20 weeks is legally not viable, and so there's no lapse on part of the hospital, the statement said.

Incidentally, the hospital is also courting controversy over an alleged mix up of babies, earlier this month. A couple alleged that they were shown a baby girl by the hospital, when in fact, the woman had delivered a boy. Professor Dr A.K. Rai, medical superintendent, Safdarjung hospital, said in a statement that these allegations were "wrong, baseless" and that the lady had indeed delivered a baby girl. A DNA test has confirmed the baby's parentage, said Rai.
Image: twitter.com/CoreNetGlobal

Bangalore, June 21 (IBNS): CoreNet Global, the professional association for the Corporate Real Estate (CRE) industry, concluded its fourth annual India conference on Wednesday.

Themed Corporate Real Estate in India  Unfolding the Future, the conference highlighted India's potential in the CRE space in 2017.



The conference brought together top industry professionals and business leaders to discuss industry trends that are unfolding from private and public perspectives.

CoreNet Global  India chapter Co-Chairs Ram Chandnani (CBRE) & Shamsher Sindhu (Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.), oversaw an engaging conference that highlighted key developments such as new workplace environments, the role of robotics and digital disruption  and how these can drive offices of the future to stay relevant in evolving markets.



During the event, participants at the conference disclosed how employees from around the world feel that an emphasis on creating memorable experiences at the workplace will transform the industry.

This involves putting people at the center of workplace design and focusing on human experiences such as Engagement, Empowerment and Fulfillment more than ever. Also tackled was the rise of AI and robotics at the workplace and what this means for elevating human workers to the perfect spaces to innovate and communicate better. This was one of the many sessions at the conference where experts painted a picture of the current scenario of CRE in India and what the future of work looks like.



The event also threw light on the rise of co-working spaces, especially in IT-dominant cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad, which are becoming the workplace of choice for many new-age organizations. With a constant race for talent brewing in this industry, workplaces that are aligned with human experiences will play a more prominent role.



Subsequent sessions also shed further light on how industries are undergoing digital transformation in the 21st century, and how that is impacting the working environments and spaces that organizations are offering their employees. By the end of the conference, all participants and guests were appreciative of how the India chapter of this conference by CoreNet Global plays an indispensable role in expanding their network to reach CRE professionals in India and deliver impact on the real estate industry.



The conference was also host to plenty of key discussions and interactions on how CRE can help to engineer progress and drive business growth against a backdrop of a dynamically evolving economic environment.
Retd Justice C.S. Karnan, arrested from Coimbatore for contempt of court, was taken to hospital after he complained of chest pain.

He failed to get any last-minute reprieve from the Supreme Court after being on the run for six weeks.

The 62-year-old Karnan was evading arrest since May 9 when a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court handed down a six-month prison term for contempt of court.

Karnan, who retired as Calcutta High Court judge on June 12, was arrested by the West Bengal CID from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km near Coimbatore, where he was hiding for the past few days.

The former judge was taken to Presidency correctional home (jail) straight from the airport in Kolkata after he was brought from Chennai by a team of West Bengal state CID officers by an Air India flight, a senior police officer said.

Dressed in a full-sleeved white shirt and pants, Karnan came out of the airport escorted by policemen in civil dress. He was whisked off by the police when reporters tried to approach him.

"His medical tests were completed at the airport and the judge was taken straightaway to the jail," he said.

Tight security arrangements were made at the airport where senior police officers, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, were present.
Robert Pious, one of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case, sought mercy killing in a four-page letter he addressed to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy. Pious, in his letter, said that he had lost all purpose in life.

I have been in prison for more than 27 years now. None of my family members have come to see me in these 27 years. I dont find purpose in life any more, he said, in a letter written from inside Puzhal prison. Stating that even one of the judges who pronounced him guilty in 1999 had called him innocent, he said, I am never going to be released from prison. I request euthanasia.

"In 2014, then chief minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa had attempted to get us released. But now I understand that the government would want me to spend the rest of my life in prison. This is affecting not just me, but my family," Robert Pious said in his letter.

A Sri Lankan Tamil who was part of an LTTE commando team, Robert Pious was one of the key planners of Rajiv Gandhi assassination, as per the then investigation report. According to the report, he had confessed before police about his participation in the incident on May 21, 1991, in an election rally at Sriperumbudur. He is one of the seven convicts in the case, serving life term in Puzhal prison.

Supreme Court had already dismissed the review petition filed by the Tamil Nadu government. The petition sought review of the courts December 2015 verdict which ruled against the states clemency decision. The court, hearing the petition on July 28 last year, had said that the centre has primacy over the state's right to grant remission in the case of Rajiv killers.

In May this year, another convict Nalini Murugan had written to United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) for release from prison, stating that she had completed her jail term.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to suspend the six-month imprisonment sentence for Calcutta High Court Retd. Judge Justice C.S. Karnan, in a contempt of court case.

A vacation bench of the Apex Court headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and also comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to give any relief in the matter.

Mathew J. Nedumpara, lawyer appearing for Karnan, mentioned the matter before the vacation bench of the top court on Wednesday.

Nedumpara pleaded to the Apex Court seeking bail and suspension of the six months jail sentence, to which the court observed, "The seven judge bench had passed the order. It binds everybody. It binds us also."

Karnan was arrested by the Kolkata police in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu on Tuesday and brought to the national capital.

Justice Karnan's close aide and his counsel confirmed the arrest, adding that he would move the Supreme Court 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 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.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was an icon of opposition unity. Before the assembly elections that he fought in the company of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Congress, he had struggled to bring feuding leaders on to the same table. A few months ago, at the launch of a book by former finance minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram, Nitish had shared the dais with left leader Sitaram Yechury. Even before the discussion on the book and politics was formally launched, Nitish called for opposition unity without any reference to the crucial Uttar Pradesh and four other assembly elections. He even urged Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who was sitting in the front row, next to former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, to take the initiative and make opposition unity a reality.

Even as recently as a week ago, he was with the Congress, the left and other non-BJP parties as they tossed around names of presidential candidates which were acceptable to them. But within an hour of the BJP president Amit Shah announcing the name of Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as the NDA's presidential candidate, Nitish Kumar had made up his mind. JD(U) leader Dinesh Prasad Singh said, "Nitish has always been a clean politician. He continues to stand for opposition unity. But he also supports the candidature of Kovind, with whom he has good relations as chief minister."

Sources in Patna also point out that Nitish Kumar voted for Pranab Mukherjee as president even though he was part of NDA, which fielded candidate A.Sangma. They insist that there will be many issues in which the opposition will need to unite, and Nitish Kumar will be there, leading from the front.

But more important is the fact that Nitish Kumar is the original creator of the idea that has come to be called the Mahadalit (referring to the highly marginalised Scheduled Castes sections in Bihar). It is hardly surprising that if he had to choose between his perception as a supporter of opposition unity or a champion of the Mahadalit, he would choose the latter.

His meeting others in the party before announcing support to Kovind was a mere formality. "It is a matter of pride for us to have the governor of Bihar become the president" said a leader, pointing out that in any case, "Kovind is going to be the next president. Rather than back someone who is not going to make it to that high office, just to participate in a contest for the sake of a contest, should we undermine our presidential elections?" asked a party office-bearer in Patna.

It is believed that Nitish has spoken his mind to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is slated to meet other opposition leaders on Thursday. It is also presumed that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati will go along with Kovind for president, because "he is a Dalit, and his name came up first", according to a JD(U) source. But JD(U) has not canvassed BSP support for Kovind.

Interestingly, it is only Kovind, and not Modi-Shah, who are being supported by JD(U) and other parties backing him. While there will be a contest, it will be no more than a token one, given the winner's name is already out there.
It is the first working day of the week. At 7am, the normally crowded eatery inside a building owned by Chennai corporation, at West Mambalam, is deserted. The usual lungi clad men and the sari clad women, who used to stand around steel tables and gulp hot idlis dipped in delicious south Indian sambar, peep into the premises only to see the empty counters.

It is almost three months now. This Amma Unavagam does not serve food, says Ravichandran, a construction worker. The Amma canteen at West Mambalam was his one stop shop for breakfast and lunch. One of Jaya's favourite schemes, Amma canteen (launched in 2013), which used to feed at least 3.5 lakh people everyday, now provides food at subsidised rate for only 1.8 lakh people. According to data from the Chennai city corporation, the number of idlis sold has reduced from 4.5 lakh per day to 3.01 lakh per day, not because of quality but lack of supply.

On any working day, these canteens dish out only 3.01 lakh idlis, 1.04 lakh pieces of chappatis and 88,000 plates of rice, which is at least 60 per cent less than the supplies last year.

"The quality is the same. But we dont get it as much as we did earlier," says Rajendran, an auto driver. In fact, this is the same Amma Unavagam that was perpetually crowded when Jaylalithaa was hospitalised, feeding almost every AIADMK cadre who waited near the gates of Apollo hospital for long hours.

Reportedly, the Chennai corporation owes around Rs 18 crore to the Triplicane Urban Cooperative Society (TUCS), which supplies vegetables and provisions for 400-odd Amma canteens in Chennai. TUCS is the first consumer cooperative society in the state. TUCS had signed an agreement with the Chennai corporation for supplying raw materials to the Amma canteens. Dues have been piling up since November 2016, a month after corporation council demitted office. The term of the corporation ended on October 2016.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in a report on the local bodies, pointed out the increasing fiscal strain on Chennai corporation caused by Amma canteens and other Amma brand welfare schemes. According to the report, the expenditure incurred by Amma canteens for the year 2014-2015 touched a whopping Rs 110 crore. The other Amma schemes run by Chennai corporation, like the Amma drinking water and Amma pharmacy, are also on the decline.

For instance, the Amma drinking water scheme is on the path of failure. The corporation runs just 49 drinking water facilities as against the 100 outlets which it was supposed to run. At least 18 lakh poor residents who were promised mineral water are yet to receive smart cards for the 20 litre water cans.

Due to fund crunch in the corporation, several other schemes like the Amma theatre and Amma market are yet to take off. The Amma cinema theatres have not picked up at all, despite the corporation identifying the land for building them. Through these theatres, the Chennai city corporation promised luxury viewing at a subsidised rate of Rs 10. The Amma markets, which were supposed to be launched in 200 locations across the city, has also been deferred, according to officials in the Chennai city corporation.

On the other hand, schemes like Amma baby care kit, which were launched by Jayalalithaa at a cost of Rs 67 crore in 2015, continues, but at a slow pace. In September 2015, exactly a year before Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital for treatment, her concern was about the health and hygiene of mothers and infants.

The AIADMK government led by Jayalalithaa, till September last year, had spent close to Rs 7700 crore for all these welfare schemes and distributing freebies. When Palanisamy took over as the chief minister in February this year, he followed his predecessor's line of launching welfare schemes by signing five government orders. However with the existing schemes on the decline, it is a million dollar question as to how the new schemes will be implemented.
The population of Hindus in Pakistan has declined drastically from about 23 per cent in 1947 to only six per cent now due to forced conversions, oppression and suppression, The Nation reported.

The minority Hindu girls are being abducted, forcibly converted and married to Muslims and thus the minority community, which was once a major society in Pakistan, has been reduced to the margins.

The majority of the Hindu population is settled in Sindh and the province has witnessed a rise in crimes targeting the religious minority. Hindu girls are specifically targeted to convert them to Islam, the newspaper reported.

There have been many instances when Hindus belonging to lower castes are being forcibly converted while upper-caste Hindus complain of their traders being kidnapped for ransom.

Pakistan was born with the promise that everyone was free to practice their religion and would be guaranteed basic rights, but Hindus have been denied even the freedom to live with respect.

According to a report by Movement for Solidarity and Peace, 1000 non-Muslim girls are converted to Islam every year in Pakistan and in Sindh, the ratio is 20 or more girls per month.

"A number of Muslim MNAs, he said, have mocked Hindus for worshiping cows. In their mindless hate-spewing, they ignore the fact that four million Hindus live in Pakistan and their derogatory words hurt the religious sentiments of the local Hindu community. Perhaps, they too need to be sensitised and educated that all Hindus are not Indians and all Indians are not Hindus. India has over 200 million Muslims and other minority groups as well, " the Dawn had reported earlier.

In the 1998 Census, the Hindu population was found to be 2,443,614. Hindus are found in all provinces of Pakistan but are mostly concentrated in Sindh.

The atrocities by the Pakistani government and the stern conditions of the Sharia Law has resulted in the migration of 5000 Hindu families from Pakistan to India per year.

Even the Pakistani police refuse to take any action, and after a couple of days the girl is brought back with legal documents of conversion. This ensures the legal cover to avoid being punished by law.

The issue was raised by the patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC), Ramesh Kumar who argued that religious pressure groups promote hate mongering in the region and create enough pressure to stop anyone from taking any action.
In the last week of April, I called Mantreswarananda, secretary of publications of Ananda Marga. Could I visit Ananda Nagar in Purulia for a few days? Not right now, he said. I will call you back after a few days. He kept his word.

Purulia is a five-hour train ridefrom the Howrah station in Kolkata. Situated on the Jharkhand border, it is a portrait of parched beauty, a rural haven of mud-and-thatch homes and abundant poultry. Jharkhand is very close by, said Tapan Mahato, who drove me from Purulia railway station to Ananda Nagar. Most people travel to Jharkhand for their daily needs. Look at the number plates, he said, pointing to the JH registration vehicles speeding on the highway.

It was equal parts trepidation and excitement as I approached the last leg of the journey to the Margis ashram. Some of the reports I had read called them a tantric cult who danced holding skulls and snakes. Some others dubbed them as inciters of violence, in reference to a blood feud it once had with the CPI(M).

Rector Master Narayananandathe administrator of the Ananda Nagarwas a soft-spoken ascetic in orange robes, certainly not a figure that I had come to expect. He welcomed me into a clean yet spartan two-storey building. This was the very first abode of the Margis, the address under which we were first registered. Our administrative headquarters is at Kolkata, he said. The sect, he said, owned around 1,100 acres in the area, and had 50 lakh members in India and a significant following abroad. They run more than 180 centres across the world.

Ananda Marga (Path of Bliss) was founded in 1955 by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (later Anandamurti), a former railway accountant, for self-realisation and service to humanity. In 1959, he espoused PROUT (Progressive Utilisation Theory), a socio-economic theory, as an alternative to communism and capitalism. In 1962, he ordained the first monks of Ananda Marga (and the first nuns in 1966), for a mission to spread knowledge across the world. The Margis swear by tantric philosophy, rationalism and neo-humanisman altruistic approach towards humans, animals and inanimate objects alike. They strive for spiritual proximity with the Parampurush (the Almighty) through social service. Progress was not possible until social equality was achieved for all, Sarkar argued.

The monks practise celibacy, and the adherents of the order avoid meat, tobacco, alcohol, tea, coffee or aerated drinks. They follow the rules of Yama and Niyama, and meditate twice a day. The tandava dance is part of their energy-boosting rituals.

Ananda Marga has always focused on universal good, untrammelled by dogma. Sarkar preached superiority of sama samaja tattva (social equality) over any ideology that stressed atma sukha tattva (selfish pleasure). Yet, violence dogged the group like a dark curse. In 1967, five Margis were murdered in Purulia. In 1971, Sarkar was jailed on charges of murdering Margi defectors. The organisation was banned during the Emergency, and in 1982, 16 Marga monks and a nun were burnt to death by a mob in Kolkata. In 1995, a foreign cargo plane flew over Purulia and dropped 700 AK-47 rifles and other weapons and ammunition.

What caused the violence? We would talk, promised Narayanananda, but there were some places we needed to visit first. In the course of half-an-hours journey through the heart of the Margi land, he pointed out schools, orphanages and shelters run for boys and girlsmost of them hailing from nearby villages. The Margis run two high schools, 35 primary schools and four junior high schools in Ananda Nagar. We believe that education, health and spirituality should be free for everyone. Money came as donations, he said, but there was no centralised budget as such.

We stopped at Uma Nivas, a girls shelter, where there were 26 inmates, all in their early teens. Guided by a nun in saffron, they bowed low, touching Narayananandas feet in respect. Would you like to hear some bhajans, he asked me. In the twinkle of an eye, the girls conjured up a harmonium and broke into a haunting rendition of a Bangla Shiv bhajan composed by Sarkar. What raga was that anyway? I couldnt tell for sure, said Narayanananda. His works all have an element of fusion in them. Our founder has written over 5,000 songs, you know. Come, we will show you the boys home now.

As we set out, I put the question to him again. Why all the hatred for the organisation? The Communist Party, under Jyoti Basu, did not want us to grow. It was their campaign of misinformation against us that resulted in countless violent attacks against us. I have seen communists destroying houses and schools that we had set up in Ananda Nagar.

What about the reports that the murders were mostly orchestrated by former Margis or political rivals to discredit the communist government in West Bengal? It was all a campaign of misinformation, he said.

Were the communists opposed to the philosophy of PROUT? It is an intriguing economic doctrine, the progressive utilisation theory. Strictly anti-capitalist and anti-communist, PROUT stands for a consumption-based economy, seeking to increase the purchasing power of the public. However, minimum essentials of life will be guaranteed to all. A limit would be placed on the property that a person could possess. Materialism is necessary, but only as a way for spiritual evolution.

Look at it this way, said Narayanananda. The communist philosphy is predicated on equality in distribution. We, on the other hand, prefer a system of rational distribution, where the resources are divided according to the type of labourphysical, mental or spiritual. Take the case of spiritual labour. Fruits and roots are ideal for those involved in it. The ones performing physical and mental labour will have different requirements. If there is equal distribution for everyone, where is the incentive for someone to become, say, an engineer? There should be an additional distribution according to quality.

The boys home was built like the girls home, though slightly larger. Musician Shankar Mahadevan is helping us by providing music lessons to these children, Narayanananda said proudly.

The residents lined up in a spacious hall and demonstrated the tandava dance, the music hitting a crescendo. No skulls or snakes? (In 2004, the Supreme Court had restricted public performances of the Margis tandava dance with skull or snakes in hand). Many misconceptions are being spread, said Narayanananda. Tandava dance is derived directly from the teachings of Shiva. The skull and snakes depict our mortality. Anyone who performs tandava nritya every day will get assured physical and mental benefits. So did he still dance with skulls and snakes? It is not necessary for everyday performances, he said.

What about the overseas Margis? Overseas or domestic, all Margis follow the same rules and principles, he said. They usually arrive here for programmes like the Dharma Maha Sammelan, which we hold twice every year. After decades of hostile press, are the Margis rebranding themselves? Nothing of the sort. We have always been involved in social work, even during the time of the Communist government. But the media sought to highlight only the negative aspects. As always, we continue with our good work.
New York, June 21 (IBNS): 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 nights bedtime significantly predicted participants perceived ability to control their obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior on the subsequent day.

"Were 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 youre 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. "Its 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, thats 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 peoples bedtimes. "Its 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.

Image: Wikimedia Commons
Republican Ralph Norman has won a special election to fill the South Carolina congressional seat vacated by Mick Mulvaney, who resigned to work for President Donald Trumps administration.

The millionaire real estate developer won Tuesdays special election over Democrat Archie Parnell in the 5th District, which stretches north from Columbia toward the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Norman, a former state lawmaker, ran a campaign aligning himself with President Donald Trump, who won this district in November by more than 18 percentage points. He emerged as the top vote-getter from a seven-way GOP primary and defeated state lawmaker Tommy Pope by just more than 200 votes in a runoff.

Parnell, a former Goldman Sachs tax adviser, had argued he was best suited to represent the district, which was in Democratic hands for more than 100 years until Mulvaneys 2010 victory.

(AP)
Drastic reductions to the U.S. foreign aid budget would be a bad thing because the relatively small amount of money is well-spent, former President Bill Clinton told a coalition of U.S. humanitarian and development groups on Tuesday.

Its a bad thing if the government cuts US AID, because its a little bit of money doing an outsize amount of good, Clinton said.

The Trump administration wants to cut funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development by nearly one third in the fiscal year starting in October. There is strong congressional opposition to the proposal, part of efforts to slash the diplomatic and development budget from $54.9 billion to $37.6 billion.

Clinton was speaking to InterAction, which says the cuts would be devastating at a time when famine threatens the lives of 30 million people and conflict has displaced 65 million worldwide, an all-time high.

Slashing foreign aid by nearly one-third would shirk Americas longstanding bipartisan commitment to help the worlds most vulnerable people, said InterAction, a coalition of nearly 190 U.S. nongovernment organizations.

Clinton commended countries such as Norway, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates that have sustained their aid spending, but said even if they increased the amount, it wouldnt compensate for the drop in U.S. funding. The U.S. is the worlds leading foreign aid donor.

He said responding to challenges such as climate change and poverty required interdependence rather than an us and them mentality, which has gained traction in response to some of the negative effects of globalization.

(AP)
London, June 21 (IBNS): A leading astrophysicist from Queenas University Belfast has warned that an asteroid strike is just a matter of time.

Professor Alan Fitzsimmons from the Universitys 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 todays 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.

Queens University is also a partner in the Pan-STARRS project in Hawaii - 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.

Image:NASA webiste
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 Warmbiers death, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal diplomatic discussions.

From Capitol Hill to the White House, 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.

Its a total disgrace what happened to Otto. That should never ever be allowed to happen, Trump said in the Oval Office. In a possible rebuke of his predecessor, President Barack Obama, Trump added of Warmbier: Frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the result would have been a lot different.

Warmbier, 22, died Monday in his home state of Ohio, his family said, just days after being released in a coma by North Korea. 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. The circumstances of his coma and death remain unclear.

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 doesnt prohibit it, despite other sanctions targeting the country. Its 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 theyre considering a similar restriction.

In Congress, Democrats and Republicans found 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 doesnt 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 Warmbiers death.

The U.S. doesnt 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 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 wont hold the U.S. government responsible for what happens. He said the form would require Americans to affirm theyre aware of whats 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.

The U.S. and North Korea have no diplomatic relations. The U.S. is pressing Pyongyang to halt its nuclear weapons development and urging China and other countries to starve the North of funding for the program. The secret negotiations over Warmbiers release are some of the only known direct contacts between the nations in recent years.

(AP)
Most Americans say federal courts are acting properly in blocking President Donald Trumps travel ban, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Two versions of the travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries have been put on hold by federal courts. Trump says the ban is necessary to keep would-be terrorists from traveling to the United States. Opponents, including some state officials, argue that it is intended to keep Muslims out.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans say the courts have acted correctly by blocking the travel ban from taking effect, while 39 percent say the judges are wrongly interfering. The poll shows a sharp partisan divide: 82 percent of Democrats say the courts acted rightly, while 73 percent of Republicans say theyre wrongly interfering.

(AP)
Israel Sci-Tech Schools has been at the forefront of working with secular and religious authorities to forge educational curriculums that adequately educate and train chareidi women for employment in technology fields, including the defense and weapons industries. Among them is Meitar, a graduate of an Orthodox all womens Israel Sci-Tech High School in Beit Shean, who was recently joined RAFAEL, Israels Weapons Development Authority, one of the most prestigious positions in the country.

Meitar (security concerns prohibit the publication of her last name) was raised in an chareidi in Beit Shean, in the northern part of the country. Her mother is an educator and her father is an electrician. In 10th grade, she joined a campaign alongside her classmates that lobbied for the Beit Shean religious girls school to become one of the first in the nation to offer an advanced technology course to all its female students. The program was unique at the time for its collaboration with RAFAEL. After graduating, Meitar went on to a junior electronic engineering college, then the IDF and ultimately to RAFAEL.

I am grateful for the investment that Israel Sci-Tech Schools made in me and my friends, and happy that it has brought me to a place where I am able to contribute to the safety and security of our country, said Meitar. The network and its supporters, by offering our group the opportunities and foundational training in electronic engineering, that has led me to the professional role I now play. For me, Israel Sci-Tech Schools represents my roots, my drive and now my future.

Our children, regardless of whether they are from cities or periphery towns and villages, religious or secular families, are our future. We have an obligation to make sure that every student can be exposed to educational opportunities that provide them with the skills to contribute the future of Israel, whether it be in the military, civilian, high tech or any other field, said Zvi Peleg, director-general of Israel Sci-Tech Schools. Were it not for our transformation of the curriculum in periphery and specialized schools like Meitars religious girls school, these students would not be prepared to go onto either higher learning or successful positions in the industry.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Yesh Atid party leader MK Yair Lapid visited with border police at Shar Shechem on Sunday following the fatal multi-prong stabbing/shooting attack at the location on Friday night. The attack claimed the life of border policewoman Hadas Malka HYD, 23. http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/1298443/thousands-attend-motzei-shabbos-levaya-fallen-border-policewoman.html

Accompanying Lapid was party MK Miki Levy, a retired Jerusalem police chief.

Lapid and Levi came to embrace the border police in the area and thank them for the operational activity they are doing for the security of the State of Israel and its citizens. The commander of the team conducted a tour of Shar Shechem compound and told them about the preparations and activities of the forces in the field and the great efforts they are making these days of the Ramadan fast to provide a sense of security in the city. Lapid embraced the troops and told them that he was proud of them for their activity in defending the State of Israel and its residents.

I call on the prime minister to withdraw from the strange idea of turning this area into a sterile area, and it is also impossible on the operational level, there are seven gates to the Old City, 35,000 people who live in one square kilometer. Only after the prayer on Har Habayis, 180,000 people descend here every time. There is no way to turn this into a sterile area, and even on the moral level, the Old City, the eternal capital of Israel, will not become a military base or a checkpoint in Tulkarem. Our capital, we are proud of it, and people will be able to walk here freely and without fear. The army, the Border Police and the police will continue to do the work as they know how to do, about the best way.

Lapid was referring to the new arrangement ordered by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, declaring the area around Shar Shechem a sterile security area to provide another measure of security for border police and other law-enforcement personnel.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

President Reuven Rivlin visited the Chatzor Air Force Base on Tuesday, 26 Sivan, accompanied by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gadi Eizenkott and Air Force Commander Major-General Amir Eshel.

At the opening of the visit, the president received a briefing on operational activity and personnel handling in the air force, and then continued to review a weapons exhibition where he was presented with an intercept management center, an Iron Dome launcher, an Arrow and Diamond launcher for aerial defense, a Yanshuf (UH-60 Black Hawk chopper) used for extrication and transporting personnel and the wounded as well as fighter aircraft.

The President visited the mission training center at the base, where he was on a simulator flight that was prepared especially for his visit and passed through stations in his life. The flight took off from the Chatzor base and continued to Jerusalem where it passed over the Rechavia neighborhood, the Teddy Stadium, the Knesset building, the Presidents Residence, YMCA, and Har Habayis, where it continued to fly over Moshav Herut, the childhood home of his wife Nechama, and continued on to the Kineret and Mount Hermon.

During the visit, the president met with the commanders forum and the base officers, where he thanked Air Force Commander Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel for the visit and gave him a model of a Piper aircraft, a plane used for intelligence gathering the president flew in as a soldier and officer.

The Air Force Commander added: We have a connected heritage in the air force,to your role in the army as a security officer. Today there is another Piper, the missions have grown, but we feel the same privilege to serve the people and the land.

The President thanked the soldiers and the officers for an interesting and informative visit and said: You in the air force prove that there is no place that cannot be reached, and there is no task that cannot be performed, always the best, always in the team work that leads to success, day by day. The air force is the crowning glory of our ability to bear the burden of security and I thank you, said the President.

In his conversation with the commanders, the president referred to the recent statements by elected officials and ministers against senior IDF commanders regarding the approval of the plan to expand Kalkilye. We have recently encountered situations in which ministers and MKs, politicians criticize the IDF as it appears they forget the IDF is not reelected every four years. The IDF is the peoples army that protects the people and the State of Israel, and we all have a duty to protect the IDF.

The president went on to say: Attacking commanders like policy makers and not as those who implement decisions could harm the IDF and lead to a serious crisis of trust between the IDF and the Israeli public.

The president turned to the commanders and said: To you commanders, I have only one request  continue to command, you will continue to take care of the security of our citizens and we will take care of you without reserve. Thank you.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Marc Neiman, GPO)
The Nefesh BNefesh Sylvan Adams Bonei Zion Prize is be awarded to inspirational English-speaking Olim who have significantly contributed to the State of Israel

Nefesh BNefesh will honor the nine recipients of the 2017 Sylvan Adams Nefesh BNefesh Bonei Zion Prize on Monday, 2 Tammuz at the Knesset in Jerusalem in the presence of Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi and Minister of Aliyah Sofa Landver.

The award recognizes Olim from English-speaking countries who have made a major impact on the State of Israel. At the Knesset, Minister Hanegbi will address the audience regarding the immense contributions of English-speaking Olim and the positive impact they make every day to Israeli society.

The Bonei Zion Prize recognizes outstanding Anglo Olim who have helped Israel in a meaningful way by encapsulating the spirit of modern-day Zionism and contributing in significant ways towards the State of Israel. Recipients were chosen by a prestigious panel of committee members in the following categories: Science & Medicine; Community & Non-Profit; Education; Israel Advocacy; Arts, Culture & Sports; and Young Leadership.

A truly inspirational group of honorees include:

Professor Benjamin W. Corn, Head of the Institute of Radiotherapy at Ichilov Hospital in the field of Science and Medicine

Beth Steinberg, Director and Co-Founder of Shutaf Inclusion Programs and Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Theater in the Rough in the field of Community and Non-Profit

Rabbi Chaim Brovender, Founder and Rosh Yeshiva of WebYeshiva.org in the field of Education

Professor Gerald Steinberg, President of NGO Monitor and Professor of Political Studies at Bar Ilan University in the field of Israel Advocacy

Yoram Raanan, Contemporary Jewish Artist in the field of Arts, Culture & Sports

Captain Libby Weiss, Head of the Social Media Department in the IDF Spokespersons Unit in the field of Young Leadership

Scott Neiss, Founder and Executive Director of the Israel Lacrosse Association in the field of Young Leadership

In addition, Professor Alice Shalvi will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding contributions in shaping the status of women in Israel through education and advocacy. Professor Eliezer Jaffe zl, who recently passed away, will also be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award for his accomplishments in nonprofit and philanthropic giving, raising awareness and support for Israeli citizens in need.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A Southern California teen raised about $15,000 to send an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor to Israel so the man can meet his last living relative and finally receive his bar mitzvah, according to a newspaper report Monday.

Drew Principe, 17, said he came up with the idea for a fundraiser after meeting Henry Oster during a school assembly in January.

Oster told students at Viewpoint High near Los Angeles about his experiences during World War II.

In 1941 he and his family were deported by Nazis from their home in Cologne, Germany, a few weeks before he was supposed to celebrate his bar mitzvah. They were taken to a ghetto in Poland before he was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was sent to a few different camps before being liberated at 17 and eventually moving to Los Angeles to become an optometrist.

Principe discovered that Oster had never been to Israel, so the teen decided on the spot to give the man a bracelet he had bought on a trip to the Holy Land a few years ago. The bracelet has Shema inscribed on it.

It really is a gesture that cannot be measured, Oster told the Ventura County Star about the gift. I dont wear jewelry, but I have not taken this off except for the shower.

Principe and Oster began a life-changing friendship, the teen told the newspaper.

An online fundraiser took off and quickly raised close to $15,000.

Oster and his wife along with Principe and his family left on Monday for Israel, where Oster will meet his cousin and be formally recognized by the Israeli Holocaust memorial as a survivor.

He will also celebrate the bar mitzvah he never had.

Ultimately, Oster said, he decided to accept the offer and have the ceremony in memory of those who died and will never have the chance to experience the ceremony.

I decided to honor my father and my parents and  the desecrated Torah and all the victims who never had a chance, Oster said.

(AP)
A lawyer for a man accused of plotting bomb attacks in New Jersey and New York that injured 30 people says American jurors no longer need to be educated about Osama bin Laden.

Attorney Sabrina Shroff asked a judge Tuesday to block the planned testimony of a government terrorism expert from the upcoming trial of Ahmad Khan Rahimi.

The Afghanistan-born U.S. citizen has pleaded not guilty to detonating a pipe bomb near a charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and planting two pressure cooker bombs in Manhattan on Sept. 17.

One bomb didnt explode. The other detonated in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood.

His trial is scheduled to start days after the anniversary of his arrest.

Manhattan federal Judge Richard Berman says hell rule Thursday.

(AP)
The following is via CBS Chicago:

Naperville Police are searching for a person who vandalized a popular Jewish deli on Sunday. Schmaltz Deli is a popular eatery located in Naperville, a suburb located west of Chicago.

As CBS 2s Mai Martinez reports, police say the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.

CBS: What did you think when you first saw the picture?

Honestly, I couldnt believe it, said Howard Bender, owner of Schmaltz Deli.

Bender is talking about graffiti found outside his Naperville deli.

Im in shock, Bender said. Im bitter.

Someone spray-painted the message, free gaza, on the sidewalk outside Schmaltz Deli on Sunday, shortly after it closed at 3 p.m.

I immediately said call the police, Bender said.

I recognized that it was targeted. I recognized that it was clearly a hate crime.

And Naperville police agree.

The reason they left it there, obviously painted it there, is because it is a Jewish deli, said Naperville Police Commander Lou Cammiso.

Its not threatening. Its a political statement, I guess, but because theyre Jewish that qualifies.

CBS: It elevated it to a hate crime?

Yeah, they didnt leave that in front of an Italian restaurant. The left in front of the Jewish restaurant, probably because of their religion, Cmdr. Cammiso said.

Naperville police are now reviewing video from the delis cameras and others cameras from businesses in the area hoping to find an image of the offender.

CBS: Does it help his or her defense if they turn themselves in?

You know, cooperation always kind of goes a long way with prosecutors and the court, Cmdr. Cammiso said.

Bender said it took him two hours to clean up the graffiti. Now a new message is displayed in the delis window, just above where the hateful one was: Hate Has No Home Here.

We need to stand up against it, Bender said. We just do. We need to stand together.

Naperville Police told CBS 2 that because it is classified as a hate crime, the person responsible could be charged with a Class 4 felony; that means a fine up to $25,000 and up to 3 years in prison.
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.

Its unsafe, Corker said, adding that the trumped up charges like those Warmbier was accused of can continue to happen.

(AP)
London, June 21 (IBNS): Middle school students from a range of racial and ethnic backgrounds feel safer, less lonely and less bullied if they attend schools that are more diverse, UCLA researchers report on Wednesday in the journal Child Development.

The study also found that students in diverse schools  those with multiple ethnic groups of relatively equal size  reported more tolerance and less prejudice toward students of other ethnicities and believe teachers treated all students more fairly and equally.

Jaana Juvonen, a UCLA professor of psychology and the researchs lead author, said the 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.

When ethnic groups are of relatively equal size, there may be more of a balance of power, said Juvonen, who has conducted research on school bullying and bullies for more than 20 years. One or more large ethnic groups will be less likely to exert their influence over one or more small ethnic groups.

The researchers studied more than 4,300 sixth-grade students in 26 urban middle schools in Southern and Northern California with varying degrees of ethnic diversity. Nearly all of the students in the study were from middle-income and working-class families, and they primarily came from four ethnic groups: African American, Latino, Asian-American and white.

In the six schools that were the most diverse, there was no single ethnic group that constituted a majority of the student body. Nine schools had two large and relatively equal ethnic groups and very few members of other ethnic groups, and the other 11 schools had one clear majority ethnic group with a smaller number of members of each of the other ethnic groups.

Researchers asked the students to rate, on a five-point scale, how safe or unsafe they felt, whether they were bullied or lonely at school, how close they felt to students of different ethnic groups and whether they felt that their teachers treated all students fairly.

Bullying likely occurs in nearly every school, and many students are concerned about their safety, Juvonen said. But our analysis shows students feel safer in ethnically diverse classrooms and schools.

The studys co-authors are Sandra Graham, a UCLA distinguished professor of education, and Kara Kogachi, a UCLA graduate student in education. In the paper, they write that U.S. public schools are becoming less ethnically diverse even as, for the first time, more than half the nations students are members of ethnic minority groups.

Previous research has shown that school segregation breeds social inequality and causes students to be less accepting of people who differ from them, a finding supported by the new UCLA study.

The study also found that when students attended classes that were significantly less diverse than their school overall, the benefits of diversity disappeared.

School diversity by itself is only half of the story, Graham said. To reap the social benefits of ethnic diversity, instruction needs to be organized so that students classes reflect the overall diversity of their school.

Research has shown that students who have positive social experiences at school perform better academically, Graham said, adding that diversity enhances learning because divergent points of view challenge students own beliefs. She encourages schools to add or strengthen opportunities for students from different racial groups to interact with one another.

It is in everybodys interest for K-12 schools and classrooms to be more racially diverse, she said.

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 the National Science Foundation.
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 says the new penalties are designed to maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution.

In all, Tuesdays 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 Ukraines Crimea region.

The Treasury Department says the new measures address people and companies whove sought to circumvent those sanctions.

Moscows envoy for overseas Russians and chairman for humanitarian assistance in separatist-held, eastern Ukraine are the Russian government officials affected.

(AP)
Otto Warmbiers death after returning from North Korean imprisonment is stoking outrage in Washington and threatening to overshadow high-level U.S.-Chinese talks Wednesday.

President Donald Trump has been counting on China to use its economic leverage with Kim Jong Uns totalitarian government as American concern grows over North Koreas acceleration toward having a nuclear-tipped missile that can strike the U.S. mainland.

Top U.S. and Chinese diplomats and defense chiefs are meeting in the U.S. capital for security talks, and North Korea will get top billing, according to Susan Thornton, the senior U.S. diplomat for East Asia. The two world powers are trying to build on positive momentum created when Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Florida in April, she said.

Wednesdays discussions replace a sprawling strategic and economic dialogue held annually under the Obama administration. It rarely produced significant results. This years edition separates out the security aspects, and Secretary of State State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis are hosting Chinese foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi and Gen. Fang Fenghui, chief of the Peoples Liberation Armys joint staff department.

Thornton said talks would cover the South China Sea, where Beijings island-building and construction of possible military facilities have rattled neighbors and caused tension with Washington; U.S.-Chinese military cooperation to reduce risk of conflict; and efforts to defeat the Islamic State group. Divisive trade issues will be tackled separately at a later date.

While Trump has heaped praise on Xi for trying to contain North Korea, which counts on China for some 90 percent of its trade, the effort has delivered few results. Trump appeared to acknowledge as much in a tweet Wednesday, a day after Warmbiers death.

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 wrote.

No cause of death has been determined for Warmbier, 22, who was detained for nearly a year-and-a-half in North Korea before being sent home in a coma last week. 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. His family is blaming North Korea for awful, torturous mistreatment.

From Capitol Hill to the White House, pressure is mounting for a tough U.S. response. The Trump administration is considering banning travel by U.S. citizens to North Korea, officials said Tuesday, and Trump declared Warmbiers treatment a total disgrace.

Like past presidents, Trump is finding the U.S. has limited scope for punishing North Korea, particularly over the arrest of U.S. citizens.

A ban on Americans visiting North Korea would only slightly add to Pyongyangs isolation and loss of revenue. The route to inflicting significant economic pain on Kims government remains through China.

Thornton said the U.S. will be seeking concrete cooperation with China on getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs and return to negotiations. Such talks are a seemingly distant goal since Kim is believed to see his weapons of mass destruction as a guarantee against invasion.

North Korea hasnt conducted a nuclear test explosion as feared earlier this year  a possible consequence of Chinese pressure  but it has kept up its rapid pace of missile launches, drawing another U.N. Security Council resolution this month and additional sanctions.

Last week, Tillerson told a Senate hearing that Chinas efforts on North Korea had been uneven. On Tuesday, Thornton cited Chinese restrictions on imports of North Korean coal as notable progress. But she said the U.S. wants more action against blacklisted North Korean companies doing business through China.

Washington has one threat it can use with Beijing: The possibility of secondary sanctions that go after Chinese companies doing business in North Korea. Such a move risks fraying relations between the worlds two biggest economies.

Beijing, which wants resumed U.S. negotiations with North Korea, is hoping for positive outcomes from Wednesdays dialogue, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

(AP)
Republicans are angling toward a Senate vote next week on their marquee effort to erase much of President Barack Obamas health care law. But theres plenty of grumbling from senators across the GOP spectrum, and leaders havent yet nailed down the support theyll need to prevail.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said Tuesday that theres more work to do before the bill adequately cuts premiums. A second conservative, Utahs Mike Lee, complained about not seeing the legislation despite being on the working group of senators assigned to craft it and said lawmakers should have seen the measure weeks ago if theyre to vote next week. And Alaska moderate Lisa Murkowski said she didnt know how shed vote, adding, I have no idea what the deal is.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he expected to give senators a draft of the bill on Thursday. The measure would eliminate much of Obamas 2010 law and leave government with a diminished role in providing coverage and helping people afford it.

We have to act, and we are, McConnell said.

Later, he just chortled when asked if he was confident the measure would pass, a victory that would elude him if just three of the 52 GOP senators voted no. All Democrats seem certain to oppose the bill.

Its my job to find 50 votes, and were going to have 50 votes, No. 2 Senate Republican leader John Cornyn of Texas said Tuesday. In a 50-50 tally, Vice President Mike Pence would cast the tie-breaking vote.

McConnells ability to line up votes is considered masterful, and hes eager to pass legislation fulfilling a keystone campaign promise of President Donald Trump and countless GOP congressional candidates. But as of now, victory is not guaranteed and he stopped short of definitely scheduling the vote for next week.

Its apparently being written by a small handful of staffers for members of the Republican leadership, said Lee of the bill, using a Facebook video for an unusually public swipe at GOP leaders.

Democrats have also lambasted McConnell for writing the sweeping legislation in closed-door meetings. They unanimously oppose the GOP bill but lack the votes to defeat it. They fear McConnell will jam the legislation through the Senate with little debate, limiting their chance to scrutinize the bill and whip up opposition against it.

Aides and lobbyists said they expected the GOP bill to provide health care tax credits linked to peoples incomes, not their ages like the House-passed measure, and impose spending limits on the growth of the federal-state Medicaid program for the poor that would tighten further by the mid-2020s. Another possibility was letting states drop some coverage requirements that Obamas law imposes on insurers, they said.

They said unresolved questions included how to make sure the subsidies cant be used for policies that provide abortions and how fast they can repeal tax boosts Obama levied on high earners and medical companies to finance his statutes expanded coverage.

The No. 3 Senate GOP leader, John Thune of South Dakota, said Republicans were moving toward phasing out Obamas enlargement of Medicaid to additional low-income people over five or six years. That might satisfy Republican senators from states that expanded their programs, but conservatives have wanted to halt the extra expenditures quickly.

At the White House, spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump clearly wants a bill that has heart. A week ago, Trump called the version the House approved last month mean. Spicer offered no specifics but said Trump wants the Senate to strengthen it, to make it more affordable, more accessible.

Besides Lee and Cruz, conservative Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said it would be a non-starter if the developing bills subsidies are as large as Obamas.

Murkowski has opposed past conservative efforts to include language barring federal payments to Planned Parenthood, a group many Republicans abhor because it provides abortions.

(AP)
The following photos were released by Hizbullah. The terrorist organization reports that what is seen in the photos was furnished by Hizbullah cameras maintaining a watchful eye on IDF troops entering an area in Lebanon.

According to Hizbullah, soldiers were involved in intelligence gathering.

While the photos may be Hizbullah propaganda, they may also be accurate. Needless to say, the IDF is not commenting at this time.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Officials at Sheba Medical Center report that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not sustain a cardiac incident. Chief of Cardiac Medicine at Tel Hashomer Prof. Shlomi Matzki announced on Tuesday evening that the former prime minister was being kept for a number of hours for observation after it was determined he did not sustain a cardiac incident.

Earlier in the day, the Massiyahu Prison doctor was summoned to check Olmert, followed by Mr. Olmerts personnel physician. It was decided to take him to a hospital for diagnostic testing. The doctors feared he might be suffering a cardiac incident. The Shin Bet was contacted and arrangements were made to transport him to the hospital.

Hospital officials on Wednesday morning 27 Sivan stated Mr. Olmert remains hospitalized and is expected to undergo additional tests during the day.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Police report that a Jerusalem shul was with swastikas on Wednesday morning 27 Sivan. Beit Knesset Laluv on Kfar Nachum Street (Mekor Baruch) was targeted with swastikas and vandals tried to light seforim on fire.

Later in the morning police learned this was not the only attack, reporting two additional attacks in the same general area, with swastikas painted on the entrances of two different buildings.

Police forensic experts add that it appears the same handwriting is responsible for all three attacks. An investigation is ongoing.

Police on Wednesday afternoon announced the arrest of a 38-year-old resident of the capital as the major suspect in the case. Police add it appears he perpetrated similar graffiti attacks in areas of the northern capital.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem/Photo Credit: Police spokesman unit)
Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman spoke at a conference on Transparency in Health in Tel Aviv and addressed the boiling issue of the doctors resignation from Hadassah, accusing the doctors of destroying the health system.

I would like to address the burning issue these days, the subject of Hadassah, said the Health Minister, adding that the only thing that interested me was the children, I did not look at anyone who came out against me or at the signs and the buses. What interests me is only the children.

Litzman was referring to the resignation of the doctors who ran the pediatric hemo-oncology unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, an occurrence that has gained national notoriety.

I instructed the Hadassah Director-General Rothstein that what the doctors will receive what they are asking for towards returning the situation to what if was before the crisis. Rothstein received my guidance. Unfortunately, the doctors did not accept this. There is no Jerusalem without Hadassah and we saved Hadassah. Since Rothstein is in Hadassah, the activity in the hospital has risen above expectations, and I reiterate that there will not be a department at Shaare Zedek. This is a professional statement by the Health Ministry and not mine, Litzman said emphatically.

I am personally shocked by what I read this morning that talks are ongoing to move the unit to Shaare Zedek Hospital. Its hard for me to think that senior doctors will try a putsch against Hadassah, he said, adding trying to take the workers, social workers, nurses and administrators and destroy the department. Its something unthinkable. This is the destruction of the health system. I will join in examining this conduct between the doctors and Shaare Zedek.

Shaare Zedek released a statement to the media Wednesday morning based on these reports, calling on the sides to work out differences for the good of the patients, adding Shaare Zedek will not be opening a hemo-oncology clinic. This statement seems to attempt to allay Litzmans fears that the unit will leave Hadassah.

Litman added that at a Knesset Medical Committee meeting he suggested negotiations with the doctors who resigned but this was rejected by them. They subsequently meet with the director-general of the ministry. Today, I understand that they have not even bothered to respond [to him].

Despite Litzmans claims, the minister continues calling on them to return to Hadassah. He calls on them to return for the sake of the children. He promises to keep his word to meet their demands for the good of the children.

The senior physicians after they could not prevent Prof. Rothstein from combining the adult and pediatric hemo-oncology unit, which sparked the controversy. The doctors who resigned insist the combining of the units is to the detriment of the children, while Rothstein insists this is not so.

The doctors insist they are concerned with the well-being of the children only, while for Hadassah, it is about cutting costs. The doctors add that while the personnel in the adult unit are capable, they are not at all familiar with the correct protocol and treatment for the pediatric unit, especially the nurses and therapists. They explain adult unit personnel cannot properly treat the children.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Isy Danon, a South African donor of United Hatzalah was so inspired by Donald Trumps recent visit to Israel that he donated an ambucycle to honor the US President. Isy Danon is a proud donor to the organization and a member of its International Committee.

Danon felt that Trump, who has shown his love and support for Israel in general, and for United Hatzalah in specific, was worthy of having an ambucycle donated in his honor. The ambucycle was inaugurated as one of 180 ambucycles on May 26th, a few days after Trumps visit and in the presence of the US Ambassador to Israel, Mr. David Friedman.

Isy has always been a good friend of the organization. He was very moved by the fact that Trump came to Israel and made his visit so quickly after becoming President. To have the support of so many people who are seeing the effects that this organization is having on the population of Israel inspires me to keep pushing every day and to keep expanding our operation, said Beer.

The organization inaugurated the new fleet of ambucycles in Tel Aviv before a large gathered crowd and showed off the newly designed orange fleet with a parade around the city.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)


[COMMUNICATED CONTENT]

Aharon and Esther W. are not sure what the future holds for their special daughter. Tzipora must always be on a soft surface or wear a helmet because at any moment she can fall down and hit her head when trying to walk, or she may experience an unexpected but powerful seizure.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Tziporas mother Esther was expecting her newest child, doctors noticed something unusual in prenatal testing but they couldnt determine exactly what the issue was. Nevertheless she and her husband Aharon were overjoyed at the birth of their daughter Tzipora about four and a half years ago. They couldnt wait to get to know their baby and raise her in their Jerusalem home with their beautiful family.

Tzipora grew each day as expected until something unexpected happened when she was three months old. She experienced an episode of unusual muscle spasms. Esther and Aharon took Tzipora to the doctor and didnt want to believe what they heard: Tzipora was having a seizure, and after further testing she was diagnosed with Aicardi syndrome, a rare disorder (there are only about 1,000 documented cases in the U.S. and several thousand worldwide) where missing nerve fibers in the brain prevent the left and right sides from communicating.

CLICK HERE to help Tzipporah

Aicardi syndrome is characterized by seizure activity. Many children with the condition have difficulties walking or speaking and experience developmental delays (because the brain isnt sending complete messages to the body). Sadly in Tziporas case, as she got older it became clear that she was affected in all of these ways.

Tziporas parents did everything possible to get all the help they could, for their daughter. She underwent various therapies for an extended time but they noticed that she wasnt making significant progress in any of the areas she was lacking. They were discouraged and didnt know what to do. Finally they learned some new information after getting in contact with other parents whose children had the same condition: There was a physiotherapist in Canada who specialized in developing treatment plans for Aicardi children. Esther and Aharon scrambled for funds to take the trip abroad and see him.

The investment was a costly one. Aharon and Esther went into substantial debt to cover the three week trip-something the hard working couple never would have expected to be forced to do. It also threw family life into upheaval, as the parents tried to figure out how to make arrangements for the other children left at home. But the well-being of their daughter was paramount and thankfully the investment paid off. The therapist developed a course of unique treatments that could be implemented by his students in Israel, which the family began immediately upon their return. Not long into the therapies Aharon and Esther began to see improvements in Tziporas abilities: When approaching a step while using her walker and leg braces, she now knows it is a sign for her to lift her leg. She is better at bringing a piece of bread closer to her mouth than she used to be. She is working on learning to drink from a cup. These seemingly simple types of activities are big milestones for this smiley, happy four and a half year old.

CLICK HERE to help Tzipporah

The results have brought some encouragement into the lives of Aharon and Esther, although they face a frightening hurdle. There is a window of ideal time to work with Tzipora , with a main goal of getting her to walk using this specific method, but it is only open for one more year. Still in significant debt from their previous trip abroad, they know Tzipora has a long road ahead of her and they cant imagine how they will be able to fund additional consultations and treatments.

We can help Tzipora-we need to. But the clock is ticking and we cant help her without you. Our goal is to raise $18,000. With these funds we will be able to make a lifetime investment ourselves, in the future of a little girl. Money will go toward another appointment with the specialist and cover the resulting costs of flights, the vital therapies themselves and loss of income due to the trip.

We hope these therapies will improve Tziporas quality of life.

Please help us get Tzipora the vital help she needs and say a Tefilla for Tzipora Feiga bat Esther.

CLICK HERE to help Tzipporah

Milkas Fund, founded and managed by Yad Eliezer is a safe and secure way of donating money to help individuals with compassion and enable them to live a life with their problems solved.
New Delhi/Kolkata, July 21 (IBNS): Taking forward the partnership with Ministry of AYUSH, Reebok India left no stone unturned in reaching out to yoga and fitness enthusiasts across the country on the occasion of International Yoga Day.

The brand engaged with over thousands of fitness enthusiasts through Yoga sessions hosted by Reebok Master Trainers across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore.



Reiterating its commitment to the Fitness is Life philosophy, the brand inspired hundreds of people across the country to be fitter  physically, socially and mentally. Bollywood actor and style icon Malaika Arora, also joined in the celebrations in Mumbai, inspiring hundreds of fitness enthusiasts to take up Yoga for a healthier and fitter lifestyle.



Yoga as a form of fitness helps de-stress, rejuvenate and revitalize, thus Reebok continues to collaborate with the Ministry of AYUSH to promote Yoga as a way of life. In its endeavor to make yoga accessible to everyone, the brand organized early morning Yoga sessions at popular locations in the city including DLF Cyber Hub, DLF Promenade, DLF Saket, Mall of India, Connaught Place and Raahgiri, which witnessed an overwhelming participation by consumers (number of participants in Delhi-NCR).

Commenting on Reeboks association with the Ministry of AYUSH for International Day of Yoga, Silvia Tallon, Senior Marketing Director, Reebok India, said, We are delighted to continually partner with the government to promote Yoga and its benefits, encouraging more and more people to practice it as a way of life. We are overwhelmed with the participation by consumers, and Malaikas support this year. We hope to continue the momentum, engaging and motivating many more to join the fitness wagon and adopt Yoga for a healthier lifestyle.
A young woman engineer spearheading Jaguar Land Rovers drive towards self-driving autonomous cars has been named the British motor industrys female star of the year.

Amy Rimmer, 29, topped Autocar's list of 100 Great British Women working in the UKs motor industry.

The research engineer for JLRs Autonomous Vehicle Control is working at the heart of the UK carmakers push to create cars that help motorists with advanced assistance technology and could one day drive themselves without human input.

In the driving seat: Amy Rimmer from Jaguar Land Rover has top the list of the 100 Great British Women in the Car Industry

As well as taking the top title in the Autocar Great British Women awards, she also won her category for vehicle development.

Long-running motoring magazine, Autocar, said it 'launched the Great British Women in the Car Industry initiative to inspire more women to consider a career in the industry we love'.

It added: 'The current imbalance between the numbers of men and women in the industry is dramatic. It is our hope that by shining a spotlight on those who have both reached the top, and those we consider to be the industry's brightest rising stars, more women will consider the rich, exciting careers that are open to them.'

Originally from Kings Lynn in Norfolk and just married last year, Amy said: I truly believe the introduction of autonomous technology on vehicles will make the world a better place.

The fact that it is such a high profile area is positive because it drives the technology. For me personally it's the technology that interests me and that's why I enjoy my job so much.

I've always liked maths and science at school and I thought engineering was a useful application of maths. It wasn't until I started my university course that I really knew I would be an engineer for ever.

My experience of being a woman in the engineering industry has been really positive. It's a great industry to be in with all the interesting emerging technologies coming out so it should appeal to any engineer.

I've never been made to feel like I can't do or achieve anything because I'm a woman and I don't think any woman should ever feel like that.

At JLR she is working on the firms ambitious plan to create cars that can drive themselves  using a prototype autonomous Range Rover Sport  as well as communicate with one another and navigate their way safely through busy roads, traffic lights and junctions, to their destination.

Dr Rimmer is spearheading Jaguar Land Rover's autonomous car development

Amy Rimmer is a Cambridge University graduate with a CV that includes working at McLaren and Volvo trucks

Amy works on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems and says she aspires to be a globally recognised expert on the subject.

It is part of a 20million UK Autodrive three-year research and development project that will involve trials on public roads around Milton Keynes and Coventry later this year.

WINNERS IN OTHER CATEGORIES Overall winner and vehicle Development: Amy Rimmer, Research Engineer  Autonomous Vehicle Control, Jaguar Land Rover Manufacturing: Leah Bruce, Diesel Manufacturing Strategy Manager, Ford Retail/Sales: Lucy Curtis, General Manager, TrustFord Charlotte Twigg, Audi Marketing: Charlotte Twigg, Services Manager, North America, Audi Communications: Laura King, Senior Manager, Brand PR, Hyundai Apprentices/ Interns: Chloe Crutchlow, Emissions Measurement Technologies Support Engineer, Degree Apprentice, Jaguar Land Rover Jo Lewis, McLaren Design: Jo Lewis, Senior Colour and Materials Designer, McLaren Executive: Nikki Rimmington, Director of Corporate Finance and Planning, Aston Martin Human Resources and Training: Donna Chambers, Group Learning & Development Manager, IM Group

Dr Rimmer graduated from Cambridge with a masters degree in mechanical engineering in 2010 having already gained automotive experience during a spell interning at the McLaren F1 teams vehicle dynamics department.

She went onto to complete a PhD in vehicle dynamics at Cambridge working with Volvo Trucks on autonomous driving, before joining JLR in 2015 as a research engineer.

The Autocar Great British Women awards awards are run by the worlds longest running motoring magazine , backed by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and announced today at a special conference of female motor industry executives at Twickenham Stadium in West London.

The top 100 women were selected from a range of key areas in the car industry: vehicle development, manufacturing, purchasing, retail, marketing, communications, apprentices, motorsport, design and executive.

A winner was selected in each area, and the overall winner chosen from that shortlist.

The women were chosen based on their influence  and potential future influence - on the automotive industry.

In backing her submission, Jaguar Land Rover offered praise for her significant work as an autonomous research engineer and her passion and commitment to the car industry.

Jaguar Land Rover is launching a major recruitment drive for hi-tech engineers to help its push to develop driverless and electric vehicles, amid concerns of a UK skills shortage.

It announced this week it is looking to recruit up to 5,000 more people on top of its existing 42,000 workforce.

Mark Tisshaw, editor of Autocar magazine said: This years Top 100 Rising Stars event is testament to the breadth and diversity of skills among the female workforce in the global automotive industry, and we warmly congratulate all of them on their achievements.

In times of change and ground-breaking electric, connected and autonomous technology, it is crucial that the industry continues to attract the brightest and best candidates to maintain momentum.

Under-representation of women in the industry is something it has begun to tackle head-on, and the response to this years event to highlight its rising stars has been hugely encouraging.
Royal Mails boss is joining the board of EasyJet. Moya Greene will serve as non-executive director of the airline from September 1.

The Canadian-born businesswoman, who was paid 1.9million between 2016 and 2017, has been chief executive of the postal service company since 2010.

The mum-of-one was previously chief executive of Canada Post. In February 2013 she was named 12th most powerful woman in Britain.

Francois Rubichon steps down as EasyJet non-executive director in July.
CABLE CONTRACT Construction and regeneration group Morgan Sindall has won a two-year contract extension worth up to 60millio.

The contract will run until October 2019 and see Morgan Sindall lay cables for Western Power Distribution, which supplies electricity in the Midlands, South West and Wales.

Shares rose 0.7 per cent, or 9p, to 1304p.

STUBBED OUT Life insurer Aviva will sell about 1billion of bonds and shares it holds in tobacco companies.

It forms part of a global drive by insurance companies to pressure governments and companies to do more to reduce the impact of smoking on public health.

NEW JOBS Bank HSBC is creating 500 jobs in Scotland.

It is creating roles in its global risk business, which was established in Edinburgh in 2015, and its centre of excellence for customer contact in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.

It is the companys third expansion programme in Scotland in the past three years.

PLANE ORDER Budget airline Ryanair has placed an order for an extra 10 Boeing 737 Max 200s  bringing its total orders to 110.

The airline said the order, valued at more than 870million, will allow it to lower fares even further and grow its traffic to 200m customers by 2024.

FITNESS GEAR Phone firm Nokia has launched a range of wearable technology aimed at improving customers fitness.

It snapped up French smart-watch maker Withings in a deal last year and has rebranded the firms products under its own banner and launched two new ones, including BMI weighing scales that connect to Wi-Fi and a compact blood pressure monitor.

GOLD DEAL Junior gold firm Ariana Resources has raised 1.9mILLION by placing nearly 134mILLION shares.

Arianas directors will also invest around 130,000 to support the development of the firms mining operations around the world.

LOST LISTING Big data firm Fusionex will be suspended from trading on Londons junior market today following a controversial vote last week to return it to private ownership under chief executive Ivan Teh.

Its listing will be cancelled for good next Tuesday.

OIL OFFICER Les Wood has been promoted to interim chief financial officer at Tullow Oil after the resignation of permanent chief financial officer Ian Springett earlier this year due to ill health.
Berkeley Group shares rose this morning after the housebuilder posted a 53 per cent hike in profits.

The rise is due to the group selling more higher value homes in central London despite some investor uncertainty in the wake of Brexit.

It sold 3,905 homes over the year to April 30 at an average price of 675,000, up from 515,000 the previous year.

Berkeley Group shares rose this morning after the housebuilder posted a 53 per cent hike in profits. Pictured: Fulham Reach in west London sold by Berkeley

Berkely shares were trading up 2.2 per cent to 3,300.50p after the company reported profits of 812.4 million for the year to April 30.

The group remains on track to notch up at least 3billion in pre-tax profits over the five years to May 2021, as long as property market conditions remain stable.

Chairman Tony Pidgley said: 'Berkeley has delivered another strong performance in a fast-changing environment. We have a deep understanding of our market and real clarity about the fundamental hallmarks of our business: quality, community and a long-term focus on value creation.'

But Mr Pidgley issued a stark warning that excessive government red tape and high stamp duty are holding back development in the capital.

London's population is expected to grown 1.5million between now and 2036 but the housing supply is not keeping up with demand.

Mr Pidgley said: 'Brexit uncertainty coupled with the impact of high stamp duty land tax and multiple demands from the planning system in London, mean that supply in our capital will remain constrained and not reach the levels required.'

'Brexit and wider global macro instability impact both confidence and sentiment and will result in constrained investment levels.

'While these conditions are adequate to meet our profit guidance, they do not support the much needed growth in housing delivery in London.'

Recent industry figures suggest the number of new house builds in London have tumbled by 30 per cent, according to the group.

Berkeley said the pound's fall since the Brexit vote had sent prices of materials higher, with overall build costs 6 per cent higher year on year.

The group said the year to the end of April was significantly affected by the EU referendum last year, with the value of reservations 25 per cent lower than in 2015-16, but confirmed this had since fully reversed after a more stable second half.

Berkeley also reiterated concerns over the availability of labour after Brexit.

Chief executive Rob Perrins said: 'There is a recognised skills gap in the UK construction workforce and it is hard to predict how build costs will be affected by Brexit as approximately half of London's site labour comes from the EU.

'This needs to be addressed by a combination of continued access to EU labour, skills training and innovation in construction.'
Shares in doorstop loan company Provident Financial plummeted 16 per cent this morning after a major profit warning.

The sub-prime lender said it expects full-year pre-exceptional profits from its consumer credit division to be around 60million, down from 115million in 2016.

This triggered a dramatic sell-off at the bell this morning as shares tanked to 24.02.

Shares in doorstop loan company Provident Financial plummeted 16 per cent this morning. Pictured: A Provident loan salesman in 1937

The profit slide is due to a major re-organisation which has involved replacing 4,500 self-employed debt collection agents with 2,500 full-time managers.

The Financial Times dubbed it Provident's own version of Death of a Salesman.

Provident said the reorganisation was now 'nearing completion', but added that the process had been much more disruptive than originally anticipated.

The FTSE 100 lender said it had experienced 'higher operational disruption than planned', which it blamed on 'reduced agent effectiveness' during the period of transition for the home credit business.

Agent vacancy levels doubled in recent months to 12 per cent which, coupled with a 'deterioration' in performance from development managers, resulted in fewer customer calls and therefore fewer customer collections.

The group said: 'The one-off exceptional charge of approximately 20 million in respect of redundancy, retention and training costs remains in line with previous guidance and will be reflected in the first-half results.'

Chief executive Peter Crook said: 'I am disappointed to report higher than expected operational disruption from the migration of the home credit business to a new operating model.

'Nonetheless, the strategic rationale for the change remains strong and I am confident that it will deliver the substantial benefits previously communicated.'

The profit slide is due to a major re-organisation which has involved replacing 4,500 self-employed debt collection agents with 2,500 full-time managers (stock image)

Provident announced its plan to reorganise its home credit business back in February, including plans to replace thousands of its self-employed agents with fewer full-time managers.

Analysts at Liberum said the latest announcement shows the new model is 'not working as expected'.

'We had been concerned about rising impairments and customer attrition in the consumer credit division as the new model was implemented.

'The transition appears to have been more painful than expected. The sheer speed of the deterioration has taken us by surprise.'

Provident Financial plc is a British sub-prime lender founded in 1880 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. It specialises in credit cards, home collected credit, online loans and consumer car finance.
An estimated one million early retirees could boost their state pension for a knock-down price.

Investing just 741 this year could buy an extra 237 a year income for life. What's more, that income is guaranteed to rise every year in line with prices, wages or 2.5 per cent  whichever is higher.

It's equivalent to getting an annual return of 30 per cent a year  that's 12 times more than you could get from an annuity, which turns your private pension pot into a guaranteed lifetime income.

State pension boost: Investing just 741 this year could buy an extra 237 a year income for life

The returns make it tempting for those with small private pensions, or spare savings earning very little interest, to cash in and buy more government-guaranteed state pension.

Anyone who is under state pension age, retired and is projected to receive a state pension of less than 159.55 per week could potentially benefit.

The opportunity comes from a wrinkle in the complex transition arrangements from the old to the new state pension.

The Government looks at how much old basic state pension has been earned. This may be up to 122.30 per week for those with 30 years or more of National Insurance credits up to April 5, 2016.

It then adds extra pension from top-up schemes such as state earnings-related pension or state second pension (S2P).

If the total is less than the 159.55 per week rate of the new state pension, it is possible to continue building it up.

Each year's credit under the new regime is worth 4.55 a week on your pension. Those in work or on certain benefits usually get credits automatically.

But those who have retired and are under the current state pension age can buy them for 14.25 per week under a scheme that's known as Class 3 NI.

It could benefit anyone who has spent a lot of their career contributing to a salary-linked pension and was taken out of the state top-up pensions by their employer. See the box below.

'CONTRACTING OUT' AND THE STATE PENSION This is Money columnist Steve Webb explains how contracting out affects your state pension here.

This may include police, firefighters, nurses, teachers, members of the armed forces, air traffic controllers, civil servants and bank workers, as well as many others who worked for firms which at one time offered final salary pensions.

Some will have been members of pension schemes which allowed  and in some cases forced  retirement at the age of 55 or 60.

For example, a teacher who retires at 60 but is not due to receive their state pension until they reach the age of 66 could buy an extra 1,422 per year state pension for a contribution of 4,446, based on current rates.

Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London, who served as pensions minister in the Coalition government from 2010 to 2015, estimates that a million people could benefit.

You are allowed to go back up to six years to fill gaps in your National Insurance record but the key date is April 6, 2016, when the new state pension was introduced.

Who qualifies? Anyone who is under state pension age, retired and is projected to receive a state pension of less than 159.55 per week could potentially benefit

Any back payments for years before that will not boost your state pension unless you have less than the full 30 years needed to get the maximum basic state pension under the old regime.

However, you could buy yourself an extra year's pension immediately by paying Class 3 to cover the last tax year, which ended on April 5, 2017.

This six-year rule also means that, technically, there is no need to pay the Class 3 immediately.

You could instead save and invest your money elsewhere and then pay in the full amount as a lump sum.

But that 4,446 in a building society might only earn around 300 over six years.

And Mr Webb warns: 'The Government could shut down this scheme with very little notice.

'Given how little you could earn on the money in a savings account and the chances of forgetting, on balance it is probably better to do it straight away on a year-by-year basis.'

Before plunging in, check how a bigger state pension might affect any other benefits to which you are entitled, particularly if you expect to receive pension credit.

And make sure you are not entitled to free National Insurance credits.

This may be the case if you are on certain benefits such as Jobseeker's Allowance, Unemployability Supplement, which is, for example, payable with Industrial Injuries benefits, Employment and Support Allowance, or Statutory Sick Pay.

If you care for someone  such as an elderly parent or grandchildren  for more than 20 hours a week, then you may well be entitled to Carer's Credit.

Men who are aged 63-and-a-half or over also get free credits, although this limit is rising in line with the women's state pension age.

Mr Webb has recently updated a free guide to Topping Up Your State Pension, which is available on the Royal London website, royallondon.com.

There is also information on how you can obtain your state pension statement, pay Class 3 NI and decide whether you are entitled to any free credits at gov.uk.

money.mail@dailymail.co.uk
Lucknow, June 21 (IBNS): Ignoring rains, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday led 3rd International Yoga Day celebrations in Lucknow and urged people to practice yoga and make it a part of their lives.

More than 40,000 people joined the event in Ambedkar Sabha Sthal here as they performed asanas in presence of the Prime Minister and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Modi was seen wearing a white T-shit and loose white trouser in the event.

"In addition to fitness, wellness is important... Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness. I urge everyone to make Yoga a part of their lives," he said.

"Yoga is about health assurance. It is not even expensive to practice," he said.

Yoga Day celebration is going on across the nation.

In Delhi, Union ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Vijay Goel, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind particiapted in the event at Connaught Place area in the city.

Naidu tweeted: "Thanks to PM Modi, Yoga is now an international art; it's neither political nor religious. It brings peace, good health & unity #Yogaday2017."

Thanks to PM Modi, Yoga is now an international art; it's neither political nor religious. It brings peace, good health & unity #Yogaday2017 pic.twitter.com/wa0ZBcMg36  M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) June 21, 2017

Yoga guru Swami Ramdev and Amit Shah performed asanas in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat where people in large numbers joined them in observeing the special yoga day event.

"Lakhs of Yogis joined @yogrishiramdev,@AmitShah, @vijayrupanibjp, @anandibenpatel, @Nitinbhai_Patel at GMDC ground in Ahmedabad for #IDY2017," Swami Ramdev tweeted.

Yoga events are expected to be held across 180 countries on Wednesday, media reports said.

Modi, three years ago, had pursued the United Nations to declare June 21 to be marked as International Yoga Day.

This is the third edition of Yoga Day, which started in 2015 and is annually celebrated worldwide on Jun 21.

Derived from the Sanskrit word 'yuj', yoga is union of the individual consciousness or soul with the Universal Consciousness or Spirit.

The practice is 10,000 years old and originated in ancient India.

Traces of it can be found in the Rig Veda, the world's oldest surviving literature.

Images: Swami Ramdev, Yogi Adityanath, M Venkaiah Naidu Twitter pages, narendramodi.in
MBABANE  The rigmarole playing itself out in the fingerprints case has led to National Commissioner of Police Isaac Magagula explaining why he has been silent about it.



In vernacular, he said, besingakathuli ngoba kukhona lesikufihlako noma lesikwesabako.

We must set the record straight that our silence has not been on account of the fact that we have been riddled by a guilty conscience, or protecting the alleged Senior or Executive category, said the national commissioner of police during a press conference.



He said nothing could be further from the truth from such perceptions and insinuations.

The reality is that our silence has all along been simply a professional decision to let the court process continue without making any comments that may end up prejudicing the course of justice, he stated.



Magagula was reacting on the recent media reports about the ongoing fingerprints clearance scandal at the Royal Swaziland Police, a matter that the courts are dealing with.

Magagula was mostly reacting on the recent reports that there were senior officers or executive members of the police service who were allegedly implicated.



We make this comment against the backdrop that as the case is now before court, it is subjudice and hence, we cannot be seen as debating its merits and demerits, yet our silence on the other hand, may be perceived by the captive public out there, as an act of burying our heads in the sand, said Magagula.
New Delhi, June 21 (IBNS): The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to free the retired Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan from his six months jail term, according to media reports.

Karnan, who was arrested in Coimbatore on Wednesday in connection with a contempt case, pleaded to SC for the exemption from his jail term.

Dismissing the plea, the apex court said the accused must appear before the seven-judge bench as soon as the summer break gets over. Meanwhile, he would have to stay in custody.

The judges- DY Chandrachur and SK Kaul- told Karnan's lawyer that "judicial equity was observed in the case".

West Bengal's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials on Tuesday had arrested Karnan after a long hide-and-seek game that followed the top court's order against him for repeatedly jumping summons.

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 had 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 a 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 CalcuttaHigh Court on June 12 while being untraceable.
Srinagar, June 21 (IBNS): In an encounter with the security forces, two terrorists were killed in the Sapore township of Baramulla district on Wednesday morning, media reports said.

The terrorists took shelter in a house from where they fought the security forces.

Two arms were rescued by the forces from the spot.

A police official said after receiving the intelligence inputs, armed forces cordoned off the area and launched an encounter on Tuesday night.

Though the forces stopped firing late in the night, the encounter resumed in morning when the terrorists were killed.
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By Naeisha Rose

The Rose of Sharon Baptist Church in Jamaica will be participating in a Citizen Preparedness Corps Training Program Saturday.

The program was created by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and is supported by elected officials including Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica), Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, state Assemblywoman Vivian Cook (D-Jamaica), City Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) and state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans).

The NYS Citizen Preparedness Corps. is a New York State Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services initiative thats designed to bring disaster and emergency preparedness training and resource kits to communities across New York State, according to Comries office.

The classes are two hours long and are headed by officials from the New York National Guard, New York State Office of Emergency Management, and NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control, according to a representative for Comrie.

With hurricane season on the horizon, this workshop will help people in the southeast Queens region, which has experienced major storms, flooding, and fires in homes and businesses, among other tragedies, the representative said.

This will help residents of the 14th Senate District learn how to prepare for both man-made and natural disasters and will ensure that constituents have access to these invaluable resources, Comries office said.

The church is located at 104-19 165th St., and the event starts at noon.
Beijing, Jun 21 (IBNS): A faulty business model can be a disaster for any company, and if it's a startup, it's better to review the system before funds run out and the company ends up thrown off from the market, as a Chinese bike sharing company learned the hard way.

Chonqing-based Wukong Bikes started off functioning with 1200 bikes but six months later it realised that 90 percent of its bikes have gone missing.

The lack of GPS technology hurt them badly, the company lamented.

This is the first bankruptcy in China, a place billed as a bike sharing hub.

Major Chinese investors have shown interest in the booming bike sharing business, funding startups.

Mobike and Ofo are one of the main players in mainland China.

Both the companies are backed by market giants Alibaba and Xiaomi.

Wukong on the the other hand aimed as students, being much smaller in size in terms of business.

The company also incurred a loss from giving free rides to riders.

Founder Lei Houyi told Chinese media that the plan was devised in order to compete with other players, which backfired massively.

Bike sharing in China is done mainly via the use of apps.

A rider unlocks a bike using codes and later drops the bike anywhere they want after completing a ride.



Image: Internet Wallpapers
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By Bill Parry

The NYPD released surveillance video of a suspect wanted in the robbery of a Long Island City bagel shop last month.

Police said the suspect entered the LIC Bagel Shop, located at 31-08 36th Ave., around 3:15 p.m. May 14and removed a tip jar from the counter. When a 30-year-old employee tried to stop him, the suspect punched him in the face and fled the store with an unknown amount of cash, according to authorities.

The suspect is a 6-foot-2, 220 pound African-American man around 65 years of age with hazel eyes and black hair and was last seen wearing black sneakers and a blue jacket, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPDs Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Pa. Dems could flip the House of Reps. Here's what that might mean.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn't alone when it comes to worrying about cyber security in New York state.

National Grid, upstate New York's dominant gas and electric utility, plans to spend $7.5 million over the next three years on cyber security.

The details were included in the company's request for a $407 million rate hike in upstate New York that is being considered by the state Public Service Commission.

National Grid's proposed rate hike would bump the average monthly utility bill by between $10 and $22 . The increase, which may be phased in over several years, would take effect next April.

"Enhanced cyber security is one of the company's top priorities," National Grid's New York President Ken Daly said in testimony submitted to the PSC. "With the grid becoming more interactive by the day, and with increasing amounts of data being exchanged between the company, customers and third parties, incremental investment in cyber security is required to mitigate risk and ensure reliability."

Daly said that the money will be used to not only protect the grid but also customer data from cyber theft.

Cuomo has ordered an in-depth review of the state's voting systems in the wake of investigations into Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election.

One of the groups fighting external disruption of elections in New York and elsewhere is the Center for Internet Security in East Greenbush. That group helped to monitor November's elections, including votes cast in New York, and said the day after the election that there had been little disruption by hackers.
ALBANY - The future of the city's waste disposal needs to include energy efficiency and environmental protection, officials were told Tuesday.

Members of the People of Albany United for Safe Energy, PAUSE cited growing worries about greenhouse gas emissions as the reason Albany officials should couch waste disposal conversations with that of climate change.

For the last several weeks, the city has hosted community forums  Tuesday was the last one  to brief residents of the pending 2023 closure of the Rapp Road landfill and explain some of the options available.

Resident were invited to provide feedback, some of which will help city officials form the final request-for-proposal. The public was able to issue comments on the RFP that seeks plans for Albanys future waste disposal through Monday.

PAUSE member Susan DuBois of Albany said she wants the city to consider energy efficient options for disposal, and was disappointed the RFP didnt outline plans for an anaerobic digester  which breaks down microorganisms to create biogas for heat or electric.

The process of disposing of waste uses energy, DuBois said. They really need to include the energy aspect because I dont think its something people traditionally have thought about when thinking about solid waste.

The dump off Washington Avenue Extension in Albany released over 150,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2015, a figure that has increased over the years, city officials said. In 2009, a greenhouse gas inventory completed by the Mayors Office of Energy & Sustainability reported the landfill accounted for 86 percent of city operations greenhouse gas emissions.

The city captures methane gas from the landfill to sell on the market to the budgeted tune of $450,000 this year. The state also recently announced a plan to get municipal landfills to cut emissions.

Mayor Kathy Sheehans Chief of Staff Brian Shea said the RFP was broadly drafted to ensure nothing was ruled out. City officials expect the solution to hone in on a transfer station, but that doesnt negate companies from proposing something different.

If there is a company that has a product or service that is centered on (energy efficiency), they absolutely will be able to respond, he said. If someone presents an option that can turn this stuff into liquid gold, we want to hear about it.

Shea said the city received about 23 comments from the public. One suggestion requested including a mechanism for organic disposal, which landfill staff has said the city will consider adding to the RFP.

Several other comments generally noted concern of greenhouse gases.

Sandy Steubing, a city resident and member of PAUSE, was disappointed Albany officials didnt speak to greenhouse gas emissions when discussing the future of waste collection.

Were less than a decade away from reaching the tipping point at which we wont be able to claw back the climate that is presently changing, Steubing said. If our leaders do not talk about it then why would we as citizens be concerned?

However, Albany hasnt shied away from that discussion. Questions about reducing greenhouse gas emissions have been addressed during public forums as well as directly to PAUSE members during informal meetings, Shea said.

These presentations are about the state of solid waste in the city, and what our options are going forward. Thats what the city officials that present have expertise on it, he said. Ways to reduce our carbon footprint are addressed over the course of the presentation.

Reducing emissions is also outlined in the citys Albany 2030 master plan. One of the goals is a 20 percent reduction in emissions from municipal buildings, which in 2009 accounted for 5,183 metric tons of the citys emissions.

Shea said City Hall recently switched all its lighting to LED, a change that expects to reduce carbon dioxide outputs by 114 metric tons in less than two years. There are other measures in the process expected to reduce outputs as well.

Other initiatives include Sheehans commitment to uphold the Paris Climate Accords despite the federal government pulling out of the agreement and Albany installing 10 megawatts of solar panels on the Swinburne Skating Rinks roof, which is expected to generate 75 percent of municipal buildings power.
SARATOGA  A woman drowned after her Toyota convertible toppled off a one-lane bridge into Fish Creek on Tuesday evening, State Police said.

Police got a call around 5:29 p.m. from a neighbor who spotted the car, and divers recovered the unidentified woman from the vehicle that flipped when it submerged at the end of Brown Point Lane, Senior Investigator Mike Cuomo said,.
Perth

If your business is anything like a medical marijuana facility, economic developers in Fulton County want you to know they have a perfect location for it.

You dont have to be making medicines from plants that were until recently illegal to grow. Fulton County officials are looking for businesses that need lots of affordable space in a secure, remote location with access to a workforce that has a wide range of education and skills. Thats what Vireo Health of New York, one of five medical marijuana companies operating in the state, got when it moved into the 213-acre Tryon Technology Park two years ago.

Fulton County has been a terrific partner for us, Vireo Chief Executive Ari Hoffnung said Wednesday at a county event pitching the site of a former state juvenile detention center, to a couple dozen real estate brokers.

Its a perfect fit, Fulton County Planning Director James Mraz said of Vireos location.

As the unique business parks only tenant, Vireo was a natural selling point. Real estate brokers got a rare tour of the strictly regulated facility.

They got to see an outdoor greenhouse and indoor grow rooms where horticulturists carefully control the light and temperature of plants whose oils are extracted for medicines to treat 11 debilitating conditions approved by the state. They got to peek into the laboratory where the medicines are made, in different formulations of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a mind-altering ingredient, and cannabidiol (CBD), which has no psychoactive properties.

Yet as an example of a thriving business, Vireo isnt there yet. Hoffnung told county officials and real estate brokers that the firm has invested about $10 million in the operation, including 20 acres of land. But like the other four medical marijuana companies in New York, it has yet to break even.

Thats despite a huge boost  an increase in volume of more than 50 percent, according to Vireo Operations Director Nick Goran  since the state added chronic pain to its list of qualifying conditions less than three months ago. One impediment to growth, company officials said, is that too few doctors are registering to certify patients for medical marijuana. According to the state Health Department, 1,058 medical providers were registered as of last week.

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The business park landed Vireo as a client without much work, Mraz said. The company found the park as the county was engaged in getting the facility ready to market, Mraz said.

Mraz raised an eyebrow when he told about first hearing of interest from a potential tenant that wanted to grow marijuana. But then he learned more about Vireos plans. Ah, youre a pharmaceutical company, he said.
Patna, June 21 (TheBiharPost/IBNS): The JD-U has almost adecideda to support NDA Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind who earlier served as the Governor of Bihar, according to media reports.

Although the party is yet to make a formal announcement to this effect, one of the legislators Ratnesh Sada told the media today that the JD-U will be supporting the NDA candidate.

First, he (Kovind) is a Governor of Bihar who was declared as NDA Presidential candidate and secondly, he is a nice man. We will support him, Sada told the media today.

The move is being considered a major setback to the opposition unity with both its alliance partners, the Congress and the RJD, planning to oppose to NDA nominee.

The JD-U which is headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar is holding meeting with party leaders and legislators, seeking their opinions about supporting Kovind.

Reports said party leaders have authorized their president to take a decision in this regard.

Kovind was declared as NDAs presidential candidate on Monday by BJP chief Amit Shah.



(thebiharpost.com)
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Niskayuna

In a picnic area at General Electric Co.'s Global Research Center, a group of scientists and engineers are working on a new industrial revolution that will involve robots, drones and artificial intelligence.

GE has been developing robot and artificial intelligence technologies for many years now.

But these researchers in Niskayuna are part of GE's latest effort to monetize that technology with the launch of Avitas Systems, a new GE-created company being incubated in Boston with help from scientists here in the Capital Region.

Avitas is creating technologies that will be artificial intelligence, or AI, combined with robots and predictive data analytics and software to provide high-tech inspection services to energy and transportation companies.

On Tuesday, a team supervised by John Lizzi, director of robotics at GE Global Research, and Judy Guzzo, a project leader, were performing drone testing on a simulated oil rig flare stack.

"Really the concept for the business and the technology came out of the Global Research Center here," Lizzi said. "We've been experimenting with drones and other types of robotics for a while. Eventually that gained momentum as a real business opportunity."

Currently, oil and gas companies use human workers hooked onto harnesses to inspect flare stacks for wear and damage. The inspections are dangerous and require the drilling companies to temporarily pause their operations, costing them valuable time away from drilling.

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GE's drone technology being offered by Avitas eliminates all of that human work that is so costly and dangerous. And GE's software creates so-called digital twins of industrial equipment that can predict when the actual equipment will break down or need servicing.

The technology is currently being targeted for customers of GE's oil and gas business. Guzzo spent two months in the Gulf of Mexico on an oil rig a year ago testing sensor technology that is also used by Avitas.

"Unplanned asset downtime is a top issue for the oil and gas industry, and can cost operators millions of dollars," Kishore Sundararajan, the chief technology officer of GE Oil & Gas, said. "Avitas Systems will help enhance the efficiency of inspections, and can help our customers and others avoid significant costs by reducing downtime and increasing safety."
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Wilton

Starting Wednesday, customers at the newly rebuilt McDonald's on Route 50 here will have the option of ordering their meal without talking to an employee.

The restaurant, one of 13 in the area owned by McDonald's franchisee Joe Gialil, is the first in the Capital Region to offer the new kiosks, although they're already at 2,600 McDonald's worldwide.

"You'll see them rapidly becoming the way of catering to our customers," Gialil said during a demonstration Tuesday as contractors put finishing touches on the new building."You can still order at the counter. This gives the customer another option."

While opponents of a higher minimum wage predicted that some fast-food restaurants might hire fewer workers and automate more of their jobs, Gialil said this wasn't the purpose of the kiosks.

He said some people might feel rushed at the counter as others lined up behind them. They can take more time at the kiosk, he said. A "concierge" will be on hand to answer questions and help customers unfamiliar with the kiosks.

One plus: The kiosks currently offer English and Spanish language options. Others, such as French  the restaurant is just off the Northway, a busy travel route for French-speaking Canadians  can be added with a software update.

The restaurant actually is expanding its employee count to 70 from 40 before the rebuilding, he added.

Customers use a touch screen to order and pay with a credit or debit card. Those paying in cash will go to the counter to pay a cashier. Customers will pick up a numbered sign, enter the number on the screen, and take the sign to their table, where an employee will deliver their meal when it's ready.

The new restaurant also offers a variety of seating, from booths and standard tables to bistro tables and chairs. A separate play area for children has its own seating. Power outlets and free wifi are standard. The drive-up features two lanes and three windows.

"There's softer seating and a more comfortable environment," Gialil said.

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Rebuilding the restaurant and adding the new equipment cost "in the millions," Gialil said, declining to be more specific.

And while Gialil and others have said the goal of the kiosks wasn't to replace workers, the devices could give McDonald's more flexibility to move employees to the kitchen, for example, to speed the filling of orders, particularly at busy times.

One item that won't be back on the summer menu this year? The lobster roll, which was introduced in Albany area McDonald's restaurants last summer. While it proved popular, it also was challenging to produce.

Will it return? "Maybe next year," said Gialil.
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 didn't want to be identified because discussions are in progress.

The price Key will pay is unknown, but much of it likely will go toward paying a $1 billion U.S. 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, and lawyers say there won't be enough money to give victims what they would have received if they were suing a healthy company.

So far the faulty inflators have killed 11 people in the U.S. and 16 worldwide. Over 180 people have been injured. The problem touched off the biggest recall in U.S. automotive history, involving 19 automakers, 42 million vehicles and up to 69 million inflators. About 100 million inflators have been recalled worldwide.

Some victims have serious facial injuries from metal shrapnel and would win large verdicts if Takata were financially strong, lawyers say. Kevin Dean, a South Carolina lawyer who has 25 cases pending against Takata, said one of his clients, a 26-year-old man, will never be able to smile due to nerve damage.
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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.
As any fan of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain knows, food is more than raw ingredients. To understand a bowl of noodles or a perfectly formed dumpling, a foodie must understand the people who make it, the place where it is made and the deeply rooted history of both.

Halfway across the world, in Singapore, students are embarking on the journey of a lifetime at the Culinary Institute of America's first international location. Bachelor's degree candidates studying toward an Asian Cuisines concentration spend a semester at the CIA's Singapore location, learning from world-renowned chefs, a vibrant culinary scene and travels through neighboring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.

On a recent visit to Sri Lanka, students explored the local flavors of traditional curries. The country has a wealth of ingredients that were historically inaccessible in other parts of the world, resulting in flavorful combinations of spices, produce and proteins that are uniquely Sri Lankan.

Inspired by the journey, the class prepared this recipe for Sri Lankan Crab Curry.

CURRY POWDER

Makes 1/2 cup

6 cardamom pods

1 cinnamon stick

2 teaspoons coriander seed

1 tablespoon cumin seed

1 tablespoon fennel seed

6 whole cloves

1 teaspoon fenugreek seed

1 teaspoon Indian chili powder

6 dried curry leaves

Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the cardamom pods and toast, stirring occasionally, until the pods have darkened slightly and are fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl. Add the cinnamon stick and toast until it is also slightly darkened and fragrant. Transfer to a bowl, and then repeat with the coriander, cumin, fennel, cloves, and fenugreek until all are toasted. Add the chili powder and curry leaves to the mixture and grind in a mortar and pestle or electric spice grinder. Set aside.

SRI LANKAN CRAB CURRY

Makes 8 servings

3 tablespoons curry powder (recipe at left)

Two 2-pound crabs, top shell, gills, and guts removed (see note)

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

3 tablespoons Indian chili powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup sliced shallots

1/4 cup sliced garlic

2 sprigs curry leaves (about 15 fresh leaves)

1 long green chili, sliced

2 cups coconut milk

1/2 cup tamarind paste, soaked then strained

4 fresh pandan leaves

1 cup coconut cream

2 tablespoons lime juice, plus more as needed

Cut each crab into quarters. Crack the claws, but leave them attached. In a shallow dish, combine the crab, curry powder, turmeric, chili powder, and salt, and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat the coconut oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, garlic and curry leaves and cook until softened, about 1 minute. Add the green chili and crab and cook about 3 minutes.

Add the coconut milk, tamarind paste, and pandan leaves and stir to combine. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the crab is fully cooked, about 12 minutes. If the mixture seems too dry, add additional coconut milk or water 1/4 cup at a time.

Remove from the heat and add coconut cream and lime juice, and season with salt, to taste, before serving.

Chef's note: If you prefer, you can substitute 8 ounces of lump crabmeat for the whole crabs. In that case, skip the marinating step and add the curry powder, turmeric, chili powder, and salt with the green chili and lump crabmeat, then continue as written.

From Culinary Institute of America
HALFMOON  A town attorney determined there was "no wrongdoing" when town highway crews dumped fill materials at a farm owned by the family of a town justice and her brother, who is a highway foreman and supervised part of the work, according to Supervisor Kevin Tollisen.

Still, Tollisen said the town also sought guidance from the state Association of Towns and the Town Board will consider drafting a new policy that will dictate how to handle what Tollisen called scrap fill or "spoils" in the future.

Tollisen reiterated previous statements made by Halfmoon Highway Superintendent John Pingelski that the fill, which he said included tree stumps and roots, was of no value and would be considered worthless. The fill was removed as part of a town project to build a parking lot next to the Halfmoon Senior Center on Lower Newtown Road.

Pingelski said at the time that the fill was not utilized by Suchocki Farms and was simply pushed over an embankment. The farm is the residence of town highway foreman William Suchocki, who oversaw portions of the parking lot construction, and his sister Town Justice Katherine Suchocki. They did not respond to calls seeking comment.

A resident who lives near the farm on Harris Road told the Times Union last month they saw at least one town truck delivering the material. Fill was also being fed through a grinding machine, and it appeared the farm was building roads inside the property.

Pingelski said William Suchocki confirmed with him that the farm is building a road, but that Suchocki said the fill being used for the road came from an outside contractor.

When contacted by the newspaper last month, Tollisen said he did not know about the situation and would direct the town's attorney to investigate the matter.

On Wednesday, Tollisen said Town Attorney Lyn Murphy consulted with an engineer at Cornell Local Roads, a division of Cornell University that is a Local Technical Assistance Program for the Federal Highway Administration. Cornell's engineer opined that dumping spoils on private property is acceptable and can save the municipality the time and expense of alternative disposal, Tollisen said.

"The procedure to dispose of spoils to properties close in proximity to a site being excavated is one that is legally permissible and one that is used by Saratoga County and the state of New York," Tollisen wrote in an email to the Times Union.

However, Tollisen said The Association of Towns advised it would be appropriate to have a written policy on fill disposal, which the supervisor said would likely be voted on at a Town Board meeting in July. "This will ensure a clear written policy is in place for something that is otherwise legally permissible," Tollisen wrote.
SARATOGA  State Police have identified the woman who died Tuesday night after her car was found submerged in Fish Creek as 66-year-old Ellen T. Steinberger of Saratoga Springs.

Troopers arrived at 5:39 p.m. to find a 2007 Toyota Solara upside down and submerged in the water, State Police said. Divers pulled Steinberger's body from the wreckage.
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Two men wanted for separate incidents in Albany are among the fugitives State Police said they are trying to locate as part of their Warrant Wednesday initiative.

 Toby L. Richardson, 40, is wanted on a bench warrant from Albany City Court for failure to appear on an original charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance in January 2009. He also was arrested in July 2011 on a weapons possession charge in Maryland, completed probation in 2013 and once again did not appear in court in Albany, troopers said. Richardson is believed to be in the Henrico, Va., area.

 Darrell Wilson, 29, is wanted by the State Police in Albany on a bench warrant for driving while intoxicated on Aug. 4, 2014.

 Sammantha C. McEneaney, 21, is wanted by the State Police and the Town of LaGrange Court, Dutchess County, following her February 2015 arrest. McEneaney is accused of failing to get her 6-week-old child medical attention that was required following an alleged child abuse investigation. The Town of LaGrange Court issued a warrant ordering McEneaney's arrest when she failed to appear for a court appearance.

 Jonathan Mercado, 26, was arrested during a traffic stop in the Town of Blooming Grove when troopers said he had 111 wax envelopes containing heroin and three hypodermic needles. Mercado was arrested and sent to Orange County Jail in lieu of bail. He failed to return to court and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

 Marcus Crosgile, 27, is wanted by State Police and Nassau County First District Court for multiple charges of criminal possession of marijuana. In 2015, Crosgile was stopped by troopers on the Southern State Parkway. Crosgile's last known address is in Sunrise, Fla.

 Eric Antoine, 47, is wanted on a Village of Dundee, Yates County, arrest warrant for grand larceny. Police said Antoine stole more than $1,000.00 from his employer's bank account. Antoine may be working in the construction field.

 Eric Swain Jr., 31, is wanted by State Police and the Town of Malone Court on a charge of promoting prison contraband. On May 16, 2009, Swain brought in marijuana while visiting an inmate at a state correctional facility in Malone. Swain's last known location is New York City.

 Milan Hubacek, 65, is wanted by State Police in Deposit, Broome County, on an arrest warrant for failing to appear in court on a charge of driving while intoxicated. His arrest warrant was issued by the Town of Windsor Court on Aug. 24, 2016.
Patna, June 21 (TheBiharPost/IBNS): A local court in Bihar on Wednesday convicted five Maoists in the 2002 murder of divisional forest office Sanjay Kumar Singh.

The quantum of punishment will be announced on July 5.



The court of district and sessions judge, Sasaram, Prabhunath Singh found the Maoists guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and under Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), court sources told the media.



The Maoists declared guilty in the case include Nirala Yadav, Nitish alias Birbal Yadav, Ram Bachan Yadav, Sudama Oraon and Lalan Singh Kharwar.



The victim had gone on patrolling in the forested areas of Rohtas district when the Maoists shot him dead in February 2002.



Initially, the investigation was carried out by the state police but it was ultimately handed over to the CBI on the directive of the Supreme Court, reports said.



Last month, the Munger district court had convicted five Maoists in the killing of two security forces and handed down death sentences to them.



thebiharpost.com


THE ISSUE:

A Senate campaign committee is investigated for possibly breaking election law.

THE STAKES:

If elected officials violate their own laws, how can the public trust their government?

More Information To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com or at http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion See More Collapse

A political "housekeeping account" sounds so mundane, so dreary, so technical that it might be tempting to think the only people who could care about the topic are accountants and policy wonks.

And that probably suits political parties just fine. If the allegations from the state Board of Elections about the state Senate Republicans' handling of their housekeeping account are true, it's one more reason New Yorkers ought to be furious that lawmakers are abusing the very campaign finance system they refuse to reform.

There's really nothing complicated about this. State law lets parties set up two kinds of accounts: campaign committees, and housekeeping. The important difference is this: Regular committees may spend money to promote individual candidates, but can only accept contributions up to certain limits, while housekeeping accounts, which are intended for party-building and operations, may not promote individual candidates, but there are no caps on contributions.

The Board of Elections' enforcement office is looking into whether the Senate Republican Campaign Committee used its housekeeping account to pay for campaign fliers for specific candidates, including Sen. George Amedore of Rotterdam. The office cites receipts from an Albany printing and design company, and notes that the housekeeping account's spending tends to spike around elections. The GOP says it's all a witch hunt, and wants a court to quash the Board of Elections subpoenas as too broad.

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Abusing a housekeeping account is no small matter. Legislators who run it would be thumbing their noses at the laws the Legislature created to stem the influence of money in government. Campaign contribution limits exist for a reason. It's no secret big donations buy access to elected officials and at least the potential to shape public policy, whether it's getting a tax break passed or blocking a consumer protection that might cost a company or an industry more money to abide by. Using a housekeeping account for campaign expenses would blow away any semblance of limits.

As it is, those limits are conspicuously generous. For regular political committees, the donation cap is $109,600 for an individual.

Year after year, the Legislature ignores the calls for lower contribution limits, just as Senate Republicans also refuse to close a loophole that allows potentially unlimited donations to be funneled through limited liability companies.

But this shouldn't be a partisan issue. It's about good government. We should not have to tolerate big money in politics as business as usual.

Once upon a time, enough New York legislators of both parties acknowledged that too much money in politics is inherently corrupt and not in the public interest. That's what the abuse of housekeeping accounts is ultimately about. That's why it should matter to every New Yorker. And that's why some politicians are no doubt hoping it won't.
Tipperary is expected to bask in temperatures as high as 28c today, warmer than Tenerife, Lisbon Berlin, Turin and Amsterdam.

Sun seekers are being advised to layer on the sun screen. But the Premier County will not hit the highs of Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Wicklow and Meath where Met Eireann has issued a yellow weather warning. The warning is in place from midday until 6pm today.



The country basked in glorious weather again yesterday as Tipperary saw the best of the conditions, where temperatures reached a peak of 27C.



Liz Walsh, of Met Eireann, said the majority of the country will enjoy "heatwave conditions" over the next few days. Today will be a "hazy" and "sun soaked" in the early afternoon. However, the increasingly humid conditions could result in thundery outbreaks in some parts later in the day.

Tomorrow will be mostly dry with some bright spells. It will be a "much fresher day" with highs of 15C to 20C.

Enjoy it while you can though as the weather is expected to take a turn for the worse on Friday and it is anticipated that it will not pick up over the weekend with scattered showers predicted to fall and temperatures dropping to 15-18C.



Tipperary people have been swarming to beaches to bask in the sunshine in recent days and the traditional paddling pool is still proving to be a summertime hit with people rushing out to nab the childhood favourite.








On Thursday June 1st we raised our sixth Green Flag. Although the weather was unkind to us the atmosphere was bright inside the hall and a great number of parents turned up to join in the celebrations.

The morning began with a show from the ever popular Fred the Magician. He entertained all the children with his magical tricks and even managed to trick our own Deirdre with a mathematical question which is no mean feat!

The children were then surprised to each get an ice-cream kindly given to the school by parents Rachael and Mark O'Donoghue. This was an unexpected treat and was greatly enjoyed by all.

Our special guests The Two Johnnies arrived to a great flurry of excitement as all were familiar with their songs and videos. It was especially an honour for us to have our own past pupil Jonathan Mc Mahon arriving back as a celebrity.

Mr Hanamy introduced all the invited guests which included Catherine Mc Gee from Offaly County Council who assessed us for our Green Flag, Fr. Tom Corbett and of course the Two Johnnies.

The Green School Committee also joined them on stage and Cian and Aoife from the committee told of the journey from the first flag to sixth. They explained that this, our sixth flag, was awarded for Global Citizenship Litter and Waste.

While working on this flag children learned that their actions have a wider global impact so being aware of Fair Trade, global warming etc will influence their decisions on foods and clothes they buy.

The emphasis is also on reduce re-use and recycle as cutting down our forests has a major effect on flooding and soil erosion. In school we re-cycled old boots kettles and pots and planted flowers in them to encourage more wild life to school. The committee concluded with all saying our winning slogan which was composed by Senior Infants:

Our future is in our hands you see

So working together well always be

Be kind to our world for all of time

Its our responsibility-yours and mine

The Two Johnnies then along with members of the committee went outside to raise the flag. Afterwards the boys entertained the crowd with their rendition of When I Grow Up I'm Going to Play County. This was very well received by all and the two boys struggled to leave for work commitments.

The day continued with a concert displaying some of the work covered by Miss Ailbhe Kelly who has been working in the school as part of The Music Generation Programme. The concert concluded with a number of songs from the school choir which held the audience spellbound. It certainly was an action packed day as two other visitors Arlene Watkins, Birr and Siobhan Flannery, St Rynaghs, both members of the Offaly Senior Camogie team arrived to present our winning camogie team with their County medals. Both girls spoke of the importance of sport and of sticking with it even when the victories awe not coming.

The day concluded with a cup of tea and refreshment provided by the Parents Association. Well done everyone and thank you everyone who attended.
On Wed June 28th at 8pm in Upperchurch Community Centre, Prof. Eamon OShea, will be the keynote speaker at a public meeting titled Building Caring and Vibrant Communities.

As well as being a former manager of the Tipperary senior hurling team, Eamon OShea is a Professor in the School of Business & Economics and was inaugural Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology (ICSG) at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has a special interest in the field of ageing, dementia and social policy and his work has been influential in setting the agenda for the reform of services and policies for people with dementia in Ireland.

Following his talk Prof OShea will be joined by others for a panel discussion focused around ensuring retired people enjoy a full and active life in their own community. These include Mary Hennessy of the Annacarty Donohill Active Retirement Association, Tom Cullen of Thurles Mens Shed Group and Dr Michael Ryan, LIT Thurles.

This meeting is being organised by a newly formed local committee, established with the aim of enhancing the lives of the elderly in Upperchurch Drombane, through the development of a programme of social events and activities. The meeting will serve as a launch event for the local active retirement group and is an opportunity to hear both the views of those who have helped shape public policy in this area and the thoughts of those with extensive practical experience at local level.

Admission is free. This meeting is open to people of all ages both from within our own community and surrounding areas.
This Sunday, 25 June, is our annual Long Walks Sunday, where much longer walks will replace the usual Sunday walks.

The A walk will be the full crossing of the Knockmealdowns, leaving at 7AM from opposite the fire station in Cashel. Please contact Willie Fahey at 087 2228062 if you wish to join this walk as he is organising a bus to take us to the beginning of the walk (this may cost up to 15)

The long B walk, taking in a 6-7 hour circuit in the West Galtees with Ray Creaney, leaves Cashel at 11am, and an extended Ramble leaves the Slievenamon Road car park in Thurles with Tina Bourke at 10am, heading for the Silvermines Ridge, a walk of about 4-5 hours.

This weeks Friday evening walk is to Abbeyleix, departing from Thurles at 6.30pm. Full details from Tina Bourke at 086 3565134. Last week walkers enjoyed part of the Leafy Loop in Durrow and refreshments in Decs Bar afterwards.

Congratulation to Eileen Ryan who led the full climb of Howling Ridge on Carrauntoohil last Saturday with Jerry and Joan Quinn and Dan Condren; a fantastic achievement (see photo). Rock climbing practice in Ballykeefe on Tuesday evenings (as well as on the indoor wall in Upperchurch) is paying dividends! Rock climbing continues on Tuesdays (rain permitting), departing from the Horse and Jockey Hotel at 6.15pm.

Last Sunday in beautiful weather, the A walkers with Dick Hennessy did a loop around Lake Muskry taking in Farbreaga, Greenane and Knockstackeen, while the B walkers with Ray Creaney did a loop of the Nire valley including Knockanaffrin, Carrignagower and the Sgillogue Lakes.

New walkers are always welcome to come along and join us on our walks. Just make sure to have a packed lunch and suitable clothing (including rain gear and suitable footwear  strong walking shoes or boots for the ramble, boots for the mountain walks). A change of clothes and footwear for after the walk is also important. For further information about all upcoming events, visit us on www.midtipphillwalkers.ie , on Facebook, or call Dan Condren at 087 2273082.
A defiant Cllr Seamus Morris has vowed to fight on following a decision by the Tipperary Sinn Fein Comhairle Ceanntair to expel him from the organisation.

The dramatic news broke early this Tuesday when the local party issued a statement on the matter.

I came into this world with a good name and I intend to leave with a good name, declared Cllr Morris from Nenagh.

However, he said the issue was affecting him mentally and said he would only stay in the party as long as my mental health stands up.

He was adamant that he was staying in the party until we sort this out.

Cllr Morris revealed that he had spent time in hospital a few weeks ago on the flat of my back and that he believed that was caused by the stress of what he was facing.

He also said the entire episode was upsetting his family.

The postman who has been Mayor of Nenagh Town Council twice, said that the Comhairle Ceanntair had acted incorrectly in issuing its statement and had not followed procedures.

The Comhairle Ceanntair consists of an executive and around 40 members who regulary attend meetings of the party that are open to all SF members.

I have the support of the majority of councillors in Sinn Fein in Tipperary, he said.

And he maintained that he had the support of the majority of the party in Sinn Fein in the county and claimed he had received many incredible messages of support from with the party and from others since the shock news broke.

Cllr Morris said that the controversy that has rocked not only the local party but also other politicians in Tipperary, told the Tipperary Star the issue had not come out of the blue.

There is a hostile environment in Sinn Fein's Coimhairle Ceanntair in Tipperary that councillors are expected to operate in, he said.

Cllr Morris described those who had initiated the move against him and two other councillors as an 'element in the local party.

The three-time general election candidate who polled over 6,700 votes in 2016, said that there were some who were out to blacken his name, but he would fight that legally.

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 declared.

Cllr Morris pointed out that since he first ran for election, he had brought the party's vote in Tipperary up from 400 votes to what it stands at now.

Apart from his general showing, Cllr Morris achieved 1,700 votes in the last local elections in 2014.

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.

He agreed that part of the campaign could be people jockeying for position to contest the next local and general election. But he pointed out that he had already ruled himself out of any future national elections.

There could be a plan to get me out of Nenagh, but I am made of tougher stuff, he said.

The Morris name is synonymous with Sinn Fein with the family's ties going back to the founding of the State and the fight for independence.

We stood up to the forces of the State in the 1970s, he said.

You will find good republicans involved in their local communities everywhere, said Cllr Morris, who is involved with Nenagh Eire Og Camogie Club, Eire Og and Nenagh FC.

Cllr Morris pointed to wider turmoil in Sinn Fein nationally, claiming actions had forced out members in Kildare, Offaly and Cork.

And he also said that there were still SF members who only wanted to be negative and unfortunately they still have control in Tipperary. They want to say no to everything and not work with people.

He said he would prefer to be positive, rather than negative.

He agreed that some in Sinn Fein could not accept that the party was now appealing to a wider audience that was not always entirely republican.

Hinting at local reaction to the UK elections and calls for Sinn Fein to take their seats in Westminster, he said that former Northern Assembly deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness had set the bar high.

Referring to how he had not pushed for the d'Hondt system to elect the new Cathaoirelach of Nenagh MDC last week, he said he had realised that to get things done you could disagree with how things were done but still work with people.

We are better off to work together, said Cllr Morris.

Even though he received the second highest votes in the Nenagh area in the 2014 local elections, because of a pact between Fianna Fail, Fine and Labour, he will not get to serve as Cathaoirelach of the MDC. However, he was elected leas-Chathaoirleach only last Thursday.

I will have to think whether or not I'll take leas-Cathaoirleach, he revealed.
Darjeeling, June 21 (IBNS): To prevent deteriorating in law and order situation, local authorities have suspended internet connection in Darjeeling hills for seven days.

District Magistrate of Darjeeling, Joyoshi Das Gupta, issued a statement on Tuesday, requesting all broadband and mobile internet service providers to temporarily stop internet service in the strike-hit hills.

"As a last resort, in the interest of public safety, you are requested to stop transmission of any data related message or class of messages transmitted or received by any telegraph within the ambit of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 for the next seven days, in local television channels in Darjeeling Sadar, Kurseong and Mirik Sub Divisions," the statement read.

Local authorities said that the step has been taken in the interest of public safety, preventing incitement and preventing commission of offences.

Meanwhile, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) on Tuesday announced a 12-hour relaxation in the indefinite strike from 6 am. on Friday (Jun 23) for outsider students, stranded in the hills for the shut down.

West Bengal government will hold an all-party meet to discuss Darjeeling issue on Thursday (Jun 22) in north Bengal. GJM along with other parties demanding separate Gorkhaland and two main opposition parties of the state- CPI-M and Congress- have decided not to join the meeting tomorrow.

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.
Nenagh film maker Tom Ryan is busy concocting a plan. His second feature film, the multi award winning 'Twice Shy', will officially hit cinema screens across the country this weekend and the writer director is trying to decide whether he should sit with the audience or retreat to the old projection room of his former employer during the screening.

"You're always anxious when people sit down to watch a film you've made. I'm a bit torn whether I should sit with the audience or get away. We'll see," he says half jokingly. He is joking, of course. Twice Shy already has enough awards to fill a bookcase and more having given Tom his first Best Director nod as well as awards for Best Film, Best actor to Iseult Casey and a successful screening at Marche du Film during the Cannes Film Festival.

The affable director's second feature film Twice Shy is a touching coming of age drama that unfolds through a series of flashbacks as the films lead actors Shane MurrayCorcoran and Iseult Casey set off on a road trip to London as a result of an unplanned pregnancy. The film has already received a lot of attention partly due to the subject matter of abortion in the film however Ryan says the main focus is on the young couples relationship which is put to the test.

"I didn't set out to write something provocative. Twice shy is a love story first and foremost," says Ryan from his office in Norwich City College where he's finishing up his first year as a Film and Media lecturer.

From an early age Ryan devoured films watching everything he could get his hands on, culminating in his very first job as a projectionist in Ormond Cinema at 16.

"I just loved film. My parents bought me a video camera when I was young and from there I started messing around, making short movies with friends at the weekends."

He enrolled in a two year course studying Film Production at Colaiste Dhulaigh in Dublin and followed this up with a place at St Johns Central College Cork.

In 2007 the politically charged student left for Washington DC to make his independent documentary 'A Time of Change' focusing on Barrack Obama's Presidential Inauguration. After college he upped sticks and headed straight for New York landing a job as a camera intern on the 2011 drama 'Dark Horse', studying actors such as Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow.

He then moved to London where he joined the crew of Steve McQueen's 'Shame' starring Michael Fassbender and began work on a number of commercials.

However after three years spent cutting his teeth on movie sets and TV productions, Ryan felt he had gained enough experience to deliver his first feature length film- the critically acclaimed 'Trampoline.

"In this career it's all about industry experience. In order to get into it, I think you often have to go out and do it yourself first, he explains.

Pic: Shane Murray Corcoran, Tom Ryan (centre) and Ardal O'Hanlon taking a break during production in Nenagh

Filmed on a shoestring budget of less than 1,000, the film followed the life of a recent graduate at odds with the familiar surroundings of her hometown. To fund his movie Ryan sought financial backing from local businesses in Nenagh whose shopfronts he would feature in the film.

The gamble paid off and the indie flick was a surprise hit opening the door for Twice Shy and a much bigger budget although Ryan is reluctant to say how much exactly.

It was more than the budget for Trampoline but not a big budget either, he offers finally.

Twice Shy was shot over a three week period in 2015 and again Ryan decided that Nenagh would play an important role.

"Tipperary is a hidden gem and has some great locations. There's so much scope and I hope its only a matter of time before it comes to the attention of producers and production companies, he says enthusiastically.

The film also stars Pat Shortt and Ardal O'Hanlon set to a soaring soundtrack of Irish acts including Gavin James, Molly Sterling, Ash and the Corrs - an aspect Ryan is particularly pleased with himself about.

"I've been incredibly fortunate throughout my career so far, he says humbly.

For Twice Shy I only thought in short term goals. When we were making the film it was just shoot, then edit and now its about getting as many people to see it as we can so the positive reaction and the awards have been something else entirely.

Twice Shy opens in the Ormond Cineplex Nenagh from Friday June 23rd. On Saturday June 24th a special event screening with Tom Ryan will take place at 6.30pm.
Mayor Esther Smith wants to mount a new effort to find a solution to two downtown abandoned lots, both homes to former gas stations. ABOVE: The former home of a Sunoco gas station.
[June 21, 2017] Wirecard Gains Zwilling, One of Germany's Largest Household Goods Chains, as an Alipay Payments Customer

MUNICH, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese tourists can now pay at Zwilling using Alipay

Wirecard brings China 's leading mobile payment method to Zwilling stores in Germany Wirecard, a leading provider of internet technology and mobile payments, has gained high-quality knife and cookware specialist Zwilling as a customer. The company operates in nearly 100 countries worldwide and is one of the largest kitchen and household goods chains in Germany. The kitchenware specialist will now offer the new payment method Alipay in ten branches across Germany via Wirecard's 'Scan Alipay' app. This will enable Zwilling to capitalise even further on the tourism boom from China. Almost two million Chinese tourists make their way to Germany each year, above all buying renowned luxury brands. During their travels, the average Chinese tourist spends EUR 3,000 on shopping, with a preference for strong brand names. Some of the most popular products among Chinese tourists are household goods and kitchenware. By accepting Alipay payments, Zwilling is appealing to a large and lucrative target group. Experience of other Wirecard customer has shown that offering Alipay as a new payment method via the ready-to-use Scan Alipay app has led to a 40% increase in transactions made by Chinese tourists after one quarter. Each transaction totals EUR 270 on average. Patrick Rosenthal, Retail Manager at Zwilling: "Thanks to Wirecard, we are able to tap into a new and promising target group. By accepting Alipay we will ensure that we meet the igh requirements of our mobile-loving Chinese customers."



Rita Liu, Head of Alipay EMEA: "We are happy to see Wirecard bringing more and more choices to Chinese tourists. With Alipay's in-app shopping guide Discovery platform, merchants are able to connect with millions of potential customers even before depart on their European journey." Marion Laewe, Vice President Sales Consumer Goods at Wirecard: "We are very proud to have won Zwilling as a customer. With the Wirecard app Scan Alipay, we are supporting our retailers with an easy introduction to Alipay acceptance and, as such, are offering significant added value to customer acquisition in terms of the Asian target group. We look forward to expanding upon our collaboration with Zwilling in the future."

The Wirecard Scan Alipay app offers retailers the opportunity to benefit from the advantages of Alipay payment acceptance. A customer making a cashless payment with their Alipay app simply needs to show the retailer the barcode on their smartphone display. The retailer then just enters the amount payable into the Scan Alipay app using a mobile device and scans the QR code on the customer's smartphone. Wirecard assumes payment acceptance and transaction processing. About Wirecard: Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on Twitter @wirecard. About Zwilling: In 1731, Peter Henckels registered the now world famous ZWILLING as a trademark with the Cutler's Guild of Solingen, thereby laying the foundation for an international company. The white ZWILLING symbol on a red background is today an expression of a sophisticated lifestyle. Whether high-quality kitchen products, cutlery or beauty instruments: the outstanding success of one of the oldest brands in the world is based on customer satisfaction, which crossed national borders at a very early stage. The products are innovative and, to this day, have been setting international standards, as they are always geared towards customers' wishes. Wirecard media contact:



Wirecard AG

Jana Tilz

Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363

E-Mail: [email protected]



Zwilling media contact:



ZWILLING J.A. Henckels Retail GmbH

Patrick Rosenthal

E-Mail: [email protected]



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[June 20, 2017] National Geographic Releases Sneak Peek of Global Scripted Event Series The Long Road Home, Based on Martha Raddatz's New York Times Best-Seller

National Geographic releases a sneak peek trailer of the network's global scripted event series, The Long Road Home, based on Martha Raddatz's New York Times best-seller. Production began in March in Fort Hood, Texas, and relives a heroic fight for survival during the Iraq War when the 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood, Texas, was ferociously ambushed on April 4, 2004, in Sadr City, Baghdad - a day that became known in military annals as "Black Sunday." The series will air later this year on National Geographic in 171 countries and 45 languages. Trailer: https://files.natgeonetworks.com/_pSQ4rhPN9vGnqR Two-time Emmy-nominated actor Michael Kelly (News - Alert) ("House of Cards," "Taboo") portrays Lt. Col. Gary Volesky, the battalion commander who leads a daring rescue operation when the 1st Cavalry Division comes under attack by Iraqi insurgents. Emmy-nominated actor Jason Ritter ("Parenthood," "Girls") appears as Capt. Troy Denomy, who leads the rescue convoys into the city following the dramatic ambush of a 1st Cavalry Division platoon and is a devoted family man with a wife and newborn son. E.J. Bonilla ("Unforgettable") plays Lt. Shane Aguero, leader of the ambushed men. Kate Bosworth ("Blue Crush," "SS-GB," "The Art of More") takes the role of Capt. Denomy's wife, Gina. Sarah Wayne Callies ("Prison Break," "The Walking Dead," "Colony") will appear as LeAnn Volesky, wife of Lt. Col. Volesky and a leader in the family readiness community. Noel Fisher ("Shameless") portrays Pfc. Tomas Young, the heroic 24-year-old soldier and later peace activist who is severely wounded in this battle. And Jeremy Sisto ("Suburgatory," "Law & Order," "Six Feet Under") plays Staff Sgt. Robert Miltenberger, a career soldier on the cusp of retirement who has been stop-lossed for this deployment. The Long Road Home is based on the New York Times best-selling book of the same name by Martha Raddatz and has been adapted by screenwriter ikko Alanne. The series will be executive produced by Mike Medavoy, Jason Clark, Mikko Alanne, Benjamin Anderson and Edward McGurn. For National Geographic, Carolyn G. Bernstein is executive vice president and head of global scripted development and production.



For more information, visit www.natgeotvpressroom.com, or follow us on twitter at @NGC_PR. About National Geographic Partners LLC:

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 128 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers  and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the non-profit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006595/en/

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[June 20, 2017] Robbins Arroyo LLP: FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (FLT) Misled Shareholders According to a Class Action

Shareholder rights law firm Robbins Arroyo LLP announces that a class action complaint was filed against FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FLT) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. The complaint is brought on behalf of all purchasers of FleetCor securities between February 5, 2016 and May 2, 2017, for alleged violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by FleetCor's officers and directors. FleetCor provides fuel cards, commercial payment and data solutions, gift card and stored value solutions, and workforce payment products and services primarily in the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. View this information on the law firm's Shareholder Rights Blog: www.robbinsarroyo.com/shareholders-rights-blog/fleetcor-technologies-inc



FleetCor Accused of Relying on Predatory Sales Practices According to the complaint, FleetCor represented to investors that it clearly discloses its fees to customers and that it focuses on helping employers control spending and save money. Despite these assertions, FleetCor fraudulently overcharged its customers, disseminated misleading marketing materials, and did not clearly disclose its fees in its contracts. Investors began to learn the truth on December 19, 2016, when Chevron - FleetCor's largest U.S. partner - announced that it terminated its relationship with the company and signed a long-term contract with FleetCor's primary competitor. On March 1, 2017, investigative news and legal analysis company Capitol Forum published an article describing how FleetCor's business model relies on overcharging customers and padding fee income through late fees even when customers pay on time. On April 4, 2017, Citron issued a report accusing FleetCor of being a "predatory company by design, whose core strategy is to methodically rip off its customers, using business practices and fees that are designed to deceive." On May 1, 2017, Chevron sued FleetCor in Texas State court for breach of contract. Since FleetCor's corrective disclosures began, the company's stock price fell over 11% to close at $131.26 per share on May 3, 2017.

FleetCor Shareholders Have Legal Options Concerned shareholders who would like more information about their rights and potential remedies can contact attorney Leonid Kandinov at (800) 350-6003, [email protected], or via the shareholder information form on the firm's website. Robbins Arroyo LLP is a nationally recognized leader in shareholder rights law. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in shareholder derivative and securities class action lawsuits, and has helped its clients realize more than $1 billion of value for themselves and the companies in which they have invested. Attorney Advertising. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006597/en/

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[June 20, 2017] Kent Displays, Inc. Successfully Hits Infringers of its Intellectual Property

KENT, Ohio, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kent Displays Inc., the makers of Boogie Board eWriters, is announcing successes in its approach to the global protection of its intellectual property (IP) rights, including its patents, trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights. Invented in the U.S., the Boogie Board eWriter is a popular electronic writing device sold globally that provides the feel of a natural pen-on-paper writing experience. "We take the enforcement of our intellectual property very seriously," said CEO, Dr. Albert Green. The company's strategy includes a case pursued with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in which foreign manufacturers have been identified to have violated patents held by Kent Displays. "Our strategy involving the ITC courts has been very deliberate and a big success for us. We will continue our proactive approach to defend our IP utilizing tactics that will not risk exposing our trade secrets to potential infringers," Green said. "In addition to the ITC action, we are exercising our rights to pursue increasingly aggressive avenues, including federal courts." This development comes on the heels of other successes for Kent Displays, including take downs of infringing goods and committed partnerships with distributors and retailers to thwart violators of its intellectual property. "We're scoring these victoriesbecause our distribution network, our retailers, and our consumers appreciate the authenticity that comes with our highly-valued eWriter products," Green said. "That especially includes the large number of consumers in China who love our brand. And there should be no doubt that the feeling is mutual we are an American company that creates and supports thousands of jobs in China."



Kent Displays, known for its technological innovation, breakthrough design, and sophisticated global marketing, has several unannounced new products set for release this year and beyond. "We are taking the proactive steps necessary to ensure that the fruits of our innovation go to those who deserve its reward that includes our collaborative partners in China and across the globe," Green said. About Kent Displays, Inc.



Founded in 1993, Kent Displays is a world leader in the research, development, and manufacture of patented roll-to-roll no power LCDs. The company is a global leader in eWriter display technology and the maker of Boogie Board brand eWriters  among the world's fastest-growing communication and writing tools. Hailed for its incredibly natural writing experience, Kent Displays has sold millions of Boogie Board eWriters in 40 countries worldwide. In addition to its established mass consumer products business, Kent Displays is actively expanding its proprietary eWriter technology into OEM markets including consumer electronics, mobile electronics accessories, security, healthcare, and education. Kent Displays has won numerous global and North American business awards for manufacturing, business growth, and innovation, including the Toy Industry Association's coveted Toy of the Year award in 2016. For more information about Kent Displays or Boogie Board eWriters please visit kentdisplays.com and myboogieboard.com. CONTACT: James Alay | Manager, Marketing Communications

[email protected] | 330.673.8784 x271 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kent-displays-inc-successfully-hits-infringers-of-its-intellectual-property-300477178.html SOURCE Kent Displays, Inc.

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[June 20, 2017] World's Leading Optoelectronics Event Kicks off in 13 Weeks

SHENZHEN, China, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The 19th China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE), the largest and most influential optoelectronic exhibition in the world, is scheduled to kick off its grand opening at Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center in September (Sept. 6-9) which is traditionally known as the golden month for buyers. Covering a total exhibition area of 110,000 square meters, the premier event will draw more than 1,600 exhibitors and 3,200 leading brands from over 30 countries, with an estimate of 60,000 professional visitors and buyers, including 8,000 overseas visitors. Renowned Exhibitors Featuring a Wide Array of Cutting-Edge, High Tech, Precision & Intelligent Products Leaders in optoelectronic industry highly recognize the value created by CIOE throughout the years of collaboration. Its regular well-known exhibitors include Mitsubishi Electric, Hisense, FiberHome, YOFC, HengTong, INNO Instrument, Han's Laser, Chutian Laser, Hamamatsu Photonics, Guide Infrared, SAT Infrared, Jiuzhiyang Infrared System, Dali Technology, Night-Vision Science & Technology, Sunny Optical, Phoenix Optics, Lida Optical and Electronic, Crystal-Optech, Aurora Optoelectronics, TDG Holding,Macom, SCHOTT, II-VI, Semtech, O-NET, SENKO, Viavi, ADAMANT, Corning, Panasonic, ZEISS, Monocrystal, TRUMPF, Newport, Thorlabs, FLIR, ULIS, PI, Thales, Thorlabs. More exhibitors are listed in the official CIOE website (www.cioe.cn/en).



Two Brand New Featured Exhibition Zones Created to Reflect Market Trend The rapid evolution of consumer electronics market has driven strong demands for cell phone camera lens, sapphire, 3D glass and biometric recognition components which have captured high attention in the market. Keeping up with the market trend, CIOE 2017 will set up two new exhibition areas - the Mobile Camera & Biological Recognition Zone and 3D Glass/ Ceramics Processing Zone.

The Mobile Camera & Biological Recognition Zone will showcase the whole industry chain for cell phone camera modules, latest AR/VR technology & products, as well as new technology, material and process for biometric authentication. Meanwhile the 3D Glass/ Ceramics Processing Zone is a collaborating exhibition area with ABCONET specializing on ABCONET's experiences and resources in the industry chains of consumer electronics, 3D glass and ceramic. With a focus on applications of new materials and technology trends for cell phone case, it serves as a trading and technology exchange platform for professionals in cell phone business and other areas of consumer electronics. 10+ Conferences and Forums Presenting Big Things in 2017 in Optoelectronic Industry CIOE 2017 not only represents a platform showcasing new products and technology, but also an ideal meeting place where you can participate in industry trends discussions and gain insights from experts. There are more than 10 concurrent conference discussing on topics such as 5G, big data, cloud computing, fiber sensors, LIDAR, 3D imaging, biomedical applications, ultra-fast laser, Matrix laser lighting, infrared imaging, IR optics & lenses, optical processing and cameral modules. Register now to learn more about conferences and forums. IP Buyer Program Offering Exclusive Services The VIP buyer services are available for purchasing executives and professional buyers. Organizers of CIOE will provide a matchmaking service before the exhibition according to your purchasing requirements and plans. During the exhibition, VIP buyers can enjoy a tailor-made schedule specifying their needs with additional benefits such as media interviews and special dinner. Scan the QR code below to complete a 1 minute pre-registration procedure to avoid the hassles of lining up on and receive your early bird pre-registration gift. About China International Optoelectronic Expo (CIOE) (www.cioe.cn) Established in 1999, CIOE is the largest show of its kind in the world featuring over 3,200 optoelectronic brands and their latest products in the area of 110,000 sqm at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. There are concurrent specialized expositions focusing on Optical Communications and Sensors, Lasers, Infrared Applications, Precision Optics, LEDs, Emerging Display, Sapphire Technology & Touch Screen and Photonics Innovations. Media Contact:

Shirly Yi

Tel:+86 755 88242569

Email:[email protected] Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170620/1880230-1-a

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170620/1880230-1-b

Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160531/0861605221-a

Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160531/0861605221-f SOURCE China International Optoelectronic Expo (CIOE)

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RepRisk Data Incorporated into Ecolab's Water Risk Monetizer

RepRisk, a leading provider of research and metrics on ESG risk and business conduct, is pleased to announce that its tailored Industry and Country Risk scores are now available in the risk analysis section of the Water Risk Monetizer developed by Ecolab, a global technology and services company.

On a daily basis, RepRisk leverages big data to identify all the relevant ESG risk. The score captures reputational risks associated with local pollution and water scarcity in a specific location or industry and helps to easily flag high risk areas.

"We're delighted that our data helps businesses better understand and assess water risks," states Alexandra Mihailescu Cichon, Member of the Executive Committee of RepRisk. "We believe that enabling informed decision-making is core to responsible business conduct worldwide."

The RepRisk ESG Risk Platform serves as a due diligence, compliance, and risk monitoring tool for businesses across a wide range of ESG issues. For more information, please visit www.reprisk.com.

The Water Risk Monetizer is a publicly avalable global water risk tool that helps businesses respond to water availability and quality challenges. It has been developed by Ecolab in partnership with Trucost and Microsoft (News - Alert). For more information, please visit www.ecolab.com.







About RepRisk

RepRisk is a leading business intelligence provider, specializing in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risk analytics and metrics.

Harnessing a proprietary, systematic framework that leverages cutting-edge technology and hands-on human intelligence in 15 languages, RepRisk curates and delivers dynamic risk information for an unlimited universe of companies.

Since 2006, RepRisk has built and continues to grow the most comprehensive ESG risk database that serves as a due diligence, research, and monitoring tool in risk management, compliance, investment management, corporate benchmarking, and supplier risk control. The RepRisk ESG Risk Platform currently includes risk profiles for over 89,000 listed and non-listed companies, 21,000 projects, as well as for every sector and country in the world.

Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, RepRisk serves clients worldwide including global banks, insurance providers, investment managers, and corporates, helping them to manage ESG and reputational risks in day-to-day business.

RepRisk provides the transparency needed to enable better, more informed decisions.

For more information, please visit www.reprisk.com or follow us on Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005850/en/
[June 21, 2017] Clinigen Signs Exclusive Supply Agreements in Global Access With Mitsubishi Tanabe, Shionogi and Romark

Clinigen Group plc (AIM: CLIN, 'Clinigen' or the 'Group'), the global pharmaceutical and services company, announces that its Idis Global Access ('Idis GA') division, has signed three further exclusive agreements to manage the supply and distribution of critical medicines on demand. The three agreements and relevant territories are: Mitsubishi (News - Alert) Tanabe Pharma Europe Ltd ('MTPE') The new agreement with MTPE builds on the current relationship with Clinigen's Idis Managed Access division to provide early access to argatroban where the product has no regulatory approval. Argatroban is indicated for anticoagulation in adult patients with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia type II ('HIT') who require parenteral antithrombotic therapy. Under this new agreement, Idis GA will supply and distribute argatroban on an exclusive, unlicensed, on demand basis in all countries where there is no Marketing Authorisation or where MPTE has no direct presence. Shionogi & Co Ltd ('Shionogi') The agreement with Shioogi is to provide healthcare professional's access to Senshio in Germany. Senshio, prescribed in tablet form, is indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe symptomatic vulvar and vaginal atrophy ('VVA') in post-menopausal women who are not candidates for local vaginal oestrogen therapy.



Idis GA will make Senshio available on an on demand basis to physicians and pharmacists in Germany where the product is approved but not commercially available, and in the UK where the product is approved and has been commercially launched. Romark Laboratories ('Romark')

Idis GA signed a two year extension for the exclusive supply and distribution of Romark's Alinia into all territories outside of the US and Latin America. Alinia is indicated for the treatment of diarrhoea in children caused by intestinal infection by the parasites, Cryptosporidium parvum or Giardia lamblia. Idis GA is the market leader in providing hospital pharmacists with compliant on demand access to medicines. Healthcare professionals can obtain details about any of the products mentioned above by emailing [email protected] Steve Glass, Chief Commercial Officer, North America and Europe, of Clinigen said: "These exclusive agreements demonstrate Idis Global Access' ability to support international pharma companies, such as Mitsubishi, Shionogi and Romark, to meet on demand access for their medicines. These three varied contracts, including the conversion of a Managed Access programme, demonstrate the positive steps we are taking in building this business to become the go-to leader in ethical access to unlicensed or unavailable medicine." View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006359/en/

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[June 21, 2017] iCapital Network Deepens Hedge Fund Capabilities

NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- iCapital Network, the financial technology platform focused on democratizing access to alternative investments for the high-net-worth community, today announced multiple milestones solidifying its overall hedge fund capabilities. Since acquiring the HedgeFocus platform from Credit Suisse in early 2016, iCapital has deepened its hedge fund diligence bench strength, bolstered its hedge fund menu and reinforced its strategic relationship with Fidelity Institutional in response to recent investor demand. iCapital regularly surveys its member network  composed of approximately 1,600 registered investment advisors (RIAs), financial planners, wealth managers, brokerage representatives, private bankers, family offices and other sophisticated investors  regarding alternative investment appetite, current allocations, preferred strategies and projected future investments. Most recently, iCapital's survey findings revealed that more than 75% of respondents say they are likely to invest in hedge funds over the next 12 months. "We constantly listen to our network about what they want in terms of products. In this case, we're hearing from our advisors and investors that hedge funds are an important part of their efforts to build thoughtfully constructed, diversified, institutional-quality portfolios," said Lawrence Calcano, Chief Executive Officer of iCapital Network. Deeper Bench Strength iCapital has bolstered its due diligence capabilities with the appointment of Joseph Burns as its Head of Hedge Fund Origination & Diligence where he will be responsible for building relationships, identifying high quality fund opportunities, overseeing the firm's hedge fund diligence efforts, and developing the hedge fund pipeline. Prior to joining iCapital, Mr. Burns was a Founding Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer at hedge fund specialist, Pulse Capital Partners. Previously, he was COO and Chief Risk Officer at TCS Capital Management, a global equity hedge fund, the Head of Global Research at Ivy Asset Management and a portfolio analyst at Soros Fund Management. "Joe's deep experience in hedge fund manager selection and his extensive industry network make him the ideal fit to assume responsibility for our hedge fund origination and diligence efforts," said Nick Veronis, iCapital Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Head of Origination and Due Diligence. "Our top priority is to offer our investors, RIAs, broker-dealers, private banks and family offices access to the highest caliber alternative investment opportunities, and Joe's contributions will be a critical part of our effort to deliver on that priority," said Mr. Veronis. Extended Menu of Hedge Fund Offerings



iCapital offers a curated selection of alternative investments, including private equity, private credit, real estate, venture capital and hedge funds, to its private network of qualified investors and advisory professionals. Since the HedgeFocus acquisition, iCapital has concentrated on filling out its hedge fund menu with a range of managers across key categories, offering two or more managers and fund options in each category and multiple off-shore options for investors. Collectively, the hedge fund managers on the iCapital platform oversee more than U.S. $100 billion in assets.

"As we consolidate our position as the preferred alternative platform, a robust hedge fund menu is central to our commitment to offering a broad array of outstanding asset classes, capabilities and strategies to our network," said Eileen Duff, Managing Partner and Head of Distribution for iCapital. "Since acquiring the HedgeFocus platform from Credit Suisse more than a year ago, we have selectively and methodically concentrated on evolving our hedge fund footprint to ensure a compelling offering for advisors and their high-net-worth clients," said Ms. Duff. Expanded Fidelity Relationship iCapital has expanded its strategic relationship with Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions  the division of Fidelity Investments that provides clearing and custody services to registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, family offices and banks. Fidelity's intermediary clients will now have direct access to iCapital's hedge fund offerings. This latest development builds on iCapital and Fidelity's relationship, announced last year, which provided Fidelity's financial intermediaries access to iCapital's private equity fund offerings. iCapital's proprietary technology is fully integrated with Fidelity's advisor platform Wealthscape and available through Fidelity's Alternative Investments Product Center, and provides advisors with access to investments at minimums as low as $100,000. iCapital provides a full array of due diligence support and educational materials to accompany the expanded hedge fund offerings on the Fidelity platform. "Advisors continue to look for efficient ways to incorporate alternative investments into their clients' portfolios. Our expanded relationship with iCapital Network provides them with access to more hedge fund offerings and the tools to evaluate them," said Gary Gallagher, Senior Vice President, Investment Products at Fidelity Institutional. About iCapital Network

iCapital Network is a financial technology platform that provides modular alternative investment solutions for registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, private banks, family offices and other sophisticated investors. The state-of-the-art online portal offers a curated menu of private equity, private credit, venture capital, real estate and hedge funds, extensive due diligence support, an automated subscription process and integration with a wide range of custodial platforms and reporting packages. The firm's customizable technology and specialized suite of services is also used by asset managers and financial institutions to streamline and automate their private fund operations. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.icapitalnetwork.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/icapital-network-inc | Twitter: @icapitalnetwork Disclosures: This material is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as, and may not be relied on in any manner as legal, tax or investment advice, a recommendation, or as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to purchase or a recommendation of any interest in any fund or security offered by iCapital. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Alternative investments are complex, speculative investment vehicles and are not suitable for all investors. An investment in an alternative investment entails a high degree of risk and no assurance can be given that any alternative investment fund's investment objectives will be achieved or that investors will receive a return of their capital. The information contained herein is subject to change. The award referenced herein makes no guarantee as to future performance and may not be representative of a platform user's experience. Securities may be offered through iCapital Securities, LLC, a registered broker dealer, member of FINRA and SIPC and subsidiary of Institutional Capital Network, Inc. iCapital is a registered trademark of Institutional Capital Network, Inc. All rights reserved. iCapital is an independent company and unaffiliated with Fidelity Investments. There is no form of legal partnership, agency, affiliation, or similar relationship between this third-party service provider and Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Clearing & Custody SolutionsSM provides clearing, custody, or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Members NYSE, SIPC. 805935.1.0 For iCapital Network media inquiries, please contact: Emma Murphy

Tel 718-875-4545

Cell 347-968-6800

[email protected] Morgan Cretella

Tel 718-875-7606

Cell 919-602-2806

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/icapital-network-deepens-hedge-fund-capabilities-300477322.html SOURCE iCapital Network

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New Delhi, June 21 (IBNS): Retired Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan, who was arrested from Coimbatore on Tuesday in connection with a contempt case, has been brought to Kolkata on Thursday.

According to reports, he was then taken straight to the State General Hospital in Bidhannagar after his flight touched down at the airport around 2:30 PM.

After a preliminary health check-up, he was reportedly taken to the Presidency Correctional Centre.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to free Karnan from his six months jail term, according to media reports.



Karnan pleaded to SC for the exemption from his jail term.

Dismissing the plea, the apex court said the accused must appear before the seven-judge bench as soon as the summer break gets over. Meanwhile, he would have to stay in custody.

The judges- DY Chandrachur and SK Kaul- told Karnan's lawyer that "judicial equity was observed in the case".

West Bengal's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials on Tuesday had arrested Karnan after a long hide-and-seek game that followed the top court's order against him for repeatedly jumping summons.

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 had 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 a 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 CalcuttaHigh Court on June 12 while being untraceable.




[June 21, 2017] FinTech Marketplace Firm Validus Helps Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Scale Using Visa's Virtual Card Solutions in Singapore

SINGAPORE, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global payments technology company, Visa has partnered with Validus, a leading FinTech platform, to provide Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with virtual card solutions to help scale their businesses. The partnership seeks to unlock capital for SMEs to reinvest in their products and services. In Singapore, this is the first of its kind collaboration between a FinTech marketplace, a global bank and a leading payments company. The solution has been adopted by GroXers Inc Pte Ltd, a leading F&B distributor in Singapore. Through this partnership, Validus works with Visa to facilitate immediate cash flow to SMEs, who have unpaid invoices in their payment cycles. By clearing invoices for SMEs using a Visa virtual commercial card, Validus helps SMEs expand faster and have a faster turnover for their products and services. The food & beverage (F&B) businesses, have to deal with a large number of buyers ranging from multinational corporations (MNCs) to smaller retail outlets. This large volume of invoices present a unique problem for banks, which may be reluctant to discount invoices payable by SME customers. Validus mitigates this risk for the suppliers. COO Nikhilesh Goel highlighted, "Validus is adept at assessing SME credit because of our sophisticated risk algorithm, and extensive SME lending experience. We strongly believe that our combined solution with Visa outscores traditional factoring solutions. This is primarily because of its bespoke nature, 100 per cent buyer coverage, and strong technology support. This solution matches the appetite of accredited lenders and institutional investors, which forms our savvy investor base at Validus. Currently, we are collaborating with global banks to offer this solution regionally." Validus also facilitates the tracking and management of invoice repayments via a sophisticated tech solution as opposed to the traditional manual approach, which is time-consuming and prone to error. This is enabled by Visa's commercial card solution and the fintech solution that Validus provides. This programme is part of Visa's ongoing efforts to support SMEs in Singapore and across the world. According to Vikram Kshetry, Head for B2B Partnerships and Small Business Asia Pacific at Visa, "Small businesses often face challenges such as access to capital to fund their business growth and this makes them vulnerable. Similarly, suppliers for these businesses may be challenged to provide adequate credit, as they do not have the skills to underwrite higher credit lines. It is essential that businesses are able to access credit from specialist lenders to invest in their businesses, and for suppliers to be paid on time. The presence of such lenders, who can respond faster to business needs, is key to Singapore's continued SME growth."



GroXers Inc, a leading enterprise run by well-known Singaporean entrepreneur, Nichol Ng, stated that the solution has freed up their cash flows considerably. "We have been looking for a solution that bridges the gap between our cash flow and account receivables and this is our biggest untapped asset. It is interesting to see how this solution has enabled us to receive our money faster and more seamlessly. At GroXers Inc, 100 per cent of our receivables from B2B retailers are now on credit card payment. We genuinely feel that in today's economy, we should free our time and cash flow to focus on growing our business," said Nichol, who is also Managing Director of GroXers Inc's sister companies FoodXervices Inc Pte Ltd, PlotX Inc Pte Ltd, LogiXtics Inc Pte Ltd, and X Properties Inc Pte Ltd.

According to her, FoodXervices Inc is also considering using the same solution. Validus and Visa will look to increase their commitment to supporting SMEs in Singapore across a range of industries. This includes businesses that specialise in the distribution sector (e.g. Food & Beverages, FMCGs, consumer durables), services industries (e.g. construction, Information Technology, real estate, property management), and manufacturing (supply of goods from SMEs to large corporates). About Visa Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks -- VisaNet -- that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit, or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations; however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead of time with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit www.visa.com.sg About GroXers Inc Pte Ltd GroXers Inc Pte Ltd (www.groXers.com) was established in May 2008 to fill a niche in the retail distribution market by providing personalised and professional service to discerning consumers. Its ambition is to become the provider of good brand names and food products in the retail sector. Beyond selling products, the company is about building brands and creative marketing. Driven by its vision to be a premier retail distributor, GroXers Inc is establishing a strong network of partners for its basket of good brands and products that its hopes will become household names that consumers can trust. In 2013, it launched GroXers.com (www.groXers.com), an online grocery website with more than 2,000 products. About VALIDUS Validus Capital Pte Ltd, founded in 2015, is an online invoice discounting marketplace focused on bridging cash flows to growing SMEs in Singapore. Till date Validus has facilitated disbursals of over SGD 21m. Validus has built an experienced management team led by a CEO with over 30 years of SME banking experience across Citibank, Fullerton (Bank Danamon) and DBS. Validus has a triple layer risk algorithm built in partnership with the Credit Research Initiative (CRI) team of NUS-RMI using forward-looking Probability Default (PD) as a building block. It is also the only platform in Singapore to have an Insurance cover from EQ Insurance, for lenders on the platform (up to 90% capital protection for lenders participating in invoice financing deals). With institutional participation on the platform from accredited investors, leading family offices and hedge funds, Validus offers the investors opportunities to participate in the growth of Singaporean SMEs. www.validus.sg For further information and details, please contact: Vikas Nahata

Director & Co-founder

Validus Capital Pte Ltd.

+65-90165417

[email protected] Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170621/1881480-1 SOURCE Validus Capital Pte Ltd

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[June 21, 2017] Most Businesses Will Increase Cloud Computing Spending in 2017: New Survey

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Businesses have become less skeptical of cloud computing, more confident in its security, and more inclined to invest money in it, according to new findings. Nearly 70% of U.S. businesses surveyed by B2B ratings and reviews firm Clutch say that they plan to increase spending on cloud computing in 2017. One in five of those businesses report that their cloud computing spending this year will likely increase by more than 30%. The increased spending on cloud computing is likely due to a shift in perspective, according to experts. The cloud is no longer seen by many businesses as simply an alternative option, but as the next logical step for data storage and management. "Cloud is the new normal," said Jeremy Przygode, CEO of Stratalux, Inc., a California-based Managed Service Provider (MSP). "When businesses need to evaluate new solutions, or need to do a hardware refresh on existing solutions Cloud is the go-to solution to figure out how to do that." Businesses also report having greater confidence in cloud security, possibly influencing more migration to the cloud. In the survey, the largest percentage of businesses identify security as a benefit of using the cloud. This attitude is a shift from past years, when cloud security was often treated with skepticism and distrust. When it comes to which type of cloud to use, most businesses are using a private cloud, where services and infrstructure are maintained on a private network. However, over 80% indicate that they are considering implementing or planning to implement a hybrid cloud option in the future. A hybrid cloud has services and infrastructure spread between a private network and off-site cloud provider.



A hybrid cloud offers flexibility and customizable features. "Customizing your cloud experience allows the customer to leverage different toolsets that's truly drilled down to their department, their individuals, and how they do business," said Kevin Rubin, President and COO of Stratosphere Networks, a Chicago-based IT MSP.

Experts emphasize, however, that a business should select an option that best fits their particular needs. Once the decision is made to adopt cloud computing, many businesses seek outside help for the subsequent installation. Over half of businesses surveyed (57%) say they hire an external consulting firm to help them implement their cloud strategy. This is a wise decision, especially if a business does not have internal expertise, says Haresh Kumbhani, founder and CEO of Zymr, Inc., a San Francisco-based cloud consulting and agile software development agency. He believes that no business will have all the expertise required. "The idea of bringing experts in different dimensions, from strategy to implementation, delivery and security, surveillance and so on, is essential for making purchase and implementation decisions," he said. The Clutch survey included 283 IT professionals at businesses across the United States that use a cloud computing service. Of those businesses, 58% had 11-1,000 employees, while 42% had 1,001+ employees. Read the full report here: https://clutch.co/cloud/resources/annual-cloud-computing-survey-2017 About Clutch A B2B ratings and reviews firm in the heart of Washington, DC, Clutch connects you with the agencies and software solutions that can help you enhance your business and meet your goals. Our methodology maps agencies and software solutions based on consumer reviews, the type of services offered, and quality of work. Contact Riley Panko

[email protected]

202.899.2779 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/most-businesses-will-increase-cloud-computing-spending-in-2017-new-survey-300477369.html SOURCE Clutch

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[June 21, 2017] OrangeHealth Seeking Investors for Mobile App Peer-to-Peer Platform for Managing Diabetes, Other Health Conditions

SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Madhuri Trivedi, an engineer, scientist, entrepreneur and immigrant, has launched her new company OrangeHealth and is currently seeking investors for its product. Trivedi is seeking seed funding in the range of $200k to $350k to further launch the app in various geographical areas, add more features, and launch a peer-to-peer platform app for sharing information. The new app will provide peer-to-peer crowd sourced community support with deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) to better manage diabetes. She also has created and launched a new mobile health improvement app that is already used by more than 6,000 people to manage allergies, find a doctor, is used for predictive analytics for eating habits, and reminders at the time of eating. "Prevention is key for managing illness like diabetes, but it's just as important that people can gain the information and support," says Trivedi. "Right now, because of some challenges in my immigration status, while I have the technical support to build the app, I need funding to help with its launch because I am unable to work. The only way to get this app off the ground is through investors willing to support this important work," adds Trivedi. She wrote heavily about precision medicine in April 2104, received a job offer in 2014 with Harvard Medical to create a cancer vaccine, artificial protein. President Obama in the 2015 State of Union Address, launched precision medicine initiaive. Trivedi has been unable to take the Harvard position because of immigration denials and challenges. While at General Electric, Trivedi's labor certificate for immigration was approved as "a person of exceptional ability" EB2 category. GE, however, didn't file the next step so she could work in the U.S.



After leaving GE, with the Harvard medical job offer and her entrepreneurial start-up, Trivedi filed for immigration under "a person of extra-ordinary ability" EB1 category, which DHS denied. Trivedi has a number of letters of support from professionals associated with her scientific and technical work . Trivedi has a long career as an expert in her field. While at Raindance, Trivedi developed the world's first digital-equivalent to personal computer instrument for genome sequencing used for drug discovery in 2009. Here she was part of a 20 people start up that went on to generate hundreds of millions for revenue. Dr. Jonathan Rothberg, founder of the startup, was awarded National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama and made $700 million selling the sister company to Life Technology. Trivedi did not make any money from the sale of the company.

She has made major significant contributions in extraordinary ability and national interest while working at Fortune 10/50 corporations, successful entrepreneurial startups. Only individuals with both exceptional technical ability as well as persistence and commitment can deliver what Trivedi has in a high-risk environment with do or die start up success. About OrangeHealth

OrangeHealth provides quality and affordable healthcare tools and services through a software portal and peer to peer network. For more information, visit OrangeHealth.wixsite.com/ orangehealth. Media Contact

Madhuri Trivedi, CEO OrangeHealth

Phone: 650-273-6071

Fax: 708-774-4859

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @madhuritrivd

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/trivedim To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/orangehealth-seeking-investors-for-mobile-app-peer-to-peer-platform-for-managing-diabetes-other-health-conditions-300477365.html SOURCE OrangeHealth

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[June 21, 2017] Wells Fargo Donates $500,000 for El Paso-Area Revitalization Efforts

Wells Fargo (News - Alert) & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced a total of $500,000 in donations to four local nonprofits to help revitalize El Paso neighborhoods through the Wells Fargo NeighborhoodLIFT program. Identified in collaboration with City of El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, the Wells Fargo NeighborhoodLIFT local initiative grants for will provide support for economic and workforce development, health and wellness and housing rehabilitation. "The best part about these local nonprofits is that they are creating jobs and providing sustainable housing for El Pasoans," said Mayor Leeser. "From job training to home repairs, these grants will foster economic opportunity to improve the quality of life for our communities and residents. I salute Wells Fargo for their commitment to helping neighborhoods and families." The Wells Fargo Foundation is providing grants to the following El Paso nonprofits: El Paso Community Action Program Project Bravo, Inc. (PBHIP) will receive a $125,000 grant to fund home repairs, health and safety upgrades and accessibility construction for low-income families who are elderly or have a disability. The program will improve the condition and value of about 40 homes.

(PBHIP) will receive a $125,000 grant to fund home repairs, health and safety upgrades and accessibility construction for low-income families who are elderly or have a disability. The program will improve the condition and value of about 40 homes. Project Arriba Advanced Retraining and Redevelopment, Inc. will receive a$125,000 grant to support job training specifically for low-and moderate-income households. Since the program's inception almost two decades ago, Project ARRIBA has connected over 1,200 individuals seeking a higher education, local employers needing a skilled workforce, and providers that need help retaining at-risk students. By the end of the 12-month program, 90 El Pasoans will have access to case management, job placement assistance and 70 of them will be enrolled at the University of Texas at El Paso for a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing.

will receive a$125,000 grant to support job training specifically for low-and moderate-income households. Since the program's inception almost two decades ago, Project ARRIBA has connected over 1,200 individuals seeking a higher education, local employers needing a skilled workforce, and providers that need help retaining at-risk students. By the end of the 12-month program, 90 El Pasoans will have access to case management, job placement assistance and 70 of them will be enrolled at the University of Texas at El Paso for a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. Project Vida will receive a $125,000 grant to serve low- and moderate-income populations in the Agua Dulce Colonia and Canutillo communities. Several activities will be offered through the program, including a curriculum-baseddiabetes self-management program and support groups, healthy cooking classes, wellness support groups, enrollment in Affordable Care Act insurance programs and/or Medicaid and health education. The project will benefit the Canutillo community through a full-service primary care clinic offering a range of medical services for all ages.

will receive a $125,000 grant to serve low- and moderate-income populations in the Agua Dulce Colonia and Canutillo communities. Several activities will be offered through the program, including a curriculum-baseddiabetes self-management program and support groups, healthy cooking classes, wellness support groups, enrollment in Affordable Care Act insurance programs and/or Medicaid and health education. The project will benefit the Canutillo community through a full-service primary care clinic offering a range of medical services for all ages. Workforce Solutions Borderplex, Inc. will receive a $125,000 grant to partially fund a year-long initiative to train and place veterans into in-demand occupations in El Paso. The long-term goal is to build a pathway for economic prosperity that will lead to homeownership and other financially sustaining outcomes for participants. Approximately 60 veteran program participants are expected to achieve certification training in information technology and construction. Support services will be provided to prep participants in financial literacy, credit repair and loan application activities as they complete training.



program that was launched in December 2016 for El Paso-area homebuyers with a $4.5 million commitment by Wells Fargo to boost local homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods. To date, NeighborhoodLIFT has created about two dozen homeowners in El Paso, and more than 1,000 in Texas, by offering homebuyer education plus matching down payment assistance grants up to $7,500. More than 300 down payment assistance grants are still available and interested homebuyers may contact NeighborWorks America's local network member, Tierra del Sol Housing Corporation, or Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in El Paso for information about eligibility requirements.

"Wells Fargo cares about communities and we are making these investments to continue the revitalization effort to strengthen El Paso," said Christine Gallegos, El Paso district manager for Wells Fargo's Community Bank. "These nonprofits are actively leading efforts to help create jobs, promote wellness, encourage higher education, provide sustainable housing and much more. This commitment is another example of the many efforts we are making to build better communities." About NeighborhoodLIFT NeighborhoodLIFT program is the single largest corporate philanthropic effort of its kind in Wells Fargo's history. In collaboration with NeighborWorks America, the Wells Fargo LIFT program has helped create more than 13,700 homeowners in 52 communities since 2012. A video about NeighborhoodLIFT programs is posted on Wells Fargo Stories. About Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $2.0 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,500 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 273,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 27 on Fortune's 2016 rankings of America's largest corporations. Wells Fargo's vision is to satisfy our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005315/en/

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[June 21, 2017] eBECS Joins CafeX Partner Program to Deliver Advanced Omnichannel Solution

NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CafeX Communications, a leading supplier of mobile and web engagement solutions, announced that eBECS, a leading total Microsoft Business Solutions implementation partner, has become a strategic partner in the CafeX Live Assist for Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner program. The program enables eBECS to deliver omnichannel capabilities and services through the Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM solution. As a result of the partnership, eBECS can offer its customers digital engagement capabilities that improve customer service levels, enhance agent productivity and increase online sales. The CafeX partner program, designed specifically for qualifying Microsoft Dynamics 365 partners, provides comprehensive tools and support to drive sales through live chat, co-browsing and other personalized customer assistance solutionsall within the Dynamics 365 platform. Hosted in the Azure cloud, CafeX Live Assist is Microsoft's preferred omnichannel solution for Dynamics 365, co-developed by the two firms with a jointly committed roadmap for ongoing enhancements. Additional elements of the program, designed to facilitate eBECS' go-to-market strategies, include sales support and enablement, marketing resources and financial incentives. Utilizing Live Assist, businesses can easily deploy integrated live chat, escalation from bots, co-browsing, and other omnichannel interactions within the Dynamics 365 environment without complex infrastructure changes or extensive agent training. Expanded digital engagement, such as seamless escalation and hand-off across channels, or simultaneous action on multiple channels, can deliver immediate positive results for nearly any organization. Headquartered in Chesterfield, England, eBECS is a global provider of Microsoft Business Solutions to a range of businesses that include retailers, not-for-profits, manufacturers, professional services and other businesses. The company has achieved numerous awards from Microsoft and serves a global marketplace from offices in the US, UK, Ireland and Saudi Arabia. Quotes "As a Microsoft Gold Partner and a firm specializing in Microsoft Dynamics 365, w welcome the competitive advantages this relationship offers. eBECS is the first UK partner to be working with CafeX, and we are talking to a number of prospects about the value we can deliver to them as they digitally transform their customer experience programs. Omnichannel solutions that do not add administrative complexity or steep learning curves for agents are quickly becoming essential for businesses that engage with savvy customers. We anticipate that our customers will benefit greatly from this compelling customer engagement solution and advanced services. We are delighted to strengthen our relationship with CafeX, leveraging their expertise to deliver innovative solutions that increase customer satisfaction and accelerate agent productivity."Stephen Wilson, marketing director at eBECS



"eBECS is a recognized expert in customer engagement as evidenced by its accreditations and recent awards, such as Microsoft UK Partner of the Year 2016, Microsoft Dynamics MEA Partner of the Year 2016, Global IOT Partner of the Year Finalist 2016 and Global CRM Partner of the Year Finalist 2016 and 2015. We are proud that eBECS has elected to join the CafeX partner program and take full advantage of the comprehensive support and training to ensure that its customers enjoy the full range of omnichannel benefits and the power of this integrated solution co-developed by Microsoft and CafeX."Sajeel Hussain, chief marketing officer and executive vice president for strategic partnerships, CafeX. Additional Resources

eBECS website

CafeX Live Assist website

Solution video About eBECS eBECS is a specialist in total Microsoft Business Solutions, designing and delivering Lean and agile solutions globally for customers in Manufacturing, Distribution, Retail, Financial Services, Public Sector, Not-for-profit, Services and other related sectors. Tailored to industry and business needs, eBECS' award-winning solutions cover Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Mobile, Field Service, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence (BI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Cloud and Managed Services. eBECS' solutions draw on the full Microsoft Business stack, including Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft's intelligent business cloud. Each solution is focused on delivering improved business performance and productivity, and is measured by embedded BI. eBECS' 'templated' implementation and unique rapid-return methodologies deliver significant time and cost benefits to its customers. About CafeX CafeX is the leading provider of real-time communications solutions that transform business collaboration within mobile and web applications. Trusted by many of the world's biggest banks, insurers and other Global 2000 companies, CafeX's award-winning solutions create innovative ways for customers and teams to work together to drive business outcomes. CafeX creates one-click collaboration experiences for organizations of all sizes, eliminating the friction that users typically face while ensuring connectivity to existing systems. For more information about CafeX, please visit www.cafex.com or follow @CafeXComms. Contacts Stephen Wilson

CMO

eBECS Limited

Mobile: 07775 571110

Tel: 01246 888555

Email: [email protected] Sajeel Hussain

CafeX Communications

+1 (646) 351-0054

[email protected] John Stafford

Parallel Communications

+1 (515) 708-1296

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ebecs-joins-cafex-partner-program-to-deliver-advanced-omnichannel-solution-300477718.html SOURCE CafeX

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[June 21, 2017] Mediagrif announces agreement to acquire Orckestra, a leading provider of digital unified commerce solutions

LONGUEUIL, QC, June 21, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc. (TSX: MDF), a Canadian leader in information technology announced today that it has entered into an agreement for the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Orckestra Inc. ("Orckestra"), a leading Canadian-based provider of digital unified and omnichannel commerce solutions for the retail and manufacturing industry. The closing of the transaction is subject to certain conditions, including the approval of competent authorities. Closing of the transaction is expected to take place on or about June 23, 2017. "We are happy to welcome and unite the Orckestra team within Mediagrif. This acquisition represents a unique opportunity for Mediagrif to gain footprint in the rapidly growing digital retail sector." said Mr. Claude Roy, President and CEO of Mediagrif. "We are particularly happy to see our company join forces with a well-established Canadian public company. Our unique technology serves some of the largest and most innovative retailers and this acquisition will allow us to expand our footprint and pave the road for the years ahead for our customers and partners. This deal will also keep jobs and management here in Quebec, which is a testimonial to the vibrant technology ecosystem we are evolving in," said Mr. Louis Fournier, president of Orcketra.



About Orckestra



Orckestra is a leading provider of digital unified commerce and omnichannel retail solutions. The company offers a single commerce platform to create and manage the most engaging shopping experiences across the web, mobile and in-store. The Commerce OrchestrationTM platform establishes a unique central, cloud-based, commerce layer that unifies all retail systems and customer touchpoints, through open APIs and modern applications, and helps enterprise organizations grow their business successfully in the global marketplace. Orckestra fuels digital innovation for leading retailers and branded manufacturers, enabling them to deliver differentiated commerce experiences faster with lower IT burden and operating costs, and maximum revenue growth. About Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc. Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc. (TSX: MDF) is a Canadian leader in information technology, owner of several recognized web and mobile platforms including MERX, BidNet, ASC, InterTrade, Jobboom, LesPAC, Reseau Contact and Carrus. Mediagrif's e-commerce solutions are used by millions of consumers and businesses in North America and around the world. The Company has offices in Canada, the United States and China. For more information, please visit us at www.mediagrif.com or call 1 877 677-9088. Forward Looking Statement This press release contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to the Company. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, necessarily involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected by these forward-looking statements. We consider the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based to be reasonable, but caution the reader that these assumptions regarding future events, many of which are beyond our control, may ultimately prove to be incorrect since they are subject to risks and uncertainties that affect us. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation. Unless otherwise indicated, all amounts are in Canadian dollars. SOURCE Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc.

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Top 5 Vendors in the Satellite-enabled IoT Market from 2017 to 2021: Technavio

Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recent global satellite-enabled IoT market report. This research report also lists six other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005892/en/

Technavio has published a new report on the global satellite-enabled IoT market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The global satellite-enabled IoT market has a limited number of multinational and regional suppliers that offer heterogeneous products and services. As the market is in its growth phase, vendors are obliged to compete based on the invention, innovation, and upgrade of existing technologies. The other major characteristics that are closely related to the market are quality, cost, and reliability.

Competitive vendor landscape

According to the report, the global satellite-enabled IoT market is highly fragmented with the presence of many local and domestic players. As a result, there is intense competition among the market vendors across all regions on the basis of product differentiation, portfolio, and pricing and the competition in the market is expected to intensify in the coming years.

"The market is expected to see substantial growth during the forecast period mainly due to the increasing dependence on the Internet and the growing market for connected devices or IoT. Vendors could experience a considerable demand for their products due to the increase in tension among neighboring countries and rise in the number of illegal activities across borders," says Avimanyu Basu, a lead space research analyst from Technavio.

Existing key vendors must identify and respond to emerging new and small players in the market to ensure their long-term survival in the market. These players can offer optimum an integrated solutions to tap into the expanding market that is supported by the shifting focus of militaries to strengthen their army base with advanced and upgraded satellite-enabled IoT vehicles, aircraft, and ships.







This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing

Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free.

Top five satellite-enabled IoT market vendors

Eutelsat (News - Alert)

Eutelsat has a total of 39 satellites revolving around Earth. They cover the whole of EMEA and large parts of the American and Asian continents. The company meets the requirement of satellite-enabled IoT with the help of its newly developed SmartLNB. This is a next-generation electronic feed with an embedded DVB demodulator and an IP transmitter.

Inmarsat (News - Alert)

Inmarsat provides telephone and data services to users across the globe via mobile or portable terminals that communicate with the company's 12 geostationary telecommunications satellites. In the recent years, Inmarsat partnered with other technology and network providers to support satellite-enabled IoT projects.

MDA (News - Alert)

MDA, through its wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary called Space Systems Loral (SSL), operates in the satellite-enabled IoT market. SSL was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Palo Alto (News - Alert), California, US. The company offers geostationary commercial satellites and has expertise in building and integrating complex satellites and spacecraft systems.

Orbital ATK

Orbital ATK is an aerospace and defense technology company that designs, builds, and delivers space, defense, and aviation-related systems. The company's core products include satellites and associated components and services; launch vehicles and related propulsion systems; composite aerospace structures; precision weapons, tactical missiles, subsystems and defense electronics; armament systems, and ammunition.

SES (News - Alert)

SES, through its wholly owned subsidy called O3b Networks, operates in the satellite-enabled IoT market. O3B provides communication services and operates both a state-of-the-art low latency satellites, HTS, and global terrestrial infrastructure.

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About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected].

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005892/en/
Election results: Check out results from various races across the state
Image: twitter.com/myogiadityanath

Guwahati, June 21 (IBNS): Assam Police has contacted with Uttar Pradesh counterpart after a tribal woman from the north eastern Indian state filed a case against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for sharing her bare photographs in his social media page.

The matter created a stir in Guwahati 10 years ago.



The victim Laxmi Orang had filed a case before a sub-divisional judicial magistrate court against UP CM and Assam MP Ram Prasad Sarma under various sections of Indian Panel Code and Information Technology act.



Assam police ADGP (SB) Pallav Bhattacharya said that, Assam police has taken the matter very seriously and already contacted with UP counterpart.



We want to unearth the actual facts, whether the photographs used in the UP CMs official social media account or it is a fake account, the top Assam cops said.



We have already contacted with the UP police and seeking information about the post, Bhattacharya said.



The preliminary investigation revealed that, her photographs were posted in social media by creating a fake account in the name of UP CM, the top Assam cops said.



Meanwhile, protests have been continued in Assam and several organizations burned UP CM effigy protest against the social media post.



The post claims that, a hindu woman was stripped by Congress workers for allegedly raising slogans in support of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bengal.



Laxmi Orang said that, she was not present at the rally to support any political party as claimed by Adityanath, but the rally was organized to demand ST status for the Adivasi community.



Without knowing actual facts, Adityanath posted photographs in social media and claimed that, the rally was on behalf of BJP and Congress workers attacked it, Orang said.



(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)


Hollywood, Jun 21 (IBNS): Shocking his fans across the globe, Hollywood superstar Sir Daniel Day-Lewis has bid goodbye to acting, reports said.

Day-Lewis has conveyed his message through his agent, the BBC reported.

The only male actor to win three Academy Awards in the lead actor category, Day-Lewis holds both British and Irish citizenship.

Lewis is known for his ability to pull off characters with ease, enthralling fans with his heavy accent.

"Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor,' the statement read.

"He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years," it said, while adding, "This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject."

He received the Knighthood in 2014.

Some of his works include My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood, Lincoln, (all of which earned him an Academy Award) Gangs of New York, The Last of the Mohicans.

Day-Lewis made his debut in 1971.



image: Internet Wallpapers
Forget about old-fashioned blocks and action figures. If you want your child to succeed in school, you need to buy toys which teach your kid to code and build electronics. Available for pre-order on Indiegogo, Sony's new KOOV kit looks to make learning fun by providing a giant set of flexible blocks that kids can turn into a nearly-unlimited set of programmable robots.

(Image credit: Image Credit: Tom's Guide)

While there are plenty of robot kits on the market, KOOV stands out because you can use its combination of blocks, actuators and sensors to build so many different projects  everything from a duck with a moving bill to a rolling fire truck. During a brief demo, Sony product marketing manager Tim McGregor showed us a robotic hippo which rolled back and forward, opening its jaws based on his hand moving over a light sensor.

The company provides a number of premade "recipes" through its software, which includes helpful 3D tutorials. Many competitive products can make only one or two types of robot because they use so many specialized blocks.



All of the sensors and actuators (or motors) connect via wires to a control box called the KOOV Core, which provides power and data to those parts. Under its sleek white-plastic chassis, the Core is actually an Arduino board  the same type of controller that millions of professional makers use. Sensors include a light sensor, accelerometer and infrared sensor, while actuators include both DC and servo motors. There are also buzzers, buttons and lights that children can use in their projects.

(Image credit: Image Credit: Tom's Guide)

Kids then use the KOOV App, which is available for iOS and Windows, to program their robots. It's odd that Sony isn't supporting Android out of the box while providing a version for Windows when competitive kits such as the Jimu robots support Google's OS, but not Microsoft's. However, some may find it easier to write programs on a full Windows PC with a keyboard and mouse than on an Android phone or slate.

MORE: Best Robot Kits for Kids

The KOOV's programming language is proprietary but looks and feels just like Google Blockly, where you drag around conditional and action blocks rather than type in raw code. Other kids' robot kits such as the Ozobot and the Jimu robots use a similar system.



Considering that KOOV is powered by an Arduino board, it's a shame that the kit doesn't support programming in Arduino language. While coding in the Arduino IDE is more complex than dragging colorful blocks around, it is the full-fledged system that adults use. However, it's possible that an enterprising user could get the system working with standard Arduino development tools; McGregor said that the company is considering adding official support in the future.



Due out in November, but available for pre-order on Indiegogo right now, KOOV will be available in two sizes, Advanced Kit and Starter Kit, with MSRPs of $499 and $349 respectively; early bird backers can get them for $399 and $287 right now. The more expensive kit comes with 302 blocks and enough sensors to build 23 different KOOV projects while its sibling has 162 blocks and enough sensors to build 14 kinds of robot.

(Image credit: Image Credit: Tom's Guide)

The KOOV has been available in Japan for several months now, but Sony, one of the world's largest companies, chose to launch it in the U.S. on a crowdfunding site to gauge consumer interest and generate support. A couple of days after going live on Indiegogo, the campaign has already raised $23,000 of its $100,000 goal.
OLATHE, Kan. -- Brothers at the center of a high-profile murder will spend at least the next 50 years behind bars. The Johnson County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday that a judge sentenced James Willis to a "Hard 50" plus 19 months in the deadly shooting of Jurl Carter outside The Roxy nightclub on September 1, 2015.
Brussels, Jun 21 (IBNS): A suspected suicide bomber was shot dead by Belgian police following a small explosion which rocked the city's train station, reports said.

However, police have said that there was no casualty after from that of the suspect.

The Belgian authorities are treating the incident as a 'terrorist attack'.

Meanwhile, a witness was quoted by AFP news agency as saying that the suspect chanted 'Allahu Akbar' before blowing up a wheeled suitcase.

#FirstDayOfSummer

aiALLAHU AKBARai

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

IT'S #WorldRefugeeDay



Chaos From Brussels Train Station

Suicide Bomber J!had Attack Y pic.twitter.com/mPAHArX19j  AliceInTwittrLandY (@American1765) June 20, 2017

The witness added that though it wasn't a big explosion, the impact was great.

The incident has forced authorities to cordon off the area as restaurants and shops were ordered to down their shutters.

In a similar attack in Mach 2016, at least 32 people were killed in separate explosions in Brussels.

The attack was later claimed by the IS.

Several European countries have witness sporadic attacks this year, most of which has been claimed by the IS.

The latest twin attacks in the UK have claimed at least 29 lives.

The IS in a statement released through their mouthpiece Amaq has also warned the French government of further attacks if the latter does not stop their anti terrorism drive.

Images from Twitter
- The smoke from this blaze stretched across the metro for miles . . .





- A few nearby buildings caught fire but were quickly extinguished . . .





- Local history buffs remind us this is near the site where 5 firefighters were killed fighting a blaze in the 50s.

THANKS TO SOME OF OUR BLOG COMMUNITY DENIZENS FOR SENDING PHOTOS!!!

Up close and the best look . . .

An overview from a KICK-ASS TKC reader:

KCUR: About 100 firefighters are battling a three-alarm fire at a warehouse on Southwest Boulevard. Kansas City Fire Chief Paul Berardi says they received calls reporting the fire at Fridays Only Furniture Outlet at 29th and Southwest Boulevard around 2:30 Tuesday afternoon.













Kansas City burning sensation top story today . . .Normally, we try not to blog fires because there's really nothing to debate on the topic.However, this 3-Alarm blaze is nearby, stalled us in traffic and will most likely pave the way for more hipster luxury housing subsidized by City Hall.Here's the best local look . . .Just a few quick facts on the topic . . .Take a look:Link round-up:Developing . . .
Union Station Proactively Launches Important 12-Month Project To Preserve, Protect and Maintain Historic Exterior Surfaces

Here's extensive deets on the massive effort to improve, restore and maintain Kansas City's front porch . . . Checkit:KANSAS CITY, MO (June 21, 2017) - High atop Union Stations historic North Waiting Room and extending over 45 feet above the roofline, an expert team of contractors can be seen rigged to scaffolding and beginning a delicate 12-month project to clean, restore and protect nearly every inch of historic limestone surface, mortar line and caulked joint around the massive Station. In total, more than 15,600 hours will be applied to this proactive project.As our Board of Directors and Leadership Team continues to look around the corner for whats next at Union Station, of critical importance is to stay ahead of the curve in maintaining the beauty, integrity and longevity of our physical structures, Bob Regnier, Union Station Board Chairman, said. This is one of the many advantages of ongoing financial success at the Station . . . being able to proactively put investment where it matters most. And in this case, maintaining and protecting our 103-year-old treasure is a priority of the highest order.The total effort is divided into three phases expected to be complete in Spring of 2018. Each phase is tied to specific exterior areas of the original Station and is best described as periodic and routine maintenance, but on a very large scale.Specifically, the detailed, specialized and technical work includes:- Cleaning nearly 20 years of environmental accumulation and discoloration from the historic limestone exterior surfaces- Repairing mortar joints (tuck point) between limestone blocks to maintain their aesthetic and structural integrity- Caulking and sealing all other exterior joints to prevent water intrusion and deteriorationHeading up the team of experts is Roofing Solutions, Inc., Structural Engineering Associates, and Mid-Continental Restoration Company, all exceptionally qualified regional leaders and intimately familiar with Union Station. Mid-Continental Restoration has a 60-year history of similar and successful preservation work, including the North Dakota State Capitol, Arkansas State Capitol, as well as interior and exterior masonry cleaning and repair on Union Station in 1997 during the original restoration and reopening project.Its always a privilege to be invited to restore and preserve pieces of history, Matt Deloney, Vice President, Mid-Continental Restoration, said. And when the structure - like Union Station - is such a big part of our collective community memory, the significance is amplified. What our crews are doing is as much of an art as it is science. In fact, most of this work on the Station is done by hand with hand tools and small power specialty tools. Its delicate, precise and essential to maintaining and extending the life of these exposed surfaces. We know 100 years from now, people will look back and appreciate the attitude of obligation Union Station has today to preserve history to be enjoyed by generations to come.Structural Engineering Associates has been providing structural engineering services for almost 25 years at Union Station including work leading up to and including the major renovation in the 1990s.In total, and in addition to the enormous human effort, this project will use:- The equivalent of 1,200 tubes of caulking - The typical home requires 10 tubes to re-caulk windows, doors and seams.- Over 1,000 bags of mortar - The typical brick or stone home requires 10 bags to tuck point.- 1,100 gallons of Enviro Klean ReKlaim Limestone Cleaner (all applied by hand)- 1,300 gallons of Natural Stone Treatment Water Repellant to protect stone surfaces and slowfuture biological growth and staining.- 9,500 lineal feet of lead joint T-Cap installed to protect the skyward facing stone joints from waterinfiltration.The total investment were making to complete this important preservation work is $1.6 million and will be funded through a combination of sources including our Union Station Preservation Fund (accumulated from a $1.00 charge added to each Science City and Touring Exhibition ticket sold), operating income and the launching of a direct fundraising effort, George Guastello, Union Station president and CEO, said. As our massive $8 million dollar Capital Expansion project heads quickly toward completion, were stepping up with this next significant preservation project and the community reaction to these investments has been, and continues to be, overwhelming and positive. Union Station is Kansas Citys historic home and will always hold that place of honor, as long as we collectively do what it takes to preserve and maintain it.Union Station is a 501 (c)3 non-profit and receives no ongoing tax or public funding to support capital and operations.We rely on earned income and donations to preserve Union Station, Guastello, said. We invite the entire community to do their part in preserving this jewel by donating online at unionstation.org.No disruption to normal Union Station business is anticipated during the year-long preservation work.The 12-person crew is scheduled to work Monday  Thursday, 7:00 am  5:30 pm, Jerry Baber, Union Station executive vice president and COO, said. At no time will visitor access nor experience be diminished. Besides the visual spectacle of the professionals working up high preserving our exterior, our award-winning attractions and beautiful event spaces will remain open and the new guest conveniences of our Western Expansion projects will be fully felt.By combining several preservation projects  including elements from the Union Station 25-year maintenance plan  into one, additional efficiencies are being realized.Being good stewards of Union Station is all inclusive, Regnier, said. Combining several preservation projects at once  even slightly ahead of schedule  is resulting in real savings which allows us to maximize the impact of our investment dollars. And, of course, support from the community is always invited and appreciated. Individuals or businesses interested in being part of preserving our historic monument should connect with Christy Nitsche for a complete list of opportunities. Caring for Kansas Citys historic home is indeed a proud and welcomed obligation we each have.Frequent updates regarding the progress of this exterior preservation project will be available online at unionstation.org.##############
Germanys Ambassador to Greece, Dr. Peter Schoof, said he was impressed by the "inner strength" of the Greeks as he remarked on his 3.5-year-tenure in the country, during his farewell speech on Monday evening.

"I know many people are facing difficult situations in their personal lives," he told the guests attending the event in his house, where the flags flew half-mast in mourning for the passing of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl,  reported.

He added however that he believed in the strength of Greeks which made him optimistic about the countrs future.

Schoof said the embassys role in Athens was to operating as a bridge not just between the two governments but between the two societies. "Today, at the time of my departure, I am confident that the pillars of our relations are stable," he said and described Greece as a country of beauty and hospitality.

Concluding his speech, he said he knows that Greeks want to shape the future of their country within a Europe of growth and solidarity and stressed that Europe is our family.

Schoof will leave from Greece next week. The event was attended by the Alternate Finance Minister George Chouliarakis, Alternate Civil Protection Minister Nikos Toskas, New Democracy MPs Giorgos Koumoutsakos, Nikos Dendias, Niki Kerameos, Olga Kefaloyanni and Bank of Greece Governor Yiannis Stournaras.

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: capital.gr
On June 15, the first convening of the Digital Council took place to discuss the municipalitys goals to encourage innovation

In an unprecedented gesture of solidarity between Athens public and private sectors, Mayor Georgios Kaminis convened the citys first-ever Digital Council. Made up of industry leaders based in Athens, the Council was established to advise the city on innovative ways to harness technology for the benefit of Athenians.

Convening our first Digital Council is a ground breaking step towards becoming one of the top digital cities in the world, Mayor Kaminis said. The Athens Digital Council will support the Municipality in achieving our goals to reach more neighborhoods and create more jobs in Athens.

On June 15, the first convening of the Digital Council took place to discuss the municipalitys goals to encourage innovation in government and leverage technology to address public challenges. The Athens Digital Council includes leaders representing the largest digital, telecommunications, research and development and software solution companies in Greece, as well as distinguished professors from leading Greek universities. The members are:

Accenture Greece, Kyriacos Sabatakakis, Managing Director

Athens University of Economics and Business, Professor Diomidis Spinellis

IBM Greece and Cyprus, Spyros Poulidas, General Manager

Microsoft Hellas, Cyprus and Malta, Peggy Antonakou, CEO

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Professor Yannis Ioannidis

National Technical University of Athens, Professor Giannis Kalogirou

National Technical University of Athens, Professor Nectarios Koziris

Nokia Hellas, Athanasios Exarchos, President & Managing Director

Oracle Greece, Fragkiskos Zervos, Technology Sales Consulting Director (representing Antonis Monokrousos, Country Leader of Oracle Greece)

OTE Group, Michael Tsamaz, Chairman and CEO

SAP Hellas, Cyrprus & Malta, Andreas Xirocostas, Country Manager

Vodafone Greece, Haris Broumidis, CEO

WIND, Nassos Zarkalis, Chairman and CEO

The Digital Council is being overseen by Konstantinos Champidis, the citys Chief Digital Officer, a position created last April by the Mayor. The Athens Partnership, an independent non-profit vehicle facilitating high impact partnerships with the City of Athens, is coordinating private sector support for the citys broad digital strategy.

With the appointment of our citys Chief Digital Officer and the support of our new Digital Council, Athens is on its way to landing on the global map of leading digital cities, said Champidis. I am grateful to members of this voluntary Council, who are supporting the municipalitys efforts to be more transparent, efficient, and effective at delivering city services to all Athenians.

Mayor Kaminis is committed to accelerating digital growth and leveraging technology to address the citys greatest challenges and seize opportunities. To this end, the Mayor appointed the citys first Chief Digital Officer; the Innovathens entrepreneur hub was launched in 2014; and Athens has attracted the support of global foundations, including Stavros Niarchos, Bloomberg Associates, and Rockefeller Foundation, selected as one of its 100 Resilient Cities in 2015. Now, through the Digital Council, the city is meaningfully engaging with leading educational institutions and key private sector partners to develop technological strategies to improve the lives of Athenians.

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

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Xpress Money, one of the world's leading money transfer organizations, has announced plans to expand its network in Brazil, Chile and Guatemala by virtue of strategic partnerships that are underway.



This development is in line with Xpress Money's focus to increase its network in Latin America to 40,000 locations by the end of 2017. Recent remittance trends in LATAM indicate that there is good potential for business growth in the region, a statement said.



According to the latest Migration and Development brief released by the World Bank, remittance flows into Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) increased by an estimated 6.9 per cent in 2016, reaching $73 billion. This growth is projected to continue, but moderate to around 3.3 and 3.6 per cent in 2017 and 2018, respectively.



It is estimated, Guatemala alone registered strong remittance inflows of $7.4 billion last year, an increase of 13 per cent. It is the second largest remittance receiving country in LATAM, following Mexico. Brazil's inward remittances stood at $2.7 billion in 2016, while Chile received an estimated $123 million in 2016.



One of the reasons attributed to the increase in remittances to the region is the reduced cost of remittances. The average cost of sending money to LAC was 6 per cent in 2017 Q1, below the global average of 7.32 per cent. Over the years, the cost of sending money to LAC has gradually declined due to a combination of high volumes and competitive market structure.



Sudhesh Giriyan, COO, Xpress Money said: "Our aim is to make money transfers convenient for expats residing across all geographies in the world. Markets such as Guatemala, Brazil and Chile continue to see their citizens migrating abroad for a better livelihood.



Soon enough, these expats start contributing to the economies of their respective countries in the form of remittances. It is therefore extremely vital for us to grow our network and offer convenient money transfer services to cater to the growing needs of customers. Our teams are actively exploring strategic partnerships, through which we aim to ensure a convenient and secure money transfer process, both for the sender abroad as well as the beneficiaries in the region, he added.



Currently, Xpress Money has a strong network, consisting of 180,000 agent locations in 160 countries globally. - 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.
Sohar airport joins Oman's list of hubs for international airlines as two carriers have received approval to fly directly to the city, said a report.



According to Oman's aviation authority, Air Arabia and Qatar Airways plan to start direct services from Sohar, Times of Oman reported.



Dates for the start of international flights will be announced soon.



Meanwhile SalamAir, Omans first budget airline, said it will be flying thrice a week from Salalah to Sohar from June 28, while also increasing services to Muscat to 31 times a week, the report said.



Sohar airport was opened by Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Salim Al Futaisi, minister of Transport and Communications, as part of 44th National Day celebrations in November 2014, and Oman Air operated an inaugural flight to mark the official opening.
Hotel, retail and real estate investors will gather in Morocco this October to discuss investment and development opportunities in the African continent at the 2017 Hotelier Summit North Africa.

Hosted by leading real estate solutions provider IDE Consulting Service from October 4-6, the prime emphasis of this conclave will be to facilitate consultations between shareholder, owners and investors as well as build a platform for African Governments and African Investors to learn how to make projects bankable.

The hospitality sector in Africa is set to grow by approximately four per cent each year for the next three years. The summit aims to underscore Africas rapidly growing hospitality and real estate market, which is attracting increased interest from international investors, developers and occupiers



Keynote speakers will also address the floor to explain about the scale of projects they are expecting from Morocco and other African countries for them to invest in.



Morocco will be presented as the initiator and a prime destination in the continent, hosting the event as a hub for investors and African countries to promote business relations and learn from each others experiences.



Africa, particularly the Northern region, has seen several developments in the past few years. However, it has been observed that areas as financial planning, project execution and more importantly the implementation of sustainable measures need better policies to be effective.



"At IDE, we seek to radically change this through engaging in actionable conversations with people who walk the talk. The Hotelier Summit Africa (North) this year has been directed towards regrouping the investors, property owners, developers and other stakeholders of the real estate landscape to gather on one platform to discuss project feasibilities from conceptualization to completion.



Our objective is for Africa to be looked up to as one of the most progressive regions of growth on the global real estate map. said Ravi Kumar Chandran, director at IDE.



The 13th edition of Hotelier SummitAfrica will witness the gathering of hundreds of thoughtful leaders from around the continent that include C-suite investors, Government officials, high net worth individuals, hotel owners and developers, hotel operators, architects, interior designers, project management consultants, design consultants, procurement professionals, advisory specialists and sustainability experts. These parties will be engaged in face-to-face meetings with the investors and suppliers from all over the globe.



"In the 13th Edition Hotelier Summit, Africa we intend to host the Honorarium Grand on a larger scale, recognising the key contributors to the hospitality industry in Northern and Western Africa and in turn revealing the Hospitality Power List for the year 2017. said Chandran.



Positioned as the ideal gateway to figuring a companys growth and development trajectory in the African hospitality sector, Hotelier Summit Africa (North) is wholly dedicated to easing market accessibility, providing insights on market nuances, finalising contractual work and speeding up procurement activities.



The summit will accommodate leading companies and emerging business entities from North Africa and around the region. - TradeArabia News Service


Vela to Acquire OptionsCity

Vela Trading Technologies LLC (Vela), a 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.

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.

For more information on related topics, visit the following channels:
New York, June 21(Just Earth News): Thousands of vulnerable Iraqi and Syrian refugee families affected by conflict in northern Iraq aim to profit from new livelihood ventures of the United Nations agriculture agency.

Funded by Germany, a project supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will train Syrian refugees in the Erbil and Dohuk governorates in greenhouse vegetable cultivation, and assist Iraqi families with hens to produce eggs and meat along with training and tools for bee-keeping and food processing.

Families are struggling, some resorting to reducing their meal sizes or the number of meals each day, selling productive assets, or buying food on credit, said Fadel El-Zubi, FAO Representative in Iraq. Through restoring and providing alternative livelihoods, this project will support Government efforts to reduce long-term dependence on emergency food assistance and enable people to recover as quickly as possible.

Years of conflict in Iraq has left 3.2 million people food insecure, including those who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. As more than three million remain displaced, stretched resources of host communities are increasingly under pressure.

Another 240,000 Syrian refugees are living in Iraq, 97 per cent of whom are staying in communities or camps in northern Iraq.

During the first week of June, 2,400 people from 150 villages  either displaced by conflict or residents of areas where displaced people or refugees were living  received 9,600 hens, poultry feeding and drinking equipment, and 80 tons of feed.

Over the course of a year, the hens will produce approximately 1.38 million eggs and 1,200 kilograms of meat. Each family received 23 hens, which will yield some 3,450 eggs and 30 kilograms of meat  enough to provide both food and income.

Another 2,400 people will receive training, tools and equipment for bee-keeping for honey production, and dairy and fruit processing, to produce a variety of dairy products, fruit jams and dried fruit for sale.

Some 3,000 Syrian refugees in Qushtapa camp in Erbil governorate and Domiz 1 camp in Dohuk governorate will receive training in greenhouse vegetable production. Due to high market demand, 10 greenhouses at each camp will initially focus on growing tomatoes and cucumbers. Income from vegetable sales will then enable families to buy extra food and other necessities. Camp residents and those from surrounding communities will be able to purchase greenhouse produce during two vegetable seasons each year.

Photo: FAO/Karina Coates

Source: www.justearthnews.com
The Russell Rebalance Trades: What to Expect

This Friday will be one of the biggest  and busiest  trading days in the U.S. equity market, as investment managers adjust their portfolios in accordance with the Russell Reconstitution, the annual change in the FTSE Russell investment indices, which occurs after the close this year on June 23rd. The Russell 1000, Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 are among the most widely followed U.S. indices, with an estimated $3.8 trillion in assets tracking the benchmarks.

ITG's Ivan Cajic, Head of Index Research, projects that this years reconstitution will lead to more than $23 billion in net turnover, with projected turnover across the broader Russell 3000 generally in line with the 2016 reconstitution, higher turnover in the large-cap Russell 1000 and lower turnover in the small-cap Russell 2000.

Some highlights of this years trade:

 There are 10 additions to the Russell 1000 index, compared to only 2 last year. There are also 2 deletions from the index, the more noteworthy being Thomson Reuters (TRI, -$0.45 billion to sell), which will be re-domiciled to Canada.

 There are 186 additions to the Russell 2000 index along with 107 deletions. This is roughly in line with the 183 additions and 128 deletions seen last year.

 43 companies will migrate from the Russell 1000 to the Russell 2000 and 31 companies will migrate from the Russell 2000 to the Russell 1000.

 The largest net sector inflows are expected into Energy ($1.79bln to buy) and Info Tech ($1.5 billion to buy) with the biggest outflows in Financials (-$2.63 billion to sell) and Consumer Staples (-$0.81 billion to sell).

 Some of the biggest expected trades include NXP Semiconductors (NXPI, $1.18 billion to buy), Apple (AAPL, -$0.86 billion to sell), Facebook (FB, $0.47 billion to buy) JP Morgan (JPM, -$0.39 billion to sell) and Amazon (AMZN, $0.33 billion to buy).

 More IPOs: 3 recent initial public offerings are being added to the Russell 1000 and 24 to the Russell 2000, compared to just 1 and 14, respectively, in 2016.

 Notably absent from the Russell 1000 is Snapchat (SNAP), which was excluded due to its IPO containing all non-voting shares. After objections from index investors, FTSE Russell deferred the inclusion of any zero-voting-rights securities in its indices until the conclusion of its consultation period at the end of June.

Depending on index membership, we estimate that Russell indexers hold more than 10% of the total float shares outstanding in some of these names. As a result, additions or deletions from the index can generate significant price impact and create a substantial liquidity event. These liquidity events make the Russell Reconstitution a noteworthy occurrence even for many traders who are not benchmarked to the indices.

Ivan Cajic is the Head of Index Research at ITG

For more information on related topics, visit the following channels:
New York, June 21(Just Earth News): Detailing aharrowing reportsa of killings, mutilation and entire villages destroyed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's restive Kasai provinces, the top United Nations human rights official on Tuesday called on the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent international investigation into the widespread rights violations and abuses there.

The humanitarian and human rights situation has deteriorated dramatically [over the last three months] and various actors are fuelling ethnic hatred, resulting in extremely grave, widespread and apparently planned attacks against the civilian population in the Kasais, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein told the Council  the highest UN intergovernmental forum on human rights issues.

Most concerning, the High Commissioner said, was the arming of a militia  the Bana Mura  allegedly to support authorities in fighting the Kamuina Nsapu, and which has carried out horrific attacks against civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups.

Refugees from multiple villages [] 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, said Zeid.

He added that teams deployed by his Office (OHCHR) witnessed children as young as two, whose limbs had been chopped off, and babies with machete wounds and severe wounds.

One two-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 foetuses mutilated.

Allegations of widespread human rights violations and abuses

Zeid also spoke of allegations of rights violations by members of the security forces, including summary executions and rape during operations against villages allegedly controlled by the Kamuina Nsapu militia. He also recounted reports of human rights abuses by the militia, including targeted killings of the armed forces, police, public officials and civilians perceived to cooperate with them, as well as individuals whom they accused of practicing sorcery.

Violence flared up in the DRC's Kasai regions in August 2016, when a customary chief was killed by Forces armees de la Republique democratique du Congo (FARDC), as DRC's armed forces are known. The Kamuina Nsapu militia (named after the chief) then set about avenging the killing, committing widespread atrocities as well as recruiting children into its ranks.

The gravity of the situation was further underscored by the discovery (in April, this year) of forty-two mass graves by OHCHR and the UN mission in the country (known by its French acronym, MONUSCO).

More than 1.3 million people have since been displaced within the country as well as thousands forced to flee across its borders.

In his remarks, Zeid recalled the killing of two UN experts who were found dead after being abducted while investigating the situation in the country. Their killings must also be fully investigated, and I remain in close touch with their families, he stressed.

'By bringing justice to the Kasais, we may be able to prevent further crimes elsewhere in the DRC'

Also in his remarks, Zeid noted that while there has been some progress in ensuring accountability in other parts of the DRC, the severity of the allegations in the Kasais and lack of action on part of the Government to investigate and bring perpetrators to justice has necessitated the need to establish an independent investigation mechanism that can establish the facts and determine individual responsibilities.

This will also send a strong signal about the need to uphold human rights in the rest of the country, where lack of progress in implementing the 31 December Agreement, and continued restrictions on political rights and freedoms, are generating frustration and deepening grievances, said the High Commissioner, noting that he would also remain in touch with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

By bringing justice to the Kasais we may be able to prevent further crimes elsewhere in the DRC, he added.

Photo: MONUSCO/Myriam Asmani

Source: www.justearthnews.com
MnK Niseko is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Robbins, in the role of Executive Chef and Food & Beverage Director. His role includes sourcing the fresh, local ingredients from Hokkaido and other parts of Japan for guests staying in three resort properties; The Orchards Niseko, Niseko Country Resort and Akazora.



(TRAVPR.COM) JAPAN - June 21st, 2017 - MnK Niseko is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Robbins, in the role of Executive Chef and Food & Beverage Director.

His role includes sourcing the fresh, local ingredients from Hokkaido and other parts of Japan for guests staying in three resort properties; The Orchards Niseko, Niseko Country Resort and Akazora. MnK guests can enjoy Richards expertise via gourmet food delivery, private dining, and catered events featuring both Japanese and Western style cooking.

Niseko is a destination for people who love to eat due to the abundance of high quality food from Hokkaido, however, some restaurants are often booked months in advance and many are not suited for large groups. explains MnK Nisekos Director Eddie Guillemette. Having Richard on board allows our guests to eat well with family and friends, in a relaxed setting, at a time and place of their choosing.

Guests will be able to enjoy Japanese inspired favourites such as shabu-shabu and sashimi, as well as seasonal Western dishes including hearty roasts, and other cherished holiday meals - all in the comfort of their chalet, apartment or at events at The Orchards Niseko Clubhouse.

Whats better than a meal enjoyed with family and friends while on holiday? One that is prepared for you, made with locally sourced, fresh ingredients states Richard. Hokkaido ingredients are renowned for their quality, not just in Japan but increasingly throughout restaurants around the world. From Hokkaido seafood, beef and pork, to some of the best fruit and vegetables, we collaborate with farms and markets to bring local, unique products to the guests of MnK.

Richard hails from Portland, Oregon where he studied at the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. Richard has over 20 years experience as a chef, working in Europe, North America and Japan. He has spent the last 15 years living in Japan, during which time he has worked as the Executive Chef for establishments such as Micuras Hotel in Atami, Cross Hotel in Osaka and Sapporo, as well as Mercure Hotel in Sapporo, and most recently at IKI Restaurant in Niseko.

MnK Niseko is a real estate, hospitality and property management company with three unique resort properties in Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan; The Orchards Niseko, Niseko Country Resort, and Akazora.

For further information, please contact richard@mnkniseko.com.

###
The Clement Palo Alto has announced the retirement of longtime Executive Chef Pierre Arce after 26 years and the hiring of new Executive Chef Mark Ayers.



(TRAVPR.COM) USA - June 21st, 2017 - Palo Alto, CA, June 21, 2017  The Clement Palo Alto has announced the retirement of longtime Executive Chef Pierre Arce after 26 years and the hiring of new Executive Chef Mark Ayers.

Born in France and trained in Europe, Chef Arce was the Executive Chef of the Clement, Sheraton and Westin hotels and had been at the culinary helm in Palo Alto for more than two decades.



Ayers, who comes to The Clement after two years as Executive Sous Chef at Carmel Valley Ranch in Carmel Valley, California, will also be the Executive Chef of Sheraton Palo Alto Hotel and The Westin Palo Alto.



Ayers comes to The Clement Palo Alto with strong credentials in the culinary field. Prior to Carmel Valley Ranch, he served as Corporate Executive Chef for Coastal Luxury Management in Monterey, which founded and produces the annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine event, as well as award-winning restaurants 1833, Cannery Row Brewing Company, Rose.Rabbit.Lie and Faith & Flower.



In 1992, Ayers graduated at the top of his class at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and was voted Most Likely to Succeed.



He was inducted into the Monterey chapter of Les Toques Blanches in 2011; is an active member of the Monterey County Hospitality Association; and was selected Star Chef of the Year by the Monterey Chapter of the American Culinary Federation in 2010.



Ayers' culinary career started as Chef Tournant in 1994 at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek in Beaver Creek, Colorado, where he also served as Chef de Cuisine and Executive Sous Chef through 2002.



He became Executive Chef at the award-winning Pacific's Edge restaurant at Hyatt Carmel Highlands in 2001 through 2010, and helped develop and open TusCA restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Resort & Spa.



Chef Ayers is also committed to supporting charitable causes, including Boy & Girls Club of Monterey County, Meals on Wheels, Court Appointed Special Advocates of Monterey County (CASA) and Elephants of Africa Rescue Society (EARS).



About The Clement Palo Alto

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###
New York, June 21(Just Earth News): Amid Burundi's afragilea security situation, marked by recent grenade attacks in the capital, Bujumbura, a senior United Nations political official told the Security Council on Tuesday that regional actors and international partners must press for confidence-building measures that would be conducive for holding an inclusive and credible political dialogue in the country.

Recent weeks have seen grenade attacks in the capital, and repression and intimidation by security forces and associated groups, said Assistant Secretary-General Taye-Brook Zerihoun, updating the Council on the situation in Burundi.

He said that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as well as human rights non-governmental organizations continued to report targeted arrests, arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of real or perceived opposition members and supporters, as well as extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances.

Citing OHCHR, Zerihoun pointed out that incitement to hatred and violence have increased since April  with regular testimonies and video recordings of rallies by the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD.

He noted that the Government had not resumed interaction with OHCHR since it had suspended it in mid-October 2016 adding that the Commission of Inquiry on the human rights situation there regretted the lack of Government cooperation and access to the country.

The Commission of Inquiry has collected more than 470 testimonies of human rights violations allegedly committed in Burundi since 2015, to be presented in its final report to the Human Rights Council in September, Zerihoun said.

Given the current climate, implementation of proposals contained in a 12 May report of the National Commission for the Inter-Burundian Dialogue would likely lead to an escalation of the crisis, he said.

That report  which affirmed that a majority in Burundi supported a revision of the Constitution, a lifting of presidential term limits and changes to other provisions of the Arusha Agreement  had been denounced by opposition parties, as had the subsequent creation of a constitutional review commission.

Turning to other issues, he said the socioeconomic and humanitarian situations have also deteriorated.

Three million people in Burundi are in need of humanitarian assistance. Nearly 2.6 million others experience acute food insecurity, with over 700,000 in need of emergency food assistance. Mass displacement continues, due to natural hazards, food insecurity and socio-political factors, he explained.

Moreover, some 209,000 people are internally displaced. The number of Burundian refugees in neighbouring countries exceeds 400,000. Humanitarian actors have scaled up their response but have yet to reach the capacity required to meet emerging life-saving needs, he added.

Also briefing the Council, Jurg Lauber, of Switzerland, Chair of the Burundi Configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission, speaking via video link from Geneva, said the East African Community summit in Dar es Salaam was a key event that had demonstrated the importance of regional engagement, with Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda and Chair of the Community, reiterating his personal commitment to the Community-led mediation and calling for resumed socioeconomic cooperation with Burundi.

The summit provided clarity on the direction of the mediation process. Mkapa, former President of Tanzania, had presented a proposal outlining a series of steps to overcome the current situation and create the preconditions for democratic elections in 2020, which was welcomed by member Heads of State and Government.

UN: Photo

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 21

An eight-member delegation of industrialists and academicians from Ethiopia visited Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) here today. This visit is a part of twinning agreement between the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Ethiopias Metal Industries Development Institute (MIDI) to enhance the competitiveness of the metals and engineering industries with the help of training and know-how imparted by scientists.

The delegation, led by Ethiopian minister of education Teshome Lemma, visited various sections of the CSIO which were of relevance to the African industry. They were given presentation and demonstrations about the CSIOs core competence and technical facilities.

The CSIO will impart modular training on statistical tool usage, precision bench work, conventional machining, electrical discharge machining, wire cutting, jig boring and grinding, maintenance management, electronics workshop techniques, electrical and electronics measurement, and process control and automation.

In addition, the CSIO will assist the MIDI in creating technical facilities in some of the aforementioned areas and provide guidance for higher degree courses to be conducted in Ethiopia like masters programme on mechatronics.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 21

In a startling accusation, Panchkula Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dr Shaleen has accused Panchkula Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia of threatening him, citing her influence with the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

Taking their verbal spat to the next level, the 2012-batch Haryana cadre IAS officer has shot off a letter to Haryana Chief Secretary Depinder Singh Dhesi, seeking appropriate action against the Congress-supported Mayor.

In the past also she had been issuing verbal threats to me in the form of vigilance inquiries and also tends to threaten by citing the name of CJI as her relative. To my mind, she is degrading such a high post, the MC Commissioner has written.

Further accusing the Mayor of vitiating the atmosphere of the Corporation and expressing his inability to work under such circumstances, Dr Shaleen quoted in verbatim the Mayors alleged threat, Mr Commissioner, you dont know me. You have a long career ahead. I can spoil you and your career. You wait and watch. This, according to the MC Commissioner, the Mayor told him over his mobile phone on June 19 when he was on an official tour to Faridabad and was not feeling well. When I told her that I could not attend the House meeting of the Corporation and requested the Mayor for its cancellation, she called me on my mobile and threatened me, he claimed.

The MC Commissioner further wrote that during this conversation when he told her that she was threatening him, she got terrified and cut the phone and the conversation ended.

Dr Shaleen has sought an opportunity for personal representation before the Chief Secretary.

In a separate letter sent to the Mayor, the MC Commissioner has sought an apology from her for such behaviour. Until you dont tender an apology, I am of the opinion not to attend any meeting under your chairmanship. This may kindly be considered on a positive note, the young bureaucrat has written to Ahluwalia.

Dr Shaleen reminded the Mayor that in the past also, she had threatened him with vigilance inquiries and legal notices. Such threatening behaviour is unprecedented in government system and such unparliamentary language from such a person sitting on a higher post is neither expected nor desirable, the MC Commissioner told the Mayor.
New York, June 21(Just Earth News): Achieving a negotiated two-state outcome is the only way to lay the foundations for enduring peace that is based on Israeli security needs and the Palestinian right to sovereignty and statehood, the United Nations envoy on Middle East peace told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Now is not the time to give up on this goal. Now is the time to create the conditions for a return to negotiations to resolve all final status issues on the basis of relevant UN resolutions, mutual agreements and international law, Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Council via videoconference from Jerusalem.

Noting that on Tuesday's meeting coincided with the 50-year anniversary of the Arab-Israeli war, which resulted in Israel's occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Syrian Golan, Mladenov said he would devote the bulk of his briefing to the implementation of Council resolution 2334 (2016), which called on Israel to cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

Yet, despite the resolution's call, there has been substantial increase, with plans for nearly 4,000 housing units moving forward and 2,000 tenders issued.

The policy of continued illegal settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territory contravenes resolution 2334. The large number of settlement-related activities documented during this period undermines the chances for the establishment of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution, he stressed.

Continuing terror attacks, violence and incitement remain a very serious concern. While, the security situation had remained free of rocket fire and airstrikes, Mladenov updated the Council with a list of killings on both sides.

Calling the problem of violence a hallmark of the conflict, he reminded the Council that leaders have a responsibility to implement measures demonstrating their commitment to combatting violence and any acts of provocation and inflammatory rhetoric.

The Special Coordinator reiterated the call by the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East peace process for both parties to take steps to reverse negative trends on the ground that are imperilling the two-state solution.

le Mladenov called Israel-approved measures to advance the Palestinian economy positive steps forward, he noted that it remains to be seen whether this will significantly increase Palestinian civil authority, in line with Quartet recommendations and prior commitments between the parties.

As electricity supplies wane, Gaza Strip remains a 'tinderbox'

On another pressing issue, the UN envoy stressed the urgency of addressing the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza, calling it a tinderbox, which if and when it explodes, will have devastating consequences for the population and derail all efforts at advancing peace.

Two million Palestinians in Gaza can no longer be held hostage by divisions, underscored the UN envoy. Perpetuating this situation breeds radicalism and extremism, he said, adding: We have a collective responsibility to prevent this. We have a duty to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.

While acknowledging the significant budget constraints the Palestinian Authority and the need to support the Government in addressing them, he noted that all decisions must be taken with due consideration of their humanitarian impact, calling on Palestinian leaders to urgently reach the necessary compromises that will return Gaza to the control of the legitimate authorities.

The crisis is leading toward another conflict. A conflict that no one wants. I urge all parties to act before it is too late, he emphasized.

UN Photo/Manuel Elias

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 21

Hitting back at Panchkula Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dr Shaleen, who had accused her of intimidating him by citing her influence with the Chief Justice of India, Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia has asked the Commissioner to introspect and not to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor.

You have talked about me threatening you with inquiries and legal notices. The same is completely baseless and seems to be another attempt to overshadow your unwarranted act, the Congress-supported Mayor has written to Dr Shaleen in response to his letter.

Ahluwalia further wrote, Assuming this is correct, it is brought to your notice that its not been even a month since you joined this office and there is hardly any administrative decision taken by you. What possible issue can even be there for an inquiry against you? It seems you are working on similar lines like the previous Commissioner, who in order to serve the shallow interests of his local political masters had worked on their agendas and to defame this institution had brought this Corporation to a stand-off. A similar act of boycott of meeting by officers was done by the previous Commissioner during the House meeting dated October 25, 2016.

Turning down the Commissioners demand for an apology, the Mayor retorted, Therefore, in the said circumstances, the question of apology from my side doesnt arise and instead the whole elected House/ councillors deserve an apology from you.

She has sent the copies of her four-page letter to the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, Director of Urban Local Bodies Department, Divisional Ambala Commissioner, Panchkula Deputy Commissioner and all councillors.
THE Income Tax Department on Monday seized benami properties, presumably owned by RJD chief Lalu Prasads daughter, son-in-law and son who is the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister. Lalu Prasad is among the most vocal challengers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. A very obvious defence, which has already been deployed by the family, is that the tax initiative is vendetta. But politics is more a game of perception than facts, and this round may just be going against the maverick former chief minister, who controls a majority stake in the Bihar government. The reason for that is obvious: his history with corruption cases, and a conviction too. Moreover, in the immediate aftermath of the action, the family has hardly given any credible explanation of the surprisingly long list of properties.

The Modi governments focus, however  apart from pulling down the JD(U)-RJD arrangement  is on conveying a sense of urgency in its drive against black money and corruption. The targeting of politically uncomfortable entities, be they individuals, parties or media houses, does anything but suggest sincerity in the effort. Often public sympathy will not lie with anyone perceived as corrupt, even if targeted for political reasons. But that can soon begin to prove counter-effective when major allegations of corruption in other cases get no attention  as in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan or Punjab.

A major source of Prime Minister Modis popular appeal has been his professed zero tolerance for corruption, within or outside the government. Some convincing action against suspect leaders of the BJP or its allies would put a seal of authenticity to this claim. Action against AAP leaders in Delhi  perhaps warranted in some cases  evokes no more than a shrug only because of this decreasing credibility. As various agencies of the government go after wrongdoing, special care must be taken in political cases  of ensuring fast-track action. Move towards the charge-sheet stage quickly, or clear the suspect. Else it would be called nothing but use of government machinery to malign political opponents. Voters may not understand economics or statistics, but they do have an acute sense of political nuance.
Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, June 21

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modis efforts to make Yoga Day an international event.

He was addressing a gathering after participating in the Yoga Day celebrations here.

The CM said for promoting yoga in Haryana, several yogshalas had to be started at the village level.

He counted the achievements of his government, including bringing transparency, eradicating corruption, grievances redressal through the CM window and others.

He also cited the benefits of yoga.

Our government has been working on promoting yoga, ayurveda and Sanskrit, the CM said.

Land has been finalised for making Sanskrit University at Mundri in Kaithal and a Sanskrit college is being established at Mansa Devi, the CM said.

He asked people to adopt yoga in their daily life.

Sabka sath, sabka vikas is our aim and we are working on it. Development without discrimination is being done, he said.

While interacting with mediapersons, the CM said that with the cooperation of all, Ram Nath Kovind would be the next President.
Srinagar, June 21

Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were on Wednesday killed in an encounter with security forces in Sopore township of north Kashmirs Baramulla district, the police said.

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The militants have been identified as Basit Ahmad Mir, a resident of Indergam Pattan, and Gulzar Ahmad, a resident of Brat Sopore.

Following intelligence inputs about the presence of militants, security forces had launched a cordon and search operation in the area last night.

The search operation was halted for the night but the forces maintained the cordon to stop the militants from escaping, a police official said.

He said the operation resumed this morning and the gunfight started after the trapped militants opened fire on the forces.

Two AK rifles, five AK magazines, 124 AK rounds, a hand grenade and a pouch have been found at the encounter site, the official said. PTI
New Delhi, June 21

A nine-year-old boy died after he fell into a pit in a park in Rohinis Avantika area.

Abdul Khalid, along with his friends, had gone to play in the park on Tuesday evening when he fell in the pit filled with rain water, the police said.

His friends got scared and soon left the place. It was only when Khalids parents quizzed his friends about his whereabouts that they revealed the incident.

The pit, that was nine to ten feet deep, had been dug to dump leaves for decomposition but it was not covered and rainwater had accumulated inside, said a senior police officer.

Almost an hour was lost in tracing Khalid and when he was rushed to hospital, he was declared brought dead.

The body has been sent for post-mortem and a case is being registered at the Vijay Vihar police station.

Police said there was no signboard near the pit indicating that it was an out-of-bound area. There was no fencing around the pit to indicate that it was a dangerous area.

Police will be quizzing the caretaker of the park to get more details. PTI
Mumbai, June 21

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said yoga has the power to transmit the natures energies to human beings and that the traditional practice helps people in handling their problems.

Fadnavis celebrated International Yoga Day here with 600 children from farmers families in tribal districts of the state.

Yoga is not only a form of exercise but a way of living life. Yoga has the power to transmit the natures energies to humans, the chief minister said after performing various asanas.

Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff and social activist Shantilal Mutha also attended the hour-long yoga session organised in Worli.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been successful in giving an international recognition to yoga that has the quality to help people get over the biggest of problems.

Everybody should imbibe the quality of practising yoga, the chief minister said.

Fadnavis wife Amruta, BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha and industrialist Vallabh Bhansali also participated in the session, organised by Divyaj Foundation.

The chief minister also participated in another yoga session organised by BJP MP Poonam Mahajan and party MLA Ashish Shelar in suburban Bandra.

It gives us immense satisfaction and happiness that 176 nations celebrated the yoga day today. The world has accepted the health benefits of yoga described by our prime minister. I believe that yoga will be the medium to provide good health to people, Fadnavis later told reporters.

Several government employees and officials also participated in a yoga session led by Minister of State for Agriculture Sadabhau Khot at the state secretariat.  PTI
New Delhi, June 20

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.

The BJPs presidential candidate had said 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.

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.

The NDAs nominee, who is likely to be elected as 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 had said.  PTI
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 21

Just days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the US, the Pentagon has come out with its latest report on Afghanistan. Significantly, this is the first such report on the war-torn nation since the Donald Trump administration took charge.

The good news for India is that the report categorically states that India is Afghanistans most reliable partner. But the report also states clearly that Pakistan is the most influential external actor affecting Afghan stability, something India may not be very happy about.

The report comes just two days after India and Afghanistan opened the first air cargo route between the two countries, bypassing Pakistan. The report titled Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan, covers US efforts between December 2016 and May 31 this year.

India is Afghanistans most reliable regional partner and the largest contributor of development assistance in the region, including civil development projects such as the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam and the Afghan parliament building, the Pentagon report said.

The report said India was providing significant training opportunities for Afghan officers and enlisted personnel. Around 130 Afghans travel to India each year to attend military academy and commissioning programmes. However, the report paints a grim picture of the situation in Afghanistan which it said is at a critical time.

Chabahar port too gets mention
Vibha Sharma & Jitendra K Shrivastava

New Delhi/Patna, June 21

The Janata Dal (United) today announced its support for the BJP-led NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, dealing a serious blow to the Oppositions attempt to put up a joint candidate against him.

Spokesperson KC Tyagi said the JD (U) would not attend the meeting of Opposition parties tomorrow even though it would remain part of the efforts for unity against the saffron party in future.

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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who is also JD (U) president, had praised Kovinds tenure as Bihar Governor within hours of BJP chief Amit Shah naming him as the NDAs presidential pick.

Tyagi said Nitish Kumar had already apprised Congress president Sonia Gandhi and RJD chief Lalu Prasad in this regard.

The JD (U), with 71 MLAs and two MPs, has substantial votes for the election. With the Shiv Sena falling in line yesterday, todays development is a big achievement for the BJP en route to 2019.

Kovinds candidature comes with several benefits for the saffron party, such as creating a rift in the Opposition ranks and consolidating its Dalit outreach.

BJP leaders call the JD(U) support a win for democracy and an endorsement of Kovind being the right candidate even as they dismiss any 2019 angle. They now hope Mayawati, who is conscious of the BSPs dwindling fortunes, will follow suit. After all, who can object to a Dalit in Rashtrapatri Bhavan. Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav has already indicated his preference for Kovind.

Left may field Prakash Ambedkar

Hyderabad: Prakash Ambedkar, a former MP and grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, is emerging as the top choice of Left parties for the presidential election against the NDA nominee. The 63-year-old Prakash, a former Lok Sabha member from Akola in Maharashtra, is the leader of the Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh. Though the Left parties do not have the numbers, they are firm on a political contest. TNS
New York, June 21(Just Earth News): Refugee protection is not a matter of solidarity or generosity, but an obligation under international law, United Nations Secretary-General AntAnio Guterres on Tuesday said, detailing five strong appeals to the international community for respecting refugees' rights.

We are still witnessing many remarkable examples of solidarity in on Tuesday's world. But at the same time, we are seeing more and more borders being closed, we are seeing more and more refugees being rejected and, namely in countries of the developed world, Guterres said in his first press conference in New York since becoming Secretary-General.

Among his calls on Member States, Guterres urged Governments to manage their borders but to increase their resettlement quotas and protect asylum seekers and people who deserve protection; to seek political solutions to world's conflicts which are spurring the record 65.6 million refugees; and to fund humanitarian aid work.

In line with World Refugee Day, marked annually on 20 June, Guterres, who was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for a decade prior, announced that he would be leaving later on Tuesday for Uganda, which this week hosts a UN-backed summit to support the more than 1.3 million refugees within its borders for the next four years.

Some 950,000 refugees from South Sudan have crossed into Uganda since the start of the conflict in the world's newest country in December 2013. The figure is three times higher than the number of refugees who crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe last year, Guterres said, adding that Uganda not only provides protection but land for the refugees.

In contrast, the UN chief had sharp words for developed countries not doing enough to provide support for refugees or take them in despite heart breaking pleas for food, water and other basics.

Some 80 per cent of the world's refugees are hosted by developing countries with a dramatic impact on their economy, society and security, he noted.

This is particularly worrying, especially when associated to forms of political populism, xenophobia, racism, in which refugees become a target, Guterres said, many times being accused of being part of the terror threat when refugees are not terrorists  they are the first victims of terror, they are fleeing terror; that is why they are refugees.

Speaking alongside Ninette Kelley, the Director of the NY Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guterres lashed out at the irrational debate surrounding migration, calling it a necessary element of establishing different forms of equilibrium in the global society and the global economy.

Stressing that Governments need to apply their own migration policies in their countries, he urged world leaders to respect human rights and to create opportunities within their borders so that people migrate out of choice and not out of necessity.

Addressing the difference between refugees and migrants, Guterres said that the UN General Assembly will next year hold two key debates with the aim of agreeing on two compacts  one on refugees and one on migration.

We are talking about two different situations: refugees crossing borders, fleeing conflict or prosecution, [and] economic migrants who aspire legitimately to have a better life and move from one country to another, aiming at a better future for them and their children, the Secretary-General said.

He added that migration is necessary: If something is necessary, it's better to control it and to do it regularly than to let smugglers and traffickers be in charge of these movements.

UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 21

A day after absconding former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan was arrested by the West Bengal Police from Coimbatore, the Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to suspend his six-month jail sentence for contempt of court.

Justice Karnans counsel Mathew J Nedumpara made an urgent appeal and requested the top court to suspend the six-month jail sentence and release him on bail.

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However, a Vacation Bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to give any relief to Karnan.

A seven-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar had on May 9 convicted Karnan of contempt of court and awarded six-month jail to him for scandalising the judiciary by levelling baseless allegations of corruption against judges.

Nedumpara wanted the sentence to be suspended on the ground that detailed order in the case was yet to come and Justice Karnans mercy petition was pending with the President.

Just grant me bail please, Nedumpara pleaded with the Vacation Bench.

However, Justice Chandrachuds Bench declined to grant any relief saying, A seven-judge Bench had passed the order. It binds everybody. It binds us also.

Convicted of contempt of court, Karnan has earned many a dubious distinction. On June 12, he became first high court judge to retire while absconding. He was also the first sitting high court judge to face contempt proceedings and get convicted by the Supreme Court.

Justice Karnans whereabouts were not known for 42 days after the top court convicted him of contempt of court until he was nabbed on Tuesday from Coimbatore.

Born on June 12, 1955, Karnan was appointed as a judge of the Madras High Court in 2009 and was transferred to the Calcutta High Court in March 2016 after certain controversies involving him.

He retired at the age of 62 while on the run.

Absconding to avoid arrest and jail term, the controversial judge did not get the customary farewell organised by the local bar to give a warm send off to retiring judges.

On May 17, he had filed a mercy petition before President Pranab Mukherjee seeking suspension of his sentence.

Filed through Justice Karnans counsel Nedumpara under Article 72 of the Constitution, the petition alleged that he had been denied justice by the highest court of the land.

The petitioner is denied justice. The concept of justice is divine; it is his birth right and when justice is denied to him by the highest court of the land, the only authority which the petitioner could think of to seek justice is your excellency, the President of India, the symbol of We, the People of India, the sovereign, read the petition which still remains pending with the President.

The mercy petition alleged that the Supreme Court had assumed the power to remove a High Court judge through provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act without discussing if such jurisdiction was vested in it.
Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 21

The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday witnessed a spat between Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and SAD MLA Bikram Singh Majithia during the discussion on the budget.

Earlier, the House was adjourned for half an hour as SAD MLAs led by party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal staged a walkout shouting slogans.

During the discussion on the budget proposals, Sidhu was doing some action as his party MLA Vijay Inder Singla was speaking. Soon Majithia rose and told the Speaker that Sidhu felt like dancing and he should allow him to do so.

Edit: Punjab budget high on promises

To this, Sidhu said he was just trying to find out how much sand would fall in case Majithia was suspended upside down (referring to the sand mafia allegedly supported by Akalis during their government).

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Zero Hour began amidst sloganeering by Akali MLAs. They were demanding an apology from Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, whom they accused of using a casteist slur against Akali MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu.

Sukhbir was seen urging Leader of Opposition HS Phoolka to join them, which Phoolka declined.

Akali MLAs staged a walkout shouting slogans and the House was adjourned for half an hour.

CM Capt Amarinder Singh was not present in the House.

Phoolka called out to Navjot Singh Sidhu to come and speak to him, which Sidhu declined.

Sidhu, while addressing the media, said Sukhbir talked of maryada, when he himself had never adhered to it.

The Local Bodies Minister said, He has no answers to the issues I raise against the Badals in the House. I told Phoolka that he didnt sell chitta (drugs), so why he was siding with the Akalis. I stand by my statement.

Sidhu raked up the issues of sand mining and transport mafia allegedly run under the SAD-BJP government. He said he is honest and brave enough to challenge the Akalis, based on facts. He said he would expose Akalis before Punjabis.

Sidhu said he never used the casteist slur against Tinu, while some other honourable member used it.

Talking about the issue, Tinu alleged that the Speaker was biased towards the treasury benches. He said he would write to the Speaker against Sidhu over his anti-Dalit stance and would go to the National Scheduled Castes Commission against him.

Inquiry into old-age pensions to be held

Punjab will have an inquiry conducted within two months into the inappropriate disbursal of old-age pensions.

There will be no free pilgrimage in Punjab.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said a barbed wire against wild animals in the lower Shivaliks from Pathankot to Laltu would be completed within the five years of the current government.
Astana, June 21

The airport in oil-rich Kazakhstans capital Astana has been renamed after long-reigning President Nursultan Nazarbayev, state media reported today, citing a government resolution that will fuel accusations of a leadership cult.

According to the directive published in the state-owned Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper, the resolution to change the name of Astana International Airport is effective immediately.

The apparent personality cult surrounding Nazarbayev has grown significantly during the second half of his near 30-year reign, as Kazakhstan looks to project itself as a regional economic success story.

Nazarbayev already has a national university and a series of schools for high-achieving Kazakhs named after him.

He is also celebrated by a number of statues, although unlike the monuments honouring two successive leaders in neighbouring Turkmenistan, none of them are golden.

Proposals to name the capitals airport in his honour date back at least as far as 2009 and the resolution comes as Astana hosts an specialised international expo themed on Future Energy.

Earlier this year, another Central Asian country, Uzbekistan, named its own airport after late autocrat Islam Karimov, who largely eschewed a personality cult during his reign of more than a quarter of a century.

Karimov died of a reported stroke last year, leaving Nazarbayev as the only president of an ex-Soviet country to have led his republic both before and after independence from Moscow in 1991.

In 2010, the countrys bicameral parliament granted Nazarbayev the status of Leader of the Nation, which guarantees him immunity from prosecution and a role in policymaking if he decides to retire.

Although Kazakhstan enjoyed impressive growth during the period after the millennium, it was hit hard by the collapse of oil prices in 2014 as well as Western sanctions against key trade partner Russia over Ukraine.

Rights groups regularly accuse Nazarbayev of cracking down on political opposition, independent journalists, non- governmental organisations and labour unions.  AFP
Manila, June 21

The Philippine military said Islamist militants who had holed up in a primary school in the south early on Wednesday had retreated after a gun battle with troops but were holding some civilians hostage.

There was no word of casualties in the incident at Pigcawayan town, which is about 190 km (120 miles) south of Marawi City, where fighting between government troops and pro-Islamic State militants has entered its fifth week.

No students were taken hostage at the school, said Brigadier General Restituto Padilla, discounting reports that some children were being held. He said the militants had retreated from the school and troops were chasing them.

Another military spokesman, Captain Arvin Encinas, said the militants, who call themselves the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), were holding some civilians hostage, but he was not sure how many.

"Definitely, they are holding hostages, that's why our soldiers are having difficulty because they are using them as human shields," Encinas said.

Police said about 300 armed men stormed the school early on Wednesday. Encinas, however, said later only 30 militants were involved.

Abu Misry Mama, a spokesman for the BIFF, said that the militants had taken civilians to a place safe, away from any crossfire, and did not intend to hold them hostage.

Asked if they would be freed, Mama said: "Yes. We're not kidnappers".

Padilla said the incident at Pigcawayan was not related to the fighting in Marawi. "This has come from a group that has long committed harassments," he said.  Reuters
MOSUL (Iraq), June 21

US-backed Iraqi forces on Wednesday began a push towards the mosque in Mosul where Islamic State declared a self-styled caliphate three years ago, military officials said.

The forces had encircled the jihadist group's stronghold in the Old City of Mosul, where the mosque is located, on Tuesday, they said.

The Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) are 200 to 300 were metres (yards) away from the medieval Grand al-Nuri Mosque, an Iraqi military statement said.

Major General Rupert Jones, the British deputy commander of the international coalition fighting Islamic State, told Reuters the Iraqi forces were about 300 metres from the mosque.

The US-led coalition is providing air and ground support to the Mosul offensive that started on Oct. 17.

The militants' leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaimed himself caliph from its pulpit after the insurgents overran parts of Iraq and Syria. His black flag has been flying over its famous leaning minaret since June 2014.

Iraqi officials have privately expressed the hope that the mosque could be captured by Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month. The first day of the Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.

The battle for the Old City is becoming the deadliest in the eight-month-old offensive to capture Mosul, Islamic State's de facto capital in Iraq.

More than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, are trapped in its old fragile houses with little food, water, medicine, no electricity and limited access to clinics.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday sick and wounded civilians escaping through Islamic State lines were dying in "high numbers".

"We are trying to keep families inside their houses and, after we secure their block, we will evacuate them through safe routes," Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior CTS commander in Mosul, told Iraqi state TV.

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 sheets of cloth to obstruct air surveillance, making it difficult for the advancing troops to hit them without a risk to civilians.

"We are attacking simultaneously from different fronts to fraction them into smaller groups easier to fight," said an officer from the Federal Police, another force taking part in the assault on the Old City,

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 October 17.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate" even though Islamic State would continue to control territory west and south of the city, the largest they came to control in both 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 US-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 Mosul, have fled, seeking refuge with relatives or in camps, according to aid groups.  Reuters
Rome, June 21

Thousands of Syrian refugees in Jordans Azraq camp dont pay for their food with cash but by a scan of their eyes.

Purchases are then recorded on a computing platform based on blockchain - the technology behind bitcoin.

Iris recognition devices at the checkouts of the camps supermarket authenticate customers identities and deduct what they spend from sums they receive as aid from the World Food Programme (WFP).

The UN agency launched the futuristic system in May as a one-month pilot involving 10,000 of Azraqs more than 50,000 inhabitants in a bid to explore blockchains potential to cut costs and bottlenecks.

It is now looking to scale up the project to reach more than 1,00,000 refugees in several camps across Jordan by the end of the year.

We feel this is a starting point, said WFPs director of innovation, Robert Opp. There are a number of potential uses of blockchain that could dramatically change the way we reach people in terms of our efficiency, effectiveness and security. Blockchain, which first emerged as the system underpinning the virtual currency bitcoin, is a digital shared record of transactions maintained by a network of computers on the internet, without the need of a centralised authority.

It has become a key technology in both the public and private sectors, given its ability to record and keep track of assets or transactions with no need for middlemen.

Such features have drawn investments from big business and banks around the world, as well as the attention of a number of humanitarian agencies, including WFP.

Fees and frauds

In recent years, WFP has increasingly shifted its aid giving towards cash-based assistance, which now accounts for about 25 percent of all aid it delivers.

Handing out money rather than food allows recipients to choose what they buy and eat, while helping to keep afloat local markets and economies in crisis-hit areas, it says.

In 2016 WFPs cash transfers amounted to a total of $880 million.

To move the money across the about 80 countries in which it operates, the agency relies on the services of a large number of banks and financial intermediaries that traditionally apply transaction fees of up to 3.5 percent, said Opp.

Blockchain promises to cut those costs, an alluring feature for an agency facing a chronic shortfall in funding.

And there are also other benefits.

As blockchain automatically records transactions on a secure ledger, WFP accountants can easily follow the flow of money without spending time and energy triangulating reports from stores and banks, said WFP finance officer Houman Haddad.

There is no need for advance payments, financial risk is lower and so is the possibility of fraud - such as a bank and a store colluding to inflate bills, he added.

Before WFP had to exclusively rely on external sources of data, he said. Now we have our own immutable record of everything that happens.

Mining for ideas

Misappropriation of funds is an issue across the whole humanitarian sector, so its little wonder that other agencies are also studying blockchain, said Yoshiyuki Yamamoto, special adviser for blockchain at the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

In 2012, former Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said 30 percent of all UN development assistance was lost to corruption.

If we dont know where 30 percent of the money is, thats a big concern for everyone, said Yamamoto.

In January, innovation units at UNOPS, the UN Development Programme and UN Women started an informal grouping to exchange information about their blockchain work, he said.

The club has since grown to about 10 members, including the UN childrens agency UNICEF and its refugee agency, UNHCR.

Its a waste of time and resources if 16-plus UN organisations are doing the same thing separately in a silo, said Yamamoto.

In April the group asked private companies for ideas for possible applications of blockchain to the UN system. The response was overwhelming, underscoring the growing hype around the nascent technology, said Yamamoto.

In a word, its crazy! he said, adding they received more than 70 responses, while other requests usually draw only a handful.

Finance is just one use of blockchain, and many more are yet to be explored, said Opp.

For example it could help track deliveries of food aid or securely register land titles in developing countries, he said.

That would help small farmers - who now struggle to prove ownership of their plots in the absence of paper documentation - to secure loans and increase food production.

Another potential is to help build identity for refugees, added Caroline Rusten, head of UN Womens humanitarian unit.

Blockchain could be used to create a secure, paperless record of skills and education that refugees can carry with them, to which information can be added as they are on the move, she said.

(This would allow) people to be appreciated for who they are and the qualifications they have and not just seen as refugees, said Rusten.

A blockchain database with information on refugees identity and the type of support they receive would also help avoid duplications of work between different UN agencies.

Creating a centralised United Nations out of a gigantic bureaucratic system is still some way off, said Yamamoto.

It cant be done overnight, he said. We are at a very early stage.  Thomson Reuters Foundation
London, Jun 21 (IBNS): The South Wales Police have arrested a man for spreading hate messages on social media following the Finsbury mosque attack, which killed at least one person and injured 10 others, reports said.

The detainee has been identified as 37-year-old Richard Evans.

Evans is the son of Lee Evans, who is the owner of the Rhondda Cynon Taff company whose van was used in Monday's attack, BBC reported.

In his post, Richard wrote, "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 steam rollers or tanks could have done a tidy job then," the post read.

Police said that they detained him for writing hostile material capable of stirring a tension.

However, his father Lee Evans condemned his son's comments and said in a statement, "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."

The senior Evans also condoled the loss and said he's cooperating with the police in their enquiries.

"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,' he said.

The Metropolitan Police have already arrested a man from Cardiff, Darren Osbourne, for ploughing through worshippers outside the mosque.

Following the incident, Osbourne's family too expressed shock and condemned his actions while condoling the loss.
New York, June 22(Just Earth News): The world population is now at least 7.6 billion, up from 7.4 billion last year, spurred by the relatively high levels of fertility in developing countries a despite an overall drop in the number of children people have around the globe a the United Nations on Wednesday reported.

The concentration of global population growth is in the poorest countries, according to World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, presenting a challenge as the international community seeks to implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, which seeks to end poverty and preserve the planet.

With roughly 83 million people being added to the world's population every year, the upward trend in population size is expected to continue, even assuming that fertility levels will continue to decline, said the report's authors at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

At this rate, the world population is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and surpass 11.2 billion in 2200.

The growth is expected to come, in part, from the 47 least developed countries, where the fertility rate is around 4.3 births per woman, and whose population is expected to reach 1.9 billion people in 2050 from the current estimate of one billion.

In addition, the birth rates in African countries are likely to at least double by 2050, according to the report.

That trend comes despite lower fertility rates in nearly all regions of the world, including in Africa, where rates fell from 5.1 births per woman up to 2005 to 4.7 births in the five years following.

In contrast, the birth rates in Europe are up to 1.6 births per woman, up from 1.4 births in 2000-2005.

During 2010-2015, fertility was below the replacement level in 83 countries comprising 46 per cent of the world's population, according to the report.

The lower fertility rates are resulting in an ageing population, with the number of people aged 60 or over expected to more than double by 2050 and triple by 2200, from the current 962 million to 3.1 billion.

Africa, which has the youngest age distribution of any region, is projected to experience a rapid ageing of its population, the report noted.

Although the African population will remain relatively young for several more decades, the percentage of its population aged 60 or over is expected to rise from five per cent in 2017 to around nine per cent in 2050, and then to nearly 20 per cent by the end of the century, the authors wrote.

In terms of other population trends depicted in the report, the population of India, which currently ranks as the second most populous country with 1.3 billion inhabitants, will surpass China's 1.4 billion citizens, by 2024.

By 2050, the third most populous country will be Nigeria, which currently ranks seventh, and which is poised to replace the United States.

The report also noted the impacts of migrants and refugees between countries, in particular noting the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis and the estimated outflow of 4.2 million people.

In terms of migration, although international migration at or around current levels will be insufficient to compensate fully for the expected loss of population tied to low levels of fertility, especially in the European region, the movement of people between countries can help attenuate some of the adverse consequences of population ageing, the authors wrote.

UN Photo/Kibae Park.

Source: www.justearthnews.com
A 25-year-old Tulsa woman was charged Tuesday in connection with gunfire tied to her alleged solicitation of a mans murder during a domestic altercation.

Rayla Kenae Gaines is charged with shooting with intent to kill and planning/attempting/conspiring to perform an act of violence.

Gaines went to a residence Saturday on East Jasper Street with an unidentified male to gather her property, according to a probable cause affidavit. The male reportedly fired shots at a man there while they drove away.

A nearby residence, occupied at the time, was struck by gunfire.

The victim stated that Gaines made several statements about getting someone to come kill him, the affidavit states. She even began making arrangements  over the phone while in front of him.

Police arrested Gaines on Sunday at a residence in the 3500 block of East King Street.
A 29-year-old Tulsa woman sexually abused her 16-month-old daughter on video to please her boyfriend who lives in Florida, federal prosecutors allege in a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.

Jerrica Ann Renee Teehee Lackey is accused of sexually stimulating her toddler while recording it with her smartphone so her boyfriend could view the video or else he would become upset and punish her, the court filing states.

Lackey is charged with sexual exploitation of a child, distribution and/or receipt of a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and possession of child pornography, according to the case filed in U.S. District Court in Tulsa.

The complaint alleges Lackey reported herself to 911 dispatchers after the childs father found nude pictures of his daughter and sexually explicit videos of Lackey and the child.

The father on May 16 went to Lackeys house to pick up their child. He forgot his cellphone and asked to borrow Lackeys to make a call.

While he was making the call, the phone received notifications from a person the father knew to be (Lackeys) boyfriend, the complaint states. He looked at the messages and found them to be sexual in nature and that they referred to a mobile device application called KiK.

Prosecutors say the father opened the app and found the nude and explicit images and videos of his daughter. He got his child and confronted Lackey, who then phoned 911 dispatchers to report what she had done.

Lackey reportedly told officers that she had met her Florida boyfriend online. She said that about two months ago her boyfriend persuaded her to record herself changing her daughters diaper and send him the videos or live feeds, the officers allege.

When Lackey would forget to record or send videos, he would become upset and punish her, the complaint states. He eventually convinced her to begin touching (the childs) vagina and stimulating her clitoris.

Investigators obtained a search warrant and found multiple pornographic videos and images of her daughter on Lackeys cellphone and an iPad, according to the complaint.

Lackey was arrested May 22, with state charges initially filed against her the same day in Tulsa County District Court. She remains in the Tulsa Jail on $300,000 bond.
Toronto, June 21 (IBNS): The City of Toronto (comprising Toronto and its adjoining cities) has launched a public awareness campaign about transgender and non-binary coloured people, recently, in collaboration with the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP), according to media reports.

The Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP) consists of racialized transgender youth to promote transgender and non-binary issues.

The main highlights of this campaign are to differentiate between gender and sex among the trans and non-binary Torontonians, specifically trans youth of colour. and develop gender inclusive perceptions among Torontonians. media reported.

Although trans youth of colour, are part of Torontos LGBTQ community but they are underserved and often neglected and subject to bias and violence due to transphobia and racism.

Trans women of colour comprise the most vulnerable groups in Toronto.

"Toronto continually strives to be a place that provides opportunities and supports the well-being of all its residents," said Toronto Mayor John Tory.

Said Tatiana Ferguson, Project Lead for Black CAP, "In order to understand the needs of trans youth of colour and understand how race, gender, sex and class create barriers for trans youth of colour is a fundamental component required to identify and address the needs of trans youth in Toronto."

Shannon Ryan, Executive Director of Black CAP said he was confident that this campaign will lead to reduction of barriers that the city's trans youth of colour experience in their homes, schools, workplaces and beyond.

The campaign, created by the social impact agency PUBLIC Inc. also aims to educate and encourage transgender and non-binary individuals to engage in dialogues and to get involved in educating others about trans-specific issues.

Four racialized trans youth who live in the city are expected to interact at transit stations and on social media for the next month to increase the visibility of transgender youth.

Ferguson said that the campaigns aim was to put an actual face up for the community to help people engage with gender identity and how to express it.

The campaign website http://www.torontoforall.ca/ also provides extensive information and resources to educate Torontonians about non-binary issues and foster more understanding and advocacy among the cisgender community.

This is the fourth phase of the City's Toronto for All campaign with a goal for Torontonians to say "no" to all forms of discrimination and racism.

Phase 1 was held in the summer of 2016 and focused on Islamophobia. Phase 2 was launched in the fall of 2016 and addressed anti-Black racism. Phase 3 ran in the spring and addressed the discrimination of homeless men.

All campaign phases have successfully encouraged conversations among Toronto residents and media regarding the relevant issues.

As part of a series organized by the City of Torontos Specialized Program for Interdivisional Enhanced Responsiveness (SPIDER), the city is hosting, a free of cost, Open Dialogue on Transphobia in North York Civic Centre on Thursday, July 27, 2017 between 9am and 12:30pm

Through panel discussions and community organizations working on multiple issues faced by trans youth colour, SPIDER aims to increase public awareness on issues of vulnerable Torontonians and educate general public.



(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
A north Tulsa man was shot to death early Wednesday outside his home, and the suspected shooter is in the Tulsa Jail.

Police said John David Schmidt, 36, reportedly began shooting a gun around his neighborhood about 1 a.m. Officers responded and found damage to a residence in the 800 block of North New Haven Avenue occupied by three people, Sgt. Dave Walker said.

Neighbors reportedly had seen a man walking around the neighborhood, but no one actually saw him shooting. Police remained in the area due to the nature of the call, Walker said in a news release.

Police received another call about two hours later that a man had kicked in the door to a home and the homeowner returned fire, Walker said. The homeowner said the man fled on foot.

The man went one block west to Marion Avenue, where an officer saw him standing in the street near a car occupied by 33-year-old David Willis, who had just arrived home, a police affidavit says.

When an officer drove by Willis car, he heard three gunshots and believed the gunman was shooting at him, according to the news release.

The officer left his vehicle and commanded Schmidt to drop his weapon.

The suspect threw down his gun and surrendered, Walker said.

Three shots had gone into Willis car, striking him twice in the chest and once in the back, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Schmidt allegedly made a spontaneous utterance admitting to the slaying while in an officers patrol vehicle.

He was booked into the Tulsa Jail on complaints of first-degree murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling and first-degree burglary.

Schmidt, reportedly a convicted felon from Kansas, is being held without bond.

The homicide is Tulsas 41st of the year.
ABC has apologised to News Corp columnist Miranda Devine after Hack Live guest Clementine Ford referred to her as a c**t during last nights live broadcast.

The ABC2 show, which presents as a hot-button debate show pitched at Gen X and Gen Y viewers, was discussing the topic Is Male Privilege Bullsh!t?

But angry feminist Clementine Ford and anti-feminist writer Daisy Cousens, who have disagreed on social media, got sidetracked in a personal debate that left one guest asking what it had to do with the topic.

After Ford repeated a profanity she had used at Devine, host Tom Tilley took to the floor to steer the show back on track.

In a statement to TV Tonight, an ABC spokesperson said, The ABC regrets any offence caused to journalist Miranda Devine regarding the use of a profanity by a guest on Hack Live last evening. Program producers provided all guests with a full briefing before the show asking them to be respectful during the live television broadcast.

The nature of live television means it can be unpredictable and while the ABC never aims to offend, it is not responsible for what guests say.

Last September ABC management ordered a debate on Aussie patriotism to air on a delay due to the risk of hate speech.

ABC has since bleeped the offending comment from replays and iview.
Richard Wilkins new interview series The A List will premiere on Nine this Sunday night.

The 8 part series, co-produced with Endemol Shine Australia CEO Mark Fennessy, has been likened in press releases to Inside the Actors Studio as a deeper, fine dining experience that goes beyond the typical promo chat.

The series will feature Tom Cruise, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Kylie & Kendall Jenner and Hugh Jackman, although it isnt clear if it is one per episode (hopefully it is).

Update: Now out of schedule.
A decision on the payout for Rebel Wilson v Bauer Media case will be some weeks away, a judge told lawyers for Rebel Wilson today.

Lawyers today argued the actress should be compensated up to $5.93m in special damages.

Hollywood agent Peter Principato told the Victorian Supreme Court via videolink that Wilson should have been landing between two and three lead roles a year at a minimum.

He cited Snatched and Ghostbusters as films that she could have been perfect for, and suggested her worth would have been twice that of Amy Schumer, who is believed to have earned $2m-$3million.

Instead Wilson claims she was sacked from two films, Trolls and Kung Fu Panda 3, and unable to land any more work.

Rebel was one of those actresses that every studio was talking about and trying to find projects for, Principato said.

Wilson, who has told media her case was not about the money, is understood to have returned to the US.

Meanwhile Bauer Media CEO Nick Chan has announced his departure, to be replaced by New Zealand CEO, Paul Dykzeul as CEO of Australia and NZ. Chan has been in the role for 14 months, after the publication of the articles in the Rebel Wilson lawsuit.

Some key parts to Peter Prinicpato's evidence re: Rebel's earning power. He clearly rates her. pic.twitter.com/Cuyz3UWsR4  Shannon Deery (@s_deery) June 21, 2017

Source: Herald Sun
I hadnt noticed this before so I thought it was worth passing on.

Netflix will allow a one-off educational screening of Chasing Coral for non-profit community groups, book clubs etc without requiring a licensing fee.

The offer for the ecology documentary must be accessed by a licensed Netflix holder, and no admission fees can be charged. Other conditions apply (see below).

Chasing Coral, which screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, will premiere on July 14th.

Chasing Coral taps into the collective will and wisdom of an ad man, a self-proclaimed coral nerd, top-notch camera designers, and renowned marine biologists as they invent the first time-lapse camera to record bleaching events as they happen. Unfortunately, the effort is anything but simple, and the team doggedly battles technical malfunctions and the force of nature in pursuit of their golden fleece: documenting the indisputable and tragic transformation below the waves. With its breathtaking photography, nail-biting suspense, and startling emotion, Chasing Coral is a dramatic revelation that wont have audiences sitting idle for long.

GRANT OF PERMISSION FOR EDUCATIONAL SCREENINGS

Netflix is proud to present original documentaries that speak to our users in a meaningful way. We know that many of you are as excited about these films as we are; and because of their informational aspects, youd like to show them in an educational setting  e.g., in the classroom, at the next meeting of your community group, with your book club, etc. Consequently, we will permit one-time educational screenings of any of the documentaries noted with this information, on the following terms:

The documentary may only be accessed via the Netflix service, by a Netflix account holder. We dont sell DVDs, nor can we provide other ways for you to exhibit the film.

The screening must be non-profit and non-commercial. That means you cant charge admission, or solicit donations, or accept advertising or commercial sponsorships in connection with the screening.

Please dont use Netflixs logos in any promotion for the screening, or do anything else that indicates that the screening is official or endorsed by Netflix.

We trust our users to respect these guidelines, which are intended to help you share and discuss our documentary content in your community.

To the extent your institution requires you to demonstrate that your have a license for your screening, please show them this page.
Cyber security has become much more important as cyber criminals become much bolder and more sophisticated in their attacks. Because of this, there is also a need for people who have expertise in this area. For those who want to pursue a degree in cyber security, here are 10 of the best colleges that offer the program.

University of Southern California in Los Angeles

USC in Los Angeles tops the list in the best cyber security colleges. The school's computer security specialization is available at the masters level. Those who want to pursue the degree at USC will learn about statistical analysis of cyber attacks, artificial intelligence, and security technologies among other things.

Iowa State University In Ames

The Iowa State University's computer science department offers programs in information assurance, which was one of the first seven schools certified by the National Security Agency. The program is offered both in the masters and undergraduate levels.

DePaul University

DePaul University is one of the best cyber security colleges in America. One of the advantages of the university is that students can get their computer security degree online.

George Mason University

George Mason University is ranked by the U.S. News & World Report as the 10th up and coming schools in 2015. It also has a dynamic cyber security program for students who wish to pursue it.

Northeastern University

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research have given cyber security grants to Northeastern University.

Nova Southeastern University

Nova Southeastern University is one of the best cyber security colleges in the United States. In fact, both the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security designated NSU as a National Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education.

University at Buffalo

The university's computer science and engineering department is ranked 26th by the National Science Foundation.

University of Houston

The University of Houston created the Cyber Institute in collaboration with the local government, local businesses, and federal agencies. The institute provides cyber education for businesses and high school students.

University of Maryland - University Colleges

UMUC is not only one of the best cyber security colleges in the nation but it also has one of the best cyber security competition team. The UMUC team was the champion at the 2015 Cyber DiploHack competition.

The University of Texas at San Antonio

The University of Texas at San Antonio has one of the best cyber security programs. Students who pursue the program can also participate in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.
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org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:163)

org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:188)

org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:97)

org.keycloak.adapters.tomcat.AbstractAuthenticatedActionsValve.invoke(AbstractAuthenticatedActionsValve.java:67)

org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:542)

org.keycloak.adapters.tomcat.AbstractKeycloakAuthenticatorValve.invoke(AbstractKeycloakAuthenticatorValve.java:181)

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psiprobe.Tomcat90AgentValve.invoke(Tomcat90AgentValve.java:38)

org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:92)

org.apache.catalina.valves.AbstractAccessLogValve.invoke(AbstractAccessLogValve.java:687)

org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:78)

org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:357)

org.apache.coyote.ajp.AjpProcessor.service(AjpProcessor.java:433)

org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:65)

org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:893)

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java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)

java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)

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PIAB reports that the number of personal injury claims in Dublin is on the rise. The Irish city had a 1.5% increase in personal injury claims last year, with over 34,000 claims made. The city is also ranked amongst the highest for settlement awards.

The Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) found that the number of motor accident claims fell 1% in 2016, while public liability claims rose by 3.1%. The segment with the largest increase in claims is Employer Liability.

The document doesn't present the number of wrongful death incidents in Dublin.

Personal injury claims in Ireland took seven months to complete on average, with processing costs accounting for 6.4% of awards. The PIAB had 12,966 awards granted in 2016, with 11,734 claims made in total. The increase is due to the timing of the awards instead of an increase in the amount of claims.

Motor liability accounted for 74% of all awards, slipping 1% on the year. Employer liability accounted for 9% of the awards, with public liability accounting for 17% of all awards. Public liability includes all accidents that occur in a public place.

The rising number of personal injury claims reflects an increase in employment in the country.

Ireland's struggling unemployment is finally turning around despite the most recent figures, revising unemployment rates up to 6.4% nationwide in April. The rates are far below the 15.1% unemployment rate in 2012 and job growth rates have increased by 3.5% on an annual basis in the first-quarter of the year.

The growth in employment has held steady for 18 straight months and is a main contributor to rising personal injury claims, with employer liability suffering from the largest claim increases in 2016.

PIAB found that 70% of awards were under 30,000, with 9% of awards valued at under 10,000. Average awards during the 2016 year rose from 22,878 to 24,305, with awards based on the severity of the cases and the nature of the incidents.

Dublin Cork, Galway and Limerick were among the counties with the highest amount of awards. The highest award was 740,968 in 2016, with no details provided about the incident. The board found that the number of cases ending with awards of over 100,000 increased but didn't provide a percentage of the increase.

The PIAB represented more than four people per week in Offaly, with more than 231 awards granted in 2016. The rising number of claims has many legal professionals calling for changes and greater diligence to keep fraudulent claims low.

The fraudulent claims affect all insurance premiums for both individuals and businesses.

Anthony Lynch, famous for being accident prone, settled his ninth personal injury claim in Ireland in November 2016. The 38-year-old man was granted a settlement award of 10,000 for an incident that occurred on March 26.

Lynch was hit from behind while stopped at a junction in his work van.

The accident-prone man also received a 12,000 settlement for a slip and fall incident and another 7,500 when he sued Silvercrest Food, which was found to be serving horse meat in a scandal.
Students Receive Hands-On Experience at UW Camp

University of Wyoming students Chelsea Bad Hawk, standing left, from Ethete, and Cheyenne Hurlburt, of Cairo, Neb., assist Milo Tarleton, from Laramie, with his cutting board project during the recent Artful Craft of Science STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) summer camp at UW. (UW Photo)

When Mark Constantino signed up for a science-related summer camp at the University of Wyoming, he did not know how fun it would be to learn about breaking codes.

The homeschooled soon-to-be-sixth-grader from Cheyenne was among 41 area students who recently took part in the third Artful Craft of Science (TACoS) STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) five-day summer camp.

The camp was for incoming fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students who took part in four different sessions throughout the day. Students were exposed to hands-on projects in:

-- Art, which highlighted the chemicals involved in the artistic process and the creation of an artistic work such as a photogram.

-- Agricultural education, in which students learned about chemicals involved when they created their own cutting boards.

-- Computer science, where students broke and developed codes creating steganography -- hidden messages.

-- Microbes, which focused on the chemistry of the human body.

Constantino says he enjoyed the art section the best but liked developing and breaking codes. He was eager to create a message for his parents to try to break when parents had the opportunity to see their childrens work at the end of the week.

I really liked the whole camp, he says. I liked working on all my science projects.

Leading each section were UW faculty members Mike Borowczak, computer science; Andrea Burrows, science education; Chris Haynes, agricultural education; and Rani Robison, art. They were joined by Albany County teachers Allison Haynes, Dea Kobbe and Stephanie McKinney. Also assisting were current UW students and student peers.

The students rotated through four sessions, with the teachers and near-peers assisting them with content, safety and movement throughout the stations. The teachers themselves learned new ideas/practices for their own classrooms, says Burrows, who is the camps director.

MilliporeSigma, which provides scientists and engineers with best-in-class lab materials, technologies and services, sponsored the STEM camp and provided a section on DNA extraction for the student groups on the final day.

Students attending the weeklong camp were:

Bosler -- Skyler Nielson.

Cheyenne -- Mark Constantino.

Laramie -- Bode Anderson, Flynn Arnold, Brooke Aumiller, Jamison Bade, Colton Bath, Rowyn Birdsley, Donovan Bohlender, Laura Brande, Cian Contos, Jedidiah Duncan, Charlotte Ehmke, Zeren Homer, Moyo Idowu, Eli Jones, Joshua King, Landen Linger, Aliye Marquez, Karlie McDonald, Brayden McKinney, Makayia McKinney, Owen McLaughlin, Emma Myers, Gabe Myers, Oskar Neubauer, Ava Reese, Braden Reilly, Zane Rothfuss, Abby Sanchez, Gabe Sanchez, Rex Siceloff, Savannah Siceloff, Hannah Small, Kannon Tarleton, Milo Tarleton, Brynn Utton, Noah Utton, Jonathan Vaske, Mebbie Wechsler and Audrey Yeung.

For more information, call Burrows at (307) 766-6735.
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.
By Press Trust of India: (Eds: Repeating with correction in intro, changes in para 2,5)

Moga, Jun 20 (PTI) Two persons were arrested here after 36 boxes of illegal liquor seized from a deserted place on the outskirts of the city, police said today.

On a tip off, police raided the place last night and seized the liquor, placed under a piece of cloth.

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Police arrested Gopal and Deepak, both residents of Moga in this connection.

Their two other accomplices Sukhmandar Singh and Jagraj Singh are absconding, police said.

A case has been registered and manhunt launched for the other two persons, they added. PTI COR VJ KIS KIS

--- ENDS ---
The ED registered case against four shell companies and its directors who gave cheques of Rs 50 lakh each to AAP.

By Shivendra Srivastava: Turning the heat on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Enforcement Directorate has registered a case against four shell companies which donated Rs 2 crore to the Arvind Kejriwal led party.

The ED registered case against four shell companies and its directors, sources said adding that the agency may also question Aam Aadmi Party leaders in this connection.

The Income Tax department has already denied AAP any tax rebate on these donations.

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Four cheques amounting Rs 50 lakhs were given to Aam Aadmi Party which came under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate.

Earlier in the year, the Enforcement Directorate had served an eviction notice to Aam Aadmi Party office in Patna's Krishna Puri. The agency had said that the property from where the party office was being run was bought from money fraudulently withdrawn from banks.

Also read:

Patna: Enforcement Directorate serves eviction notice to AAP office in Krishna Puri

After Shunglu report, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party finds itself without a headquarter

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By Press Trust of India: Jaipur/Chandigarh, Jun 21 (PTI) Army officers, soldiers and their family members performed asanas and pranayam on the occasion of third international yoga day today.

In Rajasthan, over 800 officers, soldiers and their families of the south western command performed yoga at the military station in Jaipur.

"Indian Army has actively promoted yoga for physical fitness and mental well-being as a part of the military routine," Defence spokesperson Lt Col Manish Ojha said.

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Similar events were also held at Jodhpur and other military stations and units in the state, where the officers and soldiers performed Asanas as per the laid down common yoga protocol.

"The Army has recognised the importance of this centuries old practice as an effective stress buster and an alternative physical regime. It encourages its soldiers to learn and adopt various yogic techniques to improve mental concentration at work and develop a positive outlook in life," he said.

Meanwhile, in Chandigarh, officers, jawans and their family members at the Western Command also performed yogasanas and ?pranayam? as per the common yoga protocol, as laid down by the ministry of AYUSH.

The objective of the yoga session was to provide an insight into the traditional basis of Yoga and its relevance in the present day context of high stress and demanding military service, said Lt Gen. Surinder Singh, GOC-in-C, Western Command who attended the event.

Similar sessions were also organised at across the military stations and cantonments of the Western Command.

Meanwhile, international Yoga day was also celebrated by the 1 Chandigarh naval unit NCC cadets at government model senior secondary school in Sector-23 A here.

Cadets from various institutions performed different yogasnas in the school ground, an Army spokesman said. PTI SDA/VJ SMJ

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According to sources, Kejriwal needed some one to supervise administrative work and former journalist Ashish Khetan came across as an appropriate candidate.

By Ankit Tyagi: After suffering a loss in the Delhi municipal elections, Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashish Khetan has now been appointed an adviser to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

A former journalist, Khetan will now be accorded to Cabinet rank and be a part of Cabinet meetings.

The office of chief minister Kejriwal's adviser was vacant after Ashish Talwar's resignation. At present there are no serving officers in his office.

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His former Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar was arrested by CBI in a corruption case and is on suspension. Then Sukesh Kumar Jain another IRS officer was appointed as OSD to CM but he has asked to be repatriated to his parent cadre. Another officer in CM office Geetika Sharma has been transferred to Andaman and Nicobar. Another officer Deepak Virmani is on study leave.

According to sources, Kejriwal needed some one to supervise administrative work and Khetan came across as an appropriate candidate.

Meanwhile, Khetan will continue to hold his current responsibility as Vice Chairman of Delhi Dialogue Commission, the advisory body to Delhi Government, and will continue to draw compensation from there.

Also Read

Delhi: Kejriwal chairs Cabinet meeting, approves 6350 CCTVs for buses

Since the BJP came to power, neither the kisan nor the jawan is happy: Kejriwal

--- ENDS ---
"Close to 4,500 people are living in shelters, which are expected to remain open until July 15 in view of the possibility of further rains and landslides,"

By Indo-Asian News Service: At least 4,500 people remained lodged in some 50 shelters in southeastern Bangladesh and more evacuees continue to trickle in as the death toll from ongoing heavy rains touched 170, various sources said.

"Close to 4,500 people are living in shelters, which are expected to remain open until July 15 in view of the possibility of further rains and landslides," Efe news quoted Bangladeshi Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Shah Kamal as saying on Tuesday.

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In Rangamati, the worst-affected district from where 116 bodies have been recovered so far and four missing persons are feared dead, authorities opened two new shelters on Monday in response to the growing influx of evacuees, the region's Deputy Commissioner Manzurul Mannan said referring to camps run by the army, police and the Red Crescent.

He added that they had sufficient supplies for residents and even for distribution among affected people living outside the camps, who had already received around 2,100 packets, each containing 30 kg of rice.

On Tuesday itself, a fresh batch of over 20 people, who were feeling unsafe in their own homes amid the raging downpour, arrived at the Shahid Abdul Ali Academy camp in Rangamati, adding to the hundreds already living here since early last week when the rains intensified, informed shelter manager Faruk Sufian.

Since the onset of the crisis on June 13, the weather department has recorded 679 mm of rain in the district, including 74 mm in the past 24 hours.

Southern Bangladesh is frequently lashed by tropical cyclones at this time of the year, some of which in previous years have hit the country hard, claiming a large number of lives.

ALSO READ:

Bangladesh: Toll in landslides triggered by rains.

ALSO WATCH:

Indian Navy rescues 18 after Cyclone Mora kills 6 in Bangladesh

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The poster has the pictures of 110 senior BJP leaders of the state, including those of party's national president Amit Shah and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. The caption on it says: "Identify the leaders or you will lose your job."

By India Today Web Desk: The action against a couple of lower level employees in Gujarat for not recognising the BJP leaders is snowballing into a controversy. A poster sprung up in Ahmedabad embarrassing the ruling BJP.

The poster has the pictures of 110 senior BJP leaders of the state, including those of party's national president Amit Shah and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. The caption on it says: "Identify the leaders or you will lose your job."

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This situation arose after action was taken against two employees - a sanitation worker and a security guard - for not recognising the BJP leaders.

Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation's standing committee chairperson Manubhai Patel suspended a sanitation worker after the latter allegedly did not recognise him during a surprise visit.

In a similar incident a few days ago, a security guard could not recognise Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora during the latter's visit to Gandhinagar Civil Hospital.

While the security guard lost his job, contract of the security agency was reportedly also terminated.

Following the two incidents, some unidentified people pasted bills in Gandhinagar. The posters had photographs of 110 leaders, including top politicians and MLAs of the state. The posters had the pictures of Vijay Rupani, Amit Shah and BJP legislators. The photographs of Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora and GMC standing committee chairman Manubhai Patel were published prominently.

A caption taking a dig at the incident and says on the poster asks the employees to identify the leaders or lose their job. The bills were pasted near the Gujarat Assembly and near Gandhinagar Civil Hospital.

However, within a few hours of the posters coming up, some BJP workers reached the place and tore them off.

Manubhai Patel blamed Congress for making the incident into a controversy. He alleged that Congress was trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections later this year.

On the other hand, the sanitary employee and other staff claimed that Manubhai Patel happened to pass through while they were resting during lunch break. This was the reason that the employee did not recognise him. The employees regretted that one of their colleagues was suspended.

Also read:

BJP government distributes 12,000 school bags bearing photos of Akhilesh Yadav in Gujarat

Gujarat: BJP ministers felicitate exorcists, call them 'worshippers of divine'

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In anticipation of the rising temperatures in the Las Vegas area, the Vans Warped Tour team has worked with Hard Rock Hotel & Casino to ensure the health and safety of fans. The June 23 show date in Las Vegas at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, located at 4455 Paradise Road has implemented the following:

Fans are allowed to bring in sealed bottles of water upon initial entry

Cool Gear will be hosting a Hydration Station which includes complimentary filtered water

Shaded tent areas

1 Pool Stage

3 Indoor Stages

Warped Tour founder, Kevin Lyman shares: We enjoy having Warped Tour in Las Vegas and are always conscious of the heat. Although we cannot control the weather, we will do everything in our power to make sure everyone stays hydrated and comfortable. Be sure to apply sunblock responsibly as some stages are outdoors and be ready to enjoy the show.

Now in its 23rd year, the Vans Warped Tour continues to solidify itself as the must-attend summer festival for rock and music lovers alike. In the tradition of celebrating the tours musical roots, the lineup includes bands such as The Ataris, Sick Of It All, GWAR, American Authors, CKY, Municipal Waste, Neck Deep, Strung Out, Andy Black, Creeper, Anti-Flag, Save Ferris, Hatebreed, Falling in Reverse and more. Music fans can purchase tickets for upcoming shows, including Las Vegas, at http://vanswarpedtour.com/dates/.

The Vans Warped Tour is the largest traveling music festival in the United States, and the longest-running touring music festival in North America. Originally conceived by founder Kevin Lyman in 1995 as an eclectic alternative rock festival, with a focus on punk rock, over the years the tour has grown to include a multitude of genres, including metal, hip hop, reggae, pop and more. It remains one of the best tours to attend to discover emerging acts, to learn more about wonderful non-profits and companies who are working to make a positive impact on the world that surround them, and to meet like-minded friends.

Tickets are on sale at vanswarpedtour.com

6.21 ALBUQUERQUE, NM

6.22 PHOENIX, AZ

6.23 LAS VEGAS, NV

6.24 SALT LAKE CITY, UT

6.25 DENVER, CO

6.27 NASHVILLE, TN

6.29 ATLANTA, GA

6.30 ORLANDO, FL

7.01 ST. PETERSBURG, FL

7.02 WEST PALM BEACH, FL

7.04 WILMINGTON, NC

7.06 CHARLOTTE, NC

7.07 CAMDEN, NJ

7.08 WANTAGH, NY

7.09 HARTFORD, CT

7.10 SCRANTON, PA

7.11 VIRGINIA BEACH, VA

7.12 MANSFIELD, MA

7.13 DARIEN CENTER, NY

7.14 BURGETTSTOWN, PA

7.15 HOLMDEL, NJ

7.16 COLUMBIA, MD

7.18 CUYAHOGA FALLS, OH

7.19 CINCINNATI, OH

7.20 NOBLESVILLE, IN

7.21 AUBURN HILLS, MI

7.22 TINLEY PARK, IL

7.23 SHAKOPEE, MN

7.24 MILWAUKEE, WI

7.26 MARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO

7.27 BONNER SPRINGS, KS

7.28 DALLAS, TX

7.29 SAN ANTONIO, TX

7.30 HOUSTON, TX

8.01 LAS CRUCES, NM

8.04 MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA

8.05 SAN DIEGO, CA

8.06 POMONA, CA

The Vans Warped Tour, presented by Journeys, is well known as Americas longest running touring music festival of the summer. Since 1995, the tour has been a showcase for both established and up and coming talent, across a wide range of eclectic sub-genres.

The tour has also cemented its place in history by bringing alternative rock and skate culture from the underground to the forefront of global youth culture, while at the same time helping those in need through non-profit and eco initiatives.

Alternative Press readers voted the Vans Warped Tour as the Best Tour/Festival and Rolling Stone called it Americas Most Successful Festival.
During the Vietnam War, life for soldiers changed an extreme amount. Not only did their lives change, but they became a significant amount more difficult.American soldiers were often young men who felt that they were serving their country and had never served in a war before. Because of this, they had no idea what they were fighting against. The Vietnam terrain was full of jungles, covered with booby traps and dense brush. There was constant heat, humidity, torrents of rain, and many different kinds of dangerous animals. The soldiers ended up becoming ill and injured due to the environment before the actual violence of the war even got to them.In addition to this, soldiers had no idea what sort of enemy they were fighting, as the American Government had underestimated the Vietnamese. The Vietcong had a complex network of underground tunnels. The Vietnamese were very well supplied, and were extremely well prepared to the Americans. This caused even just finding the enemy to be difficult for U.S. forces. In villages, it was hard for American troops to determine who were the enemies, because even women and children could help build traps, or house and feed the Vietcong. Vietnamese mothers would often hand off their baby to an American soldier, or a little boy would walk up to a soldier, and a grenade would explode off the child. For reasons like this, Americans were forced to kill civilians even if they had no proof that they were for sure the enemies, because there was no definite way to tell. Because of this, U.S. soldiers were often yelled at as baby killers, causing frustrations with the fighting conditions of the war.These issues in Vietnam caused soldier to suffer from low morale and become angry. Many fell into a fog of drugs. A majority began to smoke marijuana to try to ignore the horrors of the hell they were living in. The casualties of the men they had become close with hurt them more than they could handle. They fought for their country, yet their country did not support them. Their lives had turned into a nightmare, and the war in Vietnam could never be forgotten.
Police officials and soldiers stand alert in a cordoned off area outside Gare Centrale in Brussels on Jun 20, 2017, after an explosion in the Belgian capital. (THIERRY ROGE/AFP)

Witnesses said the suspect shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) before setting off the blast, with initial reports saying the explosion could have come from an explosive belt. Subsequent accounts pointed to the blast coming from a suitcase. Authorities reported no casualties, apart from the attacker that prosecutors said 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 news 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 watch-list 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. 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 cleared.

Hours after the incident the suspect's body remained at the scene of confrontation as bomb squads searched the area.

"There were people crying, there were people shouting," said Elisa Roux, a spokeswoman for the Belgian rail company SNCB.

BALL OF FIRE

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 trolley," Nicolas Van Herrewegen, 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.

'UNDER CONTROL'

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 on Wednesday 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 government buildings in Brussels since the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks when a link to Belgium was first established.

Belgium suffered a further shock last August when a machete-wielding man 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.
The line-up of artists includes lesser known but highly talented Puzzle, a French-Vietnamese band, along with three popular local rock bands from Hanoi  HUB, Xanh 8+1 and B52.

Fete de la Musique is a French annual festival that was launched in 1982 and is now celebrated annually as part of the festivities surrounding World Music Day  June 21st  to celebrate music from all cultures.
Indochina Capital and quirky office space innovator Toong tie the knot

Indochina Capital (ICC) is Toongs latest investor and now one of its key shareholders.

The funding from ICC will allow Toong to provide more modern and conducive working environments for companies and individuals in Vietnam.

In addition to a capital injection, Peter Ryderfounder and CEO of Indochina Capital and Doan Viet Dai Tu, co-founder and chairman of Openasia Groupwill join forces with Duong Do, founder and CEO of Toong, in the companys board of directors.

Talking about this special cooperation, Peter Ryder shared that the company has always been looking for excellent Vietnam-focused investment opportunities.

When Toong came to our attention, we were immediately interested because the company has the largest and widest footprint of any co-working space provider in Vietnam, Ryder said.

Peter Ryder, founder and CEO of ICC, will soon be on the Toong board of directors

He added that ICC was also impressed with the Toong brand. In just twenty two months, Toong, led by its brilliant founder and CEO, Duong Do, and his extraordinary team, has established itself as a leading player in Vietnams high octane co-working service and space market and formed relationships with Openasia, one of Vietnams leading investment firms, as well as CapitaLand, one of Asias largest real estate developers, he added.

The union of ICC and Toong furthers Toongs expansion and dominant market position, while complementing ICCs lifestyle brand.

Toong will take full advantage of Indochina Capitals real estate experience in design, project management, development execution, and market knowledge, while ICC will add another arrow to its development quiver with Toong as a partner and preferred tenant.

Specifically, ICCs upcoming series of lifestyle properties via the ICC-Kajima development platform will be enhanced by a Toong co-working facility.

Toongs founder and CEO Duong Do said that the founders of Openasia Group and Peter Ryder are among the few rare entrepreneurs in Vietnam whose vision and meticulous attention to detail he deeply admires.

Every product they create brings not only new value to customers, but also positive change to society, while redefining how people live and work, Do said.

ICC investment will enable Toong to strongly expand its network of high-quality creative working environments in Vietnam.

More importantly, having both Peter and Dai Tu join Toong board of directors will be of invaluable help to further refine product offerings and realise the companys mission of changing the way people work in Vietnam.

Ryder added that innovative change dominates the global real estate industry, not only Vietnam.

This is evidenced by a growing number of companies that utilise co-working models to encourage disruptive ideas and cutting-edge technology in collaboration with other firms, he said.

ICC enters our partnership with Toong expecting that via the interaction and intersection of design with technology and education with location, ICC and Toong will produce a portfolio of unique iconic spaces to nurture Vietnams entrepreneurial intelligence and culture, Peter further added.
One of the five sisters who made Fendi a global luxury brand died in Rome after a long illness.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Italian luxury fashion designer Carla Fendi has died at the age of 79 after a long illness, her family announced on Tuesday.

Fendi, who died on Monday, played a key role along with her four sisters in developing and expanding her parents' small leather workshop, transforming the business into a global luxury fashion brand.

The fashion legend had a strong bond with long-standing creative director Karl Lagerfeld, who helped design clothes, furs and accessories.

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Also Read: Michael Jackson beats Elvis Presley, Prince and Bowie to become the highest-earning dead celebrity

The company later expanded into ready-to-wear, shoes, perfume, household goods and children's wear. In her later years, Fendi became a well-known patron of the arts and Italian craftsmanship.

Picture courtesy: Instagram/dorynka90

Fendi had a lifelong commitment to her native city's culture and heritage, and the foundation she set up with her husband Candido funded the restoration of Rome's famous Trevi Fountain.

Also Read: Legendary rock and roll musician, Leon Russell dies at 74

A lover of art and music, Fendi was chief patron of the Two Worlds arts festival in the Umbrian city of Spoleto.

"This is a sad day for Italian culture. We will feel the loss of a cultured an sensitive woman," said Italy's Culture Minister Dario Francheschini.

Picture courtesy: sharinebijvank

"Farewell Carla Fendi, great Roman citizen who with her creativity and business talent brought Italian fashion to the whole world," tweeted Rome's grassroots Mayor Virginia Raggi.

Fendi's funeral will be held Thursday in the capital at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Montesanto, known as 'The Church of the Artists'.

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Rice bags loaded for export at ong Thap Food Co. - VNA/VNS Photo Vu Sinh

The decree, replacing Decree 109/2010/N-CP on rice export and business, is expected to take effect from January 1, 2018, after which businesses will be able to engage in the free trade of rice without quantitative restrictions.

The decree also removes regulations of criteria for businesses to be eligible to export rice, as well as the floor prices set for rice shipments.

Pham Thai Binh, director-general of Trung An Co Ltd in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, said some articles in the old decree hindered the development of rice export firms.

For example, in early June 2017, the ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on rice trading with Bangladesh, which is valid until 2022.

Under the MoU, Viet Nam will export one million tonnes of rice to Bangladesh annually. This offers a huge opportunity for Viet Nam to boost exports of this staple grain, build a rice brand and connect with farmers.

However, under the decree 109 which is still being enforced, the Viet Nam Food Association authorised the Northern Food Corporation and the Southern Food Corporation to realise the MoU. Other companies have to seek trade deals with partners in other markets.

Binh said the involvement of the Government in seeking contracts was good for Vietnamese agriculture, but all businesses should be able to join this activity to promote trade in foreign markets.

Rice export businesses require a closely linked chain from farmers to exporters, thus when exporters face difficulties in seeking consumption markets, then farmers production will also be affected, Binh said.

Vo Minh Khai, director-general of Vien Phu Organic  Healthy Food Company from the southernmost province of Ca Mau, said that over the past years, rice enterprises that were small scale but produced high-quality rice had not been able to bring their products to the world market.

To export their rice, they had to depend on large companies as intermediaries. Therefore, revising the old decree would create a level-playing field for small rice export firms to proactively access the global market, Khai said.

The new document will also enable businesses to invest in producing high-quality products to compete with rivals from Thailand and Cambodia, he added.

Promoting high-quality brands

Viet Nam has exported rice for nearly 30 years, with the first amount of 1.4 million tonnes in 1989 grossing US$310 million in turnover. In 2006, the country earned $2.1 billion from selling 4.9 million tonnes of rice abroad.

Vietnamese rice has not created a strong brand in the world market.

So far, worldwide consumers mostly knew Vietnamese rice products as 5-per cent broken rice or 25-per cent broken rice, rather than by a specific name.

Binh said that under the situation, many types of Vietnamese high-quality rice were being sold under foreign names.

In fact, many types of high-quality Vietnamese rice such as ST, Jasmine, Hoa Sua and Loc Troi were being exported, but the export volumes had not met the demand of importers.

Le Thanh Tung, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the decree would create conditions for rice exporters, even small- and medium-sized one, to access directly with importers, help promote Vietnamese rice brands more easily and prevent trade fraudulence.

Vo Hung Dung, Director of the Can Tho-based branch of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that changes in the rice business policy would force enterprises to operate and develop under the market mechanism, and find ways to strengthen their reputation in the world market.

"Rice enterprises having strong reputation also means Vietnamese rice brands will be promoted," Dung added.
Infographic: Cyber security risks from non-genuine Software

The study, which aims to quantify the link between software piracy and malware infections in Asia-Pacific, discovered that 100 per cent of the websites that host pirated software download links expose users to multiple security risks, including advertisements with malicious programs. Among other findings, it also found that 92 per cent of new computers installed with non-genuine software are infected with dangerous malware.

The studys findings all point to the fact that uncontrolled and malicious sources of pirated software, particularly on the Internet, are being converted into effective means of spreading malware infections. And what we would like to achieve with this report is to help users recognise that the personal and business risks and financial costs are always much higher than any perceived costs they save from using non-genuine software, said associate professor Biplab Sikdar from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at NUS Faculty of Engineering, who led the study.

Software piracy is a recognised global problem and three in five personal computers (PCs) in Asia Pacific were found to be using non-genuine software in 2016. However, using pirated software expose users to a plethora of cyber threats.

Hackers and organised cybercriminals today are adept at exploiting information technology vulnerabilities and human errors to compromise computers for malicious and financial gains at the expense of organisations and individuals. Cybercrime is predicted to cost the global economy an estimated US$6 trillion by 2021, said Keshav Dhakad, assistant general counsel and regional director at the Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) of Microsoft Asia.

While cybersecurity defenses continue to evolve, users are slow at adapting, whereas cybercriminals are constantly advancing their attack vectors (malware strains) and delivery mechanisms. Piracy of software is increasingly becoming a key vehicle for cybercriminals to exploit computer vulnerabilities and breach security measures with ease, he added.

The new study analysed 90 new laptops and computers as well as 165 software CDs/DVDs with pirated software. The samples were randomly purchased from vendors that are known to sell pirated software from across eight countries in Asia - Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Korea, and Philippines.

Researchers also examined 203 copies of pirated software downloaded from the Internet. This aligns with the trend where software is increasingly being acquired through online downloads channels. Each of these samples was thoroughly investigated for the presence of malware infections using seven anti-malware engines  AVG AntiVirus, BitDefender Total Security, IKARUS anti.virus, Kaspersky Anti-Virus, McAfee Total Protection, Norton Security Standard, and Windows Defender.

Key findings

One of the most alarming insights from this report is the multitude of risks that users are expose to when they visit websites that offer pirated software downloads. The study found that 100 per cent of tested torrent hosting websites opened with multiple popup windows with suspicious advertisements. Many of these contain links that download malware when clicked or show objectionable content such as pornography.

A NUS researcher investigating a website that offers pirated software downloads

In addition, the researchers encountered the following risks and suspicious behaviours when downloading and installing pirated software found on peer-to-peer networks:

34 per cent of the downloaded pirated software came bundled with malware that infect the computer once the download is complete or when the folder containing the pirated software is opened.

31 per cent of the downloaded pirated software did not complete installation which suggests other motives behind their presence on torrent hosting websites. These misleading torrents either tricked users into downloading malicious programs or are used to increase the traffic to the torrent hosting sites which subject the visitor to malware and unwanted advertisements.

24 per cent of the malicious programmes bundled with the pirated software downloads deactivated the anti-malware software running on the computer. Once the anti-malware engine is blocked, the downloaded malware installs itself on the computer.

18 per cent of these installations prompt users to change default settings on browsers and install add-on toolbars during installation. These changes to the browser settings lead to new home pages and default search engine as well as unwanted toolbars.

12 per cent of these installations require users to contact additional websites to complete the process. This is often portrayed as steps to obtain the license keys or cracks needed to activate the pirated software, and they can lead to popups and additional malware exposure.

The study also found that 92 per cent of new and unused computers that had pirated software installed were pre-infected with malware. These computer samples were purchased from vendors that are known to sell non-genuine software.

The presence of malware in these computers is concerning as end-users expect these devices to be risk free. They might be less vigilant in checking for cyber threats and monitoring for suspicious activities that may alert them that their computer has been compromised.

On the other hand, out of the 165 DVDs and CDs samples acquired for this report, three in five (61 per cent) contained malware. Infected discs contained an average of five pieces of malicious programs. In some cases, as many as 38 malware instances were found in just one DVD.

A researcher sorting the CD and DVD samples acquired for this study

The researchers also observed that a number of pirated anti-virus software were embedded with malware. Using these compromised, non-genuine security programs not only infect the computer, but also lull users into a sense of complacency, which may lead to further exploitation of the computers and the users data and information.

The study found close to 200 malware strains in all the samples. Among those, Trojans were the most common category of high-risk cyber threats encountered, with a total of 79 unique Trojans malware strains. They also comprise 51 per cent of all malware found embedded in downloaded pirated software.

While Trojans usually depend on social engineering to trick or mislead users into executing them, bundling them with pirated software make it easier for cybercriminals to compromise PCs. Once a Trojan is active on an infected computer, it installs a backdoor for hackers to access and command the device. This allows cybercriminals to steal confidential information, modify firewall setting, and delete or encrypt data.

An enormous range of worms, viruses and droppers, which were created for stealing information and taking control of their host computers were also found in the samples. These malicious programs can replicate without human intervention and have the capability to spread more rapidly.

Pirated software are effective malware carriers as cybercriminals are able to tamper the programs and embed malicious programs with files that autorun or are used for setup. This greatly increases the likelihood of the malware being executed on the computers and spread further in the network, said professor Biplab.

Although the risk of contracting malware through all sources of pirated software is high, the online medium is turning out to be a more potent infection vector. It not only provides cybercriminals with the scale to attack anybody, anywhere, anytime, it also allows them to easily camouflage their malicious activities and attack remotely. This makes them harder to be detected and stopped.

Best IT/cyber-hygiene practices for individuals, small businesses and organisations

Pirated software remains a lucrative revenue stream for many cybercriminals and unscrupulous vendors. The Asia-Pacific commercial market of non-genuine software has hit a high of $19 billion in 2016.

The most effective defense against malware from pirated software is to use genuine software products. Consumers and small businesses can further protect themselves from pirated and counterfeit software as well as malware with the following best practices:

 Source and buy your computers and laptops from reputable vendors.

 Always insist on genuine software from your vendors and opt for computers which come pre-installed with genuine software by hardware manufacturers.

 When purchasing a computer, always request for an invoice which clearly calls out the software title and version which has been installed on the machine.

 Keep your software current with latest product updates and security patches, and strengthen your security posture by having a strong anti-virus software.

 Do not use old operating systems such as Windows XP which have reached their end of life.

For enterprises and government organisations, there are also several recommendations they can consider to build a stronger stronger IT security ecosystem.

 Augment basic identity management systems with multi-factor authentication mechanisms to achieve greater levels of trust.

 Organisations should ensure that their software and operating systems are regularly updated and all security patches are applied immediately on release.

 All older and unsupported versions of software are recommended to be retired immediately once the modern and secure versions are available.

 All computing devices in an organisation should be protected with a robust and reputable anti-malware solution. The anti-malware definitions should be updated every day to ensure up to date protection against cyberthreats.

 Train employees on safe cyber practices and educate them on the importance of using trusted software platforms.

Organisations need to recognise that cybersecurity is no longer just a protector of online assets, it is also a critical business enabler. The KPMG 2017 CEO Outlook survey found that a significant proportion of CEOs (71 per cent) saw their investment in cyber as an opportunity to find new revenue streams and innovate, rather than as an overhead cost, said Daryl Pereira, head of Cyber Security at KPMG in Singapore.

However, cybersecurity vulnerability is at an all-time high  the 2017 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey found that a third of IT leaders organisations (32 per cent) had been subject to a major cyber-attack in the past 24 months. Establishing a solid foundation for cyber-hygiene is vital to the success of any digital transformation journey. For example, organisations need to embed security by design into their business processes and product designs right from the outset, and staff must be trained to recognise malware attacks and the need to use trusted software platforms. Without a cybersecurity-ready mindset becoming part of your business DNA, it will be challenging for any company to innovate and stay relevant in todays digital age.
Milking by machines at TH True Milks cow farm in Nghia an District of the central province of Nghe An. By 2020, the company aims to become the largest milk producer in Asia with 2,000 tonnes of milk a day, and create stable jobs for 1,200 employees. - VNA/VNS Photo inh Hue

Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue, the conference held in Ha Noi sought feedback on amendments to Decree 210 aimed at encouraging enterprises to invest in agriculture and rural areas.

Representatives of enterprises said Government Decree 210/N-CP that took effect in 2013 failed because it did not resolve the roots of investors hesitation, which are current land and tax laws as well as complicated and time-consuming administrative procedures for projects that require large investments.

Deputy PM Hue noted that as of September 2016, there were only 4,424 agro-forestry-fishery enterprises across the country, less than one per cent of the total.

In the three years after it took effect, Decree 210 lent support for just 64 projects with relatively little investment and limited results.

In 2015, just VN200 billion (US$ 8.8 million) was given in support to 40 projects in 21 localities with total investment of VN6 trillion ($264 million), and the next year, the figure dropped to VN185 billion ($8.14 million).

Hue conceded that the low figures practically solved nothing, while troublesome administrative procedures continued to discourage enterprises.

Tran Manh Bao, Chairman and General Director of ThaiBinh Seed Corp, said enterprises badly needed support with administrative procedures, for example, in leasing land for production or purchasing machinery. Tax regulations must also take into account the risky nature of agriculture production, Bao said.

If, for a project that costs VN 100 billion ($4.4 million) we have to go through all the hoops just to get a paltry VN5 billion ($220,000) in support from the government, why should we apply at all? he asked.

Thai Huong, Chairwoman of the TH True Milk Group, said concerned ministries should sit together and work out a definitive standard set for agricultural products if the country is to push towards hi-tech agriculture.

Noting that Decree 210 concentrated too much on providing support sourced from the State budget, Deputy PM Hue called for different measures to attract private investment into agriculture. He said this would have to be done by streamlining institutions and mechanisms and policies. Financial support should be provided mostly in an indirect manner, i.e. tax cuts or waivers, while direct financial support should go to small- and mid-sized enterprises, encouraging innovation and start-ups, or a leading company capable of becoming a national brand.

This financial support, he said, cannot be sourced just from the State Budget or localities budget, but also from science and technology development funds and other integrated programmes.

Expressing appreciation for all the comments from participants, the Deputy PM said its obvious now that the draft decree is far from satisfactory.

He directed the Ministry of Planning and Investment as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, currently in charge of drafting the new decree, to do further research and exert more efforts to complete it.

There are high expectations from the new amendments. One of them states that enterprises investing in agriculture may be eligible for land tax waivers or considerable reduction thereof.

Enterprises implementing agriculture projects with their own resources may still receive support from the government during implementation phases.
Noticing the booming construction demands in Myanmar, PEB Steel is set to weld investment ties with the fledgling Southeast Asian nation with a $25 million steel manufacturing plant. Pictured above, Sami Kteily, executive chairman (on the left) and Adib Kouteili, managing director of PEB Steel, are discussing a major expansion into Myanmar's manufacturing industry. _ Photo: Le Toan

The facility, located in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, has a total fabrication capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year. Measuring more than 30,000 square metres in size, the facility will fabricate pre-engineered steel buildings and heavy steel structures to serve the high demand for industrial construction.

The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Myanmar has been on the rise since the US and Myanmar normalised diplomatic ties in 2012. This has fueled increased spending on industrial developments including factories and other buildings.

We see a lot of demand from the local market because most of the steel is imported from China. The new factory gives PEB Steel an edge to supply high-quality steel to foreign investors in Myanmar with competitive prices and faster delivery, said Sami Kteily, executive chairman of PEB Steel.

He is upbeat on the outlook of the new investment as Myanmar is comparable to Vietnams status 20 years ago, with a gradual opening up of the government and an abundance of low-cost labour. PEB Steel has secured a firm presence in Vietnam over the past 23 years so we are inspired to replicate this success in Myanmar.

In fact, PEB Steel has a strong track record of delivering high quality, iconic developments across the region, including the tallest tower Fatty Acid in Indonesia with a height of 68 metres, the widest 128 metres clear span Lufthansa Hangar in the Philippines and the longest building FCB Warehouse in Thailand with one kilometre in total length. In the future, PEB Steel aims to set up a new benchmark for its first Myanmar factory.

To differentiate itself from the crowd, PEB Steel new factory was built using the revolutionary PEB HybridTM for rafters and mezzanine joists, new ventilation and insulation systems, and an eco-friendly painting line that guarantee that the building will achieve LEED certification. The factory is truly state-of-the-art and includes machinery like cut to length and slitting lines that you do not usually find in steel building factories.

PEB Steel eyes to align the Myanmar factory with other facilities in the region to lower production costs while tailoring products to customer needs. The latest investment marks a greater penetration into Myanmar and Southeast Asia for the company.

As part of the groups broad strategy to extend its regional footprint, PEB Steel opened a representative office in Myanmar in 2008. After nine years of operation, the company broke ground on its first factory in Myanmar in 2016. PEB Steel sees that Myanmar has ample potential for long-term investments as the manufacturing sector is expanding at a solid pace. The country is poised to see huge public investments in new transport infrastructure in the coming years. The government will stimulate infrastructure upgrades under the national transport master plan, which will boost demand for quality steel. Meanwhile, Myanmar is modernising the financial system and IT infrastructure in the face of its rapid economic growth. The government has offered plenty of incentives and streamlined the procedures to woo foreign investors. Driven by all the positives on offer, PEB Steel will continue its efforts to contribute to the countrys growing economy.

Kteily stressed that PEB Steels maxim is to create win-win solutions for everyone involved so the firm strives to deepen its partnership with all stakeholders in Myanmar. Leveraging its extensive experience garnered through iconic developments in Vietnam and in the region, PEB Steel is committed to sharing know-how and best practices with partners and local government.
Garment products for export at uc Giang Corp, an affiliate of Viet Nam Textile and Garment Group. - VNA/VNS Photo Cam Binh

Dung, speaking at a working session with the group in Ha Noi, said Vinatex had undergone many reforms and achieved developments in technology, management and jobs for 80,000 workers. However, the group had been experiencing difficulties in the export market since 2016.

Dung said the group must promote further production and business, especially exports, and report on its contribution to growth of the textile and garment industrys gross domestic product (GDP), its reforms, use of technology and market development. Vinatex should also accelerate project investments and efficiency, he said.

Chinhphu.vn quoted Dung saying that the textile and garment industry had done well in yarn and garment but had had difficulty in other stages, such as support industries and dyeing. So the industry must still import needles, thread and buttons.

The group must accelerate projects with a total investment capital of VN5 trillion to put them into efficient operation and prevent projects with low efficiency and lost of capital.

The group is also being tasked with accelerating equitisation of textile and garment enterprises, given that many textile and garment enterprises have had strong development in production and business, especially exports, after equitisation, such as Nha Be Garment and Viet Tien Garment. Viet Nams garment products have entered markets with strict requirements and key export markets, such as the US, the EU, Japan and South Korea. However, local garment enterprises should undertake reform for traditional export markets, including China, Russia, India and ASEAN countries.

The PM is also asking the textile and garment industry to reform production technology, instead of processing, to create a higher value chain. The industry has applied new technologies for production and corporate management, but it should use technology suited to the industrial revolution 4.0, according to Dung.

And finally, the group is being told to promote internal administrative reform so that managers salaries are not so high and those of workers not so low.

Additionally, the Prime Minister asked the group and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to propose administrative reform to create favourable conditions for importing production material.

At the working session, Vinatex chairman Tran Quang Nghi said in the first half of this year, the industry increased exports by 10.6 per cent in value to US$14.2 billion.

He said in the second half of this year, the export value was expected to remain stable and export value for the whole year was estimated to achieve a year-on-year growth of 10.9 per cent to $31.3 billion. This is higher than the groups expected export value of $2.78 billion.
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick speaks to students during an interaction at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus in Mumbai, India, January 19, 2016. Photo source: REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Kalanick had already taken a leave of absence aimed at restoring confidence in the scandal-plagued ridesharing giant.

The New York Times reported earlier Wednesday that five of the company's major investors had demanded his departure.

"I can confirm Travis has resigned," the spokesman told AFP in an email. He also quoted from a board statement saying that "Travis has always put Uber first".

"This is a bold decision and a sign of his devotion and love for Uber," the board said.

The pioneering company has been facing pressure to rein in a no-holds-barred management style led by Kalanick and to reform its workplace culture, which has sparked charges of harassment and discrimination.

Kalanick is to stay on as a board member, Uber said.

The investors, who made their demand in a letter, include one of Uber's biggest shareholders, the venture capital firm Benchmark, the New York Times said.

In the letter, titled "Moving Uber Forward", the investors told Kalanick that he must immediately leave and that the company needed a change in leadership, the Times reported.

Kalanick consulted with at least one Uber board member and after long discussions with some of the investors, he agreed to step down, the paper said.

"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," Kalanick said in a statement, quoted by the Times and confirmed by Uber.

Last week, Kalanick said one of the reasons for taking a leave of absence was the recent death of his mother.

Uber, which is the world's richest venture-backed startup valued at some $68 billion, operates in dozens of countries despite problems with regulators in many jurisdictions and protests from established taxi operators.

Kalanick had been seen as the driving force behind Uber despite a series of embarrassing missteps.
Britain's Finance Minister Philip Hammond says Britain needs a transitional Brexit deal for business "to avoid unnecessary disruption and dangerous cliff edges". (AFP/Paul ELLIS)

Finance minister Philip Hammond and Bank of England governor Mark Carney stressed the perils of an abrupt divorce from Britain's biggest trading market, seeming to contradict some of the "hard Brexit" rhetoric espoused by the government at the start of negotiations with the EU on Monday.

Possible Brexit options. (AFP/Gillian HANDYSIDE)

Carney even mocked Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's argument that Britain can have its cake and eat it by quitting the European Union but still retaining the benefits of membership.

"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," Carney said in an address to bankers, which was postponed from last week by a deadly fire in a London tower block.

"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," he cautioned.

The warnings came as Britain's top business alliance warned that domestic political turmoil and Brexit's impact would hurt growth in coming years.

The economy will expand by 1.6 per cent this year before slowing to 1.4 per cent in 2018, according to upgraded forecasts from the Confederation of British Industry, after 1.8 per cent growth in 2016.

The CBI on Monday was one of five major British business bodies that called in a letter to the government for continued access to the European single market until a Brexit agreement has been sealed.

At Monday's formal start of the EU negotiations, Brexit minister David Davis stressed that Britain would have to quit the bloc's common market and customs union to ensure the return of full sovereignty.

But there was also a climbdown from Davis when he agreed with his EU counterpart to first discuss divorce issues before negotiations on a future Britain-Europe trade deal can start.

'AVOID CLIFF EDGES'

The manoeuvring came after Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May emerged wounded from a general election setback this month, which has strengthened the hand of cabinet moderates such as Hammond.

In his own speech to bankers at London's Mansion House, the chancellor of the exchequer agreed with Carney on the need for a transitional deal for business including financial services "to avoid unnecessary disruption and dangerous cliff edges".

Ensuring that Brexit does not imperil British jobs or impoverish living standards "will require every ounce of skill and diplomacy that we can muster", Hammond said. "Yesterday was a positive start. It will get tougher. But we are ready for the challenge."

Among the thorny issues to be thrashed out are Britain's estimated 100-billion (US$112 billion) exit bill, the rights of EU citizens living in Britain, and the fate of the northern Irish border between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

Brussels has made the future of the three million EU citizens in Britain and one million Britons in Europe a priority, insisting they should be allowed to keep their rights to live, work, study and claim welfare benefits.

May will join an EU summit on Thursday and, according to Davis, will set out her plans on the residency issue to the 27 other leaders.

May is reportedly set to make a "big generous offer" but the EU signalled on Tuesday that its gratitude would be in short supply.

"For us it's not a question of generosity, it's a question of continuity and fairness," Stefaan De Rynck, a senior aide to chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, said at a seminar in Brussels.

With EU citizens already guaranteed fundamental rights across the 28-nation bloc, De Rynck said "there is nothing particularly generous about this issue".
Visitors to the Suoi Mooc tourism site in Quang Binh province

Japan has eased visa requirements for many countries, Kawarabayashi told a Vietnam News Agency reporter on the sidelines of the APEC High Level Policy Dialogue on Sustainable Tourism in Ha Long city, northern Quang Ninh province.

Speaking of todays challenges to tourism development, the Japanese official said there is not any common strategy for all APEC economies to cope with the challenges, including climate change.

The answer depends on the real situation in each country; and for Japan, conservation of natural resources remains the countrys top priority towards sustainable tourism development, he noted.

He stressed on the importance of protecting both natural and cultural heritages and enhancing benefits for not only tourists but also local communities.

Challenges lie in how to make use of the natural heritage to attract visitors and protect the heritage at the same time, Kawarabayashi said, citing the fact that Japan has opened many natural forests to tourists and also managed to preserve them well.

According to the JNTO, Japan welcomes 24 million holidaymakers last year and will design new strategies for the country to achieve 40 million visitors by 2020 and 60 million by 2030.
Last week, the Supreme Court of India asked CBSE to declare NEET 2017 results before June 26.

By India Today Web Desk: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will declare the results of National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) 2017 before June 26.

Once the CBSE NEET results 2017 will be declared all the candidates can check the same on the following websites:

cbseresults.nic.in

cbseneet.nic.in

results.gov.in

On Tuesday, the official website, results.nic.in had released a notification saying that the NEET results will be declared today. Later on, the notification was pulled off.

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However, seeing the previous trend, the board will release an official notice at least a day before the declaration of results.

Here's how to check the results:

Go to the official website, cbseneet.nic.in

Click on 'NEET 2017 result and rank'

Enter your roll number and other details in prescribed format

Click to submit

Results will be displayed on the screen

Last year's NEET result data:

In 2016, a total of 1,71,329 applicants from the general category qualified in the CBSE NEET examination.

Out of the total, in all 2,26,049 girls qualified for admissions than 1,83,424 qualified boys.

Also, out of nine transgendered applicants, only four qualified

Last week, the Supreme Court of India asked CBSE to declare NEET 2017 results before June 26.

(Read: NEET 2017 results out in two weeks, Supreme Court lifts Madras High Court ban)

Here's what the court said:

The apex court also directed the authorities concerned to proceed with the process of declaration of results, subsequent counselling and admission to MBBS and BDS courses as per the schedule fixed by it earlier.

The bench also requested all the high court's not to entertain petitions in the matters relating to the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) examination 2017.

About NEET:

NEET is conducted for admission into MBBS and BDS courses across the country. The exam consisted of 180 objective type questions (four options with single correct answer) from physics, chemistry and biology (botany and zoology). The duration of the exam was three hours.

Around 10.5 lakh students appeared for the exam in either Hindi or English while around 1.25 lakh to 1.50 lakh students appeared in eight vernacular languages.

Read: UPSC Civil Services Exam 2018 dates released: Important information

Read: UP Board class 10 result 2017: CM Yogi Adityanath to give Rs 10,000 to every successful girl

For more updates, follow India Today Education or you can write to us at education.intoday@gmail.com

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By Press Trust of India: Pune, June 21 (PTI) Lamenting "distortion" of historical facts, NCP chief Sharad Pawar today said the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji was never against Muslims as has been "imposed upon" people.

Pawar said Shivaji killed Adilshahi commander Afzal Khan not because of his religion but because he was the enemy of "swarajya".

Khan, a medieval commander who served the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur, was killed at a meeting with Shivaji, and his army was defeated in the famous Battle of Pratapgad in 1659.

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In Maharashtra, Khans killing is popularly viewed as the victory of Shivajis diplomacy and might over a yavan (foreigner) and is often linked with religion.

"Since childhood, it has been imposed upon us that Shivaji Maharaj killed Afzal Khan as he (Shivaji) was against Muslims. It is a fact that he had killed Khan but not because he was Muslim but because he was the enemy of Swarajya and had come here to destroy the state," said Pawar.

He was addressing a function here after releasing a book on Shivaji, written by Srimant Kokate.

Shivaji Maharaj also killed Khans aide Krishnaji Kulkarni, who was accompanying the Adil Shahi commander, Pawar said, adding, "If he (Shivaji) was anti-Muslim, he would have spared Kulkarni. The fact is that Shivaji was against those tendencies, irrespective of their faith and affiliations, who are against Swarajya".

Shivaji had several commanders who belonged to various castes and communities including Muslims, he said.

"Shivaji Maharaj was a visionary and under his rule, there was a place for everybody, irrespective of their religion, and that is why his state was called rayateche rajya (rule of people)," he said, adding that Shivaji always promoted religious equality.

Unlike other rulers such as Chadragupta Maurya, Kutub Shahi or Maharana Pratap, Shivaji never named his state as "Bhosales" (his title), but as "rayateche rajya".

Pawar alleged some people have imposed a distorted version of history on the common people to further their own interests.

"Over the years, history with distorted facts was imposed by a particular group of people who presented the lessons in the history as per their convenience," the former Union minister said.

Pawar said Shivaji has been "appropriated" as the Gau-Brahman Pratipalak (protector of cows and Brahmins) over the years in a bid to distort the historical facts.

Quoting eminent historian T S Shejwalkar, Pawar said it would be "un-historical" to call the Maratha king "gau brahman pratipalak".

"Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (a 19th century social reformer) had described Shivaji mahraj as kulwadibhushan (protectors of farmers) and that description is correct and is based on the facts and supported by historians," Pawar said, adding that such a distortion of historical facts makes him "anxious".

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Pawar appreciated the book and appealed to teachers to teach students the facts.

Historian and author Jaysingrao Pawar, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur also attended the event. PTI SPK NSK

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On Saturday, June 17th, New York, Vulture, and Netflix hosted a summer sunset soiree to celebrate the new original series, Gypsy. Starring Naomi Watts, the 10-part psychological thriller premieres June 30 and follows a relationship therapist juggling her own marriage and an affair with a younger woman as she gets too involved in her patients lives.

From 5-7 p.m. on the beach at Gurneys Montauk, guests enjoyed specialty cocktails inspired by Gypsy, light bites, and music by DJ Oli Benz. Check out our photos from the event, and try not to get too jealous.

Event-goers enjoy sun and sand.

Issues of New York on the tables at Gurneys Montauk.

DJ Oli Benz set the pace for the party.

Gypsy-inspired specialty drinks were served.

Party-goers pose over beverages.

Beachy vibes galore.

Photography by Atisha Paulson
Cowell. Photo: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images

Last week, a devastating fire ripped through Londons Grenfell Tower, a public-housing complex, killing possibly as many as 79 people in the deadliest fire in Britain in a century. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Adele was spotted on the scene of the fire talking to those affected, and later had tea and cake with fire responders. Now, Simon Cowell has orchestrated a more public gesture involving some of the countrys biggest stars. Today, hes released a benefit cover of Simon & Garfunkels Bridge Over Troubled Water, featuring an introductory verse from Stormzy, plus contributions from the Whos Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, One Directions Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson, Robbie Williams, Rita Ora, James Blunt, Leona Lewis, Geri Halliwell, Queens Brian May, and dozens more artists. Nile Rodgers also worked on the track. All proceeds from downloads will go to the London Community Foundation; you can also donate to Artists for Grenfell without purchase of the song.
Coppola. Photo: Antony Jones/Getty Images

Sofia Coppola was once attached to direct a live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, but later backed out, citing creative differences. But just how big were those differences? The still-in-production Mermaid is being produced by Universal, not Disney, meaning its based on the dark fairy tale and not the heartening musical, and Coppola said the scale of the production was getting too big for her to be comfortable with. The director did, however, have some pretty ambitious plans for the small movie she envisioned, according to IndieWire. I wanted to shoot it really underwater, which would have been a nightmare, she said. But underwater photography is so beautiful. We even did some tests. It was not very realistic, that approach. But it was interesting to think about.

Coppola added that when films become too large, they run the risk of business interests overwhelming the art: When its smaller, theres less people involved, its not so much at risk, business-wise. But if youre longing for what could have been, just picture this: filtered lighting dancing across a mermaids skin as she is filmed from below the surface, her body dissolving into foam after failing to obtain the immortal soul she so desired. Stunning!
Chris Miller and Phil Lord. Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios

According to The Hollywood Reporter, directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord have left the Star Wars spinoff featuring a young Han Solo. The duo, who previously found success with The LEGO Movie and 21 Jump Street, issued a diplomatic statement about their departure, citing differences with LucasFilm. Unfortunately, our vision and process werent aligned with our partners on this project, they wrote. We normally arent fans of the phrase creative differences but for once this cliche is true. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew. The movie began filming all the way back in February and stars Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, and Donald Glover, with Alden Ehrenreich playing Han Solo. The production reportedly only had several weeks left of filming, which makes the directors departure so late in the process particularly surprising, and perhaps even alarming for fans of the franchise. Still, the May 2018 release date remains unchanged.

Update 11:05 p.m: Variety reports that the falling out between the directors and the production company was perhaps a long time coming. A person with knowledge of the production claims that it was a culture clash from day one. Allegedly the directors found working under producer Kathleen Kennedy stifling and were stunned by their lack of creative control. Kennedy reportedly took issue with the directors shooting style and interactions with actors and crew. The source also says that Miller and Lord were fired by LucasFilm.
Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan in The Big Sick. Photo: Photo by Sarah Shatz/ WHILE YOU WERE COMATOSE, LLC

The best thing you can say about The Big Sick is that having Kumail Nanjiani as a romantic lead is maybe the 11th most remarkable thing about it. Say what you will about producer Judd Apatow, but his rambling house style is a universal normalizer; five minutes in, youll swear The Big Sick is the 28th Pakistani-American girlfriend-in-a-coma romantic-comedy-drama youve seen. Like many long-term relationships, its the kind of thing you relax into, certainly not thinking at the outset that youre in for anything monumental. Maybe you even take for granted all the things that arent difficult or frustrating about it, until two years (or two hours) have passed and you look up and realize youre in love.

Written by Nanjiani and his wife and writingpodcastingcomedy-stuff partner, Emily V. Gordon, The Big Sick tells the actual story of how the two met in Chicago while he was an up-and-coming comedian and she was studying to be a therapist. Nanjiani plays an earlier version of himself, while Zoe Kazan plays Emily. (The story has been updated to the present day; Nanjianis character makes ends meet as an Uber driver, which lends itself to a couple of very funny bits early on.) It all starts off as predictably and millennial-ly as one would imagine: inflatable mattresses and awkward roommate encounters and repeated exhortations that the pair cant do this. But Kumail doesnt tell Emily that his family is actively searching for a Pakistani bride for him, for a traditional arranged marriage, and that for him, dating a white woman is asking to get disowned. Then, as their relationship is crumbling, Emily falls gravely ill, and her parents arrive in Chicago to be by her side  and, in an unexpected but organic turn, so do Kumails.

Its possible that the sudden sidelining of Emily would feel cheap without the knowledge that it actually happened. But what makes the turn feel both real and terribly inconvenient is the strong impression Kazan makes in the films first act. Heres an example of what a female perspective both in front of and behind the camera can do for a character who could have easily been a romantic object to be projected on to. Shes imperfect, but the film doesnt try to make a point of her imperfection, and shes capable of breaking a heart without being a bitch. By the time Emily goes into a medically induced coma, we palpably miss her, because she feels like a real person, with a million little things going on that have been put on indefinite hold.

Related Stories Kumail Nanjiani and Ray Romano Charm in The Big Sick Trailer

In her stead arrive Ray Romano and Holly Hunter as her parents Terry and Beth, wracked with worry, bickering with each other, still mad at Kumail on Emilys behalf, and both instantly lovable. The looming Romano and diminutive, sharp-edged Hunter are such a delightful study in contrasts you wonder why theyve never been cast opposite each other before. And its through them that The Big Sick becomes a story rarely explored or romanticized on film, about what its like to bond with the parents of the person youre in love with. Terry and Beth are suspicious of Kumail at first, but as they keep vigil over Emily  three nervous wrecks, tightly wound in their own ways  they slowly unravel for each other. A scene in which Beth attempts to defend Kumail from a racist heckler is both hilarious and deeply endearing.

Michael Showalter, whose recent streak as a director of emotionally rich comedy (2015s Hello, My Name Is Doris; the superb and surprisingly human TBS series Search Party) nails the perfect balance of character and, yes, actual jokes  nobodys more absurd than a real human would be, but more often than not thats plenty absurd. His sensibility resonates well with Nanjianis, who is perfectly comfortable with the idea that not everything needs a joke. Theres none of the desperation that makes similarly sourced comedian films so exhausting.

As Kumails relationship with Emilys parents deepens, he risks permanently damaging his relationship with his own family, who, while not receiving quite the rich material Hunter and Romano get, are a joy. Zenobia Shroff is particularly great as Kumails mother, whose coquettish head-tilts as she feigns surprise at the arrival of another prospective bride are diamond-sharp. If theres any element the film could do without, its the business around Kumails stand-up career, which is amusing enough but well-worn territory  the greenroom banter with his friends (played by Aidy Bryant, Kurt Braunohler, and Bo Burnham) feels obligatory, and more recognizably Apatovian than the rest of the film.

But the comedy arc is indispensable for the films feel-good final chapter, and besides, everyones just so lovable, why would you want less of them? The films real-life origins are likely key to the films protracted and sometimes unfocused denouement, but its hard to imagine something tidier being more satisfying. And even if you are already aware that things end up fine (spoiler alert: Nanjiani and Gordon are married) theres still plenty of reason to keep watching. Thats the thing: Even if The Big Sick risks being too long, or too gently lovable, its certainly welcome counterprogramming for a clobbering summer.
Mathieu Kassovitz (who you may recall as Nino from Amelie) stars in The Bureau. Photo: Jessica Forde/CANAL+

When it comes to high-stakes TV spy thrillers, sure, Homeland and The Americans have delivered their share of riveting moments.

But by far the series practicing the best spycraft these days is Frances The Bureau. An intricately plotted show rooted in real-world geopolitical events, it follows agents operating within the DGSE intelligence service, the Gallic version of the CIA. Mathieu Kassovitz (Amelie, Munich) stars as Guillaume Malotru Debailly, an undercover agent recalled to Paris after six years in Syria, who cant quite give up his alias. Suffering from le syndrome du clandestin  post-mission disorder  Guillaume tries to adjust to a quotidian work life supervising agents, and reconnecting with his teenage daughter, Prune. His life becomes more complicated when he discovers Nadia El Mansour, the married professor with whom he was having an affair in Damascus, is in Paris.

Here are four other reasons to check out the show the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics named Frances best TV series tout de suite. Ahead of the June 22 debut of season three on subscription service Sundance Now, seasons one and two are available there for free, as well as on Sundance TV on-demand, the website, and the app through June 30.

Theres lots of intrigue!

Watching master manipulator Guillaume audaciously outwit his fellow spooks at la boite, a.k.a. company headquarters, provides the first frisson. By day, hes conning his mild-mannered boss, Henri Duflot, a man known for his loud ties and jocular demeanor  until an Algerian undercover agent disappears, and Guillaumes tasked with finding him. (Watching him slowly yet ingeniously deduce where the agent is, you see how he came by his code name, Malotru, which means lout, and was obviously bestowed ironically.) By night, hes giving the slip to his security detail, and rendezvousing with his Syrian girlfriend, Nadia El Mansour. Soon his labyrinthine lies will catch up with him  and hell make an irrevocable decision.

Theres a love story with French twists.

Are you a sucker for romance with a soupcon of deceit? Then Guillaume and Nadia are the couple for you. After falling hard for each other in Damascus  and Guillaume leaving with barely an adieu  the spy reclaims his faux identity to see the married professor after accidentally discovering shes in town. When their hotel trysts arouse the suspicion of her Syrian minders, its clear hes not the only one hiding something: Nadias part of secret Russian-orchestrated negotiations to have Bashar al-Assad step down. Will she choose love or country? Will he finally come clean to the DGSE about the woman who could unintentionally be his biggest asset? The choices they make are why youll want to binge-watch the first season, with the consequences of their affair reverberating through seasons two and three.

The female agents are the bombe.

For a master class in spycraft and badasserie, look no further than the cool, calm, and mostly collected women of The Bureau. Dr. Balmes is the somewhat inscrutable shrink brought in to assess Guillaumes mind-set (and help the rest of the crew deal with the MIA agent). Though she knows shes not welcome (Im like a leper at a cocktail party. I show up and everybody scatters), she slowly wins agents over  and quickly sees through Guillaume. But she, too, has a secret. Marie-Jeanne Duthilleul, Guillaumes Syrian handler, is as shrewd as the shrink. Her new assignment, with Guillaume, is to train and toughen up rookie Marina Loiseau, a gamine seismologist. Under Marie-Jeannes tutelage, the 20-something scientist, code-named Phenomene, develops the sangfroid necessary to sidle up to an Iranian target and secure a job in Tehran  using every dirty trick to eliminate her competition.

It has a sense of humor.

Even during The Bureaus high-stakes moments, count on the French spooks for some satisfying snark. Take the following: After being given the slip by Guillaume, Grandpa and Grandma, the pair of burly, bearded look-alike field agents protecting him, tell Henri the next time, theyll know who hes fucking; how many orgasms; if the girl has her period; if she takes it up the ass, or gets fingered. Finding Sisteron stress-eating in the kitchen, Marie-Jeanne asks, Have you decided to become very fat? And when Marina gets the Tehran job, Marie-Jeanne tells her that what shes done is impressive and rare. Like your compliments, Marina replies. Prepare for beaucoup bon mots.
Ashtae Products is a family-run, multicultural hair-care business out of Greensboro, South Carolina. They sell their line of products, a total of 29 distinct SKUs (pro tip: saying SKUs is a great way to sound like you are extremely good at business), to beauty salons in the region.

Husband and wife Ramona and Michael Woods and their daughter Taylore are doing an impressive $1.5 million in revenue a year  at least, that would be impressive, if Michael didnt immediately blow their profits on his expensive, half-baked side projects. Marcus Lemonis to the rescue!

Lets break down the issues, one by one.

1) To call Ashtae disorganized is a vast understatement. Marcus can hardly find the entrance to their office in the unnecessarily large business complex they own. The tenants include an accounting office, three beauty salons (where Marcus gets a shampoo and takes one of the old-school hooded hair-dryer chairs for a ride, naturally), a space for corporate events and weddings, and  why not?  an actual church. Thats to say nothing of the bail-bonds company, dance studio, and photography. For some reason, Michael has taken it upon himself to outfit all of these business with furniture. Which is not a distraction at all, deadpans Marcus.

2) Michael. Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael. He is an unfocused, never-ending well of expensive and bizarre ideas, including a failed television station that cost $200,000. Just kidding, that was a lie. It was actually $1 million, his wife and daughter are quick to clarify. Ramona  who handles payroll, payables, receivables, and trade shows all on her own  is at her wits end. I love this man to death, she tells Marcus. But there were some moments that I would just cry. Meanwhile, Taylore doesnt have a job title, per se. Shes in limbo about whether she even wants to work for the family business.

3) Ashtaes branding isnt great. The dated white bottles, printed with the companys red-and-black logo, look like some kind of industrial chemical compound that Walter White would use to make meth, or maybe one of those barium sulfate smoothies you have to drink before a CT scan.

4) The products are made by a co-packer in Chicago, but oddly, they arent actually finished there. Instead, theyre shipped over in barrels, then Ashtae fills their bottles on site. Marcus realizes with dawning horror that Michael envisions building a full-fledged factory on the premises. They are only slightly more prepared for this than I would be to construct a factory in my apartment.

5) Ashtae is missing out on a huge market by not selling directly to consumers  and by focusing only on local buyers, because Michael prefers to go door-to-door making sales. (Michael.)

All of that said, Ashtaes margins are amazing: They can sell a shampoo that cost them $7 to make for $35. Theyve also got a special proprietary formula that Ramona (youre killing it, Ramona!) developed by sending products to stylists for feedback over a two-year period.

Marcus sits down with the couple to go over their finances. Their net profit last year was $204,000, but theyre $90,000 in debt  and now theyve only got $60,000 in cash to work with. Marcus offers $200,000 for 25 percent of the business, which will go toward paying off their debts and future product development. But Michael wants $500,000. Yikes. If I am just a checkbook, Im the wrong guy, Marcus tells him. Ramona asks for a more reasonable $300,000. On the condition that Marcus has their permission to find extra cash wherever [he] can, theyve got a deal. He hands the check to Ramona. You give it to the right person, she says, and, uh, yeah. (Viewers may note that this is the third consecutive episode of The Profit in which a major theme is men getting called on their misbehavior and women finally getting their due. Love you, Marcus.)

As usual, Marcus wastes no time in Henry Higgins-ing this business. Effective immediately, Ashtae will no longer do any bottling in the building, so theyre getting a new, better-equipped co-packer wholl take care of it all for them. Next, theyll need to expand their customer base and revamp their branding. Plus, Bronner Bros., the largest African-American trade show in the hair industry, is coming up in Atlanta. And Marcus never met a trade show that he didnt like.

But first, a nervous Taylore asks her parents if she can be Ashtaes chief operations officer. They dont say no, exactly  but its not a yes. Mom looks down at the table. Taylore starts crying. Shes worried about her parents because they work too hard. Marcus suggests Taylore become director of seminars and trade shows instead. Bronner Bros. will be the perfect opportunity for her to get her feet wet.

Its time to play garage sale at Ashtae HQ. Marcus equips the staff with green and red stickers to affix to anything unnecessary they see  green meaning sell for cash, red meaning trash. Theres a lot to work with here: If I could only use two words to describe the overall design aesthetic of their office complex, those two words would be haunted attic. In what feels like an accidental crossover episode with Hoarders, Michael finds it very difficult to throw anything away, peeling other peoples red stickers off various pieces of unequivocal garbage as he sees them. Thats a good speaker system, he says of a speaker whose metal bones are plainly visible.

Michael finally comes around and they raise a total of $23,000 by clearing out the building. This money gets reinvested back into the company, in the form of a renovation: Two junk rooms and the old warehouse are converted into an office for Ramona (who deserves all the offices she wants, thank you very much) and space for their events business. The end product looks, mercifully, much more organized and professional.

The whole gang heads to Chicago to meet with branding experts at VSA Partners. These people have the Woods family stare at Post-its on a wall and rifle through dozens of photos to find images that remind them of Ashtae. (Is this a real job? I feel like this could be my job. Anyone want to pay me to do this job?) The branding they come up with looks great: A geometric A logo printed on sleek bottles, in white for the salon line and in dark graphite for the consumer line.

With three weeks left before Bronner Bros., Taylore is plugging away at their booth  her first real test, per Marcus. In the meantime, Marcus could not be clearer with Michael: For the trade show, they must stick with the new branding.

Hey, guess who didnt stick with the new branding? Marcus arrives at Bronner Bros. to find Ashtaes drab old bottles on display. Michael, you see, took it upon himself to fiddle with the designs, slowing down production so much that the new products werent ready in time for the trade show. Marcus is pissed. Not only that, but the Ashtae booth does not look good. For context, Bronner Bros. is an all-around spectacle with lots of splashy, well-lit booths that could easily double as TV sets. All the Woods have is a small stage and a crooked banner. Their setup is totally devoid of personality. I know youre capable of more, but the booth looks terrible, Marcus tells Taylore. This is not the story line I expected! Look at you, The Profit!

There is a notable silver lining to what is otherwise a Bronner Bros. debacle: Michael is an incredible salesman. He dances onstage with the hair models and delivers a level of energy and enthusiasm that makes the ShamWow guy sound like a half-asleep NPR host. Marcus suggests they get him on the Home Shopping Network, and Im not sure if hes actually serious, but that strikes me as an extremely good idea (or get him on QVC, cc: Lori Greiner from Shark Tank).

Dont give up hope yet on Ashtae nor on Taylore. Marcus sets forth a new challenge for her: Organize a red-carpet production launch in Charlotte in one week. Shell have a $10,000 budget and shell need to put on one hell of a show.

While Taylore coordinates logistics for the launch, Michael reaches out to new clients. Ashtae originally made its sales in a 300-mile radius of Greensboro, but now Marcus has Michael connecting with folks from Virginia all the way down to Florida.

As Michael and Marcus are packing up for the big launch  time is of the essence, after all  a salon owner who rents space in the building comes up to Michael and asks him to help her fix her dryer. Michael hesitates, and the pause is milked, let me tell you. A dryer has never been the subject of such drama. To Marcuss considerable relief, Michael eventually sends another employee to look instead of going himself. That he can delegate at all is a meaningful step forward.

Fortunately, the product launch looks great. The club is filled with a big, jumping crowd, and the nifty new bottles (finally!) are beautifully arrayed for all to admire. Models do a runway walk demonstrating the many hairstyles that can be achieved with the specially formulated magic of Ashtae. Theres even a photo booth! Who doesnt love a photo booth? No one, thats who.

Marcus is really impressed. Well done, Taylore! Now hes confident she can take on more responsibility. So long as Ramona doesnt continue to take on more work than any three human beings could handle, and so long as Michael stops being all over the place for 30 seconds, this thing is going to be wildly profitable, Marcus says.
By Press Trust of India: Colombo, Jun 21 (PTI) Controversial Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thero, wanted for hate remarks against the minority Muslim community, today surrendered to a local court here.

The monk, also the General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena, was granted bail by the Colombo Fort magistrate court.

The court had issued an arrest warrant on June 15 against Gnanasara for failing to appear before it.

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Gnanasara was wanted in connection with the hate attacks on Muslims and for contempt of court charges.

His surrender came as one of the powerful Buddhist sects, the Asgiriya chapter, yesterday issued an unprecedented statement attacking the government on its move to arrest Gnanasara.

The supreme council said although Gnanasaras action cannot be accepted the points he raises about threats to the majority religion in the country cannot be ignored. The government must take corrective action, the statement urged.

It said if Gananasara is to be arrested, others from religious minorities who make similar racist statements must also be arrested.

Commenting on the Asgiriya statement, the Cabinet spokesman and minister Rajitha Senaratne said the government was studying it and a response would be issued shortly.

"All are equal before the law. The police has arrested Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils for racial hate," Senaratne said.

There was diplomatic pressure on the government to arrest Gnanasara by equally applying the law.

A police spokesman, Priyantha Jayakodi, admitted that police failed to arrest Gnanasara despite a manhunt.

"It is not the same when trying to arrest a member of the clergy like when an arrest of a layman is done," he said. PTI CORR ZH AKJ ZH

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By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jun 21 (PTI) Members of a Delhi Assembly committee will verify physically the claims of the director of information and publicity department that "adequate" number of hoardings have been put up as part of the awareness campaign on dengue and chikungunya.

Members of the Standing Committee of Finance and Transport will physically inspect hoarding sites spreading awareness about vector-borne diseases, sources said.

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This comes a week after Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had sought the removal of Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) Director Jayadev Sarangi for not following his directions to launch the awareness campaign.

Sources said, in the meeting, Sarangi apprised the Committee that hoardings have been installed at 300 locations across the city.

They said information pertaining to hoardings has also been submitted to offices of the Lt Governor, the Deputy Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary.

"The Committee has decided that its members will inspect 300 hoarding sites in next three-four days to verify claims of the DIP director," a member of the Committee said.

However, the member said that 300 hoardings across the city were not sufficient for the campaign.

In a letter to Lt Governor Anil Baijal last week, Sisodia had sought action against Sarangi for "not following" his direction to launch awareness campaign about chikungunya and dengue in the city.

In the letter, Sisodia had said that Sarangi was directed on May 25 to place hoardings and run a campaign for creating awareness about dengue and chikungunya, but he has not done anything till now.

"I do not understand what are the compulsions for not replacing such an incompetent officer. I again urge the Lt Governor to either replace him with a more sincere officer or get the campaign on dengue/chikungunya done from him," Sisodia had said. PTI BUN SMJ

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The alternatives to building a new landfill near Highway 84 West involve shipping Wacos trash out of the county and increasing residential garbage bills by 84 percent, staff and consultants told Waco City Council on Tuesday.

But the council told them to look harder.

The council in March had asked SCS Engineering to look at three alternative sites after an outcry from residents in the Highway 84 corridor over a proposal to put a new 270-acre landfill on Old Lorena Road, adjacent to the existing Waco Regional Landfill. SCS looked for sites of at least 250 acres, with a distance of at least four miles from neighborhoods of 50 or more homes, and outside of wetlands and floodplains.

The consultant came back with three sites, ranging from 27 to 36 miles away, with an estimated land cost of $840,000 to $4.8 million. But the real cost would be in operating a transfer station and a fleet of 18-wheelers to haul the trash to the distant sites, said Kevin Yard, an SCS engineer.

Yard said it is impractical for residential garbage trucks to haul trash more than 15 miles. Instead, they would need to offload their garbage at a transfer station, which would cost an estimated $26 million to build. Labor, fuel and maintenance for the transfer and trucking operation would cost up to $4.5 million, and the city would have to double the size of its trucking fleet.

Covering those added expenses would require the city to bump its monthly residential solid waste bill from $14.20 per month to $26.13, city public works director Chuck Dowdell calculated. Commercial rates also would increase by about 38 percent, Dowdell said.

He said the current rate, which is the lowest among Wacos peer cities in Texas, would increase by only 42 cents if the landfill is sited at the Old Lorena Road tract, which the city already owns. SCS estimates the new landfill will be needed in the next seven years, based on the remaining capacity of 2.4 million tons.

SCS and city officials said they are already on a tight schedule to get a new landfill permitted by then, and a site decision needs to be made this year.

Councilwoman Alice Rodriguez said she couldnt justify a big solid waste rate increase to her constituents.

There are some on a fixed income, and theres no way they can afford $26.13, Rodriguez said. I know thats not a lot for some folks, but it can make the difference between buying a loaf of bread or prescription drugs. Im hoping youll go back and look at something closer.

Other council members agreed, asking SCS to look for sites within 15 miles of Waco, even if it means siting the landfill closer than four miles to the nearest neighborhood.

I cant imagine our citizens would find an 84 percent increase acceptable, Mayor Kyle Deaver said. The main thing we want to see is if we can find alternative sites close enough that we wouldnt require a transfer station.

Councilman Jim Holmes, who has sided with residents in the Highway 84 corridor against the Old Lorena Road site, agreed that the projected rate increase would be unpalatable to Waco customers, though some rate increase may be justifiable. Holmes supported the request for SCS to look at closer-in sites.

SCS will report back to the council July 18.

The current landfill is about a mile from the closest subdivision, Badger Ranch, and the Old Lorena Road site would be slightly less than a mile from the closest homes in the Twin Rivers subdivision.

Hundreds of residents in the fast-growing Highway 84 area have organized and petitioned against a landfill in that location, arguing that a new landfill would degrade their lifestyle and property values with smell, vibrations and truck traffic.

They also have pointed to a lawsuit by Wanda Glaze, a neighbor of the existing landfill, that argues that the city is breaking a promise made years ago not to expand the landfill. City officials say the existing landfill would be closed in accordance with state regulations and at considerable additional expense, and the Old Lorena site would be a new landfill.

Jackson sworn in

In other business Tuesday, Noah Jackson Jr. was sworn in as District 1 councilman, filling the year left in the term of Wilbert Austin Sr. Austin resigned in May, and the city council appointed a replacement last week. Austin, who had served 11 years on the council, died late Monday after a long battle with cancer.

I hope and pray I can do close to what Wilbert Austin did, Jackson said. We lost a good man today, and I lost a good friend from years ago.

ALICO facade

Also Tuesday, the council designated the ALICO Building at 425 Austin Ave. as a local historic landmark property. American Amicable Life Insurance is considering restoring the facade of the much-modified building to its original appearance from 106 years ago, representatives said. Mayor Deaver encouraged the work and offered the citys help.

I would love to see that, Deaver said. Its a beautiful building, but that facade doesnt live up to the rest of the building.
The Ramjas College Staff Association is up against former principal Rajendra Prasad over alleged corruption charges and impropriety.

By Arpan Rai: Ramjas College, a top college under Delhi University (DU), 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 in the last five years.

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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. "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.

'CHEAP JOKE'

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. "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 leveled 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 'whopping' amount of Rs 37,06,209 was spent on providing medical facilities to students and staff including medical checkups, which he says do not exist in the college.

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ALSO READ | After Hansraj, Ramjas College under Delhi University to get national flag on campus

ALSO READ | How Ramjas College event triggered a social media war and a political slugfest on freedom of expression: A timeline

ALSO WATCH | Debate over Ramjas College violence: Who is anti-national?

--- ENDS ---
McLennan County created its third reinvestment zone this week so it can provide tax incentives for Cypress Creek Renewables LLC, a California-based company with plans to build a solar farm near Bruceville-Eddy.

Cypress Creek also is working on another solar farm in the city of Robinson, on about 54 acres off Greig Drive. The city of Robinson granted the company a zoning change and a special-use permit about two weeks ago.

County Attorney Mike Dixon said the county typically works with other municipalities on tax reinvestment zones, but the proposed site for the farm near Bruceville-Eddy is outside city limits.

The solar farm wont add much employment, Dixon said. It will support jobs and bring significant value and a clean source of energy to the county. It would also be an effective use of the land in question, Dixon said.

County commissioners agreed to a five-year tax abatement deal for the farm near Bruceville-Eddy. The deal reduces Cypress Creeks county taxes by 80 percent for the first two years, 60 percent for the third year, 50 percent for the fourth year and 40 percent for the fifth year, according to county documents.

After five years, the company will pay taxes in full to the county, County Judge Scott Felton said. The deal will help offset the companys upfront installation costs, Felton said.

Obviously, the incentives are for them to choose this community over another one that doesnt offer any, he said.

The company has been establishing solar farms across the country, with a few locations in Texas, including Falls County, said Kris Collins, senior vice president for economic development at the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has worked with the company since last year to find land opportunities in the county, Collins said.

They have to be within a certain distance of electrical substations, she said. We were able to identify some properties that would meet their criteria.

Construction costs will run in the millions of dollars, and McLennan County contractors are expected to take on much of the work, Collins said. The capital investment alone will have a significant impact on tax revenue, she said. The company plans to start construction as soon as permitting work is complete, she said.

We have a growing population here, Collins said. Its important for us to have diverse energy opportunities, and its a green resource that we havent fully taken advantage of in this area. I think its a win for everybody.
RINO columnist!

Your opinion piece from former Republican Rep. Bob Inglis of South Carolina last Thursday [GOP too scared to probe Russian attack on our election] didnt seem to add up. So, in the interest of full disclosure, I Googled Bob Inglis to find out what he has been up to since he left Congress after his 2010 election loss. (By the way, the Republicans who lost their seats in 2010 are typically referred to as RINOs).

I found the following: For his work on climate change, Inglis was given the 2015 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Inglis was a resident fellow at Harvard Universitys Institute of Politics in 2011, a visiting energy fellow at Duke Universitys Nicholas School of the Environment in 2012 and a resident fellow at the University of Chicagos Institute of Politics in 2014.

Those institutions are some real hard-core right-leaning institutions, correct?

Come on, Trib, anybody can troll the airwaves and find a former politician who suddenly conforms to your point of view and then portray them as everybodys on the same page. The most informative thing we learned from former FBI Director James Comeys testimony was that, once again, Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate for president and, but for Attorney General Loretta Lynchs overt obstruction-of-justice maneuvers (which no one in media except Fox News seems interested in), Hillary would have been indicted for possible crimes, the Democratic National Committee would have scrambled to field another candidate, and Donald Trump would have won  anyway!

These public hearings are a series of show trials designed for the mainstream media and their cohorts in the DNC to stir up visions of Watergate among septuagenarians/octogenarians so they will fly to the midterm elections in 2018, vote Democrat and win back one of the houses of Congress to stop Trumps policies of draining the swamp.

Do you guys really think your readers are that stupid? As Mark Twain once quipped, If you dont read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do, then you are misinformed . . . .

Mitch DeLaRosa, Waco

Pro-life invite

Hal Ritters most recent column [Texas GOP piles into private lives of women, June 14] criticizes pro-lifers in general, the Texas GOP or both. If hes criticizing the pro-life position, what parts of Psalm 139:13-16, Proverbs 6:17 and Jeremiah 1:4-5 does Ritter not understand? If hes critical of the Texas GOP, doesnt he understand that issues embedded in Senate and House bills usually navigate the legislative process one step at a time?

As to the excessive regulation that abortionists must have certain hospital admitting privileges, I invite Ritter to the second Sunday pro-life lunch at St. Marys Catholic Church Parish Hall. One Sunday we learned from a former Planned Parenthood manager that complications from abortions do occur and hospital admitting privileges provide a safety net for women.

Tom Harrison, Waco
As any fan of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain knows, food is more than raw ingredients. To understand a bowl of noodles or a perfectly formed dumpling, a foodie must understand the people who make it, the place where it is made, and the deeply rooted history of both.

Halfway across the world, in the small-yet-mighty city-state of Singapore, students are embarking on the journey of a lifetime at The Culinary Institute of Americas first international location. Bachelors degree candidates studying toward an Asian Cuisines concentration spend a semester at the CIAs Singapore location learning from world-renowned chefs, a vibrant culinary scene, and travels through neighboring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.

On a recent visit to Sri Lanka, students explored the local flavors of traditional curries. The country has a wealth of ingredients that were historically inaccessible in other parts of the world, resulting in flavorful combinations of spices, produce, and proteins that are unique.

Inspired by the journey, the class prepared this recipe for Sri Lankan Crab Curry, a spiced (and a little spicy) mixture that is exploding with flavors and ingredients that you may not use every day. Alongside the familiar coconut milk, garlic, and lime juice, youll find sour tamarind paste, earthy pandan leaves, and nutty fenugreek seeds.

While you may not find some of these ingredients in your everyday grocery store, they should be easily found at a well-stocked Asian market or through online retailers. If not, ask around the market for suggestions to replace hard-to-find ingredients. The beauty of a curry is that, while every ingredient plays a role, there is enough flavor to go around so minor omissions or substitutions wont ruin the recipe.

Were including a recipe for curry powder, and while you can purchase a pre-made blend, making your own gives you the freedom to adjust the mixture to your preferences. If you just cant stand the flavor of fennel, then use a little bit less, because its your curry. Use any leftovers to coat roasted vegetables, to punch up a chicken soup, or to stir into hummus for a flavorful sandwich spread.

However you use these ingredients, and no matter where you purchase them, allow this recipe to transport you somewhere new, and maybe youll be inspired to go off and taste the world yourself.

Siri Lankan crab curry

Servings: 8 (approximate)

Start to finish: 1 hour (Active time: 15 minutes)

3 tablespoons curry powder (recipe below)

Two 2-pound crabs, top shell, gills, and guts removed (see note)

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

3 tablespoons Indian chili powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup sliced shallots

1/4 cup sliced garlic

2 sprigs curry leaves (about 15 fresh leaves)

1 long green chili, sliced

2 cups coconut milk

1/2 cup tamarind paste, soaked then strained

4 fresh pandan leaves

1 cup coconut cream

2 tablespoons lime juice, plus more as needed

Curry Powder

6 cardamom pods

1 cinnamon stick

2 teaspoons coriander seed

1 tablespoon cumin seed

1 tablespoon fennel seed

6 whole cloves

1 teaspoon fenugreek seed

1 teaspoon Indian chili powder

6 dried curry leaves

To prepare the curry powder, heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the cardamom pods and toast, stirring occasionally, until the pods have darkened slightly and are fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl. Add the cinnamon stick and toast until it is also slightly darkened and fragrant. Transfer to a bowl, and then repeat with the coriander, cumin, fennel, cloves, and fenugreek until all are toasted. Add the chili powder and curry leaves to the mixture and grind in a mortar and pestle or electric spice grinder. Set aside.

Cut each crab into quarters. Crack the claws, but leave them attached. In a shallow dish, combine the crab, curry powder, turmeric, chili powder, and salt, and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat the coconut oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, garlic, and curry leaves and cook until softened, about 1 minute. Add the green chili and crab and cook until aromatic, about 3 minutes.

Add the coconut milk, tamarind paste, and pandan leaves and stir to combine. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the crab is fully cooked, about 12 minutes. If the mixture seems too dry, add additional coconut milk or water 1/4 cup at a time.

Remove from the heat and add coconut cream and lime juice, and season with salt, to taste, before serving.

Chefs Note:

If you prefer, you can substitute 8 ounces of lump crabmeat for the whole crabs. In that case, skip the marinating step and add the curry powder, turmeric, chili powder, and salt with the green chili and lump crabmeat in Step 3, then continue as written.

Nutrition information per serving: 455 calories; 241 calories from fat; 27 g fat (23 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 43 mg cholesterol; 405 mg sodium; 39 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 22 g sugar; 16 g protein.
ASHLAND  Citing continuing negotiations with developers regarding tax increment financing (TIF), the Ashland City Council last week postponed the final vote on annexation of the Whitetail Run housing subdivision.

We are negotiating TIF very stringently and were going to make sure that we have an agreement that is appropriate for the city, Council Member Paul Gossin said during the June 15 meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, 10 members of the public spoke during the public comment portion relaying their concerns about the proposed TIF project.

It was another standing-room-only meeting, although this evening brought out a number of people to speak on another item on the agenda.

Ashland Investment Company, developers of Whitetail Run, is asking for TIF funds for public infrastructure. TIF is a program that allows developers to pay for public infrastructure needed to improve a property for commercial or residential development by diverting a portion of the taxes.

The taxes are frozen at the pre-improvement rate. As the property is improved, the tax that would have been paid on the increased valuation is diverted to the developer to be used to finance infrastructure. After a period of time agreed upon by the municipality and the developer (not to exceed 15 years according to Nebraska law), the property is taxed at the full improved value.

The developers have requested an estimated $2 million to bring water and sewer lines to the outer edge of the development, add turn lanes to the highway for access into the subdivision, as well as raise and pave a portion of Dennis Dean Road.

They plan to develop the subdivision in phases, with the first phase to include 50 homes. At this time, their plans do not include commercial development until the second phase.

Annexation is required in order for a development to qualify for TIF. The council has approved two of the three readings of Ordinance 1137 to annex the area. The council tabled the third reading to their July 6 meeting.

Council Member Janece Mollhoff, the most vocal of the council members regarding TIF, reiterated her personal position.

I do really think that TIF is important for economic development and economic development helps not only the city but also the school district with the commercial and the residential that will happen up on that corner, she said.

The city needs commercial development, but there is a lack of available property in the downtown area, Mollhoff said.

Theres no other place for commercial development in Ashland except along the (highway) 6 and 66 corridor, she said.

Mollhoff said the city has few options when it comes to extending infrastructure to the area in question.

What other option is there that doesnt put the city on the hook for a bond up front that would cause Ashland taxpayers to have an increase in the levy? she asked.

Lucas Atkinson, who moved to Ashland two years ago, said he appreciates special attributes of his new hometown and wants them to continue.

What Im asking for you personally and on behalf of my family, is that you make a strong negotiation on the terms of the TIF agreement if thats what you decide to do, he said.

Others in the audience said TIF will not benefit the community.

I think it would be disheartening for a homeowner to come into the Whitetail area thinking that theyre being a good citizen and paying their taxes into the system only to find out that those taxes really arent going to the school system, that theyre going back to pay for the developers infrastructure, said Bob Luebbe, one of the most outspoken opponents of TIF.

Many of the people who spoke against Whitetail Run mentioned the Ashland-Greenwood school district. School officials have predicted the children from the 50 homes in Whitetail Run could put a burden on school facilities.

It concerns me our children could possibly be in overcrowded classrooms and not getting the education and attention they need, said Curtis Beranek.

Shari Nygren, a kindergarten teacher at Ashland-Greenwood and wife of Board of Education Member David Nygren, said teachers will be affected as well as the students.

I dont think its a good time to be doing this, how its going to affect our school, she said.

Chris Spargen admitted he wanted the city to grow, but not at the expense of local students.

I think growth is a great thing, he said. But not that way, not taking it from the school.

Lorene Fangman said she doesnt want money taken from the school district.

We want our kids to grow, we want our kids educated well. We dont want anything taken away. We dont want anybody left behind, she said.

Chris DeVellier acknowledged that TIF has been used to benefit other communities, but mainly for commercial development.

I dont think that TIF is unilaterally a bad thing, she told the council. When applied to residential districts, it comes with greater risks.
WAHOO  Areas across the county were in better shape at the start of the week, after residents spent the weekend cleaning up the aftermath of a June 16 storm.

Peril to trees across Saunders County and loss of power were the most common result of the high-wind storm that moved across the county in a southeast direction, said Saunders County Emergency Manager Terry Miller.

Mead and Yutan received the brunt of the storm within the county, he added.

Wind speeds varied across the county, said Van DeWald, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Valley

Im guessing, based on the surrounding areas, winds were probably 60 to 80 miles per hour, he said.

DeWald added that a National Weather Service employee who lives in Yutan guessed wind speeds reached 70 mph.

Yutan Utility Superintendent Eric Wilke said, following the storm, the city immediately began pushing fallen trees off the streets so that emergency vehicles could navigate them if needed.

The city also opened an emergency dump pile for residents to bring trees and limbs that had fallen on their property.

Mead also received significant tree damage. But in and near Mead, damage also included structural damage to the Frontier Co-op, Mead Cattle Company and AltEn ethanol plant.

Frontier Cooperative Chief Executive Officer Randy Robeson said Fridays storm left a grain drier at a total loss.

Monday morning he anticipated the company could begin accepting grain again on Tuesday.

We wont be able to dry it, but the biggest thing will be finding an available grain drier by harvest, he said.

Mead Cattle Company experienced some roof damage, said Manager Buck Wehrbein.

He said the damage can be repaired.

The worst thing was that we were out of power for 50 hours, he said.

Despite the power being out, they were able to get water from an irrigation unit source that had power and fed silage and distillers.

Wehrbein reported no injury or loss of cattle.

No one was around at either the co-op or cattle company when the storm came through about 7:30 p.m.

There was also extensive damage to a hoop barn storage at AltEn.

Officials were unavailable for comment on Monday.

Mead Board of Trustees Chairman Shawn Havelka said the village dump was open for residents to discard of fallen trees and limbs.

It went pretty smoothly, actually, he said.

Power outages were also a result of the straight-line wind storm. Yutan, Mead, Ithaca, Memphis, Ashland and areas of Cedar Bluffs were all without power for some time over the weekend.

Omaha Public Power District reported it had restored most of the power within the county by Monday evening.

However, there were still isolated areas in the eastern part of the county that had yet to be restored. According to OPPDs power outage map, there were still customers without power near Ithaca, Mead and Yutan.

OPPD said about 1,500 customers may not have power until Wednesday.

At the peak of the outages, roughly 76,000 OPPD customers across the coverage area were without power, a count that ranks as the fourth biggest outage in at least four decades, according to OPPD.

OPPD called for mutual aid assistance from Nebraska Public Power District, Loup Public Power District and Southern Public Power District. Contractors also assisted.

The National Weather Service also reported a quarter to a half an inch of rain in western parts of Saunders County and 1 to 1.5 inches in the eastern parts. The storm system was the same one that moved into Omaha and produced two tornadoes.

Yutan and Mead city officials were impressed with the efforts from their residents to get both towns cleaned up.

The town really did a lot of work. It looks remarkable from what it did Friday, Wilke said Monday morning.

Mead was also hosting its community celebration when the storm hit. All of the events continued as planned.

It was a team effort amongst a bunch of people that got us up and going and kept us going, Havelka said.

Wahoo managed to escape the brunt of the storm. However, that didnt mean that the wind wasnt strong enough to cause some damage to trees. Fallen and snapped tree branches were reported, including a snapped tree at Sunrise Cemetery.

According to the NWS, the top wind speed recorded at the Wahoo Airport was 44 miles per hour.

One day after the storm system that started producing tornadoes, high winds and hail in Madison, Wayne and Antelope counties, Gov. Pete Ricketts, first lady Susanne Shore and Bryan Tuma, assistant director of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, toured the state in a National Guard helicopter. The tour started in the Panhandle city of Bayard, where a tornado tore through the town on June 12. It ended in Plattsmouth, which was also hit by damaging winds on Friday.

A severe weather pattern that began June 12 impacted most of the state, and NEMA has been assessing damage reports from local emergency managers, the governors office said.
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jun 21 (PTI) East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL) and Jindal Global University (JGU) have agreed to set up a Centre for BRICS Legal Studies through a varsity-level cooperation.

The agreement between ECUPL and JGU was signed at a China-India legal forum, a conference on a theme How to Avoid Legal Risks While Investing in India at ECUPL in Changning Qu, Shanghai in China.

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JGU Vice-Chancellor C Raj Kumar said it was important to open institutional mechanisms to navigate and reduce risks for foreign investment in India.

"We share deep and pervasive ties with ECUPL, and are committed to strengthening our relationship through continuous exchange and interaction. The university-level cooperation agreements signed will further help to enhance and deepen our ties with ECUPL, which is amongst the leading universities of China and the world," Kumar said.

"For the last few decades, subsequent governments in India have shown wider political commitment, and there was political consensus for attracting FDI. There is a need for increasing convergence of the mindset of individuals and institutions to reduce and navigate risks," he added.

The forum was organised by JGU, ECUPL and the Dentons Shanghai Office as part of a collaborative initiative between the host institutions, a statement issued by JGU said.

The occasion also saw participation of parliamentarian and former minister of state for commerce and industry E M S Natchiappan, and senior advocate and president of the Indian Society of International Law R Venkataramani.

The deliberations focused on generating fresh and practical knowledge for the upcoming BRICS Summit slated to be held in Xiamen, China in September this year.

Speaking on different roles of Parliament and the Union government on regulating foreign direct investment (FDI) in India, Natchiappan has said, "Since India is a democratic republic union of states, there will be transparency and predictability of the policy of government to reflect the aspirations and protect the welfare of the people...All these are amenable to welcoming FDI in India." PTI RRT MNL SMN

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Three LeT militants were killed today in an encounter with security forces in Kashmir's Pulwama district.

By Shuja-ul-Haq , Ashraf Wani: Three Lashkar-e-Taiba militants - Majid Mir, Shariq Ahmad and Irshad Ahmad - were killed today in an encounter with security forces in Kashmir's Pulwama district that began on Wednesday evening.

An Army Major suffered minor injuries during the encounter. Two rifles were recovered.

The house in which the militants were trapped was set on fire and razed to the ground. Forces had cordoned off the area, based on a specific input about the presence of LeT militants.

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Clashes erupted in the area. Internet services in south Kashmir had been blocked in some areas, and authorities have decided to close colleges and schools in Pulwama district today to avoid any protests.

(Inputs from ANI)

ALSO READ | Jammu and Kashmir: 2 terrorists killed in encounter in Sopore

ALSO READ | Jammu and Kashmir: Centre, state spending crores on separatist leaders, alleges RTI activist

ALSO WATCH | Jammu and Kashmir: Two Hizbul terrorists killed in encounter with security forces in Sopore

--- ENDS ---
Two Macquarie Group executives repeatedly drugged a colleague with valium and laxatives during a business trip to South America in a "malicious" attempt to discredit him.

Within hours of the dangerous prank, several photographs of the unconscious man had been emailed from Chile to Australia, where they were circulated among Macquarie stockbrokers in Melbourne and Sydney.

The unconscious victim.

A senior executive involved in the drugging also sent an image of the South American-branded laxative that was secretly administered to his colleague at an upmarket restaurant in the Chilean capital Santiago.

The 49-year-old victim has launched legal action against the investment bank known as the "millionaires factory", which was aware of the extraordinary allegations, but did not take disciplinary action against the perpetrators.
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.
Trains on the Midland line between Claisebrook and Bassendean are back up and running after an earlier incident forced it to be shut down.

Trains were cancelled on Wednesday afternoon after an incident which required police to attend.

Trains were cancelled for a short time on Wednesday. Credit:Erin Jonasson

At 2pm Transperth released a statement saying replacement buses had been put in place to run between the stations.

The trains were back up and running as normal by about 2.35pm.
Perth Mint is considering banning female staff from wearing underwire bras as part of a new security boost to deter theft.

It comes several months after a contract worker allegedly stole a $50,000 gold bar from the refinery, which is home to a number of high value precious metal products.

Perth Mint spokeswoman Jane King told Nine News Perth the safety review suggested metal free clothing be worn by staff.

"There's also buckles on trousers, theres zips, there's buttons, so there's a whole range, we're not just focusing on the bras, we are also focusing on all metal free - we're making it quite clear that it's metal free clothing," she said.
London: After nearly a week of being shuttled among community centres, hotels and vacant properties, weary survivors of London's worst fire in decades have been told that some of them would be housed in a luxury complex where some apartments go for more than 8.5 million ($14.2 million).

In an announcement that startled some survivors, the government said it would acquire 68 units, ranging in size from one to three bedrooms, to permanently house some of the displaced families.

General view of apartments in the Kensington Row development, in Kensington, west London. Credit:PA

The units are in a complex that is only about two kilometres south of Grenfell Tower, the 1974 building that was incinerated early on the morning of June 14, killing at least 79 people, but there is a social and economic chasm between the buildings.

Immigrants from Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and other poor and troubled countries, many of them refugees and making the minimum wage, were crowded into subdivided apartments in Grenfell Tower.
Last week, the court had convicted six men, including Feroze and mobster Abu Salem, for the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, in which over 250 people lost their lives.

By Vidya : A special TADA court today adjourned the hearing in 1993 Mumbai blasts case sentencing to Thursday while imposing a fine of Rs 2000 on convict Feroze Khan for not examining two witnesses who were called to support the mitigating circumstances for him.

Last week, the court had convicted six men, including Feroze and mobster Abu Salem, for the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, in which over 250 people lost their lives.

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Judge G A Sanap today said that the application filed by Feroze asking for the witnesses to be called was done to waste the precious time of court.

Feroze's lawyer Wahan Khan said that he would not be able to tell the court why refrained from examining the witnesses.

Based on Freoze's request, the TADA court had issued summons to two inmates of the Taloja jail, where feroze has been put up for the last couple of years. One of the witnesses is serving a life term while the other is an undertrial and is currently in judicial custody.

Deepak Salvi, the special counsel representing the Central Bureau of Investigation, told the court that the jail and police authorities had taken great efforts to get the two requested witnesses to court.

Feroze had deposed in the court on Tuesday and began crying while in the witness box requesting that he has not been given the death sentence.

The prosecution is expected formally ask for the maximum punishment for the six men convicted last week.

ALSO READ:

1993 Mumbai blasts case: Convict Feroz makes emotionally-charged appeal in court Mumbai blasts verdict:

How Rakesh Maria cracked 1993 serial bombing case with help of approver

ALSO WATCH:

Will perpetrators of 1993 Mumbai blasts ever be brought to book?

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: Chandigarh, Jun 20 (PTI) 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.

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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.

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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.

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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 Sukhbirs criticism of the budget as a "desperate bid to cover up his own governments 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.

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He said it was surprising that Sukhbir could not work out this simple mathematics despite having led the government for 10 years. PTI SUN VJ AAR

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GJM has decided to offer a 12-hour window, from 6 am to 6 pm on June 23, to the schools in the Darjeeling hills to evacuate their students.

By Indrajit Kundu: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) today announced that it will allow a 12-hour window on June 23 to the schools in the Darjeeling hills to evacuate their students safely to Siliguri and Rongpo.

GJM has decided to offer a 12-hour window, from 6 am to 6 pm on June 23, to the schools in the hills to evacuate their students.

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The exemption is meant for schools to ferry their boarders out of Darjeeling. Barring school buses, no other vehicle would be allowed to leave the hills during the 12-hour "window".

"The students will be allowed to go to Siliguri and Rongpo only in school buses. The indefinite shutdown will continue. Only the students will be allowed to leave safely," senior GJM leader Binay Tamang said.

An indefinite bandh was called in the hills by GJM on June 15.

With supplies running out and the vacations to start shortly, the renowned boarding schools of Darjeeling are facing a harrowing time due to the shutdown.

Darjeeling is home to some of the oldest and renowned boarding schools in the country, but with the GJM-sponsored indefinite shutdown over the demand of a separate Gorkhaland entering its seventh day today, the school authorities are at their wits' end as regards how to send the students home once the vacation starts next week.

The GJM today also complained about "a blackout of news" in the region as the telecast of several national and regional news channels is being regularly interrupted in Darjeeling and Kalimpong district.

ALSO READ | Darjeeling hills burn over Gorkhaland: Why Bimal Gurung must recall 2009 Supreme Court guidelines

ALSO READ | Darjeeling unrest reaches Delhi, Gorkhas stage protest against Mamata Banerjee at Jantar Mantar

ALSO WATCH | GJM attacks BJP MP from Darjeeling Ahluwalia for not visiting since crisis broke out

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jun 21 (PTI) In a first, the government today issued a set of guidelines to standardise the quality of service at wellness platforms which include yoga and naturopathy centres among others.

The accreditation standard issued by the ministry of tourism has been formulated by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH).

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It focuses on all aspects of service delivery like customer rights and education, infection control practises, trained and experienced staff, infrastructure, environment safety, processes and controls, statutory and regulatory compliances etc.

Wellness platforms include spas, ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, fitness and skin care centres among others.

A Mark of Excellence will be provided to the accredited centres which will provide confidence to tourists and locals that the centres are providing services as per global standards and by credentialed staff.

A deterrent to a slew of such centres cropping up across the country, the accreditation, say ministry officials will raise community confidence in services provided by the organisation, stimulate continuous improvement of the organisation and provide an objective system of evaluation and empanelment by third parties.

The accreditation process would involve review of the documentation and two on-site visits by trained assessors from NABH. Communication will be maintained throughout the entire process between the applicant organisation and NABH, thereby making the entire process transparent. Renewal of accreditation has to be done every three years.

Strict guidelines have been provided for such centres while seeking accreditation and delay in providing any information to NABH could lead to cancellation of the application for accreditation.

While the accreditation exercise is a voluntary program, the ministry has incentivised it, making it worth their while for such centres to seek NABHs mark of excellence.

Wellness centres abiding by the guidelines will be listed on Incredible India website with a link to their own web page, making it a credible destination for tourists. They will have the right to display NABH Mark of Excellence and the ministry of tourism approved logo at appropriate locations.

The centres will also be able to participate in the ministrys road shows, nationally and internationally, and also receive financial support under the existing guidelines for Market Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme for Wellness Tourism Service Providers (WTSP).

Under this, financial assistance would be permissible on travel expenses by air from India to any other country and by air/rail from one country to another, in economy excursion class fair and/or charges of the built up furnished stall, electricity and water charges subject to a maximum of 75 per cent of the total expenditure or Rs 2 lakh, whichever is less under the WTSP.

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Up to three visits for two persons from accredited wellness centres and AYUSH hospitals will also be given aid to participate in international events for up to Rs 6 lakh per year.

For domestic events too, the ministry will provide financial support for four seminars/events in a financial year, with a ceiling of Rs 10 lakh each on a 50:50 sharing basis.

The accredited centres will also get financial support for developing publicity material with the ministry providing financial assistance of 67:33 sharing basis, subject to a ceiling of Rs 50 lakh a year. PTI ASG SRY

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To keep an eye on errant companies, a National Anti-Profiteering Authority has been proposed by the government.

An anti-profiteering authority has been proposed by the government. Photo for representation.

By India Today Web Desk: The Narendra Modi government is all set to launch the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the midnight of June 30-July 1.

The Finance Ministry has made it clear that companies or firms that do not pass on the tax benefits under the GST to their customers may lose their registration.

To keep an eye on errant companies, a National Anti-Profiteering Authority has been proposed by the government. This anti-profiteering authority can cancel the registration of any business entity if it fails to pass on to consumers the benefit of lower taxes under GST.

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The proposed five-member authority, to be headed by a secretary-level officer, can also order reduction in price in proportion with the lowering of incidence of taxation under the new tax regime.

This anti-profiteering authority can also ask a firm to return the undue profit earned from not passing the tax benefit to the consumer along with an 18 per cent interest on it.

SCREENING OF COMPLAINTS

The anti-profiteering authority will be in existence for two years unless the GST Council extends its tenure.

Every state will have a screening committee which will examine the complaints regarding companies or business entities not passing on tax benefits to consumers.

Once the state-level screening committee examines the complaint and is satisfied with it, it will forward the same to the Director General of Safeguards for a thorough investigation.

In three months' time, the Director General of Safeguards will send a report to the anti-profiteering authority.

The authority has to decide on the complaint within three months of receiving the report from the Director General of Safeguards.

SALARY DRAWN BY MEMBERS

The members of the National Anti-Profiteering Authority will be appointed by the Central government.

While the chairman of the authority will draw a monthly salary of Rs 2.25 lakh, the other technical members will draw a salary of Rs 2.05 lakh.

The chairman and members of the authority will hold office for a term of two years or until the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

ALSO READ:

GST Modi's tryst with destiny moment? 70 years ago, Nehru made a midnight speech in the same building

Amitabh Bachchan asked by Congress to stop promoting GST or face protest

GST revised: Tax reduced on 66 items, says Finance Minister Jaitley

ALSO WATCH: GST: A ready reckoner for one nation, one tax

--- ENDS ---
MDU's establishment branch head Mehtab Dalal said the university has called for applications for 92 peon posts and Wednesday being the last date they are expecting 20 to 22 thousand applicants.

By Satender Chauhan: On completing 50 years of Haryana's existence as a separate state, the Haryana government is gearing up for gala celebrations and has earmarked Rs 1700 crore for the planned events. On the one hand the government is sparing no efforts to release funds for organising the event, but on the other hand, is the dark reality of unemployment in the state. Lakhs of Haryana's youth are unemployed.

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For mere 92 peon posts with a monthly salary of Rs 8800, the state has received 22000 applications from MBA, BEd, JBT and MA graduates while the minimum eligibility is to be merely Class 8th pass. Desperate applicants said in the face of unemployment, the job of a peon looks like an attractive option to them.

Maharishi Dayanand University campus has throngs of youth crowding to fill application forms. These are not students at the university or youngsters looking for applications. Instead, these are desperate job seekers filling up application forms for a mere 92 peon posts at the university.

One of the applicants, Jyoti says she is an MBA and also a B Pharmacy graduate but has filled up the peon application form.

"We cannot hope for government jobs. There are hardly any government jobs available. Even if there were one needs either big recommendations or money. That is why I am hoping that I will get a job as a peon at least, says Jyoti.

Another applicant Dinesh says he has come from Bhiwani to fill up the application form for a peon's post. Desperate for a job, he says in addition to doing an MA he has completed courses in veterinary science, bus conductor qualifications and also dairy farming.

"I have applied for many jobs, but did not succeed. I am from the general category. I am hoping I get a peon's job," he added.

JBT and BA pass graduates also said they are applying for peon jobs as there are no jobs available in Haryana.

MDU's establishment branch head Mehtab Dalal said the university has called for applications for 92 peon posts and Wednesday being the last date they are expecting 20 to 22 thousand applicants, many of whom are highly qualified.

ALSO READ:

3 years of Narendra Modi govt: Job creation is at lowest, 63 per cent say unemployment not declining

800 million students will be unemployed by 2030: Here's why

--- ENDS ---
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.
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Cub Scout Day in Land Between the Lakes Nov. 19
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 21, 2017 | 03:36 PM | GRAVES COUNTY, KY

The Graves County Sheriffs Office is again asking for assistance in locating a missing Sedalia woman.

Sheriff Dewayne Redmon says 53-year-old Lynette McCollum was last seen on June 15, between 9:30-10:00 am at her home on Love Lane. She was reported missing later that day.

McCollum is white, 5'11" tall, 180 pounds with blonde hair and brown eyes. At the time she went missing, she was reportedly wearing a white tank top and shorts.

The sheriffs office is still trying to locate McCollum or anyone who may have had contact with her on or after June 15. An extensive ground and air search has been conducted in the area near the home by both law enforcement and family members.

Deputies have also spoken with several individuals and followed up on leads as to McCollum's whereabouts, but nothing has materialized. Redmon said McCollum's family is concerned for her welfare as she was reported to possibly be suicidal when she went missing.

According to police, McCollum is not in any legal trouble and there are no criminal charges pending against her over this incident. McCollum is originally from Michigan and Redmond said it is possible she may be back in that area.

Anyone with any information on McCollum's whereabouts should contact the sheriff's office at 270-247-4501.
By National Weather Service Jun. 21, 2017 | 08:59 AM | PADUCAH, KY

The National Weather Service office in Paducah has issued a hydrologic outlook for the end of the week when Tropical Storm Cindy will impact our weather.Cindy is forecast to move ashore on the Gulf coast Thursday morning, then eject toward and reach into the Tennessee valley by Friday. As this occurs, a cold front will drop down from the north and interact with the tropical moisture as it passes Friday night.Cindy`s remnants will bring rain chances as early as Thursday especially in Tennessee, before spiking those chances Friday and Friday night into the rest of the region.At this time, rainfall amounts over two inches appear most likely along and south of the Ohio River, with perhaps rainfall amounts of 3 to 4 inches possible further south and east toward the Tennessee border.The heavy rainfall is expected to cause rises on area creeks and small rivers, particularly where flash flooding occurred over the past weekend. Stay tuned for later updates to these projected potential rainfall amounts, and additional specific details concerning this heavy rain event.

On the Net:
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jun 21 (PTI) The Delhi High Court today told the three municipal corporations in the city to take disciplinary action against its officials for not ensuring cleanliness in their respective areas of the national capital.

"Heads must roll," a bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said after seeing videos submitted by a media house of garbage accumulated in several parts of the city.

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The court had earlier noted that lack of waste disposal was contributing to spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya and had directed the corporations to ensure garbage removal and cleanliness in the city.

It today told the corporations to file an affidavit before June 27 indicating action, including disciplinary proceedings, taken by it for the acts and omissions by its officials.

"First put your house in order," the court said.

The affidavit shall also contain steps proposed to be taken by the corporations to implement an action plan framed by the Ministry of Health, the bench said.

The court was also "extremely upset and pained" over the lack of cleanliness in the city, not providing of proper equipment to the municipal workers and the "false status reports" filed by the corporations which had claimed that regular cleaning of all the areas was being undertaken.

The court was hearing two PILs filed by lawyers, Arpit Bhargava and Gauri Grover, seeking directions to the corporations to prevent spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya. PTI HMP AG RRT DV

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A Topeka senator is working to empower women, while discussing how Kansas may be becoming Democratic than ever.

Senator Laura Kelly, a Democrat, was Wednesday's speaker at the YWCA's network luncheon. Senator Kelly is the Ranking Minority Leader on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

But she also discussed Tuesday's election in Georgia, in which Republican Karen Handel defeated Jon Ossoff by almost four points. Senator Kelly said what happened Tuesday night reminds her a lot of what's happening in Kansas.

"I think we saw the beginning of that in August of '16 in Kansas," Senator Kelly said. "We had moderate Republicans defeating incumbent ultra-conservative Republicans. So I think we've already started to see that movement towards the center and towards more moderation and common sense."

The YW hosts the network luncheons each month.
By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) Overall healthcare cost could increase post GST as some services and products will be taxed at 15-18 per cent, although healthcare per se has been exempted, Apollo Hospitals said today.

Apollo Chairman Prathap C Reddy said if there is an increase in healthcare cost by up to two per cent, hospitals would be in a position to absorb the hike but anything more than that would have to be passed on to patients.

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"There is no GST for us but there are services and some products with GST rate ranging from 15 to 18 per cent that have fallen on us," Reddy said in reply to a question by PTI.

So, after GST the cost increase for hospitals will be around two per cent more, he added.

"If the increase is up to two per cent, hospitals can absorb it but if it is three or four per cent then patients will have to bear it," Reddy said.

The GST Council has exempted healthcare from GST slated to be rolled out from July 1.

He however welcomed the governments move to exempt healthcare from GST.

Apollo Hospitals had stated earlier that the government has accorded healthcare and education the due importance and impetus that they need to become game-changing agents for transforming India, its people and the economy. Reddy also said the company is back to normal after the demonetisation and continues to grow.

Apollo Hospitals has 9,215 beds across 64 hospitals. It also has 2,500 pharmacies, over 90 primary care and diagnostic clinics and more than 110 telemedicine centres. PTI AKT RKL ANU

--- ENDS ---
Haryana Minister Anil Vij has triggered a controversy yet again, this time by saying that there is no term like Hindu terrorism and that a Hindu cannot be a terrorist.

By India Today Web Desk: Haryana Minister Anil Vij is no stranger to courting controversies

Haryana Minister Anil Vij has triggered a controversy yet again, this time by saying that there is no term like Hindu terrorism and that a Hindu cannot be a terrorist.

In remarks that are bound to lead to a war of words, Vij said that the Pakistanis must have been released on the directions of the Congress only.

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"There cannot be a terminology like Hindu terrorism. If a Hindu had been a terrorist, the terror attacks that we keep hearing of across the world would never have happened", the Haryana Minister added.

Vij said that the Congress government merely for political gains wanted to set up a Hindu terrorism bogey to counter the involvement of Muslims in terrorist attacks of late.

WATCH VIDEO HERE

#WATCH: A Hindu cannot be a terrorist, no term like 'Hindu terrorism' says Haryana Minister Anil Vij pic.twitter.com/Ff8ULbD3P3

PREVIOUS CONTROVERSIES ANIL VIJ HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN

The Haryana Minister has in the past slammed people in the Congress as 'Angrezon ki Aulaad'. He has taken potshots at Rahul, saying that the Congress vice president must quit politics and start a property dealing joint venture with his brother-in-law Robert & Vadra properties. In January this year, Anil Vij's remark that PM Modi was a bigger brand name than Mahatma Gandhi for khadi had drawn scathing criticism from several quarters. Vij had said, "Khadi is not patented in the name of Mahatma Gandhi. The name of Mahatma Gandhi led to fall in sale of khadi products. Same happened with rupee. The day Mahatma Gandhi came on the rupee, its devaluation started. Gradually, he will be removed from the notes also." Vij attacked Vijender Singh for his choosing professional boxing to fighting for the country. He had also embarrassed his own Haryana government after actor Parineeti Chopra was appointed the brand ambassador of the Beti Bachao programme. Vij tweeted, "I have no information of anybody being appointed brand ambassador for the programme." The Haryana Minister was in 2015 involved in an argument with Haryana IPS officer Sangeeta Kalia after which the latter was transferred. Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, an Army martyr's daughter who was trolled for her social media posts propagating India-Pakistan peace, was also at the receiving end of Vij's barbs. Vij had said those supporting Gurmehar Kaur should be thrown out of the country. Also read | Rahul takes a dig at Anil Vij, says Hitler, Mussolini were 'powerful brands' Also read | Khadi wisdom from Anil Vij: Modi bigger brand than Mahatma; Rupee weak due to Gandhi's pic

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According to the report, China with 1.41 billion and India with 1.34 billion people, remain two most populous countries in the world.

By Santosh Chaubey: The 25th round of population projections by the United Nations has delayed its earlier estimates of India's population surpassing China's populations by two years.

According to the "World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision" released by the Population Division of the United Nations' Department of Economic and Social Affairs, India is likely to surpass China's population in 2024 while in its 24th round projections, released in 2015, the UN had estimated 2022 to be that year. In its 2013 estimates, the UN had projected India's population to overtake China's in 2028.

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According to the report, China with 1.41 billion and India with 1.34 billion people, accounting for 19 per cent and 18 per cent of the global population, remain two most populous countries and adds that "in roughly seven years, or around 2024, the population of India is expected to surpass that of China."

Nigeria, that is growing most rapidly among the ten largest countries and is currently the world's seventh largest, will surpass the US to become the world's third most populous country in the world shortly before 2050.

Also, while China's population, that is geographically three times larger than us with an economy of USD 11 trillion that is five times of India's USD 2.1 trillion, is slowing down, India's population is expected to be the fastest growing among the countries which will account for half of the world's population growth between 2017 to 2015.

The countries in decreasing order of their expected contribution to the global population growth are India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, the United Republic of Tanzania, the United States of America, Uganda and Indonesia.

The world's total population is projected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100 from its current 7.6 billion. The report says, "83 million people are added to the world's population every year and the upward trend in population size is expected to continue, even assuming that fertility levels will continue to decline."

The report says in 2014 both countries will have roughly 1.44 billion people. While India's population will continue to grow for decades after it, touching 1.5 billion in 2030 and 1.66 billion in 2050, China's population is expected to register a slow decline after remaining stable till 2030s.

In May this year, Chinese experts claimed that India's population had already surpassed China's. Yi Fuxiang, a US based Chinese scientist, came out with his numbers arguing that China's real population was 1.29 billion in 2016 and not 1.38 billion as estimated by China and India had surpassed China with 1.33 billion people quoting the UN figures. He had arrived at his findings after factoring in information and data on family planning policies, birth rate and hospital and school statistics. Though widely reported, his claims were met with scepticism and the UN report now makes it clear that China's still more populous than us, even if only for seven more years.

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Also Read

Beijing celebrates International Yoga Day at Great Wall of China

India's population already overtaken China's: Chinese demographer

--- ENDS ---
By Press Trust of India: (Eds: Updates with additional quotes)

Moscow, Jun 21 (PTI) Showcasing Indias "path-breaking" initiatives for defence production, Union minister Arun Jaitley today invited Russian firms to set up joint ventures with Indian firms and manufacture advanced military platforms through technology transfer.

Addressing the plenary of TECHNOPROM 2017, a leading forum for technological development, the defence minister said Russian defence majors which already have a long experience of working in India are well placed to take advantage of the policy changes effected to encourage tie-ups between Indian and foreign companies.

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Jaitley, who is in Russia on a three-day visit beginning today, said Indian companies are already gearing up to take advantage of policy initiatives in the defence sector by developing capabilities for design and development of military systems.

"I invite Russian companies to come forward with proposals for technology transfer to Indian companies and facilitate manufacturing of more advanced components/parts and sub-systems. This can start with platforms of Russian origin where the requirement is in large numbers and is recurring in nature," he said.

Jaitley said Russian companies can be "natural partners" of the Indian companies as most of Indias defence equipments and inventory are of Russian origin.

"In the past three years, the government has introduced several path-breaking policy and procedural changes in the defence production sector for encouraging private investment, R&D and indigenisation," he said at the forum held at Siberian city of Novosibirsk.

Jaitley said Russian companies, which already have a long experience of working in India and working with India are well placed to take a leading role in the process.

In a major step towards defence indigenisation, the Indian government last month unveiled a "strategic partnership" model under which select private firms will be engaged along with foreign entities to build military platforms like fighter jets, submarines and battle tanks.

The defence minister said Russian companies may identify some items for which they can set up joint ventures with Indian companies so that these items can be supplied across the world.

"Keeping this in mind, we have also streamlined the process of export clearances in last two years," he said adding "India is likely to soon become a member of the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement, which will further catalyse our international engagement."

He said, "In the days to come, we hope to fully harness the energies, entrepreneurial spirit and enterprise of the private sector in the area of defence manufacturing.

"Here again, Russia as Indias largest, oldest and most trusted partner in defence hardware and equipment, would have a comparative advantage in partnering with Indian companies for realising Make in India potential in defence production," Jaitley said.

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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.

Jaitley said as an incentive, industrial licensing for manufacturing of defence equipments has been significantly liberalised.

"Now for manufacturing of parts, components, sub-systems, production equipments and testing equipments, no license is required from the Government. Even for the items for which license is required, the initial validity has been increased from 3 years to 15 years," he said.

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.

"We envisage Make in India in defence sector to not only address domestic requirements, but also to enable Indian firms to become part of the global supply chain.

"Despite Indias significant domestic requirements in defence, manufacturing and business would be sustainable in the longer term only if companies look at global requirements and create economies of scale," he said. PTI MPB PMS ZH AKJ ABH

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/06/2017 (1970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For anyone who has been thinking of buying a cottage in Manitoba, this might be the year to take the plunge.

A new report released Tuesday by Royal LePage says not only is there a good supply of properties to choose from in four key recreational markets in the province  Lake Manitoba, the Lac du Bonnet area, and the east and west sides of Lake Winnipeg  but selling prices are also expected to remain relatively flat this year.

As of May 2017, the aggregate price of a recreational property in the province was $238,600, providing prospective buyers with access to some of the most affordable recreational dwellings in Canada, the company says in its 2017 Royal LePage Canadian Recreational Housing Report.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Files There are plenty of affordable cottage properties available in Manitoba, realtors say.

Tammy Beutel, an associate broker with Royal LePage Top Producers Real Estate, said while cottage prices in the Lac du Bonnet area have recovered somewhat from their recession-induced slump, there are still plenty of deals to be found.

She noted some lakefront cottages in the Lac du Bonnet area valued at more than $500,000 prior the 2008/09 global recession have been selling this spring for an average of $440,000. She also noted there is an even bigger selection of riverfront and back-lot cottages that are selling for an average of $340,000 and $200,000 respectively.

So its a good time to buy a cabin. I tell people that all of the time.

Michael Froese, broker manager of Royal LePage Prime Real Estate, said the dramatic increase in Winnipeg house values over the past decade also has provided homeowners with additional equity that can be used to help purchase a cottage. That, coupled with low borrowing costs, has made the dream of living life on the lake very attainable in Manitoba, he said.

He and Beutel said todays buyers include Generation Xers with young families, move-up buyers who are selling their back-lot cottages and buying lakefront or riverfront properties, and baby boomers who are retiring to the lake.

Jim Muir, an associate broker with Royal LePage Dynamic Real Estate, said there is certainly evidence of that in communities along the west side of Lake Winnipeg.

Age remains one of the predominant factors propping up demand within the Interlake area recreational property market, Muir said. Recently, retirees have continued to cash in on the equity built up in their primary residences, turning around and liquidating their higher-priced urban properties in order to replace them with lower-priced year-round recreational units.

The report says average prices in the region are $252,000 for a lakefront property, $80,400 for a recreational condo and $121,600 for a back-lot cabin.

John Bucklaschuk, broker and owner of Royal LePage JMP & Associates, said cool temperatures have slowed down the Lake Winnipeg market this spring.

However, given the markets attractive price point, and proximity to the provinces capital, we expect that these trends will subside in the coming months as the region begins to heat up, causing a substantial amount of pent-up demand and supply to be unleashed onto the market, he said.

The report says buyers on the east side of Lake Winnipeg can expect to pay an average of $268,500 this year for a lakefront property and $111,500 for a back-lot cabin.

Weather also has been a factor this spring in the Lake Manitoba region, with sales down slightly and selling prices comparable to a year ago  an average of $295,700 for a lakefront property, $324,000 for a riverside cottage, and $239,800 for a recreational condominium.

Buyers are being more selective and taking additional precautions when purchasing a recreational property this year, thanks in large part to inclement weather conditions, said Warren Neufeld, broker of record with Royal LePage Portage Realty.

Potential buyers are spending more time looking into the flood prevention measures that have been implemented in the areas that they are considering buying in, which is ultimately contributing to a slight lag in market activity.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca
Defence Minister Jaitley addressed the forum on the role of defence manufacturing under the "Make in India" imitative and potential for India-Russia partnerships within this framework.

By Manjeet Negi: The India-Russia Joint Committee on Science & Tech Cooperation today held its first meeting that was co-chaired by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley and Russian Dy PM Dmitry Rogozin.

The meeting was held along with 5th edition of TECHNOPROM -- an annual forum focussing on innovation & tech.

Defence Minister Jaitley addressed the forum on the role of defence manufacturing under the "Make in India" imitative and potential for India-Russia partnerships within this framework.

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Russia has launched a "Do It In Russia" initiative to promote local manufacturing & tech development, as well as 'dual purpose industrialization' wherein Russian firms are being encouraged to manufacture items for civil industrial use.

Addressing TECHNOPROM, Russian Dy PM repeatedly praised PM Modi's Make in India initiative and described it as an inspiration for Russia to launch its own version of a drive to enhance industrialization.

It was agreed that there was enormous scope for cooperation within this framework for Indian & Russian industries & tech firms by being part of supply chains as well as partnerships in production.

The Joint Science & Tech Committee meeting finalised range of bilateral areas of cooperative projects including space & marine technologies, IT, deep ocean engineering as well as modelling & simulation.

Cooperation in these areas would be undertaken through futuristic projects with participation of research centres & innovative industrial enterprises of both countries. Working procedures for the Committee have been devised to ensure that mechanism will be dynamic and take speedy decisions towards implementation of joint projects.

2017 has been a year of great progress in India-Russia strategic partnership. There have been several exchanges at ministerial level apart from annual Summit between PM Modi and Russia President. These exchanges reflect excellent state of current relationship, which is better today than it has ever been.

Defence Minister described Russia as a partner of choice for India in high tech and noted that both countries have great trust and confidence in each other.

"India-Russia scientific & tech coop is increasingly driven by synergies & mutual benefit. For example, we are considering launch of a nan satellite of Samara State Univ on an Indian launch vehicle."

Defence Minister will now travel to Moscow to co chair India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military Technological Cooperation with the Russian Def Min Gen. Sergey Shoigu on June 23.

Apart from Jaitley, the Indian delegation includes - Chairman DRDO, Secy Deptt of Atomic Energy, Secy Earth Sciences and senior officials from Deptt of Space, Defence and other ministries.

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ALSO READ:

Jaitley leaves for Moscow on 3-day visit

--- ENDS ---
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/06/2017 (1969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It used to be that new business startups would be undertakings that required founders sweat equity, limited capital and a tightly defined market.

But the top three winners at this years Manitoba Venture Challenge smash that model to pieces.

Catherine Metrycki of Callia, Mark Loewen of Fastnet Communications and Bryce Brousseau of Canada Plow have ambition, incisive understanding of their market and crackling skill sets that shatter that old-fashioned model.

LEIF NORMAN PHOTO The Manitoba Venture Challenge winners for 2017 are (from left) Mark Loewen (second place), Catherine Metrycki (first place) and Bryce Brousseau (third place).

They are all focused on national or international markets, all are rapidly expanding and all of them will require much more capital than their 20-something founders have access to.

If this is really the era of the startup, the winners of the eighth annual Venture Challenge continue to prove Manitobas young entrepreneurs are not being left behind.

In recent years, challenge winners have gone on to win national pitch competitions at the National Angel Capital Organization and the Canadian Finance Forum.

Jan Lederman, the CEO of Innovate Manitoba, said in the six years her organization has been running the event, about 80 companies have been through the program, which includes intensive boot camps to help companies prepare for investor pitches. Additionally, they have raised a collective $113 million of risk capital, including an average of $500,000 in their first 18 months.

In addition to the winners, two other promising businesses were pitched at the event on Tuesday  Brickstorming, founded by Kristen Klassen, a train-the-trainer program using Lego Serious Play method as mental health therapy and M3Aerial Productions, co-founded by Matthew Johnson and Trevor Lehmann, a certified drone pilot training and marketplace platform.

The winners are:

First place: Callia, founded by Catherine Metrycki

Metrycki has created what she says is the first luxury bouquet-in-a-box experience. Her online flower shop may be the only one of the 3,500 mom and pop shops across the country that package bouquets in stylish, ingeniously designed cardboard boxes.

But there is much more to the business than that. With only four bouquet selections available at a time (that depend on which cut-flowers are in season) the ordering process takes no more than six clicks of a mouse to complete.

With no bricks and mortar except some warehouse space and computer servers required, she can keep the cost of bouquets down to $49.99.

Metrycki started in September in Winnipeg and has already grossed $150,000. Shes up and running in Vancouver and Edmonton and launched this week in Calgary.

The online operation is set up to handle all sorts of subscription services, like a bouquet for all the major holidays or every two weeks to Lululemon shops in Winnipeg and Edmonton.

Also, by accessing flowers direct from the grower wherever possible, Callia ensures its flowers stay fresh longer than the inconsistent quality of traditional flower shops.

Metrycki, who already boasts a career as a marketing executive at Procter and Gamble behind her, knows how to leverage a strong brand in her efforts to create a much better experience in an outdated $7.6-billion floral gifting industry.

Second place: Fastnet Communications, founded by Mark Loewen

Even though the telecom business in Canada is overwhelmingly dominated by five large companies, Mark Loewen has already carved out a small niche in the apartment or condo-dwelling, cord-cutting millennial market.

Fastnet has laid its own fibre-optic cables that connect a handful of Winnipeg apartment buildings, which then connect more buildings with line-of-sight wireless connections from roof to roof. Offering service for less than two years hes got more than 400 subscribers with several hundred more queued up to join in Winnipeg and Calgary.

Fastnet is fast both in terms of download speeds  Loewen says its 10-times faster than typical high-speed broadband  and also much quicker than mainstream telcos in installation with an automated process facilitated by pre-installed equipment that cuts installation down to minutes rather than days.

Fastnet is already connected to 13 buildings in Winnipeg with another four about to come up. Loewen is marketing Fastnet to building owners who can then include convenient, high-speed broadband as a selling feature to their tenants.

Loewen knows hell be almost continuously raising money for the next couple of years as he builds out the network connecting more buildings in more cities.

Third place: Canada Plow, founded by Bryce Brousseau

Brousseau has started the quintessential Winnipeg-business  high-tech driveway snow clearing.

Canada Plow doesnt own a shovel. Brousseau has developed a Zamboni-type machine (thats now manufactured for him in Germany) that uses anti-icing material that performs to such exacting specifications that he can confidently say it will clear a driveway in less than 20 seconds regardless of how much has fallen.

Using all sorts of digital technology and a very defined market  the service will only be offered in certain neighbourhoods with homes built in the last few decades  customers can know exactly when their driveway will be cleared and will be warned by an automated text ahead of time so that cars can be removed.

With patents pending and the Canadian rights to the anti-icing materials secured, Canada Plow is offering a service unlike any other. And for as low as $350 per winter, its much less than conventional snow clearing services.

Started in Winnipeg, the business has been up and running for two years and is also available in Edmonton, Regina and Saskatoon. A handful of mid-sized cities in southern Ontario are next on the list.

In the coming weeks Brousseau will take receipt of 16 new machines with updated design features.

With its community-specific target marketing, Canada Plow provides snow-clearing service to churches and religious centres in each of its catchment areas.

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.

A Winnipeg activist called on the city Tuesday to install flashing lights in school zones and threatened to do so himself  regardless of legal consequences  should they refuse.

Todd Dube of WiseUp Winnipeg (WUW) made the pledge at a protest held on the 500 block of Harrow Street.

I would say its a pretty bold threat, said Dube. If they want to come and take them down, then I guess they can do that. If they want to come and charge somebody, then I guess they can do that too. Itll just bring more attention to this. So to answer your question: yes, Im prepared to do it.

RYAN THORPE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Chuck Lewis, owner of Mr. Electric, along with WiseUp Winnipeg, challenged the city to place flashing lights in school zones today in a protest on Harrow Street.

WUW is a local activist group dedicated to fighting the citys photo enforcement program, which they say does not improve citizen safety and functions as a cash grab for the city.

The protest Tuesday was held after a Winnipeg business owner, Chuck Lewis of Mr. Electric, built 20 solar powered flashing lights and offered to donate them to the citys school boards.

He says he will personally pay to have them installed and maintained in all city school zones, which he suspects would cost him about $20,000.

Lewis says he is prepared to buy 60 more lights should the city approve the installations.

The city has no plans to take Lewis up on his offer, according to a city spokeswoman.

At Thursdays protest, one of Lewis lights was temporarily screwed into an existing school zone sign, which the city spokeswoman says is a violation of the provinces Highway Traffic Act.

Its really a no brainer and it wouldnt cost them (the city) any money, said Lewis. I dont know why theyre not open to it. With trees sometimes you miss these signs, but a flashing light makes everyone pay attention. It just makes sense.

Lewis went on to say if the lights saved one childs life it would be worth it.

In Dubes opinion, however, the citys photo enforcement program and refusal to install flashing lights in school zones is not about safety.

This safety rhetoric needs to end, said Dube.

People arent looking for tickets and nobody wants to endanger kids. If the city has true intention of reducing speeds in school zones, dont you think they would want people to know that the speed is reduced in these otherwise innocuous spots that bring them $500,000 a week in ticket revenue?

He went on to claim it is time for the citys photo enforcement program, which he described as both abusive and unfair, to stop.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/06/2017 (1969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  As Churchill entered its 30th day without its rail lifeline, the northern Manitoba town faced mixed messages Wednesday from Ottawa  stoking fears its 900 residents would be denied the food subsidy extended to most fly-in communities.

The federal government later clarified it hasnt yet made a decision on the issue.

Hudson Bay Railway owner Omnitrax Canada indefinitely suspended operations on the line June 9 after a heavy spring melt damaged the track at multiple locations, ending shipments on May 23.

SUPPLIED

Residents and officials in Churchill subsequently asked to join the subsidy program, as the already high cost of food in the town located 1,600 kilometres north of Winnipeg balloons to include the cost of freight being flown in.

A Wednesday afternoon email from Valerie Hache, a spokeswoman for the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, which manages the Nutrition North program, was blunt: Churchill has not qualified for the food subsidy.

The message perplexed Churchill Mayor Mike Spence. Its still on the table, he said. Thats bull.

Food retailer North West Company, which runs a store in Churchill, also said the government told it the decision was still under consideration.

Hours later, James Fitz-Morris, the departments top spokesperson, apologized for the confusion and told the Free Press the government hasnt yet decided whether to add Churchill to the program on an emergency basis.

The minister does have the authority to add them, regardless of what the other criteria are. Thats still being evaluated, he said, adding northern affairs is gathering information on potential costs and needs. It has not been decided yet; it has not been rejected. We are working on it.

NDP MP Niki Ashton (Churchill-Keewatinook Aski) said her riding needs help now.

Were dealing with a crisis situation and so the subsidy should be applied immediately, she said.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett told the Free Press the government intends to act fast, but suggested plans are still in the early phases.

We are looking across all government departments, from resupply ships to airlifts to whatever we can do, to make sure that people in Churchill have whatever they need, Bennett said, noting the communitys looming tourism season.

This is really something that were very focused on. Weve got to fix this.

Transport Canada officials say theyre working with the town and province to ensure community needs are met, but didnt give details on possible marine shipments.

As the owner and operator of the Churchill Airport, Transport Canada is confident the airport has the capacity to accommodate increased cargo operations if necessary, department spokeswoman Natasha Gauthier wrote in an email.

Bureaucrats say communities must meet four criteria to qualify for the Nutrition North subsidy, which Churchill seems to match: lacking year-round surface transportation (with frozen water for more than a month); provincial designation as a northern community; possessing an airport, post office or grocery store; and a year-round population according to the national census.

Meanwhile, Ashton said it was deeply problematic on-the-ground photos recently obtained by the Free Press show critical areas of the rail line were no longer underwater, while the rail line owner continued distributing photos that show the tracks as submerged.

Its clear the people are saying what were hearing from the company is different from the reality, Ashton said. Many have said this is a money grab by Omnitrax.

MP Gerry Ritz (Battlefords-Lloydminster) oversaw the rail line for the former Conservative government as agriculture minister. He said it had issues for years that were left unaddressed, to the point grain companies didnt want to use the Churchill port and started building capacity elsewhere.

It got to the point where they were running 10 kilometres an hour and they just couldnt get the product there, Ritz said. Its deteriorated amazingly over the past two decades.

While theres talk of selling the rail line, Ritz said, youre basically buying a pig in a poke, unless youve got a pretty good, solid idea of what its going to take to make it operational again.

Filings with the lobby commissioner show the company stopped asking for federal help in November 2014. But the company rejects the idea it has let the line slide into disrepair.

Between 1998 and 2015, Omnitraxs investment in the line totalled over $75 million. This is in addition to the combined $40 million that was invested by the federal and provincial governments in the railway and the port, the company wrote in a statement, released through a Toronto public-relations firm.

Supply-chain expert Barry Prentice said the government should look at solutions for Churchill such as cargo airships and new roads.

The rail line has always been a problem, because it was routed wrong in the first place, said Prentice, a professor with the University of Manitobas Asper School of Business.

He said the line to Churchill from Gillam sits on discontinuous permafrost, which is increasingly shifting with climate change.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/06/2017 (1969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

wfpvideo:gxSP5vRP:wfpvideo

Its a gloriously sunny afternoon and Im pounding the pavement with Winnipegs mayor and his new best friend, Dorothy, in an effort to make this city a better place in which to live.

Dorothy and I are sweating up a storm, but Brian Bowman appears fresh as the proverbial daisy as he greets a seemingly never-ending stream of Winnipeggers eager to bask in the warmth of his signature smile.

As the three of us attempt to trundle down a street near city hall, we are forced to stop every few steps to chat and exchange pleasantries with wide-eyed groups of varying size, including five stylish women from S3 Interior Design who are happy to take a break from being photographed for their companys website.

They bubble with excitement as they greet Bowman and Dorothy, who is dressed for the occasion in a stylish orange vest bearing the following urgent appeal: ADOPT ME!

JUSTIN SAMANSKI-LANGILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mayor Brian Bowman stops to talk with some passers-by while on a walk with Dorothy, a German shepherd-mix up for adoption.

Scratching our four-legged companions ears, Bowman slides easily into a sales pitch he will deliver dozens of times along our route: Hi, this is Dorothy. Shes two years old and she needs to find a new home.

By way of background, Dorothy is a curious and friendly two-year-old German shepherd-cross that is one of about a half-dozen adoptable dogs in the care of Winnipegs Animal Services Agency.

Ooh! We need an office dog, coos Tracy Dyck, S3s owner and principal designer, as her colleagues make a fuss over Dorothy.

What you need to know is our walk is the unofficial launch of a new program, wherein the mayor plans to invite local personalities and community leaders to join him and a canine companion for casual strolls downtown.

As we make our way down a crowded sidewalk, past food trucks and packed picnic benches near the Cube Stage in Old Market Square, Bowman explains there are three benefits from mayoral dog walks:

 Drawing attention to the plight of dogs in the Animal Services adoption program, hopefully finding forever homes for them.

 Providing the mayor and the chosen dog with some much-needed exercise. I love dogs and I like exercise, and I need more of it, Bowman says, laughing.

 Offering prominent dog-friendly Winnipeggers a chance to bend the mayors ear in a casual atmosphere.

It is challenging to take notes while walking along a busy sidewalk with an adoptable dog and a mayor who is treated like a rock star by most of the passers-by we meet, which is why I force Bowman and Dorothy to park themselves on a downtown bench under the shade of a large tree.

JUSTIN SAMANSKI-LANGILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mayor Brian Bowman outside city hall with Dorothy and Free Press columnist Doug Speirs.

What you need to know is the mayor is a serious animal lover, especially when it comes to dogs. He and his wife Tracy and their sons Hayden, 9, and Austin, 6, have an 11-year-old miniature Labradoodle named Indiana. He was our first boy, the mayor says. Hes got a little bit of stubbornness. Thats the poodle in him. But hes a good boy.

While he loves the political life  Im a policy wonk, he boasts  Bowman is visibly happy to be away from his office and doing a meet-and-greet with a dog in search of a home.

One of the things weve been trying to do is increase the number of adoptions so were saving the lives of animals who would otherwise need to be put down, he tells me. We dont want any dogs euthanized that dont need to be. Its a great way to promote adoptions.

In between shaking hands with the lunchtime crowd, Bowman tells me hes serious about his walk-a-dog-with-the-mayor scheme. We havent drawn up a list, but youre the first, Doug, he confides, beaming. Im going to do it with (departing WSO maestro) Alexander Mickelthwate before he leaves.

I want to walk with Stefano Grande from the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ. I have meetings with a lot of these folks, so why not do it while were walking a dog? We can promote Animal Services and, through social media, expose people to some incredible community leaders. And its fun.

The side benefit for me is I get an hour in an informal environment to just chat about things. It allows me to reach out and say, Hey, want to go walk a dog over lunch hour?

The informal walks are an offshoot of a year-old city program called PAWS@Work, wherein about 90 city employees have signed up to take adoptable dogs from Animal Services, all of which are sporting bright-orange Adopt Me vests, for downtown walks.

JUSTIN SAMANSKI-LANGILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mayor Brian Bowman and Free Press Columnist Doug Speirs take Dorothy, a German Shepard mix for a walk around town.

Its totally awesome! Animal Services chief operating officer Leland Gordon says of PAWS@Work. Our dogs get a break and some exposure, and city employees get to walk them all over downtown. People will see their orange vests and just come up to them and ask questions about adopting a dog.

In a post-walk chat, Gordon says Winnipeggers can be proud that the number of dogs euthanized by Animal Services has plummeted more than 90 per cent in the last eight years, to just 28 last year from 359 in 2008.

Thats largely due to the citys aggressive use of social media  Animal Services has its own Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter accounts, all run by volunteers  to reunite owners with their lost dogs. Also, the citys 311 hotline helps reunite about 600 pet owners with lost animals each year without the animal agency getting involved.

Gordon said the Logan Avenue facility takes in about 1,000 dogs each year and almost all of them are either reunited with owners, placed with adoptive families or passed on to rescue organizations.

Ninety-seven per cent of the animals that come in leave alive, he says. Were doing everything we can to save as many animals as possible.

Gordon says only extremely aggressive or terminally ill dogs are euthanized. Dogs that cant be reunited with owners are placed in the agencys adoption program, which is promoted on social media and the citys home page.

We only have a handful up for adoption at the moment, he notes. Thats a good problem to have. The fewer dogs in our facility, the better. We usually have anywhere from 15 to 25 at any one time. In a year, we probably, on average, adopt out about 300 dogs.

Getting back to our inaugural walk, at the end of the hour, the mayor and Dorothy have posed for photos with school groups and members of the citys homeless community, and Bowmans stylish slacks are liberally covered with dog hair, not that he minds one bit.

Its strangely comforting to see the mayor down on all fours in Old Market Square, using a city workers hose to fill his cupped hands with water so Dorothy can enjoy a cool drink.

When I was first elected, Bowman says as Dorothy slurps happily, I was told you dont have a lot of power but in some ways you do  you can highlight causes that you think are important. This is one of them. Its such a simple thing to do. It will bring awareness to the work theyre doing at Animal Services.

Moments later, on the steps of city hall, animal services officers Bob Olais and Lisa Clark come by to cuddle Dorothy and take her back to the city kennel. Its kind of sad to think were getting on with our day, and shes going back to Animal Services, the mayor says as he races off to another engagement.

Forgive the misty-eyed sentiment, but hopefully Dorothy will find her forever home, just across the next rainbow. Because, even for a dog, theres no place like home.

doug.speirs@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.

OTTAWA  Manitoban parliamentarians are digging in their heels in a dramatic fight with the federal Liberals to give more Canadians with indigenous roots official Indian status.

Theyre planning to use an extraordinary procedural move to settle the dispute before the summer break, the Free Press has learned.

The decision comes after a judge decided Tuesday not to extend a deadline for Ottawa to fix the lineage provisions of the Indian Act, meaning the governments limited interpretation is likely to stand.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg Centre MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette: 'Were afraid, that getting so close to this goal of giving someone their birthright back might never come to realization'

The day before National Aboriginal Day, said Winnipeg Centre MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette, shaking his head. A kick in the teeth.

Bill S-3 aims to restore Indian status to women who married non-indigenous men and their descendants. The federal Liberals tabled the bill in November after a Quebec court case in August 2015 found the policy violated charter rights.

A judge gave Ottawa until Feb. 3 to rectify the situation, before extending the deadline to July 3. At that point, the government would not be able to register any Indians in Quebec.

As written, the bill would restore Indian status to roughly 35,000 people who lost their lineage from 1951 onwards. It mentions a consultation process to look at older cases, but only commits to solving discrimination from the post-war era.

But last month, Manitoba Senator Marilou McPhedran amended the bill to apply to cases dating to 1876, which the Senate as a whole approved in its final vote. She cited previous court rulings that gradually extended the rights to more people.

That prompted a showdown with the government, which warned that up to two million people could suddenly be eligible for Indian status  citing a report from a Winnipeg demographer, who told the Free Press last week it was an extreme-case example.

The government gutted McPhedrans amendment and could send it back to the Senate as soon as Wednesday for a final vote. Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett insists the limited bill is the responsible thing to do because it restores status to one group, while binding the government to move forward immediately with broader reforms.

Ouellette said his Liberal colleagues mean well, but he blames bureaucrats for not consulting with indigenous groups to write a bill that included more people in the first place. He said that makes it impossible for indigenous people to believe a later consultation will fold them in.

Its the departments fault, said Ouellette, who is Cree. Were afraid, that getting so close to this goal of giving someone their birthright back might never come to realization.

With both branches of Parliament sparring over the bill, the complainants lawyer asked Justice Chantal Masse to extend her July 3 deadline to give more time to decide.

Though the Free Press could not obtain the Tuesday ruling, the lawyer said Masse rejected that request, claiming it would be inappropriate to intervene in a dispute between the government and the Senate. She said shed consider an extension if both sides asked for it.

Thats given a group of senators, including McPhedran and Saskatchewans Lillian Dyck, reason to consider a procedural move last used in the 1940s, the Free Press has learned. Theyve proposed whats called a free conference in which both chambers meet together to settle a debate.

It does seem to fit, in this time of reconciliation, said McPhedran, adding the judge left a wide, open door for the government to ask for more time.

Under a free conference, parliamentarians vote to accept the House or Senates version of the bill  and if they reach a stalemate, the bill dies and neither chamber can propose a similar bill in the parliamentary session.

Ouellette, 40, supports the idea.

Weve been talking for years about this, since I was born, he said. Its time for action.

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 few weeks ago, Gloria Enns could barely lift a pen, let alone write a letter.

She had surgery on her right hand in May, and the scars were still visible as she pressed the tip of her ballpoint down on a piece of loose-leaf Tuesday at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba headquarters, writing to Ahmed Hussen, the Canadian minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.

Enns and about 25 other volunteers and human rights activists gathered on World Refugee Day to compose letters to Hussen and their respective MPs in an effort to convince them to rescind the Safe Third Country Agreement  a federal policy enacted in 2004 that requires claimants to request refugee status in the first safe country they arrive in. The Winnipeg letter-writing session, which also focused on equitable funding for First Nations communities, was organized by Amnesty International and local non-profit organizations SEED Winnipeg and IRCOM.

BEN WALDMAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Constance DeCorby, a retired school teacher, wrote to her MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette.

Under the agreement, Canada recognizes only the United States as a safe third country. However, given the recent instances of refugee claimants risking life and limb to cross the border, the letter-writers believe a change in policy will lead to fewer fatalities and tragedies.

My hand is sore, but its not like those people who lost their fingers due to frostbite crossing the border, Enns said. My hand will heal, but they will never get their fingers back.

Enns, a teacher and volunteer, was referring to Seidu Mohammed and Razak Iyal, two Ghanaian men who crossed into Manitoba at the U.S. border near Emerson in December. She also mentioned Mavis Otuteye, the Ghanaian woman who died last month while trying to cross the border near Noyes, Minn.

Louise Simbandumwe, co-chairwoman of Amnesty International Winnipeg, says the current political climate in the U.S. makes the Safe Third Country Agreement a problematic and potentially dangerous one.

(The agreement) is predicated on the idea that the United States is a safe country for refugees and asylum-seekers, and I think the last few months should tell us that is definitely not the case, Simbandumwe said. We need to make sure people have an alternative. The ability (for someone) to come to Canada and make a refugee claim, even though they went through the U.S., is fundamental and important.

Seid Ahmed, a journalist from Ethiopia, came to Canada as a government-assisted refugee in 2003. Ahmed was imprisoned due to his role as a journalist and his refusal to comply to government pressure. He later escaped.

His story is not exceptional, he said. In Ethiopia, many reporters and government dissidents end up in prison.

According to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, only countries that respect human rights and offer a high degree of protection to asylum-seekers can be classified as safe third countries. Ahmed said recent executive orders by U.S. President Donald Trump make that country unsafe for refugees, specifically Muslims and those from Muslim nations. Thats just one reason he wants the agreement rescinded.

BEN WALDMAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Gloria Enns writes a letter to Ahmed Hussen, the Canadian minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.

The U.S. is not safe anymore under the current government, so why are we still respecting this agreement when they dont respect human rights? Ahmed asked after finishing his letter.

Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, said her organization has always opposed the Safe Third Country Agreement. She said by keeping it, the Canadian government is shutting the doors to refugees.

We have the capacity as a country to do right by refugees, and under (the agreement), we are not doing the right thing, Dench said.

Suspending the agreement doesnt require a lengthy request process. There is a provision allowing for either the U.S. or Canada to suspend the policy for a renewable three-month period.

Before the agreement, Dench said, people could represent themselves at the port of entry instead of taking the dangerous, irregular routes by foot or with smugglers. The rule discriminates against some of the most vulnerable groups, including mothers with children, the elderly and people with disabilities, she said.

Simbandumwe said much of the opposition to rescinding the agreement stems from existing human rights violations within Canada: some believe before the government accepts refugees, it must first deal with issues such as the mistreatment of indigenous people.

A former refugee herself, Simbandumwe doesnt view the two sets of issues as dichotomous.

BEN WALDMAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Seid Ahmed, a former refugee and journalist from Ethiopia, holds up the letter he's sending to Jim Carr, his MP.

There are still concerns that need to be addressed, particularly when it comes to indigenous rights, she said. So, as human rights activists, we always need to be connected to and always advocating to ensure that human rights are protected for everybody, everywhere and at all times. And no country is immune from critique.

After finishing her letter, Enns massaged her sore hand, and discussed the claimants who recently risked their lives to reach Canada.

We could have welcomed them, she said. People shouldnt have to sneak into this country.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca
Even as Indian politicians struggle with asanas, many from across the globe seem to have mastered the art coming straight out of ancient India.

By India Today Web Desk: The world celebrated International Yoga Day today. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking charge in Lucknow amid rains, it was evident we will celebrate this day with more zeal the next year.

On International Yoga Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed various asanas at Lucknow's Ambedkar Sabha Sthal.

Several other ministers in the Modi cabinet were also seen performing yoga asanas across the country. From Union Cabinet Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, everyone had a move to throw around to take part in International Yoga Day.

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Reports came in soon. Ministers were found sleeping amid Yoga Day celebrations and some were spotted apathetically glued to their mobile phones.

The rest involved in the celebrations weren't that proficient either. As various ministers were quick to post photos of their latest feat, it was visible how many Indians pulled off the act in whatever ways they could, unlike China, or Europe perhaps.

Take a look at this...

Twitter @_banarasWale Twitter @_banarasWale

And then this...

Twitter @EOIBeijing

This is Amit Shah performing yoga asanas with Baba Ramdev.

#WATCH Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Amit Shah and Baba Ramdev participate in a Yoga camp in Ahmedabad #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/JzBKTEq9cN- ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

And then came up bird's eye glimpse of a never before event.

'Great Wall of Yoga' Bird's eye glimpse of a never before event!#IDY2017 #YogaDay pic.twitter.com/Ba7DeZ27zV- India in China (@EOIBeijing) June 20, 2017

This is International Yoga Day in Amritsar.

Twitter: @drharshvardhan

And here is a scene from Belgium.

Reuters

M Venkaiah Naidu tweeted, "Thanks to PM Modi, Yoga is now an international art; it's neither political nor religious. It brings peace, good health and unity #Yogaday2017"

Twitter: @MVenkaiahNaidu

And this is New York.

Reuters

FYI || Amitshasana: On International Yoga Day, Amit Shah inspires people around the world with his moves ||

FYI || International Yoga Day: 5 asanas that our politicians must practise everyday ||

FYI || Yoga in submarines to Indian Army calming the mountains, how International Yoga Day is going on ||

--- ENDS ---
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/06/2017 (1970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A two-day sleepout and protest wasnt enough to force the University of Winnipeg Board of Regents to divest completely from fossil fuels.

Students camped out on the schools front lawn and protested outside the boardroom Monday, where the committee agreed on new sustainability policies, but didnt sever its ties with fossil fuel companies.

The student group, Divest uWinnipeg, has been trying to get the university to invest solely in fossil fuel-free companies for the past three years.

JEN DOERKSEN/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Student organizers with DivestUW said the organization doesnt plan to stop campaigning anytime soon, even though the University of Winnipeg Foundation refused to divest from fossil fuels yesterday in a Board of Regents meeting.

At Mondays meeting, the board deferred the groups motion on a way to do that. The students had hoped to set up a committee with representatives from the board, the administration, students, community members, and indigenous leaders. This committee would work on creating a fossil fuel-free investment policy.

They threw [our motion] out on a technicality, said Mitchell Van Ineveld, a member of Divest uWinnipeg.

The board wouldnt provide a spokesperson to the Free Press to explain the technicality. A communications officer for the university said the meeting was in-camera.

The student group learned the technicality involved their motion conflicting with the boards new green fund.

The board explained the fund in a news release Monday.

Created and approved by UWinnipegs Foundation, the responsible investing policy commits to establishing a renewable energy investment fund ie: a green fund as a new option for investors, it read.

The boards new policy will also see environmental, social, and governance components factor into investing decisions.

When asked if these guidelines would screen out any of the 200 fossil fuel companies the global divest movement has identified as having large carbon emissions, the board said no, according to Van Ineveld.

More than 700 organizations worldwide have made the commitment to divest.

Van Ineveld called the University of Winnipeg hypocritical and opportunistic.

Its such a blatant contradiction. The university is trying to build this reputation on sustainabilty and indigenization and then not living up to any of those things when it actually matters, he said.

For Sadie-Phoenix Lavoie, a student and former Vice-President of External Affairs on the University of Winnipeg, the boards decision disregards the rights of indigenous people.

As long as the University of Winnipeg is invested in these companies, it continues to uphold the fossil fuel industry, further deepening colonization, she said in a news release.

Van Ineveld said roughly five per cent of the universitys $56.7 million endowment fund is invested in fossil fuel companies.

The problem, he says, is when people invest without thinking about how those corporations affect the community and the world.

Some of those effects are the consequences of climate change, including more frequent wildfires, longer periods of drought, and more storms.

Members of Divest uWinnipeg will meet before determining their next steps, but their fight isnt over.

Were not giving up. This campaign is not going away, said Lavoie.

stefanie.lasuik@freepress.mb
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/06/2017 (1969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The nationwide price-on-carbon proposed by the federal Liberal government to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a topical subject, with lots of debate and discussion. Provinces will be required to have a minimum price equivalent to $10 per tonne starting in 2018, rising $10 per tonne per year, up to $50 per tonne by 2022. What this action will really mean to the public at large, however, remains unclear.

As an exercise with real-world implications, MBA students studying sustainability economics at the Asper School of Business examined two key associated questions. First, what level of carbon price is needed in order for Canada to fulfill its commitment to the Paris Agreement, which means reducing GHG emissions 30 per cent by 2030 relative to 2005 levels? And second, what level of carbon price would likely result in damage to our countrys economy, particularly since our largest trading partner, the United States, has opted out of the Paris Agreement?

The answer to the first question is most clear  opinions in the literature vary somewhat, but a carbon price of at least $140 per tonne appears to be necessary for Canada to achieve its commitment under the Paris Agreement. This is much higher than the level proposed by the federal government, but should come as no surprise. The final report of the federally sponsored Pan-Canadian Working Group on Carbon Pricing Mechanisms looked at several price scenarios  including upward of $90 per tonne  and found in all cases that Canada would fall well short of its intended target.

Jason Franson / The Canadian Press Files A complete shutdown of oilsands production is among the controversial proposals for Canada in its pursuit of Paris Agreement goals.

A subtle but important factor in this is how the revenue from carbon pricing is actually spent. In Manitoba alone, the total revenue over the five-year period from 2018 through 2022 would likely exceed $1.5 billion. This could go a long way to funding a variety of higher-cost GHG-reduction measures, increasing the level of reduction achieved at a lower carbon price point. Using funds in this way is contrary to assertions in a recent report by the Ecofiscal Commission group, which is a notable fan of carbon fees.

However, as noted above, the proposed carbon price alone is entirely inadequate. Also, there is only so much low-hanging fruit available, especially in difficult areas such as addressing transportation emissions. The final report of the separate federally sponsored Pan-Canadian Working Group on Specific Mitigation Measures suggested that achieving more substantial reduction levels could require measures costing in the range of $100 to $250 per tonne.

One example is accelerated implementation of electric vehicles, which in Manitoba makes sense given our electricity advantage. It is estimated that a modest but effective electric-vehicle incentive program could be implemented here over a period of four to five years, based on a GHG cost as low as $100 per tonne. It could increase the numbers of such vehicles enough to create a critical mass, much like what happened a decade ago with conventional hybrids.

Using carbon-price revenue to fund further reductions has obvious benefits. However, there is no requirement to do so under the federal program. There are also other serious adverse impacts that will need to be addressed, as well as the more general concern of revenue-neutrality and the notion of the carbon price not merely being just a new tax.

More dramatic approaches have been already suggested in order for Canada to achieve its Paris Agreement commitment. One example is to completely close all oilsands production; interestingly, shuttering not just the oilsands but all petroleum production operations across Canada would come nowhere near to the reduction required in Canada by 2030.

Without any domestic fossil fuels, Canada would have to adapt very quickly, most likely becoming dependent on expensive, imported fossil fuels from other countries, including sources such as Venezuela or Nigeria that have much worse GHG emissions than Canadian oilsands. What this highlights for Canada is that in order to significantly reduce our emissions, we need to effect changes to our broader consumerist attitudes rather than merely blaming selected industries.

In accounting for emissions, the federal government could assign upstream-related GHGs from petroleum extraction and refining proportionately to finished fuel products so that they are counted in consuming provinces. This is not currently done, but makes sense as a means for consumers to see the true impact of their fuel choices and to further enhance the economics of alternative vehicle and fuel options when combined with a carbon price.

Tracking full-cycle GHG emissions through supply chains and across boundaries would also help defend the federal government against obvious accusations of intrusion into provincial areas of constitutional jurisdiction.

The second question regarding economic damage from the carbon price is more complex. In terms of overall economic damage, a price level of around $110 per tonne appeared to emerge, but was based on much more variable results being found in the literature. This is also much higher than the level proposed by the federal government. As such, it is unlikely the federal program will have much effect either way  it will neither promote much in the way of overall emission reductions nor cause much in the way of overall damage. That said, the impact of carbon pricing, as proposed, will vary dramatically based on region, industry, and socio-economic group. Manitoba provides a useful example.

Within Manitoba, the impact of a carbon price on electricity will be negligible, given our already clean grid. The increase in gasoline and diesel fuel prices, which today both hover around $1 per litre, will start at around 2 per cent in 2018 and rise to around 10 per cent by 2022. However, since we already see price changes of this magnitude, sometimes in a single week, such an increase will not be overly significant.

On the other hand, the price of natural gas  including delivery costs  is today somewhat over 20 cents per cubic metre. The price increase due to the federal program will be close to 10 per cent in 2018 and will rise to roughly 50 per cent by 2022. This is much more dramatic and will have a particularly great impact on lower-income families who have less choices available.

The structure of the proposed federal program appears to have less to do with achievement of GHG results and more with what is sellable from a political perspective.

As such, the proposed program is part of a broader problem for governments of all political stripes when dealing with emissions.

It is seductively easy to propose dramatic but very long-term reductions; in this regard, it is useful to note the 2030 target of the current Liberal government is the same as the one proposed by the previous Conservative government.

Such a time of reckoning is too far into the future for any sort of relevant accountability.

If the intent is to actually reduce emissions, the preferred approach would be to have more modest, short-term programs and targets against which a given government could be actually measured, so results could realistically be achieved.

Robert Parsons, MBA, PhD, teaches sustainability economics in the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/06/2017 (1969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We shield our children and young teenagers from many things: overt portrayals of sex and violence on TV and in movies, drinking alcohol, smoking, owning guns and signing contracts, to name a few.

The reasons are sound: we hope to keep our youth from physical and psychological harm and prevent them from falling into bad habits or taking actions with long-term consequences they may not fully understand.

We protect them so they can have the best possible future.

FRANK AUGSTEIN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES The United Kingdom has introduced restrictions on food and beverage advertising to children up to 16.

Yet we let them down in one vital area: a healthy relationship with food. We leave our youth alone and exposed in a brutal marketplace.

Failing to set our youth on a path to a healthy relationship with food is leading to significant health problems now  and promising shorter and sicker futures.

Since 1979, the number of Canadian children with obesity has tripled, with almost one in three children now carrying excess weight. Increases have been highest among youth aged 12 to 17.

Evidence shows that obesity rates are influenced by the amount of marketing kids are exposed to. It puts them at risk for many health problems, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Marketing is big business and its sophisticated. Millions of dollars are spent targeting children and youth through multiple channels, including TV and social media. New Canadian research reveals that more than 90 per cent of food and beverage product ads viewed by kids and teens online are for unhealthy products. The most frequently advertised products on sites frequented by teens include cakes, cookies and ice cream, cereal, restaurants and sugary drinks.

Against this backdrop of pervasive marketing is the fact that less than half of Canadian youth ages 12 to 19 eat the recommended minimum of five servings of fruit and vegetables daily.

Children who view TV fast-food ads are approximately 50 per cent more likely to eat fast food. Regular consumption of fast food is associated with ingesting an extra 800 calories a week for boys and 660 calories for girls, translating into a possible weight gain of 4.5 kg (10 pounds) or more a year.

Quebec saw the light years ago. Since 1980, that province has banned all commercial advertising directed at children under age 13.

Legislation before Canadas Senate similarly proposes a ban on the advertising of food and beverages to Canadian children under 13. The proposed legislation is an excellent first step. But it needs to be amended to protect children up to age 16. We need to give healthy eating habits a fighting chance.

Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, have similar restrictions on food and beverage advertising to children up to 16.

Regular consumption of fast food is associated with ingesting an extra 800 calories a week for boys and 660 calories for girls, translating into a possible weight gain of 4.5 kg (10 pounds) or more a year.

Theres increasing evidence that teens are particularly vulnerable to food and beverage marketing and consume more of it than children. The actions and reactions of teenagers are often guided by the parts of the brain connected to emotion and reward/gratification; this makes teenagers very susceptible to unhealthy impulses  which will surprise no parent. Research also shows teens can critique advertisements when prompted, but on their own are likely to believe advertising and accept misleading claims.

In a survey of 128 international experts on food, nutrition and obesity, most respondents recommend restrictions on food and beverage advertising at least until age 16 and more than half recommended an age 18 restriction.

When we want a young person to grow up with certain values and behaviours, we ensure thats what theyre taught, see consistently from role models and experience themselves. Its called good parenting and good education.

So why do we allow our young people to be continuously bombarded with the opposite of good eating messages and then expect them to grow up with healthy eating habits?

Its time we added food and beverage advertising to the list of protections we afford our children and teenagers.

Dr. Tom Warshawski is an expert with EvidenceNetwork.ca and chair of the Childhood Obesity Foundation and an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia. Mary Lewis is vice-president of research, advocacy and health promotion, Heart & Stroke.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/06/2017 (1970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Exactly how badly damaged is the Hudson Bay Railway?

Rail service to Churchill from Thompson was suspended May 31 after spring flood waters overwhelmed the line. For nearly three weeks, Omnitrax Canada, the owner of the railway, has argued lingering water was preventing the company from accessing and assessing the most damaged sections.

As late as June 16, Omnitrax claimed some parts of the line were still covered with water and it may not be able to do any significant repair work until the fall, when the ground begins to freeze.

When these statements were made, Omnitrax probably assumed no one was capable of getting a first-hand account of the state of the rail line. It is remote and difficult to access in the best of conditions.

However, the company clearly did not take anticipate someone like Steve Green  a motorcyclist and adventure-seeker from Colorado who recently rode a dirt bike along the rail line to Churchill from Thompson.

SUPPLIED

Contacted Tuesday near Split Lake on the return trip to Thompson, Green said when he began his expedition, he was aware rail service has been suspended because of flood damage. So, as he made his way up the line, he took photos.

SUPPLIED

The photographs he produced  time-stamped June 14 and obtained by the Free Press  reveal a situation much different than the one described by Omnitrax.

Green said he was able to confirm damage to the line in 16 locations, including sections where the rail bed has been completely dissolved and others where there is damage to bridges and culverts. However, while the photos show a trickle of water in some of the sections where the rail beds were washed out, the water on either side had receded significantly.

Incorrect, Green said in an interview when asked about Omnitraxs continuing claims the water still covers sections of the line. The water is not covering the tracks anywhere and has receded well away from the rail bed.

The images stand in stark contrast to those released last week by Omnitrax. On June 13, the day before Green took his pictures, Omnitrax released new photos to Global News that showed two washed-out sections of the line surrounded by spring flood waters coursing under the track. Other images that surfaced the same week showed sections completely submerged.

SUPPLIED

How does Omnitrax explain the conflicting images?

SUPPLIED

Reached by phone Tuesday, Omnitrax Canada president Mervin Tweed refused to confirm or deny statements made the previous week. Nor would he confirm the date at which the water had receded from the rail bed.

A spokesman for the public relations firm retained by Omnitrax said the photos released by the company did not come with accompanying information about when they were taken. However, this was an error of omission and not an attempt to deceive anyone about the conditions on the ground.

To understand the companys bizarre behaviour, its important to remember Omnitrax no longer wants to own the railway or the Port of Churchill. For more than a year, it has tried to sell both assets to a consortium of northern First Nations. A deal in principle has been reached, but the First Nations have stated publicly they need support from the federal and provincial governments to complete the purchase.

As a reluctant private owner, Omnitrax has zero interest in spending another dime on maintenance or repairs, particularly in a year where there is above-average damage done to the line.

Churchill Mayor Mike Spence said in an interview he now firmly believes Omnitrax has been caught trying to make a bad situation seem even worse to force the provincial and federal governments to pay for repairs.

It certainly looks like they have exaggerated things, Spence said.

SUPPLIED Images of the Hudson Bay Railway from Thompson to Churchill, captured by motorcyclist Steve Green and timestamped June 14 tell a very different story from those provided by Omnitrax.

Spence noted both Tweed and unnamed Omnitrax executives from Denver have publicly stated the company does not have the resources or the money to undertake repairs of this magnitude without government assistance. The implication in that statement is Omnitrax can do the repairs, but wont without government money.

To date, neither Ottawa or the province has shown any interest in providing financial support. That is probably why the company is moving at a glacial pace.

SUPPLIED

The company claims it will take up to six weeks to properly assess the rail line damage and come up with an estimate of repair costs  a preposterous timeline that has less to do with the vagaries of engineering and more to do with an cynical effort to ratchet up the pressure on the federal and provincial governments.

The company also would not say whether it would start doing minor repairs while awaiting the engineering report. Although there are certainly areas where the damage is worse than normal for this time of year, Omnitrax always faces some spring repairs and should be able to do some work right away.

To be fair, the receding flood waters do not mean major repairs can be done right now. Its quite likely the ground is too soggy to allow a train carrying workers and repair materials to work its way north. However, its pretty clear Omnitrax has no motivation to move quickly to reopen the line.

The longer it waits, the more pressure there will be on government to get involved and fund a quicker solution.

It is quite likely a long-term solution will involve government. So far, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and the federal Liberal government have shown little interest in turning the rail line into a Crown corporation. However, as Omnitrax is demonstrating, having the line operated by a private business that no longer has its heart in its work is hardly a bargain.

At the very least, the federal and provincial governments need to be seen to be providing some leadership on this file. Either by cracking the whip and getting Omnitrax to move more quickly on repairs or by creating an alternative resupply option that, over the short term, will reduce the reliance on rail to provide residents of Churchill and other remote communities with basic necessities.

In this muddy mess, the only clear conclusion is this: waiting until August to start repairing this critically important transportation asset is not a solution in any sense of the word.

SUPPLIED

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/06/2017 (1969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

First, do no harm.

Its a bedrock principle that governs every physicians conduct, so inextricably linked to perceptions of the practice of medicine that most believe (mistakenly) its the first sentence of the Hippocratic oath. It actually isnt part of the centuries-old vow taken by doctors as they embark on their careers, but its so fundamental to the ethics and morality of medical practice that it probably should be.

Questions of doing harm, doing good and causing harm while in the pursuit of a greater good are front and centre this week at St. Boniface Hospital, where administrators, board members, health-care professionals and patients are grappling with big questions related to the issue of assisted dying.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS St. Boniface Hospital

The hospital landed in a political and public-relations firestorm this week after the Catholic Health Corp. of Manitoba  which controls SBH  took the controversial step of reconfiguring the hospitals board after the passage last month of a motion to allow for medically assisted death under rare circumstances.

The corporation responded by adding 10 new members to SBHs board, forcing a re-vote that effectively bans assisted dying at the hospital  which, ironically, is the provinces primary palliative-care centre.

Opinion is sharply divided on the topic of medically assisted dying, which became legal in Canada in June 2016. Matters of faith and personal morality inform most individuals views on such delicate end-of-life decisions and its a subject most politicians dread being forced to discuss at the local level. They might now be forced to do just that.

Regardless of ones beliefs about assisted dying, its difficult to view the tactics employed by the Catholic Health Corp.s board as not having strayed into precarious ethical territory.

CHCM chief executive officer Daniel Lussier defended the board-composition gambit, saying the abrupt strategy was employed to protect the integrity of our organization.

While its true that the provinces 1996 faith-based agreement with several government-funded local facilities  including SBH, Concordia Hospital and Misericordia Health Centre  allows for independent governance that respects individual missions and cultures, its equally true that such religiously informed models increasingly are at odds with an ethnically and religiously diverse publics need for access to health care.

The legislation that legalized medically assisted dying does not force medical professionals who object to the practice to participate in it; the current situation at SGBH, however, seeks to extend the ethical opt-out provision to a bricks-and-mortar facility that employs numerous doctors and nurses who are supportive of the practice.

Under the leadership of Pope Francis, the Roman Catholic Church has moderated its stance on several issues, with the pontiff having issued relatively progressive statements on such topics as climate change, gender pay equity and even gay marriage. On the issue of assisted dying, however, the church holds fast to the view that euthanasia is a triumph of selfishness rather than an act of compassion.

Its an understatement to say the Catholic Churchs history is replete with instances in which intransigence and adherence to ideas mired in a murky past have placed the institution on the wrong side of history. Theres no scandal in whats occurring at St. Boniface, but the unease created by the CHCMs questionable tactics suggests its time for the province to reassess its relationship with faith-based institutions supported by taxpayers who expect medical care that meets their immediate and often urgent needs rather than an agenda-driven boards higher purposes.
I first discovered the North Shore in 1993 when my family and I visited Grand Marais for a long weekend. Seeing Lake Superior was a powerful experience, and I fell in love with the small town that catered to hikers, campers and artists. We spent a lot of time outdoors, exploring the trails and the lakefront, but we also ventured into the galleries and shops that displayed the works of local and regional artists who captured the wild spirit of Superior as well as the the woodlands and wildflowers in Superior National Forest and Cascade State Park.

I have returned many times to that place because I love its beauty but most especially because I love the atmosphere of this town: Grand Marais embraces its identity as a home for artists and creativity.

After that initial visit, I reflected that Winona shared many of the same assets as Grand Marais. True, we dont have Lake Superior, but we do have the iconic Mississippi River. More importantly, however, we have an abundance of talented people who share their creativity with us in so many ways.

Local artists werent as prominent in 1993 as they are today; local arts organizations and events have since blossomed, and Winona has become a thriving cultural center for theater, film, dance, music, and the visual arts. We experience art that brings us pleasure, that challenges us, and that enhances our lives. There is so much to celebrate and to share with those who visit our beautiful community.

It is now normal to see local artists works represented in local restaurants and shops, the Winona Art Center, Minnesota Marine Art Museum, the Winona Public Library, the Winona county History Center, and in university galleries, the Winona Art Walk and the Bluff Country Studio Art Tour. The arts are now tightly woven into the fabric of our community life.

One upcoming event to which I want to invite you is River Arts Alliances 2nd Annual Members Exhibition which opens on Friday, June 23, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Paul Watkins Gallery on the Winona State University campus.This exhibit features 31 local and regional artists and runs from June 23 through July 29. The gallery will be open on Fridays and Saturdays (4 to 8 p.m.) during the Concerts on the Green and by appointment.

This event is a partnership with the Winona State University Department of Art and Design and River Arts Alliance. Gallery Director Roger Boulay has beautifully installed this exhibit, which offers insight into the many talents of our neighbors and friends who create visual works that inspire and prompt us to reflect upon their vision and experience.

I encourage you to stop by the Paul Watkins Gallery to explore the works offered in this special exhibition. Admission is free, and you will enjoy viewing these exceptional works created, most likely, by someone you know or know of. Most of the works will be for sale, and proceeds go to the artists.

For more information about this exhibition and about River Arts Alliance, please check out our website: riverartsalliance.org. You can contact me at info@riverartsalliance.org.
The village of Wonewoc was not named for any person, nor is it determined who first conceived the name, however, it certainly is of Indian ori
The 74th session of Badger Girls State takes place on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh June 18-23. The Columbus American Legion Auxiliary (Unit No. 62) is sponsoring Lauren Kirchberg, daughter of Doug and Heidi Kirchberg.

Lauren, who just finished her junior year at Columbus High School, will be joining over 700 girls from high schools throughout the state of Wisconsin. During the week they will run a mythical state  Badger State  serving in various positions from county through state level offices. By this means they will learn about the structure and process of the state government from a hands-on aspect.

Lauren has been a very active student at CHS and in her church and community. Her school activities include membership in National Honor Society, Academic Bowl, Student Council, FBLA, Clarion, choir, varsity volleyball and softball and major parts in school musicals.

In addition, her volunteer service to the Columbus community includes work with Arbor Day, Craft Fair, Holiday Train, Salvation Army, mentoring a Columbus elementary student, a song leader in her church and working with youth softball and volleyball clinics. She has also been a participant in the Xpolsion Softball program as a player and helping with tournaments.
West Nile virus hit close to home last week when it was reported a dead bird tested positive for the virus in Juneau County.

Alyson Horkan, a public health nurse with the Juneau County Department of Health, said the bird was found in the city of Mauston June 5. Juneau County joined seven other counties in the state where West Nile has been detected in birds. The state began surveillance for the virus, which is transmitted through mosquitoes, May 1.

The virus can be spread to humans through mosquito bites and mosquitoes get the virus by feeding on infected birds.

In a statement released last week, Juneau County Health Officer Barb Theis said residents should be more vigilant in protecting against mosquito bites. While humans can get ill from West Nile, about 80 percent of those affected do not become sick. Those who do become ill often face a variety of symptoms, such as headaches, fever, muscle aches, rash and fatigue. The Wisconsin Department of Health said less than one percent of those affected get seriously ill from the virus. In 2016, 13 human cases of the virus were reported in Wisconsin.

Most people infected dont even show signs or symptoms at all, Horkan said.

Horkan said a rainy late spring, along with hot days in June may have contributed to the rise in the mosquito population. Juneau County also has plenty of wooded, marshy areas where the insects can be found.

Rain and especially stagnant water definitely makes breeding grounds and areas for mosquito eggs, so that can increase the population, Horkan said.

To prevent against mosquito bites, the health department recommends: limiting time spent outside at dawn and dusk, when the insects are most active; applying repellent to clothing as well as exposed skin, since mosquitoes may bite through clothing; making sure window and door screens are in good repair to prevent mosquito entry; properly disposing of items around your property that hold water, such as tin cans, plastic containers, ceramic pots, or discarded tires; cleaning roof gutters and downspouts for proper drainage; turning over wheelbarrows, wading pools, boats and canoes when not in use; changing water in bird baths and pet dishes at least every three days; cleaning and chlorinating swimming pools, outdoor saunas, and hot tubs, draining water from pool covers, trimming tall grass, weeds, and vines since mosquitoes use these areas to rest during hot daylight hours, and landscaping to prevent water from pooling in low-lying areas.

The county health department said residents should anticipate the mosquito population to remain high throughout the summer, especially if conditions continue to stay wet.

Public Health Supervisor Tina Sullivan said county residents should frequently wear repellant when doing activities outside. She said most repellants work well to keep mosquitoes at bay.

As far as animals, Horkan said horses can be susceptible to West Nile virus.

Keeping an eye on ticks

The summer season is also peak time for deer and wood tick bites. Horkan said there are a few key steps to take to safeguard against attracting ticks.

Use an insect repellent approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and follow label instructions and wear light-colored clothing so you can see the dark ticks, Horkan said. Tuck your pants inside of your socks and especially try to avoid tall grass and wooded areas.

Horkan said bathing and showering immediately after outdoor activities is a good way to spot ticks on the body. Once a tick has penetrated the skin, the health department said people should use a tweezers to remove the insect.

Usually ticks need to be attached for 12 to 24 hours before the bacteria-born disease is transmitted, Horkan said. So early detection and removal is vital.

Ticks tend to be most active in late spring and early summer, but Horkan said it depends mostly on the weather. The insects are less likely to be more prevalent during dry periods, but some have shown resiliency during droughts.
A look at five yoga asanas which, if performed on a daily basis, can help our politicians stay in perfect shape, both physically and mentally.

By Kritika Banerjee: On International Yoga Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today led the country from the front by performing various asanas with ease at Lucknow's Ambedkar Sabha Sthal.

Several other ministers in the Modi cabinet were also seen performing yoga asanas across the country.

In Delhi, NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind along with Union minister Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addressed a yoga day gathering at Connaught Place.

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Arvind Kejriwal, who doesn't exactly a share a great rapport with the Lieutenat Governor's office, was seen doing asanas with L-G Anil Baijal in perfect sync.

While many of our politicians today performed various asanas to mark the International Yoga Day, we take a look at five asanas that they can practice on a daily basis to keep themselves in perfect shape, both physically and mentally.

1) Bhujangasana or the Snake Pose

This asana helps in strengthening back and shoulder muscles.

Besides a chhappan-inch ki chaati, a 56-inch chest, our politicians also need strong shoulders to carry the expectations of their people.

What better way to get those strong shoulders than by performing this yoga asana everyday.

2) Dhanurasana or the Bow Pose

The asana is said to be a great stress buster.

This yoga asana is best suited to those who can keep their focus sharp like Arjuna, and aim at the target (read political opponents) not with verbal barbs and allegations but with politics of growth and development.

Prime Minister Modi performing an asana on Yoga International Day. Photo: PIB.

3) Viparita Shalabhasana or the Superman Pose

The asana improves blood circulation and helps you focus on the present.

Not to say that one must stop learning lessons from the past, but this yoga asana will help many of our politicians who are caught in a time warp and need to think more about the present.

4) Vajrasana or the Thunderbolt Pose

This yoga asana improves digestion.

Being able to digest criticism in a constructive way is a quality that sets a statesman apart from regular politicians. This asana, if performed everyday, will greatly help our politicians to take criticism in their stride and not always react to it.

Yoga performed by personnel on board INS Vikramaditya. Photo: @SpokespersonMoD

5) Shavasana or the Corpse Pose

This yoga asana brings body to a state of rest and helps in releasing stress.

While many may argue that some of our politicians are perennially in shavasana, yet this asana when performed for a few minutes everyday is bound to help our politicians get rid of stress and keep a cool head.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal doing yoga with L-G Anil Baijal. Photo: @airnewsalerts Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal doing yoga with L-G Anil Baijal. Photo: @airnewsalerts

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ALSO READ:

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IN PICS: International Yoga Day 2017: Warriors of the sea perform asanas on Navy ships

ALSO WATCH: PM Modi braves rain to perform Yoga in Lucknow; Ramdev, Amit Shah stretch it out in Ahmedabad

And here is yoga for all seasons.

--- ENDS ---
Elroys biggest event of the year returns this week with some exciting new attractions.

The 120th annual fair runs from June 22-25 at the Elroy fairgrounds on the south end of town. Marie Preuss, fair board president, said this years installment will feature the return of a carnival, which should be appealing to families.

Its not just the bounce-houses anymore, we will have a full carnival, food, games, all that good stuff, Preuss said. Were also going to have some really great wristband specials at the fair.

Preuss said the fair will feature a mega wristband deal this year. For $50, attendees will have access to all four days of the fair.

With the carnival rides, I think the mega wristband deal should be a really good option, Preuss said.

The tractor pull will also feature a new twist this summer. While the pull will no longer feature antique tractors, it will feature hot farm machines, diesel trucks and some semi truck classes. Southwest Wisconsin Pullers will host the pull, which will feature eight classes, including four farm classes.

Im hoping to see lots of real good stuff on Sunday where it will be a lot louder and a lot bigger tractor pull, Preuss said.

Bull riding continues to be the fairs most popular attraction. This years bull riding, sponsored by Bradley Custom Framing, will take place June 23 and 24 beginning at 7 p.m. One of the programs highlights is the mutton-busting competition where kids attempt to ride wild and wholly sheep, hanging on for as long as possible.

They have helmets and all the protective gear they need, Preuss said. Its the little kids version of the bull riding.

Also this year, the Wonewoc-Center FFAs horse drill team will perform during intermission between bull riding shows. Cost to attend the bull riding events are $15 per adult; $10 for children age 6-11, with free admission for children age 5 and younger.

The fair kicks off June 22 with opening ceremonies at 5:30 p.m., followed by the crowning of the Fairest of the Fair. Preuss said the fair will feature more exhibitors than in previous years, and there will be plenty of food options.

It looks to be a really good year for our exhibitors and the champion livestock auction will be huge, Preuss said. Its a really great opportunity for people to come out and find their niche.

Every year the fair board chooses someone who has shown dedication to the fair to be honored throughout the weekend. This year, Bob Franke, who has been involved with the fair for 72 years, will be honored. Franke began participating at the fair through a local FFA chapter in the 1940s, where he met his future wife. Through the years, Frankes children and grandchildren have shown livestock at the fair.

For the last few years hes been active, serving as one of our photographers, Preuss said. The board is usually pretty busy; we dont get out to see all the events so he takes pictures of everything. He always has a story to share about the fair in the good old days. Everyone just loves talking to Bob.

All funds generated from the fair goes back to hosting the annual event. Last year, the fair opened the new Weber Show Pavilion and the board plans to introduce a capital project outline to replace three aging barns at the fairgrounds.

For more information on the Elroy Fair, go to www.elroyfair.com or search Elroy Fair-Wisconsin on Facebook.
What's most shocking is how fast it happened.

It took just 40 seconds for an ordinary traffic stop to turn deadly -- from a police officer saying, "Hello, sir," to him firing seven shots at a seated motorist.

But the police dashboard camera video released Tuesday adds a visceral element to what police witnesses had described -- unnerving even in the context of other police shootings and after a video taken by Philando Castile's passenger went viral.

Until Tuesday, few people had seen the dashcam video from July 6 when Officer Jeronimo Yanez killed Castile in Minnesota. It was shown in court during Yanez's trial.

He was acquitted Friday of one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of intentional discharge of firearm that endangers safety. Yanez testified he feared for his life because he believed Castile was pulling his own gun from his pocket. But prosecutors said Yanez was too quick to pull the trigger.

How the shooting unfolds

The nearly 10-minute video shows Yanez pulling over Castile on a wide street on a clear summer evening. Yanez approaches the white 1997 Oldsmobile and leans in to speak through the driver's window. Another officer approaches but stands farther away on the passenger side.

Yanez tells Castile his brake lights are out.

The video does not show Yanez's point of view or the inside of Castile's car, where his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter were passengers.

Yanez asks for Castile's driver's license and insurance.

Thirty seconds into the conversation, Castile begins to tell Yanez that he has a weapon.

Castile: Sir, I have to tell you I do have a ...

Yanez: OK.

Castile: ... firearm on me.

Yanez: OK

Castile: I (inaudible)

Yanez: Don't reach for it then.

Castile: I'm, I, I was reaching for ...

Yanez: Don't pull it out.

Castile: I'm not pulling it out.

Reynolds: He's not.

Yanez: Don't pull it out.

Yanez, whose hand had been near his gun, pulls out his weapon and fires seven rapid shots into the car, striking Castile five times.

Reynolds: You just killed my boyfriend.

Castile: I wasn't reaching ...

Reynolds: He wasn't reaching.

Yanez: Don't pull it out!

Reynolds: He wasn't.

Yanez: Don't move! (Expletive.)

Yanez is then heard shouting obscenities and breathing heavily as the tape continues.

The child exits the car amid the chaos, and the other officer picks her up.

Reynolds begins sharing a live video on Facebook, narrating in calm tones. She is told to exit the car and walk backward to an officer.

Officers are seen removing Castile from the car, placing him on the street, and treating him.

Others interview Yanez, who shouts obscenities repeatedly.

"I'm (expletive) up right now," Yanez says at one point.

Yanez: I told him (sigh) 'Can I see your license?' And then he told me he had a firearm. I told him not to reach for it. And when he went down to grab, I told him not to reach for it. And then he kept it right there, and I told him to take his hand off of it. And then he, he had his grip a lot wider than a wallet.

Other officer: OK.

Yanez: And I don't know where the gun was, he didn't tell me where the (expletive) gun was.

Other officer: OK.

Yanez: And then it was just, getting hinky, he gave, he was just staring straight ahead and I was getting (expletive) nervous and then, I told him, I know, I know, (expletive) I told him to get his (expletive) hand off his gun.

Yanez gives a brief explanation of the events to a supervising officer on the scene. Yanez says he told Castile not to reach for the gun and that Castile's "grip (was) a lot wider than a wallet." Yanez continues, saying, "I don't know where the gun was. He didn't tell me where the (expletive) gun was."

Prosecutors: Yanez lost control

During the trial, prosecutors portrayed Yanez as a nervous officer who lost control of his traffic stop. He was too quick to pull the trigger after learning Castile had a gun, based on an unreasonable suspicion that he was a robbery suspect, they said.

Yanez, then a St. Anthony officer, testified Castile put his hand on his firearm, not his wallet or identification papers, and was pulling the gun from his pocket.

"I didn't want to shoot Mr. Castile," Yanez testified. "That wasn't my intention. I thought I was going to die."

Castile's fully loaded gun was found in his shorts pocket, Ramsey County prosecutors said.

Next-day interview

The day after the shooting, two officers from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension interviewed Yanez, who was accompanied by two lawyers. Yanez said he had not watched the dashcam video at that point.

According to the transcript, Yanez said he wasn't sure what Castile had in his hand but thought it was a gun.

Castile reached his right hand toward his pocket or the car console, which is where people usually carry firearms, and had his hand into a C-shape, as if to put his fingers around the butt of a gun, he said.

"I know he had an object and it was dark. And he was pulling it out with his right hand," he said.

Everything happened very fast, Yanez said.

"It seemed like it was (a) split second from the time he told me (about having a gun), to the time he was reaching down, to the time I gave him direction, to the time he had his hand wrapped around it and then I gave him more direction and shots were fired," he said.

The officer said he "had no other option" except to shoot.

Yanez said he smelled burnt marijuana as he approached the car, which he mentions when explaining his reasons for shooting.

"I thought ... if he has ... the guts and the audacity to smoke marijuana in front of the 5-year-old girl and risk her lungs and risk her life by giving her secondhand smoke and the front seat passenger doing the same thing then what, what care does he give about me," Yanez said.

He said he'd made hundreds of traffic stops in which the drivers informed him they were carrying firearms.

Those stops ended safely "100 percent of the time" because the drivers kept their hands in view and told him when they were reaching for their wallets or other objects, he said.

Other key points

In the police dashcam video, Joseph Kauser, an officer who arrived to provide backup, stood on the right side of Castile's car with his thumbs hooked in a casual position on the inner armpit area of his bullet resistant vest.

He testified in St. Paul that he didn't see a gun inside the car and didn't hear most of the conversation between Yanez and Castile, who appeared calm and relaxed. Kauser said he was surprised when Yanez started shooting.

At trial, radio calls showed Yanez said he was going to stop a car to check IDs because two occupants look like armed robbery suspects. He says, "Driver looks more like one of our suspects just cause of the wide-set nose. ... I couldn't get a look at the other passenger, and I'll wait for you."

Reynolds, Castile's girlfriend who was in the passenger seat, said Castile was reaching for his driver's license and registration, not the gun.

Her Facebook livestream captured Yanez yelling, "I told him not to reach for it!" and a bleeding Castile saying, "I wasn't reaching."

The Facebook video, which did not include the shooting, also was shown in court. It includes a portion of the same events as the dashcam video, but the view is from inside the car. Yanez's weapon is seen pointing toward the bloodied Castile. "You told him to get his ID, sir, and his driver's license. Oh my God, please don't tell me he's dead."

When Reynolds is outside of the car, the audio can be heard as the video shows telephone or electrical wires across the blue sky.

"They threw my phone, Facebook," she said. "Please, Jesus, no," she is heard wailing. "Please no, don't let him be gone, Lord."

Protests, disbelief after acquittal

The jury heard two weeks of testimony and deliberated 4 days before finding Yanez not guilty.

The verdict was met by protests Friday.

Glenda Hatchett, an attorney for Castile's family, said Wednesday she's still stunned by the verdict.

"He's not a fleeing felon," she said on CNN's "New Day." "He's not combative with the police, he's doing everything that he's been asked to, but yet he still loses his life."

In a commentary Saturday, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson asked, "How did a jury not see what the rest of the world did? And why does, and how could, this continue to happen? Will there ever be accountability?"

One juror, Dennis Ploussard, spoke to the media, saying the jury didn't take its duties lightly and carefully considered the evidence. For much of the 27 hours of deliberation, all but two jurors were in favor of acquittal.

According to CNN affiliate WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Ploussard said that when jurors came to understand the definition of "culpable negligence," they decided Yanez had acted as any other officer would.

The St. Anthony Police Department said shortly after the verdict that Yanez would no longer be with the police force.

CNN's Steve Almasy, Artemis Moshtaghian, Ralph Ellis and Bill Kirkos contributed to this report.
Belgian Police said the situation is under control at Brussels Central Station on Tuesday after reports of large explosions.

The Belgium Crisis Center said the military neutralized an individual as part of securing the scene.

"Incident with an individual at the station @BruxellesCentral ... Situation under control but please follow the instructions #SNCB," police said on Twitter.

The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said emergency services are on site. Armed patrols, including a bomb disposal unit, surrounded the station.

Remy Bonnaffe said he was inside the station when an explosion went off, followed by a fire.

"The bang was very loud, it was like a very big firework that just went up in front of my nose," he said. "The fire was very small. It was a very small explosion but a very loud bang."

Arash Aazami was walking into the train station when he saw people running out of the building. A restaurant next door let him and others inside as police secured the station.

"There's a lot of military here, but the situation seems to be contained," Aazami said. "There's no sign of panic."

Developing story - more to come
Information is taken from the records of the Portage Police Department and does not represent a comprehensive list of police activity. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Police are seeking help from the public regarding a series of vandalism complaints in which vehicle windows have been broken overnight, with the culprit suspected of using an air gun. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Portage Police Department at 742-2174.

Between 6:59 a.m. Wednesday and 1:15 a.m. Tuesday police responded to 254 calls.

West Wisconsin Street: Police on Wednesday at 6:58 a.m. stopped Abbie VanGalder, 26, of Portage, who was cited for operating a vehicle after license suspension as an eighth offense, driving without proof of insurance and driving after suspension of vehicle registration. The vehicle was towed.

Franklin Street: Police on Wednesday at 12:16 p.m. responded to a report of an out-of-control 10-year-old who had been hitting, scratching and biting, who was restrained and referred to Columbia County Health and Human Resources for battery, disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property.

Goodyear Park Splash Pad: Police on Wednesday at 2:22 p.m. encountered Bradley Fischer, 37, of Dodgeville, who had been drinking and smoking at the Splash Pad shelter. Fischer was cited for possession of alcohol in the park.

East Emmett Street and Adams Street: Police on Thursday at 12:24 a.m. stopped a vehicle for driving against traffic. The driver, 17-year old Seth Mislivecek, 17, of Arlington, was cited for failure to keep a vehicle under control. Joseph Burt, 17, of McFarland, was arrested and cited for possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

West Cook Street: Police on Thursday at 8:31 a.m. stopped a vehicle that hit the curb while parking. Joseph M. Anderson, 18, of Portage, was arrested and cited for underage drinking and violation of a court order of absolute sobriety, registering 0.036 on a preliminary breath test.

West Cook Street: Police on Thursday at 4:38 p.m. stopped Aaron K. Henderson, 27, of Baraboo, who was cited for operating a vehicle after suspension of a license as a fifth offense. The vehicle was towed.

New Pinery Road and County Highway CX: Police on Friday at 7:12 a.m. stopped Joel Dommershausen, 34, of Portage, who was cited for operating a vehicle after revocation of a license as a second offense and failure to install an ignition interlock device. The vehicle was towed.

Thompson Street: Police on Friday at 12:58 p.m. stopped Jose Villagomez, 24, of Portage, and cited him for driving without registration plates and operating a vehicle after suspension of a license as a third offense.

West Wisconsin Street and West Cook Street: Police on Saturday at 2:25 a.m. stopped Nicolle Goodman, 40, of Portage, for failure to stop at a red light. Following a field sobriety test, Goodman was arrested and cited for operating a vehicle while intoxicated as a fourth offense, registering 0.27 on a preliminary breath test. The vehicle was towed.

West Wisconsin Strreet and Cass Street: Police on Saturday at 4:59 a.m. stopped Cody Westcott, 24, of Portage, for suspicious driving and a loud exhaust system. Westcott was arrested and cited for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated as a first offense.

Walmart: Police on Saturday at 8:27 a.m. responded to a reported theft where Forrest Gordon, 21, of Portage, was issued a citation for retail theft.

New Pinery Road and Hiawatha Avenue: Police on Saturday at 2:12 p.m. responded to a reported vehicle accident where two vehicles were stopped for a left-turning vehicle, then rear-ended by another. Sarah Villavicencio, 31, was cited for following too closely.

West Emmett Street: Police on Saturday at 8:44 p.m. responded to a disturbance where Abigail Rott, 38, of Portage, was arrested and cited for bail jumping. Lance Mueller, 57, of Portage, was arrested for violation of probation and cited for one count of felony battery to a public officer, two felony counts of threatening a law enforcement officer, and one count of resisting an officer.

West Wisconsin Street: Police on Monday at 12:07 a.m. responded to a domestic disturbance where a 20-year old Portage man was arrested and cited for domestic disorderly conduct and battery.

East Marion Street: Police on Monday at 10:12 a.m. responded to a domestic disturbance where a 46-year old Portage man was arrested and cited for bail jumping, domestic disorderly conduct, and possession of drug paraphernalia. A 47-year old Portage man was cited for domestic disorderly conduct.

New Pinery Road and County Highway CX: Police on Tuesday at 12:41 a.m. stopped Ethan Schroeder, 21, of Oconto, for driving without tail lights. Following a field sobriety test Schroeder was arrested and cited for operating a vehicle while intoxicated as a first offense, registering 0.14 on a preliminary breath test.
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.

But George would not be dissuaded, even though his parents attempted to convince him to remain at home until he was older.

So, 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 proceed or rear guarded 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, he, along with his company, and doing his duty as a drummer, 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.
REEDSBURG - One important aspect of health, sleep, is often overlooked and often taken for granted. But when sleep doesnt come as easily as it once did, its hard to think about anything else. Up to 70 million Americans are affected by sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and narcolepsy.

Thats why Reedsburg Area Medical Center offers Sleep Center, featuring sleep specialist Dr. Alexander Villareal. He has joined the hospital's specially trained nursing, respiratory and polysomnography staff to detect and treat a variety of sleep problems.

If left untreated, sleep disorders increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, as well as fatigue-related accidents and depression.

Many people feel that they are too busy to take care of sleep problems, Villareal said. However, obtaining quality sleep will improve quality of life and health.

Thats why Villareal says its important to watch for the signs of a sleep disorder and make an appointment if you think you may have one.

Symptoms include excessive daytime sleepiness, loud snoring, breathing pauses during sleep, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, and abnormal behaviors during sleep such as sleep walking or acting out your dreams, Villareal said.

If poor quality sleep seems to be affecting your quality of life, Villareal suggests talking to your primary care provider. After an interview and exam, they will help determine if a sleep study at RAMCs Sleep Center is right for you.

Our sleep team is excited to welcome Dr. Villareal and is thrilled to partner with him and you, to help achieve better sleep and ultimately, a healthier, more rest-filled life," said Jennifer Horkan, director of respiratory therapy and sleep medicine.

A better nights sleep can make all the difference: The best part of my job is making a positive difference in the lives of my patients," Villareal said.

He is looking forward to making a difference in the Reedsburg community. Its a friendly community in small town Wisconsin. I am eager to help people live their best lives and get their best sleep here.
BJP President Amit Shah joined Baba Ramdev for a yoga event in Ahmedabad and the result is very healthy. We don't know about Shah's style of yoga, but laughs here are for free. And laughter, as they say, is the best medicine.

By India Today Web Desk: On International Yoga Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today led the country from the front by performing various asanas at Lucknow's Ambedkar Sabha Sthal.

Several other ministers in the Modi cabinet were also seen performing yoga asanas across the country.

It was great. Fantastic if the intensity of the day is measured.

On the third International Yoga Day, MP farmers performed shavasana on highway in protest. Warriors of the sea also performed asanas on Navy ships. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself performed yoga asanas in spite of the rains in Lucknow.

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Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Vijay Goel, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also took part in the celebrations held in Delhi which was joined by NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind and senior BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi later.

Everybody was playing their top yoga game today.

And then came Amit Shah.

#WATCH Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Amit Shah and Baba Ramdev participate in a Yoga camp in Ahmedabad #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/JzBKTEq9cN- ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Amit Shah, yoga-to-be kidding us with those moves right? When Amit Shah decided to do yoga today with Baba Ramdev, people found humour for all the legitimate reasons.

As usual, the matter was taken to the ministry of humour - Twitter. And then, the third International Yoga Day went down in the history.

What to do when someone asks the benefits of Demonetization? #InternationalYogaDay

"What should Jadeja have done to save Pandya?" Amit Shah : #InternationalYogaDay

Sums up the benefits of demonetization. Pretending to do a lot but actually going nowhere. #InternationalYogaDay

Amit Shah makes some jumps. Hands beating invisible drums. But he's watching you bums. Opposition chumps. Soon you'll be reduced to crumbs.

Me on the first day at the gym.

FYI || Yoga in submarines to Indian Army calming the mountains, how International Yoga Day is going on ||

FYI || International Yoga Day 2017: World's oldest Yoga teacher performs asanas with Anna Hazare in Bengaluru ||

FYI || International Yoga Day: 5 asanas that our politicians must practise everyday ||

--- ENDS ---
Statement from Wits University on the passing of Lord Joel Joffe

Wits University mourns the passing of one of its most distinguished graduates, Lord Joel Joffe CBE.

Described by Nelson Mandela and his co-accused as the General behind the scenes of our defence in the Rivonia trial, Joffe, Wits alumnus and benefactor, philanthropist, and human rights lawyer, died at home in Liddington, England, on Sunday 18 June 2017 after a short illness. He was 85.

Joffe continued to be an indefatigable voice against injustice of many kinds. His lifes work never wavered from defending victims, helping the poor and highlighting the sacrifices made by others in the fight for justice. He became prominent globally as international chairman of Oxfam and later in the UK as a Labour peer; his first distinction, however, was his courageous work as a human rights lawyer in Johannesburg.

Joel Goodman Joffe was born in South Africa on 12 May 1932. He held BCom (1952) and LLB (1955) degrees from Wits, as well as an Honorary LLD conferred in 2001. His independence of mind was evident from an early age. In a 2016 article, Joffe is described as having . developed a deep distaste for arbitrary authority early in life, a quality that never Ieft him (Nigel Tyrie, 2016).

After graduating, Joffe practised as an attorney and also as an advocate at the Johannesburg Bar. Following Sharpeville in 1961 he was approached increasingly to take cases involving political activists. Deeply troubled about race discrimination in South Africa, he applied to emigrate to Australia. But, in 1963, when attorney James Kantor was arrested, Joffe took over his practice and became the defence attorney in the Rivonia Trial, in which several leaders of the ANC, including Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada were charged with treason.

Joffe did not regard taking on this work as an act of courage. For me it was about saving the lives of these wonderful people, Joffe recalled on Desert Island Discs. But that was not the main objective of Nelson Mandela and his colleagues They wanted to put the Government [of South Africa] in the dock. The nine members of the ANC were the finest people I had ever met  such courage, such integrity, so committed They were in it for the people. It was a great privilege to defend them.

Writing from Pretoria prison on 11 May 1964, the nine Rivonia accused, however, praised his courage. They described Joffe as this quiet, courageous man, of rare courage and real devotion to the cause of justice, who was the General behind the scenes of our defence; one of the nine signatories of that letter, Nelson Mandela, later echoed that last statement in his book, Long Walk to Freedom.

Throughout the stressful and eventful months of the trial, Joffe took extraordinary care not only of the accused but of their families. His support and personal generosity towards them was unstinting  as stated in the letter of 11 May 1964.

After the trial, Joffe defended many others accused of political offences. His passport was confiscated and he was harassed by police. Australia withdrew its immigration offer. Eventually, he and his young family were forced to leave South Africa for England, he on a one-way exit permit.

In London he joined Abbey Life Assurance, a public company in which two other distinguished Wits law alumni, Sir Sydney Lipworth and Sir Mark Weinberg, had become significant figures. By 1971, Joffe was Deputy Chair of Allied Dunbar Assurance. He left Allied Dunbar in 1991 and from 1992 campaigned to protect consumers from the excesses of the financial service industry. His campaign significantly improved consumer protection in the UK.

Joffe retained ties with South Africa and his engagement with his homeland intensified after democratization in 1994. He was special advisor to the former Minister of Transport, Mac Maharaj, 1997-1998.

Joffe was a major benefactor of the Wits Law School Endowment Appeal and to date, through his family trust, is amongst the Universitys most generous individual donors. He contributed a substantial donation to the establishment of a Chair in memory of Bram Fischer, with the funds later being used for other projects to commemorate the Afrikaner revolutionary and advocate who was the leading defence advocate of the Rivonia Trial. Joffe dedicated his book The State vs Nelson Mandela , [t]o Bram Fischer Q.C. who saved the lives of Nelson Mandela and his co-accused, but sacrificed his own life in the fight for freedom. Joffe further honoured Fischer in his speech at Wits on 26 March 2015 when the University conferred a posthumous honorary degree on Fischer.

An extremely diffident man, Joffe avoided self-advancement and rejected several honours which sought to acknowledge his philanthropy and charitable work, which spanned decades. He was awarded CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1999 and elevated to the peerage in the House of Lords in 2000. In this capacity he was able to continue championing causes along the philanthropic principles that governed his life. These included his commitment to campaigning for terminally ill people to have the right to end their lives. He proposed a private members bill on the subject in 2003 and 2005.

The flag will fly at half-mast at Wits on Wednesday 21 June 2017 to pay respect to Lord Joel Joffe  a man described in Steven Clingmans biography of Bram Fischer by Constitutional Court President Arthur Chaskalson, as possessing near saintly qualities.
Not just the BJP ruled states, but also those governed by the opposition parties are observing International Yoga Day with vigour and gusto.

By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: At a time when more than 180 countries and all the states in India are observing International Yoga Day with much fanfare, Bihar stands conspicuous by its boycott of the special occasion for the second consecutive year.

Not just the BJP ruled states, but also those governed by the opposition parties are observing International Yoga Day with vigour and gusto. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is one of the chief ministers who are most vocal and bitter in criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is also seen challenging several constitutional bodies such as the Election Commission. But he took part in the celebrations.

Arvind Kejriwal performing Yoga

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Yoga was celebrated also in Congress ruled Punjab. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh expressed happiness over people coming together on the occasion.

Glad to see the people coming together to celebrate #InternationalYogaDay2017. Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) June 21, 2017

Among the foreign countries, besides the USA and the UK, even communist China and Islamic Malaysia observed International Yoga Day.

BIHAR AN ODD EXCEPTION

However, Bihar stood out as an exception because Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dubbed the Narendra Modi government's efforts to celebrate International Yoga Day (IYD) as a "publicity stunt". "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... We don't believe in advertisement," he said, announcing that the Bihar Government would not participate in the International Yoga Day.

But BJP is not amused. It attributed motives behind Nitish Kumar's refusal to allow the Bihar government to celebrate the occasion.

Bihar BJP vice president Devesh Kumar told India Today that Nitish Kumar betrays pettiness by taking such a stand. He is trying to be clever. He has boycotted yoga due to vote bank politics. He sees yoga as being anti-Muslim and fears losing the votes of this community. He wears skull cap on Eid but he does not want to be seen doing yoga," he said.

Kumar termed Bihar's boycott of the International Yoga Day as "sad and deplorable". "You can't restrict yoga to a party, religion or a country. Yoga has many benefits. Besides improving health, it leads to social harmony and gives mental peace. Just because Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the lead in propagating across yoga world over, one should not stoop to the level of petty politicking," he said.

Kumar sought to remind that BJP had supported implementation of prohibition in Bihar by Nitish Kumar last year. "We had expected him to act and think better on the issue of yoga," he rued.

WORLD MUSIC DAY VS INTERNATIONAL YOGA DAY

Nitish Kumar's reason for boycotting the International Yoga Day does not seem to be plausible because of the inconsistency of his stand over the issue.

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Last year, the Bihar CM had boycotted it saying Yoga would be irrelevant unless a ban was imposed on sale of liquor across the country. He had said Yoga was a natural treatment process but liquor addicts could not perform it.

But that logic does not seem to be in line with his prohibition policy. Having imposed prohibition, yoga would be more beneficial for the people of the state. But Nitish seems to be thinking otherwise or clearly has other priorities.

Ridiculous it may sound, but Nitish Kumar had chosen to celebrate World Music Day last year. Yoga and International Yoga Day are a gift of India to the world. It has been accorded recognition by no less than the United Nations through adoption of a resolution on December 11, 2014.

On the other hand, Fete de la Musique or World Music Day originated in France only in 1982. While Music Day is just 34 years old and is observed only in 120 countries, yoga is age old practice and is formally now practised in more than 180 countries.

Moreover, Bihar is the centre for yoga. One of the oldest schools of yoga in the world - the Bihar School of Yoga (BSY) - was founded in Munger (erstwhile Monghyr) in 1964 by Swami Satyananda Saraswati to impart yogic training to householders and sanyasins alike.

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By boycotting International Yoga Day, Nitish Kumar is not just exposing himself to criticism but also depriving the people of the state of a "zero cost" health benefit exercise.

ALSO READ:

International Yoga Day: Check out who gave Modi's mega event a miss

Navy celebrates International Yoga Day onboard Viraat

ALSO WATCH:

PM Modi participates in the International Yoga Day celebrations in Chandigarh

--- ENDS ---
Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma took part in the event in Lucknow. SEE PICS

By India Today Web Desk: Rain lashed Ramabai Ambedkar Sthal, the main main venue in Lucknow where Prime Minister Narendra Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi lead more than 50,000 people in practising yoga on the occasion of International Yoga Day. SEE PICS

People flocked to the Ramabai Ambedkar Sthal and to 10 other major parks in the city despite the showers.

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People have been making it to the venue since Tuesday night in anticipation of getting a vantage place at the sprawling Sthal.

Many raised 'Vande Mataram' slogans as they entered through the gates. The programme started at 6.30 am.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma took part in the event.

HERE ARE THE UPDATES:

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan does Yoga in Bhubaneswar.

CM Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Acharya Balkrishna perform Yoga in Guwahati.

L-G Anil Baijal, CM Arvind Kejriwal and Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu perform yoga in Delhi.

PM Modi performed asanas along with thousands of yoga enthusiasts braving early morning drizzles.

PM addresses yoga practitioners

#Yoga can have the same importance as salt has in life.

#Yoga is about health assurance. It is not even expensive to practice

#I urge everyone to make Yoga a part of their lives

#In addition to fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness.

#I am glad to see several Yoga institutes take shape over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing

#Today, Yoga has become a part of so many lives. Yoga's popularity outside India is high & has connected the world with India

#From Lucknow I convey my greetings to all those joining the Yoga Day 2017 celebrations all over India

Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness: PM Modi

I am happy to see so many Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing

Yoga's immense popularity outside India is high & has connected the world with India

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath welcomes PM Narendra Modi

PM Modi arrives at Lucknow venue where Yoga Day event is about to begin.

PM Shri @narendramodi at the mass yoga demonstration on the occasion of International Yoga Day in Lucknow. #YogaDay2017 pic.twitter.com/a3OrbFJyQE- BJP (@BJP4India) June 21, 2017

Yoga on board Navy vessels INS Jalashwa and INS Kirch!

#InternationalYogaDay: Yoga onboard INS Jalashwa & INS Kirch in the Bay of Bengal pic.twitter.com/m3JIfhjbVb- ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Grounds completely soaked, yoga mats drenched at Lucknow venue where PM Modi is scheduled to perform yoga.

"Feeling extremely proud as hundreds of countries are uniting for yoga - an integral part of Indian culture," tweets Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Tamil Nadu Governor C Vidyasagar Rao arrives at Isha Yoga Centre ahead of International Yoga Day event.

Here's a look back at how the UN headquarters was lit up to celebrate Yoga Day.

Yoga lights up @UN.Here's a sneak peek ofthe iconic UN Headquarters building being lit up like never before for International Day of Yoga pic.twitter.com/8I34egsVqc- Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) June 19, 2017

BJP President Amit Shah and Baba Ramdev perform yoga in Ahmedabad.

Rain in Lucknow ahead of PM Narendra Modi's yoga event.

#WATCH Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Amit Shah and Baba Ramdev participate in a Yoga camp in Ahmedabad #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/JzBKTEq9cNANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017 Yoga enthusiasts refuse to let rain play spoilsport in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Beating the rains, hundreds of yoga enthusiasts gather at Exhibition Road in Kathmandu for #IDY2017 pic.twitter.com/Olg8q41G8G- IndiaInNepal (@IndiaInNepal) June 21, 2017

Let's join the movement started by the Prime Minister's Office to spread yoga far and wide, sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik tweeted yesterday. Take a look at his tribute.

As India gears up to do yoga with PM Narendra Modi, here's a look back at MoS VK Singh's trip to the Great Wall on Yoga Day.

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ALSO READ | Beijing celebrates International Yoga Day at Great Wall of China

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ALSO READ | Ramdev dedicates International Yoga Day to farmers

ALSO READ | AIIMS, RML doctors delve into effects of yoga on migraine and schizophrenia

ALSO WATCH | Baba Ramdev: Due to India's initiative, 200 nations celebrate International Yoga Day

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PM @narendramodi attends Mass Yoga Demonstration in Lucknow, on #InternationalYogaDay Watch full event here: https://t.co/iFqJ6MbGYJ

- PIB India (@PIB_India) June 21, 2017

WATCH | PM Modi braves rain to perform Yoga in Lucknow; Ramdev, Amit Shah stretch it out in Ahmedabad

--- ENDS ---
While the whole world came forward to celebrate the International Yoga Day on June 21, the farmers across north India staged protests by performing 'shavasana' on highways.

By Shiv Pujan Jha, Alok Ranjan: While PM Narendra Modi led the country in celebrating the International Yoga Day, farmers in a few states protested by performing shavasana (corpse pose) to highlight the agrarian crisis.

In Madhya Pradesh, farmers under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh headed by Shivkumar Sharma demonstrated their protest by performing the 'shavasana', since their demands for loan waiver and better prices for the agriculture produce are still not met. They demanded action against the administrative and police officials responsible for the firing in Mandsaur which killed five farmers and left scores injured.

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Recently, on June 15, a large gathering of farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh converged at Jantar Mantar in the national capital to stage protest against their poor condition.

The Kisan Mahapanchayat, organised by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), also protested today, organising a 'Yoga on Highways' session to protest alleged anti-farmer policies of the Modi government.

In Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, hundreds of farmers belonging to BKU laid on the highway performing 'shavasan', bringing the traffic on NH-28 to a standstill. However, they allowed ambulances and students to pass through.

Harinam Singh Verma, a BKU leader said, "The loan waiver of Yogi was a mere eyewash and not a single farmer has benefited out of it. Imagine, we have to sell our milk at 25 Rs/litre, whereas bottled waters are sold at rs 50 to 60 of some brands."

Mukesh Singh, another leader demanded higher support price for the produce. He lamented that, "The central government has failed to live up to its promises and the farmers are left to fend for themselves. We are agitated by what happened in Mandsaur." The farmers however cleared the highway for traffic after the token protest. Earlier, they had plans to stage the protest till 12.00 noon.

According to the BKU President Naresh Tikait, while Prime Minister Modi performs Yoga at Lucknow Stadium; farmers all over the country will block highways between 9 am to 12 noon as a mark of protest.

The Opposition has slammed the Centre for not managing the farmer crisis efficiently. Congress and other opposition parties criticised the BJP for making false promises of loan waivers. On June 19, Punjab became the third state this year after UP and Maharashtra to announce a waiver on crop loans.

Also Read:

International Yoga Day: Yoga is about an inexpensive health assurance, says PM Modi

International Yoga Day: Tight security at Delhi's Connaught Place

Beijing celebrates International Yoga Day at Great Wall of China

Ramdev dedicates International Yoga Day to farmers

ALSO WATCH | International Yoga Day: PM Modi performs asana in Lucknow, says Yoga's standardisation is taking place

--- ENDS ---

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From performing yoga underwater to Indian Army performing yoga under -25 degrees Celsius, this is how International Yoga Day is going on.

By India Today Web Desk: On the occasion of International Yoga day, many people geared up to celebrate the spiritual practice. Mainly attributed to India, yoga helps one conquer their mind, body and soul.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi gearing up the city of Lucknow on International Yoga day, there are many who are participating in practicing yoga in some really unusual circumstances too.

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From Yoga underwater to Yoga in Kargil, this is how India is celebrating the art of Yoga:1. Yoga underwater in submarines, India

Photo: ANI

Photo: ANI

2. Specially abled, Thalassemia patients and pregnant women perform Yoga in Vadodara, Gujarat.

Photo: ANI

3. ITBP Jawans doing Yoga in Ladakh at 18,000 ft (-25 degrees)

#WATCH ITBP jawans doing Yoga at nearly 18000 feet in Ladakh in -25 degrees #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/YvSGqpQnxF- ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Photo: Twitter/IndianDiplomacy

Photo: Twitter/IndianDiplomacy

5. Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa leads a Yoga session organised in Air Force Station, New Delhi

Photo: ANI Photo: ANI

6. Genocide survivors do Yoga in Rwanda

How yoga is helping genocide survivors in Rwanda. #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/AvVF72J1qe- Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 21, 2017

7. International Yoga day celebrations at frontier District Kargil by Project Vijayak of BRO.

Photo: Twitter/airnewsalerts

8. Yoga day celebrations at Head Quarters of Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam.

Photo: Twitter/@airnewsalerts

9. Yoga for Cobras

1001 commandos participated in International Yoga day celebrations at 202CoBRA, Sunabdeda, Odisha.

Photo: ANI Photo: Twitter/crpfindia

--- ENDS ---
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Further agreements flow from AtomExpo

21 June 2017

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More cooperation agreements and contracts have been signed by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and its subsidiaries during the IX AtomExpo International Forum it is hosting this week in Moscow. The latest agreements, with Asian and European companies, cover collaboration in a wide range of nuclear-related areas and beyond.

A cooperation program for 2017-2019 was signed yesterday by Rosatom and French energy company Engie. The document was signed by Kirill Komarov, first deputy director-general for international business at Rosatom, and Jan Bartak, Engie nuclear development director. The cooperation program contains more than 20 specific projects in the field of nuclear power plant maintenance and nuclear fuel cycle services.

Rosatom's nuclear fuel cycle product supplier subsidiary Tenex signed an agreement with Belgium's Synatom to extend an existing long-term enriched uranium supply contract. The document envisages extending the contract until 2022 and increasing the volume of enriched uranium exported. Tenex has been supplying uranium products to Synatom since 1975.

Czech Republic

An MOU to cooperate in repairing welding joints in steam generator vessels for VVER-440 units was signed between JSC Rusatom Service and the Czech Republic's Skoda JS. The aim of the MOU is to develop cooperation between the two companies and identify specific projects for collaboration.

The two companies also signed a contract on the delivery of equipment for unit 2 of the Metsamor nuclear power plant in Armenia. Skoda JS will supply equipment for the control and protection system, which is to be replaced during a scheduled outage in 2018 as part of work to extend the operating period of the unit.

Rosatom's Komarov also signed an MOU with the Czech Power Industry Alliance (CPIA) aimed at developing cooperation in nuclear energy. "That implies, first of all, CPIA member countries' participation in Rosatom's projects in Russia and abroad," Rosatom said. "In its turn, the Alliance is ready to assist in obtaining export finance for Czech companies to be able to take part in the projects."

Asian collaboration

Rosatom subsidiary JSC RASU signed an MOU on 19 June with South Korean engineering company Doosan to develop cooperation in the area of automated radiation monitoring systems and neutron flux detectors for Korean-designed nuclear power reactors, both in South Korea and elsewhere. The MOU was signed by JSC RASU CEO Andrey Butko and head of Doosan's nuclear business group Kiang Na.

Butko said, "The memorandum opens up new opportunities for cooperation between our companies in the nuclear energy market, and in the area of instrumentation and control as well as electrical engineering for power generation and other industrial applications." He added, "This is the first step towards a long-term partnership focused on development of innovative, safe and intelligent systems for customers worldwide."

Rusatom International Network president Alexander Merten also signed an MOU with Roel Castro, president of A Brown Company Inc of the Philippines. The parties plan to develop economic, scientific and technical cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy, as well as jointly exploring possible areas of application of radiation technologies in industry, medicine and agriculture. They also plan to hold a series of events to raise public awareness about nuclear technologies and their application in the Philippines.

Workforce development

An MOU in the area of personnel training for nuclear power programs was signed yesterday between Rosatom Central Institute for Continuing Education and Training (Rosatom-CICE&T) and global testing, inspection and certification services company Bureau Veritas.

Signed by Rosatom-CICE&T rector Iurii Seleznev and Bureau Veritas vice president of nuclear services in Europe Laurent Kueny, the MOU aims to foster cooperation in the field of research, education and training in nuclear science and technology. The organisations agreed to collaborate in such areas as the exchange of materials and lecturers, as well as distance learning.

"Signature of this memorandum is a milestone in the development of cooperation aimed at ensuring the conditions for timely and high-quality compliance with obligations of Russian companies for engineering, equipment supply and the construction of nuclear power plants in EU countries, in particular Finland's Hanhikivi 1 plant."

Rosatom subsidiary JSC Rusatom Service also signed an MOU with France's National Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (INSTN) aimed at expanding bilateral cooperation in the education and training of nuclear energy personnel. It was signed yesterday by Rusatom Service general director Yevgeny Salkov and INSTN director Philippe Correa.

Digital platform

Rosatom also signed a cooperation agreement with global software company ABBYY. The agreement - signed yesterday by Rosatom director general Alexey Likhachov and ABBYY CEO Vadimn Tereshchenko - stipulates conditions of cooperation between the two companies, particularly collaboration in development of a new digital platform for Rosatom.

Likhachov said, "We consider Rosatom's cooperation with leading digital technology companies, like ABBYY, as a chance to strengthen our competitive edge not only in our core energy business, but also in areas connected with elaboration of new high-tech products."

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Four uranium projects excluded from Western Australia ban

21 June 2017

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The Western Australian government has imposed a ban on future uranium mining leases, but says it will not stand in the way of four uranium projects approved by the state's previous government.

The Mulga Rock project, which is not covered by the ban (Image: Vimy)

The ban was announced on 20 June by mines and petroleum minister Bill Johnston on behalf of the government, in fulfilment of an election promise to block future applications to mine uranium made by the Labor Party prior to the state election in March. At the national level, the Australian Labor Party supports uranium mining following its 2007 decision to overturn the so-called three mines policy.

The government said that the actions were consistent with the ban that existed in the state between 2002 and 2008, which it said proved to be "effective". The previous Liberal-National government had repealed the earlier ban when it came to power.

The government has said it "will not prevent" the progress of four uranium projects that received ministerial approval from the previous government, saying it had "clear legal advice it cannot legally deny secondary approvals for the purpose of frustrating approvals already granted." Those four projects are Cameco's Kintyre and Yeelirrie, Toro Energy's Wiluna, and Vimy Resources' Mulga Rock.

Johnston said the announcement supported the Labor Party's commitment to halt the expansion of uranium mining in Western Australia. "We made a commitment that all uranium mining projects with State Ministerial approvals will be able to continue, providing they meet all planning approvals," he said. "The various Western Australian agencies will continue to stringently regulate the industry and ensure the four mines meet their regulatory and environmental responsibilities if they proceed."

Toro obtained state and federal environmental approvals for the Centipede and Lake Way deposits at Wiluna in 2013 and is now in the process of seeking extensions to incorporate mining from the Millipede and Lake Maitland deposits. Cameco's Kintyre and Yeelirrie projects received environmental approvals in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

Vimy Resources received the final approvals required for work to start on Mulga Rock in March. The company said today that the government statement provided "absolute assurance" the project will be allowed to proceed, and would help to underpin the investment required to bring it into production. "Cabinet endorsement of Premier McGowan's long standing policy position on uranium refutes claims by those who sought to misrepresent the Premier's position and argue that Vimy had not achieved the necessary approvals. This announcement puts the issue beyond doubt," Vimy managing director and CEO Mike Young said.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
4. Mount Wutai

Mount Wutai, China.

The highest mountain in Northern China, Mount Wutai, meaning the five terrace mountain is well-known for its spectacular landscape and historical significance. The mountain is topped by five open peaks lacking tree cover. The top of the mountain remains snow covered for most of the year. Below the snow cover lies lush forests of evergreen trees dotted with temples and monasteries associated with the Buddhist religion. Many of these religious monuments are centuries old and are thus associated with immense historical, architectural and cultural value. The mountain is host to about fifty-three monasteries. One of the most notable monuments present here is the Foguang Temples East Main Hall that was built during the Tang dynastys rule in the region. It is the highest surviving timber building of its time and also houses several impressive life-size sculptures made of clay. Another famous building on Mount Wutai is the Shuxiang Temple that was established during the Ming era. Within the temple, there are 500 statues representing stories associated with Buddhism in the form of 3-D pictures. The temples and monasteries on Mount Wutai reflect how ancient Buddhist art and architecture influenced palace building styles in China for more than a millennium. The religious sites on the mountain were visited by several Chinese Emperors and other noted personalities of the country for centuries. Today, the monasteries and temples on the mountain store hundreds of religious scriptures and books that reveal important facts about the history and evolution of Buddhism in China.

3. Mount Emei

The statue of Buddha seen at the top of Mount Emei.

Mount Emei, one of Buddhisms Four Sacred Mountains in China, is located in the countrys Sichuan Province. With an elevation of 10,167 ft, it is the highest of the four sacred mountains. According to tradition, the mountain served as the place where the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra attained enlightenment and also the first Buddhist temple in the country was established here in the first century CE. There is a cluster of about 76 monasteries near the mountain top of Mount Emei that were mostly built during the rule of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The mountain also offers fascinating sunrise viewpoints and spectacular cloud phenomena. The Tibetan macaques living here are famed for their mischievous nature and are often seen accepting food from tourists. The region also hosts a large number of endemic plants species.

2. Mount Jiuhua

A temple atop Mount Jiuhua.

Famous for its natural and historical wealth, scenic beauty, and association with Buddhism, Mount Jiuhua is a mountain located in the Qingyang County in Chinas Anhui province. The mountain encompasses an area of about 120 square km of which 114 square km is protected area. In the ancient times, the mountain hosted as many as 360 Buddhist temples and monasteries and was the residence of about 4,000 to 5,000 nuns and monks. Many of the religious monuments have survived to this date and act as Buddhist pilgrimage sites on the mountain. The Huacheng Temple, Dabeilou Temple, Tianchi Temple are some of the notable extant temples on this mountain.

1. Mount Putuo

North Mount Putuo.

Offering a combination of scenic landscapes and Buddhist religious sites, Mount Putuo is the ideal location to experience spirituality amidst nature. The mountain is present as an island in the East China Sea, southeast of Shanghai. It occupies an area of about 12.5 square km and hosts several religious monuments associated with Buddhism. For centuries, the island mountain has attracted millions of visitors including both pilgrims and tourists who have been attracted by the natural, historical, cultural, and religious wealth of the site. Some of the notable temples present at Mount Putuo include the Fayu Temple, Puji Temple, and the Huiji Temple. The monasteries at the site serve as the temporary or permanent residences of a large number of Buddhist monks and nuns from China and abroad. Buddhist education can be received at the Institute of Buddhism, one of the most reputed academic institutes of its kind in the country. The Mount Putuo is also surrounded by some fascinating beaches and houses the critically endangered plant named the Putuo hornbeam.
Government Of Barbados

The government of Barbados works under a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system. As a Commonwealth Nation, Barbados accepts the monarch of Great Britain as the official hereditary Head of State of the country. The Constitution of Barbados sets forth basic freedoms for the citizens of this country and establishes 3 branches of government to ensure a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. These 3 branches are the: executive, legislative, and judicial. This article takes a closer look at each one.

Executive Branch Of The Government Of Barbados

The executive branch of government is made up of the British monarch, Governor-General, Prime Minister (Head of Government), and Cabinet of Ministers. While the monarch is recognized as the Head of State, the duties are actually given to the Governor-General. The person in this position is appointed by the monarch to represent the interests of the British Crown in Barbados. The Governor-General is charged with appointing the Prime Minister and the 21 members of the Senate: 12 recommended by the Prime Minister, 2 recommended by the Leader of the Opposition, and 7 chosen independently.

The Cabinet of Ministers is chosen by the Prime Minister to manage the various departments and ministries that make up the government. This executive body is responsible for carrying out the regulations and legislation as determined by the legislative branch.

Legislative Branch Of The Government Of Barbados

The legislative branch of Barbados consists of a bicameral Parliament. This body is divided into two departments: the House of Assembly and the Senate.

The House of Assembly has 30 members, who are elected by the general public to serve a 5-year term. These members meet between 40 and 45 days a year and each one represents a single constituency. This department of Parliament is responsible for introducing bills to the Senate.

The Senate consists of only 21 seats, which are appointed by the Governor-General. The Senators review and approve bills submitted by the House of Assembly and also work to create new legislation. The Senate may introduce bills concerning any topic except those that are budget or spending related. Of the 7 members chosen directly by the Governor-General, the majority are selected from labor unions, civil society associations, and other public organizations. Senators serve for a term of 5 years and convene between 20 and 25 days every year.

Judicial Branch Of The Government Of Barbados

The judicial branch of Barbados works independently of the legislative and executive branches. The legal system of this country is based on common law and takes English and British Commonwealth case precedents into consideration when deciding on certain matters. The legal system here is divided into two types of courts: Magistrates Court and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is further organized into the High Court and the Court of Appeals. Cases in these Supreme Courts are overseen by a panel of 4 judges with the Chief Justice serving on both. Criminal cases begin in Magistrates Court and decisions here may be appealed to the Court of Appeals. The final court of appeals for Barbados is the Caribbean Court of Justice. Additionally, the government of Barbados accepts the decisions on cases concerning humans rights made by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It is one of only a few countries in the Americas to do so.
The United Arab Emirates has a presidential, federal, and despotic monarchy. The UAE is a federation of 7 different constituent monarchies, which include the Emirates of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras al-Khaimah, Umm al-Quwain, Ajman, and Fujairah. The President who is also the UAEs head of state is the ruler of Abu Dhabi while the Prime Minister is the ruler of Dubai and the head of government of the UAE.

The UAE's Executive Branch

Regarding administration, the UAE is a federation of seven emirates and each emirate has its ruler who is responsible for setting the pace for the reforms of local government. Under the 1971 Consitution, the seven emirates share a considerable amount of power in matters of revenues and mineral rights which is mostly oil. Since each emirate initially had its system of government, the development of federal powers has been slow.

Division Of Power According To The Constitution

UAE's Constitution divides the federal powers into the judicial, legislative and executive branches. Besides, the executive and legislative powers are further divided into emirate and federal jurisdictions. The Constitution also established the role and position of both the President and the Vice President who are elected rulers from the seven emirates. The seven rulers form the Federal Supreme Council comprising of both a chairperson and vice chairman who are elected to serve a term of five years, the cabinet lead by the Prime Minister, and an independent judiciary including the Federal Supreme Court. Other members of the Federal Supreme Council include 40 members of the National Assembly, a supreme council of rulers, members of a consultative body featuring partially elected and appointed members by rulers of the seven emirates.

Responsibilities Of The UAE Government

The UAE government has different responsibilities under the federal authority including, security and defense, public health, foreign affairs, education, nationality and immigration issues, extradition of criminals, labor relations, currency, banking, licensing of aircraft, air traffic control services, telephone, postal, and other communications. However, certain responsibilities are excluded from the Constitution's Article 120 and 121 but are under the jurisdiction of each emirate.

Local Politics Within The UAE

Each emirate has a different degree of financial influence and prestige; this is openly seen by how positions in the federal government are allocated. For instance, The President of the UAE hails from Abu Dhabi which is a major producer of oil. Since Dubai a former oil producer is the current commercial hub for the UAE, its ruler is the prime minister and vice president. Following the independence of the UAE in 1971, the government has strived to establish its federal institutions entirely. The complexity of local governments within the seven emirates depends on development and size of each emirate. For example, physically and financially bigger emirates such as Abu Dhabi are further divided into various municipalities in this case two.

Overview Of UAE's Government

Traditionally, regional rulers hold open discussions with their citizens whether they are elite, merchants or ordinary people. Within the UAE, emirate rulers together with senior family members engage in such forums mainly to find ways on which they can make life better for the people through better governance. In regards to the UAE's judiciary branch, its judicial system features both the Sharia law and civil law systems. The UAE court systems comprise of both Sharia courts and civil courts.
The Republic of Yemen is a 527,970 square kilometer, Arab and predominantly Muslim country. It is located along the 1906 kilometer coastline that touches the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea according to the World Bank. Yemens capital is Sanaa and to the north, it borders Saudi Arabia, and to the East North East, borders Oman. Along the Red Sea, is the narrow Bab-el-Mandeb Strait separating Eritrea and Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula comprising of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, and Yemen. Yemen has a population of about 26.83 million people according to 2015 World Bank data and is the second biggest country in the Peninsula after Saudi Arabia.

History Of The Unified Yemen

Yemen was established on May 22, 1990, after the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen), and the Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) merged. After the merger, a five member presidential council was formed and included presidents from both north and south Yemen who became president and prime minister of the unified Yemen. The 1991 constitution, gave provision for a president as the head of state, vice president, the legislature, and a council of ministers, appointed by the president, and headed by the prime minister.

Executive Branch Of The Government Of Yemen

In Yemen, the president is elected through a popular vote for a seven year term.After elections he appoints the vice president, prime minister, and deputy prime ministers. The Prime Minister heads the government. On advice from Prime Minister, the president also appoints the cabinet and the National Defense Council. The president has power to call for parliamentary elections, general referendum, and dissolve parliament by decree to call for new elections within 60 days.

Legislative Branch Of The Government Of Yemen

Yemen has a bicameral legislature consisting of a 111 member Senate, appointed by the president; and a 301 member House of Representatives, elected by popular vote to serve an 8 year term. The House of Representatives has the legislative authority to enact laws, sanction state policy, and direct and supervise the executive branch. Both the Senate and the House meet to vote on national defense legislation. The parliament, can take a vote of confidence after auditing the governments program. Yemens constitution grants the president the power to dissolve parliament.

Judicial Branch Of The Government Of Yemen

Shariah Islamic law is Yemens legislation reference and Islam the state religion. The legal system and laws borrow heavily from Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal customary laws. Offenders are presumed innocent unless proven guilty and are entitled to counsel. They have rights to defense and council as entrenched in the constitution. Public trials are commonly conducted without juries and judges, but offenders have appeal rights. Yemens constitution allows for an independent judiciary and judges according to Yemens General Investment Authority. But it is still overseen by an executive branch council, supreme judicial council, and judges are appointed and dismissed by the executive branch. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, and it is an administrative, military, constitutional, and appeals court. The Supreme Court also settles election disputes and conflicts of jurisdiction in other junior courts in Yemen and prosecutes high-profile offenders.
PM Narendra Modi shared the stage with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at Lucknow's Ambedkar Sabha Stha on 3rd International Yoga Day.

By India Today Web Desk: Heavy rains failed to dent the enthusiasm of thousands who had gathered at Lucknow's Ambedkar Sabha Sthal to participate in the 3rd International Yoga Day along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Dressed in white t-shirt, trousers and Assam's traditional Gamosa (a kind of white and red scarf) PM Narendra Modi, who shared the stage with Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, said Yoga was acting in a big way to bond people and the global community.

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IN PICS: PM Modi performs asanas with 50,000 people

#WATCH Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Amit Shah and Baba Ramdev participate in a Yoga camp in Ahmedabad #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/JzBKTEq9cN- ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

TOP QUOTES OF PM NARENDRA MODI:

Yoga is about health assurance. It is not even expensive to practice. Yoga has become a part of so many lives. Yoga's popularity outside India is high and has connected the world with India. Photo: @PIB_India In addition to fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness. Salt as it is essential to food, similarly Yoga is important to lead a healthy life. We may not master yoga or become teachers but we should not stop from doing Yoga. Yoga not only enlightens the body but also the soul.

Photo: @PIB_India

ALSO READ:

International Yoga Day: Yoga is about an inexpensive health assurance, says PM Modi

International Yoga Day: Tight security at Delhi's Connaught Place

Beijing celebrates International Yoga Day at Great Wall of China

Ramdev dedicates International Yoga Day to farmers

ALSO WATCH | International Yoga Day: PM Modi performs asana in Lucknow, says Yoga's standardisation is taking place

--- ENDS ---
Cocaine hidden in wheelchair

By: Tanya Clark WorldWideWeirdNews.com

A disabled woman who flew into New York from a Caribbean island, was caught smuggling $500,000 worth of cocaine in her wheelchair, according to police.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBP) at John F. Kennedy International Airport managed to block the alleged smuggler from rolling into the United States with his load of cocaine.

On Sunday, CBP officers stopped 33-year-old Yoncela Stanley, a United States citizen, who was arriving on a flight from St. Lucia.

During the course of the inspection, CBP officers noticed that the back seat cushion of her wheelchair appeared unusual.

The back seat cushion was removed and felt unusually heavy.

CBP officers probed the cushion producing a white powder that tested positive for cocaine.

Stanley was arrested for the importation of a controlled substance and was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations.

The total weight of cocaine seized was approximately 27pounds with an estimated street value of $468,000.

aThis latest seizure demonstrates the vigilance of our CBP officers, and their excellence in detecting those who would try to smuggle these illegal substances,a said Leon Hayward, Acting Director, Field Operations New York.

Stanley now faces federal narcotics smuggling charges and will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneyas Office in the U.S. Eastern District Court of New York.
A5 Chirk to Fully Reopen by Friday Morning at The Latest

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Jun 21st, 2017

The northbound stretch of the A5 in Chirk is expected to reopen fully by Friday morning at the latest.

The road has been partially closed since Monday evening after a two vehicle collision meant repair work had to be undertaken to the roads crash barriers.

One woman was cut free from her vehicle as a result of the collision, which took place near the bridge over the River Ceiriog.

As a result of the collision both lanes were closed overnight on Monday while repair works took place.

The southbound lane reopened at 7am on Tuesday 20th June, however a written statement released by Ken Skates AM, Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure notes that the road will fully reopen by Friday at the latest.

Initial reports suggested the road would fully reopen today, however in his statement Mr Skates notes that the contractors are currently involved in other projects, including the installation of barriers in London following the recent terror attacks.

He writes: On Monday 19 June a further incident beyond our control took place on the A5 at Chirk. The road was closed in both directions following a collision on the Ceiriog viaduct and local diversions were put in place.

We were able to put in measures to allow the southbound carriageway to reopen shortly afterwards but the northbound carriageway will need to remain closed for the time being with local diversions in place to allow temporary barriers to be sourced and be placed in front of the damaged parapet.

My officials are working to source specialist contractors to install the barriers, however, it is our understanding that the contractors are currently involved in other projects including installing barriers in London following recent incidents there.

Despite this, we are optimistic of having the road open by Friday morning at the latest. My officials have been working hard and challenging our supply chain to undertake these repairs and reopen the northbound carriageway as soon as possible.

He later continues onto say that the potential to extend Traffic Officer service, which deals with around 1000 incidents a month, to cover the A483 from the Posthouse Roundabout to the Gledrid Roundabout in Chirk is being explored.

In his letter Mr Skates also addresses recent disruption across the trunk road network in North Wales, including a two vehicle collision on the A55 near St Asaph on June 16th and an incident on June 3rd on the A55 at Bodelwyddan which involved concerns for a persons safety.

As a result of the three separate incidents and road closures, Mr Skates notes that he has asked his officials to report to him before summer recess with recommendations on how we can improve our response to the repair of damage on the network.

This includes examining how the response to repairing damage on the trunk road network can be improved and working with North Wales Police to improve communication during incidents.

He continues onto say: It is important to note that the safety of the travelling public remains my primary responsibility and concern in these unplanned situations. However, I am aware that there has been criticism in the press and on social media as some of the delays caused by these incidents were severe. There are clearly lessons to be learnt.

Therefore, I have asked my officials to report to me before summer recess with recommendations on how we can improve our response to the repair of damage on the network. They will investigate options and costs for providing an improved emergency response to the many scenarios we face during unforeseen incidents.

My officials will also be undertaking discussions with North Wales Police with a view to improving communication during incidents and maximising the use of emergency crossing points, where available.

Despite this series of unfortunate incidents which have occurred in an unusually short space of time, I would like to make clear that we do all we can to minimise disruption on the network during the summer. We have a planned daytime road works embargo from Easter to September from junction 11 at Llandygai to the English Border, and from junction 11 to Holyhead during the main summer holiday period.

Our Traffic Officer service plays an important role in maintaining the resilience of the network. The service operates extended hours on bank holiday peak periods and currently deals with some 1,000 incidents per month. I have asked that we look at the potential to extend the service to cover the A483 from Chester Posthouse roundabout to Gledrid roundabout at Chirk.

Over the past four years we have carried out imperative improvement work to tunnels on the A55, road surface improvements, flood alleviation and urgent maintenance work. The investment in improving the condition of our roads and the major proposals we have in the pipeline to address congestion points on the network will greatly improve the travelling experience along the A55. I am, however, determined to look beyond these interventions, ensuring journeys along the A55 are as reliable as possible, delivering for local people, businesses and visitors alike.

The resilience study I am commissioning will help determine how best to achieve this. My intention is to look again at all aspects of the road, identifying where and how best to improve the travel experience and how to minimise the frequency and impact of incidents and breakdowns.

This will complement existing plans for improvements whilst continuing to ensure the disruption of road works is kept to an absolute minimum.

*Thanks to Francesco for the top picture of where the work is taking place
North Wales Police Officers Prepare For Zip-line Charity Challenge

This article is old - Published: Sunday, Jun 18th, 2017

A senior police officer is preparing to travel at over 100mph on a zip wire in North Wales  all in the name of charity.

Deputy Chief Constable Gareth Pritchard and two other colleagues from North Wales Police are taking part on Europes longest zip wire in Bethesda to help raise funds towards a Guide Dog puppy.

DCC Pritchard will be joined by the North Wales Special Constabulary Chief Officer Mark Owen and Mark Jones from the Forces Corporate Communications Team who will take part in the charity event with the Guide Dogs on Sunday 25th June.

Over the last 18 months, North Wales Police have been fundraising to help reach their target of 2,500 towards a Guide Dog puppy. The Force are now just over the half way mark and are having a last push at reaching their target before the end of the year.

Deputy Chief Constable Gareth Pritchard said: The challenge came about at our recent bake sale in aid of the Guide Dogs. Being local from the Bethesda area I was persuaded to take part and its something that (I think) Im looking forward to.

We are extremely proud to be supporting this worthwhile charity and we hope to raise as much funds as possible to help support a guide dog puppy that will provide a vital service to a blind or partially sighted individual.

Part of the package includes naming the puppy so we are looking for a suitable Welsh name.

He added: As a force, North Wales Police have a long-established link with the Guide Dogs after a prominent former Police Constable was shot and blinded whilst on duty back in 1961.

The late PC Arthur Rowlands was shot and blinded whilst he was patrolling the Dyfi Bridge near Machynlleth. Despite his disability, he returned to work as a police switchboard operator, bringing his guide dog with him.

He added: Every penny counts so if you like the thought of me and my colleagues hurtling down a zip line at over 100mph then you can donate towards this worthy cause via our Just Giving page.

It costs over 5,000 to breed and puppy walk each guide dog puppy and the lifetime cost of a guide dog is nearly 50,000. The Name a Puppy  Change a Life scheme encourages groups to raise funds over a two year period to assist with food, training and veterinary bills. All donations will help provide independence and freedom for people who are blind or partially sighted.

Over the last 18 months North Wales Police have raised funds by collections at their Open Day in 2015 and via the Emergency Services Carol Service held at Bangor Cathedral in December 2016. They have also hosted a bake sale and have a permanent book stall at their canteen at Police Headquarters in Colwyn Bay.

Donations towards the cause can be made via the North Wales Police Just Giving page.
World's oldest Yoga teacher Tao Porchon-Lynch and India's oldest Yoga guru Amma Nannamal demonstrated various asanas along with Anna Hazare and Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar in Bengaluru.

By India Today Web Desk: Bengaluru was in for a treat today on International Yoga Day. The city saw the presence of two famous Yoga practitioners.

In Bengaluru, there was world World's oldest Yoga teacher Tao Porchon-Lynch and India's oldest Yoga guru Amma Nannamal who demonstrated various asanas at Kanteerava Outdoor Stadium.

On the occasion of third International Yoga Day, apart from the two nonagenarians (both between 90 and 99 years old), there was well-claimed social activist former and soldier of Indian army Anna Hazare, and Union Mimister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar.

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As the clouds chose to leak today on International Yoga Day in many parts of India like Delhi and Lucknow, it almost ruined the enthusiasm of many. While it deterred some, many gathered in large numbers at various parks and public places across the country today to mark the third International Day of Yoga.

NARENDRA MODI'S LEADS INTERNATIONAL YOGA DAY

An International day for Yoga was declared unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 11 December 2014.

The age-old Indian practice has brought people from different culture and countries together and this could be clearly seen from the zeal and enthusiasm with which the people across the globe are practicing yoga today.

Prime Minister Modi while addressing the gathering on this day in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow said that Yoga has become an integral part of every Indian household.

Modi also conveyed his greetings to all those who participated in the Yoda Day 2017 celebrations across India and the world.

Prime Minister Modi said Yoga's immense popularity outside India is high and has connected the world with India.

"I am happy to see so many Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing. Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness," Prime Minister Modi said.

While Prime Minister Narednra Modi, sailors of India's sole aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and the whole world came forward to celebrate the International Yoga Day on June 21, the farmers across north India staged protests by performing 'shavasana' on highways.

FYI || How the world is gearing up to celebrate International Yoga Day ||

Also Read || International Yoga Day: 5 asanas that our politicians must practise everyday ||

--- ENDS ---
Two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists have been killed in an encounter in north Kashmir's Sopore.

By Ashraf Wani: Security forces killed two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists in an encounter in Sopore of north Kashmir's Baramulla district. Combing operations are on to flush out more militants who could be hiding in the region.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Sopore's Pazal Pora area yesterday.

Official sources told India Today that a joint team of 22 Rashtriya Rifles, SOG and CRPF laid a siege at Pazalpora village.

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Internet has been cut off in Sopore.

Earlier on Tuesday, militants attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Tral town in Pulwama district.

There have been no reports of casualties till now, and the area was cordoned off.

(More details are awaited)

ALSO READ | Militants attack CRPF camp in Pulwama, hurl grenades followed by firing

ALSO READ | Jammu and Kashmir: Srinagar on high alert over possible fidayeen attack on security forces in 48 hours

ALSO READ | Stone pelters on hire in Kashmir: India Today nails Valley's insidious villains

WATCH | Jammu and Kashmir: Two Hizbul terrorists killed in encounter with security forces in Sopore

--- ENDS ---
The 2017 Peoples Summitorganized by sections of the Democratic Party, the trade unions and pseudo-left organizationsattracted a heterogeneous audience in Chicago. As with last years Summit, attendees were predominantly middle class, including former Vietnam-era antiwar protesters and members of liberal organizations in and around the Democratic Party, as well as college students the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democrats are recruiting to run for office.

In addition, several young people and others interested in socialism, including some openly hostile to the Democrats, attended. Some spoke with the World Socialist Web Site.

Jess Mazour is a community organizer in Des Moines, Iowa. She noted that the financial crisis of 2008 had politically radicalized her. Before 2008, I wasnt even aware of why capitalism was a problem, she said. I graduated with a ton of student loan debt and I work at a non-profit that doesnt pay a lot of money.

Jess spoke at length about the issues that motivated her to come to the Peoples Summit. Our country doesnt have an adequate health care system to deal with the issues that everyone faces, including mental health care. Health care needs to include mental health too. More people in the younger generation suffer from mental health issues.

When asked what she thought of the Obama administration, she immediately said, A failure. He deported more people than any other administration. The drone program was absolutely disgusting. He didnt do anything he promised and then he passed a terrible health care bill too. I voted for him the first time but I didnt vote for him the second time.

She added that she wants an alternative to the two-party system. But Im not against using the current system to advance our issues either. There has to be a living wage and everyone needs access to health care and other basic rights.

Our reporters explained that the fight for the social right to health care, jobs and education are revolutionary matters today, and it would take a political movement of the working class to break the economic and political stranglehold of the corporate and financial elite and replace capitalism with socialism. To claim as Bernie Sanders and his supporters do that such a change could come about through transforming the capitalist Democratic Party into a peoples party, they said was a political fraud.

Asked about the conflict within the ruling class and the neo-McCarthyite hysteria pumped out by the Democratic Party against Trump, Jess said, I think the Russia issue is a distraction from issues that affect my community.

Sam and Vanessa Ely recently moved to Chicago from Texas. I work at a distribution company, Sam said. We were both big Bernie supporters in Texas and came here to learn more.

I was not really affiliated with the Democrats. Like a lot of people, I was not happy with the way things were handled in the elections. The Democratic Party has claimed that its the party of the people, but they use identity politics to manipulate minorities and working class people. The way they treated Bernie and progressive voters was really just a turnoff to me.

With Obama, we had war and drone bombings of innocent civilians. That was not OK. Just because the US deems someone a threat, that doesnt give them the right to kill innocent people. The budget also continues to rise for the military. Donald Trump is now giving a huge budget for the military. Obama did the same thing. And Trump is also making cuts to Meals on Wheels and social programs. Why should we keep having these wars and increasing our military budget?

Jennifer, a junior studying environmental geology at Beloit College in southern Wisconsin, came to the summit with Food and Water Watch, a health and environmental NGO. She said she supported Sanders in the 2016 election primaries, and that she had wanted anyone but Trump to become president.

Jennifer noted the informal and unserious atmosphere of the summit, saying, I feel like there are a lot of people wandering around, and not taking the talks super seriously.

Our reporters explained the WSWSs analysis of the Peoples Summitthat it was a political trap to contain social opposition within the Democratic Party, and that what was necessary instead was a break with bourgeois politics and the building of a mass socialist movement.

Jennifer asked the reporters how they would define socialism, to which they responded that it would entail workers democratically controlling societys wealth and resources to meet human need, not private profit. In contrast, they said, What is capitalism today? A society based on enormous inequality, and war, and repression. As socialists, we fight for building a mass antiwar movement in the working class, for peace, and for equality.

I feel like thats what Im really into, Jennifer responded. Im completely antiwar.
Raising the specter of the Syrian conflict escalating into a military confrontation between the worlds two major nuclear powers, the Russian Defense Ministry Monday issued a warning that it would treat any US or allied aircraft operating in western Syria, where Moscows own forces, as well as those of the Syrian government, are based, as a hostile target.

The Russian warning came in response to the shooting down of a Syrian air force jet Sunday by a US Navy fighter plane over northern Syria, where US-backed proxy forces led by a Kurdish militia are advancing on the ISIS-held city of Raqqa.

Sundays incident marked the first time that a US warplane has brought down a Syrian plane flying over its own territory and represents a major escalation in the six-year-old US-orchestrated war for regime change. The Syrian pilot, last seen parachuting into an area controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), is still missing.

In regions where the Russian Air Force is carrying out operations in the skies above Syria, any flying objectsincluding airplanes and drones of the international coalitiondiscovered west of the Euphrates River will be treated as aerial targets for tracking by land and air defense systems, the Russian Defense Ministry warned.

Russias Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov described the US attack on the Syrian plane as an act of aggression and a direct breach of international law.

Moscow also indicated that it had cut off a deconfliction hotline with the Pentagon used to prevent unintended clashes between US and Russian fighter planes over Syria.

Washington delivered a series of conflicting responses to Russias warnings. The chairman of the US militarys Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, told the media that the Pentagon would be working diplomatically and militarily in the coming hours to re-establish deconfliction. Asked if he was concerned for the safety of US pilots flying over Syria after the Russian warning, the general responded that he was confident our forces have the capabilities to take care of themselves.

At a bizarre White House press conference Monday in which reporters were barred from either filming or recording answers to their questions, White House press secretary Sean Spicer was quoted as saying that Washington was going to do what we can to protect our interests, in Syria, adding, We will always preserve the right of self-defense.

Only the perverse logic of the US imperialist drive for hegemony in the Middle East and around the globe can explain the invocation of self defense for actions taken by US military forces in shooting down a plane flying over its own territory and attacking forces loyal to the existing government.

The shooting down of the Syrian jet follows a series of US acts of aggression against Syrian government forces. Last September, US-led airstrikes killed or wounded as many as 200 Syrian soldiers in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. While the Pentagon subsequently claimed that the attack was a regrettable error, it provided air support for ISIS fighters to overrun a strategic Syrian government position.

Then in April, the US rained 50 cruise missiles on Syrias al-Shayrat airbase, ostensibly in response to an alleged gas attack that had all the earmarks of a CIA provocation.

Within the last month, the Pentagon has carried out three separate airstrikes on pro-government forces that were alleged to have come close to a desert base near the al-Tanf southeastern Syrian border crossing with Iraq, where some 150 American special forces troops are training so-called rebels to prosecute the war for regime change against the government in Damascus.

With each new attack, it becomes ever more clear that the so-called anti-ISIS campaign being waged by US-led forces is a cover for an American military intervention aimed at securing the aims of the six-year-old war for regime change in Syria, the toppling of the Assad government and the imposition of a US puppet regime. To this end, the Pentagon is determined that territory wrested from ISIS remain under its control rather than that of the Syrian government. The clashes that led to the downing of the Syrian jet are bound up with this scramble for territory.

The campaign in Syria is part of the broader US drive toward war with Iran that was spelled out by US President Donald Trump in his trip last month to Tehrans two major regional enemies, Saudi Arabia and Israel. The Trump administrations turn toward an openly aggressive posture toward Tehran has served to further destabilize the entire region, with the Saudi monarchy, backed by Egypt and the UAE, imposing an all-out blockade tantamount to war against Qatar, which hosts the forward headquarters of the US Central Command, while at the same time depending heavily on revenues from a huge gas field it shares with Iran.

The threat of a wider war was further underscored by an Iranian missile strike directed against ISIS targets in the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zour. The missiles were launched from western Iran, some 370 miles away, flying over the territory of Iraq, whose government gave permission for the attack.

While Tehran justified the missile strike as a retaliation for terrorist attacks earlier this month claimed by ISIS in which 18 Iranians were killed and more than 50 wounded, Iranian officials made it clear that they were intended to send a wider warning.

The Saudis and Americans are especially receivers of this message, said Gen. Ramazan Sharif of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Obviously and clearly, some reactionary countries of the region, especially Saudi Arabia, had announced that they are trying to bring insecurity into Iran. Tehran has charged that the Saudis were behind the terrorist attacks. The Trump White House, meanwhile, issued a statement essentially blaming the Iranian government for bringing the terror on itself.

The threat that the US intervention in Syria can explode into a regional and even global war is exacerbated by the Trump administrations ceding to the US military brass virtually all decisions as to the waging of Washingtons multiple wars, from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan and beyond. Troop levels, rules of engagement and other essential policies are being set by a cabal of active duty and recently retired generals, including Defense Secretary James Mad Dog Mattis and Trumps national security advisor, Gen. H.R. McMaster, together with commanders on the ground.

Sections of the military bitterly resented the Obama administrations pulling back from a planned war against Syria in 2013, when in the face of overwhelming popular hostility to another Middle East war and deep divisions in the foreign policy establishment, Washington settled for a Russian-brokered deal to destroy Syrias chemical weapons. Since then Russian and Iranian support have allowed the Syrian government to drive back the CIA-supported Islamist militias and retake virtually all of the countrys major population centers.

Reversing these advances is essential for the US to assert its dominance over the oil-rich Middle East. There are no doubt those within the US military brass who would welcome a confrontation with Iran and even Russia to achieve this end, regardless of the threat of a wider and potentially world catastrophic war.

Significantly, when reporters asked General Dunford Monday on what authority the US military was carrying out armed actions against the government of Syria, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman cited the Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed by Congress in the wake of the 9/11 attacks nearly 16 years ago.

There has been no debate, much less any vote, within the US Congress authorizing a war against Syria. The Democrats have raised no opposition to Trumps giving free rein to the generals and have politically driven the hysterical anti-Russia propaganda campaign that is paving the way toward military confrontation.
Last week, notorious New York City landlord Steve Croman pleaded guilty to felony charges of grand larceny, falsification of business records and criminal tax fraud, landing him a one-year sentence in Rikers Island in addition to a fine of $5 million-$10 million.

The sentence is a fraction of the possible 25-year prison term Croman initially faced after being charged in May 2016 with 20 felony counts, along with mortgage broker Barry Swartz. New York State investigators accused Croman and Swartz of illegally raising the rents on rent-stabilized apartments to market-rate levels and falsifying rent records to receive bank loans of over $45 million.

In 1990, Croman started 9300 Realty, a full-service real estate management and brokerage firm that specializes in Manhattan apartments. Croman now owns 140 buildings throughout the city, totaling 2,499 units, with roughly a quarter of those concentrated in Manhattans East Village.

The Real Deal, a New York City real estate news website, was able to dig up finance records for 95 of Cromans properties, which together earned a net operating income of $27.5 million. Net operating income was not available for the remaining 45 properties. One of Cromans buildings, at 252 Mott Street in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, is set to see its city-assessed market value increase 53 percent to $12 million in the upcoming tax year, according to the website.

In 2014, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman began investigating 9300 Realty amidst accusations of tenant harassment. While there has been an ongoing civil suit by Schneiderman in regard to tenant abuse, the current charges against Croman are for crimes against the banks, not the tenants. Tenants had reported unsafe, unregulated construction, lead dust, water and heat shut-offs, fire safety violations and destruction of rent payments or lease agreements to create grounds for eviction.

The conditions in Croman apartments were not a result of simple negligence, but a part of a structured plan to deregulate rent-regulated apartments, shift them to the open market, and consequently reap steep profits, all the while diminishing the already dwindling availability of affordable housing in New York City.

There are two categories of rent regulation in New York: rent control and rent stabilization. Rent control regulations, which date back to 1947, are all but phased out, covering two percent of all New York City apartments. Rent stabilization regulations, initiated in 1969, cover just over a million rental units, nearly half of all rental units in New York City. Another million units are conventional houses, co-ops and condos.

While the protection that rent stabilization provides is limited and often inadequate, its implementation was the result of social struggles by the working class in the late 1960s. The system of rent stabilization was enacted when the city saw a sharp increase in rents in many post-war buildings.

Over the past 40 years, rent stabilization laws have been subject to revisions and concessions that benefit the real estate moguls and big investors. As a part of the social counterrevolution affecting the working class, attacks on affordable housing have rapidly increased. A recent Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy study showed that between 2002 and 2014, the number of affordable rent-stabilized units in New York City fell by 233,931, or 27 percent.

While the New York state legislature revised rent regulation laws in 2015, it did little to curb exploitative provisions that allow for regulated units to be shifted to the open market. Units can be deregulated if they are vacant and the rent is raised to $2,700 a month. Also, if a rent-regulated unit is occupied by a new tenant who has an income of more than $200,000 a year, the unit will be turned over to the open market.

For decades, Cromans 9300 Realty has relied on these loopholes, buying Manhattan apartment buildings filled with rent-regulated units and forcing residents from their regulated apartments. Some have lived in these apartments for generations, and many working class and elderly tenants are able to survive in the city only because of their regulated rent.

The process of forced evictions is simple: make the apartments unlivable. Cromans strategy follows a predictable pattern. First, intimidate tenants by filing spurious lawsuits. Second, push aggressive buy-out offers and scare tenants who refuse the offers by entering their apartments without permission and stalking them to their workplaces. Third, ruin their apartments by performing illegal, unsafe and noisy construction in the hallways or on other units.

To defend themselves, the tenants of Croman buildings have formed several groups, including the Stop Croman Coalition and the Croman Tenants Alliance. The websites of both groups outline the history of Croman tenant abuse, offer legal advice to current tenants, and serve as platforms for tenants to share their horror stories.

One tenant described her experience as one of two tenants left in an almost fully turned-over building. She wrote, My ceiling is collapsing, and each day I get to deal with things like my door being blocked so I cant get in and out of my apartment.

More than 20 of Cromans properties are reported to have illegally high levels of lead dust. One woman testified that she had to cover her sons mouth and nose with a wet rag any time they entered the buildings hallway because the lead dust was so thick.

The most shocking tenant stories concern Anthony Falconite, an ex-cop hired by Croman to threaten and intimidate residents into accepting buy-out offers. It has been reported that Falconite would disguise himself as a UPS delivery man or repairman and knock on every rent-regulated apartment. Once inside, Falconite would demand tenants identification, take pictures of them without permission, accuse them of occupying the apartment illegally, and threaten a lawsuit. There were reports that Falconite would also stalk the tenants, driving behind them as they left on vacation or showing up at their workplaces. Allegedly, Falconite was paid a $10,000 bonus for every apartment he vacated successfully.

While Steve Croman is perhaps the most egregious example of such tenant harassment strategies, he is by no means an anomaly in the world of American real estate, and his tactics are not new. As real estate markets in high-demand urban areas explode, landlords do anything they can to plumb every dime of profit. In New York City, rent-regulated apartments, along with city-owned New York City Housing Authority properties, are particularly coveted.

The housing crisis and the need for affordable housing is a social issue closely aligned with the rapid growth of inequality in the United States. New York City is one of the sharpest expressions of the housing and homeless crisis, with more than 60,000 reported homeless and a growing percentage of the citys population living at the federal poverty level of $32,580 annual income for a family of six. Rents are rising while incomes remain at stagnant levels.

In this context, Cromans sentence amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist, a scant warning to other big realtors not to proceed too quickly or recklessly in their attacks on tenants and further fuel the social discontent in the citys working class.

The token sentencing of Croman matches the token efforts of progressive Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio to curb the decline of affordable housing by means of partnerships with the same parasitic real estate developers who are the cause of so much social misery.

Last month, under de Blasios NextGen initiative, the indebted New York City Housing Authority released plans to lease public housing land to private developers, funneling millions of state and federal funds to private developers while only nominally increasing the availability of affordable housing.

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Legislative deal means further deepening of New Yorks housing crisis

[29 June 2015]
Since Emmanuel Macron's victory in the French presidential elections and the historic collapse of the Socialist Party (PS) in the presidential and legislative elections, the media are insisting that a great transition is taking place from the PS to Macron's The Republic on the March (LREM). 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 I've done in my life is damaged, broken, everything I've 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 LREM and not the PS: I don't 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 narrative, on which the media based their promotion of LREM and Macronand which provoked distrust, doubts, and hostility in the populationis misleading from top to bottom. The PS was a reactionary party that attacked the working class, and LREM's legislative candidates, carefully selected by conservative politician Jean-Paul Delevoye, are an integral part of the old ruling establishment.

A large number of its parliamentary candidates come from parties that carried out policies of austerity and war in the last decades. Nearly half, 244 compared to 281, already have had political positions at various levels, from municipal office to ministerial posts or seats at the National Assembly. Among 281 who did not directly hold office, many have participated in electoral campaigns or in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) through which they were in contact with the established parties.

The ties connecting the PS to LREM, whose founder Macron was economy minister under the PS presidency of Francois Hollande, are legion. Macron was supported from the beginning by top officials or former PS 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.

Macron's parliamentary personnel are largely composed of PS politicians or of parties that were allied to the PS in numerous governments since 1981. A fifth of Macron's legislative candidates are PS members. A dozen come 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, LREM did not stand candidates against PS candidates whom it supported.

79 candidates on the LREM list were in fact members of the right-wing Democratic Movement (MoDem) of Francois Bayrou, the current justice minister, though not all ran officially as MoDem members. A large contingent of approximately 70 candidates comes from the right-wing Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), a composite organization run by Jean-Louis Borloo, who was a minister in several governments under right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Ten candidates come directly from Sarkozy's party, The Republicans (LR). A former candidate of the far-right Arise France (DLF), which allied with Marine Le Pen during the presidential campaign, was also on the LREM legislative slate.

LREM 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 enormous 57 percent abstention in Sunday's legislative election underscores again their isolation from the vast majority of the population, a fact that even the media outlets closest to LREM are compelled to admit.

The daily Liberation notes, According to interior ministry data, more than half of the candidates nominated by LREM are in management or higher-level intellectual professionsthree times their weight in France's working population. It adds, LREM 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 LREM candidates, or 156 people, run their own business, a fact that provoked the following comment from Le Monde: In general, the so-called 'civil society' represented in LREM 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.

L'Obs for its part observes the large weight in LREM of business owners, CEOs, leaders of start-up firms, and small business leaders and quotes Me diapart: The Republic on the March is aworld 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 LREM candidates are equally revealing. According to Le Monde, around 40 percent of them come 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 Sciences Po (50 candidates), the National Administration School (ENA, 10), and the High Commercial School (HEC, 9).
In another menacing act of brinkmanship, President Donald Trump declared in a tweet yesterday that China had failed to force North Korea to accede to US demands, opening the door for unilateral US action, including military strikes. The tweet comes just ahead of top-level talks between US and Chinese officials due to take place in Washington today.

While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi [Jinping] & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried! Trump tweeted.

The Trump administration has put great pressure on Beijing to compel Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile programs, but has indicated all along that time was limited. North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! USA, Trump tweeted in April.

The US presidents latest tweet is clearly aimed at placing additional pressure on Chinese officialsState Councillor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghuiwho will meet with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary James Mattis in a US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue.

The US State Department has indicated that Washington intends to put North Korea at the top of the agenda, and to press China to agree to harsher sanctions, such as an oil embargo and bans on North Korean guest workers. Beijing, however, which has already helped impose harsh sanctions on North Korean mineral exports, is reluctant to make moves that could provoke a political crisis in Pyongyangon Chinas doorstep.

Chinas ambassador in Washington, Cui Tiankai, told the Financial Times: We should not make it [US-China dialogue] a platform where one side pushes a long list of demands on the other. It has to be a two-way street. He said that China was obviously important in exerting pressure on North Korea, but there is more the US should do. Beijing has urged Washington to take steps towards reviving negotiations with Pyongyang.

Trumps tweet that Chinas efforts have not worked out is more than just a bargaining ploy at todays talks. If Beijing refuses to agree to tougher sanctions, the danger of reckless US military action against Pyongyang rises. As a senior administration official told Reuters, the US has limited options to rein in North Korea without Chinese assistance.

Trump officials have already declared that the Obama administrations policy of strategic patiencepressuring Pyongyang with increased sanctionshad failed. The possibility of a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which Trump suggested last month might be realizable under the right conditions, is highly unlikely. White House spokesman Sean Spicer declared yesterday, clearly were moving further away, not closer to those conditions.

In reality, the Trump administration, along with the American media, has seized on the death of Otto Warmbier to further demonise North Korea and create the conditions for war. Warmbier, a college student, was one of four American citizens convicted and jailed in North Korean prisons. He was flown home last week and died on Monday.

Trump joined the clamour in the media and political establishment for action over Warmbiers death, declaring what happened a total disgrace. He branded the North Korean government a brutal regime and said that the death had deepened his determination to prevent other tragedies at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.

US Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate armed services committee, bluntly stated that the Kim Jong-un regime had murdered Warmbiereven as doctors have yet to determine what caused the brain danger that led to the students death. McCain accused Pyongyang of forced labour, mass starvation, systematic cruelty, torture and murder and added that the US cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers.

All the preparations for a US-led war on North Korea have been made. The Pentagon has stationed what Trump referred to as an armada off the Korean Peninsulatwo aircraft carrier strike groups are in place and another is on its way, along with nuclear submarinessupplementing substantial American forces already stationed in Japan, South Korea and Guam.

Yesterday, two US B-1 strategic bombers flew over the Korean Peninsula in another warning to North Korea. The 10-hour flight from Guam also involved training missions with both Japanese and South Korean F-15 fighters. Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis told the media: We can launch and operate long-range bombers over the Korean Peninsula on very short notice. He then ominously added: And we hope not to have to do that.

In another rather menacing signal, two US officials told CNN that American spy satellites had detected new activity at North Koreas underground nuclear test site. The officials expressed concern that North Korea could detonate a nuclear test to coincide with the US-China dialogue taking place in Washington. Pyongyang has been publicly critical of Beijings willingness to agree to US demands for sanctions.

The CNN report also noted the very advanced character of the Pentagons plans for war against North Korea, stating: Two senior US officials with direct knowledge also told CNN that military options for North Korea have recently been updated, and will be presented to President Donald Trump for a decision to act if there is a nuclear test.

The devastating character of any new war on the Korean Peninsula was again underscored last week by US Defence Secretary James Mattis. He told a congressional committee that such a conflict would be catastrophic but that the US would ultimately prevail.

It will be a war more serious in terms of human suffering than anything we have seen since 1953, Mattis said, referring to the Korean War between 1950 and 1953 in which the casualties ran into the millions. It will involve the massive shelling of an allies capital [Seoul], which is one of the most densely packed cities on Earth. It would be a war that fundamentally we dont want. Our allies and us would win at great cost.

However, it is also a war that the Trump administration is relentlessly edging towards, having repeatedly declared that all options are on the table. Unlike the Korean War of the 1950s, a new conflict would not remain confined to the Korean Peninsula but would draw other powers into a far wider catastrophe for humanity.
A factional clash that erupted last week between Sri Lankas Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leadership ended yesterday after a political compromise.

Wigneswaran, a retired supreme court judge, became the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) chief minister after being appointed as the TNAs leading candidate in the 2013 elections. Although he had not previously been a member of the alliance, he was brought into the organisation by TNA leader R. Sambandan because he was regarded as a reliable figure by the Colombo establishment and the international powers.

Differences within the Tamil elite, however, came to the surface last week when Wigneswaran removed two NPC ministers on corruption charges and sent two others on compulsory leave. The four ministers were members of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the dominant party in the TNA.

TNA leaders, including R. Sambandan and M. A. Sumanthiran, opposed the chief ministers ruling, declaring that placing the two ministers on compulsory leave was an arbitrary decision. ITAK councillors responded by presenting a no-confidence motion against Wigneswaran in the NPC.

In a counter move, the Tamil Peoples Council (TPC), a group of Tamil academics and the Jaffna University Students Union called protests supporting Wigneswaran in Jaffna and other northern towns. The TPC, which includes the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), the Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), are also partners of TNA. The Tamil National Peoples Front, another communalist party, is also a member of the TPC. Attempting to rally support for Wigneswaran, these formations painted him as a fighter against corruption and a defender of the Tamils rights.

The conflict over Wigneswarans moves against allegedly corrupt ministers has nothing to do with the rights of the Tamil masses, but reflects tactical differences within the Tamil elite over how best to defend its interests. The backdrop to these clashes is the deep-seated and growing anger of Tamil working people and youth in Sri Lankas north and east against the TNA and the Colombo government over the ongoing military occupation, the suppression of basic democratic rights and terrible living conditions.

Wigneswaran, who has made limited criticisms of Colombo and the ongoing military occupation of the north, is attempting to channel the mass anger and opposition along communal lines.

Sections of the TNA, the Sri Lankan government and the military, however, are concerned that Wigneswaran and his supporters are adding to the deepening political instability throughout the country. The explosive discontent in the North and the East occurs at the same time as anti-government opposition has erupted among workers, poor and youth in the southern part of the country.

Yesterday, the Colombo-based Daily Mirror reported that several high commissions and embassies in Sri Lanka had requested the TNA leadership settle the matter amicably. While the newspaper did not name them, US, European Union, British and Indian diplomats closely monitor every political development in Sri Lanka. These powers, particularly Washington and New Delhi, are keen to maintain a firm strategic grip on Sri Lanka in line with their actions against China.

Responding to these demands, Wigneswaran yesterday agreed to withdraw his compulsory leave order against the two ministers and reach a compromise with his opponents in the NPC. For his part, TNA leader Sambandan promised not to interfere in a corruption inquiry against the two ministers and withdrew his no-confidence motion against Wigneswaran.

The NPC election in 2013 was organised under President Mahinda Rajapakse who was facing international pressure over human rights violation during the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and also wanted to pacify the Tamil elite. The principal concern of Washington, with the support of other western powers, was to pressure Rajapakse to politically and economically distance his government from China.

In 2015, the TNA fully backed the regime-change operation orchestrated by Washington to oust Rajapakse and replace him with Maithripala Sirisena. The TNA falsely claimed that Sirisena would bring democracy, reconciliation and improved social conditions for Tamils, and urged them to vote for him.

By democracy and reconciliation, the Tamil nationalists mean a power-sharing arrangement with Colombo to facilitate the exploitation of Tamil workers and youth. The TNAs backing for the Colombo regime-change represented a new stage in the Tamil elites servitude to US imperialism in the hope of securing further privileges.

The Sri Lankan government over the past 30 months has brought Colombos foreign policy in line with US and Indian demands. Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have strengthened their military ties with both countries. It is also implementing International Monetary Fund demands to impose the burden of Sri Lankas mounting economic crisis onto the backs of the working class and the poor.

Apart from Sirisena and Wickremesinghes unstable unity government, the TNA is the single largest group in the Sri Lankan parliament. While Sambandan is the parliamentary opposition leader, the TNA acts as a de facto partner of the government, backing its austerity and anti-democratic measures, while offering empty, face-saving criticisms of the government.

Eight years after the end of the countrys devastating communal war, the Sri Lankan military virtually runs the North and the East. While there is deep-seated anger over the ongoing military occupation, the TNA has propped up the Sri Lankan government and backed its efforts to block an international investigation into the militarys war crimes.

In the Northern Province, there are continuous demonstrations demanding the return of land seized by the military during the war and information about those disappeared during the conflict. Unemployment is rampant and thousands of those whose homes were destroyed in the war are still living in temporary huts.

In late 2015, Wigneswaran joined forces with several other groups to organise the Tamil Peoples Council in an attempt to channel this explosive mass discontent along communal lines. Last September, the TPC organised Ezhuga Thamizh (Rise up Tamils) in the north and in the east in February this year under the banner of promoting the aspirations of Tamils to the international community.

At a meeting held on May 18 to commemorate the Tamils killed in the war, Wigneswaran declared that the day when people come onto the streets demanding withdrawal of army is not far away. This demagogic appeal was a warning to Colombo about the developing opposition. Sirisena responded by telling a commemoration meeting of war heroes that there would be no withdrawal of the army.

Against the background of developing class struggles internationally, every faction of the Sri Lankan bourgeoisieSinhala Tamil and Muslimis nervous about the danger of a united struggle of Sri Lankan workers across ethnic lines. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, the Rajapakse opposition and the military regard with dismay the developing struggles in the North and are whipping up Sinhala communalism in a bid to divide the working class.

Tamil workers and youth must reject the treacherous role being played by the TNA and the grouping around Wigneswaran who have no interest in fighting for the basic rights and living standards of the Tamil workers and the poor. Like the LTTE, these formations seek to advance their nationalist policies and defend their privileges by appealing to the major imperialist powers.

Workers and poor can only win their democratic rights and improve their social conditions by basing their fight on a socialist and internationalist program in a struggle against every faction of the national bourgeoisie and the imperialist powers. This involves the fight for workers and peasants governmenta Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and Eelamas part of the struggle for socialism in South Asia and internationally. Only the Socialist Equality Party fights for this perspective.
Telstra, Australias largest telecommunications company, announced last week that it is axing up to 1,400 jobs across its national operations by the end of the year, in the latest of a series of pro-market restructures that have eliminated thousands of positions.

Virtually every section of the companys workforce is set to be affected by the sackings, which will begin next month. Around 90 percent of the job cuts will take place in New South Wales and Victoria, where the companys headquarters are located. Staff were reportedly informed of the overhaul in a text message sent on the morning of June 14.

Up to 349 of the redundancies will reportedly be in Telstras Operations unit, which handles the business front line activities including infrastructure management and customer service. Some 259 of those will be in Customer Service Delivery, with an estimated 149 in Field Service Delivery, largely in regional areas.

Maintenance, call centre, construction and technician jobs are among those that will be destroyed. At least 500 of the sackings have not been allocated, meaning that virtually the entire workforce has the threat of job cuts hanging over their heads.

The announcement has sparked warnings of a further deterioration in the quality of telecommunications services, and a deepening of the jobs crisis confronting workers across the sector.

The unions that cover Telstra have made clear that they will do nothing to oppose the restructure, instead declaring that they favour consultation and redeployments.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU), a division of the Communication Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU), declared that they had been ambushed. The union incredulously claimed that it was taken unawares by the sackings, despite continuous job cuts by the telecommunications giant over the past five years.

At the same time, on the day of the announcement, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the union had confirmed it would not take any industrial action.

The union cited federal Fair Work legislation which prohibits strike action outside of bargaining periods for a new Enterprise Agreement. The CEPU, however, along with all of the other major unions, supported the introduction of the draconian industrial laws by the last Labor government following the 2007 election. The union, as in previous restructures, was given a back-room briefing by Telstra last Thursday.

The Community and Public Sector Union, which also covers some of Telstras employees, made clear that it did not oppose the sackings, posting a notice on its website that stated: Our network of organisers, delegates and industrial experts have the knowledge and experience to minimise the impact of job losses on members. The union claimed that it could ensure workers received the redundancy payments they are entitled to.

The role of the unions in collaborating in round after round of redundancies has seen up to 6,000 jobs destroyed since 2013.

In February, Telstra revealed that it had eliminated almost 1,100 positions across its national operations over the previous six months. That followed at least 411 job cuts at its Australian call centres in 2015. Almost 80 of those were in the regional Victorian town of Ballarat, which suffers from widespread youth unemployment.

The previous year, the telecommunications giant announced that it was destroying 800 jobs at Sensis, a directory and marketing company, before selling a majority-stake to a US private equity firm for almost half a billion dollars. In August 2013, Telstra revealed its largest round of job cuts in recent history, with 2,251 positions axed over the previous financial year.

All in all, successive rounds of redundancies and layoffs have seen the companys workforce fall from over 48,000 in 2001, to around 32,000 prior to the latest cuts.

The unions have repeatedly launched nationalist campaigns against Telstras outsourcing of jobs to India, the Philippines and elsewhere. This has been aimed at diverting attention from the role of the unions in enforcing the sackings and dividing workers, who operate an inherently global industry, along national lines.

The nationalism peddled by the unions has also served to obscure the roots of the unending restructuring in the relentless drive of the privately-owned telecommunications companies to deliver the highest rates of return for their shareholders, by continuously slashing costs.

Telstras latest sackings are part of a broader restructure, aimed at cutting expenses by $1 billion over the next five years, amid intense competition in the sector. Alongside the job cuts, a number of the business departments will be amalgamated, streamlined and renamed.

The move follows a half-year fall in profits to last February of 14.4 percent, from $2.09 billion to $1.79 billion, along with an overall three percent drop in revenue, including a decline in mobile and fixed-line products. In the second half of last year, Telstra secured 200,000 new customers, down by 35,000 for the same period in 2015. The comparable figure for the first half of 2013 was 739,000.

In a symptom of broader nervousness over the prospect of declining market share, Telstras stock price registered its biggest single-fall in five years last April, following an announcement by private equity firm TPG that it was planning to build Australias fourth major mobile services provider.

The National Broadband Network, once fully operational, is also expected to affect the companys revenue, with customers moving off Telstras fixed-line accounts as it is rolled-out. Telstra has warned that this could create a $23 billion earnings hole by 2020.

The companys main competitors are also slashing jobs. In April, Optus announced 320 staff cuts, following around 480 last year and 350 in 2014. A number of the telecommunications firms are reportedly seeking to automate ever-larger sections of their operations, and expand into new digital operations, amid fears their traditional business model is not viable in the long-term.

The gutting of Telstras workforce has been facilitated by the actions of successive governments, Labor and Liberal-National alike, along with the trade unions.

It was a federal Labor government that in 1991 corporatised Telstra, which was then called Telecom, by transforming it from a service provider to a profit-oriented company. The Labor governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, from 1983 to 1996, backed by the unions, cleared the way for the wholesale privatisation of state-assets, including Telstra, which was later sold off by the Liberal-National government of John Howard.
A group of truck drivers and warehouse workers struck the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, Monday against trucking firms that misclassify drivers as independent contractors to skirt minimum wage and overtime laws and deny them health insurance, unemployment benefits and workers compensation.

The job action called by Teamsters Local 848 involves about 100 workers at California Cartage, XPO Logistics and other companies. On Tuesday, the strike spread to Rancho Dominguez in the Los Angeles area and San Diego Tuesday.

Drivers are demanding reclassification as full-time, hourly employees and improved wages and working conditions. While drivers, many of them immigrant workers who speak little English, have shown enormous determination, the Teamsters and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), have isolated the drivers and limited their action to impotent protests that have done little to disrupt the countrys busiest ports.

In San Diego, Jose, a truck driver for 48 years and a driver for XPO Logistics since 1990, told the World Socialist Web Site, We have no medical insurance, no health care, no vacation, no security. On top of that I pay up to $990 a week for the maintenance of my truck, diesel, and other expenses.

We have two brothers working on one truck, they have to make $1,000 every day to cover their truck, gas, family, home. If you dont have your own truck, the company tricks you into leasing their truck. They say they will only sell the truck for $45,000, but after interest it ends up being another $100,000.

The unions dont want us to organize, they tell us that that there is no support for us, that the other drivers dont support us, but that is not true.

This is the 15th strike called by the Teamsters over the last four years. In each case, they have been impotent, involving only a tiny fraction of the estimated 16,000 truckers at the ports and none of the 14,000 ILWU dockworkers. At the same time the Teamsters and other unions have encouraged the most debilitating dependence on the courts and Democratic Party. The Teamsters agreed to end the last strike in July 2016 after Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made a worthless promise to investigate abuses.

In the Los AngelesLong Beach port areawhich takes in nearly half of the nations container importsit is estimated that only 10 percent of port truck drivers are directly employed by companies and the others are classified as independent contractors or owner-operators. All day long these workers move cargo from the docks to nearby warehouses and rail yards where they are shipped to major retailers like Wal-Mart, Amazon and Target.

Garcetti and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia recently announced their goal to convert the ports fleet over to zero emission trucks by 2035. Drivers, who have long suffered the devastating health consequences of diesel fuel emissions want cleaner air, expect the companies will pass on the cost to them, forcing drivers to lease the higher-tech trucks that will cost upwards of a half a million dollars.

The issues facing the port truck drivers are immensely important and underscore the brutal exploitation of millions of independent contractors or 1099 employees (named after the IRS tax form number) whose numbers have increased since the 2008 financial crash. Although the US Labor Department says it does not have exact numbers, it has acknowledged the practice is pervasive, particularly among delivery truck drivers, construction workers, cable installers and so-called Gig Economy workers like Uber and Lyft drivers.

According to an investigation by USA TODAY, based on interviews with 300 drivers and testimony in several labor dispute cases, drivers are essentially indentured servants who owe hundreds of thousands of dollars on the trucks they are forced to lease in order to work. The companies hold this debt over the heads of drivers, threatening to take away their trucks and keep tens of thousands of dollars they have already paid if the drivers miss work or quit because they are too exhausted to continue.

In some cases, companies have physically prevented drivers from leaving work, compelled them to work against their will for up to 20 hours a day and would not pay workers anything unless they agreed to falsify logs. In addition to lease payments, the companies charge drivers for maintenance, fuel, parking fees and even toilet paper and other supplies. After such deductions, USA TODAY found, drivers can end up making as little as 67 cents a week or even owe money to their employers.

The Teamsters union, which has lost hundreds of thousands of members since the deregulation of the trucking industry in the late 1970s, is anxious to boost its dues base but is blocked from organizing port truck drivers due to their classification as independent contractors. Truck drivers should place no confidence in the Teamsters, which has collaborated in the destruction of the living standards of over-the-road driverswho have seen their real wages fall by half over the last four decadeswarehouse workers at UPS and other companies.

A real fight against these slave-like conditions will require new organizations of struggle, controlled by rank-and-file workers themselves and independent of the pro-company unions, to mobilize the broadest support in the working class against big business and both corporate-controlled parties.
By India Today Web Desk: Sara Ali Khan and Jhanvi Kapoor are the latest crop of star kids to have become darlings of Bollywood enthusiasts. From their fashion quotient to their Bollywood debuts, the young ladies are in news for almost everything. If their popularity has made them a favourite with many, they cannot escape the constant comparisons drawn between them.

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But this so-called and almost forced rivalry has almost no effect on these girls. In fact, the star kids are busy defying Bollywood's infamous norm that two heroines cannot be friends. Their Bollywood career might kickstart at the same time, but Jhanvi and Sara are busy playing the thickest of buddies in real life.

From salon sessions to dinner dates, Sara and Jhanvi are often spotted together. And the besties were recently seen at the airport. Known for their style quotient, Jhanvi and Sara decided to ditch western wear as the divas were opted for ethnic wear for their airport look.

Jhanvi and Sara looked pretty in chikankari kurtas.

However, this is not the first time that Sara and Jhanvi were captured in one frame. They earlier grabbed eyeballs with their camaraderie at a wedding.

On the work front, Jhanvi will make her Bollywood debut with SOTY 2, while Sara will be seen romancing Sushant Singh Rajput in Kedarnath.

Photos: Yogen Shah

ALSO READ: Sara-Sushant or Jhanvi-Ishaan, which on-screen pair will win hearts?

ALSO READ: I would be happier to see Jhanvi get married than act, says Sridevi

ALSO WATCH: Star kids are B-Town's next big thing, Priyanka meets PM Modi

--- ENDS ---
Tallahassee, Fla., (WTXL)- The Wakulla County Board of Commissioners has accepted grant funding from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Service to reduce the number of conflicts between humans and bears.

$19,679 are being put towards the purchase of bear resistant trash cans. The bins will cost residents $25 dollars to upgrade.

Unsecured garbage often lures hungry bears into communities, around pets and children, so officials encourage residents who've seen the animals near their property to take advantage of the program.

There are a limited number of cans available so they'll be handed out on a first-come first-served basis starting June 30, 2017. The public works department opens at 8:00 a.m. on distribution day.
ORANGE COUNTY, FL (WFTV) - A draft policy published this week by the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority would put medical marijuana users at risk of arrest when flying out of Orlando International Airport, despite 71 percent of Florida voters choosing to legalize weed for medical uses last November.

The GOAA board is set to vote on that policy Wednesday afternoon.

The draft policy seeks to clarify that, despite the Florida constitutional amendment legalizing the use of Marijuana for medical purposes and the decriminalization of the possession of small amounts of Marijuana by the City of Orlando, Marijuana is prohibited from being brought onto Airport Property.

It goes on to say marijuana, including items for medical use, will be confiscated going forward. And that any person violating this provision will be detained or arrested by a Law Enforcement Officer.

Among OIAs 42 million visitors each year, the Transportation Security Administration doesnt actively search for marijuana, a representative told Eyewitness News on Tuesday. But she said if agents find it, theyll notify local law enforcement, who would then be acting under GOAAs policies.

The draft proposal seeks to ban all forms of marijuana and its extracts, including items like the low-THC, high CBD medical cannabis Bruce Grossman relies on to fight chronic pain. He said he cant imagine going on a trip without the medical marijuana.

I would be in pain. Very simple, Grossman said.

A GOAA spokesperson told Eyewitness News the authoritys legal team had determined federal funding received by the airport could be rescinded if the OIA began tolerating marijuana on site.

Though local laws and ordinances have legalized and decriminalized the drug in various capacities, federal law considers marijuana a Scheduled I narcotic. It contains no exceptions for alternative formulations or medical usage.

"I think it's only a matter of time until things change, Grossman said.

Eyewitness News asked whether airport officials whether waivers would be available for people who can't leave their medication behind, but received no response Tuesday.

Representatives from the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport said if passengers have the proper documents, medical marijuana is allowed. And anyone at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport can have marijuana thanks to the state of Washingtons full legalization.

However in Denver, any kind of marijuana is banned at the airport despite legalization in Colorado.

Ben Pollara, with United for Care, said since marijuana is being used by many people as a medicine, it should be treated that way by airport officials.

"You wouldn't ask a patient to get on an airplane without their penicillin, and you shouldn't aske them to get on without their marijuana, if that's what their doctor has recommended," he said.

The Orlando Police Department has said it will not arrest anyone lawfully carrying medical marijuana, even on airport property.

Airport administrators have not determined what the penalty would be for a passenger found by OIA staff lawfully carrying medical marijuana.

If the board of directors approve the measure Wednesday, it will go into effect immediately. The airport authority plans to post signs advising fliers of the changes and to document whats prohibited on site.

Officials with Orlando Sanford International Airport said they had had taken a position on the issue of medical marijuana.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A crash in downtown Tallahassee last week injured four people. Police arrested the driver of the vehicle that caused the accident.

According to police, Kenneth Chambers tried to leave the scene, but visiting comedian Se'Cory McLaurin sprang into action to keep him from getting away.

It was supposed to be another night of comedy at Bird's Aphrodisiac Oyster Shack, but what happened last Wednesday was no laughing matter.

Scott Peavy organizes a weekly open mic comedy show at Bird's. He said a group of about a dozen comics were outside the restaurant underneath the awning just before the show was scheduled to start.

"Everybody was here. Everybody was lined up, ready to go," Peavy said. "And then -- all of a sudden, we hear this major accident. We hear this huge crash."

McLaurin, a comedian from Pensacola, was in town to be part of the show. He said he saw a BMW speed down the road, T-bone a van, and hit "kids" who were on their way to Bird's. He said he rushed to the scene.

"The only thing I could think about was, 'Oh, my God. Somebody has honestly got to help these kids," McLaurin said, adding that he hopes someone would do the same if his 7-year-old daughter was in a situation like that.

Tallahassee police say the crash stemmed from a traffic stop by Tennessee Street and Adams Street. Chambers took off in his vehicle and sped away from the responding officer, who did not pursue or follow the vehicle.

Chambers' car struck another vehicle, turning it on its side, and hitting three pedestrians waiting at the intersection of Bronough Street and Virginia Street.

Witnesses say Chambers got out of his vehicle and tried to leave the scene.

"[They] chased the guy up around the building, got up on top of the building and actually, on top of this awning is where they caught the guy," Peavy said.

McLaurin said he tracked down Chambers and "squared up" with him, giving responding officers enough time to arrive and arrest Chambers.

"I really don't know what was going through my head," McLaurin said. "To me, I just felt like, 'Hey, dude. Hopefully, you didn't kill any of these people that you just ran into."

Chambers was arrested with multiple charges for the crash and the initial traffic stop. He is being held in the Leon County jail on $35,500 bond. He pled not guilty to charges Monday in Leon County court.

McLaurin said helping police arrest Chambers doesn't make him a hero or "Good Samaritan," as some witnesses have called him.

"I'm a parent. I'm human. I have compassion. I have a heart," McLaurin said, "and that's really what we need more in society today."

After helping police with the arrest, McLaurin went back to Bird's to do his comedy act. He said "the show must go on," and that the comedy that night helped witnesses deal with the incident.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A 27-year-old woman has been arrested after a victim found her stealing from her cars.

The Leon County Sheriff's Office says Marley Swormstedt was arrested on Saturday.

According to a probable cause document, the victim spotted Swormstedt coming out of her 2006 white Ford Fusion parked in front of her home. When Swormstedt tried to run away, the victim and her boyfriend caught her and detained her until LCSO arrived.

The document says Swormstedt told deputies that she had gone into the Ford and took the victim's purse from the car. Inside the purse, Swormstedt said she found several bottles of prescription pills, one of which was Percocet, as well as credit cards.

Taking the purse, Swormstedt hid it at her house.

When she came back, she went into the victim's 2004 Honda CRV. She told deputies that though she went through the glove box, she did not take anything.

When Swormstedt went back to look for more stuff in the Ford, she was caught by the victim and her boyfriend.

The document says that both cars were unlocked at the time.

After talking with her, LSCO took Swormstedt back home to get the stolen property.

She gave back the victim's purse and wallet but deputies say that the prescription pills and five credit cards were gone.

Once Swormstedt was transported to the Leon County Jail, deputies found a small, white pill, which they determined to be Xanax, tucked into her shorts.

Swormstedt is now being charged with two counts of burglary, grand theft of controlled substance, and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.

She is being held in jail on a $18,500 bond. She has plead not guilty
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (ABC)(AP)-- On Tuesday night, a candlelight vigil was held in honor of Otto Warmbier.

He died Monday afternoon at a hospital in Cincinnati, surrounded by family members and friends.

Warmbier was held captive for more than 17 months and returned to the United States a week ago.

Doctors in Cincinnati say he had suffered a severe injury impacting all regions of his brain.

The Hamilton County coroner's office announced there is an investigation into Warmbier's death.

While his parents did not name a specific cause of their son's death in a statement they released Monday evening, they did cite "awful, torturous" treatment by the North Koreans.

The vigil was put on by the University of Virginia Student Council at 9 p.m. at the amphitheater on Grounds.

Warmbier, a native of Ohio, was a third-year student at UVA at the time of his detention in North Korea.

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.

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.
Are you still looking to find some peace amidst the cacophony of the noises around you?

Kalki Koelchin's powerful poem will make sure you shut down all the noises around you.

By India Today Web Desk: Kalki Koelchin, the fearless actress who has established herself as one of the strongest voices in the film industry, is back with yet another hard-hitting poem. The actress is known for voicing her non-fabricated opinions on a variety of issues from feminism to the sad state of affairs in our society. Kalki's voice has never faltered, and she is a role model to everyone who wishes to contribute their bit to bring about a change in the society.

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Admired for her courage to take the right stance without a trace of hesitation, Kalki had stirred the world with her poem, The Typing Machine--a commentary against the desensitisation faced by the media, and its audiences--early last year. Kalki's satirical take on the grim issue of media desensitisation hit where it hurts the most--and that's the power of Kalki's words.

Kalki Koelchin's latest poem is a wake up call to the society.

The Girl in the Yellow Boots star has penned and performed yet another powerful poem, Noise, a soul-stirring blend of words and onomatopoeia that will make anyone reflect upon their life choices

Also Read: Arun Shourie talks about his latest book, Two Saints, and his political loneliness

Kalki has commented on the drowning voices of our souls and conscious in the the sea of our noisy society, where humans fail to listen to themselves, and seek to be heard. From the hustle-bustle of the streets to the non-existent peace in the holy places, every noise diminishes the voice of our suffocating conviction and ideas. The noise is the music, and the words we need to hear cease to exist amidst the wave of the fallacious sounds called music. When we fail to listen to ourselves, we long to be heard, and that's how our identities are lost.

The actress is back with another commentary on the sad state of our noisy society.

About the video, Kalki said, "Religious, political, and social noise has reached a peak today and it's hard to hear ourselves think or feel. We wanted to explore life brimming over with 'Noise' as an ode to silence."

Also Read: All the details of Kerala's first-ever transgender beauty contest being held tomorrow

Watch Kalki perform her second piece in collaboration with Blush channel, for a series called Unblush that focuses on highlighting the flaws of our society wrapped in beautiful words.

--- ENDS ---
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Kenneth Juster's appointment as the ambassador to India has been confirmed by the White House.

By India Today Web Desk: Kenneth Juster, top aide of US President Donald Trump, is set to be USA's new ambassador to India.

Juster is the Deputy Assistant to the US president for International Economic Affairs and Deputy Director of his National Economic Council.

"Ken Juster's move to Indian Ambassador is because he is extremely qualified for the position," White House deputy spokesperson Lindsay E Walters confirmed to PTI about the news which was first reported by The Washington Post today.

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"Ken has a strong and positive relationship with everyone in the White House, including the president," Walters said.

The move comes few days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to Washington DC where he will meet President Donald Trump on June 26.

The move has been welcomed by widely respected Ashley Telis, the top India expert in the US.

"Ken knows India well and actually was deeply involved in successful bilateral negotiations between the two countries. The Indians will welcome him enthusiastically. He is a known quantity," Tellis told The Washington Post.

However, an official announcement has not been made yet.

The White House confirmation in this regard puts to rest all the speculations.

Richard Verma, the first Indian-American to head this position, put in his papers when Trump replaced Barack Obama as the President of the US.

Also read:

PM Modi to address Indian diaspora on June 25 in Washington DC

Narendra Modi's new India vision will help US job creation: Sean Spicer

Also watch:

Ahead of PM Modi's US visit, Donald Trump may ease restrictions on H1-B visa issue

--- ENDS ---
An al-Qaida-linked Islamic militant group said Monday it staged an attack the previous day on a resort area in Mali popular with foreigners, killing five people, including a Portuguese soldier who had been serving in the European Union mission to stabilize this West African country wracked by mounting extremism.

The recently formed Mali-based Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites.

A Malian soldier and three civiliansa Chinese citizen, a Malian, and a French-Gabonese dual nationalalso were slain in the worst terror attack to strike Bamako since late 2015.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the Malian victim worked for the European delegation in Bamako.

The attack struck a resort area that was considered safe enough that it was an approved rest and recreation location for soldiers with the EU mission. It was not immediately clear how the attackers managed to overpower the security staff and shoot at guests.
The first reports received by the American satellite system detected four Iranian missile hits in the Iraqi desert and four hits in the Deir ez-Zor area in Syria. If the satellite images are verified, they will indicate that the first barrage in 30 years of Iranian ballistic missiles fired at targets outside Iran was an operational failure. The Iranian military industry experienced a miserable failure.

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Six missiles were fired, but only two of them reached their target. Furthermore, the accuracy of the hit and the extent of damage caused to the Islamic State facility remains unclear. The video presented by the Iranians shows only one explosion, which hit a building.

The Iranian strategic power is not a paper tiger, but its far from being the demonic threat portrayed by the heads of the IDF at the beginning of the decade in a bid to prevent the political echelon from attacking the Iranian nuclear abilities. The Iranian missile technology is inferior to the technology we are familiar with in developed countries, and its quite likely that the Iranian military industry is now looking into the nature of the failures to determine whether they were the result of a development problem or a production problem. All we are talking about is a new surface-to-surface missile which was first seen in an annual parade in Tehran in September 2016.

Iranian missile strike in Syria. Irans missile technology is inferior to the technology we are familiar with in developed countries (Photo: AP)

Warplane attacks have a major, accurate and more impressive effect, but the Iranians chose to use surface-to-surface missiles, as any attempt to bring planes into the Syrian airspace would have ended in their downing by the American coalition or by the Russians. This is where the Iranians exposed one of their weak spots: Their warplane fleet is outdated. Furthermore, it took them a long time to respond to the ISIS attack on the Iranian parliament in Tehran, likely due to their intelligence collection abilities and the Iranian leaderships decision-making process.

Nevertheless, a barrage of six missiles demonstrates that the Iranian army has fire units as big as regiments which operate this model. The ISIS attack in Tehran gave the Iranians a reason to operationally test-fire this missile, for the first time, in real-time conditionsjust like Syria serves as an experimental field for modern weapons for the Russians.

If there is any military-political signal in this missile fire, it appears to be directed at the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia rather than at Israel. The Zulfiqar missiles used by Iran cover these countries, and the Iranians are indicating that the barrier which has curbed the firing of missiles outside Iranian soil up until now has been broken. If the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia threaten the Iranian national interestthey will become a target.

The Zulfiqar missile belongs to a veteran family of missiles which has been around the region for many years now and includes the three Fateh-110 models with a range of about 350 kilometers, and the Fateh-313 with a range of 500 kilometers. According to foreign sources, these missiles may have also reached Lebanon over the years. The Zulfiqar missile will only put Israel at risk if it is stationed on Lebanese soil, but the Iranians have no reason to try to smuggle this kind of missiles into Lebanon at the risk of having them destroyed on the way, as there already are missiles in Lebanon with an effective range that covers most Israeli territory. Not to mention the fact that the accuracy of the Fateh missiles, as well as the long-range Zelzal-3 rockets in Lebanon, can be improved.

The other side of the story is the Wall Street Journal report that in the past three years Israel has been supplying rebels in the Syrian Golan Heights with limited military and financial aid. Just like the Iranians are making an effort to increase their influence in Syria and to position themselves against Israel not only in Lebanon but also in the Golan Heights, Israel is doing its utmostboth through diplomatic means and through military meansto thwart this trend.

We should not rule out the possibility that the alleged connection between Israel and the Golan residents who are rebelling against Assad is one of the measures aimed at making it difficult for the Iranians and Hezbollah to put down roots in the northern border. In the long run, Israel cannot rely on the rebels to stop the Iranian spillover into the Golan border, which is why the aid it is providingapart from humanitarian aidis limited.

The experience gained by Israel in southern Lebanon with the South Lebanon Army serves as a reminder to our defense ministers that we should be careful when we embrace and rely on our new allies, as these love affairs usually end in disappointment.
India had approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on May 8 soon after a military court in Pakistan awarded death sentence to Jadhav, a former Navyman, on espionage charges.

By India Today Web Desk: Pakistan's outgoing High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit has said that his country is committed not to carry out the execution of death sentence awarded to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a military court till the hearing in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gives its verdict in the case.

In an interview with The Hindu, Basit, who was appointed Islamabad's envoy to New Delhi in 2014 just days before PM Narendra Modi assumed charge, said that there is still hope left for Jadhav.

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"There is a process that is ongoing, and if Jadhav's appeal were rejected (by the court), that would be the time for the Army chief or the President to reconsider the sentence against him. He has been tried, he has been convicted, and he has the right to appeal. If that is rejected, then he has the right to submit an application for clemency to the Army chief, and if he denies it, then to the President. So there is room for a rethink there," Basit said.

India had approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on May 8 soon after a military court in Pakistan awarded death sentence to Jadhav, a former Navyman, on espionage charges.

India said that Pakistan had violated the Vienna Convention and conducting a 'farcical trial' for convicting Jadhav without a 'shred of evidence'.

Pakistan claims that Jadhav was arrested from Balochistan in March last year. However, India maintains that he was kidnapped from Iran and taken to Pakistan by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

ON KASHMIR

Responding to a question over the contentious Kashmir issue, Basit said any resolution to the dispute should be approved by the people of the region.

"As far as Islamabad is concerned, no solution is acceptable unless it is acceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Any other solution will fall apart very quickly," he said.

ON HAFIZ SAEED

Basit stopped short of admitting Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's involvement in terror activities but said that his country has taken the action required against him.

"No individual in Pakistan is above the law. It is not the first time he has been put under house arrest, the law will move against him. At the end of the day it is for the courts to decide," Basit said.

ALSO READ:

Kulbhushan Jadhav death sentence: Pakistan may overrule International Court of Justice's order

Is International Court of Justice stay on Kulbhushan Jadhav hanging binding on Pakistan? How ICJ works

Kulbhushan Jadhav's death sentence stayed by ICJ, Iran demands access to former Indian Navy officer

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WATCH: India's full argument of Kulbhushan Jadhav's case in ICJ

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IDF soldiers and Israel Border Police soldiers arrested Wednesday morning the mother of one of the terrorists who carried out Fridays deadly stabbing attack at Jerusalems Damascus Gate which claimed the life of 1st Sgt. Hadas Malka.

According to the army, the terrorists mother was arrested in the village of Deir Abu Mash'al on suspicion of incitement and because of recent statements in which she glorified martyrs and called for attacking Jews. During the arrest, security forces also seized inciting material, flags and posters.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Wednesday appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, placing him firmly as first-in-line to the throne and removing the country's counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington from the royal line of succession.

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In a series of royal decrees carried on the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the monarch stripped Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who had been positioned to inherit the throne, from his title as crown prince and from his powerful position as the country's interior minister overseeing security.

The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman already oversees a vast portfolio as defense minister and head of an economic council tasked with overhauling the country's economy. He had previously been the second-in-line to the throne as deputy crown prince, though royal watchers had long suspected his rise to power under his father's reign might also accelerate his ascension to the throne.

From left to right: King Salman, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Mohammed bin Salman (Photo: EPA)

The young prince was little known to Saudis and outsiders before Salman became king in January 2015. He had previously been in charge of his father's royal court when Salman was the crown prince.

The Saudi monarch, who holds near absolute powers, quickly awarded his son expansive powers to the surprise of many within the royal family who are more senior and more experienced than Mohammed bin Salman, also known by his initials MBS.

The royal decree issued Wednesday stated that "a majority" of senior royal members from the so-called Allegiance Council supported the recasting of the line of succession. Saudi Arabia's state TV said 31 out of 34 of the council's members voted in favor of the changes.

Mohammed bin Salman kissing hand of Mohammed bin Nayef

The Allegiance Council is a body made up of the sons and prominent grandsons of the founder of the Saudi state, the late King Abdul-Aziz, who vote to pick the king and crown prince from among themselves.

Over the weekend, the king had issued a decree restructuring Saudi Arabia's system for prosecutions that stripped Mohammed bin Nayef of longstanding powers overseeing criminal investigations, and instead ordered that a newly-named Office of Public Prosecution and prosecutor report directly to the monarch.

Mohammed bin Nayef was not believed to have played a significant role in Saudi and Emirati-led efforts to isolate Qatar for its support of Islamist groups and ties with Iran.

King Salman (Photo: AP)

The prince had appeared to be slipping from public eye as his nephew, Mohammed bin Salman, embarked on major overseas visits, including a trip to the White House to meet President Donald Trump in March. That visit to Washington helped lay the foundation for Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in May, which marked the president's first overseas visit and which was promoted heavily by the kingdom as proof of its weight in the region and wider Muslim world.

Saudi-US relations had cooled under the Obama administration after Washington pursued a nuclear accord with Shiite-ruled Iran that the Sunni-ruled kingdom strongly opposed.

The warm ties forged between Riyadh and Washington under the Trump administration may have helped accelerate Mohammed bin Salman's ascension as crown prince.

Mohammed bin Salman with President Trump (Photo: Reuters)

Despite his ambitions, which include overhauling the kingdom's economy away from its reliance on oil, the prince has faced failures and strong criticism for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which he oversees as defense minister.

The war, launched more than two years ago, has failed to dislodge Iranian-allied rebels known as Houthis from the capital, Sanaa, and has had devastating effects on the impoverished country. Rights groups say Saudi forces have killed scores of civilians and have called on the US, as well as the UK and France, to halt the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia that could be used in the Yemen war.

Photo: Reuters

The US already is helping the Saudis with intelligence and logistical support for the bombing campaign in Yemen, and the Trump administration has signaled it could assist with greater intelligence support to counter Iranian influence there.

The newly-minted crown prince also raised eyebrows when he ruled out any chance of dialogue with Iran. In remarks aired on Saudi TV in May, Mohammed bin Salman framed the tensions with Iran in sectarian terms, and said it is Iran's goal "to control the Islamic world" and to spread its Shiite doctrine. He also vowed to take "the battle" to Iran.

Iran and Saudi Arabia's rivalry has played out in proxy wars across the region. They back opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen and they support political rivals in Lebanon, Bahrain and Iraq. The conflicts have deepened Sunni-Shiite enmity between hard-liners on both sides.
As Israel kicks off its first official day of the summer in anticipation of its usually scorching hot temperatures, residents were surprised by a freak phenomenon on Wednesday morning as rain began to briefly fall on a number of central and southern cities including Tel Aviv, Holon, Petah Tikva, Kiryat Ono, Ashdod and Sderot.

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Meteorologist Tzachi Waxman of Meteo Tech said that Ironically, today is the first official day of the summer with light rains falling from the north to the outskirts of the Negev desert.

Light rain in central Israel during start of summer (:  ,    )

X

Rain in Tel Aviv

The rain was caused, Waxman explained, by air flowing through Turkey which, in an unusual way managed to make its way to the east of the sea and cause an imbalance in temperature.

Photo: Motti Kimchi

"This is an exception for this day of the year. This cold air, combined with the warm air in our region, produces more developed clouds which produce cold rain, he said.

Photo: Motti Kimchi

Despite the spits and spots, Waxman said that Israelis can still expect a bright side later on in the day.

This phenomenon will accompany us in the coming hours, but will fade in the afternoon," he said. The bad news, according to the weather forecaster, is that "such a pleasant day will not come back in the near future."
Im all in favor of applying the ethical code written by Prof. Asa Kasher. I too sat in lectures at Tel Aviv Universitys Gilman Building and listened to political preaching from different professors. Often, there was something slightly amusing or thought-provoking about it; most of the time, it was exhausting and a waste of precious time. But if we want to prevent professors in the academia from dealing with political issues in their lectures, this should be prevented in all public educational institutions funded by the state.

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Its no secret, and Im certain there is not a single decent person in the Right who would dare argue against the fact right-wing political discourse and preaching are openly taking place in all religious and ultra-Orthodox educational institutions in Israel.

Lets put the Haredi sector aside for minute, as Israeli society has already lost hope long ago and has given up on demanding that this sector honor basic civil duties. Its pretty clear the goal of the rightist-religious political leadership these days is to silence anyone who thinks differently. Not only are the heads of high school yeshivot and hesder yeshivot routinely dealing with controversial political issues on the states agenda, but they are also sending their students, day and night, to political rallies and protests.

Not only are yeshiva heads routinely dealing with controversial political issues, but they are also sending their students, day and night, to political rallies and protests (Photo: Haim Zach)

Whoever denies there are clear biases towards the right in yeshiva educational institutions and in religious girls high schools, as part of the lessons and sermons of the yeshiva heads and teachers, is either playing dumb or knowingly lying.

So if we want an ethical code that bars educators from expressing political views as part of Israels public educational institutions, it should be barred in all systems: Elementary schools and high schools, high school yeshivot and religious girls high schools, hesder yeshivot and even in the kollels for married yeshiva students (which, as we know, are funded by the state).

Such a solution, of course, will never cross the minds of the defenders of the integrity of the common students spirit. After all, can we separate Torah studies in a yeshiva, for example, from the need to protect the alleged halachic ruling that forbids us to give back territories from the Land of Israel? That is unthinkable!

Well, this doesnt apply only to yeshivot: The intellectual life of the academia requires expressions of diverse views, even if it means voicing a controversial political opinion as part of chemistry classes, and all the more so in humanities and social sciences. Just like the Halacha is the heart and soul of the religious and Haredi yeshiva, freedom of opinion and the ability to openly express opinions, both in and outside of class, are the heart and soul of the academia in a democratic regime.

The heads of the yeshivot and religious girls high schools and pre-military yeshivot will continue, therefore, to preach their right-wing opinions to their students. These systems, as we know, have already produced two glorious Yigals: Yigal Amir and Rabbi Yigal Levinstein. On the other side, other universities, each with its own intellectual makeup, will keep voicing different opinion, both left-wing and right-wing.

The democratic societys strength and intellectual discourse stem from our ability to tolerate different political and social opinions, and the academic arena is one of the most important arenas for this occurrence. Its not always pleasant for everyone, but those who want to prevent this discourse should prevent it in their own institutions as well. The attempt to only silence the university systems, most of which have a secularalthough not necessarily left-wingnature, means that the right-wing and religious educational systems will be the only ones with the right to express free opinions. All the others will keep their mouths shut.

Dov Elbaum is a writer, television host and senior educator at BINAThe Jewish Movement for Social Change.
Former Speaker of the Knesset Dalia Itzik was summoned to testify in the police unit Lahav 433, in the criminal investigation against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on suspicion of receiving illicit favors and gifts from businessmen.
Israel is gearing up to push back against a conference being hosted next week by the UN in the organization's New York headquarters to mark what it describes as the "anniversary of the Israeli occupation."

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According to a report by the Ministry for Strategic Affairs, headed by Minister Gilad Erdan, several BDS and anti-Israel organizations will be taking part in the conference, which in the past has undertaken efforts to implement a series of hostile measures against Israeli officials.

These include, inter alia, issuing arrest warrants and prosecuting IDF officers and other officials for war crimes, openly calling for the boycotting of Israeli goods, promoting draft dodging in Israel and calling for Israelis to be tried in the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes.

Anti-BDS conference at the UN (Photo: Shahar Azran)

Minister Erdan appealed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to prevent the conference from being held and to avoid UN funding for BDS events and UN entities whose sole purpose is to blacklist Israel.

"As Israels Minister of Strategic Affairs, responsible for leading Israels response to the international delegitimization and boycott (BDS) campaign against Israel, I write to you to protest in the strongest possible terms the use of UN funds and facilities to support an event aimed directly at promoting the delegitimization and boycott of Israel," Erdan wrote to Guterres.

Gilad Erdan (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

"Many of the organizations that will be given a platform by the UN at this event, including the American Friends Service Committee, Jewish Voice for Peace, Al-Haq, Al Mezan, Zochrot and others, are leaders of the anti-Israel BDS and legal warfare campaign," he continued. "These organizations dedicate the majority of their energies to promoting economic, academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, attacking Israel in international legal and diplomatic forums, and delegitimizing Israel's basic right to exist.

"Several have connections to designated terror groups while others publically glorify convicted terrorists."

BDS protest

Erdan also sought to rally behind his cause the staunchly pro-Israel Republican senator Marco Rubio, whom he met earlier this month, discussing his fight against the efforts to delegitimize Israel and voicing his concern.

"I urge you to continue speaking out against the UN's use of member states' funds to promote the BDS campaign," Erdan wrote after thanking Rubio for his "important initiatives for countering BDS," as well as his "recent engagements with the UN Secretary-General" in his efforts to correct the "long-standing anti-Israel bias at the UN."

In April, all 100 US senators signed a letter sent to Guterres urging him to act against discrimination against Israel in the United Nations.

(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
One of President Donald Trumps top Middle East advisors and son-in-law Jared Kushner touched down in Israel on Wednesday morning before paying a visit to the family of 23-year-old MSG. Hadas Malka, who was murdered last Friday in a combined shooting and stabbing terror attack in Jerusalems Old City.

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While Kushner arrived in Israel in a bid to restart a new peace initiative and negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians under the direction of the new administration, he immediately paid the visit to the Malka family in Givat Ezer as they continue to mourn their fallen daughter. He was joined by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

Jared Kushner with David Friedman

A close friend of the Malka family said that the duration of the visit lasted for approximately half an hour.

He offered the condolences to the bereaved family from the US president, who spoke to his son-in-law on the way and asked that he be kept updated about the visit, the friend said.

(Kushner) said that the president himself asked him to express condolences on behalf of the United States.

Jared Kushner with Ambassador Friedman mourn with the Hadas family

The family associate went on to say that the Malka family had told Kushner about their brave daughter, her patriotism, and that that after serving in the IDF she joined the Border Police.

She always said to them that it is important to guard the capital of Israel, Jerusalem because if we dont protect the capital, there wont be a state. The father told (Kushner) and the ambassador that, the friend claimed. The ambassador was also apprised of developments regarding the investigation, which began with the arrest of the person who drove (the attackers to the target siteed) and the arrest of one of the terrorists mother.

Hadas Malka

The father told him that on the one hand there is a mother who is crying and in pain over the death of her daughter. On the other hand, there is a mother who is praising and glorifying her son who should have killed more people from her point of view. The father addressed this stark contrast.

Kushner arrived in Israel shortly after another one of Trumps special envoys and Middle East advisor Jason Greenblatt. The two are preparing to hold meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah during which they will hear directly from Israeli and Palestinian leaders on their priorities and deliberate over the next steps required in the fresh peace efforts.
A federal magistrate in Belgium says that the suspect who was shot and killed by soldiers at the Brussels central station had Moroccan nationality and wasn't known to authorities for terror activities.

Eric Van der Sypt said Tuesday that the man sought to explode a bomb on Monday but it failed to fully detonate. He said that "it was clear he wanted to cause much more damage than what happened. The bag exploded twice but it could have been a lot worse."

Van der Sypt said the attack suspect's bag at Brussels station contained gas canisters and nails. He said that the attacker then charged at soldiers while shouting "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great." The soldiers fatally shot the attacker.
Israeli forces arrested Wednesday a Palestinian woman who praised her son, the perpetrator of a murderous attack on police in East Jerusalem, said the army and police.

Last Friday, three Palestinians attacked the Israeli police near the Old City of Jerusalem, fatally stabbing a 23-year-old police officer before being shot dead.

Israeli security forces arrested Zaynab Ankush, the mother of one of the assailants, on Wednesday morning "because of her recent calls ... to commit further attacks against the Jews and because of hate inciting statements" An army spokesman told AFP.

"He chose to die as a martyr (...) I am proud and I would have liked him to kill 20, 50, 100 (more)," Zaynab Ankouch, mother of Adel Ankush, said in an interview on Sunday with Israeli public television channel Kan.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday he saw no legitimate successor to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and France no longer considered his departure a pre-condition to resolving the six-year-old conflict.

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Macron (Photo: AFP)

He said Assad was an enemy of the Syrian people but not of France, and that Paris' priority was fighting terrorist groups and ensuring Syria did not become a failed state.

His comments were in stark contrast to those of the previous French administration and echo Moscow's stance that there is no viable alternative to Assad.

Assad (Photo: Reuters)

"The new perspective that I have had on this subject is that I have not stated that Bashar al-Assad's departure is a pre-condition for everything because nobody has shown me a legitimate successor," Macron said in an interview with eight European newspapers.

"My lines are clear: Firstly, a complete fight against all the terrorist groups. They are our enemies," he said, adding attacks that killed 230 people in France had come from the region. "We need everybody's cooperation, especially Russia's, to eradicate them."

A failed state

He said the second priority was ensuring the stability of Syria so that it did not become a failed state.

In more than six years, the Syrian conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven more than 11 million from their homes.

Until now, France has been a backer of the Syrian opposition. It has demanded the conflict be resolved through a credible political transition based on UN Security Council resolutions negotiated between Syria's warring parties with the United Nations in Geneva.

However, Macron's election victory has offered an opportunity for Paris to re-examine its policy on Syria with some considering the previous administration's stance too intransigent and leaving it isolated.

Macron made no mention of the United Nations' role in the interview.

"My deep conviction is that there needs to be a diplomatic and political roadmap. We will not resolve this solely militarily," he said.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was in Moscow on Tuesday pushing for closer co-operation with Russia as part of what he said could drive relations to a renewed "spirit of trust". Macron appeared to put his faith firmly in convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek a solution.

"I don't think he has an unshakeable friendship with Assad. He has two obsessions, fighting terrorism and avoiding a failed state, and so that's why convergent views on Syria appear," Macron said.

He said he believed it would be possible to work with Putin to fight terrorism and find a solution to the crisis, although he made clear Paris would no longer let the use of chemical weapons in Syria go unpunished.

"The use of chemical weapons will see a response, including by France alone," he said. "France will therefore be completely aligned with the United States on this."
By Press Trust of India: Patna, June 21 (PTI) RJD supremo Lalu Prasad today said his party will go with other opposition parties in their choice for a presidential candidate.

"We will go with the decision of opposition parties, which will meet in New Delhi tomorrow," he told reporters.

Lalu brushed aside questions on the JD(U) extending support to NDAs pick for the presidents post, former Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind.

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The RJD supremo had earlier flayed the NDA for not consulting opposition parties and evolve a consensus on the presidential election.

Congress has refused support to Kovinds candidature and said the opposition will put up its own presidential candidate. PTI KDK DKB RAX

--- ENDS ---
Jared Kushner, who is a senior advisor to US President Donald Trump on the Middle East, met on Wednesday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior advisers, Trump advisor to Israel and Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

The meeting was described as positive, with both sides reaffirming their commitment to advancing Trump's goal of achieving a genuine and long-lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, which will strengthen stability in the region. The officials officialsstressed that it would take time to achieve peace, and the importance of doing everything possible to create an atmosphere conducive to peacemaking.

Kushner and Greenblatt are set to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his senior advisors in Ramallah next. The two will then return to Washington and debrief President Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Advisor, General H. R. McMaster.
Hundreds of people, including members of Knesset, attended a rally in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening ahead of the Awareness Day for the Kidnapped Children from Yemen, the Middle East, and the Balkan.

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The protesters, among them families of missing children and social activists, are demanding recognition and justice for the children and the families.

They also demand the acquittal of Rabbi Uzi Meshulam, who was jailed after a standoff with police when he barricaded himself with his supporters at his home and demanded the establishment of an inquiry commission to investigate the case of the missing children.

The rally in Jerusalem (Photo: TPS)

Protesters blocked traffic on King George Street, calling out "Where are the Yemenite children?" They were also carrying signs with the photos and names of the missing children.

In December, the National Archive's website made available to the public some 3,500 case files including 210,000 documents dealing with the disappearance of the Yemenite children. The searchable documents provide information on thousands of children, including where they were buried and what their cause of death was.

Sharon Arami, 31 from Ramat Gan, came to the rally with her brother. "I want to know where my aunts and uncles are," she said. "I'm a third generation to the holocaust of the Yemenite children. We're still looking for them to this very day."

Seven children are missing from the Arami family. "My grandmother arrived (in Israel) in 1949. She had 13 children, seven of whom disappeared. The commission of inquiry determined they all passed away, and the absurd thing was they all received IDF draft orders," Sharon Arami said. "One of the girls, the commission found, passed away four times in four different places. It's time to recognize this and start opening up the archives to find out what happened to my aunts and uncles."

Poet Shlomi Hatuka, who heads the Amram NGO dedicated to finding out what happened to the missing children, spoke at the rally. "We're here because for 70 years now, the State of Israel has been dismissing us," he said. "We're here because for 70 years, the State of Israel has been saying our grandfathers and grandmothers are liars. They silenced us with violence. Rabbi Uzi Meshulam paid with his life. We're here. As long as we're here, we won't be silent. The country won't be quiet."

Likud MK Nava Boker, who pushed to open the archives to the public, spoke about her own experience. "My parents passed away without learning the fate of their child... I demand recognition of these kidnappings cases; they shouldn't be treated as adoption cases. There were criminal actions done," she said.

Dr. Moshe Nahum, the president of the International Federation for Yemenite Jewry, presented his book about the disappearance of the Yemenite children. "In 1942, my three-months-old baby sister was kidnapped. We searched for her. My parents sat and cried. Every Friday they'd bake and lament the loss of the girl. I want the real files to be opened because all of the inquiry commissions lied," he accused.
GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir accused Hamas on Wednesday of being the main cause of the electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip.

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Speaking at a ceremony marking 30 years to the establishment of the Gaza Division, Zamir said Gazans should lay the blame squarely on Hamas's shoulders.

"As long as Hamas continues being an element threatening Israel, Gaza's basic problems won't be resolved," he said. "Hamas invests the little resources in the strip to continue developing its military capabilities at the expanse of the residents of the strip."

GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir (Photo: Ido Erez)

The GOC Southern Command also addressed the possibility the electricity crisis could lead to an escalation of violence between Hamas and Israel, stressing, "Calm will be met with calm. We're committed to protecting our borders and cities. In a conflict, we will ensure the enemy is not safe and is surprised at every corner. We will continue to strengthen the capabilities of the division and prepare to all manner of threats, above ground and below it."

Egypt sends fuel to Gaza

Egypt sent fuel on Wednesday to the Gaza Strip's only power plant to help alleviate an energy crisis that has left the Palestinian enclave's two million residents with less than three hours of electricity per day, further exacerbating its humanitarian crisis.

The delivery, a sign of improved relations between Hamas and Egypt after years of friction, was the first official import of Egyptian diesel to Gaza since Hamas took over the enclave in 2007 and could provide seven hours of power for three days.

Gaza during a power outage (Photo: AFP)

Fuel from Egypt used to be smuggled through tunnels, many of them now destroyed by Cairo, which said they were conduits for weapons and militants battling Egyptian forces in the neighbouring Sinai peninsulaan allegation denied by Hamas.

Gaza's power plant has been off-line for two months due to a payment dispute between the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, and Gaza's Hamas rulers.

The Palestinian Authority has cut payments for its Israeli electricity supply, arguing that Hamas is not reimbursing its share of the cost, and Israel has therefore cut the power supply by almost a third.

Gazan family under dark (Photo: AFP)

Diesel tankers, flying the Egyptian and Palestinian flags, crossed into Gaza two days after the Israeli supply cuts began.

The imports were agreed at talks in Cairo this month between Gaza's Hamas chief, Yehya Al-Sinwar, and Egyptian security officials. Sources close to those negotiations said the deal was also facilitated by Mohammad Dahlan, a Fatah rival of Abbas living in Abu Dhabi.

Any worsening of the energy crisis could cause the collapse of health services, local health officials said. Hospitals largely rely on generators for power, as do Gaza residents who can afford the high cost of fuel to run them.

Photo: AFP

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's decision to cut the payments was coupled with calls from Palestinian officials for Hamas to relinquish control of Gaza, which Hamas seized from fighters loyal to Abbas's Fatah movement in 2007.

The one million litres (264,000 gallons) in the shipment on Wednesday could be followed by another one million litre delivery later in the day or on Thursday, the Hamas-appointed deputy finance minister in Gaza, Youssef al-Kayali, said.
Islamic State (also known as ISIS) militants blew up on Wednesday the Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its famous leaning minaret, an Iraqi military statement said.

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It was from this medieval mosque that the militants' leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled ''caliphate'' rule over parts of Syria and Iraq three years ago.

The Grand al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul

Islamic State's Amaq news agency accused American aircraft of destroying the mosque.

Photo, from several days ago: AFP

"The ISIS (another name for the Islamic Stateed) terror gangs committed another historical crime by blowing up the al-Nuri mosque and its historical al-Hadba minaret," the Iraqi military statement said, .

The explosions happened as Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service units, which have been battling their way through Mosul's Old City, got to within 50 meters (164 ft) of the mosque, the statement said.

Blasts in Mosul (Photo: AFP)

Iraqi forces earlier on Wednesday said they had started a push towards the mosque. A US-led coalition is providing air and ground support to the Mosul offensive which began in October 2016.

Iraqi anti-ISIS forces in Mosul (Photo: AFP)

The forces had encircled on Tuesday the jihadist group's stronghold in the Old City, the last district under their control in Mosul.

Al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself "caliph," or ruler of all Muslims, from the pulpit of the mosque on July 4, 2014, after the insurgents overran parts of Iraq and Syria. His black flag had been flying over its leaning minaret since June 2014.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Photo: MCT)

Iraqi officials had privately expressed the hope that the mosque could be captured in time for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month. The first day of the Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate" even though Islamic State would continue to control territory west and south of the city, the largest they had control of in both Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding in the border area between Iraq and Syria, according to US and Iraqi military sources.
YORK  With regret, the York County Commissioners accepted the resignation of York County Attorney Candace Bottorf on Tuesday morning, and began the process toward filling that important position.

While they said they regretted Bottorfs leaving, they also congratulated her on her new position as general counsel for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. She will begin her new position on June 26.

Bottorf was the Deputy York County Attorney from April 2010 until February 2012 when she became the county attorney, a capacity shes filled since.

I want to thank you very much for the wonderful opportunity you gave me to serve York County and to work with you and the countys officials and employees, Bottorf said with great emotion. I truly, truly mean that. I am leaving you in good hands with Benjamin Dennis (the deputy county attorney) and the amazing staff.

As she submitted her letter of resignation directly to the commissioners last week, they already knew that her last day of working for the county would be Tuesday, June 20.

It should be noted that she has represented the county very well for the past seven years and her leadership restored the integrity of that office, said Commissioner Kurt Bulgrin. We truly appreciate all that youve done.

We say we are reluctant, but it is also great when people advance, said Commissioner Randy Obermier.

They accepted her resignation and with a round of applause followed by each shaking hands with Bottorf, they personally thanked her for her years of service to York County.

Later in the meeting, they went into executive session to discuss how they would be moving forward with filling the position.

In open session, Commissioner Chairman Jack Sikes said a committee comprised of himself and Commissioner Kurt Bulgrin will advertise for applications. They will ask for interested attorneys to apply, they will review the applications and then bring forward a recommendation to the full board. The entire board will vote on Bottorfs replacement.

The timeframe, at this point, is not yet clear as to how long that might take, but Commissioner Bulgrin noted that they will want to do it in a timely fashion so as to not have only one attorney in the county attorneys office for too long due to the heavy caseload.

Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney Dennis will be the acting county attorney.

It should be noted that this particular position will be up for election in 2018. The person appointed to fulfill this position will have the option to file for election, like all other attorneys, next year.
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.
YORK  This year, there were four seats up for election on the York City Council  the ones currently being held by Jeff Pieper, Scott VanEsch
Pulsar Suni, who is now in jail, confessed to his jail mate that he was hired by a Malayalam megastar to attack the actress.

By Jeemon Jacob: New revelations in popular Malayalam actress attack case expose mafia links of Malayalam film industry.

Kerala police has initiated probe against two bigwigs in Malayalam film industry about their involvement in the case after the accused Pulsar Suni, who is now in jail, confessed to his jail mate that they were involved in the case.

According to Kochi Police, Pulsar Suni who is the prime accused in the case told his jail mate Jinse of Chalakudy in Thrissur district that he was hired by a megastar in Malayalam film industry to attack the actress on her way to meet her friend in Kochi on February 17 night. He was facilitated by a popular film director about the actress' travel schedule.

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"It's a new twist in the case. During interrogation, Pulsar Suni never disclosed these details to the investigation team.

Based on the new revelations, we will record his statement before the judicial magistrate and issue notice to the persons mentioned in the statement for interrogation," a senior police official told India Today.

CM'S ASSURANCE

Earlier Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told media that there was no conspiracy behind the kidnapping of the actress and sexual assault on her in a moving car.

But actress' friend Manju Warrier told media that there was a conspiracy behind the abduction and attack. The incident triggered debate on women's safety issues in Kerala.

Later the chief minister directed the police to probe conspiracy angle of the case and book the culprits.

Pulsar Suni was sent to remand custody in Kakkanad sub jail and lodged with Jinse who was booked in a cheating case. Suni told Jinse that he was hired by a film star to humiliate the actress.

ACTRESS WAS ENGAGED

He was assured that the actress would not report the crime to the police as she was engaged to a film producer.

Suni also shot the act of sexual abuse in his mobile and told the actress that he was directed to take the video clippings by the person who hired him for the job.

Police could not recover the mobile phone or clippings when they arrested Suni and his associates. The new revelations indicate that some of the film industry bigwigs have close links with the mafia.

ALSO READ: Malayalam actress abduction- Prime accused has links with film industry?

ALSO READ: After Kerala shocker, Varalaxmi shares her horrific experience

ALSO READ: Not just the Malayalam actress rape- These stars too had sickening experiences

ALSO WATCH: Seven detained in Malayalam actor molestation case, rape charges filed

--- 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.

We hope you are equally as excited as us.

This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.

Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.

In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy.

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While many middle and upper middle class Chinese are turning their backs on the Australian property market following a series of measures designed to cool the market, ultra-rich Chinese are as resilient as ever.

According to Bain & Company and China Merchants Banks China Private Wealth Report, Australia is the third most popular destination for ultra-rich Chinese nationals who want to invest offshore.

With interest in the top two investment destinationsHong Kong and the United Statesfalling by 18% and 3% respectively, there has been a 7% jump in private Chinese wealth flowing into Australia, the report said.

At the same time, Chinas pool of private wealth ballooned to CNY165trn (roughly $31trn) in 2017. This is six times what the nations private wealth was a decade ago, and is twice the size of Chinas GDP.

According to the report, there are now 1.6 million high-net-worth Chinese with at least CNY10m to invest. This is a considerable increase from 180,000 in 2006.

More than half (56%) of these high-net-worth individuals have invested offshore, up from 19% in 2011. Moreover, 24% of the 3,000 wealthy Chinese surveyed had private investments in Australia, with interest in both Australia and Canada on the rise, the reports authors said.

The top three reasons for Chinese investment offshore were: diversifying investment risk (82%), market opportunities (51%), and the desire to migrate (32%). Meanwhile, the most common overseas investments were cash deposits, stocks and bonds, and investment property.

Pool of high-net-worth Chinese has broadened

Eight years ago, Chinas wealthy were predominantly first-generation entrepreneurs (70%). This percentage fell to 41% in 2017, as the make-up of the countrys rich has broadened.

Second-generation successors (10%), professionals (29%), and other (14%) account for half of the high-net-worth individuals surveyed. (Other comprises a melange of celebrities, actors, and sportspeople.)

As the number of Chinas wealthy continues to grow exponentially, its clear from the research that they are incredibly diverse, have a multitude of needs and that their priorities are starting to shift, said Jennifer Zeng, partner at Bain & Company Hong Kong.

Related stories:

Two Major Challenges Facing Chinese Investors

Approved Foreign Investment Rises To $248bn
As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not be attending the Opposition parties meeting in Delhi and all-party meeting in Siliguri.

By Indrajit Kundu: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not be attending the Opposition parties meeting in Delhi on June 22 to decide the presidential candidate.

Trinamool Congress would be represented by Rajya Sabha MP Derek O Brien as Banerjee is in Netherlands to receive the prestigious UN Public Service award on UN Public Service Day on June 23.

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The chief minister will also be missing the crucial all-party meet in Siliguri called by the state to discuss the ongoing crisis in Darjeeling. The left and Congress have said that they will not take part in the meeting if the CM is not attending it.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA on Monday announced Dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind as the presidential candidate. The furious Opposition decided to announce their own candidate against him and is hence planning to conduct a meeting on June 22.

Also Read

Presidential election 2017: Opposition meets on June 22, may field candidate against BJP nominee

Presidential poll: How a joint Opposition candidate may trump Modi-Shah combination

--- ENDS ---
Ahmedabad: BJP chief Amit Shah joined thousands of people here on Wednesday doing pranayam, yoga and meditation at a mass demonstration led by yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who was eyeing world records on the International Yoga Day.



However, rain played a spoilsport and prevented many from attending the mega event held simultaneously at five grounds including those belonging to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, the Gujarat University and the Ahmedabad Education Society.

The event was co-organised by the Gujarat government with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani sharing the dais with Shah and Ramdev.

Before performing the asanas, Ramdev said officials of the Guinness World Records were at the grounds which had 100 entry points, 100 giant LED screens and 10,000 volunteers from Patanjali Yogpeeth Gurukul ensuring smooth run of the event for the popular ancient physical and spiritual exercise.

"This is the world`s biggest event. Anyone who has to study event management they should come to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji`s Gujarat and see how lakhs of people began assembling here from 3 a.m.," Ramdev said.

He said the event intended to create a world record for the highest number of people performing pranayam, yoga, and meditation at one location at a given time and another world record for the highest number of people at multiple locations performing yoga in sync.

Ramdev said every person entering the venue was bar coded to keep the count of gathering.

However, it was not immediately known how many participated in the event.

The International Yoga Day debuted in 2015 after a UN backed the India-sponsored initiative that was supported by over 170 member states.

According to the Guinness World Records, 2105 Yoga Day celebrations saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading thousands in a spectacular mass participation of 35,985 people in Delhi -- making it the largest yoga session in the world.

Ramdev advised people to emulate Modi and Shah on the practice of yoga.

"Both Narendrabhai (Modi) and Amitbhai perform yoga every day without fail and everybody should follow them," Ramdev told the gathering.

Praising the portly Shah who was seated beside him on the stage, the yoga guru said while the BJP chief had gained "political weight, he had worked real hard to reduce his weight".

"He has aamla and aloe vera juice every morning and does not eat anything after 7 p.m. He performs yoga every day," Ramdev said.
Washington: Republican Senator Marco Rubio opened a Twitter `investigation` on Tuesday afternoon, after his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump`s daughter Ivanka Trump the same day went viral on twitter.

A photograph of the two in an awkward attempt to embrace was posted on twitter, following which the U.S. senator was trolled by twitteratis.

Left in indignation by the twitter burst, Rubio in an act of defiance posted several photographs on twitter.

A few minutes later, Rubio expressed in a tweet that he has his own evidence to call the hug `unattempted` and his team is seeking evidence for the same.

He posted pictures which provided an insight to the failed hug.

In his last tweet, Rubio concluded the case by asserting that based on his recollection of the incident, no hug was attempted.

Contradicting Rubio`s tweets, Ivanka confirmed that there was a hug attempted.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ivanka Trump was at the Capitol Hill to meet Rubio and other law makers to discuss "pro-family" tax reforms.According to CNN, Rubio said that Ivanka had expressed in different elements which should be present in pro-family tax reform.

He said, "We wanted her and the White House to be exposed to individual members who have been working on pieces that I think can be part of that reform."

The President`s daughter has been supporting the cause since 2015.
Beirut: U.S.-backed Syrian militias closed in on Islamic State`s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa on Wednesday, taking territory on the south bank of the Euphrates River with the aim of encircling the city, a militia spokesman told Reuters.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which include Arab and Kurdish fighters and are supported with air strikes by a U.S.-led coalition, began an offensive two weeks ago to seize the northern city from Islamic State, which overran it in 2014.

Nouri Mahmoud, spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia which is part of the SDF, told Reuters Islamic State had been ousted from the suburb of Kasrat al-Farj as the SDF moved in along the southern riverbank from the west.

When the campaign began the SDF had Raqqa, which sits on the Euphrates` northern bank, surrounded from the north, west and east. Although Islamic State controlled the south bank of the river, coalition air strikes had destroyed the bridges connecting it to the city.

The SDF is now trying to enact a siege of the city by taking the southern bank. The forces are a couple of kilometres from achieving this aim.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said on Wednesday SDF forces had moved along the southern river bank to reach the eastern edge of Kasrat al-Farj, in the area between the new and old bridges into Raqqa.

Islamic State is also facing defeat in its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul and is being forced into retreat across much of Syria, where Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria is its last major foothold.
Canberra: Australia's defence chief says Australian F/A-18F Super Hornets will soon resume airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria after operations were suspended as precaution because a US fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane earlier this week.

Australian Defense Force Chief Mark Binskin says the six Australian warplanes suspended operations in Syria while the Australians examined what was happening in what he had described as a "complex piece of airspace" over Syria.

He told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra: "It won't be long before you start to see the operations again." Binskin says the warplanes had been occupied recently supporting Iraqi security forces in retaking the city of Mosul.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has launched the Cliq scooter in India, an all new offering from the company based on a new platform. The scooter is powered by Hondas trusted 110cc HET engine which develops 8PS @ 7000rpm and a peak torque of 8.94Nm @ 5500rpm.

The scooter has been targeted at being practical, versatile and value for money. It gets special block pattern tyres which are good to use on road as well as offer good grip on bad road conditions.

The Cliq is designed in such a way that the user gets a lot of space to use for carrying heavy loads, which also explains the flat footboard.

Braking duties are handled by 130mm drum brakes both at the front and the rear, equipped with Combined Braking System (CBS) with equalizer technology. Also, as per government regulations, CBS will be mandatory on all two-wheelers up to 125cc engine capacity from April 1, 2018.

The scooter also gets a mobile charging socket in the storage compartment. It gets low body-mounted headlamps like the Dio and a high swooping body panel that continues upto the handlebars. The Cliq gets a wide and long seat which offers more seat space. It does look distinctive and striking, if not attractive in the way it has been designed.

Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior Vice President - Sales and Marketing, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, said, Focused at up-country customers with a progressive mindset, CLIQ is a perfect blend of Practicality, Versatility and value for money. Breaking the price barrier of automatic transmission on two wheels, only Honda as the market leader in automatic scooters with its unparalleled economies of scale & assured Trust, could challenge traditional preferences by bringing this kind of disruption in the 100-110cc segment.

The scooter is based on an under bone type frame and gets spring-loaded hydraulic suspension at the front and coiled spring unit at the rear. The Cliq is shod with 90/100  R10 tyres both at the front and the rear. Honda claims a top speed of 83kmph. The company also provides an extra rear grabrail as an optional accessory, which can be mounted to carry extra material at the rear. It is specially useful for people who run early morning errands like selling newspapers and milk. The Cliq is offered in four colours  Patriot Red, Moroccan Blue, Orcus Grey and Black. It is priced at Rs 42,499 (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Source: BikeDekho.com
Muzaffarpur: Four persons were killed and two others injured on Wednesday when a car collided with a pick up van in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, a police officer said.

The incident took place near Berai village within the limits of Gaighat police station on NH-57 when a car with six occupants collided with the pick up van.

Three persons, including the driver of the ill-fated car died on the spot, and two persons sustained injuries, Gaighat police station in-charge Md Sujauddin said.

The injured were admitted to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) where another occupant of the car, Nityanand Singh, succumbed to injuries, the IC said.

Singh, a resident Mumbai, was travelling in the car to Darbhanga district, the police officer said.

Efforts are on to ascertain the identity of two victims, while the deceased driver's name is Rama Mahto, Sujauddin said.
Patna: The South-West monsoon advanced further into Bihar today bringing moderate to heavy rainfall in North-East and North-Central parts of the state.



However, weather remained mainly dry in rest of the state, a MET Bulletin said.



Temperature dropped sharply due to rains with Gaya recording maximum temperature at 36.9 degree Celsius followed by 35.4 degree C in Patna, 33.6 degree C in Purnea and 33.4 degree C in Bhagalpur.



Purnea recorded 9 mm rainfall followed by 5.8 mm in Patna, 1.8 mm in Gaya and 0.8 mm in Bhagalpur, the bulletin said.



The weathermen has forecast thunderstorm with rain for tomorrow and Friday.
New Delhi: Pooja Bhat is all set to return to the silver screen in a movie adaptation of economist Abheek Barua's crime novel "City of Death", which she will produce too.

The film rights to the novel, published last year by Juggernaut Books, have been acquired by Pooja's production company Fish Eye Network.

"City of Death" introduces Sohini Sen - a middle aged, pill-popping alcoholic detective. When a young woman from a well-connected family is found beheaded, Sohini is tasked with investigating the case. But it turns out to be a political minefield with the tabloids baying for her blood.

Apart from producing the film, Pooja will be playing the lead role of Sohini.

"The plot, the milieu and especially the characters grabbed me and left me gasping by the end of it. The themes of depression, addiction, false appearances and, corruption make it relevant to the times," says Pooja.

Barua, Chief Economist at HDFC Bank, says it is "immensely gratifying to have someone of Pooja's calibre make and more importantly act in the adaptation of my book".

"Pooja's imaginative cinematic vision for 'City of Death' makes her the perfect acquirer of this book. She truly gets the core of this dark story," says Anish Chandy, head of business development at Juggernaut Books.
Chennai: Robert Pious, one of the convicts in former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has written to the Tamil Nadu government and DG Prisons seeking mercy killing.

According to reports, in his letter, Robert Pious had said that he has been in prison for over 27 years and has lost any purpose in life.

"I've been in prison for more than 27 years now...I can understand the intention of the government and as none of my family member have come to see me, I don't find anymore purpose in life," Pious said in his letter.

Robert Pious, who is lodged in Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai, said even one of the judges who pronounced him guilty in 1999 had said he is innocent but yet in the prison.

"Hence I'm never going to be released from prison, I request to 'mercy kill' me," Robert Pious is believed to have written in the letter, according to India Today.

Robert Pious is a Sri Lankan Tamil who was alleged to be a part of LTTE commando team.

After his arrest, he had confessed before police that he was one of key planners in the assassination.

He is one of the seven persons who were found guilty of involvement in the assassination of the former prime minister on 21 May 1991 during an election rally at Sriperumbudur.

The Supreme Court has already dismissed the pleas of the Tamil Nadu government and one convict seeking review of its judgement in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case in which was ruled that the Centre has "primacy" over states' right to grant remission.

The Tamil Nadu government had on July 28 last year moved the apex court seeking review of its judgement in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

The petition had sought review of the apex court's verdict given in December 2015, virtually overturning the state government's clemency decision.

A five-judge bench had in 2015 said that the state governments must secure "concurrence" of the Union government before freeing convicts in certain cases.
New Delhi: The Delhi Police has been placed on high alert after receiving an intelligence tip-off warning of a terror attack on crowded public spaces, a report said on Wednesday.

Around six to seven terrorists are believed to have entered into the national capital with the intention of carrying out a London-style attack.

As per sources, terrorists are planning to launch an attack in Delhi anytime before Eid.

"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," an officer had told news agency IANS on Monday.

The advisory comes close on the heels of recent terror attacks in the UK and other European countries.

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.
The saffron party's MP from North-west Delhi is now preparing the party for the 2020 Assembly elections.

By Kaushik Deka : Bhojpuri film superstar-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari tasted instant success after he was appointed as president of Delhi BJP unit as the party swept the MCD elections in April winning 184 seats as against AAP tally of 47 and 30 of Congress.

The saffron party's MP from North-west Delhi is now preparing the party for the 2020 Assembly elections to end "a 20- year drought" in the national capital.

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Amid reports of internal conflicts in the party, Tiwari's first priority is to set the house in order.

On the eve of a party meeting to hold discussion with all the former office bearers of Delhi BJP, Tiwari sat for an exclusive interview with India Today. Excerpts from the interview.

Q. You have won the MCD. What will be your immediate priorities?

A. We want to create a garbage-free Delhi and the drains of Delhi must be clean. We must protect our citizens from the diseases spread by mosquitoes. Our primary focus for the next three months will be on these issues, however, there are several other issues too. MCD is crippled by fund crunch at present. For the last 10 years, while MCD has been under BJP while the state had been ruled either by Congress or AAP. Because of the political game of one-upmanship, the state governments have always created obstacles in funding the MCD.

The situation has worsened after AAP came to power. However, we will continue to fight. On the World Environment Day, we pledged to plant 10 lakh trees. Another major issue of concern is the ground water level in Delhi. We have already started several long-term steps for ground water conservation.

Q. After the success in the MCD polls, do you think BJP will be able to repeat the performance in the next Assembly elections?

A. You will be surprised to know that when I became president, party members told me that BJP never offered a strong fight in 20 seats. These were seats with large number of minority and SC voters. I keep following the working style of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. They always try to connect with those who have not been touched by the party. That is the basic principle of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas'. So during the MCD election campaign and even after that I have visited most of these places.

Several of these places have slums, which have remained a big focus. I got support from Shah and even he visited one of the slums with me. We are doing talent hunts for slum children. We are going to organized a big event just before the Independence Day. Children from slums will perform and will be awarded in that event. We got tremendous response from these places in MCD elections. People have shown faith in us.

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Q. Do you see yourself as the BJP chief ministerial candidate in next Assembly elections?

A. This question puts me in an awkward position. As a party president, my job is to strengthen the party in the state. Decisions such as who would become the CM are taken at the last moment. If someone works with a plan to become a CM, then he is moving in the wrong direction. Did you see how the BJP presidential candidate was chosen?

Q. You have called for a meeting of all former office bearers of Delhi party unit. Is this an effort to resolve the reported infighting in the party? Are you trying to bridge the divide between new team and old team?

A. Yes, I have called a meeting of former office bearers. Whenever a new team is formed, the old team feels left out. There is a lot of work to be done and we need involvement of every member. One does not necessarily need a designation to work.

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So we will distribute workload and this will make every member feel involved in the process. Nobody should feel that only those with designations can influence party decisions. The party belongs to every member. We also need to refresh our executive committee. So nobody will feel left out.

Q. But will this end your reported turf war with Vijay Goel?

A. That is a baseless report. The day TV channels ran the news of a rift between him and me, I was sitting with Goel. So where is the fight? There was a miscommunication between him and me over a small issue of discipline in the party. But that was resolved instantly.

Q. You were absent in slum run programme organized by the ministry of youth affairs and sports.

A. I had another engagement that day. So I could not attend.

Q. You have recently urged Lt Governor of Delhi to order seizure and sealing of files pertaining to purchase of medicines, ambulances and other equipment by the health department besides those related to desilting of drains by the Delhi Jal Board and PWD. What are your charges?

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A. You have seen the Shunglu report. You have heard what former AAP minister Kapil Mishra said. There have been several RTI reports. Based on all these, we can say that a lot of financial irregularities have happened in health ministry and all other ministries held by Satyendra Kumar Jain. If these files are not seized, there is a possibility of a cover up. That's why I have made that request.

Q. You are going to play the role of Angad in Ramlila. Is it the acting bug or another way to connect with people?

A. Both. We all must contribute towards spreading Ramlila across the country. One who cannot read Ramayana can learn about Ram through Ramlila. The story of Maryada Purushottam Ram is the basis of our cultural identity. It's my small effort to popularize our cultural legacy.

It also helps me keep alive the artist in me. After all, I have reached till this point because of my acting skills. Being the BJP president, I cannot play romantic roles in films any more.

Also read:

Manoj Tiwari to reshuffle Delhi's BJP unit team, indisciplined office-bearers to be shown the door

Delhi BJP stages protest against Kejriwal government over water, power crisis

Poor appraisal: Rejig underway in Delhi BJP after top bosses point corrupt, under-performers

WATCH | Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari's house attacked, 4 arrested

--- ENDS ---
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday told the three municipal corporations in the city to take disciplinary action against its officials for not ensuring cleanliness in their respective areas of the national capital.

"Heads must roll," a bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said after seeing videos submitted by a media house of garbage accumulated in several parts of the city.

The court had earlier noted that lack of waste disposal was contributing to spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya and had directed the corporations to ensure garbage removal and cleanliness in the city.

It today told the corporations to file an affidavit before June 27 indicating action, including disciplinary proceedings, taken by it for the acts and omissions by its officials.

"First put your house in order," the court said.

The affidavit shall also contain steps proposed to be taken by the corporations to implement an action plan framed by the Ministry of Health, the bench said.

The court was also "extremely upset and pained" over the lack of cleanliness in the city, not providing of proper equipment to the municipal workers and the "false status reports" filed by the corporations which had claimed that regular cleaning of all the areas was being undertaken.

The court was hearing two PILs filed by lawyers, Arpit Bhargava and Gauri Grover, seeking directions to the corporations to prevent spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya.
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the government will consider introducing yoga in schools.

Kejriwal was speaking on the sidelines of an event organised in Connaught Place here to observe the International Yoga Day.

"It (introducing yoga in schools) will be a good idea. I will speak to Manish Sisodia about it," he said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had recently said that yoga should not be made the issue of political debate or fetching votes.

When Kejriwal was quizzed about it, he said, "Yoga is a good thing. Everyone should practise it."

As many as 10,000 people joined dignitaries, including NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu early this morning at Connaught Place in the common yoga event.
New Delhi: NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind today joined the International Yoga Day celebrations in the national capital as he performed asanas at central Delhi's Connaught Place and urged people to take up the traditional practice.

Donning a white yoga-themed t-shirt, he joined dignitaries and other enthusiasts at the iconic venue and performed routines for about 45 minutes.

"We are all here to do yoga. Everyone should do yoga," Kovind told reporters after arriving at the venue.

The 71-year-old low-profile Dalit leader and a two-term BJP Rajya Sabha member, yesterday resigned as Bihar Governor.

The presidential nominee, who arrived in Delhi on June 19, hours after his name was announced by the BJP, has been accorded a 'Z+' cover of NSG commandos.

Mediapersons sought to ask questions, but were fended off by NSG commandos.

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.

The event at Connuaght Place was also attended by Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Vijay Goel, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, besides senior BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi.
New Delhi: India on Wednesday allowed banks and post offices to exchange old, big bank notes, which are no longer in circulation, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a month, provided these notes were collected by December 30, 2016, a finance ministry statement said.

India`s cooperative banks have also been allowed to exchange old currency notes with the RBI, if they had collected these notes by November 14, the statement said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a shock move on Nov. 8 last year to ditch 500 rupee ($7.74) and 1,000 rupee ($15.48) notes - worth a combined $256 billion - that he said were fuelling corruption, being forged and even paying for attacks by militants who target India.
The Hague: Dutch prosecutors say an 18-year- old man has been arrested on suspicion of spreading propaganda for the Islamic State group.

Prosecutors said today that the teen was detained last week in the central city of Utrecht on suspicion of "involvement in a terrorist crime." Police also are investigating whether he taught others how to make explosives.

An investigating judge yesterday ordered the man detained for two weeks while investigations continue.

Prosecutors say the man was arrested based on information from the main Dutch intelligence agency.
Warsaw: Poland`s state-owned pipeline operator said Wednesday it had temporarily suspended delivery of Russian gas supplies via the Yamal pipeline over quality concerns.



Gaz-System S.A. announced "that due to poor quality of natural gas it is not able to off-take fuel to the domestic transmission system at the Interconnection Point (IP) on the Yamal pipeline," the operator said in a statement.



It added that the suspension which began early Wednesday and will last until Friday morning, would not have an effect on the domestic gas distribution system.



A specialist website, Energetyka24, said the natural gas contained too much water and the pipeline operator didn`t have the equipment to remove it.



Poland currently relies on Russia for about 40 percent of its gas, with a third coming from domestic sources and 20 percent from central Asia.



But the EU member is seeking energy independence from Russia, having launched a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Swinoujscie on the Baltic coast last year.
New Delhi: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij created a stir as he asserted that a Hindu cannot be a terrorist and that there is no terminology like Hindu terrorism.

In a sharp attack at Congress, Vij accused the grand-old party of coining the term Hindu terrorism and said that the term was used by the party for 'political mileage'.

"A Hindu can never be a terrorist and the term was used by the grand old party for taking political mileage," Vij was quoted as saying by ANI.

In reference to terror attacks in past, the Haryana minister said that "those belonging to Pakistan were let off and people from India were arrested and were labelled as Hindu terrorists."

Adding further Vij said, "There cannot be a terminolgy as Hindu terrorism because a Hindu can only end terrorism from the world."

He also asserted that in view of multiple attacks by "Muslim terrorists, during its regime, Congress coined the 'Hindu terrorism' term as it wanted terror cases against Hindus for political gains.

Watch the video here:
By Reuters: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has been relieved of his post and replaced by deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, a royal decree said today, in a promotion for King Salman's 31-year-old son that confirms him as next ruler of the kingdom.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman becomes deputy prime minister and retains his defence and other portfolios, the decree issued by the Saudi state news agency SPA said.

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Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, for years the kingdom's counter-terrorism chief who put down an al Qaeda campaign of bombings in 2003-06, is relieved of all positions, it said.

Even as deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman has been responsible for running Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, dictating an energy policy with global implications and behind the plans for the kingdom to build a future after oil.

Al Arabiya television reported that the promotion of the prince was approved by the kingdom's Allegiance Council, and that the king had called for a public pledging of loyalty to Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday evening in Mecca.

The surprise announcement follows 2-1/2 years of already major changes in Saudi Arabia, which stunned allies in 2015 by launching a war in Yemen, cutting old energy subsidies and in 2016 proposing partly privatising state oil company Aramco.

ALSO READ:

How Saudi Arabia and allies strong-armed Qatar, blindsided US

'Pakistan plagued with terrorism': Saudi Arabia deports 39,000 Pakistanis

Saudi prince buys flight tickets for his 80 hawks

--- ENDS ---
Chandigarh: The third international Yoga Day was celebrated with great enthusiasm across the twin states of Haryana and Punjab.

Chief minister, ministers, MLAs and chief parliamentary secretaries took part in district level functions in Haryana.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was the chief guest in district level function organised in Indri in Karnal.

Yoga Day celebrations were also held in Union Territory Chandigarh here.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion, Khattar lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to make Yoga Day an international event.

Khattar touched upon several steps which the BJP government in the state has taken for promoting yoga.

Our government has been working on promoting Yoga, Ayurveda and Sanskrit," Khattar said, asking people to adopt yoga in their daily life.

Khattar asserted that all kinds of obstacles can be overcome with the help of a determined mind and thoughts and said Yoga not only helps keep the body free of diseases, but also strengthens the mind and intellect.

The Chief Minister also said that yoga was beneficial, especially given the stress which has become part of today's modern life.

Talking about steps taken by his government to eliminate corruption and bring in transparency, he said, "Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas is our aim and we are working on it. "

In Punjab, Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan participated in International Yoga Day function held in Amritsar.

In Bathinda, Union MP and SAD MP from there Harsimrat Kaur Badal took part in function in the city.

The main Yoga Day celebrations in Chandigarh were held in Sector 17, where Punjab Governor and UT Administrator V P Singh Badnore was the chief guest.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda, BJP MP from here Kirron Kher and Chandigarh BJP president Sanjay Tandon and party's senior leader Satya Pal Jain were also present.

"Yoga is our ancient discipline, it helps strength mind and intellect. We can keep our body free from disease by doing yoga regularly. I want that more and more people should adopt yoga in their daily lives," Nadda told reporters here.

At the event here, around 3000 participants performed yoga in accordance with the common Yoga protocol given by the Ministry of AYUSH.
Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat on Wednesday led an event which drew nearly 1,000 people, including schoolchildren, who did yogic exercises amid cloudy skies.

Ministers in the Congress government gave a miss to the event that was held on the Ridge.

"Yoga is the gateway to perfect health," Devvrat said in a brief address to mark the third edition of the International Yoga Day.

The event was organized jointly by the Rotary Club of Shimla and public sector Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL), a company that owns and operates India`s largest hydropower project in the state.
New Delhi: Unfazed by Janata Dal (United's) decision to back NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, major opposition parties will meet on Thursday amid indications that former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar could be their nominee for the country's highest constitutional post.

Meira Kumar reportedly met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence in evening amid intense speculation that she could be the Opposition's top choice against Ram Nath Kovind.

Like Kovind, Meira Kumar belongs to the Dalit community. She was the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha and also served as a Union Minister.

In a related development, Tamil Nadu's AIADMK also extended its support to NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind with state Chief Minister Edapaddi Palaniswami saying that he will support his candidature.

"Have decided to support NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind," CM Palaniswami told news agency ANI.

Ahead of the crucial meeting, Communist Party of India leader D Raja said that JD(U) was one of the opposition parties which had come together to field a common candidate in the presidential polls and its parting ways will not have any bearing on the stance of other parties.

"It is one party. We are 17 parties who came together on the issue. (Bihar Chief Minister) Nitish Kumar has taken such a position, it is for him. It does not mean all others follow Nitish Kumar," Raja said.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had taken the initiative to talk to opposition parties to evolve a consensus candidate in the presidential election. Nitish Kumar was among the leaders who met her and several top JD(U) leaders took part in all meetings of the grouping.

JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav was also a member of the sub-committee formed by opposition parties to decide on the presidential candidate.

The Left parties are keen to put up a strong candidate against Kovind in what they call an "ideological battle".

Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury today said that there would be a "strong candidate" against Kovind.

"The question is of a political battle - whether the basics of our Constitution would be protected or RSS would convert the country into a 'Hindu Rashtra' (nation)," Yechury said.

It remains to be seen if BSP, which has also said that it cannot oppose a Dalit candidate unless the opposition has a more popular Dalit nominee, attends the opposition meeting.

For the record, the Congress said the question whether they would be putting up a candidate against Kovind will be known only after Thursday's meeting.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, whose father Mulayam Singh Yadav is toeing a different line, said that his party would go with the opposition led by Congress.

"There should be no talk about whether a Dalit should be there (be a President)... caste or religion. Whoever would be the protector of the Constitution should be above caste and religion," he said adding that his party would attend the opposition's meeting on Thursday.

The other name doing the rounds as possible opposition candidates is of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who also belong to the Dalit community.

The BJP-led NDA, at the moment, appears to have the requisite number with parties outside the alliance like AIADMK, JD(U), PDP, BJD and YRS Congress extending their support to the saffron party's pick as the president.

The NDA, including Shiv Sena and the PDP of Jammu and Kashmir, which has 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 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 63 per cent in the July 17 battle, with JD(U) contributing 1.91 percent.

With IANS inputs
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always underlined the importance of yoga and meditation in leading a healthy life. On the occasion of International Yoga Day, the PM led by an example and did yogic exercises amid rains for some 15 minutes in Lucknow on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Yoga Guru of the Prime Minister said that his student knows very well what to do.

Oneindia quoted Dr HR Nagendra as saying: "He knows very well what to do. His favourite is the cyclic meditation or Avartan Dhyana and if he needs anything, he can just call me.

Dr HR Nagendra has opened a new branch in Delhi's Jor Bagh area, which is less than three kilometres away from the PM's official residence on Lok Kalyan Marg.

He revealed that PM Modi first visited his yoga centre Prashanti in Bengaluru 35 years ago.
Monisha Kaltenborn, an Indian-born Austrian citizen, took over from team founder Peter Sauber in 2012.

By Reuters: Motor racing's Sauber have parted company with Monisha Kaltenborn, the first woman to run a Formula One team, according to multiple media reports on Wednesday.

The Swiss-based team, which had issued a sponsor announcement on Tuesday with quotes from Kaltenborn welcoming the Additive Industries as new partner, could not be contacted immediately for comment.

Many in the Formula One paddock were making their way to Baku for the weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

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One source close to the team told Reuters the reports had substance, however.

The BBC, also citing sources close to the team, said Kaltenborn had been in disagreement with owners Longbow Finance.

Motorsport.com website said one of the issues was believed to be the treatment of the team's Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson and Germany's Pascal Wehrlein, with the owners wanting to give priority to the former.

Ericsson has yet to score a point in seven races this season while Wehrlein, a Mercedes-backed driver, finished eighth in Spain in May.

The website said the terms of Kaltenborn's departure were still being worked out.

Kaltenborn, an Indian-born Austrian citizen, took over from team founder Peter Sauber in 2012.

The sport's first woman team principal, and the second Indian-born after Force India's Vijay Mallya, Kaltenborn joined Sauber in 2000 to run the legal department and took over as chief executive in 2010.

The team fell on hard times in recent seasons, struggling to score points last year, but the financial problems eased when Longbow, a Swiss-based investment company, took over in July last year.

Kaltenborn's departure will leave former champions Williams as the only team with a woman in charge. Claire Williams is officially the deputy principal to father and founder Frank but effectively runs the team day-to-day.

--- ENDS ---
Patna: Adding to the troubles of the Opposition, Janata Dal (United) has decided to back NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

The JD(U) held a meeting on Wednesday to take a final decision on Kovind.

Sada, who represents Sonbarsha constituency in the state assembly, told IANS on telephone: "The party has decided to support Kovind. The decision was taken at a meeting of our legislators."

The Bihar's ruling party's decision comes after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday advocated for Kovind's candidature.

Kovind was the Bihar Governor.

In a virtual U-turn, Shiv Sena, a key constituent of the BJP-led coalition, Tuesday extended its support for the NDA's presidential choice.

Meanwhile, 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".

A final call on the anti-Kovind candidate will be taken at a meeting of the opposition front on June 22, CPI national secretary D Raja said.
New Delhi: A day after retired Kolkata High Court judge C.S. Karnan was arrested, the Congress party on Wednesday dubbed the former as a `rotten egg` and asserted that he should have been more mindful as it was a high office which he adorned.

Senior advocate and Congress leader K.T.S Tulsi said that he is ashamed of the way Karnan conducted himself, while adding that it is appalling to him that why did the retired judge instigate a tirade against the judiciary, which serves the nation like a mother.

Averring that Karnan`s behaviour became bad to worse Tulsi added that the former should have known that no judge is a free agent as is controlled by law.

"It`s a very unfortunate episode, it`s unprecedented. Nobody has misbehaved to this extent. There can be rotten eggs in every system. Justice Karnan has been conducting himself in an improper manner for a long time. He has embarrassed his colleagues in Madras High Court and after that he was transferred and it was thought that he will be chastened, but his behaviour went on from bad to worse. And then he started threatening and challenging the authorities of the Supreme Court," said Tulsi.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has refused to suspend the six-month imprisonment sentence for Karnan, in a contempt of court case.

A vacation bench of the Apex Court headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud and also comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to give any relief in the matter.

Mathew J Nedumpara, lawyer appearing for Karnan, mentioned the matter before the vacation bench of the top court.

Nedumpara pleaded to the Apex Court seeking bail and suspension of the six months jail sentence, to which the court observed, "The seven judge bench had passed the order. It binds everybody. It binds us also.

"Karnan was arrested by the Kolkata police in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu on Tuesday and brought to the national capital.

Justice Karnan`s close aide and his counsel confirmed the arrest, adding that he would move the Supreme Court 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 on transit remand.
New Delhi: Calcutta High Court's former judge Justice CS Karnan, who was arrested in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking bail and suspension of six-month sentence awarded to him in May.

The SC, however, refused to entertain Karnan's bail plea.

A vacation bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul also said: "We can't suspend the sentence as the order of the sentence was passed by a seven-judge bench."

"Sorry, nevertheless," Justice Chandrachud said, declining the bail plea.

The bench said this as Justice Karnan's counsel Mathew J Nadumpara urged it to grant bail to the former judge, who was arrested by the West Bengal Police yesterday. Nedumpara said that this court had all the powers and should grant the interim bail till the reopening of the court.

To this, the vacation bench said it could not override the order of the seven-judge bench.

The former judge was taken to Kolkata by flight from Chennai today.

Calcutta High Court's former judge Justice CS Karnan was sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt.

Karnan, who was eluding arrest for more than a month, retired from service, a few days back.
Patna/New Delhi: In a major blow to the Congress-led Opposition, Bihar's ruling Janata Dal United on Wednesday decided to back the NDA candidate, Ram Nath Kovind, in the upcoming presidential election.

With Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's party making its stand clear on the issue, the BJP dispensation is now more than confident of sending Kovind to the Rashtrapati Bhawan without much opposition.

While the announcement has boosted the numbers for BJP-led NDA, the Opposition has made it clear that it will put up a candidate.

The setback for the Opposition came at a meeting of JD(U) legislators and MPs in which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and several MLAs expressed their opinion that the NDA candidate and his credentials are good given that he hails from a Dalit community and has a humble background.

With possible support of JD(U), the vote share of NDA in the electoral college has gone upto almost 63 percent.

"The party has decided to support Ram Nath Kovind. As the party has decided to support Kovind, there is no need for it to attend the meeting of Opposition parties being held in New delhi," Rajiv Ranjan, JD(U) spokesperson, said.

He also said his party's decision has been conveyed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

We decided to extend support to NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind as his tenure as Governor had been peaceful, JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi later told reporters.

Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal welcomed its grand alliance partner JD(U's) decision to support NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind and said that the party will take a call on the opposition's presidential candidate on June 22.

"We have no issues with the Janata Dal-United backing NDA's presidential nominee," RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha said.

Today's decision yet again confirms Nitish Kumar's style of taking decisions on his own irrespective of his allies' position and his political opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Soon after the BJP had announced Kovind's candidature on Monday, Nitish Kumar had praised the former Bihar Governor on whom, he also made a courtesy call.

Nitish Kumar is known to take independent decision like his welcoming the demonetisation decision and surgical strikes last year and the JD(U) voting for UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee while sharing power with BJP in the state.

The JD(U) decision came as a shock for the 17-party front led by Congress which is meeting in New Delhi on Thursday to decide on its strategy in the Presidential election, most probably putting up a candidate in what the Left parties called an "ideological battle".

It remains to be seen whether BSP, which has also said that it cannot oppose a Dalit candidate unless the Opposition has a more popular Dalit nominee, attends the opposition meeting.

For the record, the Congress said the question whether they would be putting up a candidate against Kovind will be known only after Thursday's meeting.

However, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury was more clear when he said there would be a "strong candidate" against Kovind.

"The question is of a political battle - whether the basics of our Constitution would be protected or RSS would convert the country into a Hindu Rashtra (nation)," Yechury said.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, whose father Mulayam Singh Yadav is toeing a different line, said that his party would go with the Opposition led by Congress.

"There should be no talk about whether a Dalit should be there (be a President)... caste or religion. Whoever would be the protector of the Constitution should be above caste and religion," he said, adding that his party would attend the opposition's meeting on Thursday.

CPI leader D Raja acknowledged that the JD(U) move, if correct, was a setback to the Opposition.

"17 paties came together on the issue of Presidential election and if some parties take a different decision...We have a meeting tomorrow. Let us see how many parties are going to attend," he said.

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 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.

The NDA, including Shiv Sena and the PDP of Jammu and Kashmir, which has extended support to Kovind, 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 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 63 per cent in the July 17 battle, with JD-U contributing 1.91 per cent.

The Left parties, which were earlier garnering support for former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, are slated to meet on June 22. Among the candidates the Left is looking at is Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the iconic BR Ambedkar.
United Nations: UN chief Antonio Guterres has said 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 and two times the Prime Minister of India," Guterres said with a laughter, responding to a question during a press briefing here whether he is engaged in bringing about dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

"For someone accused of doing nothing, it is quite a number of meetings," the Secretary General said, referring to criticism that he has been shying away and is reluctant to act to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue.

Guterres, addressing reporters at his first press conference at the world body's headquarters since assuming office in January, was asked about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control and the ceasefire violations since he assumed office.

Guterres did not elaborate further but through his response he did not make any indication that he will act as a mediator between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Modi and Guterres had met in St Petersburg earlier in June 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.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the UN chief had 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 (SCO) summit.

Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked at press briefings about the Secretary General?s response to the situation in Kashmir, has repeatedly said that Guterres is following the situation in the region closely.

The UN Chief has not made any direct intervention to resolve the issue, reiterating his call for India and Pakistan to find a peaceful solution through engagement and dialogue.

Pakistan continuously raises the Kashmir issue at the UN seeking the world body's intervention in the dispute with India. But New Delhi has always maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue with Islamabad.
Mumbai: Sparking controversy, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam on Wednesday urged actor Amitabh Bachchan to withdraw from the GST campaign to avoid getting targeted by traders later.

"The GST was a brilliant idea thought of by the Congress. It is another story that the BJP opposed it all the while it was in the opposition. But after coming to power, it started diluting the basic concepts of the GST, and that was not acceptable to us," Nirupam told reporters.

While the Congress sought GST as a single tax for the entire nation, the BJP introduced four tax slabs and three different sub-types of GST, he said.

"It has become very complicated now. Traders and service providers are required to fill three long forms every month. Thus, the basic purpose of the GST is defeated. This is unlike the way the GST has been implemented in other countries," he said.

"Some people are creating a confusion that we are opposing the same GST that we passed. But this is not true. We have always been for the GST but not in this format. We tried for three years to get our reservations noticed by the government but they (the BJP) then started maligning us so we had to pass it," Nirupam further said, as per PTI.

"That is why I am suggesting Amitabh Bachchan should not be a party to every foolishness of the BJP. You (Bachchan) are a known person and have a wonderful reputation which may get maligned if there is a backlash from traders," he said.

"Being your fan, I suggest that you withdraw yourself from the GST campaign," the Congress leader maintained.

Would advise @SrBachchan to wthdraw frm brand ambassador of #GST in ths form.An expected backlash frm traders may go against him eventually.  Sanjay Nirupam (@sanjaynirupam) June 20, 2017

The government has roped in Bachchan to promote the Goods and Services Tax (GST), ahead of the scheduled July 1 roll out of the sweeping tax reforms.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs will be making the 74-year-old actor brand ambassador for the GST. A 40- second video featuring him has already been shot and is being circulated.

On Tuesday, Amitabh had tweeted:

T 2460 -@cbec_india .. a campaign to explain GST .. I was asked, I did it .. pic.twitter.com/Cavjqtkc1W  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) June 19, 2017

All states sans J&K pass SGST Bill to keep date with July 1:

Meanwhile, all states and Union Territories, barring Jammu and Kashmir, have passed their State GST Act, paving the way for rollout of the Goods and Services Tax from the mid-night of June 30-July 1.

Entire country including 30 States/UTs are now ready for smooth roll-out of GST w.e.f. 1st July, 2017; For details: https://t.co/MvKjpOJc40  Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) June 21, 2017

While Kerala and West Bengal have issued an ordinance to approve the SGST Act, all other states and UTs have passed it in their respective legislative assemblies.

"As of today, all the states and Union Territories (having assemblies), except the State of Jammu and Kashmir, have passed the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Act," a Finance Ministry statement said.

Kerala today issued an ordinance approving the SGST Act while West Bengal had issued it on June 15.

"Now only one state is left i.e. the state of J&K which is yet to pass the SGST Act. Thus, almost the entire country, including all the 30 states and UTs, are now on board and ready for the smooth rollout of GST with effect from July 1," the statement said.

GST to kick off from Parliament's Central Hall:

Reminiscent of India's tryst with destiny at the mid- night of August 14-15, 1947, Parliament's historic Central Hall will host an hour-long function on the intervening night of June 30-July 1 to mark the GST kick off.

President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda, apart from Vice President Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, will be present in the function.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had yesterday said that if any state keeps out, both its traders and consumers will suffer loss.

"Because they will not get the benefit of input tax, they will have to pay tax twice and the consumers will get materials which are costlier than the rest of the country. Also, compensation package won't be given to states who do not implement GST," Jaitley said.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: The Indians expats in Saudi Arabia finding it extremely difficult to sustain their families in Saudi Arabia thanks to the introduction of a new family tax, a news paper has reported.

As per a report in the Times of India Saudi Arabia is set to introduce a monthly 'dependant fee' from July 1.

Under the regime, the kingdom would charge 100 riyals (approx. 1723.42 as on Wednesday) per month for each dependent.

Saudi Arabia issues the family visa to people with a salary of 5,000 riyals (approx. Rs 86,000) per month. So, an Indian expat living in the country with his wife and two children would have to pay 300 riyals (approx. Rs 5,100) a month, the TOI report said.

The tax is set to go up by 100 riyals per dependent every year till 2020, the paper said.

This means that, in 2020, a family would have to shell out 400 riyals (approx. Rs 6,900) for each dependant every month, it added.

What is more burdensome for these expats is that the fee has to be paid in advance.

Around 41 lakh Indians are working in over 400 Indian companies in Saudi Arabia. The kingdom attracts a lot of Indian workers because so far it has not imposed any tax on income earned.
Srinagar: Two militants were killed on Wednesday in a gunfight with security forces in the Kashmir Valley.



Police said the Rashtriya Rifles, the Special Operations Group of the police and the Central Reserve Police Force surrounded Pazalpora village in Baramulla district on Tuesday evening following intelligence inputs about the presence of the militants.



"As the security forces closed in today, the militants opened fire, triggering an encounter," a police officer said.



"Two militants have been killed and two weapons recovered from the slain men," the officer added. "Searches are still going on in the area."
Latehar: Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and District police in a joint operation on Wednesday unearthed and seized huge amount of explosives and ammunition hidden by Naxals in the forest area of Latehar district of Jharkhand.

Working on a tip off, the security personnel obtained the explosives and ammunition which were to be used to attack security forces and hinder the developmental work in the area.

The recovered IED`s were later defused by the Bomb disposal squad.
Neha Dhupia adorned the most confusing outfit ever, and we cannot deal with it at all.

By Shivani Chhabra: There's a lot that strikes one's mind when talking about Neha Dhupia. The actress has made a mark by delivering quite a few brilliant performances in films like Ek Chalis Ki Local and Singh is King. Unlike her fashion sense that often goes off-beat, her acting skills haven't disappointed the audiences.

The gorgeous actress is currently a team-leader on a popular reality-television show, and is often spotted in sporty, Goth-like ensembles, in keeping with the theme of the show. While her fashion graph has been quite wavy of late, with hardly any hits and abundant misses, her recent look might just help it attain some stability--because we simply cannot decide which category to put it in.

Photo: Yogen Shah

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Also Read: Sridevi is looking rather heavenly in this pink dress

The diva recently graced an FBB Femina Miss India 2017 event, putting us in dilemma over her weird outfit. To begin with, the actress looked under-dressed for the glamorous event, and honestly, we're a little disappointed.

Photo: Yogen Shah

It would be totally unfair to not mention that we really applaud her for donning a crocodile-hued green outfit that stood out in the crowd for the uniqueness of the colour. It was, however, the silhouette of the maxi dress that ruined the show for her.

The unflattering maxi dress did not do justice to her figure, and looked a little shabby. Add to that, the hideous black print on the Payal Khandwala outfit that hampered the elegance of the class-apart colour she had chosen to wear.

Photo: Yogen Shah Photo: Yogen Shah

Also Read: You've got to stop wearing clothes like these, Neha Dhupia

The plunging neckline was hot, but a few accessories would have elevated the look, which was quite dud for the magnificent event she attended. Neha also failed to pick the right shoes; she donned a pair of open-toe stilettos that were mismatched--probably a pair of black pumps could've jazzed up the look.

Photo: Yogen Shah

Photo: Yogen Shah

Picture courtesy: Instagram/nehadhupia

Neha has been maintaining a record of either going overboard on glamour, or trying to pull off extremely sombre looks. We're really hoping she reaches middle ground soon, and springs back in action.

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Bengaluru: With the Karnataka Government announcing a waiver of short term loans of farmers till Rs.50,000 from cooperative banks, the state`s Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, T.B. Jayachandra, said on Wednesday that a certain amount of relief will be provided to farmers through this decision.



"The Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill has passed now and we don`t know the consequences, whether we are losing money or gaining anything. In such circumstances, to take this bold decision is very difficult. But, we have taken this decision in the interest of the farmers of Karnataka. At least to some extent, we will try to give relief to these farmers," Jayachandra told media here.



He added that farmers for the last four years have been facing a drought situation, they have lost their crops and they are not realising any remunerative prices for their crops.



"That`s the reason we have decided to finally safeguard the interest of farmers. Karnataka is interested in getting the loans waived," he asserted.



Meanwhile, Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said the state government has given many incentives to farmers directly and indirectly.



"For instance, the energy bill that the government pays on behalf of farmers is close to Rs. 9000 crores per year. Many other states charge for electricity from farmers, whereas in Karnataka, the government pays on behalf of the farmers.



We also give farmers incentives on milk production, as for every litre of milk, we give about Rs. 5 in a year that comes to about Rs. 203,000 crores every year," he added.



Gowda further said that interest free loans of about Rs. 1000 crores are given to the farmers per year.



"Various bonus priced we give on top of Minimum Support Price (MSP) when we intervene in the market, the government steps in and Karnataka is one of the very few states which gives very liberal bonus price over and above the MSP," he added.Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today announced a waiver of short term loans of farmers till Rs. 50,000 availed till June 20, 2017 from cooperative banks.



With this, loans worth Rs. 8165 crores will be waived, which will benefit around 22,27,506 farmers across state.



The chief minister said that Karnataka is `pro-farmer`, and is the first state in the country to transfer input subsidies directly to the farmers` bank accounts.Karnataka`s move to help farmers` comes in the wake of similar actions by the governments of Maharashtra and Punjab earlier this month.
Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Saturday visited Kerala to flag off the Kochi Metro Rail project, faced a terror threat during his visit, police chief TP Senkumar indicated on Tuesday.

"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 said while talking to reporters.

He, however, did not elaborate on the 'terror threat'.

Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan corroborated the state police chief's statement, saying the police had brought it to the government's notice.

"Yes, there was a security threat to the Prime Minister on that day (June 17). They (the police) told us about this on that day itself. Only thing is, they did not (publicly) reveal it then," he told reporters here.

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.

PM Narendra Modi takes Kochi Metro ride - In Pics

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,' yesterday said they would attend a meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

Earlier, they had said they would not attend the meeting scheduled in Thiruvananthapuram.

(With PTI inputs)
Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said yoga has the power to transmit the nature's energies to human beings and that the traditional practice helps people in handling their problems.

Fadnavis celebrated International Yoga Day here with 600 children from farmers' families in tribal districts of the state.

"Yoga is not only a form of exercise but a way of living life. Yoga has the power to transmit the nature's energies to humans," the chief minister said after performing various asanas.

Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff and social activist Shantilal Mutha also attended the hour-long yoga session organised in Worli.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been successful in giving an international recognition to yoga, that has the quality to help people get over the biggest of problems. Everybody should imbibe the quality of practising yoga," the chief minister said.

Fadnavis' wife Amruta, BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha and industrialist Vallabh Bhansali also participated in the session, organised by Divyaj Foundation.

The chief minister also participated in another yoga session organised by BJP MP Poonam Mahajan and party MLA Ashish Shelar in suburban Bandra.

"It gives us immense satisfaction and happiness that 176 nations celebrated the yoga day today. The world has accepted the health benefits of yoga described by our prime minister. I believe that yoga will be the medium to provide good health to people," Fadnavis later told reporters.

Several government employees and officials also participated in a yoga session led by Minister of State for Agriculture Sadabhau Khot at the state secretariat.
Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today warned that boards of directors of district central cooperative (DCC) banks would face action if they denied interim loan of Rs 10,000 to farmers.



He was speaking at a meeting of State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) here.



The CM assured bankers that the government will guarantee this interim loan and reimburse it with interest once banks produced documents.



"Financial position of the state is sound and banks do not need to worry about their loans," an official quoted Fadnavis as saying.



A senior minister from BJP claimed that DCC banks were not cooperating in disbursal of Rs 10,000 loan to distressed farmers.



Fadnavis stated that if these banks didn't cooperate, the government might even dissolve their boards, said the official.
New Delhi: To add to the magic of music, the makers of 'Jagga Jasoos' are all set to release the third song from the film titled 'Jhumritalaiyya', which is also lead actor Ranbir Kapoor's favourite.

Excited about the song's release, the ' Tamasha' star said, "It's one of my favorite songs. Basically, Katrina Kaif and I have lost all our clothes in fire."

Talking about the song, Katrina said, "We both end up in baskets. We don't have any clothes and we have to protect our modesty. We spend rest of that song running around in baskets trying to make sure we are decent because all our clothes got caught in a fire."

Music composed by Music Director Pritam, the Anurag Basu-directorial marks yet another association of the successful trio- Anurag, Ranbir, and Pritam. The three of them are reuniting again after creating soul warming songs in ' Barfii'.

Disney and Pictureshuru Production's 'Jagga Jasoos' is set to release on July 14.
Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Wednesday said it will not spare anyone found "guilty" in the Amritsar food-grain distribution scam in which disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against 22 officials.

The state government will not tolerate misappropriation of food articles meant for distribution among the poor under the Atta Dal scheme, he said in the Punjab Assembly.

The minister informed the House that action was being taken against all the 22 officers found "guilty" in the finding report of the inquiry officer.

The Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies department has been reverted to the rank of District Controller, he said.

The assurance was given by Mohindra, who was speaking on behalf of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, on a call attention notice raised by MLA Bikram Singh Pahara.

An inquiry was ordered following a complaint about diversion in wheat distribution under the Atta Dal scheme in different centres of Amritsar, he said.

Reiterating the government's zero tolerance towards corruption, the minister said four assistant food supply officers and 14 inspectors have been suspended for their alleged role in diverting 45,000 quintiles of wheat worth Rs 10 crore.

The Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has given a clear directive to ensure total transparency in all government schemes so that benefits reach the deserving people, he added.
Dimapur: In line with the UN's declaration of June 21 as the International Yoga Day, Union Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Wednesday encouraged people in Nagaland to practice yoga in their daily lives.

Participating in the International Yoga Day at Agri Expo Site, Dimapur, Rudy said ''yoga is a skill of looking good, smart and intelligent and that regular practice of yoga enhanced fitness of mind and body.''

Rudy, while appreciating Naga youths who were able and enthusiastic, said that the government would be setting up the best infrastructure in Nagaland in the beauty sector, hospitality, fitness etc.

Rudy also said that the government would facilitate sending capable Naga youths across the globe for promoting the nation.

The event was attended by scores of young and old who practiced yoga.
Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has demolished a part of actor Arshad Warsi's bungalow which was allegedly constructed illegally, a senior civic official said today.

The actor allegedly carried out an illegal additional construction in the name of renovation in his bungalow after buying it in resale from an Air India employee few years back, he said.

The members of Shantiniketan (Air India) Co-operative Housing Society had filed a complaint against him, he said.

The demolition team of the civic body served the notice to the actor on Saturday and demolished the illegally constructed area on Monday, the official said.

"We have done a part demolition of the illegally constructed portion as the actor was not present in the bungalow. The remaining illegal construction will be demolished soon," he said.

Warsi did not respond to a query sent by PTI on the issue.
New Delhi: Former lovers Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif will next be seen together in Anurag Basu's 'Jagga Jasoos'. The duo, who reportedly broke up early last year were rumoured to be not on talking terms while the film was being shot in the last leg. But turns out the stars decided to bury the hatchet and join forces for promoting the film together.

Both Ranbir and Katrina have a crackling chemistry and it has been evident as they promote 'Jagga Jasoos' on various platforms. According to Pinkvilla.com, Kat on a recent Facebook live chat session jokingly said that she will not work with Ranbir again and it caught everyone's attention.

She said, Its very difficult. People now have proof that he is a very trying and testing person. Ranbir has also gestured to me to not work on a film together. It will never happen again.

When Ranbir was asked over the same during a promotional interview, he said, I will be honest with you. We were at a Facebook chat and I cracked a joke on her and she cracked it back at me. It is not fair that the media made it out to be my joke and made it like something I said. I wouldn't say that. So yes, it is not true. Katrina and me have amazing creative partnership. I love working with her. She has really allowed me to shine and she has very gracefully done that for me. She has increased my stardom. She was a much bigger star and she worked with me, like in Rajneeti. And we really needed her in this film. Dada was sure, he was like, "I want Katrina." He wanted her energy. Katrina is funny, she is really funny when she is not trying. And to get that, I think Dada has been successful.

Also, he added, It is an action role for her. She is doing buffoonery in the film without it looking like buffoonery. I was enjoying it, seeing her falling and getting up and stuff.

The film is opening in theatres on July 14, 2017.
New Delhi: With the Goods and Services Tax (GST) coming into effect from July 1, train passengers will have to pay a bit more to travel AC and first class.

Service tax on ticket charges is set to hike from 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent after the GST implementation.

Service tax is levied only on AC and first class travel fares in the Railways. So if a ticket costs Rs 2000, then a passenger will have to shell out Rs 2010 from the next month, said a senior railway ministry official.

Gearing up for the GST roll-out from from July 1, the Railways has appointed nodal officer in each state to ensure smooth transition into the new single tax regime.

A consultant has been appointed for examining the impact of the GST in the Indian Railways, the official said.

Since GST registration is based on PAN details, Railways has already got its PAN.

The General Manager of each zone has been nominated as the Principal Officer for taking care of GST compliance.

The Centre for Railway Information Systems, the IT arm of Indian Railways, is in the process of making suitable software modification in respect of transportation of freight and passengers.

Though major transactions of the railways have been computerised, a few are still done off-line. Steps are being taken to digitise them also.
The government is in the process of preparing a three-tier assessment system to determine what punishment should an unruly passenger be given.

Government will roll out a no-fly list in July first week. (File Photo/PTI)

By Devina Gupta: The government is set to roll out a national 'no-fly' list early next month as incidents of unruly passengers, particularly politicians, misbehaving with airline crew continue to take considerable news space.

Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said that the process of finalising the structure of the no fly list is underway.

"The process is underway right now, as we have said many times we are going through an analysis process and those recommendations are in front of the Cabinet right now and the Cabinet will take the process forward. A national no-fly list rules is currently being prepared and will be issued in first week of July," said Sinha.

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India Today has got exclusive details of the provisions of the no-fly list.

THREE-TIER ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

The no-fly list being prepared by the government will have a three-tier assessment system. Airline crew will have the legitimate right to determine a passenger's behaviour. The crew can further report a passenger to higher authorities for action if they feel so. Rogue passengers could face flying ban for up to a year. The period of flying ban could vary from 3-6 months to a year depending upon the seriousness of the case. The no-fly list will have three categories for unruly passengers. Verbal abuse, physical assault and life threatening behaviour would be the three categories under which a passenger's behaviour would be classified. A panel within a particular airline would decide on the passenger's behaviour. Provisions will be made under which a passenger will have the right to appeal against the the verdict against him/her.

NETAGIRI TURBULENCE HITS AIRLINES

Last week, Telugu Desam Party MP JC Diwakar Reddy created a ruckus at the Vishakhapatnam airport after an airline did not let him board a flight to Hyderabad as he arrived late.

As per aviation regulator DGCA norms, airlines close the check-in counters for all domestic fights 45 minutes prior to departure.

Earlier this year, Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad was temporarily banned by airlines from flying after he assaulted an Air India staffer at the Delhi airport.

ALSO READ:

After IndiGo, 6 more airlines impose flying ban on TDP MP Diwakar Reddy

Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad boards first Air India flight after ban

WATCH | No-fly list out in July; unruly fliers may face up to 1 year travel ban

--- ENDS ---
New Delhi: A leading astrophysicist from Ireland has warned that an asteroid strike is very much possible and the entire world must be prepared.

It is a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen, said Alan Fitzsimmons.



Fitzsimmons was highlighting the threat for Asteroid Day, a global event on June 30, in which he also said that it is just a matter of time.



On that day in 1908, a small asteroid exploded over Tunguska in Siberia and devastated 800 square miles.



A similar unexpected strike in today`s world could easily destroy a major city and a larger asteroid could be more dangerous, Fitzsimmons warned.



"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," Fitzsimmons said in a statement released by Queen`s University Belfast.



"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.



Fitzsimmons will be joined by other astronauts and experts for discussions and presentations to be be streamed live from Luxembourg on June 30.

(With IANS inputs)
Chennai: Tamil Nadu`s main opposition DMK and allies Congress and IUML on Wednesday walked out of the state assembly to protest Speaker P. Dhanapal`s decision not to read out the Governor`s letter on a DMK representation over a media sting.

In the media sting, an AIADMK legislator allegedly said that lawmakers were offered gold and huge sums of money to vote in favour of Chief Minister K. Palaniswami during the confidence vote on February 18.

In response to DMK Working President M.K. Stalin`s representation, Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao had sent the letter, along with representation and a compact disc, to Speaker P. Dhanapal and Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan for appropriate action.

When Stalin urged the Speaker to read out the Governor`s letter, Dhanapal said he would go through the communique and reply and that there was no need for him to give an explanation in the house.

Following this, the legislators of the DMK, Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) walked out of the assembly.

Stalin later told the media that the Governor`s letter is in response to the DMK`s representation and as per the assembly rules the communication from the Governor to the assembly has to be read out to members.
Chennai: 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.

According to news agency IANS, the police team searching for 62-year-old Karnan, who retired from service on June 12, knew about his hiding place in Coimbatore for three days before moving in to arrest him.

"We knew about his (Karnan`s) whereabouts three days back. We were tracking phone calls of people close to him and we also have our own sources," West Bengal Director General of Police Raj Kanojia told IANS here.

Kanojia spoke at the Chennai airport before boarding a flight to Kolkata.

According to him, this was a unique case he had handled in his entire service and "maybe no other police officer will be handling such a case in a long time to come".

"Tracking Karnan was difficult. It was a difficult case," Kanojia said.

Karnan, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt but was untraceable, was arrested at around 6.45 pm from a private resort at Malumichampatti in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

Karnan was eluding arrest for more than a month.

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.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu's AIADMK has extended its support to NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind with state Chief Minister Edapaddi Palaniswami saying he will support his candidature.

"Have decided to support NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind," CM Palaniswami told news agency ANI.

Earlier today, Janata Dal (United) extended its support with party spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan saying, "JD(U) has decided to support Kovind in the presidential election. Since the party has decided to support the NDA nominee, there is no need to attend the meeting of the opposition parties convened by Congress President Sonia Gandhi."

On the other hand, ahead of the crucial meeting on the presidential elections, cracks seems to have appeared in the Opposition with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) deciding to skip the party meet scheduled for Thursday.

Earlier, the opposition camp rejected to support NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind and announced to field its own candidate for the post.

Meanwhile, former speaker Meira Kumars meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence today, a day before the party meeting, has fuelled speculation that she had emerged as the front runner for the candidature.

However, the BJP appears to have the requisite number with parties outside the alliance like AIADMK, JD(U), PDP, BJD and YRS Congress extending their support to the saffron party's pick as the president.
Lucknow: A group of farmers on Wednesday performed 'shavasana' or the corpse pose on a national highway to symbolically protest killing of farmers in Mandsaur and "anti-farm" policies of the Modi government.

As the Prime Minister performed yoga in Lucknow along with the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the farmers under the banner of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) performed 'shavasana' on the Lucknow-Barabanki Highway.

Shavasana or corpse pose gets its name from the posture of a dead body.

BKU spokesman Alok Verma told PTI, "Hundreds of farmers performed 'shavasana' on Lucknow-Barabaki Highway near Safedabad between 9 am to 11 am as part of our protest today".

Naresh Tikait, president of the Union, had said that farmers from all over the country will perform yoga and block highways between 9 am to 12 noon as a mark of protest.

A similar protest was organised by farmers on the Lucknow-Sitapur Highway.

BKU leaders said farmers have been hit due to the "doublespeak" of the NDA government as its leaders had promised to implement the Swaminathan Commission report, "but even after three years in power we have got no assurance".

The farmers were also protesting the killing of farmers in police firing in MP earlier this month.
Kolkata: Arrested former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan was taken to a state-run hospital this evening when he complained of chest pain after he was brought from Chennai and sent to the Presidency correctional home (jail) here.

"Karnan complained of chest pain at the airport itself.

He was checked by our doctors there and then brought to the Presidency correctional home where he complained that his chest pain had aggravated," a senior official at the Presidency correctional home (jail) here told PTI.

It was learnt that the 62-year-old Karnan's blood pressure was found to be quite high and doctors at the Presidency correctional home prescribed him to be taken to the state-run SSKM hospital for further check-up.

Asked whether Karnan was likely to be admitted to the hospital, the officer said it depended on the doctors who were conducting the medical check-up of the former judge.

"He is old and seems to be unwell too. We do not want to take any chance. An ECG was done on him," he said.

Earlier, a team of state CID officers brought him by an Air India flight, a senior police officer said.

Karnan, dressed in white shirt and trouser, came out of the airport escorted by policemen in civil dress. He was whisked away by the police when the reporters tried to approach him.

Tight security arrangements were made at the airport where senior police officers, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, were present.

Karnan had been evading arrest since the May 9 Supreme Court order awarding him a six-month jail term and was arrested last night by a team of West Bengal CID from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km from Coimbatore, where he was allegedly hiding for the past few days.

The former high court judge was brought to Chennai from Coimbatore by a private airline past midnight yesterday and later accommodated in the retiring room in the airport complex amid tight security.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping in Coimbatore who traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls. Tamil Nadu police provided the technical support to trace his whereabouts, a senior local police officer had said.

Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, had retired from service on June 12 as a fugitive.

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, had sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.
Darjeeling: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which called for an indeifinite strike demanding for a separate statehood for the Gorkhas, on Wednesday offered a 12-hour window on June 23 in Darjeeling hills to evacuate students safely to Siliguri and Rongpo.

The Darjeeling bandh-hit hills as the indefinite strike crippled normal life.

In a statement to PTI, GJM leader Binay Tamag said, "The students will be allowed to go to Siliguri and Rongpo only in school buses. The indefinite shutdown will continue. Only the students will be allowed to leave safely."

According to an ANI report, the strike has forced more than 500 boarding students of 128-year-old St. Joseph's School to stay on campus with many day scholars unable to attend school.

One of the students, Utsav Thapa said they are safer inside school premises but are forced to take two exams in a day in place of one.

In an all-party meeting convened by the GJM on Tuesday, a resolution was passed wherein it was decided that the shutdown would continue until security forces were withdrawn.

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.
By Press Trust of India: heritage site

Bhubaneswar, June 21 (PTI) An initial survey has been conducted jointly by ONGC and UNESCO for declaring Chilika Lake as a UNESCO world heritage site and giving global recognition to Mangalajodi for conservation measures.

The survey was done to give a push to the project for conservation of eco-system in and around Chilika Lake area taken up by ONGC in partnership with UNESCO.

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A joint team visited Mangalajodi wetlands and surrounding villages yesterday to have a first hand understanding of the conservation issues in the area. The team comprised of Shigeru Aoyagi, Director ? UNESCO for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka and D D Misra, Director (HR) of ONGC.

The ambitious project aims to declare Chilika Lake as UNESCO world heritage site and bring Mangalajodi, a bird watchers paradise, to a globally recognised site for its eco-system conservation measures, ONGC officials said.

Officials and representatives from the local administration, including Block Development Officer and Sarpanch also accompanied the visiting team.

As a result of interaction with various stakeholders in the village and local officials, certain focal areas have been identified to begin with so that efforts may finally lead to declaration of Chilika Lake as UNESCO world heritage site, Aoyagi said.

To begin with, various CSR activities are proposed to be taken up by ONGC in Mangalajodi Village.

UNESCO has proposed to set up a world class conservation centre with climate change observatory and state-of-art data and monitoring facilities, Mishra said.

The team also met Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today and apprised him of the visit.

Pradhan appreciated the efforts of ONGC and UNESCO for comprehensive development of the eco-system of Chilika Lake, officials said.

Focus of the initiative is particularly on the wetlands of Mangalajodi, which is intertwined with the conservation of migratory and endemic birds.

The UNESCO Director appreciated the interest shown by Pradhan in conservation efforts and assured that he will also put in his best efforts to enable declaration of Chilika Lake as UNESCOs world heritage site.

For this, a comprehensive dossier with detailed development plan of the eco-system, including that of the inhabitants by involving various union ministries of Rural Development, Finance, Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry and Environment and Forest departments and the state government, will be prepared, Aoyagi said.

Aoyagi also called on Bijayshree Routray, Odishas minister of Environment and Forest, who assured all possible support from the state government in the project.

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The statements of the UNESCO Director and the senior ONGC official came a day after Pradhan asked Odisha government to support UNESCOs plan of developing Chilika Lake as a world heritage site.

"UNESCO, in association with ONGC, plans 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," Pradhan said in his letter to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

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, he added. PTI SKN DKB PS

--- ENDS ---
Chennai: Former Calcutta High Court Justice C S Karnan, who was arrested from a guest house in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore yesterday by the West Bengal Police, said on Wednesday that he is fighting against the evil of corruption.

"I am fighting against corruption", former judge CS Karnan said before he was taken to Kolkata after his arrest in Tamil Nadu.

He made this remark while replying to a question from reporters whether he would like to say anything on the developments relating to him.

Justice Karnan, who was arrested following the Supreme Court order sentencing him to six months imprisonment for contempt, however, said that the police acted within norms.

"They know I have done no wrong," he said. He also said his health was checked and his blood pressure is perfect.

Karnan had today moved the Supreme Court seeking bail and suspension of six-month sentence awarded to him in May.

The SC, however, refused to entertain Karnan's bail plea.

A vacation bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul also said: "We can't suspend the sentence as the order of the sentence was passed by a seven-judge bench."

"Sorry, nevertheless," Justice Chandrachud said, declining the bail plea.

The bench said this as Justice Karnan's counsel Mathew J Nadumpara urged it to grant bail to the former judge.

Nedumpara said that this court had all the powers and should grant the interim bail till the reopening of the court.

To this, the vacation bench said it could not override the order of the seven-judge bench.

The former judge was earlier taken to Kolkata by flight from Chennai early morning.

Karnan, who was eluding arrest for more than a month, retired from service, a few days back.

He has now been lodged in Kolkata's Presidency Jail.
Kolkata: Terming the West Bengal government-sponsored all party meet on June 22 to discuss the volatile situation in the north Bengal hills as "delayed and pointless", the state opposition parties have decided to stay away from it.



While the Left Front accused the state government of trivialising the "sensitive issue" and unnecessarily delaying meeting, the Congress questioned the meeting's effectiveness as the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself will not be present.



"While the whole country considers the Darjeeling to be a sensitive and emotive issue, the government of West Bengal is not giving it priority," CPI-M politburo member and MP Mohammad Selim told IANS.



Accusing Banerjee of delaying the all party meeting, Selim said her "unilateral and authoritarian" moves have taken the situation in Darjeeling out of hand.



"When the Darjeeling situation started deteriorating, we asked for an all party meeting but the Chief Minister did not respond to it. She took unilateral and authoritarian decision by managing the hills through police intervention.



"As a result, the scenario in Darjeeling went almost out of hand for the state administration," Selim alleged.



He also questioned the relevance of the meeting as all the prominent political parties in the hills including the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha have unanimously decided to boycott it.



"Also the political parties in the hills who are major stakeholders in the issue, have also decided to boycott it. So what is the use of that meeting," he asked.



Echoing Selim's view state, Congress president Adhir Chowdhury also accused the Chief Minister of not taking the issue seriously and contended that she should have been present at the meeting.



"We expected the Chief Minister to take up the issue seriously but she is handling it in a supercilious manner. If it is a political meeting, why did she go abroad to attend a not so important event?" asked Chowdhury while talking to IANS.



"Even the Chief Secretary or the Home Secretary would not be present. What would we discuss with the Divisional Commissioner? We think this meeting would not make any difference so we decided to skip it," he added.



The Bharatiya Janata Party on the other hand, termed the meeting as an eyewash and advocated discussions between the Centre and state governments and Gorkha leadership.



"The issue in Darjeeling can be resolved through discussion between the Centre, state government and the agitating Gorkha leaders. This all party meeting is an eye wash and we have decided to boycott it," said state BJP president Dilip Ghosh.


Kolkata: The West Bengal government employees in Darjeeling hills, who failed to attend to their regular duties owing to the indefinite shutdown by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), will face pay cut.

The finance department has also decided to send showcause notices to them and the employees will be required to explain the reason of their absence, sources in the state secretariat said today.

The showcause notices would ask the employees who absented from their work during the agitation to explain as to no action be taken against them for their unauthorised absence.

Those who do not respond to the showcause notice would be liable to disciplinary actions, the sources said.

Incidentally, soon after GJM had called the indefinite bandh from June 12, the Mamata Banerjee government had issued a notification stating that government offices situated in Darjeeling and

Kalimpong will remain open and all employees should report for duty each day.

The absence of employees on that day will be treated as 'dies non' which will constitute a break in service of the employee and no salary will be admissible unless such absence is covered under permissible grounds, the notification issued by the state government had stated.
Astana; The airport in oil-rich Kazakhstan`s capital Astana has been renamed after long-reigning President Nursultan Nazarbayev, state media reported on Wednesday, citing a government resolution that will fuel accusations of a leadership cult.

According to the directive published in the state-owned Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper, the resolution to change the name of Astana International Airport is effective immediately.

The apparent personality cult surrounding Nazarbayev has grown significantly during the second half of his near 30-year reign, as Kazakhstan looks to project itself as a regional economic success story.

Nazarbayev already has a national university and a series of schools for high-achieving Kazakhs named after him.

He is also celebrated by a number of statues, although unlike the monuments honouring two successive leaders in neighbouring Turkmenistan, none of them are golden.

Proposals to name the capital`s airport in his honour date back at least as far as 2009 and the resolution comes as Astana hosts an specialised international expo themed on "Future Energy".



Earlier this year, another Central Asian country, Uzbekistan, named its own airport after late autocrat Islam Karimov, who largely eschewed a personality cult during his reign of more than a quarter of a century.

Karimov died of a reported stroke last year, leaving Nazarbayev as the only president of an ex-Soviet country to have led his republic both before and after independence from Moscow in 1991.

In 2010, the country`s bicameral parliament granted Nazarbayev the status of `Leader of the Nation`, which guarantees him immunity from prosecution and a role in policymaking if he decides to retire.

Although Kazakhstan enjoyed impressive growth during the period after the millennium, it was hit hard by the collapse of oil prices in 2014 as well as Western sanctions against key trade partner Russia over Ukraine.

Rights groups regularly accuse Nazarbayev of cracking down on political opposition, independent journalists, non-governmental organisations and labour unions.
Rafah: Egypt began on Wednesday to deliver a million litres of fuel to Gaza, a Palestinian official said, in an attempt to ease the Palestinian enclave`s desperate electricity crisis.

The fuel, trucked in through the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza, will be routed to the territory`s only power station -- closed since April due to fuel shortages.

The deliveries come two days after Israel began reducing its electricity supplies to Gaza, following Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas`s decision to stop paying for them.

Wael Abu Omar, the Rafah crossing spokesman, told AFP that eight shipments had entered, with a further 14 expected later in the day.

"A million litres (220,000 gallons) of fuel for the power plant will enter today," he said.

That is enough to enable the power station to operate for two to three days, Samir Moutair, director general of the Gaza electricity company, told AFP.

Residents of impoverished Gaza -- where two million people live fenced in between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean -- were already receiving only a few hours of mains power before this week.

Israel had been supplying 120 megawatts of electricity to Gaza a month, making up around a quarter of the territory`s needs, with the Abbas-run Palestinian Authority paying the 11.3 million euros ($12.65 million) monthly bill.

But after Abbas announced he would no longer pay, the Israel Electric Corporation said power supply would "effectively be reduced on two lines out of 10 every day, until the reduction applies to all 10 lines".

The move threatened to leave Gazans with as little as two hours of power a day, prompting a UN warning that basic services in the enclave faced "total collapse".

The Egyptian response temporarily eases the crisis and Abu Omar said further deliveries were expected before Saturday, ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Abbas`s decision to cut funding came amid a persistent rift with rival Palestinian movement Hamas, which runs Gaza.

The Islamists seized control of Gaza from Abbas`s Fatah movement in a near civil war in 2007 and multiple attempts at reconciliation have failed.

However, the Palestinian Authority had continued to pay Israel for some electricity delivered to Gaza until this month.

Israeli human rights group Gisha said in a statement on Monday that by reducing supplies "Israel is knowingly aggravating an already dangerous situation in which the strip is teetering on the verge of a humanitarian crisis."

Hamas, which swept Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 but remains blacklisted as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.
Marawai: Islamic militants occupied a primary school and took hostages in a southern Philippine village on Wednesday, a few hours drive from a city where other jihadists were fighting a month-long war, authorities said.



Hundreds of gunmen initially attacked a lightly guarded military outpost at dawn, with about 30 then taking over the school and using civilians as human shields, the military said.



"As of now they are in the school holding the civilians. They are using them as human shields," Captain Arvin Encinas, spokesman for the army division with responsibility for the area, told AFP by phone.



Encinas said the gunmen had planted improvised bombs around the school, a small building in a rural area, and that soldiers had surrounded it.



There were about 20 hostages taken from houses nearby, but no students, Antonio Maganto, the region`s education spokesman, told AFP, although he said the exact numbers could not be confirmed.



The unrest occurred in Pigkawayan, a farming town about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Marawi city where fighters linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been battling troops for a month in a conflict that has claimed hundreds of lives.



Armed forces spokesman Restituto Padilla said the attackers at Pikgawayan belonged to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), one of four groups in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao that have pledged allegiance to IS.



Local police said the BIFF attack may have been intended to help the militants in Marawi by distracting the military.



Padilla said the gunmen attacked the outpost at daybreak, then exchanged fire with troops in the morning before retreating in a hit-and-run assault typical of BIFF fighters who are based in Muslim communities in the area.



"It`s already resolved. The enemy has withdrawn, they failed," Padilla said late on Wednesday morning.



However about six hours later Encinas reported the hostage crisis at the school.



Padilla then confirmed militants had taken over the school, and said the military would seek to broker a solution.



"I hope this will be resolved peacefully and I hope there will be negotiations for the sake of the people they are holding hostage," he said on the local GMA television network.



Encinas and Padilla said there had also been skirmishes throughout the day outside of Pigkawayan, which is surrounded by marshlands, mountains and farmlands.



Those areas are largely lawless areas with mixed Muslim-Christian communities where the BIFF, other Muslim rebels and political warlords hold sway.



Pigkawayan mayor Eliseo Garsesa said about 200 gunmen were involved in the initial assault.Muslim rebels have been fighting for more than four decades for an independent or autonomous region in the south of the mainly Catholic nation, with the conflict claiming more than 120,000 lives.



The major rebel organisations have signed, or are pursuing, peace deals with the government, but small hardline groups such as the BIFF have vowed to continue fighting.



Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across Mindanao, home to 20 million people, on May 23 immediately after fighters flying the IS flag rampaged through Marawi.



Their assault on Marawi ignited an unprecedented urban war that has claimed hundreds of lives and which Duterte has warned is part of an IS campaign to establish a base in Mindanao.



The fighting has left Marawi, the most important Muslim city in the Philippines, largely in ruins.



The militants involved in the Marawi fighting are mostly from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf organisations, which have united with the BIFF under the IS umbrella, according to the government.



The military has said foreign fighters, including those from Chechnya, Indonesia and Malaysia, have also joined the Marawi conflict.



IS has ambitions of setting up a caliphate in Southeast Asia home to largely Muslim nations like Indonesia and Malaysia as the group loses territory in Iraq and Syria.



The BIFF was blamed for attacking Christian communities in Mindanao in 2008, triggering a conflict that claimed about 400 lives and forced 600,000 people to flee their homes.
New Delhi: The third International Yoga Day was celebrated in Pakistan too but on a muted scale. The organisers said a much bigger event will follow after Ramadan ends.



Pakistani yoga guru Shamshad Haider, who runs over 50 clubs across the country, said in a telephonic interview from Islamabad: "Due to Ramdan and people preparing for Eid, we could not organise a big event this year."



"We have routine sessions in all our clubs today but after Eid we are preparing for a much larger event in Rawalpindi," Haider, 48, told IANS. He said his team expected more than 1,000 people to take part.



The Indian High Commission also organised a yoga camp in Islamabad on Sunday, attended by India`s envoy Gautam Bambawale and other diplomats.



Asked about the Pakistan government not celebrating the yoga day, Haider, founder of Yoga Pakistan and Way of Nature, says his clubs have people from all religions.



"It (government) never stopped us from doing yoga. It has granted us permission to hold yoga camps on its land and has also allowed us to promote yoga."



Yogi Haider - as he is widely known -- said he doesn`t want any help from the government or the Indian High Commission to hold events.



Born in Pakistani Punjab, Haider, unlike many Muslims, is emphatic that yoga has nothing to do with Hindu religion.



"Yoga helps to gain mental stability, peace, balanced living. It teaches us discipline which is vital in Islam and all religions."



Last year, on the second International Day of Yoga, Haider did yogic asanas along with 20,000 yoga students across Pakistan -- but minus media publicity.



Haider and his 100 trainers have quietly succeeded in attracting tens of thousands of Pakistanis to yoga, achieving a feat that once seemed near impossible.



"Yoga belongs to humanity in the form of a pure science and is not the sole entity of India," he said.



Among the over 50 yoga clubs in Pakistan, Haider oversees the major ones in Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi.



Even some Islamic clerics come to him to learn and practise yoga and meditation.



Haider says his inspiration and role model was S.N. Goenka, the Myanmar-born master of Vipassana meditation.



"He taught me meditation when I travelled to India. That changed my life. After that I started yoga sessions in Pakistan. He was my hero."



The International Yoga Day debuted in 2015 after the UN backed an India-sponsored initiative that was supported by over 170 member states.
Tehran: Iran on Wednesday demanded the release of three fishermen detained last week by Saudi Arabia, which claims the men were Iranian Revolutionary Guard members planning an attack.

The interior ministry called in a statement for "the release as quickly as possible of the three fishermen" detained in the Gulf by the Saudi coastguard.

Iran has denied the men are members of the Revolutionary Guard and accused the coastguard of killing another fisherman when two Iranian boats strayed into Saudi waters on Saturday.

The ministry called for the "punishment" of those responsible for the killing.

Riyadh said Monday it had captured three Revolutionary Guards members aboard an explosives-laden boat heading to an oil platform in the Gulf and planning to carry out "a terrorist act".

The incident has increased tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, arch-rivals opposed in a wide range of conflicts throughout the Middle East.
Iraq: US-backed Iraqi forces on Wednesday began a push towards the mosque in Mosul where Islamic State declared a self-styled caliphate three years ago, military officials said.

The forces had encircled the jihadist group`s stronghold in the Old City of Mosul, where the mosque is located, on Tuesday, they said.

The Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) are 200 to 300 were metres (yards) away from the medieval Grand al-Nuri Mosque, an Iraqi military statement said.

Major General Rupert Jones, the British deputy commander of the international coalition fighting Islamic State, told Reuters the Iraqi forces were about 300 metres from the mosque.

The U.S.-led coalition is providing air and ground support to the Mosul offensive that started on Oct. 17.

The militants` leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaimed himself caliph from its pulpit after the insurgents overran parts of Iraq and Syria. His black flag has been flying over its famous leaning minaret since June 2014.

Iraqi officials have privately expressed the hope that the mosque could be captured by Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month. The first day of the Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.

The battle for the Old City is becoming the deadliest in the

eight-month-old offensive to capture Mosul, Islamic State`s de facto capital in Iraq.

More than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, are trapped in its old fragile houses with little food, water, medicine, no electricity and limited access to clinics.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday sick and wounded civilians escaping through Islamic State lines were dying in "high numbers".

"We are trying to keep families inside their houses and, after we secure their block, we will evacuate them through safe routes," Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior CTS commander in Mosul, told Iraqi state TV.

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 sheets of cloth to obstruct air surveillance, making it difficult for the advancing troops to hit them without a risk to civilians.

"We are attacking simultaneously from different fronts to fraction them into smaller groups easier to fight," said an officer from the Federal Police, another force taking part in the assault on the Old City,

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.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate" even though Islamic State would continue to control territory west and south of the city, the largest they came to control in both 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 Mosul, have fled, seeking refuge with relatives or in camps, according to aid groups.
Jerusalem: Israeli forces arrested the mother of a slain Palestinian assailant early on Wednesday after she praised her son`s deadly east Jerusalem attack, the army and police said.

Two youths from the village of Deir Abu Mashal in the occupied West Bank had on Friday opened fire on a group of officers near the Old City, while a third fatally stabbed a border policewoman a short distance away.

All three assailants were shot dead by forces at the scene.

The Israeli army subsequently sealed off the village, near Ramallah, confiscating vehicles and making a number of arrests.

Early on Wednesday, troops and police arrested the mother of one of the assailants "due to her recent calls over the weekend to commit additional attacks against Jews and due to her violent hate speech," a military spokeswoman told AFP.

The woman, Zaynab Ankush, had on Sunday given a television interview to Israeli public broadcaster Kan.

"He chose to die a martyr but I didn`t know about it," she said. "I`m proud and wish that he would have killed 20, 50, 100 of them."

Police said she was arrested on suspicion of supporting a terror organisation and conspiring to commit a crime.

Security forces also arrested a Palestinian from the Issawiya neighbourhood of annexed east Jerusalem on suspicion of "transporting the terrorists to the site of the attack" and knowing their intent while not acting to prevent the attack, police said.

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.
After India Today recorded extreme animal abuse at the Dasna slaughterhouse of Al Nasir Exports, Ghaziabad Sub-Divisional Magistrate Prem Ranjan has asked for the CD of the sting operation.

By India Today Web Desk: After an India Today investigation - Operation Slaughterhouse - revealed how Uttar Pradesh's meat industry is butchering CM Yogi Adityanath's clampdown on illegal slaughterhouses, Ghaziabad Sub-Divisional Magistrate Prem Ranjan has asked for the CD of the sting operation.

At the sprawling Al Nasir abattoir in Ghaziabad's Dasna, India Today's undercover team witnessed a horrific sight: Hundreds of buffaloes, their babies lying on a blood-spattered floor, their throats slashed by primitive swords. Conscious of their surroundings, the animals and their offspring were killed in front of one another in a gross breach of anti-cruelty laws.

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But the company makes tall claims about compliance with international standards for slaughtering, bragging about its quality controls. It boasts on its website that it is a global leader in frozen halal, buffalo meat.

Click here to read more about Operation Slaughterhouse.

ALSO READ | Is ban on sale of cattle for slaughter unconstitutional? A fact check

ALSO READ | Cattle slaughter economy: How ban on sale of cattle for killing may affect industry, employment

WATCH VIDEO | Operation Slaughterhouse: How UP's abbatoirs butcher anti-cruelty animal rights

--- ENDS ---
Baghdad: Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused Kurdish authorities of delaying thousands of Iraqi civilians fleeing from jihadist-held areas at checkpoints, in some cases within range of front lines.

The New York-based rights group said the delays, some lasting weeks or months, were not only increasing the hardships of civilians but also putting their lives at risk as Iraqi forces battle the Islamic State group.

"These families have lived for years under the horrific abuses of ISIS, months with limited food, water, and medicine, and have just risked their lives trying to get to safety," Lama Fakih, HRW`s deputy Middle East director, said in a statement.

"Delaying people fleeing ISIS from reaching safety and getting the help they need is inhumane," she said, using an alternative acronym for IS.

HRW said Kurdish peshmerga forces in Iraq were holding up civilians at checkpoints after they had fled two IS-held cities in northern Iraq, Hawija and Tal Afar.

In some cases the checkpoints -- which Kurdish authorities say are essential to screen for potential jihadists -- were still within shelling range of IS territory.

"Peshmerga forces stopped civilians for days, weeks, and even in one case up to three months, in many cases leaving them vulnerable to ISIS mortar and suicide attacks and without food and badly needed assistance," HRW said.
Islamabad: Pakistan cannot recall former Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif from Riyadh as he has taken the command of the 41-nation Saudi-led military alliance against the Islamic State in his "personal capacity", the country's top diplomat said today.



Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan prime minister's adviser on foreign affairs, in a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here said that Gen Sharif was not sent by the government to lead the alliance and therefore, cannot be asked to return.



However, news reports have previously said the 61-year- old former chief of Army staff was granted approval by the government to serve as head of the alliance for three years.



Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had told Geo News in April that the government has given Gen Sharif a 'No Objection Certificate' to lead the military alliance.



Gen Sharif, who remained the Army chief for three years until he retired in November, left for Riyadh in April.



According to Saudi Arabia, the alliance is aimed at fighting the Islamic State (IS) and other militant outfits. But after the recent Gulf crisis began to unfold and a Saudi coalition boycotted Qatar for allegedly supporting terrorism, Pakistan found itself in a fix over which side to take.



Aziz said Pakistan will not take any side in the Gulf crisis.



He clarified that Pakistan has remained neutral during the Yemen conflict as mandated by the resolution passed by the parliament in 2015. The top diplomat was referring to the time when Saudi Arabia had launched a military operation against Yemen and Pakistan maintained a "neutral" role.



He said the same resolution will serve as the foundation for the role Pakistan will take in the current Gulf crisis.



"Pakistan doesn't want to interfere in other countries matters and will stick to its non-partisan policy on the Middle East issue."



Committee chairperson Nazir Sadiq said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and has also spoken to Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on phone to reduce tension in the region.



Pakistan has followed a thin line to maintain ties with the Gulf nations amid increasing bilateral rivalries.
Dubai: Saudi Arabia`s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was promoted to crown prince on Wednesday, replacing his cousin in a sudden announcement that confirms King Salman`s 31-year-old son as next ruler of the kingdom.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has been relieved of his post and replaced by Mohammed bin Salman who becomes deputy prime minister and retains his defence and other portfolios, a royal decree issued by the Saudi state agency said SPA.

Although Mohammed bin Salman`s promotion was expected among close circles, it came as a surprise at a time the kingdom is facing escalating tensions with Qatar and Iran and is locked in an air war in Yemen.

Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, for years the kingdom`s counter-terrorism chief who put down an al Qaeda campaign of bombings in 2003-06, is relieved of all positions, the decree said.

Even as deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman has been responsible for running Saudi Arabia`s war in Yemen, dictating an energy policy with global implications and spearheading plans for the kingdom to build an economic future after oil.

Al Arabiya television reported that the promotion of the prince was approved by the kingdom`s Allegiance Council, and that the king had called for a public pledging of loyalty to Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday evening in Mecca.

That the royal succession in the world`s top oil exporter is closely scrutinised only makes the rapidity of Mohammed bin Salman`s rise to power, and the speed with which his better known cousins were brushed aside, more astonishing.

The surprise announcement follows 2-1/2 years of already major changes in Saudi Arabia, which stunned allies in 2015 by launching an air war in Yemen, cutting back on lavish subsidies and proposing in 2016 the partial privatisation of state oil company Aramco.

Last year, Mohammed bin Salman, or "MBS" as he is widely known, announced sweeping changes aimed, as he put it, at ending the kingdom`s "addiction" to oil, part of his campaign to tackle systemic challenges that the kingdom has previously failed to address.

Until his father Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud became Saudi Arabia`s seventh king in January 2015, few people outside the kingdom had ever heard of Prince Mohammed, seen more than two years on as the power behind its throne.

Regarded warily by some Saudis and by many foreigners as an unknown quantity in the Middle East`s traditional status quo power, Prince Mohammed has over the past year set about building his profile with interviews in some Western media.

For many Saudis those changes have become inextricable from the person of Prince Mohammed, whose photographs adorns walls, car windows and advertising hoardings across the country and who has assumed a startling array of powers.

He is Defence Minister, a role that in Saudi Arabia gives its incumbent command of one of the world`s biggest arms budgets and makes him ultimately responsible for Saudi Arabia`s unprecedented military adventure in Yemen.

He also heads the Council for Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA), a group of cabinet ministers who meet weekly and which oversees all elements of policy that touch on the economy or social issues like education, health and housing.

Prince Mohammed chairs the supreme board of Aramco, making him the first member of the ruling family to directly oversee the state oil company, long regarded as the preserve of commoner technocrats.

But perhaps most importantly, he also holds the critical position of gatekeeper to his father, King Salman, who in Saudi Arabia`s absolute monarchy retains the final say in any major decision of state.

Outside Saudi Arabia, that rapid advance and the sudden changes to longstanding policies on regional affairs, energy and its economy have prompted unease, adding an unpredictable edge to a kingdom that allies long regarded as a known quantity.

Inside, they have prompted admiration among many younger Saudis who regard his ascent as evidence that their generation is taking a central place in running a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the old.
Sandy Springs: US President Donald Trump accused Democrats on Wednesday of obstructing his agenda, the day after a fellow Republican won a Georgia congressional election that many saw as a referendum on his turbulent presidency.

Former Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel on Tuesday defeated political newcomer Democrat Jon Ossoff, 52 percent to 48 percent. The 4-point win in the most expensive congressional race in history was a blow to Democrats, who tried to wrest control of a suburban Atlanta district that Republicans have held since the 1970s.

The special election, to fill the seat vacated by Tom Price after Trump appointed him as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, does not change the balance of power in Washington, where Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress.

But it was demoralizing for Democrats, who also lost a special election in neighboring South Carolina. There Republican Ralph Norman easily prevailed over Democrat Archie Parnell for a seat formerly held by Republican Mick Mulvaney, now Trump`s budget director.

Democrats had hoped Georgia would provide a breakthrough for a party trying to harvest electoral victories from the grassroots anti-Trump activism seen in marches on Washington and boisterous crowds at town hall meetings around the country.

Democrats came close but still lost two other contested special elections earlier this year for Republican-held seats in conservative Kansas and Montana, and the outcomes in Georgia and South Carolina could put a crimp in the party`s fundraising and candidate recruitment.

Prominent Democrats said the party needed to rethink its approach.

"The Democrats have to be hyper-focused on an economic message that tells people that the Republican Party is all about economic growth for millionaires and billionaires, and the Democratic Party is about economic growth for everybody," Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut told MSNBC.

The outcomes in Georgia and South Carolina also could boost Republican efforts to advance health and tax legislation that has been bogged down by infighting and investigations into whether Trump`s campaign colluded with Russia in last year`s presidential election.

"Democrats would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on Healthcare, Tax Cuts, Security," Trump said on Wednesday morning in a tweet after the election. "Obstruction doesn`t work!"

Congressional Democrats have accused Republicans of shutting them out of the debate over issues such as healthcare and taxes. Democrats also say Trump`s agenda of rolling back Obamacare and revamping the tax code would benefit the wealthy and big businesses while hurting the poor and middle class.

Still, Ossoff`s loss may force Democrats to retool their strategy as they look ahead to next year`s midterm elections, when all of the seats in House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate will be up for grabs.

With the Georgia victory, Republicans showed that they could still win in the kind of affluent, educated districts where Democrats have made gains and Trump`s populist agenda was sometimes a tough sell.

Handel thanked Trump on Tuesday at her victory rally, where a boisterous crowd chanted the president`s name.

Ossoff initially campaigned on a promise to "make Trump furious" but more recently backed off that approach.

Both candidates tried to focus on local issues and avoided mentioning Trump, whose approval rating sits at 37 percent, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

That did not stop Trump from weighing in on Twitter, urging voters to support Handel before the election and celebrating her victory afterward.

"Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!" he posted Tuesday night.

Spending on the race reached at least $57 million, nearly twice the previous record, according to the Center for Responsive Politics watchdog group.
DistricColumbia: Senior US officials will meet their Chinese counterparts on Wednesday to seek a tougher line on North Korea`s nuclear ambitions -- despite President Donald Trump implying this is already a lost cause.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are to meet top Beijing diplomat State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of Chinese army staff, at the State Department.

US officials said the first and main item on the agenda would be persuading China to lean on Kim Jong-Un`s North Korea regime, in order to halt its provocative missile and nuclear plans.

But, just hours before the talks began, Trump sent a tweet implying that China`s President Xi Jinping had already tried and failed to rein in Pyongyang.

"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.

Trump did not elaborate on what might happen next, and US diplomats insisted the talks would go ahead as planned, and with the same agenda.

In April, Trump hosted Xi at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, glossing over his harsh campaign comments against Beijing and -- after apparently successful talks -- 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.

But tensions remain -- particularly over China`s building of artificial islands in disputed South China Sea waters, and Washington`s strong desire to get Beijing to rein in Kim Jong-Un`s isolated North Korean regime.

Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said that the first meeting of the new "US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue" on Wednesday 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.

Despite international condemnation and sanctions, North Korea has a small nuclear arsenal and is developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that threaten Japan and South Korea -- and one-day could even hit some US cities.

Washington has some 28,000 troops deployed in South Korea and a naval armada in the region.Last week, the release of a detained US tourist in what initially seemed a gesture of goodwill by Pyongyang turned sour when it was revealed that 22-year-old Otto Warmbier had been in a coma for some time.

Warmbier died on Monday after returning to his hometown in Ohio, triggering outrage in the United States.

Trump`s White House has made halting the nuclear threat its number one foreign policy priority, putting aside concerns over trade and currency manipulation to seek Beijing`s help in facing down Kim.

China has tightened controls on trade in North Korean coal, but many doubt that Beijing will 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."

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, agrees 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.

He said Monday 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.
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. The upcoming June 26-30 sitting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is expected to be heated.

During the very first plenary session, PACE lawmakers are expected to impeach President Pedro Agramunt, if he doesnt resign.

Naira Zohrabyan, Armenias delegate to PACE said she doesnt think that Agramunt will indeed resign, therefore the most humiliating scenario will happen for the latter: lawmakers will declare impeachment, an opportunity which was only recently granted to the PACE lawmakers with amendments to the rules of procedure.

During the April sitting, the PACE bureau passed a decision whereby Pedro Agramunt is no longer the president and cannot act on behalf of the assembly, however on June 7 Agramunt addressed a letter to PACE Secretary and political groups, attempting to argue that the bureaus decision contradicts the PACE rules of procedure. I assume that Agramunt doesnt intend to keep his word and resign. During the April sittings EPP political group session, the chair said on his behalf that Agramunt will resign during the June sitting. However, judging by the letters addressed to different instances, I assume that he wont resign, and this means that the second scenario will take place: the most humiliating scenario for Agramunt, Zohrabyan said.

Zohrabyan says she doesnt understand why Agramunt is trying to escalate the situation, since it is clear that just like lawmakers didnt allow him to take the floor and chair the session, this time they wont allow him moreover, because the bureau decided that he is no longer authorized to act on behalf of PACE.

I assume he is simply trying to defame this structure, because he is already an outgoing president. I think that the most scandalous episode of the upcoming sitting will be Agramunts impeachment, Zohrabyan said.

Speaking on other issues of the plenary sessions agenda, Zohrabyan said it is rather wide, with quite serious issues included  namely parliamentary control regarding corruption manifestations, as well as issues related to the cooperation of parliamentarians with investigative journalists for uncovering corruption.

Thorbjrn Jagland  Secretary General of the Council of Europe will deliver a report at the session, and lawmakers will have the chance to address questions to him.

There are serious reports in the assemblys committees as well, which will be principled and important for the Armenian delegations.

Numerous important reports are included in the committees agendas, regarding both refugees and internally displaced people in frozen conflict zones. It is going to be a rather busy sitting, and the Armenian delegation will depart for this sitting with a new staff, she said.

Asked whether the agenda of the session includes issues where the Armenian delegates will be able to raise the recent Azerbaijani escalation acts in the Artsakh line of contact, Zohrabyan said These issues will naturally be discussed in the political groups. Essentially, in the plenary session such issues arent included, however we always raise this issue in the political groups. Azerbaijani delegates also regularly touch upon this issue, she said, adding that the European lawmakers dont very actively get involved in the discussion of this issue, because they understand that this isnt the platform where these issues will be solved.

The summer sitting of PACE will be held in Strasbourg, France June 26-30.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenias lawmakers are currently debating the governments action plan.

91 MPs are present at the debates for the governmental program, which was approved during the Cabinet meeting and submitted to the Parliament.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh denied the Azerbaijani defense ministrys report according to which the Armenian side made a sabotage infiltration attempt, press service of the Artsakh Defense Ministry told Armenpress.

The Ministrys statement says: The statement released by Azerbaijans Defense Ministry on June 21 according to which a sabotage infiltration attempt was prevented and an Armenian soldier has been captured is another disinformation.

The Defense Ministry of Artsakh Republic announces that the Defense Army didnt carry out such operation. Moreover, when punitive actions are carried out to curb the adversary, their painful consequences do not make them wait long. Just by spreading a statement with such content the Azerbaijani armed forces recorded another victory in virtual space and tried to present what they desire instead of reality.
By Press Trust of India: By Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad, Jun 21 (PTI) Pakistan cannot recall former Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif from Riyadh as he has taken the command of the 41-nation Saudi-led military alliance against the Islamic State in his "personal capacity", the countrys top diplomat said today.

Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan prime ministers adviser on foreign affairs, in a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here said that Gen Sharif was not sent by the government to lead the alliance and therefore, cannot be asked to return.

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However, news reports have previously said the 61-year- old former chief of Army staff was granted approval by the government to serve as head of the alliance for three years.

Pakistans Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had told Geo News in April that the government has given Gen Sharif a No Objection Certificate to lead the military alliance.

Gen Sharif, who remained the Army chief for three years until he retired in November, left for Riyadh in April.

According to Saudi Arabia, the alliance is aimed at fighting the Islamic State (IS) and other militant outfits. But after the recent Gulf crisis began to unfold and a Saudi coalition boycotted Qatar for allegedly supporting terrorism, Pakistan found itself in a fix over which side to take.

Aziz said Pakistan will not take any side in the Gulf crisis.

He clarified that Pakistan has remained neutral during the Yemen conflict as mandated by the resolution passed by the parliament in 2015. The top diplomat was referring to the time when Saudi Arabia had launched a military operation against Yemen and Pakistan maintained a "neutral" role.

He said the same resolution will serve as the foundation for the role Pakistan will take in the current Gulf crisis.

"Pakistan doesnt want to interfere in other countries matters and will stick to its non-partisan policy on the Middle East issue."

Committee chairperson Nazir Sadiq said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and has also spoken to Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on phone to reduce tension in the region.

Pakistan has followed a thin line to maintain ties with the Gulf nations amid increasing bilateral rivalries. PTI SH ABH AKJ ABH

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the foreign relations committee of Armenias Parliament Mr. Armen Ashotyan held a meeting on June 21 with Joris Poschet, member of the Belgian Senate.

Ashotyan expressed hope that the existing friendly ties between the new Armenian Parliament and Belgiums Parliament will continue to proceed in a spirit of cooperation, in the context of active interactions between partner committees and partnership between inter-parliamentary friendship groups.

The sides touched upon the Armenia-EU relations, the significance and role of the signing of Armenia-EU new comprehensive agreement, which is planned to be signed during the Brusells summit.

In this context, Ashotyan mentioned that Armenia remains adherent, like always, to its commitments under the European partnership and will continue to actively participate in initiatives aimed at boosting European democracy.

Speaking about the peaceful settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Ashotyan said the regular Azerbaijani ceasefire violations derail the negotiations process and the atmosphere of trust in the region, which is fraught with unpredictable consequences.

In the context of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Armen Ashotyan mentioned that Artsakh is a part of Europe, a state which has mastered European democratic values, the people of which have earned the right to manage their own destiny.

Issues related to future cooperation were also discussed.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. On the occasion of the National Holiday of the United Kingdom, the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan sent a congratulatory address to Her Majesty the Queen, the Presidents Office told ARMENPRESS.

The Armenian president congratulates the Queen, the Royal Family and the people of Britain on the National Holiday.

The Republic of Armenia greatly values the development of the diverse cooperation with the United Kingdom. The 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Armenia and Britain, which is marked this year, is a good occasion to re-evaluate the path which we passed jointly and reaffirm our commitments to deepen and enhance our interstate relations and friendship between the peoples.

I am sure, that your rich experience of decades of leadership gives additional confidence and strength to the British people in contributing to the further prosperity of the UK and resisting modern challenges, the president said in the letter.

President Serzh Sargsyan also visited the UK Ambassadors residence in Yerevan, congratulated Ambassador H.E. Judith Farnworth and the Embassy staff.

Mentioning that the government and people of the UK faced several challenges lately, and together with the UK Armenia experienced sorrow regarding the tragic events, the president wished that this day becomes a new start for the UK, and that all future processes bring only good to the country and its citizens.

The president and the ambassador discussed the future steps for developing the partnership and strengthening the bilateral Armenian-British ties. The UK Ambassador said Britain is willing to continue supporting the reforms in Armenia.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani social media users are denying the report of their own defense ministry.

Contrary to the official Azerbaijani statement, which said that allegedly an Armenian sabotage action was prevented and one saboteur was captured, an Azerbaijani social media user Khasim Masimov said on Facebook that a 50 year old Armenian civilian has crossed the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. According to him, the civilian crossed the border near the Kerimli village. He was discovered by locals, who notified the military and the Armenian citizen was taken away and presented to be a saboteur.

But, no missing person report has been received in the Tavush province police, the Police HQ told ARMENPRESS.

We havent received any report on a missing person, we cannot say anything about the border crossing, police officials said.

It is noteworthy that other Azerbaijani social media users who responded to Masimovs post, mocked the occurrence saying that the villager will be taken to Baku and then presented as a famous Armenian political scientist or reporter  hinting on the so-called peace platform which was created by Azerbaijani fraud and lies.

Others however responded by saying that the distance between the villages in that parts of the border in 5-6km, and it is easy to get lost.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. By preparing the governments action plan, the global trends, Armenias economic potential, a number of macroeconomic indicators have been taken into account, Finance Minister Vardan Aramyan told reporters in the Parliament on June 21, reports Armenpress.

We have assessed the result of our actions, what we can have in case of implementing our program. In a simple economics language, I can say that the potential of todays assessed economic growth is 3-4% at various models. If we set before us an average 5% economic growth, we need to make efforts for achieving that result, the Minister said, adding that the efforts to be maid are reflected in-detail in the governments action plan.

According to Minister Aramyan, 5% economic growth is not a low figure for reaching a real result. We should accurately assess the starting points where we are and where we move on. We expect to ensure an average 5% economic growth within 5 years. During one year it can be 4.7%, next year we will seek for more than 5% growth, he said, adding that they put an approach at the governments action plan that they are going to make efforts to have more progressive economic growth rates from the world economy or countries cooperating with Armenia.




YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenias State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) received an appeal-letter from BSA company, an authorized representative of the American Microsoft corporation in Armenia, reports Armenpress.

The company said they act in support of protecting the interests and copyright of Microsoft, as one of the leading companies in IT field both in Armenia and all countries of the world.

According to the letter, as a result of secretive checks and monitoring in companies dealing with resale of computers, it was revealed that tens of companies sale unlicensed software developed by Microsoft to customers.

Such actions can firstly harm the consumers who bear the risk of acquiring unlicensed product, and moreover, it can also cause serious problem for economic entities legally operating in the market, by damaging their interests, SCPEC Chairman Artak Shaboyan told reporters.

He said the examinations carried out with Microsoft workers showed that over 60 companies are selling similar computers. We made a respective decision and banned carrying out such activity, Artak Shaboyan said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenian governments action plan is based on the pre-election programs of the Republican Party and the ARF, as well as on the provisions of President Serzh Sargsyans May 18 speech in the Parliament, Eduard Sharmazanov, Vice-Speaker of the Parliament, said during the discussion of the governments action plan in the Parliament, reports Armenpress.

The government has presented this program which we have discussed in-detail in the RPA faction and with the ARFs partners, Sharmazanov said.

Sharmazanov said Armenia faces a lot of challenges, and this thorough document clearly presents the ways to overcome them. We face numerous security threats, plus the terror threat. We, as a political leadership, have to consider all negative things, he said.

He said the most important issue, the security of Armenia and Artsakh is included in the action plan. It is not coincidence that the RPA participated in the elections with Security and Progress slogan, the Vice-Speaker said.

He also commented on the opposition lawmakers criticism who said that the action plan has only one line on foreign relations and Artsakh. It is written in one line, but its very accurate, the directions are outlined.

He reminded that the territorial integrity, non-use of force, the peoples right to self-determination are the key provisions in this issue: The leadership once again reaffirms that the people of Artsakh must decide their fate and future, we will spare no efforts to reach the de jure recognition of the Artsakh Republic, Sharmazanov said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan launches provocations in the border to distract its peoples attention from serious domestic and economic problems, Tatev Hayrapetyan, expert on Azerbaijani studies, candidate for historical sciences, told a press conference in Armenpress.

She said Azerbaijan faces domestic problems at several domains, firstly in governmental sector.

In May it was reported on the detention of 42 spies. Till now no visible, public judicial process has taken place, moreover, 5 of them died for unknown reasons. Certain circles of the public say this is a campaign against a certain group of military officials. Meanwhile, there are also reports that in near future personnel changes are expected in Azerbaijans security and defense spheres, Hayrapetyan said.

According to her, Aliyev started to be freed from old figures, those persons who work for more than 15 years.

The next field which again faces serious problems is the economy. Recently the International Bank of Azerbaijan has become bankrupt, but now restructuring measures are being taken. In line with this the public expressed dissatisfaction on holding Formula 1 in Azebaijan. The social issues become more tense in the country, but the Azerbaijani leadership spends huge money on holding that event. Aliyev launches adventures in the border in order to divert the societys attention from domestic problems.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Justice Ministry plans to submit new Criminal and Civil Procedure Codes for the Parliaments discussion, reports Armenpress.

During the discussion of the governments action plan in the Parliament, Justice Minister Davit Harutyunyan presented the planned changes in judicial field. He said in recent period the judicial disputes have been increased which means that publics trust towards the courts has also been increased. At the same time it further reveals the gaps existing in the system, Harutyunyan said.

As for the penitentiary sphere, the Minister said there are many problems in this field, and consistent works are needed for settling them. He said as a priority task is to provide former prisoners with jobs. Former prisoners are mainly unemployed, but they should find their place in labor market, he said.

Davit Harutyunyan attached importance to probation service which aims to reintegrate former prisoners to the public.
YEREVAN, 21 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 21 June, USD exchange rate down by 0.10 drams to 480.44 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.83 drams to 535.45 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.09 drams to 8.06 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 3.68 drams to 606.51 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 95.92 drams to 19187.65 drams. Silver price down by 1.29 drams to 256.26 drams. Platinum price up by 43.39 drams to 14226.23 drams.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of the Peoples Assembly Hadiyeh Abbas affirmed on Wednesday the importance of strengthening the historical relations between the two peoples of Syria and Armenia and the need to promote them at all levels to serve the interest of the two friendly countries, Armenpress reports, citing SANA agency.

During a meeting with Armenias Ambassador to Syria Arshak Poladian, Speaker Abbas said that Syria appreciates greatly the Armenian support for Syria in the face of the terrorist war imposed on it, pointing out to the importance of the role of members of the Syrian-Armenian Friendship Association at the Peoples Assembly in strengthening bilateral relations and activating communication between the two sides.

For his part, Ambassador Poladian said that Syria is a real home for the Armenians in which they lived a golden historical stage and integrated in the Syrian society, adding that start of running flights between Damascus and Yerevan will enhance communication between the two countries.

He pointed out that his country will participate in the upcoming Damascus International Fair and that the Armenian-Syrian Friendship Association will soon be formed in Armenia.

In turn, the head of Syrian-Armenian Friendship Association at the Peoples Assembly Nour Arisan said that the meeting came to discuss matters of mutual interest to both countries, especially in the field of activating parliamentary relations after the establishment of the Association two months ago.
By Press Trust of India: Karachi, Jun 21 (PTI) A top court in Pakistans southern Sindh province has ordered police to produce before it tomorrow a Hindu girl who, according to her family, was abducted, forcibly converted and married off to a Muslim man.

Satram Das Meghwar, through Advocate Bhagwandas, filed a case in the Sindh High Court against conversion and marriage of his 16-year-old daughter Ravita Meghwar.

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Meghwar yesterday told the court that his daughter had been illegally married off to Syed Nawaz Ali Shah after having been kidnapped from her village near Nagarparkar Town on June 6. She was named Gulnaz after the conversion.

The same day she married 36-year-old Shah at the marriage registrar?s office in union council Gulzar Khalil in Samaro of Umerkot district in the province.

The bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar ordered Mirpurkhas DIG and Tharpakr SSP to produce Ravita on June 22, the day of next hearing, Dawn reported.

Meghwar said his daughter was born on July 14, 2001.

His lawyer contended that the marriage under the age of 18 was a punishable offence under the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013.

He said the registrar had mentioned Shahs year of birth (1980) and the national identity card number on the marriage certificate.

Ravitas age was shown as about 18 years, but there was no mention of her NIC number.

Similarly, the lawyer said, the certificate of conversion to Islam also did not mention her date of birth and NIC number, but her age was shown as 18 years.

"She was abducted from her house and forcibly married off to a man twice her age," said Meghwar, who had lodged an FIR against Ali Nawaz Shah, Madad Ali Shah, Umar Junejo and Sher Mohammad Junejo for kidnapping his daughter.

The FIR was registered at the Dano Dandhal police station in Nangarparkar taluka a week ago.

Earlier, Shah and Ravita had filed an application in the SHC seeking protection and accusing the girls parents of issuing death threat.

The court had fixed June 30 the date of hearing on the application.

Ravita has appealed to her parents to let her live with her husband happily as, according to her, she had taken the decision to embrace Islam to marry the person of her choice.

She requested the people of her community and members of civil society to stop raising the issue further.

"I am very satisfied and happy after marrying Nawaz Ali Shah and now I cannot [live] without my husband," she said yesterday and made it clear that she was not kidnapped. "I willingly went with Shah after falling in love with him."

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Ravita expressed the hope that the court would do justice with her and allow her to live with her husband.

Meanwhile, Ravitas mother Haqu insisted that her daughter was kidnapped by the influential Syed community, forcibly converted and then married.

Activists of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) protesting against what they called "forced conversion" of Ravita and workers of various religious parties taking to the streets in favour of her Muslim husband came face-to-face outside the press club in Umerkot yesterday, turning the situation critical.

Bhagchand Meghwar and other activists of the PPP-SB held a demonstration outside the press club, demanding immediate arrest of accused Nawaz Shah.

Activists of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat, Ghousia Jamat and Jeelani Jamat also gathered outside the club to stop what they called the propaganda with "blasphemous contents" on social media in the wake of Ravitas conversion to Islam. PTI SH ZH

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YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of Armenia to Syria Arshak Poladian met with Speaker of the Peoples Assembly of the Syrian Arab Republic Hadiyeh Abbas on June 21.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of MFA Armenia, members of Syria-Armenia parliamentary friendship group led by the Chairperson of the group Nora Arissianwere present at the meeting.

Greeting the Armenian Ambassador, Hadiyeh Abbas noted that she highly assesses the high level relations between the two states existing since the establishment of diplomatic relations a quarter century ago. She also highlighted the great contribution of the Armenian Embassy in Syria to the strengthening and deepening of bilateral cooperation.

The Syrian parliament speaker emphasized that the parliamentary format has an important role in Armenian-Syrian relations, in this context stressing the importance of partnership between the friendship groups in both parliaments.

Ambassador Poladian thanked the speaker of the Peoples Assembly of Syria and the parliamentarians for the cordial reception. He noted that Armenian-Syrian relations date centuries back and can be characterized as fraternal. The Ambassador of Armenia to Syria added that the beholden Armenian people will never forget the solicitude of the Syrian people towards Armenians during the hardest period of the Armenian history  the Armenian Genocide, as well as following that period.

Ambassador Poladian particularly noted the assistance rendered by friendly Syria to Armenia after the Spitak earthquake of 1988 and the economic and energetic crises of 1990s, adding that at this difficult period for Syria Armenia tries to extent a helping hand to the Syrian people in the limits of its capacities.

The Armenian Ambassador informed his interlocutors that the Syrian Cham Wings Airlines starts regular direct Damascus-Yerevan flights from today, which will significantly foster communication between the two states and will be an extra impetus for developing bilateral relations.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. The person who has appeared in the territory of Azerbaijan, Zaven Hovhannes Karapetyan, was previously convicted and had mental problems. Vanadzors Mayor Mamikon Aslanyan told Armenpress that the mentioned person was rather problematic with various oddities. He lived an uncertain life. He was registered at the elderly house just for receiving a passport, since he had no permanent place to live. He resided in different parts of Vanadzor in different periods, collected garbage and was homeless. He is not from Vanadzor. I dont know from which orphanage he came, but he had an uncertain lifestyle. We have had no information about him for many years, Aslanyan said.

According to him, the information he provided comes from the staff of the elderly house, who were able to recall some details. He did not even live at the elderly house. He had been previously convicted and its a long time none of the elderly house employees have seen him. When under certain circumstances he interacted with the employees, it was clear that he had mental problems, the Vanadzor Mayor said.

Earlier, defense ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan told Armenpress that its one of Azerbaijans methods of falsely depicting ordinary people, civilians, including Zaven Karapetyan, as saboteurs.

This person is a civilian; he doesnt serve in our army: even his appearance clearly shows this. We are familiar with the Azerbaijani methods of presenting ordinary people as saboteurs, Hovhannisyan had said.

In the video, the man who is identified as Zaven H. Karapetyan, is asked in Armenian about his details, whereby he mentions that he was born in the Dovegh village of Noyemberyan region in Tavush province. The man says he was born in November 16, 1974.

It is noteworthy that according to the official voters registry of Armenia, the registration address of a Zaven H. Karapetyan is noted as Vanadzor, Lori province, not Dovegh village of Noyemberyan (present day Tavush province), as said in the footage released by the Azerbaijani defense ministry.

Dovegh village head Samvel Grigoryan told Armenpress that he does not know Zaven H. Karapetyan. This person does not reside in their community and he has no information about him.
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan received Belgian senator, member of the Flemish Parliament Joris Poschet on June 21.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of Artsakh Presidents Office, a range of issues related to Belgium-Artsakh parliamentary ties were on the discussion agenda. President Sahakyan pointed to promising grounds underlying further expansion and deepening of relations between the two countries, highlighting in the context frequent visits paid to Artsakh by representatives of political, public, academic, cultural and other circles of Belgium and its administrative entities.
PALM SPRINGS, Calif.Jim French, the man who founded Colt Studios and whose work sparked a key image in Londons punk movement in the 1970s, died in his sleep at his Palm Springs home.

The 84-year-old French died Thursday, June 15, according to his partner, Jeff Turner.

French is the founder of Los Angeles-based gay studio Colt, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. French had not been involved with the company since 2003, when he sold his rights to Colt Studio Group, but his long history in the adult industry predated his time at Colt, which was founded on Dec. 5, 1967.

French was born July 14, 1932, and was known for his taste in fine arts. He attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Art from 1950 to 1954, and originally planned a career in fashion illustration. After college, he enlisted in the Army, serving for two years before being honorably discharged. French worked for a time as a freelance advertising illustrator. As a hobby in the mid-1960s, he began creating romantic homoerotic illustrations using the pen name Arion. He did one mail-order mailing of his Arion illustrations from the New York City-based Arion Studio before he set out on his next venture.

In 1966, French teamed with his Army buddy Saul Stollman to create the Luger Studio, a mail-order company also based in New York City. At that time, French used the pseudonym Kurt Luger when he created illustrations that featured more masculine subjects, including bikers, wrestlers, cowboys and the like. Legal restrictions at the time prevented him from drawing full frontal nudity, but the images were a hit among fans for their suggestiveness and erotic nature.

French eventually bought out Stollman and partnered with Lou Thomas to create Colt Studio, which also started as a mail-order company that sold Frenchs drawings and photographsnow produced under the pseudonym Rip Colt. After operating Colt from New York for 15 years, French moved himself and his studio to Los Angeles to take advantage of better weather and a wider selection of models.

In a 2016 blog post for the Huffington Post, writer Steve Drum said, Under the pseudonym Rip Colt, French created a sleek, visual language for worshipping the male body.

Today, Frenchs images have become icons of a singular moment in gay history: post-Stonewall and pre-AIDS, post-beefcake and pre-VHS.

Lets face it, one user posted on a Jake Tanner fan page. Before the advent of VCRs, we had Colt. Period.

In an announcement about Frenchs death on their blog, Colt Studio Group noted the following:

Colt Studio would eventually grow into one of the most successful gay erotic photography studios of its time. The company was famed not only for its stable of male models, but for its long-running magazine brands which included Manpower, Colt Men, Spurs, and Colt Studio Presents, as well as its calendars. Jim French continued to run the company until 2003, when former Falcon Studios director John Rutherford purchased the Colt name and rebranded the company the Colt Studio Group. For a few years after his sale of the company, French continued to privately sell salon prints of his photographs, but he has since settled into a quiet retirement. The Colt Studio Group continues to feature much of French's work on their website.

In addition to his work in the adult industry, French is also associated with the Sex Pistols and the London punk scene. One of Frenchs imagesLonghorns - Dancewas the basis for a T-shirt sold in 1975 at Sex, a Kings Road clothing boutique operated by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood.

The image showed two cowboys, naked from the waist down save for their boots, facing one another. The original illustration was published in Britain in 1973, and McLaren used an unlicensed copy of the illustration and added dialogue before printing it on T-shirts. The shirts became famous when a friend of McLarens wore the shirt in public and was arrested and charged under the Vagrancy Act of 1824 for showing an obscene print in a public place. The shirts gained even more notoriety after members of the Sex Pistols, including bassist Sid Vicious, were photographed in tattered and torn-up versions.

The arrest eventually led to a fine for the friend as well as McLaren, who reportedly continues to receive money from the shirts' sales, while French was never compensated.

French is survived by Turner and several close friends.
BARCELONA, SpainAd network ExoClick has hired digital advertising expert Kelan Stone as head of members area business.

I am super excited to join ExoClick, the company is one of the leaders in innovation in the ad tech space, Stone said. ExoClick's global marketplace and proprietary technology allows the seamless integration of membership area traffic as well as ad spot monetization for membership site publishers. I will shortly be launching this business segment, along with email marketing monetization on ExoClick's ad network, so stay tuned for details.

Stone is heading up the development of a brand new business segment related to membership site traffic and email marketing that is to be integrated into ExoClick's portfolio.

ExoClick's CEO and founder Benjamin Fonze added, We welcome Kelan onboard. He has almost a decade's experience in senior sales positions and is an expert in North American traffic. Kelan is one of the pioneers in developing proven business concepts to monetize membership site traffic. We are very excited about the potential that his skills will bring to ExoClick's ever expanding portfolio of products.

This has huge growth potential for ExoClick and many big business opportunities for ExoClicks global network of clients and partners, he added. We will be announcing full details very soon.

See an interview with Kelan on this weeks episode of ExoClick's ad tech video show The Additive here.
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.
As part of their ongoing legal battle with Johnny Depp, the stars former business managers have included emails from him in their latest court filing  which reveal, in part, that he was willing to sell off some of his belongings to help his financial situation.

According to documents filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court (and obtained by Deadline), The Mandel Group is fighting back against Depps efforts to keep his former agent and lawyer from being subpoenaed as part of the case.

Among the 109-page document are emails from TMG to various members of Depps team, including an exchange in 2009 between TMG principal Joel Mandel and Depp himself.

Since my email to you in September, I have done what 1 was told you wanted done, meaning, getting us through financially until work could start again, Mandel wrote on December 6, 2009.  Notwithstanding, I need your help in a variety of ways.

Madel went on to urge Depp to take it easy on his spending over the upcoming holidays and wanted to set up a meeting where they could look realistically at income and expenses and to work together on how to make sure that these are back in balance.

Depp responded the next day: 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 went on to say that he was about to start shooting The Tourist (which would pay him $20 million), then he had the next Pirates movies ($35 million), followed by Dark Shadows ($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, he wrote.

Depp then suggested he could sell various belongings if Mandel thought it would help. what else can i do??? Depp wrote. you want me to sell same art??? i will. you want me to sell something else???

Depp went on to offer to sell bikes, cars, property, books and paintings.

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Depps attorney, Adam Waldman, issued a statement to PEOPLE about the emails.

This is a fraud and gross malfeasance case where a whistleblower from the Mandels own firm described under oath illegal acts she was ordered by Joel Mandel to commit relating to Mr. Depps account, the statement read. The Mandels present emails from a trio of advisors to whom the Mandels paid over $100 million of Mr. Depps earnings without any contracts (in addition to the tens of millions they paid themselves).

How exactly do these advisor emails defend or excuse Joel Mandel from allegations of bad fakes of Mr Depps signature on bank loans, handing out millions of dollars in sham loans, ordering his subordinates to alter financial statements and falsely notarize documents, failure to file taxes on time for 16 straight years costing Mr Depp over $8 million in penalties, sneaking rights for themselves and others to Mr Depps movie residuals into hard money loan agreements and the litany of additional, specific allegations? it concludes.

RELATED: Lawsuit Claims Johnny Depp Is in Financial Crisis Due to Spending $2 Million a Month on Ultra-Extravagant Lifestyle

Depp filed a $25 million lawsuit against his ex-managers Joel and Rob Mandel at TMG in January, alleging that they swindled him out of millions through fraud, breach of contract and professional negligence. TMG fired back shortly afterwards, labeling the actor a hopeless spendthrift who squandered millions on extravagances like fine wine and art against their advice.

In their countersuit, TMG lists a number of eye-popping expenses they say cost Depp $2 million in monthly bills. The complaint alleges he paid $3.6 million a year for a 40-person staff, $30,000 a month on wine, $400,000 on a diamond cuff for his ex-wife Amber Heard and $5 million to shoot the ashes of his friend, author Hunter S. Thompson, out of a cannon in Aspen.

They also claim the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales star spent over $75 million on property (including a chain of islands in the Bahamas and a French chateau), $18 million to acquire and maintain a luxury yacht and tens of millions on an art collection, including works by Warhol, Klimt, Basquiat, and Modigliani.

Depps lawyers have argued that what some have labeled as mindless spending have actually been shrewd investments.

For example, the island in the Bahamas that he bought for $5.3 million is now worth many times that, Depps attorney, Adam Waldman, previously told PEOPLE. Similarly, the chateau in France that he bought for single-digit millions is now on the market for $30 million, the Basquiat paintings that he bought for a few million were sold for $14 million, and on and on it goes.
With just days to go before a potential strike, employees at the LCBO are blasting the province for alleged mistreatment and accusing Premier Kathleen Wynne's government of hypocrisy over its proposed changes to labour laws.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) recently launched a new campaign and website to highlight what it calls "the ugly truth" about working at the LCBO  including a high percentage of part-time staff, long work weeks and a lack of benefits and job security.

"There was a time where having a government job was a good thing; now having a government job feels like a bad joke," said Cambridge LCBO employee Chris Whittaker in a video posted to the website dubbed "LiqiLeaks."

"Many folks like myself are working seven days a week, four-hour shifts maximum a day. Some of them are [working] upwards of 50, 60 days continuously," he said.

Most of the short videos end with the employees making an appeal to either LCBO president and CEO George Soleas or Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.

"It's a weird feeling," said Craig Hadley, who works at the LCBO's head office in Toronto. "On one hand the premier's talking out of her mouth saying we want to be a leader in Ontario and meanwhile at her shop it's the complete opposite.".

Province examining changes

In February, CBC Toronto first reported the province would consider sweeping changes to the laws governing work in Ontario.

While the Ministry of Labour told CBC Toronto it could not comment on the ongoing negotiations between the LCBO and OPSEU, the ministry pointed to its recent steps to improve workplace conditions thorough its Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act.

The act is a response to a previous report that recommended 173 changes to workplace laws.

The special advisers hired to carry out that study recommend that Ontario initiate an "urgent study" with the goal of providing improved health benefits to part-time and full-time employees.

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Bonnie Bromilow, an LCBO employee in Timmins, pointed to that issue in her video testimony.

"I should not have to wait five years to get benefits," she said.

The report also called for expansions to personal and emergency leave entitlements, including increased leave to care for family members with medical issues, which the province included in its proposed legislation.

However, LCBO employees fear the proposed changes may not be extended to Crown employees, who can be exempt from Ontario's employment standards laws. Labour experts say that would be a mistake, and might reveal a double standard.

"It really should be a no-brainer," said Deena Ladd of the Worker's Action Centre. "They should ensure that whatever they're trying to do with Bill 148 absolutely extends to the LCBO workers."

LCBO offers 'good jobs'

The LCBO also told CBC Toronto it could not discuss the claims made as part of the "LiqiLeaks" campaign, but its president and CEO George Soleas provided an update on negotiations last Friday.

In his video statement, Soleas says the LCBO has made progress at the bargaining table and pointed to the quality employment offered by the organization.

"We're proud of the good jobs we offer at the LCBO and remain committed to reaching a deal that is fair to our employees, our customers and the taxpayers of Ontario," he said.

The union can initiate a strike at 12:01 a.m. on June 26.
E-Textbooks

Fixing the Textbook Model

Indiana University's Brad Wheeler explains how his institution is ditching the college textbook and replacing it with digital alternatives that are accessible to students from day one.

The idea that students could still be over-paying for course materials all over the country really burns Brad Wheeler, the vice president for IT and CIO of Indiana University. A big part of the problem, he believes, is that it's taken a long time for textbook publishers to own up to the "fundamental flaw" of their industry: "They are obsessed with counting their gross margins on the things they actually do sell." And, he added, they ignore the enormous amounts they lose through the other 75 percent of the market made up of used and rented books and other kinds of substitutes. Because of those blinders, the publishers have "long pursued a model that has been failing, year over year."

Wheeler has arguably been one of the loudest voices telling textbook companies to change their ways. In 2009, his university began piloting an e-textbook program that eventually pollinated to numerous institutions and started a movement that led to the founding of an organization dedicated to helping schools reclaim ownership of their decisions and data.

Here's the idea that kicked off the pilot: to negotiate with willing publishers to lower the pricing of their textbooks in return for getting the near-guarantee that every student in a course section would pay for it all upfront as a course fee and receive it in digital form. That included the ancillary content ("digital thingies" in Wheeler's parlance) such as labs, flash cards and other digitized resources, which the university would take over and distribute  reducing support hassles.

The approach, now followed by Indiana U and a bunch of other schools, "structurally fixes the marketplace," according to Wheeler, "so the content creators and publishers and editors who add value can get reasonably paid for their use of their content. And content consumers can buy content at reasonable prices, not the ridiculousness that we've seen with the spiraling costs of textbooks."

Wheeler hates the name "e-text," suggesting that it was foisted on higher ed by the publishers. His preferred moniker: "Day One Access." That name derives from the idea that from the very first day of a new class the student has all the materials he or she needs. "I like that label because it speaks to one of the real values educationally of the program," he explained.

However, he's quick to emphasize that the decision about going digital is still up to the faculty member. "What we've said to them is, 'We're putting this in place as an additional path. If you like what you're doing, then keep doing what you're doing. But if this looks like it's a good value to your students pedagogically [and] helpful to your course, then you should opt in.'"

Beginning of the End

Starting in the mid-1990s, the price of educational books rose faster than just about any other measure, including healthcare. Something had to give. Wheeler has seen a "constellation of things" forming to bring about change. First, the e-reader software has matured, he said. "It works on your phone, your tablet, your laptop."

Second, students are "increasingly digital." They're "comfortable with interacting with digital information [and] electronically marking it up." After all, he noted, "some of them went through high school with digital books and materials."

Third, familiarity is growing among faculty too. "They see e-texts not just as a substitute for paper, but as a teaching and pedagogical tool. They can go in and annotate that paragraph in the textbook and point to classroom materials or go online and correct something," Wheeler explained. Suddenly, everyone's book can be updated so the instructor's e-mail "doesn't blow up when students are trying to do the problem that has an error in it."
By Press Trust of India: By Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad, Jun 21 (PTI) Crew of a Pakistani TV channel earned the wrath of students of an Islamic seminary for drinking water during the fasting period in Ramazan - the Muslim holy month of fasting.

The incident occurred yesterday in the heart of capital Islamabad, where a team from Din News was beaten up by students of Madrasa Haqqania, Dawn reported.

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The madrasa management claims the journalists were drinking water during the day and that they were initially asked to stop and beaten when they continued to drink water.

A reporter of the channel, Ali Usman, told the paper that he and five other team members were assigned to interview lawyer Salman Akram Raja who is representing Nawaz Sharif?s son Hussain Nawaz in the Panamagate corruption scandal.

He said one of the cameramen, Rashid Azeem, went into the madrasa which is close to Raja?s place and poured water over his head to cool off.

Some students asked him why he was drinking water and left when they were told Azeem was pouring the water on his head.

According to Usman, they saw that the madrasa management was stealing electricity and one of the cameramen started recording.

He said it instigated the students who started beating Azeem, breaking two of his teeth and snatching his camera.

The team continued filming on another camera while students threw stones at the DSNG and took away cash and valuables from the team, he said.

A source in the madrasa said the team members were drinking water in the madrasa when they were allowed to come in as they said they wanted to offer prayers.

He said the newsmen started filming later, saying the management was stealing electricity, which was not true. The newsmen were told to stop and leave repeatedly and that students beat them up when they started misbehaving, he added.

An FIR has been registered against the madrasa management with the Margalla police. PTI SH ZH

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New York, June 20, 2017Moroccan authorities should cease harassing Hamid al-Mahdaoui, the editor of the news website Badil, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Moroccan Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit has filed a criminal defamation complaint against al-Mahdaoui, and the editor says he was questioned for six hours last week regarding a video the website published.

Laftits lawyer, Mohamed Karrout, yesterday told reporters that the minister filed the complaint in response to a May 22 article alleging corruption, published while the minister was visiting northern Moroccos Rif region, the epicenter of protests since fishmonger Mohsen Fikri was crushed to death in a garbage truck trying to recover fish the police had confiscated from him in October 2016.

On June 14, police delivered a summons to al-Mahdaouis home calling him for questioning, without indicating the subject of the interrogation, he wrote on Facebook. Two days later, the editor was questioned for six hours about videos he released after anti-corruption activist Nasser al-Zafzefi interrupted a Friday sermon in a mosque in the northern city of al-Hoceima, al-Mahdaoui said in a video statement. In the videos, al-Mahdaoui criticized the preacher for referring to the protests as sedition and criticized Moroccan officials for the crackdown against the protests.

Defamation should never be a criminal matter, and no one should be interrogated for six hours for expressing an opinion, CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour said from Geneva, Switzerland. We call on Moroccan authorities to cease harassing Hamid al-Mahdaoui, and to ensure he is able to do his job without interference.

Al-Mahdaoui says he has faced escalating difficulties for his coverage of the protests. On May 23, he said in a video published to YouTube that unknown individuals tried to hack Badils database. In a June 4 video, the editor said people had threatened to kill him for the websites coverage of protests in the Rif region.

In August 2015, a court fined the journalist and ordered the website to cease publishing for three months after al-Mahdaoui was convicted of criminal defamation, CPJ reported at the time.

EDITORS NOTE: This text has been updated to correct that Mohamed Karrout is Moroccan Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftits lawyer.
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Nairobi, June 21, 2017Ugandan authorities should cease investigation and intimidation of privately-owned daily newspaper Red Pepper editor Ben Byarabaha and four other publications, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On June 15, Ugandas Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) summoned Byarabaha in relation to an article in Red Pepper on the health of Ugandas Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura, according to documents seen by CPJ. Authorities alleged that the article was intended to disturb the peace, quiet, and privacy of Kayihura.

Summoning editor Ben Byarabaha to endure hours of interrogation has a chilling effect on the Ugandan press, CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal said from New York. Ugandan journalists should be permitted to report freely on government officers whose well-being is a matter of public interest.

Byarabaha told CPJ that he was interrogated for five hours by the Media Crimes Unit when he appeared at the CID headquarters in Kampala yesterday. He has been ordered to appear again on June 27 to answer to allegations of offensive communication. Byarabaha said that the police had further questioned him on his sources for the story but he did not reveal them.

CID spokesperson Vincent Ssekate said five publications are under investigation for similar allegations, according to a report. Ssekate did not respond to CPJs phone calls for comment. Emmanuel Mbonimpa, the assistant commissioner of Ugandas Media Crimes Unit, did not name the four other media outlets, telling the CPJ that information was confidential.

Section 25 of Ugandas Computer Misuse Act defines offensive communication as the use of electronic communication to disturb the peace, quiet or right of privacy of any person. By writing about Kayihuras health, Mbonimpa told CPJ, Red Pepper had offended and infringed on his privacy, regardless of Kayihuras role as a public servant.

Haruna Kanaabi, executive secretary of the Independent Media Council, told CPJ that the investigations may push Ugandan journalists to live in fear that, if you write about public officials, you will be charged.

This is not the first time the government has used allegations of offensive communication to silence critical voices. In April, a university lecturer was arrested after criticizing Ugandan First Lady Janet Museveni on social media.
By Press Trust of India: Islamabad, Jun 21 (PTI) Someone is operating a fake Facebook page in the name of Pakistans Supreme Court, it emerged today.

Following reports of a Facebook page being run in the name of Supreme Court of Pakistan, the apex court clarified it does not operate or have any social media accounts.

"The Supreme Court of Pakistan is neither using any Facebook account or page nor any other ID on any other social networking sites," it said in a statement.

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The top court also directed the authorities concerned, including the Federal Investigation Agency and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, to block such IDs, pages and take legal action against the delinquents in accordance with law, The Express Tribune reported.

The news about a fake Facebook page of the Supreme Court has emerged as the government launched a crackdown against social media users maligning Islam and state institutions.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said last month that the government would not impose restrictions on social media, but at the same time made it clear that unbridled freedom could not be allowed. PTI AKJ AKJ

--- ENDS ---
American Airlines (AAL) has canceled more than 40 flights out of Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) in Phoenix on Tuesday because of the extreme heat.

The canceled itinerary is impacting flights scheduled to arrive at or depart from PHX June 19-21, between 3 pm and 6 pm.

Seven flights were canceled Monday, with seven flights more flights delayed Tuesday, as temperatures reached 120 degrees in Phoenix. Customers affected by cancellations can rebook free of charge, or cancel their trip for a full refund.

The high temperatures during this specific time period may impact flight operations, specifically regional flights that operate on smaller aircraft, American Airlines said in a statement to Yahoo Finance.

Weather forecasters predict that temperatures will reach 120 degrees on Tuesday, which has caused the National Weather Service (NWS) to issue an excessive heat warning in Central Arizona. The NWS predicts that temperatures will reach 116 degrees on Wednesday. American Airlines does not anticipate further disruption, but will reevaluate in the morning.

An American Eagle jet is seen through heat ripples as it lands at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix.

While airplanes are equipped to operate in different environmental scenarios, not all aircraft are created equal. For instance, the Bombardier CRJ regional aircraft has a maximum operating temperature of 118 degrees. American Eagle (a regional brand of American Airlines) which is operated by Mesa and SkyWest, uses this aircraft to and from PHX.

For comparison, the Airbus aircraft used by American Airlines have a maximum operating temperature of 127 degrees, and Boeing aircraft max out at 126 degrees.

The real issue is that extreme heat can affect a planes mechanical abilities during takeoff and landing. As temperatures rise, the air becomes less dense, and thinner air means that more speed is needed for a plane to take off. PHX confirms it is able to accommodate aircraft needs, even in extreme weather. Planes need more runway in these conditions, said Heather Lissner, a spokeswoman for PHX. Sky Harbors runways are able to accommodate planes taking off in hot weather.

Story continues

According to Lissner, Sky Harbor airport is equipped to handle these obstacles after Phoenix set an all-time record of 122 degrees on June 26, 1990. Flights had to be canceled back then because airline performance charts were not available. Pilots use these charts to predict takeoff, climb, cruise and landing capabilities of a plane. Today, many airlines have performance charts with data for up to around 122 degrees.

To avoid the heat, many destinations that experience extremely high temperatures, like in the Middle East and Central America, schedule flights to take off during the late evening when temperatures are cooler.

In 2013, US Airways canceled 18 flights to and from PHX after temperatures reached 119 degrees.

Brittany is a reporter at Yahoo Finance.

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This startup will help you get paid if your flight is delayed

American Airlines introduces Basic Economy class. Is it worth it?
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.




U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee on the U.S. government response to the Ebola outbreak in Washington November 12, 2014. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a written statement that the Russian government, and by extension, its president Vladimir Putin, had "orchestrated cyberattacks" on the US "for the purpose of influencing our election  plain and simple."

The statement, delivered amid a bicameral congressional probe of Russia's meddling in the 2016 US election, preceded Johnson's scheduled Wednesday testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It was the latest affirmation by a former top US official about Russia's US-election interference.

Johnson says that he became aware of the Democratic National Committee hacks in 2016, and began a probe to see whether the DNC needed assistance. The answer he received; however, was "not reassuring."

"The FBI and the DNC had been in contact with each other months before about the intrusion, and the DNC did not feel it needed DHSs assistance at that time," wrote Johnson. "As summer 2016 progressed, my concerns about the possibility of a cyberattack around our national election grew."

Johnson floated the idea of including "election infrastructure" into the US's 16 "critical infrastructures"  governmental sectors; such as financial services, dams, transportation, government facilities, that are vital to the country. By adding election infrastructure into the list, it meant the DHS would prioritize requests from election officials, including cybersecurity protections.

Commuters arrive at Grand Central Station on a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Metro North Railroad from Chappaqua, New York February 5, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Segar

During an August conference call with election officials from every state, Johnson reiterated that "we must ensure the security and resilience of election infrastructure," and offered his agency's assistance.

"To my disappointment, the reaction to a critical infrastructure designation, at least from those who spoke up, ranged from neutral to negative," Johnson wrote. "Those who expressed negative views stated that running elections in this country was the sovereign and exclusive responsibility of the states, and they did not want federal intrusion, a federal takeover, or federal regulation of that process."

Story continues

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.

Johnson and his team called this a "profound misunderstanding" and ended up dropping their efforts to establish a designation because they thought it would have been "counterproductive" during the election season.

"Instead, and more importantly in the time left before the election, we encouraged the states to seek our cybersecurity help," Johnson continued. "Prior to the election, encouraging the horses to come to the water had to be the primary objective."

Following the 2016 US presidential election, Johnson reported that his team's efforts were unsuccessful: "... My staff reported to me that state officials said views of the designation had not changed, and continued to be neutral to negative."

Obama Clinton DNC

In August and September, Johnson and other security officials, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, became "increasingly convinced" that Russia had perpetrated the election process by hacking the DNC and other political figures.

By Election Day, states had reportedly corralled around the DHS for cybersecurity assistance. Johnson's agency had also implemented a "crisis-response team" in order to "rapidly address any reported cyber intrusions."

"Cyberattacks of all manner and from multiple sources are going to get worse before they get better," wrote Johnson.

"With the experience fresh in our minds and clear in our rear-view mirror, we must resolve to further strengthen our cybersecurity generally, and the cybersecurity around our political/election process specifically."

In the early months of President Donald Trump's term, the congressional probe has gone through a circuitous process that has seen the recusal of several top US officials, including the House's Intelligence Committee chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes of California and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Despite a wide range of US officials who agree that Russia had meddled with the election, Trump continues to throw cold water on the claim: "Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News," Trump tweeted in May.

As recently as Tuesday, it remained unknown whether or not Trump believed Russia interfered in the US election.

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marco rubio ivanka trump

Sen. Marco Rubio jokingly tweeted Tuesday that he was "investigating" a photo of a "failed hug" between him and Ivanka Trump that caught some attention on social media.

The photo was originally tweeted Associated Press congressional reporter Erica Werner on Tuesday.

Ivanka, who is an adviser to President Donald Trump, was at the Capitol to discuss pro-family tax reform policies with a group of lawmakers, including Rubio.

Twitter users quickly began mocking images of Rubio's and Ivanka's encounter.

Rubio appeared to poke fun at himself, saying he was actively "investigating" the hug.



Just left Intel comm & informed meeting 2day with @IvankaTrump blowing up twitter over alleged failed hug! Investigating. Will respond soon

 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

Rubio said his team believed they had "unclassified photographic evidence" of the incident.



We believe we have our own unclassified photographic evidence that will shed greater details on this incident.

 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

He jokingly tweeted that he would also be looking into video footage and was seeking anyone who might have had video footage of the encounter.



We are also attempting to acquire multi-angle video which we believe will provide greater insight into this important matter.

 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017



If you were filming at the Senate carriage entrance today between 11:20-11:25 am we are seeking your assistance with an active investigation

 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

Rubio tweeted another angle of the hug and jokingly added "faces blurred for security purposes."



New photo emerges providing more insight into alleged failed hug. (Faces blurred for security purposes) pic.twitter.com/GzSLe3JD3I

 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

He finished his tweets by saying the pair hadn't actually been attempting a hug when the photo was taken.



Based on review of evidence & my own recollection, have concluded no hug was even attempted & press covfefe of alleged failed hug is false

 Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

Ivanka later weighed in.



Anonymous sources say @marcorubio planned the alleged failed hug. I have no comment (but I would have hugged him anyway! ) https://t.co/TChrqWsL4D

 Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2017

Story continues

Related:

Watch news, TV and more Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.



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By Press Trust of India: By Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad, Jun 21 (PTI) An Iranian drone allegedly on a spying mission was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force fighter jet in restive Balochistan province.

Pakistan Air Forces indigenously built JF-17 Thunder fighter was used to destroy the Iranian drone in Balochistans Panjgur area, officials said.

It was not clear when the drone was shot down but officials confirmed the debris was found on Monday.

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Pakistan has a long border with Iran, which in recent months, has expressed concern over militants operating along the Pakistani border. PTI SH NSA

--- ENDS ---
Gary Leo Rehm Jr.

One of the 7 sailors who died aboard the USS Fitzgerald saved more than a dozen of his fellow shipmates before he ultimately lost his own life, The Daily Beast reported.

The USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippine-flagged merchant vessel about 56 miles off the coast of Japan on Saturday.

Seven sailors were later found dead in flooded compartments on the ship.

When the Fitzgerald collided with the merchant ship, 37-year-old Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., "leapt into action," according to The Daily Beast.

The Fitzgerald was struck below the waterline, and Rehm Jr.'s family was told by the Navy that he went under and saved at least 20 sailors, according to WBNS-10TV in Columbus, Ohio.

But when he went back down to get the other six sailors, the ship began to take on too much water, and the hatch was closed, WBNS-10TV said.

Watch news, TV and more Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.

"That was Gary to a T, Rehm Jr.'s friend Christopher Garguilo, told NBC4i in Columbus, Ohio. He never thought about himself.

"He called [the sailors on the ship] his kids," his uncle, Stanley Rehm Jr., told The Daily Beast. He said, If my kids die, Im going to die.

Rehm Jr. was known to invite "his kids" over to his house in Virginia when their ship was docked in the US, his uncle said. He was always ready to help anybody who needed it. He was just that kind of guy.

uss fitzgerald us navy destroyer

Gary was one of those guys that always had a smile on his face, Daniel Kahle, who had served with Rehm Jr. on the USS Ponce, told The Chronicle-Telegram. (Gary was) such a great guy and (its) such a great loss. He needs to be remembered for the person we all knew him to be.

Story continues

Rehm Jr.'s uncle told The Daily Beast that he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather by joining the Navy straight out of high school.

Rehm Jr. was considering retiring soon but also hoped to make captain one day, his uncle told The Daily Beast.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald, damaged by colliding with a Philippine-flagged merchant vessel, is seen at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo June 18, 2017. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

The Fitzgerald is named after another sailor, Navy Lt. William Fitzgerald, who, like his father, also joined the Navy right out of high school.

In August 1967, he was advising South Vietnamese forces at a compound near the Tra Khuc River delta when they came under heavy Vietcong fire.

Fitzgerald ordered the South Vietnamese forces and civilians to escape into the river on small boats, but he was killed while covering their escape with small-arms fire.

Rehm Jr. was raised in Elyria, Ohio, and is survived by his wife, Erin.

Read the full piece at The Daily Beast.

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A tweet from President Donald Trump on Tuesday hinted at a change in direction on North Korea policy.

"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!"

The president made the comments a day after an American student, Otto Warmbier, died in the US after being released from North Korean custody.

The specific policy implications of Trump's tweet were lost on senior administration officials who told CNN not to read too much into it, and that they did not know what he meant by it.

But the news comes as military commanders have alerted Trump that spy satellites have spotted activity around North Korea's nuclear test site, according to CNN's Barbara Starr.

Previously, Trump told CBS he would "not be happy" if North Korea tested a nuclear device, though he did not specify whether he would take action in response.

Trump has repeatedly suggested his relationship with China and its president, Xi Jinping, is a tool to rein in North Korea, but he has also made clear the US would seek to unilaterally deal with North Korea should Beijing's efforts fall short.

"If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will," Trump told the Financial Times in April. "That is all I am telling you."

China has taken some measures to curb trade with North Korea by rejecting coal shipments, but it remains the North's main trade partner, engaging with it on about 90% of its outside trade. China alone could bring the collapse of the Kim regime, but that would run contrary to its interests because it would release a flood of refugees and could bring forth a democratic, united Korea in which the US could base troops.

More than presidents before him, Trump has stressed the US would take an "all options" approach to dealing with North Korea and iterated that military action could be in store.

Story continues

Foal Eagle 2015

Although experts contacted by Business Insider said prospects for diplomatic solutions with North Korea looked dim, South Korea would resolutely oppose military engagement.

Trump has also said he would be "honored" to hold talks with Kim Jong Un, but White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that the administration was moving away from that possibility.

North Korea has multiple times floated the idea of curbing its nuclear-weapons program if the US were to scale back or stop its military exercises with South Korea. US orthodoxy on the subject maintains that the planned, regularly occurring military drills do not pose a threat to North Korea or compare with the Kim regime's regular nuclear threats, but it's possible Trump could revisit that position.

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365

Amazon said last week that it intends to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion.

Since then, executives have made numerous comments hinting at future disruption, including private label groceries and big changes to stores.

CEO John Mackey says he will start prioritizing customers over workers  a huge departure from the previous strategy.

Whole Foods could become unrecognizable under Amazon.

Ever since it emerged last week that the online behemoth intends to buy the online grocer for $13.7 billion, all signs have pointed to big changes at Whole Foods.

"I dont know if you know that they were, like, ranked the number-one most innovative company in the entire world," founder and CEO John Mackey told investors after the deal was announced. "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."

Amazon has previously unveiled a grocery store concept with no cashiers, registers, or lines  a marked difference from Whole Foods' workers-first culture.

Amazon

Mackey seemed to indicate that focusing on workers  the company famously pays well and offers benefits  was a mistake that hurt customers.

"By God, we're gonna become as customer-centric as Amazon," Mackey said. "They put the customer first in everything they do and think backwards. And  we  we're gonna be the same way."

It's estimated that Whole Foods has lost up to 14 million customers in the past two years as Kroger and Aldi offer cheaper versions of the same product.

Mackey also indicated the company would be open to selling products under different labels on Amazon.

"Over time, there could be other formats that evolve that that might wouldnt be branded Whole Foods Market, potentially, wouldnt be our standards," Mackey said.

Story continues

Whole Foods' website said it only sells products "that are free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, and hydrogenated fats."

The brand has already attempted to shed its expensive image by opening a line of cheaper 365 stores that only sell private label products.

While the potential deal has ratcheted up uncertainty for Whole Foods and its workers, it's clear that something needed to change.

"That Whole Foods can't turn around its fortunes is, in our opinion, the result of several fundamental flaws in its business model," Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail consulting firm GlobalData, wrote in a note to clients. "Over the past few years, these cracks have become more pronounced, and the company has done seemingly little to correct them."

If you're a Whole Foods worker with a story to share contact retail@businessinsider.com.

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Pakistan says it will soon begin building a fence along its volatile border with Afghanistan to improve security, a move that has sparked condemnations in Kabul.

The Pakistani Army said in a statement on June 20 that the first phase of fencing will focus on the Bajur, Mohmand, and Khyber tribal regions -- all regarded by authorities as areas prone to cross-border infiltration by various militant groups.

The statement also said that new forts and border posts will be built to improve defense and surveillance along the frontier.

A secure border "is in the common interest of both countries and a well-coordinated border-security mechanism is essential for enduring peace and stability," the statement said.

Afghan authorities, however, are opposed to the building of the fence.

The Associated Press news agency quoted Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, as saying, "Pakistan has no right to fence or construct any building along the border with Afghanistan.

Danish warned of retaliatory action, referring to previous clashes that erupted when Pakistan sought to build border fortifications.

The two countries share a 2,400-kilometer border known as the Durand Line, which Pakistan considers to be an international border but Afghanistan has never recognized.

Afghanistan and Pakistan often accuse each other of turning a blind eye to militant groups operating along their porous border.

Based on reporting by AP and Dawn.com
Dublin, June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Latin America Asphalt Paver Market (2017-2022)" report to their offering.



Latin America Asphalt Paver Market revenue is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.8% during 2017-2022

Growing road networks, expansion of highways, upcoming infrastructure projects along with rising foreign investments are some of the key factors which have fuelled growth of the asphalt paver market in Latin America. Further, government policies on infrastructural development by using Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model have resulted in wide utilization of asphalt pavers in the road construction industry across Latin America.



In 2016, tracked pavers accounted for highest volume share in almost all the countries across Latin America, with hydrostatic technology being the primary choice of contractors. During 2017-22, the market for tracked paver is further expected to grow on account of higher traction and greater stability. On the other hand, wheeled pavers are used in areas where higher mobility is the key concern of the project development.



Amongst all the countries, Mexico and Brazil captured majority of the market volume share and expected to dominate the market in the forecast period due to growing investments in roads & highways. Other countries which are expected to drive the market in the forecast period are Argentina, Colombia, Chile Peru and Panama.



The report thoroughly covers the market by types, by technologies, by paving width and by countries. The report provides an unbiased and detailed analysis of the on-going trends, opportunities/high growth areas, market drivers which would help stakeholders to device and align their market strategies according to the current and future market dynamics.



Markets Covered



The report provides the detailed analysis of the following market segments:



By Types:



- Wheeled Asphalt Pavers

- Tracked Asphalt Pavers



By Technologies:



- Hydrostatic

- Mechanical



By Paving Width:



- Less than 2.5m

- 2.5 m - 5m

- Greater than 5m



By Countries:



- Mexico

- Brazil

- Argentina

- Colombia

- Chile

- Other Latin American Countries



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Introduction



3. Latin America Asphalt Paver Market Overview



4. Latin America Asphalt Paver Market Dynamics



5. Latin America Asphalt Paver Market Trends



6. Brazil Asphalt Paver Market Overview



7. Mexico Asphalt Paver Market Overview



8. Argentina Asphalt Paver Market Overview



9. Colombia Asphalt Paver Market Overview



10. Chile Asphalt Paver Market Overview



11. Other Latin American Countries Asphalt Paver Asphalt Paver Market Overview



12. Latin America Infrastructure Sector Outlook



13. Latin America Asphalt Paver Market Opportunity Assessment, 2016



14. Latin America Asphalt Industry Overview



15. Competitive Landscape, 2016



16. Company Profiles



- Ammann Group

- Atlas Copco AB

- Bomag GmbH

- Caterpillar Incorporation

- Roadtech Inc.

- Romanelli

- Volvo Construction Equipment Corporation

- VT LeeBoy, Inc.

- Wirtgen GmbH



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/s7jw76/latin_america




VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VR Resources Ltd. (TSX.V:VRR) (FSE:5VR), the "Company", or VR, is pleased to announce that it has completed its spring surface exploration program at its wholly owned Bonita copper-gold property located in northwestern Nevada, USA, including an induced polarization (IP) ground geophysical survey over all 8 priority targets. The results are positive and the Company continues to develop plans for a first pass diamond drill program at Bonita this summer.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ad71a732-abaa-4439-a1be-d170624ddb20

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8ca1e3bc-87ae-469d-82a0-18eb8486d1d4

The Company has completed a six-week surface exploration at Bonita. Work includes:

Geological mapping : 1:5,000 scale, 4 weeks, 7 x 7 kilometre area;

: 1:5,000 scale, 4 weeks, 7 x 7 kilometre area; Rock Geochemistry : 14 samples (96 rock samples collected in 2015 & 2016);

: 14 samples (96 rock samples collected in 2015 & 2016); Soil Geochemistry : 206 samples on 5 lines (541 samples on 13 lines collected in 2015 & 2016);

: 206 samples on 5 lines (541 samples on 13 lines collected in 2015 & 2016); Geochronology : 1 sample, syenite (1 gabbro and 1 granite sample collected in December 2016;

: 1 sample, syenite (1 gabbro and 1 granite sample collected in December 2016; IP; 7 lines, 16 line-kilometres, 150 & 200 m dipole spacing, dipole-dipole array

The Bonita property is large, encompassing a district of historic copper, gold and iron workings (see satellite image at www.vrr.ca). The showings are unified by a single, district-scale hydrothermal system with a large, mappable alteration footprint covering the entire property, within which copper sulfide and gold mineralization has been sampled by VR over an area of about 4 x 5 kilometres (see copper grab samples at www.vrr.ca).

IP surveys are an important exploration tool for copper-gold porphyry systems; they map chargeable sulfide bodies and resistive alteration facies in buried porphyry copper systems. VR has identified 8 integrated and specific targets for buried porphyry copper stocks within the overall hydrothermal system at Bonita over the past 2  years of exploration, and this IP survey has confirmed and refined all eight previously established targets (see IP target map at www.vrr.ca). On the IP target map:

The red circles on the individual IP lines delineate chargeability anomalies associated with integrated magnetic low and gravity low anomalies;

The yellow circles on the individual IP lines delineate chargeability anomalies associated with high magnitude gravity high anomalies;

IP results are being used to refine and prioritize drill targets. The Company looks forward to providing further updates as plans for a summer drill program advance.

About the Bonita Property

The Bonita property is located in Humboldt County in northwestern Nevada, USA, approximately 200 km northeast of Reno, and 75 km northwest of the town of Winnemucca.

The Bonita property is large, consisting of one contiguous block of 429 claims totaling 3,586 ha (8,862 acres), covering an area of approximately 5 x 6 kilometres (see satellite-based image at www.vrr.ca ). The property was acquired by staking, and is owned 100% by VR, free and clear of any interests or royalties. There are no government-required exploration expenditures. VR has conducted successive exploration programs at Bonita over the past 2  years (see work programs summary at www.vrr.ca).



There is very good road access both to, and within, the Bonita property. Further, there is a national railroad and state power line approximately 20 kilometres to the south. Bonita is located in desert-like basin and range physiography, affording nearly year-round working conditions. Vegetation is sparse, and there are no towns or settlements near the property.

Technical information for this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101, and reviewed on behalf of the Company by Dr. Michael Gunning P.Geo., a non-independent Qualified Person.

About VR Resources

VR Resources Ltd. (VR) is a new listing in the junior exploration space (TSX.V:VRR) (Frankfurt:5VR). The diverse experience and proven track record of its Board in early-stage exploration and discovery is the foundation of VR. The Company is focused on discovering and delineating large deposits in the western United States. VR is the continuance of 4 years of active exploration in Nevada by a Vancouver-based private exploration company. VR is well financed for a two year exploration strategy already in-place, including first-pass drilling of its core asset, the Bonita Property. VR owns its exploration assets outright, and will evaluate new opportunities on an ongoing basis, whether by staking or acquisition.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Michael Gunning

________________________

Michael Gunning, PhD, PGeo

President & CEO

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions or are those which, by their nature, refer to future events. Forward looking statements in this release include but are not limited to references to a two-year exploration strategy; first-pass drilling of its core asset and the acquisition of new assets. Although the Company believes that the use of such statements is reasonable, there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. All of the Companys public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials.

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
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, HONG KONG, SINGAPORE OR THE UNITED STATES



The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway has approved a prospectus (the "Prospectus") covering the issue and listing of 58,634,735 new shares in Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA ("EMGS" or the "Company") with tradable subscription rights for existing shareholders of the Company as per the end of 19 June 2017 as registered in the VPS on 21 June 2017 (the "Rights Issue"). A link to the Prospectus can be found on the Company's homepage www.emgs.com



The subscription period commences 22 June 2017 at 09:00 CET and expires on 6 July 2017 at 12:00 CET (the "Subscription Period"). The Subscription Rights (as defined below) will be listed and tradable on Oslo Brs under the ticker "EMGS T" from 22 June 2017 at 09:00 CET until 4 July 2017 at 16:30 CET.



The gross proceeds to be raised in the Rights Issue are NOK 143,655,100 and will be used to strengthen the Company's financial position and for general corporate purposes.



The Rights Issue is fully guaranteed by certain large shareholders (the "Underwriters") of the Company. The Underwriters will receive a guarantee commission of 1.5% of their guaranteed amount, subject to the completion of the Rights Issue. For further information regarding the underwriting agreement, please refer to section 5.3 "The Underwriting and the Underwriting Syndicate" in the Prospectus.



The Rights Issue comprises an offering of 58,634,735 new shares at a subscription price of NOK 2.45. The Rights Issue will be directed towards the shareholders of the Company as of 19 June 2017, as registered in the Norwegian Central Security Depository (VPS) on 21 June 2017 ("Record Date") who are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful, or for jurisdictions, other than Norway, that require any filing, registration or similar action (the "Eligible Shareholders"). Regarding further restrictions in respect of who may be allocated or permitted to acquire or exercise Subscription Rights/subscribe for new shares, reference is made to section 5.8 "Subscription Rights" and section 17 "Selling and transfer restrictions" in the Prospectus.



Each Eligible Shareholder will be granted 1.78796 Subscription Rights for every one (1) share in the Company registered as owned as the Record Date. Information regarding the number of Subscription Rights that has been allocated to each Eligible Shareholder will be distributed in a letter. In addition, Eligible Shareholders who have access to investor services through their VPS account manager will be able to check the number of Subscription Rights allocated to them from 09:00 CET on 22 June 2017. One Subscription Right will, subject to applicable securities law, give the holder the right to subscribe for and be allocated one New Share in the Company in the Rights Issue. Oversubscription and subscription without subscription rights are allowed.



Acquired Subscription Rights will give the same right to subscribe for and be allocated new shares as Subscription Rights held by Eligible Shareholders on the basis of their registered holdings as of the Record Date.



The Subscription Rights are expected to have an economical value. Please note that Subscription Rights that are not used to subscribe for new shares before the end of the Subscription Period or sold before 16:30 CET on 4 July 2017 will lapse without compensation and consequently be of no value. Holders of Subscription Rights (whether granted or acquired) should note that subscriptions for new shares must be made in accordance with the procedures set out in the Prospectus.



DNB, Registrar's Department acts as receiving agent and Advokatfirmaet Wiersholm AS acts as legal adviser in connection with the Rights Issue.



For further information, please contact:

Hege Veiseth, CFO, +47 99 21 67 43



About EMGS

EMGS, the marine EM market leader, uses its proprietary electromagnetic (EM) technology to support oil and gas companies in their search for offshore hydrocarbons. EMGS supports each stage in the workflow, from survey design and data acquisition to processing and interpretation. The Company's services enable the integration of EM data with seismic and other geophysical and geological information to give explorationists a clearer and more complete understanding of the subsurface. This improves exploration efficiency and reduces risks and the finding costs per barrel.



EMGS operates on a worldwide basis with offices in Trondheim, Oslo, Houston, Villahermosa, Rio de Janeiro and Kuala Lumpur.



For more information, visit www.emgs.com



Important information:



The release is not for publication or distribution, in whole or in part directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore or the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia).



This release is an announcement issued pursuant to legal information obligations, and is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. It is issued for information purposes only, and does not constitute or form part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities, in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. The securities mentioned herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). The securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. The Company does not intend to register any portion of the offering of the securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the securities in the United States. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore or the United States. The issue, exercise, purchase or sale of subscription rights and the subscription or purchase of shares in the Company are subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Neither the Company nor the Receiving Agent assumes any responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions.



This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons in the United Kingdom that are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order") or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). This communication must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons distributing this communication must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so.



This announcement is an advertisement and does not constitute a prospectus for the purposes of Directive 2003/71/EC (as amended, together with any applicable implementing measures in any Member State, the "Prospectus Directive").



The distribution of this release may in certain jurisdictions be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this release comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The Receiving Agent is acting for the Company and no one else in connection with the Offering and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients or for providing advice in relation to the Offering and/or any other matter referred to in this release.



This information is subject of the disclosure requirements under section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
OTTAWA, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. (Cornerstone or the Company) (TSXV:CGP) (Frankfurt:GWN) (Berlin:GWN) (OTC:CTNXF) announces the following project update for the Cascabel copper-gold porphyry joint venture exploration project in northern Ecuador.



Figures referred to in this news release can be seen in PDF format by accessing the version of this release on the Companys website (www.cornerstoneresources.com) or by clicking on the link below:

http://www.cornerstoneresources.com/i/pdf/NR17-18Figures.pdf.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Ground magnetic survey results over Cascabel concession reveal exciting targets.



Exceptionally high-quality product produced from 650km of total field data acquired at line spacing of 50m.



The ground magnetic data have been processed using several different filtering tools to enhance gradients over a range of wavelengths / depths and improve the detection of structures (e.g., faults and fracture zones) and intrusions.



Ongoing 3D modelling of the magnetic data will enable the direct detection and delineation of magnetite distribution. Initial results are expected soon.



The planned Spartan-Orion hybrid induced polarisation survey will enable the direct detection and modelling of sulphides in 3D to in excess of 3km. This survey can be combined with existing drill-hole logs to construct improved 3D constrained geographical models.



The increased sensitivity of the Spartan-Orion hybrid survey will allow for the production of improved structural and geological rock-type and mineralization maps.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

A ground magnetic survey has been recently completed over the Cascabel concession by Quantec Geoscience. In total, 650km of total-field magnetic data were acquired at a line spacing of 50m. This has produced an exceptionally high-quality product.

The ground magnetics data has been processed by a geophysical processing group that specializes in the development of filtering tools to improve the use of potential field data, such as magnetics and gravity, in mineral exploration targeting. These filters enhance gradients over a range of wavelengths / depths and improve the detection of structures (e.g., faults and fracture zones) and intrusions.

Reduced to the pole magnetic images (Figures 1 and 2) show several magnetic bodies to coincide with known copper-gold mineralization, such as at Aguinaga, Tandayama  America, Moran, Parambas, Carmen, Alpala West and Alpala East. Structure detection filters applied to the reduced to the pole magnetic data indicates major north-westerly-, northerly- and north-easterly-trending gradients (Figure 3) that locally coincide with mineralized corridors recognized by SolGold geologists through the mapping of copper sulphide minerals, porphyry-related quartz veins and hydrothermal alteration.

The application of radial symmetry filters indicates the location of magnetic bodies at varying levels beneath surface, which have the potential to coincide with magnetite-bearing intrusions and zones of hydrothermal alteration associated with high-grade copper-gold mineralization. Figure 4 illustrates the distribution of magnetic bodies over multiple levels. Several of these bodies show a connection from near-surface to depths that exceed 750m, which is the approximate level that coincides with high-grade copper-gold mineralization associated with magnetite-rich quartz veins and hydrothermal alteration at Alpala. Target areas characterized by magnetic bodies at multiple levels include Aguinaga, Tandayama, Chinambicito and Carmen. Additional vertically-connected magnetic bodies occur:

(i) to the east of America;

(ii) northwest of Carmen;

(iii) southeast of Cristal; and

(iv) in the western and southwestern-portions of the concession.

These areas represent targets for exploration.

A major zone of magnetite-destruction occurs over much of the Alpala porphyry cluster (Figure 5). This zone of magnetite-destruction is related to intense hydrothermal (phyllic and advanced argillic) alteration that has converted the magnetite to pyrite and chalcopyrite from surface to depths of more than 750m, as determined from drilling. Below this depth, high-grade copper and gold mineralization occurs with magnetite-rich, hydrothermally altered intrusions that form the core of the Alpala deposit. The surface projection of the copper equivalent models for 0.7 % and 1.0 % coincide with the zone of magnetite-destruction, which suggests that similar high-grade mineralization may exist along strike in areas where magnetite-destructive alteration occurs. The significant amounts of chalcopyrite reported from quartz veins in CSD-17-024 at Alpala Southeast (see news release dated June 13, 2017) indicates that copper mineralization is related to the eastern margin of the zone of magnetite-destruction (Figure 5).

The newly acquired ground magnetic data may enable the direct detection of secondary magnetite associated with porphyry mineralization, while at the same time greatly aiding in the delineation of existing porphyry resources through detailed 3D inversion modelling. This modelling has commenced with initial products expected to be received by the end of June. Furthermore, this survey can be combined with existing drill-hole logs to construct improved 3D constrained models.

The planned Spartan-Orion hybrid, distributed IP/3DMT survey, which is scheduled to commence in early July and extend over a similar area as the ground magnetic survey, will enable detection and modelling of sulphides in 3D. Hydrothermal alteration will also be detected and modelled in 3D by Spartan EM to depths in excess of 3km. In combination with the ground magnetic data, this survey will allow the delineation and modelling of secondary magnetite associated with altered intrusions in the porphyry systems and assist exploration in the concession area.

About Cascabel:

Exploraciones Novomining S.A. (ENSA), an Ecuadorean company owned by SolGold Plc and Cornerstone, holds 100% of the Cascabel concession. Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including SolGolds fully funding the project through to feasibility, SolGold Plc will own 85% of the equity of ENSA and Cornerstone will own the remaining 15% of ENSA. SolGold Plc is funding 100% of the exploration at Cascabel and is the operator of the project.

Cascabel is in northwestern Ecuador in an under-explored northern section of the Andean Copper Belt, 60 km northeast of the undeveloped inferred resource of 982 million tons at 0.89% Cu Llurimaga (formerly Junin) copper project (0.4% Cu cut-off grade; Micon International Co. Ltd. Technical Report for Ascendant Exploration SA, August 20, 2004, pages 28 & 29). Mineralization identified at the Llurimaga copper project is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Cascabel Property.

Qualified Person:

Yvan Crepeau, MBA, P.Geo., Cornerstones Vice President, Exploration and a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for supervising the exploration program at the Cascabel project for Cornerstone and has reviewed and approved the information contained in this news release.

About Cornerstone:

Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. is a well-funded mineral exploration company with a diversified portfolio of projects in Ecuador and Chile, and a proven ability to identify, acquire and advance properties of merit. The companys business model is based on generating exploration projects whose subsequent development is funded primarily through partnerships.

Further information is available on Cornerstones website: www.cornerstoneresources.com and on Twitter. For investor, corporate or media inquiries, please contact:

Investor Relations:

Mario Drolet; Email: Mario@mi3.ca; Tel. (514) 904-1333

Due to anti-spam laws, many shareholders and others who were previously signed up to receive email updates and who are no longer receiving them may need to re-subscribe at http://www.cornerstoneresources.com/s/InformationRequest.asp

Cautionary Notice:

This news release may contain Forward-Looking Statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of Cornerstones plans, objectives, strategies, intentions and expectations. The words potential, anticipate, forecast, believe, estimate, expect, may, project, plan, and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes that its expectations reflected in these Forward-Looking Statements are reasonable, such statements may involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed in our regulatory filings, viewed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets, predicting natural geological phenomena and from numerous other matters of national, regional, and global scale, including those of an environmental, climatic, natural, political, economic, business, competitive, or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes the facts and information contained in this news release to be as correct and current as possible, Cornerstone does not warrant or make any representation as to the accuracy, validity or completeness of any facts or information contained herein and these statements should not be relied upon as representing its views after the date of this news release. While Cornerstone anticipates that subsequent events may cause its views to change, it expressly disclaims any obligation to update the Forward-Looking Statements contained herein except where outcomes have varied materially from the original statements.

On Behalf of the Board,

Brooke Macdonald

President and CEO

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
imposing stricter limits on medical services and requiring doctors to see more patients, and spend

Error Analysis:



POE:

Choice A:

Incorrect

Choice B:

Incorrect.

Choice C:

Incorrect.

Choice D:

Correct.

Choice E:

Incorrect.

pavanpuneet wrote:

"So, let's start with: what are they modifiying? Nouns or clauses? Something, someone, or some clause is "imposing limits" and "requiring doctors" - what is it? It's the "insurance plans." That's a noun, so we want a noun modifier setup. Those -ing words that introduce modifying phrases or clauses indicate adverbial modifiers, not noun modifiers. Eliminate A. Scan the answer. Eliminate B for repeating the error. "



Can some throw some light on the following concept?



-ing form goes gor adverbial clauses and not noun modifiers... I am confused at this statement, for example, working hard all the times, Joe achieved his goal, ....work ing ...modifies noun...isnt it?



can someone explain me may in lay man terms when to use ing form and when to use that form



Thanks in advance.

Hi All,Among lower- paid workers, union members are less likely than non-union members to be enrolled in lower- end insurance plansless time with each.Among lower-paid workers, union members are less likely than non-union members to be enrolled in lower-end insurance plans. Now these plans do things:a. they impose stricter limits on medical services, andb. they require doctors to see more patients.Now if the doctors are required to see more patients, then they will spend less time with each patient.1. The modifiers imposing and requiring correctly modify lower-end insurance plans, and they are parallel as well. However, spend less time fails to show that this action is the effect of doctors seeing more patients per the plans.2. The only way to show this effect is by turning verb spend into verb-ing modifier spending to actually show the outcome.3. This change alone however will not solve the problem because when we have comma + verb-ing modifier, it modifies the preceding clause. With the original sentence structure, the only clause we have is union members are less likely. This is certainly the wrong modification.4. Hence we need to change verb-ing modifiers imposing and requiring to that clauses so that maintain the parallelism as well as spending can correctly modify the that clause that talks about the doctors required to see more patients.imposing stricter limits on medical services and requiring doctors to see more patients, and spend:for the reasons stated above.imposing stricter limits on medical services, requiring doctors to see more patients, and spending:Turning verb spend into verb-ing modifier spending now makes it parallel with imposing and requiring. The sentence now means that the new plans will spend less time with each patient. This is not logical.that impose stricter limits on medical services, require doctors to see more patients, and spend:This choice repeats the same error by making impose, require, and spend parallel.that impose stricter limits on medical services and require doctors to see more patients, spending:The verbs "impose and requires are parallel with the use of that clause that correctly shows what the new plans do. Verb-ing modifier spending now correctly modifies the preceding action "required to see", correctly showing the effect of the preceding action. The thing to note about the usage of comma + verb-ing modifier is that generally we say that this modifier modifies the preceding clause. But actually this modifier modifies the preceding action. This action may not necessarily be the verb of the preceding clause. It can be an action denoted by the "to verb" phrase. But because generally, a comma _ modifier appears after a clause, we say that it modifies the preceding clause.In this answer choice, "spending" actually modifies the preceding action "to see" by presenting the result of this action. If doctors are required to see more patients, they will have to spend less time with each to accommodate more patients, Also, "spending" makes sense with the doer of the action denoted by "to see" that is "doctors" as the doctors will spend less time with each patient in order to see more patients.that impose stricter limits on medical services, requiring doctors to see more patients and spending:By making requiring and spending parallel, the sentence now suggests that these two are the effects of imposing the stricter limits on medical services. This is certainly not the intended meaning of the sentence.Hi there,Use of any kind of modifier is completely governed by the context of the sentence. I personally do not like to give out rules but to make it simple for you, I can suggest that use comma + verb-ing modifiers to give additional information or show the results or effects of the preceding clause.When you need to modify a noun entity, you can either use just the verb-ing modifier or the that clause immediately after that noun entity.When you have a situation like this sentence where we have two modifiers, then use that clause to modify the noun entity and use comma + verb-ing modifier to show the effect of the preceding clause.In this sentence, we could only ascertain where to use which modifier only after we understood the meaning of the sentence. Hence, the key to determine the use of various modifiers is to first understand the logical intended meaning of the sentence and then decide which modifier to use depending upon the roles these modifiers play. So this means that you must have the knowledge of the roles played by various modifiers.Hope this helps.Thanks.Shraddha_________________
Pakistani Hindu activists in the Sindh province staged a protest this morning against the abduction and forced religious conversion of minor Hindu girls to Islam and demanded the anti-conversion bill to be brought back.

By India Today Web Desk: Pakistan, home to at least two million Hindus, is known for its extreme religious ideologies. There have been many reports about minor girls, especially from Pakistan's Sindh province that has the maximum Hindu population, being kidnapped, threatened and forcefully converted to Islam.

Pakistani Hindu activists staged a protest this morning against the rise in abduction and forced religious conversion of minor girls in the province, and slammed the Pakistan People's Party -- considered a secular voice that also stands for the poor -- asking it to bring the anti-conversion bill that was passed in the Sindh Assembly last year.

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The Times of India quoted Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council, as saying, "Sindh is known as land of peace and harmony but unfortunately, peace-loving patriotic Hindu community is being forced to migrate from its beloved Pakistan."

The Hindu activists could be seen holding a banner that has Ravita Meghwar's photo and "No to force conversion of Hindu girls; Release Ravita Meghwar" written on it.

Photo courtesy: Twitter (@zalmayzia)

WHO IS RAVITA MEGHWAR?

Ravita Meghwar, a 16-year-old girl, was abducted from the Syed community of Sindh province's Wanharo village on June 6. On June 16, Meghwar and her 'husband' Nawaz Ali Shah met journalists to inform them that both the marriage and the conversion to Islam was at her will. Saying she eloped with Shah, Meghwar demanded protection for her husband and herself.

Meghwar's family insists that she was abducted and converted to Islam by force. Ravita Meghwar's father Satram Das Meghwar accused some 'influential' members of the Syed community of giving sleeping pills to the family and abducting his daughter.

Ravita Meghwar's primary school certificate says she is just 16 years old, but the marriage certificate issued by an Islamic preacher in the Samarro town of Umerkot district says she is 18 years old, reported Tribune India. "The girl is eighteen years old, can marry the person of her choice and her Islamic name is Gulnar," said the marriage certificate.

Meghwar's father slammed the Thar police for inaction and accused them being complicit. "A Hindu girl below 18 years of age cannot be converted according to the Hindu Marriage Act," said Dr Vankwani.

ANTI-CONVERSION BILL

The anti-conversion bill was unanimously passed in the Sindh Assembly. The bill criminalised forced religious conversions and guaranteed protection of minorities in Pakistan.

As per the bill, those who attempt forced conversion could get up to seven years imprisonment and those who facilitate the conversion could get up to five years in jail. Another clause in the bill said that adults considering converting to Islam must be provided a safe house to live for 21 days, during which they can introspect and ensure they are not doing it at will.

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In December, shortly after the bill was passed, religious hardliners warned the Sindh government of agitation, describing the anti-conversion bill as an "anti-Islam bill". A multi-party conference was held and by a consensus resolution, the parties called pushed the government to repeal the bill with immediate effect.

"The bill binds youngsters in Sindh to keep their ancestral religion till the age of 18 years, which is in open defiance of Islam. It also binds newly Muslims not to disclose their Islam till 21 days and to spend this period at a safe house being run by the government where they will be briefed about other religions," The Dawn quoted.

In January 2017, the Sindh governor returned the anti-conversion bill, under pressure from Islamic hardliners. A News International report said that the Sindh chief minister told the governor that the government wanted to make certain changes in the language of the bill.

--- ENDS ---
Quote:

(A) Based on records from ancient Athens, each year young Athenian women collaborated to weave a new woolen robe that they used to dress

Quote:

(B) Based on records from ancient Athens, young Athenian women had collaborated to weave a new woolen robe with which to dress

Quote:

(C) According to records from ancient Athens, each year young Athenian women collaborated to weave a new woolen robe that they used to dress

that this robe depicted scenes

Stem: "...young Athenian women collaborated to weave a new woolen robe..."

List item #1: "...that they used to dress a statue..."

List item #2 (after "and"): "...that this robe depicted scenes of a battle..."

Quote:

(D) Records from ancient Athens indicate that each year young Athenian women collaborated to weave a new woolen robe with which they dressed

Stem: "Records from ancient Athens indicate..."

List item #1: "...that each year young women collaborated to weave a new robe..."

List item #2 (after "and"): "...that this robe depicted scenes of a battle..."

Quote:

(E) Records from ancient Athens indicate each year young Athenian women had collaborated to weave a new woolen robe for dressing

This (bleeping) question is one of my all-time favorites, just because it features a whole bunch of grammar and usage issues that are simultaneously difficult and "learnable." Sometimes, it's really tough to get better at SC questions that test meaning, so it's satisfying when we can take a hard question like this one, and break it down methodically -- without any real need to worry about the subtleties of meaning.We'll eventually have to deal with some funky parallelism stuff here (as featured in our YouTube webinar on parallelism and meaning ), but the first thing that should catch your eye is that "-ed" modifier right at the beginning of the sentence. (More on "-ed" words here .) In this case, "based on records from ancient Athens" must be followed by something that can actually be based on records from ancient Athens. So...Wait, this is literally saying that "each year young Athenian women" are based on records from ancient Athens. That makes no sense at all. A conclusion or a finding or a report could be "based on records", but the women themselves certainly can't be. (A) is out.(B) has exactly the same error as (A): the young women can't be "based on records." You can eliminate (B) based on that alone.Hopefully, the past perfect tense phrase "had collaborated" catches your eye, too. As you probably know, the action in past perfect tense has to logically precede some other "time marker" in the past -- generally, another action in simple past tense. So this particular sentence is saying that the women first "had collaborated to weave a new woolen robe"; the subsequent actions in simple past are "they used to dress a statue" and "this robe depicted scenes." I suppose that they collaborated before they used the robe to dress a statue, but I think it's awfully weird to say that they "had collaborated" first, and then the robe later "depicted scenes."You don't really need to waste your energy on the past perfect tense in (B), but for whatever it's worth, it certainly doesn't seem right.I think I can live with the use of "according to records from ancient Athens" in this case, even though I don't love it. I think that particular "-ing" phrase is modifying the entire clause that follows ("...young women collaborated to weave a new woolen robe..."), and I guess it's OK to say that this action is something we know "according to records from ancient Athens." I've never been totally convinced by it, but wouldn't immediately eliminate (A). (More on the GMAT's use of "-ing" words here .)The real issue with (C) is the parallelism. And it's tricky, so bear with me here.Whenever you're looking at parallelism, start with the parallelism "trigger" -- usually an "and" or an "or", though there are others. (The other triggers are a long story that we'll save for another day.) Then you'll always want to find the thing that follows the word "and", and then figure out what's parallel to that thing.So in this case, we have: "andof a battle between Zeus, Athena's father, and giants." Something HAS to be parallel to "that this robe depicted scenes." In (C), our only option is "that they used to dress a statue." Cool, we have structural parallelism.Trouble is, it makes no sense when you actually think about the "stem" that precedes the two parallel elements. If you want, you can think of parallelism as a list of two (or more) items, and the "stem" is the thing that precedes the first item in the list. But the stem HAS to make sense with EVERY item in the list.If we break down (C) really carefully, we have the following:The first item works just fine with the stem: "...women collaborated to weave a new woolen robe that they used to dress a statue..." No problem. But that "stem" also has to make sense with the second item. And in this case, it really doesn't work: "...women collaborated to weave a new woolen robe... that this robe depicted scenes of a battle..." Huh? That's absolute nonsense.This is what tough parallelism looks like on the GMAT. You can't "hear" the parallelism error at all -- or at least I can't. But if you break the parallelism down methodically, (C) is clearly wrong.(Does your brain hurt yet? If you prefer video, our YouTube webinar on parallelism and meaning covered this question, too.)(D) cleans up the parallelism nicely! Using the same technique as in (C), we have the following:That works! "Records indicate... that this robe depicted scenes of battle..." Great. Keep (D).In (E), we still have the same past perfect tense issue that appear in (B). Plus, the parallelism is completely wrong: the trigger "and" is still followed by "that this robe depicted scenes of battle...", but there are no phrases that could possibly be parallel, since there are no subordinate clauses beginning with "that" elsewhere in the sentence.So (E) is gone, and (D) is our winner.And if you read this far, you deserve a cookie for surviving to the end of the longest freaking QOTD explanation I've ever written._________________
Thank you Daagh for your time on GMAT Club and all your contributions! Thank you for everything you did!

Your work will remain a great tribute to you here on GMAT Club !

-bb -bb Signature Read More

One thing about the verb+ing modifiers is that, they rather describe not a single factor but the gist of several factors. Lets take this example; what factors are determining the shape of the ships? The factors are: 1. there was a gold rush in San F. Some goods were scarce; if some could give the consumers those goods, they would pay any price and the trader can make huge profits. For this the trader has to take a light ship with optimal cargo that can dart like a hare to the destination rather than crawl like a tortoise carrying a huge load. All these factors collectively determined the shape of the ships. How to express all these in one stroke? Using the ing participle is a good way of doing that. But the problem in using the present participle is that it is a timeless expression. When we say determining, we can mean determining in the past, now and even in the future. But the clippers ships are a thing of the past. We have no clippers ships presently. The ships died their natural death after the advent of steamer ships. So an expression that point out the past nature of the phenomena, will espouse the meaning better, given the context. That is the reason, I prefer B over A.C and D are dropped because of the which touch rule problem, while the demonstrative pronoun this has no appropriate antecedent in EIncidentally, I see no run - on either in A or in B, What follow the comma are modifiers in both cases, whether determining or a situation. Determining is an adverbial modifier and a situation is an appositive modifier. There are no two ICs in the sentences to render them run-on each other)_________________
Shawshank wrote:

The argument is vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it gives reason to believe that it is likely that

Shawshank wrote:

At present the Hollywood Restaurant has only standard-height tables. However, many customers come to watch the celebrities who frequent the Hollywood, and they would prefer tall tables with stools because such seating would afford a better view of the celebrities. Moreover, diners seated on stools typically do not stay as long as diners seated at standard-height tables. Therefore, if the Hollywood replaced some of its seating with high tables and stools, its profits would increase.

Conclusion

Premise

Premise

Premise

Shawshank wrote:

(A) some celebrities come to the Hollywood to be seen, and so might choose to sit at the tall tables if they were available

Shawshank wrote:

(B) the price of meals ordered by celebrities dining at the Hollywood compensates for the longer time, if any, they spend lingering over their meals

Shawshank wrote:

(C) a customer of the Hollywood who would choose to sit at a tall table would be an exception to the generalization about lingering

Shawshank wrote:

(D) a restaurant's customers who spend less time at their meals typically order less expensive meals than those who remain at their meals longer

Shawshank wrote:

(E) with enough tall tables to accommodate all the Hollywood's customers interested in such seating, there would be no view except of other tall tables

As with all arguments, I like to first start by reading the question and then breaking down the argument into conclusion and premises. First the question:Alright so I know now that I will be dealing with weaknesses in the argument. So I will keep that in mind as I break it down.: Replace seating and profits will go up: People go to restaurant to see celebs: People want tall tables and seats to see the celebs: Diners on stools don't stay as longAlright so there is the argument. Not a lot there to support the idea that profits will go up expect for the fact that there might be a faster turn over of tables. But there are a lot of assumptions here:1. tall stools and tables won't deter people from spending as much as they did with normal tables2. People actually want to see celebs and not eat food3. Celebs will continue to come even if it easier for people to see them at the taller tables...Now it is time to look at the answer choices and see what makes the argument vulnerable. We need to look for reasons for why profits might not increase.Well, this is not a problem. This is just more support for having taller tables. The celebs will come to sit at the tall tables making it easier for people to see them. This is not a criticism. Eliminate.This too focused on the celebrities. The argument and the restaurant does not base its profits on how much celebs spend. Profits are based on all the other people coming to the restaurant. This is too narrowly focused so eliminate.This gets at one of the assumptions I had. If someone sits at a tall table, will they stay longer or leave faster. Here we have a possible example, or a question, about what these customers are like. The argument assumed that people at the Hollywood would leave quickly when at a tall table, like at other restaurants. But what if having a tall table means you can see the celebs. This might be a reason to stay. And thus there would not be a fast turn over. People might stay longer because they have a good view of a celeb whereas before, without a good view, people would just eat and leave. This looks like the answer.This is also close to what I was saying in the assumptions. But the problem is that this does not necessarily weaken the argument. People who stay less time order less expensive food which might cut into the profits. But if you have more people coming in to eat, and you can sit more people during your business hours, then ordering less expensive food won't be a problem. So this might be a problem, but not necessarily. Answer choice (C) would necessarily weaken the argument and cut into profits always. So this answer is not as good as D. But is a good tempting choice.This might also be a problem, but the argument doesn't say that they are going to jam tables into the restaurant. There is no mention of adding more seating. They are merely going to replace tables that they have. So this is outside the scope of the argument and wrong.I hope that I was able to shed some light on this question._________________
The case of a 41-yer-old man identified as Adeoye Oreyomi has been reported in Ogun state after he allegedly chained his 13-year-old sons hand and leg over N2,000 theft.

Police reported that Oreyomi who lives on Dokun street, Ewuga in Sagamu, stripped his son Demola of his clothes before making use of chains to tie his hands and legs and padlocked the chain.

Punch reports that the Ogun state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Abimbola Oyeyemi, disclosed that their neighbours feared that the teenager might die so they decided to alert the police before the case gets out of hand.

Adeoye Oreyomi

READ ALSO: Mother slaps son who was pretending to be asleep (photo)

According to the Division's Officer Aduroja Moses, he revealed that Demola was found in his pool of blood and was rushed to Owokoniran Hospital, Sagamu before his father was arrested.

Moses said: From what the police gathered, the suspect had earlier flogged the son leading to cuts all over his body. He later chained his hands and legs, and locked both ends with padlocks.

PAY ATTENTION: Get all the gossips on NAIJ Gossip App

However, the Commissioner of Police Ahmed Iliyasu ordered that Demolas father should be charged to court immediately.

Watch Legit.ng video below:

Nawa o!

Source: Legit.ng
By Press Trust of India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today led over 50,000 yoga enthusiasts in performing asanas here amid showers on the International Day of Yoga as he underlined the importance of the ancient practice in connecting India with the world and promoting wellness.

Yoga, he stressed, has the power of health insurance at zero cost. "We can save the people from many problems if 1.25 billion countrymen achieve this through healthy body, mind and intelligence," he said.

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"The speciality of yoga is keeping the mind stable... it teaches the art of living with a healthy mind amidst the ups and downs of life," said Modi, visibly happy with the heavy turnout at the sprawling Rambai Ambedkar Maidan despite inclement weather since early morning.

Amid chants of Modi-Modi, the Prime Minister said yoga, which connects body with mind and intelligence, is today playing an important role in connecting the whole world.

"Today yoga has become a part of common mans life. There are many countries which do not know our language, traditions or culture but the entire world is getting connected with us because of yoga," said 66-year-old Modi, who was attired in a white T-shirt and loose trousers.

Recalling as to how the United Nations gave its nod for the International Day of Yoga, he said there might not be any country where yoga-related programmes are not held or attraction or awareness towards it has not grown.

Along with Modi, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and several dignitaries performed various yogic asanas.

Stressing on the relevance of yoga in employment too, the prime minister said yoga institutes have come up in large numbers in the past three years and demand for yoga teachers has also grown.

"Youth are preparing themselves in yoga institutes, accepting yoga as a profession... there is a demand for yoga teachers in all the countries... a new job market is being created through yoga in which the people of India get top priority," he pointed out.

"Unlike the earlier times when people used to practice yoga as per their own ways, there is now an effort both in the country and outside to perform yoga in a scientific manner by standardising it," he said, adding that once it was only performed by the "munis and rishis" in the caves of Himalayas.

"UNESCO has given nod to yoga as the heritage of human culture... today in many states of the country yoga has been adopted as part of their education so that future generations get apprised of this science of ours to help it become the part of their lives," he said.

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Speaking on the benefits of yoga, Modi said the importance of wellness is more than being healthy and yoga is an easy way to acquire this wellness.

"There is no question mark on yoga anywhere in the world...yoga has been evolving with time and generations and it has been developing... on this important occasion, I urge people of the world to make yoga a part of their lives... whether we become masters of yoga or not, achievers or not, but we need to become its practitioners...," Modi said.

Nearly 5,000 yoga enthusiasts from the Muslim Rashtriya Manch - the Muslim wing of RSS - participated in yoga day activities throughout the state.

"In Lucknow alone, around 2,000 office bearers and workers of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) took part in yoga day activities at Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan," Raees Khan, MRMs UP and Uttarakhand in-charge said.

More than 50 students along with four teachers of Shia PG College, Lucknow also participated in the yoga day, said Maulana Asoob Abbas, the spokesperson of the All India Shia Personal Law Board.

Apart from this, close to five dozen Muslim men and women performed various Yoga asanas in Sambhal today.

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A large number of divyaangs (physically-challenged persons) also participated the third International Day of Yoga programmes held throughout the state.

The prime minister, who is himself a yoga enthusiast, stressed that those who start practising it realise that their body parts have become supple and that they have become active.

"We do not require any special power to understand this," he stressed.

Drawing a comparison with salt to underline the importance of yoga, Modi said though salt is needed only in small quantity and is easily available, it is vital not only for taste but also for the body.

"If there is no salt in the food the whole day, it not only spoils the taste but also harms the body... it is used only in small quantity, no one can negate its importance in the bodys constitution or its requirement... we can have the same place for yoga as salt in life," he said.

Modi said there was no need to perform yoga round-the- clock as only 50 to 60 minutes are enough.

In a lighter vein, Modi said yoga enthusiasts at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan were not only spreading a message that yoga is important in life, but they were also demonstrating as to how yoga mats could be used to protect them from rain.

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"People of Lucknow have turned up despite rains... your effort is praiseworthy," he said, referring to people taking cover under yoga mats to save themselves from the downpour.

A tight security cordon was thrown around venue and all arterial roads were under strict CCTV vigil.

The day also witnessed a number of foreign nationals participating in the event despite inclement weather.

"It was a special occasion for me to perform various (yogic) postures here, and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it," said 48-year-old Mao Ki, a resident of Japan, while leaving the venue after completion of the programme.

Inmates in various jails of the state also enthusiastically participated in the yoga day under supervision of expert teachers in jail. The response was fantastic, as it induced a feeling of positivity among the inmates, UP Jail minister Jai Kumar Singh told PTI.

The Samajwadi Party celebrated the International Day of Yoga day by undertaking cycle yatras across the state.

Directives were issued to partymen by SP National President Akhilesh Yadav to take out cycle yatra at all district headquarter from 6 am and later perform yoga as per their convenience at their homes.

Though Akhilesh has been extended an invitation by the Yogi government for the event in the city, he did not turn up at the venue. When the SP was in power, it had shunned official celebrations on this day.

If the opposition decided to cycle on the day, the farmers decided to strike the corpse pose.

A group of farmers performed shavasana or the corpse pose on a national highway to symbolically protest killing of farmers in Mandsaur and "anti-farm" policies of the Modi government.

Farmers under the banner of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) performed shavasana on the Lucknow-Barabanki Highway.

BKU spokesman Alok Verma said, "Hundreds of farmers performed shavasana on Lucknow-Barabaki Highway near Safedabad between 9 am to 11 am as part of our protest today".

A similar protest was organised by farmers on the Lucknow-Sitapur Highway.

A special yoga session for farmers was organised in Pratapgarh, in which close to 70 farmers took part.

"The farmers got motivated after seeing PM Narendra Modi perforing various yoga asanas," yoga event organiser Janki Sharan Pandey said.

Rains failed to dampen the spirits of yoga enthusiasts in the state.

Giving details of the weather situation, Lucknow District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said that it rained heavily with high speed wind for about 30 minutes starting at 4.00 am. Rain continued till the end of the programme.

"Due to rain and wind, 21 participants complained of hypothermia (shivering and cold) and headache. Some of them were treated in temporary hospitals set up at the venue. All of them were later brought by ambulances to Lokbandhu Hospital.

"For primary treatment they were admitted for 2-3 hours. They were discharged after their condition became normal," the Lucknow DM said. PTI NAV SAB SMI DV

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Speaking to the media after the cabinet briefing today, Vijayan said that they had received an intelligence report stating that there was a threat to the PM.

By Rohini Swamy: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan finally spilled the beans that there was a security threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who visited Kochi to launch the Kochi Metro on June 17th.

Speaking to the media after the cabinet briefing today, Vijayan said that they had received an intelligence report stating that there was a threat to the PM.

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"The government wanted to maintain absolute secrecy on the threat and maintained high levels of security to ensure the safety of the PM. The report too was not disclosed," said Pinarayi Vijayan.

The Kerala DGP too had forewarned that there could be a security breach during the Prime Minister's visit as the intelligence agencies had information that a terror module could attack Modi.

Keeping this in mind, the state police as well as the government ensured absolute secrecy so that the inauguration event of the Kochi Metro went off peacefully and the PM and his team were well safeguarded.

ALSO READ:

PM Modi flags off Kerala's first metro in Kochi

Kochi Metro: 5 times the newly-launched metro proved it is running ahead of time

--- ENDS ---
Led by the Congress, 17 Opposition parties will meet today in Delhi to decide on the presidential election.

By India Today Web Desk: After Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Nitish Kumar decided to support Ram Nath Kovind, NDA's pick for the post of India's next president, fissures in the Opposition are now loud and clear. All eyes are on the meeting of 17 parties tomorrow which will also be a test of the unity of the Opposition.

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Led by the Congress, Opposition parties will meet today in Delhi to decide on its strategy in the presidential election and are also expected to announce a candidate.

Nitish Kumar's announcement which came just a day ahead of this meeting has not only demoralised the Opposition parties, which do not seem to have the numbers to make their candidate win the race to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, but also left them in a tight spot.

With JD-U, the vote share of NDA in the electoral college has went up to almost 63 per cent.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has indicated that they want to put up a candidate as the NDA's selection of Kovind, who comes from an RSS background, has made it a political fight for them.

WHO WILL BE THE OPPOSITION CANDIDATE?

Despite all the setbacks, it is understood that the Opposition will try to put up a brave face at tomorrow's meeting and come up with a rival candidate against Ram Nath Kovind.

Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, who is also from a Dalit background like Kovind, is said to be on the top of the list of probable candidates for the top constitutional post.

Her meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi during the day also gave rise to speculations in political circles.

Congress leader and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar met Party President Sonia Gandhi, at her residence in #Delhi. pic.twitter.com/hapZmKnbP2; ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Another Dalit face of the party is former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. But Kumar may score over him because of her Lok Sabha experience and also the fact that she is a woman. Ten years ago, Sonia Gandhi had chosen Pratibha Patel as India's first female president.

The Left parties seem to be in favour of scholar and former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi. Another nominee can be Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the Dalit icon BR Ambedkar.

WHICH SIDE IS MAYAWATI?

Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has already indicated that they will support Kovind as their party cannot be negative towards a Dalit nominee for the post of president.

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However the disclaimer was that their support to Kovind is only till the Opposition does not field any Dalit candidate for the top post.

It will be interesting to see what Mayawati does if the Congress proposes a Dalit's name like Meira Kumar or Sushil Kumar Shinde.

SAMAJWADI PARTY DIVIDED

The Samajwadi Party family seems divided with Mulayam Singh saying that he has good relations with Kovind while his son and party president Akhilesh Yadav has said that the President's post should be above caste and religion.

Akhilesh Yadav has also said his party would go with the Opposition led by Congress.

HOW MANY WILL TURN UP AT MEETING?

It is also to be seen whether all the 17 parties turn up for the meeting today.

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 has issued the notification in this regard and the process of the nomination has started that will continue till June 28.

Also read:

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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

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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.


Google has launched a new tool that lets users search for new job listings across many major career websites.

Beginning Tuesday, English-speaking job seekers in the United States will be able to use the new service. The new search tool was first announced at Googles yearly developers conference in May.

Now, when people search for jobs or jobs near me on Google, the results will include listings from a number of websites. In the past, a Google job search only brought up general results from major jobs sites. With the new results, users can connect directly to the job descriptions that interest them.

Among the major job sites cooperating with Google are LinkedIn, Monster, Careerbuilder, Facebook, ZipRecruiter and Glassdoor.

The tool allows job seekers to narrow their search by category, job title or date posted. The new search service can also let users know how long it will take to drive to the new job.

As with many career websites, people can also request that alerts or emails be sent to inform them of new jobs of interest.

Google says the new system helps job seekers by putting many different listings in one place. Users no longer have to go onto multiple websites to search.

An announcement on the companys website said the system is powered by Googles machine learning technology. This makes the results more relevant and provides suggestions to users of other possible jobs of interest, the company said. The search is also supposed to prevent duplicate or old listings from coming up.

Google plans to keep adding new job sites to the system over time. The company said it has encouraged all job providers to make openings available through the new Google career search.

The system is available for people using a desktop or mobile device.

The new service is Googles latest attempt to keep users on the search engine while they seek various products. The company already expanded its search capabilities related to travel, ordering food and connecting users to other local services.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on a report from the Associated Press and other sources. Hai Do 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

category  n. type or kind

alert  n. message of notification

relevant  adj. important, related in an appropriate way

duplicate  adj. exactly the same as something else

encourage  v. tell or advise to do something

capability  n. the ability to do something


The new president of South Korea is working to improve relations with North Korea. American experts are watching the efforts to reopen the Kaesong Industrial Complex closely.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in named Cho Myoung-gyun to lead efforts to improve relations with North Korea on June 13th. Shortly after being named to the post, Cho told reporters that operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex should be restored.

Cho played an important role in opening the economic cooperation project between the two Koreas in 2004. The jointly-operated industrial complex reportedly paid $100 million a year in wages to 54,000 North Korean workers.

South Korea closed the complex in February 2016 to punish North Korea for its nuclear testing and long-range rocket launches.

Americans not happy with reopening plan

Some American officials were not happy with Chos plans. Many experts believe reopening the complex could hurt relations between the United States and South Korea.

Sue Mi Terry is a former CIA analyst. She studies North Korea. She told VOA that any action that benefits North Korea would be in opposition to the Trump administrations goal of stopping North Koreas nuclear weapons program.

Because dont know where the money is going, it could be contributing to North Koreas WMD [weapons of mass destruction] missile program. There is no evidence that its not."

Thomas Countryman was the assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation in the Obama administration. He says reopening the complex would harm international efforts to stop the Norths nuclear weapons program.

There is simply no way that the Republic of 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.

Gary Samore works at the Belfer Center at Harvard University. He was the coordinator for arms control and WMD during the Obama administration. He says South Korea should use the possibility of reopening the complex as a negotiating tool to force North Korea to limit and then end its nuclear activities.

"Well I think it would be a big mistake to resume the Kaesong Industrial Park without getting something in return.

South Korea and U.S. not in agreement

Negotiations on ending North Koreas nuclear program have not taken place in almost ten years. The United States and South Korea have increased economic pressure on North Korea, but the North has not ended its nuclear program. However, since taking office last month, South Korean President Moon appears to be easing conditions for talks with the North.

At a recent event on relations between the two Koreas, Moon said we will open dialogue without a precondition if North Korea stops launching missiles and testing nuclear devices.

But when U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson led a U.N. Security Council special meeting in April, he rejected negotiations with North Korea. He said the North 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 include cancelling its nuclear and missile programs.

Moon Chung-in is South Koreas special presidential advisor for foreign and security affairs. He spoke in Washington recently. He said President Moon had proposed a reduction in joint U.S.  South Korea military exercises if North Korea suspends its nuclear and missile activities.

The State Department said the statement was not significant.

In an email to VOA, the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs spokeswoman Alicia Edwards said the department believes these views are the personal views of Mr. Moon Chung-in and may not reflect official (South Korean) government policy.

A senior official at the South Korean presidential office said Moon Chung-in did not communicate with the presidents office about the proposal.

Im Jonathan Evans.

VOA Korean Service Correspondent Jenny Lee reported this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted her report into Learning English. Hai Do 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

restore  v. to put or bring (something) back into existence or use

benefit  v. to be useful or helpful to (someone or something)

contribute  v. to help to cause something to happen

hard currency  n. money that comes from a country with a strong government and economy and that is not likely to lose its value

regime  n. a form of government

dialogue  n. a discussion or series of discussions that two groups or countries have in order to end a disagreement

precondition  n. something that must exist or happen before something else can exist or happen

concrete  adj. relating to or involving specific people, things or actions rather than general ideas or qualities

pose  v. to be or create (a possible threat, danger, problem, etc.)

reflect  v. to cause people to think of someone or something in a specified way
Google may have given up plans to launch Google Glass as a consumer product. But that doesnt mean the company has stopped supporting the $1500 Explorer Edition devices that it sold years ago although youd be forgiven for thinking it had.

Its been nearly 3 years since the last update for Google Glass was released. But as Android Police noticed, a new XE23 firmware update rolled out yesterday, as well as an update for the MyGlass companion app for Android.

So whats new? Aside from unspecified bug fixes and performance improvements, theres one key new feature: you can now pair Bluetooth devices such as a mouse or keyboard with Google Glass.

The mobile app can also now share your notifications to both Android Wear and Google Glass simultaneously without requiring you to shut off Android Wear synchronization when using Glass. And theres an option to disable battery optimizations.

So does this mean Google plans to continue developing software for Google Glass? Maybe? I wouldnt count on getting many additional updates for the Explorer Edition device. But Google is still working on head-up-display devices for enterprise markets, so maybe the latest software release is just a way to bring some of the newer features to folks who paid a lot of money for older devices back when it seemed like there was a future for a consumer-oriented version of Glass.
As World Music Day is approaching, taking place each year on 21 June, many are looking forward to the musical events in the streets or parks and the atmosphere it brings with it. Watching musicians perform can be impressive, even more so when they improvise. The performers produce their works in real-time and while improvising, they manage several processes simultaneously including generating melodic and rhythmic sequences, coordinating performance with other musicians in an ensemble and evaluating internal and external stimuli. All this is done with the overall goal of creating aesthetically appealing music. It keeps some of us wondering, how they do it and whether this can be learned at all.

In fact, improvisation is being taught in music education and often focuses on the development of techniques. Dr Michele Biasutti, Associate Professor at the University of Padua in Italy however examined how to go beyond these current practices in his recent paper "Pedagogical applications of cognitive research on musical improvisation". Based on a literature review, the aim was to develop a model that looks at developing processes for improvisation that enhance creativity.

"Practices such as playing by ear is underexposed in current teaching approaches, which stress notated instruction and exercises such as scales and chords. Instead, I propose an approach that is based on the development of cognitive processes that enhance creativity and the abilities of the players to reflect on their performance skills," states Biasutti.

Improvisation is a complex and multidimensional act that involves creativity and performance behaviours in real-time. It also requires processes such as sensory and perceptual encoding, motor control and performance monitoring as well as storing and recalling memory.

"A teaching approach based on the development of processes could be beneficial in music improvisation at several levels. A process-oriented teaching method can provide inputs for developing specific skills such as problem solving and critical thinking to assist the reflective practice during improvisation. The target processes were the following: anticipation, use of repertoire, emotive communication, feedback and flow," explains Biasutti.

This process approach encourages students to think about their creative processes and to self-assess their experiences, thus developing a more complete awareness about the activities performed. In the past, teaching and learning consisted of information being passed-on, memorised and repeated. Now, students have to increasingly find their own knowledge by using information in creative ways, which requires a shift in how students are taught. The paper suggests that this could be achieved by teaching improvisation abilities, whereby teachers become more of facilitators who shift the focus from the evaluation of learning outcomes to the quality of processes that lead to improvisational expertise.

Biasutti concludes "There are several educational benefits to developing improvisational skills also for other disciplines. Improvisation could be considered an adaptive behaviour to a real-time unpredicted event. The response can be shaped through creativity and the divergent skillset that improvisation fosters. Improvisation could become a teaching technique to be used in educational contexts. Promoting improvisational skills would allow the students to develop the ability to adapt to tomorrow's changing world, providing tools for lifelong learning."

More information: Michele Biasutti, Pedagogical applications of cognitive research on musical improvisation, Frontiers in Psychology (2015). Journal information: Frontiers in Psychology Michele Biasutti, Pedagogical applications of cognitive research on musical improvisation,(2015). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00614
Members of Dean Guy's lab (l-r): Jared Hammill, Yizhe Chen, Kip Guy, Gabriela Salinas, Armand Guiguemde and Hoshin Kim. Credit: University of Kentucky

New findings published in Nature Chemical Biology show promise for finding new solutions to treat lung cancer and other deadly diseases. Kentucky continues to lead the nation in incidence and death rates from lung cancer, and the University of Kentucky is committed to reducing these numbers.

According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. And of those diagnosed in the United States, lung cancer accounts for 25 percent of cancer deaths. The numbers are sobering: one out of every two patients diagnosed with lung cancer won't survive past 12 months.

In effort to combat this problem, a collaboration between scientists from University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital brings researchers one step closer to a solution.

A compound developed by Dean Kip Guy's lab of UK College of Pharmacy, with research that began at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, now provides us with a way to block cancer-causing proteins on a cellular level.

The groundwork began more than 10 years ago when Dr. Bhuvanesh Singh, a physician-scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, identified that an increase of a protein called DCN1 led to more malignant lung cancers and shorter life spans for his patients. Of the patients he studied, those with high levels of DCN1 succumbed to the disease more quickly than those with normal levels.

Frustrated by their findings, Singh's team set out to study the specifics of DCN1. While DCN1 is a normally occurring protein, his team found that too much of it leads directly to cancer formation. Simply put, a malignant tumor was formed when the amount of DCN1 in a cell was increased. Thus, patients with more DCN1 got sick more quickly and died faster than their counterparts.

Efforts in Brenda Schulman's lab at St. Jude, led by biochemist Daniel Scott, established how DCN1 interacts with other proteins and controls cellular processes. Their key discovery used X-ray crystallography to show that a small modification of the partner protein to DCN1, known as UBE2M was required for DCN1 to work. This modification, N-terminal acetylation (while common) had not previously been shown to be critical to controlling activity of this specific protein. Recognizing the potential for targeting this modification, Shulman reached out to form a collaboration between the three laboratories.

Their goal: to develop a way to stop DCN1 from killing patients.

Understanding the behavior and function of DCN1 was far more ambitious than running simple tests. It was a significant step forward in understanding how proteins within a cell work.

Building upon the science from Schulman's team, Jared Hammill from Guy's lab and Danny Scott from Schulman's lab worked to stop the interactions of DCN1 all together. If DCN1's activity depended on this interaction, then it stood to reason they could create a compound to intervene and stop the interaction from happening.

Guy describes the interaction as a "lock and key model." Scientists have a blank keywhich is UBE2Mand a lock, which is DCN1. The key wants to fit into the lock so it's modified until it fits. This modification process is N-terminal acetylation.

"What's the significance?" Guy said. "Well, we're the first people to show that protein interaction controlled by N-terminal acetylation can be blocked. We're essentially jamming the lock with a compound so the key won't fit."

The items jamming that lock are a series of small molecules created in the lab. When the molecules were tested directly in cancer cells, they worked. They effectively blocked DCN1 from binding to UB2EM. After decades of collaborative research, there was finally a barrier between lock and key.

The impact of these findings for healthcare and lung cancer patients specifically could be profound.

"We are excited about the implications of this research, which offer us a meaningful solution for addressing diseases like cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and infection," Schulman said. "It's exciting to collaborate with so many complementary groups of expertise and to watch how Dr. Scott and Dr. Hammill led the team. This research opens many new doors for us."

The collaboration between these three labs could mean relief to many of those suffering from a variety of diseases.

"To have spent decades on this research and have such promising results is truly exhilarating," Singh said. "At the end of the day, what matters most is improving health outcomes for our patients. This is work represents a very important step towards developing a new approach to treat the most difficult of cancers and hopefully increase cure rates."

More information: Daniel C Scott et al. Blocking an N-terminal acetylationdependent protein interaction inhibits an E3 ligase, Nature Chemical Biology (2017). Journal information: Nature Chemical Biology Daniel C Scott et al. Blocking an N-terminal acetylationdependent protein interaction inhibits an E3 ligase,(2017). DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2386
Human heart. Credit: copyright American Heart Association

Breastfeeding is not only healthy for babies, it may also reduce a mother's risk of having a heart attack or stroke later in life, according to new research published in of the Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

Previous studies have suggested that mothers get short-term health benefits from breastfeeding, such as weight loss and lower cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels after pregnancy. However, the long-term effects of breastfeeding on the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in mothers are unclear. A new study in China found that women who breastfed their babies had about a ten percent lower risk of developing heart disease or stroke.

Researchers from the University of Oxford, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking University analyzed data from 289,573 Chinese women (average age 51) participating in the China Kadoorie Biobank study who provided detailed information about their reproductive history and other lifestyle factors. Nearly all were mothers and none had cardiovascular disease when they enrolled in the study. After eight years of follow-up, there were 16,671 cases of coronary heart disease, which includes heart attacks, and 23,983 stroke cases.

Researchers observed that:

Compared to women who had never breastfed, mothers who breastfed their babies had a 9 percent lower risk of heart disease and an 8 percent lower risk of stroke.

Among mothers who breastfed each of their babies for two years or more, heart disease risk was 18 percent lower and stroke risk was 17 percent lower than among mothers who never breastfed.

Each additional 6 months of breastfeeding per baby was associated with a 4 percent lower risk of heart disease and a 3 percent lower risk of stroke.

The researchers considered a range of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and physical activity that could have biased results.

"Although we cannot establish the causal effects, the health benefits to the mother from breastfeeding may be explained by a faster "reset" of the mother's metabolism after pregnancy. Pregnancy changes a woman's metabolism dramatically as she stores fat to provide the energy necessary for her baby's growth and for breastfeeding once the baby is born. Breastfeeding could eliminate the stored fat faster and more completely," said co-author, Sanne Peters, Ph.D., a research fellow at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

The authors noted that women who breastfeed may be more likely to engage in other beneficial health behaviors that lower their risk of cardiovascular disease compared to women who do not breastfeed.

Because this study was observational, relying on information provided by the mothers about their breastfeeding histories, it does not prove cause and effect. Results from observational studies such as this one must be confirmed by a different type of study that can prove that a behavior may results in an outcome.

Compared to women in China, breastfeeding duration is typically shorter among women in the United States. Ninety-seven percent of the women in this study breastfed each of their babies for an average of 12 months, compared to 30 percent of U.S. mothers in 2016, according to the World Health Organization. However, the U.S. Nurses' Health Study found only women with a lifetime duration of breastfeeding of 2 years or more had a significantly lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who never breastfed.

"The findings should encourage more widespread breastfeeding for the benefit of the mother as well as the child," said Zhengming Chen, M.B.B.S., D.Phil., senior study author and professor of epidemiology at the University of Oxford. "The study provides support for the World Health Organization's recommendation that mothers should breastfeed their babies exclusively for their first six months of life."

The American Heart Association suggests breastfeeding for 12 months if possible.
Credit: Cancer Research UK

In our 2014 Research Strategy we included an intention to facilitate a major shift in early detection and diagnosis research. We made an ambitious commitment to invigorate this field, stimulating research interest, building capacity, forging new partnerships, and actively supporting a community for early detection research.

2017 sees a further increase in our investment, with significant new funds being made available by CRUK specifically for early detection science. What are the developments so far in this area, and what promise do they hold for the future?

We know that cancer is easier to treat, and causes patients to suffer less and live longer, when it is detected early.

Yet for decades, whilst treatments for cancer have made revolutionary steps forward, early detection research has made limited progress, presenting a persistent scientific and clinical challenge. As a result, most cancers are still diagnosed at stage 3 or 4, when the prognosis is poorer and the treatment is often more severe. Now, with advances in technology starting to open up new research paths, our investment and commitment can push this important field forward.

We recognise that cracking this area could be a major player in achieving our aim to see 3 in 4 patients survive cancer within the next 20 years.

What is early detection?

We define 'early detection' as the detection of cancer, or pre-cancerous states, at the earliest possible point at which an intervention might be made in order to lead to a better patient outcome.

As Dr Ian Walker, Director of Clinical, Population and Early Detection Research at CRUK, states, "In terms of survival, early detection science is one of the biggest things you can do. Take the example of bowel cancer  caught at stage 1, it has a 95% survival rate at five years, yet at stage 4 this is this is around 8%. If we can catch cancers earlier, it will have a significant impact on survival rates  on a scale that is very difficult to achieve through drugs alone."

However, there are big challenges.

Currently, we don't understand the cellular and molecular biology that occurs as cells become dysregulated and then cancerous. We don't know what we need to detect, how to avoid over-detection, or how to distinguish lethal and non-lethal disease. We don't have adequate models of early disease, which has delayed the progress. We need better combinations of 'omics' and analytic platforms to identify and validate biomarkers of early disease. We need improved systems biology approaches to bring data into biological context. We need novel technology, including sensors, biochips and nanotechnology, to improve how we image and detect cancer, and we need multidisciplinary teams to develop the technology and ultimately to implement it in the appropriate clinical context.

These are all big issues, and CRUK is making a significant commitment to early detection research to start to unravel them. We are working across our UK network to drive new activity in the area, as well as establishing international partnerships to start building a wider early detection community. And in 2017 we will announce major new funding specifically dedicated to supporting early detection research.

Cambridge early detection programme

One current major area of investment is the CRUK Cambridge Centre Early Detection Programme, launched in 2016. This multidisciplinary programme brings together world-class researchers from a wide range of areas, and is co-led by clinician scientist Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald and physicist Dr Sarah Bohndiek .

Rebecca's own work in the field of oesophageal cancer is a flagship example of early detection research. Her team developed a tiny sponge on a string, the 'Cytosponge', which is swallowed to sample cells from the whole oesophagus, and a simple lab test to analyse this. The cells are analysed with an antibody to check for Barrett's oesophagus, a condition that can be a pre-cursor to oesophageal cancer. As Rebecca says, We are now at the exciting stage of starting a large clinical trial in GP surgeries, the BEST3 trial, which is the final step in determining whether the Cytosponge antibody (TFF3) test is effective enough to be introduced into mainstream practice.

As most oesophageal cancer is currently diagnosed at a late stage, the Cytosponge could provide a powerful new tool to improve early detection at the stage of Barrett's, offering GPs a cost-effective and minimally invasive first step of investigation. Rebecca's team is now working to develop the lab tests further, so that they not only diagnose Barrett's, but also distinguish between those Barrett's patients at low and high risk of cancer progression.

Rebecca's close colleague and co-director of the Early Detection Programme, Sarah, comes from a very different field. "I'm a physicist by background, but now focus on how we can improve imaging techniques for early detection and evaluating cancer progression. For example, standard endoscopy replicates only what our eye could see if we were able to look inside the body. This struggles to pick up early abnormalities, so we're developing novel endoscopic devices that bring additional contrast for subtle early changes. One example is applying coherent light  where the waves travel in unison  as this is distorted when it hits tumour tissue compared to normal tissue. Studying the light distribution may prove to be a valuable tool in assisting earlier detection."

Thanks to CRUK funding for early detection, the Cambridge team is expanding. As Rebecca explains,"We now have three dedicated early detection research labs, with two more planned this year. It's an incredibly exciting time."

Recently setting up his new lab, Dr Daniel Munoz-Espin joined the department last September, having moved from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid. His work is another example of the multidisciplinary nature of the field:

"My research focuses on developing nanotechnologies able to target pre-malignant tumours, both for early detection and early therapy."

Nanotechnology

Daniel's work is looking at the origin of lung cancer and, in particular, the role of senescent cells, damaged or stressed cells that can no longer replicate. In the long-term, it's thought that accumulated senescent cells can lead to malignancy in the nearby cellular environment. Interestingly, cellular senescence is emerging as a feature of pre-malignant lung tumours and so could be a property with potential use in early detection.

Daniel is working with silicon nanoparticles 100nm in size, and has developed the technology to load these up with active substances that can specifically target senescent cells. "It works because in normal cells, the nanoparticles are internalised and then simply secreted. But in senescent cells, the coating is digested inside the cell, releasing the active substance."

Using a fluorescent tracer as the active substance means any senescent cells light up, providing a powerful tool for early detection. Excitingly, the same technique also has potential in early therapy, because the nanoparticles can be loaded with active substances that target and kill the senescent cells.

As Daniel explains,"We've now validated the tools in mouse models of pulmonary fibrosis and also in tumour models, showing that we can use nanoparticles to both detect and eliminate senescent cells. Our innovative treatment results in therapeutic activity, including reduction of tumour size. Now the next steps are to take this technology to mouse models of lung cancer and to human tissues. We will first be checking for a correlation between levels of accumulated senescent cells and stage of pre-malignancy in human lung cancer."

If this is established, it is hoped that, in the long term, this research could lead to patients with a smoking history having a test for senescent cells. If they show accumulation in one area, early therapy could treat this, eliminating damaged cells and so stopping lung cancer before it even develops.

Liquid biopsies

At the CRUK Manchester Institute, Professor Caroline Dive is also working on lung cancer, and has become internationally renowned for her work on 'liquid biopsies'  detecting cells or particles in the bloodstream that could act as reliable signals for cancer. As Caroline says, "Up until very recently, our work has been looking at circulating tumour cells (CTCs) as agents of metastasis, causing cancer to spread around the body in patients with more advanced disease. But now, we are turning our attention to how useful this technology could be for early detection. The big question is how early on CTCs are sent out, and the hope is that they could be a very useful red flag for early detection."

In an exciting new venture, Caroline is joining forces with Dr Phil Crosbie, Consultant in Respiratory Medicine at the University Hospital of South Manchester (UHSM). Phil has been part of the team that conducted the first ever UK-pilot to bring mobile computed tomography (CT) scanners to the public, allowing smokers and former smokers to receive free lung checks in shopping centre car parks. Funded by Macmillan Cancer Support, and led by clinician Dr Phil Barber at UHSM, the Manchester Lung Health Check pilot showed a dramatic benefit for early diagnosis: 80% of lung cancers picked up through mobile screening were at the potentially curable stage 1 or 2, compared with less than 20% of normal lung cancer diagnoses.

The next stage of the pilot aims to assess 1,000 people in summer 2017, and Caroline's collaboration will now add another element to the study. Running in parallel to the CT scans, her team will take blood samples, which will be searched for CTCs and other particles such as nucleic acids and microRNA. "If CTCs are present as an early sign of cancer, they are going to be extremely rare, so we'll use high definition single cell analysis to ensure we don't lose any. We'll also sequence what we find, which enables us to distinguish cancers."

If the blood tests show positive markers, they could provide a powerful, non-invasive tool for early detection. Caroline is hopeful this area holds huge promise, "I think there are times in your career when you take stock and think where can my research make the biggest impact? This is a big turning point for me now, shifting to really focus on early detection, with the aim to develop a minimally invasive test for early cancer detection."

The idea of a simple test that could reliably pick up signs of cancer before it takes hold is a clear goal of early detection research.

Taking this further, the ultimate aim for early detection would be to identify biomarkers that warn a cancer is first starting to develop, catching it at a pre-cursor stage.

One avenue of our research that may take us a step closer is using the huge biobank originally built up for the UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS). This was a CRUK funded study that assessed screening tests for ovarian cancer, and involved a huge cohort of 200,000 healthy volunteers, collecting longitudinal blood samples from a quarter of them, and following up which volunteers went on to develop cancer. To have annual blood samples leading up to the clinical presentation of cancer is an incredibly valuable resource, and these data are now being combed for biomarkers. The priority cancers in this study are colorectal, lung, oesophageal and pancreatic. CRUK, Cancer Research Technology, and the biotech company Abcodia joined forces to form the Early Diagnosis Consortium to achieve this. They enlisted the help of three leading 'omics' companies, with specific expertise in proteomics, microRNA, and tumour auto-antibodies. The aim is to identify biomarkers that have consistently altered expression prior to cancer diagnosis. The results from years of this work are expected in 2017, with the best biomarkers then being taken forward.

Global collaboration

The ambitious nature of the Early Diagnosis Consortium led CRUK to seek out expertise globally and form new alliances. This need for a global approach will be crucial to advance the early detection field. Following the launch of our Research Strategy in 2014, we formed a partnership with the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), a first of a kind collaboration for early detection.

The Knight Cancer Institute is an ideal partner to join forces with: It has been a pioneer of precision cancer therapy and thanks to a philanthropic investment of $1 billion in 2015, is now establishing a new, large-scale early detection programme. Dr Sadik Esener, a nanoengineer by background, has recently taken the helm as the new Director of the Center for Early Detection Research. He's enthusiastic about the partnership with CRUK. "Early detection research holds huge promise, but it is still at a very embryonic stage, and it is such a big and complex problem that collaborations between institutions are going to be of crucial importance."

With the aim of building a new community for the field and invigorating ideas, the partnership includes an annual joint conference, the second of which will take place in Cambridge in September 2017. This will draw researchers together and aid the development of a global, multi-disciplinary network of early detection experts. To support and encourage collaborative research, we are developing schemes, in partnership with OHSU, to fund collaborative research between UK researchers and US-based researchers. Sadik agrees that one major area ripe for collaboration will be the hunt for biomarkers, but he doesn't underestimate the challenge.

As Sadik identifies, "One of the greatest challenges for early detection research is not only finding early warning signs that cancer is starting to develop, but identifying which of those alarms need following up with more tests and treatment  and which we can safely ignore."

This is the flipside of the early detection coin: the risk of causing overdiagnosis and unnecessary worry and intervention.

The risk of overdiagnosis

To really make progress in early detection, we need to understand how to tell apart early benign changes from lethal ones. This question is so crucial that we made it one of our Grand Challenges for 2016, with a multi-million pound award available to advance research that would "distinguish between lethal cancers that need treating and non-lethal cancers that don't". A multinational team, led by Dr Jelle Wesseling of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, were successful in securing this award, co-funded with the Dutch Cancer Society, and will address this challenge in the context of breast cancer.

Breast lesions, known as ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), can sometimes develop into cancer, but a large proportion of DCIS never develop into the disease, and we currently can't tell the difference. The Grand Challenge team aim to find biomarkers that identify which DCIS patients are at high risk of developing cancer, and which are not. By combining tissue samples and clinical data from thousands of patients, the team hopes to come up with the answer that will help women with DCIS avoid the burden of unnecessary treatment. This award is another sign of our commitment to early detection research, and the progress that we hope will be made in the coming years.

A new frontier

Whilst the journey into early detection research is just at its beginnings, it holds incredible promise. From devising nanoparticles that can flag up and kill pre-cancerous cells, to hunting through millions of blood samples for biomarkers, to harnessing the physics of light for better imaging, early detection is a diverse, multi-disciplinary field, with ground breaking potential.

It is an area with significant challenges, but also a reward-rich field that could bring real impact to cancer prognosis and mortality. The announcement of new funding specifically for early detection, which will build to an investment of 20 million per year, is designed to set us firmly on the path to success. Ian remarks: "This is new funding, specifically for early detection. We are showing our commitment to this important new area of cancer research, which we hope will bring rewards that change the field forever."
(HealthDay)For patients with carotid stenosis, use of an embolic protection device is associated with reduced risk for in-hospital stroke or death, major stroke or death, and stroke after carotid artery stenting, according to a study published in the June 26 issue of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.

Christoph Knappich, M.D., from the Technical University of Munich, and colleagues examined the correlation between intraprocedural and periprocedural variables and outcomes after 13,086 carotid artery stenting procedures for asymptomatic (63.9 percent) or symptomatic carotid stenosis between 2009 and 2014.

The researchers found that the primary outcome of in-hospital stroke or death occurred in 2.4 percent of the population (1.7 percent in asymptomatic and 3.7 percent in symptomatic patients). An independent correlation was identified between use of an embolic protection device and lower in-hospital rates of stroke or death, major stroke or death, and stroke (adjusted relative risks, 0.65 [95 percent confidence interval (CI), 0.50 to 0.85], 0.60 [95 percent CI, 0.43 to 0.84], and 0.57 [95 percent CI, 0.43 to 0.77], respectively). No significant correlation was seen for in-hospital death (adjusted relative risk, 0.78 [95 percent CI, 0.46 to 1.35]). There were no correlations noted for any outcomes with stent design, stent material, neurophysiological monitoring, or antiplatelet medication.

"The use of an embolic protection device was independently associated with lower in-hospital risk for stroke or death, major stroke or death, and stroke," the authors write.

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Robert Pious, convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, said he has lost purpose in life and wants euthanasia.

By India Today Web Desk: Robert Pious, one of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has written to the Tamil Nadu government seeking mercy killing. He said he has been in prison for over 27 years and has lost any purpose in life.

"I've been in prison for more than 27 years now...I can understand the intention of the government and as none of my family member have come to see me, I don't find anymore purpose in life," Pious said in his letter.

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He said even one of the judges who pronounced him guilty in 1999 had said he is innocent but yet in the prison.

"Hence I'm never going to be released from prison, I request to 'mercy kill' me," Robert Pious wrote from Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai seeking euthanasia.

"In 2014, then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa had attempted to get us released but now I understand that the government would want me to spend the rest of my life in prison. This is not just affecting me but my family as well. I request you to grant me permission for mercy killing," Robert Pious said in his letter.

WHO IS ROBERT PIOUS

He is a Sri Lankan Tamil who was alleged to be a part of LTTE commando team. Robert Pious had confessed before police that he was one of key planners in the assassination.

Robert Pious is one of the seven persons who were found guilty of involvement in the assassination of the former prime minister on 21 May 1991 during an election rally at Sriperumbudur.

The Supreme Court has already dismissed the pleas of the Tamil Nadu government and one convict seeking review of its judgement in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case in which was ruled that the Centre has "primacy" over states' right to grant remission.

The Tamil Nadu government had on July 28 last year moved the apex court seeking review of its judgement in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

The petition had sought review of the apex court's verdict given in December 2015, virtually overturning the state government's clemency decision.

A five-judge bench had in 2015 said that the state governments must secure "concurrence" of the Union government before freeing convicts in certain cases.

REQUESTS OF OTHER CONVICTS

One of the seven convicts, Nalini had even staged a hunger strike seeking her transfer from Vellore prison to Puzhal Central Prison near Chennai. After Nalini's request, another convict Perarivalan's mother filed a plea seeking his transfer to Puzhal stating that he needs treatment at the Chennai government hospital.

Perarivalan had even attempted to define his request for release based on Sanjay Dutt's release from prison in the Arms Act case. Nalini, on the other hand, had filed a plea with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

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-With inputs from Pramod Madhav

Also read:

Rajiv Gandhi: The fateful night of May 21, 1991 in Madras and New Delhi

What if Rajiv Gandhi is killed? CIA wondered about this 5 years before he was assassinated

Also watch:

I'Day special: A look back at Rajiv Gandhi's political journey

--- ENDS ---
(HealthDay)With temperatures soaring so high that some planes couldn't take off in Phoenix on Tuesday, the heat wave scorching the Southwest for the next week should be taken very seriously, one emergency doctor warns.

Dramatic temperatures have been recorded in Arizona, California and Nevada, reaching 120 degrees Fahrenheit or higher in some desert citiesDeath Valley, Calif., hit 125 and Palm Springs, Calif., reached 121.

In Phoenix, the thermometer reached a high of 119 degrees on Tuesday, a temperature that has only been matched or exceeded four other times, according to the Associated Press.

That kind of heat can be deadly.

"It's important to remember that extreme heat combined with humidity can kill. Extremes of heat are most concerning to public safety, and a large number of heat-related deaths are generally preventable," said Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

"Infants and children, the elderly, as well as those with chronic medical conditions such as chronic kidney disease, asthma, hypertension and diabetes, are at increased risk for heat-related illness," he added.

Heat cramps and heat exhaustion are the most common heat-related illnesses, Glatter said. Nausea, dizziness and muscle cramping all signal trouble, he said. Your skin may also become cool and moist because you are sweating so heavily.

Heat stroke is an even more serious condition, and considered a medical emergency. Patients may develop body temperatures up to 106 to 108 degrees as they lose the ability to sweat and cool their body, and they might experience confusion and disorientation, Glatter said. Ice baths and misting fans can help reduce core temperatures.

However, "medications such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen are not helpful with such elevated temperatures, and in fact may be harmful," Glatter noted.

And other medications that people commonly take (for example: blood pressure pills, diuretics) affect how hydrated someone is, and they can increase the risk of heat-related illnesses if people don't hydrate properly, he added.

Glatter offered some tips on how to stay safe during a blistering heat wave:

Drink plenty of cool fluids and stay out of the sun during the hottest part of the day (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothing and a wide-brimmed hat. Apply sunscreen before you go outside, and reapply every two hours while outdoors.

Try to stay indoors where there is air conditioning. If air conditioning isn't available, spraying cool mist on your skin and using a fan can help.

Limit outdoor activity. If you exercise in the heat for under one hour, drink cool water before and after your workout.

If you exercise in the heat and humidity for more than one hour, have a sports drink, to replenish the salt lost from sweating. If you prefer, you can have a few salty pretzels instead of a sports drink, Glatter noted.

Never leave children or pets in a parked car. When it is 90 degrees outside, the temperature can reach more than 150 degrees in the car in 15 to 20 minutes.

Such safety measures will likely become more critical in the coming decades: A new study published in Nature Climate Change this week found that if climate change continues unchecked, three-quarters of the world's population will experience deadly heat waves by the end of the century.

More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on Journal information: Nature Climate Change The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on extreme heat

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
(HealthDay)Millions of Americans with diabetes use glucose meters and test strips to monitor their blood sugar, but affording those supplies can be a challenge.

And that leads some people to use secondhand test strips to save money.

It's legal for people to sell unused secondhand test strips. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advises against buying or selling pre-owned test strips because they may give incorrect results and may not be safe to use with a glucose meter.

"Test strips should be properly stored to give accurate results," according to the FDA.

"If you buy pre-owned strips, it is hard to know whether the strips were stored properly. Test strips also could be expired. A lack of proper storage or using expired strips could put you at risk for getting incorrect results from your glucose meter. And incorrect results can put you at risk for serious health complicationsand even death," the FDA said.

In addition, test strip vials may have been opened by another person and could contain small amounts of blood, putting you at risk for infection, the agency said.

Secondhand test strips may have been tampered with and unsafe to use. For example, the expiration dates might have been changed or covered up, the FDA said.

Some pre-owned test strips also may not have been cleared by the FDA for sale in the United States. Signs of unsafe strips include instructions that aren't in English or strips that look different than other strips of the same brand.

The FDA recommends buying new, unopened vials of glucose test strips designed specifically for your meter.

"Talk to your health care provider if you are not sure where to buy test strips for your glucose meter or if you cannot afford to buy the test strips recommended for use with your meter," the agency advised.

The FDA also said to make sure you get the most from your test strips. Be sure to use the control solution that comes with your meter to check accuracy as directed.

Also, use your meter to test your blood sugar in front of your doctor or diabetes educator to ensure you're doing everything properly.

And, make sure you clean and disinfect your glucose meter as directed by the manufacturer, the FDA suggested.

More information: The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease has more on The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease has more on financial help for diabetes care

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
(HealthDay)Physicians who receive information about patient harms are more likely to support financial penalties targeting inappropriate antibiotic prescribing, according to a research letter published online June 20 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Joshua M. Liao, M.D., from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues surveyed physicians to examine whether support of financial penalties targeting inappropriate antibiotic prescribing is influenced by emphasis on patient, societal, or institutional harms of prescribing. A clinical vignette was used to assess the likelihood of recommending antibiotics for uncomplicated upper respiratory infection. The survey was completed by 47 percent of 694 eligible respondents.

The researchers found that 29 and 55 percent of respondents reported having incentives based on cost performance and having incentives not related to cost, respectively, in their clinical practice. Overall, 31 percent of respondents supported financial penalties, but the responses varied by version of the vignette. Penalties were supported by 41, 23, 36, and 25 percent of recipients of the patient harm version, the societal harm version, the institutional harm version, and the control version, respectively. Twenty-seven percent of physicians recommended care adherent to guidelines governing inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions for upper respiratory infections in response to the clinical vignette.

"Although more work is needed, these preliminary results suggest that policymakers might increase the acceptability of penalties by implementing them while explicitly emphasizing the harms and costs to patients," the authors write.

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Electron microscopy of influenza virus. Credit: CDC

Researchers at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found no evidence that laboratory-diagnosis alone of maternal influenza during pregnancy is associated with risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring. They did, however, find a trend toward risk in mothers with a laboratory diagnosis of influenza and self-reported symptoms of severe illness. This trend did not achieve statistical significance.

The study is the first to assess the risk for ASD based on laboratory-verified maternal influenza infection, not just survey data or medical records. Results appear in the journal mSphere.

The researchers analyzed questionnaires and blood samples from 338 mothers of children with ASD and 348 matched controls, as part of the Autism Birth Cohort Study, a prospective birth cohort in Norway. Blood samples were collected from mothers at mid-pregnancy and after delivery. Mothers also reported on their cold and flu symptoms during pregnancy.

Positive blood tests for past influenza A or influenza B infection were not associated with increased ASD risk. However, when researchers combined reports of influenza-like illness with the blood test results, they found a substantial, albeit statistically insignificant, increased risk of ASD. While random error could be responsible for the finding, the authors caution against dismissing it outright due to the magnitude of the association: children born to mothers with laboratory-verified flu and matching symptoms had nearly double the odds of later being diagnosed with ASD compared to women without flu and symptoms.

"Symptoms are important because they may indicate the extent to which the mother's immune system is fighting the flu," says first author Milada Mahic, a post-doctoral research scientist at Center for Infection and Immunity and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. "If infection is contributing to increased risk, it likely comes from inflammation related to maternal immune system response rather than the flu infection itself. Further research is warranted."

The flu-ASD finding aligns with past research suggesting that admission to hospital for maternal viral infection in the first trimester and maternal bacterial infection in the second trimester is associated with increased risk of ASD.

In other recent studies from the Autism Birth Cohort Study, researchers reported that women actively infected with genital herpes during early pregnancy had twice the odds of giving birth to a child later diagnosed with ASD. Another new study reports maternal fever during pregnancy may raise risk for the child developing ASD.

"The fetal brain undergoes rapid changes that make it vulnerable to a robust maternal immune response," says senior author W. Ian Lipkin, director of CII and John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School. "That said, mothers should not conclude that having an infection during pregnancy means that their child will develop autism. It may simply be one among many risk factors."

The study is published in mSphere.
Martin Obschonka. Credit: Universitaet des Saarlandes/Joerg Puetz

Pensions will soon be a thing of the past, demographic change is forcing Germany to its knees, and all the refugees will be the downfall of Western Christian civilization. There is a common perception that Germans are fundamentally pessimistic in outlook and suffer from existential anxiety about the future. This view is so widespread that it is frequently referred to in other countries by the term German Angst. Up until now, however, German Angst has not been the subject of scientific study. The first major study examining specific aspects of the German Angst phenomenon has been undertaken by psychologists in the group headed by Martin Obschonka, until recently Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Psychology at Saarland University and currently Associate Professor at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane (Australia), in collaboration with the economist Michael Stutzer from the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) in Mannheim (Germany) and researchers from the University of Texas in Austin (USA) and the University of Cambridge (UK).

The researchers set out to examine the hypothesis that German Angst could have its roots in the bomb warfare of the Second World War (WWII). The traumatizing experience of the massive bombing raids, and the destruction of whole cities, could have led to an anxious and sceptical disposition that could be transmitted to subsequent generations via epigenetic mechanisms and the persistence of local cultures and mentalities.

Comparing self-assessed neurotic personality traits within a global personality sample including more than 7 million respondents worldwide (collected in a large-scale online study) indicated that the German participants did not rank especially highly on neurotic traits such as anxiety and neuroticism. What is interesting, however, is how experience of the allied bombing of Germany might have impacted neurotic personality traits. The researchers filtered out around 33,500 people living in 89 German cities and tested the historical link between the local intensity of the WWII strategic bombing and today's regional level of neurotic traits and related clinical problems such as depression disorders in each of these cities. They thought it plausible that people living in those cities that suffered the greatest destruction in WWII would today show higher levels of neurotic traits and related clinical psychological problems.

Interestingly, the opposite proves to be the case: 'We found that in those cities that were subjected to more substantial wartime bombing the people living there exhibit fewer neurotic traits than the populations of cities that suffered less destruction and trauma caused by bombing raids,' explains Martin Obschonka. The results also show that a more severe bombing did not impede entrepreneurship in the region, as one could have expected if massive strategic bombing indeed leads to higher levels of German Angst (which, in turn, should hamper the positivism and energy needed for a strong entrepreneurial culture and thus economic growth in the region). Another striking finding of the study is that regions that face a major stressor today, for example because they are struggling economically at present, are protected against higher levels in neurotic traits and higher rated of clinical depression disorders if they had experienced major destruction during WWII air raids. The researchers conclude that this seems to indicate a striking historical resilience process. 'It is possible that the experience of severe bombing in WWII has made the people and the local culture there more resilient in the long-term, which is for example relevant when coping with major stressors and challenges today such as economic hardship,' says Michael Stuetzer, co-author of the study.

The researchers provide a list of potential mechanisms behind this historical resilience process. 'One possibility is that the major destruction of cities could have made the local population "tougher," serving as an impetus for the remaining residents to pull together,' argues Martin Obschonka. The reconstruction of the destroyed houses and infrastructure of the bombed German cities in the years following the war was a remarkable effort as Germany literally rose from the ruins. Interestingly, this toughness approach fits to research on the effect of 9/11 on the mentality of New Yorkers, which found similar psychological resilience effects. 'Research also indicates that external threats strengthen social support within threatened groups, thereby boosting their psychological adjustment,' explains Martin Obschonka. He continues: 'Our results can also be explained by means of research on the neurobiology of resilience, which emphasizes resilience effects of adversity'. Michael Stuetzer adds: 'It is also possible that the more severely bombed German cities enjoyed a better economic upturn in the post-war years since the whole infrastructure needed to be modernized immediately'. However, the present study could not find indications that accelerated city growth in the more heavily bombed cities could help explaining their psychological resilience. Likewise, the authors could not find any indication in the data that migration patterns, including influx of war refugees after the war, could explain this resilience pattern. These and other questions arising from the current study provide interesting starting points for future research projects examining the long-term psychological consequences of historic trauma.

More information: Amplified summer warming in Europe-West Asia and Northeast Asia after the mid-1990s, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/per.2104/full Amplified summer warming in Europe-West Asia and Northeast Asia after the mid-1990s, DOI: 10.1002/per.2104
(HealthDay)For Caucasian patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) decreases beyond year five of entecavir/tenofovir therapy, particularly in those with compensated cirrhosis, according to a study published online June 16 in Hepatology.

George V. Papatheodoridis, M.D., Ph.D., from Laiko General Hospital in Athens, Greece, and colleagues examined the incidence of HCC beyond year five of entecavir/tenofovir therapy in a European 10-center cohort study. Data were included for 1,951 adult Caucasian CHB patients without HCC at baseline. Of these, 1,205 without HCC within the first five years of entecavir/tenofovir therapy were followed for five to 10 years (median, 6.8 years).

The researchers found that HCCs were diagnosed in 5.2 and 1.4 percent of patients within the first five years and within five to 10 years, respectively. The annual incidence rate of HCC was 1.22 and 0.73 percent within and after the first five years, respectively (P = 0.050). The yearly HCC incidence rate significantly declined in patients with cirrhosis, but did not differ within and after the first five years in patients without cirrhosis. Beyond year five, all HCCs developed in patients who were aged older than 50 years at onset of entecavir/tenofovir. In multivariate analysis, older age, lower platelets at baseline and year five, and liver stiffness 12 kPa at year five correlated independently with more frequent HCC development beyond year five.

"Older age, especially age 50 years, lower platelets, and liver stiffness 12 kPa at year five represent the main risk factors for late HCC development," the authors write.

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
A Supreme Court ruling this week could have a "chilling effect" on the many lawsuits filed in St. Louis claiming talcum powder causes a deadly form of cancer in women, including cases under appeal in which stricken women and their survivors have been awarded more than $300 million, experts said Tuesday.

Justices ruled 8-1 Monday that hundreds of out-state-residents can't sue Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in California state court over adverse reactions to the blood thinner Plavix. It followed a similar ruling in May related to out-of-state injury claims against BNSF Railway Co. Both were seen as wins for companies opposed to "venue shopping," in which those filing suit seek out favorable state courts.

Almost immediately after the Supreme Court ruling, St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison declared a mistrial in a Missouri state court case in which three plaintiffs, two from out-of-state, sued Johnson & Johnson, claiming its talcum powder caused ovarian cancer.

More than 1,000 others have filed similar lawsuits in St. Louis against Johnson & Johnson, but most don't live in Missouri. Five trials have already taken place over the past 16 months. In four of those cases, jurors awarded more than $300 million combined.

Johnson & Johnson believes that the Supreme Court ruling "requires reversal of the talc cases that are currently under appeal in St. Louis," spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said in an email. She said the ruling "makes it clear that Johnson & Johnson was wrongfully forced to defend itself in multiple trials in Missouri, a state with no connection to the plaintiffs."

Jim Onder, whose suburban St. Louis-based law firm is representing many women and survivors who filed suit, said Missouri is a proper venue because Johnson & Johnson, though based in New Jersey, uses a factory in Union, Missouri, to package and label talcum products.

"If we can establish specific jurisdiction, which we think we can, at that point we can hold the prior verdicts," Onder said.

Experts aren't so sure.

The Supreme Court ruling "makes it impossible for groups of plaintiffs in many states to sue a defendant in the forum of the defendant's choosing," said Howard Erichson, a professor specializing in civil litigation at Fordham University School of Law.

"The decision means that non-Missouri plaintiffs are going to have a very hard time keeping their cases against Johnson & Johnson," Erichson said.

Michael Duffy, a liability attorney with Duffy & Duffy in Uniondale, New York, said the Supreme Court ruling "really puts a horrific burden on the plaintiff," and likely means that the four cases involving multi-million-dollar awards in St. Louis will be re-tried.

Duffy criticized the Supreme Court decision as a "waste of judicial resources" that will require potentially thousands of similar cases to be heard across the country, and one that makes future consolidation of cases unlikely.

"The Supreme Court's decision has put a chilling effect on the ability to do that," Duffy said.

Talc is the softest of minerals, mined from deposits around the world, including the U.S. It is crushed into a white powder and has been widely used in cosmetics and other personal care products to absorb moisture since at least 1894, when Johnson & Johnson's baby powder was launched. Its main use is in a variety of other products, including paint and plastics.

Much research has found no link or a weak one between ovarian cancer and using baby powder for feminine hygiene, and most major health groups have declared talc harmless. But the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies genital use of talc as "possibly carcinogenic."

 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Credit: Elena Zhukova

At a Paul McCartney concert at San Francisco's AT&T Park in 2010, Matthew Springer, PhD, wasn't shocked to be surrounded by a haze of marijuana smoke. He was, however, amazed that the audience tolerated it without complaint.

"All of these people knew to avoid smoke from cigarettes, because the public health community has been saying that for decades," recalls Springer, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco. But, he adds, "we haven't been given that message about marijuana smoke, so people thought that it was different  that it was somehow okay."

Was it? Springer wondered.

Now that recreational, in addition to medical, marijuana is legal in California  thanks to the resounding approval in November of Proposition 64's Adult Use of Marijuana Act  there is renewed urgency about seeking more information on the drug's health effects, both positive and negative.

UCSF scientists recognize marijuana's contradictory status: the drug has significant proven and potential therapeutic uses, but it can also lead to tremendous public health problems. Everyone agrees that a stronger evidence base is key.

Is second-hand marijuana smoke as dangerous as tobacco smoke? What are the possibilities for its clinical use, and why is it so hard to study them? As new laws create a new industry, are we forgetting the hard-won public health lessons from battling Big Tobacco?

"We are left with so many questions," says Reto Auer, MD, MAS '13, who launched a study on marijuana and cognitive function while he was enrolled in UCSF's Training in Clinical Research program. Published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2016, the findings showed that study participants who reported long-term marijuana use experienced some memory problems by midlife.

"Academically it's interesting to be in a field where so little is known," Auer adds, "but it's a shame we can't better inform the public."

The Feds: Just Say 'No' to Research

Marijuana, now legal by a doctor's order in 29 states and recreationally in eight states (plus the District of Columbia), remains in the same class federally as heroin and LSD  a Schedule I drug, designated as having "a high potential for abuse" and "no currently accepted medical use." Federally, marijuana is considered more dangerous than prescription opioids like OxyContin and Vicodin, which were linked to more than 15,000 deaths in 2015 and are responsible for epidemic levels of addiction and abuse, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Every day, I see patients who benefit from using cannabis as medicine," says Donald Abrams, MD. "It's a benign and safe agent that's been used for thousands of years." Abrams, who studies the safety and pain relief properties of marijuana, is chief of the Hematology-Oncology Division at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and a resident alumnus.

Studying marijuana means navigating complex regulatory hoops, including reviews by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and at UCSF, the Research Advisory Panel of California.

Included in the DEA's stringent regulations for purchasing, storing, documenting and disposing of marijuana is the requirement that each lab must have an alarm-controlled, locked container that is physically attached to the floor or wall and to which access is limited.

"The DEA visited and determined that we had to do more to bolt down the locked freezer," says Judith Hellman, MD, a professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care. It took close to a year to get the approvals, says Hellman, who studies the immune modulating effects of cannabinoids.

"It was kind of comical, with all of these medical marijuana dispensaries scattered around town, sitting in my office and talking about everything we had to do to get a small amount of THC, cannabidiol, and cannabinol  400 milligrams  to use over [the course of] a year," recalls Hellman.

Restricted Supply: Restricted Research

The humor would likely be lost on the DEA, which long designated NIDA  part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)  as the sole source of cannabis for scientists. Until recently, NIDA, under an exclusive government contract in place since 1968, paid the University of Mississippi $69 million in 2015 to grow all the country's research-grade marijuana. While the DEA opened production to other growers last year, none have yet been able or willing to comply with the agency's regulatory requirements.

The roadblocks to studying marijuana go beyond regulatory obstacles, says Abrams, who co-authored a chapter on barriers to such research in a 2017 report titled "The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids." This landmark report was published by a committee of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) of which Abrams was a member.

One obstacle, he explains, is the limit NIDA puts on varieties of the drug that can be used in research. Different strains of marijuana have varying chemical components, so they ameliorate clinical symptoms differently. Cancer-related nausea and poor appetite, for example, are better relieved by cannabis high in THC, the psychotropic component of marijuana. However, there is evidence that chronic pain, inflammation and insomnia are better relieved by cannabis high in cannabidiol (CBD).

"In the past, NIDA pretty much only had low-THC, zero-CBD strains," says Abrams, who has battled with federal agencies to procure cannabis with higher levels of THC and CBD for his current research on easing symptoms for patients with sickle cell anemia. It's even more difficult for researchers who want to look at newer delivery systems. "Right now, cannabis oil is popular," Abrams continues. But "because the NIDA supply has not yet been trialed in humans, if I write a proposal to try to study it, the FDA will say it's a 'novel molecular entity' and make it difficult to do."

NIDA's focus on substance abuse can be another challenge. "A lot of the studies that NIDA has supported look at the downsides. Studies about the benefits are rarer," says Abrams, who is also an integrative oncologist at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. "You have to use NIDA's cannabis but need to get funding from somewhere else."

These barriers to conducting comprehensive research  which mean patients and providers may lack treatment options and policymakers may lack a full evidence base  constitute"a public health problem," concludes Abrams.

But there may soon be a small break in the funding dam, at least in California. Proposition 64 once again commits state support to the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, housed at UC San Diego. The state legislature established the center, thanks to a budget surplus in 1999, with $9 million in funding. That money is long gone, but the new law earmarks $2 million annually  out of an expected $1 billion to be raised from the taxes levied on recreational marijuana retailers and growers  for the center's research.

Marijuana: The New Big Tobacco

Stanton Glantz, PhD, the American Legacy Foundation Professor of Tobacco Control and director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, has a less rosy view of California's new law.

First, he argues, the legislation won't help fill the state's coffers because of the substantial costs associated with regulation, enforcement, and the increased health care burden. Second, "we're creating a major market which is going to be eventually taken over by large corporations, with very sophisticated product engineering and marketing capacity," says Glantz, who has published widely on the effects of secondhand smoke, as well as the public health and policy impacts of recreational marijuana legislation.

"Today's marijuana products are very low tech  ground-up leaves in a piece of paper, like a cigarette in about 1880. Today's cigarettes and junk food are highly engineered products. Cigarette companies use technology like varying the porosity of the paper or using burn enhancers or adding sugar to

make [the product] more addictive. It's designed to maximize consumption," says Glantz.

While the new law initially gives preference to smaller growers, delaying for five years the issuance of licenses to cultivate large tracts (22,000 square feet or more), the state's licensing program doesn't go into effect until January 1, 2018. During the current legal limbo, licenses are being issued by local jurisdictions for industrial-sized operations. Marijuana will eventually be dominated by big business, and those corporations, says Glantz, "will exercise tremendous political power to protect their profits."

A policy analysis led by Glantz and published in PLoS Medicine in 2016 encouraged the establishment of a state monopoly on production, distribution, and sales to prevent the legalized marijuana industry from becoming, as he puts it, the "next big tobacco or alcohol."

Instead, the new law advances marijuana as a business opportunity, largely regulated by the Department of Consumer Affairs. The Department of Public Health has "no meaningful role in terms of the kind of big demand-reduction program that we think is needed," Glantz says.

While applauding the new law for decriminalizing marijuana use, Glantz wishes it could have been done "without creating a big new public health mess. We've had 50 to 60 years of trench warfare with the tobacco industry to get where we are today. Getting sensible tobacco regulation has been a gigantic battle. That's the way it's going to be with marijuana."

Matthew Springer, too, is concerned that California's legalization of recreational marijuana will fail to protect public health. After that night at AT&T Park, he immediately set out to add exposure to marijuana smoke to his studies on secondhand tobacco smoke. "That was a crystallizing moment," Springer says. "There are toxins from burning any plant material."

While the state's new law prohibits smoking marijuana in public "there will be more opportunity," Springer points out, "for people to be exposed involuntarily."

"Three times I've gone up to people in underground subway stations and asked them not to smoke marijuana there," he says. "They were so stoned I couldn't get through to them. People who smoke tobacco are lucid. People who are drunk may not be lucid, but they're not exhaling smoke in your face."

Next Up: A Political Backlash?

Reto Auer, who is now an assistant professor at the University of Bern in Switzerland, continues to research the health effects of marijuana in collaboration with U.S. colleagues. He co-authored his latest findings with his UCSF mentor Mark Pletcher, MD '98, MPH, resident alumnus, and a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics; published in the online edition of the American Journal of Public Health in February, their analysis found no link between marijuana use and cardiovascular disease in middle age.

Auer and Pletcher conducted their analysis using data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, which followed more than 5,000 Americans aged 18 to 30 for over 25 years, beginning in 1985. By analyzing existing data, they didn't have to deal with the regulatory scrutiny faced by researchers who work directly with the drug.

Switzerland, where possession of small amounts of marijuana has been decriminalized but not legalized, has its own byzantine rules and political wrangles about marijuana research, particularly regarding recreational use. But the situation there is not nearly as challenging as in the U.S., where "the laws are so hard," Auer says.

The NASEM report that Abrams contributed to  the first review since 1999 of research on the human health impacts of cannabis use  sought to ease those onerous regulatory barriers. In late January, two weeks after the report's release, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in accord with one of the report's recommendations to advance research efforts: a federal rescheduling of marijuana.

However, that bill may languish. In a reversal of the previous administration's policy, White House officials announced in February that they expect "greater enforcement" of current federal marijuana laws when they conflict with laws in states where recreational use is permitted. Whether that will have a further chilling effect on research remains to be seen.

"It would be a real shame if medicinal marijuana research was put in jeopardy because it's a drug used recreationally," Hellman says. "It's really time for us to understand how it works, what doesn't work, and how it's beneficial. We should be studying it like any other drug."
(HealthDay)For patients with gout, higher levels of belief about medicines, presence of comorbidity, and being married appear to increase urate-lowering therapy adherence, according to a study published online June 15 in the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Xin Hui Jasmine Chua, R.N., from the National University Hospital in Singapore, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive correlation study involving a convenience sample of 108 outpatients with gout recruited from a tertiary hospital in Singapore.

The researchers found that the mean adherence level was moderate, although 44.4 percent of participants were high adherers to urate-lowering therapy. Among subgroups of gender, ethnicity, marital status, employment status, and presence of comorbidity, significant differences in medication adherence scores were seen. There were positive significant correlations for medication adherence with age, number of comorbidities, and beliefs about medicines. Higher levels of beliefs about medicines, presence of comorbidity, and being married positively influenced medication adherence.

"Future research should be conducted to develop interventions targeted at modifying patients' beliefs about medicines in order to improve medication adherence," the authors write.

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
The risk of dying of a myocardial infarction increases by 4 per cent per 10 decibel increase in road noise at home. Credit: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute

Transportation noise increases risk for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. This is shown by the first results of the SiRENE study under the lead of Swiss TPH, which was presented on 20 June 2017 in the framework of the ICBEN Congress (International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise) in Zurich.

How transportation noise affects the health of people remains in many aspects unexplained. Since 2014, an interdisciplinary Swiss consortium has been studying the short- and long-term effects of transportation noise for the population in Switzerland in the frame of the SiRENE study of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Increased risk for developing cardiovascular diseases

The results published so far show that aircraft, rail and road traffic noise in Switzerland leads to adverse health effects. For cardiovascular disease mortality, the most distinct association was found for road noise. The risk of dying of a myocardial infarction increases by 4 per cent per 10 decibel increase in road noise at home. Also the risk of hypertension and heart failure increases with transportation noise. "Particularly critical are most likely noise events at night regularly disturbing sleep," says Martin Roosli, principal investigator of SiRENE and professor of environmental epidemiology at Swiss TPH and the University of Basel. "The threshold for negative health impact is lower than previously suspected."

Noise also favours Diabetes

In addition to cardiovascular diseases, transportation noise also increases the risk of developing diabetes. This is shown by an examination of 2,631 people exposed to different degrees of noise pollution. "Two mechanisms play a role," explains Nicole Probst-Hensch, Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Swiss TPH. "On the one hand, the chronic release of stress hormones influences insulin metabolism. On the other hand, sleep problems are known to negatively affect metabolism in the long term."

More effective noise protection

The results that were published in the frame of the SiRENE study will provide important information for the Swiss authorities with regard to improving noise protection and to potentially adjusting the noise limits in the Noise Abatement Ordinance (NAO). The health impact of transportation noise is substantial when considering the entire population in Switzerland, causing external costs of an estimated CHF 1.8 billion each year. For the health of individuals, however, factors such as exercise and smoking are much more important according to Roosli.

The study results were presented at the ICBEN (International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise) meeting on 20 June 2017 in Zurich. ICBEN is the world's largest congress on the health effects of noise and takes place every three years.

SiRENE - an integrated research approach

SiRENE (Short and Long Term Effects of Transportation Noise Exposure) is an interdisciplinary research project combining experiments in the sleep laboratory, epidemiological research, survey data and acoustic calculations and modelling. The study examines the following four aspects:

1) Representative survey in the Swiss population on noise exposure, self-reported sleep disturbances and coping with noise exposure

2) Experimental study in the sleep laboratory for noise-induced sleep disorders, daytime sleepiness and glucose balance

3) Switzerland-wide modelling of aircraft, rail and road traffic noise

4) Determination of noise-induced health risks using data from the Swiss National Cohort Study and the SAPALDIA Study (Swiss Cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults)

Provided by Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute
Party functionaries say Kovind's down-to-earth image among peers and the public has made him a formidable personality. BJP seniors recall the way the Presidential nominee lived in a rented house in Kanpur even as he was a Rajya Sabha MP.

By Siddhartha Rai: 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. 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.

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BJP seniors also recall the way the Presidential nominee 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 PROOF OF MODI GOVT'S COMMITMENT TO SABKA SAATH, SABKA VIKAS'

"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.

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. 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.

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--- ENDS ---
Stephanie Denzer (center) at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where she worked in the outpatient pediatric oncology clinic to help children and families dealing with cancer. With her are Holli Johnson (left), a social worker who worked with Denzer on inpatient cases, and Denzer's supervisor, Kelli Passalacqua, who is also a UWM alum. Credit: Mayo Clinic photo/Gosha Weivoda

Stephanie Denzer, a May graduate of the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, spent the spring semester doing an internship working with young cancer patients and their families at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Denzer worked at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in community services for two years before coming to UWM to earn her master's degree. The American Cancer Society funded the competitive, for-credit, paid internship, which gives students a foundation in pediatric oncology medical social work.

How did you get this opportunity?

I'm specializing in medical social work, but I didn't know this placement existed. My field placement liaison, Roberta Hanus (clinical associate professor of social work), was actually the one who turned me on to the idea and encouraged me to apply. I'm interested in "peds," in working with children.

What did the internship involve?

I worked with a clinical social worker in the pediatric oncology outpatient unit. We saw patients and their families who had a new diagnosis or were continuing treatment to see what kinds of support they needed. Many times, families traveling from out of state, for example, were concerned about where they would stay and other financial things of that nature. Clinically, I was was able to participate in comprehensive assessments, therapeutic interventions, resource connection, grief and loss issues, and sibling support. Specifically, this included mental health screens and treatments, interventions and plans, relaxation techniques, crisis intervention and behavior modification support. We did a lot of one-on-one with a child about different things we could do to make the treatment process easier.

How were you involved with the medical staff?

We sat in a workroom with the doctors and nurses and were engulfed in the plan of care and the discussions and conversations. We also had a pediatric oncology social worker in the hospitalon the inpatient sideso we worked closely because we often shared patients. A patient who comes into the outpatient area might have to go inpatient to do chemotherapies or procedures. I had the opportunity to go back and forth and follow up with patients and their families, keep the rapport going and follow them along the way with questions they might have.

That must be very challenging work, dealing with children who have cancer and their families. That's not something parents expect to happen to them or their children.

It was challenging, and I learned a lot. I'm engaged at a deeper level than I was in the past. There were difficult cases and difficult aspects of being there, but I had really supportive co-workers and great supervisors, Holli Johnson and Kelli Passalacqua. Kelli is a graduate of UWM.

Were there rewards to go with those challenges?

I learned a lot about different resources available to families, and I also learned more about the clinical roles. I saw the whirlwind that a new diagnosis brings to the families, but I also experienced a few cases where a child was through treatment, things were looking good and they were in remission. That helped put the hard days in perspective.

What's next for you?

I would like to go into the pediatric social work field though I'm not sure where. I'm in the process of applying, but no firm offers yet. I enjoy the setting, although it is difficult.
Tablet 'overload' may be causing harm. Credit: Aston University

Uncertainty and confusion over medicine use is affecting thousands of patients and their carers and, potentially, putting lives at risk, warn researchers.

Research suggests that about 5,700 people die every year in the UK because of 'medication related adverse events', which includes side-effects and when incorrect medicines, dosages or strengths are administered. The cost of these events is estimated at 750 million, with a further 300 million bill for wasted medicines which aren't taken. Internationally, medication related problems are believed to be the fifth most common cause of death in the USA.

According to researchers at Aston University, the problem is particularly pronounced among older people taking many different medicines. Older people, particularly older people with dementia, often rely on family members or other carers to manage their medication, and these carers often have their own medication to manage as well.

A team led by Dr Ian Maidment at Aston University is undertaking a ground-breaking 20-month study into the problem, with funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The Aston project is titled MEMORABLE  Medication Management in Older People: Realist Approaches Based on Literature and Evaluation.

As well as reviewing the scientific evidence, the team will interview older people and carers, and health and care practitioners to learn from their experiences. The work will take place predominantly in the West Midlands, where the population is broadly representative of the UK as a whole.

Dr Maidment said: "With an ageing population, this problem is very likely to get worse. More people will require medication for long term conditions and the responsibility for helping those patients manage their drugs will frequently fall on older carers, who will often have their own medications to deal with as well.

"I worked as a pharmacist for 25 years and it's my belief that we do not have a system for handling complex medicine regimes well. When a patient is being prescribed several drugs  it's known as polypharmacy  there are many risks.

"The patient themselves may make mistakes, taking the wrong pill or dosage. And where responsibility for looking after medication moves to a family carer, they may find this role a burden. We need to find a way to make this safer and easier, based on what we can learn from the experiences of patients, carers and practitioners, and from good evidence of what works well. That's what makes this study novel."

Some carers can find themselves in an impossible position. One such carer is Graham Price, from Birmingham, who was left to treat his 65-year-old wife Maureen with 11 different medications  even though he is blind.

Graham, 77, said: "Imagine a blind person left to medicate a vulnerable person with 11 medications each day, at variable frequencies, one of which was given five times a day. What sort of care is that?

"I fumbled to find the mouth of my loved one and then wasn't sure if the pill or liquid medication had been swallowed; it was a distressing experience five times daily for both of us.

"A friend suggested I request a seven-day monitoring tray of medications from the chemist, as they were understandably worried I could make an error taking pills from an array of individual boxes. Unable to remind myself of their contents, their use certainly required reliance on a good memory.

"But the segmented monitoring medication trays posed their own difficulties. Each covered segment held the appropriate medication for specific times. With variable frequencies of use, it was imperative the covering film was removed from the correct segment  alertness isn't always at 100 per cent and there was an ever-present risk of a mistake.

"When the absurdity of this situation was raised with clinicians they understood the difficulty but appeared powerless or unwilling to act and affect change. Surely they have a voice and should use it when the operational process is plainly wrong?

"In November 2011, after four-and-a-half years of coping with the madness of medicating Maureen, and with the health of both of us deteriorating, I refused to medicate my loved one. This caused mayhem, with already hard-pressed community nurses required to take on this role.

"Exhausted and feeling suicidal after four years of unrelenting 24/7 care for Maureen, I rang the clinicians and said: 'If you don't get help out here, you'll have two rather than one on your case load.' Help from social services arrived immediately after that; why did it take so long?'

"Then the arguments who should pay for this service, health or social care authorities, began. My tenacity prevailed and the NHS accepted their responsibility  but should this fight have been necessary?"

Someone else who has seen the effects of such problems first-hand is Shirley Nurock, 73, whose life was turned upside-down when her GP husband Leonard began to show symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer's Disease in his fifties.

Shirley, from London, said: "Issues around medication management still stand out as being a cause of extra and unnecessary stress.Caring at home, it was difficult to know whether or not prescribed drugs, particularly for agitation, were really necessary and whether or not the dosage was too high.

"Looking after a husband with young-onset dementia, it was hard to keep up with his wandering, to remember to ask him if he had remembered to take his pills, and I am sure some pills were often missed.

"After he was admitted to a nursing home, there were more major and problematic areas. Drugs were prescribed PRN (Pro Re Nata, or as needed)  but who was checking if they were needed? On some days he appeared overdosed on particular medication and slept for 20 hours, which was deeply unsettling; on other occasions, it appeared that medication was being under-supplied, with other upsetting consequences.

"He was on so many medications, all for relatively minor conditions, but cumulatively they were causing multiple side-effects. I rarely saw a pharmacist going through the residents' medication lists and even more rarely saw the GP, but all these things could have been picked up if a community pharmacist had regularly checked these things."

GPs also have concerns about the issue. Dr Geoff Wong, of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, also works as a GP in Swiss Cottage, North London.

He said: "Along with many of my fellow NHS GPs, I find many older patients have complex medication regimes. I get a lot of guidelines on the conditions they have but fewer, if any, that target the issue of how to help them manage their complex medication regimes.

"Instead, I often have to draw on clinical experience to help me manage complex medication regimes.

"What's needed is a better understanding of the challenges that older people with complex medication regimes face. Only then will be it be possible to work out who needs what kind of help, when, how and why with their complex medication regime. That is what I hope this project will do."

Jo Rycroft-Malone is Programme Director for the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research Programme, which is funding the research.

She said: "We felt this study, focusing on the needs of older people managing complex medication regimes, addressed an important issue in health service provision.

"This research will gather information from the people with first-hand experience of medication management and provision  carers, patients and medical professionals  in the hope of providing evidence that can inform future practice. The NIHR prides itself on funding studies that address priorities for patients and the NHS.

"This study is also a good example of how our organisation, researchers, medical professionals and patients and the public have a combined role to play in the future of health services and research."

A third of people aged 75 or over regularly take six or more medicines and it is predicted that up to three million people will be regularly taking multiple medicines within the next year.

Polypharmacy can happen when patients move between care providers, or when the side effects of one drug are treated as if they are a new medical condition, rather than a side-effect.

More information: Developing a framework for a novel multi-disciplinary, multi-agency intervention(s), to improve medication management in older people on complex medication regimens resident in the community. Developing a framework for a novel multi-disciplinary, multi-agency intervention(s), to improve medication management in older people on complex medication regimens resident in the community. www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk  13701#/documentation Ian D. Maidment et al. A qualitative study exploring medication management in people with dementia living in the community and the potential role of the community pharmacist, Health Expectations (2017). DOI: 10.1111/hex.12534
The loss of a loved one, a dispute with your neighbour, 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 analysed 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.

More information: Giannakopoulos Konstantinos et al. Comparison and Outcome Analysis of Patients with Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy Triggered by Emotional Stress or Physical Stress, Frontiers in Psychology (2017). Journal information: Frontiers in Psychology Giannakopoulos Konstantinos et al. Comparison and Outcome Analysis of Patients with Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy Triggered by Emotional Stress or Physical Stress,(2017). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00527

Provided by Deutsches Zentrum fur Herz-Kreislauf-Forschung (DZHK)
Refugee and undocumented immigrant women may experience unique and ongoing stress following migration, in addition to the pre- and post-migration traumatic events all immigrants may experience. A new study explores ways in which refugee and immigrants develop resilience to cope with these experiences. Many of the women rely on both external strategies, such as reliance on government supports (if eligible), and internal strategies, such as their faith and their positive beliefs about opportunities in the United States.

The study suggest that counselors can play important roles in advocacy, creating community-based support systems, and offering culture-centered mental health services to immigrant women.

"We are seeing an increase in hostility towards immigrants, and we are also seeing community leaders and allies step forward to build a more just society in which immigrants can thrive," said Dr. Rachael Goodman, lead author of the Journal of Counseling & Development study. "As service providers, policy makers, and researchers, we must work in partnership with immigrant communities to ameliorate harm and promote wellbeing through both clinical interventions and policy."

More information: Journal of Counseling & Development, DOI: 10.1002/jcad.12145
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The sleep rhythms that reflect circadian systems peak later in teenagers than in adults, and vary as much as 10 hours in individuals across at any ages, according to a study published June 21, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Dorothee Fischer from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA, and colleagues.

People's circadian systems synchronize with light and darkness in the environment, giving rise to chronotypes: individual rhythms in physiology, cognition and behavior. For example, people with early chronotypes have earlier sleep times, while those with late chronotypes have later sleep times and can sleep into the day. Currently, 30% of the U.S. workforce has unusual work schedules, such as alternating or extended shifts, and on-call duty. These unusual schedules are linked with health and safety risks. Chronotype-tailored schedules might help minimize those risks.

To investigate chronotypes variation in the US, Fischer and colleagues analyzed self-reported data from 53,689 respondents of the American Time Use Survey from 2003 to 2014. The researchers used the mid-point of sleep on weekends as a proxy for chronotype.

The researchers found that sleep chronotypes vary widely, both over an individual's lifetime amongst age groups as well as amongst individuals. The greatest difference in chronotypes is during adolescence and early adulthood. Chronotypes become later during adolescence, peaking in lateness at about age 19. The average chronotype, or mid-point of sleep, at age 17-18 was 4:30 a.m., compared to 3:00 a.m. at age 60. Most U.S. public schools start at 8:30 a.m. or earlier, suggesting that high school students go to school during their biological night. This work supports delaying school start times to benefit the sleep and circadian alignment of high school students.

In addition, the researchers found that chronotypes vary up to 10 hours from individual to individual regardless of age. This may provide opportunities for tailoring work schedules to chronotypes, which is important because syncing workers with their optimal work times could help minimize health and safety risks.

"The timing for optimal sleep can be as different as ten hours among individuals, meaning that opposite chronotypes could share a bed without knowing that they do. What chronotype you are, is influenced by age and gender: on average, older people are earlier chronotypes than younger people and women are earlier chronotypes than men during the first half of their lives."

More information: Fischer D, Lombardi DA, Marucci-Wellman H, Roenneberg T (2017) Chronotypes in the US - Influence of age and sex. PLoS ONE 12(6): e0178782. Journal information: PLoS ONE Fischer D, Lombardi DA, Marucci-Wellman H, Roenneberg T (2017) Chronotypes in the US - Influence of age and sex.12(6): e0178782. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178782
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

For most people having a good memory means being able to remember more information clearly for long periods of time. For neuroscientists too, the inability to remember was long believed to represent a failure of the brain's mechanisms for storing and retrieving information.

But according to a new review paper from Paul Frankland, a senior fellow in CIFAR's Child & Brain Development program, and Blake Richards, an associate fellow in the Learning in Machines & Brains program, our brains are actively working to forget. In fact, the two University of Toronto researchers propose that the goal of memory is not to transmit the most accurate information over time, but to guide and optimize intelligent decision making by only holding on to valuable information.

"It's important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that's going to help make decisions in the real world," says Richards.

The review paper, published this week in the journal Neuron, looks at the literature on remembering, known as persistence, and the newer body of research on forgetting, or transience. The recent increase in research into the brain mechanisms that promote forgetting is revealing that forgetting is just as important a component of our memory system as remembering.

"We find plenty of evidence from recent research that there are mechanisms that promote memory loss, and that these are distinct from those involved in storing information," says Frankland.

One of these mechanisms is the weakening or elimination of synaptic connections between neurons in which memories are encoded. Another mechanism, supported by evidence from Frankland's own lab, is the generation of new neurons from stem cells. As new neurons integrate into the hippocampus, the new connections remodel hippocampal circuits and overwrite memories stored in those circuits, making them harder to access. This may explain why children, whose hippocampi are producing more new neurons, forget so much information.

It may seem counterintuitive that the brain would expend so much energy creating new neurons at the detriment of memory. Richards, whose research applies artificial intelligence (AI) theories to understanding the brain, looked to principles of learning from AI for answers. Using these principles, Frankland and Richards frame an argument that the interaction between remembering and forgetting in the human brain allows us to make more intelligent memory-based decisions.

It does so in two ways. First, forgetting allows us to adapt to new situations by letting go of outdated and potentially misleading information that can no longer help us maneuver changing environments.

"If you're trying to navigate the world and your brain is constantly bringing up multiple conflicting memories, that makes it harder for you to make an informed decision," says Richards.

The second way forgetting facilitates decision making is by allowing us to generalize past events to new ones. In artificial intelligence this principle is called regularization and it works by creating simple computer models that prioritize core information but eliminate specific details, allowing for wider application.

Memories in the brain work in a similar way. When we only remember the gist of an encounter as opposed to every detail, this controlled forgetting of insignificant details creates simple memories which are more effective at predicting new experiences.

Ultimately, these mechanisms are cued by the environment we are in. A constantly changing environment may require that we remember less. For example, a cashier who meets many new people every day will only remember the names of her customers for a short period of time, whereas a designer that meets with her clients regularly will retain that information longer.

"One of the things that distinguishes an environment where you're going to want to remember stuff versus an environment where you want to forget stuff is this question of how consistent the environment is and how likely things are to come back into your life, " says Richards.

Similarly, research shows that episodic memories of things that happen to us are forgotten more quickly than general knowledge that we access on a daily basis, supporting the old adage that if you don't use it, you lose it. But in the context of making better memory-based decisions, you may be better off for it.
Credit: Anna Langova/public domain

Yoga has connected the world with India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday, as he rolled out his mat along with millions of others across the globe to celebrate the ancient practice.

Enthusiasts across India rose at the crack of dawn, many braving monsoon showers, to mark the third International Yoga Day.

Celebrity yoga guru Baba Ramdev claimed to have set a new world record for the largest yoga session by gathering more than 300,000 practitioners at an open-air ground in the western city of Ahmedabad.

Officials from Guinness World Records were checking data from the event, but if confirmed, the numbers easily beat the previous record set two years ago in New Delhi with 36,000 participants.

This year, police in New Delhi closed roads to make room for a mass yoga session held amid tight security in the heart of the capital.

"When all of us, at the same time, do the same movements, it feels special. The energy is different," said 24-year-old Abhi Aggarwal as he waited with his parents for the session to start.

India's prime minister, a teetotal vegetarian who practises yoga daily, led some 50,000 people in an early-morning session in Lucknow, the capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

"Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, or culture are now connecting to India through yoga," Modi said in an address to the crowd.

"Yoga connects body, mind and soul. It is playing a big role in bringing the world together too," he said after performing various poses.

Soft power

Modi, who credits his strict yoga regime for his ability to work long hours on little sleep, has been spearheading an initiative to reclaim the practice as an historic part of Indian culture since his Hindu nationalist government came to power in 2014.

He has set up a ministry dedicated to promoting yoga and other traditional practices and persuaded the United Nations to create a dedicated International Yoga Day, a move seen as a triumph of soft power.

Indian scholars believe yoga dates back 5,000 years, based on archaeological evidence of poses found inscribed on stones and references to Yogic teachings in the ancient Hindu scriptures of the Vedas.

On Wednesday the UN headquarters in New York lit up with images of poses, among the events being held across more than 100 countries to mark the third International Yoga Day.

From China's Great Wall to the London Eye, yoga fans performed 'asanas', or poses, at major landmarks.

But not everyone was enthusiastican influential hardline Islamist group in Bangladesh called for Muslims to boycott a yoga event organised by the Indian High Commission (embassy).

Hundreds of officers were deployed at the national stadium, where the three-hour event was held, after Hefazat-e-Islam said yoga was un-Islamic.

Across India, schoolchildren, soldiers, politicians and bureaucrats bent and twisted their bodies on colourful mats at mass outdoor sessions.

In the southern city of Bangalore 98-year-old American Tao Porchon-Lynch, the world's oldest yoga teacher according to Guinness World Records, led a mass session.

Television footage showed Indian soldiers performing yoga in their military overalls in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, at a height of 18,000 feet (5,500 metres).

Vishnudeo Vishwakarma,a retired former Air India employee, said he began each day with a 5am yoga session.

"If you buy a machine and don't operate it... after one year, the machine will not run. Your body is like that," the 66-year-old told AFP in Delhi. "Your joints and muscles will be stuck up."

 2017 AFP
Full Article

They had to know, right? They had to know what to expect. Coming to Dublin after a wait this long, Get Alter Bridge to Ireland campaigns on social media, they had to know it was going to be something pretty special. In support of their latest record, The Last Hero, Alter Bridges sold out Dublin debut took place within the walls of The Olympia Theatre last night, a venue engrossed in artistic history with endless stories worth telling. And this proved to be no exception, being another of those tales that will be retold long into the future. For when it comes to unforgettable nights, this night was next to none.

Its said that a fleet of fans formed lines overnight and held their place throughout the day, their enthusiasm unimpaired despite battered feet, tired eyes and sun burnt bodies. All of which meant that when supporting act Red Sun Rising took to the stage they were met with an almost full house raring and ready to go. And the band seized their moment. Fast, furious, giving it all they had, the bands showmanship and anthemic choruses hooked the audience from the get-go, earning them much respect as Red Sun Rising made their own Irish debut a success. But if the response for the support act was a strong one, the headliners were in for something electric.

In fairness, for a moment it seemed like it could all go horribly wrong, beginning as it did like an awkward first date. One by one, Alter Bridge strutted their way on to the stage and kicked it all off with The Writing on the Wall, Come to Life, Farther Than the Sun and Addicted to Pain. A good solid start by any standards. But this was Dublin. This was The Olympia. And in the intimate surroundings of the legendary venue the Irish audience were determined to get past the good into something much more up close and personal. No sooner had the lights gone down the venue erupted with a united cheer that would have seen battlefront warriors from Braveheart cower. Delivering a set where the standing audience came close to forming a single mosh pit, inches shy of leveling the barriers that divided the standing area, while folks seated in the balconies above matched the ground floor for energy, the band soon realized there was something different in the air and visibly seemed to relax and embrace the occasion. If there was any uncertainty on their part, the continuous chant of Alter Bridge throughout transitions, made plain the audiences feelings on the night.

With bassist Brian Marshall, front man and guitarist Myles Kennedy and guitarist Mark Tremonti all living on the edge of the stage, shifting positions regularly, the multi-generational crowd, who all live in a digital age, showed minimal use of phones on the night. Such was the energy, this crowd was not here to spectate; they were here to participate. Something Alter Bridge quickly realized, meeting the crowds energy head on, like two tidal waves colliding, with both band and audience giving themselves up to the experience, ensuring the night continually went from strength to strength. Slip to the Void, Ties That Bind and Isolation among others saw barriers dissolve between the band and fans, crafting exceptional moments, such as Metalingus, where drummer Scott Phillips truly shone, as well as the evenings undisputed highlight, vocalist Myles Kennedys haunting acoustic rendition of Watch Over You on which he shared vocal duties with the crowd. As the night wound down, with a lot of laughs in between songs, including an original composition crafted on the spot, the bands encore of duelling guitars from Kennedy and Tremonti led into a sincere and heartfelt thanks which prefaced show closures Show Me a Leader, and the finale, Rise Today. Yet neither the band nor the fans seemed to want the night to end. As point outs and plecs were flung amidst a sea of chants, this first date ended in moments that, in truth, said so, so much.

Alter Bridges Dublin debut was unquestionably one of the gigs of the year. A show that honored the loyalty between band and fans, musically it transcended the notion of genre, showing their rich Americana heritage, from delta blues dueling guitars to Roy Orbison phrasing on Kennedys exquisite vocals. In Dublin, Alter Bridge showed they are the real deal and one of the genuine torch bearers for rock as it heads into the future, on a night that will live on in the memory of all who were there, and in the imagination of those who were not. Throughout the night, each member of the band beamed with delight, as if genuinely surprised by the intensity of the Irish fans response. Both band and audience gave everything and more on this exceptional first date. A date so good, there just had to be a second. A mid-show announcement of their return to the fair city in October confirmed what everyone wanted to hear. But if Alter Bridges future Irish performances will be a force to be reckoned with, this was the one that will become the stuff of legend.
Spain arrests highly radicalised Moroccan with suicide bomb manual



ARCHIVED ARTICLE

The suspect is considered an extremely high security risk

The Policia Nacional moved in to the Madrid district of Legazpi in the early hours of Wednesday morning to arrest a 32-year-old Moroccan Jihadist whom they describe as extremely dangerous, clarifying that he may well have been plotting a suicide bombing although there is no indication of any specific target having been identified.

The mans two flatmates, both Moroccan nationals aged 33 and 38, were also taken into custody during the raid in Calle Divino Valles, near the railway station of Atocha, and according to the Ministry of the Interior the main suspect shares many aspects in common with those who were involved in recent terrorist attacks in the UK and France. Apparently he had obtained copies of the Jihadist manual for suicide terrorism and the manual for the electronic Jihad, and evidence has found that he was in contact with Daesh fighters in the main Jihadist combat zones of Syria and Iraq.

There have now been 172 arrests in Spain related to Jihadism since the terrorist alert status in this country was raised to level 4 (out of 5) on 26th June.

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Mobile operators in South Africa face a big problem: they have no room to roll out wide-coverage 4G, or the upcoming 5G, networks.

Physical space isnt the issue, but rather a lack of frequency spectrum for LTE and LTE-A.

Spectrum represents the maximum wireless capacity a network has to connect cellular phones to its towers.

Typically, a South African operator has three spectrum assignments:

Low frequency  900MHz Mid frequency  1,800MHz High frequency  split between 1,900MHz and 2,100MHz

Telkom is an exception, having no 900MHz spectrum, but a large chunk of 2,300MHz.

Neotel and Rain are also exceptions, but dont operate traditional mobile networks.

Government vs licensees

The spectrum problem is thanks to battles between the government and industry over how it must be allocated.

One fight involves the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Siyabonga Cwele and mobile networks  which is in the process of being resolved.

Cwele announced that a compromise had been reached to assign spectrum to a national wireless open access network and the mobile operators, following the publication of the ICT Policy White Paper.

The other fight revolves around South Africas dismal attempt to get its digital migration on track.

E.tv, MultiChoice, and the government are fighting over whether SAs terrestrial broadcast TV signals should be encrypted, and whether government-subsidised set-top boxes required for old TVs to receive the signal should support encryption.

New Communications Minister Ayanda Dlodlo said she would implement the ANCs policy of supporting encrypted digital terrestrial TV signals.

She has set a new digital migration deadline of December 2018  a process which has been delayed multiple times over the past decade.

Until the digital migration happens, spectrum in the 700MHz and 800MHz bands that operators can use for their LTE networks is locked down.

A 4G feature phone

Rather than wait for the government to get its act together, operators may look to other solutions.

Earlier this year, Qualcomm announced its 205 Mobile Platform  which it said will bring LTE connectivity to entry-level feature phones.

One of the big challenges operators in South Africa face is that a large chunk of their subscriber base still relies on 2G connectivity.

2G-only phones are much cheaper than 3G and 4G devices, making it near impossible for operators to migrate those clients onto newer technologies.

However, Qualcomm expects that feature phones which support LTE will become available later this year.

Qualcomms Simone Severini and James Munn told MyBroadband they hope to show off these devices to local operators soon.

The devices will also support 3G and 2G technology, meaning subscribers in areas with no LTE coverage can still use the phones.

Once faster networks in outlying areas go live, these subscribers will be able to use apps such as WhatsApp and use their phones as a hotspot.

Munn said they hope these devices will sell for around R350, excluding operator subsidies and depending on the strength of the rand.

Now read: South Africa is 10 years behind on spectrum
Pune's Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, dedicated to the wife of yoga guru BKS Iyengar, has been selected as the first recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and development of yoga.

Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute is dedicated to the wife of BKS Iyengar (photo)

By Pankaj P. Khelkar: Pune's Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) has been selected as the first recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and development of yoga. The institution of the award was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of International Yoga Day.

Nominations were invited through open advertisement by the Ministry of AYUSH, which had developed the guidelines for the awards.

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Two committees were constituted - a screening committee (for preliminary evaluation) and an evaluation committee (jury), so that a transparent process was followed while finalizing the awards.

85 nominations were received, and 15 more individuals or organisations were recommended by the screening committee.

The screening committee shortlisted 16 names after detailed discussions and analysis of the contributions of the individuals and institutes.

ABOUT THE RAMAMANI IYENGAR MEMORIAL YOGA INSTITUTE

The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute has worked to spread yoga internationally over four decades, and has published books on yoga that have been translated into multiple languages.

There are thousands of Iyengar Yoga teachers popularising and propagating yoga across the world.

The institute was established on January 19, 1975, and is dedicated to Ramamani Iyengar, the wife of yoga guru BKS Iyengar. Students from all over the world come here to understand the essence of yoga and learn the values of life.

ALSO READ | International Yoga Day LIVE: Yoga has helped India to connect with the world, says PM Modi

ALSO READ | AIIMS, RML doctors delve into effects of yoga on migraine and schizophrenia

ALSO WATCH | Baba Ramdev: Due to India's initiative, 200 nations celebrate International Yoga Day

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Government remains committed to ensuring energy security through the rollout of the nuclear build programme, which forms part of the countrys energy mix, says Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi.

In a statement on Wednesday, Minister Kubayi said government is committed to the provision of reliable and sustainable electricity supply, as part of reducing carbon emissions.

Minister Kubayi recently led a delegation to the 9th International Forum ATOMEXPO in Moscow, Russia.

ATOMEXPO, which is the largest exhibition venue for meetings and negotiations between world leaders of the nuclear power sector, began on Monday.

During discussions, Minister Kubayi reiterated the departments openness and transparency, as well as engaging all spheres of government and the public, in line with the countrys legislation and policies.

It is critical to recognise that the nuclear new build programme will enable the country to create jobs, develop skills and create industries. More critically, we encourage young people and women to participate in the energy sector, said the Minister.

ATOMEXPO brings together more than 60 countries, with the purpose of exchange views over matters of common interest in regard to nuclear energy development.

South Africa has been a consistent participant at ATOMEXPO because of its existing nuclear programme. The country also participates to gain experience in preparation for the expansion of the nuclear new build programme, in line with governments energy mix policy.

Having acceded to the Paris Agreement, South Africa is also keen to learn from the best practices that would assist it in meeting its energy objectives, including improving energy security, creating jobs, localization of nuclear technologies, increasing access to energy, reducing water consumption, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and diversifying the energy mix.

Minister Kubayi held a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Energy for the Russian Federation, Alexander Novak, where they discussed various options in the nuclear and energy space, within the context of the Energy Cooperation Agreement.

She also met with the Director General of Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, where they agreed that technical teams will initiate discussions on cooperation.

The Minister met with Ghanaian Deputy Minister of Power in the Department of Energy, William Owuraku Aidoo, where the two agreed on establishing relations and synergies in the energy sector.

She also interacted with Dr Anthonie Cilliers, who was representing the North West University at ATOMEXPO.

The Minister congratulated the University for being the third university in the world to achieve International Nuclear Management Academy (INMA) peer review.

It is endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for their nuclear technology management programme.

The purpose of ATOMEXPO, which will conclude today, is for the various participating countries to share their experiences and lobby for the different initiatives in the nuclear energy sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to make the transition to a low carbon economy.

SA News
Vodacom has extended its FTTH network through new lease agreements with third-party network infrastructure providers Link Africa, Octotel, Frogfoot, and Waterfall Access Network.

Its clients will now have access to Vodacom Fibre, Fixed Voice, and Value-Added Services through these providers.

The company also announced new packages and price plans for its current wholesale FTTH networks, including Vumatel, Openserve, Fibrehoods, Century City, SA Digital Villages, and Dark Fibre Africa Parkview.

Pricing is available on Vodacoms fibre website.

Vodacom has also launched revised products and pricing on its own network, and introduced uncapped and symmetrical price plans.

Uncapped and capped offerings are available as month-to-month, 12-month, or 24-month options.

Century City

Dark Fibre Africa

Fibrehoods

Frogfoot

Link Africa

Octotel

Openserve

SA Digital Villages

Vumatel

Vodacom Fibre

Waterfall Access Network

Now read: FTTH crushing ADSL in South Africa
The attorney general of Qatar says his country has proof that the hacking of its state-run news agency in May is linked to countries that have recently cut ties with Doha.

Qatar has evidence that certain iPhones originating from countries laying siege to Qatar were used in the hack, Ali Bin Fetais al-Marri told reporters in Doha on Tuesday.

He did not name the countries.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt severed their relations with Qatar on June 5, in a dispute that was escalated after a cyberattack on Qatar News Agency (QNA) on May 23.

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.

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.

Al Jazeera
Around 200 people gathered in Jette, a municipality in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium, in memory of the Aramaic, Pontic Greek, and Armenian genocide victims in the Ottoman Empire.

The ceremony took place at the location where a plaque was unveiled in 2015, to commemorate the centennial of Armenian Genocide, according to The Brussels Times.

It is vital to continue to commemorate this genocide. Our children should be aware of what happened to their parents and grandparents, said Luc Atas from the Federation of Belgian Armenians. This tragedy is part of our national identity, in the same way as our belief, language and culture. We should not forget it, even less so now that the Aramaics are, once again, under threat in the Middle East. In both Iraq and Syria, our peoples are subject to fresh genocide.

Those that spoke at the event noted that the Belgian parliament still has not recognized the Armenian Genocide, per se.

A vote to ensure this failed in 2015, mainly owing to the pressure exerted by Turkey, stressed Humanist Democratic Centre (Centre democrate humaniste, cdH) political party deputy Georges Dallemagne. Nevertheless, I will continue to fight for Turkeys recognition of the massacre.
Armenia appoints ambassador to Sri Lanka

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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

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Newspaper: Armenia parliament opposition seats to no longer be empty

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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Joint meeting of Armenian National Assembly and Russian State Duma Committee takes place

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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

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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

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Biden says he will discuss Ukraine conflict at G20 summit

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Erdogan tells what relations between Turkey and Armenia depend on

Iran says it has developed first hypersonic ballistic missile

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FM Lavrov to head Russia delegation at G20 summit

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Armenia to get 100mn loan to fund budget deficit

IAEA head: Talks on Iran's nuclear program ended inconclusively

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This year 320 people seek asylum in Armenia, 213 are from Ukraine

Erdogan speaks on trusting relationship with Putin

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Indonesian authorities: Putin won't come to G20 summit in Bali

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Washington demands part of Israeli Arrow 3 for sale to Germany, be produced in the U.S.

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Chinese woman makes dresses for her daughter out of trash bags

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YEREVAN.  Court hearing of the detached part of the case into the Sasna Tsrer armed group will resume Thursday in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia.

This time courtroom has been sectioned off with glass windows, especially for this trial.

Before the start of the court session, however, court bailiffs again attempted to search the attorneys. But the latter opposed, noting that a search was being conducted under the guise of inspection.

As reported earlier, the previous court hearing had adjourned before even getting started, since both the defendants and their relatives were making noise.

The Sasna Tsrer armed group took over of a police patrol regiment building in Yerevan, took hostages, but later surrendered, in July 2016.
When Katrina Kaif was asked if she will work with Ranbir Kapoor after Jagga Jasoos, she had said, "It will never happen again."

By India Today Web Desk: Although Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif have been nothing but friendly during the promotions of their upcoming release, Jagga Jasoos, there were strong rumours of cold vibes in the absence of cameras. When Katrina Kaif said in a recent interview that she would never work with ex-boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor again, gossip columns which had talked about their bitter break-up felt vindicated. But Ranbir has now clarified that it was not meant to be taken seriously.

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The Ae Dil Hai Mushkil actor told NDTV, "The honest truth behind it is that we were at a Facebook chat. I cracked a joke on her and she cracked it back on me. And she's saying 'It's really fair that the media has taken just my joke and made this out to be like something that I just said. I wouldn't say that.' So yeah, it's not true."

Ranbir insisted that Katrina has been a great co-star. "Katrina and I have an amazing creative partnership. I love working with her. She's really allowed me to shine whenever I work with her and she's very gracefully done that for me. She's increased my stardom when she was a much bigger star," he said.

Ranbir and Katrina began shooting for Anurag Basu's Jagga Jasoos in 2014, but the film kept getting delayed, and the couple parted ways in 2016, before it could be completed. However, they kept their personal issues aside and completed the film. The former couple is currently busy promoting their film. Jagga Jasoos will hit theatres on July 14.

ALSO READ: Katrina miffed with KJo because of ex-boyfriend Ranbir?

ALSO READ: Exes Ranbir-Katrina click first ever selfie after break-up

ALSO WATCH: Ranbir and Katrina have an awkward press meet for Jagga Jasoos

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN.  The Chair of Armenian National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, Armen Ashotyan received the member of the Belgian Senate, Joris Poschet.

During the meeting, Armen Ashotyan expressed hope that the traditional friendly relations existing between the newly formed the Armenian and Belgian Parliaments will continue in the spirit of cooperation in the context of active contacts between the existing partner committees in the parliaments of the two countries.

In the course of the meeting the sides touched upon the Armenia-EU relations, the importance and role of signing of RA-EU new Comprehensive Agreement designed in Brussels Summit. In this context Armen Ashotyan noted that Armenia had been and remains faithful to its commitments based on the European Partnership and will continue actively participating in the initiatives aimed at boosting the European democracy.

Referring to the peaceful settlement process of Karabakh conflict, Armen Ashotyan has stated that the gross violations of ceasefire being regularly implemented by the Azerbaijani armed forces on the frontline in any way damage the negotiating process and the atmosphere of trust in the region, which is fraught with unpredictable consequences. In the context of Karabakh conflict settlement Armen Ashotyan has noted that Karabakh is a part of Europe, a state that realized the European democratic values, and its people have earned the right of possessing its own destiny.

During the meeting the sides also discussed issues concerning further cooperation.
In a letter addressed to Canadas Minister of Global Affairs and other high-ranking personnel within the Canadian governments executive and legislative branches, the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) strongly condemned Azerbaijans latest ceasefire violations and called upon the Canadian government to immediately condemn the unprovoked violence by the Aliyev regime, Horizonweekly reported.

In the letter addressed to the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Canadas Minister of Global Affairs, ANCC president, Shahen Mirakian said We strongly urge you to support the peace process by immediately condemning this act of aggression by the Aliyev regime and making it clear that Azerbaijan will be held to account for any further violence.

The failure by Canada and the rest of the international community to make any statement on this incident would further empower the Aliyev regime and it could serve as a catalyst for further violence and destabilization in the region. said Mirakian.

Over the past week, Azerbaijan continued to violate the internationally brokered ceasefire, using newly introduced long range grenade launchers and other highly sophisticated and destructive weaponry. Azerbaijans latest aggression has also targeted internationally commissioned OSCE (Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe) monitoring personnel, while claiming the lives of four Armenian servicemen.

What is more troubling, however, is the fact that latest violations come shortly after Bakus refusal to lead the OSCE monitoring mission to the line of contact, something for which Armenia has shown full compliance.

Monitoring exercises are important confidence building measures, for which Azerbaijan has consistently failed to cooperate. said Mirakian.
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Azerbaijan army fires at Armenia positions, uses mortars as well

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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

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State Duma deputy: Interparliamentary format Yerevan-Baku-Moscow will be included soon to solve issues

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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

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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

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Iranian intelligence urges Saudi Arabia not to test Tehran's strategic patience

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Japan and the US begin major joint exercise

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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

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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

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YEREVAN.  Tough policy of Azerbaijan has become a problem for the international community, political analyst Ruben Mehrabyan told reporters on Wednesday.

Armenia must pursue a strict policy concerning Russia's supply of arms to Azerbaijan. The Armenian side is silent, while the country should use language of ultimatums against Russia. Armenia must learn to say no to Russia, the expert noted.

Commenting on a remark that another OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing country - France  is also selling weapons to Azerbaijan, he noted that France officially pledged not to sell arms to the conflicting parties until the conflict is resolved.

Secondly, France is not a strategic ally of Armenia. Let's not forget that 90% of the arms supplied to Azerbaijan comes from Russia, added Ruben Mehrabyan.
YEREVAN.  Armenia will be able to get $8 billion investments, if the energy market is completely free and it is possible to export electricity to Georgia and Iran, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Richard Mills told reporters on Wednesday.

Armenia's energy sector has great potential, and the American investors are interested in this area, Mills assured. Ambassador informed about the recent meetings with Armenian energy infrastructure minister who had presented two investment programs, one of the referring to energy production through solid waste processing. Mr. Mills said they are presenting the proposals to the American investors.

As to the $ 8 billion possible investment potential of Armenias energy sector, the diplomat said it would be real if the market is free.

It will be possible if these is infrastructure, he added.

Ambassador said the figure of $8 billion has been calculated by the energy ministry, and the estimates of the embassy also confirm that there is such a potential.
YEREVAN.  The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group should make a transition from targeted statements to condemning statements.

Armenia-based Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional Cooperation Director, political scientist Stepan Grigoryan, stated the aforementioned at Wednesdays discussion on the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict.

In his words, after the events in April 2016when Azerbaijan unleashed a large-scale military aggression against Karabakhwe need to realize whom we are dealing with.

Azerbaijan is predictable solely from the viewpoint that it will run a rigid policy, use snipers, whereas we [the Armenian party to the conflict] need to take appropriate steps, Grigoryan noted.

The analyst stressed that, after the Minsk Group co-chairs recent targeted statement, in which they clearly stated who had fired the shotsAzerbaijan, their last statement was more neutral.

The OSCE Minsk Group should make a transition from targeted statements to condemning statements, Stepan Grigoryan added. This is vital so that the OSCE Minsk Group doesnt lose its standing.
YEREVAN.  The State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) of Armenia has an important role in creation of an appealing investment climate in the country.

US Ambassador Richard Mills noted the aforementioned at Wednesdays discussion between the commission and the American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia (AmCham).

The objective of this talk was to confer on the American investment companies challenges, concerns, and recommendations regarding the respective competitive field in Armenia, the SCPEC informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In his remarks at the event, Ambassador Mills also noted that they encourage the commission to promote relevant transparency in the country.

AmCham President Ara Hovsepyan, for his part, noted that the chamber underscores free competition, equitable application of laws, and development of entrepreneurship in Armenia.

SCPEC Chairman Artak Shaboyan, in turn, expressed confidence that continued cooperation will lead to a comprehensive resolution of existing problems and a more favorable competitive climate in Armenia.
Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed Bihar CM Nitish Kumar for trying to politicise Yoga by calling it a publicity stunt and snubbing celebrating the event.

By Rohit Kumar Singh: As the world today celebrates the third edition of International Yoga Day, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar chose to look the other way with the Bihar government deciding against celebrating the day unlike other states.

No government event was organised in any part of the state keeping everyone guessing as to why he opposed to it. Nitish had dropped a hint on Monday when he said that he was not against Yoga Day but was against it being used as a tool of propaganda and a means of garnering votes.

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"Kuchh log yoga se vote ka bhog dekh rahein hain, jo galat hai. It has become a tool for publicity," said Nitish on Monday during his weekly press conference on the sidelines of Lok Samvad programme.

Ever since International Yoga Day was first celebrated in 2015, after a massive push by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Nitish government has always distanced itself from celebrating this day.

On the other hand, the state BJP unit used the opportunity to organise several programmes across the state with Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad leading the proceeding by participating in the Yoga event at Shivaji Park in Patna along with other Bihar BJP leaders like Sushil Modi and Nityanand Rai.

Speaking to India Today, Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed Nitish Kumar for trying to politicise Yoga by snubbing celebrating the event. He said that Nitish should realise that Yoga is above any kind of politics.

"I would have been happier if Nitish government would have celebrated the day. Yoga always connects people," said Ravi Shankar Prasad.

ALSO READ | Bihar won't participate in International Yoga Day 'publicity stunt': Nitish Kumar

ALSO READ | International Yoga Day: Yoga is about an inexpensive health assurance, says PM Modi

ALSO WATCH | International Yoga Day: PM Modi performs asana in Lucknow, says Yoga's standardisation is taking place

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN. - Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski conditions the harsh statements made by the Armenian side with the concerns about the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU.

MP of Yelk (Way Out) Bloc, Aram Sargsyan, told the aforementioned to Armenian News  NEWS.am, adding that the Ambassador expressed his concerns in a friendly manner, from which conclusion should be made.

A few days ago, Piotr Switalski slammed the electoral processes in Armenia, noting that the composition of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Armenia is not reliable and thus representatives of civil society should be included it. Referring to the Electoral Code, he also stated that the halls of power are attempting to make the election law suit their own political objectives. In response to the Ambassadors statements, Justice Minister of Armenia Davit Harutyunyan noted that the Ambassador is interfering with the domestic affairs of the country, while Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Eduard Sharmazanov told Armenian News  NEWS.am that policy is not a wedding, where one pays money and orders music accordingly. The harsh response of the ruling party representatives was followed by the press-conference of the EU Ambassador on Tuesday, during which he recalled that 90 percent of the external funding transferred to Armenia came from the EU and upon the public request of Armenia.

As to the inclusion of NGO representatives in the CEC, my friend, MP Artak Zaynalyan has been speaking about that for already more than ten years. And I can mention a lot of people, who proposed that. Mr Switalskis concern is that the elections in Armenia should be perceivable for at least 60-70 percent of the Armenian society.

Referring to the harsh response of Davit Harutyunyan and Sharmazanov, the MP said: I strongly believe that neither Eduard Sharmazanov nor Davit Harutyunyan would interfere on their own. I am sure that the order came particularly from the Armenian president. I am seriously concerned about the need for signing the Association Agreement in the future. As before, the Armenian authorities are rather afraid of position of their strategic partner. They were perhaps told to try to sign. I think this is the case, the leader of Republic Party said.

In Sargsyans words, the issue on financial support was exacerbated by the Armenian side. From the ideas expressed by Switalski, I got the impression that he was trying to be frank within the boundaries of diplomacy, that he likes Armenia and has got attached to the country, thus wanting to see better conditions here. From this perspective, this was more of a concern and advice than a harsh diplomatic position. [But] Since the Armenian side tried to give lessons to that man, Switalski simply gave a diplomatic response. After all, Europe, which has over 200 years of democratic experience and has covered that path should serve as an example to us or have a right to give advice, the MP concluded.
The health condition of blogger Alexander Lapshin, who is arrested in Azerbaijan, is in the center of attention, like that of all arrestees. If someones health deteriorates, attention is certainly paid to this.

Head of the Human Rights and Public Relations of Azerbaijani Justice Ministry, Faig Gurbanov, stated on Wednesday, APA reports.

According to him, the applications are thoroughly considered: The confinement conditions and health condition of each arrestee kept in penitentiary institutions are in the center of [our] attention. At the same time, the General Department of Medicine of the Justice Ministry treats attentively the condition of arrestees. There is a practice of attracting specialist doctors both from the General Department of Medicine and other clinics not included in it. Thus, I dont see a reason to worry about.

In December 2016, Israeli Russian blogger Alexander Lapshin was detained in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk. The reason was his being on the international wanted persons list, due to a search which Azerbaijan had declared. Baku accuses him of visiting Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) without its consent.

And on February 7 of the current year, Belarus extradited the blogger to the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku, where he was taken into custody.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) has written an open letter to Head of Australia's Special Broadcasting Corporation (SBS), Michael Ebeid, slamming his mischaracterisation of the Armenian Genocide during Federal Senate questioning last month, Armenian National Committee of Australia reported.

This letter, from the foremost global historical authority on genocides, pours cold water over SBS's editorial policy not to refer to the Armenian Genocide as genocide, saying: "Genocide denial is not history: it is ideological. And we are disappointed that a reputable organisation, such as SBS, has chosen this route.

During Australian Parliament's Senate Estimates in May 2017, Ebeid was grilled on the broadcaster's unacceptable editorial position on the Armenian Genocide during an Australian Parliament Senate Estimates hearing by Greens Senator, Scott Ludlam.

Ludlam, who is the Foreign Affairs spokesperson for the Australian Greens, asked Ebeid to shed light on a May 15th article in The Australian, which claimed: "...SBS News and Current Affairs has a specific policy on referring to the Armenian genocide that prohibits its reporters from naming it as such. Instead reporters are instructed to refer to the event not as a genocide but as a 'mass killing of Armenians considered by many to have been a genocide, which Turkey denies'."

Ebeid responded: We at SBS refer to it a mass killing of Armenians considered by many to have been a genocide and I think that way we make sure that our viewers understand that this is a matter of contention that historians the world over dispute...

The IAGS open letter, signed by its President, Professor Andrew Woolford says: During this hearing, you were asked by Greens Senator Scott Ludlam about SBSs policy regarding the naming of the Armenian genocide, which you called the Armenian situation. This is akin to calling the Holocaust the Jewish situation.

"The Armenian genocide is also referred to as mass killings, which, of course, was the intent of the genocide, but framing any genocide in terms of the perpetrators intent, ignores the people that Senator Ludlam argues you are offending: the survivors and generations of victims. Genocide is about destruction, which continues for decades after the event, especially if the genocide is continually denied."

"Your reasoning behind SBSs policy is threefold: that a) the Australian government does not recognise the genocide, b) the UN does not recognise it and c) that historians world over dispute the genocide and there is a lot of debate regarding the existence of the genocide."

The sticking point for SBS is a)  that SBS would probably change our stance if the Australian government officially recognised the genocide. Does this apply to all Australian government policy, such as the difference between migrants and refugees, which the Australian government often muddles for political purposes?

The sticking point for us as genocide studies scholars is your argument that academically recognised historians dispute the genocide. This is a falsity. There are a handful of historians who deny the genocide who are not recognised as scholarly academics by the majority of genocide studies scholars.

We enclose the official IAGS policy on the Armenian genocide to counter SBSs damaging denial claims and ask you to reconsider your policy. We also thank Senator Ludlam for his recognition of the genocide.

Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC-AU) Managing Director, Vache Kahramanian thanked the IAGS for their support.

Denial of the Armenian Genocide is based on the myth that historical consensus has not been achieved on this matter, Kahramanian said. There is no greater global historical authority on genocides than the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and SBS will recognise that they have erred in their judgment when determining this offensive editorial position.

Kahramanian added: We hope SBS can admit this error by correcting it, and we will continue to make that case on behalf of Armenian-Australians and all who have suffered from genocide.
Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan along with the representatives of his staff on Wednesday visited Baghanis, Voskevan, Voskepar and Koti border villages of Armenias Tavush province to carry out fact-finding activities regarding the shelling of civilian settlements by the Azerbaijani armed forces in the period from May to June.

In accordance with the special principles accepted in the international practice, tete-a-tete talks were held with governors, heads of administrative districts and villagers. Examinations of the public data on location and shelling, etc, were conducted.

The fact-finding activities revealed traces of actions, which were obviously dangerous for the lives of peaceful residents, including children, women and elderly people, the staff of Human Rights Defender informed Armenian News  NEWS.am. It was also revealed that the kindergartens and schools of the villages were shelled as well. All this is indicative of the fact that targeted shots were fired in the direction of peaceful residents.

These inroads by the Azerbaijani armed forces evidently violate the international requirements with respect to human rights.

The staff of the Human Rights Defender of Armenia has already started summing up by a special method the work done. Afterwards a special report will be drawn up in order to be presented to the competent international organiations.

During the visit to Tavush, the Human Rights Defender also got familiarized with the issues of residents of border villages, which mainly related to the right of social security. Necessary steps are being taken to resolve them.
The Karabakh conflict must be solved by talks at the negotiation table, not by the killing of young Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Austrian OSCE chairmanship said in response to Armenian News-NEWS.am inquiry.

The statement came in response to a request to comment on the latest ceasefire violations by Azerbaijani side that claimed lives of four Karabakh soldiers.

Together with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, we have repeatedly made clear: ceasefire violations are unacceptable, they undermine the peace process, Press Officer of the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship Helene Spitzer said in an e-mailed statement when asked whether the Austrian chairmanship will make any statement to prevent further escalation.

We need a toning down of rhetoric and abidance by humanitarian law. We fully support the Co-Chairs in their persistent mediation efforts, and refer to their most recent statement issued on 19 June. Their ideas to move the process forward are fully in line with our approach as OSCE Chairmanship.

As reported earlier, three Armenian soldiers were killed as a result of the firing by the Azerbaijani armed forces on Friday. Defense Army servicemen Arayik Matinyan (born in 1997), Vigen Petrosyan (born in 1997) and Vardan Sargsyan (born in 1997) were fatally wounded.

On Saturday morning Karabakh army said Azerbaijan resorted to a new provocation as a result of which a 20-year-old soldier was killed in the morning. Two other soldiers were wounded.
President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Karabakh/Artsakh) Bako Sahakyan on Wednesday visited the Martakert and Askeran regions.

In the town of Martakert the President called a working consultation with the representatives of the regional administration, the press-service of the NKR President's Office informed Armenian News - NEWS.am.

Issues related to the implementation of a number of socioeconomic programs in the region, as well as to the spheres of agriculture, construction, infrastructure and culture were on the consultation agenda.

Afterwards, in the Askeran regional center Sahakyan called another consultation on the issues of rendering support to the farmers having suffered from hail in the Askeran and Martouni regions.

He also gave specific instructions to the heads of the bodies concerned on timely and high-quality implementation of the planned programs and proper solution of the existing issues.

Prime Minister Arayik Haroutyunyan and other officials accompanied the President during the visit.
By Press Trust of India: (Eds: Updating with MCX reaction in paras 10,11,12)

New Delhi, Jun 21 (PTI) Regulator Sebi today allowed hedge funds to invest in commodity derivatives, in a move to deepen the market and boost liquidity.

However, this is subject to certain conditions, including that Category-III alternative investment funds (AIFs) or hedge funds should not invest more than 10 per cent of the investible funds in one underlying commodity.

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Besides, they should make disclosure in private placement memorandum issued to investors about investment in commodity derivatives and should take consent of the existing investors if such AIFs intend to invest in such derivatives.

These AIFs can participate in all commodity derivatives products being traded in exchanges as clients. They should have position limits as applicable to clients.

At present, institutional participants are not allowed to participate in the commodity derivatives market in India.

Consequently, the commodity derivatives markets lack the desired liquidity and depth for efficient price discovery and price risk management, Sebi said in a circular.

"Taking cognisance of the fact that participation by institutional investors would be conducive for the overall development of the commodity derivatives market... it is now decided to allow the Category-III AIF to participate in the commodity derivatives market," the regulator said.

Category-III AIFs are those that employ diverse or complex trading strategies and may employ leverage, including through investment in listed or unlisted derivatives.

In the past, various committees including those constituted by the government have recommended participation of institutional investors in the commodity derivatives markets for improving the quality of price discovery, thereby leading to better price risk management.

Welcoming Sebis decision, MCX Managing Director and Chief Executive Mrugank Paranjape said a significant beginning has been made to not just provide access to a fast-growing asset class to the investor community, but also unlock the potential this segment holds.

"The presence of AIFs, we are sure, will spur the infusion of research based information, capital, innovation and new trading strategies in Indias commodity markets, improving the quality of price discovery, lending it a degree of depth and vibrancy which matches the global standards we have long been aspiring for.

"We are also confident that such depth and vibrancy of the market will, in turn, incentivise hedging interest in Indias commodity derivatives market to a great extent," he added.

Earlier in April, Sebi had floated a discussion paper in this regard and had sought comments from the public till May 20. The final norms have been put in place after taking into consideration views of all the stakeholders. PTI SP ABM

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STEPANAKERT. - Bakus aspiration to blame the Armenian sides for the escalation of tensions and the situation created in the negotiation process is an undisguised attempt to veil its policy of driving the settlement process of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict into a deadlock and to torpedo the peacemaking efforts of the mediators.

Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Ministry of Foreign Affairs Artak Nersisyan told the aforementioned to Armenian News  NEWS.am.

Referring to the observation of Armenian News  NEWS.am on that following the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to Baku on June 19, the Azerbaijani authorities issued numerous comments, accusing the Armenian sides of violating the ceasefire regime with the aim of undermining the negotiation process, Nersisyan noted:

Bakus aspiration to blame the Armenian sides for the escalation of tensions and the situation created in the negotiation process is an undisguised attempt to veil its policy of driving the settlement process of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict into a deadlock and to torpedo the peacemaking efforts of the mediators. This is especially evident against the background of the incessant provocations on the Line of Contact by the Azerbaijani side, Bakus total disregard for its obligations to strengthen the ceasefire and the declared unwillingness to implement the agreements reached to ensure the conditions for the resumption of the negotiation process.

In this regard, it is necessary to note the June 19, 2017 statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen, following their visit to Baku, which we view as another unambiguous reference to Azerbaijan as the party violating the ceasefire regime in the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict zone.

This positive trend, in the matter, observed in the recent statements of the Minsk Group Co-Chairmen, gives some hope that the mediators will not only completely abandon the practice of untargeted calls, but will also press more insistently on the implementation of the agreements reached in Vienna (May 16, 2016) and St. Petersburg ( June 20, 2016), aimed at strict observance of the termless trilateral agreements of 1994 on ceasefire and of 1995 on strengthening the ceasefire regime, for the establishment of a mechanism for investigation of incidents on the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Artsakh and Azerbaijan, and for the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.
YEREVAN. - The condition of Armenian soldier Yuri Zakaryan, who was transported from Stepanakert to the Central Clinical Military Hospital of the Armenian Defense Ministry in Yerevan, remains critical but stable.

Head of Military-Medical Department of the Defense Ministry, Kamavor Khachatryan, told the aforementioned to Armenian News  NEWS.am.

The serviceman is still connected to the ventilator. We will try to switch it off in the coming days, Khachatryan said.

Zakaryan suffered a firearm wound in his head. He was transported to Yerevan two days later.

Compulsory serviceman Armen Vardanyan, who was wounded on June 16, is also in the hospital. He has suffered head injury as a result of mine explosion. According to Khachatryan, shrapnel has remained in the soldiers head, and it is yet early to predict whether he will undergo a surgery or not.

As reported earlier, three Armenian soldiers were killed as a result of the firing by the Azerbaijani armed forces on June 16. Defense Army servicemen Arayik Matinyan (born in 1997), Vigen Petrosyan (born in 1997) and Vardan Sargsyan (born in 1997) were fatally wounded.

In the morning of June 17, Karabakh army said Azerbaijan resorted to a new provocation as a result of which a 20-year-old soldier was killed in the morning. Two other soldiers were wounded.
After an extended period of instability, Malian society has embarked on a process of national re-building aiming to ensure peace-building and social cohesion.

In this context, Motorola Solutions, a leading supplier of public safety communication solutions, partnered with Impact Hub Bamako to organize a competition dedicated to the development of innovative solutions in civil protection: the MotoSecure Hackathon Day.

June 21, 2017

After years of conflict in Northern Mali, the country remains in an insecure state, experiencing a rise of humanitarian and development needs in affected areas. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), one Malian out of five needs humanitarian assistance [1] . With the urgent requirement to ensure fundamental public services such as healthcare and security, emerging initiatives that cultivate the young generation to innovative for public safety is more than relevant.As Malians strive to advance stability, development and prosperity despite regular security challenges the MotoSecure Hackathon Day, organized by Motorola Solutions and Impact Hub Bamako, attracted young technology-savvy entrepreneurs. The potential of youth is characteristic of a Malian society that presents a high birth rate combined with 35 percent of youth unemployment and lack of economic opportunity. It is from this observation that Impact Hub Bamako was created. The association, part of a global network, just celebrated its first anniversary in April 2017 and is the perfect illustration of the resilience capacity of the young Malian generation.With a first objective to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, Impact Hub Bamako offers a co-working space and low cost with the final aim to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem leading to business projects. The association enables anybody to be part of the driving force of the digital growth in a country that needs innovations as a lever for social inclusion and its societys well-being.explains The MotoSecure Hackathon Day, organised in March 2017, is clearly embedded in this broader trend to find innovative ways to ensure Malis national re-building. As a leading supplier of public safety communications infrastructure, devices, software and services, Motorola Solutions specifically brought its expertise in the area of smart public safety solutions.Safi Camara, one of the participants and a member of Women Tech Makers Mali, proposed a solution to improve the healthcare system in Mali. Observing that the poor management of medical records in hospitals often put patients health in jeopardy, she imagined the development of the mobile application + to enable doctors to follow patients more easily. Another participant, Amadou Yarangore, chose to tackle the rise of insecurity in the society in using Motorola Solutions application program interfaces (APIs) to create a direct and secure information linkage between citizens and security agents.Motorola Solutions offers a wide range of mission-critical communications solutions in the African market including infrastructure, devices, software and services in various countries and for various industries including governments and parastatals. Motorola Solutions is conscious of Africas significant economic potential in the digital economy, and the company is also committed to answering the continents development needs. Building on its 40 years of experience across Africa, recent Motorola Solutions initiatives include a 2015 partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to release research findings on the use of mobile technologies to foster human development. Motorola Solutions is also engaged in Rule of Law infrastructure development projects, including a 2014 project with the Somalia Police Force to provide safe communication solutions to local police.Located at the heart of Bamako Business District ACI 2000, Impact Hub Bamako is the first Impact Hub in Francophone Africa. We belong to the global network Impact Hub, leader in community building spaces with more than 80 Hubs on 5 continents with more than 11,000 active members. Our mission is to tackle the pressing issue of youth unemployment in Bamako by inspiring the next generation of Malian leaders, fostering a disruptive entrepreneurship ecosystem, hosting exciting events, offering relevant educational programs and accelerating and incubating the most promising startups and SMEs.Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI) creates innovative, mission-critical communication solutions and services that help public safety and commercial customers build safer cities and thriving communities. For ongoing news, visit www.motorolasolutions.com/newsroom
ASSE 'Becoming Stronger, More Vibrant,' President Says

Outgoing President Tom Cecich, CSP, CIH, cited several initiatives as he greeted attendees at the opening general session of Safety 2017, the largest annual conference in the society's 106-year history.

DENVER -- "As you've heard, this PDC [Professional Development Conference] is the largest ever, and by a lot," ASSE President Tom Cecich, CSP, CIH, said during the June 20 opening general session at Safety 2017, the society's annual conference taking place at the Colorado Convention Center. "I'm pleased to stand before what might be the largest gathering of our society ever to discuss the state of the society," he added.

Cecich's term is ending here, and James D. Smith, M.S., CSP, director of risk control services for Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, is becoming the society's new president as of July 1, 2017, to serve a one-year term.

Cecich discussed several initiatives ASSE has undertaken or accomplished during the past year, including upgrading its IT system and creating sustainable retirement benefits for its employees. "On challenging issues, we [the ASSE board] were determined not to kick the can down the road," he said, discussing the impending change of ASSE's name to the American Society of Safety Professionals. The ASSE House of Delegates has approved it here, and now ASSE's members will vote in the next two months on whether to make the change.

"We continue to be a vocal leader of the safety profession in these times of political change," Cecich said, and he also cited the society's investments to be ready to assist companies that want to comply with the coming ISO 45001 safety management standard, which he said is likely to be the most significant safety standard of the past 50 years.

"Our society is as vibrant and dynamic as I have ever seen it," he said. "It's growing and becoming stronger and becoming more vibrant."

Cintas, the award's sponsor, announced the winner of the ASSE 2017 Safety Management Innovation Award, Saudi Aramco's Samantha Horseman, during the session, and said she has decided to donate her award winnings to the ASSE Foundation. Leaders of IOSH, the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering, and the Safety Institute of Australia also spoke during the session and invited attendees to attend some of their upcoming large conferences.

"It's amazing to see so many safety professionals gathered together at one time," said Kathy Tull, president of CSSE, in greeting the attendees.
By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Jun 21 (PTI) Markets regulator Sebi today decided to ease the entry norms for overseas investors by permitting a direct access to Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) from eligible jurisdictions.

After its board meeting, Sebi Chairman Ajay Tyagi said that the regulator has rationalised "fit and proper" criteria for FPIs as well as simplified broad based requirements for such investors.

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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will issue a discussion paper on easing registration of FPI.

The regulator has decided to expand "the eligible jurisdictions for grant of FPI registration to category I FPIs by including countries having diplomatic tie-ups with India".

Besides, it has permitted FPIs, operating under the Multiple Investment Managers (MIM) structure and holding foreign venture capital investors (FVCI) registration, to appoint multiple custodians.

In a major revamp, Sebi in 2014 had released norms that had clubbed different categories of foreign investors into a new class called FPIs.

Under the regime, FPIs have been divided into three categories as per their risk profile and the KYC (know your client) requirements, while other registration procedures have been made simpler for them.

The norms were put with the objectives to rationalise various foreign portfolio investment routes and simplify the procedures to attract more foreign funds. PTI AP SP BAL

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The elusive behavior of the African leopard has been revealed in great detail for the first time. Credit: John Armstrong

The elusive behavior of the African leopard has been revealed in great detail for the first time as part of a sophisticated study that links the majestic cat's caloric demands and its drive to kill.

A team led by Chris Wilmers, associate professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, produced an unprecedented picture of this carnivore's predatory and reproductive behaviors by outfitting the cats with high-tech wildlife tracking collars equipped with GPS technology and an accelerometer to measure energy output.

"This is the first time we've had really detailed energetic data from a wild terrestrial mammal over an extended period," said Wilmers, lead author of a new paper, "Energetics-informed Behavioral States Reveal the Drive to Kill in African Leopards," which appears today (June 21, 2017) in the online edition of the journal Ecosphere.

The team gathered data from five animals over two months: one adult male; one adult female with one cub; one adult female without cubs; one yearling male cub; and a young "dispersal-aged" male ready to establish his own territory. "The sample size is small, but we got lucky with the diversity of age and sex," noted Wilmers.

Information gleaned from the collars allowed Wilmers' team to match the leopards' behavior with time and place, enabling them to assess the energetic "costs" of reproductive behaviordispersal and territorial patrol for males; parenting for females.

The study revealed that for male African leopards, territorial patrol activities account for 26 percent of their daily caloric intake; for females, parenting a one-year old offspring consumes 8 percent of their calories.

"Energetics is the ultimate currency for an animal's survival," said Wilmers. "To survive, an animal needs to balance the calories it's expending with the calories it's taking in. If it wants to reproduce, it has to run an energetic surplus."

Wilmers, a wildlife ecologist who studies animal behavior and its cascading effects on ecosystems, continued: "Based on what the leopards are doing, they run up different energetic budgets, which in turn influence their drive to kill. They might kill more prey, bigger prey, or go after more desirable prey in more dangerous placescloser to humans, for example."

One of the most striking behaviors described in the study was a kill by the adult male leopard. The data document him approaching a small village in a meandering fashion. He attacks and kills a goat inside a pen, then spends five minutes dragging the goat across the river to a spot where vegetation gives him the cover he needs to begin feeding.

"It gives us incredible insight into their behavior to see where they are moving and what they're doing on such a fine time scale," said Wilmers. "This allows us to see these cryptic animals moving through their environment."

Another example details the behavior of the adult female with a yearling cub. She kills an aardwolf (a small insect-eating mammal), feeds a bit, then meanders and rests for a few hours until she kills an impala (a medium-sized antelope that is common prey for African leopards). She feeds briefly, then walks directly back to her cub, guiding it first to the aardwolf and then the impala.

Additionally, Wilmers was able to calculate and then compare the energetics of the mother and her son as they traveled together, concluding that the cub expended 12 percent more energy to travel the same distance.

African leopards are among the most elusive mammals on the planetmore so than African lions or cheetahs. "Their whole strategy is to be elusive," said Wilmers. "People get glimpses of them, but that's all. Looking at this data is like going on a safari for the first time and seeing an animal you've only seen in captivity before."

These fine-grained energetics data open the door to understanding the ecological consequences of the leopard's predatory drive. Knowing the African leopard's energetic needs allows researchers to evaluate where they hunt, what they hunt, and to estimate the level of risk they might be willing to take in pursuit of attractive prey. In combination, these factors have implications for humans and the livestock that often share habitat with African leopards.

The placement of a fence, for example, could have energetic "costs" for leopards if they have to travel fartherexpending more energyto patrol territory, hunt, and provide for their offspring. Those costs would increase their drive to kill. "They might take bigger risks, they might catch larger prey like impala, and that could effect the impala population and what they feed on," said Wilmers, outlining the "cascade" of ecosystem effects that could follow human changes to the landscape.

"To be able to link behavior to energetics to ecological effects is an important conceptual advance," said Wilmers. "Once you understand how that circle works, we can assess how our actions will impact the animals, and how those effects will play out on the ecosystem."
Laser sintering was used to 3-D print objects made of graphene foam, a 3-D version of atomically thin graphene. At left is a photo of a fingertip-sized cube of graphene foam; at right is a close-up of the material as seen with a scanning electron microscope. Credit: Tour Group/Rice University

Nanotechnologists from Rice University and China's Tianjin University have used 3-D laser printing to fabricate centimeter-sized objects of atomically thin graphene.

The research could yield industrially useful quantities of bulk graphene and is described online in a new study in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.

"This study is a first of its kind," said Rice chemist James Tour, co-corresponding author of the paper. "We have shown how to make 3-D graphene foams from nongraphene starting materials, and the method lends itself to being scaled to graphene foams for additive manufacturing applications with pore-size control."

Graphene, one of the most intensely studied nanomaterials of the decade, is a two-dimensional sheet of pure carbon that is both ultrastrong and conductive. Scientists hope to use graphene for everything from nanoelectronics and aircraft de-icers to batteries and bone implants. But most industrial applications would require bulk quantities of graphene in a three-dimensional form, and scientists have struggled to find simple ways of creating bulk 3-D graphene.

For example, researchers in Tour's lab began using lasers, powdered sugar and nickel to make 3-D graphene foam in late 2016. Earlier this year they showed that they could reinforce the foam with carbon nanotubes, which produced a material they dubbed "rebar graphene" that could retain its shape while supporting 3,000 times its own weight. But making rebar graphene was no simple task. It required a pre-fabricated 3-D mold, a 1,000-degree Celsius chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process and nearly three hours of heating and cooling.

3-D graphene foam objects are produced by shining a laser on a mixture of powdered sugar and nickel powder. The laser is moved back and forth to melt sugar in a 2-D pattern, and nickel acts as a catalyst to spur the growth of graphene foam. The process is repeated with successive layers of powder to build up 3-D objects. Credit: Tour Group/Rice University

In the latest study, a team from Tour's lab and the labs of Rice's Jun Luo and Tianjin's Naiqin Zhao adapted a common 3-D printing technique to make fingertip-size blocks of graphene foam. The process is conducted at room temperature. No molds are required and the starting materials are powdered sugar and nickel powder.

"This simple and efficient method does away with the need for both cold-press molds and high-temperature CVD treatment," said co-lead author Junwei Sha, a former student in Tour's lab who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Tianjin. "We should also be able to use this process to produce specific types of graphene foam like 3-D printed rebar graphene as well as both nitrogen- and sulfur-doped graphene foam by changing the precursor powders."

Three-D laser printers work differently than the more familiar extrusion-based 3-D printers, which create objects by squeezing melted plastic through a needle as they trace out two-dimensional patterns. In 3-D laser sintering, a laser shines down onto a flat bed of powder. Wherever the laser touches powder, it melts or sinters the powder into a solid form. The laser is rastered, or moved back and forth, line by line to create a single two-dimensional slice of a larger object. Then a new layer of powder is laid over the top of that layer and the process is repeated to build up three-dimensional objects from successive two-dimensional layers.

The new Rice process used a commercially available CO2 laser. When this laser was shone onto the sugar and nickel powder, the sugar was melted and the nickel acted as a catalyst. Graphene formed as the mixture cooled after the laser had moved on to melt sugar in the next spot, and Sha and colleagues conducted an exhaustive study to find the optimal amount of time and laser power to maximize graphene production.

The foam created by the process is a low-density, 3-D form of graphene with large pores that account for more than 99 percent of its volume.

"The 3-D graphene foams prepared by our method show promise for applications that require rapid prototyping and manufacturing of 3-D carbon materials, including energy storage, damping and sound absorption," said co-lead author Yilun Li, a graduate student at Rice.

More information: Junwei Sha et al. Three-Dimensional Printed Graphene Foams, ACS Nano (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b01987 Journal information: ACS Nano
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Europe has approved the launch of a deep-space observatory to sniff out habitable planets in other star systems, along with any life forms they may host.

"The PLATO mission will address fundamental questions such as 'how common are Earth-like planets?' and 'is our solar system unusual or even unique?'," the University of Warwick, whose scientists will take part in the project, said on Wednesday.

The multi-million-euro undertaking "could eventually even lead to the detection of extra-terrestrial life," it added.

A committee of the European Space Agency (ESA), meeting in Madrid, green-lit the mission on Tuesday, meaning "it can move from a blueprint into construction," the university said in a statement.

When the candidate project was first announced three years ago, its cost was estimated at some 600 million euros ($668 million).

With 26 onboard telescopes, PLATO will join NASA's Kepler observatory in a dedicated search for exoplanets revolving around stars other than our Sun.

Kepler has so far found more than 3,400 confirmed exoplanets.

Of these, 30 are less than twice the size of Earth and orbiting within the so-called "habitable" zone of their starnot so close that water evaporates and not so cold that it freezes.

Liquid water is a key requirement for life as we know it.

PLATOPLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars)will be launched 1.5 million kilometres (932,000 miles) into space, monitoring thousands of stars over a large area of sky.

Telescopes search for slight dips in light when a planet "transits" between the star it orbits and the telescopes watching it.

Planets do not emit their own light. Had they been visible to the naked eye, they would appear as dark dots tracking across their bright stars.

PLATO is due for launch in 2026, the ESA said.

Other projects that have contributed to the exoplanet search, though it was not their exclusive mission, include NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, as well as several dozen ground-based observatories.

The search for a planet capable of hosting life remains a distant pursuitthere is no solar system close enough for mankind to ever reach it, unless we develop time travel.

ESA also gave provisional approval for a project called LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), tasked with observing gravitational wavescreated when black holes collidefrom Space.

Predicted in Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, gravitational waves were first observed with Earth-based instruments last year.

LISA will comprise free-floating detectors on three craft, separated by 2.5 million kilometres in a triangular formation, following Earth in its orbit around the Sun.

Launch is expected in 2034. But final approval will depend on the availability of technology and money, the ESA said.

The estimated mission cost is about a billion euros. Warwick University is based in central England.

 2017 AFP
Researchers studied the survival and breeding behavior of the Snowy Plover, which are male-biased populations. Credit: Luke Eberhart-Phillips

Extinction risk for some species could be drastically underestimated because most demographic models of animal populations only analyse the number and fertility of females, dismissing male data as 'noise'.

An international team of researchers, including a PhD student and a professor from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, found that population growth in birds was very sensitive to the ratio of males to females in a population, called the adult sex ratio (ASR), which has previously been shown to affect mating behaviour.

The researchers have published their findings in the prestigious science journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Species with a high number of males in a population tend to be polygamous: the females typically breed with several partners in one season, leaving the males to do most of the care for their offspring. However, with a large number of males competing for fewer females, a male biased population can also lead to increased aggression and harassment of females which can reduce survival rates.

Conversely, species with a higher number of females to males have lower parental investment by fathers which can also adversely affect survival of offspring. Where numbers of each sex were evenly balanced, parents cooperated more in care of their young and breeding pairs tended to be monogamous.

Researcher Luke Eberhart-Phillips with a plover. Credit: Luke Eberhart-Phillips

The researchers looked at why an unbalanced sex ratio should develop in some birds. They studied the survival and breeding behaviour of 1,259 wild Snowy Plovers in north-western Mexico over a seven year period, a species that is typically male biased. The team found that whilst a similar number of males and females hatched, males had higher survival rates at all stages of life, but particularly at the juvenile stage, when individuals are independent of their parents but not fully grown.

These findings could impact the conservation of endangered species, since ignoring the sex ratio of a population could miscalculate the survival rates and therefore underestimate the vulnerability of species to extinction.

Professor Tamas Szekely, from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, said: "Our research has shown that population growth is very sensitive to changes in the survival of the limiting sex. A biased sex ratio either way can compromise population stability - too many males increases violence, whereas too many females leads to less cooperation between parents which reduces the survival of offspring.

"Current extinction models only take numbers of females into account - our research shows this approach could drastically underestimate extinction risk and states that males should also be part of the equation."

Luke Eberhart-Phillips, PhD student at Bielefeld University (Germany) and first author of the paper, said: "Our research shows that in Snowy Plovers the population is male-biased due to sex differences in survival of young individuals, rather than at birth or during adulthood.

"Therefore, the evolution of different mating systems - whether polygamous or monogamous - could be a consequence of innate sex differences in survival. In mammals, population sex ratios are typically female biased, whereas in birds, these sex ratios are usually male biased. "Based on our results, one could speculate that sex differences in survival during early life are driving these large-scale patterns and the evolution of breeding behaviours."

More information: Luke J. Eberhart-Phillips et al, Sex-specific early survival drives adult sex ratio bias in snowy plovers and impacts mating system and population growth, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1620043114 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Credit: Kongsberg AS

The University of Gothenburg soon will have its first autonomous underwater vehicle for research use. This will make it possible to conduct detailed studies of the seabed at great depths and track the climate thousands of years back in time.

After more than two years of preparation, the University of Gothenburg has signed a contract that will make Sweden's first autonomous underwater vehicle for research use a reality.

"This underwater vessel will enable us to do research in areas that we have been unable to reach so far, such as underneath glaciers in Antarctica that are 500 metres thick and beneath the Arctic sea ice", says Anna Wahlin, a professor of oceanography at the University of Gothenburg.

Enabling detailed studies of the seabed

The vessel is known as an AUV, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. It is an unmanned, autonomous submarine equipped with a range of instruments and sensors capable of mapping the marine environment and measuring the ocean's chemistry, physics and biology.

With the craft, detailed studies can be carried out at great depths in the oceans. The submarine operates independently and can be sent out on missions under the control of a mothership, where scientists can also be working on other investigations.

"To measure the marine environment to the extent necessary for understanding how the ocean works, we must make use of autonomous observation platforms on a much larger scale. Future research vessels will serve as motherships for many different autonomous vehicles, with our AUV being one of the largest and most complex."

Large areas of the seabed can be surveyed

Credit: University of Gothenburg

The new underwater vessel will be able to descend to a depth of 3,000 metres and cover a range of about 200-300 km. It is equipped with a new state-of-the-art navigation system that makes it possible to operate for long distances under water and simultaneously know where it is, a major challenge for craft below the surface of the ocean since signals from satellites or GPS cannot penetrate water. It is equipped with instruments that can be used to survey large areas of the seabed and ice in great detail. It also will have sonar that penetrates the floor of the ocean and reveals the nature of sedimentation in the past.

"That information can be used to tell how the climate has changed throughout history and how the edge of the ice has moved. In addition, the AUV will have ultramodern equipment to measure ocean currents, temperature, carbon dioxide, chlorophyll, nitrates and oxygen, among other things."

Permits study of climate in the past

With the help of these instruments, scientists will be able to chart the ocean floor with such great resolution that they can determine the type of seabed, if it is clay or if coral grows there, and detect various types of phenomena such as contourites (convoluted sedimentary deposits on the seabed).

Credit: University of Gothenburg

By peering into the seabed and sedimentation, scientists can also study the climate thousands of years back in time, conduct detailed studies of ocean currents and their chemistry and biology, and survey large areas of the ocean covered by ice. This will help calibrate the satellites that measure the expanse and thickness of ice. The underwater craft also will be used for investigations of water closer to Sweden  in the Skagerrak and the Baltic Sea, for example.

The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is a national infrastructure, funded by a grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and managed by a project team with representatives from the University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology and Stockholm University. The contract with the Norwegian company Kongsberg AS has now been signed. The underwater vehicle is expected to be in operation next year at the latest.
Nurse bees are - contrary to forager bees - active 24/7. Their circadian clock simply continues at the protein level. Credit: Gunnar Bartsch

Circadian clocks control the day-night cycle of many living beings. But what do the pacemakers do in animals whose activities do not follow this pattern? Scientists from the University of Wurzburg have now looked into this question.

Forager honeybees have a demanding job: Searching for nectar, honeydew and pollen, they permanently commute between beehive and flower meadow. Their circadian clock tells them among others when to arrive in time for the plant to open its flowers and when to rest because potential food sources are "closed."

The circadian clock also helps passing information about good foraging sites to other bees. Because the insects rely on the sun as reference point in navigation, the clock is used at a later time to calculate the flight route.

Nurse bees, too, do a highly strenuous job. This is not because they are out and about a lot, quite the contrary: It is the job of the young honeybee to feed older larvae with a jelly consisting of pollen and honeynon-stop. While they pursue their activities, the bees do not follow a 24-hour rhythm with alternating phases of rest and activity.

Publication in Open Biology

An international team of scientists from Israel, Germany and New Zeeland have looked into several interesting questions including how the circadian clocks of foraging bees and nurse bees work, which molecular mechanisms are responsible for their different behaviour and how the bee's clock network is structured.

Professor Charlotte Helfrich-Forster, Head of the Department for Neurobiology and Genetics at the Biocenter of the University of Wurzburg, and her team of experts in insect timing also participated in the study. The scientists published their findings in the journal Open Biology.

Ill health due to circadian clock dysfunction

"Circadian clocks that control the daily rhythms are ubiquitous in animals. They enable organisms to anticipate predictable daynight changes in their environment," Charlotte Helfrich-Forster says. Just how important properly functioning clocks are becomes evident when they are dysfunctional, either for genetic reasons or due to environmental factors. "This increases the risk for various diseases such as cancer, metabolic disorders, mental disorders, heart attacks and infertility," the neurobiologist explains.

Nevertheless, some animals including Arctic mammals, open sea fish and social insects such as honeybees are active around-the-clock with no apparent ill effects The mechanisms allowing this remarkable natural plasticity have been largely unknown. The team of researchers was now able to shed light on some of the mysteries.

Gene activity under the microscope

"We generated and validated a new and specific antibody against the clock protein PERIOD of the honeybee Apis mellifera and used it to characterize the circadian network in the honeybee brain," Charlotte Helfrich-Forster outlines their approach. The antibody shows the spatial distribution of the clock network; its concentration allows drawing conclusions to the activity of the responsible clock genes.

One result: They found that the honeybee shares a number of features with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and other insects. "This suggests common anatomical organization principles in the insect clock that have not been appreciated before," Helfrich-Forster says.

In the next step, the researchers measured the concentration of the PERIOD protein in the bees' brain over 24 hours to determine the temporal activity pattern of the circadian clocks. As expected, foraging honeybees that follow a day-night cycle exhibited strong rhythmic oscillations throughout the day. However, the researchers were surprised to find that the around-the-clock active nurses had the same rhythm in the protein concentration as the foragers. This supports the hypothesis that their circadian clock is ticking, too. This was all the more astonishing as previous experiments by the Israeli group had shown that this rhythm is missing at the gene level.

"When animals exhibit behavioural patterns that depend on the time of day, this is usually associated with changes of clock gene expression," Charlotte Helfrich-Forster says. Accordingly, the concentration of messenger RNA of these genes would have to vary. But this was not the case: "The measurements of the Israeli group had not revealed any or noticeably attenuated oscillations of the messenger RNA concentration of these genes in nurse bees. This is why we had assumed that their circadian clock is standing still," the scientists further.

Now this has turned out to be not true. The circadian clock of nurse bees operates at the protein level and is excellently synchronized with the day-night rhythm by external stimuli.

A functional clock is crucial

This finding matches other observations in the honeybee. Accordingly, arrhythmic nurses that are isolated from their hive rapidly switch to activity with circadian rhythms. Probably this is only possible because more than 160 potential pacemakers oscillate in the nurse brain in a 24-hour rhythm anyway (more than 540 in foragers) which underpins a circadian impact on many processes in their brain.

"These findings in nurse bees demonstrate that the activity patterns of the animals can be uncoupled from the circadian network," says Charlotte Helfrich-Forster. At the same time, they support the hypothesis that a functioning circadian clock is necessary  even in animals that are active around-the-clock in a constant physical environment.

More information: T. Fuchikawa et al. Neuronal circadian clock protein oscillations are similar in behaviourally rhythmic forager honeybees and in arrhythmic nurses, Open Biology (2017). DOI: 10.1098/rsob.170047 Journal information: Open Biology

Provided by Julius-Maximilians-Universitat Wurzburg
Lightweight helium balloons can tell us how gases in the atmosphere impact the environment below. Credit: Philipp Maier/ORISON

Using off-the-shelf technology and innovative economics, lightweight helium balloons have started carrying remote-controlled laboratories to the edge of space and back, offering the business case for new types of science missions.

There is more to thin air than meets the eye. The gases surrounding our planet scatter light waves, dim their brightness and jumble their colours, as seen by the reds, oranges and purples visible in the sky at sunset.

It makes earth a safe and scenic refuge, but also a noisy one for scientists studying its surroundings.

'When studying the atmosphere, altitude matters,' said Professor Klaus Pfeilsticker, an environmental physicist specialised in remote-sensing techniques at the Heidelberg University in Germany.

The atmosphere interferes with all signals that can be used to probe it. This blurs experimental results and makes it particularly hard to pinpoint the altitude at which aerial phenomena take place.

Molecules

Prof. Pfeilsticker's research focuses on how gases impact the environment, using helium balloons to survey which molecules can be found above us, and how they impact life below.

His work is centred around halogen-based gases, which seem harmless at first glance. For instance, dibromomethane and bromoform are produced by microalgae in the ocean and their chemical bonds react so fast that they rarely drift far from the ecosystems that release them.

But given the right tailwind, they can soar 14 kilometres above the oceans and wreak havoc in the ozone layer.

Researchers are using balloons to reach the edge of space. Credit: Alejandro Sanchez/ORISON

Four years ago, Prof. Pfeilsticker coordinated an EU-funded research project called SHIVA to demonstrate that short-lived halogen-containing gases deplete as much ozone as the pollutants banned by the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to protect the ozone layer made in 1987.

This damage is balanced by the natural rate at which ozone reforms. But as climate change heats oceans and air currents, more halogen-compounds could sweep into the stratosphere and widen the hole in the ozone layer in ways that we cannot control with regulations.

The SHIVA consortium managed to quantify the impact of these short-lived gases because it checked the results on site.

Project partners flew aircraft 12 kilometres high to collect air samples above the clouds and calibrate their ground measurements, but detailing the risk will require high-altitude balloons.

The air within the ozone layer is too thin to fly planes through, so the only way to take measurements there is to strap the instruments onto a rocket or underneath a balloon.

'Using a research aircraft, SHIVA just managed to graze the lower boundary of the ozone layer,' said Prof. Pfeilsticker. 'In the end, deeper understanding will require vehicles that can rise higher into the stratosphere.'

Philipp Maier at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany argues that balloons can offer the most economical solution.

'Helium balloons can lift half a tonne of scientific equipment more than 30 kilometres in the air,' he said. That would carry instruments for chemical-analysis right into the heart of the ozone layer.

To date, the main limitation to balloon-mounted observatories has been their clunky manoeuvrability. In principle, helium balloons can sail the high winds to any destination over the globe. In practice, catching the right air current means venting plenty of helium or dropping lots of ballast, a heavy material used to provide stability while floating.

The earth's atmosphere is mainly filled with oxygen and nitrogen at sea-level, the lighter gases such as hydrogen and helium rise up. Credit: Horizon

The scientific equipment and unwieldy controls tend to bring stratospheric balloon missions to an unscripted descent in a matter of days, sometimes damaging their costly payload and raising safety concerns down below.

Dr Jose-Luis Ortiz at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, Spain, is convinced that the technology for better steering and safer landing exists. The challenge is packaging it in a marketable product.

Two-balloon systems

'There are smarter ways of diving and rising,' said Dr Ortiz. 'Two-balloon systems in which one half can expand while the other remains rigid could, for instance, make ballast obsolete.'

Other incremental advances could increase flight duration and make the balloon payload reusable. Dr Ortiz cites the miniaturisation of electronic components as an example of how gradual improvements are making balloon cargoes lighter and cheaper to assemble. His partners have controlled airborne telescopes using the same Raspberry Pi computer chips that allow hobbyists to build homemade robots.

As part of the EU-funded project ORISON, a scientific consortium led by Dr Ortiz has partnered with EY, the largest accounting firm in Europe. Together they are working on a business plan for floating instruments to the stratosphere.

'Today, scientists embarking on balloon missions have to build a lot of the equipment themselves,' said Dr Ortiz. ORISON aims to sublet fully functional observatories, allowing their clients to focus on the research. According to Dr Ortiz, this is comparable to the business model for many ground-based telescopes.

While bargain flights to the stratosphere could appeal to many areas of research, ORISON's first target audience is astronomers. Project partners have test-flown missions this year in which they have taken hundreds of close-contact photographs with meteors.

Floating telescopes offer star-gazers the obvious perks of rising above cloudy weather and preventing signals being absorbed in the ultra-violet and near-infrared. 'It is exciting to spot water on other planets,' said Maier.
This artist's concept shows what the young, dead, disk galaxy MACS2129-1, right, would look like when compared with the Milky Way galaxy, left. Although three times as massive as the Milky Way, it is only half the size. MACS2129-1 is also spinning more than twice as fast as the Milky Way. Note that regions of Milky Way are blue from bursts of star formation, while the young, dead galaxy is yellow, signifying an older star population and no new star birth. Credit: NASA, ESA, and Z. Levy (STScI)

By combining the power of a "natural lens" in space with the capability of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers made a surprising discoverythe first example of a compact yet massive, fast-spinning, disk-shaped galaxy that stopped making stars only a few billion years after the big bang.

Finding such a galaxy early in the history of the universe challenges the current understanding of how massive galaxies form and evolve, say researchers.

When Hubble photographed the galaxy, astronomers expected to see a chaotic ball of stars formed through galaxies merging together. Instead, they saw evidence that the stars were born in a pancake-shaped disk.

This is the first direct observational evidence that at least some of the earliest so-called "dead" galaxieswhere star formation stoppedsomehow evolve from a Milky Way-shaped disk into the giant elliptical galaxies we see today.

This is a surprise because elliptical galaxies contain older stars, while spiral galaxies typically contain younger blue stars. At least some of these early "dead" disk galaxies must have gone through major makeovers. They not only changed their structure, but also the motions of their stars to make a shape of an elliptical galaxy.

"This new insight may force us to rethink the whole cosmological context of how galaxies burn out early on and evolve into local elliptical-shaped galaxies," said study leader Sune Toft of the Dark Cosmology Center at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. "Perhaps we have been blind to the fact that early "dead" galaxies could in fact be disks, simply because we haven't been able to resolve them."

Previous studies of distant dead galaxies have assumed that their structure is similar to the local elliptical galaxies they will evolve into. Confirming this assumption in principle requires more powerful space telescopes than are currently available. However, through the phenomenon known as "gravitational lensing," a massive, foreground cluster of galaxies acts as a natural "zoom lens" in space by magnifying and stretching images of far more distant background galaxies. By joining this natural lens with the resolving power of Hubble, scientists were able to see into the center of the dead galaxy.

Acting as a "natural telescope" in space, the gravity of the extremely massive foreground galaxy cluster MACS J2129-0741 magnifies, brightens, and distorts the far-distant background galaxy MACS2129-1, shown in the top box. The middle box is a blown-up view of the gravitationally lensed galaxy. In the bottom box is a reconstructed image, based on modeling that shows what the galaxy would look like if the galaxy cluster were not present. The galaxy appears red because it is so distant that its light is shifted into the red part of the spectrum. Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Postman (STScI), and the CLASH team

The remote galaxy is three times as massive as the Milky Way but only half the size. Rotational velocity measurements made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) showed that the disk galaxy is spinning more than twice as fast as the Milky Way.

Using archival data from the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH), Toft and his team were able to determine the stellar mass, star-formation rate, and the ages of the stars.

Why this galaxy stopped forming stars is still unknown. It may be the result of an active galactic nucleus, where energy is gushing from a supermassive black hole. This energy inhibits star formation by heating the gas or expelling it from the galaxy. Or it may be the result of the cold gas streaming onto the galaxy being rapidly compressed and heated up, preventing it from cooling down into star-forming clouds in the galaxy's center.

But how do these young, massive, compact disks evolve into the elliptical galaxies we see in the present-day universe? "Probably through mergers," Toft said. "If these galaxies grow through merging with minor companions, and these minor companions come in large numbers and from all sorts of different angles onto the galaxy, this would eventually randomize the orbits of stars in the galaxies. You could also imagine major mergers. This would definitely also destroy the ordered motion of the stars."

The findings are published in the June 22 issue of the journal Nature. Toft and his team hope to use NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to look for a larger sample of such galaxies.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C.

The Very Large Telescope is a telescope facility operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile.

More information: A massive, dead disk galaxy in the early Universe, Nature (2017). nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature22388 Journal information: Nature
Travis Kalanick's brash personality and freewheeling management style made him a liability as well as an asset to the global ridesharing giant Uber

Travis Kalanick was the driving force behind Uber, taking a spur-of-moment idea and turning it into the world's most valuable venture-funded tech startup.

But Kalanick's brash personality and freewheeling management style made him a liability as well as an asset to the global ridesharing giant, and on Wednesday he stepped down as chief executive.

Kalanick, 40, frequently recounts how the idea behind Uber was born, when he and a colleague were attending a technology conference in Paris in 2008 and failed to find a taxi on a cold night.

He dreamt up the "magical" idea of pushing a button to hail a ride, the story goes, and used that to create a company that disrupted a global industry while ruffling the feathers of both regulators and established taxi operators.

Uber now operates in hundreds of cities and more than 80 countries, accounting for bookings of some $20 billion last year.

Its valuation has soared to a whopping $68 billion, unprecedented for a startup that has yet to hit the stock market.

But the hard-charging style that helped Uber succeed has also made Kalanick a target for critics.

He has borne responsibility for allegations of sexism, cutthroat workplace tactics and covert use of law enforcement-evading software.

Uber's image has been tarnished by a series of missteps, including a visit by executives to a South Korean escort-karaoke bar, an attempt to dig up dirt on journalists covering the company and the mishandling of medical records from a woman raped in India after hailing an Uber ride.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, seen at a 2016 press conference in Beijing, has been the driving force behind Uber but has also borne responsibility for its missteps

Uber hired former US attorney general Eric Holder to review allegations of a toxic work culture, and adopted his report calling for a series of reforms and safeguards against abuses.

Kalanick has been humbled by recent events, which included the release of a dashcam video showing him berating and cursing at one of Uber's drivers.

In a statement, Kalanick said he loved Uber "more than anything in the world," but had agreed to investors' request for him to quit.

Being 'disruptive'

A graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, Kalanick began in the tech sector with a file-sharing startup called Scour, a rival of Napster.

Scour filed for bankruptcy after being sued by entertainment companies demanding $250 billion in damages.

Kalanick later co-founded a software startup called Red Swoosh, and got a multimillion-dollar payout when it was acquired by Akamai.

Uber and Kalanick exemplified the notion of being "disruptive," which in Silicon Valley is seen as a positive force for change.

But as Uber grew into a global company, both the firm and its founder appear to have come to the realization that they need to grow up.

Kalanick retains a seat on the board and is likely to exert some influence thanks to his substantial holding of shares in the company.

 2017 AFP
Macaques and other animals have great difficulties in distinguishing between sequences of stimuli. This might be what separates humans from other animals. Credit: Johan Lind/N

Humans possess many cognitive abilities not seen in other animals, such as a full-blown language capacity as well as reasoning and planning abilities. Despite these differences, however, it has been difficult to identify specific mental capacities that distinguish humans from other animals. Researchers at the City University of New York (CUNY) and Stockholm University have now discovered that humans have a much better memory to recognize and remember sequential information.

"The data we present in our study indicate that humans have evolved a superior capacity to deal with sequential information. We suggest that this can be an important piece of the puzzle to understand differences between humans and other animals," says Magnus Enquist, head of the Centre for the Study of Cultural Evolution at Stockholm University.

The new study collated data from 108 experiments on birds and mammals, showing that the surveyed species had great difficulties in distinguishing between certain sequences of stimuli.

"In some experiments, animals had to remember the order in which a green and a red lamp were lit. Even this simple discrimination turned out to be very difficult, and the difficulties increase with longer sequences. In contrast, animals perform as well as humans in most cases in which they have to distinguish between single stimuli, rather than sequences," says Johan Lind, a co-author of the study and an Associate Professor at Stockholm University.

Recognizing sequences of stimuli is a prerequisite for many uniquely human traits, for instance language, mathematics, or strategic games such as chess. After establishing that non-human animals have trouble distinguishing stimulus sequences, the researchers proposed a theory for why it is so.

"We found that the limited capacities of non-human animals can be explained by a simpler kind of memory that does not faithfully represent sequential information. Using a mathematical model, we show that this simpler memory explains the results from animal experiments," says Stefano Ghirlanda, lead author of the study and Professor of psychology at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center.

This research can explain why no language-trained animal has successfully mastered sequential aspects of language, such as the difference between "the dog bit the lady" and "the lady bit the dog". The researchers' hypothesize that, some time during human prehistory, the capacity to recognize and remember sequences of stimuli evolved, supporting the later evolution of human-level language, planning, and reasoning.

More information: Memory for stimulus sequences: a divide between humans and other animals? Royal Society Open Science, rsos.royalsocietypublishing.or  /10.1098/rsos.161011 Journal information: Royal Society Open Science
By Shivani Chhabra: Sridevi, the yesteryear actress who was every man's dream and every woman's idol back in the '80s, is now 53 years old, but she can very well pass off for a woman in her 30s. The marvel that she is, Sridevi has defied all the norms of aging, and is turning more ethereal by the day--it seems like she's found the Fountain of Youth to keep her glowing forever.

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The actor is promoting her upcoming film, Mom, in full force these days, and we are really looking forward to the magic she is known to create on the silver screen. While the film looks promising, it's her public appearances that have led to racing heartbeats everywhere--you should see how gorgeous she's been looking of late.

Photo: Yogen Shah

Also Read: Raveena Tandon is telling us how NOT to wear a pair of jeans

Our favourite Naagin has been donning the most chic ensembles, pulling them off better than most actresses in tinsel town. We still can't believe how vibrant she looked in her Flamingo-pink dress at a promotional event. The stunning actress was spotted wearing a bodycon dress, because a figure as toned as her deserves some really flattering clothes, and this was one brilliant choice.

Photo: Yogen Shah

She had an elegant, flared cape thrown over the dress, which was matched to the T, and helped complete the outfit. The dainty, silver embellishment on the outfit added a touch of bling to her soothing look, and made sure the outfit was enriched with all ideal aspects of a perfect outfit.

Photo: Yogen Shah

Also Read: Kriti Sanon is nailing the rock-chic look in this t-shirt dress

Donning a pair of silver danglers, and a few delicate-looking rings, Sridevi was on point with her accessories too--another reason we absolutely loved her well-balanced look so much.

A beauty like Sridevi needs no heavy makeup, or a heavy hairdo to uplift her look, and hence, the actress kept it minimal and sober.

Photo: Yogen Shah

With Sri looking so young, and stirring our hearts, how are we going to accept her as an on-screen mom, yet again?

--- ENDS ---
The Gulf Stream's poleward pathway. The figure shows how the warm Gulf Stream is gradually cooled on its northward journey through the North Atlantic and Nordic Seas until it eventually meets the Arctic sea ice (grey shading). The green boxes show the location of measurements used to track the northward propagation of temperature anomalies. Credit: Marius Arthun, University of Bergen and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research Temperature data by www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadisst/

A new study in the journal Nature Communications by researchers from the University of Bergen and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Norway, and University of Oxford, UK, demonstrates that there is a clear potential for practical and useful predictions of northwestern European and Arctic climate based on the state of the ocean.

"We particularly predict that Norwegian air temperature will decrease over the coming years, although staying above the long-term (19812010) average. Winter Arctic sea ice extent will remain low but with a general increase toward 2020", says lead author Marius Arthun, postdoc at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research.

Time series of observed sea surface temperature along the North Atlantic Current and its poleward extension, the Norwegian Atlantic Current, show that anomalies progress poleward from the subpolar North Atlantic to the Nordic Seas with a time lag of 7-10 years. Higher Nordic Seas temperatures are furthermore associated with higher surface air temperatures and precipitation over Norway, and a reduced Arctic winter sea ice cover.

Arthun et al. shows that a significant part of northwestern European and Arctic climate can be predicted by statistically exploiting the predictability arising from the poleward propagation of oceanic anomalies along the Gulf Stream and the strong co-variability between these oceanic anomalies and climate.

Climate forecasts are essential for many societal applications and bridges the scientific gap that currently exists between the established fields of weather forecasting and projections of future climate change. It is commonly understood that the ocean, due to its large thermal inertia, is a major source of climate variability and predictability.

However, several open questions exist on how and to what extent the ocean influences climate over land. This study detail a key aspect of climate predictability, and offers compelling evidence that oceanic variability exerts a strong influence on climate in the North Atlantic-Arctic region.

More information: Marius ?rthun et al. Skillful prediction of northern climate provided by the ocean, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15875 Journal information: Nature Communications
The majority of food that ends up in the landfill comes from our homes. Credit: Iowa State University

There is a good chance there are fresh vegetables in your refrigerator that will end up in the garbage instead of on your dinner plate.

Not that anyone goes to the grocery store with the intention of later throwing the food in the trash, but we all do it more often than we probably realize. Ruth Litchfield, a professor of food science and human nutrition at Iowa State University, says we waste about 20 pounds of food each month. And that is per person.

"It's a huge problem," Litchfield said. "When you think that 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. goes to waste, that is just irresponsible."

There are several reasons why so much of our food ends up in the trash and eventually a landfill, which all relate to our mentality about food. Litchfield says we need to move past the idea that more is better. Whether it's purchasing more than what we need at the grocery store or consuming large portions at a restaurant, our habits feed our tendency to waste.

According to a 2012 Business for Social Responsibility study on food waste, 44 percent of food going into the landfill comes from the home, followed by 33 percent from the food service industry. To do its part, the food service industry is employing a variety of initiatives, said Susan Arendt, a professor of hospitality management at Iowa State. Donating food to shelters or soup kitchens, incorporating leftover foods into other menu items  for example, using unserved green beans for vegetable soup the next day  and collaborating with farmers to feed unused food to farm animals are just a few examples.

"Some restaurants are also training servers to ask customers what they don't want with their meal. For example, instead of bringing both butter and oil with bread, they're asking the customer which one they prefer, rather than letting one go unused and have to be thrown out," Arendt said.

How to limit your waste

Consumers can take similar steps at home to limit waste and ultimately save money, Litchfield said. She recommends:

Meal planning for the week. There are several benefits to making a weekly menu, not just cutting waste. If you know you're going to be at a ball game or other activities during the week, cut back on what you're buying at the store, Litchfield said. Make meals using frozen or canned vegetables and other non-perishable items that you can use the following week, if plans change.

Find an alternate use for produce. Consider freezing or donating fresh produce that you're not going to eat before it starts to wilt or rot. Cut and package the fruits and veggies so that they're easy to pull out of the freezer and add to a smoothie or casserole.

Composting. Some communities offer composting programs, but Litchfield says it's relatively easy to do your own composting at home. Food converted to compost is waste diverted from the landfill, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Check out these resources from ISU Extension and Outreach on how to compost yard, garden and food waste at home: www.extension.iastate.edu/arti  en-composting-leaves.

Understand sell by dates. Litchfield says we throw away 160 billion pounds of food that is fine to eat because of confusion over "sell by" or "best by" labels. The date that follows has nothing to do with the safety of the food, it's related to quality, she said. Infant formula is the only product in the U.S. required to have an expiration date. A provision in the proposed Food Recovery Act of 2015 would standardize the language to reduce confusion.

Finding ways to make an impact

When discussing food waste in class, Arendt breaks it into two categories for students. There is product waste, such as eggshells or coffee grounds, and service waste or food that is served and not eaten. She says product waste is often unavoidable, although some items are good for compost, while with service waste there are several opportunities to make an impact.

For example, Arendt and a colleague conducted a milk waste study in elementary schools. By implementing simple changes, schools reduced the amount of milk waste. One school noticed students were throwing away unopened cartons of milk, and created a "share table" for students to leave unopened milk for other students to drink. She said another school limited technology in the lunchroom so students focused on eating, and not working or playing on their computers.

Portion control is another step the foodservice industry is taking, but health-conscious consumers are more often the motivating factor. Still, this can help with waste.

"Many restaurants are offering a half-portion size and a regular-portion size. Yes, customers want to receive 'value,' but it also depends on the type of customer," Arendt said. "Customers who are more health conscious are open to smaller portion sizes."

Policy that packs a punch

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture set a national goal to reduce food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030. Litchfield is doubtful that many consumers are aware of this goal or are making an effort to do their part. She says it is going to take policy, similar to seatbelt laws or tobacco taxes, to motivate people to make change.

"If you look at when people really started using seatbelts, it was when there was potential for a fine," Litchfield said. "In some communities you are charged for garbage service based on pounds or number of cans. If you were charged based on the amount of food waste leaving the home, it might change habits."

Another contributing factor is the cost of food. Litchfield is not advocating for higher prices at the grocery store, but she says food in the U.S. is cheap compared to other countries. If it were more expensive people would be less likely to overconsume, and be smarter about their purchases so food is not going to waste.
Artists impression of one of the fascinating new worlds that PLATO will discover. Among those there will be Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars with the potential to host life. Credit: MPS/ Mark A. Garlick (markgarlick.com)

The planet-hunting and asteroseismology space mission PLATO has reached an important milestone: Today, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the official adoption of the mission. After a three year definition phase following the mission's selection in 2014, PLATO is now fit for implementation. The launch is scheduled for the end of 2026. In its at least four year lifetime, the spacecraft will search for planets around several hundred thousands of stars; the radii, masses, and ages of many thousands of planetary systems will be precisely determined. The goal is to find habitable worlds and even Earth twins. In close collaboration with many European partners Germany will play a key role in the mission: the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin will head the overall mission; the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Gottingen will lead the processing of the observations at the PLATO Data Center.

Several thousands of exoplanets orbiting distant stars are known to date, many of these discovered by the Kepler and CoRoT space missions. However, these worlds are so far away and their host stars so faint that they cannot be characterized in detail. PLATO will be the first planet-hunting spacecraft capable of discovering and characterizing Earth-like planets around nearby Sun-like stars.

By surveying a large area of the sky for at least four years, PLATO will thus study the full diversity of stars and planetary systems across our galactic neighbourhood. "Using observations of stellar vibrations, PLATO will for the first time fully characterize these stars and their planets with regard to mass, radius, and age", says Prof. Dr. Laurent Gizon, director of the MPS and head of the PLATO Data Center. "This will revolutionize the study of the evolution of exoplanets and their host stars", he adds. The ultimate goal of the mission is to find an Earth-twin.

"We are very pleased that PLATO has reached adoption and that the mission is now moving forward into its next decisive phase", says Gizon. In the past three years since the selection of the mission, scientists at ESA, DLR-Berlin, MPS, and other European partner institutions have worked on specifying the mission's technical and programmatic details necessary to achieve the scientific goals within time and budget. With today's adoption, the implementation  the actual building and construction of the spacecraft and its instruments  can begin. In parallel, the design of the software to analyse the observations will be developed at the PLATO Data Center.

PLATO's instrumentation chiefly consists of 26 telescopes mounted on one satellite platform making it possible to gaze at very large area of sky at once. PLATO observes the dimming of a star's light when a planet passes in front of it. The spacecraft will stare at patches of sky for up to two years, in order to capture two transits of an Earth twin. It will change its field of view several times during the mission to find exoplanets across the sky. "With this concept and the high precision of the instrument we will find rocky planets orbiting sunlike stars and will be able to characterise them accurately", says Prof. Dr. Heike Rauer from DLR-Berlin, who is the Principal Investigator of the mission.

The observations from the mission will be processed by the PLATO Data Center, which consists of several data processing units across Europe and a central database located at the MPS in Gottingen (Germany). The scientists expect to be handling several petabytes of scientific data by the end of the mission. With support from the German Space Agency (DLR Raumfahrt-Agentur in Bonn) the PLATO Data Center will now start developing the computer software for the processing of the scientific data to ensure smooth operations when the first data arrives.
Hundreds of firefighters were still battling the forest blaze in central Portugal on Wednesday

Hundreds of firefighters battled blazes in central Portugal on Wednesday as the funerals of some of the 64 people killed in the inferno renewed anger over the emergency response to the disaster.

Questions swirled over how so many people could have died in the forest fire, most of whom perished on a single road that locals say should have been sealed off by first responders.

From early Wednesday, firefighting planes flew sorties over the smouldering forest canopy in the central Pedrogao Grande region, dropping water on the flames still licking pine and eucalyptus trees, according to an AFP journalist on the scene.

The head of the region's civil protection services Vitor Vaz Pinto told reporters that 95 percent of the fire had been extinguished.

"This is great progress," he added, as around 1,200 crew and 400 vehicles worked on dousing the flames.

Wednesday's forecast also suggested more favourable firefighting conditions, with temperatures set to hit 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), compared to 43 the day before.

The blaze appeared to have been brought under control on Tuesday, only for it to suddenly flare again, forcing authorities to evacuate 40 hamlets near the village of Gois.

Officials have expressed concerns that some residents are refusing to leave homes threatened by the flames.

Hundreds of firefighters were still battling the forest blaze in central Portugal on Wednesday

"We have to protect our houses. I came to help my friends who live here," said Sonia Pereira, 29, who along with around a dozen people refused calls to leave.

Authorities now believe more than 200 people were injured in the blaze at the weekend.

Questions, anger mount

Details were emerging of the victims, many of whom were caught in their cars as they tried to flee. They included a four-year-old boy, Rodrigo.

His parents had left with him with relatives while on honeymoon and posted frantic messages on social media. The bodies of Rodrigo and his uncle were found burnt beside a car.

Most were killed on the N236 national highway, now dubbed the "road of death" by local media.

"My nephew died, a fireman" said Joaquim Serra da Fonseca, 68.

The fire in central Portugal was among the deadliest natural disasters ever seen in the country

As news of the fire spread on Saturday, the 40-year-old nephew and several colleagues rushed down the road to help.

Faced with the fury of the fire, they turned back but in the thick smoke, they apparently crashed into a car full of people, Serra da Fonseca said.

They stopped to try to get the passengers out, but in a matter of seconds the flames caught up.

Serra da Fonseca wondered why they were allowed to take the road when police knew that a fire was raging in the area.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa has questioned why the N236 had not been closed to traffic, and has sought explanations into why the emergency services communications network had been interrupted.

Press reports suggested Portugal's fire plan had not been revised for four years and that some communication antennae may have malfunctioned due to the intense heat.

As anger mounted among the relatives of those killed, the daily Publico reported that civil protection personnel and back-up fire crews only reached the fire site two hours after the first emergency calls.

Questions are mounting over how so many people could have died on a road engulfed by the fire

Costa has called for "immediate explanations" from authorities but insisted that there was "no evidence" of any rapid response failure.

'Martyrs'

The first funerals began late Tuesday not far from the still-burning forest. A large crowd gathered in the tiny hamlet of Sarzedas de San Pedro to bury six victims.

The front page of the Correo da Manha showed images of tearful relatives next to pictures of some of those killed alongside a headline that read simply: "Martyrs".

Services will continue Wednesday and a nationwide minute's silence will be held.

 2017 AFP
QU Research Vessel Japan. Credit: Qatar University

Researchers in Qatar have documented the first evidence for the prevalence of microplastics within the Gulf seawater, specifically in the marine waters of Qatar.

A research study conducted by senior researchers from Qatar University Environmental Science Center (QU-ESC) have documented the first evidence for the prevalence of microplastics within the Gulf seawater, specifically in the marine waters of Qatar.

Led by ESC former Director and Professor Dr Jeff Obbard, the team includes ESC Associate Professor Dr Ibrahim Maslamani and Laboratory Technician Azenith Castillo. They developed an optimized and validated protocol for the extraction of microplastics from plankton-rich samples in Qatar's seawater. The study has been published in the prestigious scientific journal Marine Pollution Bulletin.

The team collected surface seawater microplastic samples from 12 stations during a research cruise in Qatar's coastal waters by QU's research vessel (RV) Janan. Then, the number of microplastic particles in seawater was counted and characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to determine the plastic polymer type. The study showed that microplastics were found in seawater of 10 over 12 of the marine water stations sampled, at an average concentration of 0.71 particles per cubic meter of seawater (range 0-3 particles m-3).

Microplastics. Credit: Qatar University

"Polypropylene microplastics were the most common type of plastic polymer found with the most particles being either granular or fibrous in shape, with sizes from 125m to 15.98mm", Dr Obbard said. Such microplastics are commonly associated with general plastic packaging waste, and marine fishing nets. He noted that the levels of microplastics found in Qatar's marine waters are still relatively low compared to some other locations around the world, but vigilance is needed.

Dr Obbard added: "Over time, plastic ultimately results in the generation of microplasticstiny pieces of plastic typically less than 5mm in diameter. Microplastic particles can contaminate marine water and sediments, and are increasingly found in the marine food chain with the potential to contaminate fish and other types of marine seafood. The impact of plastic pollution in the marine environment is of increasing global concern. As plastic is durable and degrades slowly in the environment, plastic debris is now widespread in the world's oceans. Approximately eight million tons of plastic waste ends up in the oceans every year, and it is predicted that by the year 2050 the amount of plastic waste in the world's oceans could exceed the amount of fish present, on a weight-to-weight basis. Qatar's coastline is susceptible to marine debris due to the county's rapid urbanization and economic development. Plastic can also affect Qatar's coastline from further afield, as it drifts long distances on ocean currents and tides. The study highlights the need for continuous monitoring of microplastics in Qatar's coastal seawaters in order to safeguard the marine environment and its ecology."

Commenting on the study ESC Director Dr Hamad Al-Kuwari said: "Qatar has a rich marine cultural heritage and a bio diverse environment. ESC continues to deliver on its mission to understand and protect this precious natural resource for the benefit of the Qatari people. This research study reflects ESC's commitment to conduct fundamental and applied research in the environmental sciences, including the marine, atmospheric, and terrestrial environments, in line with the Environmental Development pillar of Qatar National Vision 2030."

Provided by Qatar University
Argonne and Berkeley national laboratories have collaborated to design, build and test two superconducting undulator devices that could make X-ray lasers more powerful, versatile, compact and durable. Above: Argonne Accelerator Systems Division engineer Matt Kasa checks the instrumentation of the undulator. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Argonne National Laboratory have collaborated to design, build and test two devices that utilize different superconducting materials and could make X-ray lasers more powerful, versatile, compact and durable.

These prototype devices, called superconducting undulators (SCUs), successfully produced stronger magnetic fields than conventional permanent magnetic undulators of the same size. These fields, in turn, can produce higher-energy laser light to open up a broader range of experiments.

Several large-scale X-ray lasers are in the works around the globe to allow scientists to probe the properties of matter at ever smaller and faster scales, and superconducting undulators are considered among the most enabling technologies for the next generation of these and other types of light sources.

Such light sources are powerful tools for studying the microscopic structure and other properties of samples, such as proteins that are key to drug design, exotic materials relevant to electronics and energy applications, and chemistry that is central to industrial processes like fuel production.

The recent development effort was motivated by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's upgrade of its Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), which is the nation's only X-ray free-electron laser (FEL). The new project, now underway, is known as LCLS-II.

X-ray FELs now use permanent magnetic undulators to produce X-ray light by wiggling high-energy bunches of electrons in alternating magnetic fields produced by a sequence of permanent magnets.

But for the first time, Argonne scientists have demonstrated that a superconducting undulator could be used as a free-electron laser amplifier for the contemporary X-ray FELs.

The team at the Department of Energy's Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne successfully built and tested a 1.5-meter-long prototype SCU magnet designed to meet FEL undulator requirements. This SCU utilizes niobium-titanium superconducting wire for winding its magnetic coils.

This significant achievement could pave the way to expanding the X-ray energy range at existing light sources without increasing the electron beam energy. This is an important point because the construction cost of light facilities is mainly defined by the energy of the electron beam, said Efim Gluskin, an Argonne Distinguished Fellow and a physicist and interim group leader of the Magnetic Devices Group in the APS's Accelerator Systems Division.

Gluskin said the niobium-titanium-based SCU has been designed to meet all challenging technical requirements applied to the X-ray FEL undulator, including high-precision field quality and consistency all along the magnet. In fact, it has been experimentally proven that this device has met all of these requirements. The APS SCU team has used in-house-developed cryogenic systems and magnetic measurement techniques to validate the SCU performance.

"The main challenge is to maintain the consistent wiggle motion of electrons inside of an SCU," said Gluskin, adding that the range of accepted deviation from the straight line of the beam motion across the distance of several meters is just a few microns. For comparison, an average human hair is 100 microns wide.

"That leads to very stringent requirements on the quality of the magnetic field generated by SCU magnets," Gluskin said.

SLAC's Paul Emma, the accelerator physics lead for the LCLS-II upgrade project coordinated the superconducting undulator development effort.

"With superconducting undulators," Emma said, "you don't necessarily lower the cost but you get better performance for the same stretch of undulator."

A superconducting undulator equivalent in length to a permanent magnetic undulator could produce light that is at least two to three times and perhaps up to 10 times more powerful, and could also access a wider range in X-ray wavelengths, Emma said. This produces a more efficient FEL.

Superconducting undulators have no macroscopic moving parts, so they could conceivably be tuned more quickly with high precision. Superconductors also are far less prone to damage by high-intensity radiation than permanent-magnet materials, a significant issue in high-power accelerators such as those that will be installed for LCLS-II.

There appears to be a clear path forward to developing superconducting undulators for upgrades of existing and new X-ray free-electron lasers, Emma said, and for other types of light sources.

"Superconducting undulators will be the technology we go to eventually, whether it's in the next 10 or 20 years," he said. "They are powerful enough to produce the light we are going to need  I think it's going to happen. People know it's a big enough step, and we've got to get there."

In this case, the APS team developed the technology of SCU construction to deliver a ready-to-go device right off the assembly bench.

"The SCU team found unique solutions for making this undulator performance within strict specifications of the LCLS undulator system," said Yury Ivanyushenkov, a physicist with the Argonne Accelerator Systems Division. "Over the years, the SCU team has put together a robust set of technological steps and processes to design and build state-of-the-art superconducting undulators that successfully operate at the APS. The success of this project is the direct result of the systems and facilities in place at the APS."

Geoffrey Pile, Associate Division Director of the APS Engineering Support Division at Argonne and former director of the APS LCLS-I undulator project, said the APS has a long history and expertise with designing and constructing undulators for the APS and other national labs.

One of the Argonne projects was the design and construction of the LCLS-I undulator system  440 feet of sophisticated technical components that incorporated 33 cutting-edge undulators. The LCLS-I facility at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has now been operating successfully for more than seven years.

In addition, APS scientists and engineers recently designed and built a revolutionary new Horizontal-Gap Vertically Polarizing Undulator prototype for the LCLS-II project. It was adopted and incorporated into the LCLS-II final design, and 32 production units will be constructed for SLAC by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and industrial partners.

"For the past couple of decades, the APS engineering team has been constructing undulators for use at Argonne and across the country, and the SCU may be the most challenging project so far," Pile said. "It has moved the technology forward in leaps and bounds and highlights the expertise throughout the APS. Importantly, many industrial partners, people at Argonne, and our collaborators at SLAC and Berkeley contributed to the success of this project and deserve credit."

Gluskin agreed: "The development of this prototype is a culmination of more than a decade of Argonne commitments to new and innovative SCU technology that will benefit all DOE light sources."
Global warming has in recent years caused colourful coral reefs to bleach and die around the worldbut not in the Gulf of Eilat, or Aqaba, part of the northern Red Sea.

In the azure waters of the Red Sea, Maoz Fine and his team dive to study what may be the planet's most unique coral: one that can survive global warming, at least for now.

The corals, striking in their red, orange and green colours, grow on tables some eight metres (26 feet) underwater, put there by the Israeli scientists to unlock their secrets to survival.

They are of the same species that grows elsewhere in the northern Red Sea and are resistant to high temperatures.

Fine's team dives in scuba gear to monitor the corals, taking notes on water-resistant pads.

"We're looking here at a population of corals on a reef that is very resilient to high temperature changes, and is most likely going to be the last to survive in a world undergoing very significant warming and acidification of sea water," Fine said at his nearby office ahead of the dive.

Global warming has in recent years caused colourful coral reefs to bleach and die around the worldbut not in the Gulf of Eilat, or Aqaba, part of the northern Red Sea.

That is what has prompted Fine's work, both in the Red Sea and on its shores.

At the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat, dozens of aquariums have been lined up in rows just off the Red Sea shore containing samples of local corals.

In the azure waters of the Red Sea, Maoz Fine and his team dive to study what may be the planet's most unique coral: one that can survive global warming, at least for now.

A robot slowly dips its arms into each glass container, taking measurements and uploading them to a database.

"We exposed corals to high temperatures over long periods of time, beyond the current peak summer temperatures and even beyond the model-based temperatures we predict for the end of the century," said Fine, a marine biology professor from Bar Ilan University in central Israel.

He explained: "They didn't undergo bleaching."

Heat is on

According to Fine, the Gulf of Eilat corals fare well in heat thanks to their slow journey from the Indian Ocean through the Bab al-Mandab strait, between Djibouti and Yemen, where water temperatures are much higher.

At Israel's Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences dozens of aquariums have been lined up in rows just off the Red Sea shore containing samples of local corals that are seemingly able to withstand warmer temperatures.

"Over the past 6,000 years they underwent a form of selection through a very, very hot body of water, and only those that could pass through that hot water body reached here, the northern Red Sea and Gulf of Eilat," he said.

The world just marked its three hottest years in modern times, with scientists pointing to increases in heat-trapping emissions such as carbon dioxide as a driving factor.

Oceans also absorb about one-third of the carbon dioxide released by human activities, resulting in increasing acidification that is harmful to corals.

Coral reefs, most famously Australia's Great Barrier Reef, are experiencing in recent years unabated mass bleaching and die-offs.

Often mistaken for a form of vegetation, corals "are in fact an animal that lives in symbiosis with an algae, a plant," said Jessica Bellworthy, a PhD student under Fine's supervision taking part in the Eilat research.

Researchers believe Gulf of Eilat corals fare well in heat thanks to their slow journey from the Indian Ocean through the Bab al-Mandab strait, between Djibouti and Yemen, where water temperatures are much higher.

Corals and algae "provide services for each other," with the algae providing "up to 90 percent of the coral animal's food" through photosynthesis, said Bellworthy, originally from Britain.

"When ocean temperatures get too hot, this symbiosis, this relationship, breaks down," she said.

"The algae is lost from the coral and causes the coral to look white," effectively "starving" it.

'Reefs have no borders'

Losing coral reefs is not only bad news for tourists diving to see their beauty and marine life swimming among them.

Often mistaken for a form of vegetation, corals "are in fact an animal that lives in symbiosis with an algae, a plant," said Jessica Bellworthy (R) a PhD student conducting research on the coral reefs of the Gulf of Eilat

Corals are important to "the whole balance of the eco-system," offering structure, food and protection to a variety of marine animals, Bellworthy said.

Their rich chemical interactions have provided components for medications, including those for cancer and HIV patients, Fine said.

But while the coral reefs off Eilat and Aqaba may be able to survive global warming for now, they also face other risks.

Fertilisers, pesticides and oil pollution "harm the corals and lower their resilience to high temperatures," Fine said, warning of plans to build fish pools that would stream nutrient waste into the Gulf of Eilat.

The Israeli researcher stressed the need to join forces with countries that share the Red Sea.

Researchers from the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in the southern Israeli resort city Eilat monitor coral growth in the Red Sea.

That would include not only Jordan and Egyptthe only two Arab states to have peace agreements with Israelbut also Saudi Arabia, with which Israel has no formal ties.

"To safeguard this small body of water, we naturally need the cooperation of our neighbours since the reefs have no borders," Fine said.

Corals in the Gulf of Eilat are "very resilient to high temperature changes and most likely going to be the last to survive in a world undergoing very significant warming and acidification of sea water," Professor Maoz Fine tells AFP.

 2017 AFP
The recent string of terrorist attacks across Europe has led to a spike in Islamophobic acts, from daily harassment to the horrific event this week in Finsbury Park. Yet while extreme acts of Islamophobia are generally denounced by political actors and the media, a new study suggests that more insidious forms of Islamophobia, couched in liberal terms, are helping normalise such forms of racism in society.

Published in the journal Ethnic and Racial Studies, the study by Dr Aurelien Mondon at the University's Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies and Dr Aaron Winter at the University of East London, explores the relationship between liberal and illiberal articulations of Islamophobia which it suggests is fundamental to understanding the roots and prevalence of this particular type of racism and its full impact.

Definitions of Islamophobia

Comparing the situation in France with the USA, their paper argues that Illiberal Islamophobia is akin to traditional racism and far-right hate and typically denounced by liberal norms as unacceptable, 'alien in to our post-racial societies". "Liberal Islamophobia", by contrast, has developed as a perceived defence of liberal values  democracy, freedom of speech, gender, sexuality and equality.

The authors suggest there are links between the two, with more extreme groups borrowing the arguments put forward in defence of liberty and equality on gender or sexuality to legitimate their standpoint. However, underlying both Islamophobias, they suggest, is a targeting of Muslims in a racist manner.

The authors argue that Islamophobia is a racist construct within which the "Muslim' signifier does not come from the individual Muslim in a subjective manner, but is defined by the onlooker in a position of power and imposed onto people through various types of generalisation, misperception and stigmatisation.

This can be witnessed through the so-called secular and anti-terrorist laws, but also through media coverage of events related to Islam, where commentators often generalise and homogenise extremely diverse communities.

Whilst there is widespread acceptance that Islamophobia is a serious and growing issue in society among mainstream politicians, social movements and the media, the authors argue that the fight against racism cannot stop at illiberal acts, but must target its more liberal articulations as well.

A focus on elite discourse

In addition to the more bottom-up approaches implemented in local communities to tackle extremism, the authors suggest that a focus on elite discourse (the media and politicians predominantly) and its impact on the mainstream is essential to get to the roots of the problem. In order to challenge hate and improve policy responses, their research proposes a more complex and multifaceted definition to capture these multiple articulations, how they develop, function and are deployed.

The authors stress that: "Overall, the debate between Islamophobia being about religion or race is not solely about what Islam is, but what one wants to say about it and how they do it. Religion does provide a convenient cover for those wishing to argue that they are attacking a belief and not people, and in a context where racism is allegedly unacceptable, wriggle out of or deflect such charges."

More information: Aurelien Mondon et al. Articulations of Islamophobia: from the extreme to the mainstream?, Ethnic and Racial Studies (2017). DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2017.1312008 Journal information: Ethnic and Racial Studies
Humanoid robots under development can be programmed to detect changes in an elderly persons preferences and habits. Credit: GrowMeUp

Everybody needs a helping hand when they get older  but in years to come that helping hand may be attached to a robotic arm.

Low birth rates and higher life expectancies mean that those over 65 years old now will account for 28.7 % of Europe's population by 2080, according to Eurostat, the EU's statistics arm.

It means the age-dependency ratio  the proportion of the elderly compared with the number of workers  will almost double from 28.8 % in 2015 to 51 % in 2080, straining healthcare systems and national budgets.

Yet there's hope marching over the horizon, in the form of robots.

The creators of one humanoid robot under development for the elderly say it can understand people's actions and learn new behaviours in response, even though it is devoid of arms.

Robots can be programmed to understand an elderly person's preferences and habits to detect changes in behaviour: for example if a yoga devotee misses a class, it will ask why, while if an elderly person falls it will automatically alert caregivers or emergency services.

Yet there's still a way to go before these devices will be able to bring out a tray of tea and biscuits when visitors drop by, according to its creator.

The proportion of elderly people is expected to almost double by 2080, so researchers are looking to robots to see if they can help care for the aging population. Credit: GrowMeUp

At the moment there are things the robot can perform perfectly in the lab but that still present challenges, says Dr Luis Santos from the University of Coimbra in Portugal, who has been developing the technology as part of an EU-funded research project known as GrowMeUp.

'There is a mismatch between what elderly people want and what science and technology can provide  some of them are expecting robots to do all types of household activities, engage them in everyday gossip or physically interact with them as another human would do,' says Dr Santos.

The team is working on making the robot's dialogue as natural and as intuitive as possible and improving its ability to safely navigate an older person's home, using a low-cost laser and a camera, and a second prototype will be tested with elderly people in the coming months. Yet, Dr Santos foresees that these devices are still four to six years away from commercialisation, at least.

Revolution

He sees robotics as just a part of a wider revolution underway in how societies care for the elderly, with connectivity and augmented reality also playing a role.

'In the future, elderly care will also be very focused on information and communications technologies  for example virtual access to doctors or care institutions and 24/7 monitoring in a non-invasive way are likely to become standard,' he said.

Yet researchers believe that keeping the technology unobtrusive is key  no wearable devices or cumbersome cameras cluttering up people's homes.

Researchers are figuring out ways of putting robots in homes for virtual access to healthcare and constant monitoring, yet that are also non-invasive. Credit: RADIO

Dr Maria Dagioglou from the National Centre of Scientific Research "Demokritos" in Greece, said: 'We wanted to avoid a Big Brother scenario, so data privacy is important but also dignity.'

She is looking at ways to integrate robotics technology into a smart home equipped with connected devices, automation and sensors, as part of the EU-funded RADIO project.

Dr Stasinos Konstantopoulos, the scientific manager of the RADIO project, added: 'All monitoring happens as the user interacts with the system to control the house, for example to regulate the temperature, and to ask the robot to run errands, like finding misplaced items.'

Using a tablet or smartphone to interact, the equipment, which should only take a day to install, can monitor elements of an elderly person's day-to-day life, efficiently processing and managing data to allow medical professionals to keep track of and assess their level of independence via smartphone notifications.

'It's a constant safety net in case something starts to be worrying,' said Dagioglou.

The goal of innovations like this is to allow people to live independently for longer.

A crucial element of this is finding ways for older people to keep up their activity levels, and this is an area where robots could really come into their own.

Researchers will start clinical trials in Spain of a robotic prototype designed to help elderly people to exercise. Credit: Acanto

Dr Luigi Palopoli at the University of Trento in Italy said 'our robot pushes them to do their exercise, to go out and about; it extracts information on their interests and on their fears and makes them part of a network.'

Barriers

'We want to tear down the emotional barriers that make them stay at home and degrade the quality of their life,' he said.

As part of the EU-funded Acanto project, he is developing a robot called FriWalk, following on from the progress made during a previous EU-funded project, the DALi project.

The team has worked hard to make the FriWalk robot look energetic and appealing and to ensure it offers useful services like carrying small items or giving directions.

With prototypes made, in the next few months the researchers will start clinical trials in Spain as well as public demonstrations of the FriWalk in museums and other public spaces.

Further ahead, Dr Palopoli hopes for interest from established manufacturers and start-ups to bring the FriWalk technology to the market.
The different layers of Earths airglow can be seen from the International Space Station as it orbits Earth. The very thin green layer above the bottom of the window occurs 95 kilometers (59 miles) above Earths surface; the red region above is a different type of airglow. The rectangle represents the portion of the airglow measured in a single WINDII image. Credit: American Geophysical Union

Dating back to the first century, scientists, philosophers and reporters have noted the occasional occurrence of "bright nights," when an unexplained glow in the night sky lets observers see distant mountains, read a newspaper or check their watch.

A new study accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, uses satellite data to present a possible explanation for these puzzling historical phenomena.

The authors suggest that when waves in the upper atmosphere converge over specific locations on Earth, it amplifies naturally occurring airglow, a faint light in the night sky that often appears green due to the activities of atoms of oxygen in the high atmosphere. Normally, people don't notice airglow, but on bright nights it can become visible to the naked eye, producing the unexplained glow detailed in historical observations.

Few, if any, people observe bright nights anymore due to widespread light pollution, but the new findings show that they can be detected by scientists and may still be noticeable in remote areas. Bright airglow can be a concern for astronomers, who must contend with the extra light while making observations with telescopes.

"Bright nights do exist, and they're part of the variability of airglow that can be observed with satellite instruments," said Gordon Shepherd, an aeronomer at York University in Toronto, Canada, and lead author of the new study.

A historical mystery

Historical accounts of bright nights go back centuries. Pliny the Elder described bright nights, saying, "The phenomenon commonly called 'nocturnal sun', i.e. a light emanating from the sky during the night, has been seen during the consulate of C. Caecilius and Cn. Papirius (~ 113 BCE), and many other times, giving an appearance of day during the night."

European newspapers and the scientific literature also carried observations of these events in 1783, 1908 and 1916.

"The historical record is so coherent, going back over centuries, the descriptions are very similar," Shepherd said.

Modern observations of bright nights from Earth are practically nonexistent. Even devoted airglow researchers like Shepherd and his colleagues have never seen a true bright night with their eyes. But even before the advent of artificial lighting, bright nights were rare and highly localized.

"Bright nights have disappeared," Shepherd said. "Nobody sees them, nobody talks about them or records them any longer, but they're still an interesting phenomenon."

Earths airglow can be seen from the International Space Station as a greenish bubble 95 kilometers (59 miles) above the Earths surface. Credit: NASA

Airglow anomalies

Shepherd knew of the historical observations and could see bright night events reflected in airglow data from the Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII), an instrument once carried by NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (1991-2005), but he couldn't explain why the phenomena occurred.

He and his co-author, Youngmin Cho, a research associate at York University, searched for mechanisms that would cause airglow to increase to visible levels at specific locations.

Airglow comes from emissions of different colors of light from chemical reactions in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. The green portion of airglow occurs when light from the sun splits apart molecular oxygen into individual oxygen atoms. When the atoms recombine, they give off the excess energy as photons in the green part of the visible light spectrum, giving the sky a greenish tinge.

To find factors that would cause peaks in airglow and create bright nights, the researchers searched two years of WINDII data for unusual airglow profiles, ruling out meteors and aurora, which have their own distinct signatures. They identified 11 events where WINDII detected a spike in airglow levels that would be visible to the human eye, two of which they describe in detail in the study.

Finally, the researchers matched up the events with the ups and downs of zonal waves, large waves in the upper atmosphere that circle the globe and are impacted by weather. When the peaks of certain waves aligned, they produced bright night events that could last for several nights at a specific location. These events were four to 10 times brighter than normal airglow and could be responsible for the bright nights observed throughout history.

"This [study] is a very clear, new approach to the old enigma of what makes some night skies so remarkably bright, and the answer is atmospheric dynamics," said Jurgen Scheer, an aeronomer at Instituto de Astronomia y Fisica del Espacio in Buenos Aires, who was not connected to the study. "We now have a good idea which dynamical phenomena are behind [airglow] events of extreme brightness."

Observing a bright night

From their data, the researchers estimate that at a specific location, visible bright nights occur only once per year, and their observation would rely on a sky watcher looking from a remote location on a clear, moonless night with dark-adjusted eyes. Shepherd estimates that a bright night occurs somewhere on Earth, at different longitudes, on about 7 percent of nights.

If an astronomer wanted to experience a bright night personally, Shepherd suspects that scientists could predict their occurrence if they monitored the waves continuously, so that they could calculate when their peaks would align.

The next challenge will be to reproduce the observed convergence of these waves through modeling and to consider the effects of other types of waves in the atmosphere, Scheer said.

"Maybe it's an almost dead question," Shepherd said. "I'm having the last word before it dies."

More information: G. G. Shepherd et al, WINDII Airglow Observations of Wave Superposition and the Possible Association with Historical ?Bright Nights?, Geophysical Research Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1002/2017GL074014 Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters
The Supreme Court today said it would not interfere in the six-month jail sentence awarded to controversial former judge CS Karnan. The two-judge vacation bench it could not grant bail to Karnan as the original order against him had been delivered by a seven-judge bench.

By Anusha Soni: The Supreme Court today denied interim bail for controversial former judge CS Karnan.

Karnan, who retired in disgrace as a Calcutta High Court judge, was arrested in Coimbatore on Tuesday evening.

Karnan was sentenced to six months in jail by the Supreme Court, which ordered his arrest after finding him in contempt for defaming the judiciary.

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A two-judge vacation bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul today said it cannot modify the original order as it was passed by a seven-judge bench and asked Karnan's lawyer to bring the matter before the chief justice of India after the vacations.

"Sorry, nevertheless," Justice Chandrachud said, declining the bail plea, according to news agency IANS.

THE JUSTICE KARNAN SAGA Controversy has surrounded CS Karnan ever since his tenure at the Madras High Court, from where he was transferred to the Calcutta High Court in 2016, allegedly for his frequent run-ins with the then Madras chief justice and fellow judges at the high court. He later went on to write letters to Prime Minster Narendra Modi and Law Minster Ravi Shankar Prasad, leveling serious charges of corruption and caste discrimination against sitting and retired Supreme Court judges. It was over his letters and other statements (Karnan had once openly said, "I admit the Indian Judiciary is corrupt.") that the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice, asking Karnan to appear before it. On March 10, after Justice Karnan refused to appear before the Supreme Court, a seven-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar issued a bailable warrant in the contempt case against him. Following the Supreme Court's contempt order, Karnan passed his own order in April directing that the seven judges of the bench who issued the contempt order be barred from flying. He did not stop there. On May 8, Karnan took on the country's top judiciary, passing an order to 'sentence' CJI Kehar and seven other Supreme Court justice to five years of rigorous imprisonment. In his order, Karnan said, the judges had "jointly committed offences punishable under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 and the amended Act of 2015". On May 9, the Supreme Court responded by sentencing Karnan to six months in jail, making him the first judge to be sentenced to imprisonment by the apex court. Since the Supreme Court ruling, Karnan had been untraceable, with the Kolkata Police launching a cross-country hunt for the then Calcutta High Court judge. On June 12, Karnan retired from the Calcutta High Court, without getting the customary farewell. Even as he remained untraceable, Karnan communicated with the President of India through letters seeking that his sentence be suspended. After being missing for over a month, Karnan was finally arrested by the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department in Coimbatore on Tuesday. Police said he resisted the arrest and argued with the cops before being taken into custody.

ALSO READ | Why Jethmalani told Justice Karnan I am convinced you have lost your mind

ALSO READ | Curious case of Justice Karnan: A history of controversies and mystery

WATCH | Supreme Court refuses interim bail to former judge CS Karnan

--- ENDS ---
These fluorescence images show a matrix representing 124 distinct metafluorophores, that are generated by combining three fluorescent dyes with varying intensity levels. In the future, the metafluorophore's unique and identifiable color patterns can be used to analyze the molecular components of complex samples. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

Biomedical researchers are understanding the functions of molecules within the body's cells in ever greater detail by increasing the resolution of their microscopes. However, what's lagging behind is their ability to simultaneously visualize the many different molecules that mediate complex molecular processes in a single snap-shot.

Now, a team from Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, the LMU Munich, and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany, has engineered highly versatile metafluorophores by integrating commonly used small fluorescent probes into self-folding DNA structures where their colors and brightness can be digitally programmed. This nanotechnological approach offers a palette of 124 virtual colors for microscopic imaging or other analytical methods that can be adapted in the future to visualize multiple molecular players at the same time with ultra-high definition. The method is reported in Science Advances.

With their new method, the researchers address the problem that thus far only a limited number of molecular species can be visualized simultaneously with fluorescence microscopy in a biological or clinical sample. By introducing fluorescent DNA nanostructures called metafluorophoresversatile fluorescent dyes whose colors are determined by how their individual components are arranged in 3-dimensional structuresthey overcome this bottleneck.

"We use DNA nanostructures as molecular pegboards: by functionalizing specific component strands at defined positions of the DNA nanostructure with one of three different fluorescent dyes, we achieve a broad spectrum of up to 124 fluorescent signals with unique color compositions and intensities," said Yin, who is a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute and Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. "Our study provides a framework that allows researchers to construct a large collection of metafluorophores with digitally programmable optical properties that they can use to visualize multiple targets in the samples they are interested in."

The DNA nanostructure-based approach can be used like a barcoding system to visually profile the presence of many specific DNA or RNA sequences in samples in what is called multiplexing.

To enable the visualization of multiple molecular structures in tissue samples whose thickness can limit the movement of larger DNA nanostructures and make it difficult for them to find their targets, and to reduce the possibility that they attach themselves to non-specific targets producing false fluorescence signals, the team took additional engineering steps.

"We developed a triggered version of our metafluorophore that dynamically self-assembles from small component strands that take on their prescribed shape only when they bind their target," said Ralf Jungmann, Ph.D., who is faculty at the LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and co-conducted the study together with Yin. "These in-situ assembled metafluorophores can not only be introduced into complex samples with similar combinatorial possibilities as the prefabricated ones to visualize DNA, but they could also be leveraged to label antibodies as widely used detection reagents for proteins and other biomolecules."

"This new type of programmable, microscopy-enhancing DNA nanotechnology reveals how work in the Wyss Institute's Molecular Robotics Initiative can invent new ways to solve long-standing problems in biology and medicine. These metafluorophores that can be programmed to self-assemble when they bind their target, and that have defined fluorescent barcode readouts, represent a new form of nanoscale devices that could help to reveal complex, multi-component, biological interactions that we know exist but have no way of studying today," said Wyss Founding Director Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., who is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital, and Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

More information: "Sub100-nm metafluorophores with digitally tunable optical properties self-assembled from DNA" Science Advances (2017). advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/6/e1602128 Journal information: Science Advances
Seagulls flock to a landfill to find easy sources of food. A study finds their nutrient-rich droppings may cause major water-quality problems in nearby lakes and reservoirs. Credit: Scott Winton, Duke

At least 1.4 million seagulls feed at landfills across North America, which aside from the nuisance it might pose, is also a threat to the health of nearby waters, a new Duke University study finds.

"We estimate these gulls transport and deposit an extra 240 tons of nitrogen and 39 tons of phosphorus into nearby lakes or reservoirs in North America each year through their feces," said lead author Scott Winton, a 2016 doctoral graduate of Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

The added nutrients contained in the birds' droppings can contribute to extensive algal blooms that rob surface waters of much of the oxygen needed to sustain healthy aquatic animal lifea process known as eutrophication.

Oxygen depletion and algal toxins that result from the blooms can have far-reaching ecological and economic impacts, including fish kills, increased costs for local governments, and reduced recreational or fishing values in affected waters.

"It costs local U.S. governments an estimated $100 million a year in nutrient offset credits to address or prevent the problem and maintain nutrient levels at or below the total maximum daily load threshold for water quality," said Mark River, a doctoral student at Duke's Nicholas School, who conducted the research with Winton.

The scale of the problem and the cumulative cost of dealing with it may be even larger than the new study suggests, said Winton, who is now a visiting postdoctoral fellow at ETHZurich, a science and technology university in Switzerland.

"We estimated and mapped a landfill-gull population of 1.4 million based on documented sightings reported in the eBird Citizen Science database. But the actual population is probably greater than 5 million," Winton said. "That means the amount of nutrients deposited in the lakes, and the costs of preventing or remediating the problem, could be substantially higher."

Winton and River published their study, which is the first to look at the transport of nutrients into surface waters from seagulls at landfills, on June 15 in the journal Water Research.

They conducted the research at landfills near two major drinking water reservoirsJordan Lake and Falls Lake - that serve the Raleigh-Durham region of North Carolina. Nitrogen and phosphorus loading data from these two lakes were then scaled up to estimate total loading at water bodies near landfills across North America using a well-established model for measuring the nutrient transport of carnivorous birds.

The findings are applicable to lakes and reservoirs in other parts of the world, as well.

"The idea that gull feces can be a major water quality problem may sound comicaluntil you look at data from an individual lake," Winton said. "In Jordan Lake, for instance, we found that a local flock of 49,000 ring-billed gulls deposit landfill feces containing nearly 1.2 tons of phosphorus into the lake annually."

That amount, he said, is equivalent to roughly half of the total phosphorus load reduction target established for the New Hope Creek watershed of Jordan Lake. Offsetting this added phosphorus costs local governments about $2.2 million annuallylargely through long-term programs aimed at reducing other sources of inflowing nutrients such as urban stormwater or agricultural runoff.

Reducing the size of the gull flocks may also be an option worth pursuing, Winton said. Reducing the size of open landfills, and covering trash more quickly after it is dumped, are among the ways managers can reduce the gulls' easy access to a food supply and encourage a flock to disperse to other feeding habitats.

"There's a decent history of local governments implementing gull management at landfills because of fears about airplane strikes or because of the nuisance factor to nearby communities," Winton said. "It might be cost-effective to pursue some of these non-lethal mitigation methods to reduce nutrient loading, as well."

More information: R. Scott Winton et al, The biogeochemical implications of massive gull flocks at landfills, Water Research (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.05.076
Taiwan firm Formosa was fined $500 million for the waste dump that caused Vietnam's worst-ever environmental disaster

A senior Vietnamese environment official has been fired for negligence over a toxic waste dump that killed tonnes of fish in a major environmental crisis last year, according to officials and state media.

Luong Duy Hanh, director of Vietnam's Environment Protection Management Department, is the latest official to be punished over the toxic leak, which was blamed on a multi-billion dollar steel plant run by the Taiwanese firm Formosa.

Formosa was fined $500 million for the waste dump and Vietnam has vowed to punish 11 officials over the country's worst-ever environmental disaster.

"The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has carried out disciplinary action by sacking Mr Luong Duy Hanh," according to an online statement from Vietnam's environment ministry published Tuesday.

State media reported Wednesday that Hanh was sacked because he failed to properly oversee the Formosa project.

He was blamed for not "consulting and supervising the implementation of the environmental protection unit during the construction and pilot operation" of the plant, according to state-controlled Thanh Nien newspaper.

A deputy director of the Environment Agency has already been fired over the mass fish kill, and four former officials have been stripped of their Communist party positions.

The Formosa steel plant was still under construction at the time of the disaster in April 2016.

Last month the government gave it the green light to operate on a trial basis.

The disaster decimated livelihoods in fishing towns along the central coast, and fishermen continue to stage protests demanding greater compensation.

 2017 AFP
The software BaSiC improves microscope images, e.g., the mosaic image of a mouse brain thin section (left without, right with BaSiC correction). BaSiC's image correction is also a valuable tool for stem cell researchers who want to detect the appearance of specific transcription factors early on. Credit: Tingying Peng / TUM/HMGU

Today, tracking the development of individual cells and spotting the associated factors under the microscope is nothing unusual. However, impairments like shadows or changes in the background complicate the interpretation of data. Now, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen have developed a software that corrects images to make hitherto hidden development steps visible.

When stem cells develop into specialized cells, this happens in multiple steps. But which regulatory proteins are active during the decisive branching on the development path? Using so-called time-lapse microscopy, researchers can observe individual cells at very high time resolutions and, using fluorescent labelling, they can recognize precisely which of these proteins appear when in the cell.

Once a stem cell has been identified, it can be closely observed over several days using cell-tracking software. Yet, this "surveillance work" often turns out to be difficult. "The imaging data is frequently marred by irregular brightness and faded backgrounds in the time-lapse," explains Dr. Carsten Marr, heading the workgroup Quantitative Single Cell Dynamics at the Institute of Computational Biology (ICB) of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen. "This makes it difficult or impossible to detect proteins that are decisive when a cell opts for a specific development direction, so-called transcription factors."

Algorithms that filter out these kinds of artefacts exist, but they require either specifically prepared reference images, many images per dataset or complex manual adjustments. Furthermore, none of the existing methods correct alterations in the background over time, which hamper the quantification of individual cells.

Algorithm eliminates background changes

Now, Dr. Tingying Peng, member of Dr. Carsten Marr's group at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and Professor Nassir Navab, head of the Chair for Computer Aided Medical Procedures and Augmented Reality at TU Munich, present an algorithm that corrects these artefacts using only a few images per dataset.

The software is called "BaSiC" and is freely available. It is compatible with many image formats commonly used in bioimaging, including mosaics pieced together from numerous smaller images and used, for example, to render large tissue regions. "Contrary to other programs, however," explains Dr. Peng, "BaSiC can correct changes in the background of time-lapse videos. This makes it a valuable tool for stem cell researchers who want to detect the appearance of specific transcription factors early on."

Bringing significant details to light

How well the new image correction program improves the analysis of individual stem cell development steps the scientists demonstrated with time-lapse videos of blood stem cells. They recorded the videos to observe cells over a six-day time span. At a certain point during this observation period undifferentiated precursor cells choose between two possible tacks of development that lead to the formation of different mature blood cells.

In images corrected using BaSiC, the researchers could identify a substantial increase in the intensity of a specific transcription factor in one of the two cell lines, while the amount of his protein in the other cell line remained unchanged. Without the image correction, the difference was not ascertainable.

"Using BaSiC, we were able to make important decision factors visible that would otherwise have been drowned out by noise," says Nassir Navab. "The long-term goal of this research is to facilitate influencing the development of stem cells in a targeted manner, for example to cultivate new heart muscle cells for heat-attack patients. The novel possibilities for observation are bringing us a step closer to this goal."

More information: Tingying Peng et al, A BaSiC tool for background and shading correction of optical microscopy images, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14836 Journal information: Nature Communications
In a report in The New Indian Express on June 8, Zabeena's brother claimed that his sister was being harassed and held captive in Saudi Arabia.

By India Today Web Desk: Yet another victim of exploitation abroad has been rescued by the Ministry of External Affairs today.

The announcement was made by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on her Twitter account.

She said that Zabeena Begum has been rescued and that she appreciated the efforts by the Indian Ambassador and his team.

Zabeena Begum has been rescued. I appreciate the good work by Indian Ambassador and his team. @IndianEmbRiyadh. pic.twitter.com/WB8Cz3a3hy- Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 21, 2017

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In a report in The New Indian Express on June 8, Zabeena's brother claimed that his sister was being harassed and held captive in Saudi Arabia.

The family of Zubeena alleged that she was subjected to domestic violence and harassment by her employers in Saudi Arabia.

Zubeena had moved to Abha City of Saudi Arabia in December 2015 as a domestic help at the house of a doctor couple.

"My sister has been working at the house of Ajjos and Wala for over a year. Despite making her work for extra hours under severe conditions, they have paid her only two months' salary so far, which is 2,400 Saudi Riyals. They ill-treat and verbally abuse her frequently and don't even allow her to step outside the house," her family told Express.

The family alleged that following the mental torture and harassment Zubeena's health deteriorated.

Zubeena's brother Hamid Khan approached the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to rescue his sister and put an end to her ordeal. He had even alleged that the Saudi police instead of helping Zubeena after she escaped they took her back to the employer.

Also read:

Indian woman Uzma, forced to marry Pakistani man, returns home; Sushma Swaraj welcomes 'India's daughter'

Sushma Swaraj: Even if you are stuck on Mars, Indian embassy there will help you

WATCH | Uzma Ahmed recounts her ordeal in Pakistan, says thankful to Sushma Swaraj

--- ENDS ---
ATMIA Announces Keynote Speaker for 2018 U.S. Conference

South Dakota, USA  ATMIA is extremely pleased to announce that cybersecurity expert Theresa Payton will deliver the Keynote address at ATMIA USAs annual conference and expo, February 7, 2018, at the Wynn Las Vegas.

As the star of the new CBS TV series, Hunted, Theresa Payton identifies emerging trends and techniques to help combat cyber threats, from the impact of the Internet of Things to securing Big Data.

The first female to serve as White House chief information officer, Theresa is one of Americas most respected authorities on Internet security, data breaches and fraud mitigation. Earlier in her career, she also held Senior VP roles at two of the countrys largest banks. With real-world strategies and solutions, Theresa helps both public and private sector organizations protect their most valuable resources.



Innovate and Succeed: The Next Decade for ATMs is the theme of our 2018 event. A big part of the succeed aspect is to mitigate crime and fraud in the ATM and self-service channel. As Theresa delves into the cyber-underworld and the new kinds of threats that can lead to tomorrows breaches and insider risks, she will offer a proven blueprint to stay a step ahead, with practical steps for thinking like the adversary and managing cybersecurity risk. You will not want to miss this timely and pertinent session.

Proposals for presentations, panel discussions, and workshops are being accepted until July 21, 2017. Please complete our online speaking proposal form, which includes a brief summary of the presentation and its working title, speaker names and titles, and company. All proposals will be reviewed by our Conference Committee, which will work with ATMIA staff to select the most interesting and appropriate content for the conference. For additional information, please contact Dana Benson (dana.benson@atmia.com).



About ATMIA www.atmia.com

ATMIA is the leading non-profit trade association representing the entire global ATM industry. ATMIA serves more than 10,000 members from over 650 participating companies in 66 countries spanning the whole ATM ecosphere, including financial institutions, independent ATM deployers, equipment manufacturers, processors and a plethora of ATM service and value-added solution providers. ATMIA provides education, advocacy and connections to help its members keep abreast of industry news and developments; increase knowledge and professionalism; improve operational efficiencies; understand and influence regulatory processes; participate in the local, regional and global ATM community; and forge new relationships to advance their businesses. Founded in 1997, ATMIA has active chapters in the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Asia, Africa, India and the Middle East focusing on the unique needs and issues of each region. For more information, please visit atmia.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.

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Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran has reportedly held informal talks with the Narendra Modi government over buying a controlling stake in Air India.

By India Today Web Desk: The Tata Sons is reportedly considering buying Air India from the government in partnership with Singapore Airlines.

According to ET Now report, Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran has held informal talks with the Narendra Modi government over buying a controlling stake in Air India, the country's national carrier, with 51 per cent equity.

For the Tata Group, it will be about turning the wheels of history full circle if the Air India deal materialises. The national carrier was founded by JRD Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932 before being renamed as Air India. The government nationalised Air India in 1953.

Air India's many woes. Graphic: India Today.

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The talks about privatising Air India picked up after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in an interview with Doordarshan, said that "to keep Air India running, we have invested Rs 50,000 crore. That money is government's money, that's your money. It could have been used for school education".

"If 86 per cent of flying can be handled by the private sector, it can also handle 100 per cent," Arun Jaitley said.

On Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said that Cabinet would decide on how to move forward with options on privatisation of the national carrier.

"All appropriate action and in fact concerns have been (discussed) at the inter-ministerial level and they are being summarised and presented to the Cabinet, which will take into account when it goes through that discussion process," Jayant Sinha said.

Government thinktank Niti Aayog has recommended to the Prime Minister's Office a complete privatisation of Air India.

Air India, which has over Rs 52,000 crore debt burden, is surviving on a Rs 30,000-crore bailout package extended by the previous UPA government in 2012.

ALSO READ:

Air India unions want privatisation of national carrier stopped, write to aviation minister

Air India relents under pressure, lifts ban on Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad

Air India reserves 6 seats on every domestic flight for women

FROM THE MAGAZINE: The endgame

ALSO WATCH: Privatisation of Air India: How does it impact you?

--- ENDS ---
Hundreds of gunmen attacked troops in a southern Philippine village on Wednesday in a hit-and-run assault that may have been intended to help Islamist militants engaged in a nearby urban war, authorities said. Five civilians who were used as human shields were missing, and soldiers were pursuing the assailants who had quickly retreated, military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla told reporters in Manila. Padilla said the gunmen attacked a military outpost at daybreak in Pigkawayan, a farming town about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Marawi city where fighters linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been battling troops for a month. The attack could be a diversionary tactic to ease pressure on the militants in Marawi, local police commander Chief Inspector Realan Mamon said on radio. Padilla said the attackers belonged to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), one of four armed groups in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao that analysts say have pledged allegiance to IS. He said the gunmen attacked the lightly defended outpost, then exchanged fire with troops. "It's already resolved. The enemy has withdrawn... they failed," Padilla said, adding that troops were in pursuit of the militants. Local authorities initially reported the gunmen had occupied a school before students arrived. But Padilla made no mention of any incident at the school. The area around Pigkawayan is made up of marshlands, mountains and farmlands. Padilla said there were no confirmed casualties but the military had yet to locate the five people initially used as human shields. Pigkawayan town mayor Eliseo Garsesa said about 200 gunmen were involved, while a police report said there were about 300. Padilla said the BIFF, a small insurgent group believed to have just a few hundred fighters, had seemingly sought to capitalise on the military being focused on the Marawi war. "By and large they are just taking advantage... of the situation that we have a very slightly defended outpost and that they think our forces are elsewhere in the province," Padilla said. - Hardline groups - Muslim rebels have been fighting for more than four decades for an independent or autonomous region in the south of the mainly Catholic nation, with the conflict claiming more than 120,000 lives. The major rebel organisations have signed, or are pursuing, peace deals with the government, but small hardline groups such as the BIFF have vowed to continue fighting. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across the southern region of Mindanao on May 23 immediately after fighters flying the IS flag rampaged through Marawi. Their assault on Marawi ignited an unprecedented urban war that has claimed hundreds of lives and which Duterte has warned is part of an IS campaign to establish a base in Mindanao. The fighting has left Marawi, the most important Muslim city in the Philippines, largely in ruins. The militants involved in the Marawi fighting are mostly from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf organisations, which have united with the BIFF under the IS umbrella, according to the government. The military has said foreign fighters, including those from Chechnya, Indonesia and Malaysia, have also joined the Marawi conflict. IS has ambitions of setting up a caliphate in Southeast Asia -- home to largely Muslim nations like Indonesia and Malaysia -- as the group loses territory in Iraq and Syria. Garsesa, the town mayor, said local authorities had received text messages over the past several days about an attack somewhere in the area. The BIFF was blamed for attacking at least nine Mindanao towns in 2008, with the assaults claiming about 400 lives and forcing 600,000 people to flee their homes.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iranian state media on Wednesday called the appointment of Mohammed Bin Salman to the position of crown prince and successor to Saudi Arabia's King Salman as a "soft coup". "Soft coup in Saudi Arabia/Son becomes the succesor of the father," read the headline on the Iranian state TV website. The move is likely to rattle Iran's leadership, which has been critical of comments by Prince Mohammed last month that the "battle" should be taken into Iran. Iran, which is predominantly Shi'ite Muslim, and Saudi Arabia, which is mostly Sunni, compete for power and influence across the region. The two countries support opposite sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Islamic State carried out attacks on the Iranian parliament in Tehran and the shrine of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, two weeks ago that left at least 17 dead. Iranian officials pointed a finger at Saudi Arabia, which denied any involement. Tension between the two countries increased last month when U.S. President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia and took a bellicose stance against Iran in an official speech, repeatedly accusing the Islamic Republic of supporting terrorism. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei labeled the Saudi leadership "idiots" in a speech last month. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
A deadly mall bombing and the kidnapping of foreign journalists have laid bare the dangers facing Colombia even as its biggest rebel group Tuesday launched the final phase of its disarmament. The demobilization of the leftist FARC under a peace accord with the government and peace talks with the last active rebel force, the ELN, are meant to end more than half a century of violence. But just as the FARC entered the final stretch in its long march to peace, reminders of the old conflict erupted, raising concerns for the contested peace drive. Three women were killed and nine people injured in Saturday night's bombing at a crowded shopping center in Bogota. Those responsible have not been identified. Authorities and rebel leaders condemned it as a bid to disrupt the peace process. Analyst Beatriz Rettberg of the University of the Andes cited the bombing and ongoing violence involving drug gangs as lingering "difficulties" for the peace drive. "There is clear and strong opposition to the peace process and the accord," she said. - Opposition to peace deal - The accord, first signed in November, was initially narrowly rejected by Colombians in a referendum before being redrafted and pushed through congress. Critics such as conservative political leader Alvaro Uribe said it was too lenient on FARC members, some of whom will get amnesties or reduced sentences for crimes committed during the conflict. "A badly-done accord just generates more violence," said Ernesto Macias, a senator from Uribe's Democratic Center party. FARC chief Rodrigo Londono said on Twitter that a FARC militia fighter who had recently received an amnesty was "murdered" on Monday when visiting his family. Meanwhile, there are still armed groups with a stake in the crisis. Officials say remnants of right-wing paramilitaries are battling the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) in the jungle for control of the drugs trade. - UN 'optimistic' - President Juan Manuel Santos, who won a Nobel Peace Prize last year for his efforts, vowed Saturday's attack would not disrupt the peace process. "We will not let what has been achieved up to now be slowed down by a few extremists, cowards or people who do not want the Colombian people to be reconciled," he said. The FARC was scheduled on Tuesday to formally begin the final phase of its disarmament under UN supervision. "The laying-down of arms is an act of will, courage and hope," Londono said on Twitter. The FARC are due within a week to hand over the last remaining weapons in their hands. After that, the United Nations will retrieve the last of the FARC's weapons, which are hidden in hundreds of remote caches -- a process scheduled to be completed by September 1. "The parties have faced challenges in the implementation of the historic peace agreement signed last year," said Jeffrey Feltman, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, who met with Santos on Monday. "But you have overcome those challenges and the implementation is ongoing," he said in a public address alongside Santos. "There is very good reason to be optimistic about this process." - Journalists kidnapped - Colombia's civil conflict erupted in 1964 over land rights. It drew in leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups and state forces. It has left 260,000 people confirmed dead, more than 60,000 missing and seven million displaced. The ELN has started talks with the government this year, though it has been blamed for ongoing confrontations with state forces. On Monday, authorities said ELN members had kidnapped two Dutch journalists in the north. With so many sides to the conflict, "we have had no single, simultaneous peace accord covering all the guerrillas and all the paramilitaries," said analyst Alvaro Villarraga, director of Colombia's Historical Memory Center. "We have peace in installments."
Mitch McConnell is winning, yet again.

Senate Republicans are reportedly close to voting on a bill that would repeal Obamacare and potentially strip insurance from millions of Americans. Under normal circumstances, this sort of momentous legislation would have been dominating the news cycle for weeks. Instead, its been virtually absent from broadcast news and become a C-level subplot on cable, thanks to McConnells tactically ingenious decision to skip the normal committee process and craft his partys bill behind closed doors, before rushing it to a floor vote, likely next week. Without a public process, journalists just havent had much to coverand voters havent been able to grok whats at stake.

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Of course, the mere fact that Republicans have decided to produce a health care bill largely in secret is itself a scandal. But unfortunately, its also a political process story involving arcane-sounding concepts like reconciliation and conference committees. And if theres one thing most Americans and CNN producers are evidently indifferent to, its political process.

That, more than anything, is the secret to McConnells success as a congressional leader. Over the years he has masterfully twisted the rules of Senate procedure to the GOPs advantage by breaking Washington norms that voters fundamentally dont think or care much about, in part because they make for dry copy and soporific television. Our national aversion to process stories helped the Kentuckian gum up President Obamas political agenda and deny him a Supreme Court appointment. And now it may allow him to pass a health care bill by stealth.

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Our national aversion to process stories helped McConnell gum up President Obamas political agenda. Now it may allow him to pass a health care bill by stealth.

Before he ascended to the Senates upper rungs, Mitch McConnells political biography as a rigidly partisan fundraising obsessive did not mark him as a man whod change history. But as minority leader, he proved himself a brilliant political strategist and tactician by waging an all-out war of resistance against President Obama, largely by using a record number of Senate filibusters in order to slow down business on Capitol Hill and jam up the administrations nominees. As Norm Ornstein wrote for National Journal, The rule had not changed, but the norms were blown up. Filibusters were used not simply to block legislation or occasional nominations, but routinely, even on matters and nominations that were entirely uncontroversial and ultimately passed unanimously or near-unanimously.

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Weaponizing the filibuster and denying the president bipartisan cover turned out to be extremely savvy, because relatively few Americans care much about the nuances of congressional procedure, and the public is generally apt to blame the presidents party for its frustrations (as Obamas approval ratings at the time showed). During the heat of the health care debate in 2010, for instance, Pew found that only 26 percent of Americans knew it took 60 votes to end debate in the Senate. And insofar as people were frustrated by Congress, they may not have understood which party to be angry at; in the run-up to the 2014 midterms, for instance, Rasmussen found that more than one-third of likely voters were in the dark about which party controlled the House and Senate. (Among all Americans, just 38 percent knew who was in power on the Hill, according to the Annenberg Public Policy center.)

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Suffice to say, its a bit easier to grind a chamber of Congress to a halt or frustrate a president when a sizable portion of the voting public has no idea what youre doingor how. You just have to be willing to do it.

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Take the Republican Partys obstruction of Merrick Garland, another terribly boring but important episode in which McConnell, finally majority leader, shattered congressional norms in service of his political ends. Never before had the Senate refused to even grant a hearing to a presidents high court pick. But while most Americans thought the judge at least deserved an up-or-down voteSenate Republicans could have easily rejected himhis unfortunate fate eventually just faded from the news, since there just wasnt much to talk about. There are only so many ways for reporters to write about how someone is not going to sit on the Supreme Court and that Republicans are shredding the old, brittle rule book that underpins our political institutions. And without public hearings, there was rarely much of a news hook to hang the story back up on. By standing firm until the initial outrage dissipated and everyday citizens either didnt care or didnt know that the Republicans planned to rob the president of a Supreme Court seat, McConnell won, his methods as devious as they were boring.

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With his health care push, McConnell is once again getting a free pass after smashing Senate precedent. He has chosen to abandon the typical committee process in order to hash out a bill in private with a select group of Republican senators before rushing it to the floor. We wont likely see a draft until Thursday, with a vote expected next Tuesday. Republican senators are dodging questions about the bill by claiming they still havent seen any text. Again, this is an anti-democratic scandal in its own right. The Senate is writing legislation that could strip health care from millions and trying to pass it with little if any meaningful debate.

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And its barely been covered. According to Media Matters, the three major broadcast networks ran just four segments combined on health care during their nightly news shows between June 1 and June 14. Liberal-leaning MSNBC is the only news network, meanwhile, that has devoted meaningful coverage to the bills secrecybecause, again, most people dont like process stories, and theres so much more going on. If anything, the hourly insanities of the Trump era have made McConnells boring tactics even more powerful.

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The story has also been conspicuously absent from newspaper front pages. On Tuesday, the New York Times and Washington Post websites were dominated by stories about the battle against ISIS, the Georgia special House election, and womens wrestling in the 80s (news hook: Theres a new Netflix show). Unsurprisingly, 76 percent of Americans told CBS in a recent poll that they hadnt heard enough about the Senate bill to know what it would do. This is of course in stark contrast with the House bill, which ended up widely loathed after experts and activists of all political stripes savaged its early leaked drafts and the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would leave 24 million without insurance.

The lack of reporting has taken the energy out of liberal protesters who dogged House Republicans at their town halls during the late winter and spring. As one Indivisible chapter leader told Voxs Jeff Stein, Its really hard to motivate people to show up and be angry when they dont know what theyre objecting to. With protesters at bay, TV networks have less footage to feed stories. For McConnell, its a rewarding cycle of silencefar preferable to the lengthy, public process of crafting Obamacare, which left the bill vulnerable to outrageous, exaggerated criticisms that evolved and metastasized over time. (Remember, Sarah Palin gave us the phrase death panels more than a month after conservative writer Betsy McCaughey originally freaked out about the bills section on end-of-life counseling.)

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McConnells abuse of democratic norms is especially galling this time around, because its not even clear he cares about whether health care passes. He is, reportedly, agnostic about the policy and simply wants to get a vote over and done with so that the Senate can move on to cutting taxes.

But whether or not the GOPs bill ultimately passes, McConnell has already pulled off a frightening coup by showing how easily you can get away with legislating by dark. Even worse, you might be rewarded for it by a media that doesnt like to harp on the same old story about congressional minutiae day after day when it could be focusing on something with intrigue and a dramatic narrative arc, like James Comey and Trumps Russia scandal.

U.S. democracy functions thanks to dull rules created by dull men in dull institutions. McConnell has shown that nobody bothers to tune in when a dull man smashes them.
Allergan plc, a pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes branded pharmaceutical, device, biologic, surgical, and regenerative medicine products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: US Specialized Therapeutics, US General Medicine, and International. It offers a portfolio of products in various therapeutic areas, including medical aesthetics and dermatology, eye care, neuroscience, urology, gastrointestinal, women's health, and anti-infective therapeutic products. The company also offers breast implants and tissue expanders; and RM-131 (relamorelin), a peptide ghrelin agonist for the treatment of diabetic gastroparesis. In addition, it develops medical and cosmetic treatments; therapies for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and other liver diseases; inhibitor for the treatment of psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders; atopic dermatitis drug candidate; peri-ocular rings for extended drug delivery and reducing elevated intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients; and treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Further, the company develops RST-001, a novel gene therapy for the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa; small molecule therapeutics for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases; topical medicines for fat reduction; and delivery system and botulinum toxin-based prescription products. It has collaboration, option, and license agreement with Lyndra, Inc.; and strategic alliance and option agreement with Editas Medicine, Inc. Allergan plc also has licensing agreements with Assembly Biosciences, Inc.; MedImmune; and Heptares Therapeutics, Ltd. The company was formerly known as Actavis plc and changed its name to Allergan plc in June 2015. Allergan plc was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.
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By Press Trust of India: By Yoshita Singh

United Nations, Jun 20 (PTI) 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.

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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-Generals 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. PTI YAS CPS

--- ENDS ---
Twisting the truth and spreading it online is no longer just a fad. Its a growing industry with a range of services on offer, a new study finds.

The whole business of making money by spinning lies of course presents a moral dilemma. But its rapid growth creates a business opportunity that many people are apparently finding hard to resist.

Fake News Services on Offer

A new report by IT security company Trend Micro reveals there are several services available today to spread fake news. And these services come for a price.

Take instigating a street protest, for example. A fake protest can be announced by paying $10,000. The total price for discrediting a journalist, on the other hand, comes up to $55,000.

Creating fake celebrities is another prominent service available today. It involves a gradual increase in followers and plenty of reposts and voting among other activities.

Its never been easier to manipulate social media and other online platforms to affect and amplify public opinion, Trend Micro spokesman Bharat Mistry told BBC.

Fake News Tricks

The report highlights the difference between simply posting propaganda and actually turning it into something that the target audience consumes.

It also reveals the specific techniques used for such a campaign including the buying of followers, fans, likes, reposts, comments and videos.

From a Fake News Publishers Perspective

Online publishers like Jestin Coler have turned fake news into a money-making venture.

At the time of the U.S. presidential elections, Coler published a string of fake news articles that went viral. This prompted many to speculate whether they had an impact on the election results or not. Coler, however, insisted their impact had been negligible.

Instead, Coler maintained profit rather than politics had been his motive. He told National Public Radio his profit was comparable to the $10,000 to $30,000 a month reported by other publishers. Like it or not, publishers like Coler have stumbled upon a profitable business opportunity  even if many may find it unethical .
The bigger trucking companies like UPS and FedEx employ expensive and sophisticated tracking technology to pinpoint where a package is at any point in its journey. Retailers like Amazon have added two-day shipping and real-time tracking to heighten consumer expectations. The result? More pressure on smaller trucking companies and businesses to compete.

Small Business Trends spoke with Rob Kunzler, Vice President of Marketing at FourKites. The company provides a modern solution through actionable tracking data and other tools. Kunzler says FourKites fills the need for improved information sharing and helps smaller trucking companies and businesses keep pace.

FourKites Tracking Solution

Leverage the Full Weight

You might need to leverage the full weight of a global supply chain to ship car parts to another country. Or, you could be a smaller small business that wants to ensure refrigerated fruit stays at the right temperature on a journey across town. Either way, FourKites is modern software designed to share real time data between the shippers, carriers and third party logistics providers in your supply chain.

Like a lot of other good ideas, FourKites was developed to fill a gap. In this case, the innovation was designed as an upgrade in the transportation management software space.

People are relying on older technologies, Kunzler says. We wanted to manage exceptions and against exceptions.

Shipping Industry Exceptions

Exceptions is a shipping industry term. These occur when something happens to delay a package or shipment in transit so it might not arrive on time. The issue could be something as fixable as a storm washing a road out so a detour is needed. On the other hand, the problem could be as serious as a broken refrigeration unit that spoils a load of produce.

FourKites takes in data from several different sources to provide real time tracking of shipments. Kunzler says the area the technology covers is wide.

We have 70 plus integrations that roughly covers 95 percent of North America, he says.

So what are the advantages to small businesses looking to ship their goods by truck? How do the small trucking companies they serve benefit from subscribing to FourKites? The answers start with the ability to get real time data about a shipment from several onboard systems like GPS and more.

Real Time ETA

When we get that data we run it through our algorithm that supplies real time ETA calculations based on that and other sources like weather and traffic, Kunzler says.

FourKites has eyes on your shipment and knows whats happening, is about to happen or has just happened to it as it travels Americas roads. Being able to plan a route avoiding areas where transport trucks are restricted like business districts is another benefit. These metrics are especially important so small businesses know when loads are running behind their ETAs. The company also has a mobile app and provides email scheduling so you can alert customers as any exceptions develop.

Earlier this month, FourKites added real time temperature and location tracking to its arsenal of features. The ability to track the temperature of sensitive items like produce and pharmaceuticals reduces spoilage. It also brings these loads into line with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

Companies like food retailers need to be able to report on how their loads are doing from a temperature perspective, Kunzler says.
What do CEO and Chairman of UPS David Abney and style-maven Martha Stewart have in common? They both think that growing globally is a great way to expand a business.

Global Expansion Tips

Both spoke at the Gateway 17 event in Detroit today, sharing their thoughts on opportunities for small businesses in China and beyond.

First, Abney gave his talk on the opportunities and challenges of selling products overseas, a topic hes qualified to address since UPS ships to countries around the world, including China. In fact, before he was named Chairman and CEO, Abney served as the President of UPS International, where he often reminded employees and clients about the power of thinking beyond just the U.S.

Like others at the conference, Abney stressed the importance of gaining an understanding of your customers before selling to global markets.

To sell around the world, you must go native, he said.

By this, Abney means that you need to really understand the customs and preferences of the people youre selling to.

He offered an example of one of the first times UPS sent a flight to China. The company was so excited and wanted to make it special. So they had a dragon painted on the side of the plane. But the dragon was facing backwards (in the wrong direction) on the plane. Its something the team would have known had they consulted anyone from China, or someone familiar enough with the culture to understand the importance of the direction the dragon was facing.

For this reason, Abney said, its very important for businesses to immerse themselves and do lots of research when breaking into new markets.

Of course, you also need to understand the logistics and practical processes of selling overseas, which companies like UPS can help with.

For her part, Stewart also shared some tips for small business owners based on her years of experience.

The lifestyle mogul has recently started exporting her various product lines to China and other international markets, a move that has made her businesses even more profitable than previously imagined.

Of course, its not as easy as just saying you want to export. Stewart also stressed the importance of knowing the markets you plan on entering.

For example, her line of sheets is something that appeals to Chinese consumers due to the quality. But they dont usually have access to the same size washers and dryers as American consumers do. So the company had to make a small adjustment to make sure the products would be practical specifically for Chinese consumers.

Its just about making smaller versions of luxurious things, Stewart said.

In addition, Stewart spoke about the amazing power the internet and social media give small makers and small business owners to reach people around the world. Stewart has made great use of social media for her businesses. And she thinks that things like livestreaming, podcasting and online video offer unique ways for businesses to build a great deal of recognition when breaking into new markets.

Stewart also applauded Alibaba CEO Jack Ma, whose company sponsored the event, for choosing to host in Detroit, which she called a hotbed of American makers.

Gateway 17 is a conference for small businesses looking to expand by marketing to Chinese consumers. The event began June 20 and carries on through June 21 at Cobo Center, Detroit.
China is the next big frontier for small businesses, according to a Keynote from Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Alibaba, at Gateway 17 at Detroits Cobo Center today.

When the internet was booming in the mid 90s, Ma did a search for beer and China and found no results. Thats when he first realized there was a gap in the market  eCommerce products for Chinese consumers.

After a series of failures, including rejections from colleges, being turned down for a job as a police officer and even being the only one out of 24 applicants to be turned down for a job at KFC, Ma decided that he was destined to go into business for himself. So he turned to that idea of creating an eCommerce solution to serve Chinese customers.

Even then, there were a lot of doubters. China didnt have the credit card services or logistics that made eCommerce a good fit in other markets. But Ma really believed that it was something Chinese consumers wanted and that if he started right away, he and his team could make it happen eventually.

If we do not succeed, someone else will, he said.

So he built a team, attempted to gain some startup capital, and eventually started with about $50,000.

There were plenty of failures along the way. But those failures turned into lessons Ma has been able to share with other business owners. One of the most important lessons, which specifically relates to businesses looking to break into new markets like China, is to really understand the needs of your customers above all else.

Investors may not like us. But if our customers like us, we can survive, Ma said.

So for the businesses looking to explore opportunities within the growing Chinese market, capturing customer interest can make the difference between success and failure, Ma explained. You might have a great product that people in the U.S. love, but that doesnt mean its going to automatically be a hit in China. But you may also just need to find the right partner or make a small tweak to your offering that can open up a whole new world of possibilities for your small business.

Business Opportunities in China

And theres plenty of opportunity and demand. According to Ma, the Chinese middle class is currently at about 300 million people. And there are plenty of products, ranging from sneakers to baby food and even live lobsters, that consumers want to spend their disposable income on when given the opportunity.

Overall, Ma says that its important for businesses to be open to new possibilities, especially in the age of the internet. And he thinks small businesses are going to be at the forefront of changes in China and around the world over the next 30 years.

The world is shifting from standardization to personalization, he said.

So the companies that provide products created for a specific market are those likely to succeed. And small businesses are poised to do just that.

Gateway 17 is an event aimed at helping entrepreneurs learn about the growing opportunities for selling to Chinese consumers. The event drew 3,000 registered attendees over June 21 and 22 to downtown Detroit.
The Police corps lack a helicopter during car chases and a simulator for shooting from a moving car.

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Slovak police officers are not specialists in shooting at moving cars, stated Police President Tibor Gaspar when explaining why a police patrol shot and killed one of the passengers in a car chased by police on the night of June 17-18.

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The incident took place after the police attempted to stop a car driven by 19-year-old Michal of Zlate Moravce (Nitra Region), who was known to the police for driving without a license. After the patrol switched on their sirens, the driver accelerated and caused a threat to other road users with a risky manoeuvre.

During a 12-kilometer chase between Nova Bana and Hronsky Benadik, the police, who were not aware of the other passengers in the car, fired three warning shots. Then one of the police officers who was aiming at the right rear wheel, accidentally hit the back of the car instead. The bullet penetrated the boot of the car and hit one of two passengers on the back seat. The driver eventually stopped and the police found that a 17-year old boy was injured. Despite providing first aid the boy died.

The crew confirmed that it registered warning shots and asked the driver to stop, Gaspar told the press. He refused to do so with added commentary along the lines of - they could stick it!

He added that this caused the passengers to become hostages of the driver.

The police action was also defended by Interior Minister Robert Kalinak who attended the session of the parliamentary defence and security committee on June 20.

They had been threatening the oncoming cars, Kalinak said, as quoted by the Sme daily, adding that in some cases a car may be used as a weapon.

The whole incident will be investigated by the police inspectorate, according to the minister.

Lack of practice

While police claim that the driver is responsible for the tragedy, they have failed to answer the question of whether the patrol requested reinforcements which would have been able to cut him off or shoot more accurately. Moreover, Gaspar admitted that the police corps have no driving simulator to train people to shoot at moving vehicles during a chase.

In general, common police officers have poor gun training and only a few rounds per year to practice with, according to firearms instructors approached by Sme.

The police officers we meet have 16 bullets for training [per year], one of the firearms instructors, who requested anonymity, told Sme. What can a person learn with that?

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Life should be the first priority

In such a situation, police intervention is allowable when there are no other options for stopping the vehicle. The police can shoot a fleeing car when it directly threatens other people, legislation says.

The management of the Police Corps should devote more attention to these issues, however, and re-evaluate such interventions, security analyst Milan Zitny told Sme, adding that the police should consider changing the policy to put the preservation of human life ahead of stopping a car.

The policy is also flawed by not containing directives that dictate where the shots should be targeted, according to Zitny.

There are some principles which police officers have to follow during actions and one of them is to act when they see wrongdoing. This principle forces police officers to take action. It is up to them whether they shoot sooner or later but ultimately, they would need to stop the driver, according to police Vice-President Lubomir Abel.

Even if he knew that there were other people in the car, that would not change the fact that he had to put maximum effort into stopping him [the driver], Abel told the Dennik N daily. If the police officer did not act and then they crashed and everyone in the car was killed, how would the public then evaluate it?

Improved training

Police training does not currently involve simulations of shooting from a moving position at a moving target, thus police officers have no experience to draw from when firing during a car chase, according to Gaspar.

We may even have to construct such a simulator, Gaspar told the press.

The police failed to answer questions about how many bullets its officers fire per year. Older statistics say that it is 200 rounds per year which is still half the amount that Czech police officers have to train with.

Training is standard and it runs in the same way as training programs in the surrounding states, Abel told the press. We can only judge the failure of a specific police officer.

He added that the police are also missing helicopters during chases which would follow drivers until they stop and try to run.

Kalinak also considers the training standard. When asked whether they plan to change the methodology for using weapons, he said that they are working on a document that currently has 70 pages, Sme reported.

Camera Evidence is missing

Investigation of the police action is currently being carried out by police inspection. However, there is no video recording because the police patrol was in a civilian car with warning sounds and lights.

Inspections will evaluate the situation on the basis of the GPS signal from the police vehicle and the report of the police and crew members.

The driver who initiated the incident is in custody and awaits a decision on his prosecution from a regional judge in Ziar nad Hronom. In addition to his violation of a court order which banned him from driving, he could also face charges of failing to provide first aid.

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Several shootings

There have been several similar cases of shootings during car chases in recent years.

For example, police are still investigating a case where police officers shot at and kicked a young female driver while she was lying on the ground after she had been caught for speeding away from the police and refusing to stop in August 2016.

Last year a police patrol also shot at the car of Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Andrej Hrnciar, though no injuries were reported.

Customs officials shot a female migrant from Syria close to Velky Meder (Trnava Region) in May 2016 after a driver carrying three refugees refused to stop. She underwent surgery and survived.

Another police shooting incident involved a car filled with four students on the D2 highway in June 2013. The car was mistaken for a stolen vehicle and the officers made the decision using outdated information from the police database.

None of the students were injured and Kalinak after years of refusing to apologise, eventually paid each of them 3000. One of students refused to take the money.
If the Modern Volkswagen Unions (MOV) fail to find a consensus with Volkswagen Slovakias management, the protest could continue until July 3.

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Meanwhile, a bomb alert was announced on June 20 in the early evening, according to the plants spokesperson, Lucia Kovarovic Makayova, who added  as cited by the Sme daily  that all necessary measures have been taken.

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MOV unionists have reacted to the managements claim that they were ready to communicate, by saying that they had not been contacted, although they (MOV) had informed the management about their willingness to negotiate. Why dont they call us if they are waiting for us? MOV head Zoroslav Smolinsky, who had criticised the communication of management via the media and a press conference, told the TASR newswire.

In the evening, unionists claimed that about 80 percent, or 2,000 people, from the afternoon shift were on strike, which stopped the production of SUVs completely with only a minor share of the New Small Family vehicles, like the Skoda Citigo or the VW Up! being made.

Strike in VW SK to continue

We will continue this strike until we reach an agreement with the VW management, Smolinsky said, specifying that they are ready to hold on until July 3 when the factory holiday begins. The VW Slovakia plants in Martin, Stupava and Kosice continue operation without any limitations, chairman of the VW SK board, Ralf Sacht, said. In Bratislava maintenance, repairs and minor works are taking place in the plant, he added. Sacht also said that he considered the requirement of a 16-percent increase in salaries irresponsible but both sides declare the will and need to negotiate and come to an agreement. The conditions stated by unionists are as high as they were in the beginning, and we see no scope to fulfil them, Ralf Sacht assured, as quoted by Sme.

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I would welcome a quick agreement, Prime Minister Robert Fico noted for TASR, adding that the events in VW Bratislava were also a subject for the June 19 talks of the Visegrad Four and the Benelux countries. The people in the West do not understand why a Slovak worker who works with high quality, a high productivity rate, and produces the most luxury cars, has a salary lower by a half or two thirds compared to a worker of the same company, located only 200 kilometres to the west, Fico explained. He also said that there must be some differences in salaries, but people have the right to require higher wages. I cannot comment on how much or in what way the salaries should be increased, though, he summed up.

Economy Minister Peter Ziga deemed the required 16-percent salary hike irresponsible in an earlier statement, after the strike was announced. However, the requirements include not just this condition, but 11 points in total.

Volkswagen will not leave Slovakia due to the strike, Labour Minister Jan Richter opined for the newswire.

Employers express worries

Representatives of the Association of Automotive Industry (ZAP)  president Juraj Sinay and honorary ZAP president and long-term VW SK chair of the board, Jozef Uhrik, warned that the situation threatens not just the position of Volkswagen Slovakia in the countrys economy but also the automotive industry as such  which directly employs more than 18,500 Slovaks and indirectly, through sub-contractors, 129,000 Slovaks. The strike threatens employment, the economy, and the position of Slovakia on world markets, Sinay warned, adding that production may be moved from Bratislava to other regions. The unions requirement for a 16-percent salary hikes also threatens the competitiveness of the Slovak automotive industry in the Visegrad Group region, according to him.

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Uhrik added that he experienced two strikes in his VW position which did not improve but rather deteriorated the situation, as the concern moved its plants out of Spain and Portugal following the actions.

Shortly before 19:00, Volkswagen Slovakia announced it would hold talks with the Modern Volkswagen Unions representatives again on Wednesday, June 21, from 15:30. Lucia Kovarovic Makayova told Sme that the 12th round of talks will be held at the request of the MOV.

Bomb forced the striking employees out

After the bomb was announced, police were called to the plant in the Devinska Nova Ves borough of Bratislava and were making an explosives check. The announcement was recorded shortly after 17:00, Bratislava Regional Police spokesperson Lucia Mihalikova told TASR, assuring that all necessary steps have been made. Employees had to be evacuated, Sme wrote at 18:30.
The Labour Ministry meanwhile refused to comment on the case of two dismissed psychologists.

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General Prosecutor Jaromir Ciznar officially submitted a complaint against the decision of the Labour Ministry not to scrap the accreditation of the Cisty Den (Clean Day) resocialisation centre in Galanta, suspected of allowing the abuse of children.

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We have not identified with this action, Ciznar told the MPs on June 20, as quoted by the Dennik N daily, adding he cannot provide more details.

The Labour Ministry, which had refused to cancel the accreditation despite the recommendation of the accreditation committee, responded that it knows about the complaint.

All we can say is that this started the proceedings for the prosecutors complaint, the ministry told Dennik N, adding it cannot say more at the moment.

At the same time, Labour Minister Jan Richter (Smer) refused to comment on the dismissal of two psychologists working for the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (UPSVaR) who lost their jobs after being critical of the inspection and the situation at Cisty Den.

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It is a matter for the UPSVaRs personnel department, Richter said, as quoted by Dennik N.

UPSVaRs head Marian Valentovic meanwhile said that the dismissal of the two psychologists had nothing to do with their critical statements. He stressed the office only cancelled the part-time jobs which had been announced long before they talked to the media. Thus, there was no reason to punish them for their statements, he claimed, as reported by the SITA newswire.

Valentovic added that all part-timers were offered a full-time job.

Psychologist Katarina Hatrakova, however, says that the talks about the full-time job were only informal and that she was expecting a specific offer. She however was not aware of any firm offer of a full-time position, as reported by Dennik N.

Both psychologists also say they had not known about the plans to remove their positions before they talked to the media.
Bruno Rodriguez Parilla is the first Cuban foreign affairs minister to make an official visit to the independent Slovakia.

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Cuba does not care what the United States thinks about its relations with the EU, including Slovakia, Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parilla told the TASR newswire in an interview on June 20.

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Parilla, the first Cuban foreign affairs minister to make an official visit to the independent Slovakia, spoke in response to the more stringent US foreign policy towards Cuba announced by American President Donald Trump in Florida last week.

In Cubas view, relations with Slovakia or the EU dont go through Washington, Parilla told TASR. We dont care what Washington thinks about our ties with the EU or Slovakia.

The ties between Cuba, Slovakia and Europe go way back in history and serve the interests of all countries involved, he added.

Its in the interests of Cuba to maintain good relations with all countries of Europe, and this includes fomenting trade ties, Parilla continued.

He went on to say that if economic relations between the USA and Cuba take a turn for the worse or the American embargo becomes more stringent, our ties with Europe, including Slovakia, would become an even greater priority.

On the other hand, if President Trump were to continue a policy benefiting US national interests  i.e. improving economic ties with Cuba  even then relations with Slovakia and Europe would hold an equal if not greater importance for Cuba, the minister said, as quoted by TASR. This is because we take interest in ties with Europe based on their own merit.

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Read also: Slovakia inks agreement on settling Cuban debt Read more

Relations are cordial

Slovak-Cuban relations are undergoing a rather positive and dynamic spell, mostly by virtue of political and economic reforms recently taking place in Cuba, including pardons for political prisoners, said Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak after meeting Parilla.

The EU has also responded positively to Cuban reforms by lifting restrictive measures dating from 1996 and approving a new Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement at the end of 2016, which is currently being ratified by member states and the European Parliament. Slovakia did so last week.

The Slovak foreign affairs minister praised cooperation with Cuba in the spheres of energy, education, sport and health care.

In our case the ties are also demonstrated by the extraordinarily high frequency of visits, Lajcak said, as quoted by TASR.

The top Slovak official to visit Cuba was Prime Minister Robert Fico in October 2015.

Slovakia has won Cubas trust also in energy reconstruction projects, with bids totaling 140 million. Moreover, 70 post-grad students are gearing up for exchange visits to Cuba with an eye towards expanding their qualifications. The programme is slated to begin in the autumn, but an extension of up to 100 students is already being entertained, said Lajcak.

Moreover, clinical tests are under way in Slovakia for a diabetic foot drug called Heberprot-P, which the Slovak minister called unique.

Meanwhile, Parilla called the relations between Slovakia and Cuba cordial, with an excellent dialogue at political level.
The culture minister wants the election to be less political.

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Culture Minister Marek Madaric (Smer) will propose a change to the procedure for electing directors for the public-service broadcaster RTVS.

The fact that the general director of RTVS is elected by MPs creates a risk that the political aspects will prevail, Madaric said in response to the June 20 election of the future broadcasters head, as quoted by the Sme daily.

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The second round of the vote was won by Jaroslav Reznik, current director of the state newswire TASR. He received 95 votes altogether, being supported by deputies of Smer, the Slovak National Party (SNS), and also some MPs for Most-Hid and the far-right Peoples Party  Our Slovakia (LSNS).

Incumbent Vaclav Mika, whom Madaric supported, received only 50 votes from the opposition parties.

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The culture minister now proposes to create a board of electors who would choose the candidates and subsequently pick the new RTVS head via a majority vote. The board would be composed of representatives of professionals and relevant institutions, like the Slovak Academy of Sciences, rectors, the president and the Judicial Council.

All of them will have to be apolitical, Sme reported.

For Madaric, it is important to secure continuity at the top RTVS post.

At the same time, the culture minister said it is necessary to give Reznik a chance. He was referring to Rezniks previous career in Slovak Radio and TASR, in which the independent analyses by Memo 98 and the ethics watchdog Transparency International Slovensko confirmed that he gave above-standard space to the SNS and the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). It is a task for the RTVS Council to check whether the news coverage is unbiased and impartial, he added.

Madaric also thanked Mika for the progress the broadcaster has made under his leadership, as reported by Sme.
The mentoring programme enables contacts between students and business leaders, to help them move forward in their future career.

Students and business leaders could network at the Mentor Network Program in late May. (Source: Courtesy of the US Embassy)

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I consider it a great opportunity, since we can meet people in the field we want to work in, said Monika Kochajdova, an international relations student at the University of Economics in Bratislava, about the Mentor Network Program event which she attended in late May in Bratislava.

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Organised by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Slovakia, the US Embassy in Slovakia, and CSI Leasing for 10 years, the programme has already arranged the meetings of around 800 students with business leaders, with the aim of helping them with their future career.

Learning from the USA

The tradition of business mentoring comes from the USA, where Martin Kardos, executive director of CSI Leasing and founder of the programme in Slovakia, encountered it for the first time during his studies.

I saw how it works and the impact it can have on a students life, Kardos told The Slovak Spectator. He got his job thanks to his mentor, he added.

After his return to Slovakia, he decided to launch a similar programme here, so he came up with a proposal and addressed AmCham and the US Embassy. Both welcomed the idea. The initiative has already spread to Kosice, where a similar event has been held for seven years.

The events organisers say that interest in mentoring programmes is increasing, from both students and business leaders.

Through this programme we create the opportunity for the leadership of our member companies to interact with young Slovak students and offer them the opportunity to meet, talk and share experiences, Jake Slegers, executive director of AmCham in Slovakia, told The Slovak Spectator.

Students generally ask about careers

The programme is also beneficial for students since it gives them the information and first-hand experience to interact with the CEOs and managers of the participating companies, Slegers added.

For Martin Homola, a fresh graduate from the Faculty of Business Management at the University of Economics in Bratislava, the main reason for attending the event in Bratislava was to meet new people and gain some inspiration from their business stories. It was the second time he had participated in the programme.

Two years ago I met interesting people and even received tips for some internships and development programmes, Homola told The Slovak Spectator. Thanks to these tips he learnt about a summer school in the USA, which he attended last year.

Alexandra Naderer, who studies international relations at the University of Economics in Bratislava, highlights the opportunity of learning about tips and tricks from business leaders to help her achieve her goals. The mentors can also tell students what employers expect from their future employees and help them proceed with their future career, she added.

Students mostly want to know how to start their business, Ondrej Smolar, CEO of Soitron and a regular participant in the Mentor Network Program, told The Slovak Spectator.

Stanislav Molnar of Oracle also mostly answers questions related to his beginnings. Students ask not only about his successes, but also his failures. They also want to know whether it is better to start in a bigger company or launch their own business.

I tell them to follow their heart, Molnar told The Slovak Spectator, adding that it is important for people to like their job. This is, according to him, the key to success.

Learning from mistakes is important

The Mentor Network Program brings two main benefits to its participants, according to US Ambassador to Slovakia Adam Sterling.

First, students can create a network of contacts from the field they are interested in, find a job and understand the market better. Second, they can learn much from the personal experience of their mentors, about both failures and successes.

That gives students entering the market for the first time a broader and more sophisticated view of what they can expect and help them decide what they want, Sterling told The Slovak Spectator.

One of the reasons why the embassy supports the event is that they see value in helping its partners in Slovakia develop the next generation of talent, he added.

This is also why Kardos encourages students not to be afraid of asking questions of the business leaders, even regarding mistakes they have made.

Smart people learn from their mistakes and even smarter people learn from the mistakes of others, he said.
A US official has told Congress that Russian hackers targeted 21 US states' election systems in the 2016 presidential race, which Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump. A former official said a video of Trump bragging of sexual conquests distracted attention from Washington's warnings.

By Reuters: Russian hackers targeted 21 US states' election systems in the 2016 presidential race, a US official told Congress on Wednesday, but a former official testified that a video of Donald Trump bragging of sexual conquests distracted attention from Washington's warnings.

US intelligence agencies have concluded that the Kremlin orchestrated a wide-ranging influence operation that included email hacking and online propaganda to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and help Trump, a Republican, win the White House in November.

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The Russia issue has cast a shadow over President Trump's first five months in office. Jeh Johnson, who led the Homeland Security Department until the end of the Obama administration, said his department had issued warnings about hacking into voter registration databases.

But he told the US House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the election, that the notices did not get the attention he would have liked, blaming the emergence of a 2005 tape - in which Trump brags about sexually assaulting women - for distracting the American public.

The extent of interference by Russian hackers has been the source of speculation and media reports for months.

'NO EVIDENCE THAT VOTES WERE MANIPULATED'

Jeanette Manfra, the Homeland Security Department's acting deputy undersecretary of cyber security, disclosed publicly for the first time that a total of 21 states were targeted and said a small number of those systems were breached, although she reiterated there was no evidence any votes were manipulated.

"As of right now, we have evidence that election-related systems in 21 states were targeted," Manfra told the Senate Intelligence Committee in a separate hearing on Wednesday.

Asked why the Obama administration did not do more to warn the public, Johnson said: "We were very concerned that we would not be perceived as taking sides in the election, injecting ourselves into a very heated campaign."

Russia has repeatedly denied responsibility for any cyber attacks during the election. Trump has variously said Russia may or may not have been responsible for hacking but has dismissed allegations his associates colluded with Moscow as "fake news."

Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate panel, expressed frustration at Manfra's refusal to identify which states had been targeted. Arizona and Illinois last year confirmed that hackers had targeted their voter registration systems.

Samuel Liles, another senior DHS cyber official, likened states targeted or scanned to a thief walking by homes to scout for weaknesses, and breaches to breaking through a front door.

INVESTIGATION

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, met on Wednesday with senior Senate Judiciary Committee members to ensure there was no conflict between his investigation of potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and the panel's probe of what led to Trump firing Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey.

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Trump acknowledged on Friday he was under investigation in the probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 race and possible collusion by his campaign, and seemed to assail the Justice Department official overseeing the inquiry.

Mueller was examining whether Trump or others sought to obstruct the probe, a person familiar with the inquiry told Reuters.

ALSO READ | Trump's key aide Kenneth Juster will now be America's new ambassador to India

ALSO READ | Trump says he is under investigation, his lawyer clarifies he isn't

ALSO WATCH | Ahead of PM Modi's US visit, Donald Trump may ease restrictions on H1-B visa issue

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The top job at RTVS is too important to hand to a deeply compromised candidate.

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Have you attempted to team up with a Russian propaganda outfit and are you worried that this might disqualify you from any serious media job in the country? Worry not! In Slovakia, you can still make it to the highest positions in the public-service media sphere.

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Case in point: Jaroslav Reznik. His personal history is not very inspiring for those who believe  or hope, since we are in Slovakia  that the public-service media needs to be independent of political pressure. Achieving that aim is difficult, given that the post of general director of Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS) is elected by MPs voting in secret. But one can always try.

Vaclav Mika admittedly did, even though he too was elected by a parliament which at the time was controlled by Smer. And there were some eyebrow-raising moments during his term, like one in the week before the 2014 presidential election run-off, when the public-service TVs Channel One aired a documentary about scientologists. In that election, candidate Andrej Kiska (who was ultimately elected), faced Prime Minister Robert Fico, who had repeatedly accused him of being a scientologist. People who hosted election meetings and other major party events by Smer also got their own shows on the public-service broadcaster under Mika.

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But Mikas stumbles fade into relative insignificance when his term is contrasted with the professional achievements of Jaroslav Reznik, who has now been elected to replace him. Reznik headed public-service radio broadcaster SRo (before it was merged with the TV broadcaster to become RTVS) under the government of Vladimir Meciar, the least democratic administration this country has had in its 24 years of existence. And he has admitted to having been in touch with the top politicians of that government (receiving instructions on how to do his job?). True, SRo was nothing like the public-service STV under Meciar, which was a standing rebuke to everything that an independent public-service television should aim to be. But Rezniks subordinates from the news service of the radio at that time alleged this was not thanks to, but despite, Rezniks management of the place.

Reznik displays a rare talent for buttering up politicians: he was later re-appointed by Meciars opponent and successor as prime minister, Mikulas Dzurinda. Producing a fawning TV profile of the prime minister  a format which continues to this day, known as the Saturday Dialogues, and now benefits Fico, as the omediach.sk website noted  cannot have hurt his chances.

The HZDS is no longer around (perhaps this is what Most-Hid chair Bela Bugar means when he says that he does not fear the times of Meciar will come back under Reznik?), but that does not mean Reznik is now free from political influence. Quite the contrary. Reznik owes his job to Smer and the Slovak National Party (SNS). The cause-and-effect chain does not end there: Danko could well owe some of the (many) votes his party got in the election to Reznik, under whom the state-run newswire TASR went out of its way to inform us about virtually anything and everything that Danko did or uttered in the run up to the 2016 parliamentary election.

Nor was Rezniks position at TASR threatened by an episode in which he decided to sign a deal with Sputnik, a Russian news agency renowned as a purveyor of blatantly fake news, the kind used in propaganda campaigns which also seek to target Slovakia. Reznik only withdrew from the contract after other news media criticised him. Those who voted for him do not seem to mind that. Either they do not appreciate the gravity of the situation, or they know that a free media is essential for democracy to survive in this country but nonetheless choose to favour their own political and other interests over the country they have been elected to govern.

With Reznik heading RTVS, it will be up to all of us  the people who have, until now, been doing a good job at the RTVS news service, other media professionals, opposition politicians, political transparency and media independence watchdogs, and the audience of RTVSs news service  to keep a close eye on what happens in Mlynska Dolina in the coming years, and to call out every disturbing move.
Two opposition parties joined forces to file a lawsuit against businessman and alleged crony of the government, Marian Kocner, over one specific case that dates back more than a year.

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MP Jozef Rajtar of the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party announced on June 21 that his party, along with OLaNO-Nova, has jointly filed a criminal complaint against Kocner concerning a suspect transfer of flats in the Five Star Residence complex in Bratislava, allegedly involving tax evasion.

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Were filing a criminal complaint against Marian Kocner over a case that we pointed to more than a year ago, namely the Five Star Residence apartment block, constructed by Real Studio K.F.A. Bratislava, Rajtar said, as cited by the TASR newswire. We know that Ladislav Basternak has already been charged for his involvement with the Five Star Residence over flat transfers. Meanwhile, flat transfers were carried out on the other side by Marian Kocner," the SaS MP said, adding that the businessman transferred 17 luxury flats for a total of 1.

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This case is properly registered in a different court dispute, so its undeniable that it did indeed happen and that 1 was the total price, Rajtar added.

Arguments and counter-arguments

Kocner is arguing that the value was reduced by a burden related to a claim by a certain shell company. Nevertheless, the price stipulated by law, i.e. the usual market price, should be applied for setting tax and other matters, and it cannot be reduced by any burden. The law does not permit this, the SaS MP said and added that Kocner may thus have earned some 900,000.

I firmly believe that this complaint wont end up in the hands of the same investigators as earlier cases, OLaNO-Nova MP Veronika Remisova noted on the same day. We still havent received answers to our question as to why Kocners cases are always assigned to the same investigators.

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Slovak President Andrej Kiska opened the countrys Honorary Consulate in Split, Croatia  which is a popular holiday destination for his compatriots.

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Im happy that one of the most popular destinations for Slovak tourists now includes a piece of Slovakia, Kiska said during the opening ceremony on June 21. We have a place where anybody who needs help can get it at any time.

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History has shown on numerous occasions that it is honorary consulates that can help you out when help is urgently needed, the president stated. He added, that he hopes the new office will receive as few requests for assistance as possible.

Slovakias Honorary Consul in Croatia, Goran Morovic, claimed that Slovaks and Croats complement each other in a way. You can learn many things from Slovaks, Morovic noted. As Im a competitive person, I believe that competitiveness may engender many good things. Ive accepted this role as a challenge, he summed up.

In addition to an embassy in Zagreb, Slovakia also has another honorary consulate in Osijek. On July 1, a honorary field office will open in Zadar.
A giant bakery is to be built in the south of the country.

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Slovakias food production sector will soon be strengthened by a foreign investor. The Greek company, Chipita, plans to build a giant bakery in the village of Kostolne Kracany, near Dunajska Streda (Trnava Region), the Trend weekly reported.

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The plan is to produce more than 72,000 tonnes of bakery products a year which comprises about one half of the current national production in Slovakia.

The Greeks plan to invest 63 million into the construction of the new plant, where more than 600 people may find jobs. This stems from an investment project submitted to the respective authorities.

The project indicates that Chipita will produce its best-known products in Slovakia, including 7days croissants and Bake Rolls crackers, Trend reported.

The construction of the new plant may begin before next summer, while it is hoped that production will be launched before the summer of 2019.

One of the reasons why the Greeks picked the area close to Dunajska Streda is its location. It is situated in the most fertile territory in Slovakia, Zitny Ostrov (Rye Island), and there are several big mills producing flour close to the town, Trend wrote.
STEM

MATE Center to Host Underwater Robotics Competition

The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center will host the latest round of its underwater student robotics competition later this month.

Using scenarios from workplaces, the MATE competition asks students to design and build remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to meet challenges. Competitors also build mock companies to manufacture and market their ROVs, create technical reports and posters and deliver presentations to judges from the marine technology industry.

Teams participating in this month's competition were selected following qualification in regional competitions in the United States and around the world or after demonstrating their vehicles.

Currently in its 16th year, the newest iteration of the competition is focused on how ROVs are used to keep seaports healthy and safe and asks students to think about how the vehicles might shape seaports in the future.

"Like port managers, the students will operate their ROVs to handle tasks that include finding cargo containers that fell overboard, constructing an underwater tunnel and cleaning up contaminated sediment," according to a news release. "Instead of piloting their ROVs in sometimes confined and precarious actual port conditions, students will safely work in the Long Beach City College Viking Aquatics pool."

For information about last year's competition and winners, visit marinetech.org.

Headquartered at the Monterey Peninsula College, MATE aims to improve marine technical education through the development of courses in collaboration with educational institutions, professional societies, industry, research institutions and working professionals.

Visit MATE's website for more information about the organization and competition.
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
By Press Trust of India: By Lalit K Jha

Washington, Jun 20 (PTI) 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 Indias contributions to Afghanistans development and economic growth," a State Department spokesperson told PTI.

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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. PTI LKJ ABH AKJ ABH

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BANGUI (Reuters) - As many as 100 people may have been killed in a day of clashes between rival factions in the Central African Republic diamond-mining town of Bria, the mayor said on Wednesday. "The death toll will certainly rise. For now it's an estimate and it could be up to 100 dead," said mayor Maurice Belikoussou by telephone. "There are still dead lying in the neighbourhoods, in the road and in the bush," he added. Calm returned to the town on Wednesday and aid workers are collecting bodies, a local Red Cross official said. Bria, the capital of the northeastern prefecture of Haute-Kotto, is coveted by militias for its surrounding diamond mines. At least 22 people were killed in clashes there last month, the United Nations said, as part of a broader escalation of a multi-year conflict driven by religious and ethnic rivalries. But Tuesday's clashes dashed hopes that a ceasefire signed between more than a dozen militias in Rome on Monday could succeed in ending a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced a fifth of the former French colony's population of 5 million. Fighting began in 2013 after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize, provoking a backlash from Christian anti-balaka militias. Ethnic rivalries between the minority cattle herding Fulanis and other groups have also fuelled the conflict. (Reporting by Crispin Dembassa-Kette; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark will raise its minimum penalty for money laundering and will extend punishment to anyone who avoids reporting possible money laundering, tax evasion or financing of terrorism, the government said Wednesday. Under a proposed law, the minimum penalty will be raised to eight years from the current six years. Bankers, lawyers and advisors will also be punished more severely under the new law. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority will be given the authority to remove members of a board or management team of financial institutions or to revoke a bank's license if they are found guilty, it said. The initiative will also tighten another law, which was approved in December and comes into effect this month, under which the FSA plans tougher scrutiny of how banks assess the risk of money laundering. The minority government announced the new law after reaching an agreement with opposition party. The new legislation, which will be adopted in parliament in the autumn, comes after possible incidents of money laundering involving Scandinavia's two largest banks, Nordea and Danske Bank. The two banks were investigated by authorities in Moldova and Latvia for possible money laundering between 2011 and 2014 through their overseas branches, according to the Danish newspaper Berlingske. Both banks said they were cooperating in the investigations. (Reporting by Erik Matzen; Editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Larry King)
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered weekend missile strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, Revolutionary Guards said, contradicting a previous report that they were authorised by the country's security council. The Guards fired six mid-range surface to surface missiles from western Iran into Syria's Deir al Zour province on Sunday night, the first attack of its kind carried out by the Islamic Republic in years. The Guards statement, published on Wednesday by Sepah News, ran counter to a statement by President Hassan Rouhani who said earlier that the strikes were authorised by the Supreme National Security Council, which includes the heads of the three branches of government as well as the head of the Guards and other ministers. Senior Guard commanders said on Monday that the missile strikes were intended to send a message to "terrorists" who carried out attacks in Tehran two weeks ago as well as their regional and international supporters, a reference to Saudi Arabia and the United States. Khamenei's personal directive for the missile strikes, as reported by the Guards, highlighted their symbolic importance. The complex attacks in Tehran included shootings and at least one suicide bombing at the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, south of the capital. Eighteen people were killed. Islamic State claimed responsibility for these attacks but senior Iranian officials pointed a finger at Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic's biggest regional rival. Tensions between mostly Shi'ite Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is predominantly Sunni, have ramped up in recent months as both countries compete for power and influence across the region. The two countries support opposite sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Field operatives from the Quds Force, the branch of the Guards responsible for operations outside Iran's borders, gathered intelligence on the targets inside Syria before the strike, the Guards' statement said. More than 170 "terrorists" including some commanders were killed in the missile strike, their statement said. Reuters could not independently verify the claim. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
An India Today investigation Operation Slaughterhouse reveals how the meat industry in Uttar Pradesh is butchering CM Yogi Adityanath's clampdown on illegal slaughterhouses.

By Syed Masroor Hasan, Md Hizbullah, Sushant Pathak, Jamshed Adil Khan : Deserted and quiet during the day, a high-end meat factory near Delhi bursts into activity at night.

In the daytime, the sprawling Al Nasir abattoir at Ghaziabad's Dasna appears to have been impacted heavily by the Yogi government's stringent regulations on meat trade.

This buffalo slaughterhouse is also under radar for alleged construction violations. The Ghaziabad Development Authority has already raised several objections over its building plan and land use.

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Potential penalties aside, Al Nasir's abattoir bursts into action when darkness descends.

In the thick of night, this plush slaughterhouse turns into a house of horror - or rather a castle of horror - where buffaloes and their little ones are put to a barbaric end.

When India Today's undercover team walked into its huge compound little after midnight recently, a horrendous sight unfolded on its secret cameras -- hundreds of buffaloes, their babies lying on a blood-spattered floor, their throats slashed by primitive swords.

Conscious of their surroundings, the animals and their offspring were killed in front of one another in gross breach of anti-cruelty laws.

Bleeding survivors trembled as sword-wielding butchers walked over carcasses to deliver a fatal swipe.

Calves tried to escape, but could not, pulled as they were by their legs and slashed at the neck.

ANTI-CRUELTY LAW

The country's anti-cruelty laws ban killing of pregnant or nursing animals and their babies less than three months in age.

No animal is allowed to be slaughtered in sight of other animals in abattoirs either.

But India Today recorded extreme abuse at the Dasna slaughterhouse of Al Nasir Exports, which on its website boasts itself as a global leader in frozen halal, buffalo meat.

The company also makes tall claims about compliance with international standards for slaughtering, bragging its quality controls.

But India Today's probe discovered severe contraventions at its abattoir.

Wrapped in plastic packaging, Al Nasir's meat products bear no resemblance to what India Today found behind the closed doors of its meat factory and around it.

Indescribable stench comes out of a thick, dark drain along the slaughterhouse in a startling testimony to heavy pollution from animal parts and blood.

When reached for comment, Al Nasir's director Mohammad Salim Qureshi issued a flat denial of any wrongdoing. "We have all papers and licensing," Qureshi claimed when asked about violations at his slaughterhouse.

"Where do you procure such animals for slaughtering when there's a ban on their sale?" probed the reporter.

"The new central law hasn't been implemented fully yet. Our association is in talks with the government. So far, it (slaughtering) is happening regularly," Qureshi replied.

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But abuse and environment degradation appeared to be a common practice in various animal businesses, big and small alike.

In the bushes of Amroha, India Today's investigative reporters saw livestock crammed into a truck wagon for a hideous journey to one of the numerous, hole-in-the-wall slaughterhouses dotting Uttar Pradesh.

The team visited a home turned into an abattoir for spot butchering and sale of buffalo meat.

"You want meat. Get it from here. We'll slaughter it and weigh it for you here itself," said Arif, its owner. "Get the meat weighed. We'll make (slaughter) it for you at night. We'll give you at Rs 140 a kilo," he offered.

Soon, Arif untied a buffalo, pulled it outside of the house and on to a truck.

Chopped and skinned carcasses of buffaloes could also be seen at dilapidated meat shops in parts of Amroha.

"What I have here are (meat of) five male buffaloes. I'll get more animals from the market if our deal is finalised," said Amir, a meat seller. "It will be Rs 150 (per kg)."

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In the winding lanes of the historic city of Agra, India Today's reporters met Chand, a supplier of buffalo meat and a butcher himself.

"Did slaughtering happen today?" asked the journalist.

"Yes, five-six buffaloes were slaughtered at our own home," Chand confessed.

A middleman in meat business, Zaheer-ud-Din also guaranteed supplies of outlawed produce to the investigative team.

A resident of Agra's Sadar Bazaar area, he disclosed how he would organise the delivery.

"We will do it (the slaughtering) at home itself," he explained.

(With inputs from Ashutosh Mishra)

Also read:

Is ban on sale of cattle for slaughter unconstitutional? A fact check

Supreme Court issues notice to Centre on plea challenging cattle slaughter ban

BJP shows flexibility over beef ban, says states free to decide on slaughter of cows

Cattle slaughter economy: How ban on sale of cattle for killing may affect industry, employment

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

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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 Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday unanimously backed a West African force to combat militant groups as well as arms, drug and human trafficking in the Sahel region after diplomats said France softened the resolution's language to secure the support of the United States. The vast, arid region has in recent years become a breeding ground for jihadist groups - some linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State - that European countries, particularly France, fear could threaten Europe if left unchecked. Last year, the nations of the Sahel - Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania - proposed establishing specially-trained units of around 100 soldiers each, which would be deployed in areas where jihadist groups are known to operate. "We cannot let the Sahel become a new refuge for terrorist organizations of the whole world. In the Sahel, all of our security is at stake, not just the security of the ... five states," said French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre. The United States, however, did not believe a resolution was warranted and did not want the world body to help fund the force, diplomats said. The United States is one of council's five veto powers, along with France, Britain, Russia and China. The first draft resolution authorized the force to "use all necessary means" to carry out its operations, but following council negotiations, the language was revised to "welcome the deployment." The resolution also encourages countries to provide support. The European Union has already committed $56 million to the Sahel force. The United States is trying to cut the cost of U.N. peacekeeping and is reviewing each of the 16 missions as they come up for Security Council renewal. Washington is the largest contributor, paying 28.5 percent of the $7.9 billion (6.24 billion pounds) peacekeeping budget. Special units proposed by the five Sahel nations would complement the efforts of regular armed forces, a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali and France's "Operation Barkhane," which has deployed around 4,000 troops across the region. France first intervened in early 2013 to drive out militants who had seized northern Mali a year earlier. But militants continue to attack in Mali and its neighbours. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols, editing by G Crosse)
By Anthony Esposito CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Governments from across the Americas chastised Venezuela's socialist leadership on Tuesday 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 (OAS) 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 overcome the current crisis peacefully 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. She accused OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro of trying to stir up a civil war in Venezuela. "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. Sullivan asked members of the OAS "to do right by the people of Venezuela" through the creation of a group to help facilitate a resolution. Rodriguez said: "The only way you could impose this on us is with your Marines, which would meet a strong response in Venezuela." She said Venezuela would never go back to the OAS. But she left the door open to participating in further meetings, saying that although Venezuela left the organisation there was a two-year administrative period to finalise the departure in which it could still participate. Honduran Foreign Minister Maria Dolores Aguero asked Rodriguez to 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. "A resolution, a strong declaration from this organisation, is probably the only realistic way of avoiding a blood bath in Venezuela," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, the executive director Americas for Human Rights Watch. Some of the meeting's participants remained optimistic they could reach a resolution and that Venezuela could avoid spiraling further into violence. The foreign minister of Guatemala, a nation that faced a 36-year internal armed conflict that left some 200,000 people dead, voiced that sentiment. "We don't wish that on anybody, least of all Venezuela, and if we were able to sit down and negotiate, Venezuela needs to be able to do that too," Foreign Minister Carlos Morales said. (Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Leslie Adler)
BOULDER, Colo.  A trial has begun in the case of a Colorado man accused of shooting his neighbor over a dispute about feeding the local squirrels.

The Daily Camera reports (http://bit.ly/2sxoFQm ) the trial began Monday. A Boulder County jury will be tasked with determining if the shooting was an attempted murder by 60-year-old Jon Barbour or an act of self-defense.

Barbour is facing one count of attempted second-degree murder and one count of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury.

Deputy District Attorney Karen Peters said Barbour began to feed peanuts to squirrels a year before the May 2016 shooting because it was his way of reconnecting with his deceased parents. Peters says some residents objected to the feeding because children were allergic to peanuts.

The trial is expected to last one week.

___

Information from: Daily Camera, http://www.dailycamera.com/
SANTA FE  A report by the Census Bureau ranked New Mexico as 34th in the nation for its public education spending.

The Census Bureau released its findings last week based on nationwide data from 2014-15. New Mexico spent $9,752 per student during those years, 14 percent less than the national average for that period, according to the Census Bureau.

In comparison, Utah spent around $6,500 per student, while New York invested a hefty $21,206.

Experts found that despite those amounts, the states proficiency scores and graduation rates are behind New Yorks by less than 10 percent, while Utahs graduation rate passes New Mexicos by 12 percent. Utah students also beat New Mexico students reading proficiency scores by 19 percent.

Bruce Baker, a Rutgers University professor and expert in education finance, told The New Mexican that the disparities can be a result of the different economies and demographics in the two states. About 1 in 3 New Mexico children are from impoverished families compared with 12.5 percent of the low-income Utah children, according the report.

In New Mexico, you have an extreme poverty population, and there is not money to target resources in those areas, Baker said.

Another advantage Utah may have over New Mexico is its large population of college-educated adults, who may consider public education a higher priority, said Michael Hansen, a senior fellow and director of The Brown Center on Education Policy for the Brookings Institution.

Hanson and Baker both agree, however, that money can make a difference in improving student outcomes.

The bureaus data showed that New Mexico has slowly been increasing the money it puts toward students since 2012.
More than a thousand Navy personnel participated in today's event which was led by Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command, Vice Admiral Girish Luthra.

By Mayuresh Ganapatye: On the occasion of International Yoga Day, the Western Naval Command today organised a special yoga session for its officers and sailors onboard Viraat, the decommissioned aircraft carrier that was once the flagship of the Indian Navy.

More than a thousand Navy personnel participated in today's event which was led by Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command, Vice Admiral Girish Luthra.

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"We are celebrating yoga day at western Naval command. In the Navy we give yoga training on a regular basis. There has been an increase in awareness about Yoga in Navy personnel. It helps us to maintain physical as well as mental fitness," Luthra said on the sidelines of the event.

To spread the awareness and benefits of yoga, the Navy has trained a number officers who are now teaching yoga to other naval staff.

Yoga is particularly beneficial to the Navy while sailinga personnel on ships or submarines do not have enough space or time to exercise rigorously.

ALSO READ:

International Yoga Day: Yoga is about an inexpensive health assurance, says PM Modi

How the world is gearing up to celebrate International Yoga Day

ALSO WATCH:

Baba Ramdev: Due to India's initiative, 200 nations celebrate International Yoga Day

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An Albuquerque police officer who has been in at least five on-duty wrecks in the past three years is facing lawsuits in connection with two of the crashes.

Officer Patrick Casias was sued in March and then again last week in connection to two wrecks. Both lawsuits were filed in state district court and are seeking damages.

Albuquerque police said Casias could not have prevented either accident, and point out the many hours officers spend in their cars each day.

The lawsuits come at a time when the Albuquerque Police Department is facing scrutiny over the number of crashes its officers are involved in compared to other law enforcement agencies.

In April, Albuquerque police officer Johnathan McDonnell, who previously had been involved in five preventable car wrecks, crashed into a familys SUV, killing a 6-year-old boy.

Albuquerques Police Oversight Board has asked for a presentation from APD about the departments crash statistics compared to other departments and how police track and retrain officers who are in multiple crashes. The board received a limited presentation earlier this month that didnt answer many of the boards questions. Police officials have said they are continuing to work to compile crash data from other police departments.

One of the lawsuits against Casias, brought by Belinda Labrado of El Paso, accused Casias of carelessness and negligence in a three-car crash. The lawsuit said the crash occurred on April 9, 2016, but police reports say the crash happened a year earlier, on April 9, 2015. Those reports show Casias was driving near Zuni and Alvarado SE when he rear-ended a vehicle while looking for a stolen car. The vehicle Casias crashed into then rear-ended another vehicle. Labrado was a passenger in one of the vehicles.

Labrado was injured as a result of the crash, according to the lawsuit.

Another lawsuit, filed in state district court last week, was in connection to a July 2016 car wreck.

Lidia Leslie said she was turning south on Wyoming from Interstate 40 when Casias, who was responding to a stolen vehicle call, crashed into her drivers side door.

The lawsuit alleged that Casias had on his lights but no siren.

Defendant Casias was not acting with reasonable care when he was driving his police cruiser at a high rate of speed on an overpass with restricted views without activating his cruisers siren to act as a warning, the suit states.

Leslie was transported to the hospital with several injuries, including a bruised kidney, said Vincent Ward, her attorney.

Celina Espinoza, a police spokeswoman, said both the crashes that led to the recent lawsuits were found to be non-preventable by the citys Safety Review Board, and Casias wasnt disciplined.

Officers vehicles are their offices. They respond to the citys most serious situations and are trained to do so, Espinoza said. We are committed to thoroughly studying the data and working transparently, not only with the (Civilian Police Oversight Agency) and the (Police Oversight Board), but also with our community to glean from it trends and possible improvements.

Ward said police reports, which he provided to the Journal, show that in addition to the two wrecks that Casias was recently sued in connection to, he was in three additional on-duty wrecks dating back to August 2014.

 In August 2014, he hit a parking lot sign that didnt cause damage.

 In April 2015, he rear ended another car at Central and Louisiana while he was looking at his computer to check on a call for service. A police report indicates that driver inattention and following too closely were contributing factors in the crash. No one was injured in the wreck.

 In September 2016, he parked his car at Zuni and Pennsylvania and got into a footchase, and his car then rolled back into a pole.

Ward said such a driving record raises questions of him being a problem driver.

It makes you wonder what the hecks going on (at APD).
SANTA FE  A neighborhood notice meeting for a proposed Pilot Flying J Travel Center just outside Santa Fe broke up amid chaos Tuesday night, when an overflow crowd of opponents of the development plan decided to leave and even stole the meetings sign-in sheet.

The meetings demise delays the application process for the travel center/truck stop for at least a month.

Jim Siebert, the planning consultant for the proposed travel center/truckstop at the Interstate 25/ Cerrillos Road/N.M. 14 interchange, was required to have a community meeting Tuesday to go over proposed sign variances before sending in a Santa Fe County development application that he planned to submit by Friday.

The meeting venue, an air-conditioned tent near the swimming pool of the Inn at Santa Fe north of the Flying J site, was set up to seat 75 people  and then 95 once chairs were added and tables removed  but the crowd came to around 200, and 186 signed a petition opposing the truck stop. They listed concerns included air and light pollution, traffic issues and increased crime. Some came with signs and matching T-shirts.

The crowd was vocal from the beginning, stopping Siebert often in mid-sentence. Some maintained their input wasnt being received.

Is the goal of the meeting for you to tell us what youre doing or for us to tell you we dont want you to do it? said Stacy Stone, who just moved to the nearby Rancho Viejo subdivision last week. Of all the places in New Mexico, why Turqoise Trail, the gateway to Santa Fe?, she asked, referring to the scenic byway name for N.M. 14 south from Santa Fe.

It was Siebert who initially attempted to cancel the meeting once about 60 people were unable to get inside the tent, but the crowd at first rejected the offer. About 15 minutes in, however, residents walked out once Seibert acknowledged that if they stayed, the gathering would count toward the required meeting.

Afterward, Rancho Viejo resident Jim Myers said counting the meeting as official wouldnt be fair since people could not get inside the tent and added that opponents had taken the sign-in sheet so there wouldnt be proof of attendance.

Your society is telling you no, and youre not listening, Myers told Siebert during the meeting.

Before the group dispersed, Siebert told them that Flying J wants a waiver for the height of the truckstops monument structure, which would have the Pilot Flying J logo signage on it along with restaurant signs.

Instead of being 10 feet tall, as county code calls for, he said it would need to be 15 feet high. Siebert told the Journal last week that the truck stop/travel center also needs waivers to accomodate directional and gas price signs as well as a mosaic on the side of the building.

Siebert said Flying J would put out notice for a new meeting and now would likely get something to the county by July 23 or 24, a month after the initial date. Victoria Dalton, Sieberts associate at his firm, said they needed to find a venue for another meeting and then give residents 15 days notice.
A wanted felon in an RV led police on a citywide chase Tuesday night that resulted in several crashes across Albuquerque and left one person in critical condition, according to an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman.

Officer Tanner Tixier said the pursuit that started in a Target parking lot, with an officer nearly being run over, ended in northwest Albuquerque after numerous crashes involving both police and civilian vehicles.

Tixier confirmed at least three crashes resulted from the chase; one at Princeton and Lead, another at Indian School and Washington and multiple crashes along Coors near Irving where the chase ended.

One person was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition from a crash near Coors and Irving, Tixier said.

The crash near Indian School and Washington involved a civilian and K-9 officer, he said. The civilian, officer and K-9 were uninjured.

The chain of events unfolded earlier Tuesday when detectives were looking for a suspect with numerous violent felony warrants in the North Valley, Tixier said. The suspect fled in an recreational vehicle and helicopters tracked him with no police cars in pursuit for an hour.

His driving was at times reckless. At other times he was obeying limits and the rules of the road, Tixier said.

He said the the pursuit actually kicked off around 8 p.m. after the suspect tried to hit an officer in the Target parking lot in Uptown mall.

That changes the ball game, Tixier said.

From there police chased the suspect around Albuquerque, while trying to block traffic and lay spike strips along the suspects route, until the pursuit reached the area near Coors and Irving.

Tixier said thats when police were given orders to terminate the pursuit.

Unfortunately several other traffic accidents were the result of that, he said. Police arrested the suspect but his identity has not been released.

This individual does not play by the rules, hes violent, he said. Whether or not were chasing him, the citizens of Albuquerque would have been in danger.

Cody Koppenhaver was heading south on Coors to a friends house when he saw police lights coming his direction.

When I came up closer I saw there was a bigger commotion than just a little speed chase, he said.

Koppenhaver said he saw the suspects RV just before it crossed the median.

It seemed like it was going to start swerving into oncoming traffic, I tried getting out of the way and still got clipped by the police car, he said.

Koppenhaver said his car was tagged by a pursuing officers vehicle but he was uninjured.

It looked like he was trying to stay on the side of the RV to keep it from coming into oncoming traffic, Koppenhaver said.

APD and Bernalillo County Sheriffs deputies were both on scene near Coors and Irving Tuesday night investigating.

We have lots of resources out here, Tixier said. To interview, assess and look at, from beginning to end, how this pursuit went, what could we have done better and what was just the result of this violent felon putting thousands of lives in danger based on his own selfish needs.
It would be easy to take the simplistic view that lowering New Mexicos top corporate income rate from 7.6 percent to 5.9 percent over a five-year period as part of a 2013 business tax overhaul is costing New Mexico a lot of money.

It would also be wrong.

Corporate tax collections have dipped from $281 million in fiscal 2012 to a projected $118 million in fiscal 2017. Critics of the overhaul, which also included getting rid of the so-called single sales factor, point to the numbers and say if the goal was to encourage job growth, it has been a failure.

Indeed, New Mexico State University economist Jim Peach says there is very little evidence that lowering tax rates promotes economic growth. Youre seeing that here. Peach argues that a well-trained work force is more important.

State officials counter that the overhaul put New Mexico in a more competitive position and cite the economic devastation wrought by the plunge in oil and gas prices. Clinton Turner, chief economist for the Department of Finance and Administration, points out that job growth in private business is up 9,000 jobs over last year.

Moving outside academia for a moment, its worth noting that New Mexicos old corporate rate would have us higher than Arizona, 4.9; Utah, 5; Colorado, 4.63; and even New York at 6.5. Texas and several other states have no corporate income tax.

Meanwhile, states like New York are aggressively pushing other tax breaks. New York offers companies that agree to start or relocate certain kinds of businesses on or near eligible university or college campuses the opportunity to operate tax-free for 10 years. The state has 10 regions offering tax-free zones.

Perhaps New York hasnt gotten the message that tax rates dont promote economic growth.

Gary Tonjes, chief executive of Albuquerque Economic Development, deals with companies looking to expand or relocate.

He says that prior to the 2013 changes, New Mexicos policy toward expanding employers was atrocious and New Mexico was eliminated from consideration for many projects because of its tax structure. A study by Ernst and Young rated our attractiveness to manufacturers as worst in the nation.

Peach is correct that companies consider many factors, including work force. They also look at public schools, crime, transportation infrastructure, etc.

Tonjes says that for most companies, deciding on a new location is not a process of selection  rather it is one of elimination.

And taxes, he says, absolutely matter.

Lawmakers should keep that in mind when they revisit this issue.

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.
Copyright  2017 Albuquerque Journal

An Albuquerque police officer who has been in at least five on-duty wrecks in the past three years is facing lawsuits in connection with two of the crashes.

Officer Patrick Casias was sued in March and then again last week in connection to two wrecks. Both lawsuits were filed in state District Court and are seeking damages.

Albuquerque police said Casias could not have prevented either accident and point out the many hours officers spend in their cars each day.

The lawsuits come at a time when the Albuquerque Police Department is facing scrutiny over the number of crashes its officers are involved in compared with other law enforcement agencies.

In April, Albuquerque police officer Johnathan McDonnell, who previously had been involved in five preventable car wrecks, crashed into a familys SUV, killing a 6-year-old boy.

Albuquerques Police Oversight Board has asked for a presentation from APD about the departments crash statistics compared with other departments and how police track and retrain officers who are in multiple crashes. The board received a limited presentation earlier this month that didnt answer many of the boards questions. Police officials have said they are continuing to work to compile crash data from other police departments.

One of the lawsuits against Casias, brought by Belinda Labrado of El Paso, accused Casias of carelessness and negligence in a three-car crash. The lawsuit said the crash occurred on April 9, 2016, but police reports say the crash happened a year earlier, on April 9, 2015. Those reports show Casias was driving near Zuni and Alvarado SE when he rear-ended a vehicle while looking for a stolen car. The vehicle Casias crashed into then rear-ended another vehicle. Labrado was a passenger in one of the vehicles.

Labrado was injured in the crash, according to the lawsuit.

Another lawsuit, filed in state District Court last week, was in connection to a July 2016 car wreck.

Lidia Leslie said she was turning south on Wyoming from Interstate 40 when Casias, who was responding to a call about a stolen vehicle, crashed into her drivers-side door.

The lawsuit alleges that Casias had on his lights but no siren.

Defendant Casias was not acting with reasonable care when he was driving his police cruiser at a high rate of speed on an overpass with restricted views without activating his cruisers siren to act as a warning, the suit says.

Leslie was taken to a hospital with several injuries, including a bruised kidney, said Vincent Ward, her attorney.

Celina Espinoza, a police spokeswoman, said both the crashes that led to the recent lawsuits were found to be non-preventable by the citys Safety Review Board, and Casias wasnt disciplined.

Officers vehicles are their offices. They respond to the citys most serious situations and are trained to do so, Espinoza said. We are committed to thoroughly studying the data and working transparently, not only with the (Civilian Police Oversight Agency) and the (Police Oversight Board), but also with our community to glean from it trends and possible improvements.

Ward said police reports, which he provided to the Journal, show that in addition to the two wrecks that Casias was recently sued over, he was in three additional on-duty wrecks dating back to August 2014:

 In August 2014, he hit a parking lot sign in an accident that didnt cause damage.

 In April 2015, he rear-ended another car at Central and Louisiana while he was looking at his computer to check on a call for service. A police report indicates that driver inattention and following too closely were contributing factors in the crash. No one was injured in the wreck.

 In September 2016, he parked his car at Zuni and Pennsylvania and got into a foot chase, and his car then rolled back into a pole.

Ward said such a driving record raises the possibility that he is a problem driver.

It makes you wonder what the hecks going on (at APD).
VIENNA (AP)  Austrian police have arrested a suspected thief. But first, they made sure he put on some clothes.

Police say a naked man took a watch and money from a Vienna hotel guest after climbing through a window into his room, then was seen in the lobby before he clambered onto the hotel roof.

Fire fighters with a rescue net and an ambulance were called to the scene. But by the time they arrived, the man had made his way into his own hotel room, where police woke him and took him into custody

A police statement Wednesday said the man was apparently drunk.

 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
New Mexicos Democratic U.S. senators are sounding alarms this week about Republican efforts replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and both went to the Senate floor Tuesday to denounce a Republican replacement bill approved by the House, warn of its consequences for New Mexico and lament a lack of information about the Senate replacement legislation.

The lawmakers speeches were part of a concerted effort by Democrats this week to raise awareness of the Senate bill, which is expected to be unveiled in draft form on Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has come under intense Democratic criticism for allowing a small group of Republican lawmakers to craft the Senate proposal in private without input from Democrats.

Leader McConnell appointed an all-Republican working group that operates in secret to write a health care bill  this is just wrong, Udall said. The Majority Leader has missed an opportunity for political and moral leadership on one of the most important issues we face. Senator McConnell should have an honest and open process including Senate committee hearings.

Even some Senate Republicans are expressing discomfort with the process in the upper chamber. Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, posted a Facebook message Tuesday to his constituents, who have been asking about the Senate bill.

Even though Ive been a member of this working group assigned to help narrow some of the focus of this, I havent seen the bill, he said.

Its not being written by us  its apparently being written by a small handful of staffers or members of the Republican leadership in the Senate, Lee added. So if youre frustrated by the lack of transparency in this process, I share your frustration, I share it wholeheartedly.

In a Senate floor speech Tuesday, McConnell defended Republican efforts to write a new health law. He said insurance markets are collapsing under Obamacare and the GOP will offer a better alternative.

Thankfully, the Senate will soon have a chance to turn the page on this failed law, McConnell said. The entire Senate Republican Conference has been active and engaged on legislation to move beyond the failures of Obamacare for quite some time. Weve had many productive discussions on the way forward. Were united in our belief that the American people deserve better than Obamacares unsustainable status quo.

Udall and Heinrich warned of dire implications for New Mexico under the House bill, especially for Medicaid recipients. Medicaid currently provides health coverage to more than 900,000 New Mexicans, one of the highest rates of residents enrolled in the program for the poor in the nation.

The consequences are enormous for the 31 states and the District of Columbia that have opted for Medicaid expansion  including New Mexico, Udall said. They would have to come up with 37% more funding by 2026 if the Republicans have their way and restructure Medicaid. I can tell you right now my home state of New Mexico  doesnt have that money. New Mexico is struggling to balance its budget now. Everything has been cut to the bone.

Heinrich said the House bill would repeal the cost-free preventative care requirements for the Medicaid expansion population.

Not only would this repeal risk the health of women and their babies, it would result in increased medical costs overall, he said. Preventative medical services save money in the long run.

The Associated Press is out with a story this morning that says New Mexico would also lose critical funding for substance abuse treatment that has helped combat a local opioid epidemic. From the AP:

A House-approved health care bill would phase out expanded Medicaid that allows states to provide federally backed insurance to low-income adults. Federal Medicaid expansion dollars have allowed key states to boost their response to the opioid crisis, paying for medication, counseling, therapy and other services.

In New Mexico, the expansion accounted for 21 percent of Medicaid spending on behavioral health  a category that includes mental health and substance abuse  in the year ending in June 2016. The state Human Services Department says that translates into $101 million out of $477 million in behavioral health spending. Numbers specific to addiction treatment were not available.

Rep. Steve Pearce, a Republican who voted for the House Obamacare replacement bill, said those receiving drug addiction care paid for by Medicaid under current law would keep it.

Individuals impacted by opioid addiction, and everyone else who gained coverage under Medicaid expansion, will continue to receive care as long as they stay on the program, Pearce told the AP.
SAN ANTONIO  A former Texas nurse who prosecutors say may be responsible for the deaths of up to 60 young children was indicted Wednesday on a murder charge for the second time in recent weeks.

The Bexar County district attorneys office said in a statement that Genene Jones was charged in the September 1981 death of 2-year-old Rosemary Vega.

She was charged with a separate count of murder last month in the death of an 11-month-old boy.

Jones, 66, is serving concurrent 99-year and 60-year sentences in state prison for the 1982 killing of another toddler and the sickening of a 4-week-old boy who survived. But she was scheduled to be released in March under a mandatory release law in place when she was convicted.

During Jones time working at a San Antonio hospital and elsewhere in Texas, children died of unexplained seizures and other complications.

District Attorney Nico LaHood previously said investigators believe Jones may have killed some or all of those children because they died under unusual circumstances during or shortly after her shifts.

The 11-month-old boy died of a fatal overdose of an anti-seizure drug, Dilantin, and prosecutors at Jones 1984 murder trial said the nurse lethally injected children at a clinic in Kerrville, northwest of San Antonio, to demonstrate the need for a pediatric intensive care unit at a nearby hospital.

Other prosecutors theorized that Jones tactic was to take swift medical action and save some of her victims, making herself appear to be a sort of miracle worker.

Its not clear why Jones actions, involving so many suspected victims, were not detected earlier. But Sam Millsap, a previous district attorney in Bexar County, told KSAT-TV in 2013 that medical records at the San Antonio hospital at one point were accidently destroyed, hampering efforts by investigators to prove their suspicions.

She received a letter of recommendation in 1982 from the hospital that described her as loyal, dependable and trustworthy, according to a report jointly published by Texas Monthly and ProPublica.

Jones, whose case has been chronicled in two books, a TV movie and numerous articles, has maintained her innocence. Its not clear if she has an attorney to address the most recent allegations against her.

LaHood told The Associated Press after Jones was charged with murder in May that the charge was based on fresh evidence that came to light and a review of old evidence. He also said the deaths of some of the other children were being re-examined and that additional charges could be coming.

At a news conference Wednesday, LaHood said he continues investigating Jones in the hope of obtaining more indictments.
An Albuquerque car business whose owner won a dealer of the year award in 2014 has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

ReCARnation Total Automotive Solutions, owned by Marc Powell, filed for bankruptcy on June 2 in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque. The filing lists assets of $1.59 million and liabilities of $2 million.

ReCARnation focuses on reconditioning older cars rather than selling people new cars that they might not be able to afford.

Powell, who took over the company in 2010, developed a repair and financing model to give owners the option of extending the lives of their cars rather than paying a hefty down payment and years of debt on a replacement vehicle.

Powell said Wednesday he did not think the bankruptcy called into question his business concept. Its more to do with the execution to date, he said.

There are so many multi-varied factors, he said. Theres a lot going on here. The whole point of reorganization is to allow us to focus on that vision weve had for so long. We just need some time and space to get it done.

ReCARnation, located near Louisiana and Central, also had a sales lot on Lomas NE, but it is now closed.

Powell won the national Quality Dealer of the Year from the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association in 2014 and an Ethics in Business award in New Mexico a year later.

The bankruptcy, filed under the name 5K Car Store Inc., lists about $263,000 in secured claims and $1.8 million in unsecured claims.
Hundreds of businesspeople, civic leaders and public officials from the U.S. Southwest and Latin America will converge in Albuquerque in August for a State Department-sponsored summit on entrepreneurship and economic development.

Global Ties ABQ and the Santa Fe Council for International Relations partnered on a joint proposal to host one of four Diplomacy Begins Here regional summits that the State Department is organizing around the country. The Duke City event, scheduled for Aug. 3 at the Albuquerque Convention Center and Hyatt Regency Downtown, will explore the impact of innovation, culture and international relations on economic development along the Camino Real and beyond.

New Mexico  has one foot in the U.S. and one in Mexico due to cultural ties, said Global Ties ABQ Executive Director Adelle Lees. We are at the epicenter of converging national borders and our state is working to economically capitalize on these unique assets.

Global Ties ABQ is part of the Global Ties U.S. network that unites more than 40,000 citizens across the country in State Department efforts to build connections among U.S. communities and people from other countries. Through the program, volunteer citizen diplomats host foreign delegations of businesspeople and emerging leaders to exchange ideas, build ties and potentially forge new business, social and cultural partnerships.

The Global Ties ABQ initiative, initially run as the Albuquerque Council for International Visitors, rebranded itself in 2015 as an affiliate of Global Ties U.S.

The State Department provides $75,000 a year to finance hosting activities in New Mexico.

We host about four delegations per month and bring more than 250 international visitors a year to Albuquerque, Lees said. We have 80 local volunteers who provide key cultural exchange aspects to the program.

Thats mutually beneficial for visitors and the Albuquerque community because it builds connections, said Global Ties ABQ Board President Darrell Garcia.

Today, our ecosystems are part of a global community, not just local, and this offers a transfer of ideas both ways, Garcia said. They take information to their countries, but they leave behind ideas, thoughts and global connections that can lead to business opportunities.

Last year, Global Ties ABQ led a five-month business accelerator, financed by a $14,000 Mayors Prize grant, that brought 52 local and foreign entrepreneurs together to explore international trade opportunities.

The upcoming summit will focus on the creative economy, social entrepreneurship to build businesses with social missions and indigenous entrepreneurship.
Los Angeles is competing against Paris to host the 2024 Olympics and the local bid committee has selected UCLA as the site for the Olympic Village, which would house all competing athletes.

By Reuters: The World Anti-Doping Agency said on Tuesday it has issued a three-month partial accreditation suspension to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Olympic Analytical Laboratory for analysing certain banned substances.

The three-month suspension began last Wednesday and, according to a WADA statement, is a result of "WADA's quality assessment procedures that identified non-conformities with best practice."

Los Angeles is competing against Paris to host the 2024 Olympics and the local bid committee has selected UCLA as the site for the Olympic Village, which would house all competing athletes.

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During the suspension, the UCLA laboratory can carry out all its regular anti-doping activities, but it must obtain a second opinion from another WADA-accredited lab prior to reporting any adverse analytical finding for the glucocorticoids "prednisolone" and "prednisone"; and, the anabolic steroids "boldenone" and "boldione".

WADA said suspensions limited to certain substances have been issued in the past and allow for appropriate monitoring of the lab to ensure full implementation of necessary improvements with the objective of a return to full compliance.

An independent WADA Disciplinary Committee advised by WADA's Laboratory Expert Group delivered its recommendation for a limited suspension on June 14.

The UCLA lab was notified of the decision two days later and has 21 days to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

As part of the process, WADA will conduct a site visit within a timeframe that reasonably allows the UCLA Laboratory to finalise implementation of all remedial actions.

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WASHINGTON  Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Wednesday that he is open to keeping two new national monuments in New Mexico in their current configuration, although he has recommended scaling back Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and is considering similar changes to others.

The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument near Las Cruces and the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in northern New Mexico are both on a list of 27 monuments Zinke is reviewing for possible changes.

In response to questioning from Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., during a hearing on the Interior Department budget on Wednesday, Zinke said if state and community leaders are happy with the current configuration of the New Mexico monuments, hell leave them alone. But he also did not rule out changes.

I do not want to rip a Band-aid off of a monument that is settled, Zinke said. I will talk to the governor and the congressional representatives and I will talk to the county commissions and if it is settled and people are happy with it, I find no reason to recommend any changes.

There might be a recommended change on a proclamation (designating the monument) if the community feels the proclamation is too stringent, he added.

Zinke said he plans to visit the state in two weeks at the invitation of Sen. Martin Heinrich, but a Zinke aide told the Journal the visits exact dates are not yet set.

In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing Zinke to review national monuments of more than 100,000 acres designated since 1996, saying some amounted to a massive federal land grab. In early May, Zinke produced a list of 27 monuments for possible alteration, including the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument and the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, both designated by former President Barack Obama.
Winners of the Creative Data, Innovation, Cyber, Direct and Mobile Lions were announced last night at the 64th Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. India secured three Silver Lions in Direct and Innovation.

The Direct Lions recognise response-driven and relationship-building creativity. From 2,719 entries, 76 Lions were awarded, including 13 Gold, 21 Silver and 41 Bronze. Google Home of the Whopper by DAVID Miami for Burger King, took the Grand Prix. Jury President Ted Lim, Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Brand Agencies, APAC, described it as outstanding, outrageous and simply incredible.

From India, Taproot Dentsu and McCann Worldgroup brought home a Silver Lion each. Taproot Dentsus campaign  Adidas Odds  won the Silver in the Durable Consumer Goods sub-category. McCann Worldgroups campaign, titled Afghan Immunity Charm, done for the Ministry of Public Health, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan won the Silver in the Direct  Retention sub-category. The same campaign had also bagged the Grand Prix for Good announced during the weekend.

From the 298 entries received in Innovation, 12 Lions were awarded: 2 Gold, 4 Silver and 5 Bronze, and the Grand Prix went to The Humanium Metal Initiative by Akestam Holst, Stockholm / Great Works, Stockholm for IM Swedish Development Partner. Jury President Susan Lyne, President and Managing Partner at BBG Ventures, praised the work for demonstrating innovation at every stage from concept to the business model, to support communities affected by gun violence.

Leo Burnett, the only Indian agency to get shortlisted for Innovation Lions this year, won a Silver for its work  Roads That Honk  done for HP Lubricants in the Applied Innovation sub-category.

The Creative Data Lions celebrate the interplay of ideas and information, enhanced or driven by the creative use of data. From 690 entries received, 38 Lions were awarded: 5 Gold, 11 Silver and 21 Bronze. The Grand Prix went to Care Counts by DigitasLBi, Chicago for Whirlpool. Lauded as a special piece of work, it exemplified a brand moving from storytelling, to story doing, said Jury President Eric Salama, Chief Executive Officer of Kantar.

The Cyber Lions recognise creativity experienced digitally to enhance a brands message and demonstrate results. From 2,893 entries, 110 Lions were awarded, which included 19 Gold, 33 Silver and 55 Bronze. Jury President Colleen DeCourcy, Global Chief Creative Officer, Wieden + Kennedy, explained that the jury selected work that embodied where technology has moved ideas forward. Three Grand Prix were honoured: Aland Index/Baltic Sea Projects by RBK Communication, Stockholm for The Bank of Aland; Meet Graham by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for Transport Accident Commission Victoria; and Did you Mean Mailchimp? by Droga5, New York and Mailchimp, Atlanta, that had bold originality at its heart.

The Mobile Lions celebrate device-driven creativity. From 1,297 entries, 68 Lions were awarded: 8 Gold, 24 Silver and 35 Bronze. The Family Way by Dentsu Y&R, Tokyo for Recruit Lifestyle Co., Ltd. took the Grand Prix. Jury President Andy Hood, Head of Emerging Technologies, AKQA, explained that the best work has seen creatives offering solutions to some of the worlds biggest problems and the Grand Prix did just that. Its not just an award, its a statement of how we want the winning work to be and how technology can have a direct impact on peoples lives.

No entry from India was shortlisted in the Creative Data, Cyber and Mobile categories.

Lions Innovation, the two-day tech and innovation-focused specialist event, wrapped-up yesterday (June 20, 2017). Now in its third year, Lions Innovation once again proved it is the Festivals incubator for new ideas. Brand, media and advertising leaders, plus technology pioneers and entrepreneurs showcased the ideas, thinking and technology driving the future of the industry, from android actor and comedian Ginger the Robot getting 500 attendees doing yoga together to Halle Berry, alongside IPG CEO Michael Roth and Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar, sharing how emerging media platforms and technology connect.

In the Lumiere Theatre, Reverend Jesse Jackson discussed the need for brands to advance a more inclusive society and the role the industry can play, alongside Richard Edelman. Elsewhere in the Palais, the second Cannes Lions China Day showcased the latest trends and developments visible in Chinese creativity, and featured talks from classical music icon Lang Lang and online superstar Papi Jiang.
Publicis Groupe Chairman & CEO, Arthur Sadoun, announced the next step of The Power of One, initiated in 2015 by Maurice Levy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Publicis Groupe. After the acquisition of Sapient with its world-class technology expertise, and after having broken the barriers between our different entities to form Solution hubs, Publicis Groupe builds the platform of the future: Marcel. Marcel will be the first-ever professional assistant platform powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, that connects 80,000 employees across 200 disciplines in 130 countries. Marcel draws on the predictive nature of AI to identify opportunities, anticipate clients needs, connect people, and unleash creativity while harnessing the power of the Groupes data spine to drive business solutions.

Marcel's features are inspired by the results of Publicis Groupes global talent survey conducted in 2017, revealing authentic insight about how the people within our company want to work in the future.

Marcel will give Publicis Groupe newfound opportunities to connect diverse and extreme skillsets seamlessly -- designers with data scientists, robotics with retail specialists, consultants with creators, the possibilities are endless, business solutions infinite, all at the service of our clients. In order to develop and deploy the platform, Publicis Groupe will shift its promotional budget from industry events to focus its investment. In June 2018, Publicis Groupe plans to launch Marcel exclusively at Viva Technology, the worlds leading event for technology and innovation, in Paris. Publicis Groupe will resume its participation in industry events in September 2018.

Arthur Sadoun, Chairman & CEO commented, Marcel is another milestone in our ambition to become a platform at the service of our clients. 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. Its time to draw a line in the sand for our people.

Carla Serrano, Chief Strategy Officer said,We are applying the strategy we recommend to our clients to ourselves  future-proof your business by delivering valued experiences to your clients, your partners and especially your employees. With Marcel, every person that works at Publicis will come face to face with their best work. Mark Tutssel, Creative Chairman of Publicis Communications: Marcel is a platform for talent and creativity without borders. It unleashes the collective creative firepower of the Groupe, and is a springboard for the infinite potential of ideas."

Named after Marcel Bleustein Blanchet, the founder of Publicis and a creative visionary who once said An entrepreneur is a person who leaves the least amount of time between an idea and its execution. Marcel will allow just that.
John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts (JQH) today announced that Jeffrey Fork is the new director of sales at the companys Embassy Suites by Hilton Hampton Roads  Hotel, Convention Center & Spa in Virginia. Fork brings 19 years of experience in hospitality, including in the Hampton market, to the 295-suite hotel, which is connected by a covered walkway to the Hampton Roads Convention Center. Fork will supervise this TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Hall of Fame hotels sales and marketing team. Embassy Suites by Hilton Hampton Roads is owned and operated by Springfield, Missouri-based JQH, a leading private, independent owner and manager of hotels in the United States, including operating more than 1 million square feet of superb meeting space.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621006053/en/

John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts (JQH) has hired Jeffrey Fork as director of sales at the companys Embassy Suites by Hilton Hampton Roads  Hotel, Convention Center & Spa in Virginia. Fork brings 19 years of experience in hospitality to the role, including in the Hampton market. The 295-suite hotel is connected by a covered walkway to the Hampton Roads Convention Center. (Photo: Business Wire)

Jeffrey brings extensive communications and training skills to our Hampton hotel teams, said Phill Burgess, JQHs vice president of sales and revenue optimization. In addition to having knowledge of the local hospitality market, he also has proven experience in food and beverage, convention services, and all aspects of sales and operations at full service hotels, making him a true asset.

Forks hospitality career includes serving as complex director of sales and marketing at the Hilton Melbourne Beach Oceanfront and at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Melbourne Beach Oceanfront in Florida on behalf of Westmont Hospitality Group. He was awarded Westmont Hospitality Groups Best Year Over Year RevPAR Growth 2014. Fork served in several roles with Chesapeake Hospitality, including as general manager of the Crowne Plaza Wilmington North in Delaware, as general manager and director of sales and marketing of the Crowne Plaza Hampton  Marina Hotel in Virginia, and as convention services manager of the now branded DoubleTree by Hilton Jacksonville Riverfront in Florida. Fork attended The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

Im pleased to be back in beautiful Hampton, Fork said. I look forward to working with the hotel teams on offering unique packages and to collaborating with area economic, tourism and business leaders to drive demand.

About Embassy Suites by Hilton Hampton Roads  Hotel, Convention Center & Spa

Located at 1700 Coliseum Drive, the Embassy Suites by Hilton Hampton Roads  Hotel, Convention Center & Spa in Virginia is connected to the Hampton Roads Convention Center via a covered walkway, providing access to more than 190,000 square feet of combined meeting space. Each spacious two-room hotel suite features a separate living room with a sofa bed and two TVs. Guests can enjoy internet access, a large desk with ergonomic chair, a mini-refrigerator, and a microwave. The contemporary hotel features a fitness center and an indoor pool. Guests can start their day with a free made-to-order breakfast. A nightly two-hour reception with complimentary drinks and snacks is offered in the hotels open-air atrium. Guests can also dine at Cyprus Grille restaurant for Southern cuisine or stop by Caffeinas cyber cafe, where Starbucks coffee is served. Guests can indulge in a massage or facial at the luxurious on-site Spa Botanica. For more information about the Embassy Suites by Hilton Hampton Roads, go to www.embassysuiteshampton.com, connect at www.facebook.com/EmbassySuitesHamptonRoads, or call (757) 827-8200.

About John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts

Springfield, Missouri-based John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts (JQH) is a leading private, independent owner and manager of hotels in the United States, representing brands such as: Marriott, Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Sheraton, IHG, Chateau on the Lake Resort / Spa & Convention Center, and Plaza Hotels Collection. With a portfolio of 35 hotels representing approximately 8,500 guest rooms/suites in 16 states, JQHs properties are dominant in their markets. Founded on the extraordinary vision of John Q. Hammons and built on his continued legacy of excellence spanning more than 50 years, JQH has become one of the most recognized and award-winning companies in the hospitality industry. Built to be the best, JQH continues to set the standard in hospitality management and hotel development. Go to www.jqhhotels.com for more information, or connect with JQH on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621006053/en/

JQH

Phill Burgess, 417-873-3591

phill.burgess@jqh.com

or

WiseHive Public Relations LLC for JQH

Sheri D. Smith, 214-454-3969

sheri.smith@wisehivepr.com
Legacy Android devices running Android 2.1 (Eclair) and lower will be rendered unable to use the Android Market as of June 30th. These legacy devices are running a version of Android thats 7 years old or older, and make up such a small portion of the Android crowd that its simply no longer worth it for developers to support them. Support for the Android Market on newer devices will continue as long as Google sees the enterprise as being worth it, but it did not specify how long that may be. Even with support set to continue indefinitely for the Android Market on newer devices, Google recommends that any device capable of running Android 2.2 (Froyo) or higher upgrade from the Android Market to Google Play.

Continuing support for newer versions of the Android Market does not mean that you can load it up on most newer devices; it will automatically shift over to Google Play. On the other side of the coin, legacy devices arent completely out in the cold on downloading apps with the demise of the Android Market. Third party app stores are as easy to load up as simply installing the APK, and some even have specialties. Aptoide, for instance, is famous for a wealth of indie apps and a community-curated approach, but users should beware the paid versions of apps that are available for free; not only is piracy illegal, those apps often come with malware. F-Droid, meanwhile, focuses on free and open-source software. Youll find alternatives to more well-known apps, and everything there is open-source and easy to modify or fork, if youre inclined to do so. These apps also will generally refrain from typical monetization practices, such as tracking a user or showing ads.

Google Play launched in 2012 as a total revamp of the Android Market. Contrary to the apps-only approach of its predecessor, the modern Play Store hosts a wealth of content, including movies, music, games, and books. The vast amount of content has allowed Google Play to become a full-fledged ecosystem, something that the Android Market could never have accomplished in its legacy, app-focused form. The Play Store also has a different backend and framework, allowing Google to secure and curate it more thoroughly, making it far more than a simple app repository for Android devices.
Lenovo Mobile is restructuring its mobile business in China and despite the companys previous claims that the Lenovo brand will never be scrapped in favor of Moto, the company recently announced that it will soon move its online domain in China to Moto.com. Starting tomorrow, Lenovomobile.com will be no more, and its visitors will instead be redirected to Moto.com.

Motorola Mobility was acquired by Lenovo from Google in October 2014. In August 2015, Lenovos smartphone business was merged with Motorola Mobility and this strategic move refocused the Chinese tech giants resources to support two main smartphone brands  Moto and Lenovos own Vibe. However, in November 2016 Lenovo announced that it will abandon the Vibe brand and as such all future Lenovo devices will instead carry the Motorola logo. Meanwhile, all Moto devices were backed by the Moto by Lenovo branding, though that changed in March 2017 when Motorola Mobilitys CMO announced that the company will move away from the Moto by Lenovo brand in order to focus on Motorolas legacy instead. Now, in what appears to be a decision to fully embrace Moto devices, Lenovo is abandoning its original online domain in China in favor of Moto.com.

This decision was not entirely unexpected despite Lenovos previous claims, especially when considering the fact that Lenovo hasnt announced any new smartphones this year. On the other hand, the Moto branch continues to develop and release new devices at a fairly regular pace. In the first half of 2017 alone, Moto announced a generous number of handsets including the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus, the Moto C and C Plus, the Moto Z2 Play, as well as the more recent Moto E4 along with its larger counterpart. Earlier this year, Lenovos subsidiary ZUK Mobile was also rumored to be shut down and merged with Lenovos Moto. This hasnt yet come to pass so it remains to be seen if Lenovo has any such plans for ZUK Mobile, or if the company will allow its subsidiary to coexist alongside the Moto brand moving forward. An update on the companys hardware endeavors will likely follow in the coming months.
When Google Home arrives in Canada, it will arrive without multi-user support, according to a new report out of MobileSyrup. While Google has not confirmed as much publicly, the report notes that the conformation has come from Google Canada. Adding that while multi-user support will not be available at the time of Google Homes Canadian debut, it will become available at some point. Although there was no firm confirmation on how long the feature would be delayed, following its release.

Multiple user support was only first announced by Google in April of this year, and at the time was only scheduled to roll out to US devices. Which it since has. The original announcement did also confirm that UK users will be able to make use of the feature, although its UK arrival was said to be happening in the coming months. So it does seem likely that UK Google Home owners will see the update arrive before those in Canada do. Arguably, multi-user support is one of the biggest updates to arrive for the Google Home since its release. As this is a feature that allows the smart home product to identify different users. In doing so, offering a more tailored user experience to each user. In fact, with the feature in use, Google Home is able to distinguish between as many as six people at a time. Resulting in a highly personalized experience, and even for the busiest of households.

In terms of the Canadian launch of Google Home. Google announced at the start of June that Google Home was arriving in Canada, and immediately opened up pre-orders for those interested in being one of the first to own the device. While the unit is still in that pre-order phase, Google Home is due to become widely available at a number of locations  including the Google Store, Bell, Best Buy, Rogers, Staples, Telus, Walmart, and others  on June 26 (next Monday). It just seemingly will arrive without the multiple user feature intact. In terms of the price, Google Home will cost $179 CAD in Canada, compared to the $129 it sells for in the US.
The system-on-chip (SoC) powering the Samsung Galaxy S9 series will be called the Exynos 9810 and feature a modem with CDMA support, one industry insider said earlier this week. Its currently unclear whether the South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer came to an agreement with Qualcomm over CDMA-related patents or if it opted to include CDMA support into its upcoming chip for another reason, provided that the newly uncovered information is accurate. The same source also suggested that Samsungs 2018 pair of flagships will be marketed as the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, in addition to claiming that the U.S. variant of the Galaxy Note 8 will debut with the Snapdragon 836 SoC, a revised version of Qualcomms premium piece of silicon found in the likes of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus.

The Seoul-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM) traditionally opted to release devices with Qualcomm-made chips in the U.S. due to the fact that the CDMA technology used by Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and US Cellulars networks is essentially almost entirely owned by Qualcomm through various patents. Patent-related tensions between the two have been on the rise earlier this year, with certain authorities concluding that Qualcomm is using unfair licensing requirements to prevent Samsung from selling its Exynos SoCs to third-party manufacturers. Regardless, the tech giants have also been collaborating on the chipmaking front, as evidenced by the fact that the Snapdragon 835 is built on Samsungs 10nm FinFET process node.

Regarding the aforementioned Exynos-branded silicon thats said to power the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, its name already surfaced online this spring, albeit in the context of an SoC thats meant to be integrated into the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. As the international variants of those models ended up with a processor called the Exynos 8895, its possible that earlier reports were only accurate in regards to the chips name but not its applications. Provided that the Exynos 9810 truly exists, more details on the SoC will likely be available later this year as Samsungs chipmaking division is usually relatively transparent regarding its endeavors and details new technologies months before they are commercialized in any shape or form.
Sprint President and Chief Executive Officer Marcelo Claure on Tuesday joined the Board of Directors of SoftBank Group, the parent company of the fourth largest mobile service provider in the United States. Claure was officially nominated for the position last month as part of SoftBankss apparent efforts to restructure its leadership and give more control of the group to heads of its overseas businesses, with the Japanese conglomerates shareholders confirming the nomination earlier this week at their 37th annual meeting in Tokyo. Claure said he was pleased with this turn of events but didnt specify whether his new role will affect his responsibilities and activities at Sprint.

Apart from Sprints chief, SoftBank Groupss Board of Directors also added SoftBank Investment Advisors Rajeev Misra, Senior Director of Goldman, Sachs & Co Mark Schwartz, and a number of other high-profile executives from the industry to its ranks. The Japanese telecommunications giant is expected to have a large role on the U.S. market in the coming years, with the firm being expected to invest significant resources into numerous American startups through its massive tech fund, in addition to possibly merging Sprint with T-Mobile. A potential consolidation of the third and fourth largest wireless carrier in the country has been rumored for years now but was effectively stopped by the former Obama administration which clearly signaled that its not open toward major M&As in the wireless segment. The situation changed with the arrival of the Trump administration, especially in light of the fact that SoftBank could play an important part in the current Presidents plan to create more American jobs, which was one of his main campaign promises.

Claure is still in the process of trying to revitalize Sprints struggling operations that saw the Overland Park, Kansas-based company lose its title of the third largest wireless carrier to T-Mobile two years ago. The shift in commercial performance between Sprint and T-Mobile is another reason why their consolidation still isnt certain, with Deutsche Telekom now reportedly being closer to acquiring Sprint than SoftBank is to merging T-Mobile with its telecom firm. An update on the situation is expected to follow in the coming months.
The driver saw smoke coming out of the engine and immediately alerted the passengers to get off the bus.

By Pramod Madhav: A state transport bus travelling from Villupuram to Chennai, with 41 passengers, went up in flames today. The bus was on the Chennai-Trichy highway when the incident occurred.

The driver saw smoke coming out of the engine and immediately alerted the passengers, asking them to get off the bus. Within minutes, fire engulfed the bus.

By the time fire tenders could douse the fire, the bus was gutted. No casualties were reported.

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The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation has not yet given any explanation for the incident. State transport workers, however, blame the ill-maintained buses for incidents like the one that occurred today.

"A bus can last for 10 years or run till 6 lakh km. Here, we are running buses that have covered 12 lakh km. Of the total state government buses, 60 per cent are beyond repair but we are still driving them," a transport worker said.

The Tamil Nadu government manages six transport corporations that run 20,839 buses across the state. Following today's incident, many have called for immediate steps by the government to improve the condition of buses.

WATCH: Bus goes up in flames in Chennai

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Back in November, Xiaomi announced that the company had started developing MIUI 9 OS, which is a new version of its Android skin, and now it seems like one of the companys executives has hinted that the announcement of MIUI 9 is coming soon. The companys executive was communicating with Xiaomis fans on Weibo (Chinese social network), and along with writing forward these letters, you will have the universe and good luck!, he also mentioned MIUI, and he even bothered to bold the name of Xiaomis Android skin.

Now, this is not a direct confirmation that MIUI 9 is coming soon, but it sure seems like a hint. MIUI currently has around 200 million users, and it has evolved quite a bit since Xiaomi introduced it. MIUI 8 was a considerable improvement over MIUI 7, and consumers are expecting a similar improvement with MIUI 9 as well. MIUI is currently used in over 156 and regions with 32 languages, and considering that MIUI 8 got released back in May last year, MIUI 9s announcement is long overdue at this point. The company already teased the arrival of a picture-in-picture feature for MIUI, though that feature will probably land along with a new version of MIUI 8. MIUI 8 is a really compelling Android skin, though it differs from stock Android quite a bit. This skin does not include an app drawer, and its also lacking some stock Nougat features, despite the fact its based on Nougat in its current form on a number of Xiaomi-branded devices.

With MIUI 8, youre not getting the expandable notifications youre used to, well, at least not in the way that stock Nougat implements them. Double tap the overview button in order to switch back to your last used app is also not included here, and split screen mode is not a part of the picture either, even though that feature had also been teased recently, and is coming soon. MIUI 8 is quite snappy on pretty much every Xiaomi-branded device, and it will be interesting to see what will Xiaomi do in MIUI 9, though the company is expected to introduce more Nougat features, and the company will probably also touch up the design of its skin in MIUI 9.

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With the new members, the Trinamool Congress tally in the state has gone up to 221 seats.

By Indrajit Kundu: In a major blow to the fledgling unit of the Congress party in West Bengal, two of its sitting MLAs - Shankar Singh and Arindam Bhattacharjee on Wednesday quit the party to join the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

With this, the Trinamool's tally in the state assembly has gone up to 221 seats while the Congress has been reduced to 36. Singh is a Congress veteran and a three time MLA from Ranaghat West, while Bhattacharjee is an MLA from Santipur constituency in Nadia district.

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Bhattacharjee was also heading the West Bengal Pradesh Youth Congress. Welcoming the two new entrants into the party, Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee said that there were more big names waiting to take the plunge in the days to come. "Today our party has increased our tally in the assembly to 221 members from 211 while the Congress has been reduced to 36 seats from 44.

In the days to come, there will be another big name joining us from the Congress," Banerjee announced. Meanwhile, reacting to the development West Bengal Pradesh Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that those who were switching over to TMC were doing so for their personal gains.

"If they have the courage, they should first resign as Congress MLAs and then join them. Don't forget, it is the common Congress workers who laid down their lives to get them elected," Chowdhury said.

Also read:

Don't stoke ethnic fire: Mamata warns Gorkha Janmukti Morcha as Darjeeling stand-off continues

Darjeeling GJM unrest: Uneasy calm as Mamata Banerjee calls for peace before heading abroad

Surprised at BJP's choice for presidential pick; Advani, Sushma Swaraj could make better candidate: Mamata

WATCH | Mamata Banerjee: The fiery face of Trinamool Congress

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CRDi

One such manufacturer is Kia, which recently took the veils off a subcompact-sized crossover. The Stonic is its name, and as the more sensible-styled counterpart of the Hyundai Kona, it will surely be a hit both in the Old Continent and in the United States. Something has to give in Kias model lineup , though. That something is the uncared-for Venga.At the exclusive media preview for the Stonic, Kias European chief operation officer expressed that its difficult to justify the Venga as things stand now. Speaking to Autocar , the automakers Michael Cole declared:Thesegment is in constant decline. As it has shrunk and people have come out, it's actually created an opportunity for us and sales are going fine for us now. It [Venga] will run for a couple more years, we might limit production, but it'll get very difficult. People are getting what they want in a CUV or aninstead of an MPV ," Mr. Cole concluded.The ominous indication was there, and in hindsight, sales of the Venga never took off. More importantly, Kias bean counters undoubtedly took the cue from General Motors and Nissan. More explicitly, the advent of the Crossland X spelled the end of the Meriva subcompact MPV, whereas the Note will be indirectly replaced by the Micra subcompact hatchback.In 2016, the South Korean automaker sold merely 26,121 examples of the Venga in Europe, representing approximately 6 percent of Kias total sales on the Old Continent. The best year for the Euro-spec Venga , by comparison, was 2011 (41,250 units sold). And thus, the all-new Stonic will try its best to surpass the small MPV that couldnt cut the mustard.Scheduled to go on sale in the fall of 2017, the Stonic will also be available in the United States. Confirmed engine choices include 1.25- and 1.4-liter MPIs, joined by a 1.0 T-GDI and an oil-chugging 1.6-liter
It's not just the lack of appearances it has made in front of the spy photographers' cameras, but also the way the car presents itself. By this stage, they are usually in production spec, hence the heavy camouflage. And yet all the Audi A6 vehicles we've seen so far came with dummy taillights.Everything else about them, though, seems to check out with what we expect from what is possibly the most predictable manufacturer in the automotive industry in terms of exterior design. Indeed, Audi was the first to take the brand identity notion to a whole new level, making its range nothing more than a Matrioshka doll set.Having seen the new A4 and, more recently, the A5, drawing out the outside appearance of the new A6 would be a doozy. That's not to say its straight lines and angular shapes are not appealing, but they should be as surprising as the sun coming up next morning.The S6 model we have here doesn't go out of its way to change that, sporting a limited number of predictable changes. In fact, the only one that's easily spottable is the quad exhaust system adorning its backside, with a set of four large diameter tailpipes.It also has a different wheel design from the other A6 cars we've seen so far, but they don't necessarily seem to be larger. Neither do the brakes, which is somewhat surprising considering the S6 is expected to get the 2.9-liter V6 engine that currently provides motivation for the Porsche Panamera 4S. There, it gets 440 hp, and it should have the same output in the S6 as well, maintaining a safe distance from the 4.0-liter V8 the RS6 will get.On the inside, the S6 should receive slightly sportier seats than the standard model, but the real bucket seats will be reserved for the RS6. Of course, opting for the S-Line package will make any ordinary A6 look like an S, but it still won't be the real deal.Audi's Virtual Cockpit will feature in the dashboard as well as the redesigned layout we've seen in later models. Audi is trying to sell the image of a technological brand, so expect plenty of gizmos to play with, not the least of which being the driver's aid systems showcased recently in a Spider-Man commercial. It's not entirely clear whether Audi will launch the S6 together with the standard model, but either way, it should become available sometime next year, more likely during the first half.
SUV

And they are trying to catch up. Mercedes-Benz, Daimler's main passenger car brand, is one of the pack members leading the pursuit. The Stuttgart company is readying its first true electric vehicle, a battery-poweredbased on the Generation EQ Concept shown last year, and has plans for an entire range of models that will follow.Daimler's electric ambitions, however, are not restricted to passenger cars. In fact, with over 60,000 kilometers (about 37,000 miles) of testing already under its belt, you could say the eCanter light-duty electric truck is ahead of its non-commercial counterparts, which are yet to be spotted road-testing.But light-duty trucks are a completely different proposition than the heavy-duty long-distance hauling that Tesla has in plan for its Semi. In the U.S., Daimler only has the Cascadia in this segment, which also happens to be a sales leader - precisely the position Musk wants for its Semi when it eventually comes online.Talking to Business Insider , Marc Llistosella, Head of Daimler Trucks Asia, acknowledged that Daimler has everything to lose: "In class 8, with Freightliner, we are the number one in America, so we have something to defend," he said, but with no direct connection to Tesla's electric truck.He did touch on the subject, though, and it wasn't to encourage Elon Musk in his enterprise: "In trucks, of course [Elon Musk's] stepping into it, but we don't see him as someone who is threatening us because you need a whole infrastructure," he pointed out. "You need dealerships, you need infrastructure, you need maintenance."As somebody who has started a successful car company literally from scratch, it's hard to imagine Elon Musk isn't aware of all these things. Besides, even if trucking is indeed a different sector from that of the passenger cars, you can imagine Tesla has hired a lot of people who know everything there is to about the subject. In fact, the Semi development is led by Jerome Guillen, a former Daimler executive who even headed the Cascadia project.Even though the CEO has announced an unveiling event for the Tesla Semi this September, expect it to replicate the Model 3 recipe where the car was shown in March 2016, and actual deliveries are scheduled to start near the end of 2017. The Semi will likely take at least two years, which is enough time to put in place any kind of infrastructure needed. Don't be fooled by Daimler's cockiness: they are keeping a very watchful eye on the Tesla Semi.
The what? The Pick Up. Its not a replacement for the Euro-spec 504 Pickup that went out of production in 1993, but a model developed exclusively for the African continent. If it looks as if the Pick Up has nothing to do with the styling language of Peugeot, thats because the workhorse started life in China as the Dongfeng Rich. Beyond that, the model can trace its roots back to the D22-generation Nissan Navara.Lets make a quick recap, shall we? French pickup truck , built by the Chinese, based on Japanese underpinnings. In other words, modern one-tonners such as the ever-popular Ford Ranger dont have anything to be worried about. Standing 5.08 meters long and going on sale in September, the utilitarian melange is exclusively available in double cab body style.The bed is 1.40 meters long and 1.39 meters wide, as customary for a workhorse, anchoring hooks and protective resin are on the menu. Maximum payload? That would be 815 kilograms (1,796 pounds), which is better than the best the U.S.-spec Chevrolet Colorado has to offer (1,580 pounds / 717 kilograms). Be it rear-wheel-drive or 4x4, the Pick Ups only engine option is a Nissan-developed 2.5-liter four-cylinder turbo diesel.With 115 metric horsepower and 280 Nm (207 lb-ft) of torque to its name, the oil-chugging plant is connected exclusively to a five-speed manual transmission. Four-wheel-drive models boast a lever that reads 4H and 4L, with the reducer there to help the truck maneuver out of the most hellish off-road scenarios.As for creature comforts, the Pick Up is as simple as workhorses get in this day and age. Manual air conditioning, power windows, an entry-level radio with a CD player, as well as a USB port are the highlight standard features, regardless of the trim level.
kW

ESP

Measuring 4.48 meters (14.7 feet) in length and boasting 514 liters (18 cubic feet) of cargo capacity with the rear seats in place, the newcomer is equipped as standard with a 1.2-liter turbocharged engine. The powerplant, which was developed by Groupe PSA , packs 130 PS (96) and 230 Nm (169 pound-feet) of torque. The six-speed manual is joined by a second transmission option. More to the point, a six-speed automatic.At launch, customers can also opt for a 1.6-liter turbo diesel with 120 PS (88 kW) and 300 Nm (221 lb-ft). Pricing for this engine starts from 26,500. Other than the superior torque to the 1.2 Turbo, the 1.6 BlueHDi brags with better fuel economy: 4.3 liters/100 km on the combined cycle. Regardless of choice, both engines are augmented by a start/stop system What do you get for your money other than the car per se? Alloy wheels are standard, as are the 40:60 rear seats, hill start assist, Bluetooth connectivity, road sign recognition, and lane departure warning. A 360-degree camera system and forward collision warning are also on the menu, though there are some optional extras worth ticking off the list. The highlights you should definitely get are adaptive cruise control (800) and comfort-minded AGR drivers seat (390). The panoramic sunroof costs 700, whereas the Denon-branded premium sound system retails at 580.Unfortunately no, the Grandland X isnt available with all-wheel-drive. The EMP2 platform, however, can be augmented by Grip Control, an optional system that adapts the torque distribution to the front wheels. In total, there are five driving modes available: Standard,Off, Snow, Sand, and Mud.Slated to make its first public outing at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show in September, the Grandland X will arrive at European dealerships shortly thereafter. Be that as it may, customers can already pre-order the compact crossover. Opel says that sales are scheduled to start in a few weeks time.
EV

Toned down it might have, but that doesn't mean it's not still the juiciest out there, and that's particularly true for EVs, as the Chinese government is trying to curb the awful levels of air pollution by encouraging people to buy battery-powered cars. Tesla has had a pretty strong presence on the market already, but its sales have been hampered by the fact that any foreign carmaker that wants to trade its products on the Chinese market is hit by a 25 percent import tax. That means a Tesla is considerably more expensive in China than it is in the U.S.There is a way around this tax, and other manufacturers have been using it for years. If the company can secure a deal with a local enterprise and build (or at least assembly) the vehicles locally, then they would be exempt from the extra charge.With the Model 3 in the pipeline, such a deal is becoming even more relevant for Tesla , since the upcominghopes to persuade the less wealthy as well, the people who wouldn't pay the 25 percent premium without blinking.It seems a deal is about to go through, even though nothing official has been communicated yet from either side. Sources who asked to remain anonymous told Bloomberg that Tesla Inc. is about to sign an agreement with the city of Shanghai that will allow the American EV maker to set up production facilities in the Lingang development zone.Tesla would still have to form a joint venture with a local company, but no names have been put forward at this point. The sources claim the announcement could come by the end of the week, but nothing is set in stone yet.With almost three times as many EVs sold in China compared to the U.S. in 2016, it's clear that this move would be immensely beneficial for Tesla. It's true that a similar comparison based on the value of the vehicles would look completely different, but considering the much lower entry price of the Model 3 and with the 25 percent tax gone, China would definitely prove to be a lucrative market for Tesla in the future.
Try out these five easy asanas to deal with everything that ails your body, whether it's PMS or weight loss.

By Ira Trivedi: Yoga for every womanYoga can be amazing for women's health--everything from PMS and menstrual cramps to simple exercises to shape up. Yoga can help women enjoy fantastic health and the perfect body, while helping with hormonal stability and uplift of mood. Here are five asanas women must do everyday to keep common problems away.

Yoga for PMS/Menstrual crampsA monthly ordeal for many, PMS can cause a whole range of symptoms ranging from irritability, over-the-top emotions and a lot of pain. Just a few minutes of yoga can really help with these pesky symptoms. I have many students who have gotten off all pills and painkillers by doing just these asanas.

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1. Seated wide leg straddle- Sit tall and spread your legs out to the side. You should feel a little tension, but not too much.- Walk your hands between your legs, keeping your torso long.- Stay in this position and breathe, feeling the stretch in your body.- Make sure to breathe.

2. Janu shirshasana- Sit with the legs outstretched and the feet together.- Bend the left leg, place the heel of the foot against the perineum and the sole of the foot against the inside of the right thigh. Keep the left knee on the floor.- Place your hands on the top of the right knee, keeping the spine straight and the back muscles relaxed.- Now, slowly bend forward, sliding the hands down the right leg, and grasp the right foot.- Try to touch the knee with your forehead. This is the final position.- Keep the back relaxed and make sure you don't strain.- Change sides and repeat with the right leg bent and the left leg straight.

Also read: 3 women on how yoga, social media and chocolate can maintain your overall well-being

3. Cat/Cow stretch- Come onto your fours. Form a tablelike shape, so that your back forms the table top and hands and feet the legs.- Keep your arms perpendicular to the floor, and hands under the shoulders and flat on the ground, while keeping your knees as wide as your hips.- Look straight ahead.- As you inhale, raise your chin and tilt your head back. Push your navel downward and raise your tailbone.- Hold the cat pose and take long, deep breaths.- Follow this by a countermovement, the cow pose. As you exhale, drop your chin to your chest and arch your back up; relax the buttocks.- Hold this pose for a few seconds before returning to the table-top position.

4. Dhanurasana- Lie back on your stomach, raise your legs and grab your ankles with your hands so that your body is in the shape of a bow.- Stay in this position and breathe.*If there is only asana that every woman to do, it is this one--it is great for your reproductive organs, it stimulates the ovaries, stabilises hormones and tones the abs.

Yoga for pregnant women Studies show that daily yoga and mediation can improve birth weight, reduce premature birth and overall medical complications for newborns. It also helps get rid of common ailments related to pregnancy.

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5. Vipariti karniThis asana gives all the benefits of inverted asanas like sheesh asana and sarvang asana. It reverses the downward and outward movements of energy, revitalising and expanding the awareness. It also increases the metabolic rate.- Lying on your back, bring your legs up in the air balancing on your hips.- Gaze at your toes and breathe.- Your back should be on the ground.

Tune in to 'Yoga Ira' with Ira Trivedi on INDIA TODAY TV at 7.30 am and 10.30 am on Saturday and at 7.30 am and 6.30 pm on Sunday. Twitter handle: @iratrivedi

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EV

While those numbers are undoubtedly impressive - especially for the rest of the manufacturers who still struggle to go past the 200-mile barrier - Tesla isn't focusing only on range. In fact, one might say that it's the way the cars accelerate that have brought the company its fame, even though we believe it's a mix of the two combined with the ability to recharge the batteries quickly via the Supercharger network.The 335 miles the Model S 100D can travel between charges sure sound like a lot, but that's not the best Tesla can offer. Not if you're willing to crawl at painfully slow speeds avoiding braking like it was the plague and trying to maintain a steady pace as best as possible.Two guys called Steven Peeters and Joeri Cools were up to the task, and what they've achieved is nothing short of spectacular. Using a Model S P100D - the performance version, which isn't the best choice for the feat - they drove around a closed loop in Belgium until the battery ran out.The two discovered that the sweet spot for best efficiency in a Tesla is at 24 mph (40 km/h), which is a good information to have if you're ever running low on juice and need to make sure you make it to the closest charger.As Peeters explains in a blog post , driving in a loop has its advantages. Most people choose a straight road and pray for tail wind, but Peeters and Cools figured that, by going in a loop (16 miles/26 km long), they would eventually learn everything there is to the route, and improve their approach to each turn or roundabout.The whole trip lasted just 15 minutes shy of a full 24 hours, and the two claim they have achieved consumption figures as low as 88Wh/km over a distance of 10 km (140.8Wh/mile over 6.25 miles). In total, they traveled 901.2 km (563.25 miles), which is a new record.However, it's not one that can't be beaten. Using a Model S 100D and leaving just one man inside the car might help thebreach the 600-mile barrier, especially if the wind agrees.
Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob.  Oscar Wilde

I cant think of a better lead in for the latest round of polling that indicatessurprisethe general public opposes the idea of privatizing air traffic control. The latest run at plumbing public sentiment on this topic was done by the polling firm Hart Research Associates and the most predictable thing about the results is the round of press releases from the alphabets citing the findings.

But the data isnt so categorical that it cant be spun. While NBAAs headline said, CNBC Poll Reaffirms Americans Opposition to Privatizing ATC, The Morning Consult s own survey found a plurality of voters favored privatization. While Consult bills itself as a non-partisan digital polling firm, we politicize everything from the color of our socks to the vegetables in school lunches. So, sure enough, the cross tabs show that Republicans favor privatization, Democrats oppose it.

But what do these poll respondents even know about this topic to have an informed opinion? Squat. Zero. Nada. Zip. Im in the industry and consider myself fairly well informed and I can just muster an opinion based on probable fact. I say probable because by the time the airline lobbyists get done distorting whatever bill comes out of Congress, who knows what the terms of engagement will be? Further, the topic itself is a natural for ill-informed innuendo such as President Trumps claim that the current ATC system is horrible. If we thought about it for a nanosecond longer, maybe we could explain that the FAA is hobbled by funding issues that keep it from meeting its infrastructure goals and might there be a better way? I know. That would require a level of cognition that seems to have gone out of fashion with the rise of the internet.

So. That leaves pollsters to massage the prose in a way that distracted survey takers can parse and answer. Cant make it too complicated. And the question shouldnt have innate bias. Heres how Hart did it:

ThereisaproposaltoshiftcontroloftheU.S.airtrafficcontrolsystem from theFederalAviationAdministration, or FAA,to a private,non-profit entity that would be governedby representatives of the major U.S. airlines and others. The FAA would have some oversight of this new entity, but would no longer manage the air traffic control system. Which of the following statements about this possible shift in control do you agree with more?

Then it followed with the usual strongly favor, somewhat favor and so forth. To summarize, 53 percent responded that it was a bad idea, 33 percent said it was good. The rest said neither or not sure.

Morning Consult framed it this way: As you may know, the U.S. air traffic control system is currently run by the federal government, through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Knowing this, do you support or oppose a plan that would establish an independent, not-for-profit corporation to run U.S. air traffic control, instead of the FAA?

I dont know about you, but I consider that prose intentionally anodyne. For a broadly uninformed readerand on this subject, thats probably mostit leaves out the potential bitter pill of the airlines running the thing. Even before United started beating its passengers, airlines werent especially warmly thought of. So no surprise the survey nets different results. Consults survey found 42 percent supported privatization, 32 percent opposed it and 27 percent had no opinion. Im not suggesting Consult was fishing for a result, by the way, but merely dumbed down the question to make it more readable.

Previous polls on this topic have found opinions more in line with the Hart survey. Just over 50 percent to as high as 60 percent of respondents oppose privatization if they have some inkling that fees will be involved. But this goes to how poorly qualified people are to have an opinion on this topic. No one really knows if the airlines would pay more or less under a privatization program and how passengers would share these costs through fees of some kind. When fees are mentioned, opinions change.

One reason for this is something ingrained in the American character: We like services government provides, especially infrastructure, but we dont like paying for these. One related question in the Hart survey revealed that this sentiment lives on.

Manygovernmentsarepartneringwithprivatecompaniestopayfor,build,andexpandhighways,airports, and other infrastructure projects. Do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose these public-private partnerships?

Interestingly, this question, which neatly left out the part about fees, netted the identical percentages found the ATC privatization question, but flipped: 53 percent favored privatization, 33 percent opposed it. Im quite certain its because people think these public private partnerships will magically provide them new roads and bridges, with no tax increases and no tolls. But all of the PPP projects envision tolls or fees of some kind, just as ATC privatization does. We just call them user fees. How else would you attract the private in PPP without the profit motive?

In the U.S., voters tend to think theyre taxed to death and theyor so politicians seem to thinkwont tolerate tax increases of any kind. According to the Tax Policy Center, the U.S. ranks near the bottom for total tax load as a percentage of GDP among OECD countries. In the aggregate, the U.S. is 33rdamong 37 countries, according to World Bank data. Other data places it a little higher, but usually in the lowest quintile for taxes as a percentage of GDP. Taxes from individuals are about at the OECD average. I have to wonder if voters who complain about taxes are perfectly OK with the tollsuser feestheyll see under PPPs. Do they draw a distinction? Do pilots? Its often said that tolls are taxes you arent forced to pay and thats true. Unless you want to get to the other side of the river.

Having written about this several times, I now realize my opposition to privatization relates less to paying the money in fees than it does to potential denial of access to airspace and airports by an entity controlled by airline interests. While fees of any kind will likely worsen the downward spiral, lack of access would really tank activity.

Im trying to approach privatization with an open mind, but I just cant see the potential benefits. And neither, apparently, does an ill-informed public.
Results from the runoff for the House seat vacated by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, where Karen Handel (R) has defeated Jon Ossoff (D):

Key takeaways:

This was the most expensive House race in history, and it was a true toss-up coming into election day. The district typically votes Republican, but Democrats were desperate to gain their first high-profile victory of the Trump era.

The Trump factor: This race was billed as a referendum on Trump, and the president intervened with tweets blasting Ossoff for living outside the district, but Handel tried to steer clear of Trump for the most part.

This race was billed as a referendum on Trump, and the president intervened with tweets blasting Ossoff for living outside the district, but Handel tried to steer clear of Trump for the most part. Our thought bubble: Yes, this is a Republican district, but this is still a big loss for the Dems. They pulled out all the stops here, and had historic fundraising and a historically unpopular president going for them, and still fell short.

Reactions:Trump Tweets: "Thank you @FoxNews 'Huge win for President Trump and GOP in Georgia Congressional Special Election.'" Later  "Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!"Kellyanne Conway piles on: "Laughing my #Ossoff," later  @karenhandel thanks for standing strong, for running on issues, for being a grownup and for living in the district. Welcome to Congress."Ossoff concedes: "The fight goes on. Hope is still alive."Handel speaks: She offered a "special thanks to the President of the United States of America" and said the shooting in Virginia last week showed political discourse in the U.S. needs to change.Paul Ryan congratulates: "Democrats from coast to coast threw everything they had at this race but Karen would not be defeated."Elsewhere:Republican Ralph Norman beat Democrat Archie Parnell in the race for Budget Director Mick Mulvaney's South Carolina House seat  but by a much closer than expected 3.2%.
Russia's deputy foreign minister has canceled a planned meeting this Friday with the U.S. undersecretary of state, saying "the situation is not conducive to holding a round of this dialogue." This comes a day after the U.S. Treasury levied sanctions against 38 individuals involved in Russian incursions in Ukraine, including two Russian officials, and Trump welcomed the Ukrainian president to the White House.
The White House's "Tech Week" is hitting the road, and President Trump plans to tell Iowans Wednesday that he's committed to "including internet connectivity" in any infrastructure package the administration builds with Congress, aide Ray Starling told reporters.

That pledge will come as part of an event at Cedar Rapids' Kirkwood Community College that will highlight agricultural technology.

Let's talk details: It's expensive to build networks in rural areas, because providers struggle to recoup their investment from a small customer base, so it could be difficult to find money for rural broadband. Starling said the administration recognizes that "we'll have to invest monetarily" but also hopes to look to the private sector and money already deployed by the government. "At this point I think the conversation is relatively high-level and the president is committed to working with whatever Congress sees as the best solution there," Starling said when asked for specifics.
21 June 2017 18:18 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

It is no secret that corruption remains one of the main problems of Armenia and key obstacle for its development. Instead, however, the Armenian government does not seem very bothered by it.

The authorities have so far failed to find an effective way to fight the problem, but come up with unnecessary actions that only angered the society.

Most recently, the Armenian Parliament approved a bill on the establishment of the Corruption Prevention Commission. Thus, in addition to the Anti-Corruption Council, Armenia is going to create the second body, now not for fight against corruption but for its prevention. So far, the Anti-Corruption Council failed to fight the problem, which is destroying the country and its economy. Therefore, people do not expect the newly-established commission to make any major changes.

The officials also admit it. Former Armenian Minister of Justice Hrayr Tovmasyan, who is currently an MP from the Republican Party, told Armenian reporters that no drastic changes should be expected from the Commission.

He noted that this commission will not be able to do anything significant: The only thing it may succeed in is showing that something is wrong.

Today everyone in Armenia is aware that something is wrong, and there is no need to spend money and form a special body for that. Thus, the clarification by Tovmasian caused despair among Armenian population.

Moreover, the MP excluded that the corrupt high-ranking officials would end up in prison as a result of the Commissions work. Not at all, this Commission and the law are not about it. It does not mean that these people should be imprisoned due to this law, Tovmasyan said.

That is, if Armenian officials get caught on a bribe, it does not mean that they should be punished  it just means that something is wrong in the system.

The fact of destructive corruption in Armenia was repeatedly pointed out by many foreign representatives in the country. U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills has repeatedly demanded from the Armenian authorities to stop this outrage. The diplomat noted that if Armenia does not manage to solve the problem of corruption, it will affect the relations between the two countries in specific areas  for example, in investments.

The 2015 report of the Transparency International Anti-corruption Center showed that Armenia is one of the most corrupt countries of the world.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
21 June 2017 16:17 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijans Defense Ministry released a footage showing the earlier captured member of an Armenian sabotage group.

A reconnaissance and sabotage group of the Armenian Armed Forces tried to cross the line of defense of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on the contact line between the two countries troops June 20 evening.

Thanks to the timely measures taken by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, the reconnaissance and sabotage group of the Armenian Armed Forces suffered losses and had to retreat. One member of the reconnaissance and sabotage group of the Armenian Armed Forces was captured by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
21 June 2017 17:12 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have visited Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, two Azerbaijanis, who are kept hostages by Armenian forces in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Spokeswoman for the ICRC Baku office Ilaha Huseynova told APA on June 21 that the hostages were provided with an opportunity to exchange news with their families. The visit was conducted in line with the standard ICRC procedures.

Huseynova noted that the ICRC, in accordance with its mandate, visits the hostages to check their detention conditions and treatment, as well as to help the hostages communicate with their families.

Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev were detained by the Armenian armed forces in July 2014 while visiting their native places and graves of loved ones in the occupied Azerbaijani Kalbajar region. Moreover, Armenian forces killed the third captivated Azerbaijani, Hasan Hasanov.

Later, Guliyev and Asgarov were judged illegally by the unrecognized courts of a separatist regime in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Following an expedited judicial process in December 2015, Asgarov was sentenced to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years. Attempts of Azerbaijan to provide justice and to free the hostages are still unsuccessful.

Azerbaijans State Committee on Affairs of Refugees and IDPs, the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons and other agencies have repeatedly urged international organizations, including the ICRC, to assist in release of Guliyev and Asgarov, whilst the problem remains topical yet.

Moreover, Armenian armed forces took hostage an Azerbaijani citizen Elnur Huseynzade under unknown circumstances in the direction of Talysh village in February this year.

Azerbaijan, whose over 4,000 citizens were taken captive, hostage, or went missing as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, has repeatedly declared its readiness to begin negotiations with Armenia to free the captives and resolve the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

However, the Armenian side keeps ignoring all attempts of Azerbaijan and international organizations, thereby disrespecting the international law and hindering the settlement of the conflict.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
21 June 2017 16:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Jakaya Kikwete and Toyin Saraki

The past few decades have brought incredible progress for women and childrens health. Since 1990, preventable child deaths have declined by 50%, and maternal mortality has fallen by 45%. But far too many mothers and newborns are still dying from preventable causes. With access to qualified midwives, many of their lives could be saved.

Each year, one million children, on average, still die during their first day of life; more than million babies are stillborn; and more than 300,000 mothers die during pregnancy and childbirth  a death toll exceeding the entire population of Namibia. A majority of these deaths  56%, to be precise  are preventable.

If all women had access to a midwife during pregnancy and labor, not to mention facilities equipped to provide basic emergency care, one million lives would be saved every year. And yet midwifery is still chronically neglected and underfunded by governments and communities around the world.

As birth attendants, midwives are ideally positioned to save the lives of mothers and children during childbirth. A midwife with the right skills and training can provide 87% of the essential health care needed during pregnancy and following birth. And the care they provide is high quality and comprehensive across health contexts. Whether you are an American billionaire or a smallholder farmer in Tanzania, a skilled midwife can provide you with expert support that is unlike that of any other health professional.

Midwives services extend far beyond pregnancy and birth to include essential education, health monitoring, and primary care for babies, adolescents, and mothers throughout the life cycle. Midwives are also a front line of defense against disease. They provide information about reproductive health, which can help stop the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and about hygiene and healthy lifestyles; and they are often the ones who administer and monitor the vaccination and immunization of expectant mothers, newborns, and infants.

Moreover, midwives integrated, frontline approach helps them bridge the gap between isolated rural health centers and the communities they serve. Owing to their unique training and deployment, midwives are often the pillars upon which universal health-care coverage rests.

Given that midwives are such a practical and affordable solution to many maternal- and community-health problems, it is baffling that world leaders who claim to stand for women and childrens safety do not give midwifery more political support. And this is not just a problem in low- and middle-income countries. High-income countries such as Canada have also struggled to recruit and fund enough midwives to meet demand.

This has to change. Worldwide, 350,000 more midwives are needed to bridge the gap between the health-care haves and have-nots. And, from a fiscal standpoint, midwifery is an extremely cost-effective way to achieve that goal. Policies and funding to support midwife education, training, and regulation can produce up to a sixteenfold return on investment, because when midwives are involved in pregnancy and childbirth, mothers are less likely to require expensive emergency interventions such as caesarean sections.

The fact that governments and civil-society organizations have given midwives such short shrift is as surprising as it is disappointing. All governments that value their citizens, and all citizens who value their families, should favor policies to expand this area of health care. With the proper resources, midwives will save lives before, during, and after a woman gives birth, and health-care outcomes will be improved across the board.

To bring more attention to midwives unique role, the International Confederation of Midwives is gathering this week in Toronto, Canada, for its 31st Triennial Congress. For nearly 100 years, the ICM has advocated for women by supporting the midwives who protect them.

We cannot rest until we have addressed the millions of lives that are still lost each year in pregnancy, childbirth, and early life. That is why we are asking governments and donors around the world to give midwifery the attention that it deserves as a commonsense solution to a global health problem.

World leaders need to stand up for those who support women and children when they are most vulnerable. It is time to give them the resources they need to continue performing their essential work. After all, midwives do not just deliver babies; they deliver lives.

Copyright: Project Syndicate: Midwives Deliver Lives

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21 June 2017 13:44 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

The State Committee on Property Issues of Azerbaijan held the auction of privatization on June 21, as a result of which 32 state objects were privatized.

The Committee reported that one of them is a joint-stock company, 19 are small state enterprises, 7-non-residential areas and 5-vehicles.

One joint-stock company, 8- small state enterprises, 6- non-residential areas and 5-vehicles were privatized in Baku.

Three of 8 small state enterprises privatized at the auction are located in Sabunchu, 3-in Surakhani, the rest-in Nasimi and Pirallakhi districts.

Four of 6 non-residential areas are in Narimanov district, the rest in Sabunchu and Nasimi districts.

The auctions were also held in the regions. Three of 11 privatized state enterprises are located in Shamkir, 2-in Sabirabad and the rest in Sumgayit, Sheki, Dashkasan, Salyan, Zagatala and Aghsu.

In total, over 1 million manats (app. $587,000) were transferred to the state budget.

In order to protect state property and effectively manage it in the new economic realities, President of Azerbaijan signed a decree on May 19, 2016.

Under the decree, the acceleration of the state property privatization process has been defined as an important direction of the economic policy.

The portal for privatization  privatization.az, launched in July 2016, reflects all necessary information about the facilities, their addresses, location, and even initial cost and aims at facilitation of the process. The website is available in two languages - Azerbaijani and English. Why Azerbaijan is special section available on the website explains the reasons and advantages of investing in the country.

The privatization process is designed to attract both foreign and local investors, as well as develop the business environment of Azerbaijan.

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By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jun 21 (PTI) They idly stretched, bended to their left, then right, looked up and down before twirling a little -- all in near-perfect harmony.

At the International Yoga Day celebrations in Delhis Connaught Place, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor Anil Baijal today struck yogic postures in near- perfect coordination.

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Kejriwal and Baijals syncronised yogic postures were in stark contrast to their working equation, which is marked by a running battle over issues of jurisdiction, one that has reached the doorstep of the judiciary.

It was perhaps fitting that Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who was captured performing asanas in the same frame, told reporters at the venue that yoga should not be considered "political".

"Yoga is not political and it is not religious. It is a traditional Indian art and has been practised in the country from times immemorial," he said.

Kejriwal had participated in the first Yoga Day celebrations at Rajpath along with his deputy Manish Sisodia. Then LG Najeeb Jung was also present but in a different enclosure and the two had not exchanged pleasantries. PTI SBR SMN

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21 June 2017 12:38 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

The management of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) expects positive results from the voluntary restructuring plan of the IBAs foreign obligations, Chairman of the banks Board Khalid Akhadov told reporters in Baku on June 21.

The IBA has recently commenced a process of voluntary restructuring within the framework of its financial improvement.

The restructuring plan contemplates a restructuring process to be effected through an exchange of IBAs senior and junior foreign currency obligations for direct sovereign obligations of Azerbaijan.

Before the transfer of debts to the government is completed, the implementation of foreign creditors' foreign currency liabilities (with the exception of payment of interest on transactions for trade financing) is suspended.

The total amount of these commitments is $ 3.3 billion. Among the major foreign creditors of the IBA are the American company Cargill, Citibank, Rubrika Finance Company Limited, Credit Suisse AG.

The IBA appealed to New York and London Courts. Both courts made a positive decision regarding the IBA to prevent lawsuits from foreign creditors regarding the bank's assets.

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21 June 2017 13:05 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan and Latvia signed a protocol following the 7th meeting of the Latvia-Azerbaijan Intergovernmental Commission for Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation on June 20.

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 meeting of the commission held in Baku on June 20 discussed promotion of bilateral cooperation in various areas, including in trade, transport and logistics. The two sides also talked of possibilities to expand trade turnover.

The next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission will be held in 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.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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21 June 2017 17:27 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

A unique exhibition has opened in Tbilisi, bringing together artists of two neighboring nations  Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The exhibition displays the works of famous sculptors Omar Eldarov and Meraba Merabishvili at the Georgian National Museum, Trend Life reported.

The event is co-organized by the Association "Cultural dialogue XXI" and Georgian Cultural Fund and Museum, as well as Azerbaijans National Art Museum.

The project aims to show the close ties between culture and art of two Transcaucasian States.

In their speech, General Director of the National Museum of Georgia David Lortkipanidze and Director of Azerbaijans National Art Museum Chingiz Farzaliyev noted that such an activity does not just strengthen cooperation between the museums, but also carries a special message of a universal language of intercultural dialogue.

Creative people always remain outside the system limits. The only measure for them is the beauty and an artistic idea. Omar Eldarov and Merab Merabishvili, the authors of many works that received worldwide recognition, are the clearest examples of that.

Thought their art, both sculptors have won the right to be named masters and patriots. They always promoted a national art of their countries.

The exhibition will last until June 29, after which the exposition will be presented in Azerbaijan.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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21 June 2017 11:31 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The recent visit of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the South Caucasus and their appeal to the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict do not differ from the previous ones, said Samad Seyidov, the chairman of Azerbaijani Parliaments Committee for International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations.

Seyidov, talking to Trend, 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, and 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. The aggressor country is far from resolving this issue peacefully and within the framework of the law, he said.

Seyidov noted that 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, he added.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs paid a visit to the region on June 10-19. Upon completion, they issued a statement on the results of the visit, where called on the conflicting sides to re-engage in substantive negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Although the OSCE Minsk Group deals with the issue for over two decades, its activities have brought no breakthrough results so far.

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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21 June 2017 17:55 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Russia is quite active as a mediator in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and Kremlin has no contradictions with other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Sergey Markov, Russian presidents confidant, told reporters in Baku on June 21.

Markov added that the essence of the Minsk Group mediators' work is to help Azerbaijan and Armenia to start substantive negotiations for the sake of result, rather than for the negotiations.

In my opinion, these negotiations are based on the Kazan formula, which envisages the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," the expert said.

He also noted that if the negotiations are not resumed at the end of the tourist season, it is possible to expect an aggravation of the situation on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

The OSCE Minsk Group tries to clarify the positions of Armenia and Azerbaijan today, bring both countries to the negotiating table and finally, bring the sides to reach a big peace treaty, the expert said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, the U.S. and France, is working to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. While the OSCE Minsk Group acts as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, it failed to make any move to achieve a breakthrough in the peace process so far.

He noted that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is important in the bilateral agenda of Azerbaijan and Russia.

Sergey Markov also said that Baku and Moscow continue to strengthen relations in various spheres beginning from military sphere and ending with tourism and agriculture.

"We are pleased with the development of tourism in Azerbaijan, he said. Tourists not only from Russia but also from Arab countries visit Azerbaijan to appreciate the brilliant tourist infrastructure created in the country."

Regarding the situation around the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress, Markov said that both sides of the dispute show restraint, however, the solution to this issue is the consensus of Baku and Moscow.

Taking into account high confidence between the Azerbaijani and Russian authorities, it can play a positive role in this process, he said. At the same time, the Russian side must show respect to the Azerbaijani side.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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21 June 2017 16:41 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Baku has removed another foreigner from its list of undesirable persons following an official appeal, said the Foreign Ministry.

A Japanese citizen, independent blogger Natsumi Daizen addressed an official letter to the Azerbaijani embassy in Japan, in which she asked to remove her name from the Foreign Ministrys list of people declared personae non gratae.

In her letter, the blogger reaffirmed her full respect to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders.

Natsumi Daizen also stated that she visited the occupied Azerbaijani territories as she was uninformed about the illegality of such a visit.

She apologized to the people of Azerbaijan and noted that her visit in no way served for the promotion of the illegal regime created in the occupied Azerbaijani lands.

The bloggers appeal was considered and it was decided to exclude her from the Foreign Ministrys Black list.

Visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other Armenian-occupied regions of Azerbaijan, uncoordinated with the Azerbaijani side, are deemed illegal and the names of the visitors are included in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys list of people declared personae non gratae.

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.

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21 June 2017 17:35 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The state of health of the arrested blogger, Alexander Lapshin, is under constant control, Faig Gurbanov, head of the Human Rights and Public Relations Department of Azerbaijans Justice Ministry, told reporters on June 21.

He said that the health and detention conditions of each detainee in detention centers are in the focus of attention of the Ministrys Central Medical Authority.

Health of Alexander Lapshin, as well as other prisoners is under control. If anyone has health problems, a team of doctors is invited and they take steps to resolve the problem, Gurbanov said.

Blogger Lapshin illegally visited Azerbaijans Armenia-occupied lands and now is charged under the articles 281.2 (appeals directed against state) and 318.2 (illegal border crossing) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. He violated Azerbaijani laws on state border in April 2011 and October 2012.

Helped by his accomplices in the occupied territories, Lapshin paid a number of visits to Azerbaijan`s occupied lands, where he voiced support for "independence" of the illegal regime, and made public calls against Azerbaijan`s internationally recognized territorial integrity on April 6 and June 29, 2016.

The blogger was arrested in Minsk in late 2016 and transferred to Baku in February 2017.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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21 June 2017 10:16 (UTC+04:00)

A new print edition of the AZERNEWS online newspaper was released on June 21.

The new edition includes articles about Laos FMs first-ever official visit opens new page in ties, Turkey creates free zone with Nakhchivan, Nation sees rise in non-oil economy, Country keen for larger cooperation with Baltic republic etc.



AZERNEWS is an associate member of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).



The online newspaper is available at www.azernews.az.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the opening of a new administrative building of the Narimanov District Court on June 21, Azertac reported.

The head of state first viewed the stands reflecting the old building of the Narimanov District Court, as well as the projects of modern court buildings and complexes, which were co-financed by the Government of Azerbaijan together with the World Bank and developed within the framework of the project "Progressive Justice and Modern Judicial Infrastructure" implemented by the Ministry of Justice.

President Aliyev cut the ribbon symbolizing the opening of the building.

Minister of Justice Fikrat Mammadov informed the head of state about the conditions created in the building.

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21 June 2017 15:06 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

There is no place for religious fanaticism and radicalism in Azerbaijan, said Mubariz Gurbanli, the Chairman of the State Committee on Religious Associations.

Gurbanli noted that the State Committee, from the first day of its creation, has expanded its activity in this direction, corresponding work has been carried out jointly with various structures, and this activity continues.

The chairman noted that relations between the state and religion in Azerbaijan are successfully developing today on the basis of the concept defined by great leader Heydar Aliyev.

He noted that favorable conditions were created in Azerbaijan for representatives of different religions to conduct their religious rites.

Last year, 105 religious communities passed state registration in Azerbaijan, according to the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations. Of these, 101 are Islamic and four are non-Islamic.

The total number of registered religious structures reached 749, of which 721 were Islamic and 28 were non-Islamic.

About 2,200 mosques, seven synagogues, 14 churches both Catholics and Orthodox are operating in the country. Today more than 3,000 NGOs, hundreds of media outlets, 55 political parties, and communities belonging to different religions operate freely in Azerbaijan.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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By Press Trust of India: (Eds: Updating with inputs from London)

United Nations/Lima, Jun 21 (PTI) From Perus historic citadel of Machu Picchu to the UNs sprawling lawns in New York, yoga mats were spread at iconic landmarks across the world as yoga practitioners today performed asanas to mark the third International Yoga Day.

Top UN diplomats, officials, envoys, yoga practitioners and people from all walks of life attended a grand event organised by Indias Permanent Mission to the UN to mark the day at the world bodys headquarters in New York.

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Hundreds of specially designed yoga mats were spread across the UNs sprawling north lawns, facing the imposing UN General Assembly hall and the UN Secretariat building, as people from all walks of life descended on the UN headquarters to participate in the Yoga Session with Yoga Masters.

Chants, hymns, prayers and the sound of "Om" reverberated across the UN as leading yoga practitioners led the gathering through sessions of yoga and meditation to celebrate the traditional wellness regime that originated in India.

The UN also issued special stamps commemorating the Yoga Day.

The UN postal agency, UN Postal Administration (UNPA) issues the new special event sheet to commemorate the day that has been marked annually since 2015.

Delivering the secretary generals message on the Yoga Day, a top UN official has said that yoga can make an important contribution in achieving a healthy life and promoting well being for all at a time when the world is striving to achieve sustainable development goals.

At the iconic and historic citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru, one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World, Yoga practitioners stretched themselves in various asanas to mark the day.

Both Machu Picchu and yoga are recognised by the UNESCO as common heritage of the world.

The IDY celebrations started with a welcome address by Jose Fernando Astete Director of the Machu Picchu Archaeological site.

Sandeep Chakravorty, Ambassador of India to Peru said that both Machu Picchu and yoga are invaluable world heritage and legacy for humankind.

This being the peak tourist season for visit to Machu Picchu, the international visitors touring the historic citadel also joined the celebrations enthusiastically.

In China, a record number of people participated in yoga events held in several cities across the country. A large number of Chinese practitioners besides Indian diaspora took part in the celebrations at the old premises of the Indian Embassy in Beijing

Twenty Yoga ambassadors from the Morarji Desai Institute in India demonstrated a power-packed yogic asanas. Members from 12 Chinese yoga groups also took part in the event.

"Our assessment is that the yoga events held in China this year is the largest," ChargA daffaires of the Indian Embassy, Amit Narang told PTI.

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"Participation in the events in various cities exceeded all expectations and the numbers are unprecedented," he said.

Chinas prominent yoga school Yogi Yoga set up by Indian yoga expert Manmohan Singh Bandari and his Chinese wife Yin Yan held special yogic asanas with their students at Ritan Park in Beijing.

Yesterday, the Indian Embassy, Yogi Yoga academy along with Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), which is affiliated to Chinese Foreign Ministry, held a special yoga session at the iconic Great Wall of China.

The event was a cultural milestone, marking the first time yoga has been performed atop the Great Wall by a joint Indian and Chinese group of yogis.

In Shanghai, about 1,000 Yoga enthusiasts took part in an event held at the Dongping National Forest Park at the Chongming Islands, which was jointly organised by Consulate General of India, Shanghai along with Chongming County Government. Shanghai became the seventh city to host the 3rd IDY, which is being celebrated across twelve cities in Eastern China from June 17?25.

Besides Shanghai, yoga events were held in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, with theme of Ten cities, ten days, bringing together 15,000 yoga lovers closer to India ? promoting healthy and harmonious lifestyles.

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The other cities in the region which held yoga sessions included Lishui, Wuyi, Huzhou, Zhenjiang, Hangzhou ? Tonglu, Wenzhou, Jiaxing, Suqian, Xuzhou, Taizhou and Wuxi.

London celebrated the Yoga Day in grand style as hundreds of practitioners descended upon Trafalgar Square to mark the Day as part of a week-long series of events organised by the Indian High Commission and India Tourism Office in the British capital.

"I want to thank India for giving us this wonderful gift of yoga," said Justine Simons, the deputy mayor of culture for London, representing the Mayor of London ? one of the collaborators of the Trafalgar Square event.

A video message by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to welcome Londoners to the third annual UN-designated International Day of Yoga (IDY) opened the proceedings against the backdrop of the famous Nelsons Column in the square and was telecast live by major ethnic channels in the UK.

Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, thanked the Greater London Authority and the office of the Mayor of London for their support in organising the historic event.

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"The word ?yoga? means to join or to unite, symbolising the union of body and consciousness. At a time when the world is faced with the grave challenge of terrorism, yoga shows the way to lasting peace and harmony. Yoga is not just a form of exercise but a way to attain peace through physical, mental and spiritual well-being,? he said.

Earlier this week, the High Commission and India Tourism had held IDY-related celebrations with a takeover of the London Eye, teaming up with UK-based yoga organisations to unite in a so-called ?Wheel of Yoga?.

In addition, Londons Alexandra Place saw a day-long Yoga Day celebration on June 18.

In the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka hundreds of people participated in the IDY event at Bangabandhu National Stadium.

Parliamentary speaker Shirin Sharmin Choudhury opened the celebrations. Indian and Bangladeshi yoga gurus demonstrated asanas at the stadium.

Sports associations, yoga associations, yoga institutes, students from various schools, colleges and universities in Bangladesh participated in the early morning event.

The programme began with the screening of a video message of Prime Minister Modi.

A new yoga app on Common Yoga Protocol was released along with a special edition of Bharat Bichitra, a regular High Commission publication, on Yoga.

Yoga sessions were also organised in northwestern Rajshahi and southeastern port city of Chittagong.

Various Bangladeshi yoga organisations and institutes also organised separate programmes.

Nepal also joined the world to mark the day as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba underlined the need for imparting the ancient knowledge of yoga to students at school-level.

During a function in Kathmandu, Deuba said, "Yoga must be taught at school-level keeping in mind its mental and physical benefits, and the balance it creates between heart and mind."

Deuba released Dainandin Yogabhyas, a book written by Acharya Bal Krishna and Yoga Sandesh published by the Indian Embassy.

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri was also present during the function.

In Pakistan, the Indian High Commission celebrated the Yoga Day on June 18.

Members of the diplomatic community along with High Commission officials based in Islamabad enthusiastically participated in the event led by Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale.

Bambawale highlighted the efforts of the Indian government in promoting ancient Indian traditions of healthy living.

The United Nations General Assembly had made a declaration in December 2014 that every June 21 would be observed as International Day of Yoga, a move that India lobbied hard for. PTI TEAM PMS AKJ PMS

--- ENDS ---
21 June 2017 15:39 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan is a modern country attached to its religious, national roots and, at the same time, a tolerant country open to the world, said President Ilham Aliyev.

President Aliyev made the remark while addressing an Iftar ceremony on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan in Baku on June 21, Azertac reported.

The President stressed that in Azerbaijan, the state does not interfere in religious matters; on the contrary, it tries to help. The historical mosques, religious monuments, as well as churches and synagogues, built and repaired by the state serve as a clear proof of this. Religion does not interfere in the affairs of the state and politics either, he said, stressing that the fact that the relations between religion and the state rest on a sound basis is our great asset.

Over the period that has passed since the previous Ramadan, dynamic development in Azerbaijan has continued and many important events have taken place, the president added.

Among them I want to especially note the visit of the Pope to Azerbaijan. The visit of the Pope serves as a manifestation of the attitude of the Holy See to Azerbaijan. I should also note that Azerbaijan is one of the first Muslim countries visited by the Pope. The statements he made during the visit represent a high assessment of interreligious relations in Azerbaijan. Of course, we, the people living in Azerbaijan and conducting this policy, know that this is our great asset. At the same time, the whole world knows about it and this is acknowledged by authoritative personalities of the planet, he said.

President Aliyev said that the initiatives put forward by Azerbaijan in many spheres bring novelty, dynamics and a new approach. Breaking stereotypes, we propose a new format of behavior in many areas, including religious issues. It is no coincidence that the work carried out in Azerbaijan in this field and the successes we have achieved are appreciated by practically all leading international organizations. I should also note that our initiatives, events and forums we have launched are subsequently supported by international organizations. As an example, I can cite the Fourth Forum on Intercultural Dialogue held this year. We put forward this Forum as an initiative. Today, its organizers are the leading international organizations of the world - UNESCO, ISESCO, the Council of Europe, the World Tourism Organization, etc. The fact that such prestigious events are held in Azerbaijan demonstrates our policy and intentions. This also shows to the whole world that there is a country on the planet that is the center of multiculturalism. This country is Azerbaijan, he said.

Highlighting that the Azerbaijani state rests on very strong national values, President Aliyev said that Islamic values are an integral part of the national values

Along with this, Azerbaijan is a secular and modern state open to the world. There is no radicalism or fundamentalism in Azerbaijan. There is no internal source of threat. The reason for this is not only the administrative steps we are taking. The reason for this is the atmosphere in our society. Where do radicalism and terrorism come to life? In countries where there is no literacy, where social justice is disrupted, and where there is pervasive injustice and poverty. Therefore, the best guarantee against radicalism is social justice, material well-being, literacy and correct policies. Where there are such factors, there is no basis for radicalism. True, there can be interference from the outside. However, Azerbaijan is quite a strong state taking measures against such interference and ensuring a peaceful life of the Azerbaijani people, the president noted.

President Aliyev went on to say that the country has made great strides in all directions. Our non-oil economy grew by more than 2 per cent. The non-oil industry has grown by almost 4 per cent. Agriculture has increased by 2 per cent. Exports have increased by 44 per cent and imports have dropped by about 17 per cent. All this has been possible thanks to economic reforms and thought-out policies, he said.

As for the solution of foreign policy issues, Azerbaijan enjoys so much authority on a global scale today that the number of countries wishing to cooperate with us is always on the increase. We have built equal relations with all countries on the basis of mutual respect. We have been able to establish excellent relations with European, Muslim and other countries. Azerbaijan plays and will continue to play an irreplaceable role  I am saying this with absolute determination  in the development of the dialogue between civilizations, President Aliyev said.

President Aliyev also spoke about the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

A very significant event has occurred in the history of our people and state recently, said President Aliyev. A new settlement was opened in the village of Jojug Marjanli, which was liberated from occupation. The 50 houses, a school, a road and the entire infrastructure built there in a matter of two months demonstrate both our strength and policy. Life will return to these territories and the Azerbaijani flag will be raised there  just as life returns to the lands liberated from occupation in Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Aghdara districts today, the Azerbaijani flag flies on these lands and constructive work is under way.

Jojug Marjanli is a testament to Armenian fascism, stressed the president.

This village was under occupation for only three to four months. There was not a single building left there. Armenian vandals destroyed all houses. We have restored this village in two months and the issue of building another 100 houses will be resolved in the near future, noted the president. A mosque, which is an analogue of the Shusha mosque, has been constructed in Jojug Marjanli. This is also of great historical significance. Jojug Marjanli and other territories are our ancestral lands. We are creating a new life in these lands.

This shows that no one can ever break the will of Azerbaijani people. We have restored the Armenian church in Baku and are protecting it. The Armenians have destroyed our mosques in the occupied lands. The Govharaga Mosque, the analogue of which has been built in Jojug Marjanli, lies in ruins. A building can be destroyed, but the enemy must know that the destroyed mosques live in our hearts. We have built these mosques in our hearts, said President Aliyev.

Immediately after the liberation of these lands from occupation, within two months, a beautiful mosque was built there. This is of immense historical significance. I am sure that we will return to all the occupied lands, Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity and such wonderful Iftar ceremonies will be held on these lands as well, Inshallah, added the Azerbaijani president.

Other speakers at the event included Chairman of the Clerical Office of Caucasus Muslims Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade , head of the Baku and Caspian Eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexander, chairman of the Religious Community of the Mountain Jews of Baku Milikh Yevdayev and head of the Roman Catholic community in Azerbaijan, Ordinary Vladimir Fekete.

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21 June 2017 16:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

Irans President Hassan Rouhani has said he will not back down from pursuing a robust missile program.

They are taken by mistake if the new US rulers think they can pressurize Iran with bills  in the Senate and Congress, he said in reference to a new Senate move to impose new sanctions on Iran over its missile program, IRNA news agency reported on June 21.

Our missiles are for self-defense and we will not seek permission when it comes to our defense power.

The president also commented on the Revolutionary Guards Corps recent missile attack on the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) in Syria and said, If the masters of terrorism have decided to extend terrorism into the holy land of Iran, they should know that the Islamic Republic will not let them do that.

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 IS claimed responsibility for the assaults. The attacks killed 17 people and injured over 50 others.

In retaliation, the IRGC launched missiles into Syria where IS command headquarters were situated on June 18. Sources announced that at least 65 IS terrorists, including several high-ranking intelligence commanders, had been killed in the missile attack.

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21 June 2017 15:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Baku has once again named one of the most popular cities among CIS cities for summer vacations 2017.

Analytical agency TurStat, identified cities that are popular among tourists for travel this summer.

Capitals of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia and Uzbekistan are Top popular CIS cities. Astana, Baku, Minsk, Yerevan, Tashkent, Almaty, Chisinau, Bishkek, Kiev and Ashgabat are among the Top 10 most popular cities of the CIS for tourists in the summer of 2017.

Baku will host the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan Formula 1 from June 23 to 25 and the "Zhara" music festival on July 27-30. Also, tourists visit Baku to rest on the coast of the Caspian Sea.

Tourists come to Baku on average for five days in summer and spend $75 per night for staying at the hotel, according to Turstat.

Unique culture and history, delicious food and wine and plenty of adventures are awaiting travelers in Azerbaijan.

Baku, known as home to an ancient civilization dating back to 5500 BC, is a compact city in which visitors can easily walk around the city center to see most attractions, along with a mix of architecture. The capital is the location where past and present are intricately intertwined, having always attracted tourists.

There are also monuments dating to ancient ages and medieval centuries within the district. Icherisheher, meaning Old City, is the most magnificent of the historical monuments in Azerbaijan and is included by UNESCO among the world cultural heritage items. The Shirvanshah palace complex, which is another astonishing state historical architectural museum-preserve, is its masterpiece.

The open-air museum, and Bakus most majestic and mysterious monument - the Maiden Tower or Giz Galasi - is also located here. Built in the shape of a cylinder on the Caspian Sea shore, the Maiden Tower is a structure which, rather like a buttress, sticks out from the cylindrical tower on the sea side.

The Flame Towers, the tallest skyscraper in Baku at a height of 190 m, is also a beautiful symbol of the city. The capital Baku is on the Caspian Sea, but also home to oil drilling derricks and futuristic skyscrapers.

But beyond its nature, which is key reason for the tourism, the people of Azerbaijan are wonderfully welcoming and hospitable.

Azerbaijan is also a perfect destination for Russian tourists, because of its peoples very friendly attitude towards Russia. Here Russian-speaking tourists have no problem with communication, as Azerbaijanis speak Russian well enough to help with any difficulties.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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Get the inside right ...the outside will fall into place  #internationalyogaday #worldyogaday

A post shared by Adah Sharma (@adah_ki_adah) on Jun 21, 2017 at 12:08am PDT
Fewer Indians Use Tobacco, But Country Still World's No. 2 Consumer, Producer Wellness ians-Lekhaka

Fewer Indians used tobacco in 2015-16 than a decade ago, but only China consumes and produces more tobacco, keeping cancer rates high, according to the latest national health data.

Tobacco consumption in India is the highest in the six northeastern states of Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Assam: On average, 70.7 per cent men here use tobacco in some form or the other, according to data from the National Family Health Survey 2015-16 (NFHS-4). This figure is 26 percentage points higher than the national average.



Mizoram tops the northeast list, with 80.4 per cent men and 59.2 per cent women between 15 and 49 years consuming tobacco. When ranked for men using tobacco, it is followed by Meghalaya (72.2 per cent), Manipur (70.6 per cent), Nagaland (69.4 per cent), Tripura (67.8 per cent) and Assam (63.9 per cent).

At 37.7 per cent, the female average for tobacco users in Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland was way above the national average of 6.8 per cent.

The northeastern states also report a higher risk for cancer -- 112 men and 60 women of 1,000 die of cancer here while the national average is 47 for men and 44 for women, according to the 2012 Million Death Study published in The Lancet.

Tobacco use is one of the main risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including cancer, lung diseases and cardiovascular diseases. And not just in the northeast, elsewhere too millions of Indians continue to be vulnerable to these diseases.

The latest national average for tobacco consumption, according to NFHS-4 -- 44.5 per cent men and 6.8 per cent women -- is lower than 2005-06 figures. Tobacco use has fallen in India -- by 12.5 percentage points for men and four percentage points for women -- over a decade.

But India is still the second-highest producer and consumer of tobacco, according to National Tobacco Control Programme.

In 2011, the total cost of dealing with diseases related to tobacco use among the 35-69 age group amounted to Rs 1.05 lakh crore ($22.4 billion). This is 1.16 per cent of GDP and 12 per cent more than the combined state and central government expenditure on healthcare in 2011.

The survey also shows that 29.3 per cent female and 30.6 per cent male tobacco users in the 15-49 age group tried to wean themselves off tobacco in the 12 months preceding the survey. In Mizoram, tobacco use has fallen by 1.6 percentage points and three percentage points for women and men, respectively, since 2005-06.

Punjab and Puducherry with 19.2 per cent and 14.4 per cent, respectively, recorded the lowest use of tobacco among men. Fewer than one per cent women in the 15-49 age group use any kind of tobacco in Himachal Pradesh, Daman & Diu, Kerala, Chandigarh and Puducherry.

Both men and women (between 15 and 49 years of age) use more tobacco in India's villages than its cities. Among urban women, 4.4 per cent use it compared to the 8.1 per cent women in villages. For men in villages, the figure is 48 per cent and in cities, 38.9 per cent.

Even on the question of trying to go off tobacco, more urban women users (33 per cent) make an effort than women users in villages (28.2 per cent). But the trend is reversed for men: 31.2 per cent male tobacco users in villages and 29.6 per cent in cities tried to wean themselves off tobacco.

Not a single state has more than 50 per cent of male and female tobacco consumers (in the 15-49 age group) attempting to quit consumption of tobacco in any form in 12 months preceding the survey.

The number of those using smokeless tobacco (25.9 per cent) is almost double that of those who smoke (14 per cent), according to Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2009-10.

'Tobacco is responsible for nearly 50 per cent cancers in India and 90 per cent of mouth cancers. Half of the mouth cancer patients die within 12 months of diagnosis,' said Pankaj Chaturvedi, professor and surgeon at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai.

Tobacco caused 42 per cent of all cancers in men and 18 per cent of all cancers in women, according to the Million Death Study. In all, tobacco caused 120,000 cancers with twice as many oral cancers as lung cancer. This highlights the high prevalence of tobacco chewing in India.

'Raising taxes on tobacco products is an evidence-based tool to reduce tobacco use. We appeal to the government to levy highest Goods and Services Tax on all tobacco products, including beedi,' said Michelle Reyes, an expert with the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease, in a statement released on the eve of the International Tobacco Day.

With Inputs From IANS

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 18:40 [IST]
1. Shavasana (Corpse Pose) Five minutes of Shavasana in the morning and five minutes in the night helps in relaxing the body as well as the mind. This, in turn, helps in preventing a headache. By laying down on the floor, and maintaining a steady breath, the pose helps relax your body and with it, and therefore provide relief from headache pain [3]. How to do Shavasana: Use a mat or a sheet to lie on.

And lie down in the centre of the mat.

Keep your spine straight and shoulder on your sides.

Keep your arms wide with your fingers relaxed and palms facing upward.

Close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing and relax your face.

Stay in this position for 4-5 minutes.

2. Setu Bandhasana (Bridge Pose) Practising Setu bandhasana involves all of your organs, and regular practise can help tackle headaches [4]. By stretching the muscles in your chest, neck and back, this asana aids in relieving any concentrated pain as well. How to do Setu Bandhasana Lie down flat on your back.

Bend your knees and keep your feet on the floor apart.

Your ankles and knees should be in a straight line.

Keep your palms facing downward and arms resting on your sides.

Inhale and while doing so, lift your back up and off the floor.

Roll your shoulders in so that your chin touches your chest.

Your feet, shoulder and arms should support your weight.

Interlace your fingers, push your hands to the ground and lift your torso.

Hold this pose for 1 minute, maintain slow and deep breathing.

Exhale and lie down on the floor, coming back to the original position. Caution: Individuals suffering from neck injuries, and back problems must avoid this. Avoid during pregnancy [5].

3. Padmasana (Lotus Pose) Padmasana or the meditative lotus pose is the most fundamental asana in yoga. This pose helps you relax and clear your mind of tensions, providing relief from the headache [6]. Practising the lotus pose is extremely good for those suffering from a migraine. How to do Padmasana Sit on the floor (or in a mat), with your legs straight and stretched out in front of you.

Gently bend the knees and bring the lower leg into a cradle.

Using your hands, gently place the leg on the left thigh.

Now slowly repeat the same with the other leg too.

Stay in the position for 10 minutes.

4. Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Fish Pose) Practising this pose can help relieve headache because alternative compression helps to circulate blood to various organs of the body, including the brain [7]. Though it is somewhat an advanced yoga pose concerning technique, one can learn it by following its simple steps. How to do Ardha Matsyendrasana Sit on the floor with your legs stretched in front of you.

Keep your feet together and spine absolutely erect.

Then, bend your left leg and keep the left heel besides your right hip.

Get your right leg under your left knee.

Keep your right hand over your left knee, and your right hand should be behind you.

Slightly twist your waist, neck and shoulder towards the opposite side, from which side you began the pose.

Look backwards in the same direction.

Stay in this position for at least 60 seconds and then exhale.

Sit straight for a while and then get up.

Repeat the same with the other foot twisting in the opposite side.

5. Ardha Pincha Mayurasana (Dolphin Pose) "Ardha" means half, "Pincha" is feathers and "Mayura" means peacock in Sanskrit. Although the translated name of the yoga pose can be confusing, it is due to the posture which resembles a dolphin swimming in the waters. It is a comfortable and relaxed standing pose and is also supposed to be performed on an empty stomach, this pose is somewhat like an inverted 'V', with forearms and toes on the floor and the remaining body must form a 'V' shape. The dolphin pose also relaxes your body and provides relief from headache [8][9]. wellness From Banana To Milk, Ginger To Water: Foods That Help Get Rid Of Headaches Quickly How to do Ardha Pincha Mayurasana Get down to your knees and hands as well (like a baby would crawl).

Now, by placing your forearms on the ground, ensure that your elbows and shoulders are in the same line.

Making your legs straight, lift your back and hips.

Shoulder blades should be firm enough and should be into your ribs, and neck should be free, lifting your shoulders away from ears.

Walk-in towards your arms.

Inhale and exhale in tune and hold on to this pose for a few seconds.

Do this 12-15 times.

6. Janu Sirasana (Head-to-Knee Forward Bend Pose) This yoga pose helps relieve anxiety, fatigue, headache and menstrual discomfort [10]. By calming your brain, the head-to-knee forward bend poses also help ease tension headaches. How to do Janu Sirasana Stretch your legs forward, take a deep breath in, get your right heel inwards while bending your right knee and make your right sole touch the inner side of the left thigh.

While your left hand is resting on the ground beside your buttocks, push your right hand in the right groin and then exhale.

Maintain this position for a few seconds.

Now, with your arms outwards, reach to expand your front torso, with the line of your right leg.

Don't move your hips, but just your groin in a to-and-fro motion.

By lengthening forward, make sure you maintain a comfortable stretch.

First, your lower abdomen will touch your thighs, followed by the upper torso and then comes the head.

Repeat the same with the other leg as well.

7. Kapalabhati Pranayama Five minutes of kapalabhati pranayama in the morning helps in relaxing and rejuvenating the mind and keeps away headaches. Also, whenever you feel low in energy, kapalabhati pranayama helps [11]. How to do Kapalbhati Pranayama Sit comfortably with your spine erect and take deep breaths.

As you exhale, pull your stomach and your navel in.

Keep your right hand on the stomach as you do this breathing.

Take about 20 such breaths.

This completes one round of kapalabhati pranayama.

Once one round is over relax with your eyes closed for a while.

8. Padangusthasana (Big Toe Pose) 'Pad' means foot and 'Angusta' means toe thumb in Sanskrit. This is one of the basic yoga poses. The best part of this asana is that it helps you to stretch all your muscles from the head from the toe and the utmost thing to be kept in mind for performing this asana is to practice it on an empty stomach and do it in the morning for better results [12]. Note: If you are performing this asana in the evening, make sure your stomach is empty for 6 hours at least. How to do Padangusthasana Stand straight and keep your feet parallel to one another, but 6 inches apart too, and legs should be straight.

Bend your knees in such a way that your knee caps are lifted outwards.

Bend forward and aim to touch your forehead to your knees and there should be a collaboration of your head and torso.

Get hold of your foot toe with the respective side of the hand and hold it firmly. Don't exert. If you are not able to touch in the first go, be comfortable and keep practising.

Inhale and exhale in tune and concentrate on your breathing.

By lifting your torso, keep your elbows straight.

Do this at least ten times and then straighten your body and hold your toes throughout.

Relax and get back to your position.

9. Pranayama (Breathing Exercise) Apart from the specific type of pranayama, that is, Kapalbhati Pranayama, basic forms of this yoga also helps in managing headaches. Pranayama, or breath control, is a central component of yoga and is of different types such as Tribandha and Pranayama, Nadi Shuddhi Pranayama or Anuloma, Ujjayi Pranayama etc. Apart from the Kalpabati version, you can practice the standard breathing techniques to get relief from tension headaches [13]. How to do Pranayama Sit on a flat platform with your spine erect.

Take a steady breath in through both nostrils.

Inhale until you reach your lung capacity and hold your breath for a second and exhale.

Then, using the thumb of your dominant hand, block your right nostril and inhale through the left nose only.

Inhale into your belly, not your chest.

Once you are full of breath, close your left nostril with the ring finger of the same hand.

Keep your right nostril closed, and hold the breath for a moment and release.

Or You have to begin this pose by sitting in a comfortable position.



Keep your hands on your knees, with your palms on the knees.



Concentrate on your lower belly.



Now, take a deep breath in through both your nostrils.



Now, sniff by taking short breaths by contracting your lower belly while pressing it gently with your palms.



Just begin with 65-70 breaths per minute.



Gradually, get down till 95-105 cycles of inhaling/exhaling per minute.



Your two organs should work while performing this asana, that is, your nostrils for inhaling and your mouth for exhaling.



Repeat it for 15-20 minutes.



wellness Acupressure For Headache: The Best Pressure Points For Relief And Precautions

10. Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Forward Bend Pose) "Prasarita" means Wide or stretched out, "Pada" means Foot, "Uttana" means intense stretch and "Asana" means pose. This pose is also supposed to be performed on an empty stomach. The beauty of this pose is, once you are done with it, you will feel healed and relieved of the severe headache [14]. Although it may sound complicated, this yoga pose needs you to stretch your legs wide apart and then bend forward and touch your forehead to the ground. This allows the phlegm stored in your head to be released through your nose [15]. How to do Prasarita Padottanasana Stand straight in Tadasana (palm tree pose).

In Tadasana, you stand straight with both your arms placed upwards and fingers interlocked.

Begin by taking your right foot a step back in a way that your body looks forward.

Stretching your hands at the shoulder height, make sure it is above your feet. Then, bring your hands to your hips.

Lengthen your chest as much as you can towards the sky and stretch your torso to the max, inhaling deeply.

Now, get your crown to the ground and push your buttocks towards the ceiling.

Place your hands underneath your legs or on the mat, with your elbows bent, or you can hold your toes with your hands.

Be in the pose for about a minute and concentrate on your breathing.

Now, your torso should be parallel to the floor.

Taking the support of your spine, get your hands to your hips and lift your torso.

11. Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall Pose) "Viparita" means inverted, and "Karani" means doing, hence, as the name says, you need to perform this pose in an inverted manner. It means legs up and the head down. You have to follow this pose also on an empty stomach, and this is the best pose to treat headache, as it helps to circulate blood to every part of the body. As a beginner, this pose might be tough for you so that you can use a heavy round pillow or a thick blanket as support [16]. How to do Viparita Karani Sit close to a wall in your room and spread your legs in front of you and the left side of your body should be touching the wall.

Inhale and exhale calmly.

Now lie on your back with the sole of your feet facing upwards.

Get your buttocks close to the wall, and your back and head should be resting on the wall. Now, your body will be in the 90-degree angle.

Now, keeping your helping prop, lift your hips and take the support of your hands.

Keep your body stiff.

Be in the position for 2-3 minutes and concentrate on your breathing pattern.

12. Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation) Practising this pose helps exercise almost every part of your body. There are twelve different positions in the Surya Namaskar that includes many forward and backward stretches, which can help warm up the body and provide relief from headaches [17]. How to do Surya Namaskar Wake up early in the morning.

Make sure you do not eat anything before doing the sun salutation.

Choose a place where you can get the sunlight directly.

Place a mat or sheet on the ground and start doing Surya Namaskar.

Surya Namaskar comprises twelve distinct body postures.

The steps are Step 1 (Prayer Pose), Step 2 (Raised Arms pose), Step 3 (Hand to Foot pose), Step 4 (Equestrian pose), Step 5 (Stick pose), Step 6 (Saluting with eight points or parts), Step 7 (Cobra pose), Step 8 (Mountain pose), Step 9 (Equestrian pose), Step 10 (Hand to foot pose), Step 11 (Raised Arms pose) and Step 12, where you exhale and straighten the body, and then bring the arms down. Note: The ideal time to perform Surya Namaskar is during sunrise while facing towards the sun.

... Some of the other yoga poses that can help in managing headaches are as follows: Uttasana (standing forward bend): Most often, a little yanking up can clear your head. We stand in an upright position all day. When you do uttasana, you have to stand straight and bend forward to hold your ankles. Always keep your head away from your knees. Sirsasana (headstand): Sirsasana or the complete headstand is for people who are prone to migraine headaches. To try this pose, you have to stand upside down on your head. This allows a fresh supply of blood to your tired brain and thus heals headaches [18]. Seated virasana: In this position, you have to sit on your folded knees and bend forward. Place your head on the ground and stretch your arms forward. This pose allows you to relax your mind completely, providing relief from headaches. Adho mukha svanasana (downward-facing dog): The downward-facing dog position is a pretty versatile asana of yoga to cure a headache in some people. It can help to draw some fresh blood to the brain and also clear your head. This yoga pose can heal almost any kind of headache [19]. Anulom vilom (breathing exercise): This is basically a breathing exercise where you breathe in sharply and release your breath slowly. This opens up your lungs and gives your body a fresh supply of oxygen, relieving you of the headache. Marjaryasana (cat pose): In the cat pose, you need to be on all fours and then bend your back by pushing out your stomach. Thus gentle massaging of the spine helps to realise tension and stress that cause headaches. Neck stretching: Cervical spondylitis can also be the cause of excruciating headaches. So doing regular neck stretches can be very helpful to relieve headaches [20]. Meditation: With our busy everyday schedule, it can be impossible to sit at one place and meditate for long. So, make meditation an ongoing part of your daily schedule. As you are travelling or taking a break from your work, you can meditate and keep chanting 'Om' in your mind. So this way, the mind is not left empty. This gives positive energy and helps keep off the headache.
By Press Trust of India: United Nations/Lima, Jun 21 (PTI) From Perus historic citadel of Machu Picchu to the UNs sprawling lawns in New York, yoga mats were spread at iconic landmarks across the world as yoga practitioners today performed asanas to mark the third International Yoga Day.

Top UN diplomats, officials, envoys, yoga practitioners and people from all walks of life attended a grand event organised by Indias Permanent Mission to the UN to mark the day at the world bodys headquarters in New York.

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Hundreds of specially designed yoga mats were spread across the UNs sprawling north lawns, facing the imposing UN General Assembly hall and the UN Secretariat building, as people from all walks of life descended on the UN headquarters to participate in the Yoga Session with Yoga Masters.

Chants, hymns, prayers and the sound of "Om" reverberated across the UN as leading yoga practitioners led the gathering through sessions of yoga and meditation to celebrate the traditional wellness regime that originated in India.

The UN also issued special stamps commemorating the Yoga Day. The UN postal agency, UN Postal Administration (UNPA) issues the new special event sheet to commemorate the day that has been marked annually since 2015.

Delivering the secretary generals message on the Yoga Day, a top UN official has said that yoga can make an important contribution in achieving a healthy life and promoting well being for all at a time when the world is striving to achieve sustainable development goals.

At the iconic and historic citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru, one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World, Yoga practitioners stretched themselves in various asanas to mark the day.

Both Machu Picchu and yoga are recognised by the UNESCO as common heritage of the world.

The IDY celebrations started with a welcome address by Jose Fernando Astete Director of the Machu Picchu Archaeological site.

Sandeep Chakravorty, Ambassador of India to Peru said that both Machu Picchu and yoga are invaluable world heritage and legacy for humankind.

This being the peak tourist season for visit to Machu Picchu, the international visitors touring the historic citadel also joined the celebrations enthusiastically.

In China, a record number of people participated in yoga events held in several cities across the country. A large number of Chinese practitioners besides Indian diaspora took part in the celebrations at the old premises of the Indian Embassy in Beijing

Twenty Yoga ambassadors from the Morarji Desai Institute in India demonstrated a power-packed yogic asanas. Members from 12 Chinese yoga groups also took part in the event.

"Our assessment is that the yoga events held in China this year is the largest," ChargA daffaires of the Indian Embassy, Amit Narang told PTI.

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"Participation in the events in various cities exceeded all expectations and the numbers are unprecedented," he said.

China?s prominent Yoga school Yogi Yoga set up by Indian yoga specialist Manmohan Singh Bandari and his Chinese wife Yin Yan held special yogic performance with their students at Ritan Park.

Yesterday, the Indian Embassy, Yogi Yoga centre along with Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), which is affiliated to Chinese Foreign Ministry, held a special yoga session at the iconic Great Wall of China.

In Shanghai, about 1,000 Yoga enthusiasts took part in the main event held at the Dongping National Forest Park at the Chongming Islands, which was jointly organised by Consulate General of India, Shanghai along with Chongming County Government. About 1,000 Yoga lovers from Chongming island participated in the Yoga celebrations, a statment from the Consulate said.

Shanghai became the seventh city to host the 3rd IDY launch, which is being celebrated across twelve cities in Eastern China from June 17?25.

Besides Shanghai, Yoga events were held in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, with theme of Ten cities, ten days, bringing together 15,000 yoga lovers closer to India ? promoting healthy and harmonious lifestyles.

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The other cities in the region which held Yoga events included Lishui), Wuyi, Huzhou, Zhenjiang, Hangzhou ? Tonglu, Wenzhou, Jiaxing, Suqian, Xuzhou, Taizhou and Wuxi.

The Indian Consulate in Guangzhou organised two big yoga festivals with yoga gurus from India.

In Dhakas Bangabandhu National Stadium, hundreds of people participated in the IDY event with parliamentary speaker Shirin Sharmin Choudhury opening the celebrations amid enthusiasm.

Indian and Bangladeshi yoga gurus demonstrated asanas at the stadium.

Sports associations, yoga associations, yoga institutes, students from various schools, colleges and universities in Bangladesh participated in the early morning event.

The programme began with the screening of a video message of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A new yoga app on Common Yoga Protocol was released along with a special edition of Bharat Bichitra, a regular High Commission publication, on Yoga.

Yoga sessions were also organised in northwestern Rajshahi and southeastern port city of Chittagong.

Various Bangladeshi yoga organisations and institutes also organised separate programmes.

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Nepal also joined the world to mark the day as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba underlined the need for imparting the ancient knowledge of yoga to students at school-level.

During a function in Kathmandu, Deuba said, "Yoga must be taught at school-level keeping in mind its mental and physical benefits, and the balance it creates between heart and mind."

Deuba released Dainandin Yogabhyas, a book written by Acharya Bal Krishna and Yoga Sandesh published by the Indian Embassy.

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri was also present during the function.

In Pakistan, the Indian High Commission celebrated the Yoga Day on on June 18.

Members of the diplomatic community along with High Commission officials based in Islamabad enthusiastically participated in the event led by Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale.

Bambawale welcomed the participants at the event and highlighted the efforts of the Indian government in promoting ancient Indian traditions of healthy living.

A yoga session was conducted by the participants as per the "Common Yoga Protocol" issued by the Ministry of AYUSH.

The United Nations General Assembly had made a declaration in December 2014 that every June 21 would be observed as International Day of Yoga, a move that India lobbied hard for. PTI TEAM PMS AKJ PMS

--- ENDS ---
It was announced yesterday that Irish technology company, Arralis, has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA).



Arralis design technology and products for global radar & wireless communications. As part of the new deal, Arralis will provide ESA with their new Leonis Ka band chipset which will enable massive data rate communications speeds for commercial and science missions. This first phase Ka band Transceiver chipset contract is worth 650,000, which is awarded under ESAs ARTES Competitiveness & Growth programme.



This first of its kind Ka band chipset comprises all of the circuits required to build a K band satellite and ground front end that will connect easily with high power amplifiers and antennas. Ka band is considered the next big thing for satellite technology with its smaller antennas and ground terminals, as well as dramatically lowered costs.



Companies such as Facebook, Inmarsat and SpaceX have recently announced their plans to use Ka band to provide broadband services around the globe with the initial SpaceX deployment consisting of an unprecedented 4,425 satellites with Ka band payloads.



Speaking at the announcement in Paris, CEO of Arralis, Barry Lunn said, "We are delighted to continue to deliver the worlds leading satellite communication products to the global industry. This chipset represents new space making space technology deliver real benefits back on earth by providing high speed internet for all. ESA have led the charge on this and, along with our commercial early adopters, will be able to ensure that the benefits of our unique technology are reaped by the wider European and Canadian space industry."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
By Press Trust of India: Jammu, Jun 21 (PTI) Union minister Jitendra Singh today said yoga has revolutionised health management across the world by offering an opportunity to bring the mind in equilibrium with the body and stressed that there should be no politics over it.

Yoga was universally acknowledged as the best treatment for all diseases, and if practiced regularly it eradicated stress and kept the body, mind and intellect fit, he said after participating in celebrations marking the International Day of Yoga here.

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He said due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi the importance of the traditional form of exercise has been recognised globally.

"Yoga has revolutionised health management across the world by offering an opportunity to bring the mind in equilibrium with the body besides helping to harness an individuals inner strengths," he added.

"There should be no politics on yoga and everyone should join hands for its propagation," the Union minister of state for prime ministers office said.

Despite heavy rains the mass yoga sessions organised by AYUSH department witnessed tremendous participation from yoga practitioners, youth, students and elderly.

Health minister Bali Bhagat, MP Jugal Kishore Sharma and MLA Jammu West Sat Sharma also participated in the event.

A yoga camp was also organised in Northern Command Headquarters at Udhampur in which about 1,500 soldiers and women participated. PTI AB DK AAR

--- ENDS ---
UPDATE: 8:55 p.m.

Kelowna Fire Department says a mobile home on the 5000 block of Chute lake Road was heavily damaged.

However, firefighters were able to retrieve important personal effects from inside.

The fire will be investigated Wednesday, said Platoon Capt. Tim Light.

KFD responded with three engines a rescue vehicle, command unit and safety truck, along with 15 personnel.

No one was injured in the blaze.

UPDATE: 7:05 p.m.

Strong westerly winds made fighting a mobile home fire on Chute Lake Road all that more difficult for Kelowna fire crews Tuesday evening.

It was wind-driven, confirmed Platoon Capt. Tim Light of Kelowna Fire Rescue at the scene of the blaze. It being on a bit of a knoll here, there's not much protection from the wind.

Light said sparks from a shed fire probably carried onto the roof of the residence and started the second blaze.

There is heavy fire damage in the attic of the mobile home. We are pulling down the ceiling, trying to get at hot spots before the wind picks up.

No one was home at the time of the blaze and firefighters had confirmation the residents were out of town.

Light refused to speculate on the cause of the original fire and added that an investigator would be at the scene on Wednesday.

Initial reports from witnesses was that a hedge at the front was on fire.

ORIGINAL: 5:50 p.m.

Four Kelowna fire department crews responded around 5:25 p.m. Tuesday to a fully-involved structure fire on the 5100 block of Chute Lake Road in the Upper Mission area.

A mobile home in a trailer park caught fire, and windy conditions made the fight more difficult for crews.

Around 6 p.m., black smoke could still be seen pouring from the structure as a firefighter on a ladder used a hose to spray the roof.

Chute Lake Road was closed to traffic near the turnoff with Upper Mission Drive.

The fire brought back bad memories for Patti Arcand who lived next door to the structure which charred the side of her own residence.

We lost everything in a house fire in Rutland four years ago, said Arcand, who had only moved to the area six months ago.

With tears in her eyes, Arcand said she and her husband moved after the house was rebuilt.

This is just bringing back way too many memories.

The couple have never met the owner of the burned home who, Arcand was told, is in hospital awaiting a lung transplant.

A fire earlier Tuesday afternoon on Chute Lake Road destroyed a shed, neighbours said.
Pacific Cement sells clinker to Tengy

21 June 2017

Fiji-based Pacific Cement Ltd (PCL) has sold approximately 4000t of clinker to local producer Tengy Cement Company Ltd to ensure continued supply of cement on the island.



The move comes following a breakdown of the machinery at Pacific Cement which resulted in the stoppage of cement production.



Tengy is the only other producer on Fiji, operating a 0.3Mta grinding unit.The clinker is being sold by PCL at a cost of US$147/t, Fijivillage newspaper quoted Nouzab Fareed, director of PCL, as saying.



Mr Fareed further added that Pacific Cement has restarted the production of cement but with limited output. He said if repair works are completed as scheduled the company could start start supplying cement again on a small scale. However, he cautioned that imports may be required to satisfy domestic consumption until operations are in full swing. Speaking to the Fiji Sun, Mr Fareed estimates that some 35,000-40,000t of cement may need to be imported in the next three months to satisfy demand in the local retail markets.





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An Englishman in America: How the Anglican Church came to the USA

On this day in 1579, a historic frontier was breached: the first Anglican church service took place in the New World  what became the USA.

The legendary and controversial English explorer Sir Francis Drake had voyaged far with his company aboard the ship the Golden Hinde. Battered by its arduous journeys and Spanish intercolations up the coast of South America, the vessel was in need of urgent repair when it found harbour on the coast of what would become California, around San Francisco Bay.

Drake called the newfound land Nova Albion, Latin for 'New Britain'.

One or two days after the landing, Drake and his men held a church service. The presence of Drake's chaplain and clergyman, the Rev Francis Fletcher, made it the first Protestant and first Anglican service on those shores. Today, American Christianity can scarcely be imagined without its Protestant heritage and culture.

Fletcher read from the most iconic of English Protestant literature: the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

When Drake's men gathered, several Native Indians came to watch them. Fearing that the natives were blaspheming by welcoming Drake's company as gods, he and his men prayed for them. They prayed that God might open the natives' eyes 'to the knowledge of him and of Jesus Christ, the salvation of the Gentiles'.

Today the 75-foot tall 'Prayer Book Cross', commemorating Drake's landing, can now be found in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and Drake's landing site is marked as Drake's Bay

It was a brief and quirky stay for Drake, probably not lasting more than six weeks. Regular Anglican worship wouldn't take place till 1607, on the other side of the continent in Jamestown, Virginia. Nonetheless, given the spiritual heritage that would come  and has endured  from England's shores to America's, Drake's naming of a 'New Britain' was not far wrong.
Death sentence: The US Christians fearing deadly family deportation to Iraq

An American Iraqi Christian family is one among more than 100 fearing the deportation of loved ones to Iraq, where the threat of genocide at the hands of ISIS remains high.

Brittanny Hamama is part of a Chaldean (Iraqi Catholic Christian) family, but her father was arrested by US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on June 11, alongside 113 other Iraqi Christians. She reported her experience in a piece for America Magazine

She described the morning of Sunday 11 June, when her family were preparing to head to church.

'ICE agents pounded on our door at 9:30 am on a Sunday morning as we were getting ready to go to Mass. The agents said that they were doing a house check. They then said that they just needed my dad to come in and be interviewed by the Iraqi consulate. They promised that he would be back the next day. The agents even told my mom to expect a phone call the next day when she could come pick him up. My dad and I looked at each other, and we knew they were lying to us.'

Hamama, a student in her junior year at the University of Michigan says that Chaldeans are 'facing genocide by ISIS in Iraq because of our Christian faith'. Many of the 300,000 Iraqi Christians now residing in the US originally fled Iraq because of the violence there.

Hamama's father has not been returned home. She described the threat of deportation: 'Because of my dad's hard work as a business owner, our family was, until now, living the American dream. My dad does not know the language in Iraq, and he has a tattoo of a cross on his wrist; sending him back to Iraq is essentially a death sentence.'

Hamama's family have received support from the human rights advocacy group The American Civil Liberties Union, who 'has filed a lawsuit on behalf of my father and all the other Chaldeans who were detained in early June. The lawsuit argues that people cannot be sent to a country where they could be the target of genocide.'

At 2pm today in Detroit, Hamama will attend her father's hearing at the federal courthouse. She implored prayer 'for the lawyers and politicians as well as the judge who will be hearing our case'.

Hamama described how her Christian faith was helping her at this time. She wrote: 'The one thing that has been getting me and my family through this all has been the power of prayer. I know that the rosary my dad has with him right now is the reason he is still in Michigan.

'I know that going to the grotto at our church at least once a day with my siblings has brought comfort and peace to the situation we are going through. I know God has a plan, and although this has been a painful experience, I trust in God's will.'

The threat of deadly deportation has prompted criticism of the Trump administration, and concerns about the US Christian community's relative silence on the issue.

Last week it was reported that the ACLU had won a delay in the deportations.

'Not only is it immoral to send people to a country where they are likely to be violently persecuted, it expressly violates United States and international law and treaties,' said Kary Moss, the executive director of the ACLU of Michigan.

She added: 'We are hoping that the courts will recognize the extreme danger that deportation to Iraq would pose for these individuals... Our immigration policy shouldn't amount to a death sentence for anyone.'
'Demonic': Megachurch pastor Matt Chandler blasts acquittal of police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile

A popular megachurch pastor has described the acquittal of the Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile last July, as 'dirty' and 'demonic'.

Matt Chandler, the pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, wrote on Twitter: 'I can't understand how a court could land where they did on #PhilandoCastile while the department removed him...Feels dirty & demonic.'

I can't understand how a court could land where they did on #PhilandoCastille while the department removed him...feels dirty & demonic  Matt Chandler (@MattChandler74) June 17, 2017

Castile was shot by officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop and Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, posted video of his final moments on Facebook Live.

The officer, who was acquitted by a jury on Friday after being charged with second-degree manslaughter and endangering safety by discharging a firearm, testified in court that he was fearful that Castile was reaching for a gun.

But Reynolds has said that Castile was merely grabbing for his license when he was shot by Yanez.

According to the New York Times, Yanez will no longer be on patrol.

'My son loved this city, and this city killed my son,' Castile's mother, Valerie, said as she stood on a corner outside the courthouse afterward. 'And a murderer gets away. Are you kidding me right now?'

She added: 'The system in this country continues to fail black people and will continue to fail us.'

A small group of protesters gathered outside the courthouse on Friday, expressing anger and dismay. 'It's not us that were on trial, it was the system that was on trial,' said Mel Reeves, a community activist, according to the New York Times.

The shooting last year sparked large marches, with the governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, asking: 'Would this have happened if the driver were white, if the passengers were white?'
Donald Trump's state visit to UK in doubt after no mention of it in Queen's Speech

A planned state visit by Donald Trump was cast into fresh doubt today by the Queen's speech, as the Monarch did notmention it during her address to Parliament.

The speech usually mentions any state visits planned for the duration of the parliament. The Queen said she and Prince Philip 'look forward to welcoming their majesties King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain on a state visit in July'.

But it did not make reference to a Trump visit, which was initially planned for this summer after the Prime Minister Theresa May invited him on behalf of the Queen when she visited the US President in Washington in January, shortly after he took office.

This Queen's speech is supposed to herald a parliament lasting two years, so there was speculation today that no date for Trump's visit has been scheduled for the near future.

Number Ten today said that the only reason there was no mention of a Trump visit in the Queen's Speech was because no date has yet been set.

The Guardian reported earlier this month that Trump told May that he does not want to go ahead with the state visit until the British public supports it, and that he wanted to avoid protests.

Meanwhile, social media users had some fun with the Queen's Speech today by likening the hat worn by the Queen to the flag of the European Union.

After a Queen's Speech agenda dominated by some 8 Bills relating to Brexit, there was speculation that the Queen was giving a coded message with her hat.

The Daily Mail said the hat looked 'suspiciously' like the EU flag while The Telegraph asked: 'Is the Queen trying to tell us something about Brexit with her hat?'

The Queen remains impeccably above party politics despite speculation in The Sun during the referendum last year that she favoured leaving the EU.

Am I the only one to see a similarity between the Queen's hat and the Flag of Europe?#QueensSpeech #Brexit #brexittalks #justsaying pic.twitter.com/uXCmR4MuiI  Interfaith Matters (@__Interfaith__) June 21, 2017

Not to be facetious but the Queen's hat looks like the European Union flag pic.twitter.com/1nDJ3sWDTd  Federica Cocco (@federicacocco) June 21, 2017
Furious Donald Trump Launches Twitter Tirade After Judge Throws Out Bid To Restore Travel Ban

US President Donald Trump has responded with a furious Twitter tirade after a US appeal court has denied the emergency appeal from the US Department of Justice to restore his 90-day travel ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries and on refugees.

Trump tweeted: "The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!"

The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 5, 2017

He also tweeted: "Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision"

Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

And: "What is our country to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.? "

What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017

The President's Twitter tirade came after the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled: "Appellants' request for an immediate administrative stay pending full consideration of the emergency motion for a stay pending appeal is denied."

The justice department is expected to try again with a letter pleading its case tomorrow, Monday.

The appeal court decision came after thousands of people in the UK marched to protest President Donald Trump's state visit to the UK and his travel ban.

Seattle Judge James Robart overturned the ban, ruling that it is unconstitutional.

Seattle attorney general, Bob Ferguson, said: "This decision shuts down the executive order right now. No one is above the law, not even the President." He was quoting Lord Denning in his confrontation with Attorney General Sam Silkin in 1977. Denning himself was himself quoting English churchman Thomas Fuller from three centuries earlier.

Trump tweeted: "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"

The White House immediately condemned the ruling as airlines around the world and airports in the US ceased implementing it. Trump's launched the "emergency stay" against the ruling, which is what the appeal court has now denied, late last night.

There is uncertainty still over how many banned travellers will reinstate their plans to visit the US.

Additional reporting by Reuters
How the whole Bible hangs together  in one easy lesson

There are many things that are a mystery to us until the final big 'reveal'.

We might be reading a crime novel, for example  and the whole story only makes sense when we come to the closing pages and the identity of the murderer suddenly becomes clear to us.

The Bible is a bit like that. It's only when we get to the climax that we start to understand much of what has gone before. In our fortnightly pilgrimage through Mark's gospel we are now getting close to Jesus' execution. And as we do we shall see not only what it means for us today but how it ties up and explains so much of the rest of the Bible.

Here in today's section, in a seemingly innocuous few verses happening 'on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread', Jesus tells his disciples to go ahead of him into Jerusalem where they will encounter a man carrying a jar of water (Mark 14v12-16).

They are to follow him, and then, at whatever house he enters, ask the owner about a guest room where Jesus can eat the Passover meal with his disciples. So, Mark tells us, the disciples 'set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal' (v16).

The casual reader might rush through these few verses. But the alert one will pick up on some clues which help explain the whole big picture of the Bible.

1. Clues from the references to feasts and festivities. It's no accident Mark mentions the annual Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was the celebration which reminded the Jewish people of how God had rescued them from slavery under Pharaoh in Moses' time  and how, when freedom came, their ancestors had to get out of Egypt so quickly they did not have time to put yeast in the bread they took with them, so that it remained flat or 'unleavened'.

Nor is it any accident that Jesus is about to be crucified at the time of the Passover meal. Every year the Jewish people would eat a special lamb to remind them of how, at the end of that time in Egypt, God told them to put the blood of a lamb on the door-frames of their houses. This was to function as a sign that they would be spared the final plague that God was bringing upon their oppressors, and that the angel of destruction would 'pass over' them.

Those Old Testament stories of oppression and deliverance, rebellion and liberation  and the commemorative festivities and rituals which result from them  are not there by chance. They all in one way or another deliberately foreshadow and point forward to the ultimate rescue which Jesus is about to undertake here in Mark's gospel: as the New Testament puts it, 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners'.

2. Clues from the control which Jesus demonstrates in the events leading up to his death. Here, Jesus appears to have supernatural advance knowledge as he instructs his disciples to watch out for 'a man carrying a jar of water' (v13). Elsewhere, as commentators point out, he predicts both Peter's denial and Judas' betrayal.

Jeremy McQuoid writes: 'Jesus is not the unfortunate victim of circumstance as He approaches the cross. He is fully aware that he is laying down his life for the sins of the world'. That's because the Bible is not here reporting a series of random events  it is unveiling the final denouement of a story that has been unfolding gradually from its very earliest pages. No wonder 'they found everything as he had told them' (v16).

3. Clues from a remark Jesus makes almost in passing. As Jesus and his friends sit down to eat (about which we will think more next time), he comment, almost as a throwaway line, that 'the Son of Man goes as it is written of him' (v21). In those few words Jesus not only once again takes an Old Testament title from Daniel 7 (the 'Son of Man') and applies it to himself, but also claims once again that the Hebrew Scriptures were in fact pointing to him all along. It turns out that the story of the Bible was not after all about humanity's search for God  but about God coming in search of us.

Of course, the point of understanding all these things is not to gain more knowledge of what happened in our heads but to develop a greater knowledge of a person in our hearts. With most books, only a few readers ever get to meet the author. With the Bible, the whole point of the exercise is that the author is desperate to meet us, in person, through what we read. And so right now he waits, with love and open arms, for our response.

David Baker is a former daily newspaper journalist now working as an Anglican minister in Sussex, England. Find him on Twitter @Baker_David_A
Rage for Grenfell Tower?: It's very Christian

A Day of Rage for Grenfell Tower? How unChristian, some say. We should be about prayer and positivity, not anger.

Sorry, but I don't buy it. My Bible is full of denunciations of wickedness. Never mind the prophets and all that 'Woe to the bloody city' stuff, here are the words of God in Exodus: 'Do not take avantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I wil kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless' (22:22-24). Enough rage there?

And what about Jesus in the Temple?

Those who lived in Grenfell Tower were not all widows and orphans, though rather more of them are now. They were not wealthy and influential, though, and that made them vulnerable  the point of the Exodus commandment.

I understand why some people are criticising the idea of a Day of Rage. No one wants to see violence. There's a risk that anger will degenerate into scapegoating, with individuals singled out and unfairly blamed. And I understand the reaction against the 'it must be someone's fault' culture that can't bear to think that terrible things just happen. In a society that can no longer find solace in the idea that tragedy is the will of God, it becomes even more important to find a human culprit. It's not always possible.

And I understand why survivors don't want the tragedy politicised by people with agendas that don't seem to relate to theirs, and feel cynically used rather than supported.

But do the advocates of prayer, candlelit vigils, 'just being with' people and a ministry of encouragement really not get it? Rage is just as much a human emotion as grief, and it's just as justifiable. We don't like it and we don't trust it because it's uncontrollable. Rage breaks things. Rage is dangerous. Grief is acceptable.

However: there's plenty to be enraged about. Just how much, we don't yet know. But there are plenty of indications already that the victims of the Grenfell Tower did not, in fact, die because they were unlucky; they died because they were poor. Because of their poverty and lack of influence, their homes were a death-trap.

We already know that the Government and managers were warned repeatedly about fire safety. We know that campaigners for fire safety were threatened with legal action. We know that fire-resistent cladding could have been fitted for a tiny additional cost.

And if, as it will probably turn out, those homes met the legal minimum standards for fire safety, that makes it worse. This thing was not done by criminals; it was done by accountants. And when that happens, rage is an entirely appropriate, proportional response.

Rage against a society that values people by how much they earn.

Rage against a culture that aquiesces in monstrous inequality.

Rage against powerlessness.

That sort of rage is biblical. And yes, it breaks things, and it's dangerous.

And that's why I really hope there are Christians taking part in the Day of Rage this afternoon. I think we should be enraged, because rage can drive change.

But it can also be just rage, and that's another reason I hope there are Christians there. Rage can lead to pointless violence. Police and anyone official become targets of hatred. All the darkness of the human soul is unleashed. That rage is just another manifestation of the evil it's directed against.

Christian rage is different. It's not hatred. It's against wrongdoing, not wrongdoers. It is based on compassion for the victims, and it goes hand in hand with committed ministry to them. It strives, as far as possible, to reflect the pure anger of God rather than the corrupted anger of human beings. And that's why I hope there are Christians there, with crosses and dog collars as well as Socialist Worker Party placards: because Christians are peacemakers too, and part of our role is to redeem rage.

But should we be enraged about Grenfell Tower? Pray and light candles, by all means: but yes, we should.

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
Son describes his Christian father being shot dead by Islamists after refusing to renounce his faith

The wife and son of a Coptic Christian who was among a group of 29 killed and 24 maimed while traveling to amonastery in southern Egypt have described the brutal killings by Islamist extremists and their aftermath.

The interview with Reuters follows the atrocity last month when Islamic State terrorists ambushed the group, which included Adel Habib.

Habib's widow and son described life in their Christian village, Dayr Jarnous, where seven people were killed and where Habib's family still lives.

Local residents told Reuters that the Egyptian government has done nothing to help the victims' families or to ensure that similar attacks on Christians will not happen again.

Habib's two sons, Mina, 10, and Marco, 14, were with their father when he was killed. Mina said it was a miracle that he and his older brother were spared.

Habib and his sons were in a pickup truck headed to the monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor when Islamic State militants confronted them. Just a little further up the road, they could see the bloodied bodies of slain Christians who had gone ahead of them strewn across the desert street.

'We saw dead people, just dumped on the ground,' Mina recalled.

'They asked my father for identification then told him to recite the Muslim profession of faith. He refused, said he was Christian. They shot him and everyone else with us in the car,' he said.

Mina, who estimated that there were around 15 gunmen, says he doesn't know why he and his brother  both Christians  were spared.

'They saw us in the back of the truck,' he said. 'They made us get down and a man wearing camouflage like the army pointed his gun at us, but another one in all black told him to let us go. Every time they shot someone they would yell "God is great".'

Mina, who rarely leaves home these days, is receiving therapy at a local church. Marco has sought his own form of therapy as well, making frequent visits to a local monastery to read the Bible and pray. In fact, Marco wasn't available to be interviewed because he was at the monastery when reporters visited his home.

On the day of the attack, Marco Habib called his mother, Hanaa Youssef, as soon as he and Mina were safe.

'I first thought it was someone trying to take the truck, I never thought it would be terrorism,' Youssef told Reuters. 'My husband has been going to the monastery for 25 years and nothing like this had ever happened.'

Now, Youssef says she only allows her boys out of the house for therapy and church.

The government has offered the Habib family nothing in the way of therapy or security in the weeks since the attack. Village residents told Reuters that they fear they are vulnerable to another attack and want President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to keep his promise to protect Christians.

'Security, the government, and the army are negligent. No one protects us other than God. It is known that Christians are not protected in this country,' Kirolos Ishak, a university student whose father was also killed by the Islamic State that day, told Reuters.

In recent months, multiple attacks on Egypt's Coptic Christians have left about 100 dead.

Egypt's Copts, who make up about 10 per cent of the population, supported Sisi, who promised to crack down on Islamist militants and protect Christians. But many Christians feel that the government has fallen short of that promise.

'Our Muslim neighbors say "you chose Sisi" but ever since he came to power we are the ones who have suffered, not them,' Youssef said. 'Churches and people have been attacked, people have been kidnapped, we are suffering.'

Additional reporting by Reuters.
A tribal woman in Assam's Biswanath district has filed a case against UP CM Yogi Adityanath and BJP MP Ram Prasad Sarma for sharing her objectionable photo which was clicked during a protest 10 years ago.

By India Today Web Desk: A tribal woman in Assam's Biswanath district has filed a case against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath and Assam Lok Sabha MP Ram Prasad Sarma for sharing her nude photo on social media.

The photograph was taken 10 years ago during a protest in Guwahati.

Laxmi Orang has filed a complaint in the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) the Information Technology Act.

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INDIA TODAY MAGAZINE: Is CM Adityanath weighed down by Hindutwa baggage and trying too much too soon?

"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," Orang said referring to her participating in an agitation in Guwahati in 2007.

"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?" she questioned.

WANT JUSTICE FOR HER: MP RAM PRASAD SARMA

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.

(With inputs from PTI)

ALSO READ:

Yogi Adityanath gives Uttar Pradesh bureaucracy the jitters

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--- ENDS ---
Theresa May: I'm Not Afraid To Tell Trump He's Wrong

Prime Minister Theresa May is not afraid to tell Trump when he says something wrong, she insisted on Sunday.

The two world leaders are due to meet in Washington on Friday, making the UK Prime Minister the first world leader to meet him since he was sworn in as President.

In an interview with the BBC she said she would use to opportunity to discuss a US-UK trade deal as well as NATO and defeating terror.

May, who is Britain's second female premier, made the comments after thousands of women marched in London on Saturday to protest about Trump's attitude to women, joining demonstrations held from Australia and Asia to continental Europe and Washington.

"I've already said that some of the comments that Donald Trump has made in relation to women are unacceptable, some of those he himself has apologised for," May told the BBC.

"When I sit down (with Trump) I think the biggest statement that will be made about the role of women is the fact that I will be there as a female prime minister ... Whenever there is something that I find unacceptable I won't be afraid to say that to Donald Trump."

The meeting on Friday will be an opportunity for May, who initially struggled to build relations with Trump's team, to discuss what has long been called the "special relationship" between London and Washington, a pillar of British foreign policy.

But the visit will also be clouded by his perceived attitude towards women, including a boast in a 2005 video about grabbing women's genitals, which prompted the wave of mass protests on Saturday.
US evangelical leaders call for urgent prison reform

Leading US evangelicals and Christian prison reform advocates have released a 'Justice Declaration' outlining plans to 'fix the criminal justice system'.

The US Christian ministry The Prison Fellowship yesterday released its prison reform ambitions in its Justice Declaration, according to the Washington Times. The declaration calls for a 'fair and redemptive' justice system, rooted in 'biblical truth', and has been signed by about 100 Christian leaders in the US.

'We have a criminal justice system that does not stop crime, but in many cases actually furthers crime  making criminals out of those who are not yet criminals [and] ignoring those who have been victims of crime,' said Russell Moore, leading Southern Baptist and president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, at a news conference at Washington DC's National Press Club.

'I think most of us in American life can agree our criminal justice system doesn't work the way it's supposed to. We should fix it. And, as evangelical Christians, we should be among the first to say so.'

The declaration was also backed by Leith Anderson, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals. He said: 'The time has come to fix our criminal justice system. The Justice Declaration is a call for us to do our part. What we need is concerted action.'

The declaration highlighted that at present 2.2 million prisoners are being held across the US, more than in China, Russia or any other nation in the west. It called the situation a 'crisis of overcriminalization'.

James Ackerman, Prison Fellowship's CEO, said that 'Our country's overreliance on incarceration fails to make us safer or to restore people and communities who have been harmed.'

One prison reform advocate spoke from his own personal experience of incarceration at a young age, and a redemptive journey from drug dealing to church ministry.

'This declaration is so powerful. It's so needed. And as the body of Christ, we can change a community and change our nation,' said Dimas Salaberrios, now a pastor of New York's Infinity Bible Church. 'I'm living proof that when you grab somebody out of the pits of hell and you turn their life around, they can be great contributors to society.'
WATCH: Disturbing footage shows heroic Christian aid worker rescuing young girl from Islamists in Iraq

A Christian former special forces operative who now works as an aid worker was recently caught on camera saving ayoung girl from Islamic State gunfire in Mosul, Iraq.

The act of bravery came from David Eubank, 56, the founder of the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a group dedicated to helping pro-Democracy organisations in conflict zones such as Burma or Iraq.

Eubank, who is also a husband and father of three, joined the special forces team when he was 18, but after 10 years decided that he needed 'the freedom to go where God was leading' according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Times reported that when a Burmese Bible group asked Eubank's missionary parents for help, they turned to their son. 'The Burmese said they were a warrior people, and they needed someone like that. My parents called me up and asked what I thought,' Eubank said. 'I figured I could go and even if I helped only one person, at least they would be happy and I would be happy.'

In due course, Eubank and his wife Karen moved to Burma full time where he founded FBR, which over the last two years has focused its efforts on assisting those who are affected by Islamic State, deploying with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Mosul, and delivering aid in places ravaged by jihadis such as Syria and Iraq.

'This is one of the starkest and most desperate situations in the world. And with ISIS, it doesn't feel melodramatic to say it's evil,' said Hosanna Valentine of FBR.

The efforts of Eubank and FBR in Iraq saving the young girl were captured on video, which begins with Eubank and two unidentified Iraqi military members taking cover behind a tank as close gunfire can be heard.

In the disturbing footage, Eubank then leans out to survey the scene, and quickly runs out into an area littered with corpses. Against the backdrop of cover gunfire, Eubank snatches up a 5-year-old girl and quickly returns with the child under his right arm.

Content warning: this footage is disturbing

'I thought, "If I die doing this, my wife and kids would understand",' said Eubank.

Eubank says that the work that he does is driven by his Christian faith. On the FBR website, Eubank quotes Luke 4:18, which reads: 'He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.'

He added: 'I believe God sent me here, and I don't think about security ... but I always ask myself if I'm doing it out of pride.'
This morning the Queen set out the governments agenda for the next Parliament and some charity leaders said the sector can still play an important role in shaping legislation, while others said that today's speech was a "wasted opportunity".

Most of the legislation announced in the speech concerns the withdrawal of the European Union.

But there were some non-legislative measures that will be of interest to parts of the sector, such as the recommitment to international aid spending, measures to address domestic violence, counterterrorism, prioritising mental health and a consultation on the future of social care.

Briefing notes published with the speech shows the government intends to work with charities to develop the digital charter. It also plans to consult charities on the armed forces covenant.

As part of the aim to tackle the gender pay gap and end discrimination the briefing paper said: We are promoting the use of social enterprises which support disabled people, both through increasing the use of the Social Value Act 2012 in central government procurement, and through the development of the wider Industrial Strategy.

The Queens Speech was put forward by the Conservative Party, which does not have an overall majority in the House of Commons and is still in talks with the Democratic Unionist Party over a "confidence and supply" arrangement.

The House of Commons will meet at 2.30pm to start debating the contents of the Speech, the debates will continue for six sitting days, finishing on Thursday 29 June. Proposed amendments to the Speech will be considered on Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 June.

The government has extended the length of the Parliament from one year to two years to deal with Brexit.

NCVO: 'Could help charities influence Brexit'

In a blog on NCVO's website, Chris Walker, senior public affairs consultant, wrote: "Its clear that the failure of the Conservatives to secure a majority in the election is going to make this a tough parliamentary session for the government, where they will have to fight tooth and nail to get their agenda through. This means that there are big opportunities for charities to influence both the terms of debate and the legislation that is passed."

Acevo: We will make sure issues are not ignored

An Acevo spokesman said: The Queen's Speech was more notable for what was not said and what was not addressed. It is clear the government is focused on Brexit. It is important, however, that other issues at home and abroad do not go ignored. We will look to work with government to ensure that this is the case.

Charity Finance Group: Be aware of legislation that can impact you

Andrew OBrien, head of policy and engagement at CFG, said: As expected, this Queens Speech is very tightly focused, given the uncertainty around Brexit and the minority government. However, charities need to be aware that although the government may be weakened, it will still have passing legislation that will have an impact on their operations.

Charities should particularly pay attention to the Immigration Bill, the International Sanctions Bill and the proposed Countering Extremism Commission.

On the Immigration Bill, around 5 per cent of our workforce comes from the EU and it is important that the new immigration system does not prevent charities from accessing top talent or tie up organisations in red tape or increase costs for hiring staff.

On sanctions, UK charities have been at the forefront of efforts to help people in Syria, Sudan and Somalia and the sanctions regime has made this challenging. CFG is working with charities to improve this framework and this Bill is a chance to reform the rules so that charities are able to respond quickly and effectively to humanitarian situations. Charities must seize this opportunity.

Finally on countering extremism, the Home Office had already proposed to carry out a review into entryism of public bodies, businesses and charities by extremists, and this is likely to be a focus of the new Commission. There is a risk that efforts to combat extremism will increase regulation for charities and charities need to be watch developments carefully. Given the latest Charities Act already has increased the Charity Commissions power substantially, including on terrorism, we would caution against any further powers or regulations on the sector while these reforms bed in.

Navca: 'Wasted opportunity to address the real issues'

Neil Cleeveley, chief executive of Navca, said: Many in the local voluntary sector will be concerned about what is missing from the Queens Speech rather than whats in it. As a society we have major issues to address around inequality and community cohesion. We also face an unprecedented squeeze on the services that local communities rely on such as health and education.

"Many of our public services are at breaking point and it is local charities that are rooted in local communities to which people turn. There is nothing in this Queens Speech for them. It is a wasted the opportunity to confront the real issues facing communities across the country.

Many warned that Brexit would all-consuming for the government, and so it is proving. It appears the interests local charities and the people and local communities they serve are being pushed into the background.

Social Enterprise UK: 'Should have strengthened the Social Value Act'

Peter Holbrook, chief executive of Social Enterprise UK said: The Conservative Government missed an opportunity in a Brexit focused Queens Speech by not announcing a stronger Social Value Act. With us leaving the EU there is an opportunity for the Act to be used more widely, helping drive local economic growth and build a fairer economy.

"A commitment to strengthen the Act was also in the Lib Dem manifesto and would have probably received their support. Nevertheless, we think there is an opportunity for the government to hold an independent review of the Act which draws on experience from the private, public and social enterprise sectors.

Small Charities Coalition: 'We need a commitment to listen to small charities'

John Barrett, chief executive of Small Charities Coalition, said: "The Queen's Speech today showed that the next two years will be dominated by Brexit, and it is vital that small charities' voices are heard in the debate. Whether this surrounds concerns about funding or freedom of movement, or more broadly around their work bringing communities together.

"We are concerned that without a commitment to hearing small charities, their voices could easily be lost in these important decisions. We encourage the government to create a specific engagement strategy with small, community organisations."

CAF: 'Disappointing that there was no acknowledgement of the role of charities'

Steve Clapperton, campaigns manager at the Charities Aid Foundation said:That Brexit continues to dominate the political landscape is no surprise. However, whilst citing the need for government to work with devolved administrations and businesses, it is disappointing that there was no explicit acknowledgement of the role that charities can  and should  be given in ensuring that their beneficiaries are given a voice during the Brexit process.

Domestically, the Queens Speech sets out an agenda for the government that can only succeed with the close involvement of Britains charities. Plans to end discrimination, reform mental health provision and tackle domestic violence must be developed in partnership with the charities that do so much to address these social challenges on a daily basis.

However, the reality is that todays Queens Speech only goes some way to lifting the shroud of uncertainty cast over British politics by recent events and government alone can only do so much. We know that the country remains divided; government must put charities at the heart of their agenda and use the unique experience and expertise that charities have to strengthen our society at home and our international relationships overseas.

Responses on Twitter

Great to see ongoing commitment to 0.7% aid in #QueensSpeech  vital that this is spent tackling poverty, especially amongst women & girls  ActionAid UK (@ActionAidUK) June 21, 2017

Consultation on #SocialCare announced in the #QueensSpeech. Disabled people are a third of social care users, reform must work for them. pic.twitter.com/JpC7xrEmTS  Scope (@scope) June 21, 2017

Relieved to hear in #QueensSpeech that Government's consultation on #socialcare will be brought forward. But will have to await proposals  Age UK Campaigns (@ageukcampaigns) June 21, 2017
The axe fell at HuffPost the other day. The news site laid off dozens of staffers, in what has became a painful, disruptiveand depressingly familiarritual of online journalism. In recent months, layoffs have hit digital media particularly hard, as the limits of online advertising have become clear.

But the HuffPost cuts came with a twist: 39 of the laid-off staffers were represented by the Writers Guild of America East, meaning they were covered by a union contract. As a result, the discharged workersone-fifth of the 200 WGAE members at HuffPosthave been promised a package that includes severance pay and continued health benefits.

HuffPost isnt an anomaly, an island of union solidarity in the go-it-alone world of New York journalism. Over the past two years, online newsrooms have organized at a pace that would have made the Newspaper Guilds legendary co-founder, Heywood Broun, beam with pride. Organizing is the hip new thing to do, says Mike Elk, who was a labor writer at Politico, which he unsuccessfully sought to organize, and now edits a newsletter that tracks labor activism in the south.

ICYMI: Two dozen freelance journalists told CJR the best outlets to pitch

News unions are back. They never really went away, of course, but for the first time in memory they are proactive rather than on the defensive. They are strong on promoting diversity and editorial independence, and often provide impressive raises, but tend to skimp on traditional worker protectionsovertime pay and even just-cause firingbecause they arent seen as that important to the new generation of newspeople.

Organizing is the hip new thing to do.

Seniority in layoffs tends to go by the wayside. It did at HuffPost. Its three-year contract, ratified in January 2017, did not require that layoffs take place in reverse order of seniority, a traditional union demand that protects employees from bosses targeting higher-paid workers during downsizings. Not surprisingly, the ranks of the discharged in the recent layoff included longtime, presumably better-paid staffersincluding the reporter who won HuffPosts only Pulitzer Prize.

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The staffs that have opted for union representation since mid-2015, mostly with the WGAE, are a long roster of largely new-media outfits: Gawker, Fusion, and The Root, Salon, Vice, MTV News, ThinkProgress, The Guardian US, Jacobin, The Intercept, Thrillist and, most recently, Slate and the newly merged DNAInfo/Gothamist. HuffPost recognized the WGAE in early 2016. At Law360, a union drive by the NewsGuild (the renamed Newspaper Guild) was spurred by outrage over noncompete agreements staffers were required to sign, which forced one staffer out of a new job at Reuters. In just the past few days, the staff of the Washington-based online news site Raw Story petitioned the owners for voluntary recognition of the NewsGuild.

Breaking: In email to staff, Fusion says unionization "would not be beneficial for you or Fusion." Update coming. pic.twitter.com/C7DjnxihFq  Cora Lewis (@cora) October 5, 2016

This sudden spurt of union activity is a surprise, given the beleaguered reputation of newspaper unions, which have seen their ranks plummet as employment has fallen. Staffers at the Village Voice, represented by a UAW local, are fighting hard against management demands for cutbacks and concessions, and have launched a crowdfunding campaign in the event the newspapers employers are forced to strike.

ICYMI: Viral story shows media needs to play better defense

Young people realize how volatile the field of journalism is, and I think they have a desire to be more protected, says Grant Glickson, who last year was elected president of the New York NewsGuild local. A lot of these places try to work them to death, theyre not respecting the overtime laws. They recognize the value of organizing.

In a sense, the new generation of union activists is giving their bosses an intense course in Management 101. People have the same sort of issues, says Hamilton Nolan, who played a pivotal role in Gawkers organizing. They want fair pay, they want transparency in pay, they want a system of raises and promotions thats rational, they want diversity, workplace communication. Those kinds of things are the basic building blocks of normal companies that a lot of places in our industry lacked, because it was such a young industry. Even after beginning to record serious revenues, that process of becoming normal companies never really materialized. They hadnt really made that transition to being real companies, still sort of run in a sort of wacky, slapdash way, says Nolan.

Or to put it more cynically, young news employees are bearing the brunt of their employers incompetence, and theyre wearying of it. This is a whole generation of young people who were basically sold a lie, says Nastaran Mohit, the NewsGuild organizer who worked with Law360 staffers. They were going to good schools and get good jobs. Then they enter the job market and they see how grim the prospects are, especially for journalists. Staff turnover is so high that by the time theyre 25 theyve worked for two or three different news sites. The precarity they face, the constant precarity. you constantly see digital news sites sprout up and shed 50 jobs, a hundred jobs.

The old paradigm of tired print-media unions and apathetic, even anti-union staffs was still holding fast in January 2015, when The Washington Post published an article that described the grim prospects for online newsroom organizing. Under the headline Why Internet Journalists Dont Organize, the story listed all the familiar reasons why the non-union status quo was holding firm. Among them were the Guilds weaknesses after years of newspaper closings and a shift in identity, with a generation of younger workers less familiar with unions whove built personal brands that they can transfer to other media companies.

It was as if The Post article had thrown down a gauntlet, because it swiftly became obsolete. Younger workers do work hard to build their personal brands. But there is a growing recognition that building a Twitter following wont put bread on the table, or alleviate the 24/7 demands of workplaces in which journalists are expected to be on call even when off-duty.

The first online newsroom to go union was Gawker, then reeling under an ultimately lethal legal assault by wrestler Hulk Hogan. Nolan, a veteran of the Gawker staff now at Gizmodo, says he was chatting with a WGAE organizer about unionizing efforts at Vice, an online organ he had written about in the past. During the course of our conversation, it was like Why not try organizing us? Nolan recalls. The organizer set up a meeting at the WGAE headquarters on Hudson Street in Manhattan. Invitations were sent out on Facebook.

He had no idea of the kind of turnout hed get. In his effort to organize Politico for the NewsGuild a few months earlier, Mike Elk rarely got more than four or five people to show up at meetings. For the Gawker meeting, about 40 people stopped by. And unlike Law360 this was not a restless, overworked staff. Most people really liked working at Gawker, Nolan says. It was a pretty happy workplace, but there were still issues that people had. In contrast to the secrecy that usually shrouds union organizing drives, Gawker staffers openly debated possible union affiliation, beginning with an article Nolan wrote on Gawker a day after the meeting, Why Weve Decided to Organize.

It was a canny move consistent with Gawkers philosophy of radical transparency, breathing oxygen into the organizing drive. A vote was held by secret ballot in early June, and in the days preceding it there was a lively debate among the staffheld in public, in the comment section of a brief article that was published on May 28. The vote went overwhelmingly for the union.

Some 90% of the editorial staff at Slate voted to #unionize with the Writers Guild of America East #1u https://t.co/vMXDUbQZV3  Vicki Flores ??? (@organizing_lab) March 21, 2017



The Writers Guilds success at Gawker opened the floodgates. The Gawker unionizing made people realize it was not so impossible, says Elk, who runs a Southern labor publication called Payday Report. Salon quickly followed. The Guardian US chose to affiliate with the News Media Guild, a NewsGuild local and successor to the old Wire Service Guild, but most of the other newsrooms went with the WGAE.

Though overall union membership has plummeted to just 10.7 percent of the work force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as compared with 20 percent when the BLS started its survey in 1983, people in their twenties tend to be more pro-union than their older peers. A Pew Research Center survey in 2015 found that 55 percent of people aged 18 to 29 have a favorable view of unions, as compared to 46 percent for people 30 and over. Labor unions reputation as stodgy defenders of the status quoepitomized in the 1970s by union construction workers battling anti-war studentsis fast fading into history, as are the devastating newspaper strikes of years past.

The union campaigns are also aided by heightened employee political awareness. Millennials havent lived in a world in which income inequality hasnt been a problem. They see unions as a way to deal with that, says Megan McRobert, who organizes online newsrooms for the WGAE. The unions president, Lowell Peterson, notes that we have a workforce that is very thoughtful about environmentalism and feminism, about things like Black Lives Matter, and since the election the concept of resistance.

Historically, news unions have received the least-hostile reception at liberal newspapers, such as the pre-Murdoch New York Post, which in 1935 was the first New York newspaper to sign a Newspaper Guild contract. Mohit says that while shes gotten interest from across the political spectrum, conservative outlets are the ones that usually dont go anywhere. You can imagine that if youre an employee working at a conservative news site, looking to improve your working conditions, you would assume that none of your colleagues want to join that effort. The ground is considerably more fertile at The Nation, which has had NewsGuild representation for years, and at Jacobin, a socialist publication that was recently organized by the NewsGuild. They were very happy with working conditions but were doing it to codify and secure working conditions and make a statement, she says.

The preponderance of more liberal news organs among the organized has hit the radar screen of the right. Breitbart News noted tartly in April that liberal digital media companies are threatened by the policies they support. Their very survival, Breitbart suggested, is in jeopardy as a result. Thats debatable, but theres no question that the whiff of a union can bring out the capitalist in the most progressive website owner.

After a card checka gauge of union sentiment under federal labor lawfound that Law360 employees overwhelmingly favored Guild representation, management hired an anti-union consultant and a law firm, and called employees to hour-long meetings in which they were lectured on the perils of union membership. The union-bashing sessions were on company time, irritating reporters worried about hitting their daily story quotasthemselves part of a heavy workload that was one of their principal complaints. They threw the book at us, recalls Taylor Arluck, a Law360 union activist. There was fear of retaliation, that they would break us.

This isn't how union negotiations work. For context, Gawker secured 3% raises while facing a major lawsuit. pic.twitter.com/CgqNkqbEOW  Jessica Schulberg (@jessicaschulb) December 16, 2016



Nolan cites anti-union campaigns at other newsrooms and said that contract talks at the liberal icon HuffPost werent easy. They had to go through a lot of rigamarole to get there. It wasnt like these super-liberal news outlets were rolling out the red carpet. He notes that Salon, a shining beacon of liberal sentiment, has yet to negotiate a contract despite being one of the first outfits to recognize WGAE.

One of the most aggressive anti-union stances was taken by BuzzFeed. At a company meeting in August 2015, founder and CEO Jonah Peretti told the staff that he didnt think unionization would be the right idea for his employees. Unions, he said, belong on the assembly line but not among the people who work for him. Unionized employees, he asserted, frequently have an adversarial relationship with management, and often delineate job functions in a manner that could inhibit a flexible and dynamic company. The BuzzFeed CEOs comments were published on the website, but unlike Gawker there was no online debate among the staff, and BuzzFeed remains non-union, at least for the moment.

In Shock Move, Company Owner Doesn't Want His Workers To Unionize https://t.co/72KhbGfaDt  Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 14, 2015

The reaction was similarly cool when the WGAE won overwhelming support in a card check at the New York-focused websites Gothamist and DNAInfo in April 2017. DNAInfo, whose staff has been depleted by layoffs, acquired Gothamist in March, and both are now owned by Joe Ricketts, founder and former CEO of TD Ameritrade.

After the card check succeeded, chief operating officer Dan Swarz emailed the staff, reminding them that the site had lost money since DNA launched in 2009: DNAInfo has been supported by a single investor, Joe Ricketts, investing literally tens of millions of dollars of his own money, mostly for pay and benefits, and has never taken a dime out of the business.

It went on like that, casting Ricketts in the role of selfless benefactor, and if staffers didnt quite get the message, they were bopped over the head with the following: Would a union be the final straw that caused the business to be closed? I dont know.

ICYMI: Equipment youll need to start your own podcast

In fact, the nightmare scenario conjured up by Swarzs email seems unrealistic when compared with the actual contracts obtained by the WGAE for online news outfits. Most, in keeping with their members wishes in bargaining surveys, dont have clauses requiring that firings be for just cause, a standard feature of NewsGuild contracts since the fedora-hat era. They dont require time-and-a-half pay for overtime by reporters and editors, allowing comp time instead. Overtime pay is sought by the NewsGuild, and just-cause firings are a must, given the unions long experience with supervisors overworking employees and firing reporters and editors without just causeindeed, sometimes in the past for political reasons, such as with the journos who were let go for invoking the Fifth Amendment during the McCarthy era. As exemplified by HuffPosts contract, WGAE online journalism bargaining agreements also dont require that layoffs proceed in last-in, first-out order of senioritywhich Peterson notes is viewed by members as not a high priority in newsrooms where most staffers tend to have about the same amount of time on the job. In our interview, which was before the HuffPost layoffs, he told me that the WGAE has fought hard against efforts to gut seniority in the past, and that the issue is being monitored. Stay tuned, he said.

The WGAEs brand of flexibility is winning with the rank and file, at least so far. One factor in the competition between the two unions is that the 84-year-old NewsGuild has been on the ropes for decades. In New York, the Guild was forced out of the Daily News and New York Post in the 1990sthough it was never formally decertified from the Daily News, Glickson points out. Hes not sure about the Post. Employees at The New York Times, who are said to comprise about 40 percent of the New York NewsGuild membership, have been working without a contract for over a year and are in the midst of tough bargaining. Glickson and his people also have their hands full at Reuters, where it has been two and a half years without a contract, and management initially insisting on zero raises, since raised to 1% a year set aside from a collective merit pool.

The mood, Mohit says, is shifting away from the bad old days of defensiveness and toward a more aggressive stance. Snagging Law360 was a major coup for the NewsGuild, though contract negotiations have not yet yielded a contract. (Law360 declined a request for an interview. A spokesman said in an email that Law360 and the representatives of the editorial union have had several productive and collaborative discussions over the past few months, and we are optimistic about the process. Beyond that, we cant comment on ongoing collective bargaining negotiations.)

Organizers for both unions are continuing to scope out potential hot shops ripe for organizing.

Organizers for both unions are continuing to scope out potential hot shops ripe for organizing. They are mum on specifics, of course, but the talk among union activists is that BuzzFeed, Politico, and Bloomberg are the outlets unions are most anxious to organize. The latter, noted for its dawn-to-dusk work ethic, is the great white whale of non-union news operations, with a massive staff that has been kept in place by generous pay and discretionary bonuses. Bloombergs BNA subsidiary has NewsGuild representation, but the mother ship has been resistant for decades. Mohit keeps a copy of the Bloomberg Way corporate bible in her office, much like an Allied general with a photo of Erwin Rommel on the wall.

In an effort to win over the new generation of news employees, NewsGuild is offering periodic networking events and digital video training classes. The WGAE has show-biz glam on its side, representing screenwriters as well as broadcasters and TV writers, such as the staff of PBSs Frontline. Writers from The Daily Show have been brought in to talk to newsroom staffers about the advantages of union membership and were happy to do it, says Peterson. The NewsGuild has the old-media prestige factor. Arluck says that the NewsGuilds representation of the gold standard of journalism like the Times nudged him in that direction.

The layoffs at HuffPost, by not protecting staff seniority, show there is a lot to be said for the NewsGuilds more orthodox approach. By shedding traditional protections, WGAE members are working against their own interestsif indeed they plan to remain in some of these jobs for the long-term. Just as theyre educating their inexperienced managers, these new union activists are also educating themselves about the hard facts of labor relations. And with more layoffs and cutbacks to come, they had better learn fast.

ICYMI: The New York Times reporter who tweets like its going out of style

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Gary Weiss is a New York-based investigative journalist and author, reachable via Twitter @gary_weiss.
A few weeks ago, the columnists for Politico Playbook alerted readers about a big exclusive.

SCOOP, they tweeted. Trump hosting Capitol Hill Republicans.

The same day, the Playbook team tweeted another exclusive: They had discovered that many reporters wanted to cover the testimony of former FBI Director James Comey, which was then three days away.

SCOOP: Comey's testimony the hottest ticket in town https://t.co/2VZG6ulLN8 pic.twitter.com/26MLr9pkwE  POLITICO Playbook (@playbookplus) June 5, 2017

Never mind that these stories could rightly be classified as no duh. In the hyperkinetic world of modern journalism, any speck of news counts as an exclusive. And in a business where exclusivity drives Web traffic and Web traffic determines success, journalists are expected to brag.

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Everybody is fighting for attention, says Jake Sherman, the co-author of Playbook. We want to call attention to our work.

ICYMI: Two dozen freelance journalists told CJR the best outlets to pitch

Politico and Axios, a new organization started by Politico veterans Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, account for a large share of the scoop-mania. In an interview, Sherman says thats a reflection of VandeHeis direction that we shouldnt be bashful about the work we do. We should be proud and willing to promote it.

The bragging mostly occurs on Twitter, but some organizations have even taken to putting scoop in their headlines. (Axios: Scoop: Top GOP senators urge Trump to exit Paris climate deal.)

The relentless self-promotion is a change from the days when reporters and editors waited for other news organizations to determine what was a legitimate exclusive. Scoop has become as overused as BREAKING NEWS, which is deployed even when there are no new developments, diminishing its value on truly big stories.

ICYMI: This is a whole generation of young people who were basically sold a lie

Today, it seems everyone is boastingreporters at big organizations (New York Times reporter Rachel C. Abrams: Scoop: Details of Ivanka Trumps trust show just how much power she has kept over her brand) as well as smaller upstarts (Axios Business Editor Dan Primack: Scoop: UTIMCO names new CEO.)

Occasionally the reporters actually have significant stories. Politico reporter Tara Palmeri rightly trumpeted SCOOP: Trump deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh moving to outside political groups. The Wall Street Journals Shane Harris had a good one when he bragged, Scoop: Trump gives CIA back the authority to do lethal drone strikes, reversing Obama.

Others may have genuine local appeal, such as a Rhode Island reporters tweet: SCOOP: House Speaker Paul Ryan visiting RI this week. But much of the bragging is about incremental developments so small they barely warrant a news brief.

Scoop: John Kasich launches TV ad blitz in NH, Philip Rucker of The Washington Post tweeted during the campaign. Debut spot is bio-heavy with a Never Give Up theme.

Or SCOOP: Obamas digital veterans are banding together for new group to invest in tech that can help progressives win, from Tony Romm of Recode.

Or SCOOP!! Mnuchin Said to Focus on Currencies as G-20 Girds for Trump Era, from Bloomberg reporter Saleha Mohsinan exclusive that apparently was so big it warranted TWO exclamation points.

ICYMI: The New York Times reporter who tweets like its going out of style

Sherman defends the bragging because he says some audiences hunger for the most tiny development. The information marketplace is different and people are following news in a way they never have. Maybe 10 Republicans going to the White House isnt on the front page of The New York Times, but it matters to our readers.

Yet some reporters remain more modest. Michael S. Schmidt, the New York Times reporter who broke the story that President Trump urged Comey to drop the Michael Flynn investigation, tweeted, NEWS: Trump told Comey to stand down on Flynn investigation, 1st evidence Trump tried to influence Russia inquiry.

That was newsand a scoop.

ICYMI: Equipment youll need to start your own podcast

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of reporter Tara Palmeri.

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Bill Adair and Hank Tucker are the authors. Adair is the Knight Professor of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University; Tucker is a student at Duke.
They permeate our lives and vanities, but personal care products often bypass safety checks. As a result, a new study finds there has been an increase in the number of reported side effects from cosmetic products in recent years.

From 2015 to 2016, complaints of adverse health events related to cosmetic and personal care products more than doubled. Overall, there were a total of 5,144 adverse events -- however, that number may not be entirely accurate. Researchers suspect many events go unreported.

Hair care products, skin care products, and tattoos were the biggest offenders, according to the analysis, with the most common complaints being hair loss or breakage and local skin irritation. But other serious injuries, including hospitalization and death, were also reported.

Largely self-regulated

Whats behind the sudden increase in the number of reported adverse events? Most likely the FDAs investigation of WEN hair products in 2014, the researchers say.

At that time, the FDA had received only 127 complaints of hair and scalp problems related to the WEN by Chaz Dean Cleansing Conditioners. But once the investigation was underway, the agency discovered the manufacturer had received about 21,000 consumer complaints.

The self-regulatory nature of the cosmetic industry makes it harder for the FDA to get harmful cosmetics off the shelves, explained the study's lead author Dr. Steven Xu.

A personal care product can land a spot on store shelves without permission from the FDA -- no pre-approval required. And since manufacturers arent legally required to report adverse health events to the FDA, unsafe products often remain on the market.

What to do

In an interview with Fortune, Xu said hes not saying we need clinical trials for every cosmetic product. Im not an alarmist. The message isnt, cosmetics are unsafe, throw away your shampoos and conditioners.

But our system is very reactionary, he said. This is problematic, especially for new product classes, such as cell therapy or skin lightening creams, which dont need approval before entering the market.

The point of the paper, said Xu, is to highlight the need for better data and reporting of health complaints.

The FDA encourages consumers to report any adverse events stemming from cosmetic or personal care products. Additionally, consumers should read labels and be sure to use caution when trying a new product.

The full study is published in the journal JAMA International Medicine.
The cause of the death of Zafar Khan, who was thrashed by Pratapgarh civic officials after he objected to their clicking photos of women defecating in the open, is yet to be ascertained.

By India Today Web Desk: Was CPI(ML) member Zafar Khan lynched to death allegedly by Rajasthan government officials when he tried to stop them from photographing women defecating in the open? Or did he die of heart attack, as claimed by the post-mortem done by the state government?

Khan's family members and other eyewitnesses have claimed that he was brutally assaulted by Pratapgarh civic officials after he objected to them clicking the pictures of women. In retaliation, municipality employees allegedly kicked, punched and beat Khan with a stick, leading to his death.

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At least four accused - including Commissioner of Nagar Parishad Ashok Jain - have been named in the FIR filed by Khan's brother Noor Mohammed.

On the other hand, a tweet by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje two days later on the morning of June 18 turned Khan's death into a mystery. "The demise of Zafar Khan ji in Pratapgarh is extremely unfortunate. Investigation is on - justice shall prevail," she posted.

RAJE'S CONTROVERSIAL TWEET OVER KHAN's DEATH

In her controversial tweet, Raje also included a link to another tweet by Udaipur Police which said that there was no "scientific evidence" to suggest murder in the case. The post-mortem later said Khan died of heart attack, a report rejected by his family and CPI(ML) leaders.

The final cause of Khan's death will be known only after the Forensic Science Laboratory results and reports of the viscera arrive.

So how did Khan die? The answer lies in at least two videos shot on mobile cameras by Khan's family members, the Pratapgarh municipal officials, and other witnesses present at the spot on June 16 when the 55-year-old was allegedly attacked.

A 13-second excerpt from one of the videos, also available with India Today, shows Zafar arguing with the civic body officials. A number of women and Khan's family members also seem to be present at the spot. But that video stops before any alleged assault on Khan.

There must be a complete video, either with Khan's family or the Pratapgarh civic officials, of the alleged lynching that came close on the heels of the attack on Pehlu Khan in Rajasthan's Alwar district two months ago.

FULL VIDEO CRUCIAL TO ESTABLISH TRUTH

The question is: why isn't anybody coming out with a full video of the incident to establish whether Khan was lynched to death or he died of natural causes?

Apart from establishing the truth behind the case, a complete account of what happened on June 16 is also crucial since it is a part of a larger narrative of public lynchings now becoming a norm in Rajasthan and elsewhere.

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An open letter addressed to Chief Minister Raje by leading social activist Aruna Roy and others says: "...this incident of lynching to death is a part of a whole series that started with Dangawaas, Nagaur on the 14th of May, 2015, when six dalits were brutally attacked and killed by the dominant caste people over a land dispute."

The activists then list at least five such deaths in Rajasthan - Pehlu Khan's being the last - and demand action against the accused, including the state government officials.

A closure on how Zafar Khan died on June 16 will help us understand whether there is indeed a culture of public lynching prevalent in Rajasthan, where even government officials have now joined the vigilante and illegal groups.

Also read | Zafar Khan died of heart attack not lynching, says Rajasthan government citing post mortem report

Also read | Zafar Khan lynching: Civil rights activists in Rajasthan demand justice

Also read | Exclusive: India Today accesses video of Zafar Khan moments before he was lynched

Also read | Raje tweets on Zafar Khan's 'demise', faces flak for condoning lynching

WATCH VIDEO

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--- ENDS ---
06/21/2017

Otto Warmbier, the American college student who spent 17 months in detention in North Korea, has died, his family said Monday. Warmbier was detained at the end of a group tour he booked to North Korea and later sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, allegedly for crimes against the state.

The North Korean regime released him last week to his family, but doctors said he had suffered a severe neurological injury and was not responding to verbal cues. In a public statement, the Warmbier family said the 22-year-old appeared to be at peace in his final days.



He was home and we believe he could sense that, the Warmbiers said. They described their late son, who was the salutatorian of his high school class and a homecoming king, as "a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds."

Travel restrictions

U.S. lawmakers are now considering legislation to discourage Americans from visiting North Korea, which depends on tourism to boost its isolated economy but is also what the Department of State warns is a dangerous destination

Let us state the facts plainly: Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong-un regime, Senator John McCain said in a statement. 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.

Youg Pioneer Tours no longer says North Korea "Extremely Safe!"

Warmbiers release from prison has put fresh scrutiny on Young Pioneer Tours, the company that Warmbier has traveled with.

During Warmbiers detention and even following his release from prison, Young Pioneer Tours continued to market its trips to Americans without referencing Warmbier on their website. The companys website as of last week still claimed that North Korea is Extremely Safe!, among the safest places on earth and Absolutely not! a problem for Americans.

The company has since slightly toned down some of its more bombastic claims about North Korea being safe. Now, the Young Pioneer Tours website says: Despite what you may hear, for most nationalities, North Korea is probably one of the safest places on Earth to visit provided you follow the laws as provided by our documentation and pre-tour briefings.

American tourists no longer allowed

Young Pioneer Tours finally addressed Warmbier in their marketing materials after his death on Monday. Our deepest sympathies are with Otto Warmbier and those who loved him. We had held onto hope that he might recover, and have the life that he should have had, but now those hopes are gone, and we too are reeling with the shock of a young man's life taken well before his time, the companys statement reads.



Warmbiers death has prompted the company to no longer accept Americans on their trips, they added. 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.



The Instagram accounts belonging to the people behind Young Pioneer Tours depicted its leaders partying shortly after Warmbier was detained, but the company says in their new statement that they made constant requests to see him.

US-based tour company says no new American applications allowed

Young Pioneer Tours is not the only company reconsidering its policy for American tourists in the wake of Warmbiers death.



The company New Korea Tours--advertising itself as Most experienced US based DPRK Travel Specialists since 2005--tells ConsumerAffairs that they will no longer accept travel applications from American tourists.



But New Korea Tours did not say whether they would pull Americans from trips that they had already booked. That will be decided on case by case basis, the companys general manager says via email.



Whats more, its not just Americans who experts say face risks when visiting North Korea. Other foreigners are also detained in the country's notoriously brutal prisons. And a British customer who traveled with Young Pioneer Tours in 2013 told ConsumerAffairs Monday that his guide was drunk throughout their trip and that his whole group nearly got detained on their way home.



Other sources told the Washington Post that one tourist--it's not clear which company this tourist was with--did a handstand in front of a mausoleum, an offense that resulted in the local tour guide losing their job. Its just one of the many strict laws that has led officials to deter tourism to the area.



Among other acts apparently banned in North Korea is capturing a photograph of a statue in which its face is covered in snow or not capturing a statue's entire body in a photograph. The general manager of New Korea Tours, the company based in the United States, writes to ConsumerAffairs that photographing a statue covered in snow is not possible as the statues are being cleaned immediately after snowfall.

Additionally, It is prohibited to make photos of the statues not in full height (partial cut-off image). If you make a cut-off shot by mistake, the guide will delete this image, no punishment will follow.

Three Americans currently remain detained in North Korea.
Aston Martin Lagonda of North America is recalling 315 model year 2011-2012 V8 Vantage vehicles.

The vehicles received updated transmission and engine control software which may conflict with the pre-existing clutch settings causing the transmission to act like it has been shifted to neutral.

A transmission that does not operate as intended can increase the risk of a crash.

What to do

Aston Martin will notify owners, and dealers will reinstall clutch system software, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin July 7, 2017.

Owners may contact Aston Martin customer service at 1-866-278-6661. Aston Martin's number for this recall is RA-07-0022.
The Port of Quebec has announced its new park: Place Des Canotiers, located between Rue Dalhousie and the St. Laurence River, in Old Quebec.

The new public square includes green spaces, benches, an art installation, restrooms and a bike path with bike rentals, and is designed to highlight Quebecs maritime history, according to a prepared statement.

The area was previously a parking lot, and is now the largest public space in Old Quebec with nearly 20,000 square meters accessible to residents and visitors.

The Place also offers a 389-space, multi-story indoor parking garage on the north side of the site. Atop the parking garage is an observation deck with sweeping views of the city skyline, cruise ships, and the historic Hotel Chateau Frontenac.

The City of Quebec is proud to inaugurate the very beautiful Place des Canotiers, one of our citys primary gathering places, peaceful respites and spots to relax, said Regis Labeaume, Mayor of Quebec City, who inaugurated the park. This is one of those essential projects for our citys quality of life, restoring user-friendly access to the river for Quebec residents, while offering our maritime guests an exceptional port of entry.

The name of the public square was chosen by residents through a competition, Une place a nommer, held in the spring of 2015.

The total cost for this project was $39 million (CAD). The Government of Quebec invested $26.86 million and the City of Quebec provided $8 million. The Government of Canada contributed $4.14 million under the Major Infrastructure Component of the Building Canada Fund which supports cultural infrastructure.

The City of Quebec plans on expanding the waterfront promenade for about 15 miles, starting from the Quebec Bridge, while the Port of Quebec is set to expand its facilities to accommodate larger ships. The Ports Wharf 30 currently has an investment of $30 million to begin phases of development and expansion as a mobile terminal. The plan, which is estimated to cost about $90 million (CAD), would increase capacity for the Port of Quebec to 400,000 passengers by 2025. In addition, a new dock across the river in Levis was announced last month.
Holland America Lines Linda Springmann is moving into the newly created role of vice president, onboard revenue, according to a company statement.

With this appointment she will engage with the senior leaders of the brand to provide dedicated focus on the prioritized initiatives of Holland America Line related to revenue across its fleet of ships, the company said.

Springmann continues to be based in the cruise lines Seattle headquarters and will report to Paul Goodwin, executive vice president, onboard revenue for Holland America Group, with dual reporting to Holland America Line President Orlando Ashford.

Linda brings to this new position a deep understanding of the Holland America Line business and a significant breadth of experience from more than 30 years with both Holland America Line and Princess Cruises, said Goodwin. Lindas career at our company has been paved with success, and her creative thinking and leadership will continue to contribute to the growth and strategic direction of onboard revenue.

Most recently Springmann was Holland America Lines vice president, deployment and tour marketing. During her three decades with the cruise lines, she has held roles in a variety of areas, including itinerary planning and product marketing for several cruise destinations and most recently for Alaska Land+Sea program.

Springmanns former deployment planning and Alaska planning and analysis teams will now report to Beth Bodensteiner, senior vice president, revenue management and product marketing, with the Alaska marketing team now reporting to Joe Slattery, senior vice president, global marketing and sales. Springmann, a native of Salem, Oregon, received her bachelors degree from Willamette University in Oregon.




A brand is more than a logo, colors, or slogan  its the experience you deliver to members each and every day. A strong brand is essential when it comes to standing out from the crowd.

Yet investing precious resources into brand development makes many credit union leaders anxious. They wonder how to approach the brand process, how to define clear objectives and how to demonstrate the return on investment in their branding efforts to members and boards.

The time and effort it takes to completely overhaul a brand may seem overwhelming and risky, but if done correctly, it can be a rewarding experience for members, employees and credit union leadership. Here are a few tips for credit unions looking to strengthen their brands.

Face your weaknesses

One of the most difficult parts of rebranding is coming to terms with the fact that something needs to be fixed.

A few years ago, our team at Hawaii State Federal Credit Union (Hawaii State FCU) realized that we had an identity issue. We knew we offered great value to our members, but outside our circle of membership, people didnt know who we were. Our brand identity wasnt strong enough to stand out in a sea of local credit unions. We were easily mistaken for our competitors when it came to our logo, the colors we used, and even our name.

Oftentimes, organizations that look inward end up uncovering difficult truths. We decided to face ours head on and make the necessary changes to succeed.

Identify your key driver

When we decided to rebrand, our first goal was to create a brand strategy centered on a key driver  the one quality that defined us as an organization. This key driver would have to have the power to rally staff and members around a common cause.

Our team began by doing a 360-degree brand assessment, which involved interviewing staff, members, and the community. We focused on engaging and listening to our employees, one of our organizations greatest assets. A common conviction that came up in focus groups, on surveys, and in conversations is that our employees truly believe in doing what is right for our members.

We also spoke with members, uncovering stories of how the credit union had supported them unfailingly throughout the years. It was clear that our competitive advantage lay in our relationships with members.

Thus, our motto was born: Always right by you.

Always right by you means that we are always going to be there for our members, through every stage of their lives. It means that we are committed to doing the right thing, treating our members and each other like family. Not only did we define our distinct key driver, we were able to create graphics and collateral that communicated it visually.

Live your new brand

Once our leadership team, board of directors, and employees were on board with the new brand and motto, we set out to make it a part of our members experience. We created key messages that articulated our brand values clearly and authentically, and used them as a roadmap for creating member-facing communications. Visually, our brand evolved from cool, corporate tones to bold, warm and friendly colors, which were carried through at our branches and in our marketing concepts.

Our employees were proud to live our new motto, making member service simpler and more effective. Always right by you became a guide that empowered our team to make consistent decisions every day. We wanted our employees to live the always right by you motto authentically, bringing it to life so our members could feel it, hear it, and experience it. These positive experiences are the gateway to member satisfaction, referrals, retention and loyalty.

The rebrand required a significant initial investment of staff time and capital, but we knew that we would be forgoing short-term gains for long-term success. Four years later, we still see the benefits of the process. Our new brand brought about a cultural shift, and from development to implementation, the entire process instilled pride in our service and our people. From 2013 to 2017, our membership grew 20 percent and employee engagement increased from 85 to 95. Our turnover rate decreased and was consistently lower than the state average.

Many credit unions dont feel there is a need to build their brand or dont believe it is an urgent issue. But when an organization is ready to come to terms with its weaknesses and embody its strengths, it can make all the difference.


The former president of the Oregon Retailers of Cannabis Association pleaded guilty last week to stealing more than $700,000 from a dozen credit unions and a bank.

From January 2014 to July 2016, Nicholas J. Saulsberry, 30, created websites that claimed to be legitimate businesses that were seeking new employees. Job candidates filled out online employment applications that included their Social Security numbers, addresses, dates of birth and other personal information. Saulsberry used this information to open more than 100 credit or loan accounts at 13 financial institutions across the nation, according to federal prosecutors.

When the credit union or bank approved a loan or credit account, Saulsberry directed the financial institutions to send the debit or credit cards to addresses he controlled, which were locked mailboxes that he accessed with keys he made with a key-making device, according to court documents.

After receiving the debit or credit cards, he then used them to withdraw funds via ATMs. Over the web, Saulsberry also transferred funds from one account to another account in some instances.
Talking points:

- Chinese stocks rose while equities in other major Asian countries dropped following A-shares entrance to MSCI indices.

- The USD/CNH pulled back and is testing a major resistance after MSCIs decision.

- Looking for more trade ideas? Review DailyFXs Trading Guides and watch DailyFX webinars.

Chinas Power on Capital Flows

Chinas A-shares have been finally approved to be included in MSCI global indices on Wednesday, after three rejections in 2014 to 2016. Beginning in June 2018, Yuan-denominated shares will be included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the MSCI ACWI Index. 222 Chinese shares will be included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index with a weighing of 0.73%. This may seem to be only a small step for Chinese equities to attract new investors, but it is one giant leap for Chinas financial markets to be recognized globally. Also, MSCIs approval could largely impact capital flows between major Asian countries and economies in the coming periods.

On Wednesday, following the MSCIs decision, Chinese stocks gained: Shanghai Composite Index rose +0.52% and SZSE Composite increased +0.76%. In specific, CSI300, an index including top 300 stocks on both Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges, soared +1.17% and closed at a one-and-half-year high.

On the contrary, indices in other major Asian economies all dropped. Japans Nikkei 225 lost -0.45%, Koreas KOSPI fell -0.49% and Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index dropped -0.57%. The Vice Chairman of Korean Financial Services Commission, Jeong Eun-bo, said on Wednesday that investors may pull out up to 4.3 trillion won ($3.76 billion) funds from Korean stock market after MSCIs approval on Chinas A-shares.

MSCIs recognition is expected to increase the demand in Yuan-denominated shares. Yet, remember China currently maintains capital controls on financial markets; thus, the supply of Chinese stocks available for overseas investors is determined by the pace of China further opening up its markets. The channels for foreign investors to directly purchase Chinese equities are limited right now, such as Shenzhen/Shanghai - Hong Kong Stock Connect, but when China increases those channels, moves similar as what were seen on Wednesday could happen again: investors relocate their funds from other Asian countries to China. This means that with a global recognition, Chinas opening up in its financial markets will not only impact itself, but could largely affect its neighbor countries.

The next major channel that is in the preparation phase is a trading link between London and Shanghai, so called Shanghai-London Stock Connect. UKs divorce with the EU has escalated the process of such an introduction. On Wednesday, the Vice Chairman of Chinas Securities Regulatory Commission Jiang Yang told that the regulator has been making steady progress in preparing the link. MSCIs inclusion set the global stage for China; what shows will be performed on the stage and when they will start are determined by China. Thus, investors will want to keep a close eye on the development of Chinese financial markets.

The Yuan Rate

The MSCI approval led to a pullback in the USD/CNH, falling below the top line of a parallel. Currently, the offshore Yuan pair is still testing the upper bound of this channel. The next level to watch is 6.8436, 100% extension of the March range and 100-day moving average.

USD/CNH 1-day

Prepared by Renee Mu.

To receive reports from Renee Mu, sign up for her distribution list.
Nabors Industries Ltd. provides drilling and drilling-related services for land-based and offshore oil and natural gas wells. The company operates through five segments: U.S. Drilling, Canada Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. It provides tubular running, wellbore placement, directional drilling, measurement-while-drilling (MWD), equipment manufacturing, and rig instrumentation services; and logging-while-drilling systems and services, as well as drilling optimization software. The company also offers REVit, an automated real time stick-slip mitigation system; ROCKit, a directional steering control system; SmartNAV, a collaborative guidance and advisory platform; SmartSLIDE, an advanced directional steering control system; and RigCLOUD, which provides the tools and infrastructure to integrate applications to deliver real-time insight into operations across the rig fleet. In addition, it manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and other drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools; and provides aftermarket sales and services for the installed base of its equipment. As of December 31, 2021, the company marketed approximately 301 rigs for land-based drilling operations in the United States, Canada, and in 20 other countries worldwide; and 29 rigs for offshore platform drilling operations in the United States and internationally. Nabors Industries Ltd. was founded in 1952 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.
Aetna Inc. operates as a health care benefits company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Health Care, Group Insurance, and Large Case Pensions. The Health Care segment offers medical, pharmacy benefit management service, dental, behavioral health, and vision plans on an insured and employer-funded basis. It also provides point-of-service, preferred provider organization, health maintenance organization, and indemnity benefit plans, as well as health savings accounts and consumer-directed health plans. In addition, this segment offers Medicare and Medicaid products and services, as well as other medical products, such as medical management and data analytics services, medical stop loss insurance, workers' compensation administrative services, and products that provide access to its provider networks in select geographies. The Group Insurance segment offers life insurance products, including group term life insurance, voluntary spouse and dependent term life insurance, group universal life insurance, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance; disability insurance products; and long-term care insurance products, which provide the benefits to cover the cost of care in private home settings, adult day care, assisted living, or nursing facilities. The Large Case Pensions segment manages various retirement products comprising pension and annuity products primarily for tax-qualified pension plans. The company provides its products and services to employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates. Aetna Inc. was founded in 1853 and is based in Hartford, Connecticut.
American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc. engages in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of various pharmaceutical and healthcare products. The company primarily provides prescription pharmaceutical products, including Shuanghuanglian Lyophilized Injection Powder under the SHL brand for the treatment of flu symptoms, such as high fever, cough, and sore throat, as well as upper respiratory infections, mild pneumonia, bronchitis, and tonsillitis; and Cease Enuresis Soft Gel under the CE Gel brand to alleviate bedwetting. It also offers over-the-counter pharmaceutical products comprising Cease Enuresis Patch for the treatment of bedwetting and incontinence; Jinji Capsule for the treatment of endometritis, annexitis, and pelvic inflammations; Jinji Yimucao for the treatment of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and other PMS and menopause-related symptoms; and Boke Nasal Spray for the treatment of sinus congestion from common cold, stuffy nose, chronic rhinitis, allergic rhinitis, and nasosinusitis. In addition, the company provides various nutraceutical products, such as soybean peptide based drinks, tablets, powder, and instant coffee. Further, it is involved in the wholesale and retail of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. The company sells its products directly and through distributors to hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, supermarkets, fitness centers, specialty nutraceutical stores, and other retail outlets in the People's Republic of China. American Oriental Bioengineering, Inc. is headquartered in Beijing, China.
Badger Meter, Inc. manufactures and markets flow measurement, quality, control, and communication solutions in the United States, Asia, Canada, Europe, Mexico, the Middle East, and internationally. It offers mechanical or static water meters, and related radio and software technologies and services to municipal water utilities. The company also provides flow instrumentation products, including meters, valves, and other sensing instruments to measure and control fluids going through a pipe or pipeline, including water, air, steam, oil, and other liquids and gases to original equipment manufacturers as the primary flow measurement device within a product or system, as well as through manufacturers' representatives. Its flow instrumentation products are used in water/wastewater, heating, ventilating and air conditioning, and corporate sustainability markets. In addition, the company offers ORION Migratable for automatic meter reading; ORION (SE) for traditional fixed network applications; and ORION Cellular for infrastructure-free fixed network meter reading solution, as well as BEACON advanced metering analytics, a secure cloud-hosted software suite that establishes alerts for specific conditions and allows consumer engagement tools that permit end water customers to view and manage their water usage activity. It also serves water utilities, industrial, and other industries. The company sells its products directly, as well as through resellers and representatives. Badger Meter, Inc. was incorporated in 1905 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The following companies are subsidiares of D.R. Horton: 10700 Pecan Park Austin Inc., 11241 Slater Avenue NE LLC, 2 C Development Company LLC, 8800 Roswell Road Bldg. B LLC, 91st Avenue & Happy Valley L.L.C., ANN & 215 LLC, Austin Data Inc., BP456 Inc., C. Richard Dobson Builders Inc., CH Funding LLC, CH Investments of Texas Inc., CHI Construction Company, CHM Partners L.P., CHTEX of Texas Inc., CV Mountain View 25 Inv LLC, Cane Island LLC, Continental Homes Inc., Continental Homes of Texas L.P., Continental Residential Inc., Continental Traditions LLC, Crown Operating Company Inc., Cypress Road L.P., D.R. Horton - CHAustin LLC, D.R. Horton - Colorado LLC, D.R. Horton - Crown LLC, D.R. Horton - Emerald Ltd., D.R. Horton - Georgia LLC, D.R. Horton - Hawaii LLC, D.R. Horton - Highland LLC, D.R. Horton - Indiana LLC, D.R. Horton - Iowa LLC, D.R. Horton - MV LLC, D.R. Horton - Nebraska LLC, D.R. Horton - Permian LLC, D.R. Horton - Regent LLC, D.R. Horton - Terramor LLC, D.R. Horton - Texas Ltd., D.R. Horton - WPH LLC, D.R. Horton - Wyoming LLC, D.R. Horton BAY Inc., D.R. Horton CA2 Inc., D.R. Horton CA3 Inc., D.R. Horton CA4 LLC, D.R. Horton Commercial Inc., D.R. Horton Cruces Construction Inc., D.R. Horton Inc. - Birmingham, D.R. Horton Inc. - Chicago, D.R. Horton Inc. - Denver, D.R. Horton Inc. - Dietz-Crane, D.R. Horton Inc. - Greensboro, D.R. Horton Inc. - Gulf Coast, D.R. Horton Inc. - Huntsville, D.R. Horton Inc. - Jacksonville, D.R. Horton Inc. - Louisville, D.R. Horton Inc. - Midwest, D.R. Horton Inc. - Minnesota, D.R. Horton Inc. - NNV, D.R. Horton Inc. - New Jersey, D.R. Horton Inc. - Portland, D.R. Horton Inc. - Torrey, D.R. Horton Inc. Foundation, D.R. Horton Insurance Agency Inc., D.R. Horton LA North Inc., D.R. Horton Life Insurance Agency Inc., D.R. Horton Los Angeles Holding Company Inc., D.R. Horton Management Company Ltd., D.R. Horton Materials Inc., D.R. Horton Realty LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Atlantic County LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Central Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Delaware LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Georgia Inc., D.R. Horton Realty of Melbourne LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Northwest Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Southeast Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Southwest Florida LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Tampa LLC, D.R. Horton Realty of Virginia LLC, D.R. Horton Seabridge Marina Inc., D.R. Horton Serenity Construction LLC, D.R. Horton Urban Renewal LLC, D.R. Horton VEN Inc., D.R. Horton  Corpus Christi LLC, DBC54 LLC, DHI Commercial - Lakeview LLC, DHI Commercial - Signal Butte LLC, DHI Commercial - Tamarron LLC, DHI Commercial Inc., DHI Communities Construction LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Arizona LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Colorado LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Florida LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Iowa LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Nevada LLC, DHI Communities Construction of North Carolina LLC, DHI Communities Construction of South Carolina LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Texas LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Utah LLC, DHI Communities Construction of Virginia LLC, DHI Communities II LLC, DHI Communities Inc., DHI Engineering LLC, DHI Insurance Inc., DHI Mortgage Company, DHI Mortgage Company GP Inc., DHI Mortgage Company LP Inc., DHI Mortgage Company Ltd., DHI Ranch Ltd., DHI Realty of Alabama LLC, DHI Realty of Mississippi LLC, DHI Title GP Inc., DHI Title LP Inc., DHI Title of Alabama Inc., DHI Title of Arizona Inc., DHI Title of Florida Inc., DHI Title of Minnesota Inc., DHI Title of Nevada Inc., DHI Title of Texas Ltd., DHI Title of Washington Inc., DHI Verandah South Shores Communities LLC, DHIC - Bridges LLC, DHIC - Brittmore LLC, DHIC - Carolina Forest LLC, DHIC - Desert Peak LLC, DHIC - Durbin Creek LLC, DHIC - Freestone LLC, DHIC - Hammock Landing LLC, DHIC - Heritage LLC, DHIC - Horizon Uptown LLC, DHIC - Jacobs Reserve LLC, DHIC - Lakeview LLC, DHIC - Lipoma LLC, DHIC - Minton Cove LLC, DHIC - Mountain Vista LLC, DHIC - Naco LLC, DHIC - Northshore LLC, DHIC - Prairie Village LLC, DHIC - South Creek LLC, DHIC - Tamarron LLC, DHIC - Valley Vista LLC, DHIC - Varina Gateway LLC, DHIC - Waterleigh II LLC, DHIC - Waterleigh III LLC, DHIC - Waterleigh LLC, DHIC - Westridge LLC, DHIC LLC, DHIC  Glendale LLC, DHIC  Grove West LLC, DHIC  South Park LLC, DHIC  Westinghouse LLC, DHIR - Aspen Vista LLC, DHIR - Avian Pointe LLC, DHIR - Emerald Lakes LLC, DHIR - Fosters Ridge LLC, DHIR - Gulf Stream LLC, DHIR - Parkview at Lynn Haven LLC, DHIR - Poplar Terrace LLC, DHIR - Properties I LLC, DHIR - Rock Ridge LLC, DHIR - Sunset Village LLC, DHIR - Village at Hickory Street LLC, DRH - ARK LLC, DRH - ASG LLC, DRH - HWY 114 LLC, DRH Cambridge Homes LLC, DRH Capital Trust I, DRH Capital Trust II, DRH Capital Trust III, DRH Colorado Realty Inc., DRH Construction Inc., DRH Energy Inc., DRH FS Mortgage Reinsurance Ltd., DRH Land Opportunities I Inc., DRH Land Opportunities II Inc., DRH Mountain View LLC, DRH Oil & Gas Inc., DRH Opportunities I Inc., DRH Properties Inc., DRH Realty Company Inc., DRH Realty of Iowa LLC, DRH Regrem L LLC, DRH Regrem LI LLC, DRH Regrem LII LLC, DRH Regrem LIII LLC, DRH Regrem LIV LLC, DRH Regrem LV LLC, DRH Regrem VII LP, DRH Regrem XII LP, DRH Regrem XIV Inc., DRH Regrem XIX Inc., DRH Regrem XLIX LLC, DRH Regrem XLV LLC, DRH Regrem XLVI LLC, DRH Regrem XLVII LLC, DRH Regrem XLVIII LLC, DRH Regrem XV Inc., DRH Regrem XVI Inc., DRH Regrem XVII Inc., DRH Regrem XVIII Inc., DRH Regrem XX Inc., DRH Regrem XXI Inc., DRH Regrem XXII Inc., DRH Regrem XXIII Inc., DRH Regrem XXIV Inc., DRH Regrem XXV Inc., DRH Southwest Construction Inc., DRH Tucson Construction Inc., DRHI Inc., Deer Valley Office Park LLC, Desert Ridge Phase I Partners, Emerald Creek No. 4 L.P., Emerald Realty of Alabama LLC, Emerald Realty of Central Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of North Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of Northwest Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of Southeast Florida LLC, Emerald Realty of Southwest Florida LLC, Encore II Inc., Encore Venture Partners II (California) L.P., Encore Venture Partners II (Texas) L.P., Encore Venture Partners L.P., Express Realty of Central Florida LLC, Express Realty of North Florida LLC, Express Realty of Northwest Florida LLC, Express Realty of Southeast Florida LLC, Express Realty of Southwest Florida LLC, Forestar Group, Forestar Group Inc., Founders Oil & Gas II LLC, Founders Oil & Gas III LLC, Founders Oil & Gas IV LLC, Founders Oil & Gas LLC, Founders Oil & Gas Operating LLC, GP-Encore Inc., Georgetown Data Inc., Germann & McQueen L.L.C., Grand Title Agency LLC, Grande Realty Incorporated, Grande Realty of Pennsylvania LLC, Greywes LLC, HPH Homebuilders 2000 L.P., Hadian LLC, KDB Homes Inc., Kaomalo LLC, Lexington Homes - DRH LLC, MRLF LLC, Martin Road Lake Forest LLC, McQueen & Willis LLC, Meadows I Ltd., Meadows II Ltd., Meadows IX Inc., Meadows VIII Ltd., Meadows X Inc., Melody Homes Inc., Pacific Ridge - DRH LLC, Rielly Carlsbad LLC, Rielly Homes Madison LLC, SFTEN LLC, SGS Communities at Grand Quay L.L.C, SHA Construction LLC, SHLR of California Inc., SHLR of Nevada Inc., SHLR of Washington Inc., SRHI LLC, SSHI LLC, Schuler Homes of Arizona LLC, Schuler Homes of California Inc., Schuler Homes of Oregon Inc., Schuler Homes of Washington Inc., Summerlin Pkwy & Cimarron LLC, Surprise Village North LLC, The Club at Cobblestone LLC, The Club at Hidden River LLC, Tierra Financial Advisors LLC, Travis County Title Company, Treasure Assets LLC, Venture Management of South Carolina LLC, Vertical Construction Corporation, WPH-Camino Ruiz LLC, WPH-Copper Canyon II LLC, WPH-Copper Canyon LLC, Walker Drive LLC, Western Pacific Brea Development LLC, Western Pacific Housing - Mountaingate L.P., Western Pacific Housing - SDG LLC, Western Pacific Housing - Westlake II L.P., Western Pacific Housing Inc., Western Pacific Housing Management Inc., Western Pacific Housing-Antigua LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Broadway LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Canyon Park LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Carrillo LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Communications Hill LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Copper Canyon LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Creekside LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Lomas Verdes LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Lyons Canyon Partners LLC, Western Pacific Housing-McGonigle Canyon LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Norco Estates LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Pacific Park II LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Park Avenue East LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Park Avenue West LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Playa Vista LLC, Western Pacific Housing-River Ridge LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Terra Bay Duets LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Torrey Meadows LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Torrey Village Center LLC, Western Pacific Housing-Windemere LLC, and Wilson Parker Homes.

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Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for the financial services industry. The company's Investor Communication Solutions segment processes and distributes proxy materials to investors in equity securities and mutual funds, as well as facilitates related vote processing services; and distributes regulatory reports, class action, and corporate action/reorganization event information, as well as tax reporting solutions. It also offers ProxyEdge, an electronic proxy delivery and voting solution; data-driven solutions and an end-to-end platform for content management, composition, and omni-channel distribution of regulatory, marketing, and transactional information, as well as mutual fund trade processing services; data and analytics solutions; solutions for public corporations and mutual funds; SEC filing and capital markets transaction services; registrar, stock transfer, and record-keeping services; and omni-channel customer communications solutions, as well as operates Broadridge Communications Cloud platform that creates, delivers, and manages communications and customer engagement activities. The company's Global Technology and Operations segment provides solutions that automate the front-to-back transaction lifecycle of equity, mutual fund, fixed income, foreign exchange and exchange-traded derivatives, order capture and execution, trade confirmation, margin, cash management, clearance and settlement, reference data management, reconciliations, securities financing and collateral management, asset servicing, compliance and regulatory reporting, portfolio accounting, and custody-related services. This segment also offers business process outsourcing services; technology solutions, such portfolio management, compliance, fee billing, and operational support solutions; and capital market and wealth management solutions. The company was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Lake Success, New York.
Digital media and social video business Brave Bison announced on Wednesday that it has appointed Claire Hungate as its chief executive officer as it said current trading is in line with management and market expectations.

Hungate joins the group from Warner Bros Television Production UK, where she is managing director. She was previously chief operating officer of AIM-listed Shed Media, seeing the company through its acquisition by Warner Bros in 2010, and before then was managing director of Wall to Wall, which was acquired by Shed Media in 2007.

Her prior roles in the industry include running the commercial operations of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and as head of business affairs for production company and talent agency Princess Productions.

Chairman Robin Miller said: "Claire has an excellent track record in working in the UK creative industry, alongside her digital strategy experience of forming and developing relationships with companies such as Facebook and Google. This gives the board confidence that she can deliver strong and profitable growth."

Also on Wednesday, Brave Bison said it has decided not to proceed with a combination with Zinc Media following an approach in May, saying it would not be in the best interests of either company.

"Brave Bison continues on its strategy to grow as an independent business moving from a third-party technology provider to a social video broadcaster, developing new intellectual property and reducing reliance on low margin legacy business."

At 1250 BST, the shares were up 10% to 1.24p.
Echo Energy confirmed the signature of its first transaction in Bolivia on Wednesday, following its recently-announced onshore gas strategy across Latin America.

The AIM-traded company said it signed a binding joint evaluation agreement with Pluspetrol Bolivia Corporation, which positioned the company to secure an 80% operated interest in the Huayco block in Southern Bolivia.

It said the Huayco block lies within the Tarija Basin, benefits from full 3D seismic coverage, with the company internally estimating that it has significant multi-Tcf gas potential.

The block spans 75 square kilometres and lies close to key export gas pipeline infrastructure which would connect any discovery to high value gas markets in Brazil and Argentina.

Echo said the agreement would commence with a technical evaluation, after which - subject to the usual regulatory approvals - Echo would take an 80% operated position.

Whilst Echo would pay 100% of the first well - and 80% of the wells thereafter - the evaluation agreement only committed Echo to fund the agreed technical studies, and as such no back costs or consideration was payable.

Both companies were said to view the deal as the start of a longer-term partnership in which other potential opportunities could be explored in country.

The company also confirmed on Wednesday that it was close to securing other exploration and production assets in the region, which would be subject to separate announcements.

We are delighted to reveal our first transaction in Bolivia as part of our recently announced Latin American upstream gas strategy, said chairman James Parsons.

We are confident in the multi Tcf scale and technical quality of this acreage and believe it will also be of interest to strategic partners in due course.

Parsons said Echo understood the strategic value of establishing relationships with key regional industry participants, and saw Pluspetrol as a long-term partnership across the region, which could assist Echo whilst it built its operating capability.

This initial move also demonstrates our ability to move quickly in securing access to world class assets as we build a broad exploration portfolio in the gas hungry Central and South American region.

The transaction comes quickly after our recent appointment of senior members of our new executive team, and I am very pleased that we are continuing to build momentum.
WH Ireland issued a trading update for the six months to 31 May on Wednesday, along with a change of its accounting reference period.

The AIM-traded company said the first six months of the financial year saw further significant progression across the company, with both divisions reporting strong momentum both in absolute terms and also relative to the comparative period a year ago, adding that the first half figures would show a significant improvement on those for the previous year.

It said its corporate and institutional broking division witnessed a significant increase in transactional revenue, accelerating the client-driven activity it witnessed in the second half of last year.

Our pipeline of new business is at the highest that it has been for several years reflecting not just an increased appetite for new issuance by existing clients, but also the result of new growth initiatives within the division beginning to contribute to revenue, the WH Ireland board said in its statement.

The private wealth management division continued to develop its client proposition around advice and fee-related business, the board explained.

Its wealth planning business reportedly had a particularly strong first half.

At the interim period end, WH Irelands assets under management and administration had increased to in excess of 3bn, of which the fastest growing service proposition remained its discretionary fund management service.

The board remains cautiously optimistic in relation to the rest of the period despite the obvious headwinds around both UK politics and the economy, the board said of the companys outlook.

WH Ireland also confirmed that it had agreed to change its accounting reference date, with immediate effect, to 31 March from 30 November.

As a result, the company would release its unaudited interim results for the six month period ending 31 May on or around 24 July 2017, and a second set of unaudited interim results for the six months to 30 November by the end of January 2018.

The company's final results for the 16 month period ending 31 March would be released by the end of June 2018.

Following that transitional 16 month period, the company would look to report its six month unaudited interim results to 30 September 2018 or before 30 November 2018, with its audited final results for the year ending 31 March 2019 to be announced on or before 30 June 2019, with the same timetable in subsequent periods.
The king of Saudi Arabia has unexpectedly removed nephew Mohammed bin Nayef from his influential role as crown prince and deputy prime minister, replacing him with his son Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

King Salman issued a decree on Wednesday confirming that his son will take up the position of deputy prime minister in addition to his current role as defence minister.

The current king ascended to the head of the House of Saud in 2015 following the death of Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, both men being sons of the founder of the Saudi dynasty - King Abdul-Aziz, known as Ibn Saud.

The new 31-year-old crown prince has been a major influence behind significant reform in the kingdom in recent years, including its attempts to diversify its economy in order to make it less dependent on oil. He has also led Saudi involvement in the ongoing conflict in Yemen.

King Salman issued a decree on Wednesday confirming the decision

Bin Salman has been one of the main drivers behind the attempt to privatise state oil company Saudi Aramco. The oil firm is being prepared for an initial public offering on London or New York's stock exchanges, in what could potentially be the largest flotation in history.

According to the decree, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has been relieved of all of his positions in the kingdom, after spending years as its counter-terrorism chief.

But it was Bin Salman who led Saudi Arabia's recent diplomatic offensive against Qatar, cutting diplomatic ties, closing the border and halting air and sea traffic with Qatar, and urging "all brotherly countries and companies to do the same" in order to protect themselves from "terrorism and extremism".

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at ThinkMarkets UK, asserted that the continuation of Bin Salmans policies would create instability for the countrys economy.

Aslam said: From an economic perspective, the first element which investors seek is the stability in the country. Unfortunately, we do not see Saudi Arabia becoming more stable if the crown prince carried on with his policies and strategies. The outcome would create more pressure on the Saudi currency and stock market in the coming time.
Stocks were coming off their lows of the session heading into the opening bell on Wall Street, with investors continuing to keep a close eye on crude oil futures and a string of resignations in France's centre-right MoDem party, a key ally of President Macron.

As of 1201 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by -0.41% or 1.60 points at 387.61, alongside a 0.50% or 63.64 point fall in Germany's Dax to 2,734.69 and a retreat of 0.77% or 41.33 points to 5,252.12 in the Cac-40.

Come midday, front month Brent crude futures were essentially flat, dipping by just 0.01% to $45.98 a barrel on the ICE following a drop early in the session, as investors awaited US oil inventory data scheduled for release later in the day.

Overnight, analysts at Macquarie cut their projections for the average price of Brent oil in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

For 2018, they now saw Brent trading at $49.33 on average, down from the $55.75 level they had previously estimated, while in 2019 it was now seen at $52.75, as opposed to a previous forecast of $60.63.

"Our long-term forecast reductions reflect productivity gains in tight oil, as well as greater shale resource prospectivity, and falling break-evens globally," the Australian broker said.

Macquarie also downgraded stock in BP and Royal Dutch Shell to 'underperform' and 'neutral', respectively.

The Energy Information Administration, the US Department of Energy's statistical arm, was scheduled to publish its latest weekly tally of US oil and product stockpiles at 1530 BST.

Acting as a further drag on sentiment towards French equities was news that Francois Bayrou, the leader of the MoDem party had resigned. A spokesperson for the Elysee said it was a "personal decision".

Bayrou's announcement followed the decision by the country's European Affairs Minister Marielle de Sarnez, also on Wednesday, to step down.

On Monday, the defence minister Sylvie Goulard handed in her own resignation after a preliminary probe into her party's funding.

In corporate headlines, according to reports in the Italian press Wednesday marked the deadline to present offers for Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca's good assets. Intesa Sanpaolo was widely considered to have the greatest chance of success.

Air Berlin chief Thomas Winkelmann told Tagesspiegel his group no longer required state guarantees.
Fintech-focussed startup bank Atom received a state-sponsored cash injection this week, with 30m injected into the firm from British Business Bank .

The government-owned lender confirmed it had agreed to a Tier 2 capital facility with the online-only Atom bank, to allow it to make more small business loans itself.

Access to Tier 2 capital at such an early stage of the growth cycle is rare and we are extremely pleased to be gaining this support from British Business Bank Investments, said founder and chairman of the three-year-old bank Anthony Thomson.

This facility provides us with tremendous flexibility. Like all banks, we are actively managing our capital structure and having access to Tier 2 capital at this stage helps support our growth and is a great result for Atom, its shareholders and customers.

Atom Bank is one of a number of online-focussed startup banks both inside and out of the City at the moment, with its peers including the likes of Starling and Monzo.

Thomson - a Metro Bank alumnus - kicked off the venture in 2014 with ex-First Direct CEO Mark Mullen.
Australias much-hyped restaurant industry just celebrated the biggest day of the year. The Australian Financial Review counted down the winners of its annual restaurant awards, crowning the 100 best restaurants in Australia at a gala event in Sydney.

This year marked the third edition of the Australias Top Restaurants Awards, presented by Qantas and the Australian Financial Review. Unlike other industry awards, these are voted upon by the top 500 chefs and restaurateurs in the country, meaning the winners are selected by their peers rather than food critics. Theres no surer sign that an eatery is worth exploring than the praise of its competitors.

This top 100 is important because everyone wants to eat where chefs eat, said renowned writer and awards co-director Jill Dupleix. This list is all that passion and knowledge and respect, formalised.

Her co-director Terry Durack, chief restaurant critic for the Sydney Morning Herald, said restaurant awards have traditionally been driven by critics, but when you talk to a chef, they never ask another restaurant critic where to eat; they ask a chef.

2017s top honour went to Victorias Brae, while chef/owner Dan Hunter went on to receive further accolades, also taking the Australias Top Chef award.

As a chef, Dan is an intelligent perfectionist, and as a business owner, hes re-writing the rulebook for regional restaurants across Australia, said Durack. By digging down and being part of the landscape, Brae is carving out a very special place for itself where you can have a uniquely Victorian experience.

The 2017 list showed greater appreciation for regional restaurants than years past, with a total of fourteen restaurants in the top 100 located outside capital cities.

The new top 100 shows that diversity is the great strength of Australian dining. It makes dining out so much more interesting when every experience is different rather than the same, said Durack.

As always, the magic is in the mix, especially in that amazing top ten. With everything from vineyard restaurants to laneway diners, it makes the top 100 a real bucket list in terms of whats good where, right now, Dupleix added.

#10 Restaurant Hubert 1/10 Sydney, New South Wales #9 Automata 2/10 Chippendale, New South Wales #8 Embla 3/10 Victoria #7 Tipo 00 4/10 Melbourne, Victoria #6 Franklin 5/10 Hobart, Tasmania #5 Sepia 6/10 Sydney, New South Wales #4 Sixpenny 7/10 Stanmore, New South Wales #3 Ester 8/10 Chippendale, New South Wales #2 Attica 9/10 Ripponlea, Victoria #1 Brae 10/10 Birregurra, Victoria

Youll find the top 10 winners of the 2017 Australias Top Restaurants awards above and the full list here . Dont browse on an empty stomach.
By Olga V. Naidenko, Ph.D.

In a landmark rule with global repercussions, California state scientists are preparing to issue the worlds first health guideline for Monsantos glyphosate herbicide based on its cancer risk. The states proposed safe level is more than 100 times lower than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) legal allowance for the average-sized American.

Glyphosate is the key ingredient in Roundup, the most heavily applied weed killer in the history of chemical agriculture. Use of glyphosate has exploded in the last 15 years, as Monsanto has promoted genetically modified Roundup Ready seeds to grow crops that arent harmed by the herbicide. In the U.S. alone, more than 200 million pounds of Roundup are sprayed each year, mostly on soybeans and corn.

In March 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancerpart of the World Health Organization, with no regulatory authorityreviewed human cancer studies and determined that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to people. Based on that finding, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) announced its intention to add glyphosate to the states Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer.

By itself, that listing would be a big blow to Monsanto, because it would require cancer warning labels on containers of Roundup and on foods that have high residues of glyphosate. Monsanto is appealing the decision in state court, but in the meantime the OEHHA has moved forward in setting a so-called No Significant Risk Level of the amount of glyphosate people could safely consume each day.

Olga V. Naidenko is senior science advisor for childrens environmental health at Environmental Working Group.
Arkansas farmers filed a class-action lawsuit last week against

Monsanto and German chemical company BASF, alleging that the companies dicamba-based herbicides caused damage to their properties.

The plaintiffs

claim that Monsanto and BASF implemented and controlled the dicamba crop system, releasing seed technology without a corresponding, safe and approved herbicide.

According to Hoosier Ag: The farmers allege that Monsanto and BASF sold the dicamba crop system while knowing it could wipe out crops, fruits, and trees that are not dicamba tolerant. The farmers claim that those who do not plant dicamba tolerant crops are left with no protection from the herbicide.

To date, Arkansas agriculture department has received 135 dicamba misuse complaints across 17 counties.

The lawsuit comes as the Arkansas State Plant Board

considers an in-crop dicamba ban that was proposed by the states pesticide committee.

The controversy behind the pesticide started last year when Monsanto decided to sell its new dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean seeds several growing seasons before getting federal approval for the corresponding herbicide. Without having the proper herbicide, cotton and soybean growers were suspected of illegally spraying older versions of the highly toxic and drift-prone chemical onto the seeds and inadvertently damaged nearby non-target crops due to drift.

The spraying triggered widespread reports of

crop damage across thousands of acres in 10 states and several lawsuits against pesticide makers. In October, a drift dispute between Arkansas farmers resulted in one farmer being shot to death.

The dicamba crisis was created and forced upon the farming industry. Crops are at risk. Relationships are at risk. There have already been tragedies due to this crisis, Arkansas plaintiffs attorney Paul Byrd

said.

Crops, fruits and trees that are not dicamba resistant were injured causing extensive damage to farmers crops in Arkansas and other states throughout the 2016 growing season, including Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Farmers livelihoods are at stake, and we want to protect their interests, added attorney Phillip Duncan.

Both companies sell dicamba-based herbicides, Xtendimax with VaporGrip by Monsanto and Engenia by BASF, for in-crop use on Monsantos seeds that are

genetically modified to resist the pesticide. These formulations are supposedly less drift-prone and volatile compared to older versions of dicamba.

Along with Arkansas, agriculture officials in Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi have either already received or are gearing up for more dicamba drift complaints this year, DTN reported.

We are here to support our customers and, if requested, can assist in investigating an off-target allegation in an advisory capacity to provide technical support, BASF told DTN.

Monsanto told DTN that it is aware of media reports regarding off-target movement of dicamba, but is not willing to draw conclusions on the reports at this time and re-emphasized the importance of following all product labeling and local requirements.

But the

Center for Biological Diversity is calling for a ban of dicamba pesticides in Arkansas.

What were seeing in Arkansas is proof of what we all already knewthat this dangerous, drift-prone pesticide is not safe to use, said Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. Assurances from pesticide makers that new dicamba products and tighter application regulations would end the drift problems that damaged hundreds of thousands of acres simply ignored reality.

This dicamba crisis is only the latest evidence that dumping more pesticides on the landscape is a road to nowhere, Donley continued. And its only going to get worseMonsanto predicts that annual dicamba use on soybeans and cotton will jump from less than one million pounds just a few years ago to more than 25 million over the next three to four years.
By Nicole Greenfield

When TransCanada began knocking on doors throughout Nebraska in 2008, most residents didnt know much about its Keystone XL pipeline or the dirty tar sands oil it would be transporting. The energy company was negotiating easements with local landowners in order to secure a route for its multibillion-dollar projectwhich would run north to south through the state, directly through the Ogallala Aquifer and across hundreds of Nebraskan rivers and streams. TransCanada threatened landowners with eminent domain if they didnt comply.

Although the company had some early takers, many Nebraskans along KXLs proposed route questioned the pipelines safety, the risks to their water supply, and the legality of TransCanadas tactics. With the help of an organizer named Jane Kleeb, they banded together as Bold Nebraska to forge a unified resistance to Keystone XL.

Following years of protest and courtroom battles, a rigorous U.S. State Department environmental review that echoed the concerns of pipeline resisters, and the conflicting decisions of President Obama to reject it and President Trump to later reauthorize it, the bold Nebraskans havent given up. After all, as Anthony Swift, director of NRDCs Canada project, said, Theres no question that Nebraskans know more than most people how high the stakes are with regard to Keystone XL.

So, on the KXL front lines in the Cornhusker State, its now up to the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) to approve or deny TransCanadas permits for construction. (The battle is simultaneously playing out in federal court in Montana, where NRDC is suing the Trump administration for unlawfully approving the project.)

Without a route though Nebraska, Keystone XL cant move forward, and landowners are making sure the five-person commission hears their objections. Many testified during public hearings held this spring, and some will return to the podium as registered intervenors in August, when five days of formal arguments will precede an official decision on the pipeline as soon as September.

Below, several of the intervenors share their stories of resistance:

Art and Helen Tanderup: Neligh, Nebraska

It wasnt long after Art and Helen Tanderup retired that TransCanada began trying to claim areas of the couples 160-acre farmowned by Helens family for more than a centuryso the company could run its Keystone XL pipeline a mere 600 feet from the Tanderups house in the states eastern sandhills and directly over the Ogallala Aquifer, a primary source of water for a vast stretch of the countrys agricultural heartland. We have two kids, and we hope to pass this farm on to them and our grandchildren, Art said. If this pipelines here, we dont know what well do.

Their land, which is situated along the historic Ponca Trail of Tears, has since become a hub for the KXL resistance in Nebraska. Landowners and Native Americans whose properties and heritage are directly threatened by the pipeline have joined forces here. Together, theyve created massive crop art, welcomed supporters for the Harvest the Hope concert (featuring Neil Young and Willie Nelson), and organized the annual sacred Ponca corn planting and harvest.

Part of the battle cry for the pipeline-fighting Tanderups and others has been to leave tar sands in the ground and invest instead in renewable energy sources as a means to address global climate change. And the Tanderups have put their money where their mouths are, by installing solar power on their farm and purchasing an electric car, choices they wouldnt have made before learning about the climate impacts of tar sands oilthanks to TransCanada.

With so much invested in their fight against Keystone XL, the Tanderups remain concerned about Trumps plan to revive the pipeline. Arts message for the president? I would ask him, as I have before, to come to Nebraska. Come out and visit the landowners on this route. Come out and see the sandhills. Come out and look at the aquifer and see what it does for us. Come out and see how this is going to destroy the livelihood of the heartland of the United States. Come out and see how this is notthis is notmaking America great again.

Susan and Bill Dunavan: York, Nebraska

Susan and Bill Dunavan have moved around a lot, living in New York, California and Lesotho, where they spent time as missionaries. So when they landed in York, Nebraska, in 1979, they were looking forward to living in the countryside in a small, quiet place to raise their family.

Susan and Bill Dunavan on their land. Alex Matzke/Bold Nebraska

Things turned out quite differently.

I didnt realize what kind of trauma we would end up experiencing, Susan said, referring to the nine-year battle theyve fought with TransCanada. The Dunavans live on 80 acres of native pastureland, land theyve been working on restoring to its natural state for decadesand land through which TransCanada wants to run its KXL pipeline. The Dunavans received their first letter from the oil company in May 2008, and soon after, land agents began stopping by to negotiate easements. All told, theyve received seven offersof just about enough money to buy a used carand countless letters threatening eminent domain.

TransCanada didnt treat us very well, Susan said. I couldnt understand why they were threatening us with eminent domain when they had no authority. (It wasnt until 2015 that TransCanada filed paperwork to exercise this power over the unwilling landowners, a move later nullified with President Obamas pipeline veto.)

Susan talks about the dirty tricks TransCanada has employed to get people to sign their land over. She wonders why her states legislators wont stand up for the citizens they represent and why theyd put the profits of a foreign company above the health and safety of Nebraskans. And if you resist? They demonize you. They turn you into a radical protester, she said. What is so radical about wanting to give clean water to our children?

A devout Catholic, Susan draws strength from her faith as she fights against Keystone XL. The integrity of creation is being sacrificed for economic gain, she said, invoking the words of an Alberta-based bishop. The scale and the pace of the development of oil sands cannot be morally justified. Its just wrong.

Tom Genung: Atkinson, Nebraska

For Tom Genung, community is at the heart of the fight against Keystone XL. A member of the Cowboy Indian Alliancea group of ranchers, farmers and members of tribal communities who have coalesced around their opposition to the pipelineTom is quick to honor the spirits of the indigenous people that lived on these grounds way before we did. He talks often of the unlikely alliancesfarmers and Native Americans, Republicans and Democratsthat the battle against KXL has created.

Tom Genung sits alongside fellow pipeline opponents during the Nebraska Supreme Court hearing on September 5, 2014. J Grace Young/Bold Nebraska

It wasnt until TransCanada came knocking at Toms door that he and his wife, Cathie, realized their land in Atkinson was at risk. Wed never been activists in any sense of the word, Tom said. Sure, we took interest in things and did our voting and hoped for the best. But when this came along, it got our attention and it became a calling. The most powerful realization for him has been that a lot of landowners dont feel any different than native people do about honoring the earthwe have a mutual understanding that maybe we didnt know we had prior to getting together.

Going to meetings, distributing educational materials, testifying at hearings, joining protests and chairing the landowner collective Nebraska Easement Action Team has been a lot of hard work and, at times, emotionally draining. But Tom considers the experience a privilege, regardless of the outcome. And he remains optimistic that the local resistance hes helped build will be able to stop Keystone XL once again. Im excited to kick TransCanadas ass one more time, he said. Were having more fun than they are, Ill tell you that.

Larry Wright, Jr.: Lincoln, Nebraska

Under the fluorescent lights of a conference room in York in early May, Larry Wright, Jr., chairman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, delivered testimony against the Keystone XL pipeline to a panel of PSC members. The next day, near David City, he joined a 273-mile march through the state in commemoration of the Poncas forced removal 140 years earlier. The remembrance walk followed the Ponca Trail of Tears, the path the tribe was made to traverse from its homeland in Nebraska to a reservation in Oklahomaa route Keystone XL would cross several times in the northern and central parts of the state.

Larry Wright, Jr. testifies before the Nebraska Public Service Commission against the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline, May 4, 2017. Alex Matzke

The proposed pipeline is going through what we consider cultural and historic traditional lands, said Wright. Even though we dont physically own those lands today, at one point in our history, thats where our people were. Our people are buried there. Some were willing to die to try and move back home from Oklahoma, Wright adds. That should say what the land means to us.

In August, the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska will serve as an official intervenor in the review process for KXLs permit. Wright said the tribe is particularly sensitive to TransCanadas forceful efforts to use eminent domain. We know what its like to have a foreign entity come in and take our land without just compensation. We empathize with those property owners and we stand with them.

As Wright retraced the steps of his ancestors, he reflected on the beauty of his home state and the potential dangers the pipeline would bring. Its hard to fathom that Nebraska is considering approving this permit, especially when youre out here and youre walking. Hopefully well bring a bit of light to that issue.

Nancy and Bob Allpress: Naper, Nebraska

The Allpress homestead, 13 miles southwest of Naper on the South Dakota border, lies at the end of a long dirt road thats unpassable in the rain or snow. Nancy and Bob run cattle and grow corn and alfalfa on these 900 acres, which are a Homestead Act acquisition and owned by Bobs family since 1886. A century and a quarter later, the land entered TransCanadas crosshairs as part of the Keystone XL pipeline route revised in 2012.

Bob and Nancy Allpress on their land near Naper, Nebraska. J Grace Young/Bold Nebraska

Our family was in consensus that we did not think it was a good thing for us or for Nebraska, Nancy said. We drew that conclusion way before we were notified of it coming through our land.

The Allpresses are the only family in Keya Paha County that have not signed an easement agreement. Many landowners, without the resources or power to fight the oil company, felt resigned to comply with it, the Allpresses said. A lot of landowners signed on early out of fear. There were people that signed because they didnt have all the information. And the lure of some money for your land is hard for some people to pass up, especially in these rural communities.

But Nancy also sees a steady resistance to the pipeline among people who are confident that fighting back can make a difference. Local history buoys them: in the 1990s, citizens successfully stopped a nuclear waste dump from making its home in nearby Boyd County.

She, too, remains cautiously optimistic. You cant come into Nebraska and threaten people with eminent domain. It just doesnt go over. Nebraskans are strong pioneer stock, very proud people and great stewards of the land.
Interior Sec.

Ryan Zinke, who recently recommended a reduction in the size of the 1.35 million acre Bears Ears National Monument to President Trump, is advocating for more drilling and mining on public lands and waters.

The former Montana Rep. told

Reuters that the development of Americas protected federal lands could help the country become a dominant global energy force.

There is a social cost of not having jobs, he said. Energy dominance gives us the ability to supply our allies with energy, as well as to leverage our aggressors, or in some cases our enemies, like Iran.

Zinke has been tasked by Trump to review 27 national monuments across the country as part the administrations plans to expand development of public land. Reuters notes that at least six of these sites hold oil, gas and coal.

Earlier this month, the interior secretary called for a scaling back of Bears Ears despite vocal opposition from Native American tribes and environmental advocates.

Zinke signaled to Reuters that he is likely to make a similar recommendation for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monumentthe first marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean.

The monument, which consists of 4,913 square miles of underwater canyons and mountains off the New England coast, was

designated by President Obama last September to protect critical ecological resources and marine species, including deep-sea corals, whales, sea turtles and deep-sea fish.

After touring the Canyons monument at the New England Aquarium, Zinke told Reuters he believed there are legitimate scientific endeavors and research that are recognized and important (around the site), but there are also recognized livelihoods, fishing jobs that are also important. Zinke added he wants to redirect revenue from offshore to fund repairs around Americas national parks.

In April, Trump signed an executive order to aggressively

expand drilling in protected waters off the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

This week, Zinke fielded questions from Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) over the subject of climate change. As reported by the Huffington Post, when Franken asked if Zinke knows how much warming government scientists are predicting by 2100 under a business-as-usual scenario, the secretary replied:

I dont think the government scientists can predict with certainty. There isnt a model that exists today that can predict todays weather, given all the data.

Also during the hearing, Zinke answered questions over Trumps 2018 budget request that would slash the Department of the Interiors funding by 12 percent and would eliminate about 4,000 full-time positions.

The White House touts that its Interior Department budget will ensure that taxpayers receive a fair return from the development of these public resources, however, as Oil Change International noted, the idea that opening up more public lands and waters for fossil fuel production will result in a windfall for America is wrong. The only windfall from federal fossil fuel production is enjoyed by oil, gas and coal executives.

The Federal government already hands fossil fuel companies more than $7 billion a year in corporate subsidies related to their production on federal lands and waters, the advocacy group pointed out in a blog post. For onshore oil, gas and coal production, that includes a giveaway of more than $3.3 billion from below-market royalty rates, unpaid and foregone royalties, inadequate permitting fees, and below-market lease rental rates. And American taxpayers are cheated out of $2.2 billion each year in lost royalties from offshore drilling because of royalty relief, which exempts roughly 20 percent of oil and gas production in the Outer Continental Shelf from paying royalties.
Although "multitasking" is a popular buzzword, research shows that only 2% of the population actually multitasks efficiently. Most of us just shift back and forth between different tasks, a process that requires our brains to refocus time and time again -- and reduces overall productivity by a whopping 40%.

New Tel Aviv University research identifies a brain mechanism that enables more efficient multitasking. The key to this is "reactivating the learned memory," a process that allows a person to more efficiently learn or engage in two tasks in close conjunction.

"The mechanism may have far-reaching implications for the improvement of learning and memory functions in daily life," said Dr. Nitzan Censor of TAU's School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience. "It also has clinical implications. It may support rehabilitation efforts following brain traumas that impact the motor and memory functions of patients, for example."

The research, conducted by TAU student Jasmine Herszage, was published in Current Biology.

Training the brain

"When we learn a new task, we have great difficulty performing it and learning something else at the same time. For example, performing a motor task A (such as performing a task with one hand) can reduce performance in a second task B (such as performing a task with the other hand) conducted in close conjunction to it. This is due to interference between the two tasks, which compete for the same brain resources," said Dr. Censor. "Our research demonstrates that the brief reactivation of a single learned memory, in appropriate conditions, enables the long-term prevention of, or immunity to, future interference in the performance of another task performed in close conjunction."

The researchers first taught student volunteers to perform a sequence of motor finger movements with one hand, by learning to tap onto a keypad a specific string of digits appearing on a computer screen as quickly and accurately as possible. After acquiring this learned motor memory, the memory was reactivated on a different day, during which the participants were required to briefly engage with the task -- this time with an addition of brief exposure to the same motor task performed with their other hand. By utilizing the memory reactivation paradigm, the subjects were able to perform the two tasks without interference.

By uniquely pairing the brief reactivation of the original memory with the exposure to a new memory, long-term immunity to future interference was created, demonstrating a prevention of interference even a month after the exposures.

"The second task is a model of a competing memory, as the same sequence is performed using the novel, untrained hand," said Dr. Censor. "Existing research from studies on rodents showed that a reactivation of the memory of fear opened up a window of several hours in which the brain was susceptible to modifications -- in which to modify memory.

"In other words, when a learned memory is reactivated by a brief cue or reminder, a unique time-window opens up. This presents an opportunity to interact with the memory and update it -- degrade, stabilize or strengthen its underlying brain neural representations," Dr. Censor said. "We utilized this knowledge to discover a mechanism that enabled long-term stabilization, and prevention of task interference in humans.

The researchers are eager to understand more about this intriguing brain mechanism. "Is it the result of hardwired circuitry in the brain, which allows different learning episodes to be integrated? And how is this circuitry represented in the brain? By functional connections between distinct brain regions? It is also essential to determine test whether the identified mechanism is relevant for other types of tasks and memories, not only motor tasks," Dr. Censor concluded.

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American Friends of Tel Aviv University (AFTAU) supports Israel's most influential, comprehensive and sought-after center of higher learning, Tel Aviv University (TAU). TAU is recognized and celebrated internationally for creating an innovative, entrepreneurial culture on campus that generates inventions, startups and economic development in Israel. For three years in a row, TAU ranked 9th in the world, and first in Israel, for alumni going on to become successful entrepreneurs backed by significant venture capital, a ranking that surpassed several Ivy League universities. To date, 2,400 patents have been filed out of the University, making TAU 29th in the world for patents among academic institutions.
Multitasking while studying may impair overall memory for the study material, but your ability to strategically identify and remember the most important information may stay intact, according to new findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

"Dividing attention wasn't necessarily a good thing for learning and recall, but we found that distracted participants were just as likely to recall the most important information as were participants who were able to give the presented information their full attention," explains psychology researcher Catherine D. Middlebrooks of the University of California, Los Angeles. "The ability to prioritize high-value information during study was consistently immune to the effects of divided attention, regardless of the extent of the distractions that participants faced."

Previous research has shown that learners are able to compensate for the limitations of memory by prioritizing certain information and essentially sacrificing other information as they study. That is, they strategically compensate for factors that are beyond their control - but deploying this strategic approach to studying itself requires cognitive resources. Middlebrooks and UCLA co-authors Tyson K. Kerr and Alan D. Castel wanted to know whether learners have sufficient cognitive resources to overcome the potential costs incurred by studying strategically.

In one experiment, the researchers asked 192 undergraduate student participants to view a series of word lists and remember as many words as possible. Importantly, each word had a numerical value, from 1 to 10, and participants were instructed to maximize the total value of the words they recalled.

Students randomly assigned to the divided attention group studied the word lists as digits were also being read aloud - they were instructed to press a key every time they heard three odd digits in a row. Other students studied the lists while lyrical music, with which they were familiar or unfamiliar, played in the background. Another group of students studied with no additional distractions.

As expected, those students who were forced to divide their attention between the word list and the digits recalled fewer words compared with the students in the other groups. The data showed that the background music had no discernible effect on students' overall recall.

Importantly, students really did seem to pay attention to the value of the words - their odds of recalling a 10-point word were almost five times greater than their odds of recalling a 1-point word. The link between value and recall held for students in all of the groups, regardless of whether they studied with or without distraction.

The findings suggest that the students adjusted their studying to compensate for their study conditions, paying particular attention to the most important study items.

A second experiment, in which students had to divide their attention between studying word lists and completing tone-monitoring tasks that varied in difficulty, showed a similar pattern of results. Participants performed worse when their attention was divided, but they were still able to selectively remember the high-value words.

In both experiments, participants were better able to remember the words as they gained more experience with the task, suggesting that their ability to study selectively improved with practice.

"Situations in which we can actually give something our full, truly undivided attention are often few and far between--at any given moment, you're likely to be distracted to some extent by a number of factors," says Middlebrooks. "Our findings don't suggest that multi-tasking or being distracted will never affect how well we might prioritize important information, but they do suggest that distraction does not automatically doom our efforts and that we seem to consider their costs when deciding how best to allocate our limited resources."

In future research, Middlebrooks and colleagues hope to explore how various real-world factors - such as having to choose which material to study and how--might affect strategic studying.

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This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Aging (Award No. R01AG044335 to A. D. Castel).

For more information about this study, please contact: Catherine D. Middlebrooks at cmiddlebrooks@ucla.edu.

The article abstract is available online at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797617702502

The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Selectively Distracted: Divided Attention and Memory for Important Information" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Dating back to the first century, scientists, philosophers and reporters have noted the occasional occurrence of "bright nights," when an unexplained glow in the night sky lets observers see distant mountains, read a newspaper or check their watch.

A new study accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, uses satellite data to present a possible explanation for these puzzling historical phenomena.

The authors suggest that when waves in the upper atmosphere converge over specific locations on Earth, it amplifies naturally occurring airglow, a faint light in the night sky that often appears green due to the activities of atoms of oxygen in the high atmosphere. Normally, people don't notice airglow, but on bright nights it can become visible to the naked eye, producing the unexplained glow detailed in historical observations.

Few, if any, people observe bright nights anymore due to widespread light pollution, but the new findings show that they can be detected by scientists and may still be noticeable in remote areas. Bright airglow can be a concern for astronomers, who must contend with the extra light while making observations with telescopes.

"Bright nights do exist, and they're part of the variability of airglow that can be observed with satellite instruments," said Gordon Shepherd, an aeronomer at York University in Toronto, Canada, and lead author of the new study.

A historical mystery

Historical accounts of bright nights go back centuries. Pliny the Elder described bright nights, saying, "The phenomenon commonly called 'nocturnal sun', i.e. a light emanating from the sky during the night, has been seen during the consulate of C. Caecilius and Cn. Papirius (~ 113 BCE), and many other times, giving an appearance of day during the night."

European newspapers and the scientific literature also carried observations of these events in 1783, 1908 and 1916.

"The historical record is so coherent, going back over centuries, the descriptions are very similar," Shepherd said.

Modern observations of bright nights from Earth are practically nonexistent. Even devoted airglow researchers like Shepherd and his colleagues have never seen a true bright night with their eyes. But even before the advent of artificial lighting, bright nights were rare and highly localized.

"Bright nights have disappeared," Shepherd said. "Nobody sees them, nobody talks about them or records them any longer, but they're still an interesting phenomenon."

Airglow anomalies

Shepherd knew of the historical observations and could see bright night events reflected in airglow data from the Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII), an instrument once carried by NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (1991-2005), but he couldn't explain why the phenomena occurred.

He and his co-author, Youngmin Cho, a research associate at York University, searched for mechanisms that would cause airglow to increase to visible levels at specific locations.

Airglow comes from emissions of different colors of light from chemical reactions in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. The green portion of airglow occurs when light from the sun splits apart molecular oxygen into individual oxygen atoms. When the atoms recombine, they give off the excess energy as photons in the green part of the visible light spectrum, giving the sky a greenish tinge.

To find factors that would cause peaks in airglow and create bright nights, the researchers searched two years of WINDII data for unusual airglow profiles, ruling out meteors and aurora, which have their own distinct signatures. They identified 11 events where WINDII detected a spike in airglow levels that would be visible to the human eye, two of which they describe in detail in the study.

Finally, the researchers matched up the events with the ups and downs of zonal waves, large waves in the upper atmosphere that circle the globe and are impacted by weather. When the peaks of certain waves aligned, they produced bright night events that could last for several nights at a specific location. These events were four to 10 times brighter than normal airglow and could be responsible for the bright nights observed throughout history.

"This [study] is a very clear, new approach to the old enigma of what makes some night skies so remarkably bright, and the answer is atmospheric dynamics," said Jurgen Scheer, an aeronomer at Instituto de Astronomia y Fisica del Espacio in Buenos Aires, who was not connected to the study. "We now have a good idea which dynamical phenomena are behind [airglow] events of extreme brightness."

Observing a bright night

From their data, the researchers estimate that at a specific location, visible bright nights occur only once per year, and their observation would rely on a sky watcher looking from a remote location on a clear, moonless night with dark-adjusted eyes. Shepherd estimates that a bright night occurs somewhere on Earth, at different longitudes, on about 7 percent of nights.

If an astronomer wanted to experience a bright night personally, Shepherd suspects that scientists could predict their occurrence if they monitored the waves continuously, so that they could calculate when their peaks would align.

The next challenge will be to reproduce the observed convergence of these waves through modeling and to consider the effects of other types of waves in the atmosphere, Scheer said.

"Maybe it's an almost dead question," Shepherd said. "I'm having the last word before it dies."

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The American Geophysical Union is dedicated to advancing the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity through its scholarly publications, conferences, and outreach programs. AGU is a not-for-profit, professional, scientific organization representing 60,000 members in 137 countries. Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and our other social media channels.
GeoSpace

Extraordinary storms caused massive Antarctic sea ice loss in 2016

A series of unprecedented storms over the Southern Ocean likely caused the most dramatic decline in Antarctic sea ice seen to date, a new study in Geophysical Research Letters finds.

The Landslide Blog

Much more detail about the Greenland landslide and tsunami, including images and video

In the last 24 hours much more detail has emerged about the Greenland landslide and tsunami, which severely damaged the settlement of Nuugaatsiaq on Saturday, June 17.

Growing more with less using cell phones and satellite data

Text messages backed by satellite data tell farmers in Pakistan how much to irrigate, helping them to conserve water and boost crop yields.

Climate and other models may be more accurate than reported

Current error analysis methods for climate models involve calculations that erratically overestimate average model error, a group of scientists contends. Instead, they propose a different approach.

Research Spotlights

Mysterious particle beams found over jupiter's poles

Revealed by NASA's Juno spacecraft, a new study in Geophysical Research Letters suggests that the processes that produce Jupiter's auroras are unlike those on Earth.

Deforestation effects as different as night and day

A new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences investigates how deforestation can cause different land surface temperature effects depending on the time of day.

What makes the biggest cycle in tropical weather tick?

The Madden-Julian Oscillation drives storms across the Indian and Pacific oceans every 30 to 60 days. A new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres suggests that clouds absorbing and reemitting radiative energy play a key role.

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Find research spotlights from AGU journals and sign up for weekly E-Alerts, including research spotlights, on eos.org. Register for access to AGU journal papers in the AGU newsroom.

The American Geophysical Union is dedicated to advancing the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity through its scholarly publications, conferences, and outreach programs. AGU is a not-for-profit, professional, scientific organization representing more than 60,000 members in 139 countries. Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and our other social media channels.
For most people having a good memory means being able to remember more information clearly for long periods of time. For neuroscientists too, the inability to remember was long believed to represent a failure of the brain's mechanisms for storing and retrieving information.

But according to a new review paper from Paul Frankland, a senior fellow in CIFAR's Child & Brain Development program, and Blake Richards, an associate fellow in the Learning in Machines & Brains program, our brains are actively working to forget. In fact, the two University of Toronto researchers propose that the goal of memory is not to transmit the most accurate information over time, but to guide and optimize intelligent decision making by only holding on to valuable information.

"It's important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that's going to help make decisions in the real world," says Richards.

The review paper, published this week in the journal Neuron, looks at the literature on remembering, known as persistence, and the newer body of research on forgetting, or transience. The recent increase in research into the brain mechanisms that promote forgetting is revealing that forgetting is just as important a component of our memory system as remembering.

"We find plenty of evidence from recent research that there are mechanisms that promote memory loss, and that these are distinct from those involved in storing information," says Frankland.

One of these mechanisms is the weakening or elimination of synaptic connections between neurons in which memories are encoded. Another mechanism, supported by evidence from Frankland's own lab, is the generation of new neurons from stem cells. As new neurons integrate into the hippocampus, the new connections remodel hippocampal circuits and overwrite memories stored in those circuits, making them harder to access. This may explain why children, whose hippocampi are producing more new neurons, forget so much information.

It may seem counterintuitive that the brain would expend so much energy creating new neurons at the detriment of memory. Richards, whose research applies artificial intelligence (AI) theories to understanding the brain, looked to principles of learning from AI for answers. Using these principles, Frankland and Richards frame an argument that the interaction between remembering and forgetting in the human brain allows us to make more intelligent memory-based decisions.

It does so in two ways. First, forgetting allows us to adapt to new situations by letting go of outdated and potentially misleading information that can no longer help us maneuver changing environments.

"If you're trying to navigate the world and your brain is constantly bringing up multiple conflicting memories, that makes it harder for you to make an informed decision," says Richards.

The second way forgetting facilitates decision making is by allowing us to generalize past events to new ones. In artificial intelligence this principle is called regularization and it works by creating simple computer models that prioritize core information but eliminate specific details, allowing for wider application.

Memories in the brain work in a similar way. When we only remember the gist of an encounter as opposed to every detail, this controlled forgetting of insignificant details creates simple memories which are more effective at predicting new experiences.

Ultimately, these mechanisms are cued by the environment we are in. A constantly changing environment may require that we remember less. For example, a cashier who meets many new people every day will only remember the names of her customers for a short period of time, whereas a designer that meets with her clients regularly will retain that information longer.

"One of the things that distinguishes an environment where you're going to want to remember stuff versus an environment where you want to forget stuff is this question of how consistent the environment is and how likely things are to come back into your life, " says Richards.

Similarly, research shows that episodic memories of things that happen to us are forgotten more quickly than general knowledge that we access on a daily basis, supporting the old adage that if you don't use it, you lose it. But in the context of making better memory-based decisions, you may be better off for it.

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After the article publishes, it will be available at: http://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(17)30365-3.

About CIFAR:

CIFAR creates knowledge that is transforming our world. Established in 1982, the Institute brings together interdisciplinary groups of extraordinary researchers from around the globe to address questions and challenges of importance to the world. Our networks help support the growth of research leaders and are catalysts for change in business, government and society. CIFAR is generously supported by the governments of Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, Canadian and international partners, as well as individuals, foundations and corporations.
Since the mid-1990s, when the first planet around another sun-like star was discovered, astronomers have been amassing what is now a large collection of exoplanets -- nearly 3,500 have been confirmed so far. In a new Caltech-led study, researchers have classified these planets in much the same way that biologists identify new animal species and have learned that the majority of exoplanets found to date fall into two distinct size groups: rocky Earth-like planets and larger mini-Neptunes. The team used data from NASA's Kepler mission and the W. M. Keck Observatory.

"This is a major new division in the family tree of planets, analogous to discovering that mammals and lizards are distinct branches on the tree of life," says Andrew Howard, professor of astronomy at Caltech and a principal investigator of the new research. The lead author of the new study, to be published in The Astronomical Journal, is Benjamin J. (B. J.) Fulton, a graduate student in Howard's group who splits his time between Caltech and the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii.

In essence, their research shows that our galaxy has a strong preference for two types of planets: rocky planets up to 1.75 times the size of Earth, and gas-enshrouded mini-Neptune worlds, which are from 2 to 3.5 times the size of Earth (or somewhat smaller than Neptune). Our galaxy rarely makes planets with sizes in between these two groups.

"Astronomers like to put things in buckets," says Fulton. "In this case, we have found two very distinct buckets for the majority of the Kepler planets."

Since the Kepler mission launched in 2009, it has identified and confirmed more than 2,300 exoplanets. Kepler specializes in finding planets close to their stars, so the majority of these planets orbit more closely than Mercury, which circles the sun at roughly one-third of the Earth-sun distance. Most of these close-in planets were found to be roughly between the size of Earth and Neptune, which is about 4 times the size of Earth. But, until now, the planets were found to have a variety of sizes spanning this range and were not known to fall into two size groups.

"In the solar system, there are no planets with sizes between Earth and Neptune," says Erik Petigura, co-author of the study and a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech. "One of the great surprises from Kepler is that nearly every star has at least one planet larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. We'd really like to know what these mysterious planets are like and why we don't have them in our own solar system."

Kepler finds planets by looking for telltale dips in starlight as they pass in front of their stars. The size of the dip is correlated with the size of the planet. But in order to precisely know the planets' sizes, the sizes of the stars must be measured.

The Caltech team--together with colleagues from several institutions, including UC Berkeley, the University of Hawaii, Harvard University, Princeton University, and the University of Montreal--took a closer look at the Kepler planets' sizes with the help of the Keck Observatory. They spent years obtaining spectral data on the stars hosting 2,000 Kepler planets. The spectral data allowed them to obtain precise measurements of the sizes of the Kepler stars; these measurements, in turn, allowed the researchers to determine more precise sizes for the planets orbiting those stars.

"Before, sorting the planets by size was like trying to sort grains of sand with your naked eye," says Fulton. "Getting the spectra from Keck is like going out and grabbing a magnifying glass. We could see details that we couldn't before."

With Keck's new data, the researchers were able to measure the sizes of the 2,000 planets with 4 times more precision than what had been achieved previously. When they examined the distribution of planet sizes, they found a surprise: a striking gap between the groups of rocky Earths and mini-Neptunes. Though a few planets fall into the gap, the majority do not.

The cause of the gap is not clear, but the scientists have come up with two possible explanations. The first is based on the idea that nature likes to make a lot of planets roughly the size of Earth. Some of those planets, for reasons that are not fully understood, end up acquiring enough gas to "jump the gap" and become gaseous mini-Neptunes.

"A little bit of hydrogen and helium gas goes a very long way. So, if a planet acquires only 1 percent of hydrogen and helium in mass, that's enough to jump the gap," says Howard. "These planets are like rocks with big balloons of gas around them. The hydrogen and helium that's in the balloon doesn't really contribute to the mass of the system as a whole, but it contributes to the volume in a tremendous way, making the planets a lot bigger in size."

The second possible reason that planets don't land in the gap has to do with planets losing gas. If a planet does happen to acquire just a little bit of gas--the right amount to place it in the gap--that gas can be burned off when exposed to radiation from the host star.

"A planet would have to get lucky to land in the gap, and then if it did, it probably wouldn't stay there," says Howard. "It's unlikely for a planet to have just the right amount of gas to land in the gap. And those planets that do have enough gas can have their thin atmospheres blown off. Both scenarios likely carve out the gap in planet sizes that we observe."

In the future, the researchers plan to study the heavy-element content of these planets to learn more about their composition. "We're living in a golden age of planetary astronomy because we are finding thousands of planets around other stars," says Petigura. "We are currently working to understand what these mini-Neptunes are made of, which should help explain why these planets form so easily around other stars and why they didn't form around the sun."

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The study, titled "The California-Kepler Survey. III. A Gap in the Radius of Distribution of Small Planets," was funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation.

The W. M. Keck Observatory is a private 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and a scientific partnership of Caltech, the University of California, and NASA.

NASA's Ames Research Center manages the Kepler and K2 missions for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. operates the flight system with support from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
June 21, 2017 -- A study by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Medical Center found that applying continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a form of non-invasive ventilation, decreased mortality in children with respiratory distress. Findings from the clinical trial in Ghana indicate 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 that 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.

The study, which followed 1,025 patients and 1,175 controls, was conducted at two first-level hospitals or district hospitals in Ghana where invasive mechanical ventilation was not routinely available, and nurses initiated and managed care with once or twice daily physician rounds.

Two-week all-cause mortality in children 1 year of age and younger significantly decreased when CPAP was continuously applied: 3 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 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 task-sharing this skill to nurses can bring lifesaving care 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 healthcare 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," says 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," 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."

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Co-authors: Sara Lopez-Pintado, Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health; Frank Baiden, Ensign College of Public Health, Ghana; Joshua C Brooks, School of Medicine, University of Queensland-Ochsner, Brisbane, Australia; Marilyn C Morris, Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University Medical Center; Katie Giessler, Global Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco; Damien Punguyire, Municipal Health Directorate, Ghana; Gavin Apio, Kintampo Municipal Hospital, Ghana; Akua Agyeman-Ampromfi, Centre for Global Health Research, Ghana; Justice Sylverken, Department of Pediatrics, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Ghana; Kwadwo Nyarko-Jectey, Mampong Municipal Hospital, Ghana; and Harry Tagbor, School of Medicine, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana

The study was supported by General Electric Foundation, Columbia University sidHARTe Program (#PT-AABK1277).

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health

Founded in 1922, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Mailman School is the third largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its over 450 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change & health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with over 1,300 graduate students from more than 40 nations pursuing a variety of master's and doctoral degree programs. The Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers including ICAP and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit http://www.mailman.columbia.edu.
Bottom Line: A microscopic fungus called Candida tropicalis triggered gut inflammation and exacerbated symptoms of Crohn's disease, in a recent study conducted at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Meeting Where the Study was Presented: Digestive Disease Week May 5-9, 2017 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois.

Senior Author: Fabio Cominelli, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and Pathology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and Division Chief of Gastroenterology at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. Cominelli also served as senior author on five other studies presented at the conference.

Lead Author: Luca Di Martino, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Digestive Health Research Institute at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Background: Colon inflammation, or colitis, is a painful yet common symptom in Crohn's disease. Scientists believe colitis is caused by an abnormal immune response during which the body tries to fight an infection, but also attacks the intestinal tract. According to the new study, C. tropicalis infection may intensify this malfunction.

Said Di Martino, "The type of microorganisms that live in our intestine, our microbiome, has been shown to be a key element for triggering Crohn's disease. Recent studies have shown that the abundance of the fungus Candida tropicalis is significantly higher in the intestine of Crohn's disease patients compared to healthy people." Di Martino investigated how C. tropicalis and other gut microorganisms may influence intestinal inflammation.

How the Study Was Conducted: Researchers induced colitis symptoms in mice by adding low levels of dextran sodium sulfate to mice drinking water. The chemical causes acute intestinal injury, similar to a colitis flare. Next, they infected a subset of the mice with C. tropicalis fungi and examined the mouse intestinal tracts and gut bacteria.

Results: Researchers discovered mice infected with C. tropicalis fungi had intensified Crohn's disease symptoms, compared to uninfected mice. The findings suggest anti-fungal medications could combat debilitating symptoms of the disease by lowering gut levels of C. tropicalis.

"Our data demonstrate that C. tropicalis may play a pro-inflammatory role in intestinal injury by exacerbating gut inflammation during the recovery phase of dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis," the authors wrote. "We speculate that infection with the fungus C. tropicalis may play a role in triggering flares during Crohn's disease and that anti-fungal therapy may be beneficial in Crohn's disease patients."

The researchers suggest C. tropicalis fungus may trigger gut inflammation by modulating levels of other gut bacteria. Said Di Martino, "We found that high levels of C. Tropicalis increases the abundance of harmful proteobacteria in the intestine, such as E. coli, disrupting the normal balance of the gut bacteria and creating a dysbiosis, a key element that triggers intestinal inflammation."

Infected mice had several signs of debilitating gut inflammation. Endoscopies revealed colons from infected mice had 4.5 times higher levels of particular inflammatory molecules (called IFN-) associated with colitis. Under the microscope, infected intestinal tracts also had more severe visual signs of swelling than those from uninfected mice.

Author Comment: "We discovered that experimental mice infected with C. tropicalis were more susceptible to intestinal inflammation compared to uninfected mice," Di Martino said.

"The most exciting discovery was that in the infected mice there was a significantly higher abundance of proteobacteria, the same type of deleterious bacteria found increased in Crohn's patients," Di Martino said. "This confirmed that the presence and the abundance of fungi in the intestine have the ability to modify the bacteria living in our intestine, leading to a dysbiosis which will eventually trigger an inflammatory syndrome."

"As a next step, we want to confirm the role of the fungi in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease by treating infected mice with antifungal drugs to decrease symptoms of intestinal inflammation," Di Martino said. "If our hypothesis is right, that would open the door to novel antifungal therapies to treat Crohn's disease patients."

Limitations: This study tested the effects of human gut bacteria in an animal model, and results may not fully translate to human disease. The researchers also induced colitis in mice acutely using dextran sodium sulfate, while colitis is often a chronic condition in humans.

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Funding & Disclosures:

This research was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (awards P30DK097948 which supports the Silvio O. Conte Cleveland Digestive Diseases Research Core Center and P01DK091222). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

For more information about Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, please visit: http://case.edu/medicine.
The same mechanisms that quickly separate mixtures of oil and water are at play when controlling the organization in an unusual part of our DNA called heterochromatin, according to a new study by researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

Researchers studying genome and cell biology provide evidence that heterochromatin organizes large parts of the genome into specific regions of the nucleus using liquid-liquid phase separation, a mechanism well known in physics but whose importance for biology has only recently been revealed.

They present their findings June 21 in the journal Nature, addressing a long-standing question about how DNA functions are organized in space and time, including how genes are regulated to be silenced or expressed.

"The importance of DNA sequences in health and disease has been clear for decades, but we only recently have come to realize that the organization of sections of DNA into different physical domains or compartments inside the nucleus is critical to promote distinct genome functions," said study corresponding author, Gary Karpen, senior scientist at Berkeley Lab's Biological Systems and Engineering Division.

The long stretches of DNA in heterochromatin contain sequences that, for the most part, need to be silenced for cells to work properly. Scientists once thought that compaction of the DNA was the primary mechanism for controlling which enzymes and molecules gain access to the sequences. It was reasoned that the more tightly wound the strands, the harder it would be to get to the genetic material inside.

That mechanism has been questioned in recent years by the discovery that some large protein complexes could get inside the heterochromatin domain, while smaller proteins can remain shut out.

In this new study of early Drosophila embryos, the researchers observed two non-mixing liquids in the cell nucleus: one that contained expressed genes, and one that contained silenced heterochromatin. They found that heterochromatic droplets fused together just like two drops of oil surrounded by water.

In lab experiments, researchers purified heterochromatin protein 1a (HP1a), a main component of heterochromatin, and saw that this single component was able to recreate what they saw in the nucleus by forming liquid droplets.

"We are excited about these findings because they explain a mystery that's existed in the field for a decade," said study lead author Amy Strom, a graduate student in Karpen's lab. "That is, if compaction controls access to silenced sequences, how are other large proteins still able to get in? Chromatin organization by phase separation means that proteins are targeted to one liquid or the other based not on size, but on other physical traits, like charge, flexibility, and interaction partners."

The Berkeley Lab study, which used fruit fly and mouse cells, will be published alongside a companion paper in Nature led by UC San Francisco researchers, who showed that the human version of the HP1a protein has the same liquid droplet properties, suggesting that similar principles hold for human heterochromatin.

Interestingly, this type of liquid-liquid phase separation is very sensitive to changes in temperature, protein concentration, and pH levels.

"It's an elegant way for the cell to be able to manipulate gene expression of many sequences at once," said Strom.

Other cellular structures, including some involved in disease, are also organized by phase separation.

"Problems with phase separation have been linked to diseases such as dementia and certain neurodegenerative disorders," said Karpen.

He noted that as we age, biological molecules lose their liquid state and become more solid, accumulating damage along the way. Karpen pointed to diseases like Alzheimer's and Huntington's, in which proteins misfold and aggregate, becoming less liquid and more solid over time.

"If we can better understand what causes aggregation, and how to keep things more liquid, we might have a chance to combat these types of disease," Strom added.

The work is a big step forward for understanding how DNA functions, but could also help researchers improve their ability to manipulate genes.

"Gene therapy, or any treatment that relies on tight regulation of gene expression, could be improved by precisely targeting molecules to the right place in the nucleus," says Karpen. "It is very difficult to target genes located in heterochromatin, but this understanding of the properties linked to phase separation and liquid behaviors could help change that and open up a third of the genome that we couldn't get to before."

This includes targeting gene-editing technologies like CRISPR, which has recently opened up new doors for precise genome manipulation and gene therapy.

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Karpen and Strom have joint appointments at UC Berkeley's Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Other study co-authors include Mustafa Mir and Xavier Darzacq at UC Berkeley, and Alexander Emelyanov and Dmitry Fyodorov at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

The National Institutes of Health and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine helped support this work.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov.

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
DURHAM, N.C. -- At least 1.4 million seagulls feed at landfills across North America, which aside from the nuisance it might pose, is also a threat to the health of nearby waters, a new Duke University study finds.

"We estimate these gulls transport and deposit an extra 240 tons of nitrogen and 39 tons of phosphorus into nearby lakes or reservoirs in North America each year through their feces," said lead author Scott Winton, a 2016 doctoral graduate of Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment.

The added nutrients contained in the birds' droppings can contribute to extensive algal blooms that rob surface waters of much of the oxygen needed to sustain healthy aquatic animal life -- a process known as eutrophication.

Oxygen depletion and algal toxins that result from the blooms can have far-reaching ecological and economic impacts, including fish kills, increased costs for local governments, and reduced recreational or fishing values in affected waters.

"It costs local U.S. governments an estimated $100 million a year in nutrient offset credits to address or prevent the problem and maintain nutrient levels at or below the total maximum daily load threshold for water quality," said Mark River, a doctoral student at Duke's Nicholas School, who conducted the research with Winton.

The scale of the problem and the cumulative cost of dealing with it may be even larger than the new study suggests, said Winton, who is now a visiting postdoctoral fellow at ETHZurich, a science and technology university in Switzerland.

"We estimated and mapped a landfill-gull population of 1.4 million based on documented sightings reported in the eBird Citizen Science database. But the actual population is probably greater than 5 million," Winton said. "That means the amount of nutrients deposited in the lakes, and the costs of preventing or remediating the problem, could be substantially higher."

Winton and River published their study, which is the first to look at the transport of nutrients into surface waters from seagulls at landfills, on June 15 in the journal Water Research.

They conducted the research at landfills near two major drinking water reservoirs -- Jordan Lake and Falls Lake - that serve the Raleigh-Durham region of North Carolina. Nitrogen and phosphorus loading data from these two lakes were then scaled up to estimate total loading at water bodies near landfills across North America using a well-established model for measuring the nutrient transport of carnivorous birds.

The findings are applicable to lakes and reservoirs in other parts of the world, as well.

"The idea that gull feces can be a major water quality problem may sound comical -- until you look at data from an individual lake," Winton said. "In Jordan Lake, for instance, we found that a local flock of 49,000 ring-billed gulls deposit landfill feces containing nearly 1.2 tons of phosphorus into the lake annually."

That amount, he said, is equivalent to roughly half of the total phosphorus load reduction target established for the New Hope Creek watershed of Jordan Lake. Offsetting this added phosphorus costs local governments about $2.2 million annually -- largely through long-term programs aimed at reducing other sources of inflowing nutrients such as urban stormwater or agricultural runoff.

Reducing the size of the gull flocks may also be an option worth pursuing, Winton said. Reducing the size of open landfills, and covering trash more quickly after it is dumped, are among the ways managers can reduce the gulls' easy access to a food supply and encourage a flock to disperse to other feeding habitats.

"There's a decent history of local governments implementing gull management at landfills because of fears about airplane strikes or because of the nuisance factor to nearby communities," Winton said. "It might be cost-effective to pursue some of these non-lethal mitigation methods to reduce nutrient loading, as well."

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Funding for the study came from the Duke University Wetland Center.

CITATION: "The Biogeochemical Implications of Massive Gull Flocks at Landfills," R. Scott Winton and Mark River. Water Research, Online June 8, 2017. DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.05.076
Screening needed to identify atrial fibrillation patients with no symptoms so that stroke prevention treatment can be given

Vienna, Austria - 21 June 2017: Newly diagnosed asymptomatic atrial fibrillation patients have a higher rate of previous stroke than those with symptoms, according to results from the GLORIA-AF Registry presented today at EHRA EUROPACE - CARDIOSTIM 2017.1 The findings highlight the need for screening to identify atrial fibrillation patients with no symptoms so that stroke prevention treatment can be given.

"Patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation have a five-fold increased risk of stroke compared to those without atrial fibrillation," said lead author Dr Steffen Christow, a cardiologist at Hospital Ingolstadt GmbH, Ingolstadt, Germany. "Strokes in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation tend to be particularly severe and disabling, with about half of patients dying within one year."

"Appropriate anticoagulant therapy substantially reduces the risk of stroke, but in many cases non-valvular atrial fibrillation is only diagnosed after a patient has had a stroke," he continued. "When patients are unaware of their atrial fibrillation they remain untreated and unprotected from stroke."

GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a large, multinational, prospective registry programme involving patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation. This sub-analysis compared characteristics between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients in Western Europe.

The study included 6 011 consecutively enrolled patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation in Western Europe.2 Symptom status was defined by the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) score: I-II asymptomatic/minimally symptomatic; III-IV symptomatic.

A total of 4 119 patients (two-thirds) were asymptomatic/minimally symptomatic (hereafter referred to as 'asymptomatic') and one-third (1 892) were symptomatic at the time of diagnosis. A number of differences were observed between the two groups.

In terms of medical history, asymptomatic patients were twice as likely to have permanent atrial fibrillation (15.8% versus 8.3%) and more than twice as likely to have had a previous stroke (14.7% versus 6.0%) than patients in the symptomatic group. Asymptomatic and symptomatic patients had a similar number of stroke risk factors, as indicated by a CHA2DS2-VASc score of 3.3 in each group.

Dr Christow said: "The finding of a higher rate of previous stroke in the asymptomatic patients despite no differences in the number of stroke risk factors may be explained by a longer but undiagnosed history of atrial fibrillation."

"Our study found that in Western Europe, two-thirds of patients newly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation were asymptomatic," he continued. "Without detection, patients may not receive appropriate preventive therapy and remain at increased risk of stroke."

Dr Christow concluded: "These results underline the urgent need for public programmes to detect atrial fibrillation in the general population."

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FRANKFURT. A new Emmy Noether Independent Junior Research Group has started work at the Faculty of Law of Goethe University Frankfurt. The team headed by Dr. Anuscheh Farahat is dealing with the role played by constitutional courts in transnational solidarity conflicts.

The global financial crisis has severely disadvantaged countries in the European Union too - and some of them have still not recovered today. To rescue the euro, the European Member States were obliged to get a grip on the debts of countries such as Greece, Spain or Portugal. This demanded and continues to demand a lot of transnational solidarity. However, coping with the crisis leads time and again to conflicts in creditor and debtor countries since it raises legal issues on both sides. For example, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court had to clarify, amongst others, to what extent the Bundestag (the German parliament) is obliged to approve Germany's participation in relief actions; after all, budget decisions are down to parliament. In Portugal, on the other hand, what were referred to as "Troika measures", which foresaw sharp cutbacks in employees' income, landed before the national constitutional court, which was asked to clarify whether measures such as salary and pension cuts in the civil service were consistent with the constitution.

Are the courts the right institution to resolve such questions? Or might it not be the responsibility of a European-level entity or the parliaments? Or how else could the national courts be persuaded to take the perspective of other affected countries into account in their decisions? It is questions such as these which are being tackled by the new Emmy Noether research project "Transnational Solidarity Conflicts: Constitutional Courts as Fora for and Players in Conflict Resolution" that started recently. Project leader Dr. Anuscheh Farahat is convinced: "The crisis in the EU is in actual fact a crisis of transnational solidarity." That is why she is investigating distribution and recognition conflicts in her project, which have become exacerbated in the EU during the course of the economic and financial crisis. Her work centres on what role national and European constitutional courts have played in these conflicts. How was the destructive potential of these conflicts institutionally channelled? Could new social order be brought about in the process? Or are other structures needed?

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The Emmy Noether Independent Junior Research Group, which is made up of three early career researchers, will receive  900,000 in funding from the German Research Foundation, initially until February 2020. Project leader Anuscheh Farahat studied in Frankfurt, Paris and Berkeley and completed her doctoral degree in 2011 at Goethe University Frankfurt with a thesis on migration law that has been awarded numerous prizes. In 2014 she became Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. Her research interests are European and German constitutional law, German and international migration law as well as comparative constitutional law. A main focus of her current research work is questions related to the organization of public authority in transnational judicial areas.
A new study shows that modern domestic cats are ultimately derived from the African wildcat, which was domesticated in two centers -- Egypt and the Middle East. Moreover, both lineages contributed to the genomes of European cats.

With a little help from friends, the cat has conquered the most remote parts of the world. Archaeological evidence suggests that cats had already established a close association with human societies almost 10,000 years ago. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the history of their domestication. Genetic analyses carried out by an international team of researchers now show that lineages which originated in Egypt and the Near East were ancestral to our modern domestic cats. Professor Joris Peters, Chair of Paleoanatomy, Domestication Research and the History of Veterinary Medicine at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich, played a major role in the investigation: Much of the material used in the study originated from the Bavarian State Collections for Anthropology and Paleoanatomy, of which he is the current Director.

Genetic analyses of modern housecats have already shown that all were derived from the African wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica. F. s. lybica is one of the five recognized subspecies of wildcats, and is found in North Africa and Southwestern Asia. "In order to shed further light on the cat's domestication history, we have now performed a comparative analysis of ancient cat DNA isolated from remains recovered in archaeological excavations and from material stored in museum collections," says Peters. "The samples we investigated come from Europe, Africa and Southwestern Asia and included Egyptian mummies. They allow us to journey back in time to the beginning of the close relationship between cats and humans, which was established as a consequence of the development of sedentary agricultural communities cultivating cereals." The oldest sample examined dates from about 9000 years ago, the youngest from the 19th century.

To trace the process of cat domestication and dispersal, the study focused on mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondria are responsible for energy production in all animal cells and are maternally inherited. The analyses revealed that, in the Neolithic period prior to the establishment of agriculture, the African wildcat's natural range was far larger than hitherto assumed. In fact, it extended into Southeastern Europe, where F. s. lybica came into contact with the European wildcat, Felis silvestris silvestris. The mitochondrial DNA lineage brought to Europe by F. s. lybica had arrived by about the year 4400 BCE, and it represents Southwestern Asia's contribution to the evolutionary transformation of the African wildcat into today's familiar housecat.

The dispersal of the domesticated Egyptian lineage onto the European continent, on the other hand, likely occurred in Antiquity and proceeded along the Mediterranean maritime trade routes pioneered by the Greeks and the Romans. "Most probably, sailors took many of these cats on board their ships to keep rats and mice in check," says Peters. "In fact we were able to identify one lineage that must have reached Northern Germany during the Viking Age."

On arrival in Europe, the immigrants intermixed with the local subspecies of wildcat, giving rise to a variety of hybrid lineages. Many of these episodes of hybridization can be approximately dated. One mutation in the nuclear DNA results in a coat-color pattern known as tabby blotched (which is quite distinct from the 'mackerel' pattern characteristic of wildcats), and this gene variant is very common among contemporary European housecats. However, the new study shows that the mutation was actively selected only in the Middle Ages, long after the arrival of the first domesticated cats on the continent. Based on this finding, the authors suggest that the initial domestication process may have focused on selection for behavioral traits rather than on coat color or marking patterns.

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New Rochelle, NY, June 21, 2017--A new study of children up to 2 years of age showed that those born late preterm (34-36 weeks) had a significantly greater risk of recurrent hospitalization due to respiratory illness compared to those who were born full term (>37 weeks). The repeat hospital visits also occurred at an earlier age in the late preterm birth group of children, according to an article in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology website.

Oded Breuer, MD and coauthors from Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel reported their results in the article entitled "Respiratory Hospitalizations and Rehospitalizations in Infants Born Late Preterm." The children required hospital treatment mainly for wheezing-related illness.

"Late preterm infants comprise the largest segment of premature infants and their numbers are growing. There have been few studies looking at the long-term outcomes of these children and the respiratory risks they face. The study by Breuer et al. is an important contribution highlighting the respiratory risks and morbidity in late preterm births beyond the first few months of life," says Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology Editor-in-Chief Mary Cataletto, MD, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Stony Brook University School of Medicine.

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About the Journal

Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal published online with open access options and in print that synthesizes the pulmonary, allergy, and immunology communities in the advancement of the respiratory health of children. Led by Editor-in-Chief Mary Cataletto, MD, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, State University of New York at Stony Brook, the Journal provides comprehensive coverage to further the understanding and optimize the treatment of some of the most common and costly chronic illnesses in children. It includes original translational, clinical, and epidemiologic research; public health, quality improvement, and case control studies; patient education research; and the latest research and standards of care for functional and genetic immune deficiencies and interstitial lung diseases. Tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery, Breastfeeding Medicine, and Population Health Management. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publisher's website.
The United States Department of Education (USDOE) has awarded the Center for Pre-College Programs (CPCP) at New Jersey Institute of Technology two grants for its Upward Bound program.

CPCP received $503,928 for year one of a five-year continuation grant. It will enable the center to continue to serve 113 public-school students at Barringer Academy of the Arts & Humanities and Central, Marion P. Thomas Charter and Malcolm X. Shabazz High Schools in Newark. This grant has been serving the Newark Community for over 25 years. A second entirely new grant for $257,500, anticipated to be the first of a five-year grant program, will serve an additional 60 public-school students at Barringer Academy of S.T.E.A.M., East Side, Newark Vocational and Weequahic High Schools, also in Newark.

"This funding is incredibly important, because NJIT's Center for Pre-College Programs works annually to support more than 4,000 pre-college students who are predominantly underrepresented females and minorities from the greater Newark area -- a pipeline we must continue to expand if we are to meet the growing need for STEM professionals who are essential for economic growth," said NJIT President Joel S. Bloom. "Of those students served by CPCP, well over 200 from underrepresented populations enroll as undergraduates at NJIT each fall and pursue STEM professions."

Added Jacqueline Cusack, Ed.D., executive director, CPCP, "This additional funding allows us to expand our outreach to the secondary school-aged population of Newark to ensure that students have the requisite knowledge, skills, experiences and support to compete and achieve through their high school years that will, in turn, facilitate their successful transition to the higher education setting."

Upward Bound is a TRiO educational opportunity program funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. It serves ninth- to 12th-grade low-income students, between the ages of 13 and 19, who will be the first generation in their families to attend college. The program's goal is to increase the rate at which participants enroll in and graduate from institutions of higher learning.

Upward Bound is free and features an academic-year component that meets on-campus on Saturdays throughout the school year, as well as a six-week intensive, residential summer component. Students take classes in literature, composition, science, math, foreign language, art, computer science, architecture, psychology and more. Field trips are included as well, both during the school year and over the summer.

Another grant proposal for $250,000, to fund Upward Bound for English Language Learners, is still under review with the USDOE. CPCP looks forward to a favorable outcome.

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For more information on the Center for Pre-College Programs, visit njit.edu/precollege/ or call 973-596-3550.

About NJIT

One of the nation's leading public technological universities, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a top-tier research university that prepares students to become leaders in the technology-dependent economy of the 21st century. NJIT's multidisciplinary curriculum and computing-intensive approach to education provide technological proficiency, business acumen and leadership skills. With an enrollment of 11,400 graduate and undergraduate students, NJIT offers small-campus intimacy with the resources of a major public research university. NJIT is a global leader in such fields as solar research, nanotechnology, resilient design, tissue engineering and cybersecurity, in addition to others. NJIT is among the top U.S. polytechnic public universities in research expenditures, exceeding $130 million, and is among the top 1 percent of public colleges and universities in return on educational investment, according to PayScale.com. NJIT has a $1.74 billion annual economic impact on the State of New Jersey.
ARLINGTON, Va.--With support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Dr. Binoy Ravindran, an engineering professor at Virginia Tech, has designed a system that could revolutionize how military and commercial computing systems perform.

It's called Popcorn Linux--an operating system that can compile different programming languages into a single cyber tongue.

"By applying Popcorn Linux to longtime, legacy Navy and Marine Corps computer systems, we can improve software without requiring thousands of man-hours to rewrite millions of lines of code," said Dr. Wen Masters, head of ONR's C4ISR Department. "This could yield significant savings in maintenance costs."

Crunching huge amounts of data for complex applications like battlespace awareness and artificial intelligence requires extremely powerful processing. Unfortunately, many of the processors capable of this speak their own specialized software programming languages--and must be programmed to interact with each other.

To increase computing speed, microchip manufacturers in recent years have placed multiple processing units on individual chips. Take the iPhone 7, for example, which has four processors--two high-power (think of a Ford Mustang) and two low-power (think of a Toyota Prius)--to simultaneously dial phone numbers, open web pages, check text messages and take photos and videos.

That involves designating specialized "heterogeneous" processors to carry out specific tasks, like displaying graphics or web browsing. Each processor can be devoted to one specialty, rather than divided among several functions, resulting in much better, faster performance.

"Before, each processor was like one handyman re-modeling your entire bathroom," said Dr. Sukarno Mertoguno, the ONR program officer sponsoring Ravindran's research. "Heterogeneous processors, by contrast, represent an actual plumber installing the pipes and an actual painter painting the walls. Each processor has a specialty."

But this specialization has problems--a "language" barrier. Each processor has its own set of instructions that only it understands. To address this, software developers must manually adjust code to determine which tasks should run on which processors--a tedious process, as extra features and updates are added regularly.

"This is especially true for Navy and Marine Corps software systems," said Ravindran. "Many of these legacy systems were built in the 1970s or earlier, have numerous security patches and millions of lines of code, and represent a huge investment of time and money. How can Navy developers enjoy the benefits of next-generation heterogeneous processors without rewriting applications from scratch?"

Ravindran's answer is Popcorn Linux, which can be used with any computer or device, and serves as a translation tool--taking generic coding language and translating it into multiple specialized program languages. From there, Popcorn Linux automatically figures out what pieces of the programming code are needed to perform particular tasks--and transfers these instruction "kernels" (the "popcorn" part) to the appropriate function.

While Popcorn Linux is still a proof-of-concept prototype created by Ravindran and his students, the system is about to enter a new phase of development.

"In our lab and academic setting, we've demonstrated that Popcorn Linux works well with respect to performance speed and power usage," said Ravindran. "Later this year, we'll work with industry partners to create a version of Popcorn Linux that can meet the strenuous industrial standards required by the Navy and Marine Corps."

"We're already hearing great enthusiasm from industry for Popcorn Linux," said Masters. "We look forward to see how Dr. Ravindran and his team further develop this exciting system."

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HOUSTON -- (June 21, 2017) -- Nanotechnologists from Rice University and China's Tianjin University have used 3-D laser printing to fabricate centimeter-sized objects of atomically thin graphene.

The research could yield industrially useful quantities of bulk graphene and is described online in a new study in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.

"This study is a first of its kind," said Rice chemist James Tour, co-corresponding author of the paper. "We have shown how to make 3-D graphene foams from nongraphene starting materials, and the method lends itself to being scaled to graphene foams for additive manufacturing applications with pore-size control."

Graphene, one of the most intensely studied nanomaterials of the decade, is a two-dimensional sheet of pure carbon that is both ultrastrong and conductive. Scientists hope to use graphene for everything from nanoelectronics and aircraft de-icers to batteries and bone implants. But most industrial applications would require bulk quantities of graphene in a three-dimensional form, and scientists have struggled to find simple ways of creating bulk 3-D graphene.

For example, researchers in Tour's lab began using lasers, powdered sugar and nickel to make 3-D graphene foam in late 2016. Earlier this year they showed that they could reinforce the foam with carbon nanotubes, which produced a material they dubbed "3-D rebar graphene" that could retain its shape while supporting 3,000 times its own weight. But making 3-D rebar graphene was no simple task. It required a pre-fabricated 3-D mold, a 1,000-degree Celsius chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process and nearly three hours of heating and cooling.

In the latest study, a team from Tour's lab and the labs of Rice's Jun Luo and Tianjin's Naiqin Zhao adapted a common 3-D selective laser sintering technique to make fingertip-size blocks of graphene foam. The process is conducted at room temperature. No molds are required and the starting materials are powdered sugar and nickel powder.

"This simple and efficient method does away with the need for both cold-press molds and high-temperature CVD treatment," said co-lead author Junwei Sha, a former visiting student in Tour's lab who is now a graduate student at Tianjin. "We should also be able to use this process to produce specific types of graphene foam like 3-D printed rebar graphene as well as both nitrogen- and sulfur-doped graphene foam by changing the precursor powders."

Three-D laser printers work differently than the more familiar extrusion-based 3-D printers, which create objects by squeezing melted plastic through a needle as they trace out two-dimensional patterns. In 3-D selective laser sintering, a laser shines down onto a flat bed of powder. Wherever the laser touches powder, it melts or sinters the powder into a solid form. The laser is rastered, or moved back and forth, line by line to create a single two-dimensional slice of a larger object. Then a new layer of powder is laid over the top of that layer and the process is repeated to build up three-dimensional objects from successive two-dimensional layers.

The new Rice process used a commercially available CO2 laser. When this laser was shone onto the sugar and nickel powder, the sugar was decomposed into carbon source and the nickel acted as a catalyst. Graphene formed as the mixture cooled after the laser had moved on to the next spot, and Sha and colleagues conducted an exhaustive study to find the optimal amount of time and laser power to maximize graphene production.

The foam created by the process is a low-density, 3-D form of graphene with large pores that account for more than 99 percent of its volume.

"The 3-D graphene foams prepared by our method show promise for applications that require rapid prototyping and manufacturing of 3-D carbon materials, including energy storage, damping and sound absorption," said co-lead author Yilun Li, a graduate student at Rice.

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Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice.

Additional co-authors include Rodrigo Villegas Salvatierra, Tuo Wang, Pei Dong, Yongsung Ji, Seoung-Ki Lee, Chenhao Zhang, Jibo Zhang and Pulickel Ajayan, all of Rice, and Robert Smith of Qualified Rapid Products in West Jordan, Utah.

The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and its Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, the China Scholarship Council, the State Key Program of National Natural Science of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Special Foundation for Science and Technology Major Program of Tianjin and Universal Laser Systems.

The DOI of the ACS Nano paper is: 10.1021/acsnano.7b01987

A copy of the paper is available at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsnano.7b01987

Related research stories from Rice:

Zap! Graphene is bad news for bacteria -- May 22, 2017

http://news.rice.edu/2017/05/22/zap-graphene-is-bad-news-for-bacteria/

Graphene-nanotube hybrid boosts lithium metal batteries -- May 18, 2017



Gas gives laser-induced graphene super properties -- May 15, 2017 http://news.rice.edu/2017/05/15/gas-gives-laser-induced-graphene-super-properties-2/

Tour testifies on Capitol Hill about graphene 'space race' -- March 16, 2017

http://news.rice.edu/2017/03/16/tour-testifies-on-capitol-hill-about-graphene-space-race/

Graphene foam gets big and tough -- Feb. 13, 2017

http://news.rice.edu/2017/02/13/graphene-foam-gets-big-and-tough/

Defects are perfect in laser-induced graphene -- Dec. 10, 2014

http://news.rice.edu/2014/12/10/defects-are-perfect-in-laser-induced-graphene/

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Today, tracking the development of individual cells and spotting the associated factors under the microscope is nothing unusual. However, impairments like shadows or changes in the background complicate the interpretation of data. Now, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen have developed a software that corrects images to make hitherto hidden development steps visible.

When stem cells develop into specialized cells, this happens in multiple steps. But which regulatory proteins are active during the decisive branching on the development path? Using so-called time-lapse microscopy, researchers can observe individual cells at very high time resolutions and, using fluorescent labelling, they can recognize precisely which of these proteins appear when in the cell.

Once a stem cell has been identified, it can be closely observed over several days using cell-tracking software. Yet, this "surveillance work" often turns out to be difficult. "The imaging data is frequently marred by irregular brightness and faded backgrounds in the time-lapse," explains Dr. Carsten Marr, heading the workgroup Quantitative Single Cell Dynamics at the Institute of Computational Biology (ICB) of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen. "This makes it difficult or impossible to detect proteins that are decisive when a cell opts for a specific development direction, so-called transcription factors."

Algorithms that filter out these kinds of artefacts exist, but they require either specifically prepared reference images, many images per dataset or complex manual adjustments. Furthermore, none of the existing methods correct alterations in the background over time, which hamper the quantification of individual cells.

Algorithm eliminates background changes

Now, Dr. Tingying Peng, member of Dr. Carsten Marr's group at the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and Professor Nassir Navab, head of the Chair for Computer Aided Medical Procedures and Augmented Reality at TU Munich, present an algorithm that corrects these artefacts using only a few images per dataset.

The software is called "BaSiC" and is freely available. It is compatible with many image formats commonly used in bioimaging, including mosaics pieced together from numerous smaller images and used, for example, to render large tissue regions. "Contrary to other programs, however," explains Dr. Peng, "BaSiC can correct changes in the background of time-lapse videos. This makes it a valuable tool for stem cell researchers who want to detect the appearance of specific transcription factors early on."

Bringing significant details to light

How well the new image correction program improves the analysis of individual stem cell development steps the scientists demonstrated with time-lapse videos of blood stem cells. They recorded the videos to observe cells over a six-day time span. At a certain point during this observation period undifferentiated precursor cells choose between two possible tacks of development that lead to the formation of different mature blood cells.

In images corrected using BaSiC, the researchers could identify a substantial increase in the intensity of a specific transcription factor in one of the two cell lines, while the amount of his protein in the other cell line remained unchanged. Without the image correction, the difference was not ascertainable.

"Using BaSiC, we were able to make important decision factors visible that would otherwise have been drowned out by noise," says Nassir Navab. "The long-term goal of this research is to facilitate influencing the development of stem cells in a targeted manner, for example to cultivate new heart muscle cells for heat-attack patients. The novel possibilities for observation are bringing us a step closer to this goal."

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The BaSiC image correction program resulted from a close collaboration between the Chair of Mathematical Modeling of Biological Systems and the Chair of Computer Aided Medical Procedures & Augmented Reality at the Technical University of Munich and the Institute of Computational Biology (ICB) of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen. Also involved were the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California in San Francisco (USA), as well as the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSSE) at ETH Zurich and the Chair of Computer Aided Medical Procedure at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (USA).
Extinction risk for some species could be drastically underestimated because most demographic models of animal populations only analyse the number and fertility of females, dismissing male data as 'noise'.

An international team of researchers, including a PhD student and a professor from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, found that population growth in birds was very sensitive to the ratio of males to females in a population, called the adult sex ratio (ASR), which has previously been shown to affect mating behaviour.

The researchers have published their findings in the prestigious science journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Species with a high number of males in a population tend to be polygamous: the females typically breed with several partners in one season, leaving the males to do most of the care for their offspring. However, with a large number of males competing for fewer females, a male biased population can also lead to increased aggression and harassment of females which can reduce survival rates.

Conversely, species with a higher number of females to males have lower parental investment by fathers which can also adversely affect survival of offspring. Where numbers of each sex were evenly balanced, parents cooperated more in care of their young and breeding pairs tended to be monogamous.

The researchers looked at why an unbalanced sex ratio should develop in some birds. They studied the survival and breeding behaviour of 1,259 wild Snowy Plovers in north-western Mexico over a seven year period, a species that is typically male biased. The team found that whilst a similar number of males and females hatched, males had higher survival rates at all stages of life, but particularly at the juvenile stage, when individuals are independent of their parents but not fully grown.

These findings could impact the conservation of endangered species, since ignoring the sex ratio of a population could miscalculate the survival rates and therefore underestimate the vulnerability of species to extinction.

Professor Tamas Szekely, from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, said: "Our research has shown that population growth is very sensitive to changes in the survival of the limiting sex. A biased sex ratio either way can compromise population stability - too many males increases violence, whereas too many females leads to less cooperation between parents which reduces the survival of offspring.

"Current extinction models only take numbers of females into account - our research shows this approach could drastically underestimate extinction risk and states that males should also be part of the equation."

Luke Eberhart-Phillips, PhD student at Bielefeld University (Germany) and first author of the paper, said: "Our research shows that in Snowy Plovers the population is male-biased due to sex differences in survival of young individuals, rather than at birth or during adulthood.

"Therefore, the evolution of different mating systems - whether polygamous or monogamous - could be a consequence of innate sex differences in survival. In mammals, population sex ratios are typically female biased, whereas in birds, these sex ratios are usually male biased. "Based on our results, one could speculate that sex differences in survival during early life are driving these large-scale patterns and the evolution of breeding behaviours."

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What if researchers could go back in time 105 million years and accurately sequence the chromosomes of the first placental mammal? What would it reveal about evolution and modern mammals, including humans?

In a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers have gone back in time, at least virtually, computationally recreating the chromosomes of the first eutherian mammal, the long-extinct, shrewlike ancestor of all placental mammals.

"The revolution in DNA sequencing has provided us with enough chromosome-scale genome assemblies to permit the computational reconstruction of the eutherian ancestor, as well as other key ancestors along the lineage leading to modern humans," said Harris Lewin, a lead author of the study and a professor of evolution and ecology and Robert and Rosabel Osborne Endowed Chair at the University of California, Davis.

"We now understand the major steps of chromosomal evolution that led to the genome organization of more than half the existing orders of mammals. These studies will allow us to determine the role of chromosome rearrangements in the formation of new mammal species and how such rearrangements result in adaptive changes that are specific to the different mammalian lineages," said Lewin.

The findings also have broad implications for understanding how chromosomal rearrangements over millions of years may contribute to human diseases, such as cancer.

"By gaining a better understanding of the relationship between evolutionary breakpoints and cancer breakpoints, the essential molecular features of chromosomes that lead to their instability can be revealed," said Lewin. "Our studies can be extended to the early detection of cancer by identifying diagnostic chromosome rearrangements in humans and other animals, and possibly novel targets for personalized therapy."

Descrambling chromosomes

To recreate the chromosomes of these ancient relatives, the team began with the sequenced genomes of 19 existing placental mammals -- all eutherian descendants -- including human, goat, dog, orangutan, cattle, mouse and chimpanzee, among others.

The researchers then utilized a new algorithm they developed called DESCHRAMBLER. The algorithm computed ("descrambled") the most likely order and orientation of 2,404 chromosome fragments that were common among the 19 placental mammals' genomes.

"It is the largest and most comprehensive such analysis performed to date, and DESCHRAMBLER was shown to produce highly accurate reconstructions using data simulation and by benchmarking it against other reconstruction tools," said Jian Ma, the study's co-senior author and an associate professor of computational biology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

In addition to the eutherian ancestor, reconstructions were made for the six other ancestral genomes on the human evolutionary tree: boreoeutherian, euarchontoglires, simian (primates), catarrhini (Old World monkeys), great apes and human-chimpanzee. The reconstructions give a detailed picture of the various chromosomal changes -- translocations, inversions, fissions and other complex rearrangements -- that have occurred over the 105 million years between the first mammal and Homo sapiens.

Rates of evolution vary

One discovery is that the first eutherian ancestor likely had 42 chromosomes, four less than humans. Researchers identified 162 chromosomal breakpoints -- locations where a chromosome broke open, allowing for rearrangements -- between the eutherian ancestor and the formation of humans as a species.

The rates of evolution of ancestral chromosomes differed greatly among the different mammal lineages. But some chromosomes remained extremely stable over time. For example, six of the reconstructed eutherian ancestral chromosomes showed no rearrangements for almost 100 million years until the appearance of the common ancestor of human and chimpanzee.

Orangutan chromosomes were found to be the slowest evolving of all primates and still retain eight chromosomes that have not changed much with respect to gene order orientation as compared with the eutherian ancestor. In contrast, the lineage leading to chimpanzees had the highest rate of chromosome rearrangements among primates.

"When chromosomes rearrange, new genes and regulatory elements may form that alter the regulation of expression of hundreds of genes, or more. At least some of these events may be responsible for the major phenotypic differences we observe between the mammal orders," said Denis Larkin, co-senior author of the study and a reader in comparative genomics at the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London.

The chromosomes of the oldest three ancestors (eutherian, boreoeutherian, and euarchontoglires) were each found to include more than 80 percent of the entire length of the human genome, the most detailed reconstructions reported to date. The reconstructed chromosomes of the most recent common ancestor of simians, catarrhini, great apes, and humans and chimpanzees included more than 90 percent of human genome sequence, providing a structural framework for understanding primate evolution.

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Collaborators and funding

Collaborating with Lewin, Larkin and Ma were Marta Farre of the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London in London, England; Jaebum Kim from the Department of Biomedical Science and Engineering at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea; and Loretta Auvil and Boris Capitanu of the Illinois Informatics Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Urbana, Illinois.

The research was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; the Robert and Rosabel Osborne Endowment (UC Davis); the National Institutes of Health; the National Science Foundation; the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning of Korea; the Ministry of Education of Korea; and the Rural Development Administration of Korea. This work was conducted as a contribution to the Genome 10K Project.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have designed antibodies that target the protein deposits in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease, and stop their production.

The researchers used computer-based methods to develop antibodies -- the star players of the body's natural defence system -- to target the deposits of misfolded proteins which are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Early tests of the antibodies in test tubes and in nematode worms showed an almost complete elimination of these pathogens.

The antibodies were designed to systematically scan the sequence of amyloid-beta, the main component of the toxic deposits associated with Alzheimer's disease. By targeting specific regions, or epitopes, of the amyloid-beta sequence, the different antibodies were able to block amyloid-beta's ability to stick together, or aggregate. Their results are reported in the journal Science Advances.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, which affects nearly one million people in the UK and about 50 million worldwide. One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease is the build-up of protein deposits, known as plaques and tangles, in the brains of affected individuals. These deposits, which accumulate when naturally-occurring proteins in the body fold into the wrong shape and aggregate, are formed primarily of two proteins: amyloid-beta and tau.

The process of protein aggregation also creates smaller clusters called oligomers, which are highly toxic to nerve cells and are thought to be responsible for brain damage in Alzheimer's disease. Researchers around the world have spent decades attempting to unravel the processes that cause Alzheimer's disease, and to target the misfolding proteins before they are able to aggregate.

Antibodies are dedicated proteins that help defend the body against harmful pathogens by recognising their specific targets, known as antigens. The power of antibodies can be harnessed to make effective treatments, such as vaccines, but to date no antibody has been developed to treat Alzheimer's or any other neurodegenerative disease, although several antibody-based treatments for Alzheimer's disease are currently in clinical trials.

"Developing antibody-based therapies is costly and time-consuming, but if we can find better and cheaper ways of producing antibodies, we would increase the chances of finding treatments for patients -- making them by design can create opportunities to achieve this goal," said Professor Michele Vendruscolo from the Centre for Misfolding Diseases in Cambridge, and the paper's senior author.

To date, there have been two main ways of producing antibodies. The first, which has been in use for about 50 years, is to inject animals with the relevant antigen. The antigen stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies to attack the alien substance, and those antibodies can then be extracted as a therapeutic. The second method, developed in the 1990s, does not require the use of animals and instead relies on the screening of large laboratory-constructed libraries to isolate the relevant antibodies.

"In the past few years, thanks to increasingly powerful computers and large structural databases, it has become possible to design antibodies in a computer, which substantially lowers the time and cost required," said study co-author Dr Pietro Sormanni, a postdoctoral researcher in the Centre for Misfolding Diseases. "It also allows us to target specific regions within the antigen, as well as to control for other properties critical for clinical applications, such as antibody stability and solubility."

One of the advantages of the antibodies used in this study is their very small size. In these smaller antibodies, called single-domain antibodies, the 'trigger' for an immune response is stripped off, thereby blocking the inflammatory reactions that have so far prevented the widespread adoption of antibody-based therapies for Alzheimer's disease.

A major advantage of these designed antibodies is that they can be systematically produced to bind to the different regions of the target protein. In this way researchers can extensively and inexpensively explore a variety of mechanisms of action, and select the most effective one for blocking the production of toxins.

"Since the designed antibodies can selectively target oligomers, which are present in low numbers relative to the total amounts of amyloid-beta, we expect them to be effective even when administered in low doses," said Dr Francesco Aprile, a Senior Research Fellow of the Alzheimer's Society in the Centre for Misfolding Diseases and the study's first author.

Not only are these antibodies designed to not stimulate an immune response, but they are also much smaller than standard antibodies, so they could be delivered more effectively to the brain through the blood-brain barrier. Aprile has recently been awarded the 2017 'Outstanding early-career contribution to dementia' award by the Alzheimer's Society for his work.

"The innovative approach taken by Dr Aprile and his colleagues tackles the issue of developing drugs for Alzheimer's disease from a new angle, by using advanced computer techniques to design drugs that specifically block a crucial aspect of the disease process," said James Pickett, Head of Research at the Alzheimer's Society. "Over the last 50 years, advances in antibody technology have delivered radical new treatments for a wide range of common diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and some forms of cancer. While the research is still in the early stages, we are excited by the potential of this work and hope it can do the same for Alzheimer's disease."

"These results indicate that computational methods are becoming ready to be used alongside existing antibody discovery methods, enabling the exploration of new ways of treating a range of human diseases," said Vendruscolo.

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Reference:

Francesco A. Aprile et al. 'Selective targeting of primary and secondary nucleation pathways in A42 aggregation using a rational antibody scanning method.' Science Advances (2017). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700488

For more information, contact:

Office of Communications, University of Cambridge

Tel: +44 (0)1223 323300

communications@admin.cam.ac.uk
Britain's population of hazel dormice, famed for their sleepy lifestyle, has declined by more than 70% in just over two decades, new research from the University of Exeter has shown.

Dedicated dormouse monitors have been counting the rodents in 26,000 nest boxes in 400 woodlands for more than 20 years.

Exeter conservation scientists have studied their records and identified a 72% decline from 1993 to 2014.

The causes of the decline are not well understood, and the research team is calling for an urgent appraisal of dormouse conservation.

"Dormice are declining despite strict protection and widespread efforts to conserve one of Britain's most endearing woodland mammals," said the study's lead author Cecily Goodwin, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

The hazel dormouse is a UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species and a European Protected Species.

The Exeter researchers said their findings suggested hazel dormice merit a national IUCN "Red List" classification.

"They are declining to such an extent that a precautionary approach would classify dormice as 'Endangered' in the UK," said Goodwin.

Dormice are among Britain's best-loved woodland creatures. They live in woodlands, scrub and hedgerows, and eat flowers, nuts and insects.

They are rarely seen as they spend much of the year hibernating. Their sleepy habits featured in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where the dormouse dozed through the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

Dormice are also nocturnal and often sleep for much of the day, enabling dormouse nest box monitors to make careful counts.

Professor Robbie McDonald, who leads the research team at the University of Exeter, said: "Dormice face a range of problems: Climate change and habitat loss are likely important, but we think that woodland management could also be key.

"One possibility that we are currently researching, is that more active woodland management may be needed, not less."

Nida Al Fulaij, of the People's Trust for Endangered Species, which runs the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme, said: "The declines highlighted in this paper are alarming and there is an urgent need to review conservation of hazel dormice to protect this much-loved species."

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The paper, published in the zoology journal Mammal Review, is entitled: "Voluntary recording scheme reveals ongoing decline in the United Kingdom hazel dormouse population."

The research was jointly funded by the Forestry Commission and the Natural Environment Research Council.
Scientists are warning that a water treatment widely used in developing countries could be damaging the DNA of those drinking it.

Despite poor evidence of their effectiveness as a water disinfectant, colloidal silver and silver nanoparticles are increasingly being promoted for treating potentially contaminated drinking water in low income countries.

A study led by the University of East Anglia has concluded that there is a risk these treatments could in fact cause genotoxicity, which is damage to DNA, and affect reproduction and future generations.

Prof Paul Hunter from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said the study brings together existing research to highlight the potential risks. "Colloidal silver as a water treatment is sold across Africa and in countries like Haiti, despite the fact it doesn't treat water very effectively. The World Health Organization (WHO) advises against its use as a primary water treatment. If it isn't doing any good, we wanted to investigate if in fact it could be causing harm."

The research looked at previous studies where the effects of silver, silver nitrate and silver nanoparticles have been measured 'in vivo' - on living animals.

They found that, although results varied, more studies than they expected showed some evidence of genotoxicity, reporting effects including chromosomal aberrations, DNA fragmentation and damage to sperm.

Prof Hunter said: "We already know that there is little evidence that silver in water has any benefit. But this study brings together a body of work which shows it is potentially damaging DNA, and harming reproductive success."

Colloidal silver is also widely marketed as an alternative health substance which can treat everything from skin complaints to bacterial and viral infections, cancer and AIDS. Again, little research exists to show any beneficial effects, but there are known side effects. One of the more obvious signs of over-exposure to silver is argyria, where the skin and hair turns a blue-grey colour.

WHO guidelines for drinking water quality don't currently include a value for silver in water, but indicate that a concentration of 0.1 milligrams per litre could be tolerated without risk to health. However, this was determined as a level unlikely to cause argyria, and didn't take into account potential damage to DNA.

Prof Hunter said: "While none of the previous studies alone are definitive, and we can't use them to determine a safe level of consumption from this review, we consider that the balance of evidence suggests there is the chance of damage to DNA.

"There is an urgent need for more research on this area to determine if people drinking water treated with silver have evidence of DNA damage."

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Notes to editors

1/ For more information or to arrange interviews or photographs, please contact Lucy Clegg in the UEA Press Office on 01603 592764 or lucy.clegg@uea.ac.uk. UEA has a Globelynx broadcast camera and an ISDN line for high quality broadcast interviews.

2/ The full paper is available here: https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-017-0279-4

3/ University of East Anglia

The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a UK Top 15 university and ranks in the top one per cent of universities in the world. Known for its world-leading research and outstanding student experience, it has achieved a Top 10 rating in the National Student Survey every year since the survey began. UEA is a leading member of the Norwich Research Park - one of Europe's biggest concentrations of researchers in the fields of environment, health and plant science. http://www.uea.ac.uk.
Research by Dr Nicholas Newton-Fisher from the University of Kent has found chimpanzees modify their interactions with other chimpanzees if higher ranking members of their community are nearby.

Dr Newton-Fisher, based in the School of Anthropology and Conservation (SAC) at Kent, and Stefano Kaburu, from the Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis, University of California and formerly of SAC, observed grooming interactions between members of a community of chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest Reserve in Western Uganda.

Grooming plays a key role in chimp interactions as it helps reduce stress and remove parasites. Within chimp groups lower ranking members often groom higher ranking members in the hope of receiving benefits such as protection, acceptance and the hope of receiving reciprocal grooming.

However, Dr Newton-Fisher's findings suggest that if another chimpanzee with a higher rank than the chimp being groomed is nearby, the grooming chimp will stop far sooner than if not.

It appears chimpanzees do this so they do not invest too much time grooming with one chimp if there is a risk the chimp being groomed will not reciprocate but instead look to groom the nearby higher-ranking chimp.

This echoes prior research by Dr Newton-Fisher which found that if a larger number of other chimpanzees are nearby then, regardless of rank, the grooming chimp would usually stop grooming sooner than if there were no other chimps nearby, or a small number.

However, this latest research focused on a group with a more defined social hierarchy, so it was the rank of the nearby chimps that was of more concern to those grooming, rather than the number of others nearby.

Taken together the findings challenge the 'relationship model' theory that, like other primates, chimps engage in grooming on the basis of prior social interactions.

Instead it appears they are motivated by the circumstances in which they engage in the grooming and the possible benefits they will derive, giving weight to the more economic-orientated 'biological markets' theory of primate social interactions.

The research has been published in the latest edition of Animal Behaviour titled Grooming decisions under structural despotism: the impact of social rank and bystanders among wild male chimpanzees.

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Feelings of power determine how people respond non-verbally to dominance displays such as a staring gaze, new research led by a psychologist at the University of Kent, UK, has found.

People tend to shy away from individuals who display domineering behaviour such as a staring gaze. These instinctive reactions to others' dominance displays are assumed to have evolutionary roots and help establish hierarchical relations in humans and other species.

But the new findings, by Dr Mario Weick of Kent's School of Psychology, along with Dr Cade McCall of the University of York, UK, and Professor Jim Blascovich, of the University of California at Santa Barbara, USA, show that reactions to staring gaze displays can be changed when people feel powerful. The research was conducted using fully immersive virtual environments and involved participants walking around computer-rendered human characters that in some instances stared at the participants, and in other instances looked elsewhere.

In one study, participants were made to feel powerful or powerless before entering the virtual world. In another study, the researchers varied participants' body height in the virtual world to make participants feel more or less powerful during interactions with shorter and taller virtual human characters. Throughout the task, the researchers used motion tracking to measure participants' movements and the distance kept to the human characters. The researchers found that participants moved closer towards staring onlookers, but only when they felt powerful; otherwise they moved away. Feelings of power did not change participants' behaviour towards human characters that looked elsewhere.

Dr Weick explained that the team's findings advance our understanding of how social relations are manifested non-verbally. One of the functions of eye gaze is to communicate and thereby regulate social relations and interactions, which includes hierarchical relations of dominance and control, he said. Responding boldly to the staring gaze of onlookers may give people with fleeting experiences of power an upper hand in competitive situations such as negotiations or job interviews, Dr Weick noted.

The paper, entitled Power Moves Beyond Complimentary: A Staring Look Elicits Avoidance in Low Power Perceivers and Approach in High Power Perceivers (Mario Weick, University of Kent, UK; Cade McCall, University of York, UK; Jim Blascovich, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA) is published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

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For further information please contact Martin Herrema at the University of Kent Press Office.

Tel: 01227 823581/01634 888879

Email: M.J.Herrema@kent.ac.uk

News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news

University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent

Notes to editors

Established in 1965, the University of Kent -- the UK's European university -- now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome.

It has been ranked: 22nd in the Guardian University Guide 2018; 23rd in the Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2017; and 25th in the Complete University Guide 2018.

In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, Kent is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016.

Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality.

In the National Student Survey 2016, Kent achieved the fourth highest score for overall student satisfaction, out of all publicly funded, multi-faculty universities.

Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium.

The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals.

In 2014, Kent received its second Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.
Oil rig counts in the Eagle Ford Shale region began to rise after bottoming in 2016, and are expected to continue rising steadily in 2017

SAN ANTONIO, (June 21, 2017) - Commissioned by the South Texas Energy and Economic Roundtable (STEER), The University of Texas at San Antonio's (UTSA) Center for Community and Business Research (CCBR) completed the latest Eagle Ford Shale (EFS) study in June. The study titled, "Economic Impact of the Eagle Ford Shale, Business Opportunities and the New Normal" provides new trend data and updated economic impact analysis across 2014, 2015 and, 2016.

Dr. Thomas Tunstall, senior research director for CCBR, which is hosted at UTSA's Institute for Economic Development, led the study with his team of researchers. "Our report indicates that the decrease in economic impact bottomed out in 2016 and appears to have turned the corner. Oil prices in 2017 are higher and rig counts have risen from their lows last year," Tunstall said.

After several years of unprecedented growth, the Eagle Ford Shale experienced a sharp decline in oil prices. The decline may have negatively impacted businesses and jobs in the area, however the current scenario offers more job opportunities in the region when compared to past decades of declining population and jobs in several counties in the shale area.

Gross output from Eagle Ford activity across the 21 county area jumped from $87 billion in 2013 to $123 billion in 2014. In the years since the peak occurred in 2014, gross output from Eagle Ford activity fell to $80 billion in 2015, and again in 2016 to $50 billion. And, while jobs supported by the Eagle Ford also peaked in 2014 at 191,153, up from 154,984 in 2013, by 2016, the number of jobs supported had fallen to 108,213.

"Although we experienced a decrease in jobs and economic impact in 2015 and 2016, we continue to see that the oil and gas industry is essential to the livelihood of South Texas. With more than 100,000 jobs and $55 billion in economic output last year, the results of the UTSA study further illustrates the importance of the oil and gas industry to South Texans. The industry in South Texas brought much needed infrastructure along with a sustainable source of income to the area. Sustained growth will further benefit the region through an increased tax base along with increased job and educational opportunities," said Omar Garcia, president and CEO of STEER.

Since August 2014, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price dropped from more than $100 per barrel to $43.4 by March 2015, and by February 2016 it was close to $26.2 per barrel. Since then however, the price has recovered and by January 2017 it had reached $53.0 per barrel, signaling important opportunities for future growth as the price more than doubled in less than one year.

Additionally, a variety of industry sectors have also grown in the Eagle Ford area; many, but not all, are directly or indirectly associated with oil and gas activity. In 2015, U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico topped one trillion cubic feet annually - a new record. And, in 2016, U.S. natural gas production reached an annual record of 28 trillion cubic feet.

The Study provides analysis for the 21-county study area as a whole, both the Eagle Ford Shale 15-county core area as a whole (Atascosa, Bee, DeWitt, Dimmit, Frio, Gonzales, Karnes, La Salle, Lavaca, Live Oak, McMullen, Maverick, Webb, Wilson, and Zavala) and the six adjacent counties as a whole (Bexar, Jim Wells, Nueces, San Patricio, Victoria, and Uvalde). The second phase of the Study includes breakouts for all 21 counties individually and compares inter- industry relationships from 2010-2015. The comparison of different multipliers demonstrates how employment and production have been affected in the area.

UTSA and STEER representatives plan on traveling to Eagle Ford cities in late June to discuss the results of the 2017 Eagle Ford Shale Economic Impact Study with community leaders and the general public. The tour follows the Eagle Ford Consortium Inc.'s (EFCI) annual conference, which focused on the ongoing activity of the Eagle Ford and was hosted at UTSA's downtown campus from June 7-8.

"The Eagle Ford Shale play became a boon to the South Texas economy, and provided an opportunity to boost local infrastructure. Our region is well positioned for a successful future as local area production picks back up. South Texas has become an export leader in the energy products realm. We are committed to continued sustainable growth," said John LaRue, Port Corpus Christi executive director.

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Access the Full Study: "Economic Impact of the Eagle Ford Shale, Business Opportunities and the New Normal" at ccbr.iedtexas.org/research

Center for Community and Business Research: ccbr.iedtexas.org Institute for Economic Development: iedtexas.org

For more information, contact

Jennilee Garza, Senior Communications Coordinator Institute for Economic Development

Phone: 210-458-2958

jennilee.garza@utsa.edu
Bornaviruses cause a lethal form of encephalitis, called Borna disease, among horses and sheep. To date there have been only a few reported cases in Austria. Recently, however, four horses were afflicted in the same area of Upper Austria within just two years. Tests conducted on local shrews, the only known reservoir host for the virus, confirmed the suspicion of a local viral reservoir. A large proportion of the small mammals investigated by the researchers from Vetmeduni Vienna tested positive for Bornaviruses, which were revealed to be genetically distinct from strains found in neighbouring regions such as Bavaria. The study, conducted in cooperation with the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) and local veterinarians, and published in the journal Emerging Microbes & Infections, documents this rare outbreak of Borna disease in a new endemic area in Austria.

Clinical signs of Borna disease among horses and sheep include behavioural disturbances and disorientation. The causative agent of Borna disease, the Bornavirus, is harmless for people but triggers a lethal infection of the brain and the spinal cord among affected animals. The virus is transmitted exclusively via a reservoir host, the protected bicoloured white-toothed shrew. Infected shrews are lifelong, yet asymptomatic, carriers of the Bornavirus. Despite a declining number of cases, occasional sporadic outbreaks of the disease have been documented in Central Europe with the exception of Austria. Now researchers from Vetmeduni Vienna and the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) have confirmed for the first time an outbreak of Borna disease in a previously unaffected area. Within a period of just two years, four horses in Upper Austria contracted the disease in locations no more than 17 km apart. Local bicoloured white-toothed shrews, as well as one common shrew, tested positive for the virus. The Bornaviruses that were found, however, were genetically only distantly related with the viruses found in neighbouring regions like Bavaria.

First outbreak in Upper Austria recognised thanks to diagnosis by local veterinarians

The first indication of a possible outbreak of Borna disease came from two vigilant local veterinarians. They diagnosed a neurological condition among four horses in Upper Austria and suspected that Bornaviruses could be responsible. An examination of the afflicted horses confirmed the diagnosis and the suspicion. "At the same time, we also tested the possible local carrier, shrews, to help assign a local aspect to the multiple cases of disease," says Herbert Weissenbock of the Institute of Pathology and Forensic Veterinary Medicine. More than fifty percent of the trapped bicoloured white-toothed shrews were positively identified as carriers of the virus. But there also was the unexpected positive test for another species of shrew living in Upper Austria.

Viral strain from Rhineland-Palatinate among common shrews?

The shrews captured in the affected region also included common shrews. This species had so far not been considered a possible carrier of the Bornavirus. "For the first time, we have now identified an infected common shrew. Further studies are needed to show whether this species also serves as a reservoir host or if this is an isolated case," says Norbert Nowotny of the Institute of Virology. The researchers also compared the Bornaviruses found in Upper Austria with the previously discovered Central European strains. "Unlike one would expect from their geographic proximity, the Upper Austrian Bornaviruses were not genetically related to those in Bavaria but to a viral strain from Rhineland-Palatinate. Since its description, this strain has been found in other areas in Germany and now also in Austria," explains Nowotny. "This shows that we are still lacking important information about how the various strains of Bornavirus spread. The identification of a previously unknown endemic area for Bornaviruses in Upper Austria was a surprise for us all."

Bornaviruses use shrews as lifelong reservoir

An earlier study by the team had confirmed that the bicoloured white-toothed shrew represents a reservoir for Bornaviruses. The viruses are present in high amounts in all organs of the shrews while the animals themselves remain asymptomatic. "After an infection, the shrews remain lifelong hosts and even excrete the virus," says Nowotny. With protected animals, however, the question is how to best combat Bornavirus infections. The shrews must be kept out of the stables, for example through self-closing doors or barriers. Hygiene standards and regular controls also play an important role. "This case has shown that many scientific studies begin with the watchful diagnosis by practicing veterinarians. This awareness must be further strengthened. The good cooperation with AGES has shown that we can make rapid progress when we work together. The proof that the Bornaviruses were present in both horses and shrews confirmed not only the veterinarians' diagnosis but will also help us to develop strategies for the future," says Weissenbock.

###

Service:

The article "Infections of horses and shrews with Bornaviruses in Upper Austria: a novel endemic area of Borna disease" by Herbert Weissenbock, Zoltan Bago, Jolanta Kolodziejek, Barbara Hager, Gunter Palmetzhofer, Ralf Durrwald and Norbert Nowotny was published in Emerging Microbes & Infections. http://www.nature.com/emi/journal/v6/n6/pdf/emi201736a.pdf

About the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna

The University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna in Austria is one of the leading academic and research institutions in the field of Veterinary Sciences in Europe. About 1,300 employees and 2,300 students work on the campus in the north of Vienna which also houses five university clinics and various research sites. Outside of Vienna the university operates Teaching and Research Farms. http://www.vetmeduni.ac.at

Scientific Contact:

Herbert Weissenbock

Institute of Pathology and Forensic Veterinary Medicine

University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna)

T +43 1 25077-6934 herbert.weissenboeck@vetmeduni.ac.at

and

Norbert Nowotny

Institute of Virology

University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna)

norbert.nowotny@vetmeduni.ac.at
(BOSTON) -- Biomedical researchers are understanding the functions of molecules within the body's cells in ever greater detail by increasing the resolution of their microscopes. However, what's lagging behind is their ability to simultaneously visualize the many different molecules that mediate complex molecular processes in a single snap-shot.

Now, a team from Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, the LMU Munich, and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany, has engineered highly versatile metafluorophores by integrating commonly used small fluorescent probes into self-folding DNA structures where their colors and brightness can be digitally programmed. This nanotechnological approach offers a palette of 124 virtual colors for microscopic imaging or other analytical methods that can be adapted in the future to visualize multiple molecular players at the same time with ultra-high definition. The method is reported in Science Advances.

With their new method, the researchers address the problem that thus far only a limited number of molecular species can be visualized simultaneously with fluorescence microscopy in a biological or clinical sample. By introducing fluorescent DNA nanostructures called metafluorophores -- versatile fluorescent dyes whose colors are determined by how their individual components are arranged in 3-dimensional structures -- they overcome this bottleneck.

"We use DNA nanostructures as molecular pegboards: by functionalizing specific component strands at defined positions of the DNA nanostructure with one of three different fluorescent dyes, we achieve a broad spectrum of up to 124 fluorescent signals with unique color compositions and intensities," said Yin, who is a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute and Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. "Our study provides a framework that allows researchers to construct a large collection of metafluorophores with digitally programmable optical properties that they can use to visualize multiple targets in the samples they are interested in."

The DNA nanostructure-based approach can be used like a barcoding system to visually profile the presence of many specific DNA or RNA sequences in samples in what is called multiplexing.

To enable the visualization of multiple molecular structures in tissue samples whose thickness can limit the movement of larger DNA nanostructures and make it difficult for them to find their targets, and to reduce the possibility that they attach themselves to non-specific targets producing false fluorescence signals, the team took additional engineering steps.

"We developed a triggered version of our metafluorophore that dynamically self-assembles from small component strands that take on their prescribed shape only when they bind their target," said Ralf Jungmann, Ph.D., who is faculty at the LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and co-conducted the study together with Yin. "These in-situ assembled metafluorophores can not only be introduced into complex samples with similar combinatorial possibilities as the prefabricated ones to visualize DNA, but they could also be leveraged to label antibodies as widely used detection reagents for proteins and other biomolecules."

"This new type of programmable, microscopy-enhancing DNA nanotechnology reveals how work in the Wyss Institute's Molecular Robotics Initiative can invent new ways to solve long-standing problems in biology and medicine. These metafluorophores that can be programmed to self-assemble when they bind their target, and that have defined fluorescent barcode readouts, represent a new form of nanoscale devices that could help to reveal complex, multi-component, biological interactions that we know exist but have no way of studying today," said Wyss Founding Director Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., who is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital, and Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

###

Besides Yin and Jungmann, additional authors on the publication were Johannes Woehrstein and Maximilian Strauss, both members of Jungmann's research group, and former members of the Yin group at Wyss Institute, Luvena Ong, Ph.D., Bryan Wei, Ph.D. and David Zhang, Ph.D.

MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE

PRESS CONTACTS

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University

Benjamin Boettner

Benjamin.Boettner@wyss.harvard.edu

+1 917-913-8051

Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry

Christiane Menzfeld

menzfeld@biochem.mpg.de

+49 89-8578-2848

MULTIMEDIA CONTACT

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University

Seth Kroll

seth.kroll@wyss.harvard.edu

+1 617-432-7758

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University uses Nature's design principles to develop bioinspired materials and devices that will transform medicine and create a more sustainable world. Wyss researchers are developing innovative new engineering solutions for healthcare, energy, architecture, robotics, and manufacturing that are translated into commercial products and therapies through collaborations with clinical investigators, corporate alliances, and formation of new startups. The Wyss Institute creates transformative technological breakthroughs by engaging in high risk research, and crosses disciplinary and institutional barriers, working as an alliance that includes Harvard's Schools of Medicine, Engineering, Arts & Sciences and Design, and in partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston University, Tufts University, Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin, University of Zurich and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) belongs to the Max Planck Society, an independent, non-profit research organization dedicated to top level basic research. As one of the largest Institutes of the Max Planck Society, 850 employees from 45 nations work here in the field of life sciences. In currently eight departments and about 25 research groups, the scientists contribute to the newest findings in the areas of biochemistry, cell biology, structural biology, biophysics and molecular science. The MPIB in Munich-Martinsried is part of the local life-science-campus where two Max Planck Institutes, a Helmholtz Center, the Gene-Center, several bio-medical faculties of two Munich universities and several biotech-companies are located in close proximity.
Wednesday, June 21, 2017

The 56th annual New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair ranks among the largest events in the state and one of the top arts shows in the nation. With a book signing event with Gail Rubin, author of KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die and other books, its a hotbed of art and literature!

Look for Gail at the LPD Press/Rio Grande Books booths at EXPO New Mexico on Sunday, June 25 between 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The event is taking place Friday through Sunday on the state fairgrounds between Lomas and Central/San Pedro and Louisiana. Show Hours: Friday-10am-5pm, Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 10am-4pm.

The New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fairs mission is to promote a premier juried New Mexico arts and crafts event showcasing the most talented artists and craftspeople and creating a significant economic impact throughout the state. The Fair also encourages and supports New Mexicos youth artists, ensuring that future generations will have a venue to display and sell their work directly to the public. More info here.

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SUGARCREEK, Ohio  History may not always repeat itself, but it continues to influence the present.

Ohio has a rich heritage in the cheesemaking business, and that heritage can be seen through the states cheesemakers today.

To celebrate its upcoming 100th anniversary, the Ohio Swiss Cheese Association (OSCA) is releasing a new book, The Ohio Swiss Cheese Association: 100 Years of Swiss Cheese and Swiss Culture. The book will discuss the history of Swiss cheese makers and cheesemaking in Ohio.

The book

In 2005, the associations office was sold. When members cleaned out the office, they found numerous old clippings and photos, which they put together into a pictorial history.

We wanted to work more with the chronicling of the history with a writer for this project, said Chuck Ellis, president of Pearl Valley Cheese and association officer.

So they contracted with Glen Hammel, local historian and author, to research and write the book. This book will contain Hammels research and writing, as well as many of the photos and clippings from the old office.

Hammel began in 2016 by looking up the town and county histories in libraries in Holmes and Tuscarawas counties, since they were the center of the Ohio Swiss cheesemaking industry.

Heritage

Ellis said the book covers history as far back as 1830, when people first started making Swiss cheese in Ohio.

The pioneer cheesemakers, as Ellis calls them, made 200-pound Swiss wheels with copper kettles over wood fires.

By the 1930s, there were more than 30 companies making Swiss cheese in the Holmes and Tuscarawas county area, and 27 of these cheesemakers were members of the OSCA in 1940.

Now theres maybe 12, Ellis said. In 2017, the association has nine members.

Still, Ohio remains the number one Swiss cheese producing state, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, producing some 149.7 million pounds, or 48 percent of the U.S. total in 2016.

Many families who currently make cheese or have ancestors who did are still in the area. Hammel, who lives in Sugarcreek less than 20 miles from seven of Ohios Swiss cheese producers, said that most of the people he interviewed grew up in cheesemaking.

Ellis said anybody whos grown up here in the eastern Ohio area whos in agriculture will recognize the locations and the family names of these plants.

The stories and old photos will provide a look into the past, but Ellis suggests that some things will not look so different from the present. According to Ellis, the pioneer cheesemakers were mainly of Swiss descent and had fun together on the weekends. They enjoyed talking Swiss, yodeling and drinking beer.

And thats basically the way it is today as well, said Ellis.

Hammel agreed. He referred to the cheese industry as familial and fraternal.

How many industries still exist where most of the businesses are like a family secret passed down through three or four generations? Where they compete for business and awards, but will immediately drop what they are doing to help a competitor when an emergency comes up? Hammel asked.

Although the industry has changed as it has grown, and some of the smaller cheese houses have been unable to keep up, Hammel said at the Grand Champion Cheesemaker competition, the losers always celebrated with the winner. The Grand Champion Cheesemaker competition is a series of three contests that are held throughout the year to decide the grand and reserve champion cheesemakers for the year.

They are fully aware they are all in this together, said Hammel.
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The onshore rig industry is in the middle of an interesting time. While drilling activity has grown at a staggering pace over the past few quarters, most rig companies haven't been able to translate that demand into bottom line results. This past quarter, Nabors Industries (NBR 3.70%) results were a perfect example of higher demand but lower than expected earnings.

According to Nabors' management, though, this won't be a problem for much longer. Here are several quotes from Nabors' most recent conference call where management explains why this was the case last quarter and the steps it has taken in response to the situation.

Rough start to 2017

In his opening remarks, CEO Anthony Petrello didn't try to sugarcoat the company's most recent earnings results. While first-quarter earnings were higher than the prior quarter, they were well below expectations.

First, let me start by saying that the financial results of the first quarter did not meet our expectations. As we noted at an industry conference a month ago, we had 2 issues that impacted our results. The first one, related to reactivating approximately 20 rigs in the Lower 48. The second, the structural work on rigs in a key international market. This quarter's results do not reflect the success we've had throughout the downturn at reducing and controlling costs. They also do not reflect the progress we've made deploying our SmartRigs in the Lower 48 or increasing our drilling rig count in certain high-margin international markets. I will elaborate on the specifics later in the call, but what's important to know is that the majority of these cost items are related to specific issues that will largely be put behind us. We are executing our plans to reduce and eliminate many of these expenses while continuing to grow activity and roll to higher day rates. With this execution, we expect steadily improving results, both in the U.S. and internationally, throughout the remainder of 2017.

Nabors isn't the only rig company that reported higher than usual costs this past quarter, so this isn't unique to Nabors. The question is how management responds to the situation.

The good stuff is going back to work

There has been a rather interesting bifurcation in the rig market over the past year. Producers that are electing to take on rigs are only employing the highest specification rigs because they tend to generate better well economics and contract rates for top quality rigs are still reasonable. According to Petrello, this has been good for business because it has allowed the company to deploy all of its top-shelf rigs.

Our highest specification rigs continue to work at full utilization. Our upgraded rigs have all immediately commenced work upon completion of their enhancement projects. Operators are realizing benefits from the efficiencies and consistent performance of our SmartRig operating system. We expect to have another 27 upgraded rigs ready to go to work over the next few quarters, along with 7 previously announced new builds yet to be completed for a total of 100 SmartRigs at the end of the year. We had 1 new-build PACE-X800 rig start on contract this month after commencing operations with 2 new build PACE-M800 rigs in the first quarter.

The one stain here is that Nabors' highest specification rigs still only represent a rather small portion of the fleet. Petrello also said that utilization rates for the quarter were just 29%. If more of its available rigs are easily upgradeable, though, that could make the situation much better.

Rebalancing the portfolio

One underappreciated aspect of the rig business is that rigs need to be in the right place. According to Petrello, the geographic mix of the company's assets wasn't ideal in prior quarters and some of Nabors' higher than usual costs related to moving rigs around to the places they need to be.

The regions of growth did not match the footprint of our existing fleet. The Permian, SCOOP and to a lesser extent, East Texas drove an outside share of growth. With moderate growth in the Bakken at that time, we opted to relocate multiple rigs from there and the Marcellus to Texas. Now with Bakken demand solidly on the upswing, we have an optimized, regionally balanced fleet, and do not plan to relocate additional rigs. These changes, combined with the larger overall working fleet, should result in declining per rig expenses in the Lower 48 beginning with the second quarter.

This should help to put more of its rigs to work and raise that utilization rate to a more respectable level. Drilling in the Permian continues to go strong, so these rigs should be able to find work relatively soon.

Potential to expand margins faster than others

To sign long term contracts or not to sign term contracts, that is the question for rig companies right now. With demand on the rise, there is the temptation to lock in customers to long-term drilling contracts to ensure steady revenue and cash flow for several quarters down the road. On the other hand, rig companies can sign off on spot rate work that gives the company a chance at higher rates and better margins down the road if demand continues to increase. According to Petrello, Nabors is taking the latter strategy for now.

I think the point we probably didn't make sufficiently clear that you're -- that you've uncovered here is that the average day rate of [the] portfolio is less than the spot of the contracts we're now signing. So that, by itself, means that, that's going to start to drive up our margins. And in terms of where those new contracts are, about 75% of our contracts are either well-to-well or expire in next 6 months, and therefore, gives us great opportunity to do that. We are not locking in rates.

If drilling activity continues to rise -- which means that oil prices remain either steady or rise -- then putting rigs on spot contracts is a good idea. If the market starts to plateau or even decline as some analysts suggest, though, then this could be a risky bet.

Protection from OPEC cuts?

Late last year, Nabors signed a joint-venture deal with Saudi Aramco to combine their rig fleets in the Kingdom. The benefit for Nabors is that it likely gets the first call when Aramco wants to drill new wells, and the Kingdom's plan to grow natural gas production means that Nabors has an opportunity to add several rigs to the joint-venture fleet.

As promising as this may be for Nabors' international operations, Petrello was asked if this meant that its results wouldn't be impacted by OPEC cuts or other production decisions from Aramco. Petrello certainly doesn't think that is the case.

[W]e're obviously not immune to the cut. And we're going to be sent ashore of the same market forces, and it's up to us to do a great job, show them the value that in a downturn we're still producing. So there's certainly no underlying security from cuts -- from effect of the OPEC cut from the structure. But as I said, having them at the table as a partner I think is very useful.

No deal is going to make a company's results completely insulated from major decisions like OPEC cuts, but that isn't the objective of this deal, anyway. Long term, the success of this joint venture will be if Nabors can increase profitability in its international operations and allocate a larger portion of the fleet to the Kingdom.
What happened

Shares of Cenovus Energy (CVE 4.35%) sold off on Tuesday, falling more than 10% by 10:45 a.m. EDT. Fueling the latest drop was the announcement that CEO Brian Ferguson will retire later this year, as well as an update on the company's growth plans amid the fallout of a decision to buy several oil and gas properties from ConocoPhillips (COP 3.35%). It's a decision that has resulted in the stock plunging more than 40% over the past three months.

So what

Cenovus Energy announced that CEO Brian Ferguson would retire from his executive role at the end of October, before transitioning to an advisory role through the end of next March, to minimize disruption during the transition. The company said that it would immediately begin a global search for a new chief executive. But with no successor lined up, the move is adding uncertainty at a time when the company is still reeling following its decision to buy out ConocoPhillips' 50% share of their joint venture, as well as several natural gas assets.

It's a transaction that required Cenovus to take on a significant amount of debt to finance the $10.6 billion cash payment to ConocoPhillips. Initially, Cenovus Energy planned to sell 1.8 billion Canadian dollars' ($1.36 billion) worth of assets to help offset the cost. However, the company announced today that it now plans to sell between CA$4 billion ($3 billion) and CA$5 billion ($3.8 billion) in non-core assets by the end of this year, which will enable it to fully repay its CA$3.6 billion ($3.7 billion) bridge loan. Even with those assets sales, the company expects to generate 14% annual growth in funds from operations through 2021 as long as crude averages $55 per barrel. The company plans to drive that growth by increasing production at a 6% compound annual rate, primarily by expanding output from its oil sands assets and the Deep Basin gas assets it bought from ConocoPhillips. That growth will enable the company to steadily improve its balance sheet and reach its long-term financial targets. That said, with crude currently below $45 per barrel, investors think that the company is overestimating its growth potential in the current market.

Now what

The market continues to punish Cenovus Energy for its decision to buy several of ConocoPhillips' oil and gas properties in Canada because it stretched its balance sheet way too thin. While the company plans to address those financial concerns by selling more assets, its overall direction remains uncertain given that the CEO who orchestrated the deal will retire. Making matters worse, crude continues to tumble lower, which will make it much harder for the company to achieve its optimistic growth and balance-sheet targets.




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 - Environment : Neighborhood Cleanup Contest





The National Television of Haiti (TNH) and the Metropolitan Service for the Collection of Solid Waste (SMCRS) are launching this summer, a neighborhood cleanup contest "Katye pa-m pi pwop", for the welfare of the community and country.



"Katye pa-m pi pwop" will take place in three stages:



- July 3 to 28, 2017: Registration of neighborhood committees;

- From 8 to 31 August 2017: TV shootings in the short-listed neighborhoods;

- Beginning of September 2017: Diffusion of images



To register, the Neighborhood Committee must register first with the SMCRS, then complete its TNH participation form. After registration 10 neighborhoods will be short-listed. They will then be entitled to SMCRS cleaning materials and will be able to plan TV shooting in their respective neighborhood with TNH.



The braodcasting of images will allow the public to vote in favor of the neighborhoods. The neighborhood that receives the most votes for its cleaning and sanitation work will be crowned champion. The winning neighborhood will receive One million Gourdes, SMCRS cleaning supplies, paintings donated by "Peinture Caraibes" and a Plaque of Honor.



For additional information call : (509) 3900-1010/ (509) 4856-6230



HL/ HaitiLibre


















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.

Source : Zee News
With more than a decade of experience in leading first-class operations in the hotel industry, Brian Fahey welcomes his new leadership role at MADE. Previously, Fahey held Front of House Manager roles at the Crosby Street Hotel, Four Seasons Hotel New York, Lanhgam Place Fifth Avenue, and the The Setai Fifth Avenue. Fahey got his start in the hotel industry at The Mark Hotel
Alastair McAlpine has been appointed General Manager, Four Seasons Resorts Lanai, Hawaii, encompassing both the 213-room AAA Five Diamond Four Seasons Resort Lanai and Four Seasons Resort Lanai, The Lodge at Koele. As general manager of Four Seasons Resorts Lanai, McAlpine oversees all day-to-day operations at the luxury beach resort, which reopened in 2016 following a multi-million dollar transformation, and The Lodge at Koele, which is currently closed for renovation until late 2018, when it will reopen as a spa and wellness resort. Originally from Northern Ireland, McAlpine, a Four Seasons veteran, returns to Lanai following postings in Chinas Hangzhou, Langkawi in Malaysia, the Maldives and Seychelles. He opened the Four Seasons properties in Lanai following a rebrand under the Four Seasons flag, and resided on island from 2005-2008. McAlpine graduated in Hotel Management from the Scottish Hotel School at Strathclyde University in 1993. Following a start as a trainee sommelier at Gleneagles Hotel; he started his Four Seasons journey at the former Regent Hong Kong in 1996, first as a Management Trainee and then as Assistant Director of Food and Beverage and held successive positions in the Maldives, Tokyo, Washington DC and New York.
Toronto  The Rainmaker Group (Rainmaker), the market leader in revenue and profit optimization solutions for the gaming and hospitality industry, will work alongside HSMAI as a Platinum Partner in this year's Revenue Optimization Conference (ROC), taking place at the Metro Toronto Centre on Wednesday, June 28. As part of this key partnership with HSMAI, Rainmaker will sponsor a number of pre-conference events at ROC, as well as playing a high-profile role at the General Session.

During the 2020 Lightning Round, a part of the conference's afternoon General Session at 1:30 p.m., 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." Selected by HSMAI for its unique perspective on revenue management strategies and protocol, Skodol's presentation will assist ROC attendees in gaining a better understanding of guest behavior and the role it plays in developing an effective pricing strategy for their property(ies).

Rainmaker is also the sponsor of the ROC VIP Reception, an invitation-only event which honors Certified Revenue Management Executives (CRME's). In addition, the company will co-sponsor the "HSMAI Helps" event, taking place prior to the conference from 2-4 p.m. on Tuesday, June 27. In partnership with Clean the World, ROC volunteers will build 600 hygiene kits to leave behind for Margaret's Housing and Community Services in Toronto.

"Rainmaker and HSMAI have a shared vision for advancing revenue management and profit optimization in the hospitality segment, and we are proud to once again align ourselves with them at ROC, which is an essential venue for promoting thought leadership and best practices in our industry," said Tammy Farley, Rainmaker president.

Rainmaker has been a long-time supporter of HSMAI, since the company's inception in 1998, and has grown with the organization over the years. Farley serves as an HSMAI Americas board member and has been the recipient of many industry accolades, most recently being named one of HSMAI's Top 25: Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales, Marketing, Revenue Optimization. Selected by a panel of senior industry executives, this award recognizes individuals whose recent work demonstrates creativity and innovation; cutting edge sales or marketing campaigns; triumph in challenging situations; and sales efforts that resulted in dramatic gains.

Attendees of HSMAI ROC 2017 also receive complimentary access to HITEC, which is taking place in Toronto, June 26-29. At this co-located event, Rainmaker will demonstrate its comprehensive revenue management, intelligence and rate-shopping solutions platform, which includes guestrev, grouprev, revcaster and revintel. Attendees visiting HITEC booth #1852 will also get an in depth look at several newly released enhancements to Rainmaker's solutions, including group forecasting functionality and the next generation of the revcaster platform.

For more information on Rainmaker's hotel revenue and profit optimization cloud, please visit: http://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
The narration is familiar - a new shiny breakthrough in tech is announced, inks spill in its honour, and criticism and opinion pieces fly around. Early adopters rush in to lay their hands on it, and in a few months, the circus is dead; inks are scribbling new praises, tech podcasts are singing new songs.

With this piece, Hotels.ng attempts to analyse the virtual reality (VR) technology, its value to the hospitality industry, and also assess the chances of it being anything more than a bogus apparatus you strap to your head. Will VR be relevant in hospitality decades from now, or is it just a shiny fad?

Since the mid 1930s, various contributing technologies have evolved to create what we now know as virtual reality. Investments in the technology by corporations such as Facebook and Samsung have lent to its popularity, with Google's cheap cardboard solutions making it more accessible.

Historically, the hospitality industry has been a testing ground and early adopter of a lot of new technologies. Hospitality brands keep pushing the frontiers of marketing and customer satisfaction with technology, and with VR, it is no different.

EXISTING VR APPLICATIONS IN HOSPITALITY

The three major drivers of the adoption of VR technology by the sector are competition, heightened customer expectations, and improving marketing strategies. Already, VR adoption by hospitality's big brands dot the entire sector's landscape from flight carriers, hotels, to fancy restaurants that simulate exotic culinary experiences for their clients. A few of these applications are highlighted;

Shared travel experiences:



Marriott International, a world class hotel brand carried out a beta test for shared travel experiences in a couple of their hotels. Users wore VR headsets and viewed a traveller's documented journeys and commentaries in 3D and 360 degree views. When it goes mainstream, this application will help to show the potential of viewing other people's travel experiences and participating in them from a safe environment. Tomorrow, just about anyone may take leaps from the canyon mountains or surf the dangerous waves of Oahu from the comfort of their couches.

Virtual travel bookings:

Amadeus, a travel reservation service provider developed a virtual reality travel booking experience. The innovation will allow users search through flight options, review cabins, compare options and make bookings - all through virtual reality devices. It is easy to see how this innovation can be extended to hotel and property booking websites too.

PROJECTED VR APPLICATIONS IN HOSPITALITY

As ambitious as the hospitality sector is as a whole, virtual reality applications have only just been scratched at the surface. It's therefore a safe and logical assumption to anticipate that more creative and impactful VR applications emerge in the future. This writer looks at a few experimental or purely projected applications;

Simulated travel experiences:



One can anticipate that soon, users will be able to subscribe to solo or guided virtual travel experiences. Options will vary from adrenaline charged adventures to regular city promenades. Mountain biking in Morocco's Mt Toubkal, or a walk in Barcelona's Park Guell This service could also be expanded to include virtual reconstruction of extinct, destroyed or damaged historical sites and artifacts from around the world, a tour of an undamaged Colosseum for instance. Paid simulated trips could have a cost, time and safety advantage over traditional traveling, making it a popular choice.

Real time navigation:

Imagine that you are visiting Lagos in Nigeria for the first time, and that you want to experience the beating pulse of the city, untethered, and without a guide. Imagine that you only strap on a nondescript eyewear, input your preferred destination and real time direction instructions are overlaid on the sights before you. This application could help reduce the interference of technology and relegate it to a background where we almost forget it's there, aiding us to focus on living in the now instead. This technology would be augmented reality (AR), the superimposition of virtual images on a user's view of the real world which is an extension of VR technology.

Marketing Opportunities for Hospitality Brands:

Hospitality brands are typical big marketing spenders. There is often a lot of competition and hence the need to outperform competitors. The real estate (walls or projected platforms) that virtual reality experiences create are a perfect platform for targeted ad placements that hospitality brands could take advantage of. One expects that soon, VR games and experiences in general will host ads that brands will pay for. There is a chicken and egg problem that VR marketing might face however, one of low available VR content owing to low marketing spend to fund it, and low marketing spend as a result of low available content.

WRITER'S VERDICT

Virtual reality technology has far too many practical possible applications, investments from big corporations and such a big presence in pop culture that it is expected to survive a fad's average life span and transcend into a truly remarkable piece of practical technology in the hospitality space.

There is the argument that VR and AR could rob us of the joys of space and true exploration, but like most technology, the market will decide what it wants - realness or comfort, ease and immediacy.

Jogbojogbo Abdulrahman

Communications & PR

Hotels.ng
Old War Office Building in Whitehall to Be Transfromed Into the Raffles Hotel London

Raffles Hotels & Resorts today announces the signing of a partnership with the Hinduja Group and Obrascon Huarte Lain Desarrollos (OHLD) to transform the iconic Old War Office building in Whitehall into the most unique hotel and deluxe residences in London. The Raffles Hotel in London will be the heart and soul of this exciting landmark destination.

Raffles Hotels & Resorts is delighted to complete its already stunning portfolio with such an exclusive asset in such strategic city and location.

Steeped in history, the first Raffles Hotel was opened in 1887 in Singapore, named after the British statesman and founder of Singapore, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. Raffles was celebrated by Nobel Prize winner, Rudyard Kipling in his 1889 book, From Sea To Sea and in 1915 Singapore's most famous cocktail, the Singapore Sling was created at the hotel.

The Grade II* listed Old War Office, with its 1100 rooms across seven floors, and two miles of corridors, was completed in 1906. It was the office to many of the United Kingdom's most important and influential political and military leaders of the twentieth century, notably Sir Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George, Lord Kitchener, Herbert Asquith and T.E. Lawrence. It was also the haunt of the British Secret Service who had their own, more discreet entrance.

Close to 10 Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, the Old War Office was bought by Hinduja Group and OHLD in December 2014 following a public bid. Planning permission was granted for a multi-purpose development including 125 rooms (of which 40% are suites), 88 private residences, restaurants and other amenities. Completion is expected in just over three years.

Commenting on the new partnership, Sebastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO of AccorHotels said: "I am delighted to announce this long-term management contract with the Hinduja Group and OHLD. This is the start of an important partnership for Raffles Hotels & Resorts and will create a new and vibrant landmark for London. This is a significant step for Raffles and a strategic addition to the Group's Luxury portfolio. We remain committed to providing guests with unparalleled service and experience."

Gopichand P. Hinduja, the Hinduja Group's Co-Chairman said: "Our new partnership with Raffles Hotels and Resorts is a significant milestone in our vision to transform the Old War Office into London's finest luxury destination. Raffles brings a unique understanding of British heritage and tradition that will help revive this great British landmark."

Sanjay G Hinduja, President of the Hinduja Group, said: "We are delighted that after the completion of the Grade I listed building in Carlton House Terrace, we can now apply this valuable experience to a greater challenge and create what will become the most iconic place in London."

Juan Villar-Mir de Fuentes, Chairman of Grupo OHL said: "The OHL Group is extremely proud to be part of, in partnership with the Hinduja Group, this exciting project which, reinforced with the Raffles brand, is now fully aligned with OHL Desarrollos's strong commitment and strategy to develop unique projects around the world."
eZee PMS Comes up With Quick Reporting Mandated by Italian Government for Hoteliers

Hoteliers in Italy can generate the Guest Statistical Report right from eZee Absolute hotel PMS. Thus, eZee goes forward to develop regionally required functionalities that streamline daily and monthly reporting process, leading to quick report submission to government body.

Following the tourism ministry guidelines in Italy, hotels are required to send guest statistics to government authorities. While hoteliers had to manually consolidate the data to prepare the report in required format, eZee came forward to build this utility in their cloud based hotel PMS eZee Absolute. Accommodation proprietors in Italy, with the help of eZee PMS can easily generate the required report in given format to send to the authorities.

Following the code, an Italian hotelier must send monthly reports of guest flow at his property to Italy's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) using a standard model. eZee engineers have developed functionality to generate this Guest Statistical Model Report right from the system. Thus, having eliminated the manual hassle, hoteliers can get one-click report, verify the data and send it directly to the ministry.

The monthly report shall cover the details of arrivals, nights spent by residents/non-residents at the property and some more corresponding details. This will assist public administrations to maintain records of domestic and inbound occupancy in nation-wide accommodations of all categories. Moreover, eZee PMS generates daily Public Safety Folio too for the hoteliers. This report contains details of daily registered guests to be sent to the police on a dedicated web portal in a certain format.

There has been significant increase in number of nights spent by non-residents in tourist hotels. As well as residents on domestic trips are growingly opting to stay in hotels and similar accommodations in country. While thousands of arrivals are registered, it becomes cumbersome for hotel owners to classify the data, create reports daily and monthly; and then submit to authorities. Thus, the need for a system to perform such operation becomes crucial.

These regulations aim towards streamlined reporting process and security for all hotels and other establishments. Complying with the regional stipulations, eZee has previously developed such functionalities for hoteliers of Panama and Iceland too.

Acknowledging users needs from time to time, eZee Absolute PMS consists of many generic and custom features including smart reporting and analytics that assist hoteliers to take gradual shift towards complete automation in operations management. Thus, hoteliers equipped with eZees hotel software remain competitive in global economy.

About eZee Technosys

eZee Technosys is one of the few complete hospitality IT solutions providers in the world. Offering solutions that cover hotel management, booking management, online room distribution, restaurant management, guest feedback and hotel mobile apps. eZee offers on-premise along with cloud based solutions as well as mobile applications for eZee solutions. Founded in 2005, eZee Technosys today serves more than 6000 clients in more than 140 countries across the globe. Visit eZees corporate website for more.
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
Vuittons Made in Italy footwear manufactured in Romania

Romania

A report by British newspaper The Guardian has alleged that Louis Vuittons luxury footwear labelled as Made in Italy are, in fact, secretly produced in Romania.

The factories, mainly based in Transylvania, are said to manufacture everything apart from the soles; the shoes are then sent to Italy and France for finishing. Louis Vuittons workshop in Venice, Italy, is said to market the footwear as having been made with ancestral savoir-faire in a region revered for its fine shoe craftsmanship. Final consumer price tags can vary from 565 to over 2,000.

The identities of the factories have been kept secret and there is no mention of the brand on the outside, just Somarest, a little-known LVMH subsidiary. Contacted by media, LVMH has rejected the claims. However, The Guardian reporters, who allegedly succeeded to enter one of the buildings, claim the Louis Vuitton brand is omnipresent inside through logos, a gallery of handbags showcased behind glass cases and an iconic trunk of the brand in the middle of a room.

According to the report, LVMH established its first factory in Romania in 2002 to benefit from low labour costs. Production at the Somarest site is estimated to have increased 70% since 2007 to around 100,000 pairs annually. A spokeswoman for the factory eventually agreed to discuss further details with The Guardian and said senior managers are French and the materials are imported from France. Once the footwear is shipped to France or Italy, it benefits from the made in France or made in Italy label in accordance with EU law, which stipulates that for goods produced in more than one country, the country of origin is the one where the items underwent the last, substantial, economically justified processing. Since the soles are added after they are exported, Louis Vuittons shoes can be labelled accordingly.

She also said Louis Vuittons factories in Romania, which employ around 734 people, give workers weekends off, pay for overtime and use non-toxic chemicals. Most workers are trained on site. The French brand, which is said to have expanded in the 1980s to cater to a growing middle-class market, has had to lower production costs to keep profits high.

Source: The Guardian
Honorable Senator Kaipay is restoring the California ~ Liberian Family Reunion blackagriculture [at] yahoo.com) by Khubaka, Michael Harris

2017 Juneteenth and Father's Day Weekend was filled with an amazing extended family reunion of healing and forward looking vision. 2017 Juneteenth, from sea to shinning sea, was shared from within the US Pentagon to the Presidio near the Golden Gate Bridge in a growing deeper understanding of the authentic historical legacy and powerful spiritual connection to our freedom fighters from the first captive Africans to the final Confederate Port of Galveston Island, Texas. The Republic of Liberia and the United States of America have a profound history and connected future that has been refreshed in a cooperative collaborative partnership in a good way... let the works be seen.

Honorable Senator Jonathan Lambort Kaipay, is a son of Grand Bassa County. He hails from Sanyah, District Number Two. Jonathan Kaipay was born unto Mr. Morris Kaipay and Mrs. Deborah Kaipay on June 7, 1971. He was born and raised in the Port City of Buchanan where he earned his elementary education with distinction.



Jonathan Kaipay graduated from the E.J. Goodridge High School in Barnesville Estate, Montserrado County. He earned a Bachelors of Arts in Accounting at the United Methodist University.



Sen. Jonathan L. Kaipay also has professional development certificates from institutions in Europe and Africa with a certificate in Project and Financial Management from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. Sen. Kaipay is well experienced in projects, student development and politics. He held many positions including; Chairperson, Connection Ministries for the St. John River District Conference; Lay-leader of the James A. Garfield Memorial United Methodist Church, founding President of the Bassa Student Association United Methodist University, etc.



Sen. Jonathan L. Kaipay is a former Vice Chairman on Mobilization for The Student Rally for Academic Progress and Democracy (STRAPD) at the United Methodist University. former Research Officer at the Connectional Ministries; served as Director for Department of Communities Services (DCS) at the Liberia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church with three active programs under his stewardship.



As Director of DCS, Sen. Kaipay contributed immensely in transforming thousands of lives in fourteen counties across Liberians through the implementation of his developmental projects. Sen. Kaipay is a member of several high-profile Boards in the Liberia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, Board of Health, Finance and Episcopacy.



Sen. Jonathan L. Kaipay is married to Mrs. Francis Kaipay. The union is blessed with several children and grand children.



Sen. Jonathan Lambort Kaipay in December 2014 won the election which made him Senator of Grand Bassa County on the ticket of Liberty Party.



Sen. Jonathan L. Kaipay is Liberian Senates Representative to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). He is the Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Autonomous Commissions and Agencies; Chairman of the Legislative Support Project; Co-Chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Concessions and Investment; Co- Chair of the Public Account and Audit Committee. Member of the Senate Standing Committees; Information, Broadcasting, Culture and Tourism; Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; and Defense, Security, Intelligent, Veteran Affairs.


Update 11.35am: The quick shooting of an attacker who tried to detonate a nail bomb and shouted "Allahu akbar" at a Brussels train station averted fatalities, officials said, as Belgium increased security measures around the country.

The attacker was a 36-year-old Moroccan national not known to authorities for being involved in terror activities, federal magistrate Eric Van der Sypt told reporters.

He declined to say if the man had a criminal record.

The man charged soldiers at Brussels Central Station on Tuesday after his suitcase, containing nails and gas canisters, failed to fully explode, Mr Van der Sypt said.

It was a lucky escape for several travellers nearby.

The man then shouted "Allahu akbar", Arabic for "God is great", before the soldiers shot him dead, the magistrate said.

Nobody else was injured.

"It was clear he wanted to cause much more damage than what happened," Mr Van der Sypt said.

"The bag exploded twice but it could have been a lot worse."

Earlier reports said the man was wearing an explosive belt, but Mr Van der Sypt said that was not true.

He said the man was from the Molenbeek neighbourhood, the home and transit point for many of the suspects linked to attacks in Brussels and in Paris in November 2015.

Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people at the Brussels airport and a subway station on March 22 2016.

Security remained high around rail facilities and preparations were under way to beef up security for a Coldplay concert at the 50,000-seat King Baudouin Stadium later.

"In three years we have been confronted with several attacks or attempts and we say the zero risk does not exist," Prime Minister Charles Michel said after a specially convened security meeting.

Central Station reopened at 8am (0600 GMT) on Wednesday.

A mobile police command unit and several officers were still at the station, an Associated Press photographer said.

Burn marks remained on the floor at the scene, as workers continued to clean up and paint the area.

Belgium's Crisis Centre said it sees no need to raise the national security alert level, which has been on its second-highest rung for more than a year.

It said that no public events would be cancelled but that additional police and troops have been mobilised.

AP

Earlier: Central Station in Brussels is reopening to passengers this morning, with a heavy police presence, after last nights terror attack.

A man was shot by Belgian soldiers after detonating the small device, and he later died. No-one else was hurt.

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said while it is important to address security concerns, it is also vital to avoid over-reacting.

He warned "against a society where we always and everywhere will be checked".

He added: "If we do that, it would be fulfilling the aim of the terrorists."

"It could have been a horrendous incident", @Stone_SkyNews says after a suspected terrorist was killed at Brussels Central station pic.twitter.com/mknlFWR5Qg  Sky News (@SkyNews) June 21, 2017

Earlier:

Belgian authorities say they have foiled a terror attack after soldiers shot dead a suspect following a small explosion at a busy Brussels train station.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said soldiers "neutralised" a male suspect at Central Station immediately after the explosion on Tuesday night.

The man lay still for several hours while a bomb squad checked whether he was armed with more explosives.

Prosecutor's spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch confirmed his death and said no other explosives were found on his body. Some Belgian media had reported earlier that the suspect was wearing a bomb belt.

Belgium's Crisis Centre, which monitors security threats in the country, said it did not see a need to raise the country's terror threat to the highest level and kept it at the second-highest mark.

Authorities set up a wide perimeter around the station near the city's famed Grand Place square.

Mr Van der Sypt said no one else was injured and the damage from the explosion was limited.

The attack happened at around 8.30pm, well after the evening rush hour.

Nicolas Van Herreweghen, who works for Belgium's national rail company, said the male suspect was very agitated, yelling about jihadists and then "Allahu akbar", Arabic for "God is great", before blowing up something on a baggage trolley.

He said the man appeared to be aged 30 to 35.

The government agency that 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.

National newspaper La Libre Belgique quoted the prosecutor's office as saying the suspect was wearing a backpack and an explosive belt. Photos posted on social media showed a small fire in the station.

Twee luide ontploffingen in Brussel Cebtraal. Voor mijn neus. Dan snelle knallen na elkaar. pic.twitter.com/FDqVAjgGYg  Remy Bonnaffe (@remybonnaffe) June 20, 2017

Central Station is one of the busiest in the nation and soldiers could be seen patrolling there after the explosion. It was evacuated along with the Belgian capital's Grand Place, a major tourist site about 600ft away.

Rail company spokeswoman Elisa Roux said trains were diverted from the station and buses sent to take passengers.

Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people on the Brussels subway and at an airport in March last year. Extra police and soldiers have become a common sight in crowded areas.

There have also been attacks in Paris and London in recent days, including one by a van driver who apparently tried to run down worshippers outside a London mosque.
In Person Harn Yawnghwe: Perhaps Govt no Longer Sees Value of my Work

Harn Yawnghwe (left) with former US Ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell and UK Ambassador to Myanmar Andrew Patrick. / Supplied

Influential figure on Myanmar affairs and executive director of the Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office (EBO) Harn Yawnghwe was denied a visa this month, allegedly due to his involvement in the countrys peace process. Irrawaddy senior reporter Saw Yan Naing spoke to Harn Yawnghwe about allegedly becoming a recent addition to the governments blacklist.

What is your comment on the government refusing to issue a visa to work in Myanmar?

The Myanmar Embassy in Ottawa said they did not know the reason why Naypyitaw did not authorize them to issue me a visa. If they do not know, I do not know either. Perhaps the government no longer sees the value of my work. But the embassy has said that it is not a visa ban and they are waiting to hear from Naypyitaw. I hope they hear soon. We started our visa process by contacting the Myanmar Embassy on April 2 and formally submitted an application on April 24. It has now been two months. I do not think visas normally take two months to process. Last year, I also applied for a visa through the Myanmar Embassy in Ottawa and was given a visa that was valid for a year.

It is rather strange for a government that claims to be democratically elected to be denying visas to anyone. As you know, I left Myanmar in 1963 after Gen Ne Win seized power from U Nus democratic government. For thirty years, I worked with Dr. Sein Wins National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma and the Democratic Voice of Burma to free political prisoners and restore democracy in Myanmar.

In 2011, President Thein Sein allowed me to return after 48 years in exile to help the democratic transition by facilitating the peace process. We managed to get Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in 2015 and commit to resolving 70 years of civil war through political dialogue. He also committed to the establishment of a federal democratic union. This was a great achievement because in 1962, Gen Ne Win seized power by claiming federalism would lead to the disintegration of the country. After the new government came to power, we continued to facilitate the participation of ethnic armed groups, political parties and civil society in the 21st Century Panglong peace conferences.

Do you think the move is politically motivated?

I find it hard to believe that it is politically motivated because that would mean that the government does not want democracy or peace. Surely peace and reconciliation are what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been working for.

Who do you think is behind the move?

I have no idea. The embassy [in Ottawa] reports to Myanmars foreign ministry. Logically thinking, the instruction to the embassy not to issue me a visa must come from the foreign ministry. The Ministry of Defense does not have authority over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Some say you are undermining the current peace process led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?

The current government has told foreign diplomats that I urged ethnic armed organizations that signed the NCA in 2015 to boycott the 21st Century Panglong peace conference that was held last year. I did not do so, and the signatories all attended.

The government has also told diplomats that I urged ethnic armed organizations that have not yet signed the NCA, to not sign. This is not true either. We want all groups to participate in the political dialogue that will determine the future of the country.

At the last 21st Century Panglong peace conference in May, the government asked ethnic armed group leaders whether I had influenced them to not sign the Accord that the government had wanted them to sign. This is incorrect thinking. The armed group leaders make their own decisions. They control thousands of battle-hardened soldiers and cannot be easily influenced if it does not suit their purpose. They did not want to sign the non-secession clause because they thought it was unnecessary since that had already committed to the Three National Causes that call for the non-disintegration of the nation.

I have asked to meet the persons in the government who are responsible for the peace process. To date, the answer has either been negative or silence. I do not know why they do not want to meet me to allow me to clarify any possible misunderstanding.

U Myint Kyaing, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population, said the ministry would explain the reason behind a visa ban if an applicant seeks explanation. Will you seek an explanation?

I believe U Myint Kyaing was speaking in general terms. I do not think he was specifically referring to my case. I am currently seeking an answer from the embassy. They have said that it is not a ban on my entry, but that they are just waiting for an answer from Naypyitaw. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has also said anybody can apply for a visa through normal channels. If no answer is forthcoming from the embassy, I will take further steps including contacting the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population to find out if there is a visa ban against me, and why. In a democracy, there has to be transparency and everybody should have the right to know why the government will not issue them a visa.

We heard that two other EBO staff members were also blacklisted. Do you think your organization has been targeted?

EBO is both an international and a local organization. Our local staff has had no difficulty working with local partners and local authoritiesboth under the U Thein Sein administration and the current government. One other international staff was denied a visa. But it may have been because we applied for a visa together. No other EBO staff has been denied a visa.
Burma Chinese Banks Freeze Myanmar Nationals Accounts

Chinese authorities meet with Myanmar nationals in Ruili, China. / Chinese Embassy / Facebook

Myanmar authorities are leading negotiations to reopen 336 accounts belonging to Myanmar nationals frozen by banks in Yunnan Province, China, according to the district administrative officer of Muse Township across the border in Shan State.

Government representatives in Muse sent documents proving the legitimacy of account holders to the banks in question and the local Chinese government, said U Kyaw Kyaw Tun.

At a meeting of bank officials and representatives from China and Myanmar in the Chinese border town of Ruili on Sunday, Myanmar authorities told bank officials that accounts belonged to Myanmar traders who were not involved in money laundering, gambling or trafficking.

We told [bank officials] our citizens made money from border trade only, and asked them to reopen the accounts as soon as possible, he said, adding that the officials said they were still checking if the accounts were linked to illegal activity.

Chinese banks have so far reportedly closed 5,000 accounts supposedly linked to illegal activity in Yunnan Province, with more than 100 bank accounts owned by Myanmar nationals frozen by the Agricultural Bank of China.

The Postal Savings Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China also reportedly froze accounts.

The Chinese Embassy in Yangon issued a statement on Monday saying Chinese banks had locked accounts in Myanmar border areas, including those belonging to Myanmar border traders.

The move was a crackdown on crime and illegal trade, the statement said, but promised to free legitimate merchant accounts and protect longtime stability with Burma.
Burma We Love Wirathu Campaigns Launched

U Wirathu and students at a petition campaign in Mandalay on June 16. / We Love Wirathu Group / Facebook

YANGON  Supporters of firebrand nationalist monk U Wirathu launched campaigns to garner signatures in his support in Karen State and Mandalay Region earlier this month.

The We Love Wirathu campaigns were launched in response to allegations that U Wirathus sermons were against Buddhas teachings, according to campaign organizers.

I believe U Wirathu is on the side of Dhamma [the doctrine or teaching of the Buddha], and Im upset that some people call him on the side of Adhamma [against the Buddhas teachings], said a supporter of the petition in Karen State, who declined to give their name. So, we confirm with our signatures that he is on the side of Dhamma.

The campaigns came as the Anti-False Buddhist Doctrine Group collected signatures across Yangon for a petition asking the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, better known by its Burmese acronym Ma Ha Na, if the actions and speeches of U Wirathu conformed with Buddhas teachings or not.

One campaign, held at a monastery in Karen States Hpa-an Township on June 11, garnered around 10,000 signatures and another on June 14 in Myawaddy Township got more than 300 signatures, campaign organizer and Hpa-an local Ko Thurein told The Irrawaddy.

There is an ongoing campaign in Yangon, saying that Sayadaw U Wirathus sermons contain Adhamma things, said Ko Thurein. We organized these campaigns to show that he is not Adhamma, and that there are many people who love him.

People from other townships in Karen State and in Mon States Mawlamyine (Moulmein) Township have contacted him to organize similar campaigns in their respective places, he said. The signatures collected will be presented to U Wirathu, he added.

Last week, the Patriotic Monks Union (Mandalay) and U Wirathus supporters conducted a campaign and garnered over 55,000 signatures, said U Wirathus supporter Mandalay local U Naing Win Tun.

Those who speak ill of the Sayadaw [U Wirathu] online do so because they dont know exactly what Sayadaw is doing, he said.

The Anti-False Buddhist Doctrine Group conducted a petition against U Wirathu in nine townships in Yangon Region from May 21 to June 17. The founder of the group Ko Myat Kyaw said the number of signatures would be announced on Wednesday.

We dont want him to be jailed or ruined, we just want to show that we do not accept his false doctrine, Ko Myat Kyaw told the press in May.

The petition will be put forward to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture on Wednesday, and will also be sent to the Presidents Office, the State Counselors Office and the Ma Ha Na.

Regarding the We Love Wirathu campaigns, Ko Myat Kyaw said: I agree to disagree. They have the right to [campaign], and I cannot do anything.

The campaign organizers of We Love Wirathu Campaign said similar campaigns would continue across the country, and an online voting system was also launched on June 17. A total of 13,209 signatures were collected by Tuesday, according to organizers.

U Wirathu was banned by the Ma Ha Na from delivering sermons across the country for one year, starting from March 10, due to his religious hate speech.
Burma Ministry Expands Efforts to Combat Domestic, Sexual Violence

The division has two established 24-hour hotlines: 067-404666 and 067-40477, to which women can file complaints, she told The Irrawaddy. / Reuters

YANGON  The Womens Development Division under Myanmars Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement expanded its efforts to help women fight domestic and sexual violence.

The division will provide necessary help to victims within one week of receiving their phone calls, said division director Naw Tha Wah.

It has two established 24-hour hotlines: 067-404666 and 067-40477, to which women can file complaints, she told The Irrawaddy.

Women can call those numbers for assistance in cases of violence. They can leave their phone numbers if they do not want to provide detailed information to male receivers and we will respond, she said.

The division will help any woman living anywhere in the country, she added. The complaint lines were launched in October and have so far received more than 80 complaints.

Upon receiving a complaint, division staff will visit the victims at their homes within one week, help them obtain medical treatment and file a lawsuit. If the victims are young domestic workers or other women who need legal assistance, the division will file a lawsuit on their behalf, she explained.

Some women dont want to file lawsuits; they just want to receive medical treatment. We comply with their wishes. Currently, [hospitals] only treat victims when they are admitted with a police letter regarding the case. But we are negotiating with concerned authorities to allow treatment as an emergency response whether the victim files a complaint with the police or not, she added.

The division also assigns case managers to provide professional help to victims in specific cases, she said.

However, civil society organizations (CSOs) in ethnic areas have criticized that the government is not doing enough to help women who have suffered from sexual abuse in conflict areas.

A number of local Kachin CSOs released a joint statement on June 19International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflictdemanding that the government launch a mechanism to prevent sexual violence against women in conflict areas like Kachin State plus a complaint center where victims can file complaints in person or by phone.

Khun Jar of the Kachin Peace Network said, There is hardly a program for this [prevention of sexual abuse] run by the social welfare ministry here. I have not yet seen a plan or action in this regard by the concerned ministry.

In Kachin State, where there have been cases of unwanted pregnancies and abortion as a result of sexual abuse, the government does not run a post-abuse contraceptive program.

Naw Tha Wah said her division has a sufficient budget from the government to help women anywhere in the country during the 2017-18 fiscal year, though she declined to reveal the amount.

A draft law to prevent the sexual abuse of women will soon be submitted to Parliament, she added.

There have been several unresolved cases of abduction, sexual abuse and murder of women in Kachin State since 2011. An ethnic Kachin woman was abducted by the Tatmadaws Light Infantry Battalion No. 321 on Oct. 28, 2011, and is still missing. The case of two ethnic Kachin volunteer teachers who were raped and killed in Shan State on Jan. 19, 2015 remains unsolved.

CORRECTION: This article has been edited to clarify that the Womens Development Division was not newly incorporated, but rather, has recently expanded its nationwide efforts to stop domestic violence.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma Peng Jiafu, Brother of Peng Jiasheng, Dies at 81

Peng Jiafu in a black vest. / Aung Kyaw Zaw / Facebook

CHIANG MAI, Thailand  Peng Jiafu, the younger brother of Peng Jiasheng  the leader of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)  died from lung disease at the age of 81 near the Myanmar-China border on Tuesday.

Peng Jiafu, along with his brother Peng Jiasheng, was forced into hiding along the border after the Tatmadaw launched an offensive against the MNDAA (also known as the Kokang group) in 2009. The military government issued an arrest warrant for the two, but the warrant was annulled under former President U Thein Seins administration.

The National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), also known as Mongla Group  an MNDAA ally  confirmed his death.

He had resigned [from the MNDAA] after the warrant was annulled under President U Thein Sein. He lived in Thailand, but he developed a lung condition and received treatment in China. He came back to Mongla  after his disease was found to be beyond a cure  where he passed away, NDAA spokesperson U Kyi Myint told The Irrawaddy.

Peng Jiafu was married twice. He had a son and a daughter from the first marriage.

U Aung Kyaw Zaw, who served as a subordinate under Peng Jiafu in the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and is now a military analyst living on the China-Myanmar border, praised him as a tower of strength in both the political and military fields throughout successive periods from the time of the CPB to the MNDAA.

He was a chain-smoker. His lungs were in bad shape. But he still served as a patron and consultant in the MNDAA. Although he could not take an active role due to his health, his advice was sought in serious clashes, U Aung Kyaw Zaw told The Irrawaddy.

Peng Jiafu served as the deputy commander of Kokang Battalion No. 404 of the CPB and when the communists established the northeastern military region by combining battalions No. 404 and No. 303 in 1970, he served as the deputy commander of the military region.

From 1971 to 1979, he served as the commander of Brigade No. 8, and tactical commander of Division No. 48 from 1979 to 1985. He became the vice chief of staff of the CPB Northern Bureau in 1985.

After the collapse of the CPB in 1989, the Kokang region was designated as the first autonomous special region in Burma, and from then until fierce clashes broke out with the Tatmadaw in 2009, Peng Jiafu served as the chief of staff of Kokang Special Region 2.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma Three Dead as Police Raid Suspected Militant Camp in Maungdaw

A police van in Maungdaw Township in 2016. / Hein Htet / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  Myanmar military and border police raided a suspected militant camp in the forests of Mayu mountain range of Rakhine States southern Maungdaw Township on Tuesday, according to police, leaving three dead over two days.

Police Maj Zaw Zaw Nay Hein of the three-mile border police checkpoint said the camp was empty but authorities seized 20 dummy guns, two homemade guns and bags of corn seed and rice.

Three police sources, who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity, reported that one suspected militant was killed on Tuesday when he allegedly attacked security forces. They said they had not received updated information from the raid due to the camps remote locationa three-hour trek from the nearest village of Kai Gyee.

In a Wednesday press conference, Presidents Office spokesperson U Zaw Htay said that two more suspected militants had been killed by security forces, bringing the number of casualties over two days to three.

Officers from Kyi Kan Pyin border police headquarters rejected local media reports of clashes between security forces and militants near Kin Chaung Phyar in southern Maungdaw Township on Wednesday morning.

Border police officials told The Irrawaddy they suspected Muslim militants were attempting to establish militant training camps in the Mayu mountains. U Zaw Htay confirmed that the border police and military were carrying out a clearance operation in the Mayu range, and described Maungdaw as vulnerable to attack by militants, alleging that they had been providing terrorist training in the area.

One source noted that five militant trainees were reportedly killed in an incident with an improvised explosive device in Thae Ne village in Buthidaung in May near the mountains, and that border police had seized 40 walkie-talkies from an Imans house in Chaung Kala (north) village.

All these activities are linked with Muslim militant movement and evidence that they are trying to take foothold in the Mayu mountains, said the police official.

According to the State Counselors Office Information Committee, 33 Muslim residents were murdered and 19 people went missing between 2016 October to 2017 May.

In October last year, nine border police were killed by suspected Muslim attackers and more than 50 firearms and ammunition were looted.

A months-long clearance campaign by security forcesmired by allegations of extensive human rights abusesforced more 70,000 Muslim villagers to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, and an unverified number of casualties.

This story has been updated to include U Zaw Htays comments.
U.S. President Donald Trump slapped sanctions against individuals and corporate entities in both countries for assisting Tehrans ballistic missile program early in his administration.

The Islamic Republic announced last November that it signed a military cooperation agreement with China, and vowed to hold drills and create a collective movement to confront the threat of terrorism.

Both countries have engaged in deliberately provocative interactions with the U.S. Navy. However, more menacing are the confrontations that have occurred between Iranian ships and the U.S. Navy in recent years.

Fox News reported in August of 2016, that clashes between Iran and the United States in the Persian Gulf have nearly risen to nineteen in the first half of 2016, from ten, during the same time period the during the previous year.

Reuters reports, citing the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), that Iran and China began a joint naval drill in the Persian Gulf on Sunday. The military drill comes at a time of heightened tension between the Iranian and U.S. military in the Gulf and is likely to be a cause of concern for Washington, it states, adding, An Iranian destroyer and two Chinese destroyers are among the vessels that will participate in the exercise, which will take place in the eastern portion of the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, according to IRNA. Some 700 Iranian navy personnel will be participating in the drill.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis deemed Iran the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, while President Trump has begun a new approach towards China, willing to cooperate with the country when possible.

In the U.S. Treasury Department designated Chinese national Ruan Runling for sanctions, saying that he provided, or attempted to provide, financial, material, technological, or other support for, or goods or services in support of Irans Shiraz Electronics Industries. Shiraz allegedly supplies the Iranian military with missile guidance technology.

Adding to the dismay of the United States, was Irans announcement at the beginning of the Trump administration that it was conducting military drills that involve ballistic missile tests.

In February, Iran carried out drills involving short-range missiles. Then again in March, Iran test-fired a pair of ballistic missiles.

Iran and China both share borders with Afghanistan, home of a high assemblage of terrorist groups.
Burma Women Political Prisoners Demand Acknowledgment of Their Suffering

Former political prisoners of conscience, including Daw Aye Aye Than (right), at a talk organized by the Vimutti Women Organization in Yangon on June 20, 2017. / Nyein Nyein / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  We bear no grudge, but we cannot forget, said Daw Aye Aye Than, a 64-year-old former prisoner of conscience in Yangon, who was detained in the notorious Insein Prison for eleven months in 1998 without any charge.

Her views reflect those of other former political prisoners now searching for an acknowledgment of what happened to them decades ago under the military government.

People think we have gained democracy easily, but we believe people, especially the younger generation, should know that such achievements have been yielded from those who made sacrifices, said Daw Aye Aye Than.

She clearly recalled what had happened almost two decades ago, when she was put into prison without any particular charge, and had to pledge by signing, upon her release that she would not tell others that she had been in Insein Prison for 11 months.

As a mother of three children, Daw Aye Aye Than said worried about her family and her young female colleagues.

It really damaged the dignity of a person, she added, I was 45 years old when it happened in 1998. What if I had been a teenager? Society would think something bad of me when I was away, for having baby without a husband.

For two decades, she has not kept silent. It is my responsibility to keep making my voice heard about such injustices and such violations of basic human rights, she told The Irrawaddy.

Many other female former prisoners of conscience have put effort toward retelling their experiences, particularly concerning inhumane treatment and gender-based violence while in detention.

In transitioning Myanmar, injustices on many issues are raised through protest, as civil society groups have grown stronger.

However, talk about past wrongs remains rarely heard. Those who were key figures in the democracy movement and who endured long prison sentences frequently do not raise their voices against perpetrators like the Tatmadaw, in an effort to safeguard the process of peace and national reconciliation prioritized by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

Dozens of women who were once prisoners of conscience want to change that. They urge the acknowledgment of injustices that happened under the military junta, while saying that they bear no grudge against those who violated their rights during the dictatorship in Myanmar.

Since 2014, they have given themselves time to come together to share their experiences and to raise their voices at events held by the Vimutti Women Organization, a psychosocial support group providing outreach to women who were former political prisoners, and the family members of such detainees. They say the organization creates a space for them to unburden their past and current experiences.

Vimutti is an ancient Pali word meaning freedom. The group started in 2009 to organize rehabilitation activities for the victims of Cyclone Nargis, which struck the country in 2008, and began providing womens empowerment activities in the affected communities.

On Tuesday, Vimutti also held a talk in Yangon with former political prisoners, to share their views on how they want to move forward in the future, how justice can be sought by revealing past experiences, and how they can contribute to stopping such detentions.

Five women shared their experiences on the panel, highlighting how they were treated in prisons and interrogating centers.

One instance shared involved sexual harassment faced by female inmates in Insein: they were looked upon from above by the male wardens while they were bathing in their white prison uniforms.

Even though former political prisoners seem somewhat emotionally stronger than ordinary people, we also need psychosocial support, social care and acknowledgement, said Daw Khin Mi Mi Khine, the director and the cofounder of the Vimutti Women Organization.

She explained, Acknowledging the truth is not about the revenge. We think the acknowledgment can boost our morale, adding that the former political prisoners also need trauma healing support to overcome their nightmares from the past.

Daw Khin Mi Mi Khine was herself a political prisoner, arrested four times in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2013. She had to stay in prison for six months to one and half years the latter three times. She was also an NLD member until 2004.

From the government, Daw Khin Mi Mi Khine wants an acknowledgment of what happened to her and othersnot only prisoners of conscience, but also Myanmars ethnic minorities as a result of longstanding civil waradding that the perpetrators should also apologize to those who suffered.

We should not keep allowing the perpetrators to defend what they did as just following orders. If they continue accepting such abuses as the right things to do, and if we continue allowing it, our generation will have to further experience such abuses, Daw Khin Mi Mi Khine said.
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

The epic battle in the Trump White House between Jared Kushner, the Orthodox Jewish son-in-law, and Steve Bannon, the alt-NeoNazi White House strategist, is hard to top.

But Saudi Arabia just topped it?

Saudi Arabia just topped it.

King Salman just fired the crown prince and made his son, Muhammad bin Salman, heir apparent.

the new crown prince is a foreign policy adventurer and hard liner who said just last month that there can be no compromise with Iran.

The octogenarian King Salman acceded to the throne in January of 2015. He has made several changes in his cabinet since then, but by last year the two most important figures in it were Muhammad bin Naif, 57, his nephew and the crown prince, and Muhammad bin Salman, 32, his son.

Muhammad bin Naif had become the minister of the interior, a position his father had also filled at one point, and was known as master of the deep state. He had taken the lead in the war on terror in 2003-2006 when al-Qaeda launched a concerted attempt to undermine the kingdom through terrorism. He was known for his iron fist policy and for filling jails with suspects. US CIA director Mike Pompeo recently gave him an award.

Muhammad bin Salman did not have much of a resume before his father made him minister of defense. In spring of 2015 he launched a devastating air war on the Houthi guerrilla group in northwest Yemen believing it was a slam dunk. It is still dragging on with no end in sight. The war has disregarded humanitarian considerations and deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure. At one point after he launched the war, Muhammad bin Salman went off on vacation to the Maldives and US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter couldnt get hold of him despite the urgency of the situation.

Both men seem to have supported the Yemen War. Muhammad bin Naif had a longer history in the Syrian conflict, but both seem to have backed Salafi jihadis like the Jaysh al-Islam (Army of Islam) and the later formation of an alliance of the Freemen of Syria with the al-Qaeda affiliate, the Syrian Conquest Front (formerly Nusra).

Muhammad bin Salman was identified in addition with a scheme to cut pensions and benefits for government workers and to begin privatizing the state owned petroleum giant. The king undid the pension and benefits cuts just before making his son the crown prince, and gave him the credit for the change.

It isnt clear that the two cousins had any strong ideological differences with one another, but they just did not like one another. Muhammad bin Salman seems to be as ambitious as he is sloppy, and wanted to move his cousin out of the way.

Saudi Arabia had been using an agnatic succession model, where the brother of the king is given preference over the son of the king.

The Third Saudi kingdom was founded by Ibn Saud in 1902. He and his ancestors had an alliance with the ultra-conservative Wahhabi clerics. He initially only had Najd in the interior, but in 1913 he added Shiite Eastern Arabia (where the oil turned out to be), and in 1924-6 added the Sunni Hejaz on the Red Sea littoral. In 1932 a united Saudi Kingdom was announced. Ibn Saudi died in 1953. One of his many wives, Hassa bint Ahmad al-Sudairi, had given him 7 sons, the largest bloc of men eligible for the throne, who tended to support each other vis-a-vis other branches. From the 1930s, Saudi Arabia struck oil and the royal family became fabulously wealthy. Sometimes some members of it have caused scandals with how they have spent it.

Salman is a Sudairi, as are Muhammad bin Naif and Muhammad bin Salman; the latter were the first of Ibn Sauds grandsons to have a shot a the throne.

Muhammad bin Salman is also the first Millennial (born in 1985) to have the prospect of succeeding to power. His father is advanced in age.

The new crown prince is known to be both reckless and sloppy. His irrational hatred for Iran could well lead to a military confrontation. His Yemen and Syria policies are in tatters. He has fallen out with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He is trying to squash the independence of neighboring Qatar. Some European investment firms are afraid he will upset the worlds apple carts so much it will hurt all our retirement accounts.

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Related video:

Bloomberg: Saudi Arabia Names Mohammed Bin Salman as Crown Prince
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By IPS World Desk | (Inter Press Service) |  

ROME/GENEVA (IPS)  Between 2010 and 2015, nearly half of all civilian war deaths worldwide occurred in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, a major independent, neutral organisation ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war and armed violence informs.

According to a new report I Saw My City Die by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), five times more civilians die in offensives carried out in cities than in other battles.

Over the past three years, our research shows that wars in cities accounted for a shocking 70% of all civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria, said the ICRCs Regional Director for the Middle East, Robert Mardini.

This illustrates just how deadly these battles have become. This is all the more alarming as new offensives get underway in cities like Raqqa in Syria, or intensify in Mosul, Iraq. A new scale of urban suffering is emerging, where no one and nothing is spared by the violence.

The research findings are based on preliminary analysis of battle trends and data over the past three years in Iraq and Syria.

The report includes testimony from residents in Syrias Aleppo, Iraqs Mosul and Yemens Taiz, and expert analysis. It vividly illustrates the effects of siege warfare, the use of explosive weapons and the extensive damage caused to key infrastructure.

The conflicts in these countries have resulted in internal displacement and migration levels unprecedented since WWII, says the Geneva-based ICRC.

Ahmad Ali has just arrived home with a bag of Kudam, a local Yemeni bread. His dry lips tell of his fatigue and the difficult life he leads. He earns a pittance working as a cobbler. I keep hoping we can soon go back to our home town and the peaceful lives we used to lead. Life here is very difficult. There is no water, no food, no medicine, and no stability, he says. Credit: CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / Mohammed Yaseen

17 Millions Fleeing Home

More than 17 million Iraqis, Syrians and Yemenis have fled their homes. And these battles risk becoming even more protracted if real political solutions are not found soon, says the report.

Wars in cities are so devastating because of the way in which they are being fought. Armed parties are failing to distinguish between military objectives and civilian infrastructure  or worse, they are using or directly targeting them, it adds.

Its beholden on those with power to act. Warring sides must realise the full impact the fighting has on the people they ultimately hope to govern. Will the victors be able to keep the peace if people feel they have respected neither the law nor the basic humanity of local citizens? The consequences of this violence will resonate for generations and there is the very real danger that cities experiencing these conflicts will simply act as incubators for further violence in the future, said Mardini.

States supporting parties to conflict must also do their utmost to restrain their allies and ensure better respect for international humanitarian law. And once the guns fall silent, it is local people and organisations which must play a full part in the rebuilding of the communities.

The report also considers Lebanons 15-year civil war and examines the lessons Beirut can offer to help ensure the recovery of urban communities after such overwhelming and protracted violence.

According to ICRC, findings on the proportion of civilian casualties in cities are based on preliminary research in the Iraqi provinces of Anbar, Ninewah and Salahuddin and Syrian governorates of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Rif Damascus and Damascus, based on data available between January 2014 and March 2017.

The proportion of deaths in Iraq, Syria and Yemen is based on a yearly average of around 90.000 global conflict-related deaths between 2010 and 2015, during which time the yearly average of deaths in Iraq, Syria and Yemen was of 42.000 conflict-related deaths i.e. 47 per cent of the total casualties worldwide.

Licensed from Inter Press Service

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Related video added by Juan Cole:

AFP:  UN decries staggering loss of civilian life in Raqqa
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 21, 2017) - Royal Road Minerals Limited (TSXV: RYR) ("Royal Road" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from saw-cut channel sampling at its 100% owned Piedra Iman copper-gold project in northwestern Nicaragua (results are presented in Table 1).

The Piedra Iman concession area is located in Chinandega District, 200km northwest of Managua via the Pan American Highway and 30km north of B2 Gold's El Limon Mine (Figure 1). The concession extends over approximately 8000Ha and is in force for a further 20 years. Royal Road acquired 100% of Piedra Iman through its acquisition of Caza Gold Corporation in May 2017 (see press release May 23, 2017).

Figure 1. Location of Piedra Iman project and license area (red outline)





Piedra Iman is a copper and gold project which shares many geological similarities with "cordilleran-style" Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) systems such as those which occur in Chile and Peru. Detailed geological controls remain unclear at Piedra Iman and a mapping program is currently underway, but observations to-date indicate that copper mineralization (malachite, chalcopyrite and bornite) occurs in steeply dipping veinlets and vein-stockworks oriented at a high-angle to gently tilted layering (see Figure 2). Gold is associated with molybdenite in an intrusive rock which appears to be located subjacent to the copper mineralization. Alteration related with copper and gold mineralization at Piedra Iman is characterized by magnetite-hematite-actinolite and albite.

Figure 2. Small working at Piedra Iman showing gently dipping layering and steeper oriented fractures hosting copper mineralization.





The Piedra Iman project was initially explored in the early 1970's by Noranda Inc ("Noranda"). Noranda's work included the drilling of 17 shallow diamond drill holes and the development of one exploration adit. Noranda's drilling and underground sampling intersected significant widths of copper mineralization including DDH-851 (36.6 meters at 1.13% Copper), DDH-876 (14.8 meters at 1.65% Copper), DDH-846 (14.3 meters at 1.42% Copper) and DDH-818 (9.1 meters at 1.50% Copper). Samples were only sporadically assayed for gold, but drilling results included one interval of 3.6 meters at 6.3 g/t gold. These results were provided in analogue format, are historic in nature and have not been verified by a qualified person. Historic maps indicate that the exploration adit intersected gold and copper along its strike length with gold only mineralization dominating the southwestern end of the adit and combined copper and gold mineralization dominating the northeastern extent of the adit (see Figure 4). There are no reports available to verify the style of adit sampling or to confirm the underground grades labelled on historic maps. Noranda abandoned the project due to the onset of hostilities related with the Sandinista revolution in 1978.

Figure 3. Example of saw-cut channel at Piedra Iman





Figure 4. Location of 9 saw cut channels, soil geochemical contours, grab rock-chip samples and the

Laminex exploration adit at Piedra Iman. See Table 1 for channel results. Note extent of further soil

geochemical anomalies to the north and southwest.





In order to assess the continuity and local extent of copper and gold mineralization at Piedra Iman, horizontal channels were cut across exposed rock faces with a rock saw to an average depth of approximately 3cm and to an average width of approximately 10cm (see Figure 3). A total of 9 channels were cut and sampled on 1 meter intervals over a total strike distance of approximately 400m (see Figure 4). Results are presented in Table 1. Best results are:

Channel 4 - 20 meters at 1.10% copper and 5 meters at 0.95% Copper

- 20 meters at 1.10% copper and 5 meters at 0.95% Copper Channel 8 - 8 meters at 1.05% copper and 1.13 grams per tonne gold

- 8 meters at 1.05% copper and 1.13 grams per tonne gold Channel 7 - 5 meters at 0.28% copper and 2.50 grams per tonne gold

- 5 meters at 0.28% copper and 2.50 grams per tonne gold Channel 2 - 9 meters at 0.70% copper

- 9 meters at 0.70% copper Channel 5 - 6 meters at 0.87% copper

Highest individual results for copper and gold were 1 meter at 2.69% and 1 meter at 7.5 grams per tonne respectively.

The Company has recently submitted application for a drilling permit at Piedra Iman and, if successful, intends to commence drilling at the project in either Q3 or Q4 of this year.

"The results of our limited work to-date at Piedra Iman coupled with these encouraging saw-cut channel results suggest we are dealing with a style of copper and gold mineralization which until now has not been recognized in Nicaragua" said Dr Tim Coughlin, Royal Road's President and CEO. "Soil geochemistry indicates that the mineralized system remains open to the north and southwest and our ongoing geological work will assist us in confirming our IOCG model and in outlining the principal controls on the distribution of gold and copper at the project. We plan to complete some ground geophysics before the end of Q3 and look forward to drill testing the project soon after that".

The information in this news release was compiled, reviewed and verified by Dr. Tim Coughlin, BSc (Geology), MSc (Exploration and Mining), PhD (Structural Geology), FAusIMM, President and CEO of Royal Road Minerals Ltd and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Royal Road Minerals employees are instructed to follow standard operating and quality assurance procedures intended to ensure that all sampling techniques and sample results meet international reporting standards. Rock faces for saw-cut channel sampling are first cleaned and then channel sample locations are clearly marked and numbered using spray paint. Channels are cut with dual or single blade electric rock-saws to a depth of 3-5cm and over a channel width of 10cm. Individual sample lengths do not exceed 1 meter. Channel material is extracted using a hammer and chisel and bagged for analysis on location. All assay work for released results is carried out by internationally certified Bureau Veritas Mineral Laboratories in Nicaragua and Canada. All samples are analyzed by fire assay for gold with an AAS finish and 4-acid digest ICP-ES for multielements. More information can be found on Royal Road Minerals web site at www.royalroadminerals.com.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 21, 2017) - African Gold Group, Inc. (TSX VENTURE:AGG) ("AGG" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of 2515232 Ontario Inc. ("PrivateCo") (the "Transaction") which owns an option to acquire the Madougou gold project (the "Madougou Project"). The Transaction was previously announced on April 25, 2017.

Summary of the Madougou Project

 Mid-stage exploration project in mining favorable jurisdiction in West Africa  Significant land package of 182km2, located in greenstone belt that hosts several producing gold mines  Significant historical holes drilled, with near surface grades of:  56m @ 1.56g/t Au from 94m in DORC02  6m @ 3.4 g/t Au from 6m in DORC034  11m @ 2.91 g/t Au from 60m in GSRC00, including 1m @ 247 g/t Au from 14m  12m @ 3.4 g/t Au from 34m in GSAC065  10m @ 4.175 g/t Au from 18m in GSAC074  14m @ 4.76 g/t Au from 8m in SO-1066  10m @ 4.2 g/t Au from 37m in DGAC002, including 4m @ 10.7 g/t  10m @ 1.5 g/t Au from 24m in DGAC050  8m @ 20.86 g/t Au from 90m in SO-47  20m @ 2.01 g/t Au from 36m in NBAC023  14m @ 7.72 g/t Au from 40m in NBAC085  15m @ 3.87 g/t Au from 40m in NBAC095

Stephan Theron, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented: "The Madougou Project is in a very well understood area of the Birimian Greenstone in northern Burkina Faso, with Endeavour Mining's Karma Project some 60km away and other operating mines within 100km in several directions. AGG plans to organize the various work programs on Madougou in an effort to establishing a maiden resource on the concession within 12 months, or sooner. In addition, the Company will continue to develop our near term producing and flagship asset in Mali, the Kobada Gold Project, whilst the Madougou Project adds an exciting growth project to our existing gold portfolio."

The Madougou Project is a mid-stage exploration project, located in the north-western region of Burkina Faso. The project has been extensively explored, with both ground and airborne geophysical surveys conducted, and over 20,000m of RC drilling completed on the 182km2 land package. Madougou is in a mining favourable jurisdiction within West Africa, and is contained in a regional mineralised area of the greenstone belt within Burkina Faso, with several gold producing operations. AGG view the Madougou Project as a highly strategic asset, with tremendous potential to add significant value to the Company.

Appendix 1.0 for Project / Property Location



These historical drill results, in addition to the historical geophysical work that has been conducted, will be the platform whereby AGG will be remodelling the existing data sets to identify new drilling targets so as it can formulate a comprehensive drill program for 2017.

Summary of the Transaction

Pursuant to the share purchase agreement dated June 21, 2017 (the "SPA") between AGG and the shareholders of PrivateCo, AGG acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of PrivateCo. AGG issued an aggregate of 33,333,333 common shares to the shareholders of PrivateCo as consideration.

PrivateCo is party to an option agreement with TEMFOR s.a.r.l. ("TEMFOR") providing PrivateCo with the option (the "Option") to acquire from TEMFOR the Madougou Project.

Pursuant to the option agreement, PrivateCo can exercise the Option as follows:

In order to acquire an initial 10% interest in the Madougou Project, PrivateCo must pay USD$80,000 to TEMFOR on or before such date that the exploration permit for the Madougou Project is transferred to a newly incorporated Burkina Faso company (the "First Option");

In order to acquire an additional 41% interest in the Madougou Project, PrivateCo must (i) pay USD$300,000 to TEMFOR, and (ii) complete a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant technical report that contains an inferred mineral resource, within 12 months of the exercise of the First Option (the "Second Option");

In order to acquire an additional 24% interest in the Madougou Project, PrivateCo must (i) pay USD$300,000 to TEMFOR, and (ii) complete a NI 43-101 compliant technical report that contains an indicated mineral resource, within 12 months of the exercise of the Second Option; and

In order to acquire the remaining 25% interest in the Madougou Project, PrivateCo must (i) fund any and all expenditures related to the Madougou Project, and (ii) complete a NI 43-101 compliant feasibility study which could reasonably serve as the basis for a final decision by an internationally recognized financial institution to finance the development of a mining project (the "Fourth Option").

If PrivateCo exercises the Fourth Option and acquires a 100% interest in in the Madougou Project, PrivateCo shall grant to TEMFOR a 1% net smelter returns royalty over production from the Madougou Project.

The Transaction is an arm's length transaction for AGG. No finder's fees were paid in connection with the Transaction.

Kobada Gold Project

African Gold Group is currently reviewing the existing feasibility study of the Kobada Gold Project in an effort to optimise the existing Mineral Reserve and Resource estimates, relative to a potential phased approach of a larger Phase 1 production profile.

About African Gold Group

African Gold Group is a Canadian exploration and development company with its focus on West Africa. African Gold Group is focused on the development of the Kobada Gold Project in Mali, a low capital and operating cost gold project with potential to produce more than 50,000 ounces of gold per annum. For more information regarding African Gold Group visit our website at www.africangoldgroup.com.

Qualified Person

The technical and scientific contents of this press release have been prepared under the supervision of and have been reviewed and approved by Cesare Morelli B.Sc. (Pr.Sci.Nat.) who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 21, 2017) - First Cobalt Corp. (TSX VENTURE:FCC) (OTCQB:FTSSF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce it has delivered a proposal to Cobalt One Ltd., which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, for the merger of Cobalt One and First Cobalt. Under the proposal, First Cobalt would acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Cobalt One which would result in the shareholders of Cobalt One holding approximately 60% of the equity in the merged entity and the shareholders of First Cobalt holding the remaining 40%.

If concluded, this merger would consolidate the two largest land packages in the Cobalt camp into a single landholder with over 10,000 hectares (Figure 1). First Cobalt would also become 100% owner of the Yukon refinery, previously a joint venture option between the two companies.

The proposal delivered to Cobalt One includes the following elements:

Cobalt One shareholders would own 60% of the merged entity and First Cobalt shareholders would own the remaining 40%, prior to giving effect to any subsequent equity issuances by either company;

The merged entity would be based in Toronto, a five-hour drive from the Cobalt mining camp;

First Cobalt would maintain its TSXV listing and seek to obtain a secondary listing on the ASX of CHESS Depositary Interests; and

It would be a condition of the transaction that the Board of Directors of the merged entity would include Cobalt One Chairman Paul Matysek, Cobalt One CEO Jason Bontempo as well as Bob Cross and some or all of the current First Cobalt Board members.

Trent Mell, President and CEO commented,

"First Cobalt previously concluded a partnership with Cobalt One on the Yukon refinery near Cobalt, Ontario and we shared a common vision for the Cobalt Ontario camp. Both companies believe that a rebirth of this historic mining district will occur through the application of modern geoscience, a better understanding of disseminated cobalt mineralization and ultimately, bulk mining methods. A consolidation of properties, the refinery and the permitted property upon which the refinery is situated offer the potential to significantly shorten the pathway to production. This transaction will benefit shareholders in both companies, while creating one of the largest cobalt exploration companies in the world."

Cobalt One's properties are in Canada, adjacent to First Cobalt's properties, making First Cobalt's Canadian-based management team (with their experience in this region) the ideal choice to manage the merged entity. Consolidating the land package could facilitate new discoveries in this camp, which is unique for its cobalt-silver mineralization, and provide meaningful future cobalt production in a politically stable, mining-friendly jurisdiction. The refinery is a unique asset in this area and the permitted facility could meaningfully accelerate permitting of a future mining and processing operation. First Cobalt also believes Cobalt One is an attractive counterparty due to its Australian Securities Exchange listing and strong institutional shareholder support in that market.

First Cobalt has engaged Canaccord Genuity Corp. as financial advisors and Cassels Brock and Blackwell, LLP as legal advisors on any transactions entered into by the Company.

Figure 1: First Cobalt and Cobalt One Land Packages in Cobalt camp, Ontario





Readers are cautioned that the proposed transaction with Cobalt One is a proposal only and that the final terms of any transaction remain to be negotiated. Completion of any transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, completion of due diligence, negotiation of definitive agreements in respect of the transaction, and receipt of any required Board, regulatory and shareholder approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. A transaction cannot be completed until these conditions are satisfied, and there can be no assurance that negotiations with Cobalt One will lead to a transaction on terms acceptable to the Company.
By Yi Whan-woo

President Moon Jae-in's initiative for resuming inter-Korean dialogue has hit a snag as anger in the United States is boiling over due to the death of Otto Warmbier.

In an interview with CBS, Tuesday, Moon claimed that his North Korea policy is "not at odds with" that of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been pursuing "maximum pressure and engagement" for Pyongyang's denuclearization.

However, analysts said Wednesday that Moon's strategy is still being perceived in the U.S. as if he is "giving in" to North Korea by putting priority on dialogue while Trump puts weight on sanctions first.

Citing a need for cooperation with the U.S. in resuming inter-Korean talks, analysts said Moon's dovish inter-Korean policy may "lose ground" amid pessimism in the U.S. over any engagement with North Korea.

They cited that Trump denounced the Kim Jong-un regime as brutal amid speculation that Warmbier, an American college student who was detained in North Korea for 17 months, was abused there before being released in a coma last week.

Trump also tweeted that China's pressure on North Korea in line with U.S. demands has been unsuccessful, hinting that Washington could use military options and other unilateral action on Pyongyang as he promised before.

"While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi (Jinping) & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!" he wrote.












They were protesting because the local people are living in extreme poverty and their situations have been made worse by the job losses.

The police forces attacked the crowed and numerous people were beaten. Some women were treated so violently that they suffered serious injuries, with one woman reported to have been knocked unconscious.

All the protesters wanted was a job opportunity for the families following news that officials form the mine hired people who were not local to the area.

There were several arrests carried out too.

Some of those injured went to get medical treatment in nearby towns, whereas others felt more secure being treated in the privacy of their own home, fearing being arrested by security agents.

The gold mine in Aqdarreh is the second largest gold mine in the country. It is approximately 30 km from the city of Takab. It is the first active mine to start operating in the country. Mining started a decade ago and it produces 2.2 tons of pure gold per year. Its headquarters are in the city of Karaj.

Since mining started, the natural ecosystem, environment and ecology in the area have been greatly damaged. Because of the extraction process local people have had their livelihoods destroyed. Chemicals are killing animals and farming produce will not be purchased because it is very contaminated.

A pond that surrounds the mine (for outtake and gold ore purification purposes) has destroyed the regions ecology. Furthermore, as a result of this, natural water in the area is unclean and drinking water cannot be consumed by the local people.

There are also numerous reports of people becoming very sick in the area, with illnesses and diseases such as lung infections and cancer.

In 2014, approximately 250 workers protested against the termination of their contracts at the same mine. The Iranian regimes judiciary said that 17 of the protesters were charged with inciting others to protest and were given prison sentences, fines and lashes.

It is very common for peaceful protests in Iran to turn into serious incidents. Security forces arrive and treat the people with aggressive behaviour and violence.
Chicago, IL A Wisconsin employment lawsuit that may have been lost on a complex legal technicality will live on to see another day, following a ruling by a split panel of the Seventh Circuit in Chicago.

The plaintiff in the Wisconsin labor case is Tracey Coleman. The defendant is the Wisconsin office of the Department of Labor Review Commission (DLRC). According to Court documents Coleman had been hired on as a maintenance technician at a Wisconsin high school, only to be let go from his position after about three weeks.The principles at the high school and the associated school board assert that Colemans job was terminated due to accusations that Coleman had sexually harassed a fellow employee at the school. Coleman however claims that he was fired because he is African American.After becoming dissatisfied with the manner in which the DLRC dealt with his termination, Coleman launched Wisconsin employment law litigation against the WLIRC for alleged violations of due process with regard to his complaint of wrongful termination and racial discrimination against the school.Coleman, according to documents, consented to having a federal magistrate review his petition without paying a filing fee  in forma pauperis  which Magistrate Judge William E. Duffin proceeded to undertake in 2015. Magistrate Duffin dismissed the case, indicating in his ruling that he was not able to discern any plausible claim for relief that may be heard in federal court, his ruling held.Coleman appealed to the Seventh Circuit and it was there that his Wisconsin employment and labor lawsuit was revived. The reason, according to the majority of judges on the panel (two of the three), is that magistrates lack the authority to dismiss any action deemed to be frivolous without the defendants knowledge or consent.When the federal magistrate, in 2015 considered Colemans case in forma pauperis, he did so at the request of the plaintiff without the knowledge or consent of the defendant.The majority of the Seventh Circuit noted that the defendant would likely have agreed to any decision to dismiss  and indeed, made those views known to the appellate panel during the hearing. However, at the time the federal magistrate had made his ruling to dismiss, the DLRC had yet to be served with papers indicating the case was being heard in forma pauperis.Because they had not been informed, or been given the opportunity to consent, the ruling of the magistrate was voided on appeal according to rules guaranteed by the US Constitution governing Congress-appointed Article III judges.While the dissenting judge on the three-judge appellate panel viewed the majority ruling as a waste of time, the plaintiffs Wisconsin state labor laws case is nonetheless revived.The case is, Case No. 15-3254, in the
Officials of the NCRI reported that Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, ordered the acceleration of missile expansion from relevant institutions after the nuclear agreement went into effect last year, in January.

Iranian ballistic missile testing has caused an ongoing dispute among those who are attempting to keep the nuclear deal enforced. These tests are alleged to be in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions that call on the Islamic Republic to avoid work on weapons that are nuclear capable. However, several tests of such missiles have taken place since negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 concluded in July 2015.

According to the NCRI, statements that seem to underscore the defiant policies, attributed to Khamenei, accompany these tests.

NCRIUS press conference on Iran missile program 20June2017

Watch this video on YouTube

Although Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is described as a moderate by Western media, he has stated that the ballistic missile program will continue to grow because the Iranian nation has decided to be powerful.

At the press conference, the NCRI stated that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force has been given the task of executing Khameneis mandate for accelerated missile work. Members of the IRGC have gone so far as to paint the words Israel must be wiped out in Hebrew on two of the pre-test missiles.

Intelligence gathered from sources inside of Iran by the NCRIs main constituent group, the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), has identified 42 centers for the development, manufacture, and testing of missiles by the IRGC. It also found that one of these centers, located in Semnan Province, was actively collaborating with the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (Persian abbreviation: SPND), previously identified as the institution in charge of nuclear weapons-related work in the Islamic Republic.

The existence of SPND was revealed by the NCRI in 2011, three years before the United States placed the institution on its sanctions list. SPNDs involvement in ongoing weapons development casts doubt in regards to Tehrans commitment to the nuclear agreement.

These new revelations from the NCRI come while the US Congress and President Donald Trump are reviewing policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Trump administrations response to a ballistic missile test that occurred early in Trumps presidency, was to issue a statement putting Tehran on notice.. Following that occurrence, the White House imposed new sanctions on entities with alleged ties to the Iranian ballistic missile program. The American legislature has done so as well, and has moved to extend terrorism-related sanctions to the entirety of the IRGC.

In a move that met with praise from the NCRI and other opponents of the Iranian regime, President Trump ordered the State Department to review the possibility of designating the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. During Tuesdays press conference, NCRI officials also called for the expulsion of IRGC forces and proxies from Syria and Iraq, and stressed the value of unrelenting sanctions.
Bear attacks are rare, but when news of bear aggression hits the airwaves, even avid adventurers may wonder what's the best way to escape the long and curved claws of such a wild animal.

This past weekend, a black bear mauled and killed 16-year-old Patrick Cooper during a trail race in Alaska's Chugach State Park. The next day (June 19), another black bear killed a contract worker looking for geological samples about 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of Anchorage, according to news sources. In addition, a grizzly bear attacked a 63-year-old man, who was known a skilled hiker, in Yellowstone on Aug. 6, 2015.

As is typical with bear attacks, state and wildlife officials plan to find and euthanize the bears, according to news sources. To prevent this from happening in the future, experts have tips for how to come out on top after a face to face with a towering bear. [Images: Trapping Yellowstone's Grizzly Bears]

Yellowstone attack

It's unclear how Lance Crosby, who had worked five seasons with Medcor, a company that runs three urgent-care clinics in the park, died. "But the preliminary results show that he was attacked by at least one grizzly bear," according to a National Park Service (NPS) statement. "His body was found partially consumed and cached, or covered, and partial tracks at the scene indicate that an adult female grizzly and at least one cub-of-the-year were present and likely involved in the attack."

Officials at Yellowstone National Park captured the bears on Aug. 8, 2015, and did a DNA analysis on the adult female to ensure it was the same bear that killed and partially consumed Crosby. They euthanized the female, and sent her two cubs to the Toledo Zoo in Ohio, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report.

"Fortunately, these kind of incidents dont happen that often," Yellowstone spokeswoman Julena Campbell told the Washington Post. "There's not a lot of evidence to show that it is necessarily a learned behavior, but it can be. We know they are creatures of habit and that bears get habituated pretty quickly when they learn something is a food source."

Though frightening, bear attacks are extremely rare. From 1980 to 2015, more than 104 million people visited Yellowstone. During that time, bears injured 38 people in the park, the NPS reported. Of those, 34 injuries were caused by grizzlies in the backcountry, leading to an average of about one grizzly-related attack a year.

From 1872 to 2015, bears of any species have killed a total of eight people in Yellowstone, the NPS said.

Bear attacks

The NPS offered several ways to prevent bear attacks from all kinds of bears, including grizzlies and black bears. First off, be aware of signs that bears may be nearby. Hikers can look for fresh tracks or scat, as well as feeding sites, which include diggings, torn-up logs and ripped-open anthills. Avoid carcasses and don't leave lunchboxes unattended, as a bear may find the food first.

During the summer, bears are most active during the cooler hours during dawn, dusk and nighttime. Try to avoid hiking during these times when going into bear country, the NPS said.

Once the hike is underway, periodically yell, "Hey bear" to alert animals that there are humans nearby, which will give them time to leave the area. In Yellowstone, bears spend seven months fattening up for their five months of hibernation. A feeding bear might not notice people right away, and it's best not to startle them, the NPS said.

If a bear doesn't notice a hiker, the person still has time to get away. "Keep out of sight and detour as far as possible behind and downwind of the bear," the NPS said. "If the bear sees you, retreat slowly and leave the area."

Under no circumstances should a person run away or try to climb a tree. Both can provoke a bear to give chase, and they're fast animals and expert tree climbers, according to the NPS. [Cuddly But Powerful: See Photos of the World's Bears]

Safety in loudness and numbers can also help, according to the NPS. Since 1970, 91 percent of people injured by bears were hiking alone or with one partner, and just 9 percent of those hurt by bears were in groups of three or more people, the NPS reported.

Charging bears

If a bear sees and charges at a hiker, it's best to stay still and "stand your ground," the NPS said.

"Most of the time, if you do this, the bear is likely to break off the charge or veer away," the NPS said. "This is called a bluff charge."

If the bear gets within 40 feet (12 meters), start spraying pepper or bear spray. (Bear spray is recommended because it goes farther than pepper spray.) Both contain capsaicin, a chemical that irritates the bear's eyes, nose, mouth, throat and lungs. But, if the bear continues to charge, it's time to play dead, the NPS said.

Timing is incredibly important. A bear can still veer off at the last moment, so a person should play dead only within a nanosecond of making contact with the bear.

"Drop to the ground; keep your pack on to protect your back," the NPS said. "Lie on your stomach, face down, and clasp your hands over the back of your neck with your elbows protecting the sides of your face. Remain still and stay silent to convince the bear that you are not a threat to it or its cubs."

Once the bear leaves, wait several minutes to make sure the bear and its cubs are no longer nearby. Then, cautiously get up and walk (don't run) away, the NPS said. The bear could still attack again.

If a bear does attack, don't fight back. Fighting will only prolong the attack, and will likely result in more severe injuries, the NPS said. Since 1970, people who encountered bears in Yellowstone and played dead received minor injuries 75 percent of the time. People who fought back received very serious injuries 80 percent of the time, the park reported.

As of 2014, between 674 and 839 grizzly bears have been spotted living in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the NPS reported.

Predatory bears

The only time to pull a Rambo move is if a predatory bear  instead of a defensive bear protecting itself, its food or its cubs  is attacking. Predatory bear attacks are rare (they're less than one-half of 1 percent of all bear attacks, Bartlett said), but usually aren't preceded by warning signals, such as huffing or ground slapping, and the bear "will keep bearing in on you," the NPS said.

The black bear that mauled and killed Cooper, the runner in Alaska, was likely a predatory bear, Ken Marsh, a representative from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, told National Geographic (opens in new tab).

"During a predatory attack, you should be aggressive and fight back using any available weapon (bear spray, rocks, sticks) to stop the aggression by the bear," the NPS said. "Fight back as if your life depends on it, because it does. Predatory attacks usually persist until the bear is scared away, overpowered, injured or killed."

So, what's the take-away message?

"Play dead if a defensive bear makes contact," the NPS said. "Always fight back against a predatory bear."

Editors Note: This article was first published on Aug. 12, 2015. It was updated on June 21, 2017, with information about black bear attacks.

Original article on Live Science.
This artists impression shows an imagined view from the surface of a planet that was part of a star system found recently using the TRAPPIST telescope at the European Space Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile. These worlds' sizes and temperatures are similar to those of Venus and Earth, and are the best targets found so far in the search for life outside our solar system.

WASHINGTON  From the lovable, candy-munching E.T. to the deadly Xenomorphs from the "Alien" movies, science-fiction stories are bursting with all kinds of alien encounters. But in reality, we've yet to achieve contact  though not for lack of trying.

Plenty of scientists are looking for signs of extraterrestrial life  intelligent or not  using a variety of methods, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, told an audience here on June 18 during a talk at Future Con, a festival that highlights the intersection between science, technology and science fiction.

But the more our own technology moves forward and the more humans explore the rapidly evolving concept of synthetic intelligence (smart machines), the more experts suspect that intelligent extraterrestrial life could be advanced in ways that would stymie current efforts to find them, Shostak said. [Greetings, Earthlings! 8 Ways Aliens Could Contact Us]

However, perhaps the first question to ask is why people are so fascinated by the idea of alien life  particularly alien invaders, Shostak suggested. This preoccupation with an unseen extraterrestrial threat may be an echo from our distant past, when early humans learned that survival frequently depended on being able to imagine and prepare for attacks from predators or enemies that you couldn't see, he said.

What we now know about the universe suggests that it's very unlikely that humanity is the only form of life in it.

"Work from the last 20 years shows that there are planets all over the place," Shostak said. In fact, NASA announced yesterday (June 19) that the Kepler Space Telescope mission has discovered 219 more exoplanets (planets orbiting stars other than our sun), bringing the total of planets discovered by Kepler to 4,034, Space.com reported.

Most stars  70 to 80 percent of them, by some estimates  probably host planets, Shostak added. With an estimated 100 billion stars in our galaxy, that gives us around 1 trillion planets in the Milky Way galaxy alone. Data from Kepler suggests that about one in five of these planets is Earth-like  rocky and capable of supporting liquid water and possibly life, "so now you have 100 billion planets in our galaxy that are sort of like Earth," Shostak said.

And with recent studies hinting that there may be as many as 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe, that adds up to a lot of planets that might host some form of life.

When you look at it that way, "saying, 'I don't believe in aliens' is a daring position to take," Shostak said.

Signs of life

There are three methods most commonly used by scientists to search for alien life, according to Shostak. The first is straightforward enough  and is also the one that's most popular with sci-fi writers: "Just go out and find it," he said. This includes missions to send spacecraft to destinations such as Saturn's moon Enceladus, where probes would sample water vapor from surface plumes to see if they hold anything interesting. [13 Ways to Hunt Intelligent Aliens]

SETI astronomer Seth Shostak explains the ongoing search for extraterrestrial life, at the Future Con panel "Are We Looking for the Wrong Aliens?" (Image credit: M. Weisberger/Live Science)

The final method  and the one practiced by Shostak and his SETI Institute colleagues  is eavesdropping on radio signals that an alien civilization might broadcast.Another method is to image distant planets with very large space telescopes capable of detecting enough detail to provide scientists with data about their atmospheres. Big telescopes  such as the James Webb Space Telescope, expected to launch in October 2018  could allow astronomers to analyze the spectrum of light surrounding a far-off planet for evidence of atmospheric oxygen or methane, both of which are known to sustain life on Earth.

"That's how you find intelligent life," Shostak said.

Alien A.I.?

All of these parameters offer scientists a reasonable range of variables for discovering life  but only as long as that life is "the soft, squishy kind, like us," Shostak said. However, a sophisticated extraterrestrial civilization could theoretically have advanced far beyond that, creating forms of artificial intelligence housed in machinery, which simply don't have the same requirements as organic life.

"Machines live forever, and they can go anywhere  they don't care about oceans and atmospheres," Shostak said.

With that view, many of the factors that are currently thought to be indicators of life on other worlds, such as liquid water and a breathable atmosphere, are rendered irrelevant. As such, researchers would need to identify other signals to pinpoint which planets might harbor aliens, Shostak said.

But Shostak also offered reassurances, telling the Future Con attendees that at least they won't need to worry about scientists or the government concealing the news when alien life finally does appear  the story would be too big for them to hide it for long, he said.

"Will we all start singing 'Kumbaya' and just get along when that happens? I don't think so," Shostak said at Future Con. "But it'll change things. Forever after, you will know  as amazing as you are  that you're not the only miracle, you're not the only kid on the block. And I think that'll be very interesting to learn."

Original article on Live Science.
Every year, thousands of wildebeests tumultuously drown while trying to cross the Mara River in eastern Africa, but there is a silver lining to their deaths: The wildebeest remains provide essential nutrients to wild animals throughout the Serengeti food web, according to a new study.

About 1.2 million wildebeests, also known as gnus (Connochaetes taurinus), take part in the largest terrestrial migration in the world, traveling from the dry plains to the lush savanna in search of food and water every year, the researchers said.

But an average of 6,250 wildebeests  or 1,100 tons (1,000 metric tons) of biomass  never make it across the Mara. Rather, their bodies decompose, contributing the "equivalent biomass of 10 blue whale carcasses per year to this moderately sized river," the researchers wrote in the study. [Camera Trapped: Elusive Wildlife Caught in Photos]

There were at least 13 mass drownings between 2001 and 2015, according to historical reports and field surveys, the researchers said. These mass drownings typically happen from early June to late July, when the wildebeests make their annual migration across the Mara, a river that pours into Lake Victoria and provides water for the greater Serengeti Mara ecosystem of Kenya and Tanzania.

Once the wildebeests meet their untimely ends, it isn't long before scavengers  including vultures, some flying more than 60 miles (100 kilometers) to dine  show up with hearty appetites. These scroungers include Nile crocodiles, Marabou storks, white-backed vultures, Ruppell's vultures and hooded vultures, the researchers said.

The scavengers aren't the only beneficiaries: The wildebeests' soft tissues take between two and 10 weeks to decompose, and then provide as much as 50 percent of the food that supports fish populations in the Mara, the researchers found. Moreover, maggots  a favorite meal of the mongoose  flourish on the wildebeests' dead bodies, the researchers noted.

The wildebeests' bones take more than seven years to decompose, providing much-needed phosphorus to the river, which, in turn, supports algae, insects and fish, the researchers said.

"Rotting animal flesh spikes the aquatic ecosystem with nutrients," study co-researcher Emma Rosi, an aquatic ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, an environmental research organization, said in a statement."But once carcasses disappear, bones  which make up nearly half of biomass inputs  continue to feed the river."

Moreover, these nutrients travel throughout the river basin, as they are either carried downstream by the river or taken inland by scavengers, the researchers found.

"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," lead researcher Amanda Subalusky, a postdoctoral associate at the Cary Institute, said in a statement.

Subalusky worked on the study as a graduate student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. The research was published online June 19 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Original article on Live Science.
Actress Carrie Fisher had a number of drugs in her system, including cocaine and MDMA, when she went into cardiac arrest before her death in December. But how do these drugs affect the heart?

Fisher experienced what appeared to be a cardiac arrest at the end of a long flight on Dec. 23. Toward the end of the flight, she vomited and then became unresponsive, according to a toxicology report released Monday (June 19). She was rushed to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, but suffered another cardiac arrest, which is when the heart suddenly stops beating. Fisher died on Dec. 27 at age 60.

According to the new report, Fisher tested positive for cocaine, methadone, alcohol and opiates when she arrived at the hospital. Further tests after her death revealed that she had likely consumed cocaine no earlier than 72 hours before her arrival at the hospital, according to the report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. These postmortem tests also suggested she had taken heroin and MDMA (also known as ecstasy), but doctors could not determine the dose or timing of the use of these drugs. [9 Weird Ways You Can Test Positive for Drugs]

Ultimately, the medical examiner said it was difficult to determine the role drugs played in Fisher's death. The cause of her death was listed as "sleep apnea and other underdetermined factors," and the report also noted other that she had other health conditions, including heart disease. The manner of death was undetermined, the report said.

Many drugs can have harmful effects on the heart, which could lead to problems such as an abnormal heart rate and even a heart attack, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

For example, cocaine, amphetamine and MDMA are stimulant drugs that affect the central nervous system and can lead to increased blood pressure, rapid heart rate and changes in body temperature, the AHA says.

In particular, cocaine use has been linked with a number of harmful cardiovascular effects. A 2012 study found that people who reported using cocaine at least once a month had higher blood pressure, stiffer arteries and thicker heart-muscle walls than people who didn't use the drug. All of these factors can lead to an increased risk of a heart attack, the researchers in that study said. In fact, the researchers called the addictive substance the "perfect heart attack drug." Cocaine can also increase the risk of heart rhythm problems and sudden cardiac arrest, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Combining cocaine with alcohol can be particularly dangerous, because the two substances react to form the chemical cocaethylene, which is particularly toxic to the heart, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Similar to cocaine, MDMA has been linked with heart attacks in some people. For example, in 2003, the American College of Emergency Physicians published a report describing the case of a 27-year-old man who had a heart attack after taking MDMA. Use of this drug of may also reduce the efficiency of the heart's pumping, according to NIDA.

In contrast to stimulant drugs, which increase heart rate, heroin can slow a person's breathing and heart rate, sometimes to dangerously low levels, according to NIDA. The risk of this happening is higher when a person takes too much of the drug (overdose) or when heroin is combined with other drugs, like alcohol, NIDA said.

People who inject heroin may also develop bacterial infections in the tissue lining the heart, as well as the heart values. These types of infections can be life-threatening, leading to heart failure, in which the heart is not able to pump enough blood for the body, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd, released a statement to People magazine connecting her mother's death to drug use. "My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life. She ultimately died of it," Lourd was quoted as saying. "She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases," Lourd said.

Fisher's brother, Todd Fisher, said that his sister's drug addiction and bipolar disorder "slowly but surely put her health in jeopardy over many, many years," according to the Los Angeles Times.

Original article on Live Science.
People realized the advantages of coins as currency at the beginning of the first millennium A.D.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Sometimes you run across a grimy, tattered dollar bill that seems like it's been around since the beginning of time. Assuredly it hasn't, but the history of human beings using cash currency does go back a long time  40,000 years.

Scientists have tracked exchange and trade through the archaeological record, starting in Upper Paleolithic when groups of hunters traded for the best flint weapons and other tools. First, people bartered, making direct deals between two parties of desirable objects.

Money came a bit later. Its form has evolved over the millennia  from natural objects to coins to paper to digital versions. But whatever the format, human beings have long used currency as a means of exchange, a method of payment, a standard of value, a store of wealth and a unit of account.

As an anthropologist who's made discoveries of ancient currency in the field, I'm interested in how money evolved in human civilization  and what these archaeological finds can tell us about trade and interaction between far-flung groups.

Why do people need currency?

There are many theories about the origin of money, in part because money has many functions: It facilitates exchange as a measure of value; it brings diverse societies together by enabling gift-giving and reciprocity; it perpetuates social hierarchies; and finally, it is a medium of state power. It's hard to accurately date interactions involving currency of various kinds, but evidence suggests they emerged from gift exchanges and debt repayments.

Objects that occurred rarely in nature and whose circulation could be efficiently controlled emerged as units of value for interactions and exchange. These included shells such as mother-of-pearl that were widely circulated in the Americas and cowry shells that were used in Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia. Native copper, meteorites or native iron, obsidian, amber, beads, copper, gold, silver and lead ingots have variously served as currency. People even used live animals such as cows until relatively recent times as a form of currency.

The Mesopotamian shekel  the first known form of currency  emerged nearly 5,000 years ago. The earliest known mints date to 650 and 600 B.C. in Asia Minor, where the elites of Lydia and Ionia used stamped silver and gold coins to pay armies.

The discovery of hordes of coins of lead, copper, silver and gold all over the globe suggests that coinage  especially in Europe, Asia and North Africa  was recognized as a medium of commodity money at the beginning of the first millennium A.D. The wide circulation of Roman, Islamic, Indian and Chinese coins points to premodern commerce (1250 B.C. - A.D. 1450).

Coinage as commodity money owes its success largely to its portability, durability, transportability and inherent value. Additionally, political leaders could control the production of coins  from mining, smelting, minting - as well as their circulation and use. Other forms of wealth and money, such as cows, successfully served pastoral societies, but weren't easy to transport  and of course were susceptible to ecological disasters.

Money soon became an instrument of political control. Taxes could be extracted to support the elite and armies could be raised. However, money could also act as a stabilizing force that fostered nonviolent exchanges of goods, information and services within and between groups.

Throughout history money has acted as a record, a memory of transactions and interactions. For instance, medieval Europeans widely used tally sticks as evidence for remembering debt.

Follow the money to see the trade routes

In the past, as today, no society was completely self-sustaining, and money allowed people to interact with other groups. People used different forms of currency to mobilize resources, reduce risks and create alliances and friendships in response to specific social and political conditions. The abundance and nearly universal evidence of movement of exotic goods over diverse regions inhabited by people who were independent of each other  from hunter-gatherers to pastoralists, to farmers and city dwellers  points to the significance of currency as a uniting principle. It's like a common language everyone could speak.

For example, Americans who lived in the Early Formative Period dating from 1450 to 500 B.C. used obsidian, mother-of-pearl shell, iron ore and two kinds of pottery as currency to trade across the Americas in one of the earliest examples of a successful global trade. The Maritime Silk Road trade, which occurred between A.D. 700 to 1450, connected Europeans, Asians and Africans in a global trade that was both transformational and foundational.

In my own excavation work in 2012, I recovered a 600-year-old Chinese Yongle Tongbao coin at the ancient Kenyan trade port Manda, in the Indian Ocean. Chinese coins were small disks of copper and silver with a hole in the center so they could be worn on a belt. This coin was issued by Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty. He was interested in political and trade missions to the lands beyond the South China Sea and sent Admiral Zheng He to explore those shores, nearly 80 years before Vasco da Gama reached India from Portugal.

Archaeological discoveries like this one illustrate Africa's integration into trade interactions in the Indian Ocean. They also show evidence that market economies based on cash money were developing at this time. On the East African coast, there were local merchants and kings of the local Swahili who followed Islam and cultivated these external contacts with other Indian Ocean traders. They wanted to facilitate business dealings, while merchants from the Near East and South Asia had their own Rolodexes of business contacts. Coinage was not just a local affair but also a way of leaving a calling card, a signature and a symbolic token of connections.

As the history of money has shown, currency's impact is double-edged: It enabled the movement of goods and services, migration and settlement amongst strangers. It brought wealth to some, while hastening the development of socioeconomic and other distinctions. The same patterns unfold today with the modern relationship between China and Africa, now more intertwined and unequal than when Admiral Zheng He first brought coins from China in a diplomatic gesture, as a symbolic extension of friendship across the distance separating the two.

In our time, possession of cash currency differentiates the rich from the poor, the developed from the developing, the global north from the emerging global south. Money is both personal and impersonal and global inequality today is linked to the formalization of money as a measure of societal well-being and sustainability. Even as currency continues to evolve in our digital age, its uses today would still be familiar to our ancient predecessors.

Chapurukha Kusimba, Professor of Anthropology, American University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
The data, which was collected by sensors on two Google Street View cars, could ultimately help everyone from policymakers to individuals make smarter choices about how to reduce pollution in a given city and increase awareness about how pollution varies in individual neighborhoods, the researchers said.

"The cars drove more than 15,000 miles [24,000 kilometers] in the study domain," said the studys lead author, Joshua Apte, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. "They collected the largest data set ever of air pollution collected by cars driving down the streets of a single city." [In Photos: World's Most Polluted Places]

With such sharp resolution, Apte and his colleagues could see hotspots of pollution, discern any dramatic changes over short distances and tease out specific locations that had consistently good or bad air quality over a long period of time.

The study was the result of a collaboration between the Environmental Defense Fund; Aclima, which develops environmental sensing systems; and Google. The goal was to map and measure pollutants that impact human health and the environment. The results were published online June 5 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology .

The new air pollution map was created for the city of Oakland, California. It offers the highest-resolution view to date of air quality on a block-by-block basis. (Image credit: University of Texas at Austin)

Typically, air pollution in urban areas is measured by stationary monitoring sites that are equipped with sensors and are sparsely located around a city. On average, there are one to four sites per 1 million people in an urban area, Apte said. In Oakland, just three stationary monitors capture air quality data for the 78-square-mile (202 square km) city.

The data from these sites is used primarily for regulatory compliance with the Clean Air Act, Apte said. But, it doesn't provide the high-resolution spatial patterns of air quality.

With the mobile method, Apte and his colleagues were able to get 100,000 times the resolution. They accomplished this with Aclima's mobile sensing platform using highly sensitive pollution instruments on the two cars, which drove down the same street an average of 30 times each and collected 3 million measurements of nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide and black carbon.

Some of the findings were expected, according to the researchers. Busy roads and industrial neighborhoods had higher levels of pollutants than quieter streets in mainly residential neighborhoods. But, a few findings stood out.

First, pollution can change greatly in a small area. There were many blocks where pollution varied by a factor of five or eight from one end of the block to the other, Apte said. There were also lots of hotspots  places less than 330 feet (100 meters) long  where the levels of pollution were substantially higher than what might have been expected. Last, the location of the hotspots stayed consistent over time, the researchers said.

With the map, the researchers could see hotspots of pollution, discern any dramatic changes over short distances and tease out specific locations that had consistently good or bad air quality over a long period of time. (Image credit: University of Texas at Austin)

Oakland is a city with industrial and residential zones comingled, which may account for the hotspots, but places like restaurants, car dealers, garages and even some homes showed up as hotspots time and time again, the study found. Until the creation of these new maps, those hotspots had been unknown.

"That's bad news and good news," Apte said.

The bad news is that pollution may be worse than scientists may have anticipated, he said. "The good news is that we may have more ways to reduce exposure to pollution than we might previously have thought," he added.

Apte said there is still a lot of data to sift through, and he expects to draw other conclusions from the pollution map. But, he said he would like to see these mobile monitoring techniques deployed in developing countries, where air pollution is a big problem, but where data is, practically speaking, nonexistent.

"We've just scratched the surface," he said.

Original article on Live Science.
Dried monitor lizard penises are being illegally traded as "Hatha Jodi," an Indian plant root used in religious ceremonies and thought to be a good-luck charm.

Poachers have been caught trying to illegally sell dried lizard penises online to unwitting customers looking to purchase a rare Indian root called "Hatha Jodi." The root looks like two praying hands and is thought to bring good luck.

Hatha Jodi is used in religious ceremonies and is marketed as a good-luck charm or as a way to ward off spirits. The rare plant root is found only in remote areas of Nepal and central India, according to researchers. A team of investigators and scientists from World Animal Protection, a London-based wildlife-advocacy group, discovered hundreds of desiccated monitor lizard penises that were part of the Hatha Jodi scam.

Monitor lizards are a protected species, and the Indian Wildlife Protection Act declares that any trade involving the lizard or its body parts is a national offense. The Bengal monitor lizard and the yellow monitor lizard are also protected under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). [The 9 Weirdest Animal Penises]

"This international illegal trade is of major concern for the continued survival of the lizard species involved," Aniruddha Mookerjee, lead investigator with World Animal Protection, said in a statement. "Even a quick search reveals hundreds of items on sale, sometimes at prices over 200 GBP [$250 USD] apiece. If left unchecked, this demand could grow to the extent that it pushes some wild populations over the edge."

After being illegally poached from the wild, the lizards would have their skulls smashed or throats slit before their penises were removed, researchers said. Some lizards could still be alive when the castration begins, according to World Animal Protection.

Investigation into the illegal trade determined that along with dried specimens from monitor lizards, plastic molds of the animal's genitalia were also being peddled as Hatha Jodi.

"Given the photos being advertised online, we needed to get into the laboratory to confirm our suspicions that these dried 'plant roots' were in fact derived from Indian monitor lizards," said David Megson, a collaborating scientist from Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom. "However, the plot thickened even further when tests revealed that some of these items are actually plastic moldings of monitor lizard genitalia."

The penises are being sold as Hatha Jodi on online retailers as varied as Amazon, eBay, Alibaba and Etsy, according to World Animal Protection. The organization said it is contacting all of the retailers to request they remove the illegal lizard body parts from their websites.

Original article on Live Science.
Based on detailed intelligence obtained by the Iranian opposition group, the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) from inside Iran  specifically reports obtained from the Defense Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)  Khamenei has tasked the IRGCs Aerospace Force with executing this mandate.

For a long time the Iranian opposition has established itself as one of the main sources for exposing secret aspects of Irans nuclear activities, as well as the regimes Weapons of Mass Destruction program.

There is a rising concern over Irans missile program. Wide ranging new sanctions were imposed on Iran by the US Senate last week, partly for continuing and expanding its ballistic missile program.

NCRI-US Deputy Director Alireza Jafarzadeh said, The IRGCs Aerospace Force is responsible for the regimes missiles program and the scope of the program is much more extensive than what it was previously perceived.

Locations of 42 centers involved in the production, testing and launching of missiles by the IRGC were verified by the Iranian opposition. A dozen of these sites were revealed for the first time, and 15 are part of the regimes missile manufacturing network. These 15 centers include several factories that are related to a missile industry group, which together form a web of missile production facilities.

Four of Irans most important missile centers in Semnan, Lar (in Fars Province), Khorramabad, and in the vicinity of Bidgeneh Village near Karaj city were identified by the MEK. Two of these centers are described by the regime as missile cities.

According to the MEK, the missile center in Semnan has been actively collaborating with SPND, the engineering unit for the nuclear weapons program inside the Iranian government, known as the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research. Tests related to the SPND organization are conducted at this site.

NCRIUS press conference on Iran missile program 20June2017

Watch this video on YouTube

The National Council of Resistance of Iran first revealed the existence of SPND (a Persian acronym) in July of 2011 in Washington, DC, and SPND was placed in the sanctions list three years later.

The NCRI said that the IRGCs missile sites are created based on North Korean models and blueprints, and North Korean experts helped IRGC leaders to build them.

Deputy Director Jafarzadeh stressed that the Iranian regime has remained in power by relying on two pillars: internal repression and external export of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, and that its illicit nuclear weapons program, with its continued expansion of ballistic missiles, serve these pillars.

He added that as the regime becomes more isolated domestically and its grip on Iranian society weakens, it resorts more frantically to the second pillar of its bid to keep power. He said that Iranian President Rouhani has neither the capacity nor the will to set aside its policy of ballistic missile expansion. Supreme Leader Khamenei has the final say, and he expressly stated on May 10, 2017, There is no difference between change of behavior and change of regime, and on May 23, 2017, President Rouhani emphasized that the missile activities will continue unabated.

Jafarzadeh noted that the Iranian people oppose the regimes nuclear and missile programs, and its interference in the region. He also spoke about the major gathering of Iranians in Paris on July 1st, where tens of thousands of Iranians and their international supporters, including hundreds of luminaries from all over the world, will declare their unequivocal opposition to the policies of exporting Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism, as well as the expansionist interventions in the region, and the nuclear and missile programs.

The July 1st #FreeIran rally is a referendum against the religious fascism ruling Iran and its warmongering policies in the region, as well as against its nuclear and missile programs. Jafarzadej said.

Finally, the conference underscored the need for:

1. The enactment and enforcement of effective and broad sanctions against Irans missile program and all related entities, institutions, and individuals.

2. Designation of the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) for its role as the force responsible for terrorism as well as the missile program.

3. Expulsion of the IRGC and its affiliated militias and proxies from the region, particularly from Syria and Iraq.
by Richard Whitman , Columnist, June 19, 2017

Well, it doesnt come as a total surprise, given the rave reviews she garnered after her unveiling earlier this year.

But it is amazing how a hunk of bronzebeautifully sculpted and well positioned no doubtcan take an ad festival by storm.

Which is exactly what McCanns Fearless Girl did on Monday, collecting three Grand Prixin the PR, Outdoor and Glass Categories. That last category was developed just a year or two ago and designed to recognize work that promotes gender equality.

The statue is more symbolof womens empowerment--than ad, positioned in New Yorks downtown and appearing to fearlessly confront the Financial Districts iconic charging bull statue.

OK, its advertising, too, as it was commissioned by McCann New York client State Street Global Advisors to promote a gender-diverse index fund that is filled with high-flying corporations, many of which are managed by women.

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Wendy Clark, CEO DDB North America, and this years president of the Cannes Glass Lions Jury, told those attending the awards ceremony Monday night that Fearless Girl was worthy of the accolades. In part, because she gripped the worlds attention, but perhaps more importantly, because the statue transcended both language and culture with the simplicity of its symbolism.

She added the statue spoke to every woman whos been on a journey of her own empowerment and leadership. And for every little girl out there, we saw the hope and potential that we hold for the next generation.

Yeah, Ill bet this Girl is not quite done raking in the Cannes hardware. Any takers?
by Sara Guaglione , June 20, 2017



Vice Media is taking on the meal kit world, following in the footsteps of other publishers, like The New York Times, by partnering with online meal kit company Chef'd.

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But Vice is offering a specific take on the meal kit business. Viewers can watch an episode from its food and culture vertical Munchies, click a buy button and have all the ingredients and recipes sent to their door. In effect, some of Munchies editorial content now comes with a buy button.

Chefd founder and CEO Kyle Ransford told Publishers Daily: You can order two meals in four clicks.

Munchies and Chefd are starting with a line of a la carte meal kits with recipes created by colorful Canadian chef Matty Matheson. Matheson is the host of "Dead Set on Life" on Viceland, the media company's cable TV network. Customers can also watch cooking tutorial videos on how to make the food, featuring Matheson, on the Munchies site.

Munchies currently sells five different meals developed by Matheson, from a pan-fried chicken dinner to trout amandine with green beans. Each kit comes with all the necessary ingredients and recipe instructions, which Vice described in a blog post as easy-as-hell.

Customers can also watch cooking tutorial videos featuring Matheson, who also hosts a "How To" cooking series on the Munchies site.

Ransford said he thinks this is the first cooking show that gives viewers the opportunity to order the food featured.

The meals, which are available on Chef'd's site, will set customers back about $20 for a two-person meal or up to $46 for a four-person meal. There is also a $10 delivery charge per order, though meals over $40 get free delivery.

Ransford said Chef'd's job is to give the audience of Munchies digital properties and other platforms the opportunity to not just look at the food and hear about it, but learn how to make it and get it sent to them.

We help bring the food experience to life," he added, which helps publishers connect at a deeper level with its audiences.

Munchies decides which recipes to feature, based on whats trending or most popular, and Chefd steps in to take on the logistics, including sourcing, packaging and shipping.

Ransford said meal kits are popular due to two main reasons: it is convenient, and economical.

To make a dish after seeing it on a cooking show, audiences have to go online, find the recipe, write down the ingredients, shop for them, come home and make the recipe, perhaps ending up with half a red cabbage or bottle of Marsala wine left to go to waste. Meal kits, on the other hand, deliver perfectly portioned ingredients to consumers' doorsteps.

Meal kits are convenient and cost less because I am buying just what I need, not buying family sizes. Grocery stores have super-sized everything, and it might be cheaper per ounce but not cheaper, Ransford said. He added Chef'd's prices are half to a third of what a consumer would actually pay for the ingredients.

Chefds meal kits do not come with a strict subscription plan, unlike some rival companies, which require consumers to pay up front and select three options out of seven every week, Ransford said. Instead, customers can order what they want when they want it, choosing from about 500 options on the site. And most importantly, he noted, consumers can reorder a meal if they liked it.

That doesnt exist at any other other meal kit out there, Ransford claims.

Chefd has various print and digital media partners, in addition to Munchies and The New York Times, including Good Housekeeping and Mens Health. Overall, they work with 120 different brands.

Meal kits have skyrocketed. Blue Apron, which has raised nearly $200 million in venture capital funding, filed paperwork to go public earlier this month. It more than doubled its revenues in 2016 to $795 million from a year earlier.

Separately, rumors that Vice Media is going public continue to circulate, but the most recent news is the media company has secured a $450 million private-equity investment from TPG. It is now reportedly valued at $5.7 billion.
by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, June 21, 2017

Forget cat videos and carefully staged vacation snapshots -- social medias real killer app is spreading propaganda, disinformation and fake news, according to a new study from the University of Oxfords Computational Propaganda Research Project.



The CPRP researchers examined the spread of news and opinion with covert support from governments or political parties on social media in nine countries, and found that social media is now a central pillar of the states efforts to shape and control public opinion at home and abroad.

The study analyzed usage patterns for seven big social media platforms in the U.S., China, Russia, Poland, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the Ukraine, and Taiwan, focusing on social media activity around major events including elections, political crises, and national security incidents. In every country they found evidence of "computational propaganda" efforts, defined as "the use of algorithms, automation, and human curation to purposefully distribute misleading information over social media networks."

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For example, in Russia the researchers discovered the conversation on Twitter is carefully managed by automated accounts: in fact, 45% of all Twitter activity in Russia is produced by bots, with many of them apparently under the control of government organs, while Twitter discussion in Poland is controlled by a small group of highly active right-wing and nationalist accounts powered by bots.

Similarly, in Brazil the researchers found that computational propaganda techniques were used to influence a number of major events in recent years, including the 2014 presidential election, the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff, and the municipal elections in Rio de Janeiro last year.

In addition to managing public opinion in their own countries, authoritarian regimes are also employing computational propaganda against other countries, the Oxford study found: Russia unleashed a social media disinformation campaign against Ukraine during Russian-supported uprisings in the Crimea and Ukraine, while the Chinese government has targeted political actors in Taiwan.

The same techniques work in democracies, notably during political campaigns, and are employed by all sides, although with different levels of success. After analyzing 17 million tweets in November 2016, the researchers determined that the botnet supporting Donald Trump was three times the size of the one supporting Hillary Clinton, with bots of all affiliations accounting for 10% of the sample activity.

Although automation plays a major role in the success of social media propaganda campaigns, the researchers conclude that the human element -- in the form of curation -- is still vital, with the best results produced by bots and trolls working together. By the same token, bots are also a force-multiplier for fringe groups or splinter movements: One person, or a small group of people, can use an army of political bots on Twitter to give the illusion of large scale consensus.

Of course, the effects of computational propaganda are not limited to the nine countries named in the study. Thus, the report notes that during the lead-up to the Brexit referendum in June 2016, less than 1% of Twitter accounts generated around a third of all messages, with hashtags supporting a vote to leave clearly predominating.
by Larissa Faw , June 21, 2017

CANNES, FRANCE -- With $8.4 billion in annual ad spend, the advertising industry pays attention when Unilever is unhappy. During the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Unilever's chief marketing and communications officer Keith Weed outlined the three concerns that "keep him up at night."

"If you don't have your ad viewed, you are dead, Weed told a Cannes audience on Wednesday.



He wants advertisers to "join up the dots in the digital industry." As Weed sees it, this ecosystem is corrupted. Some 60% of traffic online is bots. "We want to buy eyeballs of viewers not bots," says Weed. "If it is too good to be true, it probably is."

Whether it's ad fraud or ad safety, there are too many industry controversies. The problem, in his view, is that advertisers have tunnel vision and look at these issues independently. Instead, we should put consumers at the center and examine the whole ecosystem collectively.

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Unilever buys about 1 billion ads per day across all of its channels and doesn't hand media buying over to procurement. "We need to be steward of our brands," says Weed. "Every place our brand shows up has to have the same tone."

That type of control ensured Unilever didnt need to take ads off of YouTube after others fled the Google platform out of brand safety concerns. "We didn't see any brand safety issues," he says. Rather, Unilever is working with Google and YouTube "to get them into a better situation."

In his mind, brand suitability is a larger threat. Weed wants inventory to be better classified. If you buy ads to run across "news," for instance, now you may get the BBC or a channel affiliated with terrorists.

Weed wants to reexamine the industry's approach to viewability. Half of a pixel counts as a view in digital media.

"I wouldn't pay for half of a TV ad," says Weed. This doesn't pass the "common sense test." It is like buying Ben and not Jerry's, he jokes. In addition, big agencies are grading their own homework, which is why Unilever is pushing for third-party verification.

On the diversity front, Unilever is "unstereotyping" its advertising, Weed told his audience. Ads are 24% more progressive, thanks to shifts such as spots featuring men doing laundry and the transgender Indian group 6 Pack Band. Unilever has also teamed with a United Nations group to launch the Up Stereotype Alliance to further breakdown cultural silos.

Also keeping Weed up at night are creativity related questions.

"To break through the clutter and get noticed has never been so hard," says Weed. As a solution, Unilever is approaching brand stories differently by incorporating broader messages into its campaigns. Rather than list the product advantages, for instance, a Seventh Generation campaign features comedian Maya Rudolph singing a humorous jingle about chemicals in feminine products. People want to care about things rather than sell a product, Weed explains.

Unilever is also experimenting with Amazon's Alexa on voice messaging. "What does Hellmann's mayonnaise sound like?" he wonders.
by Wayne Friedman , June 21, 2017

OTT now has 51 million TV viewing households -- and 3.1 million of those have so-called skinny digital TV packages of networks, according to a comScore April survey.

In homes with those digital TV service bundles of networks -- from Sling TV, DirecTV Now, or PlayStation Vue -- viewing amounts to more than half (54%) of all OTT viewing time.

Netflix is next at 17%, followed by Hulu with 9%, YouTube at 7.1% and Amazon with 3.2%.

Some 40% of all TV homes get OTT services through set-top boxes (38 million homes), while 30% of TV homes have smart TV (28 million homes).

Roku has the greatest penetration of OTT set-top boxes in U.S. TV homes at 16%. Other stats are: Amazon Fire TV, 14%, Chromecast, 8%; and Apple TV, 6%. Looking at smart TVs, Samsung has a 33% share in the U.S. In WiFi homes, Vizio is at 30%; LG, 10%; Sony, 7%; Alcatel, 5%; Sharp, 5%; and Panasonic, 3%.

Total OTT homes were up to 51 million in April, from 44 million in October 2016.

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Nearly three-quarters of all OTT homes watch three or fewer services -- with Netflix the dominant channel at 74%.

Of those 26% of OTT homes that do not watch Netflix, YouTube gets the best results, at 31%, followed by Amazon prime video at 26%; Sling TV, 25%; HBO Go, 15%; and Hulu, 15%.

As with live TV viewing, OTT's greatest share comes in prime time -- with weekend viewing spiking to the highest levels, which includes binge watching.

The results come from measuring 12,500 homes and more than 150,000 devices in the U.S. Results are weighted to U.S. homes with WiFi -- 93 million homes. The research looked at 52 OTT services.
Wes Martin, who served as the senior anti-terrorism officer in Iraq from 2003 to 2004 and the senior operations officer for detention operations from 2005 to 2006, wrote an op-ed for Iran Focus in which he applauded the senior officials in the Trump administration for refocusing the attack onto the Iranian Regime.

In recent weeks, Donald Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Secretary of Defence James Mattis, among others have come out to criticise Iran as the number one states sponsor of terrorism in the world, as they did before the attacks.

Martin wrote: Having served as the Senior Antiterrorism Officer for all Coalition Forces in Iraq, I personally know the Iranian mullahs actively supported Al Qaeda for the sake of harassing and killing American troops.

He continued: It has also been widely reported that Tehran allowed traditional Al Qaeda cells to operate from inside the Islamic Republic, as well as sheltered several of Osama bin Ladens close relatives. Tehran will support terror under any self-described Islamic banner if it means causing trouble for progressive nations. It was only a matter of time before an Islamic terrorist organisation was going to bite the hand that has been feeding them.

It is worth noting that the Iranian Resistance forces have the same view of Iranian terrorism.

Maryam Rajavi, the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, released a statement which argued that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had welcomed the terrorist attack, as he could now play the victim in the eyes of the worlds media.

She wrote: [Khamenei] wholeheartedly welcomes [the terror attack] as an opportunity to overcome his regimes regional and international impasse and isolation [and allow Iran and its foreign representatives to] switch the place of the murderer and the victim and portray the central banker of terrorism as a victim.

Martin argues that lawmakers across the world must be careful not to fall for this deception, otherwise they may end up kowtowing to terrorists because they feel sorry for them.

He wrote: The Iranian presence in [the Middle East] is aimed at establishing a region-spanning Shiite caliphate much like the Sunni one ISIS had sought to create. The major difference between these entities is not sectarian, and it is certainly not that one is a victim of terrorism while the other is a perpetrator.

He continued: The major difference is that while ISIS is losing ground, Iran is on a path toward growth. It will continue unless the international community takes notice of the danger, tightens the economic restrictions on the regime, and puts its support behind the Iranian Resistance, which aspires to establish a truly democratic system in place of the regressive theocracy.

He encouraged world leaders to have the courage to address Iran as a terrorist supporter and endorse the Iranian Resistance, who are widely supported by the people of Iran, as the only legitimate option for Regime Change in Iran.
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Ghana's reigning artiste of the year, Joe Mettle, is gearing up for a live album recording for his latest work titled, 'God Of Miracles', at his Praiz Reloaded Concert on Sunday, June 25, 2017 at the Accra international Conference Centre (AICC).

The album which will feature some selected gospel artistes is expected to be released in October this year.

Barely two weeks after being crowned the Artiste of Excellence, West Africa, at the just-ended African Gospel Music and Media Awards in the UK, Joe Mettle is ready to record his next live album.

The live DVD recording will feature some gospel artistes, including Ohemaa Mercy, Ntokozo Mbambo, Akesse Brempong, Luigi Maclean, The Love Gift Band, among others.

Praiz Reloaded is in its sixth successful year running and attracts audiences from the West African sub-region, USA, Canada, UK and across the world.

The gospel sensation is expected to thrill patrons with a great time of worship and praise filled with miracles and testimonies of God's goodness.

All songs on the album have deeply-inspired lyrics and sits on a variety of local and contemporary grooves.

The Praiz Reloaded Concert is being sponsored by Vodafone.

Tickets are available at all Vodafone retail shops in Accra and Tema. Other sponsors include Unibank Ghana, JA Plant Pool, Dusk Capital, Jandel Limited, Yamaha and Holiday Inn.
The chairman of the Church of Pentecost Apostle Dr. Opoku Onyinah has criticized governments decision to sponsor Christian pilgrimage to Holy sites across the world.

The government through the ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has made public a decision to streamline Christian pilgrimage by sponsoring pilgrims to countries such as Israel and the Vatican City.

The announcement has been greeted with a backlash from a section of the public.

Speaking to Starr News at the 8th Congregation of Pentecost University College, Apostle Onyinah said the move amounts to a misplaced priority on the part of government.

According to him, the resources should rather be channeled into more beneficial ventures for the nation.

I dont think government should sponsor people to travel, Apostle Dr. Onyinah stated. Weve got so many things to do, the nation has so many challenges, the money of the nation should be used to develop the nation.

He added: If someone wants to travel for religious purpose the person should be asked to pay his own expenses, but if the government opens the opportunity for us and give us the formal way to make things for people I cherish that and I thank the government for that, but I dont support the idea that government should pay, sponsor those going out for religious purposes I dont buy that idea. The money should be used to develop the country.
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 prosecutor's 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.

From Joseph Annan, Cape Coast

Email; [email protected]
The Senior Minister, Hon. Yaw Osofo Marfo on Sunday called on all government appointees in the Central Region to be submissive, operate transparent administration and above all create cordial relationship with the people at the grassroots.

" Try to listen to the voices from the grassroot, sometimes they may have vital information than you as a Minister, Metropolitan, Municipal or District Chief Executive, MP or any office you are holding for the government. If you are able to establish good relationship with them, you would enjoy the fruit of your administration. I know the work as government appointee in any position is not easy, however you must strive hard to have ample time for the grassroot people especially party functionalist."

Hon. Yaw Osofo Marfo gave the advice at a Thanksgiving service organized by the Central Regional branch of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) led by the Regional Minister, Hon. Kwamina Duncan to thank God and the people in the region for election 2016 victory at Cape Coast.

He commended the people in the region for their massive support in the wake of the 2016 elections and subsequent victory which saw NPP winning 19 out of the 23 parliamentary seats with massive votes for Nana Addo.

The Senior Minister hoped appointees in the region would perform creditably to sustain confidence imposed in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo led NPP government.

Preaching on the Theme;Called To Lead, Called To Serve (Luke 22:24-27), Rev. Canon J. W. K De-Graft Johnson of Christ Church Anglican Cathedral at Cape Coast lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo for his self discipline he exhibited during the Supreme Court hearing on the 2012 general elections.

He noted that it was as a results of that hunimity that Ghanaians voted massively for him and the NPP to form the next government

" It was through this humanity that God granted the needed victory for Nana Addo and the NPP. I would like to call on appointees across the country to emulate the humanity of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo and his Vice, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawunia.

Know that the 2016 elections were won for Ghanaians and not NPP alone, so try your possible best to serve with humanity and not to Lord over them"

The Central Regional Minister, Hon. Kwamina Duncan in his welcome address said the service was organized to give glory to the Almighty God for giving the party resounding victory and to appreciate the positive contribution of the people in the region that saw total humiliation of the NDC.

Prayers were said for the Presidency, Ministers, government appointees and the peace of the nation.

Present were, the Deputy Central Regional Minister, Hon. Thomas Adjei Baffoe, Minister for Transport, Hon. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Deputy Minister for Education and Information, Hon. Barbara Asha Ayisi and Hon. George Andah respectively.

Others include the Central Regional Chairman of NPP, Mr. Robert Kutin, Members of Parliament, MMDCEs, NPP Council of Elders, regional and constituency executives and sympathizers of the NPP.

Later in an interview the DCEs for Gomoa East and Agona East, Hon. Benjamin Kojo Otoo and Hon. Dennis Armah Frempong pledged to implement fully programs and policies of the NPP government to eradicate poverty, create jobs and to improve the economic activities of the people in their various Districts.
Bamako (AFP) - Mali's former rebel alliance on Tuesday rejected a national reconciliation charter unveiled on the second anniversary of the signing a peace deal with the government, underscoring the country's fraying peace process.

Ex-rebels of the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) signed a peace deal on June 20, 2015 aimed at curbing separatist uprisings in Mali's north after a 2012 rebellion was hijacked by jihadists, throwing the nation into chaos.

A ceremony to hand the president the national reconciliation charter written by a committee of experts was boycotted by the CMA, which said none of its recommendations made in early April at a peace conference were taken into account.

The absence of its suggestions, it said, "consequently means there is no chance of reaching agreement, and even less for bringing peace and national reconciliation," according to a statement seen by AFP.

The charter and peace conference were supposed to advance a peace process which among other provisions aims to integrate one-time rebel commanders into positions of authority in the north, and operate "mixed patrols" of former rebel groups with the regular army.

Mali's mediator at the peace conference, Baba Hakib Haidara, maintained the document was "guided... by the conclusions of the national reconciliation conference, recognising the deep-rooted causes of the crises that have marked our country since independence," speaking at Tuesday's ceremony.

Mali's jihadists did not sign the peace deal and have continued to wreak havoc despite an ongoing French-led military intervention in 2013 to remove them.

In a sign of their growing confidence, an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance claimed responsibility Monday for an attack on a tourist resort near Mali's capital that left five people dead.

The head of the political opposition Soumaila Cisse said it had not been involved in the design of the document and could not comment on its contents, and the document has yet to be made public.
President Nana Akufo-Addo has paid a glowing tribute to outgoing United Kingdom High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, whose stay in the country ends this month.

He said, "it will be difficult to forget the controversial High Commissioner."

The President also sent a goodwill message to the UK through Mr Benjamin even as the country step up moves to exit the European Union (EU).

When he went to bid the President farewell at the Flagstaff House Tuesday, the outgoing High Commissioner said he is looking forward to a sustained mutually beneficial relationship between Ghana and UK even as he brings his eventful three-year stay as a diplomat to an end.

Mr Benjamin says he is happy not to have made the mistake of other diplomats who only stay in the national capitals of the countries where they serve.

The outspoken High Commissioner said he feels privileged to have travelled to the various tourist sites in Ghana during his three years service.

He has contributed to Ghanaian discourse, sometimes raising eyebrows about how he casually touches on some sensitive national issues.

In April this year, Mr Benjamin spoke to Joy News about his time in the country in which he said noted that some Ghanaians take some of what he described as British humour far too seriously.

During his time, Jon Benjamin gained a reputation for his tweets on issues publicly discussed. One of his favourite targets was the controversial founder of the International Godsway International Church, Bishop Daniel Obinim.

He took to Twitter to mock Obinim after he was charged with physical abuse contrary to the Domestic Violence Act (732). The Bishop stoked controversy after he said in the church he could change to animals and appear in people's dreams.

But looking back at his time in the country, Mr Benjamin said although he is aware of people accusing him of unnecessarily meddling in local issues, he does not "agree with that accusation."

He explained that traditional diplomacy is mostly veiled from the public hence the need for diplomats to interact with people on social media.

During his time, Jon Benjamin gained a reputation for his tweets on issues publicly discussed. One of his favourite targets was the controversial founder of the International Godsway International Church, Bishop Daniel Obinim.

He took to Twitter to mock Obinim after he was charged with physical abuse contrary to the Domestic Violence Act (732). The Bishop stoked controversy after he said in the church he could change to animals and appear in people's dreams.

But looking back at his time in the country, Mr Benjamin said although he is aware of people accusing him of unnecessarily meddling in local issues, he does not "agree with that accusation."

He explained that traditional diplomacy is mostly veiled from the public hence the need for diplomats to interact with people on social media.

Although he made no mention of the President, the joke was a familiar jab at President Mahama who had been mocked on social media for a spree of project commissioning weeks to the elections.

The UK High Commissioner, who has not shied away from commenting publicly on Ghanaian politics appeared to have joined in the social media jabs and mockery.

His propensity for humour was not lost in the tweet. But it appeared to have been lost on some Ghanaians on social media.

Many on social media reacted angrily to the tweet, believing it to subtly mock President John Mahama.

The anger appeared to have had a toll on the UK High Commissioner who deleted the tweet.

As he leaves Ghana, Mr Benjamin said he is leaving Ghana with great sadness but will hold the fondest of fond memories he has had during his stay.

He expects the bilateral relations between Ghana and the UK to continue for the mutual benefit of both countries.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - France and the United States reached agreement on Tuesday 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.

The UN Security Council is expected to vote 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 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.

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?

The deal came after 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 G5 force will have its headquarters in Mali, but will be under a separate command from the UN peacekeeping force MINUSMA, which has been deployed in the country since 2013.

It is also separate to but a complement for the work of 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 would instead request 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.

The next summit of G5 Sahel nations will be attended by French President Emmanuel Macron on July 2 in Bamako, where France will reaffirm its commitment to stamping out jihadists in the region.
Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Intense fighting in the Central African Republic killed at least 40 people Tuesday and injured dozens more, dashing hopes for stability in the strife-torn country the day after the signing of a ceasefire deal.

The violence in the central town of Bria was between members of Christian 'anti-balaka' militias and fighters formerly belonging to a coalition of Muslim-majority rebel groups called the Seleka, aid and security sources said.

The clashes erupted after the CAR government and rebel groups agreed to an immediate ceasefire Monday, a deal brokered by the Catholic community Sant'Egidio in five days of negotiations in Rome.

It was hailed as a precious chance to stabilise one of the world's most volatile and poorest countries.

Under the agreement, armed groups were granted political representation in exchange for an end to attacks and blockades.

However, intense shooting began in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with dozens taken to hospital suffering from bullet wounds, Mumuza Muhindo Musubaho, project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the CAR town of Bria, said in a statement.

As of 2100 GMT, 43 people were injured, according to the charity.

"We counted at least one dead and 20 wounded among our troops, who were taken care of by the NGOs", said 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, which had signed Monday's peace accord.

Catholic community Sant'Egidio sponsored a ceasefire agreement in Rome between Central African Republic militia groups

"We signed the agreement, but we have to defend ourselves, we can't allow an attack to happen without reacting," added Babanani.

"People are at home since (early Tuesday morning), shooting was still going on this morning, there is no activity going on today," said Father Gildas of the Catholic mission Saint-Louis de Bria, by telephone.

Sporadic fighting has continued since Saturday between Christian 'anti-balaka' militias and the FPRC after its leader Hamad Issa was killed in the town, according to several sources.

"We know that much remains to be done. It is vital that the ceasefire agreed to by the parties is carried out immediately," said UN special representative on CAR, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga.

Battling between armed groups in the Bria area from May 15 to 18 left five people dead, 29 wounded and more than 40,000 others displaced, according to the UN.

Clashes 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 UN's humanitarian coordination agency OCHA.
A ranking member on Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has faulted the Nigerian Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Kpotoun Idris, for his public revelations on the notorious Nigerian kidnapper.

Mr Ablakwa told Joy News Tuesday that he really would have wished that the Nigerian IGP did not put all the information as publicly as he did.

Chikwudubem Onwuamadike, the billionaire kidnapper, was arrested two weeks ago in Lagos state, Nigeria and was found to be a holder of Ghanaian passport.

The circumstances under which he came to obtain Ghanaian passport are unknown, however, Mr Idris revealed the kidnappers wife and five children are resident in Accra.

Commenting on the revelations, Mr Ablakwa said his hope is that Nigerian IGP shared this information with Ghana earlier, and was hopeful that other arrests have been made.

How we manage information is very critical, he stressed.

The North Tongu MP also wants the security agencies to move fast to seal loopholes that allowed Chikwudubem Onwuamadike to move stealthily in Ghana.

It is important that with adequate tracking the loopholes are quickly identified and closed so that other criminals, especially terrorists, would not exploit that and cause maximum damage, he suggested.

Photo: Ibrahim Kpotoun Idris

At the West Africa National Security Conference at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra, the Nigerian IGP called for bilateral intelligence sharing, revealing that the notorious kidnapper owns two houses in Accra.

Photo: Chikwudubem Onwuamadike

Chikwudubem Onwuamadike aka Evans is a big name in Nigeria for high-end kidnapping pull-offs.

According to the Nigerian IGP, Evans is an expensive hostage-taker who has at one time demanded $6m ransom for the release of his victim.

Read: $6m ransom-demanding Nigerian arrested with Ghanaian passport

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN
Los Angeles (AFP) - Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the most acclaimed performers of his generation, has announced he is retiring.

In a statement the 60-year-old star's spokeswoman, Leslee Dart, said he "will no longer be working as an actor," trade magazine Variety reported.

"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 ever won three best actor Oscars.

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 the lead role in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" (2013).

He also earned Oscar nods for "Gangs of New York" and "In the Name of the Father."

Away from the limelight

His last film is slated to hit theaters in December. The movie -- which saw the actor reunite with "There Will Be Blood" director Paul Thomas Anderson -- is about 1950s London, with Day-Lewis playing a fashion designer.

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, when he landed his first adult role.

His strong on-screen presence and remarkable range quickly set him apart, earning him praise from critics and audiences alike.

He was said to be so deeply invested in his roles that he would stay in character even when not shooting -- as was the case with "Gangs of New York," when he kept the New York accent and would be seen sharpening his knives at lunch.

He also reportedly listened to rapper Eminem to get into an angry mood for the role.

Apart from his Oscar performances, some of his most memorable other roles were in "My Beautiful Laundrette" (1985), "A Room With a View" (1985), "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1988) and "The Last of the Mohicans" (1992).

But despite his stardom the actor shied away from the limelight, remaining throughout his career notoriously reclusive. He took long stretches of time away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to be with his family in Ireland and to learn "rural skills."

During one such period in the late 1990s, while learning to be a cobbler in Florence, Italy, he was reportedly lured back to the US by producer Harvey Weinstein, director Martin Scorcese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio to take on the lead role in "Gangs of New York."

"I was very happily out of the world of filmmaking," Day-Lewis said at the time. "I was just happily working away at other things."

In a sign that acting would not be his lifelong passion, he told a magazine in 2005: "In every actor's life, there is a moment when they ask themselves, 'Is it really seemly for me to still be doing this?'"

The actor is married to Rebecca Miller -- the daughter of playwright Arthur Miller -- a US actress and writer with whom he has two children.

From 1989 to 1994 he had a tumultuous relationship with French actress Isabelle Adjani, with whom he has one son.
The cocoa regulators of the worlds two biggest producers are in talks with the African Development Bank over a $1.2 billion loan which will be used to increase output and mitigate against volatile prices, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Ivory Coast and Ghana want to build storage facilities for local processing and for the hoarding and release of stocks based on market demand, said the people, who asked not to be identified because theyre not authorised to speak about the matter.

The West African neighbours also want to pay farmers who need to replace old and diseased trees in order to boost output, the people said.

The initiative follows after Ivory Coast and Ghana said in May they will work together to derive more value from growing beans after a slump in prices hurt their finances and incomes for hundreds of thousands small-scale farmers. Cocoa futures in London fell last month to near the lowest in four years as a rebound in production is leaving the global market oversupplied.

Mariam Coulibaly Dagnogo, a spokeswoman for Ivory Coast regulator, Le Conseil du Cafe Cacao, didnt return a call seeking comment. Government spokesman Bruno Kone couldnt immediately comment when contacted by phone.

Noah Amenyah, a spokesman for Ghana Cocoa Board, declined to comment when contacted by phone. Ghana Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta and his deputy, Charles Adu Boahen, didnt answer calls or respond to text messages.

The African Development Banks Ghana country office declined to comment on emailed questions.
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has warned of an imminent security crisis unless political leaders in Africa and elsewhere in the world take the unemployment challenge seriously.

He said graduate unemployment, especially, could result in the overthrow of constitutionally elected governments unless steps are taken to resolve it.

Every year these universities and other tertiary institutions are putting out hundreds of thousands of students  qualified, very intelligent  and in the age of IT, they read and understand and see whatever is happening around the world.

If such resourceful youths will leave universities  and not counting their cousins who even have not gone in there, but who are all smart  and they cant hope for meaningful employment, then I tell you there is a measure of intolerance that even regular good governance may not be able to cope with, he said.

The former President made these remarks when the leadership of the International Democratic Union (IDU) paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Accra.

IDU is an international alliance of centre-right political parties.

Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, the Union comprises 71 full and associate members from 63 different countries.

The IDU provides a forum in which political parties holding similar beliefs can come together and exchange views on matters of policy and organisational interest.

President Kufuor also warned against global population growth.

The youth want aspirations and they cant get it where developments of economies are not keeping pace with population explosion, he said.

He said a lack of employment opportunities, coupled with a population explosion, could be a dangerous trigger of instability in any society.

When youve got such trained minds and healthy bodies not having hope around, then when you are not careful regular systems get undermined, he warned.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN
Cotonou (AFP) - Moves to sell off state assets by Benin's businessman-turned-president Patrice Talon are causing widespread anger, with critics accusing him of "uncontrolled privatisation".

The 59-year-old known as "the cotton king" was elected in March last year on a promise to kick-start the economy, which is largely based on farming.

But his liberal reforms have met opposition in the tiny West African nation, which borders giant neighbours Nigeria to the east and Niger to the north.

The latest dispute is the government's decision to hand over the running of the port in the country's economic hub, Cotonou, to a private company.

Talon's office said the move "aims at positioning the Port of Cotonou as a reference model in the sub-region, which entails modernisation work to guarantee better performance".

The presidency told AFP in an email that the private company will have to fulfil a remit under the supervision of the ministry of transport.

Free trade

The port in Cotonou is the main driver of Benin's economy and brings in some 80 percent of the country's tax revenue.

In recent years it has undergone several changes aimed at improving productivity, such as extending its wharves and installing modern cargo handling equipment.

But it struggles to compete with bigger ports such as Lagos in Nigeria, Abidjan in Ivory Coast or Cameroon's Douala, which have also modernised.

As a result, Cotonou has seen goods traffic fall from 10.5 million tonnes in 2014 to 8.7 million tonnes in 2016.

Benjamin Steck, a specialist in west African seaports, said Talon "embodies a new generation of African heads of state who share the concept of economic free trade".

That generation understands that multinationals such as the French group Bollore, which has interests in ports across francophone Africa, "has the capital, the worldwide networks and skills" to make infrastructure more competitive, said Steck.

Huge investment is needed for that but countries themselves do not have the capital, added Steck, from the university of Le Havre, in northern France.

Benin's presidency meanwhile maintains its ports scheme "is neither a privatisation nor a concession" but unions have voiced fears about their jobs.

Last week they staged a warning strike against what they called "hidden privatisation". Another protest is planned for Thursday to try to get the government to back down.

Conflict of interest

In the health sector, workers at the CNHU hospital in Cotonou staged a rally on June 8 against the risk of privatising the university medical centre.

Elsewhere, lawmakers and the opposition media have for months condemned the risk of conflict of interest with the head of state's former business activities.

The magazine Forbes Africa estimated Talon's fortune in 2015 at $400 million.

Talon has taken a number of decisions in the cotton industry which made him rich and which created tensions with his predecessor Thomas Boni Yayi.

Boni Yayi in 2012 even accused Talon of wanting to poison him, forcing him to flee the country for nearly three years until he was pardoned.

Since coming to power, Talon has lifted state interests in several factories run by the Society for the Development of Cotton (SODECO), of which he was the majority shareholder.

He has delegated management of its subsidiary to the private sector and wound up public companies such as SONATRA, which promoted cotton, and the ONASA national food security firm.

The aim now is "the withdrawal of the state from the productive sector", he announced at a cabinet meeting on November 30 last year.

Monopolise public assets

The FSP opposition and civil society grouping has called for protests in Cotonou on Thursday against what it says is "uncontrolled privatisation" and "arbitrary redundancies" that have left thousands of people unemployed.

They accuses the government of wanting to "monopolise public assets for its own profit".

Opposition figures also highlight the case of the import verification programme (PVI), which involves checks on the value of goods coming into Benin via the Cotonou port.

The firm Benin Control, where Talon headed the board of directors, was awarded the running of the scheme in 2011 but Boni Yayi stopped it when the pair fell out.

Shortly after Talon's election in 2016, the contract was resumed.

Talon, who makes few public statements, has rejected any suggestion of cronyism in rare press interviews.

He maintains he has stepped back from companies in which he was involved.
As the National Democratic Congress (NDC) works towards reconciliation, National Organiser of the party, Kofi Adams, has warned against verbal attacks against the partys founder, Jerry John Rawlings.

Mr Adams said former President Rawlings remains a huge tower  and the fountain of knowledge in the party and urged the rank and file of the party to see him as a key factor in efforts to reorganise the party.

I believe that those who have had verbal diarrhoea and gone on all kinds of attacks and talking anyhow [against Mr Rawlings]; such persons will have to be advised to cease or will not have to speak on behalf of the party...we are not going to tolerate such things, he said.

Kofi Adams made the remark on current affairs programme PM Express on the Joy News channel (Multi TV) Tuesday evening.

Kofi Adams

The current leadership of the main opposition party have been seeking to mend a broken relationship with the founder of the party, following scathing criticism he made against the party leadership before and during the 2016 general elections.

Former President Rawlings had, among other things, advocated for the current leaders of the party to be replaced, accusing them of lacking integrity.

His wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, could not stand what she has described as indiscipline and corruption in the party and has formed her own party, the National Democratic Party.

However, recommendations of a committee that was tasked to unravel the cause of NDC's defeat in the just ended general election have mentioned the need to make peace with the outspoken party founder as key.

The Kwesi Botchwey Committee report said the party's leadership must embark on a healing tour, an endeavour Kofi Adams has revealed Mr Rawlings will play a crucial part in.

Read: Kwesi Botchwey NDC C'ttee presents 455-page report; wants a healing tour

Kofi Adams explains that those who have attacked the partys founder have done so out of ignorance, adding many of them either dont understand where we have come from or need to realise that sometimes you need to go back and ask yourself what exactly he [Mr Rawlings] is saying.

This is someone [Rawlings] who will stand by you any day and any time insofar as you are not offending the truth, he touted Mr Rawlings.

Watch the full programme that discussed the Kwesi Botchwey report below.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | George Nyavor | [email protected]
The immediate past Communications and Information Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, yesterday issued a stern letter in which he took strong exception to comments attributed to Dr. Zubeiru, a member of the NDCs Kwesi Botchwey fact-finding committee.

The statement reads:-

Come again 3news.com and Dr Zuberu - I Did My Job Very Well as Communications Minister

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.

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 .

Signed

Edward Kofi Omane Boamah (Dr)

Yours-In-The-Service-of-Country-and-Party

Issued on Tuesday, 20th June, 2017

Meanwhile, as at the time of going to press, The Ghanaian Lens has it on good authority that an apologetic Dr. Zubeiru personally called Dr. Omane Boamah and rendered an unqualified apology to him for his unguarded comments.
That the RULE OF LAW exists in Ghana is fact that cannot be denied or refuted. It must therefore be given the chance to operate.

George Bernard Shaw, a lawyer by profession, has proved to Ghanaians to that effect and he deserves big praises instead of insults. I wish to congratulate him for being bold to defend the accused persons

According to Mr. Shaw, I have offered to defend free of charge the 60 people arrested in Denkyira-Oboase for allegedly lynching Major Maxwell Adam Mahama, Commander of a detachment of Military stationed in the area. 

In a country where there is rule of law, the Justice Ministry appoints counsel for a person accused of murder who is unable to pay for counsel of his choice.

A section of ignorant media have arrogated to themselves the power to condemn or insult Lawyer Shaw for offering to defend the alleged criminals from Denkyira-Oboase.

Did the ignorant media ask themselves how possible a Senior Military Officer goes out trotting at dawn unaccompanied in a strange land?

President Nana Akufo-Addo told the nation before and after 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections that under his administration, rule of law will take the centre stage in the country and this is a proof of it.

Under John Dramani Mahamas administration who would have dared come out to defend the culprits of Denkyira-Oboase? That lawyer would have been trailed and killed.

Montie Radio station alone would have tried Mr. Shaw, Defence Attorney, before the case even appears before a judge. The Judge would also have been bombarded with a lot of insults.

Ex-President Mahama had the audacity to release three guys from Montie Radio who were jailed four months by Ghanas Supreme Court after serving only one month. Montie Radio was one of the NDC and Mahama propaganda machineries.

Mahama was leading the country into a possible one party state. Ghanaians read into his actions hence they overwhelmingly voted him and his NDC out of office.
Nii Ako Sowah

21.06.2017 LISTEN

Over one thousand Ivorian Refugees are currently residing at the Fententaa Refugee Camp near Berekum in the Berekum Municipality of the Brong-Ahafo Region, Nii Ako Sowah, the Public Information Officer of the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), has told Space FM in Sunyani.

Speaking on the SPACE FM MORNING FLIGHT show on Tuesday to commemorate the WORLD REFUGEES DAY, which is celebrated on 20th of June every year, Mr. Ako Sowah said the Ivorian Refugees were integrated into the country in the year 2011 after the Ivorian political instability after the countrys presidential elections. He added that since 2011, the government of Ghana has been caring for the Ivorian refugees at Fententaa.

He said the government has worked assiduously in caring for them and also expressed his appreciations to UNHCR, Bishop of Catholic Dioceses and Catholic Secretariat, Berekum Municipal Assembly and other partners for their immense contributions towards the up keeping of the refugees at the Fententaa Camp.

Each year on June 20th, the United Nation Refugees Agency (UNHCR) and countless civic groups around the world host the WORLD REFUGEES DAY in order to draw the publics attention to the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict and persecution.

This year WORLD REFUGEES DAYis celebrated under the theme WITH REFUGEES.

In a related development, the Ghana Refugee Board (GRB) has said there is an increase in Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) among refugees living in the country. According to the board, SGBV cases rose from 17 in 2015 to 41 in 2016.

The Eligibility and Protection Officer of the Ghana Refugee Board, Doris Tagoe, made the revelation at a press conference in Accra, as part of activities to mark this year's International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict and World Refugee Day. GRB called on government and other stakeholders to help improve the lives of refugees in the country and the world at large.

According to statistics, there are some 11,865 refugees and some 1,371 asylum seekers, making it a total of 13,236, currently living in camp settlement across the country. Ms Tagoe noted that there is an increase in sexual and gender-based violence reported in all the refugee camps across the country.

She disclosed: In 2015, 17 SGBV incidents were reported among persons of concern even in the refugee camps located in the Western and Central regions in spite of numerous training sessions undertaken for all parties involved in prevention and response to SGBV... Out of the 17 incidents reported, seven incidents involved children survivors including cases of defilement. One case was successfully brought to court by the victim and her legal representative resulting in a guilty sentence for the perpetrator. Another case submitted to court could not be concluded as the alleged perpetrator absconded before trail.

In 2016, a higher number of SGBV cases were reported on all four camps. There were 27 cases for adults and 14 cases for victims under 18 years. This brings the total number of cases reported on all four camps to 41. The victims comprised 35 females and six males.

Ms Tagoe noted that although there has been some improvement in the rate of response on the part of government officials regarding SGBV cases, the redress process is slow and there are still challenges with legal representation and existing legal aid services.

On the whole, structures and procedures have been established in all the refugee camps to address SGBV incidence and support survivors to seek redress while perpetrators are reported and handed over to the security institutions for appropriate punishment, she added.
The appointee for the position of the administrator of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), Irene Naa Torshie Adoo, has proposed that the blanket formula for the disbursement of the fund be changed so that deprived districts will be allocated higher amounts of money to accelerate their development agenda.

She said that had become very imperative because of the government's policy of $1 million for each of the 275 constituencies, adding that some metropolitan and municipal assembles have as many as 10 constituencies and so would have more shares in the $1 million policy.

She explained that it would be disadvantageous to share the common fund equally amongst the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies since deprived districts would get less resources.

Naa Torshie made the proposal at her vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament.

According to the administrator-designate, assemblies with three or more constituencies should not have the same quantum of DACF as a very deprived district in the rural areas and that she would like the formula to be changed to favour the deprived districts.

The nominee also told the Committee that as part of her plans to sustain the disbursement of the fund on a timely basis and help support the new district assemblies, she would bring a proposal to parliament for consideration to allow her outfit to borrow from the banks and invest some and distribute some to the assemblies, especially the needy ones, to help sustain their development agenda.

She appealed to parliament to support her in making the DACF more proactive and responsive to the needs of Ghanaians.

Naa Torshie, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema West, also suggested to the assemblies, especially the deprived ones, to engage financial consultants to help them as to how to raise more revenue to complement the DAFC and help them realise their developmental objectives.

She said by so doing they could also easily embrace and support the new government's policy of 'one district, one factory.'

She also indicated to the Committee that she would use her influence as a former MP to lobby the house to put pressure on the executive to release the funds on time so that developments at the district levels are not stifled.

According to her, she would also constantly engage the Ministry of Finance and the Controller and Accountant-General to promptly release the fund so that the district assemblies could plan in advance for their development agenda.

She also disclosed that she would engage the district assemblies and encourage them to use the DAFC in ways that would bring maximum benefits to Ghanaians.

When she was asked by a member of the Committee, Alhassan Suhuyini Sayibu, about her background as lawyer and whether she has financial expertise to manage a finance entity like the DAFC, she said her duty as administrator is to prepare a formula to parliament  which has all the experts in the technical committees like the Finance Committee and the Local Government Committee  to scrutinize and make changes for approval before she would go ahead and disburse funds to the assemblies.

Mr Chairman, my duty will end when I also prepare a report on how the district assemblies used the DACF and present it back to parliament for its perusal, she told the Committee.

By Thomas Fosu Jnr


President Akufo-Addo has stated that Ghanaians would miss the outgoing British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, who arrived in the country in 2014.

The envoy never missed an opportunity to express his opinion on national and international issues, sometimes almost meddling in local politics which instantly shot him to fame as a controversial character.

He finally brought his three-year duty tour of the country to an end yesterday when he visited President Akufo-Addo at the Flagstaff House to bid farewell.

President Akufo-Addo said, It's going to be difficult to forget John Benjamin; perhaps even more so the beautiful Chilean wife. It's difficult to forget hershe is such an elegant partner of yours here in Ghana and we appreciate that also very much.

He said that Mr Benjamin, who is interested in the country's development, spoke on matters relevant to the people and helped in many ways to deepen discourse.

President Akufo-Addo lauded the outgoing British High Commissioner for his invaluable contributions to national development.

He touched on the British government's contribution to various sectors of the Ghanaian economy, especially in the areas of education.

Ghana-UK Relations

To that end, he indicated that government was observing with keen interest the outcome of the ongoing Brexit negotiations between the Britain and the European Union (EU) due to its consequence on Ghana's trade policies.

It is important for us because our economic relations are heavily centered there (Europe). So the way in which it will be configured is going to be of direct relevance for us. We hope the negotiations would go well, he said.

Britain took a decision to leave the EU in a referendum on June 23, 2016.

But former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, who led the initiative, announced his resignation on the day he lost the referendum.

His decision paved the way for former Home Secretary, Theresa May to take over.

Britain is expected to leave the Union completely in March 2019 if the country succeeds in the exit bid.

President Akufo-Addo said the divorce between the EU-Britain should be equitable, equable and amicable to allow both parties to walk away from the 'marriage' satisfied.

Mr. Benjamin said he was not happy to be leaving Ghana on the expiration of his duty tour of the country.

He said he had travelled extensively in the country and learnt a lot about Ghanaians and their culture.

It is an experience we will treasure, he said.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent
Geneva (AFP) - The UN voiced alarm Wednesday at the many Nigerian refugees returning from Cameroon to Banki, a border town clouded by Boko Haram violence and already struggling with overstretched supplies and services.

"I am extremely worried that large numbers of Nigerian refugees hosted in Cameroon are again returning to northeast Nigeria - into a situation dangerously unprepared to receive them," UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement.

The Nigerian military recaptured Banki in September 2015 after fierce battles with the Islamist militants, whose insurgency has killed at least 20,000 in Nigeria alone since 2009.

On June 1, UNHCR had said that more than 12,000 refugees had returned to the area in May alone, complaining about difficult conditions in the Minawao refugee camp on the Cameroonian side of the border, and insisting they needed to get home to harvest crops.

The UNHCR says more than 12,000 refugees have recently returned to Banki in northeastern Nigeria

They joined some 45,000 people who have fled into the town from elsewhere in Nigeria, adding to the problems caused by a lack of shelter, severe overcrowding, inadequate water supplies and sanitations facilities and insufficient aid.

And in the past three weeks, another 889 refugees, most of them children, have returned to Banki, the agency said Wednesday.

"It is my firm view that returns are not sustainable at this time," Grandi said, pointing out that the returning refugees had "put a strain on the few existing services."

And the situation could become even more difficult in Banki once the rains begin, bringing with them an elevated risk of the spread of diseases.

The Nigerian military recaptured Banki in September 2015 after fierce battles with Boko Haram insurgents

"A new emergency, just as the rainy season is starting, has to be avoided at all costs," Grandi said.

He said UNHCR was working hard to step up an information campagne in the Minawao camp "to ensure that refugees are given accurate information on the conditions in Banki before they make the choice to return."

UNHCR said it was also working to help improve the situation in the town and ensure that returnees are quickly screened and receive food and shelter and other basic support.
Paris, 21 JuneA new UNESCO policy paper shows that the global poverty rate could be more than halved if all adults completed secondary school. Yet, new data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) show persistently high out-of-school rates in many countries, making it likely that completion levels in education will remain well below that target for generations to come.

The paper, Reducing global poverty through universal primary and secondary education , is being released ahead of the UN High Level Political Forum (10-19 July), which will focus on poverty eradication in pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The paper demonstrates the importance of recognizing education as a core lever for ending poverty in all its forms, everywhere.

The new analysis on educations far-reaching benefits released today should be good news for all those working on the Sustainable Development Goal to eradicate poverty by 2030, said Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO. It shows that we have a concrete plan to ensure people no longer have to live on barely a few dollars a day, and that that plan has education at its heart.

The new analysis on educations impact on poverty by UNESCOs Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report team is based on the average effects of education on growth and poverty reduction in developing countries from 1965 to 2010. It shows that nearly 60 million people could escape poverty if all adults had just two more years of schooling. If all adults completed secondary education, 420 million could be lifted out of poverty, reducing the total number of poor people by more than half globally and by almost two-thirds in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Studies have shown that education has direct and indirect impacts on both economic growth and poverty. Education provides skills that boost employment opportunities and incomes while helping to protect people from socio-economic vulnerabilities. A more equitable expansion of education is likely to reduce inequality, lifting the poorest from the bottom of the ladder.

Despite educations potential, new UIS data show that there has been virtually no progress in reducing out-of-school rates in recent years. Globally, 9% of all children of primary school age are still denied their right to education, with rates reaching 16% and 37% for youth of lower and upper secondary ages, respectively. In total, 264 million children, adolescents and youth were out of school in 2015.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest out-of-school rates for all age groups: more than half (57%) of all youth between the ages of 15 and 17 are not in school, as are more than one-third (36%) of adolescents between 12 and 14 years and one-fifth (21%) of children between the ages of about 6 and 11. Six countries are home to more than one-third of all out-of-school children of primary age: Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sudan.

Of the 61 million children of primary school age currently out of school, 17 million will never to set foot in a classroom if current trends continue. This affects one in three children out of school in sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia and Northern Africa, and more than one in four of those in Central Asia and Southern Asia.

Girls in poor countries continue to face particularly steep barriers to education. According to UIS data, in low-income countries, more than 11 million girls of primary age are out of school, compared to almost 9 million boys. The good news is that the girls who do manage to start school tend to complete the primary cycle and pursue their studies at the secondary level.

Education must reach the poorest in order to maximize its benefits and reduce income inequality. Yet the GEM Report shows that children from the poorest 20% of families are eight times as likely to be out of school as children from the richest 20% in lower-middle-income countries. Those of primary and secondary school age in the poorest countries are nine times as likely to be out of school as those in the richest countries.

While calling on countries to improve the quality of education, the paper stresses the need to reduce the direct and indirect costs of education for families. New UIS data confirm that many households still have to bear expenses relating to education, totaling $87 per child for primary education in Ghana, $151 per child in Cote dIvoire and $680 in El Salvador.

Join in the conversation online @GEMReport @UNESCOStat/ #EdFightsPoverty

- The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the official source of data used to monitor SDG 4 and Education 2030 goals.

More about out-of-school children: the UNESCO eAtlas on Out-of-School Children has a series of interactive maps with global and national data:

English: http://tellmaps.com/uis/oosc/ French: http://tellmaps.com/uis/oosc/?lang=fr

- The Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report) is developed by an independent team and published by UNESCO. Educacion Mundial Blog

- Social media pack and infographics
The General Overseer of the Holy Hill Chapel Worldwide, Prophet Godwin Sarfo Annan, has waded into the controversy surrounding governments decision to sponsor Christian pilgrims to Israel to tour the major Holy sites.

The Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has publicised government's decision to streamline Christian pilgrimage by sponsoring pilgrims to countries such as Israel and the Vatican City.

The move has been greeted with a backlash from a section of the public.

In his reaction, Prophet Godwin said both Christians and Moslems do not need the government before they go on any pilgrimage.

We don't need the government of Ghana to either send Christians or Muslims on pilgrimages, they only steal state money to send their party folks and friends, he said in a statement to the press.

According to the general overseer, it costs GHC12,000 to go to Mecca or Israel and each year government sponsors over 3000 people to perform Hajj and now have Israel in the picture.

Prophet Godwin believes the monies going into pilgrimage sponsorship must be channeled into more beneficial ventures for the nation such as providing portable drinking water and toilet facilities for deprived communities.

He said religion is an individual affairs and government must not be sponsoring some individuals in faith matters.

How do you perform Hajj or go to Israel with state money. It cost GHc 12,000, to go to Mecca or Israel. Each year government alone sponsors over 3000 people to perform Hajj yet our communities lack toilet facilities and portable drinking water. Religion is an individual affair and must remain as such, he said.

Meanwhile, the founder and leader of the Glorious Word Power Ministry International, Rev. Isaac Owusu-Bempah who is also a committee member to oversee the planning and operations of Christian pilgrimage in the country has said that government will not fund their activities as purported.

According to him, interested persons will bare all cost whiles government will negotiate with the Israeli President for the Holy Journey.


The Omanhene of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsiah V, has charged the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Catherine Abelema Afeku to pursue domestic tourism through the development of new and existing tourism sites to enhance patronage.

He indicated that Ghana has numerous virgin tourism attractions that needed to be harnessed and developed to whip up interest in the local communities.

The paramount chief also stressed the need for the existing sites to be managed properly and resourced to generate income for the nation.

Nana Kobina Nketsiah stated this when the Tourism Minister paid a courtesy call on him at his palace at Essikado, near Sekondi yesterday.

The Tourism Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira in the Western Region, was in the area for a five day working visit during which she will visit some tourist sites and interact with the chiefs and people of the area.

Nana Kobina Nketsiah reiterated the need for Ghanaians to patronize made in Ghana meals and goods asserting that tourism had great potentials to become the leading foreign exchange earner for Ghana and a major source of employment.

If you do a good job I will support and applaud you as a daughter of our region but if you go wrong I will correct you, the chief told the minister.

The Tourism Minister thanked the Paramount chief for his warm reception and pledged to adhere to his advice.

From the chiefs palace, the Tourism Minister and her entourage held a meeting with members of the Hoteliers Association in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis.

She expressed the need for the hospitality industry to improve on its infrastructure and services to attract tourists.

She bemoaned the poor customer service offered at most of the hotels.

Why should a waiter or waitress move to a guest at a hotels restaurant and ask what do you want, she asked.

She encouraged the hospitality facilities that charge very high rates, to ensure that the services rendered correspond to the charges.

If you dont treat them well, the people will go and will never return , she stressed.

She therefore urged the hoteliers and those in the industry to attend a pending training programme which would be initiated by the ministry aimed at sharpening the skills of hotel workers in the region.

She also promised those in the hospitality business of government's offer of tax incentives as part of efforts to encourage the growth of the private sector.

From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi


The Supreme Court has quashed a decision of a High Court that granted Numoe Nmashie Family of Teshie, Accra, the power to retake lands belonging to a private individual.

The highest court said the High Court's judgement which the Numoe Nmashie Family was relying on to take lands belonging to Kwadwo Asante Boateng aka Kwadwo Baah is null and void.

Let the judgement of the High Court dated 3rd November, 2016 in suit number HR0111/2016, Numo Nmashie Family of Teshie etc vrs Land Commission be brought before this court for the purposes of being quashed, on an Order of Certiorari and the same is hereby quashed, the five-member panel presided over by incoming Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo held recently.

The Numo Nmashie Family initiated the action against the Lands Commission seeking an order for the commission to register all applications submitted by the family in respect of large tracts of lands in Accra including Mr. Boateng's by insisting that the commission had breached the Fundamental Human Rights of the family.

The High Court on November 3, 2016, granted the Order of Certiorari for the Numo Nmashie Family who in turn tried to enforce the court's order.

However, affected by the High Court's decision, Kwadwo Baah filed an ex-parte application at the Supreme Court with the High Court as the respondent and Numoe Nmashie Family and the Land Commission as the 1st and 2nd respondents respectively.

In his grounds for the application, Kwadwo Baah had argued that the judgement of the High Court was rendered in breach of what he called ausi alteram partem rule insisting that he was neither a party to the suit or was he heard in the matter.

In the Supreme Court's view, the decision of the High Court affects his (Kwadwo Baah) peaceful occupation of a piece of land in which he has an interest.

The court held that the applicant was able to refer to the provisions of the Rules of Court and also to Ex-parte: Tsatsu Tsikata, and added that there is no error on the face of the record.

The judgement rendered by the High Court Judge on 3rd November 2016 in the matter before was a judgement in default of appearance. It is clear on the face of the record before us that most of the claims by the plaintiff before the court were all matters that required proof, adding however, they were all granted, even though the judge did not try any of those claims on evidence.

The Supreme Court added: This was an error of law that is apparent on the face of the record, a ground for an Order of Certiorari.

It said additionally, judgement adversely affected the interest of the applicant according to his affidavit herein; consequently since he ought to have been heard.

Other justices of the panel were: Jones Dotse, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, Sule Gbadegbe and Gabriel Pwamang.

By William Yaw Owusu


The University Council of Central University has appointed Professor Bill Buenor Puplampu as Vice-Chancellor of the University for a five-year term.

The appointment took effect from June 1, 2017.

A statement signed by Reverend Tetteh Djangmah, Head of Public Relations Directorate of the University and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra said Prof Puplampu takes over from Professor Kwesi Yankah, who resigned early this year to take up appointment as a Minister of State in Charge of Tertiary Education.

The statement 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.

Prof Puplampu, until the 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, Prof Puplampu was the Head of Department of Organisation and Human Resource Management 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 Corporate Social Responsibility.

Prof Puplampu was a product of the Presbyterian Boys Secondary School, Legon, 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 Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Ghana.

He is also a graduate of the German Academic Exchange Service Deans' Course for Africa programme on Higher Education Management.

Central University currently has over 8000 students pursing 20 undergraduate and seven graduate programmes with campuses in Miotso, Mateheko and Kumasi. Central University became a fully-fledged university in January 2016 following the receipt of the Presidential Charter.
The Small and Medium Enterprises Ghana Awards (SMEGA) has empowered Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMSs) through its regional free training programme for businesses.

Through the 'SMEGA Interact' platform powered by Vodafone Ghana, SMEs are able to share knowledge while building their capacities.

The project has provided training to over five hundred and seventy Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through their Innovative enterprise.

Kwesi Ofori Jnr., Project Lead SME Ghana Awards, who disclosed this at the official launch of SMEGA'16, said the SMEGA Interact has already taken place in the Western and Ashanti Regions and would soon reach the Northern Region.

The 2016 SMEGA Awards is on the theme, 'Sustaining Ghana's SMEs in a Globally Competitive Market- Uncovering the Pillars of Profitable Growth in a Digitized Business World.'

He said SMEG believes in helping build the appropriate business structures in order to empower and sustain MSMEs to be globally competitive.

Papa Bartels, SPS at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, speaking on behalf of the sector minister, acknowledged the efforts of SMEGA in empowering SMEs in the country despite the numerous challenges they may face.

Indeed such awards do not only boost the image of receiving enterprises but also serves as a motivation to other enterprises to strive for higher achievements, he said.

He said the ministry was more than ready to strengthen the relationship with SMEGA to equip the SMESs.

Angela Mensah Poku, Vodafone Business Solutions Lead, encouraged SMEs in the country to take advantage of the platform that Vodafone Business Solutions offers to reach their numerous clients.

You have a market out there that is 10 times bigger and you are only limited by what you see, she said.

Ms. Mensah Poku also pledged the continuous support of Vodafone, the lead sponsor, to the event.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri & Abigail Owiredu-Boateng
Africa's largest airline group, Ethiopian Airlines, has announced that it has won the 2016 Airline Reliability Performance Award for the 6th year in a row from Bombardier Aerospace.

The Airline Reliability Performance Award recognizes operators of Bombardier CRJ Series regional jets and Q Series turboprops, who have achieved the highest rates of dispatch reliability.

Group CEO Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam, remarked: We are honoured to receive Bombardier's Airline Reliability Performance Award for the 6th consecutive year. In line with our continuous effort to provide our customers a seamless travel experience, Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft have enabled us offer the best on board experience on our regional and domestic routes. Moreover, through our strategic partnerships with ASKY Airlines in Togo and Malawian Airlines in Malawi, the Q400 airliner has played a vital role in availing convenient connections, as well as increasing frequencies to support air travel growth in Africa and successfully create a missing link.

I wish to thank our engineering team at Ethiopian MRO, Turbo Prop and Light A/C team, as well as the Bombardier Field Service representatives for this notable milestone.

Ethiopian flies the Q-400 to 20 domestic destinations and regional routes such as Djibouti, Mombasa, Kilimanjaro, Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar, Entebbe, Kigali, Juba, Khartoum and Hargeisa.

Ethiopian Airlines is multi award winning carrier and was recently been crowned as 'African Airline of the Year 2017 Award', 'Cargo Airline Award for Network Development in Brussels' in June and March respectively.
Director of Licensing at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority, Cheyuo Wienaa Musah has described as premature, public sentiments over the mandatory vehicle towing levy.

The Ministry of Transportation after series of stakeholder engagements on Monday, following persistent public disapproval of the policy, announced suspension of the implementation date until adequate consultations had been done.

The levy which was originally scheduled to take off July 1, 2017, was proposed as part of measures to reduce road carnage by towing off broken down vehicles left on roads.

The DVLA, which was to collect the revenue, was also to collaborate with Ghana Police Service are to ensure such disabled vehicles are cleared off the road.

Although Mr. Musah admitted on The Pulse on JoyNews channel on Multi TV Tuesday, that the proposed mode of implementation was problematic, he blamed the negative publicity for the suspension of the levy.

He said the public backlash the initiative received was largely due to misunderstanding of the concept rather than problems associated with the proposed mode implementation.

Im sad about the arguments people are making about this towing levy because they did not understand. The communication strategy was just [about] being rolled out and let people get to understand why this levy was going to be collected, he told host of the programme, Gifty Andoh Appiah.

The DVLA is facing challenges rolling out reforms including introduction of new driver license cards and making its services accessible online.

Despite their inability to provide timelines, Mr. Musah said the Authority remains optimistic and have already explored measures for data protection.

Click audio attached to listen to Mr. Musah speaking on The Pulse:
Reinforcing itself as the leader in environmental sustainability, Vivo Energy Ghana, the distributor and marketer of Shell products and services, has organised a clean-up and free health screening exercise for its host community in the Odododiodoo Constituency of the Greater Accra Region to commemorate the recent World Environment Day.

The exercise, dubbed 'Clean A Space, Save A Life', forms part of the oil marketing company's community investment initiatives, and it is held annually to commemorate World Environment Day. This year's event saw both Vivo Energy Ghana staff and residents of its host community, Atupkai, defying the heavy rainfall to sweep their community, streets, unclog the gutters, among other activities.

Sequel to the clean-up, Vivo Energy Ghana's health advisor together with health professionals from Total House Clinic screened over 150 community members for various health-related diseases, including blood pressure, heart rate and body mass index.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Managing Director of Vivo Energy Ghana, Ebenezer Faulkner, called on the community to ensure a clean environment to prevent the outbreak of diseases.

It is important for us to know that maintaining a clean environment is vital to our survival and Vivo Energy Ghana will provide the needed resources to clean its community of filth. To demonstrate our commitment, we are presenting 20 waste bins, 10 wheelbarrows, 10 shovels, 10 rakes, 10 Wellington boots, hand gloves and other items to our host community for regular communal labour, he said.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Odododiodoo Constituency, Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, who was represented by his constituency party chairman, encouraged the residents to be agents of change and active supporters of the environment.

If we want to be free from cholera, we need to keep our environment clean. I implore you to desist from dumping waste indiscriminately. Let us make good use of the materials provided and ensure that we clean our homes and desilt our gutters regularly. This will go a long way to stop the perennial flooding that we face during the raining season, he indicated.

The chief of Atupkai, Nii Tetteh Tsuru II, also expressed his gratitude to Vivo Energy for being consistent with the clean-up exercise and called for more support from the company in the area of education.

Vivo Energy Ghana is actively involved in community investment programmes where it operates. Among these are the donation of 100 writing desks to Accra Sempe Basic School, the donation of 3,000 environmentally-friendly cook stoves and solar lamps respectively to women and children in rural areas and road safety programmes for pupils, as well as commercial drivers.
21.06.2017 LISTEN

Over one thousand Ivorian Refugees are currently residing at the Fententaa Refugee Camp near Berekum in the Berekum Municipality of the Brong-Ahafo Region, Nii Ako Sowah, the Public Information Officer of the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), has told Space FM in Sunyani.

Speaking on the SPACE FM MORNING FLIGHT show on Tuesday to commemorate the WORLD REFUGEES DAY, which is celebrated on 20th of June every year, Mr. Ako Sowah said the Ivorian Refugees were integrated into the country in the year 2011 after the Ivorian political instability after the countrys presidential elections. He added that since 2011, the government of Ghana has been caring for the Ivorian refugees at Fententaa.

He said the government has worked assiduously in caring for them and also expressed his appreciations to UNHCR, Bishop of Catholic Dioceses and Catholic Secretariat, Berekum Municipal Assembly and other partners for their immense contributions towards the up keeping of the refugees at the Fententaa Camp.

Each year on June 20th, the United Nation Refugees Agency (UNHCR) and countless civic groups around the world host the WORLD REFUGEES DAY in order to draw the publics attention to the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict and persecution.

This year WORLD REFUGEES DAYis celebrated under the theme WITH REFUGEES.

In a related development, the Ghana Refugee Board (GRB) has said there is an increase in Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) among refugees living in the country. According to the board, SGBV cases rose from 17 in 2015 to 41 in 2016.

The Eligibility and Protection Officer of the Ghana Refugee Board, Doris Tagoe, made the revelation at a press conference in Accra, as part of activities to mark this year's International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict and World Refugee Day. GRB called on government and other stakeholders to help improve the lives of refugees in the country and the world at large.

According to statistics, there are some 11,865 refugees and some 1,371 asylum seekers, making it a total of 13,236, currently living in camp settlement across the country. Ms Tagoe noted that there is an increase in sexual and gender-based violence reported in all the refugee camps across the country.

She disclosed: In 2015, 17 SGBV incidents were reported among persons of concern even in the refugee camps located in the Western and Central regions in spite of numerous training sessions undertaken for all parties involved in prevention and response to SGBV... Out of the 17 incidents reported, seven incidents involved children survivors including cases of defilement. One case was successfully brought to court by the victim and her legal representative resulting in a guilty sentence for the perpetrator. Another case submitted to court could not be concluded as the alleged perpetrator absconded before trail.

In 2016, a higher number of SGBV cases were reported on all four camps. There were 27 cases for adults and 14 cases for victims under 18 years. This brings the total number of cases reported on all four camps to 41. The victims comprised 35 females and six males.

Ms Tagoe noted that although there has been some improvement in the rate of response on the part of government officials regarding SGBV cases, the redress process is slow and there are still challenges with legal representation and existing legal aid services.

On the whole, structures and procedures have been established in all the refugee camps to address SGBV incidence and support survivors to seek redress while perpetrators are reported and handed over to the security institutions for appropriate punishment, she added.
Abeiku Santanas Kaya Tours Limited has made it into the final list for the second edition of Ghanas most prestigious honour for startups and young entrepreneurs, Premium Bank Ghana Startup Awards 2017.

The African Network of Entrepreneurs (TANOE) and partners, unveiled this and KayaTours has been nominated for Arts & Tourism Startup of the Year with order tourist companies.

This years edition is designed to reward the works and contributions of startups, such as Ghanaian economy and also create a thriving community of startups collaborating and empowering the Startup Ecosystem.

Additionally, Kaya Tours was selected into the 2017 Ghana Startup Club 100, an annual listing of the top 100 most outstanding startup companies in Ghana. This offers a unique chance for startup and SME businesses to be recognized for their hard work, commitment and success.

Kaya Tours will be competing with Apag Studios, Auntie Oboshie, Globe Productions, KP Photography, Liezer - Legacy Productions, RAY Styles Studios, Rosak Consult, SarkCess Music, Swag of Africa, The Workspace Global in the same category for the award this year.

VOTING PROCESS

To vote Kaya Tours; please kindly click on the link and then type in Kaya Tours in the Arts & Tourism box www.ghanastartupawards.com/vote . This process was commenced on Monday 19th June to Monday 3rd July, 2017.

#NB: KPMG, the official statisticians for the Ghana Startup Awards, will be in charge of the voting process and will deliver the final results only at the Awards Ceremony.

AWARDS CEREMONY

This years award will be hosted at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra on Thursday July 13th, 2017 from 4:00pm.

To participate in the awards ceremony, you will have to acquire tickets on our ticketing platform egotickets.com/events/2017-ghana-startup-awards .

The Premium Bank Ghana Startup Awards is an initiative of The African Network of Entrepreneurs(TANOE) sponsored by Premium Bank and in partnership with The HelpStation, KPMG, iConceptsPR, Avance Media, Edel Consult, Kumasi Hive, HapaSpace, MEST, GhanaThink Foundation and TentMaker Ghana.
Former President Jerry John Rawlings has been challenged to name opportunists responsible for the National Democratic Congress' humiliating defeat at the 2016 polls.

A former vice-chairman of the opposition NDC Alhaji Sani Mohammed said Rawlings' monkey dey work and baboon dey chop comment is too vague.

Former President Rawlings addressing party supporters June 11 at Ashaiman in the Greater Accra region to mark the partys Silver Jubilee said that his party is full of monkey dey work and baboon dey chop.

The founder who is his party's biggest critic stressed, the values of probity and accountability have been abandoned to allow in greedy opportunists.

Few in the party take on the founder of late following the NDC's return to opposition. While his public stature appears to be on the rise, powerful elements in the party have grown quiet on the founder.

But take the path of resistance, Alhaji Sani Mohammed, said on Asempa FM's "Eko Si S3n" Tuesday, President Rawlings is too fond of making sweeping allegations and blanket attacks on the party he founded in 1992.

We cannot crucify our own people publicly and disgrace them all the time. He was addressing grown-ups and responsible people like himself and so he should know how to talk to us and not cross certain lines, he slammed.

He reminded Rawlings, many in the NDC have sacrificed for the party without reward or advantage which Rawlings may have enjoyed while President for 8 years.

They didnt get anything out of it and so if you stand somewhere to say monkey dey work, Baboon dey chop, then I will ask you who is the monkey and who is the baboon?"

"He should explain further because his children schooled abroad and he failed to show us the person who sponsored their education while some of us, our children couldnt complete school at Site O level; and then who is the Monkey and the Baboon? Who is working and who is chopping?.

Although the former NDC Vice-Chairman acknowledged some party excutives and government officials grew arrogant and abused their offices while in power, he stressed that not everyone in the party is corrupt as Rawlings' explosive commentary appears to suggest.

Alhaji Sani Mohammed explained Rawlings ought to bear part of the blame for the party's defeat because Ghanaians bought into his incessant rant that NDC is corrupt.

We are not even complaining why Nana Addo thanked you and your wife after winning the election. What did you do for him before he thanked you? This means you helped him politically; we dont do that, he charged.

He wants the former President to exercise restraint in his explosive 'boom' speeches.

Do you know too much complains amount to hatred? So the complains are enough and lets move forward, but if he continues to talk, I form a different opinion about him. He should leave NDC alone for us; the party doesnt belong to him, he jabbed.

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com
The Paramount Chief of Sankore Traditional Area Okogyeaman Appiah Kubi IV has called on the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Asunafo South Mr Osei Bonsu Senior to clamp down on bloody activities of the two main Political Parties, the New Patriotic Party(NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Asunafo South District.

The Paramount Chief insisted that, the activities of such groups were illegal, stressing that this is a wake up call to the security agencies to ward off any violence in the area.

At a familiarization tour of the newly sworn in DCE to share his vision and listen to the plights of the people, Okogyeaman Appiah Kubi IV stressed the need for the DCE who also doubles as the Chairman of DISEC to spare no one, who creates chaos in the District.

"No matter which political divide you come from, if you breach the law the Police must use the full rigours of the law at their disposal to deal with you", he stated.

He continued, " I am urging you to go further beyond speaking to the Political Party thugs and adopt more proactive force of Policing the District, " he submitted.

Furthermore, Okogyeaman Appiah Kubi IV called on the Traditional Council, Opinion Leaders and Local Council of Churches to ensure that Asunafo South remains peaceful.

The Paramount Chief also cautioned his sub-chiefs who have forced themselves into politics to desist from that or face enstoolment. Most of these people he said hide behind some power drunk Politicians for their selfish interest which ultimately contribute to the detriment of the general populace.

The 2016 NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Asunafo South, Mr George Yaw Boakye who accompanied the DCE and his entourage was worried and concerned about the recent use of violence and intimidation in our body politics and blamed Nananom for causing that.

According to him the glowing phenomenon of political violence has led to deaths and destruction of several properties and has become a major threat to our country's democracy.

He urged chiefs to demonstrate their strength and influences by dialoguing and engaging others based on ideas and authority vested in them rather than pampering individuals or groups to insult and attack innocent souls.

On his part the DCE for Asunafo South Mr Osei Bonsu Senior, condemn all forms of violence, coercion and intimidation tactics deployed by some individuals within the various political parties to usurp governance structures and authority in the name of politics.

He observed that politics is all about influence and called on other politicians to convince people to follow them and do their bidding through ideologies and internal political structure as enshrined in our constitution.

He announced that his administration will deal ruthlessly with any one whose action or inaction may cause trouble or disturb the peace that the District is currently enjoying.
21.06.2017 LISTEN

We the undernamed Members of the Executive Committee of the All- Africa Students Union (AASU) have acknowledged a leadership gap created by a Fractured Congress held in Khartoum, Sudan and have resolved to communicate to the general public the following:

1. That there was a Fractured Congress held in Khartoum, Sudan in December, 2016 which witnessed constitutional breaches and procedural errors.

2. That the Secretary General (Mr. Awaah Fred) unilaterally handed over power to Mr. Peter Kwasi Kodjie as the new Secretary General in the midst of contention, reservation and apprehension with the Fractured Congress from the Executive Committee of AASU and most member National Students Unions.

3. That the Executive Committee and most National Students Unions formally petitioned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana to investigate the Fractured Congress. The investigation begun on January 9th, 2017 with a meeting of the ministry and the feuding parties at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Ghana ( [email protected] ). The committee was made up of Directors from Legal, Africa and Finance Bureaus of the Ministry upon the directives of the sector Minister.

4. That while the executive committee respectfully awaits the reports of the committee, Mr. Peter Kwasi Kodjie has flouted the directive of the Ministry and continues to hold himself as Secretary General of AASU in the absence of the outcome of the investigative report.

5. That Government agencies, Diplomatic Corps, National organizations, International Organizations and the general public be cautioned NOT TO DO BUSINESS with Mr. Kodjie as AASU Secretary General of AASU. Any institution or individual doing so is at their own risks.

6. That the Executive Committee remains committed to the ongoing investigation being conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and hope the outcome is communicated expeditiously to allow the Union carries out its mandate.

Signed:

Awaah Fred

Secretary General (Ghana)

Cell# +233243101626

Mr. Richmond Orichos Neufville (Liberia)

Deputy Secretary General/ AASU

Cell # 0241805832

Mr. Edem Amou (Togo)

Secretary for Finance and Administration/ AASU

Cell# 0541887388

Mr. Rogers Gatete Sengoga (Rwanda)

Secretary for Press and Information/ AASU

Cell# +46728450235

Mr. Suffian Kamara (Sierra Leone)

Vice President/ AASU

West Africa Subregion

Cell # +23276706541

Mr. Armel Fangnon (Benin)

Regional Representative/ AASU

West Africa Subregion

Cell# +8615927168127

Mr. Isaac Semanyi Ssosi (Uganda)

Vice President/AASU

East Africa

Cell: +256704566686

Ms. Tsaone Mokwatso (Botswana)

Regional Representative

Southern Africa Region
21.06.2017 LISTEN

A lecturer at the Valley View University, Mr. Twum Boafo has adviced the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to come together instead of pointing accusing fingers.

He was reacting to the Kwasi Botwe committee report's recommendations on Ahotor 92.3fm on Wednesday 21st June 2017.

He believes the Kwesi Botchwey committee has done a good work by moving to party faithfuls in the constituencies to come out with such recommendations.

The committee among other things recommended:

1.That the party puts together a group of credible and eminent members of our party to undertake a peacebuilding and healing of the country.

2. That the party takes steps to restore the integrity of the biometric register and the expanded electoral college.

3. We recommend that steps be taken to restore the capacity and effectiveness of the party's organs especially at the branch level where we believe these organs are the most critical because they are the party's immediate connection to the people, we are after all a truly mass party.

4. We also have recommendations on ways we can and must improve the collation of election results.

5. We also believe that steps ought to be taken by the party to reconnect itself properly to our social democratic roots and the principal actors in these social democratic roots.

6. We recommend that steps ought to be taken to strengthen research and intelligence in the party. This should involve crowding in a larger body of the party's intellectual base which has not been particularly active in the past, this will help to support the party's research capacity.

7. There are recommendations that the party will scale-up and re-invigorate its work in the area of youth organisation.

8. The organisation of women, we note that significant changes have taken place in the country's demographic profile and that the party ought to take notice of this and all the implications of these changes.

Mr. Boafo, added that all registered members are needed in the NDC especially at this time when they are in opposition.

Twum Boafo, believes much attention was not given to the local and constituency base of the party and that caused their defeat.

He also holds the view that most members in the Volta region didn't turn up to vote out of apathy and resentments, this was also a cause of NDC's defeat.

He is calling on the party to unite with the founder, H. E Jerry Rawlings since he holds a great force in the party and is a asset.

He concluded by saying that if the recommendations made by the committee is followed to the later, it will go a long way in ensuring the NDC wins the 2020 elections.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Wednesday that paves the way for the deployment of a five-nation African military force to fight jihadists in the Sahel region.

A French-drafted resolution won the full support of the 15-member council after France and the United States reached agreement on the measure, which welcomes the deployment but does not grant full UN authorization to the 5,000-strong force.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- which make up the so-called G5 -- agreed in March to set up the special joint counterterrorism operation and the African Union had sought UN backing for the force.

The United States had opposed UN authorization, arguing that it was not legally necessary because the troops will be operating on the territory of the five countries, and argued that the mandate was too broad.

After two weeks of negotiations, France dropped the request for formal UN authorization and for a special UN report on financing for the force.

The 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.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre highlighted the unanimous vote at the council, calling it proof of "maximum political support" for the G5 force.

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 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.

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.
Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's top court on Wednesday suspended all previous rulings on whether Cairo can transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, as it considers who has legal jurisdiction.

In the latest twist in a long legal saga, a spokesman for the Constitutional Court said its chief judge had "issued a temporary order to halt the implementation of all rulings that were issued over the Tiran and Sanafir accord".

The spokesman, Ragab Selim, told AFP the suspension would last until the court could determine which of the legal rulings in the case "will be implemented and which was issued by the institution with jurisdiction".

He would not say how long it might take for the court to make a decision.

The deal to hand over the Red Sea islands of Tiran (foreground) and Sanafir (background) to Saudi Arabia sparked rare street protests across Egypt

Egypt's parliament approved the transfer of the islands to Saudi Arabia on June 14 despite significant public opposition.

The deal sparked rare street protests after it was signed last year, with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi accused of having sold the islands to Saudi Arabia.

A lower court had ruled that the transfer would be illegal, a decision that was upheld by Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court but declared invalid by another judicial body, the Court for Urgent Matters.

Sisi on Tuesday again stressed "the need to return rights to owners" when it comes to the two islands, which Cairo says belong to Saudi Arabia and were leased to Egypt in the 1950s.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (left) sparked protests when he handed over two islands to Riyadh after trade talks with Saudi King Salman in April 2016

During an event marking iftar, the daily breaking of the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Sisi "affirmed that nations are governed by constitutions and laws and legitimate rights, not whims or emotions," the presidency said in a statement.

Lying at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, the islands can be used to control access to the Israeli port of Eilat.

They were captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war before being returned to Egypt under the 1979 Camp David Accords.
Kumasi, June 21, GNA - The government has been asked to take steps to put to optimal use the huge clay deposits found in the Adansi North District and other parts of the country.

Mr. Kwadwo Ofori Tweneboah, a Policy Analyst, said the nation must take advantage of the resource to build more durable and affordable houses to reduce its 1.7 million housing deficit.

Making the call through the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, he said clay could be molded and heated in the kiln into hard-burnt bricks for building construction and must not be left unexploited

He asked that everything was done to aggressively promote investment in clay production, saying, the economic benefits would be enormous.

Mr. Tweneboah said clay production held tremendous economic potential for the nation, pointing out that, apart from using it as building material, it was also vital for ceramics-making, processed into pottery and other products.

There is the added advantage of processing it into glass products, given the high concentration of glass in the resource.

He said it should not be lost on anybody that developing the clay production industry would create job opportunities, create wealth for the people and grow the economy.

Mr. Tweneboah said it was an important sector that should engage priority attention under the government's one district, one factory policy.

GNA

By Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA
Lagos (AFP) - Impoverished fishing communities in Nigeria's financial capital, Lagos, celebrated a court ruling on Wednesday that said government demolitions of their homes were illegal.

Residents went to court in October to protest the Lagos state government's plan to demolish their waterfront communities on the pretext of cutting crime in the megacity.

The government went ahead with the demolitions in a series of raids across the city that saw security agents bulldoze homes to the ground and in April shoot people with live ammunition.

Judge Adeniyi Onigbanjo, sitting at the Lagos State High Court, on Wednesday ruled that the demolitions were unconstitutional and violated the residents' rights.

He ordered the state government to hold consultations with the communities before any further evictions and provide compensation for the destruction of their property.

"We are mostly relieved, finally we have a decision," the residents' lawyer Omotayo Enujiugha told AFP outside court, where over 100 community members had gathered for the verdict.

"We really appreciate the fact that at the end of the day the judge ruled that rights were violated," he added.

The case has cast a spotlight on how Nigeria is wrestling with rapid urbanisation and population growth in its major cities such as Lagos, which is home to 20 million people.

It is also being seen as a test of Nigeria's graft-plagued judiciary, which has a reputation for siding with the wealthy and famous.

The residents have been given legal support from the non-profit group Justice and Empowerment Initiatives.

Its co-director Megan Chapman said: "It (the court) found that any demolition or eviction without adequate notice and provision of adequate shelter or resettlement to another location is unconstitutional.

"They ordered that the government must enter into consultation with the residents if they intend on carrying out any further evictions.

"The court gave a clear court order that no further evictions are allowed until that consultation process continues."

While the residents acknowledged the Lagos government may still try to go ahead with demolitions in the future, they said they were relieved the court had ruled in their favour.

"I'm very grateful. The fear of our people was that the whole community would be torn down," said Oladipupo Aireomiye, a 38-year-old living in Ebute Ilaje, a community that was handed its eviction notice earlier this year.

"The judgment gives us hope. At least for now we can sleep with our eyes closed."
At least three people suspected to be Togolese have been arrested for engaging in illegal mining at Keniago Essienkyem in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region.

The men were apprehended during an operation by a joint team of police from the Manso Nkwanta district, SWAT and governments anti-galamsey taskforce.

The three men allegedly tried to bribe the security personnel with the sum of GHS1,300 to let them off the hook but they were not released.

Also a total of nine rafts and 12 chanfan machines were destroyed by the anti-galamsey taskforce during the operation.

Manso Nkwanta District Chief Executive, William Bediako Asante who led the operation, told the media the exercise was part of a sustained effort to combat galamsey in the area in consonance with the government's policy of ending unregulated and dangerous illegal mining in the country.

He noted no Ghanaian or foreigner will be allowed to frustrate efforts by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to safeguard the water bodies and environment.

Manso Nkwanta District Chief Executive, William Bediako Asante

Mr Bediako Asante said the three would be arraigned before the court in the Region and their bribe would be tendered in as an exhibit.

He implored chiefs and residents to desist from harbouring miscreants in the community.

The DCE was emphatic anyone found to connive with locals or foreigners to engage in illegal mining will be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the laws of Ghana.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com |
The Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) has dismissed governments claim that the council is in support of its decision to facilitate Christian pilgrimage to Israel and the Vatican.

In an interview Wednesday on Morning Starr the deputy Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Paul Essien hinted of the Christian Councils support of the move.

He told Morning Starr host Francis Abban that there was a meeting between the ministry and the Council and all the other Christian bodies regarding the initiative and that they all agreed the ministry should facilitate the trip for Christians who wish to embark on the religious trip.

But in a sharp rebuttal on the same show, the General Secretary of the Council, Rev Dr. Opuni Frimpong dismissed the deputy Ministers claim.

According to him, the Minister Kofi Dzamesi raised the issue of facilitating Christian pilgrimage at a closed-door meeting with the Council, but they rejected the idea.

It is true that the Minister paid us a visit in a closed-door meeting. It is true that in the meeting he raised that issue. I dont remember but I wouldnt want to discuss details of that meeting but we have never made any commitment that we will participate in that. As at now we are not part of that, he told Francis Abban.

He said the Councils rejection of the initiative was as a result of deep reflection they had as a body on similar offer made to them by the former administration under the NDC.

Whatever the new administration is offering us, as we will not accept the offer from the former administration under NDC, we cannot be part of the same offer coming from the new administration of the NPP, he noted.

The move to send over 200 persons to the Holy cities has been met with fierce rejection by majority of the public.

Religious expert Dr. Ben Willie-Golo condemned the decision as reckless Wednesday, arguing government has no business in organizing trip for Christian pilgrims and it should be an individual choice and not a state sponsored decision.

I think this isjust a kind of reckless talk. For me I heard it over the radio and I thought look, excuse me to use the word bunkum. It is a reckless talk. I mean it is unnecessary, he stated on Morning Starr.
The Institute of Economic Affairs has expressed grave concern over the appointment powers given to the President per the constitution of Ghana.

According to the institute, such powers hinder national cohesion.

A Research Fellow at the Governance Unit of the IEA, Prof Ransford Gyampo, made these remarks at a forum organised by the institute on the theme: Winner-Takes-All Politics in Ghana: The Case for a Review of the Appointing Powers of the President.

He said: The practice of appointing Chief Directors by the president to head public service must be halted as it compromises the efficiency and the neutrality of the public service.

He explained that the practice undermined the role of the public service as an administrative machinery of the state and makes it easy for politicians to manipulate people in these institutions.

He advocated a strong technocratic public service with competent people that can manage the affairs of the country in the absence of an elected government.

He was not enthused about the practice where anytime there was a change in government one set of public servants is replaced by party foot soldiers.

He emphasised the need for objectivity in the public sector, even though individuals are still entitled to vote during elections.

We have destroyed our public service and civil service because we are always looking at appointing Chief Directors and this politicises thearrangement, he added.

He said in other countries the public sector is staffed by career officials, citing an example using Italy which he said can run efficiently for about three months without ministers or a president.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says government is on course with programmes to improve on the living standards of Ghanaians.

He said despite being in office for barely five months, his government has taken concrete actions to fulfill promises made during the 2016 election campaigns.

At a lunch with Executives of both the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and International Democratic Union (IDU) executives at the Flagstaff House Wednesday, the President said the economy is improving because of his governments many interventions.

He cited some ambitious programmes such as governments one district one factory, planting for food and jobs and free senior high school which he said, will transform the country when fully implemented.

The IDU is an association of over 80 Conservative, Christian Democratic and like-minded political parties with centre and centre-right leanings.

The group founded in 1983, provides a platform for parties with similar political beliefs to exchange views on matters bordering on democracy and policy.

The NPP is one of the few parties in sub-Saharan Africa who are members of the IDU and this explains the groups decision to hold its Executive meeting in Ghana.

The President who had attended IDU meetings on three occasions as the leader of the NPP, charged the executives to hold fast to beliefs of the group.

President Akufo-Addo said the war to build a better world by strengthening democracy and improving the living standard of citizens cannot be lost.

He said it was for these reasons, Ghanaians voted for his modest self and the NPP to form then next government in 2016.

They voted for us to fix the economy and put our country on the part of progress, he said, adding the citizens bought into his governments ambitious programmes.

The President said the programmes are hinged on restructuring state institutions, modernizing agriculture, rationalizing the financial sector and reducing cost of borrowing.

He expressed confidence that the needs of Ghanaians will be met following the successful implementation of the programmes.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com |
The increasing public anxiety for government to publish findings and recommendations of June 3rd Fire Disaster committee and update Ghanaians on commitment and implementation progress showed the magnitude of irreparable damage caused to families and businesses in the country.

Naturally, mankind hardly glorify government services rendered to society due to the cumulative expectations from sweet political announcement and directives especially the June 3rd disaster  in Accra.

Government Committee on June 3rd fire disaster was inaugurated on June 16th to find possible causes of disaster, damages cost and make recommendations and the scheduled June 30, 2015 report submission was delayed by 3 weeks (August 7, 2015).

The Committee members were from both Ministry of Defence and Interior (Colonel M. Mustapha, Chief Supt. Raymond Simpi, Deputy Chief Fire Officer William J. Mensah) as well as Engineer Ametefe Wise a hydrologist and drainage consultant and chairman of NADMO Hydromet with the retired Appeal Court Judge, Justice Isaac Douse as Chairman of the Committee.

According to the committee report submitted to government, the overflow of Odaw river coupled with the Korle Lagoon interceptor blockage and the rainfall runoff caused the flooding, while the displacement of fuel from the Goil fuel station tanker into the flood and immediate dropping of lit cigarette stub by one Seth Kwasi Ofosu onto the floating fuel caused the fire, making population at risk more vulnerable for consumption by that fire disaster.

The report again costed damaged to properties (17 motor vehicles, 1 fuel station, 1 mini mart, 1 pharmacy and a restaurant) to be GH1,568,847.00 and observed non-insurance of properties and non-compliance to disaster risk reduction measures such as early warning signals.

In fact, prior to the committee recommendations, the then government intervene with GH60 million cash package, and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection Emergency Programme distributed GH3.9 million to victims and registered 13,000 households in the Zone who could not seek healthcare because they lost their National Health Insurance cards whiles NADMO distributed relief items to victims after medical bills were footed by the state.

Notwithstanding these government ad-hoc measures, unauthorized building structures were demolished in Accra while the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development directed all 216 Assemblies to demolish all unauthorized structures in their jurisdiction and intensifying the then National Sanitation Day Programme beyond Regional and District levels.

The question of whether government is committed to the implementation of the recommendations of the committee is the matter of actions then words.

For instance, adequate tooling of disaster managers was top among the committee recommendations for government implementation.

This led to the passage of the new NADMO Act ( ACT 927 of 2016) into law to cater for the mirage of findings in the committee report.

The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is the mandatory organisation in-charge of Disaster and Emergency management in the country which was established from the United Nation General Assembly Resolution 2034 (1965) and 49/22 (1994) respectively after the declaration of the 1990 -1999 as International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.

Ghana Disaster Management Cycle of Pre-Disaster Phase(prevention, mitigation preparedness plan), Disaster/Emergency Phase (search and rescue and relief operations) and post-disaster Phase (rehabilitation, resettlement, recovery and reconstruction) was adopted from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to reduce disasters impact on the Ghanaian society.

Sadly, during the June 3rd disaster, NADMO was lacking the legal power to demolish unauthorized building structures, technical capacity of equipments/tools and capital project funding respectively.

Despite the resurrection of demolished unauthorized structures a week after the disaster, (8th June, 2015) in Accra, government upon realizing the recommendations for provision of requisite tools and equipments for disaster managers in the country has granted NADMO the Power of Authority to demolish any premises or structure that posed danger or in hazardous location after Certified Planner assessment confirmation and carry out stimulations and rehearsals to mitigate hazardous situations.

Government also established the maiden governing board for NADMO and staff are now appointed under article 195 of 1992 Constitution.

The committee recommendation for licensing of fuel dispensers Attendants after certification from standardized training has also been established.

For example, under section 46 of Act 297 (2016) and the law required Chief Directors or Chief Executives of MDAs ( ministries, agencies and departments) and Private institutions officers concern to conduct annual stimulations after their respective Disaster Management Plans are submitted to NADMO for review 30 days after parliament approved the national budget.

Again, private and public building structures including mining sites owners are required by law to submit to NADMO their respective building plans and other vital documents for issuance of Disaster Management Compliance Certificates at a cost within the various thresholds.

However, it is worrying that the ban on plastic as recommended by the committee implementation last year by Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation was scuttled by the public and industry stakeholders resistance on the grounds of loss of jobs or livelihood.

In view of government commitment to strengthen disaster management in the country, the committee proposal for government to set-up disaster victims fund yielded National Disaster Management Fund (Section 39 of Act 927) and its sources of money includes 3% share of the District Assembly Common Fund, Contingency Fund (Article 177 of 1992 constitution), Parliamentary appropriations, fees and charges, investment returns, grants, donations, contributions and other lawful receivables.

A special financial offer have been granted NADMO under Section 45 of NADMO Act 927 (2016) where it is exempted from paying duties, taxes and levies, and Section 30 of the same Act also allow for sole sourcing despite the Public Procurement Act 663 of 2003 after this District Assembly Members passed Resolution under State of Emergency declared by the President of Ghana.

Contrary to public perception of government refusal to act on the recommendations, complete dredging of the Odaw River and Korle Lagoon was key recommendation by the committee and the Dredging Masters Company was contracted as part of government implementation of the committee report.

The procurement of Air Ambulance and Helicopter Fire Fighters as recommended by the committee has given government budget priority while NADMO is managing with a standby Helicopter, Speed boats, and Fire machines at the 48 Engineers Regiment base at Teshie in Accra.

Government plans are far advanced with the announcement of US $700 million by Ministry of Works and Housing, Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea with its World Bank development partners at this year maiden Memorial Service held on June 3,2017 for the departed souls of June 3rd fire disaster victims in Accra.

According to the Minister, President Akufo Addo will construct Underground Sewage System to prevent flood disasters nationwide and other related waste management disasters required human dimension.

This will help complement NADMO/UNDP Community Resilient through Early Warning (CREW) Project constructed storm drains, foot bridges, and full utilization of safe heavens, flood hazards, vulnerability and risk maps produced for early warning communication on pending disasters via the Emergency Operation Centers linked to installed Automatic Weather Stations nationwide

The public and other development partners should join Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) Flood prevention campaign in Accra and other parts of the country.

The implementation of recommendations made by government committee on June 3rd Fire Disaster required individual behavioral change and should not be considered as a preserve of government.

Submitted by Iddrisu Neindow Baba University of Cape Coast Disaster Management Alumnus and Administrator of NADMO Techiman Municipal Assembly
About fifty (50) participants made up of scholars and researchers of civil society from Africa, Europe, North America, South America and Australia, as well as some members belonging to the Africa Regional Network of the International Society of Third Sector Research (ISTR), have converged in Accra, Ghana, for 4th ISTRAN conference.

The three-day conference which started on Tuesday, June 20 and expected to end by 23rd June is being held on the theme: Civil Society and Philanthropy in Africa: Contexts, Contradictions and Possibilities. However, an inaugural PhD workshop will continue on Friday for researchers and PhD students.

The conference is organized by the International Society of Third Sector Research (ISTR) in partnership with the West Africa Civil Society Initiative (WACSI), the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Mott Foundation and the Open Society Initiative (OSISA).

In an address, the Executive Director of WACSI, Nana Asantewa Afadzinu, disclosed that the objective of the conference is to allow for the exchange of research findings and practical experiences between academic researchers, civil society activists and development practitioners in Africa.

She stated that in driving the goal and sustainability of civil society in Africa, it has become critical to address issues about the trends and trajectories of philanthropy in the African continent and the partnership needed to mobilize domestic resources.

Citing the Ashanti Kingdom as a case study, Nana Asantewa said Philanthropy is not new to Africa owing to facts contained in a publication Giving to give edited by author and researcher, Bheki Moyo, that giving existed in the pre-colonial Ashanti Kingdom here in Ghana.

According to the said publication, philanthropy acts were motivated by a strong consideration for the dignity of all community members; in which help was given as a means of bringing people out of difficulty.

Nana disclosed that the act of giving continues to be deeply enfolded into the fabric of modern African societies, and interest in the philanthropic sector in Africa as being practised and as a viable alternative to international aid and foreign donor dependency is comparatively budding.

She stated however, that the changing context and landscape of civil society and diverse challenges threatening its sustainability calls for Africans to take charge in mobilising the needed resources for the continents development needs.

The WACSI Executive Director charged the participants to actively participate in the discourses in order to come up with innovations and recommendations for civil society to leverage partnerships and effectively harness for its work in advancing the collective interests and will of the citizens they serve.

Taking his turn to speak on Giving in Africa, Professor Adam Habib, Vice Chancellor and Principal of University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, said to improve civil society and sustainability in Africa, there is first the need to come to terms with the needs of the African continent.

He also called for accountability dynamism and world class research to be embedded in the activities of civil society in Africa.

Professor Habib also advocated African philanthropists to be integrated into a national system as one sure way of accessing giving for the work of civil society.

A statement read on behalf of the Dean of UGBS, Professor Joshua Yindenaba Abor, indicated among other things that managing civil society in Africa to achieve their aim has become difficult because it is being faced with bigotry, ethnocentrism, and pettiness.

He called for attitudinal change in the sector, while urging the participants to actively contribute in the deliberations and also help to identify African philanthropists who will help the drive the civil society vision in Africa together.

About ISTR

ISTR was founded in 1992 and is recognized and valued for its special role as a convenor of scholars and policy makers on third sector from around the world.

Its Africa Regional Network is a community of over 130 scholars and researchers of civil society living in African countries and includes members of the African Diaspora who work in the USA and Europe.

The Network forms part of a larger global network of over 750 members.

ISTR President is Steven Rathgeb Smith.
Motorola is back, strongly, and this time, with sexy devices and exciting features that will blow the minds of mobile phone aficionados.

Motorola, which was previously ranked as the second largest phone manufacture in the world had popular models such as the StarTAC and RAZR lines.

Motorola, which kept sliding in the share of global cell-phone shipment in 2010 went into hibernation (decreased market share) and was ranked eighth globally in terms of mobile device sales.

The rise of smartphone oriented players and the reduction in shipments of a former leader famous for its mass market mobile phone products illustrates the changing conditions in the wireless business and the changing strategies of the leading players in the market.

After the much touted game changer, DROID backfired, Motorola has nursed its sore and with a strong partnership with Lenovo, through its subsidiary, Motorola Mobility is back on its feet with the launch of the latest premium devices such as the worlds razor thinnest 5.2mm Moto Z devices with high intelligence that makes usage more faster and easier just the way you want it.

What is more fascinating is the water-repellant coating (waterproof) which means rain, splashes or spills wont get in the way and with its fingerprint reader, a touch will instantly wake up your phone.

Interestingly, made from military aircraft-grade aluminum and stainless steel, the stunning new Moto Z has no joints making it more durable and incredibly powerful Qualcomm SnapdragonTM 820 processor, available with 4GB of RAM and 32 GB or 64 GB of storage inside.

The Moto Z has a high-resolution 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera with optical image stabilization and laser autofocus, helping people take beautiful, true-to-life pictures and for even more space to store pictures, videos and apps, it has a stupendous microSD card that takes up to 2 Terabytes.

It has an ultra-light with a 5.5 Quad HD AMOLED display and a true battery capacity of 2,600 mAh up to 24 hours of battery life plus blazing-fast charging of 8 hours of power in just 15 minutes with Turbo Power.

With the mindboggling and craze all-new Moto Mods allow technological mavens to transform their Moto Z in a snap. From instant party maker with the JBL Sound Boost to a 70-inch movie projector with the Moto Insta-Share Projector. The Power Pack Moto Mod instantly adds up to 22 hours of life to your phone and the Hasselblad TruZoom Moto Mod provides 10x optical zoom in an instant.

The price of Moto Z which is about GHc2,500 also has other series of devices such as the Moto G5, Moto E4, Moto E4 Plus and Moto C plus that cost less.

Speaking at the launch of the Moto Z, the Country Manager of Motorola Ghana, John Peters Adekpe said they are glad that after some years of absence, Motorola is being re-introduced into the global market.

As one of the pioneers of smartphone technology, Motorola has been reinvigorated with the latest tools to delight smartphone users, he stated.

The Country Manager noted that with the launch of Motorola smartphones, there are a wide range of functionalities to address the insatiable desires for new and exciting features.

He indicated that the new range of Motorola smartphones boasts of unique features and specifications.

According to him, Motorola is a renowned brand that was available during the advent of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), over a decade ago.

The Business Leader of Lenovo Mobile Business Group West Africa, Manoj Rajasekharan emphasised that Motorola mobile phones have over 44-years of history and are a much-loved brand among consumers around the world.

We believe this is something to embrace, not shy away from and are keen on building on this rich heritage as we continue to break the limitations of the smartphone industry. We pioneered the worlds first mobile cellphone, and then went on to dominate the cellphone world with the Razr. He posited.

He said their reputation for game-changing innovations and challenge the status quo is not to be taken light of, and that is why Motorola is the smartphone brand to look at once again.

Noel Kojo Gamson, General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN Ghana, who read the speech on behalf of the Chief Marketing Officer Mr. Asher Khan indicated that MTNs partnership with manufacturers to offer different phones with unique value propositions is to suit the varying lifestyles of our valued customers and to ensure our customers have the enabled handsets to enjoy the 4G service.

He noted that MTN will continue to invest in the network to ensure that we have the robust network in place to support data needs of our customers.

Mr. Gamson added that the Moto Z will be sold through MTN channels and every major retail outlets across the country, along with the smart, fast and stylish Moto G5 smartphone that launched earlier this month.

Every purchase of the Moto Z smartphone from MTN comes with 2.5 GB of data every month for 6 months and the first 50 devices to be purchased will enjoy a special combo of Moto Mods, he stated.

Acquisition by Lenovo

In 2014, Motorola was acquired by Lenovo, a multinational technology company that has a clear strategy, operates on a global scale with proven operational excellence that has been brought to Motorola to amplify production of high quality smartphones for end users.

At Lenovo, mobile is a key focus for us and we are poised to grabbing a big part of the market through the $3bn acquisition of Motorola. We will continue to invest in this market, leveraging on the already existing portfolio of top range products of Motorola.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - About 600 troops from Congo Republic serving as UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic will be returning home following allegations of sex abuse, the United Nations announced on Wednesday.

President Denis Sassou Nguesso's government "decided to withdraw" the troops deployed in the MINUSCA mission after the commander complained of misconduct, a UN statement said.

"The review of the deployment of uniformed military personnel from the Republic of Congo found that the nature and extent of existing allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse, in their totality, point to systemic problems in command and control," said the statement.

"These problems have also been compounded by issues related to the preparedness, overall discipline, maintenance of contingent-owned equipment, and logistical capacity of these troops."

Lieutenant General Balla Keita of Senegal told UN headquarters in a leaked memo sent last month 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 peacekeepers deployed in Berberati, the country's third-largest city, are Brazzaville's only contribution to UN peacekeeping.

Despite the departure of the military troops, a smaller contingent of police from Congo Republic will remain in the mission in the Central African Republic, the UN said.

Last year, 120 troops from the same contingent were sent back following allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation involving at least seven victims, six of whom were children.

The 12,000-strong MINUSCA force has been plagued by a wave of sexual abuse allegations since the mission to help restore stability to the country began in 2014.

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, Antonio Guterres vowed to toughen up the response to the damaging allegations when he took the UN helm in January.
Cape Coast, June 21, GNA - The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has called on Government to revive the Aboso Glass Factory for more jobs to be created in the area.

Professor David Kofi Essuman, Dean of the School of Physical Sciences of UCC, who made the call said the Unit would also enhance the teaching and study of sciences and research.

He was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the commissioning of a refurbished Glassblowing Unit and its management team at UCC on Tuesday.

The project was started three years ago with funds from the World Bank and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and supported by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) under its Skills and Technology Development Project.

The facility is managed by the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy of the University.

Operating at its maximum capacity, the Unit could produce all aspects of the country's glassware needs, hence it is prudent for Government to pay attention to it, Prof Essuman said.

He said the Unit could produce between 2,000 and 3,000 burette and 10,000 test tubes respectively in a month when at its maximum capacity.

Currently, he said, Ghana could not boast of more than ten glassblowers whereas there are no schools in the country training people for glassblowing.

'At the moment, the UCC glassblowing Unit is being operated by a retired glassblower, Mr Gabriel Mensah with two understudying him,' he said.

Prof Essuman appealed to Government and other stakeholders to assist the unit with funds to train more personnel to ensure its sustainability.

Mr Mathew Dally, Project Coordinator and Head of the COTVET Project Support Unit, expressed the readiness of COTVET to support both Government and private research and development institutions to boost the science, technology and innovation agenda.

He said through the Ghana Skills and Technology Development Project (GSTDP), COTVET has supported UCC and other tertiary institutions to implement a number of projects aimed at enhancing their capacity to develop technologies required by the private sector.

The projects included a GHE434,250.00 grant to the Department of Vocational and Technical Education to develop competency based training in computer-aided designing to train tailors and dressmakers in modern industry trends.

Mr Dally commended UCC for the level of commitment and professionalism exhibited towards the implementation of the projects and called on the university to adopt a good maintenance culture for the facilities and equipment to stand the test of time.

Professor K.T. Oduro, Pro Vice Chancellor of UCC, said the establishment of the Glassblowing Unit showed that the university had the capacity to promote the teaching of science and research and should be supported.

He said the Unit would be used to strengthen the youth's interest in science and also for internship purposes.

GNA

By Afedzi Abdullah, GNA
21.06.2017 LISTEN

Berekum (B/A), June 21, GNA - Mr Kofi Adjei, Berekum Municipal Chief Executive has commended the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for helping to improve on the economic livelihood of the Ivorian refugees in the Municipality.

He said about 1,049 refugees who arrived at the Fetentaa refugee camp in 2011, had enjoyed their stay due to the good shelter, healthcare, education and food aid provided by the UN agency.

Mr Adjei commended UNHCR at a durbar to mark the 2017 celebration of the World Refugees Day at the Fetentaa Refugees Camp in the Municipality.

The UN's World Refugee Day is observed on June 20 each year to honour the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.

MrAdjei also commended the chiefs and people of Berekum Traditional Area and the Brong-Ahafo region in general for their peaceful co-existence with the refugees, saying, it was the wish of the refugees to be where they were, but circumstances beyond their control had forced them to do so.

He entreated Ghanaians to respect and co-exist with the refugees whilst the refugees in return abide by the rules and regulations, adhere to laws of the land and respect the Ghanaian culture and tradition.

'We are all one people and there is no need for us to discriminate and reject our friends from the neighbouring country', MrAdjei added.

Mr Emmanuel Ansu Twum, the Head of the Field Unit of the UNHCR in Sunyani, said more than 65 million refugees were living around the world.

He expressed UNHCR's commitment to ensure that the socio-economic wellbeing of the Ivorian refugees was improved.

GNA

By Christopher Tetteh, GNA
Accra, June 21, GNA - Mr Rory Stewart has expressed joy over his appointment as United Kingdom Minister for Africa.

A statement issued by the British High Commission in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday, said following his recent appointment, the UK's Minister for Africa, Stewart said: 'I am so excited to have the role of Minister for Africa in both the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

'Africa is an extraordinary continent with so much potential: An incredible number of young people, some of the most stunning landscapes in the world and extraordinary new businesses. There is also a great historical relationship between Africa, Europe and the world, which needs to be developed and deepened.

'I am really looking forward to learning from Africans, to listening to the experiences of people on the ground and building relationships that, if we can get them right, should flourish over 30, 40, 50 years with mutual respect and learning between Africa and the United Kingdom'.

GNA

By Iddi Yire, GNA
Recently, news went viral showing how some women laid their wrappers on the grown for controversial Biafra self styled leader, Nnamdi Kanu to walk on and this has gotten many talking.

Recall that Nnamdi was arrested by the Nigerian government on allegations of inciting violence and after meeting his bail conditions he was released some months back.

Not everyone is happy with the way he has been going about things and one of such is popular Nollywood actress, Victoria, Inyama, who has described him as Nigerian Hitler.

Victoria stated that if Nnamdi is given the chance to lead the people, he might be worse than the known Hitler.

In her words, I see this man as another hitler in the making. He will even do worse given the chance. How he manages to brain wash people into his devious violent plan is interesting.
Following the astonishing success of his debut production Brother Jekwu, Nollywood star actor cum producer, Mike Ezuruonye has revealed that he is working on releasing a new movie titled Divorce? Not Allowed.

The romantic comedy movie which will be released to the cinemas later in the year will be the actors first production since his training at a film school in Toronto. The star actor explained that the movie though a romantic comedy, has a strong message; one that will teach a lot of lessons and engage the viewers.

Divorce? Not Allowed focuses on men who although are going through a difficult marriage but are not bold enough to divorce their wives, and instead go as far as setting up scandals for themselves just to get away. It highlights different situations of different men; one who would not divorce his wife because he is too comfortable in her riches and would rather take any nonsense from her than leave and be uncomfortable; and another who couldnt comprehend the changes in his recently born again wife and so looked for different means to divorce her, but she wouldnt leave.

He speaks about the coming movie: The movie is a romantic comedy and the story we are telling is one that will engage the viewers, such that they are not just viewers but also participants, as it will ignite discussions among them.

On what viewers should expect, he said, we are going to be shooting this movie on a different pedestal; people get to see my directorial skills, and what I have to offer after going to film school. Thats something a lot of people dont know; I went to film school in Toronto to advance in my craft, so we are bringing something fresh and new. We are introducing many new and unfamiliar faces and they will be playing major roles in the movie. Giving this opportunity to these new and talented people is one of the ways I am giving back and that is the way it will be for every movie I will be producing

The movie stars Mike Ezuruonye himself, Iyabo Ojo, Bolanle Ninalowo, Kehinde Olorunyomi, Angel Okorie and many new faces.

Check out the Behind the Scenes Pictures Below:
Temple & Webster Group [ASX:TPW] climbed up 22.2% this morning to 16.5 cents per share.

The climb added $3.18 million to TPWs market cap. Not bad for a company dubbed the worst float of 2016.

What Happened?

This morning, Temple & Webster announced that FY17 revenues would be up approximately 4% and earnings would improve by 50%. CEO Mark Coulter told investors:

Q4 FY17 will be our strongest quarter in our turnaround journey. We have reduced our Q4 EBITDA [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] loss to ~$0.5m, a significant improvement from a loss of $3.1m in the prior year corresponding period.

Coulter now expects the company to become profitable by calendar year 2018, achieving profitability when revenues hit $70-90 million.

What Now?

Be wary of unprofitable companies. Unless they have assets to back up their market valuation, you could be paying for predictions rather than actual earnings.

Having said that, Temple & Webster is not doing anything different from other successful online retailers. As more shoppers shift from in-store to online, youd expect Temple & Webster to capture more of the market.

But like I said, be wary. Basing an investment off assumptions isnt a remedy for a good nights sleep. Instead, Id suggest you dig a little deeper into the companys strategy plans going forward, and jump in when profitability emerges.

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.
'Nigerian states' is quite an interesting topic. The territory of Nigeria is divided into 36 states and one Federal Capital Territory, which, in turn, is divided into 774 Local Government Areas. After gaining independence in 1960, Nigeria was divided into three regions according to the ethnoreligious principle: Northern, Western, and Eastern.

In 1963, the Midwest area was formed from two provinces of the Western area. In 1967 the areas was disbanded and replaced with 12 states directly subordinated to the federal government. Later seven more states, which are included on the list of states in Nigeria were formed.

North central states in Nigeria

Abuja

Abuja became the capital of Nigeria recently, at the end of 1991, having taken this position from the city of Lagos. The decision to transfer the capital to this city was taken in the 1970s. The authorities who chose this city were guided by the fact that in a capital city no group should dominate whether political, ethnic, or religious. The country was tired of various conflicts and needed the capital to unite people. The capital of Abuja was built courtesy of a Japanese architect.

The history of Abuja started in 1828 and this turned into the capital one and a half centuries later. Now, Abuja is a modern city, with modern architecture, which so harmoniously fits Africa. Now the population of the city is more than one and a half million.

The city is territorially divided into six areas. In the central area, there are office buildings, including the residence of the president.

Abuja is located in a picturesque valley, practically in the center of Nigeria. The nature around the city abounds with beautiful hills. Savannas of the North near the city trail into the rain forests leaving the other regions on the south. The climate in Abuja is equatorial, with obviously expressed rainy seasons and with the average annual temperature of about thirty degrees.

Among the sights of Abuja, the popular ones are the granite hill, Zuma and the national mosque of Abuja with a golden dome and four minarets. The road to the city leads straight to Zuma. Thousands of tourists visit this hill as it is quite interesting. According to national beliefs, it has some healing forces. Abuja is a very cozy city. Constructed according to plan and very accurately, it is one of the most beautiful cities in Africa now. The city consists of the several districts:

Central; Garki; Wuse; Maitama; Asokoro; Gwarimpa.

Benue State

Benue is one of the states in Nigeria and it is in the southeastern region. This state in Nigeria, takes the 11th spot in the area and 9th in terms population. The administrative center of the state is Makurdi city. The population of the state is about 4.256.641 based on the population census in 2006. The main ethnic groups inhabiting the state are Tiv, Idoma, Igede, Etulo, and Abakwa. Benue shares borders with Nasarawa in the north, Taraba State on the east, Cross River State on the south, Enugu on the southwest and Kogi on the west. Because of a geographical location, the state is referred to as the state the food basket of the country, because it has a rich agricultural area.

Many grain crops are grown in this state: potatoes, cassava, soy, flax, yam, rice, and peanut. In an attempt to encourage higher education among the population, the state has three universities: the Federal University of Agriculture Benue, Benue State University, and Mkar University. Also, there are two polytechnics: Benue State Polytechnic and Fidel Polytechnic.

Benue State is located in the center of Nigeria between the nomads of the North and farmers of the South. In these parts, there is regular conflict between for the right of use of the land and water resources. Due to the rapid growth of the population and corresponding expansion of business activity of the zone, these conflicts take place more often and more brutally.

Kogi state

READ ALSO: Geopolitical zones in Nigeria and their states

Kogi is a state in Nigeria. It is called The Confluence State based on the capital of the state, the city of Lokoja. This was the first administrative capital in Nigeria and it was created as a confluence of Niger and Benue. The state was formed in 1991 from parts of the states of Kvar and Benue. Now several tribes, including Yoruba, Igala, and Ebira live in the state. The state of Kogi, thanks to the unique geographical location, offers various opportunities for relaxation.

There is an interest the wild nature, historical monuments and culture. Being that the state is not so far from the capital of the country, Abuja, tourists can plan one-day trips to the places they find interesting. Important sights of the state are colonial monuments, such as, the house of Lord Lugard, the place of confluence of Niger and Benue, Ogidi (the African city with the extraordinary forms of rocky stones (Igneous Rock) and traditional crafts.

The Kogi state connects the Federal Capital Territory to 22 southern states. Being close to the Federal Capital Territory, the international airport of the city of Abuja serves internal and international flights. In the state, telecommunication services are also well developed.

Kwara state

Kwara is one of 36 Nigeria states. The capital city of the state is Ilorin. It is 306 km northeast of Lagos and 500 km southwest of Abuja. Kwara state was created in 1967 when the Federal Military Government changed the division of the state into 12 regions.

The state was created from the former provinces Ilorin and Kabba of the Northern Region and was originally called the West Central state, but was renamed into Kwara later  the local name of Niger River. Since 1976, Kwara state has considerably decreased in size as a result of further changes to the state system of Nigeria.

On February 1976, the Dekina area was allocated and merged with a part of Plateau to form the state of Benue. On August 1991, five areas were also allocated to form a part of the new Kogi state, and the sixth area was merged with Niger.

Nasarawa State

Nasarawa State is one of the Nigerian states in the central region. It is the 15th in the area and 35th when it comes to its population. The capital city of the state is the city of Lafia. Nasarawa is an agricultural state in Nigeria with big fields. It was formed in October 1996 by the Plateau state. Tourists in Nasarawa go there for agriculture, fishing, knitting and other needlework.

The state is also rich in various minerals, which play a huge role in economically viable industrial and agricultural projects. Among these minerals, there are tin, marble, coal, and semiprecious stones. There are also many unused energy resources; therefore, the state is often called The Home Of Solid Minerals.'

Niger State

Niger State is one of the states in the central part of Nigeria. The capital center of the state is the city of Minna. It was founded in February 1976. It was created according to stipulations of Sharia law, although a considerable number of Christians lives here. People who speak the Hun-Saare language also live in the state.

Niger state received its name from River Niger, which forms one of its natural borders. Because of the location, the state of Niger is the homeland of the two largest hydroelectric power stations in the country. 3 main ethnic groups  Nupe, Gwari, and Hausa reside here. There are also smaller groups, such as Corot, Kadara, Kambari, Kamuku, Pangu, Bassa, Fulani, etc. Niger state also has the national park of Kainji, the largest National park in Nigeria. A large number of people in the state are farmers.

Plateau State

Plateau State is one of the states in the central part of Nigeria. The capital of the state is Jos. It got its name from the Plateau Jos, where the state is located. It was formed in February 1976 at the partition of the Benue-Plateau state. In 1996 Nasarawa State separated from its western region. In the beginning of the 20th century, most part of the modern state of Plateau entered the province of Bauchi.

In 1926, the Plateau was separated from Bauchi. Then the borders of the province changed several times. At the reform of administrative division of Nigeria of 1967, when the country was divided into 12 states, the states of Benue and Plateau were merged into the state of Benue-Plateau. At the partition of the state in 1976, the new Plateau state was formed from the borders of Plateau state sample of 1967.

Conclusion

In total, there are seven different states in the North central part of Nigeria. All of them have their unique history and are very useful for the economy of the country.

READ ALSO: North West states in Nigeria

Source: Legit.ng
Buying a good car from Cotonou is not as difficult as it may seem. In fact, it is very easy and it doesn't take very long. Read this article to learn the basics and the procedure of buying a car from Cotonou.

Most Nigerians travel to Cotonou, the economic center of Benin Republic, to buy their cars. You can get budget or foreign used cars from Cotonou. To buy used cars in Nigeria is more expensive than to buy it in Cotonou. This is because the economic center of Benin Republic gets more cars from the US and Europe. It is cheaper to transport them to Cotonou than to Lagos. Also, it is cheaper to clear a vehicle at Cotonou than at the Lagos Port. So, used cars there are considerably cheaper. Unlike in Nigeria where many dealers sell converted cars, it is easier to get more trusted and reliable cars from Cotonou.

Below are some summarized steps on how you can get a good car from Cotonou without any problems. Be confident that these steps are legal.

READ ALSO: Innoson motors price list: cheap cars in Nigeria.

Before you travel to Cotonou to buy a car, you should do a thorough research and know exactly what type of car you want to buy. You should also conduct a research on the average price car dealers charge for second-hand cars. You can check online car retailers like Cheki or Carmudi price range.

You cannot travel with a bag of cash, so you have to put your money in a bank account that you can easily access when you get to Cotonou. Preferably, you should use an account with Internet banking so you can transfer your money. However, you will need to hold some cash for transport expenses and other things you will need to do on the way.

When you get to Cotonou, the first thing you need to do is to change your Naira to Cedis (local currency). Look for a good Nigerian Bureau de Change with a fruitful exchange rate.

You might need an agent or someone to take you around Cotonou car market. You can also go along with a car dealer from Nigeria if you wish or you can find an honest one in Cotonou. Together with this person you can choose a good dealer shop and inspect the cars there.

You will need to have good negotiating skills to be able to save some money. As we said earlier, do a research on the price before going to buy your car. You need to understand how much money you will need to take with you.

When you are able to secure a profitable deal, you can now buy the car and start the customs paperwork. Custom papers take an average of two days to be ready. You can decide to wait until you get the papers and clear the vehicle yourself or you can ask for assistance with clearance and driving the car to Nigeria.

We hope that this information was useful to you. Now that you have the money, desire and knowledge you can travel to Cotonou and buy a car there. We hope you'll buy a good car for good price and drive it safely home.

READ ALSO: Angry car dealers on rampage in Kaduna, set Nigeria Customs vehicle ablaze as officers disappear.

Source: Legit.ng
A Nigerian man Samuel Anayo Ugwute, an indigene of Ebonyi state, who claimed to have resurrected after being pronounced dead has shared the full details of his story.

Ugwuta claimed that he died as a result of defect in his heart during an operation in Australia.

He further revealed how he came back to life after he was embalmed with formalin in a mortuary in India.

READ ALSO: Quit notice to Igbo people: Read Osinbajo's message to Northern traditional rulers

Here is his full story:

"I am Mr. Samuel Anayo Ugwute, an indigene of Ebonyi state, born and brought up in Owa-Alero Delta state.

"About four months ago, I was diagnosed of in ventricular center defect that is a hole within the walls of my ventricle. It is a serious cardialogical problem said to be common with infants.

Ugwuta claimed that he died as a result of defect in his heart during an operation in Australia

"After several cardiological examinations which proved positive, the doctors said my heart was already condemned and the only solution was to go for a heart transplant.

"The initial minor surgery carried out to cover the holes proved abortive. So, I was asked to go for an orthopedic heart transplant which cost 24 million naira including other expenses. There was no money. We wrote to the state government who assisted with a little sum.

"My church assisted me; friends and family contributed too, my surgeon Prof, Tamson, a consultant cardiologist who has worked in India for over 20 years before coming back to Nigeria took up my case because he said in over 200 cases he has done in cardiology, my case was different and rare.

"He spent huge sums of money on my case; he used his influence to attract many Heart Foundations to subsidize the cost of the operation.

"The surgery was scheduled to take place 4 weeks ago, but because I could not come up with enough money for flight, and other expenses, the schedule was aborted. Unfortunately, more complications arose because I was unable to meet up after hundred days time frame of carrying an artificial heart elapsed.

"Finally I gathered enough money, and I left for India on Friday, June 9, 2017, but the doctors turned me back because I was four weeks late, and there was no way I was going to survive. So my doctor through his influence contacted a friend in Australia who had a private jet, and I was flown straight to Australia in a flight which lasted for 12 hours.

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"On getting to Australia, the doctors there said there was 80 percent chance of death, and 20 percent of survival. When I heard this I turned to my family for prayers. Before going into the theatre, I prayed to God and reminded Him of my covenant of life with Him.

"Entering the theatre, I gave up the ghost as the first knives cut to get the position.

"Having given up the ghost, I was told they recorded the death time as 4am of the fateful, my family was contacted and my corpse was taken back to India in another 13 hours flight; on getting back to India, my corpse was deposited in the mortuary, but after some minutes I woke up and I felt cold so I started shouting and when one of the nurses heard me, instead of coming to my rescue she ran away out of fear.

"My surgeon heard me and came to bring me out from the mortuary. Coming out I discovered that my whole body was covered in formalin, a preservative used on dead bodies.

"At this development, my family was contacted telling them I am alive. After having a warm bath to wash off the formalin, I saw everybody dancing and rejoicing at the hospital in India, I was speechless, the only word that came out from my mouth was take me home. All through the period I was pronounced dead, all I could see were doctors on white performing a surgery on me.

"I ended up not having the surgery I went for, and after another round of cardiological examination, the doctors found out that there were no longer holes in my heart, everything disappeared, and that I was perfectly, okay. I kept on insisting to go home, and after my doctor in Nigeria was contacted to tell him I was perfectly okay, they took me to the airport and I boarded my flight to Lagos.

"People in India were rejoicing, calling my situation a miracle. My surgeon received me in Lagos amidst tears; he was the one who told me the news of my death had circulated. In a bid to actually confirm the report of the doctors in India, he took me into the lab for examinations, and he arrived at the same conclusion. I came back to Agbor yesterday being June 14, 2017 totally okay and fine.

"I thank God, because I know He heard the prayers of my father when the surgeon told my father I was dead, he rejected the news, his faith kept me going, the prayer of my Pastors as well as that of my father, Pastor John Ugwute brought me back," he said.

Legit.ng had reported that the man who was identified as John Samuel was said to have suffered from a heart related ailment which led to his death on Wednesday, June 13, by 4pm in Australia but on Thursday, June 14, the young man was said to have resurrected around 8am in India.

Meanwhile, watch this Legit.ng video on how to lose weight:

Source: Legit.ng
- The management of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council has debunked rumour that CRK has been removed from schools' curriculum

- He said efforts are in top gear to print the Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Studies Curriculum separately

- He said the education minister has obtained the approval of the National Council on Education to make CRK and IRK compulsory for Christian and Muslim students respectively

The management of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) says that Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) is still being taught in schools as a separate distinct subject with the accompanying Teachers Guide.

Prof. Ismail Junaidu, Executive Secretary, NERDC made this known in a statement made available in Abuja on Tuesday.

READ ALSO: Quit notice to Igbo people: Read Osinbajo's message to Northern traditional rulers

Junaidu called on Nigerians to discard reports from some quarters that the subject had been removed from the schools curriculum.

The Management of NERDC hereby reiterates categorically and unequivocally to all Nigerians that the subject offerings (Civic Education, Social Studies, Christian Religious Knowledge, Islamic Studies and Security Education) under the Religion and National Values Curriculum are distinct.

 The subjects are as listed and taught separately on the time table.

In this Curriculum, no child should be coerced or compelled to learn or be taught in school any religious studies subject but only one (out of the two) that restrictively relates to the belief system professed by the child and his/her parents.

Junaidu added that teachers had been trained in the six geopolitical zones to be able to teach these distinct subjects.

He said the teachers were also aware of the mode of teaching the Religion and National Values Curriculum as distinct subjects on the time table.

In view of the claims therefore, NERDC hereby states that CRK is still taught in schools as a separate distinct subject with the accompanying Teachers Guide.

CRK is not a theme in Civic Education. Civic Education is a distinct subject on its own which teaches the rudiments of good citizenship.

There is no subject in the Nigerian School Curriculum called Islamic Arabic Studies nor anywhere in the world as being speculated, he said.

He added that French was a compulsory subject from Primary 4 as dictated by the National Policy on Education Section 2, sub-section 23.7p 13.

The executive secretary said efforts were in top gear to print the Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Studies Curriculum separately in order to maintain their characteristics and distinctiveness.

NERDC stands for integrity and excellence in educational research and development.

The management stands for education for human dignity, economic reconstruction and value reorientation.

We, therefore, sincerely appeal to politicians and fifth columnist to desist from dragging education into the political melee capable of destabilising the education sector and mortgaging the future of upcoming generation of Nigerians, he said.

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He said that at the commencement of the present administration, the Minister of Education sought and obtained the approval of the National Council on Education to make CRK and IRK compulsory for Christian and Muslim students respectively.

He, however, said that the claims peddled on social media platforms and a national daily are speculative, false and unfounded.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reports that rights group HURIWA has accused the education minister of employing destabilizing plots to foist the study of Islamic religious study as compulsory subject in public secondary schools.

The group is demanding the restoration of both Islamic religious study and Christian religious knowledge as subjects in public school.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video of a Lagos school which was surrounded by snakes.

Source: Legit.ng
- Acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, appeals to Nigerians to stop celebrating those with questionable wealth

- Magu alleges that looters are supporting separatist agitations in the country and funding the agitators in order to sabotage the country

- The EFCC boss says Nigeria would be one of the best countries in the world if corruption is eradicated from the country

The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has said looters might be fueling the agitations for secession in some parts of the country.

READ ALSO: Nigerians react as popular media alleges that Buhari is suffering speech impairment in London

Magu made the statement on Tuesday, June 20, when speaking with the national council for arts and culture director-general, Otunba Segun Runsewe.

The EFCC boss appealed to Nigerians to stop celebrating those with questionable wealth, noting that corruption was a threat to the unity of Nigeria, The Nation reports.

We have heard you very well, very carefully. Corruption has eaten so deep into the fabric of this country. It is a threat to our co-existence, it is a threat to our unity and the survival of Nigeria.

"We have to have a common consensus to fight corruption; all of us must agree to fight it.

The cost of corruption to this nation is much. It is poisonous, It is something that breeds Boko Haram, militancy, these boys calling for Biafra and those people calling for some parts to leave Nigeria."

Magu alleged that looters were supporting separatist agitations in the country and funding the agitators in order to sabotage the country so that they could enjoy their ill-gotten wealth.

He urged Nigerians to collaborate with the EFCC to fight corruption in order for the country to have a better future.

He said: "I want to appeal to Nigerians to join the fight against corruption. It is our duty to fight corruption so that we will have a better tomorrow.

PAY ATTENTION: Watch more videos on Legit.ng TV

"Not all of us can arrest but we can join the whistle-blowers. Joining the whistle-blowers has two advantages: The fact that you have exposed crime and the fact that you will get a cut of any recovered amount. Let us join the whistle-blowers, let us expose all forms of corruption.

We have to sustain the tempo so that the looters will not find a place to hide.

Magu said Nigeria would be one of the best countries in the world if corruption is eradicated from the country.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng gathered 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.

In the video below, the EFCC organised a march tagged walk against corruption in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Source: Legit.ng
An alleged man of God has been caught while burying assorted charms under his church altar in Anambra state.

According to the viral video, the pastor was later banished from his village for doing such an unbelievable thing. He and his family members were put at the back of a lorry, with the pot of juju that was caught with him. They were carried out of the village as people looked on in total shock. Some people were seen taking pictures of the pastor and children.

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Screenshots from the video

In the video, the wife is seen trying to hide her face so as not to be captured in the embarrassing photos and video.

A quick glance at the juju pot tied with red cloth shows lots of maggots, feathers and lots more. See the video below:

Source: Legit.ng
Top 3 Trends Impacting the Global Wireless Chipset Market Through 2021: Technavio

Technavio's latest market research report on the global wireless chipset market provides an analysis on the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2017-2021. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006335/en/

Technavio has published a new report on the global wireless chipset market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Sunil Kumar Singh, a lead analyst from Technavio, specializing in research on semiconductor equipment says, "A major factor propelling market growth is the technological advances in software and semiconducting devices. Developing countries will observe rapid technological advances with the increasing use of the wireless technology such as personal assistance, hotspots, and application interface. Due to the fast-paced lifestyles and work schedules, customers adopt technologies that are reliable and convenient."

This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing

Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free.

The top three emerging market trends driving the global wireless chipset market according to Technavio research analysts are:

Li-Fi advanced wireless technologies

Increasing need for wireless connectivity in factoies

Growing adoption of IoT







Light fidelity or Li-Fi is one of the latest wireless communication technologies, which is likely to experience increased adoption during the forecast period. Li-Fi is the advanced technology of Wi-Fi, which uses visible light for data transfer, instead of radio waves that are used by Wi-Fi. It enables high-speed data transfer between devices, using light-emitting diodes to enable connectivity and data transfer between devices.

The highest speed reaches up to 230 GB per second. The standard used by Li-Fi is high-speed infrared communications. It transfers about 1 GHz through any medium. It encounters less interference and can pass through any medium and even dense regions.

Increasing need for wireless connectivity in factories

There is increased need for smart factories in the automation, industrial communication, and process industries globally. Countries such as China and Germany have started manufacturing products using automation technology. Automation requires wireless communication and better connectivity. Thus, the growing adoption of the technology is likely to propel the growth of the wireless chipset market during the forecast period.

"Industries such as security and sensor control and process control need to monitor processes continuously. Thus, they need the wireless chipset technology to establish secure connections among all the devices involved in the process. This reduces the operation cost, increases the information sharing, avoids cyclic process, and reduces the chance of defects," says Sunil.

Growing adoption of IoT

Wireless chipset acts as a key component for IoT-based systems. Embedded system, which is a subset of IoT and known as M2M communication, is used in the medical, building automation, and industrial automation sectors. The system uses devices that are enabled with various wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee (News - Alert), and others. Each protocol has different usage and is designed for specific ranges. These protocols are used in controllers and servers that centralize the gateway to keep devices simple. Gateways are used to connect other sensors and devices. Gateways act as hubs and provide centralized functionality and enable connectivity with other hubs.

Browse Related Reports:

Become a Technavio Insights member and access all three of these reports for a fraction of their original cost. As a Technavio Insights member, you will have immediate access to new reports as they're published in addition to all 6,000+ existing reports covering segments like displays, sensors, and lighting. This subscription nets you thousands in savings, while staying connected to Technavio's constant transforming research library, helping you make informed business decisions more efficiently.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected].

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006335/en/
- Rochas Okorocha notes that Igbos and Hausas used to be strong allies and the bond should be mended

- He urged all well-meaning Igbos and Hausas to dissociate themselves from inciting comments made by IPOB and Arewa groups

- He urged all leaders to teach their wards the right thing to do and advised Igbos to agitate for something economically productive instead

Igbo people have been warned by the governor of Imo state Rochas Okorocha not to support the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

According to reports, Okorocha advised his kinsmen to fix the bridge of relationship with northerners.

Taking a swipe at the pro-biafra group, Okorocha said: I do know that when the chips are down, they (IPOB) wont be anywhere to be found.

The governor made his comments in a statement issued on his behalf by his chief press secretary Sam Onwuemeodo.

In the statement, Okorocha admitted that the quit notice issued to Igbos living in the north by the Coalition of Northern Youths could cause disaffection between northerners and their south east counterparts.

READ ALSO: Quit Notice: Osinbajo to meet with 36 state governors - Presidency

He said: While I blame the Arewa youths who may have acted under provocation and taking the matter beyond scope, the statements were also very inciting and can create disaffection between the north and south-east.

For the purpose of those who have forgotten, in history, the south-east and north have enjoyed a good political relationship, especially in the days of Shagari.

We have been seen as allies and partners politically.

Except for this past dispensation, for some myopic reasons many Igbo did not see the victory of Buhari coming and we missed the link.

We need immediate re-fixing of this bridge of relationship between the south-east and the north.

I call on all Igbo persons to dissociate themselves and every northerner and well-meaning Nigerians to distance themselves from these comments from Arewa group and IPOB.

Again, let me caution those who are calling for support for IPOB, especially the non-Igbo, to stop henceforth.

It is deceitful and inciting and is no longer a welcome development in this part of the world.

Okorocha urged Nigerian leaders to speak out and condemn this act because silence cannot help us in this matter.

He stated: Leaders ought to take responsibilities now and teach our youths the right things to do. The people in this matter are our children; our youth and they have a duty to listen to us as their parents.

It is apparent that we have failed as leaders in this nation, giving room for this hate in families, communities, states and at national levels.

We need to take responsibilities as leaders to stop this campaign of hate as that will not do us any good.

I call on my Igbo brothers, the agitators because there is nothing wrong in doing what others are doing, your style is what is wrong.

You cant be calling for a sovereign nation inside a nation, it is absolutely wrong.

If you must agitate, I propose you agitate for the Movement for Economic Survival of Igbo People (MOESIP). That will help for the economic survival of our land, making agriculture the mainstay of our economy. That is only when we will command the respect of the rest of the world.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Indigenous People of Biafra disagreed with the Imo state governor Rochas Okorocha that its leader, Nnamdi Kanu insulted elders from the South-East.

IPOB said the governor's remark lacks truth in it.

A statement by the group's spokesperson Emma Powerful, said the IPOB totally disagreed with Okorcha on the matter.

Watch this Legit.ng TV video asking if Biafra is achievable.

Source: Legit.ng
[June 20, 2017] Blue Ocean Coding Announces New Location In Cleveland

CLEVELAND, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Ocean Coding, a provider of programming and software development education, will add a new satellite location at 4100 Rockside Rd., in Independence, Ohio. This is the second Blue Ocean Coding location, and first in the Cleveland area. Blue Ocean Coding is a part of Hondros Education Group and offers a bootcamp-style program for students interested in becoming software developers. In a matter of weeks, students can finish the intensive coursework and become full stack developers, meaning knowledgeable in both back-end and front-end technologies. The first bootcamp at the Cleveland location will officially begin September 18, consisting of day classes. Beginning in January 2018, the new Blue Ocean Coding location will offer both day and evening tracks  either 12 or 24 weeks long  to offer greater flexibility for its students. "We understand how quickly the market for programmers is growing, and we are excited to expand and continue developing high-quality programming talent to fill those open jobs," says Kelsey Apple, director of education, Blue Ocean Coding. "We are also looking forward to developing new relationships with local businesses and employers in Cleveland, who may be interested in hiring our graduates." The new Blue Ocean Coding campus will host a hiring event on November 29, when students will havethe opportunity to meet and interview with potential employers and speak with professionals about industry happenings. Those interested in becoming a preferred partner and participating in the hiring event can contact Blue Ocean Coding.



In addition to enrolling students, the campus is currently hiring full and part-time positions for admissions and instructor positions. Please visit Blue Ocean Coding or call 877.622.9571 for additional program information, and current job opportunities can be found here. About Blue Ocean Coding

A leader in software development education in Ohio, Blue Ocean Coding has two convenient locations in the Columbus and Cleveland areas. Blue Ocean Coding offers students a flexible, bootcamp style program with many benefits including 12 or 24-week tracks, brand new laptops to keep and one-on-one career counseling upon completion. The coding programs prepares students to become full stack developers by covering C#/.NET, Java, SQL Server and HTML/CSS. Blue Ocean Coding partners with local and national staffing and consulting companies to ensure students will successfully find jobs after bootcamp. Visit blueoceancoding.com for more information.

About Hondros Education Group

With over 50 years of experience educating more than one million students, Hondros Education Group is one of the premier real estate, appraisal, mortgage, insurance, home inspection and computer programming education providers in the nation. Hondros offers online and live courses and comprehensive exam prep solutions with a flexible approach and customized solutions for students and partner companies alike. Hondros Education Group is the parent company of Hondros Learning, CompuCram, Learn Mortgage, Hondros College of Business, Arizona School of Real Estate and Business and Blue Ocean Coding. Visit hondroseducationgroup.com for more information. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-ocean-coding-announces-new-location-in-cleveland-300477058.html SOURCE Blue Ocean Coding

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- Lagos may soon be locked in a battle to take over major areas of the state from the federal government

- Govenor Akinwunmi Ambode asked his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola, now a minister, to use his office, to ease the return of the assets

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos has urged his predecessor and current works, power and housing minister, Babatunde Fashola, to ensure that the federal government returned all disputed properties in the state.

The properties and buildings include the whole of Ikoyi, Banana Island, Osborne Foreshore, Festac Town, Satellite Town, Trade Fair, among others.

Ambode spoke when he received a report from a special committee he set up on federal government assets in the state.

Ambode receiving the report from the committee led by Femi Okunnu

The governor commended members of the committee which included Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana; Partner of SimmonsCooper, Mrs Victoria Alonge, and others for the painstaking efforts put into the report.

READ ALSO: We are going nowhere - Igbos in Northern states declare

He said: 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

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.

Ambode said the report came at a time the government was in dire need of space for developmental projects to improve the socio-economic well-being of its residents.

He directed members of the committee to move further by mediating between the state and the federal government on how the assets would be released.

Elderstatesman and former federal commissioner for works and housing, Alhaji Femi Okunnu, expressed sadness over the current status of the federal secretariat in Lagos.

Okunnu, who chairs the committee, also complained about other abandoned and surplus assets of the federal government in the state, urging that the assets be returned for effective and proper usage.

Ambode said he was happy Fashola, a former governor who was passionate about reclaiming such assets, is now the minister in charge

He noted that the listed areas belong to Lagos state adding that titles of the land were vested in the governor.

He also urged the federal government to handover the assets to Lagos.

The federal secretariat gives me sadness because I built it when I was the federal commissioner for works.

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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, 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.

Continuing, Okunnu said: Lagos state government acquired the land of the Trade Fair site but the 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.

READ ALSO: US declares support for Nigeria's unity as tension continues over Biafra

Today, the Trade Fair has been turned into a market far from the original purpose intended.

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.

Legit.ng had reported earlier that the federal government and Lagos state have concluded arrangement to help over 15 million Nigerians in diaspora trace their roots back home through the Badagry Diaspora Festival to hold in August this year.

The senior special assistant to the President Muhammadu Buhari on Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and the special adviser to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Oversees Affairs and Investment, Professor Ademola Abass, both revealed this on Tuesday, June 13.

Watch a recent protest by Nigerians in Lagos over violence against women:

Source: Legit.ng
- Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, has lauded police services in West Africa over the arrest of Chukwujeme Onwamadike, the suspected kidnapper a.k.a Evans

- Idris has disclosed that Evans was arrested by the police based on the accurate information they got from both Nigeria and beyond

- He further said that the Nigeria Police Force had 300,000 personnel in 127 area commands and 5303 divisions

The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has attributed the arrest of Chukwujeme Onwamadike, the suspected kidnapper popularly known as Evans, to information sharing and intelligence cooperation among police services in West Africa.

Information sharing is crucial to tackling the menace of trans-border crimes in West Africa; it is through such exchange that we were able to nab a Ghanaian/Nigerian kidnapper two weeks ago, after evading arrest for many years, Idris said on Wednesday, June 21.

Idris spoke in Accra, Ghana in a paper titled: ''The role of Nigeria Police in national security and its contributions in West Africa, delivered at an ongoing West Africa international security conference.

Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, has lauded police services in West Africa over the arrest of Chukwujeme Onwamadike, the suspected kidnapper a.k.a Evans

READ ALSO: Ambode asks Buhari, Fashola to return Lagos land taken over by FG

The paper was sent, via email, to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lafia.For several years, Evans terrorized Nigerians and nationals of many countries across West Africa.

"Efforts to apprehend him did not yield the desired results until we spread our search net wider, he said.

The police chief, who solicited closer ties among security agencies in the sub-region, emphasized the need to improve the method of monitoring and surveillance, particularly among border and coastal police units.

Idris called for improved communication capabilities among intelligence gathering outfits in West Africa, and called for mutual support to plug loopholes usually exploited by criminals.

He said that the Nigeria Police Force had 300,000 personnel in 127 area commands and 5303 divisions, adding that the force had consistently contributed to stability and peace in ECOWAS nations and under UN mandates.

The Nigeria Police Force trained 250 Liberian Police personnel in 2005 and has consistently offered training slots to police officers from Gambia and Sierra Leone at the Police Staff College, Jos and the Police Academy, Wudil.We also trained 100 police officers from the Republic of Niger on mobile police combat in 1998.

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He said: "At the end of the training, Nigeria donated trucks, riot equipment and tear smoke to the Nigerien government.

''Idris said that the Nigeria Police Force also helped to stabilise Guinea Bissau in 2012, when the military intervened in its leadership and truncated democracy.Our police personnel remained there until democracy was restored in 2014."

The IGP expressed Nigerias readiness to consistently cooperate with police formations in other countries to track down criminals, pointing out that such mutual cooperation had become even more necessary as technology had reduced the world to a small village.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported another kidnapper and his accomplice were arrested in Imo state.

Both men had kidnapped a priest in the state, before they were apprehended by the police.

The suspects are: 24-year-old Chinedu Odoemena, 20-year-old Ogadinma Ajonuma and 48-year-old Uzoma Mejuru who are all from Umuokpu Agbajah in Nwangele local government area of Imo state.

Watch this Legit.ng TV Video of Nigerians' views on whether government should offer him a job to help catch other kidnappers:

Source: Legit.ng
Editors note: It has become a tradition among some Muslims in many countries of the world, especially in Nigeria that the 27th day of Ramadan is picked to gather at a particular place or mosque in order to seek or celebrate Lailatul Qadr (The night of majesty). But is this allowed according to what Allah and His messenger said about this noble night?

In this Ramadan lecture, Legit.ng examines Islamic ruling on seeking Lailatul Qadr and why it is forbidden to choose a date for its celebration.

In the name of Allah, The most beneficent, the most merciful, whoever Allah guides, no one can lead him astray and whoever Allah sends astray, no one can guide him.

Verily the best of speech is the Book of Allah (Quran) and the best guidance is the guidance of Prophet Muhammad (May Allah give him peace and bless him), and the most evil matters are those that are newly invented, for every newly invented matter is an innovation and every innovation is misguidance and every misguidance is in the Hell fire.

May Allah save us from the torment of Hell fire, (Aameen).

Our Lord, may He be blessed and exalted, has told us that Laylat al-Qadr is better than a thousand nights, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that whoever spends this night in prayer out of faith and in the hope of reward will be forgiven his previous sins.

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

Verily, We have sent it (this Quraan) down in the Night of AlQadr (Decree).

2. And what will make you know what the Night of AlQadr (Decree) is?

READ ALSO: Ramadan Day 24: 5 reasons Muslims should not miss the night of majesty

3. The Night of AlQadr (Decree) is better than a thousand months (i.e. worshipping Allaah in that night is better than worshipping Him a thousand months, i.e. 83 years and 4 months).

4. Therein descend the angels and the Rooh [Jibreel (Gabriel)] by Allaahs Permission with all Decrees,

5. (All that night), there is peace (and goodness from Allaah to His believing slaves) until the appearance of dawn (al-Qadr 97:1-5).

And it was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Whoever spends this night in prayer out of faith and in the hope of reward will be forgiven his previous sins. Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1901; Muslim, 760.

Out of faith means believing in its virtue and in the reward for that and in the hope of reward means by seeking the pleasure of Allaah.

The scholars differed as to the definition of Laylat al-Qadr, and there are many opinions, more than forty as it says in Fath al-Baari. The most likely to be correct is the view that it is one of the odd-numbered nights among the last ten nights of Ramadaan.

It was narrated from Aaishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Seek Laylat al-Qadr among the odd numbered nights of the last ten nights of Ramadaan. Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2017; Muslim, 1169.

Al-Bukhaari included this hadeeth in a chapter entitled: Seeking Laylat al-Qadr among the odd numbered nights of the last ten nights (of Ramadaan).

The reason it is hidden is to encourage the Muslim to strive hard in worship and duaa and dhikr during all the last ten nights of Ramadaan.

This is the same reason why the time when duaa is answered on Friday has not been defined, and why the ninety-names of Allaah have not been defined, concerning which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Whoever learns them by heart will enter Paradise. Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2736; Muslim, 2677.

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Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

The words of Imam al-Bukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on him)  Seeking Laylat al-Qadr among the odd numbered nights of the last ten nights (of Ramadaan)  indicate that it is most likely that Laylat al-Qadar cannot be in any month other than Ramadaan, and is in the last ten nights thereof, and is one of the odd-numbered nights, but not on any particular night. This is what is indicated by a number of the reports that have been narrated concerning it. Fath al-Baari, 4/260.

The scholars said: "The reason Laylat al-Qadar has been concealed is so that people will strive to seek it, because if its timing was known, they would limit their efforts to that night only, as we have explained previously about the time on Friday (when duaas are answered)." Fath al-Baari, 4/266.

Based on this, it is not possible for anyone to be certain that a particular night is Laylat al-Qadr, especially since we know that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) wanted to tell his ummah when it was, then he told them that Allaah had taken away that knowledge.

It was narrated from Ubaadah ibn al-Saamit (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came out with the news of Laylat al-Qadr, but two men among the Muslims started arguing.

He said: I came out to tell you about Laylat al-Qadr, but So and so and So and so started arguing, so (that knowledge) was taken away. Perhaps that will be better for you. So seek it on the (twenty-) seventh and the (twenty-) ninth and the (twenty-) fifth, narrated by Al-Bukhaari, 49.

The scholars of the Standing Committee said:

"With regard to singling out one night of Ramadaan as Laylat al-Qadr, this requires evidence to show that it is this night and not any other. But the odd numbered nights of the last ten nights of Ramadaan are more likely than others (to be Laylat al-Qadr) and the twenty-seventh night is the most likely night to be Laylat al-Qadr, because of the ahaadeeth to that effect", (Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daaimah lil-Buhooth al-Ilmiyyah wal-Ifta, 10/413).

Hence the Muslim should not assume that any particular night is Laylat al-Qadr, because that would mean that he is being certain about something concerning which we cannot be certain, and because it means that he is missing out on something that is good for him.

READ ALSO: Ramadan Day 25: 5 lifestyles you must maintain after Ramadan

It may be the night of the twenty-first, or the twenty-third, or the twenty-ninth. If he spends the night of the twenty-seventh only in prayer, then he will have missed out on a lot of goodness, and he may have missed that blessed night.

The Muslim should strive his hardest to do acts of obedience and worship throughout Ramadaan, and more so in the last ten days. This is the teaching of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).

Watch a Legit.ng TV video below about how Ramadan has affected price of goods in the market:

Source: Legit.ng
- Nigeria police force have shared more details on the recent Boko Haram attack in Borno state

- The police issued a statement, saying that no police officer was killed in the attack

- Six officers suffered injuries in the ambush while the officers are searching for missing persons

The Nigeria police have narrated how Boko Haram terrorists attacked a police patrol escorting relief materials occurred on Tuesday, June 20.

A report by Sahara Reporters states that the attack unfolded at Abari-Dalwa village on the Maiduguri/Damboa road, 30 kilometers from Maiduguri.

READ ALSO: Health minister directs police to arrest people smoking in public

Legit.ng gathered that Demain Chukwu the Borno state commissioner of police, on Tuesday night, denied that any police officer was killed in the Boko Haram attack.

However the commissioner admitted that his men were searching for missing persons and that six officers suffered injuries in the ambush.

Narrating the incident, Chukwu said the terrorists opened fire at exactly 11:30 am as the 57 members of the MOPOL 51 Police Mobile Force from Oghara in Delta state on special duties to Askira/Uba led the way.

The officers retaliated but the superior firepower of the militants led to six injuries, including a serious injury to Corporal Danladi Ibrahim of the Special unit.

The militants fired on another police lorry in the same convoy carrying the body of a female police sergeant, Rahila Antikiriya of the State Investigative Bureau (SIB) in charge of mines and explosives.

A civilian identified as Mustapha Modu, driving a truck carrying the relief materials was killed in the attack.

Bala Tiishe, another police sergeant of the SIB was shot and killed and his service rifle taken away by the attackers, while the driver of the police truck, Sergeant Mwada Kabura, was injured.

The insurgents also drove away the police truck with two female police officers in it, several military and commercial vehicles they seized in the attack as well as several relatives of the deceased.

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In a previous report by Legit.ng, 7 persons were killed after five suspected female bombers attacked Kofa Community near Dalori in Borno.

Eyewitness told newsmen in Kofa that the incident occurred around 8:30 pm on Sunday, June 18, when Muslim faithful were performing their night prayers.

Watch a video report of the recently released Chibok girls by Boko Haram on Legit.ng TV below:

Source: Legit.ng
- The Indigenous People of Biafra said Nnamdi Kanu predicted the London attack

- The group claims the prediction was made three years ago by Nnamdi Kanu

- The IPOB also boasted that Kanu is a confirmed prophet by the manifestation of his prophesies

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has alleged that its leader Nnamdi Kanu predicted the recent attacks in London three years ago.

The IPOB also said Kanu has proven to be a prophet sent by God to liberate, "the people of Biafra."

In a statement by its media and publicity secretary Powerful Emma, the group said all the attacks happening in London were seen and prophesied by Kanu on November 6, 2014.

Emma said: "Mazi Nnamdi Kanu the living prophet of our time in his broadcast over the air on the 6th November 2014 said that Islamic terrorists will overrun Britain if they continue to be against Biafra which is happening today."

READ ALSO: Ibrahim Magu exposes those behind agitations for breakup of Nigeria

Highlighting other prophesies by the IPOB leader, Emma said Kanu had also predicted that the Northerners will ask the Igbo living in the North to vacate the region.

The IPOB also boasted that Kanu is a confirmed prophet by the manifestation of his prophesies

He said that explains why many who come to visit the IPOB leader kneels before him.

"There is nothing that this great prophet Nnamdi Kanu said which hasnt come to pass. No wonder people kneel and ask him to pray for and with them. Nnamdi Kanu is a confirmed prophet and visionary leader of this generation.

"When he said Igbos and other Southerners will be killed in the North, that is exactly what is going to happen. Every Southerner in the North should leave immediately," Emma said.

He also said all the predictions made by Kanu were fulfilled in the shortest of time unlike the ones made by most men of God in Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Quit Notice: Igbos in 19 Northern states make bold move over October 1 deadline

"Our leader and prophet of our time in his broadcast before his arrest on 14th October 2015 said that Hausa Fulani supremacists are coming to re-position the security agencies by sacking all competent hands to replace them with their kinsmen in order to drive their ethnic domination of the South, these marauding hordes which turned out to be Fulani herdsmen, will be armed and encouraged to slaughter Southerners with impunity and their masters in Aso Rock will protect them.

They are coming to ensure that my people are enslaved forever. The people will cry and weep but no one will come to their rescue. Those who do not believe me will soon see it happen before their eyes.

"Nnamdi Kanu, 6th Feb. 2014. Exactly what is happening today with rampaging Fulani herdsmen decimating communities with the encouragement and protection of the Buhari led Fulani presidency. Despite these heinous and brazen carnage, wanton murder and destruction of communities across Southern Nigeria, no single Fulani man has been brought before a court or charged under the laws of Nigeria," Emma added.

READ ALSO: No where to hide, APC chieftain tells Obanikoro after reports of his defection

He further enjoined all to always bear in mind that, "Unity flows with love and mutual respect."

He said: "This artificial unity with people who see you as an infidel and unbeliever is fake and dangerous. We are better off on our own.

"They kill with impunity, yet they say we must stay together. They have only one agenda, to chase away Jonathan and enslave us forever.

"They are coming with vengeance, anger and revenge for the years they stayed out of power. They plan to intimidate, silence and enslave us. Their world view is so strange and different from ours, we are in big trouble.' Nnamdi Kanu, 16th Jan 2015," Emma said.

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Legit.ng had earlier reported that the leader of the IPOB has said that anyone who says Biafra will not come to pass will die.

Kanu in a video while addressing members of the IPOB said there will be no election in the South-East region starting with Anambra until a date for referendum is announced.

You can watch this Legit.ng video of part of the daily activities in Nnamdi Kanu's home:

Source: Legit.ng
[June 20, 2017] noHold Recognized by Gartner as a 2017 Cool Vendor in AI for Conversational Platforms

noHold, a leader in web based self-service solutions, was named Cool Vendor in AI for Conversational Platforms, 2017 by Gartner (News - Alert). The Cool Vendor series is used to discover emerging innovative SMB vendors with interesting and highly original technology that impact their respective markets in a big way. This is the first year Gartner published a Cool Vendor report for this category. According to the report, "The use of conversational platforms is a much-hyped topic, with chatbots, assistants, messaging platforms and other natural-language processing (NLP) uses vying for attention. The five Cool Vendors in this note show the breadth of offerings available and are representatives of the cutting-edge innovation in their respective fields." (Cool Vendors for AI in Conversational Platforms, 2017, 30 May 2017) noHold's latest platform, SICURA QuickStart, is an example of that type of revolutionary technology being put forward. This platform proves that interactive and diagnostic chatbots can be built directly using Microsoft Word or Google (News - Alert) Docs, even if you are not a programmer. The report goes on to discuss some of the features of SICURA QuickStart that are also outlined in a previous press release. noHold is proud to be part of a short list of companies that have demonstrated innovation in this category.



Furthermore, this is noHold's second Cool Vendor recognition by Gartner, previously being acknowledged as a Cool Vendor in Business Process Services, 2015. It is a great honor to be accepting a Cool Vendor designation for a second year. noHold is proud to be a pioneer in the chatbot industry, and still continue to be known as a visionary in the space. You can download the full report titled, "Cool Vendors in AI for Conversational Platforms, 2017" by clicking here.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. About noHold, Inc. noHold is a privately held company established in 1999 and is headquartered in Milpitas, CA (News - Alert), USA (Silicon Valley). noHold is the acknowledged leader in Web based Self-service solutions with a mission to deliver real answers to real questions - real fast. Simple to use, easy to implement and as close to human as you can get, noHold turns automated customer support into cognitive customer interactions. noHold customers include Cisco, Dell (News - Alert), Intel and a host of industry leaders. More information can be found at www.nohold.com or www.albertai.com. All other product and service names are the property of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006331/en/

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[June 21, 2017] Introducing SimpliCam -- SimpliSafe's $99 Smart Security Camera

BOSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SimpliSafe, one of the nation's largest security companies, this month launched its new SimpliCam security camera, created by the same engineers behind its category-disrupting home security system. The camera can be used on its own or alongside the SimpliSafe security system. In addition to offering 24/7 HD video streaming and motion-triggered alerts, SimpliCam includes security-focused features like advanced privacy settings and visual verification alarm response. SimpliCam's privacy settings have been woven into the fabric of the user experience, given increasing consumer concerns about privacy in the emerging era of "connected" devices. SimpliCam was built with a stainless steel privacy shutter that closes over the camera lens when users come home and opens when they leave. In addition, the mobile app provides manual control of the shutter, so users are always in the driver's seat when it comes to their privacy needs. "As a security company, we understand that privacy in the home is sacred. We built our cameras to respect that," said Chad Laurans, SimpliSafe's founder and chief engineer. Users that pair a SimpliCam with a SimpliSafe alarm system will enjoy a new and unique security feature: visual verification. Users can authorize SimpliSafe's professional alarm center to view footage of alarms in progress and provide visual verification to the police, giving law enforcement a live description of a burglary in progress. This could arm the police with detailed information like where in the house the intruders are, what articles they've taken out of the home, and even from which door they may be fleeing. Visual verification could also lead to even faster police response times and increase the odds of burglars getting caught. Users can also capture HD footage of an intruder's face to download and share. SimpliCam also brings a security-first mindset to the alrts that customers receive on their smartphones. For instance, the camera will only notify you when there is something important to see. SimpliCam is calibrated to distinguish between human movement and branches swaying outside a window. The camera is even smarter when paired with SimpliSafe's security system, because it can then capture footage connected to all the events detected by the rest of the system's sensors.



SimpliCam gives users access to a 24/7 HD live stream of their home via a smartphone. While many HD streaming cameras are WiFi-hungry, SimpliCam's bitrate compression algorithm delivers a crystal clear picture without slowing down your home's internet. This is particularly important for a security camera, as users may want to place multiple cameras throughout their home. "SimpliCam is a powerful and smart security camera. And true to our roots, we're offering it at a revolutionary price," said Melina Engel, SimpliSafe's head of marketing.

SimpliCam is available now online at simplisafe.com and in Best Buy stores nationwide. Key Features of SimpliCam Advanced Privacy Protection SimpliCam was built with a stainless steel privacy shutter that closes over the camera lens when users come home and opens when they leave. The mobile app provides manual control of the shutter, so users are always in the driver's seat when it comes to their privacy needs.

SimpliCam secures its users' video feeds with a level of data encryption on par with that used by major U.S. banks and the U.S. military. Visual Verification Users can pair SimpliCam with SimpliSafe security systems and enable visual verification. This will enable SimpliSafe alarm monitoring professionals to provide police with live visual verification of burglaries in progress and detailed information that could help increase arrest rates. Capture Critical Evidence See what happened before, during, and after your camera detects activity. With an optional recording plan, you can record, store, and share critical footage with police and neighbors. Record anytime at the push of a button from your phone, tablet, or computer. Smart Motion Detection False alerts are frustrating. No one wants to get bombarded with alerts every time their camera sees a tree moving. SimpliCam solves the cry-wolf problem. Its intelligent sensors are calibrated to detect the unique heat signature of humans and ignore distractions. Crystal Clear HD Streaming HD video files are large and can cause choppy playback and slow load times. SimpliSafe's engineers developed a variable bitrate compression algorithm, allowing for for crystal clear HD video that loads quickly and plays smoothly. About SimpliSafe Founded in 2006 by Chad Laurans, SimpliSafe offers professionally-monitored home security systems and HD security cameras. SimpliSafe's mission to make "every home secure" is carried out in its commitment to provide top-of-the-line security products and services without barriers like aggressive salesmen, expensive fees, and long-term contracts. Anyone can set up a SimpliSafe home security system in under an hour with no wiring, no drilling, and no tools. Today, SimpliSafe protects over a million Americans and has been featured in CNET, The New York Times, Fortune, The Today Show and more. To connect with SimpliSafe visit the SimpliSafe Facebook and Twitter profiles and SimpliSafe.com. The company is based in Boston and employs approximately 450 people. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/introducing-simplicam--simplisafes-99-smart-security-camera-300477770.html SOURCE SimpliSafe

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- The wife of the notorious kidnapper Evans, Precious, has revealed another detail about her husband

- Evans had been earlier arrested by police at his Magodo mansion

- Precious said she never saw her husband as a rich man

The wife of Nigerias billionaire kidnapper, Chukwuduben Onwuamadike, popularly called Evans, Uchenna Precious Onwuamadike, has further revealed that the proceeds of her husbands criminal escapades were stored in one of Nigerias top banks.

Mrs Onwumadike has been granting interview to the Nigeria media following the arrest of her husband.

READ ALSO: Excellent cooperation among West African police services ensured Evans arrest - IGP

Precious, who had earlier opened up on how she met and married the successful criminal, said, I have not been receiving money from him, I have never seen his money.

Billionaire kidnapper Evans wife drops another bombshell, reveals where husband kept proceeds of kidnap

The only thing I know is that there was a time he bought an expensive watch in Dubai and I wanted to know why he bought it when he could not open any business for me.

I have never seen him as a rich man. While with him, we made sure we had all we wanted to eat and thats all. I cant remember seeing any sign of affluence in him.

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In fact, I have never suspected him as a criminal. If I have been seeing any strange things, I would have suspected him. We have three cars, one Hilux, one grand Cherokee and an SUV.

I know he banks with GTB only. Their staff used to visit us in the house.

Legit.ng had previously reported that the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris attributed the arrest of Chukwujeme Onwamadike, the suspected kidnapper popularly known as Evans, to information sharing and intelligence cooperation among police services in West Africa.

Watch this Legit.ng TV Video of Nigerians' views on whether government should offer him a job to help catch other kidnappers:

Source: Legit.ng
- Major Chukwuman Nzeogwu was a young army officer who plotted the military coup of January 15, 1966 which led to the death of many senior Nigerians

- The prime minister, a federal minister, two regional premiers and top army officers from were brutally murdered in the coup

- He was killed during the Nigerian civil war, flown to Kaduna and was giving full military burial following the orders of the then military president, Yakubu Gowon

The story of the Nigerian civil war cannot be completely told without the mention of the name, Major General Kaduna Chukwuma Nzeogwu. Reasons being that he is said to be the leading brain behind the first military coup in January 1966 which was tagged an Igbo coup leading to a counter-coup in June of the same year, the aftermath of which led to the secession of the Biafran territory and subsequent war.

Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu hailed from the then Mid-western region town of Okpanam, near Asaba in the present day Anioma area of Delta state. He was born in 1937 in Kaduna, Kaduna state. He attended Saint Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Kaduna for his elementary education and for his secondary education he attended the competitive Saint John's College in Kaduna.

In March 1957 after his secondary education, Nzeogwu enlisted as an officer-cadet in the Nigeria Regiment of the West African Frontier Force and proceeded on a 6-month preliminary training in Ghana, then Gold Coast. He completed his training in Ghana by October 1957 and headed on to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst where he was commissioned as an infantry officer in 1959. He later underwent a platoon officer's course in Hythe and a platoon commander's course in Warminster.

How Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu plotted the 1966 coup and died in ambush near Nsukka in 1967

After receiving all the trainings, he returned to Nigeria in May 1960 shortly before independence, and was posted to the 1st Battalion in Enugu where Major Aguiyi-Ironsi was the second-in-command under a British officer. He was later re-posted to the 5th Battalion in Kaduna, the land of his birth, where he became friends with Olusegun Obasanjo. His Hausa colleagues in the Nigerian army gave him the name Kaduna because of his affinity with the town.

READ ALSO: JUST IN: Nnamdi Kanu spits fire, says 2019 will not hold in Biafra land

After serving in The Congo in 1961, Nzeogwu was assigned as a training officer at the Army Training Depot in Zaria for about 6 months before getting posted to Lagos to head the military intelligence section at the Army Headquarters where he was the first Nigerian officer.

The forerunner of the Nigerian army intelligence corps (NAIC) was the field security section (FSS) of the Royal Nigerian army, which was established on 1 November 1962 essentially as a security organization whose functions included vetting of Nigerian army personnel, document security and counter intelligence. Major Nzeogwu was the first Nigerian officer to hold that appointment from November 1962 to 1964. As a military intelligence officer, he participated in the treasonable felony trial investigations of Obafemi Awolowo and other Action Group party members.

Nzeogwu was believed to have stepped on toes of army officers in his capacity as a military intelligence officer and even clashed with the minister of state for the army, Ibrahim Tako Galadima, also known as Galadima Bida. Consequently, he was posted to the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna where he became chief instructor.

Lt-Col Patrick Anwunah described Nzeogwu as a radical and an inwardly insubordinate young officer who was full of his own ideas and probably thought he had the answers to all problems. His statements and comments at that time gave me the impression that he could become insubordinate as he had no regard for senior officers giving the impression that in his quest for what he perceived to be just, he did not give two thoughts about offending people.

General Aguiyi Ironsi arrested Nzeogwu days after he took over power following the January 1966 coup

In the early hours of January 15, 1966, at the young age of 29, Nzeogwu led a group of soldiers on a pre-planned but secret military exercise to attack the official residence of the Premier of the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello in a bloody coup. The end of the coup saw the murder of Premiers of Northern and Western Nigeria.

The Prime minister, a federal minister, two regional premiers and top army officers from the northern and western regions of the nation were brutally murdered. The premier of the eastern region (where most of the plotters came from), the Igbo president of federation and the Igbo army chief were the only notable individuals spared. These factors led to the general conclusion that it was an Igbo coup.

In his radio broadcast to announce the suspension of the democratic regime and civilian rule, he stated that their aim was to establish a strong united and prosperous nation, free from corruption and internal strife and described the collective enemies of the country which they were up against to include the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 percent.

"Those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they could remain in office as ministers or VIPs at least, the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circles, those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds.

Notably, he did promise in his speech that every law abiding citizen would enjoy all the basic freedoms especially freedom from fear of oppression. We promise that you will no more be ashamed to say that you are a Nigerian, he stated emphatically.

READ ALSO: Notorious kidnapper Evans and list of other criminals SUPER Police Abba Kyari has arrested

However, the officer who took over the administration of the country, General Aguiyi Ironsi, arrested Nzeogwu days after he assumed power while he was in the company of Lt. Col. Conrad Nwawo. This was not sufficient reasons for the Northerners to conclude that the coup might have been just Nzeogwus idea, as a counter coup still occurred months later, this time with countless Igbo civilians and military officers being brutally murdered. The ensuing crisis led to the secessionist move of the Biafran geographical entity on May 30, 1967, and consequently the civil war.

In an interview with Dennis Ejindu in 1967, Nzeogwu explained that the coup being perceived as one sided was because the people who had been stationed in the South with Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna in charge, grew cold feet at the eleventh hour. According to him: We were five in number, and initially we knew quite clearly what we wanted to do. We had a short list of people who were either undesirable for the future progress of the country or who by their positions at the time had to be sacrificed for peace and stability of the nation.

Tribal considerations were completely out of our minds at this stage. But we had a set-back in the execution. Both of us in the North (himself and Major T. C. Onwuatuegwu) did our best. The Mid-west was never a big problem. But in the east, our major target, nothing practically was done. He (Ifeajuna) and the others let us down.

General Yakubu Gowon was military president during the civil war who ordered the corps of late Nzeogwu flown to Kaduna for military burial

As revealed by Nzeogwu also in the same interview with Ejindu, there was no reason to be enthusiastic about secession. Shortly before the war, Nzeogwu was released from close observation by Lt. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, and asked to go into battle on the side of the Biafrans.

On July 29, 1967, Nzeogwu, who had been promoted to the rank of a Biafran Lt. Colonel, was trapped in an ambush near Nsukka while conducting a night reconnaissance operation against federal troops of the 21st battalion under Captain Mohammed Inuwa Wushishi. He was killed in action and his corpse was subsequently identified by Lieutenant Abdullahi Shelleng who ordered that it should be stored firstly in the University of Nigeria campus at Nsukka.

The corpse was later sent to 1 division headquarters in Makurdi where the 1 division commander, Colonel Mohammed Shuwa, informed the head of state Major-General Gowon. Despite the fact that Nzeogwu was now technically an enemy soldier killed in combat against the Nigerian army, Gowon ordered that Nzeogwu's body be flown to Kaduna and buried with full military honours  even as the war raged on in the eastern region.

He had been insistent that until a true federal system was worked out, a confederation could still work for Nigeria. He was so hopeful about the country Nigeria that he not completely ruled out secession of any region as impossible. As you know there is too much bitterness at present in the country, and in the past people had imagined that they could conveniently do without one another. But the bitterness will clear in the end and they will find that they are not as self-reliant as they had thought. And they will long to be together.

In the present circumstances, confederation is the best answer as a temporary measure. In time, we shall have complete unity. Give this country a confederation and, believe me, in ten or fifteen years the young men will find it intolerable, and will get together to change it. And it is obvious we shall get a confederation or something near it. Nothing will stop that.

READ ALSO: Soldiers encounter bush pig in Sambisa forest (photos)

Such strong views on secession did not make him best of friends with Ojukwu as they rarely saw eye to eye on the issue. Relations between Ojukwu and Nzeogwu deteriorated further as Nzeogwu made no secret of his desire for a united Nigeria. Even though war between Nigeria and Biafra was imminent, in April 1967 Nzeogwu was suspended from all military activities by Ojukwu.

Ojukwu Gowon inspecting the Biafran soldiers in preparation for the civil war of 1967

The immediate pretext was Nzeogwus involvement in a battle simulation military training exercise in Abakaliki and other towns in the eastern region. Recalling that Nzeogwu had turned the night time training Exercise Damissa into a full blown coup the previous year, Ojukwu banned all such further exercises. Relations between Ojukwu and Nzeogwu got bad enough for Ojukwu to consider putting Nzeogwu back in prison.

Writing a letter to his friend Olusegun Obasanjo on June 17, 1967, Nzeogwu confessed: You have no doubt heard a lot of rumours about my relations with Ojukwu. We obviously see things quite differently after what he did to my supporters in January 1966. He is also worried about my popularity among his own people. I was to be put back in prison, but he was afraid of repercussions. Right now I am not allowed contact with troops nor am I permitted to operate on the staff. One gentlemans agreement we have is that I can carry on with whatever pleases me.

A personality cult bordering on hero worship grew up around him in the eastern region and he was being feted as an immortal indestructible warrior. Although Ojukwu gave Nzeogwu the Biafran rank of Brigadier, he was not given any formal command in the Biafran army. Frustrated at his exclusion from military duties, Nzeogwu took to informal ad hoc guerilla raids against the federal army. He would impulsively conscript other soldiers to join him during these raids.

Nzeogwu was admired and feared in equal measure. He was admired for his intelligence, warmth and charm. He was feared because of his suicidal courage. Junior Biafran foot soldiers were reluctant to be conscripted by Nzeogwu. Conscription by Nzeogwu meant being taken to the front line and faced with grave danger. Nzeogwu was brave enough to cross behind enemy lines, carry out reconnaissance and engage the federal army in close quarter combat.

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Even in death, Nzeogwu was still respected by federal and northern troops. Domkat Bali referred to him as a nice, charismatic and disciplined officer, highly admired and respected by his colleagues. At least he was not in the habit of being found in the company of women all the time messing about with them in the officers mess, a pastime of many young officers then. We believed that he was a genuine patriotic officer who organised the 1966 coup with the best of intentions who was let down by his collaborators.

If we had captured him alive, he would not have been killed. I believe he probably would have been tried for his role in the January 15 coup, jailed and probably freed after some time. His death was regrettable. Five decades after his death, there is still yet to be a consensus on whether he was a hero or felon.

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While at Vitafoods Europe 2017, Vitafoods Insights attended the NCN Investor Meeting and Vitafoods Venture Denif you havent listened to the Venture Den Recap podcast, spoilers ahead! In this episode, Jade Mitchell-Ross is joined by the winner of the Venture Den: Michael Kuech, CEO of Your Superfoods to discover how they market to millennials and use the power of Instagram to drive their sales.
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The IMF now projects Chinas GDP growth at 6.7 percent in 2017 and an average annual growth of 6.4 percent between 2018-20 period.

The First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund David Lipton said the IMF was confident that China will once again find its way through the challenges ahead. China has the potential to safely sustain strong growth over the medium term.

While some near-term risks have receded, reform progress needs to accelerate.

specific recommendations build on the progress achieved and the governments existing reform agenda. In particular:

China needs to further boost consumption . Continued increases in public spending on health, pensions, education, and transfers to poor households would reduce excessive precautionary savings and, combined with making the tax system more progressive and greener, would boost growth while reducing Chinas high income inequality and pollution.

To increase the role of market forces, the existing reform agenda for state-owned enterprises (SOE) should be accelerated and broadened to include phasing out implicit support and increasing tolerance for default and exit. Building on recent announcements, barriers to entry should be removed, especially in the highly closed service sector. Efforts to reduce overcapacity should have more ambitious targets both in the coal and steel sectors and in other sectors, with greater reliance on market forces.

A more sustainable macro-policy mix would include focusing more on the quality and sustainability of growth and less on quantitative targets, a gradual fiscal consolidation, and less accommodative monetary policy. To reduce nonfinancial sector debt, the focus should be on greater recognition of losses, especially of underperforming SOEs and zombie enterprises. Reducing the flow of new debt and increasing its efficiency requires cutting off-budget public investment and imposing hard budget constraints on SOEs.

The critically important recent focus on tackling financial sector risks should continue, even if it entails some financial tensions and slower growth. We will have more detailed analysis and recommendations on the financial sector in our five-yearly Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) review, which we expect to be completed by the end of the year.

The old IMF GDP forecast projected

If the new forecast were realized then China might be about $15.3 trillion in 2020 or about three times the size of Japan GDP.
The US Navy would be able to buy aircraft carriers more quickly and increase its carrier fleet from 11 to 12 under 2018 budget plans being written by the House Armed Services Committee.

The legislation unveiled by the committee Tuesday calls for a new carrier every three years rather than the current pace of one every five years, and would order the service to maintain a dozen of the ships after 2023.

The plans will be rolled into the committees version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which will set defense policy and priorities for 2018, but any sped-up acquisition of carriers will depend on future funding from Congress, according to committee staff.

Russias President Vladimir Putin has officially postponed the development of a new aircraft carrier and a new class of nuclear-powered destroyers for the Russian Navy.

The decision to postpone these two flagship projects for the Russian Navy were reported by Russian daily Kommersant in mid-May, following a meeting between Putin and military leaders dedicated to drafting a rearmament agenda through 2025. The program will be a follow-on to a 19 trillion ruble (U.S. $337 billion) effort began in 2011, which ends in 2020. Despite the naval deferral, Russian rearmament will continue to focus heavily on strengthening its nuclear triad until at least 2025.

Russia 2025 military procurement program in brief

According to Kommersant, the outlines of the next Russian modernization program will focus heavily on building up Russias nuclear triad. The document reportedly calls for the completion of three intercontinental ballistic missile development programs: the RS-26 Rubezh (a development of the Yars-M), RS-28 Sarmat and the rail-based Bagruzin by 2020.

While the full scope of the 2025 program remains unknown, it will continue to focus on the procurement of fighter aircraft such as the Sukhoi Su-30 and Su-35 Flanker derivatives, as well as larger orders of the new T-50 stealth fighter, Kommersant reported. Development of a new long-range bomber is also expected while production of the Tupolev Tu-160 is relaunched.

As for the Navy, the 2025 program will again prioritize the construction of new nuclear submarines and small (no larger than frigate-type) surface combatants. Although Russias new Borei- and Yasen-class submarine fleets have yet to be completed, the 2025 program calls for a new fifth-generation ballistic missile submarine known as the Husky class.

Naval rearmament

What was most telling about Putins 2025 modernization planning session was what didnt make the cut: specifically the construction of a new aircraft carrier and the development of a nuclear-powered destroyer. Together, this signals the further postponement of Russias restored blue-water naval ambitions.

Russias only aircraft carrier is getting an overhaul.
CHAMPAIGN -- Agricultural producers are typically blamed for applying fertilizer that pollutes local waters and carries oxygen-depleting nitrogen and phosphorus to the northern Gulf of Mexico. However, a strong majority of Illinois farmers believe they are doing their part to protect the environment, according to a study from the University of Illinois Prairie Research Institute (PRI).

Scientists in PRIs Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) surveyed 910 Illinois farmers about their beliefs and actions regarding land conservation. Producers values and beliefs are significant factors in determining whether they will participate in agriculture conservation programs, according to Craig Miller, INHS human dimensions scientist. These programs pay farmers to remove land from production. In 2015, 57 percent of survey respondents had been enrolled in a program at some point, and 35 percent were currently enrolled.

Farmers who felt an emotional connection to the land and strongly believed that they are responsible for protecting water quality on their land were more likely to be enrolled in a set-aside program.

The income that farmers receive from these programs is much lower than they would earn if the land was in production, Miller said. Nevertheless, slightly less than half of the farmers enrolled in a program said they would continue their conservation practices even if they were not getting paid to do so.

In comparison, producers who valued their right to make their own land management decisions were less likely to participate in a program. These survey respondents felt that conservation programs give the government too much control.

Even among producers who were not enrolled in a program, 79 percent used grassed waterways for conservation, 25 percent used filter strips, and 20 percent used stream buffers. These practices help to prevent or reduce chemical runoff into streams and rivers.

The survey also showed that 89 percent agreed that they are responsible for decreasing fertilizer runoff to streams, and 84 percent agreed that farmers are doing their part to protect water quality.

A majority of respondents also agreed that if more farmers used conservation tillage, water quality in Illinois and in the Gulf of Mexico would improve. Conservation tillage reduces soil erosion and chemical use.

Overall, farmers felt responsible for their personal land and local waters.

Farmers are doing what they can within the confines of making a living off the land, Miller said. They care about the environment, and they realize the role that they play in protecting it.

The Big River/Tallgrass Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative funded the study.
The Mattoon Area Family YMCA is preparing for the 30th anniversary of Run for the Bagel. This years event will be held on Saturday, July 22, at 6:30 a.m. The early start time will allow participants the opportunity to beat the heat of the day and enjoy other Bagelfest activities such as the Bagel Breakfast and the Bagelfest Parade.

Run for the Bagel was first held in 1987 with all participants registering for a 5K. This years event will feature a 10K Run and a 5K Walk/Run. Anyone interested in registering is encouraged to register before July 1st to be guaranteed a commemorative race t-shirt. After July 1 shirts will be available on a first come, first serve basis.

This mid-summer race offers a flat, partially shaded path beginning at Broadway and 19th Street (KC Summers Toyota). The route will take participants down Western Avenue, through Lytle Park before turning back east down Richmond Avenue. Participants will reach the finish line on 16th Street, at the Mattoon Area Family YMCA. Water stations will be found along the route and a refueling booth will be located at the finish line. The top three male and female finishers in each age group will be awarded a medal.

Registration is $30 per person through July 21. Registration is available in person at the YMCA or online by visiting www.mattoonymca.org and choosing the programs tab.

Same-day race registration will be available in the YMCAs Bock Gym from 5:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. with the same day registration fee of $35 per person. Because this is a chip timed race, same day registration must end at 6 a.m. to insure all participants are entered for timing.

For runners and walkers wanting to pick up their race packet early, packet pick up will be available on Friday, July 21 between the hours of 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Same day packet pickup will be available between 5:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. on race day.

A great way to experience Run for the Bagel when you are not entering the race is through volunteering. Run for the Bagel depends greatly on the support of amazing volunteers. Volunteers are needed on the race course, for registration, at water stations and for set-up and tear down. The hours you put in as a volunteer can earn you free race registration for upcoming events. For more information on volunteering for Run for the Bagel or other YMCA events and programs, please visit the Ys website at www.mattoonymca.org.

The staff at the YMCA is looking forward to another great event during the 2017 Bagelfest weekend. Funding for Run for the Bagel is provided in part by Mattoon, Illinois Tourism.
Two men who proposed interrogation techniques widely viewed as torture are part of a lawsuit filed on behalf of former C.I.A. detainees. Deposition videos, obtained exclusively by The New York Times, reveal new insights into the enhanced interrogation program and the C.I.A. contractors behind it.

Fifteen years after he helped devise the brutal interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects in secret C.I.A. prisons, John Bruce Jessen, a former military psychologist, expressed ambivalence about the program.

He described himself and a fellow military psychologist, James Mitchell, as reluctant participants in using the techniques, some of which are widely viewed as torture, but also justified the practices as effective in getting resistant detainees to cooperate.

I think any normal, conscionable man would have to consider carefully doing something like this, Dr. Jessen said in a newly disclosed deposition. I deliberated with great, soulful torment about this, and obviously I concluded that it could be done safely or I wouldnt have done it.

The two psychologists  whom C.I.A. officials have called architects of the interrogation program, a designation they dispute  are defendants in the only lawsuit that may hold participants accountable for causing harm.

The program has been well documented, but under deposition, with a camera focused on their faces, Drs. Jessen and Mitchell provided new details about the interrogation effort, their roles in it and their rationales. Their accounts were sometimes at odds with their own correspondence at the time, as well as previous portrayals of them by officials and other interrogators as eager participants in the program.

Read the Case Documents Linked below are PDF transcripts of the depositions and other declassified agency documents.

The suit, filed in Federal District Court in Spokane, Wash., was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of several former prisoners of the Central Intelligence Agency. The New York Times has obtained the video depositions of Dr. Jessen and Dr. Mitchell, as well as those of two former C.I.A. officials and two former detainees. Newly declassified agency documents have also been released in the case.

Revelations about the C.I.A. practices, which were a radical departure for the United States, set off global denunciations and bitter divisions at home. They led to an eventual ban on the techniques and a prohibition by the American Psychological Association against members participation in national security interrogations. A 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report condemned the interrogation techniques as brutal and ineffective in providing unique intelligence information by other means.

For years, Dr. Mitchell, polished and assertive, has defended the two mens actions in the press and in a recent book, while Dr. Jessen remained silent. But Dr. Jessen answered questions under oath on Jan. 20, the same day that President Trump was inaugurated. During the election campaign Mr. Trump had pledged to revive the use of torture, including waterboarding, though he later backed off.

The two psychologists argue that the C.I.A., for which they were contractors, controlled the program. But it is difficult to successfully sue agency officials because of government immunity.

Under the agencys direction, the two men said, they proposed the enhanced interrogation techniques  which were then authorized by the Justice Department  applied them and trained others to do so. Their business received $81 million from the agency.

But in his deposition, Dr. Jessen indicated that the two men had some reservations. Jim and I didnt want to continue doing what we were doing, Dr. Jessen testified. We tried to get out several times and they needed us, and we  we kept going.

The outline for the techniques emerged in 2002 when C.I.A. officials asked them to come up with proposals. The techniques were largely adapted from those the psychologists had used to train American soldiers in survival schools to resist brutal interrogations by hostile forces that were violating the laws of war.

Jim and I went into a cubicle, Dr. Jessen said. He sat down at a typewriter and together we wrote out a list. They thought those techniques  including sensory and sleep deprivation, shackling for hours in uncomfortable positions and waterboarding  would be safer than others the C.I.A. might consider to get resistant detainees to provide information that could help head off another terrorist attack, he said.

Lasting Scars Articles in this series examine the American legacy of brutal interrogations.

Soon after, the C.I.A. asked them to use the techniques to interrogate a terrorism suspect, something with which they had no experience.

I had been in the military my whole life and  and I was committed to and used to doing what I was ordered to do, Dr. Jessen said. Thats the way I considered this circumstance.

Abu Zubaydah, taken into custody in 2002, was the first detainee to be waterboarded. The United States government believed he was a top leader of Al Qaeda, though it later abandoned that claim.

At a secret C.I.A. jail in Thailand, he provided useful intelligence to F.B.I. agents who questioned him using traditional methods, including rapport-building. But worried that he was holding back information, which the C.I.A. later concluded he never had, agency leaders chose to use extreme physical force to break him.

Drs. Mitchell and Jessen were sent to the jail to carry out the techniques, including waterboarding. Water was poured over a cloth covering Abu Zubaydahs face to simulate drowning. He underwent the procedure 83 times over a period of days; at one point he was completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising from his mouth, according to the Senate report. A newly declassified August 2002 cable from the prison to headquarters noted: At the onset of involuntary stomach and leg spasms, subject was again elevated to clear his airway, which was followed by hysterical pleas. Subject was distressed to the level that he was unable to effectively communicate or adequately engage the team.

Listen to Your Daily Audio Report This is how the news should sound. Twenty minutes a day, five days a week, hosted by Michael Barbaro and powered by New York Times journalism.

When those at the prison wanted to end the waterboarding sessions as no longer useful, C.I.A. supervisors  including Jose Rodriguez, then the head of the agencys Counterterrorism Center and a witness who testified under oath in the lawsuit  ordered them to continue.

They kept telling me every day a nuclear bomb was going to be exploded in the United States and that because I had told them to stop, I had lost my nerve and it was going to be my fault if I didnt continue, Dr. Jessen testified.

Dr. Mitchell said that the C.I.A. officials told them: You guys have lost your spine. I think the word that was actually used is that you guys are pussies. There was going to be another attack in America and the blood of dead civilians are going to be on your hands.

Still, the psychologists interrogation team recommended using the aggressive techniques as a template for future interrogations of high-value captives, according to an agency cable. The psychologists later subjected two other prisoners  Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed  to waterboarding.

In his deposition, Dr. Mitchell, who once said that most people would prefer to have their legs broken than to be waterboarded, disagreed with a lawyers reference to the practice as painful. It sucks, you know. I dont know that its painful, he said. Im using the word distressing.

Both Dr. Jessen and Dr. Mitchell rejected the notion that men subjected to the harsh techniques suffered any long-term physical or psychological damage. If they are out there and that happened, then, you know, show me the data, Dr. Mitchell said. He added that if the techniques were applied as recommended, my view is, that is so unlikely so as to be impossible.

But The Times last year found a pattern of long-term psychological damage among dozens of former detainees subjected to brutal treatment by the United States. The men described grappling with depression, anxiety, withdrawal and flashbacks.

In their depositions, two former prisoners who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit described their torment. Drs. Mitchell and Jessen said they had not interrogated or encountered the two men.

Mohamed Ben Soud, a Libyan, was held by the C.I.A. in Afghanistan and was subjected to being locked in small boxes, slammed against a wall and doused with buckets of ice water while naked and shackled. He said he still suffered from nightmares, fear, mood swings and other psychological injuries as a result of his captivity.

It comes to me during my sleep and as if Im still imprisoned in that horrible place and still shackled, he said in his deposition, through a translator. I get the feeling of worry about my future and about the fear that this could happen again.

Suleiman Salim, a Tanzanian captured in 2003 and also held by the C.I.A. in Afghanistan, was beaten, isolated in a dark cell for months, subjected to dousing with water and deprived of sleep. He said he suffered from flashbacks, headaches, sleeplessness and ringing in his ears.

I dont feel like being with people, I like being with myself, and I dont like walking around to see people, he said in his deposition, also through a translator. I feel like Im so weak and I cant do anything.

Dr. Jessen said that after the C.I.A.s secret detention program became public  it was officially acknowledged by President George W. Bush in 2006, but had been previously described in news reports  he and Dr. Mitchell were asked for guidance about which methods could be eliminated. They also deliberated damn near every day how we could help our government and not do the things we were doing, Dr. Jessen said. He said they developed an alternative involving less physical coercion, but never had the chance to put it into practice. He would not provide details because the plans remain classified.

Still, Dr. Mitchell asserted that the current legal limits on interrogation methods were too restrictive, and both men said that some of the physically harsh techniques were useful. Walling, in which a prisoner is repeatedly slammed against a flexible plywood wall, was one of the most effective, Dr. Jessen said. Its discombobulating. It doesnt hurt you, but it jostles the inner ear, it makes a really loud noise.

He also described extreme sleep deprivation: There is a tether anchored to the ceiling in the center of the detention cell. The detainee has handcuffs and theyre attached to the tether in a way that they cant lie down or rest against a wall. Theyre monitored to make sure they dont get edema if they hang on the cuffs too much.

Mr. Salim, responding to questions about the same technique, described it as excruciating: A lot of pain in my arms, a lot of pains in my back and around my waist.

In his deposition, Dr. Mitchell revealed that he, along with others, urged the C.I.A. to destroy videotapes the agency had made of some interrogations. The destruction of the tapes became the subject of investigations both by the Justice Department and Congress.

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Dr. Mitchell explained his reasoning about the graphic images of waterboarding and other practices: I thought they were ugly and they would, you know, potentially endanger our lives by putting our pictures out so that the bad guys could see us.

Both men denied accusations that they evaluated the effectiveness of the methods they promoted. However, the advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights, in a report being released this week, contends that the men and the C.I.A. engaged in unethical experimentation on detainees, which is banned by the Nuremberg Code for health professionals developed after World War II.

The group said the explicit mention of applied research in the psychologists contracts with the agency, released recently through the lawsuit, and similar references in recently released C.I.A. cables, indicate that the enhanced interrogation program was itself an applied research regime and implicitly conceptualized as such by the C.I.A.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Gibbons law firm of Newark brought the lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Salim, Mr. Ben Soud and the estate of a third man, Gul Rahman, who died in C.I.A. custody in Afghanistan in 2002, most likely of hypothermia. Dr. Jessen, who participated in Mr. Rahmans interrogation, said he had asked guards several times to provide clothes and blankets to him.

The case is scheduled for trial on Sept. 5. Last month, both sides asked Judge Justin L. Quackenbush of Federal District Court to rule summarily in their favor. He has not yet ruled, but did grant the United States governments request to block the deposition of two additional former C.I.A. officials as witnesses and the release of certain documents requested by Drs. Mitchell and Jessen, on grounds it could harm national security. However, the case was permitted to continue.
Sexual assault and harassment has become a global issue. But is Australia doing enough to confront the problem here?

To inform our future coverage, were asking readers to contribute their own stories. Wed like to hear from people who have experienced sexual assault or harassment in Australia and told someone only to see their account ignored, diminished or covered up.

Were casting the net wide. In addition to universities and schools, where the focus of attention has been for the past few years, were interested in finding out more about the response to sexual assault in government, in sports, in religious institutions, and in the workplace.

We know these can be sensitive and painful experiences to recount. For those who are thinking of participating, please know that no personal or identifying information will be published without a follow-up conversation and explicit consent.

All contributions in the form below will be seen only by New York Times journalists; a reporter will reach out for a follow-up discussion if we have further questions or are considering a deeper investigation based on your account.

If youd prefer, you can also email us directly at nytaustralia@nytimes.com.

Please only answer the questions you feel comfortable answering.
While Lincoln residents slept Friday night, the city's water system staff was at work making sure water continued to flow to homes and businesses.

Around 8:55 p.m. Friday, power to Lincolns well fields in Ashland went out. And the well fields remained without power for 14 hours, the longest power outage in the history of the Ashland facility.

Officials said Omaha Public Power District transmission lines were damaged by storms that rolled through Friday evening.

Lincoln gets its water from the Ashland well fields. With no power, no pumps, no new water can enter the system.

But there is an emergency plan.

Lincoln first drew from water stored in Ashland, then began using the 100 million gallons of water stored in Lincoln reservoirs.

About 4 a.m. Saturday, when it appeared this might be a major power disruption, staff decided to bring in temporary generators.

The city has a contract with Nebraska Machinery Co. for portable generators to use in case of an emergency.

The city ordered two generators, with a third unit on standby, said Steve Owen, superintendent of water production.

The first generator was hooked up and staff was preparing to transfer the well field pumps to that generator when the power came back on, Owen said.

The city canceled the order for the second generator, but kept the first unit on hand at the Ashland facility, just in case the power failed again.

The generator was demobilized Tuesday morning, Owen said.

The city did not have to issue any water restrictions to Lincoln residents, though we were prepared to do that, he added.

By the time the power came on, Lincoln had used the first third of its reservoir supply and was about to dip into the emergency supply  the water that assures fire protection and adequate system pressure.

Teacher's fountain blues

The teacher's fountain at 27th Street and Capitol Parkway is dry as a bone.

(The official name is the Bicentennial Cascade Fountain, but most Lincoln residents call it the teacher's fountain because it was funded by retired teachers.)

There is no water streaming over the top of the big blocks and hasnt flowed for what seems like a very long time.

Last summer the fountains pump gave up the ghost. A new pump was installed a couple of weeks ago. But the old metal vault that housed the pump was no longer watertight.

A deluge on June 5 filled up the vault, seeped into the pump and burned it out. Literally within a week of putting in the new pump, it needed repairs, said J.J. Yost, with the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

City staff are hoping to have the pump running and water flowing over the fountain in about two weeks, Yost said.

Post-election notes

There is life after an election defeat.

Brayden McLaughlin, who ran unsuccessfully for the City Council earlier this year, is engaged.

McLaughlin and Maggie Brumond were engaged on May 21 and announced their joyful news on Facebook a few days later.

The two, both from the Lincoln area, met at a Shakespeare on the Green festival in Omaha last summer.

Another council candidate, Maggie Mae Squires, is no longer a Democrat. Squires registered as nonpartisan just two days after the May 2 election. Squires became disillusioned with some fellow Democrats during the election when a Democratic-led independent committee decided not to support her campaign because of her stance supporting legalizing cannabis.

The state Democratic Party did support Squires, but the independent Vote Local, Vote Lincoln did not. Squires, who had limited name recognition and little campaign funding, was counting on this help.

Since the election Squires has raised enough money to pay off her limited campaign debt.

Younger voters leaning independent

Nationally, about 41 percent of millennials, ages 18 to 35, identify as independents, compared with 34 percent who identify as Democrats and just 22 percent who identify as Republicans, according to a Pew Foundation study.

Lancaster County voter registration numbers paint a similar picture  with younger voters more likely to identify as nonpartisan.

Lancaster County doesnt do an age breakout just for millennials. However, a higher percentage of voters who are 44 years old or younger are registered as nonpartisan and fewer are registered Republican than older voters.
From Reader Supported News

Uniformed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last week conducted a series of raids around southern Michigan, rounding up at least 114 Iraqi Christians and sending them to detention centers around the Midwest in advance of deportation back to Iraq. Many of the detainees will be deported to Mosul, a city at the center of the Iraqi government's war with ISIS. Newsweek reported that many of them will face "certain death," a fate that many of their compatriots already have met.

Michigan is home to hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere around the Middle East, many of whom have found livelihoods with auto manufacturers and become active members of the community. Those targeted for arrest and deportation were almost entirely Iraqis who were found to have either overstayed their visas or had minor crimes in the past, as long as decades ago. Indeed, according to CNN, Moayad Barash, an Iraqi whom ICE snatched last week, had been arrested 30 years ago for possession of marijuana. He has never been in trouble again, and he has raised a family in Michigan. His children are American citizens. Barash's case is typical.

Community activists and the American Civil Liberties Union have rallied to the immigrants' side, but the process has only just begun. The ACLU filed a class action petition and a motion for a temporary restraining order in federal court last week, and an ACLU spokesman said that the deportations could not legally begin for at least another week. In the meantime, those arrested are still locked up, away from their families, with few resources to defend themselves.

So where are the evangelicals? A few have expressed concern, but by and large, they're mostly silent. Evangelist Franklin Graham did say last week that he was "disturbed" that Iraqi Christians had been targeted for deportation. But he, like other evangelicals, supports the Trump travel ban and the negotiations with the Iraqi government whereby Trump removed Iraq from the list of banned countries in exchange for taking back undocumented Iraqis in the United States. Graham said that he hoped Trump would "have somebody investigate the cases" of the Iraqis. That's hardly a ringing endorsement.

And the truth of the matter is that there has been a slow-motion genocide against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East over the past several decades, particularly in Iraq. Indeed, Congress last year voted unanimously to recognize the killings of Christians in the Middle East as genocide, singling out ISIS's executions of Iraqis specifically.

In the meantime, the hypocrite-in-chief tweeted, "Christians in the Middle East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!" But he's the one who is allowing it to continue by ordering the deportations in the first place.

It's time for evangelicals to take stock of their political positions. Do they want to be on the side of Trump or on the side of human rights and religious freedom? Maybe it's time for them to ask themselves an important question: Who would Jesus deport?

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
In 2006 a book was published called Losing Our Democracy by civic leader, Mark Green. His 21stbook, it was the usual Mark Green brand of meticulous research with memorable examples. One would have thought such an important subject would have received wide coverage and circulation. In fact, it was almost completely ignored by reviewers and the media interviewers. In 2017, the danger of having the door shut on the practice of democracy by its citizens is more important than at any other time in recent history.

Republicans prefer to use the words "liberty" and "freedom," not "democracy." Why? Because democracy includes these rights but adds "justice," which holds those in power accountable and brings them down to earth where people live, work and raise their families.

Look at some ways democracy's doors are closing. Thirteen Republican senators (all men) are now meeting secretly behind closed doors to further deny American families access to affordable, accessible healthcare. They arrogantly (or cynically) have refused to hold a single public hearing. In 2009-2010 the Senate held over 100 bipartisan public hearings and 25 days of floor debate before passing The Affordable Care Act, having accepted numerous Republican amendments.

Today, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the dictator of the Senate, aims to jam this cruel and vicious legislation through the Senate by the end of June, a bill which would take away health insurance from 23 million people, many of whom will die or remain sick, and destroy many critical protections for vulnerable Americans. The legislation also gives a huge tax cut for the rich at the expense of America's sick children and adults with disabilities.

This is just one example of Americans being denied access to justice in "the land of the free."

Voting suppression and gerrymandered one-party districts exist in many states. More doors closing. Your right to your day in court against the perpetrators who caused your wrongful injuries has been rolled back in the House of Representatives and in many state legislatures, literally closing democracy's door to your local courtrooms.

The US Supreme Court, with a 5 to 4 corporatist majority, thrives on closing doors on workers organizing through labor unions, consumers standing up for their rights and citizens demanding environmental health and fair taxation for corporations.

Astonishingly, the Trump White House suggests that its federal agency heads do not have to respond to inquiries from members of Congress, while Congressional leaders are trying to hold back reporters' access to legislators on Capitol Hill.

At the Federal Communications Commission, Chairman Ajit Pai is pushing to shut out or make more expensive the people's access to the Internet and to their own public airwaves. Of course, this will benefit big business.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, led by former Wall Street executive Jay Clayton, is moving to make it even more difficult for shareholders -- the owners of publicly traded corporations -- to exercise their rights of ownership. Many shareholder rights have already been nearly stripped bare by previous corporatists. Closing doors to the owners in favor of corporate bosses in a touted capitalistic economy is what is partly meant by the corporate state -- using government to further entrench the corporate supremacists.

The mass media is shutting out the works of citizen groups who are the advocates for more open doors for justice on behalf of consumers, families, marginalized groups, workers and the environment. See breakingthroughpower.org and ask why, over eight days last year, this historic gathering of civic leaders and justice builders was blocked out by the big print and electronic media. In an age of narrow and sensationalized coverage, it is more difficult than ever for the civil society to participate in mainstream discourse via the media.

Doors are closing on small individual debtors. Fees for regular people to file court cases are going up and judicial procedures are reversing their historic purpose and closing doors on the powerless.

Many consumers are closing doors on themselves by not fighting for their existing rights or to create new rights Buying from giant absentee companies like Amazon closes the doors on Main Street, with its community-binding small businesses that pay property taxes for schools and other public facilities.

What used to be heralded as our sacred right to "freedom of contract" has been frozen by the fine print contracts that we either sign on the dotted line or click to accept. These inscrutable contracts strip us of our consumer rights, block our right to go to court, including banding together in class actions, and often give the vendors the power to change the terms, unilaterally claiming terms buried in the fine print give them the ultimate power of control.

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This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Reprinted from downwithtyranny.blogspot.com



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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?)

by Gaius Publius



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.







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Full Guardian article here. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

Is this an epidemics of brain disease? Or do the Gods really drive crazy those whom they want to destroy?





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Veterans for Peace delegation to the symposium

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There were 217 delegates from 32 countries who attended the Fifth International Seminar on the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases held in Guantanamo, Cuba May 4-6, 2017. The theme of the seminar was "A World of Peace is Possible."

The focus of the conference was the impact of the 800 military bases the United States and other countries, including the United Kingdom, France, China, Russian, Israel, Japan have around the world. The U.S. has the overwhelming number of military bases in the lands of other countries -- over 800.

Speakers included the President of the World Peace Council Maria Soccoro Gomes from Brazil; Silvio Platero, President of the Cuban Peace Movement; Daniel Ortega Reyes, Member of the National Assembly of Nicaragua; Bassel Ismail Salem, representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; representatives of the Okinawan movement against U.S. military bases at Takae, Henoko and Futemna and Ann Wright of Veterans for Peace.

Ian Hansen, President of the Psychologists for Social Responsibility, spoke about U.S. psychologists who had participated in torture of prisoners at Guantanamo and black sites, and the decision of the American Psychologists Association to renounce its previous acceptance of unethical language which allowed psychologists participation in interrogations for "national security."

The symposium included a trip to the village of Caimanera which is located on the fence-line of the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay. It has been in existence for 117 years and, since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the U.S. has issued a check each year for $4,085 for annual payment for the base -- checks which the Cuban government has not cashed.

To prevent any pretext for U.S. violence against Cubans, the Cuban government does not permit Cuban fishermen to go out of Guantanamo Bay past the U.S. Naval Base to fish in the ocean. In 1976, the U.S. military attacked a fisherman who subsequently died from his injuries. Interestingly, Guantanamo Bay is not closed to Cuba commercial cargo freighters. With coordination and authorization with the U.S. military forces, cargo ships carrying construction supplies and other merchandise for the village of Caimanera and for Guantanamo City can transit past the U.S. Naval Base. Other Cuban government coordination with the U.S. Naval Base authorities include response to natural disasters and for wildfires on the base.



The village of Caimanera looking out toward the huge U.S. naval base at Guantanamo.

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Canada, the United States and Brazil had the largest delegations at the conference with representatives from Angola, Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Bolivia, Botswana, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, El Salvador, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Italy, Okinawa, Japan, Kiribati. Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Basque region of Spain, Palestine, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Seychelles, Switzerland and Venezuela.

Veterans for Peace and CODEPINK: Women for Peace had delegations attending the conference with other U.S. citizens representing the Women's League for Peace and Freedom, the U.S. Peace Council, and the Socialist Workers Party.

Several of the delegates were international students attending the Medical School located in Guantanamo. The Guantanamo Medical School has over 5,000 students including 110 international students.

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Sarpy County Election Commissioner Wayne Bena has been chosen by Secretary of State John Gale to serve as his new deputy secretary of state for elections.

Bena fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Neal Erickson last December following 22 years with the secretary of state's office.

Gov. Pete Ricketts will appoint Bena's successor in Sarpy County.

Bena, who will move into the state position on Sept. 1, has been Sarpy County election commissioner since 2010.

As deputy secretary of state, Bena will be tasked with ensuring a secure and accurate voter registration system, managing the state's election technology equipment and coordinating all aspects of elections in Nebraska.

Gale, who will retire from his post after the 2018 general election, serves as the state's chief elections officer.

Bena was appointed to the Sarpy County position by former Gov. Dave Heineman and reappointed in 2014. His successor will complete Bena's current four-year term and serve the following four-year term.








[First Published by Inside Syria Media Center, Op-ed by Sohpie Mangal, June 20, 2017]

The European Union Council extended last Monday the restrictive economic measures against the Syrian government up to a year, until June 1, 2018. The event occurred against the background of the latest Syrian Arab Army's success when a weak hope for the end of the conflict in Syria was born. It seems that one shouldn't wait for resolving the conflict, as well as for lifting the sanctions. However, it is time right now for the Syrians to really think about the restoration and post-war development of the country.

Here we should talk not only about food supplies, deliveries of clothes and basic necessities, provided entirely free of charge, but also about the development of trade and economic ties between the Middle East states. But what are the ways to restore the Syrian economy at this stage, today?



Middle-East-map

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The Iranian way

Not so long ago, at a meeting held in Damascus between Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis and Iranian Ambassador to the country Javad Torkabadi bilateral relations in various fields, including in the sphere of economy, were discussed. Imad Khamis made it clear that Syria needs to overcome the full-scale economic war unleashed against the country by Western states and their accomplices in the Middle East.

In his turn, the Iranian ambassador confirmed that the relations between Tehran and Damascus have become a model of strategic cooperation between the countries. Probably, Torkabadi even indicated to his colleague that Syria can rely on Iran economically. In addition, Iran has accumulated vast experience in countering 'Sanctions Warfare' which would help Syria to adapt to Western Sanctions Warfare too. However, the economic ties between Iran and Syria alone will not solve all the problems of Syria's economic degradation.

Qatari scheme

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From The Guardian



U.S. Refuses To Comment - Saudi Arabia has devastated Yemen with bombing raids, throwing the already-poor nation into a state of famine.

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"USA Kills Yemeni People," screams graffiti plastered on walls in Yemen's capital Sana'a. The Yemeni people who have been on the receiving end of US bombs dropped by Saudi pilots know all too well that the United States is complicit in their suffering.

The intense anti-US sentiment in Yemen should be a wake-up call for Americans: if you don't care about the millions of suffering Yemenis, you might think about the future blowback.

Two US Senators, the Republican Rand Paul and the Democrat Chris Murphy, understand full well the implications and have been trying to halt the weapons sales. "The United States has no business supporting a war that has only served to embolden our terrorist enemies, exacerbate a humanitarian crisis, and incite fear and anger among the Yemeni people toward the United States. This will come back to haunt us," warned Murphy.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration and the majority of US senators have failed to heed their call. On 13 June, their resolution to stop the Saudi sale of precision-guided munitions was narrowly defeated by a 53-47 vote.

The vote broke down mainly along party lines, with four Republicans and five Democrats breaking ranks. It also broke down along another divide: peace and humanitarian aid groups vs the Trump administration, lobbyists for the Saudi government and the weapons industry.

Paul, an anti-interventionist Republican pushing the resolution, railed against the senators who were more concerned about the jobs the weapons manufacturers could generate than the lives of Yemeni children. "I am embarrassed that people are talking about making a buck while 17 million people are threatened with famine," he said.

He didn't mention that many of the senators, Democrats and Republicans alike, have taken tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the same corporations benefiting from the sales.

Despite the loss, the vote reflected an unprecedented level of Senate opposition to the sale. A similar effort during Obama's presidency failed 71-27. "Today's vote total would have been unthinkable not long ago, but Congress is finally taking notice that Saudi Arabia is using US munitions to deliberately hit civilian targets inside Yemen," Murphy said.

The more cynical interpretation would be that Democrats are more willing to criticize Saudi weapons sales under a Trump administration than under a Democratic one.

Yemenis are desperate to end this conflict, now in its third year. Nearly 19 million people require assistance and 6.8 million are at risk of famine. This has been compounded by a cholera outbreak that has surpassed 124,000 cases and is projected to double every two weeks. Almost half the country's medical facilities have been destroyed. A Yemeni child dies every 10 minutes from the combined effects of hunger and lack of medical facilities.

Saudi forces have targeted farms, food facilities, water infrastructure, marketplaces, and even the port of Hudaidah, where most of the humanitarian aid was entering the country. Meanwhile, extremist groups such as al-Qaida and Isis have seized upon the chaos to expand their reach.

US backing for the Saudi-led intervention against the Yemeni Houthi rebels is not new. But after Saudi Arabia bombed a funeral procession in October 2016 that resulted in 150 causalities, the Obama administration put a halt to the sale of munitions that would be used in Yemen and pulled back on US logistical support.

Donald Trump has been quick to resume weapons sales, bragging about clinching an enormous $110bn deal during his trip to the kingdom in May. With the growing chorus against US support to the Saudis, the royal family promised Trump that their military would undergo rigorous US training to reduce civilian casualties, signing a $750m training program.

The Saudis also agreed that US advisers would sit in their air operations control center; previously, only a small US team was allowed to operate from another office to coordinate logistical assistance.

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By Michael Uhl



POW/MIA guest setting and attendees at Maine Memorial Day event

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I attended a "Salute to Veterans" this past Memorial Day in Waldoboro, Maine, organized by the town's Historical Society at the headquarters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and co-sponsored by the American Legion. For someone with my antiwar resume, albeit a veteran of a Vietnam combat unit, stepping over the threshold of a VFW Post can feel like crossing into hostile territory. I might exhibit a similar compunction about taking fermentation at certain blue color taverns in the Rust Belt, despite the fact that many of the regulars would pretty much look like me, white seniors with European roots -- except maybe they voted for Trump and I didn't. It's not just politics; it's a class thing. I spent my first eleven years in a working class subdivision while my dad, employed at a defense plant, "broke through the line" into management. We moved up and I went to college, then left my hometown in the dust.

Most of those I sat among that afternoon in Waldoboro probably hadn't been to college -- an opportunity with far reaching class consequences - but they'd remained rooted in their communities. Being there, it was as if I'd been whisked back to some mothballed version of where I'd grown up in the fifties. All the musty forms and rituals were intact. The interior of the hall was a shrine to soldierly service. All manner of war and military memorabilia displayed on walls and tables. Mannequins outfitted full fig in uniforms of various epochs. Two rows of chairs faced the stars and stripes and the flags of all the services that stood tall across the front of the room. Stage-set on the left flank was an empty table with a single place setting and chair, the ubiquitous homage of the mainstream veteran service organizations to the MIAs.

One elderly lady saddled in beside me and sparkled brightly, "don't worry, I won't bite you." Was she in the Ladies Auxiliary linked to one of the co-sponsors, I asked? She nodded yes without comment. The chair of the local Historical Society stepped to the podium, asked the body to stand, then summoned the Color Guard, having carried two flags to the rear, to proceed forward and return the standards to their stanchions. Two of the more senior men, costumed with bits and pieces of their old uniforms -- both wore sergeant's stripes -- fairly dragged the heavy poles up the aisle. "It weighs a ton," one of them grumbled under his breath, but loud enough to make his audience, including me, smile and nod in sympathy.

Invited to remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, I did, of course, silent, my arms unpledgingly akimbo; but not the good citizens around me who earnestly recited these words by rote, and placed palms over hearts, or saluted, especially the lodge commanders ramrod straight whose squared fingers grazed the tips of their "piss cutters." Their drill sergeants would have finally been proud of them. A man at a Hammond Organ struck up the national anthem, and I noticed not many folks were singing, likely having never fully committed Francis Scott Key's lyrics, arcane, elegiac, to memory. I joined in for America the Beautiful, a tune that glides more smoothly off the lips. Then a reverend rose to pray, and did so for the next ten minutes.

Not a stem-winder by any means; the man was no orator. He'd clearly pre-set his marks, and chockablock sought to hit them all. I can track the gist of it from the hurried scribbles in my notebook, which from time to time drew a sidelong glance from my neighbor, quite inscrutable, but from a woman across the aisle a more openly curious look. The alertness of a neighborhood watcher; no interference implied. Meanwhile, the preacher gathered steam. He thanked his God for "giving us these extra days" that had been denied to the fallen who "did not turn, did not flinch" from their ultimate sacrifice. "When Americans go into battle," he exclaimed, "they go to win for righteousness sake" to bring peace to those who are oppressed."

"Might" was preferred, he emphasized, as the "implement of peace for all men of good will." Even now "the God of peace and love" rested his hand on the "boys and girls who defend our nation" as they go into battle" as volunteers" as Your Son went to the cross." Well, that part he has right. Some of these young patriots are certainly being crucified. Not only does the preacher fail to countenance such unpleasantries as the economic draft that has replaced conscription, making enlistment an attractive employment alternative over, say, a career in Walmart's, or similar low wage employment available locally for youngsters with limited education and skills. He hasn't a clue that "the nearly two-thirds of the 91, 764 U.S. troops," according to The Washington Post, "who were separated from the military" in a recent four-year period had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress..."

This is not a mark among the preacher's mental bullet points. It violates the paradigm of community pride toward the "high per capita amount of lives," in the speaker's awkward phrasing, "given to our nation from these two (Maine mid-coastal) counties, Knox and Lincoln." Hinging his body slowly to face the MIA table, he chose to end his reflections by speaking the painfully obvious, that "no one will ever sit there. They won't be able to come to the mess hall again," sacred for GIs, he believed, as "another place of peace." It was by now abundantly clear that for this holder of a minor local pulpit peace was not the way to peace - as A.J. Muste once had taught us. Peace was but a transitory moment at the chow hall along a path of military glory strewn with the bodies of the dead we had come here today to honor. There would be no peace without war.

The head of the town Historical Society, a tiny woman of a certain age -- and originally from New Jersey if memory serves -- returned to the mic and cast a gleeful beam over the gathering, now chastened by the reminder of our survival. She had taught English for many years at the Waldoboro High School, and possessed the forbearing eye that a principal displays before a school assembly. We were now her classroom, and a brief lesson traced the origins of Decoration -- now Memorial -- Day from 1868, when widows organized to decorate the graves of soldiers killed in the Civil War. Judging from the miniature flags that pop up at all the local cemeteries around this holiday, the widows are still at their task.

Many outsiders, and me in spades, develop a fascination for the local history that far outstrips the interest of the local natives. And Waldoboro has a history unique to all of Maine. A compete anomaly in a colony saturated with settlers from the British Isles, the frontier surrounding what became Waldoboro was peopled by Germans in the mid-18th century. This is the stuff from which our emcee now draws to flatter the many ancestors of those Palatine pioneers who are present. Although she is by far the best educated and most articulate of the several speakers who will yet address us, she too is a true believer, well-schooled in the revision of history at the service of civic indoctrination. And so the vitae of the figure from the town's colonial past chosen to reinforce the traditional values we are called here to witness and celebrate must be embellished by urban myth, which I cite to justify my dangling epitaph above.

Conrad Heyer did indeed have a storied life. His fame rested to some degree on longevity. Born in the middle of the 18th century during the so-called Indian Wars, he was well over a hundred when he died in the middle of 19th on the brink of the Civil War. Heyer was therefore one of the last of the town's original German speakers, and a man whose piety history records as a lifelong congregant and choir member of the Lutheran Meeting House, a majestic relic of colonial post and beam construction, now open to tourists. Multitudes from Waldoboro and the surrounding communities turned out for the public funeral when he was buried there. Heyer was a small farmer, and poor like most of his neighbors; late in life he received a revolutionary war pension, a then "princely sum" of $8 a month.

Heyer is justly renowned for having rushed to the Cambridge encampment where Washington had taken command of the continentals in the battle for Boston in 1775. He may or may not have been part of the troop movement that crossed the Delaware to fall upon the Hessians in Trenton, but there appears no doubt that Heyer did suffer the deprivations of winter at Valley Forge. Out of this heroic saga, our teacher spins an even more pleasing tale that jumps the historical rails, promoting Conrad Heyer, along with other nameless Waldoboro men, to a place of honor in Washington's personal guard. History has otherwise chosen to remain silent on this detail. But no military glory can be over-gilded. And you can bet the endorsement of history on such matters is irrelevant, and that the legend of Heyer at Washington's side is widely credited here. This reminds me of my mother telling us our family had a baron in the old country. When I deliver my own lecture on Waldoboro at our local library, I will set the record straight, and may the letters to the editor in our county rag bristle with outraged rejoinders. I digress.

The mic was passed among a short parade of officers of the Legion and the VFW to tell us of their advocacy in the legislature on behalf of veteran entitlements, and health issues like Agent Orange and Gulf War syndrome, the bread and butter mission of these service organizations. We learned when the local posts were founded, and who they were named for, inevitably men -- relatives, boyhood friends, classmates for some -- who'd not come home with the rest. There was a bit of nostalgia in one origin story about a time when "we could still hold a turkey shoot [a marksmanship contest] in someone's backyard. Imagine all the red tape we'd have to go through today?" the man bemoaned with an obligatory head shake. This is the ruefulness of the anachronistic that glues the likes of Trump and our Tea Party governor LePage to their bases.

One commander's comments had been written by committee, the Historical Society maven happily confided. Teamwork was the essential ingredient behind the planning of this event, avowed the team leader. Script in hand, as the man haltingly read other people's words, I was reminded of my years as an adjunct at several satellite campuses of the University of Maine System where I taught College Writing, called Freshman Comp in my day. I became well aware of the fact that, while my students could all read -- but mostly didn't -- only a small minority were capable of writing beyond a string of simple declarative sentences that seldom added up to a coherent narrative. I was shocked as perhaps only someone reared on the blank slate of suburbia and even modestly sheltered could be.

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Of the many performances possible to embed here, I chose this one because of the Video Excellence of the Pianist, the Orchestra, and the Conductor.

With Napoleon's army besieging Vienna, the Austrian Imperial family and all of the court, including Beethoven's pupil, friend, and benefactor, Archduke Rudolph, fled the city. On May 11 the French artillery, which commanded the heights of the surrounding countryside and had penetrated outlying portions of the city proper, was activated.

Beethoven's house stood near the line of fire. Those who could not leave sought shelter underground. Beethoven found a haven in the cellar of his brother's house. Imagine the composer crouching there, with how many other frightened souls, trying to shield his already irreparably damaged ears from the din of volley after volley.

Once the bombardment had ceased and the Austrian forces had surrendered, the occupiers imposed a "residence tax" on the Viennese. The composer, on whom a sufficiently heavy financial burden had been placed by the departure of those who would guarantee his income, described "a city filled with nothing but drums, cannon, marching men, and misery of all sorts."

-Herbert Glass, music critic par excellence, connected to the Orange County Performing Arts Center

Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized in Bonn, Germany, on December 17, 1770, and died in Vienna, Austria, on March 26, 1827 at what would now be considered the very young age of 56.

The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E - major , Op. 73, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is generally referred to as the Emperor Concerto. This was to be his last piano concerto , composed in Vienna between 1809 and 1811; II was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf , Beethoven's friend, patron and pupil. The first performance was on 13 January 1811 at the Palace of Prince Joseph Lobkowitz in Vienna, with Archduke Rudolf as the soloist, followed by a public concert on 28 November 1811 in Leipzig, and the soloist was Schneider. On 12 February 1812, Carl Czerny , another one of Beethoven's students, performed the Viennese premier of this concerto. The name of Emperor for this concerto was not Beethoven's own but was coined by Johann Baptist Cramer , the English publisher of the concerto, who Beethoven regarded as the greatest pianist of that time.

In notes from the Aspen Music Festival on this Concerto:

The Imperial family, including especially the emperor's youngest brother, the Archduke Rudolph, who had already become Beethoven's sole composition student and one of his strongest supporters and closest intimates, fled the city.

One of the compositions of this period, directly expressing Beethoven's feelings for his cultivated patron, the Archduke, was the piano sonata later published as Opus 81a, with the separate movements entitled "Farewell, absence, and return." He composed the Harp Quartet for strings, Opus 74, and completed the grandiose piano concerto published as Opus 73. All three of these works are in the key that possessed Beethoven at the time, E flat major, the same "heroic" key of his earlier Third Symphony.

According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica: "Whatever the origins of the concerto's nickname, it is unlikely to have pleased Beethoven himself, who reconsidered the dedication of his third symphony--initially to have been dedicated to Napoleon--after Bonaparte assumed the title of emperor in 1804."

There is no adjective that could better invoke the work's impressive scale and majesty. Despite its considerable technical demands, the "Emperor" Concerto transcends the typical role of the concerto as only a vehicle for a virtuoso to show off his talents. It is symphonic in conception; its E flat major key, the same as that of the "Eroica" Symphony), its expansive form, and sometimes martial, always grand, character warrant the concerto's accolade among the most important of Beethoven's heroic works.

The Concerto No. 5 is Beethoven's final essay in the concerto genre. Perhaps he lost interest in concertante works because of his advancing deafness, which ended his own career as a pianist. He himself never publicly performed the Concerto No. 5, though he had written his four previous piano concerti for his own use on the concert stage.

Note from the Aspen Music Festival:

In the Piano Concerto No. 4, Beethoven started the concerto with a piano solo. In the opening Allegro of No. 5, he takes this idea to an extreme, providing the soloist with an extended cadenza, punctuated by chords from the orchestra, that outlines in miniature the entire 20-minute movement. The main theme is an assertive march; the more relaxed second theme appears cloaked in mystery, in a minor-key version that soon gives way to the expected statement in the dominant major. The grandeur of the movement is colored by excursions to remote keys.

The lyrical and idyllic second movement, Adagio un poco moto, is one of Beethoven's most tender statements. The piano predominates here, not as a virtuoso, but in a manner and texture that is reminiscent of Chopin's nocturnes.

The Rondo is a movement of jubilant affirmation, shown by the upward moving dance-like main theme. Though the ambitious conceptions of the Concerto remain at the forefront in the Rondo, Beethoven does not shy away from providing the soloist with passages of exceptional brilliance.

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A spectre is haunting Earth -- the spectre of freedom. All the powers of the existing order have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Drug Czar, Tillerson and May, European progressives and Chinese financial police.

Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as anarchistic by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of anarchism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?

Yes, I've swiped those first two paragraphs from Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto and reformulated them for our day. Whatever Marx's faults as an economic, social and political theorist (and they were many), he was on to something when he took notice of the convulsions wrought by the Industrial Revolution.

One side effect of that revolution -- which raised the standard of living in what we now call the "developed" nations so much that the monarchs of the 19th century look like paupers compared to the average middle class American of today -- was centralization. Production moved from home workshops into factories. The fragmented political and economic power of small feudal fiefdoms was consolidated into the hands of national political classes and central planners.

Three quarters of a century into the Information Revolution, its ramifications are finally becoming clear. We're decentralizing.

With the press of a button, a writer can make her work available to a global audience without the large centralized publishing company she'd have had to beg for help even 25 years ago.

Taxi monopolies find themselves in mortal combat with apps which connect individual riders to individual drivers; hotel monopolies with apps which connect lodgers to spare rooms in homes.

The political class and its cronies have effectively lost the war to save the centralized "intellectual property" monopolies, and are now losing their grip on money as cryptocurrencies begin to limit their ability to regulate and tax commerce.

This revolution is far from finished, but it is in principle already possible for a retail clerk in Wichita to talk, share, and trade with a chef in Smolensk or a mechanic in Singapore -- without the permission of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, or Lee Hsien Loong.

When Theresa May calls for Internet censorship to "stop terrorism" or Charles Schumer tries to suppress Bitcoin "to protect the consumer," the above is what they are actually fighting desperately to reverse.

They know they're losing their power over you. They want it back. But their only weapon is their ability to convince you that you need them. You don't.

Government as we know it is disappearing, and that's a good thing. What's next? Who knows? I look forward to finding out.
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall shows us that the high-tech information revolution set the stage for a political and social evolution, the connectivity of which has the capacity to transform everything, everywhere. We have only to say 'yes' to tap [into] the power of this interconnection, participating in it from where we stand."



Dennis Kucinich, former U.S. Representative (D-OH) and 2004 and 2008 Democratic presidential primary candidate
Rihanna has announced her third Diamond Ball will be hosted by Dave Chappelle and feature a performance from Kendrick Lamar, Billboard reports.

Im thrilled that the incomparable Dave Chappelle will kick things off as the official host of this years Diamond Ball and Kendrick Lamar will take the stage for an unforgettable performance, Rihanna said in a statement.

The gala serves as a fundraiser for the Clara Lionel Foundation, a charity founded by Rihanna in 2012 to support and fund innovative and effective education and health programs around the world, per the organizations website.

Previous Diamond Balls have been hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and Kevin Hart, and included performances from Rihanna and Lionel Richie.

Earlier this year, Harvard University honored Rihanna with the Humanitarian of the Year Award to recognize the foundation, among her other humanitarian works, such as building a breast cancer treatment facility in her native Barbados.

This years Diamond Ball takes place Sept. 14 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.
It's been a busy spring for Taylor Grey. The college sophomore moved into her own apartment and learned to balance a rigorous collegiate course load and work. Yup, just like any other twenty year old. But wait, did we mention that her job is traveling the world, attending her first Billboard Music Awards, completing an album and releasing visual art to accompany her singles? Ok, maybe she isn't your average young adult, but who wants to be average?

Taylor Grey stepping into the car and the Billboard Music Awards Taylor Grey for Popdust

June 19, 2017 was the official release of Grey's debut album, Space Case. The 12 track pop album is an unintentional ode to yesteryear, when pop was synonymous with good vocals, relatable story lines, and the desire to just have a good time, and break out an eight count in low waist jeans and and a crop top with four of your best friend while hot guys in tank tops and break away swishy pants watch, even when you are hurting. When you think Space Case, think of strong messages and vocals over syrupy, sweet melodic beats. Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey sans rap remixes, Ariana Grande, and P!nk are natural comparisons when trying to describe her sound. It's no wonder then, that Josh Abraham, who worked with the latter as well as Justin Bieber, Kelly Clarkson and others, is the executive producer of the project. With over 20 years in the industry, it's safe to say he knows a winning package when he sees it.

At the time of her album's release, Grey was (and still is) on the "Basically Happy" Tour starring Jacob Whitesides, for the second time. Taylor Grey is armed with a powerful voice, strong messages, and a team that truly believes in her. Listen to "Wild Bird" the ninth single off of the album,and you get a glimpse into Grey, her tenacity for life, and her desire to succeed. How can you not root for the girl?
Billy Billups came to the new program at the state prison in Tecumseh on Tuesday thinking it was all about how to succeed in business.

"Most of what occurred today was a complete surprise to me, but one very much welcomed," said the 61-year-old inmate.

The 65 men attending Defy Ventures, an entrepreneurship, employment and character development training program, got a dose of the high energy and the deep dives they would experience if accepted to the classes.

In a step-to-the-line exercise, participants, including community volunteers, took an intense look at some of the life experiences and feelings that defined their past and affects them still. It showed them what they have in common and don't have in common.

When Billups stood alone at the line as the one who had spent the most time in his life behind bars  40 years  the emotions hit him hard.

Now he's got hope the six-month program will provide him and others information and insight about their potential to successfully transition from prison to life outside. And even for those lifers, they will learn how to be productive inside the prison's walls.

The exercise in empathy and being vulnerable also gave insight to 20 or so volunteers there to encourage and aid the participants, the entrepreneurs-in-training.

They saw who dropped out of high school, who felt they were natural-born hustlers, which ones regularly judged other people or felt judged for their skin color or economic status. They stepped to the line to show who grew up in poverty, heard gunshots in their neighborhoods growing up, had parents who abused drugs or alcohol.

And many of the community volunteers had to admit they had done criminal things for which they could have been arrested but were not, such as drinking and driving, or smoking marijuana.

Volunteer Christine Cunningham, a 30-year-old investment adviser from Lawrence, Kansas, dabbed at tears through the entire exercise. It made her see, she said, how much she had been given in her life compared to most of the inmates.

It touched her to be able to talk to the inmates about emotional and meaningful topics, she said.

Among the volunteers were former Congressman Brad Ashford, who announced recently he will be a candidate again for Nebraska's 2nd District seat; Fran Kaye, a longtime prison activist from Lincoln; and Mary Barker of Omaha's Compassion in Action.

The Nebraska Department of Corrections can't be responsible for changing these men, Barker said.

"It takes the community to come in and be involved in their lives, care what they're saying, stop judging them by their crimes and understand where these guys are coming from," she said. "They have stories. Some of their stories are horrible. And I'm not making excuses. It's just a fact."

Catherine Hoke is the founder and CEO of Defy Ventures, which is operating in prisons in three states and is about to launch programs in Colorado and Connecticut. Tecumseh is the third prison in Nebraska to bring in Defy Ventures, following the Omaha Correctional Center and the Nebraska State Penitentiary, which recently graduated 27 men.

"This institution has not always been known for the most positive of things in Nebraska," she said.

In the past two years, Tecumseh has been the site of two riots and five inmate killings, plus numerous assaults on corrections staff.

"Here today, we take ownership of our past as we transform our future," Hoke said.

Director Scott Frakes told the participants they've had their challenges, but a lot of good things are happening and moving forward at the prison.

"Men, you have just invested in your future," he told them. "What you get out of this will pay you dividends starting today and every day moving forward and most certainly when you reach that magic day when you get back out and become productive members of the community.

"What you take from this will serve you the rest of your life."
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-21 14:46:01

A.M. Best Affirms Credit Ratings of The Peoples Insurance Company of China (Hong Kong), Limited

A.M. Best

Eva Zheng

Financial Analyst

+852 2827 3421

vivian.cheung@ambest.com

or

Christie Lee

Director, Analytics

+852 2827 3413

christie.lee@ambest.com

or

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

or

Jim Peavy

Director, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

james.peavy@ambest.com

A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long -Term Issuer Credit Rating of a- of The Peoples Insurance Company of China (Hong Kong), Limited (PICC HK) (Hong Kong). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect PICC HKs solid risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), which improved in 2016 as the company de-risked its investment portfolio by focusing on investment-grade bonds and blue chip stocks. The ratings also recognize the implicit and explicit support that PICC HK receives from its parent, The Peoples Insurance Company (Group) of China Limited (PICC Group), in terms of business and capital support. PICC Group owns 75% of PICC HK, while Asia Insurance (Investment), Ltd. owns the other 25%.

As PICC Groups sole overseas subsidiary, PICC HK plays a strategic role in the groups overseas development. The company has generated a stable stream of premiums by writing inward business, which includes facultative and treaty business, as well as whole account quota share from its affiliate, PICC Property and Casualty Insurance Company Limited (PICC P&C), the largest non-life insurance company in China.

Offsetting rating factors include the companys limited presence in Hong Kongs non-life insurance market and the narrow profit margin on inward business from PICC P&C, which could put some pressure on PICC HKs underwriting profitability.

Positive rating actions may occur if PICC HK can achieve substantial improvement in its risk-adjusted capitalization and market profile, while maintaining a favorable trend in operating performance. Negative rating actions could occur if PICC HKs operating results deteriorate significantly, resulting in a material decline in risk-adjusted capitalization. A reduced level of support from the PICC Group, or deterioration in the PICC Groups credit profile, also may exert negative rating pressure.

Ratings are communicated to rated entities prior to publication. Unless stated otherwise, the ratings were not amended subsequent to that communication.

This press release relates to rating(s) that have been published on A.M. Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Bests Credit Ratings and A.M. Best press releases, please view Guide for Media - Proper [..].

A.M. Best is the worlds oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2017 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706210057
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-21 19:42:13

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for American Manganese Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, BC (FSCWire) - American Manganese Inc. (TSX Venture:AMY). has issued a press release with the following headline:Dr. Shailesh Upreti Presented Lib Sustainable Supply Chain at AABC: Advanced Automotive Battery Conference in San FranciscoTo 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 American Manganese 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/American Manganese Inc.Source: American Manganese Inc. (TSX Venture: AMY, OTC Pink: AMYZF, FWB: 2AM, WKN: A0YJSR, ISIN: CA02735A1057)Date: June 21, 2017Time: 1:42 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of American Manganese 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.)
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-21 15:00:38

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Redstar Gold Corporation--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver BC (FSCWire) - Redstar Gold Corporation (TSX Venture:RGC). has issued a press release with the following headline:Drilling Expands Shumagin Vein Structure Strike Length by 42% to Approximately 1,350 Metres at Redstar Golds High Grade Unga Gold ProjectTo 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 Redstar Gold Corporation, 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/Redstar Gold CorporationSource: Redstar Gold Corporation (TSX Venture: RGC, OTCQB: RGCTF, WKN: A0BKK4, ISIN: CA75773Q2080)Date: June 21, 2017Time: 8:45 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Redstar Gold Corporation 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: 2017-06-21 21:36:12

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Men In Kilts--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Calgary, Alberta (FSCWire) - Men In Kilts (). has issued a press release with the following headline:Franchise Founder Makes Chilliwack HomeTo 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 Men In Kilts, 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/Men In KiltsSource: Men In KiltsDate: June 21, 2017Time: 3:35 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Men In Kilts 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: 2017-06-21 07:22:01

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LE BOURGET, FRANCE, June 21, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - Garuda Indonesia, the national flag carrier of Indonesia, has been awarded 'World's Best Cabin Crew 2017' by the Skytrax World Airline Awards, held at the Paris Air Show, Le Bourget, France. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Garuda has been recognized as world's best, the award being presented by Skytrax CEO Edward Plaisted to Garuda Indonesia President and CEO Pahala N. Mansury during the official ceremony, last night, Tuesday, June 16.The President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Pahala N. Mansury, said, "The 'World's Best Cabin Crew' award is another remarkable milestone for our airline, and Garuda Indonesia proudly accepts the achievement for our beloved nation, Indonesia. Our dedication to continuously giving you the highest level of service has brought us to win the World's Best Cabin Crew now four years in a row. Thank you for trusting your journey with Garuda Indonesia."Being awarded World's Best Cabin Staff 2017 is certainly an honour for all Garuda's dedicated employees -- and in particular for our cabin crews, who have committed themselves wholeheartedly to the advancement of Garuda Indonesia and have together embraced the challenge to achieve a "Service of Excellence" level. I believe that this award will serve as further inspiration for Garuda and its employees, to remain committed and to improve even further, while it is also firm recognition of our sustained development in recent years, not only in terms of services, but throughout all aspects of our company," added Pahala.Recognition of the 'World's Best Cabin Crew 2017' is based on an assessment by the"Customer Satisfaction Survey" conducted globally by Skytrax, involving more than 18 million passengers. The survey was conducted on more than 245 international airlines, and held annually by measuring 41 major aspects related to products and services provided by airlines.Skytrax CEO Edward Plaisted said, "The 'World's Best Cabin Crew' award is one of the most prestigious honors in the world of aviation. To have secured this award for four consecutive years is remarkable and unprecedented, and the staff and management of Garuda should be enormously proud of this achievement. The Garuda Indonesia cabin crew deliver hospitality and efficiency at the highest level." Indonesian Ambassador to France Hotmangaradja Pandjaitan expressed his appreciation for Garuda Indonesia's success in continuing with the title for a fourth time. "Maintaining best predicate is not an easy thing. We believe that everyone in Garuda Indonesia has worked hard especially in providing the best service to all passenger. This achievement will certainly bring out the name of Indonesia in the eyes of the world," explains Hotmangaradja.In addition to winning World's Best Cabin Crew 2017, Garuda Indonesia re-entered the ranks of the 'Top 10 Global Airlines', ranking 10th among the world's best, including Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, ANA All Nippon Airways, Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Eva Air, Lufthansa, Ethiad Airways and Hainan Airlines."In line with the company's strategy through it's "5 Quick Wins Priority" program, Garuda Indonesia will continuously focus on service enhancement programs. Through our distinctive service concept, the "Garuda Indonesia Experience", which highlights Indonesia's warm hospitality and rich diverse culture, and combined with platform enhancement in digital services, we are optimistic that Garuda Indonesia will be even more developed in the future," said Pahala.As Garuda Indonesia carries out its business development program along with continuous service enhancements, the airline's performance is increasingly being recognized at an international level. In February 2016, Garuda Indonesia was recognized as a 'Five Star Airline' by Skytrax for the second consecutive year. Perviously, Garuda Indonesia was awarded the 'World's Best Regional Airline' at the Farnborough International Airshow 2012, with the 'World's Best Economy Class' by Skytrax during the Paris Aishow 2013. Garuda Indonesia is now also included in the 'World's Top 10 Airlines' by Skytrax.Since 2014, Garuda Indonesia has officially become part of SkyTeam's global alliance, a global airline alliance with 20 member airlines offering a global network of more than 17,343 flights per day to 1,062 destinations in 177 countries.About Garuda Indonesia GroupThe Garuda Indonesia Group (IDX:GIAA) operates 194 aircraft: consisting of 10 Boeing 777-300ER, 25 Airbus A330-200/300, 2 Boeing 747-400, 76 Boeing 737-800NG, 18 Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen, and 15 ATR72-600, or 146 aircraft operated by Garuda Indonesia, and 40 Airbus A320 and 8 Boeing 737-300/500 operated by Citilink, with an average aircraft age of 4.6 years.Management is implementing an 'Excellent Services' program that requires sustainable service development. It has shown world-class results with 'World's Best Cabin Staff' awarded Garuda's cabin crew by Skytrax for the fourth consecutive year in 2017.In addition to the World's Best Cabin Staff award, Garuda Indonesia has maintained its reputation as a five-star airline, including being named as Top 5 World's Best Airlines in Asia, Top 10 World's Best First Class Airlines, Top 10 World's Best Economy Class Airlines, and The Most Loved Airline.Garuda Indonesia also won the Outstanding Food Service by a Carrier award from Pax International Magazine, the Top 10 World's Most Favourite Airlines from TripAdvisor, Best Cabin Services by Smart Travel Asia, and Best First Class Sparkling Wine-Champagne from Business Traveller. For more information, please visit www.garuda-indonesia.com Contact:GARUDA INDONESIACorporate CommunicationsSoekarno Hatta International AirportEmail: corpcomm@ garuda-indonesia.com Phone: +62 21 2560 1069 | Fax: +62 21 2560 1068Website: www.garuda-indonesia.com | Twitter: @IndonesiaGaruda
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-21 22:55:13

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Organto Foods Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, B.C. (FSCWire) - Organto Foods Inc. (TSX Venture:OGO). has issued a press release with the following headline:Organto Raises $1.9 Million from First Tranche ClosingTo 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 Organto Foods 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/Organto Foods Inc.Source: Organto Foods Inc. (TSX Venture: OGO, OTC Pink: OGOFF)Date: June 21, 2017Time: 4:55 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Organto Foods 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.)
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-21 14:30:31

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Skkynet Cloud Systems Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Mississauga, Ontario (FSCWire) - Skkynet Cloud Systems Inc. (OTCQB:SKKY). has issued a press release with the following headline:Skkynets Cogent DataHub Excels in OPC Compatibility Testing in TokyoTo 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 Skkynet Cloud Systems 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/Skkynet Cloud Systems Inc.Source: Skkynet Cloud Systems Inc. (OTCQB: SKKY, ISIN: US8307191002)Date: June 21, 2017Time: 8:30 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Skkynet Cloud Systems 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.)
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-21 17:02:01

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: Songa Offshore SE via Globenewswire









# 173 Words



Reference is made to the press releases as of 25 November 2016 and 14 June 2017 regarding incentive programs established for employees. Songa Offshore SE has today purchased 24,500 shares for the Long Term Incentive Program. The shares have been purchased at an average price of NOK 32.62.Before distribution to the employees, the Long Term Incentive Program holds 97,648 shares.21 June 2017Limassol, CyprusThis information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-21 15:00:34

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Tasca Resources Ltd.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Tasca Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture:TAC). has issued a press release with the following headline:Tasca Signs LOI to Option for Sale Its Bleiberg projectTo 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 Tasca Resources Ltd., 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/Tasca Resources Ltd.Source: Tasca Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture: TAC, ISIN: CA8765031031)Date: June 21, 2017Time: 9:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Tasca Resources Ltd. 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: 2017-06-21 16:49:01

The EuroMena Funds Successfully Concluded Its Nineteenth Deal by Investing in Retail Holding a Leading Diversified Retailer in Morocco

Grey Doha

Denise Yamine, +97444283111

PR Director

Denise.yamine@grey.com

EuroMena is pleased to announce the acquisition of a minority stake of Retail Holding SA (the Group), a leading Moroccan Retailer. Proceeds of the investment will mainly be used to fund the expansion of the Group.

The Group was established in the mid-80s by Mr. Zouhair Bennani, initially as a single supermarket in Rabat, operating under the Hyper brand. Over the years the Group grew substantially, and is now one of the major retailers in Morocco. Retail Holding is the franchisee for French giant Carrefour, apparel retailer Kiabi, Virgin Megastore and fast food chain Burger King. The Group recently started its expansion to Africa by taking the control of CDCI (Compagnie de Distribution de Cote dIvoire), the second largest player in food distribution in Ivory Coast. It is now the number one player in the supermarket segment, the pioneer and only player in the hypercash segment, and a leader in the commercial real estate sector.

Furthermore, the Group is well positioned for a healthy growth in the coming five years as it will capitalize on the shifting retail landscape in Morocco, where the government is promoting the development of large modern retail spaces, and on the sub-Saharan expansion opportunities.

Gilles de Clerck, Executive Partner of The EuroMena Funds, mentioned on the occasion, EuroMena is proud to join the retail leader at such an important time for the group, in which it is rapidly expanding in Morocco and regionally, led by an experienced management team.

Paul Khoury, Partner of The EuroMena Funds, added, We are confident that the group is well positioned for a healthy growth in the coming years, with the government promoting the development of modern retail and a shift in consumer behaviour towards the growing channel.

Zouhair Bennani, Chief Executive Officer of Best Financiere, stated, We are proud to welcome The EuroMena Funds, a leading private equity firm invested in the MEA (Middle East and Africa) region, as a shareholder of the group and in supporting the development of the company, especially its LabelVie and Compagnie de distribution de Cote dIvoire subsidiaries, both leaders in their respective markets.

EuroMena has accumulated significant experience in the retail sector through its investments in Khoury Home, the leading retailer of home appliances and electronics in Lebanon, and the Indigo Company, a Tunis based apparel retail of international brands with a strong presence in Morocco and Algeria. In line with its strategy, EuroMena will assist the top management of Retail Holding in its growth strategy in the North and Sub-Saharen Africa regions, in which the Fund enjoys a wide network and significant market knowledge.

This transaction is the fourth investment of EuroMena III following the investments in Elephant (FMCG, Nigeria), in Indigo Company (apparel retail franchising, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria), and in Credit Libanais (banking, Lebanon).

About EuroMena:

The EuroMena Fund Management Team has raised more than USD 350 million to date from prominent investors, and has closed more than 25 investments and divestments, within its target region. In June 2016, the Group completed the closing of its third fund, EuroMena III, for a total of USD 150 million, backed by commitments of top tier European institutions such as the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Public Wealth Funds (Proparco), and the UKs Development Finance Institution (CDC Group), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), The German Investment and Development Corporation (DEG), as well as high net worth individuals, and family offices.

EuroMena IIIs mission is to invest in high growth local companies in the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, turn them into Regional Leading Groups, and prepare them for a profitable exit within a timeframe of 3-5 years.

In addition, The EuroMena Funds are planning on launching a Levant SME Fund and a MEA Debt Fund within the coming 6 months.

*Source: ME NewsWire

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706210059
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-21 21:14:01

DALLAS, TEXAS . . . June 21, 2017 . . . On June 21, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware issued an order enjoining the sale of Waste Control Specialists (WCS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Valhi, Inc. (NYSE: VHI), to EnergySolutions. Valhi disagrees with the Court's decision, and the parties are evaluating their rights to appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

"WCS has built the nation's state-of-the-art facility for low level radioactive waste disposal, and the acquisition will protect desperately needed American jobs and innovation and ensure the continued operation of this facility, which is needed for the disposal of Class B and C low level radioactive waste. The DOJ investigation and litigation has taken over 18 months at great expense to WCS, and WCS must now determine whether to appeal the trial court's decision and further prolong the process and associated expense," said Rod Baltzer, President and CEO of WCS.

"WCS presented overwhelming evidence in favor of allowing the transaction to proceed to closing. We are very disappointed with the decision," said Van Beckwith, the lead trial attorney for WCS and chair of Baker Botts LLP's litigation department.

Valhi, Inc. is engaged in the titanium dioxide products, component products (security products and recreational marine components), waste management and real estate management and development industries.

* * * * *

SOURCE: Valhi, Inc.

CONTACT: Janet G. Keckeisen, Vice President - Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations (972) 233-1700





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: Valhi, Inc. via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-21 18:12:12

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Zimtu Capital Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Zimtu Capital Corp. (TSX Venture:ZC). has issued a press release with the following headline:Zimtu Capital Corp. Commences Exploration Program at the Munn Lake PropertyTo 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 Zimtu Capital 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/Zimtu Capital Corp.Source: Zimtu Capital Corp. (TSX Venture: ZC, FWB: ZCT1, WKN: A0RDR9, ISIN: CA9895892052)Date: June 21, 2017Time: 12:12 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Zimtu Capital 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.)
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.




Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are semiconductors that produce and emit light when activated. Owing to the benefits of LEDs, they are considered as better alternative to other sources of light.

Contact

Expert Market Research

***@expertmarketresearch.com Expert Market Research

End

-- In comparison to conventional lights, LEDs use energy more efficiently as they are directional light sources that emit light in a specific direction. They are the ideal choice for use in rough conditions on account of their durability and strength. In addition, LEDs are environment-friendly as they radiate less heat and do not contain harmful chemicals like mercury.Some of the other advantages include small size, good colour rendering, high luminescence and longer operational life. In Vietnam, LEDs were initially used in traffic lights and advertising industry. However, with the increasing awareness about their advantages, they are now being used in various sectors such as residential lighting, street lighting, commercial lighting, etc. According to a new report by Expert Market Research, the Vietnam LED lighting market reached a value of US$ 152 Million in 2016 and is further expected to reach US$ 384 Million by 2022.The production of LEDs in Vietnam has witnessed a significant growth during the year 2009-2016. This can be accredited to a number of forces. With the rising environmental concerns and increasing expenses on the generation of electricity, the Vietnamese government is encouraging the use of energy-efficient lights. The growing use of LEDs in high-tech products such as television, digital camera, smart phones and automobiles have also resulted in rising demand for LEDs in Vietnam. Moreover, urbanization, rising population, increasing disposable incomes and infrastructural development represent some of the other factors which have further facilitated the market growth.Key findings from the report: The major end-uses of LEDs in Vietnam include residential, commercial and outdoor lighting. On the basis of product type, the Vietnam LED lighting market has been classified as LED lamps and modules and LED fixtures. Being concentrated in nature, the Vietnam LED lighting market is dominated by a small number of players which include Dien Quang, Rang Dong and Philips.Click here for summary of the report with TOC: http://www.expertmarketresearch.com/ reports/vietnam- led-m... Expert Market Research has analysed the Vietnam LED lighting market according to end-use, product type and top players:Market breakup by End-use- Residential Lighting- Commercial Lighting- Outdoor LightingMarket breakup by Product Type- LED Lamps and Modules- LED FixturesTop players- Dien Quang- Rang Dong- PhilipsAbout UsExpert Market Research (EMR) is a market research and consultancy firm providing syndicated and custom research along with consultancy services to a wide clientele base which includes Fortune 1000 companies as well as small and medium enterprises. With our tailored approach, the clients gain valuable and unbiased insights that help to improve their competitive edge and realize sustainable growth.With a keen focus on the qualitative aspect as well as accuracy of the reports, we align our resources and services as per the client's requirement and offer a flexible engagement model that best suits their needs. We offer market intelligence across a range of industry verticals which include Pharmaceuticals, Food and Beverage, Technology, Retail, Chemical & Materials, Energy & Mining, Packaging and Agriculture.
$10,000 grant will support WBH's work drilling wells in Niger

Contact

Todd Bentjen

***@wellsbringhope.org Todd Bentjen

End

-- The Million Dollar Roundtable Foundation has awarded a USD $10,000 grant to Wells Bring Hope to drill wells in Niger, West Africa, the poorest country in the world.Through its global grants programs, the MDRT Foundation is committed to building stronger families and communities around the globe. This year, the MDRT Foundation will award more than $1 million in MDRT member-endorsed grants to more than 200 charitable organizations worldwide.Representing the MDRT Foundation, Judd T. Swarzman, CLU, ChFC, presented this grant to Wells Bring Hope on June 11, 2017 at a donor appreciation dinner in the home of WBH Founder and President Barbara Goldberg. The grant will support the drilling of wells in rural villages of Niger and have profound effects in the short and long term."We are so thrilled that the Million Dollar Round Table Foundation has awarded us a second grant to support our mission of saving lives with safe water," said Barbara Goldberg, president and founder of Wells Bring Hope. "I have been to Niger and seen firsthand the transformative effect that a well has on a village. Thanks to this grant, nearly 2,000 people in rural Niger will benefit from that transformation."The MDRT Foundation was created in 1959 to provide MDRT members with a means to give back to their communities. Since its inception, the Foundation has donated more than $30 million in more than 70 countries throughout the world and in all 50 U.S. states. These funds were raised by MDRT members and industry partners. For more information, visit mdrtfoundation.org.Founded in 1927, the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), The Premier Association of Financial Professionals, is a global, independent association of more than 49,500 of the world's leading life insurance and financial services professionals from more than 500 companies in 70 countries. MDRT members demonstrate exceptional professional knowledge, strict ethical conduct and outstanding client service. MDRT membership is recognized internationally as the standard of excellence in the life insurance and financial services business. For more information, visit mdrt.org.Wells Bring Hope is a Los Angeles based nonprofit committed to drilling wells to bring safe water and sanitation to rural villages in Niger, West Africa, the poorest country in the world. Since its inception in 2008, WBH has funded 447 wells, delivering safe water to close to half a million people. WBH is a volunteer-driven organization with only one paid employee, and 100% of all donations go directly to funding wells. For more information, visit http://www.wellsbringhope.org
Dave Cox, Middleton Idaho DUI Analyst and Consultant, recently concluded multiple DUI Seminars in Arkansas, helping DUI attorneys win more DUI cases.

Contact

Dave Cox

***@yourduipro.com Dave Cox

End

--Your DUI Pro, recently traveled to Arkansas to present his well-received "Winning DUI Cases" Seminar. Dave visited Jonesboro, Fayetteville, and Little Rock; Arkansas to deliver the seminar to some of Arkansas' best DUI attorneys. Dave Cox taught these Attorneys how to win DUI cases using NHTSA Manuals and advanced cross-examination techniques.The attorneys who attended Dave Cox's DUI Seminar, "Winning DUI Cases", had great things to say about their experience. Here are some testimonials from some of Arkansas' best DUI attorneys:"Excellent."Ross Ridout - Searcy, Arkansas"Very informative. Can't wait to put the material learned to use."Eric Kennedy - Des Arc, Arkansas"Great class & very informative. Dave Cox is a wonderful speaker who makes the class entertaining. I recommend this course for anyone who tries DUI cases."Clay Simpson - Searcy, ArkansasDave Cox, DUI Analyst and Consultant, has personally trained thousands of attorneys across the United States. Dave is a former police officer and, during his career, he was recognized as one of the top DUI officers in the country. As an officer, Dave Cox was certified as a Drug Recognition Expert, the highest level of training available to DUI enforcement officers. Dave now specializes in training attorneys how to easily and effectively use the officer, the officer's training, and the officer's NHTSA Manuals to win DUI Cases.In the upcoming weeks, Dave Cox will be presenting his DUI Seminar to attorneys in Kansas, Mississippi, Maine, and Wisconsin. Dave will be visiting the following cities:Salina, Wichita, and Overland Park; KansasTupelo, Gulfport, and Jackson; MississippiBangor, Augusta, and Portland; MaineEau Claire, Madison, and Milwaukee; WisconsinTo register for upcoming seminars, please visit http://www.YourDUIPro.com/ seminars To learn more about Dave Cox and Your DUI Pro, please visit http://www.YourDUIPro.com
Savills has recruited Stuart Jordan to head its investment agency team. Jordan joins Savills after six years with JLL, where he was head of CEE Capital Markets based in Prague and oversaw all investment activity in the Czech Republic. During this period, he was responsible for some of the largest

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After making crowdfunding history last fall by raising over one million dollars to publish a childrens book with 100 illustrated stories of inspiring women, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo have announced plans via Kickstarter for a second volume, along with a series of podcasts of the same name. Favilli and Cavallo had planned to print 10,000 books in time for the holidays if they reached their $100,000 goal.

Given that they topped $100,000 in the first three hours of todays campaigns launch and had more than doubled it at press time, they could be printing a lot more. And thats with another 29 days yet to go.

The pair, who used their childrens media startup, Timbuktu Labs, to publish the first book, launched a joint campaign for both Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2, which will feature 100 new stories of pioneers, scientists, activists, and heroic women, and for the Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls podcast via the Kickstarter Gold platform. Were thrilled they have come back to launch such new exciting projects, Margot Atwell, director of publishing at Kickstarter, said in a statement. They are redefining the future of publishing.

Whether thats the case, Cavallo and Favilli certainly made a splash with their first book, which was funded by 13,454 backers from 75 countries. Written to introduce children between the ages of five and eight to the stories of women from around the world, the initial collection has sold over a half million copies worldwide in 30 languages. Although many of the copies were sold through Kickstarter and then through Indiegogo InDemand, last spring Favilli and Cavallo began offering wholesale terms. Barnes & Noble and a number of independent bookstores have begun carrying the book.

We got an email from their sales department early in May saying that they were starting a wholesale program, so we jumped right on the offer, Josh Christie, cofounder of Print: A Bookstore in Portland, Maine, said. Its been selling very well. Weve already ordered stock twice, and will likely need to order again at the start of the month.

Favilli, a writer and entrepreneur who has managed digital newsrooms on both sides of the Atlantic, told PW that she sees Timbuktu as a new kind of independent publisher that creates unique books in constant dialogue with its audience of millennial women and their daughters. We are redefining the boundaries of traditional publishing and creating a model where we are in control of the entire pipeline, from creation to delivery to the readers.

In a video on the Kickstarter page for the new book and podcast, Favilli and Cavallo note that most media continue to be filled with gender stereotypes, which is why these projects are so important. They encourage supporters to help us push the rebel revolution and create a world where gender wont define how big you can dream or how far you can go.

Although Favilli and Cavallo set the campaign goal for the first volume of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls at $40,000, meeting their $100,000 goal will enable them to print the second volume of kids stories and to make a series of 10 12-minute podcasts on inspiring women like Margaret Hamilton with NASA. The first episode will be released next February with the rest of the first season available in March. Funders will receive a special, or secret, podcast in December.

Favilli and Cavallo plan to print the new book in Canada. It will be distributed through fulfillment centers in Chicago, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles. It is available separately or as a boxed set with volume one in November; international editions of the second book will be available in March 2018.
Chicago Review Press, Inc., the parent company of Chicago Review Press and Independent Publishers Group distribution company, announced on Monday that effective July 1, it has acquired the Bright Ideas for Learning series. The series was originally published by Bright Ring Publishing, which was founded in Washington state in 1985 by MaryAnn F. Kohl with the release of Scribble Cookies.

The company specializes in publishing art resource books for children, parents, and teachers in its Bright Ideas for Learning series. There are 11 titles currently in print, all authored or co-authored by Kohl. IPG will continue to distribute Bright Ideas for Learning titles in print under the CRP imprint: Discovering Great Artists, Action Art, Great American Artists for Kids, Science Arts, Storybook Art, Good Earth Art, Scribble Art, Mudworks, Mudworks Bilingual Edition, MathArts, and Making Make-Believe.

CRP will not take on any Bright Ring staff with the acquisition. Kohl will continue her work as a parent educator, author, literary agent, and education and publishing consultant.

Founded in 1973, Chicago Review Press currently releases about 70 frontlist titlesprimarily nonfiction for adults, but also some fiction and some childrens booksannually under six imprints: Chicago Review Press, Lawrence Hill Books, Ball Publishing, Zephyr Press, Academy Chicago Publishers, and Parenting Press.
In spite of a proposed budget from the White House that, if accepted, would see the elimination of the National Endowment of the Arts, the organization has issued 1,195 new grants. The grants, totaling $84.06 million, are going to arts organizations across the country. It is the second round of funding for the endowment in 2017.

The American people are recognized for their innovative spirit and these grants represent the vision, energy, and talent of Americas artists and arts organizations, NEA chairman Jane Chu said in a statement. I am proud of the role the National Endowment for the Arts plays in helping advance the creative capacity of the United States.

In the largest grant category, Art Works, 1,029 grants totaling $26.1 million were awarded. Book industry entities to receive the grants include Poets & Writers, which received $75,000 to support the publication of its magazine Poets & Writers, the development of new content and resources on pw.org, and improvements to its online directories. Lambda Literary received $25,000 to support its Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, the LGBTQ Writers in Schools Program, and its national reading series.

"NEA funding is critical to our ability to serve creative writers," Poets & Writers' executive director Elliot Figman said. "With this award, we will help writers to connect with one another, publish and promote their work, and advance their careers."

Lambda Literary executive director Tony Valenzuela said in a statement: "Lambda Literary is the national leader advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender literature through programs that honor excellence, promote visibility, and build community among and understanding of LGBTQ lives. We're grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts for their support in furthering our mission."
RACINE COUNTY  Racines jobless rate in May was estimated at 4.2 percent, a significant decline from the previous May, according to the latest figures from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

DWD released its May unemployment rate estimates Wednesday, showing the city of Racine sitting at 4.2 percent, well below the May 2016 estimate of 5.9 percent.

At that time Racine had the states highest jobless rate among cities tracked by the agency. But since then, Racines rate has slid below that of Beloit which stood at an estimated 4.7 percent last month.

The city of Racines unemployment rate decline has helped tug Racine Countys rate down from 4.7 percent last May to 3.4 percent this May.

Other area jobless rate estimates for May, followed by the previous May:

Caledonia  3.0 percent, 4.0 percent.

Mount Pleasant  3.1 percent, 4.1 percent.

Kenosha  3.6 percent, 4.9 percent.

Oak Creek  2.7 percent, 3.4 percent.

Unemployment rates are based on the number of people working or actively seeking work. They do not capture those people who have given up and stopped looking for jobs. Nor do they show underemployment: people working part-time who want full-time jobs.

Jobless rates are based on where people live, regardless of whether they commute elsewhere for work. The state also estimates the numbers of jobs in certain geographic areas including Racine County. For May the state said this county had about 77,600 jobs, about 300 fewer than the previous May when the number stood at 77,900.
What makes American cuisine American? Thats the question putand, in a way, answeredby America: The Great Cookbook (Weldon Owen, Oct.), the latest title in the publishers Great cookbook series.

The series, which includes four other titles, has sold more than 350,000 copies and has covered the cuisines of such countries as Australia and South Africa. But to say what constitutes the food of America, melting pot that it is, was uniquely difficult.

To help with this curatorial challenge the publisher brought on Joe Yonan, the food and dining editor of The Washington Post, to edit the book. Yonan, a two-time winner of the James Beard Award (for the best newspaper food section), was tasked with choosing whom, among the country's culinary elite, to include.

"The primary driver in deciding who would be in the book was a commitment to representing the beautiful, amazing diversity of the American food scene, Yonan said. I wanted to make sure that we saw both high-end, famous chefs and down-home, more casual restaurant figures.

The book, which features recipes and stories from more than 100 chefs and food-world figures, touches on the food scenes in five distinct regions of the country. Bold-faced stars such Mario Batali and Ruth Reichl appear in the book. More under-the-radar figures who crop up include the family behind Murder Point Oysters, a beloved local spot in the Gulf Coast, and the owners of the soul-food restaurant Berthas Kitchen, in Charleston, S.C., which was named a 2017 America's Classic by the James Beard Foundation. Also important to Yonan was highlighting America's diversity of food production: the book spotlights such practices as fishing, foraging, and cattle ranching.

Yonan also wanted the book to highlight how much of the country's food scene has been enriched by people who hail from other places. I certainly think the book celebrates the incredible contributions of immigrants to Americas food culture, he said. Its an interesting statement to the world about how we, who put the book together, think the rest of the world, and even America, can and should view American food.

America: The Great Cookbook will also serve a humanitarian purpose. A portion of the royalties from the book will go to No Kid Hungry, a campaign run by the nonprofit organization Share Our Strength to combat childhood hunger.
The past decade has seen a distinct expansion of library advocacy across the country, largely in response to budget cuts. As a result, librarians at all levels have been organizing and raising their voices to demonstrate the value of their positions and their libraries in the community. In light of continued tightening of funding, including steep cuts proposed by a new president, the battle cry of librarians has become even louder. We checked in on a few of the most recent efforts.

Appropriations Push

May was a particularly busy month on the library advocacy front. To kick things off, on May 12 a record number of librariansmore than 500took part in the American Library Associations National Library Legislative Day (and double that number participated online). During their time in D.C., librarians discussed issues and legislation affecting them with ALAs Washington Office and met with representatives on Capitol Hill. Copyright, net neutrality, and privacy were among other topics on the table. An early bright spot of the event was the May 1 announcement of the federal budget for fiscal year 2017 (ending September 30), which increased federal library funding by $1 million.

But the bigger budget debate at the event was President Trumps proposed fiscal year 2018 budget, announced March 16, in which he called for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the grant-making agency that serves as the primary source for federal funding to libraries. Ahead of the 2018 budget, the ALA had already drafted its annual Dear Appropriator letters urging Congress for full funding of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) at $186.6 million and Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) at $27 million. In light of the newly proposed threat to funding, advocacy efforts shifted into a higher gear.

On May 10, the top brass from eight major companies providing services to librariesBaker & Taylor, Follett, Gale, OverDrive, Peachtree Publishers, Penguin Random House, ProQuest, and Rosen Publishingsent their own letter to members of the Senate, emphasizing the enormous impact and value of libraries and urging senators to sign the ALAs Dear Appropriator letters by May 19. This corporate support expanded on May 17, when additional businesses and trade organizations teamed with the original eight companies to officially form the Corporate Committee for Library Investment (CCLI). Another letter, signed by 26 founding CCLI members, was delivered to the Senate, requesting that lawmakers sign the two letters to their colleagues on the Appropriations Committee, asking for the aforementioned amounts of funding for fiscal year 2018.

According to the ALA Washington Office, 45 senators (a new record) from both sides of the aisle signed the LSTA letter, besting last years support level by 33%, and a bipartisan group of 37 senators signed the IAL letter, up almost 20% from last year. Both letters were delivered to the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 25. Between the CCLI letters release on May 17 and the May 19 signing deadline, CCLIs membership tripled, growing to more than 80 members, including Publishers Weekly. Membership now stands at more than 90 companies and organizations.

Additional appropriations-driven advocacy in March and April came from the ALAs Fight for Libraries! and #saveIMLS campaigns. ALA reports more than 21,000 emails were sent to the Senate alone, and over 42,000 to Congress, while 26,000 #saveIMLS tweets were sent between mid-March and May 25.

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) also reached out to Capitol Hill in March and April (April was School Library Month). Via the organizations journal, Knowledge Quest, AASL president Audrey Church challenged members to invite a legislator to their libraries during the two-week congressional spring break. Churchs March 17 blog post on the topic echoed the popular picture book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff and Felicia Bond: If you invite a legislator to the library... she will see an effective 21st-century school library program (perhaps very different from what she remembers from her K12 years). If a legislator sees an effective 21st-century school library program... he will see a school librarian who is a master teacher, technology integrator, and collaborative instructional partner.

Word of the effort was spread using the hashtag #Leg2SchLibrary. As of Churchs posted update on June 5, 45 AASL members in 18 states had extended invitations to their representatives or senators, and four members shared stories of lawmakers who accepted. Stacey Kern of Clark-Pleasant Middle School in Greenwood, Ind., received a visit from Rep. Trey Hollingsworth. He was able to witness a library lesson in action, tour our fantastic learning commons, and engage in conversations with students and staff, Kern said in Churchs update. In the same follow-up report, Kim Johnson, from South Carroll High School in Sykesville, Md., said of her visit from Rep. Jamie Raskin: He got to experience an Hour of Code, see our #weneeddiversebooks March Madness display, and visit with lunch students. Then, we invited four government classes to come to the media center for a q&a with the congressman.

CCLI Closeup

CCLI was jointly formed by Gale, a Cengage company, and ALA. Going forward, in addition to federal funding support, the group plans to focus on several key issues including: reauthorization of the Museum and Library Services Act, supporting the inclusion of libraries in any infrastructure legislation authorized by Congress, and leveraging libraries to deploy high-speed broadband service to communities across the country. ALA will provide logistical support to CCLI.

Baker & Taylor was one of the initial eight companies to sign on to CCLI. For B&T president David Cully, rallying for federal funding is essential, as the money is a key driver for the ever-expanding mission of public libraries. Its pretty clear to me that Americas public libraries are reaching maybe deeper than ever before into all facets of the communities that they serve, Cully says. They offer vital services to patrons of all shapes and sizes that are really having a material impact on peoples lives.

Though developing collections, both visible and digital, that are relevant to the community is a primary function of a public library, Cully adds: Thats only the beginning of the work that they do. The themes that we see now are public libraries reaching out to the community to attract newer generations with the newest technologies, libraries investing in infrastructure to be more vibrant for young parents with after-school programs, libraries investing in technologies and content in collaboration with local school districts aligned around curriculum objectives, libraries reaching out to adults providing high school equivalency and GED programs, and libraries supporting language-constrained immigrants to our country in terms of communication skills and literacy. The funding that the federal government provides is mission critical for the incredible work that our public libraries are doing.

Baker & Taylors sister company, Follett School Solutions, is also one of the founding members of CCLI. I was approached by a former colleague from Gale, where I worked for 16 years, and also by former colleagues who are now at ProQuest, says Nader Qaimari, president of Follett School Solutions, recalling how he came to sign on to the advocacy group. It seemed like a lot of people I know and respect were behind this, and it was a pretty quick decision for us to get behind it as well.

Assessing the importance of CCLIs mission, Qaimari says: Primarily we all know the benefits of libraries and the benefits they have within school districts, within communities, within higher education. But a lot of times that benefit is not evident to the general public in terms of the internet services they provide to rural communities, the early learning opportunities for younger kids and families, support for immigrants and the homeless and other things, on the public library side.

As a more specific example, Qaimari points to the school setting: I work on the school library side, and for us literacy has always been known to be the best predictor of student success over time. He believes the library is [a] basically nonjudgmental space where kids can go and explore what theyre interested in and move on through the stages of literacy, adding, We know the benefit of libraries and have been a huge supporter all this time.

But there is another practical angle to this particular advocacy effort as well. On the financial side of it, the companies that support libraries employ thousands of people, Qaimari says. Cuts to something like IMLS, which is not really that much of a budget item for the government, actually have big ramifications on all the companies that support libraries. My company alone employs 1,300 people right now across the country. If you multiply that by all the other companies, youre talking about hundreds of thousands of employees who are working every day in and out of libraries.

Though CCLI targets funding on the national level, Qaimari discussed his companys role in several other major library advocacy efforts. Both Follett and Baker & Taylor are involved with EveryLibrary, the nonprofit political action committee that, according to its mission statement, is dedicated to working at the local level to create, renew, and protect public funding for libraries of all types. Follett and B&T have invested a lot of money into that to help drive the agenda around school libraries and public libraries, Qaimari says. So if theres a community where we find that they need to have a bond passed or we learn that a school district has gotten rid of all their school librarians, we engage with EveryLibrary to do the grassroots work to help make sure that the community is well-informed and they have all the facts so they can make the right decision.

One of EveryLibrarys biggest recent effortsin partnership with Rosen Publishingwas to offer pro bono consulting to school library stakeholders at the state level as each state readied its planning for implementation of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which was signed into law in December 2015. Similarly, AASLcollaborating with ALAs Office of Library Advocacy and the ALA Washington Officehas been proactive in helping its membership prepare for ESSA by providing a comprehensive workshop to each state through its affiliate organization. So far, more than 1,500 librarians have attended 39 workshops. On May 12, the U.S. Department of Education announced that 16 states plus the District of Columbia had submitted their state plans under ESSA and those plans were ready for peer review, the next step in the process. The remaining states are working toward the next submission deadline of September 18.

Beyond the Beltway

Follett School Solutions has created its own advocacy efforts internally as well. Something we are doing that may be slightly different than others is that we are doing a lot of work providing professional development to the librarians themselves, Qaimari says. A lot of times librarians have not been as loud as they need to be. Its just the nature of the job and the way theyve been trained over the years. But were trying to show them that you need to have a voice within your district and you need to have that strategic clarity yourself.

In Folletts online professional development courses, librarians are encouraged to get at the table with the superintendent and with the principal, Qaimari says. Make sure they know how you support their vision and how you support their strategy. And through these courses, he notes, we give librarians all the tools to do that by training them and giving them credentials. If this happens more often, then the conversation is a lot easier to have. Right now, a lot of these [funding and budgeting] decisions are based on ignorance of what librarians really do and how they support schools and communities.

Qaimari believes his company is tackling advocacy in an effective way. Were taking it from two different levels, he says. One, from the ground up, to get the librarians their voice, but also at the national and local level so that the community they serve is aware of what theyre doing.

We are beginning to see in fits and starts that superintendents are taking note, Qaimari adds. He cites another education trend where advocacy plays a big role. Its a really interesting time on the K12 side, because as school districts are beginning to look at options beyond the textbook, they are realizing that the next option is to go and aggregate all these different resources and kind of build their own curriculum. Then theyre realizing they dont really have anyone who knows how to curate content.

This is the juncture at which Qaimari believes Follett can help. Were stepping in to say to the superintendent: Actually you do have someone who can do the job; librarians are master curators.  He notes that helping redefine the role of the librarian in the eyes of the superintendent will help make the librarian even more valuable. Were really pushing that hard, and I think thats going to have the greatest benefit on the school side, he adds.

The Future Ready Schools initiative, launched by former president Obama in November 2014, is another important advocacy focus on Folletts docket. According to its mission statement, FRS is a project of the Alliance for Education, the Washington- based national policy and advocacy group devoted to ensuring all students, especially those who are underserved, graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship. The goal of FRS is to reach that student success by helping educators use technology to maximize digital learning opportunities. School districts sign on to the initiative by taking a pledge, and more than 3,000 have done so.

When we found out about Future Ready Schools, which thousands of superintendents signed onto, we read through the framework, and not once was it mentioned that a Future Ready School needs to have a Future Ready Library or a library at all, Qaimari says. We got involved in that whole initiative, threw a lot of money behind it, and had them rewrite it. It now includes a whole strand around Future Ready Librarians. That led to a lot of the professional development and conversation at the national level around the role of the librarian in a Future Ready District. Furthering its professional development reach, Follett is sponsoring librarian attendance at eight free regional Future Ready Institutes that will take place between July and November this year.
Spains Atresmedia has launched a smart TV application for its free video-on-demand (VOD) streaming platform Atresplayer to support Android TV devices, including the latest Sony models.





Through this move, Atresplayer completes its suite of software for Android products, as it already has several Android mobile apps and is integrated with Chromecast. In fact, Googles dongle marked the first move of Atresplayer into the smart TV segment back in November 2014.With this launch, Atresplayer enables Android TV users to access a comprehensive portfolio of films, music and games, and features like voice control, said the company.Atresplayer is Atresmedias and the most used VOD service in Spain; according to the latest figures, nearly half of VOD users have watched content through the platform
TV audience platform and data and analytics company Samba TV has secured $30 million in a Series B financing round led by Union Grove Venture Partners.





Samba TVs technology enables consumers to discover and watch shows while giving brands what is described as a holistic view of content and advertising consumption across broadcast and cable TV, over-the-top (OTT), apps and digital platforms. Real-time, opt-in TV viewership insights and a connected device map  which totals more than 66 million devices for 1:1 mapping and a billion digital devices for programmatic reach  are said to enable Samba to help brands maximise cross-screen marketing performance through TV-synchronised digital ads and attribution models that chart the consumers path to purchase. This, says Samba, leads to more data-informed media buying decisions.The investment was also bolstered with strategic investors such as Interpublic Group, MDC Ventures, Time Warner, A+E Networks, TGM, Draper Associates and Ambition VC. Samba TV says that it will use the funding to expand operations internationally and launch a variety of transformative products in the media and advertising industry. The companys Series B is the second round of funding since January 2012, which included August Capital, Mark Cuban and others.Innovation has been a catalyst for our profitability and enabled us to realise 5,000% revenue growth over the last three years, remarked Ashwin Navin, CEO and co-founder of Samba TV. We raised this growth round with a specific strategy to further expand the Samba TV Audience Platform to major media markets across the world and continue our trajectory of growth and rapid innovation.Added Union Grove Venture Partners Greg Bohlen: Team Samba has what it takes: ground-breaking technology, strategic vision and a track record of relentless execution. We are excited to join the team to bring our depth of experience and relationships to the board and provide the fuel for the next wave of growth for the business.
UAE telco du has unveiled its new teleport facility in Dubai to cater to the expanding requirements of regional and international customers broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).





The number of satellite television channels currently being uplinked has grown by 600% since du started its teleport operations in 2004. Now, its upgraded facility at Al Qudra can accommodate 50 earth station antenna systems, with room to grow according to demand.The new site has larger antennas ensuring robust signal levels in transmission and reception, said the telecommunications operator.In order for du to meet the growing requirements of customers in the region and internationally we have come up with our new teleport facility. Today, ours is the top ranked teleport in the MENA region and is already one of the top ten independent operators in the world, said Ahmed Al Muhaideb, vice president, broadcasting and IPTV services, du.As broadcast requirements continue to proliferate, we will endeavour to innovate and offer our customers new broadcast solutions that will deliver on superior quality of service, he added.The upgraded area covers 75,000sqm and is away from planned real estate developments. Du says it will provide a service with a focus on service reliability and close control and monitoring of services uplinked. The facility will be scaled up even further to cover all broadcasting operations, including TV signal processing and TV playout services.
WATERFORD  A disabled Waterford man and his parents are facing felony drug charges after officers with the Racine Metro Dug Unit recovered $60,223 in cash, 1 pounds of marijuana, and more than a dozen wax marijuana dabs from the familys home.

Joseph Mucha, 25, of the 6300 block of North River Bay Road, and his parents Pamela, and James Mucha made their initial appearance on the charges in Racine County Circuit Court on Tuesday.

Joseph Mucha has been charged with possession with intent to deliver or manufacture THC in an amount between 200 and 1,000 grams, maintaining a drug trafficking place, and possession of drug paraphernalia. His parents, who reside at the same North River Bay Road home, each face a single charge of maintaining a drug trafficking place.

According to the criminal complaint, the drugs and cash were found during a knock and announce search warrant on April 25.

When police entered the home they reportedly detected a strong odor of marijuana and located the younger Mucha sitting in his wheelchair in a bedroom. When Joseph Mucha saw the officers he reportedly stated that he knew he was going to get caught eventually.

Joseph Mucha allegedly told officers that he had about two pounds of marijuana in the house, much of it shipped in from Colorado, California and Oregon. He reportedly told officers that he typically gets a pound or two at a time and pays cash through a P.O. Box.

He added that he receives a $500 a month from Social Security, but did not know how much cash was in his bedroom.

Searching the room, officers eventually found most of the money  $50,000  located in a green bank bag on top of the bed. The money was split into five individually stacked bands of $100 bills, the complaint states. One of the stacks contained $10,000.

Investigators also reportedly spotted a pistol conversion kit, an empty beer pitcher containing marijuana, UPS tracking receipts and tracking numbers from Colorado and two open seal-a-meal bags containing marijuana.

The younger Mucha reportedly told officers that his parents had no involvement in the operation, which included having the drugs shipped to his home and the homes of his friends.

Based on the strong odor of marijuana in the home and drug paraphernalia, such as scales and packaging materials located in common areas of the home, officers found that to be unlikely, the complaint states.

During the search, Joseph Mucha was reportedly observed communicating live with individuals via the internet, and live-streaming video of the search as it took place. An officer unplugged the computer after he heard individuals making comments.

Joseph Mucha and his parents remain free on $1,000 signature bonds. Preliminary hearings for all three defendants have been set for 8:30 a.m. on July 5.
Afghan security forces have recaptured Tora Bora, a former fortress of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, from Islamic State (IS) militants, officials confirmed.

IS had taken the tunnel and cave complex in Nangarhar Province from the Taliban five days ago. The two militant groups are enemies.

The legendary complex of tunnels and caves once served as a hideout for Bin Laden, who escaped from the mountains into Pakistan after U.S. bombings and subsequent operations in 2001 failed to kill or capture him.

The "Tora Bora area of Pachiragam district is completely Daesh free," the Nangarhar governor's office said on June 20, using an Arabic acronym for IS. The recapture was confirmed by officials in Kabul, who said at least 22 militants were killed in the clearing operation.

Afghan security forces are now advancing toward the villages of Alif Khel and Meerkhany to push IS further back, the governor's office said.

U.S. and Afghan forces have been battling IS in Nangarhar Province since its emergence there in January 2015.

In April, the U.S. dropped a massive bomb on an IS complex in Nangarhar, which the Afghan Defense Ministry said killed more than 90 militants.

Based on reporting by AP, dpa, and RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan
Protesters in Afghanistan are vowing to defy authorities and continue their antigovernment demonstrations despite the bloodiest crackdown on dissent in that country since the overthrow of the Taliban regime 16 years ago.

Afghan security personnel have killed at least six protesters and wounded dozens more in the capital in the past month, as demands at rallies have included the resignation of President Ashraf Ghani's government.

Tensions have been high in Kabul since a truck bomb killed more than 150 people on May 31, the single deadliest attack since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

That brazen attack has triggered a wave of popular anger at the government, culminating in protests, street clashes between demonstrators and police, and sit-in camps across the city.

In the latest confrontation between protesters and police, security personnel on June 20 stormed and dismantled a sit-in camp, prompting a backlash from protesters after police used live rounds. Organizers claimed two protesters were killed, although officials cite just one death.

The bombings so close to the heart of Afghanistan's embattled central government have fueled reports of a crisis of confidence in Ghanis deeply unpopular and divided national unity government, which has proved unable to curb violence since coming to power in 2014.

The attacks have also exacerbated tensions between rival ethnically based political groups in Afghanistan and exposed divisions in the administration.

We Will Continue

Ghani has dismissed talk of resignation and has called for unity.

But in an apparent effort to appease the protesters, Ghani on June 11 sacked two top security officials, including the Kabul police chief, over the killing of demonstrators on June 2.

Ghani has also pledged a thorough investigation into the bombings in Kabul. The government will consider the protester's "logical demands," he said, but he will not resign because that would exacerbate insecurity.

"We will not only continue our protests, but we will expand them, Haroon Motaref, a protest leader, tells RFE/RL. Our civilian movement will only get stronger. We will make sure the government cannot forcibly stop the people [from protesting].

Motaref, a 30-year-old university graduate and one of the organizers of the Uprising For Change movement, says the illegitimate government must resign because it has failed its people.

The Afghan people are tired of the current situation, he adds. Every day people are dying and innocent people on the street are being killed. If this government doesnt have the ability to bring peace and security [it should resign].

In a statement issued after the protest deaths on June 20, the organizers said: "We assure the people that despite this barbaric attack by the government and this grave crime against humanity, we will continue our civil movement.

On June 2, at least five people were killed and around 20 injured in clashes between police and antigovernment protesters.

Demonstrators set up eight protest camps around Kabul after those clashes. They took down most of them after an agreement with the government but had refused to leave a sit-in camp near the May 31 bombing site, which was eventually dismantled by security forces on June 20.

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah -- who holds some governing authority under a 3-year-old "government of national unity" deal with Ghani -- said the unfortunate incident on June 20 killed one person and wounded six others. He promised an investigation.

But protest organizers claim two demonstrators were killed and that 12 were detained by authorities.

Blinded, Whisked Away

Motaref said the two protesters killed on June 20 were Ejaz ul-Haq, a university graduate from the northern province of Panjshir who died of bullet wounds, and a 16-year-old boy from Badakhshan Province who was run over by a Humvee. He had joined the movement because his father was wounded in the May 31 bombing, Motaref added.

One of those who was allegedly detained by police was Asar Hakimi, a protester who witnessed the forceful June 20 dismantling of the sit-in camp in Kabul. Much of the capital is now in lockdown, with many streets blocked with shipping containers and armored vehicles.

Hakimi says that overnight on June 19-20 Kabul police with sticks and batons tried to clear the protesters. When that failed, he said, police officers with guns stormed the tent. He said he was arrested, blindfolded, and whisked away by plainclothes security personnel to an empty building for questioning.

It was 3 in the morning and I didnt know where I was, says Hakimi. I didnt know who they were. They werent wearing military uniforms. But they were armed.

Hakimi says his interrogators demanded to know who was leading the sit-in, what their intentions were, and whether they had contact with foreign countries. He says he was released after several hours.

We are shocked that our security forces, which are the defenders of the people and democracy in this country, are storming a peaceful sit-in during the holy month of Ramadan, he says.
Six civilians were killed in a Russian rocket attack on Mykolayiv overnight, the mayor of the southern Ukrainian city said on November 11, as Ukrainian troops continued their advance in the direction of Kherson amid a Russian retreat from the city on the west bank of the Dnieper River.

The mayor of Mykolayiv, Oleksandr Sienkovych, said on November 11 that the people were killed when Russian rockets hit a residential area of the city, destroying a five-story building.

"As of 10 a.m., six people were killed by the impact of the attack on the residential building," Sienkovych said.



Separately, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on November 11 that the Russian withdrawal from Kherson was taking place slowly to allow Moscow's forces to reinforce positions on the east bank of the Dnieper River.

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.

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.

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
SIMFEROPOL -- The trial of Mykola Semena, an RFE/RL contributor who is fighting what he says is a politically motivated separatism charge on the Russian-controlled peninsula, has been adjourned until July 7.

The defense had been expected to begin making its case at the June 21 hearing, but the judge quickly adjourned the trial after several witnesses, an expert from Russia's Federal Security Service, and a translator did not show up in the courtroom.

Semena's trial in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, has been delayed several times for various reasons since it started on March 20.

Semena faces up to five years in prison if convicted by Russia, which has jailed several people from Crimea who opposed or have criticized Moscow's 2014 seizure of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine.

The charge against Semena, 66, stems from an article he wrote for RFE/RL's Krym.Realii (Crimea Realities) website in 2015. The Kremlin-installed authorities in Crimea have charged that the article called for the violation of Russia's territorial integrity.

Semena denies what he says is a baseless, politically motivated separatism charge.

In an interview with RFE/RL earlier this month, he welcomed the chance to make a straightforward, law-based case for his innocence at the trial he said has so far been dominated by politically charged statements from Russian prosecutors.

"Up to now, only the prosecutors have been given the floor to talk -- and every one of their statements or motions in the trial has had political connotations," he said.

Semena also said that the defense's main strategy is based on an article of the Russian Constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression and on the fact that the legal status of Crimea has been under discussion on the international level.

International Concern

The United States, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and international media watchdogs have expressed concern about Semenas prosecution.

Activists say his trial is part of a persistent Russian clampdown on independent media and dissent in Crimea since Moscow's takeover in March 2014.

RFE/RL President Thomas Kent has described the case against Semena as "part of a concerted effort by Russian and Russian-backed authorities to obstruct RFE/RL's journalistic mission to provide an independent press to residents of Crimea."

After a Moscow-friendly Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, fled in the face of pro-European protests in February 2014, Russia seized control of Crimea by sending in troops and staging a referendum considered illegitimate by most nations of the world.

The United States, the European Union, and other countries imposed sanctions on Russia over the takeover of Crimea and say they will not be lifted until it is returned to Kyiv's control.


SIMFEROPOL -- The trial of a Crimean Tatar leader who has criticized Russia's seizure of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine resumed on June 21.

Russian authorities who control Crimea have filed separatism charges against Ilmi Umerov -- deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis, which is now banned by Moscow.

Umerov was charged in May 2016 after publicly opposing Russia's March 2014 armed takeover of Crimea. He denies the charges, saying he has the right to express his opinions.

His trial began on June 7.

The 59-year-old Umerov is one of several critics of the takeover who have faced what rights activists say are politically motivated criminal charges at the hands of Crimea's Russia-installed authorities.

Umerov's lawyer, Mark Feigin, told RFE/RL before the trial resumed on June 21 that the judge at the hearing, Andriy Kuleshov, is a Ukrainian citizen who is under criminal investigation by authorities in Kyiv.

According to Feigin, neither Russian law nor international law allows judges who are under investigation in any country to preside at trials.

'Politically Motivated'

Umerov also told RFE/RL that a linguist from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) who concluded that Umerov's statements called for separatism had not actually used the texts in the original Crimean Tatar language but, rather, used inaccurate Russian translations.

"My statements, upon which this case has been based, were translated with mistakes into Russian, distorting the meaning of what I said," Umerov said. "Since the FSB linguist based her conclusion on the Russian translation of what I said, the charges against me are invalid."

In August 2016, Umerov was forcibly sent to a psychiatric clinic for a month of what authorities described as assessment tests.

The Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center has called the case against Umerov "illegal and politically motivated."

Mejlis Chairman Refat Chubarov, who was barred from entering Crimea by a Russian court and is currently residing in Kyiv, says the case against Umerov is part of a campaign of persecution against Crimean Tatars by the Russia-installed authorities.

Chubarov told RFE/RL on June 21 that he is ready to testify at Umerov's trial if Russian authorities allow him to travel to Crimea.

Russia seized control of Crimea after sending in troops and staging a referendum that is considered illegitimate by more than 100 countries that are members of the United Nations.

After the takeover, Russia adopted a law making it a criminal offense in Crimea to question Russia's territorial integrity within what Moscow now says are the borders of Russia.

The majority of Crimean Tatars opposed Russia's seizure and annexation.

Human rights organizations say members of Crimea's Muslim minority have faced a campaign of abuse and oppression under Russian rule.


The extremist group Islamic State (IS) has blown up an ancient mosque in Mosul in what Iraqs prime minister called an admission by the militants that they are losing the fight for the countrys second-largest city.

The Iraqi Defense Ministry said the group detonated explosives inside the Grand Al-Nuri Mosque late on June 21 as IS militants battled to stop advancing pro-government forces.

Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi tweeted early on June 22 that the destruction of the mosque and its iconic leaning minaret nicknamed "the hunchback" was "an official declaration of defeat."

The mosque, built more than 800 years ago, was where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi commanded allegiance in July 2014 following the IS groups declaration of a "caliphate."

Before the mosque's destruction, Iraqi forces had encircled the IS stronghold in the Old City, the last district under the militants' control in Mosul.

Iraq's military said the militants blew up the mosque as Iraqi forces were advancing toward targets deep into the heavily populated area and got to within 50 meters of the mosque. It called the move a "historical crime."

U.S. Army Major General Joseph Martin, a senior U.S. commander in the battle against IS, called the mosque's devastation "a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq" and "an example of why this brutal organization must be annihilated."

"This new destruction deepens the wounds of a society already affected by an unprecedented humanitarian tragedy," UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement.

Work begun by UNESCO to safeguard the 12th-century minaret in 2012 "had to be interrupted due to the conflict," Bokova said, adding that "a comprehensive study for the conservation of the minaret has been completed and could be useful in the future."

The destruction of two of Mosul's best-known landmarks adds to a long list of cultural and religious heritage the militants have destroyed in Iraq and Syria.

IS militants, who seized control of Mosul in June 2014 during their lightning advance in Syria and Iraq, had previously targeted the minaret, but residents of Mosul protected the mosque at that time by creating a human chain around it.

Iraqi officials had privately expressed the hope that the mosque could be captured in time for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month. The first day of Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.

But because of the mosque's close association with Baghdadi's attempt at establishing a caliphate, Mosul residents told reporters they feared it would be targeted if the group ever were on the verge of losing control over the city.

The IS-affiliated Amaq news site claimed after the blast that the mosque was destroyed by a U.S. air strike, but that claim was quickly denied by the anti-IS coalition, which said no strikes were carried out in the area on June 21.

The mosque was named after Nuruddin al-Zanki, a nobleman who fought the early crusaders from a fiefdom that covered territory in modern-day Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.

It was built with seven bands of decorative brickwork in complex geometric patterns ascending in levels towards the top, similar to designs found in Persia and Central Asia.

The minaret started listing centuries ago and was long considered an endangered monument.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa
The airport in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, has been renamed after long-ruling President Nursultan Nazarbaev, state media have reported, citing a government resolution.

According to the directive published in the state-owned Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper on June 21, the resolution to change the name of Astana International Airport is effective immediately.

As Kazakhstan looks to project itself as a regional economic success story, the apparent personality cult surrounding Nazarbayev has reached new heights during the second half of his near 30 years in power.

Nazarbaev already has a national university and a series of schools for high-achieving Kazakh youth named after him.

He is also celebrated by several statues.

Proposals to name the capital's airport in his honor date back to at least 2009.

Earlier this year, another Central Asian country, Uzbekistan, named its own airport after late President Islam Karimov, who largely eschewed a personality cult during his rule of more than a quarter of a century.

Karimov died of a reported stroke last year, leaving Nazarbaev, who has been running the republic since 1989, as the only leader of an ex-Soviet country to have been in charge both before and after independence from Moscow in 1991.

In 2010, the country's bicameral parliament granted Nazarbaev the status of Leader of the Nation, which guarantees him immunity from prosecution and a role in policymaking if he decides to retire.

Although oil-rich Kazakhstan enjoyed substantial growth in the first years after the millennium, it was hit hard by the collapse of oil prices in 2014 as well as Western sanctions against key trade partner Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

Rights groups regularly accuse Nazarbaev of cracking down on political opposition, independent journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and labor unions.

With reporting by AFP
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned Iraq's leader against weakening Shi'ite paramilitary groups and relying on the United States in the battle against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group..

At a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi in Tehran, Khamenei said the Shi'ite militias were the main forces pushing back against the Sunni extremist group in Iraq, and Baghdad should not trust the United States, Iranian state media reported.

The Shi'ite militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, helped Baghdad defend the country against IS 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 been engaged in the battle to recapture swathes of northern and western Iraq from IS.

But Sunnis in areas freed from IS control have accused the Shi'ite militias of looting, abductions, and murder.

Some Arab leaders in northern Iraq have asked Baghdad to dissolve the Shi'ite militias or expel them from their Sunni-majority provinces -- moves that drew objections from Iran's leader.

"Daesh is retreating from Iraq and that is thanks to the governments trust in these young devoted forces," Khamenei said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

"The Americans are against Popular Forces because they want Iraq to lose its main source of strength," he said.

Khamenei accused the United States and its ally Saudi Arabia of creating IS and said he opposed the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq.

"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.

Iranian President Hassan Rohani, who also met with Abadi on June 20, joined Khamenei in claiming credit for recent gains by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces in recapturing IS's northern stronghold of Mosul.

"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," Rohani said.

The Iranian leaders' comments highlight the balancing act faced by Abadi as he strives to hold together a coalition of forces fighting IS in Iraq, including the Iraqi government's own soldiers, the Shi'ite militias as well as Sunni tribal forces and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, all backed by U.S. trainers and special forces.

While Iran said its forces deserved credit for gains made against IS, the United States and its anti-IS coalition of Western forces have also claimed credit for helping Iraqi ground forces recapture Ramadi and other cities liberated from IS in the past two years, as well as for the recent gains in Mosul.

Abadi faces a balancing act not only at home but in the broader Persian Gulf region. His meeting with Iran's leaders came one day after a visit to Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional rival, in what he said was a tour aimed at promoting reconciliation between the region's Sunnis and Shi'a.

Iraq lies on the fault-line between Shi'ite Iran and the mostly Sunni Arab world.

Abadi belongs to the Dawa party, a Shi'ite group with close ties to Iran. But analysts say he has managed relations with Iraq's Sunni minority better than his predecessor, Nuri al-Maliki, and also improved Baghdad's ties with Saudi Arabia.

Khamenei told Abadi that Iran was opposed to the referendum on independence scheduled by leaders of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region for September, saying such a separatist move threatens Baghdad's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Iran has its own Kurdish minority in the west of the country.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denounced new sanctions the United States announced against 38 people fighting with and supporting Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

"It in no way helps to improve the atmosphere. The sanctions were imposed for no apparent reason, again," Lavrov said after meeting with his French counterpart in Moscow on June 20.

"I can express nothing but regrets about such Russophobic mania of our American colleagues. It goes beyond all bound," he said.

The Trump administration announced the new sanctions the same day that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met with U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time at the White House.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the penalties were designed to "maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution" in Ukraine.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with Interfax that the new sanctions will backfire.

"The sanctions that have been applied supposedly in the interest of settling the situation in southeastern Ukraine play into the hands of forces in Kyiv that are absolutely not interested in any settlement," he said.

Based on reporting by AP, TASS, and Interfax
RACINE  A Racine woman has been charged after she reportedly stole more than $16,000 from her employer.

Chelsae Burandt, 32, of the 1300 block of Ohio Street, is charged with two felonies  theft in a business setting over $10,000 and unauthorized use of an entitys identifying information or documents.

According to the criminal complaint:

In January 2016, an officer was dispatched to Compass Insurance Group, 6021 Durand Ave., after an employee of four years, Burandt, reportedly admitted to taking money from the company.

The companys president said Burandt admitted she was struggling financially and stole between $2,000 and $3,000 by taking clients deposits and keeping a portion before depositing them into the business Educators Credit Union account.

A forensic audit determined Burandt had reportedly stolen $12,042 in deposits, issued herself six unauthorized payroll checks totaling $3,533 by using the company presidents stamp to sign checks and claimed $2,630 in unauthorized insurance premium payments, repaying $1,301 into the trust fund. This resulted in a total net loss of $16,438.

Burandt is scheduled for a preliminary hearing July 13 at the Law Enforcement Center.
Pakistani officials say an air force jet has shot down an unmanned Iranian drone that was "deep inside the Pakistani airspace."

Pakistani media quoted two unnamed officials on June 20 as saying the unmanned aircraft was shot down in the Panjgur district of southwestern Balochistan Province over the weekend.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Iran in recent months has expressed concern over militants operating along the Pakistani border.

In May, Iran's army chief warned that Tehran was willing to strike militant bases inside Pakistan if Islamabad did not confront Sunni insurgents who carry out cross-border attacks. The remarks drew a strong protest from Islamabad.

Based on reporting by AP and Dawnnews.com
Ukrainian activist Natalya Kharchenko says she has fled the Russian-annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea, fearing for her safety.

Kharchenko told the Crimean Human Rights Group on June 21 that she moved from Simferopol to Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, to avoid "persecution" from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

Kharchenko is the wife of the former director of the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Crimea, Andriy Vinohradov.

In January, the FSB searched their apartment in Simferopol, the Crimean capital, and confiscated their computers.

After that, Vinohradov lost his job and the FSB launched a preliminary investigation against Kharchenko, accusing her of making statements that violate Russia's territorial integrity, charges she denies.

As part of the probe, investigators interrogated Kharchenko four times.

Her husband left Crimea several weeks ago and is also now in Kyiv. Their young children remain in Crimea with relatives.
A Russian fighter jet and a U.S. reconnaissance plane flew dangerously close to one another over the Baltic Sea this week.

The encounter, which occurred 40 kilometers from Kaliningrad Oblast, was deemed "unsafe" due to the Russian pilot's "high rate of closure speed and poor control of the aircraft," the U.S. military said on June 20.

The Russian jet intercepted the RC-135 spy plane on June 19 as it flew in international airspace, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

The U.S. plane did nothing to provoke the Russian behavior, she added.

The spokeswoman did not confirm U.S. media reports that the two aircraft came within 1.5 meters of each other.

Russia's Defense Ministry disputed the U.S. account, saying the U.S. plane made a "provocative" move toward the Russian Su-27 fighter jet.

Meanwhile, Russian media reported that an aircraft carrying Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was buzzed by a NATO jet over the Baltic Sea.

A Russian Su-27 plane chased away the F-16 fighter jet, according to TASS news agency.

It reported that Shoigu was en route to Kaliningrad, over international waters.

There have been a series of incidents involving NATO and Russian aircraft in recent months, as relations between Moscow and the alliance sank to lows unseen since the Cold War amid rancor over Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, its backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine, and other issues.

The latest incidents come amid renewed tensions between the United States and Russia sparked by the downing of a Syrian jet by the United States after it targeted U.S.-allied rebels.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and BBC
U.S. Senate leaders have called on the House of Representatives to vote on the Senate's bill to impose new sanctions on Russia and Iran even as the legislation hit a roadblock in the House.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said on June 20 the House should vote as soon as possible on the measure, which responds to alleged Russian meddling in the election, predicting that the legislation would pass overwhelmingly in the House, just as it did in the Senate last week.

"We all know that the Russians tried to interfere in our elections," McCain said. "Here we are six months later and we've done nothing."

Yet instead of building on the momentum created by the Senate's 98-2 vote for the sweeping sanctions package, the Republican leadership in the House sent it to the Foreign Affairs Committee for review.

Moreover, House leaders said that their parliamentarian has discovered a problem with the bill -- it violates a requirement in the U.S. Constitution that any legislation that raises revenue for the government must originate in the House.

The constitutional flaw means the bill might have to be sent back to the Senate, where its revenue-raising provisions -- which were not identified -- would have to be stripped from the measure before it could be sent back to the House for a vote.

Democrats suggested that Republicans raised the procedural issue to stall the bill out of loyalty to President Donald Trump, whose administration has criticized the sanctions package as potentially too restrictive against Russia.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said House Republicans need to pass the sanctions bill "as quickly as possible."

"Responding to Russia's assault on our democracy should be a bipartisan issue that unites both Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate," Schumer said.

The Russian sanctions were attached by the Senate to a bill toughening sanctions against Iran. The Iranian provisions are also strongly supported in Congress but have engendered less debate.

Senator Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said, "I think the House Republicans are lukewarm and the White House is cold when it comes to Russia sanctions."

Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he's concerned that the delays will give the Trump administration an opportunity to weaken the legislation.

"Anything short of an up-or-down vote on this tough sanctions package is an attempt to let Russia off the hook," Engel said.

But Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said he's confident there is "strong interest" in the House for passing Russia sanctions legislation that's similar to the Senate bill.

"I don't want to in any way state how they should go about doing their business," Corker said. "They don't do that with us."

AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, said Ryan believes Congress must do more to hold Russia responsible. She said that "we will determine a path ahead in the House" after the Foreign Affairs Committee's review is complete.

The committee's chairman, Representative Ed Royce, has said he is working to build bipartisan support for sanctions over what he called "Russia's dangerous activities" during the election.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has offered only lukewarm support for the Senate bill. Tillerson said during congressional testimony last week that Trump needed to have "the flexibility to adjust sanctions to meet the needs of what is always an evolving diplomatic situation" with Russia.

An overly aggressive sanctions bill, Tillerson suggested, could lead Moscow to shut off potentially promising talks with Washington.

The sanctions package approved by the Senate is aimed at rebuking Russia for what U.S. intelligence agencies concluded was a covert campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election to favor Trump.

The legislation also contains new sanctions against Russians backing the separatist war in eastern Ukraine and those responsible for arming Syria in its five-year civil war. The bill would also cement into law existing sanctions against Russia and require a congressional review if Trump attempts to ease existing sanctions.

With reporting by AP and Reuters
The nomination of a woman to head Serbia's government was a first that surprised many. That Ana Brnabic is also openly gay makes the move all the more astonishing.

After vacating the post to become president, Aleksandar Vucic tapped the 41-year-old Brnabic to replace him as prime minister. If approved, she would become the first female to ever hold the office in Serbia. It would also put the independent politician in rare company worldwide, making her just the fifth openly gay head of government.

But the prospect of this happening in a country that has a far-from-stellar reputation when it comes to gay rights and homophobia is what has really grabbed the headlines.

At first glance, the choice of Brnabic by Vucic -- a former ultranationalist and member of former strongman Slobodan Milosevic's cabinet -- appears to come out of the blue.

But Vucic has risen to prominence since reinventing himself as a reformer who is committed to Serbia's drive toward European Union membership.

The choice of an openly gay female -- echoing Vucic's move as prime minister to appoint Brnabic to a cabinet position, also a first in Serbia -- is seen by some as a move to appease fears of growing inequality in Serbian society and a possible move away from the West and toward traditional ally Russia.

"The appointment of Brnabic is a continuation of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's politics of tactical Europeanization," says Koen Slootmaeckers, an analyst at the Queen Mary University of London.

"Under this approach, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) issues are used to speak to the EU's self-proclaimed LGBT-friendly identity without engaging with LGBT issues domestically."

Western-educated and decidedly pro-European, Brnabic has kept a low profile since joining the government in 2016 as minister for public administration and local self-government.

Her appointment to the government -- she was handpicked by Vucic-- was hailed by rights groups as historic for the Balkan country, whose gay community regularly faces discrimination, harassment, and violence.

But Brnabic herself has downplayed the historic significance of her rise in public life.

"I don't want to be branded as a 'gay minister,' just as my colleagues don't want to be branded as 'straight ministers'," she said in a recent interview.

Nonetheless, her nomination comes in a country and a region where homosexuality is openly frowned upon.

According to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, a 2012 research paper showed that 48 percent of Serbs believe that homosexuality is an illness.

In May 2014, Amnesty International identified Serbia as one of a number of countries with a marked lack of will to tackle homophobia and transphobia.

At a gay-pride parade in the capital, Belgrade, in 2010, 150 people were injured as nationalists attacked marchers and clashed with police, leading officials to ban the event for the following three years until it was reinstated with an extensive security presence.

Serbia has a population of about 7 million people, the vast majority of which are Orthodox Christians with staunchly conservative views.

But the government has been eager to show increased tolerance for minorities, including the LGBT community, since it began talks to join the European Union by 2020.

Still, the right-wing opposition group Dveri, which has close ties to the Serbian Orthodox Church, complained that Brnabic's appointment came under pressure from the West.

"Is it possible that the ruling majority has no other candidate for the prime minister-designate but the one imposed by the West, which dictates all the moves by this government?" the party said on its website.

More importantly, Vucic's coalition partners were also infuriated, raising the slim prospect that the nomination process may be derailed.

Vucic's Progressive Party has 102 seats in the 250-seat legislature, and while the ruling coalition has a majority, some lawmakers are openly revolting against the choice, despite the president's claim that "everything will fine."

"I have only one sentence: Ana Brnabic is not my prime minister," United Serbia party head Dragan Markovic-Palma told the private Beta news agency, noting he would not approve anyone for the post who does not have at least two children.

Parliament had been expected to approve Brnabic's nomination on June 22, a day before Vucic's formal inauguration at the legislature. However, no official date for the vote has been set and some expect it will be delayed until next week as Vucic solidifies broader support for the candidate.

If Vucic puts the issue to a vote in parliament, failure to approve Brnabic, who is not a member of the Progressive Party but is considered loyal to the president, would likely trigger Serbia's third early election in the past five years.

Critics of her nomination also say that while she is competent and has shown a quiet efficiency while in government, Brnabic's political inexperience and lack of a power base may give her limited room for maneuver.

"A nonpartisan figure for Vucic is a good choice because in this way he can fully maintain his dominant political position," says Boban Stojanovic, a political analyst and professor at the University of Belgrade.

Stojanovic says that no matter what happens, Brnabic is probably little more than a short-term solution for Vucic because she won't interfere with relations between members of the coalition government.

At the same time, she will head up a government that can implement unpopular reforms needed for Serbia to progress further down the path toward EU membership without Vucic's party facing any risk of backlash.

"Vucic can replace Ana Brnabic without any problems. The resignation of any other prime minister could cause political problems and problems within parties and coalitions," Stojanovic says.

"That is one reason why I think Brnabic is a short-term solution, because Vucic did not want to sacrifice a political person from his party, as we have frequent hints about connecting upcoming local elections in Belgrade and another early parliamentary election."
DUSHANBE -- Authorities in Tajikistan have barred citizens under the age of 40 from performing this year's annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Tajikistan's Committee on Religious Affairs told RFE/RL on June 20 that the decision was made to give older Tajik Muslims more of a chance to undertake the pilgrimage, as Saudi authorities are putting in place stricter quotas.

But many in the Central Asian state believe the ban is an attempt to prevent instances of radicalization among younger generations.

In the past years, the Tajik government has routinely imposed age restrictions for devout Muslims to perform hajj. In 2015, the minimum age was 35.

President Emomali Rahmon's government has repeatedly called for the strengthening of secular principles in the mostly Muslim country of 8.5 million.

Tajikistan has banned head scarves for schoolgirls, barred minors from mosques, and forced thousands of students to return home from Islamic schools abroad in recent years amid reports that many Tajiks have joined Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria.
ON MY MIND



We should pay very close attention to what Russia does to its neighbors, because it often foreshadows things Moscow will try farther to the West.



Andy Greenberg's piece in Wired (featured below) on how Ukraine became a laboratory to road test the Kremlin's cyberwar tactics makes this abundantly clear.



Before Russian hackers targeted elections in the United States and France, for example, they attempted to disrupt Ukraine's 2014 election.



Before suspected Russian hackers hit a series of Western targets, including a French television station, the Polish stock exchange, and a German steelmaker, they launched a massive DDoS attack on Estonian banks, media, and government sites in 2007.



Just before Christmas in 2015, what appears to be a Kremlin-backed cyberattack cut off electricity to nearly a quarter of a million Ukrainians.



We should all take that as a warning.



And it's not just cyber.



For decades, the Baltic states, Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova have lived with an onslaught of disinformation, fake news, and active measures aimed at destabilizing their societies.



And now the West is getting a taste of this bitter medicine.



Russia's neighbors are not just far away countries of which we know little.



A threat to their security is often a harbinger of a threat to everybody's security.



IN THE NEWS



The European Court of Human Rights 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.



Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denounced new sanctions the United States announced against 38 people fighting with and supporting Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.



U.S. Senate leaders have called on the House of Representatives to vote on the Senate's bill to impose new sanctions on Russia and Iran even as the legislation hit a roadblock in the House.



The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top-ranking U.S. military officer, said 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 Kremlin says reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin showed filmmaker Oliver Stone footage of a U.S. helicopter shooting Islamic extremists in Afghanistan and told him it was the Russian Air Force in Syria are "nonsense."



A Russian prosecutor has demanded a prison term of eight years for real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky in a high-profile embezzlement case.



The former director of the embattled Moscow-based Gogol Center theater, Aleksei Malobrodsky, has been detained.



Nobel literature prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich says Russia's Regnum news agency has published an interview with her without her authorization.



Moscow-backed authorities in the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea have allowed a leader of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis to see his dying mother.

Ukrainian lawmakers have stepped up pressure on Lviv's mayor to resolve the western city's garbage problem.



WHAT I'M READING



Road Testing The Cyberwar



Andy Greenberg has a piece in Wired on how Ukraine became the testing ground for Russia's cyberwar on the West.



Blame Moscow!



In The Moscow Times, Mark Galeotti critiques a recent BuzzFeed report alleging that Russia is behind a series of assassinations in the U.K.



The Politics Of Economic Security



Nigel Gould-Davies has a commentary for Chatham House on Russia's economic security strategy and what it reveals about domestic politics.



Ukraine After Minsk



In Republic.ru, Moscow-based foreign affairs analyst Vladimir Frolov looks at what a post-Minsk Ukraine settlement might look like.



The New Plan To Engage Russia



John Hudson has a piece in BuzzFeed about how the Trump administration is considering a new plan for engaging Russia.



Weaponized Pipelines



In Politico, Edoardo Saravalle, an energy analyst at the Center for a New American Security, looks at how Russia uses pipelines as a geopolitical weapon.



Edging Toward Confrontation



In Vix, Alex Ward argues that Russia and the United States may be moving closer to a military confrontation in Syria.



Mind The Gap!



In the Estonian journal Diplomaatia, Merle Maigre looks back at how former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves drew attention to the strategic importance of the Suwalki Gap for the Baltic states.

New Pew Poll On Russia

The Pew Research Center has released its new poll on Russians' attitudes about Vladimir Putin, the economy, and Russia's role in the world.
A new sculpture reproducing the famous staged street crossing depicted on the Beatles Abbey Road album cover has been installed on the campus of the Tomsk State University (TSU) in Russia's Siberia.

The sculpture by local artist Anton Gnedykh was unveiled on June 20 to mark the launch of the universitys application season, TSU said on its website.

In the sculpture, the four members of the British group -- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr -- appear to be heading to the university's main building.

The Abbey Road pedestrian crossing that appeared on the cover of the 1969 album was included on Britain's cultural heritage list in 2010.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called on China to do more to pressure North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

Speaking after talks in Washington on June 21 between high-ranking U.S. and Chinese officials, Tillerson said "China understands the United States regards North Korea as our top security threat."

Tillerson noted that Beijing has a responsibility to pressure North Korea economically and diplomatically.

He called for increased efforts to block sources of finances for Pyongyang and to force North Korea to abide by United Nations Security Council resolution on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

U.S. Defense James Mattis said after the talks that the death this week of a U.S. student who was imprisoned by North Korea was evidence of a "regime that provokes and provokes and provokes."

Mattis said both the United States and China share the goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.

Mattis also said that both sides at the talks had agreed to expand military-to-military contacts -- including exchanges of officers.

Tillerson and Mattis were hosting Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, the chief of joint staff of the Peoples Liberation Army.

The talks came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said Chinese efforts to convince North Korea to curb its weapons programs had failed.

Washington has also increased its criticism of North Korea after the death of the U.S. student, Otto Warmbier, shortly after he was released from North Korea.

Warmbier arrived home last week in a coma following more than 17 months in North Korean captivity. The circumstances of his coma and death remain unclear.

The U.S. State Department said on June 20 that Washington holds Pyongyang accountable for its treatment of Warmbier, and urged North Korea to free three other U.S. citizens who are currently in detention in the country.

Trump called Warmbiers death a "total disgrace."

Warmbier was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years in prison with hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel.

Pyongyang said Warmbier contracted botulism, a rare illness that causes paralysis, after his trial, and had been in a coma since he was given a sleeping pill.

However, U.S. doctors said he had suffered a "severe neurological injury" of unknown cause.

Warmbiers family have declined a post-mortem examination.

On June 20, a U.S. official said U.S. spy satellites had detected movements at north Koreas nuclear test site near a tunnel entrance.

But the official said it was unclear if North Korea was preparing for a new nuclear test to coincide with the June 21 talks in Washington with Chinese officials.

North Korea last tested a nuclear bomb in September. It has repeatedly conducted missiles tests since then and has vowed to develop a nuclear missile capable of striking the U.S. mainland.

The State Department also said the June 21 talks covered issues such as counterterrorism and territorial rivalries in the South China Sea.

With reporting by Reuters, AP and dpa


The U.S. military says it has shot down an armed, Iranian-made drone that was bearing down on its forces near a garrison in Syria's southeast.

The Pentagon said a U.S. F-15 aircraft flying over Syrian territory fired on the Shaheed 129 drone after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces on June 20.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said it was Iranian-made and had "dirty wings," meaning it was armed.

The incident came as Russia once again protested against repeated U.S. actions against forces allied with Syria and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the incidents could be "very dangerous" and cause an escalation of the war.

The latest incident occurred in a part of Syria seen as strategically important for the Syrian government and Iran as Tehran seeks to secure a land corridor between forces it backs in Syria and Iraq.

The U.S.-led coalition said the location was close to where another "pro-regime" drone, which intelligence sources had also identified as Iranian, was shot down on June 8 after dropping bombs near coalition forces.

Syrian and Iranian-backed ground forces also have been gathering in the desert region.

The incident follows the U.S. downing of a piloted Syrian Army jet near Raqqa after it dropped bombs near U.S.-backed forces over the weekend, an incident that prompted a warning from Syria ally Russia.

While Russia has demanded an accounting of the weekend incident, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov asserted on June 20 that the presence of U.S. forces in Syria was "absolutely illegal."

"There has been neither a [UN] Security Council decision, nor a request from the official authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic as a sovereign state" for such forces, he told Russia's Interfax news agency.

But the Pentagon appeared to view Russia's protests as mostly bluster.

"Public statements aside, we have not seen the Russians do any actions that cause us concern. We continue to operate, making some adjustments for prudent measures," Davis said on June 20.

The U.S. military has repeatedly warned forces fighting on Assad's side to stay away from a "deconfliction zone," agreed with Russia, near a garrison used by U.S. Special Forces and U.S.-backed militia around Al-Tanf, near the border with Jordan.

The U.S.-allied forces are using the base to train for battle and stage attacks against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

On several occasions in recent weeks, warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition have also struck pro-government forces to prevent them from advancing in the region. The Pentagon also described those strikes as self-defense.

The competition between the Syrian forces and U.S.-backed rebels has increased in the desert region since IS extremists abandoned large swathes of the territory as they moved to defend Raqqa and Deir Zor.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Interfax, and Reuters
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The University of Gothenburg soon will have its first autonomous underwater vehicle for research use. This will make it possible to conduct detailed studies of the seabed at great depths and track the climate thousands of years back in time.

After more than two years of preparation, the University of Gothenburg has signed a contract that will make Sweden's first autonomous underwater vehicle for research use a reality.

"This underwater vessel will enable us to do research in areas that we have been unable to reach so far, such as underneath glaciers in Antarctica that are 500 metres thick and beneath the Arctic sea ice," says Anna Wahlin, a professor of oceanography at the University of Gothenburg.

Enabling detailed studies of the seabed

The vessel is known as an AUV, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. It is an unmanned, autonomous submarine equipped with a range of instruments and sensors capable of mapping the marine environment and measuring the ocean's chemistry, physics and biology.

With the craft, detailed studies can be carried out at great depths in the oceans. The submarine operates independently and can be sent out on missions under the control of a mothership, where scientists can also be working on other investigations.

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"To measure the marine environment to the extent necessary for understanding how the ocean works, we must make use of autonomous observation platforms on a much larger scale. Future research vessels will serve as motherships for many different autonomous vehicles, with our AUV being one of the largest and most complex."

Large areas of the seabed can be surveyed

The new underwater vessel will be able to descend to a depth of 3,000 metres and cover a range of about 200-300 km. It is equipped with a new state-of-the-art navigation system that makes it possible to operate for long distances under water and simultaneously know where it is, a major challenge for craft below the surface of the ocean since signals from satellites or GPS cannot penetrate water. It is equipped with instruments that can be used to survey large areas of the seabed and ice in great detail. It also will have sonar that penetrates the floor of the ocean and reveals the nature of sedimentation in the past.

"That information can be used to tell how the climate has changed throughout history and how the edge of the ice has moved. In addition, the AUV will have ultramodern equipment to measure ocean currents, temperature, carbon dioxide, chlorophyll, nitrates and oxygen, among other things."

Permits study of climate in the past

With the help of these instruments, scientists will be able to chart the ocean floor with such great resolution that they can determine the type of seabed, if it is clay or if coral grows there, and detect various types of phenomena such as contourites (convoluted sedimentary deposits on the seabed).

By peering into the seabed and sedimentation, scientists can also study the climate thousands of years back in time, conduct detailed studies of ocean currents and their chemistry and biology, and survey large areas of the ocean covered by ice. This will help calibrate the satellites that measure the expanse and thickness of ice. The underwater craft also will be used for investigations of water closer to Sweden -- in the Skagerrak and the Baltic Sea, for example.

The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is a national infrastructure, funded by a grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and managed by a project team with representatives from the University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology and Stockholm University. The contract with the Norwegian company Kongsberg AS has now been signed. The underwater vehicle is expected to be in operation next year at the latest.
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."

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.
A team led by UCL and Cardiff University researchers has developed a novel measure of disease progression for Huntington's disease, which enabled them to identify a genetic modifier associated with how rapidly the disease progresses.

"We've identified a gene that could be a target for treating Huntington's disease. While there's currently no cure for the disease, we're hopeful that our finding could be a step towards life-extending treatments," said Dr Davina Hensman Moss (UCL Huntington's Disease Centre, UCL Institute of Neurology), one of the lead authors of the Lancet Neurology study.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal neurological disease caused by a genetic mutation. Larger mutations are linked to rapidly progressing disease, but that does not account for all aspects of disease progression. Understanding factors which change the rate of disease progression can help direct drug development and therapies.

The research team used the high quality phenotypic data from the intensively studied TRACK-HD cohort of people with the HD gene mutation. They established that different symptoms of disease progress in parallel, so they were able to combine the data from 24 cognitive, motor and MRI brain imaging variables to generate their progression score for genetic analysis.

They then looked for areas of the genome associated with their progression measure, and found a significant result in their sample of 216 people, which they then validated in a larger sample of 1773 people from a separate cohort, the European Huntington's Disease Network (EHDN) REGISTRY study.

The genetic signal is likely to be driven by the gene MSH3, a DNA repair gene which has been linked to changes in size of the HD mutation. The researchers identified that a variation in MSH3 encodes an amino acid change in the gene. MSH3 has previously been extensively implicated in the pathogenesis of HD in both mouse and cell studies. The group's findings may also be relevant to other diseases caused by repeats in the DNA, including some spinocerebellar ataxias.

Dr Hensman Moss said: "The gene variant we pinpointed is a common variant that doesn't cause problems in people without HD, so hopefully it could be targeted for HD treatments without causing other problems."

Professor Lesley Jones (Cardiff University), who co-led the study, said: "The strength of our finding implies that the variant we identified has a very large effect on HD, or that the new progression measure we developed is a much better measure of the relevant aspects of the disease, or most likely, both."

The researchers say their study demonstrates the value of getting high quality data about the people with a disease when doing genetic studies.

Professor Sarah Tabrizi (UCL Huntington's Disease Centre), who co-led the study said: "This is an example of reverse translation: these novel findings we observed in people with HD support many years of basic laboratory work in cells and mice. Now we know that MSH3 is critical in the progression of HD in patients, we can focus our attention on it and how this finding may be harnessed to develop new therapies that slow disease progression."
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."
A new study from the University of Iowa finds that to the fast typist go the leadership spoils.

The study suggests that the fleet-fingered are more likely to emerge as the leaders of virtual work teams that have members scattered in multiple offices.

"Individuals who can type faster are able to more quickly communicate their thoughts and drive the direction of a team in a collaborative work setting, whereas individuals with lower abilities lag behind their counterparts," says Greg Stewart, professor of management and organizations in the UI's Tippie College of Business and co-author of the study.

More and more American businesses are using virtual teams, where employees from different geographic locations use technology to work together on a project. While many dispersed work teams use video streaming or talk on the phone, much of their communication still relies on text-based tools, such as email, texting, or instant messaging services.

Past studies have shown leaders emerge differently from virtual teams than they do when team members sit around a conference room table, so that working in a virtual conference room can play an important role in a project's direction and final results.

In the recent study, the research team conducted an experiment that divided 344 participants into four-member teams. Some teams separated all four members into different rooms; some had two in one room, two in another; while some had three in one room and one in another, etc. Each member then played the role of the leadership team of a Hollywood studio deciding which of several scripts to produce, based on various marketing studies they read. Unless they were in the same room together, the team members communicated only by texting with a computer.

After the experiment, the participants completed a questionnaire, at which time they were asked to rate the leadership ability of their colleagues, among other things.

The survey found that typing ability was positively related to leadership perceptions. Individuals who could type well -- taking into account both speed and accuracy -- were more likely to emerge as leaders within the experiment.

"One explanation is that individuals who can type fast are simply able to communicate more information within a given period of time," says Steve Charlier, who led the study as part of his doctoral thesis at the Tippie College and is now an associate professor at Georgia Southern University. "In turn, adept users of electronic communication are more likely to set strategy, drive conversations, and influence work teams as a whole."

The study also found that physical presence played a role in leadership scores, as team members tended to give higher scores to members who were in a room with them than members in other locations. The exception was on teams where members were fully dispersed in separate locations, in which case location had no effect on a person's leadership score.

Stewart says this dynamic could make it difficult for team members who are in a location by themselves to emerge as the leader of a team when other members are in the same place.

The paper, "Emergent leadership in virtual teams: A Multilevel Investigation of individual communication and team dispersion antecedents," was published recently in the journal Leadership Quarterly.
How do we prevent astronauts in space from inhaling hazardous gases? A German-Norwegian hi-tech optical gas sensor provides a solution.

"Astronauts must receive early warnings if harmful or unpleasant gases get mixed in with their breathing air," says Senior Scientist Atle Honne at SINTEF. "Because in space you can't just open a window to ventilate the room," he says.

As a child he read everything he could lay his hands on about the stars. Fifty years later, some of his life's work is being applied in the great expanse of outer space -- 400 kilometres above the surface of Earth! Honne is one of the architects behind the gas measurement system called ANITA, which was tested on the International Space Station (ISS) as a monitoring device of breathable air during 2007 and 2008.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has now commissioned a new, more compact and advanced version of the system that will be demonstrated and utilized initially on the ISS. In addition, the plan is to use the technology on future manned expeditions further out in space.

Early warning

Scott Hovland heads ESA's ISS Facility and Technology Unit and needs no encouragement to praise the qualities of the German-Norwegian sensor. Not least its operational speed.

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"Early warnings of pollutions are essential, because they give astronauts the chance to take remedial actions in response to gas leaks or air purification system failures," he says. "Moreover, the ANITA technology is able to detect gases that we had never previously expected to find in the breathing atmosphere in space. Its ability to do this is extremely important to us," says Hovland.

Mammoths and mice

This measurement system has Norwegian and German parents. OHB System AG is the German company responsible for developing the instrument, while Atle Honne and his co-workers at SINTEF have developed the method the system uses to interpret the collected data.

The ANITA technology uses optical measurements to identify gases. It can detect and distinguish between different gases by measuring how they absorb infrared radiation (see fact box). On the ISS, the upcoming version of the sensor will complement today's monitoring systems, which are based on gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.

The challenge for all those seeking to monitor interior air quality is to identify and measure individual gases within complex mixtures. According to Honne, the optical technique provides faster and far more precise answers than current technologies in the analysis of gas mixtures.

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"This doesn't mean that it's an easy task to measure many gases at the same time," says Honne. "We're looking for both mammoths and mice, and often the mouse will be hiding behind the mammoth," he says.

In space in three years

A decade ago, the first version of ANITA passed its first field test with flying colours on the ISS, where it was installed by the American space agency NASA. According to Honne, the system proved that it could measure many gases at the same time -- fast and very accurately.

"During ANITA's year in space, our technology has shown that it can "see" gases that other instruments fail to detect," says Honne.

In the same way as the previous model, the new version of the sensor will be developed by its Norwegian and German "parents" together. The plan is to get it ready for operation on the ISS in 2020.

Fly me to the Moon

In addition ESA intends to use ANITA on possible future space laboratories located in orbit around the Moon -- closer to 400,000 kilometres from Earth.

Scott Hovland at ESA emphasises that effective monitoring of the breathable air is essential when astronauts are travelling so far away because, as he says, if serious problems should occur on their spacecraft, they can't make a quick return to Earth, which is always a possibility for the ISS crew.

"But adequate monitoring is just as important on the ISS," says Hovland. "I'm thinking about the importance of preventing false alarms. If a false alarm leads to an evacuation, large sums of money will have gone to waste for nothing and the astronauts will have to undertake a risky departure from the station for no reason," he explains.

ESA is investing in ANITA in order to, among other reasons, avoid unwanted situations such as these.

Potential here on Earth

Atle Honne at SINTEF points out that there are also many potential applications for the high-flying ANITA technology here on Earth. The system can be used to check air quality in everything from submarines and aeroplanes to diving systems and laboratories. He also sees ANITA as ideally suited to the monitoring of industrial processes and environmental gas emissions, including waste gases produced by the agricultural sector.

"The space sector is interesting to us at SINTEF because it is a demanding market," says Honne. "If our measurement method passes the test in space, it will be well qualified for applications here on Earth," he says.
Bornaviruses cause a lethal form of encephalitis, called Borna disease, among horses and sheep. To date there have been only a few reported cases in Austria. Recently, however, four horses were afflicted in the same area of Upper Austria within just two years. Tests conducted on local shrews, the only known reservoir host for the virus, confirmed the suspicion of a local viral reservoir. A large proportion of the small mammals investigated by the researchers from Vetmeduni Vienna tested positive for Bornaviruses, which were revealed to be genetically distinct from strains found in neighbouring regions such as Bavaria. The study, conducted in cooperation with the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) and local veterinarians, and published in the journal Emerging Microbes & Infections, documents this rare outbreak of Borna disease in a new endemic area in Austria.

Clinical signs of Borna disease among horses and sheep include behavioural disturbances and disorientation. The causative agent of Borna disease, the Bornavirus, is harmless for people but triggers a lethal infection of the brain and the spinal cord among affected animals. The virus is transmitted exclusively via a reservoir host, the protected bicoloured white-toothed shrew. Infected shrews are lifelong, yet asymptomatic, carriers of the Bornavirus. Despite a declining number of cases, occasional sporadic outbreaks of the disease have been documented in Central Europe with the exception of Austria. Now researchers from Vetmeduni Vienna and the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) have confirmed for the first time an outbreak of Borna disease in a previously unaffected area. Within a period of just two years, four horses in Upper Austria contracted the disease in locations no more than 17 km apart. Local bicoloured white-toothed shrews, as well as one common shrew, tested positive for the virus. The Bornaviruses that were found, however, were genetically only distantly related with the viruses found in neighbouring regions like Bavaria.

First outbreak in Upper Austria recognised thanks to diagnosis by local veterinarians

The first indication of a possible outbreak of Borna disease came from two vigilant local veterinarians. They diagnosed a neurological condition among four horses in Upper Austria and suspected that Bornaviruses could be responsible. An examination of the afflicted horses confirmed the diagnosis and the suspicion. "At the same time, we also tested the possible local carrier, shrews, to help assign a local aspect to the multiple cases of disease," says Herbert Weissenbock of the Institute of Pathology and Forensic Veterinary Medicine. More than fifty percent of the trapped bicoloured white-toothed shrews were positively identified as carriers of the virus. But there also was the unexpected positive test for another species of shrew living in Upper Austria.

Viral strain from Rhineland-Palatinate among common shrews?

The shrews captured in the affected region also included common shrews. This species had so far not been considered a possible carrier of the Bornavirus. "For the first time, we have now identified an infected common shrew. Further studies are needed to show whether this species also serves as a reservoir host or if this is an isolated case," says Norbert Nowotny of the Institute of Virology. The researchers also compared the Bornaviruses found in Upper Austria with the previously discovered Central European strains. "Unlike one would expect from their geographic proximity, the Upper Austrian Bornaviruses were not genetically related to those in Bavaria but to a viral strain from Rhineland-Palatinate. Since its description, this strain has been found in other areas in Germany and now also in Austria," explains Nowotny. "This shows that we are still lacking important information about how the various strains of Bornavirus spread. The identification of a previously unknown endemic area for Bornaviruses in Upper Austria was a surprise for us all."

Bornaviruses use shrews as lifelong reservoir

An earlier study by the team had confirmed that the bicoloured white-toothed shrew represents a reservoir for Bornaviruses. The viruses are present in high amounts in all organs of the shrews while the animals themselves remain asymptomatic. "After an infection, the shrews remain lifelong hosts and even excrete the virus," says Nowotny. With protected animals, however, the question is how to best combat Bornavirus infections. The shrews must be kept out of the stables, for example through self-closing doors or barriers. Hygiene standards and regular controls also play an important role. "This case has shown that many scientific studies begin with the watchful diagnosis by practicing veterinarians. This awareness must be further strengthened. The good cooperation with AGES has shown that we can make rapid progress when we work together. The proof that the Bornaviruses were present in both horses and shrews confirmed not only the veterinarians' diagnosis but will also help us to develop strategies for the future," says Weissenbock.
Researchers have developed a two-pronged approach to blood cancer treatment: 1) attacking cancer cells directly and/or 2) driving them from the nurturing bone marrow environment into the peripheral blood streams, where they are more vulnerable (for example, to chemotherapy).

The findings of multiple in vivo preclinical studies published online in Blood Advances, a Journal of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), indicate that this therapy could potentially treat multiple cancers, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), multiple myeloma (MM), and acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

"One of the major limitations we see in treating blood cancers is the failure to clear cancer cells from the bone marrow," said Flavia Pernasetti, PhD, of Pfizer Oncology Research and Development. "Because the bone marrow allows the cancer cells to flourish, removing these cells is an essential step in treating these malignancies effectively. Not only does our approach have the potential to get these cells out of the marrow, making them more susceptible to standards of care, it is designed to also directly attacks the cancer cells.

"Our preliminary preclinical results are encouraging, and we are very excited to see how our antibody fares in clinical testing."

How it works

The bone marrow serves as a protective home for cancer cells, providing nourishment that allows them to multiply. Recognizing the relationship between bone marrow and cancer resilience, Dr. Pernasetti and her team focused their approach on mechanisms that would drive the cancer from the marrow. To do so, the team looked to the mechanisms that control the movement of cells into the bone marrow in the first place -- CXCR4, a chemokine receptor, and its ligand, CXCL12.

While there is extensive research into agents that inhibit CXCR4 the research team sought to improve upon the concept by taking it one step further. They created an antibody, PF-06747143, that not only moves the cells into a less protective environment, where they can be killed by other treatments, but also has been shown preclinically to attack the cells and kill them directly.

How well it works

Researchers observed the efficacy of the antibody alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy in mouse models of NHL, MM, and AML. In all instances, treatments involving the antibody -- whether alone or in combination with chemotherapy -- appeared to eradicate more cancer cells compared to standard care.

Notable success was observed in AML. When the antibody was used as a standalone therapy, researchers saw a 95.9 percent reduction in cancer cells. When used alongside standard chemotherapy agents daunorubicin and cytarabine in a treatment-resistant AML model, 99.7 percent of cancer cells were killed.

Safety and early signs of efficacy of PF-06747143 are currently being evaluated as part of a Phase I clinical trial in AML patients. "PF-06747143 could potentially be used as a standalone therapy for patients who are not candidates for standard care or used in combination with chemotherapy," noted Dr. Pernasetti.
Dating back to the first century, scientists, philosophers and reporters have noted the occasional occurrence of "bright nights," when an unexplained glow in the night sky lets observers see distant mountains, read a newspaper or check their watch.

A new study accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, uses satellite data to present a possible explanation for these puzzling historical phenomena.

The authors suggest that when waves in the upper atmosphere converge over specific locations on Earth, it amplifies naturally occurring airglow, a faint light in the night sky that often appears green due to the activities of atoms of oxygen in the high atmosphere. Normally, people don't notice airglow, but on bright nights it can become visible to the naked eye, producing the unexplained glow detailed in historical observations.

Few, if any, people observe bright nights anymore due to widespread light pollution, but the new findings show that they can be detected by scientists and may still be noticeable in remote areas. Bright airglow can be a concern for astronomers, who must contend with the extra light while making observations with telescopes.

"Bright nights do exist, and they're part of the variability of airglow that can be observed with satellite instruments," said Gordon Shepherd, an aeronomer at York University in Toronto, Canada, and lead author of the new study.

A historical mystery

Historical accounts of bright nights go back centuries. Pliny the Elder described bright nights, saying, "The phenomenon commonly called 'nocturnal sun', i.e. a light emanating from the sky during the night, has been seen during the consulate of C. Caecilius and Cn. Papirius (~ 113 BCE), and many other times, giving an appearance of day during the night."

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European newspapers and the scientific literature also carried observations of these events in 1783, 1908 and 1916.

"The historical record is so coherent, going back over centuries, the descriptions are very similar," Shepherd said.

Modern observations of bright nights from Earth are practically nonexistent. Even devoted airglow researchers like Shepherd and his colleagues have never seen a true bright night with their eyes. But even before the advent of artificial lighting, bright nights were rare and highly localized.

"Bright nights have disappeared," Shepherd said. "Nobody sees them, nobody talks about them or records them any longer, but they're still an interesting phenomenon."

Airglow anomalies

Shepherd knew of the historical observations and could see bright night events reflected in airglow data from the Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII), an instrument once carried by NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (1991-2005), but he couldn't explain why the phenomena occurred.

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He and his co-author, Youngmin Cho, a research associate at York University, searched for mechanisms that would cause airglow to increase to visible levels at specific locations.

Airglow comes from emissions of different colors of light from chemical reactions in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. The green portion of airglow occurs when light from the sun splits apart molecular oxygen into individual oxygen atoms. When the atoms recombine, they give off the excess energy as photons in the green part of the visible light spectrum, giving the sky a greenish tinge.

To find factors that would cause peaks in airglow and create bright nights, the researchers searched two years of WINDII data for unusual airglow profiles, ruling out meteors and aurora, which have their own distinct signatures. They identified 11 events where WINDII detected a spike in airglow levels that would be visible to the human eye, two of which they describe in detail in the study.

Finally, the researchers matched up the events with the ups and downs of zonal waves, large waves in the upper atmosphere that circle the globe and are impacted by weather. When the peaks of certain waves aligned, they produced bright night events that could last for several nights at a specific location. These events were four to 10 times brighter than normal airglow and could be responsible for the bright nights observed throughout history.

"This [study] is a very clear, new approach to the old enigma of what makes some night skies so remarkably bright, and the answer is atmospheric dynamics," said Jurgen Scheer, an aeronomer at Instituto de Astronomia y Fisica del Espacio in Buenos Aires, who was not connected to the study. "We now have a good idea which dynamical phenomena are behind [airglow] events of extreme brightness."

Observing a bright night

From their data, the researchers estimate that at a specific location, visible bright nights occur only once per year, and their observation would rely on a sky watcher looking from a remote location on a clear, moonless night with dark-adjusted eyes. Shepherd estimates that a bright night occurs somewhere on Earth, at different longitudes, on about 7 percent of nights.

If an astronomer wanted to experience a bright night personally, Shepherd suspects that scientists could predict their occurrence if they monitored the waves continuously, so that they could calculate when their peaks would align.

The next challenge will be to reproduce the observed convergence of these waves through modeling and to consider the effects of other types of waves in the atmosphere, Scheer said.

"Maybe it's an almost dead question," Shepherd said. "I'm having the last word before it dies."
New probe technology can conduct safety critical testing inside galvanizing kettles equipment while still holding molten zinc at 450C.

Zinco UK Limited and Sonemat Limited have signed an agreement to use the ultrasonic probe technology developed from research which was first conducted at the University of Warwick.

The galvanizing process involves the immersing chemically cleaned steel products into the zinc kettle to provide corrosion protection and long life. Galvanizing kettles need to be checked periodically to monitor rates of corrosion throughout the equipment in order to avoid a catastrophic molten zinc spillage. Those corrosion wear rates vary depending on volumes, dip sizes and the amount of production at each plant.

Previous monitoring techniques were either using external probes or galvanizers had to actually drain the zinc from the kettles to another device or the kettle was then left to cool to the point at which physical sampling of the kettle surface could be undertaken. The new technology will allow Zinco UK to expand its markets and areas of operation.

In 2014 Zinco UK established a new relationship with the Sonemat Limited -- a spin-out company from the University of Warwick to explore how ultrasonic technology first developed at the University could be used be used to test the kettle's integrity while still loaded with molten zinc. Sonemat was formed in 2005 by two University of Warwick scientists: Dr Mark Potter, and Professor Steve Dixon who are specialists in non-contact ultrasonic nondestructive testing.

Professor Steve Dixon of Sonemat and the University of Warwick said, "Sonemat created a solution. We devised a new Zinc Immersion Probe (ZIP) which was then manufactured and successfully trialed to provide accurate thickness measurements of kettles even though the probe is immersed in 450C molten metal"

Zinco Managing Director David Watkins said, "We have now used the new ZIP probe technology to measure galvanizing kettles in Africa, Malaysia, Middle East, Scandinavia and Europe. We are confident that this new resource will lead to us serving at least 30% of the world-wide market this safety critical testing. There are around 3,000 galvanizing kettles around the world that can potentially benefit from using this type of inspection probe that not only provides significant safety data as well as maximizing investment return of equipment."
Nanotechnologists from Rice University and China's Tianjin University have used 3-D laser printing to fabricate centimeter-sized objects of atomically thin graphene.

The research could yield industrially useful quantities of bulk graphene and is described online in anew study in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.

"This study is a first of its kind," said Rice chemist James Tour, co-corresponding author of the paper. "We have shown how to make 3-D graphene foams from nongraphene starting materials, and the method lends itself to being scaled to graphene foams for additive manufacturing applications with pore-size control."

Graphene, one of the most intensely studied nanomaterials of the decade, is a two-dimensional sheet of pure carbon that is both ultrastrong and conductive. Scientists hope to use graphene for everything from nanoelectronics and aircraft de-icers to batteries and bone implants. But most industrial applications would require bulk quantities of graphene in a three-dimensional form, and scientists have struggled to find simple ways of creating bulk 3-D graphene.

For example, researchers in Tour's lab began using lasers, powdered sugar and nickel to make 3-D graphene foam in late 2016. Earlier this year they showed that they could reinforce the foam with carbon nanotubes, which produced a material they dubbed "rebar graphene" that could retain its shape while supporting 3,000 times its own weight. But making rebar graphene was no simple task. It required a pre-fabricated 3-D mold, a 1,000-degree Celsius chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process and nearly three hours of heating and cooling.

In the latest study, a team from Tour's lab and the labs of Rice's Jun Luo and Tianjin's Naiqin Zhao adapted a common 3-D printing technique to make fingertip-size blocks of graphene foam. The process is conducted at room temperature. No molds are required and the starting materials are powdered sugar and nickel powder.

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"This simple and efficient method does away with the need for both cold-press molds and high-temperature CVD treatment," said co-lead author Junwei Sha, a former visiting student in Tour's lab who is now a graduate student at Tianjin. "We should also be able to use this process to produce specific types of graphene foam like 3-D printed rebar graphene as well as both nitrogen- and sulfur-doped graphene foam by changing the precursor powders."

Three-D laser printers work differently than the more familiar extrusion-based 3-D printers, which create objects by squeezing melted plastic through a needle as they trace out two-dimensional patterns. In 3-D laser sintering, a laser shines down onto a flat bed of powder. Wherever the laser touches powder, it melts or sinters the powder into a solid form. The laser is rastered, or moved back and forth, line by line to create a single two-dimensional slice of a larger object. Then a new layer of powder is laid over the top of that layer and the process is repeated to build up three-dimensional objects from successive two-dimensional layers.

The new Rice process used a commercially available CO 2 laser. When this laser was shone onto the sugar and nickel powder, the sugar was melted and the nickel acted as a catalyst. Graphene formed as the mixture cooled after the laser had moved on to melt sugar in the next spot, and Sha and colleagues conducted an exhaustive study to find the optimal amount of time and laser power to maximize graphene production.

The foam created by the process is a low-density, 3-D form of graphene with large pores that account for more than 99 percent of its volume.

"The 3-D graphene foams prepared by our method show promise for applications that require rapid prototyping and manufacturing of 3-D carbon materials, including energy storage, damping and sound absorption," said co-lead author Yilun Li, a graduate student at Rice.

Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice.

Additional co-authors include Rodrigo Villegas Salvatierra, Tuo Wang, Pei Dong, Yongsung Ji, Seoung-Ki Lee, Chenhao Zhang, Jibo Zhang and Pulickel Ajayan, all of Rice, and Robert Smith of Qualified Rapid Products in West Jordan, Utah.

The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and its Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, the China Scholarship Council, the State Key Program of National Natural Science of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Special Foundation for Science and Technology Major Program of Tianjin and Universal Laser Systems.
Planning for the Eclipse

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The Great American Total Solar Eclipse will race across the U.S. on Aug. 21, 2017, casting a shadow over 21 of the country's national parks coast to coast.

It's been nearly 100 years since a total solar eclipse has traveled the width of the U.S. and has been visible from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. During the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, the disk of the moon will move directly in front of the sun and will cast a shadow across the country.

The path of totality for the Aug. 21 solar eclipse is about 70 miles (113 kilometers) wide and stretches from Oregon to South Carolina, encompassing 21 U.S. national parks or historical monuments and scenic trails. [Total Solar Eclipse 2017: When, Where and How to See It (Safely)]

Special viewing glasses are required in order to safely view the solar eclipse. Some of the national parks hosting viewing events will be giving out glasses to visitors on the day of the eclipse. However, quantities will be limited, so anyone planning to view the eclipse should get a pair of solar viewing glasses prior to the event.

Witnessing the Great American Total Solar Eclipse from one of the country's national parks offers a unique and natural viewing experience, but many of the parks in the path of totality are situated in remote locations. Therefore, visitors should come prepared with enough food and water to stay hydrated in the summer heat. Visitors should also note that cell service and internet access may be limited in these areas.

Many of the national parks in the path of totality will host special viewing events or other related programs and activities. If you're planning on making a trip to see the total solar eclipse, here's a list of all of the national parks that will experience the daytime darkness cast by the moon's shadow.

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon

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The National Park Service (NPS) expects "very large crowds" to flood the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, as "Eastern Oregon is predicted to be one of the best total eclipse viewing areas in the country," according to the NPS website.

Located within the John Day River basin, the national monument is known for its abundance of well-preserved layers of plant and animal fossils, ranging from the late Eocene, about 45 million years ago, to the late Miocene, about 5 million years ago. The park consists of 13,944 acres (5,643 hectares) of semidesert shrublands and colorful badlands.

All three units of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument will plunge into darkness for up to 2 minutes. Both the Painted Hills Unit and the Sheep Rock Unit are directly under the centerline of the eclipse. The Clarno Unit, however, is north of centerline but still within the range of totality. [Total Solar Eclipse 2017: Path, Viewing Maps and Photo Guide]

Partial phases of the eclipse will begin shortly after 9 a.m. local time, with totality starting at approximately 10:20 a.m., depending on which unit you're in. The total solar eclipse will last for about 1 minute and 40 seconds at the Clarno Unit and just over 2 minutes at the Sheep Rock and Painted Hills units.

The park is open to the public on the day of the eclipse. There are no entrance or parking fees, but the park anticipates large crowds and advises visitors to arrive early to ensure they catch the eclipse. Designated parking areas will be set up, but because of the unusually heavy traffic and visitation, programs and park services will be limited on the day of the eclipse. The park also warns that areas that are normally open may be closed or open to foot traffic only.

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho

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Located in the Snake River Plain of central Idaho, the lava fields of the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve fall on the outskirts of the path of totality. The park is partnering with the city of Arco, NASA and Idaho State University to provide a special viewing event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time at the Bottolfsen Park in Arco.

On the day of the eclipse starting at 9:30 a.m. local time, there will be an educational presentation featuring details about the event and how to view it safely. A partial eclipse begins at 10:13 a.m. MDT, and the eclipse will reach totality at approximately 11:31 a.m. in this location. Skywatchers will experience about 1 minute and 39 seconds of darkness. Afterward, a partial eclipse will continue until approximately 12:30 p.m. MDT.

Following the eclipse, there will be a Space Science Exhibition, a presentation about ongoing research at Craters of the Moon and the chance for kids to earn their Lunar Ranger patch.

There will also be several special events at Craters of the Moon leading up to the total solar eclipse, including "star parties" on Aug. 18 and 19; a presentation called Eclipses, Transits and the Search For Life on Aug. 19; and another special eclipse presentation called "In the Shadow of the Moon," by NASA scientist and educator Brian Day, on Aug. 20. All eclipse events at Bottolfsen Park and Craters of the Moon are free to the public. You can find more event information here.

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Shutterstock

NPS officials are already preparing for what they expect to be the "busiest day ever" at Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming.

The park encompasses the 40-mile-long (64 kilometers) Teton Range  part of the Rocky Mountains  as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. In this park, located in the middle of the eclipse path, viewers will experience up to 2 minutes and 40 seconds of darkness, depending on where they are in the park. Partial phases of the total solar eclipse will begin at 10:17 a.m. local time over Jackson Hole and reach totality at approximately 11:35 a.m.

Four viewing areas will be set up in the park: Gros Ventre Campground, Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, Jackson Lake Lodge and Colter Bay Visitor Center. On the day of the eclipse, the 8-mile (13 km) access road to the Gros Ventre Campground will be turned into a one-way road, running west to east, to create enough room for skywatchers to park and view the centerline of the eclipse.

The Gros Ventre viewing event, located in the southern part of the park, may require a ticket, because parking space along the road is limited. The park will release more details as the day of the eclipse gets closer. All other viewing areas will be free and open to the public. However, certain areas of the park  especially pullouts along the roads  may close when full.

All of the park's permitting requirements will be in place throughout the weekend of the eclipse, including backcountry permits, camping permits and boating permits. The park warns that area lodging is already booked and that all park campgrounds operate on a first-come, first-served basis and will likely fill up quickly.

If you plan to stick around at the park after the eclipse, there will be a free program for visitors to learn more about an aspect of astronomy. The event, To the Tetons and Beyond, will take place at the Laurance S. Rockefeller (LSR) Preserve Porch from 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. local time. Leading up to the day of the eclipse, the park will also host educational programs, stargazing events and other astronomy activities, beginning the night of Aug. 18.

Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Wyoming

Shutterstock

Fort Laramie is a National Historic Site in Wyoming and was once the largest military post on the Northern Plains. Because the Aug. 21 solar eclipse will cross over the center of the state, Fort Laramie falls directly along the path of totality.

The park will host a viewing event on the day of the eclipse from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. Viewers in this area will experience approximately 2 minutes and 14 seconds of totality, starting at about 11:46 a.m.

There is no lodging or camping at Fort Laramie National Historic Site. RV and camping sites are available in the town of Fort Laramie and nearby Guernsey State Park. Admission to the site and all events is free, and parking will be available near the Army Iron Bridge on-site.

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska

Shutterstock

The Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in Nebraska will host daytime and nighttime astronomy programs, Native American sky stories, kids' activities and more throughout the weekend of the total solar eclipse (Aug. 19 through Aug. 21).

The area largely consists of grass-covered plains and is best known for the large number of well-preserved Miocene fossils that have been unearthed from dig sites on Carnegie Hill and University Hill within the park. The fossils unearthed in this area date back 20 million years.

The park falls near the center of the path of totality. A partial eclipse begins at 10:25 a.m. local time, with totality starting at 11:47 a.m. Viewers will experience total darkness for approximately 2 minutes and 23 seconds.

There will be designated viewing areas set up in the park. Amateur astronomers are also welcome to bring their telescopes and participate in educational talks to help inform visitors about the total solar eclipse. All eclipse events are free to the public.

Scotts Bluff National Monument, Nebraska

Shutterstock

Scotts Bluff National Monument is located in western Nebraska and includes an important 19th-century landmark on the Oregon Trail and Mormon Trail. The site encompasses multiple bluffs on the south side of the North Platte River. The park is named for one of the most prominent bluffs, called Scotts Bluff, which rises over 800 feet (240 meters) at its highest point.

This historical landmark is located in the path of totality and will host multiple viewing events for the solar eclipse on Aug. 21. Events will be held at Five Rocks, Scotts Bluff National Monument, Legacy of the Plains, Landers Field and more. The park will also host a special night-sky viewing event from the top of the bluff, as well as other solar activities, on Aug. 19. However, parking for the viewing events will be limited. The viewing events are free to the public, but entrance fees to the park may apply.

Starting at 11:48 a.m. local time, viewers will experience approximately 1 minute and 42 seconds of darkness during the solar eclipse.

Homestead National Monument of America, Nebraska

Shutterstock

An entire long weekend of events (Aug. 19 through Aug. 21) has been planned for the solar eclipse at the Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska. The historical site, which commemorates the passage of the Homestead Act of 1862 (which provided settlers with 160 acres of public land earch), is located in Gage County, Nebraska, and will experience 2 minutes and 34 seconds of darkness during the eclipse on Aug. 21.

Leading up to the eclipse, on Aug 19. and Aug. 20, the park will host activities at the Heritage and Education centers, including presentations from NASA officials, science and astronomy programs led by PBS Kids' "Ready Jet Go!" and stargazing events at night. Bill Nye, the popular science communicator and CEO of The Planetary Society, will even make an appearance at the park on the day of the eclipse to welcome skywatchers and introduce the NPS' new Junior Ranger Eclipse Explorer booklet.

On Aug. 21, skywatchers can enjoy a countdown to eclipse totality, which will start at 1:02 p.m. local time. Partial phases of the eclipse will begin at 11:37 a.m. All solar eclipse programs at Homestead are free to the public. You can find a full lineup of events here.

Harry S. Truman National Historic Site, Missouri

National Parks Service

This site celebrates Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, as well as other properties associated with his family. The more than 50,000 artifacts on display at the historical site offer a glimpse at the personal life of the Truman family.

The Harry S. Truman National Historic Site falls within the path of totality and will be open to visitors to watch the eclipse. Partial phase starts at 11:41 a.m. local time, while totality begins at 1:08 a.m. Totality will last 1 minute and 10 seconds.

Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, Missouri

National Parks Service

The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail commemorates Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's famous expedition from 1804 to 1806. The trail extends for some 3,700 miles (6,000 km) from Wood River, Illinois, to the mouth of the Columbia River, in Oregon.

However, only some areas of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail converge with the path of totality, including Jefferson City, Kansas City and St. Joseph in Missouri. The Lewis and Clark Memorial in downtown Kansas City at Clark's Point falls on the edge of the path of totality and will see only about 27 seconds of darkness during the eclipse. In Kansas City, totality starts at 1:08 p.m.

Jefferson City also honors the trailblazers with a Lewis and Clark monument next to the Missouri State Capitol. Here, skywatchers will experience 2 minutes and 29 seconds of totality, starting at 1:13 p.m.

The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail also runs through St. Joseph, which is very close to the centerline of the solar eclipse path. Viewers in St. Joseph will experience 2 minutes and 38 seconds of totality, starting at 1:06 p.m.

Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site, Missouri

NPS

The Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site is a 9.65-acre (3.9 hectares) plantation located in St. Louis. The site honors Ulysses S. Grant, who was a general in the Civil War and the 18th president of the U.S.

This National Historic Site falls in the path of totality, and viewers in this location will see 1 minute and 33 seconds of darkness. At this park, the partial phase of the eclipse begins at 11:49 a.m. and will reach totality at 1:17 p.m. The park will be open to skywatchers on the day of the eclipse. Entrance to the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site is free.

Leading up to eclipse, the National Historic Site will host a Junior Ranger solar eclipse program and a total solar eclipse lecture on June 23. The public is invited to the park to learn more about solar eclipses and the total eclipse on Aug. 21. Both events are free, but reservations are required for the total solar eclipse lecture with Don Ficken, chairman of the St. Louis Eclipse Task Force.
The celestial event, sometimes called the Great American Total Solar Eclipse, is the first such eclipse to travel the width of the U.S. in nearly 100 years, offering a spectacular celestial show for millions of skywatchers. During the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, the disk of the moon will move directly in front of the sun, briefly turning day into night.

It will take about 90 minutes for the moon's dark shadow to sweep across the country, starting around 10:15 a.m. PDT on the West Coast and ending around 2:45 p.m. EDT (11:45 a.m. PDT) on the East Coast. [21 National Parks Where You Can Enjoy the 2017 Solar Eclipse]

The path of totality for the solar eclipse  where people will experience the moon fully blot out the sun  is about 70 miles (113 kilometers) wide and stretches from Oregon to South Carolina, encompassing 21 U.S. national parks or historical monuments and scenic trails. The national parks in the path of totality will experience darkness for different lengths of time, ranging from only a few seconds up to 2 minutes 40 seconds at most. Outside the path of totality, viewers in the continental U.S. and other nearby areas will see a partial solar eclipse.

With less than three months to go, the National Park Service (NPS) is getting ready to accommodate large crowds and helping to plan special viewing events or educational opportunities at most of the parks. Visitor safety is of top concern, as well as preservation of each park's natural resources.

Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming is preparing for what is expected to be "busiest day ever" in the history of the park.

"August is already our busiest time of year, but as a result of the eclipse we are expecting to be even more crowded than normal," Dan Greenblatt, Colter Bay District Interpreter at Grand Teton National Park, told Space.com. "Grand Teton National Park features a stunning mountain landscape, and I think that is one reason that people are coming here: To see the eclipse as it passes over the mountains," Greenblatt said, adding that the park generally has pretty good weather in August, too.

While planning viewing events, many of the parks consider their natural, historical or cultural significance, and how that may tie into the total solar eclipse, Sara Melena, NPS education specialist, told Space.com.

"People can go see [the eclipse] for 3,000 miles across the country, but there is a reason that they are coming to a national park  they've decided, 'this is the place I want to see this event,' and it's because of the spectacular scenery, the amazing natural resources we protect and the relation to our past  that make national parks a unique place to go to experience this event," Melena said.

(Image credit: CH2M Oak Ridge LLC/US DOE)

For example, one of the parks in the path of totality is the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which commemorates the creation of the atomic bomb used in World War II.

"Personally, the connection I would make here would be about science  about learning and discovery," Melena said. "To learn about atoms and how they work  that's an aspect of the story that the park has to tell, but in relation to the eclipse, it's about learning and discovery and about understanding the world around us."

Many of the national parks in the path of totality will host special viewing events or other related programs and activities. If you're planning on making a trip to see the total solar eclipse, here's a list of all of the national parks that will experience the daytime darkness cast by the moon's shadow. You can read more about the eclipse each of the national park locations in our gallery.

- John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Kimberly, Oregon. All three units of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument will plunge into darkness for up to 2 minutes. The Painted Hills and Sheep Rock Units are both directly under the centerline of the eclipse, while the Clarno Unit is a little more north of centerline. Totality will begin about 10:20 a.m. PDT, depending on the unit of the park. The park is open to the public on the day of the eclipse. There is no entrance or parking fees, but the park anticipates large crowds and advises that visitors arrive early to ensure they catch the eclipse.

- Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve in Arco, Idaho. Located in the Snake River Plain of central Idaho, the lava fields of the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve fall on the outskirts of the path of totality. The park is partnering with the city of Arco, NASA and Idaho State University to host an educational presentation about the eclipse and a special viewing event from 9:30 a.m. MDT to 1 p.m. MDT at the Bottolfsen Park in Arco. Totality will start about 11:31 a.m. MDT and skywatchers will experience about 1 minute and 39 seconds of darkness during the total solar eclipse. [Total Solar Eclipse 2017: Path, Viewing Maps and Photo Guide]

- Grand Teton National Park in Moose, Wyoming. Four scenic viewing areas will be set up in the park: Gros Ventre Camp Ground, Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center, Jackson Lake Lodge and Colter Bay Visitor Center. Starting around 11:35 a.m. MDT, viewers at the park will experience up to 2 minutes and 40 seconds of totality, depending on where they are in the park. The Gros Ventre viewing area may require a ticket due to parking limitations, but other areas will be free and open to the public. Keep in mind that all of the park's permitting requirements will be in place throughout the weekend of the eclipse, including backcountry permits, camping permits and boating permits.

- Fort Laramie National Historic Site in Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Fort Laramie falls directly along the path of totality for the Aug. 21 solar eclipse and will host a viewing event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. MDT. Viewers in this area will experience approximately 2 minutes and 14 seconds of totality, starting about 11:46 a.m. MDT. Admission to the site and all events is free, and parking will be available near the Army Iron Bridge on site.

- Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in Harrison, Nebraska. Designated viewing areas will be set up in the park for the total solar eclipse. The park falls near the center of the path of totality, which will start at 11:47 a.m. MDT. Viewers will experience total darkness for approximately 2 minutes and 23 seconds. The park will also host day and nighttime astronomy programs, Native American sky stories, kids' activities and more throughout the weekend of the total solar eclipse (Aug. 19 through Aug. 21).

- Scotts Bluff National Monument in Gering, Nebraska. Starting at 11:48 a.m. MDT, viewers will experience approximately 1 minute and 42 seconds of darkness at Scotts Bluff National Monument. Located in western Nebraska, the park falls in the path of totality and will host viewing events in several areas, including Five Rocks, Scotts Bluff National Monument, Legacy of the Plains and Landers Field. Viewing events are free, but entrance fees to the park may apply.

- Homestead National Monument of America in Gage County, Nebraska. A weekend of events (Aug. 19 through Aug. 21) has been planned for the solar eclipse at the Homestead National Monument of America in Nebraska. Starting at 1:02 p.m. CDT on Aug. 21, the historical site will experience 2 minutes and 34 seconds of totality. All solar eclipse programs at Homestead are free. Bill Nye, the popular science communicator and CEO of the Planetary Society, will even make an appearance at the park on the day of the eclipse to welcome skywatchers and introduce the NPS' new Junior Ranger Eclipse Explorer booklet.

(Image credit: National Parks Service)

- Harry S Truman National Historic Site in Independence, Missouri. Featuring the home of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, the historic site falls within the path of totality and will be open to visitors to watch the eclipse. Partial phase starts at 11:41 a.m. CDT, while totality begins at 1:08 a.m. CDT. Totality will last 1 minute and 10 seconds.

- Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail. Although the National Historic Trail stretches some 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) across the U.S., only some areas converge with the path of totality. This includes Jefferson City, Kansas City and St. Joseph in Missouri. While Kansas City falls on the edge of the path of totality and will see only about 27 seconds of darkness during the eclipse, skywatchers will experience 2 minutes and 29 seconds of totality in Jefferson City. Viewers in St. Joseph will experience 2 minutes and 38 seconds of totality, starting at 1:06 p.m. CDT.

- Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis, Missouri. This 9.65-acre plantation falls in the path of totality and will see 1 minute and 33 seconds of totality, starting at 1:17 p.m. CDT. The park will be open to skywatchers on the day of the eclipse. Entrance to the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site is free. Leading up to eclipse, the site is also hosting a Junior Ranger solar eclipse program and a total solar eclipse lecture on June 23. Both events are free, but reservations are required for the lecture.

- Fort Donelson National Battlefield in Dover, Tennessee. Located on the edge of the path of totality, Fort Donelson will experience only about 45 seconds of darkness, starting at 1:25 p.m. CDT. Viewing will be available from the main area of the park and from the Dover Hotel (Surrender House), overlooking the Cumberland River. The park will also host special solar eclipse programs throughout the spring and summer. Those included a presentation by NASA Solar System Ambassador Theo Wellington on June 13, and a Junior Ranger activity on June 17 for children, ages 5-9. All eclipse events at Fort Donelson are free.

- Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Also on the edge of totality, eclipse viewers at the Stones River will experience about 55 seconds of totality, starting at 1:29 p.m. CDT. The park will hold a free viewing event on Aug. 21 at the visitor center, along with historical and astronomical activities throughout the day. The first 1,500 visitors will receive a complimentary pair of eclipse viewing glasses.

- The Obed Wild and Scenic River in Wartburg, Tennessee. The park is holding free viewing events at three locations, including the Obed Visitor Center, which will experience 1 minute and 14 seconds of darkness; Lilly Overlook, which will experience 1 minute and 39 seconds of darkness; and Big South Fork Gateway Visitor Center, which will see 2 minutes and 29 seconds of darkness. Totality will occur about 2:30 p.m. EDT, with the duration of darkness varying depending on the location. Visitors can also see the eclipse from other areas of the park on their own, but vehicle access may be limited.

- Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The park has planned public viewing events at the American Museum of Science & Energy (Oak Ridge Visitor Center), where viewers will experience approximately 24 seconds of totality, starting at 2:33 p.m. EDT. Eclipse viewing events are free, but the park will likely fill up fast.

- Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina. The western section of the park falls under the path of totality and will experience up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds of darkness during the eclipse. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park planned viewing events in three areas, including Cades Cove, Oconaluftee and Clingmans Dome  the highest peak in the park. The Clingmans Dome event is already sold out, but the other areas will be open and free to the public.

- Appalachian National Scenic Trail. The Appalachian Trail stretches from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. The total solar eclipse on Aug. 21 will pass directly over sections of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina and Tennessee. Hikers can trek to the top of the 5,200-foot Albert Mountain near Franklin, North Carolina, to witness 2 minutes and 30 seconds of totality, starting at 2:35 p.m. EDT. The Appalachian Trail is a public footpath, and no fees or permits are required to walk on the trail.

- Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. Also known as "America's Favorite Drive," is a 469-mile scenic highway that runs through Virginia and North Carolina. The southern section of the Parkway near Asheville, North Carolina, will be in the path of totality and experience between 20 seconds and 1 minute of darkness, depending on the location of the parkway. Totality will begin around 2:36 p.m. EDT.

- Ninety Six National Historic Site in Ninety Six, South Carolina. Located in the direct path of the total solar eclipse, the park will host a viewing event at Star Fort Pond. Skywatchers will experience 2 minutes and 32 seconds of darkness, starting at 2:39 p.m. EDT. The Ninety Six viewing event is free. The park asks that visitors make a reservation so that they can prepare for the event.

- Congaree National Park in Hopkins, South Carolina. Skywatchers can join Congaree National Park staff for a guided hike among the ancient hardwood forests as the eclipse occurs. Viewers will experience 2 minutes and 31 seconds of darkness, with totality starting at 2:42 p.m. EDT.

(Image credit: National Parks Service)

- Charles Pinckney National Historic Site in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. With totality starting at 2:46 p.m. EDT, the historic site is one of the last to experience the total solar eclipse. Totality will start at 2:46 p.m. EDT and last for about 1 minute and 48 seconds. The park will hold special free eclipse-viewing events on Aug. 21. Visitors can also walk the plantation grounds and nature trail while the eclipse occurs.

- Fort Sumter National Monument in Charleston, South Carolina. Before the moon's shadow heads over the Atlantic Ocean, it will cross Fort Sumter National Monument in Charleston  the last major city within the path of totality. The national monument also includes Fort Moultrie, located on Sullivan's Island. Charleston will experience about 1 minute and 33 seconds of totality, starting at 2:46 p.m. EDT. Details have not yet been announced for any eclipse-viewing events at either Fort Sumter or Fort Moultrie. However, a viewing event will be held at the Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center at Liberty Square in Charleston.

Special viewing glasses are required to safely view the solar eclipse. The NPS has helped fund the production of 50,000 solar-eclipse-viewing glasses to be distributed to park visitors. Some of the national parks hosting viewing events will be giving glasses away to visitors on the day of the eclipse. However, quantities will be limited, so anyone planning to view the eclipse should get a pair of solar-viewing glasses before the event.

While witnessing the total solar eclipse from one of the country's national parks offers a unique and natural viewing experience, many of the parks in the path of totality are in remote locations. Visitors should come prepared with enough food and water to stay hydrated in the summer heat. Visitors should also take into consideration that cell service and internet access may be limited in these areas.

Most parks will have designated parking areas set up on the day of the eclipse. Due to the unusually high traffic and number of visitors expected, programs and park services may be limited on the day of the eclipse. Be sure to check the National Park Service website for more information on specific viewing events and programs being held, as well as for updates on road closures, weather alerts or ticket availability leading up to the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21.

Follow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us @Spacedotcom,Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Two iconic star-forming regions called nebulas and a bright gas cloud shine brightly in a new mega-scale image. The picture, taken by the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) VLT Survey Telescope (VST) in Chile, is 3.3 gigapixels in size, making it one of the largest images ever created using data from the observatory.

The image shows, from left to right, the Omega Nebula, the Eagle Nebula and a gas cloud called Sharpless 2-54. All three objects are roughly 7,000 light-years away. The Omega Nebula is located in the constellation Serpens (The Serpent), while the other two are found in the constellation Sagittarius.

"This region of the Milky Way houses a huge cloud of star-making material," ESO officials said in a statement. "The three nebulae indicate where regions of this cloud have clumped together and collapsed to form new stars; the energetic light from these stellar newborns has caused ambient gas to emit light of its own, which takes on the pinkish hue characteristic of areas rich in hydrogen." [The Fabulous Lives of Nebulas]

From left to right, the Omega Nebula, the Eagle Nebula and the glowing cloud of gas dubbed Sharpless 2-54 shine in a vivid new image from the European Southern Observatory's VLT Survey Telescope (VST). (Image credit: ESO)

The massive new image was created from a mosaic of dozens of pictures, each one 256 megapixels in size, from the telescope's OmegaCAM camera. The final image required lengthy processing before being released, ESO officials added.

Both Sharpless 2-54 and the Eagle Nebula were discovered after astronomers spotted bright star clusters in their midst in the 1700s, although it took them some time to spot the larger gas cloud encompassing the clusters. Professional astronomers typically identify objects by official names in catalogs, using designation numbers, whereas amateur astronomers tend to use nicknames for these objects.

Highlights of a huge, 3-gigapixel image from the European Southern Observatory's VLT Survey Telescope. (Image credit: ESO)

Sharpless 2-54 was so dim that its gas cloud was not discovered until the 1950s, by American astronomer Stewart Sharpless. However, a star cluster embedded in the nebula called NGC 6604, visible on the object's left side in the image, was found by British astronomer William Herschel in 1784.

The Eagle Nebula was discovered in the 1760s by French astronomer Charles Messier, and it's noted as Messier 16 in his famous catalog. His discovery came only two decades after Swiss astronomer Philippe Loys de Cheseaux found a bright star cluster in the nebula's midst.

The Omega Nebula was cataloged by de Cheseaux in 1745. However, the Swiss astronomer's catalog was never widely used. This meant that when Messier rediscovered the object in 1764, it was his designation  Messier 17  that was used to identify the Omega Nebula.

An annotated version of a new image from the European Southern Observatory's VLT Survey Telescope shows many of the nebulas and star clusters on the borders of the constellations Sagittarius and Serpens. (Image credit: ESO)

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
As Seen on TV (and in Space!)

KFC

A chicken sandwich being sent to space  well, sort of, more on that later  all in the name of selling more chicken sandwiches. Is this what they meant by commercial spaceflight? For better or worse, here is a look back at the brief history of television advertisements being filmed off the planet.

Milk in Space

The first-ever commercial shot in space (earning it a Guinness World Record) was an advertisement for Tnuva Milk. The Israeli "long life" milk was launched to the former Russian space station Mir, where cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliyev appeared on video drinking  or rather gobbling up  a white milk bubble while ground control looked on. The commercial, which aired in August 1997, wasn't only a first for advertising but also the first time astronauts drank milk in space.

RadioShack

NASA

In what probably should have been a warning of things to come, RadioShack tried to drive up its 2001 Father's Day sales by sending an "out of this world" gift to a dad on board the International Space Station. Russian cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin were filmed surprising their crewmate Yuri Usachev with a present from his 12-year-old daughter Evgenia.



"It's all about helping people stay connected, wherever your travels may take you," Jim McDonald, then-senior vice president of marketing and advertising for RadioShack Corp., said in a statement.



What else do you get the "best father in the world"  and, apparently, off it? A "talking picture frame" from RadioShack. [9 Weird Things That Flew on NASA's Space Shuttles]

Cup Noodles

Nissin

From the world's biggest manufacturer of instant noodles  including "Space Ram," a microgravity-friendly ramen  came the first advertisement for noodles in space. Nissin Foods collaborated with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in 2005 to film cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev rehydrating and enjoying the company's Cup Noodles brand instant ramen noodle snack. The resulting TV commercial aired in Japan as a part of Nissin's "Cup Noodle No Border" campaign. [Space Food Photos: What Astronauts Eat in Orbit]

Pepsi

And then there was Pepsi. "The Choice of the Next Generation" was unabashed in its desire to use space to promote its soft drink. Unlike Coca-Cola, Pepsi touted its flight aboard the space shuttle in 1985 on the back of soda cans it sold on Earth and distributed replicas of its shaving-cream-can-inspired dispenser.



In 1996, as Coca-Cola flew its dispenser on the space shuttle, Pepsi opted to film a commercial, sending an oversize "can," promoting its new blue design, to the Russian Mir space station. Pepsi claimed it was the first commercial shot in outer space, as it was filmed outside the orbiting complex during a spacewalk.

Coca-Cola

London News Pictures/Zuma

When is a commercial product seen in space not a commercial? When it is a science experiment. Though much was made in the news of the 1980s "Cola Wars" reaching orbit, Coca-Cola's launch of a "space can" (followed later by a full dispenser, pressurized cup and bottles) aboard the space shuttle was not intended as an advertisement for the soft drink.



Rather, Coca-Cola, in partnership with Martin Marietta (today, Lockheed Martin) and several universities, was focused on the long-range objective of advancing fluid management technology in microgravity. The beverage giant was also interested in advancing hardware to carbonate liquids on demand and to mix and dispense beverages with minimal loss of carbonation, for use in space and on Earth. [Coca-Cola Returns Soda to Outer Space in New Olympics Ad]

Pizza Hut

Wirepix/TNS/Zuma

Proving that "no one out-pizzas the Hut" (15 years before it adopted that slogan), Pizza Hut delivered a 6-inch salami pizza to the International Space Station in 2001. (Salami was used because apparently pepperoni did not withstand a 60-day testing process.)



"From this day forward, Pizza Hut pizza will go down in history as the world's first pizza to be delivered to and eaten in space," Randy Gier, then-chief marketing officer of Pizza Hut Inc., said in a statement.



In 2014, Pizza Hut combined the footage of its space pizza with an earlier promotion that put its logo on the side of a Russian Proton rocket for a TV commercial that demonstrated its "greatness."

Space Chair Project

Toshiba

Three years before actor and director Clint Eastwood inexplicably spoke to an empty chair during the 2012 Republican National Convention, Toshiba sent an empty chair to space  sort of. On Sept. 26 and Sept. 27, 2009, JP Aerospace carried four red, empty chairs into the stratosphere (the edge of space) using large helium balloons to film a TV commercial that played in Europe and Japan.



"Armchair viewing, redefined," Toshiba declared in the spot, promoting its Regza HD TVs.

Lowe's & Made In Space

Lowes

"Helping people accomplish their mission, on or off the planet." That's the tagline in a 2016 spot for Lowe's Home Improvement promoting the partnership between Made In Space  the maker of the first 3D printer deployed in space  and Lowe's Innovation Labs. Though the video does not include footage shot in space for the promotion, it does feature the additive-manufacturing device itself, which includes a prominent Lowe's logo on its front.



"It is the first hardware store in space," Kyle Nel, executive director of Lowe's Innovation Labs, said in an interview with Space.com. "Lowe's sells tools on Earth, and this way, we're going to be able to provide tools in space as well."

KFC Zinger 1 Mission

KFC

That brings us back to the chicken sandwich. To promote its Zinger spicy, crispy chicken sandwich, KFC designed an animatronic, bucket-shaped satellite and partnered with World View Enterprises to launch it to (the edge of) space on a Stratollite, a platform capable of controlled flight in the stratosphere.



With actor Rob Lowe putting his own spacesuited spin on Colonel Sanders, KFC promoted the Zinger 1 space mission in television commercials and online throughout the first half of 2017. The sandwich won't be consumed upon landing, but it was ready to take a selfie, tweet, drop a coupon from altitude and deploy a flag all while on livestreaming HD video. Spaceflight has never been so finger lickin' good.

But wait, there's more!

NASA

Make no mistake: The future of commercials being shot in space (or near space) is bright, especially with commercial spacecraft coming online from SpaceX, Boeing, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and World View  to say nothing of the plans for commercial space stations or habitats. As commercial activities take over Earth orbit and beyond, there are bound be those eager to beam their products' virtues back to those on the ground.
On June 21, Slooh will feature Bill Nye and Phil Plait in a webcast that will spotlight the summer solstice and the upcoming total solar eclipse.

Looking for a way to celebrate the summer solstice and preview the biggest astronomical event this year? Tune in to the Slooh online community observatory's webcast today (June 21), which will feature fun facts and viewing information about the solstice and the total solar eclipse that will occur on Aug. 21  the first such total solar eclipse visible in the continental United States since 1979.

The hourlong livestream starts at 2 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. EDT, or 2100 GMT). You can watch the livestream on Slooh.com, or here on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh.

Slooh astronomer Eric Edelman will host today's show, according to a statement from Slooh. It will also feature appearances from Bill Nye, TV's famous "Science Guy" and CEO of The Planetary Society; and Phil Plait, author of "Death from the Skies!" and the blog "Bad Astronomy," hosted on Slate; as well as Slooh team members. [Total Solar Eclipse 2017: When, Where and How to See It (Safely)]

Also joining the webcast will be meteorologist Ari Sarsalari, a severe weather expert and host of The Weather Channel's "The Ari Effect"; Matt Penn, of the Citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse Experiment; and Paige Godfrey, Slooh's director of research.

The live event will feature views of the sun streamed from Slooh's observatory partners, with close-ups from Prescott Observatory in Prescott, Arizona, and wide-angle views from New York, Chicago, Seattle and Hawaii.

Sarsalari will help viewers choose the best eclipse-viewing locations, by looking at which locations are most likely to have cooperating weather in August. The other guests will share their appreciation for the eclipse. In addition, Slooh will preview its three-day eclipse celebration, which will take place in Stanley, Idaho starting Aug. 18. That area will experience 2 minutes and 13 seconds of totality.

Penn's organization plans to set up a group of 60 telescopes run by amateurs and professionals to study the inner corona, part of the sun's atmosphere, during the eclipse, according to the statement from Slooh.

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This sketch illustrates a family tree of exoplanets. Planets are born out of swirling disks of gas and dust called protoplanetary disks. The disks give rise to giant planets like Jupiter as well as smaller planets mostly between the sizes of Earth and Neptune. Researchers using data from the W. M. Keck Observatory and NASA's Kepler mission discovered that the smaller planets can be cleanly divided into two size groups: the rocky Earth-like planets and super-Earths, and the gaseous mini-Neptunes.

Scientists have reorganized the exoplanetary tree of life into two distinct branches. Most exoplanets discovered so far are close in size to Earth or either Neptune, according to a new study led by the California Institute of Technology. But astronomers are puzzled as to why there is a gap between these two planetary sizes.

The work, which is based on an analysis of thousands of known exoplanets, shows that planets in our galaxy overwhelmingly fall into two groups. The first includes rocky planets up to 1.75 times the size of Earth, and the second group is made up of gaseous Neptune-like worlds between 2 to 3.5 times the size of Earth. (Neptune, by comparison, is roughly 4 times the size of Earth.)

The work includes data from NASAs Kepler space telescope, which searches for Earth-like worlds in the habitable zones of their stars, and the W. M. Keck Observatory, which detects planets using the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) on the Keck I telescope. The researchers attempted to classify these planets similarly to how biologists classify animal species.

"This is a major new division in the family tree of planets, analogous to discovering that mammals and lizards are distinct branches on the tree of life," said Andrew Howard, professor of astronomy at Caltech and principal investigator of the new research, in a statement.

"In the solar system, there are no planets with sizes between Earth and Neptune," added Erik Petigura, co-author of the study and a Hubble postdoctoral fellow at Caltech. "One of the great surprises from Kepler is that nearly every star has at least one planet larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. We'd really like to know what these mysterious planets are like and why we don't have them in our own solar system."

RELATED: Earth May Once Have Been a Donut-Shaped Mass of Vaporized Rock Called a Synestia

A study based on the research will be published in The Astronomical Journal and a preprint version is available now in preprint version on Arxiv. The study itself is led by B.J. Fulton, a graduate student in Howard's group who works at both Caltech and the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii.

"Astronomers like to put things in buckets," Fulton remarked. "In this case, we have found two very distinct buckets for the majority of the Kepler planets."

Classifying planets

The first planet around a sun-like star was discovered in the mid-1990s. Today, there are nearly 3,500 confirmed exoplanets, with thousands more yet to be confirmed. Most of these were found by Kepler, which began its mission by staring at a fixed spot in the Cygnus constellation. Kepler monitored the stars for telltale dips of light as planets passed in front of the stars.

After the mission was no longer able to point consistently due to failing gyroscopes, Kepler began a new mission in 2013 called "K2," where it rotates its view several times a year. It still is discovering exoplanets, but at a lower rate than before.

The Kepler catalog mostly includes planets that are very close in to their stars. Previously, the planets discovered by Kepler were known to be between the size of Earth and Neptune  but no distinct groups were known until data from the Keck telescope was used.

In general, as a planet passes in front of a star, the size of the "dip" in starlight is correlated with the size of the planet. However, to understand the size of the planet, astronomers must also know the size of the parent stars. Obtaining that information required the services of Keck, which obtained spectral data on the parent stars. The spectral data provided measurements of the stars' sizes, which in turn, yielded more precise sizes for the planets passing in front of each star.

"Before, sorting the planets by size was like trying to sort grains of sand with your naked eye," said Fulton. "Getting the spectra from Keck is like going out and grabbing a magnifying glass. We could see details that we couldn't before."

Minding the gap

The information from Keck yielded the sizes of these planets with four times more precision than what was available before. The new distribution revealed a gap between rocky Earths and mini-Neptunes. While scientists are still investigating what causes the gap in planetary sizes, they have two possible explanations.

One explanation could be that many planets are naturally Earth-sized and remain at their original size, while other ones  for reasons that are still poorly understood  acquire a lot of gassy mas.

"A little bit of hydrogen and helium gas goes a very long way. So, if a planet acquires only 1 percent of hydrogen and helium in mass, that's enough to jump the gap," said Howard. "These planets are like rocks with big balloons of gas around them. The hydrogen and helium that's in the balloon doesn't really contribute to the mass of the system as a whole, but it contributes to the volume in a tremendous way, making the planets a lot bigger in size."

Alternatively, the gap may exist because planets that are between super-Earth and mini-Neptune size see their gas burned off when they are exposed to radiation from their parent star.

"A planet would have to get lucky to land in the gap, and then if it did, it probably wouldn't stay there," said Howard. "It's unlikely for a planet to have just the right amount of gas to land in the gap. And those planets that do have enough gas can have their thin atmospheres blown off. Both scenarios likely carve out the gap in planet sizes that we observe."

The researchers plan more study to look at the heavy elements in each planet to learn more about the worlds' composition, which would in turn refine the predictions about how these planets are formed.

"We are currently working to understand what these mini-Neptunes are made of, which should help explain why these planets form so easily around other stars and why they didn't form around the sun," said Petigura.

In related news, on Monday (June 19) NASA released a new catalog of exoplanets from the Kepler telescope, based on data from the first four years of Kepler's mission before K2. The data includes 219 exoplanet candidates. Of these candidates, 10 are believed to be Earth-sized and in the habitable zones of their parent stars.

Originally published on Seeker.
The B612 Foundation is no longer pursuing a large space telescope called Sentinel (above) to look for near Earth asteroids in favor of a concept using smaller spacecraft.

WASHINGTON  The B612 Foundation, which once sought to privately develop a large space observatory to search for potentially hazardous near Earth objects (NEOs), is now studying an alternative approach that uses much smaller spacecraft.

The California-based non-profit organization unveiled plans in 2012 for Sentinel, a spacecraft that would go into a Venus-like orbit around the sun, looking back towards Earth orbit to detect NEOs that could post a collision risk to the Earth. The foundation said at the time that it believed Sentinel was the best way to achieve a congressionally-mandated goal of detecting at least 90 percent of potentially hazardous objects at least 140 meters in diameter.

While the B612 Foundation advanced the design of the Sentinel spacecraft, it struggled to raise the estimated $450 million needed to build and launch the spacecraft. NASA terminated an unfunded Space Act Agreement with the foundation in the fall of 2015, citing a lack of progress by the organization on the development of Sentinel.

In a June 19 interview, Ed Lu, the co-founder of B612, said the foundation is focusing instead on smaller, but more numerous, NEOs. "The real gap is the 100 times as many asteroids smaller than 140 meters but still large enough to destroy things on the ground," he said. The lower end of that size range, he said, is roughly 20 to 40 meters in diameter, with an estimated population of several million asteroids.

B612 is studying a technology called "synthetic tracking" to more effectively detect small asteroids. That approach, he said, uses high-speed graphics processing to compensate for the motion of asteroids in long exposures, allowing smaller telescopes to detect these objects.

"We've had quite a bit of success testing this technology already on the ground," he said. "We are looking towards building an Earth orbit demonstrator of the technology."

Ultimately, Lu said he envisions a constellation of likely 5 to 10 satellites, each carrying a telescope with an aperture of 15 centimeters. "They're not cubesats, but they're not much larger," he said.

Lu said the foundation would provide more details about its small satellite plans later this year, including a schedule for flying the first demonstration spacecraft. "The timescale is quite short," he said.

B612 is focusing on smaller asteroids in part because of increasing confidence that other telescopes will be able to find larger NEOs. Those observatories include the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a large, wide-field telescope under construction in Chile, as well as the proposed Near Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) mission.

"LSST and NEOCam have led us to be fairly confident that the asteroid surveys are going to be completed down to the congressional goal" of 140 meters, he said. "It's going to take some number of years, but we're going to get there."

LSST will not enter service until the early 2020s, but Lu said preparations are already underway to make use of its observations. "LSST is going to be an enormous source of data, and its number of discoveries is going to dwarf everything else out there," Lu said.

To help prepare for this, the B612 Foundation announced June 13 the formation of a virtual Asteroid Institute, with Lu serving as its executive director, to support research on asteroid detection and other planetary defense topics. The institute will start by funding two postdoctoral fellows at the University of Washington's Data Intensive Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology (DIRAC) Institute.

"We want them to be working closely with the LSST in particular," he said, noting the role DIRAC will have in analyzing data coming from LSST. "You want to be as close to the source of the data as you can."

The Asteroid Institute is also studying orbital analysis of NEOs, through a project called Asteroid Decision Analysis Machine (ADAM) that can perform calculations of asteroid orbits separate from those done by NASA and the European Space Agency. "You can see how that dovetails with the DIRAC Institute, which is looking at computationally-challenging problems in the science," he said.

The foundation also has relationships with Google to support those analysis efforts, Lu added. "We can bring to bear very large computational resources to address these problems," he said.

NEOCam's future

Less certain is any role in NEOCam, in part because that mission's future is unclear. NEOCam was a finalist in the latest round of NASA's Discovery program of planetary science missions and, while not selected for development, NASA did decide to fund continued study of the mission concept. "Hopefully we'll also have NEOCam coming on line, but that remains to be seen," Lu said.

At a June 12 meeting of the NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Lindley Johnson, the agency's planetary defense officer, said NASA was looking at various options for carrying out NEOCam's mission. "NEOCam is only one possible way to implement a space-based infrared system, and [the planetary sciences division] is looking into options that can be accommodated within budget limitations, such as a rescoped NEOCam mission," he said.

Such a rescoped mission, Johnson said, would likely focus on detection and characterization of NEOs, and leave out some of the more ambitious science objectives in the proposal submitted for the Discovery competition. "We're working that with them, plus some other ideas about how to streamline both the mission and the management of the mission," he said, calling those discussions with the NEOCam mission team "fruitful" but not yet complete.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.
T ravis Kalanick has resigned as chief executive of minicab-hailing firm Uber following a revolt from shareholders over his leadership.

Mr Kalanick, who helped found the company in 2009, quit on Wednesday but he will remain on the board of the firm.

His resignation comes after a review of practices at Uber after complaints over its working culture, including sexual harassment.

Five heavyweight investors - Benchmark, First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, Menlo Ventures and Fidelity Investments - wrote a letter titled "Moving Uber Forward", demanding Mr Kalanick steps down, The New York Times reported.

They also demanded the board appoints more "truly independent directors" and that Uber hires an experienced finance chief.

His resignation comes after a review of practices at Uber after complaints over its working culture, including sexual harassment / Getty Images

Mr Kalanick said in a statement: "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."

Mr Kalanick had already been on indefinite leave amid criticism of his management style and following the death of his mother in a boating accident.

An Uber spokesman said: "Travis has always put Uber first. This is a bold decision and a sign of his devotion and love for Uber.

"By stepping away, he's taking the time to heal from his personal tragedy while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber's history. We look forward to continuing to serve with him on the board."

Mr Kalanick was forced to apologise in March this year after footage emerged of him swearing at one of the companys drivers in a row over fares.

The video showed the chief executive getting increasingly riled after driver Fawzi Kamel complained his income had fallen because of Ubers fare changes.

Mr Kalanick later apologised for the outburst in an email to staff, saying he was ashamed of his behaviour and needed to grow up.
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According to Islamic terrorist training manuals, interrogations of captives and monitoring of Internet messages over a decade of efforts to evade the growing use of aerial surveillance has not yielded any satisfactory solutions. Persistent surveillance, improved sensors and analysis software able to aid in monitoring and interpreting aerial video no matter what countermeasures were used. This presented Islamic terrorist groups everywhere with more challenges than they could cope with. Recently captured ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) training manuals showed that the only solutions that worked to any degree severely limited Islamic terrorist mobility and combat options. Examination of recently captured Mosul neighborhoods prepared for concealment found that in practice the only thing that worked to any extent was tunnels and carefully constructed above-ground concealment from observation. This last technique, using tent cloth, blankets and sheets to cover alleys and portions of open terrain worked for a short time until (unknown to the Islamic terrorists) the use of statistical analysis revealed much of what the Islamic terrorists thought was hidden. The blankets and sheets approach in now only used as a last resort. By 2014 Islamic terrorists training manuals recommended carefully built tunnels and breaking down interior walls of buildings or basements to provide effective surveillance from the enemy.

The main problem for the Islamic terrorists was the rapid increase in manned aircraft, UAVs and stationary vidcams in towers and balloons that provided more eyes more frequently than could be avoided. Not only that but the Americans and Israelis developed communications systems like Rover (Remote Operations Video Enhanced Receiver) that enabled troops on the groups to see real time video.

Rover appeared in 2002 and was continually improved them that by 2009 there were handheld or forearm mounted versions that enabled more troops on the ground to use UAV vidcam images in real time. For about a year (2009-10) some Islamic terrorists figured out how to look at the unencrypted vidcam feed from some UAVs. But those signals were soon encrypted and that hack has not been repeated since. Efforts to jam GPS signals that UAVs use some of the time also failed. Iran claimed to have hacked the control signal to American UAVs but that turned out to be another false claim.

While the Islamic terror groups were never well informed about the technical developments (like statistical analysis of patterns) they could see that year by year there were more and more vidcams up there watching them and when that happened the situation was less favorable for the Islamic terrorists. The most obvious examples of the increased surveillance were the thousands of smaller UAVs like Raven and the thousands of vidcams mounted in towers, tall buildings, balloons (aerostats) and the like. Then there were vidcams they never saw, like the new targeting pods used by high (over 3,000 meters/10,000 feet) flying fighters and bombers that could see what was going on down there as if they were a Raven a hundred meters up. While movies and TV still featured space satellite surveillance, this provided a very small fraction of the detailed images troops and pilots used to find, track and attack the enemy.

The latest adaptation to all these prying eyes is greater use of human shields, especially woman and children. That does not always work, especially if the aircraft pilot or UAV operator is from a Moslem majority nation.
by Austin Bay June 20, 2017

The recent downing of a Syrian Air Force jet by a U.S. Navy Super Hornet fighter has produced another political confrontation between the U.S. and Russia. Until passions ebb, Australia has withdrawn its air units from the American-led coalition.

Kremlin accusations of American aggression are propaganda. Syria is small. When a plane is aloft, every major nation with aircraft engaged in Syria has the technology to track it. The U.S., Turkey, and Israel have it; so does Russia. Russian forces knew the location of the Syrian jet and knew it had attacked an area with U.S. personnel.

The Navy jet intercepted the Syrian in order to protect Americans on the ground. It enforced a red line of a sort. If the Assad regime attacks U.S. personnel, expect a military response.

Further escalation is unlikely. Washington and Moscow are discussing ways to avoid future clashes -- "de-confliction" is the buzzword.

However, the incident itself is uncommon. While air-to-air combat between manned aircraft has not disappeared, it has become rather rare.

Air-to-air battles where adversaries challenge the aircraft and pilots of the U.S. and its closest allies are especially rare. In November 2015, a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 violated Turkish airspace and ignored repeated warnings from Turkish interceptors. So the Turks shot it down. The Russians, however, weren't really challenging the Turks to a fight. They were brazenly ignoring Turkish air space.

Where have the dogfights and aerial aces gone? In the strict WW1 sense of the term, to dogfight means opposing pilots engage in air-to-air combat maneuvering within visual range of one another.

Obviously, technology has evolved. Air to air combat can occur well beyond visual range. Air to air combat today involves the pilot getting into a position to shoot at an enemy aircraft with an appropriate weapon, be it a gun or a type of missile.

Pilot training, experience, maintenance, command and control, electronic warfare and up-to-the-second accurate intelligence also matter. Air to air combat is plane on plane, but today it is also military system versus military system.

In the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi aircraft came up to fight, at least initially. The U.S.-led coalition shot down 36 Iraqi aircraft in air-to-air combat while losing one plane; American pilots and the U.S. system overwhelmed Iraq.

This lopsided result echoed the 1982 Lebanon War's air-to-air results. Israeli pilots shot down an estimated 85 Syrian aircraft without losing a single plane.

Critics warn that Iraq and Syria were second-tier opponents. The disparity in air-to-air kills, however, still leads would-be enemies to think twice.

Even superior systems don't always get it right. The Korean War's MiG Alley featured nail-biting dogfights. Jets piloted by American pilots tangled with Communist jets like the MiG-15. There's evidence first-tier Russian mercenaries flew for North Korea. In the 1950s, senior U.S. Air Force officers bet that future air-to-air engagements would be fought with missiles. They thought aerial dogfighting was passe. Then North Vietnamese pilots proved them wrong. The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy corrected the institutional error by training pilots to dogfight and by making certain newer U.S. aircraft, like the F-16, which were agile and maneuverable.

The Pentagon prefers to destroy enemy planes on the ground by striking enemy air bases with cruise missiles or bombs. Fewer enemy planes in the air means American pilots have fewer air-to-air targets. Jamming radars and spoofing electronics also disrupt enemy air operations.

Since spring 1944, offensive operations to destroy enemy airpower, superior pilots and superb technology (to include the electronic warfare edge) have allowed the U.S. to dominate airspace in a battle zone. Adversaries and outright enemies, however, are improving their weapons, techniques, and training. Russia is using Syria as a training and testing ground.
In the south (North Cotabato province) at least 30 Islamic terrorists seized a school and held 70 adults and students in the school building. The attackers were identified as members of BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters) and Maute and all them fled when a large number of troops arrived. Both these groups were formed by MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) members who refused to accept the autonomy treaty MILF leaders had negotiated with the government. Many of these dissidents openly pledged allegiance to ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). The North Cotabato siege is taking place 190 kilometers north of Marawi City. The BIFF raiders may have been heading for Marawi to reinforce the ISIL fighters already there. That will be difficult because the security forces have the city surrounded, the better to keep Islamic terrorists (especially leaders) in and keep any reinforcements out.

MILF Militants Get Trapped

The large scale battle in Marawi City (capital of Lanao del Sur province) began on May 23rd when a raid to capture or kill Isnilon Hapilon (the head of Abu Sayyaf since 2016) escalated. So far a month of fighting has left nearly 400 dead (67 percent Islamic terrorists, 21 percent security forces and 12 percent civilians). Over 4,000 security personnel (most of them military) are involved against over 600 (so far) Islamic terrorists. Marawi City covers about 88 square kilometers (33 square miles) and has a population of 200,000. A majority of the population is Moslem but Christians are a large minority and hostile to Islamic terrorism and efforts to turn the Philippines into an Islamic religious dictatorship (which is what ISIL is all about).

While many neighborhoods have been untouched by the fighting, when ISIL gunmen suddenly show up many of the civilians flee until the troops can clear the Islamic terrorists out. As a result of this going on for weeks thousands of civilians are believed to be still hiding in basements or similar refuges, afraid to come out until certain that the threat is gone. ISIL is known to take lots of hostages and use civilians as human shields. Those tactics have slowed efforts by troops and police to find a kill or capture the remaining Islamic terrorists in the city.

How many armed ISIL supporters there are in the area is unclear but over 600 are known to have made it into Marawi City or been blocked from getting there. MILF is being pressured to try a little harder to find out how many diffident (and pro-ISIL) members they have and who they are.

Since the 1990s, when Abu Sayyaf was created, Hapilon was known to be a key member. Since 2006 the United States has offered a $5 million reward for Hapilon because of his effective efforts running terrorist operations. The security forces had been receiving a lot more tips about Abu Sayyaf activity this year and several them led to a building in Marawi City where the wounded (in a recent battle) Hapilon was recuperating. The military was unaware that Hapilon was also seeking to become part of a new ISIL coalition that was being formed by various MILF dissident groups, mainly the Maute Group and several foreign Islamic terrorists who were helping plan a major ISIL surprise attack. The military effort to catch Hapilon interrupted ISIL preparations and triggered a premature ISIL uprising centered on Marawi City.

The May 23rd mid-day raid soon escalated to a larger battle involving hundreds of troops and at least fifty gunmen trying to protect Hapilon. The Maute Group called in more gunmen and attacked multiple targets in the city, including city hall, a Catholic church (that was burned down) and a university campus. By nightfall the electricity was cut to most of the city and the Islamic terrorists had taken over a dozen civilians hostage. The government immediately ordered more soldiers and police in and declared 60 days of martial law.

It soon became clear that Maute Group, BIFF, Abu Sayyaf and several other smaller groups that that had already pledged their allegiance to ISIL were involved and were all calling for their armed members to head for Marawi City. The plan had apparently been to eventually make Lanao del Sur province a new province of the ISIL caliphate. Similar recent efforts in Libya, Egypt, Afghanistan and Nigeria had failed but that does not discourage true believers and Marawi City quickly turned into a typical ISIL suicidal last stand.

Abu Sayyaf and the other Filipino Islamic terror groups have taken heavy losses over the last year, both in terms of manpower, public support and, most importantly cash flow. Even religious fanatics have expenses and these have increased for Abu Sayyaf while income declined. It was time for a bold and desperate move and it was led by Maute Group not Abu Sayyaf.

Abu Sayyaf had lots of allies in this area and Maute Group was known to be one of them. Earlier in the year ISIL finally recognized Abu Sayyaf as part of ISIL and was fine with Abu Sayyaf leader Hapilon being the emir (man in charge). That meant other Islamic terror groups in the area that had pledged allegiance to ISIL were obliged to recognize the authority of (or at least cooperate with) Hapilon. Now hundreds of local Islamic militants had an incentive turn the defense of Hapilon into a major battle. It also appears the Hapilon was something of a figurehead and the real power here is several of the Maute brothers who created and sustained the Maute Group.

ISIL has been trying to establish a larger presence in the Philippines for years and by 2016 had over 500 local followers. Most of them belong to Abu Sayyaf but at least a hundred were from what is left of the Maute and BIFF groups. What was not noted was the success of ISIL recruiting efforts among MILF members dissatisfied with the MILF autonomy deal. Since early 2016 the government and MILF have cooperated (mainly in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur provinces) on destroying rogue MILF factions like BIFF and the Maute Group and that seemed to be going well. Abu Sayyaf by contrast was much more in the news and was thought to still have as many as 400 active members. But it soon became clear that most of the gunmen showing up in Marawi City were from Maute Group and BIFF.

The activities of BIFF, Maute and several smaller pro-ISIL groups had forced the larger Moslem separatist groups MNLF and MILF to crack down on Moslems who work with the Islamic terrorists. Because of that Abu Sayyaf was soon considered unworthy of local support by the Moslem community and the Abu Sayyaf leaders know that is the worst thing that could happen to them. The government was hoping for a final (or at least decisive) battle with Abu Sayyaf, BIFF and Maute here and they got it. Martial law enabled the security forces to quickly round up the known or suspected supporters of Hapilon. That is important because Hapilon had lots of allies and contacts in the numerous local drug and smuggling gangs.

Even before the Marawi City violence the military had announced that so far in 2017 (through mid-May) at least 81 Abu Sayyaf members had been killed. In that time fifty had surrendered and another 18 captured. Public opinion among southern Moslems had turned against Abu Sayyaf and it was believed that the final battles would be with the most desperate and ruthless members of these groups and that has proved to be the case in Marawi City. Since mid-May Islamic terrorists groups have lost three times more than their casualties until May. Filipino and American intel analysts appear to agree that the local ISIL leadership have quietly called for a retreat and are trying to get their key people out of the city. Many of the ISIL gunmen still in the city will try to tie down the security forces during this withdrawal. Its what ISIL did recently in Mosul (Iraq) and Sirte (Libya).

The main problem ISIL faces in the Philippines is that Moslems are a minority. This became an obvious issue in 2015 when the national legislature made it clear they were unwilling to approve the peace treaty with the Moslem rebels down south until convinced that the Islamic terrorism problem down there was under control. This has always been an issue because there are still Islamic terrorists active in the south and the Moslem population down there is obviously not united in wanting to abide by the treaty.

In September 2015 the Moslem separatist group MILF agreed to proceed with the peace deal even if the legislature does not approve all aspects of the autonomy package. Countrywide there is a lot of popular opposition to the MILF autonomy deal and even MILF accepts that they will never have the votes in the legislature to get everything they want. The major problem down there in that a sizable minority of southern Moslems (ten percent or more) want to hold out and keep fighting to establish a separate Moslem state in the south. MILF leaders know this is impossible because a majority of the people in the south are opposed. That includes a majority of the Moslems and the nearly all the non-Moslems down there. Moslems are only eight percent of all Filipinos, and represent an even smaller proportion of the economic activity. MILF wanted control of more of the economy, which meant control of "ancestral Moslem areas" in the south that are now populated by Christians. The Christian majority in the legislature refused to allow domination by Moslems in a larger and more autonomous Moslem south. MILF settled for a smaller autonomous area (Bangsamoro) that had about four million people and a Moslem majority. This issue is still a big deal for many Moslems and could still turn into an armed rebellion against MILF and the collapse of the plan for an autonomous Moslem area in the south.

There are over half a dozen known Islamic terrorist groups in the country but it was believed that most had fewer than a hundred (or a few dozen) members each. Unfortunately ISIL recruiting efforts succeeded and were kept quiet, just as many Christians had feared. The government, especially legislators, are demanding the MILF explain how they missed this ISIL recruiting effort and attack plans. At the moment MILF leaders are concentrating on assisting the military in containing and destroying ISIL in Marawi City. That will eliminate a lot of MILF dissidents and hopefully convince the Christian dominated legislature to approve the autonomy deal.

Chinese Carrots

Chinese efforts to buy the cooperation of the Philippines in the South China Sea dispute have failed as Filipinos realized that there was little gain in the long run by giving in to Chinese demands. Although China became the largest trading partner with the Philippines in 2017 most Filipinos did the math and realized the Chinese dictatorship could turn that around without warning. It now seemed that the Americans were a better long-term ally because the Americans have no old territorial claims in the neighborhood, are a democracy and have a long history of good behavior.

In response China has told the Philippines that they have much to gain from the Obor (One Belt, One Road) plan. A new Chinese 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.

While Obor appeals to some Filipino businesses most major Filipino trading partners (the U.S., Singapore and South Korea) are also democracies and abhor corruption. Moreover the Americans are the only Filipino treaty ally that is obliged to aid the Philippines if the islands are again attacked (as they were by the Japanese in 1941.) Meanwhile China is displeased with the increasingly frequent visits of American warships to the Philippines (for leave and maintenance) and the South China Seas (to challenge Chinese claims.) So far China has not been violent but with more and more Chinese warships, warplanes and troops showing up in the South China Sea there appears to be increased risk of someone opening fire. There are a growing number of offenders for the Chinese to shoot at. In addition to ships from the nearest countries (mainly Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan) there are the more powerful allies of these countries (mainly Japan and the United States). Now the Philippines is daring China to make an aggressive move at a time when China is busy with several similar situations from Africa to Korea and the Japanese islands. China continues to offer the carrot or the stick and for many Filipinos deciding which way to go is difficult.

June 20, 2017: A recent ISIL video showed Abu Sayyaf and Maute Group leaders meeting with Mahmud Ahmad, the most wanted Malaysian Islamic terrorist. Ahmad had apparently been operating in the southern Philippines for a while and had helped organize the planned ISIL uprising in Lanao del Sur province. The video indicated that Ahmad may be the guy giving the orders and Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon may be more of a figurehead as emir (leader) of the Filipino branch of ISIL. The video also showed several of the Mute brothers, who were very assertive and determined.

June 19, 2017: In the central Philippines (the Visayas Islands) a scheduled joint (U.S.-Filipino) training exercise began. This involves several hundred sailors and marines from both countries and will end on the 25th.

June 18, 2017: In the south (Marawi City) troops clearing a building ISIL men were using (and just fled from) discovered over two million dollars worth of shabu (slang for illegal methamphetamine pills, often smuggled in from Burma via Thailand). The meth pills are a regional problem and show up throughout East and Southeast Asia, including China and North Korea. The 2016 drug crackdown helped MILF to crack down on the growing number of its members who are engaged in importing and selling shabu. MILF members are going to run the government of the new autonomous state in the south and corruption (like cooperating with the shabu trade) is expected to be a major problem. At the same time working with drug gangs has long been a major source of income for Islamic terrorist groups worldwide. The Philippines is no exception and troops had earlier found nearly two million dollars in cash (mostly local currency) in another Marawi City building the Islamic terrorists had been driven from. That the Islamic terrorists seemed unable or unwilling to move all the cash or shabu, or fight to the death, indicated that a retreat was underway.

Further south, on Basilan Island, marines captured another Abu Sayyaf camp, seizing weapons, ammo and other equipment the fleeing Islamic terrorists had to leave behind.

Elsewhere in the south (Davao Oriental province) clashes with NPA rebels over the last few days left at least six of the leftist gunmen dead and several soldiers wounded. Despite continuing peace negotiations with NPA, many factions of the group continue to fight.

June 16, 2017: In the south (Basilan Island) Abu Sayyaf released one of the six Vietnamese sailors they had captured last November. The other five Vietnamese sailors taken from a merchant ship are still being held for ransom. Abu Sayyaf is believed to still be holding nearly twenty people for ransom, most of them foreigners seized from merchant ships and fishing boats in the last year.

June 8, 2017: In the south (Maguindanao province) troops clashed with a group of BIFF gunmen and killed four of them. This follow a similar clash on the 4th that did not result in any casualties.

June 1, 2017: In the south (Sulu Island) marines killed three Abu Sayyaf men and captured another three along with lots of weapons and ammunition.

May 31, 2017: In the south (Marawi City) an airstrike hit troops by mistake and 11 soldiers were killed and several others wounded. The air force and army are seeking to find out exactly how this happened.

May 28, 2017: In the central Philippines (Negros Island) NPA rebels attacked a police station, captured five policemen (who were handcuffed and left behind) and looted the station of weapons, ammo and other equipment.
Assembly lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would have blocked a statewide presidential election recount in 2016.

After votes in the 2016 presidential election were counted, Green Party candidate Jill Stein  who came in fourth in the race  requested a recount. Had the bill authored by Sen. Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, and Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, been law, only Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who lost to President Donald Trump by less than 1 percent, would have been able to request a recount.

Under the bill, only candidates within 1 percent of the winners vote total in an election with at least 4,000 votes would be eligible to request a recount. If an election includes fewer than 4,000 votes, candidates must be within 40 votes to request a recount.

The proposal also shortens the deadline for a recount petition to be filed but increases the amount of time a petitioner has to pay costs and clerks have to issue refunds. The state Election Commission refunded the Stein campaign $1.5 million for the recount after she raised more than $3.5 million to pay for it.

Voucher system changes

Lawmakers also sent Gov. Scott Walker a bill requiring private schools in the states voucher programs to conduct background checks before hiring staff. Those schools also would no longer need to meet some academic standards.

The bill, which was introduced two weeks ago with bipartisan support, eliminates certain standards, one of which participating schools must achieve  either that 70 percent of voucher students advance one grade level, 80 percent demonstrate significant academic progress, average attendance rates among participants of 90 percent or 70 percent of voucher parents meet participation goals.

The bill, approved by the state Senate last week, also requires participating schools to conduct employee background checks and strengthens financial accountability measures. The Department of Public Instruction and school voucher advocates support the changes, some of which were proposed in State Superintendent Tony Evers budget proposal.

The bill also expands eligibility requirements by allowing students who previously attended public school out of state or were on a voucher program waiting list to participate in future years.

Fentanyl would lead

to felony under bill

Under a bill Assembly lawmakers approved on Wednesday, tougher penalties would be imposed on manufacturers of a deadly narcotic that has begun being added to heroin to maximize its impact and has contributed to more overdoses.

Anyone caught possessing, making or distributing fentanyl  which is a more potent pain medication than morphine  could be charged with a felony crime under the bill.

Credit card scammers

The Assembly on Wednesday also passed a bill that creates a number of felony crimes related to possessing a credit card scanner that is used to steal personal and financial information from consumers who use it. It also makes sellers of gasoline who have credit card- or debit card-operated fuel pumps immune from being liable for scammers that are installed on their fuel pumps.
HONG KONGAs Toshiba, the embattled technology giant, battles for survival, it has turned to a group led by the Japanese government to buy its prized microchip business, although its plans still face a legal challenge by a U.S. business partner.

After weeks of jockeying among suitors, Toshiba said that it hoped to reach a formal sale agreement over its semiconductor business by next Wednesday, in the process raising much-needed cash. The company did not disclose terms of the potential deal, but analysts have estimated the value of the memory chip unit at about $20 billion (U.S.).

Such a deal would significantly bolster the fortunes of a titan of the Japanese economy at one of the lowest moments in its century-long history. Steep losses in its U.S. nuclear power division, Westinghouse Electric, have cast substantial uncertainty over the companys ability to function as a going concern, it says.

Read more:Toshiba chairman resigns over massive projected nuclear losses

By picking the Japanese consortium  its members include the Innovation Network Corp., a state-backed investment fund, as well as the U.S. buyout firm Bain Capital and the Development Bank of Japan  Toshiba is hoping to conclude a sale quickly. The company is hoping to reach a deal ahead of its annual shareholder meeting

Toshiba said in a statement that the group presented the best proposal, in terms of price, promises to keep employees and ability to keep sensitive technology within the country. The last of those was considered an important point, since a Chinese winner would have raised concerns by Japanese government officials about trade secrets seeping out of Japan.

A host of others had bid for the Toshiba memory business, from the iPhone supplier Foxconn to the U.S. chip maker Broadcom to the Korean semiconductor producer SK Hynix.

The dearth of Japanese bidders in the early rounds of the memory chip auction spurred the Japanese government to cobble together a group.

But potentially standing in the way of a deal is Western Digital, the U.S. data storage company that owns part of a Toshiba semiconductor factory in Japan and has argued that it has a say in any deal. Western Digital, which had also made a bid for the memory business, asked a California state court to block any sale while also pursuing arbitration in the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration.

A hearing is scheduled for July 14.

We remain confident in our consent rights and our legal position and look forward to the hearing for injunctive relief, Western Digital said in a news release.

Toshiba has rejected that argument and said that it has the right to pursue a sale.

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So a group of Uber shareholders have been successful in inviting Travis Kalanick to jump off a cliff. Inevitably, this will lead to a zesty round of discussion. Does Kalanicks ouster usher in a warning to all campus culture companies out there to, well, grow up?

The answer is sure, its a warning.

But effecting change? What are the chances?

Its part of the internal Uber mantra: if they hadnt behaved the way they behaved they never would have gotten to where they are. Thats author Adam Lashinsky giving his take on the core culture at Uber, which could handily serve as a thesis statement for any tech start up. You cant be a disruptor by playing by the rules.

And its not just tech.

Many months ago, I had a couple of long conversations with Dov Charney, ousted founder of American Apparel. There are similarities to the Kalanick tale. Charneys founding vision was to disrupt the sweatshop world of garment manufacture by selling made-in-America T-shirts. Workers were to be paid a fair wage. And for a time, as with Uber, it was a love fest.

But American Apparel became synonymous with hyper-sexualized branding and for the libertine exploits of its leader. So I wasnt conventional, Charney said in one of our conversations. Boo boo kitten.

A profile of Charney written for Jane magazine defined the beyond-bounds behaviour of the CEO and would stick to Charney and his company in much the same way as Susan Fowlers blog post alleging sexually harassing inner workings at Uber will forever stick to that company.

Its a stain that cant be erased.

Consider a message Kalanick sent Uber employees in advance of a company offsite in the fall of 2013: Do not have sex with another employee UNLESS a) you have asked that person for that privilege and they have responded with an emphatic YES! I will have sex with you AND b) the two (or more) of you do not work in the same chain of command. Yes, that means that Travis will be celibate on this trip. #CEOLife #FML.

FML is short-hand for f--- my life.

The external investigators hired to examine the corporate culture at Uber had a wealth of such material to draw upon. More than 200 employees past and present were interviewed. More than three million documents were reviewed. Seven days after their report was delivered, Kalanick was out the door, resigning from the company late Tuesday.

One of the early-in investors who had voiced his displeasure at the goings-on at Uber was Shark Tanks Chris Sacca. Nothing about that story shocked me at all. I was upset, Sacca said when asked about the Fowler blog post. Sacca was speaking at the SXSW conference in Austin, Tex., in March. It was well known throughout the industry that his relationship with Kalanick was strained.

The basis for us not speaking is not wholly unrelated, Sacca said of the reports of the unbridled culture at the company. He expressed particular fury at the way in which Ubers human resources department handled the complaints. Or more correctly, didnt handle the complaints. The number of times a serially sexually harassing manager was said to have committed a first offence is laughable.

Except none of this is funny. Its f---ing bad for business to not have a healthy culture at these companies, Sacca said in March. Customers are not f---ing stupid and they will see through it and they wont patronize business if they dont have a healthy culture.

I would like to believe thats true. But Im not so sure.

The external review provided the angel investors with the ammunition needed to persuade Kalanick that it would be in the companys best interest if he stepped aside. Uber, valued at something like $70 billion (U.S.), is losing buckets and dreams of a public listing one day. Only by redrawing the architecture at the top can the company be primed for listing. So the story is less about customers, and a lot about the market.

Dov Charney said a curious thing all those months ago. My lifes work is really to impress my mother, he said. Kalanick, whose mother died in a recent boating accident, has said that he has entered a period of self-reflection in part triggered by her passing. Its not much of a stretch to connect that vulnerability to his decision to exit without putting up much of a fight.

Does this presage changing behaviours in future start-ups? Will angel investors insist on best behaviour from the get-go? Sure. Provided that gender parity is set from the get-go. Like I said, what are the chances?

Jennifer Wells can be reached at jenwells@thestar.ca

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PITTSBURGHAt first glance, theres nothing remarkable about SolePowers latest work boot prototype.

The Pittsburgh-based startup has gone through at least 20 other iterations of the boot, and this one took about six months to create. The footwear looks normal  all black save for the companys white and green logo.

But after a few steps, rectangular sections in the heels illuminate a bright orange, reminiscent of the lights inside a traffic tunnel. Thats when you know theyre charging.

To tackle ongoing issues in the industrial work space, SolePower  which has won various awards, including a spot on Popular Sciences 2014 Invention Awards list for its proprietary self-charging shoe sole  has switched gears to create the first self-charging, industrial wearable, according to Cindy Kerr, commercial director.

This unplugged technology could play a role in efforts to improve safety and efficiency in the building, construction, and oil and gas industries, according to Kerr.

It could also become part of the ongoing debate over privacy issues, as employers and technology converge to more closely track what workers are doing and where they are going.

Inside the SolePower boots are a variety of sensors, including those for temperature detection, GPS, Wi-Fi, electronics and inertial measurement units, which track location and motion. Each is powered by a kinetic charger that harnesses the untapped energy produced by walking.

These are things we normally take for granted in a smartphone, said Hahna Alexander, co-founder and CEO of SolePower, which was founded in 2012 and has five employees.

A growing number of industrial devices are equipped with safety indicators  such as equipment producer Cats Link technology, which allows a company to track its fleet of backhoes, excavators or compactors  but the SolePower gear is a wearable, joining the ranks of smart helmets, vests, glasses and even bionic suits.

Read more:

Wearable technology may predict when illness is brewing

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Swedish tech firm implants chips in employees hands

Theres a potentially sizable market to capture. Construction, for example, is one of the least digitized sectors in the world, according to research from the McKinsey Global Institute.

In a report released earlier this year, the institute estimated the world will need to spend $57 trillion on infrastructure by 2030 to keep up with global GDP growth. In the construction sector, even a fraction of a percentage change in productivity could equate to substantial savings.

Its challenging to track workflow on job sites, so inefficiencies can go unnoticed, Kerr said. We need to know who is on the site and where they are at any given time . . . you cant actually improve efficiency if you dont measure.

Chad Hollingsworth, president and co-founder of Norwalk, Conn.-based safety and communications company Triax Technologies, agreed that manual tracking on a clipboard is ineffective. Most of these job sites cant tell you how many workers they have or where they are, he said.

Fatal injuries in construction, which is among the most dangerous professions in the world, rose by 2 per cent to 924 cases in 2015  the highest level since 2008, according to the 2015 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

They all have stories from the job sites, and some are horrific, Hollingsworth said. One fell down an elevator shaft and no one found him until they smelled him . . . theyre working in the most dangerous industry and they do want tools to keep safe.

Triax is selling a network safety device called spot-r, which is about the size of a pack of chewing gum and easily fastens to a belt.

Inside spot-r, a small sensor tracks workers movement, indicating when slips and falls occur. There is a button workers can press to point out a safety concern  whether thats a hazardous spot in the field or an incident that occurred.

This form of tracking, though, can be controversial. Consumers and workers alike have pushed back against wearable sensors due to potential privacy infringement.

In a 2014 study, accounting and consulting firm PwC surveyed consumers on the future of wearable technology, with a focus on workplace applications. The study found a high volume of respondents felt wary about privacy and security  82 per cent were concerned that wearable tech would invade their privacy and 86 per cent were concerned that it would make them more vulnerable to security breaches.

Donny Beaver, co-founder and CEO of HalenHardy, a Pennsylvania firm that invents safety tools for the industrial outdoor workforce, expressed some doubt that construction workers would embrace technology like SolePowers connected work boot.

Anybody who really gravitates to that type of work has a bit of an independent spirit, he said. Culturally, its a huge difference from someone who is looking for an air-conditioned office.

I dont know what theyre finding so far with worker compliance, but unless you present it to them in a way that can really show them their job is going to be easier . . . I think there may be some pushback on the Big Brother is Watching You thing.

Beaver recalled working with oil and gas workers in western Pennsylvania four years ago. His team put GoPro cameras on workers helmets to watch what they were seeing and affixed air monitors to the workers to gauge air quality.

Most of the guys saw it as extremely intrusive . . . the project never took off, although we thought we were helping them stay away from silica dust, Beaver said.

At Triax, that problem is already being engineered out of the system. After finding it was nearly impossible to get workers to wear devices with GPS tracking, the team developed a closed, secure network that is set up on site.

You can think of it like the Wi-Fi at your house . . . when you come home, your phone automatically connects, Hollingsworth said. The workers sensor that they wear on their belt automatically connects to the network and then checks them out.

Though SolePower uses GPS tracking, it has an advantage when it comes to battery life the boots never die, while Triax wearers must replace the battery in their device annually.

And, for construction workers who must currently pay for their own work boots, an employer-subsidized pair that keeps them safe may look like an attractive option.

Currently, SolePowers business model consists of an initial fee for the boots, which should compare to the price of a high quality work boot, Kerr said.

While Kerr did not give an exact price for the SolePower boot, a pair of Timberland work boots cost anywhere from $145 (U.S.) to $200, on average. Wolverines line of Legend Durashocks soft toe work boots cost $160, comparatively.

Theres also a monthly subscription charge for data services through an online dashboard.

Triax uses a lease and service model wherein the cost of the system is absorbed into the cost of a job by listing spot-r as a safety fee.

How successful the new technology is depends on convincing the employees that the new gear is worth it, Hollingsworth said.

You have to show workers that first and foremost this is a safety device.

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Toronto region housing prices are continuing to decline with another month-to-month drop looking likely at the end of June.

The average price of a re-sale home was down in the first part of June to $808,847  about $57,000 less than Mays average, according to mid-month figures from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).

Prices still rose 6.7 per cent year-over-year, however.

Read more:

Rising debt, sizzling housing markets leave economy more vulnerable: Bank of Canada

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The TREB statistics gathered from June 1 to June 14, showed a 56.2-per-cent drop in the number of sales across the region year-over-year, with the sharpest declines in detached houses and the 905-area communities around Toronto.

Condo sales saw a slightly less dramatic decline with 39.2 per cent fewer transactions and a 25.5-per-cent year-over-year price appreciation. The average sale price of a condo in the first part of June, $527,749, was $3,910 lower than the May month-end average.

The mid-month figures arent considered an official release and TREB does not comment on them. They do not include a breakdown by municipality or a benchmark indicator.

But Toronto-area realtors told the Star theyre not expecting a turnaround before TREBs June month-end report.

The end of June is traditionally slow on sales, but the busiest time for transaction closings, said Royal LePage Your Community realtor Shawn Zigelstein, who specializes in the York Region market, which has been particularly hard hit by an influx of supply and a drop in sales.

Volume is down. We expected that and we did see another increase in listings, he said.

What were going to see is people who are serious and want to sell their house, theyre going to stay on the market and theyre still going to make more money than they would have last year but theyre not going to get into that frenzy that we were seeing earlier in the year, he said.

Toronto-area home prices grew 33 per cent month over month in March. But realtors say the market was already cooling when the Ontario government announced its Fair Housing policy, including a foreign buyers tax, in April.

The recent declines are less troubling than the months-long double-digit increases of earlier in the year, said Enzo Ceniti of TheRedPin.

There was an absolute critical lack of inventory that we would see in the marketplace and that led to wild, all-time high prices, he said.

Ceniti expects the Toronto-area market is following Vancouver, which also dropped off its red-hot sales following the introduction of a foreign buyers tax. But it has rebounded. The same thing happened after the 2008 U.S. housing crisis, he said.

It provides for a buyer this window because people who are selling now, they probably need to sell. Theres less people who are trying to catch that very bananas wave that was going on the last few months where people were just cashing in, Ceniti said.

Those people are realizing they might not be able to do that now, so theyre taking their homes off the market or they are lowering their prices accordingly, he said.

But John Pasalis, president of Realosophy, tracks the market weekly. He said his agents are telling consumers to be careful about where they buy.

A balanced real estate market will have four to six months of inventory where prices wont move much either way. A lot of neighbourhoods have one to three months of supply  still a sellers market. But in the 905 communities there are neighbourhoods with seven and eight months of inventory.

Places that have seen rapid, steep price rises and higher rates of speculation, are at greatest risk.

The higher you rise the faster you fall, he said.

There are some neighbourhoods you should definitely not be buying in, Pasalis said. They are likely to see significant declines in house prices.

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Transformers: The Last Knight

ZERO stars (out of 4)

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Laura Haddock, Josh Duhamel, Stanley Tucci and John Turturro. Directed by Michael Bay. Opens Wednesday at GTA theatres. 148 minutes. PG

Every few years, Michael Bay and his giant digital robots sally forth from their gilded dungeon to inflict damage on the worlds brain cells.

Transformers: The Last Knight is their most concerted assault yet, making me fear for the sanity of the planet. Anyone attempting a drinking game whereby shots were consumed for each explosion would be unconscious within 10 minutes. Public showings of this movie, all 148 intolerable minutes of it, should be referred to as bludgeonings rather than screenings.

The fifth in the godawful Transformers franchise, The Last Knight is by far the least of them  and yes, I have seen them all, including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the previous low-water mark.

I feel confident in declaring The Last Knight to be the worst movie of the summer of 2017, even though summer officially begins just this week and we already have The Mummy and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword setting new standards of cinema crapitude.

These three films, not so coincidentally, all include medieval knights as part of their jumbled narratives, with only King Arthur deserving a pass for doing so (and it manages to screw that up by inserting giant rampaging elephants and other anachronistic elements. Why dont these filmmakers just direct Game of Thrones episodes rather than big-screen their TV envy?).

To get back to the beatdown at hand, The Last Knight would have us forget most of what has transpired between alien shape-shifting robots and humans in the four previous films.

Thats OK by me, even though Im never going to get those 10 hours of my life back, or the nearly 2-1/2 hours I lost viewing this one. But The Last Knight is not a full series reset.

Its still essentially the same robotic yadda yadda yadda about snickering Megatron of the evil Decepticons fighting the blowhard Optimus Prime of the righteous Autobots, with the fate of the planet hanging in the balance (duh) and numerous human and robot enablers along for a ride that, as per usual, takes in ADHD camera work, unwarranted U.S. jingoism, offensive ethnic stereotypes and crass product placements  Bud Light, anyone?

And Bay and his unholy screenwriting cabal persist in using many of the characters from previous films without tossing a bone to anyone who doesnt keep a stash of Transformers toys stashed beneath his or her bed.

Among them are Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, the Texas inventor/junkyard owner who has befriended the yellow Chevy Camaro named Bumblebee and other merchandisable Autobots. Also back is John Turturro as comic-relief U.S. government operative Agent Simmons, living in Havana and shouting into the telephone; Josh Duhamel as Colonel William Lennox, a military hard nut who blows things up; and Stanley Tucci in the new guise of drunken wizard Merlin, in the absurd medieval prologue.

New characters include Sir Anthony Hopkins as English lord Sir Edmund Burton, a bloviating egghead who is apparently the only person who understands the plot; Laura Haddock as Oxford professor and designated hottie Vivian Wembley, who confirms Bays sexist instincts are fully intact; and Isabela Moner and Jerrod Carmichael as Yeager sidekicks Izabella and Jimmy, whose lack of screen time make them mere checkoffs on a cynical diversity checklist.

The key players in this mess are Wahlberg, Hopkins and Haddock, whose willingness to stare blankly at a CGI green screen while hollering gibberish is exceeded only by the size of the paycheques theyre greedily pocketing. Hopkins at least has the good grace to look bemused by the insanity of a script that takes these Transformers to all points of the Earth and also the Moon, while misappropriating quotations from the likes of Winston Churchill (his finest hour speech) and Al Pacinos Scarface (his say hello to my little friend taunt).

For no good reason, The Last Knight decides that the Earth needs a new name, which Im afraid to reveal lest it be construed as a spoiler by the handful of nerds who might actually care.

But this nadir of filmdom inspired me to invent new words to describe its awfulness. How about ridicuturg, as a combination of ridiculous and turgid. Or maybe ludicring, as a combo of ludicrous and boring.

Such wordplay helped me while away the last 20 minutes of The Last Knight, when it seemed that everyone was suspended in space screaming at each other and throwing stuff. It was either that, or having my brain explode.

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PARADISE VALLEY, ARIZ.-Walking to your room at the Andaz Scottsdale Resort & SpaAndaz Scottsdale Resort & Spa is like meandering through an idyllic desert village, all sun shining and birds singing in the pine trees. When you arrive and set your bags down on the terrace, you imagine sitting back on the bright pillows with your morning coffee and paper and nodding to your neighbours.

I havent even walked in the door and I never want to leave.

Inside my bungalow, one of 201 on the 9.3-hecatre site, I find gorgeous colours, textures and shapes. The rooms are inspired by mid-century artists and feature prints, etchings and paintings (as well as a leather sleeve or the chain lock) made by artists from the nearby Cattle Track Arts Compound.

In keeping with the Andaz mission of blending the local community into its properties, the resort has a visiting artists program with Cattle Track. Guests can create masterpieces at the Andaz studio or the Cattle Track compound.

The Guest House welcomes you to the resort with floor-to-ceiling windows and an expensive mid-century living room feel. The Weft & Warp Art Bar + Kitchen (named for elements in weaving) has an open kitchen and a big menu of acclaimed small plates to enjoy inside or out, overlooking the pool.

If you can tear yourself away from playing house in your bungalow, that is.

Walking in past the couch (more pretty pillows) purple chair and flat screen almost as big as the bed, you arrive at the closet area. Two white robes and two pairs of flip flops await; yellow for him and blue for her (or yellow for her and none for him if she has dainty size 10s). There is plenty of counter space to spread out your stuff that cant be as pretty as the (complementary) bag of green Jalapeno chips on the turquoise tray in the coffee and mini bar area.

In the bathroom, a skylight lets in the plentiful desert light, the shower is big enough for a dance party and theres a subtle night light under the sink counter in case you need to make a nighttime visit. Speaking of which, even the view from the throne appears art directed; through the glass door to the walled back deck you see a perfectly framed cactus.

A quibble for the tidy: There is only one (tiny) trash can and its hidden away next to the toilet. And a note to spa lovers: The resorts Palo Verde Spa & Apothecary is expected to open in February 2017.

Rooms start at $399 (U.S.) per night during peak season. Suites start at $2,500 during peak season.

Jennifer Allford was a guest of the Andaz Scottsdale Resort & Spa, which didnt review or approve this story.

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SANTIAGO DE CUBA, CUBA-Ramon Guilarte welcomes us to his home and restaurant with a cocktail full of vitamin R. Will it be a Cuba Libre, rum and cola, or Estacazo, rum and lemonade? Rum is ridiculously cheap here.

Estacazo seems more fun, thanks to our hosts animated explanation (some of it lost in translation) about how drinking this is like getting whacked with a stick. As we dig into platters of mango, papaya and pineapple, Guilarte opens a bottle of rum and pours a little on the ground as an offering to the saints for good luck, and then asks us each how big a stick we want in our drinks.

Dont expect a common restaurant, he warns with a theatrical flourish. Everybody that comes to the restaurant is a friend. I think its important that you feel like home  and these are not empty words.

La Fondita de Compay Ramon is a paladar, a family-run restaurant that boosts the economy and gives tourists and locals the chance to connect. At this farm-themed paladar we sit in cowhide taburete chairs found in typical farms and our host is dressed like a traditional farmer.

In between a stunning red kidney bean soup and unpretentious platters full of rice, pork, cabbage, shrimp, chicken and plantains, we learn that Guilarte is a painter and empty nester with two daughters and two grandchildren.

Painting, and the life of a painter, is very lonely. Painting is totally opposite to this business. He opened Compay Ramon in 2012 in the Ferrerido neighbourhood of Cubas second largest city. His neighbours dont mind the nightly commotion, maybe because they often get to share the leftovers.

Best food in Cuba, according to the Intrepid Group in one of the many accolades scrawled artfully on the wall and dated Dec. 16, just weeks after Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro died and weeks before my first visit to Canadas favourite Caribbean island.

Youll find plenty of online accolades for our enthusiastic host. Ramon is a character, allows our Cubatur guide and translator Ricardo Zaldivar Rodriguez, but this is not a show.

I duck down the hall into the tiny kitchen to meet Guilartes smiling wife Mayra Gayoso Romaguera and her helper, who is washing dishes by hand. I peek at a modest bedroom.

My first night in Cuba ends with a stewed green papaya dessert and Guilarte showing how to roast coffee beans and brew coffee the traditional way and then sharing a cigar.

Santiago de Cuba, with half a million people, is often described as the hottest city in Cuba because of its temperature and charm.

We cram a lot into a whirlwind day  historic sites like the Santa Ifgenia cemetery, where Castros ashes are marked by a large rock from the Sierra Maestra mountains, and where national hero/poet Jose Marti has an elaborate mausoleum. People bring them red and white roses respectively.

We hit Antonio Maceo Revolution Square, a former fort/prison called Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca, and a Catholic church with a sacred Virgin of Charity statue called El Cobre near a copper mine. I buy a bundle of copper-tinged rocks from a guy in the parking lot.

Cubans make the most of what they are given. There is virtually no waste here  public garbage cans are nearly always empty.

Im more curious about the present than the past and so relish the chance to wander down Calle Enramada, a pedestrian street where I dont have time to join the lineup for hot churros.

If you dont mention this street name, says Rodriguez, it might be said that you have never been to Santiago de Cuba.

At La Barrita Ron Caney, a bar by a rum factory, I sample seven-year-old rum, smelling it with closed eyes, tilting the glass to see the body and holding a sip in my throat while the house band plays traditional Cuban music.

There is music everywhere, in Plaza de Dolores, in Casa de la Trova Pepe Sanchez, and at Tropicana, an outpost of Havanas famed cabaret.

When we hear music, we start dancing, says Rodriguez, who sings and dances throughout our week together.

At Restaurante Matamoros, the chef pops out of the kitchen to join the band while we enjoy a soupy meat and vegetable stew called ajiaco. After dinner we have coffee nearby at Cafe Constantin, where my Bembito Bomban is a cheeky reference to Afro-Cuban women and combines coffee, cacao liqueur and cinnamon.

Cuba is changing, so you will mix and match old and new.

Melia Santiago de Cuba is new, glitzy and a short drive from the historic centre, with decent Wi-Fi (a very big deal), a pool, and a breakfast buffet, where I wrapped thin slices of cheese around chunks of guava paste.

In the heart of downtown, Hotel Casa Granda oozes colonial charm, with a breezy rooftop restaurant and sweeping city views. For my last meal, I had a Cuban sandwich (an American invention) and a local spin on pepperoni pizza (forgive me).

It was no Fondita de Compay Ramon, but it was still equally, magically Cuban.

Jennifer Bain was hosted by the Cuba Tourist Board, which didnt review or approve this story.

When you go

Get there: I flew Cubana de Aviacion airlines (www.cubana.cu ) direct to Santiago de Cuba and flew home with a stop in Camaguey. WestJet, Air Canada, Air Transat and Sunwing all fly to various spots in Cuba.

Get around: Its easy to take taxis around Santiago de Cuba, but if you have a driver and guide (like I did with Cubatur), youll have the bonus of a translator/fixer.

Stay: I stayed at the modern Melia Santiago de Cuba (melia.com).

Eat: Find La Fondita de Compay Ramon on Facebook.

Know: You can only buy Cuban convertible pesos (CUC) in Cuba. Get them at the airport and foreign exchange shops. Wi-Fi is limited to public squares and some hotel lobbies. Buy a 60-minute Wi-Fi card for 2 CUC (about $2.75 Canadian) at the airport or your hotel. North American plugs dont work so bring an adaptor for the European 220-volt system.

Do your research:gocuba.ca, santiagodecubacity.org

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A Canadian is somebody who knows how to make love in a canoe.  attributed to Pierre Berton, 1973

Pierre Berton was fairly certain he never uttered this oft-cited line about a highly specialized Canuck skill. But, says his son Paul, editor-in-chief of the Hamilton Spectator, his late father thought it was a good quote and he was happy to take credit if people kept insisting.

So, no, dear newcomer to Canada, you will not be required to demonstrate this ability at your citizenship ceremony, nor is there any mention in the oath of promising to make sexy time in the most Canadian of vessels.

But the act itself, and why this line endures, is worthy of examination.

We begin by asking: is this a thing at all?

A cheeky 2013 poll conducted by Playtex and Environics revealed nearly one in 10 of us had committed some manner of sex in a canoe.

Geraldo Rivera claimed to have had relations with Margaret Trudeau in a boat of some sort in New Yorks Central Park, a tale Trudeau denied.

Canoes make romantic cameos in camp movies, including Meatballs and Little Darlings, another coming-of-age film starring Tatum ONeal and Kristy McNichol, who play teenagers competing in a race to lose their virginity. McNichol succeeds after fetching Matt Dillon from a boys camp in a canoe. She deftly paddles him away. But the deed takes place at an empty boathouse.

Research conducted in the name of journalism reveals that in the world of online porn, sex acts of every variety imaginable, in just about every variety of watercraft imaginable, are just a keyword search away. But not canoes. Take my word for it.

Torontos Canoe Landing Park is home to Tom Thomsons Canoe, a huge, red walk-in vessel created by Canadian artist and author Douglas Coupland. On a recent sunny afternoon, residents of nearby towering condos did very Canadian things. They walked pooches. They enjoyed picnic lunches. They drank illicit Canadian beers.

None were engaging in daylight canoe coitus. However, the dry-docked canoe does make several lists of Torontos top make-out spots and local residents confirm occasional nocturnal trysts by adventurous sorts who must know the condos have eyes. Some people get off on being seen, according to additional online research done in the name of journalism.

Further quizzing of five dog walkers revealed only one  Ashley deHaan, 29, a field manager of plumbers  had done the deed, sort of. Ive tried it in a real canoe. I was half-successful, she says, leaving much to the imagination.

Not yet! Alex Zhang, 31, a computer programmer and owner of a tea shop, says when asked, a mischievous smile on his face.

But none surveyed felt it was a quintessentially Canadian thing.

Coupland concurs. In an email, he says: Its not like people who move here from other countries are going to go out and find canoes so they can go out into the wild and make it so they can be super Canadian. So ... the cliche was kind of hoary from the get go.

Canadians are not prudes.

There is the book How to Make Love in a Canoe (Sex in Canada) by Jeff Pearce, which is not about having sex in a canoe, one learns soon after dropping $14.65 online and, a day later, eagerly unwrapping the Amazon bubble envelope at the front door.

In the preface  or Foreplay  to Pearces examination of some of the nations saucier sexploits and scandals, and prudish past, he opens with Bertons famous love in a canoe quote but quickly concedes that, while it makes for a great book title, the actual act is a bit of a misnomer, and frankly, I dont think its much of an achievement learning how to have sex in a canoe.

More Canadian, he writes, is somebody who knows that -35 C is a persuasive case for making love. Yes, it is cold, babe, but we can do something about that. Seducing a prospective lover in Moose Jaw in February? Now thats an achievement.

If not a big thing, then what is it about Bertons line?

The search for answers takes us to The Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, which in 2014 launched a temporary exhibit on romance and the canoe. It included a trove of old photos and postcards depicting courtship involving the canoe. That was a thing. To wit, vessels kitted out with record players and without middle thwarts.

In the 1910s, 20s, 30s and even beyond, the canoe was a serious courting device, says James Raffan, museum staffer, author of 18 books and perhaps our countrys most passionate lover of the canoe. (He did once plan to do it in a canoe on a creek near Love, Sask., but discovered the creek to be dry.)

This spring, Raffan, 63, took part in a 10-day canoe trip from Ottawa to Kingston, a museum initiative and part of Canada 150 that involved around 100 paddlers from First Nations, Inuit and other diverse communities. Each paddler came with a question about the future of Canada they wished to explore. As they paddled though rain and, yes, snow, the questions were discussed.

I cried more tears and saw more genuine emotion flood to the surface on this journey than I expected and had anything to do with in a long, long time, says Raffan. People care deeply about Canada.

Perhaps this is the true love the canoe, as spiritual conduit, brings Canadians. It is part of our psyche, a myth, a kind of archetype of a way of relating to each other, says Raffan.

I think the canoe has beauty and functionality but I think it also does take us to a place in our collective imagination  and when I say us, Im talking about First Nations, Inuit, new Canadians. I think we were making love, not biblical, but in the most wholesome and nutritious sense, to each other, to the landscape, to the water, to the country in thinking about its future with the canoe.

That said, dear reader, if you are going to have actual sex in a canoe, we will offer some practical advice.

In 2013, Cosmopolitan magazine offered up the ideal (hetero) position for a canoe canoodle (spooning) and advised against anything other than gentle thrusts.

Raffan suggests a ratting canoe, a short, beamy boat favoured by trappers and hunters. You can probably stand in them and fire both barrels of a 12-guage at once and still be totally solid in that, he says, leaving hope for practitioners of the Wanton Wheelbarrow sex position.

If you really want to be a true Canadian, says Raffan, you must do it in a wooden or a canvas and wooden vessel. However, they tend to be built for beauty, speed, as well as some of the other considerations that fail to contemplate the physics of love-making.

So what you gain in esthetics you might lose in functionality of the, ahhh  um, says Raffan, searching for and ultimately abandoning an attempt to find words suitable for print.

But he does have a way with words, and deserves the final one, on our love with the canoe.

I will say, without betraying any confidences, that to lie in the bottom of a canoe on a starlit night is almost a religious experience, he says. To be able to see a portrait of time immemorial in the sky and to feel the earth turning and to be supported in that kind of minimal space between the underworld and the overworld. And to be conscious of north, south, east and west on the horizontal plane and, you know, thats only by yourself.

If you do it with somebody else, it gets way better.

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MONTREALU.S. President Donald Trump was the target of criticism at a conference on the growing role of cities at which municipal leaders were urged to take up the fight against global warming.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre opened the Metropolis World Conference thanking the American president and his nonsense decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate change treaty, saying that it has spurred other levels of government into action.

President Trump has weakened his own presidency, Coderre said at a later roundtable discussion with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

In an interview with the Star, Toronto Mayor John Tory, who participated in a panel discussion and had a front-row seat for the Trump bashing, was a little more prudent than his Montreal counterpart.

You cant say it doesnt matter, but at the same time you can also say its not going to shut down legitimate common-sense efforts to clean up our own environment in the cities which are the contributors of most of the greenhouse gas emissions, in terms of the cars and the buildings and so on.

Canada itself is an example of the strides that can be made in the absence of federal leadership, Trudeau said.

We only have to remember where we were two years ago here in Canada. We had a Conservative government that refused to talk about climate change, that rejected Kyoto, he said. For 10 years it was the provinces and the big cities that led the charge and demonstrated leadership in the absence of the federal government.

He said that lower levels of government understand that protecting the environment is no longer a question for future generations, but also a question of good jobs right now, of economic success, of innovation.

The Prime Minister said that it is increasingly important in Canada that the federal government listen to and respect the demands of its municipal partners which know better than higher levels of government the needs of its citizens.

Tory said the federal Liberals have been an excellent partner for Toronto in terms of money for public transit and housing, whereas the Ontario Liberal government of Premier Kathleen Wynne has been stingy with its support.

When it comes to our provincial relationship, it feels much like the old days of 1867 where cities really didnt represent much of the population and didnt matter much in terms of their priorities and their future needs, he said.

During his brief visit to Montreal, the Toronto mayor also met privately with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and Coderre to discuss forming a common front that will lobby the U.S. Congress not to pass the proposed funding reduction for the Great Lakes.

This is a huge step backwards. It is something that is totally contrary to the interests of present and future generations and were going to fight on it. Were going to go and persuade people of the importance of the investment that has been made and continues to be made in clean water, Tory said.

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Ontarios health minister is considering whether pharmaceutical companies should be required to disclose payments made to doctors.

Eric Hoskins announcement on Tuesday that he will begin consultations this summer came hours after 10 major drug companies voluntarily released data showing they paid nearly $50 million to Canadian health-care professionals and organizations last year.

There was nothing in the disclosures about payments to specific doctors. Rather, they offer a glimpse at the total amount of compensation some pharmaceutical companies provided to Canadian physicians for consulting, sitting on advisory boards, delivering speeches on conditions and treatments, and travelling to international medical conferences.

Only 10 of the more than 45 members of Innovative Medicines Canada, an industry association for brand-drug manufacturers, voluntarily released payment information. Of those, just four companies released data for all of 2016.

Calling the drug company disclosures a positive step toward transparency, Hoskins said, Our system is strongest when patients and the public have access to the appropriate information so they can make informed decisions about their health care.

Our government is committed to strengthening transparency across the health-care sector.

Toronto Dr. Andrew Boozary, a leading advocate for pharmaceutical payment transparency, said the voluntary disclosure by just 10 companies does little to inform the public about the financial relationships their doctors may have with drug firms  and the potential conflicts that come with them.

He said the consultations this summer should include discussions on whether companies in Ontario should follow in the footsteps of the United States, where the Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires pharmaceutical companies to release details of payments to individual doctors and hospitals.

Boozary said that when payments were made public in the U.S., the sky did not fall. The prescribers did not go into hiding and patients did not lose faith in their health-care system.

Annie Bourgault, head of ethics and compliance at GSK Canada, said she welcomes the health ministers announcement and hopes it prompts more drug companies to disclose payments.

Its really essential to build patient trust through transparency, she said.

Bourgault said the drug and vaccine manufacturer is ready to release doctor-specific payment information, but said the proper model of disclosure must first be determined with input from the government, the public and drug and medical device makers.

Now you see some companies disclosing, some not, some just a few months. Wed like to go to the next level but we need do it with an  approach so every stakeholder is being involved in making the right model, Bourgault said.

GSK had been working for more than two years with Innovative Medicines Canada to get the voluntary disclosure program up and running.

The company gave out just over $2 million last year.

The voluntary disclosure is broken down in three types of payments: money to health-care professionals for consulting and other services; funding to health-care organizations such as hospitals and universities; and payments to bankroll travel to international conferences.

Of the companies that chose to disclose their payments, Merck topped the list with $9.4 million in payments, the majority of which went to individual doctors for consulting or other services.

Roche Canada ranked second with nearly $8.6 million in payments.

Purdue, maker of OxyContin, gave out just over $3 million in 2016.

AbbVie ($6.4 million), Amgen ($5.7 million), Novartis ($4.9 million), Bristol-Myers Squibb ($3.8 million) and Gilead ($2.3 million) disclosed six months worth of payment information.

Eli Lilly, meanwhile, released three months of data. The company disbursed just under $2 million.

Hoskins announcement did not include details of the exact timing or scope of the consultations.

There have been numerous controversies in Canada over perceived conflicts of interest because of payment relationships.

Most recently, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott ordered an independent review of Canadas new prescription guidelines for opioids because of revelations that a doctor  who was part of a committee of medical experts who voted on whether to accept the guidelines  had received financial compensation from companies that make and market opioids.

In a statement Tuesday, a Health Canada spokesperson said the minister has requested that the agency look into what could be done at the federal level to facilitate more transparency.

In recent years, Toronto Star investigations have exposed a number of questionable relationships between big pharma and doctors. Stories detailed industry funding of pricey dinners, alleged altering of studies, and physician endorsements of drugs.

With files from Theresa Boyle

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The death of an American student who was returned home after being detained for 17 months in North Korea has brought renewed calls for political intervention in the case of a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence in that country.

Hyeon Soo Lims family has issued a statement expressing condolences to the grieving relatives of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old student who died in a Cincinnati hospital Monday, roughly a week after being flown back to the U.S. for medical issues.

Lims relatives say no families should go through such an ordeal, and urge the Canadian government to escalate diplomatic efforts to secure the pastors release.

Lim, a pastor with the Light Korean Presbyterian Church west of Toronto, was sentenced in late 2015 to life in prison with hard labour by North Koreas Supreme Court for what it called crimes against the state.

Read more:

After American student Otto Warmbiers death, U.S. weighs travel ban on North Korea

Coroner still determining cause of death for U.S. student freed from North Korea

North Korea detains American-born professor, the third U.S. citizen being held

The crimes Lim was charged with included harming the dignity of the supreme leadership, trying to use religion to destroy the North Korean system, disseminating negative propaganda about the North to overseas Koreans and helping U.S. and the South Korean authorities lure and abduct North Korean citizens, along with aiding their programs to assist defectors from the North.

Lims relatives and colleagues have said he travelled to North Korea on Jan. 31, 2014, as part of a regular humanitarian mission to the country where he supports a nursing home, a nursery and an orphanage.

They said Lim has made more than 100 trips to North Korea since 1997 and that his trips were about helping people and were not political.

We strongly urge the Canadian government to place more attention on Reverend Lims case, they said in Wednesdays statement.

We are desperate to see our husband and father home, and we are pleading for an active escalation in diplomatic efforts.

A spokeswoman for the family is planning a news conference at the church Thursday.

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HALIFAXLionel Desmond suffered rages from post-traumatic stress. He told relatives he struggled to access mental health services. Then he killed his family and himself.

Six months later, no public inquest aimed at preventing similar deaths is on the horizon  frustrating Desmond family members and repeating a familiar pattern for other Nova Scotians whove sought fatality inquiries.

Debbie Stultz-Giffin has followed the Desmond case since January, when the former soldier killed his wife, mother, daughter and himself in Upper Big Tracadie.

She sees links with her own fruitless calls for a public inquiry into the death of her 87-year-old mother, Dorothy Stultz. She died after a violent shove by a male resident with dementia in a nursing home on March 1, 2012.

Again we are looking at other vulnerable individuals in a situation where if an investigation doesnt happen, how can we hope for change? she says of the Desmond case.

The Stultz death wasnt made public until The Canadian Press discovered it last year among nine deaths classified as homicides by the medical examiner over the past decade  none of which have led to a fatality inquiry.

Read more:

Six months after Nova Scotia murder-suicide, family members call for inquiry

No explanation for Lionel Desmond murder-suicide, priest tells N.S. funeral

'I will fix it,' ex-soldier wrote on Facebook before Nova Scotia murder-suicide

Meanwhile, since 2010 the province has had six non-natural deaths in its jails in cases that would trigger mandatory public inquests in most other Canadian jurisdictions.

Alberta held 24 public fatality inquiries last year, including one into the hanging death of Corp. Shaun Collins, an infantry soldier diagnosed with PTSD who had done two tours of Afghanistan.

Dr. John Butt, the former medical examiner for both Nova Scotia and Alberta, said in an interview that without question Nova Scotia should use its existing law to order a judicial inquiry into the Desmond case.

He also said the province should bring in reforms similar to Albertas, where a doctor, a lawyer and a layperson on a board would provide a recommendation for a discretionary cases like the Desmond murder-suicide.

He also called for Nova Scotia to create mandatory inquests for non-natural deaths in prisons.

I cant believe a province doesnt have mandatory inquests under certain circumstances, he said.

In the latest prison death, 42-year-old Jason LeBlanc died in a Cape Breton jail cell in January last year from an opiate overdose shortly after being arrested for an alleged parole violation.

Police reports said he told a prison nurse hed taken five nerve pill(s) and appeared intoxicated, which has raised questions about why he wasnt sent to a health facility for monitoring.

His father, Ernie LeBlanc, made repeated calls for a public inquest. Instead, he received a shortened version of an internal report by the Justice Department admitting corrections staff hadnt followed procedures.

In Ontarios system, inquests into such non-natural deaths of wards of the state are mandatory, and last year the province held 43 inquests into a variety of different types of deaths.

In Manitoba, six public inquests were held by judges, while British Columbia held seven.

In Nova Scotia, the last judicial inquiry was held in 2008 in the case of Howard Hyde, a musician with mental illnesses who died after an altercation with jail guards and a series of taserings in police custody.

Theres been nothing similar since.

Even in provinces that routinely hold inquests, cases like that of Lionel Desmonds require a discretionary decision by the coroner or a review board, based partly on whether it could help prevent similar deaths.

But the prevention of future tragedies is precisely why Desmonds twin sisters have confirmed they support an inquiry overseen by a judge that looks at health care for troubled veterans.

They told The Canadian Press their brother said he sought help in vain at St. Marthas hospital in Antigonish before the murder-suicide.

His exact words were, They didnt have my records. . . . Thats my understanding, said Chantel Desmond. He didnt want to leave.

That was on Jan. 2, the day before Desmond killed himself, 31-year-old Shanna, their 10-year-old daughter and his mother Brenda Desmond, 52.

A senior medical official in Nova Scotia has challenged the statement that Desmond, who had done two tours of Afghanistan, was turned away from hospital care.

Archie Kaiser, a Dalhousie University law professor with expertise on mental health issues, says the Desmond case is a clear example of where the medical examiner or the provinces justice minister should use their power to call an inquiry.

He argues the case fulfils provisions in the Fatalities Investigations Act that allowing for an inquiry when in the public interest or the interest of public safety, as it would provide insight into the treatment of veterans and into the issue of domestic violence.

The complex relationships between employment-related PTSD for soldiers . . . the difficulties associated with reintegration into society and the availability of supportive services appear to be implicated, he said.

Dr. Matthew Bowes, the provinces chief medical examiner, said hes reluctant to call public inquiries if there are other means to examine the issues  even if theyre behind closed doors.

He says he wants to wait and see the results of a Nova Scotia Health Authoritys quality review  which are internal studies done by medical staff for educational purposes.

These reviews provide no open testimony, do not result in a written report on the facts of the case, and the health authority itself determines, in consultation with the families, who gets a copy of its action plan and recommendations.

Such studies also have been unsatisfactory to some families whove initially called for public inquests.

Private investigations . . . opens up the gate for things to be overlooked, swept under the carpet and dismissed. Its just not a healthy situation for everyone involved, said Stultz-Giffin.

She received a brief report in her mothers death  after an outburst of publicity about the case  from Health Department investigators that she said left me feeling flat. There werent any real answers.

Still, Bowes says that when he came to the province 14 years ago, senior bureaucrats told him that judicial reviews as part of public policy renewal really ought to be more of a decision on the part of the minister.

Nova Scotias new justice minister, Mark Furey, who has the power to call for a fatality inquiry, has declined requests for an interview on the topic of an inquest.

Meanwhile, Stultz-Giffin will be wishing the Desmond family well in their quest for an open inquiry even as her own hopes for such a process have long faded.

Its a societal issue and as a society we need to discuss these very types of issues, she said.

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Kristine Hill drives her mud-caked pickup truck through a bucolic parcel of farmland, where she has cultivated an assortment of crops such as beans, flint corn and tobacco.

Most of the bounty makes its way back to Hills home of Six Nations of the Grand River, south of Hamilton and some of the yield is used for traditional ceremonies, she said.

All of this hangs in jeopardy, however. The 52-year-old Mohawk woman last month was handed an unsigned letter from the Six Nations Elected Band Council, instructing her to vacate the area  just west of the reserves boundary  or face legal action.

The band council stayed true to its word. Hill, who has farmed the parcel for about three years, faces an injunction. The case is before the Superior Court of Justice, Ontarios Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation confirmed via email.

It was very disheartening and frustrating, said Hill. Its that basic question: Why me? This property is supposed to be held for the people.

She is caught in the crossfire of infighting between the band council and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council  a historic government system made up of five First Nations  which issued a five-year lease to Hill to farm the land.

The Confederacy wants the area to be independent from the Canadian government with no strings attached, in case its expropriated. Once a tract of land is given reserve status, the Crown becomes the title holder.

They (the band council) want it turned into reserve lands under Canadas Indian Act, and thats not how those lands were to come back, said Mohawk Chief Allen MacNaughton.

MacNaughton is referring to negotiations entered into between Six Nations and Ontario in 2006 during the climax of the Caledonia standoff, whereby First Nation people erected blockades and occupied a housing development called the Douglas Creek Estates. Ontario attempted to pacify tensions by transferring land, including the 381-acre Burtch lands, back to Six Nations.

A former jail on the property was razed and multi-year environmental remediation was undertaken to clean up soil contaminated by asbestos, which the Confederacy helped with, said MacNaughton.

The band council is refusing to acknowledge the arrangement but the Confederacy wont be swayed, he said.

We will continue to honour that lease, said MacNaughton. Its a power play because the band council has known that the Confederacy has managed that land for the past 10 years.

A 2006 letter signed by former Ontario premier David Peterson and addressed to the Confederacy states that The title of the Burtch lands will be included in the lands rights process of the Haudenosaunee/Six Nations/Canada/Ontario. It is the intention that the land title be returned to its original state, its status under the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784.

The proclamation stated the lands are ours to enjoy basically forever . . . as long as the grass grows and water flows, said MacNaughton. That agreement was struck in order to take the barricades down at Caledonia and for those Burtch lands to be returned under those terms. In the end, the Confederacy said they will be farmlands.

Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister David Zimmer did not respond to the Stars requests for comment.

The use of the land is now a matter internal to the Six Nations community, a media relations co-ordinator wrote via email. As the matter is before the courts, any further comment would be inappropriate.

A federal corporation was established by the band council in late March to amalgamate the Burtch lands. And its holding the land in trust until it gains reserve status.

The parcel is sought after by the band council for agricultural purposes, said Lonny Bomberry, director of Lands and Resources at Six Nations, who is overseeing the trust.

Six Nations elected council and the corporation are saying theyre entitled to the property and that (Hill) is illegally there, trespassing, and are getting a court order to have her removed, he said.

(Ontario) said they were returning the land to Six Nations, they didnt say to the Confederacy. The Confederacy doesnt own the land, so I dont know how you can have the authority to give a lease to anybody. Its just all self-serving action by them.

Issues like these have had a tendency to rear their heads ever since 1924 when Confederacy chiefs were replaced by an elected system under the Indian Act, he added.

Everybody puts a different slant on it, said Bomberry, adding that both the elected council and the Confederacy were negotiating with the province.

Elected council gave the Confederacy the authority to negotiate a resolution (of Douglas Creek Estates).

Hill appears unfazed as she describes the land snafu, comparing it to an irksome mosquito.

From my perspective, I continue, she said. I have a significant investment in this property.

(The band council) knew I had a lease because it was public information, and decisions were made without consulting the community. Ontario is maintaining their hold on the reins and theyre using the Six Nations elected council to do it. I didnt believe my fight would be with my own people.

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Joleine Kasper has experienced different sides of being an Indigenous person working at Toronto City Hall.

When a co-worker asked about her Medicine Wheel pin, she explained the meaning, for her, in terms of emotional, mental, physical and spiritual well-being.

Its a holistic approach that can be applied to health but also anything, so it was a chance to teach colleagues who wouldnt otherwise know, says Kasper, 28, a Barrie-raised member of Berens River First Nation.

Another day, a visitor explained her dog was rescued from one of those awful Indian reserves  like, this poor dog  acknowledging that she saved that dog but could not even acknowledge Indigenous people are humans.

At 5:30 a.m. Wednesday  National Aboriginal Day  Kasper will be in Nathan Phillips Square with three fellow interns hired under the citys Aboriginal Employment Strategy, along with a host of other Indigenous people, city council members including Mayor John Tory, and many others.

The annual Sunrise Ceremony is special this year. Rather than one flag they will raise five  honouring The Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation; Six Nations of the Grand River Territory First Nation; the Huron-Wendat-Wendake First Nation; The Metis Nation of Ontario; and the Inuit.

And while the past single flag stayed aloft temporarily, these five will fly permanently over the landmark square to commemorate Toronto's location on Indigenous lands.

Torontos famed diversity is usually framed in terms of immigrant communities, not original inhabitants.

Kasper and her fellow interns, all students or recent graduates working in city councillors offices until October, are part of efforts to shake off colonial views, Indigenize the city and live up to Torontos eight priority Calls to Action from among 94 in the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada report.

In interviews with the Star over the past week they expressed optimism and skepticism about those efforts.

Here in Toronto theres so much culture that the Indigenous people almost get pushed to the back burner, says Jordan Celotto, 30, a member of Onondaga Nation Beaver Clan raised in Fort Erie, Ont.

When I explain to people Im Indigenous or Aboriginal or Native, a lot of them dont know what it is, especially people new to Canada because theres no education out there for them, says the decade-long Torontonian. Thats a big point  to educate people.

Change is happening  maybe at a snails pace, but its happening, says the Humber College student. Theres no reversing whats been done in terms of assimilation and cultural genocide, but at least (city officials) are trying to take some steps to help in the future to make sure that doesnt happen again.

The internship, a collaboration between city clerks, city councillors and Miziwe Biik Aboriginal employment and training centre, is overseen by the citys full-time Indigenous Affairs Officer, Lindsay Kretschmer.

Other efforts, fostered by city staff and the Aboriginal affairs advisory committee, include steps to increase the ranks of Indigenous city employees and members of city agency and corporation boards, and recently approved Indigenous cultural competency training for city staff and councillors and their staff.

At least positive things are happening now, Kasper says, possibly with a push from efforts to mark Canadas 150th birthday celebrations and Indigenous contributions.

I do hope that Toronto doesnt step back next year, when its not 150th and theres not a lot of publicity, that they continue to move forward.

Craig Waboose, a 29-year-old from Eabametoong First Nation north of Thunder Bay, is enjoying Toronto, even though he was hit by a car in an intersection soon after arriving.

As to why the Humber College paralegal student wanted to work at city hall, he says matter-of-factly, Im actually interested in politics and hopefully one day becoming Prime Minister. Id like to learn the ropes from an outsider and insider perspective.

Waboose says he isnt feeling the overt racism he might expect where white and Indigenous communities are distinctly defined.

You have such a diverse cultural city here that people just dont have the time to get to know you but they acknowledge you as a person, where they could just ignore you as a Native person in say Winnipeg or Thunder Bay, he says. So, Torontonians are too busy to be racist? Exactly, Waboose says with a big laugh.

Alexis Linkert, 31, an Ojibwa and the only intern from the GTA, sees Indigenous youth as seed-planters.

Were the first generation to fix seven generations of genocide so we want to make sure we create something concrete, and a good positive relationship with the city government, so we can make sure after were done here we can pass on the torch and make it better and bigger.

The interns are working, in part, on groundwork for a proposed full-time Aboriginal Office at city hall. Like Torontos Newcomer Office, it would co-ordinate services and act as a hub for community resources.

Mayor John Torys executive on Monday voted to launch consultations on a work plan and organizational structure for such an office, with a report to come to city council later. Funding, however, would need to be found to turn what many have dreamed of since amalgamation into reality.

Weve come a long way, Kasper says, but theres so much more that can be done.

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The female parking enforcement officer with dreams of becoming a cop had many more reasons to remain silent than to report that shed been sexually assaulted by three Toronto police officers in a hotel room in January 2015, Crown prosecutor Philip Perlmutter told the judge in closing submissions Tuesday.

Earlier that day, defence lawyer Harry Black argued the more likely scenario was that the complainant made up the allegations because she regretted having consensual sex.

The complainant came to regret her own choices and decisions immediately after she voluntarily and consensually engaged in the sexual activity in question because she feared embarrassment, what people would say, what people would think, what people would whisper, what people might joke about and how this would affect her reputation and potentially her employment, he said. And she set out to create a narrative that would render her blameless for what occurred.

Two defence lawyers and the Crown gave closing submissions Tuesday at the end of the high-profile trial of 51 Division officers Leslie Nyznik, Sameer Kara and Joshua Cabero, who have pleaded not guilty to sexual assault. Of the three, only Nyznik testified, claiming the complainant either initiated the sexual acts or agreed to them.

A decision in the case is expected in August.

On Tuesday, Black argued she began creating that narrative on her way home from the hotel later that night.

The complainants evidence was quite clear, Perlmutter responded in his submissions arguing the complainant could not and did not consent to sexual activity.

She testified she never wanted to report and she only did so when she broke down upon returning to work, he said, noting that she disclosed the sexual assault allegations to a female supervisor who was a mandatory reporter.

The complainant, whose identity is under a publication ban, testified she was orally and vaginally penetrated by the accused as she lay immobile, unable to speak or resist, and drifted in and out of consciousness.

She testified she believes she was drugged that night, possibly at the Brass Rail  the last stop on night of bar-hopping during a rookie buy night organized for 51 Division officers.

Perlmutter said the Crown is not suggesting the accused officers drugged the complainant, but that they "ought to have observed her state and made proper enquiries.

Karas lawyer Alan Gold said in his closing submissions Monday the complainant was not incapacitated and that she simply cannot remember consenting to the sexual acts.

Caberos lawyer Patrick Ducharme told the court Tuesday that the complainants memories are hyperbolic and contradicted by the video evidence.

She has in fact engaged in a reconstruction of events in her mind . . . they are false memories, he said. She may fervently believe she was sexually assaulted but her evidence is unreliable.

Ducharme suggested the complainant tailored her symptoms to fit with an internet search she did about date rape drugs while waiting for her rape kit to be done at the hospital.

Crown prosecutor Perlmutter said searching for symptoms online is a completely normal thing to do while waiting at the hospital, as normal as looking up what a tick bite looks like.

Perlmutter argued the complainants account of what happened in the room is corroborated by the DNA evidence and in part the account given by Nyznik.

Perlmutter said Nyznik was clearly desperate for sex and that he was prepared to lie to get it  a reference to him telling a stripper at the Brass Rail that they were with an adult film crew from Miami and suggesting she come to the hotel for a private audition..

Nyznik is an opportunist who should not be believed, Perlmutter said.

I submit Mr. Nyzniks evidence is a script from a movie where he plays the role of the (adult) film producer he wanted to be and he wrote unbelievable dialogue for his co-accused, he said.

Video of the complainant getting out of a cab at the Westin Harbour Castle hotel and waiting for the elevator with Nyznik and Cabero may end up being a crucial part of the case.

Black said the videos show the complainant smiling, engaged in conversation and walking normally. Perlmutter said the complainant put her hand on cab to stabilize herself, though he said the defence attributes this to the cobblestones and the complainants heels.

The defence is seeking to have the charges thrown out because the police failed to obtain crucial video from the hotel and the cab.

Nyzniks lawyer Joanne Mulcahy said the loss of the videos are the result of unacceptable negligence by the investigating officer, Det. Sgt. Jeffrey Attenborough, who went on vacation shortly after the investigation started and who failed to check the hotel had actually provided all the video they were supposed to.

By the time the investigating officer realized the videos were not there, they were no longer available. The video from inside the cab was also lost because of a misunderstanding between two officers about how long those videos are kept, court heard.

Justice Molloy will issue her decision on the lost evidence application and the sexual assault allegations on Aug. 9.

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BURLINGTON  Halton Region is warning patients of a Burlington dental clinic to get tested for infectious diseases after they may have been exposed to improperly cleaned equipment at the practice.

Upper Middle Dental was closed immediately after the revelation was made during a routine inspection by the health department on June 9.

The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario suspended Dr. Vick Handas licence to practise on June 12, the region said in a news release.

A re-inspection conducted on June 14 confirmed the office now meets the required infection prevention and control standards.

The college lifted the suspension on June 16.

Improperly cleaned dental instruments carry a low risk of transmitting infectious diseases, such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to clients, Dr. Daniela Kempkens, Haltons acting medical officer of health, said in the release.

Halton Region hasnt received reports of infection, said spokesperson Heather Anderson.

At this point in time, we have no evidence that any disease transmission from the dental office to a patient has occurred.

The health department has sent 9,000 letters to past and current clients of the clinic from the past 10 years, recommending they contact their doctors.

Cases like this are extremely rare, a spokesperson for the college said in the release. Dentists are extensively trained on infection prevention and our mandatory continuous education program makes the subject a priority.

A person who answered the phone at Handas office Tuesday said he would not comment on the matter.

A spokesperson for the college said Handa has not faced any past complaints.

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When a young black bear came down from a backyard tree in Whitby last weekend, it moved slowly. It fumbled and fretted on the fence, then  with tranquilizer coursing through his system  landed softly in a residential yard.

For hours, curious neighbours had congregated at the house near Rossland Rd. E and Anderson St., where the bear had wandered from a nearby ravine into a local backyard. Some brought bear spray, but some brought blankets for when the small bear came down.

It almost turned into a bit of a street party, resident Ali Modl, 22, told the Star. Everyone was just hoping the bear was okay  it was very calm, and everybody did what they were supposed to do. No one really questioned the cops.

The situation  which began on Sunday morning, when Durham police received reports of several bears in Pringle Creek Park  lasted until evening, when Whitby Animal Control safely sedated the bear for relocation by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNR). The bear was fine, and treated fairly, Modl assured.

But the days conclusion drew a stark parallel to the end of a similar saga in May, when a black bear was found roaming around backyards in Scarborough. Toronto Police called MNR, but were told that sending their staff to chemically immobilize or remove a wild animal was too dangerous in the dark.

Police dont carry tranquilizers themselves. They couldnt ensure the safety of civilians until MNR could arrive. So the bear was shot.

Dave Selby, a spokesperson for Durham Regional Police, is pleased the young critter on Sunday wasnt harmed  but he acknowledged there are some other situations police just cant control.

If theres a bear in an urban area, and we have the luxury of time, were able to reach out to the MNR and local animal services to help us deal with it, he said. But if its a potentially life-threatening situation, well have to deal with it a different way.

Over the past few years, black bear sightings in residential pockets of Burlington and Newmarket have both ended up fatal shootings by police officers.

When police receive calls about bears in precarious situations, like ones in the past spotted in schoolyards, Selby said the call immediately demands a more serious approach. On the contrary, in more northern areas of Ontario, citizens tend to be more accustomed to bear sightings and less likely to call for help.

Anecdotally, Selby says there hasnt been a change in reported bear sightings over the years, though he was unable to share hard statistics. Pretty much every year, we have a few that wander further south than we normally see, he said. Thats not unusual, it does happen.

So why are these bears on the move?

Mike Commito, the author of a report for Ontarios Northern Policy Institute that delved into the history of black bear hunting management in Ontario from the early 20th century, said hes seen two primary drivers for black bears coming into the city.

Theres always been issues with bears encroaching into urban areas in Ontario, Commito told the Star. For the most part, thats usually the result in shortages from natural foods.

For example, he said, an early thaw or extended winter leads to crops not maturing or yielding as much fruit as expected. Bears then catch a whiff of unkempt and accessible waste in residential areas, and seek it out as a food source.

As bears are being drawn into city areas, Commito stressed the importance of a provincial government-run initiative called Bear Wise, intended to educate Ontarians on the risks of negative human-bear interactions. However, he says the program was sorely depleted during 2012s $50 million cut to the MNRs overall budget.

Looking to the future, he said its hard to say how big a role climate change will have in human-bear interactions, as bears food sources are depleted. One factor people may not know increases bear sightings, he said, is the increased demand for green space within urban environments.

Previously, (bears) may not be able to get to these areas. But with green spaces, it opens up passageways or corridor routes  increased sighting doesnt necessary correlate to an increased population, he said.

If the bears natural food source isnt available in the bush, clearly they have an incredible range where theyll go and look.

Correction  June 26, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNR) as MNS in some references.

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The premier of Ontario has Georgia on her mind.

Kathleen Wynne is in Atlanta on Wednesday to promote trade and keep open the lines of communication at a time of rising protectionism stateside.

I will be meeting  with Governor (Nathan) Deal in Georgia, the premier told reporters in Toronto on Tuesday.

Thats an extension of the work that I have been doing  or a continuation of the work that Ive been doing  to build those relationships with our partners in the United States, to demonstrate and to reinforce how closely interconnected we are as economies, she said.

And whether its a conversation about the renegotiation of NAFTA or border adjustment tax or Buy America provisions, we are developing relationships. We are building on relationships that already existed that will be important as we go into those conversations.

Wynne will meet with Deal at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta before delivering remarks at a business luncheon at the Canadian consulate.

Later, she will tour the Pinewood Atlanta Studios in nearby Fayetteville.

Wednesdays Georgia visit is part of a push by Wynne against U.S. protectionist policies.

Last week, the mayors of Dallas and Fort Worth met with her at Queens Park to reassure Ontario that they, too, oppose a new Texas law that requires state projects to buy U.S. iron and steel if the cost doesnt exceed 20 per cent more than foreign imported products.

The Texan mayors are concerned about trade retaliation and worried about the looming renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which has been good for their state.

Next month, Wynne will travel to the National Governors Association meeting in Rhode Island to meet with state officials.

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Another spurned Progressive Conservative candidate is taking the party to court, the Star has learned.

Joe Neal, a Durham regional councillor and lawyer wants a judge to overturn a PC party decision to disqualify him as a candidate because he donated money to the Liberals in the past and ran for them in 1985.

I was working at this for six months. I was fully approved (by the Tories). I dont consider myself a Liberal, I consider myself a PC, he said in an interview Wednesday.

This process has been unfair. I didnt just fall off the turnip truck and am looking for a job. I truly want to help the PC party make some changes in Ontario.

Neal is hopeful Justice Bruce Glass will rule Friday in Oshawa that he be reinstated to contest the Durham nomination next week against rivals Lindsey Park and Dominic Morrissey.

His case is bolstered by a recent court ruling by Justice Ian Nordheimer that registered political parties, which are eligible for public subsidies, are not private clubs free to make their own membership arrangements.

These types of decisions can the subject of judicial review because . . . parties are now in receipt of substantial public money. Justice Nordheimers decision was these arent just private clubs were dealing with that are immune, said Neal, the second Tory hopeful to take the party to court.

Vikram Singh, a lawyer and a runner-up in the four-candidate PC contest in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas, is seeking to overturn the nomination won by Ben Levitt on May 7.

Singhs complaint is scheduled to be heard in court in Hamilton next Tuesday.

Mark Holmes, president of the Durham PC riding association and chair of the nomination committee, said local activists were surprised when the central party disqualified Neal.

The decision was made outside of the riding association. We were not consulted, said Holmes, who is neutral.

We interviewed the candidates as part of our responsibility to the nomination process; we recommended that all the candidates proceed to the next stage, he said.

In an email, PC party president Rick Dykstra said, because the matter is before the courts . . . we wont be commenting.

The Tories rationale for disqualifying Neal, a local and regional councillor since 2010, is unusual because there are many former Liberals in the PC fold these days.

MPP Raymond Cho (Scarborough-Rouge River), who ran federally for the NDP in 1988 and as an independent in 2004, was unsuccessful in a 2005 bid to be a provincial Liberal byelection candidate.

Some newcomers to Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Browns slate are also former Liberals.

Mississauga-Erindale PC candidate Sheref El Sabawy lost the 2014 Liberal nomination in Mississauga-Erin Mills and failed to win the federal nomination in Halton in 2011.

Neals would-be rivals were decidedly split on his disqualification.

Morrissey, a district manager for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said its unfortunate and it changes the dynamic of the contest because there would only be one ballot.

Park, a lawyer and former federal Conservative staffer, said she will not let Joes antics distract me from working hard to earn the trust of the people of Durham and ensuring they have strong Conservative representation in the next provincial election.

The Durham debacle is the latest in slew of nomination problems for the Tories, who have hired private-sector auditors PwC to oversee their elections because of controversies.

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LOS ANGELESFour more police cadets have been arrested in a widening probe that started last week after three police cruisers, stun guns and radios were stolen, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday.

The teenagers, who were in a program for those who may want to become officers, created homemade uniforms made to resemble actual Los Angeles police uniforms and went out on patrol in the stolen vehicles, Beck said. The teens pulled over at least one driver, but they didnt try to make an arrest or issue a summons, the chief said.

Seven cadets between the ages of 14 and 20 have been arrested since last week.

Read more: Teen police volunteers steal LAPD cars, patrol Los Angeles

The cadets, who perform volunteer work at police stations and go through an academy to learn about the criminal justice system, used a vacationing sergeants name to access the police departments automated inventory system and sign out the cars, two police stun guns and two police radios, Beck said. They drove the three cars out of a police station parking lot, and the cadets had one of the vehicles for at least two weeks, the chief said.

While driving around in the marked police vehicles, the cadets impersonated officers and pulled over at least one driver, though detectives havent found any evidence they tried to issue any summonses, handcuffed the driver or used any force during the encounter, Beck said. Investigators are looking into the possibility they had conducted more traffic stops.

Three of the teenage cadets were taken into custody last Wednesday after leading officers on wild pursuits around the city in two of the stolen police vehicles that both ended in crashes. The four other cadets are accused of riding along with their friends in the stolen cars, Beck said.

Beck ordered a thorough review of policies for managing inventory and has temporarily suspended the cadet program in two police divisions. The program has about 2,300 cadets in 21 separate police divisions.

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2 migrant workers die in Saudi Arabia after accidentally inhaling toxic gas

Two Nepali migrant workers in Saudi Arabia have died as they accidently inhaled toxic gas that was being taken to be disposed.
WASHINGTONThe 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 U.S. 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 Warmbiers death, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal diplomatic discussions.

Read more:

Otto Warmbier, U.S. student freed by North Korea, dies at 22

Coroner still determining cause of death for U.S. student freed from North Korea

Otto Warmbier has severe brain damage, no obvious signs of trauma

Even as Warmbiers family prepared to mourn him at a public funeral service Thursday in Ohio, the circumstances behind his death remained unclear. The coroners office in Hamilton County, Ohio, said it had accepted Warmbiers 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 labour for subversion, and held for more than 17 months.

Its 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. Obamas 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 travelling 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 offences.

The U.S. government strongly warns Americans against travelling to North Korea, but doesnt prohibit it, despite other sanctions targeting the country. Its 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 theyre 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. licence. No licences would be issued for tourism.

The Trump administration doesnt need an act of Congress to bar Americans from travelling 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 Warmbiers death.

The U.S. doesnt 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 offence.

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 proposed that prospective American travellers complete a form declaring they wont hold the U.S. government responsible for what happens. He said the form would require Americans to affirm theyre aware of whats 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.

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CINCINNATIA cause of death hasnt been determined for a 22-year-old college student who was detained for nearly a year and a half in North Korea before being sent home in a coma, an Ohio coroners office said Tuesday.

Hamilton County s Dr. Lakshmi Sammarcos office released a statement saying Otto Warmbiers family objected to an autopsy so only an external exam of his body was done. It said his medical records from an air ambulance service that brought him to Ohio and from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was hospitalized until his death Monday, have been reviewed, and the treating physicians have been interviewed extensively.

No conclusions about the cause and manner of Mr. Warmbiers death have been drawn at this time as there are additional medical records and imaging to review and people to interview, the coroners office statement said, expressing deepest sympathies for his family and friends.

Read more: Otto Warmbier, U.S. student freed by North Korea, dies at 22

The funeral for Warmbier will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday at Wyoming High School, where he was an athlete and salutatorian of his 2013 class.

All those that wish to join his family in celebrating his life are cordially invited, said the Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum.

The coroners office daily report Tuesday included Warmbier in its listings with cause of death termed pending.

Warmbiers parents did not cite a specific cause of death but blamed awful, torturous mistreatment by North Korea. Doctors last week described Warmbiers condition upon his return June 13 as a state of unresponsive wakefulness and said he suffered a severe neurological injury of unknown cause.

Warmbier, a 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 labour. His family said it was told he had been in a coma since soon after his sentencing.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Warmbiers death after his lengthy detention in North Korea was a total disgrace and that if the college student had been returned home to the U.S. earlier, I think the result would have been a lot different.

Doctors said Warmbier suffered extensive loss of brain tissue and profound weakness and contraction of his muscles, arms and legs. Unresponsive wakefulness is a medical term for persistent vegetative state.

North Korea said 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.

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 Jan. 2, 2016, when he was detained at the airport.

Three Americans 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.

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NEW DELHIWildlife 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 labelled 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.

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NORRISTOWN, PA.Bill Cosbys sexual assault trial ended in a hung jury on Saturday because two holdouts refused to convict the 79-year-old comedian after 52 hours of tense deliberations, a juror told ABC News on Wednesday.

The juror, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the jury couldnt reach a consensus after deadlocking at 10-2 to convict Cosby on the first and third felony counts and 11-1 to acquit on the second count.

The two holdouts were not moving, no matter what, the juror told the network.

The juror said the majority of jurors had initially wanted to acquit Cosby on all three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Read more: Judge declares mistrial in Bill Cosby sexual assault case; prosecutors plan to retry charges

Andrea Constand testified that Cosby drugged and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Cosby said the encounter with the former director of womens basketball operations at his alma mater, Temple University, was consensual.

ABC published the interview after Judge Steven ONeill ordered the public release of the jurors names, granting a request by a dozen media organizations, including The Associated Press and the major TV networks.

ONeill warned jurors not to divulge what fellow jurors said during deliberations.

The Associated Press tried contacting jurors for comment Wednesday but wasnt immediately able to reach any of them.

The juror who spoke to ABC said tensions were high as deliberations wore on in a cramped back room.

One juror punched a wall in frustration, the juror said.

If we kept going, there was definitely going to be a fight, the juror said. They had five sheriffs deputies at the door and they could hear us and they kept coming in because they thought we were already fighting.

The jury was selected from the Pittsburgh area and spent two weeks sequestered 300 miles from home.

According to the juror who spoke to ABC, the majority of jurors wanted to convict Cosby on counts alleging he lacked consent when he penetrated Constands genitals with his fingers and that he gave her an intoxicant that substantially impaired her and stopped her from resisting.

The juror said all but one juror wanted to acquit Cosby on the other count, alleging Constand was unconscious or semi-conscious at the time and could not give consent.

The jury reported a deadlock after about 30 hours of deliberations over four days, but kept trying after ONeill read whats known as a dynamite charge. The juror who spoke to ABC News said the extra time didnt change anyones mind.

ONeill released the jurors names after lawyers for news outlets argued they should be public to ensure transparency in the judicial process. Prosecutors and defence lawyers had argued they should remain secret, saying releasing them would make it more difficult to select a jury in Cosbys second trial.

District Attorney Kevin Steele has already said hell retry Cosby, and ONeill said he wants that to happen within four months.

The judge cited the medias First Amendment rights and Supreme Court precedent in ordering the release of the names. But he forbade jurors from talking about what other members of the jury said in the deliberating room or from revealing any votes cast in the case.

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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WASHINGTONThe United States said Wednesday that China has a responsibility to exert much greater pressure on North Korea to prevent escalating tensions with a government that ignores the law and provokes and provokes and provokes.

U.S. diplomatic and defence chiefs met their Chinese counterparts for security talks and pushed China to rein in companies that allegedly deal with its wayward ally North Korea in violation of UN sanctions.

Trump has been counting on China to use its economic leverage with the government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as American concern grows over the Norths acceleration toward having a nuclear missile that can strike the U.S. mainland.

Trump tweeted ahead of Wednesdays talks that Beijings efforts to sway Pyongyang werent working. That comment came amid outrage in Washington over the death of Otto Warmbier days after the comatose American student was released from imprisonment in North Korea.

Read more: After American student Otto Warmbiers death, U.S. weighs travel ban on North Korea

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Trumps commentary represents the American peoples view of North Korea right now. We see a young man go over there healthy and with a minor act of mischief and come home on the verge of death.

What you are seeing I think is the American peoples frustration with the regime that provokes and provokes and provokes and basically plays outside rules, plays fast and loose with the truth, Mattis told a news conference.

At the talks, Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hosted Chinese foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi and Gen. Fang Fenghui, chief of the Peoples Liberation Armys joint staff department.

Their meeting took place against a backdrop of high tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula. On Tuesday, the U.S. flew two supersonic B-1B bombers there in a show of force. South Koreas Defence Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with its fighter jets aimed at deterring the North.

China understands that the United States regards North Korea as our top security threat, Tillerson said. We reiterated to China that it has a diplomatic responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime if they want to prevent further escalation in the region.

Tillerson called for increased efforts to curtail the Norths illicit revenue streams of revenue that allegedly help fund its nuclear weapon and missile programs. He said the two sides agreed on the need for companies not to deal with North Korea in violation of UN sanctions, but did not specify any particular action China was promising to take.

Mattis said China continues to work these issues.

North Korea conducts about 90 per cent of its trade through China, which maintains that it implements the UN sanctions properly.

Chinese officials were not immediately available for comment after the talks. Beforehand, China said it was hoping for positive outcomes from Wednesdays dialogue. It had long pushed for a resumption of U.S. negotiations with North Korea, which currently appears a remote prospect.

The talks also covered the South China Sea, where Beijings island-building and construction of possible military facilities have rattled neighbours and caused tension with Washington. The officials also discussed U.S.-Chinese military co-operation to reduce risk of conflict, as well as efforts to defeat Daesh, also known as ISIS.

Divisive trade issues will be dealt with at a later date.

Like past presidents, Trump is finding the U.S. has limited scope for punishing North Korea, particularly over the arrest of U.S. citizens. Three Americans remain in detention in the reclusive country.

Read more: North Korea fires suspected cruise missiles, South Korea says

Trumps administration is considering a ban on Americans visiting North Korea. That would only slightly add to the Norths isolation and loss of revenue. The route to inflicting significant economic pain on Kims government remains through China.

Washington has one threat it can use with Beijing: the possibility of secondary sanctions that go after Chinese companies doing business in North Korea. Such a move risks fraying relations between the worlds two biggest economies.

The Chinese state-run Global Times warned in an editorial that if Washington imposes sanctions against Chinese enterprises it will lead to grave friction between China and the U.S.

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JERUSALEMU.S. President Donald Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner arrived here Wednesday evening with an audacious mission: to see if it is possible to restart peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Few voices in Jerusalem or Ramallah sound very hopeful as the untested Kushner came for two days of preliminary talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump

This is a right place for skeptics. But they are hedging their bets. Mostly because Trump is so out-of-the-ordinary, so grandiose and mercurial, that the players here wonder whether he just might make progress  or, alternatively, make things worse by raising expectations, then abandoning the project in a tweetstorm of frustration and finger-pointing.

Past efforts to broker peace are strewn with failure, overseen by veteran American diplomats with years of experience in the region, who were all sent packing.

Perhaps as a sign of the stakes, Kushners first meeting after arriving was to offer condolences to the family of an Israeli Border Police officer, Staff Sgt. Maj. Hadas Malka, 23, who was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant in Jerusalems Old City on Friday.

No time is the right time for negotiations in a region in turmoil. But now is an especially challenging moment for Trumps inexperienced 36-year-old envoy to give it a try.

The Palestinian leadership is weak and fractured. And Israels coalition government is among the most right wing in its history, whose members not only oppose a Palestinian state but want to annex wide swaths of the West Bank for Jewish settlers.

Yet Trump surprised Arabs and Jews with his improbable insistence that the deal of the century can be struck.

The president won plaudits from all sides during his whirlwind tour of Saudi Arabia, Israel and the West Bank last month.

President Trump is at his point of maximum leverage, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said in an interview. He has gained respect in the region. He is seen as serious. Add to that, his known streak for being unpredictable. This might make it very difficult to say no to him or to a member of his family.

Shapiro cautioned, This creates an opening. Not more than an opening. One shouldnt be irrationally exuberant. But the opening is real.

As point man, Kushners inexperience in the Middle East are duly noted but maybe not fatal. He is joined on his mission by Trumps Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, formerly Trumps real estate attorney.

Its not necessarily a bad thing to have two people with no experience. Others who have had a lot of experience havent done so well either. They all failed, said Nathan Thrall, author of new book The Only Language they Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine.

Thrall, a Jerusalem-based analyst for the Crisis Group, warned that the advantages of fresh eyes has its limits.

Both the Israelis and Palestinians are pros at wearing down envoys with endless details, he said. Theyve done it to the most experienced negotiators.

Thrall and others said they thought the new effort posed more risks for Netanyahu than Abbas.

When Trump was first elected, Netanyahu and his right flank, especially in the settler movement, were overjoyed.

Relations with the Obama White House had sunk to new lows. They were expecting more of the same from Hillary Clinton. But Trump spoke a language Israelis loved, gushing with praise for the Jewish state and downplaying long-held U.S. positions that branded settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as illegitimate and obstacles to peace.

Little by little Trump has sown doubt on the Israeli right. He surprised his new Israeli fans by warning Netanyahu to slow down on new settlement construction  with unproven results.

Construction began this week on a new settlement deep in the West Bank, on land the Palestinians want for a contiguous state, for Jewish settlers evicted from their homes after it was shown they built on private Palestinian property.

Construction began this week on a new settlement deep in the West Bank, on land the Palestinians want for a contiguous state, for Jewish settlers evicted from their homes after it was shown they built on private Palestinian property.

After 20 years I have the privilege of being the first prime minister to build a new settlement in Judea and Samaria, Netanyahu wrote on Facebook on Monday, using the biblical terms for the West Bank.

There never was nor will there be a better government for settlement than our government, he boasted.

Palestinians have remained publicly supportive of Trumps efforts, even though they say they realize Greenblatt and Kushner are unlikely allies. Both men are Orthodox Jews from New York and committed Zionists with histories of supporting Israel.

In the meeting, Kushner and Greenblatt have asked both sides to tell them what they want and where they want to go.

The Palestinians say they are ready to present in detail their vision. Standing beside Trump during their meeting in Bethlehem last month, Abbas was specific: He wants a sovereign state created along pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Aides to Abbas said that during his meeting with Trump, the two leaders even examined maps.

But we are not sure that Netanyahu can or will give the Trump team a bottom line. Can Netanyahu utter the words two states? That is the question, said a Palestinian official preparing for the Kushner trip, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The White House issued a statement before the trip asserting that Trump strongly believes that peace is possible and was sending his most trusted advisers to spearhead the effort.

The White House cautioned that forging a historic peace agreement will take time.

Sallai Meridor, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, said that Trumps approach of bringing Arab leaders from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan into the mix offered renewed incentives.

Meridor said he was hopeful that the Palestinians would engage with seriousness intent and that it was in Israels best interests to seek a deal.

Most Israelis, including Meridor, assume that if Netanyahu begins to engage deeply in talks and makes confidence-building gestures, his governing coalition will break apart and that new partners, most likely from the Labor party, will have to be brought into the government.

As for the White House, I think the desire is positive. I hope they are coming with elements of seriousness. They will need hope, patience and perseverance, Meridor said. It will take a lot of time and a willingness to invest plenty, even when result could be less than what one might expect.

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MILWAUKEEA Milwaukee jury on Wednesday acquitted a former police officer in the on-duty shooting of a black man last year that ignited riots on the citys north side.

Jurors found that Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, was not guilty of first-degree reckless homicide when he shot 23-year-old Sylville Smith after a brief foot chase following a traffic stop Aug. 13. Smith had a gun when he ran, but the case hinged on whether he was a threat when Heaggan-Brown fired the shot that killed him.

Body-camera video showed Heaggan-Brown shooting Smith once in the arm as he appeared to be throwing the gun over a fence. The video showed the second shot  1.69 seconds later  hit Smith in the chest as he lay on the ground.

Prosecutors argued Smith was defenceless at the time of the second shot because he had thrown the gun over the fence. Defence attorneys argued Heaggan-Brown had to act quickly to defend himself.

Read more:Back in time 60 years: Americas most segregated city

Smiths family members reacted angrily, swearing and storming immediately from the courtroom. Outside, one man shouted obscenities at a sheriffs deputy as he was held back by other family members.

I dont agree with the decision, but I have to respect it, said Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, who made the decision to charge Heaggan-Brown. That put him at odds with Police Chief Edward Flynn, who had said the shooting was justified.

Heaggan-Browns acquittal came less than a week after a Minnesota officer, Jeronimo Yanez, was acquitted in the shooting death of a black motorist seconds after the motorist informed him he had a gun. Yanez testified the driver, Philando Castile, disregarded his commands not to take out his gun and he feared for his life.

Heaggan-Brown was fired from the police force in October after being charged with sexual assault in an unrelated case. The sexual assault case was not mentioned during the trial because it is being handled separately and knowledge of it could prejudice the jury.

Smiths death brought to the surface long-simmering tensions between black Milwaukee residents and police, and demonstrators assembled near the site of the shooting in Sherman Park hours after it happened.

Two nights of riots followed, with protesters throwing rocks, bricks, and bottles at police officers. The protesters burned eight businesses and a police car and when it was over, 40 demonstrators had been arrested and a handful of officers hurt.

In the encounter with Smith, Heaggan-Brown and two other officers had approached Smiths rental car because it was parked more than a foot from the curb and they believed a drug deal was about to take place.

In Heaggan-Browns bodycam video, he began chasing Smith immediately after stepping out of his patrol car.

Heaggan-Browns camera shows him briefly pointing the gun at Smith as he begins the pursuit. He put his gun back in his holster as Smith turned into a path between two houses.

Smith slipped and fell near a fence, dropping his gun. He started reaching for it as he stood up, with his left hand holding the fence.

When the video is slowed frame-by-frame, Smith is seen holding the gun by the barrel to throw it over the fence. Prosecutors argued that Smith no longer posed a threat.

The two shots by Heaggan-Brown came in quick succession, striking Smith once in his right arm and then the fatal shot to the chest.

The 12-member jury included four African-Americans.

The Milwaukee acquittal also came as jurors in Ohio were in their third day of deliberations in the murder retrial of a white University of Cincinnati police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black motorist. Ray Tensings first trial ended last November in a hung jury after some 25 hours of deliberations on the murder and voluntary manslaughter charges.

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Democrats seethed, second-guessed and sought to regroup Wednesday after a disappointing special election defeat in Georgia, with the partys campaign chief in the House of Representatives outlining alternative paths to taking power, and some lawmakers questioning anew the leadership and political strategy of Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader.

By fiercely contesting a congressional race in the conservative Atlanta suburbs, Democrats had hoped to make an emphatic statement about the weakness of the Republican Party under President Donald Trump. Their candidate, Jon Ossoff, raised about $25 million (U.S.), largely in small donations, and assertively courted right-of-centre voters with promises of economic development and fiscal restraint.

Read the latest news on U.S. President Donald Trump

But as the returns came in and Ossoff remained stubbornly behind Karen Handel, a veteran local office-holder, Democratic frustrations burst into full view. Lawmakers and strategists fretted about the partys inchoate message, and some called the race a sign that Democrats should not bet too heavily on converting red-tinged suburbs to win a majority in the House.

Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio, who has been a vocal critic of his partys overarching political strategy, said Democrats needed to recognize that they were toxic in huge parts of the country.

Our brand is worse than Trump, said Ryan, who urged Democrats to make forging a clear economic agenda an urgent priority. We cant just run against Trump.

Ryan, who tried to unseat Pelosi as House minority leader after the November elections, said she remained a political drag on other Democrats. Handel and Republican outside groups tied Ossoff to Pelosi in campaign events and television ads, casting him as a puppet for what they described as her liberal agenda and San Francisco values.

Theyre still running against her and still winning races, and its still a problem, Ryan said.

In Washington, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, moved to calm the party overnight, circulating a memo that outlined in detail how Democrats aim to capture a majority in 2018. In the document, which was sent to lawmakers and staff, Lujan wrote that there was no doubt that Democrats can take back the House next fall in the midterm elections.

Acknowledging that the Georgia result was a setback, Lujan wrote Wednesday that there were between six and eight dozen seats held by Republican lawmakers that would be easier for Democrats to capture than Georgias 6th. He said the next few months would become a recruitment blitz for Democrats as they enlist candidates in those elections.

Lets look outside of the traditional mould to keep recruiting local leaders, veterans, business owners, women, job creators and health professionals, Lujan wrote. Lets take the time to find people who fit their districts, have compelling stories, and work hard to earn support from voters.

And, citing snippets of private polling, Lujan said there were Republican seats in southern Arizona and Florida, northern New Jersey and the Kansas City, Kan., suburbs, where Democratic challengers were already ahead of Republican incumbents.

Democrats need to win 24 Republican-held seats in order to win control of the House.

Democratic lawmakers were expected to gather Wednesday morning in a caucus meeting, which could become a forum for restive lawmakers to air their political anxieties and grievances.

But well before the gathering, a half-dozen Democratic elected officials and operatives privately vented in text messages and phone calls about a dispiriting trend emerging in this years special elections: When their candidates appear to gain traction in the polls, Republicans can easily halt the momentum by invoking Pelosi.

A spokesman for Pelosi noted that in some polls House Speaker Paul Ryans approval ratings were even more dismal than Pelosis and argued that the right would make any high-profile Democratic leader the focal point of attacks.

Republicans blew through millions to keep a ruby-red seat and in their desperate rush to keep stop the hemorrhaging, theyve returned to demonizing the partys strongest fundraiser and consensus builder, said Drew Hammill, Pelosis deputy chief of staff. They dont have Clinton or Obama so this is what they do.

On the Republican side, jubilation over Handels victory mixed with lingering unease about the overall political environment. While Handel defeated Ossoff by about 10,000 votes and nearly 4 percentage points, Republican outside groups had to spend $18 million defending a district where the partys candidates won easily for decades.

Trumps approval ratings continued to fall steadily over the course of the race, and Handel at times took active steps to distance herself from the president.

And on the same night, a little-watched special election in South Carolina gave the Republican Party another scare, as an obscure Democrat, Archie Parnell, came within 3,000 votes of capturing a solidly Republican congressional district. Turnout in the election was tepid, and the close margin was seen in both parties as a function of Democrats greater enthusiasm for voting in a low-key race.

Nick Everhart, a Republican strategist in Ohio, said the party should not allow its relief at having kept Democrats at bay to turn into complacency. Up to this point, he said, Republicans have been beating Democrats only on solidly red turf.

To pretend that there are not serious enthusiasm-gap issues with the GOP base and more crucially, independents fleeing, is missing the lessons that need to be learned before truly competitive seats are on the board, Everhart said.

Still, the immediate aftermath of the Georgia election was plainly tougher on the Democratic side, where activists, donors and lawmakers have grown weary of special elections that end with a better-than-usual showing by a defeated Democrat. That pattern, which also characterized recent congressional races in Kansas and Montana, may put Democrats on track to gain power in the 2018 elections, but 17 months is a long wait for a party hungry for immediate victories.

The lack of a signal success for Democrats during this season of special elections has also left open existential questions for the party, which might have been resolved by a smashing win of one kind or another. Had Ossoff won on Tuesday night, it most likely would have emboldened the partys moderate establishment and made his campaign  waged in broad promises of economic growth and cautious language about Trump  a model for other races.

Instead, populist forces on the left took Ossoffs defeat as an occasion to criticize the whole notion of centrism as a Democratic strategy. Jim Dean, chairman of Democracy for America, a liberal activist group, blasted Ossoff overnight for lighting millions of dollars on fire and delivering an uninspiring message that he predicted would fail again in 2018.

The same, tired centrist Democratic playbook that has come up short cycle after cycle will not suffice, Dean said in a statement.

Outside the activist wing of the party, the Georgia result opened a new and potentially bitter debate about nonideological matters, including who should be the Democrats public face in Congress.

Lachlan McIntosh, a South Carolina-based Democratic strategist, said the party had to confront just how unpopular its current leadership is in conservative areas. With some Democrats questioning whether they should have invested more in Parnells near-miss campaign, McIntosh said bluntly that, if Parnell had ever become a cause celebre like Ossoff, national Republicans would simply have blasted him with the same anti-Pelosi message that worked in Georgia.

The problem will persist for Democrats next year, McIntosh said. They cant ignore how very unpopular their leadership is with many voters. Its not fair or justified, but its real.

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LONDONDetectives in London still are trying to determine the cause of the death for a Muslim man who died during the van attack near Finsbury Park Mosque, the citys police chief said Wednesday.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said a special post-mortem examination has been carried out on the victim, 51-year-old Makram Ali. Ali was already ill and receiving first aid early Monday when a van swerved at him and other pedestrians.

It will be important for police and prosecutors to determine if he died as a direct result of the van attack. If the attack is judged to have caused his death, the suspect could face more serious charges than if Ali were found to have died for other reasons.

Police have characterized the incident, which came as worshippers were leaving mosques after prayers marking the holy month of Ramadan, as a terrorist attack directed at Muslims.

Prince Charles met with community leaders Wednesday to show support for the Muslim community, which has reported an increase in hate crimes in recent months.

Read more:

London mosque attack suspect identified as U.K. authorities move to ease tensions

Citizens arrest outside London mosque an act of bravery: Fahmy

Not labelling London mosque attack as white terrorism is hypocrisy: Paradkar

Ali was pronounced dead at the scene and nine other people were hospitalized. British health officials said four patients were still hospitalized Wednesday, with two in critical condition.

Suspect Darren Osborne, 47, is being questioned by police. Osborne, who had been living in Wales, was arrested on several counts, including the preparation or instigation of terrorism.

His family said he had been troubled for a long time.

The attack has raised tensions in London, which had already been struck by three separate extremist attacks in the last three months.

London police say a man was subdued with a stun gun and arrested early Wednesday after he was reported to be attacking people at the Regents Park Mosque in north London.

Police said no one was actually attacked but the man was waving a shoe horn taken from the mosque at people.

Police said that incident is not seen as related to terrorism.

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Now that British Prime Minister Theresa May has been pegged back to a minority government, her decision to hold a snap election to increase her slim Parliamentary majority looks like a mistake. It wasnt.

A sound idea poorly executed doesnt render the idea into an error. No, Mays failed gambit should place the spotlight where it belongs: on execution. Here the prime minister failed miserably, and it will be Britain that pays the price as it begins the process to leave the European Union.

Why was Mays decision sound?

First, the political: Brexit has yet to bite. After cruising for most of the past year following the referendum vote, the British economy is now sputtering. More pain is surely to come and May wanted to secure her mandate before Brexit  which she campaigned against  began to bite.

May also had an overwhelming poll advantage over her prime opponent, Labours Jeremy Corbyn. The prime minister saw a very real chance to mute her opposition and give herself maximum manoeuvrability (both at home and abroad) while securing Britains delicate exit from the European Union. Few, if any, observers thought Corbyn would rise to the challenge.

There were also principled reasons for a trip to the polls: May didnt have a mandate from the British people for her domestic program, nor did she have one for the kind of Brexit to be negotiated. Former prime minister David Cameron  whom May replaced soon after he was felled by the shock result of the EU referendum  only promised the referendum, not the variety of Brexit or a plan to deliver it.

Sound reasons behind Mays decision do not, however, excuse her shambolic campaign. One doesnt call an election the most important in a generation because of Brexit and then say nothing about it from the safety of a tightly scripted campaign bubble.

May ducked almost every opportunity to lead a conversation and was painfully short of answers when asked about the hard choices facing Britain. Had May been forthright with the British people she might have been rewarded for her candour with the majority she sought.

May then compounded her error by demoralizing her base with punitive policies, such as changes to the funding of social care  the so-called dementia tax  and end to the triple-lock pension. Meanwhile, Corbyn and Labour fired up their (much younger) base.

The result is a greatly reduced Theresa May, left to cobble together a contentious arrangement with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to secure a parliamentary majority that isnt likely to deliver the Brexit supported by a majority of her Conservative Party. No wonder May is under threat.

But the Conservatives know any attempt to replace May now would only succeed in having the words Prime Minister Jeremy Corbyn enter the history books. They will stick together at least until they win the confidence of the House of Commons with a Queens Speech and kick off the first round of Brexit negotiations.

Even if the Conservatives were to lose the confidence of the House its not clear Jeremy Corbyn could command it. Despite Labours bluster they are still some 60-plus seats short of a majority and any coalition of Labour with the Liberal Democrats and Scottish Nationalists would be equally wobbly to Mays with the DUP.

This serial instability portends badly for Brexit, which is still officially supported by the Conservative and Labour parties, despite wishful talk by remainers of a reversal. Yes, the new composition of the House is likely to favour a softer form of Brexit, with some attachment to the common market, but this is a red-line for the militant Brexiters in Mays brood. Its a right mess.

Somewhat incredibly, Mays greatest error wasnt even the poor execution of the snap election campaign; it was triggering the two-year Brexit countdown with the European Union before calling it. The odds of a prosperous Britain emerging in the wake of Brexit get shorter the longer it takes Britains political class to get its act together. This isnt likely to happen without another election, perhaps as early as the autumn.

One can only hope that May, or whoever is Britains prime minister come the time of the next election call, takes more care with the execution of their campaign.

The future of Britain could depend on it.

Andrew MacDougall is a London-based columnist and commentator. He was director of communications for prime minister Stephen Harper.

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Amidst increased security challenges, the Armed Police Force has deployed four additional inspector generals to assess the situation on the ground.
The summer solstice is a day that Indigenous peoples around the world have celebrated for thousands of years. The Earths northern hemisphere is tilted as close as it gets toward the sun, and we enjoy the longest day of light in the year.

Across the land, First Nations will gather and share in ceremonies and traditions that have been carried out for thousands of years. We gather to celebrate and to thank Mother Earth for her gifts. And we gather to celebrate our languages, cultures and ceremonies, which have persevered and prevailed despite decades of concerted effort to eradicate them.

In Canada on June 21st, the summer solstice celebration has become National Aboriginal Day, a day of celebration for the contributions and cultures of Indigenous peoples.

As these lands have changed, so too have the peoples and nations upon them. It was the land itself that taught us how to survive here. And our teachings of survival, of fitting into an environment, of adapting to the lessons of creation are all still valid and effective today, even with the introduction of the concrete environment.

I often explain to Canadians the symbols on the treaty medals given to the numbered treaty chiefs when those treaties were being made.

The figures of an Indigenous man and a non-Indigenous person shaking hands, with a hatchet buried in the ground between them, came to represent the meaning behind treaty-making  that peaceful coexistence and mutual respect would and should guide our relationship forward.

It is a meeting of two equals, who both came to the negotiating table with their own laws, legal systems and traditions that made treaty-making with their new neighbours a legal requirement. The treaty was not meant to extinguish First Nation rights, but to recognize that First Nations ways of life, including our legal systems and ways of governance, were protected and would continue and develop alongside the legal system of Canadians.

June 21st is an appropriate day to think about the path we are now on and the movement toward basing the Canadian-First Nation relationship on the true recognition of the inherent rights, title and jurisdiction of First Nation peoples and nations.

In 2017, treaty and trade are still dominant themes of relationships between nations. And today, First Nations have rights and interests, and our place as nations and distinct peoples in the global dialogue on the economy, trade, the environment and human rights.

The United Nations and Canada have in clear terms affirmed our international status as nations and peoples with the right to self-determination, which includes the right to benefit and prosper from the wealth of our lands while carrying out our sacred responsibilities to protect Mother Earth.

Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions report, many Canadians have responded enthusiastically and have taken steps to learn, and sometimes relearn, the history of the relationship between Canadians and First Nations.

Many people ask how we can overcome our difficult shared history and forge a new, brighter future for First Nations peoples. Reconciliation means returning to a relationship where Indigenous peoples can once again express our own unique nations, laws, languages, governance and spirituality.

Revitalizing First Nations languages, the original languages of these lands, is a vital part of reconciliation. It may seem a challenging task, but the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides the framework for rights realization and reconciliation that is respectful and peaceful coexistence  and an end to colonial mindsets and discriminatory attitudes.

That is why the declaration is at the core of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions calls to action. The next step is to work with us to develop a national action plan for implementation, as required by Canadas international obligations and recent commitments made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Today, First Nations celebrate our resilience, our many contributions and our languages, knowledge traditions, laws, songs, dance and ceremonies. First Nations are an enduring presence in this land and have been since time immemorial.

We are inseparable part of these lands; the past, the present and the future. We are here. We always have been, and we always will be.

Perry Bellegarde is the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, which represents more than 900,000 people living in 634 First Nation communities and in cities and towns across the country.

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Civil wars are complicated and dangerous. As Canada was reminded this week in Syria, outsiders who choose to involve themselves may end up with more than they bargained for.

At the best of times, the Syrian civil war is a nightmare. This week, after a U.S. warplane downed a Syrian government jet over Syrian territory it became even more so.

Russia, which is allied to Bashar Assads government in Damascus and which has its own warplanes flying over Syria, was furious. It announced it would target (but not necessarily attack) any U.S. or allied aircraft west of the Euphrates.

Australia, which has six fighter jets in the region as part of the U.S.-led coalition, wisely suspended operations over Syria.

Canada, which has one refuelling plane and one spotter plane operating over Syria and Iraq, said only that it will continually assess the risks, according to a defence department spokesperson.

Its probably fair to say that when the Syrian conflict began six years ago, few thought that it would result in a military faceoff between the worlds two nuclear superpowers.

Yet it has become exactly that. The U.S. has made it clear that its local allies in the war against the terror group Daesh are off limits to the Assad regime.

Russia has made it equally clear that it will back that regime against America.

At least three wars are being fought simultaneously in Syria.

The first is the civil war itself. In part, it is an attempt to depose dictator Assad. In part, it is a sectarian conflict between Sunni and non-Sunni Muslims.

The civil war has drawn in Iran, Turkey, the Gulf States, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and from time to time Israel.

The second is the war between Daesh, also known as ISIS, and just about everyone else.

Daesh drew America into the war and America drew in its allies, including Canada. That, in turn, drew in Russia, which was determined to protect its interests in the region.

Under the current Liberal government, Canadas role in the air war against Daesh has declined but its participation in the Iraqi ground war has grown.

The third is the ongoing struggle of the Kurds to create their own state from portions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

In Syria, the Kurds have long had a complicated relationship with the regime. On the one hand, Damascus finds the Kurds useful in that they keep neighbouring Turkey off balance.

On the other, the regime is loath to see Syria partitioned along ethnic lines.

Since 2011, when the civil war began, the Kurds and the Assad regime have had a tacit alliance. The Kurdish militias agreed not to join the anti-Assad rebellion. In return, the regime turned a blind eye when the Kurds set up what was in effect a mini-state in Syrias east.

The U.S. also formed an alliance with the Kurds because it found their militias the most effective in the war against Daesh.

As part of that alliance, the U.S. agreed to arm the Kurds with heavy weapons for the assault on Raqqa, Daeshs main stronghold in Syria.

Why the Kurds and the Assad regime fell out is not entirely clear. Perhaps the Kurds wanted to distance themselves from a regime that their new American patrons found distasteful. Perhaps the Assad regime wanted to ensure that the separatist Kurds werent too successful.

In any case, regime forces reportedly attacked a village Sunday that was controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. A U.S. warplane scared those attackers off. A Syrian warplane then attacked Kurdish-led militias near another city. The American shot down that warplane.

The world has come close to the brink before in Syria. In 2015, NATO member Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Syrian border. But Moscow and Ankara soon found it convenient to patch over their differences.

Earlier this year, the U.S. bombed a Syrian government airfield it believed had been used for a chemical weapons attack. But since the Americans effectively warned the Syrians first, there was more theatre than reality in this confrontation.

Perhaps this weeks attack too will lead to nothing much. Perhaps, the Russians will treat the event with a wink and a nudge. Perhaps matters wont escalate.

But there are an awful lot of players wandering around Syria armed to the teeth. As the world found out after the assassination of an Austrian nobleman in 1914, an isolated event in a far-off land can have global consequences.

Thomas Walkom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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An independent tribunal has found Chris Spence guilty of plagiarism and recommended that University of Toronto revoke his 1996 doctorate and expel the one-time education star.

In other words, no more Dr. Spence, as lawyer Bernard Fishbein, chair of the disciplinary panel, put it in announcing the findings Tuesday.

The recommendations were issued swiftly after a day-long hearing at the university in which Provost counsel Robert Centa outlined overwhelming evidence of plagiarism in Spences thesis for his prestigious doctorate of education degree.

Centa presented the tribunal with 67 examples of passages  including one that was nine pages long  that were found to be the work of others who were not credited or cited in Spences dissertation.

This is not close to the line, this is not a few random sentences in a 120-page thesis, Centa told the hearing.

Instead, he said its a case of paragraph after paragraph after paragraph, page after page after page in some instances, of text taken verbatim or nearly verbatim without quotation marks, italics or anything else to indicate it was material from other sources.

Fishbein said the written decision outlining reasons will follow. Spence can appeal after that decision is released.

The damning evidence and the tribunals ensuing call for the most severe sanctions took place without Spence present, and amid the celebratory sounds of students gathering for convocation outside the building.

The panels recommendations to U of Ts Governing Council come more than four years after a stunning fall from grace for the former education director with the Toronto District School board in the wake of allegations that he had cribbed other writers work in newspaper articles including the Toronto Star, blogs and books without giving them credit.

In December, the Ontario College of Teachers imposed its most severe penalty on Spence when it stripped the 54-year-old of his teaching licence after he was found guilty of professional misconduct.

But Spence, who is currently living in Chicago and has said he is working on a youth mentoring program there, has mounted a campaign to fight back against the college, arguing that he has taken responsibility for his actions, that the penalty was disproportionate and that he wants to teach again.

Last month, in a half-hour online video interview with former TDSB chair Bruce Davis as a part of the Let Spence Teach campaign, Spence pledged to defend his U of T thesis and attributed the accusations of plagiarism to careless, reckless, sloppy research.

However, Spences chair was empty at the opening of the hearing Tuesday, even though four days had been booked to address the merits of the case following three years of delays over procedural issues from his various lawyers.

Last Friday, one of his lawyers was in divisional court arguing for a stay against the U of T proceedings, but was not successful.

On Tuesday, a different lawyer, Carol Shirtliff-Hinds, opened by requesting another postponement, arguing that she had concerns about her clients mental state and that she was unable to get clear instruction from him.

After being pressed by Fishbein to find out where he was, she returned and told the panel her client was in Chicago and had reported having an anxiety attack the previous day.

Her request for a postponement was denied and Shirtliff-Hinds withdrew from the proceedings saying she couldnt remain given her ethical position.

Evidence presented by Centa went beyond the alleged examples of plagiarism. He also argued that Spences actions were deliberate because he edited the plagiarized text to mask the fact he was plagiarizing.

He cited passages where American spellings and phrases were changed to Canadian versions and text was personalized so it appeared to reflect Spences own observations and experience.

His only witness was Luc De Nil, vice-dean of students with the school of graduate studies. Asked if the doctorate of education would have been granted to Spence if these issues had been brought to his office back in early 1996, he said no, it definitely would not.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.'s (CMG) - Get Free Report stock tanked around 7% to $425.40 by Tuesday's close, because the burrito king essentially just told investors that it's still struggling.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday, June 19, Chipotle said it met with a group of investors to reaffirm its full-year 2017 outlook issued in April. The restaurant chain still expects its same-store sales to grow in the high-single digits, to open between 195 and 210 new locations and to have a full-year tax rate of 39%.

Analysts surveyed at Factset are looking for 2017 same-store sales to increase 10.3%. Chipotle has struggled to gain significant comparable store sales growth since 2015 when a wave of foodborne illnesses affected 60 customers in 14 states.

Chipotle also revealed in the SEC filing that food costs are expected to make up 34.2% of its total revenue and that marketing and promotional costs are anticipated to rise 20 to 30 basis points, making up 3.6% to 3.7% of its full-year sales.

The company is set to release its second-quarter results on July 20. Wall Street estimates that Chipotle will post earnings of $2.44 a share on $1.2 billion in revenue.

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President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner have been invited to visit China later this year, a source has told Bloomberg.

Details of the possible trip are still under discussion and the visit could serve to prepare for a visit from the president himself. Trump and her husband are said to have hosted the newly sworn-in U.S. ambassador to China at a dinner on Sunday.

The discussions showcase how the president relies on his daughter and son-in-law to manage some of the U.S.'s more tricky issues, Bloomberg noted. Neither Ivanka Trump nor Jared Kushner have had any prior government experience before Donald Trump took office.

What's Hot On TheStreet

Amazon has some work to do with Whole Foods: Organic grocer Whole Foods (WFM) needs Amazon's (AMZN) - Get Free Report tech know-how, and it needs it very quickly to slash prices.

TheStreet's Lindsay Rittenhousewent shopping online at Ohio stores to see how Whole Foods stacked up against Walmart Stores Inc. (WMT) - Get Free Report and rival grocer Kroger (KR) - Get Free Report . While the results may not be shocking, they show just how much Amazon will have to cut for Whole Foods to be on equal footing with some of its competitors.

The cost of eight everyday food items at Whole Foods, TheStreet found, were nearly double those of the ones at Walmart, but Kroger undercut them both. Whole Foods' basket cost $38.29; Walmart's, $19.86; and Kroger's, $16.58.

With data as shocking as this, it's no wonder Whole Foods founder John Mackey is in love with Amazon.

Tesla's stock is out of control: Tesla Inc. (TSLA) - Get Free Report shares are expected to have a strong session amid reports Elon Musk's electric car baby may open a new production facility in China. Such a move would avoid tariffs in the world's second-largest economy, but risk the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump's "buy American, hire American" industrial policy, TheStreet's Martin Baccardax reports.

Tesla's market cap is now more than $60 billion and climbing, despite the company continuing to lose money. Ford's (F) - Get Free Report market clocks in at $44.7 billion, while General Motors (GM) - Get Free Report stands at $51.9 billion.

Worried about how to pay for your golden years? Ken Fisher, founder of Fisher Investments, and TheStreet's Jim Cramer will tell you what you need to know in a June 21 webinar on the market trends that are shaping retirement planning today. Register here for the event, which starts at 11 a.m. ET.

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Nike, Inc. (NKE) - Get Free Report is considering selling products directly through Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) - Get Free Report , a Goldman Sachs note said Wednesday citing channel checks.

Nike, along with a number of other retailers, has been beefing up its own direct to consumer channels in an effort to combat the slowdown that has gripped the retail sector. Currently, Nike does not sell directly on Amazon, but Nike products are widely available through third-party dealers.

Goldman Sachs rates Nike a "buy" and has a $62 price target on the company. Nike shares were unchanged at $52.04 on Wednesday morning.

What's Hot On TheStreet

Alibaba's Jack Ma woos Detroit: TheStreet has spent the past two days in Detroit covering Alibaba's (BABA) - Get Free Report big hiring event in Detroit. We have had the opportunity to talk with Alibaba and take in how the Chinese tech company plans to grow jobs in America. But the real showstoppers have been the presentations with Alibaba's executive chairman Jack Ma, who as always hasn't been short on bold proclamations.

Said Ma in a keynote address Tuesday evening, "If you don't sell products in China, you will miss the future." Ma and other Alibaba executives have also sought to downplay the comparison to Amazon (AMZN) - Get Free Report . After spending a few days in Alibaba land, you understand where they are coming from. But, you are also reminded of how dominant Amazon is in the United States in so many categories (one soon to be organic food via Whole Foods (WFM) ).

Tesla mania continues: Tesla's (TSLA) - Get Free Report market cap is $60 billion and growing. At this point, Wall Street's obsession with all things Tesla has gotten out of control. Thestreet's Annie Palmer drills down into news Tesla could be opening a car-making plant in China. The last thing President Trump needs is a fight with Elon Musk on this one, Palmer reports.

Uber's embattled founder resigns: Uber Technologies Inc. founder and CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned from the ride-sharing company, TheStreet reports. The move comes just days after he was asked to take a leave of absence in the wake of a report into allegations of discrimination and bullying at the world's startup.

"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," Kalanick said in a statement given to the New York Times, which originally reported his departure.

Here is what Uber co-founder Garret Camp had to say this week about Uber's culture.

Check out TheStreet's new series: TheStreet has officially launched a new video series called Alpha Rising, where we will showcase all of the amazing women in business. TheStreet's Tracy Byrnes sits down with some of the top women kicking butt in business such as Birchbox' CEO Katia Beauchamp, who revolutionized the beauty business.

Worried about how to pay for your golden years? Ken Fisher, founder of Fisher Investments, and TheStreet's Jim Cramer will tell you what you need to know in a June 21 webinar on the market trends that are shaping retirement planning today. Register here for the event, which starts at 11 a.m. ET.

Visit here for the latest business headlines.
Walmart Stores Inc. (WMT) - Get Free Report is giving some tech companies an ultimatum: If they want Walmart's business they will abstain from using rival Amazon.com, Inc.'s (AMZN) - Get Free Report cloud services platform, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Amazon Web Services is the market leader in cloud service rentals and has numerous clients, like Netflix Inc. (NFLX) - Get Free Report , which are actually direct competitors with Amazon's other business ventures.

Walmart is stepping up the pressure on Amazon as the battle between the two retailers heats up following Amazon's move to buy Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) .

What's Hot On TheStreet

Alibaba's Jack Ma woos Detroit: TheStreet has spent the past two days in Detroit covering Alibaba's (BABA) - Get Free Reportbig hiring event in Detroit. We have had the opportunity to talk with Alibaba and take in how the Chinese tech company plans to grow jobs in America. But the real showstoppers have been the presentations with Alibaba's executive chairman Jack Ma, who as always hasn't been short on bold proclamations.

Said Ma in a keynote address Tuesday evening, "If you don't sell products in China, you will miss the future." Ma and other Alibaba executives have also sought to downplay the comparison to Amazon (AMZN) - Get Free Report. After spending a few days in Alibaba land, you understand where they are coming from. But, you are also reminded of how dominant Amazon is in the United States in so many categories (one soon to be organic food via Whole Foods (WFM) ).

Tesla mania continues: Tesla's (TSLA) - Get Free Reportmarket cap is $60 billion and growing. At this point, Wall Street's obsession with all things Tesla has gotten out of control. Thestreet's Annie Palmer drills down into news Tesla could be opening a car-making plant in China. The last thing President Trump needs is a fight with Elon Musk on this one, Palmer reports.

Uber's embattled founder resigns: Uber Technologies Inc. founder and CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned from the ride-sharing company, TheStreet reports. The move comes just days after he was asked to take a leave of absence in the wake of a report into allegations of discrimination and bullying at the world's startup.

"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," Kalanick said in a statement given to the New York Times, which originally reported his departure.

Here is what Uber co-founder Garret Camp had to say this week about Uber's culture.

Check out TheStreet's new series: TheStreet has officially launched a new video series called Alpha Rising, where we will showcase all of the amazing women in business. TheStreet's Tracy Byrnes sits down with some of the top women kicking butt in business such as Birchbox' CEO Katia Beauchamp, who revolutionized the beauty business.

Visit here for the latest business headlines.

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7 held for anti-election activities

Police have arrested seven cadres of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) on charge of carrying out anti-election activities from different parts of Bhojpur and Panchthar districts in the last two weeks.
Former Barclays PLC (BCS) - Get Free Report CEO John Varley has resigned from BlackRock's Inc. (BLK) - Get Free Report board, where he's been an independent director since 2009, after being charged with conspiracy to commit fraud in connection to Barclays' fundraising efforts in Qatar in 2008 during the financial crisis.

Varley joined BlackRock in 2009 following the firm's acquisition of Barclays Global Investors.

"John has served the BlackRock board with distinction for many years, providing exceptional guidance and counsel. BlackRock and its management team have benefited greatly from his contributions, and I feel privileged to count him as a friend," said Barclays CEO Laurence D. Fink in a statement.

What's Hot On TheStreet

Alibaba's Jack Ma woos Detroit: TheStreet has spent the past two days in Detroit covering Alibaba's (BABA) - Get Free Reportbig hiring event in Detroit. We have had the opportunity to talk with Alibaba and take in how the Chinese tech company plans to grow jobs in America. But the real showstoppers have been the presentations with Alibaba's executive chairman Jack Ma, who as always hasn't been short on bold proclamations.

Said Ma in a keynote address Tuesday evening, "If you don't sell products in China, you will miss the future." Ma and other Alibaba executives have also sought to downplay the comparison to Amazon (AMZN) - Get Free Report. After spending a few days in Alibaba land, you understand where they are coming from. But, you are also reminded of how dominant Amazon is in the United States in so many categories (one soon to be organic food via Whole Foods (WFM) ).

Tesla mania continues: Tesla's (TSLA) - Get Free Reportmarket cap is $60 billion and growing. At this point, Wall Street's obsession with all things Tesla has gotten out of control. Thestreet's Annie Palmer drills down into news Tesla could be opening a car-making plant in China. The last thing President Trump needs is a fight with Elon Musk on this one, Palmer reports.

Uber's embattled founder resigns: Uber Technologies Inc. founder and CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned from the ride-sharing company, TheStreet reports. The move comes just days after he was asked to take a leave of absence in the wake of a report into allegations of discrimination and bullying at the world's startup.

"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," Kalanick said in a statement given to the New York Times, which originally reported his departure.

Here is what Uber co-founder Garret Camp had to say this week about Uber's culture.

Check out TheStreet's new series: TheStreet has officially launched a new video series called Alpha Rising, where we will showcase all of the amazing women in business. TheStreet's Tracy Byrnes sits down with some of the top women kicking butt in business such as Birchbox' CEO Katia Beauchamp, who revolutionized the beauty business.

Worried about how to pay for your golden years? Ken Fisher, founder of Fisher Investments, and TheStreet's Jim Cramer will tell you what you need to know in a June 21 webinar on the market trends that are shaping retirement planning today. Register here for the event, which starts at 11 a.m. ET.

Visit here for the latest business headlines.
Sears Canada (SRSC) issued a warning to investors that it has "significant doubt" it can carry on and is exploring strategic alternatives such as a sale of the business.

The ailing retailer said its current cash and expected cash flows from operations likely won't be enough to cover its obligations for the next 12 months. Sears Canada planned to borrow $175 million against its real estate, but its lender reduced that amount to $109 million.

The company kept afloat the last five years by selling off its best real estate in in Vancouver and Toronto, but the cash from those sales has run out. The company needs more cash to adapt to a changing retail environment.

Sears Canada stock is down 65% since the start of the year. It recorded a revenue loss of $144.4 million in the first quarter of this year, a 127% increase from the loss it reported the same time last year.

In the U.S., Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) also continues to struggle mightily.

What's Hot On TheStreet

Alibaba's Jack Ma woos Detroit: TheStreet has spent the past two days in Detroit covering Alibaba's (BABA) - Get Free Report big hiring event in Detroit. We have had the opportunity to talk with Alibaba and take in how the Chinese tech company plans to grow jobs in America. But the real showstoppers have been the presentations with Alibaba's executive chairman Jack Ma, who as always hasn't been short on bold proclamations.

Said Ma in a keynote address Tuesday evening, "If you don't sell products in China, you will miss the future." Ma and other Alibaba executives have also sought to downplay the comparison to Amazon (AMZN) - Get Free Report . After spending a few days in Alibaba land, you understand where they are coming from. But, you are also reminded of how dominant Amazon is in the United States in so many categories (one soon to be organic food via Whole Foods (WFM) ).

Tesla mania continues: Tesla's (TSLA) - Get Free Report market cap is $60 billion and growing. At this point, Wall Street's obsession with all things Tesla has gotten out of control. Thestreet's Annie Palmer drills down into news Tesla could be opening a car-making plant in China. The last thing President Trump needs is a fight with Elon Musk on this one, Palmer reports.

Uber's embattled founder resigns: Uber Technologies Inc. founder and CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned from the ride-sharing company, TheStreet reports. The move comes just days after he was asked to take a leave of absence in the wake of a report into allegations of discrimination and bullying at the world's startup.

"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," Kalanick said in a statement given to the New York Times, which originally reported his departure.

Here is what Uber co-founder Garret Camp had to say this week about Uber's culture.

Check out TheStreet's new series: TheStreet has officially launched a new video series called Alpha Rising, where we will showcase all of the amazing women in business. TheStreet's Tracy Byrnes sits down with some of the top women kicking butt in business such as Birchbox' CEO Katia Beauchamp, who revolutionized the beauty business.

Worried about how to pay for your golden years? Ken Fisher, founder of Fisher Investments, and TheStreet's Jim Cramer will tell you what you need to know in a June 21 webinar on the market trends that are shaping retirement planning today. Register here for the event, which starts at 11 a.m. ET.

Visit here for the latest business headlines.
Alibaba (BABA) - Get Free Report executive chairman Jack Ma said U.S. small businesses need to start selling globally to China and other countries through online marketplaces or risk going out of business.

"I'm not scaring you guys, [but] you have to think outside the box," Ma said to an audience of 3,000 U.S. small businesses, entrepreneurs and farmers at the company's Gateway '17 conference in Detroit. The conference is aimed at teaching attendees how to start selling goods on Alibaba's platforms.

Ma said that he's excited at the state of China-U.S. relations. "I'm so happy about [China] President Xi Jinping and [U.S. president] Donald Trump and the wonderful dialogue they had," he said in reference to the two leaders' meeting at Mar-a-Lago in April.

Trump has been pushing for more U.S. manufacturing activity and Ma seems to agree, saying the rest of the world needs more "Made in America" products. "America has beautiful products and we Chinese consumers are crazy about that," Ma said. "We need that."

China is an enormous opportunity for small businesses simply because of its population of about 1.4 billion vs. the U.S.'s 320 million, Ma said. On June 18, Alibaba sold two million lipsticks in less than 10 minutes. "Everything goes so quick and fast," he said.

He then gave two past examples of how Alibaba has helped Canada and the U.S. sell an incredible volume of goods to Chineses consumers in a short period of time. In the first example, Canada asked Alibaba to help it sell lobsters. In one day, Alibaba ended up selling 90,000 live lobsters and shipped them from Canada to China within 72 hours.

In the second example, the U.S. asked Alibaba to help it sell cherries. Within 72 hours, the cherries had been picked off the trees in the U.S., shipped to China and were in the hands of 80,000 different families, Ma said. Afterward, Alibaba received complaints from people who were wondering why they couldn't buy more high-quality cherries for such a low price.

Alibaba's goal is to be able to ship any item to any person in the world within 72 hours, including a coconut shipped from Thailand to the U.S, Ma said.

China needs U.S. small business' products because it's shifting from an export-focused economy to an import-focused one as its growing middle-class demands higher-quality goods and as the country works to solve its pollution problem, Ma said. "If we don't start buying things, we're going to be in big trouble," Ma said in reference to China's air and water pollution issue. Factories in China are a major cause of air, water and soil pollution in China, with almost 14,000 companies failing to meet air pollution control standards from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the New York Times reported.

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Mylan N.V. (MYL) - Get Free Report has made some unlikely allies in the coal industry in order to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits and boost earnings, Reuters reported.

The pharmaceutical company has snatched up majority stakes in five coal refineries since 2011. Mylan then sells the coal, which has been refined to reduce smog-causing chemicals, to power plants at a loss.

The loss and the plant depreciation are both tax deductible. This generates credits that allow the company to lower its tax bill per a 2004 Congressional bill incentivizing cleaner coal production.

In 2016, the tax credit for one ton of coal processed was $6.81. Mylan used more than $100 million in "clean energy and research" tax credits in 2015 and in 2016.

The tax credits also boost earnings, which were up $40 million to $50 million the last two years as a direct result of the coal operations.

Mylan stock was up over 1.5% in early afternoon trading.

What's Hot On TheStreet

Alibaba's Jack Ma woos Detroit: TheStreet has spent the past two days in Detroit covering Alibaba's (BABA) - Get Free Report big hiring event in Detroit. We have had the opportunity to talk with Alibaba and take in how the Chinese tech company plans to grow jobs in America. But the real showstoppers have been the presentations with Alibaba's executive chairman Jack Ma, who as always hasn't been short on bold proclamations.

Said Ma in a keynote address Tuesday evening, "If you don't sell products in China, you will miss the future." Ma and other Alibaba executives have also sought to downplay the comparison to Amazon (AMZN) - Get Free Report . After spending a few days in Alibaba land, you understand where they are coming from. But, you are also reminded of how dominant Amazon is in the United States in so many categories (one soon to be organic food via Whole Foods (WFM) ).

Tesla mania continues: Tesla's (TSLA) - Get Free Report market cap is $60 billion and growing. At this point, Wall Street's obsession with all things Tesla has gotten out of control. Thestreet's Annie Palmer drills down into news Tesla could be opening a car-making plant in China. The last thing President Trump needs is a fight with Elon Musk on this one, Palmer reports.

Uber's embattled founder resigns: Uber Technologies Inc. founder and CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned from the ride-sharing company, TheStreet reports. The move comes just days after he was asked to take a leave of absence in the wake of a report into allegations of discrimination and bullying at the world's startup.

"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," Kalanick said in a statement given to the New York Times, which originally reported his departure.

Here is what Uber co-founder Garret Camp had to say this week about Uber's culture.

Check out TheStreet's new series: TheStreet has officially launched a new video series called Alpha Rising, where we will showcase all of the amazing women in business. TheStreet's Tracy Byrnes sits down with some of the top women kicking butt in business such as Birchbox' CEO Katia Beauchamp, who revolutionized the beauty business.

Worried about how to pay for your golden years? Ken Fisher, founder of Fisher Investments, and TheStreet's Jim Cramer will tell you what you need to know in a June 21 webinar on the market trends that are shaping retirement planning today. Register here for the event, which starts at 11 a.m. ET.

Visit here for the latest business headlines.
Bomb explodes inside UML candidate's residence, one seriously hurt

A bomb went off at the residence of CPN-UML candidate for the post of ward chairperson of Dorpachiuridanda in Rupakot Majuwagadhi Municipality, Khotang inflicting serious injuries to one member of the family on Tuesday.
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China seeks proposals on projects under BRI

China has called on Nepal to suggest some specific projects that could be taken forward under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and sought to know other areas of cooperation.
Demand for pork meat surges 30pc in Pokhara

Demand for pork meat has gone up by over 30 percent in the Western Nepali city of Pokhara, as cultural barriers related to consumption of swine are rapidly being dismantled.
Batelco, a leading digital communication solutions provider in Bahrain, has announced that two of its engineers have achieved Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) Carrier Ethernet Professional Certification.



The success of its certified engineers means that Batelco is the first and only provider in Bahrain that has engineers with such credentials, a statement said.



The MEF, founded in 2005 is a non-profit international industry consortium, dedicated to the adoption of Carrier Ethernet networks and services. The Forum is composed of service providers, incumbent local exchange carriers, network equipment vendors, and other networking companies that share an interest in Metro Ethernet.



Batelco Bahrain CEO Muna Al Hashemi said that she was very proud of the efforts of the two engineers Waleed Al Shomili and Homam Khawajki and congratulated them on their excellent achievement.



There are a significant number of highly skilled technical professionals amongst Batelcos employees which ensures an enhanced service for customers. We always encourage ongoing learning for employees not only in courses that enhance their skills for their work roles but also in other areas that interests them, thanks to our huge selection of eLearning courses, she added.



Batelco chief technology and information officer Bashier Sallie said that having engineers with such credentials will strengthen Batelcos market presence by creating proper recognition and differentiation through offering advanced CE 2.0 services and products.



Such provisioning will provide Batelco and its national and international customers with the capability to offer the best of class of Ethernet services during all the stages of MEF services deployment and support. Ultimately, this translates into considerable benefits for our customers allowing us to serve them better, Sallie added.



Being a major ICT provider, Batelco strives to attain the highest level of certification from global industry providers to further enhance customers confidence in the companys products and services, and thus enhance their experience with Batelco, Sallie concluded.  TradeArabia News Service
The United Nations Information Center for the Gulf Countries (UNIC Manama) in collaboration with a group of volunteers (Helm Insan) and several centers and associations specialized in charity, health and social work in Bahrain will commemorate the International Day of Yoga today (June 21) at the Saar Mall.



Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga uses breathing techniques, exercise and meditation to help offer a healthy and balanced life.



The event, being held under the auspices of Faeqa bint Saeed Al-Saleh, Minister of Health, will kick off at 9pm in the presence of officials from various ministries and organizations across the kingdom.



"The theme for the 2017 celebration is 'Yoga for Health' which highlights the fact that yoga can contribute in a holistic way to achieving balance between mind and body," remarked Samir Aldarabi, the director of UNIC Manama.



"Bahraini Yoga Therapy specialist Prof Fatima Al Mansoori has contributed immensely for the event which will see the largest gathering of community groups/civil societies in Bahrain," he stated.



The program is intended to engage a large number of groups and civil societies including the Bahrain Mobility International, MS society, Islamic association, Abdulrahma Kanoo Social Parents Club and many others.



Aldarabi said Yoga can make a direct and useful contribution to sustainable development and help everyone move towards a lifestyle that is in harmony with nature.



Aldarabi added that the celebration will bring together a large audience from different segments of society and thereby send a message that any sustainable development activity or action should leave no one behind.



It is my mission to spread the benefits of Yoga and share knowledge with the community. Since the UN declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga in 2014, my focus has been on organizing press conferences and engaging with high ranked dignitaries and officials during the celebrations in order to create maximum awareness," stated Prof Al Mansoori, Yoga Therapist at the BDF Hospital Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation Center.



"Over the past years, we have succeeded in creating a movement and gaining recognition and support. This year, the event will be geared towards engaging with the community, of all ages and all conditions as Yoga is for everyone she added.



The event will feature a seminar, a Yoga session and a Meditation session. In addition, there will be an expo that will include Health & wellness services, organic and herbal products, and free wellness consultations. Aster medical center will also be offering free health check and blood tests.-TradeArabia News Service


Lamjung triplets set example in SEE results

Sailesh, Shristi and Sushma Bastola have become the talk of the town in Sotipasal of Lamjung since the results of the Secondary Education Exam (SEE) were out on Friday.
- Kenyans in Nairobi are known for gathering in certain spots in the city centre in what is famously known as Bunge la Mwananchi

- However, police has banned these gathering on grounds that they are a threat to security

- In the past week, police have been captured dispersing or arresting those who defy the ban

- The ban has angered leaders of the gatherings who have denied any wrong doing

- The ban comes amid heightened political temperatures days to the August 8 polls

For the longest time, Kenyans have been gathering in some spots in the capital Nairobi in what came to be known us Bunge la Mwananchi (public court) to dicuss national matters.

Some of the most discussed topics in these public gathering include politics, governance and corruption where common citizens express their views on such topics.

Over time, Bunge la Mwananchi has gained prominence, with those who spare their time getting influenced in one way or the other.

Plain cloth police arresting those defying the order

READ ALSO: KSh 221M Sportpesa winner goes to a government office and stuns everyone

The most common spots where these gatherings occur are opposite City Hall and outside the National Archives in the city centre.

However, this is bound to change, perhaps forever, as authorities have now banned the gatherings.

Nairobi residents watch as police make arrests

READ ALSO: Ruto defends Raila over his controversial remarks in Kajiado

According to the police, the gatherings are a threat to security of businesses and residents as they are held outside buildings that host the said businesses.

We are doing away with these groupings in the name of Bunge la Wananchi which are held in front of businesses in the CBD. They are a threat because people have raised concern over their security especially in Wabera Street, where the crowd has become huge," Central OCPD Robinson Thuku said as quoted by Nation.

Opposite City Hall where the gatherings occur

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In the past week, police have been seen dispersing and/or arresting those defying the order.

However, those used to the gathering have faulted the ban saying they are not a threat as claimed by the police.

The ban comes amid heightened political temperatures in the country as Kenyans brace for the August 8 polls.

PLO Lumumba speaks about the Raila conspiracy

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- Nyeri pastor Silvester Karanja with skin disease narrates his life story in a recent interview after he was rejected by his parents

- Karanja had decided to take his life but never went through with it, giving his life to God afterwards

- The Nyeri pastor went to India for 2 months to get his pimples minimised, which made his appearance better than before

A Nyeri pastor has been on the limelight not only for his evangelistic skills but his unappealing face.

Silvester Karanja suffers from a mysterious skin disease and narrated his challenges recently in a vernacular Kenyan TV station.

The father of three grew up with his grandparents after facing rejection from his stepfather, mother and siblings.

READ ALSO: Chaotic scenes in Murang'a as Jubilee nominees chase away independent candidates from Uhuru's meeting

Nyeri pastor with mysterious skin before surgery

READ ALSO: Suicidal 19-Year-Old boy torches house after plans to marry second wife was rejected by his family

The hatred was so much such that my siblings had been taught how to hate me. Before I cleared primary school, I made a decision to take his life but I never went through with it, Karanja narrates.

The pastor had to drop out of school in form two after his parents refused to pay school fees.

Karanjas hope for life was renewed when he met the love of his life after giving his life to Christ.

Many people thought I could not get a wife due to my face, even now I talk t people and see the fright on their faces. Despite all this, God is always deserving for all he has done for me, he said.

READ ALSO: K24 TV screen siren's daughter rushed to hospital after consuming a cake from Uchumi supermarket

Karanja after the surgery

READ ALSO: Raila left 'stranded' as Catholic bishops change tune a day after supporting him

In 2013, the pastor traveled to India for two months to have extra large pimples on his face minimized.

Although he cannot be cured, he has learnt to accept the situation and continue Gods work.

Pastor Karanja has traveled to spread the gospel in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania as well as give hope to those suffering from suicidal thoughts and tendancies.

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President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, in the scope of his official visit to the United States, discussed with the U.S. leadership opportunities to enhance the cooperation in the energy sector, particularly possible coal supplies from the state of Pennsylvania to Ukraine.

President Poroshenko stated this on Tuesday following a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

We continued [to discuss] with Vice President Pence and President Trump our cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, cooperation in the oil and gas sector, the purchase of American coal from Pennsylvania, our cooperation on renewable energy sources and the support of Unites States for reforms in all sectors, including the energy one, President Poroshenko noted.

He also added that before the meeting in the White House, he discussed these issues with U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.

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Naftogaz of Ukraine NJSC and U.S. public officials are holding talks on the launch of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to Ukraine, Apostrophe publication reports, referring to a commentary by Naftogaz of Ukraine CEO Andriy Kobolyev for The Wall Street Journal.

Currently, the most promising fuel delivery route runs through the Bosphorus, but it is hindered by Turkey which does not permit the movement of LNG carriers via this corridor, according to Kobolyev.

However, Kobolyev expressed hope that the diplomatic efforts of the United States would help to resolve this issue.

A reminder that the first LNG carrier arrived in Poland from the United States in early June 2017.

mk
Transportation along landslide hit HetaudaKathmandu route resumes

The transportation along HetaudaKathmandu route that was obstructed following an obstruction created by a landslide at Baghjor stretch of Tribhuvan highway on earley Wednesday, has resumed.
The Peoples Republic of China has expanded the list of Ukrainian enterprises licensed to export dairy products to the Chinese market, the press service of the Ukrainian State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection reports.

Until now, 18 companies have been licensed to export dairy products to the Chinese market. But our Chinese colleagues added another nine companies to the list, having expanded it to 27 Ukrainian companies, Ukrainian State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection Chairman Volodymyr Lapa said.

According to him, they are constantly working to expand the list of companies licensed to export their products to China.

mk
White House Spokesman Sean Spicer, at a regular press briefing on Tuesday, June 20, stated that the U.S. Administration sees Moscow as the aggressor in the conflict in eastern Ukraine and expects that it will withdraw its troops from these territories.

I think weve been clear that, yeah, he said when asked would U.S. President Donald Trump like to see Russia get out of eastern Ukraine and does he see Moscow as the aggressor in this conflict.

He stressed that obviously thats part of the reason that there are sanctions, is because until they are out of Eastern Ukraine, were going to continue to have sanctions on Russia. And we believe that that is Ukraines -- a part of Ukraine and so, therefore, until -- those sanctions will remain.

The White House spokesman also recalled that this issue was discussed during the meeting between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. President Donald trump earlier on Tuesday.

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The draft pension reform provides for the introduction of government social assistance to Ukrainian citizens who attained the age of retirement but do not have the required labor experience, Ukrainian Social Policy Minister Andrii Reva has stated at a briefing, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to him, such a new type of government targeted social assistance will be called a provisional government social aid to a non-employed person who attained the general retirement age but is not eligible for pension payments.

A targeted government social aid will be assigned to people who have not less than 15 years of pension insurance record but do not have 25 years of labor experience based on their income in the amount of a living wage within three years, and it will be paid to them until they become eligible for pension payments, Reva said.

mk
Light earthquake kills Indian man in Dhading

A man working at a brick kiln in Dhunibesi Municipality-5 in Dhading district died after a pile of bricks fell on him following a light tremor on Wednesday.
Nepalis waiting endlessly to exchange Indian notes

It has been more than seven months since the Indian government pulled 500- and 1,000-rupee banknotes out of circulation, but it has not provided exchange facilities to Nepali citizens holding the demonetized bills.
The chairman of Cambodias League of Democracy Party is being investigated by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for allegedly defaming the nation.

The lawsuit against Khem Veasna was filed by court prosecutor Souch Seung on June 12 referring to alleged defamatory comments made by Veasna on February 12.

Seung said Veasna had defamed the Khmer people, which includes me, as a cheap race and dogs.

With other comments, he harms my reputation as well as the nations reputation, he added.

Seung said the aim of the lawsuit was to demand a public apology from Veasna.

Veasna is known for his fiery speeches, which have targeted both the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party and opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.

In videos posted to Facebook, Veasna allegedly said that he might not accept Khmer nationality.

Chin Thon, secretary of the LDP, said the case was politically motivated and declined to comment as to whether Veasna would attend a future court hearing.

We will observe the case and investigate the origin of the plaintiff before we decide to appear in court, he said. The lawsuit is proceeding without any particular evidence.

Yorng Kim Eng, executive director of the People Center for Development and Peace, said that politicians should avoid using inappropriate language that could be defamatory.

Racial discrimination is an important issue, since it targets every individual in the nation. If you are Khmer, you are defamed... it is a serious issue that demands the authoritys attention.
When refugees arrive in the U.S., they get one time cash assistance to pay for rent, food and other living expenses. Quickly finding a job before the money runs out can be a daunting task for a refugee in a new country. One Afghan refugee made his way through odd jobs to eventually run a food truck. VOAs June Soh caught up with him in downtown Washington.
Anyone who approaches the Taste of Persia food truck during lunch hour in downtown Washington D.C. will likely be greeted by Afghan refugee Mohammad Mashooq Dowlati. Dowlati is the face of Taste of Persia because, as a former interpreter for the U.S. army in Afghanistan, he speaks good English.

The fields of the Afghan war are a long, long way from the streets of D.C.  and Dowlati has found the way to be fraught with difficulties and challenges he never imagined. Even the decision to go was wrenching.

Im going to be away from the entire family maybe for many years or maybe forever, and that decision was really, really important, he says It was so hard, emotionally hard.

But staying would have been hard too. Both his and his familys lives were in danger.

A lot of interpreters got killed. They were kidnapped and then killed. In the worst situation, they were beheaded," Dowlati relates.

The family he left behind is still in danger because of his work with international forces. Dowlati says they have no protection.

Honestly, they just have to rely on God, and they have to be careful  they cannot move to the remote areas  because if they go there, they will be kidnapped by bad guys, insurgents and get killed. They stay most of the time in the city centers.

Unmet expectations

Dowlati, his wife and two children at the time (he now has three) came to the U.S. four years ago on special immigrant visas (SIVs). Some 15,000 Afghans are currently in some stage of applying for these visas that were created by Congress in 2008 for Afghan military translators and later expanded to cover other Afghans who served the U.S. government.

The SIV program was halted in March when the number of available visas ran out and has just recently been re-started after Congress authorized an additional 2500 SIVs.

Dowlati is grateful for the visas, but says he did not realize how difficult life in the U.S. was going to be. Away from her family, his wife faced challenges adjusting to the west and suffered from depression. And he had a rude awakening: job hunting.

I was very anxious to start my education right at the beginning of my presence in America, he says, but then I found out that its probably too early for that. I have to find a job to make enough money to afford the family.

Dowlati and other Afghan interpreters he has met in the U.S. were proud of the work they did to serve their country. We were the connecter between the international forces and the local Afghanistan government forces and people, he says. So we had a very sensitive, important job.

When they came to the U.S., they had expectations that with their English skills and their service to the U.S. government, they should get slightly better treatment than other refugees in the form of work.

I am not saying we should become a manager of a very important organization, but at least, we should have a simple or basic office job. Unfortunately, the United States or relevant organization have not helped us in this regard at all.

Dowlati says he speaks on behalf of thousands of Afghan interpreters, many of whom he knows. They were, we were expecting to be treated a little better.

Getting to okay

Minus any assistance, Dowlati had no idea what to do to find or apply for a job. With another Afghan refugee, he walked from business to business to talk to owners face to face. He did that for six months.

Dowlati finally found work in a chicken restaurant, cleaning and prepping food. It was hard on him. I was not how to explain I was not accustomed to that kind of job.

Used to office work, Dowlati had hoped to find a job in an office using his English and computer skills. But because youre new here, nobody knows you. Its really hard to find that kind of work, he says.

Worse, the restaurant job did not pay enough to support the family. Dowlati would need a second job. Luckily, he bumped into the Iranian owner of Taste of Persia, another refugee. That was three years ago.

I was speaking in the same language with him, Dowlati says. Were still working together. And they are making plans for the future: to become partners and share the truck or perhaps open another one.

Dowlati still hopes to continue his education and find an office job but along with, not apart from, his work with the food truck. In the meantime, his wife is feeling better about life in the U.S.

To be honest, we were thinking differently before we came here, Dowlati says. "We had different perspection (sic), different understanding: If we go there, everything is going to go the way we want.

It didnt turn out that way. But overall it is OK, he concedes. We are satisfied with it.
The appointment of Saudi King Salman's son, Mohammed bin Salman, to be the new crown prince, replacing his cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, had long been rumored, but may have been precipitated by acute regional tensions, including the war in Yemen, the intensifying regional struggle with Iran, and the recent crisis with Qatar.

As the torch-bearer for a new generation, the new crown prince is reputed to have a more modern, less traditional outlook on governing the kingdom.

Saudi media showed newly appointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman receiving a pledge of loyalty from his predecessor Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, his older cousin, early Wednesday morning.

The fealty ceremony, which is symbolic in a traditionally tribal society, took place at the Safa Palace in Mecca.

Powerful insider



The new crown prince already wielded enormous power as the country's defense minister and as his father's right-hand man. Mohammed bin Salman is also heavily involved in economic policy and launched an ambitious plan earlier this year to transform the kingdom's economy, called "Horizon 2030." He was also thought to be instrumental in the partial privatization of the country's flagship national oil company, Aramco.

Perhaps Mohammed bin Salman's most significant enterprise, however, has been the kingdom's war effort in Yemen. Riyadh has been attempting to dislodge the Iranian-backed Houthi militia from the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, and to restore the internationally recognized president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. That effort has proven to be extremely costly and drawn some degree of cross-border retaliation.

No foreign policy change expected



Riad Kahwaji, who heads the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), tells VOA that observers in the Gulf are expecting Mohammed bin Salman to continue most of the same Saudi foreign policy goals that he has been responsible for pursuing.

"The recent changes internally and with respect to Saudi foreign policy have largely had Mohammed bin Salman's influence in it, and therefore I don't expect to see any real changes with respect to Saudi foreign policy," he said.

He argues that analysts in the Gulf believe Saudi Arabia will "continue to take a hard line stance on Iran's [aggressive posture] in the region, especially in meddling in Arab affairs ... in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere."

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, calls the naming of Mohammed bin Salman to be Crown Prince a "palace coup," stressing that it marks not just the continuation of the status quo, but "an escalation in Saudi regional policies.

Khashan argues that the ouster of "Mohammed bin Nayef had long been expected," but that it might have been precipitated by regional developments.

"We were expecting the ouster of Mohammed bin Nayef since last April, after the sweeping changes in the Saudi administration, [but] the fact that the transition happened officially [now] means that Saudi Arabia is facing a very tough regional situation and the crisis with Qatar is very demanding and very difficult and is not easy to win," said Khashan.

Succession concerns



Khashan also points out that King Salman, who has been on the throne since his half-brother, King Abdallah, died in early 2015, is 82 years old and not in extremely good health. "I would imagine," he says, "that [King Salman's] health will not get any better and it is just a matter of time before transition [to the new generation] takes place."

The founder of the Saudi dynasty, King Abdel Aziz al-Saud, said before he died that his successors should come from his immediate descendants, or sons. King Salman, who is one of King Abdel Aziz al-Saud's last surviving sons, has now made the move, with the approval of an "Allegiance Council" set up in 2006, to pass on the reins of power to a new generation made up of King Abdel Aziz' grandsons.

Well known Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek tells VOA that King Salman may have been worried about "dying suddenly" and leaving behind a "power struggle." He suspects that the king may also have been concerned about ousted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef's relations with Qatar.

"I think the king wanted to rush this [new] arrangement for many reasons. I think one of them is that the deposed crown prince Nayef was close to Qatar and he was not really happy about the siege of Qatar [by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies], and maybe Qatar also favored him over [his own son] Mohammed bin Salman," said Sadek.

He said it was important that the transition to the new crown prince happen quickly, while King Salman is still in power. "If you wait," he adds,"and something changes, it will not be easy to guarantee the regional and local arrangements and that [could create] a power struggle."
A blood network in the Pacific Northwest has developed a kit for transfusions in remote places that it says "takes the banking out of blood banking."

A blood transfusion can often be the difference between life and death. Hospitals have stored blood on hand for people gravely injured in car accidents, and new mothers suffering from potentially fatal postpartum hemorrhaging. In areas far from hospitals and blood banks  like battlefields - combat medics have trained to do a procedure sometimes called a buddy transfusion. They rapidly collect and transfuse blood on scene after making a match between donor and patient.

Now the technique is bleeding over into the civilian world where it could save tens of thousands of lives every year.

Linda Barnes, chief operating officer at Bloodworks Northwest in Seattle, says the military was the model for what is, essentially, a walking blood bank. "Blood banking of stored blood certainly is not going away anytime soon. But in low resource settings, having banked blood available -- and the logistics and the refrigeration required -- simply isn't feasible in the near term."

Barnes has done a lot of international consulting about strengthening blood systems in places such as Ivory Coast, Kenya, Ukraine and the Caribbean islands. One thing from those trips that nagged her was how many patients in the developing world die each year for lack of blood, especially women giving birth. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 100,000 new mothers perish from profuse bleeding after childbirth each year.

Barnes and a colleague challenged themselves to build a simple, self-contained blood transfusion kit in a shoebox. The off-the-shelf components they assembled didn't quite fit into a shoebox, so the Bloodpak expanded to backpack size.

It contains everything caregivers at remote rural clinics need to collect and transfuse blood: from alcohol wipes and bandages to blood typing and disease testing test kits to sterile catheters and needles. There are enough supplies to collect blood from six donors.

No refrigeration is needed for any of this because the blood goes from the donor to the recipient in minutes. The Bloodpak comes with step-by-step guidance on an app that clinic workers can install on their smartphones. That app could also be used to send a mass text to registered villagers to come to their clinic to give blood in an emergency -- in theory.

Putting it into practice

Recently, Bloodworks Northwest demonstrated its prototype to a Seattle company called Remote Medical International. The fast-growing company supplies medical personnel and support for isolated work places. Clinical Operations Director Loreen Lock foresees a variety of applications for the BloodPak, in oil and gas exploration for example, or mining, construction and by military contractors.

One thing she brought up was informed consent and the advance legwork that might be needed to deploy this in a civilian setting. "Part of the discussion evolved into how to do that in the developing world where there are social concerns, religious concerns. What does the local medicine man, if you will, think of the whole concept? Are they willing to sign off on it or not?"

Although it is not their primary market, Lock says there is undoubtedly great need in sub-Saharan Africa for a portable blood transfusion kit to address postpartum hemorrhaging.



Bloodworks Northwest just learned it is in line for a roughly $500,000 grant from the British foreign aid department. That will launch the next phase of product development: feasibility and acceptability testing at four rural clinics in western Kenya, beginning early next year.

Barnes estimated the Bloodpak would cost around $300 once in mass production. The company has identified clinics and partners for further field testing in Nepal and Uganda. After the validation phase, she said Bloodworks Northwest would likely partner with a medical supply chain company to commercialize the portable transfusion kit.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II formally opens parliament Wednesday with a speech outlining the legislative goals of Prime Minister Theresa May's government.

The package includes a number of items related to Britain's exit from the European Union, a process set off by a referendum last year and the terms of which are currently under negotiation with the EU. Members of parliament will vote next week on whether to approve the items laid out in the speech.



WATCH: Queen's message to lawmakers

May's party lost its majority in parliament during a snap election she called for earlier this month hoping to strengthen the government's position for the Brexit talks. The result has left her seeking partners for a minority government.

"The election result was not the one I hoped for, but this government will respond with humility and resolve to the message the governate sent," May said in a statement ahead of the queen's speech.

The Brexit process is due to be completed by the end of March 2019, and due to the complex talks about what to do with issues such as trade agreements and freedom of movement Britain's session of parliament is due to last for two years.
Bodies lay in the streets and at least 35 people were wounded on Tuesday in fighting in Central African Republic a day after a peace deal was signed to end years of bloodshed, aid workers and witnesses said.

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 country's 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 cease-fire.

But clashes between former Seleka members and anti-balaka fighters erupted early in the morning in the town of Bria, around 580 kilometers (360 miles) northeast of the capital Bangui.

"There are bodies strewn across the streets. There are also fires and looting of houses taking place," said one aid worker present in the town, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

An official death toll was not immediately available, but the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it was treating those wounded in the clashes.

"Intense shooting started at 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) today. At 9:30 a.m. we already received 35 wounded at the hospital, mostly (with) gunshot wounds," said Mumuza Muhindo Musubaho, MSF's project coordinator in Bria.

Flashpoint

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."
President Donald Trump claimed hard-fought congressional victories Wednesday, intensifying an already difficult day of questions for Capitol Hill Democrats.



Republicans won two seats in the U.S. House late Tuesday, defeating Democrats in South Carolina and also in the most expensive U.S. House race in history, Georgias 6th Congressional District. The contests to fill those open seats increased Republican margins in Congress, while disappointing Democrats who saw the special elections as an early test for the Trump presidency.



Republican Karen Handel, a former state official, beat Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff by 3.8 points in the wealthy, educated suburbs of Georgia's 6th district. House Speaker Paul Ryan congratulated her on a hard-earned and well-deserved victory, saying in a statement released Tuesday, Democrats from coast to coast threw everything they had at this race and Karen would not be defeated.



Democrats poured millions of dollars into the race, hoping to capitalize on Trumps low approval ratings nationwide and his weak showing among district voters in the 2016 presidential election.



"Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and O!, Trump tweeted early Wednesday. All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0."



Since Trump became president, however, his party actually has won four special elections to fill seats vacated by Republicans leaving to serve in his administration or in other posts. A Democrat won the fifth election.



Trump followed up with advice for Hill Democrats, tweeting they "would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on health care, tax cuts, security. Obstruction doesn't work!"



Democrats way forward

The president was on the mind of Democrats gathering for their weekly conference meeting Wednesday morning  but frustrated members made it clear they would find their own way forward after the disappointing losses.



We are spending way too much time talking about Donald Trump and were being overwhelmed with our own anger toward him, Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio told reporters. Were losing the ability to connect with voters on what the hell they think about every single day.



Tim Ryan lost a challenge to longtime Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for leadership of House Democrats last fall. Ossoff faced a barrage of ads linking him with Pelosi, who often is criticized by Republicans for representing what they call extreme liberal points of view.



I think its very concerning that that tactic still has some punch," Tim Ryan said of the challenges Ossoff faced, Its part of the broader national brand that average people dont feel connected to the Democratic Party. Walk up the street and ask 10 people what the Democrats stand for, youll get 10 different answers. Thats no way to build a national party.



The losses left many Democrats looking for a new way forward to mount an opposition to President Trump. But for now they said a different approach would rest on the party message - not Pelosi.



I dont think when people vote, they vote based on leadership in Washington, said Rep. Eliot Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. They vote based on ideas that the candidate has, and we have to speak more to the everyday working class people who look to us for leadership.



Some Democrats saw Handels failure to maintain the 23-point lead won by the districts previous Republican winner - current Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price - as a positive sign for the future. Intense Democratic grassroots efforts on the ground in Georgia likely made up some of that ground. Many Democrats hope to harness that energy during the 2018 mid-terms, when the entire House will be up for re-election.



We have closed the gap dramatically, said Rep. Keith Ellison, who lost a bid to become the chair of the Democratic National Committee.



Ellison said the Georgia 6th was not as competitive as 64 other House seats that Democrats could win in 2018 to wrest control away from Republicans, adding, Theyre the ones who better be worried.
Playing with fire

After the 2015 earthquake, the safety of high-rise buildings has once again become a matter of public concern. But this time around, the concern emanates not from the possibility of an earthquake, but that of a fire.
Countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be a wellspring of opportunity for the United States because of growth in the region's digital economy and its young population, researchers say.

Those combined forces will "create a much more dynamic [economy] ... over the coming decades," said Satu Limaye, head of the Washington office of the East-West Center, which has conducted research on major trends in Southeast Asia. "You have a young population, very adept at technology, adaptive to innovation, so ... they are going to be moving up the supply chain in terms of their comfort with technology-based innovation."

ASEAN is the world's fastest-growing internet market, with nearly 4 million Southeast Asians coming online every month, according to data from ASEAN Matters for America/America Matters for ASEAN, which was released in May.

The report projected that by 2020, up to 480 million Southeast Asians would be online, compared with 260 million in 2016, driven largely by the adoption of smartphones. This young and tech-savvy population, with a growing middle-class base, is projected to help the digital economy grow by 500 percent to around $200 billion by 2025.

The report marking ASEAN's 50th anniversary was published in collaboration with the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) and the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, formerly known as the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Global players

Alexander Feldman, president and chief executive of USABC, said ASEAN's digital dynamism means Southeast Asia-based companies will become global players, and the United States should play a key role in ensuring that this digital growth will help narrow economic inequality.

"Technology is a great leveler and it is something that ASEAN has been focusing on," Feldman told VOA Khmer. "How do we ensure the prosperity is shared throughout the economy and that you have equal growth in ASEAN? I think the digital economy is a key, and American companies are the key to the digital economy."

Feldman, who attended the World Economic Forum on ASEAN, a three-day event in Phnom Penh that focused on youth and digital technology, said the host country, Cambodia, sees big potential in its nascent technology sector in addition to its traditional agriculture sector, where growth appears more promising because of technology.

In both sectors, Feldman sees room for U.S. companies working in logistics, a key component of e-commerce, which is just getting started in Cambodia and its neighbors.

ASEAN ambassadors who attended the launch of the report in Washington in May agreed that the digital economy presents new opportunities for boosting their economies, while strengthening their relationships with the U.S. They agreed that U.S. digital engagement in helping less-developed ASEAN countries like Cambodia will help kick-start their digital economies.

Accent on technology

Chum Bunrong, Cambodia's ambassador to the U.S., said his government has now made technology a priority for development. He said the U.S. has been particularly helpful in investment and tech-related education through exchange programs.

Singapore's ambassador to the U.S., Ashok Kumar Mirpuri, said many young Southeast Asians look to the U.S. as they hope to launch their startups in California's Silicon Valley. Singapore is home to the regional offices of Facebook and Google and has taken advantage of the U.S. tech sector. For example, two years ago, Singapore expanded its famed "Block71" tech ecosystem to Silicon Valley.

Increased connectivity among ASEAN economies and emerging country-based technologies like fintech (financial technology) will only increase the region's two-way digital trade with the U.S., according to Mirpuri.

The biggest challenges ASEAN nations now face are protecting data and digital transactions to increase consumer confidence in cybersecurity, said Feldman, who is working with U.S. companies to help build a common data security framework for ASEAN's diverse economies.

"We hope that there will be harmonization of regulations, especially around data in the ASEAN Economic Community," he said, "and we hope that that harmonization will allow for free flow of data."

U.S. exit from pact

Feldman added that the recent withdrawal of the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would affect "digital trade" with ASEAN.

"We fully understand that in America, some will benefit more than others and some that will not benefit at all" from the TPP, he said. "I think it's silly for America to solely focus on industries of the past. We definitely need to focus on the industries we are strong on currently and in the future. And technology and the digital economy are certainly areas where America is strong."

This report originated on VOA Khmer.
Just how extensively Russia penetrated state election systems across America last year and how to prevent a repeat will be the focus of an extensive public hearing by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.

"We're trying to focus on all aspects  the aggressive nature of Russia's attempt to hack all the way down to the state level," the committee's chairman, Republican Richard Burr of North Carolina, told VOA.

The panel will hear from cybersecurity and counterintelligence officials at the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as state election officials and a representative of America's secretaries of state for all 50 states  officials who are tasked with certifying elections.

According to recent media reports, federal investigators now think Russia's penetration of voter rolls and election systems was far more extensive than originally thought, with dozens of U.S. states targeted and potentially compromised in some fashion.

Extent of problem

"I won't comment on the veracity of them [news reports], saying [there were] more than two dozen states the Russians hacked into," said the committee's top Democrat, Mark Warner of Virginia, adding that the American people need to "understand how extensive the Russian efforts were to get into our voting systems.

"I think tomorrow's going to be very interesting," Warner said.

"I want to learn how far they went, what's the likelihood of recurrence, and how do we prevent it," independent Senator Angus King of Maine told VOA. "This is a big deal. We know that they [Russian cyberoperatives] tried to penetrate state elections systems, [voter] registration rolls. This is not a one-off proposition. They weren't doing it for fun  they will be back. We have to do substantially more to secure our system."

Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma agreed.

"Every state should be aware of this because every state is a target," he said. "We want to be able to, obviously, inform people in states of what their vulnerabilities are, what the Russians are actively trying to do. And also make the American people aware of what's happening as well  what they can do, what they can't do, how they're trying to accomplish this."

Different angle

Wednesday's hearing will provide a change of pace from previous weeks, which saw former FBI Director James Comey, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and top U.S. intelligence officials grilled about President Donald Trump's actions and any possible contacts between Russia and members of the president's inner circle. By contrast, the upcoming testimony will delve into the nuts and bolts of securing America's democratic process  the committee's original focus stretching back to last year.

"We've heard pretty extensively in our intel meetings of what has gone on and what attempts and what procedures they used," said Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. "What we're waiting to hear now from the front line, those people on the front line, what effect they saw. Did it have any effect? Did it interrupt any of the outcomes or change any of the outcomes of an election?

"It's very serious," Manchin added. "I'm hoping this [hearing] raises it to an elevation where the American public understands. If you lose faith that the elections are held in a secure manner, that you can trust the outcome of that election, then you are wondering who's controlling the elections and the people that are really governing us."
The European Union is assuming the leadership of a global initiative to prevent gender-based violence during humanitarian crises.

Violence against women and girls is one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world. The United Nations and many human rights organizations have documented tens of thousands of cases of rape, sexual abuse and exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other places of conflict.

Violence during times of war and natural disasters also affects men and boys. So, the European Unions Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence is inclusive of both sexes and all ages.

The EU says its mission is to strengthen awareness and encourage the humanitarian community to take stronger action to protect women, men, girls and boys in crisis zones.

Monique Pariat, director-general for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, says more must be done to prevent gender-based violence from occurring in humanitarian emergencies. She says many simple measures can be taken to mitigate violence.

For instance, to have separate and properly illuminated toilets and washing facilities in camps. Safe access to water and food distribution points. Safe access to hospitals. That can have a very significant impact in preventing and reducing gender-based violence. We can do more also on the education to armed groups, to armies. There are a lot of activities we can promote that will reduce the risk and occurrence of these atrocities.

Pariat says it is crucial to bring the Call to Action program to the field, adding it is there that these life-saving measures can have the biggest impact. Pariat also says preventive actions must be taken at the earliest onset of an emergency where victims and survivors are at greatest risk.
U.S. officials told lawmakers Wednesday there is no question that Russia engaged in widespread interference in last year's presidential election aimed at helping real estate mogul Donald Trump win the White House, but they said there is no evidence that Moscow was able to change the vote count.

Former Homeland Security agency chief Jeh Johnson said at a House Intelligence Committee hearing that the extent of Russian hacking into computer files at the Democratic party headquarters in Washington and attempts to infiltrate state election records went significantly beyond past Russian efforts to influence U.S. elections.

"In 2016, the Russian government, at the direction of Vladimir Putin himself, orchestrated cyberattacks on our nation for the purpose of influencing our election  plain and simple," Johnson said, warning that the cyberattacks against U.S. elections would worsen in the years ahead.

WATCH: Johnson on Russian meddling in election

Putin has rejected Russian government involvement in the U.S. cyberattacks. He has said that "patriotic" hackers, however, might have carried out the attacks on the U.S. election. I can imagine that some do it deliberately, staging a chain of attacks in such a way as to cast Russia as the origin of such an attack, the Russian leader said last month.

At a separate hearing, a current Homeland Security official, Jeanette Manfra, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the agency has evidence that Russia targeted election-related systems in 21 of the 50 U.S. states. Johnson said 36 states accepted help from the federal government in trying to blunt the Russian efforts, even as many states rejected federal oversight of their state-run election operations.



The Russian computer-hacking operation led to the release by the file-sharing group WikiLeaks of thousands of emails captured from the files of Democratic party chairman John Podesta, who was the campaign chairman for Trump's challenger, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The emails embarrassed Clinton in the weeks before the November election, showing behind-the-scenes efforts by Democratic officials to help her win the party's presidential nomination.

Clinton has blamed the disclosure of the emails on a daily basis as one reason for her stunning upset loss to Trump, although Johnson said he had no idea about their importance in analyzing the outcome.

In January, Trump acknowledged that he believes Russian operatives hacked into files at the Democratic party headquarters and said Putin "shouldn't have done it."

For months since then, however, Trump has been dismissive of several probes into Russian interference in the election, calling them a "witch hunt" and saying they are an excuse by Democrats to explain Clinton's defeat. White House spokesman Sean Spicer declined to answer a question Tuesday about whether Trump believes that Russia meddled in the election.

Johnson said, "I have no knowledge that votes were altered or suppressed in some way." He also said he has no knowledge, as is being investigated by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, whether Trump or his campaign aides illegally colluded with Russian interests to help him win a four-year presidential term.

Johnson said that Russian hackers were "scanning and probing around voter data bases" in state election systems for vulnerabilities. U.S. elections are decentralized, with each of the 50 states and thousands of local governments overseeing their own voter registrations, and ballots are cast and counted locally.

WATCH: Johnson on voting systems databases



At the Senate hearing, Bill Priestap, an official in the counterintelligence division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the country's top criminal investigative agency, offered an explanation for the Russian intrusion in the 2016 presidential election.

Priestap said that since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's, Russia has substantially rebuilt, but it hasnt been able to fully regain its former status or its former territory. The U.S. is too strong and has too many alliances for Russia to want a military conflict with us. Therefore, hoping to regain its prior stature, Russia has decided to try to weaken us and our allies. One of the ways Russia has sought to do that is by influence rather than by brute force.



He said that Russia has "used information to try to undermine the legitimacy of our election process. One of their primary goals was to sow discord and undermine a key democratic principal: free and fair elections.



Johnson also said he believes Russian attempts at influencing U.S. elections is going to get worse before it gets better and bad cyber actors all the time are more and more ingenious, more tenacious and more aggressive."

He urged the current Homeland Security chief, John Kelly, to make election security "one of his top one or two priorities," along with counterterrorism.
The United Nations Security Council is set to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution to back a West African force to combat terrorism and arms, drug and human trafficking in the Sahel region after France weakened the language in a bid to appease the United States.

The vast, arid region has in recent years become a breeding ground for jihadist groups - some linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State - that European nations, particularly France, fear could threaten Europe if left unchecked.

Last year, the Sahel nations - Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania - proposed establishing special units, each of around 100 well-trained soldiers, which would be deployed in areas where jihadist groups are known to operate.

The United States did not believe a resolution was warranted and did not want the world body to help fund it, diplomats said.

The United States is one of five council veto powers, along with France, Britain, Russia and China.

French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters on Tuesday he was confident of "strong support" among the 15-member U.N. council after two weeks of negotiation on the French draft text, which he described as having reached a "successful conclusion."

"The text that we have we believe is strong in itself and also stronger in terms of the political support it will bring to the force," Delattre said.

Instead of authorizing the force to "use all necessary means" to carry out its operations, the draft resolution now "welcomes the deployment," according to a copy seen by Reuters.

It no longer asks Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to report back on options for U.N. support for the force and instead notes that the West African states are responsible for ensuring the troops have adequate resources.

The draft resolution also encourages countries to also provide support. The European Union has already committed $56 million to the Sahel force.

The United States is trying to cut the cost of U.N. peacekeeping and is reviewing each of the 16 missions as they come up for Security Council renewal. Washington is the largest contributor, paying 28.5 percent of the $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget.

Special units proposed by the five Sahel nations would complement the efforts of regular armed forces, a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali and France's Operation Barkhane, which has around 4,000 troops deployed across the region.

France intervened in 2013 to drive back militants who had seized northern Mali a year earlier. However, militants continue to attack in Mali and its neighbors.
United States college students warned Congress on Tuesday that free speech is being threatened across the country.



The testimony is in response to campus violence against controversial speakers, and free speech zones on at least one campus. Free speech zones are areas designated for protest on some campuses.



Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Zach Wood, a student at Williams College in Massachusetts, said he has seen considerable backlash in addition to administrative obstacles since becoming president of a group called Uncomfortable Learning. That group invites controversial guests to speak on campus.



He said he fears that students at many colleges are only hearing a single liberal opinion on many issues.



Isaac Smith, a former student at Ohio University, spoke of a friend who was threatened with arrest for gathering signatures outside of the schools designated free speech zone.



There have been multiple cases across the country where students have been prevented from distributing copies of the United States Constitution  outside of their schools misleadingly labeled free speech zones," Smith said. Taken together, we know that administrators nationwide are stifling free speech.

Disagreements on speakers

The hearing comes after several high-profile incidents on college campuses across the country in which invited speakers were blocked from speaking by administrators or had their events interrupted by violent protesters.

The most recent incident came in April when the University of California-Berkeley canceled preemptively a scheduled speaking event by conservative commentator Ann Coulter, saying the school couldn't control any violence around Coulter.



Richard Cohen, president of the advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center, told senators he has sympathy for the educators impulse to protect, and encouraged administrators to teach their students to counter speech with speech.



They recognize that harm does not only come from physical violence, that trauma and terror can hurt as much as guns and fists, he said.



A month before the Coulter incident, a group of about 200 students at Vermont's Middlebury College shouted down conservative author Charles Murray, refusing to let him speak. As Murray tried to leave campus, protesters jumped on his car and assaulted a professor who accompanied him.



Cohens organization has labeled Murray a white nationalist, based on his research into a potential link between race and intelligence. He told Senators on Tuesday that students and universities should not give racists an audience.



White nationalist activity



According to Cohen, the recent bouts of violence come against a backdrop of increased white nationalist activity on college campuses, and so, he says, it comes as little surprise that we have seen a strong backlash among students.



Since the spring of 2016, we have documented approximately 250 incidents  on more than 150 campuses  in which racist flyers were distributed. Nearly 200 of these incidents occurred after the November election, he said.



Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the judiciary committee, said he believes free speech is being sacrificed at the altar of political correctness.



Many administrators believe that students should be shielded from hate speech, whatever that is, as an exception to the First Amendment, he said. Unfortunately, this censorship is no different from any other examples in history, when speech that authorities deemed to be heretical has been suppressed based on its content.



Grassley said he is concerned school administrators will take the easy route of giving in to student pressure to restrict debate, but he said he was encouraged by schools like the University of Chicago, which recently adopted a policy to prohibit administrators from suppressing speech on campus that some find offensive or immoral.



It calls for counter-speech rather than suppression by people who disagree with speech, said Grassley.



VOA's Bruce Alpert contributed to this report.
Germany will withdraw 280 troops, as well as surveillance planes and refueling jets, from the Incirlik air base in Turkey following a decision by the German parliament on Wednesday. The troops will be relocated to a base in Jordan.

The move comes after Turkey refused German lawmakers access to the base, saying the diplomatic relationship between the countries needed to improve first. Germany has maintained a presence at Incirlik since 2014, when Turkey joined the coalition fighting ISIS.



The German Bundestag (parliament) regrets very much that conditions for the continued stationing of the Bundeswehr in Incirlik are not met, the Bundestag said in a statement following their decision.

Diplomatic discord

It is the latest example of diplomatic discord between the two NATO members.

In March, German Chancellor Angela Merkel banned Turkish politicians from campaigning on German soil, where 1.4 million Turkish voters live.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Merkel's decision to Nazi practices.

Election fallout



Officials from Erdogan's party intended to hold the rallies in support of a referendum to give sweeping powers to the Turkish president. Despite being barred from campaigning in German, the referendum succeeded anyway, worrying many that Turkey may be edging toward authoritarian rule.



In February, Turkey jailed German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel on charges of propaganda in support of a terrorist organization. While asking for his release, Germany has offered asylum to Turkish journalists, intellectuals and opposition political leaders wanted by the Erdogan government.
In reality, the hotline wasnt a red phone.

It may well have been a lifesaver, though, when it was established on this day, June 20, 1963, between the United States government and the former Soviet Union.

Its purpose? To lessen via nearly instantaneous communication the threat of an accidental nuclear war.

The need became frighteningly obvious during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. The United States had discovered that the Soviets were building missile sites in Cuba capable of firing missiles with nuclear warheads.

Eventually, then president John F. Kennedy instituted a naval quarantine around Cuba to block the delivery of such missiles.

Days of tensions ensued as the world literally sat waiting to see whether or not World War III was imminent.

Then came a breakthrough: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed that his country would not install nuclear weapons in Cuba; Kennedy, in turn, vowed not to threaten the sovereignty of Cuba.

In designing the hotline, the idea was to expedite written communication and slow down verbal exchanges, so that cooler heads might prevail: if leaders spoke in real time, there could be translation problems, or heated misunderstandings.



Instead, each side got special teletype machines, which zipped written messages straight to official translators.

On August 30, 1963, the Moscow-to-Washington hotline went live.

The first test message from the U.S.? The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs back. It was used because it contains every letter in the alphabet.

The Soviets fired back a description, in Russian, of a sunset.

According to the Arms Control Association, the hotline was first used by the United States and Russia in 1967 during the Six Day War between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria to clarify the intentions of fleet movements in the Mediterranean that could have been interpreted as hostile.

The Soviet Union and the United States intended to reassure each other that they did not wish to be militarily involved in the crisis. Throughout the duration of the Six Day War, the two sides used the hotline almost two dozen times for a variety of purposes.

Richard Nixon also used it during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and again during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

During the Reagan administration, the hotline was used several more times. However, an official listing of the instances when the states used the hotline never has been released to the public.

The hotline between Moscow and Washington still exists today. Over the years, it has been kept up to date using modern-day technology.

Former CIA director and defense secretary, Robert Gates, has said the hotline will remain an important tool for "as long as these two sides have submarines roaming the oceans and missiles pointed at each other."
Hungary's government said Tuesday that the United States is applying double standards in its criticism of a new law on civic groups that receive funds from foreign donors. A statement from the government spokesman's office said the U.S. State Department was being misled by a disinformation campaign appearing in international media and strongly assisted by Soros organizations.

At the center of the dispute are some civic groups supported by Hungarian-American financier George Soros, such as the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights advocate which also provides legal aid to asylum-seekers, and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union.

We would like everyone to see which organizations funded from abroad are seeking to influence Hungarian public life and migration policy in accordance with foreign interests, the Hungarian government said. It is regrettable to see even the U.S. Department of State being misled on this issue.

Hungary again compared its legislation to the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, which mainly has been applied to political lobbyists for foreign governments, not civic groups like those covered by the Hungarian law. The United States said such comparisons are false.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban says some of the foreign-funded groups want to dismantle his radical anti-migrant policies. While supported by many Hungarians, those policies have led to disputes with the European Union and criticism from the United Nations' refugee agency.

Under the legislation approved by lawmakers from the governing parties and signed by President Janos Ader last week, groups getting more than around $26,000 a year from abroad have to register with the courts and identify themselves as being foreign-funded.

Some affected groups have announced a boycott of the new rules, saying their financial records are already public.

The State Department said Monday it was concerned by the legislation.

By portraying groups supported with foreign funding as acting against the interests of Hungarian society, this legislation would weaken the ability of Hungarians to organize and address concerns in a legitimate and democratic manner, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
Although Afghan businesses have long wanted to exploit the potential of Indias huge market, trade between the two countries has been hampered due to their tense relations with Pakistan.



But a plane loaded in Kabul with 60 tons of medicinal plants landed in New Delhi this week, raising hopes of giving a major boost to commerce between landlocked Afghanistan and India.



The flight flagged off the establishment of a new air cargo corridor between the two countries. Along with another, more long-term initiative to develop the Iranian port of Chabahar, India hopes to ease access to conflict-ridden Afghanistan and eventually to Central Asian countries.

Pakistan is a barrier



Pakistan allows Afghanistan to send a limited amount of perishable goods over its territory to India, through which the shortest and most cost effective land routes lie. However, India is not allowed to send any imports through Pakistani territory.



Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani decided to establish the air corridor last September after Pakistan rejected fresh calls by the Afghan leader to allow his country to engage in direct trade with India over its territory.



Although India is the second largest destination for exports from Afghanistan, this lack of easy access has been a dampener.

Air corridor trade



In New Delhi, officials hope the new corridor will boost annual trade between the two countries from $700 million to $1 billion in three years and give a lift to exports of Afghanistan's agricultural and carpet industries.



A second flight is scheduled to land in New Delhi next week, bringing 40 tons of dried fruit from Kandahar.



At a ceremony marking the inaugural flight in Kabul on Monday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he wants to make Afghanistan an exporter country.



As long as we are not an exporter country, then poverty and instability will not be eliminated, he said.



Indian foreign ministry officials say the connectivity will allow Afghan businessmen to leverage Indias economic growth and trade networks for its benefit and give farmers quick access to sell perishable products.

Does the air corridor trade have a viable future?



A prominent trader in New Delhi, Shyam Sunder Bansal, said he stopped trading with Afghan businesses several years ago due to the challenges such as transit routes, banking and currency facilities.



India is hoping to eventually extend air cargo flights to other cities.

But Bansal is skeptical whether it will be commercially viable to sustain imports via air. They cannot continue it forever because that will be unconventional, uneconomical, he said.



However, a South Asia expert with the Indian Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, Sukh Deo Muni, said since the distance involved is not too long, the air freight corridor could be viable.



He said New Delhi is committed to the project as it will open up access for India to not just Afghanistan but also Central Asian markets. According to Muni, broader significance is to give two messages. We are committed to Afghanistan and we want to tell Pakistan, you cannot obstruct our access to Afghanistan and Central Asia. This is the long term view.



Afghanistan mainly sends fresh and dried fruits, vegetables and oilseeds to India. It also takes a host of products from India -- a flight from New Delhi has carried pharmaceuticals, water purifiers and medical equipment to Kabul as part of the initiative.



Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said the frequency of the air service would depend on demand. It is, at the end of the day, a commercial venture which is supported very heavily, very strongly and very purposefully by both the governments.

Land corridor through Iran



India has also initiated another key project to develop the Iranian port of Chabahar and open a direct transport corridor to Central Asia and Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan. This would also give Kabul an alternate route to the Indian Ocean, which currently uses the Pakistani port of Karachi for sea trade.



There was optimism last year that the project would take off, but it is barely making headway amid fresh worries that the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump may reimpose sanctions on Iran.
Shares in Everest Insurance, National Hydro suspended

The Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) has suspended trading in shares of Everest Insurance and National Hydropower.
Irans missile strike this week against Islamic State targets in Syria is escalating its military involvement in Syria and likely will heighten tensions between the U.S.-led coalition and Russian and Iranian forces aligned with the Syrian regime, analysts say.

The strike  the first time Iran fired missiles outside its borders in 30 years  was meant as retaliation for the IS-claimed twin terror attacks in Tehran on June 7 that killed 17 people and wounded more than 50, Iranian officials said.

According to a statement released by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the missile strikes on Sunday hit IS command centers in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor and a bomb-manufacturing facility outside the city.



The IRGC statement said that the attack was a message and a warning to Takfiri terrorists, their regional supporters and their supporters outside of the region.

The term takfiri is used by Iranian officials when referring to militant Sunni Muslim fundamentalist groups such as IS.

But Iranian state-run media said the missile strikes carried a greater message to Irans perceived enemies  Israel, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

Kayhan Daily, a conservative newspaper close to Tehrans leadership, published an editorial saying the strikes were more than just a response to the IS attack in Tehran.

The strikes confirmed Irans missile capabilities to shenanigans who dispatched terrorists to Tehran, the editorial said, adding that Irans "slap was a loud message for the supporters of terrorists in Riyadh and Tel-Aviv.

Old rivalry



Tensions between longtime rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran have escalated in recent weeks after the Saudis and their Gulf partners cut ties to Qatar, citing, in part, its association to Iran and Tehran's alleged link to terrorism.

Iran has stepped up its anti-Saudi rhetoric since the IS-attacks saying Riyadh is trying to destabilize the country by supporting dissidents. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attacks would only increase hate for the U.S. and Saudi governments, according to state media.



The U.S.-led coalition in Syria meanwhile is keeping a close eye on Irans military involvement with the Syrian regime. U.S. officials told VOA they were close to confirming that an Iranian-made drone shot down by an American fighter jet early Tuesday in Syria was being operated by the IRGC.

Iran has been a major military backer of the Syrian regime, first in its war with rebel groups across the country and later against IS. Led by the IRGC, about 10,000 Iranian combat troops are in Syria fighting alongside thousands of fighters from Hezbollah, Lebanon's Tehran-affiliated Shi'ite militia, and assorted Shi'ite militias.

Hostilities between U.S.-led forces and Iranian and Russian forces supporting the Syrian regime have escalated in recent weeks in a part of Syria seen as strategically important for the Syrian government and Iran, as Tehran seeks to secure a land corridor between forces it backs in Syria and Iraq.

Iran's missile attacks on IS was a great measure preventing the U.S. from opposition, said Syrian Information Minister Mohammad Ramez Tourjman. "Iran, at different levels, confronts any threat which may target the Islamic Republic, and the country's missile strikes had a message that deterred the U.S. from even thinking of attacking Iran or isolating the country."

The Iranian missile strike was an intended provocation on Tehrans part, analysts say.

Tehrans muscle flexing was aimed at U.S. and Saudi Arabia, in particular in the context of recent developments in the region, said Kamran Matin, an analyst at the University of Sussex.

The intensification of the Saudi-led 'containment of Iran' strategy backed by the Trump administration, and the evidence of U.S.s proactive measures against Syrian armed forces and their allies in Eastern Syria, could be interpreted as the main impetus for Tehrans missile attack on IS targets in Syria, he said.

Determined coalition



The U.S.-led coalition said that while it is not trying to escalate conflict with Iran and Russia in Syria, it will not back down.

The coalitions mission is to defeat IS in Iraq and Syria, the coalition said in a statement. The coalition does not seek to fight the Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend coalition or partner forces from any threat.

But Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic will respond more decisively to any future terrorist attack on Iran's soil. And former IRGC Guard chief Gen. Mohsen Rezai wrote on Twitter, "The bigger slap is yet to come."



Still, analysts caution that Tehrans rhetoric may be more for domestic consumption.



Tehran has long depicted an invincible image of immunity from IS, claiming that its security forces are capable of turning down any threats from IS miles beyond its border, said Habib Hosseinifard, an Iranian affairs analyst based in Germany. This missile attack was also aimed to cover that wound as well.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered weekend missile strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, Revolutionary Guards said, contradicting a previous report that they were authorized by the country's security council.

The Guards fired six mid-range surface to surface missiles from western Iran into Syria's Deir al Zour province on Sunday night, the first attack of its kind carried out by the Islamic Republic in years.

The Guards statement, published on Wednesday by Sepah News, ran counter to a statement by President Hassan Rouhani who said earlier that the strikes were authorized by the Supreme National Security Council, which includes the heads of the three branches of government as well as the head of the Guards and other ministers.

Senior Guard commanders said on Monday that the missile strikes were intended to send a message to terrorists who carried out attacks in Tehran two weeks ago as well as their regional and international supporters, a reference to Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Saudi Arabia blamed for attacks

Khamenei's personal directive for the missile strikes, as reported by the Guards, highlighted their symbolic importance.

The complex attacks in Tehran included shootings and at least one suicide bombing at the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, south of the capital. Eighteen people were killed.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for these attacks but senior Iranian officials pointed a finger at Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic's biggest regional rival.

Tensions increase

Tensions between mostly Shi'ite Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is predominantly Sunni, have ramped up in recent months as both countries compete for power and influence across the region. The two countries support opposite sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Field operatives from the Quds Force, the branch of the Guards responsible for operations outside Iran's borders, gathered intelligence on the targets inside Syria before the strike, the Guards' statement said.

More than 170 terrorists including some commanders were killed in the missile strike, their statement said. Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
Mosuls iconic al-Nuri mosque and its leaning minaret, known as al-Hadba, or the hunchback, are no more, destroyed by the Islamic State as Iraqi forces worked to eradicate the terror group from one of its last strongholds in the city.

Blowing up the al-Hadba minaret and the al-Nuri mosque amounts to an official acknowledgement of defeat, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi proclaimed via his Twitter account late Wednesday.

The medieval mosque, also known as Mosuls Great Mosque, had stood for more than 800 years and is where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2014 declared himself caliph over parts of Iraq and Syria.

Iraqs military said its forces were within 50 meters of the mosque Wednesday night when IS militants committed another historical crime by blowing up the building, said Gen. Abdulamir Yarallah, overall commander of the Mosul offensive.

Islamic States Amaq news agency issued its own statement with a counter narrative, accusing U.S. aircraft of destroying the mosque.

U.S. and coalition officials quickly rejected the terror groups assertions.

As our Iraqi Security Force partners closed in on the al-Nuri mosque, ISIS destroyed one of Mosul and Iraqs great treasures, Operation Inherent Resolves Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin said in a statement, using an acronym for the terror group.

The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS, Martin added, calling the act a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq.

The al-Nuri mosque had held a special place in IS lore.

Not only was it where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi first revealed himself to the world, it was named after Nuruddin al-Zanki.

Al-Zanki was a noble who helped fight the early crusaders and was a role model for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of al-Qaida Iraq, which later became IS, said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.



The leveling of al-Nuri Mosque and Hadba Minaret may have been a last ditch effort by IS to repel the Iraqi CTS advance and deepen resentment for the coalition, said Jade Parker, a senior research associate at the Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics and Radical Ideologies (TAPSTRI).

IS official propaganda has made a concerted effort to highlight the collateral damage of coalition airstrikes, including mosques, Parker said, adding there are many in the region, including those who dont support IS, who may be hesitant to believe the U.S. and Iraqi version of events.

And within hours, IS sympathizers were spreading the Amaq claim on social media, many looking to incite supporters around the world.

It appears Amaqs report that states the U.S. is responsible for bombing the mosque is being used as a disinformation tool, the aim being to try to motivate the groups supporters in the U.S. to execute attacks, said Michael S. Smith II, a terrorism analyst who specializes in the influence operations of IS and al-Qaida.

This [narrative] is being augmented by posts concerning this development on pro-Islamic State Telegram channels, Smith said.

The destruction of the mosque comes on the fourth day of an Iraqi offensive on Mosuls Old City, backed by U.S.-led coalition forces. The Old City is the last district in Mosul that IS militants control following an eight-month long offensive by Iraqi and coalition forces on the city.

Carla Babb at the Pentagon contributed to this report.
Developments in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday include President Donald Trump meeting with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, the U.S. Treasury expanding sanctions against Russia and Ukraine separatists, a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing planned for U.S. election officials and cybersecurity experts regarding Russian hacking, and a poll that shows the president's approval rating at a new low.

White House Hosts Ukraine President, Says Russia Sanctions to Remain in Place -- 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.

US Expands Sanctions Against Russia, Ukraine Separatists -- The United States Treasury Department announced additional sanctions Tuesday against Russia, pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, and individuals and companies associated with them. The move comes on the heels of a White House meeting Tuesday between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Poroshenko.

US Election Officials, Cybersecurity Experts to Testify on Russian Hacking -- Just how extensively Russia penetrated state election systems across America last year and how to prevent a repeat will be the focus of an extensive public hearing by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. "We're trying to focus on all aspects  the aggressive nature of Russia's attempt to hack all the way down to the state level," the committee's chairman, Republican Richard Burr of North Carolina, told VOA. The panel will hear from cybersecurity and counterintelligence officials at the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as state election officials and a representative of America's secretaries of state for all 50 states  officials who are tasked with certifying elections.

Political Spotlight on Trump Son-in-law Gets Brighter -- Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior aide, has been front and center at the White House this week, making his speaking debut before a high-powered gathering of tech executives and heading off on a sensitive diplomatic mission to the Middle East. Kushner, 36, a New York real estate magnate, was close by Trump's side throughout last year's political campaign, and he and his family moved to Washington in the first days of the new administration. But he has now moved even more into the political spotlight, leading some critics of Trump to suggest this may be an attempt to divert attention from the leaks and legal troubles that have beset the administration.

US Lawmakers Explain Claim That Trump Violates Constitution -- Members of the U.S. Congress met with reporters Tuesday to explain their claim that Trump violated the Constitution for accepting funds from foreign governments through his businesses without congressional approval. Last week nearly 200 Democratic lawmakers filed suit against the president in federal court over the payments that hundreds of Trump businesses have received from foreign governments since the presidential inauguration five months ago. The legal action contends Trump and his representatives have concealed the extent and the amount of the payments.

CBS Poll: Trump Approval Rating Hits New Low -- The latest CBS News poll shows Trump's approval rating at the lowest point of his five-month White House tenure. CBS said Tuesday that Trump's approval rating is now at 36 percent, with a 57 percent disapproval rating, down from 41-53 percent standing in late April. The survey results are similar, with one exception, to other recent surveys, with Gallup's three-day tracking poll giving Trump a 56-38 negative approval rating and Quinnipiac University earlier this month showing him with a 57-34 negative standing. Only the Rasmussen Reports tracking poll has shown Trump more favorably, briefly touching at a 50-50 standing last week before falling to a 48-51 negative reading on Monday.

Trump Calls North Korea's Treatment of Warmbier a 'Disgrace' -- 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.

Georgia Voting in Closely Watched Congressional Election -- Voters in the southern U.S. state of Georgia are choosing their new representative in the House of Representatives on Tuesday in a special election that is being closely watched as a test of Republican strength under the Trump administration and the party's prospects of holding its majority in House next year.

Israeli PM Says Work Begun on New West Bank Settlement -- Israel's prime minister says ground has been broken for a new West Bank settlement, the first in about two decades, to replace one demolished this year as President Donald Trump's Mideast envoy arrives in the region. Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he has the "privilege"' of building the new settlement. On the campaign trail, Trump indicated he would be more sympathetic to settlements than his predecessor. He appears to have backtracked since.

UN Envoy: Israel Flouts UN Security Council Settlement Demand -- 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.

US State Department Questions Gulf Motives on Qatar Boycott -- 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."
3 People take part in the 15th annual Times Square yoga event celebrating the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, during classes in the middle of Times Square in New York.
Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had won a $104 million U.S. Air Force contract to develop, produce and field a threat simulator to train combat aircrews to recognize and deal with rapidly evolving threats, such as surface-to-air missiles.

Tim Cahill, vice president of air and missile defense systems for Lockheed, said a number of other countries had already expressed interest in the Advanced Radar Threat System Variant 2, and talks could begin soon on possible sales.

Cahill did not estimate the volume of possible future sales, but potential buyers included all countries that plan to operate the stealthy F-35 fighter jet in coming years.

It's a cool little program, he said. This is just the first tranche, but it has the potential to be a really big program for us.

As the capabilities on the ground from potential threat nations get stronger and better and more capable ... it's very important that the pilots need to train against a system that is actually a high-fidelity simulation of what they would fly against in combat, he said.

The contract calls for development and delivery of a production-ready system and options to produce up to 20 more. Cahill said the truck-mounted system would emit signals that simulated those of current and evolving advanced surface-to-air threats.
May was Mexico's bloodiest month in at least 20 years and homicides are up sharply in 2017 compared with last year, according to newly released government crime statistics.

Statistics published Tuesday by the Interior Department said that 2,186 people were murdered last month. The previous monthly high was 2,131 in May 2011, according to a review of publicly available records that date back to 1997.

During the first five months of 2017, there were 9,916 murders nationwide  an increase of about 30 percent over the 7,638 slain during the same period last year.

Mexico launched a militarized offensive over a decade ago to combat drug cartels that plague parts of the country. Murders fell somewhat after peaking in 2011 but have risen again.

At the state level, Baja California Sur saw the biggest jump in the first five months of 2017. After registering 36 murders during the same period in 2016, that spiked by 369 percent to 169 so far this year.

There were also significant increases in Veracruz (93 percent), Quintana Roo (89 percent) and Sinaloa (76 percent).

Total homicides for the January-May period declined from 2016 in just four states  Campeche, Coahuila, Mexico State and Nuevo Leon  and nowhere did the drop exceed 6 percent.
A Canadian national has been charged with stabbing a police officer at an airport in the midwestern state of Michigan Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors announced the charge against Amor Ftouhi of Quebec. He is charged with committing violence at an airport.

FBI's Detroit field director David Gelios said the agency believes Ftouhi is a "lone wolf" attacker who entered the country legally and then made his way to Flint, Michigan. He said the FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.

On Wednesday morning, Ftouhi stabbed Lt. Jeff Neville with a large knife uttering "Allahu Akbar,'' the Arabic phrase for "God is great.'' The FBI, which is leading the investigation, reported that Ftouhi said something along the lines of "You have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die.''



Neville was in stable condition after initially being in critical condition following the stabbing at the main terminal of Bishop International Airport, a small regional airport in Flint, Michigan.

Airport officials posted a statement on Facebook saying that all passengers were safe. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said in a release the situation is under control, but she urged officials to take extra precautions in light of the incident.
Suspected Boko Haram militants killed two people and wounded six others in an ambush on a police convoy in northeast Nigeria's Borno state on Tuesday, a police spokesman said.

Borno has been the state worst hit by the eight-year insurgency by Boko Haram that has killed more than 20,000 people and forced some 2.7 million people to flee their homes in its bid to create an Islamic caliphate.

The raid was the latest in a spate of attacks in the state, birthplace of the insurgency, over the last two weeks. Suicide bombings killed 12 people on Monday and 14 people died in an attack on state capital Maiduguri on June 7.

Borno state police spokesman Damian Chukwu said vehicles including a police patrol convoy and a funeral procession were ambushed on a road around 30 kilometres from Maiduguri. Two people were killed - a policeman and a commercial driver.

Boko Haram has been pushed out of most of the territory that it controlled in early 2015 - a swathe of land around the size of Belgium - by Nigeria's army and troops from neighboring countries.

But insurgents continue to carry out suicide bombings and raids in northeast Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger.
Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior aide, has been front and center at the White House this week, making his speaking debut before a high-powered gathering of tech executives and heading off on a sensitive diplomatic mission to the Middle East.

Kushner, 36, a New York real estate magnate, was close by Trump's side throughout last year's political campaign, and he and his family moved to Washington in the first days of the new administration. But he has now moved even more into the political spotlight, leading some critics of Trump to suggest this may be an attempt to divert attention from the leaks and legal troubles that have beset the administration.

When novice diplomat Kushner touches down Wednesday in Tel Aviv, he will join the administration's special representative for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, in a bid to revive direct Israel-Palestinian talks. Kushner and Greenblatt, formerly a lawyer for the Trump Organization in New York, are due to meet with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

'Furthering Middle East peace'

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the U.S. envoys' visit to Israel is a follow-up to Trump's stopover in the region in May and is intended "to further Middle East peace and make incremental changes in the right direction." Kushner and Greenblatt, who are both Orthodox Jews, accompanied the president during those earlier meetings with both Abbas and Netanyahu.

Kushner's more prominent role in the Trump White House is seen by some an an attempt by the administration to right itself after a number of bruising body blows, such as speculation about who may be targeted by a special prosecutor investigating the nature of contacts between the president's campaign organization and the Russian government. The swirling allegations of possible inappropriate or even illegal behavior  and the vociferous denials coming from Trump himself during his broadsides to the world over Twitter  have sparked rebukes even from senior lawmakers within the president's Republican Party.

However, Kushner himself has come under scrutiny for his own contacts with Russian officials during the presidential campaign. Last week, The Washington Post reported the son-in-law's business dealings were under investigation by the office of Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller.

Kushner has said he will cooperate with both congressional and FBI inquiries, and he recently hired a prominent Washington lawyer to represent him.

Background 'problematic'



His role in the Trump White House is coming under increasing scrutiny from presidential scholars and students of public management.

Elaine Kamarck, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, a policy research group in Washington, and author of Why Presidents Fail, said Kushner's lack of any background in public or foreign affairs is "particularly problematic."

"Jared Kushner knows even less about the world of government and policy than the president himself does," Kamarck said. "This president, more than any other recent president, needs the assistance of somebody familiar with government, and that is not Jared Kushner."

Administration officials say Kushner is not new to Middle East issues, nor is he a stranger to the Israeli prime minister. His family is known to be close to Netanyahu, who once stayed in the Kushner home during a visit to the United States.

However, Brookings' Kamarck said Kushner's inexperience in statecraft will be a severe handicap if he expects to resolve a dispute that has stymied the world's most talented diplomats for generations.

"There have been years and years of American intervention in Arab-Israeli dialogue," Kamarck told VOA. "People who have had great expertise in this area have been unable to come to conclusions."

Breakthrough seen unlikely

"Maybe Kushner will learn something on this trip that will help him down the road, but do not expect a peace breakthrough in the near future," she added.

The president's son-in-law tested his hand as a senior administration official and his public speaking skills this week. Though Kushner has been at Trump's side, or just steps away, for almost every presidential appearance, White House reporters said this was the first time they had ever heard him speak. Reviews were mixed.

Reading from prepared remarks at a White House gathering of high-powered technology executives, Kushner spoke of the need to gather ideas for modernizing government.

"We will unleash the creativity of the private sector to provide citizen services in a way that has never happened before," Kushner told the group, which included Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet chief Eric Schmitt. Both have been outspoken in opposing administration positions on issues such as climate change and immigration.

As Kushner headed to Israel, news reports said China has invited him and his wife, Ivanka Trump, to visit later this year. Bloomberg News called it the latest sign of the extended first family's growing influence over foreign affairs.

Bloomberg, quoting an unidentified U.S. official, said the Kushners hosted a dinner Sunday for the newly confirmed U.S. ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, who will leave to take up his new post in Beijing this week.
The deep south

When I was in Janakpur five years ago, people were worried by the uncertainty that hung over the region.
As Colombia's FARC rebels prepare to hand over the last of their weapons next week, leading rights activist have warned women are not yet playing a strong enough role in implementing a peace deal signed last year by the government and the fighters.

The deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels ended more than 50 years of war and was hailed by the United Nations as having an unprecedented focus on women's rights, recognizing they suffered the conflict in different ways.

Talks included female peace negotiators from both sides and a gender commission to ensure women's voice were heard.

But such progress could be undermined as there is little women's participation in the peace building process, according to research this month by GPaz, a Colombian rights group.

Women's participation low

So far 11 committees have been created to monitor and ensure that what was pledged in the accord is put into practice. But women make up just six of the 45 people appointed  or 13.3 percent  on the peace monitoring committees.

The accord states the need for the effective and balanced participation of women, said Beatriz Quintero, head of the National Women's Network, composed of rights groups across Colombia.

We're saying the committees don't have to have absolute gender parity, be precisely 50-50, but 13 percent women's participation is very low, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

We're calling on both sides to ensure that during the accord's implementation the gender focus isn't lost, she said.

More women to be added

The government last week said more women would be appointed to peace monitoring committees by the end of June.

We reaffirm the importance of further strengthening scenarios for the participation of women in the country and a real commitment to mainstreaming the gender approach in the implementation of the final accord, the office of the government's high peace commission said in a statement.

The U.N. Women agency says having women at the negotiating table increases the chance of a peace agreement lasting 15 years by 35 percent, while ensuring they play a key role in constructing peace also raises the chances that it will last.

Help for women

Colombia's peace accord pledges to improve access to land for women farmers through a land bank and subsidies.

It also promises to investigate military forces or rebel fighters who raped women.

About 20,000 Colombians, most of them women and girls, have been victims of rape and sexual violence, a weapon used by all sides in Colombia's war, government data shows.

As part of the peace deal, the FARC is expected to hand over the last batch of its weapons to the U.N. on June 27.
The Red Cross launched a smartphone app Tuesday to help refugees and migrants arriving in Italy access information and services, including medical, psychological and legal support.

The digital platform called "Virtual Volunteer" was unveiled on World Refugee Day as new data showed the number of refugees globally reached a record 22.5 million in 2016.

"People moving are often caught in a fog of poor information," said Jagan Chapagain, head of programs and operations at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). "They don't always know what services are available to them.

"This is a tool that will help give them a clearer view so that they can make informed decisions," he said in a statement.

Italy is on the front line in the European migrant crisis, which has seen hundreds of thousands of people arrive in the continent by land and sea after fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Nearly 70,000 have arrived in Italy so far this year, mostly migrants from West Africa and Bangladesh, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Goods, services, tips

Virtual Volunteer uses geolocation to show users on a map where to access shelters, food banks, canteens, showers, clothes distribution points, maternal health centers, free legal assistance, dentists and language schools.

Refugees and migrants can also find advice on how to protect themselves from traffickers and can access information to help them locate family members if they have become separated.

The app  developed by the IFRC and tech giant IBM  has already been rolled out in Greece and Sweden, where it has been used by 30,000 people. "Information saves lives. Ensuring that people can access unbiased, factual information has a big impact," Italian Red Cross President Francesco Rocca said in a statement.

Virtual Volunteer, also accessible as a website, offers information in multiple languages depending on what is most needed in each country. Languages in Italy include French, Arabic and Tigrinya, reflecting the high number of Eritrean arrivals, while those in Greece include Arabic, Farsi and Dari.

The IFRC plans to roll out the service in other countries affected by migration, including the Philippines and countries in West Africa.
Russian officials reacted to new sanctions unveiled by the U.S. by canceling upcoming talks between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon.

Ryabkov said that the situation is not conducive to holding a round of this dialogue.

The U.S. State Department expressed regret at the cancellation of Friday's talks. "We regret that Russia has decided to turn away from an opportunity to discuss bilateral obstacles that hinder U.S.-Russia relations," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced additional sanctions on Russia and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The sanctions target 38 Russian and pro-Russian individuals and entities tied to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, including two high-level Russian officials, Deputy Economy Minister Sergey Nazarov and Russian lawmaker Alexander Babakov.

A Kremlin spokesman said the move was not constructive and said "various [retaliatory] options are being considered on an expert level."

Russia-U.S. relations remain tense. The White House has been considering a possible meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting in Germany in July.
Russian news agencies are reporting a NATO fighter jet buzzed a plane carrying Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday as it flew over the Baltic Sea, but was escorted away by a Russian escort jet.



The NATO jet approached the defense minister's jet while flying over neutral waters. The Russian jet flew in between Shoigu's plane and the NATO jet and tilted from side-to-side to show it was armed. The NATO jet then left the area and the Russian jet got back in formation, the Russian agencies reported.

NATO says the encounter was "standard procedure."

A Senior NATO military representative told VOA there had been an unusually high number of Russian military aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea last week and it is standard practice for NATO air forces to monitor unknown aircraft approaching NATO airspace.

Generally, when NATO aircraft intercept a plane they identify it visually, maintaining a safe distance at all times. Once complete, NATO jets break away. This is standard procedure. All our pilots behave in a safe and responsible way, the official said.



Shoigu was en route to the western Russian city of Kaliningrad for a meeting with other members of Russia's defense ministry.

The incident comes just a day after an armed Russian fighter jet came within just a few meters of a U.S. military plane flying over the Baltic Sea Tuesday.

The Pentagon said the American plane, an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, was unprofessionally "intercepted" in international airspace on Monday by a Russian SU-27 Flanker fighter jet.

"Due to the high rate of closure speed and poor control of the aircraft during the intercept, this interaction was determined to be unsafe," Defense Department spokeswoman Army Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza told VOA Tuesday.

Baldanza stressed that the American reconnaissance plane "did nothing to provoke" the Russian jet's behavior.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman has promoted his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman to crown prince, making him next in line to the throne while also serving as defense minister and overseeing an effort to overhaul the country's economy.

The move was announced Wednesday through decrees issued by the state-run SPA news agency.

The former crown prince and nephew of King Salman, Mohammed bin Nayef, was relieved of all of his positions including the role of interior minister, the decrees said.

Mohammed bin Salman, who had been the deputy crown prince, will also now be Saudi Arabia's deputy prime minister.

The 31-year-old has been in charge of the Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of Yemen's government in a war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Saudi state media said Wednesday's changes were approved by 31 of the 34 members of the royal family who make up what is known as the Allegiance Council.

King Salman came to power in 2015 following the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah.
U.S. prosecutors have charged a Bangladeshi economist working for the United Nations in New York with allegedly mistreating a domestic worker.

Hamidur Rashid was arrested Tuesday, becoming the second official from Bangladesh charged in New York in eight days.

According to a complaint, Rashid, identified as a program director at the U.N. Development Program in Manhattan, initially contracted with the employee to pay her $420 per week and submitted that contract to the U.S. State Department to obtain a visa for her.

Acting U.S. Attorney for Manhattan Joon Kim said Rashid instead took "cruel advantage of his position of power, grossly overworking his domestic worker" and paying her "well below" what he had reported.

He obtained her visa "through lies" and "allegedly set up a sham bank account to spend for himself the wages he purported to pay her," said Kim.

On June 12, Mohammed Shaheldul Islam, 45, a deputy consul general of Bangladesh, was accused of forcing his servant to work for up to 18 hours a day without pay. He was charged Monday with labor trafficking and assault.

Islam, who has limited diplomatic immunity, was ordered by a federal magistrate to surrender his passport. He could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

In December 2013, India's deputy consul general, Devyani Khobragade, was arrested and strip-searched in New York on charges of mistreating her servant in what sparked a bitter dispute between India and the United States.

U.S. authorities accused her of paying a domestic worker less than the minimum wage and lying about the employee's salary in a visa application.

She denied the charge and subsequently returned to India, but was later stripped of her Foreign Ministry post for making unauthorized statements to the media.
With the White House casting doubts about reports that President Donald Trump is under investigation for obstruction of justice, questions have sprouted in recent days about whether the U.S. Justice Department official supervising the broader probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election must recuse himself.



The 11-month investigation of Russian meddling and possible collusion with Trumps presidential campaign is being overseen by Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Departments No. 2 official since late April, because Attorney General Jeff Sessions had previously recused himself -- stepped away from the probe because of his own meetings with Russia's ambassador to Washington.



Calls for Rosenstein to also remove himself from the investigation arose after Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey last month, saying it was the deputy attorney general's recommendation that persuaded him to act. The president contradicted himself almost immediately, telling an interviewer the next day that he had decided to dismiss Comey regardless of Rosenstein's opinion.



Calls for recusal renewed



The pressure on Rosenstein to recuse himself escalated last week after The Washington Post reported -- and Trump appeared to confirm -- that investigators were examining whether Trump tried to impede the investigation when he fired Comey.



"I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director!" Trump wrote on Twitter Friday, adding that he saw this as a "witch hunt."

One of the president's lawyers, Jay Sekulow, said Trumps online comments about his involvement in the case should not be taken literally.



During multiple television appearances on Sunday, Sekulow said again and again that the president brought up what he called a "witch hunt" merely as a response to the Washington Post story, and that Trump's words were not an acknowledgement that he was under investigation.



Probe has widened



Trump was not a target of the investigation when it was first begun last July, but the scope of the probe appears to have broadened in the weeks since Comey's firing, and the likelihood that Rosenstein will be questioned remains high, leaving the deputy attorney general little choice but to recuse himself from his role in supervising the overall case.



Citing unnamed sources, ABC News reported Friday that Rosenstein had privately acknowledged to his Department of Justice colleagues that he may have to recuse himself from the Russia probe.



Department of Justice spokesman Ian Prior said Rosenstein has long insisted that, If there comes a point when he needs to recuse, he will.



However, nothing has changed, Prior wrote in a statement emailed to VOA.



Rules regulating special counsel



Under rules regulating the special counsel, Rosenstein does not supervise Mueller on a day-to-day basis but he has executive authority over how his investigation is carried out. For example, Rosenstein could ask for an explanation or justification of any part of the investigation, and after review conclude that the action is so inappropriate or unwarranted under established departmental practices that it should not be pursued.



Writing on the Lawfare Blog on Friday, Harvard Law School Professor Jack Goldsmith and Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, argued that the substance of the investigation has apparently developed to include a potential obstruction of justice focus on the president," making Rosenstein's continued involvement "untenable."



Peter Zeidenberg, a former federal prosecutor now a partner at the Arent Fox law firm in Washington, agreed that Rosenstein has to recuse himself because I think he is clearly going to be a witness in a potential obstruction investigation.



But others remain skeptical that Rosenstein's role in Comey's dismissal was deep enough to warrant his testimony.

Trump's tweets 'hardly a serious basis'



Georgetown University law professor Marty Lederman said Trumps tweet is hardly a serious basis for believing that Mueller is investigating Trump for firing Comey."



On the contrary, the more reasonable assumption is that if Trump tweeted it, it must be nonsense, Lederman wrote in the Just Security blog.



Nevertheless, he agreed that Rosenstein would have to recuse himself if he is summoned as a fact witness in the investigation.



John Malcolm, a former prosecutor now with the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said he doesnt see Rosenstein as an indispensable witness.



Certainly, if he were implicated in the investigation to something beyond a witness, then of course hed have to recuse himself, Malcolm said. But if all hes going to do is to say, I wrote a memorandum, and I gave that memorandum to the president, and I told him that was my advice, I dont see any reason at that point why hed become so entangled in this investigation where his credibility would become so much an issue that it would be somehow unfair for him to oversee it.
The death this week of U.S. student Otto Warmbier, who was recently released by North Korea after spending several months in detention there, was an "unfortunate event," Chinese officials said Tuesday at a news conference in Beijing.

Warmbier, 22, from Ohio, was detained in February 2016 during a so-called adventure trip to North Korea. He was medically evacuated in a coma to the U.S. last week and died Monday. Doctors at Cincinnati Hospital said he had brain damage that most likely was caused by deprivation of oxygen, not botulism, which the North Korean government said had caused Warmbier's illness.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed condolences to Warmbier's family, according to the Korean publication Chosun Ilbo.

Young Pioneer Tours, headquartered in Xi'an, China  the agency that arranged Warmbier's "budget" tour to North Korea  released a statement Tuesday saying it would no longer organize tours for U.S. citizens to North Korea. The travel agency said that after Warmbier was arrested in North Korea at the airport, representatives tried to see the University of Virginia student, but their requests were rejected.

On its Facebook page, Young Pioneer Tours expressed deep sympathy to Warmbier's friends and family. "We have been struggling to process the result," the agency said in a post.

VOA called Young Pioneer Travel repeatedly at its Xi'an headquarters but reached only its answering machine.

Effect on tours

One Beijing-based travel agent who said his name was Gong told VOA that Warmbier's death "no doubt" would negatively impact "foreigners' interest in traveling to North Korea." A number of foreign travel agencies in Beijing that arrange travel to the DPRK said they were suspending these tours.

Travel agents in Asia pointed out that at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, foreign tourists can apply for a travel visa by submitting a passport and photo at a cost of 70 euros, and receive approval within a few days for a four-to-five-day tour. Foreign tourists to the DPRK are accompanied by at least two local tour guides and are free to move only 50 meters away from the hotel, Gong said.

Spokesperson Geng Shuang from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Chinese government hoped the U.S. and North Korea would be able to handle the incident "properly."

North Korean authorities said Warmbier was arrested for alleged theft of political slogans hanging in a Pyongyang hotel where he was staying. When brought to court, he was seen on video tearfully pleading guilty in March 2016 and was sentenced to 15 years at a labor camp.

Pyongyang has not responded to Warmbier's death. North Korean authorities said last week that Warmbier's release was "out of humanitarian considerations."

Three other U.S. citizens are detained in North Korea.
U.S. President Donald Trump boasted Wednesday about Republican success in winning congressional elections this year, the latest in the southern state of Georgia in what was the most expensive race for a seat in the House of Representatives in U.S. history.

Trump said in a Twitter comment, "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."

Republicans have actually won four races, with Democrats capturing a fifth seat. Karen Handel, a former Georgia state official, won Tuesday's marquee election in the wealthy, highly educated suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, defeating her Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff.

A second Republican, Ralph Norman, won a congressional seat in South Carolina.

In both states, the Republican winners are replacing Republican officeholders who vacated their seats when Trump tapped them for key positions in his administration.

In another Twitter comment, Trump said that opposition Democrats "would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on health care, tax cuts, security. Obstruction doesn't work!"

Trump, five months into his presidency, has had scant legislative success in enacting his agenda, with Democrats blocking or stalling many of his proposals.

Health care reforms



However, Republicans in the House of Representatives did narrowly push through an overhaul of national health care reforms championed by former President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans are promising to reveal their version of the measure on Thursday and then vote on it next week. Its legislative fate in the Senate is uncertain and any measure passed in that chamber would have to be reconciled with the House-approved bill.

Handel's victory allowed Republicans 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 Ossoff was a major focus for both parties, sparking $50 million in campaign spending. 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 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.

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 has a 52-48 majority in the Senate.

All of the 435 House seats will be contested in 2018, and if Democrats want to reclaim control of the chamber they will need to gain at least 24 seats.
President Donald Trump is headed Wednesday to the Midwestern farm state of Iowa, where he is scheduled to tour an agricultural program at a community college and then hold a political rally.

It is his first visit to the rural state in the U.S. heartland since he won it in last November's election on his way to a four-year term in the White House.

Trump has made several forays to states that he won over Democrat Hillary Clinton for political rallies reminiscent of his 2016 campaign.

Trump, who already has said he plans to run for re-election in 2020, has basked in the cheers of thousands of his supporters at the rallies.

The president has appeared to enjoy the respite from official Washington, where congressional committees and a special prosecutor are investigating Russian meddling in last year's election aimed at helping him win, and whether Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey, who was leading the Russia investigation at the time Trump ousted him.
Two former IGs convicted on Sudan Scam sent to jail

Two former Inspector Generals of Nepal Police, who were found guilty on the high-profile Sudan Scam, have been sent to jail on Wednesday.
Turkey's main opposition leader accused President Recep 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-kilometer (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 favor 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 honorable 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 kilometers, 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 kilometers daily.
Travis Kalanick, the combative and troubled CEO of ride-hailing giant Uber, resigned Tuesday under pressure from investors.

The company's board confirmed the move early Tuesday, saying in a statement that Kalanick is taking time to heal from the death of his mother in a boating accident -while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber's history. He will remain on the Uber Technologies Inc. board.

In a statement, Kalanick said his resignation would help Uber go back to building -rather than be distracted with another fight.

The resignation came after a series of costly missteps by Kalanick and the fast-growing company that he helped found eight years ago. Uber on Monday embarked on a 180-day program to change its image by allowing riders to give drivers tips through the Uber app, something the company had resisted under Kalanick.

The San Francisco-based company is trying to reverse damage done to its reputation by revelations of sexual harassment in its offices, allegations of trade secrets theft and an investigation into efforts to mislead government regulators.

Uber's board said in a statement that Kalanick had -always put Uber first.

While building the world's biggest ride-hailing service, Uber developed a reputation for ruthless tactics that have occasionally outraged government regulators, drivers, riders and its employees.

The company's hard-charging style has led to legal trouble. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Uber's past usage of phony software designed to thwart regulators.

Uber also is fighting allegations that it relies on a key piece of technology stolen from Google spin-off Waymo to build self-driving cars.
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.

Refrain and condemn

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.

Haley: Hamas a serious threat

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.
4 UNICEF says more than 1,000 children have died in the Islamic State conflict in Iraq in the past three years and more than 1,300 have been injured. These are just the ones they know of in Mosul, Iraq, June 21, 2017.
With the conflict in Ukraine now in its fourth year casualties have mounted substantially in recent months, according to a new report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Between mid-February and mid-May of this year, the period covered, U.N. investigators documented 193 conflict-related civilian casualties, including 36 deaths.

This is a 48 percent increase over the last reporting period, said High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein in presenting an oral update on the human rights situation. Speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council Wednesday, Zeid also said, The majority of these casualties resulted from shelling, explosive devices and remnants of war.

He noted that so far this year, there were 375 conflict-related civilian casualties, including 67 deaths and 308 injuries - a 74 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

The number of civilian casualties caused by shelling has doubled, he said. These statistics speak to the changing nature of conflict: it is intensifying, with both sides very close to each other and heavy weapons, soldiers and members of armed groups frequently embedded in civilian areas or alongside civilian infrastructure.

10,000 dead

Since April 2014 when war erupted in eastern Ukraine between the government and Russian-backed separatists, the United Nations estimates around 10,000 people have been killed and more than 23,500 injured.

Serhiy Kyslytsya, Ukraines deputy minister for foreign affairs, concurred with the high commissioners assessment and the findings of the report, which noted "continuous inflow of foreign fighters and supply of ammunition and heavy weaponry from the Russian Federation into parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

The minister added that while this Russian practice continues, there is no end to the conflict in sight.

The warring parties' first effort to try to halt the war resulted in the so-called Minsk protocol signed in September 2014 by Ukraine, rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). This agreement and subsequent efforts to end the crisis have ended in failure.

Key commitments made under the Minsk agreements continue to be largely ignored, said Zeid.

Daily violations of the cease-fire, routine use of heavy weapons in breach of the withdrawal lines, and indiscriminate shelling have continued to take a heavy toll on civilian lives and property.

The associated trend of increased cease-fire violations suggests there is no political will to stop the fighting, he said.

The U.N. reports hospitals and schools in eastern Ukraine have been damaged by shelling. It said the Donetsk Filtration Station and the South Donbas first pumping station also were repeatedly damaged due to shelling, endangering safe water supply to more than one million people on both sides of the contact line.

750,000 children under threat

Earlier this week, the U.N. Childrens Fund warned of serious repercussions for some 750,000 children cut off from safe drinking water.

Why we are worried is because the children who are cut off from clean drinking water can quickly contract water-borne disease, such as diarrhea, said Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF spokesman.

Girls and boys having to fetch water from alternative sources or who are forced to leave their homes due to disruptions to safe water supplies face dangers from ongoing fighting and other forms of abuses, he said.

Zeid found that both sides of this war were to blame for human rights violations. He noted that his staff has documented cases of unlawful and arbitrary detention on both sides of the contact line, coupled with abuse amounting to torture or ill-treatment.

He said that allegations indicate almost systematic use of torture and ill-treatment by the Security Service of Ukraine against conflict-related detainees for purposes of extracting confessions.

This is compounded by ineffective investigations of complaints by victims, he said.

Crimea rights violations

The high commissioner lambasted the human rights situation in Crimea, which Russia annexed in March of 2014.

Zeid said the report documents worrisome cases of disregard of fair trial guarantees, notably in court decisions against Crimean Tatars.

Several cases of grave ill-treatment of persons in detention were also documented, as well as the transfer of persons from Crimea to detention facilities in the Russian Federation.

He said this was done in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The unlawful annexation of the Crimean Peninsula prompted the United States and European Union to impose sanctions on Russian individuals and businesses. In a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump assured him that Washington would continue its sanctions on Russia.

In response to the report, Russia voiced concerns about new cases of arbitrary and illegal detention, and the use of torture by Ukrainian security forces to obtain confessions in the Donbas region.

Natalia Zolotova, first secretary of the Russian mission, said her country deplored the lack of investigation on the crimes committed by Ukrainian authorities.

She stressed that Kyiv was responsible for inhuman acts of discrimination by imposing a blockade on the Donbas region.

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Kyslytsya said the only way that human rights in the Donbas region and Crimea will improve is through full consolidation of the international community and its constant political pressure on occupying state  the Russian Federation.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says Saudi Arabia and its allies have prepared a list of demands for Qatar, and he emphasized the United States looks forward to the diplomatic dispute between the Gulf states "moving toward a resolution."

"We hope the list of demands will soon be presented to Qatar and will be reasonable and actionable," Tillerson said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates imposed measures to isolate Qatar two weeks ago, causing the worst Gulf Arab crisis in years. The countries have accused Qatar of supporting terrorism, a charge that Doha strongly denies.

Tillerson said the list of demands has been prepared and coordinated by the Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians, and the Bahrainis. He said the United States supports the mediation efforts of Kuwait.

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."

On Monday, Qatar said it will not negotiate with neighboring countries unless they cease their economic and travel "blockade" of the Gulf state.

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, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulraham al-Thani told reporters in the capital city of Doha.

Saudi Arabia first took action on June 5, pulling its ambassador out of Qatar and forcing Qatari nationals to move back to their home country by June 19. Saudi Arabia also closed Qatars only land border and banned its planes from using Saudi airspace.
Members of the U.S. Congress met with reporters Tuesday to explain their claim that President Donald Trump violated the Constitution for accepting funds from foreign governments through his businesses without congressional approval.

Last week nearly 200 Democratic lawmakers filed suit against the president in federal court over the payments that hundreds of Trump businesses have received from foreign governments since the presidential inauguration five months ago. The legal action contends Trump and his representatives have concealed the extent and the amount of the payments.

The Constitution of the United States says Congress must consent, Senator Richard Blumenthal said at Tuesday's news conference. We cannot consent to what we don't know. We cannot consent to what Donald Trump has concealed, and he owes the Congress that disclosure.

Trump 'either doesn't know or doesn't care'

Congressman John Conyers of the House Judiciary Committee said he and other Democratic colleagues have written to Trump on multiple occasions, seeking information about the foreign payments. They have not received a response, Conyers said, adding: Look, it boils down to this: he either doesn't know or doesn't care.

At issue is the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause, which prohibits public officials from receiving payments and other gifts from foreign governments with congressional approval.

'Uncharted territory'

The founding founders of the United States, who drafted the Declaration of Independence from Britain and the U.S. Constitution more than 200 years ago, worried that wealthy foreign countries would bribe public leaders of the new nation, Senator Tom Udall said, so they included the emoluments clause in the Constitution to preserve and protect the country's sovereignty.

As with many things, President Trump has taken us into uncharted territory, Udall said. Today, because of his continued and unknown business interests, we don't know what motivates President Trump's decision making.

Similar lawsuits have been filed against Trump in recent months, including an action brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia, home of the nation's capital.

'Partisan politics'

The suits claim that Trump's acceptance of payments from foreign and U.S. governments through his hotels and other hospitality businesses put competitors at an unfair disadvantage and incentivized governments to give Trump's businesses special treatment.

In a motion earlier this month seeking dismissal of one of the private lawsuits, the Justice Department contended the plaintiffs failed to show that their businesses suffered any specific harm to their businesses. Government attorneys said Trump is only prohibited from accepting gifts from foreign governments if they were specifically linked to his role as president.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said partisan politics motivated the suits filed by Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Income-tax returns

When Trump entered the White House in January he turned over control of his global business empire to his two adult sons and a senior executive and placed his financial assets in a trust controlled by Donald Trump Jr. and the senior executive. The president can resume control of the trust at any time, and he can withdraw cash from the trust whenever he wants.

Critics contend this arrangement falls far short of divestiture of Trump's assets, or placement of his properties and investments in a blind trust whose proceeds and transactions he can neither influence nor countermand. Such arrangements have been the norm for U.S. presidents for decades, but the structure of Trump's business empire, tightly held and without stockholders' scrutiny, also is quite different from his predecessors' holdings.

The president's finances also have drawn scrutiny because he has refused to release copies of his income-tax returns, departing from another well-established custom of American public office-holders. Without such information the general public and news media lack detailed, verified financial information about the president's income, assets and debts.
The United States pushed China during high-level security talks on Wednesday to step up diplomatic and economic pressure to rein in the Kim Jong Un regime in North Korea, but defense analysts said Washington may have to lower its expectations, due to Beijings strategic relationship with Pyongyang.

China understands that the United States regards North Korea as our top security threat, said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. "We reiterated to China that they have a diplomatic responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime if they want to prevent further escalation in the region.

Watch: Top Chinese, US officials kick off strategic talks in Washington

Whether it is money laundering, extorting Korean expatriates, or malicious cyberactivity, North Korea has engaged in a number of criminal enterprises that help fund its weapons programs," the top American diplomat added. "We must step up our efforts to help curtail these sources of revenue."

North Korea topped the agenda at the talks Wednesday after a U.S. student who had been imprisoned by the communist country died this week after being returned to his family.

Tillerson, Mattis Represent US

The first round of the U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue included Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis from the U.S. side, meeting with China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of the People's Liberation Army's joint staff department.

President Donald Trump has lauded China's past efforts to rein in North Korea, but he acknowledged in a tweet on Wednesday that those efforts have not achieved the desired results. His comments followed the death on Monday of Otto Warmbier, 22, who was returned to U.S. custody in a coma after nearly 18 months of imprisonment by North Korea on a minor charge.

"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 wrote on Twitter.

Mattis said President Trump represents the American peoples view of North Korea right now.

Regime 'Plays Outside the Rules'

This goes beyond any kind of understanding of law and order, of humanity, of responsibility toward any human being, Mattis said. Americans are frustrated, he continued, with a regime that provokes, and provokes, and provokes, and basically plays outside the rules, plays fast and loose with the truth.

Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun, the U.S. diplomat who traveled to North Korea to secure Warmbier's release, plan to attend his funeral in Ohio on Thursday.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday that China has been trying continuously to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis, and that its efforts have always been "important and constructive.

The United Nations has blacklisted hundreds of North Korean entities, but many of them try to get business done through China, according to U.S. officials. The issue is a sticking point between Washington and Beijing that many experts say deserves frank discussion.



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, Rand Corporation senior defense analyst Derek Grossman said.

Grossman said Beijings strategic calculus about North Korea should temper Washingtons expectations of what Trump administration policy can achieve.

The Rand analyst said China's perpetual security concern is reflected in its proposal that the U.S. and South Korea freeze routine joint exercises, in exchange for Pyongyang suspending its missile and nuclear programs.

Sung Yoon-Lee, a Korean analyst at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, said U.S. diplomats have tried for 25 years to urge China to pressure North Korea, but that those efforts have largely fallen on deaf ears.

"China needs to be presented with some economic disincentives, some costs," he said. "Moral suasion in itself will get nowhere."
When South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump meet for the first time next week (June 28), they will almost certainly emphasize the common threat posed by the repressive and nuclear Kim Jong Un regime, but increasing differences over security and trade could undermine the show of unity.

The summit will occur in the wake of the tragic death of Otto Warmbier, the U.S. student who had been held prisoner in North Korea while in a coma for over 15 months, and finally released last week with serious and ultimately terminal brain damage.

Both leaders have cited Warmbiers brutal treatment by the North Korean government as further reason to halt Pyongyangs rapidly advancing nuclear and ballistic missile program.

But the two allies seem at odds on how to make that happen.

Get tough approach

The Trump administration has prioritized the short term - preventing North Korea from developing a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can strike the U.S. mainland.

Washington has stressed the threat of military force and increased economic pressure from China, Pyongyangs key trading partner.

After meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in April, there were indications that a deal had been reached in which Beijing would exert a constraining influence over Pyongyang in exchange for Washingtons less critical treatment of Chinese trade practices.

However on Tuesday, Trump expressed disappointment that Chinas increased efforts, which reportedly included a ban of the import of North Korean coal, had failed to restrain Pyongyang from continuing to conduct ballistic missile tests.

"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 wrote on Twitter.

For some time now, experts who analyze satellite images say North Korea is prepared to conduct a sixth nuclear test to further its progress toward a reliable ICBM capability.

Outreach

The progressive South Korean leader wants to balance strong military deterrence and sanctions with dialogue and engagement to ease tensions over time.

"I believe what Kim Jong Un would want the most is to have a security guarantee for his regime. So there is a possibility that Kim Jong Un will continue to make the bluff with his nuclear weapons programs. But deep inside he is actually yearning or wanting dialogue. But in the end, the only way to find out is to have a dialogue with North Korea," said Moon.

Moon has expressed concern over talk of a possible U.S. military strike to take out the Norths nuclear and ballistic missiles sites, which would almost certainly trigger an immediate deadly retaliation against millions living in South Korea.

The presidents special envoy for security and diplomacy, Moon Chung-in, recently suggested that South Korea would be willing to scale back or suspend joint military exercises with the U.S. in exchange for Pyongyangs agreement to freeze its nuclear program.

However on Wednesday the special envoy said his views do not represent official policy.

"What I do for the president is giving advice. Whether the president accepts my advices or not is his decision," he said.

Still President Moons more progressive proposals may not be well received in Washington, especially after Trumps hardline policies have been endorsed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

It would almost invite a type of reaction from President Trump that would look more at why South Korea is not towing a certain type of line that they are already seeing vis-a-vis the U.S.-Japan relationship, said John Park, Director of the Korea Working Group at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

There is also concern in Washington over Moons decision to delay the full deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system, citing the need to conduct an environmental study. The deployment delay is seen by many as a move to accommodate Chinas opposition to an American military build up in the region and THAADs powerful radar that can be used to monitor the entire region.

Trade deficit

Trump has also threatened to terminate the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement that produced a bilateral U.S. trade deficit of over $27 billion last year.

Moon will likely emphasize that South Korean companies like Hyundai have built factories in the U.S. that employ 45,000 people and contributed $138 billion to the U.S. economy.

Business leaders in Seoul advise the South Korean president to propose a $10 billion dollar buy American fund to boost imports of U.S. oil and other products that Trump can boast about on Twitter.

As we know Mr. Trump loves to Tweet and his Tweets form an important part of the policy directives and the overall environment of the U.S. political and economic scene. So President Moon should plan in advance what he wants Mr. Trump to Tweet, said Jeffrey Jones, the former chairman of the American Chamber in Korea.

Also in Asia it is being noticed as a troubling sign that the summit will happen at the White House, and not at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he met with the leaders of Japan and China.
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 neighbors 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 neighbors 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.
Unnatural encounters

Individual demonstrations of ethical and moral stands become particularly powerful when the formal structures that are built to sustain our collective norms and values are subordinated to political interests.
The United States Treasury Department announced additional sanctions Tuesday against Russia, pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, and individuals and companies associated with them.

The move comes on the heels of a White House meeting Tuesday between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The increased sanctions is in response to continued Russian support for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. Prior to his meeting with Trump, Poroshenko stressed the importance of taking such action before the U.S. presidents meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The sanctions will target 38 individuals and business entities linked to the continuing conflict in eastern Ukraine. The penalties will remain in place until Russia meets the terms of 2014 and 2015 peace accords reached in Minsk, Belarus.

These designations will maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic process that guarantees Ukrainian sovereignty, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement. There should be no sanctions relief until Russia meets its obligations under the Minsk agreement.

Among those sanctioned are two high-level Russian officials, Deputy Economy Minister Sergey Nazarov and Russian MP Alexander Babakov.

Nazarov, who oversees Russia's humanitarian aid programs in separatist-controlled areas of Ukraines Donetsk and Luhansk regions, has been designated for materially assisting and sponsoring the separatist campaigns and advocating international investment in Crimea.

Babakov, Putin's special liaison for expatriates, voted in favor of annexing Crimea in 2014 on the grounds that Moscow is obligated to represent ethnic Russians living abroad.

Russias largest arms producer, Kalashnikov Concern, has been designated along with a number of small Russian-owned banks for operating in Crimea, along with Oboronlogistyka, a Russian Defense Ministry subsidiary in charge of procurement and provisioning for the annexed Black Sea peninsula.

KPSK, one of Russia's top corporate property underwriters, has been designated for insuring the Kerch Bridge project, which, if completed, would link Crimea and mainland Russia.

The action follows moves by lawmakers last week to pass a bill to limit the White Houses authority to lift sanctions against Russia without congressional approval. The bill passed with 98 votes in the Senate and now moves on to the House of Representatives.

The Trump administration had pushed back against the Senate bill.

I would urge Congress to ensure any legislation allows the president to have the flexibility to adjust sanctions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told lawmakers last week.

Ukrainian President Poroshenko said he received strong assurances of U.S. support for his country from Trump during Tuesday's meeting.

Trump is expected to meet with Putin at the upcoming Group of 20 (G-20) summit slated for July 7-8 in Hamburg, Germany, under the theme Shaping an Interconnected World.
The United States is urging China to play a more prominent role in combating global terrorism and help change the calculus on North Korea, ahead of high-level security talks with Beijing.

The first round of the U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue kicks off in Washington Wednesday.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis will host a Chinese delegation led by State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of the People's Liberation Army's Joint Staff Department.

Senior U.S. officials say China has taken a fairly limited profile in counterterrorism efforts. It is not a member of the 68-nation global coalition countering the Islamic State militant group

We would like to see them step up and take more responsibility, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Susan Thornton told VOA on Monday.

Thornton said China has a lot of interest in Iraq, and the U.S. thinks it should be doing more to contribute to the efforts of the international coalition to defeat IS.

Killings concern China

Earlier this month, two Chinese citizens were killed by Islamic State militants after being kidnapped in southwestern Pakistan. In November 2015, IS said it killed Chinese national Fan Jinghui. Both cases triggered grave concern from Beijing.

We have seen them [Chinese officials] become more interested over time, added Thornton, noting the talks are an early feeler on getting China more involved.

On Tuesday, Chinese officials said both countries have been victims of terrorism.

Cooperation is in the interests of both sides, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing.

Leveraging China's ties to North Korea

On North Korea, the U.S. is looking for China to change the calculus of the isolated regime and exert its leverage as North Korea's largest trading partner.

The most urgent and dangerous threat to peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region is North Korea, said Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia David Helvey on Tuesday. We seek to deepen our cooperation to realize the outcome which is in the best interest of peace and security in the region and the world.

The United Nations has blacklisted hundreds of North Korean entities, but many of them try to get business done though China, according to U.S. officials.

The issue is a sticking point between Washington and Beijing that experts say needs to be the focus of frank discussion.

The Chinese remain unconvinced that the U.S. goal is not regime change. The U.S. side remains unconvinced that China's goal is not to use the North Korean problem as leverage in the relationship, Dennis Wilder from Georgetown University's U.S.-China Initiative told VOA.

This is a matter of strategic trust that can only be built through this type of dialogue at the most senior levels, added Wilder, who served as the senior director for East Asian affairs at the National Security Council under former President George W. Bush.

Freeze proposed

Rand Corporation senior defense analyst Derek Grossman notes the last thing Beijing wants is a conflict that would end Kim Jong Un's regime and unleash new power dynamics at its doorstep.

Grossman said China's perpetual security concern is reflected in its proposal that the U.S. and South Korea freeze routine joint exercises in exchange for Pyongyang suspending its missile and nuclear programs.

U.S. officials say they welcome actions by countries that have ramped up pressure on Pyongyang, including phasing out the use of North Korean laborers, and denying the landing rights and refueling privileges of North Korea's national airline Air Koryo.

A lot of the wages of these workers go to the regime and to fund unlawful programs in North Korea, Thornton told reporters.

U.S. officials said Wednesday's Diplomatic and Security Dialogue is a departure from the Strategic and Economic Dialogue of years past that covered a wide range of issues. Instead, they say this week's discussion reflects a streamlined approach and will more narrowly focus on key security issues.

South China Sea

Another area in which Washington hopes to make headway is the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing's island building has raised concerns.

U.S. officials are calling for a binding code of conduct to resolve differences.

All parties should freeze any construction or militarization of features that they have outposts on in this space and make room and create the conditions for diplomacy, said Thornton.
Venezuela opposition lawmakers placed pretend coffins and body bags at gates of the National Guard headquarters on Tuesday in protest after the latest fatality in anti-government unrest that has killed at least 75 people since April.

Footage and photos from demonstrations on Monday showed at least three members of the National Guard - a military unit with public order responsibilities - aiming and firing pistols in clashes on a major Caracas highway.

A 17-year-old demonstrator was shot in the chest and died, while several others were injured.

"You cannot keep killing people in the street!" opposition lawmaker Tomas Guanipa shouted during the early-morning protest in the middle-class El Paraiso zone of Caracas.

"Who gave the order to shoot?" asked another lawmaker Jose Olivares as soldiers watched silently from inside their base.

Venezuelan authorities said two National Guard members had been detained on Monday for what the interior minister called "presumed improper and disproportionate use of force" when thousands of protesters flooded the streets.

And President Nicolas Maduro announced that the general in charge of the National Guard, Antonio Benavides, was being replaced by another military man, Sergio Rivero.

"Win peace! That is our aim," Maduro told Rivero, without giving reasons for the change.

Opposition leaders accuse Rivero and other military leaders appointed by Maduro of human rights violations during the recent protests.

"Generals and admirals that we denounced before the state prosecutors' office for committing atrocities against Venezuelans are being given honors and promotions," wrote opposition legislator Gabriela Arellano via Twitter.

The Defense Ministry and the Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the issue.

As well as the fatalities, thousands of people have been injured or arrested since Venezuela's opposition began its latest street campaign against Maduro's socialist government in early April.

They accuse Hugo Chavez's successor of becoming a dictator and wrecking the once-prosperous OPEC member's economy, demanding a presidential election to end his rule.

Maduro, 54, narrowly won election in 2013 to replace Chavez after his death from cancer, but has seen his approval rating halve to just above 20 percent during four years of an economic crisis causing hunger and shortages.

Victims on All Sides

Maduro says "terrorists" and "fascists" are leading the protests in an effort to topple him by force as briefly happened to Chavez in 2002. Government supporters, bystanders and some members of the security forces have also been victims of the violence, with gunshot wounds the most common cause.

Though thousands turned out on Monday, many grassroots opposition supporters feel intimidated by the daily violence in cities around Venezuela, where masked youths barricade streets and hurl stones and Molotov cocktails against security forces with tear gas and water cannons.

Pro-government gangs with guns sometimes join the fray.

There is also some exhaustion setting in within protester ranks after 80 days of what the opposition calls "resistance" and the government terms "armed insurrection."

Opposition leaders have, however, vowed to step up tactics to increase pressure on Maduro. They are seeking to halt Maduro's plan for July 30 elections for a special assembly to rewrite the constitution, a move they say is rigged to keep him in power.

Chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega has been leading dissent against the plan from within government, earning her a barrage of accusations from officials ranging from corruption to insanity and promoting violence.

The Supreme Court on Monday accepted a request by a ruling Socialist Party lawmaker to begin the process of taking her to trial for committing "serious offenses."

Before any trial could take place, the Supreme Court would first have to hold a preliminary hearing to determine whether a trial is warranted.
Economic analysts say many foreign investors are finding an up side to the suppression of dissent in Vietnam, taking comfort in the expectation of business stability as the countrys one-party government moves toward a landmark economic summit later in the year.

Plain-clothed authorities beat rights campaigners and bloggers in 36 incidents between January 2015 and April 2017, often resulting in serious injuries, the New York advocacy group Human Rights Watch said Sunday. Some had joined demonstrations to protect the environment or pushed for human rights, the group said.

Analysts in the country say foreign investors and others with business in Vietnam will either ignore the suppression or take it as a sign that the government is eliminating possible threats to its promotion of a fast-growing economy that depends largely on foreign direct investment.

At the moment its almost implicit that the one-party state will continue indefinitely, and if you want to really criticize it in public, youre asking for trouble, said Adam McCarty, chief economist with Mekong Economics in Hanoi. Businessmen like that sort of stability. You might object to it ethically, morally or on democratic grounds, but on business grounds, its a stable business environment.

Executives from the American and European chambers of commerce in Ho Chi Minh City were unavailable for comment Wednesday on what member companies think of Vietnam's human rights issues.

Image control



The Southeast Asian Communist government is keen to control dissent ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leadership meetings that it will host through November, analysts say. Vietnam first hosted APEC in 2006. U.S. President Donald Trump and leaders from 20 other countries could attend this year.

Vietnam wants to avoid any embarrassment from protests while showing foreign APEC guests it is open-minded and eager, said Frederick Burke, partner with the international law firm Baker & McKenzie in Ho Chi Minh City.

Theres not much to complain about, I think. (APEC) will be a big showcase for Vietnam, McCarty said. The authorities just dont want it to be used as a protest scene, as well.

Human Rights Watch said Vietnamese agents beat activists and bloggers with impunity. The rights group demanded Sunday that the government end the attacks and hold the perpetrators responsible. Donor governments, it added, should tell Vietnam to stop.

Vietnamese prosecutors also have formally charged Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, a blogger better known as Mother Mushroom, over suspected anti-state propaganda. The blogger, who was awarded the International Women of Courage Award in absentia from U.S. first lady Melania Trump in March, faces 12 years in prison if convicted.

But Vietnam lets a lot of chatter pass to keep the internet open for the benefit of economic and social development, Burke said.

Economic growth



Vietnams economy grew more than 6 percent in 2015 and 2016 to $200 billion largely on the back of export manufacturing, which in turn has expanded the middle class among an overall population of 92 million. Foreign direct investment disbursements in industries from furniture to consumer electronics last year reached a record high of $15.8 billion. Four decades ago, Vietnam was emerging from wars with China and the United States.

Theres always a lot of hot politics going and people spout off on the internet, Burke said. But there also still seems to be a lot of openness on the Vietnam internet. You can hang yourself from your own tree but the point is that Facebook, Google, all these thing that are closed off in China are open here and it does help the economy.

But as usual theres always some sensitivity in different sectors about what gets said about who and how, he said.

EU concerns



Members of the European Parliament may seek improvements in human rights before ratifying a Vietnam free trade pact signed by negotiators in December 2015, said Oscar Mussons, senior associate with the Dezan Shira & Associates business consultancy in Ho Chi Minh City.

European Parliament members voiced concerns in February when a human rights subcommittee visited Vietnam.

Companies invested in Vietnam for cheap factory labor  a source of wildcat workplace strikes that were common before 2011  also want to be clear on pay and hours.

From an investor point of view they will come here and say, so whats the situation with the workers rights and how many hours of extra time can we have them working and what is the minimum salary? Mussons said. So the investors really care about having everything into place."
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, marking World Refugee Day on Tuesday, expressed concern that opportunities for refugee resettlement in richer countries have decreased.

"This is particularly worrying, especially when associated to forms of political populism, xenophobia, racism in which refugees become a target," he said at a news conference in New York. "Many times being accused of being part of a terror threat, when refugees are not terrorists, they are the first victim of terror. They are fleeing terror. That is why they are refugees."

Guterres said people must recognize that there is no humanitarian solution to the refugee crisis, only political ones. He stressed the importance of solving crises around the world that force people to leave their homes in the first place.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued a statement on World Refugee Day promising continued humanitarian support from the United States and thanking countries that host and resettle refugees.

"As the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance, the United States is a leader in supporting refugees and addressing causes of forced displacement," the statement read.

Recognition of welcoming nations

In December 2000, the United Nations moved to declare June 20 World Refugee Day to commemorate "the strength, courage, and resilience of millions of refugees."

"We honor the resilience and courage of more than 65 million people who have been forced to flee war, persecution and violence," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a statement Tuesday. "But it's 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 schools, their workplaces and their societies."

Grandi denounced the fear and exclusion that often surrounds rhetoric on resettling refugees. He called on the public to "change this trajectory" and welcome those forced to leave their homes.
A massive fire gutted a derelict building used by homeless people in central Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Wednesday and burned down six cars that were parked in the vicinity.

The building, sitting at the intersection of Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Street and 11th Avenue, was reportedly vacated by a Toyota dealership a few years ago and is currently on the market for tenancy.

Local authority officials suspect the blaze was accidentally started by homeless persons, known in local lingo as "izibhonda," who have sheltered themselves in the building to stave off wintry weather.

A local journalist who visited the scene told VOA Studio 7 that he counted up to six burned vehicles; some partially, some totally. Right now I would say six cars have been affected, said the newsman as the fire raged.

While the building owners and the affected motorists were left counting their losses, resident Paul Masuku, who works nearby was breathing a sigh of relief after he save his car just in the nick of time.

Someone came and told me to go and drive my car away because a fire had broken out. I did just that and I am happy I saved it, Masuku told VOA.

The fire brigade, which is often ill-equipped, were able to put out the blaze before it spread to nearby buildings, including a local headquarters of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO).
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Zimbabwe joined UN agencies and NGOs to appeal for $10.9 million in aid Wednesday, to help thousands of refugees in Zimbabwe, including those fleeing conflict in Mozambique. UN Representatives Robert Tibagwa and Mohamed Ayoya explained reasons for the appeal for funding. (Reuters)
A selection of our most popular trips, which we have been offering and improving over many years now: Stromboli & Etna, Santorini, Java, Ethiopia, Nyiragongo and more. Have a look!
TECHNOLOGY

Apple challenges Qualcomm on patents

Apple is seeking to void some of Qualcomms patent claims and licensing agreements, intensifying its legal battle with the chip maker over the technology in iPhones and iPads.

In a federal court filing Tuesday, Apple cited a May Supreme Court ruling that a printer-cartridge makers patent rights end with the initial sale of the cartridges. Apple says that ruling bolsters its argument that Qualcomm cannot continue to demand royalties for the patents after selling its cellular chips.

The new court documents expand on a $1 billion lawsuit Apple filed in January in U.S. District Court in San Diego. Qualcomm has disputed Apples claims that it is overcharging for patent-related license fees. The chip maker had no immediate comment on the latest filing.

Apple is also seeking to narrow the list of Qualcomm patents covered by its products. In addition, it argues that licensing fees based on a percentage of iPhone and iPad prices are unfair as Qualcomms technologies cover a small part of what goes into those devices.

 Associated Press

RIDE-HAILING

Uber adds option to tip drivers via app

Uber is letting passengers 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. 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 said it wont take any of the tip money. The San Francisco company will continue to collect part of ride-cancellation fees and 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.

Associated Press

Also in Business

President Trump has nominated Republican lawyer Marvin Kaplan to the governments board of referees between unions and businesses. If confirmed by the Senate, Kaplan would give Republicans and Democrats two seats each on the five-member National Labor Relations Board. A fifth seat remains empty, but Trump is expected to fill it with another Republican for a GOP majority for the first time since 2007. Kaplan is counsel at the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Previously, he worked for House Republicans on the education and oversight committees.

Barclays and four former executives were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud during the banks 2008 capital raising from Qatar as it sought to avoid a bailout. The Serious Fraud Office said Tuesday that ex-chief executive John Varley and three others face charges along with Barclays. The case relates to the nature of $408 million in fees Barclays paid to the Qatar Investment Authority and a $3 billion loan facility it made available to the nation as part of side deals to the 12 billion-pound fundraising from Qatari and other investors.

Ford said Tuesday that it will move some production of its Focus small cars to China and import the vehicles to the United States in a long-term bet on low oil prices and stable U.S.-China trade relations. Ford called the production shift from Mexico to China, slated in mid-2019, a purely financial move that will save the company $500 million in reduced tooling costs. But Ford also expects to ship about 80,000 vehicles to China this year, including the redesigned Lincoln Navigator going into production this fall at Fords Kentucky truck plant. No U.S. jobs will be affected by the shift to China, Ford said.

Seattles $15-an-hour minimum-wage law has boosted pay for restaurant workers without costing jobs, according to a new report from the University of California at Berkeley. The study focused on food service jobs, which some critics said could be disproportionately affected if increased wages forced restaurants to cut workers hours. Author Michael Reich says that hasnt been the case.

From news reports

Coming today

10 a.m.: National Association of Realtors releases existing-home sales for May.
After several tumultuous months that culminated in a shareholder revolt, Travis Kalanick stepped down Tuesday as chief executive of the ride-hailing giant Uber.

Kalanick, who helped found Uber in 2009 and established it as Silicon Valleys highest flying start-up, will stay on Ubers board of directors, a company official confirmed. He was asked to resign in a letter from five major shareholders.

The resignation comes after a series of bruising scandals that arose from the companys famously hard-charging workplace culture, which many say is a reflection of Kalanick himself.

[What to know about Ubers months of crises]

(Daron Taylor,Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)

The controversies include a slew of executive departures and sexual harassment allegations that have raised concerns about the companys ability to recruit female talent. In addition, the company has come under fire for using tactics to evade law enforcement and it is facing off against Google in a major trade secrets lawsuit.

The company also admitted to short-changing New York City drivers of tens of millions of dollars in pay over the last two and a half years.

Kalanick is also facing a personal tragedy: His mother died suddenly in a boating accident in May.

In a statement published by the New York Times, which first reported the resignation, Kalanick said: 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.

[The big problem for Uber now: Attracting talent]

The surprise resignation comes a week after Kalanick agreed to take an indefinite leave of absence, a move the board stressed was the chief executives choice. That week, Emil Michael, the companys senior vice president and a close Kalanick ally, was also pressured to resign.

The exit also comes amid the companys search for a chief operating officer, a second in command who could take the reins from Kalanick. The COO role is one of many executive positions that remain unfilled, leaving questions about who will run Uber in Kalanicks absence.

At least 14 other top executives have also left Uber this year, including its head of communications, Rachel Whetsone, and its senior vice president of engineering, Amit Singhal. The company, valued by investors at $69 billion, also does not have a chief financial officer.

While Uber has been embroiled in controversy over the last eight years  the company has been taken to task time and again for its treatment of drivers and its battles with rivals and regulators  the controversies entered a new phase early this year, with a viral blog post written by a former female Uber engineer named Susan Fowler.

Fowler described a workplace where lines were regularly crossed and boorish behavior was tolerated. She said her boss propositioned her on her first day at work. When she complained to the companys human resources department, she wrote, the incident was played down, and she was encouraged to switch departments. In another incident, she alleged that all of the teams male engineers were given leather jackets as a company perk, but the female engineers were not because there were too few of them to qualify for a bulk discount.

Until now, Ubers aggressive culture was celebrated and emulated across Silicon Valley, while its excesses were largely dismissed as the cost of disrupting the hyper-competitive transportation industry. The term disruption itself, emblematic of a Silicon Valley firm that uses digital chops and a fast-moving, rule-breaking approach to challenge entrenched industries has become synonymous with Uber.

Read more about Uber:

David Bonderman resigns from Uber board after making joke about women at company event on sexual harassment

Arianna Huffingtons fix for Uber: Work less, sleep more

Ex-Uber engineer whose complaint started firms internal investigation dismisses findings as optics


(Scott Suchman/For The Washington Post)

Whether fresh or cured, chorizo brings a satisfying spice to many a dish. Here are seven ways to go from the Recipe Finder.

[8 ways to enjoy oysters, from grilled and broiled to po boys and pasta]

DIY Mexican Chorizo, pictured above. Here youll make your own sausage  this is a crumbly variety, meaning no packing into links or patties. You can refrigerate it for up to one week or freeze it for up to three months.



(Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post)

Black Bean and Chorizo Nachos. Use your homemade sausage (above) in scrambled eggs, tacos or here  in a crispy, cheesy snack.



(Jane Touzalin/The Washington Post)

Shrimp With Cheddar Grits and Chorizo. Its worth saving this until you can get great, local tomatoes. The recipe uses fresh chorizo.



(James M. Thresher/For The Washington Post)

Potato, Scallion and Chorizo Crispy Tacos. You can fry these in oil or toast them in a skillet for a lower-fat version.



(Deb Lindsey/For The Washington Post)

Potato-Wrapped Chorizo With Membrillo Aioli. This tapa is like a fancy pig-in-a-blanket. The recipe calls for a dry-cured, Basque-style sausage, but you can use standard-size cured chorizo links instead.



(Renee Comet/For The Washington Post)

Chorizo Risotto. With a poblano sofrito and an ancho chile puree. Another way to use cured chorizo.



(Goran Kosanovic/For The Washington Post)

Arroz con Chorizo. Pieces of cured chorizo add flavor to the rice; its ready in 35 minutes or less.
Public officials decided not to relocate a Confederate statue that was erected in Tampa, Florida, in 1911. (Tamara Lush/AP)

Officials have decided not to move a Confederate memorial from in front of a Florida courthouse. Instead, a mural will be put behind it to display, in the words of one county leader, the love and diversity in the community.

The Hillsborough County Commission voted 4 to 3 Wednesday not to remove a statue erected in Tampa in 1911. It depicts two Civil War soldiers next to an obelisk.

Its time to take that monument down. . . . It represents an era of bondage of African American people, said Commissioner Les Miller, who proposed the removal.

Supporters of Southern heritage say removing such symbols would dishonor Civil War veterans.

After more than two hours of intense public comment, another lawmaker said compromise was needed.

If we dont look for a compromise or consensus, theres going to be hatred and anger that could last for decades, said Commissioner Victor Crist.

Those who wanted the statue removed said they were deeply disappointed in the idea of a mural.

The plan is to put a monument behind a monument, showing that hate is still up front, said resident Jae Passmore.


Jay Solomon, a veteran national security reporter  seen here being interviewed on C-SPANs Washington Journal in 2014  was fired by the Wall Street Journal after a report alleging that he had discussed business deals with a source. (C-SPAN via Associated Press)

At 3:08 pm on Wednesday, the Washington bureau of the Wall Street Journal received a cryptic email from their chief, Paul Beckett.

Short-Notice staff Meeting at 3:15, read the subject. The team of 40 was told to gather at their usual spot. We wont need chairs, he added. It will be short.

Soon enough, Beckett delivered to the jittery group the news many had half-anticipated: Ace national security reporter Jay Solomon, whose desk had earlier that day been cleared off, had been fired. But as for the reason, Beckett said theyd have to read a forthcoming report from the Associated Press.

Minutes later, that story hit the bureau like a bombshell: Solomon had been fired, the AP reported, after evidence emerged of his involvement in prospective commercial deals  including one involving arms sales to foreign governments  with an international businessman who was one of his key sources.

According to the report, Solomon had been offered a 10 percent stake in a new company by an Iranian-born aviation magnate named Farhad Azima. Solomon told the AP he never entered into any business dealings with his source and never intended to. The Journal wouldnt confirm or deny this part of the report but apparently saw enough to let him go.

Farhad Azima, an Iranian-born aviation mogul whose alleged dealings with Solomon led to the reporters firing. (Jill Toyoshiba/The Kansas City Star via AP)

We are dismayed by the actions and poor judgment of Jay Solomon, the Journal said in a statement. The allegations raised by this reporting are serious. While our own investigation continues, we have concluded that Mr. Solomon violated his ethical obligations as a reporter, as well as our standards. He has not been forthcoming with us about his actions or his reporting practices and he has forfeited our trust. Mr. Solomon is no longer employed by The Wall Street Journal.

Solomon is no slouch. His work covering national security and foreign affairs had been submitted by the paper for Pulitzer consideration, according to former and current Journal employees. Hes the author of a book about Iran and is widely considered among the staff to be a favorite of Editor in Chief Gerard Baker, who would often praise him in editors meetings.

Solomons two decades at the Journal included stints in Asia and Africa. While in Washington, he had become a well-sourced fixture on the foreign policy social scene. Hes known to have a close working relationship with Yousef al-Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States.

He had drawn criticism, though, from some colleagues and government officials who perceived his work to show a bias against the Obama administrations nuclear deal with Iran. In his 2016 book, The Iran Wars, Solomon wrote that the deal rather than calming the worlds most combustible region, risks inflaming it.

No one, however, saw him as a potential business partner with his sources. That is, until the Associated Press, in the course of reporting another story, came across emails and text messages between Solomon and Azima that Azimas lawyers said were stolen by hackers. Over the past three decades, Azima has been tied to the Iran-contra affair, dealt weapons to Persian Gulf and Balkan nations, and worked his ample connections in Washington.

Hours before the Solomon story broke, the AP reported that Azima, 75, is under investigation on suspicions that he bribed a former UAE official in order to reap profits from a hotel sale in Tbilisi, Georgia. It was in the process of reporting this story that reporters came across his correspondence with Solomon.

[From AP: Worth killing over: How a plane mogul dodged U.S. scrutiny]

In April 2015, the AP reported Wednesday, Azima wrote to Solomon about a possible $725 million contract with the United Arab Emirates, in which he asked the reporter to bring the proposal to a UAE government representative he was lunching with the following day.

We all wish best of luck to Jay on his first defense deal, Azima wrote to Solomon and others in the email.

And the exchanges went both ways. In one particularly suspect instance from October 2014, Solomon texted Azima: Our business opportunities are so promising.

On Wednesday, Solomon expressed regrets for his actions while at the same time insisting that things werent quite as bad as they may look.

I clearly made mistakes in my reporting and entered into a world I didnt understand. Solomon told the AP on Wednesday. I never entered into any business with Farhad Azima, nor did I ever intend to. But I understand why the emails and the conversations I had with Mr. Azima may look like I was involved in some seriously troubling activities. I apologize to my bosses and colleagues at the Journal, who were nothing but great to me.

Hours after the sudden all-staff meeting, Journal employees were still coming to grips with what this all means.

I cant imagine this will go away quickly, one of them said. Someone must be going through all his articles now. It might take a little while to know exactly how bad this is.


The Edge, Bono, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton of U2 perform at FedEx Field. (Kyle Gustafson/for The Washington Post)

No red ballcap, but Bono still wants to make America great again. So hes taken U2 on a tour across our damaged nation to perform The Joshua Tree, his 1987 love letter to the home of the brave that remains his bands most enduring document. These are U2s most capacious songs, and despite being filled with the best of intentions, theres still lots of room for everyone to pile on in. Whoever you voted for, you are welcome here tonight, Bono declared at FedEx Field in Maryland on Tuesday evening. We will find common ground reaching for higher ground.

Thats nice, but the between-banter music didnt feel like too strenuous of a reach. Instead, the band ceremonially delivered its signature blend of grandeur and uplift, hoping to repair the burning bridges of 2017 by transporting its adoring crowd 30 years back to a moment of global optimism, when prosperity was on the rise and the Cold War was drawing to a close. Strangely, U2 won the night the same way that Donald Trump won the presidency: by promising to improve tomorrow by making it feel more like yesterday. (Plus, there must be some morsel of cosmic significance in the fact that Trump first published The Art of the Deal in November of 87, a mere eight months after The Joshua Tree sprouted.)

So this was a night of big promises, big songs and a big video screen. Three stories high, 50 yards wide and warped like the wave on a Coca-Cola can, it was used best during With or Without You as it held a single panoramic shot of a colossal, sun-baked canyon. Whenever the Edge answered Bonos refrain  And you give yourself away  with his sparkling guitar line, it was as if the music were echoing off those giant cliff sides, and it might have raised every tiny hair on the back of your neck. And the Edge still makes his riffs bounce and chime in the direction of heaven, the same way Bono still leans into a big note like hes opening a heavy door, the same way Larry Mullen Jr. still drums with a military-grade snap, the same way bassist Adam Clayton still appears to be enjoying the easiest job in rock-and-roll. Just as the tour promises, its the same old songs.



(Kyle Gustafson/for The Washington Post)

(Kyle Gustafson/for The Washington Post)

That made the concerts non-Joshua Tree material  which flanked the albums 11 cuts  feel more consequential. The band was making choices, and as it marched from the blood-red sky of New Years Day to all the colors of Beautiful Day, its youthful exhortations burned warmer than its grown-up group hugs. The shows most exquisite moment came almost straightaway during Sunday Bloody Sunday, an anthem from 1983 that throws a riddle at the war machine: How long must we sing this song? When Bono tweaked the line I wont heed the battle call, by rearranging the melody and tailoring it to the occasion, he was tacitly renewing a pacifist vow.

Not that his speechifying was anywhere near as subtle. He addressed the importance of ending global poverty, fighting for womens rights, solving the worlds refugee crisis, and stopping AIDS  important causes, all  and he thanked Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Republican Rep. Kay Granger (Tex.), Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of the Archdiocese of Washington, and Jim Yong Kim of the World Bank. At one point, he played clips of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan giving similar speeches, presumably to expose us to that higher common ground he had promised earlier, but maybe only reminding us how a two-party system has rotted our democracy.

Still, Bono seems to believe that our planets busted systems can and will be repaired, which makes it hard to decide whether hes a visionary, a saint, a power-groupie or a fool. His vague, bipartisan, ambiently patriotic rah-rah onstage Tuesday didnt help clarify any of that. After singing Pride (In the Name of Love), U2s eternally exhilarating eulogy for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., he wondered out loud, Maybe the dream is just telling us to wake up.

The music certainly wasnt telling us to wake up. It was as beautiful, righteous, wide-open and inviting as it was in 1987. The kind of music that makes you feel like youve done a good deed simply by diving into it. This is the problem that U2 doesnt want to  and probably cant  solve. Comfort doesnt bring change.


Mayor Muriel Bowser listens to a speaker's introduction before going on stage during the 31st Annual Salute to District of Columbia Centenarians at Gallaudet University. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) enjoys a 67 percent approval rating among District residents heading into her 2018 reelection campaign and is a clear favorite among likely contenders for the mayors office, according to a new Washington Post poll.

Despite recent scandals that have jolted the top ranks of her administration, Bowser has seen her popularity climb from 2015, her first year in office, when 58 percent of D.C. residents approved of her job performance.





In a hypothetical three-way Democratic mayoral primary, Bowser captures 50 percent support among registered Democratic voters, trailed by former mayor and current D.C. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) with 27 percent and Attorney General Karl Racine (D) with 10 percent.

The survey shows growing confidence in the citys crime-fighting policies. Just 13 percent of residents say crime is the Districts top problem, down from 34 percent two years ago. A shortage of affordable housing is now the foremost concern of D.C. residents, with 19 percent saying it should be the citys top priority.

[Read full poll results | How the survey was conducted]

Bowsers ratings for handling crime are up sharply, with 53 percent saying she is doing an excellent or good job compared with 33 percent two years ago. Nearly three-quarters rate the District police positively, up by double digits from 2015.

But Bowsers popularity is not ironclad. Roughly 6 in 10 residents say she is not effectively combating homelessness in the District, as she promised during her 2014 campaign. And by 48 percent to 31 percent, more residents give Bowser negative vs. positive marks for her efforts to curb the influence of wealthy political donors at city hall.





Support for Bowser, while widespread, is tepid: 20 percent of Washingtonians surveyed said they strongly approved of her mayoral tenure, while 47 percent somewhat approved.

That lack of enthusiasm, echoed in follow-up interviews with survey respondents, suggests a public perception of a caretaker mayor who is shepherding the city through booming economic and population growth while doing little  good or bad  to get residents attention.

I have found that shes doing a good job, but thats just a general feeling. I dont have any real specifics, said Donna Hays, an 81-year-old resident of Sheridan-Kalorama who has lived in the city for 30 years. I dont hear any scandals or anything like that, and our trash is picked up, and things seem to be running orderly.

Rebecca Mondics, 32, a Petworth resident and financial-services consultant, said Bowser was a nice change from Gray, whom Bowser defeated in the 2014 election amid a federal investigation into Grays campaign finances.

Compared with Gray, Bowser appears to me to be a bit more trustworthy, Mondics said. However, she added, In terms of how the District is changing under Muriel Bowser, Im not sure I can really identify any specific changes that shes made.





The Post poll offers an early look at the potential dynamics of the 2018 mayors race, in which Bowser is expected to compete for a second term. If reelected, she would be the first two-term mayor in the nations capital since Anthony A. Williams left office a decade ago.

For some of Bowsers potential challengers, the results are not encouraging.

Gray  whose high-decibel attacks on the mayor since his return to public office as a D.C. Council member last year have fueled speculation that he hungers for a rematch in 2018  is still struggling to shed negative perceptions that have dogged him since his scandal-plagued 2010 campaign.

During that race, a $653,000 shadow campaign conducted on Grays behalf by disgraced city contractor Jeffrey E. Thompson led to a federal investigation that netted guilty pleas from six people, including Gray associates. Gray was not charged.

City residents impressions of Gray are narrowly positive, with 41 percent rating him favorably and 37 percent unfavorably  little changed from his 41-41 split in early 2014, shortly before he lost his reelection bid. By 57 percent to 24 percent, more registered Democrats say Bowser has higher ethical standards than Gray.

By contrast, a lack of name recognition is the central problem facing Racine, the Districts first elected attorney general, who is also thought to be contemplating a challenge to Bowser.

Seventy-four percent of District residents report having no opinion of Racine, who was elected in 2014. Those with an opinion of Racine have a largely positive impression, with 19 percent favorable and 7 percent unfavorable.

Racines failure to capture the attention of voters comes despite his participation in a widely publicized lawsuit, filed last week, that alleges that President Trumps business ties violate the Constitutions emoluments clause, an anti-corruption provision.

Jared Katzman, 42, a Northwest Washington resident who works in sales and marketing, said the lawsuit was the only thing he knew about Racine but that it would be enough to earn his vote over Bowser  who he said has failed to make much of an impression on him  and Gray.

I would vote for Racine just because of the lawsuit that he filed against Trump, Katzman said. That, in my mind, makes him seem like a pretty good dude. And Gray has a lot of baggage.

With a year to go before the primary election that will is likely to decide the next mayor in overwhelmingly Democratic Washington, much could change, and Bowsers lead in the Post poll does not guarantee she will sail smoothly to a second term.

In January 2014, for example, a Post poll showed Gray beating Bowser, his closest challenger in a large Democratic primary field, by 27 percent to 12 percent among likely primary voters. Over the next four months, Bowser overtook the incumbent mayor, winning in April with 43 percent of the vote to Grays 33 percent.

In recent months, some of Bowsers top cabinet officials have been implicated in scandals that are still playing out. City Administrator Rashad M. Young was a central player in an alleged episode of contract steering that was investigated by the D.C. Council and has been forwarded for review to the citys inspector general.

Meanwhile, a D.C. inspector generals investigation found that Young and Deputy Mayor Courtney Snowden were given preferential treatment by former D.C. Public Schools chancellor Kaya Henderson, who helped them circumvent the citys school lottery, placing their children directly into top public schools.

The Post reported last week that Snowden is also the subject of a second, pending inspector generals investigation into allegations that she used her staff for babysitting and had improper interactions with private companies that included a client of her former lobbying firm.

The school-lottery scandal in particular has made an impression on District residents, with about half of those polled saying they are aware of the investigation. Among them, 26 percent approve and 36 percent disapprove of Bowsers response, while the rest have no opinion.

To date, the mayor has created requirements that cabinet officials and the chancellor consult the citys Board of Ethics and Government Accountability before getting special school placements. Some 27 percent of District residents polled say such action is enough to prevent favoritism, while 63 percent say the city should go further.

Bowser, whose political roots are in the historically middle-class African American neighborhoods of Northeast Washington and whose winning 2014 coalition included white voters from the Districts affluent Northwest, remains most vulnerable in the poor and predominantly African American Southeast  but even there she enjoys surprising support.

In Wards 7 and 8, east of the Anacostia River, she narrowly leads Gray by 45 percent to 37 percent among registered Democrats. While the margin is within the polls sampling error, it marks a sharp contrast from the 2014 election, in which Gray carried Wards 7 and 8 by 30 points.

Gray does hold a 10-point edge over Bowser among African American Democrats who have lived in the city for at least 20 years, a group that may turn out at higher rates in local elections.

Marian Dunn, 62, who has lived for most of her life in Ward 8, said she plans to vote for Gray if he runs in 2018 because Bowser has done little to create more affordable housing in the District.

During the campaign, she promised the world, as they all do, said Dunn, a retired secretary. But she has yet to do anything for housing in Ward 8  anything for Ward 8 at all.

The Washington Post poll was conducted June 15-18 among a random sample of 901 adults living in the District and reached on cellular and landline phones. The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus four percentage points.

Emily Guskin contributed to this report.
Teacher Carol Hunt works with kindergartners at Fairfax Countys Westlawn Elementary in February 2016. Fairfax County schools will increase class sizes across the board in the coming school year to deal with a budget shortfall. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

When schools in Fairfax County open next fall, students and teachers are expected to contend with larger class sizes. Hundreds of teachers will go without raises they were anticipating. Alternative schools are bracing to trim programs. Student athletes who take the field will be asked to pay a new $50 fee.

Facing a revenue shortfall, the county school board slashed more than $50 million from its spending plan last month, forcing cuts that will be felt in a multitude of ways across the 188,000-student district. Critics worry those moves could harm the premier reputation of Virginias largest school system.

Teachers are going to keep leaving. Property values are going to go down. Testing scores are going to go down, said Dana Jackins, a Fairfax mother whose organization, Class Size Counts, is fighting a losing battle to shrink class sizes in the county. We cannot sustain resting on our laurels, acting like were the best, when its cracking.

Last year, school officials were hopeful that county voters would approve a tax on restaurant meals and prepared foods, which would have given the school budget a $67 million annual boost to teachers pay. But in November, voters rejected the tax. The County Board of Supervisors, which furnishes the lions share of the school budget, would not make up the difference.

[After voters reject meals tax, Fairfax schools brace for belt-tightening]

Instead, the school system was left to search for $50 million in cuts from its proposed budget. For hours, board members clashed over where to make the cuts, finally passing a $2.8 billion budget for the coming school year on a 9-to-3 vote in the early hours of May 26.

Board members held fast to a multiyear plan to increase teacher pay at a cost of $60 million but voted to make sacrifices elsewhere, including freezing pay for other school employees and laying off some central-office staff workers. They also voted to increase class sizes  saving nearly $16 million by hiring fewer teachers next year  and will charge students who want to participate in after-school activities $50, which will raise an estimated $1.7 million. Its the first time since 2011 that the district will be charging a fee.

We have a challenging budget year. . . . None of the things that we wanted to move forward with are desirable, acting superintendent Steve Lockard said of the cuts in an interview before the vote.

[Fairfax superintendent proposes teacher pay raises in $2.8 billion budget]

Scott Brabrand, the head of Lynchburg City Public Schools, has been tapped to lead Fairfax County schools starting July 10. The stretched budget will pose one of his biggest challenges.

Although board members said they were pleased to raise teacher salaries, they were disheartened by the decision to increase class sizes across the board. Board member Elizabeth Schultz (Springfield) voted against the budget, saying the board should have worked to find other solutions rather than cramming more students into classrooms.

The money is supposed to drive student achievement, and if you arent spending your money in the classroom so that it is affecting student achievement, somethings wrong, Schultz said. She unsuccessfully lobbied for spending less on English as a Second Language instruction, slashing from the superintendents office, cutting foreign-language instruction in elementary schools and increasing class sizes at high-needs schools, which benefit from extra funds to keep classes small. We havent done our homework, she said.

Fairfax County has among the highest elementary school class sizes in the D.C. region, with 22.4 students per classroom teacher in 2016-17, according to a report prepared by the Washington Area Boards of Education. Middle and high school class sizes were closer to the average for the region, with an average of 24.6 and 25.8 students per teacher, respectively.

Class sizes vary widely from school to school. The district directs more resources on a per-student basis to high-needs schools, where class sizes are frequently far lower than in those that serve middle-class and affluent neighborhoods.

School officials expect average class sizes to grow by about half a student with the cutbacks. The school district plans to hire fewer teachers next year and rebalance staff across schools. Officials said the change will be difficult to detect in many schools, but that was little solace to parents and students who say that class sizes are already unsustainably large.

Randy Weidman, set to graduate from Chantilly High on Wednesday, said he regularly crowded in with four or five other students around lab experiments intended for two.

We are losing hands-on lab experience, said Weidman, an aspiring doctor who will head to the University of Miami in the fall. During his freshman year, his French class had 37 students. It was a fire hazard. You couldnt back out of your desk without hitting the person behind you.

Jackins, of Class Size Counts, said the school board should have come up with a different solution. Class Size Counts started an online petition to get the board to change course, garnering nearly 950 signatures.

We remain convinced that theres a lot that could still be done to prioritize the quality of classrooms and not balance the budget on the backs of students and teachers, Jackins said.

Some schools will take a significant hit. Mountain View Alternative School will lose seven staff members out of about 60, including the technology coordinator who publishes the school newspaper online and a family consumer sciences teacher, who also oversees the schools program for pregnant and parenting students.

Mountain View Principal Gary Morris said it means the school will not be able to offer electives next school year. Morris said alternative schools have often been protected from cuts because they serve vulnerable students, including those with discipline issues, recent immigrants and older students who need to support their families while earning their diplomas.

When it came down to the budget, the alternative schools were very rarely looked upon as places to go and impact, Morris said. This year, according to the powers that be, it appears that they have to go everywhere and find money.

While many teachers will get a raise, the school district moved to cut some steps from the pay scale for teachers without masters degrees, meaning that about 425 who were expecting raises will instead see their salaries frozen. Under the 2016-17 scale, teachers without a masters degree would get a pay bump of about $2,500, to $82,000, when moving into their 21st year with the district. Under the new scale, those teachers will get no raise because the scale will top out at the 19th year.

David Gardziel, a physical education teacher and assistant student activities director at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, said he had anticipated a $4,000 raise next school year, his 24th year with the district. Now he does not expect to get one. He earned about $92,300 this school year on an extended-day contract.

Gardziel said the school district is not keeping its word to veteran teachers who have dedicated their loyalty and paid their dues. His raise was just ripped away without any notice, he said.
These food establishments were closed because of health code violations. The list, compiled from health department reports, reflects actions taken by the departments.

THE DISTRICT

BlackSalt Fish Market and Restaurant

4883 MacArthur Blvd. NW

Closed June 14 because of circumstances that might endanger public health.

Booeymonger Restaurant

3265 Prospect St. NW

Closed June 9 because of insects, rodents and other pests. Reopened June 12.

Pizza Bolis

1567 Alabama Ave. SE

Closed Friday for operating without a manager on duty. Reopened that day.

Tara Thai

4849 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Closed June 15 because of insects, rodents and other pests.

Target

3100 14th St. NW

Closed June 15 because of insects, rodents and other pests. Reopened Friday.

Ziaafat Grill and Restaurant

1102 8th St. SE

Closed June 15 because of circumstances that might endanger public health.

MARYLAND

Habesha International Market

2311 Varnum St., Mount Rainier

Closed June 15 because of roaches.

SweetFrog

100 Lexington Dr., Silver Spring

Closed June 12 for operating without a license.

Yordi Dollar Plus Food Store

4424 Wheeler Rd., Oxon Hill

Closed June 14 because of mice.

VIRGINIA

Greenbriar Pool Club

13001 Point Pleasant Dr., Fairfax

Food service closed June 14 for operating without a certified food manager. Reopened the next day.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct a quote from Rockville Council member Beryl Feinberg.

Agents with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement carry out arrests earlier this year. (Charles Reed/AP)

The Rockville City Council has narrowly approved an ordinance restricting police from cooperating with federal immigration authorities or asking residents about citizenship status  a victory for advocates who saw similar measures die in Annapolis and vetoed in Howard County earlier this year.

The Fostering Community Trust ordinance, passed on a 3-to-2 vote Monday, breaks no new ground. But it codifies existing Rockville police force practices that are designed to keep local law enforcement at arms length from deportation and other federal actions that spawn fear in immigrant communities.

Montgomery County police follow similar guidelines, but elected leaders there have opposed legislative action that would put those practices into law, especially at a time when President Trump is vowing to step up deportations and punish jurisdictions that do not cooperate.

Officials in Rockville, a suburb of 65,000 residents that is the Montgomery County seat, found themselves catapulted into the center of the national debate on immigration and crime last March after two undocumented Latino teenagers were charged with raping a 14-year-old classmate in a boys bathroom at Rockville High School.

The charges have since been dropped. But the incident triggered a firestorm of commentary and criticism  including from the White House and Gov. Larry Hogan (R)  about whether the city and school system had done all they could to protect students.

Local officials and advocates for immigrants said such criticism unfairly tarnished all undocumented immigrants and implied that such individuals were disproportionately involved in criminal behavior.

Council member Julie Palakovich Carr, who sponsored the ordinance passed Monday night, said she wanted to send an important message to immigrant communities: that local police are there to protect them, not to tip off federal agents about who may be deportable.

This is meant to set the tone and direction for our city, said Carr, who was joined in supporting the measure by council members Virginia Onley and Mark Pierzchala.

Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton and council member Beryl Feinberg opposed the ordinance. Newton called it a solution looking for a problem. Feinberg offered an amendment calling instead for a specific policy to be drafted by the police chief and city manager.

Laws shouldnt be drafted for political agendas or symbolism, Feinberg said.

The vote followed more than two hours of public comment from both opponents and supporters of the ordinance.

Rockville resident Gail Weiss, referring to the title of the measure said: Respectfully, the only trust you should be concerned with fostering is that of citizens.

Ray Jose, who identified himself as undocumented, turned away from the council and faced the audience to say that the law was needed. Despite established practice, he said, hes seen collaborations between police and federal immigration authorities that bring psychological terror to communities like mine.
Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker III (D) will announce in a video message Wednesday that he is running for governor. (Astrid Riecken for TWP)

Prince Georges County Executive Rushern L. Baker III announced Wednesday that he is running for governor, sending a video message to news outlets and supporters that explains why he believes he can emerge from a crowded field of Democrats to challenge popular Republican Gov. Larry Hogans bid for a second term.

Baker, 58, is midway through his seventh year as leader of the states second-largest jurisdiction. He has focused on eliminating the corruption that used to be a hallmark of the countys government as well as improving schools and services and stimulating economic growth.

A former state lawmaker with a law degree from Howard University, Baker would become Marylands first African American governor and the first county executive to serve in the role since Parris N. Glendening (D), also of Prince Georges, did from 1995 to 2003.

Being county executive gives me a good vantage point to look at Maryland as a whole, because we are urban, suburban and rural, Baker said in an interview before his campaign announcement.

When I look at what we had to do in Prince Georges, given the circumstances we were in, and I look at the state, its not dissimilar, he added.

Rushern L. Baker III, left, and his wife, "Sissy" Christa Beverly, hug their son, Rushern L. Baker IV, center, in 2011. (family photo/FAMILY PHOTO)

[A law school dean and his student: How Leggett and Baker became peers]

Former NAACP leader Benjamin Jealous and Baltimore tech entrepreneur Alec Ross have also launched campaigns for next Junes Democratic primary, and state Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (Montgomery) says he will run as well. Rep. John Delaney, former state attorney general Doug Gansler, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Baltimore lawyer James Shea are strongly considering running.

The contest could lay bare the differences between the partys progressive and establishment factions, which bubbled to the surface this year during legislative battles and the selection of Kathleen Matthews as Democratic state party chair.

But Baker rejected the notion of a divided party, saying he believes all voters want jobs, expanded business opportunities and quality education, whether they are progressives, conservative Democrats or tea party Republicans.

I dont see it. I dont know where it is, Baker said about a party divide. The beauty of the Democratic Party is that its a big, broad tent. At the end of the day, voters want to know what you can get done.

The son of a U.S. Army Special Forces officer and a nurses aide, Baker was born in Georgia. His family moved frequently, including stints in Okinawa, Japan, before settling in Massachusetts, when he attended high school.

After law school, Baker worked on Capitol Hill, in the D.C. government and as legal counsel for a nonprofit community development and social services organization.

He married his college sweetheart, civil rights lawyer Christa Beverly, and settled in Prince Georges, where he forged ties with fellow black politicos, including Wayne K. Curry, the late county executive. In 1994, with Currys guidance, Baker won a seat in the House of Delegates representing Cheverly and parts of Bladensburg.

But Baker badly wanted to be county executive. He lost two primary races, the first while serving in the House of Delegates. In 2010, he tried again and defeated four other Democrats in the primary, later easily winning the general election. Days later, federal agents arrested outgoing county executive Jack B. Johnson (D) on corruption charges.

[In speeches, Rushern Baker makes his case for governors mansion]

Baker has traveled the state for months, sharing his story of an economic and civic resurgence in Prince Georges County, the only majority-black jurisdiction in Maryland besides Baltimore City and one of the most affluent majority-black jurisdictions in the nation.

In addition to pushing through ethics reform and seizing partial control of the struggling school system, Baker has boosted development around Metro stations and shepherded major projects, including a regional medical center slated to break ground in the fall. He abandoned his initial opposition to gambling in the county and became a major supporter of the glittering MGM National Harbor casino, which opened to rave reviews in December.

Baker has drawn criticism for the slow pace of change and for continued problems with schools, including recent allegations that officials doctored grades and records to push up graduation rates.

Some of his initiatives have failed, among them a wildly unpopular, double-digit tax increase that was rejected by the County Council and an attempt to increase the number of terms that county-elected officials can serve from two to three, which voters soundly defeated.

Baker has sparred with Hogan over funding for the Purple Line light rail and the medical center. He says he has taken political risks in the name of progress and accuses Hogan of passivity while in office.

Theres no risk at all, no definitive Heres where I want to take us, no line in the sand, Baker said of the governor, who has high approval ratings and a huge campaign war chest to boost his reelection chances.

Before launching his campaign, Baker said he had to decide whether he thought he could do a better job than Hogan. That was the standard that Bakers wife, whom he calls the driving force in his political career, had set in his previous races.

Beverly was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2012. Her condition has deteriorated considerably, but the county executive still includes her  along with their three adult children  in campaign meetings and conversations.

Her illness, Baker said, has increased his awareness of the issues facing working men and women who juggle work and caretaking. Its also made him impatient about implementing public policy.

Time is a precious commodity, Baker said. People want to know what you can do now.

And I understand it, because I dont know what tomorrow is.
Robert S. Leiken, a prominent political scientist whose scholarship shaped the national debate and policy decisions on the Nicaraguan contra war of the 1980s, died June 7 at a hospital in Boston. He was 78.

The cause was complications from neuro-Behcets disease, an inflammatory disorder, said his son Benjamin Leiken.

Mr. Leiken (pronounced LAY-kin) occupied an unusually fraught position in Washingtons think-tank firmament, where analysts, thought leaders and political provocateurs typically battle along strict ideological and party lines. His institutional affiliations were broad  including the Center for Strategic and International Studies at Georgetown University; the Brookings Institution; and the Center for the National Interest  but his loyalty, as he saw it, was not to a party or prevailing wisdom but to facts.

Coming of age in the ferment of Vietnam and the 1960s counterculture movement, he organized teach-ins and antiwar demonstrations in Massachusetts; turned toward an anti-imperialist, Maoist strain of socialism as a labor organizer in Mexico in the 1970s; and emerged as one of the unlikeliest proponents of Nicaraguas conservative-aligned contra revolutionaries in the 1980s.

I dont get invited to weddings any more, he told the Los Angeles Times in 1985, amid a national debate over funding the contras war against the left-wing Sandinista government. Some people on the left, from my days in the antiwar movement, have never forgiven me.

Mr. Leiken broke with many of his friends and allies in October 1984, when he published Nicaraguas Untold Stories, a cover story in the traditionally liberal New Republic magazine. A recent visit to Latin America, he wrote, convinced me that the situation is far worse than I had thought. The ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front was decadent and corrupt, he wrote, and Nicaraguas peasants were oppressed and starving.

The story came as a bombshell in Washington, where Mr. Leiken was known as a liberal member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and where President Ronald Reagans administration was pressing Congress to approve funding for the contras. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) had the article entered into the Congressional Record, and Reagan referred to Mr. Leiken by name in an address.

Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, who went on to orchestrate the secret sale of weapons to Iran in an effort to fund the contras, also began cultivating a friendship with Mr. Leiken and three other longtime liberals. The group, which included speechwriter Bernard Aronson, lobbyist Bruce Cameron and activist Penn Kemble, became known as the Gang of Four for their role in persuading moderate Democrats to support the contras.

Mr. Leiken continued traveling to Nicaragua, where he developed close relationships with some contra leaders, alienated others (a sign bearing the words Robert Leiken es non grato was spotted at one camp), and joined Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.) on a tour of the country.

While some questioned Mr. Leikens motives and accuracy, at times accusing him of inflating the extent of wrongdoing by the Sandinistas, the effect of his and his colleagues efforts was indisputable: Congress granted $27 million in nonmilitary aid for the contras in 1985 and one year later approved $100 million.

By the time the conflict ended in 1990, the contras and the Sandinistas were both accused of widespread human rights violations, and by some estimates, more than 30,000 Nicaraguans had been killed.

When the history of the American debates over Nicaragua is written, the New Republic proclaimed in a 1986 editorial, Mr. Leiken and the Gang of Four will be found to have transformed both public discussion and public policy.

In a post last week for the website PJ Media, historian Ronald Radosh went further. Mr. Leiken, he said, was undoubtedly the single most important person outside of the administration to make Americans aware of the Sandinista governments agenda to institute a Cuban-type repressive communist state in Nicaragua.

Robert Solin Leiken was born in Manhattan on March 19, 1939. His father owned a company that manufactured sport coats, and his mother was a homemaker.

Mr. Leiken grew up in Great Neck, N.Y., and graduated from the private Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts before attending Harvard University, where he received a bachelors degree in English in 1961 and a masters degree in history three years later.

Mr. Leiken received a doctorate in politics from the University of Oxford in 2000. Three years later, he published his thesis as a book, Why Nicaragua Vanished.

The work chastised journalists for effectively missing the story in Nicaragua and for working under a liberal, post-Vietnam paradigm that caused them to ignore abuses occurring under the Sandinista government. Mr. Leiken was also among the few observers who correctly predicted an electoral defeat for the Sandinistas in 1990.

He later turned to the subjects of immigration and radical Islam, notably in a 2007 Foreign Affairs article that angered the conservative establishment with its description of the Muslim Brotherhood as moderate. His 2011 book Europes Angry Muslims, which criticized Britain, France and Germany as failing to properly integrate Muslim immigrants, was praised by the Economist as a trenchant indictment of European policies.

His marriage to Katherine Robbins ended in divorce. Survivors include their sons Benjamin Leiken and Samuel Leiken, both of San Francisco; and a brother, Samuel Leiken of Washington.

At the time of his death, Mr. Leiken was working on a memoir at his home in Dracut, Mass. Promising a tongue-in-cheek summation of his career, the book was tentatively titled, How I Lost All My Friends.
The headquarters of the KGB, in Moscow, in 1972. Gen. Yuri Drozdov led the spy agencys illegals program in the final years of the Cold War. (AP)

They were known as the illegals, men and women who adopted the identities of the dead, worked as priests, poets, actors and inventors, and quietly gathered intelligence for the Soviet Union during the long years of the Cold War.

Based in nondescript American suburbs and bustling European capitals, they spent up to two decades developing the trust of their neighbors and employers while stealing secret information about nuclear weapons, missile systems, Western intelligence efforts and political intrigue.

At the helm of their organization, a secretive wing of the KGB known as Directorate S, was a balding man with the rank of major general and the name of Yuri Drozdov. A square-jawed World War II veteran who led assaults in Afghanistan and helped arrange a high-profile spy exchange in 1960s Berlin, he died June 21 at 91.

The Foreign Intelligence Service, a KGB successor agency known as the SVR, announced his death but did not provide additional details.

Gen. Drozdov oversaw the KGBs illegals program  its name distinguished it from the agencys legal spy program, in which agents maintained diplomatic connections to the Soviet motherland  from 1979 until 1991, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was the capstone of an intelligence career that spanned nearly the entire Cold War, from a stint on the bridge of spies in Berlin to an undercover position in China at the start of Mao Zedongs bloody Cultural Revolution.

The Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, who was convicted of espionage charges in the United States in 1957. Gen. Drozdov helped arrange his return to the Soviet Union in exchange for downed American spy-plane pilot Francis Gary Powers. (AP)

Yet despite spending much of his career behind the scenes, Gen. Drozdov was not afraid to involve himself in wet affairs, the euphemistic KGB term for assassinations, beatings, poison-tipped umbrella murders and similar acts of hand-dirtying.

It was Gen. Drozdov who led KGB forces in the December 1979 assault on the palace of Afghan President Hafizullah Amin, a 43-minute surprise attack that resulted in Amins death and launched a Soviet invasion of the country. The operation resulted in the deaths of 55 Soviet operatives, 37 of them from an aircraft crash, and of 180 Afghans, according to an account by Jonathan Haslam, a historian of the Soviet Unions foreign policy and intelligence efforts. One Russian leader later described the attack as perfect and absolutely unprecedented.

Several days after the battle, Gen. Drozdov recommended that then-KGB leader Yuri Andropov create a new special-forces unit within the agency, allowing it to professionalize its wet-affairs operations. Known by the name Vympel (pennant), the new unit was formally created under Gen. Drozdov in 1981 and went on to perform operations in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Gen. Drozdov focused mainly on the illegals program in later years, identifying recruits (wunderkinds, he called them) capable of excelling in the programs years-long training regimen. We have our process of raising them, he told the New York Times in 2010, declining to provide additional details. You have your Dr. Spock method; we have our own ways.

Jason Matthews, a former CIA officer in Europe and Asia who writes espionage thrillers, said the illegals program was similar to that of the cable television hit The Americans. KGB leaders such as Gen. Drozdov would develop fictional identities known as legends for each illegal and scour cemeteries to find the names of dead children whose birth years closely matched those of the agents. Some agents were assigned official wives to help them blend in.

The technique was time-consuming and not always productive, Matthews said, and for those reasons was not used by the CIA. Can you imagine the director of PR telling any Western officer, Youve got to go to China and live with a wife weve selected for you for 20 years? 

Still, undercover illegals have been discovered in the United States as recently as June 2010, when 10 alleged spies were arrested by the FBI in Boston, New York, New Jersey and Arlington, Va. Six of the spies were using the names of dead people, and all 10 were sent to Russia later that year, in a spy swap for four Russians convicted of aiding the West.

Yuri Ivanovich Drozdov was born in Minsk on Sept. 19, 1925. Details on his early life are vague. According to Haslams book Near and Distant Neighbors: A New History of Soviet Intelligence, his father at one time served in the tsarist army, and Gen. Drozdov served in the Russian army at the close of World War II.

He joined the KGB in 1956 and was initially based in East Germany, where he refined his language skills and claimed to have studied at a theater school to learn the art of impersonation.

Gen. Drozdov played a minor role arranging the 1962 trade of Francis Gary Powers, a downed American spy-plane pilot, for convicted Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, a member of the illegals program who had purportedly stolen nuclear secrets from the United States. In a scene that inspired Steven Spielbergs 2015 film Bridge of Spies, Gen. Drozdov stood on a bridge between Berlin and East Germany as Abel returned to the Soviet-controlled side.

Gen. Drozdov came to the United States in 1975, where he took charge of the Soviet intelligence station in New York before being named head of Directorate S. He seemed to retain a fondness for Americans, with whom he collaborated in business partnerships after the fall of the Soviet Union.

His company, Namacon (sometimes spelled Namakon), provided political analysis. At one point it also manufactured airplane tires before seeming to find a niche at finding office space and performing background checks for Western businesses in Russia.

Skills he learned as a spy sometimes came in handy. In my KGB career I had much experience at getting enemies to do my will, he told Forbes magazine in 1994, and I thought this would be very useful in business.
Prince Georges County

Because of a technical problem, no report was available from the Prince Georges County Police Department. For information, call 301-772-4710.

Greenbelt

These were among incidents reported by the Greenbelt Police Department. For information, call 301-474-7200.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Centerway Rd., 100 block, June 9.

Cherrywood Lane and Greenbelt Metro Dr., June 12.

Edmonston Ct., 9100 block, June 14.

Edmonston Rd., 9300 block, June 11.

Greenbelt Rd., 6000 block, June 8.

Greenbelt Rd., 6000 block, June 9. Shoplifting.

Greenbelt Rd., 6100 block, June 9. Shoplifting.

Greenbelt Rd., 6100 block, June 10. Shoplifting.

Greenbelt Rd., 6100 block, June 11. Shoplifting.

Hanover Pkwy., 7600 block, June 9.

Hanover Pkwy., 7700 block, June 13.

Lady Anne Ct., 6900 block, June 13.

Lady Anne Ct., 6900 block, June 13.

Mandan Rd., 7900 block, June 10.

Ora Ct. S., 7200 block, June 7.

VEHICLE THEFTS

Cherrywood Lane, 5900 block, June 10.

Edmonston Rd., 9100 block, June 10.

Hanover Pkwy., 7700 block, June 12.

Springhill Lane, 9100 block, June 8.

VANDALISM

Centerway Rd., unit block, June 8.

Cherrywood Lane, 5800 block, June 8.

Edmonston Rd., 9100 block, June 12.

Springhill Dr., 6000 block, June 12.

Springhill Dr., 6000 block, June 12.

Hyattsville

These were among incidents reported by Hyattsville police. For information, call 301-985-5060.

ASSAULTS

Adelphi Rd., 7000 block, June 9. A man was assaulted.

Belcrest Center Dr., 2900 block, June 7. A former employee of a business assaulted someone in the store.

ROBBERY

Hamilton St., 3700 block, June 11.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Adelphi Rd., 7500 block, June 9.

Belcrest Center Dr., 2900 block, June 6.

Belcrest Rd., 6500 block, June 5.

Belcrest Rd., 6500 block, June 11.

East-West Hwy., 3300 block, June 10.

East-West Hwy., 3500 block, June 5.

East-West Hwy., 3500 block, June 6. From vehicle.

East-West Hwy., 3500 block, June 8. Shoplifting.

East-West Hwy., 3500 block, June 8. Shoplifting.

East-West Hwy., 3500 block, June 8. Shoplifting.

East-West Hwy., 3500 block, June 8. From vehicle.

East-West Hwy., 3500 block, June 10.

Kennedy St., 4000 block, June 8. From residence.

Nicholson St., 2800 block, June 10. From vehicle.

Oglethorpe St., 4200 block, June 7.

Rutgers St., 3400 block, June 10.

Toledo Terr., 3300 block, June 7. From vehicle.

41st Ave., 6000 block, June 6.

VANDALISM

East-West Hwy., 3300 block, June 10.

Hamilton St., 3100 block, June 10.

Queens Chapel Rd., 5400 block, June 8.

Laurel

These were among incidents reported by Laurel police. For information, call 301-498-0092.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Montgomery St., 400 block, June 11. From vehicle.

Washington Blvd., 600 block, June 11. Shoplifting.

Woodbine Dr., 7600 block, June 12. Bicycle theft.

Woodland Ct., 100 block, June 12. Bicycle theft.

Fifth St., 900 block, June 3. From building.

Eighth St., 800 block, June 7.

Eighth St., 1000 block, June 9.
D.C. riot police form a line across K Street Northwest at 13th Street as protesters react to the swearing in of President Trump in January. (James Lawler Duggan/Reuters)

The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday sued the D.C. police, accusing them of arresting innocent protesters while quelling a violent disturbance during the presidential inauguration and detaining people for up to 16 hours without food, water and bathroom facilities.

The suit, which does not specify monetary damages, was filed in federal court and alleges abuse by officers who the civil liberties group say indiscriminately fired pepper spray in 30-foot plumes and subjected some detainees to body cavity searches after the unrest Jan. 20 in downtown Washington.

Four plaintiffs are named in the suit  an independent journalist, a legal observer and two protesters  but the rights group asserts that many of the 230 arrested were similarly affected. All four deny participating in breaking store and car windows and say they got swept up in what the ACLU describes as a stampede created by police in the pursuit of demonstrators.

[Police say band of protesters that committed violence were well organized]

Scott Michelman, a senior attorney for the ACLU of the District of Columbia, said at a news conference that many of the people detained that day had nothing to do with the violence but were arrested out of guilt by association with the small group of agitators.

Scott Michelman, a senior attorney for the ACLU of the District of Columbia speaking at a press conference to announce filing of lawsuit against DC police alleging authorities indiscriminately fired pepper spray at demonstrators while trying to quell a disturbance in Franklin Square on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day. (Peter Hermann/TWP)

It is clear to me that the Metropolitan police came out on Inauguration Day intent on teaching demonstrators a lesson and chilling political speech in the nations capital, Michelman said in an interview. Named in the suit are the District, Police Chief Peter Newsham and up to 170 unidentified officers.

Dustin Sternbeck, the lead spokesman for the police department, said that on Inauguration Day, there were thousands of individuals who exercised their constitutional right to peacefully assemble and speak out for their cause. Unfortunately there was another group of individuals who chose to engage in criminal acts, destroying property and hurling projectiles, injuring at least six officers.

Sternbeck said that suspects were arrested and that the bulk of them are pending prosecution after being indicted by a grand jury. He also added that allegations of misconduct will be fully investigated.

In May, Newsham pushed back against accusations that innocent bystanders were arrested. He described the disturbance as a small riot in our city and said, I hate the fact there are people pushing the false narrative that the MPD indiscriminately arrested people who were here to protest.

[Defense attorneys alleged police trapped protesters, then arrested them]

Authorities have said that rioters, including some dressed all in black and armed with hammers and crowbars, caused an estimated $100,000 in damage to vehicles and buildings in a 16-square-block area around Franklin Square. Prosecutors have said the demonstrators employed means akin to black bloc tactics most commonly linked to anarchists. One officer was hit in the head with a chunk of concrete.

Police used pepper spray and, according to the police labor union, sting grenades that set off loud noises and bright flashes and that shoot out small rubber pellets that sting.

Those arrested said they were corralled on a street corner and arrested without being given an order to disperse. Police said a dispersal order wasnt necessary after the demonstration turned violent.

Authorities said that corralling to arrest is an important distinction from the roundup of nearly 400 largely peaceful protesters in Pershing Park in 2002 that led to lawsuits and cost the District upward of $11 million. Police surrounded the Pershing Park demonstrators and ordered them to leave but gave them no way to move out.

But Michelman of the ACLU sees little difference and said, It seems they havent learned their lesson about where the constitutional lines are. He said police in Franklin Square did not make an attempt to separate out the people who had engaged in unlawful acts from law-abiding demonstrations. They ended up with a massive detention of people they had chased into their own kettle.

[Prosecutors file additional charges against demonstrators]

In total, 234 people were charged by police or through an indictment in connection with the Inauguration Day disturbance.

Twelve defendants have pleaded guilty, one man to felony rioting and assaulting an officer. He faces three years in prison on each count at his sentencing, set for July. The others pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and were given suspended jail sentences, fined and ordered to community service. Cases against 20 defendants have been dismissed, leaving a total of 202 facing trial.

Protesters said they were held for seven to 16 hours at K and 12th streets as police processed arrests and bused them to a police training center at Blue Plains. There, they were held in a cavernous building built with a mock streetscape that is used to teach recruits. Two said in interviews that they were each fed one cheese sandwich, Hawaiian Punch and water.

One of the men suing, Shay Horse, 23, said he was on the street with a camera taking pictures as a freelance journalist and wearing a hooded sweatshirt. He said he was arrested but never got a chance to talk to an officer until he got to the training center. By then, it was clear no one was getting out, he said.

Horse said he and others were ushered five at a time into a separate room, where he said an officer searched him and the others. Horse is from New York and has described himself on Twitter as a scrumptious/rambunctious anarchist. At the protest, he said, I was trying to find a good vantage point for my pictures. Prosecutors have dropped all criminal charges against him.

[Police infiltrated protest group]

Also suing is Judah Ariel, a 36-year-old international trade attorney who volunteered for the National Lawyers Guild as a legal observer. He said police used pepper spray on him as he watched officers corral the demonstrators. He said he was wearing a neon-green hat commonly used by legal observers, and he described the onlookers as calm.

Two others named in the suit are Elizabeth Lagesse, a Maryland resident who was protesting President Trump; and Milo Gonzalez, who describes himself both as a protester and an aide to journalists.

Criminal cases against Gonzalez and Lagesse are pending.

Ann E. Marimow contributed to this report.
A decomposed body found in western Maryland has been identified as that of a man who disappeared from the District last year, the Maryland state police said. They said homicide detectives are investigating.

The state police said Tuesday that the man had been positively identified as Ariel Arnaldo Espinal, 27, who was reported missing from the Washington area last October.

His body was found April 21 by campers near Hoop Pole Road, in Little Orleans, Md. It was about 15 or 20 feet from the road, and down an eight-foot embankment, the state police said. Dense woods flank the road, which is about 100 miles northwest of Washington.

The police said the body showed possible trauma.

It was clothed when found and was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy. As a result of decomposition, medical records and x-rays were used to make a positive identification, the state police said.

No cause of death was listed in a statement released Tuesday by the state police.

D.C. police said he was last seen in the city about 2 p.m. Oct. 8 in the 5000 block of New Hampshire Avenue NW.

At the time of his disappearance, D.C. police described him as a critical missing person, but their statement did not explain why the case was considered critical.
The former head of D.C. charity meant to benefit Vietnam veterans pleaded guilty to wire fraud after embezzling about $150,000, federal prosecutors said.

John Thomas Burch, 75, of Alexandria was the president of the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation until last year, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia said in a statement. He misappropriated about $150,000 of donations marked for veterans family members with small children in poverty, the statement said, giving the money to women he was involved with and claiming reimbursements for visits to clubs, meals and hotel stays that were not related to the charity.

Burch faces up to 18 months in prison, prosecutors said, and a fine of up to $55,000, among other penalties. He is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
A District man who managed a hardware store in Petworth and who disappeared after leaving work eight months ago has been found dead in a rural area of Western Maryland, and police say they believe he was killed.

Campers found the decomposed body on April 21 off Hoop Pole Road, in Little Orleans, in Allegany County. It took until Tuesday to identify the remains as Ariel Arnaldo Espinal, 27, of Northwest, according to Maryland State Police. A cause of death has not been determined, but authorities said they found trauma on the remains.

It is being investigated as a homicide, said Elena Russo, a state police spokeswoman.

Espinals sister and fiancee said they are devastated by the discovery and said they have no idea how their loved one disappeared from New Hampshire Avenue in Northwest Washington in October, only to have his body found in a campground 110 miles away.

Espinals remains were found clothed about eight feet down an embankment and 20 feet off a dirt road. The wooded area is where Maryland narrows to just a few miles wide, between West Virginia to the south and Pennsylvania to the north.

Ariel Arnaldo Espinal (D.C. Police)

Its like a bad dream, a nightmare, said Espinals sister, Marla Espinal, 23, on Tuesday. I still cant believe this is real, after all we went through not knowing anything about him. All these months, we had hoped he would come home.

Espinal, his two sisters and a brother were born and raised in Washington to parents who had come to the United States from El Salvador 30 years ago. Espinal was studying business at the University of the District of Columbia while managing Annies Ace Hardware store in Northwest. His fiancee, Irma Flores, 25, graduated from the school this spring with a degree in health sciences and plans to be a nurse. The couple met in middle school.

Marla Espinal said her brother had a kind heart and hired many of his friends to work at the store. He wanted to see other people do better for themselves, she said.

Flores called Espinal a loving father to their 9-year-old son, Julius, and a humble, hard worker who enjoyed jokes, barbecuing and watching cooking shows on television. He was a foodie, Flores said. He loved food. He would like to eat at the best restaurants with the best food.

Espinals sister said they do not know of anyone who wanted to harm her brother, or a possible motive, and she declined to provide details of what investigators have told her other than that police indicated they had possible leads.

In 2012, Espinal went to jail for six months for illegally possessing a handgun and distributing drugs after police raided his home and found 2.8 pounds of marijuana hidden in his toilet and in basement ceiling tiles, court records show. Five months before he went missing, he and several others got into a brawl in Northwest and he was given a suspended sentence for kicking a police officer trying to break up the fight.

Marla Espinal said she did not think her brothers past had a role in his apparent killing, noting the drug case occurred when he was a 20-year-old. Hes put all that in his past, she said.

Flores said her thoughts first turned to those cases when her fiance disappeared but has since come to the belief there is no connection.

She said Espinal never told me anything or whether he felt threatened.

And she still recalls what she said was their last conversation.

Just after leaving the hardware store on Oct. 8, Espinal called Flores. He told me he would be home soon, she said. He wasnt.
Four men have been accused of robbing a string of 7-Eleven stores in the region at gunpoint, including three in one day, police said Tuesday.

Police caught the suspects in a June 16 traffic stop as they were driving away from the last 7-Eleven hit in a white Nissan previously reported as being linked to the robberies.

During the traffic stop, officers heard over the scanner that a 7-Eleven at 6201 Suitland Rd. had just been robbed. Police said they found two loaded guns in the car.

That particular night, we were in the right spot, just a minute too late, but we were still able to make the traffic stop on that car, so it worked out well, Prince Georges County police Deputy Chief Sammy Patel said at the news conference about the arrests.

Police identified the suspects as Tyrone Murphy, 26, Leighton Williams, 31, and brothers Kione Banks, 19, and Khiry Banks, 27, all of the District.

The first two robberies in the spree occurred May 17 in Gaithersburg and Rockville. The crew allegedly continued to rob one more 7-Eleven in Montgomery County, three in Anne Arundel County and four in Prince Georges County over the four weeks.

Money and cigarettes were taken in many of the robberies, including one May incident in which the money taken from a cash register  about $235  was less than the $264 value of the 36 packs of Newport cigarettes stolen, according to charging documents filed in the case.

Patel said some of the suspects admitted a role in the robberies when questioned.

Police said the suspects would enter the stores with guns in the late evening or early morning and steal an undisclosed amount of money and cigarettes. They would wear hoods and masks, and no one was injured in any of the robberies, police said at the news conference.

The four men were not present at each robbery but worked as a team, police contend.

The alleged robbers seemed to be picking up their pace recently, with three robberies on June 16, according to police.

Individuals responsible for this crime spree were dangerous, gun-wielding criminals who threatened the lives of clerks and delivery personnel, said Assistant Chief Hector Velez of Prince Georges County.

A preliminary hearing for Kione Banks is scheduled for July 11, and the others are scheduled for preliminary hearings July 10, online court records show. The online records do not indicate whether any of the suspects has a lawyer.

All of the men face robbery, assault and weapons charges in the case, online court records show.
There have been 51 homicides in the District so far this year, down 15 percent from the 60 at this time in 2016, according to D.C. police statistics. (iStockphoto)

A man was arrested after a woman was fatally shot early Wednesday inside an apartment in the Deanwood neighborhood of Northeast Washington, according to D.C. police.

At around 12:10 a.m., officers responded to the 700 block of 51st Street NE, just off Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue, for the report of a shooting, D.C. police said in a statement. They found 41-year-old Robin Fitzgerald of Northeast suffering from gunshot wounds, and she was transported to a hospital where she died, the statement said.

A police report said two men and two women were inside the apartment at the time and that one man was in the bathroom when he heard two gunshots. He emerged and found the victim lying on the ground and shot twice, according to the report.

Police said they arrested 29-year-old Aaron Jacobs of no fixed address, and he was charged with second-degree murder while armed. Police did not discuss a possible motive.

[Man fatally shot in Grant Park neighborhood]

The shooting is the third in the vicinity since Sunday, though the others were the result of street violence.

A man was shot and wounded Sunday night in the 300 block of 53rd Street NE, about one half mile from where the woman was killed, in the neighborhood of Grant Park. On Tuesday night, police said Reginald Bruce Parks, 51, was fatally shot in the 300 block of 54th Street NE, also in Grant Park.

Police have not said if any of the shootings are related.

There have been 51 homicides in the District so far this year, down 15 percent from the 60 at this time in 2016, according to D.C. police statistics. Violent crime is down 27 percent this year.
A family walks by a wall covered by a symbol from the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang in Ilopango, El Salvador. (Esteban Felix/AP)

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled top federal immigration officials Wednesday over how to prevent the violent street gang MS-13 from targeting unaccompanied minors who have entered this country illegally.

Citing a recent Washington Post report linking a surge in MS-13 violence around the country to its recruitment of unaccompanied minors, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said federal officials were not keeping close enough track of the youth.

The governments total failure to establish an efficient process and meaningful oversight of the placement of these children has led to the current MS-13 crisis, said Grassley, the committee chairman.

Testifying at the hearing were top officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency in charge of reuniting unaccompanied minors with relatives in the United States.

No one takes responsibility for these children after they are placed with a sponsor, Grassley said. Your agencies repeatedly pass the buck to each other. As a result, children are allowed to disappear. When these children disappear without any supervision, they are vulnerable to join dangerous gangs like MS-13.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) (Charlie Neibergall/AP)

The Post investigation published earlier this month found that at least 14 young people placed by ORR were caught up in MS-13 violence after their moves to the United States. That includes eight charged in connection with slayings.

Wednesdays hearing was the first time that some of the agencies had provided statistics on unaccompanied minors suspected of gang involvement.

Since October of 2011, Customs and Border Protection has apprehended approximately 5,000 individuals  mostly adults  with confirmed or suspected gang affiliations, Acting Chief Carla Provost testified.

That number includes 159 unaccompanied minors, 56 of whom were suspected or confirmed to be affiliated with MS-13, she said.

The agency apprehended a total of about 250,000 unaccompanied minors during that time period, Provost said.

By law, border agents have 72 hours to pass unaccompanied minors to ORR. Agents are instructed to notify the refugee resettlement office and the Department of Homeland Security when they suspect an unaccompanied minor who has been placed in U.S. custody belongs to a gang.

Scott Lloyd, the director of ORR, told the senators that his agency had identified a similarly small share of unaccompanied minors with gang involvement.

A June 9 ORR review found that of the 138 unaccompanied minors in its most secure facilities, 35 were voluntarily involved in gangs, including MS-13. Another four minors said they had been forced into a gang.

Its unclear how many unaccompanied minors with admitted gang ties have been released by ORR, or if any of them have been involved in crimes after their release. The agency says it has released a small number of children with minimal gang affiliation to live with relatives.

Earlier this month, ORR was forced to release a 17-year-old unaccompanied minor who admitted to spending three years in MS-13 in Honduras. A federal judge ordered his release, ruling that his rights had been violated.

Nobody can really tell us how many of these children are being trafficked, become recruited as gang members or anything of that nature, can you? asked Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Lloyd replied that the best we can do is to scrutinize the sponsor ... and also while the [minor] is in our care, to monitor any of their behavior to figure out if they may be prone to criminal activity.

He said his agency had recently instituted policies to prevent young people from being recruited by MS-13, including training employees to identify signs of MS-13 membership during follow-up phone calls with minors who have been released to family members.

But he said ORR was hamstrung by federal laws restricting those follow-ups as well as limited resources.

You could use some help from the policymakers, in my view, Cornyn said.

Wed welcome that, Lloyd replied.
Calvert County

No report was available from the Calvert County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police.

Charles County

No report was available from the Charles County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. For information, call 301-932-2222 or 301-870-3232. The website ccso.us has crime statistics and information on crime prevention programs.

REWARDS FOR INFORMATION

Crime Solvers will pay a reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment. The 24-hour hotline is 866-411-8477. Callers may remain anonymous.

INDIAN HEAD AREA

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Helen Ct., midnight-5 a.m. June 13. Clothing and headphones were stolen from three vehicles.

LA PLATA AREA

ROBBERIES

Crain Hwy., 6200 block, 12:57 a.m. June 9. Two males jumped the counter at a pharmacy, assaulted the pharmacist and stole medication. A Clinton man, 23, and another man, 19, of no fixed address, were charged with theft, assault and armed robbery.

WALdoRF AREA

ASSAULTS

Crain Hwy., 11:18 a.m. June 10. An Atlanta woman, 19, was charged with assault, trespassing and disorderly conduct after she kicked an officer.

Mall Cir., 6:29 p.m. June 2. During her arrest in connection with a hit-and-run, a woman attempted to bite police officers. A Virginia woman, 24, was charged with assault, driving while impaired and hit-and-run.

THEFTS/BREAK-INS

Marlin Ct., 4:10 a.m. June 12. Four males attempted to break into vehicles in the area.

Mattawoman Beantown Rd., 11:56 a.m. June 5. Speakers and radios were stolen from three vehicles.

St. Marys County

These w ere among reports received by the St. Marys County Sheriffs Office and the Maryland State Police. For information, call 301-475-8008. To submit a tip, call Crime Solvers at 301-475-3333. The Leonardtown Barrack of the state police has an anonymous tip line at 301-475-2936.

CHARLOTTE HALL AREA

THEFTS/BREAK-IN

Three Notch Rd., 9:50 p.m. June 5. A male stole several cartons of cigarettes from a convenience store.

Susan Ln., 21000 block, June 6 to June 7. Property was stolen from a shed entered overnight.

Great Mills Rd., 21000 block, June 7 to June 8. Several vehicles were broken into overnight at P.J.s Autobody, and property was stolen.

Chancellors Run Rd., 21000 block. Property was stolen from a construction site.

Old Lockes Hill Rd., 2800 block, June 10. Property was stolen from a residence.

Valley Ct., 46000 block, June 11. Cash was stolen from a residence.

Three Notch Rd., 28000 block, June 6. Copper and a loader conveyor were stolen.

Barkentine Ct., 21000 block, June 6. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Great Mills Rd., 21000 block, June 13. Property was stolen from several storage units.

Novosel Ct., 45000 block, June 14. Property was stolen from a vehicle.

Camalier Dr., 41000 block, June 15. Copper piping was stolen during a break-in at a residence.

Syndney Dr., 21000 block, June 15. A shed was entered and property was stolen.
Republican Ed Gillespie (left) and Democrat Ralph Northam are running to be Virginias next governor. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

Democrat Ralph Northam has an early eight-point lead over Republican Ed Gillespie in the Virginia governors race, according to a new survey released on Wednesday.

The poll by Quinnipiac University found 47 percent of Virginia voters backed Northam, the states sitting lieutenant governor, while 39 percent backed Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Its one of the earliest general election polls in whats expected to be a hard-fought campaign in Virginia, one of just two states with gubernatorial contests in November. The governors race is seen as an early test of politics in the era of President Trump, and both national parties have identified it as a priority.

Northam easily beat Tom Perriello in last weeks Democratic primary, while Gillespie narrowly squeaked out a victory over hardline conservative Corey Stewart in the GOP nomination contest.

Historically, the winner of Virginias governors race comes from the party that lost the presidential contest. Incumbent Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who is constitutionally barred from seeking a second consecutive term, broke that trend in 2013.

[Democrats look unified, GOP in disarray after Va. primary]

Northams lead slipped since April, when he had 11-point advantage over Gillespie in a hypothetical match-up tested by Quinnipiac.

The latest poll found few voters crossing party lines to vote for governor, and independent voters were evenly split between Northam and Gillespie.

Northam, a pediatric neurologist, has made expanding access to health care and workforce development top priorities, while Gillespie is running on a platform of cutting income taxes and improving the business climate.

The economy and health care ranked as voters top priorities, each drawing about 30 percent, while education, taxes and immigration lagged behind. Voters thought Gillespie would do a better job handling the economy and taxes by narrow margins, while Northam was seen as the better candidate on health care and education by double-digit leads.

Support for Northam outpaces his favorability rating, suggesting hes buoyed by his Democratic affiliation. The lieutenant governor was seen favorably by 36 percent of voters and unfavorably by 24 percent. Gillespie had an equally split 29-29 favorability rating.

Nearly 4 in 10 voters said they were too unfamiliar with both candidates to form an opinion.

[Join our Facebook group to follow and discuss governors race]

The poll also found voter approval of McAuliffe at 47 percent, a 5 point drop since Quinnipiac last surveyed voters in April. At the same time, his disapproval rose by 5 points.

More than half of voters approved of the performance of Virginias two Democratic senators: Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, although their approval ratings both slipped by more than five points since April. Voters believed Kaine deserved to be re-elected next year by a 47 to 38 percent margin.

In addition to the governors race, voters are also casting ballots in November for attorney general, lieutenant governor and all 100 House of Delegates seats.

The survey found voters disapprove of the way the GOP-controlled state legislature is doing its job by a margin of 42 to 38 percent, with 20 percent expressing no opinion. Voters want Democrats to retake control of the House of Delegates by a 48 to 41 percent margin. Republicans currently hold a staggering 66-34 majority, although Democrats have identified a longshot path to retake the chamber by sweeping all 17 districts won by Hillary Clinton in November.

Interviewers surveyed 1,145 Virginia voters between June 15 to 20 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, shown at the state Capitol in Little Rock, in this file photo from April 2015. Abortion-rights groups are suing Arkansas over regulations Hutchinson signed into law this year. (Danny Johnston/AP)

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging new Arkansas regulations that restrict abortions in the state, arguing that the new laws place inordinate burdens on women who seek abortion care.

The lawsuit aims to block four Arkansas laws that are scheduled to take effect later this year, among them a ban on a common abortion method during a womans second trimester of pregnancy known as dilation and extraction.

The regulations also would prompt providers to notify  and seek consent from  a womans partner or family member before an abortion and would increase the amount of medical records doctors must request before an abortion to ensure a woman is not seeking an abortion based on the gender of the fetus. The new Arkansas laws also would require providers to more extensively collect and preserve fetal tissue from abortions performed on minors, should local police need it for evidence in an investigation, according to the lawsuit.

In Arkansas, legislators have passed laws that amount to an outright ban on abortion for many women, and would force women to endure invasions, investigations and insults just to get the care they decided they need, said Talcott Camp, deputy director of the ACLUs Reproductive Freedom Project.

In addition to Arkansas, Texas lawmakers recently enacted a similar ban on abortions by dilation and extraction  except for in cases when women face serious medical risks  as have West Virginia and Mississippi. To carry out the procedure, doctors dismember the fetus and remove it from the womb.

[Arkansas governor signs ban on common abortion procedure]

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) signed the abortion procedure ban into law in January. Of the 3,207 abortions performed in Arkansas in 2016, about 570 were carried out with the method the Arkansas law will ban, according to state health data.

State abortion opponents made banning the method a priority in the most recent legislative session, said Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life. Mimms said she believes such laws will withstand U.S. Supreme Court scrutiny, comparing them to the 2007 Supreme Court ruling on partial birth abortion bans.

A separate lawsuit, filed by Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Little Rock Family Planning Services, challenges an Arkansas law that allows the state Department of Health to close abortion clinics if they are found in violation of any state law or regulation, no matter how minor. Arkansas has three abortion clinics.

Abortion providers and advocates consider such laws to be targeted regulation of abortion providers, or TRAPs. The U.S. Supreme Court last year struck down a Texas law that required abortion clinic doctors to receive admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and adopt standards similar to those of surgical centers. In states including Texas, Mississippi and Oklahoma, abortion clinics that failed to comply with similar requirements were at risk of being shuttered.

[Admitting-privileges laws have created high hurdle for abortion providers to clear]

Mimms said that such laws aim to protect women from unsafe practices.

The more regulations, the better, Mimms said. We need to protect these women who go into these abortion clinics.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, some states consider laws targeting clinics legally risky, Janet Crepps, senior counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said during a conference call with reporters Tuesday. For instance, the Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked a state law in December that would have required abortion providers to establish relationships with hospitals.

Arkansas already has several abortion restrictions, including a 48-hour waiting period, said Lori Williams, clinical director with Little Rock Family Planning in Arkansas. Women seeking abortions often have to travel to clinics for two separate visits, Williams said.

Burdening providers and bullying women does nothing to advance or protect womens health, Williams said.
Democratic Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) discuss how the Republican health-care bill could affect rural Americans during a hearing on Wednesday. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Surrounded by several fellow Democrats in a meeting room in the Capitol Visitors Center, Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) lashed out Wednesday afternoon at Republican plans to refashion federal health policies, contending that they would hit rural communities like a wrecking ball.

But the plans that Wyden was condemning at an all-Democratic hearing were not part of a Senate bill. In a weird twist, his derision was aimed at the legislation that House Republicans narrowly adopted last month to erase major aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

It was an unusual target given that Wyden is the Senate Finance Committees ranking Democrat, but it reflected the conundrum that his partys senators and their allies have faced for weeks as they tried to begin mobilizing to oppose sweeping health-care legislation.

With the bill still officially secret on Wednesday, perhaps only a week before a possible Senate vote, they have been forced to fight against a phantom.

Its like trying to shoot at something in the dark, said a lobbyist for a major health-care organization worried about the particulars that Senate GOP leaders are preparing to release on Thursday morning. You kind of know the general direction, said the lobbyist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address the organizations internal strategy. But you cant . . . develop the policy arguments when you dont know the details of whats out there.

Until now, Senate Democrats have tried to foment opposition to the impending bill by focusing on different constituencies who they say would be harmed. The hearing at which Wyden spoke was convened by the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, led by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), to focus on how the legislation would devastate rural America.

[McConnell places all his chips on health-care gambit]

Witnesses came from a half-dozen states, including some, such as Ohio and West Virginia, that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and have Republican senators wary of the impact that program cuts expected in the GOP bill would have.

A day earlier, Democratic Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.) and Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) issued a report along with local law enforcement officials to dramatize how the nations ability to combat drug abuse would be hurt in their view.

The Republican health care plan would retreat from the fight against opioid addiction at the height of the epidemic, warned the eight-page report, filled with charts, a national map showing deaths from drug overdoses and a description of ways the ACA has fostered access to treatment.

Off Capitol Hill, leading groups that share Senate Democrats concerns about the GOPs health-care ideas, acknowledge the difficulty of trying to lobby without actual Senate legislation against which to rail.

Its very challenging, said Dick Woodruff, the American Cancer Societys senior vice president of federal advocacy. Without a Senate bill, members of his group continue to express concern about key elements of the Houses American Health Care Act. Those include a proposed Medicaid cut of more than $830 billion and a provision that could make it more costly and difficult for Americans with preexisting medical conditions to obtain insurance.

The lobbyist for another major health-care organization agreed that we can talk in generalities of not wanting people to lose coverage, not wanting to undermine the safety net. But Republicans can come back and respond to you, Of course, we are not doing that. I cant give a point-by-point rebuttal to what they are proposing.

And not knowing how many GOP senators may be reticent about the legislation, the lobbyist said, organizations cannot yet map out campaigns to target wavering votes.

[Heres what we know about the Senate health-care bill]

This week, four groups focused on public health dispatched a joint statement faulting the complete lack of detail released by Senate Republicans. Their statement again decried the Houses legislation, especially its elimination of all money for a federal Prevention and Public Health Fund. The pain will be felt in every state, every congressional district, and every neighborhood, the statement said.

A coalition of eight health-care and consumer groups under the banner Protect Patients First, including the American Medical Association and AARP, convened a second grass-roots event on Wednesday  this time in Reno, Nev. Speakers included heart-disease and breast-cancer survivors who have benefited from the ACAs ban on insurers excluding or charging more to customers with preexisting medical problems.

Right now is crisis mode, AMA President David Barbe said at the coalitions first event last week in Cleveland. All hands on deck.

The cancer society has just started running print and online ads in several key states and is bringing cancer survivors to Capitol Hill next Tuesday along with groups representing patients with diabetes, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis. The American Heart Association is also flying in some of its members to meet with lawmakers and their staff.

Outside the Capitol on Wednesday morning, members of the Service Employees International Union rallied in bright purple shirts and touted the need to protect Medicaid. Tonya Morrow, a member leadership and action coordinator with SEIU Health Care Pennsylvania, came from Allentown, Pa., with members to lobby aides to Pennsylvanias senators, Casey and Patrick J. Toomey (R).

Members from the progressive group Indivisible also were staging a sit-in at the office of Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a key moderate who has expressed concern about plans to reverse Medicaid expansion.

With just a few days between the bills unveiling and the vote next week that McConnell intends, it is unclear how much impact such activism will have on GOP lawmakers.

Toomey, for example, has been leading an effort to curb Medicaid spending in the coming years. Morrow said Toomey has been one of the most phoned senators across the country, and SEIU members have visited his state offices many times. But the senator has not indicated he will change his position.
AFGHANISTAN

Taliban video shows American hostage

The Taliban released a new video Wednesday showing an American and an Australian it abducted last August, the second such footage of the hostages.

The two men  an American identified as Kevin King and an Australian identified as Timothy Weekes  were abducted outside the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, where they work as teachers.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid sent the video to media outlets on Wednesday.

In the footage, both King and Weekes say the date is June 16. The previous video of the pair, released in January, showed them appearing pale, but in this one, they look healthier.

Both say they are being treated well by the Taliban but remain prisoners, appealing to their governments to help set them free with prisoner swaps.

 Associated Press

FRANCE

Little-known figures join Macron cabinet

French President Emmanuel Macron brought several little-known figures into his government Wednesday as part of a reshuffle after corruption scandals started tarnishing his young cabinet.

Macrons office announced Wednesday that Florence Parly, a former executive and budget official, would become the new defense minister after the previous defense chief, Sylvie Goulard, the highest-ranking woman in the five-week-old government, stepped down.

Parly was a junior minister in charge of the budget in a Socialist government from 2000 to 2002. Since then, she has worked at airline company Air France and national railway company SNCF.

Macron also named Nicole Belloubet, a legal expert and member of Frances Constitutional Court, as justice minister.

Her predecessor, Francois Bayrou, who was leading Macrons crusade to purify politics, was forced to quit over corruption allegations.

The new cabinet has 29 members, including 14 women, up from the 22 appointed after Macrons election last month.

Center-right Prime Minister Edouard Philippe remains at the head of the government.

 Associated Press

european union

Court: Vaccines can be faulted without proof

The highest court of the European Union has ruled that courts can consider whether a vaccination led to someone developing an illness even when there is no scientific proof.

The decision was issued on Wednesday in relation to the case of a Frenchman known as Mr. J.W., who was immunized against hepatitis B in 1998-99. About a year later, Mr. J.W. was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In 2006, he and his family sued vaccine maker Sanofi Pasteur in an attempt to be compensated for the damage they claim he suffered because of the vaccine. Mr. J.W. died in 2011.

Frances Court of Appeal ruled that there was no causal link between the hepatitis B vaccine and multiple sclerosis and dismissed the case. Numerous studies have found no link between the hepatitis B shot and multiple sclerosis.

After the case went to Frances Court of Cassation, it was brought to the European Union.

On Wednesday, the E.U.s top court said that despite the lack of scientific consensus on the issue, a vaccine could be considered defective if there was specific and consistent evidence, including the time between a vaccines administration and the onset of a disease, an individuals previous state of health, the lack of any family history of the disease and a significant number of reported cases of the disease occurring following vaccination.

 Associated Press

Murder probes in Mexico hit a record high: The number of murder investigations in Mexico rose to a record high in May, according to government data. There were 2,186 murder probes in May, the highest for any month in data going back to 1997. Some cases may include multiple homicides. The number of murder victims reported in May was 2,452, the highest for any month in a separate set of data that goes back to 2014.

 From news services
What we learned from Tuesdays special congressional election in Georgia is that there is no magical solution to the countrys Trump problem. This will be a long fight.

Karen Handels victory over Democrat Jon Ossoff was not an endorsement of the president. It was a personal and party success achieved despite him.

Democrats are, well, blue because a loss is a loss. You can measure their disappointment by imagining the triumphalism wed be hearing had Ossoff prevailed. But nothing that happened should make Republicans feel secure about their hold on the House of Representatives. Nationalizing the swings against them in the special elections held for GOP seats this year would likely deprive them of control in 2018.

The key for Handel was the time she had between Aprils first round of voting (which Ossoff led in an open primary with 48.1 percent, just short of the majority he needed to settle matters then) and the second (in which Ossoffs vote almost precisely matched his earlier share).

Ossoffs problem is that he didnt win the first round, Brian Fallon, senior adviser to Priorities USA, a Democratic super PAC, said in an interview. The longer this race was in the national spotlight, the more money it drew from the Republicans, and the more they were able to consolidate their base.

And while Democrats were mourning in Georgia on Tuesday night, they almost stole a House seat in South Carolina where Archie Parnell came within about 2,800 votes and three percentage points of defeating Republican Ralph Norman.

In races without the national focus and Fort Knox-level spending seen in Georgia, energized anti-Trump voters appeared to turn out at far higher rates than dispirited Republicans. Thus did Democrats sharply cut the Republicans 2016 margins in Kansas and Montana districts earlier this year. The moral for GOP strategists: They face real threats in less hospitable territory. This also suggests that Democrats should broaden their aspirations beyond suburban areas seen as especially hostile to President Trump.

Whit Ayres, a Republican consultant and Handel strategist, underscored her success in turning the contest into a normal partisan choice. The voters decided that Karen Handel was a better representative of their values, their interests and their perspective than Jon Ossoff, he told me. Karen Handel ran a relentlessly localized campaign that focused on that perspective.

Notice those words: relentlessly localized. To pull this off, Handel had to keep her distance from Trump. Ayres put the matter diplomatically: The president structured the broader environment but didnt determine the outcome of this particular race. Exactly.

Yet if Trump was unpopular in the district, his approval rating, Fallon said, was six or seven points higher there than his standing nationwide. Trump was thus disliked enough to give Ossoff a chance but not so unpopular that a screechingly anti-Trump campaign, as Fallon put it, would have gone over well.

However, Fallon did see a lost opportunity. Ossoff, he said, could have run much more forcefully against the House Republican health-care bill, particularly its unpopular provisions that would undercut protections for those with preexisting conditions. Paradoxically, if the Georgia result encourages the Senate to join in passing a deeply flawed Obamacare repeal bill, it could hurt the GOP in the long run.

Handel also turned Ossoffs residency about two miles outside the district into a cultural argument that his heart was actually 2,100 miles away, in San Francisco. Hes just not one of us, her ads said, and this message was reinforced by tying him to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California  and perhaps inadvertently by Ossoffs own promise to grow metro Atlantas economy into the Silicon Valley of the South. Pelosis enduring role as a Republican punching bag revived debate over whether her leadership is an electoral drag on the party, or if she is simply a convenient (female) symbol for attacks on liberalism that the GOP would level with or without her.

Everybody uses special elections to ratify whatever they thought before a single vote was counted. Do Democrats need a compelling economic message? Yes. Would the existence of such a message have won Ossoff this race? Probably not. Did Georgia make Republicans feel better and Democrats worse? Sure. Does this mean that Trump and the GOP are out of the woods? Not in the least.

Trumps foes hoped that a district in Georgia would strike a decisive blow against him. But miracles rarely happen in politics, and suburban Atlanta Republicans were loyal enough to their party to decide that it wasnt their job to deliver one.

Read more from E.J. Dionnes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
In his June 18 op-ed, Lax drug enforcement means more violence, Attorney General Jeff Sessions wrote that the drug business is inherently violent. Disputes are settled not in courts but at the barrels of guns, he writes.

But thats only the case because drugs are illegal and unregulated.

Since the end of alcohol prohibition, beer and liquor distributors no longer shoot each other in the streets in the battle for market share.

Instead, legal businesses have every incentive to play by the rules. They test and label their products for potency and purity, they avoid selling to children, and they pay taxes.

That will be the case for marijuana and other illegal substances, too, if and when Congress recognizes that prohibition doesnt stop use but instead only makes drugs more dangerous by removing the possibility of regulation and control.

Tom Angell, Brooklyn

The writer is chairman of Marijuana Majority.

Attorney General Jeff Sessionss op-ed contradicted the evidence that every part of the country is suffering from the opioid crisis, including, yes, our privileged communities, and the newly changed instructions to prosecutors arent going to solve the issue.

Mr. Sessions ignored the more effective solution: devoting enough resources to treatment on demand with follow-up support. Of the 23.5 million people who needed treatment in 2009, only 2.6 million got it, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services). Let me be clear: 9.4 percent of people age 12 or older are abusing illicit drugs. Universal treatment is a better way to solve a crisis that is devouring so many people.

Zohar Rom, Arlington

Causation, correlation. Im not convinced Attorney General Jeff Sessions understands the difference. If he is going to claim that he is required to end the Obama-era charging instruction to protect the lives of victims, he should do Americans the favor of offering evidence of causation, not simply correlation. Is there any evidence that federal drug crime charging policy has in fact been a cause of the recent rise in violence in some of our cities?

Drew Bendon, Arlington

Using the politics of fear, Attorney General Jeff Sessions falsely argued that violent crime is sweeping the nation, though violent crime rates are near their lowest levels since the 1970s.

Reviving the failed policies and rhetoric of the war on drugs will not make our communities safer or reduce the use of illegal drugs. Studies have shown that the incarceration explosion of the past 30 years has had a negligible impact on crime rates. The 17 states that reduced their prison population in the past 10 years saw a reduction in crime rates, not an increase. Mr. Sessions also ignored that the duty of a prosecutor  particularly the nations top prosecutor  is not merely to convict people. Its to seek justice.

Ordering federal prosecutors to seek the toughest sentence possible, even for nonviolent, low-level drug offenders, isnt seeking justice. Its denying it  to people of color, the poor and those for whom treatment would be far more effective and rehabilitative than jail time. Studies show that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive a mandatory-minimum sentence than whites facing eligible charges, and the U.S. Sentencing Commission shows elevated likelihood of mandatory-minimum sentencing for Hispanics.

Tragically, our prisons and jails are too often used as a warehouse for the mentally ill and the addicted.

Harsh mandatory minimums erode public confidence in our justice system. Were wasting billions of taxpayer dollars incarcerating people when we could be using the same resources for proven programs that actually reduce crime and improve public safety.

Cory A. Booker, Washington

The writer, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from New Jersey.
POLITICIANS HAVE been manipulating legislative district lines in order to tip electoral results their way for about as long as the Republic has existed. The term gerrymander was coined 205 years ago. But the tools and methods have become far more sophisticated, resulting in extremely warped electoral maps that curb the ability of many Americans to obtain meaningful political representation.

For decades, the Supreme Court has kept its distance from this issue. But on Monday, the court announced that it will hear a challenge to one of the most egregious examples of partisan mapmaking, raising hopes that, after two centuries, the justices may find their way to setting some limits on this increasingly corrupt practice.

Wisconsins state legislative map, which the court agreed to consider, is epically unbalanced. Wisconsins Assembly, the maps challengers note, . . . bears no resemblance to its evenly split electorate. In 2012, Republicans won a supermajority of sixty seats (out of ninety-nine) while losing the statewide vote. In 2014 and 2016, Republicans extended their advantage to sixty-three and sixty-four seats, respectively, even though the statewide vote remained nearly tied. Democrats could gain a majority only with a massive electoral swing far outside historical norms. And if they dont, Republicans will remain in charge after the next census, again will draw district boundaries in an abusive fashion and so will perpetuate the inequity indefinitely.

It is no big leap to conclude that a map in which one party has dramatically more wasted votes than another, on purpose  a map designed so that a 55 percent vote for one party results in a remarkably different outcome from a 55 percent vote for another  offends the Constitutions guarantee of equal protection and possibly free-speech rights, too, given that gerrymandering effectively punishes certain voters for their past political choices. That is precisely why judicial intervention was necessary here, the challengers assert, to correct a serious democratic malfunction that would otherwise have gone unremedied. If the court were to quash Wisconsins legislative map, it would deter future bad behavior by putting statehouses across the country on notice: Dont go too far in rigging the system.

This is far from an easy call. How can judges distinguish between acceptable and excessive politicization? The challengers recommend that courts determine whether voting-map bias is significant, purposeful and has no legitimate justification. The state of Wisconsin argues that this test is still vague, relying on an unspecified brew of factors that would give judges far too much flexibility in tossing out lawmakers work. One third of all legislatively drawn plans would fail the test, the state reckons. Once involved, the court might trigger a long-running judicial intervention in the workings of the political branches of government. Redistricting, a power assigned to the legislative branch, could effectively become a judicial enterprise.

Yet from Maryland and Virginia to North Carolina and beyond, state legislatures controlled by both parties have been disgracefully willing to prioritize incumbent protection over voter rights. The justices may take a long time to rule, and they might well decline to strike down the Wisconsin map. In the meantime, then, the political battle to curb gerrymandering must continue, steeply uphill though it may be.
IN MAY, Vice President Pence reaffirmed the Trump administrations commitment to protecting religious minorities in the Middle East. Just over a month later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are poised to send nearly 200 Iraqis back to a country where they could face extreme harassment and religious persecution.

After Iraq agreed to accept deportees from the United States in exchange for being dropped from President Trumps travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, ICE said it began to process the backlog of Iraqi nationals subject to final orders of removal. In sweeping raids since May, ICE has arrested 114 Iraqis in Michigan and an additional 85 elsewhere in the United States. Many of the detainees have lived in the United States for decades and belong to religious and ethnic minority groups in Iraq, such as the Chaldean Christians and Iraqi Kurds.

This alone should give ICE and the Trump administration pause. According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, some of the detainees fled Iraq as refugees, and many could face torture and reprisal if sent back. Iraq is notoriously dangerous for its minorities: A 2016 report by Minority Rights Group International found that many minority groups have been almost entirely eliminated after years of repression, displacement and violence. Even though the Islamic State in Iraq has lost territory, deportation could still be dangerous. Advocates have likened the deportations to a death sentence.

The removals not only are morally reprehensible but also run afoul of international law. The U.N. Convention Against Torture , to which the United States is a signatory, prohibits the return of a person to a country where patterns of mass human rights violations provide substantial grounds for believing they may be tortured. The gamut of atrocities committed by the Islamic State and other extremist groups in Iraq should be grounds enough.

When questioned about the arrests, ICE pointed out that most of the detainees have previous criminal convictions. But some of these convictions are more than 20 years old. Others involve minor drug offenses and misdemeanors  hardly the serious crimes listed by ICE in its statements. While the administration is within its rights to remove undocumented immigrants with prior convictions, its willingness to send residents who in some cases have complied with the law for decades to a country where they may face violence shows remarkable callousness.

The potential harm is real enough at least to warrant a case-by-case review. The ACLU of Michigan has filed a class-action lawsuit to halt the deportations until each detainee has the opportunity for a hearing. This is the correct course, both legally and morally. To the administration, it might mean another bureaucratic hurdle, but to the Iraqis at risk of being deported, it could mean the difference between life and death.
Danielle Allen is a political theorist at Harvard University and a contributing columnist for The Post.

Standing Up for Our Law Enforcement Community is seventh on the list of the Trump White Houses eight top issues. One of the fundamental rights of every American is to live in a safe community, the White House website proclaims. Who would not affirm this expansion of the list of our fundamental rights? Or the importance of honoring our men and women in uniform and supporting their mission of protecting the public?

But the website veers into the surreal. The Trump Administration will be a law and order administration, it tells us, for a country that needs more law enforcement.

Can we really swallow that?

Consider the numbers: Nearly one out of every 100 adult Americans is incarcerated, or more than 2 million people. The world has never seen a penal system like this before.

Consider, too, Americas preeminence in imprisoning people. Close to 25 percent of the worlds prisoners are in U.S. prisons, though only about 5 percent of the worlds population lives between our shining shores.

More than half of our prison population is black or Hispanic, but these are not the groups that saw the largest increase in imprisonment from 2002 to 2010. That prize goes to white women. The volume of our law enforcement has achieved world-historical magnitude. The idea that we need more law enforcement sends chills down my spine.

The fact of our historic levels of incarceration should provoke us to consider whether perhaps we need not increases in law enforcement but different approaches to criminal justice.

The war on drugs is a driver of a lot of our use of the judicial system and law enforcement. This heavy use may well explain some significant part of increases in levels of violence.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions may be enamored of it, but consider how the war on drugs bloats and disables the judicial system. Fourteen percent of imprisoned Americans have been sentenced for nonviolent drug offenses. And then there are all the violent offenses that flow from the intertwining double helix of drugs and gangs. But that is not all.

In recent years, as many as 32 percent of defendant filings in federal courts, in a given year, are for drug-related cases. This is the biggest category of filings. They are a large category in states, too. In other words, the illegal drug economy overburdens our judicial system and increases prosecutorial workloads. There is good reason to think that this overload helps explain why homicide clearance rates have fallen as low as they have, leading to a phase shift in levels of violence in urban areas. For instance, according to a retired police officer interviewed by NPR, Vernon Geberth, police nowadays face a higher bar in trying to clear a case because overburdened prosecutors want only easy cases. Then, as violence in urban contexts increases, impoverished communities end up ever more entrapped in the protection rackets run by gangs and the international traffickers who employ them.

There is another way.

In 2001, Portugal eliminated criminal penalties for low-level possession and consumption of all illicit drugs and reclassified these activities as administrative violations. Instead of being arrested, people found in possession of personal-use amounts are ordered to appear before a dissuasion commission; the result is treatment, a fine or other administrative sanctions. Drug trafficking remains criminal, but decriminalization of personal-use possession has brought drug dependency out of the shadows. In Portugal, the number of people seeking treatment increased by 60 percent between 1998 and 2011, and adolescent drug use has decreased since the laws passage. At the same time, the percentage of people in prison for drug violations fell from 44 percent in 1999 to 24 percent in 2013. And the overall quantity of illicit drugs seized actually increased, possibly because public-safety resources could be directed to targets higher up the supply chain.

Achieving such results requires not more law enforcement but law enforcement that functions differently. It also requires fiscal reallocations from criminal justice to education, health and human and social services.

The story is not one of shortage. The ratio of law-enforcement officers to both teachers and doctors has crept modestly up over the past two decades; law enforcements numbers have kept pace with population growth, which has not been the case for teachers and doctors.

We can and should be proud of the men and women in uniform who keep us safe. But none of us can be proud of the largest system of incarceration the world has ever known. It is a sign that our society is not flourishing. We can honor our police and also find a path toward a more rewarding version of their job, one that relieves them of some portion of the burden of addressing addiction, responsibly shifts fiscal resources to health care, and therefore can direct criminal issues to law enforcement and health issues to health professionals.

We can be proud of all our caring professions  police, teachers, social workers, doctors  and ask that they stand side by side as partners, sharing resources appropriately, as we seek to secure liberty, justice and thriving lives for all.
John Podesta, chair of Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign, served as counselor to President Barack Obama and chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and is the founder of the Center for American Progress. Brian Katulis is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

The United States used to debate the wars its military was fighting. But thats not the case with the ongoing silent surge of U.S. military operations and arms sales across the Middle East.

The downing on Sunday of a Syrian warplane by an American F/A-18, along with a strike last month in Syria against a pro-Assad regime militia, were just the latest episodes in a creeping military escalation across the region that lacks well-defined strategy and goals understood by the American public.

Unlike the 2007 Iraq surge under President George W. Bush and the 2010 Afghanistan surge under President Barack Obama, this surge by the Trump administration is occurring without an engaged public discussion of the risks or about diplomacy and other tools of national power needed to protect the United States. Although todays surge doesnt involve hundreds of thousands of troops occupying major urban areas, it represents an increasing military presence, particularly of Special Operations forces, that is not transparent.

In just five months, President Trump has moved U.S. troops closer to the front lines in complex fights in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Somalia. As he has recently done in Afghanistan, Trump has also delegated greater authority to the Pentagon to set force levels and hit targets from the air. The frequency of drone strikes has quadrupled compared with Obamas average. In Yemen, U.S. aircraft hit as many targets in just one week in early March as Obama would strike in a year . In Iraq and Syria, the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition released more guided munitions and other weaponry in May than in any previous month of the campaign. The United States also just quietly deployed a long-range artillery system in southeastern Syria, a move that failed to prompt any discussion.

(Sarah Parnass,Bastien Inzaurralde,Julio Negron/The Washington Post)

In the Middle Easts tinderbox, for every action theres a reaction, and it is not clear that the Trump administration has thought through what could go wrong  such as the possibility of slipping into a direct war with Iran or U.S. troops facing chemical weapons attacks by the Islamic State.

Certainly, some of these moves represent the next step in a long-term campaign to defeat the Islamic State that began under the Obama administration, particularly in Iraq and the drive to retake the northern Syrian city of Raqqa. Whats different is the downgrading of diplomacy and other tools necessary to end the fighting and produce long-term stability  including proposed drastic cuts at the State Department and leaving key diplomatic and national security posts unfilled. Trump has also placed the United States squarely on one side of the Sunni-Shiite sectarian conflict roiling the region  quite a shift from Trumps two predecessors.

Whats to be done? Congress should do its job of providing oversight and asking tough questions in three areas.

First, safeguard against a slippery slope to war. Congress should renew the debate on a new authorization for the use of military force to replace the one passed to counter al-Qaeda and its associated forces more than 15 years ago. Across the broader Middle East, the United States has about 80,000 troops deployed  far fewer than the more than 300,000 serving in 2008. Today the overall numbers are not as important as where the troops are located, what they are doing  and, most critically, how the use of military force fits into a broader strategy. The Trump team needs to explain this strategy, and Congress needs to authorize it and set appropriate limits.

Second, no blank checks to our regional partners. Congress should carefully examine any proposed weapons sales, such as additional arms to Saudi Arabia and military assistance to countries including Egypt, and ask tough questions of the administration and U.S. partners. The central one is how this security cooperation will produce greater stability and result in de-escalation, rather than the continued fragmentation of the state system in the Middle East.

Lastly, invest in the complete inventory of national security tools. Congress should resist the Trump administrations proposal to gut elements of national power essential to defeating the Islamic State, ending conflict and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. That means fully investing in the State Department and strongly supporting efforts by international organizations such as the United Nations to address the historic refugee crisis.

The United States needs to work with partners to defeat terrorist groups and counter destabilizing policies from countries such as Iran. But in five months, the Trump administration has exposed the country to greater risks without a clear strategy. Drowned out by real concerns about Russia and the daily grind of Trumps erratic politics at home, the United States is lurching closer to the heart of the complicated crossfire in the Middle East without sufficient scrutiny. Its time for Congress to step up.
For all the money spent and the endless pre-election analysis about the meaning of it all, the special congressional election in Georgias 6th District produced a status quo result. Republican Karen Handel held on to a seat long held by the Republicans. For both parties, there are lessons to be learned.

Any House race that generates $50 million in spending  it was the costliest in history  is hardly a generic laboratory, and therefore the results are subject to over interpretation. In the fevered atmosphere that surrounded this contest in suburban Atlanta, its easy to lose sight of fundamentals. This was a district that Democrats have rarely won  in congressional races, Senate races or state races.

That meant, when stripped of all the hype, the odds always were, narrowly, in Handels direction. She was an almost ideal candidate for the district. Her Democratic opponent, Jon Ossoff, who did not even live in the district, was not. The late polls showed a tight race but gave Ossoff a slight edge (within the margin of error). Handel did better than the polls showed.

The outcome has been described as a wake-up call for Democrats, which it should be. The road to a congressional majority in 2018 remains challenging, despite hopes by many in the party that President Trumps unpopularity will generate enough grass-roots energy to sweep aside the GOP majority. Smart Democrats were always wary of the hype surrounding Ossoffs candidacy and the prospects for victory in Georgia. The results should bring others in the party back down to earth.

Trump won the district in 2016 by a point over Hillary Clinton. Handels four-percentage-point margin exceeded Trumps, but it was significantly smaller than former congressman and current Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price received in recent elections. It was much smaller than other previous GOP occupants of the seat enjoyed before that and smaller by far than Mitt Romneys in 2012.

Democratic House candidate Jon Ossoff concedes to Republican Karen Handel at his election night party in Atlanta on June 20. (David Goldman/AP)

So Handel did better than the polls predicted but worse that Republicans generally do in the district. Chalk that up to two things: Open-seat races are often closer than races involving incumbents and the Trump effect on voters. The fundamentals of the district were in her favor, but her advisers always worried about the head winds created by the president. Without the current occupant of the White House, she probably would have won by a bigger margin.

Its instructive to look at what happened Tuesday in neighboring South Carolina, in a special election to fill the seat of Mick Mulvaney, the Trump administrations budget chief. Trump won that district handily in 2016, yet Democrat Archie Parnell came within a few points of defeating Republican Ralph Norman. The South Carolina election got almost no national media attention, yet Parnell came a bit closer to winning than did Ossoff.

Viewed from that angle, the results Tuesday underscore the degree to which the political landscape has changed in the age of Trump. Democrats were unduly optimistic about the Georgia race, but what happened there and in South Carolina is consistent with what has happened in other congressional special elections this year. Democrats are winning a greater share of the vote in these districts than they have in the past.

The money and attention in Georgia produced a huge turnout and perhaps motivated Republicans to rally around Handel more than they might have in a normal special election. There was no question that Democratic voters were highly motivated. Republicans saw that coming and poured everything possible into trying to match that enthusiasm by turning out every voter possible. In South Carolina, Democrats sneaked up on Republicans and came close.

The Georgia contest drew attention because the district fit the narrative of the Trump era. Its highly educated electorate seemed ideal to test what was seen in 2016, which was strong support for Trump among non-college-educated white voters but significantly less among college-educated whites.

Even with that, the Democratic brand did not prove attractive enough in a suburban southern district. Ossoff tried to run as a moderate, but Republicans made sure he could not run away from a national party that has moved left. That remains a challenge for the party, whether in other suburban districts in the South and in the Senate races in red states with vulnerable Democratic incumbents.

Handel ran a localized race but had to battle against the Trump effect. GOP candidates in 2018 will have to try to do the same thing unless the presidents approval rating rises from where it is now, which is about 40 percent.

Jan Yanes, center, cries as Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff concedes defeat in the Georgia race for a suburban House seat. (David Goldman/AP)

The Handel victory will give the Republicans and the White House a psychological boost and probably keep them together in the coming months as they try to pass major pieces of their and Trumps agenda. Trump will see the results in Georgia and conclude that he still has the Democrats number.

For Republicans, health-care legislation, soon to emerge from secrecy in the Senate, remains a struggle to enact. GOP leaders think failure is not an option but know that, even if successful in passing health care this year, they could be saddled with a bill that is highly unpopular, at least if current polling proves correct. Tax legislation has yet to come together and increasingly appears to be in the form of a tax cut rather than tax reform. The political implications of that remain murky.

There are no moral victories in politics. Republicans won on Tuesday in the most important special election this year. Democrats lost, as they have done in the other special elections in GOP-held seats this year.

For the national Democratic Party, the debate continues about developing a message that goes beyond attacking Trump, or assuming dissatisfaction with the president will be enough. But for Republicans, the results Tuesday were a reminder that victories will come harder with Trump in the White House.
Hypocrisy has always been a vital lubricant to making the gears turn in Washington. Give politicians some power and a job to get done, and they quickly forget their righteous critiques of the seamy practices they denounced when the other side was running things.

Rarely, however, has the double standard been so flagrant as now, when Republicans are scrambling to keep their promise to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Exhibit A: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is set to produce a draft of a bill to be voted on next week.

Back when the Affordable Care Act passed on a party-line vote in 2010, the then-minority leader was full-throated in his denunciation of the partisan route that majority Democrats had taken and of the closed-door sweetheart deals that were made to gain the slimmest margin for passage of a bill thats about their health care.

If Republicans got back in control, McConnell vowed in 2014, theres not a chance they would act as Democrats did.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) answers questions concerning health-care legislation on Capitol Hill Tuesday. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

But that earlier process  which also included many months of committee hearings and bipartisan negotiation  was as transparent as a fish tank compared with the drafting of a health-care bill that is taking place privately in McConnells office, largely with a small cadre of aides. The leader himself has acknowledged it is a Republicans-only exercise.

Senate GOP leaders argue that they have held more than a dozen closed-door listening sessions in which members have had the chance to learn about policy options and share their opinions. But members and staff say privately that those conversations havent included any specific details of what leaders plan to put in a final bill.

[The Health 202: Mitch McConnell places all his chips on health-care gambit]

Many in McConnells own party are grumbling publicly.

I would like a more open process. Thats for sure, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who added that she cannot commit to a position on the legislation because she has no idea what is in it.

We used to complain like hell when the Democrats ran the Affordable Care Act. Now, were doing the same thing, said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

McConnell, however, is far from the only Republican who seems to suffer from a sudden case of amnesia.

President Trump speaks with McConnell, left, and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) at the White House on June 6. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has expressed no qualms about the way Republicans are putting together their bill on Capitol Hill.

But back on Jan. 14, 2010, when he was a Republican congressman from Georgia, Price tweeted: With Democrats discussing health care in secret, theyre sacrificing the trust of the American people.

That moment seven years ago was a critical one for Democrats. As they realized that a special-election defeat in Massachusetts could cost them their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, their leaders were scrambling for a backup plan.

In the end, Democrats got their bill, but the legislative maneuvering it took to get it over the finish line was not pretty.

[Perspective: A troubling health-care bill rushes forward in secret. The media (mostly) shrug.]

There had been special deals for individual senators that became known as the Cornhusker Kickback and the Louisiana Purchase. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made an infamous declaration that spawned a legion of attack ads: We have to pass the bill to find out whats in it.

As the House prepared to pass the health-care legislation, then-Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) thundered from the well of the chamber: Look at how this bill was written! 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? he added. . . . Hell no you havent!

Indeed, Read the bill, read the bill was a frequently heard chant at tea party rallies before the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

But when the Republican-led House passed its own version of the latest health-care bill in May, many who voted for it acknowledged that they were not all that familiar with what was in their legislation that affects one-sixth of the U.S. economy  though it was a mere 137 pages, compared with more than 2,000 in the ACA.

Oh, gosh! Rep. Thomas Garrett (R-Va.) said in an interview with MSNBC. Lets put it this way: People in my office have read all the parts of the bill. I dont think any individual has read the whole bill. Thats why we have staff.

[In Trumps Washington, public business increasingly handled behind closed doors]

Beyond the awkwardness of having to eat their own words, however, Republicans could face real danger in doing things this way on an issue such as health care, which touches the life of every American.

We all know that hypocrisy is a co-pilot in Washington, said John Weaver, a Republican political strategist. But were not talking about some provision in the tax code that impacts billionaires, or an esoteric trade policy that only affects Vietnam.

If they think they can keep a bad bill secret until the last minute and it will change their fortunes, thats crazy, Weaver added. It wont be sustainable, and it will be one of the leading reasons we could lose seats in Congress next year, and maybe the White House in 2020.

On Tuesday, a clearly frustrated McConnell called Democratic complaints about the secretive process laughable and irrelevant. The majority leader promised that lawmakers will be given adequate time to review the final bill, but added that Democrats have made clear that they are not interested in making any major changes to Obamacare.

I think this will be about as transparent as it can be, McConnell said. No transparency would be added by having hearings in which Democrats offered endless single-payer system amendments. That is not what this Republican Senate was sent here to do.

It also may be that McConnell simply is out of options, short of surrendering on what has been the Republicans signature promise in every election since 2010.

There must be no other way, because McConnell always has a plan, said Ed Rogers, a lobbyist and veteran Republican strategist. He has carefully assessed all other ways to proceed, and this is the best one. The Republican universe will adapt.

Kelsey Snell contributed to this report.
Jeff Jacobson epitomizes the liberal conundrum: Deep down he wanted to back a warrior, but he found himself working for a high priest preaching civil resistance.

The 65-year-old recent retiree from the local Treasury Department office had not been much of a political volunteer, but this year was different. It was Trump initially, Jacobson, 65, said outside the field office for Democrat Jon Ossoff.

Yet Jacobson found himself volunteering for someone who studiously avoided confronting President Trump, trying to win over enough Republican voters in the suburbs north of Atlanta to flip a district that had been in GOP hands for decades.

Ossoff lost Tuesday to an underwhelming perennial Republican candidate, Karen Handel, in a decisive fashion that is sure to spark more questions about what type of candidates and what type of message Democrats need in the Trump era.

The most passionate Democratic activists have wanted a full-frontal assault on Trump and congressional Republicans, angrily denouncing party leaders for not aggressively supporting more progressive candidates.

(Amber Ferguson/The Washington Post)

[Republican Karen Handel defeats Democrat Jon Ossoff in Georgias 6th Congressional District]

Indeed, more than 200 miles to the north, a dramatically underfunded Democrat, Archie Parnell, nearly pulled off an upset victory in a House seat that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee largely ignored. In Ossoff, Democrats hoped they had found a potential new path to defeating Republicans with a message of peace and civility. They calculated that the fiery rage, often associated with supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), would not win over moderate Republicans and centrists, whose support Ossoff needed to have any chance to win a district that Tom Price, the six-term congressman who is Trumps health secretary, won by more than 20 percentage points in November.

So Ossoff chose the high priest route instead of the fierce warrior. It was civil disobedience rather than civil unrest. And he still lost, by an even wider margin than the almost forgotten Parnell.

On the eve of the vote, Jacobson acknowledged that there were times he wanted Ossoff to be more of a fighter.

Sometimes my wife and I are a little frustrated, but if thats who he is, thats who he is. Hes not getting down and dirty, he said Monday.

Democrats were declaring that just by making the Georgia race so competitive, they set a marker for how tough the 2018 midterms will be for Republicans. Many observers noted that this district is one of 35 that either voted for Hillary Clinton or that Trump won by less than four percentage points, making it a key focal point for next years bid to win the 24 seats needed for Democrats to take the majority.

Democrats noted that by other measures, nearly 70 more Republican-held seats will be more friendly than Georgias 6th Congressional District in the midterm elections. All spring, Republicans have had to unload enormous amounts of funds to prop up their candidates in four successive special elections  victories that proved they could win one-on-one competitions with their campaign treasure chests.

That advantage will not be as readily available next year if the GOP is defending dozens of seats while Democrats will be expected to defend only 10 or so.

Still, Ossoffs performance was a bitter pill for liberals who wanted a tougher challenge to Trump. The best way for Democrats to maximize gains in 2018  especially in purple and red districts  is to harness the power of the resistance and field candidates who proudly challenge power, Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said after the results.

This was the beta test for the DCCCs theory of the 2018 case that well-educated, suburban voters who swung away from Trump last year would reject GOP candidates for Congress.

Ossoff, while eschewing the heated anti-Trump rhetoric, tapped into the online energy of that crowd and raised and spent a record sum, upward of $25 million, allowing him a significantly greater ad presence on local television and radio.

But Republicans countered with a message that should cause great concern for Democrats  returning to their effort to tie Democrats to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). One senior Republican involved in the overall effort said that the more the race became national in tone, through the media and the way the voters perceived it here, the easier it was to turn Ossoff into a conventional Democrat.

Pelosis image appeared in almost every ad run by Handel, the National Republican Congressional Committee and its affiliated super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund. It was reminiscent of the 2010 campaign, when she was House speaker, and her advisers estimated that more than $50 million worth of negative ads ran citing her. That year, Democrats lost 63 seats along with the majority.

Seven years later, Pelosi remains a polarizing enough figure that she never appears publicly in a highly contested House race, instead focusing all her energy on raising tens of millions of dollars for the DCCC and its candidates.

Meanwhile, in this race in Georgia, the most unpopular Republican in the country remained a major presence but not in terms of the messages from either candidate. Handel largely avoided discussing the latest controversies spawned by Trumps actions, and Ossoff only indirectly mentioned Trump, going out of his way to say that he was willing work with the president if it delivered results.

Privately, Democratic strategists said even before the votes were counted Tuesday that Ossoffs civility campaign would be mirrored only in more Republican-leaning districts, and that a more aggressive anti-Trump campaign would be waged by candidates in longtime swing districts.

The question that remains to be answered is whether Democrats need more warriors or more priests; complete resistance or civil resistance.

Ossoffs supporters understood his approach. I think he represents the best of what were trying to do, Bill Atherton, 41, who works at a nonprofit organization in nearby Roswell, said at the election watch party here.

But before the votes were counted, Jacobson acknowledged that he might feel better if more people in his party threw punches first and asked for forgiveness later.

I guess youve got to be true to yourself, but sometimes Id like him and the Democrats to get down and dirtier, he said.

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 When investigators from the Philippine Commission on Human Rights arrived at Police Station No. 1, nothing seemed amiss.

They were working a tip about people being plucked from the slums by police, held captive at the station and ransomed for money. But as they surveyed the office of the local anti-drug unit, things looked normal: desks, two sofas, a bookshelf.

Officers assigned to the station kept glancing at the bookshelf.

With news cameras rolling and police looking on, an investigator knocked on it. Someone knocked back. When the false door was finally opened, investigators found a dozen people packed into a small concrete cell, one bloodied, one with a swollen jaw.

How much did they want for you? an investigator called to them.

People are detained in a hidden cell behind a police stations bookshelf on April 27, 2017, in Manila. The Commission on Human Rights raided a Manila police station to uncover a space of about 3 by 15 feet, where dozens were detained for a week and allegedly brought out to be beaten or tortured, according to reports. (Jes Aznar/Getty Images)

Forty thousand pesos for two.

About $800.

Ransom.

A year after Rodrigo Duterte won the presidency on a promise to kill all the countrys drug users and dealers, an estimated 9,000 people are dead, either shot in police raids with high death tolls and few witnesses, or killed by assailants on motorbikes, often after being named by police.

President Trump recently praised the campaign, but several investigations have found that police routinely fabricate reports to justify extrajudicial killings.

Less well-documented is how Philippine police are capitalizing on the chaos. The investigative raid on Police Station No. 1, reconstructed based on previously unreleased footage from the scene, provides the closest look yet at how officers allegedly use illegal detention and violence to extort cash  and how tough it is to stop them.

With pictures of the prisoners splashed across television screens, Duterte, in a rare admission of potential police wrongdoing, was forced to call for an investigation. But more than a month on, no officer has been charged. Nor, for that matter, have the detainees been freed.

In a twist that shows the inability of Philippine institutions to protect people from drug-war abuses, the men and women whose rescue was filmed and broadcast were never rescued at all.

Instead, they were handed straight back to the police.

Behind the bookshelf

Abuses by Philippine police did not start with Duterte, but the presidents vow to protect law enforcement personnel from prosecution has created a climate ripe for abuse. Police officers act without fear of punishment, said Philippine Sen. Leila de Lima, a longtime Duterte critic who is now in jail on dubious drug charges.

This is definitely the height of impunity, she wrote from her jail cell.

Its the total breakdown of discipline within the ranks, said Sen. Antonio Trillanes, who recently filed a complaint against Duterte at the International Criminal Court.



For months, reporters and rights activists in Manila had heard stories of families being asked to pay to get their loved ones out of detention, or to stop them from being put on a drug list, or to keep them alive. For the most part, terrified witnesses did not want those stories shared.



It took the killing of a South Korean executive at national police headquarters  and a subsequent attempt to extort his wife  to garner a government response; Duterte promised to suspend anti-drug operations to clean up a force that was, as he put it, rotten to the core.

The Philippines has an agency that was set up to investigate rights abuses. The Commission on Human Rights, an independent office, was mandated by the countrys 1987 constitution.

When CHR investigators arrived that day to inspect Station No. 1s anti-drug office, they found people waiting outside with food. The likely conclusion was that they had brought it for family members detained inside. But the station commander, Robert Domingo, said there were no detainees at the station.

After the hidden door was found and opened, the video shows, Gilbert D. Boiser, an investigator for the Commission on Human Rights, asked Domingo to explain the presence of people in the hidden cell. Domingo said it was to spare them from the overcrowded on-the-books cell.

We dont have the budget to build up to international standards, he said. We are just maximizing our budget.

Emerging from the narrow concrete enclosure, detainees said they had been picked off the street and held for up to a week without charge.

They said that they had been beaten and given electric shocks, and that their families were told to raise between 20,000 and 200,000 pesos, or $400 to $4,000, or else the detainees could face drug charges  or worse.

They were forcing us to admit to things we know nothing about, said a prisoner who gave his name as Robert Muro.

They beat my foot with a piece of wood.

Thats why you cannot walk? an investigator asked.

Yes. And on the chest, too. They hit me here five times. Five times. And twice on the knees. And at the back. And they hit me with a .38-caliber gun, he continued. They threatened to kill us. That no one would ever know.

The rescue that wasnt

After prying open the bookshelf and lambasting police officers on camera, Boiser and his CHR colleagues got ready to leave. They had a gala dinner to get to, one said in earshot of the cameras.

Prisoners begged for the investigators to stay, saying they feared more torture. If you leave us, we will be in danger, one said.

Journalists asked the investigators what would happen to the prisoners. They didnt seem to know.

The prisoners, who had been held without charge, now face charges and are in regular cells. Several of their family members declined interview requests, saying it was too dangerous to speak.

In the aftermath of the raid, the national and municipal police chiefs defended what happened, saying that the police were simply making do with limited space, that the media had turned a normal situation into a show.

Domingo, the station commander, was relieved of duty and sent to Manila police headquarters, as were other officers. They have not been charged.

Two weeks after the raid, Police Station No. 1 had a new commander, Ruben dela Rama Ramos, who served 15 years on the police force in Davao, the city that Duterte ran for more than 20 years.

In an interview in his new office, Ramos said the secret-cell incident was a story manufactured by journalists to destroy the reputation of Philippine police.

We dont call it a secret jail, but holding center, he said. Its just the media that sells this.

Asked why there would be a holding center behind a bookshelf, Ramos and his colleagues said it was a normal alternative to a door. Pressed further, they said a door cost too much.

Outside, under a blazing Manila sun, Police Station No. 1 got a fresh coat of white paint.

Kimberly dela Cruz reported from Manila.

Read more:

In Dutertes Philippines, heres how one man survived when a death squad came after him

Transcript of call between President Trump and Philippine President Duterte

Before Duterte was the Philippines president, he was the Death Squad mayor

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An attempted terrorist bombing at a central Brussels train station could have been far worse, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said Wednesday, hours after a nail-packed bomb failed to fully detonate in the crowded rail hub.

Prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said the attacker in Tuesday nights incident was a 36-year-old Moroccan who lived in Brussels. The man, identified only by his initials, O.Z., was known to police but had no previously discovered terrorist ties, the prosecutor said.

Authorities who searched his house Wednesday said they found materials that could be used to make bombs and suggestions that he had sympathies for the Islamic State.

He was shot dead after he shouted Allahu akbar!  Arabic for God is great  and tried to attack a soldier in the station, Van der Sypt said. No one else was hurt.

We have avoided an attack that could have been far worse, Michel told reporters after convening his security advisers, calling on Belgians not to let ourselves be intimidated.

The attacker first attempted to detonate his bag, setting off a partial explosion as he ran toward a group of people in the mezzanine level of the station that descends to the tracks, Van der Sypt said.

The bag caught fire, and the attacker dropped it and ran toward the tracks. Then the bag exploded more violently, Van der Sypt said, but it still failed to fully ignite the canisters of gas that were contained within. Nails were also packed into the bag, he said. The attacker was not wearing an explosives-laden belt, Van der Sypt said, contrary to an initial eyewitness account from a railway official.

The attacker lived in the Brussels area of Molenbeek, which was also home to several of the men involved in the November 2015 attack in Paris that killed 130 people and the March 2016 attack in Brussels that claimed 32 victims at the Brussels airport and a subway station.

After Wednesday searches of the attackers residence in Molenbeek, the prosecutors office said that he probably made the bomb there.

The attempted attack came on a continent that has been hit repeatedly by terrorism in recent weeks. Just Monday, there was a failed car attack on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Earlier this month, there was an attack in London.

But Belgian authorities left their national terrorism threat level unchanged, indicating they do not believe another attack is imminent.

Public transportation was reopened Wednesday morning. And a concert by Coldplay expected to draw large crowds Wednesday evening was to be supplemented with extra security.

Elsewhere in Europe, there was ongoing concern about Islamic State threats. Spains Interior Ministry said Wednesday that authorities detained a suspected member of the Islamic State and two other Moroccan citizens. The suspect possessed manuals about suicide attacks and is believed to have been in contact with members of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the ministry said in a statement.

Read more

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For more than 800 years, the minaret of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri has punctuated the skyline of Mosul, calling worshipers to prayer.

Its notable lean earned it the nickname al-Hadba, or the hunchback, and a special place in the hearts of residents.

But the Mosul icon was reduced to rubble Wednesday, the latest casualty in the war to wrest the city from Islamic State militants.

The militants blew up the mosque and its minaret as Iraqi forces came within about 50 yards of the building, according to Iraqs joint operations command, which published a video that appeared to back up its claim, showing a blast emanating from the complex.

The Islamic States Amaq News Agency contended that the mosque was destroyed in a U.S. airstrike, which the U.S.-led coalition denied.





This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, commander of ground forces for the coalition, said in a statement. The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS.

Over the past eight months, Iraqi security forces have slowly squeezed Islamic State militants into Mosuls historic city center, around a square mile of territory on the banks of the Tigris. The citys most symbolic landmark, the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, was tantalizingly near.

It was in the mosque that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic States leader, made his first and only public appearance three years ago, declaring himself commander of the faithful and calling on all Muslims to travel to the groups self-declared caliphate.

During its brutal tenure, the group has destroyed churches, Shiite mosques, tombs, shrines and archaeological sites across Iraq and Syria.

Just a month after Baghdadi gave his speech, some Mosul residents said the militants rigged the 50-yard-high Hadba with explosives as part of their campaign to destroy anything that may be considered idolatrous. It was said to have been saved only by incensed residents who gathered around it to protest.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi described the Islamic States act of destruction as an official announcement of their defeat.

Iraqi commanders had said they were planning to attack the mosque compound on Thursday morning.

The Islamic State flag is seen atop the al-Hadba minaret of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul in a March 2017 photo. The Iraqi military said the Islamic State blew up the mosque on June 21. (Khalid Al-Mousily/Reuters)

It would have been a blow to [ISIS] propaganda if the mosque was recaptured intact, said Hassan Hassan, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Tahrir Institute and co-author of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. It would have been the most symbolic blow within its most symbolic stronghold.

The mosque was constructed on the orders of Nur al-Din Mahmoud Zangi in 1172. By the time Moroccan scholar and traveler Ibn Battuta visited the mosque in the 14th century, the minaret had already acquired its distinctive lean and nickname.

The cause of its tilt is the stuff of local legend. Some say the minaret bowed in reverence as the prophet Muhammad passed overhead as he ascended to heaven. The citys Christians said it leaned toward the tomb of the Virgin Mary.

But listing 253 centimeters off its perpendicular axis, the precarious minaret has long been a concern.

In June 2014, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said it had begun work with the provinces governorate to stabilize and conserve the minaret, which it said was at risk of collapsing. However, just days later, the city was overrun by the Islamic State.

Mustafa Salim contributed to this report.

Read more:

This American family moved to Mosul

Away from Iraqs front lines, the Islamic State is creeping back in

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President Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, arrived here Wednesday afternoon with an audacious mission: to see if it is possible to restart peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Few voices in Jerusalem or Ramallah sounded very hopeful as the untested Kushner came for preliminary talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

This is the right place for skeptics. But they are hedging their bets. Thats mostly because Trump is so out-of-the-ordinary, so grandiose and mercurial, that the players here wonder whether he just might make progress  or, alternatively, make things worse by raising expectations, then abandoning the project in a tweetstorm of frustration and finger-pointing.

Past efforts to broker peace are strewn with failure, overseen by veteran American diplomats with years of experience in the region, who were all sent packing.

Perhaps as a sign of the stakes, Kushners first meeting after arriving was to offer condolences to the family of an Israeli border police officer, Staff Sgt. Maj. Hadas Malka, 23, who was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant in Jerusalems Old City on Friday.

After a session with Netanyahu, the White House described the meeting as productive. Israels Channel 2 reported that it was open-ended and very preliminary, with the Americans offering no proposals or timetables.

No time is the right time for negotiations in a region in turmoil. But now is an especially challenging moment for Trumps inexperienced 36-year-old envoy to give it a try.

[In Israel, Trump urges new Middle East harmony but faces old suspicions]

The Palestinian leadership is weak and fractured. And Israels coalition government is among the most right-wing in its history, whose members not only oppose a Palestinian state but also want to annex wide swaths of the West Bank for Jewish settlers.

Yet Trump surprised Arabs and Jews with his improbable insistence that the deal of the century can be struck.

The president won plaudits from all sides during his whirlwind tour of Saudi Arabia, Israel and the West Bank last month.

President Trump is at his point of maximum leverage, Daniel Shapiro, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said in an interview. He has gained respect in the region. He is seen as serious. Add to that, his known streak for being unpredictable. This might make it very difficult to say no to him or to a member of his family.

Shapiro cautioned: This creates an opening. Not more than an opening. One shouldnt be irrationally exuberant. But the opening is real.

As point man, Kushners inexperience in the Middle East is duly noted but may not be fatal. He is joined on his mission by Trumps special representative for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, who was formerly Trumps real estate lawyer.

Its not necessarily a bad thing to have two people with no experience. Others who have had a lot of experience havent done so well either. They all failed, said Nathan Thrall, author of the new book The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine.

Thrall, a Jerusalem-based analyst for the Crisis Group, warned that the advantage of fresh eyes has its limits.

Both the Israelis and Palestinians are pros at wearing down envoys with endless details, he said. Theyve done it to the most experienced negotiators.

Thrall and others said they thought the new effort posed more risks for Netanyahu than Abbas.

When Trump was elected, Netanyahu and his right flank, especially in the settler movement, were overjoyed.

Relations with the Obama White House had sunk to new lows. They were expecting more of the same from Hillary Clinton. But Trump spoke a language Israelis loved, gushing with praise for the Jewish state and playing down long-held U.S. positions that branded settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as illegitimate and obstacles to peace.

Little by little, Trump has sown doubt on the Israeli right. He surprised his new Israeli fans by warning Netanyahu to slow down on new settlement construction  with unproven results.

Construction began this week on a new settlement deep in the West Bank, on land the Palestinians want for a contiguous state, for Jewish settlers evicted from their homes after it was shown that they built on private Palestinian property.

After 20 years I have the privilege of being the first prime minister to build a new settlement in Judea and Samaria, Netanyahu wrote Tuesday on Facebook, using the biblical terms for the West Bank. There never was nor will there be a better government for settlement than our government, he boasted.

Palestinians have remained publicly supportive of Trumps efforts, even though they say they realize Greenblatt and Kushner are unlikely allies. Both men are Orthodox Jews from New York and committed Zionists with histories of supporting Israel.

Kushner and Greenblatt have asked both sides to tell them what they want and where they want to go. The Palestinians say they are ready to present their vision in detail. Standing beside Trump during their meeting in Bethlehem last month, Abbas was specific: He wants a sovereign state created along pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Aides to Abbas said that during his meeting with Trump, the two leaders even examined maps.

But we are not sure that Netanyahu can or will give the Trump team a bottom line. Can Netanyahu utter the words two states? That is the question, said a Palestinian official preparing for Kushners trip, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the news media.

[Trump steps back from U.S. commitment to two-state Israeli-Palestinian solution]

The White House issued a statement before the trip asserting that Trump strongly believes that peace is possible and was sending his most trusted advisers to spearhead the effort.

The White House cautioned that forging a historic peace agreement will take time.

Sallai Meridor, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, said that Trumps approach of bringing Arab leaders from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan into the mix offered renewed incentives.

Meridor said that he was hopeful that the Palestinians would engage with seriousness and that it was in Israels best interests to seek a deal.

Most Israelis, including Meridor, assume that if Netanyahu begins to engage deeply in talks and makes confidence-building gestures, his governing coalition will break apart and new partners, most likely from the Labor Party, will have to be brought into the government.

As for the White House, I think the desire is positive. I hope they are coming with elements of seriousness. They will need hope, patience and perseverance, Meridor said. It will take a lot of time and a willingness to invest plenty, even when the result could be less than what one might expect.

Read more:

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Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at the National Summit on Crime Reduction and Public Safety in Bethesda, Md., on Tuesday. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has been under fire in recent months for his contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential race, has retained the services of Washington lawyer Charles J. Cooper, a longtime friend.

Cooper was seen sitting behind Sessions when he testified last week before the Senate Intelligence Committee about President Trump and Russia.

I do represent the Attorney General, but, as with all clients, do not comment on confidential client matters, Cooper wrote in an email to The Washington Post.

Cooper, a partner with his own firm, Cooper & Kirk, would not say when he was retained by Sessions or whether he is representing Sessions in the special counsels investigation into Trump and Russia. Sessions, who was the first senator to endorse Trump on the campaign trail, was a top adviser to Trump during his race for president.

Cooper also assisted Sessions with his January confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, discussing those preparations in an interview with The Post at the time.

Sarah Isgur Flores, a Justice Department spokeswoman, described Cooper as the attorney generals longtime friend and counsel.

The National Law Journal first reported that Cooper is now Sessionss personal attorney.

Cooper, who clerked for Justice William H. Rehnquist on the Supreme Court, served in the Justice Departments civil rights division and was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel. He was also a partner at McGuireWoods and at Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge.

Cooper was also under consideration to serve as the Justice Departments solicitor general. He withdrew his name in February, citing his concern after watching Sessions go through the confirmation process to become attorney general.

After witnessing the treatment that my friend Jeff Sessions, a decent and honorable man who bears only good will and good cheer to everyone he meets, had to endure at the hands of a partisan opposition that will say anything and do anything to advance their political interests, I am unwilling to subject myself, my family and my friends to such a process, Cooper said in a statement at the time.

Several other administration officials have recently retained attorneys. Vice President Pence hired a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to represent him for the special-counsel investigation and the congressional inquiries into possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia.

Since Sessions was confirmed in early February, he has been dogged by questions about his contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign. On March 2, Sessions announced that he was recusing himself from the Russia investigation because of his role in the Trump campaign. His announcement came the day after The Post revealed that Sessions twice met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign and did not disclose that to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing.

[Sessions recuses himself from Russia investigation]

In May, Sessions acknowledged that he did not reveal his meetings last year with Russian officials when he applied for his security clearance. But he said his Senate staff was advised by an FBI employee that he did not have to list his past seven years of foreign contacts while he was a senator.

[Sessions didnt disclose meetings with Russian officials on security-clearance form]

Last week, during a sometimes testy hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sessions insisted that he had never had any conversations with Russians about any type of interference in the presidential election.

sari.horwitz@washpost.com

Tom Hamburger contributed to this report.

Read more:

Sessions chooses 12 cities to receive more manpower to fight crime

Sessions testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's names are printed on a ballot on a voting machine to be used in Philadelphia. (Matt Rourke/AP)

People connected to the Russian government tried to hack election-related computer systems in 21 states, a Department of Homeland Security official testified Wednesday.

Samuel Liles, the Department of Homeland Securitys acting director of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis Cyber Division, said vote-tallying mechanisms were unaffected and that the hackers appeared to be scanning for vulnerabilities  which Liles likened to walking down the street and looking at homes to see who might be inside.

But hackers successfully exploited a small number of networks, Liles said, likening the act to making it through a homes front door.

[Russian hackers targeted Arizona election system]

Liles was testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russias efforts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, and his remarks add some clarity to the breadth of the Kremlins cyber mischief. Officials in Arizona and Illinois had previously confirmed that hackers targeted their voter registration system, though news reports suggested the Russian effort was much broader.

(Reuters)

Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Russian hackers hit systems in 39 states, and the Intercept, citing a classified intelligence document, reported that Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last Novembers presidential election.

In a separate hearing before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, former Department of Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson testified that Russias meddling, directed by President Vladimir Putin, was unprecedented, the scale and the scope of what we saw them doing. The testimony came a day after White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at a briefing he did not know whether President Trump believes Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

In addition to scanning voting systems for vulnerabilities, U.S. intelligence committees have said Russian hackers acquired and engineered the release of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta.

In retrospect, it would have been easy for me to say I should have brought a sleeping bag and camped out in front of the DNC in the late summer, Johnson testified. He said the severity of Russias efforts persuaded him to sign onto an Oct. 7 statement publicly blaming the Kremlin for what had happened, even though doing so could have been perceived as taking sides or challenging the integrity of the election itself.

My view is that we needed to do it, and we needed to do it well before the election to inform American voters of what we saw, Johnson said. He added: I think the larger issue is it did not get the public attention that it should have, because the same day the press was focused on the release of the Access Hollywood video. That video showed Trump bragging about kissing and groping women.

Officials declined to say which 21 states were targeted or identify those that actually had data  such as voter registration lists  removed from their systems. Jeanette Manfra, the acting deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity and communications, said she could not do so because it was important to protect the confidentiality of those victimized.

FBI Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Bill Priestap testified Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee that Russians also pushed false news reports and propaganda online, using amplifiers to spread their message. He said Russia for years has tried to influence U.S. elections but that the scale and aggressiveness of its efforts in 2016 made the attempts more significant.

The Internet has allowed Russia to do so much more today than theyve ever been able to do in the past, Priestap said. He said Russias goal was to sow discord in the United States and to denigrate Clinton and help Trump.

Johnson suggested that in the aftermath of the hacking, the federal government should encourage a uniform set of minimum standards for cybersecurity when it comes to state elections system and voter registration databases.

But he acknowledged that doing so might be a heavy lift, given that state election officials are naturally suspicious of what he called a federal takeover of their election practices.

State election officials are very sensitive about what they perceive to be federal intrusion into their process, Johnson said, noting that he often encountered officials pushing back and arguing that its our process, our responsibility.
At the United Nations, Russian diplomat Vladimir Voronkov will become the new undersecretary general for counterterrorism. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

The United Nations on Wednesday named Russian diplomat Vladimir Voronkov as its new undersecretary general for counterterrorism, the first new senior executive office created at the international body in decades.

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who made the appointment, said that Voronkov would provide strategic leadership to . . . counterterrorism efforts and participate in the decision-making process across U.N. bodies.

Russia had a virtual lock on the position, as the only permanent member of the Security Council  the others are the United States, France, Britain and China  without one of its nationals holding a top U.N. position.

Russias ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, who is about to leave Washington after serving here since 2008, had expressed interest in the job. Although the Russian government had made informal soundings on him, it did not formally propose him for the job.

Kislyak, who met with a number of officials in now-President Trumps campaign and transition, has become a central figure in the investigation of Russian meddling in the U.S. election and possible coordination with Trump officials. He accompanied Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to a White House meeting with Trump last month.

The appointment of his replacement as ambassador, Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Antonov, was due to be officially conveyed to Trump at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin early next month at the Group of 20 gathering in Germany. A Putin spokesman said Wednesday that the meeting  about which both presidents have previously spoken  has not yet been scheduled.

Voronkov currently serves as Russian ambassador to international organizations headquartered in Vienna, and he serves on the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He began his career with the Russian foreign service in 1989 and has served in various capacities since then, although none of them directly related to terrorism.

Previously, the U.N. counterterrorism job came under the undersecretary for political affairs, a position currently held by former U.S. diplomat Jeffrey Feltman.
A NATO F-16 fighter jet approached and was then warned away from a jet carrying Russias defense minister, Russian media reported Wednesday, the latest in a string of aerial incidents that have marked rising tensions between the West and Russia.

The incident occurred over the Baltic Sea in northeastern Europe, according to reporters traveling with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in international airspace crowded with Russian and NATO jets testing one anothers nerve in sometimes dangerous proximity.

But no incidents yet had involved aircraft with high-ranking Russian or U.S. government officials aboard.

NATO confirmed the intercept, saying in an emailed statement that three Russian aircraft, including two fighters, had been tracked over the Baltic Sea. As the aircraft did not identify themselves or respond to air traffic control, NATO fighter jets scrambled to identify them, according to standard procedure, the statement read. NATO has no information as to who was on board. We assess the Russian pilots behavior as safe and professional.

The brush comes after days of close calls over the Baltics, as well as the first downing of a Syrian government plane by U.S. forces in that war-torn country. In response to the shoot-down, Russia said it would begin tracking U.S. aircraft in Syria as potential targets.

[U.S. aircraft shoots down Syrian warplane, Pentagon says]

Despite expectations that relations would warm under President Trump, a vocal admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, geopolitical hot spots from the Baltics to the Middle East have continued yielding tensions where U.S. and Russian military assets are in proximity.

The Ukrainian conflict has also remained a point of tension. The U.S. government on Tuesday introduced new sanctions against Russia, aimed at a shadowy paramilitary group called Wagner accused of fighting in Ukraine and Syria, as well as a company tied to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Putin associate sometimes called Putins chef.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that he was canceling an upcoming meeting with the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Thomas A. Shannon Jr., in St. Petersburg because of the new round of sanctions, which target 38 Russian individuals and firms.

We regret that Russia has decided to turn away from an opportunity to discuss bilateral obstacles that hinder U.S.-Russia relations, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement Wednesday. . . . If the Russians seek an end to these sanctions, they know very well the U.S. position: Our sanctions on Russia related [to] Russias ongoing aggression against Ukraine will remain in place until Russia fully honors its obligations under the Minsk Agreements. Our sanctions related to Crimea will not be lifted until Russia ends its occupation of the peninsula.

Trump and Putin were expected to meet for the first time next month during a Group of 20 summit in Hamburg. The meeting has been highly anticipated, a first encounter between two men who believe they can make use of each other despite a U.S. establishment livid over Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

But on Wednesday, Dmitry Peskov, Putins press secretary, said that there were no plans yet for a meeting.

It has not been prepared in any way for now, and nothing has been planned for July 7 so far, he told journalists, adding that the Kremlin does not rule out a meeting between Putin and Trump on the sidelines of the conference.

Peskov had previously said that the G-20 summit would be a good occasion to meet.

Asked by a Washington Post reporter whether his remarks Wednesday indicated doubt that a meeting would take place, he replied, It is still a good occasion.

There are concerns that the U.S.-Russian tensions could be playing out in the Baltics.

[Russian fighter intercepts U.S. heavy bomber over Baltic Sea]

On Tuesday, the Pentagon said that an armed Russian Su-27 buzzed an American RC-135 reconnaissance plane, closing to a distance of five feet. U.S. officials told Fox News that the maneuver was provocative. Russian officials blamed the pilot of the U.S. spy plane.

On Wednesday, Shoigus jet was bound for the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad when it was intercepted by an F-16, the Russian reports said.

The NATO jet closed in and began flying parallel to Shoigus plane, video shot on board and released by the Defense Ministrys Zvezda news agency showed.

A Russian Su-27 fighter accompanying Shoigus plane then approached from behind and rocked its wings to show that it was armed. Then, the F-16 veered off.

NATO and Russia are building up their defenses in the Baltic region, where former Soviet states (and now NATO members) Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia border Russia.

Since 2016, NATO has deployed four battalion-size battle groups to the Baltic states and Poland as part of what a NATO statement calls the biggest reinforcement of Alliance collective defense in a generation.

Read more:

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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Saudi Arabias King Salman elevated his 31-year-old son Wednesday to become crown prince, ousting his nephew in a seismic shift in the royal succession line that could have deep ramifications for the oil-rich monarchy and the broader Middle East.

Since Prince Mohammed bin Salman emerged from obscurity two years ago, his impact has been widely felt in Saudi Arabia and across the region. He is seen as a modernizer of his hidebound kingdom and a champion of its frustrated youth. But he is also a forceful, and some say hotheaded, advocate for Saudi Arabias regional dominance who has thrust the country into bitter feuds with neighbors, as well as involvement in a destructive civil war in Yemen.

Because of his youth  and his fathers age (81)  the new crown prince is poised to play a pivotal role in forging the policy and identity of this key U.S. ally and the Arab worlds largest economy. But he also faces numerous obstacles in implementing his vision for a new Saudi Arabia, analysts said.

On Wednesday, after a flurry of royal decrees, Salman replaced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was also relieved of his influential position as interior minister, in which he oversaw security and counterterrorism operations. The new crown prince will become the kingdoms first deputy prime minister while retaining his control of the Defense Ministry and other portfolios.

The surprise announcement marks the first time since Saudi Arabias first ruler, King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, that a Saudi monarch has designated his son rather than a brother as his heir apparent. And it is only the second time since the kingdom was founded in 1932 that a grandson of ibn Saud has been named crown prince  and its potential future king. The move also consolidates power within King Salmans family, while weakening the influence of the families of his brothers and their sons.

[New crown prince wants to reimagine Saudi Arabia  with a bit more fun]

The reshuffle marks the first real test of the ruling Al Saud familys ability to manage the inevitable generational shift from the sons of Ibn Saud, to his grandsons, Torbjorn Soltvedt, a Middle East analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a global risk consulting firm, said in a statement.

The change arrives at a critical time for the Sunni-ruled Muslim kingdom as it grapples with the economic fallout from declining oil prices and a costly military campaign it leads against Shiite rebels in neighboring Yemen. The kingdom also is heading a bloc of Arab nations that has begun a controversial campaign to isolate the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, accusing it of supporting and financing terrorism.

The White House said President Trump congratulated the new crown prince in a phone call Wednesday and discussed the priority of cutting off all support for terrorists. It said they also talked about how to resolve the dispute with Qatar and achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace.

[U.S. issues unusual public warning to Saudi Arabia and UAE over Qatar rift]

The ascension of Mohammed bin Salman, along with other recent appointments by his father, completes a shift to a younger generation of leaders within the ruling family, one that could bring economic and social change to a nation where women are forbidden to drive, cinemas are banned and coffee shops are segregated by gender. The young prince already is promoting a plan to create jobs for women and modernize a society in which nearly two-thirds of the population is younger than 30 and women make up 22 percent of the workforce.

Weve seen the shift of power coming for some time, and the steady centralization of power under King Salman and the purview of his son, said Kristin Smith Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

Even as deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman  popularly known as MBS  was given immense powers by his father. As defense minister, he runs the Saudi campaign in Yemen. As the head of an economic council, he has overseen efforts to revamp the kingdoms energy policies and build a diverse economy that will sustain itself long after the countrys oil reserves have run out.

[Iran calls Saudi hierarchy shifts a soft coup]

Most members of the Saudi royal family supported the princes ascension, erasing any remote fear of a challenge to the new crown prince. Mohammed bin Nayef himself publicly pledged his loyalty to the new crown prince in a well-choreographed televised moment.

The crown princes rise, some analysts said, has been in the works for several months. A series of decrees in April propelled young royals in their 30s into influential diplomatic and national security positions while undermining Mohammed bin Nayefs power. Together, the appointments represent a generational makeover of a system once dominated by much older and more experienced royals.

This new generations loyalty is by all accounts to the rising prince, Joseph Bahout, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowments Middle East Program, wrote in a May post.

Since his father came to power in January 2015, Mohammed bin Salman has been brash, outspoken and ambitious. Unlike many Saudi princes who attended elite Western universities, the crown prince was educated in Saudi Arabia and does not speak English fluently. He favors wearing sandals over loafers. But his homegrown credentials have made him popular among many Saudis, especially younger ones.

He is said to allow his views to be challenged  but does not change them, Simon Henderson, a Middle East expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote on the groups website. His greatest strength, or weakness, may be his ruthlessness.

Today, he has the ear of his father and the kingdoms business community.

In 2016, he introduced a post-petrodollar plan that included selling off some of the oil giant Saudi Aramco and creating a sovereign wealth fund to rival those of neighboring Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. But the blueprint also brought complaints from a society that has become accustomed to cradle-to-grave largesse from the Saudi state. Among the belt-tightening measures was a cut in subsidies for gasoline and electricity.

[Can Saudi Arabia really pivot away from oil?]

The crown prince is the main driver behind Vision 2030, a far-reaching blueprint to overhaul the Saudi economy and society, focused on live concerts, arts festivals and other forms of Western-style entertainment. But such efforts have also brought complaints from conservative Saudis.

Regionally, said Diwan, the crown princes rise almost certainly means the continuation of a more assertive Saudi policy abroad and a strong alliance with the UAE in pursuing those policies. Both have shared goals of rolling back Iranian influence and taking stronger action against independent political Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

The crown prince is already the kingdoms primary liaison with the Trump administration, and his ascension is widely expected to improve ties with Washington. Relations were strained under President Barack Obama over Iran and a 2015 nuclear deal.

In Yemen, the crown prince is the architect of the faltering and bloody Saudi military intervention that has led to thousands of civilian deaths. The kingdoms hard-line stance on Qatar, which the new crown prince backs, is also becoming a point of tension with Washington.

Meanwhile, the prince has been courting Russia, sensing an opportunity to use oil diplomacy to lure Moscow away from Iran.

And assessments of the crown prince as a reformer, by the kingdoms standards, did not mean that he would deviate from policies that have been condemned by human rights advocates as brutal, including mass executions.

The reality is Prince Mohammed has stood alongside and publicly defended the king as young men have been tortured and executed for peacefully protesting, said Maya Foa, director of Reprieve, an international human rights group.

Fahim reported from Istanbul. Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more:

State Department issues unusual public warning to Saudi Arabia over Qatar rift

By backing Saudi Arabia, Trump may be sowing the seeds of conflict

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; Panorama, a security management solution for the control of firewall appliances and software deployed on a customer's network, as well as their instances in public or private cloud environments, as a virtual or a physical appliance; and virtual system upgrades, which are available as extensions to the virtual system capacity that ships with physical appliances. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, and firewall; and DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention. In addition, the company offers cloud security, secure access, security operations, and threat intelligence and cyber security consulting; professional services, including architecture design and planning, implementation, configuration, and firewall migration; education services, such as certifications, as well as online and in-classroom training; and support services. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. sells its products and services through its channel partners, as well as directly to medium to large enterprises, service providers, and government entities operating in various industries, including education, energy, financial services, government entities, healthcare, Internet and media, manufacturing, public sector, and telecommunications. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
One fishing boat captain described how he had been harassed non-stop on a fishing trip in April [stock image]: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Pods of killer whales are reportedly stalking Alaskan fishermen and driving them out of fishing areas while robbing them of their catch.

TheNational Post reports that black cod and halibut fishers are being surrounded by orcas acting like motorcycle gangs and chased out of their areas of operation in the north Pacific.

Paul Clampitt, who co-owns the fishing vessel Augustine, told the publication: Weve been chased out of the Bering Sea.

He said he installed electronic noisemakers on the vessel in an attempt to ward off the pods of orcas, but claimed the mammals adjusted to the deterrent to the point where it became a dinner bell.

John McHenry, who owns fishing vessel Seymour, told National Post the orcas are acting like a motorcycle gang.

Youd see two of them show up, and thats the end of the trip. Pretty soon all 40 of them would be around you.

The killer whales tactics are causing significant damage to the fishermens businesses, Alaska Dispatch News reported.

Speaking to the news outlet, Bering Sea longliner Jay Hebert said that on a normal day, fishermen can collect between 20,000 and 30,000 pounds of halibut, but if a pod of killer whales sees their boat the mammals will strip its fishing lines of any catch, sometimes leaving just the lips of halibut stuck to the hooks.

Mr Hebert said the killer whales have become increasingly aggressive over the years and the situation has now got completely out of control.

One fishing boat captain described how he had been harassed non-stop on a fishing trip in April, when pods of orcas cost his crew 12,000 pounds of halibut and 4,000 gallons of fuel in an attempt to outrun the mammals.

Robert Hanson said that in a separate trip to a part of the sea near the Russian border a pod of 50 whales tracked him for 30 miles in one direction and 35 miles in another, and sat with him as he drifted with no machines running for 18 hours. After two days of attempting to fish, he gave up, he said.

Related:
Alex Rodriguez is completely smitten with his girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez.

Fresh off their romantic trip to Paris, the former Yankees star attended a press event for his upcoming role on ABCs Shark Tank. While he may be a guest shark on the reality show, he sounds more like a love-struck puppy IRL.

If you want to be together, you are together, he told Extra of how they make their relationship work despite busy schedules. The fact they have a lot in common doesnt hurt, either.

Our kids get along really well, were both from New York, were both Latin, were both in our 40s, were really enjoying life, but she really is one of the most impressive and smartest human beings I have ever met, he gushed.

A-Rod is so into Jennifer that he doesnt even mind their celebrity couple nickname, J-Rod.

Im fine with everything  its close to A-Rod, he confessed. [Jennifer]s pretty easygoing. I think she likes it, too.

The 41-year-old athlete also couldnt stop bragging about Lopez, 47, when talking with E! News. Shes an amazing entrepreneur, he boasted. A great worker as everyone knows, but also one of the smartest women Ive ever met.

Alex and Jennifer have been dating since February, but they have wasted no time diving head first into their romance.

Lopez, who shares 9-year-old twins with ex-husband Marc Anthony, and Rodriguez  who has daughters Natasha, 12, and Ella, 9, from his marriage to Cynthia Scurtis  have already blended families. They have all hung out together on multiple occasions.

Not to mention, the hot and heavy couple just got back from #BaeCation.

????????#baecation2017. SWIPE for more pics A post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo) on Jun 19, 2017 at 1:32pm PDT

Yep, these two will be married (again) in a matter of months.





Read more from Yahoo Celebrity:
Author Angela Nagle (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)

In August 2016, Hillary Clinton delivered a speech where she denounced the alt-right, the radical fringe that was taking over Republican politics. Time was spent both during the campaign and in the aftermath of President Trumps election attempting to explain the alt-right, a phenomenon embracing everything from frog memes on Twitter to neo-Nazis giving the Sieg heil salute at a Washington conference.

Enter Angela Nagle, a Dublin-based writer and academic. Nagle has spent the last eight years studying online cultures like the alt-right, their various subgroups and their rivals on the left, essentially becoming an anthropologist looking into some of the darkest corners of the Internet. In her new book, Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right, she lays out her findings. She spoke with Yahoo News about how she defines the groups, what they think of Trumps presidency so far and how to deal with online abuse when youre covering these types of communities.

Yahoo News: I think the best way to start for those who might not be familiar with this subject matter is the basic question of how do you define the alt-right?

Angela Nagle: Well if you ask the hardcore of the alt-right how theyd want to define it in terms of themselves, so they take a very strict definition. So they would say it would be people like Richard Spencer and the National Policy Institute, American Renaissance, people who want these particular goals like a white ethno-state. And they want to racially segregate society, essentially, and form an ethno-state. The media has tended to use a much broader definition to encompass everyone from [InfoWars host] Alex Jones to [former Breitbart staffer] Milo Yiannopoulos, and even [former Breitbart executive and current White House counselor] Steve Bannon.

I dont think we should take their definition as the perfect one because why should we let them define the debate? But on the other hand sometimes I think its best to take the really strict definition because then you can avoid them being slippery about what they believe in. So in the strict sense the alt-right is a white nationalist or white segregationist kind of an ideology which is connected itself to various forums and online youth subcultures like 4chan and things like that.

Story continues

In your book you use the term alt light. How would you describe them and what role do they play?

The alt light would be a pejorative term used by the alt-right to refer to people like Yiannapoulos, [Vice founder] Gavin McInnes, Mike Cernovich essentially all of the people closer to the kind of Breitbart side of things but who claim not to be racist. So the alt-right will say, quite comfortably, Our politics is all about race, while the alt light will say, You know we are anti-racist and thats why we dont like identity politics. They say theyre in favor of free speech and some kind of American nationalism and they accept the idea of American exceptionalism while the alt-right in the strict sense opposes it completely and says, America is a racial nation pretending to be based on abstract ideas. 

One of the things you talk about is the banner that unites these different groups, and that is Trump. How are they reviewing the presidency so far?

Theyre definitely disappointed in him because of the strikes in Syria, because of the pandering to Saudi Arabia and because he hasnt really seen through any of the extreme anti-immigrant stuff that they hoped he would so far. In many ways the presidency is playing out at as a pretty typical presidency, its not as far right as they would have wanted.

Richard Spencer speaks at Texas A&M University in December 2016. (Photo: David J. Phillip/AP)

If Trump cant do it for them, where do these communities go going forward? Who do they look to, and for those who do have a political aim whats their path for trying to enact it?

So far their whole approach has been theres no point in just trying to move into formal politics; you have to change the culture. Theyre constantly breaking taboos and making the way they speak about race more acceptable to pave the way for formal politics, trying to change the electorate. I mean NPI, Richard Spencers organization, is actually trying to be a policy institute  really propose particular policies  and while obviously theyre marginal, they are always kind of knocking on the door of establishment-right politics, showing up at CPAC and things like that.

So they definitely have aims in the long term to influence formal politics, but theyre still at the stage of influencing culture. In terms of policy, they would advocate for as little immigration as possible from outside of Europe and I think as little immigration as possible in general. To deport illegal immigrants and eventually to make it extremely difficult to gain citizenship, to incrementally have it so that the immigration rates to America fall.

People like Sean Hannity and others on the right have tried to make the alt-left a term. Is that a real thing and if it is how does it differ from the alt-right?

The alt-left is a term that has been used to mean very different things, but I think one particular interpretation is kind of taking over. I think what Sean Hannity means is just sort of loony left people

Weird Twitter?

Yeah, that kind of thing. I think now the term more often [describes] the socialist left, as I understand it. The anti-military-intervention, which would have been maybe Bernie Sanders supporters, and found itself very much in conflict with the liberal establishment left and liberal campus politics. It would describe people like [socialist outlet] Jacobin magazine, maybe [the podcast] Chapo Trap House, so I guess it would describe antiestablishment left.

How would you contrast the tactics between the two? Does the alt-left descend into the level of harassment weve seen during things like GamerGate?

No, theyre not similar at all. Theyre only similar in that theyre both antiestablishment, theyre both kind of marginal and they both end up often making similar critiques of the liberal center. So there is this funny thing where people from the alt-right will end up sharing tweets from quite hard-left people not knowing what their background is. So journalists who have coined that are not making it up. I mean there is a real thing there, there is an antiestablishment left, but it doesnt behave like the alt-right. It doesnt make a habit of threatening people and harassing people over kind of culture wars issues.

You write about the symbiotic relations between the alt-right and what you call Tumblr left. How would you describe that group, why are they sort of feeding off each other in the way that you believe they are?

When I started looking at these things that I look at in the start of the book, they were all very much based on youth online subcultures. The people in them were quite young, you know, youre talking about some teenagers, maybe early undergrads at most. So often on the right-wing kind of fan forums they would share images of people on Tumblr and the people on Tumblr would be very much into identity politics, they might be very playful about gender politics and taking, I suppose, cultural liberalism if you like to the next level.

But the style of politics that emerged from Tumblr went on to form the politics of the group of people who are now sort of in their mid-20s and so influenced campus culture hugely. If you look at the campus wars of last few years, the politics of the left-liberal side of the campus wars, anti-free-speech, people who demonstrated against visiting speakers like Christina Hoff Sommers or Milo  their style of politics was influenced by having sort of grown up on places like Tumblr.

Youve talked about how these communities have coordinated to threaten people, especially women. Since youve started studying and writing about them, have you received threats or had to change your online style? How do you deal with this on a daily basis?

By the time I started really publishing stuff, enough journalists had been writing about the alt-right that I wasnt the only one, so Ive never become a central focus for them. I do of course get some abuse, they wrote about me on [the white supremacist website] Daily Stormer, for example and so I would get at least one abusive message every day, but I just block people. I have good security on all my social media stuff, Im very private, Im very careful and thats about all I can do really.

What kind of feedback do you get from them?

A bunch of them gave my book one star on Amazon and wrote some bad reviews, but they were mostly funny, unintentionally funny. One of them was angry that I mixed Greek and Latin, for example, and it wasnt even my term. Theyre very protective of their subculture, so they tend to think youre some kind of, like, careerist charlatan thats trying to piggyback on their fame but if they knew, like, how little indie publishing earns you, they wouldnt be worried about my motivations.

What got you started going down the path of studying this?

I did a PhD on a related topic, online anti-feminist movements. And the reason I wanted to study them was because I saw a kind of style of really antifeminist politics emerging that didnt look like any previous antifeminism. It wasnt Christian conservative, it wasnt antiabortion, in fact it almost looks very countercultural  it looks like kind of almost punk as its irreverent, its rude, its kind of libertine, and I thought that was really interesting. I just had a sense it was going to go somewhere and then had a certain energy behind us, and so I just looked at all of those movements and they just grew and grew and then they started producing people like Elliot Rodger*, and increasingly the politics of race started to become more and more prominent. You even had, for example, big sort of antifeminist figures who are not anonymous, and many of them, they started to talk more and more about race and the idea of feminism as the agent of civilization collapse.

* Eliot Rodger killed six people at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2014. Rodger killed himself, but left behind a manifesto full of misogynistic and racist writing.

Some of these communities contain a lot of rough stuff, as far as violent porn, language and abuse. How do you wind down after studying this?

I feel like Ive started to wind down already. Ive written a book about an eight-year or so period, and things change so fast in the cultures that Im looking at, if you kind of look away for a minute its already changed. In some ways I feel like my book is out there and Ive made a kind of contribution to understanding the subcultures.

When this story about the OK hand sign broke, I simply couldnt bear, it was like listening to the same story for the hundredth time, I couldnt bear to read it. They trick the media, the media thinks, Oh no, weve been tricked, we have to show were kind of knowledgeable about this subculture, and then in some way they reinforce the values of the subculture.

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BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine police have seized a cache of Nazi artifacts hidden behind a library in the house of an art collector in Buenos Aires, including a bust of dictator Adolf Hitler and instruments used as racial classification tools. The artifacts will be donated to the city's museum dedicated to remembering the Holocaust, said Security Minister Patricia Bullrich on Monday at a press conference. "We were very moved that this many Nazi objects were in Argentina," said Bullrich. "We are happy to be able to say that they are no longer circulating through sales or among collectors." Police and Interpol said they discovered the hidden cache behind a bookshelf and down a secret passageway. The roughly 75 artifacts included boxes, daggers and other objects bearing swastikas and depictions of Hitler, as well as devices intended to measure physical characteristics such as head shape. Nazism was based on the ideology that people designated as having Aryan traits were superior to other races. In the 1940s, millions of Jews were murdered by the state in Hitler's Nazi Germany, a genocide known as the Holocaust, along with others denoted as inferior. After the fall of the Third Reich at the end of World War Two, a number of high-ranking Nazi officials fled to South America. They included notorious figures such as Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust, who was captured by Israeli intelligence agents in Buenos Aires in 1960 and later executed. The infamous doctor Josef Mengele, who carried out genetic research on humans, also lived for some years in the city. Authorities, who have not revealed the identity of the collector, said they were working with historians to trace the objects and identify how and when they likely entered Argentina. (Reporting by Juan Bustamente; Writing by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Richard Chang)
In the wake of Jon Ossoffs stinging defeat in the House race in Atlantas suburbs last night, the question now is: How do Democrats pick up the pieces?

There have been, and will continue to be, loud calls for the party to adopt the policy agenda espoused by Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren: lurching leftward and toward a populist economic platform. Under this scenario, Democrats would embrace candidates who excoriate the wealthiest 1 percent and promise to curb income inequality, zero out public college and university tuition and enact single-payer universal health care. The Sanders-Warren populist agenda would be trumpeted in House and local races across the country.

There are also Democratic warnings that Ossoffs tepid handling of President Trump misfired. During the special election runoff against Republican Karen Handel, seeking to capture the hearts of GOP college-educated voters, Ossoff preached civility and avoided anti-Trump diatribes; he never quite mouthed the full-throated critique of Trumps mendacity, ignorance, incivility and authoritarian predilections that some of Ossoffs ardent supporters desired. His above-the-fray strategy will be heavily scrutinized in the wake of his four-point electoral loss. Hillary Clinton rested much of her campaign on a platform of anti-Trumpism, and Ossoff, on a far smaller playing field, took something of the opposite tack, refusing to make Trumps temperament the bete noir of his message.

Related slideshow: Ossoff vs. Handel: Georgias special election >>>

Neither Clinton nor Ossoff prevailed, leaving the debate about the Democratic message and agenda flaring anew  namely, how do Democrats balance anti-Trump broadsides against a positive economic agenda that can appeal to some of Trumps white working-class and upper-income voters? Our brand is worse than Trump, Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, complained to the New York Times in the hours after the race in Georgia was called. We cant just run against Trump.

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Other Democrats are committed to a centrist, Ossoff-like strategy that positions the party as the modest, reality-based alternative to Republican extremism. In House districts where Republicans lead in voter registration and enjoy built-in advantages, these calls will be particularly pronounced over the next 18 months.

Although the Democratic Party has never faced a president like Trump, and while there are few recent instances in which an organic resistance has emerged as a potential boon to the party, this moment of Democratic despair and division is not without precedent. The partys internecine warfare, progressive vs. centrist divisions, and a dark view that the Democratic brand is toxic to large chunks of more conservative parts of America have echoes in modern history.

President Trump greets White House visitors last week on the South Lawn. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

After Vice President Hubert Humphrey narrowly lost to Richard Nixon in 1968, the party nominated Sen. George McGovern for president in 1972. Republicans eviscerated McGovern as an appeaser on foreign policy and a soft-on-crime left-wing radical. McGovern was trounced, winning only Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.

After Ronald Reagan soundly defeated President Jimmy Carter in 1980, Democrats embarked on a decade-long internal debate about their post-Great Society identity. Traditional liberals battled conservative Southerners over economic policies and the size and purpose of the welfare state, while some neoliberals sought to forge a more centrist party that promoted the tech industry, free trade, fiscal restraint and deregulation, along with a defense of public morality and a strong military. This centrist movement to recapture the Democratic Party ultimately was a factor that helped Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton triumph in his 1992 presidential campaign.

In the aftermath of Clintons presidency, Al Gore lost a heartbreakingly close election in 2000, and Democrats again struggled  especially after 9/11  to distinguish their ideas, candidates and policies from Republicans, who controlled majorities in Congress and the White House. The debates that followed all these setbacks were necessary and proper, part of the natural process that a party as racially and economically diverse as the Democratic Party must embrace as it seeks to win majorities in Congress and check Republicans in the White House. The times when the party has lurched leftward (McGovern is the most notable example), and the times when it has sought to reincarnate and distance itself from its recent achievements (Gore running away from Clintons record in 2000, for example) have not, on the whole, proven to be successful formulas.

Whatever transpires in the months ahead, its worth remembering that the calls for fundamental party reform are reflections of more entrenched challenges on where the party stands on big issues of race and class. These debates  such as are Democrats primarily the party of the rising, cosmopolitan America or the party championing the economic interests of the white working class?  will rage on. At the same time, politics can change in a blink, and with Trumps volatility, myriad investigations and potential court cases unfolding over the next 18 months, and the near-miss special election results in a series of deep-red districts, the 2018 midterms may turn out to be more favorable to Democrats than they think at this funereal moment; after all, in June 2005, few pundits knew a Democratic wave was coming in 2006.

The debate thats now fully engaged  more so even than after Hillary Clintons defeat  has been a healthy feature of the Democratic Partys DNA since the Great Society era. It has kept the party relevant, engaged and forward-looking, even if the party looks adrift and captain-less in the confused aftermath of a bitter defeat.

Matthew Dallek, associate professor at George Washingtons Graduate School of Political Management, is author of Defenseless Under the Night: The Roosevelt Years and the Origins of Homeland Security.

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Photo credit: Carl Court / Getty

From Popular Mechanics

Early Wednesday morning, a catastrophic fire engulfed Grenfell Tower, a 24-story block of public housing in the Kensington area of London. The flames spread rapidly through the 120 apartments and the entire building was destroyed in the blaze. Firefighters rescued many of the occupants, who had been advised to stay in their homes, but at the time of this writing 30 people are confirmed dead. That number is likely to rise as many of the people living on the upper floors have not yet been accounted for.

Today, one major question remains, how did the fire spread so rapidly?

According to news reports since the fire, the answer, in part, seems to lie in cladding that was applied to the building as part of a refurbishment completed last year. Described as "rain screen cladding," it was added partly to improve the appearance of the building. A London newspaper has suggested that the cladding was to make the raw concrete tower less ugly when seen from new luxury housing nearby. (Public housing aside, Kensington is a prestige neighborhood where the average apartment price exceeds $1.7 million.)

However, similar cladding has been implicated in having worsened several previous fires. The type used in Grenfell Tower has been identified by the BBC as Reynobond, which consists of two thin sheets of aluminum sandwiching an insulating filling. The filling may be mineral wool or plastic. In this case it was an extruded thermoplastic called polyethylene  the same material used to make plastic bags. Polyethylene has a very low melting point and drips as it burns. This means the fire can spread upwards with the rising flames and downwards with melted, burning plastic at the same time.

Photo credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP / Getty

The UK's Building Research Establishment (BRE) carried out tests with this type of panel, and noted that "the panel, when exposed to the high temperatures of a developed fire, will tend to delaminate between the facing and core material, due to a combination of expansion of the membrane and softening of the bond line." In other words, the aluminum facings fall off, leaving the flammable plastic core exposed. Another troubling element about this already terrible story: The Times of London reports that a fireproof version of the cladding used on Grenfell tower would have added just $6,000 more to what was already a $12 million refurbishment.

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There have been similar incidents around the world. A huge fire claimed The Address, a tower block in Dubai, on December 31 2015. This was an external cladding fire, with hot metal and melted core material showering down in the area and causing fires on adjacent roofs. The next day the area was found to be covered in the delaminated aluminum casings. Aluminum cladding with a plastic core was held responsible for the Lacrosse Building fire in Melbourne, Australia, in 2014. Fire raced through the building in minutes, due to the supposedly resistant cladding called Alucobest.

Although the cladding is the source of the problem, the way it's installed can also make matters even worse. Usually there is a gap between the cladding and the building, and if flames get caught in the gap, they will stretch out seeking fuel and oxygen. The visible flames in the fire are several feet high, but according to the BRE, inside a cavity they can be stretched out five to ten times as long. The gap between building and cladding effectively acts as a pipe carrying flame: "This may enable fire to spread rapidly, unseen, through the external cladding system, if appropriate fire barriers have not been provided," it says.

Photo credit: Dan Kitwood / Getty

In fact, there are supposed to be "fire stops" built into the construction specifically to prevent fire spreading between the different sections. If these are in place according to regulation, the fire should not be able to spread rapidly. Whether the fire stops at Grenfell Tower were installed correctly will be one of the issues examined by the public enquiry which was ordered yesterday by Prime Minister Teresa May.

In the U.K., the standard advice for residents in high-rise blocks is that they should stay put. Unless their own home is on fire, it ought to be safer for people to remain behind fireproof doors than to venture out into corridors and stairwells filled with smoke. Firefighters should deal with the blaze and rescue anyone in danger. This advice was last reviewed after a fire in 2009 in London which killed six people, and after events this week, it is likely to be reviewed again.

The Grenfell Tower tragedy was the worst fire in London in years. In Australia, building owners were forced to remove combustible cladding after the Lacrosse building fire, and similar measures may be imposed in London. There have also been many complaints that concerns about fire safety at Grenfell Tower had been ignored, including lack of a working fire alarm system or sprinklers. Similar complaints in other building should be addressed as a matter of urgency before another fire strikes.

With so many deaths and accusations of neglect, it's no wonder that the accident has turned into a full-blown criminal investigation.

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Washington (AFP) - 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.
Paris (AFP) - 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.

"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.

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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.

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.
This was the fourth electoral defeat for Democrats since Mr Trump won the White House: Reuters

Donald Trump has rubbed salt in the wounds of the Democrats  even as the shuddering defeat in Georgia sparked fresh soul-searching within the party about how best to appeal to voters ahead of the 2018 midterms.

Democrats, desperate for a victory after Mr Trump secured the presidency last November, had poured millions of dollars and national support into Jon Ossoffs campaign. But for all his enthusiasm and energy, the 30 year-old came up short, losing 52-48 to Republican Karen Handel, an experienced local politician.

The defeat in Georgia, the costliest congressional race in history with a bill that topped $56m, was quickly seized on by Mr Trump, whose name and deeds had had hung over the contest. All the fake news, all the money spent = 0, he said on Twitter. Democrats would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on Healthcare, tax cuts, security. Obstruction doesnt work.

Democrats would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on Healthcare,Tax Cuts,Security. Obstruction doesn't work!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017

But Democrats needed no prodding from the White House to engage in fresh debate about how to respond after what they had hoped would be a victory that would trigger enough momentum for them to retake the House of Representatives in 18 months. Rather, the loss in Georgia followed defeats in special elections in Kansas and Montana, and came on the same day as a loss in a congressional district in South Carolina.

Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio, who has been a critic of his partys political strategy, said Democrats needed to recognise they were toxic in many parts of the country.

Our brand is worse than Trump, Mr Ryan told the New York Times. We cant just run against Trump.

Indeed, the defeat has already reopened many of the debates that emerged during the partys 2016 primary; should it pursue a progressive agenda as espoused by senator Bernie Sanders, or take the centrist route that Hillary Clinton adopted.

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Mr Ossoff certainly went for the latter. Aware that that he was trying to win a seat held by Republicans since 1979, he avoided attacking Mr Trump and sought to portray himself as a moderate, approachable candidate who was mainly interested in local issues. Mr Sanders took an awful long time to endorse him.

Many had hoped that the 30-year-old would adopt a more progressive stance and taken the attack to Mr Trump and his controversial presidency. In this well-heeled, highly educated district north of Atlanta, the New York tycoon only beat Ms Clinton by less than two points in the presidential election, and many believed there were plenty of Republicans who disliked the brash New Yorker enough to be won over.

At the same time, Ms Handels campaign was effective in portraying Mr Ossoff as a man whose funding had come from outside of the state and who would become a liberal puppet of House minority leader, Nandy Pelosi.

Defeating Republicans in districts that they have traditionally held requires doing something drastically different than establishment Democrats have done before  specifically, running on a bold progressive vision and investing heavily in direct voter contact, said Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America, told the Associated Press.

Ms Handel had stressed local issues throughout the campaign (AP)

Mr Ossoff tried his best to rally his supporters, in a humble concession speech late on Tuesday night.

This small community in Georgia has become the epicentre of politics for months now, and it has nothing to do with me  its about you, he said. The fight goes on. The fight is still alive.

Yet his words will do little to assuage Democrats who cannot understand why they are unable to land an electoral blow against the Republicans, at a time when the Presidents approval rating is less than 40 per cent.

Reports suggest that Democrats met on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lick their wounds, and that one congressman, Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, circulated a memo outlining the partys plan for 2018.

Christina Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University, said the Democrats needed to think about their approach for 2018. Yet she said the defeat in Georgia may not have been as bad as it appeared.

This was a heavily Republican area. The numbers really were not there for them, she told The Independent. So if they look at the strategies they used for getting people out and tweak them over the coming year, they can still win.

Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusettsm said on Twitter that the result in Georgia, better be a wake-up call for Democrats - business as usual isnt working. He added: Time to stop rehashing 2016 and talk about the future.

The Democrats have to be hyper-focused on an economic message that tells people that the Republican Party is all about economic growth for millionaires and billionaires, and the Democratic Party is about economic growth for everybody, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut told MSNBC.

Dan Pfeiffer, who worked as senior advisor to Barack Obama, said the party needed to both reach out to disenchanted Republicans, and fire up those Democrats who failed to turn out in sufficient numbers for Ms Clinton in November.

To win back a gerrymandered House we have to a) fire up Dems b) convince some number of indys or Obama Trump voters to back a Dem, he said on Twitter.

And I dont think those things are in conflict, because a progressive populist candidate focused on the economy and [the Republicans healthcare act] can do both.
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  Former President Barack Obamas secretary of homeland security says that his efforts to protect the country from Russian cyberattacks last year were twice rebuffed  first by the Democratic National Committee and then later by state election officials who feared he was plotting an unwarranted federal takeover of the U.S. election system.

The comments by ex-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, made in prepared testimony for the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, underscore the frustrations that the Obama administration had last year in dealing with a Russian state-sponsored cyberattack on the 2016 election that was far more extensive and sophisticated than was publicly realized at the time.

When he convened a conference call of state officials Aug. 15 of last year to tell them he was planning to designate the countrys election system as part of the nations critical infrastructure  a move that would have provided extensive federal cybersecurity protections similar to that given to power grids, dams and financial services  the reaction, to my disappointment, was neutral to negative, Johnson says.

Those who expressed negative views stated that running elections in this country was the sovereign and exclusive responsibility of the states, and they did not want federal intrusion, a federal takeover or federal regulation of that process, says Johnson. This was a profound misunderstanding of what a critical designation would mean, which I tried to clarify for them.

Yahoo News first reported two weeks after Johnsons conference call that foreign hackers possibly linked to Russia had penetrated the voting registration databases of two states, Illinois and Arizona, prompting the FBI to issue a warning to state election officials throughout the country about attempted intrusions. A top DHS official, acting Undersecretary Jeanette Manfra, told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday that election systems in 21 states were targeted in the Russian cyberattack last year.

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But sources have also told Yahoo News that much of the resistance on Johnsons conference call came from Republican secretaries of state who suspected a partisan motive in the Obama administrations efforts to bolster cybersecurity protections of state voting systems.

The resistance caused Johnson and top Homeland Security officials to conclude that making the critical infrastructure designation during the election season would be counterproductive and he put the idea on the back burner, the former secretary says in his testimony. (He later made the designation after the election.)

Johnson also reveals in his testimony that he got similar pushback when he offered to provide homeland security protections to the DNC after he learned about the Russian cyberattack on its computer system.

When he learned of the hack of the DNC, I pressed my staff to know whether DHS [Department of Homeland Security] was sufficiently proactive, and on the scene helping the DNC identify the intruders and patch vulnerabilities, Johnson says. The answer, to the best of my recollection, was not reassuring: The FBI and the DNC had been in contact with each other months before about the intrusion, and the DNC did not feel it needed DHSs assistance at that time.

Just how much of a difference Johnsons efforts would have made in protecting the DNC and state election systems is far from clear. At the time that the DHS reached out to the DNC, the Russian intrusion had already taken place and would be deemed far more serious weeks later, in mid July, when WikiLeaks began dumping internal committee emails on its website  the first clear sign that the Russians had decided to weaponize the material they had hacked to potentially influence American voters.

The day after White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters he was unable to say whether President Trump accepted that the Russians had hacked the 2016 election, Johnson made it clear there was no doubt in his mind what had happened. Echoing the formal conclusion of the U.S. intelligence community, he says in his testimony that the Russian government at the direction of Vladimir Putin himself orchestrated the attacks for the purpose of influencing our election  plain and simple.

He also warns more broadly that cyberattacks of all manner and from multiple sources are going to get worse before they get better and at this moment, those on offense have the upper hand.

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By Nathan Layne and Julia Edwards Ainsley NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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 Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen's activities in the United States, which he suspected were "poisoning" relations between the United States and Turkey. Like Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Alptekin blamed a failed coup in Turkey last July on followers of Gulen. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied involvement in the attempted 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)
By Timothy Mclaughlin

(Reuters) - A former Milwaukee police officer, whose fatal shooting of a black man last August led to two nights of rioting, was found not guilty in the killing on Wednesday.

Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Sylville Smith, 23, following a foot chase that was captured on a police body camera.

People were heard in a courtroom video stream crying and yelling after Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Conen read the jury's verdict.

Heaggan-Brown was fired from the police force in October over unrelated sexual assault charges. He was charged with assaulting a man a day after he fatally shot Smith.

The former cop was also charged with having sex with prostitutes and sexually assaulting another person between December 2015 and July 2016, court records said.

"This guy is somebody we now know was engaged in all sorts of criminal conduct, shouldnt have been there," the Smith family attorney, David Owens, told reporters after the verdict.

"The department knew about it, but they don't care because they defend officers with impunity and that is what allows them to kill and shoot first and ask questions later."

Heaggan-Brown's attorney Jonathan Smith, said by telephone that no officer wants to use deadly force, but his client did what he was trained to do.

"He acted consistent with his training. We are certainly gratified that the jury agreed with that," he said.

Michael Crivello, President of the Milwaukee Police Association, the city's police union, also welcomed the jury's decision.

Police said Smith was armed and ignored commands to drop his gun. After Smith was shot, the resulting violence during protests left businesses burned, police cars damaged and officers injured.

Heaggan-Brown was acquitted less than a week after a Minnesota police officer was found not guilty of shooting a black motorist in a suburb of St. Paul.

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Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm told reporters he respected the jury's decision and the body camera that provided footage of the shooting was itself a step towards greater police accountability.

"Everybody understands, not just in this community but throughout the country, that the relationship between law enforcement and the justice system and the communities they serve is under some severe strain right now," Chisholm said.

(Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Grant McCool)
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.

My SCORCHING HOT TAKE: Older voters wake up earlier, check weather more, are more likely to have voted this a.m. Advantage, Handel. #gapol https://t.co/IZYHLrGGD3  Kyle Wingfield AJC (@kwingfieldajc) June 20, 2017

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.

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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 )

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.

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.
Editors note: This is an updated version of an article first published on June 24, 2015.

The shooting in Virginia that wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, as well as the shooting in a San Francisco UPS facility that left four dead on the very same day, have generated  yet again  the standard set of responses in the wake of a mass shooting in the United States.

The details of any such tragedy often emerge slowly, but a few points can be made. While deaths from mass shootings are a relatively small part of the overall homicidal violence in America, they are particularly wrenching. The problem is worse in the U.S. than in most other industrialized nations. And it is getting worse.

The political overlay of the Virginia shooting also carries a particular social harm. Any thought that guns can play a helpful role in reducing tyranny in a democratic country like the United States should quickly be dispelled. Hopefully, that message will penetrate everyone from the NRA leadership and Sen. Rand Paul to anyone on the opposite end of the political spectrum who doesnt like the current developments of Republican rule.

Ive been researching gun violence  and what can be done to prevent it  in the U.S. for 25 years. The fact is that if the NRA claim that guns helped reduce crime were true, the U.S. would have the lowest homicide rate among industrialized nations instead of the highest one  and by a wide margin.

The U.S. is by far the world leader in the number of guns in civilian hands. The stricter gun laws of other advanced countries have restrained homicidal violence, suicides and gun accidents  even when, in some cases, laws were introduced over massive protests from their armed citizens.

The state of gun control in the US

Eighteen states in the U.S. and a number of cities including Chicago, New York and San Francisco have tried to reduce the unlawful use of guns as well as gun accidents by adopting laws to keep guns safely stored when they are not in use. Safe storage is a common form of gun regulation in nations with stricter gun regulations.

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The NRA has been battling such laws for years. But that effort was dealt a blow in June 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court  over a strident dissent by Justices Thomas and Scalia  refused to consider the San Francisco law that required guns not in use be stored safely. This was a positive step because hundreds of thousands of guns are stolen every year, and good public policy must try to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and children.

The dissenters were alarmed by the thought that a gun stored in a safe would not be immediately available for use, but they seemed unaware of how unusual it is that a gun is helpful when someone is under attack.

Statistics show only the tiniest fraction of victims of violent crime are able to use a gun in their defense. Over the period from 2007 to 2011, roughly six million nonfatal violent crimes occurred each year. Yet data from the National Crime Victimization Survey show that 99.2 percent of victims in these incidents did not protect themselves with a gun  this in a country with roughly 300 million guns in civilian hands.

In fact, a classic study of 198 cases of unwanted entry into occupied single-family dwellings in Atlanta found that the invader was twice as likely to obtain the victims gun than to have the victim use a firearm in self-defense.

The author of the study, Arthur Kellerman, concluded in words that those opposing safe storage of guns should heed:

On average, the gun that represents the greatest threat is the one that is kept loaded and readily available in a bedside drawer.

A loaded, unsecured gun in the home is like an insurance policy that fails to deliver at least 95 percent of the time, but has the constant potential  particularly in the case of handguns which are more easily manipulated by children and more attractive for use in crime  to harm someone in the home or be stolen and harm someone else.

More guns wont stop gun violence

For years, the NRA mantra has been that allowing citizens to carry concealed handguns would reduce crime as they fought off or scared off the criminals.

Some early studies even purported to show that so-called right-to-carry (RTC) laws did just that, but a 2004 report from the National Research Council refuted that claim, saying it was not supported by the scientific evidence, while remaining uncertain about what the true impact of RTC laws was.

Ten years of additional data have allowed researchers to get a better fix on this question, which is important since the NRA is pushing for a Supreme Court decision that would allow RTC as a matter of constitutional law.

The new research on this issue from my team at Stanford University has given the most compelling evidence to date that RTC laws are associated with significant increases in violent crime. Looking at Uniform Crime Reports data from 1979 to 2014, we find that, on average, the 33 states that adopted RTC laws over this period experienced violent crime rates that are roughly 14 percent higher after 10 years than if they had not adopted these laws.

In the meantime, can anything make American politicians listen to the preferences of the 90 percent on the wisdom of adopting universal background checks for gun purchases?

Gun control around the world

As an academic exercise, one might speculate whether law could play a constructive role in reducing the number or deadliness of mass shootings.

Most other advanced nations apparently think so, since they make it far harder for someone like your typical American mass killer to get his hands on particularly lethal weapons. Universal background checks are common features of gun regulation in other developed countries, including:

Germany: To buy a gun, anyone under the age of 25 has to pass a psychiatric evaluation. Presumably, 21-year-old Charleston shooter Dylann Roof would have failed.

Finland: Handgun license applicants are allowed to purchase firearms only if they can prove they are active members of regulated shooting clubs. Before they can get a gun, applicants must pass an aptitude test, submit to a police interview and show they have a proper gun storage unit.

Italy: To secure a gun permit, one must establish a genuine reason to possess a firearm and pass a background check considering both criminal and mental health records.

France: Firearms applicants must have no criminal record and pass a background check that considers the reason for the gun purchase and evaluates the criminal, mental and health records of the applicant.

United Kingdom and Japan: Handguns are illegal for private citizens.

While mass shootings, as well as gun homicides and suicides, are not unknown in these countries, the overall rates are substantially higher in the United States than in these nations.

While NRA supporters frequently challenge me on these statistics, saying that this is only because American blacks are so violent, pointing to the type of wildly incorrect claims about the percentages of whites killed by blacks that Dylann Roof spouted and Donald Trump tweeted, it is important to note that white murder rates in the U.S. are well over twice as high as the murder rates in any of these other countries.

Australia hasnt had a mass shooting since 1996

The story of Australia, which had 13 mass shootings in the 18-year period from 1979 to 1996 but none in the succeeding 21 years, is worth examining.

The turning point was the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, in which a gunman killed 35 individuals using semiautomatic weapons.

In the wake of the massacre, the conservative federal government succeeded in implementing tough new gun control laws throughout the country. A large array of weapons were banned  including the Glock semiautomatic handgun used in the Charleston shootings. The government also imposed a mandatory gun buy-back that substantially reduced gun possession in Australia.

The effect was that both gun suicides and homicides fell. In addition, the 1996 legislation disallowed self-defense as a legitimate reason to purchase a firearm.

When I mention this to disbelieving NRA supporters, they insist that crime must now be rampant in Australia. In fact, the Australian murder rate has fallen to one per 100,000 while the U.S. rate, thankfully lower than in the early 1990s, is still roughly 5 per 100,000  nearly five times as high. Moreover, robberies in Australia occur at only about half the rate of the U.S.: 58 in Australia versus 113.1 per 100,000 in the U.S. in 2012.

How did Australia do it? Politically, it took a brave prime minister to face the rage of Australian gun interests.

Prime Minister John Howard wore a bullet-proof vest when he announced the proposed gun restrictions in June 1996. The deputy prime minister was hung in effigy. But Australia did not have a domestic gun industry to oppose the new measures so the will of the people was allowed to emerge. And today, support for the safer, gun-restricted Australia is so strong that going back would not be tolerated by the public.

That Australia hasnt had a mass shooting since 1996 is likely more than merely the result of the considerable reduction in guns  its certainly not the case that guns have disappeared altogether.

I suspect that the country has also experienced a cultural shift between the shock of the Port Arthur massacre and the removal of guns from everyday life, as they are no longer available for self-defense and they are simply less present throughout the country. Troubled individuals, in other words, are not constantly being reminded that guns are a means to address their alleged grievances to the extent that they were in the past, or continue to be in the U.S.

Lax gun control in one nation can create problems in another

Of course, strict gun regulations cannot ensure that the danger of mass shootings or killings has been eliminated.

Norway has strong gun control and committed humane values. But that didnt prevent Anders Breivik from opening fire on a youth camp on the island of Utoya in 2011. His clean criminal record and hunting license had allowed him to secure semiautomatic rifles, but Norway restricted his ability to get high-capacity clips for them. In his manifesto, Breivik wrote about his attempts to legally buy weapons, stating, I envy our European American brothers as the gun laws in Europe sucks ass in comparison.

In fact, in the same manifesto, Breivik wrote that it was from a U.S. supplier that he purchased  and had mailed  10 30-round ammunition magazines for the rifle he used in his attack.

In other words, even if a particular nation or state chooses to make it harder for some would-be killers to get their weapons, these efforts can be undercut by the jurisdictions that hold out. In the U.S., of course, state gun control measures are often thwarted by the lax attitude to gun acquisition in other states.

John Donohue, C. Wendell and Edith M. Carlsmith Professor of Law, Stanford University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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The U.S. Air Force is preparing for a potential war in space.

The House Armed Services Panel laid out its plans to create the Space Corps that will split from the U.S. Air Force and allow the military to engage threats outside of Planet Earth. Members of the panel said they intend to mark up the measure ahead of the fiscal 2018 calendar, Roll Call first reported.

There is bipartisan acknowledgement that the strategic advantages we derive from our national security space systems are eroding, said a joint statement from Mike D. Rogers, R-Ala., and Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., the panels chairman and ranking Democrat. We are convinced that the Department of Defense is unable to take the measures necessary to address these challenges effectively and decisively, or even recognize the nature and scale of its problems. Thus, Congress has to step in.

Read: U.S. Military Training Space Warriors For 'Extraterrestrial Conflict'

Rogers compared the move to the U.S. Army Air Corps transition into the Air Force after World War II. He blamed bureaucratic errors for not pursuing a future generation of space leadership that is separate from terrestrial Air Force military operations. He said the Space Corps would be a separate military service responsible for national security space programs for which the Air Force is today responsible.

How can we have the worlds best national security space program if we dont grow and retain the best men and women to lead it, and give them the budget and authority they need? Rogers asked.

He added that space programs should not be led by people who get up each morning thinking about fighters and bombersyou cannot organize, train, and equip in space the way you do a fighter squad.

Lt. Col. Kyle Pumroy, chief of Space Force Structure Plans for the Space and Cyberspace Superiority Division of the Air Force's Directorate of Strategic Plans, told Military.com in April that the U.S. needs to start preparing for an age in which war extends into space because thats where the capabilities are going to be able to operate.

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"The nature of the threat has changed," added Pumroy.

US Space Command To Feature Nuclear Division

The Armed Services Panels mark would create U.S. Space Command as a four-star position under U.S. Strategic Command. In order to avoid cyber threats, the Pentagon would be barred from purchasing satellite services if its deemed a threat or has been compromised by another country. They also plan to authorize a $705 million Israeli missile defense system developed by both Israel and the U.S. There would also be a nuclear operations sect of the military space program.

At the 33rd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs in April, Rogers reiterated his belief that Congress needs to begin addressing this space force sooner than later.

The amputation is not going to begin tomorrow, he said. I believe reform is needed. We must start no. This is a system that moves too slowly, and we dont have the time to wait. And I wont.

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By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (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)
A lawmaker on the working group for the Senate Republicans health care bill said Tuesday that he still hasnt seen a draft of the legislation that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has promised to unveil on Thursday.

I havent seen the bill, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said in a video he posted to Facebook. Lee is one of 13 members of the all-GOP working group tasked with drafting the bill.

Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, during a Bloomberg Television interview on June 2. (Photo: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It has become increasingly apparent in the last few days that even though we thought that we were going to be in charge of writing a bill within this working group, its not being written by us, Lee said.

Instead, a small group of staffers for members of the Republican leadership in the Senate are writing it, Lee said.

If youre frustrated by the lack of transparency in this process, I share your frustration, I share it wholeheartedly, he said. Im told that [the bill] exists, I just havent been able to see it yet.

The Republicans secretive process behind the health care bill has provoked the ire of Senate Democrats, who staged a talkathon Monday night, but that frustration has apparently expanded to some members of the GOP caucus. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, reportedly said that a vote next week wouldnt give her enough time to make a decision.

Bad news for GOP bill: @kristinapet Sen. Collins says a vote next week does not give her enough time to analyze the health-care bill. https://t.co/lN5RumomTx  Janet Hook (@hookjan) June 20, 2017

But Lee said he would be fine voting on the bill soon as long as he can see a draft before the vote, adding, We should have been able to see it weeks ago if were going to be voting on it next week.

Read more from Yahoo News:
ROSWELL, Ga. (AP)  The Latest on Georgia's 6th District Congressional race (all times local):

3:35 p.m.

An election official says voting has been moving smoothly at polling sites in Georgia's closely-watched House election.

Richard Barron, director of Fulton County's registration and elections, says the state's most populous county is on pace to have around 36,000 people come through when polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. He says about 16,500 people had already voted by 12:30 p.m.

Barron says there have been a couple of voting issues, but it's nothing that would derail having final results in by 11 p.m. He says one of the most common complaints has been from poll workers canceling people's absentee-by-mail ballots at polls.

In the April 18 general election, state officials reported polling machines used to check in voters at one precinct in Johns Creek weren't working properly, but the problem was resolved.

___

3:10 p.m.

Election officials for a Georgia county in the 6th Congressional District say two polling places will stay open late after an equipment problem delayed the start of voting.

State officials said polling places at Livsey Elementary School and Holy Cross Catholic Church received the wrong equipment for checking in voters.

DeKalb County officials said the problem was resolved by 7:30 a.m. but they want voters to have a full 12 hours to cast ballots in the runoff between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams signed an order Tuesday afternoon keeping polls open until 7:30 p.m. at both locations. Other polling places in the district, which includes portions of Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton counties, close at 7 p.m.

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2 p.m.

An election official in Georgia's most-populous county says he's aiming to have final results in by 11 p.m. Tuesday in Georgia's closely-watched congressional election.

That would contrast with last April, when Fulton County could not report vote totals for several hours after polls closed in the special election in Georgia's 6th congressional district. That contest led to Tuesday's runoff between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff.

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This time, county officials are optimistic they will have more timely results.

Richard Barron, director of Fulton County's registration & elections, says that although 11 p.m. is his goal, "accuracy is paramount."

The county scheduled a briefing Tuesday afternoon to update reporters on its role in the election.

Portions of Fulton, Cobb and DeKalb counties are included in the 6th Congressional District.

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10:30 a.m.

A spokeswoman for Georgia's top election official says voting in the state's closely-watched 6th District is going smoothly but some issues have been reported.

Two voting locations in DeKalb County had the wrong equipment used to check voters in. Workers had to use paper lists as a backup.

Secretary of State spokeswoman Candice Broce said some voters were told to use provisional ballots. She wasn't sure how many people were given those directions. Broce says DeKalb officials are considering whether to ask a judge to extend voting hours at the Livsey Elementary School and Embry Hills polling places.

Broce says investigators from the Secretary of State's office are reviewing the issue. An investigator also went to a church in Cobb County after a complaint that campaigns signs were too close to the location.

___

9:20 a.m.

As voting got underway in Georgia's closely-watched Congressional race, the state's chief elections official posted a video on social media urging voters to head to the polls and "wear your peach voting sticker with pride."

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp said in the Facebook video Tuesday morning that Georgians' right to vote for their public officials should never be taken for granted.

Either Republican Karen Handel will claim a seat that's been in her party's hands since 1979 or Democrat Jon Ossoff will manage an upset that will rattle Washington ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Their matchup in Georgia's 6th Congressional District has become a proxy for the national political atmosphere and a test of GOP strength early in Donald Trump's presidency.

___

6:25 a.m.

As the most expensive House race in in U.S. history goes into voters' hands, President Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to weigh in on the closely-watched election.

In one early Tuesday tweet, Trump criticizes Democrat Jon Ossoff, saying he'll raise taxes, is weak on crime and "doesn't even live in district." Ossoff lives in Atlanta, south of the suburban district. He has said the address is close to Emory University, where his fiancee attends medical school.

In another tweet, Trump praises Republican Karen Handel as a hard worker who will fight for lower taxes, great health care and strong security.

The matchup between Ossoff and Handel has become a proxy for the national political atmosphere and a test of GOP strength early in Trump's presidency.

Trump barely won the district in November, giving Democrats an opening once Republican Tom Price resigned the seat to join the president's Cabinet as health secretary.

___

3:05 a.m.

The most expensive House race in U.S. history heads to voters Tuesday in suburban Atlanta.

Either Republican Karen Handel will claim a seat that's been in her party's hands since 1979 or Democrat Jon Ossoff will manage an upset that will rattle Washington ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Their matchup in Georgia's 6th Congressional District has become a proxy for the national political atmosphere and a test of GOP strength early in Donald Trump's presidency.

Ossoff led an April primary but fell just short of an outright victory, sending an already costly race into a two-month runoff campaign.

Trump barely won the district in November, giving Democrats an opening once Republican Tom Price resigned the seat to join the president's Cabinet as health secretary.
Police believe 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen was abducted and killed while walking to a local mosque in Fairfax County, Virginia: Courtesy Hassanen Family via AP

The murder of a Muslim teenager has revolutionised and inspired an entire community, according to a chaplain at the mosque where she was travelling on the night she was killed.

Nabra Hassanen was abducted and murdered by a passing motorist on her way to the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Fairfax County, Virginia, police said.

The 17-year-old's killer allegedly kidnapped the teenager after engaging her group of friends in an argument and following them into a McDonald's carpark.

The group had just finished their last meal of the day before fasting for Ramadan.

The suspect, 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres, is currently being held without bail.

While Hassanens death stoked fear in Virginia Muslim community, ADAMS Center chaplain Chaplain Joshua Salaam says it has also inspired her peers to lead more thoughtful lives.

These youth have vowed to take her advice, because she always gave good advice, Mr Salaam said, adding that Hassanen encouraged her friends to give to people who are in need, even if its your last dollar, and befriend people who other people dont like.

When you knew her you might possibly begin to understand why this is so hard for this community: because an angel was taken, he said.

Hassanens father  speaking through ADAMS Imam Mohamed Magid  said little, besides that he hopes his community will express love always to one another regardless of religion or race.

Mr Hassanen has said he believes 100 per cent that his daughter was targeted because of her religion.

"In the McDonalds theres a lot of kids, a lot of people; why did he run behind this girl especially? For what?" he asked.

Fairfax County Police are not investigating Hassanens death as a hate crime. In a press release, the said they believe the murder was a road rage incident".

It appears the suspect became so enraged over this traffic argument that it escalated into deadly violence, spokeswoman Julie Parker said.

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Chaplain Joshua Salaam of the ADAMS Center talks about 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen @WTOP pic.twitter.com/zJS7EhTXEB  Michelle Basch (@mbaschWTOP) June 20, 2017

Mr Salaam said he trusts the police will fully investigate the motives for Hassanens death.

They can only move as fast as the facts come in, he said.

Asked if he believed the young womans death was a hate crime, he replied, Thats not for us to decide.

Police are also investigating whether the teenager was sexually assaulted before her death.
More than 300 people gathered at a memorial for murdered teen Nabra Hassanen: Karla Ann Cote

A memorial for murdered Muslim teenager Nabra Hassanen in Dupont Circle has caught on fire, Washington DC police sources said. It is unclear whether the memorial itself was the target of the blaze.

The DC Fire Department responded to a small brush fire at the historic roundabout at 8:24 on Wednesday morning, DC Fire Public Information Officer Vito Magiolo told The Independent.

The blaze was quickly extinguished, but officers deemed its start suspicious. Fire investigators were called to the scene.

DC Police arrested 24-year-old Jonathan Soloman of South Carolina and charged him with vandalism in connection with the fire.

Sources told the New York Daily News and Fox 5 DC that the fire was set at the memorial site. A police spokesperson told the Daily News the incident does not appear to be motivated by bias.

In an official statement, the US Park Police said only that Mr Soloman had "set fire to some items in the fountain".

"There is no evidence that this incident is related to the memorial held in the park the previous evening," they said.

The circle was the site of a memorial for Nabra Hassanen, the 17-year-old who was allegedly murdered on her way to a mosque in Fairfax County, Virginia early Sunday morning.

Fairfax County police say Hassanen was abducted and killed by a passing motorist who had engaged her group of friends in a roadside argument. After the group scattered, the motorist allegedly pulled Hassanen into his car. Police are investigating whether she was also sexually assaulted.

Officials recovered Hassanen's body from a nearby pond on Sunday morning. The suspect, 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres, is currently incarcerated without bail.

The murder, which took place during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, struck fear in the fear to the local Muslim community.

When you knew her you might possibly begin to understand why this is so hard for this community: because an angel was taken, Joshua Salaam, chaplain at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, told reporters.

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More than 300 people flocked to Hassanens memorial in Dupont Circle on Tuesday night, carrying signs reading We all belong here, and Standing with Muslims.

Some came to mourn Hassanens passing, while others came to protest that her death had not been ruled a hate crime.

The Fairfax County Police Department is investigating Hassanens killing as a murder, not a hate crime, despite her fathers protestations otherwise. In a press release, the department referred to the killing as a road rage incident.

It appears the suspect became so enraged over this traffic argument that it escalated into deadly violence, police department spokeswoman Julie Parker said at a press conference.

Among the flowers, food and other trinkets left at the vigil on Tuesday was a poster reading simply, Justice for Nabra.
Moscow (AFP) - A NATO military plane on Wednesday approached the plane of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu above the Baltic Sea, Russian news agencies reported, the third such encounter in three days.

A NATO fighter jet tried to approach Shoigu's plane but a Russian escort plane intervened to defend it, Interfax news agency reported, citing journalists accompanying the minister.

The escort plane, a Sukhoi SU-27, demonstrated it was armed by rocking its wings, after which the NATO plane flew off, Interfax reported.

Russian state television aired defence ministry footage of the incident, reporting that it took place over neutral waters.

NATO and national air forces last week tracked "an unusually large number of Russian military aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea."

"As is standard practice whenever unknown aircraft approach NATO airspace, NATO and national air forces took to the sky to monitor the flights," a NATO spokesman said in a statement sent to AFP.

NATO said the crew's actions to determine the identity of the plane were "routine", including "maintaining a safe distance at all times" before breaking away.

Shoigu was on his way to Kaliningrad, a highly militarised Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, to take part in a meeting with defence officials there.

At the meeting, he warned that "the situation near Russia's western borders is tending to get worse," the ministry said on its website.

"This is tied with the upsurge of military activity of NATO countries in Eastern Europe," Shoigu added.

The meeting came after NATO held military exercises at the weekend in Poland on the Lithuanian border close to Kaliningrad.

NATO is deploying four international battalions in Poland and each of the former Soviet Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Moscow sees the NATO build-up in the region as demonstrating a desire to contain Russia.

On Wednesday, Sweden summoned Russia's ambassador after a Russian Sukhoi fighter jet flew unusually close to a Swedish reconnaissance plane above the Baltic Sea.

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"The Russian behaviour is unacceptable" and had increased the risk of a serious incident, Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told the TT news agency.

That incident, in international airspace, happened on Monday, a Swedish army statement said.

Also on Monday, a Russian fighter conducted an "unsafe" intercept of a US reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea, the US military said Tuesday.

Russia's defence ministry said, however, that its fighter plane reacted after the American reconnaissance plane made a "provocative turn" towards it, while another US reconnaissance plane entered the same area 10 minutes later.

Russian fighter jets routinely approach and identify aircraft in the skies over the Baltic and Kaliningrad, but most of these actions stay within safe limits.

Both Washington and Stockholm said the latest incidents went beyond those limits.

The protests come at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the United States over Syria, where they are backing different sides in the conflict.

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The family of former North Korean prisoner Otto Warmbier decided they did not want an autopsy performed after his death. Warmbier died Monday after 17 months of imprisonment in North Korea, but the circumstances surrounding his death remained murky.

The Hamilton County Coroners Office in Ohio said Tuesday that Warmbiers family had decided to forgo an autopsy and instead opted for only an external examination. It remained unclear why the family decided not to have the autopsy.

Read: Otto Warmbiers Roommate In North Korea Describes The Day Of His Arrest

No conclusions about the cause and manner of Mr. Warmbiers death have been drawn at this time, the medical examiners office said, according to NBC News. There are additional medical records and imaging to review and people to interview.

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Photo: Reuters

Warmbier, an American student, was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in North Korea in January 2016 after being accused of stealing a propaganda poster. The 22-year-old was returned to the U.S. last week in a condition described by doctors as unresponsive wakefulness. North Korean officials said Warmbier had contracted botulism and was given a sleeping pill and fell into a coma last April from which he never awoke. Upon his return to the United States, however, doctors said they found no evidence of botulism.

He showed no signs of understanding language, responding to verbal commands or awareness of his surroundings, Dr. Daniel Kanter, director of the neurocritical care unit at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, said in a news conference last week.

Doctors noted that his brain injuries were severe, citing an MRI scan showing extensive tissue damage. The medical team also said it had been too long for Wambier to be considered to be in a coma and that he was apparently in stable condition with no signs of infection when he first arrived back in the U.S. doctors also said he had no broken bones or other signs of physical abuse.

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The study showed extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of the brain, said Kanter. Pattern of this brain injury is usually seen as a result of cardiopulmonary arrest resulting in the death of brain tissue.

Kanter noted that after his arrival at the hospital, Warmbier had not exhibited any purposeful movement or behavior and had not spoken. Warmbier died Monday at the hospitaland doctors said his death may have stemmed from the long flight home.

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. That can be catastrophic and precipitous, Dr. Daniel Laskowitz, a professor of neurology at Duke University told NBC Tuesday, noting that the flight back from North Korea could have made a blood clot form or spread to the lungs.

There is no excuse for any civilized nation to have kept his condition secret and denied him top-notch medical care for so long, Warmbiers father, Fred Warmbier, told reporters Thursday. His family condemned the torturous mistreatment Warmbier received in North Korea.

Read: How Are Prisoners Treated In North Korea?

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, the family said in a statement Monday. When Otto returned to Cinncinnati 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.

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The roommate of North Korean prisoner Otto Warmbier spoke out about their time together in the country following Warmbiers return to the United States. Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in the country in January 2016 after being accused of stealing a propaganda poster. The 22-year-old student was finally returned to the U.S. last week but was in a coma and died Monday as a result of severe brain trauma.

Danny Gratton, Warmbiers roommate during their brief stay in North Korea, said they spent four days together and became close friends in that time. He recalled the day of Warmbiers arrest to the Washington Post, detailing the events of Jan. 2, 2016, when the two attempted to get through immigration at Pyongyang International Airport, the last physical time he saw his friend.

Read: Heartbreaking Video Of Defector Depicts Brutal Life In North Korea

No words were spoken, Gratton recalled. Two guards just came over and simply tapped Otto on the shoulder and led him away. I just said kind of quite nervously, Well, thats the last well see of you. Theres a great irony in those words.

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Photo: Reuters

Gratton said Warmbier didnt resist and didnt look scared, but instead, sort of half-smiled.

As for the accusations that Warmbier stole a propaganda poster, Gratton said he had a hard time believing it.

Ive got nothing from my experience with him that would suggest he would do something like that, he said. At no stage did I ever think he was anything but a very, very polite kid.

Warmbier and Gratton met in Beijing before their flight to North Korea, where they became fast friends.

When we got to Pyongyang, we were the two single guys, so it seemed logical for us to be put in the same room, said Gratton. So basically from the time we got to Pyongyang to the time I left him, we were together. I got to know Otto really, really well. He was such a mature lad for his age.

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Even if Warmbier had stolen the poster, Gratton said, his sentencing was unbelievably harsh.

No one deserves that, said Gratton. He was just a young lad who wanted a bit of adventure. Every once in a while they single out someone to make a point and this was just Ottos turn. Its just so sick and warped and unnecessary and evil.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.

Warmbiers release was, at first, heralded as a significant step toward better relations between North Korea and the United States, though it soon became apparent that Warmbier had suffered at the hands of the regime. North Korean officials said Warmbiers deteriorated condition was the result of botulism and a sleeping pill, though doctors at the University Cincinnati Medical Center said he showed no signs of botulism. They described his condition as unresponsive wakefulness and said he had severe injury to all regions of the brain.

President Donald Trump denounced the treatment of Warmbier in North Korea after news emerged of his passing.

The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim, a statement released by the president said.

Otto was just a really great lad who fell into the most horrendous situation that no one could ever believe, said Gratton. Its just something I think in the western world we just cant understand, we just cant grasp, the evilness behind that dictatorship.

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Photo: Reuters

Read: North Koreas Nuclear Weapons Program Advancing Faster Than Expected

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Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Senator John McCain speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

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.

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.

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.

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Pres. Trump on death of Otto Warmbier: "It's a disgraceif he were brought home sooner, I think the result would have been a lot different." pic.twitter.com/JbNvbtuA5F  ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 20, 2017

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.

Pence says America heartbroken by death of Otto Warmbier and the US condemns "the brutality of North Korean regime."  Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 20, 2017

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.
Karen Handel blows a kiss with her husband, Steve, looking on while thanking supporters during her election night party in the Sixth District race with Jon Ossoff on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff in the hotly contested congressional special election in suburban Atlanta Tuesday. Handel garnered 52 percent of the vote compared with Ossoffs 48 percent when the Associated Press called the race Tuesday night.

At her campaign headquarters, Handel thanked her supporters, campaign team and President Trump.

A special thanks to the president of the United States of America, Handel said, as the crowd chanted Trumps name. She also mentioned House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., who was shot last week in an attack on Republican lawmakers at a baseball practice. Handel said he texted her every week during the campaign to support her.

We need to also lift up this nation so that we can find a more civil way to deal with our disagreements, Handel said.

In beating Ossoff, a 30-year-old first-time candidate who mounted a surprisingly strong bid, Handel triumphed over a wave of liberal activism and organizing so robust that it transformed the once solidly red district to a total tossup in the months before the election. Democrats, fueled by anger at Trump and the Republican Congress efforts to repeal Obamacare, poured millions into the race, making it the most expensive congressional matchup in U.S. history.

Ossoff conceded the race earlier Tuesday, telling his supporters hope is still alive.

This is not the outcome any of us were hoping for, but this is the beginning of something much bigger than us, Ossoff told the crowd, giving a special shout-out to the women in this community who backed his run.



Congressional Republicans are likely heaving a sigh of relief at the result, the third straight loss for Democrats in their quest to flip historically red districts in special elections under Trump. Democrats also lost a lower-profile, fourth special election in South Carolina Tuesday night, though by a smaller margin than was expected in the district. Just last year, Republican Tom Price won the Georgia district by 23 points, making Tuesdays results a stunning swing that could still signal trouble for Republicans going forward. They may take a lesson from Handels careful positioning on the president as a potential path forward for 2018 if Trump remains unpopular.

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Despite a fired-up Democratic base that turned Ossoffs election into a national cause, Handel will now represent the district previously held by Newt Gingrich and Price, who left to become Trumps secretary of Health and Human Services.

Its a stinging loss for Democrats, who would need to pick up 24 seats in the midterms to gain control of the House, including a number of red-leaning districts like this one.

Before the results came in, Joseph Bandera-Duplantier, a co-founder of Flippable, a grass-roots group focused on picking up Democratic seats in state legislatures, said an Ossoff victory would be a rallying cry for grass-roots voters and liberals in general.

Weve been aching for a major victory since the election, and I think this will go a long way for having a bit of a moral victory for people, Bandera-Duplantier said.

Supporters of Democrat Jon Ossoff wait for the polls to come in at Ossoffs election night event in Atlanta, Ga., June 20, 2017. (Chris Aluka Berry/Reuters)

Now Democrats will just have to keep on aching and may find themselves demoralized and frustrated. The loss will also likely prompt soul-searching about how the party and outside groups are deploying resources  and crowing from Republicans on the same theme.

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.

Trump, who will appear at a rally in Iowa Wednesday, will likely tout the victory and ridicule Democrats for the loss.

Left-leaning groups and the Ossoff campaign outspent Handel and right-leaning groups by about $2 million since the runoff began in April, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. All those millions were spent to reach about 400,000 voters.

Related slideshow: Ossoff vs. Handel: Georgias special election >>>

It definitely feels like its a bit of an arms race for a point here or there when we could be dispersing this money for all 24 candidates we need to win and just play a little strategically, said Bandera-Duplantier.

Though Democrats are likely to search for global lessons from the loss, the defeat could have come down to a hyperlocal issue: the Democratic candidates address.

Ossoffs decision not to move into the district, which GOP political consultant Liz Mair called boneheaded, will likely haunt his campaign and supporters with what ifs. Ossoff grew up in the district but lived with his fiancee just outside it for the duration of the campaign, sparking endless attack ads and jabs from Handel. On Election Day, Ossoff was not able to vote for himself due to his residency.

Another potential factor in the results: the shooting attack on Republican lawmakers last week near Washington. One local Republican county chairman told the Washington Post he believed last weeks shooting of Republican Rep. Steve Scalise would win the election for us. (He later retracted those comments.) The man who shot Scalise had posted angrily about Republican lawmakers and Trump on social media and volunteered for Sen. Bernie Sanders in Iowa during the Democratic primary.

Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017

Handels win may also prompt congressional Republicans to take a closer look at the careful line she toed with Trump as a potential playbook for them going forward.

Handel kept her distance from Trump during the primary, drawing criticism from her Republican rivals who fully embraced him. After she won and headed into the runoff, the president flew down to the district on Air Force One to headline a private fundraiser for her, but the Handel campaign did not plan a rally with him. You better win, he told her in front of the well-heeled crowd, according to an attendee at the event.

She accepted the fundraiser and robocalls from Trump targeting voters in the district but barely mentioned him on the trail unless forced to by reporters. She said she would be independent from the White House if elected.

Some thought her middle-of-the-road approach looked weak and indecisive. You cant go kind of half in, conservative host Laura Ingraham told Handel on her radio show in June. Youve got to go full-on. I mean, hes the president of the United States. So why are you hiding him under a bushel basket?

But now, keeping Trump under that bushel basket seems like it might have been a good idea. Trump is less popular among Republicans in Handels district than in other historically GOP districts. He won its voters by just 1.5 points in November, even as Price won reelection there by double digits.

My instinct is that her positioning apart from Trump has actually been very helpful to her, said GOP political consultant Liz Mair.

Read more from Yahoo News:
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' Transportation Committee on Wednesday proposed legislation to privatize the U.S. air traffic control system and make other aviation changes, but it faces an uncertain future in Congress.

The panel plans to consider the bill next Tuesday, and the full House will vote in mid-July, said the committee's Republican chairman, Representative Bill Shuster.

"This is about saving the taxpayers' money," Shuster told reporters on Wednesday. "Maintaining the status quo is unacceptable."

The legislation would make it illegal for an airline to bump an already boarded passenger from a flight. In April, a United Airlines passenger was forcibly removed from his seat, prompting public outrage. The airline banned the practice.

The bill would also require the U.S. Transportation Department to clarify regulations for compensating passengers, including that there is no maximum compensation, and would legally bar the use of cellphones and other mobile devices for phone calls during flights.

No airline currently allows in-flight calls from personal phones. In April, the Federal Communications Commission said it planned to halt a regulatory process that could have led to in-flight calls on airplanes.

The legislation also requires large and medium-sized airports to provide clean private rooms in all terminals for nursing mothers.

Airlines would have to post a prominent link on their website on services offered in the event of a widespread computer outage. Many airlines have been hit by computer system outages over the last year.

The most controversial proposal is the privatization of air traffic control.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump unveiled a plan to modernize air traffic control and lower flying costs. Under the proposal, air traffic control would be spun off from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and put under the oversight of a nonprofit corporation.

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Congressman Shuster said airlines would have three seats on the 13-member board: one for major airlines, one for cargo carriers and one for regional airlines. The Trump administration has proposed giving airlines two seats on the board, while Shuster last year proposed giving airlines four seats.

Shuster aims to address concerns among private plane owners and rural airports by barring the new air traffic control entity from charging general aviation operators user fees.

Critics say the plan would hand control of a key asset to special interests and big airlines.

A coalition of five general aviation groups said in a statement on Wednesday that they would not support the bill, saying it was "fundamentally flawed." The Airline Owners and Pilots Association said the bill has a "high potential for unintended consequences as well as increased costs and uncertainty."

Shuster's bill would reauthorize the FAA for six years and also has provisions to speed up a decision by the Transportation Department on whether to allow expanded commercial drone use.

The Transportation Department would also have to consider whether to require airlines to stock emergency medicine for children aboard flights.

The legislation would also authorize significantly higher funding for a program that subsidizes commercial air service to rural airports, which the Trump administration budget proposed eliminating.

The Senate Commerce Committee's chairman, Senator John Thune, said on Tuesday that he was not planning to include air traffic control privatization in the FAA reauthorization, a committee aide said.

The administration and Shuster say they would not charge the private entity for the government's air traffic control assets and would bar Congress from reviewing fees charged by the board.

Executives from United, Hawaiian Airlines Inc, American Airlines Inc and Southwest Airlines Co, strongly back the proposal.

The FAA spends nearly $10 billion a year on air traffic control funded largely through passenger user fees, and has spent more than $7.5 billion on next-generation air traffic control reforms in recent years.

It is unclear whether privatization would speed the rollout of new systems such as satellite-based aircraft tracking that replaces ground radar dating back to World War Two.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Jonathan Oatis)
Washington (AFP) - Russia has canceled a meeting with senior US diplomats in the wake of Washington's decision to reinforce sanctions imposed over its occupation of Crimea, US officials said Wednesday.

US Under Secretary of State Tom Shannon had been due in St Petersburg later this week to meet and mend diplomatic fences with Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

Relations between Moscow and Washington are at a low even by the standards of a rivalry that goes back to the Cold War.

Shannon had hoped to address "irritants" in the relationship, like tension over Moscow's intimidation of US diplomats and the US seizure of Russian diplomatic compounds.

But even this minor first step towards finding enough common ground to begin to address more fundamental issues -- such as Russia's intervention in Ukraine -- has now fallen apart.

"We regret that Russia has decided to turn away from an opportunity to discuss bilateral obstacles that hinder US-Russia relations," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

On Tuesday, the United States added 38 individuals and entities to its sanctions list targeting the Russians and pro-Russian rebels it blames for the fighting in Ukraine.

This appears to have been what triggered Moscow's decision to cancel the meeting, although US President Donald Trump also met Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko on the same day.

But the State Department insisted that the sanctions were not being expanded, merely "maintained", by adding new targets as Moscow finds ways around the previous embargo.

And Washington insisted the sanctions would stay in place until Russia honors the Minsk agreement to disengage from eastern Ukraine and returns the annexed Crimea region.

"We have regularly updated these sanctions twice a year since they were first imposed," Nauert explained. "Let's remember that these sanctions didn't just come out of nowhere.

"Our targeted sanctions were imposed in response to Russia's ongoing violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbor, Ukraine," she said.

Russia's foreign ministry said that, given the new sanctions, it was "not the moment" to hold the Shannon-Ryabkov talks, which Washington had announced on Tuesday.

And, asked whether the meeting could be rescheduled, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "I have no confirmation that these consultations will take place."
The designer of a custom-made prom dress that was ridiculed on social media is firing back, saying that the experience has ruined her professional reputation.

This prom dress is the subject of controversy. (Photo: Sham Sincere Lewis/Facebook)

On June 5, Dee Lewis, an aesthetician from Rochester, N.Y., posted several Facebook photos of her daughter Malexa Maeweather wearing a sheer white prom gown made by local designer Kia Wagner. R u serious. Lewis wrote of the dress, the images of which earned 4K shares, 3K reactions, and 2.6K comments from people calling the dress a mess and comparing it to toilet paper.

My daughter was devastated and crying when she saw this dress, Lewis told Yahoo Style at the time. For a $100 deposit, Kia told my daughter that she would make her something nice with material she already owned and that she wanted to play around with the design. Malexa didnt know anything about what the dress would look like.

Wagner, however, has a different version of events.

Malexa contacted me 15 days before her prom and said she wanted something different for her dress, Wagner, 27, a single mother of one in nearby Syracuse, tells Yahoo Style. She picked out the fabric and met with me four different times, so she knew what the dress was going to look like.

She added, I told Malexa that my idea was a sheer dress covered with fluff, and she said, That sounds cute.

They agreed on a $100 deposit and $200 for the dress, Wagner says, and over the next two weeks, she and Maeweather met on four separate occasions  two at Wagners place of work, one at her grandmothers house, and one at the clothing store Fashion Universe, where Wagner sells her designs. During the meetings, Wagner says, she took measurements, accepted the deposit, and worked on the dress in Maeweathers presence.

I kept asking her, Do you like this? Would your mom let you wear it to prom? says Wagner. She said, I dont care  my mom isnt the one wearing it.

During the final meeting, the night before the June 2 prom, Wagner says, Maeweather tried on her dress  which was half finished  and then sent a photo to a family member. After that, she suddenly didnt like the dress.

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Wagner says she offered to fix the dress or make Maeweather a new one from scratch, even working through the night if required. Malexa said shed come back later, and I never heard from her again  then I saw her mothers Facebook post, says Wagner.

Later, Lewis messaged Wagner asking her to refund the $100 deposit, but she declined. I drove four and a half hours to New York with my daughter to buy the fabric, says Wagner. Thats my time and money. I also never got paid for the dress.

Lewis and Maeweather are now suing Wagner for the $100 deposit, and both parties will appear on the television show The Peoples Court on June 28. Wagner is countersuing for pain and suffering. These people tried to ruin my name as a designer, she says.

However, the prom dress may get some use yet. Wagner is planning to auction it off on eBay, saying, It got so much attention, I hope to sell it.

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The Earth is a sinking ship, and we all have to get on spaceship lifeboat and go to another planet if we want to survive, according to physicist Stephen Hawking.

Speaking via Skype in the science and art festival Starmus in Norway this week  a weeklong event about life and the universe that also included Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson among its speakers  Hawking reiterated his stance that humans need to colonize Mars and set up shop on other planets within the next 100 years or we will all be doomed, according to Vox.

Read: Would A Colony on Mars Be an Awful Idea? The ESA Chief Thinks So

Its just the latest in extreme predictions Hawking has made about the future of Earth and humanity. Last month it was reported that he was working on a documentary for the BBC about how the human species will have to leave Earth and colonize other worlds if we are going to make it.

It could be climate change, a disease epidemic, nuclear war, an enormous asteroid strike or some other catastrophic series of events that could lead to our downfall, but Hawking doesnt see much hope for our future on this planet. One of his recent predictions is that scientists will genetically engineer a virus  making or modifying it on a genetic level  that, while perhaps designed and created with noble medical intentions, will end up accidentally spreading and wiping us all out.

hawking1

Photo: REUTERS/Neil Hall

The physicist has long called for colonizing Mars or exploring other locations in space for habitation as a way to escape the dreadful demise of life on Earth as he foresees it.

His assertions this week about the fate of humans on Earth tie into his upcoming BBC documentary called Expedition New Earth, part of the series Tomorrows World, in which he explores how humans can go about breaking away from the planet and making a life elsewhere.

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I am arguing for the future of humanity and a long-term strategy to achieve this, Hawking said, according to Vox. On Earth there is no new world, no utopia around the corner.  We are running out of space, and the only places to go to are other worlds.

Vox reported that Hawkings plan includes make cheaper, better tech for traveling through space and put our efforts into finding habitable planets, as well as finding ways to survive on planets like Mars that are less hospitable.

According to the BBC, Hawking has hope that a goal of sending humans off Earth in the interest of defying extinction will unite nations to work together.

Whenever we make a great new leap, such as the Moon landings, we bring people and nations together, usher in new discoveries, and new technologies, he said. To leave Earth demands a concerted global approach, everyone should join in. We need to rekindle the excitement of the early days of space travel in the 60s.

Read: Mars Colonists Would Evolve Into a New Race

Although there are many people who would be excited about the prospect of a human community on Mars  such as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk  not everyone agrees with Hawking about sending large groups of people into the universe on a spaceship that is a more high-tech version of Noahs ark. The head of the European Space Agency was recently said Mars and the moon would be unpleasant places to live, and in fact no place would be as good as Earth.

Colonization  that always sounds to me as though we should leave the Earth, Jan Worner said at the recent U.K. Space Conference in Manchester, England. And I hope that we will not leave the Earth in the next 3 billion years, but that humans will find a way to secure life on Earth.

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Smoke billows from buildings in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa on 18 June 2017, during an offensive by US-backed fighters to retake the Isis terror group bastion: DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images

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.

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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.

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.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces recaptured territory on Damascus' eastern outskirts from rebels on Wednesday after stepping up attacks in that area, a military media unit run by Hezbollah said. The army took control of a number of blocks in the Jobar district, and another area in Ain Terma, more than a mile to the south, the unit said in a statement. The advances could not be immediately verified. Syria's army and its allies have intensified attacks against insurgents in areas east of the capital in recent days. Warplanes launched more than two dozen air strikes in Jobar and Ain Terma since Tuesday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported. Air strikes hit rebel-held districts east of Damascus on Thursday for the first time in weeks. Rebel-held areas east of Damascus are besieged by the government and its allies, which include the Lebanese Hezbollah and Russia. Some insurgent groups have also fought among themselves in recent months, which observers say makes it easier for government forces to attack and gain ground. (Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Alison Williams)
Sen. Tim Kaine, center, and Sen. Jeff Flake talk about their introduction of a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force against ISIS. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Wednesday sharply condemned U.S. strikes on Syrian regime forces  like the shoot-down of a military jet over the weekend  as completely illegal.

I think the military action that is being taken against Syrian government assets is completely illegal, Kaine said in an interview with Yahoo News on Sirius XMs politics channel, POTUS.

There have been four known instances of U.S. forces firing on Syrian government targets in recent weeks, including the early April cruise missile strike in retaliation for the governments use of chemical weapons. Over the weekend, a U.S. Navy fighter shot down a Syrian warplane. The Pentagon says it has legal authority to act under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), passed after the 9/11 attacks, which effectively permitted the invasion of Afghanistan and global efforts to stamp out al-Qaida. Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama cited that legislation as the legal justification for the global war on terrorism.

Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, bluntly disagreed with the Trump administrations position.

The 2001 authorization said we can take action against the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. Nobody claims that Syria was a perpetrator. Nobody claims that they are connected to al-Qaida. In fact, theyre battling against al-Qaida in Syria, Kaine countered. So I think this is a completely unlawful use of power.

Kaine, Hillary Clintons 2016 running mate, also blamed political cowardice as a factor in congressional resistance to debating and voting to authorize the nearly three-year war on the so-called Islamic State, also known as ISIS, in places like Syria.

Part of this is, in my view, political cowardice  not wanting to be on the record on a war vote, Kaine said.

Previous attempts to push Congress to debate and authorize the escalating but undeclared war on the terrorist army in Syria and Iraq have fallen short, in large part due to politics. Clintons fate in the 2008 Democratic primaries, when her vote in favor of the 2002 AUMF against Iraq became one of Barack Obamas most potent weapons, haunts Democrats. And Republicans preferred to criticize Obamas handling of the conflict from the sidelines without taking any steps that might make them co-owners of the strategy.

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Kaine and Sen. Jeff Flake, R.-Ariz., have written a new AUMF to cover ISIS and other extremist groups.

Kaine, who has tried since mid-2014 to get Congress to debate and vote on a new AUMF, said he thinks the political moment might be right to get lawmakers to act.

This has been enormously frustrating, Kaine acknowledged. But President Trumps November victory has revived interest in the discussion.

Any change in administration is kind of an opportunity to look anew at the strategy, he said.

But lawmakers are starting to get nervous about Trumps use of military force, Kaine said.

We havent heard the strategy about ISIS. We dont have a strategy about Afghanistan. Weve now taken action against the government of Syria and their military without a strategy about that, Kaine said. So were starting to worry about the 2001 authority just being used carte blanche all over the place by this administration, and I think that provides some additional impetus to get this right.

Flake and Kaines measure, which repeals both the 2001 AUMF and the 2002 AUMF allowing Bush to use force against Saddam Husseins Iraq, would explicitly authorize making war on ISIS, al-Qaida and the Taliban, as well as associated forces, to be defined by the administration and Congress. The legislation would expire after five years.

Turning to another foreign policy issue, Kaine worried that the U.S. standoff over North Koreas nuclear and ballistic missile programs was definitely worsening.

Trump apparently agrees, though he gave credit to China for trying to assist.

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

Kaine said he would back the Trump administration if it chose to punish Chinese firms that do business with North Korea in violation of international sanctions measures.

The Chinese have the most leverage to curb North Korean behavior, Kaine said, but he noted that theyve been unwilling, unable or some combination of both to really effectively do that.

I would support the administration in taking those tougher steps, Kaine said.

Read more from Yahoo News:
In what was reportedly called a drop-in visit by the White House, Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko met President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at the Oval Office on Tuesday. Poroshenko praised Trump for his leadership during the visit which came on the same day as the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and organizations over Moscows activities in Crimea.

Ahead of his visit, Poroshenkos office tweeted: "It is important that President of Ukraine will meet with President of the U.S. earlier than Putin." Trump is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, in July.

In a statement released by the White House after the two leaders met, Poroshenko was quoted as saying: We're really fighting to bring freedom and democracy with your very strong support in security and defense  support of our defense, support of my 45 million nation, of the country who is the biggest in the European continent. And I'm absolutely confident that Ukraine is a story of success. I'm proud to have you, Mr. President, and United States as a co-sponsor to this story of success."

Poroshenko and Trump

Photo: Reuters

And we very much admire of your leadership, of your very effective steps, because today includes two historic days  five months of your presidency and  when we launched the first peace plan  peace plan of Ukraine. And I'm absolutely confident that our effective coordination will bring the peace to our nation, to our land, and can support our territorial integrity and sovereignty," he asserted.

Read: Two Years After Crimea Annexation, Region Is A Black Hole For Human Rights

During the meeting, Pence highlighted U.S. support for the peaceful resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and Normandy format negotiations to implement the Minsk agreements, another White House press statement said. The vice president stressed the importance of continued reforms to fight corruption, improve the business climate, and keep Ukraine's International Monetary Fund program on track," the statement said.

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Poroshenko also met with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. On June 14, Tillerson said the U.S. could not back away from the Minsk agreement. "I think it is important that we be given sufficient flexibility to achieve the Minsk objectives. It is very possible that the government of Ukraine and the government of Russia could come to a satisfactory resolution through some structure other than Minsk," Reuters reported.

Tillerson-Poroshenko

Photo: Reuters

The Minsk peace agreement was signed by Russia and Ukraine in February 2015 to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy. The agreement, brokered by France and Germany, called for a ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line and constitutional reform in eastern Ukraine, the report said.

Trump met his Ukrainian counterpart shortly after the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 38 Russian organizations and individuals to seek a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine and to facilitate Crimeas return to Ukraine," according to the official statement.

Read: Moscow Launches Land, Air And Sea Drills Simultaneously In Crimea For First Time

In todays action, OFAC designated 38 individuals and entities under Ukraine-related authorities, including one 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, two entities that are owned or controlled by an individual previously designated, and 11 individuals and entities that operate in the Crimea region of Ukraine, read the statement.

Poroshenko's office, on the official website, said U.S. will prolong the validity of sanctions against Russia. "The validity of the U.S. sanctions against Russia will be prolonged. It was stated by President Petro Poroshenko in the course of the briefing following the meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump within the working visit to this country answering the question whether the Head of State had received a clear confirmation from the U.S. President that sanctions against Russia would not be lifted until the return of Crimea and termination of Russian aggression against Ukraine," according to the statement published on the official website.

The sanctions come a week after Senate leaders in the U.S. passed a bipartisan deal to stop Trump from easing sanctions on Russia. However, according to Reuters, Trump said nothing about Russia during the meet with Poroshenko. The president described it as an honor to welcome Poroshenko at White House in a post tweeted from his official account.

The meeting is likely to complicate U.S.-Russia relations at a time when FBI has intensified investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

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By Steve Holland and Michael Martina WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese efforts to persuade North Korea to rein in its nuclear program have failed, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, ratcheting up the rhetoric over the death of an American student who had been detained by Pyongyang. Trump has held high hopes for greater cooperation from China to exert influence over North Korea, leaning heavily on Chinese President Xi Jinping for his assistance. The two leaders had a high-profile summit in Florida in April and Trump has frequently praised Xi while resisting criticizing Chinese trade practices. "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 wrote on Twitter. It was unclear whether his remark represented a significant shift in his thinking in the U.S. struggle to stop North Korea's nuclear program and its test launching of missiles or a change in U.S. policy toward China. "I think the president is signaling some frustration," Christopher Hill, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, told MSNBC. "He's signaling to others that he understands this isn't working, and he's trying to defend himself, or justify himself, by saying that at least they tried as opposed to others who didn't even try." China's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that China had made "unremitting efforts" to resolve tensions on the Korean peninsula, and that it had "always played and important and constructive role". "China's efforts to resolve the peninsula nuclear issue is not due to any external pressure, but because China is a member of the region and a responsible member of the international community, and because resolving the peninsula nuclear issue is in China's interests," ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing. On Tuesday, a U.S. official, who did not want to be identified, said U.S. spy satellites had detected movements recently at North Korea's nuclear test site near a tunnel entrance, but it was unclear if these were preparations for a new nuclear test - perhaps to coincide with high-level talks between the United States and China in Washington on Wednesday. North Korea remains prepared to conduct a sixth nuclear test at any time when there is an order from leadership but there are no new unusual indications that can be shared, a South Korean Defense Ministry official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Seoul was in close consultation with Washington over the matter, the official added. North Korea last tested a nuclear bomb in September, but it has conducted repeated missile test since and vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland, putting it at the forefront of Trump's security worries. U.S.-CHINA DIALOGUE The Trump statement about China was likely to increase pressure on Beijing ahead of Wednesday's Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, which will pair U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis with China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and General Fang Fenghui, chief of joint staff of the People's Liberation Army. The State Department says the dialogue will focus on ways to increase pressure on North Korea, but also cover such areas as counter-terrorism and territorial rivalries in the South China Sea. The U.S. side is expected to press China to cooperate on a further toughening of international sanctions on North Korea. The United States and its allies would like to see an oil embargo and bans on the North Korean airline and guest workers among other moves, steps diplomats say have been resisted by China and Russia. In a sign that U.S.-Chinese relations remain stable, a White House aide said Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, were invited by the Chinese government to visit the country later this year. Trump has hardened his rhetoric against North Korea following the death of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who died on Monday in the United States after returning from captivity in North Korea in a coma. "A DISGRACE" In a White House meeting with visiting Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, Trump criticized the way Warmbier's case was handled in the year since his arrest, appearing to assail both North Korea and his predecessor, President Barack Obama. "What happened to Otto is a disgrace. And I spoke with his family. His family is incredible ... but he should have been brought home a long time ago," Trump said. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States holds North Korea accountable for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment" and urged Pyongyang to release three other Americans who are detained. Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times, published by the official People's Daily, said Chinese officials must be wary that Warmbier's death might push Washington to put greater pressure on Beijing. "China has made the utmost efforts to help break the stalemate in the North Korean nuclear issue. But by no means will China, nor will Chinese society permit it to, act as a 'U.S. ally' in pressuring North Korea," the Global Times said in an editorial. If Washington imposes sanctions on Chinese enterprises, it would lead to "grave friction" between the two countries, said the paper, which does not represent Chinese government policy. Trump's tweet about China took some advisers by surprise. A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had limited options to rein in North Korea without Chinese assistance. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said a meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is less likely following Warmbier's death. Spicer said Trump would be willing to meet Kim under the right conditions, but "clearly we're moving further away, not closer to those conditions." For graphic on Americans detained by North Korea, click: http://tmsnrt.rs/2r5xYpB (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, David Alexander and John Walcott in Washington and Jack Kim in Seoul; Editing by Howard Goller, Leslie Adler and Lincoln Feast)
President Trump and his supporters took a victory lap on social media late Tuesday night as Republicans secured a pair of special-election House victories in Georgia and South Carolina.

Trump began by thanking Fox News for declaring that Karen Handels victory over Democrat Jon Ossoff in Georgias Sixth Congressional District was also a huge win for him.

Thank you @FoxNews "Huge win for President Trump and GOP in Georgia Congressional Special Election."  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017

A few minutes later, Trump congratulated Handel.

Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th, the president tweeted. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!

Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017

The hotly contested race between Handel and Ossoff for the House seat that was vacated by Tom Price, Trumps secretary of health and human services, was seen as an early signal for the 2018 midterm elections, and viewed by some as a referendum on the Trump administration. Georgias Sixth District has been occupied by Republicans since the 1970s, but Trump only narrowly won the district last year.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the combined spending for both candidates has pushed past $50 million  making it the most expensive House campaign in U.S. history.

The president had inserted himself into the race in recent weeks, making a last-minute pitch to voters on Twitter Tuesday while casting Ossoff as a super Liberal Democrat who doesnt even live in the district.

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

Thanks to everyone who breathlessly and snarkily proclaimed #GA06 as a referendum on POTUS @realDonaldTrump,' Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway tweeted. You were right. #winning

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Conway added: Laughing my #Ossoff. (The Democrats supporters had urged their side to Vote Your Ossoff.)

Thanks to everyone who breathlessly and snarkily proclaimed #GA06 as a "referendum on POTUS @realDonaldTrump". You were right. #winning  Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) June 21, 2017

House Speaker Paul Ryan welcomed Handel to Congress in a much more measured statement:



Congratulations to Karen Handel on a hard-earned and well-deserved victory. Democrats from coast to coast threw everything they had at this race, and Karen would not be defeated. The people of Georgias 6th Congressional District are the big winners tonight because they have elected a representative who is going to tirelessly fight for them and their interests. 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 of Representatives, and I look forward to working with her as we tackle our countrys most pressing problems.



In South Carolinas under-the-radar race, former GOP state Rep. Ralph Norman beat Democrat Archie Parnell on Tuesday to grab the seat vacated by Rep. Mick Mulvaney, Trumps director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Handel and Normans wins, combined with previous GOP victories in previous special elections in Montana and Kansas, led Trump to tout a 5-0 record  the fifth win presumably being his. All of those races were in territory favorable to Republicans.

Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and O! the president tweeted. All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0.

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  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017

Trumps tabulation overlooked newly minted Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., who won a race in overwhelmingly Democratic Los Angeles County this year.

The presidents eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., also chided Democrats for their defeats.

Dems now 0-4 in all their "referendum" special elections,but hey there's a bright side.. they tell me they're 4-4 in moral victories. #maga  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 21, 2017

The democrats could not have put more into this race. They spent the most $ EVER and LOST. Maybe they will start working with POTUS?  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 21, 2017

On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted a similar message suggesting the special election losses should make Democrats work with Republicans on legislation rather than resist their agenda.

Democrats would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on Healthcare,Tax Cuts,Security. Obstruction doesn't work!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017

(Tile photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

Read more from Yahoo News:
The urgent need to bring back middle-class jobs was an elemental theme of Donald Trumps presidential campaign. But its barely part of his actual presidency, so far.

President Trumps tenure in office has been dominated by controversy, from the firing of FBI Director James Comey to the Muslim travel bans repeatedly struck down by federal courts. The president, of course, has considerable power to set the agenda in the nations capital, through the bully pulpit of the White House and the authority vested in the office. But Trump, for the most part, has not used that power to focus on jobs. Instead, he has stoked controversy when he could have been changing the subject and highlighting his economic agenda.

During the last few weeks, for instance, Trump and his aides have touted plans to improve job training, promote apprenticeships that lead to good-paying jobs, and invest more in infrastructure. Those are generally mainstream ideas with bipartisan support that could help the forgotten workers Trump has appealed to since his earliest days as a candidate. But talk is cheap in Washington, and it takes dogged determination to turn theoretical plans into concrete action that helps real people.

So how determined is Trump to follow through on his economic agenda? To asses what Trump really pays attention to, Yahoo Finance analyzed all of Trumps tweets since June 1  when the White House began declaring theme weeks  as tweeting is his preferred way of communicating with the public. We analyzed 108 tweets from both of his Twitter accounts  @realdonaldtrump and @POTUS  and assigned each a general theme, based on the tweets content. We included only original tweets, not retweets. Heres how they break down, by topic:

Jobs are tied for last in terms of Trumps tweet content, accounting for just 5.6% of his tweets since June 1. And all 6 of those Tweets were perfunctory, touting the opening of a new coal mine, declaring #workforceweek a great success, repeating scripted White House talking points, or taking credit for economic news when it happened to be good:

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Great numbers on the economy. All of our work, including the passage of many bills & regulation killing Executive Orders, now kicking in!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2017

Trump had nothing to say about jobs via Twitter when the subject wasnt already on the White House agenda. But he had plenty to say about other topics, more or less off-the-cuff. Trump pressed hard for Republican Karen Handel to win the special House election in Georgias sixth district. He continued to bash Hillary Clinton and obstructionist Democrats in Congress. And of course he griped about fake news and the witch hunt into his teams connections with Russia.

Analyzing a handful of tweets is obviously an unscientific way to judge a presidents entire agenda. But theres little progress in any other realm on his economic plans. GOP tax cuts are stuck in a legislative logjam, and the White House still hasnt released its own tax plan. Trumps promise to rework trade deals is under review. Theres no sign of an infrastructure bill. And while Trump talked up the need for better job training and a reinvigorated federal role in the marketplace, the budget he proposed in May would actually slash funding for job-training programs by 40%.

Trump supporters point out, correctly, that the economy remains relatively strong and the stock market has been hitting new record highs all year. Our own Trumponomics Report Card rates the economy a B+ under Trump so far. But Trump inherited an economy with strong job growth and improving corporate profits, and its not clear whether his policies will end up helping much, if at all, by the time midterm elections roll around in 2018. If robust job creation doesnt interest Trump now, it might by then.

Confidential tip line: rickjnewman@yahoo.com. Encrypted communication available.

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Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman
Sen. Marco Rubio (R) tweeted Tuesday and joked that he is investigating a photo of a failed hug between him and first daughter Ivanka Trump before the pair headed for a meeting on child tax reforms at the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.

The photo first posted on Twitter by an Associated Press reporter, Erica Werner grabbed quite a lot of attention on social media and Rubio was mocked by the users for the picture.

Read: Twitter Reacts To Ivanka Trump Supporting LGBT Community After She Wished For A Joyful Pride 2017

In the picture, the Florida Republican was seen leaning in to give the first daughter a hug as she stood straight with her arms at her side and did not reciprocate. Ivanka was still wearing her sunglasses as she had just entered the building ahead of her meeting with the lawmakers about her new child tax credit proposal.

Rubio weighed in on the issue on social media after the users started mocking him over the photo.

He jokingly posted a series of tweets saying that he was investigating whether or not a hug indeed took place. He even asked users to help him with evidence if they had any. He also invited users to post more videos and pictures they had filmed during the incident.

Rubio mentioned having photographic evidence that would shed greater details on this incident, adding that he is trying to acquire multi-angle video. He shared another photo, saying it offered more insight into alleged failed hug. Ivanka also joined in Rubio joking about the photo on Twitter and responded with tweets borrowing some phrases from her father.

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Rubio and Ivanka were pictured before their meeting Tuesday morning to discuss family and child care policy as the first daughter sought to build momentum around one of her signature issues concerning child care.

The meeting, which was conducted by Rubio, discussed child tax credit and Rubios proposal for it being increased up to $2,500, as well as other incentives for companies which have the provision of paid family leave. Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Joni Ernst of Iowa were also present during the meeting. Others included 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.

She's expressed a strong interest in many different elements that I think comprise a pro-family tax reform. We wanted her [Ivanka Trump] and the White House to be exposed to individual members who have been working on pieces that I think can be part of that reform, Rubio, who is particularly focused on the child tax credit, said during the meeting.

And we'll see what the next step is, but it's certainly something we're going to continue to work on, CNN quoted Rubio as saying.

Read: Memorial Day Tweet About 'Champagne Popsicle' From Ivanka Trump's Brand Misses Sweet Spot

Fischer who introduced a bill to provide tax credits to companies that offer paid maternity and paternity leaves said: Its so important to have Ivanka Trump use her platform to shine a light on the challenges working families face. I look forward to continuing to work with her on a way forward with policy solutions that can make a difference.

Following the meeting, Ivanka tweeted saying Just left a productive meeting on the Hill to discuss issues affecting American working families. Ivanka had been focused on the issue of paid leave within President Donald Trumps administration, even though it stood against the opinions of many conservative lawmakers.

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By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States pressed China to exert more economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to help rein in its nuclear and missile programs during a round of high-level talks in Washington on Wednesday. The meeting of top U.S. and Chinese diplomats and defense chiefs was held a day after President Donald Trump said Chinese efforts to use its leverage with Pyongyang had failed, raising fresh doubts about his administrations strategy for countering the threat from North Korea. The death of American university student Otto Warmbier this week, after his release from 17 months of imprisonment in Pyongyang, has further complicated Trumps approach to North Korea, his top national security challenge. We reiterated to China that they have a diplomatic responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime if they want to prevent further escalation in the region, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters at a joint news conference with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Mattis vowed to "continue to take necessary measures to defend ourselves and our allies" against North Korea, which is working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States. But with the long-standing option of pre-emptive military strikes seen as far too risky for now, Trump's aides are stressing economic and diplomatic pressure. Tillerson said Trump would make a state visit to China this year, and Mattis said both sides agreed to expand military-to-military ties, signaling the new administrations determination to continue efforts to improve relations between the world's two largest economies, despite frustration over North Korea. North Korea topped the agenda at the newly established Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, which paired Tillerson and Mattis with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of joint staff of the People's Liberation Army. While the U.S. officials stressed agreement on the goal of North Korean denuclearization, the talks also dealt with Chinas sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea, with the Americans reaffirming opposition to Beijings militarization of islands it is building in the strategic waterway. HIGH HOPES Tillerson urged China to help crack down on illicit North Korean activities that fund its nuclear and missile programs, and said the Chinese had agreed their companies "should not do business" with sanctioned North Korean entities. Tillerson stressed the need to choke off funding sources including money laundering, labor export and computer hacking. "Countries around the world and in the U.N. Security Council are joining in this effort, and we hope China will do their part as well," he said. China, North Koreans main trading partner, has been accused of not fully enforcing existing U.N. sanctions on its neighbor, and has resisted some tougher measures. Washington has considered further "secondary sanctions" against Chinese banks and other firms doing business with North Korea. Trump has had high hopes for cooperation from China to exert influence over North Korea, leaning heavily on Chinese President Xi Jinping for his assistance. The two leaders met in Florida in April and Trump has praised Xi for working on the issue, despite only modest steps so far by Beijing. At the same time, Trump has mostly held back on attacking Chinese trade practices, which he railed against during the presidential campaign. "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 wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, a day after Warmbier died following his return from captivity in a coma. The tweet puzzled even Trump's own aides. Asked whether Trump had lost faith in Chinas ability to restrain North Korea, Mattis said the presidents view represented Americans' "frustration with Pyongyangs provocations and after seeing a young man go over there healthy, and with a minor act of mischief, come home dead, basically. China's Foreign Ministry said earlier Beijing had made "unremitting efforts" to resolve tensions on the Korean peninsula for its own interests, not due to external pressure. The talks followed what a U.S. official said on Tuesday were new movements detected by U.S. spy satellites at North Korea's nuclear test site. But it was unclear if Pyongyang was preparing for a sixth nuclear test. (Additional reporting by David Alexander, Mohammad Zargham and Tim Ahmann in Washington and Michael Martina in Beijing; Editing by Grant McCool and James Dalgleish)
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and then, briefly, enjoyed a drop-in visit with President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

The brief visit appeared to be a departure for the Trump White House, which has been featuring one-on-one meetings with presidents big and small, sometimes followed by a joint press conference  and certainly not relegating foreign heads of state to drop-ins. Poroshenko, though, slipped into Washington, keeping a low profile while he met with the Ukrainian diaspora.

It was being kept very, very quiet, Askold Krushelnysky, a journalist closely following the visit, told Foreign Policy. Even Ukrainian media was keeping it quiet. They werent absolutely sure that Poroshenko was going to get what he wanted  namely, a visit with Trump. The visit, he said, was intentionally kept very low key to avoid the embarrassment of not getting any face time, which was only announced by the White House on Monday, shortly after 10 p.m. Eastern Time.

Ukraines embassy did not immediately provide comment.

The optics of the meeting are sure to to be the focus of the visit. Poroshenko was hosted by Pence; the two then had a drop-in visit in the Oval Office to see Trump and H.R. McMaster, the national security advisor. The Ukrainian leaders treatment is likely to be viewed back in Ukraine, and elsewhere in Europe, as a weather vane of sorts for the White Houses stance toward Kiev and Russias military intervention there, which remains deadlocked since war began in 2014.

That issue remains a critical one to Ukrainians: According to a poll by the International Republican Institutes (IRI) Center for Insights in Survey Research, 80 percent of Ukrainians nationwide and 73 percent of those in the war-torn Donbas region should indeed remain as Ukraine. And Trumps campaign stance on it made Ukrainians nervous: His campaign manager used to work for Viktor Yanukovych, the former Ukrainian president and friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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But during the Obama administration, former Vice President Joe Biden was tasked with spearheading engagement with Kiev and wielded great influence over the Ukrainian government as he pressed them for greater efforts in battling corruption and reforming their economy. In that sense, Pence as the new point person for Poroshenko and the administrations stance on Ukraine do not mark much of a radical departure from previous policy, says Matthew Rojansky, director of the Wilson Centers Kennan Institute.

This isnt a downgrade compared to before, Rojansky told FP. I understand the perception and that the Ukrainians are looking for reassurances. But the reassurance isnt about the meeting, its about the policy.

That policy, so far, seems to be in line with the Obama-era stance on Ukraine and in dealing with Moscow since its annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Senate recently passed new economic sanctions against Russia, although its still to be seen if theyll make it past the House. But even if they dont, on Tuesday, the Treasury Department announced new sanctions of its own.

I think it is obvious. To date, the U.S. adopts additional sanctions almost every day. I consider the position of the United States as a solid, reliable and strategic partner of Ukraine, Poroshenko said.

Still, Poroshenkos visit will remain under the microscope. Scrutiny over Trumps relationship with the Kremlin remains intense and Poroshenkos treatment during his visit will invite comparison to Trumps backslapping meeting in the Oval Office with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Sergey Kislyak, Russias ambassador to Washington, on May 10.

A White House readout of the visit said simply, 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 Poroshenkos reform agenda and anticorruption efforts. Poroshenko has run into no small amount of criticism for what failing to make good on the latter.

But, then, there is at least one feather in Poroshenkos cap  he saw Trump before Putin will. The Ukrainian leaders visit came ahead of Trumps first scheduled meeting with Putin at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on July 7 and 8.

Ukrainians, Krushelnysky said, will see this as a great victory.

Photo credit: Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - 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.
Washington (AFP) - 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.

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.

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- 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.

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."
Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela's high court ruled Tuesday that the country's attorney general could face charges after she challenged the government's handling of a deadly political crisis.

Attorney General Luisa Ortega's stand against President Nicolas Maduro has prompted speculation of a rift in the governing camp that could eventually lead to the socialist leader's departure.

She brought legal challenges against Maduro's plan to reform the constitution, which his opponents say is a ploy to cling to power. She also brought charges against judges loyal to the president.

The Supreme Court said in a ruling Tuesday that it was admitting a lawsuit against Ortega "for alleged serious errors in the carrying-out of her functions."

The suit was brought by pro-government lawmaker Pedro Carreno, who accused Ortega of lying about the judges.

His suit is a preliminary step towards bringing charges against Ortega and potentially removing her from her post.

Opposition leader Freddy Guevara said an attorney general could only legally be removed by the state legislature and that lawmakers would resist it.

The legislature is controlled by an opposition majority, but the courts have consistently overruled it in Maduro's favor in more than a year of political rows.

The opposition later Tuesday formally called on Venezuelans to disobey the government.

"The current regime has sidestepped the constitution, therefore its authority and decisions are unconstitutional," said congressional speaker Julio Borges.

"They cannot be recognized or obeyed by anyone."

Prosecutors say 74 people have been killed since April in violence during daily protests by demonstrators demanding elections to remove Maduro from office.

Maduro said Tuesday he was firing four top military commanders, including the head of the military police force that is accused of attacking anti-government protesters.
Fabian Urbina is first person to be killed by security forces during unrest



Supreme court announces charges against chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz

A member of the riot security forces points what appears to be a pistol towards a crowd of demonstrators during a rally. Photograph: Christian Veron/Reuters

Venezuelans are bracing for a further escalation of violence after a 17-year-old protester was shot dead by the national guard, and the supreme court announced charges against the countrys attorney general  one of the most senior officials to speak out against the government of Nicolas Maduro.

Fabian Urbina died on Monday after security forces opened fire with handguns during clashes with demonstrators on a major highway in Caracas. Initial reports said six others were wounded  one of them critically  in the incident.

The interior minister, Nestor Reverol, confirmed Urbinas death on Twitter, where he said the cause of death was presumed to be excessive use of force and added that those responsible would be presented to their superiors to determine their responsibility.

Con Fabian Urbina (17), aumentan a 75 muertes causadas en 80 dias de protesta.Su madre quien padece de cancer,debe soportar ahora este dolor pic.twitter.com/cngyho3YLW  Obeysser Prada T (@Obeysser) June 20, 2017

Video footage of the incident shows Urbina, wearing a beige hooded sweater, running alongside a group of young protesters carrying wooden shields and throwing stones at a line of national guardsmen.

One of the national guard members can be seen drawing what appears to be a 9mm pistol and shooting into the crowd. Another clip, filmed moments later, captures the moment when Urbina collapses to the ground.

Urbinas cousin Clemedy Flores blamed the government for his death. The impunity is too great. The government does what it pleases. I just want this to end, she told the digital media outlet Caraota Digital.

Its always young kids. Its just kids who say they want a free country, she added while fighting back tears.

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Venezuelan law prohibits the use of lethal weapons during street protests, but the countrys security forces have been accused of increasingly repressive measures during three months of political turmoil.



In 2015, a new law sought to modify existing legislation and allow for the use of potentially lethal force during street protests. After outrage from human rights groups, the attorney general promised to revise the decree, but no public statement has been made on the law since.

More than 70 people have died since protests first erupted in April, following the supreme courts decision to strip powers from the opposition-led Congress. Violence has erupted nearly every day in clashes between the security forces and protestors hurling stones and petrol bombs.



The victims include members of the police and national guard, passersby, and demonstrators who have been struck by teargas canisters or targeted by government supporters, but Urbina is the first person to have been shot dead by security forces.

Attorney general Luisa Ortega Diaz  who in recent months has become a high-profile thorn in the side of the government  has accused security officers of excessive force against protesters.

That has prompted a string of counter-accusations from government loyalists, ranging from support for terrorism to insanity.

On Tuesday, Ortega herself became the subject of an investigation after the supreme court said it had approved a request to lift her protection from prosecution for allegedly committing serious errors in her role.

Opposition activists said that she was being targeted for her criticism of Maduros plans to redraw the constitution, and promised to redouble their campaign of near-daily street protests.

All Venezuelans need to stand up to rescue our nations democracy, said National Assembly President Julio Borges at a press conference.

After more than 80 days of upheaval, some members of the countrys opposition admit that a measure of fatigue has started to set in.

But the moves against Ortega and Urbinas death have together prompted fresh outrage in a country whose national hero, Simon Bolivar, once said: Damned be the soldier who turns his weapons against his people.



In Venezuela, we grow up with this almost God-like admiration towards our independence hero, said Miguel Rincon, a retired teacher who lives near where Urbina died, at the site of repeated clashes. This happens while we are living under a so-called Bolivarian revolution. Damn the soldier, and damn his commanders!



On social media, calls for revenge were swift, but few protesters believed that those responsible for Urbinas death would be brought to justice.

It is such an unequal fight, said Laura Perez, a shop owner who has joined in protests nearly every day. And its so sad to see one of our kids dying every day. We really ought to think of a new strategy.

But as Venezuelas crisis heads into its third month, attempts at a political settlement have been fruitless. An attempted recall referendum was quashed last year by the electoral council on grounds that some of the signatures collected for its activation were fraudulent. Vatican-sponsored talks also failed.

On Tuesday, a meeting of the Organization of American States once again failed to approve a resolution that might have pushed for a political solution. Earlier in the day, Venezuelas foreign minister, Delcy Rodriguez, walked out of the meeting, saying that her country would not recognize any motion it proposed.
Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro fired four top military commanders Tuesday including the head of a police force that is accused of attacking anti-government protesters during months of deadly unrest.

The commander of the National Guard military police, General Antonio Benavides Torres, will move on to "new responsibilities and battles," Maduro told supporters in a speech.

He said he was also replacing the heads of the army, navy and the central strategic command body.

The armed forces have maintained their public backing for Maduro in more than a year of mounting volatility in the oil-rich, crisis-struck state.

Analysts say the support of the military is key to keeping the socialist president in power in the face of pressure from the opposition over a desperate economic crisis.

Maduro said he was confirming the overall head of the armed forces, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, in his post, calling him "a loyal, moral man."

The president added that he was ordering 20,000 new police and a similar number of new National Guards to be recruited.

Prosecutors say 74 people have been killed since April in violence during daily protests by demonstrators demanding elections to remove Maduro from office.

Padrino this month warned the security forces not to commit "atrocities," after some police were filmed attacking and robbing protesters.

On Monday, a 17-year-old boy became the latest casualty of the unrest when he was shot in the chest and killed in Altamira on the capital's east side, officials said.

Video footage filmed by AFP and other media showed uniformed security officers firing at a group of protesters who were carrying makeshift shields during that clash.

Military affairs analyst Rocio San Miguel said the incident indicated that "Padrino Lopez and now Benavides Torres have lost authority over their subordinates."
Photo credit: Getty

From Woman's Day

One in four American women will experience domestic violence, and for many the nation's network of shelters and crisis centers act as, quite literally, lifelines. But it wasn't always so. According to Liz Roberts, deputy CEO and chief program officer at Safe Horizon in New York, the leading nonprofit victim services provider in the US, there was a time when "the protections we now take for granted for people who are experiencing domestic violence simply didn't exist."

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), passed in 1994, was the first federal legislation specifically aimed at helping victims of domestic violence. The act authorized the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW),whose 25 grant programs support domestic violence shelters, sexual assault crisis centers and hotlines, and legal support for victims, among many other programs. While VAWA and OVW remain funded for now, their future is far from certain, say advocates. Woman's Day editor in chief Susan Spencer sat down with Roberts to talk about the historical importance of VAWA and how it helps women break free from domestic violence-and what the landscape would look like if federal support and funding to assist them disappears.

(The following article has been edited for length and clarity.)

Susan: First, tell me about the importance of the Violence Against Women Act.

Liz Roberts: For the advocates who were working on issues of domestic violence and sexual assault, VAWA was a huge accomplishment. It was the first comprehensive legislation that addressed the issue of violence against women. Just to put it into context, one of the very first shelters for victims of domestic violence was opened in the late 70s. So prior to that, women were really on their own to figure out how to survive.

Susan: What was available to victims of domestic violence on a local level?

Liz Roberts: It varied from state to state. I saw firsthand that Massachusetts was a leader. The first shelter in Boston literally was an apartment rented by two women who were survivors of domestic violence, and they opened their home to other women in the same situation. Over the next ten years or so, women would figure out how to buy a house, or someone would donate a house, and they would create a shelter, and it was all done primarily with private resources and a tremendous amount of volunteer involvement. It took more than 15 years to go from those first shelters to the government taking on the issue of violence against women in a significant way. That was what the 1994 passage of VAWA really represented. It was the first time there were substantial resources and leadership from the federal government.

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Susan: Why did it take so long?

Liz Roberts: There was a lot of commitment to preserving marriages above all, and a belief that domestic violence was a rare problem. We now know one in four American women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, but that data wasn't available at the time. There was a lot of resistance and a lot of discomfort with the issue.

Susan: What has shifted since 1994?

Liz Roberts: It has been an accumulation of years of advocacy, education and people like former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other key legislative leaders who really got it on a deep level. If you listen to Joe Biden talk about violence against women, he is so informed and so passionate about it. Over years of hearing women's stories, people like Joe became strong advocates. We wore people down with our persistence! One of the remarkable and positive things about VAWA is that it has typically had great bipartisan support and was reauthorized in 2000, 2005 and 2013.

Susan: What did the act accomplish?

Liz Roberts: It made a big difference by directing substantial new resources to local domestic violence programs. Also, VAWA funded communities to develop coordinated responses. It encouraged essential collaborations between law enforcement, community based services, child welfare, and other key players in the community. It created more of a safety net. I have no doubt that those coordinated responses have saved thousands of lives.

Since then, there have been new provisions that respond to trends. For example, the 2005 reauthorization addressed the issue of stalking using digital methods, which was an emerging trend at that time.

Susan: So this act has created a bulwark against these issues.

Liz Roberts: There's substantial funding from state governments for the core services for domestic survivors, for example for sexual assault, but state governments tend to fund something and leave it as is. There's often not a lot of innovation and forward thinking. I think the federal government has been a driver of innovation in the field.

Susan: What kind of innovation?

Liz Roberts: One example is the Family Justice Centers. We think of it as a one stop shopping model for adult survivors that brings all the players together under one roof-the district attorney, the police, advocates, civil attorneys. The Brooklyn Family Justice Center was started with funding from VAWA, and we now have centers in all five boroughs of New York City because it is such an outstanding model. There are many other family justice centers around the country that started in that way as well. It was a modest initial investment by the federal government that led to a huge investment by local government once the value of the model had been proved.

Also, one of the important services that VAWA funds that is very hard to find at a local level is civil legal services for victims of domestic violence. So if you think about a woman who is in a long term relationship with someone who is abusive, and let's say they have two children in common, and she flees the relationship, often those two children become pawns of the abuser. It's a way to continue to get at his ex. So there is a large likelihood that there will be a custody case, and many survivors cannot afford a private attorney. It's expensive for somebody with a good income, and completely out of reach for most of our clients here at Safe Horizon. So having legal services available for folks who cannot afford a private attorney is critically important. VAWA has funded those services across the country in a very significant way, including at Safe Horizon.

Susan: Is VAWA under threat?

Liz Roberts: Right now, it's too soon to say for sure, so we need to be vigilant. The Heritage Foundation proposed eliminating VAWA funding, so we were very concerned in January. However, the White House budget proposal actually includes a small increase to VAWA, which is good news. What concerns us now is that the White House proposal draws its funding from a large pool of funds known as the Victims of Crime Act Fund. In the long run, this strategy could deplete the overall funding for services to crime victims.

We will also be closely watching the possibility that the Department of Justice could change the focus of the VAWA funds, directing money towards law enforcement and away from the non-profits that operate hotlines and shelters in communities across the country. And we may face a fight in 2018, when VAWA is up for reauthorization. While this legislation has historically enjoyed bipartisan support, there was a huge partisan struggle over the law in 2013, when it was last reauthorized. It is so important-not only because it provides support for critical victim services, but also because having one office that looks at domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking is powerful, since these issues overlap so much.

Susan: What would happen if programs that help victims of domestic violence were to be cut?

Liz Roberts: I think some domestic violence shelters or community-based programs would be forced to close. It would leave survivors in small towns, rural areas, having to go a very long way for services, since the services are already pretty spread out. There could also be a loss of resources in police departments and prosecutors' offices, since many of them are able to secure VAWA funding for their own in-house advocates. I think you'd see less support for survivors in criminal justice, and overall less expertise. I think the rape on campus issue is another place you would see it really backsliding.

Susan: What can women who are concerned about domestic violence do?

Liz Roberts: I would encourage women to get to know the providers in their own community. Contact the local rape crisis center, the local domestic violence shelter or hotline. And find out what their situation is, what they're worried about, and be prepared to provide support, whether that's going to a rally, or making calls, or donating your time or money.

Susan: And of course, write or call to your local legislators if you support VAWA.

Additional reporting by Cathy Garrard

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Will Ferrell recently revealed the original idea behind Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy in an interview with Bill Simmons. On Tuesday, Ferrell visited his old Saturday Night Live buddy Seth Meyers on Late Night and shared the bizarre idea.

Anchorman: The Legend of a Plane Crash

Ferrell told Meyers, The first version was Adam McKay and I going crazy. The first version really is more like the movie Alive. If youre not familiar with that film, its based on the true story of a Uruguayan rugby team who were stranded on a mountain after a plane crash. Ferrell went on to describe the story, saying, So we were flying on a chartered plane  Ron Burgundy, of course, convinces the pilot that he can fly too, and immediately crash-lands the plane into the side of a mountain. Ferrell added that they flew into another plane that also crashed on the mountain, and it made the bear fight at the end of Anchorman look like childs play. The cargo on the other plane was just orangutans and boxes of Chinese throwing stars, said Ferrell.

So the rest of the movie was about them trying to get off the mountain and avoid the orangutans, who were killing people with the Chinese throwing stars. But one thing about this version was the same: Veronica (Christina Applegate) was the smartest person of the bunch. Ferrell said, And Veronica Corningstone is like, If we just go down, we can get off the mountain. We were like, Youre just a woman. Youre a dumb woman, what do you know?'

Will Teases Anchorman 3

While its understandable why that movie was never made, it now sounds like a pretty fun idea. Even though it will probably never go into production, Ferrell teased everyone with an Anchorman trilogy when he joked, That could be the third one.

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By Salvador Rodriguez SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc's core networking business on Tuesday took its first step into the market of subscription services, announcing a suite of new security and automation tools for big businesses. This new "intuitive network" represents a major change in how Cisco generates revenue from its flagship business. The San Jose company has been dependent on the sales of networking equipment that routes traffic on the internet. Moving forward, Cisco hopes its clients will subscribe to the new networking services, creating a recurring stream of monthly revenue. "We have, over the last two years, had an increasing focus on our software and subscription business," Cisco Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins told Reuters. "For this transition to software and subscription to really become material over time we needed to find a way to bring subscription value to the core networking. Altogether, the new services are intended to help enterprises run more intelligent networks with automation features and data analytics. Key among the new services is the capability to detect malware, alerting administrators of an intrusion and potentially quarantining affected devices. Robbins emphasized that these services work only when integrated with Cisco's hardware equipment. The announcements come one day after key tech leaders met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington. The meeting included the likes of Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft Corp CEO Satya Nadella and Amazon.com Inc CEO Jeff Bezos. Robbins was originally scheduled to attend but pulled out to focus on the product launch. Robbins said he was excited by the Trump administrations pro-business stances with tax reform in particular. "We've heard a lot over the last 48 hours about their commitment to tax reform, which is incredibly important to Cisco," Robbins said. "That's the No. 1 thing that we would like to see accomplished." (Reporting by Salvador Rodriguez; Editing by David Gregorio)
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.
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.
Israel's Air Force commander sent a warning to Hezbollah on Wednesday, saying the IDF's capabilities have been upgraded since the 2006 Second Lebanon War, allowing it to carry out the same number of bombings it mounted in the 34 days of war in just 48 hours.

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"If war breaks out in the north, we have to open with all our strength from the start," Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel said at the annual Herzliya security conference, pointing to the likelihood of international pressure for a quick ceasefire before Israel can achieve all its strategic goals.

Israeli politicians and generals have spoken often of an intention to hit hard in Lebanon if war breaks out, in an apparent bid to deter Hezbollah. Eshel said in 2014 that another conflict could see Israeli attacks 15 times more devastating for Lebanon than in 2006.

IAF Commander Amir Eshel (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Since early in the six-year-old Syria war, Hezbollah's energies have been focused on propping up President Bashar Assad in alliance with Iran and Russia, throwing thousands of its fighters into battle against Syrian rebels.

But the Shi'ite group has not altered its view of Israel as its foremost enemy, and Israel's military has said it regards Hezbollah in the same way.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah

Although Israel has kept to the sidelines of the war in Syria, Israeli aircraft have targeted suspected Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah, operations complicated by Russian and US air activity in the region.

"The skies of the Middle East are a lot more crowded than before, with lots of players," Eshel said, pointing to the need for the air force to operate "surgically" to avoid "mistakes."

On the other hand, such strikes, he said, also act as a deterrent to Hezbollah, whose missile capabilities could mean that the air force and the rest of the Israeli military will fight any future Lebanon war with their own bases under attack.

Eshel cautioned residents in southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, to leave their homes if a new conflict erupts, saying the Iranian-backed group uses civilian homes as "launching bases for missiles and rockets."

About 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them troops fighting Hezbollah, were killed in the 2006 war, which displaced a million people in Lebanon and up to 500,000 in Israel.

Hezbollah expanding warfare capabilities

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, who spoke at the conference on Tuesday, said the Lebanon-based terror group remains the main threat to the State of Israel.

"Hezbollah is expanding its warfare capabilities, it is grossly violating (UN Security Council) Resolution 1701, and if we look at southern Lebanon, we see this organization deployed in 200 villages and towns," he said.

IDF Chief of General Staff Gadi Eizenkot (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

"There are tens of thousands of rockets there. We have a clear interest in preventing the transfer of advanced weapons over to Hezbollah. As was reported, there were actions made to prevent the transfer of advanced weaponry aimed at harming Israel, as was the case in recent years, and as will be the case in the future."

While reiterating that Israel has no wish to interfere in the civil war in Syria, Eisenkot noted it still provides humanitarian aid to the war-torn country and its refugees, explaining that doing so is "our duty as Israelis and as Jews."

The chief of staff also spoke about Iran's influence on the region. "We see the efforts of Iran in Lebanon, but not only there," he said, noting this influence is prominently felt in places like Syria and the Gaza Strip.

"Iran perceives itself as a regional power," Eisenkot explained, and in thinking so, it acts as one, giving Hezbollah "more than $800 million a year" to advance its cause.

The IDF chief stressed that "stopping the development of Iran's military industry is a security objective for the entire region," and not just for Israel.

"The global effort should be that Iran is not the next North Korea," he said. "Two days ago, there was a shooting from Iran to targets in Syria. It was meant to make a point."
Reform and Conservative Jews blasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, saying the governments refusal to create an egalitarian prayer space along the southern reach of the Western Wall was nothing less than a disgusting slap in the face and evidence that the prime minister has no personal integrity.

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It is abhorrent, nothing else, said Rabbi Andrew M. Sacks, director of the Masorti Rabbinical Assembly in Israel and a representative for the Conservative movement to the Western Wall negotiations.

We negotiated this agreement for three-and-a-half years in good faith with the government, the rabbi of the Western Wall, the ultra-Orthodox political partieswe all made compromises and we reached an agreement. There is no way for the ultra-Orthodox parties to say they were unaware of the details.

Women of the Wall pray at the Western Wall (Photo: EPA)

Sacks spoke to Tazpit Press Service (TPS) following media reports that MK Tzahi Hanegbi (Likud), a close ally of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the prime ministers envoy to Reform and Conservative groups, told ultra-Orthodox politicians this week the government has no intention of implementing the deal.

Also this week, the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee held a stormy session to consider a request to allow the Chief Rabbinate to appoint independent counsel to represent the government at the High Court of Justice for deliberations on the Western Wall issue. Following the session, members of the National Union faction in the Bayit Yehudi party asked Netanyahu to allow the unusual move, calling Reform and Conservative groups a small group of extremists from overseas.

The Western Wall is a space of sanctity and prayer for the entire Jewish people, and has been for generations, since the destruction of the Second Temple it has been the most unifying spot in the world for the Jewish people, a place that every person feels his or her connection to the ancient traditions of the eternal people, wrote MKs Bezalel Smotrich and Uri Ariel.

The States refusal to allow non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall has been a point of friction for Diaspora Jews for decades, as well as the subject of repeated legal petitions asking the High Court of Justice to enforce the right to assembly and expression in a public space. It has also been the background to repeated violent protests by ultra-Orthodox visitors to the site during monthly services held by the Women of the Wall group.

Ultra-Orthodox protest against Women of the Wall (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

In response to a petition by Reform and Conservative groups, the High Court of Justice has asked the state to explain its refusal to to allow the Women of the Wall to pray at the holy site, but the government has argued it should not be required to do so because there is an agreement in place to create the egalitarian space next door, even if it has yet to be implemented.

But that agreement, which was signed in January 2016 after years of negotiation between government representatives, Orthodox, Reform and Conservative groups and the Women of the Wall, has yet to be implemented, largely due to fears of violence on the ultra-Orthodox street and expected threats that would be made by ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas to quit the government.

The deal calls for the creation of a non-Orthodox prayer space to the south of the Western Wall plaza, out of the field-of-vision for Orthodox visitors to the main site. The agreement also calls for a joint entrance to be built for the two sites, as well as for the creation of a new directorate for the Western Wall to include all streams of religious Judaism.

Andrew Sacks said that Netanyahus pandering to Orthodox politicians amounts to little more than political gamesmanship at the expense of both principle and Israels concrete needs at the current time.

The message is clear: Netanyahu has absolutely no interest in doing the 'right' thingand by 'right,' I dont only mean the ethical/democratic thing of protecting the rights of minorities to freedom of worship. I also mean the right thing as far as Israels relations with Diaspora communities are concerned. There could hardly be a worse time to drive yet another wedge between Israel and Diaspora Jews, but the prime minister has shown clearly that he is interested in keeping himself in the prime ministers chair rather than acting in the interest of the State of Israel. It is an absolute disgrace."

Spokespeople for Prime Minister Netanyahu and MK Bezalel Smotrich declined to comment for this article.
- Togbui Asilenu has lost count of his own children due to the size of his family

- He is said to have proposed to his own daughter in a street for not recognizing her

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Togbui Kofi Asilenu, an 80-year-old farmer at a small community in Eastern Region is likely to make it to make history in Ghana as the youngest man with 12 wives and over one hundred children, and still exploring to marry more women.

Togbui Kofi Asilenu, leading his family

The local farmer has for the past 40 years given birth to over 100 children with 12 women, all of who are married to him in a polygamous marriage in one big village compound.

The children and all the wives of Togbui Asilenu on the occasion of 2017 Fathers Day marched to his residence on Sunday, ostensibly with a simple message happy fathers day and probably to thank him for his fatherly role.

READ ALSO: Notorious Nigerian kidnapper arrested with Ghanaian passport (Photos)

If I get a lady today, I will marry her and have more children. As for men, even in old age we can still father children. Im not impotent, Asilenu told TV3 who spent some time with the family on Fathers Day.

According to Togbui Asilenu, he has unfortunately lost count of his children due to the family size and hes unable to mention the names of all of them when asked to do a roll call.

Speaking to Accra based-TV3, the farmer explained he proposed marriage to one of her daughters who he met in town. But for the awareness of his daughter, he would have committed a taboo by having amorous relationship with her own daughter unknowingly.

READ ALSO: Omane Boamah, Terkper caused NDCs defeat  Kwesi Botchwey report

One of his sons narrated how his father proposed to one of his sisters He [Asilenu] met the lady and said he loved her..and later on, the lady said she was his daughter. Adding he [Asilenu] said his eyes were worrying him, that was why he didnt notice it was her own daughter and we laughed over it.

According to the son, he suspects his siblings are more than 100 as being estimated.

Despite Asilenus family size, his wives and children get along with each other and have been living happily as one united family. One of Asilenus wives said the secret to their unity is respect for one another.

Nayome Asilenu, the first wife of the farmer sharing her experience said that, she was initially not happy with her husbands exploits with other women and complained about it but all to no avail, he still went ahead to add more women to the family.

Asilenus youngest child is about a year old, while the eldest is over 40 years. He currently engages some of his wives and children in his work processing cassava into dough.

READ ALSO: We helped NPP in winning 2016 election  NDC man

Regardless the huge size of his family, Asilenu has been a responsible father to the family all these years, at least from what his children said.

The children say Asilenu has been able to educate them to some extent, with one of his children testifying: He helped us from infancy up to SS level before I joined the Police service, so he tried a little bit for me.

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
KTechLab is coming back

KTechLab, the IDE for microcontrollers and electronics has joined KDE. Below Im summarizing its current status and plans.

Status of KTechLab

The very good news is that KTechLab builds and runs on recent Linux distribution. Circuit simulation works well.

Currently KTechLab depends on Qt4 and KDE4, but it should be migrated to Qt5/KF5 (KDE Frameworks 5) as soon as possible.

Flowcode, the graphical editor of programs, also works. It can convert the edited flowchart to assembly source for hex program for PIC microcontroller, or to the simple language for micorcontroller programming called Microbe.

Currently loading programs on simulated microcontrollers needs to be fixed.

Loading and debugging C code on simulated PIC microcontroller also needs more work.

Plans

Firstly Id like to have KTechLab running with all features in usable state and have a release. Qt4 and KDE4 is still mostly around, but Im aware that it is getting deprecated. After the release is done, port KTechLab to Qt5 and KF5, and have another release. Keep KTechLab running on latest Qt and KDE libraries, and if requested, add new features.

Resources

KTechLab has a mailing list at KDE called ktechlab-devel : https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/ktechlab-devel

On IRC, developers are mostly reachable on freenode.net , on #ktechlab channel.

The source code of KTechLab is available in KDE Git, at https://cgit.kde.org/ktechlab.git/ (note: Im aware that this link is not a stable one, but for now I couldnt figure out the stable link).

Instructions for building and running KTechLab are available in the README file from the source code; online version of that file is available at https://cgit.kde.org/ktechlab.git/tree/README ; The very short instructions are: run sh simple-setup.sh and then sh simple-launch.sh .

The notes from joining KDE: https://community.kde.org/Incubator/Projects/KTechLab

KTechLab bugs at KDE bugtracker: https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=ktechlab

Old website of KTechLab, to be migrated to KDE infrastruture: https://github.com/ktechlab/ktechlab/wiki

Source code of the old website, in KDE Git: https://cgit.kde.org/scratch/padrah/ktechlab.wiki.git/

Contributions are welcome

There are several areas where contributions could greatly help the project:

Making all features of KTechLab work in Qt4 port;

Making the codebase of KTechLab ready for Qt5. Before having the first, Qt4 release, please only add fixes which do not break the Qt4 version.

Website is needed, on KDE infrastructure. Maybe it would make sense splitting the old website into a wiki and a separate website.

Example circuits/projects created with KTechLab. These in turn could be also useful as test cases.

Anything else you can think of :-)

I recommand using the mailing list ktechlab-devel at KDE; alternatively try IRC, #ktechlab on freenode.net.

Update 1: replaced KDE5 with KDE Frameworks 5 (KF5).

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By Frederic Musisi

The United Nations Secretary General Anonio Guterres is expected to arrive in the country today for the Refugee Solidarity Summit that starts tomorrow.

The Summit will also be attended by five head of state and other dignitaries.

Upon arrival, Mr. Guterres is expected to visit Imvempi Settlement Camp in Arua district in the company of the Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.

The camp has a refugee population of about 110,000 spread out in 20 villages but can still accommodate another 50,000 refugees.

Among the heads of state expected is Alpha Conde the president of Guinea and current Chairman of the African Union, Zambias Edgar Lungu, Gabons Ali Bongo, Somalias Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed and Ethiopias Hailemariam Desalegn.

At the summit that runs from June 22-23 government and the UN seek to raise 2bn US Dollars (Shs 7trillion) to fund relief operations for the more than 1.2m refugees currently hosted in Uganda.

It will also show case Ugandas refugee model.

President Museveni and Mr. Guterres will co-chair the summit event on Friday.

Meanwhile delegates at the refugee solidarity Summit are urged to go beyond pledging support.

The Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda says delegates from across the world should reiterate their collective responsibility to ending violence and instability, which are the main causes of refugee outflows.

The coalitions coordinator Crispy Kaheru says the Summit should also aim to change the narrative from mere humanitarian assistance to long-term development of refugee host countries, like Uganda.

Parliament too has spoken out challenging the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to undertake Corporate Social Responsibility activities so as to ensure adequate services for communities hosting refugees.

The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga says the refugees are mounting unbearable pressure on the host communities, asking the government to pass on the message to the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guteres, who is expected in the country today ahead of the two-day Solidarity conference on refugees that opens tomorrow.
By Ruth Anderah

Hearing of the case in which celebrated video jockey, Mary Smarts Matovu, aka VJ Junior is accused of selling pornographic material has failed to kick off this morning.

This is after prosecution failed to produce witnesses as directed earlier.

VJ Junior was on May 26th of May charged with selling pornographic videos before Buganda Road Court Chief Magistrate Jamson Kareemani and he denied the offence.

Prosecution states that VJ junior on May 23rd 2017 while at Zai PLaza and Majestic plaza in Kampala sold pornographic movies to Detective Corporal Namugala Aisha and a one Frank Ntambi and act that was intended to corrupt public morals.

According to prosecution, VJ Juniors action contrived the Anti-Pornography Law.

The case has been adjourned to July 11th.
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INDIANAPOLIS  The Indiana Chamber of Commerce released its 33rd annual ratings for state legislators Wednesday.

The chamber said it rates lawmakers for their voting records on what it describes as pro-jobs, pro-economy legislation. Scores for individual legislators ranged from 29 to 100 percent.

The chambers scores for local legislators, with 2017 scores and four-year averages:

 Rep. Dave Ober, R-Albion, 95 percent for both 2017 and four-year average;

 Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, 94 percent in 2017, 90 percent four-year-average;

 Rep. Dennis Zent, R-Angola, 100 percent in 2017, 96 percent four-year average;

 Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, 81 percent in 2017, 83 percent four-year average;

 Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, 91 percent in 2017, 94 percent four-year average.

Indiana Chamber President and CEO Kevin Brinegar said the scores make it very clear which legislators were supportive of bettering Indianas economic climate and which were not.

The chamber looked at votes on bills related to the 36 goals of its economic development plan, Indiana Vision 2025.

The chamber gave special recognition to 11 legislators who it believes made a difference in 2017.

Five legislators were named Indiana Chamber Legislative Champions for taking on tough assignments and working diligently to see much-needed policy cross the finish line or at least meaningful debate started, Brinegar said.

Ober is one of the five legislators the chamber designated as champions. The chamber said Ober took on a host of difficult issues this year as the new chair of the Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee. These included major legislation on broad energy policy (including utility net metering), water resources and expansion of small cell towers for 5G technology.

The chamber also honored six lawmakers in key leadership positions, including Kruse for his role as chairman of the Senate Education and Career Development Committee.

In calculating scores, the chamber said it double-weighted six bills to reflect its judgment of their importance. They were legislation for long-term road funding, ISTEP replacement, pre-K expansion for children from low-income families, an appointed state superintendent of public instruction, a broad energy policy and prohibiting a ban the box practice against employers seeking criminal history information on an employment application.

Legislators who scored 70 percent or higher for the most recent four-year period are eligible for endorsement by the Indiana Chambers political action committee, Indiana Business for Responsive Government.
BLACK RIVER FALLSWith the end in sight, the four-county partnership for the Aging and Disability Resource Center-Western Wisconsin (ADRC-WW) between Vernon, Monroe, La Crosse and Jackson counties met for the final time as a group Tuesday in Black River Falls.

ADRCs are a resource to get accurate, unbiased information to help people understand the various long-term care options available to them, help people apply for programs and benefits and serve as a starting point for publicly-funded, long-term care.

Each county will be moving towards an independent ADRC beginning in July with the dissolution of the ADRC-WW on June 30.

The process started when La Crosse County officials made the decision to withdraw from the group last December.

The last meeting was more of a formality, providing members the chance to reminisce and celebrate the successes of the joint venture.

Everyone agreed that they had made great strides together and now feel comfortable with the transition towards independent ADRCs.

The members of the committee also recognized the uncertainty that came when the ADRC-WW first formed nearly 10 years ago.

The county boards really took a huge leap in giving us this chance, Pam Eitland, Vernon Countys director of the DHHS, said.

Each county was unsure how things would work between the four counties with different local governments and even different hours of operation.

It wasnt an easy decision to just start, Audra Martine, La Crosses director of the DHHS, said.

Looking back, each board member could remember the trepidation of those first few years and figuring the whole thing out.

In the beginning there was a lot of information to learn, certifications to get and changes happening on all levels, making the process seem a bit daunting.

There were also small differences between counties to work out like who was open on what holiday.

At the end of almost ten years of operation, everyone at the meeting acknowledged the strides they had made over the years.

This consortium was a training ground for something better, ADRC-WW board member Dorothy Will said.

Martine also noted that it wasnt just a benefit for the citizens, but it served as a reminder to the county as well.

It really reminded us that there are rural parts of our county that we might be under-serving and how to reach out to them, Martine said.

In the end, the counties agreed that they would continue to lean on each other when troubles arrive as separate ADRCs.
A design firms preliminary vision for a reconstructed South Avenue includes a slower speed limit, no left turns, four roundabouts, more greenery, more lights, well-marked crosswalks and wider sidewalks.

Leading concerns voiced by residents at a public forum Tuesday evening at Central High School focused on those roundabouts  how to drive, walk and bicycle through them.

The question of property acquisition also arose, but those answers will need to come from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, which will host a similar public forum in July.

Tuesdays meeting was about developing design preferences for the city to present to WisDOT as the state agency draws up reconstruction plans for a mile-long strip of South Avenue from Green Bay Street to Ward Avenue.

The two efforts are related, but separate. The city hired Toole Design Group to take into account the surrounding neighborhoods in developing a recommendation for how the state reconstructs the road. The states focus is more narrowly on rebuilding the road and making it safer.

The state will be using a funding stream that requires making the road safer, Jason Gilman, La Crosse director of planning, said as he opened the Tuesday meeting.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has given the city a set of plan alternatives from which to build its recommendations.

Kevin Luecke of Toole Design Group, the project manager, presented the firms draft recommendation. The group backs, with modifications, WisDOTs alternative that for the most part does not widen the roadway, but adds roundabouts at West Avenue, 16th Street and East Avenue. Continuous center medians would eliminate all left turns.

A key modification is a fourth roundabout at 14th Avenue, so residents living south of South Avenue would not be forced to drive convoluted routes through their neighborhood to access the avenue. This will add cost to the plan and require more property acquisition, Luecke said.

Recommendations regarding bicycle issues included wider sidewalks where possible and a well-signed bicycle route on streets close to the river.

The project also provides the opportunity for a path extension of Bennora Lee Court and a new path along the railroad tracks between Ward and Weston streets, Luecke said, although he acknowledged working with the railroad on projects like this can be challenging.

The firm addressed pedestrian issues by recommending high-visibility crosswalks, markings, signs and flashing beacons to highlight crossings.

Regarding traffic issues, Toole Design Group suggests posting a preferred speed limit of 25 mph but no more than 30 mph and considering using radar boards to show motorists their speed. It also calls for narrowing the inside lanes from 10.5 to 10 feet to slow motorists by making them feel constrained.

Toole Design Group said the continuous center medians should be made with mountable curbs to address worries about limiting emergency vehicle access.

Regarding aesthetics along the stretch, Toole Design recommends designing attractive roundabouts, possibly placing a gateway feature in the roundabouts at Ward and East avenues, and providing attractive pedestrian-scale street lighting and landscaping along South Avenue.

The South Avenue Steering Committee working with Toole Design on the plan to present to WisDOT includes neighborhood representatives Francis Fomanek and Michael Richards, business representative Mary Kessens and Common Council members Martin Gaul, Paul Medinger and Phillip Ostrem.

Participant of the first public meeting for this project were asked to vote on their top concerns. Speeding vehicles and the problem of pedestrians and bicyclists crossing South Avenue were the top issues.
The La Crescent Applefest Board of Directors is soliciting nominations for its Man and Woman of the Year 2017.

Each year, the board recognizes two outstanding individuals who reside in the Independent School District 300 for their contributions to volunteer efforts within the community.

Nominees should be:

A person who has been involved in a club, church or other community organization;

A person whose involvement has benefitted the club, church or other community organization; and,

A person who has shown unselfishness in their involvement.

Nominee names are kept and voted on for three years.

To nominate someone deserving of this award, visit to ApplefestUSA.com, click Events and Info, then Man and Woman of the Year and fill out the form to send electronically.

Electronic submissions must be time stamped 11:59 p.m. July 16. Any nominations received after the deadline will be kept and considered for the following year.

For more information, contact Jennifer Pintz at 608-778-1713 or manwomanoftheyear@applefestusa.com
Hokah Public Library director Shari Carlson asked St. Peter Catholic Schools sixth- through eighth-grade students to paint a little free library for the city of Hokah.

Its all about doing great things through community collaboration, St. Peter Catholic School Principal Rachel Fishel said.

The students did all of the planning, design and painting. The end result was a replica of the 100-year-old St. Peters Church/School building.

The Little Free Library is on display at the Hokah Public Library until its installation near the St. Peters rectory.

Children and adults from all over the community have already begun enjoying the library.

Visit st-peters-school.net or cityofhokah-mn.gov/library.html for more information about activities in the Hokah area. St. Peters School and Hokah Public Library are also available on Facebook.

This story has been updated.
Although U.S. Rep. Tim Walz staff has only hit the tip of the iceberg, the group has been deliberately meeting with all 21 counties within the politicians first district of Minnesota to learn about what is frustrating his constituents.

Houston County had its turn Tuesday, June 13, at the Houston Nature Center, where local leaders raised questions of healthcareparticularly mental health servicesin the state.

My job is to preserve peace and help sustain the quality of life here, said Houston County Sheriff Mark Inglett. We have a drug dealer problem in Houston County, but the much bigger problem is drug use. Half of the population sitting in our jail shouldnt be there. They should be in a mental health facility.

According to Inglett, the county has had to transport inmates to Bemidji as it was the closest mental health facility that had an open bed.

The thing with Medicaid and Minnesotacare is if someone is arrestedeven if they are on the insurance prior to the arrestthe insurance stops so tax payers pay that burden, Inglett said. We had an individual who injured himself during his crime. Since he is in custody, the insurance will not pay for his hospital bills.

Houston County Human Services Director John Pugleasa agreed that the cost of covering others has not been avoided.

What people dont realize is that when someone goes to the hospital, the staff is not going to turn them away. People who are avoiding doctors because of insurance will still go to the emergency room Pugleasa said. We have to pay for their visit. We are paying that cost already.

Houston County residents discussed their disadvantages with healthcare, as many of them are placed under the entrepreneur label and, or are smaller business owners that cannot afford the current costs of healthcare.

Josh Syrjamaki, Walzs chief of staff, explained that President Trumps bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act will leave $14 million Americans without healthcare access in the next year. About $26 million will lose health insurance in the next five years.

How can you run a farm if youre not healthy? Syrjamaki asked.

Some of the visitors suggested a single-payer insurance plan, similar to Canadas insurance plan. Insurance would be a public service and offered to all citizens.

In the United States, we have Medicare which is single-payer, but you have to be 65 or older, Syrjamaki said. One answer would be to lower the age range to 55 and older. A lot of health issues kick in when youre in your 50s. Or full single-payer.

While several people were in favor of a universal single-payer system, Inglett questioned its sustainability.

Itd be funded by taxes, so I dont know with the population that we have, if we could pay for that, Inglett said.

Others argued the current system is not sustainable.

Every meeting that weve had, healthcare has been the issue or close to the top of the issues discussed, Syrjamaki said. People have lost faith in our government which is troubling. We are working to restore that faith.

Syrjamakis visit was part of a tour of Walzs district designed to solicit a variety of different opinions.

Congressman Walz asked his office to come out to the small communities in Minnesota and get advice from a cross-section of people, not just Democrats, said Syrjamaki. Its been fabulous. People are sharing their perspective. No one is arguing. Everyone has been respectful. Its good ole fashioned southern Minnesota skepticism.
With the end in sight, the four-county partnership for the Aging and Disability Resource Center-Western Wisconsin (ADRC-WW) between Vernon, Monroe, La Crosse and Jackson counties met for the final time as a group Tuesday in Black River Falls.

ADRCs are a resource to get accurate, unbiased information to help people understand the various long-term care options available to them, help people apply for programs and benefits and serve as a starting point for publicly-funded, long-term care.

Each county will be moving towards an independent ADRC beginning in July with the dissolution of the ADRC-WW on June 30.

The process started when La Crosse County officials made the decision to withdraw from the group last December.

The last meeting was more of a formality, providing members the chance to reminisce and celebrate the successes of the joint venture.

Everyone agreed that they had made great strides together and now feel comfortable with the transition towards independent ADRCs.

The members of the committee also recognized the uncertainty that came when the ADRC-WW first formed nearly 10 years ago.

The county boards really took a huge leap in giving us this chance, Pam Eitland, Vernon Countys director of the DHHS, said.

Each county was unsure how things would work between the four counties with different local governments and even different hours of operation.

It wasnt an easy decision to just start, Audra Martine, La Crosses director of the DHHS, said.

Looking back, each board member could remember the trepidation of those first few years and figuring the whole thing out.

In the beginning there was a lot of information to learn, certifications to get and changes happening on all levels, making the process seem a bit daunting.

There were also small differences between counties to work out like who was open on what holiday.

At the end of almost ten years of operation, everyone at the meeting acknowledged the strides they had made over the years.

This consortium was a training ground for something better, ADRC-WW board member Dorothy Will said.

Martine also noted that it wasnt just a benefit for the citizens, but it served as a reminder to the county as well.

It really reminded us that there are rural parts of our county that we might be under-serving and how to reach out to them, Martine said.

In the end, the counties agreed that they would continue to lean on each other when troubles arrive as separate ADRCs.
The Jackson County Forestry and Parks Department has received a national award for outstanding use of national recreational trails program (RTP) funding.

The Black River Falls motorized access trail which recently opened is one of 10 national projects that received the 2017 Tom Petri Annual Achievement Award by the Coalition for Recreational Trails.

The awards are named for the former Wisconsin congressman who was a long-time champion of the federal trails program.

The winners were honored at a special Capitol Hill ceremony in Washington, D.C. on June 14.

Jon Schweitzer, trails coordinator for Jackson County, received the award. Also at the ceremony were Congressman Ron Kind, D-Wis., and Schweitzers family.

This project represents the collaborative effort of a diverse partner group which included all levels of government and private sector businesses, Schweitzer said. It showcases what can be done when people work together for a common goal.

The Black River Falls trail was honored in the community linkage category. The three miles of trail provides a safe crossing for motorized traffic through a new underpass, eliminating a dangerous crossing of a four-lane highway. The trail also provides direct access to 11 food and lodging establishments that previously had none.

The project provided a multi-faceted approach to provide a safer and more diverse recreational trail experience while enhancing the impacts to the local economy, the trail nomination said.

Planning for the trail began in 1995. Construction began after land and easements were acquired and funds were obtained. Various stakeholders  including Jackson County, the city of Black River Falls, the town of Brockway, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Black River Area Chamber of Commerce helped facilitate the project.

Recreational Trails Program funding contributed $300,000 towards the $1,070,000 total project cost. This funding comes from the Federal Highway Trust Fund and represents a portion of federal gasoline taxes paid for fuel used for off-highway recreation. Since 1993 the RTP has funded more than 22,000 projects.
Anglers looking for diverse fishing experiences would do well to consider the Black River and its tributaries. The Black River watershed has a wide variety of fish species to entice fishermen and women of any age.

The Black River corridor in Komensky and Adams (towns) have some of the highest biological diversity in the region, said Pete Segerson, former fisheries technician and fisheries operations supervisor with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. There are more than 70 species of fish in the Black. The Black River drainage also has many tributaries that are high quality brook trout streams.

Segerson presented a program about the fish and fisheries found in the Black River and its watershed at the Friends of the Black Rivers June 14 meeting.

The Black River is one of the states waterways that connect areas of the state formerly covered by glaciers in prehistoric times with the Driftless Region. The waterway serves as a corridor for the spread of a variety of fish species.

Walleye are the most sought after game fish on the river, said Segerson. A 10-15-year-old walleye can reach six or seven pounds or even larger when full of eggs.

The DNR has tagged Black River walleye and found they can travel as far away as the St. Croix River. That walleye would have navigated several lock and dam structures on the Mississippi River. Among the fish reported were a 15-year-old, 48-inch muskellunge. Muskellunge are native to the Black River and there are also fall fingerling musky stocked in the Black River to enhance fishing for Wisconsins state fish.

In addition to walleye and musky, other game fish found in the Black and its streams include small-mouth bass, crappies, flathead catfish, northern pike, lake sturgeon, channel catfish and sauger. Segerson said the sauger have been known to cross with walleye to produce a hybrid known as the saugeye.

The common carp, an introduced species, is also found in the Black River.

Some lesser known fish species found in the water shed are the hognose sucker, river redhorse, blue sucker, Iowa and banded darters and about a dozen minnow species.

The banded darter is one of the creatures worth hanging on to, said Segerson. The stretch of the river from Hatfield to Black River Falls is some of the best habitat. Rocks, riffles, rapids, deep pools and some high quality tributaries including Morrison and Halls creeks provide a variety of high quality fish habitat.

In his presentation, Segerson discussed the importance of taking care of the watershed and some of the challenges encountered in managing fisheries in a flash-flood prone river.

It seems like 100-year floods are now happening a couple times a summer, said Segerson. The Black gets its color from tannic acid from the plants and manganese and iron. Runoff from farm fields causes the chocolate milk appearance to the water and limits light penetration.

Segerson worked in the DNR fisheries program for more than 35 years. Before retiring in 2014, he worked with trout habitat, river and lake sport fisheries as well as wetland restoration and conservation.

In his presentation, Segerson showed examples of fish habitat created by fallen trees and woody debris jams. He recommended that stream clearing efforts include leaving part of the fallen trees and debris jams in the waterways.

He also urged getting the younger generation interested in nature through fishing.

One of the big problems is nature deficit, said Segerson. We need to take kids into the outdoors. We need to ensure theres no child left inside.

Segersons presentation was part of FBRs ongoing mission to bring educational programs about the Black River, its watershed and environmental and conservation issues to the community.
The town of Knapp in Jackson County was certified as a Broadband Forward Community Friday by Gov. Scott Walker, making it the ninth local government in the state of Wisconsin to do so.

In the most basic terms, this certification says your town has put out a welcome mat. That it is an easy place for companies that want to work here and invest in broadband infrastructure here, and tells them you have streamlined your administrative procedures around that, Angie Dickison said, who is the state broadband director.

Scott Goetzka, chairman for the town of Knapp, actually heard about the program when he was sitting in state Sen. Patrick Testins office.

We got this because we were in Sen. Testins office for other reasons and I overhead one of his staffers talking and so I asked about it and then they sent me all of the information on how to do it, Goetzka said.

Testin feels like having broadband access in a rural community like the town of Knapp can be really important for attracting new businesses, education and health care.

I think it sends a clear message that we as a state realize this is important and so we are working with private industry to try and create that infrastructure and build up the network and making sure everyone has access to high speed access, Testin said.

Goetzka said that having broadband in the town of Knapp is really important, explaining that some of the information the state needs from the town is online only, which is hard to do in a town without broadband. He also said that the state shoot at Woods and Meadows over the weekend was using a lot of technology and that the local cranberry growers in the town are in need of faster internet speeds to help with the data they use in the production of cranberries.

Only about a third of our township is covered. Anybody that is new that is moving out here cant even hook on because there isnt enough room on the lines as it is, Goetzka said explaining that the system that is in place now was put in during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Whatever you guys have to do. We will tear a road up if we can get it out here.

Gov. Scott Walker proposed additional funding for broadband expansion grants in his recent budget and according to Testin, the state legislature appears to be on board with the idea.

CenturyLink is planning on providing broadband service to the town of Knapp next year as a part of expanding broadband access to the 378 Warrens Exchange, which is mostly in Monroe County. CenturyLink received a federal grant to provide broadband to that area.

By receiving this certification, the town of Knapp would also be better positioned to apply for state-funded grants in case the federal grant that CenturyLink has ran out before they were able to provide service to the town of Knapp.
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Renato Travelli, MD, 86, of La Crosse died Monday, June 19, 2017, at his home. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 8, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, La Crosse, with visitation from 10 a.m. to the time of the service. A complete obituary will follow.
Grace Jones has a reputation for being so passionate that she sometimes bit the hand she was trying to get to feed the programs at Couleecap Inc.  and she vividly recalls a treasured mentors admonition to ease up.

Grace, it is OK to bite the hand that feeds you  just dont bite so hard, Jones said with her characteristic smile and laugh as she recalled Jerry Hanoskis advice when she was younger, advocating passionately to help the less fortunate.

As executive director of Couleecap for 31 years, Jones retains that passion for the poor, looking younger than her stated 65 years as her July 14 retirement approaches.

Amid the often daunting task of helping people navigate out of poverty, Jones maintains an optimistic disposition  so much so that Couleecap board member Karen Dahl describes her as the antidote to depression on a gloomy day.

A Pennsylvania native, Jones began her lifes work in a classroom, teaching English to seventh-graders in a suburb of Reading. She and her then-husband moved to Vernon County in 1977 as part of a national movement toward simpler living.

We knew we didnt want to live on the East Coast, with so many obstacles to life, Jones recalled.

They had read about bucolic western Wisconsin in an issue of Mother Jones magazine, visited the region and fell in love with the Kickapoo Valley, she said.

Working with at-risk youths

When a prospective teaching opportunity fell through, Jones saw a Couleecap ad for a youth specialist to work with at-risk youngsters in La Crosse  a role that blended her skills as a teacher with her heart for serving the less fortunate.

That predisposition stems from her childhood, when she grew up in a comfortable home but also saw the ravages of poverty  some of it in Section 8 housing in buildings her father owned, she said.

Growing up, I saw terrible poverty in Philadelphia, Jones said. As a teenager, my dad said that I always was a champion of those less fortunate.

Her college years heightened her concern for the poor and involvement with social causes at a time when civil rights and womens issues started making headway.

Fresh out of college, as a teacher, I tried to instill in every student the hope and belief that they could achieve their dreams with hard work and persistence, said Jones, the mother of two grown children and grandmother of three boys.

She threw the same passion into that first Couleecap job, helping at-risk youths avoid pitfalls, as well as other positions she filled en route to becoming executive director 31 years ago.

Hanoski, who retired as executive director of Workforce Connections Inc. in 2010, lauds Jones prowess in expanding the reach and programs of Couleecap, which she said had a budget of about $2 million when she started and now has one of $7 million.

Couleecap, headquartered in Westby with satellite offices in La Crosse, Crawford and Monroe counties, serves low-income people and families in those counties. Programs include several options to help people with apartments and other housing, including home ownership and rehabilitation; weatherization and other energy efficiency measures; employment and training; transportation; food and clothing; and drug use prevention.

Agency evolves to fill niches

The agency has evolved, Jones said. When I first started, it was outreach, then we were very much in employment, then training and employment, and now housing. We kind of look for niches others are not filling.

We evolved with the community, she said, noting that Couleecap generated and spun off efforts such as RSVP, Head Start, family planning and other initiatives.

Jones, who has a knack for identifying with the plight of the nearly 27,500 people Couleecap serves in a year, cites the example of a single woman who works part-time and gets in a jam because of a financial crisis, housing or other situation.

People face obstacles in their lives, she said. These people work harder than anybody. If we can just remove the obstacles with a hand up instead of a handout  if you can clear one or two obstacles, they can be on their way to becoming taxpaying citizens, she said.

At Couleecap, we are so glad that we can help families with encouragement, hope and the tools that they need so they can persevere despite facing great difficulties. I still believe in the value of fighting poverty in the midst of plenty, she said.

We prefer to believe we live in a land of great opportunity equally available to everyone, Jones said. This is not true. Discrimination and poverty still exist  and too many people have talents that are too quickly buried under povertys crushing weight. For these talents to flourish, there must be equal opportunity for all.

The depth of gratitude comes in thank-you cards with messages such as You didnt judge me  you just helped me and You didnt tell me what to do  you just did it.

The agency does not dole out money willy-nilly. Rather, it routinely surveys low-income people to discover their needs and connect them with the resources to deal with their problems, Jones said.

One of more than 1,000 community action agencies generated by the 1966 Equal Opportunity Act, Couleecap follows a strategy to promote self-sufficiency, economic development and social justice.

Talking with her shows the reason nonprofits like Couleecap exist, Hanoski said. Many institutions are not open to people in poverty, people with disabilities or who are displaced.

She is a staunch advocate  probably the most vocal and effective advocate for that population in western Wisconsin, he said.

Rise through the ranks

Hanoski attributes Jones success  and Couleecaps  to her career track, rising through the ranks from her start as an outreach worker and serving in several positions before becoming executive director in 1986.

Once youve been on the front lines, you understand that the job is all about, he said. Thats the route of effective leadership in a nonprofit.

Colleagues count Jones leadership skills as perhaps the most valuable arrows in her quiver of skills.

She is the consummate professional with broad knowledge, a hardworking leader who gets things done in a timely way, board member Dahl said. She has built an incredible team in a mixture of people, beliefs and feelings that can create a stew of opinions and attitudes, but they have a sense of camaraderie, and I attribute that to Graces leadership.

And she is always, always, always working for the people. She has blossomed, and she bases decisions not on emotion but on needs, Dahl said.

She has led a real life, she said. She hasnt lived on a pedestal. She has had challenges and have overcome them  learning from each one. Thats how she got a spine of steel.

Dahl recalled a conversation with a national Community Action Agency leader in which he said he considered Couleecap the best CAA in the country.

Similarly effusive is Kim Cable, Couleecaps housing and community services director, who said, Shes really grown the agency and taken it in a great direction.

A leader, poverty expert

More than anything, she has been not only the face of the agency by also the local expert on poverty, Cable said.

She has been a wonderful mentor and leader, and what great people she has developed for the staff, she said. She is a stellar individual who walks the talk and has great passion.

Jones departs with great confidence in her successor, Hetti Brown, who starts June 28 and whose most recent position was executive director of the Animal Welfare Office of the Public Health Division of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.

Jones finds the national political climate and proposed budget cutbacks unsettling, saying, New staff members could be terrorized by the Trump administration, but I tell them to relax.

This is my sixth time to this rodeo, she said, acknowledging that her service as executive director has spanned terms of six presidents. Even (President Barack) Obama tried to cut us back. We survive because of bipartisan support in Congress. They know we create local jobs and programs.

Jones, who has been married to high school sweetheart Gary Jones for 14 years after they reconnected via email, wraps up her Couleecap career succinctly: It was sometimes fun and sometimes awful, but it was never boring  and weve helped thousands of people.

She also holds hope for the future: I believe the next major evolutionary step of our country will be creating true equal opportunity for all people regardless of economic status, gender, race, disability, sexual orientation or religion.
La Crosses assistant police chief is calling on the countys justice system to hold accountable a high-ranking convicted drug dealer released from prison in March after officers arrested him Tuesday with drugs and a gun.

Police searched Raymond Lewis house at 2826 South Ave. about 10 p.m. and seized 34 grams of heroin, 27 grams of cocaine, 2 grams of methamphetamine and a .22-caliber handgun, according to the agency.

Lewis, 37, faces eight drug charges and felon in possession of a firearm when he appears Thursday in La Crosse County Circuit Court. Also arrested on five drug charges is his fiancee, 35-year-old Christina Joswick.

Assistant Police Chief Rob Abraham said Lewis, arrested in 2012 for trafficking narcotics to La Crosse from Illinois to distribute to other dealers, is a threat to the community who must be held accountable by the judicial system.

It is time we start putting the concerns of our communitys safety before the concerns of the offender, he said.

In 2012, Lewis while on parole for drug trafficking charges sold hundreds of dollars worth of crack cocaine to informants before police raided his Mormon Coulee Road mobile home and rental car, where they found about $7,000 worth of cocaine, as well as marijuana, ecstasy, prescription pills, $4,544 cash and four children.

Lewis ran nude into a back bedroom and dove to the floor, reaching under the bed. One officer laid on top of him and ordered him to show his hands. When Lewis resisted, another officer punched him in the neck, breaking his hand in the process. The injury required pins and rehab.

He pleaded guilty to two of the 13 crimes filed against him, including possession with intent to deliver cocaine and resisting an officer causing bodily harm.

Prosecutors and investigators at Lewis sentencing in July 2013 tried to convince the judge to imprison him for 15 years, arguing the community is tired of those who fuel the drug trade.

They want the criminal justice system to send a loud and clear message that drug dealers will pay a price if they choose La Crosse for their business, La Crosse police Capt. Dan Kloss testified at the hearing.

Circuit Judge Todd Bjerke sentenced Lewis to six years in prison and three on extended supervision for resisting an officer. The judge also placed him on 15 years of probation on the drug charge and threatened a lengthy prison term if he violated conditions of his supervision.

Youre a dangerous person, and you have to prove otherwise, Bjerke said. Mr. Lewis, this is your opportunity.

Lewis, who also has convictions in Minnesota and Illinois, has past ties to the Gangster Disciples. In a 2010 case dropped by prosecutors, police arrested Lewis and his ex-wife after finding 16 grams of crack cocaine, two loaded handguns, ammunition, $3,000 cash and drug paraphernalia at their Jackson Street house.

Lewis, who enrolled in jail programming to aid his recovery and rehabilitation, said at his sentencing that was a changed man ready to be a father.

Im a better person now and all I ask is one chance to prove to my family and to the community that I can be a productive member of society, he said.

Defense attorney Sean ONeill warned that Lewis would emerge from prison as an older drug dealer and argued against using the old model of imprisoning non-violent drug offenders.
La Crosse will hold a meeting Tuesday to discuss its study of the neighborhood around South Avenue and to gather residents ideas about land use and transportation access when the road is redesigned.

The study, by the Toole Design Group, is occurring at the same time as the Wisconsin Department of Transportation develops plans to rebuild a 1-mile stretch of South Avenue, which carries several state and federal highways between Green Bay Street and Ward Avenue.

That project is slated for construction in 2022 and is expected to cost between $6 million and $10 million depending on how much real estate is required for the right of way.

City leaders and transportation officials have clashed over preliminary designs, which called for widening the road to include a center turn lane, taking out dozens of homes and businesses. The DOT has since revised its proposed plans, though differences remain.

The DOT is considering four alternatives, only one of which would fit within the existing right-of-way. That would require the acquisition and removal of eight buildings to accommodate roundabouts at West Avenue, 16th Street and Ward Avenue.

The three alternatives that include bike lanes or a side path would require 21 to 31 displacements, according to the DOT.

Despite concerns about pedestrian safety, lack of bicycle facilities and limited vehicle access, project manager Kevin Luecke said Toole recommends the narrow option, primarily because it has the lowest impact on the neighborhood and tax base.

Luecke also fears that in spite of narrower lanes, the DOT design will not calm traffic. Speeding and difficulty crossing the street were the two top concerns voiced by neighbors at the studys first public input meeting.

We have significant concern that with center medians speeds will rise, he said. Speed will increase because of no left turns.

The study is also looking at how best to use land around the corridor and the potential for redevelopment of parcels where buildings must be removed.
The La Crosse Area Retired Educators Association, a local unit of the Wisconsin Retired Educators Association, has awarded three $500 scholarships to La Crosse area students who are entering or are currently studying in the field of education.

Savanah GeRue, a recent graduate of Melrose-Mindoro High School, plans to attend Western Technical College and then continue her studies at Winona State University.

Morgan Williamson, a student at Western Technical College in La Crosse, was selected as the LAREA scholarship recipient from Western.

Manuel Carpenter, a student at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, said that it is a remarkable experience to have the belief, support and encouragement of a group of educators behind me as I enter the field of education.
Former FBI Director James B. Comeys open testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month, broadcast live on national television, reflected well on our democracy. An estimated 19.5 million people watched our government at work.

On the same day, Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer told an audience of lawyers, law professors and students that he was not ready to allow the public to watch Supreme Court proceedings  because, he said, cameras might change the nature of oral arguments. Breyers views reflect the opinion of all the Supreme Court justices, with the possible exception of Justice Neil Gorsuch, who said during his confirmation hearings in March that he was open to the possibility of cameras in the courtroom.

The Supreme Court does not currently allow any of its public oral arguments or decision announcements to be televised, live-streamed, videotaped or photographed. This blackout deprives the American people of something that is rightfully theirs: the ability to observe government officials perform important duties that only a select few can witness in person.

There may have been a period when cameras in courtrooms presented unknown risks, but that time is past. Fifty state supreme courts already allow them, including the Texas Supreme Court, which live-streams and archives all of its oral arguments.

Texas Justice Don Willett, who is on President Trumps list of potential Supreme Court nominees, recently told me: My court has been webcasting for a decade. No hiccups. No regrets. No going back. We inhabit a hyperpartisan age, and theres enormous civic-education upside in We the People seeing their judges tackle fateful issues with thoughtfulness and civility. I wouldnt presume to lecture the Supreme Court of the United States, but our experience has been overwhelmingly positive.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals live-streams its arguments, as do other courts of appeals from time to time. Cameras are also allowed in courtrooms in Britain, Canada, Brazil and many other countries. There have been virtually no negative reports or safety issues resulting from this widespread use of cameras in courtrooms.

With its long tradition of overruling unconstitutional state and federal laws, the Supreme Court is the most powerful judicial tribunal in the world. If any court should be televised, it is the Supreme Court. There would be many obvious advantages.

As Justice Willett pointed out, the American people could watch lawyers and judges respectfully debate contentious legal issues. These arguments would set a wonderful example of how public officials can disagree without undue rancor.

Students and teachers of the law in particular should be able to witness the justices historic debates over freedom of speech, freedom of religion, abortion and other legal questions. What a shame that no one will ever be able to watch the justices announce their rulings on same-sex marriage and other momentous decisions. Instead, we must rely on the accounts of a few select journalists.

And now there is another compelling reason for the justices to televise their proceedings: The Supreme Court might be hurtling toward a legal showdown with the president. If this happens, the American people should be allowed to watch the landmark case. Citizens might even accept the result more readily if they can observe the arguments and the decision announcement.

There are no strong arguments against televising or live-streaming court proceedings. The justices have said that it could lead to misunderstandings about how the court works and enable journalists to take snippets of arguments out of context. Justice Anthony Kennedy even hinted that hes afraid his colleagues might grandstand. But media distortion of the proceedings is already a possibility, and when there is debate over what happens inside the court now, there is no visual evidence to consult. In any event, the potential minor risks dont come close to outweighing the certain advantages of transparency.

Some judges have voiced fears that televising court proceedings could make them targets of violence from disappointed litigants or the public at large. But there is no evidence to support this concern. Personal information about every judge is already available to the public. Some of the justices go on television voluntarily to promote their books.

Many of our countrys most important political debates and decisions take place inside the Supreme Court. We should all be allowed to witness what a few hundred lucky citizens and journalists get to see.
Students who disrupt speakers on University of Wisconsin System campuses would be punished and potentially expelled under a bill scheduled for a vote Wednesday in the state Assembly.

The controversial legislation has drawn criticism from those who say it would curb free speech rather than expand it and that it would stand in the way of the UW System's authority to manage its own campuses. Its supporters say its goal is to encourage free expression and to ensure all viewpoints can be heard at public universities.

"Today we are ensuring that simply because you are a young adult on a college campus, your constitutional rights do not go away," said bill author Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum.

Under the measure, students who repeatedly engage in "violent or other disorderly conduct that materially and substantially disrupts the free expression of others" would be subjected to discipline that, on a third incident, would result in expulsion. The bill requires UW System campuses to launch investigations and hold hearings the second time a student is alleged to have interfered with the expressive rights of others.

The hearings and their outcomes would be reported annually to a newly formed Council on Free Expression.

While critics of the proposal say it's a solution in search of a problem, its backers say it's needed to prevent controversial speakers from being shouted down when they visit campuses. Its passage comes amid a growing national focus on political speech on college campuses.

"Somehow young people, and frankly some of the administrators, have taken the position that some speech doesnt have the right to be heard," said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester.

Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, said the country has faced free speech struggles throughout its history, but they have been resolved without legislative intervention.

"This is really part of a political program," Berceau said. "Its part of the continuing effort to really establish a conservative stronghold in our country on every institution, and now theyre going after or universities."

The bill is similar to others being considered throughout the country, modeled after sample legislation prepared by the conservative Goldwater Institute, and takes some pieces from a provision members of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee removed from Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal.

Critics of the legislation have noted that no instances have been reported of protesters shutting down speakers on UW campuses  although controversial speakers have sparked protests.

Students clashed on the UW-Madison campus in November, when conservative columnist Ben Shapiro delivered a speech titled "Dismantling Safe Spaces: Facts Dont Care About Your Feelings" to a crowd of about 450. After about 10 minutes of chaos, Shapiro responded to a shout of "F--- white supremacy" by flipping off the protesters with both hands.

Provocateur and former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos ridiculed a transgender student by name while speaking in December at UW-Milwaukee. A scheduled Yiannopolos appearance at the University of California-Berkeley in February was canceled after it provoked a riot.

UW-Madison senior Savion Castro said last month he doesn't oppose speakers who espouse hurtful views on campus, but as an African-American, he should be able to protest someone who calls his race genetically inferior without fear of reprisal. Castro was alluding to "Bell Curve" author Charles Murray, who was shouted down several months ago at Middlebury College. Murray, at an event sponsored by UW student groups, spoke in Madison last month and was not disrupted.

The UW System has not taken a position on the proposal, but has said it is "committed to ensuring freedom of expression at our institutions."

Jessica Tormey, vice president for university relations and chief of staff for UW System President Ray Cross, said during a legislative hearing last month that the system needs to do "a better job at ensuring all voices are heard at our institutions," but urged lawmakers to ease up on the disciplinary measures prescribed under the bill.

ACLU of Wisconsin legal director Larry Dupuis has called the mandatory punishments laid out under the bill "unnecessarily draconian."

"A heckler can be legally removed from an invited speaker's presentation, but the extreme sanction of suspension or expulsion could chill legitimate, but pointed, questions from the audience," Dupuis said previously.

Rep. David Murphy, R-Greenville, is chairman of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities. Murphy said the bill differentiates between "demonstration and disruption."

"You can demonstrate and carry signs out in front of venues, you can hand out leaflets, you can do all these kinds of things," Murphy said. "What the bill really is about is ending disruption, and I think thats the focus that we have here."

The bill requires "free expression" orientations for UW freshmen and requires university system institutions to remain neutral on controversial policy matters. Critics have questioned whether the so-called "neutrality clause" would prevent instructors from including controversial subjects in their curriculum.

Judith Burstyn, a chemistry professor and president of the faculty advocacy group PROFS, has said the provision could stifle academic debate, especially for professors whose research is in areas "within the realm of public policy or have implications for public policy."

Vos said the bill would have no effect on what happens in the classroom.
Lest we forget at least an over the shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history beginsor which is which), the very first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdomLucifer. Saul D. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals.

Alinsky wrote the playbook for todays progressive movement. It is not at all impossible to see the hate that exists in the progressive movement when you consider the author of their playbook, Alinsky, used Satan as his shining example of success using radical tactics.

Last week a mad man opened fire on several sitting members of Congress critically injuring the House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. Unlike a 1954 attack on House representatives, this attack came from one of our own, not a group of Puerto Rican nationalists. Scalises attacker was a guy from Illinois.

The 1954 incident injured five members of the House and actually occurred on the House floor when four members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party opened fire from the visitors gallery. The assailants were fighting a war for Puerto Ricos political independence while the House was debating, coincidentally, an immigration bill.

The man from Illinois, on the other hand, was born and bred in the United States. He was a union member and a supporter of Bernie Sanders. Sanders openly apologized for his actions, but it wasnt Sanders fault. The fault lies in the ridiculous ramp up of political vitriol and the violent past of the leftist movement.

The problem with this guy from Illinois, aside from a reported tendency to act violently, was his political indoctrination through the union. The union has had a long history of violence from their beginnings during the Bolshevik Revolution and the rise of the Communist Party to their days of being in cahoots with the mafia. Most famously, mobster Jimmy Hoffa ran the Teamsters.

While the mafias grip has waned since the government crackdowns in the late 1980s, it doesnt mean their tactics are all that dramatically different. Theyve simply adopted the same playbook the radical left has been using for years. Alinsky was a guy whose core belief was that Conflict is the essential core of a free and open society. If one were to project the democratic way of life in the form of a musical score, its major theme would be the harmony of dissonance.

There are a lot of new players in the political game since the 2008 elections. Its a good thing when you consider the new people who are getting active in our political process. Unfortunately, it is also can be a bad thing when you consider the political hatred that came with it.

The fringes of political thought have dominated our political debate in recent years. Consider the swing of the same political electorate that delivered the extreme political views of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, taking a moderate position is doomed to have one labeled as an in-name only participant (not to be confused with calling out candidates who have seemingly switched teams for political gain).

Since the 2016 election, the anti-Trump rhetoric has been over the top. Its a national embarrassment the way the left has done everything from stage Shakespearean remakes showing the assassination of Trump (in lieu of Julius Caesar) to a downward-spiraling comedienne holding his severed head for the cameras. Clearly the unions and progressives were not behind last weeks attack nor were they involved in any way, shape, or form. They are, however, responsible for the language of hate thrown at any concept that remotely smells like a conservative idea.

The labor movement has been racked with violence since its beginning. The progressive movement and its Alinsky-like tactics are not far behind. Combine Alinskys lessons along with the irrational attacks against, not just the policies of a sitting president but staged against his very life, theyve created the environment for at least one kook to go unhinged.

Tim McCumber is a resident of Merrimac.

It really is time for the left to ramp down the hateful rhetoric and violent displays against our president. If they do not stop, the attack on House representatives is just the starting point. It is likely to get a lot worse.

Lest we forget  the very first radicalor end up in the same place.
Viroqua Chamber Main Street has been designated as an accredited Main Street America program for meeting rigorous performance standards set by the National Main Street Center. Each year, the National Main Street Center and its Coordinating Program partners announce the list of accredited Main Street America programs in recognition of their exemplary commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach.

It is a great honor to recognize this years 828 nationally Accredited Main Street America programs for their outstanding work to transform downtown and neighborhood commercial districts, said Patrice Frey, president and CEO of the National Main Street Center. Main Streets are the heart of our communities, and the work they do to create quality public spaces, catalyze local entrepreneurship and support downtown housing is more important than ever. Across the country, Main Street America programs truly strengthen the economic, social, and cultural fabric of their entire communities.

The organizations performance is annually evaluated by the Viroqua Chamber Main Street, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet 10 performance standards. Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking programmatic progress and actively preserving historic buildings.

SOUP, July 13

Viroqua Chamber Main Street is accepting applications for SOUP, which will be held July 13. The event is scheduled at Kickapoo Coffee on Main Street. What is SOUP? Crowdfunding without complication. Join us for one hour, eat some soup, and vote on your favorite project or pitch. What do you want to see in our community? If you are interested in assisting with SOUP, we would love to hear from you.

Viroqua Farmers Market, June 21

Viroqua Farmers Market is in full swing. Join us for a celebration of the bounty of our region every Saturday until the end of October from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Farmers Market accepts SNAP/EBT and Visa/MasterCard.

Bike or Bus the Barns, June 25

This years bicycle ride starts in Viroqua and features two farm stops  Ridgeland Harvest and Driftless Organics  with lots of delicious food and great farm activities along the way. The route is 55 miles and covers around 3,400 feet of elevation gain.

Rider registration includes an event gift and food along the route, including a breakfast snack, plated lunch, afternoon snack/dessert and a post-ride picnic and beer.

FairShare is excited to announce the first ever Bus the Barns tour  a fun way to have a day on the farm without having to bike 50-plus miles.

Bus the Barns registration includes bus transportation, farm tours at Ridgeland Harvest and Driftless Organics, activities at each farm stop, a gourmet lunch on the farm, and a farm-fresh snack. Bus the Barns participants are invited to join the after party for the event, for an additional fee.

When you participate in Bike the Barns, you not only enjoy a day of traveling to local farms and eating artisan delicacies, but you also support our communitys health  the health of our neighbors, our land, our farmers and our local economies.

Proceeds from this event benefit FairShare and the Partner Shares program, which helps low-income families purchase local, organic vegetables and have a direct connection with their food and farm through community supported agriculture.

The route

All bike riders must register either on Saturday, June 24, from 1-3 p.m. at the Viroqua Food Co-op, or at the event between 7:30 and 9 a.m. on Sunday, June 25.

Bike riders will depart in waves at 9, 9:15 and 9:30 a.m. from the Food Enterprise Center in Viroqua and begin the 55-mile marked loop through the scenic Driftless area, visiting these fun stops along the way:

Pine Knob  Water stop, 15.25 miles, open 10-11:30 a.m.

Driftless Organics  Farm stop No.1, 25.25 miles, open 10:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., lunch service begins at 11:15 a.m., and farm tours and demos will be available on-site.

Ridgeland Harvest  Farm Stop No. 2, 38 miles, open 12:45-3 p.m., snack, tours and demos.

Matt Urch and Sara Martinezs farm  water stop, 47.75 miles, open 1:45-4:30 p.m.

Food Enterprise Center  after party, beer service begins at 2:30 p.m., food begins at 3:15 p.m. The party winds down at 6 p.m.

Wednesday Viroqua Farmers Market

Make it through the week with a midweek produce run, right in downtown Viroqua from 2-6 p.m. The Wednesday market takes place in the Firefly Arts Gallery parking lot (formerly Bluedog Cycles). The market accepts SNAP and Visa/MasterCard.

For more information about SOUP or the Viroqua Farmers Markets, call 608-2575.
Accelerated Genetics in Westby may expand its operation following a potential merger.

Angie Lindloff, vice president of marketing and communications, said staff downsizing isnt likely to occur even if Accelerated Genetics is sold to the larger, Ohio-based Select Sires. It was recently announced the two companies, which specialize in artificial insemination of cattle, may combine forces.

Lindloff said that while there are no guarantees of job security, Westby employees could see more bulls in housing than before. She said Select Sires aims to increase local production for international markets.

My understanding is (Select Sires) wants to keep the Westby facility intact and the people intact, Lindloff said. The goal is, they want that facility to maximize production out of it. Its actually a good thing from a Westby standpoint.

Roughly 70 people work for Accelerated Genetics in Westby, Lindloff said. The municipality is home to multiple Accelerated Genetics production barns, an office and a distribution center.

Select Sires, theyre very interested in the assets at Westby and the people there, Lindloff said. They know what we do there and they understand we have a lot of valuable people.

The Accelerated Genetics production facility houses more than 200 bulls, staff veterinarian Katie Speller said. Speller said the bulls supply genes for Accelerated Genetics national and international markets, including in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Following a potential merger with Select Sires, Lindloff said the company could move to increase Westbys international production capabilities and bring in more cattle.

She said that barns producing semen for the European Union require special permitting, and Select Sires would aim to uptick the number of EU-certified barns in Westby.

Select Sires and Accelerated Genetics have an established business relationship. In 2001, the two companies began collaborative marketing efforts in foreign markets.

Select Sires is now poised to take over Accelerated Genetics, which has struggled financially.

We have been looking at something like this, something different than our current model, because we knew it was getting harder to do business, Lindloff said of Accelerated Genetics. So if we combine forces with somebody, it gives us more resources  and just more opportunities to grow together.

Accelerated Genetics operates as a cooperative with member farms in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. Under the potential acquisition, Accelerated Genetics member farms in those states would be rolled into one of Select Sires existing cooperatives.

Select Sires operates across the U.S.

Delegates from Accelerated Genetics are scheduled to cast final votes on the merger later this month. Select Sires did not return a phone call seeking comment by press time.
The sounds of a variety of music will once again fill Viroquas Eckhart Park during the Driftless Music Festival, Saturday, July 8.

The grounds of Eckhart Park will open at noon, when an open-air food court will feature regional vendors ready to serve up their specialties, including wood-fired pizza, sweet and savory crepes, Jamaican chicken and pork, meat and vegetarian tacos, dipped roast beef sandwiches, fresh green salads and fest-favorite hamburgers, hot dogs and brats. Desserts will include strawberry shortcake and smoothies, French pastries, baklava, ice cream bars and gluten-free brownies.

Charlie Knower, one of the events organizers, said attendance at the festival is growing incrementally. Last year, 3,500 people attended the event. It was the biggest year ever.

Knower said organizers are planning for the same number this year. The first festival drew 500 people.

Its very weather dependent, he said. Last year we had 75-degree weather. Weve had some intense heat, but no rain.

Knower said the idea for the music festival came to his mind while walking past the Vernon County Courthouse and Eckhart Park in the fall of 2010

I live near the courthouse, he said. I grew up here (in Viroqua). My dad sang in quartets and with barber-shoppers and was in the city band. I thought it would be nice to put music back in the park. That was the beginning.

Knower said one of the reasons the festival remains popular is free admission, which removes a barrier, and the eclectic mix of music.

A lot of people now plan family trips back to Viroqua around it. We get people from La Crosse, Winona, across the state and Milwaukee.

About 30 people volunteer to help put on the festival, and there is always a need for more. Anyone interested in helping, may contact Knower at 608-620-8785 or charlie.knower@gmail.com.

Festival lineup

Los Texmaniacs bring their style to Viroqua as one of the headline acts for the sixth-annual event. The Grammy Award-winning Los Texmaniacs provides an evolving blend of Texas roots music, including western swing and conjunto, with elements of rock n roll and jazz in the mix.

The group, which has cut several albums for Smithsonian Folkways records, has appeared on Austin City Limits and Prairie Home Companion, and has traveled the globe far and wide, including to China, Russia, Italy and Argentina. They have been on four tours abroad to entertain troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Its exciting and eminently dance-able music, showcasing world class masters of their instruments. We are thrilled to have this amazing band, all the way from San Antonio, on the bill this year, said Joel Johnson, one of the events organizers. The Texmaniacs performance is at 6:30 p.m.

The event opens on a mellow note at 1 p.m. with the Laurels String Quartet, a Minneapolis-based classical music ensemble. In addition to their command of a vast classical repertoire, for the past several years the group has provided backup for scores of pop and rock performers.

The energy will go up a notch at 2:15 p.m., when the Cafe Accordion Orchestra brings a mix full of French flare, Latin heat and Bohemian attitude, with gypsy-influenced valse musette, along with swing, tangos, cha chas and rumbas.

High energy continues on the dance floor at 4:30 p.m. when Bailey Dee and Her Late Nite Bait, a staple of the Chicago music scene, take the stage. Described as having the ferocity of a young Etta James, Dee and her ensemble will be letting loose with a rich soul/rhythm and blues and pre-1960s rock n roll repertoire.

The festival closes at 8:30 p.m. with the Brother Brothers, who have been described as the closest thing you can find to Simon and Garfunkel in this century. Adam Moss plays the fiddle, and David Moss the cello.

Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets, as there is plenty of open space, but limited formal seating. More information about the festival is available at driftlessmusicfestival.com.
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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday by 4-to-1 to finance the L.A. Justice Fund, a legal defense fund for undocumented immigrants in removal proceedings. With the vote, Los Angeles joined a growing number of jurisdictions, including New York City, San Francisco, Sacramento and Austin, that provide publicly funded attorneys to deportation defendants.

Unlike in the criminal courts, in immigration court, defendants have no guaranteed right to a lawyer. Those who cannot afford private counsel are left to themselves to navigate a body of law that is often compared to the tax code in its level of complexity.

The human cost of that system is enormous. Many of the defendants who enter immigration courts on a daily basis have fled persecution or gang violence in their home countries, and face the prospect of being murdered, raped, or conscripted into gangs if theyre sent back. One former judge described immigration court dockets as death penalty cases heard in traffic court settings.

The L.A. Justice Fund, which, pending a vote by City Council, will comprise contributions from the city, county, and private foundations, will provide attorneys to some of those defendants. The $10 million fund, however, will not be large enough to cover everyone in need, and the Board of Supervisors has barred one segment of immigrants from accessing it outright: those with convictions (including those under appeal) for what the California Penal Code defines as violent felonies.

According to immigration attorneys, the violent part of the violent felonies label can be misleading. Domestic violence victims, for instance, are routinely charged with assault for defending themselves against their abusive partners. In other cases, undocumented defendants might find themselves saddled with a violent felony conviction after feeling compelled to plea up to a more serious but immigration-safe charge when accepting a lesser charge would have triggered automatic deportation.

The carve-out that bars immigrants with this class of convictions from accessing the L.A. Justice Fund, immigration lawyers argue, will preclude the kind of careful adjudication necessary to determine who is truly a threat to public safety and who merely became ensnared in the contradictions of the criminal justice system. No Angeleno should face detention and deportation without a lawyer by their side, said Lindsay Toczylowski, Executive Director of Immigrant Defenders Law Center. This carve-out reinforces the inequities that are already part of the criminal justice and immigration systems, said Andres Kwon, an attorney with the ACLU of Southern California.

Surprisingly, the main proponent of the carve-out on the Board of Supervisors is one of the most storied champions of immigrants in Los Angeles: former Congresswoman and Labor Secretary (and current Supervisor) Hilda Solis.

For months, immigrant rights groups such as the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and civil rights activists, including attorneys with the ACLU and Public Counsel, have urged Solis to remove the carve-out from the measure, arguing that due process means nothing without universal access to legal representation.

But Solis has refused to budge. Writing in The Huffington Post on Monday, she even went so far as to call her detractors arguments for universal representation racist:

I refuse to buy into the racist belief that a minority of undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of a felony are the same as those who live and work in this country, trying to create a better life for themselves and their families. That is something this President does.

But its the notion that immigrants can be sorted into these two neat, mutually exclusive categoriesthose who have been convicted of a felony and those trying to create a better life for themselves and their families that strikes many immigrant rights advocates as something this President does.

Categorizing anyone with a felony conviction as someone whos not a hard-working family person, and as someone who should be forever defined by whatever they were convicted of, I just think that its very simplistic, said Kwon, in a way that completely overlooks the holistic nature of peoples lives and relationships, as well as the complicated realities of the criminal justice system.

She continues to feed into this rhetoric that immigrants are criminalsthe rhetoric of anti-immigration forces, including Donald Trump, said Carlos Amador, Organizing Director with the California Immigrant Policy Center, speaking of Solis.

At City Hall, council members are considering language for the citys contribution to the L.A. Justice Fund that, like the County measure, includes a carve-out, but with additional language that would allow the lawyers hired under the fund to override the exemption if a clients case for remaining in the country was particularly strong.

We still hope that the city comes up with a policy that reflects the values of this community, said Emi MacLean, an attorney with NDLON. Los Angeles should be leading the country, not following.

The citys Budget and Finance committee voted Monday to provide an initial $1 million to the fund; the full council will meet to resolve the eligibility question on Friday.

With the Supervisors vote on Tuesday, that question has been settled at the county level. Unfortunately, Toczylowski told LAist, by excluding some from eligibility for the L.A. Justice Fund, the Board of Supervisors is saying that due process is not a right to which all our community members are entitled.

Related: Will The L.A. Justice Fund Throw 'Bad Hombres' Under The Bus?

Leighton Woodhouse is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. His print stories have appeared in The Intercept, Gawker, The New Republic, VICE News, Newsweek, Fusion, The Nation, Salon, and The Awl. He has directed short documentaries for The Intercept, The Nation, and Participant Media, as well as a feature documentary for the Fusion Network. He has a Masters Degree in Sociology from UC Berkeley.
While the biggest names in a movie tend to score top billing, a film's overall success often depends on the chemistry of the entire ensemble rather than just one or two stars.
On Nov. 1, Linn Benton Food Shares warehouse in Tangent received two truckloads of food and household supplies arranged by the local branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
BELLEVUE  As Camille McNeill stood in her south Bellevue kitchen Sunday morning, there was nothing between her and the blue sky and puffy clouds above. Her neighbors chicken ran around her insulation-coated living room, darting under the couch every time she tried to grab it. Debris blew around her backyard.

McNeill could only shake her head. The roof was gone, the fence was gone, the back porch ripped away by Fridays tornadic storm. But she was alive.

God said, I still have plans ... for you, kid,  McNeill said.

McNeill was among the many along the Nebraska-Iowa and Kansas-Missouri borders who spent Sunday assessing damage, cleaning up and coming to terms with the potentially lasting impact of the storm.

Six tornadoes touched down in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa on Friday evening, according to the National Weather Service. Three caused significant damage, with the strongest being the EF2 (winds up to 135 mph) that struck Bellevue and moved across the community before dissipating in Glenwood, Iowa. A damaging EF1 (winds up to 110 mph) struck Offutt Air Force Base. Also significant was the EF1 that hit in the Hoskins area, damaging farmsteads. No serious damage occurred during the weak tornadoes (winds of 85 mph or less) that touched down on the East Campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and near Madison and Meadow Grove, Nebraska.

But more widespread damage was caused by the powerful straight-line winds that raked across the region, said Becky Kern, meteorologist with the weather service. There were numerous confirmed reports of winds greater than 80 mph. Wind gusts that were the equivalent of an EF1 were recorded, including a gust of 104 mph in southwest Omaha. The strongest confirmed straight-line gust was 110 mph near Fremont, she said.

The EF2 that barreled through parts of Bellevue tore off roofs like McNeills, leveled homes, snapped trees, crushed cars, downed hundreds of power poles and high-voltage structures and ripped down several miles of utility lines.

On Sunday night, fewer than 9,000 Omaha Public Power District customers were still without power, down from a peak of about 76,000. Most outages were concentrated in Sarpy, Douglas and CassCounties. OPPD said it hoped to restore 99 percent of locked-out circuits by Monday, with 50 to 100 customers likely to take longer, perhaps until Wednesday night.

A few injuries were reported, but there has been no indication that any were serious.

Several people said it was miraculous that no one was hurt in Bellevue, particularly in McNeills neighborhood, where several houses were destroyed.

Its one thing to see on television, said Steven Mueller, who lives on McNeills street, Meadowlark Lane. But now youre living across the street from that.

A mangled pile of debris in Muellers yard contained his grill, a neighbors grill, lawn furniture, pieces of random swing sets and fencing. Tree branches were scattered across the street and sidewalks. Neighbors took breaks from the recovery efforts, gathering in driveways and staring in disbelief at the destruction. A pile of bottled water and toiletries sat on the corner.

The cleanup effort will take months, some residents said.

Even McNeills home, which is still standing, will take at least six months of work before she can move back in.

On Friday evening, McNeills 23-year-old daughter was visiting from Kansas. McNeill was making chili, and then the sky turned green. The sirens wailed briefly, then stopped. The lights flickered.

By the time they began heading to the basement, it was too late. McNeill watched as her back porch lifted off the ground. The roof was blowing off, and insulation started swirling around the inside of the house. She gathered her daughter, her dogs and her roommate, and the group hunkered down in the master bedroom closet.

It was very scary, she said. It felt like a freight train.

They stayed in the closet until neighbors kicked in a door and retrieved them after the tornado passed. When McNeill emerged, there was a rainbow.

We walked out of here, dogs and all, McNeill said Sunday. Even her daughters guinea pigs were OK  they somehow rode out the storm in their cage on the side of the house that was hardest hit. And McNeills pot of chili is still on the stove. Its just upside down.

It was a blessing we all survived this, she said.

Just across the street, on 20th Street and Meadowlark Lane, three houses were almost completely leveled. A few kind strangers cleaned up debris in the yards  they had seen the devastation on Facebook and came from the other side of Bellevue to help.

One of those houses had been the home of Nikki Barber and her husband, Joshua, for one night before it was destroyed by the tornado. The couple had just taken ownership of it, and their 18-month-old twin boys didnt even get a chance to sleep in their new house before the tornado claimed it.

The timing was horrible, Barber said Sunday. She said she didnt know if they would rebuild. That would be a long, difficult undertaking, especially with two little kids.

On Friday, their boys were with Barbers mother when the tornado hit. Barber and her husband had just officially moved into their new house, a house Barber said was exactly what they wanted. They didnt have Internet hooked up yet, so they didnt know how bad things were getting outside.

Barbers mom called and said she was taking the boys to her basement. Barber and her husband looked out the back door and saw a trampoline flying through the yard.

We need to get downstairs now, her husband yelled.

They ran. Seconds after they flung themselves into a storage room, the tornado hit their house. They felt a change in pressure and heard water spraying in. When it was over, they walked up the stairs and saw the sky overhead.

Barber remembers her husband looking out the window and saying, Someone elses house is in our yard.

Once we finally got out of the house, we realized it was actually the entire second floor of our own house and belongings in our yard, Barber said.

But the Barbers are getting some help. One of her co-workers at Nebraska Families Collaborative started a GoFundMe page for the family that raised more than $6,500 in one day.

I was so humbled by the offer, Barber said, and never imagined so many would support us.

A few miles away, at Offutt Air Force Base, cleanup efforts wore on. The base, where power was restored by Sunday, saw significant damage to homes and facilities. The 55th Wing Legal Office was set to open at 7:30 a.m. Monday so base personnel could begin filing claims, a press release said. Child Development Center One, the YouthCenter and the Offutt Field House were to remain closed today (Monday).

The City of Omahas sewage treatment plant in Bellevue remained disabled, pumping untreated sewage into the Missouri River on Sunday evening, as it was still without power, said Jim Theiler, an Omaha Public Works environmental assistant director. OPPD estimates that the plant wont get power back until Tuesday.

South of Springfield, in Villa Springs, residents were lugging giant branches onto truck beds, raking up smaller branches and cutting down remnants of trees that were now a liability.

Alan Hans was on day two of cleanup efforts at his dads house, which sits on the lake near 132nd Street and Buffalo Road. His dads garage door got sucked in by the wind, and the roof blew off, Hans said.

Hans lives a few doors down and builds houses for a living. He said he hoped to have the garage sealed up within a week. But the area will never completely be back to the way it was  too many trees were lost, he said.

Ive never seen a storm like this before.

BH News Service writer Nancy Gaarder contributed to this report.
LEXINGTON  A story about litter was used to make the point that people generally notice and react as they are conditioned.

Nebraska Assistant Attorney General Glen Parks said he lived in India for a period of nine years. He recalled an incident of eating street food with friends and how afterward his friends threw the leftover packaging on the ground with no thought.

"They literally didnt see it," he said. People in that country are trained not to see litter and it doesnt bother them despite things being so dirty.

Parks said if someone in Nebraska saw someone throw something down while at the local park, they might confront the offender and demand it be picked up or simply pick it up to dispose of it. Either way, the person who sees the litter notices there is litter in a way that bothers them.

"Thats what we need to do about (human) trafficking, create awareness" said Parks, "Thats my long term dream for all of Nebraska."

Human Trafficking was the topic of a Friday night presentation that drew a crowd of about 50 people to Parkview Baptist Church.

Parks is the task force coordinator for the Nebraska Human Trafficking Task Force, a coalition formed in 2015 to bring together law enforcement, service providers and community partners to address the commercial sex market and labor trafficking.

"You can order a person, like you order a pizza," said Parks.

"This is a comprehensive problem that is going to take a comprehensive solution," said Parks.

He said as more cases are prosecuted in Nebraska, people will grow in their understanding of the scope of the problem, that it is real and not a "pretend problem."

Parks said even with his background of combating human trafficking overseas he didnt realize how much of an issue it was in Nebraska, until he returned to the state.

"I didnt realize it was a systemic problem in Nebraska," he said.

He said law enforcement officers are being trained on how to recognize someone who might be being trafficked so they can initiate an investigation. The patrolman who pulls over a driver with three inappropriately dressed and unrelated teenage girls should be suspicious and needs somewhere for those girls to go while the case is being investigated, which is where service providers come in, said Parks.

Parks said it will take private money to combat the problem, noting that the service side is not funded through tax dollars. He said the biggest gap is long term care.

"Its a work in progress. I dont pretend that we have it worked out all across the state," he said, noting the state is divided into six regions.

A tasteful and impactful 20-minute video, Chosen, was shown at the event, organized by Leticia Bonifas, director of Central Nebraska Human Trafficking and Immigration Outreach. The video depicts how two American teens were targeted and pulled into human trafficking.

Often someone acting as a friend, or boyfriend, coaxes a girl to do something compromising and then uses fear and shame to distance the victim from family and friends and to keep the victim compliant. There might be threats of harm to family members or threats to release a video.

Bonifas said trafficking victims can be women and men, as well as those who entrap them. She said her organization has helped 10 women and two men in Dawson County since January.

Arlington High School history teacher, Barry Jurgensen, who in 2014 was named Nebraska History Teacher of the Year by the Nebraska Department of Education, told how he was inspired to walk across the state of Nebraska to raise awareness regarding human trafficking.

Jurgensens journey began on June 2 in Omaha and will end in Scottsbluff on June 28.

Jurgensen did a similar walk last year, following the escape route of two slave girls, Eliza Grayson and Celia, brought to Nebraska by Stephen Nuckolls  the person for whom Nuckolls county is named.

Eliza Grayson and Celia escaped to freedom Nov. 26, 1858 as they made their way from Nebraska to Chicago with the help of John Williamson.

Jurgensen said he became inspired to look into modern slavery, otherwise known as human trafficking, while working with history students doing research to nominate sites associated with the Underground Railroad to the National Park Services Network to Freedom.

In addition to slaves being used sexually, Jurgensen found cases which led to the White Slave Traffic Act passed by Congress in 1910, also known as the Mann Act. There was a silent movie on the topic made in 1913.

Jurgensen said it was interesting to learn of the code words used in the 1900s, knowing that traffickers today use emojis.

He said he was surprised to learn that Mark Twain wrote about the topic in the 1900s.

A book by Jane Addams, published in 1912, A New Conscious and an Ancient Evil, caught Jurgensens interest because the author recommended children be taught about hygiene, healthy relationships and biology in public school as a means of protecting them from kidnapping and sex labor or prostitution. Those topics, however, met resistance from parents and were never implemented.

Jurgensen said history and literature are keys to helping people realize what slavery is and to recognize social injustice. He said instead of a sex education topic, prevention could be part of a history curriculum.

"Its not only the crime, but its also the way we fight it, thats being repeated," said Jurgensen.

He said he agrees with Jane Addams statement that "the only way it will be successful is if everyone is working together."

Jurgensen said a school event brought together multiple organizations formed to address the problem such as Set Me Free, the Nebraska Coalition Against Human Trafficking, Ive Got a Name, Rejuvenated Woman and Central Nebraska Human Trafficking and Immigration Outreach, but it was the first time the organizations had been together.

"All these groups need to be working together across the board," said Jurgensen. He is hopeful that students can be empowered to act in making a difference.

Jurgensen said he is walking to talk to as many people as possible. "Walking is the best way to get to know real people. It is the best way to start a dialogue with people. Its a priceless experience."

Parks said the 2017 Nebraska Legislature increased the penalties for those involved in trafficking and added the verb "soliciting" to the list of prohibited and prosecutable actions. He said state senators were unified in their action in passing the law, with not a single vote against it, even with the inclusion of mandatory minimum penalties.

Parks urged those who have suspicions to call local law enforcement to make a report. If it is an emergency, such as screaming or hair pulling, call 911. More subtle suspicious should also be reported to local law enforcement or through dialing 1-888-373-7888. A way to remember the number is to divide it differently 888-3737-888. "Dont ere on the side of not calling," said Parks.

Bonifas encouraged people to be observant, so they could report as many details as possible  things like what a person is wearing, including shoes, physical characteristics who they are with and a vehicle license plate number.

"Get every detail you can get, but do not approach," advised Bonifas.

Bob Holbrook, a former Lexington resident now living in Grand Island, told of a phone call he received in May from a family member telling him that his great-niece, a 14-year-old, was missing in Las Vegas. She had been with her mother, sister and boyfriend in an M&M store. She stepped outside by herself while the others were making a purchase and was gone by the time the others exited the store.

Holbrook flew to Las Vegas and began walking the streets in search of the girl, surveying the strip and an older part of Law Vegas with many abandoned buildings.

His efforts led him to meet federal agents who work the area, who advised there are certain areas that are too dangerous for them to approach alone.

Holbrook said he prayed a lot asking that God would protect him, guide him and watch over him, and also that his niece would be found.

The Metro Task Force spotted her and grabbed her and returned her to her family within days of when she went missing. She was found with two other girls, one who had reportedly been on the streets for three years and one for seven years.

"The things I seen, I dont ever want to go back to Vegas," said Holbrook.
COZAD - The Robert Henri Museum hosted a reception for its June Artist-In-Residence, Pamela Casarez of Greeley, Colo., on Friday, June 16.

Casarez started her professional art career in 2000. She said one of the first art workshops she took was guided by the art and teachings of Robert Henri.

"Ive always liked Henri. Im a big admirer of his work," she said.

Her biography on her web site, www.pamelacasarez.com, tells that she graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design with a Master of Fine Arts in June of 2016.

A series of paintings by Casarez explore the relationships between grazing animals and the landscape.

"My career as an artist started with plain air painting so returning to the painted landscape is a natural progression of my work. I look forward to a lifetime of exploring the majestic landscapes of my new home," Casarez is quoted as saying on her web site.

Originally from Indiana, Casarez said she moved to Colorado for family reasons. When she realized that the Henri Museum was on the say, she jumped at the opportunity to visit it and ultimately to become an artist-in-residence, she said.

"To see where he grew up; he was from a small town. It shows that an artist doesnt have to come from a place like New York City," Casarez said.

As an artist, Casarez said she is known for painting landscapes, with most pieces depicting land in the western United States.

Paintings for sale at the Henri Museum include landscapes of the southwest with grazing animals in the foreground, mountains in the background, horses and buffalo and paintings of cowboys and cowgirls.

Casarez said Henris art philosophy, shown in the impact of his art, is why he is a role model for other artists.

"He influences a lot of artists. He talks about not painting a person but the persons spirit," she said.

Casarez is currently working on finishing an oil on canvas painting of the railroad tracks in Cozad from the viaduct looking west.

Caroline Gaudreault, executive director of the Robert Henri Museum, said the railroad track painting by Casarez would be raffled off at the Robert Henri Art Festival at the museum on Saturday, June 24. Raffle tickets cost $5 per ticket.
LEXINGTON  An attempt to make a traffic stop for a speeding violation led to a high speed chase through three counties on Tuesday.

Trooper John Wagner of the Nebraska State Patrol out of Holdrege said he observed a pickup speeding on Highway 6, just east of the Oxford junction, and attempted to make a stop. The driver of the pickup turned onto a gravel road and a chase ensued.

Wagner said the pursuit lasted for a little over a half hour and included Harlan, Furnas and Gosper counties with speeds up to 100 miles per hour on gravel roads.

He said once the vehicle entered GosperCounty the pursuit was terminated and law enforcement set up a perimeter.

The pickup was located in a garage in a rural area. Two suspects were arrested and a third was cited and released.

The driver, 37-year-old Leon Jackson Jr. of Arkansas City, Kan. was arrested for operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest, obstruction of justice, speeding, stop sign violation and careless driving. He was booked into the Dawson County Jail at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 20.

Wagner said more charges are pending in Harlan and Furnas counties.

Rachelle Ward, 47, of Wellington, Kan. was arrested for obstruction of justice and booked into the Dawson County Jail at 2:21 p.m. on Tuesday, June 20.

An additional passenger in the vehicle, Dusty Trusdale, 32, of Wichita, Kan. was cited for obstruction of justice and released. Wagner said this subjects cooperation led to a citation rather than an arrest.

Wagner said the Nebraska State Patrol was assisted by the Gosper County Sheriffs Office and the Phelps County Sheriffs Office. The Nebraska State Patrol canine division and air wing division also assisted in the incident.


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Chinas relations with Portugal are in the best period of their history and could be reinforced by the Chinese governments Belt and Road initiative, in which Portugal is an important partner, said the Chinese ambassador in Lisbon.

Ambassador Cai Run speaking at the Business Opportunities Forum between Portugal, China and Macau, on Monday in Lisbon, organised by the Macau Institute for Trade and Investment the Promotion (IPIM), the China Council for Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the Portuguese Agency for Foreign Investment and Trade (AICEP).

This historic period in bilateral relations, said Cai Run, is based on high-level bilateral contacts, mutual political trust, pragmatic and fruitful cooperation, close communication and coordination in key international and regional affairs, as well as contact between the people of the two countries.

The results are felt at a trade level, with two-way exchanges amounting to 5.8 billion euros, 29 percent more than in the same period of last year, and Chinas total investment in Portugal exceeding 6 billion euros by the end of 2016, a flow that grows steadily and will benefit from the direct air link between Beijing and Lisbon, starting this summer.

The recent Forum on the Belt and Road initiative, Cai Run said, defined directions and identified projects to be implemented and, as Portugal is responsible for the page of the great maritime era, it is an important partner in the initiative.

Kang Wen, director-general of the Ministry of Commerce of China for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, told about 200 business people about the enthusiasm felt for the initiative, which is open to all, offering allowing great benefits through concerted interests and cooperation.

Zhang Wei, the vice-president of the CCPIT, also stressed the importance of the Belt and Road initiative and the opportunities it provides, particularly in tourism to Portugal, given that China will soon have 700 million tourists taking foreign holidays.

Antonio Silva, a member of AICEP, said he wanted to encourage Portuguese companies to establish partnerships with Chinese companies, pointing to potential sectors such as transport, specifically the port of Sines, but also renewable energy, the economy of the sea and innovation.

According to Jorge Costa Oliveira, the Portuguese secretary of state for internationalization nowadays there is, enormous potential in terms of tripartite business cooperation, especially in other geographies, particularly in Europe, Latin America or Africa, where Portugal has important political relationships. MDT/Macauhub
Officials taking part in the third edition of the Mayors Visiting Program were yesterday offered fresh insights regarding the latest developments in Macau in relation to tourism, cultural affairs and economic and trade matters. According to a statement issued by the Government Information Bureau, the officials had opportunities to arrive at a better understanding of these topics via exchange sessions with the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong and the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, among others. The third edition of the Mayors Visiting Program involved civic leaders from six neighboring countries  i.e. Vietnam, Kazakhstan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia  and from five cities on the mainland.

IACM willing to publicize details on road construction

Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) president Jose Tavares says IACM is willing to publicize information about all road construction projects. We are very willing to study the publicizing [of the information], said Tavares, adding that releasing such details to the public is not difficult. Tavares said that IACM and the Transport Bureau (DSAT) have agreed to organize joint press conferences whenever important engineering projects will be conducted in Macau, so as to explain the details of the projects to the public. Tavares hopes that this initiative will help the public eventually gain insight into the work done by all departments. He added that the large number of road construction projects is caused by accelerated urban development.

First Macau Interactive Area opens in Zhongshan

The first Macau Interactive Area is now open in Zhongshan city, Guangdong. Supported by the Macau and Zhongshan governments and the Macau Investment and Development Limited, the economic zone is a one-stop platform for youth entrepreneurship and innovation. Young entrepreneurs and enterprises from both Macau and Zhongshan can use the area as a platform to expand their businesses. The area will provide more opportunities to youth from both regions and help them keep pace with Chinas rapid development.

Fringe Festival open for proposals

The 17th Macao City Fringe Festival, organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), will be held next January. The event will accept proposals for programs and performance venues until July 21. According to a statement issued by the IC, the event brings all kinds of artistic and creative works to the city, breaking the barriers of the traditional performance venues. All artists and local associations registered with the Identification Services Bureau can apply. The shows can be local or site-specific art projects, overseas works or cross-regional collaborations in any medium. For the upcoming edition, the organizers have invited the general public to suggest possible performance venues, such as small or large stores, private spaces and any other available areas.

General Council of Macao Archives discusses new unit

The General Council of the Macao Archives held its first meeting this year on June 9 to discuss the possible creation of a dedicated records management unit for all public departments, and the allocation of human resources for such a unit. Leung Hio Ming, president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, stated during the meeting that records are important evidence for public departments and services. Maria Lau from the Macao Archives also presented plans for the unit and the allocation of human resources. Last year, the council approved the draft of a white paper, titled Retention Schedule for Common Administrative Records, about optimizing the management of government records. The council is gradually working toward building a comprehensive records management system in Macau.
A photo exhibition depicting the historic center of Macau will be inaugurated on Friday at the Vila Flor Palace in Guimaraes, Portugal. The exhibition features more than 90 photographs of world heritage-listed sites taken by Macau photographer Chan Hin Io, revealing nuances in local cultural heritage.

According to a statement by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Chan Hin Io has in recent years been devoted to capturing the citys landscapes, collecting several photography awards. His published works include Memories of the Old Crafts and Trades in Macau, and Where the World Heritage Shines  Photographs of the Historic Centre of Macau and Picturesque Beauty of the Landscape.

The photography works in this exhibition offer new perspectives of the citys World Heritage sites, including photographs taken from high altitude and long distance, through different angles and shooting times, added the ICs statement.

The exhibition will be displayed from June 23 to August 12 in Guimaraes before traveling to Porto. It is jointly organized by the IC, the Municipality of Guimaraes and the Vila Flor Cultural Centre.

Another Macau-themed exhibition is being displayed in the municipality of Guimaraes. Shanghai Portuguese Refugees in Macau (1937-1964), organized by the Macao Archives, is being shown at the Alfredo Pimenta Municipal Archives of the Municipality of Guimaraes until September.
The organizing committee of the International Film Festival & Awards  Macau (IFFAM) hosted a cocktail reception in Shanghai on Monday to promote its next edition during the 20th Shanghai International Film Festival.

The Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said in a press release that nearly 200 film companies and media agencies attended the cocktail reception at the Crowne Plaza Shanghai.

At the reception, the committees of both the Macau and Shanghai festivals signed a cooperative agreement to develop a mechanism to identify promising films and investment projects, creating exchange opportunities for both cities film industries.

The agreement will bridge industry professionals from both sides and in turn encourage more film professionals to come to Macau, said MGTO deputy director Cecilia Tse.

Wang Ye, deputy general manager of Shanghai International Film & TV Festivals Co. Ltd., agreed. We are aimed at establishing a system that bridges [the] industry insiders, films and venture capital of both places [] Macau is one of Chinas most fascinating cities. Thats why Shanghai International Film Festival is pleased to partner up with IFFAM.

Lorna Tee, head of festival management, said this years artistic director would be Mike Goodridge. For the past five years, Goodridge has served as the chief executive officer of Protagonist Pictures, a film finance, production and sales company.

Tee also announced this years festival talent ambassador, Jeremy Renner. Renner received a Best Actor nomination at the 82nd Academy Awards for his critically acclaimed performance in The Hurt Locker, and is widely known for his role as Hawkeye in the Marvel blockbusters.

The 20th Shanghai International Film Festival will be held from June 17 to 26, while the second IFFAM will take place from December 8 to 14.
One of Chinas most prominent internet tycoons is wading into a famously contentious political arena.

In an unusual move, Tencent Holdings Ltd.s billionaire founder Pony Ma has chosen to convene a summit of government officials and business chieftains in Hong Kong days before the 20th anniversary of its return to China. The head of the countrys biggest corporation wants to fire up a debate about an issue thats fomented protests and fears about Beijings agenda: how to entwine the self-run former British colony with the mainland.

This July 1  a lightning-rod for anti-Chinese demonstrations as well as patriotic displays  marks the first time Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit the city since taking office. The normally publicity-shy Ma has chosen this juncture to again tout his proposal of setting up a Silicon Valley-like haven for technology and innovation linking Hong Kong and Macau with the southern province of Guangdong, Tencents home base.

Yesterdays conference thrusts influential Chinese business people and investors alongside some of the Hong Kong property moguls that dominate the local economy. In one camp: Ma, Hillhouse Capital CEO Zhang Lei and Wang Wei, Chinas fourth richest man; in the other, New World Development Co. vice chairman Adrian Cheng and Henderson China Chairman Peter Lee. It will feature discussions on the one country, two systems framework that underpins Hong Kongs autonomy  an assurance some critics say is increasingly under threat.

Our Greater Bay Area is different in one big way from other Bay Areas: we have one-country two-systems, Ma told hundreds of people including government officials, academics and investors. We have more than 100 years of segregation and now we are entwining.

One of the biggest challenges is that young people nowadays arent necessarily familiar with each other, he said. There are rifts, some are recalcitrant and dont want to open their hearts.

Temperatures tend to run high around July 1 in a city where opinions run the gamut from a need for total self-determination to full acceptance of central control. Ma risks stirring such sentiments at a time observers have grown increasingly concerned about Beijings influence over business and local government. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founder Jack Mas acquisition of the South China Morning Post last year ignited a debate about Chinese control of the citys media.

Proposals to unify the Pearl River Delta have already run into resistance: critics say initial plans for Hong Kong and mainland Chinese immigration and customs officials to share locations  to speed border crossings  violates the one-country two-systems framework. But the same ideas that provoke outrage in some can arouse the enthusiasm of others. On Tuesday, Otto Lin, a professor with Hong Kong Polytechnic University, proposed onstage that all border controls within the region be eradicated. The conference hall erupted in applause.

The typical move is just to keep your head down ahead of July 1 and the Party Congress, said Andy Mok, managing director for Beijing-based internet consultancy Red Pagoda Resources, referring to a leadership reshuffle later this year. It could be that Tencent sees this as an internal strategic move to strengthen its dominance in gaming, finance, and it also creates a symbolic meaning of leadership, he said, calling Mas effort a bold move.

Mas emergence into the spotlight is highly unusual for a Chinese entrepreneur who shuns media appearances and interviews. He graces at most a couple high- profile events a year, at which he consistently refrains from extensive public pronouncements. It reflects how a new generation of Chinese tech tycoons are fast becoming de-facto ambassadors for their country. Jack Ma is among the most assured of his cohort, jetting around the world to plug his vision of helping small businesses thrive.

Xi has identified the internet as one of the most important sectors for official oversight. Hes reminded the countrys technology parvenus to demonstrate positive energy in purifying cyberspace and called for regular contact with new media representatives to build support for the partys agenda.

Pony Mas own company is best known for social media phenomenon WeChat, a service that helps 900 million-plus users with everything from messaging and gaming to ordering food. The conglomerate built around it now runs news portals, Hollywood movie production and distribution, online book stores and games including Clash of Clans. Ma is Chinas third richest man with a net worth of USD28.5 billion.

Ma first publicly outlined his vision of a Chinese Bay Area during an annual March legislative meeting in Beijing. While details remain vague, his suggestion has now been written into Chinas government work report, and broaches the idea of twinning Hong Kongs capital and financial muscle with the manufacturing prowess of Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta region. Ma said that could help the long-term stability and prosperity of Hong Kong and Macau.

Yesterday, Ma urged Chinas government to enact tax- and immigration-friendly policies that make it easier to attract highly skilled workers, by letting them move freely across the border and enjoy tax benefits.

Hong Kong routinely ranks among the worlds top business destinations but is facing competition from Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Hong Kongs share of Chinese gross domestic product has fallen to about 3 percent from about 18 percent since the British handover 20 years ago.

As property prices soar to world-

beating levels and Wall Street banks get crowded out of local initial public offerings, Hong Kongs leaders point to technological innovation as a way to catalyze growth. Its unclear how Mas vision complements that of the citys own government, which has proposed an 87-hectare park built on swamp land to incubate future tech giants. The idea is that tenants would be close to Shenzhens cheaper manufacturing and innovation, while retaining Hong Kongs legal and business framework and internet freedom, with eased border crossings between the two.

Both grand plans compete with at least 120 so-called tech zones now getting drawn up in regions from Beijing to eastern Hangzhou, all hoping to forge Chinas equivalent of Silicon Valley. And all are vying for talent and capital.

Mas Bay Area project potentially will help with stability, if you look at Silicon Valley as an example, where you create it as base to attract talent and capital from all around the world, Mok said. And it gives you a lot more resources to work with. Lulu Yilun Chen, Bloomberg
The New Macau Association (ANM) hopes to elect two members in the upcoming Legislative Assembly (AL) election, according to its vice president Sulu Sou.

The full list composition is not yet known, although a public scuffle last month resulted in ANM president Scott Chiang announcing his resignation.

The announcement followed a board meeting held to decide the order of candidates to run on the groups election ticket. The results indicated that Sou should head the list, followed by Chiang and then Paul Chan, a former legislator who served a term in office after the 2009 Legislative Assembly election.

However, members of the association anonymously revealed that the results had been modified, with Chiang demoted from the second place on the ticket to the third. Chiang later retracted his intention to resign immediately, saying that he would retain his position until after the September election.

During the official announcement of the groups candidacy yesterday, Sou expressed the conviction that the list would elect two lawmakers in the universal suffrage election, even though former ANM veterans Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San (who split with the association) are running on separate lists.

The New Macau Association is confident. We hope to be able to elect two lawmakers to the Legislative Assembly. We fought over the last two years about many social issues which are relevant to the population. The political reform is one of the questions. Hence we are confident, even if Au Kam San and Ng Kuok Cheong will be individually elected, Sou told Radio Macau.

Paul Chan confirmed that Sulu Sou would lead the list, followed by him. Asked about the controversy surrounding the list during yesterdays press conference. Scott Chiang didnt give a direct answer. One thing is sure. I wont be a candidate. So make your conclusions, he said.
Portuguese association Casa de Portugal (House of Portugal) announced that it has opened a bank account at the BNU to collect donations for victims of the forest fires in central Portugal (Pedrogao Grande), which killed at least 62 people. Many victims were trapped in their cars while attempting to flee from the flames that had spread to the roads.

Association president Amelia Antonio told Radio Macau that the new account will enable those who want to help to do so directly from Macau.

Casa de Portugal deeply regrets and is appalled by what happened. The account that was opened at BNU for assistance is what we can do from a distance to express the solidarity of all of us who are far away but who feel the tragedy that is happening in Portugal, she said.

Interested parties can send contributions to BNU account number 9014444997.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Chui Sai On also expressed his condolences and deep sadness over the loss of lives. He also expressed his solidarity with those who continue to fight the wildfire.

In a letter to Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Monday, Chui said, I am shocked by the many lives claimed by the devastating fires that hit the Pedrogao Grande region of Portugal.

I believe that under your leadership, Mr President, the Portuguese people will be able to face this particularly difficult moment and overcome this dramatic situation.

SCMM donates mop 1.7 million to tragedy victims

The Macau Holy House of Mercy (SCMM) has donated EUR200,000 (MOP1.7 million) to victims of the Pedrogao Grande tragedy. SCMM said in a statement yesterday that the donation was sent to the Portuguese General Union of Holy Houses of Mercy. According to SCMM, the donation should be used to support the victims and the rehabilitation efforts.
Romanias prime minister and his government were ousted yesterday in a no-confidence vote submitted by members of his own party.

A total of 241 lawmakers approved the motion, more than the 233 votes required. The governing Social Democratic Party filed the motion to oust Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, saying that he had failed to implement the partys political agenda.

Grindeanu, in office since January, had refused to resign and rejects the assessment of his performance. He claims powerful party leader Liviu Dragnea wants to replace him with a party loyalist.

This is a sad day for us. The premier did not perform, Dragnea told lawmakers before the vote yesterday. It didnt go badly, it went quite well, but thats not enough.

Dragnea himself is barred from being prime minister because of a 2016 conviction for vote-rigging.

Speaking from the government offices, Grindeanu later said he would remain in office until a new government is installed.

He said it was important we get out of this blockage and send a message to investors and governments all over the world that Romania remains a stable and predictable environment.

After the vote was announced, some Social Democrats hugged each other. The party will now choose a candidate for prime minister who needs to be nominated by President Klaus Iohannis. Talks with the president are scheduled for Monday and Iohannis has the right to refuse a candidate. Parliament then votes to approve the new government. AP
A new auction of rubies mined in Mozambique held in Singapore allowed Montepuez Ruby Mining, Lda to obtain revenues of USD54.8 million, said the company, which is a partnership that is 75 percent owned by Gemfields and the remaining 25 percent by Mozambiques Mwiriti. Lda.

The price reached an average of $61 per carat, with 895,848 carats being purchased out of just over one million put up for sale by the company, which has a mining concession in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique.

This was the eighth Mozambican ruby auction by the company since June 2014, with accumulated revenues of $280 million.

This sale will net the Mozambican state $5.48 million as a result of levying the production tax, which is currently 10 percent, according to the Mozambican press.

London-based Gemfields is currently being disputed by Chinese group Fosun International through Fosun Gold and Pallinghurst Resources, which have submitted bids to buy the company.

Pallinghurst Resources, whose proposal was announced on 19 May, is, however, already the main shareholder of Gemfields, holding a direct shareholding of about 47 percent of the companys capital. MDT/Macauhub
Most Americans say federal courts are acting properly in blocking President Donald Trumps travel ban, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Two versions of the travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries have been put on hold by federal courts. Trump says the ban is necessary to keep would-be terrorists from traveling to the United States. Opponents, including some state officials, argue that it is intended to keep Muslims out.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans say the courts have acted correctly by blocking the travel ban from taking effect, while 39 percent say the judges are wrongly interfering. The poll shows a sharp partisan divide: 82 percent of Democrats say the courts acted rightly, while 73 percent of Republicans say theyre wrongly interfering. Among independents, 56 percent agree with the courts.

From the beginning President Trump said, even before the election, that he intended to ban Muslims, not that he intended to ban terrorists but Muslims, said Nick Hardy, 54, an independent voter who said he leans Democratic. Thats just not right.

Trump initially signed an executive order in late January that banned people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and Libya from traveling to the United States. That included legal permanent residents. The order also blocked all refugees from being resettled in the United States. The order caused chaos and confusion at airports around the world. Some travelers arriving in the United States were detained before being sent home, and people overseas were blocked from boarding U.S.-bound flights.

The original order was blocked in federal court, and an appeals court later upheld that ruling. A second order that dropped Iraq from the list of affected countries also has been blocked. It also exempted legal U.S. residents from the ban.

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to immediately reinstate the updated ban, saying the U.S. will be safer if it is in place.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month refused to reinstate the executive order, and a three-judge panel said the administration failed to show that blocking citizens from the six nations was needed to protect the U.S. The court also found that the presidents order violated an immigration law prohibiting discrimination based on nationality.

As a candidate, Trump pledged to block Muslims from traveling to the United States until American authorities could get a better handle on vetting visitors and immigrants. Those campaign remarks have been used as evidence of his intention by opponents of the order.

The 4th U.S. Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, also has called Trumps national security concerns an after-the-fact justification for an order steeped in animus and directed at a single religious group.

Sixty-two percent of responders did think trying to protect the United States from security threats was a major reason, while 26 percent thought it was a minor reason and 11 percent thought it was not a reason at all.

On the other hand, 50 percent of people who responded to the AP-NORC poll said they think a desire to prevent Muslims from entering the country was a major reason for the ban, while 20 percent said it was a minor reason. Twenty-eight percent thought it was not a reason.

Those viewpoints also largely broke down along partisan lines. Sixty-four percent of Democrats, 46 percent of independents and 34 percent of Republicans say preventing Muslims from entering the country was a major reason for the travel ban. Eighty-seven percent of Republicans, 70 percent of independents and 41 percent of Democrats say protecting the country from security threats was a major reason.

Rebecca Miller, a 50-year-old

pet care business owner from Tampa, Florida, said she doesnt agree with a lot of what Trump says but supports the travel ban and thinks the courts have wrongly interfered with it. Miller said she votes promises, not party and sees the travel ban as a safety issue.

I think that they want to stop the travel ban based on people claiming a certain religion. I dont think its about religion, its about safety, Miller said. Im very interested to see the ban put into effect and for a couple of years kind of monitor it and see how it goes.

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. Alicia A. Caldwell & Emily Swanson, Washington, AP
The organizers of a trip to North Korea by an American college student who died after being released from prison in a coma say they will no longer take U.S. 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.

Warmbier died in Ohio yesterday [Macau time], days after being released by North Korea.

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 Warmbiers death a tragedy. He told reporters at a daily news briefing that he hopes Pyongyang and Washington could communicate over related issues.

China, North Koreas longtime communist ally and biggest source of economic and diplomatic assistance, provides the largest numbers of tourists to the country by far.

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 Xian. It also offers tours to Iran, Turkmenistan and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in Ukraine, among other locations.

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 wasnt clear how that occurred. Gerry Shih, Beijing, AP
If you want to raise Chinook salmon to migrate to the ocean and return  the goal of most salmon hatcheries  you dont typically put the hatchery 900 miles from the ocean and 6,500 feet in the mountains.

But thats where you will find Idaho Department of Fish and Games Sawtooth Fish Hatchery.

I believe this hatchery is the highest-elevation salmon hatchery in the world, manager Steeve Pomerleau said.

The hatcherys goal is not just to keep Chinook coming back to the central Idaho mountains, its to make them available for anglers. The fishing season for Chinook in the Upper Salmon River opens June 22.

Snow country Chinook

Running a salmon hatchery in the mountains has its advantages and challenges. Stanley is among Idahos most iconic places for its spectacular scenery and abundant recreation, but its a tough place to operate a hatchery, especially in winter.

We spend a lot of time on snow removal, Pomerleau said.

Stanley gets a lot of snow, especially last winter, and temperatures can drop to 40 below zero and stay subfreezing for days, if not weeks.

When temperatures drop during the long, frigid winter, the hatcherys raceways freeze over, which begs a simple question: How do you feed fish in a frozen raceway?

Short answer: You dont. When the waters that cold, fish metabolism slows down and appetite diminishes. Again, that raises challenges because the larger a young salmon is when it leaves the hatchery, the more likely it is to withstand the rigors of migration and safely arrive at the Pacific, which gives it a chance to return as an adult.

Young fish actually lose weight under the ice, and they have a shorter growing season compared with fish raised in warmer water, but they eventually catch up.

In the spring, the fishes growth picks up pretty fast, Pomerleau said.

Young salmon spend about 18 months at the Sawtooth hatchery before being released into the river to start their long migration to the Pacific.

By comparison, rainbow trout raised in the constant 59-degree water at Fish and Games Nampa Fish Hatchery grow upwards of an inch a month and in about six months reach the same 6-inch size as an ocean-ready Chinook smolt.

Cool and clear,

but complicated

The water that feeds the hatchery comes straight from the headwaters of the Salmon River, so its pure and usually cool, but relying on river water has other challenges.

Its a constant battle to keep debris and ice out of the intake. To warm the frigid water coming into the hatchery during winter, 43-degree well water is pumped and mixed in with the river water. Although Stanley is best known for its frigid winters, hatchery managers also have to deal with warm water during summer, so they also use wells to cool the river water.

Outmigrating smolts are at the mercy of nature and river flows. In years of low snowpack, it can be a slow journey that many dont complete. Even in the best years, fewer than 1 percent of the hatcherys smolts that are sent to the ocean return as adults.

Adult Chinook face similar challenges by having to migrate up the Columbia, Snake and Salmon rivers to reach the hatchery. Theyre considered spring Chinook, but their migration is so long that they typically arrive in the Sawtooth Valley in mid-June, roughly the same time their summer-run cousins reach the South Fork of the Salmon River.

There are many things that can happen to these fish when theyre going to the ocean and coming back, Pomerleau said.

This year is shaping up to be a tough one for Idahos salmon. Like most anglers, hatchery managers are concerned about low numbers of Chinook returning from the Pacific, but theyve also weathered lean years in the past.

In 1995, only 19 hatchery and 18 wild fish returned to the fish trap. The highest return of hatchery Chinook at Stanley was in 2008 when 5,200 returned. The hatchery needs about 1,000 returning adults to meet its production goal of 2 million smolts.

Not just Chinook

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service owns the Sawtooth facility, and its funded by Bonneville Power Administration for compensation for impacts to salmon and steelhead from the lower Snake River dams. While Chinook are the main focus of the hatchery, its not the only species that returns there. During spring, adult steelhead arrive, and crews have to set up a trap, capture and spawn them.

Its a very tough time of year to be in the water and handling fish, Pomerleau said.

Steelhead are spawned and eggs incubated at the hatchery until theyre eyed, at which point theyre transferred to other hatcheries. The eggs are hatched and the young fish raised to smolts before being trucked back to the Salmon River near the Sawtooth hatchery to be released.

The Sawtooth hatchery also receives catchable rainbow trout from other hatcheries, and they are held there and stocked throughout summer at various waters in the Stanley area.
BOISE  Police are searching nationwide on Wednesday for the owner of an Idaho farmhouse where the badly decomposing bodies of three slain women were discovered earlier this week.

Canyon County Sheriffs Chief Deputy Marv Dashiell says 60-year-old Gerald Michael Mike Bullinger, formerly of Utah, is considered a person of interest in the murders discovered Monday and has been charged with failing to report the deaths. He was last seen in Ogden, Utah about 10 days ago.

We would consider him armed and dangerous at this time, Dashiell said Wednesday morning. If someone does come into contact with him or observe him, we request that they contact local law enforcement immediately.

Bullinger, a pilot, had just purchased the home last month with his wife, 57-year-old Cheryl Baker. The couple was in the process of moving to Idaho from Utah when one of Bullingers relatives called police to ask for a welfare check, saying the family hadnt been heard from for a few days.

The sheriffs deputy responding to the home noticed signs that something was amiss and so began looking around the tiny farmhouse and wooded lot, Dashiell said. Thats when the deputy discovered a gruesome scene: A shed on the property held three badly decomposed bodies, each laying side-by-side and hidden under some sort of covering. Several dead birds and dogs  likely family pets  were also found on the property, and other living animals including a snake, rat and some rabbits were removed during the subsequent investigation.

At first, investigators couldnt determine the gender of the bodies or what killed them, but autopsies completed Tuesday revealed that the three women had each been shot once. The women ranged in age from mid-teens to late 50s, and their ages and statures matched the description of people thought to have been living at the home. Dashiell said investigators are working with family members to try to positively identify the bodies using DNA or other forensics.

The women had been dead for one to two weeks before their remains were found, Dashiell said.

Police are actively seeking Bullinger, Dashiell said, and believe he may be driving a white 2007 Ford Focus with Utah license plates numbered 129UMP. He is about 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs an estimated 240 pounds, with gray hair and brown eyes.

Bakers brother, Byron Baker, told the Idaho Statesman newspaper that the couple was still in the process of moving from Utah to their new home in Caldwell when family members became concerned because they hadnt heard from them. Byron Baker said he thought the couple lived alone, and was unsure who anyone else at the home might be.

I just dont know what to believe, he told the Idaho Statesman on Tuesday. There are four people involved here. Three bodies and someone who covered the bodies.

He also described a strange text his sister had sent to a close friend in Utah around June 11, which read: Take care of my dogs. I dont know if Im coming back.

Cheryl Baker had just retired from her job as an art teacher at GreenWood Charter School in Harrisville, Utah, and Bullinger was a pilot with Classic Aviations Service in Utah before taking on contract work in Idaho.

Neighbors of the Caldwell home reported hearing a gunshot or other noises about 10 days ago, but gunshots arent uncommon in the rural area, where many avid hunters and target shooters live.

One neighbor, Cindy Morrison, said she heard a loud scream early one morning sometime around June 6 to June 10, but wasnt sure at the time whether it was an animal or a woman who made the noise. She didnt hear anything else, and opted not to call police.
RUPERT  Sentencing for a Boise man who police say drove to a Rupert swimming hole to meet a 15-year-old girl for sex was delayed on June 19.

Awfeed Fareed Isho, 26, pleaded guilty to an amended felony charge of child enhancement under a plea agreement with the state.

Isho was originally charged with felony enticing via the internet in an attempt to lure a child under the age of 16.

Prosecutors will recommend for Isho to be placed in the states retained jurisdiction program  a therapeutic program run by the Idaho Department of Correction known as a Rider  with a possible sentence of two to five years in prison if he fails the program.

His defense attorney will ask for Isho to be put on probation.

Minidoka County District Judge Jonathan Brody issued an order to disqualify himself from sentencing in the case during a hearing on Monday.

Minidoka County Prosecutor Lance Stevenson said Brody announced the disqualification after he read a victims statement written by the girl.

He felt another judge should sentence him, Stevenson said.

A new date for the sentencing hearing was not set.

Police said the girl responded to Ishos Craigslist ad for a car for sale, and during an online conversation Isho began to talk the girl into meeting him to have sex. The girl told her mother who turned the conversation over to the police.

Detectives continued the conversation with Isho while pretending to be the girl.

Police set up a meeting with Isho on Aug. 13 at a Rupert canal. When he arrived he was arrested. He told the police he came only to warn the girl about the dangers of meeting men online.
ALBION  For 18 years, Albion Elementary School in Cassia County has received a hardship status from the Idaho Board of Education.

So what does it mean? A state law allows a qualifying school to be a separate attendance unit from its district for funding purposes. Albion qualifies because there are substantially higher per-student costs compared with other Cassia County School District elementary schools.

The status allows Albion Elementary  a three-room schoolhouse with about 45 students from kindergarten through fifth grades  to have enough money to stay up and running.

The reality is that without that funding, it would put a much bigger burden on the district to even keep Albion open, Albion Elementary principal Kevin Lloyd said.

The topic came up last week during the boards meeting in Coeur dAlene. It reviews the status every year, but no action is needed to continue it.

Idahos public school districts get state funding based on average daily attendance.

With just a few dozen students, the school would receive less money than more populated schools. But the fixed costs of running the school  like keeping the lights on and the water running  dont go down just because there are fewer students.

Without the hardship status for Albion, the Cassia County School District would receive $130,000 less for the upcoming fiscal year.

Its a rare situation. Albion is the only hardship school in Idaho, according to the Idaho Department of Education.

Albion Elementary has been a hardship school since 1999. After getting the first one-year approval, state legislators amended state law in 2000 to say the status can continue unless its revoked by the Idaho Board of Education.

Its meant to ensure schools have adequate funding.

That way, smaller, more rural schools that are further away from a school district office (dont) have a negative impact of receiving less funding simply because of their geography, said Debbie Critchfield, spokeswoman for the Cassia County School District and a member of the Idaho Board of Education.

Lloyd has been principal at Albion Elementary for four years, and hes also principal at Declo Elementary School. He and his family live in the community, and hell have three of his own children at Albion Elementary next school year.

When he first came to the town, he was struck by the older school building tucked away in little Albion, he said. Youd never know it was there.

He saw a herd of deer moving through the schoolyard, surrounded by beautiful, picturesque mountains.

Albion has a population of just a few hundred residents and is about 18 miles from Burley, the headquarters for the Cassia County School District.

Lloyd described Albion Elementary as truly a family school where children of different ages and genders play together on the playground.

The hardship status makes it possible to keep rural community schools like Albion open, he said, adding it shows state leaders recognize its value.

Unlike some rural schools, Albion Elementary is seeing its enrollment grow exponentially  from in the 20s four years ago to an estimated 52 children for next school year.

There are two full-time teachers and one-part time teacher.

The demographics of Albion are changing, Lloyd said, with some older residents dying and leaving their homes to their children.

More younger families are also deciding to live in Albion because they see the benefits of it, he said, including a little more elbow space.

There arent any major new businesses coming to the small town, though. And U.S. Census Bureau estimates show only a tiny population increase  from 267 in 2010 to 269 last year.

Before coming to Albion, Lloyd and his family moved from Rexburg to Burley, where they were renting a place to live and he was working.

Theres a striking difference between Albion and larger elementary schools, Lloyd said.

One of them: Each Albion teacher has a few grade levels of students in their classroom  a small school environment thats rare these days.

And its one school leaders hope to preserve for years to come.
TWIN FALLS  Rene LeBlanc has resigned as executive director of South Central Public Health District following a state investigation.

The health districts board accepted the resignation June 14, according to a statement released Wednesday. The Board of Health wishes Mr. LeBlanc the best in his future endeavors.

The reasons for the investigation remain unclear, although employees at the health district have widely complained about LeBlancs leadership.

Linda Montgomery, board chairwoman for the South Central Public Health District, declined to comment Wednesday, saying its a personnel matter.

We wish him well, she said, adding the job description will be posted on the districts website as soon as its compiled.

LeBlanc came under fire in 2013, when former employee Patricia Scott accused him of disciplining her improperly, complaining to the Idaho Personnel Commission.

At the time, Scott and other former employees accused the Health District of mistreating and harassing employees. A court ruled in Scotts favor and ordered the Health District to pay her $394 in withheld pay.

Jeremy St. Clair will remain the acting executive director, a position hes held since the investigation into LeBlanc began last month.

A search for a permanent director will begin immediately, according to the districts statement. SCPHD is committed to the community and all services will continue as usual.

In early May, the health districts board voted to increase St. Clairs salary. He was previously the districts principal financial specialist, and his pay increased from $32.62 an hour to $42.40 an hour for as long as hes interim director.
TWIN FALLS  Police arrested a Kimberly man accused of making fake money as counterfeit money cases have been on the rise the past few months.

Twin Falls Police arrested Ricky Allen Coats on multiple charges related to counterfeiting. Federal charges are under consideration. Twin Falls City Police, with the assistance of the Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office and the United States Secret Service, served a search warrant at 11 a.m. Monday at 3642 N. 3400 E. in Kimberly.

Recent counterfeit cases have involved $20 and $100 notes. Detectives received information from a confidential source that the money was being made at this address.

Detectives seized several printers, computers and paper consistent with counterfeiting. They also found several homemade checks and some counterfeit notes at the residence.

We know that there are still several notes in circulation and would encourage businesses to continue to be diligent in checking to confirm the authenticity of any bills they are receiving as payment, Detective Sgt. Luke Allen said in a statement.

Earlier this month, a retired police officer helped foil a counterfeit money operation when a Hansen man passed fake bills at the officers Kimberly yard sale, police say.

The retired cop called police on June 2 when Charles N. Reilly, 38, gave the man a $20 bill that felt too thick and wrong to the touch and did not have a security strip when held to the sun.
TWIN FALLS  A Twin Falls woman was injured in a commercial vehicle crash Wednesday afternoon near Eden.

Crystal Simpson, 24, was transported via air ambulance to Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello. She was in critical condition, as of 4 p.m.

Idaho State Police investigated the crash around 1:30 p.m. on Interstate 84 east at the onramp for exit 182 near Eden.

Simpson was merging onto I-84 in a Sterling tractor-trailer when she drove too quickly around the corner, lost control of the vehicle and it rolled, ISP said in a statement.

Simpson was wearing a seatbelt. The eastbound onramp at exit 182 is still blocked, as of 3:45 p.m.

The crash is under investigation by ISP.
TWIN FALLS  Miles Daisher was halfway up the steep canyon trail when his legs cramped up.

It was after 6 p.m. Monday, and he still had 38 BASE jumps to go to beat the unofficial world record held by Danny Weiland. With temperatures reaching the 90s, Daisher said this moment  right after his 24th jump  was the worst part.

But after climbing over the rock wall below the Perrine Bridge, complaining briefly, Daisher grinned at a crowd of spectators.

Were gonna make it, he said.

It was this same positive energy that kept him going throughout the night.

Around 9:30 a.m. the next morning, the Perrine Bridge quaked under the weight of passing vehicles as Daisher, 48, stretched his legs, preparing to make his record-breaking jump. As he climbed atop the railing, all eyes, phones and drone cameras were on him.

One jump to go.

With a backward flip, Daisher plunged into the canyon. After a few seconds of free-fall, he released his parachute, drifting halfway between the cheers from the bridge and those from the landing spot below.

But the task wasnt over yet  for it to count, Daisher still had to climb back up to the bridge before 11 a.m. He was met by a jubilant crowd gathered there on the Canyon Rim Trail.

Im gonna do one more, hiking out, he announced after pleasing his audience with selfies, autographs and high-fives. I think Im gonna swim away after that.

On the summer solstice, Daisher set an unofficial record for the most human-powered BASE jumps in one day, leaping from the I.B. Perrine Bridge 63 times in 24 hours. And  just as hed said  he finished the day off with a final, 64th jump into the Snake River.

Hes lightning in a bottle, Nick Hauck of Ohio described.

Hauck was one of 30 members of Daishers crew helping pack parachutes and ensure safety throughout the event. Like many of those who watched the BASE jumper attempt the record, he was impressed with the mans seemingly inexhaustible source of positivity.

Daisher, a resident of Twin Falls, is a member of the Red Bull Air Force. Hed held a 57-jump record he set in 2005 until Weiland beat it with 61 in September. Daisher has BASE jumped more than 4,500 times in his life.

The jumps were also a fundraiser for the Magic Valley Trails Enhancement Committee, which has plans to connect the Canyon Rim Trail from Federation Road to Shoshone Falls.

Initially concerned about Daishers fast pace, Red Bull sponsored athlete Luke Aikins knew Monday just how the record would be broken.

For Miles, its going to be mind over matter, he said.

The longest night

Daisher was originally scheduled to begin his record attempt the morning of the summer solstice  but a promising weather forecast moved the event up a day sooner. He continued the full 24 hours with no sleep  running off adrenaline, water, Red Bull and protein-powered snacks.

Carmel Steffan, a longtime friend, came to watch Daisher late into Monday evening.

That bulls-eye was pitch black, and he still hit it on the center every time, she said.

And despite jumping, hiking and biking since 11 a.m., hed still looked happy. A while before his energy appeared to drop off a bit, Steffan overheard one exchange between Daisher and his wife, Nikki.

Nikki asked him how he felt, Steffan recalled. He said, How do I look? She said, You look good. He said, Then thats how I feel.

Steffan nearly missed Daishers final jumps the next morning, as he was ahead of schedule.

Its kind of a record within a record, she said, noting Daisher beat Weilands 61 jumps in less than a full day.

After completing the 62 jumps, Daisher admitted he was feeling the pain.

Somebody said last night it was the shortest night, he said. I beg to differ.

With an early finish, he may yet have attempted more than 63 jumps before the clock stopped.

I think if you do a record, you should do it safely, he said.

Not alone

It was far from a one-man show.

Spectators from near and far watched not only Daisher, but some of his friends and crew members BASE jump from the Perrine Bridge over the 24-hour period. On his 63rd jump, Daisher chose to leap off the bridge with two others, multicolored parachutes adding to the spectacle.

Daisher had hand-picked people to help pack and haul parachutes throughout the event  and several of them had even learned to BASE jump from Daisher himself.

When the start date was changed last-minute, Nikki Daisher said it was a hustle to get everything and everyone together. But thankfully, some of the preparations had already been made.

Theyve done a lot of trail work leading up to this, said Cheryl Wheeler, a friend of Daishers who came to offer support.

An EMT on the ground and boats in the river were on standby should a problem occur.

Nikki Daisher said her husband had been training since January.

Im just super proud of him, she said.

Daishers celebratory 64th jump just before 11 a.m. Tuesday didnt count toward the record because he didnt climb back up to the bridge. But immense relief was apparent on his face as he swam in the cool water.

Nobody likes a quitter, he said after a boat ride to shore, where members of his crew showered him in champagne. Im quitting not drinking.

His next plans? Go home, high-five his kids and take an ice bath followed by a nap.

What an epic adventure just to have, he said.

See more photos online: A gallery of photos taken throughout the 24-hour period can be found at magicvalley.com.
WENDELL  A fire in Gooding County has reached an estimated 500-plus acres as fire crews aimed to contain the blaze by late Wednesday afternoon.

Wendell Rural Fire District Chief Bob Bailey said the fire has burned through sagebrush and cheatgrass, destroying two outbuildings and some fence posts.

Roads including Idaho 46 were initially closed because of smoke  and a concern about explosives  but have since been reopened.

Twelve engines responded from Wendell and Gooding rural fire departments, Bureau of Land Management Twin Falls District, Buhl and Hagerman fire departments.

Gooding County Sheriff Shaun Gough said there were concerns about a Lafferty Construction container that was full of dynamite for a job site.

The fire never reached that point, Bailey said.

Black and brown smoke was visible from Interstate 84 early Wednesday afternoon.

The Northside Canal Co. offered its assistance with a couple of backhoes to help protect a nearby Hurtado Dairy and a residence, manager Alan Hansten said. Crews cleared brush to make a barrier, and also offered help with a water truck.

The canal company has been very helpful, Bailey said.

Emergency personnel had to use some water from the nearby lateral to help put out the blaze. It was estimated that crews would leave the scene sometime Wednesday evening.

An emergency dispatcher reported the fire was called in at 11:28 a.m. at 3300 South 1800 East. Idaho 46 was shut down between 3200 South and 3400 South.

The cause of the fire is unknown.
In May, the US House of Representatives narrowly passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA). The proposed federal law would reverse coverage gains and fiscal savings realized in Idaho since we established our state health exchange in 2014. This exchange has provided coverage to over 90,000 Idahoans (36,179 are in rural areas) and has reduced state and county government spending from $55.3 million in 2012 to $34 million in 2016. As a physician serving rural residents in the Twin Falls area, I know Idaho cant afford the AHCA.

The fine print of the bill provides massive tax cuts to insurance companies while enabling insurance companies to charge you more  especially if you have a preexisting condition (cancer, diabetes, asthma, heartburn, and insomnia to name a few). The bill also cuts $834 billion dollars from Medicaid  threatening access to life saving coverage for kids, families, seniors, and people with disabilities. Children in Idahos small towns and rural areas, like my hometown of Twin Falls will be especially hard hit.

Researchers at Georgetown University and the University of North Carolina indicate that a larger share of children and families living in small towns and rural areas rely on Medicaid for health coverage. In Idaho, 39 percent of children in rural areas and small towns receive coverage through Medicaid, compared to 35 percent in urban areas. Nationally, there is a direct correlation between increases in Medicaid and CHIP coverage and reductions in the rate of uninsured children in small towns and rural areas.

Even Idahoans who arent directly covered by Medicaid should be concerned about what cuts to the program would mean for hospitals, clinics, and physicians serving our states small towns and rural communities. Rural hospitals would be dealt a bigger blow from Medicaid cuts given that the program is such an important source of health coverage for its patients. ER visits and hospitalizations continue even when people are not covered and this uncompensated care drives up costs for all of us and threatens to bankrupt rural hospitals. Strong rural hospitals are essential to supporting strong rural communities.

Medicaid is a lifeline that runs through rural Idaho, ensuring the most vulnerable Idahoans get the care they need. It keeps our rural hospitals running and able to serve patients who otherwise would be forced to drive hundreds of miles to receive care. Cutting Medicaid does nothing to reign in personal healthcare costs. Instead, these cuts take away coverage from friends and neighbors who need it most. Idaho cant afford to turn our backs now on the progress weve made in getting our children the health coverage they need.

The AHCA now sits in the Senate. There appears to be a rushed effort to pass the bill without public input. Im asking Sens. Crapo and Risch to oppose any legislation that cuts Medicaid or removes protections for Idahoans with pre-existing conditions and to resist a hurried passage of the AHCA. I hope youll join me.
By Noah Smith

First, the good news: Japan has finally begun to wrestle with its endemic problem of long, unproductive working hours.

Japanese companies are famous for forcing their employees to work unpaid overtime long into the night. Workers are afraid that if they leave early, theyll be passed over for promotions and be ostracized by their colleagues. Companies are reluctant to let employees take work home with them, often citing data security concerns. As a result, in many Japanese families it has long been commonplace for men not to see their families on weeknightsand now that Japanese women have entered the workforce in large numbers, the strain of long hours on family life is even more severe.

Worse, those long hours are killing Japanese productivityresearch suggests that at about 60 hours a week, working more doesnt result in getting more done. Those extra hours tire people out in body and mind, making every other hour of the day less productive. Japan has major productivity problemsits output per hour worked is only about 60 percent of US levelsso eliminating overwork is an important priority.

Fortunately, the government and large corporations are addressing the issue, using a mix of policy and new workplace norms. Some companies are letting employees do more work from home, while others are turning off their office lights at a certain time. Government agencies are doing the same, and leaders are taking some symbolic steps to spread the idea of work-life balance. Meanwhile, companies that overwork, underpay and otherwise exploit their workers are now often vilified in popular culture. The long-term impact of these efforts cant be known yet, especially since unpaid overtime is by its nature hard to measure. But the problem is certainly being recognized and addressed, and thats a very good thing for Japan.

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But now for the bad news about Japans labor market. Excess working hours may be falling, but wages arent yet rising. From looking at macro data, Japan ought to be experiencing rising pay, as the US is. Japans unemployment rate has fallen to a two-decade low of 2.8 percent:

And the labor force participation rate has increased, resulting in a record high prime-age employment-to-population ratio. The countrys demand shortage has ended, even as record numbers of women have entered the labor force.

Given such a tight labor market, its a mystery why household incomes for workers arent going up:

Interestingly, some people from the Bank of Japan have a theory that reduction of overwork is actually causing wage stagnation. The idea is that if unobserved work hours are being cut, employees might be producing less overall, even as they produce more per hour. That could cause wages to stagnate. It could also make companies hire more workers in order to maintain the same level of production, which would be consistent with rising employment rates.

But this explanation seems unlikely to explain stagnant wages. Japanese employees are so overworked that cutting excess hours should probably leave them producing roughly the same amount each month. That means that falling unemployment should still be exerting upward pressure on wages.

It could be that as Japan employs the very last few available workers in the country, aggregate productivity is being held back, because the last workers to get hired are also likely to be the least productive. They tend to have less experience, and perhaps other characteristics that prevented them from getting jobs before. Since these workers couldnt demand wages as high as those who had been working for a long time, this would act to hold down pay.

It could also be that Japan is suffering from a decline in labors share of national income. The US has been experiencing this since at least the turn of the century, and there are many theoriesabout the cause globalization, automation, increasing market concentration and a rise in land values. So far, economists havent solved the mystery. But all four of these factors may well be operating in Japan. So whatever has been holding down labors slice of the economic pie might also be causing Japanese wages to flatline.

So while wage stagnation is a concern, its probably not being caused by the reduction in excessive working hours. Japan shouldnt deviate from its courseraising labor productivity and giving workers back their lives should remain the focus of policy.

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The US State Department Tuesday challenged Saudi Arabia and its league of countries to forward motives behind the air, land and sea blockades they have imposed on Qatar, throwing the blocs accusation of Qatars support for terrorism into question.

Spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters that the US is still waiting for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and other allies to come up with clear details of their claims.

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 Qataris nor to the public the details about the claims they are making toward Qatar, she said.

The more that time goes by the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, she added

Saudi Arabia and its allies on June 5 cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on the grounds that the tiny Gulf Emirate sponsors terrorism and is putting their national security into jeopardy.

The countries closed their borders and banned Qatar planes from their airspaces, and vessels from their seas. They gave short notice to Qatari expatriates to leave their territories.

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? Nauert asked.

The US State Departments latest move clearly contradicts President Trumps hasty action to side with the Saudi camp in the crisis after he, in a series of tweets, lashed out at Qatar that he tagged as terrorism funder.
Australia has announced that it is temporarily suspending the activities of its six warplanes partaking in the US-led air campaign on the Islamic State in Syria, as tension between the US and Russian military increases.

The statement from the Australian Department of Defense highlighted that the decision to cease operations is a precautionary measure as they continue to closely monitor the air situation in Syria before resuming their operations in due course. Australias warplanes are based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Russia had warned earlier this week that all kinds of airborne vehicles, including aircraft and UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] of the international coalition, detected to the west of the Euphrates River will be tracked by the Russian surface-to-air missiles systems as air targets. The warning came after a Syrian warplane was downed by the US because it dropped bombs near a US-backed rebel group in Raqqa.

An Iranian-made drone was also shot down on Tuesday by the American air force for allegedly displaying hostile intent and advance on the coalition forces. The Shaheed 129 drone was reportedly armed.

Kremlin stressed that repeated combat actions by U.S. aviation under the cover of counterterrorism against lawful armed forces of a country that is a member of the U.N. are a massive violation of international law and de facto a military aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic.

UN secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for calm because the escalating tension due to the incidents that have unfolded could be very dangerous.

Russia and the U.S. are supporting opposing sides in Syria. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov asserted on June 20 that the presence of U.S. forces in Syria was absolutely illegal because neither the UN Security Council nor the Assad government requested their presence.
Following the approval last week by the Egyptian Parliament of the agreement between Cairo and Riyadh regarding the transfer of the Tiran and Sanafir Islands to Saudi Arabia, Egypts High Administrative Court on Tuesday ruled that previous judicial decisions in favor of transferring the two Red Sea islands were invalid.

The Egyptian government made the controversial decision to hand over the islands to Saudi Arabia following a secret deal between Cairo and Riyadh during the landmark visit of King Salman of Saudi Arabia to Egypt in April 2016.

Lawyer Khaled Ali who has been challenging the agreement in the courts said Tuesdays ruling signifies that the land is Egyptian and the ratification of the agreement by the President would be considered unconstitutional.

President Sisi, who enjoys strong support at the Parliament, is yet to ratify the agreement. The Speaker of the parliament Ali Abdel Aal had stated in the sessions leading to the approval of the agreement that he has nothing to do with the ruling of any court of law and that these rulings are the concern of the judiciary and they amount to nil.

As tension builds up over the issue, Lawyer Ali stated that now the ball is in the presidents court.

Ratifying the deal could lead to mass protests in the country. Critics describe it as a sale of Egyptian territory to the Saudis for the sake of financial support. Cairo argues that the two islands belong to Saudi Arabia and that Egypt was only custodian of the two Islands since the 1950s at the request of Riyadh.

In the 1967 Middle East War, Israel captured the two islands before handing them over to Egypt again as part of the 1979 Camp David Accords. Lying at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, Tiran and Sanafir can be used to control access to the Israeli port of Eilat.
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.
The Commonwealth officials have completed a 4-day visit to Togo, as the West African tiny nation plans to join the organization as a member state, the Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Dussey said on Tuesday.

According to Robert Dussey, Commonwealth officials are unfamiliar with the functioning of Francophone countries and they need to understand, analyze to get a better idea before recommending anything.

The experts were satisfied that Togo was on the right track, the minister said.

The Commonwealth is an intergovernmental organization created in 1949 and is composed of states traditionally made up of territories formerly under British rule. But some francophone countries such as Cameroon joined the organization in the past.

Decisions on Commonwealth membership are made by the 52 heads of government, who have laid out clear criteria for any country wishing to join.

This includes an acceptance of Commonwealth fundamental values and principles, such as a commitment to democracy, the rule of law and independence of the judiciary, the protection of human rights, and equality of opportunity.

Togos possible rapprochement with the English-speaking world has no political significance, but just a desire to diversify economic relations, officials said.

President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe has been ruling Togo since 2005. His two terms should have ended in 2015 but he forced institutions to enable him to run again in 2015 and forever. Faure Essozimna Gnassingbes family has been ruling Togo for 50 years now.

The countrys GDP has more than doubled since 2005 and economic growth reached 5.6% in 2014.

But critics say the benefits have mainly gone to a wealthy minority, while most ordinary Togolese still suffer from high poverty and unemployment rates.
Benins president Patrice Talon has returned home after almost one month of medical leave in France, local media reported.

Patrice Talon, dubbed the King of Cotton, had left the capital Cotonou for France to seek medical attention.

According to a statement released by the presidency on Monday, one procedure was required after doctors found a lesion in his prostate while the second surgery was conducted on his digestive system.

Talon has completely recovered and is fully exercising his constitutional duties, according to the presidents office, which said an ordinary cabinet meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.

The 57-year-old president joins Nigerias Muhammadu Buhari and Angolas Jose Eduardo dos Santos who have recently traveled to Europe seeking medical attention.

Patrice Talon is first and foremost a businessman who built his empire in the cotton ginning industry in the West African tiny nation.

He is hopeful of restoring the countrys cotton sector after output declined by more than a third in the 2015-2016 season.

Cotton is a major export for the country and contributes 40 percent of Benins foreign exchange earnings, 12 percent of GDP and about 60 percent of the national industrial fabric.
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Georgias debt to Kazakhstan reduced to $25.48 million

Georgias debt to Kazakhstan has decreased by about $3 million thanks to a new deal between the countries that changed outstanding debt terms.Georgias Finance Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili has today signed a Debt Restructuring Agreement with Kazakhstan.Per the agreement, Georgias debt to Kazakhstan decreased from $27.77 million to $25.48 million.Debt repayments to Kazakhstan will be implemented on the basis of the agreement reached with the Paris Club Creditors and the debt service will continue until 2025.The Paris Club is an informal group of official creditors whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor countries.Negotiations with Kazakhstan on debt restructuring started in 2001 and were completed successfully in 2016.
BSTDB interested in issuing manat loans to Azerbaijan

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is interested in funding projects in Azerbaijan in manats, BSTDB President Ihsan Ugur Delikanli said June 13.He was addressing an event dedicated to presentation of BSTDB opportunities for the business and banking community of Azerbaijan.Such funding can be implemented through the issuance of manat bonds by the bank, according to Delikanli.We are already carrying out similar work in three countries. We are currently working on this issue jointly with Azerbaijans Financial Market Supervisory Authority. The bond issuance volume will depend on the demand bonds will be in. I think we will proceed straight to the issuance right after completing the preparatory work, he said.He also noted that BSTDB offers medium- and short-term project funding, corporate loans, participation in companies capital and various guarantees.Our main proposals are aimed at supporting the development of non-oil sector of Azerbaijan. In addition, we intend to support small and medium enterprises in the country through cooperation with local banks. It is a priority for us, Delikanli said.BSTDB was founded by Azerbaijan, Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Armenia, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia.
Parliament cares air pollution

By Messenger Staff

The Parliament of Georgia has already drafted a bill that will abolish import VAT for motor cycles, quadrocycles, mopeds, and those working with electric engines, to help promote clean technologies and reduce air pollution.The decision will also reduce noise. Most transport in Georgia currently works on petrol and diesel, which damages the environment, the head of parliaments Environment Protection and Natural Resources Committee, Kakha Kuchava, said.He stressed that supporting clean technology was one of the obligations taken by Georgia through the Georgia-EU Association Agreement.Kuchava said the Government of Georgia has already freed the import of electric cars from excise and import fees.Georgia urgently needs steps to reduce air pollution, and the proposed measures alone will not be enough.Many Georgians are interested in the quality of fuel Georgia receives, as people have to pay high prices.Many believe that the country is a market for very low quality fuel which is subsequently sold at a very high price.Herewith, streets in the capital city are overcrowded, mainly with outdated cars that have a damaging impact on the environment.In order not to lose votes, each state government refrains from obligatory technical checks of vehicles.In addition, most public transport also damages the environment.
@MaryEllenKlas

The legal saga of thousands of lost citrus trees took a new twist late Tuesday as homeowners in Broward and Lee counties asked the court to reverse Gov. Rick Scott's line-item veto of $37.3 million to compensate trees destroyed a decade ago.

The unusual lawsuit, filed in the Florida Supreme Court, claims that Scott's veto of two specific appropriations -- $20.9 million and $16.4 million -- was unconstitutional because it undermines the state's obligation to make good on an illegal "taking" of private property.

After years of litigation, the Legislature for the first time set aside the money this year to compensate homeowners who lost "healthy, uninfected residential citrus trees" as part of the state's Citrus Canker Eradication Program between 2000 and 2006 and to pay their attorneys fees.

In 2008, Broward courts awarded 70,036 homeowners in that county $20.9 million as payment for their lost citrus trees. In 2014, another court awarded 167,677 homeowners in Lee County $16.4 million for their lost trees.

The state was ordered to make the payments on the grounds that destroying the trees without adequate compensation was an unconstitutional "taking."

But in his veto message, Scott rejected the payments -- saying they were vetoed "because of ongoing litigation."

The homeowners argue that there is no ongoing litigation -- except the lawsuit to collect the payments.

They say his reason was not only wrong, it was unconstitutional and violates their rights to due process.

The veto "undermines the States constitutional obligation to pay full compensation for the taking of private property."

They cite the Florida Constitution which states: No private property shall be taken except for a public purpose and with full compensation therefore paid to each owner or secured by deposit in the registry of the court and available to the owner.

If the court accepts the case, it could test the premise offered the Fourth District Court of Appeals that said if the state didn't authorize the payments, Broward homeowners and their lawyers could pursue a writ of mandamus "to enforce the judgments."

Throughout Florida history, only the state Legislature has had the power to overturn a governor's veto of an appropriation in the state spending bill.

Lawmakers set aside the money to compensate homeowners this year after the Fourth District Court of Appeals held that "while the government has the ability to establish procedures for payment of its constitutional obligation, it does not have the luxury of avoiding it."

In an attempt to follow through the on the suggested remedy, attorneys filed a claim with the Broward circuit court, seeking a mandamus judgment. The case is still pending.

The petition filed Tuesday asks the state's highest court to issue a writ of mandamus to "expunge" the vetoes from the record and "direct the Chief Financial Officer" to pay the homeowners as set forth in the settlement agreement the state signed.

Under the failed citrus eradication program, state agriculture inspectors deployed crews with chain saws to chop down 577,253 orange, grapefruit and key lime trees throughout the state  even if the trees showed no signs of infection.

Outraged property owners representing counties with 94 percent of the lost trees joined five class action lawsuits to seek compensation. In four of the cases, the court ordered the state to pay more than $100 million in judgments, attorneys fees and interest.

The fifth case, involving Miami-Dade residents who lost 40 percent of the healthy trees removed in Florida, is still pending. The bench trial in that case ended June 2016 but the judge has not ruled.

Broward homeowners sought compensation for the destruction of 133,720 healthy trees and Lee County homeowners sought payment for 33,957 healthy trees.

Lawmakers added the money to the budget for only two of the four counties in which judgments have been rendered. They did not include money for homeowners in Orange and Palm Beach counties.

The courts uniformly disagreed with lawyers for the Department of Agriculture, and Commissioner Adam Putnam, who argued against paying homeowners for the lost trees. They contended that trees exposed to canker were a public nuisance and their removal is not a taking that should be compensated by the state.

Petitioners include homeowners, Toby and Robert Bogorff, Timothy Farley, Beth and Roald Garcia, Deanna and John Klockow, Lois and Charles Stroh, and Nancy and Joseph Dolliver and the law firms of Grossman Roth, Robert C. Gilbert, P.A., Lytal Reiter Smith Ivey & Fronrath, and Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, P.L. who represented the owners of residential properties in Broward and Lee Counties, Florida.

"The importance of deciding this issue before the commencement of the new budget year cannot be overstated,'' the petition argues.

"Absent an immediate decision by this Court, the State will argue that no appropriated funds exist with which to pay and satisfy the constitutional takings judgments held by Petitioners, and Petitioners will be left holding constitutional takings judgments that cannot be satisfied.

"The process will continue to recur unless this Court puts an end to it once and for all."

Photo: A work crew mulches a citrus plant in Hialeah in 1997, the early stages of South Floridas canker war. Roberto Koltun El Nuevo Herald
@NewsbySmiley

If all goes according to plan, Francis Suarez will resign Thursday as a Miami city commissioner -- and then promptly be sworn back in.

Suarez, who is running for mayor with two years left on his final term as a city commissioner, hopes the maneuver will allow him to comply with Florida's resign-to-run law and keep his post during the final months of election season while saving the city some money.

"I'd be happy for it to happen on Thursday [during Miami's meeting of the city commission]. I put it on as a discussion item just in case the commission wanted more time to think about it," he said. "But I'm ready to do it. I think it's the best way to do it because it saves the city a significant amount of money doing it this way."

Under the state's resign-to-run law, Suarez must submit his resignation as a city commissioner by the city's ballot qualifying deadline in September in order to officially register as a candidate for mayor. Typically, candidates in his situation file their resignation just before the qualifying deadline and step down on the last possible day, often after the election since the law simply states that terms of state, county and local offices can't run concurrently for one person.

Their municipality or government agency then appoints a replacement or calls for a special election.

But as current Mayor Tomas Regalado did in 2009, Suarez hopes to preemptively and temporarily leave his post and return on the condition that he end his term as commissioner once the results from the November election are certified. Miami's other four commissioners, who would have to reappoint him, could allow the maneuver when they meet Thursday.

Suarez also said that by resigning briefly in June, he allows the city clerk and elections department to schedule a special election for his replacement to coincide with the regular election. There are currently four candidates running to replace Suarez, but officially their election isn't scheduled until 2019.

If he resigns in late September, the city would likely have to schedule a costly stand-alone election.

"If I were to resign at the last possible moment, it would create a special election which in addition to costing additional money wouldn't require a run-off" should no candidate receive more than 50 percent of the vote, he said.

This article has been updated to clarify the requirements of Florida's resign-to-run law.
@PatriciaMazzei

President Donald Trump's Miami visit to announce new U.S.-Cuba policy last week became a campaign moment in a special Florida House race between two Republican primary rivals who have tried to out-Cuban each other.

Foreign policy is not the purview of state lawmakers. Nevertheless, on Friday, after Trump's East Little Havana event, candidate Jose Mallea's campaign put out a robocall to House District 116 Republican voters touting Mallea's support for Trump's policy shift.

"Mallea is a real Republican, Cuban-American, who wants to fight for a free Cuba," the call said. "In contrast, his opponent, Daniel Perez, was a beneficiary of the Obama-Castro policy, going to Cuba on a luxury vacation to take his engagement photos."

Robocall

Cuba has been an ongoing theme in the race since the Miami Herald reported last month on Perez's wedding-engagement photo shoot earlier this year in Havana, which were posted online on two websites. The photos were subsequently taken down.

Meantime, Perez's campaign was sending voters a letter, in English and Spanish, from Perez's parents, vouching for their son's Cuban roots. The family left Cuba in 1969, Guelcys and Eugenio Perez wrote in their "personal message," which also said Perez's uncle Antonio Perez "died fighting against the Castro regime."
@NickNehamas, @joeflech and @DavidOvalle305

A public-corruption probe is underway into a controversial political group linked to Miami Beach commissioner and mayoral candidate Michael Grieco, the Miami Herald has learned.

At least one donor to the political action committee has been subpoenaed by the Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office, according to a Miami Beach defense attorney representing the donor. The attorney asked that he and his client not be identified.

The list of donors to People for Better Leaders is stocked with Miami Beach vendors, lobbyists and developers with business before the city. The PAC raised $200,000 in 2016.

Read more.
For picture posts from 2010 and earlier, see the Earlier Picture Posts Page
BILLINGS  Grammy Award-winning rock band Foo Fighters will perform at Spokane's Spokane Arena on Dec. 4 and Billing's MetraParks Rimrock Auto Arena on Dec. 9.

Tickets for the Spokane show go on sale at 11 a.m. on June 29. Tickets for the Billings show go on sale at 10 a.m. on June 29. For pre-sale access go to foofighters.com.

Four Foo Fighters' albums have won Grammy Awards for best rock album, and the band has sold more than 30 million albums. Former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl founded the Foo Fighters in 1994 after the death of Kurt Cobain.

Grohl said he was influenced by Cobain to focus on a stripped down rock sound. For his debut Foo Fighters album, Grohl recorded 15 of the 40 songs he had written when he was touring with Nirvana and he played every instrument on the album. He later expanded the band.

Their fall tour is in support of the Foo Fighters' ninth album, "Concrete and Gold," which is is due out in September. One single, Run, has been released. The tour opens Oct. 7 at the CAL JAM 17 festival in San Bernardino, California, and hits 25 cities, including Spokane on Dec. 4, Billings on Dec. 9 and Casper, Wyoming, on Dec. 10.

"I wanted it to be the biggest sounding Foo Fighters record ever," Grohl said. "To make a gigantic rock record but with Greg Kurstin's sense of melody and arrangement, Motorhead's version of Sgt. Pepper, or something like that."

The Foo Fighters' 2010 album, Wasting Light, recorded on analog equipment in Grohls garage, won five Grammy Awards, producing several hits, including Wasting Light and "Rope.

Among Foo fighters' biggest hits are "Something for Nothing," "Learn to Fly" and "Walk."
Former Vanns CEO George Manlove must report to a federal prison in Oregon by Thursday to begin serving his sentence of five years and three months.

After being convicted in February of 170 federal charges related to defrauding the since-closed statewide electronics and appliance retailer, Manlove was initially told to show up at the prison by Tuesday, the day after a hearing in federal court in Missoula to determine how much, if any, restitution he owes to the potential victims of his crimes.

Federal Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch, who presided over Mondays restitution hearing, has not issued a decision on what Manlove owes to victims.

Former Vanns chief financial officer Paul Nisbet, who was also initially charged in the case and later pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy under a plea agreement with prosecutors, was not found liable for any restitution. In his ruling in that case, Lynch found that the losses of the victims, including participants in Vanns employee stock ownership plan, were not directly attributable to Nisbets criminal actions.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Dana Christensen denied a request by Manlove to remain out of custody while he appeals his convictions, but in a further order issued June 8, granted his request for two extra days to get to Oregon. Christensen cited the long distance from the restitution hearing in Missoula to Eagle, Idaho, where Manlove lives, and on to Sheridan where the prison he will serve his sentence is located.

Manlove has already filed his intent to ask the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to review his conviction. Earlier this month, he requested to be considered in forma pauperis or without the money to afford legal representation, and asked for a public defense attorney to be appointed during his appeal.

Missoula defense attorney Michael Sherwood, who represented Manlove at trial, has mentioned repeatedly during court proceedings that Manlove has spent all of his money defending himself against his charges.

In a financial affidavit attached to the request for a court-appointed attorney, Manlove lists his only assets as $4,500 in camera equipment for his freelance photography business and a $2,800 watch. Manlove lists $1,500 in cash on hand and does not report owning any real estate or vehicles.

He also includes significant debts, including the $17,000 court assessment fee from his convictions and the nearly $2.5 million in assets the jury that convicted him also decided he must forfeit to the federal government.

The appeals court has not made a ruling on whether to appoint Manlove an attorney.
The Missoula International Airport has a new gate guard.

Early Tuesday morning, airport crews maneuvered a retired Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune aircraft, most recently used to fight fires around the country, into its new permanent position beside the airport entrance. After decades of service in the United States Navy and then for the U.S. Forest Service, Tanker 10 stands as a symbol of Montanas long firefighting history.

Airports often display decommissioned aircraft near their entrances to showcase the area's history and welcome visitors.

The red and gray aircraft was built in 1957, and was used by the Navy to hunt Soviet submarines off the U.S. coast. In the 1960s and '70s, P2V-7 Neptune aircraft were transferred to the National Guard, and a handful eventually were bought by Neptune Aviation Services Inc., a Missoula-based company that named itself after the aircraft.

There was an excess of airplanes with a lot of great life in them, and they converted well to the mission of aerial firefighting, said Kevin Condit, the marketing director for Neptune Aviation. They could fly low, fly fast, they were maneuverable, and they were built really well and could take a lot of abuse.

This made them perfect for fighting fires. In the past 25 years, Neptune Aviation has grown into the largest airtanker provider for the U.S. Forest Service. After purchasing a fleet of P2V-7 Neptune aircraft, the aviation company removed unnecessary military components and converted the planes into fire tankers by 1988.

After their conversion, each aircraft held a 2,700-gallon retardant tank for subduing forest fires. This year, the entire fleet will retire as their contract with the Forest Service ends. They are the longest serving airtankers to fight fires with the Forest Service, said Dan Snyder, chief operating officer for Neptune Aviation.

Snyder said it took four months to prepare the aircraft for display at the airport entrance. Neptune employees plugged all holes and cracks to keep birds and other critters from getting inside the plane. They repainted the exterior, and removed nonessential parts.

Moving the plane from the hangar to its new location required some creativity  sandbags doubled as ramps to roll over curbs  but now in its permanent position, the new gate guard marks the beginnings of an airport park. Eventually, picnic tables and information on the aircrafts history will complete the park, Snyder said.

Missoula International Airport Director Cris Jensen said the airport never considered installing a gate guard in the past, because no aircraft fit well with Missoulas history until now.

Its very representative of the people who have dedicated their lives to fighting fire across our country, so we think its a great monument to their service, Jensen said.

For people driving by, who may not know about Missoulas firefighting history  smokejumpers, aerial firefighting, the Forest Service  Jensen hopes the aircraft will serve as an invitation.

Hopefully, it causes them to want to know about it, Jensen said. Were hoping that it inspires them to learn a little bit more about the history of the airport and the different levels of firefighting in Missoula.
PHILIPSBURG  Philip Deidesheimer wasnt the first to arrive in the upper Flint Creek Valley in the 1860s looking for silver.

But the innovative mining engineer who had made his name in Nevada at the Comstock Lode was the one who supervised construction of Montana's first silver amalgamation mill at the top of the main street of a town that was named for him on June 22, 1867.

One hundred fifty years to the day later, Philipsburg will start celebrating what it became.

A sesquicentennial celebration starts Thursday at noon with school and church bells ringing simultaneously.

The opening ceremony at Town Hall 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.

Weekend activities include a Friday evening Granite County Historical Society seminar, featuring talks on Father Peter John DeSmet and the Drummond-to-Philipsburg Railroad. On Saturday, demonstrations by the men who recently resurrected the Royal Mine stamp mill on the site of Deidesheimers 1867 mill will be followed by walking tours of Granite and Philipsburg.

Attendees are encouraged to dress in vintage clothing from whatever decade they choose. Displays and activities will be ongoing through mid-September.

In the 1980s Philipsburg was almost a ghost town. Mining and timber were dying and so was much of the town. Once-proud buildings in the historic downtown were boarded up, empty and sold for a few thousand dollars.

Forward thinking by hopeful diehards and investments by natives and newcomers helped Philipsburg rebound. Three decades later, this newly vibrant small town continues to work harder than ever.
Rather than waiting for the next unicorn" company like Google or Facebook to pop up in Montana out of the blue, technology business leaders should encourage small-time entrepreneurs who want to just make an extra thousand bucks a month on the side.

So says global investor Paul Singh, who spoke to a panel at the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

The thought I will plant in your heads is to think about the future of Montana, he said. Would it be better or worse to have one Google appear in the next five years or have 50,000 citizens make an extra thousand bucks on the side? I think the latter would create more jobs, anyway.

Singh was speaking as part of the Chambers Eye on Tech series, created to focus on the intersection of technology and Missoulas small businesses. Several local business owners were there to hear Singh talk about what he looks for when he wants to invest in a new company.

Singh started a web hosting company that he sold in 2004 and now travels the country in an Airstream trailer with his Results Junkies team. He visits small towns and communities to talk about startups and how businesses grow. He and his team also started a venture capital fund, and they sometimes invest in companies they come across on their tours.

Singh will be in Missoula for the Montana Tech Tour from June 27-29, an event hosted by local businesses to put a spotlight on the entrepreneurial ecosystem here.

Last week, a Missoula-based tech firm called Submittable announced that it had raised $5 million in venture capital funds from a Silicon Valley company. Singh said that although most venture capitalists are looking for the next Google or Facebook, a smaller segment of investors just wants to focus on companies that can prove they have potential for modest growth.

All those people are looking for unicorns, the companies that will go on to sell for a billion dollars, Singh said. You can count on one hand the number of companies that will do that, but theres 670 venture firms hunting for them. The math doesnt work out. So 80 to 90 percent of (venture capital firms) are saying, We are going to build the biggest brand, and when the next Facebook comes along theyll call us. And 10 to 20 percent of the market is saying, 'Lets not bet our futures on unicorns. Lets change our funding economics.'

Hatton Littman, the director of technology and communications at Missoula County Public Schools, said educators need to think about both the kids who want to go to college and the kids who perhaps dont want to go, but maybe pursue a career in traditional trades. She also said that those kids who pursue traditional crafts or fields may end up being owners of a technology-based business.

We have to recognize that there are certain elements that we, statewide, need to improve to facilitate an environment for entrepreneurial success, she said.

Singh agreed, saying that code schools, like Big Sky Code Academy and Montana Code School in Missoula, are a way to get both younger kids and adults who want to change career paths into new entrepreneurial activities.

Andy Gordon, the market development manager at a local tech company called Clearas Water Recovery, said that places like Montana that are considered flyover country by people living on the coasts are actually hotbeds of entrepreneurial activity.

As we continue to build Montanas entrepreneurial ecosystem, there are Facebooks out there that can absolutely be, and may even be, started right here, he said. Theres a lot of amazing things that happen on both coasts and flyover country is kind of forgotten about. We really need to sort of punch above our weight class, and leveraging outside networks is what Im trying to do to enhance our foundational bedrock with all of our great entrepreneurs.

For more information and a schedule of the Montana Tech Tour, visit the events Facebook page with the same name.
"Fort Missoula: the 140th Anniversary," commemorates the June 1877 establishment of Fort Missoula by Captain Charles C. Rawn and the U.S. 7th Infantry Regiment.

Activities will be held Saturday, June 24, at the Rocky Mountain Museum of Military History and Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. Activities include Frontier Army encampment and re-enactors throughout the afternoon at Building T-316 and a walking tour of 1877 Fort Missoula, departing at 2 p.m. from Building T-316.
HELENA  Search and rescue crews are searching a remote section of the Bob Marshall Wilderness for man who went missing Monday northwest of Augusta.

Teton County Sheriff Keith Van Setten says that a backcountry outfitter reported that Eric Hellmuth, 21, walked away from camp in the Sun River drainage at about 2 p.m. Monday, and has not been seen since. Authorities received the call at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

He is on foot and not equipped to handle the elements. He does have some outdoor experience but not much mountain experience, and isnt dressed for the mountains of Montana, he said.

Hellmuth was part of a guide training school operating in the North Fork of the Sun River area. He was in the fourth week of the course, Van Setten said.

The search is concentrated near the river confluence with Cabin Creek, about 30 miles northwest of Augusta.

Hellmuth is described as a white male, brown hair, average build and 5 feet 8 inches tall.

About 15 searchers are involved from Teton County Search and Rescue, the Forest Service and outfitters, Van Setten said.

An aerial search will be conducted through Tuesday night by Two Bear Air out of Whitefish. Hellmuth may have a flashlight with him, Van Setten said.
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
President Trumps decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement is the biggest failure of leadership in American history. But there are Republicans in Congress who previously demonstrated their willingness to lead on climate change, and the moment has arrived for them to step up again.

Last month, three GOP senators committed an act of political courage by putting environmental stewardship above partisan politics.

In the waning days of the Obama administration, the Presidents team issued a rule to limit the amount of methane released during oil and gas operations on federal land. Methane is a greenhouse gas with heat-trapping properties at least 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide and so the rule had the effect of mitigating climate change.

The House of Representatives had already repealed the methane rule. Swift repeal was anticipated in the Senate. What was not anticipated was the integrity of three senators who had previously taken action in the hope of preserving a stable climate.

Lindey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, and John McCain of Arizona cast the deciding votes that prevented the repeal measure from moving forward. The turn of events caught both industry and environmental advocates by surprise, but this is not the first time these Republicans have stepped up where climate change is concerned.

In 2009, Lindsey Graham committed what many believed was political suicide when he collaborated with then-senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman to draft a Senate version of the cap-and-trade bill that had narrowly passed the House. He came under relentless attack back home in South Carolina and spent the next four years beating back challengers to retain his seat.

Susan Collins worked with Washington state Democrat Maria Cantwell to introduce the Carbon Limits and Energy for American Renewal (CLEAR) Act in December of 2009. The CLEAR Act was a simplified version of cap-and-trade with most of the revenue returned to households, an approach that came to be known as cap-and- dividend. Like the Kerry-Lieberman bill, the CLEAR Act languished and died in the 111th Congress. Despite her leadership with the CLEAR Act, Collins received little acknowledgment or appreciation back home and has since refrained from any major initiatives on climate change.

And John McCain? He teamed up with Lieberman to introduce the Climate Stewardship Act in 2003, but his bill was defeated 55-43. Undaunted, he tweaked the bill and reintroduced it in 2005, though it fared no better. Any other politician would have cut his losses at this point, but McCain tried once more in 2007. It never got to the floor. Since then, McCain, like Graham and Collins, hasnt touched any significant legislation to deal with carbon emissions.

But with their vote to block repeal of the methane rule, Graham, Collins and McCain have stirred the embers of their once-burning passion to preserve a world that is hospitable to future generations. That is the legacy these three hoped to achieve years ago, a legacy that is still within their reach.

Support is growing within conservative circles for a simple, market-based approach to reducing carbon pollution, one that would make regulatory solutions unnecessary. Its called carbon fee and dividend, and it works like this:

Apply a fee to fuels based on the amount of carbon dioxide they will emit when burned. Increase the fee over time, thereby creating the price signal to transition to cleaner sources and uses of energy and to increase energy efficiency. To shield families from the economic impact of rising energy costs, return all the revenue from the carbon fee to every household as equal shares. To maintain a level playing field for American businesses  and to encourage other nations to follow our lead  apply an adjustment fee on imports coming from nations that do not have an equivalent carbon price.

Earlier this year, a similar policy was proposed by a group of conservatives under the Climate Leadership Council. The authors included former Secretaries of State George Shultz and James Baker, as well as former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, pretty good company for any Republican.

Graham, Collins, and McCain were once champions on climate change. With Trumps announcement to withdraw from the Paris accord, its time for them to reassert their leadership on this issue by introducing and fighting for a revenue- neutral fee on carbon. They were ahead of their time years ago, but it appears their time has come.

***

Mark Reynolds is executive director of Citizens Climate Lobby, a non-partisan advocacy organization working to preserve a stable climate.
Triple score partially recovered

Police recovered two of three vehicles on Tuesday afternoon that were stolen from the 3200 block of Bayard Street. The owner of a 1979 American Motors Jeep truck discovered it missing on Tuesday around 10 a.m., according to Undersheriff George Skuletich. The truck also was hauling a 2012 Honda ATV and a white and blue Yamaha 450 motorbike.

Skuletich said it appeared that the truck got stuck in an empty lot on Cobban Street, where officers discovered it in the afternoon with no apparent damage. The ATV was still in the back, according to Skuletich, but the motorbike was missing. No arrests have been made.

Assault on probation officer

A female probation officer was allegedly assaulted by a female inmate at the Butte Detention Center Monday afternoon. Police say the officer was attempting to clean up after the inmate had thrown food on herself. While cleaning, police said, the inmate hit the probation officer with a closed fist and pulled her hair. The inmate is facing charges of assault on a peace officer as a result of the incident. The probation officer did not request medical attention, police said.

Attempted camper theft

A Butte man was arrested Tuesday around 9:45 p.m., after allegedly attempting to steal a truck with an attached camper from the 2800 block of Ottawa Avenue. The truck's owner discovered the attempted theft and chased the suspect away, taking down his license plate number, according to Skuletich. Police later stopped James Smith, 50, who they believed was the same person indicated.

Skuletich said that Smith appeared to be under the influence when he was stopped, and an officer trained in drug recognition determined the influence of narcotic drugs. (Four officers in Butte-Sliver Bow law enforcement are trained to look for specific signs of various drug effects, like eye movement, cognition and balance, according to Skuletich.)

Smith refused a blood test and was booked for DUI and driving through a stop sign.

Aggravated assault

Police have a suspect for an aggravated assault after answering a disturbance call around 11 p.m. Tuesday on the 2600 block of Colusa Street. The victim reported that a male had dragged her by the hair through the residence and tried to strangle her, but police said the suspect was gone by the time they arrived. The department has requested an arrest warrant for aggravated assault.

School trailer stolen

A $1,200 Butte School District trailer was stolen from outside West Elementary School on Steel Street Sunday night, police say. When employees arrived at the school Monday morning they discovered the trailer missing.
Note: This story was corrected on Thursday, June 22, to reflect the public meeting is July 20 -- not June 22 as initially reported.

---

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to waive certain water quality standards for some heavy metals in upper Willow Creek and in tributaries feeding into upper Mill Creek, both south of Anaconda.

EPA officials will hold a public meeting on the proposal from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 20, at the Metcalf Senior Center, 115 Pennsylvania Avenue , Anaconda.

The streams are contaminated from nearly 100 years of metals-laden smoke from the Washoe Smelter stack in Anaconda. The smelter closed in 1980.

The proposed waiver would eliminate Montana's water quality standards for cadmium, copper, lead and zinc for upper Willow Creek and the tributaries leading into upper Mill Creek. According to the proposal, the creeks would still maintain federal water quality standards.

The proposed plan would also expand and enhance cleanup strategies to minimize contamination from reaching waterways to prevent metals from exceeding water quality standards.

The EPA is providing a 45-day public comment period from Wednesday, June 21 to August 4 on the proposed waiver.

Public comment can also be sent by email, mail, or hand delivered to Charlie Coleman, EPA Project Manager at coleman.charles@epa.gov; 10 West 15th Street; Suite 3200; Helena MT 59626.

The proposed plan is available:

On the EPA webpage for the Anaconda Smelter Site: www.epa.gov/superfund/anaconda-co-smelter

Arrowhead Foundation Library; 118 E. Seventh Street; Anaconda

EPA Montana Office; 10 W. 15th St.; Helena
CHOTEAU  If and when they lose federal protection, grizzly bears on the Rocky Mountain Front face an uncertain future.

The questions puzzling members at the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee's summer meeting went far beyond whether to have a hunting season. Although grizzlies in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem remain two or three years away from potential removal from Endangered Species Act oversight, residents in and around Choteau made it clear the bears' presence was already an issue.

"We're having more and more issues with grizzlies moving into territory they haven't occupied for quite some time," Valier rancher Gene Curry said during a panel discussion on future bear management. "I grew up west of Browning, and grizzly bears never entered anyone's mind. I used to be on my hands and knees crawling through brush to get to fishing holes. Now when my grandchildren go out to catch their horses in the morning, they have to think about grizzly bears. I had five of them in the yard one morning."

When a top predator weighing upwards of 600 pounds and able to out-sprint a horse starts hanging around the house, people notice. Grizzlies were hunted and trapped to near-extinction before getting listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1975. Since then, their populations have grown to the point they no longer hide in remote pockets of the Rocky Mountains. Many have started exploring the plains between Choteau and Great Falls, which was their preferred home before white settlers turned the prairie into farms and ranches.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee has about two dozen member agencies, including state and federal wildlife managers, Forest Service and National Park Service representatives, and Canadian participants. It has divided grizzly habitat into several recovery zones, the largest of which surround Yellowstone National Park and the Northern Continental Divide.

About 1,000 grizzlies now live in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE). They concentrate in Glacier National Park and Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, but also roam in the Mission Mountain Wilderness, Flathead Indian Reservation and Rattlesnake Wilderness north of Missoula.

The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has about 700 grizzlies, but it is further along in the delisting process. Its draft final rule was released in December, and its bears could be delisted by the end of 2017.

Montana, Idaho and Wyoming wildlife agencies had to draft hunting rules for grizzlies as part of the delisting process. But Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Martha Williams said any trophy hunting season would still have to go through a lengthy public process.

"It's a mistake to focus on hunting rather than conservation of the species," Williams said. "Hunting is a piece of this, but we're not there yet. It will be controversial."

Panel moderator Chris Smith of Wildlife Management Institute said the NCDE delisting process should be done in five years. A conservation strategy explaining how many grizzlies must survive to keep the population stable, what to do with problem bears and how to manage human activities in bear habitat should be finished by April 2018. The delisting rule should be published in the Federal Register in August 2018, starting another extensive public review process. Barring lawsuit delays, wildlife managers in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming would take over grizzly supervision on Jan. 1, 2020.

"You've got to build relationships, and I don't think your relationships are where they need to be," Teton County Commissioner Jim Hodgskiss told the panel. "Response time is critical. There are no trees out here except for the shelter belts around people's farms. That's where the bears bed down for the day. There's 80 acres of sunflowers a mile from my house. You drive by there, and six heads pop up. They're like kids in a candy store, eating cookies."

That prompted British Columbia Environment Ministry representative Tony Hamilton to raise a conundrum: What if the natural food base isn't big enough to support the present grizzly population? Sunflowers and beehives provide attractive nutrition for grizzlies. Does that mean the agricultural lands they roam might be considered part of their habitat?

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly recovery coordinator Hillary Cooley said the bears' recovery zones were drawn in the 1980s and have not been expanded beyond their backcountry isolation. But part of the reason Tuesday's meeting was held in Choteau was to recognize how grizzlies affect countryside far beyond their old boundaries.

Blackfeet Tribal medicine chief James St. Goddard argued the bears deserved far more protection than the committee seemed interested in providing.

"They've got a gun to my grizzly's head," St. Goddard said during public comment. "All of this is because of money. This is wrong what you're doing to the grizzly. I could pay you when the government pays me all the trillions of dollars they owe me. I think you guys should come to your senses."

St. Goddard's comments illuminated a split within the Blackfeet community. Tribal Fish and Wildlife Chief Donna Rutherford represented the tribal leadership on the panel discussion, and said the Tribal Business Council was not opposed to delisting grizzly bears, although it also did not support allowing anyone to hunt them on the Blackfeet Reservation.

Gary Burnett of the Blackfoot Challenge, a land-management group based around the southern end of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex (and not related to the Blackfeet Indian Tribe) observed that the solution to grizzly bear might not be what most people are expecting.

"What's at risk here is livelihoods and bears," Burnett said. "Somehow we're going to have to look for that shared value. Hunting and non-hunting  we're not here to debate those issues. There are other things at risk if we can't come to solutions on sustainable bear populations and people's livelihoods. The shared value is conflict reduction, not coexistence."
June 30th marks the end of the fiscal year, a time when CEOs and government officials prepare to report on their progress to shareholders and voters alike. As chairman of the Montana Public Service Commission, the shareholders I answer to are the ratepayers of Montana and Im pleased to report that the ratepayers have had a good year.

In exchange for the peace of mind that the rates they are paying will remain just and reasonable, utility customers pay a small monthly fee to fund the PSCs regulatory and oversight activities. The amount collected each month is so small that it does not even show up as a rounding error on most customers bills.

Over the last two years utility customers paid just $8 million to support the activity of PSC. In contrast, a single PSC decision from this year prevented NorthWestern Energy from charging customers an additional $8.2 million. Through decisions like this one, the PSC checks the monopoly power of utilities and provides regulated firms with an incentive to minimize costs and operate efficiently. The PSCs efforts have led to a direct savings to the ratepayer of over $30 million in the last two years.

The monetary savings pale in comparison to the broader benefits to the state that result from more affordable and reliable utility service. Electricity is an essential input into nearly every product produced in the state. High utility bills dont just hurt hard working Montana families they put a squeeze on entrepreneurs who are trying to turn their dreams into a reality. By ensuring that rates remain just and reasonable, the PSC helps supply a key ingredient for economic growth.

Although Im proud of the savings that the Commission has delivered to ratepayers, our most important responsibility remains protecting the safety and well-being of every single Montanan. Last year PSC inspectors spent over 197 days in the field inspecting the integrity of the states pipeline systems. Meanwhile our dedicated rail safety officials crisscrossed the state conducting 174 inspections and driving over 22,000 miles. During the same time period, PSC consumer assistance staff fielded 3,843 calls from utility customers, which frequently involve mediating disputes between ratepayers and the utility.

To be sure, utility executives in Montana will argue that savings to the ratepayer come at the expense of their companys financial well-being, however the facts do not bear out this claim. The states largest utility, NorthWestern Energy, continues to represent that it is a good bet for investors. It has a bond rating that is on par with those of similarly situated utilities in other jurisdictions, and the company recently received an upgrade of its stock rating from a hold to buy by investment research firm Zacks. On June 15, 2012, NorthWesterns stock closed at $35.80 per share. As of June 15 of this year the companys stock is trading at $62.80 per share, an increase well over 50 percent.

Still, others may contend that affordable electricity rates come at the expense of Montanas clean energy future. Once again, the numbers simply do not support this position. As NorthWestern spokesman Steve Clawson points out in a recent letter (June 9) published by the Missoulian, nearly 60 percent of the electricity that NorthWestern provides to serve Montana customers comes from carbon-free hydroelectric and wind generation sources. In the last year the utility has acquired over 180 megawatts of additional wind generation capacity and it recently secured contracts with six independently owned solar projects totaling 17 MW. For those of you keeping score, thats almost 200 MW of additional renewable generation, nearly double what Montanas regulated utility customers get from their providers already.

Unlike our private counterparts, the PSC doesnt hold annual shareholder meetings, however each commissioners must answer to the voters every four years. I believe elected officials should be accountable to those they serve throughout their entire term, not just when they are up for re-election. Thats why Im inviting members of the public to review the PSCs work over the last year in my 2016 Annual Chairmans Report, located on the front page of the PSCs website, www.psc.mt.gov. I encourage anyone with feedback or concerns to contact me or the commissioner for their district at PSChelp@mt.gov.
I wish there were more words for fabulous to thank the people of Butte for the great play "No Greater Love.'' I only wish it could travel Montana to tug at the heartstrings of more citizens. It's apparent that tons of work went into the play.

The young people are a result of Butte's support of its youth in the young people's drama programs. Please continue to support this endeavor for our next generation  money well spent.

Hats off to Butte for its support of all your concerts, plays, music, writers and celebrations. It is always a treat to visit on these occasions.

 Susan Colvin, Great Falls
Dear Evan.

I enjoyed the article in Sunday's paper featuring you and Mick Ringsak. It was an excellent article but I take exception with two statements you made concerning Dennis Washington and the mining operations. The first comment where you state you were involved in preserving the infrastructure and the second where you stated that you were "instrumental in getting Dennis Washington to establish Montana Resources here."

Maybe after 32 years since the mining operation was purchased your mind is playing tricks on you. Nevertheless, these statements are false. Or maybe it is "BS, it's called spin." Were you at the two meetings held in Butte between Washington and ARCO in September 1985? I don't think so. Did you fly down on Washington's plane the next day after the meeting to meet with the President of Anaconda Co? No.

After three intense days of negotiations a deal was made for Washington to purchase all of Anaconda's holdings in Montana. The final agreement was made in December 1985. Six months later Washington agreed to restart the open pit mine.

Around this time Ray Tilman and I met with you and informed you of the restart decision. You were not one bit happy and vigorously disagreed when we informed you the mining operation would be union free. Your belief was the workers were not skilled to represent themselves. After 30-plus years the mine has operated continuously maintaining a safety record which is the envy of the industry, not experiencing one day of work stoppage by either the workers or management. This is the truth, no BS.

 Frank Gardiner, Wise River
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Melody Jackson's beloved grandmother Eleanor was in the kitchen when she fell.

Her cries for help went unheard, and her feeble attempts to lift herself up were unsuccessful. At the time of the fall, Eleanor was in her 90s, and it was some 20 years ago, but the memory remains with Jackson to this day.

"She had to wait for her neighbor to get home from work to get up," Jackson said. "The family obviously was terrified, so we bought her one of those necklaces, those alert necklaces. ... Well, she didn't like wearing it."

However, if Eleanor had a small lapdog at the time, the dog not only could have been a companion, it could have helped her when she fell, said Jackson, an associate professor and director of the animal-computer interaction lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

From high-tech wearable vests for dogs to a dog-friendly touchscreen that works like a telephone, Jackson and her colleagues at Georgia Tech are developing and testing new ways for canines to communicate with humans during a medical emergency.

Since last year, when CNN previously interviewed Jackson and her team, they have tested a touchscreen that dogs can use to call or text.

Dogs could be trained to activate a device if their owner falls or if they hear a verbal cue telling them to "get help," said Jackson, who founded the FIDO project at Georgia Tech to research ways to improve communication between dogs and humans.

"The dog could go over to a touchscreen and touch a series of icons on the touchscreen and call 911 with your location," she said. "We think that, literally, this could change lives, make lives so much better, and be a life-saver."

Teaching dogs to 'talk' with technology

Jackson, who also is a dog trainer, said that both companion pets and service dogs could easily be trained to use technology to communicate when their handlers need help.

"What we realized a few years ago is that service dogs and working dogs in general have a lot of information that they need to impart to their handlers," Jackson said.

"A medical alert dog may need to summon 911 for their person who is having a seizure. Or a military working dog might need to tell their handler what kind of explosive they just found," she said. "The dogs had no way reliably to do this. So we started focusing on technology to allow working dogs and specifically service dogs to communicate."

Jackson and her colleagues have trained her border collie, Sky, and other dogs to approach a television-size touchscreen surface and use their noses to push three buttons when they hear the command "help."

Once the buttons are pushed, a computer connected to the touchscreen can be programmed to call anyone, such as a family member, a doctor or even 911, said Clint Zeagler, a research scientist and instructor at Georgia Tech, who has helped design the dog-friendly technologies for the FIDO project.

The buttons on the touchscreen appear in blue and yellow because dog vision is somewhat similar to being red-green colorblind, Zeagler said. He added that there are three buttons on the screen to eliminate the chances of any accidental calls being sent if the dog bumps the screen once or twice by mistake.

"What we're really doing with the FIDO project is looking at how can dogs best interact with technology," Zeagler said. "So, what size should the buttons be? What colors should the buttons be? What hardware should be used for dogs? We know those things for humans, but we're just starting to figure it out for a dog."

The researchers also have developed wearable technologies for dogs to use to communicate with humans. The wearables are designed as vests and are equipped with either a chew toy for the dog to bite on command or a braided rope for the dog to tug on command. Both actions activate a sensor in the toy or rope.

Once activated, those sensors signal a computer in the back of the vest to make a phone call, send a text or even broadcast an audio message. An automated audio message, sent through a speaker on the vest, could let passers-by know that the dog has called for help or that the dog's handler needs more assistance.

For instance, some seizure alert dogs are trained to sense the onset of a seizure, push their handlers against a wall to support their fall and then lick the face of their handlers during the seizure, Jackson said.

"But what if that dog could not just do all of that but reach around and tug a sensor on their vest that calls 911, with their GPS location, and also has a speaker that says, 'Excuse me, my handler is having a seizure; please stay back,' " Jackson said.

"We want to be able to let these dogs communicate with humans very specifically and very clearly so that even a person who isn't a dog trainer will understand what's going on," she said. "If the dog runs up to you and a speaker says, 'Excuse me, my handler needs your attention; can you please follow me,' OK, that's clear."

One 'ruff' day

Jackson also said that one of her former graduate students, Vincent Martin, and his guide dog Karson were in a situation a few years ago during which technology could have helped. Martin is blind.

"He was walking between classes one day on a very familiar path, and his dog stopped," Jackson said. "The dog wouldn't move, and so he took out his cane and he felt around. He couldn't feel anything."

Since Martin didn't feel anything in their path, Jackson said, he gave Karson a correction tug on the leash to encourage him to keep going. Karson reluctantly followed Martin's command.

"They both stepped into wet cement," Jackson said. "The dog had no way to tell him 'there's something in our path that I can't communicate to you.' "

Jackson and her colleagues hope that dog-friendly wearables and touchscreens soon could be commercialized for service animals around the world to use. Currently, the technologies are still research prototypes and have some limitations, Jackson said.

"We're working on, how do we make these more robust? How do you make the batteries last longer? How do you make this not false-positive, which means accidentally activate," Jackson said.

"These dogs love this work. The bond between a person and a service dog is unlike any other," she said. "We are just so proud that we can actually work in this area and hopefully create some of these technologies to keep that going."
MUSCATINE  Community Action of Eastern Iowa will be accepting applications for families who qualify for free school supplies.

Site Manager Jan Slaughter said households that qualify could receive school supplies for students attending kindergarten through Grade 12 this fall. Families must provide written proof of income for all household members, must reside in Muscatine County and will be asked to provide two forms of identification, with their name and street address.

To qualify, a two-person household's income must not exceed $28,420, a three-person household's income must not exceed $35,735, and a four-person household's income must not exceed $43,050.

Households should call 563-263-9290 or 866-263-9290 for more information.

The school supply program assisted 513 children last year with donations from Allsteel, CBI Bank & Trust, First National Bank, Hon, HNI Tech Center, and other organizations.
MUSCATINE  Several construction projects are wrapping up or moving forward in Muscatine County this month.

On Monday, County Engineer Keith White presented the Board of Supervisors with updates to projects, including work to repave Fruitland Road.

White said Reilly Construction is grading the road, starting on the east end and proceeding west.

"They've stripped the top soil and now they should be working on pavement removal," he said. "They sent an update letter to residents, some of them are moving to temporary mailboxes for the duration here."

Crews have started to remove pavement between the railroad crossing and Spitz Drive.

White said the county has not received complaints about the project so far, but the road will be "torn up for a while."

Once Reilly Construction completes the pavement removal, crews will return to the railroad crossing and begin grading and placing a new pavement rock sub-base. That base will serve as a temporary driving surface.

White expects Croell Inc. to start paving the week of July 17.

White also updated board members on the construction of a new cold storage building at the county building at 3610 Park Avenue West. He said construction is complete and he plans to do a final walk through this week. The county will begin accepting bids for a new parking lot at the building.

Multiple culvert replacement projects are nearly completed in the county, he said. JB Holland Construction has finished the pipe concrete culvert replacement at Bayfield Road and the road has reopened to traffic.

Work is also nearly finished on a culvert replacement and grading project in the 2200 block of 215th Street. The road has reopened, and White said crews are working on the west side, which is a Federal Emergency Management Agency site.

White said seeding still needs to be done at Bayfield Road and 215th Street.

Also Monday, the Board of Supervisors approved a permit allowing Esatern Iowa Light and Power of Wilton to install about 60 new utility poles along Elder Avenue, north of 140th Street.
Important stuff you won't get from the liberal media! We do the surfing so you can be informed AND have a life!
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 []
National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale has dismissed Raila Odingas desperate attempt to deny what he said in Kajiado.

According to Duale, the NASA flagbearers utterances have nothing to do with resolving the so-called land question in the country.

In a statement released on Monday, Duale alleges that Railas philosophy is threats, intimidation, and violence.

Duale said no amount of blood is worth Odingas thirst for power as he called on Kenyans to join together against Odingas monstrous philosophy.

Raila was quoted telling the Maasai community not to sell their ancestral territory to outsiders. His remarks sparked outrage from Jubilee leaders who called upon the NCIC and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions to probe Raila for incitement.

Raila dismissed calls that he be probed as absolute nonsense.

But Duale in his statement said the opposition chief should be held responsible, saying his remarks amounted to hate speech.

Odingas utterances have nothing to do with resolving the so-called land question in the country that he purports to champion. Odinga simply called on the Maasai community to exclude and evict outsiders from Kajiado County, said Duale.

Read the full statement below:

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RAILA ODINGAS PHILOSOPHY IS THREATS, INTIMIDATION, AND VIOLENCE

Raila Odinga is on trial again courtesy of Article 39 and 40 of the Constitution.

All we ask him to do is to confine himself to this section and stop his desperate attempt to deny what he said in Kajiado.
The government has declared next week Monday a public holiday for the Idd-Ul-Fitr celebrations observed by Muslims.

In a special gazette notice dated June 20th, Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery stated June 26 will allow for the marking of the end of Ramadhan.

It is notified for general information that Monday 26th June 2017 will be observed as a public holiday to mark Idd-Ul-Fitr Day pursuant to section 3 of the Public Holidays Act, stated Nkaissery.

The big celebration will mark the end of Ramadhan, he noted.

Idd ul Fitr is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide. It is the first day of the Islamic month of Shawwal and marks the end of Ramadan, which is a month of fasting and prayer.

Muslims will attend communal prayers, listen to a sermon and give charity in the form of food.

The fast commenced on the 26th of last month(May) and is set to be concluded this coming Sunday.
A group of thieves broke into a church in Embu and made away equipment worth more than Sh500,000.

The weekend incident at African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa in Kangaru, Embu West sub-county, left many shocked.

The thieves are said to have stolen speakers, amplifiers and other items after gaining access into the church through a window.

Pastor Newton Mugendi said the church had struggled for a long time to raise money for the stolen public address equipment.

They gained access to the church through a window they broke before stealing speakers, amplifiers and other items, Mugendi said.

On Sunday, service was delayed as clergy and the congregation tried to come to terms with the theft.

I suspect politicians are buying the equipment for campaigns. I ask police to screen sound systems being used by these politicians, the pastor said.

The pastor lamented that the society has deteriorated to the point that thieves would actively target churches.

The religious leaders asked the police to step up security for churches, adding that officers should track down the criminals targeting religious institutions.
The government is ready to roll out the new education curriculum starting next year, Kenya Insitute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has said.

Speaking during the 42nd Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association conference at Wild Waters center in Mombasa, the institutes chief executive Julius Jwan said the programme will first target the lower primary early next year if the ongoing piloting succeeds.

As we roll it out in 2018, we will be able to do the same for the upper primary and in 2019 we should be able to roll out grade four and six.

The good thing is that the head teachers of these schools have already been trained, said Jwan.

He said 2,000 teachers have already completed the second phase of training of the new 2-6-3-3 education system set to replace the current 8-4-4 system.

Jwan said learning content for grade seven to nine will be developed later.

And as that goes on we will be developing designs and contents for grade seven to nine and be able to roll it out in 2020.

The new Grade 1 to Grade 12 system will also see learners examined through continuous assessment tests as opposed to a single national examination.

Dr Jwan said the review of the 8-4-4 system was long overdue and the proposed course of study focuses more on competence so that learners can be critical thinkers.
National Super Alliance (Nasa) leader Raila Odinga has continued with his six-piece campaign. This week, he has camped in the city.

Speaking in Dagoretti on Monday, Raila urged residents to vote for Evans Kidero to start his second term as Nairobi governor. He said that it would be a shame for him to be president only for Sonko to be the one receiving him during events.

We dont want to capture the national government, then here in Nairobi we get a Jubilee governor.

Ill find it very embarrassing if I become president, and then Sonko comes to receive me [during ceremonies].

Raila visited Dagoreti North and Westlands constituencies.

He further commented on the maize shortage, calling it an artificial creation of the Jubilee government. He said Jubilee is planning to withhold maize until the final days of campaigns, so that they can supply the basic commodity and possibly sway voters.

They want to withhold unga so that they will supply the basic commodity to people at the eve of elections and possibly sway voters to vote for President Kenyatta. We, NASA, know that plot and we are telling them that Kenyans are mature politically and we will send them home, he said.

He also urged his supporters to adopt a polling station, saying they are targeting 5 agents per polling station.

Watch the clip above.
Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Peter Kenneth has finally gathered strength and named Deputy President William Ruto by name, as the person who ensured he lost the Jubilee ticket for Nairobi.

The former Gatanga MP named Ruto as the mastermind behind a rigging scheme that denied him the ticket. He said that the DP planned all this while at the Jubilee party headquarters, where he had been sent by the president to take charge of things.

We did not lose the Jubilee Party nominations because my opponent was assisted by somebody high up in the Party hierarchy, he said. Our opponent was assisted by somebody who wanted to cut me to size politicallyand lets not cheat ourselves, that person is Mr Ruto, he added.

Peter Kenneth was speaking at Mlango Kubwa in Mathare constituency, where he held a town hall meeting.

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He went on to narrate how Ruto ensured he lost.

The ensured they voted twice, thrice, ten times, and the worst case was where an individual voted a record 51 times, he told the crowd.

Sonko has extended a hand to Peter Kenneth urging him to return to Jubilee so they can work together, but PK has flatly refused the offer. Mr Sonko knows he cant run this city that is why he has acquired a new image of donning suits every day. He may have a new suit everyday but his brains and thinking remain the same, PK added. Even with new suits, Mr Sonko has not changed; he is merely hiding behind those suits.
Machakos County Governor Dr Alfred Mutua has accused Wiper governor aspirant Wavinya Ndeti of sabotaging garbage collection in the county.

According to Mutua, Wavinya has been sponsoring county employees to deliberately dump garbage in the county so as to make him look inefficient.

I have established that Wavinya Ndeti has been sponsoring county employees to sabotage the garbage collection program in the county and even organizing for lorries of garbage from Nairobi county to be coming to dump garbage in Machakos county, said Mutua.

All these is being done so that I can look inefficient and to manufacture propaganda. It does not make sense that for four years Machakos has been the cleanest county in Kenya and all of a sudden a few months to the elections I am unable to collect garbage, added the Governor.

Mutua was speaking on Monday at KMC estate, Athi River, where he launched the countys garbage clean-up program.

He said vehicles meant for garbage collection in the county have been grounded after cartels squandered funds allocated for their repair.

This sabotage has seen county equipment, especially in Mavoko sub-county disabled, fuel money stolen, allowances for staff eaten and garbage dumped on roads, Mutua added.

Shame on you Wavinya Ndeti for endangering the health and lives of our residents and our children. Shame on you!

The Maendeleo Chap Chap leader said the chief officer in charge of Solid Waste Management and Sanitation, Collins Sila, has been moved to the Special Programmes Department under the office of the county secretary.
Throughout different situations in life, I have always found that partnerships make both our personal and professional lives richer and more rewarding. A very strong partnership we share is with the Rianda House of St. Helena, they are a wonderful organization that offers a variety of programs and activities for older adults. In this weeks Recreation Reader column, the Executive Director of Rianda delves in the PWR!Moves class and the amazing benefits it carries for people with Parkinsons Disease.

Parkinsons Wellness at Rianda House

When Joan Comendant, a local personal fitness trainer, first observed an exercise class for Parkinsons patients at St Helena Fitness Center, she was struck by how effective it was for helping people to increase their mobility and improve their quality of life. For several years, she had been teaching a restorative exercise class at the St Helena Cancer Center and had seen first-hand how deep breathing and restorative exercises have helped people deal with chronic issues. She was certain that the exercise classes for people with Parkinsons classes would be just as powerful.

So she was thrilled when she was given the opportunity to take over the Parkinsons class in 2014. She completed certification in the Parkinsons Wellness Recovery program and partnered up with Joe Burger and Rianda House to expand the program in the community.

Having now taught the Parkinsons Wellness Recovery program at Rianda House since 2015, Comendant has come to believe that exercise may be the most promising way to alleviate Parkinsons symptoms and slow progression of the disease.

While everyone can benefit from exercise, it is especially important for people with a progressive movement disorder like Parkinsons that can result in weakness, stiffness, difficulty walking, poor balance and falls, as well as impaired cognitive processing. Regular exercise bestows increased levels of fitness; a greater sense of well-being; stronger muscles and bones; healthier joints; more efficient breathing; and better digestion and blood circulation. Comendant reports that people who attend her classes can do things better than they used to: for example, all of her students can get out a chair more quickly and more times, which helps them to be more self-sufficient and able to carry on with their lives. Better posture and stronger legs allow people to pick their feet up higher so they dont stumble and fall.

Each week UpValley residents of any age can participate in Comendants weekly exercise classes in Calistoga and St. Helena, PWR!Moves and Tai Chi, which are both hosted by Rianda House. Classes are offered on a drop-in basis and at no-cost to the community, thanks to the support of a grant from the National Parkinsons Foundation and several fabulous local donors.

PWR!Moves is a movement class for those living with Parkinsons Disease, Essential Tremors or balance issues that was created by the National Parkinsons Foundation. It is designed to increase strength, flexibility, coordination, balance and posture with a goal to enhance motor, cognitive and emotional functions and daily quality of life. Comendant begins or ends each class with a seated dance that always gets the class laughing while they work on the postures and stretches needed to improve mobility. PWR!Moves is offered in St. Helena at Rianda House on Wednesdays, 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. and in Calistoga at the Community Center on Fridays, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

The Tai Chi class features a combination of slow meditative movements that aid relaxation, balance, stress reduction and posture, giving an effective total-body workout. Tai Chi is offered on Mondays, 10:40 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Rianda House in St. Helena and on Fridays 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Calistoga Community Center.

Rianda also hosts a monthly support group for individuals with Parkisons disease or for anyone who cares for someone with Parkinsons. Bob Winters facilitates the meeting on the second Thursday of each month, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Rianda House. Each month, the meeting offers a guest speaker, support resources and information, as well as the opportunity to provide support for each other.

If you or someone you care about is experiencing mobility issues, be sure to stop by Rianda House for more information or drop in on a class. You wont regret it! As one participant put it, The classes help me gain stamina and flexibility. It is fun to be with this group of people and I look forward to seeing them. I like the all the variety of things that Joan brings to us.

Rianda House is located at 1475 Main Street in St. Helena. Hours: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 707-963-8555 or visit the website for a monthly activities calendar: www.riandahouse.org.

Written by: Julie Spencer, Executive Director and Stephanie Parry, Development and Marketing Consultant.
In a symbolic measure and commitment to city goals the council approved a resolution in support of the Paris Climate Accord in Tuesdays meeting.

Known as the Paris Agreement by the United Nations, Mayor Chris Canning said many cities in California are adopting similar resolutions, and Calistoga has a Climate Action Plan in place that is in accord with the resolution.

Among priority projects for Calistoga in this vein are implementing the Green House Gas Emissions Reduction Measures included in the citys Climate Action Plan, work on the construction of Calistogas segment of the Napa Valley Vine Trail to expand the active transportation network, and implement the Calistoga Active Transportation Plan in order to improve and enhance walkways and bicycle trails.
A yard sign welcoming immigrants in English, Spanish and Arabic has arrived in the city of Napa  nearly 3,000 miles from its original home.

The sign reads: No matter where you are from, were glad youre our neighbor.

Local politicians say the sign  which has been spreading across the U.S. and appearing in dozens of cities  is new to the Napa Valley, but welcome nevertheless.

I havent seen that sign before but I like it, said Napa Mayor Jill Techel.

I like it because someone cared enough to put it up, Techel said. Napa is full of people who truly care about others and work to make it a great place to live.

American Canyon City Councilmember Kenneth Learys reaction was more subdued. When asked if he would like to see the sign in his city, Leary said: My gut reaction would be a yes.

However, he continued, what appears to be [a] simple message of inclusion may not spark the intended result.

Leary said simple statements with engagement, education and a willingness to grow may just fall on deaf ears, or even worse create a backlash.

The pro-immigration sign  printed in green, blue and gold  was spotted recently on the corner of Redwood Road and Linda Vista Avenue, one of Napas busier intersections.

Similar, but not identical versions have also appeared in north Napa along West Pueblo Avenue, as well as other parts of town, according to Napa City Councilmember Scott Sedgley.

The signs on West Pueblo Avenue bear nearly the same message. They read: No matter where youre from, were glad to be your neighbor.

The message is printed in English and Spanish, but not Arabic. The West Pueblo signs also have a different look, featuring elements of the American flag  stars and stripes  in the background.

It is unknown who posted the sign at Redwood and Linda Vista. It was not in someones yard, but planted among landscaping adjacent to a traffic light pole.

What is known is the sign did not originate in Napa. It is a replicate of one first printed two years ago in Harrisonburg, Virginia, by the Immanuel Mennonite Church. Since then the sign has gone national.

The sign was born out of the churchs philosophy to reach out to our neighbors and neighborhoods, welcome those who come from different backgrounds and places, and practice hospitality through the open doors of our communities, according to Welcomeyourneighbors.org, a website that tells about the signs history.

The churchs pastor, Matthew Bucher, came up with an idea to share a simple message with the surrounding neighborhood, where the three main languages spoken are English, Spanish and Arabic.

This was back in August 2015, in the midst of a national dialogue that was strikingly negative about immigrants, the website states.

The very first sign, painted by hand and posted in the churchs front yard, contained the message: No matter where youre from, were glad youre our neighbor.

From there it grew into a movement that serves as a tangible signpost encouraging people to build bridges of connection, and practice hospitality, according to Welcomeyourneighbors.org.

Sedgley agreed with Techel that the sign is a welcome addition to Napa.

I was encouraged by the neighbors who displayed them being reassured of the good that does exist, said Sedgley. Mother always told us not to say unkind things, and positive messages foster good will among our friends.

Without naming names, he added: I imagine the message is in response to some of our electeds saying unkind things about human imagination and its impact.

Elected officials in American Canyon said they have not seen the sign in their city yet. But its message would fit in nicely, said Councilmember Mark Joseph.

Id love to start seeing them here, he said. We have our own version, so to speak, with the we [heart] everyone in AmCan sign, referring to the sign printed by City Hall and available to all residents.

But the more, the merrier, said Joseph. I think the message is great.

Leary said human migration is part of our inclusive human history in which people are sometimes seeking greener pastures.

We all came from somewhere else, he said.

Having the signs in American Canyon wouldnt be a bad thing, Leary added. Hes just not sure how effective they might be.

I would not object to these signs around town, said Leary. Nonetheless, I doubt their ability to change anyones mind.
Its just time, Napa Police Chief Steve Potter said last week about his impending retirement. After 36 years in law enforcement and two and a half years working as police chief putting in 60- to 70-hour work weeks, Potter said that he hopes to have more time for himself when he leaves his position this fall.

His last day will be Oct. 31.

Potter, now 58, became police chief at an age when most law enforcement professionals in California are retiring.

Im old, Im tired, Potter said. I think the citizens of Napa and the department should have somebody with a lot more energy than I do.

City Manager Mike Parness said that he knew that Potter might not stay in the position too long when he appointed him, but that he was hoping to get a few more years out of him.

When I appointed him as chief it was probably the easiest decision I ever had to make, Parness said. Potters strong connection with the community combined with his strong communication and management skills made him an ideal candidate, he said.

Replacing Potter wont be easy, Parness said. To find someone with the same values and the same level of commitment as Potter will be a daunting task, he said, but theres comfort in knowing that Potters gotten the organization headed in the direction that the city wanted.

Hes going to be sorely missed, Parness said.

One of the accomplishments Potter is most proud of is how he has been able to connect law enforcement officers with the community. As a Napa native, he said he had the advantage of knowing what the communitys needs and expectations are.

While hes been chief, Potter said that hes encouraged communication in and outside of the department.

My door has always been open to anyone who wants to come in and talk, Potter said.

Potter, soft-spoken and friendly, is known for his conversation whether it be in his office, outside the department building or in the grocery store.

Capt. Pat Manzer, who has worked with Potter for more than 22 years, said that hes always been approachable and willing to help others. Even before he was chief, it was clear that Potter was a leader, he said.

The hardest part of Steve retiring is he has always been there for us, Manzer said. I have always looked up to him for the way he is able to keep people going in the right direction, even in the face of an event such as the recent earthquake.

Neighborhood policing and problem-solving have been at the forefront of Potters law enforcement philosophy.

Potter said that hes encouraged officers to get out of their patrol cars, get to know the people who live in the community and really listen to their needs and wants.

There have been three police-involved shootings  all fatal  during Potters time as police chief.

In each incident, the suspect involved was armed, according to police.

On March 13, 2015, an officer shot and killed James Richard Hyme Jimenez, 41, after the man, refusing to put his hands up at the scene of a crash in the Alta Heights area, reached for a handgun in his waistband. The Napa County District Attorneys Office deemed that shooting to be justified.

This year there were two officer-involved shootings, which are still being reviewed by the DAs Office  one behind Black Bear Diner on March 13 and another April 4 on Linda Vista Avenue. In the first incident, police said, transient Noel Aaron Russell, 23, who was armed with a knife, lunged at officers. In the second, Stephen Connard Ferry, 65, was shooting at officers after shooting into a neighbors residence, police said.

Potter said that these incidents weigh on him as they do everyone involved.

I focus on work and I try to help as many people through it as I can while making sure that we are handling it in an ethical and moral manner.

At the Napa Police Department, we have our core values for the department posted on the wall and at the top of that list is human life, Potter said. Thats why, he said, when police-involved shootings occur, the department analyzes the situation and provides updated training to officers.

We try our best to find alternative means or ways of addressing the situation to try to avoid (officer-involved shootings) from happening, he said.

He said that hes proud that all the officers have received bias awareness training and that most of them have also participated in crisis intervention training.

They have been trained in techniques to deescalate, to slow down, to create space when dealing with people who are in a mental health crisis so that we have more positive outcomes, Potter said. We dont force issues anymore. We try to give it time to play out.

Despite the positive changes that have happened within the department, there have been legal and cultural trends that have negatively impacted law enforcement, Potter said.

Among the problems he listed are homelessness, mental health and drug abuse.

I actually feel a little guilty leaving knowing that there are so many challenges ahead for different segments of our community and our community as a whole, Potter said.

Potter wont be leaving his Napa roots behind, though. He says he still plans on living in Napa and staying very involved with the community.
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 spokesperson Elizabeth Emmett disagreed with Gibbs remarks.

Overall, the decreases in budget are fairly evenly distributed, said Emmett in an email. In cases where classified staff will see reduced hours, we are working with the union to find ways that our current part-time employees can assume additional part-time duties, both to increase their hours and to keep our total number of employees level.

Emmett added that among NVUSDs three employee groups (classified, certificated and administration), the cuts percentagewise impacted administration the most, followed by certificated, which includes teachers, and classified employees.

Certificated and classified are close in size in terms of reductions, she said.

When it comes to adjustments necessitated by declining enrollment, according to Emmett, classified is the subject of slightly more cuts.

One of our stated goals is to keep the cuts as far from the classroom as possible, she said.

In addition to criticizing the budget, Gibb 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.
[Breaking news update at 5:35 p.m. ET]

The FBI said it is investigating the stabbing of a police officer at a Flint, Michigan, airport "as act of terrorism."

[Previous story, published at 4:11 p.m. ET]

A police officer was stabbed in the back and neck Wednesday at an airport in Flint, Michigan, and the suspect is in custody and being questioned, according to authorities.

The police officer, identified as Lt. Jeff Neville, is in stable condition, said Lt. David Kaiser, a spokesman for the Michigan State Police. He was stabbed on the public side of Bishop International Airport's main terminal, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

All passengers are safe and were evacuated, the airport said on Facebook. A law enforcement official said the stabbing appears to have targeted law enforcement.

The FBI said it believed the attack was an "isolated incident" and is investigating whether it was an act of terrorism.

"We are aware of reports that the attacker made statements immediately prior to or while attacking the officer, but it is too early to determine the nature of these alleged statements or whether or not this was an act of terrorism," the FBI said.

President Donald Trump has been briefed on the attack, an administration official told CNN.

US law enforcement officials are working with Canadian authorities to learn more about the ties the suspect has to Canada, according to a law enforcement source.

A US official told CNN that, based on preliminary information, it appears the suspect has traveled between the United States and Canada multiple times.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Embassy in Washington said the Canadian government and law enforcement agencies are "engaged and are cooperating fully" with their American counterparts.

The airport is closed until further notice.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver responded to the stabbing with words of support for officers.

"(P)lease keep the attacked officer in your thoughts & prayers," Snyder said on Twitter.

"My thoughts and prayers are with all of our law enforcement officers who work to service and protect us each and every day," Weaver said in a statement.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Rene Marsh and Kristina Sgueglia contributed to this report.
I wrote into the St. Helena Star a while ago to say I did not support the huge hotel complex on our beautiful library lot.

Specifically, it would be terrible to lose the beautiful walkway down to the river that so many people use. My two young boys love to run and ride their bikes down that walkway, and with no streets or driveways they are very safe running freely along the vineyards.

One of the businessmen pushing the hotel complex wrote a letter in response to mine stating that the walkway would not be lost and seemed offended that anyone would oppose the project.

I found out that there was a meeting with about 100 St. Helena residents who opposed destroying that site and losing our walkway. It was also clarified that the walkway would be lost as part of the city's requirements.

So even though the City Council states that they will listen to the people when they are running for office, and then 100 people show up to oppose a project, they are now bringing that project back for further discussion on Tuesday, June 27. Let the City Council know that we treasure our agricultural and open space and that we want to preserve our agricultural history for the next generations.

Build the hotels on Main Street where they belong.

Krys Smith

St. Helena
Faced with staffing challenges and worsening traffic that delays response times, the St. Helena Fire Department is establishing a second fire station on Dowdell Lane.

The department plans to rent a property at 1025 Dowdell Lane that has a house and a shed in back. Two firefighters will live in the house, and the shed will be expanded to accommodate a fire engine and maybe a utility pickup.

The city will pay $1,500 a month to rent the shed and the two firefighters will pay $1,500 to rent the house, for a total of $3,000 a month. The St. Helena City Fire Department Association will use funds raised at the annual lobster feed to retrofit the shed at no cost to the city.

The Planning Commission approved a use permit for the shed on Tuesday, and the citys $1,500 a month in rent was included in the 2017-2018 budget adopted by the council last week.

The department has 28 firefighters, but only four of them work near the firehouse during the day, Fire Chief John Sorensen told the Planning Commission.

Seven other firefighters are in the southern part of town during the day, five of them working at Sutter Home. When theres a fire call, they have to fight traffic to reach the firehouse near Main and Pine streets, suit up, and then drive to the location of the call, which is often back down south where they started. The new traffic light at Grayson Avenue has made the drive north even longer, Sorensen said.

Under the new plan, about nine firefighters would instead be assigned to the Dowdell station, where they could collect their gear, jump into a vehicle, and arrive at the scene of an emergency much sooner.

The plan has the added benefit of providing affordable housing for two firefighters, Sorensen said.
On Thursday, 22 June 2017, the North Atlantic Council chaired by NATO Deputy Secretary General, H.E. Ms. Rose Gottemoeller, will travel to Poland.

Ms. Gottemoeller alongside the NATO Ambassadors and the Military Committee will visit the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise (CWIX) at the Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz.

Media Advisory

13:50 The Deputy Secretary Generals joint press conference with the Undersecretary of State in the Polish Defence Ministry, Mr. Tomasz Szatkowski, the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, General Denis Mercier, and the Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee, Lieutenant General Steven M. Shepro

Still and video images of the visit will be available on the NATO website after the event.

CWIX is managed by NATOs Allied Command Transformation and hosted by the Joint Force Training Centre between June 12th and June 29th. More details about the exercise are available at http://www.act.nato.int/cwix.

Follow the Deputy Secretary General on Twitter (@Gottemoeller). Also follow us at @NATOPress.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent some 20 minutes out in drizzle here on Wednesday doing yogic 'asanas' as lakhs of enthusiasts in various states stretched, twisted their bodies and performed breathing exercises on the third International Yoga Day. But moderate to heavy rains in several parts of India prevented many more from taking part in mass demonstration events of the ancient Indian physical, mental and spiritual practice. Leading the celebrations at a rain-drenched Ramabai Amedkar Sthal in the Uttar Pradesh capital, Modi described yoga as a binding factor for the global community and underlined its importance towards creating health, wealth and wellness. Addressing a gathering of over 45,000 people, the Prime Minister, wearing a yoga-themed white T-shirt and white trouser, said yoga was as important as salt in food and urged all Indians to embrace yoga as a part of life. He said yoga power has had a profound impact on the world. "There are many countries which don't know our language, are not aware about Indian culture or traditions but they too are practising yoga. Much like it connects the mind with the soul, yoga is playing an important role in connecting the world." Modi said since the UN declared June 21 as the International Day for Yoga in December 2014, awareness about it was rising leading to a new job market. He said new yoga training institutes had developed and demand for yoga trainers and training institutes had been rising. "Across the globe, the demand for yoga teachers is rising, creating a new job market. Indians are the most preferred choice." Modi then walked over to a yoga mat, did yogic exercises and then flew back to New Delhi. Outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee attended an event at Rashtrapati Bhawan that drew about 200 employees and family members. In Madhya Pradesh, Congress workers and agitating farmers performed 'shavasana' -- the dead body posture -- to denounce the June 6 killing of peasants by police during protests seeking remunerative prices for farm produce and loan waiver. In Gujarat, BJP President Amit Shah joined yoga expert-turned-industrialist Baba Ramdev in Ahmedabad. The event was billed as the world's "largest" yoga gathering but a heavy downpour since early morning played spoilsport. In rain-soaked Delhi, Lt. Gov. Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal did yogic exercises at Connaught Place. Hundreds attended seven other major events in the city. Celebrities and commoners in Mumbai did yoga on land, water and under water as well. Over 10,000 naval personnel and their families and Army officers took part in celebrations aboard ships and special yoga camps in the city's military areas. People did yoga on the decommissioned aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, 15 other warships and even underwater in submarines, Defence Ministry spokesperson Rahul Sinha told IANS. In Left-ruled Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan pressed people to be "secular" while embracing yoga. "Yoga should not be mistaken as a religious ritual. It can be practised by all and it is just a physical exercise. But today it has come to light that some have hijacked yoga by reciting hymns. Yoga was in existence even before the hymns came into existence," he said. In Bihar, the ruling alliance led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stayed away from the celebrations. But Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Union Ministers, took part in the ceremonies attended by hundreds. It was a low key affair in predominantly Christian Mizoram after an influential civil youth group asked people to refrain from doing yoga exercises. The main event was held at the Assam Rifles Ground in Aizawl. Events were also held in hundreds of other places including in West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh. --IANS team-and-sar/mr ( 635 Words) 2017-06-21-16:24:20 (IANS)
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. (ANI)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah also graced the event.

Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu took to Twitter and appealed to the people to make the ancient practice a part of their daily life to experience the tranquility of mind, body and spirit!

"Happy International #YogaDay2017 to one and all! Make yoga a part of your daily life to experience the tranquility of mind, body & spirit!" he tweeted.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Happy International <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YogaDay2017?src=hash">#YogaDay2017</a> to one and all! Make yoga a part of your daily life to experience the tranquility of mind, body & spirit! <a href="https://t.co/m0jzXpy8bj">pic.twitter.com/m0jzXpy8bj</a></p> M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) <a href="https://twitter.com/MVenkaiahNaidu/status/877323259527651328">June 21, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also urged the people to make Yoga an inseparable part of their lives, while asserting that it is the key to a healthy world.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As we march forward on the path of devpt,it is imp to have healthy citizen,healthy society&healthy Nation.<br>Yoga is the key to Healthy World!</p> Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) <a href="https://twitter.com/Dev_Fadnavis/status/877326299609448448">June 21, 2017</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Yoga?src=hash">#Yoga</a> not only helps with physical fitness but also boosts efficiency & confidence.<br>I appeal to make <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Yoga?src=hash">#Yoga</a> an inseparable part of your life! <a href="https://t.co/u3HPzPUvwR">pic.twitter.com/u3HPzPUvwR</a></p> Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) <a href="https://twitter.com/Dev_Fadnavis/status/877325842824667136">June 21, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Hundreds of countries are uniting to mark the Yoga Day today. Celebrations have already begun in India as well as in many other countries across the globe.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also arrived at Uttar Pradesh's Ramabai Ambedkar Ground to participate in the International Yoga Day function 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. (ANI)
As cities across India rolled out yoga mats at various venues to mark the importance of yoga on the International Yoga Day, Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the practice has now evolved into an international art, free of any political tinges. Talking to the media in the national capital, Naidu said "Yoga is becoming part of people's life, it brings discipline." Meanwhile, talking on the occasion, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh said Yoga is not just for its physical benefits but a means to spiritual upliftment in making life more disciplined. "If people have come in large numbers even in a rainy weather that suggest how much people have a belief and resolve toward yoga. The kind of awakening that Prime Minister Modi has spread regarding yoga can be seen here as people have come here for yoga in this adverse weather also. This suggests that there is an awakening for yoga among people," he added in Jammu. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi began the day's celebrations while addressing the gathering in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow, and said that Yoga has become an integral part of every Indian household. Conveying his greetings to all those who joined the Yoga Day 2017 celebrations across India and the world, Prime Minister Modi said Yoga's immense popularity outside India is high and has connected the world with India. "I am happy to see so many Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing. Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness," Prime Minister Modi said. The international day for yoga is celebrated annually since its inception in 2015. (ANI)
Yoga has same importance as "salt" has in life, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here today and maintained that yoga can act as a great unifying factor and has lately given a boost to India''s global reach too. Yoga has gained popularity among various countries across the globe, he said. "It is due to yoga the world has started getting associated with India in a new manner and with renewed respect and enthusiasm," Mr Modi said while beginning the third edition of the International Day for Yoga. "Today, yoga has become a part of so many lives. Yoga''s popularity outside India is high and has connected the world with India," he said. Mr Modi said that the UN had accepted his proposal in record time to celebrate June 21 as the International Yoga Day. Mr Modi said yoga - that was once practiced by sages in hills and in caves - have today become a household word. "Yoga is about health assurance. It is not even expensive to practice,'''' he said. The Prime Minister said, "Yoga is more than just a healthy body -- it leads one to complete wellness". He further said, "Yoga can help people keep calm.....it helps people to maintain a healthy body and mind despite various challenges." He lauded the citizens and yoga enthusiasts in Lucknow for coming in large numbers braving incessant rains. There is a need for standarisation of yoga, he said but maintained that even as everyone cannot master the art, people can still practice yoga. It enlightens both body and soul and helps one keep calm amid pressure and challenges, he said. No one in the globe today question the benefits of yoga, he said. "I request people to make yoga a part of their life. We may not master yoga or become teachers but we should not stop from performing yoga (asanas)," Mr Modi said. "Wellness" is more important than simply physical fitness, he said and maintained that yoga can help bring cohesion in the society. Speaking on the occasion at the Ramabai Ambedkar Ground in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said yoga is a way of life and helps unite people. "Yoga is an ancient Indian practice and all ancient scriptures, including the Vedas, have accepted the importance of yoga," he pointed out. UP Governor Ram Naik also joined the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister to perform asanas even as massive security arrangements have been made in Lucknow for the Prime Minister''s visit. UNI DEVN AD SV 0842 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-942792.Xml
Braving heavy rains, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today joined the nation to perform yoga fully drenched with around 51,000 participants on the Third International Yoga day in the City of Nawabs here. The PM participated with Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and school going children at the Ramabai Ambedkar Ground here. Two state Deputy Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, along with Union Ayush Minister Sripad Naik and his UP counterpart Dharam Singh Saini, also participated here. Dressed in a white t-shirt with the International Yoga Day logo on it and a white track pant, Mr Modipracticed like an expert yoga guru before the school children. The PM excelled in performing the asanas, as compared to expert instructors in the dais.He performed yoga for around 20 minutes and then left the ground, even as other participants continued performing for around 40 minutes under the instruction of yoga experts. "Yoga is about health assurance and gives you zero cost health insurance. It is not even expensive and I urge everyone to make yoga a part of their lives as in addition to fitness, wellness is more important for a person," the PM said. On a lighter vein, the PM said Lucknow has shown the world how a yoga mat could be used otherwise during rains, besides practicing yoga. He was referring to the people putting the yoga mats on their heads to save them from getting drenched in the rains. He said yoga has created job opportunities for the Indian youth in the country, as well as in the world. "I am glad to see several yoga institute take shape over the last three years. Demand for yoga teachers is increasing, which is generating more jobs. "Today, yoga has become a part of so many lives. Yoga has connected India with the world and now UNESCO has identified Yoga as a heritage of the world." Appealing to the people to practice yoga daily to keep themselves fit, the PM said while doing yoga, people would realise the importance of their bodies and the role different body parts play. Giving an example, he said like a pinch of salt is necessary for any food, similarly, yoga is also important for the body to function smoothly, as it cures several illnesses without any expense. UNI MB AD RJ 0925 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-942805.Xml
Two local militants of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in north Kashmir district of Baramulla in the wee hours, official sources said. They said on a tip-off about the presence of militants, troops of 22 Rashtritya Rifles (RR), Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF launched a joint search and cordon operation at Pazalpora Rafiabad, Sopore in Baramulla district late last night. When security forces were sealing the particular area, the militants opened fire, which was retaliated, ensuing a fierce encounter, the sources added.However, due to darkness, the operation was stopped, they said, adding that security forces remained deployed to foil any attempt by the militants to escape. The operation resumed with the first light this morning and in the encounter, both the militants holed up in the area were killed.The slain militants were identified as Basit Ahmad, resident of Pattan and Gulzar Ahmad, resident of Sopore. They said arms and ammunition were recovered from the slain militants.Two HM militants were killed by security forces in apple township of Sopore on June 1.UNI BAS SV RJ 1028 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-942848.Xml
The CPI-M in Tripura was accused of stopping the entry of a few Muslim families to local mosque in remote location of South Tripura under Shantirbazar sub-division after they joined in BJP recently, which triggered tension in the locality ahead of Idul-Fitar. However, district administration today said they have also been informed about the incident but no formal communication is yet to reach from the deprived family. If anybody is found interfering other's right of religion for whatever issue, the administration will take appropriate step to secure citizens' fundamental right, said District Magistrate of South Tripura C K Jamatia. Meanwhile, BJP Minority Morcha President Md Jasimuddin stated that the matter was informed to Superintendent of Police (South) detailing the threats and intimidations by the CPI-M cadres. He said about 200 minority people of 25 families residing in Madhyatilla hamlet of Shantirbazar had deserted CPI-M and joined in BJP last month despite strong prevention from the ruling party cadres. "The families were initially warned for social isolation and stop government facilities. Later, they were stopped from offering MGNREGS work and other government facilities as soon as they joined BJP. Finally, a week ago CPI-M party mobilised muslim religious leaders to stop those families there," Jasimuddin alleged. Initially, the residents opposed the fatwa of the imam that asked them not to entire in the mosque because they joined in BJP, which favoured Hinduism and working against Islam, alleged Babul Hossain, a resident of the locality adding that the imam was forced to issue fatwa against them violating Islam code. "We have been facing serious trouble with the restriction of the Imam during Ramadan month. Immediately, we constructed a makeshift mosque in nearby area to perform our religious activities but problem continues, as CPI-M cadres are now openly threatening us to leave BJP otherwise to prepare for dire consequences," Hossain alleged. The BJP delegation led by Jasimuddin met the district SP demanding full security of the families and asked to ensure that they can go the local mosque to offer prayer and stated, "We have assured of deploying additional force in the village and to take appropriate action if anyone tries to prevent them from entering into the mosque". The tube well from where they used to fetch water was damaged and their movement has also restricted citing the reason despite being Muslim by religion these families dared to join the Hindutva party, he pointed out. Though the priest's fatwa was not his religious stand but at the instance of the CPI-M of which the priest himself is a leader and were openly threatened of social boycott if they don't return to CPI-M fold, Jasimuddin added.UNI BB KK -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-942921.Xml
A day after retired Kolkata High Court judge C.S. Karnan was arrested, the Congress party on Wednesday dubbed the former as a 'rotten egg' and asserted that he should have been more mindful as it was a high office which he adorned. Senior advocate and Congress leader K.T.S Tulsi said that he is ashamed of the way Karnan conducted himself, while adding that it is appalling to him that why did the retired judge instigate a tirade against the judiciary, which serves the nation like a mother. Averring that Karnan's behaviour became bad to worse Tulsi added that the former should have known that no judge is a free agent as is controlled by law. "It's a very unfortunate episode, it's unprecedented. Nobody has misbehaved to this extent. There can be rotten eggs in every system. Justice Karnan has been conducting himself in an improper manner for a long time. He has embarrassed his colleagues in Madras High Court and after that he was transferred and it was thought that he will be chastened, but his behaviour went on from bad to worse. And then he started threatening and challenging the authorities of the Supreme Court," said Tulsi. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has refused to suspend the six-month imprisonment sentence for Karnan, in a contempt of court case. A vacation bench of the Apex Court headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud and also comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to give any relief in the matter. Mathew J Nedumpara, lawyer appearing for Karnan, mentioned the matter before the vacation bench of the top court. Nedumpara pleaded to the Apex Court seeking bail and suspension of the six months jail sentence, to which the court observed, "The seven judge bench had passed the order. It binds everybody. It binds us also." Karnan was arrested by the Kolkata police in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu on Tuesday and brought to the national capital. Justice Karnan's close aide and his counsel confirmed the arrest, adding that he would move the Supreme Court 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 on transit remand. (ANI)
McDonald's(SCOTTSBURG, Ind.) -- McDonalds cashier Hunter Hostetler is on the lookout for the customer who started a 167-driver pay-it-forward chain at the Scottsburg, Indiana, McDonalds where Hostetler has worked since October.



I keep looking for her, hoping I see her and can tell her what happened, Hostetler told ABC News. I dont know if she knows, but I hope to see her again so I can tell her.



Hostetler, 19, was working the drive-thru on Sunday night when, at around 8:30 p.m., the mystery woman drove to the window to pick up her approximately $6 food order.



When the woman, whom Hostetler described as being in her early 60s, saw there was a man with four kids in the car behind her, she told Hostetler shed pay for his $36 food order too.



She paid it in full and told me to tell the dad Happy Fathers Day, Hostetler recalled.



When Hostetler told the man that his four Happy Meals and other food were paid for, he offered to pay for the next two cars behind him.



It just snowballed from there up until we closed, Hostetler said.



When Hostetler closed the drive-thru at midnight, the total number of cars who had joined the pay it forward chain was up to 167.



It was very heartwarming, Hostetler said. The last customer who came through even asked if there was another car and I said, Maam Im sorry youre our last customer for the night. Were closing.



Abby Smith, 22, said she and her boyfriend made a last-minute decision to go to McDonalds around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday and were shocked to find themselves as car No. 161 in the chain.



I was just shocked because of the large number, Smith said. I didnt even think about it I just said, Go ahead, take what the previous person put down. Go ahead and take that from us too.



She added, "This made me feel like it was just a big family congregation. It was such a great feeling.



Hostetler recalled that customers like Smith paid little attention to whether or not the meal they were paying for was three or four times the cost of what they ordered for themselves. For customers who could not afford to pay the difference, Hostetler and his colleague, Jessica Wells, donated money out of their own pockets to help.



Theres so much negativity in the world, Hostetler said. Something like this just doesnt happen every day.



Frank Ward, the owner of the Scottsburg McDonald's, described the chain as an "act of kindness."



"McDonald's believes in supporting the local communities in which we operate," Ward said in a statement to ABC News. "I was proud to experience the Scottsburg community come together in this act of kindness under the Golden Arches."





Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The Armed forces have recovered two .315 bore rifles and other ammunitions including IEDs, uniforms, codex wires, sewing machine, literatures etc from their possession.

The incident took place after the security forces hit the Maoists's camp.

The encounter between the two lasted for an hour on Tuesday. (ANI)
Lauding the success of the World Yoga Day, Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev on Wednesday informed that 24 new world records have been set on the grand occasion. Appreciating the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) efforts to make the World Yoga day a hit, Ramdev said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated that a new world record should be set in Yoga. Due to BJP chief Amit Shah's guidance, and Gujarat government's support, the event was a massive hit and we were successful in setting 24 new world records." Ramdev further said that Yoga is an integral part of the Indian culture and India should dominate the world in Yoga. "Further, I would be visiting U.S. and Canada for celebrating the Yoga day, and I really wish that the way in which the West dominates the world in terms of technology and economy, India should lead the world in Yoga", he added. Baba Ramdev along with the government's support aims at operating 11 lakh free yoga classes across the country in the coming 3-5 years. "We have taken an oath that in the coming 3-5 years, 11 lakh free classes will be created across the country," he said, adding that his venture Patanjali would fully support the cause. While reminiscing his journey of Yoga, he said that he had no idea that one day, the campaign to promote Yoga would become such a huge success. "This has been the biggest day of Yoga in my life. When I started my journey 25 years ago, by organising a camp in Surat, I had no idea that one day the campaign would become so massive." The event witnessed more than 3 lakh people. BJP Chief Amit Shah along with Gujarat Chief minister Vijay Rupani and other government officials were present at the event. A four-day camp was organised in Ahmedabad ahead of the World Yoga Day. Earlier on Wednesday, the Prime Minister addressed a gathering in Lucknow on the occasion of Yoga day. "I am happy to see so many Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing. Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness," Prime Minister Modi said. He said that Yoga is an integral part of the Indian tradition and it unites the country.(ANI)
Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik today performed yoga asanas, along with senior police officials and other personnel early this morning at the historic Ramlila Maidan, as the city police celebrated the third International Yoga Day here.Mr Patnaik said yoga can prove to be very helpful in a policeman's life as it will aid in performing their duties better.''On the occasion of the third International Yoga Day, we are here to send across our message to our police force to inculcate yoga as part of their routine, which will benefit their health and make them serve people better.''We will also try to spread the Yoga culture in the department as it will help our personnel to maintain good health and also help them in their family life, as it helps manage stress.''The Commissioner also said that Yoga is part of the courses undertaken in the Police college. UNI APS RJ 1315 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0448-943037.Xml
Official sources said that security forces and the Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir police launched a joint search operation at Hajam Mohalla in Hajin at north Kashmir district of Bandipora, following a tip-off about the presence of militants.

As the security forces were sealing the area, locals in the nearby localities hit the streets, raising slogans. However, when the demonstrators were trying to move towards the area where cordon has been laid, security forces swung into action and resorted to lathi charge, which had no impact.

Security forces later burst teargas shells to disperse the demonstrators who were pelting stones.

The situation was tense and additional security forces and state police personnel were rushed there.UNI BAS RJ 1325

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-943079.Xml
The police today claimed to have solved an 11-yr-old murder case with the arrest of two accused from this district of Maharashtra. On November 11, 2006, one Vicky Patil was allegedly murdered by six people, including his friend Deepak Macchi. Three of the accused were arrested on the same day, while as many fled from the scene. Acting on the tip-off, police laid a trap at Ravi Steel Naka in the city and two of the absconding accused were nabbed on June 19. The arrested were identified as Amar Kanna Nadar (39) and Laxman Gurudatta Vitkar (35). One more accused is still at large. Those who are already behind the bars include Rakesh Gabbar Yadav, Pappu Chamya Yadav, and Sonu Tulsiram Yadav. Previous enmity was said to be the reason behind the murder. An offence is registered under Sections 143, 147 to 149, 336, 307 and 302 of the IPC, police added. UNI XR NV SV RJ 1306 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-942951.Xml
The International Yoga Day function at the Ramabai Ambedkar ground in the state capital witnessed an 'anarchy' like situation after the end of the function at around 0800 hrs, with participants running away with the yoga mats and people fighting for snack packets and water bottles. Around 60 school children fell ill due to rains during the Yoga programme, of which 22 were admitted to the nearby Lokbandhu Government Hospital. Most of the children caught cold due to the sudden dip in temperature following rains, as they had to do yoga in the rains. However, all the children were later released from the hospital after preventive medicines. After the departure of the VVIPs, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from the ground, the situation went out of control for the security personnel. Rains started at 0400 hrs, while the participants started reaching the spot after midnight. As there was no other way to save themselves from rains, people used the yoga mat to cover the head and other parts of the body. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi commented that today, people of Lucknow had shown how to use the yoga mat, besides doing exercises. The participants later collected the mats and took them away. UNI MB RJ 1406 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-943123.Xml
The day Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined the nation to perform Yoga on the International Yoga Day in Lucknow, the farmers, led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), lay siege of the highways across Uttar Pradesh and performed 'Shavasan,' to protest the anti-farmers' policies of the BJP-ruled governments.''What can you expect from the peasants, who have been denied their rights by the BJP government? The ryots are denied good remunerative price of their produce. The Yogi government had announced MSP for potato, but the peasants are not getting that price. ''Even the government has failed to fulfill the promise of crop loan waiver. The farmers who have taken loan and have been declared beneficiary, are still getting notice from banks. With empty stomach, you cannot expect the ryots to do Yoga, so we are doing 'shavasaan','' BKU Spokesman Hariram Singh Verma told this reporter today, while leading the protestors in Barabanki. The farmers are angry over killing of six ryots in police firing at Mandsaur and reports of farmers committing suicide in Madhya Pradesh has added fuel to the fire. The several thousands of farmers held protests across Uttar Pradesh, blocking the highway. While the highways in western UP witnessed almost total disruption, the traffic was partially affected in eastern parts. The worst districts were Baghpat, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Shamli and Muzaffarnagar. Reports of similar protest was reported from Varanasi, Bahraich, Aligarh, Barabanki, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao and Allahabad. It was a piquant situation as highways were strewn with wheat, sugarcane, potato and other vegetable and the farmers were holding 'shavasan'. There was no slogan shouting. Some of the farmers were doing other Yogic aasans, while majority of the farmers lie down on the daris (mats) spread out on the highways. The protest, which started at 0900 hrs, continued till 1200 hrs.''It was a peaceful protest. It had been decided yesterday in the meeting that farmers will not take law in their hands. This protest was to show our anguish against the BJP-led governments,'' Mr Verma said. He said the school going children, office goers and emergency services like supply of milk or movement of ambulances or police jeeps were exempted from the road blockade. ADG Law and Order Aditya Mishra claimed that the farmers' protest has not disrupted life anywhere in the state. ''There were minor blockades, but these were removed and the traffic was restored,'' he added.UNI MB RJ 1424 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-943148.Xml
In Aurangabad city and around the city yoga camps were organised in various schools, colleges, government offices, Patanjali Yoga samiti.

In a main function at MGM ground this morning organised by Patanjali Yoga samiti, people from all walks of life participated in yoga camp.

Reports form the rest of the district states the such yoga camps have been organized at various locations in all the districts.UNI VKB NV SW 1557

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The heritage city which reinforceits reputation as a yoga hub witnessed with thousands of people participating and performing the asanas to create Guinness record at the Race Course premises on the backdrop of Chamundi hills to mark the Third International World Yoga Day. Prominent persons who participated included Union Minister D VSadanada Gowda, District in-charge Minister H D Mahadevappa, formerMinsiter S A Ramadas, Lok Sabha member Pratap Simha, noted writer S L Byrappa, and others. The event was organized by Mysuru District Administration alongwith Yoga Okkuta, Pathanjali Yoga Shikshana Kendra, JSS Institutions,AYUSH (Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddhaand Homoeopathy), NCC, and Scouts and Guides. Hour long progamme with various asanas with the guidance ofestablished yoga teachers drawn from the across the city. While the picturesque Rishikesh in Uttarakhand and Pune inMaharashtra are international yoga hubs that draw students fromacross the world, Mysuru is not far behind. The fact that theWadiyars patronised the ancient Indian system of exercise, combinedwith meditation and pranayama, has given it a firm foothold here. Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar (1794-1868) was a great yoga exponentand has credited with authoring a treatise on the subject titled'Sritattvanidhi' with descriptions of nearly 100 asanas or postures. "Mysuru is emerging as a global hub and the city is attracting alarge number of foreigners, who come here to learn yoga. The city isgrowing on a par with Rishikesh, Pune or Varanasi in the field ofyoga education," said Yoga guru Shashikumar, founder, Mystic YogaSchool at Gokulam in the city. He said that the city's historic association with yoga hasspanned a mini industry in the present times and there are over 200yoga schools and institutions catering to students, both local andinternational. In fact, yoga has become one of the USPs of Mysuru asa destination for foreign travellers. He said that over 3000 foreigners arrive here every month betweenOctober and March (the peak season) to learn yoga. On a lean season,the arrivals are around 500 a month. Foreigners clutching yoga matsare a common sight in the upmarket Gokulam and Lakshmipuram, hubs ofmany well-known institutions. The yoga schools in Mysuru have started getting moreapplications, thanks to visas being offered to tourists taking upshort-duration courses. "I'm confident this move will boosttourists' arrivals with the combination of yoga and tourism," headded. It may be recalled that the district administration had earlierfixed the record breaking attempt at Mysuru Palace, Hardinge Circle,D Devaraj Urs Road, Maharaja's Ground, Oval Ground and surroundingareas but since the Yoga session at different places is notconsidered a single venue by Guinness record representatives, thevenue was shifted to Mysuru Race Course which can easily accommodatemore than 72,000 Yoga enthusiasts. Among the 139 acres at racecourse, for the Yoga event, the district administration is usingjust 71 acres of course land.MORE UNI BSP MSP CS 1522 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-943298.Xml
Retired Kolkata High Court judge Justice C.S. Karnan, who was arrested yesterday in connection with a contempt of court case, was lodged in Kolkata's Presidency Jail on Wednesday after the Supreme Court refused to grant him interim bail. A vacation bench of the apex court headed by Justice D. Y. Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to suspend the six-month prison sentence for Justice Karnan in the case. Mathew J Nedumpara, a lawyer appearing for Justice Karnan, mentioned the matter before the vacation bench of the top court. Nedumpara pleaded to the apex court seeking bail and suspension of the six months jail sentence, to which the court observed, "The seven judge bench had passed the order. It binds everybody. It binds us also." Justice Karnan was arrested by the Kolkata police in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu yesterday. 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. Justice Karnan had approached the apex court seeking recall of its 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. (ANI)
The Nifty of National Stock Exchange (NSE) also declined by 19.90 points to 9,633.60.

The equity market remained volatile throughout the day today, as the Sensex opened on a flat note at 31,302.18, up by five points, in early trade. It then advanced by 39 points to touch a day's high of 31,336.44.

Later, it slid by 104 points to a day's low of 31,193.61, before closing at 31,283.64, down by 13.89 points as compared to its last close.

The Nifty recorded a day's high and low at 9,650.45 and 9,608.60 points respectively.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.04 per cent. The BSE Small-Cap index too rose by 0.11 pc. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The sectoral indices like Metal, Auto, IT, Technology and Bankex kept the market under pressure for another day today.

Scrips of Tata Motors, ONGC, Lupin and TCS were under pressure during the session, however, buying in Hindustan Unilever, Kotak Bank and Wipro restricted its further losses, brokers informed.

The market breadth was negative on BSE, as 1,371 shares fell while 1,263 others rose and 183 were unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 7,500 crore, compared with a turnover of Rs 2,989.06 crore registered during the previous trading session. More UNI NV SS NP1653

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Lt Gen GS Dhillon took charge over as the Chief of Staff of Headquarters Western Command today. He replaced Lt Gen IS Ghuman who took over a Corps in the Southern Sector.Earlier, during the day, Lt Gen GS Dhillon laid a wreath and paid homage to the Martyrs of Western Command at Veer Smriti.Lt Gen GS Dhillon was commissioned into The Dogra Regiment in 1980. An alumnus of Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, the General Officer has a distinguished and illustrious military career spanning more than 37 years. During this period he has tenanted various command, staff and instructional appointments in varied Sectors and difficult terrain. He was also posted as the Defence Attache in Saudi Arabia.The General Officer has rich and varied experience including command of an Infantry Battalion in Kargil, an Infantry Brigade and an Infantry Division in the Eastern Sector.He has also attended the Defence Service Staff College at Wellington and the prestigious National Defence College at New Delhi. UNI JS SDR SNU 1717 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-943554.Xml
The ruling Congress in the state today lashed out at the Opposition BJP, alleging it of poaching independent councilor, capturing top post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor in the Shimla Municipal Corporation. In an official statement by party state spokesman Naresh Chauhan here, the BJP did not get complete mandate, however, it succeeded to occupy SMC top posts after horse trading, yesterday. He alleged that the BJP wooed independent councillors after horse trading and paying them a hefty sum to get elected its mayoral candidates. The Congress leader also charged the BJP with virtually murdering democracy after confining elected party and independent councilors at an unknown place. ''Since the saffron party wants to seize over the SMC at any cost, it won over the councilors after paying a hefty cost to keeping them in their fold,'' the Congress leader alleged. Terming this development against the tradition of hill state, Mr Chauhan alleged the BJP has repeated Goa and Manipur here. Mr Chauhan said that elected councillors were kept underground under three-fold strict web as they were confined to a place at Panchkula. The councillors were brought for the oath and election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor under cover of five party activists. The Congress said that BJP have no right to relish the victory, however, ''it is the reality that it did not have complete majority in SMC''. He said that the action of the BJP unmasked its real face as it played mean tricks to get majority compared to the Congress which accepted people's mandate humbly. The Congress argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally was organised at Ridge Ground for the sake of Shimla Muncipal Corporation which hardly made any impact as party could not secure complete majority on its own and election results show no sign of Modi wave. He said that it had happened for first time that when vote was sought in the name of Prime Minister and party could hardly touch half marks and could not get complete majority. The Congress would accept the mandate in the SMC poll as it would abide by people's verdict and sit in the Opposition. The Party demanded that BJP Mayor and Deputy Mayor fulfill the promises made.UNI ML JS RSA 1901 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-943818.Xml
A farmer was allegedly murdered over a land dispute at Dera Pathana village under Kotli Surat Malhi police station in Batala district today. Police said Tek Singh, a resident of Dera Pathana village, lodged a complaint that he along with his brother Kashmir Singh were working in his fields when Rattan Singh, his brother Bachan Singh and Gurdev Singh, Baljit Singh, Manjit Singh Bir Singh and Jasbir Singh, Kulwinder Singh and Amandeep Kaur, all residents of Dera Pathana allegedly attacked with sharp-edged weapons on them. In which his brother Kashmir Singh received serious injuries but he saved unhurt. He was rushed to civil hospital Batala where he succumbed to his injuries. Police have registered a case against alleged accused who were still absconding. The cause of murder was land dispute between them.UNI XC JS SW 1853 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-943840.Xml
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy today said that his government was prepared to face any probe into the admission of students to self financing private medical colleges and deemed universities in the Union Territory. Addressing a press conference here, the Chief Minister said that the whole process of admission of students for various PG and Diploma courses in the private medical colleges and deemed universities was handled by the Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) in `a very transparent and fair manner`. He said that the Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, had, however, been making allegations that 71 seats under government quota in the deemed universities and private medical colleges were `bartered away to private managements`. She had also come out with charges that `political leaders and officers have committed corrupt practices and scams` in finalising admission under government quota. Mr Narayanasamy said that he had challenged the Lt Governor on the floor of the Assembly through a statement to prove her allegations and accusations against the officers and also the political leaders. `It is ten days now since I asked her to prove her charges. But she had not come out with any proof or evidence so far. I want to know what she is going to do now`, the Chief Minister asked reiterating that the CENTAC had carried out its task in an `transparent and perfect manner` in finalising the students for PG and diploma courses in deemed universities and private colleges`. He said that Dr Bedi was occupying a `responsible position and has been appointed by President to be Lt Governor of Puducherry. But she had been making baseless charges against the government`, Mr Narayanasamy said. The Chief Minister`s attention was drawn to seeking of CBI probe recently by office of Lt Governor into alleged scam in the admission of students to private medical colleges. He said `we are prepared to face any probe as we have clean record in admission matter` and maintained that his government was always for the welfare of the students. He said he had also written a detailed letter to the Union Health Minister apprising him of perfect procedure and fair functioning of the government in the admission of students. `The Health Minister had also praised our steps by contacting me over phone`, he claimed.UNI PAB CS 1940 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-943932.Xml
"Demand cancellation of AAP's status as political party following ED filling case of money laundering against it.Exposes their true character," the BJP MLA tweeted.

Rebel AAP leader Kapil Mishra, who had accused party chief Arvind Kejriwal of receiving money through 'hawala' took a dig at Mr Kejriwal and said that Tihar is waiting for him.

"ED has filed case in the matter of taking money from the hawala. Tihar waiting for @ArvindKejriwal," Mr Mishra tweeted.

AAP is accused of receiving Rs two crore donation from four shell companies during 2015. UNI DS ADG 2114

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Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said that the fact that the opposition Janata Dal (United) has extended support to Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president, speaks volumes about his acceptability among non-NDA parties. Naidu told ANI, "I welcome Janata Dal (United) (JDU) president Nitish Kumar's announcement of support to Ram Nath Kovind who has been nominated as NDA's presidential candidate. The JD-U's support to Kovind clearly speaks of his wider acceptability among non-NDA parties. This was the intent of wider consultations with opposition parties. I thank Nitish Kumar for his party's support. I also appeal to other parties to support Kovind". Later, Naidu also spoke to Nitish Kumar and thanked him for the decision. Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said that his party will wait till June 22 before making a final decision. "We will take our decision on June 22. We will go by whatever is decided in the meet tomorrow," Prasad said. Earlier in the day, dealing a major blow to the RJD, the JD (U) confirmed that they will support Kovind. "All the leaders have decided that we will support Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president. He is Bihar's first Governor who has been nominated for this post. We are very happy with this, it is a matter of Bihar's development," Senior JD (U) leader Ratnesh Sada said after meeting all party leaders here. The opposition will meet on Thursday to decide on whether to support Kovind's candidature, or put up a contestant for the July 17 elections. Earlier on June 19, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that a thorough discussion will be held on the matter within the JD (U). 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 election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17. President Pranab Mukherjee will demit office on July 24. (ANI)
Following Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij's 'Hindu cannot be a terrorist' statement, the Congress Party on Wednesday asserted that Hindu terrorism never happens. Speaking to ANI, Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said, "Unhone sahi farmaaya hai, Sanghi aatankwaad hota hai...Hindu aatankwaad kabhi nahin hota" (Anil Vij has rightly said, there is a confrontational terrorism.as Hindu terrorism never happens)". Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) backed Vij's statement, saying that it would be a contradiction to call Hindus terrorists as the Hindu religion is not fundamentalist. "In the actual sense, it is correct. It is a contradiction to say Hindu and terrorists because religious terrorism cannot take place unless there is a fundamentalist attitude in that religion. Hindu religion is not fundamentalist because we have many books, many ways of thinking. Somebody worships Shiva, while some worship Vishnu. There is no one doctrine in Hindu religon. We don't have one book, one church or one Mecca. With this variety and widespread alternatives it is impossible to be fundamentalist," BJP leader Subramanian Swamy told ANI. Senior BJP leader and Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday said there cannot be any term like 'Hindu terrorism', and added that a Hindu can never be a terrorist. "A Hindu cannot be a terrorist. There cannot be any term like 'Hindu terrorism'. Hindu, by nature, can never be a terrorist. If Hindus had been terrorists, then no other terrorists can have existed," Vij told ANI. Speaking on the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case where 68 people were killed, the BJP leader said it's a very serious issue that the two people arrested from Pakistan in the matter have been released while the people from India are still treated as terrorists and call it 'Hindu terrorism'. "This is a game played by the Congress party, and I believe on their instructions, these Pakistanis were released. They are freely roaming now and I think this party's aim was to establish the political scenario," he added. Vij further said that a Hindu, by nature, can never be a terrorist. "If Hindus had been terrorists, then no other terrorists have existed. However, because of political reasons, Congress party wanted to create Hindu terrorism to counter terrorism created where Muslim terrorists are involved," he asserted. (ANI)
Terming the West Bengal government-sponsored all party meet on June 22 to discuss the volatile situation in the north Bengal hills as "delayed and pointless", the state opposition parties have decided to stay away from it. While the Left Front accused the state government of trivialising the "sensitive issue" and unnecessarily delaying meeting, the Congress questioned the meeting's effectiveness as the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself will not be present. "While the whole country considers the Darjeeling to be a sensitive and emotive issue, the government of West Bengal is not giving it priority," CPI-M politburo member and MP Mohammad Selim told IANS. Accusing Banerjee of delaying the all party meeting, Selim said her "unilateral and authoritarian" moves have taken the situation in Darjeeling out of hand. "When the Darjeeling situation started deteriorating, we asked for an all party meeting but the Chief Minister did not respond to it. She took unilateral and authoritarian decision by managing the hills through police intervention. "As a result, the scenario in Darjeeling went almost out of hand for the state administration," Selim alleged. He also questioned the relevance of the meeting as all the prominent political parties in the hills including the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha have unanimously decided to boycott it. "Also the political parties in the hills who are major stakeholders in the issue, have also decided to boycott it. So what is the use of that meeting," he asked. Echoing Selim's view state, Congress president Adhir Chowdhury also accused the Chief Minister of not taking the issue seriously and contended that she should have been present at the meeting. "We expected the Chief Minister to take up the issue seriously but she is handling it in a supercilious manner. If it is a political meeting, why did she go abroad to attend a not so important event?" asked Chowdhury while talking to IANS. "Even the Chief Secretary or the Home Secretary would not be present. What would we discuss with the Divisional Commissioner? We think this meeting would not make any difference so we decided to skip it," he added. The Bharatiya Janata Party on the other hand, termed the meeting as an eyewash and advocated discussions between the Centre and state governments and Gorkha leadership. "The issue in Darjeeling can be resolved through discussion between the Centre, state government and the agitating Gorkha leaders. This all party meeting is an eye wash and we have decided to boycott it," said state BJP president Dilip Ghosh. --IANS mgr/vd ( 430 Words) 2017-06-21-22:36:11 (IANS)
Principal Sessions Judge Bhaderwah, M K Sharma today acquitted an 'encounter specialist' Sub-Inspector, Shiv Krishan Sharma alias Sonu, who was instrumental in killing 68 militants in the Doda-Kishtwar belt.

He was arrested by the police for running a Militant Group, as 15 important witnesses turned hostile in the case.

While acquitting Shiv Krishan Sharma and seven others, Principal Sessions Judge Bhaderwah, M K Sharma observed that before drawing the curtain in the case, Court cannot help observing that this is a case in which the police cited as many as 93 witnesses to establish various charges against the accused persons and out of 93 witnesses, 15 were examined under section 164-A CrPC.

Majority of the witnesses including some police personnel and respectable people of the locality have turned hostile.

In the result the prosecution has failed to prove the case against the accused and thus with these observations the Court acquitted Shiv Krishan Sharma and his associates.UNI VBH RSA 2210

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China on Tuesday again made it clear that it will continue to block India on Pakistan -based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar citing disagreements 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. "As to the issue of the listing of the 1267 Committee, we have stated our position many times. We always stand for the proper handling of the listing matter in the principle of objectiveness, fairness and professionalism. As far as I know, members of the Security Council still have differences about certain listing applications, and China wishes to keep communication and coordination with relevant parties on this matter." Geng Shuang said. China has been insisting that India provide "solid evidence" against the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief. With the 1267 committee, India has been attempting to place sanctions on Masood Azhar. Besides blocking India's entry into the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group or NSG, China has also consistently refused to allow Masood Azhar, who heads the Jaish-e-Mohammed and lives in Pakistan, from being banned by the UN Security Council, which would prevent the terror chief from traveling internationally and result in a global freezing of his assets. India has accused Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Mufti Rauf Asghar and his two other key lieutenants - Shahid Latif and Kashif Jan for the January 2 Pathankot airbase attack. (ANI)
On the third anniversary of International Yoga Day, India's permanent representative at the United Nations and former official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India Syed Akbaruddin on Wednesday said that today's mammoth gathering at the United Nations marks the exponential growth in their awareness of Yoga. "More than 170 countries supported the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi recognizing the important role of Yoga in bringing peace and prosperity in the world. Today's mammoth gathering at the United Nations marks the exponential growth in their awareness of Yoga. We are witnessing perhaps the largest congregation for celebrating the benefits of Yoga at the United Nations. Yoga is an ancient discipline in India. India believes that Yoga belongs to everyone and should be shared with the world in an open, transparent as well as inclusive manner," Akbaruddin said. He further said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised Yoga as a form of traditional medicine and thanked everyone to be present here to enjoy Yoga. "The theme of this year's celebration at the United Nations is 'Yoga for Health'. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised Yoga as a form of traditional medicine. Yoga, as a mind, body discipline has also been added to the intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. I thank all of you for being here, for gathering here to enjoy Yoga and making this year's event a much more memorable one," he added. June 21 was proclaimed as the International Day of Yoga in December 2014. Today, 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. (ANI)
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. (ANI)
South Korea's military said today a drone found earlier this month on a mountain near the Demilitarised Zone border was confirmed to have been from North Korea and described it as a "grave provocation" that violated the Korean War truce.The drone crashed while returning to the North and was found equipped with a camera and aerial photographs of a US anti-missile defence system site in a southern region of South Korea, South Korean officials told a briefing.The origin and flight path of the drone were confirmed in an analysis of the onboard computer and camera, South Korea's defense ministry and military officials told the briefing."The intrusion of our airspace by the North Korean drone and photographing of a military base is a violation of the Armistice and an agreement on non-aggression and is an act of grave provocation," Jeon Dong-jin, an official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff office said."We strongly condemn the North's continued attempts at penetrating the South with drones and once again, demand all acts of provocation are halted," he said during the briefing."If North Korea continues to engage in acts of provocation against the South, our military will forcefully retaliate and we warn all responsibility for events occurring going forth is with the North."The drone had been launched in the Kumgang-gun area in Kangwon Province on May 2, the defense ministry's spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told the briefing."The aircraft proceeded to fly for a total of five hours and thirty minutes and its assessed flight path matched the evidence seen in the photographs taken by it," said Moon.Moon added the drone had been found with roughly 550 photographs and the military assessed it aimed to collect information on South Korean military bases and the anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system located in Seongju, South Korea, 217 km (135 miles) south of Seoul.The drone had turned around in Seongju after taking photographs, Moon said, and later crashed in Inje-gun in the South's Gangwon Province where it was found by South Korean military on June 9.The US THAAD anti-defense system has been deployed in South Korea to counter a growing missile threat from North Korea. North Korean drones are known to have flown over South Korea several times.The defense ministry said on Wednesday this latest drone largely matched another North Korean drone discovered in 2014 on Baengnyeong Island, near the inter-Korean maritime border.REUTERS AD0819 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0108-942788.Xml
President Donald Trump has said that Chinese efforts to persuade North Korea to rein in its nuclear program have failed, ratcheting up the rhetoric over the death of an American student who had been detained by Pyongyang.Trump has held high hopes for greater cooperation from China to exert influence over North Korea, leaning heavily on Chinese President Xi Jinping for his assistance. The two leaders had a high-profile summit in Florida in April and Trump has frequently praised Xi while resisting criticizing Chinese trade practices."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 wrote on Twitter.It was unclear whether his remark represented a significant shift in his thinking in the US struggle to stop North Korea's nuclear program and its test launching of missiles or a change in US policy toward China."I think the president is signaling some frustration," Christopher Hill, a former US ambassador to South Korea, told MSNBC. "He's signaling to others that he understands this isn't working, and he's trying to defend himself, or justify himself, by saying that at least they tried as opposed to others who didn't even try."Yesterday, a US official, who did not want to be identified, said US spy satellites had detected movements recently at North Korea's nuclear test site near a tunnel entrance, but it was unclear if these were preparations for a new nuclear test - perhaps to coincide with high-level talks between the United States and China in Washington on Wednesday.Officials and experts have been saying for months that North Korea could conduct a sixth nuclear test at any time, and satellite images periodically show such movements.North Korea last tested a nuclear bomb in September, but it has conducted repeated missile test since and vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the US mainland, putting it at the forefront of Trump's security worries.US-CHINA DIALOGUEThe Trump statement about China was likely to increase pressure on Beijing ahead of Wednesday's Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, which will pair US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis with China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and General Fang Fenghui, chief of joint staff 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 programs, but also cover such areas as counter-terrorism and territorial rivalries in the strategic South China Sea.The U.S. side is expected to press China to cooperate on a further toughening of international sanctions on North Korea. The United States and its allies would like to see an oil embargo and bans on the North Korean airline and guest workers among other moves, steps diplomats say have been resisted by China and Russia.In a sign that U.S.-Chinese relations remain stable, a White House aide said Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, were invited by the Chinese government to visit the country later this year.Trump has hardened his rhetoric against North Korea following the death of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who died on Monday in the United States after returning from captivity in North Korea in a coma."A DISGRACE"In a White House meeting with visiting Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, Trump criticized the way Warmbier's case was handled in the year since his arrest, appearing to assail both North Korea and his predecessor, President Barack Obama."What happened to Otto is a disgrace. And I spoke with his family. His family is incredible ... but he should have been brought home a long time ago," Trump said.State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States holds North Korea accountable for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment" and urged Pyongyang to release three other Americans who are detained.Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times, published by the official People's Daily, said Chinese officials must be wary that Warmbier's death might push Washington to put greater pressure on Beijing."China has made the utmost efforts to help break the stalemate in the North Korean nuclear issue. But by no means will China, nor will Chinese society permit it to, act as a 'US ally' in pressuring North Korea," the Global Times said in an editorial.If Washington imposes sanctions on Chinese enterprises, it would lead to "grave friction" between the two countries, said the paper, which does not represent Chinese government policy.Trump's tweet about China took some advisers by surprise. A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had limited options to rein in North Korea without Chinese assistance.White House spokesman Sean Spicer said a meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is less likely following Warmbier's death.Spicer said Trump would be willing to meet Kim under the right conditions, but "clearly we're moving further away, not closer to those conditions."REUTERS AD0950 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0108-942825.Xml
Canada's government introduced legislation that would expand oversight of its security and intelligence agencies, while enabling the country's electronic spy agency to assist the military with cyber operations.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau intended the legislation to make good on a 2015 campaign pledge to modify a law passed by the former Conservative government that boosted powers of police and intelligence agencies.The legislation would create a National Security and Intelligence Review Agency responsible for oversight of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), cyber-spy agency the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and other departments including the Canadian Border Services Agency.It would replace current oversight bodies at the two spy agencies and review "every other department and agency of the government of Canada that has a security or intelligence function," Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters yesterday.It would work alongside a separate oversight committee of members of parliament that has been proposed in another bill, Goodale said.Given the Liberal majority in Parliament, the bill is expected to be passed into law, though it is unlikely to be debated until fall at the earliest. One expert said he remained uneasy that the government was expanding its cyber capabilities.The government also proposed to clarify CSE's mandate and said the cyber-spy agency will be allowed to take action online to defend Canadian networks and stop cyber threats.CSE monitors electronic communication and helps protect national computer networks."For any type of potential cyber threats," the measures would allow CSE "to prevent an attack that comes on us rather than waiting for an attack to actually occur," Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said at the press conference.Ron Deibert, director of The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, said he was concerned to see the Canadian government expand potential operations."We're at a time when cyberspace is under threat, and it's already very unstable," said Deibert, a well-known expert on digital surveillance and internet censorship. "There are many governments that have built up offensive capabilities and now we're actively contributing to that."The agency will also be allowed to assist the Canadian Armed Forces with cyber operations.The legislation would also create an independent intelligence commissioner that would oversee the authorization of certain types of intelligence gathering and cyber operations.REUTERS PS 0407 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-942757.Xml
The United Nations Security Council approved the appointment of a former Lebanese culture minister as the new UN envoy to Libya, diplomats said, ending an unusually contentious four-month search.UN 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 yesterday.The search for a successor to Martin Kobler, a German diplomat who has served as the UN 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. US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the United Nations had been "unfairly biased in favor 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 UN-backed government in Tripoli has struggled to impose its authority and has been rejected by factions in the east. The UN 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. REUTERS PS 0410 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-942758.Xml
A gathering at the United Nations marked the celebration of the third International Day for Yoga."Celebration of an ancient Indian tradition that now belongs to everyone draws unprecedented interest @UN headquarters in New York," India's Permanent Representative at the UN Syed Akbaruddin said in a tweet. Mr Akbaruddin said the gathering at the United Nations marks the "exponential growth" in their awareness of yoga."More than 170 countries supported the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recognising the important role of yoga in bringing peace and prosperity in the world. Today's large gathering at the United Nations marks the exponential growth in their awareness of Yoga," he said.This has been the largest congregation for celebrating the benefits of Yoga at the United Nations. "Yoga is an ancient discipline in India. India believes that Yoga belongs to everyone and should be shared with the world in an open, transparent as well as inclusive manner," Mr Akbaruddin said.He further said the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised yoga as a form of traditional medicine and thanked everyone present."The theme of this year's celebration at the United Nations is 'Yoga for Health'. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised yoga as a form of traditional medicine. Yoga, as a mind, body discipline has also been added to the intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. I thank all of you for being here, for gathering here to enjoy yoga and making this year's event a much more memorable one," he added.The UN Headquarters building was lit up on June 18 with a 'Yoga pose' encryption for the International Day of yoga.UNI XC DEVN SV RJ 1121 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-942894.Xml
Justice Minister Franois Bayrou and Minister for European Affairs Marielle de Sarnez were the latest Democratic Movement (MoDem) cabinet members to quit, following the departure of Defence Minister Sylvie Goulard on Tuesday, Efe news reported.

Speaking to Europe 1 radio, government spokesman Christophe Castaner said Bayrou's decision was a "personal choice" and suggested it simplified the situation for President Macron.

Bayrou is expected to make a statement later and Sarnez is set to move to preside over MoDem's lower parliamentary group, where its 42 lawmakers back Macron's La Rpublique En Marche! (LREM), which has an outright majority.

All MoDem members that were originally appointed to the cabinet by Macron after his ascension to the lyse Palace have since resigned.

There was speculation as to whether the party would secure any ministerial positions after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe unveils his new government later on Wednesday.

A close ally of Macron, Richard Ferrand, who was until Monday Minister of Territorial Cohesion, also left the cabinet but retained his role as LREM Secretary-General amid a preliminary probe into accusations of nepotism.

This slew of resignations came as a blow to Macron, who ran a campaign promising to shake up old, corrupt politics.

Prosecutors opened up the preliminary investigation into claims that MoDem had allocated EP money to pay for fictitious parliamentary assistants -- similar claims have hit the far-right National Front (FN).

Sarnez has been an intermittent member of the European Parliament since 1999, while Goulard has held a position there since 2009.

--IANS soni/dg

( 295 Words)

2017-06-21-15:26:10 (IANS)
Afghanistan is "at a critical point" as it faces a continuous threat from as many as 20 insurgent and terrorist networks operating in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, the Pentagon has said in a new report to Congress. It also reveals U.S. and Afghan authorities are negotiating with Taliban for peace talks. The Pentagon report also acknowledged that India is Afghanistan's most reliable regional partner as it provides significant training opportunities for Afghan officers and enlisted personnel. "India is Afghanistan's most reliable regional partner and the largest contributor of development assistance in the region, including civil development projects such as the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam and the Afghan parliament building, approximately 130 Afghans travel to India each year to attend various military academy and commissioning programs," it said in the six- monthly report to the U.S. Congress. The U.S. Department of Defence concluded that Afghanistan has the highest concentration of extremist and terrorist groups in the world- the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, Daesh and al-Qaeda. The report, "Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan," states that "At its height, ISIS-K had a presence in six provinces but it is now largely confined to four districts in Nangarhar Province. ISIS-K remains a threat to security in Afghanistan and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and a threat to U.S and coalition forces, and ISIS-K retains the ability to conduct high-profile attacks in urban centers," read the report. "Taliban capabilities and operations varied significantly by region. The group continued to exploit its limited successes and tout them as strategic victories through the proficient use of social media and propaganda campaigns," the report stated. "The combination of U.S counterterrorism operations, ANDSF operations, pressure from the Taliban, and a lack of support from the local populace have diminished ISIS-K's (Daesh) influence and caused it to decline in size, capability, and ability to hold territory. The US and Afghan Governments agree that the best way to ensure lasting peace and security in Afghanistan is through reconciliation and a political settlement with the Taliban. The report said."The United States supports an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned reconciliation process and supports any process that includes violent extremist groups laying down their arms. The success of this peace process will require the Taliban and other armed opposition groups to end violence and break ties with international terrorist groups." While no measure of territorial control is given, the Pentagon says that as of February 2017, the Taliban exercised influence or control over 11 percent of the Afghan population, the government could claim 65 percent, and the rest was "contested." Though the Taliban achieved only "limited successes," it presented them as strategic victories "through the proficient use of social media and propaganda campaigns." The Pentagon stated that the ANDSF are generally capable of protecting major population centers, preventing the Taliban from maintaining prolonged control of specific areas, and responding to Taliban attacks and that the Afghan Special Security Forces (ASSF) have proven to be effective at leading offensive clearing operations. However, it stated that continued Taliban attacks across the country has weakened public confidence in the Afghan government's ability to provide security. The report also stated that "attacks in Afghanistan attributed to Pakistan-based militant networks continue to erode the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship." "Militant groups, including the Taliban and Haqqani Network, continued to utilize sanctuaries inside Pakistan. Pakistan's belief that Afghanistan is not doing enough to prevent cross-border attacks, such as a suicide bombing at a shrine in Pakistan's Sindh Province in February 2017 that killed 72 people, further hampers bilateral relations," read the report. According to the report, "since late 2015, private militias and other non-state actors have played a more public role in maintaining security in the north of Afghanistan as local and provincial government officials and warlords employ these groups to address local security challenges." Casualty figures paint a grim picture, however. In the six months covered by this report, there were 4,806 "effective enemy-initiated attacks" or 801 per month, compared to 4,727 - or 788 a month - in the previous reporting period. Five American soldiers were killed and 36 wounded. There were also 38 attacks on Afghan forces by their own members, known as "green-on-green." As of May 31, a total of 1,865 US military personnel have been killed in action and 20,272 have been wounded since the US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. The US currently has 8,400 troops in the country, conducting both the "training, advising and assisting" of Afghan security forces and counterterrorism operations against ISIS-K, Al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups. The report did not mention a need for additional troops. (ANI)
A suitcase bomb packed with nails and gas bottles could have caused heavy casualties, Belgium's prime minister said today, a day after a soldier shot dead a Moroccan national attempting an attack on Brussels' central station."We have avoided an attack that could have been a great deal worse," Charles Michel told reporters after a national security council meeting following yesterday evening's incident, in which no one else was hurt.However, no further threat was seen as imminent and the public alert level was left unchanged.A counter-terrorism prosecutor named the dead man only by his initials, OZ He was a 36-year-old Moroccan citizen who lived in the Brussels borough of Molenbeek and had not been suspected of militant links. He set off his bomb on a crowded station concourse below ground at 8:44 p.m. (1314 IST).Walking up to a group of passengers, prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said, "he grabbed his suitcase, while shouting and causing a partial explosion. Fortunately, nobody was hurt."The suitcase, later found to contain nails and gas bottles, caught fire and then exploded a second time more violently as the man ran downstairs to the platforms.He then ran back up to the concourse where commuters had been milling around and rushed toward a soldier shouting "Allahu akbar" -- God is greater, in Arabic. The soldier, part of a routine patrol, shot him several times. Bomb disposal experts checked the body and found he was not carrying more explosives.Police raided the man's home overnight, Van Der Sypt said.Molenbeek, an impoverished borough with a big Moroccan Muslim population just across Brussels' industrial canal from its historic centre, gained notoriety after an Islamic State cell based there mounted suicide attacks on Paris in November 2015 that killed 130 people. Associates of that group attacked Brussels itself four months later, killing 32 people."WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED"Prime Minister Michel insisted the country, which has been the most fertile European recruiting ground for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, would not bow to threats that have seen combat troops become a permanent fixture at public spaces in Brussels."We will not let ourselves be intimidated," Michel said. "We will go on living our lives as normal."There was no immediate claim of responsibility and no word on how investigations are progressing into whether the man had acted alone or had help, and into any links to radical groups.The Belgian capital, home to the headquarters of NATO and the European Union, took a heavy hit to its tourist industry last year. Visitors and residents out enjoying a hot summer's evening on the ornate Renaissance town square, the Grand Place, close to Central Station were cleared quickly away by police.Smoke billowed through the elegant 1930s marble hallways of the station, sending people fleeing to the surface, well aware of last year's attacks at Brussels airport and on the metro, as well as of a string of Islamic State-inspired assaults in France, Germany, Sweden and Britain."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, he said, attacks in Europe may increase, though many would be by "amateurs".Witness Nicolas Van Herrewegen, a rail worker, told Reuters: "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."Remy Bonnaffe, a 23-year-old lawyer who was waiting for a train home, photographed the flaming suitcase before the second blast, followed by gunfire, prompted him to run."I think we had some luck tonight," he told Reuters.REUTERS AKC 1625 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-943481.Xml
Britain's government presented a "broad programme" today and is confident that parliament will support it, a spokesman for Theresa May said, in a clear nod to the watered down agenda presented by a weakened prime minister."This is a broad programme for government that we've put forward, we think it's good programme for government, we think its a programme ... that the whole house can get behind," the spokesman said."The prime minister has also said that the election did not deliver the result that we had hoped for and that we will reflect on the reasons for that, and will govern with humility in the national interest and I think you can see that reflected in what we've put forward today."The spokesman said some policies were not mentioned in the Queen's speech, including the expansion of the Heathrow airport and measures on corporate government, but the government remained committed to such policies.REUTERS RSD 1727 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-943630.Xml
Terming Russia as a trusted and time-tested partner, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today invited proposals from Russian companies for technology transfer to Indian companies and engage in manufacturing of advanced parts. Speaking at the plenary session of 'Make in Russia: Double Purpose Industrialisation' of Technoprom-2017, Mr Jaitley said, "I invite Russian companies to come forward with proposals for technology transfer to Indian companies and facilitate manufacturing of more advanced components/ parts and sub-systems. This can start with platforms of Russian origin where the requirement is in large numbers and is recurring in nature." Stating that the licencing process for manufacturing of defence equipment has been liberalised, the Minister said, "Now for manufacturing of parts, components, sub-systems, production equipment and testing equipment, no licence is required from the government. Even for the items for which license is required, the initial validity has been increased from three years to 15 years." Clearing Government's intention with regards to making Indian companies as a part of global supply chain, Mr Jaitley added, "We envisage 'Make in India' in defence sector to not only address domestic requirements, but also to enable Indian firms to become part of the global supply chain." On setting up of joint ventures between Russian and Indian companies, he said, "Keeping this in mind, we have also streamlined the process of export clearances in last two years. India's export control processes and technology security mechanisms are robust as required in the interest of national security. India is likely to soon become a member of the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement, which will further catalyse our international engagement." Another area where Russian industry and business houses can join hands with Indian companies is research and development. "We are now giving significant emphasis to technology development and innovation in the defence sector. In the Defence Procurement Procedure-2016, we have streamlined the 'Make' procedure to encourage and incentivize design and development of defence equipment and systems. We would welcome partnerships between Indian and Russian companies in this area as well," said the Minister. Cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad have design centers of many global defence companies. Bengaluru is fast emerging as an aerospace design hub of the world. Russian companies must take advantage of the large skilled manpower available in India. This would be a win-win situation for companies of both countries, Mr Jaitley added. He also highlighted the initiatives taken by the government in the last three years in the defence production sector. "We are witnessing a significant momentum in industry for setting up manufacturing facilities for defence items," he added. Russian companies can be natural partners of the Indian companies as most of our defence equipment and inventory are of Russian origin. A large industrial base and supply chain can be created for manufacturing of spare parts and components of such platforms to be made in India by Indian companies either through transfer of technology form Russian OEMs or through joint ventures between Indian and Russian companies. TECHNOPROM is a key forum for insights and business opportunities into leading technological products and technologies. UNI XC ASH SDR SNU 1711 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-943498.Xml
The Philippine military said Islamist militants fled from a primary school in the south today, leaving behind 31 hostages unharmed, including 12 children, after a day-long gunbattle with troops.There was no word of casualties in the incident at Pigcawayan town, which is about 190 km (120 miles) south of Marawi City, where fighting between government troops and pro-Islamic State militants has entered its fifth week."The enemy made a hasty withdrawal, leaving behind 31 hostages, among them 12 youngsters," Brigadier General Restituto Padilla told Reuters.He said another 20 civilians who were trapped in the area because of the crossfire were also rescued.Police said about 300 armed men from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) stormed the school early today. Padilla, however, said later only about 50 militants were involved.Military officials were initially not certain if any hostages were taken and whether they included children.Community leaders in the area were called in to help in negotiations to rescue the hostages, Padilla said."It's over ... but we're also on guard because they might carry out other attacks," said Padilla.Abu Misry Mama, a spokesman for the BIFF, told Reuters that the militants had taken civilians to a safe place, away from any crossfire, and did not intend to hold them hostage.Asked earlier if they would be freed, Mama said: "Yes. We're not kidnappers."Both Pigcawayan and Marawi are on the large southern island of Mindanao.Some members of the BIFF have joined fighters from two more powerful Islamist factions, the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf, who occupied the town of Marawi a month ago and have been battling government forces there since.But Padilla said the incident at Pigcawayan was not related to the fighting in Marawi. "This has come from a group that has long committed harassments," he said.The seizure of Marawi and the dogged resistance by the rebels there who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State has alarmed Southeast Asian countries.Government fear Islamic State, on a backfoot in Iraq and Syria, is trying to set up a stronghold in the Muslim south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines that could threaten the whole region.REUTERS SDR 1902 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-943806.Xml
As Britain's embattled Prime Minister Theresa May officially begins leading a minority government, Queen Elizabeth II read out a list of the government's intentions along with eight draft laws to take Britain out of the European Union. May's own position has been vulnerable after the election outcome. Her attempt to secure a larger mandate ahead of the Brexit negotiations backfired with her losing a commanding majority. The prime minister is yet to conclude a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party's 10 MPs to lend ongoing support to her agenda so that she can continue to govern. MPs will be asked to support the speech in a vote next week - and opposition parties are likely to table a series of amendments. If the government fails to win the backing of a majority of MPs, then it will be seen as a vote of no confidence. Theresa May's minority government has dropped key Tory manifesto pledges, including expanding grammar schools and a free vote on restoring fox hunting, as the Queen Elizabeth announced a list of government's priorities . The laws include the "Great Repeal Bill" to overhaul existing EU legislation and separate bills on customs, trade, immigration, fisheries and agriculture. The Queen said the "Great Repeal Bill" would repeal the European Communities Act, the 1972 legislation that enshrined Britain's membership of the European bloc. And Parliament will also introduce a new bill on immigration. Immigration was the centerpiece issue in the campaign to leave the EU, and the government has promised to deliver a policy that controls the level of immigration. "My government's priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union," the Queen said in her speech. She said her government would seek "to build the widest possible consensus on the country's future outside the European Union", amid divisions within her own cabinet over the best strategy. May's attempt to lead a minority government comes on the heels of a fire at Grenfell Tower that killed at least 79 people, one of the country's worst disasters for a generation. The speech reiterated May's promise to hold a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, "to ascertain the causes, and ensure that the appropriate lessons are learnt". The Queen promised that government would review counter-terrorism laws in the wake of a series of deadly attacks in recent weeks. "In the light of the terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, my government's counter-terrorism strategy will be reviewed to ensure that the police and security services have all the powers they need, and that the length of custodial sentences for terrorism-related offences are sufficient to keep the population safe," the Guardian quoted the Queen, as saying. (ANI)
The United Nations Security Council today unanimously backed a West African force to combat militant groups as well as arms, drug and human trafficking in the Sahel region after diplomats said France softened the resolution's language to secure the support of the United States.The vast, arid region has in recent years become a breeding ground for jihadist groups - some linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State - that European countries, particularly France, fear could threaten Europe if left unchecked.Last year, the nations of the Sahel - Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania - proposed establishing specially-trained units of around 100 soldiers each, which would be deployed in areas where jihadist groups are known to operate."We cannot let the Sahel become a new refuge for terrorist organizations of the whole world. In the Sahel, all of our security is at stake, not just the security of the ... five states," said French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre.The United States, however, did not believe a resolution was warranted and did not want the world body to help fund the force, diplomats said. The United States is one of council's five veto powers, along with France, Britain, Russia and China.The first draft resolution authorized the force to "use all necessary means" to carry out its operations, but following council negotiations, the language was revised to "welcome the deployment."The resolution also encourages countries to provide support. The European Union has already committed 56 dollars million to the Sahel force.The United States is trying to cut the cost of UN peacekeeping and is reviewing each of the 16 missions as they come up for Security Council renewal. Washington is the largest contributor, paying 28.5 per cent of the 7.9 billion dollars peacekeeping budget.Special units proposed by the five Sahel nations would complement the efforts of regular armed forces, a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali and France's "Operation Barkhane," which has deployed around 4,000 troops across the region.France first intervened in early 2013 to drive out militants who had seized northern Mali a year earlier. But militants continue to attack in Mali and its neighbors. REUTERS AKC 2021 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-944036.Xml
A planned state visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to Britain will go ahead although no date for the trip has been fixed, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Wednesday following local media reports that it had been postponed.There was no mention of Trump's trip in the Queen's speech earlier when the British monarch set out the government's programme for the next two years and also confirmed a state visit by Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia in July."The visit will go ahead believe you me," Johnson told Sky News. "The formality is you cannot put the date of the president's state visit into the Queen's speech until it has been actually agreed." (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Elizabeth Piper)Reuters RSA 2310 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0104-944180.Xml
Turkey has sent new military reinforcements including troops, vehicles and equipment into northern Syria, a war monitoring group and rebel and Kurdish sources said today.The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the forces had crossed the border in the last 24 hours and headed towards areas south of Azaz town, which is held by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels.To Azaz's south are areas controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey has fought in northern Syria.The Observatory said the reinforcements were part of preparations for new joint attacks on the YPG by Turkish forces and their Syrian rebel allies in that area of Syria's northwest. The area is separated from the main territory the YPG and its allies control in the northeast.A rebel from a Turkish-backed group confirmed Ankara had sent more forces."Turkish forces are now inside Syria ... the forces are huge reinforcements that have been entering since last night," said Mustafa Sejari of the Liwa al-Mutasem group.Turkish opposition to what it says is Kurdish encroachment along its long border with Syria has complicated U.S. strategy in the region, because Washington supports the YPG and its allies in the fight against Islamic State.The YPG is a key part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which a U.S.-led coalition is supporting with air strikes and military advisers on the ground to fight Islamic State in its stronghold Raqqa.Turkey launched an offensive in northern Syria in August last year, sending tanks and warplanes across the border to support Syrian rebels fighting both Islamic State and the YPG.It helped them carve out a big portion of northern Syria, helping ensure the YPG and its allies could not link the 400-km (250-mile) stretch of territory they hold in the north and northeast with the pocket they hold west of Azaz.The YPG is linked to the PKK, a Kurdish group fighting an insurgency in Turkey's southeast. Reuters RSA 2330 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0104-944194.Xml
British Prime Minister Theresa May has issued a public apology to the victims of the horrific fire that swept through Grenfell Tower, a 24-floor residential block in London. "Let me be absolutely clear, the support on the ground for families in the initial hours was not good enough. People were left without belongings, without roofs over their heads, without basic information about what had happened, what they should do and where they could seek help," May told British lawmakers on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported. "That was a failure of the state -- local and national -- to help people when they needed it most. As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure -- and as Prime Minister, I've taken responsibility for doing what we can to put things right," she said. May's apology came in the House of Commons where the MPs had gathered to start a week-long debate on the Queen's Speech which earlier on Wednesday had started the new session of Parliament following the snap general election. May has faced sharp criticism for her initial responses to the tragedy which left at least 79 people dead. The British Prime Minister, who also said the whole country had been heartbroken by the fire, confirmed a measure announced in the speech earlier by Queen Elizabeth. The government says that to support victims of tragedies, an independent public advocate will be appointed to act for bereaved families after public disasters and support them at public inquests. The government also announced on Wednesday that work is to be speeded up on a new housing scheme close to Grenfell Tower to provide new homes for 68 families made homeless in the tragedy. May said all families who lost their homes in Grenfell Tower will be re-housed within three weeks. --IANS pgh/ ( 306 Words) 2017-06-22-00:32:13 (IANS)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-19 23:47:34|Editor: yan

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MOGADISHU, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Security agencies in Mogadishu Monday arrested a senior intelligence commander of the militant group Al-Shabaab.

Internal Security Minister Mohamed Abukar Islow told the media in Mogadishu Abdiwahid Khalif Ahmed the Amniyat (intelligence) head in Mogadishu was captured in a sting operation by Somali security forces in Bakara Market.

"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.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:54:19|Editor: MJ

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (1st L) greets refugees in Iligan, the Philippines, June 20, 2017. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday personally apologized to the residents of Marawi who were displaced during the close to-one month military operations in the southern city and for the declaration of martial law in the whole Mindanao, following attacks by Islamic militants. The president visited displaced families from Marawi who are currently staying at an evacuation center in Iligan City and led the distribution of financial and relief aid. (Xinhua)

MANILA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday personally apologized to the residents of Marawi who were displaced during the close to-one month military operations in the southern city and for the declaration of martial law in the whole Mindanao, following attacks by Islamic militants.

The president visited displaced families from Marawi who are currently staying at an evacuation center in Iligan City and led the distribution of financial and relief aid.

In the speech of the event, he said he had no choice but to impose martial law as the Islamic militants were already destroying the city and a lot of people are already being affected by the attacks.

Duterte, who claimed that his grandmother was a Maranao, a local tribe in Mindanao island, said he was hurt and angry that some Maranaos allowed the foreign terrorist ideology to enter the country.

"I would like to say to the Maranao people that I am very, very, very sorry that this happened to us. I hope in the near future, you will find a new heart to forgive my soldiers, the government, even me for declaring martial law," he said.

"I have no choice, they are destroying Marawi. I have to drive them out. But I am very sorry. Please extend my condolences to our Maranao siblings for this incident," he added.

The president on May 23 placed Mindanao under martial law for 60 days and suspended the writ of habeas corpus following attacks by the Maute-Abu Sayyaf Group which had pledged allegiance to the Islamic States.

Duterte said he also had to make the declaration to prevent civil war from developing, noting that some of those who are hurt and affected by the attacks are capable of arming themselves like some Christians.

Meanwhile, he urged everyone not to follow the foreign militant ideologies and to pray for an immediate resolution of the situation.

The fighting has so far resulted in the death of 258 Maute members, 65 soldiers and policemen and 26 civilians, according to Philippine military.

Duterte on Tuesday extended his condolences to the families of the soldiers who were killed in action and assured the families that the government would take care of them.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 01:41:56|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.

"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 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.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called on lawmakers to grant "flexibility" to the White House in dealing with Russia.

He urged the Congress "to ensure any legislation allows the president to have the flexibility to adjust sanctions to meet the needs of what is always an evolving diplomatic situation."

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said new U.S. 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-U.S. relations. I think this is harmful," Putin was quoted by Russian news agency Tass as saying.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 02:02:03|Editor: An

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Tunisian President of People's Representatives Assembly Mohamed Ennaceur (R) meets with He Ping (L), editor-in-chief of China's Xinhua News Agency, in Tunis, capital of Tunisia, on June 20, 2017. Tunisian President of People's Representatives Assembly Mohamed Ennaceur met Tuesday with He Ping, editor-in-chief of China's Xinhua News Agency and both agreed to boost bilateral cooperation including media. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)

TUNIS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian President of People's Representatives Assembly Mohamed Ennaceur met Tuesday with He Ping, editor-in-chief of China's Xinhua News Agency and both agreed to boost bilateral cooperation including media.

Ennaceur told He Ping that Tunisia attaches great importance to developing its friendly ties with China and hopes to enhance the bilateral cooperation in all fields.

Ennaceur underscored the importance of deepening the cooperation between Tunisian and Chinese media outlets in promoting the davelopment of the Tunisian-Chinese relations.

He Ping said that Xinhua is willing to expand communication and deepen cooperation with its Tunisian counterparts to promote mutual understanding between the two peoples.

He Ping said that news reports are helping the public to understand the Belt and Road Initiative, a global development initiative launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

Invited by Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) Agency for the visit, He Ping signed the memorandum of understanding on National Album Project with TAP's President Lotfi Arfaoui.

Accompanied by Chinese ambassador to Tunisia, Bian Yanhua, He Ping also met with Mehdi Ben Gharbia, Tunisia's minister in charge of the relations with the constitutional authority, the civil society and of the human rights.

He Ping also visited other media outlets including La Presse newspaper.
The file photo shows that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks during a press conference on the second day of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany, on March 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Luo Huanhuan)

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.

"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 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.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called on lawmakers to grant "flexibility" to the White House in dealing with Russia.

He urged the Congress "to ensure any legislation allows the president to have the flexibility to adjust sanctions to meet the needs of what is always an evolving diplomatic situation."

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said new U.S. 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-U.S. relations. I think this is harmful," Putin was quoted by Russian news agency Tass as saying.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 03:43:15|Editor: Zhou Xin

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JERUSALEM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli prime minister and a top U.S. national security aide met here on Tuesday as part of the U.S. effort to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jason Greenblatt, the U.S. aide, held a two-and-half-hour meeting, said a statement released by the prime minister's office, without elaborating on its content.

Greenblatt tweeted that he met Netanyahu and his staff "for further talks ahead of Jared Kushner's visit tomorrow."

Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Wednesday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The two arrive in the region as part of the White House's bid to reignite the stalled peace talks, which reached an impasse in 2014.

The visit also came on a day that Israel broke ground on its first new settlement, known as Amichai, in the West Bank for nearly 25 years.

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 tweeted.

Amona was an illegal outpost, built on privately-owned Palestinian land, which Israeli police evacuated in February under a court order.

"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 came 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.

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.
Twin-engine supermaneuverable jet fighters Su-27 of "Russian Knights" aerobatic team fly during the International Military-Technical Forum "ARMY 2015" in the Moscow Region, Russia, June 19, 2015. (Xinhua/Pavel Bednyakov)

MOSCOW, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. reconnaissance plane performed a provocative maneuver against a Russian fighter over the Baltic Sea during an encounter on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

According to the statement, Russia scrambled a Su-27 fighter to intercept a target flying over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea toward the Russian border, which was then identified as a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft.

When being escorted, the U.S. plane attempted to approach the Russian jet and made a "provocative" turn toward the Su-27, said the statement.

The Russian pilot reacted to the maneuver and then continued to escort the reconnaissance plane until it changed its route and flew away from the Russian border, it said.

Shortly after the incident, another U.S. RC-135 entered the zone and it was also intercepted by a Russian Su-27.

However, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis denied the Russian accusation, saying "We were operating in international airspace and did nothing to provoke this behavior."

Earlier in the day, U.S. European Command spokeswoman Meghan Henderson said the Russian Su-27 came "within several feet" of the U.S. RC-135, calling the intercept unsafe because of the "high rate of closure speed" and the "poor control of the aircraft" by the Russian pilot.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, over the past week, reconnaissance aircraft of the United States and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization carried out more than 15 flights over the Baltic Sea near the Russian border.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 04:29:18|Editor: Zhou Xin

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KAMPALA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Uganda and Russia have signed a framework agreement on the use of atomic energy in the east African country.

A statement from the ministry of energy issued here on Tuesday said the agreement was signed between Uganda government and the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation.

The statement said this is the first step towards bilateral cooperation in area of peaceful uses of atomic energy by both countries.

"The document establishes a framework for cooperation with a focus on development of nuclear power infrastructure in Uganda and the uses of radioisotopes and radiation technologies, applications in industry, medicine, agriculture and other areas," the statement said.

The agreement will also include education and training, establishment of nuclear research centers, and nuclear energy among others.

The two countries also established a joint working group which will define the scope of work for implementation of the initiatives.

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the ongoing IX International Forum ATOMEXPO-2017 in Russia.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 04:44:34|Editor: yan

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ACCRA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Top security chiefs in West Africa told the media here on Tuesday they have resolved to collaborate in combating cross-border crimes in the sub-region.

Inspector General (IGP) of Nigeria, Ibrahim Kpotum Idris told the media during the two-day West African National Securities Conference taking place in Accra that it is only through joint efforts that such crimes can be nipped in the bud.

"We will have a lot of intelligent sharing with our neighbors because there are the issues we have to put our heads together and see how best we can make the West African sub-region difficult for any will-be criminal," Idris stressed.

The Nigerian police chief spoke about Chikudu Evans, a hardened criminal arrested in Nigeria earlier in June but who had brought all his family to stay in Ghana while he stayed in Nigeria to commit his crime.

According to him the alleged kidnapper possesses two passports, a Nigerian passport and a Ghanaian passport, hence the need for collaboration to prevent and combat such criminal activities.

"And now you can see that we are having more collaboration. We are now having ECOWAS missions where we and our counterparts in other West African countries are working together. And this conference I am talking about WAPCO (West African Police Chiefs Organization) to be held in Abuja later this year. I believe it going to bring us closer and closer together," he added.

The conference brought together not only heads of police, customs, border security, immigration, marine police, among others, but also exhibitors of modern state-of-the-art security hardware by companies.

Ghana's IGP, David Asante-Apeatu noted that since crime has gone international, security measures should also be carried out in a collaborative manner in order to make the sub-region safe.

"We've come to realize that crime has become transnational and therefore we can only fight this crime through international collaboration. This is exactly what we are doing," Asante-Apeatu said.

Pawan Kulkarni, Divisional Director in charge of Defence and Security in Middle-East and Africa for International Quality and Productivity Centre (IQPC), promoters of the conference explained the aim of the conference.

"The West African securities conference is a conference that is getting people together across the region. It includes the police forces, the custom guards, the border security forces and the marine police. The principal intention of all the homeland security forces to come together is to improve the security resilience of not just Ghana but the entire region of West Africa," Kulkarni said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 04:59:43|Editor: Yang Yi

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos delivers a speech during an event to present Greek national news agency AMNA's new website in Athens, Greece, on June 20, 2017. Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos hailed on Tuesday the deepening cooperation between the national news agencies of Greece and China, AMNA and Xinhua News Agency, as another strong bridge connecting Greece to China and the world. (Xinhua/Giannis Kolesidis)

ATHENS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos hailed on Tuesday the deepening cooperation between the national news agencies of Greece and China, AMNA and Xinhua News Agency, as another strong bridge connecting Greece to China and the world.

"The inclusion of Greece's voice in one of the boldest investment projects of the 21st century, the inclusion of Greek business, tourism and culture news which will be distributed via the Chinese news agency's special platform for the Belt and Road, is a great success," the Greek official said addressing an event hosted in Athens Megaron concert hall to present AMNA's new website.

"This project, a typical example of extroversion, offers a great service to Greek entrepreneurism, to the communication of Greece's positive message to the world, to efforts aimed at attracting investments and strengthening our position in the international tourism market," Tzanakopoulos stressed referring to the Xinhua- AMNA collaboration which has strengthened over the past year.

"In the context of our efforts to promote Greece abroad we have launched cooperation with Xinhua," AMNA's President Michalis Psilos noted delivering a speech during the event which was attended also by Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura, as well as hundreds of Greek officials, businessmen, journalists and citizens.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 05:09:48|Editor: An

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VIENNA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese delegation on Tibetan cultural exchange concluded their two-day visit in Vienna Tuesday.

The visit is aimed at promoting better understanding of Tibetan history and reality through lectures and dialogues.

With pictures and documents, Hao Shiyuan, an academy member from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and head of the delegation, gave a lecture on Tibetan Culture and Tibetan Buddhism at the Vienna University during their first day's visit.

Hao's lecture met with great enthusiasm from local audiences.

"I learn about that there are radio and TV broadcasting, newspaper, and even mobile phone apps available in Tibetan languages, for the very first time", said Dr. Rudolf Schneider at the university, adding that this form of lectures and direct exchanges with scholars from China would help get rid of the biases among some westerners.

Richard Trappl, director of the Confucius Institute at the Vienna University, expressed his hopes to organize more such kind of exchanges that could bring Chinese and Austrian scholars and elites together, putting away misunderstandings, and forging ahead co-operations based upon mutual trusts and amicable affections.

Trappl, who first visited Tibet in 1982, said he witnessed huge changes in Tibet when he was there for the second time in 2014, especially in infrastructure development, nature conservation, and cultural preservation.

"The magnificent natural landscapes and its mysterious cultural heritages are of unique appeals, and most of us care more about the ecological conservation and cultural preservation in Tibet," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 05:14:50|Editor: yan

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MOSUL, Iraq, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi forces continued on Tuesday heavy clashes against the Islamic State (IS) militants in the last major stronghold of the old city center in western Mosul, the Iraqi military said.

The army's 9th armored division freed the southwestern part of al-Shifaa neighborhood, the last neighborhood which remained outside the major IS redoubt of the old city center, after heavy clashes with the extremist militants, Abdul-Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement.

The troops freed the area on the bank of the Tigris River in Shifaa neighborhood, including the archeological site of Bashtabiyah Castle, Juvenile prison building, local health department and a church, and the troops are fighting at the foot of the fifth bridge at the edge of the old city, Yarallah said.

Meanwhile, the army soldiers, Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) forces and the Federal Police continued house-to-house battles against IS militants in the narrow alleys at the edges of Mosul's old city center, a CTS source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The CTS commandos are now fighting in an area located some 500 meters from the historical al-Nuri Mosque in the middle of Mosul's old city center.

The mosque with its famous leaning minaret, which gave the city its nickname "al-Hadbaa" or "the hunchback," has a symbolic value, as it was the place where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the cross-border "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria in his sole public appearance in July 2014.

The progress was slowed by the stiff resistance of IS militants and a large number of roadside bombs and booby-trapped buildings, in addition to IS snipers who took positions in the buildings of heavily-populated neighborhoods, the source said.

According to UN reports, some 100,000 civilians are still trapped in the IS-held areas in the old city center and the adjacent al-Shifaa neighborhood. The extremist group is using the civilians as human shields.

Iraqi forces, backed by international coalition, launched their final push on Sunday morning to drive out IS militants from al-Shifaa neighborhood and most of the densely-populated old city center in the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of Tigris River.

Also on Tuesday, the Iraqi forces captured Alaa Sami al-Khateeb, the broadcaster and program presenter of al-Bayan Radio station, affiliated with the terrorist IS group, according to Brigadier Yahya Rasoul, spokesman of the JOC told reporters.

According to information presented by the residents, Khateeb was arrested in one of the houses in the freed neighborhood of Nabi Younis in the eastern side of Mosul, Rasoul said.

Mosul, 400 km north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 05:24:57|Editor: Zhou Xin

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TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday the U.S. forces should not be present in Iraq under any excuses.

Khamenei said the U.S. forces should not be allowed to enter Iraq "under the pretext of training (Iraqi forces) or other issues," quoted Tehran Times daily.

The Iranian leader made the remarks during meeting with the visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

He urged Abadi not to trust the United States, adding that Washington and its allies are against the Iraqi unity and independence.

Khamenei also said that there is no determination by the United States and its allies to counter terrorists in the region, as the Islamic State (IS) "rose from their backing and money."

For his part, Abadi said Iraq needs the assistance of Iran in fighting the IS and later in reconstructing the country.

The Iraqi prime minister arrived in Tehran Tuesday from Riyadh, where he held talks with top Saudi officials including King Salman.

During his visit to Tehran, Abadi seeks to discuss the expansion of ties between the two neighbors besides the attempts to help Iran and Saudi Arabia reduce the tensions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 05:55:08|Editor: Mengjie

Alibaba founder Jack Ma speaks during the welcoming ceremony of Gateway '17, a conference held by Alibaba, in Detroit, the United States, June 20, 2017. Alibaba founder Jack Ma said Tuesday the Chinese e-commerce giant is confident that it will help support one million small U.S. businesses to sell to China and the rest of Asia through its network in the next five years. Ma made the remarks at Gateway' 17, a conference held by Alibaba in Detroit. The conference, which is held on June 20-21, features 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. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

DETROIT, the United States, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Alibaba founder Jack Ma said Tuesday the Chinese e-commerce giant is confident that it will help support one million small U.S. businesses to sell to China and the rest of Asia through its network in the next five years.

"If we can help one million small businesses online and each business can create one job, we can create one million jobs," said Ma, who added that "we are pretty knowledgeable on that."

Ma made the remarks at Gateway' 17, a conference held by Alibaba in Detroit. The conference, which is held on June 20-21, features 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.

Ma said Alibaba has been supporting small U.S. businesses to sell and buy online in the past 18 years. In California alone, the company has already helped create more than 20,000 jobs, according to Ma.

"At the time we had little experience, now we have a lot of experience," he said.

The conference marks Alibaba's official first step to introduce opportunities in China to U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises.

Ma said the company's business strategy in the United States differs from that of Amazon or eBay.

"Our model is to bring American small businesses and farmers to China, (and) to Asia. Because we have a lot of middle class Chinese who need high quality products," he said.

Asked about his opinion on globalisation, Ma said he is a firm believer of it as well as free trade.

"In the past 20 years, globalisation and free trade were designed for big companies and developed countries. In the next 30 years, we should make globalisation more inclusive to support small businesses, young people and farmers," said Ma.
Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group addresses during the welcome ceremony of Gateway 17 in Detroit, the United States, June 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

DETROIT, the United States, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Alibaba founder Jack Ma said Tuesday the Chinese e-commerce giant is confident that it will help support 1 million small U.S. businesses to sell to China and the rest of Asia through its network in the next five years.

"If we can help one million small businesses online and each business can create one job, we can create one million jobs," said Ma, who added that "we are pretty knowledgeable on that."

Ma made the remarks at Gateway' 17, a conference held by Alibaba in Detroit. The conference, which is held on June 20-21, features 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.

Small business representatives visit an exhibition in Detroit, the United States, June 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

Ma said Alibaba has been supporting small U.S. businesses to sell and buy online in the past 18 years. In California alone, the company has already helped create more than 20,000 jobs, according to Ma.

"At the time we had little experience, now we have a lot of experience," he said.

The conference marks Alibaba's official first step to introduce opportunities in China to U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises.

Ma said the company's business strategy in the United States differs from that of Amazon or eBay.

"Our model is to bring American small businesses and farmers to China, (and) to Asia. Because we have a lot of middle class Chinese who need high quality products," he said.

Asked about his opinion on globalisation, Ma said he is a firm believer of it as well as free trade.

"In the past 20 years, globalisation and free trade were designed for big companies and developed countries. In the next 30 years, we should make globalisation more inclusive to support small businesses, young people and farmers," said Ma.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 06:25:17|Editor: ZD

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses a press conference on the occasion of World Refugee Day, at the UN headquarters in New York, June 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday asked developed countries to provide shelter for more refugees and to share the responsibility with developing countries that are hosting 80 percent of the world refugees.

"I ask countries in the developed world to increase their resettlement quotas at least to the levels that we had two or three years ago, to be able to offer an effective responsibility-sharing with those that are hosting millions of refugees in the deep South," said Guterres.

Tuesday marks the World Refugee Day. Guterres reminded countries that refugee protection is an obligation under international law as more borders have been closed worldwide and more refugees have been rejected.

UN statistics show that the global refugee population hit its highest level for two decades standing at 22.5 million at the end of 2016. The largest group of refugees was made up of the 5.5 million Syrians forced to flee.

"It is important to say that refugee protection is not a matter of solidarity or generosity. Refugee protection is an obligation under international law," said Guterres.

Therefore, he called on member states not to refuse entry to the refugees who are seeking asylum and manage their borders in a "protection-sensitive" way.

Guterres made the remarks at his first press conference since assuming the office as UN secretary-general on Jan. 1, 2017. He served as UN high commissioner for refugees for 10 years.

Noting that the United States has a very important role in refugee resettlement, Guterres encouraged the U.S. government "to come back to the levels of resettlement that we witnessed until two or three years ago."

Apart from rejecting refugees, Guterres also voiced concerns over U.S. withdrawing from the Paris climate deal and its proposed cuts in funding commitments to the UN.

Guterres said that the proposed budget plan of the Trump administration would create "an unsolvable problem" to the UN and he will soon travel to Washington to meet members of Congress to discuss the issue.

"I believe that, if the United States disengage in relation to many aspects of foreign policy and many aspects of international relations, it will be unavoidable that other actors will occupy that space," said Guterres.

"And I don't think this is good for the United States, and I don't think this is good for the world," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 06:30:19|Editor: ZD

Belgian police officers stand guard in a cordoned off area outside the Brussels Central Station after a small explosion in Brussels, Belgium, on June 20, 2017. The Brussels Central Station was evacuated Tuesday evening after a small explosion occurred within the station, local authorities confirmed. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

BRUSSELS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A small explosion that occurred Tuesday evening within the Central Station of Brussels, the capital of Belgium, was considered a terrorist attack, a spokesperson of the Belgian federal prosecutor's office told reporters.

Eric Van Der Sypt, the spokesperson, confirmed at a press briefing on late Tuesday that the man who caused the explosion was "neutralized" by soldiers, but did not reveal whether the man is dead or alive.

The identity of the man remains unknown.

The explosion did not cause any injuries, as the explosives used were of "relatively low intensity," said the spokesman.

The explosives disposal unit of the Belgian security service is carrying out a checkout at the station, the Belgian crisis center announced on its Twitter account around 23:20 local time (2120 GMT), but stressed that the situation is under control.

The explosion occurred shortly before 21:00 local time (1900 GMT).

Local media quoted some witnesses as saying that the explosion was caused by a man with an explosive belt.

Unconfirmed sources say that the man was shot.

A witness told local media that the man was seen lying on the floor inside the station, with wires coming out of his clothes.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and Interior Minister Jan Jambon are following the situation "very closely" from the crisis center, said the prime minister's spokesperson Frederic Cauderlier.

The incoming mayor of Brussels Philippe Close went to the site.

Soon after the explosion, the Central Station, the busiest railway station in Brussels, was evacuated Tuesday evening. And the nearby Grand Place, a popular tourist destination, was also evacuated, local authorities confirmed.

The metro lines 1 and 5, which pass through the station, were closed following police orders.

A large number of police and soldiers are deployed around these two sites in the heart of Brussels.

The security threat alert level in Belgium currently stands at 3, the second highest.

As the capital of the European Union (EU), Brussels hosts the major political institutions of the EU. It has been on high alert after suicide attacks hit the city's airport and metro systems on March 22, 2016, which left 32 people dead and many more injured.

The Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 06:35:20|Editor: ZD

Photo taken on June 20, 2017 shows the website of global equity indexes provider MSCI on a computer in New York, theUnited States. Global equity indexes provider MSCI announced Tuesday that beginning in June 2018, it will include China A-shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index and the MSCI ACWI Index. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

NEW YORK, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Global equity indexes provider MSCI announced Tuesday that beginning in June 2018, it will include China A-shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index and the MSCI ACWI (All Country World Index) Index.

MSCI plans to add 222 China A Large Cap stocks, representing on a pro forma basis approximately 0.73 percent of the weight of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index at a 5-percent partial Inclusion Factor, according to its 2017 market classification review released Tuesday.

MSCI said the decision has "broad support from international institutional investors" with whom the company consulted, adding that it was 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.

Since MSCI delayed the inclusion of China A-shares for the third time in 2016, Chinese authorities have taken several measures to ease international investors' concerns over the A-share market's accessibility: arbitrary trading suspensions were better regulated, restrictions on qualified foreign institutional investors were further relaxed, while the Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect scheme was launched to broaden channels of foreign investment in the A-share market.

"International investors have embraced the positive changes in the accessibility of the China A shares market over the last few years and now all conditions are set for MSCI to proceed with the first step of the inclusion." said Remy Briand, MSCI Managing Director and Chairman of the MSCI Index Policy Committee. "The expansion of Stock Connect has been a game changer for the market opening of China A shares."

According to the review, a two-step inclusion process will be used to account for the existing daily trading limits on Stock Connect. The first inclusion step would coincide with the MSCI's May 2018 Semi-Annual Index Review followed by the second step which would take place as part of the August 2018 Quarterly Index review.

"When further alignment with international market accessibility standards occurs, sustained accessibility is proven within Stock Connect and international institutional investors gain further experience in the market, MSCI will reflect a higher representation of China A shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index," said Briand.

Market analysts spoke highly of the MSCI decision.

Brendan Ahern, chief investment officer at Krane Fund Advisors, told Xinhua on Tuesday that the MSCI inclusion begins "adjusting China's weight within global equity indices to match its importance to the global economy."

Tom Orlik, chief Asia economist for Bloomberg Intelligence, said in an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday that MSCI inclusion confirms and will accelerate the trajectory of China's capital market opening.

"China's policymakers have already made important strides in opening capital markets to global investors...MSCI inclusion should be a catalyst to accelerate that process - working to maximize gains to efficiency from global integration and minimize disruptions from destabilizing short-term flows." Orlik said.

Related:

China lauds MSCI for A-share inclusion

BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- China lauded MSCI for its decision on inclusion of Shanghai and Shenzhen listed stocks into the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, said a spokesperson for the securities regulator on Wednesday.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 07:00:29|Editor: Zhou Xin

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses a news conference on the occasion of World Refugee Day, at the UN headquarters in New York, on June 20, 2017. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, hours before flying to Uganda to show solidarity with refugees there, marked World Refugee Day on Tuesday with pleas for acceptance of the world's 65.5 million refugees and expressing hope they would integrate into their host societies. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, hours before flying to Uganda to show solidarity with refugees there, marked World Refugee Day on Tuesday with pleas for acceptance of the world's 65.5 million refugees and expressing hope they would integrate into their host societies.

The former UN refugee chief held his first formal news conference at UN Headquarters since becoming UN secretary-general on Jan. 1. The nearly hour-long session touched topics ranging from refugees and migrants to the Syria conflict, the Qatar rift and a vacuum in international relations.

Refugee Day is "full of emotions for me," Guterres said in his opening remarks. "It is impossible to be 10 years as (UN) high commissioner for refugees ... without changing your life."

"Indeed, not only witnessing the suffering of people but also learning (about) the extraordinary courage, resilience and capacity to permanently generate hope of refugees is something that has changed my perspective of the world and, to a large extent, changed my life," Guterres said.

"We are witnessing the largest number of refugees ever," he said. "Refugee protection is an obligation under international law -- the (1951 Refugee) Convention and many regional instruments of binding nature."

"By and large, international law was respected" while he was refugee chief, Guterres said. "The situation has considerably changed now."

"We are seeing more and more borders being closed ... refugees being rejected," he said. "We are seeing the opportunities for resettlement in richer countries of refugees coming from the global South being decreased in number."

"This is particularly worrying, especially when associated to forms of political populism, xenophobia, racism, in which refugees become a target, many times being accused of being part of the terror threat when refugees are not terrorists -- they are the first victims of terror, they are fleeing terror; that is why they are refugees," the UN chief said.

However, he added, "We are still witnessing a very large number of countries doing an enormous effort to provide protection to refugees in very dramatic circumstances."

Guterres said he was leaving Tuesday night on a "message of solidarity" to visit the 1.3 million refugees in Uganda -- 950,000 from South Sudan alone -- and to express gratitude to the country for "providing them not only with protection, but even with plots of land and the capacity to live not in camps, but in the society, in a way that is much more humane."

He was later asked about their rights and responsibilities, whether they are refugees fleeing conflict or economic migrants seeking a better life. Guterres said that refugees have specific rights, migrants do not, other than human rights.

"Refugees or migrants have the obligation to respect the laws of the countries in which they are," Guterres said. "This is absolutely crucial and they need also to make an effort to integrate into the society and the society to make an effort to create conditions to make that integration harmonious."

Asked about escalating tensions between Russia and the United States on air strikes in Syria, the secretary-general said he was concerned.

Russia has said it would target U.S. aircraft in their operational airspace over Syria following the U.S. shooting-down of a Syrian bomber following its attack near U.S.-supported fighters on the ground.

"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," he said. "I hope that this will not lead to any escalation of the (Syrian) conflict that is already as dramatic as it is."

The UN chief was asked why he was pushing for a regional solution to the rift between Qatar and the other Gulf states.

"That is what normally happens," he said. "But, of course, if countries or entities that have leverage over the parties to a conflict can help, that, obviously, will always be welcome."

"I don't think that United Nations has a leverage over the parties to the conflict that make our direct intervention more effective than the support to, namely, a mediation like the Kuwaiti one, or, if the United States gets engaged in that mediation, that, of course, will be welcome if they are able to do so in an effective way," Guterres said.

On the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to back out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, the secretary-general said, "We have been quite actively engaged in trying to make sure that all ... other countries, stay the course. And also I'll say, noting with a lot of interest, the mobilization of the U.S. society, the cities, the businesses, the civil society ... are a signal of hope that we very much encourage."

Guterres said that while it is possible to have a vacuum in nature it is not so in international relations.

"If the United States disengages in relation to many aspects of foreign policy and many aspects of international relations, it will be unavoidable that other actors will occupy that space," the UN chief said. "I don't think this is good for the United States, and I don't think this is good for the world."

He also said the proposed budget sent to the U.S. Congress drastically cutting funding for the United Nations "would create an unsolvable problem to the management of the UN, but the process is still in the Congress."

Guterres said he would soon go to Washington to meet with members of Congress. "I think we always must engage positively and constructively with any administration in the world, but... so the financial question is still to be seen," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 07:33:22|Editor: Zhou Xin

Military vehicles are seen on the pontoon bridge for water obstacle crossing operation during the media day training of the "Iron Wolf 2017" military exercise in Jonava District, Lithuania, on June 20, 2017. Iron wolf 2017, Lithuania's largest multinational military training, is officially held from June 12 to June 23, gathering around 5,300 military personnel from ten NATO member countries.(Xinhua/Alfredas Pliadis)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 07:26:00|Editor: Zhou Xin

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MEXICO CITY, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The ministers of agriculture from Mexico, Canada and the United States on Tuesday praised the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

"The North American Free-Trade Agreement has been very beneficial for our respective agricultural sectors, as well as for consumers," all three said in a joint statement released by Mexico's Ministry of Agriculture.

At a June 19 and 20 meeting in the port city of Savannah, in the U.S. state of Georgia, Mexico's Agriculture Minister Jose Calzada and his Canadian and U.S. counterparts, Lawrence MacAulay and Sonny Perdue, pledged to work together to strengthen regional agricultural trade.

The trilateral meeting comes just weeks before the three countries are due to renegotiate the nearly two-decade-old agreement at the insistence of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has criticized the deal for luring industry and jobs away from the U.S.

"Our countries are connected not just geographically, but also by a deep integration of the agri-food sector," they said.

"Our trade ties are vital for the economy and the people of our respective countries. We are working to support and create jobs in the three nations," they added.

Agricultural trade disputes are "relatively few," and pale in comparison to the 85 billion U.S. dollars a year in agricultural trade exchange between the three North American countries, they stressed.

The three countries additionally carry out joint research and exchange best practices in the area of livestock and cultivation, helping to eradicate certain pests and diseases, the statement said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses a press conference on the occasion of World Refugee Day, at the UN headquarters in New York, June 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday asked developed countries to provide shelter for more refugees and to share the responsibility with developing countries that are hosting 80 percent of the world refugees.

"I ask countries in the developed world to increase their resettlement quotas at least to the levels that we had two or three years ago, to be able to offer an effective responsibility-sharing with those that are hosting millions of refugees in the deep South," said Guterres.

Tuesday marks the World Refugee Day. Guterres reminded countries that refugee protection is an obligation under international law as more borders have been closed worldwide and more refugees have been rejected.

UN statistics show that the global refugee population hit its highest level for two decades standing at 22.5 million at the end of 2016. The largest group of refugees was made up of the 5.5 million Syrians forced to flee.

"It is important to say that refugee protection is not a matter of solidarity or generosity. Refugee protection is an obligation under international law," said Guterres.

Therefore, he called on member states not to refuse entry to the refugees who are seeking asylum and manage their borders in a "protection-sensitive" way.

Guterres made the remarks at his first press conference since assuming the office as UN secretary-general on Jan. 1, 2017. He served as UN high commissioner for refugees for 10 years.

Noting that the United States has a very important role in refugee resettlement, Guterres encouraged the U.S. government "to come back to the levels of resettlement that we witnessed until two or three years ago."

Apart from rejecting refugees, Guterres also voiced concerns over U.S. withdrawing from the Paris climate deal and its proposed cuts in funding commitments to the UN.

Guterres said that the proposed budget plan of the Trump administration would create "an unsolvable problem" to the UN and he will soon travel to Washington to meet members of Congress to discuss the issue.

"I believe that, if the United States disengage in relation to many aspects of foreign policy and many aspects of international relations, it will be unavoidable that other actors will occupy that space," said Guterres.

"And I don't think this is good for the United States, and I don't think this is good for the world," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 07:41:03|Editor: Zhou Xin

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SAN FRANCISCO, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A new statewide poll by researchers with the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that 56 percent of Californians worry that they or a family member may lose their health insurance coverage if the U.S. Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Findings from the poll by the UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) were released Tuesday, at a time when the Congress in the national capital of Washington D.C. now is considering legislation to repeal and replace the ACA, popularly known as Obama Care, after former U.S. President Barack Obama, who signed the national health reform legislation into law in 2010.

Among those who are worried about the future of the ACA, 39 percent say they are "very worried" and 17 percent say they are "somewhat worried."

Concern about losing health coverage varies with household income. Of residents at the lowest end of the income scale, namely less than 20,000 U.S. dollars per year, 77 percent are worried, as are 81 percent of those currently covered by Medi-Cal, the state-wide public program that provides health coverage to low-income adults and children.

By contrast, only about one in three residents with incomes of 100,000 dollars or more express such concerns.

In addition, Latinos (71 percent) and African Americans (67 percent) are somewhat more likely to be concerned about losing health coverage than white non-Hispanics (46 percent) and Asian Americans (50 percent).

Meanwhile, the poll finds public support for the ACA reaching record proportions. Supporters of the ACA now outnumber opponents in California, the most populous state in America, by a greater than two-to-one margin, 65 percent to 26 percent, with 45 percent supporting the law strongly.

Administered by telephone in six languages and dialects on May 4-31, 2017, the poll was conducted on behalf of the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF). Tuesday's release is the first of a two-part series of reports examining California public opinion about the ACA and health insurance coverage issues. Part two, for release Wednesday, focuses on coverage for mental health and substance use disorder treatment.

The poll included a large-scale statewide sample of 1,628 California adults, and the margin of error for the results is plus or minus 5 percent.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 08:26:10|Editor: An

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BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- China lauded MSCI for its decision on inclusion of Shanghai and Shenzhen listed stocks into the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, said a spokesperson for the securities regulator on Wednesday.

"The MSCI inclusion responds to the needs of international investors and shows investors' confidence on Chinese economy and financial market. We always welcome this," said Zhang Xiaojun, a spokesperson for the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 08:41:21|Editor: Zhou Xin

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MANILA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has warned of more bombings because of the inroads of Islamic State (IS) into the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, according to the president on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters late Tuesday night in Cagayan de Oro City after visiting wounded soldiers in a military hospital there, Duterte said one of these days the IS-linked terrorists will go into bombings.

He warned of violence to spill over other areas in Mindanao, including the island provinces which are known to be bailiwicks of the Abu Sayyaf and Maute terror groups.

The military is battling the remnants of terrorists who overran the southern Philippine city of Marawi on May 23.

Duterte predicted that the ongoing fightings in Marawi that have so far killed 349 people will end soon.

"They are winding up in Marawi except for a few snipers left behind but I do not think that it would last a little longer than expected," Duterte said.

However, he warned that terrorists on Basilan province off Mindanao are starting to act up. "We must keep watch because Basilan is boiling up," he said.

He said there will be a spill over of the conflict in some areas like in Cotabato and Sulu. "Whether you like it or not the sentiments will spill over (because terrorists) are escaping in all directions," he said.

"Just because the fighting has stopped in Marawi does not mean that we are already safe," Duterte said.

"One of these days they will go into bombings. There's always a bomb everyday in Mindanao," he said, adding that the terrorists will resort into retaliatory moves.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 08:56:25|Editor: Zhou Xin

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ISLAMABAD, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan army said that the whole border with Afghanistan will be fenced to curb the cross-border movement of militants.

Pakistan and Afghanistan, which have nearly 2,600 km common border, mostly porous, routinely blame each other for failure to stop the movement of militants for attacks.

The military said on Tuesday that phased fencing of the entire Pak-Afghan border has commenced in high infiltration prone border areas in Bajaur, Mohmand and Khyber tribal agencies.

Armed groups had also been active in the tribal regions for years but now the security forces have cleared almost all areas of the militants and established writ of local authorities.

A statement from the army's Inter-Services Public Relations said that fencing of remaining border areas including southwestern Balochistan will be carried out.

Besides fencing, Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps, the paramilitary forces responsible for border security, are constructing new forts and border posts to improve surveillance and defensibility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

"A secure Pak-Afghan border is in common interest of both countries and a well-coordinated border security mechanism is essential for enduring peace and stability," the statement said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 10:22:12|Editor: Yang Yi

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CANBERRA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has promised its citizens an end to high electricity prices, but has not been able to put a timeline on when they can expect to pay less, after the government took "unprecedented action" in passing a number of recommendations tabled by the nation's chief scientist earlier this month.

At a coalition partyroom meeting overnight, the government debated the merits of the recommendations handed down by chief scientist Dr Alan Finkel, and decided upon an energy policy which it said would not only ease the supply and price issues plaguing the nation, but would appease backbenchers who were vehemently against backing some of the recommendations.

On Wednesday, Australia's Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said the unprecedented new policy would shore up domestic supply and lower the prices of gas and electricity, while also appeasing the conservatives on the government's backbench.

Despite the pitch, Frydenberg couldn't put a timeline on when Australians could expect to pay less for their power, but told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio that price cuts should be happening "very quickly."

"We've already seen prices come down as a result of the prime minister putting pressure on these gas companies to increase their supply, and the Australian Energy Market Operator has reported that there's been an increase in gas supply domestically since earlier this year," Frydenberg said on Wednesday.

"There are no 'silver bullets' to reducing power prices, there are a series of measures we can take ... The gas restrictions are one but we're also abolishing the ability of the energy companies to gouge consumers."

Overnight, following the partyroom meeting, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said a restriction on gas exports would be enforced to ensure that there is enough domestic supply - something he said would also contribute to lower energy prices - while he also said the government would consider building "clean coal" power stations similar to those in China and Japan.

"I've said in the past that I think that, as Australia is the largest seaborne exporter of coal, it would be good if we had a state-of-the-art, clean-coal power station in Australia," Turnbull said.

"But that's not to say that the federal government should be building it or would be building it."

He said the government would explore a "reverse auction" process in building the high-energy, low-emissions (HELE) coal power stations.

The partyroom passed 49 of the chief scientist's 50 recommendations, with the only one not approved being the implementation of a Clean Energy Target (CET) in favor of the current Renewable Energy Target (RET).
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 11:02:22|Editor: Yang Yi

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MANILA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have reportedly stormed a village in the town of Pigcawayan in southern Philippines early Wednesday, local police said.

Inspector Realan Mamon, police chief of the town of Pigcawayan in North Cotabato, said they received reports that an unknown number of armed men attacked the village at around 5:00 a.m. local time.

Mamon said military troops confirmed the presence of the gunmen in the area, adding that civilians were trapped in the area, where government troops engaged the group in a gunfight.

Local police said earlier that the armed men reportedly stormed a school in the town.

Mamon, however, could not say if there were students being held hostage by the alleged BIFF members as classes had yet to start for the day when the gunmen launched the attack.

The town in the province of North Cotabato is located southeast of Marawi, where the government troops and the IS-inspired militants have been locked in fight since May 23.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has warned of more attacks because of the inroads of Islamic State (IS) into the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 11:22:32|Editor: Yang Yi

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BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday extended condolences to Vanuatu's Parliament Speaker and acting President Esmon Saimon over the death of President Baldwin Lonsdale.

Mourning Lonsdale's death, Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and people and in his own name, expressed sincere sympathy to the people of Vanuatu and Lonsdale's family.

China regards Vanuatu as a good friend and partner in the Pacific island region and is willing to work with Vanuatu to continue pushing forward bilateral strategic partnership, Xi said in his message of condolences.

Lonsdale died on Saturday in the Pacific island country's capital of Port Vila. A 10-day national state of mourning has been declared, according to Vanuatu's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and External Trade.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 11:52:43|Editor: MJ

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MELBOURNE, June 21 (Xinhua) -- New owners of a rundown Australian theme park announced a significant investment on Wednesday that will turn it into the "Disneyland of Victoria."

The ageing Gumbuya Park, 65 km southeast of Melbourne, will receive a 37 million-U.S. dollar facelift, including a helipad, that will see it become a "world-class" venue.

It will provide a significant employment boost in the southeast with the number of employees at the park jumping from the current 56 to more than 500 once renovations are completed.

The 40-year-old park, which is still running despite being rundown, will be re-named the Gumbuya Oz-Venture Park and will be marketed to attract local, interstate and international tourists.

As well as boasting rides and bush walks, more than 300 native species already live at the park, including emus, koalas, wombats and dingoes, with more on the way.

Ron Weinzierl, business director of the park, said that a bush resort would be built alongside the park with cabins, camp sites and a hotel to accommodate overnight guests.

"We are excited to develop Gumbuya into a world-class destination for all ages - the Disneyland of Victoria," Weinzierl told Australian media on Wednesday.

The ownership consortium, led by notable Australian businessmen Gerry Ryan, Wal Pisciotta and Adam Campbell, purchased the 166 hectare park in 2016 for 3.5 million U.S. dollars.

Ryan, founder of Jayco Caravans, said that the park was "old and tired" after buying it and he looked forward to injecting new life into it.

"I used to take my kids to Gumbuya when they were little and now I want my grandkids to also experience the fun of a great outdoor park," he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi practices yoga during a mass yoga session marking the International Yoga Day in Chandigarh, north India, June 21, 2016. (Xinhua file/Bi Xiaoyang)

NEW DELHI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Indian authorities within the country and outside are all set to celebrate the International Day of Yoga, officials said Tuesday.

The day would be celebrated on Wednesday across India and abroad.

Officials said preparations for the day have been made to mark the day. The main event of Yoga celebration will take place at Ramabai Ambedkar Groundin in Lucknow city of Uttar Pradesh, where Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the program.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be reaching Lucknow this afternoon on his two days' visit to state capital. During his stay he will participate in International Yoga Day function on Wednesday at Ramabai Ambedkar Ground and perform Yoga postures with above 60,000 participants," an official said.

The local government in Uttar Pradesh have made massive security arrangements in view of Modi's visit to the capital city - Lucknow.

Reports said the rehearsals for the day have already began and were going on in full swung on all the designated places within and outside India.

"Ahead of the main event people enthusiastically participated in full dress rehearsal here," an official at Lucknow said.

Indian officials at the embassies in foreign countries too have geared up to celebrate the day and have been organising YogaDay celebrations ahead of the main event.

Officials said such events were held in Pakistan, Paris and London.

"In these events Indian officials highlight the efforts of government of India in promoting ancient Indian traditions of healthy living," an official said.

According to the state-run TV Doordarshan, the celebrations were also held at Wenzhou in eastern China, the Asia Society in China's Hong Kong, Indonesia's Jakarta and Chile's Santiago.

On Sunday, India's yoga guru Baba Ramdev kickstarted celebrations for the annual International Yoga Day in Ahemdabad. Hundreds of yoga enthusiasts along with Ramdev stretched their body and performed exercises to mark celebrations ahead of the International Yoga Day.

Yoga includes stretching and bending of body besides doing breathing exercises aimed at transforming body and mind. Proponents of the exercise say it is a 5,000-year-old physical, mental and spiritual practice with origins in India.

The United Nations declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga after Modi, a Yoga enthusiast, lobbied for the ancient Indian art.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 12:07:47|Editor: MJ

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SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Two militants were killed Wednesday in a fierce gunfight with Indian troops in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.

The gunfight between militants and government forces broke out early Wednesday at village Pazalpora - Sopore in Baramulla district, about 53 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"Two militants were killed in gunfight in Sopore," Indian army spokesperson Col Rajesh Kalia told Xinhua. "Two weapons have been recovered from the spot and operation is in progress."

The identity of the slain militants was being ascertained. However, unconfirmed reports said the militants belonged to region's indigenous militant outfit - Hizbul Mujahideen.

According to a police official, the area was cordoned off Tuesday night on specific intelligence inputs about presence of two militants in the village.

"The gunfight was triggered at around 3:30 a.m. (local time) after contingents of army and police zeroed on the suspected house," the official said. "The gunfight stopped at around 7:30 in morning."

Last week, three militants, including a commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant outfit, were killed in a prolonged gunfight at village Aarwani of southern Anantnag district. Two civilians including a teenager were killed after being hit by bullets and several others wounded during the clashes that erupted in a bid to break cordon and help local militants escape.

A guerrilla war is going on between militants and Indian troops stationed in the region since 1989. Gunfights often take place between the two sides.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 12:31:46|Editor: MJ

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HANOI, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Under Vietnam's amended Penal Code, attorneys are subject to denounce their clients if they commit felonies like infringing on national security, local media reported on Wednesday.

The new regulation in the amended Penal Code, adopted by Vietnam's top legislature on Tuesday, is necessary to protect national security and social order, daily newspaper Tien Phong (Pioneer) quoted local lawmakers as saying.

However, many Vietnamese lawyers said the new regulation conflicts with other law provisions and their code of ethics that prohibits attorneys from revealing information about their clients and cases.

Earlier this month, the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association proposed to the Vietnam's National Assembly, the country's top legislature, to abolish the regulation in the draft amended Penal Code.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 13:47:02|Editor: Yang Yi

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SEOUL, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Corporate financing in South Korea posted a double-digit decline last month, financial watchdog data showed Wednesday.

Corporate direct financing, including the sales of stocks and bonds, amounted to 14.47 trillion won (12.66 billion U.S. dollars) in May, down 27 percent from the previous month, according to Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

Financing in the stock market, including the initial public offering (IPO) and the rights issuance, was 90 billion won, down 96.8 percent from a month earlier.

Debt financing tumbled 15.3 percent from a month earlier to 14.38 trillion won last month as sales of corporate bonds with a credit rating of AA or higher declined.

Industrial companies issued 3.25 trillion won worth of bonds in the debt financing market. Bonds issued by financial companies rose 3.6 percent to 10.49 trillion won.

The sales of asset-backed securities (ABS) plunged 74.4 percent to 632 billion won in May. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1,144.38 South Korean Won)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 14:12:08|Editor: Yang Yi

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SUVA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Fiji's President Jioji Konrote is in Vanuatu representing the island nation at the State funeral for Vanuatu's late President Baldwin Lonsdale.

Lonsdale passed away suddenly at the age of 67 on Saturday and the State funeral was scheduled for Wednesday.

"I wish to express on behalf of the Fijian Government and all Fijians, as well as my own, our profound and sincere condolences and sympathies on the passing away of the President of the Republic of Vanuatu, the late Womtelo Reverend Baldwin Lonsdale," said Konrote.

Konrote said Fijians were shocked and equally saddened to learn of Lonsdale's passing.

Lonsdale had built a strong and admirable reputation as a man of high principles and integrity, who was willing to take a stand for what he believed to be right and proper, for the greater good of his country, said Konrote.

"His death will be a huge loss to the Republic of Vanuatu, as indeed to the Pacific, and we are all the poorer with his passing."

"Our deepest sympathies go to his family and to all our Wantok in Vanuatu," Konrote said.

"With the deep bond of friendship as members of Melanesia and the wider Pacific community, Fiji and all Fijians join Vanuatu in mourning the passing of a paragon of virtue."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 14:22:11|Editor: An

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JINAN, June 21 (Xinhua) - Wei Dedong, owner of the 200-hectare Fumin Family Farm in Linyi County in eastern Shandong Province, has a sickle that remains as sharp as it was more than a decade ago.

"It's not that I have taken great care of it, but it's just so rarely used these days," Wei said.

With the range of harvesting machinery available, Wei said his sickle is only used at the very edges of the field, about one mu (0.067 hectare) in area, where the machines have missed.

As China wraps up its summer harvest, particularly in wheat belt provinces such as Shandong, Henan and Anhui, machines have alleviated the burden on farmers.

The timing of the summer harvest is called "shuang qiang," or "two rushes," as farmers rush to harvest in order to make space for new crops, which must be planted before too late.

A common side effect of the summer harvest was severe back pain for farmers, who had to bend over to continually cut the wheat from near ground level. An old Chinese idiom describes the agricultural toil as "face to the soil and back to the sky."

The work was so overwhelming that primary and middle schools in rural northern China often gave students a two-week "wheat leave" to allow them to help with farm work.

"In the beginning, even the most primitive hand-held harvesters were rare in the fields," said Wang Min, who spent her childhood in northern Shandong province.

Today more than 90 percent of wheat in Wang's hometown, and across China, is harvested by machines.

"Wheat leave disappeared over a decade ago and has not been heard of since," Wang said.

Also gone is the sickle, which, despite appearing in the Bible and symbols of communist movements across the world, has been losing its role in Chinese agriculture.

"What used to be a month's labor is now finished in about ten days with a combine harvester," said Xia Xiaoguo, who drives a Lovol harvester in Jiaxiang County.

With seven out of ten harvesters in China manufactured by Lovol, the Shandong-based company now has an app that allows a harvester owner to rent the machine out to mobile users.

"It took a lot of time to find a harvester in the past, but now we can rent a harvester without leaving the house," said Zhang Jianguo, a farmer. "It's so convenient."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 14:37:14|Editor: Yang Yi

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COLOMBO, June 21 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka as his next Envoy on Youth, the UN mission in Colombo said on Wednesday.

Wickramanayake will succeed Ahmad Alhendawi of Jordan.

"Having represented and motivated global youth development on an international level since the age of 21, notably during high-level United Nations initiatives including the declaration of World Youth Skills Day, Wickramanayake has also played a key role in transforming the youth development sector at the national level, notably through the creation of a large movement for civic and political engagement of young people named 'Hashtag Generation'," the UN said in a statement.

Presently working as an officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, Wickramanayake has previously served in many positions, including as secretary to the Secretary General of the Sri Lankan Parliament, Member and Youth Lead Negotiator, International Youth Task Force of the World Conference on Youth 2014 and Official Youth Delegate to the United Nations, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development.

She was furthermore a senator in the Sri Lankan Youth Parliament.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 15:02:33|Editor: Yang Yi

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KUNMING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- A poisonous gas leak killed six workers at a tunnel construction site in southwest China's Yunnan Province Wednesday morning, local authorities confirmed.

The accident happened in a tunnel along a pivotal railway line that will link the cities of Lincang and Dali, according to sources with China Railway 10th Bureau Group Co., Ltd, the contractor of the project.

The sulfureted hydrogen leak was accompanied by an outpouring of water and sludge inside the tunnel, company sources and witnesses said.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 15:32:44|Editor: ying

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SEOUL, June 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Wednesday had a phone conversation with her Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

The phone conversation mainly touched upon the topics of "comfort women" and the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, the ministry said in a press release.

It was held at the request from the Japanese side and lasted for 20 minutes from 11:20 a.m. local time (0220 GMT).

During the conversation, Kishida said it needed to fully implement the bilateral agreement on "comfort women," a euphemism for women forced into sexual slavery for the Imperial Japan's military brothels before and during World War II.

The South Korean foreign minister said most of South Koreans and the victims did not accept the agreement, urging her Japanese counterpart to make efforts to wisely resolve the issue.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet and South Korea's previous Park Geun-hye government reached a "final and irreversible" agreement in December 2015 on the "comfort women" victims, but the aged victims, mostly in their late 80s or older, protested against it as Abe had yet to sincerely apologize for the wartime crimes against humanity.

Kang took office on Monday as South Korea's first female foreign minister.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 15:32:48|Editor: Yang Yi

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WASHINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of the Commerce Department Wilbur Ross on Tuesday pledged to give fair treatment for Chinese investment in the United States as the Donald Trump administration stepped up efforts to promote foreign direct investment in the country.

In an address to hundreds of Chinese investors at a reception hosted by China General Chamber of Commerce - USA, Ross said he appreciated the large participation of Chinese delegation in the SelectUSA Investment Summit this year, saying it was "China's largest delegation ever" to the summit with 155 participants.

"Please let me know how to help you follow up with the opportunities you have uncovered during the course of this conference," Ross said, adding the Commerce Department will help Chinese investors navigate any potential problems with other federal, state, or local agencies.

"I hope that my fellow cabinet members and business tycoons who spoke at the conference have made it clear to you, that if you do invest here, you will be treated fairly and with respect," he said, promising that "the playing field will be totally level."

Chinese investors have warmed up to pouring money into the United States in recent years, hitting a record 46 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 alone, triple the amount seen in 2015 and a tenfold increase compared to just five years ago, according to a report jointly released by the Rhodium Group and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR).

Ross said the relationship between the Chinese government and the U.S. government has become "very closely and very friendly" since Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump met at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April.

"I believe that they like and trust each other, and that's a wonderful foundation for doing business, and diplomatic and other relationships between the two countries," he said, noting the two sides were able to announce concrete cooperative agreements in agricultural trade, electronic payment, energy and financial services just 40 days after the Xi-Trump meeting.

"These agreements have led to even more collaboration, and our two teams continue to hold twice daily phone calls," Ross said, believing the two countries will seek further agreements that benefit both countries.

"Both countries are very much interested in concrete near-term deliverables, not endless discussions," he said.

Zhu Hong, minister for commercial affairs at the Chinese embassy in the United States, said the initial results of the China-U.S. 100-day action plan set off to a good start for strengthening bilateral economic cooperation.

He believed the first bilateral comprehensive economic dialogue next month will bring more tangible benefits to the business communities and peoples in both countries.

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 3,000 participants from more than 60 international markets.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 15:37:57|Editor: ying

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PHNOM PENH, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Wednesday warned the opponents against any attempt to topple the government through "color revolution", saying there would be no tolerance for them.

"The armed forces must be ready to crack down on any movement that aims to topple the government and to damage the nation," he said during a visit to southeastern Tboung Khmum province.

He said any attempt to launch so-called "color revolution" in the country would not be tolerated and the doers must prepare coffins for themselves.

"Color revolution" is a term referring to popular uprisings that overthrew governments in the Balkans and Middle East.

"At any cost, we must maintain the country's hard-won peace," Hun Sen said.

The prime minister stressed the need to protect the lives of millions of people. He also called on the people to avoid doing any activities that could incite social chaos.

Hun Sen's warning targets the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) ahead of the national election in July 2018.

In the national election in July 2013, despite losing the election, the CNRP did not accept the results and staged mass protests for several months to demand Hun Sen's resignation, and some of the protests turned violent.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 15:38:02|Editor: ying

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SEOUL, June 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea on Wednesday expressed strong protest against Japan's new education guidelines on a set of disputed islets, known as Dokdo islets in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

Seoul's foreign ministry said in a statement that the education guidelines for elementary and middle school students, which were unveiled by the Japanese government earlier in the day, renewed its unfair territorial claims to Dokdo islets which are an indigenous territory of South Korea.

The statement strongly protested against the guidelines, urging Japan to immediately repeal them.

The educations guidelines, which would be gradually implemented from the year 2020, refer to the rocky islets lying halfway between South Korea and Japan as the islets of Japan which South Korea illegally occupy.

The islets were incorporated into Japan's territory in 1910 when the Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula started. They were then returned to South Korea when the peninsula liberated from the Japanese colonial rule in 1945.

The South Korean foreign ministry said the new education guidelines will insert a wrong concept of territory into the future generations of Japan and that the guidelines will have a negative influence on the development of the bilateral relations.

The rocky outcroppings have been a major source of diplomatic rows and even emotional battle both between the general public and governments of Seoul and Tokyo. South Korea has deployed security guards on the islets since 1954.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 16:03:10|Editor: ying

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COLOMBO, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan Police on Wednesday said they had arrested 15 people over attacks against minority communities in the island country.

A police spokesperson told journalists at the weekly media briefing here that so far, the police had received 21 complaints against hate speech on minorities while 14 complaints on criminal activities such as attacks, fires on businesses owned by minorities had been recorded.

Complaints were also lodged against some politicians.

"We assure you that all those complaints are being investigated. All those responsible for instigating hate against other religions will be arrested and charged under the law," the police said.

Cabinet Spokesperson Rajitha Senaratne said that the government had enacted strict laws against religious attacks and those arrested will have to be sentenced in court and face rigorous imprisonment.

He said President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had instructed the law enforcement authorities to closely monitor the situation.

Sri Lanka has noted a rise in attacks against minorities in recent months.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 16:13:26|Editor: Mengjie

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MAPUTO, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Mozambique Sun Jian said Monday that China will increase its support in the training of Mozambican youths, providing scholarships for more than 100 Mozambican students to study in Chinese universities in 2017.

Under an initiative called Friendship of the Chinese People for the African Civil Society, China will also donate 58,000 U.S. dollars to Mozambique's education, said the ambassador on a donation ceremony in the Chinese embassy.

Currently, there are an estimated 500 Mozambicans studying in China and more than 100 returned to Mozambique after graduating with bachelor's or master's degrees in China last year.

Chinese companies operating in Mozambique have been doing their best to integrate the workforce trained in China, Sun said.

Mety Gondola, general secretary of the Mozambican youth league of the ruling Frelimo party, recognized the important part that China has been playing in the history of Mozambique's development.

"Our relations date back to before the country's independence. As young people we are interested in embracing Chinese people and making this cooperation eternal. With this gesture, we just started a new chapter and we would like to make the relations fruitful," said Gondola.

Agriculture is one sector that the youth organization is willing to invest in with the donation as it is fundamental for the Mozambique's development.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 16:38:46|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The State Grid Corporation of China, the country's biggest utility, said on Wednesday that it has completed purchase of a 24-percent stake in Greece's power grid operator, ADMIE.

The 320-million-euro deal marks another major investment by the State Grid in Europe after buying stakes of power grid companies in Portugal and Italy.

ADMIE is owned by Greece's Public Power Corporation (PPC), which owns, runs and maintains the power transmission network across Greece. The network, which is integrated with grids in many other European countries, is a key power transmission corridor in southern Europe.

Beating bidders from Italy and France, the State Grid won the tender in October 2016. Upon completion of the stake transfer, the State Grid will send its own management team to the Greek company.

The two companies will also strengthen cooperation in power grid construction, financial investment, grid operation, research and development and personnel training.

State Grid owns stakes of backbone power grids in seven countries and regions including Italy, Portugal and Australia. It manages assets valued at more than 56.8 billion U.S. dollars. All of its overseas projects are profitable.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 16:38:49|Editor: Mengjie

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HONG KONG, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle in Hong Kong is "undoubtedly" a success, former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa said in a recent interview, while confident in the metropolis's ability to deal with future challenges.

Tung was sworn in as the first chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) when Hong Kong returned to China from British rule on July 1, 1997.

Calling the handover the "most unforgettable moment" of his life, Tung, now vice chairman of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said, "Watching the Union Jack being lowered and the five-star red flag of China gradually rising, I, a 60-year-old Chinese national, was excited and touched."

This year also marked the 20th anniversary of implementing the Basic Law of the HKSAR. Enacted in accordance with China's Constitution, the Basic Law specifies the guidelines of "one country, two systems" and "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy.

Over the past 20 years, the capitalist regime in Hong Kong has not changed, neither have people's lifestyles, Tung said, adding that the law has remained almost the same, and both the economy and society have maintained steady growth.

He noted that the rule of law, a core value of Hong Kong society, has been firmly upheld, something the central government has valued and safeguarded

Tung said most Hong Kong residents are aware of the significance of the "one country, two systems" principle and gave heartfelt support to it.

Since 1997, the HKSAR has confronted many challenges. Tung recalled the Asian financial crisis, which broke out in Thailand in July,1997 and soon after swept through Asia rocking Hong Kong.

He also mentioned the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the global financial crisis in 2008.

"Over the 20 years, we have gone through many difficulties. But as we have the Motherland to back us up, dealing with these problems became a little easier," he said.

The past two decades also saw closer ties between Hong Kong and the mainland, with more Hong Kong residents speaking mandarin and learning more about the country and its fast development, he said.

Hong Kong previously depended mainly on trade with America and Europe, but now it has closely integrated with the mainland, and more Hong Kong residents have chosen to develop their careers there, Tung noted.

Tung pointed out that the success of the "one country, two systems" was also recognized by international society. "Many foreign friends said to me with envy, that we have the advantage over them because of 'one country, two systems,'"

However, the 80-year-old admitted Hong Kong still faces some deeply rooted problems, including high property prices, a wide gap between the rich and the poor, difficulty for young people to climb the social ladder and industrial hollowing-out.

But Tung said he remains optimistic about Hong Kong's future. In his view, Hong Kong continued its robust economic growth despite encountering several shocks since 1997, and it has a sufficient fiscal reserve, providing conditions to resolve its problems.

Over the past five years, Hong Kong's GDP grew more than a nominal 5 percent each year, Tung said, "We can solve a lot of problems when we have 4 to 5 percent growth."

On the other hand, Tung believed Hong Kong should seize opportunities brought by China's development and make good use of its strengths in areas such as trade and finance, yuan internationalization, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

He also hoped Hong Kong, a city where the East meets the West, can serve as a bridge for cultural exchange and shed light on the integration of different cultures around the world.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 16:59:00|Editor: ying

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RIO DE JANEIRO, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A labor reform bill proposed by the Brazilian government was rejected here on Tuesday by a vote of 10 to 9 at the Senate's Social Affairs Commission, suffering the first setback.

Three senators from the government coalition voted against the report.

It is one of President Michel Temer's main austerity reforms, along with the social security reform, to pull the Brazilian economy out of crisis. Both are highly controversial and have been criticized even by members of the coalition government.

The labor reform bill has been criticized for changing regulations in a manner which will be highly favorable to employers.

The bill, which was already approved by the House of Representatives, still has to be analyzed by the Senate's Constitution and Justice Commission and then the whole Senate. For final approval, the labor reform just needs a simple majority in the Senate.

President Temer, who is in Russia to attract foreign investors, downplayed the setback, saying it's the final voting of the bill that matters.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 17:24:34|Editor: Mengjie

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LOS ANGELES, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Scientists have found diverse minerals on Mars, suggesting that conditions changed on the planet over time.

This was unveiled after scientists examining initial samples collected by NASA's Curiosity rover from rocks in the lowermost layers of a Martian mountain dabbed Mount Sharp.

Curiosity landed near Mount Sharp in the Gale Crater in August 2012 and reached the base of the mountain in 2014. It began to drive toward uphill destinations on Mount Sharp since its second two-year mission extension commenced on Oct. 1, 2016.

In a paper published recently in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, scientists from the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA's Johnson Space Center reported the first four samples collected from the lower layers of Mount Sharp.

"We went to Gale Crater to investigate these lower layers of Mount Sharp that have these minerals that precipitated from water and suggest different environments," Elizabeth Rampe, lead author of the new study and a NASA exploration mission scientist at Johnson Space Center, said in a press statement.

"These layers were deposited about 3.5 billion years ago, coinciding with a time on Earth when life was beginning to take hold. We think early Mars may have been similar to early Earth, and so these environments might have been habitable," Rampe said.

The team said that the minerals found in the four samples drilled near the base of Mount Sharp suggest several different environments were present in ancient Gale Crater. There is evidence for waters with different pH levels and other varying conditions.

Studying such rock layers can yield information about Mars' past habitability, and determining minerals found in the layers of sedimentary rock yields much data about the environment in which they formed.

According to the U.S. space agency, at the base are minerals from a primitive magma source; they are rich in iron and magnesium, similar to basalts in Hawaii. Moving higher in the section, scientists saw more silica-rich minerals. In the "Telegraph Peak" sample, scientists found minerals similar to quartz.

In the "Buckskin" sample, scientists even found a mineral called tridymite, which was somewhat perplexing. Tridymite is found on Earth in rocks that formed from partial melting of Earth's crust or in the continental crust -- a strange finding because Mars never had plate tectonics.

That's not all. Scientists found clay minerals in the "Confidence Hills" and "Mojave 2" samples. The minerals generally form in the presence of liquid water with a near-neutral pH, and therefore could be good indicators of past environments that were conducive to life.

The other mineral discovered here was jarosite, which "indicates that there were acidic fluids at some point in time in this region."

In addition, there are different iron-oxide minerals in the samples as well. The presence of hematite, found near the base, and magnetite, found at the top, may tell scientists about the oxidation potential of the ancient waters.

"We have all this evidence that Mars was once really wet but now is dry and cold," Rampe said.

"Today, much of the water is locked up in the poles and in the ground at high latitudes as ice. We think that the rocks Curiosity has studied reveal ancient environmental changes that occurred as Mars started to lose its atmosphere and water was lost to space," Rampe added.

Data gathered by Curiosity over the past five years have allowed scientists to construct a detailed portrait of the history of Gale Crater and the lowermost layers of Mount Sharp where the rover had been traversing.

Mineral samples collected with the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument on the rover have shown very diverse environments over the history of the Red Planet.

With the help of orbital infrared spectroscopy, it was found that the mountain's lowermost layers had variations in minerals.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 17:55:07|Editor: ying

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RIYADH, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia took a drastic decision on Wednesday to appoint new crown prince, despite being in a middle of major regional rifts with the severing of diplomatic ties with neighbor country Qatar.

Saudi Arabia led UAE, Bahrain and Egypt on June 5 in announcing severing all ties with Qatar in a major escalation to the rifts between Qatar and remaining Gulf countries.

The decision includes closing all of its borders with the country, including the land border it shares with Qatar. The three Gulf states accused Qatar of supporting terrorist groups in Yemen and Syria and having good ties with Iran.

Saudis woke up early on Wednesday morning to learn about the decision of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to appoint his son Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the monarchy's new Crown Prince, to replace Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a man known for years of counterterrorism efforts.

The former Crown Prince was also relieved from his post as interior minister, while Prince Mohammed Salman was appointed also as deputy prime minister and kept his previous post as defense minister.

Although the decision wasn't expected, but it won't be hard for Saudis to accept the 31-years old as new Crown Prince who has been worldwide known as economic reformist to end his country decades of oil-dependency to get his people ready to deal with post-oil era.

Although no reason was stated for the huge government reshuffle, but it could be seen as a reward for the young prince who met with the U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in March, which was recognized as a success to Saudi Arabia.

Both discussed investment opportunities that turned into reality during Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia last month, in which the two states signed agreements worth around 280 billion U.S. dollars.

The agreements that cover military, commercial, energy and petrochemicals sectors are expected to offer hundreds of thousands of jobs in both countries.

Besides his economic-oriented mind, Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been actively involved in the defense affairs of Saudi Arabia as the defense minister.

He pursued a war in Yemen, leading forces from other Arab states to fight Houthis to protect the interests of Yemeni elected government. Although the high number of Yemeni casualties is undeniable, such issue didn't overshadow his image as the bright future of Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Press Agency confirmed that 31 out of 34 members of Saudi Arabia's Allegiance Council chose Mohammed bin Salman as the kingdom's crown prince. The new tasks won't be difficult to be performed by him as he had major roles in the country as deputy crown prince.

King Salman has called for a public pledging of allegiance to the new Crown Prince in Mecca on Wednesday, a tradition followed by Saudi Arabia as part of Islamic regulations.

In 2015, Saudi King appointed his nephew Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as the Crown Prince after his brother former Crown Prince Mugrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud stepped down. Prince Mohammed bin Nayef is widely known as Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism czar.

To eliminate rumors that the former crown prince was forced to leave his post, local press, including Al Arabiya news website circulated a video that shows Prince Mohammed bin Nayef pledging allegiance to the kingdom's new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Analysts predicted that the surprise move will have direct influence on Saudi Arabia's foreign policy, as the new crown prince believes in more confrontational stance, especially with Iran.

With his last successful visit to the U.S. in March, he is also a good candidate to work with the Trump administration in defense and security efforts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the Gulf.

The new appointment is a change in generations-old trend of passing power between the sons of Abdulaziz Al Saud the founder of Saudi Arabia, as all previous Saudi Kings were the sons of Abdulaziz, while it is expected that Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be the first grandson to take over the ruling of the monarchy.

This will solve the problem of the throne moving between the increasingly aged sons of the founder.

It is still early to predict if the move will cast away other branches of Al Saud from power of ruling the country and keeping it only among the children of the current king.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 18:20:22|Editor: ying

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DUBAI, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday condemned the terrorist attack on the central railway station in the Belgian capital Brussels, according to the Emirati official WAM news agency.

"The UAE condemns this cowardly act of terrorism," the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Abu Dhabi said in a statement.

"The UAE's firm stance rejects all forms of violence and terrorism which targets all without discrimination between religion and race, regardless of its origin," the statement said.

The statement also stressed "the UAE's solidarity with the Belgian government in the face of violence, terrorism and extremism."

In its statement, the ministry called on the international community to join forces to confront this serious scourge and uproot it, which threatens the security and stability of the countries of the world.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 18:30:29|Editor: ying

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MOSUL, Iraq, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi forces pushed closer to Mosul's historical al-Nuri mosque on Wednesday amid fierce clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants in central of the old city in the western side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said.

"The commandos of the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) forces began progress at dawn toward al-Nuri mosque and the surrounding areas," a source from the CTS told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"After hours of fierce house-to-house battles, the troops seized some alleys and took new positions in the old city located some 100 meters away from al-Nuri mosque," the source said.

The mosque with its famous leaning minaret, which gave the city its nickname "al-Hadbaa" or "the hunchback," has a symbolic value, as it was the place where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the cross-border "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria in his sole public appearance in July 2014.

Meanwhile, the army's helicopter gunships conducted two air strikes on the old city center and destroyed an IS vehicle, killing three IS militants aboard, along with destroying an ammunition warehouse and killing 10 extremist militants, a statement by the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said.

The progress was slowed by the stiff resistance of IS militants and a large number of roadside bombs and booby-trapped buildings, in addition to IS snipers who took positions in the buildings of heavily-populated neighborhoods, the source said.

According to UN reports, some 100,000 civilians are still trapped in the IS-held areas in the old city center and the adjacent al-Shifaa neighborhood. The extremist group is using the civilians as human shields.

Iraqi forces, backed by international coalition, launched their final push on Sunday morning to drive out IS militants from al-Shifaa neighborhood and most of the densely-populated old city center in the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of Tigris River.

Mosul, 400 km north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:00:50|Editor: ying

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BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- China Wednesday vowed joint efforts with ASEAN countries to ensure the success of the China-ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in August and promote peace and stability in the South China Sea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks in response to a question regarding recent comments from Philippine Assistant Foreign Secretary for ASEAN Affairs Ma. Hellen De La Vega.

The Philippine diplomat was quoted as saying the set-up of senior diplomat hotline between China and ASEAN countries, and the application of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) in the South China Sea, would help improve China-ASEAN relations.

Geng applauded the Philippine diplomat's comments, adding currently the situation in the South China Sea has been stabilized and maintains sound development momentum.

Parties concerned have pushed forward consultations on a code of conduct (COC) in the South China Sea as well as maritime cooperation, he told a routine press briefing.

Geng said parties concerned had reached agreement on the COC framework at the 14th Senior Officials' Meeting on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), held last month in Guiyang, southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Since last year, parties concerned have agreed to set up a senior diplomat hotline to cope with maritime emergencies, and apply the CUES in the South China Sea. The hotline has been trialled during the first half of this year, Geng said.

"All these measures have played important roles in cementing trust among parties concerned and avoid unexpected issues," Geng said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:00:53|Editor: ying

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by Christine Lagat

NAIROBI, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's ministry of health will seek new partnerships to re-invigorate the war against respiratory infections that have emerged as a leading cause of deaths among low income groups, officials said late Tuesday.

Cabinet Secretary for Health, Cleopa Mailu said that priority will be accorded to biomedical research, diagnostic capacity and public awareness to contain the spread of respiratory infections.

"We are focusing on an integrated approach to prevent and manage respiratory diseases that have become more severe against a backdrop of environmental pollution and drugs resistance," Mailu said.

He spoke during the opening ceremony for the 4th Kenya international scientific lung health conference attended by policymakers, researchers and advocates.

Kenya has domesticated global instruments to strengthen response to respiratory diseases that include pneumonia, asthma and tuberculosis.

Mailu noted that poor environmental hygiene, poverty, broken health infrastructure and anti-microbial resistance have constrained efforts to contain respiratory infections.

"There is a growing recognition on the negative impacts of high rate of respiratory diseases to the overall economic and social outcomes in the country," said Mailu.

Adequate investments in research, training and modernization of health facilities is key to manage lung diseases, he added

The cabinet secretary noted that Kenya is among Sub-Saharan African countries that have rolled out robust interventions to reduce fatalities linked to respiratory diseases.

"Kenya last year became the first country in the world to launch child friendly tuberculosis drug," said Mailu adding that investments in vaccines and first line drugs will help reduce the burden of respiratory infections in poor settings.

The Kenyan ministry of health and partners must scale up investments in targeted interventions like early diagnosis, treatment and care in order to reduce deaths related to lung diseases.

Meshack Ndirangu, the Amref Health Africa Country Director for Kenya said that intensive surveillance in high risk regions coupled with capacity building for community health workers will revitalize the fight against acute respiratory infections.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:05:59|Editor: ying

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THE HAGUE, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The Dutch police have arrested an 18-year-old man in Utrecht last Thursday on suspicion of possible involvement in a terrorist offense, the Dutch public prosecutor announced on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old is suspected of spreading IS (Islamic State) propaganda, including violent videos. The police are also investigating evidence that he instructed others how to make explosives.

Information by the AIVD, the General Intelligence and Security Service of the Netherlands, led to the investigation and the arrest. The suspect was introduced to the examining judge in Rotterdam on Tuesday. He will be detained for at least two weeks.

The terrorist threat level in the Netherlands has been "substantial" on level 4 on a scale of 5 since March 2013. That means the chance of an attack in the Netherlands is real, but there are no specific indications showing terrorists are preparing to carry out an attack.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:16:07|Editor: ying

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BRUSSELS, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The Belgian judicial authorities confirmed on Wednesday morning at a press conference that a terrorist plot had been avoided at the city's central station on Tuesday evening.

The spokesman of the federal judicial authorities, Eric Van Der Sypt, also confirmed that the attacker had been identified as a Moroccan national who was not known as a potential terrorist by police authorities. The perpetrator of the attack was carrying a suitcase which partly exploded and caught fire before he abandoned it. "He was not wearing a belt with explosives," added Van Der Sypt.

No one was injured in the attack. All transportation services resumed operation as of 8 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) on Wednesday.

During a press conference of the National Security Council held earlier this morning, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel thanked security services for their professionalism.

The Belgian Crises Center also informed that supplementary security measures would be taken and that security services would be more visible in train and metro stations. Upcoming events in Brussels will not be canceled, but security will be reinforced. The Belgian foreign ministry also declared that the threat level would remain at three (out of four).
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images(LONDON) -- Prince Harry has revealed he suffered panic attacks at royal engagements and said the Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style competition he founded for injured service members, forced him to confront his own fears and reach out for help.



"Actually going through Invictus and speaking to all the guys about their issues has really healed me and helped me," Harry, 32, said in a new interview with Dave Henson airing Wednesday in the U.K. on Forces TV. "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."



Harry, a former Apache pilot, said it was his two tours of duty in Afghanistan that prompted him to deal with the 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a Paris car crash.



If you lose your mum at the age of 12, you have got to deal with it, Harry said. The idea that 20 years later I still hadnt really that 15, 17 years later I still hadnt dealt with it. Afghan was the moment where I was like, Right, deal with it.'



Harry, who shared earlier this year that he sought counseling in his late 20s, told Henson how he overcame his own fears to ask for help.



"I was like, 'Right, you are Prince Harry. You can do this. As long as you're not a complete 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," he said.



Harry spoke with Henson, a Paralympic medal winner, to promote the 2017 Invictus Games, which will be held next in Toronto in September. The fifth-in-line to the British throne launched the Invictus Games in London in 2014 and credits the event with helping him conquer his own demons.



"Yeah, 100 percent. For me, Invictus has been sort of like a cure for myself," he said.



Harry also revealed in the interview details about the panic attacks he said he suffered at public engagements.



"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," Harry said.



Both Harry and his brother, Prince William, have spoken more publicly this year about the loss of Princess Diana and how they coped. The brothers joined Princess Kate in creating the Heads Together campaign last year to break down the stigma surrounding mental illness.



Harry told The Telegraph's Bryon Gordon in April that he "shut down all [his] emotions for almost two decades after Diana's death.



Harry, who started dating American actress Meghan Markle last summer, also described feeling completely overwhelmed having to live his life so publicly.



"I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle, said Harry, who credited William with encouraging him to seek out mental health support.



Harry told Henson that he wanted to help himself so he could help others.



"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," Harry said. "You can see it in their eyes. You can see it in their reactions."

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
File photo shows UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi arrives for a press conference in Amman, Jordan, Oct. 24, 2016. (Xinhua/Mohammad Abu Ghosh)

ADDIS ABABA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, has 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 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).

File photo shows convoys carrying food materials are seen through the humanitarian corridor from Sudan's El Obied to Bentiu in Bahr el Ghazal State of South Soudan, May 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Mohamed Babiker)

"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.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:26:12|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Liu Yunshan, senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Wednesday called on Party members to learn from late official Liao Junbo.

Liu, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks before a special meeting to remember the exemplary life of Liao, who died at the age of 48 in a traffic accident while heading to a meeting on March 18.

Liao was vice mayor of Nanping City in east China's Fujian Province and formerly served as party chief of Zhenghe County. He was honored as one of 102 model county party chiefs by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee in June 2015.

Liu expressed his condolences to Liao's family and presented them with a certificate and medal of excellence.

Liao devoted his life to the Party's cause and improving the people's well-being, said Liu, urging Party members to learn from his loyalty to the Party, earnestness with the people, and selfless devotion to work.

Liu asked the publicity and organization departments to strengthen the promotion of Liao's deeds and spirit, urging efforts to care for grassroots officials.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:26:13|Editor: ying

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DAMASCUS, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Clashes have been gaining momentum in east of Syria's capital Damascus and the the Syrian army was responding with airstrikes and possibly a ground military operation, sources told Xinhua Wednesday.

Damascus has been calm since the internationally-backed de-escalation zones' deal went into effect in May this year.

Both neighborhoods have witnessed the rebel evacuation toward rebel-held areas in Idlib province, leaving the eastern rim of Damascus, known as the Eastern Ghouta, in the hands of several rebel groups, some included in the de-escalation zones' deal while others not.

The al-Qaida-linked group Failaq al-Rahman rained down the capital with mortar shells and explosive bullets, prompting the Syrian army to respond with airstrikes amid information that the army is bracing to unleash a wide-scale offensive on Jobar and Ayn Tarma, a key bastion of the al-Qaida-linked groups.

A military source told Xinhua that the Syrian army is pushing toward Ayn Tarma and Jobar to further secure the surrounding of the capital.

However, the renewed clashes have troubled the capital residents, who have felt a sense of relief over the past few weeks, before the mortars renew again.

On Wednesday, mortar shells struck areas in Damascus' neighborhoods of Mazzeh, Mazra' Baramkeh and also areas in the old city of Damascus, with losses still unknown.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:31:19|Editor: ying

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by Denis Elamu

JUBA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Experts have urged the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to move beyond rhetoric and disunity for it to achieve the elusive peaceful solution to the more than three years of conflict in South Sudan.

Augustino Ting Mayai, a political analyst at the Juba-based think tank Sudd Institute told Xinhua that the June 12th IGAD resolution that called for among inclusive participation of all opposition forces will only succeed when IGAD and African Union (AU) take concrete actions and speak decisively to the South Sudan warring leaders.

"IGAD has done its best on signing and operationalizing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) but it has also done nothing in terms of political settlement and conditioning violent parties leaving them to do as they like," he said.

Mayai revealed that competing interests within the regional countries were not good for providing lasting solution to the violence that has killed tens of thousands and left one million people on brink of famine amid massive refugee crisis in neighboring countries like Uganda, Sudan and Kenya.

"Sudan and Uganda may not see eye to eye on issues related to South Sudan, Ethiopia trying to dominate the regional political arena, Kenya trying to emerge economically. So there is that element of competition which bogs down the objectives of stability and development in the region," Mayai explained.

Jacob Dut Chol, senior political science lecturer at Juba University doubts whether the latest regional leaders' efforts will make any peaceful headway in ending violence.

"In my opinion there is nothing much that IGAD is doing and I don't think when they say they want to revitalize the peace agreement that they mean it. It is just a public relations statement," he said.

Chol said that despite the peace deal revival calling for inclusive participation of all estranged armed groups and reverting to the August 2015 peace agreement mediated by IGAD, it remains unlikely whether the former First Vice President Riek Machar who leads the main rebel group SPLA-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) will return from exile in South Africa and participate due to divisions over him within the region.

"There is no any hope that IGAD is going to bring back Machar because right now the region is highly divided. In the region if you don't have money to spread around then you cannot be able to achieve your objectives," he said.

Chol however, observed that the region leaders need to cajole President Salva Kiir to embrace its new peace deal revival roadmap so that the warring leaders and other fringe armed groups agree on the elections and peaceful resolution of conflict.

"What I do know is that the round table discussion will be connected to the national dialogue. The way the national dialogue has been formed is not the right way, the round table talks are likely to influence and shape the national dialogue differently and it's what IGAD is trying to push," Chol explained.

Mayai added that there is much need for the peace deal revival efforts to focus majorly on getting the two main warring groups to sit down and revise the weakened peace agreement following renewed July clash in 2016.

"The recent insurgent groups are important in terms of incorporating them into the dialogue and political process but they are not the major threat to peace and stability.

"Most of the hostilities taking place right now in the country concern the government and Machar's opposition. But their voice will matter in terms of a comprehensive approach to peace and security," said Mayai.

Political analyst James Okuk said the peace deal revival efforts point to acknowledgement of failure by IGAD leaders on South Sudan conflict due to complexities in the peace agreement.

He wondered how IGAD will manage to bring together the various armed groups which were not even part of the peace agreement and also winning the trust and confidence of the warring parties.

"At the end of the day they will not agree on the venue. The government may demand the meeting be in Juba and those in opposition may fail to agree for safety fear. Should any problem (fighting) occur will IGAD come to the rescue? Who will believe the guarantee of IGAD or Troika anymore?" he added.

He also urged Western countries especially Britain and the U.S. to lead the push for peace rather than preferring to push IGAD from behind.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:36:25|Editor: ying

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by Denis Elamu

JUBA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's national dialogue officials will soon reach out to the exiled top opposition figures in a bid to involve them in the peace round table talks they have been reluctant to join on condition of lacking inclusivity.

Abraham Awolich, the coordinator of the steering committee secretariat told Xinhua on Wednesday they will be traveling to South Africa, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia to meet key opposition officials to involve them in the peace process launched December last year by President Salva Kiir.

The main opposition rebel group (SPLA-IO) allied to former first vice president Machar has been wary of joining the national dialogue in Juba following the violent renewed clash in 2016 that ousted its leader from the transitional unity government (TGoNU) weakening the August 2015 peace agreement to end the more than three years of violence.

"We are asking all groups to observe ceasefire as condition for joining the national dialogue," he added.

Akol, the former agriculture minister and Gen. Cirilo who served once as Deputy Chief of Logistics in the South Sudan army (SPLA) resigned earlier this year from the TGoNU alongside other senior officials and formed the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and National Salvation Front (NAS) groups respectively to topple President Salva Kiir.

"We will later on go to DR Congo to meet other (armed) groups if they are there. We are going to say to them that we have been commissioned by the South Sudanese people for them to join the national dialogue," he disclosed.

South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Kiir and his former deputy Machar led to fighting that pitted mostly Dinka ethnic soldiers loyal to Kiir against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

The 2015 peace agreement to end the violence was again violated in July 2016 when the rival factions resumed fighting in the capital forcing the rebel leader Machar to flee into exile.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced over 2 million from their homes, and forced more than 1.5 million to flee into neighbouring countries.
Syrian government forces secure a road for a military convoy in the desert area of Saba' Biyar, in southeastern Syria near the border with Iraq, on May 10, 2017, as fierce clashes are reported in the region. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

DAMASCUS, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Clashes have been gaining momentum in east of Syria's capital Damascus and the the Syrian army was responding with airstrikes and possibly a ground military operation, sources told Xinhua Wednesday.

Damascus has been calm since the internationally-backed de-escalation zones' deal went into effect in May this year.

Both neighborhoods have witnessed the rebel evacuation toward rebel-held areas in Idlib province, leaving the eastern rim of Damascus, known as the Eastern Ghouta, in the hands of several rebel groups, some included in the de-escalation zones' deal while others not.

The al-Qaida-linked group Failaq al-Rahman rained down the capital with mortar shells and explosive bullets, prompting the Syrian army to respond with airstrikes amid information that the army is bracing to unleash a wide-scale offensive on Jobar and Ayn Tarma, a key bastion of the al-Qaida-linked groups.

A military source told Xinhua that the Syrian army is pushing toward Ayn Tarma and Jobar to further secure the surrounding of the capital.

However, the renewed clashes have troubled the capital residents, who have felt a sense of relief over the past few weeks, before the mortars renew again.

On Wednesday, mortar shells struck areas in Damascus' neighborhoods of Mazzeh, Mazra' Baramkeh and also areas in the old city of Damascus, with losses still unknown.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:46:33|Editor: ying

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MANILA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- A spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Wednesday that up to 300 extremists who occupied a school in North Cotabato province in the southern Philippines before dawn Wednesday are using 23 civilians as human shield.

Army spokesman Capt. Nap Alcarioto said the armed group belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) occupied a school in Pgkawayan town in North Cotabato province.

The military said the extremists belonging to the BIFF, a group of rebels who broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), attacked a school in a town in North Cotabato province around 5:45 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

Militiamen and village security personnel fought it out with the armed groups, according to Alcarioto, adding the village security personnel were later reinforced by troops.

A militia man was reportedly wounded in the ongoing firefight.

Alcarioto said the village security personnel repulsed the BIFF, and as they escaped they occupied a school and seized 23 civilians, including seven students.

"They are still occupying the school. We cannot easily get near because they laid IEDs (improvised explosive devices) around the school," Alcarioto said.

Col. Edgard Arevalo, the Armed Forces of the Philippines Public Affairs chief, said that sporadic fighting continues as of press time.

The BIFF attack prompted the military to launch an offensive and pursuit operation to flush out the extremists from the town.

"The skirmishes continue. There are sporadic firefights because they (the rebels) are resisting," Arevalo said.

He said the military will try to end the stand off as soon as possible. He said the BIFF pre-dawn attack is meant to impress upon the authorities that they are still a force to reckon with.

"What they do actually is they disrupted the peace of the community, of the town," he said.

Based on the report of the military commander on the ground, Arevalo said the BIFF militants are still holed up inside the school.

But Arevalo insisted that the military has "contained the situation." He added that the attack in North Cotabato is not related to the ongoing Marawi siege.

Brig Gen. Restitution Padilla earlier said the troops managed to drive away the BIFF fighters.

"It's already resolved. They've withdrawn, they are no longer there. The school area is again safe," Padilla told a news conference at the Malacanang presidential palace.

He said the troops are "in pursuit mode."

The firefight in North Cotabato broke out as government troops continued to battle with the remnants of Islamic militants allied with Islamic State (IS) in Marawi City, also in the southern Philippines.

The Marawi skirmishes, which have resulted in nearly 400 people killed and over 200,000 displaced, have been ongoing since the militants overran the city in Lanao del Sur last May 23 in a bid to establish an IS caliphate in the Mindanao region.

President Rodrigo Duterte placed Mindanao under marital law in the wake of the Marawi City. Both attacks took place while Mindanao is under martial law.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:51:40|Editor: ying

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LONDON, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Queen Elizabeth outlined a two-year government program of laws and measures at the state opening of the British Parliament Wednesday.

The monarch was accompanied at the formal ceremony at the Houses of Parliament by her eldest son and heir to the British throne, Prince Charles.

Buckingham Palace said the Queen's husband, Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, has been taken as a precaution to a hospital in London Tuesday night to be treated for an infection.

The Queen's speech, written by the Conservative government, covers the two-year period during which Britain will negotiate with Brussels its exit from the European Union (EU).

In her speech, Queen Elizabeth gave details of proposals by Prime Minister Theresa May's government to pave the way for Britain's future outside of the EU. She started her speech: "My government's priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union."

The speech set out government proposals to deliver eight bills necessary for Brexit, including legislation allowing Britain to determine its own immigration, customs and trade arrangements. The aim, said the monarch, was for Britain to make a success of Brexit.

But the Queen said it was the government's intention to continue its close relationship with Europe, while at the same time forging new links across the globe.

She said: "My government will seek to maintain a deep and special partnership with European allies and to forge new trading relationships across the globe. New bills on trade and customs will help to implement an independent trade policy, and support will be given to help British businesses export to markets around the world."

Political commentators immediately seized on the fact that a number of key proposals put forward in the recent Conservative Party election manifesto have been dropped.

This follows a dismal election result which saw May losing her majority in the House of Commons, and instead emerging as the leader of a minority government.

The speech included measures to increase worker protection, and also ensure taxation is kept low.

The Queen's speech covered domestic issues such as education, the NHS, giving mental health a priority, and also paving the way for the next phase of Britain's north-south high speed rail network.

Following the recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, said the monarch, the government is to establish a new commission to counter extremism and "stamp out extremist ideology in all its forms, both across society and on the internet, so it is denied a safe space to spread."

The Queen said in the light of the recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, the government's counter-terrorism strategy will be reviewed to ensure that the police and security services have all the powers they need, and that the length of custodial sentences for terrorism-related offences are sufficient to keep the population safe.

The speech also referred to issues and problems linked to the digital age.

The Queen said: "A new law will ensure that the UK retains its world-class regime protecting personal data, and proposals for a new digital charter will be brought forward to ensure that Britain is the safest place to be online."

The Queen also announced that King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain will pay a state visit to Britain in July.

Media commentators reacted by saying the speech made no reference to a state visit by the U.S. President Donald Trump, but Downing Street played down this omission.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 19:56:43|Editor: Mengjie

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by Torrance Wang

HONG KONG, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Allan Zeman, chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Holdings Ltd., spoke highly of the "one country, two systems" principle in a recent interview with Xinhua, saying it not only helps maintain Hong Kong's advantages and but also gives confidence to overseas companies to set up offices here.

The principle ensured Hong Kong's smooth return to the motherland on July 1, 1997, and at the same time, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) was established and the Basic Law came into effect. Hong Kong entered a new epoch characterized by "one country, two systems," "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" and a high degree of autonomy.

With the successful practice of the "one country, two systems" principle in the Hong Kong SAR, Zeman said that rule of law and other values cherished by local society have continued to be respected.

Hong Kong has now turned into an international financial center, attracting many foreign companies to set up offices here, he said, adding that this further proves the correctness of the "one country, two systems," and with further reforms and opening-up of the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong's advantages will be enhanced.

Due to strong attachment to Hong Kong, Zeman relinquished his Canadian citizenship in 2008 for a Hong Kong SAR passport and became a Chinese national. "I have been in Hong Kong for 48 years, and this is my home," he said.

Zeman has been well involved in government services and community activities, including saving Hong Kong's Ocean Park from closure and helping turn it into a world-class theme park.

Zeman, 67, left Canada for Kong Kong when he was 19. In the early 1980s, he found great opportunities in Hong Kong's leisure and recreation industry, and under his relentless efforts, Lan Kwai Fong, originally a shabby and short cobbled street in the Central, was transformed into the epicenter of Hong Kong's nightlife districts.

"Before 1997, 75 percent of our business was from foreigners. Now it is the opposite. Around 75 percent of the guests are local, and they have become much more international nowadays," said Zeman, who has been living here for nearly five decades.

Lan Kwai Fong group in recent years has entered into various cities across the Chinese mainland, including Chengdu, Wuxi, Shanghai and Haikou. "We are quite optimistic about the Chinese consumer spending, and we will continue to open in more cities in China," he said.

Zeman said famous brands that are "Made in Hong Kong" such as Lan Kwai Fong and the Ocean Park can also set foot along the Belt and Road routes and southern China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as important soft power.

"Each place in the bay area has its own strength, and we need to find a way for them to work together," he said, "It presents great opportunities for Hong Kong."

The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, 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 Silk Road.

Expressing his confidence in China's future, Zeman said, "China will continue to open up, and continue to lead in so many different areas, such as environmental protection and technology ... I look forward to a stronger China."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 20:32:00|Editor: ying

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BRUSSELS, June 21 (Xinhua) -- A police operation was in progress on Wednesday morning in Belgian city of Antwerp to find a gunman seen by pedestrians, the local police informed via Twitter.

In the end, the incident turned out to be a false alert.

Antwerp's train district was locked down by police authorities on Wednesday morning for identity controls after some pedestrians told the police they saw someone with a gun.

Local media say three people were arrested in Antwerp for possession of fake weapons early in the day.

"There is no danger," said the local police. But inhabitants of the surroundings are advised to stay at home at the moment.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 20:37:04|Editor: ying

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by Olatunji Saliu

ABUJA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's humanitarian situation is still quite alarming, despite efforts by the government and international partners to abate the challenges, an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday.

"Though the overall humanitarian response has increased since 2016, it remains inadequate and insufficient to respond to the scale and depth of the challenges," Aleksandra Matijevic, communications coordinator of the ICRC in Nigeria, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

"We are alarmed by the humanitarian situation, with some of the highest human costs in the world," she said.

The armed conflict in Nigeria's northeast, which has spilled over into neighboring countries, continues to create dire humanitarian needs following massive displacements of the population, Matijevic noted.

"We are very worried about the situation of the many displaced people located in areas where humanitarian aid does not reach due to the prevailing insecurity," she said.

An estimated 14 million Nigerians are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, according to data given by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The six-year-old insurgency of Boko Haram had an impact on 26 million people living in the northeastern region of the country.

The 14 million people in need of humanitarian assistance are scattered across the country, especially Borno, Adamawa and Yobe - three northeast states which are the worst-hit by the Boko Haram insurgency.

This situation is being worsened by an unprecedented influx of returning refugees from neighboring countries, especially Cameroon.

Some of almost two million persons displaced from their homes had to flee more than once, and close to 80 percent of the displaced have been received by local communities that lack resources to sustain them.

The ICRC has been working with the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) toward ensuring that the most basic needs of people affected by armed conflict in hard-to-reach areas of the northeast are met, by providing food and shelter and helping to access health, water, and sanitation.

"With the help of the NRCS and other Red Cross societies in the Lake Chad Region, we have been working across the region to locate, and where possible, reunite families, offering Red Cross messages and free phone calls to separated family members," Matijevic said.

According to her, whenever feasible, the ICRC is moving from emergency food relief to greater support to livelihood initiatives for the affected communities.

The ICRC currently supports 23 state primary health care centers and three mobile clinics serving the displaced, returnees and residents in Nigeria's northeast.

Matijevic said between January and June, almost 246,000 patients attended these clinics, which saw the delivery of over 11,000 babies.

In addition to that, about 6,340 children under age 5 suffering from severe acute malnutrition received treatment in the same period.

"Two ICRC surgical teams provide care for the wounded in need of emergency surgical care in the northeast, while the ICRC trains staff of Nigerian hospitals country-wide to enhance their skills in the treatment and management of wounded patients.

"Furthermore, the ICRC also provides psycho-social support for trauma-affected victims of the armed conflict and the NRCS volunteers working to assist them," said the humanitarian aid worker.

A sustained humanitarian access is critical for keeping the food crisis in Nigeria's northeastern region from escalating, especially if the ongoing insecurity should cause new waves of displacement.

With the crisis even becoming protracted, Matijevic said the ICRC is urging Nigerian authorities for attention to the crisis to be maintained and to act now to avoid further suffering.

Part of the root causes of the suffering so far identified includes the inability of many to access their lands or fishing areas.

"The ICRC urges the concerned authorities to double their efforts to ensure that whenever possible, people can resume their livelihood activities, mostly farming, fishing, and pastoralism," she added.

In response to the crises, the Nigerian government said it will unveil a national integrated framework for refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons by September.

Acting president Yemi Osinbajo said the new approach would be a shift from relief dependent measures to real and measurable durable solution strategies.

Osinbajo said the framework of intervention is a demonstration of commitments of the Nigerian government toward a more responsive, radical and creative approach in providing durable solutions for the humanitarian situation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 20:37:07|Editor: ying

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SINGAPORE, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Two cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infection in Singapore have been confirmed at Kensington Park Drive, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) on Wednesday.

The new cluster was notified on Wednesday and the NEA has commenced vector control operations at the cluster area.

Residents and stakeholders are urged to maintain vigilance and continue to eliminate mosquito breeding habitats as there could be asymptomatic or mild, undiagnosed cases which might result in further transmission of the virus if there are mosquitoes in the vicinity.

The authorities have been conducting preventive inspections in the vicinity before the cluster at Kensington Park Drive was notified to detect and destroy any potential mosquito breeding habitats.

Residents are requested to allow NEA officers to carry out inspections and indoor spraying of their homes.

The NEA urges all residents and stakeholders to maintain vigilance and take immediate steps to eliminate mosquito breeding habitats.

Zika is a virus transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which could cause birth defects for pregnant women.

The NEA confirmed the previous two Zika cases on June 9. By now, Singapore has recorded 39 reported Zika cases in 2017.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 20:47:10|Editor: Mengjie

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ADDIS ABABA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has reiterated China's commitment to strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation with Africa in order to assist the continent to achieve independent and sustainable development, and eliminate poverty at an early date.

The Foreign Minister made the remarks on Wednesday at the opening of the China-Africa high-level dialogue and think tank forum on poverty reduction and common development, at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

Stating that almost 400 million people still live under poverty line in Africa and that more than 40 million Chinese remain to be lifted out of poverty, Wang underlined the need for China and Africa to join hands in fighting poverty and achieving common development.

Wang said under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and by sticking to the reform and opening-up policy, China has managed to lift more than 700 million people out of poverty over the past 40 years. By doing this, China has contributed 70 percent to the UN's millennium development goal (MDG) on poverty reduction, and created a miracle in the world's development history.

According to Wang, with these achievements, China is willing to share experiences with Africa on poverty reduction and development.

He said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had announced ten major cooperation plans during the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in Johannesburg, one of which is poverty reduction and development.

Wang said the FOCAC Johannesburg summit outcomes as well as the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China have provided "historic opportunities" for China-Africa cooperation.

"We stand ready to seize the opportunities presented by the Belt and Road Initiative, synergize the ten cooperation plans with the Agenda 2063 and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, to support African countries in achieving independent and sustainable development and eliminating poverty at an early date," Wang said.

Speaking on the occasion, Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission, said that China and Africa have been enjoying varied and multifaceted cooperation, which has been demonstrated in the development of Africa's infrastructure, energy, and human capacity building, among others.

The Chairperson said that China's success story in reducing poverty reduction substantially is a good lesson that Africa is keen to learn from.

He also underlined the need to explore other areas and further diversify the cooperation between the two sides.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 20:47:12|Editor: ying

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) participates in a mass yoga demonstration during the International Yoga Day in Lucknow, India, on June 21, 2017. (Xinhua/Stringer)

NEW DELHI, June 21 (Xinhua) -- India on Wednesday converged to celebrate the International Yoga Day.

Across all Indian states lawmakers, top officials along with hundreds of people, mostly young, stretched their bodies to perform Yoga to mark the third international Yoga Day.

The main function in India was held in northern Indian city of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed Yoga at Ramabai Ambedkar Ground Wednesday morning.

Officials said more than 55,000 Yoga enthusiasts braving early morning drizzle participated in the function.

Addressing the gathering, Modi appealed people to make Yoga part of their lives.

"Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, or culture, are now connecting to India through Yoga. The practice, which connects body, mind and soul, has played a big role in binding the world too," Modi said.

Wearing a white t-shirt and loose trousers, Modi performed Yoga.

Modi said, as a very small use of salt makes the food tasty, small practices of Yoga help a person to be healthy and free from diseases.

"It is not important to perform Yoga for 24 hours. 50 or 60 minutes is fine, because it lends harmony to the body, mind and intellect," he said.

The United Nations declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga after Modi, a Yoga enthusiast lobbied for ancient Indian art.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a mass Yoga session at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Yoga includes stretching and bending of body besides doing breathing exercises aimed at transforming body and mind. Proponents of the exercise say it is a 5,000-year-old physical, mental and spiritual practice with origins in India.

At Connaught Place in the Indian capital, several dignitaries, including Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, NDA Presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal performed various postures of Yoga with people.

"Thousands of people performed asanas in the national capital today to mark the third International Yoga Day. Over 10,000 people gathered at Central Park in the heart of Connaught Place and the circular road around it, making it one of the largest yoga shows in the city. School students, teachers, government employees, political leaders, police and paramilitary officials as well as volunteers from NGOs were among those who performed the yoga postures on the mats rolled out on the lawns," a government spokesman said.

India's official broadcaster All India Radio said Yoga Day celebrations were taking place in 5,000 places across the country.

India's permanent representative at the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin performed yoga in New York along with many foreign nationals, the broadcaster said.

Reports said in the United Arab Emirates, more than 15,000 people participated in the Yoga Day celebrations. Programs were held simultaneously at the iconic Burj Khalifa park, Zabeel Park and the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre complex in Dubai.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 20:57:20|Editor: ying

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SOFIA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The Bulgarian government gave the green light for four Italian Eurofighter Typhoons to temporarily guard the country's airspace in order to strengthen the eastern flank of NATO, officials said Wednesday.

The Italian fighter jets are to operate from July 15 to Oct. 15 with the Bulgarian Air Force in the implementation of the measures on ensuring the security of member states on the eastern flank of NATO, the Government Information Service (GIS) said in a press release.

The joint mission would be conducted according to the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defense System, the GIS said.

The tasks of the Italian aircraft would include interception, visual identification, and accompaniment, the GIS said.

The four Italian jets and up to 110 personnel would be deployed at the Graf Ignatievo air base north of the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, it added.

Bulgaria, a NATO member since 2004, has been defending the alliance's airspace by performing NATO air policing duties with its Soviet-made MiG-29 and MiG-21 fighters.
Photo taken on July 21, 2015 shows the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) flag during the IGAD-Plus peace process meeting in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia. The meeting which was held here on Tuesday was aimed at deliberating over a newly developed document by the IGAD on how to reinforce the peace process, to put the crises in South Sudan an end. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

by Denis Elamu

JUBA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Experts have urged the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to move beyond rhetoric and disunity for it to achieve the elusive peaceful solution to the more than three years of conflict in South Sudan.

Augustino Ting Mayai, a political analyst at the Juba-based think tank Sudd Institute told Xinhua that the June 12th IGAD resolution that called for among inclusive participation of all opposition forces will only succeed when IGAD and African Union (AU) take concrete actions and speak decisively to the South Sudan warring leaders.

"IGAD has done its best on signing and operationalizing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) but it has also done nothing in terms of political settlement and conditioning violent parties leaving them to do as they like," he said.

Mayai revealed that competing interests within the regional countries were not good for providing lasting solution to the violence that has killed tens of thousands and left one million people on brink of famine amid massive refugee crisis in neighboring countries like Uganda, Sudan and Kenya.

"Sudan and Uganda may not see eye to eye on issues related to South Sudan, Ethiopia trying to dominate the regional political arena, Kenya trying to emerge economically. So there is that element of competition which bogs down the objectives of stability and development in the region," Mayai explained.

Jacob Dut Chol, senior political science lecturer at Juba University doubts whether the latest regional leaders' efforts will make any peaceful headway in ending violence.

"In my opinion there is nothing much that IGAD is doing and I don't think when they say they want to revitalize the peace agreement that they mean it. It is just a public relations statement," he said.

Chol said that despite the peace deal revival calling for inclusive participation of all estranged armed groups and reverting to the August 2015 peace agreement mediated by IGAD, it remains unlikely whether the former First Vice President Riek Machar who leads the main rebel group SPLA-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) will return from exile in South Africa and participate due to divisions over him within the region.

"There is no any hope that IGAD is going to bring back Machar because right now the region is highly divided. In the region if you don't have money to spread around then you cannot be able to achieve your objectives," he said.

Security members escort the convoys carrying food materials through the humanitarian corridor from Sudan's El Obied to Bentiu in Bahr el Ghazal State of South Soudan, May 19, 2017. The humanitarian corridors recently opened by Sudan government have contributed to the delivery of humanitarian aid to South Sudanese citizens and to lessening the famine there, according to aid organizations. (Xinhua/Mohamed Babiker)

Chol however, observed that the region leaders need to cajole President Salva Kiir to embrace its new peace deal revival roadmap so that the warring leaders and other fringe armed groups agree on the elections and peaceful resolution of conflict.

"What I do know is that the round table discussion will be connected to the national dialogue. The way the national dialogue has been formed is not the right way, the round table talks are likely to influence and shape the national dialogue differently and it's what IGAD is trying to push," Chol explained.

Mayai added that there is much need for the peace deal revival efforts to focus majorly on getting the two main warring groups to sit down and revise the weakened peace agreement following renewed July clash in 2016.

"The recent insurgent groups are important in terms of incorporating them into the dialogue and political process but they are not the major threat to peace and stability.

"Most of the hostilities taking place right now in the country concern the government and Machar's opposition. But their voice will matter in terms of a comprehensive approach to peace and security," said Mayai.

Political analyst James Okuk said the peace deal revival efforts point to acknowledgement of failure by IGAD leaders on South Sudan conflict due to complexities in the peace agreement.

He wondered how IGAD will manage to bring together the various armed groups which were not even part of the peace agreement and also winning the trust and confidence of the warring parties.

"At the end of the day they will not agree on the venue. The government may demand the meeting be in Juba and those in opposition may fail to agree for safety fear. Should any problem (fighting) occur will IGAD come to the rescue? Who will believe the guarantee of IGAD or Troika anymore?" he added.

He also urged Western countries especially Britain and the U.S. to lead the push for peace rather than preferring to push IGAD from behind.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 21:47:57|Editor: Mengjie

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by Christine Lagat

NAIROBI, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of Chinese firms that have invested in Kenya have revised the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as evidenced by their active engagement in activities that boost living standards of local people, says a report launched in Nairobi on Wednesday.

The 2017 Chinese enterprises in Kenya social responsibility report reveals that companies from the Asian giant have made a mark in the lives of local communities through job creation, skills transfer and ecological protection.

Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa, executives from Chinese firms and the head of Kenya's private sector lobby attended the launch of the inaugural social responsibility report prepared by Kenya China Economic and Trade Association (KCETA).

In his opening remarks, Liu noted that Chinese enterprises have been at the forefront of Kenya's transformation through investments in projects that are attuned to the needs of local people and their surrounding environment.

"Chinese companies proactively carry out social responsibility, comply with laws and regulations and integrate the sustainable development goals into their activities," said Liu, adding that Chinese firms in Kenya have hired more than 42,000 local employees which represents 87 percent of their total workforce.

The 2017 social responsibility report covered the activities of 73 companies that are affiliated with Kenya Economic and Trade Association.

It revealed that Chinese enterprises that have invested in key sectors of the Kenyan economy like infrastructure, manufacturing and ICT have fully integrated social responsibility in key operations.

"Chinese firms will be able to meet the development needs of Kenya's society and economy with more clarity, more broadly reviewing win-win outcomes through business development while upholding social responsibility," said the report.

It added that Chinese firms are committed to help Kenya realize its potential while cultivating harmonious relationship with local communities.

Chairman of Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) Nick Nesbitt hailed the contribution of Chinese enterprises towards realization of a new vision for growth and social renewal in the East Africa's largest economy.

"Chinese companies have made a positive contribution towards Kenya's socio-economic development. They are providing jobs and resources required to transform under-developed regions," Nesbitt told Xinhua.

He added that Chinese enterprises that have invested in Kenya present a socially and ecologically conscious business model worth emulating.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 21:53:00|Editor: ying

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by Christine Lagat

NAIROBI, June 21(Xinhua) -- African governments should enact a raft of policy and regulatory incentives to encourage the continent's small and medium sized enterprises to borrow money to implement green projects, experts said at a forum in Nairobi on Wednesday.

The finance experts, policymakers and fund managers who attended the green finance conference said that Africa's nascent small and medium sized business segment has potential to revolutionize the continent's green agenda subject to availability of capital, technology and skilled man-power.

Kenya's Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Henry Rotich in his opening remarks noted that green financing has gained traction in Africa in line with the continent's quest to accelerate low carbon and inclusive development.

"Financing investments that generate environmental benefits will enable African countries achieve resilient, inclusive and sustainable development," said Rotich, adding that a new vision for green finance across strategic economic sectors is taking shape in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Development of new policy and regulatory frameworks is key to encourage financial institutions to invest in green projects initiated by small-scale enterprises across Africa.

Rotich noted that African start-ups lack the financial and technical muscle to implement green projects that would impact positively on local population.

"We need to find innovative ways to encourage the financial services sector to assist small and medium sized enterprises scale up their green investments," Rotich said.

He added the Kenyan government has joined hands with financial institutions to advance the green agenda through mobilizing funds from the domestic market.

"Our specific green financing interventions have enabled large and small companies implement projects in renewable energy, water conservation, efficient transport and solid waste management," said Rotich.

Green investments by Africa's small and medium sized enterprises will unlock the continent's economic potential while strengthening its response to climate change.

The CEO, African Guarantee Fund, Felix Adahi Bikpo urged fund managers and multilateral lenders to invest in start-ups that have pioneered transformative green projects in the world's second largest continent.

"The African small and medium enterprises are the real engine of growth. They require access to green finance, technology and innovations to create new jobs and mitigate against impacts of climate change," Bikpo said.

Africa's green finance market has potential for growth subject to political goodwill accompanied by friendly policies and regulations.

Jeremy McDaniels, the Program Manager for UNEP's Inquiry into the Design of Sustainable Financial System noted that investing in green projects owned by African small businesses will insulate them from shocks while enlarging their revenue base.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 21:58:04|Editor: ying

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LUSAKA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Zambian President Edgar Lungu on Wednesday officially launched the country's new development plan with a pledge to build a resilient and diversified economy.

The Zambian leader further pledged to ensure that the implementation of the plan does not leave any sector behind.

Lungu said during the launch of the Seventh National Development Plan in Lusaka, the country's capital that the plan seeks to bring about inclusive development after implementation of previous plans revealed inequalities between the rich and the poor.

While acknowledging that the implementation of previous national development plans resulted in sustained positive economic growth averaging 6.5 percent as well as massive infrastructure development, the Zambian leader expressed concern that poverty levels were still high and there are disparities in income levels.

"But despite these achievements, reviews of the previous national development plans indicate that a lot more still needs to be done," he said.

The Zambian leader further expressed concern that despite poverty levels declining from 62.8 percent in 2006 to 54.4 percent in 2015, rural poverty remained high at 76.6 percent while unemployment rate was at 7.4 percent.

This, he said, has left the majority of people in the country in the informal sector which accounts for 89.3 percent of the employed.

He pointed out that his government was determined to tackle the challenges through building a resilient and diversified economy, adding that the successful implementation will require stronger linkages between the plan and the national budget.

The Zambian leader further said the plan was an important milestone towards the attainment of the country's Vision 2030 whose aspiration was to make the country a prosperous middle-income nation by 2030.

"We envision a prosperous Zambia where all young people will have access to education and health facilities; a prosperous Zambia which offers equal opportunities to all; and a prosperous Zambia where innovation will form the backbone of commerce and industry," he said.

The plan, which runs from 2017 to 2021 and was approved by cabinet in March this year, is based on the integrated multi-sectoral approach which recognizes the multi-faced and inter-linked nature of sustainable development.

World Bank Country Manager Ina-Marlene Ruthenberg called for coordination between the national budget and the national development plan while United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator Janet Rogan called on all stakeholders to work together to ensure the smooth implementation of the plan.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 22:03:07|Editor: ying

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LUSAKA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The global mining industry is experiencing its most serious skills shortage in decades and this is having major ramifications on mining countries around the world, including Zambia, a new report released by mining firms on Wednesday has revealed.

The report, released by the Zambia Chamber of Mines, an association representing foreign mining firms operating in Zambia, said the shortage has made mining countries find it difficult not just to attract skilled, experienced workers but also to retain them.

The report was compiled after interviews conducted at mines in Zambia, South Africa and Mauritania.

"The urgency of the skills shortage has seen a renewed emphasis on training in the world's mining companies," Rob Gentle, lead researcher for the report told reporters during the unveiling of the report in Lusaka, the Zambian capital.

Nathan Chishimba, the president of the mining body said the skills crisis was both a risk and an opportunity as it provides a strong impetus for countries to boost their output of mining graduates.

"There is no reason why, with the correct policies, and incentives in place, Zambia cannot become a center of excellence in mining skills and an exporter of talent to the rest of the world," he said.

According to the report, the skills most in demand across the global mining industry as a result of the talent shortage include those that were critical to daily operations of mines such as engineers, metallurgists, technicians, mechanics and artisans.

The report has cited three major reasons for the global shortage of high-level mining skills which includes the massive rise in global mineral production over the past 20 years, the biggest retirement wave that has hit the mining industry as well as harsh working conditions such as remote locations of mines.

According to the report, the skills shortage has highlighted the importance for countries to facilitate and simplify the entry of skilled international experts.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 22:03:09|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities Tuesday released a vision for the top-down design for advancing maritime cooperation among countries along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, according to Wang Hong, head of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA).

The "Vision for Maritime Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative" states that China is willing to work closely with countries along the Road, engage in all-dimensional and broad-scoped maritime cooperation, build open and inclusive cooperation platforms, and establish a constructive and pragmatic Blue Partnership to forge a "blue engine" for sustainable development.

The priorities of the vision feature green development, ocean-based prosperity, maritime security, innovative growth, and collaborative governance. The vision also includes plans for three ocean-based "blue economic passages" that will connect Asia with Africa, Oceania, Europe and beyond.

This was the first time the Chinese government has systematically proposed a blueprint for advancing maritime cooperation among Belt and Road countries, Wang said.

Since the Chinese government issued the framework on jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in March 2015, remarkable achievements have been made in the countries along the route, he said.

Wang said the vision is a programmatic document that promotes the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the field of coasts and oceans.

It is a commitment to promoting employment, reducing poverty, and protecting and sustainably using maritime resources, Wang said.

He was echoed by Zhuang Guotu of Xiamen University, who said that maritime economy, especially port logistics, is an important aspect for deepening cooperation between China and other countries along the Road.

Over 60 percent of bilateral trade among ASEAN countries depends on port logistics. Routes involving Belt and Road countries dominate major routes in the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Zhuang said.

"As exchanges and cooperation in trade, investment and tourism increase between China and other countries along the Road, it has been an irresistible trend to expand cooperation in port industry, ocean shipping, logistics, informatization, and human resources," said Zhuang.

As the maritime administrative authority of the Chinese government, the SOA will focus on promoting the vision in Belt and Road countries and stipulating more detailed policies and plans, Wang said.

Their different interests and needs will be respected.

The SOA will hold forums in the second half of this year to promote communication and exchanges in the plan-making process for maritime economy development and ocean space, as well as park design. Training on capacity building will be held to form more projects and promote the blue partnership mechanism.

Wang said more maritime public services and products will be provided to strengthen cooperation in maritime disaster prevention and mitigation. The building of the tsunami warning center in the South China Sea will be promoted.

Providing financial support is also among the tasks. The Export-Import Bank of China and the Bank of China will facilitate enterprises with businesses related to ocean to "go global" by providing financial means such as buyer's credit.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 22:23:14|Editor: ying

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TEHRAN, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Armenia is interested in increasing natural gas imports from Iran, Sassan Khachaturian, managing director of Armenia's Yerevan thermal power plant, was quoted as saying Wednesday.

Khachaturian made the remarks Tuesday after holding talks with an Iranian delegation in Armenia's capital Yerevan, the Financial Tribune daily reported.

He added that Armenia plans to increase its electricity exports to oil and gas-rich Iran.

"Armenia is ready to export more electricity to Iran during the hot summer days," Khachaturian said, calling for more gas imports from Iran to meet his country's demand in winter.

Iran exports electricity to Armenia in winter and imports it when domestic demand soars in summer. Iran is connected to Armenia through two electricity lines, and a third is under construction.

Ali Amirani, head of the Iranian delegation to Yerevan, expressed hope that Iran's electricity exchange with Armenia would increase four times to around 1,200 megawatts once the construction of the third power transmission line is finished.

Iran's gas supply to Armenia is seasonal and Turkey is the only country that purchases Iranian gas throughout the year under a long-term contract.

Earlier, Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that his country plans to increase its natural gas exports to Armenia from the volume of 1 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) to 3 mcm/d by 2019.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 22:33:17|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Standing at a historical point, BRICS countries have recently been busy paving the way to kick off their second decade in style.

Fresh off the BRICS Media Forum on June 8, which called for expanding media cooperation and enhancing public understanding among others, BRICS countries saw another gathering featuring their foreign ministers in Beijing Monday.

At the meeting, foreign ministers applauded the achievements BRICS countries have made together, reiterated their shared values in issues such as economic globalization, climate change, and anti-terrorism, and also looked forward to further cooperation among the countries.

Meeting with the delegation heads Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke highly of BRICS and its cooperation mechanism.

"The BRICS cooperation is an innovation, which transcends the old pattern of political and military alliances and pursues partnerships rather than alliances," Xi said.

"It surpasses the old mindset of zero-sum games and practices a new concept of mutual benefits and win-win cooperation," he continued.

He also said that the cooperation mechanism fitted the needs of the five nations as well as the historical trend.

The meeting laid the groundwork for the upcoming BRICS Summit in southeast China's Xiamen in September, and once again proved the countries' determination to promote international cooperation and push forward the development of mankind.

Economically, BRICS countries have indeed been rising to the occasion to take on more responsibilities. Currently, the economic aggregate of the countries accounts for 23 percent of the world, up from 12 percent 10 years ago, contributing more than 50 percent of global economic growth.

The total volume of trade and overseas investments of the countries takes up 16 percent and 12 percent of the world figures, up from 11 and 7 percent in 2006, respectively.

With increasing communications at grass-roots levels, the mechanism has largely benefited the residents of BRICS countries, and also offered a recipe for the world to address global issues.

The world has currently been tasked with challenges including security risks, Black Swan events, anti-globalization trends among others, which require global efforts to handle.

As a stabilizer in regional and international situations, BRICS has been working hard to gain a bigger say on the international stage.

On April 18, the BRICS countries aired their views on important global issues for the first time ever since establishment, as Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the UN, made the countries' voices heard at a Security Council debate.

On behalf of BRICS countries, Liu called for financing for development to better implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as more international efforts in conflict prevention.

Apart from economic globalization, concepts including multi-polarization and the democratization of international relations have also been promoted by BRICS countries in recent years, in their attempt to accelerate reforms in the international order.

From economy to political security and cultural exchanges, a more comprehensive, wider and multi-layer cooperation mechanism has been formed.

As a firm supporter and participant in the BRICS mechanism, China has played a vital constructive part in it.

For instance, having attended the past four annual BRICS Summits, President Xi strategically guided a stronger BRICS cooperation mechanism, not least demonstrated by the BRICS spirits of openness, inclusion, cooperation, and win-win outcomes that he put forward in 2014.

Moreover, he called on the BRICS countries to establish partnerships in maintaining world peace, facilitating joint development, promoting multi-civilization, and improving the global economic governance in 2015.

As the host of this year's BRICS Summit, China will continue to consolidate and enrich the BRICS cooperation mechanism, and will look to expand the "BRICS+" form of dialogues and cooperations that features a wider range of partnerships.

All in all, nurturing the ever-growing "BRICS wisdom", BRICS countries are ready and set to play a more significant role in the development of mankind.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 23:03:32|Editor: An

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Liu Yunshan (R), member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, meets with a delegation led by Jose Ramon Balaguer, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Central Committee, in Beijing, capital of China, June 21, 2017. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)

BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The Communist parties of China and Cuba pledged to strengthen ties as senior officials met on Wednesday.

Liu Yunshan, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with Jose Ramon Balaguer, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Central Committee.

The CPC cherishes the traditional friendship between the two countries and leaders of both sides have chartered the course for relations between the two parties and two countries, Liu said.

The party-to-party relationship is an important pillar for state-to-state relations, said Liu.

China firmly supports Cuba's pursuit of the socialist path and will deepen party-to-party exchanges and practical cooperation with Cuba to contribute to the party building and national development of the two countries, Liu said.

Applauding the two parties' exchanges in party building and state governance, Balaguer said Cuba admires the the CPC's ruling capacity and China's development and that Cuba will boost party exchanges and bilateral relations with China.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 23:13:38|Editor: An

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ADDIS ABABA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- China and the African Union (AU) have expressed commitment to strengthening their varied cooperation towards achieving common development and prosperity.

This came on Wednesday when visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met and held talks with Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

Wang said that China and Africa have opened a new era of cooperation based on cooperation, win-win, and common development.

Stating that China supports AU's efforts to play a greater role in achieving lasting peace and sustainable development in Africa, the Foreign Minister expressed China's interest to establish a closer partnership with the new AU Commission.

China supports and promotes the successful implementation of the ten China-Africa cooperation plans in coordination with the AU 2063 agenda, according to the minister.

He also urged the international community to pay more attention to and further support Africa's efforts in achieving peace and development on the continent.

China and the African Union on Wednesday also co-organized the China-Africa High-level Dialogue and Think Tank Forum on Poverty Reduction and Development.

Wang said China is willing to support Africa's efforts in poverty reduction and to share the country's successful experiences in the area.

He has stated five priority areas in which China is keen to deepen cooperation with the pan-African body. These include implementation of the outcomes of the 2015 FOCAC summit; peace and security; public health; capacity building and human resource development; and coordination on regional and international issues.

The Chairperson of the AU Commission on his part has hailed the Sino-Africa cooperation as one of the most dynamic around the world, as the two sides are enjoying close communications and cooperation in various fields, such as political, economic, energy, transport, railways, industry, science and technology, among others.

He also said that China has helped Africa enhance its capacity building in areas such as infrastructure, education, and disease control.

The two sides have also maintained close coordination on issues such as peaceful development, anti-terrorism, combating transnational crime and coping with climate change, he said.

Faki said that Africa stands ready to promote the implementation of the ten China-Africa cooperation plans, in coordination with the AU Agenda 2063.

He also expressed the AU's keen interest to further strengthen the AU-China relations and deepen the strategic partnership between the two sides.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 23:18:41|Editor: MJ

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ISLAMABAD, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan decided on Wednesday to review conditions and requirements for issuance of business and work visas to Chinese nationals in efforts to ensure maximum security of the Chinese nationals visiting Pakistan on various visa categories.

The Interior Ministry said the country will also streamline and regulate the entire process of visa issuance to Chinese nationals.

"The decision has been taken to ensure transparency in the visa process and also to preclude misuse of visa-friendly regime that exists between the two countries," an official statement from the ministry said after a high level meeting.

The meeting also decided to rationalize the process of issuance of work visas to Chinese nationals who intend to visit Pakistan for various government approved and sponsored projects, the statement said.

It was decided that Pakistani embassies and missions abroad would be authorized to issue maximum of one-year multiple entry work visa for any project after ascertaining the authenticity of the project and receiving security clearance from the Chinese authorities.

"The meeting decided that further extensions in work visa would be granted by the Ministry of Interior only on the request and provision of required documents by the employer," the statement said.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan directed the ministry that all loopholes in the issuance of visas especially to the Chinese should be plugged in so as to ensure maximum transparency in the entire process.

The minister also directed the registration authority to expedite consolidation of data of Chinese nationals present in Pakistan so that the data could be shared with security agencies of the country for ensuring maximum security arrangements.

He said that a comprehensive mechanism should be put in place for sharing of information of not only CPEC related workers but also of other Chinese nationals visiting the country for various jobs.

Taking note of few incidents of provision of forged and fake documents of ghost companies to the embassies for issuance of Pakistani visa, it was decided that in the future business visas and visa on arrival to the Chinese nationals would only be granted after production of invitation or assignment letter duly certified and endorsed by the recognized Chamber of Commerce & Industry of the country along with letter from commercial attaches and other designated officials of Pakistan who are posted abroad for the promotion of business activities.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 23:43:52|Editor: yan

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BRUSSELS, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Europe is facing daunting challenge of combating terrorism, not only because of the frequency of terror attacks but also the way they are being staged.

THREAT HIGH IN CONTINENT

Terror attacks continue to grab headlines of European media these days with the latest in Brussels, de facto capital of the European Union (EU).

A small explosion caused by a man with a bag of explosives that occurred Tuesday evening in the Central Station of Brussels, was considered a terrorist attack.

Though causing no other casualties except the attacker himself was shot dead, the latest attack added another onto the terrorism-plagued continent.

Britain has been hit by no less than four separate attacks in the last few weeks, with the latest described as "sickening" by British Prime Minister Theresa May when a van was deliberately driven into worshippers leaving a mosque in north London.

This was followed by another attack in Paris where a man was killed on Monday after ramming his car carrying explosives into a police van in the Champs Elysees avenue.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the attacks showed that "the threat is high in all the countries of our continent."

Europe has found itself at the frontline in the fight against terrorism. The sight of armed soldiers on the streets of European cities has become all too familiar.

Though many don't want to accept it, but it's true that security pressures facing many of the European countries are increasing.

ATTACKERS MORE ELUSIVE

Compared with the attacks in the past, terror attacks in Europe this year are showing signs of new change, which make prevention and tracing more difficult than before.

The suspect of Tuesday's Brussels central station attack has been identified as a 36-year-old Moroccan citizen, who lived the city's troubled district of Molenbeek, but was not known as a potential terrorist by police authorities, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said Wednesday.

For the attacks staged by people not in police watchlist, prevention in advance is almost a mission impossible.

British PM May also admitted Britain was "experiencing a new trend in the threat the country faces."

She said "as terrorism breeds terrorism and perpetrators are inspired to attack, not only on the basis of carefully constructed plots after years of planning and training, and not even as lone attackers radicalized online, but by copying one another and often using the crudest of means of attack."

New figures from Europol, the EU police agency, indicated that the number of people arrested related to jihadist terrorism in Europe rose for the third consecutive year in 2016 to 718 and is expected to keep rising.

Europol said that more than half of all the completed or attempted terrorist attacks in Europe in 2016 occurred in the UK, followed by France.

One thing that deserves attention is the growing trend of domestic terrorism, or homegrown terrorism, in Europe.

"Jihadist actors can be both directed by IS or merely inspired by IS ideology and rhetoric," noted Europol's latest terrorist trend report.

"SOFT TARGETS" PICKED

Jihadist terrorists have been found to use a range of weapons to include bladed weapons, automatic rifles, explosives and vehicles, as has been witnessed in London in recent weeks.

John Duhig, a senior counsellor at the European Foundation for Democracy, warned that attacks on "soft targets," like those seen in Britain, were more difficult to prevent, requiring less preparation and communication than more complex operations, and therefore more difficult for the authorities to detect.

Brussels has been on high alert after suicide attacks hit the city's airport and metro systems on March 22, 2016, which left 32 people dead and many more injured.

Similarly, vulnerable public have repeatedly fell to victims of terror attacks in both Britain and France.

IS CLOUT TANGIBLE

Investigation found that the Islamic State (IS) was behind the most recent terrorist atrocities while it did claim responsibilities for some.

In the wake of attacks in Brussels in 2016, EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove has warned of further terror plots linked to IS after it lost key territory in Syria and Iraq.

Kerchove said the West faced a threat both from homegrown terrorists, who were radicalized via the internet, and "foreign fighters" who leave Europe to fight in Syria and Iraq.

According to Europol's report, Europe is experiencing a new trend in terrorism where perpetrators of terrorist attacks in the EU include both foreigners, of whom a number may have resided in the EU for a long time, and nationals who have grown up in the countries they attacked.

"The threat of lone wolf attacks initiated by those who have never left Europe and have been radicalized online remains a significant threat," Duhig cautioned.

WAR OF IDEOLOGY?

Theresa May described what happened as the result of an "ideology that is a perversion of Islam and a perversion of the truth."

Analysts from the European Policy Centre said that terrorist groups will continue to exploit the socio-economic grievances of Muslim immigrants to the EU, in order to recruit and incite them to engage in terrorist activities.

Asked about how to eradicate extremism, Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said: "We have to sell our own values. We leave the door open to IS with their proposals. We have to be more convinced in presenting our own values and chances to youngsters who are maybe open to IS ideology."

In overall terms the level of activity in the EU attributed to jihadist terrorism remains high, Europol said in its report.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 23:43:54|Editor: yan

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RIGA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Hazardous waste such as spent batteries, spray cans and electrical cables have been found at an illegal dump site that burned down in a major fire in Latvia's seaside resort city of Jurmala last weekend, Latvian environment minister Kaspars Gerhards said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The minister said that some 40 percent of the 23,000 tons of waste that had been stored at the dump site had burned in the fire.

"The discussion as to whether this was waste or recyclable products is over," Gerhards said, stressing that now it was necessary to establish how all this trash could have ended up in the "middle of Latvia."

Work is now underway to clean up the area destroyed by the blaze. If Prima M Company, which manages the dump site, proves unable to clean the territory, the State Environmental Service will take over and clean it, Gerhards promised.

The minister also said that those responsible for the presence of hazardous waste at the Jurmala dump site should be called to account.

Inga Kolegova, the head of the Latvian State Environmental Service, told reporters that the waste had been brought to Jurmala from abroad and that many of the items found at the dump site bore Swedish labels.

The environmental authority plans to take soil samples to analyze the fire's impact on the environment, including groundwater.

Officials said the long-term impact on the environment and human health was hard to gauge.

Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis said on public radio on Wednesday that he had ordered Gerhards to provide by next Monday full information on the fire at the illegal dump site and measures taken to deal with its aftermath.

The Prime Minster noted that information at his disposal caused suspicions of a "dirty business", as the presence of hazardous waste was an indication that the dump site was operated illegally. Kucinskis also pledged "no excuses or mercy" for those responsible for the disaster.

The blaze in the area of Sloka started last Sunday afternoon after plastic garbage caught fire at the dump site.

It took more than 12 hours for firefighters to bring the fire under control, which they managed to do by around 5 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) on Monday. The flames had spread to a 1.2-hectare area, which, apart from heaps of plastic garbage, also included a hangar, the State Fire and Rescue Service informed.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 23:43:55|Editor: Zhou Xin

Brian Calley, lieutenant governor of the State of Michigan, speaks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Detroit, the United States, June 20, 2017. The e-commerce giant Alibaba is the perfect platform for the U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to find customers globally, Brian Calley, lieutenant governor of the State of Michigan, said here on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

DETROIT, United States, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The e-commerce giant Alibaba is the perfect platform for the U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to find customers globally, Brian Calley, lieutenant governor of the State of Michigan, said here on Tuesday.

Alibaba is presenting its Gateway '17 in Detroit on June 20-21, which sold out all 3,000 tickets to SMEs from all over the country, largely outnumbering the originally expected 1,000.

"We are so thrilled that Alibaba has decided to hold this gateway conference right here in Detroit," Calley told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

"It's a perfect place. There is so much innovation happening here, so many small and medium-sized businesses that have great products, the more opportunity they have to sell the more demand there is for what they do. I think it will really pay off big for the companies and attendants," he explained.

He said that Alibaba and the U.S. SMEs are the most natural of matches. The SMEs here are tech savvy, creative and innovative, Alibaba is exactly the sort of avenue that will provide them with all kinds of opportunities, while for Alibaba, it's going to provide a lot of great products, services and goods for their customers. "It' s the traditional win-win situation," he added.

During a meeting with Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma earlier on Tuesday, Calley said the State of Michigan is planning to open its first official overseas theme site on Tmall, one of Alibaba's international online trade platforms.

Calley said businesses from all over the country have come to the conference to learn about the China opportunity, which will help create jobs and economic activity across the entire country.

"I believe this platform, through which for our companies to find new customers all over the globe, is going to create more demand and therefore more jobs here in both Detroit and across Michigan and the country as a whole," he said.

He added that more than 100 local Detroit companies and over 600 businesses all across Michigan have come to attend the conference. "They know this is an opportunity, many of them will sell their products through the platform."

He also noted that the idea of giving U.S. businesses the access to the Chinese market is an important step to take in deepening relationship between the two countries. The Chinese market is enormous, literally U.S. businesses could find hundreds of millions of potential customers on the other side of the globe.

According to Calley, China is the third largest trade partner of Michigan, only after Canada and Mexico.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 23:48:59|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- A guideline to further boost the blossoming of sharing economy was approved at a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.

According to the guideline, the sector will enjoy easier access, greater policy transparency, and better protection of legitimate rights of platform companies, resources providers and consumers. The guideline is aimed to create an enabling environment for sustained innovation.

"We should give credit to the sharing economy as a reinvigorating force in China's economic growth," Li said.

"The country's sharing economy enabled by the Internet Plus has been instrumental in absorbing excess capacity and creating new jobs through its various new business models," he said.

China's sharing economy is likely to sustain a 40 percent annual growth momentum in the coming years, according to a report released in February.

According to the report, the market turnover of the country's sharing economy in 2016 reached 3.45 trillion yuan (about 505 billion U.S. dollars), up by 103 percent on a year-on-year basis.

In 2016, sharing economy served around 600 million people in China. There were 5.85 million people who were on the payroll of sharing economy platforms, 850,000 more than 2015.

"The regulation of sharing economy should be tolerant while prudent, as there is still much yet to be learnt about new business models. We should avoid simply applying traditional methodology on sharing economy," Li said.

Going forward, the authorities are tasked to improve public services in terms of data sharing, government service procurement, urban planning and resources management innovation, the guideline said.

Financial institutions are encouraged to provide innovative financial services and products tailored to the demand of companies in the sector.

Companies with cutting edges are encouraged to go global, establish their presences and build brand names.

In the meanwhile, malpractices including illegal disclosure or abuse of personal information of consumers and illegal competition means will face the full weight of law.

"China is a country vast in size with diversified demands, still industrializing and urbanizing. There are a lot of resources and capacities that could be better used," Li said.

"Governments at different levels should take the initiative with the big picture in mind, striking a balance between 'enabling' regulation and risk preparedness, in an effort to build a level playing field for all to compete and excel," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 23:48:59|Editor: yan

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MOGADISHU, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Somalia's military court on Wednesday handed out death sentence to one Al-Shabaab militant and life term imprisonment to two others for their role in the murder of a religious scholar in Baidoa town, administrative capital of southwest state in Somalia, officials said.

Military Court Chairperson, Col. Hassan Ali Nur said the court sentenced death to Mohamed Aden Ali who shot dead a Sheikh Mohamed Madeer inside a mosque a week earlier.

"The court found three Al-Shabaab militants guilty of killing Madeer, a religious scholar inside a mosque in Baidoa town on June 16, the court sentenced Mohamed Aden Ali to death," Nur said.

He said that the court sentenced to two other Al-Shabaab militants who assisted the assassin to perpetrate the crime to life term sentences.

Southwest regional State forces arrested these militants after the murder of the man there in Baidoa town.

Military court judgments are taking place despite deadly attacks by Al-Shabaab militants who have been increased deadly attacks on the government and African Union bases including social places.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 23:54:03|Editor: MJ

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ASTANA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan released some 1,200 prisoners under an amnesty to mark the 25th anniversary of the nation's independence, the Ministry of Internal affairs said on Wednesday.

"About 1,200 convicts were released from prisons, another 2,269 convicted shortened their terms of punishment as a result of amnesty," according to the press service of the ministry's committee for penitentiary system.

In addition, more than 6,700 people who serve a prison sentence without being isolated from society were released.

Also, about 40 foreign citizens, most from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), were released.

Currently, about 1,300 nationals of the CIS and other foreign countries serve a prison sentence in Kazakh prison cells.

The law on amnesty over the 25th independence anniversary was passed in December 2016.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 00:09:12|Editor: yan

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JUBA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Wednesday warned that cholera outbreaks in East Africa and Yemen are compounding famine risks.

IFRC Secretary General Elhadj As Sy, warned that cholera was already diverting resources and focus away from efforts to treat malnutrition and widespread hunger.

"Right now, Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and staff are working around the clock to stop the spread of cholera, and to treat people who are sick," said Sy in a statement.

"But without treatment for malnutrition, more people will fall ill. And a child who survives cholera will be even further malnourished. It is the most vicious of vicious spirals, and the situation is rapidly escalating downwards and out of control," he added.

The UN early this year warned of imminent famine in South Sudan, northeast Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen.

Yemen, Somalia and South Sudan are now grappling with escalating cholera outbreaks that have infected more than 220,000 people and killed nearly 2,100 since the beginning of 2017.

"Hunger kills in and of itself, but it kills to the nth degree when compounded by disease -- and often completely preventable disease, like measles, malaria, and cholera," said Sy.

According to the charity, there have been more than 51,000 cholera cases in Somalia and nearly 5,000 in South Sudan.

According to the UN, at least 248 people have died from cholera outbreak across 19 counties in South Sudan since the initial outbreak was reported in June 2016.

The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said as of May 15, 8,160 cholera cases had been reported since the initial case was recorded on June 18, 2016.

In Somalia, the UN says some 683 deaths have been recorded, with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.8 percent since the beginning of the year.

Sy urged states to increase their funding for humanitarian appeals in each of these countries.

He repeated his appeal for more investment in long-term solutions to tackle the structural issues that left communities vulnerable to malnutrition and disease. This includes, he said, investing in strong local capacity.

"It is likely that between a quarter and a half of the excess mortality during food crises is due to these diseases. And well over three-quarters of victims are under five years old."

In Yemen alone, more than 166,000 cases have been reported since the end of April -- a figure that is climbing by an average of 6,000 cases every day.

"Although distinct, these outbreaks are all driven by a mix of similar factors, including severe food security that is itself the consequence of drought and conflict, and has triggered massive population movements," said the charity.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 00:14:15|Editor: An

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MADRID, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Hao Shiyuan, a scholar with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said in a recent visit to Spain that in the 13th century, Marco Polo, who toured China for 17 years, was the first Westerner to say that Tibet is part of China.

Hao, director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology under the CASS, visited Spain as member of a delegation of Cultural Exchange of Tibet, which participated in a conference entitled "The history and the actuality of Tibet".

Hao said that according to Marco Polo, since the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Tibet was under China's rule, as reflected by the Italian in his book entitled "Travels of Marco Polo".

"Tibet is a big land where people have their own language and idolatry. But all of their affairs are placed under the management of the Yuan Emperor," Marco Polo then wrote in his book.

Hao also presented the situation of Tibet before and after 1959, the year when this autonomous region was peacefully liberated. He said that since the 18th century, many Western people have described a system of servitude in Tibet.

Hao said that Tibet, before the democratic reform in 1959, had a theocratic feudal serfdom, darker than the Dark Age of Medieval Europe. Governmental officials, aristocrats and senior lamas, who represented merely 5 percent of the population, had the monopoly on all cultivated land, pastures, mountains, rivers, and most of the cattle. The other 95 percent of serfs and slaves possessed neither productive materials nor personal freedom.

Samuel Turnei, of the British India Company, visited Xigatze in 1783 and described Tibet as follows: Tibet first appears to travelers as the worst place on earth, showing a great extent of cultural incompetence.

In 1904, when British colonialists invaded Tibet again, an army journalist, Edmund Candler, gave the true nature of Tibetan society -- like the serfs during the middle ages of Europe.

"Yet, this (Potala) palace, where dwells the divine incarnation of the Bodhisat, the head of the Buddhist Church, must have witnessed more murders and instigations to crime than the most blood-stained castle in medieval Europe."

"The monks are the overlords, the peasantry their serfs," described Edmund Candler in his book "The Unveiling of Lhasa".

In ancient Tibet, there was no school in the modern sense. Education was monopolized by the monasteries and less than 2 percent of children had access to school. Some 95 percent of the labor force was illiterate.

Now, Hao said Tibet has a completely modern education system with distinctive local features, covering preschool, primary, secondary and higher education, occupational education, continued education and special education.

Hao Shiyuan provided the latest figures for 2016, when Tibet had 6 institutions of higher learning, 127 middle schools and 826 primary schools. The total enrollment was over half a million. Some 98.9 percent of children are enrolled in primary schools, 23.4 percent in colleges. Illiteracy fell to 1.2 percent. Average span of education for people over 15 years old has grown to 7.3 years.

Last year, Tibet maintained double digital economic growth and people's living standard continued to rise, with per capita urban distributable income reached 27,875 yuan (4,082.75 U.S. dollars), up 10 percent year on year; rural 9,316 yuan, up 13 percent.

However, the modernization of Tibet is still a major challenge for the Chinese government, because modernization at 4,000 meters above sea level is a pioneering effort with no prior models to follow, Hao said.

Population of the Tibet Autonomous Region is now about 3.2 million, with 27.74 percent urban and 72.26 percent rural. The economic and social development of Tibet remains a long and difficult task during China's modernization drive, he said.

Hao's delegation met on June 16 with President of the Constitutional Commission of the Senate of Spain, Juan Jose Lucas, while the day before, it was at a conference at the Confucius Institute in Barcelona.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 00:19:20|Editor: MJ

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ISLAMABAD, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan said Wednesday that it has shot down an Iranian spy aircraft after it had entered the country's airspace in southwestern Balochistan province.

Section of the local media has earlier reported that Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder fighter jet shot down the Iranian unmanned aircraft in Balochistan's Panjgur area on Tuesday.

The Foreign Ministry confirmed the incident in a statement and said Iran has been informed.

"On June 19, 2017, Pakistan shot down an Iranian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in Panjgur sector on the Pak-Iran border. The drone was hit by Pakistan Air Force as it was unidentified and was flying at around 3-4 kms inside Pakistani territory," the Foreign Ministry said.

A Foreign Ministry statement said Pakistan has already shared the information about striking down of this drone with the Iranian authorities.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 00:19:21|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The State Council, China's cabinet, Wednesday announced its decision to facilitate the healthy development of the sharing economy, amid its efforts to boost mass innovation and entrepreneurship.

According to the State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, to facilitate supply-side structural reform, it is important to adapt to the latest global technology and industrial revolution, push forward the sharing economy, strive for optimal allocation of resources using the Internet, reduce overcapacity and foster growth momentum.

China is pressing ahead with supply-side structural reform, which features cutting overcapacity, deleveraging, lowering costs, reducing inventories, and strengthening weak business links to generate sustainable long-term growth.

These moves can help mass innovation and entrepreneurship thrive, create more jobs and provide more diverse and efficient services at a lower cost, noted the statement released after the meeting.

Entrepreneurs are encouraged to explore the sharing economy, while the authorities aim to adjust administrative approval and business registration procedures in light of new business models, it said.

Sharing, whether bicycles, automobiles, property or any other assets, has become popular in China, as people seek to make their lives easier and save resources.

Tax and welfare policies catering to the sharing economy will be studied and improved, and employment support for those self-employed in the sharing economy sector will be rolled out, noted the statement.

"Government procurement support for sharing economy products and services will also be strengthened," said the meeting.

The government will formulate new market entry and supervision regulations in a cautious manner, noted the statement.

The trading volume of the sharing economy in China more than doubled year on year to 3.45 trillion yuan (about 505 billion U.S. dollars) last year, according to a report released by the State Information Center.

The sharing economy will grow at an average annual rate of 40 percent over the next few years and will account for more than 10 percent of the country's GDP by 2020, the center predicted.

The meeting also decided to push forward the development of commercial endowment insurance and inclusive finance in China.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 00:24:25|Editor: yan

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JERUSALEM, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The recent surge in terror attacks in Europe has a definite connection with the defeats suffered by the terror group Islamic State (IS) in the Mideast, a senior Israeli expert told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Dozens of people have been killed since March in a spate of terror attacks that has spread through the United Kingdom, France and Belgium, in which the terror suspects used vehicles, knives and explosives to mow down pedestrians, attack police and blow up innocent people.

Many people suspect that the surge in terror attacks in Europe could be caused by the spillover effect of IS defeats in the Mideast.

Indeed, IS forces are now being surrounded and cornered in Mosul and Raqqa, its de factor capitals in Iraq and Syria, after suffering repeated defeats in fighting.

"There is definitely a connection," said Shlomo Brom, head of the Program on Israeli-Palestinian Relations at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Brom explained that there are two major reasons for the link between the rise of terror attacks in Europe and the continued loss of territories by IS in the Mideast.

Firstly, there is a reversal in the inflow of volunteer fighters to the Mideast to join IS for the Jihad, or holy war, that started during the peak of IS years ago.

Since it has become clearer that it's only a question of time for IS to be destroyed as an organizational force, more and more of those volunteers are now returning to Europe and other Western countries.

"This creates a situation that there are more IS activists in Europe and some of them come with malicious ideas," said Brom, an expert on Arab Spring and Mideast affairs.

Secondly, as IS loses its territorial hold, it has a greater interest to carry out attacks in the world, not only in Europe, "to create an image of strength."

IS claimed responsibility for the May 22 bombing of a concert in Manchester, UK, which killed 22 people and wounded 59 others. The horrific attack shocked the whole nation as well the world.

"Sometimes it's less important what is actually happening on the ground and more important the image is created," Brom said. "Through attacks, IS creates an image that it is still alive, strong and active, and there is no way to destroy it."

A large part of recent terror attacks are independent attacks, or "inspiration attacks" - attacks that are inspired by the organization but were not planned by it, he noted.

Brom believes that the main motivation of Muslim extremists that launched attacks in Europe recently is revenge.

"What brings them to support IS or be involved? They feel that Western states - that anyway they feel resentment towards them because of their difficulty to assimilate in Europe - they are killing their people, they are destroying their hopes. Then there is a wish to avenge, to respond," Brom said.

WAVE OF TERROR ATTACKS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE

Despite heightened alert and increased security measures taken in Europe, the wave of attacks is expected to continue, Brom predicted.

"I can say with certainty that this will continue. Will it increase? I do not know. It depends on many things that I do not know, starting from the amount of people who plan attacks and the counter measures that countries are taking," he said.

No matter what preventive measures are taken, terror attacks are impossible to be prevented as long as the reasons that lead to such radical acts still exist, the Israeli expert said.

The reasons have to do with both Europe and the Mideast, Brom said.

For European countries, they have difficulty in absorbing the Muslim minorities and the result is the creation of enclaves of people that feel estranged from the society, he noted.

Brom said the United States is doing better than Europe in absorbing Muslims as it is largely an immigrant country. That explains why the U.S. has just as many Muslims as Europe but there are far fewer terror attacks.

In the Mideast, as long as there are struggles and conflicts within the region, there is a feeling that there is a war of Christians and Jews against Muslims, and an internal war between Shia and Sunni Muslims, Brom said.

"This is a very strong factor in recruiting Sunni Muslims to Jihadist organizations," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 00:34:30|Editor: yan

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HARARE, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe and the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday launched a 10.9 million U.S. dollar inter-agency appeal to help about 11,000 refugees and asylum seekers who are staying at a refugee camp in the south-east of the country.

The appeal, which covers June to December 2017, was launched by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was represented by the Minister of State Clifford Sibanda.

In a speech read on his behalf by Sibanda, Mnangagwa said there were currently 964 Mozambicans at Tongogara Refugee Camp in Chipinge district who were in need of food, shelter, health assistance, education and other life-saving services.

"Our emergency response to the Mozambican crisis has put a strain on our already stretched resources. It is against this background that I call upon you all to donate in cash or kind to make Tongogara Refugee Camp a habitable place with full capacity to contain a mass population increase in refugees and asylum seekers," he said.

The appeal was targeted at the international donor community, non-governmental organizations, civic society and faith-based organizations, among others.

The required funds are for protection, food security, health and nutrition, education, energy, self-reliance and livelihoods, shelter and infrastructure, water, sanitation and hygiene, logistics and operational support.

Zimbabwe hosts an estimated 17,500 persons of concern with 11,000 being refugees and asylum seekers registered at Tongogara camp and about 6,500 Mozambican asylum seekers living in villages along the border.

The government intends to relocate the Mozambicans in the border areas to the refugee camp, where the population largely comprises single women, single men, the elderly, the chronically ill, and unaccompanied minors.

Other residents at the camp are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya and Sudan.

The UNHCR projects that the population at the camp will rise to 12,000 by end of 2017 and 15,000 by end of 2018 due to increasing hostilities in Mozambique and the Great Lakes Region.

United Nations Resident Coordinator Bishow Parajuli said the appeal was a call to partners to renew their commitment to the vulnerable Mozambican asylum seekers who had fled conflict and were currently being supported by host communities who had limited resources themselves.

In a speech read on his behalf by UNICEF Country Representative Mohamed Ayoya, Parajuli applauded government intentions to emphasize self-reliance of refugees and asylum seekers at the camp.

"The appeal aims to diversify the livelihood opportunities for the refugees and asylum seekers in the Topngogara Camp, to empower them to become self-reliant. With the right support, the refugees can be an asset -- not a burden -- to the host country," he said.

UNHCR Country Representative Robert Tibagwa thanked the government of Zimbabwe for dealing with refugees and the people of Zimbabwe for accommodating them as brothers and sisters.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 00:34:31|Editor: yan

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GENEVA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned United Nation member states on Wednesday that outbreaks of cholera are compounding famine risk in East Africa and Yemen.

Speaking during a high-level panel on famine in East Africa and Yemen during the opening day of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), IFRC Secretary General Elhadj As Sy said the disease was already diverting resources and focus away from efforts to treat malnutrition and widespread hunger.

"Right now, Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and staff are working around the clock to stop the spread of cholera, and to treat people who are sick," said Sy, adding that without treatment for malnutrition, more people will fall ill.

"It is the most vicious of vicious spirals, and the situation is rapidly escalating downwards and out of control," he noted.

According to IFRC figures, Yemen, Somalia and South Sudan are now grappling with escalating cholera outbreaks that have infected more than 220,000 people and killed nearly 2,100 people since the beginning of 2017.

In Yemen alone, more than 166,000 cases have been reported since the end of April, a figure that is climbing by an average of 6,000 cases every day, IFRC said.

In Somalia, there have been more than 51,000 cholera cases and nearly 5,000 in South Sudan.

"Hunger kills in and of itself, but it kills to the nth degree when compounded by disease," said Sy.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 00:59:45|Editor: yan

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ADDIS ABABA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi here on Wednesday discussed refugee situations encountered in the Horn of African region.

Grandi, who is currently in Ethiopia after attending the World Refugee Day commemorative ceremony on Tuesday, raised various refugee situations with Desalegn. The discussion, among other things, focused on strengthening global efforts being made to support the refuge influx, local media FBC reported.

Desalegn asserted that combined efforts must be intensified so as to ensure the overall conditions of refugees in the horn and east African region. He also called on the global community to jointly solve regional problems that exacerbated the rate of displacement.

Grandi, on his part, has commended Ethiopia's role and response in handling the regional refugee crisis saying that the country is "a very good model of how a country with a limited resources and a great challenge of its own keeps its doors open to people from neighboring countries."

The east African country currently hosts more than 850,000 refugees from 21 countries with South Sudanese, Somalis, Eritreans, and Sudanese making up the majority. In the first five months of 2017, Ethiopia has registered an additional 54,107 refugees, with most of the arrivals being Eritreans, South Sudanese and Sudanese.

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.
A Belgian soldier walks in a cordoned off area outside the Brussels Central Station after a small explosion in Brussels, Belgium, on June 20, 2017. The Brussels Central Station was evacuated Tuesday evening after a small explosion occurred within the station, local authorities confirmed. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

BRUSSELS, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Europe is facing daunting challenge of combating terrorism, not only because of the frequency of terror attacks but also the way they are being staged.

THREAT HIGH IN CONTINENT

Terror attacks continue to grab headlines of European media these days with the latest in Brussels, de facto capital of the European Union (EU).

A small explosion caused by a man with a bag of explosives that occurred Tuesday evening in the Central Station of Brussels, was considered a terrorist attack.

Though causing no other casualties except the attacker himself was shot dead, the latest attack added another onto the terrorism-plagued continent.

Britain has been hit by no less than four separate attacks in the last few weeks, with the latest described as "sickening" by British Prime Minister Theresa May when a van was deliberately driven into worshippers leaving a mosque in north London.

This was followed by another attack in Paris where a man was killed on Monday after ramming his car carrying explosives into a police van in the Champs Elysees avenue.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said the attacks showed that "the threat is high in all the countries of our continent."

Europe has found itself at the frontline in the fight against terrorism. The sight of armed soldiers on the streets of European cities has become all too familiar.

Though many don't want to accept it, but it's true that security pressures facing many of the European countries are increasing.

ATTACKERS MORE ELUSIVE

Compared with the attacks in the past, terror attacks in Europe this year are showing signs of new change, which make prevention and tracing more difficult than before.

The suspect of Tuesday's Brussels central station attack has been identified as a 36-year-old Moroccan citizen, who lived the city's troubled district of Molenbeek, but was not known as a potential terrorist by police authorities, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said Wednesday.

For the attacks staged by people not in police watchlist, prevention in advance is almost a mission impossible.

British PM May also admitted Britain was "experiencing a new trend in the threat the country faces."

She said "as terrorism breeds terrorism and perpetrators are inspired to attack, not only on the basis of carefully constructed plots after years of planning and training, and not even as lone attackers radicalized online, but by copying one another and often using the crudest of means of attack."

New figures from Europol, the EU police agency, indicated that the number of people arrested related to jihadist terrorism in Europe rose for the third consecutive year in 2016 to 718 and is expected to keep rising.

Europol said that more than half of all the completed or attempted terrorist attacks in Europe in 2016 occurred in the UK, followed by France.

One thing that deserves attention is the growing trend of domestic terrorism, or homegrown terrorism, in Europe.

"Jihadist actors can be both directed by IS or merely inspired by IS ideology and rhetoric," noted Europol's latest terrorist trend report.

"SOFT TARGETS" PICKED

Jihadist terrorists have been found to use a range of weapons to include bladed weapons, automatic rifles, explosives and vehicles, as has been witnessed in London in recent weeks.

John Duhig, a senior counsellor at the European Foundation for Democracy, warned that attacks on "soft targets," like those seen in Britain, were more difficult to prevent, requiring less preparation and communication than more complex operations, and therefore more difficult for the authorities to detect.

Brussels has been on high alert after suicide attacks hit the city's airport and metro systems on March 22, 2016, which left 32 people dead and many more injured.

Similarly, vulnerable public have repeatedly fell to victims of terror attacks in both Britain and France.

IS CLOUT TANGIBLE

Investigation found that the Islamic State (IS) was behind the most recent terrorist atrocities while it did claim responsibilities for some.

In the wake of attacks in Brussels in 2016, EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove has warned of further terror plots linked to IS after it lost key territory in Syria and Iraq.

Kerchove said the West faced a threat both from homegrown terrorists, who were radicalized via the internet, and "foreign fighters" who leave Europe to fight in Syria and Iraq.

According to Europol's report, Europe is experiencing a new trend in terrorism where perpetrators of terrorist attacks in the EU include both foreigners, of whom a number may have resided in the EU for a long time, and nationals who have grown up in the countries they attacked.

"The threat of lone wolf attacks initiated by those who have never left Europe and have been radicalized online remains a significant threat," Duhig cautioned.

WAR OF IDEOLOGY?

Theresa May described what happened as the result of an "ideology that is a perversion of Islam and a perversion of the truth."

Analysts from the European Policy Centre said that terrorist groups will continue to exploit the socio-economic grievances of Muslim immigrants to the EU, in order to recruit and incite them to engage in terrorist activities.

Asked about how to eradicate extremism, Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said: "We have to sell our own values. We leave the door open to IS with their proposals. We have to be more convinced in presenting our own values and chances to youngsters who are maybe open to IS ideology."

In overall terms the level of activity in the EU attributed to jihadist terrorism remains high, Europol said in its report.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 01:04:48|Editor: yan

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VILNIUS, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Spain is a close ally of Lithuania in the European Union (EU) and NATO, therefore, the Southern European country is ready to defend Lithuania's interests if needed, visiting Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Maria Dastis Quecedo said here on Wednesday.

"I came here to clearly announce that, despite the geographical distance, we are very close; we are allies, friends, members of the EU," Alfonso Dastis said in a joint press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart Linas Linkevicius.

"Every country has its own worries due to its borders, however, we feel solidarity and we will be there, when our allies need us," he added.

Spain is one of the EU countries taking part in NATO's Baltic Air-Policing Mission, and planning to contribute to the NATO Forward Presence in the Baltic States.

"We are grateful for Spain's active participation while solving our regional security questions," said Linkevicius, Lithuania's minister of foreign affairs.

The ministers agreed on the importance to further develop bilateral trade and economic relations.

During his visit, the Spanish foreign minister also met with Lithuania's Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis.

"We see the potential for expanding our bilateral trade, investment and tourism; Spain is a very important tourism market for Lithuania," Skvernelis was quoted as saying in a government's statement.

Skvernelis and the minister also discussed the issues concerning Brexit. According to the prime minister, in this situation, community members have demonstrated unity and consolidation, which shows that the EU must continue to move in the same direction, the statement read.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 01:25:05|Editor: yan

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ROME, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Roman dignitaries paid tribute to late fashion icon and philanthropist Carla Fendi, whose remains lay in state at Rome City Hall on Wednesday.

Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi and former mayor, Francesco Rutelli, were among those who showed up to say a last goodbye to the honorary president of the famous fashion house, who died Monday at the age of 80.

"Always perfectly turned out with a tan and a signature short crop of curly hair, she was a force of nature," Vogue magazine wrote in its obituary.

"With her drive, her passion, her exacting eye, and her great skills as an ambassador, she played a pivotal role in establishing the foundations of Fendi's success," the leading fashion monthly wrote.

In 1925, Carla Fendi's parents, Adele and Edoardo, founded a small family firm dedicated to fur and leather goods. Carla was one of five sisters, who their mother nicknamed "the five fingers of the hand".

She joined the firm in the 1950s, and along with her sisters, in 1965 she hired young German designer Karl Lagerfeld, who launched the House's first ready-to-wear collection in 1977 and who marked his 50th anniversary with the brand last year.

Over time the label's logo made up of two Fs, one of them upside-down and backwards, became an internationally recognized symbol for luxury.

"Fendi put on a fashion show atop the Great Wall of China on October 19, 2007, making this breathtaking event the first show visible from the Moon," according to the brand's website.

Carla served as the company's president until the fashion house was sold to French luxury group LVMH in 1999, after which she served as honorary president.

In 2007, she set up the Carla Fendi Foundation, which funded the restoration of Rome's Trevi Fountain in 2016 and has been a patron of Italy's National Academy of St Cecilia classical music institution since 2010.

Carla Fendi was also honorary president of the Festival dei Due Mondi (Italian for Festival of the Two Worlds) -- a music, opera, dance and visual arts festival held in the ancient hilltop city of Spoleto every summer since 1958.

In a note on its website, the Festival honored Carla Fendi as "a generous patron, a friend to the city of Spoleto and to its festival, whose successes she has shared for many decades with her extraordinary participation".
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 01:40:15|Editor: Mengjie

Staff members check the train with relief food in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, June 21, 2017. China on Wednesday officially handed over the first batch of 100,000 bags of relief food to Kenya for distribution to hunger-stricken citizens. (Xinhua/Li Baishun)

NAIROBI, June 21 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday officially handed over the first batch of 100,000 bags of relief food to Kenya for distribution to hunger-stricken citizens.

Speaking during the handover ceremony in Nairobi, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa said the consignment of rice is part of the 450,000 bags that Beijing pledged as food aid.

"China has been sympathetic to the food shortage situation in Kenya that was occasioned by weather situation which has not been promising agriculturally. The Chinese people have always stood side by side with Kenyans and will always come to their aid when the need arises," Liu said.

The delivery is part of the 21,366 metric tonnes of food aid worth 22.5 million U.S. dollars that will be distributed to suffering Kenyans throughout the country.

The remaining batches of the food will arrive within the month of June, mid-July and the last batch will be delivered in August.

Josepheta Oyiela Mukobe, the Principal Secretary for the State Department of Special Programs, hailed the Chinese people for coming to the aid of the suffering Kenyans at a time when the drought is affecting a big number of the population.

"I am delighted to be here today to witness the handing over of humanitarian relief food from China to the Kenyan government. We are indeed humbled by the much consideration and good neighborliness that the Chinese have shown towards our people," Mukobe said.

"The distribution will commence immediately, and as you can see, our trucks are already waiting. We will not even take the food to our stores, but will embark on distribution without delay because hunger does not wait for anybody," she remarked.

The PS said the consequences of the drought will continue to be felt for a long time, adding that for that reason, there is an urgent need for relief food assistance to 3.5 million people who are affected by the situation in the arid and semi-arid areas.

The drought has wiped out livestock feeds and affected milk production, triggered rise in price of basic food stuff, and impacted negatively on the sources of water, crop production and education.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 02:50:57|Editor: yan

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BERLIN, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The downward trend experienced in German opinion polls by the SPD and its leader Martin Schulz continues, according to a "Stern-RTL Wahltrend" survey published on Wednesday.

While Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), improved their electoral standing by one percentage point to a combined 39 percent, the SPD languished at 23 percent (minus one percentage point compared to last week).

As a consequence, the SPD has fallen back to the level of support it last held before the nomination of former president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz as party leader in March 2017 which was followed by a short-lived surge in polls.

The Left party (Linke), which overlaps ideologically in some areas with the SPD but endorses a more uncompromising socialist vision, rose by two percentage points to 10 percent, making it the third largest fraction in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag).

The Liberal party (FDP) fell by one percentage point to eight percent, the same level of support enjoyed by the Green party (Gruene).

The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany, which enjoyed national levels of support as high as 16 percent (ARD Deutschlandtrend) in September 2016 at the height of the refugee crisis, stagnated at seven percent.

When asked whom they would directly elect as chancellor, 53 percent of respondents voiced support for the incumbent Angela Merkel who is eyeing her fourth term in national elections this summer.

Chancellor Merkel, who has been in office over 11 years, thus enjoyed a lead of 31 percentage points over her political rivals.

Martin Schulz personal support fell to 22 percent in the same category, down one percentage point compared to the previous week.

Several observers noted the impression given by the figures that the Left was successfully poaching supporters from the SPD.

"Apparently [the Left party] has succeeded in attracting voters from the left wing of the SPD following its party conference where a radical program centered on social justice was presented," said Manfred Guellner, head of the Forsa Institute which conducted the survey.

He singled out demands for a higher minimum wage, taxes on the rich, and a cap on rents, as elements of the Left party's manifesto, which appeared bold in comparison to the SPD's proposals.

Martin Schulz is facing a wave of criticism from industry representatives and other parties after presenting the SPD's taxation plans on Tuesday.

Schulz promised tax relief to low- and middle income earners worth at least 15 billion euros (16.7 billion U.S. dollars) annually.

Additionally, those income classes would benefit from lower social insurance costs while taxes on high earners would rise.

The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag DIHK) voiced concerns that the plans would burden small and mid-sized companies and hence carry negative implications for the availability of jobs and training, as well as denting investment and innovation.

The Federal Association of German Industry (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, BDI) reacted similarly, lamenting that the SPD had offered "no good ideas" on taxation.

The debate further compounds the political woes of Martin Schulz who was seen as a serious contender to Angela Merkel for the office of chancellor when his nomination was first announced.

In January, Schulz was still tied with Merkel for popularity at 41 percent according to an ARD-Deutschlandtrend survey.

However, more recent polls suggest that this initial support has evaporated.

An analysis by the Yougov Institute showed that nearly a quarter (24 percent) of those respondents who would have voted for the SPD in February had since changed their minds.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 03:26:38|Editor: yan

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JUBA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- A senior UN envoy for South Sudan on Wednesday praised the UN peacekeepers for a "nimble and pro-active" response in support of humanitarians dealing with an emergency in the country.

Head of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) David Shearer said such peacekeeping response will be replicated in other crisis situations in South Sudan.

Shearer, who was speaking in Aburoc in the Upper Nile region where up to 25,000 people had taken refuge from conflict, said the presence of peacekeepers ensures security for aid workers.

"The presence of peacekeeping troops undoubtedly provided the security and confidence that humanitarian agencies needed to operate in this remote and dangerous area," said Shearer in a statement issued in Juba after the visit.

The village, which numbered some 5,000 people before the arrival of the displaced people, was lacking in water, food and health services.

According to the UN official, with the possibility that Aburoc was going to become a humanitarian disaster area it was important that everyone moved quickly.

"I was very pleased peacekeepers were ready to deploy nimbly and proactively. A light and effective footprint on the ground was what was needed," he said.

The UN mission brought 80 Rwandan peacekeepers together with armored vehicles to Aburoc at the beginning of April creating better security conditions for the arrival of the humanitarian community, two days later.

"A cholera outbreak was stopped and hundreds of lives were saved as a result of this combined action together with a highly effective response by humanitarian agencies," said Shearer who is also the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, in

The UNMISS deployment to Aburoc was planned to last a month but was extended by two weeks.

Humanitarian agencies remain in Aburoc providing life-saving services to the almost 11,000 people who remain there. UNMISS support is being continued through air patrols from Malakal.

"It's great that UNMISS has shown this response to an emergency situation and are ready should another crisis occur in other parts of South Sudan," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 03:36:43|Editor: yan

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ARUSHA, Tanzania, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Wednesday launched the Chinese-invested steel factory Kiluwa Steel Group, located in the eastern district of Kibaha.

Speaking at its official launch, President Magufuli commended the Chinese investors for choosing Tanzania as their investment destination in the east African region, calling other foreign investors to follow suit.

He described the new Chinese investment as important as it is part and parcel of the government-driven industrialization agenda.

Magufuli said: "This is an important project for Tanzania as it produces quality iron bars that meet the international standard as they are used in any bridge across the globe."

He discouraged the tendency of importing raw materials from other countries when in Tanzania there is a big deposit of iron ore in Mchuchuma area of the southern part of the country.

"I am aware of the challenge with our iron ore, as it is mixed with titanium and vanadium so the iron is combined with the two elements. These two elements have value than iron ore, I urge Tanzanian experts to find ways of separating the elements so that we get pure iron ore which is fit for iron bar production. This will also reduce the cost of importing to our investors," Magufuli suggested.

The Kiluwa Steel Group located in Mlandizi area of Kibaha District in Coast Region has the capacity of producing 300,000 tonnes iron bars per year in the first phase.

In the second phase, the plant will produce an average of 1,200,000 tonnes of iron bars per year.

Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Lu Youqing congratulated the factory's launching, saying it will contribute to China-Tanzania cooperation.

The factory is linked with 3.5-km railway line from Tanzania Railway Ltd., at an advantageous point for the transport of raw materials and final products to the market.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 05:52:43|Editor: yan

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by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Turkey, the world's largest refugee-hosting country, has announced it a "badge of honor" to provide shelter for over 3 million refugees, but also says it feels strain at the burden.

On the occasion of the World Refugee Day, Turkey has organized a series of meetings across the country to show how it is and will manage the crisis, as refugees in Turkey account for around 45 percent of all Syrian refugees in the region.

"This is not a burden but a badge of honor," Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin tweeted on Tuesday.

Official figures suggest that Turkey has spent around 25 billion U.S. dollars helping and sheltering refugees since the war broke out in Syria in 2011, which displaced up to 12 million people, around two-thirds of the population.

A report from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on displacement said despite the huge focus on Europe's migrant crisis, it is poorer countries that host most of the world's refugees.

What's more, 84 percent of refugees are living in low-and-middle-income countries, the UN refugee agency pointed out, blaming this "huge imbalance" on "the continuing lack of consensus internationally when it comes to refugee hosting."

Turkish government claimed that they "simply have a duty to give shelter to this people fleeing from conflicts and who has lost everything in the war," saying that closing doors to them is not acceptable.

"This is not the scenario that we had anticipated but we are faced to it, so we will do the outmost in order that the people who have taken refuge on our soil live a humane life, in peace," said an official from the government on condition of anonymity.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also called for more support to Turkey in dealing with the refugee issue, adding that "We will continue to help those in need. We are proud of it."

According to Ankara, contributions from the international community in aiding Syrians in Turkey are only about 550 million dollars. The European Union has also promised 3 billion euro (3.3 billion dollars) for Turkey in exchange of a controversial migrant deal preventing refugees to flood its members.

Among the 3 million plus refugee in Turkey, only a lucky fraction, some 250,000 people live in camps installed in several cities across the country, mainly located near the Syrian border.

Others try to survive with government or NGO assistance.

Life is difficult for them despite the fact that they are in a Muslim country as their own, where traditions and practices are not quite far apart.

Ahmad Ramadan, 33, collects waste paper from garbage bins in the residential neighborhood of Yildiz in the capital Ankara.

His job provides income for his family of four, who live in dire conditions in a tent offered by the Ankara municipality.

He understands the difficulty the government of his host country is facing.

"Turkey has been good to me but I know that we are many here, so I have to provide for my family, at least we do not have the war here and we know that a bomb will not explode next to us," said Ramadan.

Tens of thousands of Syrians have blended in the Turkish society and started businesses benefiting from authorizations given by the government.

Turkey also provides free healthcare to them, and allows children to attend schools to create a sustainable and livable environment.

But the road for integration is still long and hard as proven by incidents, sometimes fatal, involving local population and Syrians.

"A conscientious approach is growing but Turkey is still late in this field (integration), because officials from the beginning thought that the displaced people where here only temporary," said Metin Corabatir, a leading Turkish expert from the Research Centre on Asylum and Migration.

Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city with a population of nearly 15 million, is dubbed "little Syria," with the number of Syrians reaching nearly 500,000, according to information from officials of the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority.

But there are some timid positive signs.

Thousands of Syrians reportedly walked back home from the border before the end of Ramadan, which will be celebrated by a three-day festival called Eid al-Fitr, some saying that they are planning to stay there for good and repatriate later their family members.

"I'm sure that if the conflict ends in Syria, 80 percent of those who are here will return, because it's their homeland regardless of how they are treated in Turkey", said Muhammad Saleh Ali, head of a local Syrian association in Ankara.

"I am not a refugee and I live here for 18 years but my heart is still there and I long to return," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 05:57:45|Editor: yan

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QUITO, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador's Vice-President, Jorge Glas, on Wednesday denied any links to a corruption case involving Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, which is being investigated for bribing government officials in 12 countries.

"There is not one proof against me. I have nothing to hide, and my hands are clean," said Glas, during a public hearing before the Fiscal Committee of Ecuador's National Assembly.

In a hearing lasting almost three hours, Glas said that he was never part of any contracts being given to Odebrecht.

"I call publicly on...any state minister or any public company manager to say if Glas ever picked up the phone to ask for anything during a contracting process," he said.

Glas, who was the running mate of President Lenin Moreno in their winning presidential election campaign this year, called for this hearing to review his political history. He was also the vice-president of former president, Rafael Correa, between 2013 and 2017.

He was seeking to quiet voices from the opposition which has accused him of being linked to Odebrecht.

The Odebrecht scandal broke out in Ecuador in December when the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that the Brazilian firm paid 33.5 million U.S. dollars in bribes to Ecuadorian officials between 2007 and 2016, in exchange for being granted public contracts.

During the Wednesday hearing, Glas said that in May a call had gone out for all officials and managers of public companies during the Correa government and past administrations to reveal their financial details, dating back to 1987, when Odebrecht began operating in Ecuador.

He said he strongly backed the call, adding that "let all be investigated, nobody is above the law."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-22 06:02:51|Editor: yan

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LONDON, June 21 (Xinhua) -- A sailing ship built almost 150 years ago to rush consignments of tea from China to Britain has seen record numbers of Chinese tourists catching a glimpse of maritime history.

Figures released Wednesday show the number of visitors from China toasting the famous Cutty Sark at its London home have rocketed in the past year by 200 percent.

Visitors to the ship, part of the Royal Museums at Greenwich (RMG), can discover what life was like on board Cutty Sark, the world's only surviving tea clipper.

She was fastest ship of her time, built in Scotland in 1869, and designed to carry tea from China to England as fast as possible. The record-breaking ship travelled the globe and visited every major world port.

The figures also show Chinese visitors have taken a larger share of the RMG's international market, making up 8.3 percent of all overseas visitors in 2016/17, compared to 4.9 percent in 2015/16.

The greatest percentage increases were seen at the National Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark, where the Chinese visitor figures grew by 247 percent and 200 percent respectively year-on-year.

RMG includes the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory Greenwich and the 17th-Century Queen's House and the Cutty Sark, forming a key part of the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Total Chinese visitors across all four museums exceeded 68,000.

Amy O'Donovan, who is responsible for the Chinese market at RMG said: "Our Chinese journey is really starting to bear fruit and we have exceeded all our targets."
Licks from police

These were the complaints given to Magistrate Kerri Honore-Narine, just after midday yesterday .

Although the four were brought early to the courthouse at St Vincent Street, Port of Spain, a shortage of court staff led to them appearing hours later. The four - Christian Huggins, 19; Miguel Collins, 18; Dion Guillard, 21; and a 17-year-old were remanded into custody as a report on a criminal background check on the four, was not available .

They will return to court tomorrow after the magistrate ordered that they be taken to receive medical treatment. The 17-year-old was remanded at the Youth Training Centre in Arouca, while the others will be taken to prison .

They have all been charged with falsely imprisoning Harvey on June 12, at the St Martin de Porres RC Church in Belmont and robbing him of a Longines wrist watch, a Samsung S67 cellular phone and 1,000 in cash, using personal violence after the robbery. They were also charged for breaking and entering the place of worship with intent to commit an illegal act .

Among the complaints of the men was that they were made to sign a document which they were unable to read. Prosecutor Sgt Azard Ali noted that it was passing strange that after one complaint was made, the accused all of a sudden claimed to be having been beaten. The mens complaints were recorded by the magistrate who advised their attorneys to raise the matter with the other magistrate who will hear the case .

The four were arrested last Friday by officers of the Port of Spain Division. The men are from East Dry River, Laventille and Gonzales .

They were represented by attorneys Ronald Daniels, Sheldon Guerra and Chelsea John .

Police said that at 5 am on Monday June 12, Harvey was outside the church when he was accosted by gunmen who ordered Harvey into the presbytery. The priest was tied up and the presbytery ransacked. During the ordeal, Harvey was threatened .
Teen takes his own life

In 2015, he spent a term at a secondary school in Belmont and that was the last time he ever saw a classroom. Sources said the teen was eager to resume his education but was denied the opportunity to do his School Based Assessment (SBA) projects in preparation for the CSE C examination.

Newsday was told that while the teen was denied an opprtunity to do his SBAs at the safe home, other inmates were allowed to attend school. The question must now be asked, why was he being treated differently from the others, said a Childrens Authority source.

According to reports, at 7.10 pm on Sunday, the teen was found hanging in the bathroom of the safe house in East Trinidad.

He was found with two belts which the source said were joined together and tied to a rafter.

Newsday was told that only last Friday during an evaluation, the teen was found to be suffering from depression. That child was brilliant, ask anyone at the North Eastern College where he was once a student. He had a bright future but never got the chance, said the source.

On Monday, the Childrens Authority issued a press release expressing deep regret over the teens death. The statement said: The Childrens Authority is deeply saddened by the unfortunate death of a child at our Child Support Centre. At this time, the Authority is committed to the safety and well-being of the other children at the Centre and therapeutic support and counselling are being provided to the children as well as the staff at the Centre. In the Senate sitting yesterday, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young, in reply to an urgent question by Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen, said that Cabinet had expressed its sorrow over the boys death. Young said the Child Protection Unit (CPU) is conducting an investigation.

Further, the Childrens Authority has also launched its own investigation to see if any protocols were breached. He said the report will soon be received by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
Public vex cases not adjourned due to Bret

In a statement on Monday, Court Protocol and Information Manager Alicia Carter- Fisher said matters scheduled for hearing yesterday would proceed as listed from 10 am, unless attorneys or parties had been otherwise notified. Other services of the court were also opened from 10 am instead of the usual 9 am, because of the tropical storm warning that was in effect.

However, it was not business as usual at the Port of Spain Magistrates Court. There were only three note-takers present who had to be juggled between four magistrates.

No remanded prisoners were brought to court but there was the full complement of police, all of whom had been called out for active duty when the storm warning went into effect.

Only a few charge cases (prisoners who were charged over the weekend) were brought to court yesterday and several police who charged people were said to be out on the field as a result of the passage of Bret. There were no clerks up until midday.

The situation was similar at other magistrates courts and also at the Port of Spain High Court, where a number of court staff did not turn up for work.

They could have just put all the Tuesday cases to Wednesday, instead of putting people through this pressure. It was really inconsiderate.

Port of Spain is a ghost town. Taxis drivers not working, even the bus not working and they have people coming here for their matter to get adjourned as usual.

Why come on a day like today for something that they always doing, asked a member of the public.

In a subsequent statement yesterday, Carter- Fisher indicated all magistrates courts were closed at noon yesterday, owing to difficulties being experienced in the aftermath of the tropical storm. Carter- Fisher noted that all counter and other services of the High Court continued to be accessible to the public until the close of business and the public was advised to only access the services of the Supreme Court if there were urgent documents for filing and other business that cannot be done today when the High Court will be fully operational.
Chinese murders shrouded in mystery

Contacted yesterday for information on how long Shirui and Yanli were living in Trinidad and whether their bodies would be buried locally or returned to China for burial, director of political affairs at the embassy Lu Eing said he was unable to comment because what was being requested was personal information. That case is under investigation and we will keep in contact with the relevant authorities, Eing said. We at the embassy hope for peace and peacefulness for all the people of this great country. The double murder, which left people and police puzzled as to why anyone would unload over 60 bullets in taking Shirui and Yanlis lives, is being closely investigated by an inter-agency team of police. A team comprising police from the Homicide Bureau Region III, the Criminal Investigations Division, the Criminal Gang Intelligence Unit, and Task Force are collaborating to investigate the killings as well as that of Everton Moses, Kimroy Maharaj, Jabari Etienne, and Wendell Pierre which occurred in the San Fernando region over the last two weeks.

Possible links between Moses murder and those of Shirui and Yanli are being explored as both occurred only two days apart with similar degrees of gruesomeness.
Mayor grateful for no Bret havoc

All the shelters were ready and fully equipped to provide accommodation for those who might have been in distress. There were a number of corporate citizens also willing to help and we have been in touch with them on a consistent basis. He continued, I only heard about some trees had fallen and that was taken care of by our emergency crew. Martinez said that while monitoring the after-effects of the storm via social media, it appeared that South Trinidad bore the brunt of Brets ferocity. I am seeing some pictures coming in that shows South Trinidad and the east coast looked to have sustained the most damage from this storm.

We have also assisted the Sangre Grande Corporation who asked for equipment. We deployed some equipment to Sangre Grande, the mayor said. He said the Ministry of Local Government is coordinating with all mayors to reach out to others are in distress.
Rondon to homeowners: Maintain your properties

Rondon made the appeal after hosting an emergency meeting with councillors and aldermen at the corporation after the passage of Tropical Storm Bret.

The storm resulted in flooding in various parts of the Toco/Sangre Grande and Cumuto/ Manzanilla constituencies, including Vega de Oropouche, Valencia, Sangre Grande North West, and La Seiva, a small village off Toco Road.

Several homeowners also reported that their roofs had been blown off during the storm.

Rondon said while the corporation and its supporting agencies would do their best to assist the distressed residents, homeowners also have to take better care of their properties.

Many of them have allowed their places to become run down, Rondon said.

Some of them have termite- eaten posts. They are not repairing anything and as rain falls and the roof gone, they looking for Government to come in. I am saying that has to stop. Rondon said a proper assessment of the extent of damage throughout the constituencies will be undertaken today.

He said he was working closely with the Defence Force and the Office for Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) to get supplies and relief to residents in Valencia who were affected.

He said the corporation has an increased responsiveness to local emergencies after last years torrential rainfall which left parts of Valencia and Grande Riviere temporarily isolated. He praised Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein and Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan for their cooperation thus far and expressed optimism that the situation will be resolved in the shortest possible time.
Rambharat: Police part of criminal justice system failure

I am on record...I am not a fan of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. He was contributing to debate yesterday in the Senate on the Plea Bargaining Bill.

He said the real work is the implementation of the legislation regarding the criminal justice system but the bureaucracy over time in the court and the police have failed to step up to give effect to what the Parliament has done.

He referred to a Newsday front page photograph in early March which featured a 14-year-old girl who was consumed with grief as she bent over the body of her father who was shot and killed in Debe.

One of the things we miss is the real victims of the failures of our criminal justice system. And that is all those children who have been left behind without one or, in some cases, both parents. And as I looked at (the child) on the Newsday, I felt that as a legislator in my own right and as a Parliament we ought to really do better as we debate this thing we call the criminal justice system. He said as the girl was crying over her father, he felt powerless because he could not offer any assurance to her, as a legislator, that anything he did would have the requisite impact on the criminal justice system. He explained that the real work is in the implementation.

He also said the chance of the person who killed the girls father being apprehended is very small with the detection rate for murder at under 15 per cent.

He said if the person was found, it would be an average of eight years before an indictment and, assuming that takes place, the chances of a successful prosecution is also under 15 per cent.

Rambharat said the reason plea bargaining has not worked in the past is because there is no real fear of the accused criminal that he would be convicted. He said in order for it to work, there is the bigger task of fixing the criminal justice system.

He said good legislation can go to waste in the hands of bureaucrats and the DNA bill, brought since 2001, had only four of the 13 requirements met.
Chote: Autistic child arrested by police

She was contributing to debate yesterday in the Senate on the Plea Bargaining Bill.

She said she was afraid that subsection 4 (b) (iii) of the bill was capable of abuse. Chote explained that the subsection says that a prosecutor agrees to take a particular course of action including an undertaking not to institute charges against family members or friends of the accused person or suspect.

This brings me to the very real issues that we have in the prosecution of narcotics offences or firearm offences where officers go to a house and they conduct a search and they find narcotics and/or firearms and maybe money.

Now I have had the experience, where despite the fact that the law says that you ought not to round up the whole lot of people including grandmother right down to child and take them to the police station and keep them there under arrest. What you should be doing is you should be looking to see who is the person you are able to charge as a result of your investigations. Chote, a senior attorney, said she had the unfortunate experience of being involved in a matter where police went to a particular home, arrested three children, two of whom were Canadian- born children visiting their father here who had been separated from their mother, and the third was an autistic child. She continued: That child was taken to the police station, kept there, police looked on while the child had seizures. Had it not been for the gumption of a young attorney-at-law who simply walked into the station and walked out with the child, that child may have been kept in custody along with the mother. She said she has seen situations that allow for abuse because not every cop is a good cop. She advised that in the legislation the attorney general should include a phrase such as where there is evidence to sustain a charge.
Mark wants Massy details

In a supplemental query to his listed question, Mark said if Hinds was so optimistic about the deal as stated in his main reply then maybe he could supply the relevant documents, including the due diligence report (that is, a buyers appraisal of a business before purchasing) and a shareholders agreement plus two other documents.

Hinds called Marks request flabbergasting. He said the deal has not yet been completed, a confidentiality agreement was signed and the telecom sector is a very competitive environment.

Hinds invited Mark to desist from his questioning, but Mark declared, I decline your offer. Asked by Independent Senator Paul Richards if job losses might occur as often happens in such company acquisitions, Hinds said that matter has not yet arisen although in such matters all such things are possible. Mark asked the rationale for buying Massy, given its losses in the past two years, but Senate president Christine Kangaloo disallowed the question.
Sinanan: Zero collected from drill ships

So said Works Minister Rohan Sinanan in the Senate yesterday in reply to a listed question by Opposition Senator Rodger Samuel.

Sinanan said in August 2015, Cabinet (under the former Peoples Partnership) gave approval for Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc of Houston Texas to stack/layup six deepwater drill ships in the gulf on behalf of the owners for a period of five years at a cost of US$80,000 per ship per annum, that is, US$220 per day.

He said that after the 2015 General Election his ministry (under the Peoples National Movement) re-negotiated with Transocean to stack/layup six deepwater drill ships for three years at US$750 per vessel per day, with an option for a fourth and fifth year for US$1,000 per ship per day.

The three-year period runs from October 2015. In March 2016, three more ships were approved to anchor in the gulf, at newly re-negotiated fees of US$1,000 per ship per day for three years with an option to renew for a fourth and fifth year at US$1,250 per day, he added.

To date, no funds have been collected, Sinanan said.

A decision has been taken for the development of a framework for the expansion of layups before further action is taken on the matter. This framework is now ready to go to Cabinet.

Opposition Senator Gerard Ramdeen asked why no fees were yet collected? Sinanan replied, The Government has to be careful what we allow in the Gulf. He said that in the past, for just a US$250 fee, foreign ships have been left in the gulf, creating wrecks which the Government must then spend millions of dollars to remove.
Rambachan: Distribute grants for people affected by Bret

Speaking with Newsday at his constituency office in Gasparillo yesterday morning, Rambachan said although damage in his constituency was minimal, there were around ten families in Brasso Venado in central Trinidad whose roofs blew off on Monday night.

We need to get the National Self Help Commission and the minister responsible to move expeditiously to provide some kind of grant to these families so they could put their lives back in order, Rambachan said. Right now a number of them have tarpaulins for roofs on their homes.

What is even more disturbing about this is that these are not people who can get back on their feet. They are people who are parttime employed, some of them very unemployed, in one case a single-mother and a daughter. They are low-income families. Rambachan also praised the Couva-Tabaquite- Talparo Regional Corporation for its preparedness and its response to the minor emergencies in his constituency.
Struggling Japanese electronics maker Toshiba says that it picked a government-led multinational consortium as the preferred bidder for the sale of its memory chip unit.

The company made the decision at a meeting of its board of directors on Wednesday.

The consortium includes the government-backed fund Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, the Development Bank of Japan, and American private equity firm Bain Capital. South Korean chip maker SK Hynix is also part of the team.

Toshiba released a statement saying the consortium offered the best proposal in terms of valuation, retention of employees and maintenance of sensitive technology within Japan.

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Did Hillary Clinton exploit black prison labor while her husband ran Arkansas?

Throughout her political career Hillary Clinton, like her president husband, fancied herself a champion of minorities. Because they are Democrats, you see, no one cares more about minorities than they do. Heck, Bill was even nicknamed the first black president and was even honored as such by the Congressional Black Caucus in 2008 (an honor that likely infuriated the countrys first real black president, Barack Obama).

But as is often the case, the reality for the Clintons  and Democratic politicians in general  is much different than the hype: Hillary, for certain, is no champion of minorities. And in fact, in her own words, she may very well have exploited black prisoners during her time as first lady of Arkansas.

In recent weeks Twitter exploded (as it often does) over the release of two pages of Clintons 1996 book, It Takes A Village, in which she writes about prisoners who worked in the Arkansas governors mansion she shared when her husband was then head of state, from 1979-1981 and 1983-1991.

The release, by @JeanetteJing, a Left-wing activist who supported Clintons primary opponent in last years presidential race, Sen. Bernie Sanders, stirred controversy over the former first ladys essential approval of using free black labor  some would say reminiscent of slavery.

When we moved in, I was told that using prison labor at the governors mansion was a longstanding tradition, which kept down costs, she wrote, adding that most of the laborers were convicted killers. She said she became friendly with a few of them, African-American men in their thirties who had already served 12 to 18 years of their sentences.

And even though she was friendly with a few, Clinton nevertheless noted: We enforced rules strictly and sent back to prison any inmate who broke a rule. Though she has no special training or education in psychiatry, Clinton nevertheless asserted that the men did not have inferior IQs or an inability to apply moral reasoning. Rather, they were probably just emotional illiterates.

Clinton never discussed whether the prisoners working at the mansion were compensated in any way, though a 2016 article published by Mother Jones reported that some states, including Texas, Arkansas, and Georgia, do not pay inmates at all.

That prompted Jing to tweet: Hillary Clinton was a direct participant in what @samswey correctly described as modern slavery.

In her tome, Clinton attempted to soft-pedal the reality of black men not being paid to serve wealthy white women. However, she gave a speech in 1996  the same year her book was published  in support of her husbands very controversial (among the Left) Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which critics say streamlined mass incarceration that disproportionately affected black men and especially young black men. (RELATED: Wing Nut: Hillary NOW Claiming Trumps Shoestring Campaign Operations Were Vital To The Russians So They Could Meddle In Election)

We also have to have an organized effort against the gangs, Clinton said during her New Hampshire speech, according to Disobedient Media. They are often the kinds of kids that are called super predators  no conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first, we have to bring them to heel.

Of course, Clinton has since apologized for the politically expedient speech, which was full of inflammatory language. And she has also said portions of her husbands 1994 legislation were a mistake. But thats Clinton, isnt it? Shes all about being politically expedient, which means she has zero credibility and even less integrity.

She reached out to the black community in 2008 (when she lost the nomination to Obama) and again in 2016 (when she lost the general election to Trump). But what she cannot hide is that she did support her husbands crime bill, and during his tenure the sentencing disparity of blacks for crack cocaine possession far surpassed that of powdered cocaine possession, which more often was a crime committed by whites.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources:

DisobedientMedia.com

NewsTarget.com

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For months now, weve been contemplating the future of healthcare and how Nokias digital health products could play a role in shaping it. Well, the wait is now over, as the company launched its portfolio of digital health products today.





Nokias (News - Alert) portfolio is the largest, most comprehensive line of connected consumer health products in the market to date. The line of trackers, scales, vital health devices and home products are now available in-store and online through top retailers.

One of the aspects bound to make Nokias digital health products popular is the fact that is appeals to all kinds of people. A lot of people put off beginning a healthy lifestyle because they think it requires drastic changes. And for some, maybe those drastic changes work. For others, though, a slower and more gradual approach is needed. Nokias products can be used for either kind of user, as they offer convenience, choice and accessibility for every lifestyle.

New products announced today include Nokia Body, a BMI Wi-Fi connected scale and Nokia BPM+, a compact blood pressure monitor with a flexible cuff.

Additionally, the redesigned Nokia Health Mate app functions as the heart of the ecosystem by giving users a 360-degree view of their well-being. It collects data from each device to provide insights and trends relating to weight, activity, sleep and blood pressure. It also offers new wellness programs to help users reach goals based on their specific health needs, as well as five new programs including Sleep Smarter, Better Body, Pregnancy Tracker, Healthier Heart and the Leaderboard. These programs are available on Health Mate to improve sleep, manage weight and fat mass, control blood pressure, manage weight gain during pregnancy and get more active.

Cedric Hutchings, vice president of Digital Health at Nokia, described the motivation behind the digital health line, saying, Nokia's line of digital health products delivers actionable insights, giving users the equivalent of a daily check-upToday's launch extends the accessibility of our products to a broader range of users and needs, giving families the personalized experience they need to live healthier lives together.

As Hutchings suggests, the Health Mate app, combined with the other new products, should help even the most hesitant user transform their lifestyles for the better.

Edited by Maurice Nagle
"Love wins."



Warren Gus Wesche

was this week's winner.



The winner's name will be put into a drawing for a free month subscription or extension.



Look for a new photo Monday.
King Salman Wednesday in a series of appointments positioned his 31-year old son, defense minister and Deputy Crown Prince as his direct heir.

A royal decree published by the Saudi Press Agency announced the changes in the royal establishment, saying that Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been approved by 31 out of 34 members of the Saudi Allegiance Council as heir to the throne.

Mohammed bin Salman has also been named deputy Prime Minister but still conserves his role as defense minister.

The new Crown Prince has taken over from his uncle Prince Mohammed bin Nayef who has been stripped off his title of Crown Prince and powerful position of Interior minister.

The young Prince has been rumored to ascend to the kingdoms top role after his father entrusted him with major roles such as Head of the defense and overseer of the kingdoms economy.

Mohamed bin Salman spearheads the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in the Yemen war, which has been going on for more than two year now. The young Saudi Crown Prince also soared to the international front linking up the country with the rest of the world, including the United States that he visited many times.

He appeared to be the key player in President Trumps May visit to the kingdom, which warmed up relations between the two countries after Riyadh fell out of favor under President Obama.

Former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef is reported to have lost the favor of his half-brother King Salman, for his role in the crisis with Qatar.

The new reshuffle occurs as tension with rival Iran boils again.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has expressed his animosity towards the Islamic Republic and has vowed to engage in a war with Teheran which he accused of aiming to control the Islamic world.
Morocco, which is known for its exceptional generosity and unmatched solidarity with disaster-stricken people and those crying for urgent help from around the world, decided Tuesday to open its doors to a group of Syrian families trapped at borders with neighboring Algeria.

The move was made by King Mohammed VI on humanitarian grounds, said the Royal Office in a statement.

The Moroccan Sovereign has ordered immediate treatment of the situation of 13 Syrian families who have been blocked at the Algerian-Moroccan border for several weeks.

This decision reflects the humane commitment of the Kingdom in the treatment of migratory issues and comes during these blessed days of the holy month of Ramadan, the month of piety and solidarity, said the Royal Office statement, noting that it is an exceptional measure dictated by humanist values.

Forty-one refugees including women and children had been stranded in dire conditions near the Moroccan town of Figuig since April 17, 2017.

Earlier this month, Algerian press reports said Algerian authorities admitted 41 Syrian refugees, but the news turned out to be fake. Last month, the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) issued a press release calling for urgent action to help Syrian refugees who had been trapped in the borders between Morocco and Algeria.

Prompt action by both governments, is needed in facilitating the immediate and safe passage of the forty-one vulnerable Syrian refugees, among them children, babies and women  including at least one pregnant woman reportedly in need of urgent Caesarean section, said the UNHRC.

So, Morocco, beacon of solidarity and champion of humanitarian causes, has responded positively to the UNHRC call, while Algerian regime turned a blind eye to the dramatic situation of this group of Syrian families moaning at its doorstep.
iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Less than an hour after White House press secretary Sean Spicer admitted that neither President Donald Trump nor his advisers had viewed a draft of Senate Republicans' health care bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced that it will make its debut on Thursday.



The announcement comes as Democrats, and some Republicans, on Capitol Hill have voiced concerns that the process to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act has been shrouded in secrecy.



"I expect to have a discussion draft on Thursday and we will go to the floor once we have a CBO score, likely next week," said McConnell Tuesday afternoon.



The majority leader insisted that Americans will have "plenty of time" to review the bill, saying, "We've been discussing all the elements of this endlessly for seven years. Everybody pretty well understands it. Everybody will have adequate time to take a look at it. I think this will be about as transparent as it can be."



Earlier Tuesday, in response to a question at the day's press briefing, Spicer told reporters that he didn't know if Trump had seen the bill.



"I know the president has been on the phone extensively with the leader and with key senators so I don't know if he's seen the legislation or not," said Spicer. "I know that they've been working extremely hard and the president has been giving his input and his ideas, feedback to them, and he's very excited about where this thing is headed."



Pressed whether the president's advisers had viewed a bill, Spicer again said that he was unaware and added that he himself did not know "where we are in terms of a final plan."



"I know that they are up there working hand in glove with them," said Spicer, adding, "I know that the staff has been working very closely with the leader's staff, with [the Senate Finance Committee] and others, so I don't want to get ahead of an announcement on Sen. McConnell saying when that final product is done."



Earlier in the briefing, Spicer expounded upon a CNBC report from earlier Tuesday that Trump told a group of technology CEOs that the health care plan needed to have "more heart."



I mean, the president clearly wants a bill that has heart in it, said Spicer. He believes that health care is something that is near and dear to so many families and individuals.



McConnell declined to describe how the Senate bill will have more "heart" than the House bill, saying only that it will "speak for itself" and "be different."





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Karen Handels win over Jon Ossoff was anything but simple. Photo: Jessica McGowan; Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The long, expensive, bitter battle over a short-term House seat in the sixth congressional district of Georgia finally ended in a 5248 victory for Republican Karen Handel over Democrat Jon Ossoff. As I noted as the returns were still coming in, the spin wars over the meaning of this contest will be nearly as intense as the contest itself. Here are some things we legitimately learned from GA-06:

Democrats arent the only voters with sufficient enthusiasm to turn out in todays political climate. The template for a Democratic win in what is after all a congressional district Republicans have easily held since it was created was fairly simple: mobilize aroused Democrats, Democratic-leaning independents, and anti-Trump Republicans to the max and count on GOP divisions and doubts about Trump to produce a crucial turnout advantage. It looked like it might work in the special elections first round, when several GOP rivals went after front-runner Karen Handel with hammers and tongs and Democratic turnout reached midterm levels. But Ossoff fell just short of a majority. Had Georgia followed its usual practice of a quick runoff election, he would have probably won. But with two months to work with and plenty of national GOP money on hand, Team Handel slowly but surely built an effective turnout machine for the runoff. In the end, Handel nearly erased Ossoffs big first-round advantage in in-person early voting, and total turnout soared well above midterm levels, reaching 259,000 (as opposed to 210,000 in 2014).

With skill and luck Republicans can walk the tightrope between embracing and repudiating Donald Trump. GA-06 was the only competitive House district on this years menu where Trump did relatively poorly in 2016. Indeed, after last night the president retained his record as having the worst performance of any congressional or presidential candidate in GA-06 (in its current, North Atlanta incarnation) ever. So the trick for Karen Handel was to keep her distance from Trump without antagonizing his supporters. For the most part she succeeded. She may have received some inadvertent help in this respect from her opponent, who more or less abandoned his original make Trump furious messaging in favor of validating himself as acceptable to swing voters. As the Washington Posts Dave Weigel points out, Team Ossoff did not run a single ad tying Handel to Trump. So she was able to have it both ways. For all of the presidents crude chest-thumping and self-congratulations after the race was called, he was less of a factor in this election than probably anyone expected.

Negative ads still work. The clear and consistent focus of the GOP message in GA-06 was to remind the districts dominant Republicans that Jon Ossoff is a Democrat, and to convince them his mild, centrist persona disguised a monstrous radical leftist who is not one of us. This conveniently fit in with Karen Handels constant emphasis on Ossoffs non-residency in the district. The barrage of anti-Ossoff ads financed by outside GOP groups was relentless and even to my jaundiced eye unusually shrill and, well, stupid: again and again Ossoff was depicted as a puppet of Nancy Pelosi and her godless San Francisco hippie allies. Once comedian Kathy Griffin became a national pariah via her own stupid (and universally denounced) video of a beheaded Donald Trump, she began to be featured heavily in these ads on the specious grounds that she endorsed Ossoff on Twitter (she had no actual contact with the campaign in any way, shape, or form). Every anti-Ossoff ad I saw also featured anarchists shattering windows and setting fires. The very worst ad, appearing on Fox News just before the election, included images of shooting victim Representative Steve Scalise alongside the suggestion that Ossoffs extremist friends had to be stopped by the voters of GA-06. It was so evil that is was actually condemned by Handel. But while this particular ad was put up by a relatively obscure right-wing PAC, most of the hate-filled cascade of anti-Ossoff ads were sponsored by the official House GOP party committee and by House Speaker Paul Ryans PAC. Whether or not they really made a difference, Handel won, which means we are going to see a lot more like them in 2018.

Issues dont matter much if you dont address them. One of the most frequent criticisms we will hear of the Ossoff campaign is that it was not really about any of the issues that separate candidates, mobilize supporters, and attract swing voters. Had Handel lost, she would have received exactly the same criticism. Yes, the candidates had two debates that were actually pretty wonky. But despite some skirmishing on health care, taxes, and spending  and a rare Handel gaffe when she said she did not support a livable wage  the campaigns were more about sending signals than crusading for or against policy proposals. Thanks to the basically conservative nature of the district and the candidates own calculations, messaging in this race really boiled down to the Republicans calling Ossoff an out-of-touch leftys lefty and Ossoff saying Im not! Ossoff presumably decided specific issues would not help him with swing voters, and that his own base would turn out robustly thanks to the desire to smite Donald Trump and his campaigns massive get-out-the-vote operation. So now Democrats are left wondering if a campaign that obsessively tried to exploit the unpopular health-care bill Handel said she would have voted for, or embraced popular progressive causes from environmental protection to education to protection of Social Security and Medicare, might have done better. We may never know.

The campaigns in GA-06 may have proven it is possible to contact voters too much. There is abundant anecdotal evidence that the ground game in GA-06 was so intense and relentless that by the time June 20 rolled around many voters just wanted it all to end. And in part because the money-and-volunteer-rich Ossoff campaign was engaged in this level of effort from the beginning, the Democrat may have been unequally affected by voter fatigue, as this report from Business Insider suggests:

I have received non-stop calls, texts emails for two months solid. Its harassment honestly, local artist Sydney Daniel told Business Insider. I liked Ossoff before but now I dont want to vote at all because of how obnoxious and ruthless they have been.

Pretty much everyone agrees that the skyrocketing early voting numbers just over a fourth of voters cast ballots early before the first round, while over half did so in the runoff  was in part driven by people who wanted to get themselves off campaign contact lists and stop the phone calls and knocks on the door. Add in the saturation-level and highly redundant ads, and you have a recipe for taking the fun out of voting. It is not surprising that some of the informal hindsight commentary you heard from Democrats yesterday was that the Ossoff campaign should have devoted less money to hounding the same group of likely voters and more to registering and mobilizing marginal voters.

The idea that it is possible to overkill in get-out-the-vote efforts is a highly heretical one that political professionals will resist. And most campaigns arent going to have the kind of money that makes it possible. But its a phenomenon worth watching.

The results in Georgia, and in other 2017 special elections, should be encouraging to Democrats  but they dont guarantee a big midterm win. Yes, a lot of Democrats are depressed over what many had expected to be an Ossoff win, and more generally, on the failure of the Donkey Party to convert anti-Trump passion into a special election victory this year (the earlier contest in CA-34 which was dominated by Democratic candidates was never competitive, and two future special elections in heavily Republican Utah and Alabama probably wont be, either). But as virtually every observer who was not simply spinning has pointed out, the special House elections in Kansas, Montana, Georgia, and South Carolina (the scene of an surprisingly strong if unsuccessful June 20 Democratic candidacy) were all on GOP turf  as one might expect since the vacancies to be filled were created by Trumps appointment of incumbents to his Cabinet! And without question, all four Democratic candidates in these elections performed well above historic expectations (as House election wizard David Wasserman measured it, these Democrats won on average 8 percentage points more than the character of the districts they were running in would have suggested). Even more fundamentally, these results indicate that the recent pattern of Democrats struggling to turn out their voters in non-presidential elections may have come to an end, just in time for the 2018 midterms.

It is impossible to tell from these or any other special elections what will happen next year  particularly when the main variable in every midterm, the performance and popularity of the president of the United States, is so difficult to predict with any precision. But Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight probably expressed where we are right now as well as anyone could:

The results simultaneously suggest that an impressively wide array of Republican-held seats might be competitive next year  perhaps as many as 60 to 80  and that Democrats are outright favorites in only a fraction of these, perhaps no more than a dozen.

In order to win a net of 24 seats next year  enough to flip the House  Democrats may therefore need to target dozens of Republican-held seats and see where the chips fall. They can variously attempt anti-Trump, anti-Republican or anti-incumbent messages depending on the district.

[A] pretty good year for Democrats might yield a gain of only 15 seats for the party, whereas a very good year  if the political climate is just a few points more Democratic-leaning  could produce a 50-seat swing instead.

So while Republicans have earned a moment of celebration for holding off a Democratic assault on their home territory, Democrats should stay focused on the big picture, and the still robust possibility of a 2018 wave in their favor.
They dont see eye to eye. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Bill Ingalls/NASA

It is no secret that the idea of impeaching President Donald Trump has slowly evolved from a rage-filled liberal fantasy to a real, if remote, contingency should some of the worst suspicions about the president on the Russian or financial fronts prove credible  or if Trump uses his powers to stop investigations that might or might not bear impeachable fruit.

But if you want a particularly good indicator that the specter of impeachment is in the room if not on the table among Democrats, here it is: Senator Al Franken is warning Democrats to beware of a big problem with removing the 45th president from office: it would produce a 46th president named Mike Pence.

Heres what Franken said in an interview published yesterday:

One of his partys highest-profile lawmakers, Franken has pressed law enforcement officials to step up their scrutiny of Trumps finances and has said everything points to collusion between Trumps team and the Russian government. But he warned that the outcome of impeachment would not be the answer to Democratic dreams.

Pence ran the transition and some of the very worst nominees, I felt  [EPA chief Scott] Pruitt, [Education Secretary Betsy] DeVos, [HHS Secretary Tom] Price, [Budget director Mick] Mulvaney  were Pence selections, clearly, I think, Franken told IBT. Hes ideological, I consider him a zealot, and I think that in terms of a lot of domestic policy certainly would be worse than Trump.

Franken went on to allow that Pence might be less dangerous than Trump in the foreign-policy arena. But still, the weighing of the pros and cons between the president and vice-president is a bit of a first, at least among Democrats with the stature of the junior senator from Minnesota.

In the brief history of presidential-impeachment deliberations, the identity of the putative replacement has been an occasional issue. Under the succession rules then in effect, Senate president pro tem Ben Wade would have become POTUS had Andrew Johnson been convicted in 1868. That would have suited the radical Republicans trying to push Johnson out of office since Wade was one of their own.

When Watergate began to consume Richard Nixons presidency, he initially spoke of Vice-President Spiro Agnew  whom most liberals loathed and many Republicans considered a lightweight  as his insurance policy against impeachment. But then Agnew was suddenly forced to resign in October of 1973 due to an unrelated corruption scandal, and Nixon lost his impeachment insurance. Under the relatively new 25th Amendment to the Constitution setting up the presidential succession we are familiar with today, Nixon appointed House Republican leader Gerald Ford to replace Agnew. On the one hand, Ford was a hard-core loyalist to Nixon in his hour of need. On the other, he was sufficiently liked and respected across party lines to make him a palatable successor.

Al Gore was considered too integral a part of the Clinton administration to stand out to people in either party as representing a good or bad alternative to Bill Clinton during the GOPs doomed effort to remove the 42nd president from office (though by all accounts, Gore was infuriated by the Clintonian behavior that weighed upon his own efforts to become president in 2000).

Id say Pence would fall somewhere between Ford and Agnew on the spectrum of palatability to members of the opposition party in case of Trumps impeachment and removal or resignation. Hed be perfectly acceptable to most Republicans if Trump quit or really had to be removed. Unlike the Democrats who confronted Nixon, of course, todays dont control the levers of impeachment (though they could well control the lower House after the midterms). So Franken is very likely contributing to a debate that wont ultimately matter. But he is offering some of the fierier anti-Trump Democrats some food for thought.
Donald Trump. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

On November 17, 1973, President Richard Nixon delivered a speech that became famous for his self-defeating boast, I am not a crook. The windup to the infamous phrase consisted of Nixon defending his aggressive, but legal, tax-avoidance strategies. I made my mistakes, but in all of my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service  I have earned every cent, he insisted. (This was perhaps half-true.) And in all of my years of public life, he continued, I have never obstructed justice. (This was not true  the year before, Nixon had tried to get the CIA to quash the FBI investigation into Watergate.)

Like Nixon, Donald Trump denies having engaged in obstruction of justice, even though he plainly has (both by asking intelligence agencies to push back against the FBI, according to reports, and by firing the FBI director over the Russia investigation, by Trumps own admission). Unlike Nixon, Trump does not deny profiting from public service. He does it brazenly and flamboyantly.

If he were a normal president, rather than one who produced calamities at an unprecedented pace, Trumps open profiteering would receive five-alarm media coverage and threats of impeachment. The Washington Post recently reported that Trumps budget slashes funding for a wide array of low-income housing programs, the one notable exception being a program that his own firm benefits from. The story connects this shady decision to an even shadier one: Trumps appointment of Lynne Patton  a wedding planner close to the Trump family who possesses zero relevant experience and who has falsified her resume  to oversee the Department of Housing and Urban Developments programs in New York City. That is, Trump is using his budget to suspiciously single out for favoritism a program from which his firm benefits, and then installing a wildly unqualified personal loyalist in a position where she could protect his funding stream. This scandal alone could shake a non-Trump presidency to its foundations.

That it has caused barely a ripple helps to explain why Trump feels emboldened to locate the first fundraiser for his reelection campaign at his hotel in Washington. Trumps Washington hotel has already raked in cash from lobbyists and government officials, foreign and domestic, seeking to curry favor with the First Family. Trump has gotten away with it because his party has evinced zero interest in restraining him. The GOP Congress has quashed investigations of his profiteering or demands that he produce his tax returns. Now the party elite will literally be suborned at an event conjoining his public duties and the fattening of his own wallet.

History has mostly forgotten what Nixon said after his famous line: I am not a crook. I have earned everything I have got. The premise of that statement was that a president who enriches himself through office is a crook. So, what does that make Donald Trump?
Karen Handel loves the GOP voters and the national GOP money that saved her bacon in GA-06. Photo: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

Everyone predicted the special congressional runoff in the Sixth District of Georgia would be a barn burner, and it was. In the end, a much-improved early-voting performance and the districts basic pro-GOP complexion enabled Republican Karen Handel to prevail in a race that Democrats hoped Jon Ossoff could win after his impressive first-round performance in April.

This has famously been the most expensive U.S. House election ever, with total spending  roughly even for Republicans and Democrats when outside groups are taken into account  going over $50 million. It is hard to imagine that either team left a stone unturned, an ad un-run, or a potential voter uncontacted. With both campaigns operating at saturation level, what seems to have happened is that lagging GOP turnout in the first round caught up with the aroused Democratic and Democrat-leaning independent turnout. That made this a more typical election (total turnout exceeded midterm levels), and Republicans usually win Georgias Sixth. Ossoff did not convert enough GOP voters to change that dynamic, which means Handels strategy  keeping a prudent distance from Donald Trump and reminding GOP voters in endlessly rerun ads that the mild-mannered centrist candidate was linked to extremist liberals ranging from anarchist street protesters to Hollywood to Nancy Pelosi  was effective.

Mechanically, Handel kept Ossoffs in-person early voting lead small and then enjoyed her expected advantage in election day voting (helped, perhaps, by terrible weather today that seemed to hit Democratic parts of the district especially hard). An anticipated Ossoff edge in mail-in ballots  the last to be countedjust wasnt enough. Based on preliminary results, Ossoff barely managed to match his share of the first-round vote  48 percent  even as Handel improved from 20 percent to well over 50. Clearly, the GOP managed to come together for the final vote, even though some of Handels first-round rivals had attacked her without inhibitions.

The spin over the meaning of this election could become as intense as the campaign itself. Donald Trump immediately boasted about Handels win  and Fox Newss reporting about it  on Twitter:

Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017

Thank you @FoxNews "Huge win for President Trump and GOP in Georgia Congressional Special Election."  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017

The efforts of Trumps vice-president, his HHS secretary (who represented this district until January), and his Agriculture secretary (who was governor of Georgia for eight years) could have made a small difference. The national GOP groups, including the official Republican Party committee and Paul Ryans PAC, that financed and executed most of Handels campaign will get a lot of credit as well.

But without much question, in this district (unlike some demographically different areas where he might actually be of help to his party) the president represented a millstone Handel managed to overcome by doing better there than Trump did last November. Now, as before, Donald Trump posted the worst numbers in Georgias Sixth of any Republican running there since the district was formed in 1992.

As for Democrats, the main culprit tonight was probably the outsize expectations they developed in what was after all a Republican district that Tom Price won seven straight times with a minimum of 61 percent of the vote. There is a reason Ossoffs strategy was to win in the first round before local and national Republicans got their act together.

There may be some intra-party recriminations among Democrats that Ossoff was too centrist, or counted too much on swing-voter persuasion rather than mobilizing first-time voters in the districts small but growing minority communities. And the loss (along with another, more surprising near miss in South Carolina tonight) means Democrats will enter the 2018 election cycle without that satisfying mark in the W column to encourage donors and help recruit candidates.

Democrats searching for a silver lining in the Georgia race dont have to look too far. This is the third consecutive special election (the fourth if you count South Carolina) in a historically Republican district where the Democratic percentage of the vote jumped sharply. Democrats will surely retake the House if the swing in their direction is similarly strong in 2018. In retrospect, ironically, tonights results may inspire new respect for Hillary Clintons performance  when she came within a point of Donald Trump in this district last November  and provide some new data points for doing well in GOP-leaning districts that resemble GA-06 with its highly educated population.

As a longtime Georgian, I would add that in my experience Georgia Democrats dont much show up to vote in special elections, or runoffs, much less special-election runoffs. That so many did in this election was a minor miracle.

Republicans will rightly celebrate this win tonight, but there remain clouds on the midterm horizon as dark as those that poured rain on parts of GA-06 today. And Democrats must once again satisfy themselves with a moral victory until the real thing arrives, perhaps next year.
Not everyone was involved this time. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

For all the talk about an eight-member Supreme Court being bad for the country, imagine a diminished, six-member version of the court making, or unmaking, a key principle of American law in ways that will long outlast todays constitutional moment. Thats exactly what happened Monday, when a grand total of four justices issued a significant ruling that more or less gutted a persons ability, citizen or not, to sue federal officials who engage in egregious violations of constitutional rights.

On the chopping block was whats known as a Bivens remedy. It is named for the case Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents, a 1971 relic in which the Supreme Court, pretty much out of whole cloth, created a way for plaintiffs to sue federal officials for damages over civil rights abuses. It turns out Congress passed a law to permit similar lawsuits against local officials, but never did the same for the feds. The high court landed on an implied right to sue derived from that law and the Constitution itself  even though neither says much about such a right. The decision was a display of liberal judicial power at its finest. Lawmakers who didnt like it couldve overruled it with a law, but never did.

Enter the Supreme Courts four conservatives, minus Justice Neil Gorsuch, who hadnt yet been nominated when the court heard Ziglar v. Abbasi, a case argued just days before Donald Trump took office. The dispute called on the high court to reexamine the validity of Bivens in the wake of post-9/11 abuses. A group of Arab and South Asian nationals detained, abused, and ultimately deported for being suspected of terrorist ties  they didnt have any  had sued high-ranking Bush-era officials in a New York federal court for authorizing the policies that led to their mistreatment by others farther down the command chain. Obviously, it was a case with the potential to spell trouble for the president who campaigned on banning Muslims, mass-deporting undocumented immigrants, and bringing back torture. In a twist of fate, one of the defendants was former FBI director Robert Mueller, now the special counsel investigating Trump and his associates.

But without a full bench, theres only so much the Supreme Court could do. The case itself had been pending in the lower courts for a long time, which may explain why two justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, sat it out  one may have participated in an aspect of it as a lower court judge, the other in her prior role as President Obamas solicitor general. That left Justice Anthony Kennedy, the courts perennial center of gravity, to be the bearer of bad news. And with his usual, grandiose language, he told these wrongfully detained terror suspects that theres nothing the courts can do to help them seek justice. Its not that he wants to condone how deplorably these immigrants were treated after being profiled and rounded up for no other reason than hysteria over their nationality or their skin color. No, sir: If the facts alleged in the complaint are true, then what happened to respondents in the days following September 11 was tragic, Kennedy declared.

The case, Kennedy wanted to make very clear, is not about these mens dignity and well-being. In his view  and that of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito  theres a bigger principle at play: It is Congress, not the judiciary, which should be passing laws to make these lawsuits possible in the first place. The question is who should decide whether to provide for a damages remedy, Congress or the courts? The answer most often will be Congress, Kennedy wrote. Of course, as he himself notes a few lines earlier, no congressional enactment has disapproved of these decisions that reinforce the vitality of holding federal officials accountable. But the justice never quite explains why the Supreme Court feels the need to fix something that isnt broken and Congress hasnt bothered to address.

So the solution is to keep Bivens narrowly confined to cases where federal agents unlawfully raid a home. Kennedy calls this the search-and-seizure context, and thats okay to keep on the books without congressional approval: The settled law of Bivens in this common and recurrent sphere of law enforcement, and the undoubted reliance upon it as a fixed principle in the law, are powerful reasons to retain it in that sphere.

Kennedy cautioned: If Bivens liability were to be imposed in this case, high officers who face personal liability for damages might refrain from taking urgent and lawful action in a time of crisis. And, as already noted, the costs and difficulties of later litigation might intrude upon and interfere with the proper exercise of their office. I predict the Trump administration will be citing from Ziglar a lot as it defends against a raft of civil lawsuits. And its lawyers will have the Obama administration to thank, since those lawyers pushed for the position a four-justice plurality has now blessed. In constitutional law, whats good for the goose is good for the gander.

An impassioned dissent by Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, wasnt enough to contain the damage. He seems to have been incensed by it  he reportedly read a version of his screed from the bench, an occasion reserved for when youre really upset about something. He took us all the way back to that jewel of Supreme Court lore, Marbury v. Madison, which left no doubt on the question of whether courts have the power stand up for civil liberties even when the government wont. The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men. It will [not] deserve this high appellation, if the laws furnish no remedy for the violation of a vested legal right, Breyer wrote, quoting word-for-word from Marburys revered text.

He then proceeded to pick apart the majoritys convoluted reasoning  he pointed to case after case where the Supreme Court recognized that congressional silence means nothing for the judiciarys own power to still keep the wheels of justice running. And he noted how the Supreme Court established Bivens in the first place to cure a constitutional anomaly: that the law allows people to sue just about any state elected official over constitutional wrongs, but no one in the federal government for precisely the same misconduct. [Our] constitutional design  would be stood on its head if federal officials did not face at least the same liability as state officials guilty of the same constitutional transgression, Breyer wrote, quoting from an older case.

Then theres the noncitizen detainees, the high-ranking defendants, and the very context of the post-9/11 abuse  which included strip searches, sleep-deprivation tactics, slamming against walls, unhygienic conditions of confinement, discrimination itself. For Breyer, none of this is a novel setting for the justices to draw lines around, much less scale back, but rather something the Supreme Court has time and again grappled with and recognized as valid claims under the Constitution: Because the context here is not new, I would allow the plaintiffs constitutional claims to proceed, Breyer wrote.

As if presaging the coming showdown over Trumps travel ban, which the Supreme Court could agree to hear any moment, Breyer issued a parting shot that seems aimed at keeping his colleagues on alert about whats to come. He didnt mention our current president or his policies explicitly, but he was there in spirit, reflected in the justices recollection of the many times the elected branches panicked and did away with civil liberties.

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. We have read about the Alien and Sedition Acts, the thousands of civilians imprisoned during the Civil War, and the suppression of civil liberties during World War I. The pages of the [history] themselves recite this Courts refusal to set aside the Governments World War II action removing more than 70,000 American citizens of Japanese origin from their west coast homes and interning them in camps  an action that at least some officials knew at the time was unnecessary.

Ziglar wont go down in history as one of the Supreme Courts landmark cases, but Breyers admonition serves as a reminder that courts, even now that the country is relatively safe, still have a role to play  Trumps Twitter outbursts be damned. As is well known, Lord Atkins, a British judge, Breyer concluded, wrote in the midst of World War II that amid the clash of arms, the laws are not silent. They may be changed, but they speak the same language in war as in peace.
Trolling but not necessarily lying. Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Last Thursday, one day after the U.S. Senate voted to implement new, Trump-proof sanctions on Russia in retribution for its meddling in last years election, Russian president Vladimir Putin went on TV to boast that the sanctions the U.S. and EU have imposed on his country for the past three years have hardly achieved their intended effect. On the contrary, Putin said, they had only made Russia stronger, by forcing Russians to switch on our brains and reduce their dependency on mineral exports.

Putin is as prone to blowing smoke as any other authoritarian, but in this case, he wasnt lying  at least not with respect to the state of the Russian economy. Less than three years ago, observers were predicting a veritable economic apocalypse as the ruble plunged in tandem with the price of crude oil and as the U.S. and EU sanctions, levied as punishment for Russias annexation of Crimea and continued meddling in Ukraine, took their toll. Now, as Putin noted on Thursday, the Russian economy is out of recession, with the World Bank predicting it will grow modestly this year and in the two years to come. While Russias current trajectory compares poorly to the recoveries from its previous two recessions, thats not exactly a unique problem these days; nor is its shortage of labor, particularly in high-demand, high-skill fields like technology. The Russian tech sector consists of much more than just fake news, neo-Nazi shitposting, and foreign-election hacking  though these have doubtless been growth industries in this economic cycle.

None of this suggests that sanctions arent having some impact: That recovery would probably be a bit less sluggish with fewer restrictions on its access to European and American markets. But neither have they been the defining economic event of this decade in Putins Russia  that would be the enormous volatility in the oil market, with crude prices plummeting from nearly $113 a barrel in August 2013 to as low as $30 in January 2016. The slow recovery of oil prices in the past year or so is likely partly to thank for Russias emergence from recession as well, and if anything taught Putin to be wary of becoming a petro-state, it probably wasnt the sanctions. Indeed, Putin made this very point in his comments on Thursday.

Nor have the sanctions done much to alter Putins behavior thus far: Russia continues to back the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syrias intractable civil war, continues to back separatists in Eastern Ukraine, and has been busy all along conducting cyberwarfare against the liberal order in the West. As scholars of political science and international relations have been pointing out for years, economic sanctions may be preferable to war as a means of settling geopolitical scores, but most of the time, they dont really work.

In light of Putins dismissive attitude, now may be a good time to revisit the debate over our most recent supposed sanctions success story: Iran. The planners and proponents of the economic sanctions against Iran, including Hillary Clinton, credit them with forcing Iran to finally negotiate with the U.S. over its nuclear program; critics countered that sanctions were not a deciding factor in this development, and that it had more to do with the election of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani and John Kerry replacing Clinton as secretary of State in 2013.

Critics of that sanctions regime also contend that it inflicted a great deal of needless suffering on innocent Iranians but very little pain on the regime and ruling class whose behavior it was meant to influence. In fact, closing off access to global markets created new opportunities for Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to tighten its grip on the economy through smuggling and monopolies. Whether or not the sanctions were ultimately effective in terms of pulling Iran to the negotiating table, they undoubtedly had the downside effects of enriching the IRGC and lending rhetorical ammunition to Iranian hard-liners who gain power by convincing their constituents that the U.S. is out to hurt them.

One might ask whether the same effects can be observed in Russia. Again, the sanctions over Ukraine have so far failed to influence policy in Moscow in any positive direction, and Putin is still as uncompromising as ever. As in Iran, the bite of sanctions has been felt primarily by the poor and unemployed, while the oligarchy has managed to keep itself in furs. A study last September found that Russia was the most unequal major country in the world, with U.S.-dollar millionaires owning 62 percent of Russias wealth, compared to just a third of the wealth in the relative socialist paradise of the United States  driven by corruption, excess, and greed among billionaire oligarchs in a country where 23 million people are living in poverty.

Of course, President Donald Trumps request for greater flexibility in the latest round of Russia sanctions may have less to do with concern over their effectiveness and more to do with his own financial ties to said oligarchs (he has no problem imposing new sanctions on Iran, for instance). It would be an extremely 2017 miscalculation, however, for liberals to fall in love with sanctions just because Trump opposes them. Putin may be a bad dude, but the evidence so far indicates that economic punishment is unlikely to reform him.
Donald Grump. Photo: PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

President Trumps net worth has dipped to a paltry $2.9 billion thanks to the underperformance of three New York City office buildings that have seen demand slip in the five months since Trump took office. Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which put Trumps net worth at $3 billion last year, well below the $10 billion hes claimed, calculates that the declining values of 40 Wall Street, Trump Tower, and 1290 Avenue of the Americas, trimmed $380 million off Trumps net worth.

Some of that loss was offset by increases in Trumps liquid assets, and the increased value of his other properties, including Mar-a-Lago, which saw a 25 percent jump in sales in the last year. Looks like all those trips to the Winter White House were a good investment.
King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz (r), Saudi defense minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (l) and Deputy Crown Prince and the Minister of Interior of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bin Nayef (c) attend an opening ceremony of new Shura Council in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on December 14, 2016. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The 81-year-old King Salman of Saudi Arabia has named his 31-year-old son Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be next in line to Saudi throne. The shakeup puts the hawkish, young Prince bin Salman  he serves as Saudi Arabias minister of defense  even closer to power at a time of mounting tensions in the region, from Riyadhs intensifying rivalry with Tehran to the current diplomatic crisis with Qatar.

King Salman ousted the 57-year-old previous crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef from the line of succession, and also from his post as interior minister, reports the New York Times. Saudi state media is pushing the line that this is a tidy reshuffle. Heres Nayef kissing the hand of the guy that just took his job:

Former Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Naif pledges allegiance to new Crown Prince #MohammadBinSalman in Makkah. pic.twitter.com/ZYi3A2nsZF  Salman Al-Ansari (@Salansar1) June 21, 2017

Prince bin Salmans profile has risen in recent years, and his vast portfolio and youth led some to draw comparisons to another powerful son(-in-law) Jared Kushner. Prince bin Salman has been the primary architect of the war in Yemen, which began in 2015 as a bombing campaign against Houthi rebels, and has spiraled into a social, economic, and humanitarian crisis.
Americans who are sick and tired of winning. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Georgia special congressional election to replace HHS secretary Tom Price was billed as a big test for the strength of the anti-Trump resistance, so Democrat Jon Ossoffs loss is a win for the president and his party. However, since the Georgia race (and surprisingly, the South Carolina special election) also yielded concerning results for Republicans  and partisan gloating isnt very presidential  Trump was restrained in his response.

Were kidding, of course. In addition to two tweets congratulating Karen Handel and Ralph Norman, the president thanked Fox News for describing their victories as a huge win for him personally.

Thank you @FoxNews "Huge win for President Trump and GOP in Georgia Congressional Special Election."  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017

Then he declared that winning every relatively safe GOP seat vacated by someone now serving in his administration was a huge vindication for his agenda.

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  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017

(Democrats actually held on to a congressional seat in a California special election earlier this month, but everyone knows the most populous state doesnt count when youre measuring the size of Trumps victories.)

Naturally, Kellyanne Conway could not resist an opportunity to crow about the president #winning:

Thanks to everyone who breathlessly and snarkily proclaimed #GA06 as a "referendum on POTUS @realDonaldTrump".



You were right. #winning  Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) June 21, 2017

And in a text the Trump campaign expressed its glee in the Trumpiest terms possible, proclaiming, The MAGA Mandate is stronger than ever. BIG LEAGUE.

Trump campaign just sent out this text message. pic.twitter.com/mORn67knVc  Yashar Ali  (@yashar) June 21, 2017

To those who spent the past few months explaining, sometimes with visual aids, that losing the popular vote by 3 million gives the president an overwhelming mandate, sure, Tuesday night was a big league win for Trump. However, others saw the close elections in two traditionally red districts more as a narrowly averted GOP disaster.

Karen Handel's (R) final margin in #GA06: 3.7%



Ralph Norman's (R) final margin in #SC05: 3.2%  Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) June 21, 2017

National Reviews Jonah Goldberg said Republicans spending an obscene amount of money to hold on to a safe GOP seat is not a sign of Republican health, though it is a victory in the realm of spin, appearances, and momentum:

Its also a win for Donald Trump for one simple and obvious reason: because the alternative would have been so much worse for him. If Handel had lost, it would have hardened the media narrative that Republicans are fleeing the president (note: I said narrative, not fiction. The man is at 72 percent among Republicans, but thats down eleven points in two months). A Handel loss would probably have led to actual politicians fleeing the president. Meanwhile, if Ossoff had won, Democrats would have been even more emboldened. They could go to donors and say, We bought a seat in a Republican district with a hipster dufus candidate, who got trolled into getting engaged. If we do it 23 more times, we get a Democratic House, a Speaker Pelosi, and maybe impeachment.

Since coming close to victory doesnt give Democrats another congressional seat, Tuesdays race will likely leave the left questioning its strategy heading into the midterms. Meanwhile, as the New York Times Frank Bruni predicts, Republican lawmakers will breathe a little easier, and Team Trump will be emboldened:

With Handels victory, Trump caught an enormous break and got fresh hope for his stalled legislative agenda. As he tries to persuade moderate Republicans to support a deeply flawed, broadly unpopular and ridiculously secrecy-shrouded health care bill, he can and will point to the outcome of the Georgia race, in which Handel sided with him and Ossoff pilloried her for it.

Republicans who have been agitated about the investigation into the Trump campaigns ties to Russia and the presidents low approval ratings will be calmed somewhat, strengthening Trumps hand.

And G.O.P. leaders and strategists will feel reassured that the party isnt tethered entirely to Trumps fortunes and, when it mobilizes its resources, can transcend his failings and all the melodrama he stirs up. In the final weeks of the Georgia race, outside Republican groups poured millions into the contest and worked feverishly to turn out the vote for Handel. Those frantic efforts obviously paid off.

In The Atlantic, David Frum argues that this may actually be a dangerous milestone for Republicans. A loss would have made them more cautious heading into the midterms, but instead the takeaway will be that theres little risk in going all-in on Trumpism:

Republicans in Congress have also been encouraged to drive past their last off-ramp. Had the Democrats snatched the Georgia Sixth seat, perhaps some GOP senators might have succumbed to nerves about the repeal of Obamacare. Not now!

After Tuesday night, we are closer both to the repeal of Obamacare and to the firing of the special counsel investigating the Russia matter. Donald Trump may still grumble that congressional Republicans are mean. Congressional Republicans will continue to complain on background that the White House is crooked, chaotic, and compromised by Russia. But the high tension of the past has subsided; the distinctions between pro-Trump and anti-anti-Trumpbetween country club, Tea Party, and Trumpist factionsall are fading away. The Republicans of the Georgia Sixth were offered a safe and limited way to distance themselves from Trump, perhaps even to curb his excesses. They rejected it. He is theirs; they are his.

Perhaps in 16 months Republicans will be celebrating another, even more big league win. Or maybe theyll find that placing their trust in the power of the MAGA mandate and downplaying the other lessons from the special elections was a risky call.
Travis Kalanick. Photo: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Last month, over drinks with one of the many former Democratic operatives who gave up politics in recent years to help Uber build an empire, I posed a question. Which dethroning will happen first: Donald Trumps or Travis Kalanicks? Trump had just fired James Comey, and divulged confidential information to Russias foreign minister. Kalanicks company was being investigated by not only the current Department of Justice, which was looking into whether it deceived government regulators and law enforcement, but also by former Attorney General Eric Holder, whose law firm was finishing up an investigation into the companys noxious internal culture. The former politico immediately answered, as half a dozen others did, that it seemed more likely that 20 Republican senators would turn on Trump, than that anyone could force Kalanick from his entrenched position at the company he built. The only thing that will remove Travis is something criminal, or some real financial pressure, one former senior employee told me.

Barring news from the DOJ, it seems the latter has come to bear. Yesterday, five of Ubers major investors, who control around 40 percent of the companys stock, sent Kalanick a letter insisting that he resign. The insistence not only on his resignation, but the immediate hiring of an experienced CFO, suggests the investors are suddenly worried that Kalanick was hurting rather than helping his own companys financial prospects, and that its long-promised IPO was in danger. After hours of drama, as the Times put it, Kalanick stepped down, just a week after announcing that he would be taking a leave of absence. I love Uber more than anything in the world, Kalanick said in a statement, before adding that he was stepping down so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight. This probably goes without saying, but people within Uber are shocked, according to one employee.

Kalanick is identified with Uber in the way that Mark Zuckerberg is identified with Facebook, but his primary contribution to the companys early days was to convince his co-founder, Garrett Camp, who came up with the idea and the name, that Uber should simply become a network for drivers who already had cars, rather than a fleet-owning business itself. That was a good idea, but not a new one  a company called Taxi Magic was already deploying existing drivers in San Francisco via smartphone app  and throughout Kalanicks tenure, Uber has been much better at ruthless implementation than it has been at innovation. Lyft was already allowing regular users to pick up passengers in their Honda Civics when Uber was still exclusively using professional drivers. Google was working on self-driving cars for half a decade before Kalanick decided to build an autonomous program of his own.

Like most any rocket ship of a company, Uber rose on the back of a variety of forces  the invention of the iPhone, a surfeit of people looking for temporary work during the recession, seemingly limitless venture capital  that had nothing to do with the ingenuity of the people running it. While even Kalanicks critics consider him extremely intelligent, and incredibly hardworking, what Kalanick primarily brought was a seemingly messianic belief in the rightness of his cause and the deplorability of his enemies, as well as a willingness to do whatever it took to win and a lack of concern for what the haters think about him. While the #DeleteUber saga tied Kalanick to Trump in many minds, Kalanick was never as Trumpian, at least politically, as many of his recent detractors wanted to paint him to be. (He stoutly objected to the immigration ban, and until Elon Musk dropped out over Trumps rejection of the Paris accord, Kalanick was the only person to resign from the presidents technology council, leaving Tim Cook and Jeff Bezos to sit next to Trump at the councils meeting on Monday, doing their best to look defiant in front of the cameras.) If there was a way Kalanick resembled Trump, it was the fact that he may have been built more for running the campaign than the office. In 2014, Kalanick even started referring to Uber as a campaign; his opponent wasnt Crooked Hillary, it was an asshole named Taxi  an alternative that wasnt perfect, but was never nearly as bad as he made it out to be. Kalanick didnt love a stage the way Trump does  he is the only person Ive ever seen give a Ted Talk with notes in his hand  but he loved a good fight.

The challenges of running a company on the verge of maturity are very different, and Kalanick was often slow, or unwilling, to adjust his thinking to his companys new reality. (Its an odd coincidence, or not, that on the day Kalanick resigned, Uber announced it would begin allowing riders to tip, an idea Kalanick had devoutly opposed.) Uber still doesnt own cars, but it does lease them to drivers  through a scheme that the Federal Trade Commission determined was misleading. Half of the companys skyrocketing revenue comes from people who drive full time, but it remains insistent on denying them even the most basic protections afforded to full-time workers at any other company. When you suddenly employ thousands, none of whom are as invested in the companys success as you (literally or figuratively), a leaders concerns have to expand. Uber did not have a human-resources department until it had grown to some 500 employees, which left Kalanick to send out an email to what was then a company of 400 employees, warning them not to have sex with each other.

There is also the fact that what started out as a way to get to and from a party in style has grown into an effort to change modern transportation as we know it. Several people who worked at Uber during various parts of the companys rise told me that its ever-expanding mission took many people by surprise. Kalanick hadnt set out to change the world, but once the size and valuation of his company demanded that, it was never quite clear whether he had much interest in doing so responsibly. And while founders like Zuckerberg, or Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google, were able to recruit and retain experienced corporate executives to manage their suddenly enormous companies, Kalanick was consistently unable, or unwilling, to share the challenges of leadership: Jeff Jones, who was hired as Ubers president in 2016, left the company after six months.

Uber without Kalanick may well be more stable, though the company has lost eight top executives this year alone and faces considerable challenges  it continues to lose shocking amounts of money, and is facing a potentially devastating lawsuit brought by Waymo, Googles self-driving-car outfit, alleging that Uber stole its technology  even without Kalanick at the helm. Kalanick without Uber is a different matter. Kalanick has had an extremely difficult month: His mother was killed in a boating accident, he became a household name for all the wrong reasons, and he has now been booted from the thing to which he devoted nearly a decade of his life.





Even before he was fired, one person close to Kalanick told me that he worried about Kalanicks post-Uber life. He has no other interests  no interest, from what I can tell, in philanthropy  and he is going to go through a massive personal crisis, the person said. In a moment of magnanimity, Bill Gurley, one of the investors who pushed Kalanick to resign, wrote on Twitter, There will be many pages in the history books devoted to [Kalanick]  very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world.

Whether Kalanick is done writing his chapters is unclear. He remains on Ubers board, with the single largest voting share, and the prospect of running a company while Kalanick looms in the boardroom, possibly angling to make a Jobs-ian return to the company he founded, cannot be an enticing prospect to the most qualified CEO candidates.





But whatever the books end up saying, they will be written about a company that is wildly different than the one Kalanick helped start. It employs 12,000 people, and the decisions it makes, buoyed by the money it spends, have already warped the tech world, transportation systems, and our cities in general in ways that we are only beginning to understand. Whether or not Uber has been and will be a force for good, or bad, or just an interesting blip, remains to be seen. But for the moment, and for the first time, that question is out of Travis Kalanicks hands.
Kalanick is out as CEO. Photo: Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigned on Tuesday following a shareholder revolt, according to the New York Times.

The last few months have been disastrous for Uber, with the ride-sharing company dealing with the fallout from allegations of widespread workplace sexual harassment, a lawsuit over stolen technology, and Kalanicks recorded argument with an Uber driver, among other scandals. A week ago, Kalanick announced that he was taking a leave of absence following his mothers death in a boating accident. The announcement coincided with the release of a report compiled by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder recommending changes to fix the company. (Its first recommendation: Review and Reallocate the Responsibilities of Travis Kalanick.)

For five of Ubers major investors, Kalanicks indefinite leave wasnt enough. The Times reports that they gave him a letter on Tuesday that demanded he step down as CEO immediately. Kalanick, who helped found the company, will remain on its board of directors.

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, Kalanick said in a statement.

Its unclear who will run Uber going forward. At least 14 top executives have left the company in the past year, and it was already searching for a chief operating officer. In the letter, the investors also called on Kalanick to support the boards search for a new chief executive, and the hiring of a chief financial officer.

Ubers board said in a statement that Kalanick always put Uber first, and his departure as CEO will give the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Ubers history. Bill Gurley of Benchmark, one of the investors who pushed Kalanick out, praised his contributions in a tweet:

There will be many pages in the history books devoted to @travisk - very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world.  Bill Gurley (@bgurley) June 21, 2017
Photo: Branger/Roger Viollet/Getty Images

As someone whos been writing travel pieces from the road for a few years now, the one thing that keeps me rooted in reality is a daily ritual of freshly ground, meticulously brewed black gold coffee. Since Id rather not pack ten pounds of gear in a suitcase thats already swollen, pulling that process off requires patience and planning.



After some hits and misses, I can finally say Ive perfected a portable solution at a reasonable price point. It starts with a third-wave staple: the $30 AeroPress brewer favored by such respected micro-roasters as Tim Wendelboe and Verve. Since its two main parts fit together perfectly, pushing the AeroPress plunger into its plastic chamber cuts its cabin space in half. My stubby Porlex Mini Grinder that nearly earned me a spot on the no-fly list (turns out, it is not a pipe bomb) is small enough to squeeze into the other side of the plunger, maximizing its modest footprint even more. Completing this Lego-like combo is a reusable mesh filter (from Kaffeologie, which costs $13) with a lifetime guarantee, and the screw-on cap that keeps everything nice and snug.



Leave the filter holder, stirrer, and funnel that come with every AeroPress kit at home; unless youre glamping, you wont need any of it. Or an electric kettle, for that matter. Most hotels, and even some Airbnbs, are pretty good at providing those sorts of things.



The real secret here is an iOS app, actually  a $5 AeroPress Timer that provides tips and recipes from world-class baristas. Theres even an ace iced-coffee approach that takes less than five minutes and wont leave you trembling with hypertension the way some cold brews do. In several easy-to-understand steps, the app tells you how much coffee to use (1.5 scoops), the consistency of the grind (medium fine), and the brewing method (inverted, a hack Blue Bottle helped popularize). Follow the timers lead over ice, and youll end up with a clean-yet-complex cup that rivals anything you might find at a local cafe.



Think youll miss having your morning pick-me-up and afternoon Fika break in something much sunnier than a sad hotel room? Thats understandable. But do you really want to spend upwards of $10 a day when youre on vacation just on coffee? Better to visit a reputable local roaster, enjoy a black coffee on-site, and ask what they recommend for an AeroPress. Youll even end up with a decent souvenir that way.

The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best womens jeans, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, ultra-flattering pants, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.

Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission.


Photo-Illustration: Retailers

Now that weddings have cautiously returned, you might be taking more care than ever to find a good gift for any youre invited to. It isnt easy. Theres implicit pressure to overspend on a piece of pricey kitchenware (looking at you, Le Creuset and KitchenAid) that your couple might receive from another guest anyway, and shopping for people with design-y tastes is particularly difficult. Luckily, we here at the Strategist have honed a pretty good sense about what makes a great wedding gift. For this guide, we combed through our archives, cherry-picking the best things that any newlywed would want as well as adding a few more unique pieces that weve had our eyes on more recently. Whether youre looking to give something off-registry or trying to find the just-right thing to put on your own, weve come up with a megalist of all of our favorite items. Its the ultimate alt-registry. (If youre looking for gifts to mark a wedding anniversary, weve got you covered, too.) To help you shop, weve broken the items up into the below sections; if you know the type of thing youre looking for, you can click on any of the links below to jump straight to that category.

Bath and bedding | Pantry and kitchen | Home goods and accessories | Electronics and tech

get the strategist newsletter Actually good deals, smart shopping advice, and exclusive discounts. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us.

The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best womens jeans, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, ultra-flattering pants, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.

Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission.


other than that, i got bikes, cars, property, books, paintings and some semblance of a soul left, where would you like me to start???



lmaooo he writes like an emo teenager.



Also selling off the art and the properties sounds like a good place to start.

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I think the drugs he's been taking (does anyone really believe the guy is clean and sober? ) have fried his brain .

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i wonder if writing family in french was proposital or an autocorrect thing lmao

i wouldn't be surprised at all if he refers to them as that when speaking in english

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i think that's cute if he does it cause vanessa

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If a rich mofo like him can't control his finances then I'm fucking doomed. 

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Being a rich celebrity is no indication of your ability to handle money...

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These are people who think they will never run out of money or blow through the shit fast because theyve never had money before.

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Just don't become an alcoholic who only wants grand cru

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nah. my 15 year old can handle his money better than i can. johnny depp's just a spoiled brat.

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I'm obsessed with #debtfreecommunity on insta if you want some inspiration.

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What a sad little man.

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team financial advisers all the way

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Sry my response posted under the wrong comment!



Edited at 2017-06-21 03:19 am (UTC)

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once you're like really rich and own a lot of stuff, what do you even have left to buy? like don't you run out of things to buy for yourself?





also this piece of dirt needs to learn to moisturize. he looks like a dried up turd.

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It's probably impossible at this point because he's an alcoholic at this point or always was.

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he needs to head on over to Total Wine and get some $4.47 vino verde

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once you're like really rich and own a lot of stuff, what do you even have left to buy? like don't you run out of things to buy for yourself?



I think that's when people get in trouble and start doing stupid things like Michael Jackson and Nicholas Cage did and start buying chimpanzees, islands, statues, tiger cubs, castles and private jets. It's like they get to a point where they just spend it fast than it comes in.



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I would just constantly plan trips to take

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He could have at least TRIED to get the good lotions.

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this is what's sad and interesting because people are just people, every time i watch a celeb doc they got some garage piled up with their "weird shit" like you and me after a drunk ebay spree, only their garage is the size of my house and it's collector's edition golddipped desert snakes and the book of the dead. you buy weirder shit that's less in value and more about how hard it is to get at.

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there's this huge part of me that hopes he fucks up SO bad within the next two months he breaks whatever morality clause is in his 'fantastic beasts' contract and warner bros drops him from the series (which still surprises me because i was a huge johnny depp fan before he became the hot fucking mess he is now)

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Idk what else could happen when that video of johnny abusing amber heard has already been released :\

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They signed him after that too didn't they?

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Its' sad he became a mess.



i liked him too.





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i honestly don't think anything he does at this point who cause them to release him from his contract. it is so pathetic that they signed him in the first place given when it happened and i'm just so disappointed in jkr for being involved in this nonsense at all. i hope she bought his yacht that a great discount.

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i spend my money buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each

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You will never own a home.

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lmao

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lol

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Not with my tax dollars

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I couldn't decide between $19 avo toast or insurance today so I said fuck it and bought a Cartier bracelet instead

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smashed avocado? is that just guac?

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*tears* I miss smashed avocado I would pay and $$ to have a good one again.



I'm currently living in Amsterdam and they opened an Avocado restaurant, and my god it was average, no flavour, no soul. All I wanted was a good avo on toast with a poached egg and celery salt, and instead I had a rice cracker with avo and minced meat. It was so sad.

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 I just wrote some blog posts for an Australian landscaping company and mentioned avocado trees as a must.

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He sounds like such a douchebag dudebro. I bet he was wearing a fedora when he whipped these up.

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A mess of a man. Sometimes I think of all the money I spent on Backstreet Boys merchandise as a teenager and I want to cry. Oh if I could have all that money sitting in front of me right now.

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Me too!!! I wasted so much time and money on them.

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I can't believe I ever thought he was some pure, eccentric artist.

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I loved him from 21 Jump Street until about...2013? I thought he was just the best.

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mte. When he did the first Pirates I was like "well, it's a fun movie, get money".

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tbf he really did con everybody for years

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I remember being 14 and being so in love with him. Oh how the turntables.

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It really is fascinating watching his film career devolve from Low Budget Darling to Tim Burton's Muse to That One Asshole Under A Pound Of Makeup And Weird Hat

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He probably is an eccentric artist, but no person is pure. The lack of internet has just helped keep the secret of skeevy celebrity dudes for too long but no more!

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i was SUPER shocked when he signed on for the first Pirates movie, i was like 'why is my indie actor working for Mouse Corp?' nah, he was seeing money and dove for it

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i just bought an pair of alexander wang booties and an allsaints bag... they're hot af but my god is my wallet regretting it

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other than that, i got bikes, cars, property, books, paintings



yeah he def sounds poor, can't imagine where he would start to save money

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I wonder what the hell you do with $30k's worth of wine, I have so many questions about that volume of booze lol like did he spend that much as an investment and has a giant cellar somewhere, did he give it all away, did he regularly pay the booze bill for everyone he'd ever met? Was he buying vintage bottles of wine that cost thousands each and just downing them? I just cannot fathom what the fuck you'd do with $30k a month on wine.

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Like you said, he probably buys bottles that are worth a couple thousand a piece to begin with and being an alcoholic probably goes through 3-5 bottles a day easily.

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Ikr they can't all have been ex-water turned by Jesus

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he prob drinks a $1,000 bottle a day

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only a grand a day when you are an alcoholic buying $500+ bottles is nothing tbh. the 3 million canon ashes thing is the part where i'm like wtf! where did those ashes go and who is charging you that much to shoot them off.

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Living up to that "wino" tattoo...

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did...did Thompson or his family even want that to be a thing? Yikes.



edit: I guess they did lol.



Edited at 2017-06-21 03:46 am (UTC)

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I can't imagine having so much money that idk how to reign it in. I do regret all the Xmas and halloween decorations I bought last year. They are lawn decorations or outside lights and I just moved into an apt so I can't use them.



Otherwise... when I turned 21 I went to the casino. I didn't know the different between like penny slots and $0.25 ones or whatever and I blew $60 SO fast. And I have regrets every time I can't finish food before it goes bad

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omg yes re: the food. I only buy very little at once but sometimes bread goes bad if i don't put it in the freezer, and fruits of course. My ex flatmate always bought random food that she didnt finish and it always went bad, it was such a waste of everything.

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a commercial flight with paparazzis in tow would be a fucking nightmare of monumental proportions."



my aunt works for a major airline at JFK airport in NYC (so tons of celebs coming and going from there) and she sees celebs on board and queued up all the time. she also mentioned that if celebs really don't want to be seen, there are extra security measures made for them to avoid even being seen in the terminals (and going straight from the terminal entrance to the plane via tarmac, etc)



it's really not that fucking hard to avoid the masses at major airports like JFK/LAX/LHR etc

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It's code for not wanting to deal with an airport like us plebeians

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Yeah I've heard of that too, that you can hire extra people who walk you to the gate etc. Also I think if he wanted to get on a flight low key he could do it. He doesn't have to wear his giant trilby hat and 50 leather bracelets and 20 scarves, he could go in jeans, a t-shirt and a baseball cap and no one would probably look twice.



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it's not even walking to the gate, from what i was told. they can get all their boarding stuff handled like in private (probably at business class lounge), then are taken onto the tarmac outside on the runway and get onto the flight first via those truck stairway thing that lead to the gate/flight doors. i was a bit flabbergasted when my aunt told me this underground shit existed for celebs lmao

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Is this only for A list celebrities?

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Which celebrities chose the private way and which chose the paparazzi way?

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like people who tweet "while you're sleeping im hustlin' and grindin'" cause people arent allowed to sleep apparently

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Shout out to all of my fellow ONTD Vancouverites.

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Can I be part of the club? I don't live there but I want to.

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You can be an honourary Vancouverite!

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"The video, unfortunately, wasnt filmed in London because I didnt have time to fly there. I wish it could have been. But it was filmed in Vancouver, so it could be a city of your choice because you know how Vancouver looks like so many different places."



modest problematic Queen.



now sis lettuce not. your project didn't have the budget so Vancouver had to do. it's Hollywood's go to for every city scape on a budget.

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"...But it was filmed in Vancouver, so it could be a city of your choice because you know how Vancouver looks like so many different places."



funny i read this while watching 'jason takes manhattan', which was shot in vancouver. the debacle over the NES jason today was hilarious so we decided to watch one of the movies. good lord it's awful.

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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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who else but Rita could get anywhere from zero comments to barely 10 and still get this comment and chart in the top 25 on the LJ charts?

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CL, start stanning talent pls

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hdu

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it's so fitting that she would use vancouver as the backdrop for ha video since vancouver is a city with no identity and rita is an ~artist~ with no identity!!! HOW FITTING



btw i love this song so don't come for me!

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If you look at how Tesla, Inc., has performed on the stock market, youll see the electric automaker has the majors beat.

Teslas stock lately has been trading for about $370 per share  a huge increase over a year ago when the shares were trading for about $225.

If you take a look at stock price performance by the largest automakers in global sales  Volkswagen, Toyota, General Motors, Ford, and Honda  youll see those share prices languishing over the past year. Youll also see that Teslas market capitalization, at $61 billion, beats most of them and comes in at a close second behind Volkswagen.

Not bad for a company that sold about 76,000 vehicles last year worldwide and has yet to achieve a real quarterly profit. Volkswagen, which was the top global seller last year as it came through its dieselgate scandal, sold 10.3 million vehicles worldwide in 2016.

Shareholders are putting a lot of pressure on major, older automakers to boost profitability while also maneuvering efficiently as electric, autonomous vehicles, and ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft shake up the industry.

Earlier this month, General Motors shareholders sided with company executives such as CEO Mary Barra to reject a proposal by investor David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital. The hedge fund billionaire attempted to split GM's stock into two classes  one designed for big dividend returns and another designed to reward shareholders if the automaker's profits and stock price grows. Einhorn also wanted to nominate his own slate of directors.

Related: Clash Between Qatar And The Saudis Could Threaten OPEC Deal

Ford Motor Co. shareholders have been putting a lot of pressure on the company to increase profit performance. That conflict led to the recent ouster of CEO Mark Fields.

Tesla, Inc., has had a very different tale to tell.

During the companys annual meeting earlier this month in Mountain View, Calif., shareholders considered a proposal from a group of Connecticut pension funds for directors to face re-election annually, rather than serve staggered three-year terms. While the proposal failed, the company said it would consider potential independent directors and would add two or three to the seven-person board. More will be announced by Tesla in the coming months.

Some of that proposal was about not allowing CEO Elon Musk to have too much control over the company. Overall, theyre quite pleased with the companys performance and surging stock prices.

Tesla is considered to be one of the leading cleantech companies to follow by investors. Its one of many stocks doing much better than performance measures seen in the global auto industry.

Cleantech Groups index, considered to be the leading global index of publicly traded clean companies, has been similar to the overall stock market this year in strong performance.

Related: 4 Wildly Different Oil Price Scenarios For 2020

Cleantech Group reports that its been a stellar year for its index, with price returns up 12.5 percent through the end up April. Last year ended at an 11.2 percent increase. As for years seeing declines in the index, these included 2008, 2011, and 2014; with the gap narrowing in recent year with less severe losses than during the Great Recession.

Cleantech advisors say that the clean transportation, clean energy, energy efficiency, and other related sectors, are continuing to go through a period of house cleaning. A decade ago, theyd seen a great deal of support from Silicon Valley and venture capital firms. That was hard hit by the Great Recession  and by interest leaning toward mobile devices and digital media channels. There was also a lot of concern about companies like Fisker Automotive and A123 Systems filing for bankruptcy and needing foreign investors to bail them out.

Stock performance by Tesla is bringing much more interest in cleantech and other emerging technologies over traditional companies. Some analysts say that Tesla has its competitors beat in shareholder perception and hope rather than corporate profit statements.

By Jon LeSage for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Many U.S. shale drillers have said that they have full-proofed their operations for $40 oil, having lowered breakeven prices substantially over the last few years. They may soon have to prove it. Oil prices dropped to fresh seven-month lows on Tuesday, officially entering bear market territory, down more than 20 percent year-to-date. The declines have raised questions about the possibility of WTI hitting $40 soon.

A rising U.S. rig count, multi-year record production levels from Libya, and a general mood of pessimism more than outweighed the positive news that OPEC and non-OPEC producers increased their compliance rate in May. There is now a growing consensus that the OPEC deal wont be sufficient to bring down inventories at a fast enough pace to balance the market this year.

Can U.S. shale survive in a world of $40 oil?

There are very different answers out there depending on who you ask. Most of the oil majors and some top shale companies such as EOG Resources, are said to have breakeven prices below $40 per barrel. That would suggest that their drilling campaigns would not stop even after taking into account the latest slide in prices.

But those are just the top companies, not everyone across the industry. Some smaller companies in more marginal parts of U.S. shale basins will face much more pressure in todays market.

A long list of shale drillers have dramatically reduced their breakeven thresholds, lowering costs so that they could make money, by and large, with oil prices in the $50s. That is why the rig count surged over the past year. Related: Is $40 Oil On The Horizon?

But $40 oil is much different than $50-$55 oil. We had $52 on average in Q1 and everyone said we are going to start growing again. Everyone said our balance sheets are fine, Paul Sankey, a senior analyst at Wolfe Research, said on CNBC. The market is now testing who can really stand up and run. At $52 the answer was too many people. Now at $43 we are going to really find out as we go into Q2 earnings who can really get this done at $43. And I can tell you, theres not many companies that we likeMost of the sector has got an awful problem down here for sure.



UBS says that oil at $45 per barrel slows most U.S. shale plays. The Bakken, the Eagle Ford and the Niobrara struggle below $45. But if prices drop to $40, companies will be forced to hit the brakes, even in the highly-sought after Permian Basin.

So even as shale executives talk up their cost reductions, they will be put to the test in the near future. We are nearing the point where its going to be a challenge for them as well, if you break $40 per barrel, John Kilduff of Again Capital told CNBC.

"With oil at $45, there will be very little movement in capital globally, and fewer projects will get sanctioned," David Pursell, an analyst at the investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., told the Houston Chronicle. Related: Bank Of America: Expect $30 Oil

Because there is a lag between oil price movements and rig counts, the effect of the recent slide in prices might take some time to become apparent. Moreover, with rigs already out in the field drilling, production might continue to rise even if prices fall.

But if prices fail to rebound, the gains in the rig count could start to slow. Companies would have to start thinking about paring back their drilling campaigns the longer that oil prices stay in the low or mid-$40s. [T]he rate of growth in drilling we've seen over the past year might not be sustainable through the year and certainly not into 2018," said Jesse Thompson, a business economist at the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, according to the Houston Chronicle. "At a certain price point, you've eventually saturated the drilling you can afford to do."

The equation, however, would really change if oil prices continue to fall even more. I think we most definitely go to $40. Were probably looking at the upper-$30s at this point now, John Kilduff told CNBC.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Mexico hosted another oil auction on Monday, auctioning off shallow water oil and gas blocks to international companies. The auction was the latest in a series of offerings related to the countrys historic energy reform, which opened up Mexicos energy sector to private investment.

The latest auction had modest hopes, as the blocks on offer were in shallow water areas, far from the much more sought after deepwater blocks near the U.S. maritime border. But the results exceeded expectations, with a handful of oil majors jumping into the fray.

Mexico awarded 10 of the 15 blocks that were offered. "This is a great result," Juan Carlos Zepeda, chief of Mexicos oil regulator CNH, said at a news conference. Italian oil giant Eni was one of the most active companies in the auction, winning one block by itself and two more as part of a consortium with some smaller companies. Other top-tier oil companies won blocks as well  Russias Lukoil took one, and Total SA and Royal Dutch Shell joined hands to win another. It marked Shells first upstream entry into Mexico.

Light oil is where we are seeing the most competition and interest, Juan Carlos Zepeda said. Theres more difficulty in the blocks where there is a lot of gas.

Enis involvement was logical. The Italian oil company was the one that drilled a successful shallow water oil well a few months ago. Eni discovered a meaningful volume of oil in March in the first well drilled by an international company since Mexico ended seven decades of state control over its oil sector in 2013.

Related: Solar And Wind Revolution Happening Much Faster Than Expected

Originally, there was not a ton of excitement over the shallow water prospects that Eni was working in. The area had already been picked over by state-owned oil company Pemex, although many areas were not extensively drilled. Eni secured the rights to the prospects in a prior auction, snatching up tracts where Pemex already had data on the oil reserves in place.

But the initial results of Enis discovery in March were much better than many had anticipated. That raised the stakes and the hype for the latest June 19 auction.

The 10 blocks that were awarded could eventually lead to production of 170,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with initial flows potentially beginning in 2018 or 2019. Mexicos energy minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said they could also attract combined investment of $8.2 billion. Its an indicator that the country is competitive, to capture this type of investment in a global competition, energy minister Coldwell said. In Mexico, weve developed a system of auctions that is robust and transparent.

Mexico is now on a roll. After a slow start with some relatively disappointing earlier auctions beginning in 2015, interest has picked up more recently. The December 2016 deepwater auction was the most successful, with several oil majors purchasing the rights to deepwater blocks just across the maritime border from existing offshore fields in U.S. waters. Among them were ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total SA, Statoil and BP. Related: Inside The Worlds Most Sophisticated Refining Industry

The success of the latest round is notable for two reasons. First, as mentioned, the offering was only for some shallow water blocks. Some of the worlds largest companies decided to make the time, effort and expense to buy up shallow water tracts even as they divest themselves of other assets around the world. This demonstrates strong interest in Mexico. Second, oil prices are now at a seven-month low. High interest in a shallow water auction with low oil prices can only be described as a success for Mexico. The fact that Shell decided to make first upstream venture in Mexico in this auction at todays prices speaks volumes to the momentum that Mexico now has going for it.

That will make the December 2017 auction for more deepwater blocks even more interesting.

Mexico is hoping that the energy liberalization will lead to new drilling, more investment and ultimately more oil production. Mexicos oil production peaked in 2004 at 3.85 million barrels per day (mb/d). Its old oil fields are in decline, and as a result, the countrys output has dropped significantly  down to 2.5 mb/d in 2016. The government hopes these auctions will reverse that decline.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
That Louisiana is sinking into the Gulf of Mexico is not news. Rising seas and coastline erosion have been working together for decades, but this sinking may well be happening faster than previously thoughtthreatening billions and billions of Louisiana oil infrastructure.



This is the central idea of a new study from Tulane University that set out to map the Louisiana coastline using new methods of measuring subsidencethe technical term for sinking land. The outcome of the measurements is an average 9 mm of wetlands lost to the sea every year. This compares to previous estimates of an annual subsidence rate between 1 to 6 mm.

The authors warn that there are differences in the rate of sinking at different locations along the coast, but overall, we are already seeing what other authors in earlier studies have estimated as the worst-case scenario for the future.

There is grim irony in the fact that according to the Tulane University researchers, the main reason for the accelerated sinking is the loss of sediment carried by the Mississippi River to the coast because of the numerous levees aimed at protecting cities and industrial infrastructure from flooding. Now, Gulf waters are advancing, and it is making flood threats more serious as natural defenses such as marshes are being swallowed by the sea. So is oil infrastructure.

A 2016 report from Bloomberg warned that the oil industry is having to deal with US$100 billion worth of infrastructure on the Louisiana coast that is being threatened by the combined forces of rising sea levels and subsidence. The report cited a study from Americas Wetlands Foundation and Entergy Corp, which found that annual losses for Big Oil already amounted to US$14 billion. This could balloon to a total US$350 billion by 2030.

The Washington Post notes in its report of the new study that the Louisiana Legislature recently approved funding of US$50 billion for the restoration of the coastline, but this is nowhere near enough, it would seemall the more so given that the US$50 billion will be spent over a period of 50 years, and four of the five most expensive projects in this master plan are focused on marsh creationthe once natural defenses of the coast against the corrosive effect of seawater.

The situation certainly looks like it requires urgent measures and this makes accurate measurement of the sinking rates all the more important. One of the study authors, Torbjorn Tornqvist, told the Washington Post that there is more work to be done in this directionthe map that the team outlined based on their measurement showed the big picture, he said, rather than specific subsidence rates at different locations.

Related: Oil Markets Unmoved By Brewing Conflict In The Middle East

Knowing the specific rates at which the land is sinking in specific locations will help more focused efforts for restoring those parts of the coastline that need the most urgent restoration. Or, as associate professor Alex Kolker from the Louisiana Universities Consortium put it to the WT, the amount that the area is sinking directly impacts the amount of mud that you need to fill the area and to restore a marsh.

The oil industry, which has had a part to play in the damage, is one obvious source of funding for the restoration effort, but it seems Big Oil is a bit reluctant to take part. ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and Citgo last year partnered with Americas Wetlands Foundation on a pilot project in erosion mitigation, but there have been few other signs that energy companies are willing to partake in the states master plan.

Of course, there are the US$8 billion that BP had to pay to Louisiana after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, but thats small potatoes in the wider, long-term coastal restoration plan. Lawsuits against oil companies by local authorities are one way of getting money out of them and using it to restore the coastline, but the industry believes this is not the right way  oil and gas companies are already paying indirectly for coastline restoration with the royalties they pour into the state coffers for their activities in the Gulf, they argue.

The oil industry is certainly not the only culprit behind the quickly sinking Louisiana coast. It may not even be the biggest culpritremember those levees. Yet it is in its own interest to protect the infrastructure it operates on this sinking coast.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Kurdistan, the autonomous region of northern Iraq that is rich in oil resources and has proven an effective force against the spread of the Islamic State, has announced that it will hold an independence referendum on September 25 of this year, in order to determine whether the region will remain part of the Republic of Iraq or split off to form a new, independent state.

Thus far, the official international support for the referendum has been minimal. On June 19, the European Union released a statement discouraging the Kurdish autonomous government from holding the referendum, joining the United Kingdom, United States, Turkey and Iraq in officially opposing the vote.

But this hasnt deterred Kurdish leaders, who say the vote will go forward no matter the resistance. The referendum will not declare an independent state, but rather determine whether Kurdistan will remain part of Iraq or eventually become independent, though there are hard-liners in Kurdistan pushing for a divorce from Baghdad. It is a first step, not a fait accompli.

The matter of Kurdish independence, one of the most fraught, divisive and complicated issues in Middle Eastern politics, could potentially inflame tensions in the region and generate secessionist ambitions among the Kurdish minority populations of Syria, Turkey and Iran.

But how will Kurdish independence affect Iraqi oil? For years, divisions have grown between Baghdad and Erbil, the Kurdish capital, over how Iraqs oil resources and revenues will be shared.

Kurdistan is sitting on reserves of at least 45 billion barrels and exports hover around 600,000 bpd. Most of the oil passes out of the country via a pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish city of Ceyhan, thence to export markets in Russia and Europe.

While Iraq suffered widespread destruction to its oil industry during the 2003 US invasion and subsequent civil war, Kurdistan escaped relatively unscathed, while its autonomous government solidified control over the northern regions, home to 40 percent of Iraqs oil reserves.

The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has made deals with international oil companies to develop fields within the bounds of the autonomous zone, without any interference from Baghdad. Major deals were signed with American companies and Turkey, which emerged as a chief customer for Kurdish oil and its main transit route.

According to the Iraqi federal constitution, oil is marketed through a government organization while revenues are shared, with the KRG receiving 17 percent. The conditions governing whether the KRG could make oil deals independently of Baghdad are hazier, and the commissioning of the KRG-Turkey oil pipeline gave the Kurds a major outlet for oil exports that were independent of Baghdad, which had hitherto managed the countrys major export facilities. Related: How Zombie Funds Are Disrupting Oil Prices

In 2014, the argument between Iraq and the Kurds over whether the KRG could offer Kurdish oil to companies without cutting in Baghdad had become heated, with a deal struck between Erbil and ExxonMobil nearly inciting violence. For a time, revenue sharing by Baghdad was cancelled and the KRG struggled to balance its budget, which is dependent on oil revenues.

Things were put on hold when the Islamic State emerged as a major threat to internal Iraqi stability, seizing the city of Mosul and a huge chunk of territory right on the KRGs border. Kurdish fighters played a crucial role in pushing back the Islamic State, emerging as the most effective military asset in play against the militants.

Yet the dispute over oil has not gone away, and it remains a sticking point between Erbil and Baghdad, one which the independence referendum could complicate.

Kurdistan did not adhere to the OPEC production deal in November 2016, nor did it join the production cut extension agreed to in May. Indeed, the KRG has pressed ahead with plans to expand oil production and exports, signing a twenty-year deal with Russias Rosneft in early June. The Russian company will invest $3 billion in the KRG while exporting Kurdish oil to refineries in Germany.

This deal comes after an accord signed in February 2017, which gave Rosneft access to transportation for 700,000 bpd. This capacity could expand to 1 million bpd by the end of the year, if Kurdish production goals are met.

Oil is a central component to the independence referendum. The current KRG government, led by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by President Massoud Barzani, is pushing for the referendum in part to put pressure on the Iraqi government, which disputes the Kurdish claim over some oil-producing areas.

Early in the war against the Islamic State, KDP forces seized control of the oil fields west of Kirkuk, which lie largely outside the Kurdish majority region. A rival political group, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), moved to block KDP control of the oil fields. There has been an ongoing competition between each party over the future of the oil-producing regions, with a PUK force storming a pumping station in March and temporarily shutting down oil production.

It is also a factor in wider Iraqi politics. Iraq will hold elections next year, and the central government is hoping for Kurdish participation.

Some Kurds speculate that the independence referendum is really just a bargaining ploy, used by Barzani to get better terms from Iraqs central government, with which he has cooperated in the past. The KDP is struggling with a popularity problem, as Kurds become disillusioned with the partys promises of economic prosperity, the hardships of the on-going war in northern Iraq and stagnant oil prices. The referendum, even if it isnt meant to lead to formal independence, is an effective distraction from domestic political problems.

There is also the question of Kirkuk itself, which is not definitively Kurdish and may hold its own referendum to determine whether it joins the KRG or remains a part of Iraq. Some Kirkukis consider the de facto Kurdish occupation in place since 2014 and the sale of Kirkuki oil by Kurdish authorities as pillaging and may resist attempts to fold Kirkuk into a larger Kurdish state. Despite these sentiments, Barzani has indicated that Kirkuk will participate in the general referendum in September, declaring that it is no longer disputed territory. Related: OPEC Production Spikes  Has The Cheating Begun?

There are doubts that a Kurdish referendum could lead to independence without international recognition. A de facto independent state, the KRG lacks any kind of international presence, a crucial pre-condition to full statehood. So far, resistance to Kurdish independence has been strong, for the usual reasons. Turkey and Iran dont want an independent Kurdish state, as it could encourage separatism among their own Kurdish minorities. Turkeys position is more nuanced, as its economy and state finances could benefit from greater Kurdish oil exports.

The United States has expressed its opposition to the vote, but it is currently the KRGs most important strategic partner and has cooperated with Kurds in both Iraq and Syria, relying on them to carry out the fight against the Islamic State. Russia has emerged as a potential ally for the Kurds, as the Rosneft deal indicates; it could use the promise of energy contracts to pull the Kurds away from the American orbit, at a time when tensions between Russia and the United States in Syria are at an all-time high.

All this means that the Kurdish referendum, when it is held in September, could have a major impact on the state of northern Iraqi oil. If free to pump more, the Kurds could ignore attempts by Iraq and OPEC to reduce production; Kurdish production could join rising output from Libya and the United States, continuing the present supply glut and keeping prices depressed.

Alternatively, if a major dispute breaks out, Iraqi output could fall the countrys internal stability could be affected. Recently there has been a decline in the correlation between Middle East instability and the price of oil, but that could change.

The situation surrounding the future of Kurdish independence and Kurdish oil is therefore one worth watching, particularly as the war against the Islamic State slowly comes to an end, international tensions in neighboring Syria heat up and the oil market continues to battle low prices.

By Gregory Brew for Oilprice.com

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Natural gas prices are falling, and the speculators have cut their U.S. natural gas net long positions for the fourth straight week. Does this indicate further weakness, or is this a contrarian buy signal?

Lets analyze the fundamentals and the chart pattern of natural gas to arrive at an answer.

Natural gas is mainly used for electricity generation. During summers and winters, the demand for electricity increases, hence, the demand for natural gas goes up. After all, about 50 percent of all U.S. households use natural gas for heating purposes.

In pleasant weather conditions, the need for cooling or heating decreases; therefore, the need for electricity decreases. As a result, natural gas demand at the gas-fired plants also falls.

Lets look at the demand and supply metrics to analyze the prospects of natural gas.

The Commodity Weather Group LLC expects temperature to be below normal in the central U.S. and average on the East and gulf coasts from June 24 to June 28. A cooler summer implies reduced natural gas demand, which is causing prices to fall.

The forecasts really arent looking good from a bullish standpoint, said Gene McGillian, manager of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. It looks like one of the mildest springs weve seen in a while in terms of power sector demand, and there are signs that production is coming back, reports Bloomberg.

Therefore, unless the weather changes, the domestic demand is likely to remain subdued. Related: Libyas Largest Oil Field Resumes Production

After one of the warmest winters on record followed by a mild spring, natural gas inventory is at 2.709 Bcf. Though the current stockpiles are 11 percent lower than the previous year, they are 9 percent above the five-year average at this time of the year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

However, one area that could increase the demand for the U.S. natural gas is exports. The current Gulf crisis involving Saudi Arabia and Qatar could open new avenues for the U.S. to export their natural gas to new locations.

Last year, the U.S. exported 184.3 billion cubic feet of LNG. Currently, the exports reach 23 out of 35 countries that have the facility to accept LNG transport vessels. Reuters reported 18 ships loading LNG for global delivery in Sabine Pass in May.

Compare this to the period between 2011-2015, when Japan was the only importer of U.S. LNG. Before that, the U.S. only exported to Canada and Mexico via pipelines.

The future, therefore, looks promising. American Action Forum, believes that the annual trade value of natural gas exports will increase from about $564 million in 2016 to $31.8 billion by 2020. Thus, exports could be a major source of demand for U.S. natural gas in the future. In the short-term, if the Qatar boycott prolongs and gets ugly, U.S. natural gas might be a direct beneficiary.

The Gulf conflict provides opportunity for the United States in exporting our natural gas. We are a neutral nation. Other countries like China or other Qatar customers would not have to worry about anything if they wanted to import U.S. LNG, said Harold Hamm, chairman, and CEO of Continental Resources, reports CNBC.

On the supply front, at the start of this week, the U.S. production in the past 30-days averaged 71.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), while last year, during the same period, the average was 71.4 bcdf.

For 2017 and 2018, the U.S. EIA expects natural gas production to increase to 73.3 Billion cubic feet per day (Bcfpd) and 76.6 Bcfpd compared to the production of 72.3 Bcfpd in 2016. This shows that supply is expected to remain strong and may surprise on the upside as the shale oil drillers increase their drilling activity. Related: Is Russia Running Out Of Patience With OPEC?

Presently, production is increasing, but the demand is weak due to unfavorable weather, and inventories are running well above the 5-year average. Hence, the near-term fundamentals look bearish, unless the weather changes, which will increase demand for natural gas.

On the other hand, U.S. natural gas exports are increasing and the Gulf crisis has offered an opportunity to the U.S. to expand their reach further. If the U.S. natural gas producers can grab this opportunity, the long-term fundamentals look good.

What do the charts forecast?

(Click to enlarge)

Natural Gas is in a downtrend. If the immediate support of 2.882 breaks, a fall to 2.522 becomes a possibility. The short-term picture changes only if the price breaks out and sustains above the downtrend line.

In the long-term, the commodity is forming a large bearish head-and-shoulders pattern, which will complete if natural gas breaks below the support of 2.522. It will be a very negative development if that happens.

Thus, for the short-term, neither the fundamentals nor the technicals justify a long position at the current levels.

By Rakesh Upadhyay for Oilprice.com

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Guyana got its fifth deepwater project of the year on Tuesday, when a consortium including Exxon Mobil, Hess Corp, and CNOOC green-lighted a $4.4 billion investment in the newly discovered Liza oilfield.

The final investment decision on phase I of the mega-project suggests that oil majors are still interested in notoriously pricey offshore projects, even as barrel prices reach their lowest point in 2017.

Low-cost shale projects in Texas Permian Basin attracted $7 billion in new investments just from Exxon earlier this year, but experts say the Guyanese project could be just as attractive and competitive at the Permian.

Phase 1 of the operation will make the Guyanese project, which should pump 120,000 barrels per day by 2020, feasible despite bearish markets, Exxon says. Just the lease for the required floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) facility will cost $1.2 billion.

"We're excited about the tremendous potential of the Liza field and accelerating first production through a phased development in this lower cost environment," Liam Mallon, head of development for Exxon, said in a statement. We will work closely with the government, our co-venturers and the Guyanese people in developing this world-class resource that will have long-term and meaningful benefits for the country and its citizens."

The consortium based its decision on the discovery of over 197 feet of oil-bearing sandstone reserves at the Liza-4 well, which put total recoverable assets in the Stabroek block at 2-2.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels. The site, which will not be part of the first developmental phase, sits 190 kilometers from Guyanese shores, 1,500-1,900 meters underwater.

Related: Oil Markets Unmoved By Brewing Conflict In The Middle East

Analysts expect a 33 percent internal rate of return, a two-year payback term, and profit margins of $32 a barrel, according to figures from BMO Capital seen by Seeking Alpha.

Exxon also suggested Phase II potential for the field. The American oil majors subsidiary, Esso Exploration, also operates the Canje and Kaieteur blocks.

Exxon first struck oil in Stabroek in 2015. In two separate instances this year, the same company found additional recoverable reserves within the licensed area. The block is a gift that keeps on giving for the consortium and Guayana.

Guyanas government has managed to capitalize on interest in the Liza field quickly after its discovery. Even as federal prosecutors inspect a possibly fabricated plot to kill the president, Georgetowns political stability seems secure as the Atlantic Ocean warms ahead of hurricane season.

The rainforest-clad country, which speaks English due to its British colonial roots, has fared far better politically than Venezuela. Protestors nationwide are tearing apart President Nicolas Maduros authority to rule, as low oil prices destroy the state oil firms bottom line. Guyana, on the other hand, is new to the crude oil game. The oil curse has not hit its budget in full force yet, but the speed at which production comes online will put Guyana on track to face similar corruption issues.

By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

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Norways Ministry of Petroleum and Energy said on Wednesday that it was offering a total of 102 blocks up for exploration in the 24th licensing round on the Norwegian Continental Shelfa record number of blocks in the areadespite environmentalists concern over drilling in the Arctic.

Out of the 102 blocks, 9 blocks are in the Norwegian Sea, and 93 in the Barents Sea. Norway aims to award new production licenses in the first half of 2018, with the application deadline for companies set for November 30, 2017, the petroleum ministry said.

In March this year, Norways government announced initial plans to open a record number of oil exploration blocks in the Barents Sea, sparking renewed criticism from environmental groups. A considerable number of the blocks proposed in the Barents Sea are located north of the northernmost oil discovery in Norway. Back then, the government said that it would announce the final blocks in the second quarter this year after a public consultation with local communities, environmental groups, and regulators.

The proposal for the 102 blocks was based on nomination from the companies and evaluation by the government authorities. The proposal was sent for public consultation on March 13, with a May 2 deadline. In total, 36 submissions were received, the petroleum ministry said today.

New exploration acreage promotes long-term activity, value creation and profitable employment in the petroleum industry across the country, Petroleum Minister Terje Sviknes said in the statement.



Related: Who Controls The Oil As Kurdish Independence Looms?

Environmentalists were not happy with the announcement, and Truls Gulowsen, head of Greenpeace Norway, told Reuters:

This is an attack on the environment. Its a confirmation that the Norwegian government doesnt take their own climate commitments from Paris seriously.

Greenpeace is suing Norway over the previous, 23rd, licensing round, for oil companies to drill in the Arctic Barents Sea. The plaintiffsNature and Youth and Greenpeace Nordicargue that Norway thereby violates the Paris Agreement and the peoples constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment for future generations.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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If governments around the world stick to the Paris Agreement targets for CO2 emissions, big oil companies stand to lose US$2.3 trillion in the period until 2025. This is the striking outtake from a new report by Carbon Tracker, a climate change think tank, which partnered with a group of institutional investors to compile it.

The authors of the report analyzed the 69 biggest public oil and gas companies, and compared how they will fare in terms of capital expenditure on a business-as-usual basis and on a basis that involved full compliance with the core target of the Paris Agreement: reducing the rise of global temperatures by 2 degrees Celsius (the D2 scenario). According to the report, there was some very bad news for these companies.

In a D2 scenario, potentially unviable new oil and gas projects range from below 10 percent to as much as 70 percent for some companies in the lineup. The US$2.3-tillion figure represents about a third of the 69 companies combined capex until 2025. In other words, under a D2 scenario, these companies could waste a third of their combined capital budgets on oil and gas output that will simply not be needed.

The worst affected companies under this D2 scenario would be Apache and Southwestern Energy, both with a 60-70 percent exposure to unviable projects. Things dont look much better for Exxon  its exposure is between 40 and 50 percent. Shell and Chevron are both in the 30-40 percent band of exposure, as are Total, Noble Energy, and Rosneft. Anadarko, Occidental Petroleum, BP, and Lukoil are with an even lower exposure, at 20-30 percent.



Related: Shale Efficiency Has Peaked For Now

Its worth noting that full compliance with Paris Agreement targets are only a possible future. In fact, in its recent Energy Technology Perspectives, the International Energy Agency warned that at the moment, just a tenth of renewable energy technology globally is up to the task of meeting the agreements targets. So, the D2 scenario is by no means a given.

On the other hand, Big Oil might see investor outflows. Reuters notes in its report on the Carbon Tracker document that Swedens largest pension fund, AP7, has cut its exposure to six energy companies, among them Exxon, on concern that they are in violation of the Paris Agreement.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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For Immediate Release

The CIAs post-9/11 torture program  conducted at secret prisons around the globe  constituted an illegal, unethical regime of human experimentation. According to a new report released today by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), recently declassified documents confirm that the CIA conducted experimental research to test an unsupported hypothesis that torture could break the resistance of detainees and aid interrogation. This research was conducted to support the operation of the enhanced interrogation program and to provide legal cover for the use of torture to the Bush administration.

The CIA torture program was based on the unproven theory that torture could produce compliance and ultimately assist with intelligence collection, said PHRs Sarah Dougherty, lead author of PHRs new report. Although it was junk science, it was peddled by two psychologists who saw an opportunity to make a profit by setting in motion a crude program of experimentation to study the effects of torture on detainees. Even if this research had been benign, its still illegal to perform research without informed consent.

Through an analysis of thousands of pages of declassified U.S. government records, PHRs latest report Nuremberg Betrayed: Human Experimentation and the CIA Torture Program  shows that CIA contract psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen promoted the unsupported claim that breaking detainees psychologically could produce compliance and cooperation, and thus yield intelligence. They designed an interrogation program in which health professionals were charged with not only monitoring the application of torture, but also reviewing whether the tactics worked and would not injure detainees beyond thresholds established by the Bush administration.

Because their torture tactics were wholly unproven  even the CIA previously said torture was counterproductive  Mitchell, Jessen, and nameless others used observations during torture to formulate clinical procedures to modify subsequent torture techniques and guide similar monitoring for future torture sessions, said PHRs director of programs, Homer Venters, MD. Instead of living by the ethical tenet of do no harm, health professionals applied their professional skills and engaged in research to aid torture. This was human experimentation on nonconsenting prisoners who were being tortured, a crime within a crime.

PHRs report further shows that health professionals participating in the torture program were under pressure from the CIA to generate data to justify torture practices. Those health professionals were also used to determine the threshold of pain and suffering of the torture subjects, calibrating levels as they progressed. That data was then used by CIA legal counsel to provide legal cover, with the CIAs lawyers advising officers that such evidence could be used to sidestep criminal prosecution for torture.

Health professionals were used to give experimental torture practices a false mantle of safety and legitimacy, said PHRs Dougherty. Theres evidence that CIA personnel recognized that illegal human experimentation was taking place. The CIAs own contracts with Mitchell and Jessen even referred to the program as applied research. Any researcher or health professional even minimally versed in the basics of ethics and professionalism can tell you that such research without consent is completely outside the realm of the acceptable.

PHRs report also debunks Mitchell and Jessens claim that abusive interrogation tactics were sound. The contract psychologists based this hypothesis on military training in which U.S. personnel underwent mock interrogation and exploitation. PHRs new study points out that this training was designed to improve students resistance to torture, not to make them cooperative. Further, unlike military trainees, CIA prisoners were nonconsenting participants, indefinitely detained, who were subjected to abuse far beyond that meted out on the military trainees and who had no recourse to stop the pain. PHRs report shows these fundamental differences not only rendered any claims of safety and efficacy absurd, but were purposely exploited to achieve the programs aim to psychologically destroy detainees.

Seven years ago, PHR publicly raised the concern that the post 9/11 CIA interrogation program possibly involved elements of unethical human experimentation, said Scott Allen, MD, the reports lead medical author. We can now conclusively say that the CIAs torture program was conceived as an experimental program based on untested and unproven theories. The research may have been crude, ad hoc, and based on poorly founded hypotheses, but it was research nonetheless. Research on prisoners without their consent, regardless of the legal status of the prisoner, is a crime. That the research was on the effects of torture makes it even more unconscionable.

PHRs report calls on the medical and scientific communities to convene a commission to lay out the public record of what is known. PHR also urges the Trump administration to launch criminal investigations into allegations of illegal experimentation in order to get a full accounting of the crimes committed and enabled by health professionals in the name of national security.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.
Legislation U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, introduced to extend the federal Perkins Loan college financial aid program for two years kind of goes against the grain of what is happening in Washington now, said Mary Beth Labate, president of The Commission on Independent Colleges & Universities in New York, an advocacy organization that represents about 100 private colleges and universities.

Labate said she is particularly heartened that Stefanik is pushing to extend the loan program at a time when President Trump has proposed cuts to overall federal funding for higher education financial aid.

The Perkins Loan program, the oldest federal college financial aid program, provides federal funding to participating colleges and universities to operate campus-specific revolving loan funds that provide low interest loans to financially needy students.

The colleges must match at least 33 percent of the federal funding.

The federal authorization for the the program is scheduled to end in September.

About 75,000 students in New York receive about $164 million in loans through the program annually, Labate said.

Its a really important program for our students, she said.

The legislation that Stefanik introduced May 17  HR 2482  had 52 co-sponsors, as of Wednesday  40 Democrats and 12 Republicans.

She has 52 co-sponsors. And that, in Washington right now, is a great thing, Labate said.

Watch The Post-Star in the coming days for a comprehensive report about the proposed legislation.
HUDSON FALLS  A Hudson Falls man has been charged with four felonies for allegedly selling heroin in Hudson Falls twice earlier this year.

John K. Mitchell, 53, of Main Street, was charged with two felony counts each of criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance after an investigation by Hudson Falls Police

He is accused of selling heroin on two occasions in March.

Mitchell was arraigned and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of bail.

Hudson Falls Police were assisted by the Washington County Sheriffs Office, State Police and Glens Falls Police.
GLENS FALLS  Barely two weeks after the opening of the new Feibes & Schmitt Gallery at The Hyde Collection, the museums Director Erin Coe shared that she will be leaving the collection she has nurtured and grown for nearly 17 years to head the Palmer Museum of Art in State College, Pennsylvania.

This was a difficult decision for me, mainly because I am so attached to The Hyde, professionally but also personally, Coe said late Tuesday afternoon. The staff is like family to me, as are many of the members and volunteers. And, I grew up professionally in this museum. It will always be a part of me.

While at the Hyde, Coe was pivotal in transforming it into an art museum offering the region a collection previously reserved for urban museums in places like New York City. But bringing modern art to the Glens Falls museum, following the recent $11 million gift from Werner Feibes and the late James Schmitt, dramatically changed The Hydes story.

Previously known for the works of Old Masters like Botticelli, Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir, Degas and Picasso, and Americans like Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins, The Hydes art story stopped around 1900.

But with the recent unveiling of the 1,500-square-foot Feibes & Schmitt Gallery and its inaugural exhibition, To Distribute and Multiply: The Feibes & Schmitt Gift, the museum also embraced modern and contemporary art.

She was my strategic visionary. The goal was to bring modern and contemporary art to the community  weve done that, said Karl Seitz, president of the museums board of trustees, on Tuesday evening.

Seitz and the board announced Coes departure to The Hyde staff and the public in a press release on Tuesday.

I wouldnt be happy about her leaving no matter when she left, but Im very accepting. And everybody wants Erin to succeed, he said. I think shes such a star. Im her biggest fan. What shes accomplished, Im really proud to have worked with her to open the gallery.

Selected from a nationwide pool of candidates, Coe will head the Penn State art museum, which is twice as large as the Hyde with 11 galleries and a collection of about 8,500 objects.

The Palmer Museum of Art is the largest art museum between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. They organize 10 exhibitions a year. Its great strength is American art from the Colonial period to the present, Coe said. But it also has an encyclopedic collection representing a variety of world cultures and spanning centuries of art. Other strengths include its photography collection, print collection, ceramics and studio glass collection.

Still, she said, her heart will always be with The Hyde. But if there was ever a good time to move on, this may be it. With the new gallery opening, record attendance and generous donations, The Hyde is in a good place.

I always wanted to leave on a high note, and with the opening of the new Feibes & Schmitt Gallery dedicated to modern and contemporary art, I feel, in many ways, like Ive done all I can for The Hyde, she said. I am leaving the museum in great shape and ready for a new leader to step in and make it their own.

As the director of the Palmer Museum of Art, Coe will be responsible for growing the collection, advancing the museums exhibition program, and increasing its visibility, Coe said.

I will work with the staff to further develop innovative programs and partnerships with Penn States faculty and students, and its community of supporters, she said. I will provide the strategic direction for the museum at an exciting moment, as they are exploring plans for a new museum for the Palmer as part of a cultural district at Penn States beautiful arboretum.

Barbara Korner, dean of the College of Arts and Architecture, said they are thrilled to welcome someone with Erins proven experience as an administrator, fundraiser, and curator to the Palmer.

Her commitment to community engagement and the visitor experience will allow the museum to expand on the programming already offered, helping us to reach an even wider audience, Korner said.

Coe has been director of The Hyde Collection since 2015, previously serving as chief curator from 1999 to 2014. As curator, she was responsible for the care, research, interpretation and growth of the museums permanent collection of European and American art (from 2,800 to 4,000 objects), and its active exhibition program of 10 shows a year.

She oversaw the interior restoration of Hyde House, the former home of founders Louis and Charlotte Hyde. Coe has curated more than 40 exhibitions, authored more than a dozen publications and juried several regional and national exhibitions.

After curating the critically acclaimed exhibition, Modern Nature: Georgia OKeeffe and Lake George, in association with the Georgia OKeeffe Museum in 2013, the shows catalog was honored with an award by the Association of Art Museum Curators.

Before joining The Hyde Collection, Coe held positions with the Shaker Museum and Library, the University Art Museum at the University at Albany (SUNY), and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

When she leaves for Pennsylvania later this summer, Anne Saile, founder of the Saile Group LLC, a business development and leadership consulting firm, will take over as interim director.

Getting Anne Saile to sign on as our interim director, she has worked closely with Erin and she has the capability to make the transition as smooth as possible, said Seitz, adding Saile recently worked with Coe to raise $500,000 for The Hyde.

According to Seitz, trustees will conduct a national search for a new director.

I hope that The Hyde continues on a path of growth, success, and greater community engagement, Coe said. My hope is that I can continue to make a difference and demonstrate the impact of museums as places of learning and creativity, as well as a social space where communities connect, inspire, and engage.
SARATOGA  A Saratoga Springs woman died Tuesday night when a vehicle she was driving went off a private bridge and overturned in Fish Creek, police said.

Ellen R. Steinberger, 66, was pulled from her overturned Toyota sedan by South Glens Falls Fire Department divers after the vehicle was spotted overturned in the water around 5:40 p.m. Tuesday, according to State Police. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said she apparently drove off the single-lane bridge on private property near Brown Point Lane in the town of Saratoga. The bridge has railroad ties along its edge to serve as side rails.

An autopsy concluded she died from asphyxiation due to drowning.

Troopers were assisted at the scene by the Saratoga County Sheriffs Office, Quaker Springs and South Glens Falls fire departments and General Schuyler EMS.
Demolition drive to remove unauthorised structures built on government land around tomb of Afzal Khan has completed: Maharashtra to SC.

SC seeks reports from Satara district collector, deputy conservator of forests on demolition in and around tomb of Afzal Khan in Maharashtra.
For just the ninth time in 136 years, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport will change Thursday afternoon.

Monsignor Thomas Zinkula, 60, of Dubuque, will be ordained as bishop, succeeding Bishop Martin Amos. Amos turned 75 years old in December, and by the rules of his faith, was eligible to retire.

The invitation-only events begin at 2 p.m. at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, Bettendorf. A full-house gathering of 1,000 people is expected, said Deacon David Montgomery, spokesman for the diocese.

Zinkula, the rector of the Catholic seminary in Dubuque, was tapped as the next bishop by Pope Francis. He received a phone call in April about the post and has said he was surprised by the papal invitation.

Thursday's events include Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, and the pope's top representative in this country.

Zinkula will be ordained first in the service by three other bishops, including Amos, Archbishop Michael Jackels of Dubuque and the retired Archbishop of Dubuque, Jerome Hanus.

Fourteen more bishops will join in that part of the event, Montgomery said.

The installation will follow the ordination, when Zinkula will be invited to "open the doors" to his new position.

The event is expected to include visiting bishops, priests and deacons, as well as representatives of 78 parishes in the diocese.

The mayors of Davenport and Bettendorf are invited as are representatives of different faiths, including Jewish, Lutheran, Episcopalian and other faith leaders, the deacon said.

The bishop-to-be's family  Zinkula is one of nine children from Mount Vernon, Iowa  will be in the audience, too.

A private reception will follow the ordination and installation.
Not only has spring come and gone, but it's been nearly a year since Sgt. Brandon Ketchum succumbed to his PTSD.

The 33-year-old Davenport veteran, who served two tours in Iraq and another in Afghanistan, shot himself hours after asking to be admitted to the psychiatric unit at the VA hospital in Iowa City. He was told there was no room for him.

Iowa's U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican, and Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Democrat, demanded a review of Brandon's hospital visit by the VA's Office of Inspector General. That was in August.

In November, Inspector General Michael J. Missal told Ernst he expected the review to be completed by spring. It didn't happen.

Asked this week about the delayed report, Ernst replied via email:

The Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General said we should expect a final report on the investigation in July. While I am disappointed the VA OIG was not able to deliver the report in the spring, given the gravity of this situation, I want to ensure this investigation is as thorough as possible.

"I have written several letters to the VA and VA OIG, regarding the death of Brandon Ketchum. Its critical that we receive these reports as quickly as possible in order to move swiftly and correct any flaws to prevent future tragedies. I intend to continue closely monitoring Mr. Ketchums case and have requested to be briefed on the situation just as soon as the investigation concludes."

Herself a veteran, Ernst has done as promised, repeatedly reminding the Inspector General that Congress is waiting.

Loebsack has been in there swinging, too, and co-sponsored namesake legislation, "Brandon Ketchum Never Again Act." The bill seeks to require VA medical centers to provide in-patient psychiatric treatment to any veteran who asks for it.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of Sgt. Ketchums tragic death, there are still more questions than answers," Loebsack wrote in an email this week. "While all due diligence must be made to get the facts correct, I am beyond frustrated with the amount of time this report has taken. Sgt. Ketchum's family, fellow soldiers and the community deserve closure. The public deserves to know the answers to exactly what happened that day, and it is beyond time that it be released.

Everybody knows the VA is swimming in crises. With an estimated 20 veterans committing suicide every single day, the agency most taxed with helping thousands of veterans deal with their PTSD obviously is struggling to do so. From the time Brandon died to the first anniversary of his death next month, an estimated 7,300 veterans will have killed themselves. That is thousands more veterans than soldiers who died in the War on Terror.

"OIGs work regarding this case is ongoing, and we are working diligently to complete our review and publish the final report," Missal spokesman Michael Nacincik wrote Tuesday in response to my questions about the review. "We expect the final report to be available later this summer."

We've established that the VA and its Office of Inspector General are exceedingly busy  perhaps even overwhelmed. We know members of Congress have been nipping at their heels, and we know Brandon's family has been waiting for nearly a year to find out what went wrong and why he was turned away at his most vulnerable moment.

But one thing left to consider that really only makes matters worse is this: The July 7 appointment with Dr. Anthony Miller at the VA hospital in Iowa City lasted mere minutes. Even though records clearly show the doctor knew about Brandon's calls to the suicide hotline, knew he was increasingly depressed, had PTSD and asked to be admitted, he was sent away.

How long can it possibly take to figure out that was wrong?
A Davenport man who was arrested early Tuesday in Rock Island County after leading police on a high-speed car chase that started in Davenport has now been charged in Scott County District Court in connection with a shooting that police say happened prior to the chase.

Keyshawn Lavone Reed Sr., 29, faces charges of intimidation with a dangerous weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, assault while participating in a felony, domestic assault with intent, child endangerment and eluding.

He was transported from the Rock Island County Jail and booked into the Scott County Jail at 2:11 p.m. Wednesday, according to online records.

According to an arrest affidavit released by Davenport police Wednesday:

At 12:36 a.m. Tuesday, police were dispatched to the 1100 block of West 8th Street for a report of shots fired.

Reed had entered into an occupied residence and an argument ensued. He assaulted a woman in the face and placed a handgun to her head.

The woman, who was in fear for her life, moved her head just prior to a shot being fired. The bullet hit a wall inside the home near where his infant child was sitting in a car seat.

Reed also made threats to kill other people inside the home. He then assaulted the mother of his child by slapping her across the face and pointing a gun in her general direction. Reed then left the residence with her and the infant.

A pursuit was initiated, and Reed reached speeds of 120 mph in a 65-mph zone. He also ran several traffic control devices and went the wrong way on a one-way street with the infant still inside the vehicle, according to the affidavit.

Police said Tuesday that Reed fled into Illinois over the Interstate 280 bridge; Illinois police were able to deploy spike-sticks to disable the vehicle.

Reed ran from the car but was apprehended after a short chase, according to police.

He has several felony convictions in Rock Island County and is not allowed to own or possess a firearm.

The intimidation charge is a Class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, while the assault, eluding and felon in possession charges are Class D felonies each punishable by up to five years in prison. The domestic abuse and child endangerment charges are aggravated misdemeanors, each punishable by up to two years in prison.

Reed was charged Tuesday in Rock Island County with aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and resisting/obstructing a peace officer in connection with Tuesday's incident.

Illinois court records list him as Keshawn Lavone Reed.
An arrest warrant has been issued for a Rock Falls, Illinois, man accused of stabbing a man early Wednesday in rural Rock Falls.

Isaiah Reyes, 29, is wanted on two counts of home invasion, a Class X felony, and one count of aggravated battery. Bond on the warrant is set at $100,000.

The Whiteside County Sheriffs Office was called at 2:28 a.m. to the 200 block of Martin Road. A woman reported that Reyes, her ex-boyfriend, had entered her home and beat up a 20-year-old male friend who was visiting, according to deputies.

During the incident, the man was stabbed once in the thigh. He was transported by ambulance to CGH Medical Center in Sterling, Illinois, and was later released, according to deputies.

Anyone with information regarding Reyes whereabouts should call the Whiteside County Sheriff's Office at 815-772-4044 or Crime Stoppers at 815-625-7867. The Sheriffs Office was assisted by Sterling and Rock Falls Police Departments and Illinois State Police.
With 6th Ward Alderman Jeff Justin's resignation just around the corner, the Davenport City Council appears headed toward making an appointment to fill the position until the term expires in November.

Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz has recommended the City Council search for candidates who do not intend to run for re-election so no candidate would get an advantage when campaigning, and members of the City Council have indicated they are strongly considering that option.

"We heard pretty compelling suggestions from our auditor related to the timing of the process moving forward," Mayor Frank Klipsch said.

After nearly 10 years on the City Council, Justin accepted a position at Lee County Electric Co-op in Cape Coral, Florida, and has set his last day on the council as July 5.

Iowa Code stipulates a vacancy may be filled through appointment or a special election.

As far as appointment is concerned, Moritz recommended three criteria for finding a suitable candidate: residency in the 6th Ward, previous council experience and knowledge of economic development.

Klipsch said that in discussions with colleagues and the public, one name kept popping up: former Alderman Gene Meeker.

Klipsch said he spoke with Meeker, who said he would be happy to fill the position and would not seek re-election.

Alderman Maria Dickmann, 2nd Ward, asked that if the city finds other candidates that they be given the same opportunity for appointment, which would likely include an interview.

Even if the council chooses to appoint someone to the seat, a special election can be forced through the collection of 261 signatures within either two weeks of the actual appointment or the notification of intent to appoint.

Klipsch said that if a special election fills the vacancy, it would likely mean that the vacancy would continue until October.

Should an appointment go unchallenged, the winner of the Nov. 7 general election would take the seat following the canvass of votes on Nov. 15.

"This process here would allow anyone interested in full-time representation for the 6th Ward to concentrate on the November election," Klipsch said.
The fate of a new Costco Wholesale location proposed in northeast Davenport is now in the hands of the City Council after the Plan and Zoning Commission approved recommendations for its rezoning and development plan.

The commission voted 6-3 Tuesday in favor of rezoning the property and 7-2 in favor of the final development plan.

Costco had submitted a request to rezone 17.88 acres north of the intersection of Fairhaven Road and East 53rd Street and sought approval of a final development plan in order to build a 156,170-square-foot building and fuel station.

As part of the process, Costco held a neighborhood meeting in addition to the commission's public hearing which brought out concerns from residents about traffic and stormwater runoff.

Although city staff identified a number of items in the development plan for Costco to address, including requirements for the entrance ways, traffic signals and improvements to 53rd Street, it also recommended approval as none of the concerns could not be overcome.

Costco's east entrance on 53rd Street is required to be right-in, right-out, and it will require a median from the west entrance to just past Fairhaven Road to prevent left turns.

Although some of the costs may be reimbursed, Costco will be required to design and reconstruct the portion of 53rd Street from Lorton Avenue to the fire station, which the city has announced will be widened to five lanes after receiving news that the project will be federally funded.

Costs ineligible for reimbursement include turn lanes into the Costco property as well as storm sewer modifications that are attached to the Costco site.

The staff report said the conditions imposed on Costco will mitigate traffic impacts and rezoning the property "will not appreciably increase impacts to surrounding properties, including congestion on 53rd Street, compared to other scenarios or even a no-build situation."

Senior Planning Manager Matt Flynn said the city is also in discussions with Costco and the Schaeffer family, who own property to the north, about another access way that would stretch to Elmore Avenue should future development occur.

The Schaeffer family has indicated they would like to use the property for future residential development.

Both Costco Midwest Development Manager Ted Johnson and attorney Greg Jager, who represents the Schaeffer family, said there were some concerns about the driveway and needed more information to commit.

"The concept could work, but the devil is in the details," Johnson said.

Jager, for example, inquired about what conditions would trigger its build and said the owners would not dedicate right of way until the project is in the capital improvement plan.

The commission, however, took issue with the potential north access way because it stated that the city would finance its construction.

Flynn said that while it was not in the city's capital improvement plan, City Adminstrator Corri Spiegel was present in the room when those discussions took place.

The commission decided to remove the city's financial obligation in the conditions by a 5-4 vote.

Costco has also inquired about a shared access way on land AT&T currently leases for its store to the east, but Johnson said that he has only received "acknowledgement" of his request.

The protest rate, which is calculated based upon owners within a 200-foot perimeter around proposed site, was 1.7 percent as a result of two objections.

Had the protest rate exceeded 20 percent, the City Council would have needed a supermajority, or eight votes, to approve rezoning the property.

A public hearing will likely take place at the July 5 committee-of-the-whole meeting before the first of three readings of an ordinance begins on July 12.

"This will not be the last opportunity for the public to be heard," Flynn said.
Good afternoon, Quad-Cities. Here is your National Weather Service forecast.

This afternoon there is a 30 percent chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms mainly before 3 p.m. Skies will be partly sunny with a high near 84 degrees. Southeast winds will be 5-10 mph. The chance of precipitation is 30 percent.

Tonight there is a 20 percent chance of isolated showers and thunderstorms before 7 p.m. then isolated showers and thunderstorms after 1 a.m. Skies will be mostly cloudy with a low around 72 degrees. Southeast winds will be around 10 mph.

Thursday there is a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Skies will be partly sunny with a high around 91 degrees. Southwest winds will be 10-15 mph with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Thursday night there is a 60 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms mainly after 1 a.m. Some of the storms could be severe and produce heavy rainfall. New rainfall amounts could be between a quarter and half an inch. Skies will be mostly cloudy with a low around 65 degrees. South winds will be 5-10 mph becoming north after midnight.

The Raccoon Motel kicks off a busy summer

Son Little's sold-out show on Monday kicked off a busy week for the Triple Crown Whiskey Bar & Raccoon Motel, 304 E. 3rd St., Davenport.

The Quad-City area's newest music venue is on track to host six shows in seven days this week, bringing in touring musicians from places such as Ohio, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas.

At the Raccoon Motel that's the norm. Read more.

Man injured in early-morning shooting

A man suffered non-life-threatening injuries during a shooting early Wednesday. Davenport police were called just after 3 a.m. to Genesis Medical Center-East Rusholme Street, Davenport, for a "walk-in gunshot victim," according to a news release.

Officers following up on the incident determined that the shooting did not occur in Davenport, according to the release.

Investigators are working with the Moline Police Department on additional follow-up with this incident; no additional information is available at this time.
The Debt Transparency Act is a good piece of legislation that's in line with the private sector's best practices.

That's why a veto-proof, bipartisan slate of Illinois lawmakers thrust it upon Gov. Bruce Rauner's desk. And that's why Rauner -- facing a potential revolt from his fellow Republicans -- should sign it immediately.

No shocker here: The Debt Transparency Act (DTA) has been wrapped in a growing feud between Rauner and Comptroller Susana Mendoza. The Chicago Democrat froze $27 million in funding meant for computer upgrades that she says is wasteful and low on the failing state's list of priorities. Rauner fired back that the new technology would permit more immediate access to Illinois' balance sheet. Mendoza called bull.

And, along with state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, came up with DTA, which would require executive agencies to report monthly outstanding bills.

Remove the politics and partisanship and Manar and Mendoza's bill boils down to good, transparent governance. Illinois is in dire need of a little of that right now.

Illinois' backlog of unpaid bills could be as high as $15 billion, Mendoza recently told us. The interest alone is around $700 million. That's an unacceptable waste of taxpayers' money in a state that can't even fund its basic social safety net for the elderly and destitute.

As Mendoza tells it, on any given Friday, as much as $1 billion in bills might land on her desk from out of the blue. These aren't new charges, mind you. In some cases, they've been festering in executive agency accounting departments for up to 10 months. Then, at the last minute, they get submitted.

Rauner's primary motto has centered on interjecting business sense into historically wasteful state government. No private entity -- at least one designed to last very long -- would manage its books the way Illinois does now. Just keeping track of cash flow is impossible when a few hundred million could suddenly appear on the books, just because the executive doesn't feel like submitting the vouchers.

If Rauner is really about good business, then DTA is a no-brainer.

The Rauner administration would only say last week that DTA is "under review" when asked if Rauner would veto it. Some Republicans consider the legislation as nothing but a political move designed to corner the governor. It's a view that's fueled by an overall lack of trust and increasingly aggressive sniping between Mendoza and Rauner.

Rauner's the "worst governor" she's seen, Rod Blagojevich included, Mendoza said recently. Rauner has repeatedly blasted Mendoza's freeze on spending for computer upgrades and consulting. But, if the governor is truly serious about fostering a working state government, then signing the DTA would be a good start, particularly as lawmakers return to Springfield for a special session.

If Rauner does whip out his veto pen, expect words like "onerous" in the message. It would be a bunk excuse, a dodge that neglects the bill's obvious links to good budgeting, in either the public or private sector.

This could be a moment for Republicans in the General Assembly should Rauner veto DTA. Those who originally supported DTA -- including Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, must stick by their positions and stand up to pressure from the governor's office.

Illinois has deep-seated structural problems. And many of Rauner's calls have had merit. It's his approach to politics that remains in question. Take, for instance, the situation backbench lawmakers find themselves as they head back to the Capitol facing a make-or-break budget deal. Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, is getting pummeled by mailers sent out by groups allied with the governor inaccurately accusing him of all manners of patronage. Such an environment does not lend itself to good-faith negotiations.

DTA makes sense. It would be a step toward transparency and informed governance no matter who was behind it. It still makes sense after months of Rauner and Mendoza warring in the press.

Rauner should sign DTA immediately. It makes sense on paper and in practice. And, for once, it could go a long way in establishing trust that is in short supply.
CEDAR RAPIDS  Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett formally declared Tuesday his Republican candidacy for governor, saying he is poised to shake up the 2018 race with a new game plan for Iowa.

A former Speaker of the Iowa House and two-term city mayor, Corbett, 56, introduced a core four platform of issues, saying Iowa has receded in K-12 education, has an unfair, uncompetitive and complicated income tax system, has failed for years to address water quality issues and needs more compassion for the well-being of Iowans.

Its time to elect new leaders with new ideas that have a new game plan for the sate of Iowa, he said. If we keep electing the same people to look at the same problems, they will keep coming up with the same solutions.

Corbett would face Gov. Kim Reynolds, former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstads handpicked successor, in a Republican primary in June. The winner would face a Democrat in the November 2018 election.

Reynolds has hired a campaign staff and said she plans to run with Acting Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg, a former state public defender.

Tuesday, with the NewBo City Market as a backdrop, Corbett quickly set about criticizing a lack of leadership in Des Moines and slow progress on key fronts.

The state has been too slow, he said, to work on a plan for 72,000 people facing a loss of health insurance at the end of the year; has shifted mental health pressures through funding cuts to local hospitals, jails and shelters; and acted against the public interest in turning over management of Medicaid to private, for-profit, organizations.

I dont think the current system is working, he said. It is not showing concern for people.

Corbett said the state needs to better support public schools, and proposed performance-based pay for teachers.

I believe in school choice, and I think having home schools, having private schools, having open-enrollment, and we probably need maybe a few charter schools, but the vast majority of our kids, our grandkids, go to the public schools, Corbett said. We have to make sure we are champions of public education, not undermining public education.

Corbett pitched himself as an open-minded conservative.

Im not a renegade Republican, he said. Im not a rubber stamp Republican, either. Im a conservative Republican with an independent streak. I can think for myself, but I also appreciate advice and counsel from people. ... I am not going to be a raw red meat candidate.

Corbett was elected seven times to the Iowa House, rising from a 26-year-old representative to Speaker of the House at age 32. He returned to Cedar Rapids to help raise his young family in 1999. He was hired as president of the former Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, where he led an initiative to change the citys form of government, and later held a senior position at the CRST trucking firm.

Corbett ran for mayor after the 2008 flood, winning in 2009 and being re-elected in 2013 promising to end a culture of delay at City Hall. He helped revitalize the city after major flood events in 2008 and 2016 with what he called an open for business mind-set.

Corbett has supported policies in the non-partisan mayoral position unpopular with Republicans, including using automated speed cameras on Interstate 380, providing tax incentives to lure private development, championing a local-option sales tax and supporting a pro-union initiative called project labor agreements.

Corbett has been traveling the state since 2015 with his conservative think tank Engage Iowa and more recently on a book tour for Beyond Promises to discuss his vision for the state.

Corbett now plans to leave on a three-day barnstorming tour.

Jeff Kaufmann, the Republican Party of Iowa chairman, said he and the party dont take sides in primaries, and welcomed Corbetts entry.

I dont think primaries are bad for a party at all, Kaufmann said. It will be an uphill climb to challenge an incumbent governor, but the Republican Party is not afraid to have conversations about issues and discuss what we believe.
CEDAR RAPIDS  Whether by coincidence or coordination, Gov. Kim Reynolds agenda for a meeting Wednesday with President Donald Trump in Cedar Rapids is on the same wavelength as the presidents Technology Week focus.

The president will visit Kirkwood Community College to see examples of technology that frankly, may not be at the top of your mind when you think about technology advancements in the United States, said Ray Starling, a special assistant to the president for agriculture, agricultural trade and food assistance as part of the White House Economic Council.

After the Kirkwood visit, Trump will have a campaign-style rally at 7 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Center, 370 1st Ave. NE. in downtown Cedar Rapids.

Trump is visiting the college, in part, because it is home to one of the first programs in the country to focus on agricultural geospatial technology and precision farming, Starling said in a media briefing. The program has been honored by the National Science Foundation.

Among the demonstrations Trump will see is technology that guides farm implements and allows farmers to collect data about pesticide and fertilizer needs, soil moisture and yields, Starling said. That takes on added importance this year because net farm income is expected to decline for a fourth year in a row, falling to half of what it was four years ago, Starling said.

Much of precision agriculture technology and other technology used on the farm and in rural American is dependent upon access to the web, he said. The president recognizes that the penetration of the availability of the web has obviously lagged in rural areas.

Connectivity is one of the priorities Reynolds will be lobbying the president on at Kirkwood.

We want Iowans to be able live anywhere in the state of Iowa no matter the size of the community or where it is located to have high-speed internet and connectivity where they can take an idea, create a business, grow it into a successful company and market their products to the world, Reynolds said at a news conference. Its really important that we continue to provide that level of high-speed internet to every single corner of the state.

At Kirkwood, Trump and Reynolds will be joined by Sonny Perdue and Wilbur Ross, secretaries of the Agriculture and Commerce departments, respectively, and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey.

It also will serve as a send-off for former Gov. Terry Branstad, who will leave Friday for China where he will serve as ambassador.

Reynolds also plans to lobby for White House approval of Iowas stopgap health insurance proposal to provide a coverage option for 72,000 Iowans on individual plans.

The plan, put forth last week by Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen, asks the federal government to approve a measure he hoped would both keep a statewide health insurer in the state and also lure others to the states marketplace. The measure  contingent on approval by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services  would provide consumers with age- and income-based tax credits as well as use a reinsurance mechanism for costly medical claims.

In response to the Trump visit, a protest is planned from 5-7:30 p.m. outside the Cellular Center. And at 2:30 p.m., Linn County Democrats will be hosting a community conversation in Room A, Beems Auditorium, the Cedar Rapids Public Library, 450 5th Ave. SE. The event is open to the public.
BISMARCK, N.D. | North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring and National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson have joined the call for emergency haying and grazing of grassland enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program.

Goerhing has sent a request to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue as farmers and ranchers in the state deal with drought. North Dakota's congressional delegation made the same request earlier this week.

Johnson's request to Perdue is for North Dakota and parts of South Dakota, Montana and Minnesota.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map shows all of North Dakota being either abnormally dry or in some stage of drought, with more than one-fourth of the state in severe drought.
SIOUX FALLS | A South Dakota man accused of livestreaming himself brandishing weapons and making threats outside an anti-Islam event in April has pleaded not guilty to drug charges.

Jaber was arrested in April on charges that he made terrorist threats outside an anti-Islam event in Sioux Falls. He was arrested again several weeks later when authorities said he tested positive for methamphetamine, violating the conditions of his release.

Jaber remains in federal custody on charges of having a gun while in possession of a controlled substance. He's charged in Lincoln County with making a terrorist threat and possessing meth.

An August trial is set for the drug charges.
PIERRE | Twelve voting members spoke Tuesday about why they wanted to serve, and what they hope to achieve in the coming months, during the first meeting of South Dakotas task force on initiatives and referenda.

South Dakota lawmakers established the panel during the Legislatures 2017 session. Their action came after many Republican lawmakers repealed Initiated Measure 22 that voters had passed in the November 2016 general election.

IM 22 would have substantially changed or restricted state campaign finance and elections laws.

Republican legislators successfully sued in circuit court in December to block IM 22 from taking effect. An appeal to the South Dakota Supreme Court was pending when Republicans overturned IM 22.

The task force meets again today starting at 10 a.m. MDT.

Task force chairwoman Emily Wanless of Sioux Falls said Tuesday she knew from the beginning this was a contentious issue that would attract public attention.

Ten ballot measures does lead to voter confusion and fatigue, Wanless said of South Dakotas 2016 statewide ballot.

She noted close to 10 million dollars was spent on the ballot-measure campaigns. The process can and does work well, but can it work better? Wanless asked. We will have at least one additional meeting to hammer this out.

Will Mortenson, a Republican attorney from Fort Pierre who described himself as a part-time cowhand, said it would be good to thoroughly review the initiative and referral processes with a pan-partisan eye.

Yvonne Taylor, executive director for the South Dakota Municipal League, said the cities in her organization deal with initiatives and referrals on both the state and local levels.

Taylor said her purposes are to protect the processes and make them as clean and open as possible.
The company that is marketing abandoned military bunkers in southwest South Dakota as doomsday shelters will offer free camping in the bunkers during the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

The former Black Hills Army Depot, about 10 miles southwest of Edgemont, was used to store weapons during and after World War II. The site is now privately owned. The Vivos company, run by Robert Vicino of California, has an agreement with one of the owners to market 575 of the site's more than 800 earth-covered, concrete bunkers as shelters for people worried about doomsday scenarios. Vivos has named the site "xPoint" for "the point in time when only the prepared will survive."

A promotion recently appeared on the Vivos website inviting people to camp for free in the shelters Aug. 7 to 13 during the Sturgis rally, which is scheduled for Aug. 4 to 13. An ad on the Craigslist website advertises the camping opportunity as being "near Sturgis," although the distance is about 120 miles.

Vivos is seeking down payments on bunker leases, which are priced at $25,000 upfront and $1,000 annually thereafter.
BISMARCK-A two-week jury trial for the man charged with murdering a Patterson Place resident last year has been postponed with no new date set.

Morris Pederson, 56, is on trial for allegedly stabbing to death 61-year-old Greg Comes, a geotechnical engineer who struggled with health problems and alcoholism, at his apartment on April 5, 2016.

Pederson has pleaded not guilty to the Class AA felony charge. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Julie Lawyer said at a pretrial conference Tuesday morning that she expects to call 29 witnesses over the course of at least a week. She declined to provide a witness list, but information filed in December names police officers, medical examiners, forensic scientists and residents and staff from Patterson Place and Ruth Meiers Hospitality House, where Comes lived.

In order to speed up jury selection today, surveys have been mailed to potential jurors with questions about their backgrounds and knowledge of the case.

Authorities allege Pederson killed Comes by stabbing him in the neck and chest with kitchen knives. At a preliminary hearing in July, Bismarck Police Det. Jeremy Seeklander said police identified Pederson as a suspect after he walked from the apartment complex to the Burleigh County Courthouse in a blood-stained shirt and asked sheriff's deputies to help Comes, who was dead. The deputies sent him back to the apartment building, where he met detectives, who interviewed and arrested him.

Pederson reported meeting Comes while they were residents at Ruth Meiers, Seeklander said.

At that hearing, Pederson's former attorney, Travis Finck, suggested that someone else could have murdered Comes, as others also may have gone in and out of the apartment.

Pederson said at the time Comes was like a "grandfather" to him, and it is not clear what motive the prosecution will suggest.

The victim's family and friends said in interviews last summer that Comes had a promising start to life. He was president of his senior class in Belle Fourche, S.D., and went on to become a geotechnical civil engineer, who traveled the world on work assignments. But he dealt with alcoholism and some health problems, including deteriorating eyesight. Around 2012, Comes moved to North Dakota to work as an oil industry engineer. After losing his job, he ended up at the homeless shelter then on disability in the Section 8 apartments at the Patterson Place, where he was killed.

Lawyer is prosecuting the case along with Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Tessa Vaagen. Pederson is represented by Bismarck attorneys Erica Shively and Rob Quick.

South Central District Judge David Reich will preside over the trial at the Burleigh County Courthouse.
As President Trump talks about renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement  or killing it outright if those negotiations don't go his way  we hope that his objective is bigger than simply checking off another campaign promise.

Put another way, our nation's trade deals with Canada and Mexico shouldn't lead to tweets in which our president gloats about "winning" the negotiations with our neighbors to the north and south.

Geographically speaking, this is not a complex equation. America's farmers and manufacturers need international markets for their products, and the closer those markets are, the lower the logistical costs. When man-made obstacles such as tariffs are reduced or eliminated, so much the better.

It turns out Minnesota could be considered the poster child for the now 23-year-old trade pact with Mexico and Canada.

Data from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development indicates Canada and Mexico now account for one-third of our state's $19 billion in annual exports. Minnesota currently enjoys a trade surplus with Mexico, and our trade deficit with Canada has shrunk by two-thirds in the past eight years.

Companies including General Mills and Hormel are on the record in support of NAFTA, as is the Minnesota Cattlemen's Association. Exports of medical technology and heavy transport equipment from Minnesota to Mexico have soared in the past eight years, so a long list of Minnesota-based companies and trade associations will wait with bated breath if and when Trump sits down with leaders from Mexico and Canada.

We won't say NAFTA is perfect, nor will we deny our trading partners have taken some actions that invite some backlash. For example, in recent weeks the Post Bulletin has published numerous articles about how recent changes in Canada's duties on dairy imports threatened to leave several area farms with no nearby processors to buy their milk.

Trump has responded by slapping a new 20 percent tariff on lumber imported from Canada. This new tax, along with Trump's accompanying flurry of tweets, have made it clear helping America's dairy farmers  Wisconsin was a huge factor in his Electoral College win  will be a top priority of any new NAFTA deal.

We won't say the president is wrong, at least not in principle. Any trade deal that's been in place for 23 years will contain elements that should be re-examined and possibly revised.

But the spirit in which these negotiations take place will telling. Canada and Mexico are our trade partners, not our adversaries. The U.S. should seek to improve NAFTA, to make it more beneficial to all parties, rather than seeking "an edge" that will lead to retaliation down the road.
Yet another Russian national sentenced for cyber fraud in U.S.

MOSCOW, June 21 (RAPSI)  The Federal Court for the Central District of California has sentenced Russian citizen Irina Fedoseyeva, a defendant in a large-scale cyber fraud case, to 14 months in prison, the court documents available to RAPSI read on Wednesday.

The court also ruled Fedoseyeva to compensate the damage, estimated to make nearly $232,700. She pleaded guilty to use of unauthorized access devices and prosecutors asked to sentence her to 21 months in prison.

Earlier, the court sentenced another defendant, Timur Safin, to three years in prison and obliged him to pay victims $250,000 in compensation. Safins lawyer said that this is the first breach of the law by his client and that he may be deported to Russia after serving his time despite having a legally obtained permanent residence in the United States. Safin has pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and use of unauthorized access devices.

The criminal case reached the court in April 2016. Other defendants are Russian nationals Irina Fedoseyeva, Dmitry Fedoseyev, Christina Gerasimova and Belorussian national Sergey Patapau.

The indictment reads that Safin, Fedoseyev, Fedoseyeva and Patapau fraudulently got access to credit cards with limits of up to $5,000,000 and used those to obtain luxurious products for later resale or exchange.

During the searches, law enforcement officers found hundreds of fake credit cards and equipment for their production as well as personal data of legal bank accounts owners used for production of credit cards. The U.S. Ministry of Justice estimates damage caused by the fraud from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000.
Supreme Court upholds fining of Uber for misleading consumers in Russia

Context Uber appeals fine for misleading consumers in Russia

MOSCOW, June 21 (RAPSI)  The Supreme Court of Russia has dismissed an appeal filed by Uber Technolodgy, a Russian firm operating under Uber brand, against a 100,000 rubles ($1,785) fine for misleading consumers as to who actual carriers are, the courts ruling reads on Wednesday.

The Supreme Court upheld the ruling of a lower court.

Earlier, Uber Technology has filed an appeal with the Moscow Commercial Court against Moscow Department of Russias consumer rights watchdog (Rospotrebnadzor). The court dismissed the appeal on September 1, 2016, and that ruling was later upheld by higher courts.

Rospotrebnadzor believes that a consumer gets an impression that the transportation service is provided by Uber company but in fact this service is provided by Ubers partner-drivers. Consumers are not informed about the results of medical examination and licensing of taxi drives as well as consumer qualities of transfer service.

The service states that during the registration on uber.com website consumers may create accounts without learning about conditions and privacy policy and as a result they may not know all conditions of service provided.
Moscow court detains ex-producer of Russian theater company in embezzlement case

MOSCOW, June 21 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova)  The Presnensky District Court of Moscow has detained former chief producer of the Seventh Studio stage company Alexey Malobrodsky on suspicion of embezzling public funds allocated for promotion of art, RAPSI learnt in the court on Wednesday.

Malobrodsky is charged with embezzling 2.3 million rubles (about $38,700) allocated for organization of the Platforma festival. The defendant denies his guilt, although he has agreed to cooperate with investigators in the case.

During the hearings, Malobrodskys lawyer asked to dismiss a motion to detain the defendant, claiming that some of the facts mentioned in the indictment were not true. In particular, according to the indictment, A Midsummer Night's Dream play funded by state money was not performed; nevertheless, some specialized theater journals contain articles and reviews evidencing that the play was performed at Platforma 2015 festival. The evidence presented by the defense also included a letter from ex-minister of culture Ivan Demidov thanking one of the defendants in the case, artistic director Kirill Serebrennikov, for organizing the festival.

On June 8, ex-chief accountant of the Seventh Studio company Nina Maslyayeva pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with investigation. Allegedly she testified against Malobrodsky as well.

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 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).
Owners of residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural properties should be receiving classification and appraisal notices in the mail from the Montana Department of Revenue.

The departments determination of a propertys market and taxable values for the current appraisal cycle is shown on the notice.

We ask you to review the information thoroughly, said Mike Kadas, Department of Revenue director. Although this is not a tax bill, it is important information that your county treasurers office will use when calculating your property tax bill.

Property owners can access additional details about their property characteristics and values online by visiting revenue.mt.gov/my property.

If property owners disagree with the departments determination, they can electronically submit a Form AB-26, which is a Request for Informal Classification and Appraisal Review to the department at revenue.mt.gov/home/property/appraisal-notice. The form must be submitted within 30 days from the date on the notice.

Instead of submitting a Form AB-26 for an informal review, property owners may choose to make a formal appeal directly to the county tax appeal board, also within 30 days of the notice date. However, most property taxpayer concerns are resolved informally with the department through the AB-26 process.

Montana law requires the department to send a classification and appraisal notice to property owners in the first year of each appraisal cycle and whenever a change in ownership, classification or value has occurred. All residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial property owners or purchasers under contract for deed will receive a classification and appraisal notice in 2017 because it is the first year of the two-year appraisal cycle.

Forest land has a six-year appraisal cycle (2015-2020). Therefore, notices are mailed to forest land owners only if there is a change of ownership, classification or valuation since the last notice was sent.

The public can find contact information for local Department of Revenue offices by visiting revenue.mt.gov/contact-us or by calling (406) 444-6900 in the Helena area or toll free (866) 859-2254.
The call that an active shooter was at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories  a National Institutes of Health state-of-the-art biomedical research facility in Hamilton  came in at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Luckily, it was only an emergency drill, which gave initial responders the opportunity to practice for any mass injury incident. Sheriff Steve Holton said they have been planning the drill for several months.

We have all the agencies in the county" at the drill, he said. "This is not the first drill but we are practicing and testing the systems weve put into place.

Holton said the drill tests the worst case scenario, using simulated victims. In this case, it involved three dead people (including the shooter) and 15 who were wounded.

Participating agencies included the Hamilton Fire Department, NIH police, NIH command staff, Ravalli County Sheriff, Hamilton Police, Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital ambulances and a Life Flight helicopter.

Emergency response vehicles arrived with lights flashing, but without sirens so as not to disturb the quiet neighborhood.

We sent a postcard notice to about 300 households around RML, said Ken Pekoc, the laboratory's spokesman.

He said the plan including having internal loudspeaker addresses to the nearly 450 employees doing top research at the facility, but realize now they need a back-up person on that job since the assigned person was out for the day.

While the training was for a criminal action, the procedures would be the same in a natural disaster.

A command post, contracted security and NIH police are always on duty at RML and practice with the community is important.

You dont know what the circumstances will be. But like the deck that collapsed at Lakeside, you may all of a sudden have 30 or 40 or 50 people in mass casualty. You could have an earthquake or a shooting, but the skills they use to handle the situation are all the same, Pekoc said.

Marshall Bloom, associate director RML, said the mass casualty active shooter drill was essential.

At Rocky Mountain Labs we take emergency planning very seriously, primarily for the health, well being and safety of our employees, Bloom said. Multiple casualty events like this are occurring almost too frequently to keep track of. There have been way too many active shooter events in the last year or so.

Bloom said many types of events can constitute emergencies, but once past the initial situation the response to those emergencies is similar.

They told me many years ago When there is an emergency, it's not the time to be exchanging business cards, Bloom said. It is important that our law enforcement and emergency responders have the experience of working together with the local responders, so no matter the situation we know each other and the role each play.

Bloom was wearing a reflective vest with the word LIAISON to show he is the main contact with NIH in Bethesda, Maryland.

At RML, we are very fortunate to have an emergency manager named Roger Laferriere, Bloom said. He has experience on emergencies like Hurricane Katrina (in 2005). He has helped us establish an incident command structure at RML.

The Forest Service has used an incident command structure for dealing with large scale wildfires for decades.

I am a single-point source of accurate and timely information about what is happening for our officials on the main campus in Maryland, Bloom said. Rodger has done an amazing job of recruiting people at RML to be part of this incident command structure and learn what they are supposed to do.

Bloom said that the Roaring Lion Fire was an example for RML and Hamilton.

It really makes dealing with situations where there is a lot of opportunity for emotion and confusion, it makes a better template with the command center in place, Bloom said.

Erik Hoover is the director of Emergency Management for the Ravalli County Sheriffs Office. He provides the main contact and communication for all the emergency organizations that would help in situations like this, such as the Red Cross and state agencies. He also works with the media.

Theres a lot of work up front in building relationships, creating plans and mutual aid agreements, Hoover said. We plan for all types of hazards.

Victims were transported to the hospital and care facilities and a reunification center was used to reunite RML employees and their families.

At the end of the drill there was a debriefing to analyze the efforts and communication of all responders. An After Action Report will be presented to all responding agencies.

It will say what needs to be done to make our operation successful next time, Hoover said. From there we plan another training exercise and just keep the cycle going.

Its better to practice around a realistic drill, Holton added. Practicing shows any flaws in the plan. It is a real challenge in a facility like this with all the security. This helps RML refine procedures. They have a good team planning this.
Five people were arrested during the past week and charged with felonies, making their initial appearances in Ravalli County Justice Court on Friday and Monday.

Kaehl Danton Crick, 53, of Hamilton is charged with aggravated assault for allegedly causing serious bodily injury to another person. His bond is set at $50,000, and as of Tuesday he remained jailed.

James Calhoun Dacus, 42, of Corvallis was arrested June 17 on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. He has previous convictions for DUI in Montana in 1994, 2000, and 2009. Dacus was released Monday after posting a $10,000 bond, and must wear an alcohol monitoring device.

Matthew Raymond Spang, 30, of Stevensville, is charged with criminal possession of dangerous drugs for allegedly having methamphetamine, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia on June 18. He was released on his own recognizance after appearing Monday before Judge Jennifer Ray.

Kale Bradley Bertelsen, 30, of Lolo faces a felony criminal mischief charge for allegedly damaging property in May at the Ravalli County Detention Center. The value of the damage is more than $1,500. He also was released on his own recognizance after appearing Monday before Ray.

On Friday, Samuel Tyler Anderson, 28, of Corvallis made his initial appearance in Justice Court before Judge Jim Bailey. He was arrested for allegedly entering a residence and damaging property on June 15. His bail was set at $15,000, and he also remains jailed.
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Nepals conflict and peacebuilding process positioned the historical marginalization of indigenous, ethnic minority and other identity groups at the centre of the political agenda and saw these communities mobilize in unprecedented ways. While Nepals peace and constitutional processes involved a range of commitments to address historical marginalization and build a more inclusive state, so far these commitments have not been met. The resulting disillusionment and anger among indigenous and ethnic groups could threaten the countrys stability, and addressing this issue must be a priority for Nepals political leaders and international donors.

Identity and exclusion in Nepal

Nepals population is made up of a complex mosaic of different ethnic, caste and regional identities. According to the 2011 census there are 123 caste and ethnic groups in Nepal speaking 125 languages. However, political power and access to resources have historically been controlled by high-caste, hill-based groups, notably Brahmins and Chhetris, who developed the Nepali state and national identity to reflect their interests. As Neelakantan et al. (2016: 7) describe, a number of caste and ethnic identity groups experience deep, structural marginalization. Nepals officially recognised indigenous populations (Janajatis) make up around 37% of the population and comprise 59 groups, each with a distinct language, history and cultural identity. While Janajati communities are very diverse, they have common experiences of social, political, and economic marginalization and the appropriation of traditional lands and natural resources. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous People, Across the country, [Janajatis] rank low in all human development indicators. Most  live in conditions of poverty that, on the whole, are double or more the national poverty level (Anaya, 2009: 9).

Another minority ethnic people who have faced historical discrimination are the Madhesis. These are caste-based Hindus and Muslims living in the Tarai (the plains that border India) who speak plains languages and have extensive economic, linguistic, social and kinship ties with India. Madhesis have faced discrimination from hill communities based on the belief that they are not truly Nepali and are not loyal to the Nepali state. Madhesis have a long history of activism over their political identity.

In addition to ethnic discrimination, caste discrimination runs throughout most of Nepali society. Indeed, Dalits1 are among Nepals most marginalized populations, while other low-caste groups also suffer discrimination. Other groups also face identity-based exclusion, including freed bonded laborer communities, Muslims and other religious minorities, and women.

Any attempt to understand how indigenous and ethnic groups have engaged with peace building must recognize the complex and overlapping nature of identities in Nepal. These can create double discrimination, e.g. for Dalits or Muslim Madhesis, or for indigenous women. They also shape access to power and resources both at the national level and within ethnic communities; e.g. high-caste men dominate Madhesi political parties, just as they do mainstream political parties. It is also important to understand how different identities have been mobilized at different times, and how emphasis on certain types of identities can create political momentum in some areas, such as around political autonomy for Madhesi or Janajati populations, while undermining opportunities to mobilize across such ethnic identities around other sets of interests, such as Dalit- or gender- related issues.

Throughout the history of Nepal there has been little space for the expression of ethnic identity demands. However, from the 1960s onwards there was some limited mobilisation by ethnic communities, e.g. around the appropriation of indigenous lands in the eastern hills, or language and access to government jobs in the Tarai. The advent of democracy in 1990 marginally increased the political space to discuss identity issues. The 1990 constitution formally recognized the countrys ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity, although Nepal remained a Hindu monarchy with Nepali as the sole official language. This period saw a mushrooming of Janajati civil society organizations that drew on global discourses on indigenous rights to demand language rights, decentralization, political autonomy and representation in state bodies. As Strasheim and Bogati (2016: 5) describe, these movements began to influence the political discourse on how to restructure the state and contributed to the passing of the Nepal Federation for the Development of Indigenous Nationalities Act in 2002, which recognizes Janajati as a legal category.

Experience of conflict

The Maoist party recognised that multiple identity-based forms of discrimination were a central driver of inequality in Nepal and had championed the rights of marginalised ethnic communities even before its armed struggle had started.2 Once the Maoists launched their insurgency in 1996 many of their core demands around inclusion, language, political autonomy, secularism, and discrimination aligned with ethnic and indigenous interests. The Maoists incorporated ethnic issues into their policies and structures, creating a central-level ethnic department in the party and basing the boundaries of autonomous regions in the Maoists peoples government on ethnic criteria.

While the Maoists championing of ethnic and indigenous demands came from a genuine commitment to address structural inequality in Nepal, it also enabled them to capitalise on the aspirations of marginalised communities. As Cats-Baril (2014: 307) argues, The Maoists heartland of mid-west and mid-hill areas has high levels of Janajati populations, from whom the organisation recruited heavily for party members and fighters. However, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG, 2011) it was in the eastern hills and the eastern and central Tarai that the Maoists were most dependent on building alliances with ethnic activists to gain support. However, the Maoists relationships with ethnic groups were often fraught. Maoist leaders were mostly from high-caste hill communities, and some ethnic groups questioned the priority they gave to ethnic issues and criticised their failure to appoint members of ethnic communities to senior posts in Maoist structures. Indeed, some Tarai leaders ultimately broke away from the Maoists to form new groups focused solely on regional and identity issues.

The security forces targeted indigenous and ethnic communities during the conflict, and these communities continue to have a fraught relationship with these forces. The Janajati Tharu community3 suffered particularly high levels of human rights abuses, constituting one-third of the 900 Nepalis who were disappeared by the state between 1996 and 2006, despite forming only 7% of the population (ICG, 2016). Similarly, the security forces targeted both the Janajati Magar community  the dominant ethnic group in much of the Maoist heartland  and the Madhesi communities in the Tarai. In sum, indigenous and ethnic groups were disproportionately involved in the conflict as combatants and casualties, and in the suffering experienced by their communities. They played a critical role in the Maoists success and believed that the Maoists would further their interests.

Peace process

In 2006 Nepals decade-long civil war ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This agreement called for state restructuring and social, economic and cultural transformation through a Con- stituent Assembly (CA). It stated that In the post-conflict environment the issue of addressing the exclusion of historically marginalised communities became central, driven initially by the Maoists. Identity groups took advantage of the new political space to mobilise in unprecedented ways. For example, the Janajati movement consolidated and allied itself with the Maoists in negotiations on the formation of the CA, while Madhesi groups formed new ethnic political parties. As identity issues became increasingly important, ethnic pressures also emerged within traditional, non-ethnic political parties. As the International Crisis Group describes, the new democratic space allowed these groups to rapidly gain organisational strength and intellectual clarity [and to] challenge the strong, state- supported definition of Nepali identity created in the image of the Nepali speaking, hill-origin, Hindu upper- caste male (ICG, 2016: 3).

However, it is important to note that not all excluded groups were able to make their voices heard in the post-conflict environment, and hence some identity- based interests were privileged over others. As Neelakantan et al. (2016: 9) describe,

Dalits in particular have struggled to promote their interests within the process of post-conflict state restructuring, because they are spread out across Nepals territory and frequently subsumed into other identity groups in which they occupy a subordinate position.

In 2007 an interim constitution was adopted. The two main traditional parties, the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal  Unified Marxist and Leninist (UML), initially blocked the inclusion of commitments to federalism in this constitution. This had been a central demand of the Maoists and marginalised communities, who saw federalism as a means to devolve power away from traditional elites and ensure the greater political representation of excluded ethnic groups and regions.

Hence, in response the Madhesis launched protests across the Tarai in 2007, resulting in the interim constitution being changed to include federalism. In 2008 the Madhesis again mobilised in protest to successfully push for a higher quota in the proportional representation (PR) element of the mixed electoral system. This Madhesi mobilisation in 2007 and 2008, together with a less intense Janajati movement over similar issues, highlighted the new power of excluded ethnic and indigenous groups, as well as the important role of street protests, in influencing the direction of peacebuilding. Neelakantan et al. (2016: 9) argue that these protests launched a forceful public discussion about the exclusionary nature of the Nepali state. Throughout the long constitutional process the Madhesis have been the most vocal and influential identity-based group.

Constitutional process

From 2008 to 2015 Nepal experienced a long-drawn-out, complex and frustrating process of constitution drafting during which the political parties represented in the CA repeatedly failed to reach agreement. In 2015, following Nepals devastating earthquake, the three main political parties fast tracked the adoption of a constitution that did not meet the aspirations of many identity groups and triggered major unrest. In 2008 the first CA was elected, with the Maoists winning the most seats. Maoist commitments to identity-based federalism had allowed them to harness the vote of marginalised identity groups and were a major factor in their success.

The electoral system that the Madhesis and Janajatis had pushed so hard for resulted in a highly inclusive and representative CA. Out of 601 representatives, 191 women, 196 Madhesis and 192 indigenous representatives were elected.4 However, there was concern among Janajati representatives that, despite their significant numbers in the CA, the electoral and party system prevented them from having much influence. Janajati CA members were elected from among candidates chosen by mainstream political parties and were subject to these parties whip system and voting discipline, while the parties had the power to unseat members at any time. This made it difficult for Janajati CA representatives to break party lines to promote indigenous issues or be accountable to indigenous populations. Also, Janajati CA members represented a range of different indigenous groups, with somewhat differing priorities and interests, as well as varying levels of experience of political engagement. However, despite these constraints, indigenous representatives managed to develop an active cross-party Janajati caucus for collaboration on common indigenous issues. The Madhesis, on the other hand, were largely represented in the CA through their own parties and had a significant history of political activism to draw on, giving them greater freedom and political capacity to operate.

During the first CA the Maoists, Madhesis and Janajatis were relatively united. Their core demand was for identity-based federalism, with federal states constructed primarily on ethnic, linguistic or cultural lines, which they saw as a central means to address the political, economic and cultural exclusion of Nepals many non-elite ethnic and regional groups. However, the NC and UML, together with smaller right-wing parties, rejected identity-based federalism as undermining national unity, meritocracy and individual rights, and instead promoted geographically based federalism, which offered less power to identity groups. The Maoists, Madhesis and Janajatis also wanted an electoral system that involved a significant proportional representation (PR) element and quotas for marginalised communities, as well as the restructuring of state institutions such as the judiciary to redress historical marginalisation and redistribute power.5 However, traditional political parties also opposed these demands. In essence, this was a struggle between those groups that were disadvantaged and those that were privileged by Nepals old political settlement, with each promoting a federal model and reform agenda that served its interests.

The CA was unable to come to agreement, and after multiple mandate extensions it lapsed in 2012. This failure of the first CA was accompanied by large street protests by ethnic, caste and regional identity-based groups who were frustrated by the lack of progress on their agenda. It was also followed by a split in the Maoist party due to internal tensions over the partys inability to achieve results and its future direction.

A new CA was elected in 2013, in which the NC and UML were the largest parties, with the Maoists a distant third. Madhesi parties and newly formed Janajati-based parties6 had splintered and also did badly at the polls.

Hence, those advocating for identity-based federalism had less voice in the second CA. This CA also struggled to make progress and missed its own deadline for drawing up a constitution of January 2015. It was only following the earthquakes in spring 2015, and with the Maoist party significantly shifting its position to drop insistence on identity-based federalism, that a way forward was developed for agreeing a constitution. However, it was one that violated previous commitments to inclusion contained in the CPA and interim constitution, notably to restructure the state in an inclusive, democratic and forward looking manner (CPA, 2006).

Nepals problematic politics

The problematic nature of Nepali politics has been a major barrier to addressing the historical marginalisation of ethnic and indigenous groups within the constitutional process. Nepals political parties are weak and personalised, with undemocratic structures and decision-making processes. The main parties are also overwhelmingly controlled by a Kathmandu-based, male, high-caste, hill-community elite that has little understanding of the experiences and grievances of excluded communities. Moreover, the hierarchical nature of these parties means that leaders have been able to resist internal pressure to address identity issues. More broadly, the unstable nature of Nepals political system keeps parties focused on gaining power rather than developing or delivering on a policy agenda. While hopes were initially high that the CA would break with this unstable and undemocratic type of politics, this did not happen and the new identity-based political actors instead adopted this political culture. As Neelakantan et al. (2006: 11) point out,

Critically, Nepals political parties  old and new  lacked the capacity to address the complex political challenges involved in renegotiating the political settlement, and instead became bogged down in political wrangling and the promotion of personal agendas. Without the internal democracy needed to build intra-party consensus or effectively represent their members, all the main parties have experienced internal conflict and fragmentation. This can be seen in the dissent, factionalism, and leadership crises within the NC and UML, which are riven by divisions over key political issues, including ethnic demands. It can also be seen in the split in the Maoist party and its ultimate abandonment of the inclusion agenda as, caught up in endless politicking and power struggles, the party turned into what is largely yet another mainstream, elite-led party. As Neelakantan et al. (2006: 14) describe.

The new constitution

After the spring 2015 earthquakes and resulting humanitarian disaster, Nepals political parties were under intense pressure to finalise the constitutional process. In summer 2015 the leadership of the three largest parties (NC, UML and Maoists) developed and pushed through a new constitution, ignoring dissent from within their own parties, objections from other parties, and warnings from the international community that wider buy-in was needed for the constitution to be accepted as legitimate. Nepals new constitution was passed on 20 September 2015 and was widely rejected by historically marginalised groups, including Madhesis, Janajatis, womens activists, Dalits and religious minorities, who see it as violating repeated commitments to an inclusive and progressive state made during Nepals peacebuilding process and instead maintaining the old power order.

An exclusionary process

The exclusionary process by which the constitution was developed caused great anger. The leadership of the three main parties did the deal, with minimal consultation within their own parties or with other parties. Because this was a fast-track process, there was minimal time for public consultation and also insufficient time for CA members to read and debate the draft. In addition, public consultation processes in the Tarai were heavily policed, which meant that many Madhesis and Tharus stayed away.

Hence, after the significant efforts made to ensure an inclusive CA and the lengthy negotiations over how to build a more inclusive state, the constitutional deal was ultimately done in an untransparent way by a small group of party elites that represented traditional power inter- ests and ignored the demands of identity groups. Identity groups were particularly bitter that the Maoists had joined with the NC and UML to drive through the new constitution. As Strasheim and Bogati (2016: 6 describe,

The Madhesi and Tharu communities  which fought in the Maoists Peoples War in the hope that identity- based federalism would be the outcome of a Maoist victory  also perceive the Maoists acceptance of the geographical division of federal units under the new constitution as a major betrayal. They feel abandoned by their representatives in the capital.

Exclusionary content

Despite its limitations, the 2015 constitution is in many ways a progressive document. For example, it advances womens rights in several areas and recognises LGBT rights. However, it fundamentally fails to address the structural discrimination experienced by ethnic and indigenous groups or meet their core demands for an inclusive Nepali state.

Most fundamentally, the new constitution provides for geographically based federalism, not identity-based federalism, dashing ethnic and indigenous groups hopes that identity-based federalism would expand their political representation  and that upper-caste elites within identity-based federal units would inevitably have to cede some power to minorities and give Madhesis, Tharus, and Janajatis majority rule over some provinces (Strasheim & Bogati, 2016: 7).

Particularly contentious is the fact that the Tarai is divided across all provinces  effectively carving up both Madhesi and Tharu ancestral lands  with only one state being plains-dominated. Likewise, the traditional lands of large indigenous groups such as the Magar and Gurung have also been divided among provinces. Madhesi and Janajati groups see this as an attempt to reduce their influence on future state- and provincial-level politics and to further the interests of local political and economic elites.

Beyond the core issue of the delineation of federal provinces, there was anger over the delineation of constituencies, which Madhesi parties claim do not reflect population densities. Ethnic and indigenous groups were also angry at the reduction in the PR element of the electoral system, which has been decreased from 60% to 40%, reducing the opportunities for marginalised groups to be elected. Also, they are frustrated at the dilution of commitments to affirmative action to increase representation in state organs, as well as at secularism provisions that religious minorities argue cement the primacy of Hinduism, e.g. by privileging religion that has been practiced since ancient times and banning religious conversion. According to Ghale (2015),

Women activists and Madhesis have rejected the citizen- ship provisions of the new constitution that discriminate against all women in passing citizenship to their children, but are particularly aimed at the Madhesi community, who frequently marry Indian citizens; these provisions demonstrate the states fears about Madhesi-Indian ties.

Reaction and protest

The drawing up and passing of the new constitution was accompanied by deadly protests by Madhesi and Tharu groups across the Tarai that continued for months, leaving 57 dead and reportedly resulting in backlashes that forced thousands of Tharus to flee their homes (ICG, 2016). The protests had deep support within these communities and reflected their increasing sense of alienation from the state. The response of Nepals political leaders was highly securitised and involved an excessive use of force that only increased resentment against the Nepali state.

Following the passing of the constitution, Madhesi groups undertook a 135-day blockade of the Nepal-India border with the tacit support of India, which has close ties with the Madhesi population and is generally supportive of their demands, and which was unhappy with both the process and content of the constitution. Given Nepals dependence on imports from India, this blockade had very serious consequences, limiting supplies of fuel, basic goods and post-earthquake reconstruction materials. It seriously affected Nepals economy, hitting the poorest particularly hard and exacerbating humanitarian challenges. Not only did the blockade demonstrate the deep anger among the Madhesi population, but also highlighted Nepals extreme political and economic weakness.

In he face of the protests and blockade, political leaders from the main parties held some talks with ethnic leaders, but remained resistant to their demands. However, in January 2016 the major parties unilaterally passed two constitutional amendments related to more inclusive representation in state organs and the delineation of constituencies. However, these were rejected by Madhesi parties and protestors who wanted a much deeper revision of the new constitution and who saw these amendments as illegitimate, because they were not based on consultation. The blockade of the border ended in February 2016, with the population tired and disillusioned, but the core issues remained unresolved.

Following months with little progress, in November 2016 the Nepali government, which since August 2016 has been led by the Maoists, proposed constitutional amendments to partially address the demands of dissenting Madhesi parties. This proposal alters provincial borders to create two provinces made up only of Tarai districts, provides that representation in the upper house is based partly on population share, and modifies citizenship laws to grant naturalised citizenship to non-Nepali women who marry Nepali men. This goes some way to meeting Madhesi demands, although still leaves significant areas unaddressed and is unlikely to be enough to reduce high levels of distrust and polarisation. However, since then there has been little progress on these constitutional amendments, with mainstream parties arguing that local elections should be held before amendments are passed and Madhesi parties demanding amendments as a prerequisite for such elections. Meanwhile, Madhesi leaders continue to mobilise mass demonstrations in the Tarai.

International actors

In the first years following the conflict international actors in Nepal actively championed inclusion and identity issues, frequently integrating these into political dialogue with leaders and the support they gave to peacebuilding and reform processes. Nepals donors provided significant support to marginalised groups, including women, Dalits, Janajatis, and Madhesis aimed at building their capacity for mobilisation and participation in peacebuilding processes, and strengthening their access to state institutions and services. Many donors included exclusion issues into their programming frameworks and encouraged government institutions to do the same. Indeed a gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) lens is now widely adopted across Nepals government structures and donors, although this is often more lip service than a real effort to address unequal power relations.7

This donor emphasis on exclusion prompted a backlash from Nepals elite. Since the end of the first CA in 2012 successive governments and the bureaucracy in Nepal have used arguments about donor interference and the imposition of Western values to push back against donor engagement on identity and exclusion issues. As Interna- tional IDEA (2015: 36) states, back against donor pressure on a range of normative issues, including transparency and accountability, human rights, and transitional justice, and sought to limit donor engagement to more traditional development domains.

As a result, in recent years donors have had less space to engage on identity and exclusion or to support marginal- ised communities. As Neelakantan et al. (2016:10) argue, in the face of this resistance from political elites, Nepals donors have been largely reluctant to continue championing identity, exclusion and rights issues, and have instead prioritised maintaining good relations with the government.

When the three main parties announced their plans for the new constitution in 2015, international actors in Nepal were largely supportive. This was both because they wanted to avoid further accusations of meddling, and because they were frustrated by the lack of progress in the CA and recognised the pressing need to end the lengthy constitutional process and concentrate on other priorities. As the protests grew, international actors began to raise concerns that marginalised groups must be given buy-in to the process and that speed must not be prioritised over legitimacy. However, the International Crisis Group reports that diplomatic efforts to raise these concerns were overly cautious and poorly coordinated (ICG, 2016). While Nepals donors could undoubtedly have engaged more consistently on issues of identity and exclusion, as well as intervened more effectively around the 2015 constitutional process, it is important to recog- nise that they have relatively limited influence, their agendas can easily be dismissed as interference, and their actions are unlikely to result in significant changes being made.

By far the most important external actors in Nepal are China and India, who compete for influence in the country. India  which has extensive influence in Nepali affairs and has at various points blocked progress on peacebuilding  wanted a constitution that addressed Madhesi concerns and pressed Nepali leaders to deliver this. Indias support for the border blockade demonstrates its frustration that Nepals leaders had rejected its requests. Meanwhile China  whose influence in Nepal is less than Indias, but is growing rapidly through expanding aid and investment  does not want identity- based federalism, because it is concerned that such identity agendas could spill over into Tibet. While neither of these countries can dictate to Nepali leaders, as Strasheim and Bogati (2016: 8) argue, The influence of both regional powers can be regarded as affecting the opportunity structure of the state and of the Tarai protesters by further deepening already existing divisions and contributing to the polarisation of the debate within Nepal.

Conclusion

The increasingly hardline identity-based movement in the Tarai could pose a serious threat to stability in Nepal. It is critical that the deep grievances of marginalised communities  notably the Madhesis and Tharus, but also others that have been less vocal  are meaningfully addressed, while bearing in mind legitimate concerns about indi- vidual rights and national unity.

The recent proposal of several constitutional amends- ments may offer a chance for progress, although it is not yet clear where this will lead. What is clear is that any future efforts to address the demands of the Madhesis and Tharus should be based on political dialogue that includes these and other marginalised groups. Such inclusive dialogue has so far been sorely lacking and its absence has fueled divisions and tensions. As Strasheim and Bogati (2016: 8) describe, Nepal is at a critical juncture, and responding to the range of challenges that it faces will require international donors to act together in a more coordinated and effective way, become more politically engaged, strengthen their engagement on exclusion issues, and push back against government efforts to limit their activities to traditional development agendas. They must also ensure that the CPA and other past commitments  which were agreed by all actors and underpin Nepals peace  are the basis for all donor engagement. One pressing challenge is post-earthquake reconstruction, which is just beginning, and which has the potential to deepen inequality and divisions if it is badly managed. It is critical that donors are conflict and inclusion sensitive in their support for earthquake reconstruction.

The deadline for the implementation of Nepals constitution is January 2018, although local elections are required to be held earlier. However, holding local elections or moving ahead with the implementation of the constitution  particularly the provisions around federal restructuring  without some agreement on how to resolve Madhesi and Tharu demands threatens the risk of serious violence. Nepals donors, who will be expected to provide significant funding for elections and for the reforms required by the constitution, must insist that such an agreement is in place before implementation begins and that marginalised identity groups can meaningfully participate in shaping the next phase of peacebuilding and statebuilding in Nepal.

About the author: Clare Castillejo is a research associate at the Overseas Development Institute. She specialises in governance and rights in fragile states, with a particular interest in inclusive peacebuilding and statebuilding, and has worked with donors, UN agencies, think tanks, and NGOs on a range of conflict- and peacebuilding-related issues. Her main areas of expertise are South Asia, West Africa, and the Middle East and North Africa. She has an MA in the anthropology of development from the University of London.

Source: This article was published by NOREF (PDF)
Guwahati : Security forces had apprehended a hardcore militant belonging to Gorkha Liberation Army (GLA) in Assam's 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 had jointly lauched 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,'A Colonel Konwar said.

This a second apprehension of a senior GLA cadre from this area within a week 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 had recovered a 9 mm pistol with ammunition in possession from him,'A Mahanta said.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
MJ Kim/ MPL Communications Ltd.Paul McCartney has added a new South American concert to his One on One Tour at the end of his previously announced four-show visit to Brazil this October. The former Beatles star will play Medellin, Colombia, on October 24, marking the second time ever he will have performed in the country.

Fans registered at PaulMcCartney.com will be able to buy pre-sale tickets for the concert this Friday, June 23, starting at 8 a.m. local time. Sir Paul's first show in Colombia took place in April 2012 in the capital city of Bogota.

"The last time we played in Colombia we had a blast and I always wanted to go back," says McCartney. "I'm really excited to get there with my new show this year. Can't wait to see them all and have a rock party."

In other news, McCartney is expected to announce plans for his first Australian tour since 1993 on Wednesday morning at 3:30 a.m. ET. The News.com.au website reports that the 75-year-old rock legend will make the announcement via a Q&A session on his official Facebook page and the Facebook page of Australia promoters Frontier Touring. The Down Under trek also is expected to include a concert in New Zealand.

First up for McCartney will be a series of North American shows kicking off July 7 in Miami. Visit PaulMcCartney.com/Live to check out his full upcoming itinerary.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal Chair Mahantha Thakur (centre) and leader Anil Kumar Jha (left) meeting with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba at the latteras office in Singhadurbar, Kathmandu, on Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Photo: RSS

KATHMANDU: Two top leaders of the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) today called on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, drawing the governments attention towards what the party claimed ongoing arrests and physical assaults against the party cadres.

RJP-N Chair Mahantha Thakur and leader Anil Kumar Jha reached the Office of the Council of Ministers and Prime Minister to meet with the Prime Minister. During the meeting, they drew the attention of the Prime Minister towards attacks carried out against its leaders and cadres in Nawalparasi, Sunsari and Kapilvastu districts.

The RJP-N leaders and cadres are becoming the targets of assaults in some districts, normal life in the Tarai has been terrorised and people are forced to stay indoors in the name of strengthening security and the party raised the same matters in the meeting with the Prime Minister, urging the government not to do so, leader Jha told the mediapersons after the meeting.

Claiming that some party cadres are facing cases under false charges, he urged the government to withdraw such cases immediately.RSS
KATHMANDU, June 21: The National Security Council's (NSC) meeting on Wednesday was held with a focus on the preparation of the security strategy for the upcoming local level election on June 28.

The second phase of election is being held in 35 districts across province no 1, 5 and 7 for 334 local units.

Emerging from the meeting, Minister for Finance, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, shared that today's routine meeting of the Council discussed the security measures for the upcoming elections.

The meeting decided to enable environment wherein the voters could cast their ballot without any fear and devise a security strategy to ensure that the election is held in a free, fair and impartial manner, according to Minister Karki.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers will be held on Thursday to decide on the same, said Karki.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Minister for Finance Karki, Minister for Home Affairs Janardan Sharma, Chiefs of security bodies including the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force and the National Investigation Department were present in the meeting. RSS
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba adresses a yoga camp organised to celebrate the International Yoga Day, in Pradarshani Marga, Kathmandu, on Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Photo: RSS

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today said the knowledge of yoga and its exercise method must be taught to students at the school level.

This years International Yoga Day was observed organising a yoga camp with the slogan Lets Practice Yoga and remain Healthy in Pradarshani Marga, Kathmandu.

During the function, PM Deuba said that the practice of yoga must be taught at school level mindful of its mental and physical benefits, and the balance it creates between heart and brain.

Yoga is such an ancient method which saves a man from bad habits and gives pleasure, the PM said, adding If the children can practice this, it will support their

At the programme, PM Deuba released Dainandin Yogabhyas, a book written by Acharya Bal Krishna and Yoga Sandesh published by the Indian Embassy.

On the occasion, Patanjali Yoga Committee Nepals Chief Yoga Guru, Lavdev Mishra, taught the yoga to the participants.

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri also attended the special event in the presence of the PM.

The International Yoga day was first proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the United Nations General Assembly in 2014.

The United Nations later proclaimed June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.
Morocco has made another stride in its rapprochement with Angola, one of the 13 Anglophone countries in Southern Africa that still recognize the so-called Sahrawi republic SADR and support the independence claims of the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.

The two countries, which severed relations 20 years ago, have resumed contact in high gear, with the signing on Monday (June 19th) in Rabat, of two agreements. The first deals with the exemption of visa requirements for holders of diplomatic, service and special passports. Under the second accord, the two countries foreign affairs departments commit to hold regular consultations on bilateral relations and issues of common interest.

The two agreements were signed during the visit to Morocco by Angolan Foreign Minister Georges Rebelo Chikoti.

A press conference that was held following the one hour long meeting between Georges Rebelo Chikoti and his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita focused on the Moroccan Sahara issue.

Angola has adopted for a long time a downright hostile position to Morocco and its territorial integrity. Lately, however, some change in its positions has been sensed.

On Thursday, June 15, in Luanda, Georges Rebelo Chikoti received the Polisarios so-called Minister of Foreign Affairs, who tried in vain to dissuade him from visiting Rabat or at least to postpone his trip to after the AU summit of July 4 in Addis Ababa. But Chikoti flatly rejected both suggestions.

During the news conference, Nasser Bourita did not conceal Moroccos wish to see Angola adopt a position of neutrality in the Western Sahara conflict

For Bourita, this first visit of an Angolan Minister in nearly 20 years, translates a shared resolve to open a new page of our bilateral relations. Today, Angola is in a more constructive disposition () We hope that this attitude will evolve towards a genuine neutrality on the Sahara issue, he said.

Recently, Angola undertook, through its Foreign Minister, to make the best possible contribution to help find a political solution to the territorial dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.

Chikoti, while showing some diplomatic reservations, reiterated his countrys desire to promote any kind of dialogue and settlement of the conflict in line with the UN resolutions.

We can no longer ignore the fact that Morocco has returned to the African family, he said. So far, we had a perspective that did not allow us to meet and discuss peacefully.

After he recalled that the Sahara issue is dealt with at the level of the United Nations, Chikoti said that the primary stakeholders are Morocco, the Sahrawis and the UN.

The remarks made by the two countries Foreign Ministers augur well for the opening of a new chapter of friendship between Morocco and Angola.
Intro

Greetings! I am a political scientist , specializing in International Relations , my research and teaching focus on ethnic conflict and civil-military relations . I watch way too much TV, and I like movies as well so I tend to write about both and find IR stuff in pop culture. I rant alot about American politics and sometimes about Canadian politics. I like to take ideas I once learned a long time ago and apply them to whatever strikes my fancy.


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" " Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, hopes to colonize Mars within the next 50 years. SpaceX/Flickr

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has written his own version of "The Martian Chronicles" where he envisions a day in the not-too-distant future when scores of humans colonize the red planet. Although his new paper "Making Humans a Multi-Planetary Species" is not as literary as Ray Bradbury's classic, Musk says he thinks it's possible to put 1 million humans on Mars within the next 50 to 100 years.

Musk published his Martian vision in the June 2017 edition of the journal New Space. His paper is a summary of a presentation Musk unveiled at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico in September 2016.

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"History is going to bifurcate along two directions," Musk writes. "One path is we stay on Earth forever, and then there will be some eventual extinction event ... the alternative is to become a space-bearing civilization and a multi-planetary species."

Mars is the only planet in our solar system capable of sustaining human life, Musk says. Mercury is too hot because of its proximity to the sun, and Venus has a whole host of issues that would make survivability impossible. While one or two of Jupiter's or Saturn's moons might prove hospitable, they're too far away, Musk explains.

Only Mars, he continues, is the logical choice. It is close by (in terms of outer space) and has enough sunlight, although it is colder than Earth, especially at night. Mars has a mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere, which although deadly to humans, could be very helpful in growing plants. The planet's gravity, about 37 percent that of Earth, would make it easy to lift heavy objects.

Musk admits getting to Mars and settling the planet will be expensive, and using traditional methods, such as those employed during the Apollo moon landings of the 1960s and 1970s, are not cost-effective. Also, using conventional spaceflight systems would cost about $10 billion per person, Musk says.

"If we can get the cost of moving to Mars to be roughly equivalent to a median house price in the United States, which is around $200,000, then I think the probability of establishing a self-sustaining civilization is very high. I think it would almost certainly occur," he writes.

" " Musk plans to build reusable rockets and spaceships that will be able to take as many as 100 people at a time to and from Mars. SpaceX/Flickr

To that end, Musk envisions using reusable rockets and spaceships, such as SpaceX's planned Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), which would be the most powerful rocket ever built. When coupled with the spaceship that will carry human passengers  100 people per trip  the ITS will stand 400 feet (122 meters) tall. Musk says the ITS will be strong enough to put 300 tons (272 metric tons) into low-Earth orbit. The ITS rocket booster will be powered by 45 Raptor engines, which could accelerate the rocket to 5,281 mph (8,500 kph). Each ITS can be used 1,000 times.

SpaceX has already built and tested a prototype of the Raptor engine, and developed a light carbon fiber fuel tank. It's made progress in developing reusable rockets and boosters, which are essential to the project. As for the spaceship carrying the crew and passengers, each would hang out in Earth's orbit and then leave for Mars once every 26 months when Earth and Mars are aligned in a favorable position.

SpaceX is even building a new launch pad near Brownsville, Texas, to accommodate the ships it plans to send to Mars.

In his paper, Musk also outlines some of the countless problems associated with travel and colonization, admitting the risks would be enormous. "There is a good chance we will not succeed," Musk writes, "but we are going to do our best and try to make as much progress as possible."

Now That's Cool Humans, who might one day travel to Mars, could find a planet awash in water, albeit the frozen kind. Scientists say they have found enough water ice on the red planet to fill Lake Michigan  twice.
In a pharaoh tomb, archaeologist examines the inscriptions ... of ancient tourists

The tomb of Ramesses VI in the Egyptian Valley of the Kings already in ancient times was visited by tourists, who signed their names and exchanged remarks reminiscent of discussions on Facebook and tourist forums. Walls of the tomb "spoke" thanks to the research of Prof. Adam ukaszewicz from the University of Warsaw.

"I visited and I did not like anything except the sarcophagus!"; "I admired!" "I can not read the hieroglyphs!" - these are some of the inscriptions read by the Polish scientists working inside Egypt\'s pharaoh Ramesses VI in the Valley of the Kings.

All inscriptions were left by tourists who visited this place about two thousand years ago!

The Valley of the Kings in Upper Egypt is one of the main tourist attractions of the country, next to the Giza pyramid complex. The majority of the pharaohs of the 18th - 20th dynasties, who ruled from 1550 to 1069 BC, rested in the tombs cut in rock. The most famous pharaoh buried here is Tutankhamen, whose tomb was discovered in 1922.

"The Valley of the Kings was a tourist destination already in antiquity. Like today, tourists often signed their names in the places they visited. Among the more than sixty tombs in this area, in at least ten there are inscriptions made by ancient travellers" - told PAP archaeologist and papirologist from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, ZProf. Adam ukaszewicz.

The target of the mission led by the scientist is the tomb of Ramesses VI - a place that, compared to the rest of the Valley of the Kings, is extremely rich in the traces of the presence of ancient visitors. In the long, over a hundred-meter tomb cut deep in the rocks, the Polish scientist counted over a thousand inscriptions.

"The greatest number of inscriptions come from the Greek-Roman period, that is, from the time of the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great to the division of the Roman Empire in the 4th century" - said Prof. ukaszewicz.

Most often, they are ancient equivalents of "John Smith was here", the names of people who visited the tomb written in Greek, less often in Latin. They can be seen in different places in the tomb, sometimes even several meters high on the wall. For a long time, the corridors of the tomb were partly covered with sand, on which visitors walked. The first of them probably had to crawl in order to enter the tomb, so their inscriptions were just below the ceiling" - added the professor.

Preserved to this day, in the tomb are original decorations of sacred imagery from, among others, the Book of Gates or the Book of Caverns. These are among the most important funeral texts found on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs.

"Visitors of the tomb tried to place their signatures without destroying their earlier decorations. Sometimes they did it in a very thoughtful way - for example, they inscribed their names in the centre of the solar disc, which symbolized one of the gods" - said the archaeologist.

In addition to their names, ancient tourists often also added their place of origin or occupation. Sporadically, there were longer texts, including poetry. Thanks to the inscriptions, we know that over 2 thousand years ago the tomb was visited by both Egyptians and travellers from neighbouring countries. Some of them were doctors and philosophers of different schools - cynics and Platonists.

"There were also people very high in the social hierarchy - including the prefects of Egypt, those who ruled the country on behalf of the Roman emperor, and governors of various parts of the country" - said Prof. ukaszewicz.

Among the more famous foreigners who marked their visit to the tomb was Armenian prince Chosroes (4th century).

Researchers were also interested in the signature of Amros. "In this way, in Greek, the Arab conqueror of Egypt, Amr ibn al-As recorded his presence in the tomb in the seventh century. This is one of the greatest inscriptions made by visitors to the tomb of Ramesses VI. The letters are about 25 cm tall" - added Prof. ukaszewicz. The tomb was also visited by less well-known people from Athens or Syria.

The walls were almost literally covered with discussions. Researchers have even noticed a "dialogue" between visitors. In one place they read that a visitor admired the tomb and read the hieroglyphics. Another visitor wrote below: "I can not read this writing!" Below this inscription, a third person wrote: "Why do you care that you can not read the hieroglyphs, I do not understand your concern!".

Most of the exposed inscriptions were carved, a significantly smaller number made with red paint. The first European travellers wrote in memoirs that Arab guides offered visitors sharp objects that the tourists could use to sign. "It could have been the same two thousand years ago" - the scientist believes.

The tomb of Ramesses VI was not merely a place of historical interest for the ancient guests. Visits to this place were treated more as spiritual experiences. The ancients thought that the tomb belonged to the legendary hero - Memnon, who fought in the Trojan War - noted Prof. ukaszewicz.

How did they come up with that? Near the tomb, in the Teban plain, there are two colossal statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, still known as the Colossi of Memnon,. The misleading name was given to them by the Greeks who heard mysterious sounds made by one of them in the morning. (Today it is assumed that the sounds were a result of the cracked monolith forming the statue warming up). The Greeks associated this with King Memnon, who was killed during the Trojan War. They believed the mysterious sound to be Memnon\'s greeting to his mother, the goddess Eos

One of the names of the official title of King Amenhotep III recorded on the statue was the same as one of the many names of Ramesses VI. That is why it was believed that the tomb in the Valley of the Kings belonged to the same person. Scientists identified the real "owner" of the tomb in the nineteenth century, when they managed to decipher the hieroglyphics - reminded the scientist.

Ramesses VI rested in the tomb with his nephew, Ramesses V in 1136 BC. Two rulers were laid to rest next to each other in one tomb. However, they did not have peace in posthumous life: a few years after the funeral, the tomb was plundered and the mummies disturbed. The priests moved the remains of the rulers to a hiding place nearby, where they survived to our times.

Warsaw scientists working in the Valley of the Kings under the aegis of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw (until recently with the support of the Foundation for Polish Science) have just finished work on the complete three-dimensional digital documentation of all the walls of the tomb. In November and December of this year they will return to the Valley of the Kings to thoroughly analyse all the inscriptions of ancient tourists.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Szymon Zdziebowski

szz/ zan/ kap/

tr. RL
The Southern District of Florida blog was started in 2005 by David Oscar Markus , who is a criminal trial and appellate lawyer in Miami, Florida. He frequently practices in federal courts around the country, including his hometown, the Southern District of Florida and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a former law clerk to then-Chief Judge of the District, Edward B. Davis.
 Seventh Circuit panel again finds below-guideline sentence for abusive police officer unreasonable | Main | Notable look at notably tough sentencing patterns in one rural county in Minnesota 

I just came across this fascinating new report from the US Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General. The title of the lengthy report itself spotlights why the report is both fascinating and timely: "Review of the Departments Implementation of Prosecution and Sentencing Reform Principles under the Smart on Crime Initiative." The full report runs 70 dense pages and even the executive summary is too lengthy and detailed to reproduce fully here. But these excerpts should whet the appetite of all sentencing nerds:

In August 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice (Department) and then Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., announced the Smart on Crime initiative, which highlighted five principles to reform the federal criminal justice system. Smart on Crime encouraged federal prosecutors to focus on the most serious cases that implicate clear, substantial federal interests. In the first principle, the Department required, for the first time, the development of district-specific prosecution guidelines for determining when federal prosecutions should be brought, with the intent of focusing resources on fewer but the most significant cases. The second principle of Smart on Crime announced a change in Department charging policies so that certain defendants who prosecutors determined had committed low-level, non-violent drug offenses, and who had no ties to large-scale organizations, gangs, or cartels, generally would not be charged with offenses that imposed a mandatory minimum prison sentence.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this review to evaluate the Departments implementation of the first two principles of Smart on Crime, as well as the impact of those changes to federal charging policies and practices. We assessed the 94 U.S. Attorneys Office districts implementation and the impact of the Smart on Crime policy on not charging drug quantities implicating mandatory minimum sentences in circumstances where the defendants were low-level, non-violent offenders with limited criminal histories. We also assessed the implementation and impact of the policy that required prosecutors to consider certain factors before filing a recidivist enhancement that would increase the sentence of a drug defendant with a felony record pursuant to 21 U.S.C.  851.

On May 10, 2017, the Attorney General issued a new charging and sentencing policy to all federal prosecutors that effectively rescinds the specific charging policies and practices outlined by Smart on Crime. We did not review this new policy as part of this review, which examined the implementation of the prosecution and sentencing reform principles under the Smart on Crime initiative....

We found that the Department made progress implementing the first two Smart on Crime principles, but we also identified several shortcomings in its efforts, including some failures to update national and local policies and guidelines and a lack of communication with local law enforcement partners regarding changes to these polices and guidelines in some instances.

We found that, while the Department issued policy memoranda and guidance to reflect its Smart on Crime policies, the U.S. Attorneys Manual (USAM), a primary guidance document for federal prosecutors, was not revised until January 2017, more than 3 years after Smart on Crime was launched, even though Department officials established a deadline of the end of 2014 to do so. Further, we determined that 74 of 94 districts had developed or updated their local policies to reflect the Smart on Crime policy changes regarding mandatory minimum charging decisions. Of the remaining 20 districts, some provided incomplete information to the OIG as to whether they had updated their prosecution guidelines or policy memoranda to reflect the Smart on Crime policy changes regarding mandatory minimum charging decisions in drug cases; in others, the district policies provided appeared to be inconsistent with the Smart on Crime policies in whole or in part; and some told us that they relied on the Holder memoranda for direction but did not develop or update any of their district policies or guidance documents to reflect the Smart on Crime policy changes.

We also found that 70 of 94 districts had incorporated Smart on Crime recidivist enhancement policy changes into their districts prosecution guidelines or policy memoranda. However, of the remaining 24 districts, 20 provided information to the OIG with respect to recidivist enhancements that appeared to be inconsistent with the 2013 Holder memoranda in whole or in part, or reported to the OIG that they followed the Holder memorandum but did not specifically revise their district policies to reflect Smart on Crime policy changes. The four remaining districts provided information that did not reflect the Smart on Crime policy changes on filing recidivist enhancements. Finally, we found that 10 districts failed to update their policies to reflect Smart on Crime policy changes with regard to both mandatory minimum charging decisions and recidivist enhancements....

We further found that the Departments ability to measure the impact of the first two Smart on Crime principles is limited because it does not consistently collect data on charging decisions. For example, while the Legal Information Office Network System (LIONS), the U.S. Attorneys Offices case management system, allows federal prosecutors generally to track information about their cases, data fields relevant to Smart on Crime were not always present or updated.

Due to these limitations, the Department has relied on U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) data to assess the impact of the first two Smart on Crime principles. However, using USSC data to measure the impact of Smart on Crimes charging policies is challenging because the USSC collects data from courts on sentencing decisions by judges and does not receive data from prosecutors about their charging decisions. In that regard, the USSC data does not allow assessments regarding charges that prosecutors could have brought but chose not to bring.

Nevertheless, based on our own analysis of USSC sentencing data over the period from 2010 through 2015, we found that sentencing outcomes in drug cases had shifted in a manner that was consistent with the first two principles of Smart on Crime. This was reflected by significantly fewer mandatory minimum sentences being imposed in drug cases nationwide, as well as a decrease in mandatory minimum sentences for those defendants who might otherwise have received such a sentence in the absence of the 2013 Holder memoranda....

We also found that some regions in the country diverged from these overall national trends. For example, while drug convictions decreased nationally by 19 percent, the decrease was far larger in the Southwest Border region. Further, the West, Pacific Northwest, and Hawaii and Island Territories regions actually showed increases in the number of drug convictions. As a result, we determined that national trends should not be interpreted in such a way as to conclude that Smart on Crime had a uniform impact across all the nations districts.
 Fascinating new OIG report examines implementation of former AG Holder's "Smart on Crime" initiative | Main | Close examination of some JLWOP girls who should benefit from Graham and Miller 

Sentencing, like politics, is ultimately always a local story, and this lengthy new MinnPost article takes a deep dive into the notable local sentencing stories of Polk County, Minnesota. The lengthy article is headlined "Why tiny Polk County sends so many people to prison," and here are excerpts:

If youre planning to commit a crime in Minnesota, you might want to steer clear of Polk County. This county of 32,000, which hugs the Red River on the North Dakota border, is sparsely populated and largely agricultural, save for East Grand Forks, Crookston and a handful of other small cities set between soybean, wheat and sugar beet fields.

Yet in 2014 it sent more people to prison, per capita, than any other county in Minnesota, a county-by-county analysis of National Corrections Reporting Program data by the New York Times and Fordham University found. That year, the most recent for which data are available, prison admission rates in northwestern Minnesotas Polk County stick out across the upper Midwest, more closely resembling some of the counties that form a prison belt across the U.S., from Indiana to Kentucky, Missouri Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas, than it does most of its neighbors.

For every 10,000 Polk County residents, 50 people were admitted to prison in 2014, an increase from 22 per 10,000 residents in 2006 and 39 per 10,000 residents in 2013, among the highest in Minnesota both years. The high prison admissions rate in Polk stands in sharp contrast to lower rates in nearby counties and the Twin Cities: In 2014, 12 per 10,000 residents in Hennepin County went to prison and 19 per 10,000 residents in Ramsey did. Neither rate increased by more than 3 per 10,000 people from 2006.

Why is Polk County sending so many people to prison? Ask Polk County officials whats behind the high rate of imprisonment, and theyll likely have an answer for you: drugs.

To some extent, the data bear that out. While for the most part crime and arrest rates were stable between 2006 and 2014 in Polk County, drug crimes are a big exception. Drug crimes went from a rate of 38.6 per 10,000 residents in 2006 to 61.9 per 10,000 residents in 2014. Drug-related arrest rates, likewise, more than doubled, from 25 per 10,000 residents in 2006 to 55 per 10,000 people in 2014....

In Minnesota, how felony offenders are punished depends on where they fall on the Sentencing Guideline Commissions grid.... In theory, the sentencing guidelines bring uniformity to criminal sentencing in Minnesotas 87 counties and 10 judicial districts. But theres some room for discretion on the part of prosecutors and judges built into the system, too. While sentencing guidelines are followed in the vast majority of cases, courts are allowed to impose a softer or harsher sentences when substantial and compelling aggravating or mitigating factors are present. In some counties, departures are used more frequently than others.

In Polk County, 14 percent of felony drug offenders between 2006 and 2015 received aggravated dispositional departures  usually prison instead of the probation called for in the sentencing guidelines. In Beltrami County and Clay counties, 6 percent and 8 percent did, respectively. Statewide, less than 9 percent of felony drug offenders for whom the sentencing guidelines prescribe probation receive prison....

Kip Fontaine, assistant public defender ... noticed what seems to be a disproportionate number of third-degree charges for drug possession in a school zone or park. A person, say, found to be driving through one of these areas with drugs on them would, in most counties, be charged with this crime in the fifth-degree, a lesser charge, Fontaine said. Not necessarily in Polk. According to the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission, of 83 people with criminal history scores of zero through three sentenced with third-degree possession in a school zone or park in Minnesota between 2011 and 2015, 36  nearly half  were in Polk County....

Andrew Larson, the executive director of Tri-County Community Corrections, the government agency that provides probation and detention services in Polk, Red Lake and Norman counties, said he senses a difference in philosophy in Polk County, too. The Polk County Attorneys Office is just more aggressive in their prosecution than perhaps what the other counties are, and its literally that simple. Its not a matter of one being right or the other being wrong, its just a difference, he said.
Take it from an experienced shopper: 70% off is a great deal on anything. For example, let's look at the case of the de Guigne estate in Hillsborough that originally hit the market for $100 million with a weird caveat attached.

Curbed brings us the details on the drama, which is pretty fascinating, if not a bit sad. Two years ago, the home's current owner, a 70-something gentleman named Christian de Guigne IV, wanted to sell his family's 47.4-acre estate for one hundred million dollars to a buyer who would let him keep living there until he died. And de Guigne didn't just want to bunk out in the guest house or anything. He figured that the seller could just move in when he was done with his family's estate (and this Earth).





Neither the price tag nor the living situation was particularly attractive to any interested parties, so the estate was removed from the market. It was then placed *on sale* for just $39.9 million. And now, according to Socket Site, 891 Crystal Springs Road was finally sold seven months ago for $29.85 million.

Explains Curbed:

The estate has a long, complicated history dating back 150 years, one filled with nasty divorces and opulent parties. The main part of the estate, de Guigne Court, was built by starchitects Bliss & Faville around 1912. It holds five bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and two half bathrooms, a ballroom, a flower arranging room, and a servants' wing with additional bedrooms. The pool and grounds were designed later by renowned landscape architect Thomas Church. The estate has been in the de Guigne family for the entirety of its existence, and many of the interiors date back to the 1960s, when then owner Christian de Guigne III and his wife, Eleanor, hired famed decorator Anthony Hail to design them. The current owner, Christian IV, took over the estate with his wife, Vaughn Hills, of the Hills Bros. coffee family. When they divorced they tried to sell off the estate for future subdivision, but their plans were thwarted by environmentalists and neighbors.



Image: SocketSite.com

This description from the Mercury News is also telling:

De Guigne has struggled in recent years to maintain the lavish way of life to which he was accustomed, according to state appeals court records of his divorce about a decade ago from his wife, Vaughn. The two feuded over child and spousal support. The couple maintained a staff of servants and took expensive vacations, records show, though neither worked, relying instead on Christians annual income from investments and a trust of $240,000. However, because household expenses averaged $450,000 a year, the husband sold off assets, such as an antique knife collection valued at $425,000, to make up the difference.

The Merc also gives us some much needed info on how to pronounce de Guigne: Deh GHEEN-yay" while Curbed reveals  in a detailed history of the home's 150-year history  that de Guigne is also Danielle Steel's former boyfriend.

It's hard not to picture de Guigne as he sat on an uncomfortable chair inside his gorgeous, ice-cold mansion all alone, without his knife collection, and wondered why no one wanted to pay $100 million for the entirety of his family history and the pleasure of his tenancy. And now, another chapter of de Guigne's life has officially ended. He sold it all for 70%-off.



Related: Burned Out Shell Of A Home In East Oakland Hits Market For $100,000
No doubt, this year's SF Pride is going to be one for the books, if only because as the nation remains bitterly divided about its identity and its future. So in some part does the LGBTQ community find itself divided, arguing about which letter in the initialism deserves the most attention and who should control the future of the movement now that cisgender gay men and lesbians have largely "made it," at least in most blue states, regarding equal rights. For the first time in a long time, this year's Pride parade on Sunday is likely to feel a whole lot angrier, and more political, than the largely corporate-sponsored and cheery celebration it's generally become. And no doubt that energy will infuse Friday's Trans March and Saturday's annual Dyke March as well.

Still, it's SF's large gay community that throws the lion's share of parties come Pride weekend, so the calendar below may be a bit gay-heavy, per usual. You will all need to pace yourselves regardless, especially if you want to be mildly awake to see the main event on Sunday, i.e. the parade itself  which could be especially provocative and worth seeing for locals for a change.

Plus, don't forget that the Frameline LGBTQ film festival is ongoing all week, with a bunch of great screenings still to come.

TUESDAY 6/20

SCIENCE SPEAKEASY ON GENDER: Come learn more about human gender diversity with Dr. Madeline Deutsch of UCSF and Leakey Foundation grantee Stephanie Meredith, along with drinks, food, and experiments at this Pride-themed Science Speakeasy at Public Works. 161 Erie Street at Mission, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., $10-$15

WEDNESDAY 6/21

DYKE CODES: Travel back in time to the post-disco, pre-internet era for "Dyke Codes: Coming Out Outside The Bubble," a storytelling event featuring a "new generation of old-school queers share their stories about coming out as young dykes of color outside of big city life," including stories from Mona Webb, StormMiguel Florez, and Dawn Rudd. GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street, 7 p.m., $5 to $15 donation at the door please.

PULLED PORK PRIDE BENEFIT: The annual benefit party for the Harvey Milk Democratic Club and hosted by 48 Hills is happening again on the patio at the Pilsner Inn. $10 gets you the beer bust deal and $10 gets you some pulled pork. Pilsner Inn, 225 Church Street near 15th, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

THE ART OF PRIDE: Juanita More and 7x7 are co-hosting this fete at Blackbird featuring hosted cocktails, bites, an interactive mural project, and more. 2124 Market Street, RSVP required, $10 suggested donation





DICK AT NIGHT: 10 mostly bearded drag performers, not including hostess Grace Towers, will be doing two shows at this offbeat drag affair at Moby Dick in the Castro, all with the theme "Proud Mary." Shows at 9 p.m. (ish) and 11 p.m. (ish).Moby Dick, 4049 18th Street at Hartford, $5



THURSDAY 6/22

LEXINGTON PRESENTS - PRIDE KICKOFF AT VIRGIL'S: The city's only real lesbian bar the Lexington Club may be gone, but the spirit lives on with events like this now annual pride soiree at Virgil's in the Mission. This years features DJs Ms. Jackson, DJ OLGA T, and Jamila Afrika, and will feature artwork from a bevy of local photographers and artists projected on the back patio. Virgil's Sea Room, 3152 Mission Street, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. $5

#YouAreLove - TREVOR PROJECT BENEFIT: This big benefit, featuring performances by Jessica Childress from NBCs The Voice Season 4, DJ Philip Grasso, the SF Gay Men's Chorus, and appearances by local drag stars Honey Mahogany, Donna Personna, Bearonce Knows, Sister Roma, and Bebe Sweetbrier. Proceeds go to The Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBT youth. Twitter Headquarters, Market and 10th, 7 to 10 p.m. and doors close at 8:30, find tickets here

CHRISTEENE: The gross-out horror-camp-drag of Christeene will be on full display at the Rickshaw as she performs with "tha Boyz" and opening act Ah Mer Ah Su. 155 Fell Street, 9 p.m., $10-$15

CLUB FINN:: New Castro tavern Finn Town is ringing in its first Pride with four nights of parties after dinner service is over, with appearances by drag stars Mercedez Monroe, Sister Roma, Ruby Red Munro, and Whitney Skye Patterson, starting Thursday, and going through Sunday, starting at 10:30 p.m. Finn Town, 2251 Market Street between Sanchez and Noe, 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., cover charge required

DRAG PARTY AT ELBO ROOM: The Stud's own VivvyAnne ForevoreMore is hosting this new monthly drag show "Beautiful! - for Pride" at the Mission's Elbo Room, with the help of Abomonatrix, Laundra Time, DJ Primo Pitino, and more. 647 Valencia Street, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., $10

PRIDE NIGHTLIFE: The big annual affair hosted by Heklina is happening again at the Academy of Sciences, with music upstairs and in the aquarium, and performances by House of Glitter, Mahlae Balenciaga, Miss Shugana, all with the theme "the future of love." Win prizes for your own "Future of Love" looks, and dance to the DJ tunes of Swagger Like Us and Juanita More! in the Piazza. Also, there's food, booze, and the exhibits are open. Get tickets now, because this will sell out. Academy of Sciences, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. $15



San Francisco Trans March (Image: Facebook)

FRIDAY 6/23

TRANS MARCH: The local trans community comes together at the beginning of every Pride weekend to show their own pride, strength, and solidarity, and this year, the Trans March's 14th, will be no different. The day kicks off with a youth and elder brunch at Dolores Park at 11 a.m., and the rally with speakers and performers starts at 3 p.m. The group will then march at 6 p.m. from the park, up Dolores and typically heads down Market to the location of the Comptons Cafeteria Riots at Turk and Taylor in 1966. This year's theme: "Celebrating Resilience with Love & Resistance."

SHENANIGANS: MASK4MASK: The cheeky dudes of the Shenanigans crew are again throwing a masquerade ball at Oasis, and yes, masks are required. There will be three dancefloors including a silent disco on the roof, and they promise "a club full of faceless torsos dancing to the beats of many local DJs." Expect some masc/mask good times. Oasis, 298 11th Street, 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., $10-$15.

MR. - 10TH ANNIVERSARY: This infamous mustache party took a year off last year, but it's back for one final, 10th anniversary, grande finale party in SoMa. The party this time is at Verso, which once upon time was the leather bar The Loading Dock, and music will come courtesy of DJs David Harness (Taboo), Borja (Daddy Issues), and Juan (Beatbox events). Verso, 1525 Mission Street, $15 and up. Tickets here.

#BLACKQUEERMAGIC: Black Fridays at the Stud will ring in pride with this black queer celebration featuring drag and burlesque performances, music by DJs Miss Pop (Portland) and John Fucking Cartwright, and hosting by Honey Mahogany. The Stud, 9th and Harrison, $10 before 11 p.m., $15 after

UHAUL PRIDE KICKOFF: The hilariously named lesbian dance party UHAUL is doing a trio of parties this weekend, starting with an all-black-attired kickoff at Hawthorn near Union Square. DJs include Yooey (Honolulu)

and China G (San Francisco), and there is a bottle service option. Hawthorn, 46 Geary Street, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., $25

EVERY BODY: A party from Club SomeThing is happening in the 'Loin at Bao Down, with drag queens and dancing, hosted by GlamaMore and DJ Downey. Bao Down, 648 Bush Street, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

POUND PUPPY PRIDE: This party, which only loosely caters to the gay puppy play community, always brings a host of alterna-queer boys and men to the Eagle for a night of drinking and dancing  and stuffing money in the go-go puppy's jock. And this year's Pride party will have a touch of New Orleans via BOUFFANT BOUFFANT, the a self proclaimed design/party machine from NoLa, who'll be spinning alongside residents Taco Tuesday and Kevin O'Connor. SF Eagle, 398 12th Street, 9 p.m., $20

STEAM PRIDE: This monthly, bathhouse-themed party at Powerhouse features go-go boys getting wet in the "PowerShower," massages, drink specials, and, as always, the $100 wet towel contest, with proceeds from the door going to the SF LGBT Center. Spinning the tunes this time around: DJ MAJR (Mikey Adolphson Jr.). Powerhouse, 1347 Folsom Street, 9 p.m., $10

ELECTROLUXX: The Pride party from the "incredibly inclusive" Mass crew happens at Public Works, and this year features a massage booth, LED hoop performances, costumes, tarot readings, a cuddle puddle, and a bevy of DJs. Public Works, 161 Erie Street, 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., $20-$30

POLYGLAMOROUS PRIDE: This year Polyglamorous brings the beats to Club Six and will feature DJs Heather, NoLa's Father Figure, and residents Mark O'Brien, M*J*R and Beya. 60 6th Street, 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., $15-$30, tickets here



MANIMAL FRIDAYS PRIDE KICKOFF: This new party at Beaux may be the hottest ticket in the Castro on Friday, featuring go-go boys styled by LA's SHOKRA, and tunes from DJ Ms. Jackson. Beaux, 2344 Market Street, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.



Caleb Pershan/SFist

SATURDAY 6/24

DYKE RALLY AND MARCH: Yes, as always, the dykes will dominate the Mission, taking over Dolores Park for an all-dyke affair all afternoon, culminating in the always lively and fun Dyke March. The march usually heads into the Mission and up Valencia, but the route isn't strictly adhered to, and it usually ends up in the Castro, but who knows. Starting at Dolores Park, 11 a.m., march at 6 p.m.

PINK SATURDAY DAYLIGHT DRAG PARTY: Once again, there's no Pink Party this year in the Castro, but Beaux is again throwing their own, featuring Drag Race star Naomi Smalls alongside local queen Au Jus, and featuring DJ Becky Knox and the Beaux GoGo Crew. Beaux, 2344 Market Street, 4 p.m., meet-and-greet at 5 p.m., show at 7 p.m. $8 before 6 p.m., or $10

PINK MAMMOTH: This annual daytime block party that leans toward the Burner end of things has been popular the last few years, and this year it features a list of DJs including David Harness, Juan Garcia, Tim Green, DJ e'Lish, Kramer, and more. Great Northern, 119 Utah Street, $15-$35

DYKE MARCH AFTER-PARTY: This big queer/dyke party will include two dancefloors and a large outdoor area, with food, and music from DJs Von Kiss (LA), Jenna Riot (SF/NYC), Skylar Love (VANCOUVER), UNIIQU3, DJ Val G., Star Amerasu, Chelsea Starr, and others. Public Works, 161 Erie Street, 7 p.m. to 3 a.m., $10-$40

UHAUL DYKE MARCH AFTER-PARTY: The UHAUL gals will re-gather at Harlot for a big shindig featuring go-gos and beat by That Girl (San Francisco), Ry Toast (Los Angeles), and Ms. Jackson (San Francisco). Dykes are being directed to "dress to impress" for this one. Harlot, 46 Minna Street, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., $25

DYKE MARCH AFTER-AFTER PARTY: The Stud is putting on a new party from the CMYK crew called CMDYKE, featuring underground techno legend DJ SHIVA aka NONCOMPLIANT. The Stud, 9th and Harrison, 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., $10 advance, $15-$20 at door

JUNGLE - PRIDE AT THE ARMORY: This year the big, circuit-y Armory dance-a-thon features headliner Betty Who, who's likely to draw a younger crowd than might usually come to this sort of thing. And as with previous big pride parties here, the DJ lineup includes heavy-hitters like Pagano, Danny Verde, Wayne G, and Paul Goodyear. Expect cool lighting design, and basically zero shirts. 333 14th Street, 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., $50-$150, tickets here

SWAGGER LIKE US QUEER PRIDE PARTY: A queer, inclusive, hip-hop-heavy option for the weekend is this shindig downtown. Recording artist Trina will be performing, and a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit SF City Clinic. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie Street, 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., $20-$60, tickets here

MOTHER PINK SATURDAY W/CAZWELL: Cazwell comes back to town to entertain the Mother crew, and this pre-Pride edition will also feature performances by Heklina herself, Roxy-Cotten Candy, Madd Dogg 20/20, and Hollow Eve. 298 11th Street, doors at 10 p.m., $15





Photo: Afterglow/Facebook

AFTERGLOW: Another Burning Man Pride affair that's been big for a few years is this blacklight-themed party from the Comfort & Joy crew. Put on some Day-Glo and/or just some body paint and go dance and sweat it up at this mostly gay party. Pre-sales are sold out, though, and this one's expensive. 550 Barneveld, 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., $106

COLOSSUS: Guess where else the circuit queens will be? They'll be heading to Great Northern around midnight for this annual affair from Gus Bean, featuring DJs Nacho Chapado, Mauro Mozart, and Jack Chang. Great Northern, 119 Utah Street, $75

SUNDAY 6/25

PARADE AND FESTIVAL

The day kicks off at 10:30 a.m., and the parade usually winds down around 2 p.m. Everyone eventually ends up in and around Civic Center, but you never can tell when it might end. Headlining the main stage in front of City Hall will be Betty Who and Cazwell, and there are multiple stages with different music themes throughout the Civic Center area.

JUANITA MORE'S PRIDE PARTY: Pre-sale tickets are gone, but there will be plenty at door, Juanita promises, though you probably want to roll up early. Yet again the party is in the courtyard at Jones, and it is always a big, fab, well dressed refuge from the Civic Center madness. This year's party benefits the Q Foundation and the LGBT Asylum Project, and you can expect performances from the great Miss Rahni, Nicki Jizz as

Labelle, as well as music by Christy Love, One-half Nelson, John Fu**ing Cartwright, and John Walker. Jones, 620 Jones Street, Noon to 10 p.m., $45+, tickets at door starting at 11:30 a.m.

MIGHTY REAL - POOLSIDE: The Mighty Real crew will be doing it up again around the pool at the Phoenix Hotel. And this year the beats come from resident David Harness along with Quentin Harris & Hector Romero + Tedd Patterson. There is food on the grill, and fun in the sun while it lasts. Phoenix Hotel, 601 Eddy Street at Larkin, $55-$60

PRIDE "POOL" PARTY AT OASIS: A cheap and easy daytime escape from the Civic Center festivities is this now annual rooftop party at Oasis, featuring a six-foot kiddie pool, floaties, Sneaky's BBQ, and booze. Oasis, 298 11th Street, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Free

HARD FRENCH PRIDE: And another annual tradition is of course the indoor/outdoor Hard French party at Mezzanine, where you can wind down your day (or wind up your night) with music from residents Carnita and Brown Amy in the back alley, and check out headliner Ronnie Specter and The Ronettes. This crowd will skew a bit younger, and this one starts early too. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie Street, 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., $20-$60

UHAUL PRIDE AFTER-PARTY: The third and final lesbian-centric party from the UHAUL gang takes over big Union Square nightclub Love + Propaganda and they promise go-gos, "lezzie bartenders," and DJs Bribee (San Francisco), Von Kiss (Los Angeles), and Skylar Love (Vancouver). 85 Campton Place, 8 p.m., $20

HONEY SOUNDSYSTEM PRIDE: If you've still got plenty of energy and took Monday off, you'll want to head to Folsom Street Foundry's for the Honey Soundsystem boys' Pride edition electro fest. It goes into the wee hours, and this year features Detroit DJ Holographic. Folsom Street Foundry, 1425 Folsom Street, $20 before 10 p.m., $30 after.



Related: Exclusive: Betty Who To Headline LGBT Pride Event At The Armory


Never one to miss an opportunity to proselytize, local-sustainable evangelist Alice Waters took to Twitter over the weekend to pen the note below, signed "with hopefulness," asking Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to please not just see the acquisition of Whole Foods as a business opportunity, but to understand that he could hold the future of American agriculture in his hands. She has now gone on to give a few interviews elaborating on these hopes.

Waters wants Whole Foods to return to its original model of buying from local, organic farmers, and for Bezos to (somehow) re-impose that model on the chain's 460 stores nationwide. As she tells the Washington Post, "I always had great hopes for [Whole Foods] in the beginning, at least when it was small and in Texas. The idea of buying from local people, and a commitment to the organic farmers and ranchers was very, very important to me. But as it grew, it compromised. I really hope it can be reinvented."

She adds, with disgust, "Ive been to Whole Foods markets in New York at Union Square, and they have sunflowers at Christmas."

The San Francisco Chronicle's Jonathan Kauffman subsequently reached out to Waters and got some further clarifying quotes. Speaking in her usual idealistic style, Waters says, "Who knows what kind of place those supermarkets could become? They could become indoor farmers markets, conceivably."

And she adds that scaling, as Whole Foods has done, and sourcing organic produce from other countries, is encouraging the efficiencies created within a broken industrial food system. "Scaling, I think, disrupts the creative thinking, she tells the Chronicle. "Its not always that you have to have the same thing. Its like you could really buy lettuce from 10 farms, which is what we do at Chez Panisse. Theyre different but theyre all good. Its this idea of uniformity and availability, 24-7, that are really fast-food ideas. We have to appreciate the charming irregularities, which is what brings us into a relationship with nature."

Speculation has been made that Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods presages an effort to further automate food delivery and potentially reduce the number of people working in the actual stores. You can imagine how Waters feels about that. "The idea of mechanization, really, I think, goes against a food culture of humanity thats been around since the beginning of civilization," she tells the WaPo. "Its the closeness to nature thats ultimately going to heal us, and our preservation of it. And our recognition that thats where our food comes from."

The biggest trouble with Waters's philosophy has always been that it leads to discussions of elitism and accessibility  sure she wants everyone to be able to eat healthy, local, organic meat and vegetables, but at what cost? People already think Whole Foods is too expensive. Let her start talking, and already we're charging $28 for a chicken. "Why is it $28 for an organic chicken? Because it takes this long, and this much land, this much organic grain, this much pasture. You know, help people understand that food can be affordable, but it can never be cheap."

Bezos has yet to respond publicly to Waters's plea, and it seems about as likely that Whole Foods will suddenly become a chain of farmers' markets each with its own local supply chain and displays of charmingly blemished apples as it is that Chez Panisse is going to become a strip-mall chain. But who knows! Maybe Bezos isn't just in it for the money.

Previously: Our Food Philosopher Alice Waters Lands On TIME 100
After some Tuesday night drama in Silicon Valley involving Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and several key investor in the embattled ride-hailing company  all worthy of Silicon Valley the HBO show  Kalanick has resigned from his role at the company he co-founded eight years ago. The move comes just a week after Kalanick announced an indefinite leave of absence, under pressure from the company's board, and shortly after the company announced a new policy to allow tips for drivers in the Uber app  something Kalanick had staunchly opposed for years.

Kalanick issued a statement, imbued with clear emotion, just weeks after the death of his mother in a boating accident and major corporate upheaval, 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."

As NBC News reports, Kalanick will retain his seat on the company's board of directors.

Uber's board issued a brief statement saying that Kalanick's decision would allow room to fully embrace this new chapter in Ubers history."

As the New York Times reports:

Earlier on Tuesday, five of Ubers major investors demanded that the chief executive resign immediately. The investors included one of Ubers biggest shareholders, the venture capital firm Benchmark, which has one of its partners, Bill Gurley, on Ubers board. The investors made their demand for Mr. Kalanick to step down in a letter delivered to the chief executive while he was in Chicago, said the people with knowledge of the situation. In the letter, titled Moving Uber Forward and obtained by The New York Times, the investors wrote to Mr. Kalanick that he must immediately leave and that the company needed a change in leadership. Mr. Kalanick, 40, consulted with at least one Uber board member and after long discussions with some of the investors, he agreed to step down.

The key investors, which include Benchmark, Lowercase, First Round, and Menlo Ventures, all stand to lose billions of dollars if the company drops from its most recent $70 billion valuation.

The move, as most everyone who has heard of Uber likely knows, comes after months of controversy and bad press that has centered not only on allegations of widespread sexual harassment within the company, and a lawsuit involving the company's self-driving car division, but also recent revelations of specific situations that Kalanick allegedly had a direct hand in, including an email to company employees about having sex with each other, and one involving a sexual assault victim in India whose medical records were allegedly passed around between executives. There were also multiple other things, including the codename Greyball operation that was meant to skirt local law enforcement, and that time he screamed at an Uber driver, on camera, and admitted later that he needed some help with the whole leadership thing.

Still, Uber board member Arianna Huffington was just saying three months ago that Kalanick wasn't going anywhere and "the whole ride-sharing industry would not be where it is today without Travis."

Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009, using the name UberCab, along with Garrett Camp, the cofounder of StumbleUpon, who remains a member of Uber's board of directors.

TechCrunch notes that Uber has raised over $11 billion in funding* and has lately been valued at $70 billion, "Though Silicon Valley investors have shown that they will follow a founders direction in even the most turbulent times, recent events had threatened Ubers stability."

While Uber has dominated the ride-hailing market in the last several years by quite a wide margin, the Washington Post reported that all the recent scandals and bad press had increased Lyft's market share from about 18 percent at the beginning of this year to 25 percent as of this month.

*Per the NYT, the company has received $13 billion in funding since its founding.

Related: Time Magazine Takes On Uber With Brutal, One-Star Cover

Travis Kalanick Confirms Leave From Uber; Company Told To Curb Employees' Alcohol & Drug Use


This was noted at a conference jointly held in Vietnams central Nghe An province on June 20 by the High Command of the Military Zone 4, and Division 1 and 2, and Military Headquarters of Laoss Vientiane, Xaisombound and central provinces which share border with the Military Zone 4.The event reviewed affiliation outcomes in 2016 and put forth tasks for this year.In 2016, the High Command of the Military Zone 4 instructed relevant units to take the initiative in partnering with their Lao counterparts and localities in agreed cooperation sectors.During the 2016-2017 dry season, the Lao side has assisted the Military Zone 4 units in searching and repatriating 200 sets of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos, the conference heard.

Vietnamplus
At the meeting with the Haitian parliamentary leader, the Vietnamese Communist Party Chief believed that the visit would strengthen further the friendly cooperative relations between the countries State, National Assembly and people.Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong strongly affirmed that Vietnam always respects development as well as expansion of multifaceted friendly and cooperative ties with Haiti and suggested the two sides to continue strengthening mutual cooperation in the fields of agriculture, telecommunication and industrial production.On the same day, Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang received the Haitian parliamentary leader at Presidential Palace.The Vietnamese leader re-affirmed that the country respects and desires expansion an enhancement of friendly and multifaceted cooperation relations with Latin American countries and Caribbean including Haiti.He appreciated active development of bilateral ties in the fields of politics, economy and investment in the recent years; in particular, investment of Vietnamese telecommunication group Viettel in Haiti.Besides that, both countries need to enhance further mutual cooperation and support at regional & international organizations and multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and the Non-Aligned Movement.At the Governmental Office, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc yesterday met Haitian parliamentary chairman Youri Latortue.The Vietnamese PM expressed his pleasure at Vietnam- Haiti friendly relations in recent time and affirmed that the country would enhance bilateral cooperative ties with Haiti in the fields of telecommunication, agriculture, construction, tourism infrastructure, energy, electrical equipment, building materials and consumer goods.

BY MINH GIANG- Translated by Huyen Huong
ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa | On this, the longest day of the year (as measured by available daylight), we take a look at an art project that shines beautiful light on Rock Rapids, the Lyon County seat, a community known as the "City of Murals."

Downtown Rock Rapids shows life and a nod to days of yore in a couple of dozen murals that decorate buildings downtown. The effort began when the Rock Rapids Mural Society was formed 15 years ago and saw the completion of the first mural for the annual Heritage Days celebration.

The Rock Rapids Chamber of Commerce notes that the idea came from Sandy Wynia, of Rock Rapids, who visited Toppinish, Washington, and examined murals painted on the sides of buildings there, murals that helped tell the story of that community.

Wynia envisioned an effort in her community that would take two- and three-story buildings in Rock Rapids and add zest to them through a public art effort.

"Our town should be proud of its history and by making murals showing the history of the town, we offer a way of keeping the history alive for future generations," Wynia noted.

The Rock Rapids Mural Society is financed by $15 annual memberships ($25 for a family), donations, sponsorship of murals, grants and fundraisers. Lifetime memberships run $150 for a single, $250 per family.

For more information, contact the Rock Rapids Chamber of Commerce at (712) 472-3456.
LOS ANGELES  Chef Scott Conant twirls his pasta like a boss. His right hand angled, the fork at 20 degrees  the movement is fluid and effortless, like hes tumbling a quarter along his knuckles.

The chef of the new Italian restaurant the Ponte in Beverly Grove is sitting at a table at Cento, the pasta-focused lunchtime pop-up inside of Mignon in downtown L.A. thats run by Avner Lavi, a former pasta cook at Bestia and Sotto. Conant is dressed in a tailored, three-piece, navy suit, with his signature auburn mane brushed straight up and back. (If he decides to leave the culinary world, he could have a second career as a spokesman for a shampoo company. The hair hasnt elicited its own Twitter profile yet, but Conant says there was a hashtag.)

Hey, I woke up like this, he says. Just remember I have the intellectual property on my hair.

Cento

Conant digs into a beet pasta, one of Lavis specialties, made with a dry pasta and a sauce of roasted beets, poppy seed and brown butter. Twirl, bite, wipe, repeat. He is through a quarter of the bowl before he comes up for air, his napkin a crime scene of smeared fuchsia and poppy seeds. This is the first hour of a three-restaurant, eight-hour, 18-bowl pasta crawl for Conant, who is known best for his pasta al pomodoro, a humble bowl of spaghetti, tomato and basil.

That pasta al pomodoro is a dish that has followed him, in one way or another, to every restaurant he has opened, including the now-closed Scarpetta in Beverly Hills, the Ponte, Fusco (his new New York City restaurant named after his grandmother) and Mora Italian, his restaurant in Phoenix.

I actually rarely eat pasta, Conant says as he twirls more strands of spaghetti onto his fork. I love it so much that I have to restrict myself. Otherwise Im like an animal.

Conant is enamored of Lavis beet pasta and another dish, spaghetti with uni. He keeps using that stereotypical Italian hand gesture  his fingertips together, his arm in an upright wave, to express his delight at the pastas.

Conant grew up in Waterbury, Conn., surrounded by Italian Immigrants from Pontelandolfo, which happens to be the inspiration for the name the Ponte.

I think when you allow the product to shine and get out of its way, thats how you create greatness.

I think the food scene in L.A. really speaks for itself, says Conant as he looks around the room. At 5 p.m. Lavi will pack up and the space will turn back into a French wine bar.

I remember seven years ago when I first started coming to L.A., says Conant, I would go to these little random shopping centers and eat really good food, but now its happening more and more. Chefs had really good sous chefs or cooks, and now theyve gone out and are opening their own places and being creative  like this place.

Osteria Mozza

When Conant walks through the doors at Osteria Mozza, Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianichs Italian restaurant on the corner of Melrose and Highland avenues, people turn in their chairs to look. Because although Conant may not be as recognizable as Batali, hes spent considerable time on television as a frequent judge on the Food Network shows Chopped and busting the chops of his friend Bobby Flay on a show called Beat Bobby Flay.

At a table in the corner of a back room, Conant asks the server to recommend some pastas, commencing a feast that will include salumi, prosciutto-wrapped grissini with truffle butter, not a few items from Silvertons mozzarella bar  and pasta. The bucatini all Amatriciana arrives in a deep red swirl; the ricotta gnudi are surrounded by garlic scapes and English peas; the ricotta and egg raviolo comes as a single pillow of ricotta and egg swimming in browned butter; and each strand of tagliatelle is perfectly coated with a rich oxtail ragu.

Conant waits for everyone at the table to bring out their iPhones before delicately cutting into the raviolo. The yolk spills out in an orange pool.

What are you guys going to eat? he jokes.

With all those restaurants and all that television, you could categorize Conant as a celebrity chef, but hes quick to disagree.

I think the day you hear me refer to myself as a celebrity chef  forget about it. He says that last bit as a single word, like hes walked straight out of that scene from Donnie Brasco. I dont think of myself as famous. Listen, Ive always prided myself on being a good cook. He twirls a bit of bucatini onto his fork and takes a bite. Oh, my God, thats good.

Rather, Conant refers to himself as an old school guy, a guy who grew up in Connecticut, and started in the kitchen as a dishwasher when he was in high school, working 60 hours a week for $5 an hour.

Felix

A couple of hours later, Conant takes in the crowd at Felix, chef Evan Funkes new pasta palace on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice. He takes a seat across from Funkes pasta laboratory, a brightly lighted box in the center of the dining room, where Funke stands for hours surrounded by flour, kneading and cutting his fresh pastas.

Conant agrees to let Funke feed him, then settles in for a procession of 12 bowls of pasta  every one on the menu. First, Conant swoons over the pappardelle, delicate sheets of pasta in a ragu Bolognese vecchia scuola with 48-month Parmigiano-Reggiano.

The texture is silken and smooth and not too dense, he says as he lifts a ribbon of pasta. So good, that pappardelle. Forget about it.

The tonnarelli cacio e pepe arrives and Conant leans in to smell the plate. You smell that pasta? You smell that flour? Theres something so comforting and warm about that.

The trofie, tight little screws of pasta coated in a bright green pesto Genovese with pecornio di malga elicit exclamations of profanity from Conant, who even on his 15th bowl of the day, cant help but go in for another bite. Im not ready to tap out, he says. This is good  

Conant handles the remaining rigatoni allAmatriciana; orecchiette with sausage; and gnocchetti in an oxtail ragu napoletana like a champ, trying more than a little of each before proclaiming Funke a pasta master.

The next morning Conant will leave to go back to Arizona for a few days, where he has recently moved his wife and two children, and where he has another one of his restaurants, Mora. Then hell head to New York City to check on Fusco.

When I was a young cook, none of this was in the cards, says Conant of his growing restaurant empire. I said, maybe at the end of my career I can have a piece of a restaurant on the Upper East Side and toil away in the kitchen every night. I cant imagine a worse existence than being shackled to one restaurant. Its not my personality.

OK, Im done, he finally proclaims around 10:30 p.m. I have eaten more pasta than I have in six months, but every one was worth it.
Hindsight is a funny thing, loaded with irony and regret and a kind of impossible nostalgia, a quality that should, by definition, require more than a few months to accumulate meaning. Think about politics, of course. Think about eggs. Eggs? Well, yes, because were talking about Lucky Peach, the recently shuttered food magazine, and All About Eggs, the fourth and final cookbook by the editors of that publication, which came out in April.

So you read this last Lucky Peach cookbook, written by Rachel Khong with more than 50 ancillary contributors, in a kind of vertigo, flipping the pages  and sometimes the actual eggs  with a heady mixture of hunger, amusement and sadness. It is almost impossible not to find a double meaning spilled through the pages like curry sauce. This, of course, has always been part of the fun of Lucky Peach, a publication that was known for its mash-up assembly of excellent and irreverent writing about food, science and culture.

The conceit of this cookbook is that its a primer about eggs, that most basic of ingredients, the dish that many of us first learn to cook  everything we know about the worlds most important food, according to the subtitle. And the book delivers on much of that, providing 88 recipes and many stories, tips and anecdotes culled from a multicultural and multinational array of great chefs, food writers, food scientists, television personalities, physicists, novelists and more.

And so we come  almost!  to the end. Eggs existed before you and me, and eggs will outlive us all. This thought is either comforting or terrifying, depending on the sort of day youre having, writes Khong in the preface to the eighth and last chapter of the book: Immortal Eggs. This is both the tone and content that she set in the first page (This is a book about eggs. But more than that, its a book about mankind  its a book about us all.) and has continued throughout, as have her fellow writers. It should come as no surprise that Khong, who was a contributing editor and worked at Lucky Peach since its start in 2011, is also a San Francisco-based novelist: Her first novel comes out in July.

That said, All About Eggs can read like a cacophony at times, as its sometimes hard to figure out which voice is which, and whose recipe is exactly whose. The photographs (which along with the playful illustrations are by Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford), on black background and oddly stark, are cordoned off into one yellow-edged section midway through the book. This is also where youll find the index, separate from the list of contributors, which is itself at the end of the book. All this means that you end up toggling back and forth a lot, trying to match the bits of prose with their authors.

It should also be said that some of the recipes in the book presuppose a certain expertise. Daniel Bouluds famous perfect omelette farcie, for example, is both daunting on the page and in execution, and I found myself watching the legendary French chef demo the dish on YouTube before I got it right. (Even if youve already mastered the dish, I recommend doing this.) And the Hong Kong-style egg tart recipe from San Francisco restaurant Yank Sing required a few test runs in our Test Kitchen to get the mechanics of homemade puff pastry just right. Other recipes worked perfectly on the first go-around. This kind of inconsistency can be comforting (leave the omelet to the experts and flip to the bit about egg crystals on Mauna Loa Mars) or terrifying, depending on the sort of day youre having.

But this also makes Khongs original point, which is that eggs are harder than they look; there is a reason that making an omelet is the cooks traditional, oft-cited rite of passage.

Quite aside from being a useful cookbook, its an utterly marvelous, often hilarious read. Where else can you find a few pages from Harold McGee next to a recipe for Arzak eggs, a literary anecdote about an egg collector (Claude lived alone, a melamine surrounded by his arias) near a bit about what to name your chicken (Barbara, or maybe Eldrida) and something called Chickens of Portlandia? Writing about a dish called Eggs Kejriwal, yet another in the procession of gifted writers notes that one will need a processed white cheese that melts like rubber and tastes like nostalgia. Exactly. This is a cooks cookbook, a writers cookbook, a readers book. RIP LP.
ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa | It almost sounds like an episode of "Leave it to Beaver."

Deirdre "Dee" Slack bought and moved into a home in Rock Rapids in 2013. Immediately, she heard that she'd bought "Beaver's house."

The home at 408 South Carroll St. was home to Norman and Marilyn Mathers and their family from 1947-49. Jerry Mathers, their son, was born in Sioux City in 1948 and resided in Rock Rapids until the family moved to California.

Jerry Mathers went on to fame playing Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver in the iconic family sitcom that ran from 1957 to 1963 and has enjoyed popularity in syndication ever since.

Mathers returned to Rock Rapids on Friday for the annual Heritage Days festival. He attended a musical revue, led the parade as grand marshal, greeted thousands of people, posed for hundreds of photos and signed at least 350 autographs.

He also traveled to his first home and stood outside to have his picture taken.

Deirdre Slack, who is is the same age as Mathers and a fan of his show, was at home at the time. She missed the Hollywood star's appearance at her front door, however.

"I was asleep," Slack told me on Tuesday, laughing and shaking her head about missing this brush with greatness. "I want to write Jerry Mathers a letter and apologize!"

After hearing the circumstances surrounding Slack's nap, I think Mathers would understand. Slack is recovering from surgery on her right rotator cuff, the latest in a string of ailments she's overcome. Her physical setbacks began not long after she made her first home purchase, buying "Beaver's" old house in October 2013.

"In 2014, I fell in the back yard and broke two vertebrae and compressed two discs," she said. "I am so lucky I wasn't paralyzed."

In 2015, Slack fell while walking out the back door. She tore a meniscus in that mishap and needed another surgical procedure.

Earlier this year, she fell while visiting her sister at nearby Inwood, Iowa. Slack hurt her shoulder, which required surgery to address a torn rotator cuff. "It's my right shoulder, so I haven't been able to do anything with my right arm," she said.

Slack, who has been getting therapy twice per week, was so focused on recuperating that she didn't remember what time the Heritage Days parade took place on Saturday morning. Instead, she relaxed at home and dozed off, likely about the time Mathers, who had served as grand marshal, dropped by to look at his first house.

Despite this minor bobble, the weekend was a roaring success for Rock Rapids residents, visitors and Heritage Days planners. Crowds swelled along the parade route, making it one of the largest parades in recent years. Jerry Mathers and his wife, Teresa, were greeted with enthusiasm everywhere they went.

"We had a huge crowd," said Angie Jager, director of the Rock Rapids Chamber of Commerce. "No. 1, because of Jerry Mathers. No. 2, because we had great weather."

One couple told Jager they drove three hours one way to meet Mathers; another man drove 2,000 miles from Seattle, Washington, to spend the weekend in Rock Rapids and to meet the "Leave it to Beaver" star.

The celebration culminated a dream effort for Kenneth Barker, a retired high school English and speech/drama teacher here. Barker, who met Mathers at a family get-together in Kingsley, Iowa, during the 1950s, had followed his career ever since and began working to get the "Beaver" back in Rock Rapids eight years ago.

"I tried for a couple of years and then realized I couldn't get him here by myself," said Barker, 82. "I needed the help of people like Angie Jager and our mayor, Jason Chase, and the Heritage Days Committee."

When Mathers consented to visit a few months ago, Barker helped in the planning push. He even visited the assisted living facilities and nursing homes, dropping off DVDs of "Leave it to Beaver" episodes so residents could watch the show prior to Jerry Mathers' visit on Sunday morning.

The entire affair was so exciting, it trumped Barker's own Heritage Days experience as parade grand marshal three years ago.

"I was to be the parade marshal in 2014," Barker said. "The parade got rained out."

Again, it sounds like an episode perfect for "Beaver Cleaver."
LINCOLN, Neb. | A Moville, Iowa, man will spend a year in jail for setting up a meeting to have sex with an underage girl in Lincoln, Nebraska, under a sentence handed down by a judge Wednesday.

Dennis Ragan, 63, had earlier pleaded guilty in Lancaster County District Court to one count of enticement by electronic communication device.

According to authorities, Ragan responded to an online ad he believed had been posted by a 15-year-old girl, but was actually posted by an undercover investigator. Ragan exchanged 170 emails with the person he believed to be the girl.

According to court documents, Ragan traveled to Lincoln with the intent of having sexual contact with the girl and was arrested on Aug. 31 at a Lincoln laundromat where he had agreed to a meeting. Investigators found condoms, lubrication, batteries and sex toys in Ragan's car.

Court documents filed Wednesday also say he will have 12 months of supervision after his sentence is served and he must be placed on the state sex offender registry.
SIOUX CITY | Due to an overwhelming response, Siouxland Dairy Queen is suspending its Bing Blizzard promotion that would have launched Wednesday.

A late Tuesday press release said International Dairy Queen, Inc. asked Siouxland DQ to suspend the promotion so they could review the Bing product and the regional market for a potentially larger launch of the blizzard throughout the Midwest.

Siouxland DQ and Palmer Candy Co. partnered up to create the Bing Blizzard, which would have been sold in metro Dairy Queen restaurants to benefit the Alzheimer Association's The Longest Day event Wednesday.

IDQ has received a large number of inquiries from Dairy Queen restaurants hundreds of miles away from Sioux City requesting the Palmer Candys Bing, stated Ashley Schoenrock, brand and promotions manager with Siouxland DQ, in the release.  ... we are very optimistic we will be able to launch Sioux Citys own  Bing Blizzard very soon, still benefiting the Alzheimers Association."

For every small sold in all Sioux City, Sergeant Bluff and South Sioux City Dairy Queen restaurants, $1 would have been donated to the Alzheimers Association Greater Iowa Chapter.
SIOUX CITY | The man who has led the Woodbury County Juvenile Detention Center for three decades will leave the position in October to look into other work.

Woodbury County Juvenile Detention Center Director Mark Olsen in a Tuesday interview said he will retire in four months, after first working in a counselor position for the county in 1982. After five years of working for the county, he was tapped to become the detention center director, so Olsen will leave with 30 years in the post and 35 years combined.

"It is time to move on," Olsen said, adding that he will continue living in the area and look into work that is similar to his early counseling years.

The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday accepted Olsen's resignation during the weekly board meeting.

Olsen said he was proud to have worked over the time when the center moved from a Fourth Street location to the Trosper Hoyt Building in 1992, and to see the addition of many services. The number of beds in the center rose from 12 to 20 during his tenure.

He pointed to working well with the juvenile court system too.

"I feel like I developed programs that provide the very best services to youth," Olsen said.

"We went from a warehouse-style program to where we try to provide as many services as we can here."

Olsen said the thing he will most miss is the opportunity to work one-on-one with teens who come to the center with drug problems or a violent history. He said center workers have a history of delivering services to get the inmates to "be a regular normal teenagers" who are happier.

County officials will conduct a candidate search by considering current Woodbury County Detention Center workers and those outside the organization. Olsen said he expects a successor will be picked before his departure, so the two can work together and have a good transition.

Human Resources Department Director Ed Gilliland said it is good that Olsen announced his retirement with time to find a successor before he leaves. Gilliland said Olsen has overseen a big period of change over 35 years.

"That is a heck of a run," Gilliland said.
SIOUX CITY | Children will have the opportunity to meet with local law enforcement representatives Saturday during an event held by the Optimist Club of Siouxland.

The "Respect for Law Event," held 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Hy-Vee, 2827 Hamilton Blvd., is meant to help local kids meet and develop a respect for local law enforcement.

"We believe it is important for children to grow up with a strong belief in abiding by the law, respecting law enforcement and doing what they can to maintain peace," club president Deb Carson said in a news release. "We hope that our project with the local students will help this effort."

Coffee, doughnuts and juice will be served at the event, while supplies last.

Optimist International is one of the world's largest service club organizations. The Optimist Club of Siouxland developed in 2016 with members from the former Morning, Noon and Evening clubs.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY | A local veterans' organization is planning a free trip to three Freedom Rocks in Northwest Iowa communities, and to a veteran's event.

Brotherhood Trust & Love will host its 2017 BT&L Freedom Rock Tour on June 24. The tour will make 30-minute stops in Hawarden, George and Sanborn, Iowa to see the Freedom Rocks there, and a two-hour stop in Odebolt to attend Operation Engage America's Bridging the Gap Festival.

At each Freedom Rock stop, a local expert will talk about the community's connection to the armed forces.

Most participants in the tour will be driving their own vehicles, in a convoy. There will also be vans provided by BT&L with limited seating availability.

The convoy will meet at Siouxland Freedom Park in South Sioux City, and depart from there at 1 p.m.

Participation is free, but free-will donations are accepted.
STORM LAKE, Iowa | 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 under construction 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.

Editor's note: Corrects the headline from an earlier version of this story.
CEDAR RAPIDS | Whether by coincidence or coordination, Gov. Kim Reynolds agenda for a meeting Wednesday with President Donald Trump in Cedar Rapids is on the same wavelength as the presidents Technology Week focus.

The president will visit Kirkwood Community College to see examples of technology that frankly, may not be at the top of your mind when you think about technology advancements in the United States, said Ray Starling, a special assistant to the president for agriculture, agricultural trade and food assistance as part of the White House Economic Council.

After the Kirkwood visit, Trump will have a campaign-style rally at 7 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Center, 370 First Ave. NE. in downtown.

Trump is visiting Kirkwood, in part, because it is home to one of the first programs in the country to focus on agricultural geospatial technology and precision farming, Starling said in a press briefing. The program has been honored by the National Science Foundation.

Among the demonstrations Trump will see is technology that guides farm implements and allows farmers to collect data about pesticide and fertilizer needs, soil moisture and yields, Starling said. That takes on added importance this year because net farm income is expected to decline for a fourth year in a row, falling to half of what it was four years ago, Starling said.

Much of precision agriculture technology and other technology used on the farm and in rural American is dependent upon access to the web, he said. The president recognizes that the penetration of the availability of the web has obviously lagged in rural areas.

Connectivity is one of the priorities Reynolds will be lobbying the president on at Kirkwood.

We want Iowans to be able live anywhere in the state of Iowa no matter the size of the community or where it is located to have high-speed internet and connectivity where they can take an idea, create a business, grow it into a successful company and market their products to the world, Reynolds said at a news conference. Its really important that we continue to provide that level of high-speed internet to every single corner of the state.

At Kirkwood, Trump and Reynolds will be joined by Sonny Perdue and Wilbur Ross, secretaries of the Agriculture and Commerce departments, respectively, and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey.

It also will serve as a send-off for former Gov. Terry Branstad, who will leave Friday for China where he will serve as ambassador.

Reynolds also plans to lobby for White House approval of Iowas stopgap health insurance proposal to provide a coverage option for 72,000 Iowans on individual plans.

The plan, put forth last week by Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen, asks the federal government to approve a measure he hoped would both keep a statewide health insurer in the state and also lure others to the states marketplace. The measure  contingent on approval by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services  would provide consumers with age- and income-based tax credits as well as use a reinsurance mechanism for costly medical claims.

In response to the Trump visit, a protest is planned from 5 to 7:30 p.m. outside the Cellular Center. And at 2:30 p.m. Linn County Democrats will be hosting a community conversation in Room A, Beems Auditorium, the Cedar Rapids Public Library, 450 Fifth Ave. SE. The event is open to the public.
We don't know if Monday's vote by the City Council to decline a request from the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors to merge city and county assessor offices represents a missed opportunity to save taxpayers money because the city provided little analysis about the impact of a proposed merger.

As a result of the vote, the city will seek applicants to replace Al Jordan, who retires as city assessor on July 1. Jordan's current salary is $98,966 (it's possible, of course, a new city assessor will be paid more).

City staff told council members four of the five largest cities in Iowa operate a city assessor office separate from the county assessor office (although Des Moines, Iowa's largest city, does not). OK, fine, but in the name of due diligence, we would have preferred staff offer the council (and, by extension, the public) more detail - including an analysis of how a merger here would impact cost and workload - before the council voted on Monday.

Despite the outcome of this discussion, however, we encourage the city and county to continue talking along these lines.

In our view, relations between city and county government have improved in recent years. One result should be a shared, open-minded commitment to identifying opportunities for consolidation and elimination of duplication.

As we have said in this space on multiple occasions, we support formation by local government bodies of a citizen committee to conduct an independent, comprehensive review of how the city, county and school district might merge some services.

Short of that step, we urge all local government leaders individually to think outside the box about ways to save taxpayers money in this way.
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
COLUMBIA, Md. (June 21, 2017)Maryland's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force yields 35 arrests in Maryland, 11 of which were arrested by Maryland State Police investigators, while participating in "Operation Broken Heart," a nationwide, two-month initiative targeting offenders of child sexual exploitation.



The Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) was one of 61 task forces included in "Operation Broken Heart IV", a two-month initiative. Members from the Maryland ICAC worked tirelessly throughout April and May, initiating 314 investigations. Investigators executed 75 search warrants with 35 arrests. There were also public outreach sessions, which reached over 400 people.



The coordinated effort by law enforcement represents more than 3,000 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies with the purpose of arresting child predators, along with internet safety education and outreach. During the National Operation, investigators educated over 99,000 individuals during 1,245 educational programs across the country.



The Maryland ICAC Task Force is comprised of police agencies statewide. They concentrated on those offenders who possess, manufacture, and distribute child pornography and who engage in online enticement of children for sexual purposes. They also targeted crimes including child prostitution and human trafficking.



The Task Force's primary mission continues to be to protect children from computer-facilitated sexual exploitation. This goal is achieved by cooperation between law enforcement agencies and prosecutors as they combine resources to combat these crimes. Additionally, the Task Force also provides community awareness campaigns helping to prevent the spread of these crimes through education.
On Saturday, June 24, the Compass LGBT Community Center of Palm Beach County in Lake Worth will host the 16th Annual Stonewall Ball in the Harriet Himmel Theater in Downtown West Palm Beach. The event is open to the public. VIP tickets cost $75 and general tickets cost $35 and $40 at the door.

The ball commemorates the Stonewall riots of 1969, in which members of the LGBT community of New York City protested and demonstrated against a police raid of the Stonewall Inn. The protest is generally known as the turning point for LGBT rights in America.

This year Andy Amoroso will receive the Compass Leadership Award. The award is given to those in elected office who fight for inclusiveness and fairness.

As former Vice-Chairman of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), Commissioner Amoroso is a longtime small business owner and active community leader. Andy has been integral in leading the way to creating new jobs, revitalizing the downtown business corridor, and highlighting the music, art, and cultural events we have all grown to love about Lake Worth, said Ryanmarie Rice, Chief of Staff of Compass in a press release.

Another award winner, Theo Smith of West Palm Beach will receive the Michael Brown Memorial Faces of the Community Award, given to those who have done community work, organized programs or events for the LGBT Community in Palm Beach County.

Related: Theo Smith - Gay Rights Activist

Theo's years of dedication and volunteerism in numerous community outreach programs and fundraising include Compass, The SMART Ride, breast cancer awareness, autism, HIV/AIDS awareness and many other charitable events and organizations. Theos instinctual yet healthy empathy towards others continues to drive him in serving his fellow community members every day, Rice said.

The award was named after Michael Brown, a native of the area, manager at Roosters Bar in West Palm Beach and an AIDS Prevention organizer.

Smith said winning the award is very humbling, especially as he was close to Brown.

He was a close friend of mine so receiving the award 10 years after his death is very is humbling. He was a living hero to all that knew him, He said.

The professional architect said that helping people has been important to him since he was a child.

Theos instinctual yet healthy empathy towards others continues to drive him to serve his fellow citizens today. It is through his service towards others that each day he learns more about himself, thus gaining a greater acceptance and empowerment of him and others, Smith wrote in his commencement speech for the event.

Julia Murphy, the Chief Development Officer for Compass said they expect a large crowd of around 1,200 people. Last year 1,500 attended.

Murphy said that the event happens in June to commemorate the LGBT community in Palm Beach County and the nation as well.

Its the one ball that we have for the year for Palm Beach County and it recognizes individuals and leaders that have made strides within the LGBTQ Community locally so were able to do an award ceremony and we transition to a night full of fun and celebration for all the strides weve made.

Visit Compassglcc.com/events/stonewall-ball-black-white-party for more information.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown joined two other West Coast governors, Jay Inslee of Washington and Jerry Brown of California to denounce President Trumps inaction on climate change on Tuesday, June 13. Brown announced that she would attend the U.N. conference on climate change in Germany in November, the Portland Business Journal reported. Brown is the first openly bisexual state governor.

Despite the decision by the White House to retreat, we as Oregonians and as Americans will move forward to fulfill the goals of the Paris agreement," she said. "The Paris agreement is a blueprint for job creation, stability and global prosperity and I'm certainly going to take this message to Bonn."

The three governors, Brown, Inslee and Brown met in Sacramento with Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama incoming president of the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP23).

The states are members of a group called the Under 2 Coalition, formed to limit the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius through reductions in carbon emissions. Fiji joined the coalition on Tuesday.

Since 2007, Oregon has had carbon-emissions reduction goals, measured against 1990 levels, to cut emissions by 10 percent by 2020 and 75 percent by 2050. Oregon, had 63 million tons of emissions in 2015, and is forecast to fall around 11 million tons short of its 2020 goal, the Journal reported.
On Wednesday, Queen Elizabeth II addressed Parliament claiming she will handle discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

My government will make further progress to tackle the gender pay gap and discrimination against people on the basis of their race, faith, gender, disability or sexual orientation, she said.

She did not go into specifics for this plan, but the inclusion was timely. According to a recent survey commissioned by Pride in London, nearly half of the LGBT community in London say they were victims of hate crime in the last 12 months.

The remarks were made during the annual State Opening of Parliament, which outlines the UK governments plans for the next Parliament session.

Gender recognition laws were not mentioned in the speech despite recent politics. Prime Minister Theresa May told PinkNews before the election:

We are currently reviewing the Gender Recognition Act to take account of the issues that have been raised about how it operates. I know that for some trans people, the legal process to change their gender can be distressing, so changes do need to be made. Were looking to move away from the current focus on medical checks towards a system that works better for trans people.

The Queen gave royal assent for marriage equality back in 2015. According to NewNowNext, she said at the time: Whod have thought 62 years ago when I came to the throne, Id be signing something like this? Isnt it wonderful?'

The last time LGBT rights were mentioned in a Queens Speech was 2004 according to PinkNews. The mention included a vow to increased equality and social justice by bringing forward legislation on the registration of civil partnerships between same-sex couples.
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.




The food and beverage scene in the Carolinas is booming, and so its no surprise that one of this seasons first Builds would hail from the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. In the fall of 2015 we ran this feature on the Charlotte coffee scene, and in the years since the citys coffee scene has continued to grow. Today well take a look at what much-loved local chain Not Just Coffees got planned for their fourth location, opening in late-August/early-September in the historic Dillworth neighborhood. It seems like a good time to be a Charlottean.

As told to Sprudge by James Yoder.

For those who arent familiar, will you tell us about your company?

Not Just Coffee is a Counter Culture Coffee account focused on hospitality and serving kick ass coffee! We have been operating in Charlotte since 2011 and are working on opening our 4th cafe.

Can you tell us a bit about the new space?

Dilworth Crossing is a development in the historic neighborhood of Dilworth. Its a building being constructed in the old mill style that Charlotte was known for and will feature several businesses, including a yoga studio, a wood fired pizza restaurant, a cold pressed juice bar, our cafe, and others. We plan on integrating some classic design elements as well as some modern touches that we love. We are also incorporating a new food menu and working with the ABC to bring a cocktail program on board. This would include classics as well as some house cocktails incorporating coffee!

Whats your approach to coffee?

I believe coffee should be approachable, fun and consistent. Our single origin offerings should highlight the tasting notes that are unique to those specific coffees and stand alone without any additions. If your preference is cream and sugar, enjoy it that way. Coffee should be consumed without worrying about whether its done the right way or not. Let us take care of that! We work hard to create delicious drinks with any flavorings made in house and our espresso dialed in.

Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?

Well be installing a two-group La Marzocco Linea PB, Mahlkonig EK-43 and K30 grinders, Nuova Simonelli Mythos One grinder, Curtis water tower, and a FETCO 2141 XTS batch brewer. Well also be getting a Kold Draft ice maker for our iced drinks and cocktail program which Im really excited about!

Whats your hopeful target opening date/month?

Looking to open end of August/beginning of September.

Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that youd like to mention?

Our architect/design build guy Hank Schellenger is drawing plans and doing our metal and woodworking for the new space. Hes incredibly talented with the look and feel of our brand. Weve worked extensively with graphic designer Eric Hurtgen for menus, labels, window decals etc. Hes one of the best in the business and I cant wait to see what he comes up with!

Thank you!

The Build-Outs Of Summer is an annual series on Sprudge. Live the thrill of the build all summer long in our Build-Outs feature hub. Got a Build-Out of your own? Get in touch.
Hard Rock International is pleased to announce the appointment of three key executives, aligning with the brands strategic growth plan.

As the brands current executive vice president of hotel & operations, Jon Lucas will now serve as chief operating officer for Hard Rock International, overseeing Hard Rock International operations, as well as key company departments. Lucas will report directly to Chairman and CEO Jim Allen. Dale Hipsh, presently vice president of hotel operations development, has been promoted to senior vice president, overseeing the entire hotel portfolio for Hard Rock International and reporting to Jon Lucas. Sean Caffery, a new face to the brand and industry veteran, has joined the team as senior vice president casino development for Hard Rock International and will report into Senior Vice President of Casino Development Jeff Hook.

As we continue to grow the Hard Rock brand beyond our existing footprint, we look to Lucas, Hipsh and Caffery to lead the expansion process with exciting, new projects in the Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos pipeline, such as Atlantic City, New York City, Shenzhen and London, said Jim Allen, chairman and CEO of Hard Rock International.

Under Jon Lucas leadership, the brand acquired the Hard Rock casino and hotel-rights in the western U.S., as well as key international markets, spearheaded casino entry into Canada and entered the hotel management sector. With these accomplishments under his belt, his new role will involve the oversight of operations, marketing, legal, finance, design and construction  all instrumental in the ongoing operations of the brand.

Lucas originally joined Hard Rock in 2013 as the president of the Hard Rock Rocksino in Northfield Park, where he managed everything from site design and construction to the hiring and onboarding of key executives. During his tenure at the Rocksino, Lucas efforts led to the venue quickly becoming a dominating market share leader in Ohio. Prior to joining Hard Rock, Lucas was the president and general manager of the IP Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi for six years.

As vice president of hotel operations development for Hard Rock International, Dale Hipsh opened 12 properties from conceptualization to completion in diverse areas across the world. His new role will include oversight of hotel operations, including managed and franchised properties. Hipsh first joined the Hard Rock brand to lead operations for the opening of both Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino properties in Tampa and Hollywood, Florida. Hipshs hospitality career began with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts and has included assignments with many industry leaders, including Sun International and its massive Atlantis casino and resort complex in The Bahamas. He has also held various positions with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.

Sean Caffery joins the Hard Rock as a seasoned executive with years of industry experience. He will play a vital role in finding new development locations, countries and partners for the casino business focused on North and South America. Prior to Hard Rock, Caffery was the chief executive officer and board member of Seneca Commission for Economic Development, LLC, where he served for three years managing the Seneca Nation of Indians Development Corporation and Sovereign Wealth Fund. Caffery also spent four years at M&T Bank Corporation and two years at Osborne & Partners, LLP.

These appointments come as the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino portfolio actively expands into China, Europe and key gateway cities around the world. For more information on Hard Rock International, visit hardrock.com.

(Hard Rock International)
While Fear The Dragon was impressive in his 2017 North America Cup victory on Saturday night at Mohawk Racetrack, the winner of the I Love Canadian Harness Racing Fan Club's North America Cup online handicapping contest was just as dominant.

Pepsi North America Cup night was jam-packed with stakes action, country music, food specials, prize giveaways and contests for fans to enjoy! The Fan Club offered an online handicapping contest for members on NA Cup night as well as an on-track Pick The Winner contest at the Fan Club booth.

Congratulations to Wayne Hubbard of Saint John, New Brunswick for winning the North America Cup Online Handicapping Contest with a perfect score (20/20)! He was the only person from over 450 entries to handicap all races correctly. Hubbard watched the million-dollar race via simulcast at Exhibition Park Raceway and said It was the best North America Cup I have ever watched.

Wayne has been involved with harness racing for over 40 years. He started as a kid mucking stalls and is now known by many in the industry as a trainer/driver at Exhibition Park Raceway. Hubbard is also involved with breeding and currently owns broodmare Julie Gilmore.

For winning Wayne will receive a $50 gift certificate to the Canadian Harness Racetrack of his choice along with a Fan Club prize package.

Below are the contest answers and Waynes selections:

Select the winner of the Armbro Flight Stakes. (4 points)

Waynes Selection: Hannelore Hanover

Answer: Ron Burke-trained trotting mare Hannelore Hanover took the race in 1:51.4.

Select the winner of the Fan Hanover Stakes. (4 points)

Waynes Selection: Bettors Up

Answer: Bettors Up won the Fan Hanover in 1:49.4 with Doug McNair in the bike.

Select the winner of the Goodtimes Stakes. (4 points)

Waynes Selection: International Moni

Answer: International Moni won the Goodtimes by half a length posting a career-best time of 1:52.4.

Select the winner of the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup. (4 points)

Waynes Selection: Fear The Dragon

Answer: Fear The Dragon conquered in the Pepsi North America Cup winning in 1:48.4.

Select the winner of the Roses Are Red. (4 points)

Waynes Selection: Lady Shadow

Answer: Lady Shadow won her third consecutive Roses Are Red title.

The Fan Club also hosted a trackside contest where fans had to select the winning horse of the North America Cup. At the end of the evening, an entry was drawn from the ballot box of Fear The Dragon. Congratulations to Betty Renner of Acton, Ontario for winning a Fan Club prize package and a $50 gift certificate to Mohawk Racetrack.
Nominations are set to close this week for the Mark Austin Pacing Series that will take place at Dresden Raceway in July.

Nominations will only be accepted up until 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 25.

The series will be a late closer for maiden pacers who are non-winners of 1 pari-mutuel race or $5,000.00 lifetime (fillies $6,000 lifetime), Canadian funds, as of May 27, 2017 with no allowances.

Each division will race for a $5,000 purse in the eliminations July 9 and July 16 with the final set to go on July 23 for $10,000.

The nomination fee is $50 and there is a maximum of three entries per owner or trainer and a maximum of two entries per trainer in the final.

If mailed, entries must be post marked by June 25, 2017. For more information contact Dresden Raceway at 519-683-1116.

Austin started his career in Dresden in the 1980s and that is where he broke one of the best trotters of all time in Canada, A Worthy Lad for Joe Johnston. Austin then moved to Windsor where he worked with Jack Darling and had a hand with champions such as Gothic Dream and Northern Luck.

He then moved his stable to Fergus where he was the conditioner for many top horses in Canada such as Go Get Her, Part Shark, XLB Patrick, Sparky Mark and Fool Me Once.

Austin passed away suddenly in 2014 and had a career average of .345 and over $9 million in earned purses thanks to 837 wins.

The Chatham native was more than just a trainer, as friendships he kindled at Dresden lasted with him his entire life.

(Dresden Raceway)
EWTN Live to Feature Bishop Bill Skylstad, WWME North American Leadership Priest, This Week

Contact: Dick & Diane Baumbach, Worldwide Marriage Encounter , 321-544-3440, dickanddiane66@bellsouth.net BIRMINGHAM, Ala., June 21, 2017 / Standard Newswire / -- Bishop Bill Skylstad, the North American ecclesial priest for Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME), the original faith-based marriage enrichment program, will be the featured guest this week on EWTN Live hosted by Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN).The EWTN Live show will air on June 21, 22 and 25 at various times. Bishop Bill serves with Gene & Maggie Tokraks as the WWME North American leadership team.Bishop Bill is the Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Spokane, WA. He has been actively involved with Worldwide Marriage Encounter for many years. He is also the former president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).In addition to Bishop Bill's interview on EWTN Live he also will be appearing later this year on EWTN with the Tokraks on an episode of Church Universal hosted by Fr. Joseph Mary.Earlier this month Church Universal filmed three separate episodes about WWME. The other guests were Joe & Sue Talarico and Fr. Tom Ogg, the WWME United States Ecclesial Team and Peter & Sheila Oprysko and Fr. Tom Griffith, SVD, the WWME 50th Anniversary Convention Ecclesial Chair Coordinators. The convention will be held next year in Lombard, IL from June 22 to 24, 2018.The television series "Church Universal" started in 2014. The show focuses on lay movements in the Catholic Church and tells their stories focusing on the programs and activities they provide.Worldwide Marriage Encounter has been offering weekend experiences for over 49 years and is considered the original faith-based marriage enrichment program. The programs are continually updated to keep abreast of changes in society, and WWME now offers evening and half-day programs that are presented at parishes and other church facilities. The weekend program, traditionally presented as an overnight experience at a hotel or retreat center, can also be presented at the parish where the couples return to their homes in the evenings. WWME has a presence in almost 100 countries, which makes it the largest pro-marriage movement in the world. In North America, the WWME programs are presented in English, Spanish, French, and Korean languages.Worldwide Marriage Encounter offers married couples the opportunity to spend time together away from the busyness of the world to focus on each other. Priests are also encouraged to attend a WWME weekend, which offers insights into their relationship with the church and their parishioners, and how their Sacrament of Holy Orders interacts with the Sacrament of Matrimony. WWME offers tools for building and maintaining a strong, Christian marriage in today's world. To learn more about the Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends online, go to wwme.org , or contact the WWME national office at (909) 863-9963.Media inquires -please contact Dick & Diane Baumbach at 321-544-3440 / dickanddiane66@bellsouth.net or media@wwme.org
Contact: Troy Newman, President, 316-683-6790 ext. 111; Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Vice President, 316-516-3034; both with Operation Rescue



WASHINGTON, June 21, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- When police raided the Women's Medical Society, they thought that they were putting an end to a pill mill that was the largest supplier of illicit prescription painkillers in Philadelphia. But once inside, police made the grisly discovery that Kermit Gosnell's medical office was something much worse.



Police seized the bodies of 47 aborted babies - all with mysterious wounds across the backs of their necks. They soon realized they had uncovered a "House of Horrors" where babies were routinely born alive during very late-term abortions amid unspeakable squalor, only to be brutally murdered.



Cheryl Sullenger attended Gosnell's murder trial in Philadelphia in the spring of 2013, and has penned a new book, The Trial of Kermit Gosnell, published and released today by World Ahead Press.



She powerfully describes gripping details of the trial proceedings - including shocking revelations from the often-emotional testimony.



Based on over three decades of experience researching abortion industry abuses, Sullenger also relates disturbing evidence that Gosnell is not alone.



The Trial of Kermit Gosnell has already received excellent reviews.

In The Trial of Kermit Gosnell, Cheryl Sullenger debunks the Planned Parenthood myth of "safe, legal and rare abortions." While the Gosnell saga is the proverbial "tip of the iceberg" readers will understand the need to expose legal abortion's underbelly and to join the movement to end the scourge. -- Evangelist Alveda King, civilrightsfortheunborn.com



There is no person who better understands the horrors occurring behind the closed doors of abortion facilities than Cheryl Sullenger, who has spent years documenting and exposing abortion abuses. In The Trial of Kermit Gosnell, Sullenger reveals the full story of the courtroom drama that shocked and outraged America. This page-turning narrative of murder, abortion, political cover-ups, and regulatory failure shatters the facade of "choice," and demonstrates that Gosnell isn't the only abortionist committing barbaric crimes in America. Once you read this book, you will never view abortion the same way again. -- David Bereit, Former CEO of 40 Days for Life



Without the hard work of Cheryl Sullenger, the public might never have heard of Kermit Gosnell. Cheryl hounded the district attorney, poured over documents late at night, and traveled to Philadelphia to attend the trial when there was only a couple of local news reporters in the courtroom. As you read her book, you will feel like you are sitting in the courtroom with her, experiencing all the emotions of one of the most important abortion-related trials in history. -- Troy Newman, President, Operation Rescue

The Trial of Kermit Gosnell is available now in paperback or digital format at the following booksellers: Amazon.com, Barnes&Nobel.com, Superstore.WND.com.



Sullenger, who serves as Senior Vice President of Operation Rescue, based in Wichita, Kansas, is available for interview and public appearances.



About Operation Rescue

Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Click here to support Operation Rescue.
Malteser International Americas Honors the Resilience of Refugees, Migrants and Displaced People on World Refugee Day

With supportive programs, the most vulnerable show strength, courage, and resilience in face of enormous difficulties and despair

NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 / Standard Newswire / -- 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 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's Cash-for-Work program 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 anymore. 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 has 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, donate today: https://orderofmaltarelief.org/donation

About Malteser International Americas:
The essential component of totalitarian propaganda is artifice (het toepassen van kunstgrepen. svh) . The ruling elites, like celebritie...
Cowlitz County residents seeking treatment for opiate addiction may soon have a local option  a year later than expected.

A new medication-assisted treatment medical clinic run by Acadia Healthcare is expected to open this winter next to Kelso City Hall. The clinic will eliminate the need and cost of sending nearly 200 Cowlitz County patients to Clark County for treatment and is an attempt to curb the countys high opiate-related death and addiction rates.

Cowlitz County (has) hands down the highest rate in the state of Washington. This will give people a local option to address their opiate addiction on an as-needed basis, rather than disrupting an entire day to get on public transportation or drive down to Clark County, said Deb Cummins, Regional Director for Acadia Healthcare.

The facility, called Kelso Treatment Solutions, will be located at 305 S. Pacific Ave., the former WorkSource building. It will be one of six facilities that Acadia operates in the state and will be one of about 27 similar clinics in Washington. Acadia, a nationwide network of behavioral health facilities, will offer outpatient care through Methadone, Suboxone, Naloxone and other therapies. A persons treatment will also include behavioral health components and assistance for finding employment, housing and other services, Cummins said.

The Great Rivers Behavioral Health Organization, a five-county agency that helps finance mental health and substance abuse treatment, contracted with Acadia to establish the clinic. A 2016 state law mandates that there be a local treatment option.

Although Cowlitzs residents only account for 1.4 percent of the states population, the county uses about 7 percent of the states money set aside to transport individuals to opioid addiction treatment because no local options exist, according to state data. There are about 125 citizens who require transportation and another 50 who transport themselves, Cummins said. The average cost of transporting one person is almost $49 per trip.

From 2011 to 2013, more than 14 people died from opioid overdoses in Cowlitz County, according to state data. Cowlitz Countys death rate during that span was almost twice the state average of 8.6 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the data. More recent statistics were unavailable.

Cummins said having a local option gives people a higher rate for success in overcoming their addictions, though she acknowledged that individuals are sometimes fearful of getting treatment within their local community because of the stigma it brings.

Cummins said Acadia intends to hire roughly six to eight local staff members. Under state law, the clinic could accept up to 350 patients and could petition to accept more. To become a client, a person must be suffering from opiate use disorder. The treatment regimen includes drug screens. Acadia accepts insurance, cash, as well as other federal assistance for low-income or uninsured individuals.

The federal government mandates that treatments be provided in the facility until a person has been determined to be able to manage treatments outside of the clinic, Cummins said. Acadia also participates in the states prescription drug monitoring program so clients dont double dip, she said.

We want to make sure people are safe and can manage their medications safely and its an amount that doesnt add to issues within the community and within their homes, Cummins said. We do a very thorough assessment to determine what their needs are and how best to help people and support them through that process.

Tony Ruscella, Vice President for Business Development for Acadia, said it chose the Kelso location based on a variety of factors, such as the buildings size, structure, parking, zoning and cost. The Kelso location was the only building in the Kelso-Longview area that fit the criteria, Ruscella said.

Kelso City Manager Steve Taylor said the city received a letter about the clinic around the beginning of the year and answered Acadias questions about zoning uses in the downtown Kelso area. City officials also reached out to other counties where similar clinics are operated to determine the impacts to the neighborhood and community, Taylor said.

From everything we have seen and from the references from other cities that have these clinics in them, Acadia is a reputable outfit and very professional, Taylor said.

Taylor said the company is responsible for any neighborhood and community relationships.

The numbers appear to speak for themselves that we have a serious opioid use and abuse epidemic in Cowlitz County and so it would tell me that we probably need local treatment solutions. However, I cant comment on how effective that treatment is, Taylor added.

Kelso Mayor David Futcher said because the clinic is state mandated, the city had no discretion about where the facility would be located.

The state and (Great Rivers) have determined theres a real need around here for anything that helps us have a lower percentage of opioid addicted folks, Futcher said. If we dont have any say in the facilitys location or existence, then the best we can do is look for the positive impacts that are possible to come from it and hope that thats the impact we recognize.

Futcher said the clinic could make patients more productive members of society and could free up funding for other programs.

If any of those  positive impacts can be realized in the community that would be a win for us, the mayor said.
Thursday will be the Longview City Councils turn to discuss controversial fireworks restrictions.

The Council meeting also will discuss expensive options for silica removal from the water supply, updates to the Municipal Stormwater Permit and creating of a Local Improvement District to improve Beech Street.

Councilwoman Mary Jane Melink will introduce tightened fireworks regulations to the council, with Councilmember Ken Botero in support.

This proposal mirrors the one Kelso Councilman Jim Hill brought to the Kelso City Council Tuesday night. Recommendations include further restrictions on the days when fireworks can be bought and sold and limiting the types of fireworks allowed in the city.

If a majority of the council supports the proposal, it will direct the city attorney to prepare an adjusted ordinance.

The council also will discuss options for silica removal in the water supply from Mint Farm Treatment Plant. Current recommendations include electrocoagulation, precipitation and reverse osmosis. All costs for these solutions would be paid by water utility customers and would increase monthly water bills by $12 to $15 a month.

Councilmembers will hear recommendations from city staff and then decide how to move forward.

The council is expected to adopt ordinances that are required in the citys Municipal Stormwater Permit. These ordinances pertain to stormwater management, illicit discharge and low-impact development.

City officials will present a request from WRSCO, Inc. to create a Local Improvement District to fund construction on Beech Street between 14 Avenue and California Way. If approved, the council will direct officials to draft an agreement with WRSCO to share preparation costs for the official LID petition. Construction on Beech Street is estimated to cost between $5.1 and $6.4 million.

There will also be a public hearing on the six-year Transportation Improvement Program, which is required to be updated each year. The council will then move to adopt the updated plan.

In addition, the council will vote to accept recommended updates to critical area regulations.
Longview police responded to a reported stabbing Monday afternoon at a Town Chalet Motel in the 1800 block of Washington Way.

Officers encountered one female and one male victim, both of whom had sustained minor stab wounds. The victims gave a vehicle description to officers, who eventually found the suspect vehicle near the Ocean Beach Walmart. Inside officers found three male occupants, one of whom had also been stabbed.

Currently there are no charges pending, because the victims are not willing to cooperate with police. The case is still under investigation, and a full police report had yet to be completed by press time.
hidden

Apple Inc broadened a legal attack on Qualcomm Inc, arguing to a U.S. federal court that licence 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 licence agreements before purchasing chips, known in the industry as "no licence, no chips".

The licence 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 licence or a chip, but not both, Apple argued. Apple wants to be able to buy chips without signing the licence 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.

Reuters
tech2 News Staff

ASUS India announced the arrival of Asus Zenfone AR in India, which is expected to happen soon. Released at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) early this year, in Las Vegas, the new Taiwan-based smartphone comes with 8 GB RAM and Google Tango support.

As per ASUS website, the phone has 3,000 mAh (non-removable) battery. And it works on Android 7.0 along with Asus ZenUI 3.0 and comes with a fingerprint sensor. As of now it comes in a black colour.

This phone comes packed with support for Google Tango, which provides 3D technology for enabling augmented reality experiences. This is the second phone which uses Google Tango technology and the first to have 8 GB of RAM. Coming with a Super AMOLED, 5.7-inch display with Gorilla Glass 4 protection, the display will also support a Bluelight Filter for eyecare. Google Daydream, which in turn supports virtual reality, is included. In order to support augmented and virtual reality, this phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 platform.

With a TriCam System, this phone comes with a 23 MP rear camera with PixelMaster 3.0 technology (and an aperture of f/2.0), a motion-tracking and depth-sensing camera enable augmented reality. Meanwhile, it has an 8 MP front camera along with a screen flash.Internal storage is limited 64 GB and a microSD slot that supports up to 2 TB external storage.

This phone comes with a 5-magnet speaker, which is an inbuilt speaker on the top. It also has a dual internal mic which comes with an ASUS Noise Reduction Technology. VoLTE is supported.

The phone also supports two SIM cards, but you'll need to sacrifice the microSD card slot for that.
IANS

NASA has signed an agreement with Italian Space Agency for the launch of a probe that will provide important clues about the origins of cosmic X-rays, their interactions with matter and gravity as they travel through space. Slated to launch in 2020, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission will help explore some of the most turbulent and extreme environments in our universe -- from the hottest, messiest star factories to violent jets screaming away from monster black holes, the US space agency said.

"NASA welcomes the opportunity to work with ASI (Italian Space Agency) on this mission, to build upon a history of strong cooperation between our agencies in the space sciences," said NASA's Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot. "We wish all those working on IXPE great success in the years ahead, and we eagerly anticipate the scientific promise of this exciting space science mission," Lightfoot, who signed the agreement with ASI President Roberto Battiston on Tuesday, said.

The IXPE mission will fly three telescope systems capable of measuring the polarisation of X-rays emitted by cosmic sources. "With this agreement Italy confirms to play a leading role in the scientific field of high energy studies," Battiston said. ASI will contribute to IXPE's sophisticated "eyes" -- three polarisation-sensitive X-ray detectors which were developed in Italy -- and the use of its equatorial ground station located at Malindi, Kenya.

NASA will supply the X-ray telescopes and use of its facilities to perform end-to-end X-ray calibration and science operations, as per the agreement.
IANS

The world must be prepared for an asteroid strike, which is just a matter of time, warns a leading astrophysicist from Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland. It is a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen, said Alan Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons was highlighting the threat for Asteroid Day, a global event on 30 June. On that day in 1908, a small asteroid exploded over Tunguska in Siberia and devastated 800 square miles.

A similar unexpected strike in today's world could easily destroy a major city and a larger asteroid could be more dangerous, Fitzsimmons warned. "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," Fitzsimmons said in a statement released by Queen's University Belfast.

"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. Fitzsimmons will be joined by other astronauts and experts for discussions and presentations to be be streamed live from Luxembourg on June 30.
Criteo announced the appointment of Siddharth Dabhade as General Manager India, to lead the growth of the companys fastest growing market. Siddharth will provide strategic direction and further accelerate the growth of Criteos India business, with a portfolio of customers that currently includes Flipkart, Shopclues, ABO, Nykaa, Urban Ladder, MakeMyTrip, Yatra, GoiBibo and other leading e-commerce and online travel companies.

Siddharth will be responsible for new business development, and for the expansion of existing advertiser relationships in the India market. He shall advise large ecommerce and online travel firms on how to drive more sales using the predictive engine technology of Criteo. His key focus shall be on building product & partnership strategies and shaping the future of personalized marketing strategies.

Speaking on the occasion, Yvonne Chang, Executive Managing Director, Criteo APAC, said With a proven growth record in India, a leading e-commerce market, Siddharth brings more than a decade of experience in the technology industry,  She further added , We are very excited to welcome him on board. With his passion and expertise in business expansion he will help us develop and execute a long-term plan to increase adoption of our performance marketing solutions across the country.

Siddharth has an extensive experience in the technology industry and has worked with major technology giants like Google, Microsoft and IBM. Having worked with Google for almost seven years, Siddharth was heading its India travel business and was responsible for building C-level relationships. One of his key achievements was balancing client satisfaction and innovations in the industry. During his stint at the technology conglomerates Microsoft and IBM, he headed business expansion for the southern India region.

I am delighted to join the Criteo India team and enthusiastic about leading the growing market of e-commerce and online travel, where digital advertising technology and data analytics are becoming vital for brands, said Siddharth. He also added, I look forward to working with some of the best talents in the industry to take Criteo to its next level of growth in India.

Dushyant Sapre who was leading Criteo India on an interim basis, will fully dedicate himself into a new role as Regional Director, Global Supply & Business Development, APAC. Chang further added, I want to thank Dushyant for the dedication and strategic advice he gave to Criteos new yet equally important market, India. I am confident that Dushyant will be able to achieve commendable results in his new role.

Criteo enables e-commerce businesses and advertisers to effectively engage and convert customers online by delivering highly relevant and personalised advertising to consumers, regardless of whether they are browsing on a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Technuter.com News Service
Police say an airport officer was stabbed in the neck Wednesday morning at Bishop International Airport in Flint.



The officer was taken to the hospital. Michigan State Police said the officer was in critical condition. He has since been upgraded to stable condition.



Police identified the injured officer as Lt. Jeff Neville.



Bishop International Airport was evacuated and is closed.



Police said a suspect has been taken into custody.



The airport released the following statement:



The stabbing incident at the airport remains under FBI led investigation. Local, state, and federal agencies are on scene. The airport remains closed until further notice. The police officer assaulted is in stable condition. The suspect is in custody and is currently being questioned. Please stay tuned to our Facebook page for updates including when the airport will reopen.



NBCs News investigative journalist Tom Winter reports that the Canadian-born suspect shouted Allahu Akbar before stabbing Neville multiple times.



The Flint City Hall began operating under heightened security in an abundance of caution after the incident.



Right now we are still awaiting more information about the situation at Bishop Airport this morning, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said. My thoughts and prayers are with all of our law enforcement officers who work to service and protect us each and every day. I want the public to know that several agencies are involved and working to ensure the situation is under control. However, at this time we are taking extra precautions just to be safe.

Now, here's news of a terrorist attack that occurred in Michigan , which has a significant number of Islamists living around Dearborn, Henry Ford's old stomping grounds (Hat tip: Gates of Vienna ):Under Justin Trudeau, the situation with Islamofascists has gotten much worse. Now, the virus has gone across the border and led to some terrible results.

Labels: anti-americanism, Canada, islam, jihad, racism, terrorism, United States, war on terror
Burke/Triolo Productions/ThinkstockSix months after the release of his self-titled debut album, Kane Brown fans will be able to purchase it on vinyl for the first time beginning June 30. Kane's currently climbing the Country Airplay charts with his latest single from the project, called What Ifs, featuring Lauren Alaina.

Trisha Yearwood will conduct a keynote Q&A at the Nashville Lifestyles 4th Annual Women in Business luncheon on August 10 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville. Trisha was chosen due to her enormous success in business that includes music, cookbooks, line of kitchenware, TV production with her cooking shows, and her two most recent endeavors: a line of food items sold exclusively at Williams-Sonoma, and a signature womens fragrance.

A record crowd with a peak of nearly 92,000 fans attended the 26th Annual Country Jam -- Colorados Biggest Country Music Party. The lineup for the four-day festival which took place June 15-18 included Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett, Justin Moore, Randy Houser, Chris Young, Old Dominion and more. Florida Georgia Line was announced as next years headliner.
State Department chastises Saudi Arabia, UAE over Qatar

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, along with Egypt, severed diplomatic ties with Qatar this month.

The Washington Post :

The State Department issued an unusual public warning to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday over a diplomatic rift with fellow U.S. ally Qatar, and suggested that the Saudis may have provoked a crisis and drawn in the United States on false pretenses.

Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the administration was "mystified" that - two weeks after announcing a diplomatic and economic embargo against Qatar over alleged support for terrorism - Saudi Arabia and the UAE have not publicly detailed their complaints.

"The more that time goes by, the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE," Nauert said.

"At this point, we are left with one simple question: Were the actions really about their concerns about Qatar's alleged support for terrorism, or were they about the long-simmering grievances between and among the GCC countries?"

All three nations are part of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, a loose diplomatic confederation of mostly wealthy Persian Gulf states. Of them, Saudi Arabia is the most powerful

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, along with Egypt, severed diplomatic ties with Qatar this month and blocked trade and passenger traffic through their territory and airspace in protest of what the three said was Qatar's backing of extremist Islamist organizations, as well as its ties to Iran.

The diplomatic crisis has been a test of the new U.S. administration's pull with Arab allies, and has pitted President Donald Trump's public support for the Saudi-led action against Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's preference for quiet, backroom diplomacy. Tillerson has had more than 20 calls and meetings devoted to helping resolve the crisis, Nauert said, but now sees little further room for U.S. mediation.

But, she said, he wants "results" and is now saying: "Let's finish this. Let's get this going."

The blockade was announced shortly after Trump last month made Saudi Arabia the first stop on his first overseas trip. He received an extravagant welcome and lavished his hosts with praise. He also met with leaders of the UAE and Qatar individually, as well as at a GCC gathering, and signed a unity agreement with them.

Within days after his departure, Saudi Arabia announced the Qatar blockade. Trump tweeted his support. In their conversations with him, he said, the others had "pointed" at Qatar as a source of terrorist financing. He implied that his Riyadh visit had inspired the Saudi-led action.

Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, however, called for mediation and a quick resolution of the dispute. Qatar hosts the regional headquarters of the U.S. Central Command and launches air operations to Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan from a massive base there.

On June 9, Tillerson asked reporters to the State Department to read a prepared statement calling for the blockade to be eased, saying it was causing humanitarian and business hardships, and hindering U.S. military actions against the Islamic State.
Hill tragedies : Human casualties took a heavy toll

Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque :

Hill tragedies in Rangamati and Khagrachori have been caused by heavy downpour stirred us to the depth moving us with gravest concerns. Horror strikes hills. 'At least 130, including 4 army men, dead in a series of landslides in 3 districts; many still missing, painstaking rescue goes on; heavy rain, destruction of hills, trees caused the disaster Part of the Rangamati-Chittagong road collapsed in Manikchhari, some 6 km off Rangamati town, yesterday morning, killing four army men."since 2007, at least 130 people, including four army men, have died in the hilly areas of Chittagong, Rangamati and Bandarban following incessant downpour. Scores more were hurt and many remained missing. Rescue operations were delayed due to bad weather, Workers salvage furniture from a house in Manikchhari of Rangamati after the area was hit by a landslide.'

The landslide happened due to destruction of hills and trees over the years. Hill leveling has made the hills risky, contributing to the disaster. 'The Chittagong Hill Tracts saw over 300mm of rainfalls in the 24 hours till Monday morning. Chittagong alone experienced 222mm of rain during the same period. None of these areas has seen such rain in recent years. As a result, much of the low-lying areas of the hill districts went under water.' According news reports:

Many people remained in their shanty-like homes at the foot of the hills risking their lives, despite warnings by the local administrations. The district administrations opened a number of makeshift shelter homes for people evacuated and rescued from some 20 landslide spots. The four army members died after being struck by a landslide from an adjacent hill while trying to clear a road in Rangamati's Manikchhari around 11:00am yesterdayThe landslide pushed 15 army men down to around 30 feet, killing the four instantly, witnesses said.They are Major Md Mahfuzul Haque, Captain Md Tanvir Salam Shanto, Corporal Mohammad Azizul Haque and Soldier Md Shaheen Alam. Soldier Md Azizur Rahman remains missing. At least 10 more army men were injured, five critically, in the Rangamati incident, according to a press statement by the ISPR.I was standing a bit far as three workers and 15 army personnel were clearing the road. Suddenly a huge chunk of soil fell down and buried them instantlyGeneral Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Huq, chief of army staff, visited the spot and inspected the rescue operations. He expressed deep shock at the death of the army members. Reaz Ahmed, of the disaster management department, confirmed 107 deaths -- 75 in Rangamati, 26 in Chittagong and six in Bandarban. However, around 10:30pm Monday, Rangamati deputy commissioner put the district's death toll at 98. In Rangamati, which is the most affected district with over 6 lakh population, most of the victims are poor Bangalee and indigenous people living on the hill slopes.The victims include at least 39 women and 22 children.Army personnel recover a body of a fellow on Manikchhari-Chittagong road in Rangamati. An army team fell victim to a landslide there while clearing the road. Photo: Anvil Chakma, Sanjoy Kumar BaruaOf the 26 deaths in Chittagong, at least 22 people died in Rangunia upazila alone while the rest in Chandanaish.Ten of the victims are children and five are women..In the district's Borbill of Moghaichori, two families were buried alive.Six bodies were recovered from under the mud, while two more remain missing. "The landslide was so huge that we had to use an excavator to recover the bodies,".

We are deeply pained. It is high time to think about settlement patterns in hill districts. Construction of house over hill should not be allowed if it is dictated that it may spell disaster. This is high risk for the dwellers who rent out houses from the fake landlords grabbing hill land by force and fraud. They are hoodlums attracting the people to live in either in hill tops or down the hill. These miscreants blessed by high voltage local power and administration created death traps for the hill inhabitants for amassing huge resources. The curse of nature dawns upon the innocent not on those who have been causing damage to nature. So the administration backed by good governance should rehabilitate those who need to live in hill environment. Build low cost apartment for them without thinking to cut hill and hillocks. Remember Hill is the gift of nature. If hill is protected from non-ecological development intervention landslide may not happen. What we want is human governance.

(Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Chittagong University)
ASP's body found

Staff Reporter :

A body of a senior highway police official was found at a ditch near Birulia Bridge on the Turag River on the Mirpur-Ashulia road in the city's Rupnagar area on Wednesday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Mizanur Rahman Talukder, 50, Asistant Sperintendent of Police (ASP) at Highway Police (Savar circle).

Talukder, hailing from Tangail district, used to reside at Sector-5 of Uttara in the capital, Police said. Syed Shahid Alam, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Rupnagar Police Station, said that Talukder's body was found on the Mirpur-Ashulia road near Birulia Bridge around 11:00am.

He suspected the ASP was strangled to death as a piece of cloth was found wrapped around his neck.

"We suspected that he was strangled to death by some unidentified miscreants and the body has been kept near the Birulia Bridge," the police official said.

Police also recovered police uniform and the bunch of keys of his private car and residence from a bag under his possession, the OC said.

Mystery shrouded the death as no relatives, including wife, visited the spot after being informed by police, he said.

Seven hours after the recovery of the body, Talukder's wife, daughter, nephew and brothers saw the body at Rupnagar Police Station, the police official said.

The deceased brother Masum Talukder filed a case with the police station in this connection, the OC said.

"We are investigating the incident," the police official said.

The body was kept at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) morgue for an autopsy, he said.


Curb landslides

Experts suggest implacable action plan

Staff Reporter :

Speakers at a discussion in the city on Wednesday stressed the need for taking implacable action plan with proper integration among government departments and planners to resist disaster like landslide in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in the wake of the recent casualty of 166 dwellers in the hill region.

They have identified some reasons for landslides in the hills, which include irrational destruction of hills for human habitation, reducing surface greenery of hills, implementing commercial projects, unplanned housing development by settlers on hill slopes and developing infrastructures for connectivity without geological survey in the hill tracts.

Irrational and non-indigenous agricultural practices, rapid urbanization and lack of integration among government and private organizations working on the development of hills also contributed to such calamity, they pointed out.

The suggestions came from a discussion on 'Land Slide in the Hills and What to Do', organized by the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) at the National Press Club of the city.

Chaired by BIP president Professor Dr Abul Kalam, the discussion was addressed, among others, by Director of Geological Survey of Bangladesh Reshad Md Akram Ali, Chairman of Disaster Science and Management Department at Dhaka University Professor Dr ASM Maksud Kamal , Urban planner Bayes Ahmed, President of BIP Professor Dr AKM Abul Kalam, Professor of Geography and Environment at Dhaka University Dr Shahidul Islam, Director General of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense Department Brigadier General (Retd) Ali Ahmmad Khan, Executive Director of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) Sayeda Rizwana Hasan and General Secretary of BIP Professor Dr Akhter Mahmud.

To prevent landslide, hill tracts have to be protected from illegal commercial use, said Bayes Ahmed who presented the keynote paper at the discussion.

"Our hills are being crashed down without considering the environmental aspects for rapid urbanization and infrastructure development. It's necessary to preserve the hills from now on for keeping natural geological characteristics to avoid landslide and prevent causality by such disaster," he added. "More shelters should be made to safeguard the inhabitants during the risky periods stretching from June to September each year," Ahmed said.

He also laid emphasis on introducing early landslide warning system using contemporary technologies like GIS, Remote Sensing, Nano-Satellite and Web-GIS to relocate the people living on hill slopes 5-7 days before occurrence of any landslide.

Dr Shahidul Islam of Dhaka University suggested the government should be keen to implement the action plan adequately with more political inquisitiveness.

"Most often experts' recommendations in the development process are avoided by bureaucrats and most of the project directors are non-technical persons who overlook the knowledge based recommendations in our country," he added.

"There are punishable laws in the country. The laws should be enforced properly to punish the people who destroy the hills and forests of the country," said Sayeda Rizwana Hasan of BELA.

The BELA chief also pointed out that the people or groups engaged with such destruction process are either backed by political parties or administration.
Queen's speech: Brexit bills dominate govt agenda

Britain\'s Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles attend the State Opening of Parliament in central London, Britain on Wednesday. Internet photo

A host of proposed new laws designed to prepare the UK for a "smooth and orderly" departure from the EU have been announced in the Queen's Speech.

Of 27 bills, eight relate to Brexit and its implications for key industries.

As well as a bill to convert EU rules into UK law, there are measures on trade, immigration, fisheries, nuclear safety, agriculture and sanctions.

But other key manifesto plans have either been axed or delayed after the Conservatives lost their majority.

Proposals to axe the winter fuel allowance for well-off pensioners, scrap the triple lock on pensions, expand grammar schools and end free school lunches for infants have been dropped while other proposals, such as a cap on energy bills and reforms to social care funding, will be put out to consultation. Amid continuing talks with the Democratic Unionists about them supporting Theresa May's government, a Downing Street spokesman said it was confident the Queen's Speech could "command the confidence" of the House of Commons in a vote next week.

There was no mention of US President Donald Trump's proposed state visit to the UK later this year, appearing to confirm suggestions it has been delayed. Ministers said the reason it was not included was purely because no date had been set. The Queen announced the government's legislative programme for the next two years at the State Opening of Parliament.

She was accompanied by the Prince of Wales, rather than the Duke of Edinburgh, after Prince Philip was admitted to hospital on Tuesday night. Buckingham Palace said it was a "precautionary measure" for treatment of an infection arising from a pre-existing condition.

After failing to win the general election outright, the PM has promised to work with "humility and resolve".

With Brexit talks now under way, the government has set out the laws needed to leave the EU - irrespective of the final deal agreed with Brussels. At the heart of this is the so-called Repeal Bill - which will repeal the 1972 European Communities Act and end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. It will also copy over all EU laws into UK law, with Parliament then deciding which bits to retain.

The government says "wherever practical the same rules and laws will apply after exit, therefore maximising certainty for individuals and businesses". The bill would give the Parliament temporary authority, via secondary legislation, to amend laws that do not "operate appropriately" after Brexit while existing decision-making powers devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be maintained pending further discussion on a permanent solution.

As an indication of the scale of change which Brexit will bring, seven separate pieces of legislation are proposed to anticipate the end of EU jurisdiction and introduce national policies in key sectors.

On immigration, a bill will legislate for the end of free movement from the EU and make the status of EU nationals and family members subject to UK law. Although there are no specific details about a new system, ministers say they will be able to "control" numbers while attracting the "brightest and the best".

A Fisheries bill will allow the UK to take on responsibility for "access to fisheries and management of its waters" while an Agriculture Bill will "provide stability" for farmers and ensure an "effective system" of support to replace the Common Agricultural Policy.

A new nuclear safeguards regime will be required after the UK leaves the EU and its nuclear agency Euratom, with new powers for the Office for Nuclear regulation.

Other measures will allow for a standalone domestic customs regime, giving the UK the scope to make changes to VAT and excise rates currently determined by the EU, to pave the way for an "independent trade policy" and to enable the UK to implement non-UN sanctions on its own or in conjunction with allies.

It was meant to be Theresa May's political coronation, but the Queen's Speech has confirmed the reality of her fall from grace. The prime minister's ambitions for significant change at home have been culled, disappearing with her majority. But the complexity of all the work the government has ahead administratively, as the UK prepares to leave the EU, is plain to see.

Eight bills on Brexit - whether on customs, agriculture, fisheries, or immigration - and each requires no less than a redesign of systems that have been in place for decades.

Each will require careful political handling, at a time when the government cannot be sure of its majority and a Labour Party with wind in its sails is determined to be a guerrilla opposition, putting down amendments wherever it can, stirring political trouble because it believes power could be in reach. Read more

The government has cancelled next year's Queen's Speech, so this one will cover a two-year period to give MPs more time to debate all the Brexit legislation.

In the preface to the Queen's Speech, Mrs May said the programme was all about "grasping the opportunities that lie ahead for the UK as we leave the EU". While pledging to consult and listen to ensure the final deal had the "maximum support possible", she said she was determined to "see Brexit through".

The remaining 19 bills - including three in draft form and three finance bills - are a mixture of new proposals and legislation carried over from the last Parliament, which was cut short by the snap election.

Among proposals that will not require immediate legislation, the government is to review its counter-terrorism strategy in the wake of recent attacks in London and Manchester and establish a new Commission for Countering Extremism to "stamp out ideology in all its forms".

In response to the Grenfell fire, a new role of independent public advocate will be created to represent bereaved families in the aftermath of disasters while a Civil Disaster Reaction Taskforce could be created to increase national resilience. While there are no proposed full laws on health and education, a review of mental health legislation is planned while a "digital charter" will seek to boost online safety and digital commerce.

Ministers have denied that, Brexit apart, it is a "thin" programme although large parts of the Tory manifesto have disappeared following the election result. Labour is putting forward an alternative version of the Queen's Speech, suggesting the Tories' programme was a sign of a "weak and wobbly" government.

The Lib Dems said the Queen's Speech was "bereft" of ideas to support the public services while the Green Party said it was a "shell of a Queen's Speech from a hollowed out government".

The CBI said there had been a "welcome change of tone" towards business but ministers should put "pragmatism before politics" over Brexit. The TUC said promises to help working people were "vague".
Millers less interested in rice procurement

Govt move to improve supply to miss target

Anisul Islam Noor :

The government's move to make the local market stable by improving the supply position through its procurement drive is unlikely to achieve as millers have shown less interest to this drive because its price is higher in the market than it offered to them.

The country's food stock has shown no sign of stability as the private sector imports have hit a 4-year low amid rising price in the global markets. Rice import by the private sector has dropped at a time when its prices have shot up in the domestic market.

Traders imported only 1.2 lakh tonnes of rice till mid-June in the current fiscal year against 2.56 lakh tonnes in the previous fiscal year.

The rice reserve stood at 4.86 lakh tonnes.

Director General of the Food Directorate Badrul Hasan told the reporter, "There are laws to take action against the rice mills who refuse to give the government grain. We are compiling a list of such mills. Those who are supplying rice to the government will be given priority and special facilities next year."

Food Minister Kamrul Islam said, "The government decided to ease rice import by reducing the duty to 10 percent."

About rising rice prices in the international market, the Minister said, "There is no hide-and-seek about international rice prices. It's all there on the Internet."

As the domestic rice market has become volatile, the government is trying to replenish its depleting stock through quick import. The government decided to import two lakh tonnes of white rice and 50000 tonnes of parboiled rice from Vietnam.

The government has to spend US$470 for per tonne of parboiled rice and US$430 for white rice.

The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh recorded 47 percent hike in the prices of coarse rice this month compared to that in the corresponding month last year.
Biman suffers from accountability crisis, says Minister

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon on Wednesday said Biman Bangladesh Airlines is rife with numerous allegations as it is suffering from both accountability and manpower crises.

He came up with the remarks while taking part in the general discussion on the national budget for 2017-18 fiscal year.

Menon, however, said steps have been taken to improve the condition of Biman Bangladesh Airlines which was turned into a public limited company during the caretaker government tenure in 2007-08.

Mentioning that Biman has been declared as an essential service sector, he said a committee has been formed by the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry to put forward suggestions to bring radial change to the National Flag carrier. "After receiving the recommendations, those will be sent to the Prime Minister for the final approval." He said new aircraft have also been inducted into the Biman fleet.

Talking about the country's tourism sector, the minister said it is now at the take-off stage.

Noting that if one foreign tourist comes to the country, it creates scope of work for 11 people, he said, "We've set a target to bring 10 lakh foreign tourists to the country in the coming calendar year of 2018."

About the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, Menon, also Workers Party president, said the Finance Minister does not know what will be the impact of 15 percent VAT. "It'll come as a blow to the middle-income people," he said.

He also hoped that Muhith will consider the matter and the Prime Minister can interfere in it if necessary.

The Minister also demanded withdrawing the additional excise duty from bank accounts.

Turning to the election-time government, he said BNP started hatching conspiracy after the announcement of the election road map by the Election Commission. "They started to say there will be no election under Sheikh Hasina. Then under which government the election will be held? Because, there's no provision of election-time supportive government in the Constitution," he said.

Observing that the election should be held under Sheikh Hasina, Menon said, "If BNP skips the polls, it'll be their mistake. It'll turn into a party like Muslim League. It's evident before our eyes," he said.
Bank official held in Barisal on graft charge

UNB, Dhaka :

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday arrested a bank official from Barisal Sadar in a graft case.

ACC deputy director Nilkamal Paul of its Patuakhali zila office, arrested senior officer of Agrani Bank's Jhalakati branch ANM Bazlur Rahman, ACC public relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told UNB.

On June 31, 2016, the ACC filed a case against him and others with Barisal Sadar Police Station for allegedly swindling out money from Agrani Bank.

According to the case statement, Bazlur Rahman disbursed a loan of Tk 7 lakh to a person against the mortgage of a land document when he was stationed at Barisal Chaukbazar branch of the bank.

Later, he allegedly stole the document from the bank's locker and handed it over the loan receiver. And then, Bazlur in collusion with the land owner sold the land at Tk 11.7 lakh and plundered the money without repaying the bank loan.
He who defended all their financial misdeeds can`t go alone

Editorial Desk :

Read any newspaper and you will find corruption is now held as mainly responsible for mismanagement in the public sector. Every aspect of the government has been infected by incompetence, unaccountability and above all by unmitigated corruption. The budget is bad for all the bad things done by all in the government. Money has been plundered and much of it kept outside the country.

Now there is nothing left for a popular budget to be placed. Money is not there for public welfare to consider. All the avenues have to be explored for extracting money. Miseries to the people have never been a consideration. But now the people's backs are against the wall and that is what is behind all the anger thrown against the Finance Minister. The members of the Parliament can see dangers at this late hours.

The all government and no opposition parliament has suddenly woke up to become noisy and blistering in criticising the lame duck Finance Minister for the loopholes in the budget and its unpopularity.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, as a respectable man, was not so respectable in not resigning much earlier. He himself was not corrupt but to retain his job as a Minister he was most servile in tolerating crimes against the country's economy committed by the men in power.

He could not stop stealing people's money from the banks. He defended all the bank looting saying bravely that even Tk 4,000 crore was not big enough to worry. Under him stock market collapsed for the manipulation of the few who made big money and remained safe.

When the foreign reserve amounting $101 million was hacked and taken out Mr Muhith felt no sense of guilt because the Prime Minister defended the governor of Bangladesh Bank as hero for the services he rendered. Though any other honourable man in his position would have resigned then and there. But his life long love for government job prevented him from doing the right thing at the right time.

There was a high level enquiry into the hacking of Bangladesh Bank and the loss of foreign exchange. The report was not published by him to protect the government. The small amount that is available in Philippines could not be secured. He appeared just powerful not to publish the enquiry report on the hacking of Bangladesh Bank.

Super wise advisers are the think-tank of the Prime Minister. But they are above criticism though they are the driving force of the government. It is they who put the idea of democracy of development. Borrowed from their experience of Ayub Khan's decade of development. Mega projects were taken up to exhibit mega development. Huge sums of money had to be allocated for the projects ignoring the needs of the poor. More money was sanctioned for the projects so undertaken but not completed. All these projects have been distributed among the government supporters.

Now the World Bank has given a study report to show how the cost of building highways has exceeded all reasonable limits. The bank pointed out that whereas in India or China cost of a four-lane, one kilometer highway was Tk 13 lakhs, in Bangladesh it was more than a crore taka.

As regards soaring of corruption the Finance Minister was ready to offer a justification. According to him corruption has also gone up because of increased prosperity of the country.

Though Mr Muhith as the Finance Minister was presiding over a destructive economy and he bluffed the nation about the true state of the economy yet we find it unjust that he should go alone in the hope of saving the real culprits who benefitted from the economic misdeeds. He just collaborated with them.
The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
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Paris, TX (75460)

Today

Rain likely. Morning high of 64F with temps falling sharply to near 45. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch..

Tonight

Showers early, then partly cloudy overnight. Low 32F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
"Tracy and I can't thank the people of Southern Illinois enough for their support and their prayers. Our victory tonight sends a powerful message to out-of-touch politicians everywhere that we're unified and unyielding in the fight for our conservative values. Joe Biden's going to be held accountable for destroying the economy, ignoring the border crisis, and taking us from America First to America Last in two years flat. But none of this would be possible without the trust of voters from across our vast 12th District. Serving you is truly the honor of a lifetime."
PINCKNEYVILLE  The 161st Perry County Fair, one of the oldest in Illinois, is underway at Perry County Fairgrounds.

Tuesday evening was the 32nd annual Livestock 4-H Auction. Sara Marten, the youth development educator for University of Illinois Extension, said the auction showcases the projects of youth from Jackson, Perry and Randolph counties and gives them a chance to earn back a little of the cost of the project.

About 60 youth auctioned animals during the evening. One was Keely Epplin, whose first sale was her duck. She had the animal about two months.

"They're easy to take care of because you put them on the pond, and they take care of themselves, with a little food," Epplin said.

Logan Lehde had several pens of sheep and goats, including an ewe with a 6-day-old baby. He said the mother was his 4-H project and he was not selling her. The baby would be sold when it reached 60 pounds. He has different varieties of sheep and goats, and his favorite goat is named Billy.

Lynn Heins, county extension director, said the auction is run by volunteers. She brought her twin daughters, Julie and Kaylin, to see the animals.

The fair continues through Saturday. Some of the highlights include Music in the Park featuring Cassie Sharp, a free family concert, 6 p.m. Wednesday; Gospel Music Night, 7 p.m. Thursday; ITPA Tractor Pulls at 7 p.m. Friday; activities for children from 2 to 6 p.m., a bags tournament at 4 p.m. and fireworks at dusk on Saturday.

Admission is $15 for the tractor pull. Parking is free.

Registration for the Corn Hole Tournament (bags) will begin at 2:30 p.m. Entry is $20 per two-person team.

Those attending are asked to bring lawn chairs or picnic blankets for live music on Wednesday and Thursday. Food vendors will be open Wednesday through Saturday. The beer tent will be open Friday and Saturday evenings.

On Monday, Emily Kuberski was crowned Miss Perry County Fair. Emily Lemmon won the title of Junior Miss Perry County Fair. The title of Little Miss Perry County Fair went to Marley Trail.

For more information, visit the Perry County Fair's Facebook page.
The City of Carbondale Police Department is seeking the publics assistance in identifying two suspects who are suspected of stealing a Kroger gift card from a vehicle and later using it to go shopping.

According to a Tuesday news release, a white male and white female using the stolen Kroger gift card around 9:15 p.m. on June 2 at the Carbondale Kroger store. Police said the card was taken out of the victims car sometime between 7:30 p.m. June 1 and 8:30 p.m. June 2, while the vehicle was parked either outside Bed Bath and Beyond or at 1207 S. Wall St.

Police released images of the suspects and asked anyone who can identify the suspects or anyone with information about the incident to contact the police department at 618-457-3200 or Crimestoppers at 618-549-2677. The investigation into the incident is continuing.

 The Southern
MAEYSTOWN  Community-minded residents in this historic German village are working together to save their iconic arch stone bridge built in 1881.

So far, theyve raised about half of the $30,000 they estimate needing to repair the bridge into a community that is home to about 160 people but that draws people from all over with its charm and historical significance.

The entire downtown Maeystown was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, making it one of only a handful of Illinois towns to have such a distinction.

Christy Muertz, who sits on the Maeystown Preservation Society board, said the money raised has come via fundraising activities in town, individual donations and an online GoFundMe account that has netted about $1,300 to date.

Muertz has lived in Maeystown her entire life. As a young girl, she lived with her parents in a home just north of the bridge. She and her husband now live on the south side of the bridge, just outside the Maeystown village limits. Muertz said she drives over the little bridge every day to and from work, and one day noticed a rock that was starting to slip from the structure.

She said she started to worry about the future of the bridge, because it would break her heart if it was deemed unsafe for driving on in the future because the current generation let it fall into disrepair. An estimate was sought about how much repair work would cost, and thats how the fundraising goal was established, she said.

The village owns and maintains the bridge, but for a town that is basically just one big block, $30,000 is a huge ask. David Braswell, a village board member, said that if it were not for the friends of Maeystown the bridge project would never be a possibility. The friends of Maeystown is the endearing name that has been given the good folks near and far who feel compelled to preserve this little Midwestern oasis, he said.

Braswell and his wife, Marcia, also have co-owned and operated the Corner George Bed & Breakfast for 28 years.

Its only through the efforts of people in the community that were going to be able to do this because were barely able to pay for snow and weed removal and minor street maintenance with the budget we have, Braswell said.

There have been attempts made to secure grants, but none has been located near the amount needed for the repairs. Because of the age and construction style of the bridge, costly repairs require skilled stonemasons and labor intensive work.

This is the state of Illinois, he added, which was enough of an explanation as to why the village is not hopeful for a grant from a state approaching a third year without a full budget.

Braswell said that part of the beauty of Maeystown is that people do pull together for the good of the community  and he said hes optimistic that with the fundraising efforts thus far, the village will eventually be able to pay for all the work that the bridge needs to remain secure into the foreseeable future.

Maeystown is about an hour and a half drive from Carbondale, and about 10 miles southwest of Waterloo. As described by a Living History of Illinois document, the village sits in a valley between the bluffs that make up the Illinois side of the old American Bottom, a wide expanse where the Mississippi River once flowed.

Muertz said the goal is to have the repairs completed by this fall, in time for Maeystowns Octoberfest celebration that draws a sizeable crowd. That may be optimistic, but its the goal, she said.

The GoFundMe account has helped generate buzz about the project and spread the word beyond the village limit, she said.

On behalf of Maeystown, we are reaching out to all friends, visitors, photographers, businesses, and historians, she wrote on the GoFundMe page for the bridge. We sincerely appreciate any help you can give us to save the bridge.

In our case its going to take more than just a village."

Fond childhood memories of this bridge, wrote one donor who gave $100. Ive ridden over that bridge many times, said a $10 donor whose profile picture is of him on a bike. Maeystown is so lovely. The fall festival is a delight, wrote a donor who gave $50.

Also helping raise awareness is the fact that Landmarks Illinois, in addition to making a donation to the bridge repair fund, also listed the structure on its 2017 Most Endangered Historic Places annual list that published in April. Landmarks Illinois is a nonprofit headquartered in Chicago and with an office in Springfield that aims to help people save historic sites and buildings across the state.

Frank Butterfield, director of the organizations Springfield office, said historic bridges were included as a theme this year, and that category spotlighted the stone bridge in Maeystown and a few others.

We wanted to highlight bridges because they tell the story of transportation in Illinois and the United States and they are often icons of our communities, Butterfield said. And nationally, as a conversation goes on about reinvesting in infrastructure, we want to be sure to identify and invest in our historic infrastructure, including historic bridges, because they both have a community benefit, and once rehabbed, they can continue to serve the needs of the community.

Muertz said that all donations  big and small  go a long way toward meeting their goal, and are a touching tribute to how much people care about Maeystown. Donations are made directly to the Maeystown Preservation Society and are being placed into a restricted fund dedicated to the bridge repairs. Because donations are going to a nonprofit organization, they are tax deductible.

For those who prefer making donations the old fashioned way, checks can be written to Maeystown Preservation Society, Save the Bridge, and mailed to Christy Muertz at 3265 Bushy Prairie Road; Fults, Illinois, 62244.
MARION  Officials from the Veterans Association in Marion gathered Thursday for a town hall style "State of the VA" meeting.

The event was co-hosted via video teleconference from 3 sites, the Marion VA Medical Center, Evansville Health Care Center and the Paducah Community Based Outpatient Clinic.

Tim Hartwell, Acting Associate Director for the Marion VA Medical Center, opened the meeting stating that the event was convened in support of the recent State of the VA presentation given to the White House by Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.

In that presentation, Secretary Shulkin laid out some priorities for the VA. Then we took those priorities and Marionized them, Hartwell said, In other words we made them relevant to what the experiences and needs are here in the Marion facility. 

At the center of Thursdays meeting was the Choice Program, which was in the news in April when President Trump signed a measure temporarily extending the program through early 2018.

Also spotlighted was the VAs Suicide Hotline, and changes to health care delivery that were inclusive of all vets regardless of discharge status.

The Choice Program guarantees that veterans who live too far away from a VA facility or need immediate attention can also get private care.

The Marion VA covers three different states, Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana, and has 12 points of care that veterans are exposed to in the community based outpatient clinics in those states.

Hartwell acknowledged that the Choice Program got off to a rocky start, but that statistics are starting to show some successes.

The Marion VA has increased the number of Choice providers by 28 percent over the last year. For various reasons it took us quite some time to get our provider network built up. But as of today, we have approximately 7,500 providers in the community which is an increase of over 2,000 providers.

The VA has also increased the turn-around time for consultations by working with their third party administrator, TriWest Healthcare Alliance.

What we did in Marion that worked really well is we took three TriWest employees and put them right in our system so they can see the consults coming in and going out. They help us with tracing records, getting claims paid, and things like that.

Hartwell said that embedding has increased the number of the Marion VAs consultations from 745 in the second quarter of 2016 to 1947 in the second quarter of 2017.

He also said that the Marion VA shows top numbers in retention. Their analysis shows that employees tend to stay with the facility on a long term basis.

Our RNs stay here. They dont come here, get a job, and leave in six months. We are really good at retaining people in our system.

Additionally, the facility has top marks for its lack of healthcare associated infections, meaning, a vet does not enter the facility with a broken ankle and leave with pneumonia.

Some of the things we are not good at, efficiency, for example, now have teams assigned to those areas to improve them.

Hartwell said that the VA is one of the most data-transparent agencies in the government. People can access statistics from their local branch by visiting www.va.gov/myva.

It is important for vets to know how their service provider is doing because the VA has the intention to compete with civilian healthcare providers.

Shulkin wants us to start competing with the private sector, and the data on that website shows how we rate against the surrounding care in the community. That way a veteran can make a choice if they want to come to us or not, Hartwell said.

Hartwell said Suicide prevention is another huge priority for Secretary Shulkin. We want to get our suicide rate down to zero. On the news, vet suicide is reported at 20 people per day, and a lot of people wrongfully think that is our younger vets. But its not.

According to Hartwell, in Financial Year 2016 the Marion VA experienced 9 completed suicides within its service area. The average age of those deaths was 69 years of age. In FY 2017 so far there have been 5 completed suicides with an average age of 42.

Of the 20 deaths per day reported nationally, only 6 of those people were getting care through the VA. The other 14 were not, so we need to get the word out there that care is available.

One way the VA is seeking to stem the tide of these incidences is by extending care to all discharged service members, regardless of whether the circumstances of that discharge was honorable or not.

"Any vet that needs it can call the veteran crisis line," Hartwell said.

Another priority for Shulkin, according to Hartwell, is to improve the timeliness of the VA services.

The Choice Program was created following the 2014 scandal where at least 35 veterans died when they as a result of being unable to get a timely appointment at the Phoenix VA medical center.

Legislation was later passed that allowed veterans to turn to a private doctor or hospital outside of the VA for treatment.

We recently entered into a phase called patient centered scheduling allows veterans to schedule an appointment up to 390 days in the future. Also, we have implemented direct scheduling for patients in optometry and audiology.

In addition, a new pharmacy telephone tree allows veterans to speak directly to a pharmacist. These changes have allowed the Marion VA to score a 97 percent average in appointments completed within 30 days.

On average, Hartwell said that vets are seen within 4 days for regular care, within 7 days for specialty care, and within 4 days for mental health services.

One way they are accomplishing this is by implementing another one of the Secretarys top priorities, which is modernizing systems within the VA.

What we are doing here in Marion is implementing a modern booking system to improve our scheduling abilities, and continuing to expand the use of telemedicine or Telehealth. As our veteran population changes telemedicine is becoming more and more popular. Many younger vets prefer to get their care over a computer, Hartwell said.

Hartwell said another way the VA is meeting these challenges is by continuing to hire clinicians. This year we have been able to hire over 100 people  Physicians, RNS, LPNS, and other clinical support.

VA Director Jo-Ann Ginsberg stepped in at the end of the meeting to answer veterans questions about the VA Choice Program.

Ginsburg reminded veterans to attentively read the letters they get when referred outside the VA system for care.

Whenever we authorize care, we authorize it for a specific period of time. When the vet gets a letter it specifies that period of time, or a specific number of visits. After that time period expires, or the initial number of visits is completed, the vet needs to come back to the VA and meet with whoever authorized that initial treatment and have them re-evaluate the situation.

Ginsburg also said the Choice Program only works when vets visit the VA first, and then an outside doctor after that. If a veteran makes the decision to pursue care with a civilian doctor without seeing the VA first, most time that care will not be covered by the veterans benefits.

Unfortunately, the fledgling Choice Program, is experiencing serious financial troubles. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin spoke to Congress Wednesday during testimony on the VAs budget and said the Choice Program was unexpectedly running out of money.

Shulkin said the program would will dry up by mid-August unless Congress came up with alternative financing, citing increased demand from veterans for federally financed private medical care.

Initially, VA Officials thought current funding would last until early next year.
CARBONDALE  Two finalists remain for the position of chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale after the withdrawal of two other candidates for the position.

SIU System President Randy Dunn said that Rodney Hanley of Fisk University and George Hynd of Oakland University both withdrew themselves from consideration over the weekend. Hanley cited fiscal concerns at both the state and campus level, and Hynd indicated his intention to accept another position that was offered to him.

They were among four candidates who interviewed Thursday, June 15, with SIUs Board of Trustees following earlier interviews on campus.

The remaining two finalists are Interim Chancellor Brad Colwell and Carlo Montemagno of the University of Alberta in Canada.

Under the boards direction, I will continue to move the search process forward and complete contract negotiations, Dunn said. I hope we may be able to announce the selection for chancellor at some point even prior to the next board meeting.
The State of Illinois is in unprecedented territory in terms of a state budget. Like other areas within Illinois, we here at Southern Illinois University Carbondale have felt the impact of no state budget, but we should take time to recognize the great things that are occurring despite these epoch times.

The College of Agricultural Sciences is strongly committed to our students and it shows in both student and faculty success. In a self-reporting survey of students, the majority of students had secured a job or are continuing their education whether graduate- or professional-school after graduation. Further, students ranked internships, registered student organizations, and interactions with faculty and staff high.

Overall, our students have performed very well while attending SIUC. In terms of academic excellence, nearly 60 percent of them have a 3.0 or higher GPA with nearly 30 percent classified as Deans Scholars with a 3.5 or higher GPA. The overall GPA for the college is about 3.07. These student achievements have also resulted in improved graduation and retention rates.

In both oral and exiting surveys, student responses focused on these themes  a friendly and caring environment, enjoyed living in the living learning community, enjoyed hands-on activities and outstanding faculty and staff. The latter point illustrates the significance of outstanding individuals committed to our students.

As a college, enrollment has been relatively steady. At the same time, the college ranks well among the top research units publishing in some of the leading journals and making high impact scientific discoveries to benefit our greater society.

In Spring 2017, these faculty and staff were recognized for their outstanding contributions within the college:

 Lynn Gill, Non-Tenure Track Teaching Award

 Charles (Matt) Rendleman, Tenure Track Teaching Award

 Kathy Elson, Administrative Professional Award

 Sylvia Smith and Karen Midden, each recognized with the Civic Engagement Award

 Gary Apgar and Jason Bond, each recognized with the College Excellence Award

 Peter Dirks, Kim Taylor, Kathy Elson, Heather Pulley, and Charlotte Sarao, College Team Award

 Eduardo Gastal, Research Scholar Award

 Nancy McCalla, Civil Service Award

 Karla Gage, Undergraduate Mentoring Award by Center for Undergraduate Research Creative Activities

 Ahmad Fakhoury, Graduate Mentoring Award through the Graduate School and vice president of the Faculty Senate

 Rebecca Atkinson and Sylvia Smith, each recognized as Ibendhal Excellence Awardees

 John Farrish, Katherine Witrick and Gary Apgar recognized for Innovation Challenge entitled Determining the Attributes of the Optimal Barbecue Hog

 Stella Kantartzi and Eduardo Gastal to be promoted to professor

I would like to also share a recent accomplishment by our Forestry Club. Our Forestry students won the 65th Annual Midwestern Foresters Conclave competition which was held at Iowa State University. The conclave was comprised of many Midwest universities and not limited to those in the Big Ten, SEC and some regional schools. Congratulations to the students, faculty advisor Charles Ruffner, and staff member Patti Cludray.
COLUMBIA  Southern Current, a leading developer in the residential, commercial and utility-scale solar markets, is launching a new solar farm in Hampton County. The company is investing $2.5 million in the project.

Southern Current is an owner and developer of utility-scale solar energy facilities across the southeastern United States. With an in-house team of development professionals, the company manages projects from site selection and origination through construction and operation.

For more information on Southern Current, visit the companys website at www.southerncurrentllc.com.

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QUOTES

Southern Current is excited to keep bringing more clean energy projects to South Carolina. We owe a special thanks to all our partners that work for Hampton County, who have embraced solar energy and the new revenue it will generate. This solar farm will bring clean, renewable energy benefiting South Carolinians for decades to come.  Southern Current Chief Development Officer Paul Fleury

When a company invests in one of our rural counties, its investing in the future of a community with tremendous potential, and thats why we are so grateful for Southern Currents decision to locate in Hampton County.  Gov. Henry McMaster

Team South Carolina works hard every day to cultivate a pro-business environment for companies of all types in our state, and this new high-tech solar project in one of our rural counties is further evidence that our team-first approach is paying off. Congratulations to Southern Current on this new project.  Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt

Hampton County continues to work with innovative companies offering the newest technology in alternative energies, manufacturing, agribusiness and distribution. We welcome Southern Current to our county, and we appreciate their investment. Hampton County Council will continue to make our communities business-friendly and business ready.  Hampton County Council Chairman Dr. Roy Hollingsworth

SouthernCarolina Alliance and Hampton County welcome the investment by Southern Current, and we take pride in Hampton Countys support of both traditional and alternative energy products. Our communities will continue to welcome the most cost-efficient and business-friendly options to both residential and business customers.  Bill Hager, SouthernCarolina Alliance board of directors member and chairman of Hampton County Economic Development Commission

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FIVE FAST FACTS

 Southern Current is launching a new solar farm in Hampton County.

 $2.5 million of capital investment.

 Southern Current is a leading developer and owner of residential, commercial and utility-scale solar projects across the southeastern United States.

 The company manages projects from site selection and origination through construction and operation.

 For more information on Southern Current, visit the companys website at www.southerncurrentllc.com.
A local family physician is taking much of the guesswork out of patient treatment with the help of drug-gene testing that determines how a persons genes affect their bodys response to medications.

The testing is also known as pharmacogenetics, a combination of the words pharmacology (the study of the uses and effects of medications) and genomics (the study of genes and their functions).

Dr. Monnie Singleton of Singleton Health Center in Orangeburg has been using pharmacogenetics testing for nearly a year to determine safe and effective medications and doses that will be tailored to a persons genetic makeup.

Pharmacogenetics testing is a revolutionary means of checking to see how patients are metabolizing the medications that they are taking. So were looking specifically at how a medication is metabolized by an individual, Singleton said.

He said drugs dont work the same for everyone and while it can be difficult to predict who will benefit from a medication, who will not respond at all and who will experience adverse drug reactions, the testing helps him eliminate the trial-and-error associated with prescribing medications.

This technology eliminates the need for us to just keep guessing at what might be the right medicine in an individual patient. I think as we move forward, were going to be looking specifically to see if the genetics in patients DNA makeup will allow proper metabolism of that drug, he said.

Singleton added, If the drugs arent metabolized normally, what we see in many people is that either not enough or too much enzyme is produced. If not enough enzyme is produced to metabolize the amount of medication the patient is taking, the patients blood levels of that drug will increase to the point of becoming toxic and them getting side effects and other adverse drug reactions.

If a person is manufacturing or making too much of the enzyme, then the medicine doesnt stay in their system long enough to work and it is being metabolized too rapidly.

Enzyme is a substance produced by a living organism that acts as a catalyst to bring about a specific biochemical reaction.

A small blood or saliva sample can help determine whether a medication may be an effective treatment for patients.

Singleton said a sponge is used to swab a patients mouth. The specimen is then shipped off for testing to Lawrenceville, Georgia-based, Alpha Genomix Laboratories, a molecular diagnostics laboratory dedicated to providing personalized patient care. Lab pesonnel look for changes to one or more genes that can affect a patients response to certain medications.

Singleton said a printout of an individual patients lab results are then sent back to his office.

We are testing for 26 different enzymes, or metabolic pathways, with this technology, he said.

Itll give a printout of several different classes of drugs. Whether that patient is taking drugs in that other class or not, it will still give a report as to whether a patient would metabolize it normally or not. So if a different medication needed to be prescribed for a different condition in the future, we could look at that list and see exactly what would be the best medication to start with, Singleton said.

The physician said 60 percent of his patients are on Medicare or Medicaid, both of which pay 100 percent of the testing cost.

The private insurances are beginning to pay for it, but they are not paying for it 100 percent, Singleton said.

What I have seen and have better come to understand is that 40 percent of the time, the antidepressants that are used with that trial-and-error method are the wrong medication. Using this guided therapy, or looking at the results of pharmacogenetics testing, allows me to select an antidepressant that the patient metabolizes normally," he said.

I select that medication to begin with and as a result, people get better quicker," Singleton said. "Ive certainly seen that in the area of depression. I have also seen it in the area of arthritis, gastroesophageal reflux disease and even when prescribing the statins for elevated cholesterol."

Patients who have had adverse drug reactions in the past and those who are taking five or more medications are among those who are recommended for pharmacogenetics testing, he said, noting that family members of patients who may not have had a good response to a medication may also be provided recommendations to see if they may benefit from testing.

Singleton said the testing is worthwhile and needed because it costs the federal government in excess of $3.5 billion a year to treat adverse reactions to drugs.

Forty percent of these adverse reactions are estimated to be preventable," he said.

I would say the overwhelming majority of the patients that we have talked to about the technology have elected to have the test done," Singleton noted. "On average, were having to make some change in a medication that the patient has been taking 30 percent of the time."
Warren Harley was hired as the Department of Public Utilities new manager at Tuesdays Orangeburg City Council meeting.

Harley has been interim manager since November.

Mr. Harleys doing a very good job, Mayor Michael Butler said. Since hes been there, hes brought about unity (and) harmony in the department and we are pleased as a city council to recommend him for the job.

Harley took over as interim manager after City Council voted to terminate the previous manager, Tommy Miller. Miller had officially retired in 2013 before state retirement rules changed, but continued to lead DPU.

Council members claimed Miller refused to read a report related to an accident that led to the amputation of a linemans arms.

City Attorney James Walsh said, We are in the final stages of negotiating a settlement involving our former manager.

The end result will be that we will reach an agreement by which we will have any kind of claims being released, Walsh said. He said Harley will be authorized to execute the agreement on behalf of the city.

Councilwoman L. Zimmerman Keitt said shes happy with the departments direction since Harley became interim manager.

We see smiles and eagerness to go to work, she said.

She added that Harleys personality and open-door policy have made the environment a better place for the employees.

Butler said, The employees from all backgrounds, all races, sincerely wanted him to be their manager.

Councilman Buddy Barnwell agreed with hiring Harley, but was not pleased with the process.

Four individuals were supposed to come back to city council personally to be interviewed and that was not followed, Barnwell said.

This is a council form of government, not a mayor form of government, he added.

Butler said the process was approved by a majority of the council.

Council interviewed four people and then we (brought) the final person up to city council, he said. City Council would make the determination as to whether we would hire the person.

Butler added that the decision to hire Harley was unanimous.

Harleys new title was effective immediately upon the approval of council.

Harley worked for the City of Orangeburg for eight years. He began as director of special projects and annexation and two years later, was promoted to assistant city administrator.

He worked as assistant administrator until 2006 when he went to work with the Municipal Association of South Carolina as the government affairs liaison. He worked with legislative issues and provided technical assistance to municipalities across the state.

Most recently, Harley was assistant county administrator for Richland County.

A native of Bowman, Harley has a bachelors degree in criminal justice from the University of South Carolina and a masters degree in management from Webster University.
MURRELLS INLET (AP)  A South Carolina man has been arrested and charged with stabbing his father to death.

The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that 23-year-old Andrew Tucker Wesley has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of his father Monday.

Sheriff's deputies responding to a call found 52-year-old Howard Wayne Wesley of Murrells Inlet dead.

Andrew Wesley was taken to Tidelands Health Georgetown Memorial Hospital to be checked for injuries before he was taken to the Georgetown County jail.

It was not known if Andrew Wesley has an attorney yet. Deputies have not released a possible motive for the stabbing.
The leaders of both parties are divided on numerous matters, but on one critical piece of business they seem united: keep Donald Trump in office. That rather extraordinary, and by no means welcome conclusion, stems from this simple observation: Republicans want to squeeze as much advantage as possible from Trumps presidency to pursue and complete their domestic agenda, while Democrats want to squeeze the same advantage from Trumps constant missteps and failure to push through his agenda.

Thus, while Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan make excuses for every Trump excess and idiocy, they still value his continuation in office more than his removal  even for a tweet-less Pence presidency. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, on the other hand, attack every Trump move that undermines democracy and world order, but insist that impeachment is premature and that investigations of collusion and obstruction of justice must be allowed to proceed.

Republicans are hoping against hope that Trumps agenda can somehow survive. Obamacare will finally be replaced, a big tax cut for the wealthy will be enacted, a Muslim ban will pass court muster, and employment and economic growth figures will start looking good. The emperors political health is failing, but they need to keep him alive, at least through 2018.

Democratic leaders in Congress will do everything they can to frustrate the Republicans agenda so they can underscore Trumps failures. But while Trumps defeats may be worth celebrating, they do not equate to Democratic success. We should not underestimate how Republican legislative failures play in red states and congressional districts.

Lets face it: Republicans have the odds on their side. The chances are slim to none that Trump will be indicted, impeached or forced to resign. Even in the best of circumstances, Robert Muellers investigation will probably take well over a year to reach a conclusion, and it is by no means certain that the conclusion will be so strongly against Trump as to force a Republican-dominated Congress to take action. And at worst the Republicans have Mike Pence waiting in the wings.

Democrats may think that every day Trump is in office buys votes for them, but the jury (literally) is out on that one. Plenty of analyses have appeared lately to show that Democrats remain deeply divided on strategy for 2018 and 2020  in a nutshell, whether to go for the jugular, as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren et al. prefer, and press for a truly progressive list of domestic reforms, or adopt a modestly liberal approach a la Hillary Clinton (and reflected in the Jon Ossoff campaign in Georgia) that is tailored to particular districts in each state.

Writing in the op-ed section of The New York Times on June 12, Charles M. Blow offers a reasonable guide to the road ahead: In the end, the Resistance must be bigger than impeachment; it must be about political realignment. It must be built upon solid rock of principle and not hang solely on the slender hope of expulsion. This is a long game and will not come to an abrupt conclusion. Perseverance must be the precept; lifelong commitment must be the motto.
DCD2 Records/Warner Bros. RecordsNew Politics has debuted the video for their new single "One of Us." The clip is full of references to videos from hip-hop artists including Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar and Beastie Boys. There's also a nod to Queen's classic "Bohemian Rhapsody" video.

"Life is a weird and wild adventure," writes New Politics in a statement. "The past few years the three of us were on this insane ride that led up to writing 'One Of Us.' The song is a reminder that even through the changes, or whatever else you're going through, you shouldn't take all the amazing experiences life has to offer for granted.

"We wanted the video 'One Of Us' to be just erratic and striking as our experiences were along the way," the band continues. "To do this, we included an homage to some of our favorite hip-hop videos from artists like Kanye, Kendrick Lamar & the Beastie Boys."

"One of Us," which debuted last March, is the first new song from New Politics since their third studio album Vikings was released in 2015. Vikings features the singles "Everywhere I Go (Kings & Queens) and "West End Kids."

New Politics will be opening for 311 on a North American tour kicking off this Thursday, June 22 in Northfield, Ohio.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
By Azernews





By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan is ready to provide any support to China in the cargo transportation through its territory, Head of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC (ADY) Javid Gurbanov said.

He made the remarks in Baku during a meeting with Deputy Director General of Chengdu International Railway Services Co. Zhang Jing.

Gurbanov noted that Azerbaijan uses all its opportunities to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of cargo transportation through its territory.

Zhang Jing, for his part, expressed interest in using transport corridors passing through Azerbaijan for delivering the Chinese goods to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Turkey and Georgia.

Meanwhile, China has agreed to work over increase of efficiency of cargo transportation through Azerbaijan.

The relevant protocol on prospects of cooperation was signed in Baku during the meeting of Gurbanov and Kong Guohua, deputy general director of the Commercial Department of Chinese company Ningxia.



Guohua underlined Chinas interest in Azerbaijans opportunities in the field of transport and logistics. In his opinion, the port in Alat [new Port of Baku] has the potential to turn into the center of transportation from China to Europe, Iran and Russia and back.



The worlds second largest economy, China pays a great attention to cooperation Azerbaijan through which the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor runs.

China wants to make joint efforts with Azerbaijan for promoting the 'One Belt, One Road' strategy as the development of cargo transportation by containers to Europe is the priority for China.

Ukraine-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-China route, officially known as Trans-Caucasus-Asia transport corridor or New Silk Road, and which includes ferries of the Black and Caspian Seas (Illichivsk-Batumi and Alat-Aktau Port) is believed to be cheaper in comparison with the traditional overland route.

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then through Turkey and Ukraine goes to Europe. This is a multimodal corridor using railway, maritime and roadways for transporting goods.

In February 2016, Ukraine and Lithuania signed a memorandum on the accession of the container train 'Viking' to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route from Europe to China through Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.








By Azernews





By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan and Latvia signed a protocol following the 7th meeting of the Latvia-Azerbaijan Intergovernmental Commission for Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation on June 20.

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 meeting of the commission held in Baku on June 20 discussed promotion of bilateral cooperation in various areas, including in trade, transport and logistics. The two sides also talked of possibilities to expand trade turnover.

The next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission will be held in 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.








By Azernews





By Fuad Muxtar-Aqbabali, political expert

Armenias independence remains in limbo with all state and public institutions in disarray and filled with resentment and enmity against Azerbaijan. When the Soviet Union fell, Armenia did not miss the opportunity to push yet for another phase of intervention against Azerbaijani lands that has resulted in the current state. Armenians encroached on lands, whose natives back in early XIX century displayed hospitality and gave refuge, shared bread and salt with those moved to Azerbaijani lands to sow the seeds of current enmity and aggression.

Attacking villages and towns, the Armenian military did not only kill innocent people but also pursued a scorched-earth strategy designed to make areas unlivable for inhabitants. Today every town and village in the occupied Azerbaijani lands has been totally flattened. There is hardly a building with a roof left on it. Empty districts, villages with all the houses and facilities, pocked by gunfire and artillery, lie in ruin. Atrocities carried out against civilians explain supremacist mind-set of Armenians. The whole of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts have been razed to the ground.

However, Armenians also left their barbaric trace on Azerbaijani monuments of architecture in the ancient city of Iravan, now Yerevan - capital of Armenia. This city was handed over to Armenians 99 years ago to turn it to the capital city. Since then, all the monuments of the Azerbaijani architecture were wiped off the face of the earth in the present-day Armenia.

Armenia has been turned into the mono-ethnic country in the Caucasus, and this is nonsense against the background of a colorful ethnic map of the Caucasus, where even neighboring villages speak different languages. Surrounded on four sides by multinational Iran, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, the mono-ethnic Armenia looks like a stain, which is an undeniable proof of the past ethnic cleansings against the Muslim population there.

And today this country, where there is not a single Turk, or an Azerbaijani, accuses neighboring Turkey of genocide of Armenians, while tens of thousands of Turkish citizens of Armenian origin and the same number of illegal immigrants from Armenia work and prosper safely in Turkey. Moreover, Armenia has territorial claims on Turkey, if only because Ararat Mountain in eastern Turkey flaunts its coat of arms, and this confuses millions of people who mistakenly think that Ararat is in Armenia, though this is a mountain in Turkey and this fact is already shouting about Armenias forgery.

Such forgeries are many in history, in culture, in the cooking of Armenia and unfortunately, millions of people become victims of this kind of counterfeit facts, primarily due to TV stations and all other media outlets. The problem is that the largest Russian TV channels and others around the world do not even suspect which network of lies they fall and take at face value the purest Armenian forgery.

A new phase of vandalism and obnoxious ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijani monuments and toponyms in Soviet Armenia was kicked off in 1946 at the hands of the Soviet Russia. It was simultaneous and total obliteration of absolutely all signs of Azerbaijanis: people, toponyms, architecture and history, to name a few.

The ethnic cleansing of place names represented the process of changing Azerbaijani toponyms into Armenian ones, and this process lasted until the beginning of the XXI century. In order to see this, it is enough to look at the Soviet encyclopedic dictionary, for example, Hrazdan used to be called Zangi, Stepanavan  Calaloglu.

The famous Lake Sevan - Goyca, which means "beautiful" in Azerbaijan, and the city of Stepanakert, now under occupation of Armenian hawkish nationalists, was historically called Xankandi, a village of a khan - noble man - in Azerbaijani.

What is good is that this information is preserved in encyclopedias and the basic role in this regard was played by the fact that after the abolition of the Iravan khanate and the creation of the Armenian region in early 1829, Gen Paskevich instructed the collegiate assessor Chopin to conduct a census of the population of the Armenian region. This census showed the numerical superiority of the Azerbaijani population over the Armenians. Also thanks to this, Azerbaijani toponyms were preserved; otherwise they would have been unambiguously destroyed without a trace in the Soviet Armenia.

The ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis started in 1828 after the mass migration of Armenians from Iran and Turkey to Iravan, Naxcivan and Karabakh khanates. Immediately, in his most genuine note to the emperor, Griboyedov drew his attention to bullying of the local Muslim population.

The latent genocide of Azerbaijanis continued even after Soviet Armenia was established on the native Azerbaijani lands in November 1920. And in 1947 and 1948, two edicts of Soviet tyrant Stalin were issued "on the deportation of Azerbaijanis from their historical lands". This was an unprecedented case for the USSR, and that's why under Stalin, whole nations that seemed unreliable to the leader of the peoples were deported to Siberia.

As for Azerbaijanis, they were not all guilty, but only those who lived in Armenia, and not those in Azerbaijan, or in Georgia. And this means that the heads of the communist regime deliberately purged Armenia from the Azerbaijanis. Another unique fact is that Armenia was the only republic where, in contrast to all other republics, the second secretary of the central committee of the party was not an ethnic Russian, but an Armenian though the second person in the leadership of the USSR was Anastas Mikoyan. This significantly weakened the Kremlin supervision and thanks to this, even in the Soviet Armenia where only Armenians were in power uncontrollably flourished vandalism and ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis was carried out systematically.

As for the ethnic cleansing of architecture, today there is no ancient Azerbaijani city of Iravan - there is the capital of Armenia - Yerevan, the new city that has lost its individuality. Hawkish Armenian nationalism is dangerous because it can destroy other's centuries-old culture. The Armenian nationalists are dangerous because they are able to draw third countries into their provocations against Azerbaijan.

In the meantime, facts are stronger than the Armenian lies and provocations and namely historical facts, ancient sources and geographical maps prove that such a country as Armenia has never existed in the Caucasus before. That is why ancient chroniclers called their works not "History of Armenia" but "History of Armenians". It was in the Soviet times when the history of the newly-formed in 1920 Armenian republic was invented. They began to falsify names of these chronicles and publish them with a distorted title, like "History of Armenia".

For these falsifications, the so-called historical science of official Yerevan differs radically from the armenology of Europe and of the USA. Western scholars of even Armenian origin, unlike the scientists of the Republic of Armenia, rely solely on those credible documents that are contrary to the interests of the Armenian counterfeiters. American armenologists adhering to the truth in their writings consider Anatolia the territory of Turkey, which the world is accustomed to call Armenia, and for this reason, in modern Armenia, influential U.S. professors are subjected to severe obstruction.

The geographical concept of Armenia has always applied only to Minor Asia, and not to the Caucasus, and this historical truth concealed under heaps of falsifications must be brought home to the world community
Bolasie hopes to return before end of the year

Wednesday, 21 June, 2017







Yannick Bolasie says that he feels his long-term knee injury could make him a better player and that he is hoping for the perfect Christmas present  a return to the pitch before 2018.

Sidelined since December after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament and damaging the meniscus in the same knee, Bolasie has undergone two surgeries that threatened to keep him out of action until early next year.

Bolasie is hopeful of beating that early prognosis by completing his recovery by Christmas but, regardless of when he does return, he feels the injury will make him a more composed player and that he will emerge from his rehabilitation with his pace intact.

"Getting back in December would be the best Christmas present," the Congolese international told Mirror Sport. "A player like me always wants to be on the pitch.

"Strangely, I think that having this injury will give me the composure that I have been looking for. I know that will take my game to another level. I am going to be subconsciously more cautious with any sharp movements, but that should improve my game massively.

Article continues below video content

"My old managers  Alan Pardew and Tony Pulis  always felt I would gain more composure with age. Now I have had this injury, I think it will come, but I don't think I will lose my pace or my sprinting. And I feel strong already."

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A UAE delegation attended the meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) aiming to strategise and discuss collaboration among Asian countries in sustainable infrastructure development.



The second annual event was held for the first-time outside China, on Jeju Island in South Korea from June 16 to 18.



The UAE delegation was headed by Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, director general of Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and the UAEs alternate governor at the AIIB Board of Governors. Moreover, the meeting convened governors from member countries, partner institutions, civil society organisations, the media and leading experts from a wide range of specialisations.



As part of the agenda, the UAE delegation participated in a series of expert-led sessions which enabled member countries to share experiences, identify opportunities, highlight changing attitudes, examine best practices and spark debates to arrive at recommendations. Once implemented, these recommendations will lead to optimal development outcomes for Asian countries.



Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE Minister of State and the UAEs Governor at the AIIB Board of Governors, said: The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a crucial platform for cooperation among nations in order to promote sustainable socio-economic developments across Asia especially towards countries that need support.



The UAEs participation in the Asian Investment Infrastructure Bank is in line with the UAE leaderships directives, specifically its collaborative efforts to assist developing countries in addressing key development challenges. Moreover, emphasising the importance of international cooperation with regard to development aid, demonstrates the leaderships keenness in continuing the legacy of our founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, he added.



The second annual meeting of the AIIB Board of Governors, facilitated decisions and approvals for resolutions. It also included a collaborative roundtable session fostering the free flow of strategic ideas amongst the governors in regard to the banks infrastructure priorities and demands, financing, investment opportunities, policy and regulatory procedures.



Al Suwaidi said: Our participation in the second annual meeting of AIIB governors demonstrates the importance the UAE places on infrastructure development as a prerequisite for accelerating sustainable socio-economic development in emerging nations around the world. As one of the founding members of AIIB, our country seeks to effectively contribute to the growth and diversification of resources and concessionary loans dedicated to funding infrastructure projects across Asia.



The UAE has been funding infrastructure projects that help achieve sustainable development and enhance living standards in developing countries for more than 45 years. As a result, the UAE, in 2016, attained the title top world aid donor in the field of official development assistance (ODA) via a report by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This achievement had also been accomplished during the years of 2013 and 2014.



We are committed to leveraging our rich experience towards financing projects that meet Asias infrastructure needs and translate into long-term economic impact for the region. Through our attendance at the meeting, we hope to advance our cooperation with other Asian nations in areas of mutual interest, he added.



The UAE, alongside 76 other countries, joined AIIB as a permanent founding member in April 2015. The countrys contribution to the banks capital of $100 billion accounts for $1.185 billion. ADFD is mandated to represent the UAE at the bank. - TradeArabia News Service
Visa has announced that its Everywhere Initiative, an innovation programme designed to encourage the development of the next big thing in payments, will expand into the Mena region.



Entrants in Visas first-ever Mena Everywhere Initiative will have the opportunity to compete for a chance to win up to $50,000 to support a development program with Visa, or through business partnership with Visas clients, and potentially have access to Visa APIs, executive mentors and technologists.



In a highly dynamic industry, Visas Everywhere Initiative allows us to explore a host of ideas that solve business challenges, influence our product roadmaps, support our customers, and shape our culture of innovation, said Kamran Siddiqi, group executive - Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, Visa.



Currently, over 50 fintech start-ups are operating in Mena, with a majority of them from four main fintech hubs  UAE, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, with the UAE leading in frontier technology start-up sectors including money transfer, wealth management, insurance and cryptocurrency.



With over a hundred million dollars invested over the past ten years alone, the regions fintech industry is on the brink of a transformative breakthrough, and we believe the time is ripe to bring together its brightest minds and work on the next big idea in payments technology. With a clear goal of enabling cashless economies and financial inclusion, Visa is committed to fostering Menas entrepreneurial spirit and driving innovation in its payments landscape, added Karl Tlais, senior director - Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, Visa.



Beginning today, Visa invites eligible participants in the Mena region to submit their business solutions that apply to one of the following three briefs:



 Challenge #1. Acceptance Challenge. How can start-ups leverage Visa APIs for either:



 Enabling smaller merchants to accept payments in-store digitally, OR



 Providing a safe and secure solution for online merchants to drive ecommerce and reduce cash on delivery?



 Challenge #2. Airport Transit challenge. How can start-ups leverage Visas APIs, mobile technologies and connected devices to transform their transit experience at airports?



 Challenge #3. Loyalty Challenge. How can start-ups make it easier for consumers to select the right Visa card for their purchases and be notified about the right Visa offers and benefits at the right time?



Each challenge has been structured keeping in mind the niche dynamics of the local landscape. As the regions domestic merchants rapidly expand their digital commerce proposition, payment gateways also must evolve at a neck-to-neck speed to offer their customers a hassle-free shopping experience.



Lastly, in an increasingly competitive start-up market, loyalty programs have become one of the key ways to retain old customers and acquire new ones. Payment rewards being integral to these programs, have a lot of scope to become intuitive and responsive to cardholders needs.



Participants can access details on the Visas Everywhere Initiative form online. Participants have until August 4 to submit their ideas, after which judges from Visa will select three finalists per brief who will be invited to present their ideas to the judging panel in Visas Dubai office.



One winner per brief will be selected, and each will receive a $25,000 cash prize. Winners of the prize will be invited to a working meeting with Visa, and may be presented with the opportunity to create a prototype. Visa will then select one overall winner to receive an additional $25,000.



Visas Everywhere Initiative is part of a global implementation that is strategically important to the global payments companys goal of fostering the growth of next generation payment technologies. Currently, it has nearly fifteen hundred participating fintech start-ups across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.  TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) hosted its latest Auctions today (June 21) on behalf of Iraqs National Oil Company, Somo. This included the first cargo of Basrah Heavy crude sold via DME Auctions.

A two-million barrel cargo of Basrah Heavy was awarded at a premium of $1.18 over the August Basrah Heavy Official Selling Price (OSP), while a two-million barrel cargo of Basrah Light was awarded at $0.22 above the August Basrah Light OSP. This was the third cargo of Basrah Light sold via DME.  TradeArabia News Service
Expressions of Interests (EoIs) have been invited from private sector developers, co-investors, contractors and lenders for the construction of a new road and rail causeway linking Saudi Arabia and Bahrain which is estimated to cost $4 to $5 billion, said a report.

The ambitious project, which is aimed at easing congestion on the existing route, will be built on a public-private partnership (PPP) model, reported Reuters, citing sources who attended an industry consultation event in Manama, Bahrain.

The last date for submitting the EoIs has been set at June 29, stated the sources.

Advisers will be appointed in the first quarter of 2018 and pre-qualification requests are due to be issued in the second quarter of next year, they added.

The meeting in Manama was attended by officials from the transportation ministries of the two countries and more than 150 companies keen to take part in the mega project.

Besides a new four-lane road causeway running parallel to the existing one, there will be a new 70-km railway connecting a passenger terminal in Salmabad and freight facilities at Khalifa bin Salman port in Bahrain to the Saudi railway system.

The railway project is likely to be developed under a design, build, transfer, or design, build, maintain and transfer basis, the sources added.

The project is expected to be owned by the private sector through a new company with a 25-30-year PPP arrangement.

The existing 25-km King Fahd causeway, which has been open since 1986, received an average daily traffic of 31,000 passengers last year. But that is expected to double by 2030, said the Reuters report.



Once completed, eight million passengers are expected to use the rail link per year by 2050 and some 600,000 containers and 13 million tonnes of bulk freight are expected to be transported by the railway.
Iran plans to construct 6,500 km of railroads by 2022, the head of International Transportation Office at Iranian Railways was quoted as saying in a media report.



The figure also includes projects being developed, while the construction of further 3,500 km of railroads after 2022 is currently under study, Hossein Ashouri was quoted in an Iran Daily report, which cited Trend News Agency.



In the past four years, Iran invested $1 billion each year on railroad projects, and for the next five years the figure would reach $1.5 to $2 billion annually, general director of Islamic republic of Iranian Railways Saeed Mohammadzadeh was quoted as saying earlier.



Currently, Iran's railroad network extends to 10,170 km, the report said.



One of the railroad projects is the 175-km Rasht-Astara segment, which would require an investment of $1.1 billion. Upon its completion, the North-South Transport Corridor will become fully operational.
Amlak Finance, a leading specialised Sharia compliant real estate financier in the Middle East, has announced a key partnership deal with the Dubai Land Department (DLD).



This strategic co-operation aims at doubling customers properties, enhancing the investment appetite for the Dubai real estate market, and stimulating growth in the sector, said Arif Alharmi, the managing director and chief executive of Amlak Finance, after signing the deal with Sultan Butti Bin Mejren, the director general of the Dubai Land Department.



This follows Amlak Finances recent launch of its exclusive Double Your Property product to double customers properties through creating a suitable environment for real estate investors and promoting the real estate sectors contribution to the overall development of the emirate under the umbrella of DLD, he stated.



Under the deal, DLD will provide support to Amlak in identifying potential investors who qualify for this investment proposition.



This first-of-its-kind product targets resident and non-resident investors who have equity in UAE property. This includes individuals that have already purchased properties or those who have now reached the end of their finance or mortgage tenure, said Amlak in a statement.



The product will provide eligible investors with increased returns on their real estate investments as well as other attractive financing terms including refinancing options for up to 80 per cent of the current market value, it stated.



Alharmi said the company looked forward to offering its new Double Your Property product to wider audiences.



"At Amlak, we are continually enhancing products and services we offer to our customers in line with current demands and we believe this new offering is well-suited for the market. Our DLD partnership and recent product launch will further increase investment transactions in Dubai," he added.



On the tie-up, Bin Mejren said: "We are delighted to collaborate with Amlak Finance especially since this collaborative initiative is in line with our vision to promote Dubais position as the worlds premier real estate destination and a byword for innovation, trust and happiness."



"Such strategic partnerships will increase real estate transactions activity, provide a channel for non-residents to invest in the Dubai market, and at the same time it will encourage existing property owners to redirect investment to the real estate sector, and ultimately promote investment in the Dubai real estate sector on a global scale," he added.



Under this agreement, Amlak will also provide support for customers by facilitating the entire new investment process using the refinanced amount. Customers will be able to enjoy complete access to Amlaks diverse real estate portfolio and will receive a complementary property management services, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
Arcadis, a leading global design and consultancy firm for natural and built assets, said it has appointed Dr Kamiran Ibrahim as the new chief executive for its Middle East operations effective July 1.

Dr Ibrahim currently holds the position of managing director for UAE and Oman and will succeed Graham Reid, who has accepted a position at RES Group in the UK, said a statement from Arcadis.



Dr Ibrahim joined Hyder Consulting in the UK in 2003 and moved to the Middle East in 2006. Prior to the Arcadis' acquisition of Hyder Consulting in 2014, Dr Ibrahim held a number of senior executive leadership roles, including that of regional business director for teotechnics/tunnelling and regional managing director for the utilities/water sector.



Following the Arcadis acquisition, he assumed two regional roles at Arcadis - managing director of Qatar and the global business leader for water - prior to his current role leading the growth of the UAE and Oman businesses.



Dr Ibrahim is a civil engineer with over 30 years experience in business development and operations within contracting and consultancy firms across the Middle East, Africa and Europe.



He has a proven ability to drive and implement operational success in large international organisations. He holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Civil Engineering, a Master of Science degree in Highways and Traffic Engineering (MSc), and a PhD in Civil Engineering (Geotechnics).



Throughout his professional career, he has had key leadership involvement in the design and management of numerous high-profile international projects, aimed at improving quality of life of the people within their respective localities.



Stephan Ritter, Arcadis' executive board member responsible for Europe, UK, the Middle East and Global Excellence Centers, said: "We are grateful for Reids contribution to the integration of our activities in the Middle East and for building a resilient business in challenging times. Graham led the region with a strong focus on clients and successful project execution. We wish Graham all the best in his new role."



Welcoming Dr Ibrahim into the fold, Ritter said his unique combination of relentless client focus, outstanding track record and business acumen were amongst his strongest attributes.



"His significant leadership capability and deep understanding of the Middle East region, as well as Arcadis clients and people, make him a natural successor. I am delighted that he has accepted the CEO role in the Middle East, he added.



On his appointment, Dr Ibrahim said: "I am passionate about leading multi-disciplinary teams to overcome clients business challenges, and I am committed to bringing the very best of Arcadis to our clients."-TradeArabia News Service
Dubai-based DP World, a leading enabler of global trade and the Kazakhstan government have signed two agreements for the development of a Port Community System (PCS) and to integrate customs processes ahead of the Astana Economic Forum.



PCS is a one stop electronic platform developed by DP World company Dubai Trade that enables the exchange of information between organisations involved in maritime, inland and airport processes. The aim is to improve ease of doing business in Kazakhstans ports and freezones through paperless transactions that remove long queues in administrative offices, delays and duplication.



The first agreement was signed between DP World and the national company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) for the establishment of a joint venture company to implement and manage the PCS system with the aim of creating a multimodal transport corridor (the Eurasian Transcontinental Corridor), featuring automated logistics processes for cargo delivery and the unification of logistics centres, sea and dry ports into a single transport and logistics network.



The second MoU was signed between DP World, KTZ and the Committee of State Revenues of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Customs) to ensure the integration of customs processes into the online portal.



Kazakhstans potential as a key transit corridor for Chinas One Belt, One Road initiative can be realised by focusing on soft and hard infrastructure development that supports multimodal transport links, according to DP World Group chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.



Bin Sulayem was speaking at the Astana Economic Forum, an annual event that provides a platform for discussion on the worlds economic opportunities and challenges, and hosts government and business figures from more than 80 countries.



During his panel discussion that focused on the New Silk Road, he said that multimodal connectivity is key to realising the Kazakhstan Presidents path to the future vision, which includes the NurlyZhol  a $9 billion infrastructure spending programme  to help prepare a future-ready economy.



Our experience in Dubai and in the 40 countries where we operate globally has taught us that integrating services makes trade faster, safer and more efficient for our stakeholders attracting investment and helping business. Thats why these announcements today are important for Kazakhstan, providing smart trade solutions for the country and to increase efficiencies for business, said bin Sulayem.



We have experience of delivering this at our flagship operation in Jebel Ali, where the Dubai Logistics Corridor connects road, rail, air and sea transport providing seamless cargo movement through the Dubai Trade Portal with more than 50,000 transactions conducted each day.



Kazakhstan has tremendous potential and its leadership is working hard for its people  putting in place the right policies and procedures. It is at the crossroads of Asia and although landlocked President Nazarbayevs commitment to improve internal and external connectivity to avoid the transportation trap will propel growth. We are proud to be working with the government to build one of the largest transport and logistics hubs in the region, he added.



Earlier this year, DP World also announced its involvement in the development of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Aktau to boost trade and logistics in the country. It builds on DP Worlds management advisory services contract with the Port of Aktau, Kazakhstans main cargo and bulk terminal on the Caspian Sea.



The company also provides advisory services under a separate contract with Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), Kazakhstans national railway company, for the development of the Khorgos SEZ and Inland Container Depot.  TradeArabia News Service
Gulf Business Machines (GBM), one of the leading providers of IT solutions in the region and a major distributor for IBM products, has appointed Martin Tarr as its new chief executive officer.

In his new role, Tarr will be responsible for leading the overall, day-to-day operations of the company from GBMs Dubai headquarters and will be working closely with the companys branches in the region.

He brings with him a wealth of international experience across multiple disciplines to the job, having previously held several key IT leadership roles over the last 10 years in IBMs European and Middle East and Africa headquarters, said a statement from the company.

He was previously vice president of Global Technology Services for IBM for Middle East and Africa.

Welcoming Tarr into the fold, Nabil Iskandar, the chairman of GBM, said: "He brings over 30 years of IT experience and a proven track-record of leading and transforming businesses to capture new market opportunities in hardware, software, and services. We are confident that his knowledge and extensive experience across the GCC region will shape the future of GBM to the benefit of its customers."

Founded and operating in the region since 1990, GBM is the number one provider of IT solutions, leveraging industry leading technologies to drive real business results for clients. It is the sole distributor for IBM throughout the GCC excluding Saudi Arabia.

GBM offers an extensive range of IT infrastructure, solutions and services ranging from consulting, resource deployment and integration to after-sales support. The company has offices in the UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah), Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and Pakistan.

On his new role, Tarr said: "I am very excited to be given the opportunity to lead GBM through this exciting period of transformation in the industry."

"The digital era is having a profound effect on our clients businesses and I am confident that with GBM's capabilities and talented team, we will be able to capitalize on these new opportunities for the benefit of both our clients and our bottom line," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Sharjah Media Council has appointed Hassan Yaqoub Al Mansouri, director of Sharjah Radio at Sharjah Media Corporation, as acting secretary general.



Al Mansouri started his career in 2000 as a presenter, joining the Sharjah Media Corporation in 2006 serving in several senior positions. He has successfully presented many talk shows including, Al Khat Al Mubasher, which represents a turning point in interface between people and officials. He has also hosted numerous interactive programmes on special occasions.



The Sharjah Media Council was formed earlier this year by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah. Led by Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, the Council includes the Sharjah Government Media Bureau, the Sharjah Media Corporation (Radio & TV) and Sharjah Media City (free zone) and is aimed at strengthening the media sector and promoting a healthy, vibrant media climate in the Emirate.



The Sharjah Media Council held its first meeting under the leadership of Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi recently. The meeting was attended by Dr Khalid Omar Al Midfa, chairman of the Sharjah Media City, Mohammed Khalaf, director general of Sharjah Media Corporation, and Tariq Saeed Allay, director of Sharjah Government Media Bureau.



Speaking on the occasion, Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi said that Sharjah boasts a long and rich history of strong media presence in the region that has helped portray the Emirates march of progress on various fronts and the leaderships vision and policies positively and forcefully.  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
India-based engineering firm Sterling and Wilson has won both the turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operation and maintenance contract for the worlds largest single location solar photovoltaic (PV) plant at Sweihan in Abu Dhabi, UAE.



The plant is being jointly developed by Marubeni, a Japanese integrated trading and investment giant, along with Jinko, a global leader in the solar industry, and Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (Adwea).



Sterling and Wilson, one of the dominant global forces in the solar PV space, said the project will deliver a capacity of 1177 MWp, easily surpassing the current largest 850 MWp single location plant in China.



With construction already under way, the plant, which is spread over a desert area of 7.8 sq km, is scheduled to be fully integrated with the grid in a record timeline of just 23 months. To top it all, the project was awarded at the lowest ever recorded bid in the history of PV solar, stated the Mumbai-based Sterling and Wilson.



The Marubeni consortium had successfully bid a tariff of $2.42 cents per kilowatt hour, marking the lowest cost ever for solar power, it stated.



This is a positive demonstration of the promising future of clean energy, reducing the dominance of fossil-fuel-backed power plants.



Sterling and Wilson pointed out that the prestigious project would be playing a major role in helping Abu Dhabi achieve its aim of sustainability and energy diversification, through the use of clean energy/low carbon growth in accordance with the worlds vision of long-term environmental stewardship.



The plant, once commissioned, would save around seven million tonnes of carbon emissions every year, a number that would be a national landmark, it stated.



To put it in perspective, 1,177 MWp can power around 195,000 homes, thus contributing to the welfare of the current as well as the future generations of the people of the UAE, said a top official.



"We are fully geared and very excited to be a part of this important milestone in the global solar market," said Bikesh Ogra, the president for renewable energy at Sterling and Wilson.



"Owing to the favourable government policies, India is now the third largest market for solar in the world, allowing Sterling and Wilson the opportunity to become the leading solar EPC in the country. The company has created a global brand and has now grown to be the worlds largest solar EPC player outside US and China," he remarked.



Laying emphasis on the need to be competitive, Ogra said: "The strongest contributor to this tariff is the capital expense driven by lower equipment cost and a highly efficient system design. Our unique design offerings and state-of-the-art robotics optimises the yield and performance of the plant."



Sterling and Wilson also has to its credit 1400 MW of best-performing solar power plants in various geographies with a powerhouse of more than 3,000 qualified engineers, project managers and designers.



As the acceleration of growth in the energy sector has increased worldwide, Sterling and Wilson has ventured into the wind and energy storage sectors, covering the entire canvas in the renewable sector, said Ogra.



Backed by its robust resources in project management, project implementation and project engineering, with projects completed in the Philippines and South Africa, and a number of projects in Zambia, Niger and Morocco under construction, the company is fully geared to deliver more than 3,000 MW every year, he added.-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
Etihad Airways has once again been presented with three coveted awards for the Worlds Best First Class, Best First Class Onboard Catering, and Best First Class Airline Seat at the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards.



The event was held at the Musee de lAir et de lEspace, as part of the bi-annual Paris Airshow.



The prestigious World Airline Awards are widely considered to be a global benchmark of airline excellence. Winners are chosen based on the votes and findings of a 10 month survey of over 19 million air travellers from 105 countries. The survey covers over 325 airlines, from the largest international airlines to smaller domestic carriers, measuring quality standards for 41 KPIs across front-line product and service factors in the airport and onboard environments.



Linda Celestino, Etihad Airways vice president Guest Experience Delivery, said: This is a great honour for us  particularly as these awards mark the culmination of a global consumer satisfaction survey of millions of travellers around the world. Our First Class experience is unlike any other and has been tailored around exact requirements of those who wish to enjoy a truly bespoke hospitality experience, with the finest in-flight dining and amenities, incomparable levels of privacy and the genuine warmth and care for which we are known.



These awards not only recognise our drive for innovation and a superior guest experience, but also reinforce our commitment to First Class travel - an experience for which we have set the industry benchmark.



In recent years, Etihad Airways has won numerous accolades for its First Class service and cabin designs. This also marks the third time the airline has won all three First Class award categories at the World Airline Awards.



Edward Plaisted, chief executive officer of Skytrax, said: "Etihad Airways continues to be a market leader in first class air travel, illustrated by their excellent performance in this First Class section of the awards. It is a remarkable display of consistency to yet again secure this very prestigious set of awards and we congratulate them on this achievement."



Etihad Airways offers First Class private suites on a large number of its widebody fleet of aircraft. The A380 First Class cabin boasts nine First Apartments, unique living spaces which at 39-sq-ft in area, and feature a Poltrona Frau leather armchair and a separate ottoman which converts into a full-length 80.5 inch long bed. A dedicated shower room is available for exclusive use by First Class guests.



The Boeing 787s are equipped with eight private First Suites in a unique curved aisle setting, an airline industry first, with a 10 per cent increase in personal space. The forward and aft facing suites feature a large Poltrona Frau leather armchair which converts into an 80.5 inch fully-flat bed. They also feature 24 inch TV monitors, large dining tables for dual dining, personal wardrobes and privacy doors.



Etihad Airways three-class configured longhaul fleet of Boeing 777s and Airbus A330/A340 family aircraft also feature private First Class suites, with Poltrona Frau leather seating and cutting-edge features and amenities. - TradeArabia News Service
Kevork Deldelian has been named chief operating officer of Millennium Hotels & Resorts in the Middle East, assuming responsibility for the strategic direction of the group.



Bringing with him a wealth of strong Middle East experience, Deldelian will support the groups current portfolio of 29 hotels as well as drive the success of 40 future openings and continued expansion across the region.



A seasoned hospitality professional, Deldelian has garnered valuable experience with prominent international hotel brands across 14 countries, including Rotana Group, InterContinental Hotels Group and Qatar Airways Group Hotels. He joins from a position as vice president asset management at Tetra Hospitality Investment, the holding company for the Lakhraim Business Groups hospitality sector. Working closely with the chairman, Ali Hamad Lakhraim Alzaabi, he overlooked the performance of the Tetra owned hotels along with all future developments and acquisitions. Prior to this, he was regional director of The H Hotel Dubai, overseeing the strategy of the five-star property.



Commenting on the new appointment, Alzaabi said: We are delighted to have a business professional such as Kevork on board to lead the senior management team. With his strong owner relationships and a deep understanding of hotel operations, he is the perfect person to spearhead our expansion plans across the region whilst also ensuring the profitability of our current portfolio and delivering an exceptional experience to our guests.



Deldelian said: It is a privilege to assume this role and have the opportunity to work with Millennium Hotels & Resorts as it grows from strength to strength. I look forward to working with the team to ensure the Group continues to be the first choice for guests and delivers long-term value for owners throughout this growing and diverse region. - TradeArabia News Service
Gossip Cafe & Desserts is bringing its flair for luxury treats to this years Eid celebrations, with the launch of its new and exclusive Oriental Eid Collection.



The miniature delicacies are made using only the finest ingredients and are a designer Gossip twist on traditional Eid confections.



Gossips new sweets include the recreated Maamoul shortbread pastries with a modern infusion creating new flavours like rose, pistachio, fig, walnut and pine nut flavours in addition to Ghraybeh shortbread, Barazek sesame pistachio cookies, the Choclawa baklava with a range of mouthwatering fillings, and Asawer, which is based on the authentic Aleppine dish Eswaret As-Set.



The collection has been designed to share with loved ones at the most important time of year, when friends and families gather to celebrate the festivities with magnificent feasts. The sweets serve as the ideal gift or after dinner treat and pair particularly well with traditional Arabic coffee  another Gossip specialty.



Gossip Cafe & Desserts is the Euro-American fusion cafe with an Emirati twist, serving high-end gourmet savoury dishes and decadent desserts in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. Gossip Cafe & Desserts offers customers a hip and stylish gourmet ambiance, fresh and organic cuisine, a wide selection of retail merchandise, and bespoke events hosted for private parties or luxury brands. - TradeArabia News Service


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Last weekend, June 10-11, 2017, Boulder, Colorado-based ultrarunner Darcy Piceu set a new supported fastest-known time (FKT) on Perus Cordillera Huayhuash circuit. Nestled in west-central Peru, the Huayhuash is a sub-range of the Andes, 30 miles in length. The Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit, which circumnavigates the entire range, runs 85 miles with more than 25,000 feet of climbing. There are few access points for crews to hike in (or injured runners to bail out).

It was a natural choice for Piceu, 42, who has won Colorados punishing Hardrock 100 three times (among other impressive ultra wins, dating back to 2002). Piceu first learned about the Huayhuash through a film, which featured a group of bikers attempting the circuit.

They were doing a lot of hiking with bikes, which made me realize it would be even better for running, says Piceu. She learned that a few other people had fastpacked the route over multiple days, but only one personJared Vilhauer, 35, of Ridgeway, Coloradohad run the circuit, in 30 hours straight.

It seemed like exactly the kind of trails I love to run, she says. Mountainous and technical.

Piceu enlisted the help of Vilhauer and a few of his friends to crew and pacethe region is not only remote, but also has some history of violence, and she didnt feel comfortable running alone.

So much of the planning has to do with [] getting pacers and donkeys to the right spots, she says. Just to get to the start of the trail, you have to travel five hours from Huaraz to get to the town of Llamac.

With one aid stop in the middle of the route, Piceu ultimately finished in 29 hours 15 minutes. Trail Runner caught up with Piceu to learn about what she carried during her run, the routes biggest challenges and her plans for Hardrock later this summer.

Had you ever been to this region before?

I had never been to this area, but I hiked the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu 20 years ago.

What did you take with you for the FKT attempt?

[My pacer, Domingo Elias, and I] had to carry a fairly large pack, since we only had one point, at about 50K, where we had people meet us with extra food and clothing.

There, I resupplied and left with a full pack for the remaining 50 miles. The night was very cold and long (sunset at 6 p.m. and sunrise at 6 a.m.), so we had to carry a lot of clothing and food.

I treated water along the way with Katadyn soft-flask, filter water bottles, and carried a rain jacket, tights, a lightweight down jacket, long sleeve, a hat and gloves. For the second half of the route, I carried enough food for approximately 15 hours.

What was your strategy for the run, and did things go as planned?

The strategy was to run a conservative pace, because of the altitude, and to save my energy for the later miles. Since it was such a remote route, I took special precautions with running safely and not recklessly.

Do you run through any villages along the route?

Running in Peru is so different than anywhere in the U.S. In these remote mountains, you can be running through peoples farms filled with cows, sheep and dogs. There are also several points where you have to pay a camp fee even when you are just running through. The people manning these permit stations were in no rush, so sometimes we would wait for a while to pay.

Did you take breaks?

Normally I never stop for naps, but I got very tired during the long night section and slept twice for about 10 to15 minutes each. That was helpful. Once the sun came up, I felt rejuvenated.

What were some of the best moments of the run?

At Lake Carhuacocha, after about nine hours and 30 miles, it was uplifting [to meet with our friends].

One of the other incredible moments was reaching the high point, Cuyoc Pass, at 16,500 feet. It was dark at that point, but was exciting to have gotten that high.

What were the toughest moments?

After Lake Carhuacocha, the weather started to turn. We got rained on and then snowed on. The clouds looked pretty ominous; it was cold and I started to get concerned about staying warm through the night.

Mentally, it was tough, because I knew this was also the point of no return. There were no more bail-out points.

What did the locals think of your attempt?

Locals thought we were loco for attempting the Huayuash circuit in a day. In fact, when we told people, I dont think they believed us.

What are your goals and strategies for Hardrock this year?

I feel lucky to still be toeing the line at Hardrock. Its my favorite race. I love the people and the San Juans, and it feels like coming home.

I am getting to a place of accepting that I have nothing to prove there anymore, after winning three years in a row. Id like to show up, have fun and have a good day. If I can share miles with the other ladies out there, that would be a bonus.

What will you do between now and Hardrock?

Im still recovering from Peru. Im eating a lot, resting, biking, doing yoga and getting in some short runs. My hope is that I can recover well and simply maintain fitness until Hardrock. I will try to focus on getting in some shorter, higher-intensity runs at altitude over the next few weeks.

[Editors note: the July issue of Trail Runner magazine includes a feature story about a two-day fastpacking trip on the Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit]
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Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has yet to announce the experts who will lead a two-month examination of Obama-era plans to protect the imperiled sage grouse, a bird that lives across the West and is facing significant population declines.

Whoever those experts may be, the Western governors request their attendance at an upcoming meeting in Montana.

Gov. Matt Mead along with the leaders of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Nevada want to be directly involved in the recently announced 60-day review of federal strategies to protect the sage grouse.

In a letter to Zinke on Tuesday, the governors asked that the feds initiate their promised partnership with the states at a meeting next week in Whitefish, Montana.

Developing management plans to balance crucial economic drivers like oil and gas development with eroding habitat that the bird needs to survive was a herculean task from western states, environmental advocates, land owners and oil and gas companies. The strange bedfellows were united to stave off an endangered species listing. The decision not to list the bird was announced in late 2015.

However, the plans are due for re-examination, if not change, Zinke said in an interview with reporters June 7, citing Western anger over federal overreach. Zinke also said that a number of Western governors had sought such a move.

The leaders of the six Western states did not address that claim in their letter. But they did remind the secretary of their expertise in all matters sage grouse and of his pledge to improve the plans by including more state input.

We appreciate your acknowledgement of the western states considerable role in conserving greater sage-grouse and would further emphasize the importance of including state officials as substantive participants in any federal review of current land use plans, the letter states.

Environmental groups balked at a number of Zinkes comments when the review was announced. Of particular concern was Zinkes mention of switching from habitat focus to population targets, which biologists say will harm the bird in the long run. Others say the impending ESA decision had rushed leaders as they formulated a plan. A review of the federal strategies is an opportunity for improvement, they say, not a threat.

Zinke said the review was an attempt to bring sage grouse management in concert with other federal priorities like President Donald Trumps Energy Independence executive order. Support for energy development was a major push in Trumps campaign.

A request to the Interior Department for the names of the sage grouse experts leading the review was not answered by press time.

The Western Governors Association has been instrumental in efforts to address the declining population of the bird due to eroding habitat in the West.

The groups Sage Grouse Task Force  which meets next week in Montana  was convened in 2011 to create a leadership arm across the birds wide habitat area.

Wyoming has been a leader in sage grouse conservation, and the federal plans have an outsized impact in the state. Not only does the largest share of the birds habitat lie in Wyoming, but nearly half of Wyomings surface and mineral rights fall under federal management.

Wyoming receives about three-fourths of its income from the oil, gas and coal industries, which also use federal lands.

According to a recent study by Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Wyoming has the biggest challenge balancing development and sage grouse habitat. About 10 percent of the birds habitat in the state is currently leased to oil and gas development, and about 32 percent of the birds key habitat holds high potential for future oil and gas drilling, according to the study.

Tuesdays letter is the third to Zinke on the issue of sage grouse that bears Meads signature. In earlier correspondence, Mead advised caution in regard to population targets and insisted the plans shortcomings are likely minor.
The 6-year-old fell from the wagon tongue and tumbled under the covered wagon. Two wheels ran over the boy, a fellow traveler wrote in his journal.

Joel Hembree died the next day in July of 1843. The boys grave near Douglas is the oldest known along the Oregon Trail. The family had been traveling since May from Missouri and had no choice but to bury him and move on.

The grave is one of the stops along the Summer Pioneer Trail Treks hosted by the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. The first trail trek is June 24 and focuses on children along the emigrant trials. The children brought hope but also despair to many travelers, according to the description for the trek.

The museum features the Oregon, California, Mormon and Pony Express Trails, over which some 500,000 people crossed through the middle of Wyoming from 1841 to 1868. The treks follow sections of the trail and sites from Fort Laramie to South Pass.

Many of last years participants were surprised at the sights you can still see, like graves, wagon ruts and names pioneers left on landmarks, Trails Center employee Jason Vlcan said. He and the other trek leaders plan to tell stories about pioneers and read from some their journals along the treks.

You can learn about the history, Vlcan said. But when you come out on these trail treks, you get to see the history and imagine it and be on the trail and experience it.

Tangible history

Vlcan stopped at the small, black headstone of Joel Hembree last month. Its one thats always given him pause as a father himself.

Imagine the pain he was going through, and as a parent to see your child suffer like that, Vlcan said later. And then just burying him and leaving.

Near the grave is an intact well and other signs remaining from a Pony Express station built years after the Hembree family passed through.

The treks visit many sites on public property, and the trek leaders also have gained permission from some private landowners to visit sites like Hembrees grave.

Historic trails scholar and author Randy Brown is another one of the leaders of the treks. The Douglas resident and retired teacher has pieced together many stories of pioneer journeys through Wyoming and the West by tracking down descendants along with newspapers, journals and other records. Several signs from the BLM and Oregon-California Trails Association at historic sites offer information from his research.

Pioneer graves and inscriptions particularly interest Brown.

Its something tangible you can go out and see, he said. Theyre kind of a relic.

Explore the stories

Various treks themes explore the continuum of trail experiences, from level roads to mountain terrain, misfortunes, adventure, those who were lost and those who reached their destinations, said Shawn Wade of the Trails Center, who also helps lead the treks.

The Pioneer Trail Treks series brings to life many pioneer struggles and triumphs, including river crossings  which could bring both. Many livestock, belongings and even lives were lost.

The Casper area was where many pioneers made a last crossing along the North Platte River before heading out for a two- to three-day push toward their next waterway, the Sweetwater River.

A lot of journals talk about being sad, because they were following this river for so long, Vlcan said. It provided everything they needed. It was their highway map per se. Imagine getting comfortable with something for 450 miles for a month or two, and now youre leaving it and have to go across this desert.

Some of the major North Platte crossing points near Casper included Reshaws Bridge in Evansville and Guinards Bridge at Fort Caspar.

A replica bridge end stands at a park in Evansville, in the area where French entrepreneur John Richard, often known as Reshaw because of the francophone pronunciation, built the first bridge on the North Platte River at his bustling trading post. Bridges were much safer than fording the river, but their owners charged steep prices, especially when the river was high, Vlcan said.

Pioneer journals often describe the crossings, and some travelers had to wait a week or two because the crossing points were so busy. Then they could be further delayed with a little bad luck  like having to search for a lost cow. It might also be too windy for ferries, which could be dangerous, Vlcan said.

Pioneers faced heavy decisions at the crossings as they balanced safety with money concerns, Wade said.

Some of the trek series also explores changing geography in Wyoming. Pioneers approached the mountains and faced the most difficult terrain toward the end of their journeys. By then, supplies often had dwindled, and travelers and livestock grew tired, Wade said.

Trek participants also can explore sites like Independence Rock, where pioneers carved their names as they passed through.

Some treks will visit wagon ruts worn deep into rock and wagon swales. White OCTA markers point out many swales, which are depressions in the ground where the thousands of wagons wore grooves into the earth. Many can be seen off roads just outside Casper, and participants can even walk in some of them.

Once you see it and recognize it, then you know, Vlcan said, pointing out swales off Highway 20/26 near Glenrock.

He hopes the treks spark interest in the trails and their stories.

It gives them a starting point for them  to do more research and go explore more, Vlcan said, and see wonderful places is Wyoming along the way.
Thursday support meetings

Alcoholics Anonymous: 6:30 a.m., 917 N. Beech; 8:30 a.m., 500 S. Wolcott; 10 a.m., 328 E. A; noon, 500 S. Wolcott; 2 p.m., 917 N. Beech; 5:30 p.m., 328 E. A; 7 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, closed; 8 p.m., 328 E. A; 8 p.m., 4600 S. Poplar, closed; 8 p.m., 917 N. Beech. Douglas: 7:30 p.m., 628 E. Richards (upstairs in back). Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are open. Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: (307) 351-1688.

Al-Anon: 7 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200. Douglas: 5 p.m., Congregational United Church, 405 N. 6th St.

Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 8 p.m., 4700 S. Poplar (church basement). Web site: http://www.urmrna.org.

Muni ladies golf pairings

June 22, 8 a.m., start, pairings by flight. For changes or additions, please call pro shop, 233-6620.

Park #1, McCarrel, Meyer, Pfiefer; Links #9A, Balas, Bain, Schneider; Links #9B, Wheatley, Haydel, Marsh; Links #8A, Fancher, Warren, Ortiz; Links #8B, Marquez, Neuberger, Farmer; Links #7A, Stolte, Chadwick, G. Clark; Links #7B, Santoni, N. Clark, TBA; Links #6A, Hansen-Pingel.

Dog park closed this week

City crews will close the Lake McKenzie Dog Park in order to conduct maintenance. The work will include weed control, tree trimming and maintenance, mowing, and other general park maintenance. To ensure the safety of dogs and their owners, the park will be closed to the public. The park will reopen at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 23.

City crews will be applying herbicides which require the area to be free of people and pets for at least four hours and we will also be using equipment for the spraying and for the tree work, so for the safety of the public we are closing the park, said parks manager Dan Coryell. The closure is only for the fenced-in dog park and does not include the informal park area near the pond. Dog owners are encouraged to use the Morad Park off-leash area during the closure. Per city ordinance, dogs are only allowed to be off-leash at Morad and Lake McKenzie parks.

Last day for free books

The annual end of school year book discard by Natrona County School District will be held at North Casper Elementary School, 1014 Glenarm St. The last day is Thursday, open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

4teens @ 4: Stellar accessories

The Natrona County Library will host a crafting program for teens entering grades 7-12 at 4 p.m. in the Crawford Room. Create a variety of eclipse-inspired stellar accessories with beads, bands and paracord. All supplies provided. Call 577.READ x101 for more information.

St. Pats sale begins

St. Patricks Catholic Church, 4th and Country Club, annual mega garage sale is Thursday through Saturday. Sale hours are 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday for a $5 entry fee; Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon with free admission both days and a clearance sale on Saturday. Proceeds are donated to local charities.

Lunch at Food for Thought

With summer here, its time to think about keeping children healthy while school is out. Wyoming Food for Thought Project provides free meals to children during the summer. This summer, meals will be served at our program center located at 900 Saint John in north Casper on Monday through Friday at noon. There are no income requirements or registration. Anyone age 18 or younger may come to eat. For more information, contact (307) 337-1703 or visit www.wyfftp.org

Each year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture partners with local organizations like Wyoming Food for Thought Project to provide free meals to children when school is out for the summer.

Outdoor pools open

The City of Casper outdoor swimming pools are open. Caspers outdoor pools include Washington Park Pool, 851 S. Jefferson; Marion Kreiner Pool, 1120 N. Kimball; Mike Sedar Pool, 781 College Dr., and Paradise Valley Pool, 5200 W. Iris.

Pools are open:

Washington Park, Monday through Friday, noon to 1 p.m., adult fitness swim; 1 to 6 p.m., open swim; Saturday, 1 to 6 p.m.

Paradise Valley, Monday through Friday, noon to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 1 to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m.

Marion Kreiner, Monday through Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m.

Mike Sedar, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 6 p.m.

Daily admission fee for all swimmers at Marion Kreiner and Washington Park Pool is $3.50; Paradise Valley Pool and Mike Sedar Pool is $4.50 per swimmer. Parents and providers are reminded that all children aged 7 and under must be accompanied by an adult in the water.

Season passes to enjoy all pools this summer are now available. A season pass, or any increment of a Casper Family Aquatic Center Pass, is all that is needed for unlimited admission to Washington Park Pool, Mike Sedar Pool, Paradise Valley Pool, Marion Kreiner Pool and the Casper Family Aquatic Center this summer.

Better Breathers meet

The next Better Breathers Club support group will meet from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the Nerd Health and Wellness Center at Wyoming Medical Center, 1233 E. Second St.

An educator from the oxygen company Lincare will give a presentation on the different modes of oxygen therapy and answer questions about oxygen equipment.

Designed by the American Lung Association, the Better Breathers Club is a support group for patients with chronic lung diseases and their caregivers.

It offers tools and encouragement for managing COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, lung cancer and other chronic lung disorders. It is locally facilitated by the NERD Health and Wellness Center.

The club meets on the fourth Thursday of every month and offers presentations on exercise, breathing techniques, supplemental oxygen, general medication education, among other topics. For questions or to sign-up for the Better Breathers Club, call 577-2929.

Community impact at Pizza Ranch

Pizza Ranch, 5011 E. Second St., hosts Community Impact nights from 5 to 9 p.m. normally on Mondays and Wednesdays. Members of nonprofit groups bus tables for tips, and 20 percent of meal tickets from diners who mention the group are donated as well. Dine-in, delivery or pickup orders qualify. Thursdays nonprofit is Casper College Robotics.

Eagle Scout organizes dinner

A young man earning his Eagle Scout badge has organized a J.R.s Hunt; for life fundraiser/soup dinner. It is Thursday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 1511 S. Melrose in Casper. Come enjoy great food and good company to raise money for suicide prevention and awareness. Free will donation, raffles and door prizes. One of J.R.s professional outdoor photos will be raffled also.

Concert in the park

The Casper Municipal Band performs most Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. at Washington Park band shell. Concerts are free. Those attending may want to take blankets or chairs, as well as bug spray, sunscreen and an umbrella. Thursdays program features vocalist Alicia Roberts and a selection of Disney tunes.

Summer food sites for kids

Summer is right around the corner, and its time to think about keeping children healthy while school is out. Once again, the Natrona County School District is partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide free meals to children when school is out for the summer. There are no income requirements or registration. Any child under age 18 may come to eat. For more information, contact 307-253-5205.

Meals will be served Monday through Friday at the following locations: Verda James Boys & Girls Club site, 11:30 a.m., to August 25; YMCA, 11 a.m., to September 1; Salt Creek Recreation Center in Midwest, 11:30 a.m., to August 25; Casper Recreation Center, 11:15 a.m., to Aug. 31; Boys and Girls Club main branch, 11:30 a.m., to August 25; Paradise Valley Boys & Girls Club site, 11:30 a.m., to August 25.
High expectations will greet Caspers new city manager when he starts the job next week. City Council members have placed great hopes on Carter Napier to help cut spending and amend Caspers new budget, which was approved at Tuesdays meeting and will take effect July 1.

At least five of the panels nine members expressed significant reservations about the budget proposed by Interim City Manager Liz Becher, but after several budget meetings, they agreed to approve it with the understanding that Napier will review it and presumably find areas to cut.

Napier is currently the city administrator of Gillette and previously worked for Casper as an assistant to then-city manager Tom Forslund. His first day as Casper city manager is Monday.

Were bringing in a guy who understands reality, said Councilman Dallas Laird. He will think about this budget deeply.

Laird was the lone vote against the $129 million budget, which uses about $4 million in reserves and which Assistant City Manager Tracey Belser said represented a $50 million cut from last years budget. Most of that spending reduction came in capital costs.

Councilman Shawn Johnson said he was also uncomfortable with some aspects of the budget but put faith in Napier to examine it.

A lot of us have some concerns about the budget still, but the point is to pass this, let the new city manager come in, take a look at it and then fix it later, Johnson said. The budget can always be amended.

Supported by Council members Chris Walsh and Jesse Morgan, Laird successfully requested that Becher and city staff offer potential cuts that would eliminate the need to spend any reserves.

Staff presented about $18 million in possible cuts, with the largest savings coming through major layoffs of municipal workers and the shuttering of facilities, but Council ultimately declined to act on the vast majority of them.

Longtime Councilman Charlie Powell cautioned that despite Napiers qualifications, it was unlikely he would find ways to save significant amounts of money that have not already been proposed.

Carter Napier cant print money, Powell said. I think we should be careful about our expectations with the new city manager and not expect him to ride in on a white horse and solve a problem weve been wrestling with for some time.

Powell said the central question was whether Casper should subsidize recreation for residents. He noted the cuts that would save the most money were largely quality-of-life programs like Hogadon Ski Area, city pools and park maintenance.

City Council unanimously approved Napiers contract on Tuesday. His selection as the replacement for V.H. McDonald, who abruptly retired in April, was announced earlier this month.

Napier oversaw Gillettes budget during the worst of the energy downturn, ultimately slashing $60 million in city spending there.

Napier said reserves provide an important way for cities to transition to a lower level of spending but that his goal was to create a budget that does not rely on savings.

But he may disappoint Council members hoping for an austerity budget in Casper. In an interview two weeks ago, Napier said that Casper must to remain competitive with nearby states  most of which are not suffering an economic slump  in order to attract businesses and keep residents. That means maintaining many of the municipal amenities that Powell said spending decisions hinge on.

Its a real conundrum, Napier said.
Contract negotiations over a planned cellphone tower in central Casper have broken into public view, despite insistence by the City Attorneys office that nothing is amiss and concern that discussing the talks publicly could hurt the citys leverage.

Verizon Wireless received permission from the citys planning and zoning commission in September to build a cellphone tower adjacent to Mike Sedar BMX Park, near Casper College.

Since then, assistant city attorney Wallace Trembath has been negotiating with Verizon over the terms of the lease. But Councilman Jesse Morgan is concerned that the pace of those negotiations may be too slow and Trembaths demands may be too high.

Morgan said he has heard from at least one person with knowledge of the contract talks.

Its just been kind of troublesome from Verizons standpoint in terms of trying to finalize that agreement, Morgan said in an interview. They said there were some hangups.

Morgan brought the issue up at last weeks Council work session while Trembath was presenting on the citys overall policy toward cellphone towers.

Trembath defended the negotiations and said that he was simply trying to ensure Casper received a fair lease price after historically being low-balled by cellphone companies.

Trembath acknowledged that Verizon had said Caspers requested price was on the high end of standard leases but he believed that was reasonable.

I would really prefer Council did not get involved with the terms and conditions of the lease, Trembath said. If you politicize it and make them get the sense they can get a better deal by coming through Council, were going to get a worse deal.

Few details are publicly available about the contract negotiations, including the length of the lease or range of prices being discussed.

A representative for the City Attorneys office said Trembath would not speak to the media, and a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Lease rates for cellphone towers averaged $1,300 per month nationally in 2016, according to Steel in the Air, a cell tower leasing information website.

The same article stated that due to increased competition between major cellphone carriers, there has been a general effort by the wireless service providers to lower their ongoing lease related costs.

If you are negotiating with Verizon, you will undoubtedly come across this, author Ken Schmidt wrote.

Morgan said he was concerned Casper was not providing a friendly environment for businesses like Verizon.

If people are calling Verizon and saying, Hey I dont have cell coverage here, and then Verizon responds that the city of Casper isnt easy to deal with... then what do we do? he asked.

In documents presented to the planning commission, a Verizon representative stated that the planned tower at Mike Sedar park came after unsuccessful attempts to lease space from Casper College and a nearby church.

Although Verizon Wireless has several sites in and around the City of Casper, there is a need for a new facility in the densely populated area surrounding the proposed site, wrote site acquisition specialist Irene Cooke.

Trembath said that, in general, companies like Verizon will resist giving in to the citys demands until they truly need the additional capacity provided by a new tower, at which point they will agree to the citys terms.

Councilman Dallas Laird also pushed back against Morgans concerns that the citys stance in negotiations was driving away business. Companies like Verizon, Laird said, were too large to need individual council members to defend them.

I will tell you one thing, Jesse, Laird said. Verizon doesnt care about us or you.

In the interview, Morgan said he respected Trembath and Lairds stance. But regardless, Morgan said, Casper should be making it easier, not more difficult, for Verizon to do business in the city.

Trembath said Verizon had already backed down on a major sticking point after insisting that doing so was incompatible with their business model.

If they need to change their business model, they need to change it, Trembath said. And they can  but they dont if they politicize it.

Morgan said that ship had sailed. With constituents contacting him about poor reception in the area and remaining doubts about Trembaths contract demands, Morgan said he plans to continue monitoring the issue.

Its going to be politicized, Morgan said.
Prosecutors charged a Natrona County man with three felonies for allegedly sending sexual messages to a 13-year-old girl and previously exposing himself to her on a camping trip.

Jason Lee Parks pleaded not guilty to three counts of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor Wednesday during his arraignment in Natrona County District Court. Each charge carries a maximum potential sentence of 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Agents with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation began looking into the case in March after the girls mother reported that Parks was sending her daughter inappropriate text messages, court documents show.

The girl gave her phone to investigators, who found text messages between the teen and Parks beginning in March. In the messages, Parks asks for sexual pictures of the teen in revealing clothing. He also sent a picture of himself that clearly showed an outline of his clothed genitalia, the documents state.

He also sent a sexually explicit message to the teen about him masturbating and offered to send her a video of the act.

In an interview at the Childrens Advocacy Project, the teen told investigators that Parks exposed himself to her during a 2013 camping trip with her family. The girl said that Parks warned her not to tell her mother.

Parks remained free Wednesday after posting $20,000 bond.
Matthew Loucks, the chairman of the board of trustees for Casper College, has announced his resignation, effective immediately.

Loucks, the son of current Rep. Bunky Loucks, is moving out of the district he represents as a member of the board, forcing his resignation, according to a college press release. The board will appoint an interim member to fill Loucks role until 2018, when an election will be held to decide who will serve the remainder of Loucks term, which ends in 2020.

Loucks was elected in 2012 and has served as treasurer and chairman of the board. He told the Star-Tribune on Wednesday that he is moving his business, Wyoming Insulation, to Sheridan. A business partner will run the Casper side of the business.

Loucks said he had been looking to move for some time and told board members a few weeks ago that he had purchased a house in Sheridan. He formally announced his resignation at Tuesday nights board meeting, he said, after everything had become official.

The move comes at a time of significant change at the school. Three of the schools five deans have either been removed or left the college so far this year. President Darren Divine, who took charge of the college in fall 2015, has also faced accusations of unprofessionalism from faculty members.

The schools Faculty Senate passed a resolution noting substantial concern about Divine, specifically his alleged lack of timely and respectful communication, questionable adherence to chain of command, limited use of shared governance in decision making, and erratic, unprofessional behavior. Divine and the board have declined to comment on those allegations.

However, Divine responded to the senates resolution with a letter affirming his support for shared governance and saying he had apologized after the very small number of negative interactions hes had with college faculty and staff.

The college has also faced budget cuts of up to 10 percent in the wake of the states economic situation.

Loucks said the decision was a purely personal and business decision and denied that it was influenced by any issues at the college. He said he had nothing but positive things to say about the college.

The time at the college has been great; Ive learned a lot, he said. The college has a lot for the community. I want to emphasize that. Casper College is quite the institution.
It was sometime between the hectic taxi stand at the airport and the trip to our New York City hotel that I realized just how different the pace of life can be in different places.

My boyfriend, my parents and I visited the city for a long weekend recently. It was a special occasion  Fathers Day on the same weekend as a milestone birthday for my dad  and we had arranged to meet up there for a couple of days to celebrate and take in a show.

We were not alone.

When you live in Wyoming, its easy to take certain things for granted. You always make the light and lines are never that long. Airport security lines are rarely a significant factor in your travel schedule, and you almost never feel underdressed.

In New York, things are different. Theres very little space and very little time. Everything is a fight. Cab and Uber drivers honk and jostle aggressively for position as traffic flows  or comes to a standstill  around the citys boroughs. Waiting for a table at a restaurant can take hours. Mailbox-sized apartments run thousands of dollars per month. Streets are crowded with an endless crush of people, all looking to snag the next subway or taxi or spot in line.

The options, of course, are welcome  its unequivocally great to, on any given evening, be able to choose theater, a major league game or any of the absorbing museums that dot the city, plus any of the dazzling array of options beyond that, like restaurants and bars and shopping. With all the people and noise and buzz, the atmosphere is charmingly chaotic, at least for a few days. Plus  and I am showing my Wyoming colors here  the variety of food choices is jaw-dropping. You can have grilled cheese or warm cookies delivered at 3 a.m. if you want.

So its easy to understand why people have flocked to New York and other major cities. Theres an energy there, a sense of unbridled possibility at every leafy, steamy intersection. People-watching is a particular joy of mine, and the city is one long parade of interesting characters and clothing Ill never get tired of watching.

But as we marveled and dodged sweaty crowds in Central Park and Columbus Circle, I let my thoughts drift back to Wyoming, where life unfolds at a different pace. Without subway timetables and two-hour waits for a meal, we have time to breathe and think and enjoy the beautiful wild spaces that surround us. We arent under the same pressure to look glossy and stylish, which is good because the wind would never let us anyway. Here, its easier to just be.

The whirlwind weekend with my parents, whom I adore and miss every day, was everything I wanted it to be. But when I finally dropped my suitcase inside the front door and stepped back out to the porch for one more breath of the cool, dark Wyoming night, I couldnt help but feel glad to be home.
Four homes have been destroyed and more than 120 are threatened by a wildfire in Sonoita, officials said Wednesday morning.

Some 100 firefighters are fighting the Encino Fire which they say so far has burned eight structures, including the four homes, and spread to more than 1,300 acres, officials said.

Power is out in a lot of the area because several power poles were burned, though crews were working to restore power where it is safe to do so.

The Encino Fire began about 8 p.m. Tuesday forcing evacuations around Sonita, which is about 45 miles southeast of Tucson.

No injuries have been reported.

Two shelters have been set up  one at the Sonoita Fairgrounds and another at Harvest Christian Fellowship Church, authorities said.

Officials said Wednesday the cause of the fire is unknown, but there was lightning in the area.

Firefighters are dealing with extreme heat today as they battle the fire. Air resources are assessing whether they need to use retardant.

Officials will make sure firefighters are hydrated and safe during the heat wave that has brought extreme temperatures to parts of Arizona, said Tiffany Davila, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management told the Associated Press today.

Mark Beres of Flying Leap Vineyards said Tuesday night that he could see the flames and smoke from his property, which is on Elgin Road, a couple miles from what he believes is the fires epicenter.

Im standing in our winery right now and I can see the flames and I can see the smoke. I would say its five miles from our property, he said Tuesday night as the wind out here is blowing like mad and its raining.

Beres said he saw lightening strikes burning down the southern sky along the surrounding mountain ranges.

Fellow Sonoita winemaker James Callahan of Rune Wines at 3969 Arizona Highway 82 said he saw the flames and saw structures burning.

Beres said Sonoita, with its dry grasslands, is a tinder box. He drove in from his home in Tucson to the winery and along the way, he saw truck after truck after truck hauling livestock. Theres a lot of livestock grazing out here now.

Im just hoping everybody is safe, he said.
What better way to light up the night than a safe, controlled ignition of a gas. Arizona Daily Star photographer Kelly Presnell revisited neon signs that dot the landscape in Tucson. Many are a throwback to a time when a handful of longtime restaurants, hotels and bars served a smaller city, and motor hotels beckoned thousands of Americans traveling interstate highways after World War II.

Neon is a signature for many Tucson businesses, such as Carusos Italian Restaurant and Hotel Congress (the first to be designated a landmark sign). While desirable, its an expensive way to market a business.

Neon signs were introduced in the U.S. in 1923 with two signs at a Packard dealership in Los Angeles. They were carefully constructed using blown lead-glass tubing, filled with pricey neon or argon gas and lit using a high voltage transformer. However, a well-built neon sign can have a life of more than 30,000 hours  roughly three and a half years.

The Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation has led efforts to preserve Tucsons neon signs. It has educated the public on the historic value of the signs and worked with the city to revamp the sign code to encourage restoration. In 2012, the foundation, working with Pima Community College, restored and reinstalled a group of historic neon signs along West Drachman Street on the PCC Downtown campus.

For dozens more photos, go to tucson.com/neon. Theres link to The Neon Pueblo, a downloadable PDF guide to neon signs in Tucson produced by the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation.
We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some June 21 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  A major national bank has agreed to stop charging debit card fees to newly discharged Arizona prison inmates that it does not charge to others.

In a deal unveiled Tuesday, Bank of America will no longer require the inmates, who get the cards with their account balances from the state on their release, to pay $15 just to ask a teller how much they have left in their account. Gale Zylstra, released after 20 years after being convicted of second-degree murder, said the situation was even worse, with the bank charging the fee even when a teller could not tell her how much was on the card.

And there were other disparities.

For example, each withdrawal, even from a Bank of America automated teller, costs former inmates $1.50, a fee not charged to other customers.

Calling the bank for information cost $2.50; regular customers, according to the lawsuit, get one free call a month, with additional ones at a rate of $1.50.

Two advocacy groups, Reinventing Reentry and the Arizona Justice Alliance, filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Zylstra and two other former inmates. Now the bank has agreed not only to stop the special charges but to refund more than $168,000 it has collected since 2012.

The bank also will pay about $117,000 in legal fees.

In agreeing to the deal, the bank is not admitting it did anything wrong.

This was a standard pre-paid card program with transparent terms, said bank spokesman Will Wilson. We believe that resolving the matter is in the best interests of everyone involved.

Zylstra had a different take on the issue.

I think it was wrong for the bank to take advantage of people coming out of prison, she said.

The issue stems from the fact that when inmates are released, they have money in their personal accounts. That includes what they earned behind bars and any funds that friends and relatives have put into those accounts for things like buying items.

Department of Corrections spokesman Andrew Wilder said his agency used to issue checks to newly released inmates. He said many found these difficult to cash or found that check-cashing services had significant fees.

And cash is burdensome for the agency, and an inappropriate method to provide release funds for a number of reasons, not the least of which it represents a security risk to the agency, Wilder said.

He said the decision was made to put each inmates balance onto a pre-paid debit card.

The lawsuit did not name the Department of Corrections.

Dianne Post with the Arizona Justice Alliance said the decision was made by attorneys that it would be far easier  and far more likely successful  to simply sue the bank to both get a refund and block the practice in the future.

But Post, at a Tuesday press conference, questioned why the state would ever consent to such an arrangement that financially penalized people just as they were getting out of prison  and just as they were the most financially vulnerable.

Wilder, however, said each inmate receives a clear, detailed fee sheet, written in English and Spanish.

The settlement by Bank of America may provide only temporary relief for inmates.

Wilder said the state is due to seek new proposals from financial institutions in 2018, saying that a new contract may lead to a different and perhaps more favorable fee schedule. But Post said if the new contract calls for fees different than what a bank charges for other debit card customers, her organization will be back in court with a new lawsuit.
PHOENIX  Dreamers are not in this country legally and not entitled to reduced tuition available to in-state students, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

In a unanimous decision, the judges rejected the arguments by attorneys for the Maricopa County Community College District that students legal status under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program means the federal government considers them to be legally present in the country. The college governing board used that argument in 2013 to institute a policy to say that DACA recipients no longer had to pay non-resident tuition.

But Judge Kenton Jones, writing for the court, said thats 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.

Jones noted, however, that in 2006 Arizona voters approved Proposition 300, which says in-state tuition is reserved only for those with lawful immigration status. And he said the decisions by the Obama administration to let those who arrived in this country illegally as children to remain  and even to work  do not translate into the recipients eligibility for in-state tuition or other state and local public benefits.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who challenged the decision by the Maricopa colleges to offer in-state tuition, said the appellate court reached the right decision.

When it comes to lawful presence, that does not equate to lawful immigration status, he told Capitol Media Services. Weve always maintained that whoever the president is, he cant unilaterally change someones legal immigration status.

More to the point, Brnovich said the ruling simply upholds the will of the voters.

I think Arizona voters clearly sent a message when they passed Prop. 300 that those that were in this country undocumented, that they would not be given public benefits, he said.

But Victor Viramontes of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which represents affected DACA recipients, said he reads federal laws allowing the creation of deferred-action programs to give people the legal right to stay. And he said the state cannot decide for itself who is here legally and who is not.

And Karina Ruiz, board president of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, vowed to keep up the legal fight. She cited her own efforts to get a bachelors degree in biochemistry from Arizona State University, a degree it took her 12 years to get because of the financial problems of having to pay nonresident tuition.

I dont want any other student to go through that, she said.

Tuesdays ruling affects more than the Maricopa colleges which took the lead in 2013 by offering offer resident tuition to dreamers.

In 2015, 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. As of December a regents spokeswoman estimated there were 240 students who have qualified.

Several other community colleges also have similar policies.

But Tuesdays ruling may not be the last word. College spokesman Matthew Hasson said the governing board will meet with its attorneys next week in executive session and decide whether to seek 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 Maricopa colleges, county residents pay $86 for a credit hour. The out-of-state rate, which will now apply unless the ruling is overturned, is $241 per credit hour.

With a typical two-year degree requiring 60 credits, the additional cost totals about $9,300.

Hasson said there are 2,056 DACA recipients benefiting from the lower tuition.

Pima Community College has allowed DACA students to pay in-state tuition since the fall of 2013. A spokeswoman said the college is reviewing the ruling and that it would confer with the governing board for a possible course of action.

PCC remains committed to providing a supportive and inclusive environment that allows all students to pursue their educational goals, the college said in a statement. DACA students are an important part of our richly diverse community of learners.

Fewer than 200 deferred action recipients were enrolled at PCC during the spring 2017 semester, the spokeswoman said. Pima County residents pay $81.50 per credit hour, compared with $303 for nonresidents.

The differences are also significant at universities.

At the University of Arizona for example, tuition and mandatory fees for Arizona undergraduates this past school year was $10,872 for continuing students and $11,403 for new ones; for non-residents the comparative numbers were $30,025 and $32,630, respectively.
South Tucson Police Chief Michael Ford was fired Tuesday, a day after Mayor Ildefonso Green publicly blamed him for being a source in a series of negative news articles.

Green lashed out at the media during the City Councils meeting Monday night, complaining recent articles focused too heavily on proposed cuts to police and fire staffing and not on other budget proposals.

He accused Ford, who has been chief since December 2014, and other staffers of leaking information after the citys budget problems became widely known.

All of sudden we had individuals running to the media, Green said at the meeting. They were saying to the media that we are going to lose our Fire Department, we are going to lose our Police Department.

Green said eliminating the departments was never seriously considered.

Ford, who had been shaking his head no as Green was talking during the council meeting, was called on by the mayor to give his thoughts. Ford said the information in news stories came from public discussions, not leaks.

That is not true. The only information we had to communicate (to the public) came at these meetings, and that is the same information that went out to the media, Ford said.

The two argued back and forth for several minutes before Ford left the meeting room.

Green instructed staff that he wanted to talk to Ford, labeling his comments as insubordination.

The discussion was tabled during Mondays meeting but resumed after the meeting ended.

Council members Oscar Patino and Anita Romero argued with Green for about 10 minutes from the floor of the council chambers about the issue. Councilman Robert Larribas listened nearby.

City Attorney Bobby Yu was present but did not speak or attempt to end the conversation.

With four members present discussing city business outside of a formal meeting, this is a violation of the states Open Meeting Law, said Dan Barr, attorney for the First Amendment Coalition.

On Tuesday morning, City Manager Sixto Molina told Ford he was being fired for poor work performance, Ford said.

Molina confirmed Ford had been fired, but said he could not discuss the reasons why.

Lt. Kevin Shonk will temporarily serve as the acting police chief, Molina said.

About two weeks ago, Molina announced that the citys projected $500,000 budget crisis had been fixed.

The solution mostly came from a combination of cuts in staffing, particularly in the fire and police departments, and other measures.

During Mondays meeting, Molina said without a significant influx of new revenues, the 1-square-mile town will be forced to declare bankruptcy and consider de-incorporation.
The National Guard plans to drop funding for its Operation Snowbird visiting-unit training program, operated at Davis-Monthan Air Force base by the Air National Guard 162nd Wing, according to court documents.

The plan to drop Operation Snowbird training was revealed in a document filed Monday in a federal lawsuit aimed at stopping a plan to expand visitor unit training at Davis-Monthan.

A May 23 memorandum from the chief of airspace and ranges for the Air Guard states the Guard will pull funding for the Operation Snowbird operations detachment at D-M at the end of the 2017 fiscal year, Sept. 30.

Due to reductions in Air National Guard participation in the (Operation Snowbird) program, the return of investment of continuing (Operation Snowbird) has fallen below a reasonable threshold, Col. Brian K. Lehew wrote.

The memo was filed in the federal lawsuit to support an agreement by the Air Force and the residents who challenged the D-M training expansion to suspend the schedule for filing legal briefs in the case pending a final decision on the future of Operation Snowbird.

The memo said the decision, made as part of an overall reassessment of Air National Guard training requirements, will end support for Operation Snowbird facilities at D-M, possibly affecting other D-M training that have used logistical support from the Snowbird office.

An attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the D-M training expansion said the development could make the lawsuit moot, depending on the Air Forces plans for the other training programs.

Were not quite sure, until a decision gets finalized, what it means, said Joy Herr-Cardillo, a staff attorney at the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest.

Certainly, theres the potential that it would moot out the case, if ultimately all of the Total Force training goes away.

National Guard officials confirmed the plan to close down Operation Snowbird but had no additional comment Tuesday on factors that led to the decision or whether the program might be replaced by other training.

Though the Air National Guard 162nd Wing is based at Tucson International Airport, the wing staffs a dedicated Operation Snowbird facility at D-M.

The facility has nine full-time personnel and an annual budget of $73,000 this year, said 1st Lt. Lacey Roberts, a spokeswoman for the wing.

About 20 out-of-state Air Guard units have trained here this year as part of Operation Snowbird, she said.

Robert Medler, president of the Air Guardians community support group for the 162nd Wing, said although the ending of Operation Snowbird would be unfortunate, it would have limited effect on the 162nd Wings core operations.

With four F-16 squadrons and more than 1,500 personnel, the 162nd Wing at TIA is the Guards biggest F-16 fighter training base and is a center of training for F-16 pilots from allied nations including Iraq and the Netherlands. It also commands an unmanned aircraft unit, the 214th Reconnaissance Group, stationed at D-M.

This is a small component of what the wing does, Medler, a vice president at the Tucson Metro Chamber, said of Operation Snowbird. Im not worried about it all.

A former commander of the 162nd Wing said the loss of Operation Snowbird operations would be unfortunate but would have little impact on the 162nd Wings operations.

Its just a small contingent of people who keep the doors open until a unit moves in, so the fact theyre going to defund that doesnt necessarily mean that the site wont ever be used again, said Ron Shoopman, president of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council and a retired Air Force brigadier general.

However, Shoopman said he is concerned that if the Operation Snowbird center at Davis-Monthan closed permanently, it might have a negative affect on the host base.

Amid defense budget pressures, groups such as the DM50 are concerned about the future of D-M because the base is facing the loss of its main flying mission in a few years with the planned retirement of the A-10 Thunderbolt II close air-support jet.

If we give it (Operation Snowbird) up, we lose part of the value of the Davis-Monthan package, Shoopman said. One of the values the base has is, its got this deployment center where in times of crisis when we need to spin up for a conflict, weve got a place to send people to get first-class flight training.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Martha McSally, a Tucson Republican and a former Air Force combat pilot who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said McSally is concerned about the plan to shutter Operation Snowbird and has requested more information from the Pentagon.

Operation Snowbird was started in 1975 to give National Guard units from colder climates a place to train in the winter, taking advantage of Southern Arizonas warm weather and abundant nearby training ranges. It later developed into a year-round training program.

In 2012, the Air Force proposed increasing the maximum number of training flights at D-M, including Operation Snowbird and other active-duty and reserve training, under the umbrella of Total Force Training.

The Air Force plan would increase annual Total Force Training sorties at D-M by as much as 65 percent from a 2009 baseline, to up to 2,326 sorties per year.

Of those projected sorties, 1,582 or about two-thirds were expected to be part of Operation Snowbird, according to the Air Force environmental assessment of the proposed program expansion.

Three Tucson residents filed a federal lawsuit in January 2016, alleging the Air Force erred in finding that the expansion of the Total Force Training program would have no significant impact on the community.

The residents oppose any increase in military overflights, citing concerns over increased noise and health and safety issues and alleging the Air Force ignored many potential negative impacts in approving the plan.

That lawsuit in the U.S District Court for Arizona has yet to reach hearings.

One of the values the base has is its got this deployment center

where in times of crisis when we need to spin up for a conflict,

weve got a place to send people to get first-class flight training. Ron Shoopman, president of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council
Help India!

By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

On June 12, advocate Ujjwal Nikam withdrew his position as public prosecutor in the murder case of Mohsin Shaikh, a Pune based techie who was killed in 2014 by the members of radical outfit Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS), without informing the family or giving a reason.

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On Monday, Mohsins father received a reply from Ujjwal Nikam after several days of trying to reach him. Sadiq Shaikh, father of Mohsin Shaikh, received the text from Ujjwal Nikam :

Sadique bhai I am very kind of you for showing faith and confidence in me. I respect you very much and that is why I was appearing in the case.. God is great. He will give justice. Regards

Sadiq Shaikh was trying to reach to Ujjwal Nikam since the time he received the notification that Nikam had withdrawn as public prosecutor. Even though TwoCircles.net tried to reach Ujjwal Nikam several times, he was not available for comments on his position.

Sadiq Shaikh told TwoCircles.net, He did not talk. I tried calling him various times, but he just sent short messages without assigning any reason.

Now Mohsins family is trying to get Rohini Salian as public prosecutor in the case. The family has written to states chief minister for the appointment of the same on June 16. But the family received a reply that action on the same will be taken after 21 days.

Sadiq Shaikh said, We are eagerly waiting for approval order of CM and Law and Judiciary Dept too before next hearing date. Lets hope for favourable reply.

[Feature Image  Indian Express]
Help India!

By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net

As Yogi Adityanath completes 100 days in office, Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are still apprehensive about their future. Soon after Yogi Adityanath was announced as CM-designate, media went in a frenzy dishing out stories about Muslims supporting Yogi, praying for him in Gorakhpur, regularly visiting Gorakhnath temple, etc.

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On expected lines, a bunch of small-time Muslim leaders sprang up, painting the city with hoardings hailing Yogi. Some of the more enterprising went ahead and erected hoardings supporting Ram Temple. Another group formed Gau Rakshak Dal of Muslims, while cleric Maulana Yasoob Abbas started doing Yoga exercise. Media too went crazy, terming the development as a harbinger of unity and welcome change in Muslim community.

No one dwelled a little underneath about the Muslim communitys feelings. Stereotyped Muslim leaders and clerics have just one thing common in their statementSabka Sath Sabka Vikas.

It happened before my eyes. On 11 March as the results trickled in, hoardings by Muslims started coming up and by evening there were BJP flex boards everywhere in Chhota Imambara complex, Syed Kazim Zaheer, an Urdu journalist at Lucknow said. Does it signal a good prospect for Muslims? I lost my job in this government. There is a severe cut on government advertisement for Urdu and small newspapers. Our newspaper had to skim the staff and now I am without job, he said. A development which went unnoticed. It is true as I have to limit print version of my newspaper and switch to digital version which is more cost effective, Asad Rizvi, editor of Subahnama, an Urdu daily said.

Why is Yogi Adityanath different from other BJP leaders in UP

In the past also, Muslims have witnessed BJP government in the state with Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh as Chief Ministers. But the situation this time is different. All previous CMs of UP had cordial relations with Muslims. Many Muslim leaders in old city of Lucknow still vouch for their association with them. They readily accepted them and rubbed shoulders with them. Now there is no such Muslim face who can flaunt his proximity with CM Yogi Adityanath, Syed Asif Raza Jafri, political expert in Lucknow said. Further, in earlier times BJPs face was Atal Bihari who was regarded as moderate and was acceptable among Muslims. Even today, there are households in Lucknow where they have proudly fixed photographs of Vajpayee with them.

Access to Yogi is also limited unlike other previous BJP leaders. The absolute majority (Kalyan Singh also had majority) too has given him upper hand for not negotiating with any group. The image of Yogi is of a fire brand leader and he is known for his speeches delivered in the past without mincing words and raking up Hindutva issue. The thin line which gave room of adjustability has faded away.

Why Muslims are worried

UP has never witnessed a Muslim government as they constitute hardly 18.5% of the population. But in 2012, there was a drift when 68 Muslim MLAs won in the statehighest since independence. For past two decades, Muslims were most sought after community. All non-BJP parties wooed them. Their leaders and clerics had direct access to the highest echelons of power. Tokenism was at its zenith as declaring holiday on urs of Ajmer Dargah, naming medical college and university after Muslim leaders, throwing Iftar parties, rewarding Muslim leaders with government posts, packages of Muslim religious places etc.

In 2017, the myth of Muslim votes was shattered. BJP won with virtually no support of Muslims. Their representation too came down to just 24 . They have realised that in a state where they were chased for their votes now they have become politically redundant. Everything depends on your state of mind. During SP regime, Mulayam used to say that Musalmano ka seena chauda ho jaata hai. This feeling is over now. Their moral is down with a feeling that they may go unheard in this government, Shafi Azmi, a former member of State Minority Commission said. Azmi, a resident of Gorakhpur, claims that such feeling is more dangerous than inflicting physical damage during riots.

Yogi Adityanaths actions :

Starting on a conciliatory note, Muslims were on cloud nine after Yogi extended greetings on the birth anniversary of Hazrat Ali through his Twitter account. But the joy was short lived as there was no such greetings on Ramzan. Holidays were scrapped including on the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad.

Other token actions were on expected lines. Officers were transferred and there is no Muslim bureaucrat posted as DM or SSP. The traditional Iftar party at CM house too has not been held. Discussion is already on whether there will be Eid greetings from CM.

Clampdown on illegal slaughter houses across the state affected the supply of buffalo meat and with one stroke, hundreds of meat sellers from Muslim community had to down their shutters. There is still no reprieve from the shortage since there are no government owned legal slaughter house in Lucknow. It resulted in making us unemployed. We are on roads. I now ply e-rickshaw for living, Afzal Qureshi, a former meat seller in Lucknow said. There have been far reaching consequences of this decision. Kanpurs leather industry which has good number of Muslim businessmen is in dire state due to shortage of raw hides. Fringe groups which remained on sidelines are in the forefront. Their agendacow protection, hindutva is now in the mainstream. When your political existence hardly matters, there is nothing which can be done. Unity among the community, new alignment talkseverything looks good only for discussion and not in reality, Prof Mohammad Sajjad of Aligarh Muslim University said.

Leadership void among Muslims

Barring oratorical skills of few Muslim leaders, the community hardly saw and leader who took up their cause. Even this tribe is now behind the veil. SPs Muslim face Azam Khan engaged in defending various allegations about squandering waqf land. Though he issues occasional statements, Rashtriya Ulema Council chief Maulana Amir Rashadi had surrendered before the assembly polls and supported BSP and is presently lying low. Peace Party president Dr Ayub is behind bars on sexual harassment charges while Naseemuddin Siddiqui, the former BSP leader has been shown the door and has formed his own outfit whose success is still under question. Another face Asaduddin Owaisi, the Hyderabad MP and president of All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen, who took the UP by storm during elections is yet to revisit after the polls.

The situation is well explained at ground level. During SP regime we had a Muslim MLA of SP from our area. He used to stand with us whenever there was any issue related to our community. He has lost and during a recent altercation over a minaret of a mosque, two BJP MLAs came from other community and we had no such leader, Amir Khan, a local cement dealer in Aligarh said.

With all this, the community is left with no credible voice to raise its issues. Clerics too are lying low with several of them either have met or are seeking time from the chief minister. Though their meeting did not materialize in any favourable decision for the community.

The community is thus lying with lowest esteem and understands that there is no point in raising the issues.
Help India!

TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter

An Adivasi woman from Assam, Laxmi Orang, has filed a case against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath and Ram Prasad Sarma, Lok Sabha MP from Assam for sharing her nude photo on social media. The image was taken ten years ago during a protest in Guwahati.

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The photograph in question was shared over a facebook page of Yogi Adityanath which is being managed by his supporters. The original post claimed that a Hindu woman was stripped naked by Congress workers when she raised slogans in support of BJP and Prime Minister Modi. The post claimed that the event happened in Bengal and it also asked readers to share it widely.

Laxmi Orang, the tribal women in the photograph. filed the complaint in the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate court under various sections of IPC and IT Act. The original photo was taken during an agitation by All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) at Beltola in Guwahati on November 24, 2007.

Adityanaths Facebook page shared the photo with misleading text without blurring the face and the private parts of the women. Moreover, Lok Sabha MP Sarma was booked for sharing the same post on his social media page.

Laxmi told media, 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.

Moreover she told Press Trust of India, 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?

Laxmi Orang was just 17-years-old when she took part in the protest with All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) at Beltola in Guwahati ten years back. While the protest was on, Laxmi got separated from her group and approached Police for the help, the biggest mistake one could make in Assam. While Police looked the other way, the hoodlums caught her and stripped her naked. She was chased around streets of Guwahati in broad daylight. Laxmi was also beaten badly at the same time. She was rescued by her family members and a local MLA from a hospital where she hid to be saved from the goons.

Young Laxmi was terrified and traumatized after seeing her naked video and photographs on newspapers and TV channels. AASAA president Pradeep Nag in a press release said, Yogi Adityanaths post is illegal and great injustice to the Adivasi community and AASAA. Giving his comments on the issue, MP Sarma has claimed that he did not make any comments on the photo. He has also said to write an official letter to states Chief Minister for re-investigation of Laxmis case from 2007.
Help India!

By Amit Kumar, TwoCircles.net

Read part one here

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Read part two here

Saddam Hussein has a unique, albeit unwanted record: he remains the only Bhatkali who has been arrested from Bhatkal for terror-related charges. He was a scrap dealer from Bhatkal, who, according to eyewitnesses, was abducted by police in plain clothes and taken away. His family, which can barely make ends meet, has met him just twice in over two years and given that his trial is yet to begin even after 30 months, it seems that the pain of the family is far from over. In the third of the nine-part series, Amit Kumar meets the family of Saddam and spoke to them about how they were coping without their breadwinner.

On January 8, 2015, Saddam Hussein, a 25-year-old scrap dealer, left home early morning with a friend to buy a few things. His cousin was supposed to get married in ten days and it was a joyous occasion for him and his family. Less than three weeks ago, his wife had given birth to their third child, a daughter, and although money was tight he had all the reason to be upbeat. His home in Sherguli, Bhatkal was connected to the main road via a 200-metre long mud track and he asked a friend to offer him a lift. The friend agreed and together, about two minutes later they reached the main road. A white Sumo was waiting there, and one of the occupants asked Hussein for directions. He took a step towards the car and even before he could indicate which way to go, they caught hold of his hand, pulled them inside and were off. His friend was left stunned.

It was about 9 AM in the morning, Husseins brother, Suhail tells us. Nearly 30 months later, the family is yet to come to terms with what happened.

We went to the local police station immediately, but they said they knew nothing and refused to entertain our complaint. My brother had no enemies as such and was hardly the kind of person who would be kidnapped for ransom, says Suhail. He is not being modest here; as their house in Sherguli shows.

Saddam earned about Rs 5,000-7,000 a month from selling scraps and almost all the money was spent in taking care of his younger brother, two sisters, three children, a wife and an elderly father. His mother had passed away while he was still young, and he had married early at the age of 18. It was a love marriage. My bhabhi is from Bhatkal too, says Suhail with almost a smile on his face.

What they did not know, or realise, was that the same day there was a raid in Bhatkal and in Bangalore, and two people were also arrested in Bangalore: Syed Afaq Lanka and Abdus Suboor,. Suboors house was broken into, raided and a huge cache of explosives was claimed to have seized from his residence in Bhatkal. We saw the news the next day and it was only then that we realised what had happened. Apparently, our brother was part of a terror organisation and was working with them and help them make bombs. Even after all this time, I do not know how to reply to the allegations, Suhail says.

He added that although Lanka and Suboor are cousins who also belong to Bhatkal, he had never seen them interact with Saddam. They are rich people, referring to Afaq and Abdus in a tone that sounded more of respect than disdain. I worked with my brother, and we never interacted much with people in the city except for work. Of course, as scrap dealers, we roamed around the whole city and may have picked up something from their house but I do not recall a single conversation between my brother and them.

When told that Afaq had in fact, shifted to Bangalore a year ago, he said, Neither he nor I had ever been to Bangalore until then. My brothers life revolved around work, home and the mosque. After finishing his work, he would offer prayers and come home to watch TV serials. That is all he did, says Suhail. Their sisters, who have been keenly following our conversation, add almost in unison, Bhaijaan would insist we all sat together and watched the TV and had dinner. For him, there was hardly anything to do outside the home. This was all he did, they say. We have never watched TV again with the same enthusiasm, the youngest one adds before returning inside the house.

It is also worth noting that for all the talk about Bhatkal being a terror hub, Saddam remains the only person to date who was arrested from Bhatkal. Every other arrest of a Bhatkal resident has happened elsewhere, and this also raises a question on terms such as Bhatkal being a terror factory. Not that these terms matter to Suhail and the rest of the Hussein family. We have never followed much of what happened in the city. For us, our colony and our neighbours is our world, says Suhail.

Initially, the three: Hussein, Lanka and Suboor along with Reyaz Sayeedi, who was arrested three days later from Mangalore airport when he was returning to his job in Dubai, were said to be the masterminds behind the Church Street attack in Bangalore in December 2014. However, the Bangalore Police soon denied this and said that they were arrested for links with the Indian Mujahideen instead. Almost six months after his arrest, he was booked for plotting the Zaveri Bazar blasts along with being booked under the Arms and Explosives Act. Both Lanka and Suboor are also accused in these two cases while Lanka is also booked in the Barakhamba blasts case.

Family struggles to make ends meet

What is also clear that while the arrest of Lanka, who is a doctor and an RTI activist saw widespread condemnation among the locals, the arrest of Hussein was almost instantly forgotten by both locals and media. Suhail points out that in all these times, TwoCircles.net was the first media organisation that had come to talk to his family. It is also clear that although they have a legal team (the same ones handling the cases of Lanka and Suboor and Sayeedi), the legal team has not spent much time explaining the situation of Hussein to his family. We do not know what cases he is booked under, says Suhail sounding almost helpless. I think I have spoken to the lawyer once, and he asked us to offer prayers. To be honest, that is all we are capable of doing anyway.

When we contacted his legal team they did not deny that there had been little communication with his family. We tried explaining to them but they found all of it a bit intimidating. However, please do not believe that we are not handling his case with the same seriousness as others. We cannot even imagine charging them for this. We are all in it as one unit, said one of the members of the legal team who wished to not be named.

For the family, however, there is an increasing sense of helplessness as they battle the absence of their main breadwinner and tough financial situation. The family explained that in all these times, they have been able to meet their brothers only twice. My bhabhi cannot go because she has to take care of her kids. I cannot go empty handed to my brother because we are the only ones who can give him some kind of gift, says Suhail. But for that, we need money. Going to Bangalore takes an entire day and since we have no relatives in Bangalore, I have to rent a hotel which is always a luxury. Once I went to the jail and yet could not meet him because the officials asked for a bribe of Rs 5,000. I had less than Rs 300 in my pocket that time, he adds.

Suhail last saw his brother 9 months ago. He did add that there was some local support: the Bhatkal Jamaat-e-Islami unit was helping them with a monthly ration of Rs 2,000. It does not take care of all our needs, but I do not what we would have done without their support. We are also thankful to MD School which has waived off the fees for my nephew and niece. Our neighbours have been our pillar of strength and they always tell us to have faith in Allah, Suhail says. But for now, the Husseins have no clue when their brother will be back among them and how long will that take.
Help India!

By Sharjeel Usmani for TwoCircles.net

Kanpur, the centre of Indias largest buffalo based leather industries, was popularly called as Manchester of the East for its industrial units. This industry is now facing a tough time. These British-era industrial units were set up in 1888 and have flourished with an annual turnover of around Rs 6,000 crores  until recently.

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No Hides, No Leather, No jobs

Around 2.5 kilometers away from Kanpur Central railway station is PechBagh, a street that earlier boasted rows of raw hide godowns. The raw animal skin here was preserved, stored, and later sent to tanneries for making leather. According to the local Hides Merchants Association (HMA), there were no less than 500 registered hides traders in the area and over 1200 laborers working in these godowns. More than 30 trucks of hide used to come here every day.

However, the Pech Bagh Street looks different from what it was earlier. Of the 500 godowns that existed, most have been closed or are converted into garment shops. More than 300 traders had to close their godowns owing to low business in the last five years.

Were not getting enough hides now. The dealer who used to sell us hides isnt providing us with more. If this continues, we will have to wind up our work in next 2-3 months, said Mohammad Furqan, 49, whose family has been in this business for the last three generations.

A dealer of raw hides from Ambedkar Nagar requesting anonymity said, The cow vigilantes have eyes on us. Even if we transport buffalo hides, they come and beat us up. Sometimes they even loot our buffalo skins. Im not sure if Ill continue this business.

While most of the owners of these godowns are Muslims, the majority of laborers comprise of Dalits. With the shutdown of these warehouses, the labourers are the worst affected. They used to work in these warehouses on daily wages of Rs 250 to Rs 300.

Ever since demonetization we have been facing hard times. The warehouse owners fired us (laborers) from our job after the demonetization. They said that they did not have cash to pay us, said Mithilesh, a Dalit laborer working in Jajmau area of Kanpur.

Two months earlier, I was hired by a tannery owner near Jajmau at Rs 300 per day. I was happy with my new job but soon the owner asked me to leave. They had no work for us to assign. They dont get much orders now, added Mithilesh, stating that he would drive an auto rickshaw now.

There were no less than 1,200 people who were directly employed in the industry. Most of them are unemployed now. Many have now moved to Delhi and Mumbai for a living.

The Tanneries of Jajmau

On the outskirts of Kanpur is Jajmau where lie some of the biggest leather industrial units of India. Apart from the bigger firms, there are many small-scale units that use the by-products of these bigger ones as raw materials. Most of these units are family owned where a large number of Dalits and Muslims work as daily wage laborers.

In the last five years, more than 100 of these tanneries have closed, mostly the smaller ones. These smaller industries could not keep up with the environmental regulations after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and UP Pollution board ordered the minimization of their effluent discharge or the closing down of the tanneries.

Earlier the sewage was sent to the government treatment plant before being discharged into the river Ganges. It cost us Rs 5 per hide. Now the government wants us to use Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) technology which will cost us Rs 280 per hide. We simply cannot afford it, said Arshad Siddiqui, owner of Nimra Leathers, who now is planning to relocate his industry to Bengal.

The governments treatment plant has not been updated since 1986. It is completely obsolete with age old equipments. They should have brought new technology for water treatment. Were ready to pay for that, all of us. But we cannot afford ZLD, he added.

Why the End?

Demonetization had an adverse effect on Kanpurs leather industry. The larger and bigger firms utilized their old currency in buying raw materials at a little higher price. The smaller units had to suffer a lot. They had no hide to buy; their laborers had no work to do. Most of these industries today are utilizing the little raw material they had stored, which would last for not more than two months.

Soon after the Yogi Adityanath led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government came into power, its move to close the illegal slaughterhouses only worsened the conditions of the industry. The animal skin supply came to 20% of what it was earlier. Now recently, the governments rule which prohibits people from selling their animals to slaughterhouses has tolled the death-knell of the leather industry in Kanpur.

HMA member Anwar Kamal says, Demand is also down, as the clients think that we wont be able to complete them. Most of our clients from outside India have started moving to Pakistan and Bangladesh for fulfilling their demand.

Moreover, the new government has favoured the shifting of these 150-year old tanneries releasing sewage into the river Ganges to Ramaipur, a village 17 kilometers away from main city of Kanpur. Most of the tannery owners call this decision of the government a bogus one.

It is not an easy task to shift an industry from one place to another. Crores of money and years of hard work are needed to establish an industry. Moreover the government isnt in a mood to support. The smaller industries are going to die, said Mohd Irfan Khan, owner of Prime Exim, at his residence in Ghareeb Nawaz Compound near Basmandi area of Kanpur.

The leather product traders of Kanpur are also affected. Most of these traders used to get demand from different companies, such as security companies, for making customized leather products. They no longer get these demands.

Were about to close this business. If theres no solution provided within next two months, Ill start looking for other jobs, said Waqar Hussain, owner of Jajmau Leather company which trades in leather products.

With around 2 lakh of people directly and around 20 lakh indirectly employed in these industries, this crackdown seems to put a decline of the leather industry and decline of Kanpurs economy.

The author is a student of Political Science at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and has contributed to various news portals.
Lord Heseltine has announced a shocking statement that Britain may not leave the European Union, despite Brexit negotiations starting this week.

The former deputy prime minister said on BBC's Newsnight that the first day of difficult negotiations signified concerns that leaving the EU is proving to be an impossible task.

He was pressed as to whether he believes Brexit is dead, to which he replied: 'Yes.'

'Britain's vision of independence belongs in the past.'

He added that Britain's vision of independence belongs in the past.

The Europhile Conservative said he was not sure quitting the EU will become a reality after Brexit Secretary David Davis lost the first round of negotiations on Monday.

The former deputy prime minister attacked the Government's vision of Brexit, claiming there is no majority for a 'hard' EU exit in Parliament or the Cabinet.

He added leaving is going to be costly, as shown by the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, demanding the UK pays Brussels a divorce bill after Monday's first round of negotiations, despite protests from the British Government that the issue be avoided.

The timetable for leaving was revealed by Mr. Barnier on Monday, with trade discussions being delayed until October, much to the dismay of Prime Minister Theresa May.

Yet Lord Heseltine predicted Mrs May will not survive by October, adding a leadership race is imminent.

'The Government must rethink its strategy.'

He said likely candidates are already canvassing other Conservative MPs in the House of Commons and that a fragile relationship with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party will make a leadership challenge increasingly likely.

Since Brexit negotiations started on Monday, Margaret Thatcher's former deputy is not the only politician calling on the Government to rethink its strategy.

It is clear some of the Tory peer's comments may be reflected in support for remaining a member of the Single Market among many Labour backbenchers.

The Guardian issued a statement from a group of Labour politicians, including former leadership hopeful Chuka Ummuna, calling on the Conservatives and Labour to support a 'soft' EU exit.

This would result in the UK remaining a member of the European Economic Area, or the Single Market, which consists of Norway, Lichtenstein, Iceland and all 28 EU member states.

It would mean Britain may have to continue to continue with allowing for the free movement of workers, a controversial issue during last year's referendum.

Despite this, Lichtenstein managed to implement its own points-based system in 1995.

Britain would have to accept certain types of European legislation if it opted for EEA membership.

'Reform of the Single Market'

The Labour group is urging their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to differentiate his Brexit policy from that of the Government's.

They are demanding that he ensures jobs are at the forefront of his EU stance.

They said the Single Market is unique to any other trade deal Britain could negotiate once it quits Brussels' rule, as it is the only one in the world that guarantees free access to a market of 500 million people and protects workers.

The group wants Labour to push for reform of the conditions of EEA membership, particularly the free movement of workers, whilst remaining a member.

The Labour rebels are due to meet every two weeks and they are canvassing for support from opposition backbench MPs to approve their aims.

Other notable figures who have joined this group include former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Peter Hain, who has commended shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer in his current role.

But like many in this group, he does not want Mr. Corbyn to mirror the Government's Brexit strategy, labelling Tory politicians like Michael Gove and Boris Johnson as a 'motley crew' who have hijacked Mrs May's stance on the issue.

In a further blow to the Government's policy, Chancellor Philip Hammond called for a 'jobs first' Brexit, despite pledging to support the Prime Minister's position on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.
Lord Michael Heseltine must never be forgotten for the year he betrayed Margaret Thatcher in 1990. He stood against her and escalated the civil war in the Conservative Party over European integration, even though his pro-EU stance was becoming increasingly at odds with the rest of the party's. And it still is now. Since the Tories lost power in 1997, his predictions that Britain will integrate further into the EU have all proven to be wrong.

For a start, he estimated that the UK will one day join the Euro. Yet Brexit now makes that impossible. It's best not to listen to Lord Heseltine on anything regarding the EU.

He was wrong when he said that, and he is wrong now on Brexit.

'Praised Mrs Thatcher, despite helping to destroy her premiership.'

Speaking to the New Statesman in 2015 on the issue, his loyalty to the European project was quite apparent. He praised Mrs Thatcher, despite helping to destroy her premiership, for creating the Single Market. Yet what he forgets is that she did not create it as a backdoor for EU integration. Mrs Thatcher was first and foremost a free marketeer, or a neo-liberal, and she supported British trade across the globe, not just with a single continent. This is where the then EEC stitched her up and caused the split in the Conservative Party on Europe that lasted throughout the rest of the twentieth century.

He said the next inevitable step for Britain was to join the Euro to complete her vision for Europe. But that has failed to materialise.

So when Lord Heseltine speaks about Brexit, take his warnings with a pinch of salt.
One of the biggest stories to dominate the headlines over the last two weeks has been the reports that Donald Trump shared classified information with the Russians. Trump brought this issue up during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, but made comments that quickly raised a few eyebrows.

Fox News on Trump

Not long after Donald Trump kicked off his campaign for president, speculation grew that he was connected to Russia. Once it became clear that he wasn't going to release his tax returns, Trump faced even more pressure in relation his possible ties to the Kremlin.

The former host of "The Apprentice" would often praise Vladimir Putin in direct contrast to his more critical remarks about other world leaders. In addition, past and present advisers and associates have been revealed to have varying degrees of relationships with Russia, with the highest profiled being retired General Michael Flynn who was forced to resign as National Security Adviser once the story became public. Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported that Trump shared classified information with two Russian officials during a meeting in the Oval Office. Fast forward to present day and Trump addressed this controversy during his trip to Israel, which was highlighted on a May 22 segment on Fox News.

During his Fox News show on Monday, host Shepard Smith highlighted Donald Trump's foreign trip, which included his current stop in Israel where he became the first United States president to visit the holy Western Wall, while later meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. In the video montage, Smith ran a clip from the aforementioned press conference and meeting between the two leaders.

"I never mentioned the world or the name Israel, never mentioned it, during that conversation," Trump said, before telling the media, "so you got another story wrong."

Trump denies mentioning Israel in Russian meeting despite no reports that claim he did https://t.co/1sJxwUPnKc pic.twitter.com/0X9hJ9JHJf  The Hill (@thehill) May 22, 2017

In response, Shepard Smith decided to do a little fact-checking on Donald Trump's comments.

"That's not what they reported," the Fox News host pointed out. The Washington Post newspaper and others reported on the sharing of the intelligence," Smith said, before explaining that "none ever claimed the president identified the source as an Israeli...though apparently he just did."

WATCH: Shep Smith ridicules Trump for accidentally confirming he spilled Israeli secrets to Russia https://t.co/IEdObXLvTJ pic.twitter.com/KQex2mT0yB  Raw Story (@RawStory) May 22, 2017

Trump's rough week

After an avalanche of negative stories poured out of the media in regards to Russia, Donald Trump left the White House last Friday and made his way to Saudi Arabia for his first international trip as commander in chief.

With Trump now in Israel, an administration official spoke to reporters on Sunday night and confirmed that the president is already "exhausted," with another week to go before he returns back to the states. While it's unknown how the drama and scandal surrounding Trump and the Kremlin will end, the news doesn't look too promising when even the more conservative-friendly Fox News is pointing out the inconsistencies.
After Republicans won the Special Election held in Georgia on Tuesday night, it didn't take long for Donald Trump to spend time on Twitter. While the president was active on social media, one of his sons followed in his footsteps.

Donald Jr. on Twitter

After Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton last November to become the 45th President of the United States, it was only a matter of time before his transition team helped put together his cabinet and administration. One of the names picked was Tom Price, a Republican congressman from George who eventually was confirmed as the newest Secretary of Health and Human Services.

With Price out of Congress, a special election was held in Georgia's 6th district to fill the vacancy. In the primary election, no candidate reached the 50 percent threshold needed to secure a victory, so the top two moved to a run off election, with Democrat Jon Ossooff and Republican Karen Handel moving on. Despite a money advantage and a sour feeling towards the current administration, Ossoff was unable to pull off his own upset in the red state, with Handel grabbing the victory and protecting the seat for the GOP. As the president sent out tweet, his son Donald Trump Jr. decided to do the same on June 21.

Polls were wrong, again. No surprise. We deliver results, the Dems raise $ from the coasts while not even living where they want to serve.  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 21, 2017

Dems now 0-4 in all their "referendum" special elections,but hey there's a bright side.. they tell me they're 4-4 in moral victories. #maga  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 21, 2017

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, Donald Trump Jr.

didn't hold back his thoughts on the George race and the Democratic Party. "Karen Handel becomes 1st Woman Rep GA has sent to Congress," Donald Jr. tweeted, before mockingly adding, "Still waiting for the glass ceiling stories, or do conservatives not get them?"

What a good sign heading into 2018 midterms! DNC went all in and came up with NO WINS! Lets pass more laws and WIN BIG in 2018!!!  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 21, 2017

Karen Handel becomes 1st Woman Rep GA has sent to Congress. Still waiting for the glass ceiling stories, or do conservatives not get them?  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 21, 2017

"Wealthy California Liberals Fail To Buy An Election In Georgia," Donald Trump went on to tweet, while attaching to an article from the Daily Caller that highlighted the Democratic loss despite a wide financial advantage.

"Media headlines this week should be: Democrats go 0-4 in special elections... voters reject socialism," he added in a follow-up tweet.

Amazed watching Dem pundits say going 0-4 this means they need to go further left. Hard to believe they can make a living being so wrong!  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 21, 2017

Hey Media, instead of saying Democrats LOST say Republicans WON! Trump agenda is popular... #TellTheTruth #maga  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 21, 2017

"Amazed watching Dem pundits say going 0-4 this means they need to go further left.

Hard to believe they can make a living being so wrong!" the younger Trump went on to post. "Hey Media, instead of saying Democrats LOST say Republicans WON! Trump agenda is popular," he posted in a re-tweet of one of his previous messages.

Moving forward

While Donald Trump, his family, and supporters have fun at the results of Tuesday's election, the president's standing on a national level continues to fall. In the majority of polling, Trump's popularity is dropping to historic lows, with the most recent polling average showing his approval rating hovering around just 40 percent.
The Democratic Party is currently 0 for 5 in special congressional elections, thanks to defeats in South Carolina and, especially, Georgia. The Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff poured $30 million into the race for the Georgia 6th congressional district with a result that he lost to Karen Handel by almost four percentage points, 51.9 to 48.1 percent according to the New York Times. The Democrats claimed that the race was a referendum on President Donald Trump, an assessment that the presidents partisans were pleased to agree with.

What did Karen Handel win?

Handel won for two reasons. First, she was a better candidate that Ossoff, a political novice who did not even live in the district that he was running to represent, a fact that Republicans were pleased to mention frequently. He had no message or reason to be elected, other than he was not Donald Trump. Second, the Georgia 6th congressional district was not a good fit for a liberal Democrat, no matter his youthful, good looks and boatloads on money raised from Hollywood. The 6th has been represented by the likes of Tim Price and Newt Gingrich, not a friend of Nancy Pelosi.

Who else won the special election?

Handel, obviously won and is headed for Washington to represent her district in Congress.

But, President Donald Trump also won, since the Democrats were incautious enough to make the election about him. They had hoped to puncture the presidents mandate and to foster a narrative that the American people were turning against him, just as they did in Kansas and Montana. Just like those two states, the Democrats came up short and, instead, enhanced the presidents political capital.

Speaker Paul Ryan also won the election. If things had gone the other way, his caucus would have gone into survival mode and would have become skittish about taking hard votes on Obamacare repeal, tax reform, and infrastructure. Now Ryan can tell Republicans that they can push ahead with President Trumps agenda and not only survive, but prevail in 2018.

What do Democrats do now?

Clearly, total resistance to Donald Trump is not working for Democrats. Trump is not the Galactic Emperor, and they are not the plucky rebels flying their X-wing fighters, The Trump is evil narrative is not going to win elections. The Democrats are going to have to figure out why they deserve to be handed back political power. Thus far they have not given enough people a reason to trust them. A realistic view of politics in America should cause the Democrats to rethink their agenda and their tactics going forward.
The Professor of Essex County College (ECC) that appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight has been suspended. The activist and advocate for Black Lives Matter was suspended from the college indefinitely following her rant against white people on the Fox show. The rant brought much backlash due to the nature of her views. On social media, her ranting was called racist. The views are the opposite of what Black Lives Matter say they stand for.

Lisa Durden was told by the college that she must cancel all her classes and report to the colleges human resources dept., two days after the interview.

The June 6th interview has been the start of her career ending in embarrassment. When interviewed by The Star-Ledger, Durden claimed that the college publically lynched her in front of her students. They did this to humiliate me, Durden said in the interview. Durden remains suspended, following a review by the college.

The Interview

Lisa Durdens Views

On the show, Durden defended a black only Memorial Day party, organized by Black Lives Matter. At the party, all white people were asked to leave. Durden said that Whites have their white only celebrations, and Blacks should have theirs too. She claimed that Gay Pride parades were only for the LGBTQ people, and Mexican day was only for the Mexicans.

Carlson then told her that all races were welcome to these parties.

Tucker then condemned her defense of the black only party. Mrs. Durden then went on to say boo hoo hoo, poor white people, as the interview heated up. She then said that whites are complaining because their white privilege card was invalid. After this interview, Durden's ability to teach was questioned by the ECC.

The event sparked a Twitter Firestorm.

#Tucker RACIST Lisa Durden suspended after racist rant on #tucker  Keith Garcia (@onthelevelpmhr) June 21, 2017

Angry racist Lisa Durden aka #MaxineWatersJUNIOR got fired for her unhinged bigoted remarks/behavior on @TuckerCarlson show on June 7th! https://t.co/O5HFpnhdqw  Jim Childs (@JimChilds10) June 21, 2017

@TuckerCarlson was amused to see the racist loud mouth Lisa Durden lost her job. I am also laughing about her lynched. According to her. LOL  John Lenon (@jlstud23) June 21, 2017

Who is Black Lives Matter?

According to the Black Lives Matter Manifesto, Black Lives Matter (BLM) was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martins murderer.

Trayvon was shot by a police officer in early 2012. Since then, BLM has been on the front lines, protesting anytime a black person is shot by the police. Their manifesto says that they are for the black people being victimized by the police and state officials.

The manifesto clearly doesnt say anything about whites not being allowed at their gatherings. As a matter-of-fact, there are always groups of whites, protesting by their side. So, the question is: what has made Mrs. Durden so bitter? Her racist rantings went on as she claimed that white folks crack her up when they complain that blacks just want one day to be themselves. Please allow me to point the reader to black history month. This is an entire month where all the great African-Americans are honored for an entire month.
The United States and Japan have undertaken combined training exercises in which American warships and the military of Japan are participating. The venue is near the coast of North Korea and the last time such an exercise was carried out was in the 1990s. Officials have clarified that these exercises are not attempts to intimidate North Korea even as China feels that the joint military drill has undertones of provocation in the korean peninsula.

Details of the exercise

New Zealand Herald reports that the exercise was a fallout of the successful testing of an American missile that could bring down an ICBM in midair because North Korea had threatened to attack the United States with such a weapon.

The communist state is known to be building its own long-range weapons.

USS Carl Vinson and the USS Ronald Reagan are the warships involved in the joint exercises that will go on for three days and the authorities have reiterated that this exercise is a routine affair and is not any form of provocation. The purpose is basically to reassure its allies and at the same time to keep its own fleet in fighting condition and ready to meet any sudden arising.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his willingness to join hands with The United States to put North Korea in check but China has urged restraint. Its message is that there should not be any provocation that could disturb the balance in the Korean Peninsula.

U.S. involvement in the Korean peninsula

The Korean Peninsula is a hot bed of tension and the friction between the North and the South keeps surfacing on a regular basis. The defense ministry of South Korea had confirmed a joint drill it carried out recently with a U.S. supersonic bomber. The North reacted to this by accusing the United States of practicing a nuclear bomb dropping drill.

America has already positioned a missile defense system in South Korea. It is the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system or THAAD and its purpose is to protect South Korea from a potential North Korean missile strike. In addition, there are at present more than 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea as a part of the American strategy.

There are plenty of interests at stake in the Korean peninsula. The missile tests of North Korea and its threats of attacking America with nuclear weapons is a matter of grave concern. Efforts to dissuade Pyongyang from pursuing its nuclear weapon program have fallen on deaf ears and even imposing economic sanctions appear to have no effect. In fact, after every test, it claims to have improved its performance and these are disturbing trends. A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that a solution to the turbulent situation in the Korean Peninsula could be evolved through dialogue and consultation. No one wants the situation to go out of control because a nuclear war would mean destruction. It is, therefore, necessary for all concerned to sink their differences and strive to find an acceptable solution.
US Index provider MSCI said Tuesday morning that it would add China's A-share stocks to one of its key benchmarks, which marks the largest equity market among emerging markets by market cap and trading volume more accessible to global investors.

"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," MSCI said in a statement.

MSCI plans to add 222 China A-share listed large cap stocks, representing on a pro forma basis about 0.7 percent of the weight of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index at a 5 percent partial Inclusion Factor, the company says.

MSCI will also launch the MSCI China A International Large Cap Provisional Index on June 21, 2017, followed by additional global and regional provisional indexes, including the MSCI China and MSCI Emerging Markets Provisional Indexes, in August 2017.

"International investors have embraced the positive changes in the accessibility of the China A shares market over the last few years and now all conditions are set for MSCI to proceed with the first step of the inclusion," said Remy Briand, MSCI Managing Director and Chairman of the MSCI Index Policy Committee.

"The expansion of Stock Connect has been a game changer for the market opening of China A shares," he added.

Widely tracked MSCI's full inclusion of A share could pull significant amount of funds to China's equity market over the next decade, said analysts, and brings about more competition and opportunities.

Global investors are expected to monitor the China markets more closely from now on, said Raymond Ma, Portfolio Manager, Fidelity International.

"The long-awaited inclusion of A shares into the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is not a big surprise to market participants. I am positive on such move as it will offer much more investment flexibility in the A-share investment universe. More importantly, the A share inclusion is very symbolic as it marked a significant enhancement of accessibility of the A-share markets for foreign investorsI will continue to focus on A-share companies with strong growth prospects and cash flow generating capability," said Ma.
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.
China has proposed three marine economic passages connecting Asia with Africa, Oceania, Europe and beyond in a bid to advance maritime cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The proposal is highlighted in a document titled Vision for Maritime Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, which was jointly released on Tuesday by the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Oceanic Administration.

It was the first time the Chinese government had published its maritime cooperation plans under the Belt and Road Initiative since it started to promote the massive development strategy three years ago.

The initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt, which will link China with Europe through Central and Western Asia, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which stretches from southern China to Southeast Asia, and even to Africa.

The document said China will strive to designate three "blue economic passages" - the China-Indian Ocean-Africa-Mediterranean Sea Blue Economic Passage; the China-Oceania-South Pacific Blue Economic Passage; and one that will lead to Europe via the Arctic Ocean.

The China-Indian Ocean-Africa-Mediterranean Sea Blue Economic Passage will be based on coastal economic belts in China. It will link the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor and run westward from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, connecting the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, according to the document.

The China-Oceania-South Pacific Blue Economic Passage is set to head south from the South China Sea into the Pacific Ocean.

The document does not give details about the passage to Europe through the Arctic Ocean.

The Chinese government called on nations participating in the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to work together to preserve marine ecology, boosting maritime connectivity, fostering marine economy, safeguarding security at sea, deepening research in oceanography and enhancing collaboration, according to the document.

To achieve these goals, China plans to take a host of measures, such as establishing a marine environmental protection cooperation mechanism with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; supporting island nations coping with climate change and ocean disasters; and sharing research capability with partners.

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/21/2017 page1)
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]

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
BEIJING - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will pay an official visit to Ethiopia and the African Union (AU) Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Jordan and Lebanon from June 20 to 23, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Tuesday.

Wang will also attend the opening ceremony of a China-Africa high-level dialogue on poverty reduction and development as well as a think tank forum, according to Geng.

Wang is visiting at the invitation of Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister Workneh Gebeyehu, the Chairperson of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi and Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, said Geng.
Chinese financial experts see room for US to get involved, including media

The US can play a more constructive role on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), according to a group of Chinese financial experts visiting New York.

"No matter how you see it, the United States is a part of the BRI because the whole idea is about global growth and development," Zha Daojiong, international political economy professor of Peking University, said at a luncheon event with Bloomberg business journalists and other mainstream media representatives at Bloomberg Philanthropies in New York on Tuesday.

Zha was among a delegation of five Chinese financial and economic scholars in New York to discuss the latest on the BRI.

The delegation also spoke at a forum held by the National Committee on US- China Relations and the India China Institute at the New School on Tuesday night.

Zha said the US could help China by being a part of BRI financing. "We need good risk assessment; we need the private sectors to work with us," he said.

Zha said that one of the ideas in the financing of BRI is public-private partnership (PPP) and China will spread PPP in countries participating in BRI.

The PPP would help facilitate projects as it broadens financing channels for companies.

"But it needs to be handled with a lot of foresight and experience, otherwise PPP can become promise, postpone and paralysis, and that's not what you want to see," Zha joked.

"We wanted the US, which is a very important member in major international financial decisions, like (through the) World Bank and Asian Development Bank to continually work with us, (since) we have made some good progress," Zha said.

Zha said that of AIIB projects in the past few years, "even with a short history, it made a right beginning in terms of partnering with World Bank and others to make these loans and gained experiences".

Wang Wen, executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, said to keep its role as the world's capital, New York needs to find the next wave of opportunities, which in his opinion could be the BRI.

Zhai Kun, professor at the School of International Studies of Peking University, said BRI's prospects are bright. However, US President Donald Trump's policy toward Asia and Asia Pacific is uncertain.

The scholars also called for Western mainstream media to provide more news coverage of BRI.

Wang said the inference he draws is that many Western media exaggerate China's global ambition based on BRI. And on the other hand, they underestimate the potential for cooperation between China and the US.

"China is not a revolutionary state of the global order, and China is one of the most important states for supporting the global order that the US established at the end of the World War II," Wang said.

"China and the US have so many fields for cooperating, such as infrastructure," Wang said.

xiaohong@chinadailyusa.com
China-US security dialogue

China and the US began their inaugural Diplomatic and Security Dialogue (D&SD) at the State Department in Washington on Wednesday morning. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis are hosting Chinese 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.
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HA NOI  South Korean Hanwha Techwin has earmarked some 10ha of land near Ha Noi to build a plant to manufacture aircraft engine parts, Business Korea reported.

The company has requesting approval of its investment from the Vietnamese Government.

It will start construction of the plant in August following approval and begin operations in the second half of next year. The plant is expected to cover a site of some 6ha.

Hanwha Techwin is planning to expand its sales of civilian aircraft engine parts to some one trillion won (US$900 million) by 2025 by expanding its engine parts production capacity through the setting up of plants overseas.

Viet Nam was chosen since the country has a satisfactory logistics environment and high competitiveness.

Hanwha Techwin started building the Hanwha Techwin Security factory at Que Vo Industrial Park in the northern province of Bac Ninh in April this year.

The first phase of the project has investment capital of $100 million, specialising in manufacturing electronic circuits, semiconductors, chips, computers and cameras.  VNS
HA NOI  Feasibility, ease of implementation and transparency in information are factors that will prove decisive in attracting investment for agriculture projects, stakeholders agreed at a conference held on Monday.

Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue, the conference held in Ha Noi sought feedback on amendments to Decree 210 aimed at encouraging enterprises to invest in agriculture and rural areas.

Representatives of enterprises said Government Decree 210/N-CP that took effect in 2013 failed because it did not resolve the roots of investors hesitation, which are current land and tax laws as well as complicated and time-consuming administrative procedures for projects that require large investments.

Deputy PM Hue noted that as of September 2016, there were only 4,424 agro-forestry-fishery enterprises across the country, less than one per cent of the total.

In the three years after it took effect, Decree 210 lent support for just 64 projects with relatively little investment and limited results.

In 2015, just VN200 billion (US$ 8.8 million) was given in support to 40 projects in 21 localities with total investment of VN6 trillion ($264 million), and the next year, the figure dropped to VN185 billion ($8.14 million).

Hue conceded that the low figures practically solved nothing, while troublesome administrative procedures continued to discourage enterprises.

Tran Manh Bao, Chairman and General Director of ThaiBinh Seed Corp, said enterprises badly needed support with administrative procedures, for example, in leasing land for production or purchasing machinery. Tax regulations must also take into account the risky nature of agriculture production, Bao said.

If, for a project that costs VN 100 billion ($4.4 million) we have to go through all the hoops just to get a paltry VN5 billion ($220,000) in support from the government, why should we apply at all? he asked.

Thai Huong, Chairwoman of the TH True Milk Group, said concerned ministries should sit together and work out a definitive standard set for agricultural products if the country is to push towards hi-tech agriculture.

Noting that Decree 210 concentrated too much on providing support sourced from the State budget, Deputy PM Hue called for different measures to attract private investment into agriculture. He said this would have to be done by streamlining institutions and mechanisms and policies. Financial support should be provided mostly in an indirect manner, i.e. tax cuts or waivers, while direct financial support should go to small- and mid-sized enterprises, encouraging innovation and start-ups, or a leading company capable of becoming a national brand.

This financial support, he said, cannot be sourced just from the State Budget or localities budget, but also from science and technology development funds and other integrated programmes.

Expressing appreciation for all the comments from participants, the Deputy PM said its obvious now that the draft decree is far from satisfactory.

He directed the Ministry of Planning and Investment as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, currently in charge of drafting the new decree, to do further research and exert more efforts to complete it.

There are high expectations from the new amendments. One of them states that enterprises investing in agriculture may be eligible for land tax waivers or considerable reduction thereof.

Enterprises implementing agriculture projects with their own resources may still receive support from the government during implementation phases.  VNS
HA NOI  The Ministry of Industry and Trade is drafting a decree to remove bottlenecks for domestic rice exporters, especially small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The decree, replacing Decree 109/2010/N-CP on rice export and business, is expected to take effect from January 1, 2018, after which businesses will be able to engage in the free trade of rice without quantitative restrictions.

The decree also removes regulations of criteria for businesses to be eligible to export rice, as well as the floor prices set for rice shipments.

Pham Thai Binh, director-general of Trung An Co Ltd in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, said some articles in the old decree hindered the development of rice export firms.

For example, in early June 2017, the ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on rice trading with Bangladesh, which is valid until 2022.

Under the MoU, Viet Nam will export one million tonnes of rice to Bangladesh annually. This offers a huge opportunity for Viet Nam to boost exports of this staple grain, build a rice brand and connect with farmers.

However, under the decree 109 which is still being enforced, the Viet Nam Food Association authorised the Northern Food Corporation and the Southern Food Corporation to realise the MoU. Other companies have to seek trade deals with partners in other markets.

Binh said the involvement of the Government in seeking contracts was good for Vietnamese agriculture, but all businesses should be able to join this activity to promote trade in foreign markets.

Rice export businesses require a closely linked chain from farmers to exporters, thus when exporters face difficulties in seeking consumption markets, then farmers production will also be affected, Binh said.

Vo Minh Khai, director-general of Vien Phu Organic  Healthy Food Company from the southernmost province of Ca Mau, said that over the past years, rice enterprises that were small scale but produced high-quality rice had not been able to bring their products to the world market.

To export their rice, they had to depend on large companies as intermediaries. Therefore, revising the old decree would create a level-playing field for small rice export firms to proactively access the global market, Khai said.

The new document will also enable businesses to invest in producing high-quality products to compete with rivals from Thailand and Cambodia, he added.

Promoting high-quality brands

Viet Nam has exported rice for nearly 30 years, with the first amount of 1.4 million tonnes in 1989 grossing US$310 million in turnover. In 2006, the country earned $2.1 billion from selling 4.9 million tonnes of rice abroad.

Vietnamese rice has not created a strong brand in the world market.

So far, worldwide consumers mostly knew Vietnamese rice products as 5-per cent broken rice or 25-per cent broken rice, rather than by a specific name.

Binh said that under the situation, many types of Vietnamese high-quality rice were being sold under foreign names.

In fact, many types of high-quality Vietnamese rice such as ST, Jasmine, Hoa Sua and Loc Troi were being exported, but the export volumes had not met the demand of importers.

Le Thanh Tung, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the decree would create conditions for rice exporters, even small- and medium-sized one, to access directly with importers, help promote Vietnamese rice brands more easily and prevent trade fraudulence.

Vo Hung Dung, Director of the Can Tho-based branch of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that changes in the rice business policy would force enterprises to operate and develop under the market mechanism, and find ways to strengthen their reputation in the world market.

"Rice enterprises having strong reputation also means Vietnamese rice brands will be promoted," Dung added.  VNS
HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged the Viet Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) to undertake comprehensive reform to develop its production and business. The message was conveyed yesterday to Vinatex by a working group led by Government Office Chirman Mai Tien Dung.

Dung, speaking at a working session with the group in Ha Noi, said Vinatex had undergone many reforms and achieved developments in technology, management and jobs for 80,000 workers. However, the group had been experiencing difficulties in the export market since 2016.

Dung said the group must promote further production and business, especially exports, and report on its contribution to growth of the textile and garment industrys gross domestic product (GDP), its reforms, use of technology and market development. Vinatex should also accelerate project investments and efficiency, he said.

Chinhphu.vn quoted Dung saying that the textile and garment industry had done well in yarn and garment but had had difficulty in other stages, such as support industries and dyeing. So the industry must still import needles, thread and buttons.

The group must accelerate projects with a total investment capital of VN5 trillion to put them into efficient operation and prevent projects with low efficiency and lost of capital.

The group is also being tasked with accelerating equitisation of textile and garment enterprises, given that many textile and garment enterprises have had strong development in production and business, especially exports, after equitisation, such as Nha Be Garment and Viet Tien Garment. Viet Nams garment products have entered markets with strict requirements and key export markets, such as the US, the EU, Japan and South Korea. However, local garment enterprises should undertake reform for traditional export markets, including China, Russia, India and ASEAN countries.

The PM is also asking the textile and garment industry to reform production technology, instead of processing, to create a higher value chain. The industry has applied new technologies for production and corporate management, but it should use technology suited to the industrial revolution 4.0, according to Dung.

And finally, the group is being told to promote internal administrative reform so that managers salaries are not so high and those of workers not so low.

Additionally, the Prime Minister asked the group and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to propose administrative reform to create favourable conditions for importing production material.

At the working session, Vinatex chairman Tran Quang Nghi said in the first half of this year, the industry increased exports by 10.6 per cent in value to US$14.2 billion.

He said in the second half of this year, the export value was expected to remain stable and export value for the whole year was estimated to achieve a year-on-year growth of 10.9 per cent to $31.3 billion. This is higher than the groups expected export value of $2.78 billion. - VNS
Vice minister of construction Phan Thi My Linh delivers speech at the event in Ha Noi yesterday.  Photo baoxaydung.com.vn

HA NOI  A database of energy efficiency in 280 large buildings in Viet Nams five biggest cities has been compiled and analysed under a four-year programme by the Ministry of Construction and the United States Agency for International Development.

The first ever National Building Energy Performance Database includes the cities of Ha Noi, HCM City, a Nang, Hai Phong and Can Tho. The US-funded project, presented yesterday in Ha Noi, aimed to identify energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions of buildings in Viet Nam with a view to reducing emissions in the future, said Vu Thi Kim Thoa of the USAID Viet Nam Clean Energy Programme.

Thoa said five demonstration projects stimulating buildings energy usage in Ha Noi and HCM were also completed, and the buidings were upgraded. The projects consulted the buildings designers on using materials and new technologies to save from 22 per cent to 44.5 per cent of energy for the five buildings each year, equalling annual savings of US$170,563, she said. Emissions of over 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide would be reduced each year in the five buildings, she said.

The buildings included the Ha Noi Energy Manager Training Centre, the State Securities Commission of Viet Nam, Viet Nam National Construction Consultants Corporation, the Truc Bach Building Complex and HCM Citys Capital Place.

Additionally, 2,955 Vietnamese professionals and building owners, 26 per cent of them women, participated in training courses of design, construction and operating green buildings for energy efficiency, she said.

The programme also promoted the use of energy-efficient building materials in the construction sector in order to reduce energy consumption throughout the buildings life cycle, she said.

Luong uc Long, president of the Viet Nam Institute for Building Materials, said the programme would serve as a foundation to compile a plan for reducing carbon dioxide emissions in manufacturing building materials that had large emission levels. For example, the plan scheduled a reduction of 4.37 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission in producing cement and sanitary ware by 2020, he said.

Assessments

o Binh Yen, former deputy director of the Institute of Engery Science, said the data samples collected this time had been considerably larger and more reliable than before. They included architectural and construction elements that were not collected before, he said. Data on ventilation, lighting and air-conditioning were added to energy-consumption measurements, he added. "We can say we now have a valuable database to drive energy planning policies forward," he said.

Nguyen Thi Nhu Trang, a lecturer at Ha Noi Architectural University who participated in a training course under the programme, said she learned many new things, including energy stimulation allowing her to create a computer model of a building and calculate its energy efficiency. "This was the first time Id used such software and it was very interesting," she said.

She said she had imparted the knowledge to her students so that they could compare the energy consumption of green buildings and normal buildings.

Nguyen Cong Thinh, deputy director of the Science, Technology and Environment Department under the Ministry of Construction, said the programme would allow the ministry to assess the current situation of the construction sector and issue a green growth action plan for the construction sector by 2020, with a vision to 2030.  VNS
HA NOI  A Switzerland-funded project to conserve biodiversity through sustainable trade of natural ingredients following the BioTrade principles in Viet Nam, Laos and Myanmar was launched in Ha Noi on Tuesday.

The project, financed by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), a Swiss Government Agency, will be implemented by HELVETAS Vietnam, a Swiss-based International non-government organisation, from 2017 through 2020.

The total project funding for the three countries is US$4.9 million, of which $2.7 million will be allocated for Viet Nam.

BioTrade refers to the collection, production, transformation and commercialisation of goods and services derived from the native biodiversity, using the criteria of environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Natural ingredients are products processed from plants, animals and microorganisms that are collected and cultivated in the wild or domesticated and produced in an ecological way, without the use of petrochemicals.

Natural ingredients are used in many ways in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic or food industries for commercial purposes.

Southeast Asia is one of the worlds largest biodiversity hotspots and Viet Nam, Laos and Myanmar are amongst the most biologically diverse countries on earth.

According to Miroslav Delaporte, Head of Co-operation at the Embassy of Switzerland in Viet Nam, the project is aimed at conserving biodiversity through the sustainable trade of natural ingredients, which will focus on increasing the competitiveness of local exporters and producers, and developing livelihoods for rural population, while taking into account BioTrade principles.

The project will focus on collaboration with companies in Viet Nam to establish export-oriented value chains, following ethnical BioTrade Principles, with service providers to eliminate or reduce service-related bottlenecks that slow the growth of the natural ingredient sector, and with Government institutions and stakeholders to establish a conducive enabling environment for the BioTrade sector.

Viet Nams abundant natural ingredients could serve as a source of raw materials for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. However, the domestic supply has been dwindling due to overexploitation and lack of conservation. Manufacturers, as a consequence, have to import large quantities of raw materials of questionable quality from other countries. The national pharmaceutical sector, therefore, becomes vulnerable to foreign competition even in its own market, let alone enabling it to penetrate international markets.

Viet Nam has more than 4,000 species which can be used as raw material; some 95 per cent of traditional Vietnamese remedies, including over 1,760 medicinal products, rely on this natural resource base, according to Helvetas.

The country produces up to 40,000 tonnes of raw medicinal material annually. In addition to this, significant quantities are imported from foreign countries, even though many of those plants species are available in Viet Nam. - VNS
THUA THIEN- HUE  Hue has issuing strict regulations on what to wear when visiting its monuments in an attempt to ensure solemnity of the key buildings that once belonged to the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945).

Hue Monuments Conservation Centre, a body of local authorities that manages monuments related to the dynasty around the former imperial capital city, regulated that visitors will have to wear decent clothing when they visiting solemn monuments from the first day of July.

In particular, shorts, revealing skirts and singlets are prohibited in solemn areas, including palaces in which kings once banned the entry of women and temples where the kings and their ancestors are worshipped.

The centre provides a clothes renting service for those visitors wearing prohibited clothing but wish to enter the solemn places, which are marked by signposts depicting the banned clothing.

According to the centres director Phan Thanh Hai, the centre had informed travel agencies nationwide on the clothing ban, so that agencies were ready ahead of the date from when the ban took effect.

Banning indecent clothing at solemn places of the dynasty is aimed at reducing charges of desecration. Nguyen Phuoc Vinh Khanh, a member of the Nguyen family committee that comprises descendants of the Nguyen Dynasty, said the ban should have been imposed a long time ago as a mark of respect for his ancestors.  VNS
HCM CITY  An exhibition honouring the contributions of Vietnamese heroines in the South was held on Tuesday (June 20) in HCM Citys Southern Women Museum to celebrate the 70th War Invalids and Martyrs Day, which falls on July 27.

Claudia Liliana Zambrano Naranjo, Columbias representative in Viet Nam, together with authorities from neighbouring provinces, participated in the opening ceremony.

The exhibition features 255 portraits of heroines of the Viet Nam Peoples Armed Forces in the South, whose contributions were officially recognised in March.

Heroine Le Thi Thu Nguyet, said that the event, which was organised by the citys Department of Culture and Information, had brought back many great memories that could encourage younger generations to strive for a better future.  VNS
Teenagers between 14 and 16 will bear criminal liability for very serious crimes under amendments and supplements to the 2015 Penal Code adopted by the parliament yesterday.  VNA/VNS Photo An ang

HA NOI  Teenagers between 14 and 16 will bear criminal liability for very serious crimes under amendments and supplements to the 2015 Penal Code adopted by the parliament yesterday.

The National Assembly approved amendments and supplements to some articles of the 2015 Penal Code with 434 deputies, or 88.39 per cent, voting yes.

Under the amended law, persons aged 14 to 16 will have to bear penal liability for very serious crimes or extremely serious crimes of intentionally inflicting injury or causing harm to the health of other persons, rape and kidnapping in order to appropriate property.

People in this age group will not be charged with criminal liability for less serious or serious crimes related to the three charges.

The law also narrows down the scale for penal liability for non-denunciation of crimes. Specifically, the grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, offspring, grandchild, sibling, wife or husband of an offender will not bear penal liability for failing to denounce the offenders crimes, excepting for those related to national security or extremely serious crimes.

The law has a new article on violations of regulations by multi-level businesses, fixing the highest penalty at VN5 billion or five years in prison.

With 89.41 percent of votes, the parliament also approved a resolution saying that the enforcement of the amended 2015 Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, the Law on Organisation of Criminal Investigation Agency, and Laws on Custody and Temporary Detention, will start from January 1, 2018.

Meanwhile, the dates mentioned in regulations stated in the NA Resolution 110/2015/QH13 on November 27, 2017 on the implementation of the 2015 Penal Code, will be changed from July 1, 2016 to January 1, 2018, and January 1, 2019 to January 1, 2020.

State compensation, legal aid

Also yesterday, deputies approved the revised laws on State compensation liability and Legal Aid with 92.46 percent of the vote.

The revised draft Law on State Compensation comprises nine chapters and 78 articles, stipulating the States liability to compensate individuals and organisations suffering damage caused by officials on duty.

It defines rights and obligations of sufferers, compensation-liable agencies, procedures to settle compensation claims, and responsibilities of State-run agencies in the field.

The revised Law on Legal Aid received 93.28 per cent of yes votes. It comprises eight chapters and 51 articles, stipulating those who are subject to legal assistance, legal aid activities, and responsibilities of agencies, organisations and individuals in the sphere.

It states that legal aid is the provision of free legal services for eligible people, contributing to ensuring human and citizen rights in access to justice and equality.

Some lawmakers proposed reviewing regulations on children, people with disability, and victims of human trafficking, as well as supplementing some subjects to the group of those receiving legal aid, like people living on or under the poverty line, those completing prison sentences, and overseas Vietnamese.

Head of the NA Committee for Legal Affairs, Nguyen Khac inh, said the scope of people receiving legal assistance in the draft law increased to 14 groups from the previous seven.

The NA Standing Committee asked the legislature to continue expanding legal assistance for all children and ethnic minority people living in particularly disadvantaged areas.  VNS
President Tran ai Quang (R) receives President of the Haiti Senate, Youri Latortue in Ha Noi yesterday.  VNA/VNS Photo Nhan Sang

HA NOI  Viet Nam wishes to develop friendship and comprehensive co-operation with friendly nations in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Haiti, President Tran ai Quang affirmed yesterday.

At a reception held in Ha Noi for visiting President of the Haiti Senate, Youri Latortue, Quang hailed the outcomes of his guests talks with National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan as well as working sessions with Vietnamese ministries and agencies.

Citing the success of military-run telecom provider Viettels joint-venture Natcom in Haiti as a model of Viet Nam-Haiti partnership, the State leader said the two countries should continue to facilitate Natcoms operation as well as joint projects in other areas, particularly in agriculture and fisheries production and processing, infrastructure development, agricultural machinery and consumer goods.

Quang thanked Haiti for its support for Viet Nam at international organisations and multilateral forums, and asked the Latin American country to support Viet Nams bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure as well as the nations candidate for the post of UNESCO Director General for the 2017-2021 tenure.

He suggested further strengthening of liaisons at the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation and Non-Aligned Movement.

Latortue said his visit aimed to strengthen bilateral ties and explore the possibility of co-operation in new fields.

"Haiti wants Vietnamese firms to extend business operations in the country, and hopes to receive technical assistance towards achieving food sufficiency," he said.  VNS
HA NOI  Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong yesterday congratulated Haiti for its economic reform and national development achievements.

Receiving Haitian Senate President Youri Latortue in Ha Noi, he stressed Viet Nams consistent policy of intensifying and expanding friendship and multi-faceted co-operation with Haiti.

He asked both sides to continue promoting connections in all areas, particularly with strong growth potential, like agriculture, telecommunications and industrial production, thereby substantially contributing to their respective countries development.

The Party leader expressed his belief that the Haitian people will weather all challenges and succeed in building a prosperous and happy nation.

Latortue expressed his admiration for the nations oi moi (reform) achievements, saying he sees Viet Nams development as an example of economic reform for Haiti.

Youri Latortue, who is on an official visit to Viet Nam, informed the Party leader of the outcome of his talks and meetings with the leaders of the State and the National Assembly of Viet Nam.

He also briefed Trong on recent developments in his country and thanked Viet Nam for the co-operation and assistance provided to Haiti.

Haiti wanted to enhance cooperation with Viet Nam in many areas including agriculture, transport, telecommunications, and people-to-people exchanges, he said.

It was particularly keen on stepping up exchange of high-ranking delegations to learn from each others experience in country leadership and management, he said.  VNS
Cambodian National Assembly led by President Heng Samrin.  VNA/VNS Photo Trong uc

HA NOI  A high-ranking delegation of the Cambodian National Assembly (NA) led by President Heng Samrin will pay an official visit to Viet Nam from June 23 to 26.

During the visit, Heng Samrin will take part in activities marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

He will also participate in a meeting of the presidents of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, the Lao Front for National Construction and the Solidarity Front for Development of the Cambodian Motherland.

The trip is being made at the invitation of NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, the Vietnamese parliaments Committee for External Affairs announced yesterday.  VNS
HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has told former US secretary of state John Kerry to convey a message to US President Donald Trump that there is no confrontation on trade between Viet Nam and the United States.

Viet Nam signed contracts to buy US equipment and services and hoped the US market will be opened for Vietnamese exports, he said at a reception in Ha Noi on Tuesday for Kerry.

Lauding Kerrys efforts to promote Viet Nam-US relations, Prime Minister Phuc spoke highly of the Fulbright University Viet Nam projects important role in training high-quality human resources for the country, stating that the Vietnamese government is interested in the project and supports it. He noted that cooperation contracts signed between the two countries during his official visit to the US last month are encouraging achievements in bilateral collaboration ties.

Phuc expressed hope that the United States would provide further support for Viet Nam to respond to climate change as the phenomenon has severely impacted the country, especially the southern region.

For his part, Kerry highlighted that the Vietnamese prime ministers visit to the United States will make substantial contribution to strengthening sustainable relations between the two nations.

He thanked the PM for endorsing the Fulbright project, saying it will play an important role in Viet Nams socio-economic development. He expressed hoped that the Fulbright University will help speed up co-operative programmes between the two sides. Viet Nam could be an example for other countries in terms of using renewable energy, Kerry said, underlining that he supports the country in calling for financial support from international organisations for the sector. Welcoming the former secretary of states opinion on the matter, PM Phuc expected that owing to his reputation, Kerry will be able to boost bilateral ties to reap more practical results.  VNS
HCM CITY  More than 500 doctors and health officials participated in a series of recent seminars on updates on national guidelines on cervical cancer screening.

Cervical cancer is a serious disease, but we can prevent it, reduce the mortality and medical burden for patients, their family and society if the disease can be detected early, Assoc Prof Luu Thi Hong, general secretary of the Viet Nam Association of Gynecologists and Obstetrics, said.

The Ministry of Health has issued a recommendation to use HPV as the primary screening test for cervical cancer to help women prevent the disease and have an entire healthy and happy life, she said.

It is also a mission of healthcare authorities, healthcare organisations and whole community.

In response to a national action plan for cervical cancer prevention and control in 2016-25, Roche Vietnam in collaboration with medical organisations and local and international healthcare experts organised the seminars on HPV DNA primary testing: From recommendations to clinical practice from June 15 to 17 in Ha Noi, a Nang, and HCM City.

Cervical cancer can be prevented if detected early, and HPV testing reveals in the early stages if someone is at risk.

According to the guidelines issued by the ministry, HPV testing has been recommended as a primary test in cervical cancer screening since 2016.

An HPV test can detect high-risk HPV and help doctors evaluate whether a woman is at risk of cervical cancer so that she can be monitored and treated appropriately and in time.

It is estimated that around 500,000 women world-wide are diagnosed with the disease every year and half of them die, with the vast majority of deaths occurring in developing countries.

In Viet Nam, there are more than 5,000 new cases of cervical cancer annually and more than 2,500 deaths.

Cervical cancer is the second most common gynaecological cancer and a main reason is due to persistent infection by the human papilloma virus (HPV).

There are over a hundred different HPV types. Of them, 14 are considered to be high risk, causing more than 99 per cent of cervical cancers. And two of them posing the highest risk are HPV 16 and HPV 18, which cause more than 70 per cent of cervical cancers.

Women infected with HPV 16 and/ or HPV 18 have a 35 percent higher risk of developing cervical cancer.  VNS
HA NOI  Mobile phone users must submit portrait photos when registering for accounts, an official from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) said.

Le Thi Ngoc Mo, deputy director of the Viet Nam Telecommunications Authority (VNTA) under MIC, was reacting to public concern generated by a recent decree requiring photos together with ID cards when registering for mobile accounts (SIM cards).

Mo said "the requirement is reasonable since it will help limit scam text messages and spread of false information, ensuring national security and social order and safety".

Identity verification techniques are necessary since ID cards and their photocopies can be fabricated, according to Mo.

Electronic databases that contain citizens information have been established in Germany, the US, and Japan so that authorities can double-check information on their ID cards when they register for mobile accounts.

Other countries, such as India, Thailand, Pakistan and Bangladesh have launched fingerprint recognition systems, and Nigeria  apart from utilising such a system  has also requested citizens to submit portrait photos of themselves when registering for mobile accounts.

VNTA figures show that as of the beginning of 2016, 80 million out of 120 million mobile accounts did not match the information on their ID cards despite strict regulations. Fake details on name, age, date of birth, and ID number were discovered. In some cases, identity information of mobile users showed up on mobile accounts that were not theirs.

Citizens portrait photos, therefore, would be their most credible evidence of identity, which would prevent mobile users from using identity documents of one person to register for different mobile accounts, deputy director Mo said.

Authority management

When the new requirements took effect last April, telecommunication service providers were given 12 months to review their users databases and inform users with inaccurate information to re-register their mobile accounts.

Comparing the photo requirement to the fingerprint requirement in some countries, deputy director Mo said it is more feasible, since the process of retrieving users fingerprints is much more complicated and requires huge equipment investments.

It is understandable that citizens had negative reactions to the photo requirement when it first came out because they thought it would invade their privacy, but in fact, it is no more trouble than presenting only their ID cards, according to Mo.

Moreover, apart from their fixed service delivery points, telecommunication service providers are allowed by regulations to establish mobile service delivery points, where citizens can easily submit their photos, she added.

"Citizens will come to terms with the new requirement if service providers are willing to enforce it," she said.  VNS
HA NOI  The number of foreigners working in Viet Nam has increased significantly over the last ten years, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) reported.

The number increased from more than 12,600 in 2004 to more than 83,500 in 2015, the ministry has said.

Chinese workers make up 30.9 per cent of Viet Nams foreign workforce, with 25,700 people, the ministry reported at a workshop held in Ha Noi on Monday.

South Koreans number over 15,300, Taiwanese more than 10,700 and Japanese over 7,900.

HCM City is home to the largest number of foreign workers, with more than 20,300 people, accounting for 24.3 per cent, followed by Binh Duong Province with more than 12,000 people (14.4 per cent), Ha Tinh 7,000 people (8.4 per cent), Ha Noi 6,386 people (7.6 per cent) and ong Nai 6,205 people (7.4 per cent).

The increasing number of foreign workers in Viet Nam requires the improvement of the legal system to ensure the rights of migrant workers, especially social security.

Social insurance authorities in Viet Nam are developing a compulsory social insurance scheme for foreign workers in the country, citing the need to follow international practices as the country deepens integration.

The 2014 Law on Social Insurance requires compulsory enrollment of foreign workers in the social insurance scheme, starting in 2018, to ensure their equality and welfare.

Tran Hai Nam from the MoLISAs Department of Social Insurance said employees who are foreign citizens with work permits or practice certificates granted by a competent Vietnamese agency shall be entitled to compulsory social insurance in compliance with State laws.

The MoLISAs draft decree proposed requiring foreign workers to take part in all five social insurance programmes  pension and insurance for sickness, maternity, vocational injuries, disease, and death.  VNS
HA NOI  More than 50 public hospitals in Ha Noi and HCM City have begun increasing hospital fees for patients who do not hold health insurance cards from this month.

In Circular No 2/2017/TT-BYT, the Ministry of Health has regulated the maximum price of medical examination and treatment services which are not covered by the health insurance fund.

Specifically, nearly 1,900 different services and products at public hospitals will have new rates, which are 20-25 per cent more expensive. Patients who have no health insurance cards or use medical treatment services not in the pay list of the health insurance fund will therefore have to pay more.

The maximum price of medical treatment service includes the price of medical examination, day-bed service, technical and testing services.

The medical examination cost at hospitals and health clinics will range between VN39,000 (US$1.7) and VN29,000 ($1.2) per person. Some technical surgeries will increase by 20-30 per cent.

A representative of the Ministry of Health said the new hospital fees would be introduced to localities as Viet Nam tried to reduce subsidies from the State budget.

The increase in hospital fees would encourage more people to join the health insurance fund.

As scheduled, 30 other cities and provinces will apply the hospital fees hike in August, 15 localities will implement it in October and 18 localities in December.

The new hospital rates will be announced by the Peoples Council in each locality.  VNS
HA NOI  The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has requested localities to encourage talks between employers and employees in industrial and processing zones to promptly respond to issues faced by the labourers and prevent labour disputes and strikes.

In particular, dialogues should be held especially between employees and employers in large-scale enterprises, the ministry said.

To prevent and limit labour disputes, the ministry has also asked provinces and cities to intensify inspection, examination and supervision of the observance of labour regulations and strictly deal with violations.

Problems such as wages, overtime work, welfare and social insurance are always at risk of leading to disputes between employees and employers.

Local authorities were also required to actively support negotiations in dealing with any problems that may arise.

The Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour and the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry were asked to promote labourers awareness on policies and law to address issues that arise in labour relations.  VNS
BANGUI, Central African Republic  Intense fighting in the Central African Republic killed at least 40 people on Tuesday and injured dozens more, dashing hopes for stability in the strife-torn country the day after the signing of a ceasefire deal.

The violence in the central town of Bria was between members of Christian anti-balaka militias and fighters formerly belonging to a coalition of Muslim-majority rebel groups called the Seleka, aid and security sources said.

The clashes erupted after the CAR government and rebel groups agreed to an immediate ceasefire Monday, a deal brokered by the Catholic community SantEgidio in five days of negotiations in Rome.

It was hailed as a precious chance to stabilise one of the worlds most volatile and poorest countries.

Under the agreement, armed groups were granted political representation in exchange for an end to attacks and blockades.

However, intense shooting began in the early hours of Tuesday morning, with dozens taken to hospital suffering from bullet wounds, Mumuza Muhindo Musubaho, project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the CAR town of Bria, said in a statement.

As of 2100 GMT, 43 people were injured, according to the charity.

"We counted at least one dead and 20 wounded among our troops, who were taken care of by the NGOs", said 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, which had signed Mondays peace accord.

"We signed the agreement, but we have to defend ourselves, we cant allow an attack to happen without reacting," added Babanani.

"People are at home since (early Tuesday morning), shooting was still going on this morning, there is no activity going on today," said Father Gildas of the Catholic mission Saint-Louis de Bria, by telephone.

Sporadic fighting has continued since Saturday between Christian anti-balaka militias and the FPRC after its leader Hamad Issa was killed in the town, according to several sources.

"We know that much remains to be done. It is vital that the ceasefire agreed to by the parties is carried out immediately," said UN special representative on CAR, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga.

Battling between armed groups in the Bria area from May 15 to 18 left five people dead, 29 wounded and more than 40,000 others displaced, according to the UN.

Clashes 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.  AFP
WASHINGTON  Early results trickled in for Tuesdays closely-watched election in Georgia, the most expensive congressional race ever, with the Republican narrowly leading a contest that Democrats have painted as a referendum on Donald Trumps scandal-plagued presidency.

The $60-million special election has been a nailbiter between a Democratic novice seeking to score an upset in a conservative stronghold, and an establishment Republican eager to steady the ship in a district that only narrowly backed Trump in last Novembers vote.

The special election in the southern state is painted as a referendum on Trump, and the result may presage how his presidency -- for better or worse -- could influence the battle for control of Congress in 2018.

With 99 of 208 precincts fully reporting, Republican Karen Handel was ahead of Democrat Jon Ossoff by 52.58 per cent to 47.42 per cent, according to Georgia secretary of state incoming results. Polls closed at 7:00 pm (2300 GMT).

The race came down to the wire as Ossoff, a 30-year-old filmmaker and onetime political staffer running on a centrist message, and Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, spent election day seeking to convert as many independent or undecided voters as possible.

Republicans are facing a sobering reminder of their presidents poor approval ratings, which could act as a drag on their efforts to hold not just this congressional seat, but also the 435-member House of Representatives next year.

But early results appear to show Handel has performed better than expected in Democratic-leaning portions of Georgias sixth district.

Should Handel win, Trump may well claim some credit for getting her across the finish line. The president recorded a robo-call for her, and tweeted several messages encouraging Republicans to troop to the polls and cast their votes for her.

Handel, Trump tweeted early Tuesday, "will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare strong security -- a hard worker who will never give up! VOTE TODAY."

Ossoff is trying to flip the Atlanta suburbs that Republican Tom Price left to become Trumps health secretary.

Arms race

The Democrat won the first round against several candidates in April, but fell just shy of outright victory.

The June 20 runoff quickly became the most expensive House race in history, with the campaigns, political action committees and other outside groups raising nearly $60 million, according to government reform and ethics group Issue One.

"Out-of-state money has poured in on both sides. Its become a little bit of an arms race," Ossoff told CNN.

Handel, her own campaign flooded with outside donations, has kept pace, emphasizing her area roots.

Voters "are not interested in Hollywood, California coming in and buying this seat," she told Fox News.

Republicans have held the seat since 1979. But as an increasingly well-educated, diverse suburban district it is exactly the kind of territory that Democrats need to win if they want to gain the 24 seats necessary to reclaim the House in 2018.

As the two parties duked it out, Trump loomed large over Georgia.

"The Trump phenomenon is extremely dominant in this race," and Handels fate is most likely tied to voters views of the president, Georgia-based Republican strategist Chip Lake told AFP.

A Handel win could energise Republicans, boosting their efforts with health care and tax reform legislation. Her loss would prompt party-wide handwringing.

"If were losing upper middle-class suburban seats in the South, we need to start having discussions immediately on... how in the world are we going to limit the damage in 2018 with Donald Trump as head of our party and president of the United States," Lake added.

Test for anti-Trump camp

In 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney won the district by 21 percentage points over president Barack Obama, Lake noted. Four years later, Trump carried it by just 1.4 points.

Handel has aligned herself gingerly with Trump. Vice President Mike Pence attended a fundraiser for her.

Tuesdays runoff is one of four chances opposition Democrats have had to snatch a House seat since Trump took office.

Special elections in Kansas and Montana -- also to replace Republicans who joined Trumps team -- were seen as opportunities for Democrats to score first strikes against the administration.

But with Democrats falling short in those races, and Republicans expected to hold a South Carolina congressional seat also up for grabs Tuesday, all eyes have turned to Georgia.

Should Democrats fail to convert at least one of the seats, it could be a demoralising blow for the anti-Trump resistance movement.  AFP
Municipal band set to perform

WATERLOO  The Waterloo Municipal Band, under the direction of Bill Shepherd, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the RiverLoop Amphitheatre.

A pre-concert featuring the Heartland Marimba Collective, directed by Matt Coley, begins at 6:45 p.m.

The concert is free and open to the public. John Deere will be honored with a special performance and dedication of Those Big Green Machines, by Les Aldrich.

In case of rain, the concert will be moved inside the Waterloo Center for the Arts.

Church to host meal Saturday

WATERLOO  Unity Presbyterian Church, 1149 Hammond Ave., will have a pancake breakfast from 7:30 to 11 a.m. Saturday.

The menu also includes scrambled eggs, sausage, fruit cup, coffee or milk.

Cost is $6.50, or $3 for children 8 and younger.

Fish fry slated Saturday at VFW

WATERLOO  The Military Order of the Cooties will host an all-you-can-eat fish fry from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the VFW Hall, 1406 Commercial St.

Cost is $8. The public is welcome.

Blood drive set in Waterloo

WATERLOO  There will be a Red Cross blood drive, sponsored by Girl Scouts, from 2 to 6 p.m. June 29 at Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Schedule an appointment at redcrossblood.org or call (800) 733-2767.

Rough Risers

to meet June 28

CEDAR FALLS  The Kiwanis Rough Risers will meet from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. June 28 at the Clarion Inn on University.

Alan Czarnetzki, University of Northern Iowa professor of earth and environmental sciences (and president of Rough Risers) will present a program on weather.

Go to kiwanisroughrisers.org for more information.

Legion installs officers July 3

CEDAR FALLS  The American Legion Auxiliary Unit 237 will meet July 3 at the AMVETS post, 1934 Irving St.

The executive board meets at 12:30 p.m., with the business meeting at 1 p.m. Installation of officers is planned.

All members are encouraged to attend.
WATERLOO  The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a former Waterloo mechanic who was charged with killing an acquaintance at his shop in 2014.

Authorities said Anthony Albert Tronca shot Ronald Randall at AJT Auto because Randall had slept with his girlfriend. Randalls body was hidden in a remote area by Washburn.

While Waterloo police were investigating Randalls disappearance, officers arrested Tronca during a traffic stop for driving on a suspended license. They impounded his car and later obtained a search warrant and found a .380-caliber Lorcin pistol that had been used to kill Randall and a .45-caliber ammunition.

On appeal, Tronca argued police improperly impounded the car following the traffic stop, claiming the seizure wasnt needed as part of his driving while suspended arrest.

In a ruling issued Wednesday, the Iowa Court of Appeals sided with the state, noting Waterloo police followed their procedures, which allow for towing if there are no licensed drivers at the scene to move the vehicle.

Troncas passenger was detained on a warrant, and Tronca hadnt asked to have another person come to get the car, court records state.
CEDAR FALLS  University of Northern Iowa professor and mental health therapist Rodney Diesers research on patient stress and physician/medical workforce burnout has led to a manuscript he co-authored to be published in the prestigious medical journal, Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Dieser co-authored the manuscript with UNI colleague Dr. Christopher Edginton and Renee Ziemer of the Mayo Clinic.

The article, titled Decreasing Patient Stress and Physician/Medical Workforce Burnout through Health Care Environments: Uncovering the Serious Leisure Perspective at Mayo Clinics Campus in Rochester, Minnesota, discusses the importance of serious leisure activities within hospitals, which can be places of stress for both patients and medical professionals.

Drawing on historical research regarding the leisure activities over the lifespan of Drs. William J. Mayo (1861-1939) and Charles H. Mayo (1865-1939), founders of the Mayo Clinic, and a contemporary case study analysis of the leisure offerings located at the Mayo Clinic-Rochester campus, Dieser and colleagues explain how leisure programs relieve stress, provide healthy coping, and deliver self-protection from the negative health outcomes of extreme and prolonged distress.

Research has shown that hospitals and clinics can be deeply stressful places for patients, physicians and other medical staff, said Dieser. Leisure not only can decrease the stress of patients, but it can also prevent burnout among physicians. Perhaps this is why Richard Lazarus, one of the most influential psychologists who studied stress stated that healthy coping, what he sometimes called psychological uplifts, that counter stress consist of engaging in hobbies, laughing, having fun, socializing and completing meaning-making task.

Serious and casual leisure can minimize the impact of stress through enjoyable distractions that create psychological breathers, enable healthy coping through social support and the application of self-determination, and restore a sense of optimism through pleasant experiences in the face of intense stress.

The Mayo Clinic Proceedings is a prestigious, monthly, peer-reviewed medical journal published by Elsevier and sponsored by the Mayo Clinic. It is the third highest circulating medical journal in the world, with 127,000 subscribers.

Dieser has been at UNI for 16 years and is a professor in the School of Kinesiology, Allied Health and Human Services and a licensed mental health therapist. The full article and video interview with Dieser can be found at www.mayoclinicproceedings.org.
WATERLOO  Mike Kindschi announced Monday he will not seek another term on the Board of Education.

I was elected in 2006. I have been a board member for 2-1/2 terms, the Evansdale resident said at the end of the board meeting. Ive chosen not to run for re-election this September.

Kindschis position is one of three on the Waterloo Community Schools board that will be up for election Sept. 12. He represents Director District 1, which includes a northeast portion of Waterloo, portions of East Waterloo and Poyner townships and the cities of Elk Run Heights, Evansdale, Gilbertville and Raymond.

I would encourage someone who lives in that (director district) to run, said Kindschi, noting it has been enlightening for him to serve in the position. Nonetheless, he said it is time for him to step down with my children out of the district since graduating.

After being elected in 2006, Kindschi ran again in 2009 and lost to David Meeks. Meeks stepped down in 2012 from what had become a four-year term and Kindschi was appointed to fill the final year. He was elected to the current term in 2013.

Other Waterloo school board positions that will be on the ballot are the Director District 4 seat, currently held by Angela Weekley, and the at-large seat, currently held by Shanlee McNally. Neither of them has announced if they will run again.

District 4 represents a northwest portion of Waterloo, including an area south of the Cedar River, and rural areas north of the city. The at-large position is open to any eligible resident of the school district.

July 10 is the first day candidates can file nomination papers with the boards secretary. Filing begins for all open school and community college board seats in Iowa on that date.
WATERLOO  Ruth Strongs first stop after being diagnosed cancer-free at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics wasnt home to tell her kids, and it wasnt to Scratch Cupcakery. Those came later.

Strong, of Clarksville, first went to a rally outside U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassleys Waterloo office to oppose Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

This is the very first stop that Ive made cancer-free, Strong, 35, told a group of two dozen protesters Tuesday evening. The only reason I can stand here and say that Im now cancer-free is because throughout this journey Ive had Medicaid insurance. Ive had coverage.

She said having insurance through the Medicaid expansion, which passed as part of the ACA, meant she had the appropriate and timely treatments she needed to survive thyroid cancer.

Even though Strong worries about what will happen if the ACA is repealed or the Medicaid expansion is rolled back, she was carefree Tuesday.

Right now, I have no feelings of fear or threats or insecurity whatsoever, and Id like to believe that has a lot to do with being healthy at this point, Strong said.

But she felt like she had an obligation to speak out for those who cannot. Now that shes healthy she can be a voice in the crowd that opposes the proposed changes.

Chris Schwartz, Americans for Democratic Action Iowa field organizer, had little to say about whats wrong with the Republican proposal coming out of the U.S. Senate, but thats only because a bill hasnt yet surfaced. One may come as soon as Thursday, and could be voted on as early as the first week of July.

In the absence of being able to speak out against the Senate proposal, the attendees instead spoke of their fears based on what passed the U.S. House last month. That bill would end the Medicaid expansion, turn the Medicaid program over to states, and end the mandate that requires people to have insurance; it is estimated to cause 23 million people to lose insurance, either by choice or being unable to afford it, and would reduce the deficit by $119 billion over 10 years.

Judy Griffith, of rural Cedar Falls, said as one example that the proposed bill that passed the House would cause her health insurance costs to rise considerably.

OK, lets say that I can scratch that out of savings or whatever, thats also money thats not going to get spent in this community; its the jobs were going to lose... . The ramification for me is far-reaching and truly evil, Griffith said.

Neither of Iowas Republican senators, Grassley and U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, have been in on a working group that is trying to formulate the Senate proposal. Ernst made a trip to the White House to talk about health care last week, but her staff said this week discussions in the Senate are ongoing and she continues to provide input.

Grassley and Ernst have said something has to be done because of the fact that Iowas individual insurance market is expected to have only one provider in 2018, and theres uncertainty about the future of the marketplace in Iowa .

Obamacare has failed in so many ways for the people of our state and others, so Im looking for how to make health care more affordable and accessible, Grassley said in a statement Tuesday.

Schwartz, too, said it was important to recognize the ACA, which also is called the Affordable Care Act, has some flaws and needs to be improved.

Theres a lot of people that are just scared. They want to see something done. They dont know what it is, but if all were saying is everything is fine, the Affordable Care Act is fine, then were going to lose those people and Trumpcare is going to win them, even though its not actually going to help them out, Schwartz said, calling the Republican proposals by the name of the president that would sign the legislation, Donald Trump.

Schwartz and ADA Iowa advocate for an alternative called Medicare-for-all that would allow all Americans access to health insurance through the federal governments Medicare program rather than just those 65 and over.

He also encouraged people to keep active  several attendees said they had trouble reaching their lawmakers as their phones had been busy  as the legislation progresses.

The resistance is working. They would have caused a lot more destruction by now had we not pushed back, so it matters, Schwartz said.
CEDAR RAPIDS  Iowa Republican political consultants sound like investment advisers when they talk about the prospects of Ron Corbett winning the GOP nomination for governor: past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Corbett, 56, has served as speaker of the Iowa House, led the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, was successful as an executive in the private sector and is in his second term as mayor of Cedar Rapids.

Thats no guarantee that the campaign he kicked off at a picnic Tuesday evening will carry him back to the Statehouse, according to political consultants who work with GOP clients.

The first challenge, according to Ryan Rhodes, who has worked with tea party campaigns and in 2016 had GOP congressional clients, doesnt see an opening among Republicans for Corbett.

Hes essentially coming at it from the left of Reynolds rather than as a challenger from the right, he said from Washington, where he now works in government and public affairs. I dont see any room there.

Nick Ryan, another longtime Republican campaign fundraiser and consultant, concurs.

Republicans enthusiastically embraced her following her swearing-in, said Ryan, the founder and president of Concordia Group, a public affairs consulting firm. Reynolds has strong support from the Republican base across the state.

Despite being a successor-incumbent rather than an elected incumbent, Reynolds will enjoy the benefits of being an incumbent in fundraising especially with the grass-roots activists, according to Craig Robinson, founder and owner of now-shuttered TheIowaRepublican.com.

As far as rank-and-file Republicans, theyll consider Reynolds the incumbent, Robinson said. If Reynold had any vulnerability in the primary, it would be a challenge by a hard core right-wing candidate or Trump loyalist.

In the Virginia GOP primary earlier this month, he noted, the establishment front-runners were expected to post sizable victories, (but) struggled with candidates to their right. They both won by less than 3 percentage points.

Fundraising could be a challenge, longtime Corbett friend Brent Siegrist conceded. However, Siegrist, who was the House majority leader when Corbett was Speaker of the House, believes a rocky start to the Reynolds administration and dissatisfaction with the GOPs legislative agenda may create an opening.

Reynolds has been nicked for accepting use of a private jet owned by a Republican donor who is asking for a state gambling license, and her administration has been criticized after the deaths of two teen girls under the supervision of the Iowa Department of Human Services.

There is a little of what you could term Branstad fatigue, Siegrist said. He did a fine job, but was around so long that some people might be looking for a change.

He also sees an opening for Corbett among an estimated 30 percent of union members who vote Republican. Theyre not happy about the GOP majority in the Legislature gutting public employee collective bargaining and may be motivated to support Corbett.

Plus, hes going to have some big ideas on reducing the income tax, the environment. People may be receptive to that if he can spark peoples imaginations, Siegrist said.

Robinson, now also with Concordia Group, compared a Reynolds-Corbett race with the 2014 Republican U.S. Senate primary that many saw as a contest between conservative Joni Ernst and moderate Mark Jacobs and as we know it wasnt even close. Ernst received 57 percent in a five-way primary.

Although the issues Corbett will be talking about might play well in a general election, they wont change the minds of GOP primary voters, Rhodes said.

Theyre going to be looking at religious liberty, where she is on life issues, her support for the Second Amendment and, generally, limited government, he said.

Siegrist sees all the warning signs, but said Corbett shouldnt be counted out.

He will campaign hard, Siegrist said. Whatever he does, its pretty much full-speed ahead.
CORRECTION: In 2009, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. This story has been corrected to reflect that.

DAVENPORT -- Amid Democrats' complaints that Senate Republicans are acting in secret on a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, defended the process and said the criticism is "overblown."

Grassley, on a conference call with Iowa reporters, said Wednesday he had not seen the bill. But he said that, at thrice-weekly Republican luncheons and at private meetings with GOP senators, the issue has been discussed, with the contents of those discussions often shared.

"I think the transparency issue has been somewhat overblown," he said.

Democrats argue that, in drafting the Affordable Care Act, there were multiple hearings, ample floor debate and there were months of bipartisan discussions with Republicans.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor Wednesday that this time, the GOP is drafting the bill in secret and allowing only 10 hours of floor debate.

"Ive never seen a more radical or reckless legislative process in my time in politics," he said.

Grassley, who was the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee at the time, acknowledged Wednesday that he took part in talks with Democrats over the Affordable Care Act. But he complained that "very significant" changes were made to the legislation by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and introduced on the floor of the Senate just days before a vote was taken.

Grassley also argued it was important that Republicans act quickly because of what he said were flaws in the Affordable Care Act, including insurers fleeing marketplaces. Just one company has said it intends to sell policies in Iowa in 2018.

"I think getting things done as quickly as we can is very important," he said. He added, too, that the Senate Republican leadership plans to allow amendments to be offered on the bill.

Senate Republicans are pushing for a vote on the legislation before the July 4 recess. That means the bill could come to a vote next week.

In addition to Democrats, some Republicans have complained about not seeing the bill, too.

Grassley also told reporters that big social reforms result from bipartisanship and the Affordable Care Act was partisan. It passed with just Democratic votes. However, Grassley acknowledged the Republican bill probably wouldn't draw any votes from Democrats, either.

Grassley accused Democrats of not wanting to be involved, but Democrats have rejected that idea and said they have asked to be included multiple times.
WATERLOO  A Cedar Falls man and his teenage son are home safe after they became lost while fishing and spent the night in George Wyth State Park.

The rescue effort, which kicked off Wednesday morning, included police officers sounding sirens and concluded with a ride in a fire department rescue boat.

The two, Thomas Frazier Sr., and son, Martel, werent injured.

The father said he had been fishing at Wyths Brinker Lake before, but this is the first time they had set out in the newly expanded north pool that had been part of a quarry operation.

They arrived Tuesday evening and walked to a spot to put in a few lines.

It got dark too quick, and we tried to find our way out, Thomas Frazier Sr. said.

We just kept going in circles until we came back to the bank where we were fishing at. There were some cement slabs, and so we stayed on those, he said.

They planned to give it another try in daylight and tried to rest overnight. For supplies, they brought drinking water and had jawbreakers and licorice for snacks.

We stayed up the whole time. We tried to lie on that concrete, but it was hard and cold. We got cold, and wed get up and walk around to stay warm. We thought about building a fire, but we didnt.

After dawn, they realized the path out wasnt any clearer.

We was going around in circles, kept taking the wrong way and kept coming back to the same spot, the father said.

Thats when they called 911.

Black Hawk County Dispatchers plotted Fraziers cell phone, and Waterloo police drove into the park and ran their sirens in an attempt to give the fishermen a signal to help them navigate.

It turned out they were on the other side of the lake, and a fisherman in a boat spotted them. Waterloo Fire Rescue was called, and the departments boat reached the pair and returned them to lakes parking lot where their car sat.

Before the ordeal of finding their way home, the two didnt have any luck fishing.

They werent keepers  undersized bass, so they had to go back, and a small blue gill, he said.
WATERLOO  The metro area continues to enjoy the lowest unemployment rates in 10 years, although the work force is smaller.

The 3.3 percent May unemployment for the Waterloo-Cedar Falls is the lowest since 3.1 percent in October and November 2007, according to figures provided by Iowa Workforce Development.

The rate is below the 4.1 percent in May a year ago and 3.4 percent in April for the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan statistical area, which includes Black Hawk, Bremer and Grundy counties.

However, while the number of people unemployed in May went down by about 800 compared to May 2010, so too has the resident civilian labor force, from 89,100 to 88,300. People can leave the labor force for a number of reasons, including retirement, going back to school or leaving the area.

Total nonfarm employment, which includes all the people working here regardless of whether they live here, is at 91,800, up by 300 from both a month and a year ago. Job gains were reported in government jobs and trade, transportation and warehousing, offset by declines in manufacturing, financial activities and in leisure and hospitality jobs.

From April to May, the metro area saw gains among goods producing jobs, including manufacturing. The leisure and hospitality sector saw a seasonal gain. Those gains were offset by losses in trade, transportation and warehousing and government , education and health services.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls unemployment rate was still among the highest of the states metro statistical area tracked by the state of Iowa, which ranged down to 1.8 percent in Ames. Scott County, part of the Quad Cities and tracked by the state of Illinois, had a 3.5 percent rate. Pottawattamie County, which includes Council Bluffs and is part of the Council Bluffs-Omaha, Neb. area tracked by the state of Nebraska, reported a jobless rate of 2.6 percent.

May unemployment rates for Northeast Iowa counties, with May 2016 rates in parentheses, are: Benton, 3.0 (3.1); Black Hawk, 3.5 (4.3); Bremer, 2.6 (3.2); Butler, 3.2 (3.5); Chickasaw, 2.9 (3.9); Delaware, 2.4 (3.1); Fayette. 3.1 (3.7); Floyd, 3.0 (3.3); Franklin, 2.5 (3.1); Grundy, 2.6 (3.2); Hardin, 3.0 (3.3); Howard, 2.6 (2.9); Mitchell, 2.0 (2.4); Tama, 2.9 (3.4); and Winneshiek, 2.4 (2.7).
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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.
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By John Stanton

The Federal Prison Industries (FPI) under the brand UNICORE operates approximately 52 factories (prisons) across the United States. Prisoners manufacture or assemble a number of products for the US military, homeland security, and federal agencies according to the UNICORE/FPI website. They produce furniture, clothing and circuit boards in addition to providing computer aided design services and call center support for private companies.

UNICORE/FPI makes its pitch for employing call center support personnel to firms thinking about off-shoring their call center functions. The logic is that, hey!, they may be prisoners, but its keeping the jobs in the USA that matters. Fair enough. That approach cuts out the middleman though, those Americans desperate for any kind of work but, through no fault of their own, are not behind prison bars and employable by UNICORE/FPI.

Sure, it seems a heartless statement and there are any number of angles to take on why the USA is the worlds number one incarcerator: Capitalism, racism, social and political injustice, a pay-as-you-go legal system, bone-headed policy makers, prison lobbyists, the death penalty, employment/unemployment, drugs, gangs, costs/prices and a host of behavioral, psychological and environmental issues that I have missed.

Inevitably the black hole that is money eventually sucks in and corrupts everyone from those in local communities desperate for the work a prison facility provides to those investors who profit from the prison industry. They earn their livelihoods and take their profits from the misery and labor squeezed from their human propertythose prisoners who self-destructed and others who are serving terms way too long for the crime committed.

For the Love of Money

From October 2016 through March 2017, UNICORE/FPI sold $252,414,987 million worth of goods and services.

The prison labor industry is very keen on promoting its role in assembling the US militarys widely used Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS). In January defense contractor Harris Corp. was awarded a $403 million contract by the US Defense Logistics Agency for spare parts supporting tactical radio systems, which includes SINCGARS.

UNICOR/FPI is a major supplier of SINCGARS radios, mounts, antennas, and installation and repair kits and when hard-mounted, our SINCGARS equipment meets rigorous military standards for shock and vibration in aircraft and tactical vehicles, such as Bradleys and Humvees. Through our nationwide network of factories and trained technicians, we have successfully met aggressive production and distribution needs for this crucial communication equipment in Middle East military operations.

Some of the purchases by the US Department of Defense include $14.8 million for electronic components, $887 thousand for communications equipment, $26.7 million for office furniture, $27.1 million for special purpose clothing and $7.5 million for body armor. The Department of Homeland security spent $372,255 on administrative support. The Executive Office of the US President spent $389 for signs and identification plates.

Fight Fire with Inmates

According to a Mother Jones article in 2015 somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of Californias forest firefighters are state prison inmates with some 4,000 working at any one time on fire lines. So dependent on the inmates was California that prison reforms that would see the release of some of the incarcerated firefighters were put on hold for fear of losing the manpower to fight California blazes. Then California attorney general Kamala Harris, now a US Senator, was behind the effort to keep the cheap firefighters behind bars,

Prison reform advocates have raised concerns that the state is so reliant on the cheap labor of inmate firefighters that policymakers may be slow to adopt prison reforms as a result. The concern was magnified last fall, when lawyers for state Attorney General Kamala Harris argued that extending an early prison-release program to all minimum custody inmates at this time would severely impact fire camp participationa dangerous outcome while California is in the middle of a difficult fire season and severe drought. Harris has since said she was troubled by the argument, and the state has ruled that minimum custody inmates, including firefighters, are eligible for the program so long as it proves not to deplete the numbers of inmate firefighters.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains women, men, children, and LGBTQI individuals in over 200 county jails and for-profit prisons, according to the grass roots group CIVIC. Some of these individuals include legal permanent residents with longstanding family and community ties, asylum-seekers, and victims of human trafficking.

It was former President Bill Clinton (Democrat) who started to load up detention centers and jails with immigrants, CIVIC noted. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which doubled the number of people in immigration detention from 8,500 each day in 1996 to 16,000 in 1998. Today, the detention population has increased fourfold to approximately 34,000 individuals each day, due in part to a congressionally mandated lock-up quota

President Donald Trumps (Republican) animosity to immigrants is well known. He and his aptly named attorney general Jefferson Beauregard Sessions will make sure detention centers and prisons are overfilled with men, women and children from Mexico, Central and South America. Trump and Sessions maniacal quest wage war on crime, drugs and terrorism will likely ensure that many thousands more will find themselves locked away and working for UNICORE/FPI or lining the pockets of private prison company owners.

Immigrants Too

The non-profit group Towards Justice reported that a lawsuit is moving forward pitting private prison corporation against immigrants who were forced into labor while in detention.

For the first time in history, a federal court allowed a class of immigrant detainees to jointly proceed with forced labor claims against the countrys second-largest private prison provider. Judge Kane in the District of Colorado certified a class of between 50,000 and 60,000 current and former immigrant detainees held at GEOs Aurora, Colorado detention facility since 2004. These individuals, some of whom were found to legally reside in this country after months in detention, allege that they were forced to clean the detention center without pay and under threat of solitary confinement. This practice allowed GEO to reduce labor costs at the Aurora facility, where it employs just one custodian to maintain a detention center that houses up to 1,500 people at a time.

Everyone Has Their Hands in the Pie

In January 2017, the Prison Policy Initiative (prisonpolicy.org) worked up a study titled Following the Money of Mass Incarceration. It shines the light on some of the unsettling reasons why the USA will never be able to reduce its reliance on mass incarceration. Those who depend on money that the prison industry provides will never give it up. Its not just private companies but local communities, bondsmen, unions all the way up to the US Department of Defense who collect fees or purchase UNICORE/FPI products and services at dirt cheap prices.

Bail bond companies that collect $1.4 billion in nonrefundable fees from defendants and their families actively work to block reforms that threaten its profits, even if reforms could prevent people from being detained in jail because of their poverty. Specialized phone companies win monopoly contracts and charge families up to $24.95 for a 15-minute phone call. Commissary vendors that sell goods to incarcerated people  who rely largely on money sent by loved ones  is an even larger industry that brings in $1.6 billion a year. 38 towns and cities in the U.S., more than 10% of all revenue is collected from court fines and fees. In St. Louis County, five towns generated more than 40% of their annual revenue from court fines and fees in 2013.

The over-incarceration of Americans is just one more vexing issue, piled on manyAfghanistan, Syria, education, Trump, Clintons, health care, taxesin which US citizens find themselves trapped and unable to reach across the pro/con divide and cause change.

John Stanton can be reached at jstantonarchangel.com.

WtR
Xinhua/Lu Rui via Getty Images(CINCINNATI) -- The family of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died just days after North Korea released him from prison in a coma, declined an autopsy, leaving his cause of death a medical mystery for now.



The Hamilton County Coroner's Office in Ohio examined Warmbier's body after the 22-year-old University of Virginia student died on Monday.



"The family's objection to an autopsy was honored, and only an external examination was performed," the coroner's office said in a statement Tuesday night.



In addition to the external exam, the coroner's office reviewed Warmbier's medical records from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and AeroMed Management Group, the air ambulance service that helped evacuate him from North Korea's capital where he had been detained for nearly 17 months. The coroner's office also had "extensive conversations" with Warmbier's treating physician at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, according to the statement.



"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," the coroner's office said in its statement. "Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Mr. Warmbier at this time of their tragic loss."



Warmbier was medically evacuated from Pyongyang and flown to Cincinnati on June 13. He was then rushed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. North Korea claimed that Warmbier slipped into a coma after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill shortly after his sentencing.



Warmbier was arrested at the airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, for allegedly trying to steal a propaganda poster from a restricted area in January 2016 while visiting the country on a sightseeing tour organized by a Chinese-based company. After a one hour trial in March 2016, he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.



At a news conference on June 15, Warmbier's father revealed that President Donald Trump called him a day earlier to ask about his son and the rest of his family. Fred Warmbier said Trump, who was "very candid" during the telephone call, told him Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other U.S. officials worked hard to negotiate his son's release.



Fred Warmbier told reporters the North Korean regime deemed his son a "war criminal" and "brutalized and terrorized" him during his detainment.



At the same news conference, doctors from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said Warmbier suffered from injuries related to cardiopulmonary arrest and was in a state of unresponsive wakefulness. They said scans showed extensive loss in all regions of Warmbier's brain and they found no evidence of botulism.



"This pattern of brain injury is usually seen as result of cardiopulmonary arrest where blood supply to the brain is inadequate for a period of time, resulting in the death of brain tissue," Dr. Daniel Kanter told reporters at the news conference.



Kanter said Warmbier was breathing on his own at the time and his vital signs were normal, but he could not speak or move voluntarily.



"He shows no signs of understanding language ... He has not spoken. He has not engaged in any purposeful movements," he said. "He has profound weakness of contraction in his arms and legs."



According to Dr. Jordan Bonomo, Warmbier had "no fractures to the bone and has minor blemishes on his skin. We see no evidence of an acute or healing fracture."



Warmbier died six days after he returned home.



"It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died," his parents wrote in a statement Monday.



"Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," they said.



The Warmbiers added that they are "at peace" and "at home."



The funeral service for Warmbier will be held Thursday morning at Warmbier's alma mater, Wyoming High School in Wyoming, Ohio, and will be open to the public, according to a release from the funeral home.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Jun 20, 2017 | By Benedict

3D printed aircraft components are regularly in the news, but a recent article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that additive manufacturing is being involuntarily grounded by a cautious Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). So is 3D printing in the aerospace industry ready for takeoff or not?

Even if you only spend a few minutes of the week browsing our website, youre likely to have come across several articles concerning aerospace companies and their work with 3D printing. Large aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus are frequently seen working with additive manufacturing companies, while American multinational conglomerate General Electric is responsible for perhaps the most notable example of 3D printing in aerospace: a 3D printed fuel nozzle that helps power the GE9X jet engine.

But according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, additive manufacturing is being throttled by the FAA, Americas national regulator for civil aviation. The article, written by journalist Andy Pasztor, suggests that the regulator is being slow to approve the production of 3D printed aircraft components, as it seeks to ensure that parts made via additive manufacturing are as strong and reliable as their traditionally made counterparts.

Pasztor seems to have a point. After all, despite the abundance of AM activity in the aerospace industry, only a couple of companies have had their 3D printed parts approved for use by the FAA.

These companiesthe ones we know of, at leastinclude the aforementioned GE, as well as Norsk Titanium, whose Rapid Plasma Deposition 3D printing process resulted in the companys first FAA-approved structural titanium aircraft components earlier this year. Norsk Titaniums 3D printed components will be used in Boeing Dreamliner aircraft, and the company recently partnered with Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems, which could eventually 3D print 30 percent of its titanium parts.

The Wall Street Journal today discusses the speed of the FAA in approving 3D printed aircraft parts

Clearly then, the FAA hasnt been freely handing out certifications like in-flight bags of pretzels. But it is still up for debate as to whether the regulator, which is ultimately responsible for the lives of aircraft crew and passengers, could (or should) be working faster to approve 3D printed parts. While the regulators certification processes are not entirely transparent, the FAA has intermittently attempted to explain its school of thought on additive manufacturingas well as its own role in the future of aerospace 3D printing.

In March of this year, less than a month before Norsk Titanium was granted FAA approval for its titanium parts, the FAAs Aircraft Maintenance Division (AFS-300) gave a presentation about additive manufacturing at the 2017 Gorham Conference, an annual aviation conference featuring a number of speakers.

At the event, the FAA division explained that additive manufacturing is rapidly evolving and being introduced into new aircraft deigns, repairs, and alterations. (The regulator even cited a 2015 3Ders article as evidence for the growth of additive manufacturing in aerospace.) Examples of 3D printing in aerospace, including small and complex engine parts and spares/repairs, were discussed with those in attendance.

Interestingly, the FAA also addressed what it termed the challenges and concerns about additive manufacturingthe very reasons why FAA approval for 3D printed parts might appear to be coming along slowly.

Those concerns about AM included, amongst other things, the possibility of material defects in 3D printed parts (and the resulting impact on the parts airworthiness); a lack understanding about failure modes and their connection to key production parameters for AM produced parts; the unknown mechanical properties of metal 3D printed parts; and the susceptibility of 3D printed parts to environmental conditions.

Norsk Titanium (above) and GE (below) have had 3D printed aircraft components approved by the FAA

The regulator has also discussed additive manufacturing on other occasions. In June 2016, at a joint FAA-Air Force workshop on 3D printing, a roundtable of experts concluded that aerospace additive manufacturing would generally require better input powder material, while also noting that the potential for unwanted manufacturing variation in AM was high.

Perhaps tellingly, the experts on the roundtable also concluded that near-net or finished shapes, complex geometries, and as-built, or even post-processed, surface finishes all represented challenges for inspection, with many parts requiring sophisticated volume inspections, such as computed tomography, augmented by actual cutups.

These cautious observations by the FAA obviously still hold true today, but the outlook for 3D printing in aerospace is far from grim. This Friday signals the start of the 2017 Paris Air Show, a renowned aviation event where several additive manufacturing developments (FAA-approved or otherwise) will be showcased. 3D printing giants like Stratasys and Renishaw will be demonstrating their aerospace capabilities, while heavyweights like Boeing and Airbus will also showcase how they are using 3D printing technology for future aircraft.

At the end of the day, it is hard to believe that more than a handful of people expected 3D printed aerospace components to become airborne overnight. And while the FAA might at first glance appear to be resisting progress, can we really blame a national regulator for wanting to establish a sustainable framework for this new manufacturing technology before giving it the green light?

Aerospace additive manufacturing clearly has a bright future ahead, and whether it becomes mainstream in one year or 10, the FAA must focus on validating 3D printed thoroughly, not quickly.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Butch wrote at 6/21/2017 9:06:10 PM:I heard that Norsk Titanium's claim of having FAA-approved structural titanium aircraft components is an outright lie. If the part was really FAA-approved, Boeing, the OEM, would be sharing this news with the world, but they refuse to confirm this claim. And the FAA certainly won't confirm the Norsk Titanium claim. It seems that Norsk Titanium is not being honest with the media and marketplace. Let's see the proof!




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.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Jun 21, 2017 | By Benedict

Were at the halfway point in the week, and today is all about the business side of 3D printing: Oerlikon has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with GE, Print The Future says it will be filing for a Regulation A+ IPO with the SEC, and Additive Industries has news that will fuel your imagination.

Oerlikon and GE Additive sign MoU for additive manufacturing collaboration

Oerlikon, a leading global technology group headquartered in Switzerland, today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GE Additive to collaborate on accelerating the industrialization of additive manufacturing. The five-year deal will see GE supplying 3D printers to Oerlikon, with Oerlikon becoming a preferred AM component manufacturer and materials supplier to GE Additive and affiliates.

GE and Oerlikon will also collaborate on research and development in additive manufacturing machines and materials over the period of the agreement. The MoU was announced at the International Paris Air Show, and includes GE-affiliated companies Concept Laser and Arcam AB.

Partnering with GE Additive, Concept Laser, and Arcam AB on innovative AM materials and machines will strengthen both companies' positions in additive manufacturing, and allows us to meet the growing demand for additive components, materials, and services in many industries, commented Dr. Roland Fischer, CEO of the Oerlikon Group.

Print The Future to launch Regulation A+ Initial Public Offering

New York-based on-demand 3D printing company Print The Future says it will be filing for a Regulation A+ Initial Public Offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company says it wants to give both accredited and non-accredited potential investors the opportunity to become a shareholder in the most dynamic 3D printing company of our generation.

Print The Future plans to offer two million shares of Print The Future common stock at $10.00 per share, with a minimum investment of 50 shares. Shares will be available for purchase through the Print The Future website.

"We are at the forefront of the 3D printing space and have an ambitious vision for the future of our company as well as the industry, said Neil Patel, Founder & CEO of Print The Future. What Starbucks is to coffee, Print The Future will be to 3D printing; synonymous with its product. The goal is to make 3D printing technology and design as experience-focused and expansive as the coffee chain.

Print The Future describes itself as the world's leading omni-channel brand experience that enables anyone to 3D print ideas on demand. The company plans to open 200 stores worldwide.

Additive Industries partners with Sauber F1 team

Additive Industries, a 3D printing company based in the Netherlands, today announced that it has partnered with the Sauber F1 team, a Swiss Formula One team founded in the 1970s by motorsport executive Peter Sauber. The three-year partnership will see Additive Industries support the Sauber additive manufacturing team in ramping up its capacity and overcoming a steep learning curve as it attempts to 3D print parts for Sauber F1 race cars as well as third-party applications.

The announcement was made at the Rapid.Tech conference in Erfurt, Germany, where the two partners launched two MetalFAB1 Process & Application Development Tools that will purportedly be upgraded later to full-size integrated multi-material MetalFAB1 systems for series production.

The professionalism of the Sauber F1 Teamas well as their drive for technological innovation, they own one of the most advanced automotive wind tunnels in the worldfits beautifully with our quest for industrial excellence, Additive Industries commented.

Worldwide 3D printer shipments up again in 2016

The IDC Worldwide 3D Printer Shipment Tracker has found that 3D printer shipments increased 29 percent in 2016 while revenue grew by more than 18 percent year over year in 2016. The fastest-growing technology segments were FDM and Stereolithography, which each grew shipments by nearly 30 percent in 2016 versus 2015. In revenue terms, powder-bed fusion-based 3D printers grew by nearly 40 percent from 2015 to 2016.

The tracker showed that the strongest growth in 3D printer shipments came from the Asia/Pacific region (excluding Japan), Central & Eastern Europe, and the Middle East & Africa. Shipments in the Asia/Pacific region surged in 2016, making it the largest 3D printer region in the world in 2016. 3D printer shipments in North America recovered in the second half of 2016, but were still down for the year.

Other notable statistics include the discovery that Chinese manufacturers like Flashforge, XYZ Printing, and Tiertime, companies selling low-end FFF/FDM printers, make up more than 30 percent of shipments but less than 5 percent of worldwide hardware revenue. Stratasys and 3D Systems make up just over 6 percent of worldwide shipments, but over 30 percent of total hardware revenue in 2016.

The 3D printing market surge continues on a worldwide basis with more technology and materials options, which are driving more investment in 3D printers and greater utilization of the equipment that has been installed, said Tim Greene, research director, Hardcopy Solutions at IDC. We're seeing exciting growth in some of the key technology segments, with FFF/FDM, SLA, and Powder-bed Fusion all growing at double-digit rates year over year.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Jun 21, 2017 | By Benedict

Nanotechnologists from Rice University and Chinas Tianjin University have used laser 3D printing to fabricate centimeter-sized objects of atomically thin graphene. The research could help create industrial quantities of bulk graphene.

Nickel functions as a catalyst to turn laser-melted sugar into graphene

Its hardly surprising that graphene, a two-dimensional sheet of pure carbon, is a subject of great interest for materials scientists. Not only is graphene incredibly strong, its also conductive, and can therefore be used in a wide range of applications, from nanoelectronics to bone implants.

The challenge is getting reasonably sized quantities of 3D graphene. To do the most useful stuff with the material, bulk quantities are needed, and scientists have so far had trouble making graphene on that scale in an efficient way.

A team of nanotechnologists from Rice University and Chinas Tianjin University recently used 3D laser printing to fabricate centimeter-sized objects of atomically thin graphene, in a research project that could someday lead to the simple fabrication of bulk quantities of graphene from non-graphene starting materials.

For the research project, the laboratory of Rice chemist James Tour joined forces with the labs of Rices Jun Luo and Tianjins Naiqin Zhao to adapt a common 3D printing technique. The technique, conducted at room temperature, was used to make fingertip-size blocks of graphene foam. No molds were required, and the starting materials consisted of just powdered sugar and nickel powder.

3D printing was used to produce a porous graphene foam

This simple and efficient method does away with the need for both cold-press molds and high-temperature CVD treatment, said co-lead author Junwei Sha, a former student in Tours lab and current postdoctoral researcher at Tianjin.

We should also be able to use this process to produce specific types of graphene foam like 3D printed rebar graphene as well as both nitrogen- and sulfur-doped graphene foam by changing the precursor powders.

To create their blocks of graphene, the researchers used a CO2 laserthe kind used by laser sintering 3D printers. When the laser was shone onto the sugar and nickel powder, the sugar was melted and the nickel acted as a catalyst. A low-density graphene with large pores then formed as the mixture cooled down. (These pores accounted for 99 percent of the materials volume.)

This laser shining process was repeated over and over again with different parameters, as the researchers sought to find the optimal amount of time and laser power that would maximize graphene production.

James Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry at Rice University

Having settled on an effective combination of parameters, the researchers believe that their technique could have many uses across different fields.

The 3D graphene foams prepared by our method show promise for applications that require rapid prototyping and manufacturing of 3D carbon materials, including energy storage, damping, and sound absorption, said co-lead author Yilun Li, a graduate student at Rice.

The research paper has been published in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano. Additional co-authors include Rodrigo Villegas Salvatierra, Tuo Wang, Pei Dong, Yongsung Ji, Seoung-Ki Lee, Chenhao Zhang, Jibo Zhang and Pulickel Ajayan, all of Rice, and Robert Smith of Qualified Rapid Products in West Jordan, Utah.

This study is a first of its kind, commented Tour. We have shown how to make 3D graphene foams from non-graphene starting materials, and the method lends itself to being scaled to graphene foams for additive manufacturing applications with pore-size control.

Posted in 3D Printing Technology

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As the U.S. Senate leadership worked behind closed doors on a health care bill, AARP unveiled a new Charlie the squirrel video urging lawmakers to end the secrecy around legislation that will affect millions of people. This time, the furry social media star is squeaking out in protest against the cone of silence and demanding that the Senate reveal the legislation.

Senate leadership has said they want to vote on a bill by the end of the month, without holding hearings or releasing the bill in advance, says AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond. The American people deserve more.

Charlie made his video debut prior to the U.S. House of Representatives voting narrowly last month in favor of the American Health Care Act (AHCA). His squeaks of concerns about the age tax the bill would impose on older Americans made a splash on social media, and the video was shared widely.
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.


Exceptional Results from Resource Expansion Drilling

Sydney, June 21, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Hastings Technology Metals Ltd ( ASX:HAS ) is pleased to announce that some exceptional high grade assay results have been received from the Company's 2017 drilling programme at Yangibana North. These results are from holes drilled into the southern, deeper extension to the current Indicated Resources and show potential for increasing both the tonnes and average grade of the resources at this deposit.



HIGHLIGHTS



- First assay results from 2017 drilling at Yangibana North and Fraser's received



- Holes at Yangibana North tested southern, deeper extension to the known deposit



- Best intersections include:-

6m at 3.86%TREO including 0.91% Nd2O3+Pr6O11

6m at 3.81%TREO including 0.88% Nd2O3+Pr6O11,

8m at 2.17%TREO including 0.52% Nd2O3+Pr6O11,

3m at 5.24%TREO including 1.40% Nd2O3+Pr6O11, and

3m at 4.54%TREO including 1.20% Nd2O3+Pr6O11



- Holes at Fraser's tested northern extension to the known deposit



- Best intersections include:-

5m at 1.39%TREO including 0.68% Nd2O3+Pr6O11, and

1m at 2.11%TREO including 0.81% Nd2O3+Pr6O11



INTRODUCTION



The current JORC Resources at Yangibana North are shown in Table 1 (see the link below).



Assays have also been received from drilling at the northern extension of the current Measured and Indicated Resources at Fraser's. Results indicate potential for a limited increase in the current JORC Resources that are shown in Table 2 (see the link below).



DRILLING RESULTS



Table 3 (see the link below) provides a summary of the best intersections in results received to date from Yangibana North.



Holes YGRC77-84 tested the potential southern extension of mineralisation towards the eastern end of the Yangibana North Resources. Results are in line with adjacent, previously drilled holes and it is likely that the next pit optimisation, to be completed in the near future as part of the Company's ongoing Definitive Feasibility Study, will extend the pit over this area.



Holes YGRC85-91 tested the western portion of the Yangibana North Resources where the mineralisation is relatively shallow and flat-lying. The high grades returned in three of the recent holes, including Nd2O3+Pr6O11 grades exceeding 1.0% in two holes, are very encouraging and will enhance the next JORC resource estimation and subsequent pit optimisation.



Collar locations of drilling completed to date at Yangibana North are shown in Figure 1 (see the link below). Drillhole parameters are provided in Appendix 1 (see the link below), and assay details are provided in Appendix 2 (see the link below).



Table 4 (see the link below) provides a summary of the best intersections in results received to date from Fraser's.



Drillhole parameters are provided in Appendix 3 (see the link below), and assay details are provided in Appendix 4 (see the link below).



TERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS REPORT



TREO is the sum of the oxides of the light rare earth elements lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), and samarium (Sm) and the heavy rare earth elements europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu), and yttrium (Y).



To view tables and figures, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/F895BB88





About Hastings Technology Metals Ltd





Hastings Technology Metals Ltd (ASX:HAS) (FRA:5AM) is advancing its Yangibana Rare Earths Project in the Upper Gascoyne Region of Western Australia towards production. The proposed beneficiation and hydro metallurgy processing plant will treat rare earths deposits, predominantly monazite, hosting high neodymium and praseodymium contents to produce a mixed rare earths carbonate that will be further refined into individual rare earth oxides at processing plants overseas.

Neodymium and praseodymium are vital components in the manufacture of permanent magnets which is used in a wide and expanding range of advanced and high-tech products including electric vehicles, wind turbines, robotics, medical applications and others. Hastings aims to become the next significant producer of neodymium and praseodymium outside of China.

Hastings holds 100% interest in the most significant deposits within the overall project, and 70% interest in additional deposits that will be developed at a later date, all held under Mining Leases. Numerous prospects have been identified warranting detailed exploration to further extend the life of the project.

Brockman Project

The Brockman deposit, near Halls Creek in Western Australia, contains JORC Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources, estimated using the guidelines of JORC Code (2012 Edition).

The Company is also progressing a Mining Lease application over the Brockman Rare Earths and Rare Metals Project.

Hastings aims to capitalise on the strong demand for critical rare earths created by the expanding demand for new technology products.


First Products Shipped to Labcon North America

Melbourne, June 21, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Bluechiip Limited ( ASX:BCT ) (Bluechiip or Company), a leader in the development of sample tracking technology for harsh environments, is pleased to provide this company update.



Highlights



- First products shipped to Labcon North America under agreement signed April 2017.

- Labcon commence tooling for manufacture

- Significant acceleration of annual revenue growth expected in FY18.

- Capital raise $2.53m, 1:3 non-renounceable rights issue and shortfall placement to support growth and working capital.

- Notice of allowance to patent for 'Temperature Sensing and Heating Device'



Partner Progress - First Products Shipped to Labcon and Tooling for Manufacture



Labcon North America signed a pivotal agreement with Bluechiip in April 2017. In early June Bluechiip partially shipped the first order under this agreement for Bluechiip Buttons, Bluechiip Cryoboxes and Bluechiip Readers all for use in Labcon's customer validation site. Further sites will be established across Europe and US in the months ahead.



Labcon has also begun tooling for manufacture of Bluechiip-enabled cryovials to service the 2ml-vial market. Labcon has independently valued this market for BCT's products at $US40m per year.



Jim Happ, President Labcon North America said, "We are delighted with the progress and see a large market opportunity for Bluechiip-enabled Labcon cryogenic equipment. We have customers already interested in the technology. The Bluechiip technology enables us to differentiate our range of cyrogenic vials and we have already commenced tooling for manufacture."



Genea Biomedx continues to develop and incorporate Bluechiip technology into its Assisted Reproductive Technologies product pipeline distributed globally. Genea Biomedx expects its Bluechiip-enabled Gidget LN2 product to enter the market during FY18.



Tomas Stojanov, CEO at Genea, said: "The Bluechiip technology enables us to continue to expand our roadmap of new products with exciting new technologies, broadening our portfolio in the global assisted reproductive technologies marketplace. We are particularly excited to soon be able to offer the technology to customers and incorporate Bluechiip's technology into our own IVF facility in Sydney, to improve productivity, product tracking accuracy and safety."



Planet Innovation, BRW magazine's Australia's most innovative company for the past three years and 5% shareholder in Bluechiip, continues to engage downstream partners to execute Bluechiip-enabled opportunities which will incorporate the company's technology.



Bluechiip's order book continues to build with the company having now sold 13 developer kits with an expanding pipeline of more than 30 potential partners.



Accelerating Revenue



Revenue is expected to accelerate significantly in FY18 based on contractual commitments already in place. This growth continues to be driven by: sale and delivery of products to the company's Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) partners, including Labcon North America, Genea Biomedx and Planet Innovation; licence fees; development services and developer kit sales to pipeline partners.



Rights Issue and Capital Raising



On 1 June Bluechiip announced that it would raise up to $2.53m via a 1:3 non-renounceable rights issue to fund working capital and growth.



The offer is progressing well. "Feedback and response has been positive with strong interest" Bluechiip Managing Director Andrew McLellan said. "Directors have taken up, or are expected to take up, their full entitlement, and interest in any shortfall placement continues to build. The opportunity exists for shareholders to apply for additional shares on top of their entitlement."



Non-shareholders, who are sophisticated investors, are also invited to apply for shares as part of the current capital raising.



In addition to the rights issue, we have received an application from a significant investor for a private placement of $1.1m at the same price as the rights issue, and conditional on the rights issue being fully allocated. This would enable Bluechiip to be fully funded.



Ramsgate Advisors is assisting Bluechiip with its investor relations.



Expanding Patent Portfolio



Bluechiip's unique, highly-differentiated technology portfolio continues to be reinforced with a notice of allowance for the company's 'Temperature Sensing and Heating Device' patent application. In the coming months this will be granted as a published patent in the United States of America, and will take the company's granted patent portfolio to 25 patents across seven families. The company is progressing with a provisional application for an 'Over- Temperature Sensing' device, the result of co-funded research and development.





About Bluechiip Limited





Bluechiip Ltd (ASX:BCT) understands that every sample - stem cells, blood, eggs, sperm and other biospecimens - is critical, so our objective is to manage each one with optimal quality in the most efficient way. Bluechiip's advanced management solution is the only one that provides sample temperature with ID in cryogenic environments to. Most importantly, this delivers confidence in every sample.

Bluechiip's unique patented technology is a MEMS-based wireless tracking solution that contains no electronics. It represents a generational change from current tracking methods such as labels (hand-written and pre-printed), barcodes (linear and 2D), and Radio Frequency Identification. Bluechiip tags are either embedded or manufactured into storage products such as vials or bags. Each product can be easily identified, and critical information such as sample temperature, is detected by readers and stored in the Bluechiip software. In addition to functioning in extreme temperatures, the Bluechiip(R) Advanced Sample management solution can survive autoclaving, gamma irradiation sterilization, humidification, centrifuging, cryogenic storage and frosting.

Bluechiip's technology has applications in healthcare, including in cryogenic storage facilities (biobanks and biorepositories), pathology, clinical trials and forensics. Other key markets include cold-chain logistics/supply chain, security/defence, industrial/manufacturing and aerospace/aviation.

Bluechiip: Delivering confidence in every sample.
More Than 40 Brands Now Being Sold on SmartTrans' Ecommerce Platforms in China



E-Commerce Brand Update

Sydney, June 21, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - SmartTrans Holdings Limited ( ASX:SMA ) (SmartTrans or the Company) is pleased to provide this update on the number of brands now represented on the two RooLife and Wjike online shopping platforms in China.



- Sales growing on both Dodoca RooLife and Wjike online stores in China



- 189 products and services now available for sale



- Pipeline of further brands to be added to the platforms in coming months



- Dodoca RooLife and Wjike platforms range of products, customer numbers and revenue increasing each month



As of the end of May there are now 43 leading Australian brands offering a total of 189 products for sale to Chinese consumers. The table (see the link below) lists the brands and number of products currently available across SmartTrans' RooLife and Wjike platforms.



SmartTrans' is scaling up both platforms with more quality brands expected to be added in the near term. A further 20 brands are under consideration. Revenue is increasing month-on-month as more Chinese consumers recognise both platforms as trusted sales channels.



Dodoca RooLife has been fully operational for 14 weeks and Wjike for 10 weeks with the range of products, customer numbers and revenue progressively growing during this period.



To view tables and figures, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/3639YOM9





About SmartTrans Holdings Limited





SmartTrans Holdings Limited (ASX:SMA) is a leading Australian technology and software provider that has developed a mobile and online billing and payment platform for the China market The company has agreements in place with China Mobile, China Unicorn, China Telecom CMPay, UnionPay and Alipay. With the growing use of the smartphone as a billing device in China, the company is experiencing significant uptake of its technology in that market. SmartTrans has also developed cutting-edge proprietary logistics software which is used by some of Australia's leading blue-chip organisations who have long term contracts in place with the company. SmartTrans is assessing growth opportunities for its logistic offering in China to complement its mobile and online payments platform.


Loch Lilly Project Drilling Programme Approval Received

Sydney, June 21, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Argent Minerals Limited ( ASX:ARD ) (Argent, or the Company) is pleased to report that it has received regulatory approval to commence a diamond drilling programme in the Loch Lilly - Kars Belt in Western New South Wales.



Highlights:



- Regulatory approval has been received for the Loch Lilly drilling programme.



- Argent to commence site preparations next week, and drilling contractor scheduled to mobilise to site during the second week of July.



- A total of 1,000 metres to be drilled to test the Eaglehawk and Netley geophysical targets - each by a 500 metre diamond hole.



- Major discovery potential identified in this Western Tasmania Mount Read Volcanics equivalent belt includes polymetallic volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS), copper-gold porphyry, and nickel sulphide mineralisation.



- 75% of the direct drilling costs up to $150,000 will be co-funded by the NSW Government, merit based, Cooperative Drilling fund.



- Completion of the drilling programme will result in Argent earning a 51% interest in the Loch Lilly project.



- Argent has the right to earn up to 90% interest in the project.



The Loch Lilly - Kars Belt, located approximately 80 kilometres south of Broken Hill, is analogous to the Mount Read Volcanics of Western Tasmania, which hosts world class VHMS, copper-gold porphyry and nickel sulphide mineralisation.



Argent will earn its first 51% interest in the Loch Lilly Joint Venture by completing the drilling programme to test two compelling geophysical targets - Eaglehawk and Netley. The drilling program will comprise two diamond drill holes for a total of 1,000 metres, with one 500-metre hole to test each target.



The direct per-metre drilling costs of the programme will be 75% co-funded by the NSW Government up to $150,000. The highly sought after Government funding was awarded to the project based on merit, as assessed by an independent expert advisory panel.



All access agreements are in place and the required drilling activity notifications have been submitted to the various authorities as required by the regulations.



Drill site preparations are scheduled to commence next week and the drilling contractor is scheduled to mobilise to site and commence drilling during the second week of July 2017. The drilling phase of the programme is anticipated to be completed within a period of approximately three weeks, subject to operational conditions and weather.



This will be followed by Argent's standard process of detailed core logging and selection of samples for submission to the laboratory. In order to further streamline its site operations, the Company is renting a secure yard with core processing facilities in Broken Hill.



Further details of the Eaglehawk and Netley targets and the drilling programme will be provided in a forthcoming ASX release.





About Argent Minerals Limited





Argent Minerals Limited ( ASX:ARD) is an Australian publicly listed company with a 100% interest in a silver/gold project at Kempfield NSW. Work is underway on the preparation of an EIS and a feasibility study for the first stage of the project which will involve heap leaching some 8.8 million tonnes of mainly oxide and transitional material to produce over 9.5 million ounces of silver and 15,000 ounces of gold over a 5 year mine life. Argent is also earning up to a 70% interest in two other NSW projects - gold at West Wyalong and base metals at Sunny Corner.
loading.........

Natural Alternative to Antibiotics

Brisbane, June 21, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Anatara Lifesciences ( ASX:ANR ) is pleased to release to investors a copy of the presentation for the Gold Coast Investment Showcase (June 21st & 22nd 2017).



Oral therapeutics for gastrointestinal disease in livestock and humans



Detach(TM)

- Natural, safe, non-antibiotic therapeutic that prevents and treats gastrointestinal diseases, including diarrhoea



- Meets the need to reduce the use of antibiotics and zinc oxide in animal production



- Unlike antibiotics and zinc oxide, Detach(TM) will not contribute to antimicrobial resistance (AMR)



Detach (TM) - Poised for swift market entry

Commercially validated, supported by demand



- A clear path to market: Launch in 2018

o Manufacturing complete at commercial scale and global supply confirmed



- Introduction of DetachTM is supported by industry, government, retailer & consumer demand



- Detach(TM) will be supplied in Australia via preexisting distribution channels (Australian pork industry is heavily consolidated)



- Focus now is on planning market launch



- Launch in Australia will provide leverage into Asia



- Global partnering interest for worldwide commercialisation



What Next?

Detach(TM) - A Pipeline in a Product



Other Detach(TM) presentations:

- Livestock: in-feed

- Livestock: in-water



Potential product extensions for the core components of Detach(TM)



Partnering Opportunities for:

- Human GI conditions (diarrhoea; inflammatory bowel disease; irritable bowel syndrome)



Anatara Investment Overview



- Experienced board and management team with proven track record



- Lead product, Detach(TM), has a clear route to market

o Commercially validated and proven efficacy

o Development strategy de-risked and revenues within 2 years



- Well funded - sufficient to launch Detach(TM) in key markets



- Product Pipeline - animal product leads to human product development for partnering opportunities



- Seasoned Operational Team

o Regulatory, Manufacturing, IP, Clinical Trials, R&D



To view the full presentation, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/V96850AQ



To view the video presentations, please visit:

http://www.abnnewswire.net/press/en/88828/Anatara





About Anatara Lifesciences Limited





Anatara Lifesciences Limited (ASX:ANR) is developing and commercialising innovative, evidence-based products for gastrointestinal health where there is significant unmet need. Anatara is a life sciences company with expertise in developing products for animal and human health. Anatara is focused on building a pipeline of human gastrointestinal health products. Underlying this product development program is our commitment to delivering real outcomes for patients and strong value for our shareholders. For more information, please visit www.anataralifesciences.com.
Pawar said that Shivaji had killed Afzal Khan due to enmity and not because the latter belonged to Muslim community.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has alleged that politicians are changing history by concealing facts about Chhatrapati Shivaji maharaj. According to him, political parties have often tried to portray Shivaji as anti-Muslim but he never hated Muslims. Several Muslims have worked for Shivaji and have remained loyal towards him. Pawar added that often political parties have tried to take mileage by using Shivajis name as he is a popular king. He also criticised historians for distorting history about the Maratha warrior. Pawar asked why they didnt take initiative to project the true aspects of Shivajis personality. Why was he painted anti-Muslim in text books? Such incidents only send wrong message to children who study history said Pawar. He said that history must not be changed for deriving political mileage.

Chhatrapati Shivaji was known as an able administrator. However he was depicted as anti-Muslim and pro-Hindu in text books which is unjustified. He had killed Afzal Khan due to enmity and not because the latter belonged to Muslim community. Today caste and religion based politics has taken centrestage instead of good governance hence people have lost faith in the political system. Steps must be taken to restore peoples confidence. Nobody should try to change history and misreport facts as per their own convenience, said Pawar.

Mr. Pawar was speaking at Bal Gandharva Rangmandir in Pune on the occasion of a book launch on the life of Shivaji authored by historical researcher Shrimant Kokate.

Shivaji always worked for the welfare of his subjects. He never had created any discrimination against them and considered everyone as equal irrespective of their religious background. He had invited people from all sections of the society to join his army. It would be a-historical to say that Shivaji was a practicing Go-Brahman Pratipalak (protector of cows and brahmins),added Pawar.

The number of Shivajis Muslim officers and soldiers was far bigger than that of Vedic Brahmins. Both the Chiefs of Shivajis navy and artillery were Muslims. Even his bodyguards were Muslims. He killed Krishnaji Bhaskar Kulkarni, a Brahmin who was the ambassador of Afzal Khan. He was a visionary and promoted equality. When Shivaji and Afzal Khan met at Pratap Garh, Afzal Khan tried to kill him. But clever Shivaji killed Afzal Khan by tactic.
The West Bengal CID arrested former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan. His arrest came six days after his retirement on June 12. Karnan became the first high court judge to have retired as a fugitive. With the comfort of the government, but here is one simple man, who raised the issue of corruption among judges, is being humiliated like a nasty criminal. In 2011- Justice Karnan had written to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) alleging caste-based discrimination from his fellow judges at the Madras High Court. He further claimed that a fellow judge intentionally touched his feet at a marriage function.

In 2014, during a courtroom hearing at the Madras High Court on a PIL relating to appointment of judges, Justice Karnan alleged unfair selection of judges. He had written to the joint registrar of the RTI regarding the unfair appointment of judges and faced wrath of 20 judges of the Madras High Court for the allegations. Following this, a request was made to the then CJI Justice P Sathasivam for Karnans transfer from Madras High Court. In 2015, after Chief Justice of Madras High Court Sanjay Kishan Kaul formed a committee to interview lawyers for appointment as civil judges. Karnan filed a suo motu writ petition following which the division bench of the high court stays Kauls order. He then also threatened the Chief Justice of filing a contempt case against him for interference following the stay order. The Madras HC registry moved the Supreme Court demanding a stay on Justice Karnans order. Justice Karnan had written several letters to the CJI, the President and the Law Minister questioning the financial irregularities incurred by the Chief Justice and the Registrar General of the Madras High Court.

In 2016, Justice Karnan was transferred to the Calcutta High Court via order of the Supreme Court. He immediately puts a stay on his transfer order and demands the CJI file a response and not interfere in his jurisdiction. Quashing the stay order of Justice Karnan, the Supreme Court directed the Madras High Court to discharge Justice Karnan from any work and put a blanket stay on all his orders. And this year, in 2017 during demonetisation, Justice Karnan had written to Prime Minister Modi accusing 20 judges of the high court and Supreme Court of corruption and hoarding of illegal money. As a last resort, the Supreme Court filed suo motu contempt proceedings against Justice Karnan. CJI J S Khehar along with seven other senior judges issued him a notice. All judicial and administrative work of Justice Karnan was put to a standstill. Barring his practice, Justice Karnan alleged CJI and his bench of an upper caste bias and the court order as a caste-based discrimination amounting to an offence under the SC and ST (Prevention of) Atrocities Act.

Justice Karnan did not attend the contempt proceedings and demanded Rs. 14 crore as the compensatory amount from the seven-judge bench. On March 10, Supreme Court issued a bailable warrant against Justice Karnan. During the hearing, Karnan announced that he will not be challenging the court to arrest him. Then the Supreme Court questions Justice Karnans state of mind and requests him to furnish a medical certificate to prove that he is of sound mind. Thereafter, Karnan orders the seven-judge bench to appear at his residential court on insulting him in an open court. He further goes on to issue bailable warrants against the seven judges, orders a CBI probe on his caste-based allegations, directs the Airport Authority to restrain the seven judges from flying abroad and convicts the bench under the SC/ST Act for five years.

Justice Karnan is at present guilty of contempt and has been sentenced to six months imprisonment; restraining the media to print his statements. In the history of mankind, there were multiple instances where very learned and prominent people went into hiding to avoid persecution by the state or hoodlums. Just because he exposed the corruption of judiciary and gave them tough time, that does not mean he deserves to be hounded by law.

Anyway, my sympathy is with Justice Karnan. I failed to understand what crime he has committed except exposing rampant corruption in the judiciary. Indian judiciary is sick and needs drastic surgery as it is on deathbed and people have a very poor and pathetic opinion about it. Look at the state of affairs in the judiciary, a sitting high court judge as levelling corruption charges against his fellow judges as well as against the sitting judges of the Supreme Court. There is a dire need for the higher judiciary to introspect and change with the changing times. Or else the Justice Karnan like activists may fade away.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
In a setback to the Oppositions plan to field a candidate for the presidential poll, the Janata Dal United (JDU) is likely to back the NDA pick Ram Nath Kovind. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told the party lawmakers to vote for Kovind in the upcoming president election on July 17.

Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar had phoned Sonia Gandhi, the Congress boss, in April to suggest a corralling of opposition parties over the election of the President of India. Mr. Kumar pitched the idea of a united opposition candidate as a test run for a Mahagathbandhan or grand Alliance for the general election in 2019.

JDU MLA and party chief whip Ratnesh Sada said:We have decided to support Ram Nath Kovind. The party MLAs gathered for a meeting in Patna to discuss the issue.

It has already been conveyed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, and JDUs alliance partner and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.

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.

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 NDAs candidate for the President elections, he had said a detailed discussion would be held on the matter within the JD(U).

Several non-allies of the BJP like BJD, TDP and factions of AIIDMK have alo backed Kovind candidture which has tilted the scales in the BJPs favour.

With 71 MLA and two MPs, the JD(U) has substantial vote in terms of first preference votes on which a president is elected.

This is the second time when JD(U) has thrown a surprise in presidential polls by going against its allies. In 2012, it had supported Congress led UPAs presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee defying the then coalition partner BJPs pick P A Sangma for the post of ceremonial head of the country.

This time, JD(U)s decision to go with BJP-led NDAs pick for president has come as a setback to the Congress and Left parties which are keen to put up a strong fight in the presidential contest due to ideological differences with the BJP.

Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar is considered as one of the top candidates of the opposition for presidents post although a final decision is likely to made on Thursday when Congress chief Sonia Gandhi along with other opposition parties meet in New Delhi.

JD(U)s senior partner in grand alliance, RJD adopted a guarded stance on Nitish Kumars decision to support Kovind stating that it would not have any impact on the health of the grand alliance government in Bihar. The RJD said there was past precedence of parties voting independently in presidential polls.
European Parliament Resolution Calls on Turkey to Protect Cultural Heritage

"Today's vote didn't come as a surprise to us, and we are glad to see that the Foreign Affairs Committee is united in defending Universal Human Rights values in Turkey and condemning Turkish President Erdogan's destructive policies, both domestically and internationally," EAFJD President Kaspar Karampetian told the Armenian Weekly. "It's the right thing to do to call for the halt of EU accession talks, should Erdogan acquire more powers with the proposed constitutional changes," Karampetian added. Committee MEPs harshly condemned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his autocratic regime, which has polarized the Turkish society and alienated neighbors and allies. The main message to Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party of Turkey (AKP) was that Turkey's EU accession talks should be suspended if the proposed changes to the constitution go ahead. The resolution on Turkey was adopted by 51 votes to three, with 14 abstentions. The full House is scheduled to vote on it during the next plenary session in Strasbourg in July. One of the amendments calls on the Turkish government to respect and fully implement the legal obligations, which it has undertaken relating to the protection of cultural heritage, and in particular to conduct in good faith an integrated inventory of Greek, Armenian, Assyrian, and other cultural heritage that was destroyed or ruined during the last century. It also calls on Turkey to ratify the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and to cooperate with relevant international organizations, especially the Council of Europe, in preventing and combating illicit trafficking and the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage. Another amendment calls on Turkey and Armenia to work on the normalization of their relations and stresses that the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border could lead to improved relations, with particular reference to cross-border cooperation and economic integration. "We are also glad to see that amendments calling on Turkey to have good neighborly relations with its immediate surrounding countries and open its closed borders, as well as to respect and fully implement the legal obligations which it has undertaken relating to the protection of minorities' cultural heritage, and particularly the inclusion in the references to the Armenian Genocide centenary resolution of April 2015? added Karampetian. The EAFDJ President also noted that the organizations is looking forward to seeing the resolution adopted in July, with the same spirit that was discussed in the Foreign Affairs Committee".
Deporting Iraqi Assyrians Isn't What Trump Intended

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. That's 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 aren't 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, they're 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?" It's a question a lot of Christians are asking.
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 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 21, 2017

One of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans chief foreign policy advisers has offered a hearty defense of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian group Hamas, signaling Turkeys continued support for militant Sunni movements and its top regional ally Qatar even as it seeks to position itself as a neutral arbiter in the ongoing Gulf crisis.

Ibrahim Kalin used his column in the pro-government daily Sabah to decry what he called the lack of concrete evidence proving that Qatar was supporting terrorism. He also called on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to heed Qatars demands to lift a three-week blockade as a prerequisite for negotiations. The measures taken against Qatar are indeed disproportionate and do not contribute to the resolution of the crisis, he wrote. Both Turkey and Qatar refuse to class the Egypt-rooted Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas as terrorists.

Kalin, one of the few public intellectuals in Erdogans entourage, argued, It should be clear by now that this recent crisis is more than about terrorism charges. It is also about how to deal with political Islamic movements, i.e., the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. He might have added Erdogans Justice and Development Party to that list. The party, which shot to power 15 years ago, also has its roots in political Islam and sees the moves against Qatar as a threat to itself.

Ibrahim Karagul, the editor-in-chief of the pro-government Yeni Safak, perfectly captured this mindset in his daily column today. When it is said that a new game is being staged for Syria, look immediately to Turkey. When the Qatar crisis erupts, when Irans ballistic missiles hit Arab soil, when Russia and America fall out in Syria, shift your gaze to Turkey, he wrote.

Meanwhile, Turkeys economy minister announced new plans to enhance the flow of food and other staples to the Gulf mini-state today. Nihat Zeybekci said the number of cargo planes ferrying such items from Turkey to Qatar had reached 105 but noted, Transporting alimentary items by planes is not economically sustainable. Today our first ship will set sail for Qatar. We will continue using ships. Overland transportation of nonperishable goods will also begin.

At a meeting of Turkish and Qatari businessmen in Doha today, the chairman of Qatar Trade Centers Company, Fairuz Muhyaddin, said Turkey had sent 450 tons of fresh food to the country since the start of the Saudi-led blockade.

In a further show of solidarity, Turkish troops arrived in Qatar to take part in joint training exercises at the Tariq bin Ziyad military base in Doha. The move came after the Turkish parliament fast-tracked legislation to allow the troops to be sent to Qatar, where Turkey is building a military base. They will help train Qatari forces.

Turkey's unequivocal backing of Qatar has prompted warnings that it is painting itself into a corner, much as it did when it launched its hapless campaign, with Qatars backing, to overthrow Syrias President Bashar al-Assad.

But such mawkish predictions appeared to unravel when the State Department unexpectedly came out in support of Qatar as well. Heather Nauert, the State Department spokesperson, told reporters yesterday that the more time goes by the more doubt is raised about the anti-Qatar measures by Saudi Arabia and its 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 GCC countries?

The remarks fly in the face of earlier tweets from President Donald Trump, who appeared to cheer on the Saudis. During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar  look! he wrote. Many, including Turkey, took his words as unqualified backing for Saudi Arabia, which may help explain why Erdogan was uncharacteristically slow in coming to Qatars defense. He broke his silence two days after the blockade was announced and even then his comments were mild.

The mixed signals from the administration appear to have caught everyone off guard, including some US officials. The comments that were approved and what Nauert read out were rather different, an official speaking on condition of strict anonymity told Al-Monitor.
June 21, 2017

A powerful financial watchdog group meeting in Valencia, Spain, this week will take actions that could bolster the Iran nuclear deal  or put it in further jeopardy.

In the aftermath of the 2015 agreement, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)  a Paris-based intergovernmental organization that sets standards for banks worldwide  agreed last year to suspend so-called countermeasures against Iran. These sanctions, warning financial institutions against dealing with countries that have poor records on terrorism financing and money laundering, had kept Iran on a blacklist along with North Korea and were an additional disincentive to Western and Asian banks contemplating resuming or initiating business with Iranian counterparts.

A plenary session of the FATF is expected on Thursday or Friday to decide whether to extend that suspension for another year, giving Iran more time to implement an action plan it announced last year to come into compliance with global norms. At a meeting in June 2016 in South Korea, the FATF praised Iran for its efforts.

In an interview with Al-Monitor in October 2016, Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Ali Tayebnia described the progress he said Iran had made, such as passing laws against terrorist financing and money laundering and installing software in banks to track suspicious transactions. Tayebnia said at the time that he was confident Iran would fulfill the action plan within a year.

Iran would prefer a permanent removal of sanctions, but the most it can hope for is continuing the suspension. Three European diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity told Al-Monitor that European countries favor extending the suspension for another year. They argue that keeping Iran in a gray zone  rather than returning it to the blacklist  will encourage Tehran to take further steps to improve banks performance and bolster confidence that the nuclear deal will endure among European executives who have already signed deals or are contemplating new business with Iran.

The renewal of the suspension of FATF countermeasures is imperative for European companies and banks doing business with Iran, Ellie Geranmayeh, a senior policy fellow with the London-based European Council on Foreign Relations, told Al-Monitor in an email. Without it, the handful of deals that are currently happening and taking shape would be placed on halt.

Geranmayeh continued, Major Russian and Chinese banks also require FATF compliance and green light before undertaking big deals with Iran.

Meanwhile, US opponents of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action have been lobbying for the sanctions against Iran to be reinstated. The FATF makes decisions by consensus, so the Donald Trump administration could block the renewal of the sanctions waiver.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, former US Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., called for reimposing FATF countermeasures against Iran. Lieberman chairs the anti-deal lobby group United Against Nuclear Iran, while Kirk is an adviser to the group.

Iran remains the worlds leading state-sponsor of terrorism [and] has done little to enact the anti-money laundering policies requested by the FATF, their op-ed states. Over the past year, Iran has continued to provide money, weapons, training and troops to the cause of terrorism throughout the Middle East. From the Houthis in Yemen to propping up Bashar [al-]Assads forces in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and supporting Shiite militias in Iraq, theres no shortage of examples of Iranian influence over some of the most violent groups in the world.

While Iran has long provided support to militant organizations on the US State Departments list of terrorist organizations, the money it gives generally does not go through banks.

State Department and White House officials contacted by Al-Monitor did not reply to requests about the Trump administrations position on renewing the suspension. The administration has continued to implement the nuclear deal by renewing waivers of US nuclear-related sanctions, but it has harshly criticized Tehran for its policies in the region and called for a peaceful transition of the Iranian system of government.

Despite the FATF suspension, major Western financial institutions have remained wary of working with Iranian counterparts for fear of incurring huge penalties from the US Justice Department. Large fines have been imposed in the past on banks such as HSBC for misrepresenting transactions with Iran. Nevertheless, European and Asian companies are finding ways to finance some large deals with Iran.

US-based Boeing, which has been granted an exception to export to Iran under the nuclear deal, has signed agreements to sell Iran dozens of new civilian airliners. Germany's Siemens has agreed to upgrade Irans rail network, and Britain's Vodafone is modernizing Iranian telecommunications.

Overall, foreign direct investment has been much less robust than Iranians had hoped for after the nuclear deal was implemented in January 2016. However, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said recently that Iran was in the final stages of reaching a contract with the French oil company Total for development of the South Pars gas field.

The FATF was established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system, according to its website. It has been providing expertise to Iran to help it reform and bring more transparency to its banks. The FATF Plenary, the organizations decision-making body, meets three times a year.
June 21, 2017

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Mohammad Tuman sat by the door of his unfinished house in Gaza's Khan Yunis camp contemplating when the second phase of his home's restoration will be completed. The reconstruction is part of a Qatari project called Maskan Kareem (A Decent House) that restores old houses located in densely populated camps. Several other families are similarly waiting for their house restoration work to be completed.

As Tuman tore some old cement bags, he told Al-Monitor, After the June 5 Gulf decision to cut relations with Qatar, I am afraid that my house might never be fully reconstructed. It still needs windows and electrical and water repairs. The floors are sandy, and I'm afraid I might be forced to rent a house again. I cannot afford that now.

Four associations and charities in Gaza operate under Qatari supervision. The Qatar Charity specializes in social development and economic projects, the Qatar Red Crescent offers medical aid, Al-Fakhoora Dynamics Futures Programme provides educational empowerment and scholarships, and the Qatari Gaza Reconstruction Committee focuses on repairing what Israel has destroyed in Gaza.

The Qatari Gaza Reconstruction Committee, which began its work in October 2012, is one of the largest donor associations in the Gaza Strip. The Qatari grant provided for the funding of several projects in Gaza amounting to $407 million. The committee has carried out major projects in the Gaza Strip, including $160 million worth of reconstruction and housing projects, namely the Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani residential city, which includes more than 3,000 residential units and is located in Khan Yunis, and the Salahuddin main street rehabilitation project worth $155 million.

Al-Monitor tried to contact Youssef Ghreiz, the adviser to the head of the Qatari Gaza Reconstruction Committee, and Mohammad Haloub, the director of the Qatar Charity, to ask them about the impact of the boycott decision on the Qatari projects in Gaza. They both said they were prohibited from making any statements to any media outlet.

However, an official source in one of these institutions told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the financial support provided to the Qatari institutions in Gaza was suspended 10 months ago and that these institutions have a zero balance in the Bank of Palestine. Meanwhile, the source added, the companies in charge of the construction and reconstruction projects are waiting for the necessary funding.

Asked why the financial support has been suspended, the source said, The Qatari government established the Qatar Development Fund as a means to manage the Qatari associations and charities around the world, and it stopped funding its development and relief projects in Gaza to confine its financial support under this fund alone. There are financial donations for orphans and poor people that have not made their way to Gaza yet. We are afraid that this suspension might continue in light of the decision to cut ties with Qatar, especially considering that only a few small seasonal Ramadan projects have been carried out in Gaza.

Maher Tabbaa, the director of public relations and media at the Gaza Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Al-Monitor, The Qatari projects implemented in Gaza over the past five years are strategic projects that have positively affected the Gaza Strip citizens. For example, the Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa city project and the Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetic Limbs in Gaza have created thousands of job opportunities in Gaza.

Tabbaa added that Qatar also invested in large projects in the West Bank, thus creating thousands of job opportunities. For instance, there is the $1 billion Rawabi residential city and the Palestinian national telecommunications company (Wataniya) established in partnership with the Qatari Qtel telecommunications service provider in 2006, whose name became Ooredoo in 2013.

Asked how the Qatari funds would previously enter Gaza, Tabbaa said, All the funds provided to the previous projects were publicly transferred in coordination with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel. The Qatari funds are transferred through the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah as part of the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] program and are subsequently transferred to the Palestinian Monetary Authority, which, in turn, channels the funds to the Bank of Palestine.

The GCC established the Gaza Reconstruction Program in 2009, and it was open to all Arab countries. The program is managed by a coordinating committee from the GCC states and the Arab contributing countries, in coordination with the Islamic Development Bank and the legal institutions and with help from the relevant financial institutions. The GCC has allocated $1.646 billion for the reconstruction of Gaza after the Israeli war in 2008-09.

As for the implications of the boycott decision on the Qatari projects and the economic and social conditions in Gaza, Tabbaa said, I expect a major delay and disruption in the completion of the unfinished development projects in Gaza as well as a halt to relief projects in the coming stage, which will worsen the situation in Gaza, but the [projects] will return because Israel wont allow the situation to explode.

Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar's ambassador to Washington, said in an interview June 6 with the Daily Beast, We are not financing Hamas. We are working in Gaza on reconstruction efforts, building houses and hospitals in coordination with the Palestinians and Israel.

The material needed to implement the Qatari projects would usually make it to Gaza either through the Rafah crossing, in coordination with the Egyptian side, or through the Israeli side, within a joint committee that included Israel, the PA and Robert Serry, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process.

It is noteworthy that dozens of Palestinians who benefit from the Qatari projects took part in a solidarity rally held outside the headquarters of the Qatari Gaza Reconstruction Committee in the west of Gaza City June 13 along with Qatari charities operating in the Gaza Strip. They were protesting the list issued by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt on June 8 that designated Qatari charities, such as the Qatar Charity, as terrorist organizations.

Zuhair al-Daour, the representative of the participants in the solidarity rally, told Al-Monitor, The relief and development projects provided by charities operating in the Gaza Strip played a major role in stopping the increasing rates of unemployment and poverty, and I am afraid that Qatar might yield to the pressure it is contending with because that would lead to an imminent explosion in Gaza.

Naji Sarhan, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Works in the Gaza Strip, told Al-Monitor, Reconstruction projects have been stalled due to the suspension of Qatari support 10 months ago, and the existing budgets are not enough to complete such projects.

Not only has this ambiguous funding suspension worried Palestinian citizens, but it also worries the Palestinian decision-makers in Gaza, who fear that these projects might suddenly stop as a result of the pressures placed on Qatar.
June 21, 2017

Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk met in mid-June in Beirut with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Abu Marzouk arrived in Beirut following the expulsion from Qatar of several other top Hamas officials, most of whom had settled in the Gulf state after being freed from Israeli jails in the 2011 prisoner exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Qatar had recently ordered them to leave, under pressure from Sunni Muslim states that regard the emirate as supporting terror.

Before traveling to Lebanon, Abu Marzouk met in Cairo with Egyptian intelligence chief Khaled Fawzy. In a certain sense, there seems to be a contradiction in these talks: How can senior Hamas officials, who have been assiduously courting Egypt in a bid for improved relations, be meeting with Nasrallah, a Cairo enemy and Iran ally? Moreover, is it possible that Hamas has found a way to extricate itself from the Catch-22 in which it is entangled without having to take sides?

As previously reported on several occasions in Al-Monitor, the armed wing of Hamas has been urging the movements political leadership to forge closer ties with Iran, hoping for armaments from Tehran in preparation for a future military confrontation with Israel. In recent months, Tehran has renewed economic assistance to Hamas, albeit on a far smaller scale than in the past. Arms from Iran have become increasingly important for the military wing given Egypts anti-Islamist activities in the Sinai Peninsula and along the Gaza border and its view of Hamas as a terror organization that requires monitoring. The Egyptian government is making it virtually impossible to smuggle weapons and ammunition into Gaza, unlike the days of former President Hosni Mubarak.

A senior Hamas source in Gaza told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the movements various factions are engaged in a fierce debate about its future. The source said the disagreement is far deeper than the question of where the political bureau will establish its new headquarters now that it has been forced out of Qatar.

Abu Marzouk, founder of the movement's political bureau at the end of the 1980s, has for more than 20 years been seeking refuge and sponsorship for the department. For a time he lived in Virginia, but the United States expelled him to Amman, and from there he went to Damascus, then to Qatar, and now it appears, to Beirut, the bureaus next destination.

The movements top brass could have headed to Gaza after Qatar but chose not to for two reasons. The first is the strategic decision the movement made, after Israels 2004 assassinations of Hamas leaders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rentisi, not to have its leaders in one place to make it harder for Israel to target them. The senior Gaza source said the second reason is a growing realization among the movements leadership that it must not repeat the mistakes of former leader Khaled Meshaal, who put all the organizations diplomatic eggs in one basket.

Hamas' new approach, being led by Meshaals successor, Ismail Haniyeh, calls for the political leadership to develop and maintain good relationships with anyone willing to accept the movement. In other words, it should avoid falling into the rift dividing the Arab world and therefore steer clear of controversy. That means no complete and exclusive relations with one side, such as with either Egypt or Iran, but measured relations that will allow Hamas to maintain its organizational independence and open channels to all sides.

Even as movement representatives were meeting with Nasrallah, Hamas was promising Cairo that the organization would adhere to all the understandings recently reached with Egyptian intelligence and the National Security Ministry. Accordingly, Hamas must work to preserve Egypts interests and thwart threats against it from jihadi and Salafi organizations in Gaza. Hamas also pledged not to smuggle ammunition and military equipment across the Egypt-Gaza border at Rafah. These demands were made clear to Hamas' new leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, during a June 10-11 visit to Egypt.

The Egyptians told Sinwar that it would only allow tanker trucks to enter Gaza and deliver diesel fuel to restart the only power station in Gaza under these conditions and with the supervision of former senior Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan. Hamas understands, and Egypt even more so, that any deviation by the movement from these understandings will result in the closing of the Rafah border and the return of the existential threat to Hamas hold on power in light of the electricity crisis gripping Gaza.

The Egyptians' carrot-and-stick approach is clear to Hamas' leaders, and they will have to deal with this situation, at least for the near future. The movement has also promised Egypt that even if Hamas' leadership is based in Beirut, Cairo officials will still be able to observe the organization's activities.

It is hard to tell whether Hamas' attempt to have its cake and eat it too will last. In the coming days and weeks, the group will set up its headquarters in Beirut. Abu Marzouk will for the fifth time rehabilitate the movements political institutions in a new country. The big question is whether the Hamas leadership will be able to implement the strategy it has adopted to avoid falling again into the diplomatic abyss that it remembers well from Meshaals term or whether it will again run afoul of Egypt as the organization attempts to please its hosts in Lebanon.

The Gaza source believes the lesson has been learned, but experience shows that Hamas always ends up giving in to the desires of the country hosting its political leadership. Nonetheless, this time it is facing the Egyptian sheriff, who is threatening to plug up Hamas' only lifeline to the world through the Rafah-Gaza border.
June 21, 2017

In the hours after Iran launched ballistic missiles at Islamic State targets in Syria on June 18, Western intelligence sources guessed that these were Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missiles. The following day, this assessment changed to Zulfiqar ballistic missiles instead. These relatively sophisticated missiles have a maximum range of 700 kilometers (435 miles), are equipped with independent navigation systems and are able to adjust trajectory in the air. Zulfiqar solid-fuel propellant rockets are produced by the Iranian military industry.

These kinds of missiles constitute one of the greatest nightmares known to Israeli security systems. Should Hezbollah acquire them, for instance, they could be used to target Israeli air force bases and other strategic targets as well. Therefore, in the initial hours after the Iranian launch, key Middle East players viewed the strike with great severity. It was the first time in about 30 years that the Iranians launched ballistic missiles at a neighboring country, while violating the sovereignty of a third state (Iraq).

This was a message to the Sunni axis, a high-level Israeli security official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. But not only that, it was also a message directed at basically the entire region and its players, including the US coalition and, of course, Israel."

The real picture began to emerge a day later, and a partial sigh of relief was heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. According to various intelligence assessments, only one of the missiles (out of seven in total) struck anywhere near the target. Most of them fell on the way, while another evidently fell in the environs of the target, but not near it. The Zulfiqar is reputed to have a precision of up to 10-20 meters (33-66 feet).

In other words, the Israeli source said, if it was supposed to be an experiment, it was a failed experiment. Israel's Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot spoke at the Herzliya Conference on June 20, saying, Irans operational achievement falls short of what was described in the media  far from an exact hit. Nevertheless, the Iranian military industry has a regional effect [on the entire Middle East].

Some in Israel tried to emphasize the Iranian weakness after the missile strike. An Israeli security expert told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the fact that Iran is not activating its air force within Syria proves that their air force is outdated and ineffective. They know that any Iranian plane appearing above eastern Syria would be brought down by the US coalition.

Another issue is that the "precise" Iranian missiles simply do not deliver; the percentage of hits is very low. And after all this, remains the Iranian half-full cup. The Iranian action, said a former Israeli top brass officer, proves several things." He told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, "First, they know how to launch ballistic missiles. They have operational launching facilities spread out over the territory, which know how to carry out the mission. Second, they know how to make this kind of decision. Its not an easy decision to make. Third, they have signaled the entire region that they are here to stay. They want everyone to know that they are a key, legitimate player that knows how to respond and is equipped with a long arm that knows how to strike in the depths of the enemy.

The timing of the launch was also significant. We are in the midst of a race for territorial continuity, a senior Israeli military source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. In these very days, [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assads army is making a supreme effort to take control of the border checkpoints with Iraq, where Shiite militias operated by Iran are stationed. This signals the end of another stage in the creation of Shiite territorial continuity from Tehran to the Mediterranean Sea.

Meanwhile, Israel is doing everything possible to thwart this territorial continuity, and recently the United States has begun attacking the convoys of Assads army in the region. On June 19, a Syrian battle plane and armed drone were intercepted there. This caused the Russians to declare the area west of the Euphrates River a no-fly zone and threaten that any aircraft patrolling overhead would be shot down.

The Iranians launched the missiles at an especially sensitive point in time, when the Russian-Iranian-Shiite coalition and American-Sunni-Israeli axis are facing off. Both sides have their fingers on the trigger, and the great prize hangs in the balance.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, known for his good contacts with Moscow, is also worried. According to security sources, behind closed doors Liberman blesses the tactical cooperation between Israel and Russia and the apparatus built by both armies to neutralize accidental cases of friendly fire, while also preserving maximum freedom of movement for both sides.

Nevertheless, Liberman admits that, on the strategic level, Russia is inflicting heavy damage on Israel by assisting Iran in creating Shiite territorial continuity and opening additional fronts against Israel on the Golan Heights.

The launching of the Zulfiqar missiles adds fuel to the volatile regional fire. The launching also coincided with the report in The Wall Street Journal that Israel is strengthening its cooperation with groups of Syrian rebels on the Golan front to prevent the Shiites from creating a presence there. This bit of news was denied by Israel, but well known by the other players in the Middle East. Everything is volatile and shaky, a senior Israeli army official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. The fact that we have managed to avoid an overall eruption of violence in an area involving players from the superpowers is nothing short of a miracle, he said, but the danger is still present.

Also talking at the Herzliya Conference, Israels air force commander Gen. Amir Eshel called the situation in the Middle East a discourse of words and rockets. Eshel, like Eizenkot, continues to warn Lebanon and residents of southern Lebanon of a possible flare-up. Israeli spokespeople constantly repeat and emphasize that Israel does not want war, but make it clear that should violence erupt anyway, Lebanese residents would be wise to leave their homes  because every fourth house in southern Lebanon boasts a storage shed with rockets and missiles. According to Eshel, If war breaks out in the north, we have to open with all our strength from the start," to demonstrate Israels aerial might.

The various spokespeople emphasized that no side in the northern equation is interested in a war. The problem is that when everyone talks about war and polishes their aircraft and missiles to be ready "just in case," at the end of the day, it might just happen.
June 21, 2017

WASHINGTON  US President Donald Trump dispatched his son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner to Israel today in one of the strongest signs to date of his apparently sincere interest in pursuing peace with the Palestinians. After Kushner held more than two hours of meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, however, the White House acknowledged that forging the ultimate diplomatic deal wont be a cakewalk.

The United States officials and Israeli leadership underscored that forging peace will take time and the importance of doing everything possible to create an environment conducive to peacemaking, the White House said in a readout of the meeting. The meeting also included Trumps special representative for international negotiations Jason Greenblatt, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer and Netanyahu chief of staff Yoav Horowitz.

Kushner and Greenblatt later met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Theyll then return to Washington to brief Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and continue the conversation about next steps, the White House said.

The fact that Trump sent his son-in-law to bolster Greenblatts peace efforts shows leaders in the region the priority the president places on advancing a peace deal, analysts said.

I think, first of all, there is a message: The US is still committed and serious, Ghaith al-Omari, a former member of the Palestinian negotiating team, told Al-Monitor. The fact that Kushner is with [Greenblatt] is an indication of high-level interest from the administration and also strengthens Greenblatt. It shows he is not working on his own; he has the support of Kushner.

The Palestinians ultimately are looking for only one thing in an American envoy: Is this person empowered or not? al-Omari said. In this regard, Kushner is seen as someone serious coming and supporting Greenblatt.

The Kushner visit is also meant to increase the pressure on the sides  to basically show, We expect you to give us clear answers, said Omari, who is now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The sides are being pushed to be committed. ... They want each of them to take certain domestic steps, Omari said. Israel has presented its own version of a settlements slowdown. The Palestinians have cut support to some prisoners. ... [Now Trumps envoys are seeking] better clarity on what will be the terms to relaunch negotiations.

The Trump administration is making this effort a priority, Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian-American analyst with the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, told Al-Monitor.

So it looks like they are trying to move this thing forward, Munayyer said. The question is, what is it they are going to be able to move forward when the parties are light years apart? And I think they are trying to figure out where the parties realistically are. And that is one of the things they are really trying to get from the Israelis ... to understand, what is your position?

When Trump traveled to Jerusalem and Bethlehem last month, the readouts from the meetings suggest Abbas told Trump he was ready to go to negotiations immediately without preconditions, Munayyer said. That was not mentioned in the readout with Netanyahu. And so the clear implication ... is that Abbas is ready to move forward and Netanyahu is not, Munayyer said.

That disappointed Trump, Munayyer said. The Trump team is really trying to see from the Israelis, could you even engage in negotiations under the same terms of reference that existed in previous negotiations [based on the] two-state model? I dont think they can.

Both the Israeli and Palestinian sides may want to play for time while not angering the US president, whom they perceive to be politically weakened at home because of the Russia probe and other controversies, a former Israeli official said.

Both sides are really weighing their options given the growing perception that the president is not getting any stronger, the former Israeli official told Al-Monitor in an interview.

Maybe if you come up with concessions prematurely you end up being a sucker because there will be no reward for it, he said. So both sides are sitting on their hands to see how Washington evolves. Is he [Trump] going to be castrated, a paper tiger in three to five months? They dont want to be a fool.

Therefore, Kushners mission at the moment is to tell the two parties to get serious, the former Israeli official said. I think that Kushner will leave here more sober about what can be done, how fast it can happen and what might be the consequences of failure on their watch.

Reviving the peace process is not a risk-free enterprise, he added.

The White House had earlier asked the Israeli and Palestinian sides to send delegations of five senior officials each to Washington as early as immediately after the end of Ramadan June 24 to do further preparatory work on the peace push, the former Israeli official said.

The preparatory meeting earmarked for next week, however, is not the big celebration. ... It has no catering, the former Israeli official said.

With an eye to possibly needing to revamp his right-wing coalition were he to pursue peace talks, Netanyahu has asked his Washington interlocutors to delay any high-level peace talks relaunch until after Israels Labor Party primary, scheduled for July 3, the former Israeli official added.

Veteran former US diplomat and Middle East peace negotiator Robert Danin said the dilemma for Kushner and Greenblatt is that telling Trump a peace deal cant be done isnt an option.

When the boss tells you, Go get me a deal, you are not in a position to say it cant be done, Danin, now with the Council on Foreign Relations, told Al-Monitor. Both Kushner and Greenblatt have a huge challenge because, on the one hand, they have their marching orders, which is to get the ultimate deal. And yet, what they are encountering is tremendous skepticism at every turn. ... Very few people see this as an auspicious moment.

So people want to believe there is some new reason to believe President Trump could succeed where past efforts have failed, Danin said. But very few people are able to identify what that thing is that would make it different. Other than that, the parties do not want to run afoul of President Trump. They are not going to sacrifice, make the core compromises that any deal would require ... even to please the president of the United States.

The challenge is, what do you do? Danin said.

First of all, it is wise to acknowledge you have a lot to learn, Danin said. Do a lot of listening [and] talking to a lot of people, trying to understand the situation. What they are doing is mapping the terrain. ... They are trying to understand: What can we learn? So I would put [this trip] into the pre-negotiations phase of any negotiation. And in a sense, that is very wise to not get too far out in front.

The fact expectations are low is a gift, Danin said. They should resist any impulse to want to try to show short-term wins. It is wise to listen a lot, ask questions and ultimately put the onus on both sides to try rather than tell us why the other side is a problem; instead, tell us what it is they ultimately can [do] and want. Because any serious American initiative has to start with an effort to understand the parties.

The former Israeli official agreed that Greenblatt is likely to welcome a slight delay to do further preparations before any peace talks relaunch. Greenblatt has been trying to formulate with the parties a set of synchronized confidence-building measures that would improve the atmosphere for talks.

Phase one of his strategy is no less important: He wants to reduce the cynicism among the various constituencies ... and change the dynamics, the former Israeli official said. So the moment negotiations are launched, [people] can already celebrate changed dynamics on the ground.
June 21, 2017

The appointment of Nabil Abu Rudeineh in a unanimous vote June 19 as a member of the ruling Fatah Central Committee is the latest sign of the unique relationship between Fatah and Palestinian Christians. Abu Rudeineh, a Christian Palestinian from Bethlehem, has been the official spokesman for the Palestinian presidency since the days of President Yasser Arafat.

Afif Safieh, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council since 2009 and a former ambassador to Moscow, London, Washington and the Holy See, told Al-Monitor that President Mahmoud Abbas has followed in the steps of Arafat on this issue. Since the days of Arafat, the Fatah movement was always keen to ensure a significant and visible Christian Palestinian participation in all levels of society.

Safieh, a Palestinian Christian from Jerusalem, was very supportive of the decision. It was an obvious choice and I fully endorse it, he said. Safieh noted that there were always at least two Christians in the Executive Committee of the PLO, always at least two Christians in all the successive Palestinian governments and a minimum quota representation in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).

An elected member of the Revolutionary Council since 2009, Safieh said that Fatah congresses elected four and five Christian members respectively for the movements Revolutionary Council in 2009 and 2016, while 10% of ambassadors are Christians  Arafat took the bold decision that all cities and villages that had a Christian significance presence will have a Christian mayor in spite of the demographic changes that have occurred in recent decades.

Rateb Y. Rabie, chairman of the US-based Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, told Al-Monitor that Fatah appreciates the leadership of Palestinian Christians and their loyalty to the party. But outside the party, they see them just as good citizens within the larger national community, he added.

Rabie called on Fatah and the PLO to look at the big picture so as to recognize the influence, power potential and resources they can tap into within the Christian community in Palestine and in the diaspora. Palestinian Christians can certainly assist the national interest and advance the common good of the Palestinian people, he argued.

Hanna Issa, the secretary-general of the Islamic-Christian Council for Jerusalem and the Holy Places, was full of praise to Abu Rudeineh. He is a giant figure with clean hands, a quiet personality and a moderate political position that is accepted by all, Issa told Al-Monitor, adding that Abu Rudeineh has worked with the late Fatah leaders Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) and Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad), as well as presidents Arafat and Abbas.

Bernard Sabella, an elected member of the PLC on the Fatah list representing Jerusalems Christians, told Al-Monitor that Abu Rudeinehs personality fits the profile of the leading Fatah movement. Sabella said that what makes it easy for Palestinian Christians to be active with Fatah is its ideological disposition. Fatah is ideologically secular and pragmatic, and this goes very well with the Palestinian Christian community.

A senior PLO source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Abu Rudeineh was asked not to run for a directly contested position on the Central Committee in the seventh Fatah congress that took place in Ramallah in December 2016. Issa, however, said he would have preferred for Abu Rudeineh to have been directly elected rather than appointed to the highest Fatah body. Fatah bylaws allow the appointment of three additional members of the movement at large with two-thirds of the votes of the Central Committee.

Mohammed Daraghmeh, a senior reporter for the Associated Press covering the Palestinian leadership, told Al-Monitor that the appointment of Abu Rudeineh is very much a part of the culture established by Arafat. Arafat was keen to show the world the diversity of the Palestinian people, and so he established quotas for Palestinian Christians in the top legislative and executive bodies, as well as in towns that had a Palestinian Christian majority such as Bethlehem, Beit Sahour, Beit Jala, Ramallah and Birzeit, he explained.

The number of Palestinian Christians still living in Palestine is very small. It is estimated that they dont make up more than 2% of the population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while there are said to be 1 million Palestinian Christians worldwide representing more than 10% of the overall population of Palestinians.

Safieh named various other nonpolitical contributions of Palestinian Christians as well. Palestinian society is aware of Christian contributions in education [universities and schools] and medication [hospitals and clinics], and also in the arts, music, theater and filmmaking, he said.

By creating a quota system, the Palestinian leadership has gone out of its way to ensure that Christians are represented in all levels of Palestinian leadership positions despite their dwindling numbers. The challenge remains on how to ensure that what many call the living stones of Palestine are allowed to play a much bigger role in bridging the gap between Palestine and the world.
June 20, 2017

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  The National Economy Ministry in Gaza announced on May 27 that it was lifting all fees, import taxes and customs duties on equipment for generating electricity, including solar power systems. This decision comes as the electricity crisis in the enclave reaches a new plateau, with Gazas only power station unable to operate at full capacity amid the political dispute between the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah and Hamas in Gaza.

The situation has recently worsened, with Israel agreeing on June 12 to a PA request to scale back its power supply to Gaza, reducing the average of four hours of electricity a day by 45 minutes. Some private companies have begun turning to solar energy systems, but few residents are able to use them in their homes because of the high cost of installation, which starts at around $1,500 for a 0.5 kilowatt solar system.

Tarek Labad, a spokesman for the National Economy Ministry in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that it had become necessary to lift the equipment fees to help empower residents to install equipment for solar power systems at prices in line with their financial abilities given Gaza's long-running economic crises in addition to the electricity crisis.

Lifting import taxes on any product has a positive impact on the market, said Labad. This measure can increase demand by consumers for the product, revive the market and improve the economic and commercial situation. Labad also said that his ministry has called on Palestinian banks, within the scope of their social corporate responsibility, to establish a fund for issuing loans to buy solar power equipment.

These measures will be economically beneficial to merchants and citizens alike, he said. The ministry controls the prices of goods, such as solar power system installation, parts and equipment,  through its Consumer Protection Department.

Iyad al-Hazki, the director of renewable energy at the Gaza Electricity Distribution Corporation (GEDCO), told Al-Monitor, GEDCO is launching campaigns and projects to encourage citizens to use solar energy as the safest alternative in light of the electricity crisis.

He pointed out that on March 18, GEDCO launched the first phase of a solar power project that aims to raise awareness of alternative sources of energy and promote their use. The project offered to supply electricity to houses by installing 500 solar power systems under a pay-as-you-go financing scheme, said Hazki. He further explained that GEDCO is not trying to reap profits from the project, but to ease the suffering of Gazans by cooperating with solar power companies, urging them to sell equipment at reduced prices in Gaza.

Despite the high cost of installation, said Hazki, the systems are economically feasible, as Gaza has sunny weather most of the year. He noted that the cost of such systems is high around the world, not just in Gaza. He also noted that solar power systems may not fully replace the need for plant-generated electricity, especially in light of economic conditions in the Gaza Strip, where citizens can only buy 1 or 0.5 kilowatt systems, which are barely sufficient for lighting needs.

Hazki claimed that the measures taken by the National Economy Ministry will contribute to reducing the cost of the systems by about 20% and thus encourage more citizens to buy them.

Nabil Maarouf, the director of the Renewable Power Engineering and Contracting Co., told Al-Monitor that his company is one of 40 in Gaza that sells and installs solar systems. He said there are two types: The first system is more economically feasible in the long run, but is not imported by my company since its price is way above citizens purchasing power, while the second system is as efficient and equipped with safety and protection devices to prevent an electrical accident, but the buyer is required to replace the battery every year, and prices range between $400 and $600.

Maarouf clarified that Gaza residents will only notice a price reduction for equipment after the equipment that was imported before the decision to lift the fees has been purchased. The equipment will continue to sell at the regular price to cover taxes, fees and profit margins. Eventually, however, Maarouf expects the price reduction will encourage more people to start using solar energy.

Economic analyst Amin Abu Eisha is not enthusiastic about the ministry pushing solar energy. The decision is not applicable and is unrealistic, Abu Eisha told Al-Monitor. The price of solar energy systems, even if the fees are lifted, will remain beyond the reach of the average Gazan, especially in light of the pay cut crises of PA employees in Gaza, some 42,000 workers.

He also pointed out that although solar power systems are the safest solution, they require costly periodic maintenance. He explained that the use of small generators, an option some Gazans are pursuing, is not particularly safe, because the generators are not usually equipped with protection and safety features. Of note, their conductive parts are often exposed and may lead to electrical accidents resulting in burns or fire.

Abu Eisha stressed that solar power is only a partial solution to the electricity crisis and called for a radical solution instead of encouraging people to waste money on something that is not beneficial in the long term.

According to Abu Eisha, what Gaza needs is a hydroelectric power plant that meets the needs of the entire population. He estimates that it would cost no more than $500 million. Meanwhile, he said, The Gaza Strip has spent billions of dollars on temporary inefficient solutions.
June 21, 2017

ALEPPO, Syria  The opposition-controlled Idlib province in northern Syria is witnessing a growing female movement that aims to develop the skills of Syrian women and empower them to meet the responsibilities they now have to assume as a result of the ongoing war.

Several womens organizations have been established in Idlib province since early 2017. The activities they provide are intended to develop womens skills in various aspects of life, such as psychological support, work, health, media, community, family and children. They also hold events on special occasions related to women.

These groups spread their activities across the province. In Idlib city, the Women Commission for Supporting Women and Children was established on Jan. 21. It aims to educate women in the city and develop cultural awareness.

Woman Fingerprint was formed in early 2016 in the city of Idlib and aims at eradicating illiteracy among women. The Educated Womens Association is also active in Idlib city. Established in early 2016, the association works on developing womens skills and training them in different fields.

The increasing activities for women spread to other major towns and cities in Idlib province. In the city of Maarat al-Numaan, the Gathering of Syrian Women was created May 25. The gathering, headed by Huda Serjawi, aims at promoting womens experiences in the city and raising cultural awareness.

The Balsam Center to Empower Women was established May 5 in Kafr Nabl city. The center is part of a series of projects for women sponsored by the Syria Relief and Development (SRD) foundation.

The SRD also established Al-Amal (Hope) Center for the Empowerment of Women and Girls in Ariha city on Nov. 1, 2016.

The Nassim (Breeze) Center has been active in the city of Jisr ash-Shughour since its opening on Jan. 3 and works to develop womens skills.

Other associations for women are active in different towns in the province, such as Bsheiriyeh town, where female activity is on the rise.

Since the start of the Syrian revolution, women have been involved in the revolt against President Bashar al-Assads regime. In this war, women and men have worked as equals: In addition to working as nannies, doctors, journalists and aid workers, women also organize protests, call for freedom, have died for freedom and gotten arrested, just like men.

Women also suffer major burdens in the absence of men, and a large number of women in the Idlib province have become the sole breadwinner of their families.

They found themselves forced to work to feed their children. This situation shed light on the importance of associations and initiatives for women to develop skills so they can meet the responsibilities they were now assuming.

Shaimaa Mohamed, 35, from Idlib city, is now raising her five children alone after her husband was killed in an air raid in mid-2016. Mohamed completed a two-month sewing session provided by the Educated Womens Association in January and February. In March, she started working from her home making dresses for the women in her neighborhood. She sells each dress for 2,000 Syrian pounds (about $9).

The Educated Womens Association also provides Mohamed with food assistance offered by some charity organizations. Through all this help, Mohamed is now able to meet the needs of her kids.

The initiatives help many women find jobs. Sarah Abbas, 22, took hairdressing and makeup courses at the Nassim Center in Jisr ash-Shughour in early 2017. She told Al-Monitor, I got a job in a field that I love, which is hairdressing and makeup, thanks to the Nassim session. I am now operating my own female salon at our house. Women are flocking here to style their hair for special occasions like weddings.

Sarah charges 4,000 Syrian pounds (about $18) for a haircut and makeup. This amount is enough for Sarah, who is still single; she helps her father with the houses expenses.

Serjawi, the head of the Gathering of Syrian Women, told Al-Monitor, The goal of the gathering is to organize the energies and efforts of women toward a unified collective work. We also work on raising awareness among women, raising their cultural level and developing their experiences to enable them to effectively participate in cultural, economic and social life. The goal also resides in empowering women to [issue] policies and legislations [in the future] on women and their rights, and offering services and programs that guarantee womens security and stability within their families and communities, based on human rights.

She added, We prepare women and train them to assume their role in protecting their family, raising new generations and community building. We also prepare them on the economic and social levels. In addition, the gathering draws plans to identify the problems women in Maarat al-Numaan are facing and seeks solutions. We also seek to improve vocational and intellectual competence and mobilize womens skills to assume a national role in building a better community and a free Syrian state in the future.

Serjawi noted that the gathering has no fixed funding and relies on donations made by its female members. However, the inauguration conference May 25 was financed by the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

The Educated Womens Association is considered one of the most important female-related organizations in the city. Nariman al-Khalifa, the director of the association, told Al-Monitor, The main goal of the association is to support women in light of their suffering under the brunt of war. The association holds several activities on awareness and psychological support, for example  vocational training for womens capacity building to help her enter the job market, and children's activities in schools.

She added, The association is supported financially by civil society organizations and charity associations, such as Ihsan Mubayyid Shelter Center, the Baraka Humanitarian Organization and the Turkish Red Crescent. These provide support to families in need, families of victims, and widows and families of prisoners through the Educated Womens Association with the cooperation of the Idlib City Council. The association has a partnership with the Point organization and the Qatar Red Crescent. As for the women working at the association, they are volunteers that do not receive a salary.

Khalifa noted, There are more than 200 women volunteering at the association, and this high number helped develop their activities, hold several sessions on various fields ranging from first aid, nursing and manual work, to learning computer [skills], foreign languages and hairdressing.

She explains that the current programs on education, manual work and sewing are currently held at the associations headquarters in Idlib city. There are more than 50 women attending each program in June.

As the war continues to take its toll on the security situation and social conditions, questions arise as to whether such womens associations can continue their work and whether these activities will help women in Idlib play an active role in the future.
June 20, 2017

With the war on the Islamic State (IS) in full swing, the race for eastern Syria is on, with regional and international players jockeying for position in the desert areas stretching from north to south, in the direction of the Iraqi borders. Forces backed regionally and internationally are fighting for the precious span of desert. What are the geopolitical calculations of the various factions in that region?

The Syrian government has been progressing in recent weeks in three regions in central and eastern Syria, east of Aleppo toward the Raqqa axis, in the Deir ez-Zor region and al-Tanf, close to where the borders of Jordan, Iraq and Syria meet. At the same time, US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are gaining territory in IS Raqqa stronghold, while US coalition forces have clashed with pro-regime militias in the area of al-Tanf. Iran has also been pushing on the other side of the border, in the sector of Baaj in western Iraq.

Fabrice Balanche, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute, told Al-Monitor, The geopolitical importance of eastern Syria is twofold; two-thirds of Syrian oil is located in the area, which is also rich in gas resources. The region is also a pathway for Iran to Syria via Iraq, through the Sinjar-Tal Afar-Hasakah axis in the north and through the Palmyra axis in the south. Balanche said economic calculations for the Syrian regime, besides the oil and gas, include reopening important trade routes such as the highway linking Baghdad to Damascus.

Two players have been eyeing the northeastern area of Syria around the strategic city of Raqqa. In the wake of the United States' targeting of a regime plane, the SDF clashed for the first time with Syrian army troops north of Raqqa. Also, on June 13 the SDF reported major progress around Raqqa city, recapturing several areas such as the 17th Division Army Base and the sugar factory.

Syrian government forces have also been advancing in the area. Regime forces, spearheaded by Lebanese Hezbollahs elite units, captured about 1,200 square kilometers in the Raqqa region, regaining control June 15 of al-Thawra airport.

The Syrian armys elite Tiger Forces also launched a massive assault in the western countryside of Raqqa, taking over several villages along with the Rusafa crossroads.

Balanche said that in the northeast, The Syrian regime feels it can eventually exert enough pressure on the Kurds and make a power-sharing deal with them. They have already forced the Kurds to abandon al-Thawra dam.

Backed by Russian airstrikes, the Syrian regime is also making a push in Palmyras southeastern countryside, targeting the Bir al-Badiya area near the T-3 Pumping Station. Russias priority is to safeguard Syrian territoriality, which explains its backing of regime forces in eastern Syria, Balanche added.

The takeover of Palmyra will allow the regime to progress to the east in the area of Deir ez-Zor, another IS bastion. The operation appears to be in coordination with offensives by Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) across the border near Sinjar as well as Baaj.

The Baaj area has been seized by the Iraqi forces and Hashid Shaabi [PMU], and this area is on the borders with Syria, Mustafa al-Yasiri, the assistant Syria portfolio official for the Iraqi Shiite militia group Saraya al-Jihad, said in an interview June 10 with researcher Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi.

For Yezid Sayigh, a Syria expert at the Carnegie Middle East Center, Iran is supporting the regime in eastern Syria in part by encouraging the PMUs to signal their readiness to join the fight for eastern Syria. In reality, they will not exceed their current forms and levels of involvement nor risk confronting the US directly at a time when [Donald] Trump seeks excuses to reimpose or tighten sanctions on Iran, Sayigh told Al-Monitor.

He said no faction has enough manpower to reach, take and then control population centers in Deir ez-Zor province. Not the regime, and certainly not the US-backed opposition groups, he added.

Another area of contention between various players has been the strategic region of al-Tanf, which has been witnessing a clear escalation between protagonists. US-led coalition forces are training local militias there. On June 8, the US military shot down in al-Tanf an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that attacked coalition forces.

Earlier, on June 6, the US-led coalition targeted a pro-regime militia convoy, and on May 18, the coalition struck a pro-regime militia convoy that strayed close to al-Tanf base.

The priority of the US is to block IS advance and the Iranian expansion from Iraq to Syria, Balanche said. Tehrans main objective in the region is to create a corridor connecting Tehran to Beirut.

Russia appears to be attempting a balancing act in regard to the growing regional rivalry. The Russian response to the May 18 airstrike was relatively muted, with deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov underlining that the coalition had hit a militia and not a faction belonging to the Russian-backed army, Aron Lund, a Syria analyst, said May 30.

It remains unclear what the United States and Russia really seek to achieve in eastern Syria, Sayigh said. Russia wants a political solution for Syria, and so might not invest major resources in the east unless the regime shows more willingness to accept a diplomatic solution. The United States has no policy on Syria, but US military commanders have been given autonomy by the Trump administration to act as they deem necessary in the fight against IS, and so they seek to expand opposition operations in the east. But they, too, have a limit: They will not get directly involved in fighting for towns in Deir ez-Zor province, such as Bou Kamal and Mayadin, he added.

The chess game being played in eastern Syria among so many rival forces may formalize the de-escalation deal engineered by Russia, which aims at implementing a cessation of hostilities in certain areas such as part of Homs and Damascus, southern Syria and Idlib. Some experts such as Lund have argued that the plan reached in Astana on May 9 may raise the specter of Syrias partition through the enforcement of a frozen conflict whereby various factions will remain in control of their territory  something that contributed to the fast-decaying process of Syria as a nation-state.
June 20, 2017

In May 2016, Turkeys parliament passed a constitutional amendment revoking the judicial immunity of current lawmakers. The move was believed to target Kurdish deputies, and indeed many members of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), including both of its co-chairs, have since landed behind bars on terror-related charges. On June 14, however, an Istanbul court took the unprecedented step of jailing a prominent lawmaker from the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) on controversial charges that he had leaked footage of weapons-laden trucks operated by Turkeys intelligence agency that were allegedly destined for armed groups in Syria.

The ruling against Enis Berberoglu sparked fears that the CHP  Turkeys oldest party and legacy of the countrys founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk  is next in line in Ankaras crackdown on dissent, which has greatly intensified since the botched coup last year. Did CHP deputies expect that the abolition of immunities, which some party members had backed, would one day turn against them? Al-Monitor posed the question to several CHP lawmakers ahead of an emergency party meeting after Berberoglus conviction. All said they had never imagined such a prospect. The party seemed to be in shock.

The emergency meeting, however, produced another shock. CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu  long under fire for being too soft and unable to galvanize the opposition  announced he was launching a protest march from Ankara to Istanbul and said anyone was welcome to join him. He named the protest the Justice March.

On June 15, thousands of people packed Ankaras Kizilay Square, the starting point of the march. The protestors stood in silence, holding banners with a single word: "Justice." Kilicdaroglu, who arrived with his wife and son, dedicated the march to all people victimized by government policies, stressing it was not only the CHPs, but everybodys march. Brandishing his own justice banner, the 68-year-old then launched the 480-kilometer (300-mile), 23-day trek to Istanbuls Maltepe Prison, where Berberoglu is incarcerated.

The crowd behind Kilicdaroglu included not only CHP lawmakers and party activists but also members of other parties, trade unions and civic society groups as well as thousands of ordinary citizens. Two figures stood out in the procession  Fatma Bostan Unsal, a now-estranged co-founder of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and former AKP deputy Faruk Unsal. There are two places where the people can raise their voice  the press and the street, Faruk Unsal told Al-Monitor. With the press completely under government control, we have [only] the street left for us.

Marching next to Unsal was Cihangir Islam, a medical professor and a prominent political activist in Turkeys conservative quarters. Im here for all oppressed and victimized people, for all academics who have been dismissed from their jobs, he said, referring to massive purges in universities, the victims of which included himself.

A notable feature of the march is that the majority of participants are over 50. Veysel Kilic, 65, was marching with an image of his son, who has been in prison since last year for involvement in the coup attempt but is still waiting an indictment. The young man was among scores of unwitting military academy cadets, commandeered to the Bosporus Bridge on the night of the putsch, unaware of what was going on. Zeynep Sari, also in her 60s, joined the march for her daughter, a physician who lost her job in the post-coup purges. I carried dung cakes to give my daughter an education, she grumbled, revealing a background in poverty. Kilics and Saris stories can perhaps explain the preponderance of middle-agers at the march. Scores of fathers and mothers seem to have hit the road for adult children who are either behind bars or left jobless.

The people Al-Monitor met at the Justice March were of various profiles  from purged academics and lawyers to pious women with headscarves and housewives who left children at home with husbands to join the protest. Members of parties and civic groups with no history of collaboration with the CHP were also there. This colorful diversity suggests that Kilicdaroglus message for all who want justice to embrace the march is bearing fruit.

The first 20-kilometer (12-mile) leg of the trek ended near a hippodrome in an Ankara suburb, where the marchers camped for the night. Some readied to break their fast, an extra challenge brought by the holy month of Ramadan; others sought remedy for swollen feet and blisters. Using his medical skills, Islam performed an impromptu checkup on Kilicdaroglu, and seemed delighted with the result.

On the second day, the marchers covered another 20 kilometers. The third day of the trek was dedicated to imprisoned journalists, and the fourth, which coincided with Fathers Day, to victimized fathers. The CHP leader received a present for the day  a new pair of walking shoes, delivered with a sarcastic message to the government. Recalling the cash-stuffed shoeboxes seized in the home of an AKP bureaucrat during massive corruption probes in late 2015, CHP deputy chair Aykut Erdogdu said, We gave the shoes to our chairman, and the box we are going to send to the [presidential] palace. The fifth day of the march was marked by the tragic news of the death of a 65-year-old marcher who suffered a heart attack.

CHP members say they are determined to continue the march even if Berberoglu is released in the meantime. The Kurdish movement has also lent support to the protest, while calling for the route to be extended beyond Istanbul to Edirne, where HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas is imprisoned. The route remains unchanged for now, but CHP members say they are walking for the jailed HDP lawmakers as well.

During the treks, drivers often hail the marchers with horns. Some even pull over to briefly join the march. On a few instances, Al-Monitor also witnessed drivers verbally abuse or protest the CHP leader. Yet the marchers remain calm and cautious against provocations.

The trek has continued free of incidents so far, but Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and his ally, nationalist opposition leader Devlet Bahceli of the Nationalist Action Party, have frowned at the protest, warning that street action is prone to provocations. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, has claimed the march is against the law and told the marchers to not be surprised if you, too, are summoned by the judiciary tomorrow.

Many have interpreted Erdogans words as a threat that Kilicdaroglu, too, might by arrested. Yet the main opposition leader remains determined to continue the protest, which some have likened to Gandhis famous Salt March against British rule. We could face attacks or criticism [but] I will march on for justice with stubbornness and resolve, Kilicdaroglu said June 19, before embarking on the fifth leg of the march.
June 20, 2017

Will Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ever be welcome in Washington again? Many US legislators would like to think he wouldn't dare come back after the horrid events of May 16, when his security detail attacked peaceful protesters.

Just days later, a bipartisan House resolution was introduced to condemn Turkey and ask for the perpetrators to be prosecuted. Dana Rohrabacher, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Europe, said Erdogan "is an enemy of everything we stand for.  More importantly, he is an enemy of his own people. These are some of the strongest words of public criticism Erdogan has received from an American lawmaker. In early June, the measure asking that those involved in the Washington mayhem be brought to justice was accepted by a 397-0 vote.

Two powerful members of the Senate also voiced sharp bipartisan criticism of the incident. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John McCain, R-Ariz., in a May 18 letter told Erdogan that his staff had blatantly violated American freedoms and that the "affront ... reflects poorly on your government." McCain chairs the Armed Services Committee, and Feinstein is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

On June 15, Washington law enforcement officials announced criminal charges had been filed and arrest warrants issued for 12 members of the detail. Though the guards had already returned to Turkey and it's unlikely they will ever stand trial, media coverage of their photographs with the word Wanted at the top sent shock waves to Turks. Most Turkish media outlets were not quite sure whether to publish the news or ignore it.

Erdogan promptly lashed out at the US justice system, asking, What kind of law is this? He claimed the protesters were terrorists  members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Gulen movement  and were demonstrating only about 50 yards from him, yet the US police did not act. Erdogan said, If these bodyguards would not protect me, why am I taking them with me to the US?"

Erdogan sees any protest as a direct attack on himself, hence his justification of his bodyguards physical assaults on peaceful protesters. Anyone in any location who dares protest against Erdogan is seen as an imminent threat  a terrorist who needs to be eliminated.

Yet Erdogans fluency in anger didn't pack much of a punch in this case. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shared a clear and strong message backing up the bipartisan House resolution and the actions of Washington law enforcement agencies. Although the United States has not expelled the Turkish ambassador and is well aware that the 12 bodyguards won't be extradited, its strong message has been sent and received.

On June 16, a rather mellow and patient Erdogan gave an interview to a Portuguese TV channel in which he said Turkey is ready to do whatever it takes to be accepted into the European Union. He clearly and repeatedly stated that the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda are terror organizations. So what led to this calmer and compromising Erdogan? It seems the Gulf crisis, in which many countries cut ties June 5 with Turkish ally Qatar, has been quite effective in curbing Erdogans anger and serving as a wake-up call for different groups in Turkey. Could the same thing happen to Ankara?

For decades, members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) along with affluent businessmen operated under the assumption that Turkey is deeply integrated into the West and there is too much money invested to isolate the country.

Al-Monitor has interviewed business elites in the past two years about Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war. The majority were confident that as a NATO member, Turkey need not worry that it might be accused of being a state sponsor of terror. However, since the Qatari crisis began, concern has risen. The thunderbolt sanctions imposed on Qatar for allegedly supporting terrorist networks  which it denies  was a shock for Turks. One businessman told Al-Monitor, For the first time, I realized that what can be done to Qatar in a day would destroy my familys businesses overnight" if it happened in Turkey. "I need to secure my assets before it is too late.

Indeed, Turkey has been associated with Qatar for a while. For example, in 2014, the US Congress held hearings into Hamas benefactors in which Qatar and Turkey were named as the group's two main financiers.

Over the years, Turkish involvement with questionable armed groups in Syria has also been raised by different sources. Several firsthand testimonies blamed Erdogan directly for aiding terrorist entities in Syria and even providing weapons to unvetted groups. Jailed Al-Monitor columnist Kadri Gursel, for example, wrote about these charges multiple times. Now there is a lawmaker, Enis Berberoglu, in jail for publicizing the scandal involving the National Intelligence Organization transporting weapons to Syria.

Also, Turkey's government has been criticized for punishing left-leaning and peaceful Islamist groups more brutally than those with open links to IS and other armed terror networks.

The Saudi-led coalitions strong reaction against Qatar grabbed the attention of Erdogan and the secular business elite in Turkey. The fear that Turkey could be the next to come under fire has been voiced not only in Turkish media but also in The Wall Street Journal, which explains Erdogan's personal stake in the issue.

The anxiety indeed runs deeper than so far acknowledged, and it connects to whether the United States will officially declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terror organization. Some senior AKP bureaucrats known for their history of open and friendly relations with all Muslim Brotherhood chapters now respond angrily to any implication that the AKP is associated with the Brotherhood. Two tweets from a pro-Erdogan journalist who mostly writes for English-speaking audiences provide an example. In one tweet is a picture of Erdogan raising four fingers, a symbol of the Brotherhood and its support of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. In the other tweet is the journalists desperate claim that the AKPs organic connection to the Brotherhood is just a myth. Given the rising international pressure, we can expect to see pro-Erdogan media struggling to distance themselves from the Brotherhood.

One prominent Islamist, who asked to remain anonymous, told Al-Monitor, We do not forget how Erdogan disowned the [victims of the] Mavi Marmara [the flotilla to break the Gaza embargo in 2010] and turned against them in 2016. Most Islamists in Turkey never even consider armed struggle against the state, so it is easy to discard us when the going gets tough. However, now Erdogan is dealing with different groups. Some of these groups have become militaristic due to their involvement in Syria. Can they be disowned as easily?

US President Donald Trump initially supported the Saudi-led coalition's actions against Qatar, and he immediately became the target of outsized Turkish anger, with Erdogan bashing him to express support for Qatar while trying to avoid offending Saudi Arabia. Trump quickly backed off his statements for unrelated reasons, however, and the United States even agreed June 14 to sell F-15 jets to Qatar. Now, with Qatari officials making statements to the international press about the United States, such as Our militaries are like brothers, it is understandable that Erdogan would quiet his criticism of the United States and initiate a campaign to distance himself from the Muslim Brotherhood.

Indeed, Turkey was left standing alone and now realizes that the cost of all future angry outbursts will be higher both domestically and internationally. Erdogans next trip to the United States, whenever or if ever that might be, could be most interesting to watch after all.
June 20, 2017

Shoshana spends a lot of time and money on fashion, but she tells her neighbors and family members that she is "working for a shopping website." Indeed, the strict ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem community to which Shoshana belongs might raise eyebrows if she would admit to being bit by the fashion bug.

Shoshana, 29, is a fashion blogger, but of a special kind. She blogs only about outfits that suit modest ultra-Orthodox women, or any other women around the globe who dress only in long sleeves, wear stockings year-round and cover their heads with scarves or wigs once married. Shoshana, a mother of three, uses a different name when blogging and preferred not to use her real name for the interview with Al-Monitor.

The phenomenon of ultra-Orthodox fashion bloggers has exploded over the past five years, with dozens, if not hundreds, of bloggers, all of whom are women.

Sara Pachter, the head and founder of SaraTikshoret public relations and publicity firm, which specializes in the ultra-Orthodox sector, is an ultra-Orthodox woman. She told Al-Monitor, "The religious fashion bloggers usually create closed groups either on Facebook or on WhatsApp. It is a way for them to ensure that men are not reading the blogs. Only a handful of them can be found by using Google  its a word-of-mouth system. Therefore, many of them are completely anonymous as far as the Israeli secular society is concerned."

She said, "Before establishing my company, I worked for many years as a journalist, so I am very sensitive to young women writing and blogging. A few years ago, I detected this rising wave of bloggers and decided to form our own fashion bloggers club by uniting all ultra-Orthodox fashion lovers. I try to help them by introducing them to leading Israeli brands and getting them invited to fashion events."

Pachter noted that one of her friends created a blog that specializes in ultra-Orthodox women who wear larger sizes. "She has 20,000 followers on her closed Facebook page, and the numbers are growing daily. Even if these groups are usually for ultra-Orthodox women only, the word is spreading fast. The fashion companies realize that there is a great potential there, and many of them are now offering items that are more adapted to our modesty requirements."

The case of Shirel Avrahami is a good illustration of the rising desire for fashion. After graduating from an ultra-Orthodox college for teachers, she decided that she wanted to take a different path. At the age of 20, she set up a blog about modern fashion styles for young ultra-Orthodox women, but quickly realized that she could make much more out of it. She told Al-Monitor, "After launching my blog, I discovered that many women from my [ultra-Orthodox] sector wanted to adopt a more modern and unique style. My husband and I realized that there was a large clientele  a lot of demand, but no supply. So we decided to turn my blog into an online shopping site."

Avrahami said that she and her husband imported high-end fashion items from abroad at first, but they realized very quickly that ultra-Orthodox women were not necessarily looking for the big names. What they wanted was a brand with a person behind it  someone they can trust; someone from their own community; someone who understands their special needs, Avrahami noted. I was and still am very careful to maintain this personal contact; I touch base with women who post on my Facebook or Instagram accounts. I talk to women, I write to them, I publish articles on my blog. At the beginning, I rented shops in Bnei Brak and in Jerusalem  each time just for two days  to present myself and my merchandise and to show that there was a real ultra-Orthodox young woman behind these fabulous clothes."

For Avrahami, the key to success was to avoid imitating the traditional flower-lace dresses often sold in ultra-Orthodox shops. "Instead of importing, I started designing myself  a line that is clean, modern and fashionable  while adhering to all modesty criteria. I also discovered that we  ultra-Orthodox women  are often pregnant. But the clothes that are offered to us during and after pregnancy are often bulky and baggy. So I design a lot of loose-fitting but very stylish dresses that fit women who are pregnant and those who have recently given birth."

Avrahami said that nowadays her designs are being bought not only by ultra-Orthodox women, but also by Arab women and even secular ones.

Rona Liberman-Sabah has also made a name for herself far beyond Israeli borders as a designer of headscarves. Jewish ultra-Orthodox women, as well as religious Muslim women around the world, purchase her designs that sell under the name Rona. On her website, she writes, "Turbans often give the look of a head wrap without having to tie anything to achieve the perfect look  and provide a traditional solution for women who wear turban head wrap types of coverings for religious reasons."

Pachter is not surprised by the success of Avrahami, Liberman-Sabah and others. "Years ago, when I started in the Israeli fashion world, I would walk into a room full of fashion journalists and representatives from fashion chain shops as the only ultra-Orthodox person in the room. They were all amazed at how ultra-Orthodox women love fashion and understand it. Actually fashion has an important place in our lives. Dont forget that we have occasions to dress up all year-round; we have the holidays season, matchmaking events and we make sure that we never leave the house looking neglected," she noted.

The prevailing assumption among many secular Israelis is that ultra-Orthodox leaders do not use the internet. In reality, many rabbis have come to terms with the internet and focus on their community members filtering all that is available online and preventing their children from using the internet.

Dina, a Jerusalem-based computer technician, told Al-Monitor that she is reading ultra-Orthodox fashion blogs at least 20 minutes each day. "Believe me, when you have a job and four kids, thats a lot of time spent on something that some people in the sector might consider inappropriate. But for me, these blogs are taking me to the pretty side of life. In that respect, an ultra-Orthodox woman is just the same as any other Israeli woman."
Three people are facing an indictment in Henry County for multiple counts of securities fraud.

The three were indicted in March by a Henry County grand jury, according to a news release. Court documents show the three were indicted for accepting money as an investment, which prosecutors say was used to pay personal debts and expenses.

Henry County District Attorney Patrick Jones III and Alabama Securities Commission Director Joseph Borg said the three are:

Benjamin Wayne Morehead, 36, who turned himself in May 23 and was released on $20,000 bond. He faces one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of sale of securities by an unregistered agent and one count of sale of unregistered securities. He has also been charged with one count of fraud in connection with the sale of securities, or omitting to state material facts and making untrue statements of material facts to investors.

Stanley Wayne Morehead, 58, who turned himself in May 24, and was released on $25,000 bond. He was indicted on conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of engaging in an act, practice, or course of business which operated as a securities fraud and fraud in connection with the sale of securities.

Judy Kay Morehead, 60, who turned herself in May 24,.and was released on $40,000 bond. She has been charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, sale of securities by an unregistered agent, engaging in an act, practice, or course of business which operates as a fraud and two counts of fraud in connection with the sale of securities.
Alabama is one of only seven states in the U.S. that doesn't have any billionaires, according to Forbes' latest compilation.

Alabama's richest person is, yet again, Jimmy Rane, the founder of Great Southern Wood Abbeville. He's known to the general public as "Yella Fella" for the character he plays in his popular advertisements.

Forbes estimates Rane's net worth is $700 million. Mississippi, New Mexico, Vermont, Alaska, Delaware and North Dakota also don't have billionaires. For what it's worth, Mississippi's richest person is worth more than ours - Leslie Lampton, the founder of a petroleum refining and distribution company, is worth $760 million, per the list.

Last year, Forbes estimated Rane's worth to be $610 million. Last year was the first time Rane earned the title. In 2015, Forbes gave the title to Drummond Co. heir Garry Drummond, following the 2015 death of billionaire Marguerite Harbert.

Earlier this year, Rane donated $12 million to Auburn University to establish a culinary science center. He graduated from Auburn in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in business administration before founded Great Southern Wood Preserving in 1970.
Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

How much for an arm? A leg?

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AL.com

Judge Pat Ballard

Judge Pat Ballard recently struck down Alabama's Workers' Compensation Act, but delayed the ruling until lawmakers have a chance to fix the law. The problem? Low rates of compensation for some workers hurt on the job, and low caps for the attorneys who represent them. Rates for some injuries were set in the 1980s and haven't changed since, creating hardships for those who suffer permanent injuries at work. Amy Yurkanin | AYurkanin@al.com

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BUSINESS WIRE

An arm and a leg

State law lays out different amounts for injuries sustained on the job. An arm is worth more than a leg, for example. The highest amount workers can receive for partial permanent disability according to the schedule is $88,000 for the loss of two limbs. These are maximum amounts, and can be lower depending on the employee's salary. According to a 2015 analysis by NPR and ProPublica, Alabama has the lowest payment rates in the country for amputations.

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Nata-Lia

Less than advertised

According to attorney Lawrence King, amounts can be paid in lump sums or weekly amounts of $220 or less. Attorney fees can reduce that amount to just $187 per week, King wrote in an email. Amounts are even lower for employees making around minimum wage, who are entitled to just 2/3 of their average weekly salary for a number of weeks capped by state law.

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Hand

Hand: $37,400

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Arm

Arm: $48,840

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Foot

Foot: $30,580

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Thumb

Thumb: $13,640

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Gry

Pointer finger

Pointer finger: $9,460

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Middle finger

Middle finger: $6,820

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Ring finger

Ring finger: $4,840

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Pinky finger

Pinky finger: $3,520

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Big toe

Big toe: $7,040

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Other toes

Other toes: $2,420

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Leg

Leg: $44,000

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Eye

Eye: $27,280

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Hearing (both ears)

Hearing (both ears): $35,860

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Hearing (one ear)

Hearing (one ear): $11,660

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Two hands

Two hands: $88,000

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Two legs

Two legs: $88,000

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Two feet

Two feet: $88,000

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Amy Yurkanin | ayurkanin@al.com

Other

Other: $66,000

The maximum amount for body parts not specifically listed on the state schedule is capped at $66,000, although judges have some wiggle room in these cases. Common complaints include back and brain injuries, wrote attorney Lawrence King.

Source: Alabama Department of Labor

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Total permanent disability

Total permanent disability: $43,836 a year

Employees who suffer disabling injuries that make it impossible to work are eligible for a maximum of $43,836 a year, paid out in weekly installments of $843. The Alabama Department of Labor adjusts the amount every year based on the state's average salary. However, few disabled employees will get that much, King wrote. If you deduct attorney's fees, the maximum amount drops to $717 a week.

Only employees who earn more than $65,000 a year are eligible for the maximum amount. Benefits for lower-paid employees are capped at 2/3 of average salary.

"A worker who makes $15 per hour, earns no overtime, and who gets 2 weeks paid vacation (for example) who hires a lawyer to help protect his rights, and who is determined by a judge to be totally disabled will get 2/3 of [$15 x 40] is $400 weekly, less 15% atty fee = $340; in summary, that guy goes from $600 per week to $340 per week," King wrote.
iStock/Thinkstock(PHOENIX) -- A Phoenix couple and their newborn daughter were among six people killed in a massive pileup near the border of Arizona and New Mexico on Monday, according to police.



Jose Elias Caraveo-Serrano, 30, Susana Caraveo, 29, and their 6-month-old daughter, Julissa, were killed in a 25-car pileup on Interstate 10 West while traveling home from New Mexico, according to ABCs Phoenix affiliate KNXV-TV.



Caraveo was a second-grade teacher at Desert Spirit Elementary School in Glendale, Arizona.



Jill Badcock, a fellow teacher at Desert Spirit Elementary, described Caraveo as a "young sweet soul" who brought sunshine wherever she went.



"She was always my little Miss Sunshine," Badcock told KNXV Tuesday. "Its such a tragedy, for not only the community but for educators, for her friends ... Its unbelievable.



A GoFundMe campaign for the couple, who would have celebrated their second wedding anniversary on Tuesday, had raised more than $7,000 as of early Wednesday.



Twenty-five vehicles -- 18 commercial motor vehicles and seven passengers vehicles -- were involved in the crashes, which resulted in six fatalities and a number of injuries, according to the New Mexico State Police.



The other victims were identified as Jose Manuel Clemente, 77, Maurella Clemente Munoz, 38, both of El Paso, Texas, and Josefina Silva, 47, of Escondido, California.



Officials with the New Mexico State Police said the collisions stemmed from a dust storm that brought high winds and limited visibility to the area.



Other fatal accidents in the Phoenix area have been attributed to dust storms in recent years.



"It's a topographical area in which the winds come through where there's nothing that can be done to prevent it," New Mexico State Police spokesman Carl Christiansen said on Tuesday. "It's never easy. It doesn't get easier each time."

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
It's just eight words - "I'm 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 "ain't got no feelings." By the end of Prodigy's opening verse, you've felt everything.

Prodigy - who died on Tuesday at 42 from 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 wouldn't intervene, therefore must not exist. That's 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. That's what attracted me to it; that's 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 group's two most extraordinary albums - 1995's "The Infamous" and 1996's "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 Deep's music always had a certain elegance to it, and it was flush with mood.

Much of that had to do with Prodigy's evocative rhymes, which made good on his stage name, recapping teenage tales of crimes and punishments that were almost too grim to believe. "I'm lethal when I see you, there ain't 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."
Marilyn McAllister knew what she wanted to do when she graduated from Sheffield High School in 1976. She wanted to go to Notre Dame, so she made sure she got an ROTC scholarship. She wanted a military career, and she got that, too.

After serving her country, she came home to Alabama. Now her life centers around doctor's appointments for herself and caring for her beloved service dog, Gabby. Neighbors in her apartment complex in Madison would never guess that this diminutive woman, walking with her Toy Pomeranian, is a retired lieutenant colonel with 22 years in the Army Signal Corps, where she was one of the first women paratroopers, with over 150 jumps to her credit.

While stationed at Fort Bragg, she was moved up to jump master, and fell through the night sky with 80 pounds of equipment on her back. She can demonstrate how to land with her knees and feet together to lessen the pressure. Still, she says she's two inches shorter than she used to be.

Her size didn't stop her from serving with distinction in Bosnia, Haiti, Somalia, Saudi, Iraq, and then stateside during Hurricane Andrew. In more than two decades in the service, she's seen war close up. She's felt the ground shake when scud missiles destroyed buildings; she's seen lifeless bodies on war-torn streets, she's been exposed to chemical sites and sarin gas and insecticides. It was part of the job, she says.

She'd planned on an Army career, but she hadn't planned on getting Gulf War Syndrome, a cluster of medical problems including breathing difficulties, IBS, chronic fatigue, and, in McAllister's case, a severe choking problem while eating. After retirement, she carried a knife with her in case she had to perform an emergency tracheotomy on herself.

Fortunately, she never had to. Instead, she got a rescue dog from Colorado, trained by the ski patrol to dig under the snow after an avalanche and clear the throat of a skier buried under deep snow. "Choking alert" dogs use their tongue to clear a passage, something people may find distasteful, but it saves lives.

Gabby's only had to perform this procedure once when McAllister choked during a meal, but she's trained to follow the command whenever she's needed. She's also a fine companion, staying at her mistresses' side when PTSD nightmares come or vision problems occur.

So it was natural that McAllister took good care of Gabby when she was attacked by a pit bull outside of an Athens restaurant a few months ago. Before her surgery, her right leg dangled uselessly and is still not fully healed. Because of her trauma, she developed a dog's version of PTSD, so McAllister took her to Island Dog Training Center so she could get used to being around other dogs again.

Now they are two wounded warriors, helping each other get through the day.

"I'd do anything for her," McAllister says. "We're always together."

They are together on trips to Honduras, where the healing waters of the Caribbean wash over McAllister's skin wounds as she swims. Gabby follows closely behind in a small kayak. They are together when McAllister eats lunch with other vets or runs errands.

Mcallister wants to make the most of the time they have together. She knows that Gulf War vets have limited life spans; it comes with the territory. She also worries about cutbacks in benefits for those whose war wounds don't heal, and hopes the administration will keep its promise to take car of disabled vets.

She urges them to call the VA to ask about getting a service dog. "If you need one, get one," she says. "It can change your life."
Taxpayers will pay a total of almost $600,000 in legal fees to two private law firms on opposite sides of the impeachment investigation of former Gov. Robert Bentley.

Last year, the House Judiciary Committee hired Jack Sharman of the Birmingham firm Lightfoot, Franklin & White to conduct the impeachment investigation. The Alabama Legislature plans to pay the firm a total of $457,889.

Sharman said he and his firm interviewed more than 20 witnesses and reviewed thousands of pages of documents before releasing his report on April 7. It concluded that Bentley abused his power to try to hide evidence of an alleged affair with his former political adviser, Rebekah Mason.

Bentley resigned from office three days after the report was released. The Judiciary Committee had started impeachment hearings on the morning of Bentley's resignation, which also came five days after the Ethics Commission found probable cause that Bentley violated the ethics law and campaign finance law.

The Legislature initially paid Sharman's firm $33,915 under an emergency contract. The Judiciary Committee set a $350,000 cap on legal fees after that. But Sharman's firm has billed for an additional $73,974 above the cap, House of Representatives spokesman Clay Redden said.

Redden said that request would be heard by the Alabama Board of Adjustment, a four-member board set up to hear certain claims against the state.

Redden said the House would not contest the billing.

Ross Garber

The governor's office hired Connecticut attorney Ross Garber of the firm Shipman & Goodwin, for the impeachment investigation. The governor's office has paid Garber's firm $137,182, according to the state Finance Department.

The Decatur Daily reported on the legal fees.
The Birmingham Public Library Board of Trustees has launched another search for a library director.

The board voted to begin accepting applications for director during its June meeting, the library system announced on Wednesday.

Applications will be accepted through Friday, Aug. 18. Click here for more information on how to apply. The job posting will also appear in national library trade journals and other publications.

The library board conducted a six-month national search that ended in March. It resulted in no library director being hired. The board spend $4,435 on the search.

The initial director search, which commenced in September 2016, netted three finalists. The finalists were interviewed on March 14.

Interim library Director Sandi Lee was one of the finalists.

Board members have declined requests for additional information on why no one was hired, and when a new search will begin.

In a previous statement to AL.com, board President Georgia Morgan Blair, said: "The board was not able to reach a decision on the director and has decided to reopen the search."

The director's salary is $127,192. The director will oversee operations for the entire 19-library system.
As CAR is torn apart along religious lines, IDPs depend on villages, made up of both Christians and Muslims, for food.

Kabo, Central African Republic  Tidjiana Abotor is wearing a long white thobe and sitting in the shade of a wooden shed close to the Chadian border with the Central African Republic (CAR). The 54-year-old, like many of the 2,600 Muslims living at this camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), hasnt had anything to eat or drink since dawn. He is observing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Fasting here is very different to when I was living in Bangui. Here, there is a shortage of food, and I am just anxious all the time. by Kaltoum Oumar, IDP camp resident

Since May 27, hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world have been fasting from sunrise to sunset.

We are fasting, but when it is time to eat, we just dont have enough food for everyone, Abotor says.

Many of the residents of this IDP camp, about 3km outside the small town of Kabo, have been displaced since 2014.

Abotor fled the PK5 district of CARs capital, Bangui, during the height of the blockade of the largely Muslim district by mainly Christian Anti-balaka fighters. He went to Chad as a refugee in January 2014 and returned to CAR in June 2016, ending up at the Kabo camp.

Another resident of the camp, Kaltoum Oumar, 45, left a district close to PK5 in 2014 after her husband was killed by Anti-balaka forces. She first sought refuge in the PK12 district of the city, before taking up an offer from the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) to move to the camp in Kabo. She is observing a third Ramadan in a camp and is struggling to get used to it.

READ MORE: CAR blighted by year of violence

Fasting here is very different to when I was living in Bangui. Here, there is a shortage of food, and I am just anxious all the time, Oumar says, adjusting her purple scarf as she speaks.

I do it because it is an order from God, she adds. And I use this time to pray that the situation will change.

The winters sun scalds the open fields cleared by the displaced. Men, looking to escape the dry heat, congregate under the shade of a few remaining trees in what was once a forest. Women emerge from their huts made of branches and leaves to start the evening stove. Children kick, dance and chase each other in the sand; their playful cries contrast the otherwise sullen mood.

We have nothing to do. We just sit, and wait for the day to pass, Abotor says.

Over the past eight months, residents of the camp say they have received just two rations of food that typically last a month each.

A representative from World Food Programme (WFP) told Al Jazeera that the UN agency has had problems over the past year delivering aid to those most in need in the area. It has been dangerous to get our trucks here following attacks on humanitarians, and the roads are so poor that many of [the] trucks have broken down, Cyridion Usengumuremyi, the head of the sub-regional office of the WFP, said.

And then there has been a shortage of supplies  we are hoping to mend it, he added.

With just 30 percent of the UNs humanitarian plan funded for 2017, humanitarian work has been reduced or shut down, leaving thousands without food or the necessary support.

The shortage of food at the camp is emblematic of the food and humanitarian crisis facing the country. Sporadic flare-ups in towns and villages, often between different armed groups, has pushed 25 percent of the population out of their homes, either as refugees or IDPs. According to the United Nations, at least 50 percent of CARs population is in need of humanitarian assistance and food aid. And while civilians of all religious persuasions have suffered, it has been the Muslim minority that has endured incessant persecution.

READ MORE: CAR  Church shelters Muslims fleeing Anti-balaka

Following the removal of President Francois Bozize in a 2013 coup by Muslim-led Seleka rebels, for many, the Muslim community became synonymous with the armed group. They subsequently became targets for a vigilante group called the Anti-balaka, made up mostly of Christians. The Anti-balaka embarked on a series of revenge attacks on Muslims for the crimes committed by the Seleka.

The attacks on Muslims were so extreme, that in 2015, Amnesty International warned that the community faced ethnic cleansing. In 2016, CAR held elections but the violence has not waned.

While Bangui has been made relatively secure by the presence of UN troops, the countryside remains fully under the control of armed groups.

Thousands of Muslims remain in camps across the country. They refuse to return to their homes, claiming insecurity as their main concern.

In Bangassou, more than 150 people were killed and thousands displaced after Anti-balaka fighters attacked the community in mid-May. At least 1,500 Muslims remain trapped in a Catholic church in the town.

INTERACTIVE: The war across the river

Pervasive hunger

Imam Daoud Abdoulaye is a resident of the camp and says that despite the fact that the conflict has taken on a religious dimension, that isnt reflected in the camp.

But fasting is a requirement of all Muslims, whether you have or food not, means or no means. It's the intention that counts. by Imam Daoud Abdoulaye, IDP camp resident

We dont have problems between Muslims and Christian. We also have Christians here  we know religion was used for political reasons, he says.

Oumar says the ongoing difficulties at the camp have left an indelible mark on the children here.

The lack of food had also made life very hard. They are not going to school. There is nothing normal for them here, Oumar says, her forehead creasing as she emphasises her point.

Residents depend on the kindness of the surrounding villages, made up of both Christians and Muslims, for food.

In the evening, they gather to break their fast, often with rice or cassava and a cup of tea. If some of the women are able to find vegetables in the fields, they might have sweet potatoes.

But Abdoulaye says that fasting has little to do with being rich or poor.

If you are old, or sick, yes, you dont need to fast. But fasting is a requirement of all Muslims, whether you have or food not, means or no means.

Its the intention that counts, the Imam, dressed in a dark brown thobe and draped in a black and white keffiyeh, says softly.
A Kurdish vote on independence in northern Iraq could be felt across the region at large.

With the upsurge of sectarian violence and political chaos in the Middle East, one of the regions most protracted conflicts has been brought to the fore: the Kurdish question.

Earlier this month, Masoud Barzani, the president of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), announced plans to hold a referendum on independence for the northern Kurdistan region.

While a Yes vote, which is widely expected to be the result, would not lead to an automatic declaration of independence, it would to give Iraqi Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of the population, more leverage in talks on self-determination with the central government.





Politically, the KRG already functions as an independent nation-state with its own parliament, armed forces (known as the Peshmerga) and foreign policy within a federation with the rest of Iraq. But economically, the KRG is still dependent on the central government as a result of a revenue-sharing system for oil wealth.

The regional government also heavily relies on its two main trade partners Turkey and Iran, both of which have come out against the referendum for fear the vote will further embolden their own Kurdish populations.

We think this will represent a terrible mistake, said the Turkish foreign ministry in a statement. The maintenance of Iraqs territorial integrity and political unit is one of the fundamental principles of Turkeys Iraq policy.

But in a country that is already rife with sectarian violence, the move is likely to strain already fragile relations between the regional capital Erbil and Baghdad, and risks sparking intra-Kurdish clashes that could spill over into neighbouring countries.

Baghdad has already rejected the referendum call.

No party can, on its own, decide the fate of Iraq, in isolation from the other parties, Saad al-Haddithi, Iraqi government spokesman, said earlier this month in a statement.

Iraq is constitutionally a democratic, federal country with full sovereigntyAny measure from any side in Iraq should be based on the constitution.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi said in April that while he respected the Kurdish right to vote on independence, he did not think the timing was right for the move.

OPINION: Iraqi Kurdistan  Playing the independence game

The vote, set for September 25, will take place in the three governorates that make up the autonomous Kurdish region (Erbil, Dohok, and Suleimaniah), as well as other disputed areas that are claimed by both Kurdish Iraq and Baghdad: Makhmour in the north, Sinjar in the northwest and Khanaqin in the east, and most importantly, the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

The city of Kirkuk, which sits atop an estimated three percent of global proven oil reserves, is home to a large mix of religious and ethnics groups, including Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and Christians, making it the most important disputed area and a constant source of contention.

Iraqs Kurds have likened Kirkuk to their own Jerusalem.

Last April, attempts to raise the KRG flag on top of public buildings in the city sparked backlash and accusations of sedition from the central government.

Iraqi Kurds had previously accused Baghdad of manipulating the demographic makeup of the city by forcefully pushing Kurds out and settling in Arab families in their place as part of the Arabisation policies of Saddam Hussein.

In addition to systematic discrimination policies, Hussein led a bloody campaign against Iraqi Kurds, known as the Anfal Campaigns of 1987 to 1989, during which thousands of villages were reportedly burned and destroyed. Human Rights Watch put the total number of deaths and disappearances during these campaigns between 50,000 and 100,000 people.

During the last days of the eight-year war, the Baathist government carried out a chemical attack in the Kurdish town of Halabja, immediately killing up to 5,000 people.

Two years after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, which brought an end to Husseins Baathist regime, a new federal constitution was drafted that approved and listed the Kirkuk province as one of the disputed territories whose legal fate would depend on a referendum.

Iraqi Kurds have since sought to annex the disputed territories by employing two provisions of the new constitution: Article 140, which mandates the reversal of Husseins Arabisation policies; and Article 119, which allows governorates to become or join an existing region by a referendum.

The governments failure to implement the provisions before a December 2007 deadline cast doubt on the viability of KRGs soft approach and led to renewed mistrust between Erbil and Baghdad.

The dispute over the Kirkuk province, aside from the Kurds claim to the land, is further hindered by a constitutional ambiguity. The federal constitution stipulates that the management of oil and gas extracted from present fields is the responsibility of both the federal and regional governments, and mandates that oil revenues are to be distributed equally across the country. But it fails to stipulate whether the largely untapped oil reserves in KGR territory are considered within the present fields.





Aided by this legal loophole, the KRG has invited a number of international oil companies (IOCs) to develop its untapped resources and has kept all the revenue for itself, drawing the ire of the central government.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been key in reversing gains made by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) since it swept across the country in 2014. In doing so, the US-backed Kurdish forces have steadily expanded KRG-controlled territory, unilaterally expanding into contested areas, many of which were victim of Saddam Husseins Arabisation policies.

With the battle for Mosul nearing an end, the KRG will be in the position to use its control over vast new swaths of territory in its negotiations with Baghdad.

Further complicating matters is the KRGs rivalry with the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a Yazidi armed group affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has been waging a bloody battle for greater autonomy in Turkey since 1984.

The Peshmerga forces  Ankaras main allies in Iraq  have repeatedly clashed with the YBS, who in turn have warned the KRG of attempting to assert its control in Sinjar, another disputed area.

And as PMU units push further into Sinjar in an effort to clear ISIL from the Iraq-Syria border as part of the ongoing efforts to take Mosul, their collaboration with PKK-allied YBS fighters have prompted fears of Turkish military intervention.

In Pictures: Kurds in Iraq ring in the new year

Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in early 20th century, the Kurds, a distinct people with their own language and culture, found themselves scattered across four regions: Southeastern Turkey, parts of Iran, northeastern Syria and northern Iraq  areas they regarded as their ancestral homeland ever since.

Alarmed by their aspirations for cultural and political autonomy, and in some cases, pursuits for independence, the successive governments of Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq have systematically subjugated their Kurdish populations through decades of assimilation, repression and containment policies.

In Syria, some 120,000 Syrian Kurds were left without citizenship and thousands of others were forced to flee to other Kurdish regions as a result of a racially motivated census that dates back to 1962.

Today, Syrian Kurds, who make up the biggest ethnic minority group in the country with a population of about two million, are displaying similar aspirations for autonomy, although not independence per se, to those of the Kurds in Iraq.

Aided by the security vacuum caused by the Syrian civil war, the Kurdish-led Democratic Union Party (PYD) and allied groups declared a form of federal democratic system in the northern part of the country, dubbing the territories under its control Rojava (or Western Kurdistan).

The PYD and its armed wing, the Peoples Protection Units (YPG)  a key US ally in the fight against ISIS in Syria  have been advocating for a form of democratic federalism in Syria

With the war in Syria now well into its sixth year, and with Iraqi Kurds taking a step closer toward independence, Syrian Kurds could reconsider their self-determination aspirations and seek independence, adding a complicated layer to a region already entangled in a complex web of conflicts.
Civilians have been forced to flee their homes, adding to the tens of thousands already living in IDP camps.

Goma, DRC  Ouimana Buiko Zawadi is desperate to get her story out. She sits with her four children and her brothers on the floor of a bare room in a camp for displaced people in Goma city  the capital of North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

At night they sleep on a tattered mat in a corner of one of the two rooms that they share with 40 other people who recently fled ongoing violence in Tongo, about 80km northwest of Goma.

They have escaped conflict between the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and Nyatura rebels.

It is hard to interrupt her when she starts talking.

They started stealing from us, taxing us. If you refused to pay up they would kill you. They raped women by Ouimana Buiko Zawadi, internally displaced

We lived well back home, farmed and fed our children, then different rebel groups started fighting over our territory, Ouimana says.

The eastern part of DRC is home to a number of armed groups, including FDLR, Nyatura and Mai Mai rebel groups.

They started stealing from us, taxing us. If you refused to pay up they would kill you. They raped women, the 35-year-old says.

At night they would come and burn peoples houses. Even the forest where we would flee to was not safe. There were men with arms.

She laments the lack of government security forces.

So I decided to bring my children here. I think Id rather they die of hunger than in the hands of a machete-wielding rebel, she says.

Internally displaced people

Ouimanas story reads like a horror novel. It is difficult to imagine the terror of a mother who only wants to save her children.

It took them a week by foot to get to Mugunga 3 camp for internally displaced peoplewhich about 4,000 others have called home, some for close to a decade.

DRC has about 3.7 million internally displaced people. More than 992,000 were displaced last year alone, according to a report by the Norwegian Refugee Councils Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. This is the highest number in the world of internally displaced people registered in 2016.

An additional 1.3 million Congolese have fled the most recent violence in Kasai Province at the border with Angola. Most of them are seeking refuge in Angola.

The violence erupted last August after a rebellion by Kamuina Nsapu armed group, following which a military offensive was launched. More than 400 people have been killed, dozens of them beheaded  allegedly by the rebel fighters but security forces have also been accused by the UN of using excessive force against civilians.

At least 3,383 people have been killed in the fighting between DRC forces and militia members since last October, the countrys Catholic church said on Tuesday in a report.

The UN had previously said hundreds died in the violence. The church report also said DRCs national army was responsible for destroying 10 villages, Reuters news agency reported.

The armys spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

Rafaella Pascarella from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees told Al Jazeera that DRC is a forgotten crisis and aid agencies have struggled to put the plight of those in need on the world agenda. She says huge budget cuts by donors have made it extremely difficult to carry out aid work.

To add to the woes, the country also hosts more than 300,000 refugees from the neighbouring Central African Republic, South Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda.

Armed conflict

Twenty-three years of armed conflict and inter-communal violence has taken a toll on this mineral-rich nation. People have been displaced by clashes, sometimes between the military and armed groups or between the rebels themselves.

The government has for years struggled to rid the country of the numerous armed groups, with more than 40 of them operating in North Kivu alone.

In 2013, the Congolese military (FARDC) and UN force (MONUSCO) defeated the largest armed group in the region, called M23. But other armed groups continue to operate as the military failed to act against them.

The government forces in 2014 launched an operation, Sokola 1, in South Kivus Beni region to push out fighters belonging to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who originated in neighbouring Uganda.

Within a year, the military claimed it had destroyed the rebel headquarters in Beni and pushed the few remaining fighters deep into the Virunga Park  away from Beni.

But soon after fighters believed to be members of ADF carried out a series of killings in Beni. Villages were attacked and more than 700 people have been killed since the end of the military operation. Last year, Sokola 1 was launched again and is still going on.

In 2015, another offensive was launched against the FDLR in North Kivu, whose presence in Congo dates back nearly 20 years.

Military operation

The ongoing military operation has significantly weakened the armed group, which is wanted by neighbouring Rwanda. Reports indicate that only a few thousand remain and pose little threat to either Rwanda or DRC. But, their presence, no matter how small, does not sit comfortably with either country.

Thousands of former rebels have been disarmed and rehabilitated as part of a UN and Congolese government amnesty programme, but many more are still in the jungle.

In May this year, the government launched Sokola 2, an offensive to push out armed groups who have divided territories inside the Virunga National Park, and are said to be trading in charcoal and wildlife.

Colonel Bazil Kanuma from the DRC military, who is leading the operation, said his troops will stay in Nyamilima  the military headquarters of the operation  until the job is done.

I ask the people we are pursuing and who are Congolese, to surrender and get help. If they dont, then they will feel our wrath, he said.

The first target is Mai-Mai, a Congolese armed group and the governments biggest threat today. Mai-Mai was formed to protect their communities against rival armed groups  largely because theres little government presence in many of the remote areas.

The group has since splintered into many factions. Thats what makes it dangerous and difficult to defeat. The fighters can also easily move around villages; they know the forest well and are mostly protected by communities.

The government has urged people to stop shielding rebels but the countrys leadership is so far removed from many who live in hard-to-access villages that trust is an issue.

People Al Jazeera spoke to in the villages said that to end the cycle of violence in DRC the government needs to build a relationship with the people based on trust.



Rape survivors hope for justice in DRC

They further say that for the rebel groups to be eliminated, there cannot be a leadership and security vacuum that creates an atmosphere for them to thrive.

As long as the war against rebels continues to victimise civilians, all thats being done is an exercise in futility, villagers said.

Some of the groups are said to be funded by influential individuals both in Congo and outside the country, sources told Al Jazeera.

The military is ill-equipped and soldiers poorly paid. Ethnic divisions and politics make the job even harder. A failure to address underlying causes of the conflict only adds to the cyclical nature of one of the worlds most complicated conflicts.

Ouimana is not hopeful that her home will be safe enough for her to return any time soon. She looks at her children and wonders about their future.

In the Mugunga camp, she joins people who have lived in dilapidated tents for nine years  and prays that she is not forced to stay here for years to come.
Former interior minister is reportedly detained, more than two years after being relieved of ministerial duties.

Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a committed ally of the United States and one-time successor to the Saudi throne, has reportedly been arrested, in what analysts suspect is an attempt by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to consolidate his reign and bar his rivals before a potential handover.

The former interior minister was detained on Friday alongside Prince Ahmed bin Abdelaziz, King Salmans brother and one of the last two remaining sons of the kingdoms founding father, several US publications reported.

According to the Wall Street Journal, they were arrested over accusations of plotting a coup against the king and the crown prince. There was no immediate comment by Saudi authorities.

Named crown prince in April 2015 shortly after King Salman acceded to power, Mohammed bin Nayef served in the position until his dismissal in a major reshuffle two years later that also saw him lose the interior ministry portfolio, which he had held since 2012.

I am content, he said at the time about his cousin Mohammed bin Salmans promotion to the role, adding: I am going to rest now. May God help you.

Reports later said he had been placed under house arrest following his removal from office.

Pro-US, survived al-Qaeda attack

With years of experience in intelligence work, and having played a major role in Saudis internal security policies, the 60-year-old Mohammed bin Nayef has been called the prince of counterterrorism.

Analysts have argued that Mohammed bin Nayef was also the most pro-US figure of the Saudi leadership.

He attended school in the United States, taking classes at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. In the late 1980s, Mohammed bin Nayef studied at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) before also taking anti-terrorism courses at the United Kingdoms Scotland Yard unit in the early 1990s.

Before the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, Mohammed bin Nayef had already developed a relationship with US officials as a respected figure in the war on terrorism.





He led a crackdown on al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2007, where attacks against security headquarters, foreign residential compounds and government buildings killed dozens of security officers and foreigners.

While leading Saudi Arabias war on al-Qaeda, Mohammed bin Nayef was outspoken in the media, appearing frequently on TV to speak about the kingdoms manhunt of hardline operatives.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) regarded Mohammed bin Nayef as the key to defeating al-Qaeda.

George Tenet, former director of the CIA, described Mohammed bin Nayef as the agencys most important interlocutor.

In 2009, Mohammed bin Nayef survived an assassination attempt by al-Qaeda after agreeing to meet Abdullah al-Asiri, a member of the armed group who framed himself as a repentant former fighter. During the meeting in Jeddah, al-Asiri detonated a suicide vest, but ended up only slightly wounding Mohammed bin Nayef.

His survival of the assassination attempt led many in Saudi Arabia to regard him as a hero.

In 2012, he succeeded his father as interior minister and three years later was also appointed deputy prime minister. But he then transitioned into a more low-profile role, as Mohammed bin Salman built a more prominent reputation for himself as the architect of the Yemen war.

In 2017, Mohammed bin Nayef was awarded a medal by the new director of the CIA, who honoured his contributions to counterterrorism work.
Iran possesses a large amount of different missiles, from short-range missiles to long-range cruise-missiles.

Iran has been working on its ballistic missile programme for several decades, using both Soviet and proprietary technology.

In June 2017, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard used some of these missiles to attack ISIL positions in the Syrian province of Deir Az Zor.

READ MORE: Iran accuses Saudis of supporting terrorist groups

The missile attack was a retaliation for two deadly attacks in Tehran earlier that month that were claimed by the armed group.

At least 17 people were killed ISIL in the June 7 attacks on Irans parliament and the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini that left 17 people dead.

OPINION: ISIL attack in Iran  Why now and what will happen next?

The firing of the missiles in June, the first in 30 years outside Irans own territory, came hours after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a statement on his website, vowed Iran would slap its enemies in honour of the victims families, including those killed in Syria and Iraq.

On September 23, 2017, Irans state media revealed footage showing the test of Khorramshahr missile hours after it was unveiled during a military parade.

Iran possesses a large variety of different missiles, from short-range missiles to long-range cruise missiles.
The new crown prince will be the first Saudi monarch from a generation of royals representing the founders grandsons.

Saudi Arabias King Salman named his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince on June 21, removing his nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef, as heir.

A royal decree stated that a majority of senior royal family members  31 out of 34  from the Allegiance Council had supported the recasting of the line of succession. The council comprises senior princes who gather in secret and vote to pick the king and crown prince from among themselves.

Mohammed bin Salman, also referred to as MBS, is now poised to become the first Saudi monarch from a generation of royals who represent the grandsons of the countrys founder, King Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

For decades, the throne has passed from elderly brother to elderly brother  all sons of the late founder.
Both the Grenfell fire and the Finsbury Park attack are the result of the UK governments vilification of the other.

In the past week, two very different atrocities have taken place in the early hours of a weeknight morning in London: the catastrophic fire at Grenfell Tower and the racist attack on the Muslim community in Finsbury Park. After both, there was a rush to depoliticise what had happened. But neither just sprung up out of thin air or from actions of lone individuals. Grenfell and Finsbury Park show the outcome of the states demonisation of marginalised groups.





The charred remains of Grenfell Tower stand in Londons landscape as evidence of the deadly effects of austerity, deregulation, gentrification and legislated corporate greed. These many threads are likely to be untangled in the coming months and years, when it will become clear exactly how a preventable fire ripped through a block of flats in one of the countrys richest boroughs. But we already know this is a tale of state-engineered inequality: decades of policies designed to benefit the rich at the expense of marginalised groups  people who are cast as other.

People living in social housing have long been vilified as miscreants. Not everyone who lives in tower blocks is poor, writes Lynsey Hanley, but the perception of social housing, particularly high-rise, as being for poor people leads to the maltreatment of residents, regardless of their class or income. Indeed, little did their financial reality matter; because of where they live, Grenfells residents were seen as the skivers David Cameron was so keen to weave into his austerity story (pdf).

The denigration of the poor by successive governments is an intentional political strategy  regarding poverty as an individual failing, to distract from the systemic nature of inequality. And so being housed by the state or in poor accommodation has wrongly become a sign of laziness and failure. Thats why there was a murmur of surprise among many that a talented artist like Khadija Saye lived in a block like Grenfell or that the people living in the area were informed and articulate.

READ MORE: Finsbury Park  Media demonisation and Islamophobia

But you cant talk about class without talking about race. As Akwugo Emejulu has pointed out, housing inequality isnt just about class; its about race and migration status, too. Black Britons, Muslims and migrants; you need only look through the stories of the missing, now presumed dead, to see Grenfell was largely home to people who in the UK are classed as other. That should come as no surprise. In a country where racism is laced into the state apparatus, people of colour are far more likely to suffer from poor housing. Housing charity, Shelter, have found twice as many black and ethnic-minority households live in conditions deemed officially unfit for human habitation, compared with white households.

Grenfell is a stark example of endemic criminal neglect and exploitation born out of demonisation of marginalised communities. by

Similarly, migrants are often forced to live in dilapidated, unsafe accommodation. Thats because the public have at once been told and declared that migrants are a threat to society: talked about as sterile statistics (can Theresa May get numbers down?), culturally threatening to the imagined UK way of life or a drain on society.

Migrants are racialised as menacing, so much so, that there was barely a whimper of protestation when the government withdrew support for search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean  essentially leaving people to drown. When you treat human beings as if they dont belong in this country because of their migration status or race, their wellbeing ceases to matter.

Its in this context that marginalised people arent seen to need decent housing; theyre deemed disposable. Fewer social houses are built as part of an artificially engineered housing crisis to drive up house prices and shareholder profits. In this climate, councils and private corporations  aided by a Conservative government more interested in protecting exploitative landlords than updating vital regulations  cut corners to save or make money on the ones that are still standing, so people who cant keep up with rapidly rising rents are forced to live in squalor or in unsafe towers like Grenfell.

Their concerns about safety are batted away. Mariem Elgwahry and Nadia Choucair, two Grenfell tenants, who are missing and presumed dead, were branded troublemakers because they campaigned to make their homes safer. They were ignored because government policy has made it harder for them to be heard: When the council and their social landlord refuse to listen to them, they couldnt access legal aid because its been cut to the bone. Grenfell, then, is a stark example of endemic criminal neglect and exploitation born out of demonisation of marginalised communities.

An Islamophobic hate crime





The attack in Finsbury Park is in many ways a different story but, like Grenfell, it shouldnt be seen as an isolated incident  particularly when Islamophobic hate crimes, which have long been a reality in the UK, are rising and when people say they dont trust Muslims.

Although the exact motivation that led a middle-aged white man to drive a van into a group of Muslims outside a mosque  leaving one dead and injuring eight  will be explored in detail in the trial, there is an Islamophobic environment that makes such an act thinkable.

On the morning of the attack, as some took to social media to celebrate it, others pinned the blame on far-right figures like Katie Hopkins and Tommy Robinson for spouting anti-Muslim rhetoric. Theres a problem with a society that eagerly gives these people a platform and treats them like the voice of common (read: white) people. But focusing on these individuals ignores the wider picture in which theyre situated: where Muslims have long been imagined as a homogenous threat to the country.

OPINION: Has Katie Hopkins committed a hate crime?

Now, Islamophobia is a specific form of discrimination but, as with Grenfell, a process of othering is identifiable. Muslims are monitored by the state through Prevent. Muslim politicians are accused of having extremist links simply because of their faith. The War on Terror demands a distinction between good and bad Muslims. And there is a tacit demand that Muslims must somehow demonstrate their loyalty to the UK, despite the fact that no amount of proof will ever be enough. The supposed threat Muslims pose is embodied in the deafening chorus of voices post-Manchester attack, asking the Muslim community to condemn what happened.

Grenfell and Finsbury Park are different in many ways. But what they bring into sharp focus is the role of the state in intentionally racialising and mistreating marginalised groups. And they show what many people already know to be true from their everyday experiences: this vilification has real, violent outcomes.

Maya Goodfellow is a writer and researcher. Her work mostly focuses on politics, and race and racism in the UK.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
It is not the first time US government has used all means necessary to stifle activism and resistance.

The recent revelations of the Intercept, exposing how the US government is treating environmental activism at Standing Rock as an insurgency, should not come as a surprise. The Intercepts investigation reveals that security firm TigerSwan has been working closely with at least five states to target the protesters of the Standing Rock camp as jihadists, aiming to destroy and delegitimise the whole movement and those standing in solidarity with it.

But this is not the first time that governments and corporations have used any means necessary to keep the status quo in place. And it wont be the last.

A long history of criminalising activism





On March 8, 1971, a group of activists known as the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, stole a huge stash of files and passed them on to the media. The most significant element in the stolen materials was a file mentioning the word COINTELPRO.

This break-in exposed one of the most secretive programmes put together by the FBI at that time.

Originally created in 1956 to increase factionalism, cause disruptions and win defections inside the Communist Party in the US, the COunterINTELligencePROgram slowly diverted most of its resources to target other groups and individuals that the FBI deemed subversive. These included the Black Panthers, the Civil Rights Movements, the feminist movement, the anti-war movement, the anti-colonialist movement, activists from the American Indian Movement and many others.

The programme used methods such as infiltration, psychological warfare, illegal force and harassment to destroy, often from the inside, any form of resistance to the status quo. The assassination of Fred Hampton, one of the leaders of the Black Panther Party, on December 4, 1969, was part of a COINTELPRO operation.

OPINION: North Dakota pipeline protest is a harbinger of many more

While the covert programme officially ended in April 1971, recent history has shown that the FBI and other government agencies have never stopped using the tactics that formed the core of the programme. In fact, quite the opposite has happened and the methods used by governments, institutions and corporations to pacify the masses have become more and more sophisticated with time.

A couple of years ago, journalist Will Potter exposed the fact that environmental and animal rights activists were now considered as the number-one domestic threat in the US and are often prosecuted as criminals. He highlighted that this had happened thanks to the concerted lobby efforts by corporations that have promoted the notion of eco-terrorism.

History has proven that it takes time, a lot of patience and many sacrifices to achieve radical change, but that at the end of the day, the power is with the many, not with the few. by

But the US government is by far not the sole perpetrator of such crimes. Many other countries, often including western democracies, are treating concerned citizens in the same manner. A telling example is the way the UK government and police infiltrated the environmental movement to pre-empt environmental action and protests.

Governments have upped their repressive game criminalising whole movements, like the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) and solidarity with refugees movements in Europe. Security forces have increased the brutality with which they put down protests, as has happened in France, where a police crackdown on peaceful demonstrations against labour law changes led to dozens of protesters being injured. And overall, there have been broad attempts to delegitimise any form of radical resistance to power across the world.

These are all clear reminders to activists that challenging hegemony will come at a very high price.

It is crucial to understand and treat these actions not as random acts but as part of a broader context of repression and pacification of civil society. There is a global pushback against activism or what some have called shrinking space, and this process has taken different forms. The methods used can be pure repression (violence against human rights defenders, attacks on freedom of assembly, movement, speech ) or include more subtle approaches, such as philanthropic protectionism and exclusion of organisations and charities from the banking system.

We are not losing

But everything is not as bleak as it sounds. The fact that governments have to resort to contractors and private companies to do their dirty and often illegal work needs to be understood for what it is.

While they were able, even though secretly, to do this themselves a few decades ago, the actions of many, or sometimes of a few (whistleblowers, for example), have had an impact.

OPINION: How media did and did not report on Standing Rock

Over the past few decades, activists, protesters and whistleblowers challenged the hegemonic vision of the world imposed on us by governments, institutions and the corporate media by putting forward the narratives of the powerless. They told a different story and made sure that the world listened to what they were saying. Movements such as Occupy, the Indignados and Reclaim the Streets offered a taste of what is possible. And these very real and concrete actions made government programmes such as COINTELPRO nearly impossible.

Even though it might sometimes look like we are, as the human civilisation, going backwards, faced with more racism, bigotry, chauvinism and hatred every day; and even though it often feels like victories are insignificant when compared with defeats and that the balance of power is very much on the side of states and corporations, we are certainly not losing and the fact that we have to face more repressive measures every day means that our enemies are scared and take us very seriously.

History has proven that it takes time, a lot of patience and many sacrifices to achieve radical change, but that at the end of the day, the power is with the many, not with the few.

Frank Barat is coordinator of the War & Pacification programme at the Transnational Institute.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
There is a great amount of confusion surrounding the chaos in the Gulf, a crisis that emerged unexpectedly owing to a provocation no one predicted. One of the main actors in the triangle of Gulf chaos is a king, another an emir, and the third a president. Even if we cannot piece together the puzzle of how this new axis  a kingdom, an emirate and a president  has emerged, we are told that this strange embargo is being used to punish Qatar. Of the three, the country run by the president broke the embargo through sales of planes as early on as the second week of the sanctions. In short, we face less of a crisis, and more of a chaotic geopolitical depression.





The embargo regime imposed on Qatar does not satisfactorily explain the Gulf crisis alone. A similar event led to the largely overexaggerated relationship between Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood  something that those in Egypt know best. After a coup in which thousands of innocent people were murdered, Qatar was not mentioned in the debates about the situation of the Brotherhood in Egypt. What stuck in the mind, and is still a fact that almost all serious people agree on, was this: the price of targeting the Brotherhood was pushing all other movements in the region towards radicalisation.

The relationship between terrorism and Islamic movements in the Middle East takes hold in one of two ways. The first is when the possibility for political participation and democratic change is bloodily crushed, while the second is through provocations by the intelligence services operations. Even if we forget the invasion of Iraq, pass over the occupation in Palestine and ignore the coup regime in Egypt, close our eyes to the crimes of the bloody regime in Syria; crisis and ending the lifetime of the current regional order alone is good enough for the radicalisation of masses.

So what is the picture we face? What is this crisis, which has been called the Gulf crisis? Roughly what do they want from Qatar? What will happen if Qatar carries out their demands? It will be enough just to answer the last of these questions. In order to answer it, we need to take a look at the geopolitics of the Gulf, in which Turkey, the US and Iran all share in different dynamics. Actors in the Gulf outside Qatar and the US President are demanding a new geopolitical order for the Gulf with no regard for other stakeholders (Turkey, Iran and the US establishment). In making this demand, they are making Qatar a target.

We are witnessing the disintegration of the old geopolitical order of the Middle East and the Gulf. by

They seem to be expecting, essentially, to be able to create a new geopolitical order, destroy Islamic movements, finally end the financing of terrorism, take Turkey out of the picture, make Iran act like it isnt in the Gulf and change long years of deeply instilled US security policy in a single night! Whether this expectation has emerged from political naivety or a lack of an understanding of the region is unclear. It is almost impossible to imagine any consequences beyond a few weeks of crisis.

While only a few weeks ago, Qatar meant just Qatar, as of June 2017 were now at a point where Qatar has gained a different dimension. At the same time, it remains a country containing a Turkish military base, which carries out joint exercises with the US, and whose border trade has turned into an airline trade route. A new geopolitical pattern has effectively emerged in relation to Qatar.

A new rhythmic diplomacy has been established with regard to a Qatar for whom there have been effectively no offers of active support against those implementing the embargo regime. On almost every issue, the embargoing states have seen the opposite outcome to the one they had envisaged. Will this lead to an understanding that attempting to hack a website and bring about a new geopolitical order to the Gulf is not a good enough idea to work in practice? We still dont know. Those who had the wonderful idea of placing an embargo on Qatar have not yet come up with a positive solution to this scenario.

Even if there were no strange tensions stirring in Gulf geopolitics over Qatar, the region already has enough to deal with. These quasi-nation states built on energy economies and politics had hoped to keep a geopolitical order afloat based on nothing more than buying security from the West and opposing Iran. This mechanical geopolitical order naturally has problems in terms of its capacity to produce stability and peace. In fact, it might even be said that Qatar had introduced a hybrid political initiative into the vicious circle that characterised the geopolitical order of the Gulf.





We are witnessing the disintegration of the old geopolitical order of the Middle East and the Gulf. Neither the order introduced to Mesopotamia after World War I, nor that introduced to the Middle East after 1947 is sustainable. In the same way, it is impossible to sustain the 1991 order in the Gulf.

Through supporting the unsustainable situation in Palestine, trying to keep the coup regime in Egypt on its feet, supporting sectarian terrorism in Iraq and Syria, and giving a bloody response to attempts at democratic change, this age-old crisis is only growing. From the Islamist-phobic discourse the Gulf has brought out in Atlantic populism to the absurd political move of demanding that Qatar be sacrificed, the current geopolitical crisis is intensifying. It is in the interest of all the actors involved to immediately end the crisis before the reputational damage and political crisis goes beyond the point of return. Just as a geopolitical order cannot be imposed through hacking a website, the fate of the Gulf will not be delivered by tweet!

Taha Ozhan is the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Turkish parliament.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Despite receiving only limited funds from international organisations, Uganda has given a warm welcome to refugees.

At just 37 years of age, Joyce has seen it all. Shes stared into the abyss of human cruelty and lived to tell the story. In September 2016, soldiers stormed her home in Kajo Keji, South Sudan, which she shared with her husband and their children. They tied her husbands arms behind his back and stabbed him multiple times until he lay dead.





A single mother with nine children to feed, Joyce decided to run away  to escape the violence in her native land. So she joined the hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese people fleeing southwards to Uganda.

But although the trek to Uganda by foot has reduced her risk of being shot dead or raped by soldiers or rebels, her life is still a painful daily struggle. She still lacks basic supplies, including food, water or shelter.

And shes not alone, thousands upon thousands of South Sudanese refugees in Uganda  nearly two-thirds of them children  are living in despicable conditions due to a shameful failure by the international community to fund refugee efforts in Uganda, a country that has continued to welcome refugees, despite its limited resources.

The worlds wealthiest countries are not doing enough to support these refugees.

READ MORE: UN  2 million children displaced by South Sudan conflict

UN funding appeals for refugees remain grossly underfunded, leaving millions of refugees in destitute conditions, and dismally few resettlement places are being offered, contrary to international obligations for responsibility-sharing among states.

The international community must step up and show its support to Uganda and the refugees it has given a warm welcome. Their lives depend on it. by

With more than 900,000 South Sudanese refugees already on its territory, and with thousands more arriving each day, Uganda is facing one of the worlds biggest refugee crises.

Known and praised for its progressive refugee policy, Uganda has kept its doors open to refugees against financial odds, but it is buckling under the pressure and needs global support.

Under this policy, refugees are given pieces of land to live on and farm, and have equal access to basic services as citizens, including healthcare and education. They also have the right to work and own businesses.

The authorities aim for refugees to be self-sufficient within five years  and to no longer have to rely on aid agencies.

And yet the international community has still failed to provide Uganda and its refugees with adequate support. By May 2017, the South Sudan Refugee Response Plan for Uganda was only 15 percent funded. In 2016, it was funded up to 51.4 percent.

Not only does this lack of funding risk the sustainability of Ugandas progressive refugee policy, it also has a direct and devastating impact on refugees lives.

REPORTERS NOTEBOOK: Children bearing the brunt of South Sudan refugee crisis

Amnesty International spoke to more than 80 South Sudanese refugees in settlements across four districts of northern Uganda, as part of a recent report, all of whom gave harrowing accounts of the human rights abuses they had fled from, including killings, rape and torture. Some of them, like Joyce, saw their loved ones being killed.





But instead of full support to live in dignity in Uganda, they have been left struggling to cope. Even the most vulnerable, such as trauma victims with urgent mental health needs, have been neglected.

Over 64 percent of the refugees from South Sudan in Uganda are children under the age of 18. Many are at risk and in need of urgent support.

Yet appeals by the Ugandan government, the United Nations and aid agencies have fallen on deaf ears.

But it is not too late.

Donor countries, including the United States, the European Union and its member states, Australia, Canada, China and Japan, have an opportunity to change this tomorrow at the Uganda Solidarity Summit on Refugees in Kampala. The international community must step up and show its support to Uganda and the refugees it has given a warm welcome. Their lives depend on it.

Khairunissa Dhala is a researcher on refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Bria mayor says death toll will certainly rise after a day of heavy clashes between rival factions.

As many as 100 people may have been killed in a day of clashes between rival factions in the Central African Republic town of Bria, shortly after a truce deal was signed, the towns mayor 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.

The death toll will certainly rise. For now its an estimate and it could be up to 100 dead, Maurice Belikoussou told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday by telephone, raising an earlier death toll of around 50.

There are still dead lying in the neighbourhoods, in the road and in the bush, he said.

Q&A: Will CAR peace accord bring an end to violence?

Witnesses said houses were looted and set on fire during the clashes.

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, an armed rebel group formerly belonging to the Muslim Seleka coalition, told the AFP news agency on Tuesday.

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 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.
Qatar reacts to US suggestion that Gulf states concern about terrorism was not real reason behind Doha embargo.

Qatar has welcomed a statement by the United States questioning the motives behind a series of anti-Qatar measures imposed this month by several Arab countries, according to a report published in state media.

Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Rumaihi, spokesman for Qatars foreign ministry, expressed Dohas welcome on Wednesday, a day after the US state department said it was mystified that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and their allies had not released their claimed grievances about Qatar.





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, Heather Nauert, spokesperson for the state department said on Tuesday, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Rumaihi on Wednesday reaffirmed Qatars strategic stance that supports solving the crisis by civilised dialogue, Qatar News Agency reported.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and 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.

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 the coming days.

Qatars Foreign Minister 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.

READ MORE: Qatar-Gulf crisis  All the latest updates

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.

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.
Ruling on transfer of Tiran and Sanafir comes a week after parliament backed plans to hand them back to Saudi Arabia.

Egypts top constitutional court has ruled to halt all verdicts on an islands transfer deal until it makes a decision on the constitutionality of the agreement, state media said.

Wednesdays ruling came a week after Egypts parliament backed plans to hand over two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia under an accord that has attracted widespread public criticism.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi must still ratify the agreement.





Parliamentary leaders and government lawyers say the House of Representatives is the only entity allowed to rule on matters of sovereignty, but it has been opposed by one court.

On Tuesday, an Egyptian court ruled that previous judicial decisions in favour of transferring the two islands were invalid, according to a judicial official and a lawyer.

The government says the two islands, Tiran and Sanafir, belong to Saudi Arabia but had been leased to Egypt in the 1950s.

On Tuesday, an administrative court ruled that all judicial decisions taken to date by the urgent matters court would be considered invalid.

The ruling signifies that the land is Egyptian, said Khaled Ali, a lawyer who argued in the administrative court that the islands belonged to Egypt.

The verdict would affirm that any attempt to transfer the islands would be considered unconstitutional even if the president ratified the agreement, Ali said.

The deal sparked rare street protests after it was signed last year, with President Sisi accused of having sold the islands to Saudi Arabia.

Now, the ball is in the presidents court, Ali said.
News comes as relief for Palestinians in the besieged strip, but reports that PA may prevent its use a cause for worry.

Egypt has begun to deliver one million litres of fuel to the Gaza Strip, in an attempt to ease the Palestinian enclaves desperate electricity crisis.

The fuel, trucked in through the otherwise besieged Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza, will be routed on Wednesday to the territorys only power station  closed for several months owing to fuel shortages.

But Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett, reporting from West Jerusalem, said that sources from inside the power company told Al Jazeera that the Palestinian Authority (PA), which operates in the occupied West Bank but contracts the power company in Gaza, has instructed the company not to accept the Egyptian fuel.

READ MORE: Gaza power cuts  This is the worst its ever been

The PA is dominated by the Fatah party, which has been in a dispute with Hamas over governance in the occupied Palestinian territories ever since it lost a parliamentary election to Hamas in 2006  an election which it then failed to recognise.

After that election, in 2007, Hamas ended up governing the Gaza Strip, while Fatah took control of the occupied West Banks territories that Israeli soldiers leave to the PA to administer.

Theres been a bid by the Fatah leader, President Mahmoud Abbas, to increase pressure on Hamas with various measures  most significantly by cutting funding for fuel and electricity, Fawcett reported.

If it is true, and we havent had a confirmation or explanation from the PA yet, it shows they are determined to keep the squeeze on [the Gaza Strip] despite the deal with Egypt.

IN PICTURES: Mass protests on Gazas borders over electricity crisis

Two days ago, Israel began reducing its electricity supplies to Gaza, following Abbas decision to stop paying for them.

Since then, Palestinians in Gaza have been left with as little as two hours of electricity a day, prompting a UN warning that basic services in the besieged strip faced total collapse.

[The Egyptian shipment] could increase the daily electricity supply to potentially five or six hours a day, Fawcett said.

Still not a solution to the problem, but a welcome boost.
FIBB fighters abandon positions after taking over a primary school in Mindanao and using civilians human shields.

Rebel fighters who stormed a southern Philippines village and occupied a school on the southern island of Mindanao are on the run after freeing dozens of hostages following a day-long crisis, according to the military.

The gunmen escaped from the public elementary school in the village of Malagakit, close to Pigcawayan town, as darkness fell, Captain Arvin Encinas, an army spokesman, told dpa news agency.

They escaped as troops slowly moved in, he said.

Six hostages were still unaccounted for, said Captain Nap Alcarioto, another spokesman.

Philippine troops killed at least four of the fighters, who belong to an armed group that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Two government soldiers were wounded in the fighting, which forced nearly 1,000 residents to flee their homes in Malagakit and two other villages in Pigcawayan in North Cotabato province, nearly 900km from the capital, Manila.

The armed men, numbering around 200, had planned to attack an army base in the nearby village of Simsiman, but were pushed back by government troops who blocked their advance until reinforcements arrived, Alcarioto said.

The fighters then occupied the school and seized nearly 40 civilians, including 12 minors, as human shields.

They also laid out explosives around the school to stop the soldiers, he added.

Thirty-one hostages, including 12 minors, were freed by the gunmen or were able to escape from the school before the fighters withdrew.

The gunmen were members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a breakaway faction of a larger Muslim separatist rebel group that signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in 2014.

The group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for a series of military offensives in North Cotabato and nearby Maguindanao province.

The BIFF has been blamed in the past for bombings and kidnappings in the central part of the southern region of Mindanao.

President Rodrigo Duterte last month declared a state of emergency on the southern island after ISIL-linked fighters laid siege on Marawi City, some 190km north Pigcawayan.

The conflict in Marawi City began on May 23 when hundreds of fighters went on a rampage after government forces tried to arrest a local armed group leader.

Although the situation in Pigcawayan may not be directly linked to the fighting that has been raging in Marawi for the past few weeks, it may have something to do with the martial law that been imposed across the region, Al Jazeeras Jamela Alindogan, reporting from Mindanao, said.

More than 380 people have been killed in the crisis, including 268 fighters and 66 government forces. The gunmen have also killed 26 civilians, while 24 people died from illnesses in evacuation centres.

The fighting has displaced more than 300,000 residents and left Marawi City in ruins, with houses and buildings torched by militants or destroyed by bombs from military air attacks.
Police say soldiers engaged in gun battle with fighters who stormed a school near Pigcawayan town on Mindanao island.

The Philippine military says gunmen who had holed up in a primary school on the southern Midanao island have retreated after a gun battle with troops but are holding some civilians hostage.

Suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) group were engaged in a gun battle with security forces at Malagakit, close to Pigcawayan town, Chief Inspector Realan Mamon said in a radio interview on Wednesday.

Brigadier General Restituto Padilla, army spokesman, said five civilians were taken hostage, none of them students, as human shields.

The Malagakit school is believed to had been closed at the time of the attack.

Eliseo Garcesa, mayor of Pigcawayan, told Philippine radio that about 200 gunmen were involved in the attack. He said he was still seeking information about possible casualties.

READ MORE: Army renews push against ISIL-linked group in Marawi

Pigcawayan is in North Cotabato province in the centre of Mindanao island.

President Rodrigo Duterte last month declared a state of emergency on the southern island after fighters linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group laid siege on Marawi City, some 190km north of Pigcawayan.

Fighting between the army and ISIL-linked groups, including BIFF fighters, in Marawi has entered its fifth week.

Although the situation in Pigcawayan may not be directly linked to the fighting that has been raging in Marawi for the past few weeks, it may have something to do with the martial law that been imposed across the region, Al Jazeeras Jamela Alindogan, reporting from Mindanao, said.

Padilla said it was possible the attack was intended to disrupt the ongoing military offensive in Marawi.

If this is a diversionary move, its not the first by these BIFF gunmen, Padilla said. They have tried to attack more than once and all have been thwarted.
Mosque where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate destroyed by ISIL, army says, but armed group blames US air raid.

The landmark Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its leaning minaret have been blown up, with the Iraqi army blaming ISIL for its destruction and the armed group accusing a US-led coalition air raid.

In recent days Iraqi forces have pushed deeper into the last remaining areas held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in the centre of Iraqs second-largest city.

Our forces were advancing toward their targets deep in the Old City and when they got to within 50 metres of the Nuri mosque, Daesh committed another historical crime by blowing up the Nuri mosque, Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, the overall commander of the Mosul offensive, said in a statement late Wednesday.

In a statement on its Amaq website, ISIL blamed US aircraft for destroying the mosque.

The US military denied the allegation. We did not strike in that area, coalition spokesman US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian told Reuters news agency by phone.

Video released by Iraq's military appears to show Nouri Mosque in Mosul being detonated by explosives. pic.twitter.com/EnY6CHmMA7  Tamer El-Ghobashy (@TamerELG) June 21, 2017

The Grand al-Nuri Mosque was where ISILs leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a rare appearance in June 2014 and gave a speech while standing at a pulpit to proclaim the creation of a caliphate.

US Army Major-General Joseph Martin said the mosque destruction showed ISILs brutality.

The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS, said Martin in a statement.

This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, and is an example of why this brutal organisation must be annihilated.

Iraqis lovingly call the minaret Al-Hadba, or the hunchback. The mosque is named after Nuruddin al-Zanki, a noble who fought the early crusaders from a fiefdom that covered territory in modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The mosque was built in 1172-73, shortly before his death, and housed an Islamic school.

Iraqs Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi denounced the destruction, saying it was a declaration of defeat by ISIL.

Blowing up the historical Al Nuri mosque & its iconic Al-Hadbaa minaret is #ISIS "declaration of defeat", #Iraq PM @HaiderAlAbadi https://t.co/6NfcNyuU0h  Saad Abedine (@SaadAbedine) June 21, 2017

Al Jazeeras Bernard Smith, reporting from Erbil, said Iraqis were expressing their anger and outrage over the bombing on social media.

This is one of Iraqs most important, historical symbols. Enormous anger here, Smith said.

Battle for Mosul

Iraqi forces earlier on Wednesday said they had started a push towards the mosque. A US-led coalition is providing air and ground support to the Mosul offensive which began in October 2016.

The forces had encircled on Tuesday the armed groups stronghold in the Old City, the last district under their control in Mosul.

READ MORE: Iraqi forces launch assault to take Mosul Old City

Iraqi officials had privately expressed the hope that the mosque could be captured early next week in time for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the caliphate, even though ISIL would continue to control territory west and south of the city, the largest they had control of in both Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding in the border area between Iraq and Syria, according to US and Iraqi military sources.
Tillerson says Saudi Arabia and its allies listed demands and he hopes they will be reasonable and actionable.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that Washington hopes Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies will soon present Qatar a list of reasonable and actionable demands to move the diplomatic crisis towards a resolution.

We understand a list of demands has been prepared and coordinated by the Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians and Bahrainis, Tillerson said in a statement on Wednesday.





We hope the list of demands will soon be presented to Qatar and will be reasonable and actionable.

Tillerson said the United States backs a Kuwaiti mediation effort aimed at resolving the crisis.

His comments came a day after the state department said it was mystified that the Gulf states had not yet offered the grievances that prompted a rift with Qatar.

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, Heather Nauert, spokesperson for the state department said on Tuesday, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council.

On Wednesday, Ahmed bin Saeed al-Rumaihi, spokesman for Qatars foreign ministry, said Doha welcomed the state departments stance.

He reaffirmed Qatars strategic stance that supports solving the crisis by civilised dialogue.

READ MORE  Qatar-Gulf crisis: All the latest updates

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and 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 urged their citizens to return to their respective nations, disrupting the lives of thousands in the region and restricting their freedom of movement.

Sanctions also disrupted food and other imports into Qatar.

The UAE said this week the measures could last for years unless Doha accepted demands that the Arab powers plan to reveal in the coming days.

Qatars Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is expected to travel to Washington next week, said Doha would not negotiate with its neighbours to resolve the dispute unless they first lift the trade and travel restrictions.

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.
Frances Justice Minister Francois Bayrou is leaving President Emmanuel Macrons government after prosecutors launched a probe into alleged misuse of public funds by his party.

Bayrous centrist MoDem was in an alliance with Macrons Republic on the Move (LREM) movement, which has promised to clean up and rejuvenate French politics.

MoDem is accused of using European parliamentary funds to pay assistants based in France.





I have taken a decision not to be part of the next government, Bayrou told AFP news agency on Wednesday.

Bayrous resignation comes a day after his fellow party member, Defence Minister Sylvie Goulard, stepped down, citing the investigation as the reason.

A third MoDem minister, Marielle de Sarnez, is also expected to resign, according to media reports.

The resignations came hours before a planned cabinet reshuffle that was initially expected to address adjustments and now must involve major changes.

Government spokesperson Christophe Castaner said Bayrous move was a personal choice which simplifies the situation.

We have a majority after Sundays big win and we have the wherewithal to govern. So now its time to get to work, Castaner told Europe 1 radio, referring to LREMs sweeping win in parliamentary elections earlier this month.

A fourth minister under the conflict-of-interest allegations also left his cabinet post for a parliamentary job on Monday.

Richard Ferrand, a key LREM member, could face an investigation for alleged conflict of interest related to his past business practices.

Al Jazeeras Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris, said the resignations may not be as disruptive to Macrons government as they seem.

It certainly doesnt look good to have four ministers step down over corruption allegations in the same week, she said.

That said, you might say its not a bad thing for Macron because he can say he is cleaning up politics, and I cant have these people around me while they face such allegations.

In many respects, the fact that these ministers are stepping down now is perhaps not as disruptive as it might be at another time because of the planned reshuffle.

Bayrou was a key backer of Macrons movement during the presidential campaign, and his support was crucial in winning centrist votes for the new president.

He has dismissed allegations of corruption, saying there had never been fake jobs among his partys European Parliament staff.
Belgian prosecutor says man shot dead after attempted bombing in central station had not been a terrorist suspect.

The man shot dead at Brussels Central Station on Tuesday, after an abortive detonation of a nail bomb in a bag, was a 36-year-old resident of the Molenbeek district who had not previously been considered a terrorist suspect, a Belgian prosecutor said.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday following the reopening of the station, Eric Van Der Sypt told reporters that the initials of the man, who had Moroccan nationality, were O.Z., and that his home had been searched.

On Tuesday night, Belgian soldiers shot and killed the suspect after he set off a small explosion at the central train station in the capital. The blast was believed to have been caused by the detonator of a larger device.

There were no other casualties in the attempted attack.

Belgiums Prime Minister Charles Michel said that the shooting of the suspect could have been potentially very dangerous.

He said there were more explosives that the suspect carried into the station than the small detonation that alerted the patrolling military to the man before they killed him.

Michel said more security measures would be put in place for large public events such as the Coldplay concert at the King Baudouin stadium later on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said the suspect was carrying a backpack before he was shot by one of the routine military patrols active in Brussels since the attacks more than a year ago.

But the man was not wearing an explosive belt as was previously thought, Van Der Sypt said.

We consider this a terrorist attack, Van Der Sypt said after the attack.

Police had cleared streets around Brussels landmark Renaissance town square after the blast, which occurred around 8:30pm (18:30 GMT) as tourists and locals were enjoying a hot summers night.

There is a very heavily armed police and military presence, Al Jazeeras Neave Barker, reporting from near the Central Station on Tuesday following the attack, said.

The whole area around here is very much on lockdown.

High alert

Barker said the incident brought memories of two attacks in March 2016 when suicide bombers struck the metro system and an airport in the city, killing 32 people and wounding hundreds more.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed those attacks, which were carried out by the same cell behind the November 2016 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

Soldiers have been stationed at railway stations, government buildings and European Union institutions in Brussels since the aftermath of the Paris attacks when a link to Belgium was first established.

The Belgian capital has been on a heightened state of alert, meaning that there are now roughly about 10,000 heavily armed soldiers on the streets of Brussels to precisely make sure that a situation like this doesnt happen any time soon, Barker said.
New York Times condemns Saudi-led blocs move to eliminate a voice that could lead citizens to question their rulers.

Silencing Al Jazeera was a high priority when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen moved to isolate Qatar earlier this month, the Editorial Board of The New York Times (NYT) wrote in an opinion piece published on Thursday.

Qatars critics accuse the station of supporting Sunni Islamist terrorism and Iranian ambitions. But Saudi Arabia is hardly innocent when it comes to spreading Islamist extremism or supporting terrorist groups, the Board wrote.

By attacking Al Jazeera, Saudi Arabia and its anti-Qatar coalition are attempting to eliminate a voice that could lead citizens to question their rulers.





Al Jazeera was a key source of news as the Arab Spring rolled across the Middle East, and particularly as Egyptian President Hosni Mubaraks government was toppled in Egypt.

Mubaraks overthrow was followed by Egypts first free election, according to the NYT, which brought Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood to power.

Founded in Egypt in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood is the Middle Easts oldest political party.

Qatar has been accused by the Saudi Arabia and its allies of supporting the Brotherhood, a group they have labelled extremists.

But, according to the NYT Editorial Board, the real reason [the Muslim Brotherhood has] been labeled a terrorist group is that autocratic regimes see it as a populist threat.

Egyptian President Abdel Fateh el-Sisi, who overthrew Morsi in a 2013 military coup, has since moved brutally to quash dissent and eviscerate the Brotherhood, imprisoning three Al Jazeera English journalists in the process on the grounds that the network supported the Muslim Brotherhood.

Now, a drive is on against Al Jazeera and free speech in the region, the NYT wrote.

READ MORE  Qatar-Gulf crisis: All the latest updates

In May, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE moved to block the websites of Al Jazeera and Qatari media outlets. In June, Jordan closed Al Jazeeras bureau in Amman and stripped it of its operating licence.

The next day Saudi Arabia shut down Al Jazeeras office in Riyadh and revoked its operating licence, and ordered hotels to block all of its channels.

Al Jazeera is hardly a perfect news organisation, but much of its reporting hews to international journalistic standards, provides a unique view on events in the Middle East and serves as a vital news source for millions who live under antidemocratic rule, the NYT wrote.

Those are reasons enough for the monarchs and dictators attacking Qatar to silence Al Jazeera. And reason enough to condemn their action.
Handels win avoids Democratic upset by Jon Ossoff in most expensive House race in US history.

Republican Karen Handel has won a closely contested congressional race, salvaging a seat in conservative US state of Georgia where Democrats had hoped to strike a blow against Donald Trumps presidency.

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 Georgias 6th Congressional District.

A special thanks to the president of the United States of America, she said late on Tuesday night as her supporters chanted Trump! Trump! Trump!.

Handel, 55, will become the first Republican woman to represent Georgia in the US House of Representatives, according to state party officials.

READ MORE: Reporters face 70 years in prison over anti-Trump march

The election, however, will not significantly change the balance of power in Washington, where Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Handels win comes as a relief for the Republicans who were concerned about whether their party, buffeted by the scandals that have plagued the Trump presidency, could hold the seat after what became the most expensive House race in US history.

Spending on the election reached at least $57m, nearly twice the previous record, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog.

Republicans immediately crowed over winning a seat that Democrats spent $30m trying to flip.

Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you! President Trump tweeted.

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.

Tight race

Democrats celebrated the fact that they had turned a conservative stronghold into a competitive district.

Republicans have held the Georgia seat since 1979.

Taking the stage after conceding the race, Ossoff told his supporters his campaign showed the world that in places where no one thought it was even possible we could fight [that] we could fight.

Trumps party also claimed victory in another congressional race on Tuesday, in neighbouring South Carolina. Both contests were held to replace legislators who vacated their seats in order to join the Trump cabinet.

Democrats are zero for 4 in congressional elections this year, having earlier lost races to fill vacant seats in Kansas and Montana.

READ MORE: Georgia election a wake-up call for US Republicans

Ossoff signalled 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, Ossoff said. But this is the beginning of something much bigger than us.
Royal decree removes Mohammed bin Nayef as next in line to the throne and replaces him with Mohammed bin Salman.

Former Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has pledged allegiance to his successor Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

A royal decree on Wednesday removed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a 57-year-old nephew of the king, as next in line to the throne and replaced him with Mohammed bin Salman, 31, who was previously the deputy crown prince.

In televised images released by the states channel, Mohammed bin Salman, the former deputy crown prince, greeted his predecessor and said: I will never give up your advice.





The new crown prince was also named as deputy prime minister, and maintained his defence minister role.

King Salman called for royals to pledge allegiance to his son at the Safa Palace in Mecca after the Ramadan Taraweeh prayers.

The Saudi Press Agency reported that, in the interests of the countrys citizens, King Salman had already pledged allegiance to the new crown prince on behalf of the governors in the kingdom.

The king issued a decree last weekend restructuring Saudi Arabias system for prosecutions that stripped Mohammed bin Nayef of long-standing powers overseeing criminal investigations.

Instead the newly named Office of Public Prosecution and prosecutor will now report directly to the monarch.

Younger Saudis regard the ascent of Mohammed bin Salman as evidence that their generation is taking a central place in modernising and reforming a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the older generations.

READ MORE: Saudis reject Turkey offer to build base in kingdom

Mohammed bin Nayef, who is credited with putting down an al-Qaeda bombing campaign and establishing close ties with the United States, was also relieved of his role as interior minister.





He had taken over the formidable and effective security structure built by his father, the late Crown Prince Nayef.

The position was given to Mohammed bin Nayefs nephew, 28-year-old law graduate Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud.

The royal decree also included an extension of the Eid al-Fitr holiday by a week, from 10 to 17 days, to mark the occasion.

Mohammed bin Salman embarked on major overseas visits, including a trip to the White House to meet US President Donald Trump in March.

That visit to Washington helped to lay the foundation for Trumps visit to Saudi Arabia in May, which marked the presidents first overseas visit.

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeeras senior political analyst, said this is the first time Saudi Arabia has such a young prospective king.

The king feels it is time to leave a legacy, he said.

The last two years the deputy crown prince has actually been leading while the crown prince was on the side, Bishara added.

It was just time to give him the official title.
Pentagon declined to speculate on who was operating it but said drone advanced on coalition forces in Syrias southeast.

The US military says it has shot down an armed, Iran-made drone that had been bearing down on its forces near a garrison in Syrias southeast.

In the latest sign of increasingly frequent confrontation with Damascus and its allies, Tuesdays incident closely followed Sundays downing of a piloted Syrian army jet by the US in the southern Raqqa countryside after it dropped bombs near US-backed forces.

The Pentagon said a US F-15 aircraft, flying over Syrian territory, fired on the drone after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces.





Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said it had dirty wings, meaning it was armed.

I can tell you it was an Iranian-made drone, Davis said, declining to speculate on who was operating it.

The area falls in a part of Syria that was recently identified as a military priority by Damascus, and strategically important for Iran as it seeks to secure a land corridor between forces it backs in Syria and Iraq.

The US-led coalition said the location was close to where another pro-[Assad] regime drone, which intelligence sources had also identified as Iranian, was shot down on June 8.

The drone was shot down after it dropped bombs, aimed only at dirt, but in an area close enough to coalition forces that it was considered a threat.

In an indirect reference to Iranian-backed forces that have been gathering in the eastern desert region, a US-led coalition statement cited a recent escalation of tensions and said it would not tolerate any hostile intent and action of pro-regime forces.

READ MORE: Syrias civil war explained

Russia, also an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, issued a warning of its own to the United States in response to the downing of the Syrian jet, saying on Monday it would view as targets any planes flying west of the Euphrates River, though it stopped short of saying it would shoot any down.

Still, the Pentagon said it had not seen hostile action from Moscow.

Public statements aside, we have not seen the Russians do any actions that cause us concern. We continue to operate, making some adjustments for prudent measures, Davis said.

Meanwhile, the US and Russian militaries swapped accusations about an unsafe intercept involving a US spy plane and a Russian fighter jet over the Baltic Sea.

Deconfliction zone

In Syrias tangled conflict, Washington backs a coalition of rebel forces fighting both President Assad and fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) group.

The US military has repeatedly warned forces fighting on Assads side to stay away from a deconfliction zone, agreed with Russia, near a garrison used by US special forces and US-backed armed groups around Al-Tanf.

In recent weeks, US-led coalitions warplanes struck pro-Assad government forces to prevent them advancing from the Al-Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria at a spot where the countrys borders meet Iraq and Jordan.

Washington also described those attacks as self-defence.

The competition between the Syrian army and its allies and US-backed rebel groups has stepped up in the Badia desert that stretches to the Iraqi border, after ISIL abandoned large swaths of territory to focus on defending Raqqa and Deir Az Zor.

The Syrian army has since made rapid advances, allowing them to reach the border for the first time in years.
Ruling Romanian party stages vote of no confidence and topples prime minister who has been in office just six months

Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu has been ousted after a vote of no confidence organised by the chairman of his own ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD).

Liviu Dragnea, the PSD chairman, managed to muster 241 out of 251 votes in favour of his motion in parliament on Wednesday.

There were 233 votes needed to force a new government in Bucharest.

Speaking to the press after the no-confidence vote, Grindeanu said he would carry on with his duties as caretaker prime minister in accordance to Romanian law until a new cabinet will be sworn in.

I will also remain a member of the PSD because I do not change my mind overnight, Grindeanu added, even though the partys ruling body had already decided to cancel his membership.

Romania was thrown into a deep political crisis after Grindeanu and Dragnea had a falling-out last week.

Dragnea then called on all cabinet members to hand in their resignations in order to force Grindeanu to step down.

The prime minister refused to abide by his party chairmans orders, thus forcing a first in Romanian post-communist history: a ruling party voting its own government out of office.

The opposition parties were present, but did not cast any vote, accusing the PSD of turning an internal dispute between Dragnea and Grindeanu into a parliamentary matter.

Speaking in parliament, Dragnea said after six months in office the government is faring OK-ish. We didnt win 45 percent of the popular vote to settle for that.

He was referring to a government performance review that allegedly found it had failed to uphold an ambitious governing programme.

The review stated that 60 percent of promises made during the election campaign in 2016 had not been fulfilled and that almost 30 percent had only partially been implemented. For his part, Grindeanu disputed the document.

OPINION: Romania  The second fall of Ceausescu

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has been informed about the parliamentary vote and has already called for political consultations on Monday in order to form a new cabinet.

In January, the president rejected the PSDs first appointee for the prime ministers job, Sevil Shhaideh, who would have been Romanias first woman head of cabinet and first Muslim head of cabinet. Grindeanu, the PSDs second choice, was then appointed prime minister.

Following Decembers elections, Iohannis refused to name Dragnea as prime minister, citing a prior criminal conviction for voter fraud. Dragnea is now Speaker of the House.

Before Wednesdays parliamentary vote, Iohannis said he would not ignore last years criteria. I will not name anything else than a prime minister with proven integrity.

According to the Romanian constitution, the president is not obliged to name a prime minister from the ruling coalition.

The appointee is tasked with forming a cabinet, but then has to pass a vote in parliament.

During the debate, Grindeanu told MPs that the no-confidence motion would be a huge mistake.

With each vote you cast against this government, the PSD risks losing the PM post. There is no guarantee that President Iohannis will name another PSD member in my place, he said.

Grindeanu went on to warn MPs that no matter who takes my job, Dragnea will not let him or her exercise the office of prime minister.
The country no longer has areas in famine but almost two million people on the brink of starvation, report says.

South Sudan no longer has areas in famine, but almost two million people are on the brink of starvation, the countrys government and the United Nations said in reports.

The UNs Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and South Sudans National Bureau of Statistics said the situation remains critical, warning that an estimated six million people, half the population, will face extreme food shortages between June and July.

People are in a catastrophic situation, said Serge Tissot, of FAO.

The countrys government said its urgent response to the emergency situation averted a humanitarian catastrophe in the country.

The government of South Sudan has done tremendously well. And now South Sudan has moved away from near famine in some parts of the country to food insecurity, Ateny Wek Ateny, South Sudans presidential spokesman, told Al Jazeera.

OPINION: The world has abandoned South Sudanese refugees

In February, South Sudan declared two counties in Unity State to be in famine. Although those areas are still in critical condition, early detection and a rapid response succeeded in pulling them out of famine, a Phase 5 classification, the World Food Programme (WFP) said.

The UN food agency warned that the crisis is worsening and that removing the label of famine does not mean the situation has actually improved.

We no longer have a famine in a number of counties that were declared to be in famine conditions in February this year, Joyce Luma, WFPs country director, told Al Jazeera.

The bad news is we have more people facing acute hunger than before. Six million classified as facing acute hunger. This is one million more people facing acute hunger than in February, she said.

An estimated 45,000 people still face starvation in Leer, Koch and Mayendit counties, with additional areas across the country having deteriorated as well.

READ MORE: UN says two million children displaced by S Sudan conflict

In former Jonglei state, an area that previously had one of the lowest levels of acute malnutrition, roughly 20,000 people are experiencing catastrophic food insecurity.

South Sudan was plunged into conflict in December 2013 as rivalry between President Salva Kiir and his then vice president, Riek Machar, turned into a civil war.

Since then the fighting, which has often been along ethnic lines, triggered Africas worst refugee crisis, with more than three million people fleeing their homes.
Troops shoot dead a man suspected of causing a small explosion at train station, in what police call terrorist attack

Belgian police say a man suspected of setting off a small explosion at the central train station in the capital, Brussels, has died after being shot by soldiers.

There were no other casualties and the situation was under control, police said on Tuesday.

Prosecutors said the suspect was carrying a backpack and an explosive belt before he was shot by one of the routine military patrols active in Brussels since attacks more than a year ago.

Only hours later, after bomb disposal teams had cleared the area, was the man confirmed dead. There was no information 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 8:30pm (18:30 GMT) as tourists and locals were enjoying a hot summers night.

There is a very heavily armed police and military presence, Al Jazeeras Neave Barker, reporting from near the Central Station, said.

The whole area around here is very much on lockdown.

High alert

Barker said the incident brought memories of two attacks in March 2016 when suicide bombers struck the metro system and an airport in the city, killing 32 people and wounding hundreds more.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed those attacks, which were carried out by the same cell behind the November 2016 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

Soldiers have been stationed at railway stations, government buildings and European Union institutions in Brussels since the aftermath of the Paris attacks when a link to Belgium was first established.

The Belgian capital has been on a heightened state of alert, meaning that there are now roughly about 10,000 heavily armed soldiers on the streets of Brussels to precisely make sure that a situation like this doesnt happen anytime soon, Barker said.
earthrise meets the men and women at the forefront of the grassroots movement for US action against climate change.

Even before he became president, Donald Trump made it clear that his administrations environmental policies would fly in the face of much of the US legislation crafted in recent years to combat global warming.

In late April, more than 200,000 people gathered in Washington, DC to advocate for action against climate change. Russell Beard attends the march and speaks to some of the men and women at the forefront of a global network of grassroots resistance.

He meets Wes Gillingham, who not only lives on a farm that uses 100 percent renewable energy, but also led the charge on a citizen campaign, one of many activist movements that got fracking banned across New York State. Now, he has set his sights on a new bill: to have New York State running on renewable energy by 2050.
The Secretary-General condemns the terrorist attack carried out at a hotel in the outskirts of Bamako on 18 June. The Secretary-General expresses his condolences to the bereaved and the families of the victims as well as to the people and Government of Mali and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured. The Secretary-General commends the []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...
Everyone is talking about deal-making these days. The new president of the United States has been described as a deal-maker, and in fact, he wrote a book entitled The Art of the Deal. There is a buzz about new possibilities for historic deals. But ultimately, a deal is not worth even the paper it is written on unless it is upheld.

This year, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem and the liberation of Israel's biblical heartland, when the Jewish people finally secured access to the most sacred parts of their native land, a sovereign right the international community legally recognized nearly a century ago. We are still waiting for that same international community to honor and uphold the terms of that agreement.

Following World War I, world representatives came together in San Remo, Italy, empowered to fulfill the terms of peace, which included the breakup of the former Ottoman Empire. Not only Israel, but Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan were all established out of what had been sections of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1920, these international representatives passed the San Remo Resolution; they declared their goal of "reconstituting" the ancient Jewish State.

For the Jewish homeland, they allocated the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, the land that currently comprises Jordan, the Golan Heights, and Gaza. They specified these particular regions because this is where Jews have lived since ancient times. This was recognized as the native land of the Jewish people.

The San Remo Resolution was signed into international law and was subsequently endorsed by the League of Nations, adding to international law the full weight of the international community. In addition, it became part of U.S. law when President Harding signed a Joint Resolution of the 67th Congress of the United States and when the U.S. signed the Anglo-American Convention of 1924.

In 1922, soon after the passing of the San Remo Resolution, Britain reneged on its obligation to ensure the "close settlement by Jews on the Land" by creating the country of Jordan, using 77% of the land mandated for Israel.

This abrogation of legal commitments made to the Jews regarding the State of Israel is part of a pattern seen throughout the past century  a pattern that continues even today.

We saw this continue in 1929, when England uprooted the ancient Jewish community of Hebron.

In August of 1929, men, women, and children from a Jewish community that had been in Hebron for over three thousand years were massacred by their Arab neighbors. The British reaction was not to defend the remaining Jews, nor to affirm the historic connection of the Jewish people to the land of Israel, nor even to allow the Jews to defend themselves. Rather, the British response was to evacuate the Jews whose roots had been in Hebron since the very beginning of Jewish history.

In 1937, we see another attempt to undermine Jewish rights to the land when the Peel Commission proposed a partition of the 23% of remaining Mandate land. The Arabs rejected this proposal, just as they would reject every proposal that included a Jewish state within any borders.

We see this pattern to renege on promises made to Israel yet again when the British issued the White Paper in 1939. Here, rather than uphold its obligations to facilitate Jewish immigration, Britain severely limited Jewish immigration and land acquisition, effectively stranding countless Jews in Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe.

In 1945, the United Nations assumed the obligations of the League of Nations, according to Article 80 of the U.N. charter, making the establishment of a Jewish State in the Land of Israel one of the foundational obligations of the U.N.

Yet almost immediately thereafter, in 1947, the U.N. attempted to divide this land to make a fifth Arab country from the land guaranteed for the one Jewish country. General Assembly Resolution 181 was to shrink Israel to only 17% of the land promised at San Remo.

Ironically, this November 29, 1947 vote, which carried no legal weight, has often erroneously been viewed as the legal basis for the modern State of Israel. In fact, this was just another attempt to subdivide the Land of Israel to appease those who have repeatedly rejected the right to sovereignty and self-determination for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland.

The San Remo Conference and various treaties following World War I successfully established independent countries sought by Arab nationalists: Iraq in 1932, Lebanon in 1943, and Syria in 1946. However, when the modern State of Israel similarly exercised its sovereign right and formally declared statehood in 1948, the Arab armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Transjordan, Syria, and Iraq immediately attacked.

Jordan then occupied the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, as well as the eastern part of Jerusalem. During the nineteen years of this illegal occupation, the city of Jerusalem was divided in two for the first time in its history. The Jews who had been living as a majority in Jerusalem since the mid-1800s were expelled by the Jordanians and barred from the Old City, where the holiest Jewish sites are found.

Although this cradle of Jewish civilization was guaranteed to the Jewish people, not one of the international guarantors raised a finger to uphold that agreement when, in 1948, these Arab forces marched into this territory, occupied these holy places, desecrated cherished and sacred sites, and expelled the Jewish population.

In 1949, when the Armistice Demarcation Lines were drawn, commonly called "The Green Line," this line was rejected by Syria, Jordan, and Egypt as delineating any type of border. And yet today, there are those who misrepresent this line as a border  the so-called "'67 borders"  in a further attempt to create another Arab country within the land promised to the Jewish people.

It is revealing to note that during the nineteen years when Jordan illegally occupied Samaria, Judea, and the eastern part of Jerusalem, and Egypt illegally occupied Gaza, no move was made to create an additional Arab country in these areas. Only in 1967, when Israel recovered those areas, did the relentless pressure to create a fifth Arab country on the sliver of land left for the one Jewish State begin.

This year, Israel celebrates the 50th anniversary of the liberation of those lands that were guaranteed by the international community to be part of the Jewish homeland. This includes, in part, Judea, which bears the very name of the Jewish people; Samaria, which, with Judea, forms the Jewish biblical heartland; and the eastern part of Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest city, the home of the most sacred places in Jewish life.

In 1967, faced with a war of annihilation, the Jews were able to liberate these sacred places and recover these promised areas, only to then be perpetually bombarded with pressure to give up this land.

One tactic used is changing the names of places in order to obscure the Jewish history that took place there, as when Jordan tried to rename Samaria and Judea with the generic name "the West Bank." And yet, in 1925, the Muslim Waqf Temple Mount Guide (page 4) included the following description of Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount: "Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the L-rd[.]'"

Another tactic is through the United Nations, where the international community, in abrogation of its own obligations, repeatedly votes and declares that the land of Israel and Jerusalem, the Jewish capital for 3,000 years, have no connection to the people of Israel or to Jewish history.

Everyone is talking about deal-making these days, wondering if there are new possibilities for historic deals.

Finding the leadership, the integrity, and the determination to finally uphold the ironclad deal that was made with the Jewish people regarding the State of Israel nearly one century ago  now, that would be historic.

Yonina Pritzker has served as the spiritual leader of Boston-area congregations, was a research analyst at CAMERA, and co-founded Rabbis and Ministers for Israel.
I've known a number of liberals who are highly intelligent  many of them professors at major universities who have published important books, won lucrative research grants, and participated in international conferences. Their I.Q.s measure off the charts. The problem is, they don't have any sense.

Conservatives have always known that the mind as such plays a secondary role in human affairs. It is less important to human happiness than such qualities of character as loyalty, persistence, and faith  qualities that are the product not of thought, but of an innate sense of value and purpose. These qualities are separate from rational thinking, and they are critical to our health and well-being.

The poet William Wordsworth was more sensitive to this deep consciousness, or "true self," as it is often called, than any writer of his generation. During his time spent in nature, he developed a profound connection with his inner being, and he returned from his meditations with a clearer sense of reality, including the threat posed by radical ideology. His autobiographical poem "The Prelude" records his disillusionment with the radical politics that was sweeping France and that strongly appealed to Paine and Jefferson in the U.S.

Following the emotional trauma of his experiences in France, including the heartbreak of his liaison with "Annette" (Marie Anne Vallon), Wordsworth moved to the British Lake District in search of peace and healing. There he became a political conservative who eventually spoke out against the bloody revolution taking place in France.

There is little doubt that what Wordsworth experienced at Lake Wyndemere was the existence of his role within the greater structure of creation. Wordsworth wrote of a calm, joyful state of existence that made it possible for him to "see into the life of things." And he spoke not just of deep consciousness ("Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher"), but also of true liberty. Along with Burke, Coleridge, and others of his generation, Wordsworth saw that the radical ideology of his times was a dangerous illusion based on the dominance of Mind over Nature ("What is pride? A rocket that emulates the stars").

True liberty is the product of calm acceptance of the nature of things. Much of Wordsworth's so-called "nature poetry" is actually the record of his growing understanding of liberty. "Delight and liberty," he discovered, were "the simple creed of childhood," and he sought to return to this condition of simplicity. In his 1798 poem "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey," Wordsworth spoke of how images of the landscape passed "into my purer mind" and of his entering into a "serene and blessed mood" in which he finally became "a living soul" and achieved liberty and happiness.

A fundamental difference between conservatives and liberals is that conservatives have always recognized the primacy of this level of consciousness. They have addressed it under the name of spirit, higher power, faith, purpose, moral sense, God, and any number of other designations. Liberals for the most part have dismissed deep consciousness altogether and placed their faith in the mind and its creations, especially the state.

A corollary of this fundamental difference is that liberals are incapable of fully appreciating the most powerful and decisive aspect of the structure of the universe. It is as if, for whatever reasons, half of humanity had decided to attempt to survive without oxygen  except that deep consciousness is more important than oxygen. One cannot really thrive, even for a moment, in the absence of the true self.

Conservatives bring their awareness of deep consciousness to their understanding of human affairs. Politics, if directed by the mind alone, would be conducted in a manner that is scheming, clever, ruthless, and unprincipled. The rational mind would calculate that without power, none of its ends could be accomplished, and it would proceed to make power an end in itself. That seems an exact description of the modern-day Democratic Party.

The coordinated attacks against President Trump now taking place are evidence of this lust for power on the part of progressives. Donald Trump is, in fact, the legitimate president of the United States. This, in and of itself, should entitle him to a measure of respect even from those who profoundly disagree with him. But for those who operate strictly from the intellect, without regard for the lasting value of our nation's institutions and traditions, ideological ends prevail over respect for the office of the president. That's why they stoop to addressing the president with profanity, hostility, and ghastly attempts at humor.

Liberals have long rejected the idea that politics is a civil discourse in which opposing ideas are vetted and compromise is reached so government can operate for the good of all. Their purely "rational" approach has led them to believe, as Minority Leader Schumer now appears to, that all-out political warfare works to their benefit. They have become, as U.S. News and World Report suggests, the "party of outrage," so focused on bringing down Trump that they appear to have no message themselves. That is true: above all, they want to rule, and they have lost touch with the deep consciousness that has always warned mankind against the lust for power.

If conservatives wished to express the true basis for their politics, they might do so by stating these truths: the universe is pervaded by deep consciousness. A politics that taps into this consciousness acquires overwhelming power; depth; and, most of all, purpose. The human mind is a highly fallible and amoral instrument, of which we must be skeptical. And government must act in accord with the fundamental structure of "natural law" based on an existing order greater than that of the human mind.

When conservatives operate in accord with deep consciousness, they are successful. By living within the true self, the individual gains powerful and transformative clarity. The greatest conservative thinkers and writers, from Edmund Burke to T.S. Eliot to Milton Friedman, have always worked from within this true self. They recognize that while they play merely a small role with the within the larger universe, they have been granted presence, understanding, and mental power of a sort unknown to their liberal opponents.

This is what distinguishes conservatives from liberals.

Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture including Heartland of the Imagination (2011).
Dreaming politically correct visions of world peace while denying the truth about terrorism only exacerbates the problem. The irony is that the voters saw through the politically correct charade and spoke with their feet on election day, in the U.S. and the U.K. It is clear: people have had enough terror.

The past few months brought the three heartbreaking attacks in London and Manchester and now yet another at a mosque in Finsbury Park. It seems that the string of attacks will not be ending anytime soon. While most believe that Brexit was the downfall of the conservatives, I contend that U.K. prime minister Theresa May, in large part, lost the parliamentary majority due to her inability to see the infiltration of radical Islamism in her country. While the Brexit clock is ticking, so too is the terrorism clock. The alarms went off loudly after the deadly terrorist attacks, but still today, it is uncertain if the politicians have awakened. It may be too late in parts of Europe.

In the United States, President Donald Trump was elected in part because of his tough talk on curbing terrorism. His leadership agenda created large divisions among American voters. Trump's promise to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico, if kept, is a signal to the world that there is a new sheriff in town.

There is much to be done. First, it is the height of irony that American schools are using textbooks written by Saudi Arabia and then complaining that the students are learning to hate America and the Constitution. Sharia law is Allah's law, and the U.S. Constitution was written by men; therefore, according to Islamists, the Constitution is not valid.

Second, isn't it ironic that Americans teach tolerance of all religions while the Islamists teach that killing anyone who does not follow the Qur'an and sharia law must be killed?

Third, how about the irony that terrorist organizations continue to exist in America with support, access to power, and taxpayer dollars, while at the same time, the political leaders are speaking to their constituencies about stamping out terror? Laws must be passed declaring terrorist organizations as such, including the Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR, ISNA, and others.

Most people are not aware that jailed terrorists receive payment for their murders, and the funding comes from the U.S. taxpayers. To discontinue this funding, the Taylor Force Act must be confirmed by Congress. The U.S. should be ashamed of giving the Palestinians money to create more death. The more the terrorists kill, the more money they make.

Forth, ironically, some members in the U.S. Congress are doing everything they can to stop President Trump from completing his pledge to keep America safe again, even though during their campaigns they also pledged security to their constituents. Perhaps it is not about being safe, but about being powerful. The Islamists concur, as they slowly take powerful positions inside the U.S. government, communities, mosques, and schools.

Extremist fundamentalists remind us that freedom and democracy are at risk. Terror, as an instrument for political change, strikes the very foundations of our democracies and Western values. It is ironic that Islamic fundamentalists fight freedom while using it to serve their subversive Salafist ideology. We are reminded that Western countries are in a battle to defend our civilization against barbarism. American freedom of speech allows radical imams to preach hatred of America and Americans while freely trying to destroy it from within. The very laws radical Islamists are criticizing allow them to have the freedom to criticize.

Fifth, it is the height of irony that radical imams claim that they respect women yet require them to be fully covered head to toe when leaving the house. They are victims of female genital mutilation, can legally be beaten and killed by their husbands, and cannot hold a job without permission. The power and control over Islamic women that sharia law allows are anything but respectful.

From Manchester to London, New York to Tel Aviv, to Paris and beyond, the web of terror is expanding worldwide. There is irony in the fact that many countries are helping to spin the totalitarian web that will eventually consume them. Britons are tired of the bloodshed; many are pleading for political correctness to end and safety and security to begin.

Still, governments continue to make the mistake of inviting the Islamist Trojan Horse inside their communities. While politicians watch as the mammoth radical mosques are built in their states and children are brainwashed with anti-American propaganda, political correctness prevails. Those who live in the home of the brave must be brave enough to protect their home.

Valerie Greenfeld is the author of Backyard Caliphate: Radicalization in our Neighborhood. Visit her blog at backyardcaliphate.weebly.com.
San Francisco State University leftists, who dominate that university, as per the left's modus operandi, will allow only certain minorities it deems acceptable their "rights" while trampling on the rights of others  minorities, majorities, or just sincere non-identity-obsessed students. SFSU's administration has, at most, passively accepted this state of affairs while often enabling the suppression of the rights of some in the face of violence by leftists.

And now, one minority group that has suffered in silence for years has said, "Enough! We have rights too and we're demanding them!" No, not by counter-violence but by a lawsuit.

San Francisco State University Accused of Pervasive Anti-Semitism in Groundbreaking Federal Lawsuit Filed by Students and Members of the Jewish Community A group of San Francisco State University students and members of the local Jewish community today filed a lawsuit alleging that SFSU has a long and extensive history of cultivating anti-Semitism and overt discrimination against Jewish students. According to the suit, "SFSU and its administrators have knowingly fostered this discrimination and hostile environment, which has been marked by violent threats to the safety of Jewish students on campus." The plaintiffs are represented by a team of attorneys from The Lawfare Project and the global law firm Winston & Strawn LLP. The lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and also names as defendants, the Board of Trustees of the California State University System, SFSU President Leslie Wong and several other University officials and employees, alleges that "Jewish students at SFSU have been so intimidated and ostracized that they are afraid to wear Stars of David or yarmulkes on campus." The lawsuit was triggered following the alleged complicity of senior university administrators and police officers in the disruption of an April, 2016, speech by the Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat. At that event organized by SF Hillel, Jewish students and audience members were subjected to genocidal and offensive chants and expletives by a raging mob that used bullhorns to intimidate and drown out the Mayor's speech and physically threaten and intimidate members of the mostly-Jewish audience. At the same time, campus police  including the chief  stood by, on order from senior university administrators who instructed the police to "stand down" despite direct and implicit threats and violations of university codes governing campus conduct.

The lawsuit details the long, sordid history of SFSU's administration allowing virulent, violent anti-Jewish, anti Zionist and Israel (and make no mistake: the latter is the former) activities to pervade the campus at all levels  while occasionally even participating in the bigotry. In addition, SFSU's administration also restricted pro-Israel and just Jewish gatherings on campus while permitting other groups. On a simple level, this is called racism. Discrimination.

SFSU has repeatedly denied Plaintiffs' student groups, including Hillel and the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi equal access to campus events that welcome other non-Jewish student organizations at the University[.] ... The anti-Jewish animus pervading SFSU's campus is as ubiquitous as it is hostile. Jews are at best ignored, but more often ostracized in every corner of the university community. While other groups are able to host events, obtain permits and participate in 'tabling' at student fairs, Jewish groups are customarily forced to fight for these basic rights as tuition-paying students, no matter how hard they work to follow processes correctly and avoid controversy.

After the school's General Union of Palestinian (sic) Students' members and its president threatened Jewish students online and in person, SFSU's President Leslie Wong (hey, isn't he a minority?) offered his "personal congratulations to the student leadership of GUPS" at a gathering of the group, adding that GUPS had "helped me when I have to tell other community groups to mind their own business. GUPS is the very purpose of this great university." Wong had previously signed a memorandum of understanding with a terrorist Palestinian university that occupies Israel's Judea and Samaria.

Hmm  so groups that promote hate and violence are the "purpose of this great university," while telling "other community groups" who refuse to be victimized and demand their rights "to mind their own business" is also part of the university's mission? Hmmm again.

No other group would (rightly) tolerate this behavior, and neither should Jews. After Jewish students and others in the community tried  and failed  to improve the situation on campus, they went legal instead of resorting to violence. Or continuing to be victims.

A long time coming, this lawsuit just might encourage other Jewish students across the country to sue their colleges and universities poisoned by similar behavior. Yes, Columbia University, Vassar College, University of Toronto, McGill University, University of Chicago, and on and on and on, I'm talking about you and your smug liberal tolerance  nay, encouragement  of this hatred under the false and twisted banner of diversity, pluralism, multiculturalism, and sensitivity to differences. It is imperative you learn the real meaning of these high-sounding terms. If it takes a lawsuit or two or ten, plus loss of money, reputation, status, and job, so be it.

Now, that's diversity! Go and learn it!
My hat is off to Daniel Greenfield, the Shillman journalism fellow at the Freedom Center, for absolutely nailing what "privilege" really means. At Frontpagemag.com, he writes:

If you want to know who has privilege in a society and who doesn't, follow the anger.

There are people in this country who can safely express their anger. And those who can't. If you're angry that Trump won, your anger is socially acceptable. If you were angry that Obama won, it wasn't.

James Hodgkinson's rage was socially acceptable. It continued to be socially acceptable until he crossed the line into murder. And he's not alone. There's Micah Xavier Johnson, the Black Lives Matter cop-killer in Dallas, and Gavin Long, the Black Lives Matter cop-killer in Baton Rouge. If you're black and angry about the police, your anger is celebrated. If you're white and angry about the Terror travel ban, the Paris Climate treaty, ObamaCare repeal or any leftist cause, you're on the side of the angry angels.

But if you're white and angry that your job is going to China or that you just missed being killed in a Muslim suicide bombing, your anger is unacceptable.

If you're an angry leftist, your party leader, Tom Perez will scream and curse into a microphone, and your aspiring presidential candidate, Kirsten Gillibrand, will curse along, to channel the anger of the base. But if you're an angry conservative, then Trump channeling your anger is "dangerous" because you aren't allowed to be angry.

Not all anger is created equal. Some anger is privileged rage.
Day in and day out, Americans are witnessing the political assassination of President Trump along with continuous verbal and, at times, physical attacks upon conservatives, yet we encounter no visible defense or offense from the GOP. Nada! And we are beginning to wonder why.

President Trump steamrolled his victory train through statehouses across the country, turning once-Democratic states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and West Virginia from traditional blue to red. Republicans captured 35 state governorships along with the House and Senate. One would think the GOP leadership would be ecstatic and exhibit gratitude to the man who is responsible for such a victory, but instead, the GOP establishment is sitting back with near passivity, much as they did during Obama's administration.

Granted, President Trump was an outsider who had never held office before. Unlike Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, John McCain, and Lindsey Graham, he was not part of the elite Washington Establishment. He came out of nowhere to grab the leadership position normally extended to those who wait in line, play the political game, and abide by the rules established by the political mavericks before them. President Trump did none of that. He saw a vacuum, and he was determined to fill it, and fill it he did.

Instantaneously, the Democratic left declared war upon him, with the Never Trump conservatives not far behind. His primary win was a political earthquake not only for the Democratic left, but for the GOP establishment headed by folks such as Mitt Romney, who were waiting in the wings to re-establish their command of the GOP leadership. However, once Reince Priebus and the GOP reluctantly declared their support for candidate Trump, those of us who had supported him from the start were hopeful for a new beginning of mutual respect. How naive we were!

Since President Trump's election, our president has been under daily siege from within and without. Not a day goes by without an attack by the mainstream media and the press. The attacks range from unfounded accusations of Russian collusion, which have been debunked, to obstruction of justice, since there is no evidence of collusion. The whole scenario is a concocted schizophrenic scheme by the entire left to paralyze the Trump administration's agenda with a mission to impeach and remove President Trump from office.

This seditious plot is organized by Barack Hussein Obama from his compound in D.C. and financed by billionaire George Soros, who favors a one-world government. Obama has boasted of his 30,000-strong OFA (Organizing For Action), with 250 offices throughout the country to resist and persist. In effect, they are organized to resist the will of the people who legally elected President Trump. When President Trump delivered an executive order to ban immigration from seven hotbeds of Islamic terrorism, Obama delivered his orders to resist and obstruct to his henchmen in those 250 urban areas. Likewise, his propaganda arm, the mainstream media and the press, along with Soros Brownshirts (antifa), sprang into action with violent protests while activist Obama-appointed judges nullified the order. Whether it be immigration or health care, the scenario is always the same.

It is illegal to plot the overthrow of our republic, and it boggles the mind why this plot is permitted to continue with impunity. Instead of an investigation into the likes of Obama, Soros, and Hillary Clinton, for numerous criminal activities (using an unsecured server; deletion of thousands of classified emails; pay to play; money-laundering; the sale of 20% of our uranium to Russia; and actual Russian collusion by her campaign manager, John Podesta), special counsel (Robert Mueller) with close personal ties to James Comey, who has admitted leaking classified material, has been assigned to investigate President Trump.

In 2011, John Podesta, while an adviser to Hillary Clinton in the State Department, came onboard a small energy company, Joule, based in Massachusetts. Two months later, a Russian entity by the name of Rusnano put a billion rubles ($35 million) into Podesta's company. It's important to note that Rusnano is not a private company. It is totally funded by the Kremlin. Podesta owned 75,000 shares in Joule, but nowhere did he disclose that during his time spent in the Obama administration. In light of this information, why is the GOP silent? Why are they not calling for an investigation into possible Russian collusion with the Clinton campaign?

Where is the justice? Where is the outrage, and more importantly, where is the GOP? Instead of defending President Trump on national television or in the press, they are deafeningly silent. Not only are they not defending our president, but they are not seeking investigations where evidence of real criminality has taken place. The GOP must not only refute, reject, and defeat the left's contentions of Russia-Trump collusion and obstruction of justice, but also go on the offense and attack Clinton and her cronies for actual and real criminal activity. We hold all three branches of government, but by their silence and timidity, they have yielded power to the Democratic left, who behave as if they were in power.

The GOP may erroneously believe we the people will not notice their lack of action. Perhaps they are banking on putting one of their own into the Oval Office should President Trump be removed, with a return to business as usual. Such an assumption would be a huge mistake. Nearly 63 million of us voted for President Trump, and should he be removed from office, we will view his removal as a personal breach against us. We will not forget their silence, nor will we forgive. It will signal a time to begin a new party  perhaps a Constitutional Party composed of those who have the conviction and courage to stand for the Constitution instead of their own interests.

Americans need to know that the GOP has the president's back. Now, damn it! Do something!
While the Trump administration is still promising to combat government waste, the proposed cuts to SIGTARP, the group of inspectors general (I.G.s) that has jailed 36 crooked bankers in the wake of the financial crisis, should raise serious questions. The administration has yet to appoint new I.G.s to a number of key government departments, even after withdrawing the nominations of four inspectors put forward by Obama. The CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Department of Defense are all among the 12 major government departments currently operating without a permanent I.G. in place.

Why is this a problem? Because not having investigators in place to pursue government waste and tighten purse strings doesn't save money. Instead, it allows more mismanagement and fraud to go undetected. A 2015 report from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency revealed that every dollar invested in I.G.s saves the individual taxpayer $14. Government is big, bloated, and opaque; inspectors exist to look out for our interests. With no effective oversight in place, waste and corruption have an opportunity to thrive unchecked.

When I.G.s go astray

Without the right people in place, there is no mechanism to report wrongdoing or incompetence to Congress. Waste and abuse are inherent in any bureaucracy, and the lack of oversight goes back decades. Barack Obama left departments without official watchdogs for months on end, filling positions with temporary appointees susceptible to political pressures. Even when the last administration did put I.G.s in place, Obama-era agencies reworked their rules to withhold information.

While neglecting proper oversight, the Obama White House collaborated with activists to advance its priorities on issues like the environment and organic foods. With Obama out of office, some of the officials he put in place (including I.G.s) are carrying on the "good fight" in collaboration with Democratic lawmakers. One of the latest examples involves EPA I.G. Arthur Elkins, who has a record of overstepping his bounds in pursuit of progressive priorities while letting the agency get away with unauthorized lobbying.

In the ongoing saga over glyphosate, which has come under fire over claims that the herbicide might cause cancer, Representative Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) has leaned on Elkins more than once to shore up a flagging campaign by organic activists. After the EPA deemed the substance safe, Lieu and his allies got Elkins to start an investigation into possible collusion between former high-ranking EPA officials and Monsanto.

With statements from luminaries like Moms Across America's Zen Honeycutt, who blasted glyphosate because "I am not a doctor but I have Mom common sense," activists have used a dubious study coming from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a taxpayer-funded U.N. agency. The France-based body had issued in 2015 a study claiming that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen. This caught the scientific community by surprise, as nearly every other regulatory agency on the planet holds the opposite view.

Activists seized up on the controversy and used both IARC and the I.G. investigation as proof that something malevolent had happened with the EPA's study on glyphosate. However, at the same time that this was unfolding in D.C., a judge in California got to the bottom of the story and exposed just how unfounded the criticism had been.

As it turns out, the American who chaired IARC's glyphosate working group intentionally left out one of the most important pieces of evidence. Epidemiologist Aaron Blair, who led a meeting of IARC specialists in March 2015, decided not to alert his peers to a landmark study that disproved a connection between glyphosate and cancer. Only days later, IARC published its decision. Blair himself has since admitted that if IARC had known of the research, it would have altered its evaluation. His fellow scientists, though hoodwinked, are sticking to their guns and refuse to modify their decision.

The perversion of oversight that has taken place with IARC and the EPA shows just how powerful I.G.s are and why Trump should take the issue seriously. If the administration continues to leave inspector general roles at key government departments vacant, scandals such as the recently revealed errors at Medicare will look like small fry compared to the mismanagement, corruption, and criminality that could go unchecked for years.
The Democrats pulled out all the stops and threw in everything including the kitchen sink. I'll wager that those cliches will be repeated incessantly all across America tomorrow to describe the huge effort the Democrats made to win the most expensive congressional district election in history. And they lost. How sweet it is that citizens of Georgia refused to sell their birthright, their vote for their congressional representative, to a bunch of liberal, airhead, Hollywood fat cats who, like the Democratic National Committee, believe everything's for sale at the right price.

Well, in the case of Georgia Congressional District Six, where the Dems ran a sophisticated, metrosexual, political operative, John Ossoff, who didn't even live in his district and refused to move back to it so he could vote in the election where he was the candidate (How truly elitist Democrat is that?), it didn't work. "I deign to represent you in Congress but that doesn't mean I must live among you." His opponent was a former Georgia secretary of state, Karen Handel, a down-to-earth, solid campaigner who didn't flinch in the face of all the largess flowing into her opponent from those super-rich elites out on the Left Coast. The reported numbers vary, but most reports say Ossoff received close to 70% of his donations from a single state: California.

Georgia voters told 'em where to put it...and it's not in Congress.

Author's note: Though I do not live in Georgia, I contributed to Handel's campaign and wrote a piece here at American Thinker urging readers to do the same. Those who did can bask in the sweet satisfaction that we ordinary folks can stand up to the billionaire bullies on the left who believe that all of America is for sale. MAGA!
The special election in the 6th District of Georgia was universally billed "a high-stakes referendum on Trump" in all the much hyped build-up coming from the left and its media allies. Not a local election, not a fluke election. A moment-of-truth Referendum on Trump.

After all, weren't President Trump's poll numbers down? Didn't the "resistance" put on a mega-protest show and continue its tantrum in all the days-of-rage riots on college campuses? Wasn't President Trump engulfed in scandal for colluding with the Russians to win the 2016 election that was rightfully Hillary Clinton's? Weren't the leftists whispering: "President Pence"?

Rubbing their mousy hands together with glee, it's pretty clear that leftists thought they had a certain victory in the bag with that "narrative," along with a perfect post-election analysis, no matter what the Georgia voters thought about it.

Get a load of this now comical pompous pre-election analysis that ran earlier this week in the New York Times (emphasis mine):

The hard-fought battle for Mr. Price's seat in Atlanta's northern reaches has not only become a financial arms race  by far the most expensive House contest in history  it has evolved into one of the most consequential special elections in decades. Republicans, weighed down by Mr. Trump's growing unpopularity, must demonstrate they can separate themselves from the president enough to hold suburban districts that only now are becoming battlegrounds. And Democrats, facing a restive base hungry for victory after disappointing losses in Montana and Kansas, are under pressure to show they can notch something more than a moral victory in the sort of affluent seat they will need in order to take back the House majority. An outright win in Georgia would serve as validation of the party's overall strategy.

Didn't turn out as they thought it would.

So it was a referendum on Trump? Maybe so. Lookee here: what were the locals saying when Karen Handel won the special election last night? From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Handel thanked President Donald Trump and other prominent Republicans who supported her in the nationally watched runoff, leading to cheers of "Trump, Trump, Trump" from the crowd at the Hyatt Regency in Dunwoody.

Trump! Trump! Trump! Guess it really was a referendum, but not with the "narrative" Ben Rhodes and all his fellow Democratic Party coevals and media toadies thought it would be. Apparently, hating Trump is not sufficient to win elections these days.

The reality it shows is that Georgia voters and Americans in general are tired as heck of the left's kitchen-sink Energizer Bunny-style efforts to delegitimize President Trump  whether through tantrums, thuggery, lawsuits, special prosecutors, fake news, gobs and gobs of campaign cash, or "any means necessary."

Handel wasn't always riding high in the polls, but when it came down to brass tacks and the coinciding news was in all the disgusting efforts to stop President Trump and the agenda the people elected him to accomplish back in Washington, Handel's numbers crossed the victory threshold.

Democrats, of course, are horrified, though some are trying to put the best possible face on it, and others are vowing to double down on extremism. To take two examples spotted on Twitter:

Dont lost your mind over GA-06. We have healthcare to fight for right now and 94 R held seats more favorable to Ds https://t.co/h2AoYt8j6m  Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) June 21, 2017

There'll be Democrats who feel as tho they lost b/c moderating message.

They'll want to go militant progressive for 2018.

They will be wrong pic.twitter.com/LWl7406X5Z  SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) June 21, 2017

What they won't do is take an honest look at themselves and why voters chose Trump.

There are two things to observe about this.

One is an observation from Peggy Noonan, who pointed out a few months ago that Trump's support isn't likely to tank or fade for the simple reason that voters took a long time to make up their mind on whether to support Trump. Making that mental "investment," they weren't about to scrap it over something small or stupid.

The other thing is that Democrats have yet to confront the problem as to why they are losing elections. The big reason is that they have swung hard left on every single issue they once had moderates on  immigration, government spending, health care, law and order, terrorism. In every single instance, it's a stance that benefits some special interest group and leaves the average voter with the bill.

What's more, it's a creepy kind of left-wingery  one that benefits corporate interests at the expense of Main Street. Whenever some big-spending, freedom-ending intrusive Democrat program is rolled out "for the children," you can bet there is a plethora of corporate hipster crony capitalists slavering in the rafters over all the new contracts to come. The backwash is massive speaking fees these corporate beneficiaries shovel out to Democrats once the programs are enacted. This is not the party of the little guy.

And it's an inflexible, brittle stance as well. Like Obama, the left finds it impossible change course when it goes too far. It just keeps digging deeper and deeper into its left-wing party line, intensifying it and thrilling its special interest activists and Sorosian NGOs determined to "make a difference."

Voters can see that  and yet at election time, the Democrats don't run one of these new-style extremists emblematic of who they now are. Such extremism is reserved for leftist representatives in safe and longtime seats such as Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). The Democrats run what they claim is a "moderate," figuring that voters won't notice how far the party has shifted left. Figuring that the youth gambit would work in the States as it did in France and Canada, they ran a candidate who tried to capitalize on his youthfulness  in this case, the 30-year-old documentary filmmaker named Jon Ossoff, who didn't even live in the district he purported to represent. He just said he hated Trump  and proposed a raft of tax hikes to prove he was a business-as-usual Democrat, not a new-style street extremist or Sorosian crony.

It doesn't work.

Now the Democrats are left with a steaming pile of $23 million in campaign debt, shelling out $200 per vote, all because they thought hating on Trump was a winning strategy that would thrill the voters. And if that isn't clear enough a message, a similar race in the 5th District of South Carolina came out the same way.

The left wanted a referendum on Trump. Today, they got it.
The Obamacare repeal debate goes on. We may have a U.S. Senate plan coming out in the next couple of weeks.

Obamacare's implosion is also moving forward: "Iowa's Last Obamacare Insurer Asks For 43% Rate Increase For 2018"! Wasn't this thing called the Affordable Care Act?

The "single-payer" chorus is also singing 24/7. They argue that a "single-payer" program would be good for all concerned or put us on the right side of history, as they love to say.

Here is an idea. Let California become our single-payer test case. It is the only place in the U.S. where there are enough Democrats to pass it and not a single GOP vote that could stop it.

Why not let Governor Brown, Senator Harris, and the rest of California lead the way and prove to us that it is the way of the future?

According to an editorial in the Washington Post, the idea of universal care may turn out to be another one of those liberal dreams that always die when you calculate the potential costs. This is from the editorial:

The single-payer model has some strong advantages. It is much simpler for most people  no 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 government's 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 Mr. Sanders did not propose anything close to it.

The advocates of public health care always chastise private insurance companies and the "profit motive." They overlook that public health care is not cheap at all, as the editorial goes on to say:

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.

Also, single-payer means very high taxes, certainly a lot higher than what President Obama (18%) and millionaire Senator Bernie Sanders paid in 2016. Ask a Canadian friend about their income taxes!

My idea will never happen because even California knows that it can't afford a single-payer program. Or, as John Myers wrote recently:

Almost two of every three Californians in a new statewide poll said they like the idea of a single-payer, government healthcare system, but far fewer support the idea if it includes a tax increase.

We will probably never see universal health care in the U.S. The good news is that the numbers just don't add up. The bad news is that we will have to hear about it in every election cycle.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) (YouTube) and follow me on Twitter.
Beginning in January of this year, headlines screamed 2016 to be the hottest year since 1880, highlighting July as the hottest month ever (here, here, here, and here). Stories referenced the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, that part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) dedicated to climate change instead of space exploration. Indeed, NASA itself posted a news release January 18 highlighting 2016 as the hottest year, followed by news releases February 15 and March 15, respectively, highlighting January and February to be the third warmest and second warmest months on record. But, scrolling down on the NASA News and Feature Articles page, one finds reference to the above three releases  but nothing for the temperatures of March, April, and May. Why is that?

Perhaps the answer is that year-over-year temperatures have declined, now for eight consecutive months, beginning in October 2016, and ending with May 2017. This information can be found on the NASA website, but it is not highlighted. NASA publishes charts about the 15th of each month depicting the cumulation of temperature anomalies to include the previous month, such as the one below published June 15 for months through May. The year-over-year declines for the five months of 2017 are evident in the chart. What is less evident is what was happening the last several months of 2016. NASA would provide a great service if it could depict months of the previous year with a differentiating symbol.

A little sleuthing on NASA's website uncovers files of the raw data, in 0.01 deviations Celsius from a 1951-1980 base, for Land-Ocean Temperatures, of which a select amount is replicated below. Leaving aside questions of the reliability of these deviations derived from temperature measurements, one notices that the last three months of 2016 were lower than the corresponding months of 2015. So that make eight months of year-over-year lower temperatures. Could that be the start of a trend, or at least a reason to downplay the relationship?

2015 82 87 91 74 77 78 72 79 82 2016 115 134 130 108 93 78 83 99 88 2017 90 108 112 88 88 *** *** *** *** Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
For Republicans, winning never gets monotonous.

The Karen Handel victory in the Georgia 6th District special election repeats a pattern depressingly familiar to the left. There have been four special congressional elections since the hated Trump took office, and Democrats have lost all four. In each contest, the left predicted victory  largely based on what they perceived was hatred of President Trump by ordinary Americans, which would generate "enthusiasm" for the Democrat candidate and drive people in overwhelming numbers to the polls.

Each of the four Democrat candidates was well financed and received strong support from the national party. Each Democratic candidate's campaign was augmented by hundreds or thousands of activist volunteer Democrats. And each and every race was seen as a referendum on Donald Trump  not his policies as much as the man himself. He is Hitler and Howdy Doody all rolled into one, a traitorous SOB (although most liberals only hint that Trump has committed treason), a threat to the rule of law, and a joke as a president.

And each and every time, liberals have been shocked to discover that ordinary people don't view the president that way.

In Georgia's 6th, reality once again intruded on liberals' fantasies. They once again failed to grasp that some people may hate President Trump. But more people hate them. And unless they can grasp that fundamental point, 2018 will turn into another GOP victory.

The resentment of ordinary Georgia voters begins and ends with the $23 million that poured into the district from Democrat donors across the country  most prominently, from Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Handel's money also came from out of state, but it didn't come from people who look down their noses at Georgia voters and try to instruct them on what they should think.

That brings us to the national media. More than any other Democrat-allied group, the media promoted the narrative that Trump is so unpopular that a deep red congressional district was almost certainly going to flip.

Of course, the press professed to be neutral, and all those negative stories trying to wrap Trump around Handel's neck were what people were really thinking.

One tweet last night sort of blows that nonsense out of the water:

Have you ever seen such long faces? Whom are they trying to kid?

As long as the faces were at CNN when it became clear Handel was the winner, imagine the chins hitting the floor at the DNC. They were so sure of victory, so confident of success. If $23 million can't buy them a House seat, where do they go from here?

The media are thinking the same thing. The following is from CNN:

With the inflated price tag and the 15-month lag time between the special election and the November 2018 midterms, the contest might not hold much predictive value.

And if Ossoff had won? How "predictive" would that result have been?

After the initial glum reaction of pundits to Handel's win came the excuses. It was the weather, it was the big GOP advantage in registration, it was early voting, it was Republican outsiders, it was history, it was counter-historical, Ossoff wasn't liberal enough, no unions, blacks didn't turn out, and the most common complaint from the left about ordinary voters...

The people refused to vote "their interests."

All of those excuses fail to get to the crux of why the left keeps losing. Ordinary Americans simply don't like leftists very much. And when Hollywood and Silicon Valley unite to tell them they are stupid, are ignorant, are racist, are homophobic, hate Muslims, and shouldn't love America so much, what do they expect the reaction from ordinary people will be?

Republicans are not representatives of the people any more than Democrats are. But they speak the language of the ordinary voter and usually don't put them down. The coastal elites who run the Democratic Party and liberal establishment cannot disguise their contempt for ordinary Americans. In Georgia's 6th District, that smug, self-righteous sense of superiority played about as well as one might expect.

Until the Democrats can learn to mask their hatred of the hoi polloi, ordinary people will hate them more than they hate Trump and the Republicans.
"High office is like a pyramid; only two kinds of animals reach the summit  reptiles and eagles." Jean le Rond d'Alembert

It took the election of Donald Trump for the progressives to unmask themselves, to reveal their true identities, just like the sinister aliens in that old television mini-series V: The Final Battle. In the series, having disguised themselves as humans, the aliens are ultimately shown to be reptiles from another planet who came to take over Earth. Over the years, they had infiltrated governments, businesses, and religious institutions. The actual humans finally develop a poison that afflicts only the aliens, rather as Trump afflicts Democrats. It is dispersed, and the aliens are forced to evacuate.

Those reptilian humanoid aliens are a pretty good analogy for our current crop of progressives. How else do we explain the inhumanity of people like now former anchor Scott Pelley of CBS, who opined to his audience that "the [House majority leader, Steve] Scalise attack was to some degree self-inflicted"? Joy Reid of MSNBC wondered if Scalise's positions on "moral issues" like gay marriage and Obamacare did not make his shooting somehow understandable! She later tweeted that Scalise "was a white man with a violent background [a blatant lie], and saved by a black lesbian, and yet..." She could not bring herself to congratulate those two Capitol Police officers.

At whose knees did these people learn to not be civilized adults? Certainly no one ever taught them the Golden Rule: kindness to others, simple consideration for their fellow humans at times of pain. Even if they differ on political issues.

A Democratic Party strategist from New Jersey, James Devine, almost immediately after the shooting, launched a couple of hashtags, #HuntRepublicans and #HuntRepublicanCongressmen! He appeared on the Tucker Carlson program to defend his scurrilous behavior to no avail. He had tweeted: "We are in a war with selfish, foolish & narcissistic rich people. Why is it a shock when things turn violent?"

The man is a reptile.

A writer at the Washington Post, Malcolm Harris, tweeted that "the shooting of conservative Republicans could be justified." He implied that he hoped Scalise would die! His actual tweet is beyond the pale. The New York Times embarrassed itself by dredging up the lie that Sarah Palin was responsible for the Gabby Giffords shooting in Tuscon in 2011 because of an ad showing targeted districts in the crosshairs of a gun sight, an ad not even created by her campaign. The charge was disproven long ago. Jared Loughner, the schizophrenic who shot Giffords, had never heard of Palin and had been angry at Giffords for years. The Times knew that the charge was specious but used it anyway in its post-shooting editorial. Like the rest of the media talking heads and self-described elite opinion editors, they continue to believe that the American people are terminally stupid. Why anyone reads this propaganda rag is a mystery. There is rarely an objective word among the paper's full-time anti-Trump campaign.

The Scalise example isn't the only one. After the young man, Otto Warmbier, was imprisoned in North Korea and sentenced to fifteen years' hard labor, former late-night comic Larry Wilmore said the young man "might be America's biggest idiot frat boy," a despicable slander against a young man who was described by eyewitnesses as "mature and polite." Then he mocked Warmbier's name for sounding like "warm beer." He called him "Otto von Crybaby. This is a man so ignorant of the facts about the North Korean regime, he actually thinks his mockery is funny. Writers at Salon and the Huffington Post also attacked Warmbier. The HuffPost said he deserved to be imprisoned because he's white.

Who are these vile, thoughtless, cruel people, and how did they come to infect our politics and media?

Albert Einstein wrote: "If the rabble continues to occupy itself with you, then simply don't read that hogwash, but rather leave it for the reptile from whom it has been fabricated."

This who they are. It is time for decent people to reject the vicious nonsense perpetrated by the left on a daily basis. The agony they are suffering since the election is self-inflicted. One cannot treat the majority of the American people like insects to be swatted away except at election time and expect to win respect or elections. The repulsive things said and or written in the wake of the Alexandria shooting by the persons cited above are just a few, those that came from news outlets. Much worse appeared all over social media, which is consistent with the left's venomous rejection of the election results. Time to take Einstein's advice and not listen to or read their hogwash. With each passing day, Trump is seeming more and more like an eagle.
Last week, the Senate passed a bill that outlines a new round of sanctions against the Iranian regime for its ballistic missile development, arms transfers, support for terrorism, and human rights violations. With approval from the House of Representatives and President Trump's signature, the measure, titled the Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017, will become law.

In the backdrop of the Trump administration's tougher stance toward Tehran and the foundation of a regional coalition against Tehran's mischief-making, the new sanctions will mark a major shift from Obama's hands-off approach to Iran's nefarious activities.

Under the nuclear deal signed between Iran and the world powers in 2015, also known as the JCPOA, Tehran had agreed to freeze parts of its illicit nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling international sanctions. However, the deal had many gaping holes and failed to address the other threats the Iranian regime posed to the region and the world.

Fearing that Iran would walk away from the deal, the Obama administration had implicitly given Tehran a free pass on domains that were considered off the limits of JCPOA.

In this respect, the Revolutionary Guards, the military body that runs a host of illicit operations for the Iranian regime, had benefited immensely. While taking Obama's weak stance as a cue to continue testing missiles and ramp up its meddling in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, the Guards and regime officials have constantly claimed that their actions are not in violation of the nuclear accord.

Ironically, regime officials are now protesting that the new sanctions passed by Senate are a breach of the nuclear agreement.

Overwhelming support in Congress for tougher measures against the Iranian regime comes at a time where there's general consensus that Tehran is at the heart of the crises engulfing the Middle East.

"In 2017, ISIS is not a threat to regional stability," James Jeffrey, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Iraq, told Bloomberg last month. "The threat now is Iran."

"A comprehensive Iran policy requires we address all of the threats posed by Iran and it is clear there are many," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters at the State Department in late April.

In this context, new sanctions will send a strong message to the mullahs ruling Iran, who had been carrying out their nefarious deeds in the region without fear of reprisal in past years. It will also be welcomed by Middle East nations, whose leaders clearly reiterated in the recent Riyadh Summit their disdain for Iran's destabilizing role in the region and underlined the need to firmly confront the subversive and destructive Iranian activities inside their countries.

Above all, the bill can send a welcome message to the Iranian people, who are the number-one victims of their rulers' crimes at home and abroad and most deeply wounded by Obama's failed appeasement policy toward Tehran.

"For a people that are capable of so much, their foreign policy is shockingly counter to their own interest," Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act, said last week on the Senate floor.

This can become prelude to supporting regime change in Iran, which is the true desire of the Iranian people and the only solution to restoring peace and stability in the region.
Win McNamee/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Randy Bryce, a longtime union ironworker and cancer survivor, announced this week that he is seeking the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin's first district, a congressional seat currently held by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.



Bryce, a Wisconsin native and Army veteran, launched an emotional campaign ad that highlights his working-class background.



In the 2-minute TV ad, Bryce says he has been employed as an ironworker for 20 years and is seen engaging with local community members and co-workers.



The ad includes images of Ryan, who is portrayed as an enemy of big government and the Affordable Care Act. At one point Ryan can be heard saying, This is repealing and replacing ObamaCare. Everybody doesnt get what they want.



The ad then cuts to Bryces mother, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.



"Im on 20 drugs and if I dont take the one that costs thousands of dollars, I dont know what would happen," she says, holding back tears.



Bryce launched two unsuccessful Wisconsin state legislature campaigns in 2012 and 2014. Before he can take on Ryan, who secured 65 percent of the vote in the 2016 general election, he must defeat self-proclaimed regular guy David Yankovich, who announced his candidacy on May 30 for the Democratic Party. An open primary will be held on Aug. 14, 2018.



Republican Paul Nehlen, who lost to Ryan in the 2016 primary, announced his attention to challenge the speaker again next year.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
(ANSAmed) - PALERMO, JUNE 20 - Ten foreigners with stay permits for humanitarian reasons who are currently being housed in three different migrant reception centres are ready to learn a new job and will be among the workers participating in the restoration of the San Giovanni dell'Origlione Church in Palermo, owned by the Italian Interior Ministry's Fund for Religious Buildings.

The migrants will first take a professional training course and a course about on-the-job safety, and then they will begin work on the church's facade.

"Starting this work experience from Ballaro is a wonderful thing because it's the most multi-cultural neighbourhood of Palermo," said Valentina Petralia from the social cooperative "La Fenice" in the town of Piana degli Albanesi. "Letting these young men live here and work is the most important thing for them".

This will be possible thanks to "project work", an orientation training and work measure that is among the goals of Italy's Protection System for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (SPRAR).

The protocol of intent for a pilot project heading in this direction was signed on Tuesday.

Bari Suleiman, 39, from Guinea Bissau, said he came to Italy in 2014 after travelling the Mediterranean by boat.

"My first camp was in Palermo, near here, then I transferred to can Cipirello in a community and I was very happy with my stay. I have to say thank you to the Italian government for the acceptance. They listened to us and listened well. We've received a lot of help here in Palermo. I'm happy to be here and be well," he said.

Salifu Kongira, who just turned 18, is also smiling and thanking everyone.

He came to Italy from Gambia with lots of hope for the future.

"I disembarked in Syracuse, then I went to Palermo, to Piana degli Albanesi and San Cipriello. I'm happy that my home is here. You are all so kind to me. My future is tomorrow. I have lots of hope and I want to stay here," he said.

Mohammed Raquim, who lives in the centre of the town of San Giuseppe Jato, arrived in Italy by boat in December 2015.

"You all are kind and good; where I'm from you can't find this. It's hard for us to find work, and it's wonderful that you've found it for us. I can't say many words but I have many things in my heart," he said.

The Interior Ministry financed the refurbishment for 16,000 euros, while the migrants will be paid with SPRAR work grants.(ANSAmed).


(ANSA) - Strasbourg, June 21 - The Lower House must change a bill against torture to bring it into line with international standards, Council of Europe (CoE) Human Rights Commissioner Nils Miuznieks said in a letter to parliamentary Speakers Laura Boldrini (House) and Pietro Grasso (Senate) Wednesday. Miuznieks voiced concern about the "profound differences" between the definition of torture ion the bill and that contained in various international treaties ratified by Italy, especially the UN's Convention against Torture.

The Senate approved the controversial bill introducing the crime of torture last month.

Italy is required to introduce the crime of torture under the terms of the 1984 UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, which was ratified by the Italian parliament in 1988.

In March the CoE urged Italy to swiftly introduce the crimes of torture and degrading treatment, ensuring they are properly sanctioned and culprits can no longer get off.

Voicing "concern", the CoE's council of ministers said measures taken by Italy to comply with an April 2015 European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling on the infamous police night raid on sleeping quarters of demonstrators at the 2001 Group of Eight summit were "insufficient".

Politicians and activists urged the government to act.

"It's scandalous that Italy should obstruct all international bodies and it's scandalous that our country does not envisage that torture, a crime against humanity, is a crime," said Patrizio Gonnella, chair of the prisoners' rights group Antigone.

On April 7, 2015 the ECHR condemned Italy and called for legislative changes after "torture" during a police raid in July 2001 on anti-globalization protestors camping out at the Diaz school during the Genoa G8 summit.

The court condemned Italy not only for what happened to the demonstrators, but also because it said the country lacks appropriate legislation to punish the crime of torture even though it ratified a UN convention on torture in 1988.

The government said in response that an anti-torture bill mandating sentences of up to 12 years now before the Lower House would be sped up.

The Diaz raid is perhaps Italy's most notorious case of police brutality. In the night assault on the Diaz school, hundreds of police attacked about 100 activists and a few journalists, wounding 82 and seriously injuring 61 - three critically and one, British journalist Mark Covell, left in a coma with rib and spinal injuries. Officers planted evidence including two Molotov cocktails and hammers and knives from a nearby construction site to justify the raid.

Amnesty International called the event "the most serious suspension of democratic rights in a Western country since the Second World War".

In its ruling in April 2015, the ECHR upheld a complaint from a 62-year-old Italian, Arnaldo Cestaro, who was brutally beaten that night and still suffers from the injuries he sustained.

It noted that none of the officers who actually inflicted the beatings are serving jail time because of the statute of limitations, and urged Italy to rectify this.

In reaction after that sentence, ruling Democratic Party (PD) chair Matteo Orfini said it is "shameful" that Gianni De Gennaro was now president of State-controlled defence giant Finmeccanica, recently renamed Leonardo, because he was national police chief during the scandal-hit Genoa G8 summit.

De Gennaro, appointed head of Finmeccanica in July 2013, ordered the raid on demonstrators but was not punished by the courts.

He was the only ranking officer to escape nominal punishment.


ROME - The new Airbnb project called Open Homes is an online platform to offer free housing to refugees. The project's aim is to give a home for short periods of time to 100,000 people in difficulty over the next five years.

''The idea that these people can come here and find a place to stay is fundamental, they need to be able to have a safe and comfortable home and meet people'' explained Susan on the website. She has offered her house for the project.

''Each refugee we have housed has changed our lives and the idea that we can help them in their trip is marvelous''.

The online platform enables owners to choose when they can offer their homes and who is more suitable for the accommodation they offer. To select the right accommodation, Airbnb cooperates with agencies like the International Refugee committee that check requisites and contact hosts.

Joe Gebbia, co-founder and Chief product officer of Airbnb, said in a post on the company's blog that it took one year to create the platform.

''One of the most uplifting parts of this journey for me has been witnessing our community's natural generosity, and never more so than when our hosts open their homes to people affected by extraordinary circumstances'', wrote Gebbia. Airbnb already promoted similar experiences to help people in need and show solidarity in the wake of hurricane Sandy in 2012.

''For the last five years as great as the growth of our host community has been, we realized we could take it to a whole other level simply by shifting from being reactive to being proactive'', also wrote Gebbia. ''Our new platform allows relief organizations to connect people in need directly with Airbnb volunteer hosts, which means a faster process and fewer missed opportunities. Sharing your home for even a few nights can make a tremendous difference in someone's life''.


NAPLES - The traffic of goods by sea in the Mediterranean has grown by 430% in the past 20 years, according to figures released in the 4th annual report "Italian Maritime Economy" by the Bank of Naples' Studies and Research for the Mezzogiorno (SRM) project.

It said 17 Italian ports have surpassed one million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units, used to describe cargo capacity of container ships and terminals) in the past year.

The report said worldwide maritime transport in 2016 surpassed 10 billion tonnes for the first time ever, 20% of which transited the Mediterranean. It's a growing trend, expected to reach 17 billion tonnes by 2030.

One of the main reasons for the growth is the doubling of the Suez Canal, which, the report said, "is now at full speed, and in the period from January to May 2017 grew by double figures with a 10.6% increase over the previous year. In the past year, 819 million tonnes of goods and about 17,000 ships transited the Canal".

Territorial Cohesion and Mezzogiorno Minister Claudio De Vincenti said there is a good basis for the development of ports in the Mezzogiorno, which play an important role in three ways.

"First of all, as a connection between the Mediterranean and Europe in the south-north direction, then as an inverted connection with Europe that looks to North Africa and the Middle East to invest and grow those countries, in line with the proposal of the migration compact presented by Italy to the EU," De Vincenti said.

As for the third way, he said southern Italian ports in the Mediterranean have a particular role.

"They've taken on a new centrality in intercontinental traffic with the opening of the second branch of the Suez Canal.

The Mezzogiorno clearly has the priority calling as an essential zone in this new intercontinental role in the Mediterranean," he said.

The report highlighted how the Italian import-export business by sea has reached 217 billion euros with an average annual growth rate of 4.3%.

It said Italy still has a strong dependence on the sea, which hosts 37% of its intercontinental exchange.

SRM General Director Massimo Deandreis said signs are emerging of a "renewed centrality in the Mediterranean of the world geo-economic context and strengthening of the southern Mediterranean-Suez-Gulf-China route".

"Italy can benefit from this situation, but needs to invest urgently in train-port connections, on intermodality, and in more efficient port logistics," Deandreis said.

Italy remains the Mediterranean and Black Sea leader in short sea shipping, with 251 tonnes and a 35% market share, the report said.

Bank of Naples President Maurizio Barracco said the emerging picture shows a Mediterranean that is "increasingly dynamic and central to global routes".

"Italy is in the middle, and the Mezzogiorno has an advantageous position. But geography isn't enough, and there's no shortage of competition. There needs to be a greater awareness of what's at stake and a serious commitment in order to not miss the opportunities that are emerging," Barracco said.
Migrants: Open Homes, the Airbnb platform for refugees Homes available for those fleeing war, disasters

(ANSAmed) - ROME, JUNE 21 - The new Airbnb project called Open Homes is an online platform to offer free housing to refugees. The project's aim is to give a home for short periods of time to 100,000 people in difficulty over the next five years.



''The idea that these people can come here and find a place to stay is fundamental, they need to be able to have a safe and comfortable home and meet people'' explained Susan on the website. She has offered her house for the project.



''Each refugee we have housed has changed our lives and the idea that we can help them in their trip is marvelous''.



The online platform enables owners to choose when they can offer their homes and who is more suitable for the accommodation they offer. To select the right accommodation, Airbnb cooperates with agencies like the International Refugee committee that check requisites and contact hosts.



Joe Gebbia, co-founder and Chief product officer of Airbnb, said in a post on the company's blog that it took one year to create the platform.



''One of the most uplifting parts of this journey for me has been witnessing our community's natural generosity, and never more so than when our hosts open their homes to people affected by extraordinary circumstances'', wrote Gebbia. Airbnb already promoted similar experiences to help people in need and show solidarity in the wake of hurricane Sandy in 2012.



''For the last five years as great as the growth of our host community has been, we realized we could take it to a whole other level simply by shifting from being reactive to being proactive'', also wrote Gebbia. ''Our new platform allows relief organizations to connect people in need directly with Airbnb volunteer hosts, which means a faster process and fewer missed opportunities. Sharing your home for even a few nights can make a tremendous difference in someone's life''. (ANSAmed).




Portugal: Pedrogao wildfire tamed

(ANSAmed) - LISBON, JUNE 21 - Portuguese authorities have said a violent fire in Pedrogao that killed 64 people has been de facto tamed.



A wildfire in nearby Gois in central Portugal is also reportedly under control.



Firefighters are working today in Pedrogao to ensure the blaze will not start again in certain areas.



Civil protection commander Vitor Vaz Pinto has said that some 30,000 hectares have been destroyed or partially destroyed by the Pedrogao fire, which has led to the evacuation of 23 small towns.



Along with the 64 victims, the fires of Pedrogao and Gois have injured 204 people.



So far, 32 bodies have been identified. Many of the victims were burnt to death in their cars on the 236 state road.(ANSAmed).




Inigo de la Serna, Spains Minister of Public Works and Transport; Josep Rull, the Catalan Minister of Territory and Sustainability; Jordi Cornet, President of Barcelona Free Zone; and H.E. Salem Rashid Al Owais, UAE Consul General in Barcelona, inaugurated DAFZAs pavilion during the exhibition. DAFZAs participation in the event aimed to help increase foreign direct investment (FDI) opportunities between the Freezone and investors from Spain and the other participating countries.

During its participation, DAFZA organised a seminar on foreign investments under the theme Boost your business from Dubai to the World. It featured the UAEs strong economic performance, Expo 2020-related opportunities, and the regions rising logistics sector. DAFZA, one of the worlds most competitive free zones, took the opportunity to present its broader range of investment incentives, distinct and diverse business offerings, and successful efforts to establish good relations with foreign investors from Europe and the rest of the world. To date, an estimated 27 per cent of the total companies operating in DAFZA are from Europe.

DAFZAs officials also met with high-level officials from the Chamber of Commerce in Barcelona and the Barcelona Foundation for Halal Services to discuss cooperation and support among parties. DAFZA presented investment opportunities for the Catalan business community as well, which will give them an access to the Middle East and Central Asia markets through Dubai and DAFZA particularly

DAFZA said it is keen on attracting Catalan business leaders, noting that Catalonia is a major contributor to Spains gross domestic product (GDP). According to statistics, Catalonia accounted for about 20 per cent, or an equivalent of 223.6 billion euros, of Spains total GDP in 2016.

Abdulaziz Al Hammadi, manager of marketing, DAFZA said: DAFZA took part in this global exhibition to attract the Catalan business community as part of our full support for the UAEs economic diversification policy over the past 20 years of Dubai Airport Freezone's success. A number of leading international companies, including top Spanish businesses, have chosen Dubai, a regional business hub, as the center of their operations in the Gulf, the Middle East, and Asia.
Drawing on his 16 years of experience spanning a variety of roles with the aviation industry, Studden will lead the conference in addressing the challenges of growing demand for pilots, explore solutions and shape Middle East aviation training. His experience includes learning and development, strategic planning, business development and marketing.

Studden commented I am proud to moderate GATE 2017 and am looking forward to some interesting and informative discussions. He continued, Throughout my career I have believed that learning is a life-long experience and GATE will be an ideal place to address challenges and opportunities facing the aerospace industry in the Middle East, with key industry leaders involved in both the panels and the audience.

Panels will include discussions on regional training developments, technology in training and aviation schools, instructors and certification standards; while presentations will include an in depth look at evidence based training principles, plus aim to answer the question How do you better train a pilot?

We are thrilled to have David Studden on board for GATE 2017, said Michele van Akelijen, managing director of show organisers F&E Aerospace. His combination of experience, knowledge and enthusiasm will ensure the conference is both educational and informative, providing value to all its attendees.

The GATE conference takes place 13 November 2017 and the GATE exhibition, a dedicated space within the Dubai Airshow will run 12  16 November. For more information or to book your space, visit gate.aero or see the team at Chalet D42 at the Paris Airshow.
The Saudi Arabia Ground Armed Forces consist of the Saudi Arabian Army (also known as the Royal Saudi Land Forces or RSLF), administered by the Ministry of Defence and Aviation, and the Saudi Arabian National Guard (al-Haras al-Watani or SANG), which comes under the administrative control of the Ministry of the National Guard.

The Saudi Arabian National Guard comprises 200,000 personnel, plus 25,000 tribal levies, making it very nearly as big as the 300,000-strong Army, (see separate story on Page 50)

The Saudi Arabian Army includes the Royal Guard, which was incorporated into the Army in 1964, but which retains the unique mission of protecting the House of Saud, and which is in the process of building up its own dedicated air element. This will be equipped with 10 of the 34 new Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian aircraft now on order for the RSLF, which already operates 12 AH-64D Longbow Apaches upgraded from AH-64A configuration.

The AH-64E Apache Guardian (previously known as the AH-64D Block III until 2012) is the latest version of the Apache, and features more powerful T700-GE-701D engines and an upgraded transmission to accommodate the extra power, new composite rotor blades and an improved landing gear. These confer increased cruise speed, climb rate, and payload capacity.

The aircraft also has improved digital connectivity, with the joint tactical information distribution system, and the capability of controlling unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs).

The sale of these Apaches was outlined in a 2010 Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notification to the US Congress that also included 72 UH-60M Black Hawk transport helicopters, 36 AH-6i light attack helicopters, and 12 MD530F helicopters, all for the Saudi Arabian National Guard.

With 36 more AH-64E helicopters ordered for the SANG, deliveries of the 70 Apaches began in early 2014.

There has been no monolithic contract for the requested total of 72 Black Hawks, though there have been a succession of smaller orders for the Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command (nine aircraft) and Saudi Arabian National Guard (16 and then eight helicopters).

The UH-60M is the latest Black Hawk variant and incorporates more powerful and more reliable General Electric T700-GE-701D engines, enhanced wide chord rotor blades, and active vibration control, giving better handling qualities.

The new variant features a fully digital common avionics architecture system (CAAS) glass cockpit, as well as monolithic machined parts that provide structural improvements compared to the UH-60A and UH-60L.

A contract for the 12 MD530Fs was placed on July 16 2012, and the type entered service with the SANG in March 2013, operating in the training role, preparing pilots for the AH-64E and the newly acquired AH-6i.

Some 29 Saudi pilots logged more than 3,000 flying hours during the first year of operation.

A support contract was signed between MD Helicopters and the US Department of the Armys Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, on November 12 2014.

The MD530F is ideally suited as a trainer for the AH-6i, since both aircraft are derivatives of the same Hughes/MDH/Boeing OH-6/Model 500 family.

The AH-6i is the export version of the AH-6S Phoenix, which was developed for the US Armys restarted ARH or Armed Aerial Scout programme.

A derivative of the A/MH-6X Mission Enhanced Little Bird (MELB) helicopter used by US special forces, the AH-6S had a cabin stretched by 15 inches (380mm) and an extended nose to house avionics black boxes.

The Armed Aerial Scout programme was abandoned in late 2009 to save money, but the export-optimised AH-6i continued, and the prototype AH-6i made its maiden flight on September 16, 2009.

The AH-6i has a glass cockpit and composite main rotor blades based on AH-64D Block III/AH-64E equipment, and is powered by an uprated Rolls-Royce 250-CE30 engine.

The aircraft has an endurance of 12 hours and carries a maximum payload of 2,400lb, which can include AGM-114 Hellfire semi-active laser-guided missiles, laser-guided or unguided 70mm rocket pods, and M134 7.62mm six-barrelled mini gun and/or .50 calibre GAU-19B machine guns, as well as an under-nose L-3 Wescam MX-15Di electro optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor turret with laser rangefinder/designator and laser pointer.

Jordan expressed interest in the AH-6i in May 2010 but it was Saudi Arabia that became the launch customer for the aircraft when it requested 36 AH-6i aircraft with related equipment and weapons from the United States via the foreign military sale (FMS) route in October 2010.

This led to an August 2014 $234 million FMS contract for 24 AH6i helicopters for the SANG. Boeing began final assembly of the Saudi Little Birds in December 2015, and the first deliveries followed in July 2016.

Fuselages for the Saudi AH-6i helicopters are being provided by MD Helicopters, after sub-assembly in Monterrey, Mexico. Boeing then kits out the fuselages.

The helicopters undergo acceptance flight-testing by the US Department of Defenses Defense Contract Management Agency, before being handed over to the Saudi customer. It is understood that a number of Saudi pilots trained in Mesa before deliveries commenced.

Deliveries were expected to conclude in February 2017.

With the lions share of the helicopters listed in the 2010 DSCA notification going to the Saudi Arabia National Guard, the command of the RSLF is now pushing ahead with its own helicopter procurement plans.

It is expected that more attack helicopters will be procured for the RSLF Aviation in order to develop its combat capabilities in the light of experience gained and lessons learned during the war in Yemen.

As well as attack helicopters, the Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command wants to improve its heavy-lift and transport capabilities. In December 2016, the US State Department informed Congress of the administrations intent to sell 48 CH-47F Chinook Cargo Helicopters to the RSLF in a deal worth $3.51 billion.

The CH-47F is the latest version of the Chinook and features more powerful 4,868-shaft-horsepower (3,630 kW) Honeywell engines, a Rockwell Collins CAAS cockpit, and BAE Systems digital advanced flight control system (DAFCS).

The airframe makes greater use of single-piece monolithic construction, which reduces maintenance requirements and vibration.

The Saudi CH-47Fs will be fitted with embedded GPS inertial navigation systems, common missile warning systems (CMWS) and defensive armament, including 7.62mm M240H machine guns and M134D miniguns.

They will also have a full suite of defensive systems and aids, including warning systems, an infrared signature suppression system (IRSS), and a ballistic armour protection system.

The helicopters will also have a fast rope insertion extraction system (FRIES) and an extended-range fuel system (ERPS).

The Saudi order will help Boeing to maintain an active production line and fill the gap that would otherwise have existed between the end of the CH-47F Block I production in 2018 and the start of CH-47F Block II production in 2021.

Airbus Helicopters hopes for orders from Saudi Arabia  possibly for its NH90 tactical helicopter, and for other helicopters in the companys range.

In March 2013, the German Government announced that it had approved several arms export deals with countries in the Middle East, including the delivery of 23 unspecified Airbus helicopters to Saudi Arabia.

In June 2016, French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, announced that Saudi Arabia was to buy an initial batch of 23 Airbus HC H-145 multirole helicopters worth about 500 million ($535m), following a meeting with Saudi crown prince and defense minister, Prince Muhammad bin Salman. It was suggested that these were to be used for a wide range of police and civil support missions, but not for military missions.


The testing programme successfully integrates predictive software and display technology into business jet cockpits, and demonstrated how pilots can see where, and how, sonic booms would affect the population on the ground.

We are pleased to complete this important milestone of the pilot interface testing in civilian airspace with Honeywell, said Brett Pauer, commercial supersonic technology subproject manager, Overland Supersonic Flight, NASA. This technology could prove to be useful for NASAs future planned Low Boom Flight Demonstration experimental airplane. This plane is being designed to gather community noise response data that may help remove the regulatory speed restriction to overland commercial supersonic flight.

Flying at supersonic speeds would change the aviation industry drastically, enabling pilots to cut business jet travel times roughly in half. For instance, travel time from New York to Los Angeles would be reduced from five hours to 2.5 hours or less. However, the primary barrier to broad adoption of supersonic flights over land are sonic booms, which are loud noises caused by aircraft traveling faster than the speed of sound.

With predictive technology and knowledge, pilots can change course and minimize the boom over populated areas, said Bob Witwer, vice president, Advanced Technology, Honeywell Aerospace. Honeywell and NASA have developed this unique predictive display for civil aviation that has been tested in commercial airspace, bringing the vision of the return of commercial supersonic flight closer to reality.
Qatar Airways is enjoying a week of success and celebration as Qatars Minister of Transport and Communications, Jassim Saif Al Sulaiti, met with Frances Minister for Transport, Elisabeth Borne, to reaffirm the countries' ongoing support and affliliation. Fresh from winning the Skytrax Airline of the Year award for the fourth time, Qatars national carrier received overwhelming support for its bold new global television and social media commercial, aimed at bringing people together through travel without prejudice, which has already been viewed by more than 20 million people from all corners of the world.



Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: This week has been a significant signal of Qatar Airways' ongoing role not just as a leader in the aviation industry, but as a connector in peoples day-to-day lives. At a time of judgement, prejudice and illegal actions, Qatar Airways has triumphed through a simple yet central belief in bringing people together beyond borders in the sky, whether it be work colleagues, leisure passengers, or of course family members and friends. Our new commercial states our core values of travel as an independent human right against the backdrop of a changing and dynamic landscape, because, quite simply, we believe the world is all of ours to explore, and it is a strange thing for people to be apart.



Launched on Sunday through the airlines social media channels, the commercial gained more than 20 million views within the first two days, from those inspired by the airlines core messages that travel goes beyond borders, and is an independent right and necessity, while also teaching compassion and an understanding of others.



The success of the commercial falls during the same week as this years Paris Air Show, where Qatar Airways revealed the first aircraft retrofitted with its new, award-winning Business Class concept, Qsuite, in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to gathered crowds of industry representatives and international media.



The ceremony, on the opening day of this years air show, was attended by Qatars Minister of Transport and Communications, Jassim Saif Al Sulaiti, where the revolutionary new Qsuite was presented by Al Baker to notable dignitaries including Qatari Ambassador to France, Khalid Bin Rashid Al Mansouri; Managing Director and CEO of Qatar Rail, Abdulla T. Al Subaie and Vice Chairman of the Boeing Company, Ray Conner.



The following day the airline was proudly named Airline of the Year for the fourth time, and also collected the Worlds Best Business Class, Worlds Best First Class Lounge and Best Airline in the Middle East by the prestigious 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards.



Al Baker continued: The Paris Air Show 2017 has once again been a tremendous success for Qatar Airways. With the debut of our first aircraft fitted with the state-of-the-art, patented Qsuite, we have truly set a new standard for the industry by bringing First Class to our Business Class cabin, while also winning a raft of Skytrax awards, including Airline of the Year




Hospitals can absorb upto 2 per cent rise, says Apollo Hospitals chairman.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley with Minister for parliamentary affairs Ananth Kumar addresses the media regarding GST in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo: PTi)

New Delhi: June 20: Overall healthcare cost could increase post GST as some services and products will be taxed at 15-18 per cent, although healthcare per se has been exempted, Apollo Hospitals said on Tuesday.

Apollo chairman Prathap C. Reddy said if there is an increase in healthcare cost by up to two per cent, hospitals would be in a position to absorb the hike but anything more than that would have to be passed on to patients.

There is no GST for us but there are services and some products with GST rate ranging from 15 to 18 per cent that have fallen on us, Mr Reddy said in reply to a question by PTI.

So, after GST the cost increase for hospitals will be around two per cent more, he added. If the increase is up to two per cent, hospitals can absorb it but if it is three or four per cent then patients will have to bear it, Mr Reddy said.

The GST council has exempted healthcare from GST slated to be rolled out from July 1.

He however welcomed the governments move to exempt healthcare from GST.

Apollo Hospitals had stated earlier that the government has accorded healthcare and education the due importance and impetus that they need to become game-changing agents for transforming India, its people and the economy.

Mr Reddy also said the company is back to normal after the demonetisation and continues to grow. Apollo Hospitals has 9,215 beds across 64 hospitals. It also has 2,500 pharmacies, over 90 primary care and diagnostic clinics.
Oil Minister Asks Qatar to Acquire stakes in domestic power plants as part of Future deals.

New Delhi: 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 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, Mr 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. Qatar's RasGas is India's biggest LNG supplier.

It wont be quid pro quo but mutual interest... They can share the profit of those power plants, said Mr 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 Mr 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.
If you are a fan of actor Daniel Day-Lewis, then we have some bad news for you.

Mumbai: According to a statement by Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewiss publicist, three-time Academy award winner, Lewis has announced his retirement from acting, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Leslee Dart, publicist of the 'Gangs of New York' star shared a statement, which read, "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 star, who has played presidents, writers, and gang leaders in a career that has spanned four decades, has one final film awaiting release, an untitled drama set in the world of high fashion.

While it has been reported to have the working title 'Phantom Thread', the film is still officially listed by its distributor as Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project.

According to Dart, the actor plans to participate in promotion for the movie, which is expected to be an awards-season contender.

Day-Lewis is the only performer to ever win three best actor Oscars.

His last Oscar came for the title role in Steven Spielberg's movie 'Lincoln', while his other two wins were for 'There Will Be Blood' and 'My Left Foot'.

This is not the first time Day-Lewis has retreated from films. In the late 1990s, he took a sort of 'semi-retirement' to return to his main love, woodworking, and at the time also moved to Florence, Italy, where he took up shoe-making.

It was veteran Hollywood director Martin Scorsese, who brought the actor back to filmmaking in 'Gangs of New York'.

He also famously quit the stage in 1989 when he walked out on a production of 'Hamlet' mid-performance at the National Theatre in London, saying that he had seen his father's ghost.
Aam Aadmi Party is however, not invited for opposition meet on Thursday for the selection of presidential candidate.

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will take a call on its stand on the presidential poll after an opposition party meeting on Thursday, AAP said on Wednesday.

AAP, however, has not been invited to the meet.

With a total of 85 MLAs in Delhi and Punjab and four MPs, the party has nearly 9,000 votes in the electoral college that will elect the president, but has largely been left out of the opposition parleys on the issue.

"We will take a call after the meeting of opposition parties," senior party leader Ashutosh said. It would take a stand after taking into account the opposition's position on the issue.

He parried a question on whether the party would support NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind, saying that ever since the BJP came to power in May 2014, atrocities against Dalits in the country had increased.

The party was not consulted by a three-member BJP panel which had talks with opposition parties on a consensus candidate for the presidential poll, to be held on July 17, or invited to a Congress-led meeting of opposition parties on the issue last month.

AAP, however, is in touch with the Trinamool Congress, the Left parties and the JD(U).

The Congress's decision not to invite AAP to the May 26 lunch meeting, hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, was widely perceived as a snub to the party that rules Delhi.

The Congress does not see AAP as an ally, which it believes aims at unseating the Congress as the main opposition party at the national level and in several states in the long run.

In the past, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has often attacked the Congress, especially Gandhi's son-in-law, Robert Vadra.

The Nationalist Congress Party is also seen to be sidelining AAP because of Kejriwal's personal attacks on NCP leader Sharad Pawar.

With Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar "welcoming" the NDA's move nominating Dalit activist Kovind, the opposition seems to be divided on the issue.

But Ashutosh said the JD(U) decision would not influence AAP.
The development comes ahead of the major Opposition meeting slated to be held on Thursday.

Patna (Bihar): In a major blow to the Opposition, the Janata Dal (United) on Wednesday confirmed they will support the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

"All the leaders have decided that we will support Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president. He is Bihar's first Governor who has been nominated for this post. We are very happy with this, it is the matter of Bihar's development," Senior JD (U) leader Ratnesh Sada said after meeting all the party leaders here.

The development comes ahead of the major Opposition meeting slated to be held on Thursday.

Earlier on June 19, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that a thorough discussion will be held on the matter within the Janata Dal (United) party.

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".

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 election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17. President Pranab Mukherjee will demit office on July 24.
Karnan, who was on the run for 40 days, was arrested from a private guest house in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

Kolkata(West Bengal): Retired Kolkata High Court judge Justice CS Karnan, who was arrested on Tuesday in connection with a contempt of court case, was lodged in Kolkata's Presidency Jail on Wednesday after the Supreme Court refused to grant him interim bail.

A vacation bench of the apex court headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to suspend the six-month prison sentence for Justice Karnan in the case.

Mathew J Nedumpara, a lawyer appearing for Justice Karnan, mentioned the matter before the vacation bench of the top court.

Read: SC refuses interim bail to CS Karnan, upholds 6-month jail term

Nedumpara pleaded to the apex court seeking bail and suspension of the six-month jail sentence, to which the court observed, "The seven judge bench had passed the order. It binds everybody. It binds us also."

Justice Karnan was arrested by the Kolkata police in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

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.

Read: CS Karnan a 'rotten egg', should have been mindful of his position: Congress

"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.

Justice Karnan had approached the apex court seeking recall of its 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.
The Armed forces have also recovered two weapons from the neutralised terrorists' possession.

The area has been cordoned off and the counter-terror operations are in progress. (Photo: Representational/File)

Sopore (Jammu and Kashmir): Two terrorists were gunned down on Wednesday morning in an encounter with security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore district.

The area has been cordoned off and the counter-terror operations are in progress.

The Armed forces have also recovered two weapons from the neutralised terrorists' possession. The encounter is going on in Sopore's Pazalpore area.

The Sopore Police, SOG and Army's 22 RR are leading the operation.

Further details are awaited.
The militants have been identified as Basit Ahmad Mir, a resident of Indergam Pattan and Gulzar Ahmad, a resident of Brat Sopore.

Army kill two Hizbul militants in an encounter in Sopore. (Representational Image)

Srinagar: Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Sopore township of north Kashmir's Baramulla district on Wednesday, police said.

The militants have been identified as Basit Ahmad Mir, a resident of Indergam Pattan, and Gulzar Ahmad, a resident of Brat Sopore.

Following intelligence inputs about the presence of militants, security forces had launched a cordon and search operation in the area on Tuesday night.

The search operation was halted for the night but the forces maintained the cordon to stop the militants from escaping, a police official said.

He said the operation resumed Wednesday morning and the gunfight started after the trapped militants opened fire on the forces.

Two AK rifles, five AK magazines, 124 AK rounds, a hand grenade and a pouch have been found at the encounter site, the official said.
Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and cabinet ministers were also be present at the event.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen performing asanas along with other 50,000 participants. (Photo: PIB)

Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday led the third edition of International Yoga Day at Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan in Lucknow performing asanas along with over 50,000 yoga enthusiasts braving early morning drizzles.

Addressing a huge gathering here, Modi said yoga, akin to its capacity to unite the body, mind and soul, has played a "big role" in binding the world, cutting across linguistic and cultural barriers. He also asserted that the traditional practice has now become part of every person's life.

"Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, or culture, are now connecting to India through Yoga. The practice, which connects body, mind and soul, has played a big role in binding the world too," he said.

"Earlier, Yoga was only restricted to saints and seers in the Himalayan mountains. Now, it has become part of every person's life," he said in his address.

"It is not important to perform yoga for 24 hours. 50 or 60 minutes (is fine) because it lends harmony to the body, mind and intellect. If 1.25 billion Indians and people around the world can attain this state of well-being, then humankind can also tide over problems born out of human thoughts," he said. He also explained the importance of Yoga using an analogy of salt.

"Just as the importance of salt is not only to lend taste to food, but also ensure well-being of the body, similarly Yoga can have the same importance as salt has in life," he

said.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and cabinet ministers were also be present at the event.

The Prime Minister expressed his happiness over the increasing number of Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years and said that the demand for Yoga teachers is increasing.

PM Modi also stressed on the importance of wellness apart from physical fitness and said that Yoga was a medium to achieve wellness.

Yoga is about health assurance. It is not even expensive to practice, Modi said.

Speaking at the venue ahead of Prime Minister Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath thanked volunteers for waiting patiently despite rainfall.

The 80 minute Yoga session was in full swing despite the heavy rain.

Many Union ministers led the International Yoga Day celebrations in different parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Chief Miniuster M Vijay Rupani, Amit Shah and Baba Ramdev participated in a Yoga camp in Ahmedabad with an aim to set up a record having the highest number of participants.

Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, BJP leader Vijay Goel, Delhi L-G Anil Baijal were present at the NDMC International Yoga Day at Connaught Place.

In order to make the International Yoga Day programme a success, various organisations, NGOs and Yoga gurus have held camps and practice sessions.

Massive security arrangements are in place in the state capital in view of Prime Minister's visit. Large numbers of police officers and 25 companies of PAC are deployed.
The girl was admitted to the Mavelikara district hospital due to the torture.

Police said that they were investigating into the matter as per the complaint of the parents. (Representational Image)

Alappuzha: Parents of a girl with autism registered a complaint with the police alleging that teachers of Kayamkulam-based Home of Care had tortured their 16-year-old daughter. The girl was admitted to the Mavelikara district hospital due to the torture.

Bhargavan Namboothiri, the father of the girl, said that their daughter was manhandled by a teacher and warden. The incident came to light on Saturday when they brought the girl to their home in Chennithala from the centre. It was two week ago that the parents enrolled the girl at Home of Care, the complaint said.

Police said that they were investigating into the matter as per the complaint of the parents. The owner and teachers of the centre have been sent summons so that their statement can be recorded, police said.

Meanwhile, Pastor Saji, owner of the centre, said that they did not torture the girl, but chided her as the girl had habit of ripping off her own clothes.
US department of defence report pays glowing tribute to Indias role.

New Delhi: A report by the US department of defence has paid glowing tribute to Indias role in insurgency-plagued Afghanistan.

India is Afghanistans most reliable regional partner and the largest contributor of development assistance in the region India is providing significant training opportunities for Afghan officers and enlisted personnel India has also donated limited security assistance, most notably four Mi-35 aircraft, said the Pentagon report titled Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan.

The 102-page report was submitted by the US department of defence to the Congress on Tuesday and covered the period from December 1, 2016, to May 31, 2017.

Besides helping Afghanistan build the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam and the Afghan Parliament building, India has also donated four Mi-35 helicopters to Afghanistans fledgling Air Force in addition to the three Cheetah helicopters given to Afghanistan in the first half of 2015. About 130 Afghans travel to India each year to attend various military academy and commissioning programmes.

In an earlier interview to this newspaper, Afghan Ambassador in New Delhi Shaida Mohammad Abdali had requested India for more Indian military helicopters, tanks and heavy guns to fight terror elements and insurgency in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is just the staging ground for Daesh for the entire region to become unstable. Daesh in Afghanistan is not just for Afghanistan but it is a phenomena that will destablise the entire South Asia region, Abdali said.

In May 2016, India, Iran, and Afghanistan signed the Chabahar Port agreement opening a trade route into Central Asia and Europe and allowing for the bypass of Pakistan.

Pakistan, the report says, is the most influential external actor affecting Afghan stability. Pakistan views the outcome of Afghanistan to be in its vital national interest and thus remains driven by its India-centric regional policy objectives, it adds.

The border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to function as sanctuaries for various terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the Haqqani Network, Lashkar-eTayyiba, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ISIS-K, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. On these, many like the Taliban and Haqqani Network benefit from support from elements of the Pakistani Government.

The United States continues to convey to Pakistan at all levels the importance of taking action against all terrorist and extremist groups The trust deficit resulting from Pakistans support of and inaction against Afghan-oriented extremists hampers the bilateral military collaboration required to achieve enduring security, the report says.

Presently, about 8,400 US troops are operating from bases in Kabul and Bagram and in regional outstations in Jalalabad, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Herat, and Balkh. The US efforts are focused on defeating al Qaeda and its associates, defeating ISIS-K, protecting US forces, and preventing Afghanistan from becoming a safe-haven for terrorists to plan attacks against the US homeland, US interests overseas, and allies and partners.

As of April 2017, military personnel from 39 nations, including 26 NATO allies, are serving in Afghanistan.
Guterres says hes had quite a number of meetings on the issue.

New Delhi/New York: UN chief Antonio Guterres reportedly said that he was 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. This comes despite Pakistan continuing to openly support terrorism in Kashmir and pushing through terrorists across the LoC.

Why do you think I met three times the Prime Minister of Pakistan and two times the Prime Minister of India,

Mr Guterres said with a laugh during a press briefing in New York when asked about whether he was engaged in bringing about dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue. For someone accused of doing nothing, it is quite a number of meetings, the UN Secretary General was quoted as saying in referring to criticism that he has been shying away and is reluctant to act to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue.

Pakistan has been trying its level best to internationalise the Kashmir issue, while India has been maintaining that talks and terror do not go together.

Pakistan has continuously raised the Kashmir issue at the UN seeking the world bodys attention and intervention in the issue with India. But New Delhi has always maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue with Islamabad as per the Shimla and Lahore agreements.

Mr Guterres, addressing reporters at his first press conference at the world bodys headquarters since assuming office in January, was asked about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control and the ceasefire violations since he assumed office. Mr Guterres did not elaborate further, but through his response he did not make any indication that he will act as a mediator between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.

According to news agency reports, Mr Modi and Mr Guterres had met in St. Petersburg earlier in June on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. During the meeting, Mr Modi had stressed on multilateralism to address global challenges such as terrorism.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the UN chief had 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 (SCO) summit.

Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked at press briefings about the Secretary Generals response to the situation in Kashmir, had repeatedly said earlier that Guterres is following the situation in the region closely.

The UN chief has not made any direct intervention to resolve the issue, reiterating his call for India and Pakistan to find a peaceful solution through engagement and dialogue.
In a letter to Mr Patnaik, the minister sought his support and guidance for the execution of the mission.

Pradhan added he met Unesco director Shigeru Aoyagi on May 29 and discussed the programmes to conserve and develop the countrys largest coastal lagoon.

Bhubaneswar: Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan apprised on Tuesday Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik about the joint initiatives United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) plan to take up to develop the Chilika Lake as a world heritage site to preserve the ecosystem around it.

In a letter to Mr Patnaik, the minister sought his support and guidance for the execution of the mission.

Unesco and ONGC are planning to support the development of the Chilika Lake as Unesco World Heritage site and enhance the value of Chilika to become a brand conservation linked sustainable development in the state, the letter read.

Mr Pradhan added he met Unesco director Shigeru Aoyagi on May 29 and discussed the programmes to conserve and develop the countrys largest coastal lagoon.

Urging the CM to meet Mr Aoyagi, who is on a visit to Bhubaneswar to crystallise the initiative, Mr Pradhan said the guidance of ministry of forest and environment and culture was also greatly needed.

Besides, ONGC and Unesco are planning long-term and short-term measures for the protection of animals and birds, improving livelihood of fishing community and tourist guides in the lake area, he stated.

Unesco has also proposed to set up a world-class conservation centre with climate change observatory with state-of-art data and monitoring facilities, the minister said.

CHILIKA LAKE, ODISHA

Total water area 1,100 sq km

Length 64.3 km

Breadth 18km

160 Bird species visit Chilika Lake in winter

Stretches from Puri district to Ganjam

Best time to visit Chilika Lake is from Nov till Feb

CHALLENGES
The VVIP visit was carried out under the cloud of a terror threat, which could not have disclosed at that time.

Kochi: The police assault against people at Puthuvypeen is all set to snowball into another controversy with DGP T.P. Senkumar saying that there was an extremist threat to the PM Narendra Modi during his visit to Kochi for the inauguration of Kochi Metro. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday he justified the police action against the protesters in the background of the extremist threat. There was no prior knowledge of any such protests and the PMs motorcade was slated to pass through the route within the next 24 hours. The VVIP visit was carried out under the cloud of a terror threat, which could not have disclosed at that time. The action by the DCP should be viewed in this background, Mr Senkumar said. The DGP, however, declined to elaborate further on the terror threat to the PM, but confirmed the presence of a terror module here. Giving a clean chit to deputy commissioner of police Yatish Chandra facing flak from various sections of the society the DGP hinted at an extremist link to the agitation at Puthuvypeen. Of course there is (the presence of some extremist elements behind these protests). Because, there have been people from outside among these protests, he said in reply to questions from media persons.

On indiscriminate lathi-charge at the High Court Junction on June 16, too, the DGP gave a clean chit to Yatish Chandra.

The DCP was not part of the police team at Puthuvypeen, he said, and added that the police had a clear mandate to provide adequate security to the proposed project. The DGP also castigated the media for airing the visuals of the agitations at the project site and the High Court by clipping them together.

Earlier the DGP examined video footages of the clashes between the police and the protestors and sought explanations from the DCP and Rural SP. The Kochi Range IG P Vijayan meanwhile has sought a report from city police commissioner and Rural SP on allegations of outside intervention in Puthuvypeen protests.
Mayawati said their protest against the anti-poor and anti-farmers function and policy was fully justified.

Lucknow: With the UP government all set to organise a grand Yoga Day function in the state capital on Wednesday, BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday alleged misuse of funds, resources and time over it. Instead of fulfilling its prime constitutional duty by using its power, resour-ces 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, she said. Joining issues with farmers organisations who have opposed the functions, Ms Mayawati said their protest against the anti-poor and anti-farmers function and policy was fully justified.

Alleging dwindling job opportunities and employment crunch in the IT sector also, she 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 progr-ammes like yoga.
Hungarian Economy Minister Mihaly Varga attends an interview in Budapest, Hungary, May 31, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

BUDAPEST - Hungary must strengthen its relations with China in the area of health, Hungarian Minister for National Economy Mihaly Varga said Tuesday, noting that Hungary considers China as a strategic partner in that particular domain.

"Health is one of the most important cornerstones of development, and contributes greatly to the economic growth," Varga said at the "Gateway to Health" conference and exhibition organized with the participation of 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and China.

The exhibition provides an opportunity for China and the 16 CEE countries to present their co-operation, research, development and innovation expertise in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical technology, Industry 4.0., new technologies, medical and health tourism, as well as education.

It also brings opportunities for cooperation between knowledge centers, governments, enterprises and manufacturing bases, especially for pharmaceutical, medical technological, and biotechnological companies.

"Due to the changes in world economy, new growth centers have appeared, while the European Union finds itself imprisoned in a slow-growth trap where western countries will probably grow under 2 percent," Varga explained.

However, the CEE countries are able to achieve a double growth, as Hungary and other countries of the region can count with an economic growth of 4 percent or more, he added.

Varga praised the CEE region for its performance shown in the field of the medical and health industry, recalling that Hungary had been a frontrunner of the pharmaceutical business since the 2000s.

"China considers the CEE region as the engine of the growth of the EU, and we wish to step up health and medical cooperation on the level of regulations, patents, R&D and in the elaboration of common strategies," Minister of China's National Health and Family Planning Commission Li Bin said.
Modi also distributed sanction letters for houses under the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana and inaugurated a 400 KV power line.

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday hosted a dinner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be participating in International Yoga Day in Lucknow. Invites for it were sent to all former chief ministers, including SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mr Adityanaths predecessor Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawti and other dignitaries. The three leaders reportedly accepted the invitations.

The dinner is also seen as an exercise by the BJP to garner support for its presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, who hails from the state. The SP and BSP, two major regional outfits of the UP, are yet to officially announce whether or not they will support the NDA nominee.

On Wednesday morning, the Prime Minister will participate in a yoga camp in Lucknow along with the chief minister and more than 50,000 people to mark the yoga day.

Soon after reaching Lucknow on Tuesday, Mr Modi proceeded to Central Drug Research Institute and inaugurated the new campus of APJ Kalam Technical University.

He also planted a sapling of a medicinal plant in the CDRI premises, flanked by governor Ram Naik and Mr Yogi Adityanath. Mr Modi also distributed sanction letters for houses under the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana and inaugurated a 400 KV power line.

Hours before the PM landed in the state capital, UP police detained 22 persons over apprehensions that there may be an attempt to block his convoy or create some other kind of disturbance.
While making a home out of a new host country, Swaroopa Unni started a dance school in New Zealand.

If you hear of the locals in New Zealand swaying to an Indian rhythm, chances are they have been trained at Natyaloka, an Indian dance school founded by performing artiste Swaroopa Unni. Tucked away in Dunedin, a city in the South Island of Otago region, New Zealand, Natyaloka is the only Indian dance school in the region.

Swaroopa moved to Dunedin after her marriage to Siddharth Nambiar in August 2010. "After our engagement, Siddharth left his corporate worklife in India to pursue his passion in Natural History filmmaking," says Swaroopa.

The initial few months in New Zealand were exciting,reveals Swaroopa. "A new place, new life and so many things to explore. But what took me by surprise was the biting cold winter here. After a few months, loneliness started kicking in. It was fun during weekends when friends (mainly from Siddharth's University) got together but then, the rest of the week, I didn't know what to do. It was so silent. I wanted to launch myself as an artiste but didn't know anyone."

She adds: "With Google's help, I contacted artistes based in Dunedin, and scouted for programmes. For people in Dunedin, Bollywood is the only Indian dance, and so, my mission was to create awareness. I did a solo, where I introduced different dance styles. I realised that I had to take one style at a time. So, I concentrated on Bharatanatyam. Now, there is a growing audience for Natyaloka performances and people are more curious to know about the dance style and narratives. I still have a long way togo."

"After my first performance, there were queries about teaching the dance form. I started Natyaloka in a spare room in my apartment with three students. I have now moved into a studio where I have about 30 super keen students with mixed identities coming from all walks of life. The experience has been both exciting and frustrating! But, I take it one step at a time and the rewards have been satisfying. That sums up an artist's life, I guess," the dancer gleams. Hailing from Kozhikode in Kerala, she misses the colours, cottons, mangoes, food made by her amma, noise, monsoon, Kozhikodan food!

Swaroopa started a new life from scratch with a sense of loneliness. "I tried to fit into the host society and nurture the nostalgia of being at home at the same time, by fusing Indian clothes with western, watching Indian programmes and movies online, speaking my native language Malayalam at home, cooking Indian cuisine and trying out different culinary treats of Dunedin, listening to Indian music and practising and introducing my dance form to the community of Dunedin.

In retrospect, I see how I was trying to recreate my home away from home but not exactly home. Now I consider both the countries as home," she confesses.

But then people in Dunedin are warm and friendly too, she admits.
The findings will help researchers develop tools to help decrease the risk of infection.

Washington: Obese patients have much higher odds of developing an infection soon after heart bypass surgery, according to a recent study.

The University of Alberta team analyzed data from 56,722 patients in the provincial registry to examine associations between body mass index (BMI) and various outcomes following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), also known as coronary angioplasty.

"Compared to patients with normal BMI, we found that patients with BMI greater than 30 were 1.9 times more likely to report infections after bypass surgery," said researcher Tasuku Terada, who recently presented the series of studies at the Canadian Obesity Summit. "A better understanding is needed in order to improve clinical outcomes for patients with obesity and heart disease."

In addition, another study in the series published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology found that 88 percent of patients, who received PCI, were classified as obese, compared to 55 per cent of the patients who received CABG. PCI is a non-surgical procedure that opens up narrowed arteries in the heart due to plaque build-up. The physician places a small stent to keep the artery open and help to prevent re-narrowing.

Terada noted that the risk of infection following CABG may explain why patients with obesity are more likely to receive PCI. Postsurgical infection means an increase in the length of stay at the hospital for patients, resulting in increased medical costs and use of resources. Knowing the risks and potential outcomes can help health-care providers and patients make more informed choices on treatment and better use of resources.

Obesity expert Mary Forhan believes that further investigation will help researchers develop tools to help decrease the risk of infection, and to ensure that patients are receiving proper care.
Qatar has been an attractive destination for job-seekers.

Indians should not take a hasty decision based on the recent happenings. Over the years, Qatar economy has been resilient. (Photo: AP/Representational)

With Middle East Countries boycott of Qatar, the countrys status has changed from a safe place to invest to difficult to continue. The stock markets in Qatar have gone down. The situation may be temporary but as of now, it has affected Qatar-based service sectors such as banking, finance, insurance, travel and tourism, logistics, IT enabled services and FMCG sector in marketing.

Qatar has been an attractive destination for job-seekers. But, now recruitment rate has dipped and if the situation continues, the country may descend to recession. Many overseas companies have investments in Qatar. If the crackdown continues, overseas funds flow will get reduced, forcing companies to adopt employee retrenchment as the next option.

However, Indians should not take a hasty decision based on the recent happenings. Over the years, Qatar economy has been resilient. Recent developments may get settled within a few months. My advice would be to not resign from your current position. If the companies insist on retrenchment, take leave for a few weeks. If there is a reduction in wages, try to adjust initially. It will get corrected once the stalemate subsides. Try to wait for a few months before entering into entrepreneurship and joint ventures in Qatar. Potential graduates or students need not worry but work towards acquiring maximum skills for the appropriate sectors.

(The writer is an educational and career consultant)
Tourists throng neighbouring hill station as GJM strike in Hills rages on.

People of Darjeeling Hills and adjacent regions participate in a silent rally in Kolkata on Tuesday to express solidarity with the people of Darjeeling. (Photo: PTI)

Gangtok: 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. The GJM agitation in Darjeeling led to the cancellation of bookings by domestic and foreign tourists in the queen of hill stations and they made 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, Mr Zangpo says.

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.

The tourism secretary 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, Mr 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 were 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, Mr Bose said. We spent only one night in Darjeeling, he said. Tourists from Sikkim are now being provided with Sikkim Nationalised Transport buses every day with security, and they feel safe 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 the police over the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland. Sikkim government sources say they had requested their counterpart in West Bengal on Sunday to provide security to vehicles passing through the NH 31A in Darjeeling district in view of the agitation.

The West Bengal government had assured 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. Around 30 km of the highway passes through West Bengal.
Environmentalists have slammed the move, saying that the civic body should turn down the tree-cutting proposal to save the green cover.

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which first filed a complaint against the conglomerate Larsen and Toubro (L&T) for illegal tree cutting, has now decided to allow the company to cut and transplant 83 and 192 trees respectively for the construction of their proposed office building at Powai.

Environmentalists have slammed the move, saying that the civic body should turn down the tree-cutting proposal to save the green cover of Powai.

The proposal will be discussed in the BMC tree authority meeting on Wednesday. Despite repeated attempts, the L&T officials remained unavailable for comments.

According to the civic officials, there are 379 trees on the plots 86, 87, 112, 115 and 116 B, which fall in Tunga and Paspoli villages in Powai. The L&T has tabled a proposal, asking for the approval to cut 83 and transplant 192 trees and saying that the trees were obstacle in the construction of their proposed office building.

When the S ward officials inspected the site earlier, they found that some of the trees have already been cut. The FIR has been filed against the company at the local police station for illegal tree cutting. However, in a letter sent to the civic body, the L&T later claimed that the contractor committed the mistake inadvertently. said a senior civic official.

The proposal to cut and transplant trees was sent to the civic legal department asking for its opinion on the matter. It has given its nod to accept the proposal even though a FIR has been filed against the company, he added.

The activists have said the BMC should protect the green cover of Powai. Trees are the lungs of Powai, said environmentalist Elsie Gabriel.

High courts observation

According to the high Court directives, if a tree is hacked for the developmental projects, at least three trees will have to be planted at other places. The tree authority guidelines have made it mandatory for the developer to plant new and transplanted trees on the open space of the same plot.
Sahar police arrested Gurgaon based Mohit Kanvar for assaulting a Mumbai based lawyer in a Delhi-Mumbai flight.

Mumbai: A Mumbai based lawyer was repeatedly molested and groped by a male co-passenger mid-air in a Delhi-Mumbai flight on Monday morning.

The accused, a Gurgaon resident, Mohit Kanvar was arrested by Sahar police for the incident.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, the accused allegedly continued touching the woman, sitting next to him, even after she complained to the air hostess.

The woman then informed the pilot about the incident and was allowed to change her seat. When she got her seat changed, he allegedly asked her: You do not like to be touched?

The woman said that around 8.30 am, mid-flight, the accused touched her with his left hand and left leg.

When the victim turned to ask the man to sit properly, she saw that he had kept his eyes closed. She then pulled down the arm rest to distance herself from him.

Kanvar then folded his right arm towards her and groped her again. This time, she alerted the air hostess, who advised the man to sit properly. But he abused her for the rebuke.

Once the plane landed at the CST International Airport, Mumbai, the pilot alerted the Sahar police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Kanvar was arrested and booked under section 354 (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Sai Bangoda is home to 350 families; and Gaodevi and Bohrikhan to 50 and 80 families, respectively.

Mumbai: Around 2,500 tribal residents from Aarey colonys 27 adivasi padas on Tuesday held a march from Picnic Point to the Aarey CEOs office to protest the BMC-state government plan to build an extension of Byculla zoo in Aarey colony. The residents claimed that constructing an extension of the zoo on agricultural land would affect their livelihood.

They said that at least six adivasi hamlets would be affected, with families from Bohrikhan pada, Gaodevi pada, Khambacha pada, Jivacha pada, Marol Maroshi pada, and Sai Bangoda pada losing their farmland. Sai Bangoda is home to 350 families; and Gaodevi and Bohrikhan to 50 and 80 families, respectively.

The protest which began around 12pm on Tuesday saw participation from over 2,500 adivasis. All those who participated in the morcha stand to lose their homes and also farming, which is their livelihood. According to the Forest Right Act 2006, all adivasis are entitled to land in forest areas to carry on farming or sell forest produce without disturbing the forest.

Prakash Bhoir, an adivasi from Kilti pada, said, We have been residing here since long and have been paying taxes according to the adivasi quota. In recent years, there have been encroachments by outsiders in Aarey colony; these people are not

adivasis.

The government, along with them, wants to shift us to SRA. We are strictly against moving out of Aarey as not only us but our animals and the biodiversity around us too will suffer.

Aarey dairy CEO, N.V. Rathod, told The Asian Age, The issues concerning adivasis are dealt with by the state tribal department. However, I will be writing to the state

government about the same.
Battling intense weather condition, ITBP personnel celebrated yoga in Kullu, Rajnandgaon, Uttarkashi.

Ladakh: Joining the nation in celebrating the third edition of International Yoga Day, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force on Wednesday performed yoga at nearly 18,000 feet above the sea level in Ladakh at biting -25Celsius.

#WATCH ITBP jawans doing Yoga at nearly 18000 feet in Ladakh in -25 degrees #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/YvSGqpQnxF  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Navy personnel also joined in the celebrations and performed Yoga onboard Indian Naval Ship (INS) Jalashwa and Kirch in the Bay of Bengal.

ITBP personnel celebrated yoga at various locations across India, including Himachal Pradesh's Kullu, Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon District, Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district.

This year the theme of the day is 'Yoga for Harmony and Peace'. The yoga protocol began on Wednesday at 7 am and lasted for 45 minutes.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the International Yoga Day celebrations in Lucknow.

The entire world has been equally thrilled and pumped up to observe the occasion, taking a pledge to keep their body, mind and soul fit.

The age-old Indian practice has brought people from different culture and countries together and this could be clearly seen from the zeal and enthusiasm with which the people across the globe are practicing yoga.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the gathering on this day in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow, said that Yoga has become an integral part of every Indian household.

Conveying his greetings to all those who joined the Yoga Day 2017 celebrations across India and the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Yoga's immense popularity outside India is high and has connected the world with India.

"I am happy to see so many Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing. Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

The international day for yoga is celebrated annually since its inception in 2015.

An International day for Yoga was declared unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 11 December 2014.
Born and brought up in British India, the 83-year-old writer left for England in the 1950s for better prospects.

Bond's autobiography, which he said he wrote after much persuasion by friends, is an account of a life well lived and "by and large, without regrets" (Photo: PTI)

Mumbai: Believe it or not, but a "mildly erotic" story almost landed writer Ruskin Bond in jail.

Speaking at the launch of his autobiography 'Lone Fox Dancing' at the Taj Mahal Hotel here yesterday, the Mussoorie-based author recalled how a non-bailable warrant was issued against him during the Emergency.

"A constable from Bombay brought the warrant up to Mussoorie. He was a very nice man and I took him to the pictures," he said.

The popular author of children's book said he had to finally appear in a Bombay court, and the case dragged on for about two years.

"It wasn't much fun at all," he said. "But in the end, I got an Honourable acquittal and the judge said he enjoyed the story too," Bond said.

The story -- The Sensualist -- appeared in a magazine called Debonair.

"It was a mildly erotic story about a recluse who reminisces about his misspent youth; but it was no Lady Chatterley's Lover," Bond writes in his autobiography.

However, the writer went on to say the reason behind the warrant was not the story alone, but perhaps also that he was editing the Imprint magazine during the Emergency, when strict restrictions had been imposed on the media.

"But I was a cautious man...I used to just write editorials on trees, wild flowers and the environment in general...So we managed to survive that period," he told the gathering at the book launch.

Did he bring the matter up with then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi when he met her?

"No. I guess she already knew about it. In fact, I was still under trial when I met her," Bond said.

When asked if he played safe at the meeting, too, by talking about birds and trees with the prime minister, he replied, "Yes, she was very interested in nature".

Born and brought up in British India, the 83-year-old writer left for England in the 1950s for better prospects, only to realise he had left his heart behind in India.

"India was home. It wasn't just my mother's or step- father's home, home was the land itself... The soil here. I never owned any property in my life and yet I believe everything here belongs to me. The entire country belongs to me," he said.

So, Bond added, he returned to India "for the relationships, the friends, the attachments -- those were the things I couldn't find there in England".

But the octogenarian recalled that he was once asked to pay the entry fee for foreigners at the Sun Temple in Konark, and had a hard time proving he was not a foreigner.

The otherwise lucid narrator said he failed to convince the man at the ticket counter about his Indian identity, while a Sikh man holding a British passport standing next to him easily made it through.

"I asked the Sikh gentleman, 'Where were you born?'. He said, 'Birmingham'. And I was born in PEPSU, what was the Patiala East Punjab States Union. So I was more Sikh than he was," he said, leaving the audience in splits.

Bond's autobiography, which he said he wrote after much persuasion by friends, is an account of a life well lived and "by and large, without regrets".
Sonys 4K line-up has witnessed a positive progression with 17 models being launched in FY17 compared to 11 models in FY16.

The new X series runs on the latest Android TV version 7.0 (Nougat) with Sonys exclusive user interface.

Sony India today announced the new 4K HDR television series. The new BRAVIA TVs make the best use of 4K HDR (High Dynamic Range) content with the combination of their image processor and display device technologies.

Sonys 4K line-up has witnessed a positive progression with 17 models being launched in FY17 compared to 11 models in FY16. The expansion is attributed to 4K technology making a push into the mainstream, as consumers are now aggressively consuming 4K content from various online streaming services. The growing demand for larger screen segments is also one of the aspects boosting the segments succession.

Sonys 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme has been widely acclaimed for its ability to produce lifelike picture with superb texture, depth, colour, and contrast, bringing a significant leap forward in the space of HDR. With the introduction of the new 2017 line-up this technological prowess will now cater to a broader audience.

The new X9500E & X9300E series features Slim Backlight Drive+, an improved LED Backlight technology allowing more precise and accurate local dimming control compared to a conventional Backlight Drive.

With its quad-edge LED structure and X-tended Dynamic Range PRO local dimming and boosting technology, it enhances the brightness and contrast details- in fact delivering 10 times the XDR contrast of conventional LED TV.

Android Nougat 7.0

The new X series runs on the latest Android TV version 7.0 (Nougat) with

Sonys exclusive user interface. Sonys Android TV lets one explore the world of movies, music, photos, games, search, apps and more.

X9500E Series

The flagship series with Sonys powerful picture & sound technologies delivers the ultimate viewing experience. The front facing slim Magnetic Fluid speakers produce a full range of crisp, distortion-free sound. Together with High-Resolution Audio support, these innovative speakers reproduce your contents with an immersive surround effect.

Features Slim Backlight Drive+ with a unique quad-edge LED structure, allowing precise local dimming control which provides exceptional brightness and deeper blacks than a conventional full-array LED TV in an ultra slim design.

Features 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme, providing the ultimate 4K HDR viewing experience by incorporating three new technologies: Object-based HDR remaster, Super Bit Mapping 4K HDR and Dual database processing.

X-tended Dynamic Range PRO enhances HDR and non-HDR content by boosting and dimming the backlight levels precisely for each zone of the screen with a unique backlighting technology (10 times XDR contrast1).

Features vibrant, expanded colour with TRILUMINOS Display, further enhanced for colour accuracy.

Uses 4K X-Reality PRO to produce stunning detail with Sonys unique algorithm of reality creation database for any content, such as TV broadcasts, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Internet video and digital photos.

The X95E Series, a high-end fusion of stunning 4K HDR visuals and phenomenal interior design, features a back panel that makes the product look right at home wherever it stands in a living room environment. Rounding out the back panels ensemble is the leather texture of the rear cover, which helps augment the visual presence.

With slim, chair-like legs on a thin slate to accentuate the lightness of the overall look and provide balanced support, the stand houses all cables, simplifying the leg area.

The ultra slim design allows for swivel wall mounting and clean cable management for table top mount.

Android TV lets you explore a world of movies, music, photos, games, search, apps and more. Voice Search to find content, ask questions and control your TV. With Chromecast built-in, you can easily send content from your smartphone or tablet to the TV. With access to Google Play, you can enjoy what you like to do on a smartphone or tablet, from their TV.

Sonys exclusive Content Bar user interface allows you to comfortably browse content quickly and intuitively without disrupting your TV viewing.

HDR compatible to receive and process the new video standard signal with higher brightness, higher contrast and more vibrant colours via Internet video services, HDMI and USB port. Supports Dolby Vision HDR format.

Enjoy seamless Bluetooth connectivity with A2DP support. Experience superior sound quality with a wide range of Sony wireless headphones.

X9400E/X9300E Series

Features Slim Backlight Drive+ with a unique quad-edge LED structure, allowing precise local dimming control which provides exceptional brightness and deeper blacks than a conventional full-array LED TV in an ultra slim design (X9300E only[4]).

Features 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme, providing the ultimate 4K HDR viewing experience by incorporating three new technologies: Object-based HDR remaster, Super Bit Mapping 4K HDR and Dual database processing.

X-tended Dynamic Range PRO enhances HDR and non-HDR content by boosting and dimming the backlight levels precisely for each zone of the screen with a unique backlighting technology (10 times XDR contrast1).

Features vibrant, expanded colour with TRILUMINOS Display, further enhanced for colour accuracy.

Uses 4K X-Reality PRO to produce stunning detail with Sonys unique algorithm of reality creation database for any content, such as TV broadcasts, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Internet video and digital photos.

A high-end fusion of stunning 4K HDR visuals and phenomenal interior design features a back panel that makes the product look right at home wherever it stands in a living room environment. Rounding out the back panels ensemble is the leather texture of the rear cover, which helps augment the visual presence.

With slim, chair-like legs on a thin slate to accentuate the lightness of the overall look and provide balanced support, the stand houses all cables, simplifying the leg area. The bottoms of the two slates are staggered verticallyand thats to create a space for the speakers to emit sound straight ahead, maximizing the quality of the audio.

The ultra slim design allows for flush with the swivel wall mounting and clean cable management for table top mount.

 Android TV lets you explore a world of movies, music, photos, games, search, apps and more. Voice Search to find content, ask questions and control your TV. With Chromecast built-in, you can easily send content from your smartphone or tablet to the TV. With access to Google Play, you can enjoy what you like to do on a smartphone or tablet, from their TV.

Sonys exclusive Content Bar user interface allows you to comfortably browse content quickly and intuitively without disrupting your TV viewing.

HDR compatible to receive and process the new video standard signal with higher brightness, higher contrast and more vibrant colours via Internet video services, HDMI and USB port. Supports Dolby Vision HDR format.

Enjoy seamless Bluetooth connectivity with A2DP support. Experience superior sound quality with a wide range of Sony wireless headphones.

X9000E Series

Features 4K HDR Processor X1, reproducing more depth, textures and natural colours with Object-based HDR remaster and Super Bit Mapping 4K HDR technology.

X-tended Dynamic Range PRO enhances HDR and non-HDR content by boosting and dimming the backlight levels precisely for each zone of the screen with a unique backlighting technology (5 times XDR contrast1).

Features vibrant, expanded colour with TRILUMINOS Display, further enhanced for colour accuracy.

Uses 4K X-Reality PRO to produce stunning detail with Sonys unique algorithm of reality creation database for any content, such as TV broadcasts, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Internet video and digital photos.

The X9000E Series features a design that takes minimal presence to a new level. The stand, which combines a low-profile slate and slender legs for support, underscores that light feel with gentle curves. On the back panel, meanwhile, the slimmed-down peripheral area finishes off the total form with a svelte grace.

Android TV lets you explore a world of movies, music, photos, games, search, apps and more. Voice Search to find content, ask questions and control your TV. With Chromecast built-in, you can easily send content from your smartphone or tablet to the TV. With access to Google Play, you can enjoy what you like to do on a smartphone or tablet, from their TV.

Sonys exclusive Content Bar user interface allows you to comfortably browse content quickly and intuitively without disrupting your TV viewing.

HDR compatible to receive and process the new video standard signal with higher brightness, higher contrast and more vibrant colours via Internet video services, HDMI and USB port.

Enjoy seamless Bluetooth connectivity with A2DP support. Experience superior sound quality with a wide range of Sony wireless headphones.

X8200E Series

Features vibrant, expanded colour with TRILUMINOS Display, further enhanced for colour accuracy.

Uses 4K X-Reality PRO to produce stunning detail with Sonys unique algorithm of reality creation database for any content, such as TV broadcasts, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Internet video and digital photos.

This series features Sonys new 4 x 4 Sound System .The large-capacity two-way speaker system features a tweeter and woofer for both the left and right channels, each individually powered by its own separate amplifier. By driving each speaker independently, the system reproduces a crisper, more dynamic sound. Movies come alive with crystal clear dialogue and exhilarating sound effects.

The ultra slim form factor comes with sleek rear design and clean cable management for table top mount.

Android TV lets you explore a world of movies, music, photos, games, search, apps and more. Voice Search to find content, ask questions and control your TV. With Chromecast built-in, you can easily send content from your smartphone or tablet to the TV. With access to Google Play, you can enjoy what you like to do on a smartphone or tablet, from their TV.

Sonys exclusive Content Bar user interface allows you to comfortably browse content quickly and intuitively without disrupting your TV viewing.

HDR compatible to receive and process the new video standard signal with higher brightness, higher contrast and more vibrant colours via Internet video services, HDMI and USB port.

X7500E Series

Uses 4K X-Reality PRO to produce stunning detail with Sonys unique algorithm of reality creation database for any content, such as TV broadcasts, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Internet video and digital photos.

The ultra slim form factor comes with sleek rear design and clean cable management for table top mount.

Android TV lets you explore a world of movies, music, photos, games, search, apps and more. Voice Search to find content, ask questions and control your TV. With Chromecast built-in, you can easily send content from your smartphone or tablet to the TV. With access to Google Play, you can enjoy what you like to do on a smartphone or tablet, from their TV.

Sonys exclusive Content Bar user interface allows you to comfortably browse content quickly and intuitively without disrupting your TV viewing.

HDR compatible to receive and process the new video standard signal with higher brightness, higher contrast and more vibrant colours via Internet video services, HDMI and USB port.

X7002E Series
The violence in the central town of Bria was between members of Christian 'anti-balaka' militias and ex-Seleka fighters, the sources said.

The violence erupted just a day after the CAR government and rebel groups agreed to an immediate ceasefire. (Photo: Representational/AP)

Bangui (Central African Republic): At least 40 people were killed in clashes on Tuesday in the Central African Republic, aid and security sources said, the day after the signing of a ceasefire deal.

The violence in the central town of Bria was between members of Christian 'anti-balaka' militias and ex-Seleka fighters, the sources said. In addition, 43 people were injured as of 2100 GMT, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

The violence erupted just a day after the CAR government and rebel groups agreed to an immediate ceasefire, a deal brokered by the Catholic community Sant'Egidio in five days of negotiations in 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 can't allow an attack to happen without reacting," said 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, which had signed Monday's peace accord.

Sporadic fighting has continued since Saturday between Christian 'anti-balaka' militias and the FPRC after its leader Hamad Issa was killed in the town, according to several sources.

"We know that much remains to be done. It is vital that the ceasefire agreed to by the parties is carried out immediately," said UN special representative on CAR, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga.

Battling between armed groups in the Bria area from May 15 to 18 left five people dead, 29 wounded and more than 40,000 others displaced, according to the UN.

Clashes 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 UN's humanitarian coordination agency OCHA.
If two-thirds of Congress votes to allow the investigation, Temer would be suspended from office pending trial.

Sao Paulo: Brazil's federal police force says it has found evidence that embattled President Michel Temer received bribes to help businesses.

Investigators said in a preliminary report published on Tuesday by Brazil's top court that Temer deserves to be investigated for corruption. Temer has denied any wrongdoing and has already pledged not to resign.

Attorney General Rodrigo Janot said last month there were enough preliminary indications of wrongdoing for Temer to be investigated for corruption and obstruction of justice.

If Brazil's top prosecutor agrees with the federal police recommendation, Congress will decide whether Temer should be investigated by the country's Supreme Court. The court is the only body that can formally investigate the president.

If two-thirds of Congress votes to allow the investigation, Temer would be suspended from office pending trial.
The tweet came a day after the death of Otto Warmbier -- a US student who returned in a coma from prison in North Korea.

Washington: US President Donald Trump took to Twitter Tuesday to thank China for attempting to resolve tensions with North Korea, but declared that Beijing's "efforts" had failed.

"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 wrote.

The tweet came a day after the death of Otto Warmbier -- a US student who returned in a coma from prison in North Korea -- and on the eve of a first US-China strategic security dialogue.

Since coming to office, Trump has tried to get Beijing to put pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

It was unclear if the tweet was a signal that those efforts have failed. That conclusion could be seen as a warning of unilateral US action to follow.
Chief Inspector Realan Mamon could not confirm if students or teachers were being held hostage.

Manila: About 200 gunmen attacked troops and occupied a primary school in a southern Philippine village on Wednesday, in what appeared to be a diversionary tactic to help Islamist militants engaged in a nearby urban war, authorities said.

Police and the local mayor said militants took over the school after attacking an army detachment in Pigkawayan, a farming town about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Marawi city where militants linked to the Islamic State group have been fighting government troops for over a month.

Chief Inspector Realan Mamon could not confirm if students or teachers were being held hostage. The attack happened at dawn, before the school opened.

He said in a radio interview the attack could be a diversionary tactic to ease pressure on the militants in Marawi.

Mamon said the gunmen were believed to be from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), one of four armed groups in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao that analysts say have pledged allegiance to IS.

Pigkawayan town mayor Eliseo Garsesa said about 200 gunmen were involved.
322 political figures, scribes, officers under surveillance by govt.

Islamabad: Pakistani authorities used surveillance technology to tap telephones of 322 prominent political figures, journalists, judiciary, establishment and high-level officers, media reports said.

An Urdu newspaper here reported that the law enforcement agencies allegedly used surveillance technology to tap telephones.

Cell phones of relatives of key political figures were also tapped for few hours on daily basis. Such individuals have been placed under A category in a list which is updated frequently.

The list contains several names from Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunhaw. There are two other lists named B and C respectively. Lists B and C contain over 2000 telephone numbers of various personalities.

As per details available, the last alteration in the list A was made in May-2017 when 16 more persons were enlisted from the federal capital. Out of these 16 persons, seven are political figures while the rest were the government officials.

The script of recorded script of telephonic chat, additional information is acquired through female officers telephonic conversation is often presented to high-level government officials. After acquiring which is then handed over to the authorities concerned, said the report.

Earlier, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the allegations of corruption and money laundering against the Nawaz Sharifs ruling family, has been accused of taping phones of the Prime Ministers house.

In response, it submitted to the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the allegations levelled by the body against some state institutions.

Attorney General Ashtar Ausaf Ali, who submitted the response, said taping of PM house phones was not permissible under the law. He alleged JIT staff was also responsible for leaking the summons issued to the Prime Minister asking him to appear before the team. The attorney general denied that the Prime Minister house was pressuring witnesses.

Nawaz Sharif appeared before the Joint Investigation Team in an ongoing case that has gripped Pakistan and threatened to topple him after the Panama Papers leak last year. The controversy erupted with the publication of 11.5 million secret documents.

from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca documenting the offshore dealings of many of the worlds rich and powerful.

Three of Sharifs four children -- his daughter and presumptive political heir Maryam, and his sons Hasan and Hussein -- were implicated.
Belgium's national crisis said the suspect had been 'neutralised' and the situation was under control.

Belgian Army soldiers patrol near Central Station in Brussels after a reported explosion on Tuesday (Photo: AP)

Brussels: An explosion rocked the central train station in Brussels on Tuesday and a man was shot by police during the incident, prosecutors told Belgian media.

A suspect shouted out "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) before causing the explosion, a witness said.

Belgium's national crisis said the suspect had been "neutralised" and the situation was under control.

The incident took place around 1900 GMT, causing the city's Gare Centrale to be evacuated. The nearby Grand Place, a major tourist destination, was also evacuated.

"I went down the mezzanine level, someone was shouting. Then he cried 'Allahu Akbar', and he blew up a trolley," Nicolas Van Herrewegen, 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," the witness said.

About an hour after the events, the situation was "under control", the federal crisis centre said in a tweet.

"People are running everywhere," a witness told RTL news as soon as the incident occurred.

"Panic in the Gare Centrale. Shots heard," another witness told the broadcaster.

Firemen were called to the scene after the report of the small explosion, RTBF broadcaster reported.

The incident in Belgium comes a day after a man mowed down Muslims near a mosque in London, and a radical Islamist on a terror watch-list rammed a car laden with weapons and gas into a police vehicle in Paris.

Brussels has been on high alert since Islamic State 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 jihadist cell behind the November 2016 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

Soldiers have been deployed at railway stations, government buildings and European Union institutions in Brussels since the aftermath of the Paris attacks when a link to Belgium was first established.

Belgium suffered a further 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.
According to a womens rights organisation, 173 women have been murdered in the first five months of 2017 and 328 in 2016.

The government insists that while it has given women the right to wear the Islamic headscarf at university, school and even in the army this has not impeded the freedom of Turkish women to dress as they please. (Photo: Representational)

Istanbul: A Turkish man assaulted a young woman on an Istanbul bus for wearing shorts during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, images showed Wednesday, sparking a furore among women's rights activists.

University student Asena Melisa Saglam was travelling on the bus when the man seated behind her struck her in the face, images published by Turkish media showed.

She responded by chasing after him but he grabbed her and slung her to the back of the bus before running out of the vehicle.

Saglam said that throughout the journey the man had been verbally harassing her by saying she should not be wearing shorts during Ramadan.

The man was detained but following questioning -- in which he reportedly said he had been "provoked" -- he was set free, causing a new outcry.

"The release of the attacker is a threat to all women," the women's rights organisation We Will Stop Femicide Platform wrote on Twitter.

"We will wear whatever we want outside. We will not give up our freedoms." Following the outcry, an order was given to re-arrest the man but it was not immediately clear if he had been detained again.

Saglam, 21, was quoted by the Hurriyet daily as saying: "From the moment I sat down he was making these remarks 'you dress like this during Ramadan? You should feel ashamed to be dressed like that'."

She said she put on her headphones and ignored him but then he got up, hitting her so the side of her jaw hit the bus window.

According to the Platform, 173 women have been murdered in the first five months of 2017 and 328 in 2016.

Opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuse the government of presiding over a creeping Islamisation of Turkey which has undermined the secular principles of the state set up by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk that enshrined women's rights.

But the government insists that while it has given women the right to wear the Islamic headscarf at university, school and even in the army this has not impeded the freedom of Turkish women to dress as they please.

A man named Abdullah Cakiroglu who kicked a Turkish woman who was wearing shorts last year in a similar case is currently on trial and faces nine years in jail if convicted.
The girl's father said that his daughter had been illegally married off to Syed Nawaz Ali Shah after being kidnapped from her village.

Satram Das Meghwar, through Advocate Bhagwandas, filed a case in the Sindh High Court against conversion and marriage of his 16-year-old daughter Ravita Meghwar. (Photo: Representational/File)

Karachi: A top court in Pakistan's southern Sindh province has ordered police to produce before it, on Thursday, a Hindu girl who, according to her family, was abducted, forcibly converted and married off to a Muslim man.

Satram Das Meghwar, through Advocate Bhagwandas, filed a case in the Sindh High Court against conversion and marriage of his 16-year-old daughter Ravita Meghwar.

Meghwar yesterday told the court that his daughter had been illegally married off to Syed Nawaz Ali Shah after having been kidnapped from her village near Nagarparkar Town on June 6. She was named Gulnaz after the conversion.

The same day she married 36-year-old Shah at the marriage Registrars office in union council Gulzar Khalil in Samaro of Umerkot district in the province.

The bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar ordered Mirpurkhas DIG and Tharpakr SSP to produce Ravita on June 22, the day of next hearing, Dawn reported. Meghwar said his daughter was born on July 14, 2001.

His lawyer contended that the marriage under the age of 18 was a punishable offence under the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013. He said the registrar had mentioned Shah's year of birth (1980) and the national identity card number on the marriage certificate.

Ravita's age was shown as about 18 years, but there was no mention of her NIC number. Similarly, the lawyer said, the certificate of conversion to Islam also did not mention her date of birth and NIC number, but her age was shown as 18 years.

"She was abducted from her house and forcibly married off to a man twice her age," said Meghwar, who had lodged an FIR against Ali Nawaz Shah, Madad Ali Shah, Umar Junejo and Sher Mohammad Junejo for kidnapping his daughter.

The FIR was registered at the Dano Dandhal police station in Nangarparkar taluka a week ago. Earlier, Shah and Ravita had filed an application in the SHC seeking protection and accusing the girl's parents of issuing death threat.

The court had fixed June 30 the date of hearing on the application. Ravita has appealed to her parents to let her live with her husband happily as, according to her, she had taken the decision to embrace Islam to marry the person of her choice.

She requested the people of her community and members of civil society to stop raising the issue further. "I am very satisfied and happy after marrying Nawaz Ali

Shah and now I cannot [live] without my husband," she said yesterday and made it clear that she was not kidnapped. "I willingly went with Shah after falling in love with him."

Ravita expressed the hope that the court would do justice with her and allow her to live with her husband. Meanwhile, Ravita's mother Haqu insisted that her daughter was kidnapped by the influential Syed community, forcibly converted and then married.

Activists of the Pakistan People's Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) protesting against what they called "forced conversion" of Ravita and workers of various religious parties taking to the streets in favour of her Muslim husband came face-to-face outside the press club in Umerkot yesterday, turning the situation critical.

Bhagchand Meghwar and other activists of the PPP-SB held a demonstration outside the press club, demanding immediate arrest of accused Nawaz Shah.

Activists of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat, Ghousia Jamat and Jeelani Jamat also gathered outside the club to stop what they called the propaganda with "blasphemous contents" on social media in the wake of Ravita's conversion to Islam.
Since he cannot travel to the country at present, Pope Francis has launched a number of local initiative to support health, agriculture and education. He also renewed his call on the international community to stop the ongoing massacres.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Although he cannot personally travel to South Sudan, Pope Francis has not forgotten the country where a terrible cholera outbreak has recently compounded the effects of a brutal war with its corollary of bloodshed and rapes.

Indeed, the pope has renewed his call on the international community to redouble its efforts in finding a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict. At the same time, he has pledged support for local health, agriculture and educational projects.

Dubbed Pope for South Sudan, the initiative was presented by Card Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Combonian Sister Laura Gemignani from the Nzara South Sudan Hospital, Caritas Internationalis secretary general Michel Roy, and Sister Yudith Pereira-Rico (RJM), associate executive director of Solidarity with South Sudan.

"Far from the spotlight, there is a war that continues to reap victims, Card Turkson said. Death and despair afflict the population. The conflict has been going on since 2013 and has caused a major humanitarian crisis that sees more than half of the population, about 7.3 million people, suffering hunger every day.

Now, The lives of thousands of people are being endangered by an unprecedented cholera epidemic. A million and a half people have been forced to flee their villages and cities because of the war. In this country, there are systematic and generalised massacres and atrocities perpetrated against civilians along ethnic lines. Women and children are daily victims of violence and abuse."

"Pope Francis is a universal shepherd who stands above borders. He feels the pressing need to raise awareness in the international community about this silent tragedy, and has called for greater and renewed efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict."

Although he cannot personally come to South Sudan to further, with his presence, the peace process, and give voice to the desperate cry of a Church that wants to say enough with weapons, rape, death, the pontiff wanted to concretely show the Church's presence and closeness with the suffering people."

This is how the initiative Pope for South Sudan was born, which " is meant to foster, support and encourage the work of various religious congregations and international aid organisations that are present in the country, working tirelessly to help the population and promote the process of development and peace."

Two projects are in health care, namely two hospitals run by Combonian missionary Sisters in South Sudan: Wau Hospital and Nzara Hospital.

Another project is in education through the Solidarity with South Sudan association. It will provide two-year scholarships to students seeking a Master's degree at the Solidarity Teacher Training Centre in Yambio.

In agriculture, a project by Caritas Internationalis involves some 2,500 families in the dioceses of Yei, Tombura-Yambio and Torit who will get farming and livestock equipment to improve community self-reliance.

"The Holy Father has not forgotten the silent and unheeded victims of this bloody and inhuman conflict, he has not forgotten the people who have been forced to flee their native country because of abuse, injustice and war, the cardinal said.

The pope holds all of them in his prayers and heart. He strongly hopes to make an official visit to the country as soon as possible.

The Church has not given up hope for the troubled country. Instead, it calls for bold choices and believes that Divine Providence is capable of realising what in the eyes of the world seems unreal, impossible.
An explosion shook Brussels central station. A witness asserts that the attacker had yelled "Allah is great" before detonating his suitcase. The episode fuels climate of fear in the heart of Europe. Islamic terrorisms strategy of tension.

Brussels (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Last night at 9 pm an explosion shook on Brussels Central Railway Station. A man was killed by the Belgian police after a bomb exploded. In a late-night press conference federal prosecution spokesman Eric Van der Sypt said that the episode was being treated as a suspected terrorist attack. That was enough to put the Belgian capital on lock down in fear for nearly a year after the serious bombings in 2016. The law enforcement forces evacuated the central station while the Grand Place, less than 400 meters away, was instantly emptied.

Nicolas Van Herrewegen, a Belgium State Railways employee who witnessed the incident said: "I was walking on the track when I heard a man shouting. He was talking about jihadists and stuff like that. At one point he shouted "Allahu Akbar" and detonated a small suitcase, holding it next to him. Then people started to flee. Everyone fled. At this point I went back to the track and warned my colleagues that they had to evacuate the station. "

On this occasion, there were no consequences for people's lives except for the attacker killed by the police. But the attack contributes to maintaining a climate of tension in the heart of Europe. The incident in Belgium came one day after a Muslim man was shot and killed near a mosque in London and a radical Islamic with his car loaded with gas weapons and bombs rammed a police vehicle in Paris on the Champs-Elysee. Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel saluted the "courage" of the security forces and convened a Security Council meeting this morning.
Christians have better guns. They are buying, said the president. Analysts dismiss his view as baseless attempt to justify martial law. For Card Orlando Quevedo, archbishop of Cotabato, the government should address the economic and political roots of terrorism rather than focus on a military solution.

Zamboanga (AsiaNews)  In his latest controversial statement, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte said that a civil war might break out between Christians and Muslims on the island of Mindanao (southern Philippines), something that local analysts exclude.

The countrys Catholic Church has taken a more realistic approach to the crisis that broke out in Lanao del Sur province on 23 May. For Card Orlando Beltran Quevedo of Cotabato, focus should be on fighting the social injustices that cause extremism.

Yesterday, President Duterte met with wounded soldiers in Cagayan De Oro. He warned that if the violence unleashed by Maute terrorists spilled over into other parts of Mindanao, Christians would arm themselves, and a civil war with Muslims might ensue.

Because if theres civil war, there would be killings. Here in Mindanao, there are more Christians and they have better guns. They are buying. The rich ones, theyre stockpiling guns, he said.

Duterte said the armed forces would then have to deal not just with Maute terrorists but also armed Christians.

Analysts who spoke to AsiaNews strongly reject this possibility, dismissing his view as baseless. Duterte is not new to this type of remarks, often rectified by his spokespeople.

According to experts, his claims are an attempt to justify the decision to impose martial law on the island of Mindanao, which has been a major discussion point among politicians and ordinary Filipinos over the past month.

However, Duterte's words are rash, and no longer reflect reality. True, in the past, Christians in Mindanao armed themselves against Muslim rebels. However, these groups have not been active for some time, except in some clashes between local Muslims Moros and the government."

Most Muslims are now engaged in peace talks with the central government and are ready to fight alongside Filipino troops against Maute Jihadis who are behind the siege in Marawi.

The rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the authoritative voice of Mindanao Muslims, have recently fought against Maute terrorists, some of whom are from the Middle East and uninterested in the local aspirations for autonomy.

Since the start of the Marawi siege, the Catholic Church has worked to alleviate the suffering of the population. Catholic help for the displaced have moved Muslims, creating important opportunities for dialogue between the two.

Muslim religious leaders have condemned the desecration of Marawis Catholic Cathedral and called for the release of Fr Teresito Chito Suganob, who is still held by terrorists along with other Christians.

"With the tragic reality of terrorism, interreligious dialogue has become more imperative and indispensable," said Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, archbishop of Cotabato.

Dealing with social injustices, real or perceived, is key to combating terrorism, not military intervention, he added. "The government has to address the economic and political roots of terrorism.

Mindanao is the Philippiness richest island in terms of resources, but it has some of the poorest provinces, like Lanao del Sur, where Marawi is located.

According to official statistics, poverty in the province  which has a population of 1 million  has worsened over the last decade. From just 44 per cent in 2006, it rose dramatically to 74.3 per cent in 2015.

Decades of government neglect, inequality, and political exclusion have spurred numerous rebel groups into waging an insurgency for greater autonomy over more than four decades.

Eleven of the countrys 20 poorest provinces are in Mindanao, which has about 21 million people.
Christians did not give up their faith, or even pretended to, but left everything behind. Now their life is precarious but there is no grudge in their hearts, as they pray for their persecutors and thankful for what happened because "it was an opportunity to rediscover what is most important, which is faith". On the Nineveh Plain, military victory is not enough. Christians have to return because they are "the presence of Christ."

Rome (AsiaNews)  "The testimony of faith in these beautiful Christians is a treasure for us," said Mgr Alberto Ortega Martin, apostolic nuncio to Jordan and Iraq, speaking about Iraqi Christians. A "yes to God cost them everything" and the Church is called to support them.

The prelate spoke on the occasion of the Holy Rosary for persecuted Christians, led by the Nazarat Committee last night in Romes Santa Maria delle Fornaci Church.

Since the year 2000, Christians in Iraq have dropped from one and a half million to 300,000. This is a "grave loss not only for the Church but for [Iraqi] society because Christians can and play a fundamental role in the life of the country."

In 2014, with the arrival of the Islamic State group, they were forced to choose between converting, paying a tax, or leaving to escape death. "They left everything so as not to renege their faith. I do not know of anyone who has given up the faith, not even pretending of doing so," Mgr Ortega said.

"From one day to the next they took a few things and left." But even the few things they kept was seized by Islamic State militants as they left the city.

Now many of these Christians live in Kurdistan, mostly in rented homes with the help of the universal Church and in a "dignified" refugee camp that hosts 4,000 people.

Homes are for single families, but they are shared by two or three depending on how many children they have. They live in a small room with mattresses on one side, which are placed on the ground at night to sleep, wardrobe in plastic closet with very little, a small television, and always the image of Jesus, the Madonna, or an altar."

Despite the difficulties, they do not complain because they may "have lost everything, but not their faith."

"It is touching how these people have no grudges in their hearts," Mgr Ortega said. "They are able to forgive those who drove them out, who hurt them. They even pray for those who persecuted them so that they may convert and the Lord rule their heart."

Their faith, according to the prelate, has been reborn amid hardships. Some of those who were not very practicing are even grateful for what happened because "it was an opportunity to rediscover what is most important, which is faith. The Lord allows these things for a greater good. Their testimony of faith for us in the West was a gift."

Mosuls future is in the prelates mind. The battle for the liberation of the city is still underway. "A military victory is not enough. What is needed is action at the political, economic, and above all the educational level. We must introduce a new mindset of dialogue and collaboration."

Some Christians are going back to their villages, but they are often disappointed because they find their homes destroyed and burnt "for no reason" but "to hurt".

"We must rebuild, so we need the help of the whole Church, the United Nations, and the international community. In some villages, like Teleskuf, where the Islamic State was present for a short period of time, homes have not been so badly damaged and at least 500 families have already returned." In Karamlash, some groups will return by the end of the month.

The return needs to be sustained not only through prayer and concrete campaigns like Adopt a Christian in Mosul by AsiaNews, but especially through support for "our yes to the Lord" because "by saying yes to the Lord they lost everything."

For the prelate, it is worth noting that when asked "what do you expect from Western Christians," They say "that they live the faith".

Christians have to return because their mission is to be "the presence of Christ, which is a good thing for all."

Young Iraqis have "a more united mindset. They grew up with more values: faith, family, Mgr Ortega told AsiaNews. Young people live the faith, and seek to be together in parishes. When we can, we organise activities for them."

Speaking about Miriam, the little girl who in a video two years ago said she wanted to forgive everyone, he said, "I saw her during a catechetical meeting for communion on Friday. There were 400 children. Look at that! I thought. There must be more children like her. That gave me hope.

I discovered her in the video, but how many more like her are there? We must take care of them so that they may nurture the treasure they have."
by Sumon Corraya

Gaibandha (AsiaNews) - A young Catholic tribal tribe has been raped by three Muslim men, and now lives in fear. The violent attack occurred in the village of Madarpur, in Gaibandha, in the diocese of Dinajpur.

On June 18, the 20-year-old girl was attacked by three criminals - including a security guard - but with her cries she was able to attract the attention of other tribals who managed to save her. After the attempted rape, the three men fled and are still at large. The young woman's family filed a complaint, but now denounces it is being threatened by criminals, who want the case to be dropped.



The three accused are Halim Shak, 28, a security guard at a sugar factory; Wear Amin, 35, and Abdul Latif, 35. The Catholic Tribal is a member of the Mariampur Parish. Last year her family was involved in a land dispute. The violence - a premeditated attack - was also witnessed by the police, deployed by the Muslims who wanted to expropriate the land. The young woman, along with her parents, were forced to leave the house and live in a slum.



Father Samson Marandy, parish priest of Mariampur, reports to AsiaNews that the victim "is already in a state of weakness because persecuted for their land. She lives like a refugee and has also had to suffer sexual assault by Muslims. " "Christians here - he adds - are the minority and remain victims of the Islamic majority. We as church leaders are on the part of our people. We want justice and security. "



In Bangladesh more than 90% of the population (over a total of more than 160 million inhabitants) profess Islam. Christians are just 600,000, of which about 350,000 Catholics. In October 2016, Pope Francis (who could go to the country next November) created the first cardinal, the archbishop of Dhaka Patrick D'Rozario. In an exclusive interview with AsiaNews he said: "The merit of my nomination goes to the people of Bangladesh, to their cultural traditions and to being a small flock. It is also a call to witness Christianity more and more among the Islamic and Hindu majority. "
Francis travels to Barbiana, in Italy. Don Milani a priest who wanted to "awaken the human in people to open them to the divine". "Only by fully possesing the word is it possible to discern among the many and often confused messages that rain down upon us, and to give expression to the deep instances of our heart, as well as the expectations of justice of so many brothers and sisters waiting for justice."

Barbiana (AsiaNews) - Don Lorenzo Milani, "a priest who testified to the gift of oneself to Christ, to encountering our brothers and sisters in their needs and serving them, to defend and promote their dignity with the same gift that Jesus Himself showed us, up to the cross. " This is how Pope Francis defined the priest who is seen as a symbol and model of integral education focused on those most in need. Speaking in in Barbiana, a small village near Florence, he recalled how this model and commitment of Don Milani also caused the priest to suffer no small amount of "bitterness".

The reference is to the misunderstandings suffered by Don Milani, which led to him being transferred to Barbiana, a small village of 84 residents, but where, in the two rooms of his house he created the first full-time school, reaching out to the people with the motto "I care". The phrase written on a sign at the entrance summed up the educational aims of a school geared towards the raising of civil and social consciousness.

In the small square in front of the little church, there were a hundred people. These were the students of Don Milani. "You, the Pope said to them, are witnesses to how a priest has lived his mission, in the places where the Church has called him, with full fidelity to the Gospel, and full fidelity to each of you, who the Lord had entrusted to him. And you are witness to his educational passion, his intent to awaken human beings to open them to the divine. Hence his dedication to the school, with a choice that he would put into motion in an even more radical way here in Barbiana. Don Lorenzo did not see the school as something different from his priestly mission, but the concrete way to do that mission, giving it a solid foundation and enabling it to reach for heaven. And when the Bishop's decision led him from Calenzano to here, among the young people of Barbiana, he immediately realized that if the Lord had allowed this detachment, it was to give him new children to nurture and to love. "

"Give the poor the word, because without the word there is no dignity and therefore no freedom and justice: this is what Don Milani teaches. And it is the word that will open the way to full citizenship in society, through work, and full membership in the Church, with a conscious faith. This is also the case in our own time, in which possession of the word enables us to discern between the many and often confused messages that rain down upon us, and to give expression to the deep instances of our heart, as well as the expectations of justice of so many brothers and sisters waiting for justice. Of that full humanization that we claim for every person on this earth, besides bread, home, work, family, possession of the written word is an instrument of freedom and fraternity. "

The Pope expressed a thankfulness to the teachers. "Yours - he told them - is a mission full of obstacles but also of joys. But above all it is a mission. A mission of love, because you can not teach without love and without the awareness that what you give is a right that you recognize, that of learning. There are many things to be taught, but the essential thing is the growth of a free consciousness capable of confronting reality and of guiding it in love driven by the desire to compromise with others to take charge of their labors and wounds, to escape from all selfishness, to serve the common good. "

To the priests, finally, the Pope recalled "the priestly dimension of Don Lorenzo Milani". "It all comes from being a priest. But, in turn, his being a priest has an even deeper root: his faith. A totalizing faith, which becomes a total giving to the Lord, and that in the priestly ministry finds the full and fulfilled form in the young convert. "

"Don Lorenzo also teaches us to love the Church as he loved her, with the frankness and the truth that can also create tensions, but never fractures, abandoning. We love the Church, dear brothers, and let us love it, showing it as a caring mother of all, especially of the poorest and most fragile, both in social life and in personal and religious life. The Church that Don Milani has shown to the world has this maternal and thoughtful face, extending to give everyone the opportunity to meet God and thereby give consistency to one's own person in all of their dignity. Before I conclude, I can not keep silent that my gesture now wishes to be a response to Fr. Lorenzo's repeated request to his bishop, namely that his fidelity to the Gospel and the uprightness of his pastoral action be recognised and understood. In a letter to the Bishop he wrote: "If you do not honor me today with any solemn act, my whole apostolate will appear as a private matter ..." From Cardinal Silvano Piovanelli, of fond memory, onwards the Archbishops of Florence have on several occasions given this recognition to Don Lorenzo. Today, it is the Bishop of Rome. This does not erase the bitternesses that accompanied Don Milani's life - it is not about erasing or denying history, but of understanding the circumstances and humanity at stake - rather it means that the Church recognizes in that life an exemplary way of serving the Gospel, the poor, and the Church herself. " (FP)
Ravita Meghwar is 16 years old from a lower caste. Her parents have filed a complaint that she was abducted, forced to embrace Islam and married off to a man 20 years her senior. The case has sparked controversy and protests by Hindus. The province had rejected the law punishing forced conversions.

Karachi (AsiaNews) - The High Court of Sindh ordered the police to produce Ravita Meghwar, a 16-year-old Hindu girl, before the court tomorrow, in order to shed light on her case.

The matter has been at the centre of heated debates in the Pakistani province over the past week, marked by widespread protests by Hindu associations and students after her parents  father Satram Das Meghwar and mother Haqu  complained that she was abducted by members of the Syed Islamic community, who forced her to convert to Islam and then marry 36-year-old Syed Nawaz Ali Shah.

Ravita  who after the wedding changed her name to Gulnaz  has already appeared before a court, saying that her marriage and prior conversion were the result of a free choice and that she could no longer live without her husband.

Appealing to her parents, she asked them to let her live in peace with her husband. She also asked her former community to stop raising the issue.

By contrast, her mother Haqu insisted that her daughters statement was made under pressure from her new Muslim family and demands her immediate return.

The parents have challenged the legality of marriage since she was under age. Under the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act 2013, any marriage under the age of 18 is a punishable offence.

She was abducted from her house and forcibly married off to a man twice her age, said Mr Meghwar, who filed a First Information Report under Section 365 of the Pakistani Penal Code at the Dano Dandhal Police Station.

Forced conversions to Islam, especially of girls, has been a real scourge for Pakistans eight million Hindus. According to a report by the Asian Human Rights Commission, each year at least a thousand young women are forced to marry Muslim men and repudiate their religion.

To prevent this, last year the Sindh government approved an anti-conversion law. The legislation however sparked anger among Qur'anic doctors, who have called for its repeal.

In recent days, both Hindu and Islamic communities have taken at stand on the issue, raising tensions to very high levels. The Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto and Student Associations have taken the Hindu side.

Hindus complain about a rising number of conversions and the inaction of the government and law enforcement. This has generated great anxiety in the community, which feels insecure in the province. Our life, property and honour all are at stake, some said.

Conversely, the Syed family is backed by Muslim activists from the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat, Ghousia Jamat and Jeelani Jamat, who complain about "blasphemous contents" on social media.

One of leading Muslim figures, Noor Mohammad Udhepuri, said that propaganda planned against Islam cannot be tolerated", and that Khanqah-i-Gulzar Khalil had not forcibly converted anyone.

Instead, Yaqoob claims that missionary schools have planned conversion of schedule caste communities to Christianity throughout Mirpurkhas division, but that nobody would speak against this because they offer monetary benefits to Hindu converts.
Beijing (AsiaNews) - Germany's ambassador to China Michael Clauss (photo 2) has asked the Beijing government to release the bishop of Wenzhou, Msgr. Peter Shao Zhumin (photo 1) and expressed concern about new religious regulations that risk "to implement new restrictions on the right to religious freedom and belief."



In a statement released yesterday on behalf of the ambassador on the embassy site, he reads: "I welcome China's declared intention to achieve progress with regard to the Catholic Church. However, despite progress in this direction, we also see setbacks in guaranteeing religious freedom. One case of growing concern is the treatment of Bishop Shao Zhumin by the authorities. Since autumn last year he seems to have been forced to move to unknown locations no less than four times and now seems to have been confined to his home since his return. His full freedom of movement should be restored."



Bishop Shao, of the underground community, is bishop of Wenzhou. He is recognized by the Holy See, but not by the government. Since the death of his predecessor, Msgr. Vincenzo Zhu Weifang, on September 7th, he has been continuously abducted to force him to join the Patriotic Association, which preaches the independence of the Church in China from the Holy See.



He was last abducted on 18 May. On June 16, he was seen at Wenzhou Airport, accompanied by governmental officials, who conducted him to an unknown place.



In his note, Ambassador Clauss adds: "I am also concerned about a number of new rules in a draft regulation on religious affairs. If unchanged, they could place further restrictions on the right to freedom of religion and belief."



The new regulations - which were drafted in September, but which have already been referred to as "definitive" - control every aspect of religious activity: gatherings, staff, bishops, schools, buildings, statues, meetings with foreign faiths, holidays and placement of priests , ... If implemented, they will render any "underground" and unregistered activity "criminal", suffocating or eliminating underground communities.



Michael Clauss's public position is a novelty in the diplomatic world after such a long time. In the past both the European Union and US President George W. Bush had pleaded the fate of some imprisoned bishops and religious freedom in China. Then, for at least a decade, silence fell.
Riyadh (AsiaNews) - Saudi king Salman this morning appointed (by decree) his son, 31-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, hereditary prince, replacing the current number two (and nephew of the king) Mohammed bin Nayef, who has been dethroned . According to the royal house report, bin Salman is also named vice-prime minister and maintains his current role of Defense Minister.



At the same time, the 57-year-old prince Mohammed bin Nayef will no longer serve as deputy head of government and interior minister. He also pays for not having played a "foreground" role in the context of the diplomatic (and commercial) crisis between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.



A strong man of Saudi monarchy, young Mohammed bin Salman confirms his blazing career in the country's leadership. Following the rise of Salman senior to the throne in January 2015, now 81, he has become the chief of Defense and hereditary vice-prince.



Touted as a reformer, over time Mohammed bin Salman has accumulated many positions: Defense Secretary, Vice-Premier, Special Advisor to the King and, above all, Head of the Council for Economic Affairs and Development. The latter oversees the activities of Aramco, the Saudi oil giant, and determines much of the economic policy in the kingdom.



The appointment by hereditary law was approved by 31 (of 34) members of the Alliance Council and marks a real turning point in succession. Until now the monarch's charge was transmitted laterally, before going to the next generation. Salman's choice also marks the end of power for the al-Sudairi clan, named after one of King Abdelaziz's brides, for a long time at the top of the country.



Due to his young age, from the moment he ascends to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman will count on decades of power - excluding outbursts or changes that are unlikely to date - and this element is also a sign of breaks with the past. He started in the public life of the nation as governor of Riyadh, and in 2009 he was one of the advisers most listened to by his father, when he was still Minister of Defense.



Analysts and experts point out the "aggressive" choices in the neo-successor to the throne's foreign policy, among the great Saudi interventionists in Yemen in March 2015. And there seems to be the figure of Mohammed bin Salman behind Riyadh's interventionist decisions in the Middle East region and the confrontation - now head on - with Iran for leadership within the Muslim world. He is also the mastermind of the nation's modernization program [Vision 2030, presented in recent months], which aims to make Saudi Arabia independent of oil, which to date is the only source of wealth for the country.

In a recent interview, the new heir to the throne made no attempts to hide his aggression towards Iran, lifting his eyebrows in contempt, he accused Tehran of wanting to "control the Islamic world" and promised to bring "war" to Iranian territory. A few days later, there was a double attack on Parliament and the mausoleum of the Ayatollah Khomeini in the capital.
Until recently, it appeared that the local government was going to ban the event. Although subdued with vendors allowed to put only two dogs on display, this years edition is drawing more visitors, thanks to the greater visibility generated by animal rights activists. Some 10-20 million dogs are butchered every year. For one local, eating dog is just like eating fish and chicken."

Yulin (AsiaNews/Agencies)  The famous Yulin Dog Meat Festival opened today in Guangxi province. Every year, it draws thousands of people, dog breeders, as well as chefs and dog meat aficionados.

For several years, animal rights activists have sought to have the event cancelled, accusing merchants and breeders of mistreating the animals.

Recently, local authorities promised even to ban the Festival, but then reached a compromise with vendors, namely a limit of two dogs on display per stall.

Although there are fewer stalls than last year, everything looks like other years. In fact, according to vendors the number of visitors is up thanks to animal rights activists whose criticism has made dog meat more fashionable and more visitors want to taste it.

Still, according to the Global Times, this years festival is more "subdued". Vendors have covered up the Chinese character for dog, some with yellow paper. In most cases, dogs are slaughtered outside the city rather than in the streets.

Dog meat consumption is not illegal in China. According to the Humane Society International, between 10 and 20 million dogs are killed for food annually, and business goes up during the festival about nine-fold.

The meat itself can be cooked in many ways: boiled, sauteed, fried, cooked with vegetables or in broth.

At the festival, people can also taste other sorts of meat, like cow tongues and pork hock and trotters.

"Eating dog meat is a long-standing tradition in Yulin, and to us, eating dog is just like eating fish and chicken. Have you seen chicken lovers trying to stop people from eating chicken?" one local resident is quoted as saying.
For the last three years, Bithi has worked with thousands of Bangladeshi children piecing together designer jeans destined for stores in Canada and other high-income countries.

The first day I felt bad, I thought it wasnt good. I was too small, Bithi remembers. But that was three years ago, when she was 12. Now, its routine.

Every day, Bithi helps create a minimum of 480 pairs of pants, for just over $1 USD a day.

Thats 60 pockets an hour, the 15-year-old explains. Bithi works in a cramped second-story room with 20 other Bangladeshi women, under fluorescent lights. The practice of sub-contracting jobs from larger garment factories allows government policies about

child labour to go unheeded here.

Although Bithi doesnt complain, she cant deny her longing to go to school. At one point, Bithi and her older sister Doli had dreamed of being doctors. But both girls have since put their dreams aside. There is no time for school when youre fighting to survive.

There is but one story that is being used in a new report that says Canadians could be unwittingly purchasing billions in dollars of goods made by child labourers in other parts of the world.

World Visions "Canada's child & forced labour problem" report outlines the high risk of child and forced labour in common Canadian household products, the overwhelming Canadian consumer demand for legislative action and other realistic solutions required to address this Canadian issue.

"After visiting children around the world, I can say with conviction that child labour is also a Canadian problem. Canada imports products we use every day that have a high risk of child labour attached to them. There are at least 1,200 Canadian companies importing up to $34-billion in goods that may have been made by child or forced labourers overseas," said Michael Messenger, President, World Vision Canada

"Consumers, companies and governments should all play a part in addressing Canadian links to child labour. While we put pressure on other governments to eliminate child labour from their own countries, we put little pressure on the Canadian companies that source from these places to try to ensure kids aren't part of their supply chains. And that creates a gap where children are still working. We can join other nations in putting in place minimum requirements that allow consumers to make informed choices that can prompt real action for exploited children," says Michael Messenger, President, World Vision Canada

The key findings in the report include;

 Canadian imports of "risky products" now total $34B, a 31% increase over the past five years.

 42% increase in garment imports from Bangladesh

 107% increase in coffee imports from Dominican Republic

 8852% increase in palm oil imports from Indonesia

 84% of Canadians feel frustrated by how difficult it is to determine where the products they buy are made, how they're made and by whom, a 6% increase from 2015.

 91% of Canadians agree that the Canadian government should require companies to publicly report on who makes their products and what they are doing to reduce child labour in their supply chains

It concludes that Canada risks falling behind in the global fight to eliminate child and forced labour in supply chains.

Four significant jurisdictions, the UK, California, the Netherlands and France, have all passed legislation to address modern slavery and/or child labour in their supply chains

There is potential for further research and debate into the matter in Canada: The subcommittee on International Human Rights will study child labour and slavery this fall.

The International Labour Organization reports there are roughly 168 million child workers around the world. Of that number, 85 million kids work in unsafe and unhealthy work environments. Children, along with adults, are involuntary labourers, too: 5.5 million out 21 million people are kids.

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Myanmar among the Asian countries with severe child labour issues.

As per the United States Department of Labor report, nearly 13% of Pakistani children accounting for 2,449,480 individuals between the ages of 10 to 14 are child laborers. 76% of these children work in the agricultural sector involving activities like working in crop fields, fishing and shrimp harvesting and processing.

A large number of children are also engaged in restaurants, tea stalls, transportation, and garbage scavenging.

Children in Afghanistan form a large part of the nations workforce and are often forced to work in the brick production industry and participate in armed conflict situations.

Children are also employed in agriculture, mining, carpet weaving, street work, firewood gathering and other types of work.

In Myanmar, around 1.5 million school age children between the ages of 10 to 17 are forced to work as labor.

The agricultural sector in the country employs the greatest number of children while construction and small-scale industries also involve children as part of their workforce.

Poverty is considered to be the prime factor leading to the involvement of children in the work-force to supplement the low household income in Myanmar.
Australian supermarkets making most of kombucha trend



Mojo Kombucha. Image Credit: Aise Dillon

Both Woolworths and IGA supermarkets are making the most of Australias increasing interest in fermented kombucha tea.

Metcash, supplier to IGA supermarkets, has committed to selling 13 different flavours of MOJO kombucha, a brand which is produced in the Adelaide Hills.

Woolworths is also increasing the amount of kombucha its stocking, now selling two new flavours of MOJO kombucha.

Andrew Buttery, Business Development Manager at MOJO, said he is thrilled about the sudden rapid uptake of kombucha after brewing it for more than 10 years.

Were a small family-owned company who have been brewing kombucha for over 10 years in the Adelaide Hills, Willunga, Buttery explained.

As kombucha needs to be refrigerated at all times, Buttery says the decision for supermarkets to increase their stock is significant.

Its a huge investment in refrigerated space in independent stores with a traditionally smaller footprint, he said.

The sudden rise of kombucha

Kombucha has been consumed in China for centuries but has recently been promoted as a healthy drink by some Australian nutritionists with large online followings.

Typical kombucha health claims made by some include that it optimises gut health and increases energy.

Issues with trace amounts of alcohol

Although kombucha is being sold in supermarkets, there has previously been issues with trace elements of alcohol in kombucha drinks.

In 2015, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) announced a recall of an Australian-sold kombucha brand after it was found to contain alcohol at levels that may be potentially intoxicating.

The fermentation process that occurs in a batch of kombucha results in traces of alcohol which can vary in levels from drink to drink and over time. The trace alcohol content in kombucha is something which needs to be managed by kombucha producers.
By Ashley Schram, Research Fellow, School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University

The National Broadband Network (NBN) is widely considered to be failing Australians, but it isnt failing them equally.

Our research, undertaken at the Centre for Research Excellence in the Social Determinants of Health Equity, seeks to address health inequities by looking at the geographical distribution of infrastructure, including digital technology.

Examining the rollout of NBN technologies as of December 2016, our preliminary analyses suggest areas of greatest socio-economic disadvantage overlap with regions typically receiving NBN infrastructure of poorer quality.

Comparing NBN technology with inequality

To determine socio-economic disadvantage, we used the Australian Bureau of Statisticss (ABS) socio-economic indexes for area (SEIFA) and its index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSD) from 2011.

Across Australia, we found only 29% of areas with a SEIFA decile of one (the lowest-scoring 10% of areas) had fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP)  considered the best broadband technology solution available  or fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) connections. So far, around 71% of the NBN technology available in these areas involves inferior options, including hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), fixed wireless or satellite technologies.

On the other hand, 93% of areas with a SEIFA decile of 10 (the highest-scoring 10% of areas) had FTTP or FTTN.

This result tells a similar story to an early analysis by Sydney Universitys Tooran Alizadeh of 60 NBN release sites that were announced in 2011. She found some of the most disadvantaged areas of Australia were not gaining equal access to the new infrastructure.

If we look only at major cities in Australia  where the level of fibre technology is higher overall  areas with the greatest disadvantage, while exceeding similarly disadvantaged areas nationally, still received significantly less FTTP and FTTN: 65% of areas with a SEIFA decile of one had FTTP and FTTN, compared with 94% of areas with a SEIFA decile of 10.

Of course Australia is a large, sparsely populated country, which makes the business case for rolling out fibre difficult in some regions. Nevertheless, inequitable access to NBN technology appears even when controlling for the remoteness of the location.

If we look at outer regional Australia where fibre is less prevalent, the pattern looks worse. Only 12% of the most disadvantaged areas with a SEIFA decile of one received FTTP and FTTN, compared with 88% of the most advantaged outer regional areas with a SEIFA decile of nine.

Receiving FTTP or even FTTN may still be better than receiving HFC, fixed wireless or satellite technologies. While HFC may be able to match maximum speeds of FTTN, this is unlikely to happen during peak times when the increased number of users sharing the same data capacity will slow service considerably. And, similar to FTTN, these technologies provide fewer opportunities to upgrade capacity to meet future demand.

However, given only a limited data set was made publicly available in December 2016 by the NBN company, it is difficult to determine exactly which services are currently installed where. For example, the data set we used does not differentiate between FTTP and the lesser FTTN connection.

It also aggregates some NBN technology into an other category, making it impossible to distinguish between HFC and satellite service.









Various/The Conversation, CC BY-ND





The NBN company offers a check your address search for its most up-to-date rollout information including technology type, but was unable to share this information with us in a single, usable data set.

A NBN spokesperson said the network was being rolled out across Australia regardless of any socio-economic mapping.

Determining the sequence is a complex process of weighing up factors including the location of construction resources, current service levels, existing broadband infrastructure, growth forecasts and proximity to nbn infrastructure such as the transit network, she said in an email. Only 8 per cent of premises in Australia are not in the fixed-line footprint.

Internet access and social inequity

A faster internet connection is increasingly central to peoples social connections, education opportunities, employment prospects and ability to access services.

This was raised in a 2011 report by the parliamentary Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications. It emphasised the potential role of the NBN in enhancing greater equity in digital access to services in regional and rural areas.

The Committee heard that, due to the digital divide, many of the Australians who could benefit the most from broadband currently have the lowest levels of online participation  The extent of accompanying measures implemented by governments will determine whether the NBN narrows or widens this digital divide.

Previous research has also found that people from lower socioeconomic groups are already restricted in their use of digital information and communication technologies. This can limit their access to a range of social determinants of health.

When populations already facing disadvantage receive poorer quality digital infrastructure, those with the greatest need will continue to slip farther behind.

Equity must be at the forefront of the NBN companys considerations as it continues to roll out across Australia. Further entrenching social inequities through digital infrastructure is not the NBN anyone dreamed of.

Note: The contention rate section of the NBN technology infographic on this story has been updated to improve clarity.

Fran Baum receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. She is a member of the Global Steering Council of the People's Health Movement

Matt Fisher receives funding from National Health and Medical Research Council and is a member of the Australian Greens.

Patrick Harris receives funding from National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council, NSW Health and the Heart Foundation.

Toby Freeman receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Ashley Schram and Sharon Friel do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

Originally published in The Conversation.


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Indians wishing to visit Australia will be able to apply for visas online from the beginning of July, the Australian Government has announced.The decision to make it easier for Indian nationals to make a visitor visa application is part of a global roll out of online programmes but also comes at a time when demand from India is growing.Australia's Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Alex Hawke, said that with the country becoming a more popular holiday destination for Indian nationals, the change will allow them to experience a more streamlined system.He confirmed that in the first four months of 2017 alone, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection granted more than 65,000 visitor visas to Indian nationals.'Indian nationals wishing to visit Australia will soon be able to apply for a visitor visa in a more convenient and accessible manner,' Hawke said.'Online lodgement for visitor visa applications is a significant enhancement that will benefit Indian applicants seeking to visit Australia as tourists or business visitors, or those wanting to reconnect with family and friends,' he explained.Online lodgement offers benefits such as 24/7 accessibility, electronic payment of the visa application charge and the ability to check the status of applications lodged online, all through the Department's ImmiAccount portal.Hawke also pointed out that being able to check the status of an application online, as soon as it is finalised, will allow Indian applicants to finalise their travel arrangements as soon as possible, confident that they have first obtained the necessary visa for their visit.Currently the Australian High Commission in New Delhi processes visa applications for Indian, Nepalese and Bhutanese citizens. An individual has to lodge the visitor visa application in person after getting an appointment, or via mail or through a Service Delivery Partner,According to the DIBP the current processing times for a visitor visa varies from 48 hours to more than 20 days, depending on a range of factors, including peak processing periods in certain locations and overall growth in the number of applications received.Applications that are lodged electronically, as well as those that provide all required information and supporting documentation at the time of lodgement, are generally processed quicker than incomplete applications or applications requiring further information.


(.shock/Bigstock.com) (.shock/Bigstock.com)

An organisation that represents IT professionals in Australia is calling for more transparency for short term visas as the country moves away from the 457 visa system to a new two tier programme.The Information Technology Professionals Association (ITPA) said that it has had concerns for some time about the existing 457 temporary visa programme which is due to be replaced next year and said that while there will always be a need for some skilled overseas workers this needs to be properly regulated.President Robert Hudson says that the proposed changes do not go far enough and has called from more transparency to be applied to the application process and the involvement of visa agents as well as the way applicants are chosen.'We support the notion that there will always be the need for some additional skilled workers to be sourced internationally and believe that under a properly regulated system this is a good thing for the local IT industry,' he said.But he believes that while many IT jobs have now been removed from the list of roles that are eligible to apply for 457 visas there are still many that should also be removed such as ICT customer support officer, network administrator and systems administrator.'These roles are all tradition industry entry points for IT graduates many of whom are currently finding it hard to find work in the industry,' he said. He doubts it is not possible to source IT support officers and network managers in Australia. 'If there is shortage of specific skills in this area, the ITPA is happy to help set up skills development programmes for the many IT graduates who can't get jobs,' he added.The ITPA wants to see IT organisations discouraged from employing cheaper overseas personnel for these roles and instead encouraged to set-up internship relationships with tertiary education institutions where these skills can be taught on the job and that the Government should be providing incentives for Australian IT organisations to employ local graduates and provide them with continuous on the job training.'We understand that IT is a complex industry and that some skills will always have to be supplemented with overseas personnel as the skills are not available locally. We are keen to see more data on exactly what skills are in short supply, so that we can work with other industry stake holders, such as business and tertiary education institutions, to develop new training opportunities, degrees and certification programs that help fill the holes,' said Hudson.'We want to see a system that sees IT students graduating with the skills that are in demand from industry and an industry that prioritises these graduates over international options.We are optimistic that better outcomes can be achieved, but believe that greater industry consultation is required, particularly with the ICT sector to ensure that any new programme provides improved outcomes for Australian workers and businesses,' he explained.'We look forward to seeing the structure of a proposed replacement visa system and are more than willing to work with agencies to apply more scrutiny to existing practices and get better local employment outcomes in the IT industry,' he added.
Conventional wisdom in the fleet market is often wrong. If we roll back the calendar to 10 years ago, the conventional wisdom about future fuel prices was that there would be ebbs and flows in price per gallon rates, but the overall price trajectory would trend upward. The flaw with conventional wisdom is that it only works when no new variables are inserted into future projections.

A case in point is the shale oil revolution, which now has experts predicting oil prices will remain flat for the foreseeable future, perhaps much longer than any of us anticipate. Who predicted this 10 years ago? This forecast of flat fuel prices has positive ramifications for the fleet industry, as it will impact not only fuel prices, but also the cost of replacement tires, plastic-based auto parts, and tangentially, even the types of vehicles offered on fleet selectors.

Growth of U.S. Shale Oil Production

Currently, global oil production exceeds global demand, which is putting downward pressure on fuel prices. What is contributing significantly to this glut in global oil inventory is the dramatic resurgence in shale oil production in the U.S., which has increased to 5.5 million barrels a day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA forecasts U.S. crude oil supply will grow almost 5% in calendar-year 2017 and again in 2018 by nearly 8%. The U.S. is on track to surpass Saudi Arabia as the No. 1 oil exporting nation in the world.

Although ongoing economic growth in China and India will increase global fuel consumption to a record 100 million barrels per day in the second half of CY-2017, this increase in global demand is still below the growth in the global production of crude oil. For comparison, global consumption of oil in 2018 is forecast to increase by 1.4 million barrels per day; however, non-OPEC production is set to increase by 1.5 million barrels a day. Despite growing global consumption, global production will continue to exceed demand. This has a direct correlation to price. Overall, oil prices are down 17% since the start of CY-2017 and there is nothing on the horizon to indicate this will change in CY-2018.

Todays supply/demand dynamics for crude oil are not unique. There is precedent for todays situation when the new production of North Sea oil ramped up in the late 1980s, exerting downward pressure on oil prices. This persisted for 20 years until the emergence of the Chinese economy. The spectacular growth of the modern Chinese economy was the catalyst causing global demand for oil to exceed inventory, which put upward pressure on fuel prices as demand exceeded supply. But this equation changed when U.S. shale oil production ramped up. In fact, future oil prices will increasingly be influenced by the cost to produce U.S. shale oil and less so by OPEC.

The collapse of the oil shale industry in 2014 when Saudi Arabia depressed prices by substantially increasing production turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When the price of oil fell below the cost to produce shale oil, the U.S. industry was forced to cut costs by learning to extract oil with less gear and smaller work crews.

In addition, there have been advances in fracking technology, such as hydraulic fracturing closer to the wellbore versus the massive, more expensive, wide-ranging fracks of the past. Today, U.S. producers are able to operate profitably at lower crude prices, which promises to keep prices low; since higher crude oil prices would only stimulate greater U.S. shale oil production. In June, Wells Fargo forecast that the price per barrel of crude oil will fluctuate between $30 and $60 in the coming years. Likewise, Goldman Sachs forecast oil prices will be $53 to $56 per barrel of crude oil, depending on the index used.

Another example of surging shale production, is that the total rig count in the U.S. increased to 741 rigs in June 2017 compared to 328 rigs one year earlier. In 2017, the big integrated oil companies, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Royal Dutch Shell announced $10 billion in combined spending on U.S. shale projects. The EIA now forecasts that U.S. crude oil production (all oil production including shale oil) will surpass 10 million barrels per day in CY-2018, a new record high. The old record was set in 1970 at 9.63 million barrels per day.

Can the U.S. Join OPEC?

An interesting question is whether the U.S. would ever become a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but this is unlikely for a number of reasons. First, countries seeking membership in OPEC must have a substantial net export of crude oil and fundamentally similar interests to the current members. To become a member of OPEC, a country must receive approval from three-quarters of the existing members and all of the founding members, two of which are Iran and Venezuela, which are currently not on the best of terms with the U.S.

While the U.S. is indeed a major exporter of crude oil, our national interests are not fundamentally similar to other OPEC countries. Second, the U.S. would have difficulty complying with OPEC rules, which seeks to influence oil prices by how much each member produces annually. There is no legal mechanism in the U.S. that allows the federal government to control domestic oil production. In addition, the U.S. has specific anti-trust laws against collaboration by producers in the same industry to determine the minimum price of a commodity.

Where in the past, Saudi Arabia was the swing producer that could influence the price of crude oil, today, the U.S. is emerging as the new swing producer that can influence the global price of oil based on our domestic production of shale oil.

Hopefully, Im not a purveyor of new conventional wisdom by making this assertion.

Let me know what you think.

[email protected]
Photo of A7 concept vehicle with piloted driving.

Audi began testing its semi-autonomous A7 equipped with a piloted driving mode in Albany, New York, shortly after receiving permission as the first automaker licensed to test autonomous vehicles in the state.

Audi hosted a media event on June 13 near the state capital to demonstrate Audi Highway Pilot, a technology that's considered Level 3 automation. The vehicle can pilot itself at posted highway speeds. Two trained engineers ride in the vehicle to monitor the system and ensure safety, according to Audi.

"Audi, with the partnership of forward-thinking states like New York, are at the forefront of defining the future of transportation," said Scott Keogh, president of Audi of America. "That kind of innovation only happens with industry and government working hand-in-hand toward a shared goal of safer roads."
Pam Nicholson, CEO of Enterprise Holdings. Photo courtesy of Enterprise Holdings

Pam Nicholson, president and CEO of Enterprise Holdings, has received a Glassdoor Employees Choice Award, which recognizes the highest rated CEOs for 2017.

Enterprise Holdings employees voted Nicholson in at No. 21, making her the highest-ranking woman among the 100 chief executives recognized by Glassdoor.

Glassdoor, a job search website, released its annual report this week. When employees submit reviews about their employers on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove, or are neutral about the performance of their CEO.

A 36-year veteran of Enterprise Holdings, Nicholson started her car rental career in 1981 as part of the Enterprise Management Training Program. Since then, she has served as regional vice president in Southern California, corporate vice president at Enterprises headquarters in St. Louis, general manager in New York, and senior vice president of North American Operations in 1999. Nicholson accepted the role of chief operating officer in 2003, appointed president in 2008, and then promoted to chief executive officer in 2013.

Nicholson has been one of Fortune magazines Most Powerful Women in Business (MPW) for the past 10 years. Under her leadership, Enterprise Holdings grew its revenue in fiscal year 2016 by more than 8% percent to $20.9 billion and expanded its network to include more than 9,600 fully staffed locations, according to the company.
Photo courtesy of General Motors

GMs Maven Gig service has expanded to San Francisco. Maven Gig drivers are provided access to vehicles they can use for independent gigs, such as package delivery, food or grocery delivery, and ride sharing.

The program has been live in San Diego since May. So far, Maven Gig Bolt electric vehicles have driven nearly 20,000 miles in San Diego, according to the company. The service plans to launch in Los Angeles later this year.

For the Gig service, Maven has partnered with GrubHub, Instacart, Roadie, and ride-sharing services.

Freelancers in the sharing economy want flexibility, and Maven Gig is a seamless way to maximize opportunities, said Rachel Bhattacharya, director of Mavens commercial mobility strategy. If the driver has a lull on one service, they can easily flip to another and keep hustling.

Maven Gig members can reserve a Chevrolet Bolt EV for $229 per week plus taxes, which includes insurance, maintenance, unlimited miles, and free charging at EVGo stations for a limited time.

In San Francisco, members can also reserve the Chevrolet Cruze ($189 per week), Chevrolet Malibu ($199 per week), and Chevrolet Trax ($209 per week).
Travis Kalanick has resigned as Uber's CEO. Photo via Flickr/Heisenberg Media

Uber Founder Travis Kalanick has stepped down as CEO of Uber ride-hailing service, according to a report by The New York Times.

Kalanicks exit came after pressure involving Ubers investors. Five of Ubers major investors demanded that he resign immediately, says the report. The investors wrote a letter to Kalanick saying that he must leave and the company needed a change in leadership.

Kalanick agreed to step down and will remain on Ubers board of directors, according to the report.

Click here for the full New York Times report.

Originally posted on Automotive Fleet
BAKERSFIELD TRACK CLUB STATEMENT

The Bakersfield Track Club issued the following statement to The Californian Wednesday evening:

"On Tuesday evening, during the second 5k race of Bakersfield Track Clubs Summer Series, runner Benjamin Greene collapsed at the last aid station in Hart Park. He was immediately administered CPR by an off-duty firefighter before EMS could arrive. An ambulance took him to Kern Medical where he later died.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Greenes family at this sad and difficult time,' said BTC Board President, Rey Rodriguez.

"The track clubs Summer Series has been held for more than 30 years. The six races are held every other Tuesday from June through August. Normally, only three aid stations are set up during the summer races. Because of the heat, five aid stations were set up for yesterdays race to provide the 180 runners with extra water, ice and Gatorade. Misting stations were also set up at the beginning and end of the course to assist the runners.

"Prior to the race, runners were also encouraged to bring extra water on Bakersfield Track Clubs Facebook page."
Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man? Do you know the muffin man who lives on Drury Lane?

For years, consumers had no idea Skinner Baking Co. had been quietly contract manufacturing premium muffins for in-store bakeries as well as a variety of well-known national brands. In September, however, the Omaha, NE, bakery began rolling out its trademarked Drury Lane jumbo gourmet muffins  the latest addition to the J. Skinner line of branded, baked sweet goods sold at in-store bakeries.

Drury Lane muffins come in flavors such as Corniest Corn, Blissfully Blueberry, Chocolate Rush, Creamy Carrot Top and Mind Blowing Banana Nut. The company packages the muffins in a larger format  17 to 18 oz per clamshell  than many other muffins, typically sold in 14.5- to 16-oz package sizes, noted Gary Kyle, vice-president marketing, Skinner Baking. The fully baked frozen products are distributed nationally to supermarkets, mass merchandisers and other retailers and thawed at the store level.

We intend to shake things up with this branded gourmet entry, featuring over-the-top recipes with high-impact packaging graphics and our exclusive tamper-evident seal, Mr. Kyle said.

The J. Skinner line, which the bakery launched at the 2009 International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Associations show, now includes 25 stock-keeping units (SKUs) of strip Danish, ring Danish, sweet buns and rolls, and seasonal, limited-time-offer Danish varieties.

Including its private label items, the companys overall top-selling signature product continues to be the 108-layer strip Danish coffeecakes, with the Heavenly Cheese variety, made with a Neufchatel cheese blend, as the No. 1 SKU. The Cinnamon Craver Roll leads sales among sweet buns and rolls.

Unlike the bakerys private label and contract manufactured products, for which the company often uses formulas supplied by or developed with its clients, the J. Skinner line was created totally in-house by Dennis Nolan, a 35-year master baker, and a team of veteran bakers. To create these super-indulgent products, the bakery employs what it calls modern artisan baking by combining traditional European baking methods at its highly automated facility.

THE MAGIC NUMBER.

Its 108-layer Danish, for instance, is made using a laminated dough sheet thats retarded for 24 hours and contains 22% margarine to 78% dough. Years ago, when I just started in the industry, I worked with bakers who came from Europe  real old-timers who knew how to make authentic Old World Danish, recalled Audie Keaton, the companys president. They took no shortcuts and did it right using authentic ingredients. The dough had to be 108 layers  not more, not less. If it has fewer layers, the final product wont have the proper moisture content. If its more than 108 layers, the product will collapse after baking and not have the desired texture.

The signature strip Danish also contains a 30% fruit or cheese filling-to-dough ratio, Mr. Kyle noted. For some of its highest-quality cinnamon roll varieties, the bakery uses a 50:50 sugar-to-cinnamon ratio, plus a dollop of icing made from half butter and half cream cheese that melts into the product. Sugar and cheese top its Creamy Carrot Top muffin, and production workers manually place blueberries or bran onto muffins before baking to add an extra touch of flavor and visual appeal, thus creating the over-the-top finished product in more ways than one, according to Mr. Kyle.

Refusing to compromise on quality has been Skinner Bakings point of differentiation since 1983 when Jim Skinner, CEO, and his father, Lloyd, formed the baking business, according to Mr. Keaton. We dont tinker with the products to be more competitive, he said. We dont alter the product at all from its original formula. We have 450 people working here, and our products provide them with a living.

Even when ingredient prices increased, the family-run business searched for other ways to reduce costs. If it had to, the company would take a hit on margins or raise its prices, but only as a last resort, according to Mr. Keaton.

LEANER MANUFACTURING.

Since it launched its namesake brand in 2009, Skinner Baking has experienced double-digit growth by convincing in-store bakeries to switch from selling private label products to offering the J. Skinner line (see Birth of a Brand on opposite page). The momentum of the companys branding program prompted significant changes in its 144,000-sq-ft operation. With this initiative, Skinner Baking cut the number of SKUs it produces from more than 200 to about 140, partly by switching the number of private label varieties to a more limited line of branded ones.

Mr. Keaton estimated the company could reduce its portfolio by 15 more SKUs in the near future, and there is strong incentive to do so. There are a lot of synergies and savings by consolidating, including freight, vendors and buyers, he said.

With its volume rising significantly, the operation had begun running seven days a week. Specifically, the bakery had operated two morning and two afternoon shifts, running two of its three production lines during each shift. Extensive maintenance and sanitation procedures separated each shift (see Pit Crew Mentality on opposite page). However, the company is adjusting its production schedule and shifting personnel so it can run all three lines simultaneously. Mr. Keaton said the move to three lines not only boosted the plants capacity by 30% but also allowed it to return to a six-day-a-week schedule.

To lower overhead and streamline operations, the bakery hired three industry veterans to head up the companys lean manufacturing initiatives. A simple change in processing or procedures can add up to substantial savings for a bakery that produces more than 200 million products a year, Mr. Keaton said. Working with production personnel, we are identifying ways to work more efficiently, he noted. Were looking at processing, safety, cross traffic, labor  you name it.

For instance, the bakery plans to move two Shaffer 3,000-lb horizontal mixers from its air-conditioned mixing and laminating room into another space next the muffin line. Because muffin batter can be made in an ambient environment, relocating the mixers will save both time and labor. Specifically, mixer operators wont have to wheel the bulky troughs full of muffin batter 50 yards to the production line.

In another cost-saving effort, the bakery plans to install a whole-egg tote system instead of using boxed eggs. According to Mr. Keaton, the investment will also reduce labor and the amount of cardboard waste the company discards to landfills.

FOOD SAFETY FIRST.

Currently, the plant holds a Level 2 certification from the Safe Quality Food Institute, and it expects to attain Level 3 next year, according to Mr. Keaton. Additionally, the kosher-certified facility has consistently received a Superior rating from AIB International and is regularly audited by its private label customers. However, when the facility reaches SQF Level 3, Mr. Keaton hopes to reduce the number of audits. Weve changed our entire culture  everything from traceability to HACCP to food safety and employee safety, he added.

Bulk flour is stored in two Pfening 105,000-lb silos. Moreover, a Pfening 65,000-lb high-fructose corn syrup tank and a 45,000-lb soy oil tank feed the operation. Most minor and micro ingredients as well as packaging supplies are stored at an offsite facility, and the company only brings a days worth of ingredients into the plant to maximize space for production.

Inside the facility, a cooler stores butter, milk and other temperature-sensitive ingredients. Allergens, especially pecans and other tree nuts, are separated from other ingredients per the companys HACCP plan. The plants tempering room brings margarine and butter up to optimum temperature, making the fats more malleable during the laminating process. A dedicated operator hand-scales all minor ingredients by batch in another room, then wraps each batch in pink plastic on a tray and tags it for traceability.

The mixing and laminating room houses seven Shaffer horizontal mixers ranging in capacity from 1,600 to 3,000 lb. Skinner Baking recently purchased two Shaffer 3,000-lb horizontal mixers with glycol jackets to provide better front-end control of its dough temperature, Mr. Keaton said. In all, the bakery will have nine mixers feeding its production lines. For yeast-raised sweet goods, the bakery uses a sponge-and-dough process. Operators mix 2,800-lb batches that they then dump into troughs that feed two extruders on the Moline laminating line.

After creating 36 layers by folding the dough and margarine  or, for a few high-end customers, butter  the dough sheet passes through a reduction station. To obtain the desired 108 layers, the sheet is folded over itself three more times before it passes through a series of flour dusters and reduction stations to make it 19 mm thick.

The dough sheets are folded gently and placed on pans  with 32 pans on each double rack  and rolled into a first-in-first-out 34F retarder where the dough books remain for up to 24 hours. The current retarder holds 243 racks, but with the boost in sales volume, Skinner Baking plans to add 40% more capacity. Operators attach a hand-written label to each rack to document the batch number, time produced, product variety and other information for traceability purposes.

The time-consuming fermentation process is integral to making quality Danish and other sweet goods. In fact, Mr. Keaton noted, even the companys non-laminated sweet doughs receive 2.5 hours of fermentation to develop their flavor prior to makeup.

After 24 hours of retarding, the laminated dough books are sheeted on one of the two Moline makeup lines. During

s visit, Skinner Baking produced gourmet cinnamon rolls for a food service customer on line No. 2, which also makes sweet dough products such as mini-Danish and sticky buns. Line No. 3 typically produces larger products  strip Danish and coffee cakes. Line No. 1 makes muffins.

On line No. 2, the dough initially travels through multi-roll reduction stations before a roller cutter slices the sheet into two. These two strips are then filled with a 50:50 cinnamon-and-sugar paste. Torpedo rolls then curl the dough strips to seal in the cinnamon-and-sugar filling. Next, a guillotine cuts the roll into individual pieces that are hand-placed into pans, racked and rolled into a proof box that is kept at 110F and 95% relative humidity for 45 to 55 minutes.

The flexible production lines contain a number of systems such as a Colborne streusel topper to create a variety of products including coffee cakes, individual Danish and more. The cinnamon rolls bake in a Baker Perkins 300-ft, 6-zone oven and then head into a variable-speed overhead cooler for 18 to 31 minutes. During the cooling process, Mr. Keaton said, the objective is to reduce the base product temperature from around 205F to 105F so the icing doesnt crack if the product is too cool or wash out if it is too warm.

MUFFINS AND MORE.

For muffin production on line No. 1, two Precision denesters drop 48 muffin liners into each AutoBake pan. The line needs two denesters to keep up with the speed of the Hinds-Bock servo-driven depositor. Muffin sizes typically range from 0.9 to 4.5 oz. The pans then enter an AutoBake Serpentine thermal oil oven where the products bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The oil used to heat the 4-zone oven also supplies heat for the lines automatic pan washer, according to Mr. Nolan.

A robot depans muffins after baking. The robots pick-up arm injects four needles into each full-size muffin and, by retracting the needles, places all 48 muffins simultaneously on a conveyor leading to an AutoBake Serpentine cooler. Mr. Nolan noted it takes twice as long to cool the muffins than it does to bake them. The bakery even has a system that pumps in chilled air to facilitate the cooling process.

Like many contract manufacturers, Skinner Baking relies on a host of packaging systems to serve its various customers. After passing through a Safeline metal detector, muffins can be individually wrapped or packaged in corrugated trays using three FMC horizontal flow wrappers, a Formost Fuji flow wrapper or an Ilapak flow-wrapping system, Mr. Keaton said. Individually wrapped items travel through a diverter that fills four to five lanes, depending on the size of the product, and directs them to the flow wrappers.

On the other hand, bulk-packaged muffins for food service are placed in cardboard trays, overwrapped in plastic and sealed using a Shanklin shrink wrapper. HP ink coders add production dates, lot numbers and shelf-life information on all packages.

The company assembles clamshell-packaged products in a separate area of the plant near the storage freezer. After passing through a Safeline X-ray system, Danish and other sweet goods can be placed in three shapes of tamper-evident clamshells. To apply the tamper-evident seal, a sonic system welds the top and the bottom of the recyclable clamshell, giving it a 360 seal that actually extends the products shelf life to 10 days.

Labels can be applied to private label products, but the J. Skinner items pass through two custom-designed, proprietary systems that slip high-impact graphic sleeves over the clamshells. The flexible packaging department also uses a Nordson case erector.

Many products are flash-frozen inside an ammonia-chilled blast freezer set at -35F and housing an I.J. White 1,700-ft-long spiral conveyor. The bakerys main storage freezer can hold 770 pallets, allowing the plant to schedule longer production runs for many of its products, according to Mr. Keaton. In addition to the plants holding freezer, Skinner Baking relies on an offsite cold storage center.

By building frozen inventory, the bakery can minimize changeovers and streamline the operation by producing four different varieties of muffins on four separate shifts, placing them in shrink-wrapped trays and using this inventory at a later date to create bulk variety pack cases for its customers convenience.

TOTAL MAKEOVER.

As part of the J. Skinner initiative, the company is giving its bakery a makeover to reflect its new image. For example, the company remodeled the lobby of its plant, as well as the offices and even the locker rooms, to reflect its brands contemporary style.

Moreover, Skinner Baking is building an innovation center for future product development. To create space for the center, the company purchased a former beer bottling warehouse down the street, which after renovation now houses sales, marketing and administrative offices. Eventually, the facilitys extensive warehouse space will be used to store its offsite inventory of ingredients and packaging material so that its much closer to its production bakery. The current main material storage facility is about a mile from the bakery.

During the past two years, the J. Skinner brand has made great strides, but the companys executives know they have just taken baby steps in the long run. The brand is still in its infancy, but we are wondering, Whats next? Mr. Keaton noted. We recognize that we have a target on our backs. Our challenge now is to stay relevant, and were going to attack it in a lot of different ways. Were branching out. Were approaching different concepts, ideas and trends. Our goal is to keep our sales fresh and our brand fresh.
The property formerly known as Wet 'n Wild could become Orlando's newest resort.

Universal plans resorts on former Wet 'n Wild property

Orlando Municipal Planning Board approved the plan Tuesday

Plan would add up to 4,000 hotel rooms

RELATED: See the full proposal (.PDF)

Universal presented plans for a new resort complex to the Orlando Municipal Planning Board Tuesday.

The proposal calls for a resort and parking garage on the southeast corner of International Drive and Universal Boulevard, which is the old Wet 'n Wild property.

Another resort is proposed directly across from that, where the parking lot for the water park was located.

The application says the resorts would add up to 4,000 hotel rooms to the I-Drive corridor.

The Municipal Planning Board approved the project, which now goes to the Orlando City Commission for final approval next month.

Universal closed down Wet 'n Wild on Dec. 31, 2016. Much of the park is torn down.

A man vacationing from Ireland said he was surprised to see Wet 'n Wild gone, but says he believes the development planned for the site is needed.

If they can generate more facilities here, and make it more attractive for people to travel this part of International Drive, all I can say is that would be a good thing," said Stephen Magennis.

Reporter Jeff Allen contributed to this story.

Wet 'n Wild park vs. proposed resort

Used the center slider bar to see the full image.

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The full Google map for Wet 'n Wild can be found here.

Current Wet 'n Wild parking lot vs. proposed resort

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The full Google map for Wet 'n Wild can be found here.

CHECK OUT ATTRACTIONS INSIDER: Your all-in-one source for news, pictures and video from Floridas theme parks. Just go to our Attractions Insider page. Sign up to get breaking theme park news alerts and subscribe to our newsletter, Theme Park Roundup, delivered to your inbox or mobile phone.
Demolition has been approved for Channelside Bay Plaza, as Port Tampa Bay board members Tuesday gave the green light for a plan to knock down part of the structure.

It's all part of Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik's vision for downtown.

Construction to begin this summer, new look to be ready by fall

Park will include space for festivals, public art, pop-ups

Talks are underway to move restaurants currently there



A waterfront view downtown has been landlocked for years by Channelside, and the plan is to demolish the building that obstructs the view.

"Nothing brings more people around by having a nicer waterfront and other places for people to visit," said Joe Lyons, visiting from Ohio.

Talks are underway to move the restaurants that are currently inside the building. And once the place is torn down, the southwest wing of the plaza will be home to a waterfront park.

The park will be equipped with space for festivals, public art and pop-ups.

"Pop-ups can be anything from local restaurateurs or bar owners who want to operate in an area for one or two years," said Ali Glisson of Strategic Property Partners.

There will also be pedestrian trails and dining space.

It's considered a short-term fix for Strategic Property Partners, which owns the plaza. The change is a way for the company to test out strategies for longer-term visions.

"We really want to make it its own destination, to make this whole area mixed use," Glisson said.

There's no timeline on the long-term goal, but officials say the temporary waterfront park is the first step.

Construction is set to begin this summer, and the new look for Channelside is expected to be ready by the fall.


Nature Walks, Talks at Oregon Coast Beach Bill Party in Cannon Beach

Published 06/21/2017 at 6:04 AM PDT - Updated 06/21/2017 at 6:09 AM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Cannon Beach, Oregon)  The next big day coming up for the Oregon coast is July 6. This is the date in 1967 Gov. Tom McCall signed the Oregon Beach Bill into existence, which preserved the state's entire shoreline for the public.

There have been bashes, celebrations and commemorations aplenty this year, as the landmark legislation hits 50 years old. One of the largest happens again in Cannon Beach on Thursday, July 6, as Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition and local partner Haystack Rock Awareness Program (HRAP) are sponsoring a special beachwalk, along with speakers and a party. There will be some warmup events the night before, however, on July 5.

The official party begins Thursday as participants gather at 1:30 p.m. at the Cannon Beach Community Hall (207 N. Spruce St.). After refreshments and a few brief remarks from Oregon Shores Executive Director Phillip Johnson, the crowd will head for the beach at approximately 2:15 p.m. They will be led by Cannon Beach resident and conservationist Ed Johnson, along with famed local filmmaker Stephen Grace, who is also an environmental activist and author.

This stroll along the shoreline will loop from just south of Ecola Creek, south to Haystack Rock, and then back to the Community Hall. One of the landmarks: the Surfsand Resort, where some pivotal moments of the campaign for the Beach Bill happened back in 1967. At the time, the then-owners had cordoned off part of the beach in front of the hotel and claimed it as its own.

Along the walk's route, several guides will provide expert commentary on the surroundings, including ecologist Stewart Schultz and a discussion of shoreline natural history, along with hiking author Bonnie Henderson.

Everyone returns to the Community Hall around 4 p.m., where talks will be given by various experts, including Bob Bailey - an Oregon Shores board member and former head of the states Coastal Management Program - on the history of the Beach Bill and coastal conservation in Oregon. Henderson (whose books include Strand: An Odyssey of Pacific Ocean Debris, and The Next Tsunami) will be speaking on the native trails and highways, leading into the history of the Oregon Coast Trail and its present status.

Refreshments will again be served, including beer donated by Public Coast Brewing Co. The party will continue until 6 p.m.

Were celebrating a key milestone in Oregons conservation history, said Oregon Shores Phillip Johnson. The Beach Bills 50th is a major event for everyone who cares about the Oregon coast. Its important to know the history, and realize that only hard work by many dedicated citizens made it possible to pass the Beach Bill and preserve our public shoreline. We hope the result will be a renewed enthusiasm for the kind of citizen engagement well need to protect our shoreline resources for the next 50 years.

The night prior to the main events, on Wednesday, July 5, Oregon Shores and HRAP are warming up for the celebration with a public talk on beach ecology. The speaker will be ecologist Stewart Schultz, author of The Northwest Coast: A Natural History. Schultz will speak at 7 p.m. at the Cannon Beach Community Hall.

Schultz is a leading expert on the natural history of Pacific Northwest shorelines. Here, he will describe the ecosystems found upon and beneath the sand of the beach, a world less well-known than that of tidepools and rocky shores but equally fascinating.

The event is free and open to all. For information, contact Phillip Johnson, (503) 754-9303, [email protected]; or Melissa Keyser, (503) 440-0266, [email protected] Cannon Beach Hotels / Lodging for this event - Where to eat - Map and Virtual Tour



















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On the same day as a fatal shooting that killed one man and injured his child, the Beaumont Police Department announced a new "all hands on deck" approach to combat violent crime in the city.

The department held a joint press conference on Tuesday afternoon with the U.S. Attorney's Office and Jefferson County District Attorney's Office to assure citizens of their safety and re-commit their departments to combating crime.
A 30-year-old Beaumont man has been arrested on an aggravated robbery charge after police say he robbed a Jack in the Box at 590 Washington.

The robbery happened just after 1 a.m., Beaumont Police said in a Facebook post.
Glen Connor waited for news from Austin all spring, hoping to hear that the state Legislature had passed changes to the state's school funding system.

Now the Woodville school superintendent is looking for places to cut the district's budget by a million dollars, with next month's special session promising more uncertainty.

WISD already has frozen salaries, as well as hiring for non-essential positions. Connor is considering scaling back a full-day preschool program, making extracurricular activities "pay-to-play" and reducing supply contracts. An election to approve a tax increase, required if the rate rises more than 4 cents, is possible, he said.

Like administrators around the state, who develop their budgets for the upcoming school year each summer, Connor is in limbo as he waits to see what happens at the capital. Gov. Greg Abbott's list of priorities for the special session include a $1,000 pay raise for teachers and vouchers for special education students, which could impact both how much money districts receive and are required to spend.

"We'll actually eventually be putting two budgets out there," Connor said, for the different possible scenarios.

The uncertainty comes in the same year as the scheduled

end of ASATR funding, or Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction, which was begun in 2005 when the state reduced the amount that school districts could tax residents.

The funding was intended to cover the difference until property values rose, but in places like Woodville, where the gap hasn't closed yet, it leaves school districts looking at an instant budget cut.

Woodville has received millions of subsidy dollars, including nearly $3 million in 2016 and more than $1.5 million for the past school year, exceeding 10 percent of the small Tyler County district's annual budget.

Statewide, more than 200 districts get the stopgap funding, including Hardin-Jefferson ISD, which received $440,380 last year, and more than $15 million since 2006.

The funding varied widely from year to year, based on property values and taxes: Port Arthur ISD's allocation ranged from no money to $18 million in the past six years.

Payroll and other necessary costs, like utilities and supplies, make up the majority of districts' budgets, leaving limited flexibility to accommodate new mandates from the state without a boost in funding.

Port Arthur ISD's board of trustees will vote Thursday whether to hold an election on increasing their tax rate to raise additional money. The proposed 13-cent rate increase is intended to help PAISD pay for preventive maintenance on campuses and to increase teacher salaries to compete with neighboring districts, said Phyllis Geans, Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance. It would also help cover the $1,000 raise if passed by the Legislature.

If the tax increase doesn't pass the board or the voters, "we'll have to figure out how to absorb it," she said.

In the recently ended legislative session, the House passed a school funding bill that would have sent $1.5 million into the school finance system and simplified some of the funding formulas, but it died after the Senate added a voucher program for special education students, which the House refused to pass.

Proponents of the Education Savings Accounts say they create competition and help families afford private education or homeschool materials. Critics argue they take money from an already cash-strapped public school system to give to schools that aren't held accountable to the state and can choose who to accept or reject. They say the vouchers aren't enough for low-income families to benefit.

Geans said vouchers would likely pull students out of PAISD, decreasing the district's enrollment and leaving it with less money.

The House has voted twice against vouchers, making it unlikely that they'll pass them next month, said H-JISD Superintendent Shannon Holmes.

If passed, they likely wouldn't make a difference in Southeast Texas' rural districts, where there are few, if any, private school options, and those often aren't equipped to provide the services for special education students who would qualify for the vouchers, Connor said.

"I think it's bad for public education, but I don't know that it would impact Hardin-Jefferson," Holmes said. "There's not enough (private schools) to take the people who would want to leave."

State leaders including Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have advocated for a voucher program for all Texas students, which was scaled back to just special needs students when it was tacked onto the failed House Bill.

The possible financial impact is less clear for other items on Abbott's agenda, like "administrative flexibility in teacher hiring and retention practices."

His list includes the creation of a school finance reform commission, which local administrators hope would bring change in the future.

Last spring, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the state's school funding system "satisfies minimum constitutional requirements," but called it "Byzantine," "undeniably imperfect" and in need of "transformational, top-to-bottom reforms that amount to more than Band-Aid on top of Band-Aid."

Geans called the system inequitable and said improvements are necessary to send more money to districts with greater needs, including large numbers of low-income and bilingual students.

Holmes said that while he hoped the Legislature would make changes to the funding system this spring, "given the stance that the state's leadership has taken, I wasn't surprised" when it didn't happen.

"It seems like every session, we're asked to do more with less and maintain high standards and high quality," he said. "At some point, that system and those expectations become unmanageable."

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.comTwitter.com/LizTeitz
Here are six updates on GI companies from the past week.

Exact Sciences sold an additional 7 million shares for a gross proceeds of $245 million.



Valeant Pharmaceuticals added billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson to its board of directors.



GI Dynamics added Francesco Rubino, MD, and Philip Schauer, MD, to its scientific advisory board.



Q BioMed finalized an agreement with The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology to develop a novel liver cancer chemotherapy.



S&S Plastics and StarMed collaborated on an endoscopy bottle top to keep camera lenses clean during procedures.



The Taiwan Government Industrial Development Bureau awarded CellMax Life a $760,846 grant for its cancer detection platform.
Here are 15 revenue cycle management portfolio expansions involving healthcare vendors and providers so far in June.

1. Recondo Technology, a revenue cycle management solutions company based in Denver, partnered with Mechanicsburg, Pa.-based HealthPay24.

2. Norcross, Ga.-based Armco Partners, a provider of revenue cycle management and health information management services, expanded its RCM offerings with the purchase of Radius Healthcare Solutions' medical coding services business.

3. Seattle-based SCI Solutions, a provider of patient scheduling technology, added support for multistate health systems, worklist security and insurance management functions to its patient-scheduling solution.

4. Patientco, an Atlanta-based healthcare payments technology company, said it will expand accessibility and functionality by enhancing Epic EHR integration with its patient payment platform.

5. MedAptus, a healthcare technology company based in Boston, partnered with South Paris, Maine-based Mingle Analytics, which focuses on Medicare quality reporting, to help hospitals achieve Medicare reimbursement bonuses and avoid penalties under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act's Merit-based Incentive Payment System.

6. University of Toledo (Ohio) Physicians deployed PatientKeeper's charge capture software.

7. Infinx, a revenue cycle management solutions provider in San Jose, Calif., updated its cloud-based patient access platform, iBridge.

8. Innovaccer, a healthcare analytics company based in Silicon Valley, launched its new Healthcare Model Evaluator tool.

9. Muncie, Ind.-based Ontario Systems, an accounts receivable and healthcare revenue cycle management software and services provider, will soon unveil a new RCM solution, Insurance Hold Manager.

10. Encoda, a patent technology developer, acquired Tampa, Fla.-based MedCo Data's revenue cycle management division, which services billing needs of dermatologists and single-specialty groups nationwide.

11. Vericred, a healthcare data services company based in New York City, unveiled a provider-network notification service.

12. Vizient members will have access to iMedX medical transcription services under an agreement between the two entities. Vizient is a member-driven healthcare performance improvement company with offices in Irving, Texas, and Chicago. iMedX is a health information and medical documentation solutions company based in Atlanta.

13. Ability Network's revenue cycle management app, Ability | Ease All-Payer, will integrate with PointClickCare's EHR platform. PointClickCare is a cloud-based software platform focused on senior care. Ability Network is a Minneapolis-based health IT company.

14. Westborough, Mass.-based Virtusa Corp., a global provider of business consulting and IT outsourcing, launched its tool to aid payer-provider relationship management.

15. Philadelphia-based Data-Core Systems partnered with GE Healthcare on an integrated revenue cycle management solution.
CMS issued the proposed rule Tuesday for the 2018 performance year of the Quality Payment Program under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act.

In the second year of the QPP, the agency hopes to further streamline reporting requirements, while maintaining Medicare quality and continuing to push providers toward value-based care.

Here are nine things to know about the changes in the proposed rule for the 2018 performance period.

1. CMS proposed raising the low-volume threshold for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System. In 2017, clinicians or groups were exempt from MIPS reporting requirements if they billed $30,000 or less in Medicare Part B charges annually or had 100 or fewer Medicare Part B beneficiaries. This left just one-third of Medicare clinicians eligible for MIPS. However, to ease the burden on small and rural practices, CMS proposes raising this threshold in 2018 to 200 Medicare Part B beneficiaries and $90,000 in Medicare Part B allowed charges per year.

2. The rule includes the option for providers to band together in Virtual Groups. This option was not available in 2017. Virtual Groups allow solo physicians or physicians in groups of 10 or fewer to virtually combine for MIPS participation. To become a Virtual Group, a solo physician or group must combine with at least one other solo physician or group, regardless of location or specialty, and register before the 2018 performance year. Solo physicians must be eligible for MIPS on their own.

3. CMS proposed adding bonus points to the MIPS scoring methodology. Clinicians have the opportunity to earn bonus points if they care for complex patients (up to three points), are part of practice with 15 or fewer clinicians (up to five points), or exclusively use the 2015 Edition Certified EHR Technology. The program allows the use of 2014 Edition CEHRT, but CMS wants to push providers to use the 2015 Edition through the use of bonus points.

4. The weights of the measures that contribute to the MIPS composite score were adjusted. For the 2018 performance year, the composite score will be weighted as follows:

Quality: 60 percent

Cost: 0 percent

Advancing Care Information: 25 percent

Improvement Activities: 15 percent

The proposed rule the amount of time the cost category is weighted at 0 percent to 2020. Beginning in 2021, CMS would still ramp up the weight of the cost category to 30 percent as originally planned.

5. The amount of Medicare Part A and B revenue that must be at risk to qualify as an advanced Alternative Payment Model  set at 8 percent in 2017 was extended for two years. Clinicians must bear more than "nominal" financial risk for financial losses to qualify as an advanced APM. The proposed rule extends the revenue-based nominal amount standard of 8 percent to the 2020 performance year.

6. The required risk for medical home models will increase more slowly. Clinicians can also qualify as an advanced APM if they participate in a medical home model created under the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. The 2018 proposed rule increases the risk required for medical home models more slowly. In 2017, medical home models were required to have at least 2.5 percent of estimate average Parts A and B revenue at risk, and this was expected to increase to 3 percent in 2018, 4 percent in 2019 and 5 percent in 2020. However, CMS proposes decreasing the amount of risk for medical homes to 2 percent of Medicare Parts A and B revenue in 2018 and increasing this by one percentage point per year going forward.

7. The proposed rule also offers more detail on the All-Payer Combination Option for APMs that would begin in 2019. This option would allow physicians to qualify as advanced APMs through a combination of Medicare and commercial payer APM participation.

8. MIPS APM reporting would be more streamlined. Physicians who have some APM participation, but do not qualify for advanced participation, are subject to MIPS reporting requirements and known as MIPS APMs. The 2018 proposed rule updates the scoring policy for these providers to increase flexibility and identify policies for MIPS APMs in virtual groups.

9. The proposed changes have been met with mixed responses from the industry so far. The American Medical Association praised the changes and the slowed pace offered in the 2018 proposed rule. "Not all physicians and their practices were ready to make the leap, and many faced daunting challenges," the AMA said in an emailed statement. "This flexible approach will give physicians more options to participate in MACRA and takes into consideration the diversity of medical practices throughout the country."

However, the American Medical Group Association felt the draft rule slowed the transition to value too much. "If CMS wants to transition to value-based payment for care, the program needs to be fully implemented," Chester Speed, AMGA's vice president of public policy, said in an emailed statement. "We recommend that CMS revise its proposal to fully incentivize high performers in the Medicare program."

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As the budget gridlock continues in Illinois, supply vendors are threatening to cut off Franklin Hospital, a 16-bed critical access hospital in Benton, Ill., according to WPSD.

The state owes the hospital more than $2 million in Medicaid and employee health insurance reimbursements, causing serious funding deficits. Without the state funds, payments to supply vendors lag as the hospital prioritizes payroll, according to the report.

"I probably get one demand letter a week from my vendors saying they're going to cut us off if we don't pay out or get caught up to a certain degree," Jim Johnson, Franklin Hospital CEO and CFO, told WPSD.

The hospital has reduced staff hours and made budget cuts to temporarily offset the lack of state funding; however, the hospital needs the reimbursement it is owed to retain normal operations and increase the supply stock, according to the report.
Sean Tunis, MD  founder, president and CEO of the Baltimore-based research nonprofit Center for Medical Technology Policy  was elected president of Health Technology Assessment International.

HTAi is an international scientific and professional society focused on health technology assessment. As president, Dr. Tunis will work with industry leaders  from both private and public sectors  to advance technology assessment as a means to inform healthcare decision making.

Dr. Tunis, who has served as vice president on the HTAi board for the past two years, began his two-year presidential term June 21. Prior to founding CMTP, Dr. Tunis served as director of the office of clinical standards and quality and CMO of CMS.

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CoPilot Provider Support Services will pay $130,000 in penalties and reform its legal compliance program as part of a settlement to resolve allegations the company illegally deferred notifying more than 221,178 patients of breached records, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced June 15.

The Hyde Park, N.Y.-based health IT company provides support services to the healthcare industry through a website physicians can use to determine insurance coverage for certain medications. An unauthorized individual allegedly gained access to confidential patient reimbursement data via the website's administration interface Oct. 26, 2015, and downloaded records of 221,178 patients. These records may have included names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, among other information.

CoPilot did not provide formal notice to affected New York patients until Jan. 18, 2017, more than one year after the company discovered the breach. CoPilot asserted the delay was due to an ongoing law enforcement investigation, however, the FBI  which launched an investigation into the incident at CoPilot's request in February 2016  had not instructed the company to delay notification. This delay reportedly violated general business law in the state, which requires companies to provide notice of a breach as soon as possible.

"Healthcare services providers have a duty to protect patient records as securely as possible and to provide notice when a breach occurs," Mr. Schneiderman said. "Waiting over a year to provide notice is unacceptable. My office will continue to hold businesses accountable to their responsibility to protect customers' private information."

Editor's note: Becker's Hospital Review reached out to CoPilot Provider Support Services for comment and will update as more information is available.
National Coordinator for Health IT Don Rucker, MD  a board-certified physician in emergency medicine, internal medicine and clinical informatics  discussed his journey to ONC leadership in a June 15 post on the ONC blog.

"Informatics, the science and processing of data for storage and retrieval, is still an odd enough career choice," Dr. Rucker wrote. "As such, I have been getting a lot of questions about how I got interested in this field and found my way to ONC."



Dr. Rucker detailed how, as a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, he noticed striking inefficiencies in the healthcare system. As a resident at UC San Diego, he discovered an answer to the problem.



"I realized that what was really missing in making healthcare more efficient was data," he wrote. "Personal computers were becoming more commonplace at that time and I started thinking about building software to capture data to improve healthcare."



Throughout his career  which included studying medical computer science at Stanford (Calif.) University, co-developing the first Windows-based EMR at Datamedic Corp., and working with several federal agencies as CMO of Siemens Healthcare USA  Dr. Rucker has also continuously practiced as an emergency medicine physician.



"I'm optimistic that my path straddling high performance clinical medicine, as well as cutting edge software development, will power additional insights to help ONC best serve the health needs of our country," he wrote.



Click here to view the blog post.



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Effective June 30, Scott Hamlin will no longer serve as CFO of The Christ Hospital Health Network in Cincinnati.

Mike Keating, president and CEO of The Christ Hospital Health Network, announced the move via a letter to employees.

In the letter, Mr. Keating said Mr. Hamlin is stepping down from the CFO role "to spend more time with his family and to pursue some long-deferred personal interests."

Mr. Hamlin has served in healthcare for more than three decades. Most recently, he has served as senior vice president of finance and physician operations of The Christ Hospital Health Network, in addition to CFO.

"During this time, Scott has made many significant contributions to the network and the physician organization to drive growth while being continually focused on clinical excellence and the patient experience," Mr. Keating said. "Most importantly, Scott has continued to develop the talent, depth and quality of our finance department. These individuals include, among many others, Jamie Phillips, Ted Scherpenberg, Tina Hicks, Jay Saleh, Jennifer Schuster and Alma Helpling. Scott has brought a passion to his daily work and sharing his experiences and learnings with others, and a keen focus in supporting the delivery of exceptional care of our patients."

Ms. Helpling, who was most recently chief planning and improvement officer for The Christ Hospital Health Network, will serve as the network's vice president and interim CFO, according to Mr. Keating. Ms. Helpling also previously was vice president of patient services/finance for Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Three health system CEOs received Glassdoor's annual Employees' Choice Awards, which honors the 100 highest employee-rated U.S. CEOs in 2017.

Craig B. Thompson, MD, president and CEO of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, was the highest ranked health system CEO, coming in at No. 4. Michael Dowling, president and CEO of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, was the second highest ranked health system CEO (No. 67), and Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and CEO of Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente was the third (No. 68.)

The Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback by completing a company review on Glassdoor about their CEO's leadership, as well as their overall satisfaction with their job, work environment and employer over the past year.

According to analysis of company and leader reviews, highly rated CEOs are statistically linked to companies with great cultures. Among metrics related to company culture, the most significant driver of high CEO approval ratings is employee satisfaction with senior leadership. The study also reveals a strong link between CEO approval rating and financial performance.

View all the winners here.
A draft of the Senate GOP's healthcare bill will be unveiled Thursday after weeks of work on the legislation, reports Reuters.

Here are seven things to know about the bill and the GOP's efforts to repeal and replace the ACA.

1. A working group of Senate GOP members began drafting their healthcare bill after the House narrowly passed the American Health Care Act May 4.

2. Issues such as Medicaid funding and lowering insurance premiums have been some of the topics of discussion among moderate and conservative lawmakers. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate healthcare bill would differ from the House-approved AHCA, although no specific details were provided, reports Reuters.

3. President Donald Trump, who has vowed to repeal and replace the ACA, called for the Senate healthcare bill to be more "generous" than the House-approved AHCA, reports Reuters. Earlier this month, the president allegedly called the House-approved AHCA "mean."

4. The House-approved AHCA proposed keeping Medicaid expansion in effect through Jan. 1, 2020. However, some moderate Republican senators said they are advocating to slowly decrease federal payments to states that expanded Medicaid over a seven-year period, reports The New York Times. Mr. McConnell has recommended a three-year phase out, according to the report.

5. Mr. McConnell said a "discussion draft" of the Senate healthcare bill will be revealed Thursday and go to the chamber floor next week, after the Congressional Budget Office provides acost estimate and analysis, according to The Hill. The CBO's score of the House-approved AHCA estimated the bill would decrease the federal deficit by $119 billion from 2017 to 2026, but create up to 23 million more Americans uninsured by 2026.

6. Democrats have spoken out against the GOP's meetings on the bill because they have taken place behind closed doors, according to Reuters. "Republicans are writing their healthcare bill under the cover of darkness because they are ashamed of it," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in the report.

7. Assuming no Democrats vote for the healthcare bill, at least 50 out of 52 Senate Republicans must vote "yes" for the bill to pass, according to Reuters.
Though previous plans to open a medical school in the Fresno, Calif., area have failed, officials said the area may soon be home to two osteopathic institutions as early as 2019, according to Valley Public Radio.

Manipal Global Education Services  a Bangalore, India-based company that owns and operates several universities and colleges throughout Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean  has been in talks to open the California Central Valley College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fresno in 2019, according to the report.

Officials at Clovis-based California Health Sciences University also revealed plans to open a college of osteopathic medicine in 2019. Wendy Duncan, PhD, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost for CHSU, told Valley Public Radio the university is developing the college's curriculum and hiring faculty and staff. She said the university has not begun construction on a building to house the college.

Both institutions are reportedly in talks with local health centers to provide clerkships for medical students and graduates, according to the report.

Manipal Global has yet to begin the accreditation process for the medical school, a procedure that may take up to four years to complete. CHSU officials said it is on track to gain accreditation, according to the report.

Until the schools receive accreditation, students opting to attend either institution will not be eligible for federal loans.
In a recent interview with Medical Device Business, Luann Pendy, senior vice president of global quality at Medtronic, discussed diversity in the medical field and executive positions.

Here's what you need to know.

1. In a 2016 survey of 24 female medtech executives, approximately 14 percent of their executive peers were women. The survey also indicated that 54 percent of female medtech executives above the director level did not receive the same pay as their male colleagues.

2. In pharmaceutical and biotech companies, women hold 17 percent of senior management positions. And in another study by Catalyst, 25.1 percent of executive positions in the S&P 500 are filled by women.

3. At Medtronic, 49 percent of employees are female. At the management level, 33 percent of positions are filled by women.

4. Medtronic developed Careers 2.0 in part of their Women in Science and Engineering initiative. Careers 2.0 allows women who have taken time away from their careers to refresh their technical skills, participate in professional development and take advantage of mentoring opportunities while looking for a

permanent position at Medtronic.

5. Currently there are over 8,000 members across 25 hubs participating in Medtronic's women's network. This network brings women together to give them the tools, techniques and networking opportunities.

6. Medtronic also rolled out the resource group Men Advocating Change. This group brings awareness to diversity, asking questions about why having women leaders is important.

7. In order to bring change and create knowledge of the medical device business to women, Medtronic created a program called Sharpen Your Business Acumen. This program is a lecture series where female leaders present on their subject expertise.
Jon Stryker, an heir to the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based medical device giant Stryker Corp., is the top philanthropist in the state of Michigan since 2000, according to a report from The Chronical of Philanthropy.

Mr. Stryker's grandfather Homer Stryker, MD, invented a mobile hospital bed and founded the company, which is now worth billions. Mr. Stryker has donated around $336.3 million to charitable endeavors in the state, primarily focused on the Arcus Foundation, which he founded in 2000.

The foundation's mission is to combat discrimination based on an individual's sexual orientation and gender identity as well as supporting the survival of great apes. Arcus Foundation's board of directors are based in both the U.S. and U.K., and focuses on respecting diversity among people and in nature.

He also funded the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College and donated both land and money to the Kalamazoo Nature Center in 2015 for an expansion, according to Forbes. His net worth is currently $2.7 billion.

Mr. Stryker is a founding board member of the Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservatory in northern Kenya, Save the Chimps in Ft. Pierce, Fla., and Greenleaf Trust bank in Kalamazoo.
Mazor Robotics is facing a class action litigation suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

On June 8, the company reported Israeli Securities Authority conducted an investigation in May, searching offices and questioning officers.

Here are five insights:

1. Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer is investigating Mazor on behalf of investors who purchased the company's American Depositary Receipts or other securities. Investors purchased the receipts between Nov. 8, 2016, and June 8, 2017.

2. The investors allege Mazor violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

3. The lawsuit involves Mazor allegedly making materially false and misleading statements during the Class Period.

4. Additionally, investors allege Mazor didn't disclose they were involved in conduct that warranted an Israeli Securities Authority investigation, and therefore was at potential liability.

5. After Mazor announced the investigation on June 8, its ADRs dropped by 9.9 percent. By June 9, the ADRs fell an additional 9.15 percent.
Yesterday, CMS issued a proposed rule to update the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015's second year quality payment program, largely focused on simplifying the reporting process and relaxing requirements.

"We've heard the concerns that too many quality programs, technology requirements and measures get between the doctor and the patient," said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. "That's why we're taking a hard look at reducing burdens. By proposing this rule, we aim to improve Medicare by helping doctors and clinicians concentrate on caring for their patients rather than filling out paperwork."

The MACRA quality payment program has two tracks, including the Merit-based Incentive Payment System and Advanced Alternative Payment Models. Healthcare providers are able to choose which track they participate in. The proposed changes to MIPS include:

1. Giving a virtual group participation option, which would allow solo practitioners or groups of 10 or fewer clinicians that come together virtually to participate in MIPS.

2. Increasing the low-volume threshold, which could allow additional small practices and rural clinicians to participate in MIPS.

3. Allow the use of 2014 certified EHR technology while encouraging 2015 CEHRT.

4. Adding bonus points in the methodology for treating complex patients and using 2015 CEHRT exclusively.

5. Incorporating MIPS improvement into the overall quality performance scoring.

6. Incorporating facility-based scoring for facility-based clinicians.

7. For clinicians in small practices, there would be a new hardship exception under the Advancing Care Information performance category.

8. Clinicians in small practices would receive bonus points to their final score.

9. Small practices would continue to receive three points for measures in the quality performance category that don't meet data completeness requirements.

10. In the 2018 performance period, the proposed change would allow MIPS eligible clinicians to choose whether they attest to using the appropriate use criteria under the 2016 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule for advanced diagnostic imaging services ordered.

CMS also proposed updates to APMs, including:

11. Extending the revenue-based nominal amount standard through performance year 2020, which gives providers two additional years to meet the financial risk criterion to qualify for APM participation.

12. Slow the increase in the minimum required amount for medical home models.

The American Medical Association issued a statement in support of the proposed changes.

"In proposing these rules, the administration has taken another step to make sure the promise of MACRA  where physicians are rewarded for involvement and for delivering high-quality, high-value care  will be fulfilled," said AMA President David O. Barbe, MD. "Patients and physicians will benefit from the new MACRA approach, as flexibility is vital when implementing a wide-ranging reform."
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Department store giant Marks & Spencer is to open a store in Co Antrim creating 75 jobs.

M&S said it is to open a food hall - its 19th store in Northern Ireland - next to the Clarion Hotel in Carrickfergus.

The company said the 9,000 square foot outlet would feature its "innovative, high-quality food and drink" as well as a cafe and bakery.

It has now exchanged contracts to purchase the site of the food hall, which will open next year.

Peter Phillips, M&S regional commercial operations manager, said: "We are delighted to be opening a new food hall in Carrickfergus, providing the very best of M&S food in a convenient location.

"The store will bring a fresh, new shopping environment to Carrickfergus, which I know has been long awaited by the local community." The company already has 18 stores - of which eight are food-only - in the province.

It has announced plans to close six stores in England, though it confirmed there were no plans to shut stores on this side of the Irish Sea.

It's also investing in its Newry store as it moves from the city's Buttercrane Shopping Centre to the Quays Shopping Centre, where it will reopen later this year.

M&S last month reported a 64% slump in annual profits to 176.4m as poor sales of its clothing were exacerbated by 400m of restructuring costs. Chief executive Steve Rowe has announced plans to revamp the chain.
Tesco said 1,100 staff in Cardiff would be affected, although it plans to create 250 jobs at its Dundee office as part of the move

Up to 1,100 jobs are being axed at supermarket giant Tesco as the group confirmed plans to shut its call centre in Cardiff.

Tesco said it was set to close the 11-year-old site in February next year and move the customer services operations to its remaining call centre in Dundee.

The group said 1,100 staff in Cardiff would be affected, although it plans to create 250 jobs at its Dundee office as part of the move.

Matt Davies, UK chief executive of Tesco, said: "The retail sector is facing unprecedented challenges and we must ensure we run our business in a sustainable and cost-effective way, while meeting the changing needs of our customers.

"To help us achieve this, we've taken the difficult decision to close our customer service operations in Cardiff.

"We realise this will have a significant effect on colleagues in the Cardiff area, and our priority now is to continue to do all we can to support them at this time."

Trade union Usdaw said the decision was "devastating" for affected employees.

Nick Ireland, d ivisional officer of Usdaw, said: "Tesco's Cardiff call centre staff are understandably shocked by th e announcement of the company's planned closure.

"This is clearly devastating news for our members and will have a wider impact on South Wales, as so many jobs are potentially lost to our local economy."

Tesco said it would be offering to move some of the affected staff to the Dundee site , where it already has 900 workers.

It will now enter consultation talks with trade unions.

Details of the call centre plans come in a difficult week for Tesco after its home delivery service was hit by a computer glitch on Tuesday, which saw thousands of orders cancelled or postponed.

Up to 10% of all orders were affected nationwide, leaving affected customers furious.

Ken Skates, Welsh Government Economic Secretary, said: "This is devastating news, especially for the workers and their families facing redundancies at Tesco House.

"We will work in close collaboration with Tesco and the major support agencies locally, including Careers Wales, Jobcentre Plus, colleges and the local authority to deliver the best possible support for the workers facing an uncertain future."

Councillor Huw Thomas, leader of Cardiff Council, said the council would be seeking an urgent meeting with the Tesco chief executive.

"Tesco is a strategic company in Wales and, given the current economic climate in Cardiff, this decision is both surprising and disappointing," he said.

"We need to understand the reasons why this decision has been taken and the redundancy package that is being offered to those affected.

"Cardiff has recently been announced as the third-best office location in the UK and, with levels of investment rising, our city is an increasingly attractive place to do business.

"We will do everything within our powers and remit to find the best possible solution for those affected by this decision."

Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said: "While I understand that this is a commercial decision for Tesco, the news that there will be a significant number of job losses at its Cardiff site will cause a great deal of concern to the workers, families and communities affected.

"I am receiving regular updates from the company and am committed to working with relevant agencies, local authorities and the Welsh Government to offer all the support we can.

"Our priorities as a Government are to continue to focus on creating the right conditions for economic growth by exporting goods and services and attracting inward investment.

"Today's news is another reminder of the importance of retaining jobs, promote business opportunities in Wales and to ensure our country remains a competitive place to do business."
Crawfordsburn Primary visit the Belfast Telegraph on June 21st 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Crawfordsburn Primary visit the Belfast Telegraph on June 21st 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Crawfordsburn Primary visit the Belfast Telegraph on June 21st 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Crawfordsburn Primary visit the Belfast Telegraph on June 21st 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Pupils from Crawfordsburn Primary School paid a special visit to the Belfast Telegraph headquarters on Wednesday.

The P5 class were guests in the newsroom after winning a Translink competition for Little Reporters.

They were met by Managing Editor Darwin Templeton and Head of Local Agency Lucy Dougan who gave them a tour of the building.

The children also met Picture Editor Peter Rainey who explained how images were sourced for use in reports in the paper and online.

Expand Close Crawfordsburn Primary visit the Belfast Telegraph on June 21st 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook

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They were also shown how the paper was put together on screen, using a special programme.

After a picture outside the building, the children travelled to Titanic Belfast where they received a masterclass in journalism from Darwin.

Expand Close Crawfordsburn Primary visit the Belfast Telegraph on June 21st 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook

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The pupils helped write this story.

I really enjoyed the photoshoot. It was fun to get our pictures taken, said Kasey.

Lucy, 9, said: I liked seeing all the journalists at work, while Sammie said: I loved seeing the big TVs in the newsroom.

Laura said there were a lot of stairs at Belfast Telegraph House, which she enjoyed climbing.

Aoife, Daniel and Eli all enjoyed seeing how the newspaper was made and how it went from screen to paper.

Ellie liked seeing the picture desk and how the photographs were chosen.

Darwin said: I really enjoyed today and I think that they are a few budding reporters at Crawfordsburn PS.
A distraught mother is recovering after police mistakenly said her son had collapsed at Belsonic festival and was on the verge of death.

Co Down mum Sam Jones was "devastated" when officers phoned to say her boy was on a life support machine at Belfast's Royal Hospital after being treated by emergency workers at the four-day music event.

As the shock sunk in, police called again to tell her the young boy on life support was not her son.

Instead, it was a different child - thought to be under the legal drinking age of 18 - who had been using Ms Jones' son's stolen driving licence as false identification at Belsonic.

It is thought he is now stable and his parents are at his side. Ms Jones yesterday posted on Facebook about her distress: "I have just received the most devastating call that my son is on life support in Royal Hospital on life support!

"Followed by a second call that it's not him  his ID was stolen last year."

The Bangor woman went on to say the boy in hospital was 'under age' and, urging people to share her message on Facebook, claimed "nobody knows who his parents are".

Police later said the boy in hospital had been identified using "other items in his possession".

Ms Jones added in another Facebook post that she and her partner Michael's "thoughts and prayers" were with the parents whose son was in hospital.

She wrote on the social media network: "What was first heartbreaking news given to Michael and myself that it was our son is now another set of parents' worst nightmare and our hearts go out to them this evening.

"We are both still very shaken and shocked by this mistaken identity.

"Our original post was aiming to find the other parents as fast as possible. And yes, there are unanswered questions for as to this mistaken identity causing us a great deal of stress. We are just so thankful this young man is stable."

A PSNI spokesman said officers were first contacted at 8.15pm on Monday by a hospital worker following the admission of a male who had collapsed at Belsonic, held in Belfast's Ormeau Park.

Chief Inspector Gavin Kirkpatrick added: "The hospital first identified this young man by the driving licence in his possession. Staff asked police to make contact with the family, as per the address on the licence.

"Given the young man's condition at that time, police prioritised the call and went immediately to that address. Although no-one was home at the time, officers were able to make contact with the family. However, it transpired that the young man was actually carrying false identification and so the wrong family was initially given the terrible news that their 'son' was in hospital.

"The young man was then correctly identified by hospital staff, using other items in his possession."

Police added they arrested six youths aged between 14 and 19 at Belsonic yesterday, the festival's final day. Those arrested were held for drugs, indecency and public order offences.

Chief Inspector Kirkpatrick added: "That number should be viewed in the context of the 15,000 people who were there to enjoy the music."

Belsonic was headlined by Arcade Fire who opened the festival last Tuesday. The series of open-air gigs also feature concerts by The 1975, Jess Glynne, Cream Classical and Martin Garrix.
Gavin Coyle pictured in April, 2011 when he appeared at Dungannon Court in relation to the murder of Constable Ronan Kerr. {Photo: Colm O'Reilly/Pacemaker Press Intl 23-04-11

A convicted dissident republican refused to stand in court on Wednesday when he faced a charge of trying to murder an off-duty Catholic police officer with an under car bomb.

Gavin Coyle (40), of Mullaghmore Drive, Omagh, Co Tyrone, was led into Belfast Crown Court in handcuffs to be arraigned on a total of three charges dating back almost a decade ago.

When asked by the clerk of the court to 'please stand', Coyle refused to get to his feet and sat in the dock between two prison guards.

Belfast Recorder Judge David McFarland told the clerk to proceed with the arraignment.

Coyle, dressed in faded blue jeans and short sleeved shirt, pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of a PSNI constable on May 12, 2008 and causing an explosion "likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property'' on the same date.

He further denied being a member of a proscribed organisation, namely the Irish Republican Army, on dates between May 9, 2008 and May 13, 2008.

Prosecution counsel Ciaran Murphy QC asked for the case to be listed in a week's time to allow a date for trial to be set in the autumn.

"There are a number of pre-trial applications in respect of bad character and hearsay and it will be necessary for a disclosure judge to be appointed,'' he added.

Defence barrister Neil Fox said he had no issues with the prosecution's application.

Judge McFarland agreed to adjourn proceedings to allow "further discussions to be made on a trial date" and ordered the defendant to be taken away.

Coyle was placed in handcuffs again and taken from the dock by prison officers to be returned to Maghaberry prison.

He is currently serving a ten year sentence there. He was jailed in January 2014 after pleading guilty to having a stockpile of weapons and explosives and membership of the IRA.

The weapons, explosives and other terrorist materials were found in a lock-up garage at Mountjoy Road, Washing Bay in Coalisland, Co Tyrone, by detectives from the PSNI's Serious Crime Branch who were investigating the murder of Catholic PSNI constable Ronan Kerr on Saturday, April 2, 2011.

Constable Kerr had just got into his Ford Focus car to go to work in Omagh when a bomb exploded under this car.

The new charges Coyle is to face trial over relate to a bomb attack in Co Tyrone three years earlier.

An off-duty Catholic police officer was driving to work in Enniskillen when an "under vehicle improvised explosive device'', containing 1lb of high explosives, detontated under his car on May 12, 2008, at Spamount, near Castlederg.

The officer suffered serious leg injuries in the under car bomb attack.

He was rescued by a member of the public who dragged him from the wreckage shortly before it burst into flames.

At a previous hearing in the magistrates court, a district judge was told that in 2008 Coyle had been interviewed twice about the attack by police but prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence against him.

However, a detective told the same hearing that evidence from a "covert recording'' of a meeting allegedly involving Coyle, was made in February 2010 during which he allegedly discussed the attack.

As a result of expert voice recognition analysis, the detective said the secret recording had given police sufficient grounds to charge the accused.
A DUP MP has been criticised for claiming there is no demand to take down UVF flags in a mixed housing estate in her constituency.

Newly-elected Emma Little Pengelly declared the majority of people she spoke to in south Belfast did not want to make "a fuss" over UVF banners being flown in the area.

The South Belfast MP's political rivals last night said it was "beyond belief" she was not campaigning against the flying of paramilitary flags.

UVF flags are flying in Global Crescent and Cantrell Close.

The housing developments are part of the Together Building United Communities programme, created when Ms Little Pengelly was a special adviser to the DUP.

The MP said she had visited about 100 homes and was satisfied that the majority "didn't want a public fuss around this matter".

She said: "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'."

However, she admitted: "There were some who had concerns around this, who would prefer for the flags not to be there."

And the MP later tweeted: "Let me also be v clear - I have also stated categorically that I oppose all paramilitaries in our society, that includes paramilitary flags."

Last night loyalists hoisted Union flags and Ulster banners along the main Ormeau Road, another mixed area of Ms Little Pengelly's constituency.

Sinn Fein MLA Mairtin O Muilleoir said the flags "are not wanted" and the DUP MP "should use her influence with those responsible to demand they be removed".

Ms Little Pengelly was among the DUP politicians the UDA-linked magazine The Loyalist said the public should vote for in an edition published just before the general election.

She was also backed by the Loyalist Communities Council, which is supported by the UDA, UVF and the Red Hand Commando.

Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw slammed the MP's commitment to taking down terror flags.

She said: "A shared community should be welcoming to all and intimidating to none.

"When Ms Little Pengelly won the Westminster seat she pledged to be an MP for all. It appears she has fallen at the first hurdle."

SDLP MLA Claire Hanna added: "Here we go again. Another year and no progress on the issue of irregular flag flying.

"The flying of illegal paramilitary flags is particularly frustrating in what was designed specifically to be a shared neighbourhood."

A DUP spokesman told BBC NI's Nolan Show: "Paramilitaries are a plague on society.

"The DUP condemns all those who cling to criminality and violence."

The PSNI said it was not responsible for removing flags, except where there was a "substantial risk to public safety" or where it was believed that a criminal offence had taken place.
Marian Brown, who was just 17 when she was shot dead in west Belfast

A Belfast woman has described how she was shielded on the ground as a sudden hail of bullets claimed the life of a pregnant teenager in circumstances which are still being disputed 45 years later.

Moya Hughes was 16-years-old on June 10, 1972 and that evening had been babysitting for David and Josephine Clarke at their home on Excise Street.

As she returned home she found herself caught up in a shooting which claimed the life of Marian Brown (17) who just moments before had been kissing her boyfriend Thomas Corrigan (16) goodnight at the corner of Roden Street and the Grosvenor Road.

The couple had been planning their future together after telling Marian's mother that they were expecting a child and were planning to get married.

Ms Hughes told the inquest that her employers had returned home late and Mr Clarke - who she had known by his middle name Maurice - had walked her home.

They had been walking along Roden Street towards where she lived on Blackwater Street when the shooting started.

"I heard four/five shots, Maurice told me to get down and he shielded me on the ground," she told the inquest.

"I remember getting up and running to my brother's house on Linview Street and stayed there for the night."

She said she was about half way up Roden Street when the shooting started, and described the noise as "bang, bang, bang".

Ms Hughes recalls seeing a couple at the corner of Roden Street but didn't see them being shot or falling down.

"I was 16 years of age, I just ran home," she said.

"I found out what had happened later on the news."

Later this week the inquest is set to hear from a number of soldiers who had been on patrol in the area at the time of the shooting.

A number of the soldiers have applied for anonymity. Judge David McFarland is considering the applications.

Earlier on Wednesday he named one of the soldiers, who has since passed away, as Mr Kendall.

It has never been established who fired the shots that killed Marian. Soldiers who were at the scene have said they were returning fire after a gun man on the corner of Roden Street started firing at them.

A number of witnesses have disputed this claim.

However the inquest has not yet heard evidence to prove whether a terrorist gun man was there or whether the bullet that killed Marian came from a soldier.

The inquest continues.
The authors of the report have called on health organisations to investigate possible causes behind the higher rates

One in eight health bodies have higher-than-expected rates of stillbirths and neonatal death, a new report suggests.

Hospitals with higher-than-expected perinatal mortality - stillbirths and deaths after up to 28 days of life - have been highlighted in the new MBRRACE-UK (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquires across the UK) report.

Experts grouped broadly similar organisations together by their type and size to compare mortality rates.

After examining UK perinatal deaths for births from January to December 2015, they came up with a traffic light system to highlight those where action needs to be taken to improve outcomes.

Of 165 NHS trusts and health boards across Britain, 21 of 165 (12.7%) have been labelled as "red" - meaning that they have a mortality rate which is over 10% greater than the average for that type of organisation.

The authors of the report have called on these organisations to investigate the possible causes behind the higher rates.

Researchers said 54 organisations fell into the amber category - meaning they had a mortality rate up to 10% higher than their group's average; 78 were in the yellow category - meaning their mortality rate was up to 10% lower than the average for similar organisations and 12 were green - indicating that their mortality rates were more than 10% lower than average for their group.

Dr Brad Manktelow, associate professor at the University of Leicester, who led the statistical analysis, said: "Those trusts and health boards identified with high rates of stillbirth or neonatal death rates should review the quality of the care they provide.

"Work commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Programme is under way to develop a standardised perinatal mortality review tool to support and improve the quality of review of all stillbirths and neonatal deaths within all trusts and health boards in the future".

Overall, researchers found that the rate of stillbirth in the UK reduced by 8% between 2013 to 2015.

In 2015, the stillbirth rate was 3.87 per 1,000 total births, a fall from 4.20 per 1,000 total births in 2013.

But the authors said that despite the fall, UK stillbirth rates still remain high compared with many similar European countries and there remains "significant variation" across Britain.

The neonatal death rate remained fairly static with a fall between 2013 and 2015 from 1.84 to 1.74 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Commenting on the report, Mandy Forrester, head of quality and standards at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), said: "This is a welcome reduction and things are moving in the right direction but there is still much more to do if we are going to match the lower stillbirth rates of other European countries.

"There is rightly a need to tackle neonatal death rates which have not fallen as much as the stillbirth rate. However, there is clearly a need to put even greater efforts into reducing both.

"The variation in stillbirth rates across the UK remains a concern. This could be because of the socio-economic wellbeing of communities, and we know inequality is linked to higher stillbirth rates and poorer outcomes for the baby. It may also be in the quality of local services and this needs investigation.

"It is imperative that we learn from each of these tragic deaths. Health services must strive to learn from each other about the best ways to prevent this. Sharing success stories and strategies is key to this."

Professor Lesley Regan, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, added: "Although the findings are welcome, there is still some way to go to address the high death rates and level of variation across the UK, which are still too high when compared to similar European countries.

"Disappointingly, the findings only show a small reduction in neonatal death rates.

"This week, we published the key clinical actions needed to improve quality of care and to prevent deaths and brain injuries that occur during childbirth, as part of our Each Baby Counts initiative.

"These key actions include adhering to best practice on foetal monitoring and neonatal care, as well as addressing potential human factors that lead to poor decision making in stressful situations.

"The RCOG also publishes maternity indicators, which describe patterns of care during labour and delivery, enabling trusts to examine their own practice in context and to ensure their services meet the needs of women and their families.

The college also works closely with hospitals which invite us to conduct external reviews of their maternity services to identify where improvements can be made."

The 21 organisations labelled as being "red" for their perinatal mortality rates are:

:: Belfast Health & Social Care Trust

:: Birmingham Women's NHS Foundation Trust

:: Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

:: Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

:: Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust

:: Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

:: University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

:: East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

:: Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

:: The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

:: Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

:: Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust

:: Southern Health & Social Care Trust

:: The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust

:: The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

:: Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

:: Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

:: Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

:: Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

:: Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

:: Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

A spokeswoman for NHS England said: "Last year, we focused the NHS's efforts around four key areas specifically aimed at tackling stillbirth which will build on the improvements which have seen more than 600 children alive today compared to ten years ago.

"We are on track to meet the national ambition and the vast majority of maternity services are reporting they are taking forward improvements, meaning fewer families are likely to suffer the terrible tragedy of stillbirth and neonatal death."

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "I want to make the NHS one of the safest places in the world to give birth by halving rates of stillbirth and neonatal deaths by 2030, and this report shows we are making significant progress towards achieving this.

"However, there is still more to do to ensure fewer families suffer the heartache of losing a baby - that's why we have invested millions in training for staff and new safety equipment, as well as making sure hospitals review and learn from every tragic case."
A cleric born in Co Tyrone who became the first Catholic Archbishop of New York is being honoured with a blue plaque.

John Joseph Hughes emigrated from rural Ireland to America in the early 19th century and become one of the most influential Americans of his time.

He lectured to Congress, was thanked by Abraham Lincoln for his support of the Union during the American Civil War, founded Fordham University and laid the foundation stone at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

His remarkable story will be celebrated this weekend with the unveiling of a blue plaque at St Macartan's Church in Augher, Co Tyrone, by Archbishop Eamon Martin.

The event is being organised by the Ulster History Circle, which puts up blue plaques across Ulster's nine counties to celebrate people of achievement.

Circle chairman Chris Spurr said: "On the 220th anniversary of his birth, the Ulster History Circle is delighted to commemorate Archbishop Hughes with a blue plaque at the very place in his native parish where he returned to preach in 1846."

Hughes was born in June 1797 in the townland of Annaloghlan near Augher.

The third of seven children, he was ordained as a priest in Philadelphia in 1824 several years after his family moved to America.

Consecrated as bishop in 1838, he became the fourth Bishop of New York 1842 and the First Archbishop of the city in 1850.

Hughes preached a sermon supporting the Union cause at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1862, for which Abraham Lincoln praised him. He died two year later.
Thousands of people flocked to Belfast's Titanic Maritime Festival at the weekend - but passers-by got an extra treat as it appears a PSNI officer joined in with a dance troupe.

Visitors took in an array of street theatre, live music and arts and crafts, face painting and amazing displays.

Among those was the Ajendance Dance Company who were unexpectedly joined by a PSNI officer who challenged them to a dance-off with Justin Timberlake's Can't Stop the Feeling.

He was met with applause by those watching as he busted his best moves.

The video has been viewed more than 85,000 times.

Some of the huge ships to drop anchor in Belfast over the weekend included The Earl of Pembroke, Kaskelot, and the Phoenix as well as the Russian vessel Shtandart and ships from the Royal Navy and Irish Navy.

The Festival also hosted the fleet of The Voyage, along with Liverpool and Dublin. The Voyage is a newly formed sail training initiative, offering young people the opportunity to develop new skills, meet new people and change their Voyage through life.
Barbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort on the Ridgeway near Swindon in Wiltshire

Locations and details of all the thousands of ancient hill forts found across the landscapes of the UK and Ireland have been mapped in an online database for the first time.

A team of researchers, with the help of citizen scientists, has spent five years sifting and recording information on all the hill forts across England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man.

They have discovered there are 4,147 such ancient sites, ranging from well-preserved forts to places where only crop marks and remnants show where they once stood.

Information on all the hill forts has been collated onto a website that will be freely accessible to the public, including on their smartphones, so they can discover details of the ancient sites they see in the countryside, the team said.

Professor Ian Ralston from the University of Edinburgh, who co-led the project, said: "Standing on a windswept hill fort with dramatic views across the countryside, you really feel like you're fully immersed in history.

"This research project is all about sharing the stories of the thousands of hill forts across Britain and Ireland in one place that is accessible to the public and researchers."

Professor Gary Lock from the University of Oxford said it was important the online database was freely available to researchers and others, such as heritage managers, and would provide the baseline for future research on hill forts.

He added: "We hope it will encourage people to visit some incredible hill forts that they may never have known were right under their feet."

The research reveals that nearly 40% of all the hill forts across the UK and Ireland are found in Scotland, with 408 hill forts located in the Scottish Borders alone.

In England, Northumberland leads the way with 271 hill forts, while in the Republic of Ireland, Mayo and Cork each have more than 70 sites.

Powys is the county with the most hill forts in Wales, with 147, and in Northern Ireland, Antrim leads the way, with 15.

Hill forts were mostly built during the Iron Age, with the oldest dating to around 1000 BC and the most recent to 700 AD, and had numerous functions, some of which have not been fully discovered.

Despite the name, not all hill forts are on hills, and not all are forts, the experts said.

Excavations show many were used predominantly as regional gathering spots for festivals and trade, and some are on low-lying land.

The research team from the University of Edinburgh, University of Oxford and University College Cork were funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to gather information from "citizen scientists" on hill forts.

Around 100 members of the public collected data about the hill forts they visited, identifying and recording the characteristics of forts, which was then analysed by the team.

The public will also be able to continue contributing to the wiki-style database by uploading their own images and text based on their visits.
The Prince of Wales speaks to Imam Mohammed Mahmoud (centre left) as he arrives at Muslim Welfare House in north London to meet members of the local community and hear about the community response following the recent terrorist attack (David Mirzoeff/PA)

The Prince of Wales has delivered a personal message of solidarity from the Queen as he visited faith leaders and community members including a victim of the suspected terror attack in Finsbury Park.

One man died and nine people were taken to hospital when a van driver targeted an area busy with worshippers attending Ramadan night prayers at a nearby mosque in the early hours of Monday.

Speaking to faith leaders during a visit to the Muslim Welfare House, Charles said he felt joy at being with them despite the very sad, unfortunate circumstances and that he remembered with great fondness his visit there 30 years ago.

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He said: But I did particularly want to bring a message from the Queen on this particular occasion.

She has specifically asked me to tell you how shocked she was by what happened, particularly as the victims were worshippers who had been attending Ramadan prayers  and her Majestys thoughts and prayers are with you all.

And if I may say so, I can only but join my particular thoughts and prayers to her Majestys on this occasion, and to say that for many years I have taken a great interest in the Muslim community in this country.

Charles added that he was deeply impressed by the imam who shielded the suspect until police arrived, praising his remarkable actions on that terrible occasion.

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Imam Mohammed Mahmoud, who greeted the Prince, was hailed for his efforts to prevent a mob attack on Monday before police arrived in shielding the suspected terrorist from the fury of onlookers.

Thank goodness we have wonderful leaders, he added.

Before the meeting Charles also greeted Yassin Hersi, who was tending to a man taken ill on the ground early on Monday morning when the van rammed into him, leaving him with a broken right leg and tissue damage in the left.

Are you sure you should be here?, he asked the 45-year-old, who was on crutches and had his right leg in a cast.

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Leaning heavily on crutches, Mr Hersi said he was grateful the prince had visited because it showed people cared from top to bottom.

He said: Hes been really sympathetic and very sorry for what happened to us, very supportive.

Referring to peace, he said: We have to all stand together and look after it, thats what I really believe.

Expand Close The Prince of Wales (right) speaks to Imam Mohammed Mahmoud as he arrives at Muslim Welfare House (David Mirzoeff/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Charles was also welcomed by the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Greater London Mike Dudgeon and a local student, Sahra Muhamed, 19, by a pavement of floral tributes.

He paused to read some of the hundreds of messages left by the public outside Finsbury Park Tube station yards from the attack.

One colourful poster, decorated with glitter hearts and flowers and signed with many names simply asked: Wheres the love?

Following the meeting, Charles met groups of faith leaders from the community and secondary school children from the nearby Skinners Academy.

Asked by reporters how the Duke of Edinburgh, who has been admitted to hospital as a precaution following an infection, was feeling, he replied: Hes getting better.
Theresa Mays deputy threw her hopes of a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party into fresh doubt when he described it as merely a possibility.

Damian Green also set up a clash with police chiefs begging for an end to damaging funding cuts when he insisted: There are no police cuts.

Speaking ahead of the Prime Ministers first  and possibly last  Queens Speech, Mr Green played down expectations of quickly finalising an agreement for the DUP to prop her up.

The talks have hit a wall - 11 days after Ms May claimed a deal was done  which deprives the Tories of a guaranteed majority for any of the Bills to be unveiled today.

DUP sources have taken aim at the lack of negotiating experience on the Conservative side, a devastating criticism, just days after the separate Brexit talks also got underway.

Asked if an agreement was close, Mr Green replied: There is still the possibility  theres every possibility  of a DUP deal.

The First Secretary of State, the Prime Ministers effective deputy, insisted the talks went much wider than just the Northern Ireland partys demands for extra spending and tax breaks.

Both sides saw the value of a confidence and supply arrangement, with the DUP backing the Government on key votes while preventing it being brought down by motions of no confidence.

But, Mr Green added: All talks of this kind take a long time - and they are still continuing.

Todays legislative programme is expected to be stripped of key Tory election manifesto pledges, because of the need for a minority government to avoid controversial votes.

Moves to open new grammar schools, end universal free school meals for infants, end the triple lock on pension payments and means-test winter fuel payments are all likely to be abandoned.

But, speaking to BBC Radio 4s Today programme, Mr Green insisted This is not a thin Queens Speech,  pointing to measures on the economy, infrastructure and tackling injustices.

He acknowledged it would be dominated by Brexit, with up to eight Bills expected to prepare for the complications of departure day, in March 2019.

The biggest element of whats in are Brexit bills, because we have got two years to do this deal, Mr Green said.

We need to be in a position, after weve done the negotiations, to make sure that our agriculture is secure, our immigration system is secure and so on.

He denied changes to social care had been abandoned, with a consultation over the summer, adding: It will include a cap on costs.

And Mr Green dismissed warnings, including from Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley - Britains leading anti-terror police chief  that funds diverted to fight terrorism could leave the public at risk.

There are no police cuts  we have protected police budgets in this parliament, he insisted.

As well as the police budget, we have increased hugely the counter-terrorism budget.
The DUP has played down reports it is asking for 2bn in extra investment for Northern Ireland in return for its proposed deal with the Conservative government.

The BBC reported earlier on Wednesday that the party asked for a 1bn investment in Northern Ireland's health services and a similar amount for infrastructure projects.

However speaking later that evening DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said the figures were "wild speculation".

He said: "I think those figures are wild speculation and wide of the mark.

"We're talking to the Treasury and to the government about, yes, investing in our infrastructure in Northern Ireland, snd we are looking at health and education as well these are priorities for us in terms of government spending and we want some help from the Treasury on that. because we've lagged behind the rest of the UK, not least due to 30 years of violence," he told BBC Newsline.

The claims come in the wake of the Queen's Speech which saw Theresa May water down her party's election manifesto and focus on Brexit talks with the EU.

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After the Queen's Speech, DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said he was confident the party can reach a deal with the Prime Minister to support a minority Tory Government.

He said that discussions are continuing.

We're making progress and we've identified the key issues that will form part of the confident and supply arrangement that we want to put in place for a five-year Parliament, he told Sky News on Wednesday afternoon.

I'm not going to take anything for granted. A seasoned negotiator never reveals his or her hand in public but I'm confident we can get an agreement. We want to reach an agreement.

He said party colleagues had listened very carefully to what the government have said in the Queen's Speech and we like a lot of what they've said.

Clearly on Brexit, on counter-terrorism these are issues on which we have common ground with the government. We have concerns about some of the policies that they talked about during the General Election but I think we're seeing those fade into the background.

He echoed earlier claims that the NIO had intervened to warn of the dangers that a DUP deal would pose for the ongoing negotiations to restore power-sharing at Stormont.

We're not asking the Conservative Party to take sides in the devolution debate in Northern Ireland, the Lagan Valley MP said.

We're not asking the Conservative Party to be anything other than what they need to be and that is impartial and encouraging movement towards the restoration of devolution.

Meanwhile Sinn Fein says Ms May is prioritising what it calls a self-serving negotiation with the DUP over the Stormont talks.

Sinn Fein MP Elisha McCallion said: "Theresa May set out her priorities in the Queens speech today and, unsurprisingly, protecting the North from Brexit and austerity cuts didn't feature.

"Her government committed to legislation to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market and imposing Brexit on the people of the North. The DUP supports this position and it will have a devastating impact on our economy, rights and public services.

The new Foyle MP said the Tory government had placed self-interest above their obligations to the agreements and the institutions in Northern Ireland.

Speaking earlier, First Secretary of State Damian Green had played down expectations of quickly finalising an agreement.

Asked if an agreement was close, Mr Green replied: There is still the possibility  theres every possibility  of a DUP deal.

Mr Green, the Prime Ministers effective deputy, insisted the talks went much wider than just the Northern Ireland partys demands for extra spending and tax breaks.

Both sides saw the value of a confidence and supply arrangement, with the DUP backing the Government on key votes while preventing it being brought down by motions of no confidence.

But, Mr Green added: All talks of this kind take a long time - and they are still continuing.
Senior DUP figures have told Theresa May that if she doesn't reach a deal with the party now, she will be continually running "cap in hand" to it over the next five years.

Although progress towards a deal faltered yesterday, the DUP remains optimistic that it can reach an agreement to support a Tory minority government.

But a senior party source rounded on the Northern Ireland Office, which it accused of interfering against a deal by "wrongly arguing" that it would compromise London's impartiality.

As Mrs May today sets out her legislative programme for the next two years in the Queen's Speech, another DUP figure accused her of being "unfocused" in her efforts to broker an agreement.

He warned that she needed to "up her game" over coming days.

DUP sources have said that a deal must be in place before Parliament votes on the Queen's Speech next Wednesday.

A senior party source said: "Theresa May has a clear choice to make.

"The options are an agreement with my party now on a 'confidence and supply' basis or to operate on a case by case basis over the next five years.

"The latter leaves the DUP with far greater bargaining power than a comprehensive agreement now.

"The NIO's intervention is actually deeply unhelpful to the Government because the lack of agreement gives the DUP a more powerful position at Westminster and requires Theresa May to run cap in hand to the DUP every week."

Party figures said that while Treasury concerns about the implications of increased funding for Northern Ireland had been raised, the NIO was proving the biggest obstacle to a deal.

Although Taoiseach Leo Varadker has said he accepted Mrs May's assurances that any agreement won't endanger London's neutrality, both Sinn Fein and the SDLP have rejected her assertions.

The DUP claimed that the NIO had intervened to warn of the dangers of compromising that impartiality.

Arlene Foster's party has found this intervention "deeply unhelpful" to its chances of reaching a deal, the source said.

"All of this argument about Government neutrality on Northern Ireland is really a red herring," he claimed.

"The DUP isn't asking the Government to take sides on the devolution issue or on the politics of Northern Ireland. It does expect the Government of the day to be an advocate of the Union but that is a wider UK issue rather than an exclusively Northern Ireland one."

A DUP figure said that his party and the Tories weren't "even on the same page at the minute" in terms of the details of a deal.

But he remained upbeat about an eventual agreement. "Talks are continuing and things can move very quickly. I am still optimistic," he said.

The DUP source said that Mrs May was "far more unfocused" in her negotiation style than her predecessors - Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron - had been. This was symbolised by the fact that she had left it to her chief whip Gavin Williamson to deputise for her in much of the negotiations, he said.

He described Downing Street as currently being in "a state of absolute chaos" and said that what should have been "a relatively straightforward deal" had become riddled with complications.

Today will be the first time in decades that a Prime Minister will propose a Queen's Speech without a Commons majority.

The programme set out at the State opening of Parliament will feature "a number of Bills" geared towards making a success of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, Mrs May said.

But she insisted that the rest of Westminster business won't be put on hold during the Brussels negotiations, promising measures to build a stronger economy, protect consumers, tackle domestic violence and fix a "dysfunctional" housing market.

Downing Street sources declined to be drawn on reports that the speech will ditch headline promises from the Conservative manifesto, such as the scrapping of universal free school meals, means-testing of the winter fuel allowance and the widely criticised dementia tax.

Mrs May acknowledged that the election outcome wasn't "the one I hoped for". She continued: "This Government will respond with humility and resolve to the message the electorate sent. We will work hard every day to gain the trust and confidence of the British people, making their priorities our priorities."

But she insisted there would be no going back on Brexit, stressing that more than 80% of voters on June 8 backed parties promising to honour the referendum result.
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Ford (R) accompanies the Imperial State Crown (C) as it leaves Buckingham Palace in London on June 21, 2017 headed for the Houses of Parliament for the State Opening of Parliament ceremony.

Members of The Life Guards (R), and The Blues and Royals, divisions on of the Household Cavalry, arrive for the State Opening of Parliament in the Houses of Parliament in London on June 21, 2017.

Peers find their places ahead of the State Opening of Parliament by Queen Elizabeth II, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London.

Queen Elizabeth leaves driven in the Royal Bentley car from Buckingham Palace in London on June 21, 2017 headed for the Houses of Parliament for the State Opening of Parliament ceremony.

The Prince of Wales and Queen Elizabeth II during Queen's Speech in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London.

Theresa May has torn up much of the Conservative manifesto to deliver a legislative timetable for the next two years dominated by preparations for Brexit.

Of 27 Bills and draft bills unveiled in her first Queen's Speech, eight are devoted to the complex process of withdrawal from the EU, including a Repeal Bill to overturn the 1972 Act which took Britain into the European Economic Community and separate Bills on customs, trade, immigration, fisheries, agriculture, nuclear safeguards and the international sanctions regime.

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire and a string of terror attacks, the Prime Minister also announced plans for a civil disaster taskforce and a new commission for countering extremism, as well as a review of counter-terror strategy and the creation of an independent public advocate to act on behalf of bereaved families.

But flagship manifesto policies which find no place in the Government agenda included the scrapping of universal free school lunches, means-testing of the winter fuel payment and the reform of social care funding which opponents branded a "dementia tax". Meanwhile, there was no mention of the promised free vote on fox hunting.

Speculation that Donald Trump's state visit to the UK may be ditched was fuelled by its absence from the Queen's nine-minute address. But Downing Street confirmed that the invitation to Mr Trump stands and said it did not feature because a date is yet to be fixed.

Also unveiled were Bills to extend the HS2 high-speed rail link to Crewe, permit the development of driverless cars, spaceports and commercial satellites, cut whiplash insurance claims, protect victims of domestic abuse and ban letting fees for private rented homes.

Although the tally of bills is typical for a Queen's Speech, critics said that aside from Brexit it presented only a lightweight agenda to cover two years, rather than the usual one.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "This slimmed down Queen's Speech shows a Government on the edge.

"Having dropped everything from the dementia tax to fox hunting, I assume the only reason they have proposed a Space Bill is so they can shoot their manifesto into space and pretend it never existed."

Following her failure to reach agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party on a deal to shore up her minority administration, Mrs May is the first PM in decades to be faced by doubts over whether she can get her legislative programme through Parliament.

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Whatsapp The Prince of Wales and Queen Elizabeth II during Queen's Speech in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London.

Conservative sources said talks with the DUP were "ongoing" after the Northern Irish party warned its support cannot be "taken for granted". But First Secretary of State Damian Green acknowledged that it may not be possible to reach a deal in time for the Commons vote on the Queen's Speech package on June 29.

Following the negative response to plans in the Tory manifesto to make pensioners pay for social care by selling their homes after they died, the speech promised only a consultation on proposals which will be brought forward to improve social care.

Plans to extend grammar schools are reined in, with a promise only to work with Parliament to bring forward proposals for school improvement "that can command a majority".

There is no bill to impose the energy price cap promised in the manifesto, but ministers will "consider the best way" to protect gas and electricity consumers on the worst-value tariffs, whether by legislation or action by regulators.

The State Opening of Parliament, delayed by two days because of confusion caused by the inconclusive result of the June 8 election, took place without some of the traditional ceremony, with the Queen arriving by car rather than carriage and wearing a blue dress and hat rather than her robes and state crown.

Centrepiece of Mrs May's programme was the Repeal Bill which will transfer relevant EU laws on to the UK statute book at the moment of Brexit in March 2019, with the aim of delivering "a smooth and orderly transition" and avoiding uncertainty for businesses and individuals.

The Bill creates powers for Parliament to use secondary legislation to make what are expected to be a huge number of technical amendments to EU rules and regulations to ensure they continue to operate appropriately within UK law. It will pave the way for Parliament eventually to repeal or amend unwanted EU laws after Brexit.

In an apparent sign of recognition that she must seek a broad consensus for any Brexit deal, Mrs May said getting EU withdrawal right will mean securing "a deal which delivers the result of last year's referendum and does so in a way that commands maximum public support".

The speech confirmed plans for a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

A new strategy for resilience in major disasters could include a Civil Disaster Reaction Taskforce to help at times of emergency, and an independent advocate will support those affected and help them at inquests.

Warning of an "unprecedented" threat from terrorism in the wake of attacks at Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge, Mrs May announced a review of counter-terrorism strategy to make sure police and security services have "all the powers they need to protect our country".

The new Commission for Countering Extremism will be given the task of supporting the Government in "stamping out extremist ideology in all its forms".
Sweden's government has summoned Russia's ambassador after a Russian fighter jet flew close to a Swedish reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.

Foreign ministry spokesman Gunnar Vrang said the meeting, which "will take place in the near future", was to discuss among other things the incident described by Sweden's armed forces on Wednesday.

Sweden's top military authority said a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter flew close to a Swedish Gulfstream reconnaissance plane on Monday, adding that the distance between them "was very short".

The incident comes at a time of growing military activity in the Baltic Sea region, with several reports of airspace violations by Russian military aircraft and an increased presence of Russian military vessels.
Play protest: Donald Trump supporters have hit out over a New York production of Julius Caesar

In New York, the city's Public Theater has just finished a run of the great Shakespeare tragedy Julius Caesar, set in the modern day with one of the foremost military and political leaders in human history depicted as a bloke with a bouffant hairdo and long red tie.

Who tweets in his bath.

Julius Trump? Caesar should sue...

But actually it is Trump supporters who feel most aggrieved at the comparison.

Before the play finished its run a few days ago, there was added drama onstage on a couple of occasions when people stormed the set to scream abuse.

From an audience point of view you could see how this could be confusing since there were no togas to differentiate ancient Roman back-stabbers from present-day protesters.

"It was unsettling," one theatre-goer admitted. "The extras were scattered all around and the scenes where they're jumping up, you're not really sure if they're actors or protesters. It added an element of adrenaline."

The protesters were particularly incensed about the assassination scene in the production, which was, reportedly, gorily enthusiastic.

This, in fairness, would be in keeping with historical accuracy. On that unfortunate Ides of March when Julius foolishly ignored advice to stay away from the Forum, he was surrounded by up to five dozen men who stabbed him repeatedly.

But the protesters' argument is that in America, with its troubling history of attacks on previous presidents and other politicians (the latest being the recent shooting of a Republican congressman Steve Scalise), this scene could be regarded as incitement to violence, particularly against Trump.

The theatre responded by pointing out that the play is about something more complex than the central assassination. As the play's director puts it: "This play... warns about what happens when you try to preserve democracy by non-democratic means, and again, spoiler alert: it doesn't end up too good."

In our era of 140 character brevity, however, you can see why the protracted denouement of Elizabethan drama could be seen as a bit of an irrelevance.

All Trump supporters see is a blunt depiction of their man being horribly killed. And in the volatile US of A, they may indeed have a valid message about the sensitivity and indeed wisdom of this.

One unexpected result of the controversy has been a bit of a backlash in America. Against William Shakespeare.

Other theatre groups which merely have the word 'Shakespeare' in their title have also been inundated with abuse and even threats to kill.

What's in a name, indeed?

Against some of the great horrors we've witnessed in recent days, the controversy and fall-out over this play may seem relatively minor stuff.

But it is also reflective of a disturbing level of all-round viciousness that now infects politics - and political debate - as virulently as in the reign of Caesar and his one-time buddy Brutus.

In the current febrile atmosphere in the UK there is a pressing need, you would think, for leaders of all shades to show some degree of statesmanship. To rise above petty point scoring, to prioritise the needs of victims and to try, in these dangerous times, to promote unity.

To just calm things down a bit.

This isn't the same as conceding ground to your opponent. Or passing up on the opportunity to challenge and denounce them.

But we could do without attention-seeking airhead celebs harping on and whipping up division. And even worse, democratically elected public representatives now talking about seizing people's property and bringing their legions on to the street.

Right now the country needs Days of Rage like Caesar needed that lunchtime appointment at the Forum.

This will not end well.
Christine Connor was an unlikely looking terrorist, an overweight woman with a host of medical problems. But she proved that appearances can be deceptive and that she had murder on her mind.

In one incident she threw a pipe bomb at a PSNI officer. Fortunately, he did not suffer any serious injuries but he has since suffered post traumatic stress disorder.

Connor, who the court in Belfast was told was motivated by terrorism, even lured a vulnerable man into helping her with her murder plot, enticing him into buying the components for the pipe bomb. The man later took his own life when on remand on charges related to the incident.

Connor was manipulative and cunning, but good detective and forensic work built up a strong case against her and she has been jailed for 16 years and four months.

It is a strong sentence and may serve as a warning to others tempted to engage in dissident republican terrorism in Northern Ireland that they risk spending a large part of their lives in jail if they do so.

What this case underlines is the need for the police and intelligence services to remain ever-vigilant in the fight against terrorism. Just as with the threat from Islamic terrorists, many of those engaged in plots may be known to the intelligence services and police but others can sneak under the radar.

We know from past reports that many planned attacks on the security forces by dissidents are thwarted through good intelligence, including, undoubtedly, the use of informers. But the danger is ever present and as the terrorists become more determined to launch an attack they also put more and more people at risk.

The shooting and wounding of a police officer in north Belfast in January this year was a frightening example of how little the terrorists consider the safety of the public.

Shots were fired across a busy garage forecourt at the officer who was struck in the arm, but other injuries or fatalities could have occurred.

At a time of budget constraints and reduced manpower the PSNI does a commendable job in clamping down on dissident violence.

As with every type of crime, it needs the assistance of the public in identifying and bringing to justice those, like Connor, with murder on their mind. And as the IRA said after the Brighton bombing that nearly killed Mrs Thatcher, the terrorists only need to be lucky once.
Troops advance into an area controlled by Islamic State-linked Maute and Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, May 25, 2017.

Updated at 1:05 p.m. ET on 2017-06-23

After a month of intense close-quarters combat, entrenched Islamic State (IS) fighters and Philippines government forces are still fighting for control of Marawi, capital of Lanao Del Sur Province in the countrys south.

The battlefield resembles Aleppo, Mosul, Raqqa and other cities in Iraq and Syria. By the time the Philippine government recaptures Marawi, the toll of militants, government personnel and civilians killed, maimed and injured will exceed several hundred.

The IS siege of Marawi is a game changer in terrorism. It is motivating the extremist community to follow in the footsteps of Islamic State Philippines. IS supporters have created telegram groups  Expansion of the Caliphate in East Asia, Sharq Asia, East Asia Wilayah  spreading a narrative to attract foreign recruits to the Philippines and encouraging others to fight their own governments and non-Muslims.

Until IS attacked Marawi, Southeast Asian governments never believed it could overrun a city. Regional governments believed IS was a classic operation-based hit-and-run group. On the contrary, IS wanted to control territory and is determined to fight to the death.

Marawi build up

IS conceived the idea of attacking the Islamic City of Marawi in March 2017. Starting in April, fighters began infiltrating the city and building a clandestine operational and support network.

After successive defeats in efforts to wrestle control of Butig in Lanao del Sur, the Maute terror group accompanied IS Philippines leader Isnilon Hapilon to Piagapo and on to Marawi. In Butig, Hapilon suffered a shoulder injury and in Piagapo, he was nearly captured on April 22.

As IS regrouped its fighters in Piagapo, troops serving in the Joint Task Force ZamPeLan launched air and land offensives on April 21. After three days of fighting, militants retreated and troops recovered an IS flag, rifle, fragmentation grenades, bomb-making materials, a passport of an Indonesian identified as Muhammad Ilham Syahputra, three motorcycles, a video camera, cellular phones and camouflage uniforms.

The recovery of Syahputras passport showed a build-up of foreign fighters. Syahputra had arrived in the Philippines on Nov. 29, 2016, and was killed along with three other foreigners. While about 30 IS Lanao (ISL) fighters were killed, most IS fighters were already in Marawi City.

The Philippines intelligence community knew by early 2017 that Lanao del Sur had emerged as the center of gravity for IS Philippines. They had observed that from Basilan, Hapilon had moved to Lanao del Sur and teamed up with ISL, the largest and most resourceful IS group in the Philippines. The intelligence community also observed a buildup in Marawi City in April.

Government intelligence teams then traced Hapilon moving with Otto Maute, a leader of the Maute group, into Marawi. But military leaders said they wanted an eyeball of the target before they could initiate an operation.

Abu Bakr al Baghdadi orders Marawi capture

The instructions to attack Marawi City came from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled IS caliph. Accordingly, Omarkhayam Maute, the ISL deputy leader, showed a video of al-Baghdadi ordering them to attack Marawi City. One of the primary targets was the 103 Brigade Headquarters.

When the military raided an apartment building in Marawi on March 23, Hapilon and ISL leader Abdullah Maute were able to escape while directing their fighters to repel the soldiers and siege the city.

As fighting intensified, IS in Marawi received reinforcements from Lanao, Maguindanao and Basilan. The estimated manpower of the IS at the start of the attack in Marawi City was about 300 fighters  150 from ISL, 40 foreigners (mostly Indonesians and Malaysians), 50 from Abu Sayyaf Group, 30 converts to Islam and 30 Maguindanao people. Wearing full battle gear and flanked by the Maute brothers, Hapilon coordinated and commanded the operations. As government troops targeted high-value leaders, they retreated to fortified buildings.

Of 33 terrorists killed in the first wave of fighting, eight were foreign nationals, indicating that foreign fighters formed an unusually large component of the fighter population and emerging IS demography in Southeast Asia.

Among the most prominent foreign fighters in Marawi is Dr Mahmud bin Ahmad of Malaysia. Before he fled his country, he recruited Malaysians to fight in Iraq and Syria, including the first Malaysian suicide bomber in Iraq, Ahmad Tarmimi Maliki.

Together with his closest associate, the late Najib Hussin, Mahmud united disparate Muslim groups to create IS East Asia Division. A former university lecturer, Mahmud planned to develop the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah as a transit point for South Asian and Southeast Asian recruits to train and fight in the Philippines.

He instructed Nurhan Sahi Hakim (alias Abu Zaman), a Filipino living in Sabah, to recruit Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and arrange for their travel to Mindanao. Abu Zaman and two Bangladeshis were arrested in Malaysia in January.

A place of ill repute

In June 2016, IS released a video showing a Filipino, an Indonesian and a Malaysian calling Muslims to fight in Syria or the Philippines. From Syria, Malaysian fighter Rafi Udin said: If you cannot go to [Syria], join up and go to the Philippines. The video demonstrated that IS ambitions clearly went beyond its heartland of Iraq and Syria.

To create support for its action in Marawi, a fighter explained that the group seized control over the city to make it truly Islamic. The jihadist, Semion Almujaheed, distributed the English message across pro-IS Telegram chat groups on May 28. Marawi, he wrote, is a place of ill-repute, with alcohol, gambling, and prostitution, in addition to churches and Shiite mosques.

We are the soldiers of Khilafah and we proclaim this land as an Islamic state of Marawi as the expansion of the Islamic state reaches East Asia! he wrote.

Marawi was not an intelligence failure. It was a failure to appreciate intelligence and act. Even after Marawi, other cities, towns and villages in the Philippines can fall to IS.

Today, governments in the region are coming together to support the Philippines. Many Southeast Asian leaders are concerned that IS will expand from the Philippines and affect the entire region. They are willing to support the Philippines to fight the existing and emerging IS centric threat.

Rohan Gunaratna is professor of Security Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technology University and head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and not of BenarNews.

An earlier version of this commentary misspelled the name of Malaysian IS figure Mahmud bin Ahmad.
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For Immediate Release, June 21, 2017 Contact: Jenny Loda, (510) 844-7100 x336, jloda@biologicaldiversity.org California Protects Rare Foothill Yellow-legged Frog SACRAMENTO The California Fish and Game Commission voted today to advance the foothill yellow-legged frog as a candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act, responding to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity. Candidates receive all the protections of a listed species for a year while the commission and staff decide whether to provide permanent endangered species protections. That's good news for the foothill yellow-legged frog, which has disappeared from more than half its former locations in California. It's a huge relief that these stream-dwelling frogs are finally being protected, said Jenny Loda, a reptile and amphibian staff attorney with the Center. Foothill yellow-legged frogs have been in trouble for years because of habitat damage caused by dams, climate change and pollutants. To save these colorful little creatures, we've got to take strong steps to protect the streams where they live. Foothill yellow-legged frogs were once found in many of California's streams and rivers at low to moderate elevations in Pacific Coast drainages, as well as the lower western slopes of the Sierra Nevadas from the Oregon border to at least as far south as Los Angeles County and possibly to San Diego County. The species has now disappeared from all coastal streams south of San Luis Obispo County and is nearing extinction in the southern Sierra, south coast, central coast and San Francisco Bay Area regions. In most areas of the state, very few large foothill yellow-legged frog populations remain. In addition to stream habitat alterations from dams and water diversions, foothill yellow-legged frogs are threatened by logging, mining, marijuana cultivation, off-road vehicles and disease. Foothill yellow-legged frogs need habitat protections and recovery efforts to avoid more population declines and stem the risk of extinction, said Loda. Protecting these frogs will also benefit other wildlife and many river and stream ecosystems in California that we already love and rely on for recreation, open space and drinking water. In addition to petitioning for California protections, the Center petitioned in 2012 to protect the foothill yellow-legged frog under the federal Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will make a decision by 2020 on whether the species warrants federal protection. Two related species of native frogs that inhabit high elevation Sierra lakes and streams, the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog and the mountain yellow-legged frog, are already federally and state listed as endangered or threatened. Background

Adult foothill yellow-legged frogs are moderately sized  between 1.5 and 3 inches long  with a distinctive lemon-yellow color under their legs. They inhabit partially shaded, rocky perennial streams and their life cycle is synchronized with the seasonal timing of streamflow conditions. Adult frogs move throughout stream networks from winter refugia to mating habitat where eggs are laid in spring and tadpoles rear in summer. They breed in streams with riffles containing cobble-sized or larger rocks as substrate. These frogs need perennial water where they can forage through the summer and fall months. The largest foothill yellow-legged frog populations in California are in the north coast range, particularly in the Smith River, tributaries of the Klamath River, the South Fork Trinity River, the South Fork Eel River, Redwood Creek, coastal tributaries in Mendocino County and Russian River tributaries. However, few sites in Northern California have populations exceeding 100 breeding females per kilometer of river  what scientists consider needed for large, stable frog populations. Even in the north coast region, which is considered a stronghold for the species, frogs are gone from one-quarter of historical sites where they formerly lived. Significant foothill yellow-legged frog populations also remain in the Diablo Range, throughout Sonoma County and in the upper Sacramento River basin. Healthy frog populations persist in many river basins in the northern and central Sierras, including the American, Clavey, Cosumnes, Feather, Merced, Mokelumne, Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Yuba rivers. But many former Sierra populations have been lost, and the majority of recent observations in Sierran national forests are of small and scattered populations with limited evidence of successful reproduction. At least half the known historical locations have been lost in every northern and central Sierra county except Plumas County.
For Immediate Release: June 21, 2017 Contact: Lisa Belenky, (415) 385-5694, lbelenky@biologicaldiversity.org California Commission Halts Hunting of Imperiled Sage Grouse One-year Hold Comes While Populations Decline at Alarming Rates SMITH RIVER, Calif. The California Fish and Game Commission today voted to prohibit sage grouse hunting during the 20172018 season, citing spring surveys that revealed alarming and continuing declines in all sage grouse populations in the state. The Center for Biological Diversity has for years urged the commission to end sage grouse hunting due to declining populations. The commission did the right thing by prohibiting sage grouse hunting in California this season, said Lisa Belenky, a senior attorney at the Center. This is one small step in the right direction. But to truly save this iconic Western bird from extinction, we've got to protect its rapidly disappearing habitat. The California Department of Fish and Game initially proposed allowing a range of hunting limits for each of four hunting zones in 2017. In June the department reversed its recommendation based a spring survey that showed alarming declines in male birds on their leks, or mating grounds, where they conduct their spectacular mating-dance rituals. In 2016 hunting was allowed in only one of four hunting zones due to declining population trends and loss of sage grouse habitat from wildfires. Over the past five years, surveys have shown precipitous declines in California sage grouse populations. Since 2012 their numbers have declined by more than half in some areas, with 1,341 sage grouse projected in fall 2017 based on spring lek surveys. Across the West the sage grouse's increasingly fragmented habitat is threatened by oil and gas drilling, livestock grazing and other perils. California's activities are not related to a review by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, which threatens to undermine efforts to protect the imperiled greater sage grouse across 11 Western states. Zinke has ordered the Bureau of Land Management to review federal sage grouse protection plans to determine if they're impeding fossil fuel development on public lands. Background

Drought, habitat loss from development, livestock grazing, off-road vehicles and other threats have reduced sage grouse numbers in California. Although hunting has not been identified as the primary reason for the decline of sage grouse in California, it remains a factor that undermines conservation of the species. Because the grouse's remaining populations are generally small and isolated, any additional mortality from hunting can put them at risk of extinction. Every spring male sage grouse gather to strut their stuff in riveting mating rituals. Punctuating their displays with swishing, hooting and popping sounds, males bob their heads, fan their tail feathers, raise their wings, and expand and contract distinctive yellow air sacs to compete for females' favor. But sage grouse leks are becoming less and less lively as habitat dwindles and numbers decline  especially in California's Mono Basin area. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
For Immediate Release, June 21, 2017 Contact: Taylor McKinnon, (801) 300-2414, tmckinnon@biologicaldiversity.org Public Records Sought Over Massive Interior Senior Staffing Shake-up WASHINGTON The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a Freedom of Information Act request for public records that address the sweeping reassignment of dozens of high-level staff within the Department of the Interior by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. According to The Washington Post, three dozen or more Interior Department leaders received letters on Thursday providing 15 days' notice of job changes. Those targeted for job changes include Joel Clement, Interior's top climate official; five senior staff at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (including those responsible for saving endangered species); and other senior staff within the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the National Park Service. The scope of the job reassignments is unprecedented among past administrations, and timing of the notices suggests that the job changes will happen at the earliest date Zinke is allowed to enact such changes under the law. Ryan Zinke is already among history's most hostile Interior secretaries when it comes to public lands, endangered species, national parks and American Indian tribes, said Taylor McKinnon with the Center for Biological Diversity. Now, in typical Trump administration fashion, he's sowing chaos in the ranks of the agency's leadership. Massively reshuffling agency leadership opens the door to all sorts of trouble, including sweetheart deals for polluters. The Senior Executive Service, or SES, was created by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 to ensure that the executive management of the Government of the United States is responsive to the needs, policies, and goals of the Nation and otherwise is of the highest quality. SES staff are executive-level federal employees who occupy positions immediately beneath presidential appointments. According to the nonprofit Senior Executive Association, they provide institutional stability and continuity across administrations, and serve as a vital link between political appointees, frontline managers, and the federal workforce of approximately two million employees. It's important for the Center and for the public to see these records to shed light on these massive staffing changes, said McKinnon, and it's particularly important considering the potential impacts these changes may have on the way the Interior agencies are able to protect our collective interests regarding our country's lands, waters and wildlife. Download today's request here. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
For Immediate Release, June 21, 2017 Contact: Kristen Monsell, (914) 806-3467, kmonsell@biologicaldiversity.org Hilcorp Alaska Expands Cook Inlet Offshore Leasing Despite Leaks, Spills, Fines Company Behind Months-long Gas Leak Bids on 14 New Federal Tracts ANCHORAGE Hilcorp Alaska LLC, whose Cook Inlet offshore drilling infrastructure was plagued by an oil spill and gas pipeline leak earlier this year, was the sole bidder on new offshore federal leases in that treacherous waterway today. That $3.03 million investment on 14 different tracts substantially expands the heavily fined company's commitment to drill in waters it deemed too forbidding to allow repair of its underwater pipeline leak for nearly four months, further threatening endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales. After Hilcorp's struggle with oil and gas leaks into Cook Inlet this year, it's disturbing to see the company given more chances to drill and spill in this fragile place, said Center for Biological Diversity attorney Kristen Monsell. Allowing this company to expand could have devastating effects on Cook Inlet beluga whales and their prey. Hilcorp is also seeking to build the controversial Liberty project in the Arctic. That project would involve construction of a 9-acre artificial island, drilling wells to tap underwater oil reserves, and building an underwater pipeline more than 5 miles long to send the oil to onshore facilities. Hilcorp's Liberty development and production plan is now being considered by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. In recent years federal regulators have warned the company to improve maintenance of its gas pipelines, and state regulators have repeatedly fined the company and said disregard for regulatory compliance is endemic to Hilcorp's approach to its Alaska operations. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has repeatedly cited Hilcorp for violating safety regulations for its oil and gas operations in the state. In March 2017 the commission fined Hilcorp $200,000 for failing to maintain a safe work environment in accordance with good oilfield engineering practices, among other issues. . Hilcorp's disdain for regulations and history of spills could spell disaster for Cook Inlet and the Arctic, Monsell said. The Trump administration is setting the table for more accidents in these treacherous waters. We'll be fighting to make sure Cook Inlet beluga whales and other Alaskan wildlife are protected from dangerous offshore drilling. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Traditional black and white silver prints by prominent Finnish photographer Pentti Sammallahti. Runs through 6/24.

ABOUT THE EVENT

photo-eye Gallery will host an Opening for the exhibition Friday April 28th from 5 7pm, corresponding with the Railyard Arts Districts Last Friday Art Walk. Warm Regards will remain on view through June 24th, 2017.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Pentti Sammallahti is a traveler and a visual poet. Endowed with an extraordinary 15-year grant from the Finnish government Sammallahti has travelled widely from his native Scandinavia, across the Soviet Republics through Siberia, to Japan, India, Nepal, Morocco, Turkey, throughout Europe, Great Britain, and South Africa. Meticulously well-seen, Sammallahtis photographs are imbued with a sense of wonder, delight, and reverence for the world at large while reflecting on both beauty and the human condition. He focuses on the people and animals of far off places recording the relationships between them and their environment. A master craftsman, Sammallahti is always in pursuit of the perfect means to communicate his intentions by subtly toning each of his rich silver gelatin prints. Over the years, photo-eye Gallery has had the pleasure to receive Penttis prints in treasured bundles signed with "Warm Regards".

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Inspired by his grandmother Hildur Larsson, a newspaper photographer, and viewing Edward Steichens seminal The Family of Man at Helsinki Art Hall in 1961 Pentti Sammallahti began making images at the age of 11. At 21, Sammallahti was featured in his first solo exhibition marking the beginning of a professional career that would come to influence an entire generation of Finnish photographers. Prior to receiving the Finnish States 15-year artist grant, Sammallahti taught at the Helsinki University of Art and Design, and has released thirteen portfolios and monographs since 1979 including The Russian Way and Here Far Away. In 2003, at the opening of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris, France, Pentti was named one of Cartier-Bressons 100 favorite photographers, and works by Sammallahti where exhibited from Cartier-Bressons personal collection. Penttis work can be found at the Museum of Modern Art, the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France, Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia, among others, and he has received awards such as the Samuli Paulaharju Prize of the Finnish Literature Society, State Prizes for Photography, Uusimaa Province Art Prize, Daniel Nyblin Prize, and the Finnish Critics Association Annual.
For Immediate Release, June 21, 2017 Contact: Collette Adkins, Center for Biological Diversity, (651) 955-3821, cadkins@biologicaldiversity.org

Camilla Fox, Project Coyote, (415) 690-0338, cfox@projectcoyote.org

Erik Molvar, Western Watersheds Project, (307) 399-7910, emolvar@westernwatersheds.org

Amey Owen, Animal Welfare Institute, (202) 446-2128, amey@awionline.org

Bethany Cotton, WildEarth Guardians, (406) 414-7227, bcotton@wildearthguardians.org Lawsuit Filed Against Federal Wildlife-killing Program in California SAN FRANCISCO Conservationists sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program today over its outdated wildlife-killing plan for Northern California. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco federal court, seeks an updated environmental analysis of the program's killing of native wildlife including coyotes, bobcats and foxes. Wildlife Services' cruel killing practices are ineffective, environmentally harmful and totally out of touch with science, said Collette Adkins, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney representing the conservation groups involved in the lawsuit. It's long past time that Wildlife Services joined the 21st century and updated its practices to stop the mass extermination of animals. Nonlethal methods for dealing with human-wildlife conflicts have been shown to work. We have no choice but to sue the agency and force a closer look at those alternatives. Wildlife Services is a multimillion-dollar federal program that uses painful leghold traps, strangulation snares, poisons and aerial gunning to kill wolves, coyotes, cougars, birds and other wild animals  primarily to benefit the agriculture industry. Last year the program reported that it killed 1.6 million native animals nationwide, including 3,893 coyotes,142 foxes, 83 black bears, 18 bobcats and thousands of other creatures in California. Nontarget animals  including protected wildlife like wolves, Pacific fisher and eagles  are also at risk from Wildlife Services' indiscriminate methods. Killing native wildlife at the behest of the ranching industry is morally unconscionable and scientifically unsound, said Erik Molvar of Western Watersheds Project. Carnivores play an important ecological role, and exterminating them upsets the balance of nature. We should leave the wildlife alone and change ranching practices instead. Wildlife Services is acting in clear violation of the law, said Tara Zuardo, Animal Welfare Institute wildlife attorney. The agency cannot be allowed to continue haphazardly and cruelly kill thousands of wild animals in Northern California each year without weighing more humane alternatives. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires Wildlife Services to rigorously examine the environmental effects of killing wildlife and to consider alternatives that rely on proven nonlethal methods to avoid wildlife conflicts. But the wildlife-killing program's environmental analysis for Northern California is more than 20 years old. According to the complaint filed today, Wildlife Services must use recent information to analyze the impacts of its wildlife-killing program on the environment and California's unique wild places. NEPA requires that federal agencies use the best available science in analyzing the impacts of their programs, and we believe Wildlife Services has failed to do this and has in fact cherry-picked their science to meet their goals, stated Camilla Fox, founder and executive director of Project Coyote. Moreover, they must consider alternatives to indiscriminate killing and analyze the site-specific and cumulative impacts that killing large numbers of wild animals has on the diversity and integrity of healthy ecosystems. Today's lawsuit is brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Project Coyote, the Animal Welfare Institute and WildEarth Guardians. It targets Wildlife Services' program in California's North District, which includes Butte, Humboldt, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sutter, Trinity and Yuba counties.
The regions have been verified for having interrupted endemic measles virus transmission, ahead of the 2020 Regional target, said WHO

Singapore: Bhutan and Maldives are the first regions in in WHO South-East Asia Region to have eliminated measles, a highly infectious disease that is a major childhood killer globally. The regions have been verified for having interrupted endemic measles virus transmission, ahead of the 2020 Regional target, said WHO. Bhutan and Maldives launched their Expanded Program on Immunization in 1979 and 1976 respectively, and since then worked indefatigably to increase access to immunization services.

Measles elimination and rubella control by 2020 has been one of WHO South-East Asia Regions flagship priority programmes since Dr Khetrapal Singh became Regional Director in February 2014.

Announcing the findings and conclusions of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Verification Commission for Measles Elimination and Rubella control, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia, commended the countries for momentous public health achievement. She said, The strongest political commitment, alongside the concerted efforts of health workers, officials and partners at all levels, has helped achieve this landmark success, which is a boost to the Regions effort to eliminate measles and control rubella.

Maldives has not reported any case of indigenous measles since 2009, and Bhutan since 2012. To fortify their progress, both countries have been carrying out mass vaccination campaigns with measles and rubella vaccine covering high-risk populations.

Both countries achieved and maintained high coverage of measles vaccination, despite geographical challenges. They also established strong laboratory-supported surveillance for measles, and have conducted detailed case investigation and tracking, right up to the very last case, Dr Khetrapal Singh said.

To meet the 2020 measles elimination and rubella control goals, all countries need to make greater efforts to increase measles vaccination coverage through childhood immunization programmes, as nearly 4.7 million children remain unvaccinated against measles in the Region annually, Dr Khetrapal Singh, concluded.

An estimated 620 000 measles deaths have been averted in 2016 alone following vaccination carried out by Member countries. Nearly 107 million children have been reached with an additional dose of measles vaccine through mass vaccination between 2013 and 2016.
This is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modis appeal to focus on treatment of diseases through the ancient Indian spiritual discipline.

AIIMS in collaboration with AYUSH ministry will soon come up with guidelines on yoga asanas which are beneficial to combat certain ailments. This is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modis appeal to focus on treatment of diseases through the ancient Indian spiritual discipline.

Experts from Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana S-VYASA in Bengaluru in partnership with the Centre for Integrative Medicines and Research at AIIMS are conducting evidence-based research to develop a set of protocols for various diseases.

AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria emphasized that not all yoga exercises are effective and suitable for all conditions. Evidence-based research is being done to issue a detailed standard yoga protocol for prevention and treatment of different kinds of diseases. AIIMS has embarked on a randomised study to assess the efficacy of yoga to control migraine attacks which leads to severe headache.

There have been previous studies according to which yoga increases the chemical serotonin, which eases the tightening of the brains blood vessels thus relieving migraines.

Dr Guleria also mentioned that yoga was found to be as effective as standard pulmonary rehabilitation in improving dyspea, inflammatory markers and quality of life in patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. This is a good initiative towards a better healthcare management.
Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune bags the prestigious Award for 2017

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 institution of the award was announced by the Prime Minister on the occasion of the Second International Day of Yoga at Chandigarh on 21st June, 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 selection was done from among 85 nominations received and 15 more recommended by the Screening Committee. 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.
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The Cannes Lions Media shortlist has been released, with a single SA campaign making the cut!

The Media Lions celebrate the context of creativity. Entries need to demonstrate an inspiring and innovative implementation of ideas in work that's enhanced and amplified by a game-changing channel strategy.

There are 290 entries on the shortlist, including the following South African work:

Native VML's One Source campaign: Absolut, with production by Egg Films, media by Vizeum Cape Town, PR by Capacity Relations and additional work by Enterprise Republic, features in the category 'Use of Branded Content created for Digital or Social Media'.

Click here to view the Media 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.
Rooibos Limited, which controls 70% of the global rooibos tea market, could face class action by other local processors if it is found guilty of abusing its market dominance, says Nick Altini, a competition lawyer with Baker McKenzie.

Altini said if Rooibos Limited admitted a contravention of the Competition Act and settled with the Competition Commission, other local processors could launch damages claims against Rooibos Limited.

Although the commission has successfully prosecuted many cases of anticompetitive conduct, the opportunities for class action have been limited as companies were prepared to pay settlement fines, but not admit guilt.

Just last week, Bidvest paid a R2m settlement agreement with the commission in a case involving acquisition of control of Adcock Ingram before Bidvest had received approval from the competition authorities.

Bidvest paid the fine, but did not admit guilt.

Altini said one of the country's most prominent cases of abuse of dominance involved South African Airways (SAA) and its incentivised commission scheme arrangements with travel agents.

"This had an exclusionary effect on other domestic airlines as the scheme induced travel agents not to deal with SAA's rivals in the domestic air travel market and caused custom to be steered away from them," said Altini.

After several years of arguments and appeals before the competition authorities, SAA was eventually found guilty.

The outcome enabled Comair and the insolvent estate of Nationwide to claim damages in the high court.

In 2016, the court awarded the Nationwide estate R105m in damages and earlier in 2017, awarded Comair R1.1bn.

The rooibos tea investigation focuses on Rooibos Limited's monopolisation of the rooibos supply from commercial farmers in the Western Cape and Northern Cape. The commission has said Rooibos Limited had two exclusionary contracting strategies to foreclose the supply of tea from farmers to other rooibos tea processors.

Altini said the difficulty for Rooibos Limited was that if it settled with the commission, it opened itself up to damages litigation, as SAA did.

"The other rooibos processors could conceivably group together in a class action suit against Rooibos Limited, as they would likely have the requisite commonality of interest to seek class certification," said Altini.

The commission's investigation was undertaken after a complaint was lodged by Khoisan Tea.

Source: Business Day
Credit rating agency Fitch issued a statement saying the new Mining Charter that Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane issued without industry consultation showed that its decision to cut SA's sovereign credit rating to junk in April was correct.

Photo: Fitch

Zwane's Mining Charter "indicates that the government is prioritising radical transformation even if this leads to weakening of the business climate and could reduce trend growth", Fitch said.

In its global economic outlook released at the same time, Fitch halved its forecast of SA's real GDP for 2017 to 0.6% from 1.2%, and for 2018 to 1.6% from 2.1%.

Fitch said when it downgraded SA's sovereign rating to BB+ with stable outlook, the decision reflected "our view that political events, including the cabinet reshuffle, would weaken standards of governance and public finances".

The ratings agency said in its statement: "Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba, appointed in March's reshuffle, has indicated that further fiscal consolidation measures will be forthcoming.

"However, in Fitch's view stabilising public finances remains conditional on a recovery in growth. First-quarter GDP contracted by 0.7% quarter on quarter in seasonally adjusted annualised terms, the second consecutive quarterly decline, reflecting not just structural weakness but also strong cyclical headwinds."

The new Mining Charter requires mining companies to raise their black economic empowerment (BEE) ownership to 30% from 26%, pay 1% of turnover to BEE owners before any dividends, and meet tough targets for procurement from local and black-owned companies.

"BEE is a longstanding feature of South African economic policy, but we think the new charter is the result of a more radical approach.

"Uncertainty about final outcomes, the implications on returns for existing shareholders of the new provisions, and the challenges of meeting procurement targets will continue to constrain investment in the mining sector, which accounts for about 7% of GDP.

"Mining investment has already been hit by the fall in commodity prices, relatively high costs and uncertainty about the new rules. The charter may also weaken business and investor sentiment in other sectors by raising fears of more onerous policies," Fitch said.

Business confidence in the second quarter fell to the lowest level since the financial crisis, likely weakened by political developments.

"Weaker trend GDP growth than ratings peers, partly due to a deteriorating investment climate, is a key sovereign rating weakness for SA. A further weakening in trend growth would make fiscal consolidation more difficult.

"The authorities aim to reduce the consolidated government budget deficit to 3.1% of GDP in 2017-18 from 3.4% the previous year but these targets look ambitious in the face of underperforming growth."
In 1900, just 15% of the world's 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.

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. 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.

But to keep the taps running, the hydroinformaticians will need help. A new breed of specialist engineers and scientists is required to work across traditionally separate disciplines and manage the worlds water supply. By 2045, an estimated 6 billion people will be living in cities. That means an enormous amount of showers flowing, toilets flushing, and sinks being filled. So in the meantime, we, and water systems, need to get even smarter.
The Labour Court has found in favour of 17 judges' secretaries who challenged the Office of the Chief Justice about their uncertain employment status, declaring that they are permanently employed.

The secretaries, who had been employed on 12-month fixed contracts, expected that they would be absorbed as permanent employees this year.

To solve the trouble it was in, the office signed three-month contracts with the employees in April after the contracts expired on 31 March this year.

It was worried that the running of the labour and labour appeal courts, where the secretaries were employed, would be affected.

It then advertised the 17 positions, but did not guarantee that the secretaries would be employed.

Although the 17 incumbents applied for the posts, 41 candidates were shortlisted. The employees then approached the Labour Court.

They submitted that the positions that were advertised were not vacant and provisions of the Public Service Act did not apply.

Lawyers for the chief justice's office said the court lacked jurisdiction because it could not deal with a dismissal that had not yet taken place as the contracts would only expire on 30 June.

"The short answer is that the [secretaries] want a declaration of rights in respect of their reasonable expectation of further employment to avoid a dismissal.

"There are appropriate cases in which this court intervened to interdict processes because of the fact that a continuation thereof would result in an [automatic] unfair dismissal," Acting Judge of Appeal Faan Coetzee said.

He declared last Thursday that the secretaries were permanently employed on the same terms and conditions as those they signed to the office in April.

The Office of the Chief Justice said yesterday it was currently studying the judgment after which it would consult the interested parties in order to decide on a way forward.

Source: The Times
The imposition of anti-dumping duties is the equivalent of building a wall around local industries, to protect jobs and industries against unfair competitive practices from abroad. To build such protection around a particular local industry, an anti-dumping application can be used, but it must be properly documented and based on relevant information.

Dumping is a practice where goods are exported to South Africa at an export price which is lower than the normal selling price of such goods in the exporting country. At its core, dumping enables a process of undercutting which has the potential of pricing local producers out of the market, thereby threatening jobs and the livelihood of South African people. Although it is not per se illegal to gain market share by selling goods under their market value, the potential repercussions of dumping are such that it is considered a highly undesirable practice. In addition, nothing prevents the foreign exporter of dumped goods from increasing its prices once local producers have been driven out of the market.

ITAC recommendations followed

To safeguard local industry against the effects of dumping, government has the power to impose anti-dumping duties, pursuant to recommendations from the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC). ITAC has very wide powers to investigate dumping practices and to recommend appropriate remedial action. When government imposes an anti-dumping duty, the import price of goods is artificially inflated, so that local industry is able to compete with the prices at which goods can be imported into South Africa.

Although the imposition of anti-dumping duties plays a vital role in our economy, it does not happen automatically, or overnight. Industry leaders must keep a watchful eye on the marketplace to identify potential dumping practices; otherwise such practices may go unnoticed.

Once a possible dumping practice is identified, a properly documented application should be submitted to ITAC, with a request to investigate whether or not dumping is in fact occurring. This application would then set in motion an extensive anti-dumping investigation by ITAC, which on average could take about 10 months to complete.

Recent examples

Recent examples of anti-dumping investigations conducted by ITAC include:

An investigation was performed in respect of Portland cement originating from Pakistan. It was found that dumping occurred, which resulted in anti-dumping duties being imposed.



ITAC investigated whether dumping occurred in respect of wheelbarrows imported from China. The outcome of the investigation confirmed it.

Once anti-dumping duties are imposed they do not last indefinitely. Such impositions are only valid for a period of five years and local producers who are concerned that the expiry of anti-dumping duties would result in the continuation or recurrence of dumping, should apply for a so-called sunset review, if they wish for duties to be maintained. Conversely, exporters, who would like anti-dumping duties to be removed, are entitled to make submissions to ITAC, in support of the removal of such duties.

Sunset reviews

Some examples of recent sunset review applications include:

Franke Kitchen systems, a local producer of stainless steel sinks, applied for a sunset review in respect of sinks imported from China. This resulted in a recommendation by ITAC that duties be maintained.



The local Garlic Growers Association applied for a sunset review in respect of garlic imported from China. This too resulted in duties being maintained.



PGF, a manufacturer of float glass in South Africa, initiated an application for a sunset review on float glass imported from China. The outcome of that investigation was yet another recommendation that anti-dumping duties be maintained.



At present ITAC is conducting sunset reviews in respect of polyethylene terephthalate (which is a resin used in the manufacture of clothing and containers for liquids and foods, among other things) and unframed glass mirrors.

High Court reviews

Not all anti-dumping applications are successful. The remedy available to unsuccessful applicants is to apply to the High Court for a review of the unfavourable determination made by ITAC. Further, there is no reason why foreign exporters of goods in respect of which anti-dumping duties have been recommended cannot apply to the High Court for a review of such a recommendation, provided that such application is brought within a reasonable period of time.

An example of a reported case where an exporter of goods successfully opposed the imposition of anti-dumping duties is ITAC v SA Tyre Manufacturers Conference 2011, which concerned an application by a group of local tyre manufacturers for anti-dumping duties to be imposed on tyres originating from China. In that case, the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the High Courts decision and found that there was no evidence that the prices at which the tyres in question were exported to South Africa were lower than the normal prices of such tyres, when sold in China.

In the end, the imposition of trade remedies such as anti-dumping duties involve a complex balancing act between the need to encourage trade between countries by giving effect to international trade agreements, on the one hand, and the need to protect local industry against unfair trade practices from abroad.
The first Stellenbosch Business Tourism Indaba recently took place and the fully booked event has been hailed a success with speakers of note including Bruce Redor of GainingEdge in Paris, a global specialist on the positioning of cities as business/conference/events destinations.

Local South African representatives, speakers and role-players involved with the tourism industry included CEO of SA Tourism, Sisa Ntshona; Tim Harris, CEO of WESGRO; Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, Chief Bureau Officer of SA National Convention Bureau; Prof Leopold van Huyssteen, COO of Stellenbosch University; Mayor Gesie van Deventer and Municipal Manager Geraldine Mettler of Stellenbosch Municipality respectively; Corne Koch, Head of Cape Town and WC Convention Bureau; Saartjie Botha, CEO of US Woordfees, and Zelda Coetzee-Burger, Business Tourism Consultant for Stellenbosch 360.

Ntshona, in his address, gave the assurance that the aim to further develop and stimulate business tourism in the Stellenbosch region has the full endorsement and support of SA Tourism. He emphasised that aggressive growth here was an important aspect of SA Tourisms strategy to draw five million more tourists to South Africa in the next few years.

Image sourced from clarissecoetzee.blogspot.co.za

Economic impact

Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo from the SA National Convention Bureau highlighted the following statistics regarding the extent and importance that business events already have for both South Africa and Stellenbosch as a region:

 The South African business events industry, with its present venues totalling 2,620, already supports on average some 252,000 direct and indirect jobs  and contributes in total over R115b to our countrys GDP annually.

 For the next two years (2017/18), Stellenbosch already has eight association/events/conferences confirmed  equating to 47 days with  2,000 delegates visiting and generating R40m in income for the region.

 SAs smaller towns are key to aggressively bid for African Associations meetings ( 100  200 delegates) - smaller international meetings will help to improve the geographic distribution of tourism beyond the major centres and spread these events more equally.

Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo CEO of @SA_NCB says, there is huge potential for second tier cities to host conference & events. #meetinstellenbosch pic.twitter.com/gBPmVZFtwJ  Meet in Cape Town (@CapeTownCB) June 13, 2017

 The Bidding Fund that was announced in Feb 2017, allocates R90m over the next three years and will assist cities and towns to aggressively bid for conferences, meetings, incentives, and exhibitions.

Big potential for Stellenbosch

Annemarie Ferns, CEO of Stellenbosch 360, was overjoyed with the outcome of and the enthusiastic support for the Indaba. She commented:

I believe that after five years of hard work, we now have both the buy-in and mandate from the key local role-players in tourism and the relevant national institutions, as well as a solid strategy on the table to position Stellenbosch as a living conference, event, and incentive destination...

That, complemented by all our towns wonderful people, assets, and renowned and established tourism attributes, can and will make an enormous impact on the future of our town and regions economic growth.
Africa Code Week 2017 was officially launched in Mauritius this week. Now in its third year, the event (which will take place from 18-25 October) aims to spread coding literacy among African youth, with a target of 500,000 across 35 African countries. Its key focus is on female skills development and training.

Inaugurated in 2015 by SAP Corporate Social Responsibility EMEA and several public and private sector partners, the initiative has a long-term goal of empowering more than 200,000 teachers and positively impacting the lives of 5 million children and youth within the next 10 years. In 2016, more than 426,000 young Africans across 30 countries learnt computer coding basics as part of Africa Code Week, beating initial targets of 150,000 by miles.

By learning the new language of coding in an open, supportive environment, young Africans are able to take advantage of the immense opportunities presented by the digital revolution and become active players of the global economy, says Claire Gillissen-Duval, director of EMEA Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP and global project lead for Africa Code Week.

By 2040, Africa is projected to have a working age population of more than 1 billion.

Considering the growing global shortage in technical skills, Africa has a unique opportunity to take a lead role in powering the global economy, says Clas Neumann, senior VP, lead of fast growth market strategy at SAP.

However, the lack of widely available education in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) fields could undermine the continent's ability to equip this growing workforce with the skills they need to thrive in the digital economy. Africa Code Week is one way of reaching out to even remote corners of the continent and creating interest in the opportunities only the digital world can offer. We hope that this will help inspiring young Africans to pursue careers that will drive the continent's digital transformation.

There is only one way to transform Africas youth bulge into an unprecedented opportunity for growth and social peace: Education, says Mauritian President, Ameenah Gurib-Fakim. The Republic of Mauritius is keen to support and participate in Africa Code Week this year and I look forward to working with all stakeholders from the public and private sector to drive STEM skills development nationwide and across the African continent.

Call for diversity

Prevailing stereotypes and cultural barriers typically mean women are 1.6 more likely to report a lack of digital skills as a barrier to their participation in the digital economy.

If Africa is to realise its potential and provide the workforce that will power the global economic engine in the long run, more must be done to empower girls and women by promoting digital skills development and improve their job prospects, said Gillissen-Duval.

Value of partnerships

Africa Code Week is now actively supported by a fast-growing network of strategic partners - including UNESCO YouthMobile, BMZ, the Cape Town Science Centre, the Galway Education Centre, Google, ALink Telecom, Fondation Life Builders, DreamOval Foundation, Camara Education and 10 African governments. Among the latter public-sector partners, the Moroccan Ministry of Education and Vocational Training won the ACW friendly competition two years in a row with a record of 200,000 young Moroccans engaged in Africa Code Week since 2015.

Brett Parker, president of SAP Africa, said Africa Code Week is an example of how effective public-private partnership and open collaboration can bring transformative change to Africa's youth. With a wealth of youthful talent, a network of passionate teachers and the tremendous support of our key strategic partners, Africa Code Week has gone from strength to strength, making a far-reaching and positive impact on the fortunes of the continent's youth. We are thankful to our partners for their support in our effort to address the challenge of female STEM skills development through Africa Code Week, and we look forward to working with all stakeholders to empower a new generation of digital innovators across the continent.

The 2017 Africa Code Week initiative will take place across 35 countries from 18-25 October. For more information, go to africacodeweek.org.
A new report, Unicorns, Gazelles & Leapfrogs: Fast-tracking the South African startup ecosystem' identifies some ways that South Africa's hotshot startups can catapult themselves forward.

The total value of all the tech and innovation startups in Joburg and Cape Town together, is about $1.5 billion: a similar size to Melbournes, smaller than Lagos, and half the size of Sao Paolos, says Jason Levin, author of the report. A little less than 40% of national GDP is generated by SMME businesses, so progress in this small but important ecosystem is critical.

Launched in mid-June 2017, at the Gordon Institute for Business Science in Johannesburg, the report highlights some of the recent successes in the space, which has become so topical locally and internationally in the past few years.

Education tech company, GetSmarter was sold to US-listed 2U in April for $103 million. Fintech businesses such as WiGroup and Yoco are experiencing exponential growth in South Africa and on the continent. Health tech startup, LifeQ, has formed a deep and prosperous relationship with Garmin USA, and recruitment company Giraffe beat out 54 finalists from around the globe in the last Seedstars World entrepreneurship competition. In March 2017, Joburg was the first African city to host the Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

There is progress and seemingly a will to succeed. However, why does South Africa feel like a middle order contender rather than a podium occupant? asks Levin.

There is momentum. Moreover, there are resources, including over 300 incubators and entrepreneur development organisations, the R1.5 billion SA SME Fund set up by the CEOs Initiative, the overall capital pool has increased substantially in recent years and you cannot throw a stone in Joburg or Cape Town without hitting a startup co-working space.

However, South Africa has not produced a unicorn (a startup valued at $1 billion+) and Nigeria and Poland have. The report aims to answer that and other questions relating to the South African startup landscape. It also looks for options for thrusting the high-growth high-impact small business space rapidly towards world class.

In-depth interviews

Over a six month-period, Levin interviewed and recorded the views of 36 players in the South African startup ecosystem. These included sharp founders of new hot shops to venture capitalists like Keet Van Zyl, Craig Mullett and Brett Commaille to founders like Giraffes Anish Shivdasani, Civics Vinny Lingham and Mimecasts Peter Bauer.

These opinions form the backbone of the report. Bolstering the personal and anecdotal insights is research from other studies on the local and global startup landscapes. Putting the two together answers some questions, highlights where the country is excelling and where improvement is needed and, importantly, it looks for an accelerated path for that improvement: what the report calls leapfrogs.

Skill deficit major blockage

However, from the study, it seems there are numerous blockages. Most notably, a deep skills deficit resulting from an education system largely ill equipped to produce entrepreneurs of calibre.

Levin says the country has to plough through those obstacles, but progress will be slow and fraught. In addition, in order to move the needle, the startup game in South African has to get bigger and better faster. It is important because of the transformative effect that innovative, fast-paced startups have on business generally; to assist in alleviating unemployment and because tech- and innovation-led businesses are growing at 4.5% globally versus overall global economic growth of only 2.6%.

Key recommendations

Therefore, as the key recommendation of the report, Elevation proposes a more lateral approach to the challenges via the leapfrogs. These are one or two bold and dramatic shake-ups aimed at creating a quantum shift, alongside the required steady improvement, in the South African startup space. Options explored include:

SA as a resource hub: Whereby a lot of the capacity locked up in incubators that is currently being used to create what is reportedly large numbers of underequipped, soon-to-be-disillusioned entrepreneurs, is redeployed. The resources could be used to educate and upskill talent that could be used to power local and international startups rather than run them. This would also see us market South Africa (Cape Town particularly) as a destination for high quality, lower cost startup-specific skills and resources. This in a pleasant location that is English speaking, has good infrastructure and is on the European time zone. Impact investor haven: South African has no shortage of problems to be solved. This route proposes a good deal of startup capacity be focused on developing social entrepreneurship (for good ventures run along commercial lines). A large portion of our diverse societal and practical challenges may be solved by innovation, and the hope would be that many of the solutions, once adapted, could be exported to other African and emerging markets. This specialised focus would aim to attract the increasing global funding in the impact space. Access to public investment funds: Here, ecosystem participants are called on to lobby government to direct public sector pension funds to release 0.5% of their fund into the market as venture capital. The Public Investment Corporations share alone would be in the region of R10 billion. Startup demand would then need to be vigorously stimulated to meet capital supply. Vertical, sector specialisation: Taking a cue from Poland and other Eastern European markets, South Africa focuses on two or three (maximum) verticals like fintech, medtech and/or renewables, and those specialised capabilities are marketed nationally and internationally.

These paths are put forward as thought-starters, Levin says, They possibly put the thinking on a new track for debate and input. If a more lateral thought plan could be agreed and actioned, there is a belief from those canvased that the impact could be great.



The report is available free as a downloadable e-book from elevation-holdings.co.za.
South Africa and Rwanda share a common concern and responsibility to enhance cooperation in the fields of environmental protection and sustainable development for present and future generations, says Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa.

Molewa and the minister of Natural Resources of Rwanda Dr Vincent Biruta recently signed an environmental cooperation agreement between the two countries.

The agreement notes that South Africa and Rwanda are aware of the regional and global nature of environmental issues and the need to find cost-effective and long-term solutions in addressing these issues through international cooperation and the importance of coordinating joint activities of the two parties.

In terms of the agreement, South Africa and Rwanda will cooperate in the fields of biodiversity conservation and the sustainable utilisation of biological resources; protected areas management; the illegal wildlife trade; environmental monitoring, compliance and enforcement, sustainable consumption and cleaner consumption, the development of the green economy in both countries, and other areas mutually agreed upon.

Molewa and Biruta met in Kigali, Rwanda, recently to discuss the significance of sustainable development in the protection and enhancement of the environment, as well as the importance of a clean environment on the health and well-being of the peoples of the two countries, and the African continent.

In signing the Letter of Intent, the ministers have agreed to share the commitment to implement the principles set in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Developments (UNCED) Agenda 21 developed in 1992.

The ministers have also undertaken to work towards the effective implementation of the UN Sustainable Development agenda through the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) signed at the UN General Assembly in September 2015, the Department of Environmental Affairs said.
eNCA is proud to announce the appointment of a new managing director and editor-in-chief, Mapi Mhlangu. Mhlangu assumes the helm of South Africa's premier news channel, taking over from Anton Harber on 1 July 2017.

Mapi Mhlangu

Mhlangu joined the channel in 2009 and has served in various capacities in the eMedia Investments organisation, most recently as eNCAs News Director. In that position she was principally responsible for all operations, editorial and technical. She brings a wealth of experience at both the coalface and executive management levels of news production.

Mapi Mhlangu says, Im honoured to be entrusted with the responsibility of leading this news organisation and its talented employees at this critical time in South Africa and its newsrooms. There is a pressing need for news media to ensure that citizens are adequately informed, so as to engage the state and to ensure that the benefits of freedom are realised. South African viewers have consistently indicated that eNCA is their trusted source for independent news and analysis which is accurate and unbiased. I look forward to navigating through the challenges ahead with our dynamic team.

eNCA thanks Anton Harber for his contribution to the channel and newsroom where he provided mentorship and nurtured news leaders within the organization.

Anton Harber says, I hand over the reins with eNCAs audience and advertising revenue strong and growing, and I think this provides a solid foundation for Mapi and the excellent newsroom team to build on. eNCA is a crucial South African institution, one of the cornerstones of independent journalism, and its role is going to be more important than ever in coming months. I am confident that Mapi is well placed to build on this.

eMedia Investments Chief Operating Officer Mark Rosin says, With 20 years of news media experience and almost a decade at eNCA, we have full confidence that eNCA will continue to thrive under Mapis editorial leadership. In 2015, we spoke about the ongoing transformation of eNCA and its newsroom and Mapis appointment is testimony to that intention.

eNCA will continue to provide journalism that is fair and free of favour, broadcasting the quality news programming which has made it the most watched 24 hour news channel in South Africa.




A few Mother's Days ago Bic insulted women, then there was Helen Zille, Rivers Church, Spur Steakranches, Chris Hart and Penny Sparrow. The list of social media disasters goes on and on. It is almost inevitable that your company will experience the wrath of social media some time in the future. Probably in the next year to 18 months. Worldwide surveys have established that only 30% of companies have a crisis plan in place.

This week its Outsurances turn. They put out a social media video on Father's Day to celebrate all the good fathers out there. The video showed 20 different fathers interacting with their children. With the exception of one, all those fathers were white. It was no surprise that Twitter picked up on this to imply that black fathers are not good fathers and climbed into Outsurance accusing it of racism. The first apology by the head of marketing, Peter Cronje, a white man, offered by the company, blamed a junior, a woman, for the error and apologised for the lack of the diversity in the ad that did not reflect the nations demographics. Later during the day the Group CEO, Willem Roos, a white man, in a Skype interview with ENCA apologised again. He confirmed that although the staff of Outsurance are very diversified, the board is mostly white and male. If the social media commentary is accurate many have cancelled their policy and many people have decided not to support the company in the future.

As a case study ignoring for a moment the poor leadership that resulted in the junior employee being thrown under the bus, there are some very interesting takeouts.

A significant proportion of social media crisis in South Africa is due to racism of some sort. In Outsurances case this has become a pattern. A Mothers Day video along the same lines, followed a campaign in which an person in blackface appeared and one in which a white family had a dog named Boipelo and adverts showing black people only in the roles of servants. These are all huge errors. Although much of the social response was divided on racial lines with many white commentators calling it a non-issue while many white South Africans on social media were in solidarity with the black response, which is also an increasing trend.

The most important lesson to learn, is that it is clear that this business is white managed and the market response to racism is poorly appreciated. In fact I would go as far as to say that racism is not understood as an issue. Racism is not merely about prejudice, its not about making sure that all the Outsurance pointsmen are black, a point they have used in defence, that is like saying as a defence that I have black friends.

When Outsurance tweeted: We apologise for our Father's Day video. It did not appropriately represent SA's demographics. It was an unintentional oversight, they completely missed the point.

Racism is a system, a social and economic racial hierarchy introduced into South Africa by colonisation and codified by apartheid.

What Outsurance did was to feed a narrative that black fathers are not good fathers and white fathers are. They have not yet acknowledged that. Like many white run organisations they do not yet appreciate the essence of racism and that to be excellent corporate citizens it is important that they are anti-racist not merely non-racist.

No matter how concerned corporate South Africa wishes to position itself it is absolutely vital that they move beyond dictionary definitions of racism and address this issue in training for their boards and at least their marketing and sales staff. The need to be driving towards transformed management is not a point that I need to make.

The same thing goes with other social issues such as sexism. Cronje said, This advert was created by one of our junior ladies in the social media department and I believe she made an innocent mistake when she created and posted this video. Why was it necessary to mention that the junior employee was female? Does that communicate that women should be excused for this type of error?

Cronje went on to mention that it is their policy to offer some responsibility to junior employees in the social media media department and that they don't approve content at management level. this is also a huge error  social media has proven to be a very powerful tool, minimising its power is a serious management error.

Condemning racism has become a mega trend in South Africa. The social networks have become empowered ever since the out of work estate agent Penny Sparrows rant on Facebook. Its a trend that all marketers should take cognizance of. Its no longer possible for business to leave it to chance, unless the board, management and staff bury their own views and make an effort to understand the issues underlying racism, homophobia, and feminism to mention a few they are bound to end up splashed all over the electronic and broadcast media. That means that they are bound to lose business.

It has become an imperative for business to understand and appreciate the social issues driving the country.
COTONOU, Benin - In Benin's economic capital of Cotonou, as in many other African cities, finding a house, office or restaurant is often like a treasure hunt. Luck, if not a miracle, is required as easy clues such as street names, even where they exist, are usually not posted and address numbers are rarely marked.

 Marina Zlochin via 123RF

Most people in Cotonou formulate complex combinations of landmarks and directions to navigate around town. Typical directions might be: "My office is after the big market, past the apartment block on the right with the mobile phone mast, and it's the third road on the left, tiled building."

Can't see the apartment block with the mobile phone mast? Game over, back to square one.

Sam Agbadonou, a 34-year-old former medical technician, knows how frustrating it can be to get around and describes Cotonou as a "navigation challenge".

"I was called when there were break-downs and went to health centres to repair machines that save lives," he said. "But some centres are really in the middle of outlying neighbourhoods and it is difficult to get there."

Now, to put an end to the hassle and quickly find their destination, locals are turning to crowdsourced mapping applications adapted for use in Africa that are challenging Google Maps for dominance on the continent.

In 2013, when Agbadonou heard about OpenStreetMap, an international project founded in 2004 to create a free world map, he knew it was a good idea. Agbadonou founded the Benin branch of the project, which today boasts 30 members.

With his friend Saliou Abdou, a trained geographer, Agbadonou regularly organises "map parties" - field trips to identify the city's geographical data. They start with the basics - street names and address numbers - and move on to other details that set their maps apart from the Silicon Valley competition.

"We write down everything: the trees, the water points, the vulcaniser (tyre repairer) on the street corner, the tailor's shop... You don't see that on Google Maps!" Agbadonou said with pride.

Thanks to his work over the last four years, Cotonou is slowly revealing itself. For example, the Ladji district, which never used to feature on most maps, is now included.

Armelle Choplin, an urban planner at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) in Cotonou, has no choice but to use Google Maps for her work. But she is relying more and more on the crowdsourced maps which are more adapted to an African context.

"IGN France (the French national institute of geographic and forest information) carried out an aerial mapping of Benin between 2015 and 2016 and it should be available in September," Choplin said. "But we don't know if we will have access or the terms."

Rapid population growth, lack of regulation in real estate and haphazard urbanisation are a headache for most big cities in Africa.

Along the coast in Ghana, Sesinam Dagadu created a similar mobile app called SnooCode, which targets the poorest in society and the illiterate.

His goal is to give "an address for every man, woman and child" by issuing an individual "location code" as a substitute address.

"I wanted to make sure our system was accessible to those at the bottom of the social pyramid," Dagadu said about his app, which is free. "Without addresses, many important features of the modern society no longer work, from tracking diseases and emergency response services to e-commerce and deliveries," said the 31-year-old.

OpenStreetMap is already being used by humanitarian organisations during epidemics. Enthusiastic communities of amateur cartographers participating in 'mapathons' have been inputting geographical data from satellite images available on the internet into the online map.

Some have recently focused on the Democratic Republic of Congo, where several cases of Ebola have been reported. In particularly remote areas of a country, maps only show the outline of roads. The cartographers add houses and, crucially, water points - essential data to stop the spread of an epidemic.

For volunteers or the app's creators, map-making isn't just a passion, it's become a part of what it means to be a citizen. As geographer Abdou puts it, working on the maps is his way of "contributing to the development of my country".

Source: AFP.
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso - The 23rd World Day to Combat Desertification was celebrated in Burkina Faso's capital of Ouagadougou on June 15 with a call to create two million jobs and restore 10 million hectares of degraded land. Three African heads of state took part in the celebrations: Ibrahim Boubacar Keita from Mali, Mahamadou Issoufou from Niger and Roch Kabore from Burkina Faso. The Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Monique Barbut also attended the event.

makunin via pixabay

According to the UNCCD, two-thirds of the African continent is desert or drylands. This land is vital for agriculture and food production, but nearly 75 percent is estimated to be degraded to varying degrees.

The region is also affected by frequent and severe droughts, which have been particularly devastating in recent years in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel.

Tackling desertification, restoring degraded lands

"Degraded lands is not an inevitable fate. Restoration is still possible. However, what will be more difficult is to feed 10 billion human beings in 30 years. The only place where there are still lands to do that is Africa. We need these lands to feed the whole planet. Therefore, restoring lands is assuring food security for the whole planet," said Barbut.

The high-level meeting that gathered 400 experts from around the world ended in the Call from Ouagadougou, urging citizens and governments to tackle desertification by restoring ten million hectares of land and by creating two million green jobs for youth, women, and migrants.

Enabling the youth

"By 2050, the African population will double to two billion people," Barbut noted. "I fear that as the population depends up to 80 percent on natural resources for their livelihoods, those resources will vanish given the great pressure on them."

She added that young people emerging from this demographic growth will need decent jobs. "In the next 15 years, 375 million young people will be entering the job market in Africa. Two hundred million of them will live in rural areas and 60 million will be obliged to leave those areas because of the pressure on natural resources."

According to UNCCD, it is critical to enact policies that enable young people to own and rehabilitate degraded land, as there are nearly 500 million hectares of once-fertile agricultural land that has been abandoned.

Talking specifically about Burkina Faso, which hosted the celebration, Batio Nestor Bassiere, the minister in charge of environmental issues, said: "From 2002 to 2013, 5.16 million hectares, 19 percent of the country's territory, has been degraded by desertification." The situation is similar in most African countries. That's why "it's nonsense to sit and watch that happening without acting, given that the means for action are available," said Barbut.

The Call from Ouagadougou

The Call from Ouagadougou comes from a common willingness to save the planet, and Africa particularly, from desertification. Gathered to discuss the topic Our land, our house, our future, linked to the fulfillment of the 3S Initiative (sustainability, stability, and security in Africa), the Call from Ouagadougou also invites African countries to create conditions for the development of new job opportunities by targeting the places where the access to land can be reinforced and land rights secured for vulnerable populations.

Development partners and other actors have also been called on to give their contributions. They were invited to help African countries to invest in rural infrastructure, land restoration, and the development of skills in chosen areas and among those facing migration and social risks. For that, the UN agency in charge of the fight against desertification and its partners can rely on the firm support of the three heads of state who came for this 23rd World Day to Combat Desertification.

The President of Burkina Faso, Roch Kabore let the audience know that they are all "engaged in promoting regional and global partnerships to find funds for investment in lands restoration and long term land management, wherever they will have opportunities to speak."

Issue at the top of the African Union's environmental agenda

Representing the African Union, Ahmed Elmekaa, director, African Union/SAFGRAD, said drawing attention to the resolutions of desertification, land degradation, and drought and on climate change are at the top of the African Union's environmental agenda.

Taking advantage of the celebration, the national authorities gave the name of the very first executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Hama Arba Diallo, to a street of the capital Ouagadougou. Experts from many countries also had the opportunity to visit sites showing the experience of Burkina Faso in combating desertification.

At a dinner ceremony held immediately following the closure of the ceremony, the UNCCD announced the winners of the Land for Life Award, Practical Action Sudan/UNEP from Sudan; Watershed Organization Trust from India. The Land for Life China award was given to Yingzhen Pan, Director General of National Bureau to Combat Desertification, China.
LAGOS, Nigeria: MainOne launches plan to become largest internet hub in West Africa with Open-Connect Service.

 iprostocks via 123RF

Following the partnership of MainOnes Data Center company, MDXi, with the Nigerian Internet Exchange, (IXPN) to improve national transit traffic in Nigeria, the company has recently announced a new interconnect service for carriers, enterprises and ISPs called Open-Connect.

Open-Connect is a service that facilitates improved interconnection, collaboration and peering within the MDXi Lekki data centre and the Internet Exchange. The product will enable the creation of an environment that allows colocated customers connect to multiple networks, cloud and content providers while significantly reducing the cost of backhaul links to various providers and it offers competitive pricing in an open access, carrier neutral environment.

Open-Connect guarantees the best cross connect services in Nigeria, enabling customers bypass the public internet and connect directly to partners, cloud and SaaS providers with secure, reliable and flexible direct connections.

With connections to internet exchanges in Lagos, Amsterdam, London and Ghana and 50+ Points of Presence locations across West Africa, MainOne enables carriers, ISPs, content providers and enterprises of all sizes to quickly and easily increase their network footprint without investing heavily in additional infrastructure.

Traffic growth is a useful indicator of the health of the entire internet ecosystem, and helps to measure the development of the digital economy. This new interconnection service for customers within our data centre will significantly improve traffic growth and localisation in Nigeria, with reduced latency, improved speed and better quality of services to end users. This solution will enable more operators and carriers take advantage of the connections of the IXPN within MainOnes connected Data Center and enhance Internet traffic originating and terminating on any network in Nigeria to remain in-country, says Funke Opeke, chief executive officer of MainOne.

MainOnes Open-Connect service takes advantage of the companys recent partnership with the Nigerian Internet Exchange, which provides the Exchange with an IPV4/V6 network, backed by diverse backhaul, links across Lagos and Nigeria. The data centre, MDXi, West Africas premier vendor-neutral data centre is directly connected to MainOnes 1.92TBPS submarine cable.
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.
The action came as the EAOs met in Chiang Mai, Thailand on June 17 and 18.

Liaison offices are intended to serve a role in implementing and maintaining ceasefires.

Representatives from the Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting (JICM), the Union Peace Dialogue Joint Committee (UPDJC), the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee - Union Level (JMC-U) and the Liaison Office Coordination Committee (LOCC) reportedly cooperated in amending the ToR draft.

Head of the Karen National Unions Brigade 3 liaison office Saw Ka Leh Mu Htoo said that the new draft includes topics such as a military code of ethics and general operations.

He said it will now be submitted to the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee for approval.

Vice-chair of the Arakan Liberation Party Khine Soe Naing Aung said that liaison office representatives discussed the pressures that the government puts on liaison offices.

Although the discussion between the groups was satisfying, I dont know whether the government will accept it, he said.
As United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of 7 Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) is pulling through its bi-annual meeting in two phases, one from from June 20 to 26 for the UNFCs members and the other, from June 27 to 29 for all EAOs, to establish common ground like the one held in Mai Ja Yang, Kachin State in 2016, the other 7 EAOs under the banner of Federal Political Negotiation Consultative Committee (FPNCC) and the governments Peace Commission (PC) is geared to meet each other in China in the very near future.

The FPNCC members are United Wa State Army (UWSA), Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), Shan State Progress Party (SSPP), Kokang or Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Mong La or National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA).

The initiative came from the governments PC that has been entrusted by the State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, under the leadership of Dr Tin Myo Win.

According to the TNLA vice chairman Tar Jode Jar, vice president Thein Zaw of PC has contacted the Chinese authorities and relayed the message to negotiate with the Pangkham alliance or FPNCC, on June 19.

In the recant BBC interview, the TNLA leader said that it is likely the negotiation and meeting with the government might take place after June 20, in one of the town along the border in China.

However, the overture from the government side didnt mention anything whether it would like to meet the FPNCC as a group, according to the TNLA leader, although he reiterated that any meeting between the alliance and the government has to be as a group and not separately.

But Zaw Htay spokesperson of states counsellor office told 7 Day Daily on June 15 that the meeting wont be meeting the FPNCC as a group but would be conducting it separately, in which one group would comprise of four, and the other three.

He said: Regarding the Northern Alliance (another name for the FPNCC), we have opened negotiation channel. But we wont discuss with the committee that is formed with seven members. During the convention in Nay Pyi Taw, the meeting with the state counsellor was done separately one with four groups and another with three groups (in two sets of meeting).

He continued to stress that if not, negotiation with the government separately as individual group could also be done.

Aung Soe, a member of the governments PC and a lower house lawmaker also echoed Zaw Htays position saying that the government will meet three northern groups together [the TNLA, the AA, and MNDAA] and the rest separately.

Additional to this governments mode of separate meeting scheme, the KIOs initiative to meet the Tatmadaw or the Military separately regarding the ceasefire negotiation has also recently been in the pipeline.

Insider government sources close to a signatory ethnic armed organization said that recently, Khin Zaw Oo secretary of the governments PC, on his way back from Nepal, met General NBan La leader of the KIO in Chiang Mai, where he was asked to convey message to the Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing that the KIO wanted a direct negotiation channel to talk about the ceasefire. The Military side has signalled to agree to the proposal and negotiation now seems to be in progress, although no details were forthcoming, as of this writing.

Apart from the problems regarding the mode of meeting between the PC and FPNCC, the latters alteration or amendment demand of the present, government accepted Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), so that it could possibly sign it, could be also a hard nut to crack, as its proposal amounts to somewhat like agreeing to a Hong Kong-like status under the former British administration or confederation-like political system aspirations would not be that easy to compromise for the government.

Given such a backdrop, where China is so intensively involved in the peace process to at least make the Burma-China border free from armed engagement between the Northern Alliance and the Tatmadaw, so that its One Belt One Road economic scheme could be materialized, both contending parties  the Tatmadaw and the Northern Alliance  are forced to accommodate the wish of the giant, powerful neighbour.

As it is, in order to appease or sooth down the demanding powerful neighbour, who, by hook or by crook, is already deeply involved in the peace process game, the concerned stakeholders would have to come to terms by any means. And as such, it would be much better for all to compromise and find a middle ground that is acceptable to all parties, from agreeing to the mode of meeting to accommodating political aspirations that all could live with.

For too long, the contending parties only continue to be bogged down to gain political edge primarily on both sides of the political spectrum. This failure to recognise a common visionary concept on how the country should be moulded and ethnic aspirations accommodated, need to be corrected, if we are to end this vicious circle of violence, peace restored and eventual political settlement made possible.
Featuring the work of internationally recognized Laguna photographer Lee Marmon, New Mexico photographer Sondra Diepen and New Mexico painter Carol L. Adamec. Runs through 6/25.

The show, Then & Now: Rediscovering Route 66, presents each artists individual experience and personal relationship to Route 66 expressed through their chosen medium.

Lee Marmon, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, has captured the people, culture, landscapes, and traditions of his tribe since 1945. This exhibit includes seven of Lees classic black and white photographs, including his most famous pueblo portrait, White Mans Moccasins, which became the iconic portrayal of Native American acculturation into modern American life.

With two Nikon cameras and a fist full of sketchy maps, photographer Sondra Diepen, heads out on I40, exiting here and there, to rediscover the original Mother Road as it once wound through the desolate parts of New Mexico. Her color photographs capture it allfrom fading curio shops, boarded up motor courts, rusted classic cars, to motel signs along Central Avenue that still beckon travelers to stop, rest, and see the sights.

Carol L. Adamec, a painter from Chicago, saw Route 66 from the backseat of the family car, en route to Joplin, Missouri, for annual summer visits to her maternal grandparents. Her paintings and altered digital photographs range from an abandoned snake pit in Moriarty to Elvis chatting with a waitress at a local dinermixing kitsch, pop culture, and a dose of nostalgia.

For these three artists, Route 66Then and Nowis alive and well.

The opening reception for Then & Now: Rediscovering Route 66 is Thursday, April 27, from 5-8pm at the KiMo Art Gallery, 417 Central Ave NW.

The exhibit continues through June 25 and can be viewed WedSat 11am-8pm, and Sunday 11am-3pm. During these hours, visitors can access the Gallery via the KiMo Business Office at 423 Central NW (the corner of Central and 5th).

The opening reception and ongoing exhibit are free and open to the public.


A file photo.

MUMBAI (PTI): 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 on Tuesday.



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.


Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/06/2017 (1970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Pride was in the air on Monday evening as three generations of the Hagan family were presented with the North American Waterfowl Management Plans prestigious National Blue-winged Teal Award.

The Hagans, who live on a farm near Oak Lake, were nominated by the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation in honour of the 15 easements the family has that permanently protects 4,885 acres of natural lands, including 2,020 acres of wetlands.

The easements insure that their land will permanently stay in the condition that its in, MHHC spokesperson Stephen Carlyle said.

Michaela Solomon/The Brandon Sun The Hagan family of Oak Lake accepted the National Blue-winged Teal Award at the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporations Brandon office on Monday night. MHHC nominated the family to honour the 15 conservation easements they have to preserve and protect their land. From left: Erin, Alistair, Shawne, Jocelyn, Rory, Thomas and Felicity. Front: Slade and Harley.

Carlyle said that Hagan family has had an outstanding relationship with MHHC for years, and he hopes this award inspires other landowners to follow suit, and take extra precautions to preserve the land they own.

Their natural areas will stay natural in perpetuity, so forever, Carlyle said.

MHHC is pleased to continue working with the Hagan family, said Carlyle, adding that theyve been a great addition to a larger international conservation community.

The Hagan family consists of parents Shawne and Jocelyn, their four children, Alistair (Erin), Thomas (Felicity), Amanda, Bronwen, and grandkids Harley, Slade and Rory.

 The Brandon Sun
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/06/2017 (1969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rivers Collegiate will be losing two environmental courses for the next school year after Manitoba Education and Training did not approved them for credit.

The two school-initiated, optional courses  the Grade 9 to 10 outdoor education course and the Grade 11 to 12 wetlands management class  credited with leading the way to integrate environmental teachings wherever possible, recently earning the school an award of excellence in environmental education from the Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication.

The governments disapproval of the courses was based on the fact that the learning outcomes exist in courses already pre-approved, said Rolling River School Division Supt. Mary-Anne Ploshynsky, like science courses and physical education.

We can only offer whats approved  and everyones goal is that the students get the outcomes that our Manitoba curriculum guides, so here we are, Ploshynsky said. But our kids will still get the learning outcomes that they require, just in existing courses.

One of the learning experiences that will remain a focus  albeit in other courses  is access to the Rivers Wetland Centre of Excellence, a natural habitat the school itself is developing.

The wetlands is an external, outdoor classroom  its an extension to the regular classroom where students can get authentic, hands-on learning experiences, and as a school division we encourage the use of the wetlands as a differentiated, authentic learning space where students can still achieve their learning outcomes in a course, Ploshynsky said.

RRSD is also revamping the schedule for optional courses with less than 10 students enrolled, Ploshynsky said, adding that unless it has her approval, these optional courses will be offered alternating years to give a class-size boost.

Students wont be missing out, they will still have the opportunity every second year if it is of interest to them, Ploshynsky said. Option courses are also available in other formats, such as an independent study option, a blended student option, and distance learning.

The division is also looking into adding a video conferencing course, Ploshynsky added.

Its not unusual for rural schools to go that route and look at alternate formats for providing a student with a course, she said.

After receiving a two per cent decrease in provincial education funding earlier this year, RRSD has been wrestling with a tight budget and a focus on maintaining staffing positions.

The boards priority in the coming year was to maintain RRSD staffing, and they have done that, Ploshynsky said, noting that course changes have only resulted in reallocation of staff within the division.

Students currently enrolled in the outdoor education course and the wetlands management class will also still receive their credits, as the courses were approved for the 2016-17 year, Ploshynsky said.

 edebooy@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @erindebooy
A little boy who had to have the tip of his thumb amputated after he caught it on a playground gate has settled his High Court action for 41,000, writes Ann O'Loughlin.

Kevin Tobin was only six years of age when his thumb was hurt after the hinge of the playground gate closed on him when the gate was opened by another child.
Irish people could end up paying more for their gas and electricity if the UK leaves the EU Internal Energy market.

Research published today by the ERSI re-evaluates Irish energy policy in light of Brexit, and makes recommendations for policymakers.

The energy systems of Ireland and the UK are closely linked, with Ireland's gas and electricity systems currently exclusively connected to Great Britain.

Doctor Muireann Lynch, research officer with the ERSI, says price hikes could be on the cards for Irish consumers.

"That all depends on whether or not Britain continues to be a member of the European energy market," she said.

"Now, it won't necessarily defiantly leave the energy market - Switzerland is partially integrated and Norway is fully integrated and neither of those countries, obviously, are EU member states.

"It's in nobody's interests for Britain to completely leave the European energy market, but we still need to be prepared for the eventuality."

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland is holding their inaugural national deep retrofit conference today.

It is the first of its kind to be held in Ireland, and the organisation says it marks a first step in the journey 'towards zero' for energy efficiency in homes.

The conference takes place at the Aviva Stadium with Communications Minister, Denis Naughten, among the attendees.
Update 1.18pm: The cyclist who died after a recent road accident has been named as 53-year-old Padraic Carney  the principal teacher of St. Louis Senior Primary School in Rathmines in Dublin.

It is understood that the deceased lived in Rathfarnham and that the accident happened near their home.

This is a terrible tragedy for Padraics immediate and extended family, his wide circle of friends and the school community in Rathmines, said Jake Byrne, chairperson of the schools board of management.

We are all deeply saddened by his sudden and untimely death.

Padraic was a wonderful leader in the school. His infectious enthusiasm for the job of teaching children and his warm and charming personality made him most popular with pupils, parents, staff and all who came to know him in his job.

Psychologists from the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) have been supporting and advising the teachers and the school community in their efforts to assist the pupils in dealing with this tragic event.

We have been in contact with his family who have requested that their need for privacy at this sad and difficult time be respected, said Mr Byrne.

Our sympathy and thoughts are with Padraics family and friends.

Earlier:

A cyclist has died after sustaining serious injuries in a recent road accident in Dublin.

Gardai at Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 are appealing for witnesses to the collision, which happened on Butterfield Park, Rathfarnham last Monday at around 8.10am.

The collision involved a male cyclist in his 50s and a car. He was taken to Tallaght Hospital where he was pronounced dead last night as a result of injuries sustained in the collision.

Garda Forensic Collision Investigators examined the scene. The local Coroner has been notified.

Investigating Gardai are appealing for witnesses. Anyone with information is asked to contact Rathfarnham Garda Station 01 666 6500, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
By David Raleigh

A former Christian brother who would "lick" his pupils ears while sexually abusing them in class, has been found guilty by a jury of 15 counts of indecent assault.

James Treacy, 75, with an address at Ashford Close, Swords, Dublin, showed no emotion as a jury at Limerick Circuit Court found him guilty, by unanimous decision, of abusing all three male victims.

The court heard harrowing evidence from the victims, who were aged 10 years old and in fifth class at the time.

To protect the identities of the victim's, the court ordered restrictions on identifying the school where the shocking abuse occurred.

Treacy has denied all of the charges which related to offences which occurred in the late 1970s.

The court heard evidence from Treacy's victims who all said he would abuse them in front of one another while he taught a "military style" class.

His modus operandi, the court heard, was to place his hands down the front of the boys trousers and fondle their privates.

One victim told the court: "It was 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, and if you're ears weren't clean, he would would actually lick your ears."

He said the accused became a friend of his family and would visit his home and go with them on family day trips.

The man broke down several times as he gave a chilling account of what Treacy did to him. "I couldn't tell my mother what was happening, he added.

Another victim told the court how Treacy reached inside his clothes and fondled him while whispering into his ear: Look at this lump of jelly and watch it get hard.

It was horrific," the man said.

He told the court he would be in a panic at home before going to school for fear of being targeted again by Treacy.

He told the court: 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."

A third victim also broke down several times in court as he described Treacy abusing him in full view of the class.

The court heard the victims did not tell anyone about the abuse until they were contacted by gardai in 2007 investigating allegations about Treacy.

I locked it to the back of my mind. That's where I wanted it to stay," the man said.

Treacy was convicted last month of two further counts of indecently assault on a boy at a school in the 1970s.

The court heard evidence that, after abusing some of the boys, Treacy brought them as a treat to meet his brother, the late Republic of Ireland soccer star Ray Treacy -- who had no knowledge of the abuse -- at a celebrity sports event.

The victim told the court how "Brother Treasaigh (Treacy)" gagged his mouth with a bar of soap and raped him over a urinal.

He said Treacy also burnt his genitals with a cigarette after catching him smoking in the school toilet.

Treacy was remanded on continuing bail for sentencing on all matters on June 30.
Update 10.33am: The Dublin Simon Community has today officially launched their #LongestDay campaign.

On the longest day of the year, the Dublin Simon Community are calling on the public to send messages of support via Facebook @DublinSimonCommunity or Twitter so they can share them with people accessing their services and going through the trauma of homelessness.

When you're homeless, days feel like an eternity. This #longestday tweet us msg of support to share with our clients https://t.co/vegk4oYYxV pic.twitter.com/EGXIPJayFZ  Dublin Simon (@Dublin_Simon) June 21, 2017

Speaking about the campaign, Sam McGuinness of the Dublin Simon Community said: The longest day of the year is symbolic for this campaign.

When youre trapped in homelessness, with no place to call home or feel safe, you are forced to go without the simplest comforts and the days can seem so long.

What was once straightforward becomes a daily battle - being able to cook a meal, wash your clothes or close your own door to the world at the end of each day.

Today's the #longestday of the year,so imagine how it feels for Ireland's homeless. Donate to @Dublin_Simon... pic.twitter.com/r4qi0f4mwx  Nicola Bardon (@NicolaBardon) June 21, 2017

Whether you are a family trying to manage in a small hotel room or walking the streets of Dublin looking for somewhere to sleep at night, you have to go without the most basic things that we take for granted each day.

The days can isolating, endless and relentless; everyday of the year can seem like The Longest Day.

In this time of crisis, we really need as many people as possible to reach out and show support. Sending us messages through Facebook and Twitter, is a small but important gesture of solidarity.

Kind words can really make a difference to someones day when struggling with the difficulties that come with trying to find and/or keep a roof over your head.

Throughout the longest day, Dublin Simon Community will share testimonials from their clients on Facebook and Twitter to illustrate the lonely and isolating nature of being homeless or at risk, and the daily struggles that people are facing. Each quote will be shared with the hashtag #longestday.

Earlier:

The Dublin Simon Community is running an online campaign today to raise awareness for people using their services.

Today is the longest day of the year and the charity says that when you're living in fear of losing your home or are trying to find a safe bed for the night, every day can feel like that.

The campaign will feature images and videos of quotes from their clients and are asking people to share them with messages of support.

All of the messages will then be shared with the people Dublin Simon helps every day.
The trial of six men accused of falsely imprisoning the former Tanaiste Joan Burton has heard that the root cause of an escalation in the protest had to be "laid firmly at the door of gardai".

Solidarity TD Paul Murphy (aged 34) and five other men have pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to falsely imprisoning Ms Burton and her adviser Karen OConnell by restricting their personal liberty without consent at Fortunestown Road, Jobstown, Tallaght on November 15, 2014.

In his closing arguments to the jury Raymond Comyn SC, defending Councillor Michael Murphy, questioned why gardai had failed to try engage and negotiate with the politicians and protestors earlier in order to diffuse matters, before the anger of the crowd increased rapidly.

Why was it left until everything had blown up? After that, the whole temperature increased exponentially, Aughrim was lost, any attempt to diffuse matters was lost, he said.

Mr Comyn quoted an inspector at the scene who said he was waiting for reinforcements to arrive before making tactical decisions; he also described how gardai ran in the wrong direction because they didn't know where they were needed.

The gardai were not briefed. What class of an operation is that? he said. He said every decision made by gardai on the day was unwise and inappropriate, comparing gardai who attended the protest to the Keystone Cops.

Mr Comyn claimed there was something rotten at the core of this investigation because evidence given by gardai was proved demonstrably wrong in court by video footage. He said he was very critical of gardai for not finding crucial YouTube footage uncovered by Cllr Murphy,

The video in question showed Cllr Murphy speaking through a loud hailer, proposing to move the protest on and warning against argy-bargy, saying this isnt what we came here for.

A woman in the video, who told the crowd through the megaphone that she was from Killinarden in Tallaght, advocated keeping Ms Burton and her advisor there.

The final irony..is that a man who promoted a solution to the problem is now before the court, while the lady who was promoting the problem hasnt even been identified or tracked down by gardai, said Mr Comyn.

Mr Comyn pointed out that Cllr Murphy had actually taken steps to restrain people from acting violently and had pulled some protesters back from the jeep.

He said his client had also asked a man who was hogging the megaphone and chanting Shove your water meters up your ass to desist.

And, he said that although Cllr Murphy did bang on the garda jeep, he was doing so at a time when the jeep was moving as a warning to the driver who could not see the people sitting down in front of it.

Mr Comyn endorsed a comment made by his client when interviewed by gardai: The videos speak for themselves, telling the jury that were it not for the footage, this would be an utterly different case.

Counsel for another of the accused, Cllr Kieran Mahon, also criticised what he described as a series of misjudgements and tactical mistakes by gardai on the day.

Kerida Naidoo SC said his client didnt say boo to a goose all day at the protest. He said he was a political representative and a political activist, he could not be described as a criminal and was never accused of violent disorder.

He didn't use force or threaten to use force on Ms Burton, her advisor, or any member of the gardai; he didn't use vile or threatening language; he didn't push or shove gardai.

He didn't throw an egg, a balloon or any other missile, he didn't have a water metre hidden down his trousers, said Mr Naidoo.

Mr Naidoo said that there were 11 other people still facing trial and that nine of those were charged with both false imprisonment and violent disorder.

It was the violent disorder that put the two women in fear, and it was because of the fear that they didn't get out of the car. And he (Cllr Mahon) is not responsible for that, he said.

Mr Naidoo played a number of video segments to the jury, including one showing Cllr Mahon walking away from the crowd that was beginning to gather around the garda car containing Ms Burton and Ms O'Connell.

Further videos showed Cllr Mahon at the periphery of the crowd, moving in the opposite direction of the crowd, and sitting down for about five minutes until gardai pulled him up.

Paul Murphy of Kingswood Heights, Tallaght; Kieran Mahon of Bolbrook Grove, Tallaght; Michael Murphy of Whitechurch Way, Ballyboden, Dublin; Frank Donaghy (aged 71) of Alpine Rise, Tallaght; Michael Banks (aged 46) of Brookview Green, Tallaght and Scott Masterson (aged 34) of Carrigmore Drive, Tallaght have all denied the charges.

Mr Naidoo also took issue with how gardai treated the ordinary people of Tallaght, as though they were just a nuisance to be cleared away.

Mr Naidoo also pointed out the positive effects of historical protests in the past, including those for women's rights and the anti-apartheid movement, adding that whether the jury agreed with them or not, the anti-water charges protests had been ultimately successful.

He said that Ms Burton was in favour of peaceful protest, but that all politicians were in favour of peaceful protest until they get the big job.

They're all in favour of ineffectual protest which doesn't affect them. What they wanted to see was a line of Fr Dougals and Fr Teds impotently standing at the side of the road, chanting softly, 'Down with this sort of thing', he said.

He compared this type of protest to meaningful protests that lead to a party that was in government going to having six seats in the Dail....that's the sort of protest they don't want.

Mr Naidoo said there was no justification for the way in which gardai arrested his client in a dawn raid with armed personnel.

It was an abuse of power by the gardai. It was done to show him who was boss and to humiliate him in his own home, and to send out a message that he's not truly a politician, he's actually a criminal, said Mr Naidoo.

In that case, the parents of the young women who surrounded Justin Bieber in Bushy Park last night had better watch out, because they can expect gardai armed with guns to turn up at dawn and arrest them, he joked.

Mr Naidoo said Kieran Mahon was elected by the people of West Dublin, and that if he hadn't challenged the political world view of anti-austerity, he would have been failing his electorate in the same way that that electorate said Joan Burton had failed them.

He was doing what the people who elected him wanted him to do, he concluded.

In his closing speech for the prosecution Sean Gillane outlined the State's case against Cllr Michael Murphy and Cllr Mahon.

He said that Cllr Murphy was there for the sit-down protest at the garda, was interfering with garda attempts and was banging the car.

Mr Gillane said Cllr Murphy said: The only way she'll get sanctuary is in the church and counsel said this was an acknowledgement by him that the two women were not free.

Mr Gillane said Cllr Mahon did walk away but he returned to the scene and was part of the group sitting down at the back of the car.

He said Cllr Mahon also sat in front of the jeep and was present when the vote was cast.
Police in the North have arrested five men following a search and arrest operation.

Detectives from the PSNIs Reactive and Organised Crime Branch conducted 20 searches across the North over the past two days in connection with a major investigation into organised crime, including the supply of drugs and money laundering.
Twenty people, including children, are to be evacuated from a potentially unsafe Dublin property over fire safety concerns.

It follows a High Court hearing yesterday amid claims the Mountjoy Square building is not compliant with regulations and poses a danger to its residents and neighbours.

The owner of the building is attempting to ensure the building complies with health and safety standards by installing fire alarms.

Cassio, a student living in the basement of the building, has said that no one has told them anything.

"They have been here yesterday and last week as well making an inspection," he said.

"But we're just waiting for an answer to see what's going to happen, you know?"

One week on from the Grenfell Tower fire in London, the Green Party is looking for an independent regulator to ensure we don't suffer a similar tragedy here.

The party is bringing new plans to the Dail today for increased inspections and higher building standards.

Deputy leader Catherine Martin says the current system is too weak to work effectively.

What we have at the moment is an assigned certifier, but theres still kinks in that system because the assigned certifier can in actual fact be an employee of the developer, she said.

Where there is a financial link, that undermines independence  and all the rules in the world do not matter is there is no credible threat of enforcement.
The lawyer for a man accused of falsely imprisoning Joan Burton at a water charge protest in 2014 says his client was not encouraging violence.

Michael Murphy, a Solidarity Councillor with South Dublin County Council, is one of six men who are also accused of falsely imprisoning the then Tanaiste's adviser.

As protesters gathered outside a church in Jobstown in November 2014, a decision was made for Joan Burton and her adviser to leave a graduation ceremony early through a side exit and into an unmarked Garda car.

When they did, the crowd moved from the front of the church and surrounded the car. Some of them sat down behind it.

The same thing happened when they were later moved to a nearby jeep.

In his closing address today on behalf of Cllr Michael Murphy, Raymond Comyn criticised the Garda handling of the situation and described their decisions as the root cause of what happened that day.

He asked the jurors to look at his clients actions.

He said he took steps to restrain people who were acting violently and condemned any argy-bargy.

He said he wasnt encouraging violence as suggested and finished by saying the justice in this case lies in a verdict of not guilty.
The 30th International Space Universitys Space Studies Program is coming to Cork.

From June 26 to August 25 Cork Institute of Technology and Blackrock Castle Observatory will play host to the International Space Universitys exciting Space Studies Program (SSP17).

A public events series is running in conjunction with the Space Studies Program with highlights including numerous Business of Space events, Lectures with Dr Gerald Soffen and with NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman on the Hubble Space Telescope, a giant Museum of the Moon at CIT, an International Astronaut Panel, a Robotics Competition, a Model Rocket Launch Competition, a Space Camp for kidsand much more.

These public events are available to book on www.ssp17.ie and some are already booked out.

The program is launching on June 26, when artist Jack Lukeman and Prodijig will perform at the official opening ceremony.

Over 320 international space experts from 25 countries and a host of dignitaries will attend this invitation only event.

A live broadcast of the ceremony will be available to watch on the ISUs YouTube channel, here.

Jack is delighted to be able to participate in the Cork Space Studies Program. He has a long standing passion in the field of space expressed in such self-penned songs such The Sunset is Blue on Mars, Universe and Stardust.
Belgium has tightened security to counter fears that lone attackers could strike anywhere and at any time.

This comes one day after a failed bombing by a man shouting "Allahu akbar" at a Brussels train station.

Belgium tightens security following failed Brussles bombing

Belgium has tightened security to counter fears that lone attackers could strike anywhere and at any time.

This comes one day after a failed bombing by a man shouting "Allahu akbar" at a Brussels train station.

A soldier killed the attacker, who had tried to set off a powerful nail bomb that could have led to fatalities among the two dozen or so travellers checking train times on a public display board at Brussels Central Station on Tuesday, officials said.

Similar attacks by lone assailants causing maximum mayhem but few victims have also occurred in London and Paris in the past few days, putting European capitals on alert.

The Brussels attacker was a Moroccan national not known to authorities for being involved in terror activities, federal magistrate Eric Van der Sypt told reporters.

His office said that the attacker sympathised with Islamic State and added that police who raided his home found "chemicals and material that can be used to make explosives".

The statement from the federal prosecutor's office also said that the 36-year-old "likely made the bomb" at his home in the Molenbeek neighbourhood.

Molenbeek was the home and transit point for many of the suspects linked to attacks in Brussels and in Paris in November 2015.

The man charged soldiers at Brussels Central Station after his suitcase, containing nails and gas canisters, failed to fully explode, Mr Van der Sypt said.

The man then shouted "Allahu akbar", Arabic for "God is great", before a soldier shot him dead, the magistrate said.

Nobody else was injured.

"It was clear he wanted to cause much more damage than what happened," Mr Van der Sypt said.

"The bag exploded twice but it could have been a lot worse."

Central Station reopened on Wednesday morning.

A mobile police command unit and several officers were still at the station, an Associated Press photographer said.

Burn marks remained on the floor at the scene as workers continued to clean up and paint the area.

Belgium's Crisis Centre said it sees no need to raise the national security alert level, which has been on its second-highest rung for more than a year.

It said that no public events would be cancelled but that additional police and troops have been mobilised.

PA
Organisers behind a "Day of Rage" protest have been accused of hijacking the Grenfell Tower disaster for political purposes.

The demonstration, started by Movement For Justice By Any Means Necessary (MFJ), was billed as a day of action for the victims of the inferno.

Coinciding with the British Queen's Speech, police said 500 people joined the march, which aimed, according to the event page, to "bring down the Government".

Several people appeared to be detained by police as tempers flared in Whitehall near Downing Street with protesters and police squaring off as activists yelled angrily.

One man was restrained as he screamed in the face of an officer and another male protester was pinned to the floor by police.

As he was being carried away he repeatedly shouted he was a "peaceful" protester.

Another skirmish with police resulted in a man being led away in handcuffs.

The suspect was seen shouting at the crowd of protesters and was then taken aside by officers.

It was unclear if he had been involved in the day of action.

Signs bearing messages of anger were peppered throughout the crowd during the march, with one reading: "This rage is justified."

Many banners also carried the slogan "Justice for Grenfell", as those marching chanted: "What do we want? Justice."

On regular occasions the demonstrators sang Jeremy Corbyn's name while calling for Theresa May to resign as they marched towards Downing Street.

The ClementJames Centre, which has been helping those displaced by the fire, shunned the movement as opportunistic.

"We cannot emphasise enough how against this many of the affected residents we've spoken to are and they do not want their grief hijacked for any violent or destructive means," a spokesman said.

Far-left activists, the MFJ describe themselves as a "youth-led rights movement" which fights for "justice, equality and respect", according to its websites.

They have staged a string of anti-Government protests over recent years and in March led an event called "Brexit is Racist".

The crowds chanted "let him go" as a man was led, screaming and resisting, away by police.

He was put into a van as a handful of men demanded his release.

After the stand-off with the officers ended, pockets of the demonstration began arguing between themselves.

One girl claimed she was accused of being from a police CID unit by other activists and was seen walking away as they waved at her.

Other sections of the group could be heard arguing over tactics, with one man saying: "If we inconvenience them they will have to listen to us."

Nearby the main body of the protest remained, listening to speeches.

The chants of "Justice for Grenfell" rippled throughout the crowd as they stood in Parliament Square.
Update 5.49pm: The DUP and Sinn Fein are preparing to strike a deal to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland, the SDLP has said.

Colum Eastwood claimed it is not a matter of if the Executive is restored, but when.

Speaking ahead of round-table talks between the main parties at Stormont Castle on Wednesday evening, the SDLP leader said his assessment of the ongoing negotiations is that both Sinn Fein and the DUP want back into government together.

However, he warned that a deal to restore the Stormont institutions cannot be signed off while the DUP and Tory party continue to negotiate a parliamentary agreement.

"There will be a deal, whether next week or in the autumn, so let's get on with it.

"People need to see certainty here. It is clear people want in. Sinn Fein want in, the DUP want in," said Mr Eastwood.

However, he added: "If people think anyone is going to sign a deal here without knowing what is going to come from London - that doesn't make any sense at all.

"We are all a bit preoccupied with what is going on, or not going on, in London.

"It is quite clear that the DUP and Tory Party aren't quite sure what they are doing, but they need to get on with it because it is affecting the process here.

"People need to know what is coming from that deal."

Referring to reports that the DUP has asked for significant investment in health and infrastructure in Northern Ireland as part of a parliamentary deal, Mr Eastwood said any money secured is for the whole of the North.

"The DUP need to understand that if there is a financial package coming that it is not the DUP's money.

"It is all of the people of Northern Ireland's money.

"We will be asking hard questions about where that money goes.

"We can't have a re-run of the past 10 years when the previous Stormont Executive effectively re-partitioned Northern Ireland economically," he said.

Update 4.30pm: A senior Conservative source declined to comment on BBC reports that the DUP is demanding 1 billion investment in the health service in Northern Ireland and a similar figure for infrastructure projects in return for a "confidence and supply" deal.

The party is also understood to be seeking a reduction in corporation tax, the scrapping of air passenger duty in Northern Ireland and city deals for local councils.

Reacting to the speculation Liberal Democrat chief whip Alistair Carmichael, a former Scottish secretary, said any deal with the DUP which meant extra cash went to Northern Ireland would also require increased funding for Scotland and Wales.

"It will stretch far beyond the North Channel of the Irish Sea," he said.

"They need to spread their largesse.

"I'm a Scot, I never turn down more money.

"The question is where does it come from and how are you going to pay for it?"

He also warned against the constitutional risks of a DUP deal "playing one part of the UK off against another".

"If we have learned nothing else in the last 10 years we have surely learned that the future of the UK as a constitutional union is not to be taken for granted."

Update 11.09am: It is still possible for the British Conservative Party to cut a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party, First Secretary of State Damian Green has said.

The comments came after the DUP warned that Prime Minister Theresa May cannot take them for granted.

Mr Green, who is effectively deputy PM, told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "There's still the possibility, there's every possibility, of a DUP deal.

"The talks have been taking place in a constructive way. Clearly, two political parties, we have some differences, but we have a lot in common.

"We're both unionist parties at our heart. We're both, obviously, very concerned with combating terrorism, we both have similar views about delivering a good Brexit for this country, and, obviously, we're both very, very concerned with the Irish border issue.

"All talks of this kind take a long time, they are still continuing."

Earlier:

British Prime Minister Theresa May will set out her legislative programme for the next two years in a Queen's Speech today, despite so far having failed to agree a "confidence and supply" agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party.

A DUP source warned that talks with Tories "haven't proceeded in a way that the DUP would have expected" and a deal was "certainly not imminent". The party "can't be taken for granted", the source cautioned.

For the first time in decades, a British Prime Minister looks set to go into the event unsure of commanding the level of support among MPs needed to avoid defeat on a programme.

However, it is thought unlikely the DUP would vote down the Government's programme in a way which would risk a fresh general election handing power to Jeremy Corbyn's Labour.

Even an abstention by the DUP's 10 MPs would be enough to guarantee Mrs May's survival.

The State Opening of Parliament has already been delayed two days following the inconclusive election, and will take place without much of its traditionally lavish ceremony.

The Queen's 64th #QueensSpeech will be delivered on Wednesday, tut it might look at bit different to normal, as @EllieJPrice explains #bbcdp pic.twitter.com/m7sVQA4wYz  BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics) June 20, 2017

Now almost two weeks after the election, the programme set out by the Queen at today's State Opening of Parliament will feature "a number of bills" geared towards making a success of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, the Prime Minister said.

She has promised to work with "humility and resolve", insisting that the rest of government business will not be put on hold during the Brussels negotiations, promising measures to build a stronger economy, protect consumers, tackle domestic violence and fix a "dysfunctional" housing market.

Downing Street sources declined to be drawn on reports that the Speech will ditch headline promises from the Conservative manifesto, such as the scrapping of universal free school meals, means-testing of the winter fuel allowance and reforms to social care funding which were branded a "dementia tax" by critics.

In a mark of the importance of Brexit to Mrs May's agenda, the Queen will set out plans not for the usual one year, but for a two-year period taking the Government beyond the expected withdrawal date in March 2019.

Mrs May said the Speech would be about "recognising and grasping the opportunities that lie ahead for the United Kingdom as we leave the European Union" and "delivering a Brexit deal that works for all parts of the UK while building a stronger, fairer country by strengthening our economy, tackling injustice and promoting opportunity and aspiration".

Having called a snap election in the hope of securing an increased majority to deliver Brexit in a "strong and stable" way, Mrs May acknowledged that the outcome was "not the one I hoped for".

"This Government will respond with humility and resolve to the message the electorate sent," she promised.

"We will work hard every day to gain the trust and confidence of the British people, making their priorities our priorities."

But she insisted there would be no going back on Brexit, pointing out that more than 80% of voters on June 8 backed parties promising to honour the referendum result.

"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," she said.

Mrs May said last year's referendum vote amounted to "a profound and justified expression that our country often does not work the way it should for millions of ordinary working families".

In response, the Government will bring forward measures to build a stronger economy, improve living standards, build a fairer society and fund public services, she said.
A married couple have been named as the latest victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster as inquests were opened into the deaths of five people killed in the fire.

Omar Belkadi, 32, died from inhaling fire fumes, while his wife, Farah Hamdan, 31, was killed by smoke inhalation, Westminster Coroner's Court heard on Wednesday.
Portugal is close to containing the wildfire that killed 64 people last weekend, authorities said.

A minute's silence was held in memory of the victims where members of government and politicians stood in silence outside the parliament building in Lisbon.
Theresa May is on "probation" as British Prime Minister, a Tory MP has claimed.

Nigel Evans made the remarks as former education secretary Nicky Morgan said there could be a Tory leadership contest within months.

Mr Evans told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "I believe that the Prime Minister is on probation."

The MP said that if Mrs May had not shown "contrition" after the General Election outcome and removed her two key advisers, she would now be in "deep trouble".

He said: "Because she has taken the action that she has, she has bought herself a lot of time. Clearly, if that goes off the rails then, I suppose, questions will be asked."

Ms Morgan said the Tory Party could decide its future direction while the Brexit negotiations on the terms of Britain's withdrawal from the EU take place.

Asked if she thought there could be a leadership election within months, Ms Morgan told the BBC: "I think that is probably right. But, actually, I think, because of the way this Parliament has come about, and because of Brexit, this gives us as a party an opportunity, because Theresa May and David Davis can run those Brexit negotiations which are so critical for the country, whilst the Conservative Party is thinking about our future.

"I suspect that before we get to the end of the Brexit negotiations we as a party are going to have to think about who is leading us into that next election."

Former Tory leader Lord Howard insisted Mrs May should remain in place while the Brexit negotiations continue.

"I think it would be immensely disrupting for the Brexit negotiations, and other things as well, if the country were to be plunged into a Tory leadership contest, or even a general election, while the Brexit negotiations go on, certainly.

"So, I think that she should carry on, she said she can carry on and I'm confident she will carry on."

First Secretary of State Damian Green said the "distraction" of a leadership contest would be bad for the country.

"Theresa May is determined to do her duty by this country and will continue to do that for as far ahead as I can see," he said.

"I think now is absolutely not the time for anything like this. We have this hugely important Brexit negotiation, getting that right will enable Britain to become a prosperous country for decades to come, to have any distraction from that at this stage would not be remotely sensible."
Meanwhile, non-OPEC production picked up smartly in May, boosted by strong growth from Brazil, Kazakhstan and Russia. 4. Born in the USA But the main reason why OPEC is having such trouble cutting into the oil glut and therefore providing some floor to the oil price is the disruptive effect of the US shale oil industry. American shale oil drillers are now the world's biggest swing producers and US production is running at around two-year highs. And American oilers have continued to pump more crude, despite falling prices. The previous assumption was that the bulk of these shale oil producers needed oil somewhere around $US55/barrel to stay viable; but that now is looking more like $US45/bbl, and maybe even less. Still, at these prices, some producers must surely be feeling the pinch.

5. Rigged The strongest signal that American shale oil companies are comfortable producing at lower crude prices than previously thought is the steady upward march in the number of new oil rigs being put up. Baker Hughes's widely followed weekly rig count has advanced for a record 22 weeks, and has only recorded three falls over the past year. Another factor feeding the market's angst is a rise in the number of drilled-but-uncompleted wells in US oilfields. At the end of May, there were 5946 wells in this category, the most in at least three years, according to estimates by the EIA. In the last month alone, explorers drilled 125 more wells in the Permian Basin than they would open, meaning production could surge when they turn on the spigots. 6. A stubborn glut
Australian Taxation Office deputy commissioner Michael Cranston allegedly told his son how to avoid being prosecuted for tax fraud, saying he could "mount a good case" for his eldest child that may throw investigators off.

Mr Cranston, 57, is captured in phone intercepts allegedly suggesting that Adam Cranston should tell a judge that he is not "the real director" of the fraudulent scheme's parent company and canvassing the possibility his son may be pursued for "unexplained wealth".

Adam Cranston has had his assets frozen by the Australian Federal Police. Credit:AAP

"They won't get you criminal, it's civil," he said, according to intercepts contained in police documents tendered in court.

The explosive phone taps have left Mr Cranston's reputation in tatters, ending a 35-year career with the ATO chasing wealthy individuals for tax fraud.
Dexus Property has bolstered its stranglehold as the biggest office landlord in the country, while also investing heavily in the long-term success of the Sydney office sector, following a $1.1 billion buying spree that includes the landmark Harry Seidler-designed MLC Centre.

It will add to the Dexus portfolio of iconic buildings, which includes two other Harry Seidler buildings, Australia Square and Grosvenor Place, and the Gateway Building at Circular Quay.

Dexus says the acquisition will "maintain our position as the leading owner and manager of Sydney central business district real estate".

Under the deal, Dexus will buy 25 per cent of the 67-storey landmark building in the centre of Sydney for $361.3 million, while one of the funds it manages  the Dexus Wholesale Property Fund  is buying a further 25 per cent at the same price. Spreading further afield, Dexus will pay $327.5 million for the former wool store at 100 Harris Street, Pyrmont, that is home to Domain, the real estate arm of Fairfax Media.

The deal will be funded via a fully underwritten $500 million institutional placement, $50 million security purchase plan and existing debt facilities of up to $288.6 million.
Gaming giant Tabcorp's looming merger with Tatts Group could produce a solid boost to earnings, according to analysts from Deutsche Bank.

After the two gambling companies' $11 billion merger bid secured crucial approval from the Australian Competition Tribunal on Tuesday, Deutsche Bank increased its valuation of Tabcorp by 11 per cent to $5.35 a share.

Racing boon: The finish line is looming for the Tabcorp Tatts merger. Credit:bradleyphotos.com.au

Analyst Mark Wilson said the regulatory environment was also favourable for traditional wagering operators including Tabcorp.

"The regulatory environment is improving for the traditional wagering operators given the ban on 'click-to-call' in-play betting services, the proposed ban on credit betting and gambling advertising restrictions, and the potential for a point-of-consumption tax to be adopted nationally," Mr Wilson said.
It's no secret I have long been an Anglophile. Britain pioneered free speech, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, brought about the end of slavery and advanced the idea of a genuinely liberal society.

However, the events of the past few weeks make me wonder what has gone wrong. People have been run down on the bridge beside the Houses of Parliament, children have been blown up at a concert and other people have been butchered during an evening out.

I'm so glad Australia isn't England.

The final descent into darkness, though, was not the work of Islamic terrorists. It was an act of terrorist revanchism against peaceful people coming out of a mosque in the early hours of Monday morning.
But Frydenberg has been here before. In December, when Finkel's preliminary review recommended an emissions intensity scheme among the options to escape the policy maze, Frydenberg agreed that it should be under consideration. However, it needed a few of the party's rightwingers to arc up for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to cave in and rule that idea out forever. Frydenberg was left literally to twist in the breeze as he fronted journalists on a windy Hobart wharf. This time around, it's taken a more drawn-out exercise - including the formal release of Finkel's report 12 days ago in the Tasmanian capital and months of hard slog - to arrive at the same result.

Who believes that opposition inside the Coalition to a clean energy target is likely to recede in "weeks and months ahead"? Not with the entire Murdoch commentariat opposed, and the Minerals Council now promoting a reverse auction process that would suspiciously and miraculously make coal-fired power suddenly "investable". Turnbull and Frydenberg notably failed to rule out a reverse auction on Tuesday. Tony Wood, energy guru at the Grattan Institute, said the government has to make it clear that reverse auctions would not be an alternative, but - at most - a complement, to the Finkel review. Without doing so, the whole emissions reduction part of the equation looks set to be jettisoned.

The point of the Finkel review was to find a way through the "minefield" - as even the Chief Scientist has called it - that could bolster the security of the electricity sector. Investors who will bankroll the new plant needed to keep the lights on, know that the necessary certainty to stump up the cash will elude them so long as energy and climate policies are at odds at both the state and federal level, and between the major parties. The test of whether energy and climate policy are aligned remains Labor's yardstick, and whether a bipartisan truce is possible that could settle investment conditions for longer than the next election.



Labor insiders at both state and federal level say the clean energy target was the centrepiece of Finkel's review, and without it, the entire architecture crumbles. Mark Butler, Labor's climate spokesman, made the same view public on Wednesday: "The latest announcement by the Prime Minister undermines any CET, increases rather than eliminates investment uncertainty in the sector, and will lead to higher power prices, less reliability and more carbon pollution." Finkel, himself, was putting on a brave face, telling a National Press Club lunch that it was "remarkable" that most of his recommendations had got the Coalition's nod. He did not regard the CET "to be on life support".

While Wood is hopeful the review is not a dead duck - "there's still some waddle there" - he accepts the politics provide a grim prognosis that good policy can yet emerge. Indeed, Coalition MPs know that whatever happens this year or next on the investment front, consumers aren't likely to see much, if any, relief. Instead, voters will be wondering who to blame for the nearly 20 per cent increases in electricity prices now arriving in their mailboxes (except for Victorians when the blows will land from January 1). Nevermind the challenge that will remain by the year's end. How can Australia's carbon emissions be bent to get anywhere near the 26-28 per cent reduction on 2005 levels by 2030? When offered a way out of a minefield mostly of their own making, who will be surprised if the government decides to go after "Electricity Bill" Shorten for failing to sign up to whatever scheme can get through the Coalition party room no matter if industry widely rejects it?
According to the Social Progress Index, Australia's education, medical care and nutrition levels have helped the country tie with New Zealand to reach ninth overall, but low levels of tolerance and inclusiveness kept Australia's overall ranking below Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands.

Australia has dropped five places in a global survey of the best places to live, but it still remains one of the only countries outside Scandinavia in the top 10.

The survey, which combines measures of wellbeing, opportunity and basic needs through 16 outcomes researched by Gallup, UNESCO and the Pew Research Centre, found Australia had among the highest standards of living of any country in the world with a diverse population.

Australia kept its place in the top 10 largely due to its strong performance in the opportunity section of the index. Credit:Peter Braig

"We lead the world on access to clean water, secondary education and freedom of expression; we are the fourth healthiest nation in the world and rank fifth for access to advanced education," Deloitte Australia public sector and healthcare partner Fran Thorn said.

"Yet like many other advanced nations, we have made very little gains in the past four years, relative to what our gross domestic product indicates is possible to advance social progress."

Australia was pushed down to ninth from fourth position last year because its inclusion of immigrants was among the lowest in the top 10, according to Gallup World Poll data.
Mr Dutton on Wednesday said Labor had confused the two versions of the main global English test, known as IELTS. The government would require a score of six on the "general" stream, not the "academic" one, he said.

Labor has rejected the Turnbull government's citizenship package, largely over fears it would require citizens demonstrate "university level" English that many migrants and Australian-born residents would never reach.

One of the world's top language testing experts has rebuffed Immigration Minister Peter Dutton over his claims Labor wrongly exaggerated the difficulty of English testing that aspiring citizens would have to pass.

He noted the general test, according to its own description, focused on "basic survival skills in broad social and workplace contexts", while the academic version was designed for people applying to study in an English-speaking country.

Peter Dutton says the amendments aim to clarify the laws so that they "reflect the original policy intent". Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But Catherine Elder, a world-leading expert at Melbourne University and president of the International Language Testing Association, said it was wrong to assert that one test was more difficult than the other.

"The general IELTS test is an alternative to the academic IELTS test but the scale is the same. A six on one and a six on the other is more or less the same level [of English]," she told Fairfax Media.

"A level six on both tests requires you to be highly literate and to be able to do things like write an essay. It would take a great deal of time and be beyond the reach of many people who come to Australia."
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.
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.
It's not an easy or pleasant thing to withstand the outrage of others, especially when it is directed at you (or people like you). The desire to comfort and console is strong in most humans, and assuming they don't have an egg as an avatar, this is also true online. Personally, I concede my interest in niceness is at the lower end of the scale. If I were creating an ad for new friends, "nice" would fall well below funny, clever, politically aware and "drinks gin" on my list of selection criteria. But I think my preference for a sharp-tongue among friends is irrelevant. You see, there is a difference between public discourse and interpersonal interaction. All pile-ons are not created equal. The language we use to defend an individual who is publicly shamed for, say, being fat in a change room, should not be the same language we use for a millionaire journalist who shames a fat person for their access requirements.

A group of schoolyard bullies teasing a disabled kid is not the same as a group of Indigenous Australians criticising a prominent journalist for being racist. These incidents don't exist in a vacuum, they take place in a society with complex structures of privilege. In a statement about the Red Symons incident, Isabel Lo, spokesperson and co-founder of Media Diversity Australia, wrote: "An exchange like this between a senior media personality and a producer like Beverley Wang demonstrates the kinds of barriers journalists from culturally diverse backgrounds can face. Cultural insensitivity from experienced broadcasters can really discourage the next generation of diverse journalists." It is no coincidence that those most often accused of "capitalising on" an incident like this are from the oppressed minority offended. Many of those writing about Mia Freedman last week were fat, queer and/or women of colour. These people are not given the same platform, not always given a chance to speak, unless it is in response to discrimination or insult. When the media's focus is consistently directed at the privileged, those lacking a voice must wait their turn, and present their ideas as reaction rather than thesis.

With this in mind, cries for civility don't actually result in a pervasive "niceness". Rather, they derail a conversation in one of the few arenas in which marginalised voices are acceptable; that is, in responding to prejudice. It's not about kindness. It's about who has the microphone. In a critique of British writer Jon Ronson's widely celebrated book on this subject, So You've Been Publicly Shamed, Jacqui Shine writes: "Ronson's right, of course, that each of us is a "mass of vulnerabilities," and we shouldn't have to face a gauntlet of shame when we make mistakes. But we're also subjects of wildly disproportionate privileges and privations. In a world where people who have historically been powerless have a new means with which to fight back  or at least make their voices heard  it's important to notice when this empowerment is made out to be dangerous." Let me be clear. I am not advocating a free-for-all. Violent threats, doxxing and insults focused on, say, a person's appearance, serve no one and are inexcusable. But too often, those engaging in robust debate, direct criticism and satire are lumped in as part of a "pile on", the specifics of their circumstances and the mode of their communication ignored. In another critique of Ronson's work published by Salon, Katie McDonough writes: "The Internet may be a clumsy equaliser in need of some humanity, but it is also breaking down the silos of privilege. We can talk about how to navigate this new kind of visibility in a way that fosters more kindness, but accountability to others is not the enemy here."
The husband of missing primary school teacher Sharon Edwards has fronted a NSW court charged with murder as police continue the search for her body.

John Wallace Edwards, 61, was arrested at his new girlfriend's home at Redcliffe, north of Brisbane, on Tuesday after a lengthy homicide investigation, and was remanded in the Brisbane watchhouse overnight.

He did not appear in the dock at the Brisbane Magistrates Court where a magistrate granted an extradition order on Wednesday.

Accompanied by NSW detectives, he was driven to Tweed Heads Police Station on the NSW far north coast and charged with his wife's murder in 2015.
The family of jailed former Labor minister Eddie Obeid is seeking to delay a protracted court battle with the tax office until after the family patriarch and middle son Moses stand trial over a multimillion-dollar coal deal.

More than 30 members of the Obeid family, including family matriarch Judith, most of the couple's children and dozens of grandchildren, have been drawn into a dispute over an $8.6 million tax bill.

Eddie Obeid's middle son Moses outside the Supreme Court in June this year. Credit:David Moir

The family kicked off a Federal Court challenge to the bill more than three years ago, in May 2014. The case still has not been heard.

On Wednesday the court heard the Obeid family want the case delayed until after Obeid snr and son Moses stand trial over an alleged $30 million coal deal involving the family's rural property at Mount Penny in the Bylong Valley.
In a stark contrast to the punitive throw-away-the-key philosophy to criminals, Queensland's first "earn or learn" facility aims to break the cycle of offending.

Fairfax Media went behind bars to observe the Borallon Training and Correctional Centre, about 14 months after it was re-commissioned.

The Borallon Training and Correctional Centre is home for 251 men and 222 have enrolled in TAFE units. Credit:Felicity Caldwell

The jail, near Ipswich, was closed in 2012 and reopened in April 2016, with work to boost capacity expected to almost double the prison's population by mid-2018, with "hanging points"  identified in an audit  removed.

The prison is home to 251 men, serving sentences ranging from driving offences to murder.
Former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale says he will fight charges laid against him after he was granted bail after a night spent behind bars.

The 65-year-old was granted bail on three charges including extortion after he appeared before Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday in a standard-issue brown watchhouse tracksuit. He had been arrested the day before by the Crime and Corruption Commission and charged.

Outside court, Mr Pisasale said he was on his way to the doctor and would be fighting the charges against him.

"All my life people know I have fought for Ipswich and fought for fair and I am going to continue," he said.
Fiona Splitt lives a nightmare as she imagines her missing husband walking through the door and coming home.

Her husband, 48-year-old Bruce Schuler, disappeared on July 9, 2012, while prospecting near Palmerville Station, north-west of Cairns.

Gold prospector Bruce Schuler went missing in 2012. His wife has been calling for no body, no parole laws. Credit:QPS Media

Although two graziers were convicted of his murder, his body has never been found.

Ms Splitt led a petition with almost 9000 signatures calling for the Queensland government to introduce "no body no parole" laws.
The Queensland government is calling on the Commonwealth to keep an open mind about electricity generation, as the federal government moves to back coal-fired power in the north of the state.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was open to the idea of "clean coal" power stations, and has flagged using a "reverse auction" to get the cheapest price to build new coal-fired power stations, including in north Queensland.

Prime Minister says he is open to the idea of "clean coal" power stations. Credit:Rob Homer

Queensland Energy Minister Mark Bailey talked to his federal counterpart Josh Frydenberg following the announcement on Tuesday and said he welcomed the idea of getting the lowest cost for a new power station in the state's north.

But he said if the federal government was truly keeping an open mind about power, many renewable sources of energy were now cheaper than coal.
Daisy, the larger-than-life koala mascot that went missing from the Daisy Hill Koala Centre, has been found.

A police spokesperson said two women had been charged over the alleged theft of the stuffed koala on June 7.

Daisy the koala has been found. Credit:QPS Media

On Thursday morning a member of the public contacted police about the koala's whereabouts, and police found the 1.5-metre-tall mascot at a home in the Logan area, the spokesman said.

Two women, aged 18 and 19, from Runcorn had been charged with stealing, and were due appear in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on August 15.
Children now have the power to decide the outcome of their favourite Netflix shows as the streaming giant branches out beyond linear television.

Beginning with Dreamworks' Puss in Boots: Trapped in an Epic Tale, Netflix's new "branching" narrative titles let viewers dictate the outcome of the story. The Netflix Originals interactive content is compatible with iPhones and iPads along with some smart televisions and games consoles, letting children tap on the touchscreen or use a remote control to decide what happens next.

Choosing a path for the narrative can be done via touchscreen, remote or controller. Credit:Netflix

Trapped in an Epic Tale is available today as a standalone episode of Netflix's The Adventures of Puss in Boots series, to be followed by an interactive episode of Buddy Thunderstruck in July and Stretch Armstrong next year.

The interactive television launch follows two years of development and extensive research, working with both content creators and viewers to better understand what they want from the new medium, says Netflix's director of product innovation Dr Carla Fisher.
Four teenagers, one as young as 14, who stole a man's car in a terrifying armed robbery at a petrol station before taking police on a cross-city manhunt have been arrested in Melbourne's north east.

Police said the group, armed with knives, threatened a Broadmeadows man, 37, at the petrol station on Marine Parade in Elwood about 1am. The teens took his keys, before driving off in his car.

According to Channel Seven, the man was an Uber driver who had stopped at the BP to use the bathroom.

The doors of the service station were locked at the time and when the victim returned to his vehicle, he was reportedly ambushed by the teens who threatened him with a knife.
Cat killer or wildlife warrior?

That is the debate raging online after a Bendigo woman posed for a photograph alongside three cats she shot dead with a bow and arrow.

In the image posted to Facebook on Tuesday evening, Renee Sullivan is shown wearing camouflage and holding her weapon.

The caption, "Today I managed to wait these guys out and get my first kill of species, 3 cats. One happy chappy," accompanies the picture.

Ms Sullivan's post caused a stir when circulated by other social media users, some of whom claimed the act was barbaric.
Built on what was once a defence force rifle range, Perth's newest suburb Bushmead has just been unveiled with its developer spruiking the area as an environmentally sustainable community.

Bushmead is located in the City of Swan, 16 kilometres from Perth's CBD and close to Midland.

Two thirds of Bushmead's land will be reserved as bush. Credit:Australian Financial Review

The suburb will have a 600-lot estate spread across two areas, all of it surrounded by 185 hectares of bushland.

Developer Cedar Woods said it will preserve two thirds of the bush as parks and recreational reserve "to ensure the existing natural habitat remains protected for future generations."
New York: In a hidden treasure room dedicated to celebrating the Third Reich, Argentinian police officers have found a trove of Nazi artifacts, including a portrait of Hitler, that they believe were brought to the country by fugitive Germans.

Police said on Tuesday they had uncovered the collection of more than 75 artifacts hidden behind a library in the house of an unnamed art collector outside Buenos Aires.

"After investigating," said Marcelo El Haibe, the federal police commissioner for the protection of cultural heritage, "we were able to discover those objects that were hidden behind a bookcase. Behind the bookcase there was a wall, and after that a door."

Inside the secret chamber, police found what they said were authentic Nazi artifacts that probably belonged to high-ranking party members during World War II.
Bangkok: An Australian man is facing criminal charges following a traffic accident in central Thailand that left two people dead and a third in a critical condition in hospital. The 55-year-old expat is being held in police custody following the accident in Udon Thani, 560 kilometres north of Bangkok. A local street in Udon Thani, Thailand. Credit:YouTube/MBS Thai media say the accident occurred when the Australian, driving an Isuzu utility, attempted to flee police after a minor accident where he grazed a local taxi and bus near a shopping mall.

Thai media said police found the man Joel Mackerry, "name transliterated from Thai script", sobbing behind the wheel of his truck. The Australian is reported to have panicked after police took chase and allegedly crashed into a motorbike driven by a 50-year-old woman and carrying two young male passengers.The woman died at the scene, while her 15-year-old nephew was taken to Udon Thani Hospital where he later died from his injuries. The woman's 11-year-old son survived the accident but is reported to be seriously injured. The man told police had been drowsy after taking medicine following a visit to a local clinic, according to local media reports. A legal representative confirmed to AAP from the local police cells that the accident occurred on Tuesday and said the man was too distressed to speak.
Manila: Pro-Islamic State militants stormed a school in the southern Philippines early on Wednesday and are holding several students hostage, police said, on the same island where fighting between government troops and Islamists has entered its fifth week.

A police report said about 300 armed men, among them members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), stormed a school in Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato province on Mindanao island and were holding some students captive.

Members of the BIFF were engaged in a gun battle with the military, the police chief at Pigcawayan, Chief Inspector Realan Mamon, said in a radio interview.

"We can confirm that they occupied a school and there were civilians trapped. We are in the process of determining how many were trapped and their identities," Mamon said.
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.
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Hes done it again  I mean, Ive done it again!

Brooklyn Paper Radio co-host Gersh Kuntzman grilled Daily News columnist Gersh Kuntzman about the latters satirical novel COUP!, which was serialized last week in New Yorks Hometown Paper.

We were really lucky to land this interview, Kuntzman told Brooklyn Paper Radio listeners.

In the interview, author Kuntzman detailed the plot of a book he called hilarious.

People dont know it, but the 25th Amendment allows a vice-president and a majority of the cabinet to overthrow a president who they believe is unable to perform his duties, Kuntzman said.

Did you make air quotes around unable, Gersh? Kuntzman asked Kuntzman.

Indeed I did, Gersh, Kuntzman said. Now, of course my novel is a spoof, but there are many people who believe that Trumps conflicts and his obstruction of justice make him unable to serve as president. So in my book, Pence first lines up support from eight members of the Cabinet.

Each member of the Cabinet, of course, wants something in return for his or her loyalty, so Pence spends most of the book doling out inside-the-Beltway favors (including relaxed marijuana laws for stoner Ben Carson!).

Its hilarious, Kuntzman said.

The author agreed  and offered another reason why everyone should buy the spoof on Amazo n.com (LINK: ).

In my book, Melania is so done with Donald that she uses Tinder to date men all over town. One of them is, of course, based on me, Kuntzman said, drawing gasps from Kuntzman. Hey, its not so ridiculous. I mean, shes 46 years old. And shes sick of her husband. Ive done pretty well in my post-divorced life with that very demographic.

Its not the first time Kuntzman has interviewed Kuntzman. Upon the release of his last book, Chrismukkah: The Official Guide to the Worlds Most-Beloved Holiday, Kuntzman sat down with the then-Brooklyn Paper Editor Kuntzman, who went after the writer as a hack who should not be interviewing himself.
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Call it a spin-off!

A diversity-promoting twist on Wheel of Fortune installed on signposts in Kensington and Windsor Terrace is challenging locals to imagine themselves in a different skin, and the results are mostly positive, said the artists who created it.

People really enjoy it, and their response is powerful said Ori Alon. But I have no control. Sometimes I witness people having a very pathetic response to the wheel.

The art installed on Church Ave. and Ft. Hamilton Parkway signposts this month consists of a spinning wheel divided into slices with labels that include black, white, Muslim, LGBT, and immigrant, and instructions to imagine yourself in that persons shoes.

And, while it is not explicitly stated, Alon said participants should avoid acting like the type of person their wheel lands on.

You imagine what its like to be in their shoes, youre not supposed to act like them, he said.

The artist developed the piece, called Hidden Fortune Wheel, with a State University of New York at New Paltz student for a thesis project the creative needed to get her Master of Fine Arts degree.

The original pieces were wood-and-steel, but the pair used old vinyl records to make the wheels in Brooklyn, a change that led some grabby passers-by to snatch them from their posts.

A wheel placed on Church Avenue between E. Third and E. Fourth streets in Kensington was gone as of June 16, but another on a post in front of the Brooklyn Prospect Charter School on Ft. Hamilton Parkway between E. Second and E. Third streets is still hanging, and students cannot help but give it a whirl.

I think its really cool, said eighth-grader Jaden Rivera.

Other observers of the project remarked on its potential to open minds and unite the community.

Its awesome, said Bedford-Stuyvesant resident Jehan Giles. If people stop and actually reflect, we can make some progress.

But not everyone is in love with the art, and some locals said that the neighborhoods patchwork of ethnic and religious communities does more to promote empathy than the wheel ever could.

This area is how many nations together? You cant even imagine, said local Thomes Mester, a Hungarian ex-pat. So its pointless here.

Fortunately, Alons co-creators professor did not agree with the immigrants assessment of the artwork.

He was an easy grader, said Ana Azzue Gallira. I got an A.
Alumasc Water Management Solutions (AWMS) has taken up the challenge to enter the Pavestone Rally in aid of The Rainy Day Trust and the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The annual Rally event raised 60,000 last year for charity and aims to ramp up a gear this year to raise 100,000.

Over 30 cars are taking part, crossing through 10 countries between 7 and 10 September. AWMS' team of four was tasked to 'buy a banger' costing under 500 and create something that will grab people's attention  which is exactly what they've done. Introducing 'Fireman Sam', the team will be dressing up in their firefighter costumes and driving from Dover to Monte Carlo  passing through Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Italy on-route  and crossing their fingers they don't break down along the way!

A series of challenges have been established to compete for points based on the quality of fancy dress, along with the age, engine size and condition of the car. Each team is tasked to raise as much money as possible on their journey, and create laughter and joy along the way. Bryan Clover, Chief Executive Officer of The Rainy Day Trust will present the award for the team that raises the most money in Nice.

The Rainy Day Trust is the only charity to support the home improvement workforce and their families in times of need. Whether it's redundancy, falling on hard times, accidents or illness, the Trust can help with financial assistance from one-off grants to modest annual awards. Their support includes helping retirees who are struggling financially.

The Teenage Cancer Trust supports 13-24 year-olds with cancer, providing life-changing care and support so that young people don't have to face cancer alone.

AWMS Marketing Manager Ben Green said: "Our team is very much looking forward to the rally and raising money for such worthwhile causes. You'll be able to keep up-to-date with our progress by following us on Twitter @AlumascWMS."

If you'd like to support AWMS with a donation, visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/AWMS.
With more women's sports on TV, more fans are tuning in
It took just three weeks for Ding Lieming to quintuple his net worth and become a freshly-minted billionaire. Six months later, almost half his fortune was gone.


Cairn Energys 9.8 per cent stake in Cairn India, attached by the tax department for non-payment of dues, may be put on the block as part of recovery proceedings initiated late last week. This is among the options being considered by the government. The 200 million shares with the tax department are valued at around Rs5,200 crore.


In 2013, when Green Bank, West Virginia, a town in the US with a population of less than 150 people, banned cell phones, television, radio and Wi-Fi because it was part of the National Radio Quiet Zone, it didnt make advertisers sit up and take notice.
Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app.

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Erin Green, a former head of immigration at Infosys, who was fired from the company last year, has filed a lawsuit against the Bengaluru-based software exporter alleging discrimination against non-South Asian employees.
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
Equitas Holdings, parent of the Small Finance Bank that listed on the bourses last year, has extended the term of the statutory auditor it proposed for appointment at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) from four years to five years, citing an inadvertent error.
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.
Over the past year, Hidesign, the Puducherry-headquartered bags and accessories label has opened eight stores, all of them at airports. For a brand that is still heavily reliant on traditional brick-and-mortar channels, airports are its new malls, drawing in young travelling professionals and encouraging impulse purchases.
Hinduja Leyland Finance Ltd, a subsidiary of commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland Ltd, offering vehicle finance and loan against property, has decided to call off its plans for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The IPO was expected to take place in the previous fiscal year.
Earlier this week, The Co. Ltd. announced that they had obtained a trademark (vide application no. 715972) for the architectural design of the famous Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai. The registration of an architectural design has never been attempted in India since the Trademark Act came into force in 1999. With trademarking the building, nobody can now use the Taj Mahal Palaces images for commercial purposes. The 114 years old hotel building now joins an elite and really tiny club of trademarked properties around the world: the Empire State Building in New York, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Sydney Opera House.



Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal. They do not reflect the view/s of Business Standard.
As the Cannes Ad Fest, the annual global advertising festival, currently on in the French resort town, ambles on, it would be interesting to know how the Indian contingent has done vis-a-vis international peers.


Reliance Capital on Wednesday said it has received an approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for a shareholders' meeting on demerger of Reliance Home Finance, a move that will facilitate the independent listing of the home finance unit on exchanges.

The company has already received 'no-objection' from the BSE and the NSE on the scheme.

Listing of Reliance Home Finance is expected to be completed by September, Reliance Capital said.

For every share held in Reliance Capital, shareholders will get one share of Reliance Home Finance after listing.

The proposal is expected to unlock substantial value for all existing shareholders and will benefit nearly one million shareholders of Reliance Capital.

"A tribunal-convened meeting of the shareholders of the company is scheduled to be held on July 24. For consideration of the proposed scheme of arrangement for demerger of Real Estate Lending Business of the company into its wholly-owned subsidiary viz Reliance Home Finance," Reliance Capital said in a regulatory filing to stock exchanges.

Reliance Home Finance, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Reliance Capital, provides a wide range of solutions like home loans, construction finance and affordable housing loans.

As on March 31, 2017, Reliance Home Finance has an asset base of Rs 11,174 crore.
French defence firm Thales, a supplier of radar and electronic warfare, display systems, software, communication solution to Rafale jet fighters set up a joint venture with Anil Ambani's Ltd to integrate India-specific capabilities for 36 Rafale jet fighters and maintain radars and manufacture high-performance airborne electronics.
Travis Kalanick stepped down Tuesday as chief executive of Uber, the ride-hailing service that he helped found in 2009 and that he built into a transportation colossus, after a shareholder revolt made it untenable for him to stay on at the company.
Employees at Uber India are concerned that they could lose market share to local rival Ola due to the uncertainty emerging over the exit of its founder and chief executive officer Travis Kalanick.

Kalanick, the founder and CEO of Uber, announced his resignation from the post amid pressure from a clutch of investors on Wednesday. His stepping down is a culmination of months of pent up demand for action from investors, employees and the public, as the firm went from being a beacon of everything thats great about Silicon Valley to everything thats wrong with it.

Uber, which has raised around $ 15 billion in equity and debt from global investors was last valued at $ 69 billion, making it the worlds most valued private company.

Senior team members in India are worried as India is a key market and such problems might make us lose our edge and lose marketshare to the competition, said an Uber employee who did not want to be named.

Amit Jain, the India and South Asia President, has been answering queries of his local employees who are concerned about the future of the company. The answers are still unconvincing, said the employee.

Jain, who has brought in soon after a rider was raped by an Uber driver in Delhi at the end of 2014, has navigated the India operations to become the second largest for Uber after it lost out China to Didi Chuxing. The crisis in the Valley could potentially put Jain in a global role as he has been able to reduce burn while still maintaining growth in India.

An Ola source said that the company could gain from the shakeup at Uber, but the company would not go aggressive to grab higher share in the market.

Drivers of Uber will slowly start moving to other competitors. In India, of course they will come to us. The reason is there will be a management shakeup, people will start feeling insecure and this will go down to the drivers, said a top manager at Ola on the condition of anonymity. We should just focus on our business, dont grab.

Analysts say that with Kalanick gone, the days of Ubers hyper growth are over, something that employees will struggle with in the short term. For India, the companys second largest market globally, that could mean a slowdown in the rate of investment, something thats already been witnessed in the first half of 2017.

Theres nothing raising alarm bells yet, the market which was growing at 10-15 per cent month-on-month is now growing at 5 per cent. The drop in inventory that we see is because new drivers are not signing up. The ride hailing sector has had very high attrition all along, and it hasnt really gone up now, said Jaspal Singh, Partner at Valoriser Consultants.

Singh is of the opinion that Uber has a decentralised management approach and Kalanicks departure wont have any crippling effects on its business in India. However, until the company can bring in a new CEO put in place a new top management, decision making will be slow and that could give Ola an immediate advantage.

Ubers market share of Indias ride hailing sector peaked at 40 per cent but is already down to 35 per cent and is expected to drop further to 30 per cent in the coming months. The drop is largely due to the company pulling the plug on driver incentives earlier than Ola. In the coming months, as drivers get wary of Ubers management fumbles, more will leave in fear of uncertainty, says Singh.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah along with yoga guru Ramdev and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani led a crowd of thousands to perform yoga moves on the occasion of the in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
With rising demand for computer education and training on newer subjects such as design thinking, digital marketing, Bitcoin and Blockchain, the Indian Institute of Management here has seen a significant rise in blended management development programmes (MDPs) this year.
From the UK to Canada, China to India, around the world, yoga is big business. In 2016, Americans alone spent US$16 billion on yoga classes and products. To put that figure into perspective  this is the same amount allocated by the World Bank to help the entire continent of Africa tackle urgent climate change challenges.

But for many people, although they may well religiously attend their weekly yoga classes and enjoy sharing snaps of themselves mastering their latest yoga pose on Instagram, they might have less of an idea about where yoga itself (and the moves they are doing) actually come from.

So while most people know yoga is firmly rooted in the Indian tradition, what they might not know is the modern history  of how yoga left the shores of India and travelled the world to be influenced by gymnastics, bodybuilding and other non-yogic practices to evolve into what it has become today.

Communal stretching

Take the postures, yogas most visible and popular component  known as asanas in Sanskrit. These include downward dog, triangle pose and the tree  along with a whole other number of stretching and balancing positions. Well it turns out that similar postures can also be seen in Swedish and Danish gymnastic drills.

There is good reason for this, because in the late 19th and early 20th centuries a culture of physical exercise swept the globe. These exercises were seen as very important, for this was a time where a strong body was equated with a strong country.

This preoccupation with fitness also came at a time when the invention of photography was taking off. This meant that yoga postures, or ?sanas, that were being practised in India  which were notoriously tricky to describe effectively in words  could now be conveyed immediately and accurately through the new invention of photography. And cheap reproductive technologies brought yoga postures to the attention of the wider world for the first time.

Inside and outside India, books, manuals and magazines began to showcase asanas. In Europe and America, people initially gawped at and ridiculed these poses as exotic or backwards. But the postures later gained popularity as remodelled Indian regimes of health and fitness.

This inevitably meant that European notions of gymnastics and bodybuilding got mixed up with Indian postures and poses along the way. And what many of us know today as yoga is partially a result of this mixing.

This was particularly the case in European and American womens spiritual gymnastics. Often born on the margins of unchurched protestantism, these diverse methods involved various positions and movements of the body, along with rhythmic breathing, to access the divine  much as yoga does.

And this modern entanglement of yoga with womens spiritually focused exercise may help to explain why yoga is so popular worldwide among females today  with women making up more than 80% of practitioners in the US.

The new age

But of course, it doesnt just stop there: breathing, relaxation and various varieties of meditation have all played their part in making yoga what it is today.

And as in the case of postural yoga  the usual yoga class youd take at a gym or yoga studio that focuses on stretching and strength-building poses  these techniques have often become synthesised with nontraditional elements  like psychotherapy, western occultism, chiropractic, hypnosis, and forms of New Age religion. And this has also helped to take yoga in a totally different direction from its original roots.

This has also happened with yoga in modern urban India, where the movement has undergone what one scholar calls the pizza effect. Just like the pizzas modern journey from Napoli to New York and back, yoga has travelled far beyond its homeland, and has assimilated diverse influences  returning back to India with new flavours and ingredients.

Mark Singleton, Senior Researcher in the Modern History of Yoga, SOAS, University of London

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Arrested former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan was taken to a state-run hospital this evening when he complained of chest pain after he was brought from Chennai and sent to the Presidency Correctional home (jail) here.

"Karnan complained of chest pain at the airport itself. He was checked by our doctors there and then brought to the Presidency Correctional home where he complained that his chest pain had aggravated," a senior official at the Presidency correctional home (jail) here told PTI.

It was learnt that the 62-year-old Karnan's blood pressure was found to be quite high and doctors at the Presidency correctional home prescribed him to be taken to the state-run SSKM hospital for further check-up.

Asked whether Karnan was likely to be admitted to the hospital, the officer said it depended on the doctors who were conducting the medical check-up of the former judge.

"He is old and seems to be unwell too. We do not want to take any chance. An ECG was done on him," he said.

Earlier, a team of state CID officers brought him by an Air India flight, a senior police officer said.

Karnan, dressed in white shirt and trouser, came out of the airport escorted by policemen in civil dress. He was whisked away by the police when the reporters tried to approach him.

Tight security arrangements were made at the airport where senior police officers, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, were present.

Karnan had been evading arrest since the May 9 Supreme Court order awarding him a six-month jail term and was arrested last night by a team of West Bengal CID from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km from Coimbatore, where he was allegedly hiding for the past few days.

The former high court judge was brought to Chennai from Coimbatore by a private airline past midnight yesterday and later accommodated in the retiring room in the airport complex amid tight security.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping in Coimbatore who traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls. Tamil Nadu police provided the technical support to trace his whereabouts, a senior local police officer had said.

Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, had retired from service on June 12 as a fugitive.

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, had sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday led an estimated 50,000 yoga enthusiasts in performing asanas here amid showers on the International Day of Yoga as he underlined the importance of the ancient practice in connecting India with the world and promoting wellness.
One of the convicts in the case, Robert Payas, a Sri Lankan national, on Wednesday, petitioned the Tamil Nadu government seeking mercy killing.

In an emotionally charged letter to Chief Minister K Palaniswami, he said he should be killed on grounds of mercy and his body should be handed over to his family.

"Payas has petitioned the government through the Puzhal prison authorities," a top prison official told PTI.

Blaming the Centre  both the previous UPA government and the incumbent NDA  for opposing the release of seven Rajiv Gandhi case convicts, including him, when former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa took the initiative, he said, "We do not know why our release has been put on hold."

He said Jayalalitaa's decision to release the convicts was reflective of the aspiration of Tamils not only in Tamil Nadu, but across the world, to see them free.

He said the Centre has "decided that our lives must end in prison".

Stressing that the "silence of the governments (including Tamil Nadu) only tell us this (that their lives should end in jail)," he said he understood that the intention of the state and Centre was to confine them in prison.

"I have come to the conclusion that there is no use living when there is no scope for release," he said, adding that the very long prison sentence has punished not only him, but also his family.

On 11 June this year, he completed 26 years of incarceration and entered the 27th year, he said.

The thought of seeking euthanasia has now become deeply entrenched, an idea which did not surface in the past, he said.

"Also, for the past many years since none of my family members or relatives have visited me I do not think that there is any meaning in my life."

Claiming that Supreme Court Judge Justice Wadhwa had held him to be "not guilty," in 1999, he said still he continued to serve the prison sentence and it greatly anguished him.
With barely 10 days remaining for the launch of the national goods and services tax (GST), corporate India says it is still not sure how the anti-profiteering regulations will work.
Showcasing Indias path-breaking initiatives for defence production, Union minister on Wednesday invited Russian companies to set up joint ventures with Indian firms and manufacture advanced military platforms through technology transfer.

Addressing the plenary of TECHNOPROM 2017, a leading forum for technological development, the defence minister said Russian defence majors which already have a long experience of working in India are well placed to take advantage of the policy changes effected to encourage tie-ups between Indian and foreign companies.

Jaitley, who is in Russia on a three-day visit beginning Wednesday, said Indian companies are already gearing up to take advantage of policy initiatives in the defence sector by developing capabilities for design and development of military systems.

I invite Russian companies to come forward with proposals for technology transfer to Indian companies and facilitate manufacturing of more advanced components/parts and sub-systems. This can start with platforms of Russian origin where the requirement is in large numbers and is recurring in nature, he said.

Jaitley said Russian companies could be natural partners of the Indian companies as most of Indias defence equipment and inventory were of Russian origin.

In the past three years, the government has introduced several path-breaking policy and procedural changes in the defence production sector for encouraging private investment, research & development (R&D) and indigenisation, he said at the forum held at Siberian city of Novosibirsk.

In a major step towards defence indigenisation, the Indian government last month unveiled a strategic partnership model under which select private companies will be engaged along with foreign entities to build military platforms like fighter jets, submarines and battle tanks.

The defence minister said Russian companies might identify some items for which they could set up joint ventures with Indian companies so that these items could be supplied across the world.

Keeping this in mind, we have also streamlined the process of export clearances in last two years, he said, adding India is likely to soon become a member of the multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement, which will further catalyse our international engagement.



He said, In the days to come, we hope to fully harness the energies, entrepreneurial spirit and enterprise of the private sector in the area of defence manufacturing. Here again, Russia as Indias largest, oldest and most trusted partner in defence hardware and equipment, would have a comparative advantage in partnering with Indian companies for realising Make in India potential in defence production.



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.

Jaitley said as an incentive, industrial licensing for manufacturing of defence equipment has been significantly liberalised.

Now for manufacturing of parts, components, sub-systems, production equipment and testing equipment, no licence is required from the government. Even for the items for which licence is required, the initial validity has been increased from 3 years to 15 years, he said.

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.

We envisage Make in India in the defence sector to not only address domestic requirements, but also to enable Indian firms to become part of the global supply chain. Despite Indias significant domestic requirements in defence, manufacturing and business would be sustainable in the longer term only if companies look at global requirements and create economies of scale, he said.
The Voluntary Certification of Professionals introduced on June 22, 2015  the first World Day after the UN announced one  has started producing the ancient arts first-ever government approved practitioners at a steady pace. In November 2016, Union State Minister of AYUSH Yesso Naik had informed the Lok Sabha that the government had certified 734 professionals in 17 months.
Saudi Arabia has always been a popular destination for job seekers. However, starting next month, things are about to change for the worse for expats. From July, Saudi will be collecting a new tax from expats and their dependents. The 'dependent fee' will be 100 Saudi riyals (approx. Rs 1,723, as on Wednesday) per month for each dependent. The amount is expected to increase gradually every year until 2020.

According to TOI , several Indians employed in Saudi Arabia are planning to send their dependents back to India as it is likely to prove a big financial burden for them.

Indians form Saudi Arabia's largest expat group and hence, will be most affected. Reportedly, 41 lakh Indians are currently working in the Kingdom.

Will this help Saudi as it struggles with financial crisis

Expat levy is seen to boost kingdom's revenues amid low oil prices. However, according to Gulf News , "reforms such as the levy on foreign workers may help augment government revenues, but they can increase the cost of doing business in the kingdom."

Companies in Saudi Arabia currently spend 200 Saudi riyals per month to cover the levy for every non-Saudi employee. This applies to organisations where foreigners exceed the number of local workers.

Migrant rights activist Bheem Reddy Mandha said several people had already sent their families back in the past four months. "The men have become forced bachelors," he told TOI.

Saudi - a no income tax

According to iExpats.com , the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is urging the Gulf states to introduce more taxes to soften the impact of falling government revenues as the price of oil drops, leaving a black hole in budgets.

"Saudi Arabia has one of the most liberal labour policies globally, with very few restrictions on importing foreign labour to work in the kingdom, says the government.

"Currently, neither Saudi nationals nor foreign labourers pay income taxes, and this policy will remain in place.

Why is the Kingdom of Saudi so popular for Indian job seekers?

The kingdom is home to largest Indian passport holders outside India with around 41 lakh Indians working there and over 400 Indian companies. It is attractive because so far Saudi has not imposed any tax on income earned.

Saudi law provides full protection to all expatriates, which includes a unified labour contract and provisions that prohibit employing persons in jobs different from the profession stated in the contract, said Saudi Ambassador Saud Al Sati.
The government has permitted and post offices to deposit junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes with the Reserve Bank by July 20.

This is the second window the government has provided to banks, post offices and cooperative for depositing the junked notes with RBI.

The earlier window was open till December 31, a day after the 50-day period of of high value currency.

"Such specified bank notes may be deposited by such bank, post office or district central cooperative bank, as the case may be, in any office of the Reserve Bank, within a period of 30 days from the commencement of these rules," said a government notification.

It further said that they should get the exchange value by credit to the account of such subject to the satisfaction of the RBI of the conditions specified.

RBI will accept deposits collected by any bank or post office by December 30, 2016 or by any District Central Cooperative Bank from November 10-14, 2016 should be deposited within 30 days, the notification said.

They should also cite valid reasons for non-deposit of the specified bank notes within the period, it said.

Old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were junked from November 8, 2016 to eliminate black money and curb infusion and circulation of fake Indian currency notes (FICNs).

India is the second-largest producer and consumer of currency notes. Circulation of banknotes has increased to 90.27 billion pieces from 64.58 billion over the last five years.

As on November 8, 2016, the total amount of currency in circulation was Rs 17.7 lakh crore, which included specified bank notes (SBNs) of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

As per the last official count released by RBI on December 13, had garnered Rs 12.44 lakh crore in banned notes till December 10.
A MOU on the India-Russia unified technology assessment and accelerated commercialization programme, was concluded in Moscow in 20th June 2017, by the Secretary, Department of Science & Technology (DST) Professor Ashutosh Sharma and Director General, Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE), Russia Dr. Sergey Polyakov. .

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The MOU aims at facilitating support enterprises to improve their global competitiveness through international cooperation, innovative activities and technology transfer. The two agencies (DST and FASIE) will link the Indian and Russian organisations and institutions to develop user-friendly and easy mechanisms for assisting companies and research entities to jointly develop technology collaboration and joint projects. .

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Professor Ashutosh Sharma also met with Dr Alexander Vitalievich Khulnov, Director General, Russian Science Foundation (RSF) in Moscow. They discussed many simple ways for encouraging young scientists to cooperate in areas of mutual interest. .

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The meeting concluded with an Addendum to the Agreement between DST and RSF on coordinated competition for conducting collaborating research. Both sides would support young achievers (less than 39 years) in a competitive mode for joint collaborative research. Next call for proposals would be made in 2018. Presently 17 joint projects are being supported by DST and RSF jointly. .

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Science and Technology cooperation between India and the Russian Federation has been one of the important pillars of the long standing and time tested bilateral relationship. The vibrant partnership in science and technology has created a win-win situation which is driven by a sense of confidence and purpose in achieving together. This deepening relationship has enabled the free confluence of researchers across disciplines and institutions both from academia and research laboratories. The principles of collaborative advantage, reciprocity and mutual trust are the hall mark of the India-Russia S&T relationship. .

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India and Russia are celebrating 70th year of establishment of diplomatic relations between two countries. Department of Science & Technology, New Delhi and Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Moscow are also celebrating 10th year of their partnership. .

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Two sides are agreed to work for start-up companies and entrepreneurs and to establish Indo-Russian Bridge for Innovation. .

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With the sunset of the Integrated Long Term Programme (ILTP) with the Russian Academy of Sciences, the birth of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), India and the Russian Federation of Basic Research (RFBR) programme on Basic Sciences took place in 2007. The initial few years of DST-RFBR partnership was a modest one, competing with the footprint left by the ILTP. However, the DST-RFBR programme emerged steadily and today it provides one of the robust platforms for bilateral scientific cooperation in Basic Sciences. It has given access to Indian scientists to work with the entire spectrum of Russian academic and scientific institutions in pursuing front ranking curiosity driven fundamental research of international standards. The first call under DST-RFBR programme was awarded in 2008. In last ten years, DST and RFBR have jointly supported 254 research projects out of 870 project proposals received. The rigour of the programme is reflected by an average success rate of about 25%. In terms of scientific areas, projects have been supported across the fields of basic sciences covering Physics & Astronomy (69 projects), Chemistry & Material Sciences (55 projects), Biology & Medical Sciences (34 projects), Earth Sciences (32 projects), Mathematics (27 projects), Engineering Sciences (23 projects) and Computer Sciences and Telecommunications (14 projects). Around 800 research publications have emerged from these projects, averaging publications per project. Last year a new element of inter-disciplinary research was added to the programme. Against the maiden call, 52 proposals were received out of which 17 were selected for joint implementation. This will further unfold new opportunities in the bilateral cooperation. .

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This visit of Secretary DST, has been utilized to discuss with other Russian stake holders of bilateral scientific cooperation on the following targeted activities: .

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a. Conclude MOU between DST and FASIE (to promote R&D cooperation with participation of SME sector and start- up companies) .

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b. Conclude renewal document between DST and RFBR on continuation of partnership in Basic Science cooperation.

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c. Conclude Addendum with Russian Science Foundation for next call of proposals.

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d. Supervise conclusion of DST document with Russian Ministry of Education & Science on joint selection of projects against last call of proposals .

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e. Discussion on implementation of MOU, concluded in Goa Summit last year, with Russian Federal Agency of Scientific Organisation .

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f. Discussion and Negotiation with Russian Ministry of Economy Development for a MOU for cooperation in Innovative R&D and to establish Indo-Russia Bridge for Innovation .

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g. Discussion with St. Petersburg University on cooperation in Cyber Physical System (Big Data, Cyber Security, Internet of Things, Supercomputing) .

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h. Discussion with IOFFE Institute in St. Petersburg on their participation in bilateral cooperation. (One of its scientists was recently awarded with Nobel Prize in Physics). .

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Activities organised by MHA on 3rd International Day of Yoga

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) organised various activities across the country on the occasion of International Day of Yoga today. About 2000 CAPFs personnel have participated in the mass Yoga demonstration today at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The officials of MHA participated in the mass Yoga demonstration at various locations in Delhi.The Paramilitary Forces celebrated the Yoga Day with full energy and vigour. About 30,000 personnel of CAPFs participated in Yoga demonstration, organised in various State Capitals/other cities. About 3 lakh personnel did in-situ Yoga demonstration at their respective locations. The CRPF acted as Nodal Force as desired by MHA for celebration of 3rd International Day of Yoga today at 28 capital cities of India.Approximately 40,000 personnel of Border Security Force (BSF) alongwith their families participated in Yoga kriya today. Respective establishment on Frontiers have conducted Yoga sessions for the Prahari Pariwar and also for the population living along BSF establishments. To mark the occasion, force headquarter conducted a special session at Nizamuddin BSF facility where a group of experts from Isha Foundation of Sadhguru Shri Jaggi Vasudevji exhibited their Yoga routine for the attenders. Today BSF Yoga team of 200 personnel won the Best Yoga Performer Trophy" of Ministry of Home Affairs, Govenment of India in a function at Rajiv Chowk, New Delhi. In addition to all field formations, BSF organized Yoga demonstrations in 4 States Capital/ cities i.e. Kolkata, Agartala, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) troops also participated in various Yoga sessions organized at various locations in the country today. Border Out Posts (BOPs) of the Force across the Himalayan border also observed the day with active participation in yoga sessions at high altitudes including BOPs of Ladakh, where temperature remained -25 degree Celsius at some places. ITBP jawans took part in yogabhyas organized at different locations in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.

Approx. 25000 ITBP jawans participated in the event across the country. Foreign deployments of the Force in Afghanistan and DR Congo also observed the day. ITBP jawans deployed in anti naxal operations in Chhattisgarh also participated in the Yoga Day. Shri Krishna Chaudhary, DG ITBP participated in the Yogabhyas in a programme organized at ITBP campus at Tigri, New Delhi. In the true spirit of Yoga" the SSB, in a befitting manner organized events of yoga in all field formations. The event was organized in 6 frontiers HQrs, 18 Sector HQrs, 66 Battalions and other formations. Today, nearly 500 SSB personnel attended group Yoga at Lucknow, where Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, participated in the Third International Day of Yoga. Smt. Arachana Ramasundram, DG SSB, also participated in the yoga session at the premises of the 25th Bn Campus at Ghitorni, New Delhi, to mark the 3rd International Yoga day. The event was attended by senior officers of Force HQrs SSB and Personnel posted in the 25th Bn SSB. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) also celebrated the 3rd International Day of Yoga in Delhi and in all its Bn HQs and Regional Response Centres all over the country. On this occasion, NDRF organized a yoga session at Nehru Park in Delhi. As a prelude to the National event, NDRF rescuers practiced various Yoga Asans, Dhyan and Pranayams on common Yoga protocol for International Day of Yoga issued by Ministry of AYUSH under qualified Yoga instructors. The Commissioner of Police, Delhi, Shri Amulya Kumar Patnaik motivated Delhi Police personnel to practice Yoga in order to deal with stress & fatigue and to increase efficiency in their performance. The Commissioner of Police, Delhi himself performed Yogasans, along with other senior officers and 2000 participants of all ranks at Ramlila Grounds in Central Delhi. Similar programs were organized by other Districts/Units., police stations, police colonies and polices complexes.
The Ministry of Tourism has released the Compendium on Guidelines for Ayush Facilities here today. The National Medical & Wellness Tourism Board under the chairmanship of Minister for Tourism Dr. Mahesh Sharma has been repeatedly stressing on the need for benchmarking of facilities offered by the various service providers in the field of Medical and Wellness Tourism on the basis of globally accepted standards. The constant endeavour of the Ministry of Tourism has been to promote institutions and processes that have achieved such standards in order to provide excellence in service quality. On the demand from the industry and stakeholders including Ministry of Tourism; the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) has brought out accreditation standards and guidelines for AYUSH facilities in the country including Wellness Centres and Panchkarma clinics that are used by tourists.

The Ministry of Tourism under the direction of the Minister of Tourism Dr Mahesh Sharma has therefore compiled the accreditation standards for the various AYUSH facilities and urged the industry for wide acceptance of these standards. The compendium includes accreditation available for the following facilities:

I. Ayurveda Hospitals

II. Yoga and Naturopathy Hospitals

III. Unani Hospitals

IV. Sidha Hospitals

V. Homeopathy Hospitals

VI. Panchkarma Clinics

VII. Wellness Centres

The Minister mentioned that accreditation against globally benchmarked standards would help the industry in providing uniform level of service quality. The Ministry of Tourism provides Market Development Assistance (MDA) to Wellness Tourism Service Providers like Hospitals accredited by National Accreditation Board of Hospitals (NABH) and Medical Tourism facilitators (Travel Agents/Tour Operators engaged in Medical Tourism and approved by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India for participation in events related to promotion of Medical and Wellness Tourism outside India.

The accredited service providers are also listed on the Ministry of Tourism website and in the Incredible India campaign which has a global reach. This would help potential visitors to have knowledge about the institutions that have been accredited and would follow the quality standards. The details of the accreditation standard are available on Ministry of Tourisms website www.incredibleindia.org.

World over, holistic and alternative healthcare systems are gaining popularity due to the fact that many diseases are lifestyle related. India has a rich heritage of medical wisdom that prevailed as Ayurveda and Siddha coupled the practice of Yoga that provides well-being for the Body, Mind and Soul. Unani and Homeopathy with their roots outside India have also gained popularity here.

India has traditionally attracted visitors who want to rejuvenate their Body, Mind and Soul. India also attracts visitors for other alternative systems of medicines like Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy. Today, due to advancement in ease and speed of travel, more and more people are travelling in search of better quality, affordable and timely healthcare and wellness options. The Wellness Tourism industry globally is expected to reach 678 billion US Dollars by 2017 and it is one of the most important tourism products for India.
By 431 BCE, under the leadership of Pericles, Athens had become a formidable maritime power whose empire extended across the eastern Mediterranean region. Its challenge to the supremacy of Sparta, the warrior nation of the Peloponnesian peninsula, was obvious. According to historian and general Thucydides:



Growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made [the Peloponnesian] war inevitable.

Graham Allisons new book, Destined for War, suggests a modern parallel in a rising power (Athens/China) causing fear in an established power (Sparta/the US) in which the necessary trust in one another is lost, and war becomes inevitable.

But the analogy has its limits. All too often the who, when and how of the next war have been confidently predicted. Very rarely has anyone got it right.

Athens and Sparta exercised power very differently from their analogous contemporaries. Over the four decades before the war, Athens had become the regional muscle, rather more like the US than China, extracting payment for providing security. The Athenians were primarily traders, providing a maritime security envelope while also securing resources for themselves.

Like the Chinese, the Spartans were focused more on maintaining territorial security. Most of the Peloponnesian peninsula was under Spartan control. Their strength came with the land and their exercise of a military regime depended on an often rebellious population of slaves known as Helots.

Athens had transformed its prosperity into a tightly controlled corporate empire. Similarly, today, the US has exerted considerable influence over strategic hotspots. Countries like Australia have effectively outsourced their security risks.

Sparta maintained a looser confederacy of alliances of which less was demanded, and less given. China too has used soft power, offering aid and investment across the Pacific and Africa, buying influence rather than extracting power.

We might see a certain aggressiveness about the US that reminds us of the image of Sparta as a warring nation. But, in fact, Sparta was somewhat insular and inward-looking. Chinas expansion might remind us of the growth of the Athenian empire, but Athens had little land and few prospects  it depended on an empire to secure resources, very different from the Chinese situation.

Allison is acutely aware that his analogy to the fifth-century war is a provocation. With his colleagues at the Belfer Center at Harvard, Allisons Thucydidess Trap Project has studied 16 significant conflicts from the last five centuries. Twelve of those led to war. The others only avoided war through significant adjustments in the attitudes and postures of both sides.

There is no doubt that China is rising. The GDP of China surpassed the GDP of the US (on purchasing power parity terms) in 2014. By 2019, it will be 20% larger. While the US can only manage a growth rate of 2.1%, China continues to grow by at least 6.5%.

As former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd once observed, China is experiencing the English Industrial Revolution and the global information revolution combusting simultaneously and compressed into not 300 years, but 30.

The fearful West is apt to ignore the considerable internal tensions that China faces. The Chinese Communist Party has a social contract with its citizens: the price of authoritarian rule is to provide economic opportunities for all.

While the vast majority has prospered under its regime, inequality has risen exponentially between Chinas urbanised east coast and the rural hinterland. Balancing the forces for social liberalisation on the coast and economic prosperity inland requires withering complexities.

Ironically, as part of the One Belt One Road initiative, the Chinese bought the port of Piraeus, the Athenian port that was the axis around which the Athenian empire once turned.

But this highlights Chinas distinctly bifurcated view, between a maritime expansion of influence and a new Silk Road, designed to compete with Russia for economic and political dominance in Central Asia. China is a speeding juggernaut, precariously balanced between its and domestic aspirations.

President Xi Jinping wants to make China great again. Allisons prescient analysis shows that, despite Xis nuanced understanding of China-US relations compared with US President Donald Trumps infantile floundering on the world stage, the aspirations each has for his country are remarkably similar.

But, unlike the bipolar world of the Ancient Greeks, the system since the Cold War has been characterised by multipolarity: China, the US, the European Union, Japan, Russia and India each has an opportunity to exercise power more independently, or perhaps interdependently.

Allisons book makes a fascinating and worthwhile contribution to our understanding of the nature of power as a function of the nation-state.

Through his analysis of the four case studies in which war was avoided, Allison gives us twelve clues for peace, including practical examples of how Thucydidess Trap was avoided. These include insights into the nature of leadership, how power is enacted, the opportunities and entrapments of alliances, and much more.

Thucydides spoke of the motivations of war being fear, honour and interest, and its the same today. These motivations come largely from within  they are not imposed by other countries from outside.

Ultimately, countries go to war when their respective grand strategies  the exercise of power in the world for national interest  become misaligned with the expectations of their respective domestic audiences. That is, the trap for both the US and China is to manage domestic expectations, and to harmonise those expectations with the exercise of influence.

Jack Bowers, Senior Lecturer, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Almost every morning for the past one month, everyone at Uber India, from interns to South Asia President Amit Jain, pours into the boardroom at the Gurgaon headquarters of the company for an All Hands on Deck meeting.

Employees, armed with information gathered from websites of dailies and emails sent by internal communications teams, ask Jain questions, which he patiently answers.

The last few weeks have been harrowing for the employees of the worlds most valuable startup. With its co-founder Travis Kalanick putting in his papers, the uneasiness and uncertainty among India employees about their future have increased manifold.

In a statement on Wednesday, Kalanick announced his resignation, indicating that he was asked by the investors to do so. However, he will remain on the board. The board, on its part, called it a bold decision triggered by a personal tragedy.

With so much happening globally, employees in India are on the edge. It is a mess in the US. We do not have a single person in the senior management in the US we can talk to. Everyone has resigned. There is uneasiness among people. While the India president is trying hard, convincing employees at this point is extremely difficult, said a senior Uber employee.

Sources said that in the next few weeks, Uber India was going to see operational changes as well and some in the senior management might be exiting. While no one has been asked to leave, some of the people have decided to exit. The company would see a change in the way it functions, a source said.

However, Jain, sources said, might be given more responsibilities at a global level. The investors are happy with his performance and he has managed to run the India team well and also helped it wade through problems, a source added.

The on-demand ride service brought down its quarterly loss to $708 million on rising revenues. Its revenues in the first three months of 2017 rose some 18 per cent to $3.4 billion, helped by strong growth in markets such as India. In the December quarter, its losses stood at $991 million, while revenues were about $2.9 billion.
Qatar on Wednesday accused the "neighbouring countries" that have cut ties with Doha of being responsible for the alleged hacking attack on state media which began the current diplomatic crisis.

Attorney General Ali bin Fetais Al-Marri said the case "is very clear" that the cyber attack emanated from "countries responsible for the siege".

"We have evidence to show that iPhones originating from the countries laying siege to us have been used in this hacking," said Marri.

"We have enough evidence to point the finger of blame at these countries."



Marri, speaking in Arabic, did not name specific countries.

But when pressed to be more specific he said "neighbouring countries".

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and other allies severed all links with Qatar over accusations that Doha supports extremism -- a claim it denies.

An alleged hack of the Qatar News Agency website on May 24 attributed explosive remarks to Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

The remarks covered sensitive political subjects such as Iran, Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Israel and the United States.

They were quickly seized on by news organisations outside Qatar, but Doha said they were false.

The subsequent inquiry into the hack used investigators from the FBI.

One report claimed that Russian hackers were responsible, a claim denied in Moscow.
The United States President congratulated fellow republican Karen Handel for defeating Jon Ossoff in Georgia's sixth congressional district.

Handel, who is reportedly the first Republican woman to be elected in the Congress from Georgia, won 52.7% of the votes, while Ossof won 47.3% of the votes.

According to CNN, Ossoff had called Handel to congratulate her for the victory.

Handel said, "He was more than gracious and he thanked me for a spirited campaign. And I wish him and his fiancee Alisha Kramer all the best in the new life that they are going to be starting."



Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017



She went on to extend her thanks to the US President, who has supported her during the campaign.

More than 100 attendees at Hyatt Regency in Northern Atlanta, celebrated Handel's victory.

The election was to replace the Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price in a seat carried by just a single point in 2016.
Ajay Tyagi, chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India, to journalists on a number of issues the body is currently dealing with. Edited excerpts from a press conference, compiled by Samie Modak:
A few years ago when Ajay Piramal was delivering the keynote address at a conference organised by Venture Intelligence in Mumbai, he specifically pointed out to (who was in the audience amid many
The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act court on Wednesday imposed a fine of rupees 2000 on 1993 Mumbai blast convict Firoz Khan after his lawyer called the witnesses in the case, but did not examine them.

Yesterday Firoz cried and begged for life before special TADA court judge G.A. Sanap.

While asserting that he would not seek parole or furlough while in prison, Firoz during the hearing of his plea started crying and requested the court with folded hands to not give him capital punishment.

"You can put me behind bars for 25-50 years but don't give me death penalty," he pleaded.

The court was hearing arguments on the quantum of punishment of the six men, including gangster Abu Salem and Firoz, who were pronounced guilty on charges of terrorist acts and possession of certain unauthorised arms and indulging in criminal conspiracy in the 1993 Mumbai blast case.

.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday said there cannot be any term like 'Hindu terrorism', and added that a Hindu can never be a terrorist.

"A Hindu cannot be a terrorist. There cannot be any term like 'Hindu terrorism'. Hindu, by nature, can never be a terrorist. If Hindus had been terrorists, then no other terrorists can have existed," Vij told ANI.

Speaking on the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case where 68 people were killed, the BJP leader said it's a very serious issue that the two people arrested from Pakistan in the matter have been released while the people from India are still treated as terrorists and call it 'Hindu terrorism'.

"This is a game played by the Congress party, and I believe on their instructions, these Pakistanis were released. They are freely roaming now and I think this party's aim was to establish the political scenario," he added.

Vij further said that a Hindu, by nature, can never be a terrorist.

"If Hindus had been terrorists, then no other terrorists have existed. However, because of political reasons, Congress party wanted to create Hindu terrorism to counter terrorism created where Muslim terrorists are involved," he asserted.

This is not the first time the minister had landed in a controversy as earlier this year he had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a better brand image than Mahatma Gandhi.

After receiving flak, he had withdrawn his statement.

In the blast case, the Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet against several right-wingers including Swami Aseemanand.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Personnel of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) celebrated the 3rd International Day of Yoga today at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan here.

There was a massive response from the AAI families and various age groups, who gathered to explore and avail the benefits of yoga.

AAI Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra also performed various asanas under the guidance of an expert who explained the benefits of various yogic exercises.

Mohapatra, sharing his feelings, said, "World Yoga Day is celebrated at AAI not as a token event, but mainly to motivate each one of us.Yoga is one of the most accomplished methods to remain healthy and we should ensure the just doing yogic exercises is not enough but it is more important to adopt yogic in our lifestyle. That is the main purpose of the day and we are celebrating it and hope that we can inculcate some of it in our daily life also."

Director,Administration of AAI Rubina Ali also shared her words on Yoga Day, she says, "Yoga has made me a healthy person. Healthy from the mind, heart and from soul and I feel yoga is not for any particular religion it is for everybody. It is your inner state that has to be at peace and if we are peaceful and happy inside, perhaps we can bring happiness all over the world".

Further, Joint secretary of civil aviation Usha Padhee claimed, "Yoga not only bring peace and harmony to the world but it is bring peace within ousrelf, doing yoga is good for society".

After practicing yoga the officials and staff of Airports Authority of India pledged to practice yoga beyond their caste and religion as practicing regular yoga will certainly help the staff of AAI to enhance their physical and mental capabilities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Indian Army foiled an infiltration bid by terrorists on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Palanwala sector.

The alert soldiers deployed along the LOC detected and engaged suspicious movement of a group of terrorists in the early hours of June 21.

As the army jawans opened fire, the terrorists returned fire and ran back across the LoC.

An intense combing operation was conducted in the area which resulted in recovery of one AK-47 rifle with ammunition and other war like stores.

In another development from Pulwama, an officer of 50 Rashtriya Rifles on late Wednesday night sustained injuries in an encounter with terrorists.

The encounter was underway at the time of filing this report between armed forces and terrorists, believed to be affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

According to security officials, fierce stone pelting that began during Pulwama encounter might have helped terrorists escape the cordon.

50 Rashtriya Rifles, Special Operations Group (SOP) and 183 CRPF battalion are involved in the encounter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress party workers on Wednesday found a novel way of protesting against the and observe International Yoga Day at the same time.

Party workers performed 'shavaasana' (a relaxing posture said to resemble a dead body), to mark their protest against the recent death of six farmers in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district in police firing.

The 'protest yoga' was observed in front of the party office in wake of the recent widespread protest in the state demanding the fair price for their crops.

Madhya Pradesh's Congress President Arun Yadav said they performed this asana to draw the attention of the ruling government towards the miserable situation of the farmers.

Mandsaur has become the epicentre of farmers' agitation over a demand for loan waivers and better prices for their produce.

During an agitation, six farmers were gunned down by the police, thereby drawing criticism from political parties. The situation forced the district officials to impose Section 144 and restricted prominent personalities from visiting the violence-hit district.

A number of political leaders, including Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, and social activists, tried to visit Mandsaur but the police didn't let them enter the area.

Section 144 was later revoked ahead of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's visit to the families of the deceased farmers.
The Chairman and Managing Director of the public sector undertaking (PSU) Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has revealed that one lakh gram panchayats will be telephonically connected soon through Bharat Net.

Speaking on the show titled "A Dialogue with JC", BSNL CMD Anupam Srivastava told ZEE Regional Channels CEO Jagadeesh Chandra recently that since assuming charge of BSNL on January 15, 2015, he had been quite successful in turning the fortunes of the institution around by boosting the morale and efficiency of the workforce and also by introducing state of the art equipment to be at par with market competitors.

An officer of the 1981 batch of the Indian Telephone Service, Srivastava said that launching schemes like "BSNL Service with a Smile" and personally responding to queries of customers through the BSNL Twitter platform had gone a long way in turning things around.

"When I joined BSNL, the situation was quite bleak, but I took steps to boost the morale of the workforce and introduce new equipment to turn things around. Taking decisions on time and being one step ahead of the competition in the market have also helped to turn things around," Srivastava said.

He also said that the BSNL sales marketing team has been strengthened so as to expand the reach of the telecom service.

Srivastava also praised Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha for extending him and BSNL full support, ensuring non-interference in day-to-day operations, while at the same getting information on activities of the BSNL through close monitoring of its activities.

He also revealed that over the next two years, 2199 mobile towers will be installed in 10 states, where left wing influence is predominant, and people of those areas will at least be mobile connected.

In terms of competition, Srivastava admitted that the arrival of Reliance Industries Jio has started a tariff war between various entities, and to end this price war, the government he believes is planning to have a level playing field sooner than later.

He also described the merger of BSNL and MTNL as a good thing for both institutions.

"All telecom companies have contributed to the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India campaign," he said.

He admitted that initially demonetisation had caused some problems to BSNL, but after some time, the benefits of the move started showing

On the personal front, Srivastava said he owed his position life to his parents and the sacrifices that they had made to ensure his success. He said that he was always keen to attempt the civil services examination, but for one or the other reason, was not able to do so

"It has taken me 35 years to reach this position. Before joining the Indian Telecom Service, I worked for two-and-a-half years in another job and also spent five years on a consultancy assignment in Zimbabwe. I achieved everything on merit and have had not godfather to help or assist me in life or career. I have come from a middle class family and am very proud of this fact," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President and spiritual head of the Parmarth Niketan Ashram Chidanand Sarawasti during the World Yoga Day celebration at the United Nations said that the day is a historic moment for Yoga and India.

Chidanand told ANI that the day had become successful due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Our country's successful and energetic Prime Minister Modi has sown a seed of peace and brotherhood through yoga", Chidanand said.

He lauded the Prime Minister's initiative and said that because of him, Yoga was not just being practiced in United Nations, but the whole world.

He urged the people to practice yoga for releasing their tension and staying healthy.

Sadhvi Bhagawati Sarawasti, who was also present at the event, beautifully defined Yoga and its significance.

"Yoga is oneness for the body, spirit and mind. The International Yoga Day takes place on the longest day of the year, because yoga brings us light and life", she said.

She said that Yoga was born in India, but it is meant for the whole world.

"Issac Newton had given the law of physics, but the whole world uses it. Theory of relativity was given by Albert Einstein, but the whole world uses it. Similarly, Yoga was born in India, it was given by our rishis and munis, but its transformations and teachings are for all", Sadhvi added.

Sadhvi asserted that Yoga has answers to all the problems existing in the world.

She appreciated the practice of Yoga and Prime Minister Modi's efforts to bring the practice on the global map.

Earlier today, Baba Ramdev lauded the efforts of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) efforts to make the World Yoga day a hit.

Ramdev said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated that a new world record should be set in Yoga. Due to BJP chief Amit Shah's guidance, and Gujarat government's support, the event was a massive hit and we were successful in setting 24 new world records."

On the occasion of Yoga Day, Prime Minister Modi addressed a gathering in Lucknow.

"I am happy to see so many Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing. Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness," Prime Minister Modi said.

He said that yoga is an integral part of the Indian tradition and it unites the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NYT has an interesting article that might provide readers with the details of not only immigration but labor, food supply, agriculture in a mixed reaction to such issues. I also wonder if planting went smoothly, for instance, as the details of lives get lost in the simplicities of bumper sticker, all or none politics. This is of course only one small sector of of an economy affected by immigration but sometimes a story offers much insight if I ask the right questions as it develops and figure out what this city boy doesnt know. How could this community come to terms with its problems and strengths?

For decades, the farmers have relied on migrant labor from spring to fall. Depending on how quickly they work, field workers can earn up to $18 an hour, compared with Ohios $8.15 minimum hourly wage. Many return year after year to do the strenuous seasonal work, sometimes in temperatures that soar to 100 degrees. (Local residents largely steer clear.)

Seven in 10 field workers nationwide are undocumented, according to estimates by the American Farm Bureau Federation. In Willard, it is probably no different.

Without the Hispanic labor force, we wouldnt be able to grow crops, said Ben Wiers, a great-grandson of the pioneer Henry Wiers, who bought five acres here in 1896, noting that he considers many workers at Wiers Farms, which cultivates more than 1,000 acres of produce under the Dutch Maid label, to be friends.

But beefed-up border enforcement has slowed the flow of workers who enter the country illegally. Last year, a shortage forced Mr. Wiers and the other growers to leave millions of dollars worth of produce in the fields.
Amid the indefinite bandh in Darjeeling hills which entered its ninth day today, Residents and labourers were seen leaving the area due to the indefinite strike called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) for a separate Gorkhaland.

"All things are under close watch. Regarding forces we don't want to make any comment," Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Vivek Sahai said.

Meanwhile, a major demonstration was held in Bengaluru city on Tuesday in support of GJM demand for Gorkhaland.

Even as the indefinite strike called by GJM entered into its eighth day yesterday, Mamata Banerjee left for her Netherlands visit.

Mamata, who left to address a United Nations meeting, 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 West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee 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.
Afghanistan is "at a critical point" as it faces a continuous threat from as many as 20 insurgent and terrorist networks operating in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, the Pentagon has said in a new report to Congress. It also reveals U.S. and Afghan authorities are negotiating with Taliban for peace talks.

The Pentagon report also acknowledged that India is Afghanistan's most reliable regional partner as it provides significant training opportunities for Afghan officers and enlisted personnel.

"India is Afghanistan's most reliable regional partner and the largest contributor of development assistance in the region, including civil development projects such as the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam and the Afghan parliament building, approximately 130 Afghans travel to India each year to attend various military academy and commissioning programs," it said in the six- monthly report to the U.S. Congress.

The U.S. Department of Defence concluded that Afghanistan has the highest concentration of extremist and terrorist groups in the world- the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, Daesh and al-Qaeda.

The report, "Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan," states that "At its height, ISIS-K had a presence in six provinces but it is now largely confined to four districts in Nangarhar Province. ISIS-K remains a threat to security in Afghanistan and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region and a threat to U.S and coalition forces, and ISIS-K retains the ability to conduct high-profile attacks in urban centers," read the report.

"Taliban capabilities and operations varied significantly by region. The group continued to exploit its limited successes and tout them as strategic victories through the proficient use of social media and propaganda campaigns," the report stated.

"The combination of U.S counterterrorism operations, ANDSF operations, pressure from the Taliban, and a lack of support from the local populace have diminished ISIS-K's (Daesh) influence and caused it to decline in size, capability, and ability to hold territory.

The US and Afghan Governments agree that the best way to ensure lasting peace and security in Afghanistan is through reconciliation and a political settlement with the Taliban. The report said."The United States supports an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned reconciliation process and supports any process that includes violent extremist groups laying down their arms. The success of this peace process will require the Taliban and other armed opposition groups to end violence and break ties with international terrorist groups."

While no measure of territorial control is given, the Pentagon says that as of February 2017, the Taliban exercised influence or control over 11 percent of the Afghan population, the government could claim 65 percent, and the rest was "contested."

Though the Taliban achieved only "limited successes," it presented them as strategic victories "through the proficient use of social media and propaganda campaigns."

The Pentagon stated that the ANDSF are generally capable of protecting major population centers, preventing the Taliban from maintaining prolonged control of specific areas, and responding to Taliban attacks and that the Afghan Special Security Forces (ASSF) have proven to be effective at leading offensive clearing operations. However, it stated that continued Taliban attacks across the country has weakened public confidence in the Afghan government's ability to provide security.

The report also stated that "attacks in Afghanistan attributed to Pakistan-based militant networks continue to erode the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship." "Militant groups, including the Taliban and Haqqani Network, continued to utilize sanctuaries inside Pakistan. Pakistan's belief that Afghanistan is not doing enough to prevent cross-border attacks, such as a suicide bombing at a shrine in Pakistan's Sindh Province in February 2017 that killed 72 people, further hampers bilateral relations," read the report.

According to the report, "since late 2015, private militias and other non-state actors have played a more public role in maintaining security in the north of Afghanistan as local and provincial government officials and warlords employ these groups to address local security challenges."

Casualty figures paint a grim picture, however. In the six months covered by this report, there were 4,806 "effective enemy-initiated attacks" or 801 per month, compared to 4,727 - or 788 a month - in the previous reporting period. Five American soldiers were killed and 36 wounded. There were also 38 attacks on Afghan forces by their own members, known as "green-on-green."

As of May 31, a total of 1,865 US military personnel have been killed in action and 20,272 have been wounded since the US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001.

The US currently has 8,400 troops in the country, conducting both the "training, advising and assisting" of Afghan security forces and counterterrorism operations against ISIS-K, Al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups. The report did not mention a need for additional troops.

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Following the procurement of the ultra light Howitzer M777 from the United States, two of the artillery pieces were brought to the Pokhran field firing range here for trial.

The trial took place in the presence of team of American members and its creator BAE Systems' engineers.

A group of the Indian Army's artillery unit, under the leadership of Lt. Col. Saurabh, started the development of firing table since Tuesday.

Firing was done by the machine on Tuesday night and indirect off fire was performed on Wednesday.

The Centre under its Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme sealed the deal with the U.S. government on November 17 which is worth Rs. 4,700 crore. The FMS programme eliminates the role of all the brokers, who can be involved, and ensures transparent sales, which take place one on one between the governments. This, in turn, blocks the chances of any scams that the transactions may lead to.

This deal is the first since Bofors scandal broke out in the 1980s.

India has ordered 145 guns, out of which two were delivered in May. The delivery of the remaining will take another five or six months

In addition to this, only 25 guns will be delivered by the U.S., remaining 120 will be assembled by Mahindra Defence under the government's flagship programme 'Make in India.'

These artillery guns with the range of 30 kilometers will bolster the Indian Army's firing might especially against China in the eastern front and in out-of-area contingency. It will be deployed on mountains in the eastern border with China.

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Lauding the success of the World Yoga Day, Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev on Wednesday informed that 24 new world records have been set on the grand occasion.

Appreciating the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) efforts to make the World Yoga day a hit, Ramdev said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated that a new world record should be set in Yoga. Due to BJP chief Amit Shah's guidance, and Gujarat government's support, the event was a massive hit and we were successful in setting 24 new world records."

Ramdev further said that Yoga is an integral part of the Indian culture and India should dominate the world in Yoga.

"Further, I would be visiting U.S. and Canada for celebrating the Yoga day, and I really wish that the way in which the West dominates the world in terms of technology and economy, India should lead the world in Yoga", he added.

Baba Ramdev along with the government's support aims at operating 11 lakh free yoga classes across the country in the coming 3-5 years.

"We have taken an oath that in the coming 3-5 years, 11 lakh free classes will be created across the country," he said, adding that his venture Patanjali would fully support the cause.

While reminiscing his journey of Yoga, he said that he had no idea that one day, the campaign to promote Yoga would become such a huge success.

"This has been the biggest day of Yoga in my life. When I started my journey 25 years ago, by organising a camp in Surat, I had no idea that one day the campaign would become so massive."

The event witnessed more than 3 lakh people.

BJP Chief Amit Shah along with Gujarat Chief minister Vijay Rupani and other government officials were present at the event.

A four-day camp was organised in Ahmedabad ahead of the World Yoga Day.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Prime Minister addressed a gathering in Lucknow on the occasion of Yoga day.

"I am happy to see so many Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing.

Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness," Prime Minister Modi said.

He said that Yoga is an integral part of the Indian tradition and it unites the country.

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Iran has objected to the calls made by the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of supporting efforts of a regime change in Tehran and also threatening to pursue sanctions on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rex Tillerson said that Washington will support "elements" that would ensure a "peaceful transition" in the Islamic Republic and impose sanctions on Iran's entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"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," Russia Today quoted Tillerson as saying.

Tehran has also officially delivered a note of protest to the UN after condemning Tillerson's accusations that the Islamic Republic had "aspirations of hegemony in the region," saying the remarks violate international law. Tehran further accused the U.S. of violating the 1981 Algiers Accords, a set of agreements signed by Washington and Tehran to end the Iran hostage crisis.

"The United States pledges that it is and from now on will be the policy of the United States not to intervene, directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs," Point I of the Accord reads.

Consequently, Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Swiss envoy in Tehran to convey Iran's strong objection to the US government over intrusive remarks made by Rex Tillerson and lodged a protest against Washington's policy. The Embassy of Switzerland represents American interests in the Islamic Republic after the US cut diplomatic relations with Iran in April 1980 in the wake of the 400-day US Embassy hostage crisis of 1979-1981.

U.S. President Donald Trump on his first presidential visit to Israel and the West Bank, has escalated his war of words against Iran, demanding that Tehran should immediately stop its financial and military support for "terrorists and militias" .The US-Iran ties have deteriorated after Trump assumed office as he promised to cancel the nuclear deal with Iran.

The top US diplomat's remarks are "interventionist, in gross violation of the compelling rules of international law, unacceptable and strongly condemned," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said.

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Several residents have been taken hostage and used as human shields after armed terrorists stormed a village in the Cotabato province of the Philippines, according to local police.

Government troops are now engaged in fierce battle with Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) after the terrorists attacked the village of Malagakit in Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato and took civilians as hostages. The military believes the BIFF is supporting the Maute and other terror groups in an attempt to set up an ISIS caliphate in Mindanao which is under martial law imposed by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.

Local government officials said 100 families were evacuated during the operation.

Gunmen stormed a school after a "failed attempt" to attack a militia outpost in Barangay Malagakit at dawn on Wednesday, the military and police said.

The 34th Infantry Battalion engaged the rebels in a firefight, taking extra caution as the enemy used civilians as so-called human shields, CNN quoted Armed Forces spokesman Restituto Padilla as saying.

Padilla said the BIFF "have withdrawn from the area. The school area is again safe."

"Fortunately, the attack happened before the students arrived at the school," Padilla said.

He said authorities are checking if the rebels have released five civilians they held hostage.

Pigcawayan is 190 km south of Marawi City, where BIFF militants and fighters linked to ISIS have been holed up and fighting the Philippines military since May 23.

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Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday invited Russian firms to partner with Indian companies to propel the Make in India mantra in defence production.

Addressing the fifth plenary session of the International Forum for Technological Development "TECHNOPROM" here, Jaitley said Russia would have a comparative advantage in realizing the potential of 'Make in India' in defence production.

"Since the signing of the Declaration of India-Russia Strategic Partnership in 2000, our bilateral ties have witnessed enhanced levels of cooperation in a wide range of areas," Jaitley said.

"Today, we enjoy vibrant and mutually beneficial political ties, defence and security cooperation, trade and economic partnership, science and technology linkages and cultural exchanges," he added.

He cited the production of the Brahmos Missile System and the licensed production of advanced Sukhoi 30 aircraft in India as the highlights India and Russia's bilateral cooperation in defence.

Jailtey, who co-chaired the inaugural meeting of the India-Russia High Level Science and Technology Committee with Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin, said both countries have resolved to place India and Russia's scientific and technological cooperation at the centre of our their relationship.

"This new mechanism will further energise our partnership by opening up advanced areas of cooperation that will benefit our future generations," he said.

Jailtey said India's later introduction of Buy (IDDM)', under the 2016 edition of Defence Procurement Procedure, first preference would be given equipments, which are designed, developed and manufactured within the country.

"I invite Russian companies to come forward with proposals for technology transfer to Indian companies and facilitate manufacturing of more advanced components/ parts and sub-systems," he said.

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.

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In a major blow to the Opposition, the Janata Dal (United) on Wednesday confirmed they will support the Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

"All the leaders have decided that we will support Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president. He is Bihar's first Governor who has been nominated for this post. We are very happy with this, it is the matter of Bihar's development," Senior JD (U) leader Ratnesh Sada said after meeting all the party leaders here.

The development comes ahead of the major Opposition meeting slated to be held on Thursday.

Earlier on June 19, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that a thorough discussion will be held on the matter within the Janata Dal (United) party.

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".

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 election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17. President Pranab Mukherjee will demit office on July 24.

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Retired Kolkata High Court judge Justice C.S. Karnan, who was arrested yesterday in connection with a contempt of court case, was lodged in Kolkata's Presidency Jail on Wednesday after the Supreme Court refused to grant him interim bail.

A vacation bench of the apex court headed by Justice D. Y. Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to suspend the six-month prison sentence for Justice Karnan in the case.

Mathew J Nedumpara, a lawyer appearing for Justice Karnan, mentioned the matter before the vacation bench of the top court.

Nedumpara pleaded to the apex court seeking bail and suspension of the six months jail sentence, to which the court observed, "The seven judge bench had passed the order. It binds everybody. It binds us also."

Justice Karnan was arrested by the Kolkata police in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu yesterday.

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.

Justice Karnan had approached the apex court seeking recall of its 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.

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The police on Wednesday arrested four persons, including a police constable with Turkish currency worth Rs. 75 crore from Chitradurga district of Karnataka.

The police also seized a service pistol from the arrested persons.

Further details are awaited.

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With the Karnataka Government announcing a waiver of short term loans of farmers till Rs.50,000 from cooperative banks, the state's Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, T.B. Jayachandra, said Wednesday that a certain amount of relief will be provided to farmers through this decision.

"The Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill has passed now and we don't know the consequences, whether we are losing money or gaining anything. In such circumstances, to take this bold decision is very difficult. But, we have taken this decision in the interest of the farmers of Karnataka. At least to some extent, we will try to give relief to these farmers," Jayachandra told media here.

He added that farmers for the last four years have been facing a drought situation, they have lost their crops and they are not realising any remunerative prices for their crops.

"That's the reason we have decided to finally safeguard the interest of farmers. Karnataka is interested in getting the loans waived," he asserted.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said the state government has given many incentives to farmers directly and indirectly.

"For instance, the energy bill that the government pays on behalf of farmers is close to Rs. 9000 crores per year. Many other states charge for electricity from farmers, whereas in Karnataka, the government pays on behalf of the farmers. We also give farmers incentives on milk production, as for every litre of milk, we give about Rs. 5 in a year that comes to about Rs. 203,000 crores every year," he added.

Gowda further said that interest free loans of about Rs. 1000 crores are given to the farmers per year.

"Various bonus priced we give on top of Minimum Support Price (MSP) when we intervene in the market, the government steps in and Karnataka is one of the very few states which gives very liberal bonus price over and above the MSP," he added.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today announced a waiver of short term loans of farmers till Rs. 50,000 availed till June 20, 2017 from cooperative banks.

With this, loans worth Rs. 8165 crores will be waived, which will benefit around 22,27,506 farmers across state.

The chief minister said that Karnataka is 'pro-farmer', and is the first state in the country to transfer input subsidies directly to the farmers' bank accounts.

Karnataka's move to help farmers' comes in the wake of similar actions by the governments of Maharashtra and Punjab earlier this month.

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In a shocking case of gross negligence by medical authorities, a man in Uttar Pradesh's (UP) Hardoi district was denied an ambulance by a government hospital to take his severely burnt sister for treatment in Lucknow.

The man was not even provided with a stretcher to carry his sister till the hospital's gate.

Gangawati was scorched after a fire erupted in her kitchen while she was cooking. The accident took place on June 14.

Gangawati was taken to a government hospital in the district.

During her treatment, doctors suggested she be taken to Lucknow for better treatment.

Due to the family's poor economic condition, her brother Virendra asked for an ambulance to take his sister to Lucknow, which was denied.

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Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal produced a spectacular performance as she eased past fourth-seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea to storm into the second round of the ongoing Australian Open Superseries, here at the Sydney Olympic Park on Wednesday.

The London Olympic bronze-medallist registered a comfortable 21-10, 21-16 win over her Korean opponent Ji Hyun in an opening-round clash that lasted 39 minutes.

With the triumph, Nehwal took her head-to-head tally to 5-2 against Ji Hyun.

The defending champion will now lock horns with either Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi or Malaysia's Sonia Cheah for a place in the quarter-finals.

In the men's singles event, Kidambi Srikanth, who recently clinched his maiden Indonesia Open title, also progressed through to the next round after sweeping aside qualifier Kan Chao Yu 21-13, 21-16 in a clash that lasted just few minutes less than half an hour.

He will next face World No. 1 Son Wan Ho, who the Indian defeated in the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open last week.

Meanwhile, B.Sai Praneeth rebounded strongly from a game down to post a 10-21, 21-12, 21-10 win over Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia. He has now set up China's Huang Yuxiang.

Ajay Jayaram and H.S Prannoy suffered a major blow as they knocked out of the tournament after going down against their respective opponents.

While Jayaram suffered a 21-14, 10-21, 9-21 defeat against seventh-seed NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, Prannoy went down 19-21, 13-21 at the hands of England's Rajiv Ouseph.

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In a tragic incident, a nine-year-old girl died on Wednesday after being crushed under a gate of Lok Bhavan in Lucknow during construction work.

The child was a resident of Lakhimpur's Dhaurah village whose mother was working as a wage labourer in Lok Bhavan

The girl was rushed to the Civil Hospital in an injured condition but was declared brought dead.

Lok Bhawan is Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's office which is located near Hazratganj.

Further details are awaited.

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If you are a fan of actor Daniel Day Lewis, then we have some bad news for you.

According to a statement by his publicist, three-time Academy award winner, Lewis has announced his retirement from acting, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Leslee Dart, publicist of the 'Gangs of New York' star shared a statement, which read, "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 star, who has played presidents, writers, and gang leaders in a career that has spanned four decades, has one final film awaiting release, an untitled drama set in the world of high fashion.

While it has been reported to have the working title 'Phantom Thread,' the film is still officially listed by its distributor as Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project.

According to Dart, the actor plans to participate in promotion for the movie, which is expected to be an awards-season contender.

Day-Lewis is the only performer to ever win three best actor Oscars.

His last Oscar came for the title role in Steven Spielberg's movie 'Lincoln', while his other two wins were for 'There Will Be Blood' and 'My Left Foot'.

This is not the first time Day-Lewis has retreated from films. In the late 1990s, he took a sort of "semi-retirement" to return to his main love, woodworking, and at the time also moved to Florence, Italy, where he took up shoe-making.

It was veteran Hollywood director Martin Scorsese, who brought the actor back to filmmaking in 'Gangs of New York'.

He also famously quit the stage in 1989 when he walked out on a production of 'Hamlet' mid-performance at the National Theatre in London, saying that he had seen his father's ghost.

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Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has apologised to the people of Marawi for declaring martial law in Mindanao island and vowed to rebuild the city which was destroyed after four weeks of fierce fighting between forces and ISIS affliated militants.

Duterte said the Maute militants, who have pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) left him no choice but to impose military rule.

"I hope in the soonest time, you will find a new heart to forgive my soldiers, the government, even me for declaring martial law. I did not have any choice. They are destroying Marawi I have to drive them out but I am very sorry," CNN reported the president as saying during his visit to an evacuation center in Iligan City.

"I will rebuild Marawi,"he promised.

The city has been reduced to rubble as Philippine army used tanks and 'surgical strikes' against members of the Islamic State-linked Maute group in the city of Marawi .

According to the government more than 330,000 people have been forced to flee their homes after the imposition of martial law. The battle has resulted in numerous deaths and triggered a humanitarian crisis in the country.

The majority has found shelter with friends and family, but more than 16,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) are crowded into evacuation centers, where government agencies are trying to provide basic necessities.

The declaration of martial law is the subject of petitions at the Supreme Court questioning the necessity and factual basis for it.

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To celebrate the third International Yoga Day, Yoga guru Ramdev and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani participated in a Yoga camp here.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah also graced the event.

Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu took to Twitter and appealed to the people to make the ancient practice a part of their daily life to experience the tranquility of mind, body and spirit!

"Happy International #YogaDay2017 to one and all! Make yoga a part of your daily life to experience the tranquility of mind, body & spirit!" he tweeted.

Happy International #YogaDay2017 to one and all! Make yoga a part of your daily life to experience the tranquility of mind, body & spirit! pic.twitter.com/m0jzXpy8bj  M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) June 21, 2017

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also urged the people to make Yoga an inseparable part of their lives, while asserting that it is the key to a healthy world.

As we march forward on the path of devpt,it is imp to have healthy citizen,healthy society&healthy Nation.

Yoga is the key to Healthy World!  Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) June 21, 2017

#Yoga not only helps with physical fitness but also boosts efficiency & confidence.

I appeal to make #Yoga an inseparable part of your life! pic.twitter.com/u3HPzPUvwR  Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) June 21, 2017

Hundreds of countries are uniting to mark the Yoga Day today. Celebrations have already begun in India as well as in many other countries across the globe.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also arrived at Uttar Pradesh's Ramabai Ambedkar Ground to participate in the International Yoga Day function 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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Rejoice coffee lovers! Researchers have recently improved the accuracy of a scanner used to map the skull of nose and throat surgical patients with six cups of ground coffee.

The team has designed a 'granular jamming cap' filled with coffee grounds that can improve the accuracy of the sophisticated 'GPS' system that surgeons use for nose and throat surgery.

The findings indicated that the cap reduced targeting errors by 83 percent.

The study, conducted by Vanderbilt University proposed 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.

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.

"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.

"When we heard about this, we began wondering what was causing these errors and we decided to investigate," Webster added.

They designed three tests to determine how well this "granular jamming cap" performed relative to the current headband in reducing targeting error:

"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," explained another researcher Paul Russell.

The study was presented at the International Conference on Information Processing in Computer-Assisted Interventions in Barcelona.

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The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council had announced 12 percent tax rate for Indian traditional Namkeen, Savories, Farsan, Potato Chips, Banana Chips and so on. This rate should be reduced to 5 percent to maintain uniformity with the GST rate for sweet meats and Mithai, stated Ajit Mota, President - Snack Food Association of Maharashtra.

The GST rate for Namkeen is 12 percent (double from the present tax) but industry hardly receives any input credit as its raw materials are agro based. There is no tax on raw materials like potato, banana, maida, besan, salt and pulses. There is only a marginal tax on masala. Namkeens and sweets are sold from the same shop and are interrelated products from the point of view for common men consumption. With 12 percent GST, the effective prices of all the products would increase by at least 6 to 8 percent.

Sweets, namkeens, potato wafers, banana chips and other products made from similar ingredients are sold from same shops. So it would be quite difficult for shop owners to maintain exact bifurcation of sales. Thus it leaves a big avenue for tax officials for manipulations and corruptions.

Ajit further stated that Pan India Industry size for Namkeens is large, with 8 to 10 percent growth rate per annum. 95 percent of the industry has been located in the unorganised sector. Mainly this industry consists of home units, cottage units and small scale units. These units operate at a very thin margin. Thus, the industry could not sustain 12 percent GST rate, resulting in closing down of units, which would lead to large scale unemployment.

Pradeep S. Jain, Secretary: Shree Mumbai Mishtan Vyavasai Sahakari Mandal Ltd. urged the authorities to reduce the GST rate for Namkeen, potato wafer and banana chips to 5 percent from the proposed 12 percent. He has asked the authorities to merge it with the rate of sweet meats and mithai, at 5 percent.

K.L. Daga, Committee Member of the Snack Food Association of Maharashtra informed that there is no clarity of GST rate on hot snacks like Dhokla, Jalebi, Samosa, Kachori and so on. If the hot snacks are consumed in AC Restaurants, it would attract 18 percent GST rate. It is 5 percent on Vada-Pav. Thus proper clarification of GST on Hot Snacks is still awaited from authorities.

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The Sri Lankan Navy on Wednesday arrested four Tamil Nadu fishermen for allegedly fishing in Sri Lanka's territorial waters.

The navy also seized one boat used by the fishermen near Delft Island.

Earlier on Sunday, five Indian fishermen were also arrested for allegedly fishing in Sri Lankan waters.

"Naval personnel attached to a Fast Attack Craft belonging to the Northern Naval Command arrested five Indian poachers along with a fishing trawler engaged in illegal fishing practices in Sri Lankan territorial waters west of Delft Island this morning," the Sri Lankan Navy said in a statement.

The arrested Indians were handed over to the Jaffna Assistant Director of Fisheries for a legal action.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pardoned an undocumented immigrant who has been detained since February and is facing deportation.

Cuomo granted clemency to Carlos Cardona, a Colombian-born immigrant who lives in Queens. Cardona has been held at Hudson Correctional Facility in New Jersey after being apprehended by federal immigration officials.

Cardona was convicted of a nonviolent offense  attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance  in 1990, according to Cuomo's office. He hasn't committed a crime since.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Cardona, who is now 48 years old, worked for four months as a cleanup and hazardous materials recovery worker at ground zero.

He married an American citizen who also aided the recovery effort at ground zero. His daughter, who is 19, is in college.

Cuomo's office noted that Cardona has health issues stemming from his work at ground zero, including acute respiratory problems, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

"In the more than 30 years since Carlos Cardona has lived in this country, he has built a family and given back to his community, including in the aftermath of 9/11 when he assisted with ground zero recovery efforts at the expense of his own health," Cuomo said in a statement.

"It is my hope that this action will not only reunite Mr. Cardona with his wife and daughter, but also send a message about the values of fairness and equality that New York was founded upon."

With the pardon, Cardona will be able to reopen the final order of removal to show that the reason for his deportation is no longer valid.

Cuomo's action was lauded by several organizations, including the Hispanic Federation.

The group's president, Jose Calderon, said Cardona has "given back so much and conclusively turned his life around."

"With this pardon, Mr. Cardona will be able to make his case to stay in this country with his family, and continue to receive care for his serious medical conditions," he said.
A suspected terrorist who detonated a suitcase at the Brussels Central Station in a failed terror attack has been identified as a Moroccan national in his 30s who was shot dead by soldiers on patrol.

The man who attempted to detonate an explosive belt, has been identified as a Moroccan national in his 30s, CNN quoted Belgium Prosecutor's Office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt, as saying.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said a suitcase bomb packed with nails and gas bottles could have caused heavy casualties. We have aborted the attack that could have been much worse.

Belgium would not be intimidated by terrorists, Prime Minister Michel added, saying: "We want to defend our liberty."

Belgian police said the situation at Brussels Central is under control with no other casualties on Tuesday night after what police described as a small explosion.

The man wearing an explosive belt at Brussels Central station ran towards soldiers on patrol shouting "Allahu Akbar" - "God is great" in Arabic - before the blast,Van Der Sypt further said.

"This is considered as a terrorist attack," said the federal prosecutor's office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt. "The suspect has been neutralised by the military that were present at the scene immediately after the explosion," he said.

Brussels Central Station was evacuated and was closed for Tuesday morning as armed patrols, including two bomb disposal units, surrounded the station. It reopened to travelers on Wednesday morning.

The country will remain at Threat Level 3, meaning there is a serious and real threat, but an imminent attack is not deemed likely, he said.

A concert by the band Coldplay at the King Baudouin Stadium will go ahead Wednesday night as planned, with additional security measures, Michel said.

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United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday called Saudi Arabia's new crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to congratulate him on his recent elevation and discussed ways to resolve the ongoing dispute in the gulf region.

"The President and the Crown Prince committed to close cooperation to advance our shared goals of security, stability, and prosperity across the Middle East and beyond," the White House said in a statement.

"The two leaders discussed the priority of cutting off all support for terrorists and extremists, as well as how to resolve the ongoing dispute with Qatar. They discussed efforts to achieve a lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians," the statement added.

They also discussed ways to further deepen economic cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Recently, six Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as well as the Western-recognised governments of Yemen and Libya, abruptly cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, after accusing it of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamist political movement that allegedly supports pro-Iran militias, and funding terror activities.

Following the crisis, Iranian officials had accused the U.S. of setting the scene for the escalating Gulf diplomatic crisis during President Donald Trump's recent trip to the Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been accused of being responsible for the prevailing Gulf crisis, has offered to host a White House meeting to resolve it.

"In a call with Qatari Emir Tameem Bin Hamad Al Thani, the President offered to help the parties resolve their differences, including through a meeting at the White House if necessary," said a White House statement.

The statement said that Trump emphasised the importance of all countries in the region working together to prevent the financing of terrorist organisations and stop the promotion of extremist ideology.

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Republican Senator Marco Rubio opened a Twitter 'investigation' on Tuesday afternoon, after his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump the same day went viral on twitter.

A photograph of the two in an awkward attempt to embrace was posted on twitter, following which the U.S. senator was trolled by twitteratis.

Marco Rubio hugs Ivanka like she's a giant bottle of water. pic.twitter.com/KgfoNTtb2O  Diane N. Sevenay (@Diane_7A) June 20, 2017

Can you. Do you mind if I? Just a little. Okay. Here's. Are you okay with this? I just wanted to. Hi. Can I? Do you? https://t.co/ORVzdX3DF3  Chris Tisch (@christisch1) June 20, 2017

Left in indignation by the twitter burst, Rubio in an act of defiance posted several photographs on twitter.

Just left Intel comm & informed meeting 2day with @IvankaTrump blowing up twitter over alleged failed hug! Investigating. Will respond soon  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

A few minutes later, Rubio expressed in a tweet that he has his own evidence to call the hug 'unattempted' and his team is seeking evidence for the same.

We believe we have our own unclassified photographic evidence that will shed greater details on this incident.  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

He posted pictures which provided an insight to the failed hug.

New photo emerges providing more insight into alleged failed hug. (Faces blurred for security purposes) pic.twitter.com/GzSLe3JD3I  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

BREAKING NEWS: Additional photo from moments right after today's alleged failed hug provide new details to this developing story. pic.twitter.com/TFyhB2cQuM  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

In his last tweet, Rubio concluded the case by asserting that based on his recollection of the incident, no hug was attempted.

Based on review of evidence & my own recollection, have concluded no hug was even attempted & press covfefe of alleged failed hug is false  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

Contradicting Rubio's tweets, Ivanka confirmed that there was a hug attempted.

Anonymous sources say @marcorubio planned the alleged failed hug. I have no comment (but I would have hugged him anyway! ??) https://t.co/TChrqWsL4D  Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2017

Fake news! Marco is an excellent hugger... https://t.co/Dk7XXRQlX8  Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2017

Earlier on Tuesday, Ivanka Trump was at the Capitol Hill to meet Rubio and other law makers to discuss "pro-family" tax reforms.

According to CNN, Rubio said that Ivanka had expressed in different elements which should be present in pro-family tax reform.

He said, "We wanted her and the White House to be exposed to individual members who have been working on pieces that I think can be part of that reform."

The President's daughter has been supporting the cause since 2015.

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Addressing the gathering at the International Yoga Day celebrations here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Yoga has become an integral part of every Indian household.

Conveying his greetings to all those who joined the Yoga Day 2017 celebrations across India and the world, Prime Minister Modi said Yoga's immense popularity outside India is high and has connected the world with India.

"I am happy to see so many Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing. Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness," Prime Minister Modi said.

"I am glad to see several Yoga institutes take shape over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing," he added.

Speaking at the venue ahead of Prime Minister Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath thanked volunteers for waiting patiently despite rainfall.

"Yoga is an art of living. It teaches to remain united. Yoga is a part of our tradition and it integrates us," he said.

Meanwhile, the 80 minute Yoga session is in full swing despite the heavy rain.

In order to make the International Yoga Day programme a success, various organisations, NGOs and Yoga gurus have held camps and practice sessions.

Massive security arrangements are in place in the state capital in view of Prime Minister's visit. Large numbers of police officers and 25 companies of PAC are deployed.

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To open 8 Visa Application Centers in five Gulf countries

BLS International Services has been awarded the Contract from Embassy of Afghanistan in U.A.E. for Five Gulf Countries - i.e., UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar.

The Company shall open nearly 8 Visa Application Centers to support the Embassy of Afghanistan & Consulates General of Afghanistan of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

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CG Power and Industrial Solutions gained 2.3% to Rs 86.75 at 10:15 IST on BSE after the company announced that it accepted a binding offer of WEG S.A. for acquisition of the company's power business in USA.

The announcement was made during market hours today, 21 June 2017.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 80.13 points, or 0.26%, to 31,217.40. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 7.83 points, or 0.05%, to 14,853.12.

On the BSE, 1.08 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far, compared with average daily volumes of 5.15 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 87.10 and a low of Rs 84 so far during the day.

The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 97.30 on 26 May 2017. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 55.60 on 26 December 2016.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 20 June 2017, falling 7.47% compared with 2.73% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 15.22% as against Sensex's 6.03% gains. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market in past one year, gaining 14.67% as against Sensex's 16.49% gains.

The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 125.35 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

CG Power & Industrial Solutions has accepted a binding offer of WEG S.A. for acquisition of the company's power business in USA comprised in the company's step down overseas subsidiary, CG Power USA Inc. (PSUS), at an enterprise value of $37 million.

In this regard, CG Power Systems Belgium N.V., the company's step down overseas subsidiary has executed a stock purchase agreement on 20 June 2017 with WEG Electric Corp for sale of its 100% stake in PSUS, comprising exclusively of the company's power business at closing.

The SPA is expected to close by 31 July 2017 upon which CG Power USA Inc. will cease to be an overseas subsidiary of the Company.

The deal is part of the company's stated strategy of debt reduction and on focusing on its core operations and core market in India.

WEG SA is a Brazilian company and a global player in electro-electronic products.

On 26 May 2017, the company had said that it received an offer for acquisition of the company's power business in United States of America, comprised in its subsidiary, PSUS. The board decided to divest the power business of PSUS for which the company had constituted a committee to consider the offer and decide on the terms and conditions of acceptance of the offer and closure. The requisite shareholders approval is in place as part of the divestment of the overseas T&D business divestment. The board had mandated the committee to complete the process by 30 June 2017.

CG Power & Industrial Solutions reported consolidated net loss of Rs 444 crore in Q4 March 2017 compared with net loss of Rs 92.90 crore in Q4 March 2016. Net sales fell 7.6% to Rs 1710.06 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016.

Erstwhile Crompton Greaves, CG Power & Industrial Solutions provides end-to-end solutions, helping its customers use electrical power effectively and increase industrial productivity with sustainability.

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Kirloskar Oil Engines gained 1.29% to Rs 392 at 9:45 IST on BSE after the company's board approved the proposal for acquisition of 100% equity shares of La-Gajjar Machineries.

The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 87.99 points, or 0.28% to 31,209.54. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 16.53 points, or 0.11% to 14,828.76.

On the BSE, 641 shares were traded in the counter so far, compared with average daily volumes of 6,112 shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 399 and a low of Rs 391.05 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 416 on 8 May 2017. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 250 on 17 June 2016.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 20 June 2017, falling 1.16% compared with 2.73% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, declining 0.6% as against Sensex's 6.03% gains. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one year, gaining 48.5% as against Sensex's 16.49% gains.

The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 28.92 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

Kirloskar Oil Engines said that the board of directors of company in a meeting held on 19 June 2017, had approved the proposal for acquisition of 100% equity shares of La-Gajjar Machineries Private Limited (LGM). This is subject to signing of definitive agreements.

76% stake will be acquired with immediate effect and the balance 24% would be acquired on or before the completion of 5 years from the closing date. The closing is expected to be completed within 3 months subject to fulfilling of conditions as may be specified in the definitive agreements.

The final acquisition price will be determined based on 7.89 times the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) multiple of the company for FY 2018. The acquisition price would also be subject to certain adjustments for changes in net working capital and net debt on closing. No governmental or regulatory approvals are required for the acquisition.

LGM provides the company strong and established footprint into the electric pump market and further consolidates on company's strong position in the pump segment. LGM was incorporated in 1981 and is into manufacturing of oil filled motors in India. LGM clocked revenue of Rs 400 crore in FY 2017.

Kirloskar Oil Engines' net profit fell 24.3% to Rs 44.22 crore on 2.8% rise in net sales to Rs 700.33 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016.

Kirloskar Oil Engines is one of the leading and largest manufacturers of diesel engines.

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L&T was up 0.11% to Rs 1,752.50 at 15:11 IST on BSE on reports the Government of India sold 2.5% stake in the company via block deals on the stock exchanges today, 21 June 2017.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 16.55 points or 0.05% at 31,280.98.

On the BSE, 2.39 crore shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 1.97 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 1,781.40 and a low of Rs 1,751.55 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,834 on 30 May 2017 and a 52-week low of Rs 1,295.30 on 9 November 2016.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 20 June 2017, gaining 1.54% compared with the Sensex's 2.73% rise. The stock had, however, outperformed the market over the past one quarter, advancing 13.8% as against the Sensex's 6.03% rise. The scrip had underperformed the market over the past one year, gaining 16.27% as against the Sensex's 16.49% rise.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 186.68 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

As per reports, the Government of India (GoI), through the state-owned Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India (SUUTI) sold about 2.5% stake in L&T through block deals on the stock exchanges today, 21 June 2017.

SUUTI owned a 6.55% stake in L&T end March 2017.

Meanwhile, media reports suggested that ABB India is in discussions with L&T to acquire the latter's electrical and automation division. According to reports, ABB has offered over Rs 14000 crore for the deal and discussions are yet to arrive at a final figure.

In a separate development, NHPC announced after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017 that it has awarded EPC contract for the development of 50 megawatts (MW) Solar Power project in Tamil Nadu to L&T for an amount of Rs 287.48 crore. The project is slated to complete in 9 months.

L&T's consolidated net profit rose 28.1% to Rs 3180.41 crore on 12% increase in net sales to Rs 36827.99 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016.

L&T is a major Indian multinational engaged in technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services.

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For setting various targets for year 2017-18

NHPC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 20 June 2017 with Ministry of Power, Government of India for year 2017-18. The salient features of the MoU are enlisted below -

Generation target under excellent rating has been set as 24000 MU as against last year target of 23500 MU.

Excellent targets for Revenue from Operations has been kept as Rs 7350 crore.

Operating Profit as a % of Revenue from Operations (Net) has been kept as 25.09%.

PAT/ Average Networth has been kept as 7.15%.

Ensure optimum utilisation of budget CAPEX programme of NHPC has been assigned 10% weightage in the MOU 2017-18.

Further, targets regarding Plant Availability Factor, Forced Outage and Reduction in outstanding claims, Trade Receivables , Dividend/ PAT etc have been included in the MoU. Human Resources Management (HRM) related parameters have also been included with 10% weightage in the MOU.

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Thomas Cook (India) said that Travel Corporation (India) Limited, wholly owned subsidiary of the company, intimated that it has successfully subscribed to 49% of equity share capital of TCI-Go Vacation India Private Limited, a joint venture Company with DER Touristik Group. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017.

Tech Mahindra said that one of the company's step down subsidiary, LCC Middle East FZ LLC agreed to sell its 100% shareholding in LCC Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd. to Talkpool AG, Switzerland. The announcement was made before market hours today, 21 June 2017.

ICICI Bank announced that the Committee of Executive Directors of the Bank at its meeting held on 20 June 2017 has approved the proposal for fund raising by way of issuance of senior unsecured long term bonds in the nature of debentures in single/multiple tranches on private placement basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017.

Kirloskar Oil Engines said that, the board of directors in its meeting held on 19 June 2017, had approved the proposal for acquisition of 100% equity shares of La-Gajjar Machineries Private Limited (LGM). This is subject to signing of definitive agreements. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017.

Somany Ceramics said that the company has issued commercial paper of Rs 40 crore value dated 20th June 2017 having maturity on 15th September, 2017. The issuance of commercial paper is to reduce high interest bearing cash credit limits and in turn reducing cost of borrowing. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017.

Capital First that the meeting of the debenture committee of the board of directors of the company will be held on 23 June 2017 to consider and approve the private placement of rated, listed, secured/ unsecured/ perpetual, redeemable non-convertible securities in the nature of debentures. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017.

JK Paper said that India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), has upgraded JK Paper's (JKPL) Long-Term Issuer Rating to 'IND A-' from 'IND BBB+', the outlook is positive and Short-term Issuer Rating to 'IND A1' from 'IND A2+'. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017.

NHPC said that company has awarded EPC contract for the development of 50 megawatts (MW) Solar Power project in Tamil Nadu to L&T for an amount of Rs 287.48 crore. The project is slated to complete in 9 months. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has entered into a licensing agreement with Boston-based APC Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on building a portfolio of best-in-class immuno-oncology (IO) therapies, for exclusive rights to a small molecule, oncology compound based on Antigen Presenting Cell (APC) biology. The compound has the potential to be used as a monotherapy or in combination with approved therapies to address unmet needs in cancer treatment. The announcement was made before market hours today, 21 June 2017.

Under the terms of the agreement, Glenmark will license the product from APC Therapeutics, and manage all clinical development including regulatory filings and commercialization worldwide. APC Therapeutics will receive development milestones and sales royalty payments.

ALTBalaji has integrated with JioMoney, the mobile wallet from Reliance Payment Solutions to provide digital transaction experience to its subscribers. The integration will enable easy and hassel-free subscription payments for ALTBalaji's customers. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017.

SEAMEC announced that upon completion of contract with Kreuz Subsea Technologies, the company has entered into a contract for charter hire of vessel 'SEAMEC III' with L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering for undertaking a job in Mumbai High. The tenure of the contract is for a period of 7 days with option for extension. The contract will commence from around 22 June 2017. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 June 2017.

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Community-driven hospitality company Airbnb on Wednesday announced partnership with World Bank Group with an aim to boost rural tourism.

Airbnb and the World Bank Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner in boosting developing economies through tourism at the Tourism Knowledge Exchange 2017 here with the theme of 'Delivering on Inclusion Through Tourism', read a statement.

Through the agreement, they will examine ways in which emerging destinations use new technology and platforms to create economic opportunities for communities that have not benefited from tourism and hospitality.

The two organisations will also share information on the current scale of alternative accommodation options and home-sharing across several countries, beginning with pilot projects in Sri Lanka and India. They will apply lessons learned before rolling out the initiative to other countries.

"We are excited to partner with the World Bank Group to study the development impacts of home-sharing and pilot projects in emerging tourist destinations," said Clark Stevens, Director, Government Affairs and Strategic Partnerships at Airbnb.

--IANS

sug/ks/dg

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BJP chief Amit Shah joined thousands of people here on Wednesday doing pranayam, yoga and meditation at a mass demonstration led by yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who was eyeing world records on the International Yoga Day.

However, rain played a spoilsport and prevented many from attending the mega event held simultaneously at five grounds including those belonging to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, the Gujarat University and the Ahmedabad Education Society.

The event was co-organised by the Gujarat government with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani sharing the dais with Shah and Ramdev.

Before performing the asanas, Ramdev said officials of the Guinness World Records were at the grounds which had 100 entry points, 100 giant LED screens and 10,000 volunteers from Patanjali Yogpeeth Gurukul ensuring smooth run of the event for the popular ancient physical and spiritual exercise.

"This is the world's biggest event. Anyone who has to study event management they should come to (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji's Gujarat and see how lakhs of people began assembling here from 3 a.m.," Ramdev said.

He said the event intended to create a world record for the highest number of people performing pranayam, yoga, and meditation at one location at a given time and another world record for the highest number of people at multiple locations performing yoga in sync.

Ramdev said every person entering the venue was bar coded to keep the count of gathering.

However, it was not immediately known how many participated in the event.

The International Yoga Day debuted in 2015 after a UN backed the India-sponsored initiative that was supported by over 170 member states.

According to the Guinness World Records, 2105 Yoga Day celebrations saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading thousands in a spectacular mass participation of 35,985 people in Delhi -- making it the largest yoga session in the world.

Ramdev advised people to emulate Modi and Shah on the practice of yoga.

"Both Narendrabhai (Modi) and Amitbhai perform yoga every day without fail and everybody should follow them," Ramdev told the gathering.

Praising the portly Shah who was seated beside him on the stage, the yoga guru said while the BJP chief had gained "political weight, he had worked real hard to reduce his weight".

"He has aamla and aloe vera juice every morning and does not eat anything after 7 p.m. He performs yoga every day," Ramdev said.

--IANS

sar/vt

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The world must be prepared for an asteroid strike, which is just a matter of time, warns a leading astrophysicist from Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland.

It is a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen, said Alan Fitzsimmons.

Fitzsimmons was highlighting the threat for Asteroid Day, a global event on June 30.

On that day in 1908, a small asteroid exploded over Tunguska in Siberia and devastated 800 square miles.

A similar unexpected strike in today's world could easily destroy a major city and a larger asteroid could be more dangerous, Fitzsimmons warned.

"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," Fitzsimmons said in a statement released by Queen's University Belfast.

"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.

Fitzsimmons will be joined by other astronauts and experts for discussions and presentations to be be streamed live from Luxembourg on June 30.

--IANS

gb/mr

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One's mind should be truly secular while practising yoga, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Wednesday.

"Yoga should not be mistaken as a religious ritual. It can be practised by all and it is just a physical exercise and needs to be seen in that manner," Vijayan said at an event held to mark the third International Yoga Day.

He said when doing yoga, the mind should be truly secular.

"But today it has come to light that some have hijacked yoga by reciting hymns. What must be noted is yoga was in existence even before the hymns came into existence," added the Marxist leader.

Across Kerala, the yoga day was observed at several places.

--IANS

sg/mr/sar

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Bihar's ruling grand alliance led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stayed away from the third edition of the International Yoga Day celebrations here on Wednesday.

Besides the Chief Minister and his Ministers, even senior leaders of the grand alliance of the Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress were missing from the yoga events.

"Neither Nitish Kumar, nor Tejashwi Yadav his deputy and younger son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad attended the celebrations," a government official said.

However, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including four Union Ministers and senior party leaders took part in the celebrations, which were attended by hundreds of people across the state.

The state government did not hold any special event to mark the International Yoga Day, the official added.

Union Ministers Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ram Kirpal Yadav and Radhaa Mohan Singh, however, took part in the event across the state.

Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Paswan, who is also the chief of the Lok Janshakti Party, an ally of the BJP, attended the event in his parliamentary constituency in Hajipur. He practiced yoga with hundreds of people there.

Union Minister for Law and Justice and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad attended the yoga event at a park here.

"There should not be any politics over yoga. We want to use yoga to unite the country. Nitish Kumar should have practiced yoga at Gandhi Maidan," Prasad said.

Ram Kirpal Yadav, who is the Minister Of State (Independent Charge) Rural Development, attended a yoga programme at the Paliganj Adarsh Gram in his parliamentary constituency of Patliputra, while his colleague Radha Mohan Singh, who is Minister of Agriculture, attended a Motihari event.

BJP state chief Nityanand Rai and senior party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi also took part in yoga events here.

JD-U spokesperson Sanjay Singh dared the BJP leaders to first enforce total prohibition in the country or at least in the BJP-ruled states, only then will the JD-U join the Yoga Day celebrations from 2018, he said.

"It is not us, BJP has been doing politics over yoga by branding it with PM Modi and using it as a part of its agenda," Singh said.

Nitish Kumar, who practices yoga every morning, told the media on Monday: "I also practice yoga and would like people too to practice it." He, however, opposed the political propaganda over the issue and termed the BJP leaders brouhaha over Yoga Day as nothing more than a publicity stunt.

--IANS

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If more Indian mothers can be persuaded to care for their babies like kangaroo mothers do, many of the 750,000 babies younger than four weeks who die every year --the world's highest such death toll -- can be saved.

Kangaroo mothers keep babies in regular skin contact, an easy, low-cost intervention that can save lives in India, Somashekhar Nimbalkar, 45, a coordinator of the Advanced Neonatal Resuscitation Program of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, told IndiaSpend in an email interview.

Although the rate of neonatal mortality has declined from 52 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 28 in 2013, the rate of decline has been slower than that of infant and under-five mortality. But lasting change, said Nimbalkar -currently head of the pediatrics department at the Pramukhswami Medical College in Karamsad, Gujarat -can only come from transforming public-health institutions.

Q: The neonatal mortality rate (NMR) in India has declined, yet 750,000 babies under four months die every year in India, the highest in any country. What are the main causes of the high NMR rate?

A: The main causes are the same across the world. They are prematurity, infection and birth asphyxia.

Q: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh are the states with the highest neonatal mortality rate in India. Why don't these states struggle to prevent neonatal deaths?

A: We do not have published literature which tracks reasons for mortality state-wise. We can however speculate that poor public-health infrastructure, including poor availability of human resources, would be the reason for this. Nurses are an important component of the system and resource allocation by states for nurses and doctors is poor. The salaries in the government sector across India are not competitive, and, thus, the best do not join government jobs.

Q: Pre-term birth complications (43.7%) and infections (20.8%) are the leading causes of neonatal deaths in India. What are the factors responsible?

A: The cause of prematurity cannot be pinpointed, but there are risk factors which occur in those who deliver preterm babies. For spontaneously delivered preterm babies, adolescent pregnancy, advanced maternal age, or short inter-pregnancy interval, diabetes, hypertension and other diseases are well known as risk factors.

Considering that most Indian adolescents are undernourished and anaemic, this can be one of the factors that can be pointed out. Also excess physical activity in poor women as well as domestic violence and bacterial vaginosis can be considered prevalent. There are no current studies which look at risk factors for prematurity in India and their relative prevalence.

Q: Despite the rise in institutional deliveries, 78.9% according to National Family Health Survey 2015-16, why do most deaths (36.9%) happen in the first 24 hours of birth?

A: Typically, 50% of neonatal deaths occur in the first day of life. Thus a figure of 36.9% constitutes a reduction from earlier figures and is encouraging. Unless the antenatal care and prematurity rates improve, reduction of neonatal mortality rates will be difficult though ongoing efforts show a reduction.

Q: What impact did schemes such as Janani Suraksha Yojana and Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (central government programmes) have on neonatal and infant health?

A: Overall there has been an increase in institutional deliveries across India and it is expected that mortality rates will improve. However, most studies have shown deficiency in quality of care at the public health institutions and unless steps are taken to improve quality, mortality rates will not improve.

Quality is again dependent on provision of resources - material as well as manpower - and using data locally for improvement.

Q: What are the low-cost interventions that can save lives of neonates in India but have not been popularised or utilised?

A: Kangaroo Mother care (KMC) -- where babies are kept in skin-to-skin contact with their parent -- faces significant challenges in its implementation across India. It is a low-cost intervention which if scaled across India can have a major effect on neonatal mortality.

India has available expertise in KMC, but it is not utilised by state governments. However, no one knows how much is being given in public or private health institutions. Social support during childbirth has major advantages. While it may be used in primary health centres, it does not find support in larger centres, including medical colleges.

Anaemia is a major problem in Indian women. It is a known problem and there are cheap medicines that can treat it. However, this is one area that finds no solutions in the rural landscape. Many women do not consume the tablets given.

Most state governments and central governments do not use evidence-based policy making for launch of any health programmes. The programmes are also not evaluated by academic institutions for their impact.

Implementation science and launching of complex interventions are newer arenas in which there is poor interest from policy makers. Putting money after bad policies will never give the desired results.

Q: Why are the challenges India faces from the shortage of healthcare resources and poor training? What could the solutions be?

Since 2005, India has made extensive budgetary allocations for rural healthcare. Whether the desired gains have occurred is not known. There is also a disconnect and differential funding between the health department and the national health mission department. The main issue is that the states do not have an idea as to how to solve the challenges. The solutions are based on good faith rather than demonstrated efficacy and hence the problems do not get solved.

Q: What are the challenges in doing good quality health research in India?

Non availability of quality data, as there is pressure to dress up the data. Once one has poor data, one cannot plan an intervention. Poor availability of funds for research and absence of quality researchers is also an issue.

(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. Feedback at respond@indiaspend.org <mailto:respond@indiaspend.org>)

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government on Tuesday allowed the RBI to accept demonetised notes collected by District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) immediately after the note ban, a long-time demand of the BJP's ally Shiv Sena.

The gazette notification came on a day the Shiv Sena made a U-turn and announced its support for the NDA Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, just one day after saying that his choice amounted to caste appeasement.

Maharashtra minister Diwakar Raote of the Shiv Sena had demanded last week that over Rs 2,770 crore in junked notes lying with the DCCBs be accepted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The exchange, he had said, could enable the district banks to offer fresh loans to farmers in the current crisis situation in the state.

Maharashtra's district cooperative banks had Rs 2,771.86 crore in old notes as of March 18, 2017. The figure was Rs 5,458.59 crore on November 14, 2016. The demonetisation was announced on November 8 night.

The DCCBs were barred from accepting the old notes after November 14.

The gazette notification says the DCCBs can now deposit the demonetised currency, collected during the five days between November 10 and November 14 after demonetisation, within a month starting on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram suggested that the decision on DCCBs may be linked to the Shiv Sena backing for Kovind, a former Bihar Governor.

"Was the midnight notification perfectly timed with garnering support for Presidential candidate?" the Congress leader tweeted.

The notification also allows banks and post offices which had collected demonetised currency prior to December 30, 2016 to deposit them with the RBI.

The deposits can be made under Specified Bank Notes (Deposits by Banks, Post Offices and District Central Cooperative Banks) Rules, 2017.

The notification by the Department of Economic Affairs says the demonetised notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 may be deposited by "such Bank, Post Office or District Central Cooperative Bank, as the case may be, in any office of the Reserve Bank, within a period of 30 days from the commence of these rules, and get the exchange value thereof by credit to the account such Bank, Post Office, or District Central Cooperative Bank, as the case may be, subject to the satisfaction of the Reserve Bank of the conditions specified in the said Notification and the reasons for non-deposit of the specific bank notes within the period under that notification".

Officials said the deposits would be accepted in pursuance of an assurance given to the Supreme Court by the government that proper verification of each account would be done before any decision was taken.

Such a verification was done between January and May this year and it was found that the accounts complied with the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, the officials said.

The Shiv Sena, which had been sulking over various issues and had demanded that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat or eminent agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan be declared the Presidential candidate, declared its support to the NDA nominee on Tuesday evening.

On Monday, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had slammed the move to field Kovind, saying it was meant to appease caste sentiments because of his Dalit origin. But the party made a U-turn on Tuesday.

--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.)
Tamil Nadu's main opposition DMK and allies Congress and IUML on Wednesday walked out of the state assembly to protest Speaker P. Dhanapal's decision not to read out the Governor's letter on a DMK representation over a sting.

In the sting, an AIADMK legislator allegedly said that lawmakers were offered gold and huge sums of money to vote in favour of Chief Minister K. Palaniswami during the confidence vote on February 18.

In response to DMK Working President M.K. Stalin's representation, Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao had sent the letter, along with representation and a compact disc, to Speaker P. Dhanapal and Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan for appropriate action.

When Stalin urged the Speaker to read out the Governor's letter, Dhanapal said he would go through the communique and reply and that there was no need for him to give an explanation in the house.

Following this, the legislators of the DMK, Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) walked out of the assembly.

Stalin later told the that the Governor's letter is in response to the DMK's representation and as per the assembly rules the communication from the Governor to the assembly has to be read out to members.

--IANS

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A 30-member French business delegation led by Paul Hermelin, Special Representative for Bilateral Economic Relations, will arrive here on Thursday with aims to expand Indo-French bilateral cooperation, an official statement said here on Wednesday.

The high-powered delegations, comprising heads of major world-renowned French companies will present their expertise and know-how with focus on sectors like renewable energy, urban development and Smart Cities.

Nagpur is among three cities - including Chandigarh and Puducherry - selected to receive technical assistance from the French government through the French Development Agency as part of its support towards the implementation of the Smart Cities Mission in India.

During the visit, Hermelin will meet Nagpur Municipal Corporation Mayor Nanda Jichkar and NMC Municipal Commissioner Ashwin Mudgal, who are taking a keen interest in the Smart Cities programme.

The French delegation will go out in the field to visit the upcoming Maha Metro, the newly unveiled electric cars facility and the riverfront development sites.

Civic officials will make a detailed presentation on the implementation of the Smart Cities Programme and the French side will offer technical solutions from its side.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
France's Justice Minister Francois Bayrou on Wednesday handed in his resignation as his party battles a funding scandal.

Bayrou's resignation comes hours before President Emmanuel Macron reshuffles his government, BBC reported.

The minister's centrist party MoDem, allied to Macron's La Republique en Marche party, is facing an inquiry into claims that it used EU funds to pay party workers.

MoDem has lost all three posts in Macron's cabinet within 24 hours. Defence Minister and former member of European Parliament Sylvie Goulard was the first MoDem minister to hand in her resignation on Tuesday.

After Bayrou said he was standing down, it became clear that European Affairs Minister Marielle de Sarnez was also leaving the government to take over as head of MoDem in the National Assembly, the report said.

Macron's close ally Richard Ferrand also stepped down on Monday amid allegations that he had used insider information to secure a property deal for his wife while he was head of a mutual health insurance fund.

Ferrand and Goulard denied any wrongdoing. Bayrou said he will hold a press conference later in the day at 5 p.m.

--IANS

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For more than a year, U.S. Rep. John Katko has been attempting to build support for his pro-business alternative to paid family leave: Parental savings accounts that would allow workers to set money aside if they're having a child or need to care for a loved one.

On Wednesday, he took his pitch to one of the most influential members of President Donald Trump's administration: Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter.

Katko's office confirmed that the Republican congressman and a small group of his colleagues met with Trump to discuss paid family leave.

Katko was invited to attend the meeting by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Trump has advocated for the adoption of a federal paid leave program. She persuaded her father to include paid family leave in his campaign platform. When President Trump's administration released its budget plan, it included a federal program that would grant six weeks of paid leave for the adoption or birth of a child.

Ivanka Trump is now attempting to build support among members of Congress. She met with U.S. senators, including U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, on Tuesday. A day later, she met with McCarthy, Katko and other members of the House.

Katko's proposal wouldn't establish a federal paid leave program like Trump's plan would, but he believes it's a viable alternative. His bill would create tax-free savings accounts that parents could tap into for the birth or adopting of a child. The funds could be used for other purposes, including child care and medical expenses.

The savings accounts would be flexible. The funds could be added to a retirement account or a 529 college savings account.

It would be optional for employees and employers, which is a key difference from other paid leave proposals. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's FAMILY Act, for example, would establish a national paid leave program using a modest tax paid by employees and employers. It would be administered through the Social Security system.

"We figured we'd do something different, and the different is make it voluntary, non-government-run and just like a health savings account," Katko said in May 2016. "If you want to save, you want to plan, you can. If you don't want to, you don't have to."

Katko's plan, like Gillibrand's, hasn't advanced in Congress. His bill has a Democratic cosponsor, U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. The measure is also supported by a fellow New Yorker, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik.
Governments and individuals are widely using 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% 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 .

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 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.
Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat on Wednesday led an event which drew nearly 1,000 people, including schoolchildren, who did yogic exercises amid cloudy skies.

Ministers in the Congress government gave a miss to the event that was held on the Ridge.

"Yoga is the gateway to perfect health," Devvrat said in a brief address to mark the third edition of the International Yoga Day.

The event was organized jointly by the Rotary Club of Shimla and public sector Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL), a company that owns and operates India's largest hydropower project in the state.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The third International Yoga Day was celebrated in Pakistan too but on a muted scale. The organisers said a much bigger event will follow after Ramadan ends.

Pakistani yoga guru Shamshad Haider, who runs over 50 clubs across the country, said in a telephonic interview from Islamabad: "Due to Ramdan and people preparing for Eid, we could not organise a big event this year."

"We have routine sessions in all our clubs today but after Eid we are preparing for a much larger event in Rawalpindi," Haider, 48, told IANS. He said his team expected more than 1,000 people to take part.

The Indian High Commission also organised a yoga camp in Islamabad on Sunday, attended by India's envoy Gautam Bambawale and other diplomats.

Asked about the Pakistan government not celebrating the yoga day, Haider, founder of Yoga Pakistan and Way of Nature, says his clubs have people from all religions.

"It (government) never stopped us from doing yoga. It has granted us permission to hold yoga camps on its land and has also allowed us to promote yoga."

Yogi Haider - as he is widely known -- said he doesn't want any help from the government or the Indian High Commission to hold events.

Born in Pakistani Punjab, Haider, unlike many Muslims, is emphatic that yoga has nothing to do with Hindu religion.

"Yoga helps to gain mental stability, peace, balanced living. It teaches us discipline which is vital in Islam and all religions."

Last year, on the second International Day of Yoga, Haider did yogic asanas along with 20,000 yoga students across Pakistan -- but minus media publicity.

Haider and his 100 trainers have quietly succeeded in attracting tens of thousands of Pakistanis to yoga, achieving a feat that once seemed near impossible.

"Yoga belongs to humanity in the form of a pure science and is not the sole entity of India," he said.

Among the over 50 yoga clubs in Pakistan, Haider oversees the major ones in Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Even some Islamic clerics come to him to learn and practise yoga and meditation.

Haider says his inspiration and role model was S.N. Goenka, the Myanmar-born master of Vipassana meditation.

"He taught me meditation when I travelled to India. That changed my life. After that I started yoga sessions in Pakistan. He was my hero."

The International Yoga Day debuted in 2015 after the UN backed an India-sponsored initiative that was supported by over 170 member states.

--IANS

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After facing over 200 complaints from his staff, including serious allegations of sexual harassment, global ride-hailing service Uber's embattled CEO Travis Kalanick has finally stepped down following a strong pressure from investors, media reported on Wednesday.

According to a report in the New York Times, Uber's five major investors had sought that the chief executive resign immediately and made their demand clear in a letter that was also delivered to Kalanick.

"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," Kalanick told NYT in a statement.

The problems for Kalanick started earlier this year after a former Uber engineer alleged sexual harassment at the company.

Susan Fowler, a former site reliability engineer, levelled numerous allegations of sexism against her former superiors in a lengthy blog post. Her blog was widely shared online and prompted the company to launch an internal investigation.

This led to further allegation from other employees, prompting the company to conduct internal investigations.

Last week, Kalanick said he was taking a leave of absence for personal reasons, an announcement that came at a time when the company was dealing with a series of workplace scandals.

Kalanick's decision to step aside came after an internal investigation conducted by former US Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder said that Uber should "review and reallocate the responsibilities of Travis Kalanick" and search for a chief operating officer who would work closely with the new CEO to improve Uber's corporate culture.

Holder also recommended that COO candidates have backgrounds in diversity and inclusion, saying that would reinforce "actions resulting from recommendations... relating to tone at the top and the need to focus on diversity and inclusion at Uber."

San Francisco-based Uber, the world's largest ride-hailing app, has already fired 20 employees -- including some in senior positions -- after evaluating more than 200 claims of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying and unprofessional conduct.

Uber has also run into some serious troubles in India in the recent past.

The company was sued last week by a woman who was raped during a Uber ride in New Delhi in 2014 for intrusion of privacy and defamation among other claims after it was revealed that an Uber executive obtained her confidential medical records from the Delhi Police.

Kalanick and former executive Emil Michael were also named in the suit that was filed in California. The lawsuit cites several media reports where Kalanick and other executives doubted the victim's account of rape.

Earlier this year, the company asked Amit Singhal, India-born senior vice-president of engineering division, to leave the company following allegations of sexual harassment.

Last year, an Uber driver was arrested in Kolkata over allegations of sexually assaulting a woman inside the cab.

--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 21 (IANS/AKI) Portuguese police on Wednesday arrested 65-year-old neo-fascist Maurizio Tramonte a day after Italy's top court sentenced him to life in prison for the deadly 1974 bombing of a trade union rally in the northern city of Brescia.

Italy's Court of Cassation also jailed 84-year-old neo-fascist Carlo Maria Maggi, for life on Tuesday over the Brescia blast, ending of the most complex and longest-running legal cases linked to decades of far-right and far-left terrorist attacks in Italy from the late 1960s to the 1980s.

Maggi was convicted of masterminding the May 28, 1974 bombing at an anti-fascist rally in Brescia's Piazza La Loggia organised by left-wing trade unions in which eight people died and around 100 were injured, while Tramonte was found guilty of carrying out the attack.

A total of 15 different trials were held in connection with the Brescia blast, during which several other suspects were convicted and acquitted on appeal. The main suspect in the original trial was killed in prison by other neo-fascists before his appeal.

The Brescia bombing took place during the turmoil of Italy's so-called Years of Lead when some 455 people were killed and 4,529 injured in over 5,000 politically-motivated attacks, according to one victims' group.

--IANS/AKI

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rome, June 21 (IANS/AKI) Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Wednesday slammed the European Union's delayed response to the crisis in the Mediterranean, where over 69,000 migrants have crossed to Italy this year and at least 2,000 have perished on the journey.

"Despite some progress, the speed of the EU's reaction remains dramatically below that needed by the Italian government to manage the migratory phenomenon," Gentiloni said here.

The Italian premier also sharply criticised the "utmost rigidity" of the EU budget rules, comparing this with the "flexibility" the block allowed member states in handling the migration emergency.

"We want to know if the EU is committed (to handling the migrant crisis) also in terms of resources, or if we have to cope alone," Gentiloni said ahead of a two-day summit of EU heads of state and government taking place in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, where migration policy, security and defence will top the agenda.

Over 85 percent of migrants from Africa to Europe arrived in Italy this year, severely straining its reception facilities.

Only around a third of Italy's 8,000 city governments have offered to shelter asylum seekers.

More than 190,000 asylum seekers are living in state-funded shelters in Italy.

--IANS/AKI

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor Jimmy Shergil will be seen in an upcoming short film, "Papa, we love you too", which celebrates the bond between father and son.

The film is directed by Kabir Sadanand. Kabir's son is making his acting debut in the film. It also features Lekh Tandan.

Talking about the thoughts behind the short film, Kabir said in a statement: "This is our ode to the most underrated relationship in a family -- Father. What better way to bring to life what I often see in my son's eyes or any kid whilst their parents toil away at work."

He added: "It's time to take a break and give your family a smile. I would say, be the parent you would want your child to be."

Jimmy is playing the protagonist in the film.

Kabir says: "Jimmy has been one of my oldest friends in the industry and one of the finest actors I know.

"Lekhji was the first director I worked with and Arya is an actor I wish I could be. At 'Fogs Lehren' (YouTube Channel) this is an ideal film to start a new journey."

"Papa, we love you too" is releasing on Sony LIV, the digital platform of Sony Pictures Networks' India. It will go live on Friday.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Calcutta High Court judge Justice C.S. Karnan was on Wednesday jailed, a day after he was arrested in the case of contempt but last-ditch efforts by his lawyers to get relief from the Supreme Court failed.

The controversial judge, who was given six months imprisonment on May 9 for contempt by the Supreme Court and had remained untraceable, was brought to Kolkata from Chennai by plane by a team of West Bengal Police led by top official Raj Kanojia and lodged in Presidency Jail.

The 62-year-old judge was taken directly from the airport to the jail. In Chennai airport, he told reporters that he was "fighting against corruption". He said he had no complaint against police as they knew he had done nothing wrong.

Earlier in the day, a vacation bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul

refused to give him bail or suspend the sentence.

"We can't suspend the sentence as the order of the sentence was passed by a seven-judge bench," the judges said.

The bench's response came as Karnan's counsel Mathew J. Nadumpara urged it to grant bail to the former judge, who was arrested in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu by the West Bengal Police on Tuesday.

As he told the bench that "equity demands" his client be granted bail, Justice Chandrachud said: "All equity is subject to law and judicial discipline."

"Sorry, Mr. Nadumpara," the judge said, asking the counsel to mention the matter before the Chief Justice on the reopening of the court after summer break on July 3.

Justice Karnan's arrest came 42 days after top court on May 9 held him guilty of contempt for his utterances against the Chief Justice of India and other judges of the apex court and sentenced him to six months imprisonment. The same day, Justice Karnan left Kolkata for Chennai and was virtually untraceable since them. He retired from service earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal Police team said they knew about Karnan's hiding place in Coimbatore for three days before moving in to arrest him.

"We knew about his (Karnan's) whereabouts three days back. We were tracking phone calls of people close to him and we also have our own sources," Kanojia told IANS in Chennai before boarding a flight to Kolkata.

According to him, this was a unique case he had handled in his entire service and "maybe no other police officer will be handling such a case in a long time to come".

"Tracking Karnan was difficult. It was a difficult case," Kanojia 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 Karnataka government on Wednesday decided to waive crop loans of up to Rs 50,000 availed by over 22 lakh farmers from cooperatives in the state.

"Crop loans up to Rs 50,000 borrowed by 22,27,500 farmers from cooperative banks in the state would be waived off," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the assembly.

The decision followed the demand of the opposition to mitigate farmers' hardship and in order to give them relief from the severe drought of 2016.

The waiver would cost the exchequer Rs 8,165 crore.

"Crop loans outstanding up to June 20 will also be waived though farmers borrowed a total of Rs 10,736 crore from cooperative banks so far," the Chief minister said.

Siddaramaiah also urged the Centre to waive crop loans that farmers borrowed from state-run and regional rural banks.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Russophobic obsession in the US goes beyond all bounds and the new sanctions by Washington on Moscow have been imposed for no reasons at all, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

"I cannot say anything except regrets about this Russophobic obsession of our US colleagues. It already goes beyond all bounds," Lavrov said after holding talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in the capital on Tuesday.

Lavrov also said that the new sanctions surely do not improve the atmosphere and they are imposed for no reason at all, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US Department of the Treasury imposed additional trade sanctions on Russia, blacklisting 38 individuals and entities over their alleged actions in Ukraine.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday dropped key Tory manifesto pledges, including expanding grammar schools and revisiting the fox-hunting ban, as the Queen announced a pared-down legislative programme focused on delivering Brexit.

The Queen outlined the two-year government programme of laws and measures at the state opening of the British Parliament, the Guardian reported. The monarch was accompanied by her eldest son Prince Charles to the ceremony in the House of Lords.

The Queen's speech, written by the Conservative government, covers the two-year period during which Britain will negotiate with Brussels its exit from the European Union (EU), the report said.

In her speech, the Queen gave details of proposals by May's government to pave the way for Britain's future outside of the EU.

The speech set out government proposals to deliver eight bills necessary for Brexit, including legislation allowing Britain to determine its own immigration, customs and trade arrangements.

The aim, said the monarch, was for Britain to make a success of Brexit. But the Queen said it was the government's intention to continue its close relationship with Europe, while at the same time forging new links across the globe.

The speech set out the new government's domestic priorities, including sweeping changes to technical education, beefed-up plans for tackling domestic violence and paving the way for the next phase of Britain's north-south high speed rail network.

But a series of controversial proposals set out in the Conservative manifesto were absent from the speech, and from the list of 27 bills the government hopes to pass.

Plans to scrap free school meals, ration winter fuel payments for pensioners, repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, and introduce the "dementia tax" for funding social care have been swept away by the election result, the daily said.

Grammar schools were not mentioned at all, despite the Conservative manifesto pledge to consult on opening new selective schools. Another Conservative campaign pledge to consider a price cap on energy costs appeared to have been toned down.

Following the recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, said the monarch, the government is to establish a new commission to counter extremism and "stamp out extremist ideology in all its forms".

The speech also referred to issues and problems linked to the digital age.

The Queen said: "A new law will ensure that the UK retains its world-class regime protecting personal data, and proposals for a new digital charter will be brought forward to ensure that Britain is the safest place to be online."

The Queen also announced that King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain will pay a state visit to Britain in July.

The speech, according to reports, made no reference to a state visit by US President Donald Trump, but Downing Street played down this omission.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain the plea for grant of bail and suspension of six-month jail term it awarded to former Calcutta High Court judge C.S. Karnan for his contempt of the apex court.

A vacation bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said: "We can't suspend the sentence as the order of the sentence was passed by a seven-judge bench."

The bench said this as Justice Karnan's counsel Mathew J. Nadumpara urged it to grant bail to the former judge, who was arrested in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu by the West Bengal Police on Tuesday.

As he told the bench that "equity demands" his client be granted bail, Justice Chandrachud said: "All equity is subject to law and judicial discipline."

"Sorry, Mr. Nadumpara," Justice Chandrachud said, asking the counsel to mention the matter before the Chief Justice on the reopening of the court after summer break on July 3.

Justice Karnan's arrest by West Bengal Police came 42 days after top court on May 9 held him guilty of contempt and sentenced him to six months imprisonment.

The same day, Justice Karnan left Kolkata for Chennai.

The top court, in its order, had said: "We are of the unanimous view that Justice C.S. Karnan is guilty of contempt of court and (he) interfered with judicial process of grievous nature."

Justice Karnan was held guilty of contempt for his utterances against the Chief Justice of India and other judges of the apex court.

--IANS

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Actor Rana Daggubati on Wednesday clarified he hasn't signed any new film with filmmaker V.V. Vinayak.

Reacting to rumours that he is teaming up with Vinayak for his next, Rana tweeted: "No. Why make up what I'm doing next? I'm on Twitter and will update you every time I decide."

Basking in the success of "Baahubali 2", Rana is gearing up for the release of his next Telugu outing, "Nene Raju, Nene Mantri".

In Teja-directed "Nene Raju, Nene Mantri", he plays a politician and is paired with Kajal Aggarwal and Catherine Tresa.

The film, to be simultaneously released in Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam, also stars Navdeep and Ashutosh Rana.

--IANS

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President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday urged all Indians to turn yoga into a habit in order to lead a healthy life.

Kicking off the third edition of the International Yoga Day celebrations at Rashtrapati Bhawan, Mukherjee said the ancient Indian practice was useful for curing physical as well as mental disorders.

"In ancient India, all disciplines were integrated to appear as one in the form of yoga. I advise you to continue practicing yoga throughout the year," Mukherjee told a gathering of enthusiastic children, youths and elderly people.

"Regular practice of yoga will not only help you have a fit body and a sound mind, but it will also take care of all disorders of mental health and otherwise," he added.

The President wished everyone a healthy life and credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking the initiative to propose celebration of the International Yoga Day on June 21, which was later accepted by the UN.
Accra, June 21 (IANS/MAP) An international security expert has called on the UN to initiate direct talks between Qatar and the Gulf countries over growing concerns that Doha is funding extremist groups.

Irbard Ibrahim, Executive Director of Irbard Security Consult, while speaking at Dormaa-Ahenkro on Tuesday, appealed to the UN to conduct an independent inquiry into allegations levelled against Qatar.

"It looks like Qatar is not caving in anytime soon. Its leaders say they will not be cowed or intimidated into submission and the country's Foreign Affairs Minister is building new alliances around the world to fend off the blockade," he said.

"Only time will tell how things pan out eventually and what the fate of the Gulf Cooperation Council will be after this crisis", Ibrahim said.

He said that "a Middle East that is united will mean a better chance for global peace, stability and security".

Ibrahim appealed to the international community to speak out "echoing their sentiments and recommend dialogue discouraging the hardening of entrenched positions for the sake of international peace".

--IANS/MAP

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Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje along with thousands of others took part in the third edition of the International Yoga Day celebrations here on Wednesday.

From early morning, people trooped to the SMS Stadium to do yogic exercises. "Enthusiasm was great, but the number was a bit less than last year," a government official told IANS.

Vasundhara Raje, her cabinet colleagues and senior officials took part in the event which lasted for nearly 30 minutes.

The day was also observed in other districts of Rajasthan. The event was marred by heavy rains in Udaipur.

Prisoners at the Jaipur Central Jail also did yoga 'asanas', an official said.

--IANS

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Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) on Wednesday announced its subsidiary Reliance Defence's intent to form a joint venture (JV) with French aerospace and defence electronics major Thales to develop skills and activity in military hardware.

"The JV is to develop Indian capabilities to integrate and maintain the radar and electronic warfare sensors for fighter aircraft," RInfra and Thales said in a joint statement following the signing of the agreement in Paris.

"The JV will develop skills and activity in the Special Economic Zone of Mihan-Nagpur together with an Indian supply chain for the manufacturing of microwave technologies and high performance airborne electronics," the statement said.

While will hold 51 per cent stake in the JV, Thales will have the remaining 49 per cent equity.

"Thales is another major milestone in our march towards best-in-the-class manufacturing at support facilities for military hardware in India," Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani said in the statement.

Thales Chairman Patrice Caine said: "This JV resonates with our strategy to strengthen our industrial footprint in the country by building collaborations with the Indian industry."

On Tuesday, another RInfra subsidiary  Ammunition  entered into a strategic partnership with Serbia's Yugoimport to work together in ammunition manufacturing in India with a projected minimum requirement valued at Rs 20,000 crore over the next 10 years from the Indian armed forces.
Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu lost his job on Wednesday after his own party and its governing partner voted against him in a no-confidence motion in parliament.

This was the first time in the east European country that a governing coalition has sacked its own Prime Minister, the Romanian news channel Digi24 reported.

In the vote, 241 lawmakers cast their ballots in favour of ousting Grindeanu, while the minimum number of votes required for the move was 233, according to the country's parliament.

The vote was the climax of a week of political crisis in Romania, which started when the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) and its junior partner, ALDE, pulled out their political support for the government  which came to power just six months ago, Politico reported.

They argued that Grindeanu had fallen behind schedule implementing the coalition's agreed economic reform programme.

Grindeanu was also involved in a power struggle with party leader Liviu Dragnea, who was barred from office after a conviction for voter fraud.

The PSD won elections in December only a year after losing power. Within weeks, protests erupted across the country over a decree seen as weakening anti-corruption measures in one of the European Union's most corrupt member states, BBC reported.

In February, the EU warned the government in Bucharest against "backtracking" in its efforts against corruption.

Although Grindeanu withdrew the decree, the crisis weakened the new government and soured relations between the Prime Minister and Dragnea.

Dragnea criticised his rival's performance in government on Wednesday, accusing him of failing to push through "the most ambitious programme since 1989".
Russia's Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation is holding preliminary talks with the Indian government and private companies to expand its footprint in India by venturing into the small container-based mini hydro power segment.

This will take Rosatom beyond the nuclear plant business, an official said. The mini hydel projects it plans to bring to India will have units ranging from 0.5 to 2 MW.

The discussions were taking place through Ganz Engineering and Energetics Machinery, a 100 per cent Hungarian subsidiary of the company's engineering division Atomenergomash.

"We consider this another opportunity for cooperation between Rosatom and India. Our office in India is working in this direction. We are discussing the issues both with the government and private bodies," Rusatom International Network President Alexander Merten told a select group of journalists here.

Rusatom International Network is involved in marketing and business development of a number of Rosatom projects abroad.

The small hydro-power plants are pre-fabricated and assembled in the factory. The customer receives three containers - holding the turbine, electrical components and diesel generator, Merten said.

"In case of good demand from India, we are ready to consider the pre-fabrication of the unit, denoting the preliminary assemblage and the assembly line," he said.

Ganz has a 180 year history of producing hydro turbines, which are installed in many plants in a number of countries, and feature even at the Niagara Falls.

He said the mini hydro power units were based on simple designs and were economically viable in remote, mountainous areas where power supply was unavailable.

"We have pilot installation of the mini hydel plants in Georgia and are also discussing the issue with Turkey and Middle Eastern countries."

Dwelling on the advantages of the units, he said the construction and installation of the product on the riverside or any other water reservoir does not involve a high cost and it was also not ecologically harmful.

"There is no need to change the river mouth for installation nor does it require installation of dams. It allows for preservation of ecology," he said on the sidelines of the Atomexpo 2017 organised by Rosatom near the Red Square.

The power generation can be started within a month.

The company said the plants can also be managed through remote control by using a mobile or tablet, making it easier for the owner to keep a tab on the electricity generated by the system.

--IANS

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Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Wednesday dismissed his nephew Mohammed bin Naif as crown prince and replaced him with his son Mohammed bin Salman as first in line to the throne.

According to Saudi TV news channel Al Arabiya, 31 out of 43 members of Saudi Arabia's Allegiance Council voted in favour of Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the new crown prince.

Mohammed bin Salman, 31, was also appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and will continue to hold his post of Defence Minister, according a royal decree cited by the state media.

The royal reordering removed Prince Nayef, 57, both from his place in the line of succession and from his post as Interior Minister. He has pledged allegiance to the new crown prince, news agency SPA reported.

Prince Nayef was the kingdom's security chief for many years and was known for his strong stance against Islamist militants. He was widely respected by Saudis and their foreign allies for dismantling Al Qaeda's networks inside the kingdom.

A young and relatively unknown prince, Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef, was named the new Interior Minister.

King Salman, 81, acceded to the throne in January 2015 after the death of his half-brother Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

He announced his first major cabinet reshuffle a few months later, appointing Prince Nayef as crown prince and Prince Salman as deputy crown prince, BBC reported.

As Defence Minister and deputy crown prince, Prince Salman led Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen and oversaw the kingdom's energy policy.

He also spearheaded the development of a wide-ranging plan for the country's future, called Saudi Vision 2030, which seeks to decrease Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil, diversify its economy and loosen some social restrictions inside the kingdom.

Prince Salman visited the US in March, where he had lunch at the White House with US President Donald Trump. He praised the country's relationship with the US, saying that without American influence "we would have ended up like North Korea".

Prince Salman also voiced support for "freedom of expression" and "human rights".

--IANS

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Kevin Losani's work in media has often been on the whimsical side, but the 2003 Union Springs graduate was recently recognized with three New York Emmy Awards for more serious projects.

At the May 6 awards in New York City, Losani took the following honors:

 Societal Concerns: Program Feature/Segment for "The Impact of 'Broken Windows' Policing on Black Communities," on which Losani worked as senior producer, camera operator and editor

 Public/Current/Community Affairs: Feature/Segment for "How Jadakiss and Styles P are Bringing Juice Bars to the Hood," on which Losani worked as senior producer, editor and director of photography

 Arts: Program Feature/Segment for "Meet the Rap Group Challenging Our View on Disabilities," on which Losani worked as senior producer and director of photography

Losani worked on live action films and then animation after graduating from Cayuga Community College. He said he hopes his success inspires young filmmakers in the Auburn area, and thanked the people there who have supported him in his creative pursuits.

Ive been a filmmaker ever since I could handle a camera, he told The Citizen in 2012.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka as his next envoy on youth, the UN mission in Colombo said on Wednesday.

Wickramanayake will succeed Ahmad Alhendawi of Jordan and is presently working as an officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Wickramanayake has also played a key role in transforming the youth development sector at the national level, notably through the creation of a large movement for civic and political engagement of young people named 'Hashtag Generation'," the UN said in a statement.

She has served in many positions, including Secretary to the Secretary General of the Sri Lankan Parliament and Member and Youth Lead Negotiator in the International Youth Task Force of the World Conference on Youth 2014.

Wickramanayake was also an Official Youth Delegate to the United Nations, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development.

--IANS

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The Election Commission has asked the Jharkhand government to take action against a senior police officer and an aide to Chief Minister Raghubar Das for the horse-trading indulged in during the 2016 Rajya Sabha polls.

A June 13 letter sent by Election Commission Principal Secretary Birendra Kumar to the Jharkhand Chief Secretary, which the media accessed on Wednesday, said: "By way of preliminary verification, it appears there is prima facie case to proceed against the accused persons, who are public servants."

The commission directed immediate departmental action to be taken against the accused persons for "misusing positions and interfering in elections and breach of Code of Conduct", the letter added.

The EC letter said since the matter related to bribery of voters and corruption, appropriate proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 171B and 171C of the Indian Penal Code may also be imitated.

Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik President and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi, and legislators Chamra Linda of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Nirmala Devi of the Congress had lodged complaints of horse-trading ahead of voting for two Rajya Sabha seats from the state in 2016.

These opposition leaders had produced a compact disc with alleged recorded voices of Additional Director General of Police (Special Branch) Anurag Gupta and Chief Minister's then Political Adviser Ajay Kumar, now his Press Adviser.

Both had allegedly spoken to opposition legislators and tried to influence voting in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and against the JMM candidate. The BJP had won both the Rajya Sabha seats despite the fact that the numbers were against it.

The EC letter directed the state to keep it posted with the matter.

The opposition parties have demanded the suspension and arrest of the ADGP and the Press Adviser.

--IANS

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A young woman from Thailand was detained in Indore in Madhya Pradesh on charges of creating a ruckus and misbehaving with the public in an inebriated state, police said on Wednesday.

Police said they got a call regarding the woman, aged around 30, on Tuesday night. When police personnel reached the spot, she misbehaved with them too and tried to escape in a police vehicle.

When the woman was shifted to a hospital, she created disturbances there too, police said.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Harinarayan Chari Mishra told IANS that police would take suitable action after questioning the woman.

--IANS

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A string of Bollywood personalities like Rajkummar Rao, Hansal Mehta and Nimrat Kaur have expressed gratitude to Hollywood actor and three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, who announced his retirement from movies, for inspiring them.

Day-Lewis' spokeswoman on Tuesday confirmed the news in a statement cited by Variety magazine, without giving a reason for the decision.

"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," the spokesperson said.

Here's what Bollywood celebrities had to say:

Hansal Mehta: We're privileged to be in a generation that produced a genius like Daniel Day-Lewis. My favourites- 'My Left Foot' and 'In The Name of The Father'.

Rajkummar Rao: No man. When the God of acting decides to quit. Thank you for inspiring me Sir. You'll be missed.

Nimrat Kaur: In awe and sad in equal parts reading this. Daniel Day-Lewis yet again walks the road less travelled. Artist extraordinaire. Legend. Respect.

Vishal Dadlani: One of the best! Sad that we won't get to watch him again. Then again, he never was part of the machine.

--IANS

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Taking action against the sale and purchase of toy guns, Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa administration sealed 12 warehouses and arrested three people, the local media reported on Wednesday.

The administration had already imposed ban on sale and purchase of toy weapons for one month, Dawn reported.

The officials said the ban was aimed at creating awareness among the people to keep their children away from use of such unhealthy things which could lead to hatred and cause destruction in the society.

--IANS

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The AAP on Wednesday demanded to know the connection between Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda and an IAS officer accused in a Rs 7,000 crore AIIMS scam.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh said the CBI had told Delhi High Court that it was not getting documents from the Health Ministry in connection with the case against the officer who is said to be close to Nadda.

"They can raid Delhi Chief Minister and his deputy's houses, but they can't even get documents when it comes to the BJP-led government at the Centre," Ashutosh added.

The accused officer, Vineet Chaudhary, was Health Secretary in Himachal Pradesh when Nadda was the state's Health Minister, the AAP leader said. When the scam occurred, Chaudhary was Deputy Director - Administration at AIIMS.

The scam in All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi occurred between 2010 and 2012 during the earlier United Progressive Alliance government's tenure. It was highlighted by Indian Forest Service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi when he was AIIMS Chief Vigilance Officer.

Waving a stack of papers, Ashutosh said: "Nadda had written two letters to seek change of Investigating Officer in the case, who has an impeccable record."

"The AAP wants to know what is the connection between Nadda and the accused officer," the AAP leader said.

--IANS

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More than 300,000 new workers can be employed in wind and solar jobs and more than one million total employment opportunities can be created in achieving India's ambitious clean energy goals to install 160 GW of renewable power by 2022, a study said on Wednesday.

The labour-intensive rooftop solar segment will employ 70 per cent of the new workforce, creating seven times more jobs than large-scale projects such as solar farms, said the study, published jointly by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

It also said it found that strong growth in the domestic solar manufacturing industry could provide fulltime employment for an additional 45,000 people in India.

The first-of-its-kind CEEW-NRDC study, "Greening India's Workforce: Gearing Up For Expansion of Solar and Wind Power in India," builds on earlier work by both organisations to calculate both the number of full-time jobs that will be created by the solar and wind sectors, as well as the number of workers that will be required to join the sectoral workforce by 2022.

The study estimates that India's clean energy goals have the potential to put 34,600 people to work in wind power, 58,600 in utility solar and 238,000 in rooftop solar jobs over the next five years.

Solar jobs will be well distributed across India with Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh leading in job creation.

Wind jobs are likely to be concentrated in a few states that have high wind potential, as has been the case with wind capacity.

"Eighty per cent of the new clean energy workforce will be employed during the construction phase. However, despite these being contractual jobs, the large pipeline of renewable energy projects creates enough opportunities for workers to stay employed," said a statement quoting CEEW Programme Associate Neeraj Kuldeep.

Skill Council for Green Jobs CEO Praveen Saxena said this study captured a new dimension in accurately assessing manpower requirements in the solar and wind domain.

NRDC Consultant Nehmat Kaur said: "Clean energy expansion is generating thousands of new jobs while meeting India's climate and economic goals. With this tremendous opportunity, India is stepping up as a global leader in demonstrating how a growing economy can scale up renewables, generate employment and provide access in the face of rising energy demands."

For the past three years, CEEW and NRDC have annually surveyed India's solar and wind project developers, and now manufacturers, to collect accurate, market-based information on jobs created, workforce employed, and the skills required to achieve India's renewable energy goals.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that yoga was acting in a big way to bond people and the global community.

Speaking at the third edition of the here, Modi pointed out how the UN had accepted his proposal in record time to celebrate June 21 as the .

As a result, yoga related events were taking place around the world, he added.

He called for standardization of yoga and pointed out how the young were captivated by yoga, an age-old tradition propounded by saints and seers.

Yoga was a great medium to bring cohesion in the society, Modi said, adding no one in the world was questioning the benefits of yoga.



PM @narendramodi attends Mass Yoga Demonstration in Lucknow, on #InternationalYogaDay

Watch full event here: https://t.co/iFqJ6MbGYJ  PIB India (@PIB_India) June 21, 2017

"I request people to make yoga a part of their life. We may not master yoga or become teachers but we should not stop from doing yoga," he said. "Yoga not only enlightens the body but also the soul."

The Prime Minister described yoga as a free life insurance, which everyone can avail to better their health.

Owing to heavy rains and water logging at the venue, Modi jokingly told the large gathering -- where people used the yoga mats to shield themselves -- that he had now learnt the benefits of the yoga mat as well.
Two people have been arrested for their alleged roles in a robbery at a cellphone store in the city of Auburn.

The Auburn Police Department said a 17-year-old male, whose name wasn't released, was arrested June 16. He has been charged with second-degree robbery and third-degree grand larceny.

On Tuesday, a second arrest was made. Authorities apprehended Courtney F. Donovan, 20, of Auburn, and charged her with second-degree robbery and third-degree grand larceny. She was arraigned in Auburn City Court and is being held without bail.

The alleged robbery occurred June 5 at Fast Trak Wireless on South Street. Police said Donovan and the male stole 10 cellphones valued at approximately $4,200 from a display case.

When the store owner confronted the pair, the male punched him in the face and forced the victim to the floor, police said. Donovan and the male suspect then fled from the store.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Investigator Mark Schafer at (315) 252-5874 or (315) 253-3235. Callers may remain anonymous.
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.
Kerala Chief Minister on Wednesday said yoga was not a part of any religion and it should be practised with a free and secular mind.

"Some people have been trying to hijack yoga by reciting 'suktas' (hymns) and such attempts should be checked. Yoga was in existence even before these hymns,"he said after inaugurating the state-level observance of International Yoga Day at the Central Stadium here.

He also said a comprehensive programme to teach yoga in state schools would be drawn up soon.

"Yoga is not a religious ritual. There should not be any misunderstanding that it is part of any religion. Yoga should be practised with a free and secular mindset," the CPI (M) leader said.

The chief minister also said yoga should be seen as a set of exercises that can be practised by anyone.

"There has been a conscious attempt to create misunderstanding about yoga. Any move to connect yoga with any particular religion should be checked," Vijayan said.

Besides Vijayan, Kerala Social Justice Minister K K Shylaja, Congress MLA V S Sivakumar and Mayor V K Prashanth were among those present at the event.

Meanwhile, Kerala Governor Justice (retd) P Sathasivam led the yoga day celebrations at the Raj Bhavan here and Union Minister Nirmala Sitaraman took part in an event in Palakkad.
A contest for the post of the President looked inevitable with leading Opposition parties determined to field a candidate against despite cracks in their unity after Janata Dal (United) today decided to support the Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate.
Clashes between armed groups in the Central African Republic town of Bria have left at least 100 people dead in the wake of a peace agreement signed this week in Rome that called for an immediate cease-fire, officials said today.

Security remained so precarious that Red Cross teams could not venture into the streets to collect bodies for burial.

"For the moment, no one dares to go out as everything suggests that fighting can resume at any time," said the Rev Gildas Gbeni of the St. Louis Catholic mission in Bria.

"Witnesses coming from different neighbourhoods say they have had to climb over dozens of bodies that now litter the ground."



Mayor Maurice Balekouzou and others put the preliminary death toll at around 100, while several dozen wounded were seeking treatment at the local hospital run by aid group Doctors Without Borders.

Witnesses said the fighting erupted early yesterday between the anti-Balaka militia and rebels from the group known as FPRC who were once part of the Seleka movement.

The peace deal signed Monday in Rome among nearly all of the country's armed groups had called for an immediate cease- fire. Many were skeptical, however, because previous agreements had quickly failed.

Central African Republic has faced deadly interreligious and intercommunal fighting since 2013, when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the capital, Bangui. Mostly Christian anti-Balaka militias fought back, resulting in thousands of people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The impoverished country saw a period of relative peace in late 2015 and 2016, but violence has returned in recent months, especially outside the capital. The Seleka group has splintered into factions, some of them fighting each other.

Bria has seen repeated clashes since May, leaving dozens dead. An estimated 41,000 people there have fled for their lives.

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She started her career as a model before making her film debut with a Telugu movie, and Kriti Kharbanda says her craft has matured over the years and she no more considers acting as just a "hobby."



In 2009, she made her debut with "Boni" and subsequently went on to become one of the top actresses in Kannada film industry, before featuring in Tamil movies. She made her Bollywood debut with "Raaz Reboot" last year.

"Earlier, I wasn't as serious about acting as I am now, so the fear of failure wasn't there. Now, I am far more serious, I think I have matured and have realised this is my career, not a hobby anymore. I am dependent on it," Kriti told PTI.

The 26-year-old actress is aware that since she is not from a film family, there will be struggles to bag the perfect role.

"It is difficult to bag the kind of roles one would hope for, I am two films old, have finished my third, but even today I audition or do look test for a role because they (makers) are still not sure if I will be able to do it. I don't blame them because I have only one release up until now.

"I know people think I am an outsider but it is a big achievement to do three films in short time. It is difficult, for sure, but you need to prove yourself as an actor here."



With a career spanning nearly a decade, Kriti says she has realised that one of the most important thing for an actor is to handle failures.

"Even if you sulk after a failure, you have to put on that exterior that you are fine. You could be going through a series of nonsense in your personal life or failure in your professional life, but you have to put on that exterior. Fortunately for me, it has come to a point where I am not faking it."



When asked if it is difficult maintaining a balance like this, the actress says, "It screws with your head. I have my days of feeling low and not going to work. There are days when you are sad and not in the right mood, but you have to perform."



Currently awaiting the release of her projects, "Guest iin London" and "Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana", Kriti says she has no qualms about accepting that she wants to be a performer who also enjoys stardom.

"As an actor, I have no limitation, I will do whatever excites me. For me it is going to take one movie to prove a point. I want people to take me seriously as an actor, I want to be a star, I won't deny that. I want to be famous, that's my ambition and there is nothing wrong with it.

"But I want both, there should be a balance between being an actor and a star. 'Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana' for me is a very performance driven role, even 'Guest iin London'. All my three films have me in different roles, and I hope people notice that.

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Allowing mosquitoes to breed leading to spread of vector borne diseases like dengue is equivalent to penal offences like culpable homicide and rash driving, the Delhi High Court today told the three municipal corporations here and said "heads must roll" for this.

"Should it not be tested on the lines of culpable homicide not amounting to murder or rash and negligent driving?" the court asked the civic bodies referring to their officials not doing enough to check mosquito breeding.

Ordering that a disciplinary action be taken against the municipal officials who did not discharge their duty of ensuring cleanliness in their respective areas, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar said the MCDs have "pathetically failed".

"Instructions have not been followed, so some heads must roll. Come back with the action taken against the officials and not the poor safai karamchaaris," the bench said and directed that the commissioners of all three corporations be present before it on the next date of hearing on June 27.

The court told the three corporations, represented by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, to first put their "house in order" and ensure their officials are working, before pointing fingers at other causes and agencies for the lack of solid waste management and disposal.

The strong words came after the ASG said that the MCDs and the other agencies need to work together in an integrated and synergetic manner to handle the problem.

The bench told the ASG that what was being submitted appeared to be an "excellent five-year plan" over which "a lot of chai and samosas would be exchanged", but it was being proposed under the premise that MCD staff was working.

"Is your staff doing their job or not? First address that and set it right. If you are in disarray, then no point in looking at others. First set your house in order," Justice Shankar said.

The observations and directions came after watching videos, showing lack of garbage removal, waterlogged filthy roads and clogged drains in several colonies in the capital, filed on record by a journalist who was appointed as a local commissioner by the court.

The local commissioner was appointed while dealing with two PILs, by lawyers Arpit Bhargava and Gauri Grover, seeking directions to the corporations to prevent spread of vector borne diseases, which, as per a health ministry finding is also due to lack of solid waste disposal.

The bench said it was "pained" by what it saw in the videos, especially where the municipal cleaning staff were clearing solid waste from drains by hand and added that it was a violation of the law prohibiting manual scavenging apart from "jeopardising" their health.

"This is the 21st century and gutters in Delhi are being cleaned by hand," the bench said.

The garbage accumulated over several days in various colonies and on roadsides also irked the court which said after heavy rain the situation in these areas would get worse.

The corporations also invited the wrath of the bench for filing "fancy 100 page false status reports" projecting the situation in their respective areas as "hunky-dory".

Rejecting the reports which claimed that regular cleaning was being undertaken and there was complete sanitation in entire east Delhi, the court said the MCDs have "pathetically failed" to discharge their functions.

It also rejected their arguments of lack of funds to perform their work, saying neither the citizens nor the statute were concerned with how the corporations do their job.

"This kind of grumbling (of lack of funds) cannot be allowed to affect the citizens' lives," it said and added that the court cannot assist in sorting out the funding issue.

"Let the MCDs file a writ petition saying they do not have funds to perform their function," the court said. It also said there can be one corporation instead of three as "trifurcation idea seems not to have worked".

The Commissioners of the south and north MCD, who were present in court, also felt the wrath of the bench which said the top officials of the corporations did not appear to have read its earlier orders or even having left their offices to inspect the affected areas.

On being told the east Delhi corporation's Commissioner was in Stockholm, in Sweden, for a conference on solid waste management, a visibly amused bench said, "that is ironical" and added "he can justify his foreign visit".

The court said, "The whole problem is due to the lack or failure to regulate the functions. No one gets out of their office to inspect. There is no regulation."



The court was also of the view that the manner in which the corporations have allowed regularising of unauthorised colonies has contributed to the problem.

The bench said that regularisations and conversion of residential units into commercial were being allowed without evaluating the impact on garbage generation.

"You are not equipped with the data and you have not even begun planning. You have not begun to do anything. That is a foregone conclusion. You are not even doing grass root level segregation of waste nor educating people about it," it said.

It said the areas where the Commissioners and other senior government officials live are absolutely clean and suggested shifting their residences to areas like Seelampur in east Delhi where garbage is removed after weeks, if ever.

Meanwhile, the health ministry submitted a report which stated that there were huge vacancies in the various posts under the corporations that deal with vector borne diseases.

The ministry told the bench that there were not sufficient malaria inspectors to carry out inspections nor were there any municipal health officers in the three corporations.

It said there would be a huge problem as the rains have started to hit the city leading to waterlogged roads and clogging of drains, as was also seen outside the high court, which are all breeding sites of mosquitoes.

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From the Siachen glacier, considered the world's highest battlefield, to Kanyakumari and Arunachal Pradesh to Kutch, thousands of armed forces personnel today performed yoga asanas to celebrate the International Day of Yoga.

In the national capital, the Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force organised separate yoga sessions to mark the occasion.

Indian Navy personnel showed their grit and enthusiasm with their yoga demonstration onboard submarines INS Sindhudhvaj and INS Sindhukirti while a group of air warriors from the IAF performed asanas at Leh, the highest airfield.

The crew of Eastern Fleet ships of the Navy also started their day practicing yoga in the South Indian Ocean.

Troops from the Indian Army held a yoga session at the Siachen, regarded as the highest battlefield in the world.

A large number of army personnel also performed yoga in difficult terrain along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

A group of Navy personnel also participated in the celebrations onboard INS Vikramaditya, the aircraft carrier.

In Delhi, Navy Chief Adm Sunil Lanba joined other high- ranking navy officials and their family members in celebrating the yoga day.

Almost all the bases of the Army, Navy and Air Force across the country organised events to commemorate the day.

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To spread awareness about Yoga and its benefits, special camps were organised at various locations of the Mathura Cantonment area today to mark the International Day of Yoga by the Strike 1 Corps.

"The benefit of Yoga is not restricted at the physical level, but is an ideal unification of the mind, body and breath," the General Officer Commanding Strike 1 Corps, Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, said.

He attended Yoga sessions along with a large contingent of officers and their family members.

It is a total mind-body workout that combines strengthening and stretching 'asanas' with deep breathing and meditation, a senior army official said.

Meanwhile, over 9,000 cadets, boys and girls, of the NCC's Agra Group participated in morning yoga sessions in various colleges and school on the day, a defence public relation officer (PRO) said.

"The central venue, Yoga Gyarah Sidi Park with the Taj Mahal in the background, was allotted by the civil administration for the purpose," defence PRO Gargi Malik Sinha said.

A large number of NCC and civil administration officials, and principals of various education institutes also attended the session, she said.

"The Agra Group trains over 11,800 cadets from 115 colleges located at Agra, Etawah, Mainpuri, Shikohabad and Firozabad," she said.

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Army officers, soldiers and their family members performed 'asanas' and 'pranayam' on the occasion of third international yoga day today.

In Rajasthan, over 800 officers, soldiers and their families of the south western command performed yoga at the military station in Jaipur.

"Indian Army has actively promoted yoga for physical fitness and mental well-being as a part of the military routine," Defence spokesperson Lt Col Manish Ojha said.

Similar events were also held at Jodhpur and other military stations and units in the state, where the officers and soldiers performed Asanas as per the laid down common yoga protocol.

"The Army has recognised the importance of this centuries old practice as an effective stress buster and an alternative physical regime. It encourages its soldiers to learn and adopt various yogic techniques to improve mental concentration at work and develop a positive outlook in life," he said.

Meanwhile, in Chandigarh, officers, jawans and their family members at the Western Command also performed yogasanas and 'pranayam' as per the common yoga protocol, as laid down by the ministry of AYUSH.

The objective of the yoga session was to provide an insight into the traditional basis of Yoga and its relevance in the present day context of high stress and demanding military service, said Lt Gen. Surinder Singh, GOC-in-C, Western Command who attended the event.

Similar sessions were also organised at across the military stations and cantonments of the Western Command.

Meanwhile, international Yoga day was also celebrated by the 1 Chandigarh naval unit NCC cadets at government model senior secondary school in Sector-23 A here.

Cadets from various institutions performed different yogasnas in the school ground, an Army spokesman said.

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An asteroid strike on the Earth is just a matter of time and such events could destroy major cities, experts warn.

According to Alan Fitzsimmons from Queen's University Belfast in the UK, it is a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen.

The warning comes ahead of the upcoming Asteroid Day on 30 June. On that day in 1908, a small asteroid exploded over Tunguska in Siberia and devastated over 2,000 square kilometres.

This year, discussions and presentations will be streamed live from Luxembourg on June 30.

Experts including Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart and Space Station astronaut Nicole Stott will answer questions from social media followers.

Fitzsimmons warns that a similar unexpected strike in today's world could easily destroy a major city and a larger asteroid could be more dangerous.

"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 Fitzsimmons.

"Over 1,800 potentially hazardous objects have been discovered so far, but there are many more waiting to be found," he said.

"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 added.
Billye Chabot, executive director of the Seward House Museum in Auburn, has been elected to the Museum Association of New York Board of Directors.

The association, which has a 22-member board with representatives from each of the state's 10 regional economic development council regions, "provides resources, training and expertise to New Yorks heritage organizations, and museums, thereby strengthening their capacity to better serve their communities and meet their institutional missions," according to a press release.

It is an honor to serve on the Board of MANY and help support our cultural intuitions throughout the state," Chabot said in the release. "Museums are essential to community identity and part of New York States educational infrastructure.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has demolished a part of actor Arshad Warsi's bungalow which was allegedly constructed illegally, a senior civic official said today.

The actor allegedly carried out an illegal additional construction in the name of renovation in his bungalow after buying it in resale from an Air India employee few years back, he said.

The members of Shantiniketan (Air India) Co-operative Housing Society had filed a complaint against him, he said.

The demolition team of the civic body served the notice to the actor on Saturday and demolished the illegally constructed area on Monday, the official said.

"We have done a part demolition of the illegally constructed portion as the actor was not present in the bungalow. The remaining illegal construction will be demolished soon," he said.

Warsi did not respond to a query sent by on the issue.
A former head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency told an Israeli security conference today that the United States' declining world role under President Donald Trump is today's greatest menace.

"The biggest threat the world faces is how we all adjust to the progressive withdrawal of responsible American leadership and the network of alliances that America maintained with Europe, with Asian countries and the pattern of alliances and partnerships they had across this region," John Sawers said.

"It's going to have a major disruptive effect and no one is yet adjusting to it," he added.

"It is now having a major impact in the security world, and I think it's how we adjust to that -- the behaviours of other countries trying to take advantage of it -- which poses the biggest threat in the world."



Since taking office in January, Trump has pledged to overhaul former president Barack Obama's deal to restore ties with Cuba, reaffirming the existing US trade embargo and tightening rules for Americans visiting the island.

On a trip to Brussels in May, the US president stunned European allies and his entire foreign policy team by removing a line from his speech that highlighted US support of NATO's collective security.

Earlier this month, G7 partners were dismayed when he pulled Washington out of the 2015 Paris accord on fighting climate change.

Sawers told the conference in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, that a populist backlash against globalisation had brought about profound change in western politics.

"I've got serious reservations about Donald Trump as president of the United States," said Sawers, who also served as Britain's ambassador to the United Nations.

"But I see him not as the cause of these problems, but as a consequence of the changes in American society and America's willingness to uphold the burdens of the world as it has for the past 70 years or so."



Sawers said contributing factors were lack of success in military "ventures" in Iraq and Afghanistan and the world financial crash.

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A police officer was stabbed in the neck at the Flint airport by a man with a knife in what authorities are investigating as a possible act of terrorism.

The suspect was immediately taken into custody, and federal prosecutors hours later announced the Canadian man was charged with committing violence at an airport. They identified him as Amor Ftouhi of Quebec.

The criminal complaint says Ftouhi stabbed Lt. Jeff Neville with a large knife yesterday and declared "Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great." The FBI, which is leading the investigation, said Ftouhi said something similar to "you have killed people in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die."



The FBI added in the criminal complaint that Ftouhi asked an officer who subdued him why he didn't kill him. Neville was in stable condition after initially being in critical condition.

The attack just before 10 AM at Bishop International Airport prompted an evacuation and extra security elsewhere in the Michigan city about 50 miles northwest of Detroit. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump was briefed on the stabbing.

Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said "everything is on the table" as far as a motive for the attack. He said the primarily regional airport was "shut down and secure" and that no other threats had been identified.

Witnesses described seeing the suspect led away in handcuffs by police, Neville bleeding and a knife on the ground.

"The cop was on his hands and knees bleeding from his neck," Ken Brown told The Flint Journal. "I said they need to get him a towel."



Cherie Carpenter, who was awaiting a flight to Texas to see her new grandchild, told Flint TV station WJRT she saw the attacker being led away in handcuffs. She described the man in custody as appearing "blank, just totally blank."



Genesee County Commissioner Mark Young, a friend of Neville's who retired from the Genesee County sheriff's office in 1997, said Neville left that department two years after him. He said Neville served in various capacities with the sheriff's office including in the jail, on road patrol and as a court officer. Neville retired from that department as a lieutenant.

Young said he headed to the airport when he learned about the stabbing yesterday. He said once he got there, he "tried to assess and work with emergency management and emergency response teams from the sheriff's department, kind of trying to see what was going on."



"Things were chaotic, but very well organised and under control how the sheriff's department was handling things and how Bishop International was handling things," he said.

A few miles away, officials stationed police officers at Flint City Hall after the incident. Mayor Karen Weaver said in a release the situation was "under control" but that officials sought to take "extra precautions.

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Lakhs of central armed police forces (CAPF) troops today held special sessions and performed yogic asanas to mark the International Day of Yoga (IDY).

The personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) performed yoga at their various posts along the China border, including at a high-altitude location in Ladakh and at a border post at the height of 14,000-feet in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Border Security Force (BSF), that guards Indian borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh, undertook early morning yoga sessions to mark the third IDY at its forward posts, while a contingent of its senior officials did the special exercises led by Director General K K Sharma at its camp here.

Last year, the BSF had replaced its daily physical training exercises with yoga across all its units.

Similarly, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) that guards airports and other vital infrastructure, undertook yoga sessions at all its 336 units in the country led by one at the forces' headquarters here.

CISF chief O P Singh and other senior officials participated in the session.

The commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) participated in yoga at their garrison in Manesar near here and at the five hubs of the counter-terror force located in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Gandhinagar.

The personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) also demonstrated their yoga skills at their various battalion units across the country even as the main event was held at the Nehru Park here.

"NDRF rescuers practiced various yogic asanas, dhyan and pranayams on common Yoga protocol for IDY issued by Ministry of AYUSH under qualified Yoga instructors," a home ministry statement said.

Troops of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the mainstay for internal security duties, held yoga sessions at their remote locations in Naxal violence-hit areas and also in the Kashmir valley.

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), that guards Indian frontiers with Nepal and Bhutan, had yoga sessions at its field locations along the two borders besides one at its camp here in Delhi.

"About 30,000 personnel of CAPFs participated in yoga demonstration organised in various state capitals and other cities. Also, about three lakh personnel did yoga at their respective locations," the statement added.

A number of CAPF troops also participated in the main yoga event in Lucknow which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to arrive here on Saturday to hold talks with the top Pakistani leaders and then leave for Afghanistan, in an effort to defuse tensions between the two neighbours.

Wang will hold talks with Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and the Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Dunya TV reported.

"The visit is aimed at defusing tensions between the two neighbours," the channel said.

Citing sources in the foreign ministry, the channel said all bilateral efforts to normalise relations in the past have yielded no output and interference of third party seems mandatory to fill the void.

It is pertinent here to mention that Pak-Afghan rift have deepened further after the Afghan government put blame of the recent attack in Kabul's diplomatic area on Pakistan.

So far the Foreign Office has not commented on the visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister.

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Senior Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam on Wednesday urged Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan to withdraw from the to avoid getting targeted by traders later.

The government has roped in Bachchan to promote the Goods and Services Tax (GST), ahead of the scheduled July 1 roll out of the sweeping tax reforms.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs will be making the 74-year-old actor brand ambassador for the GST. A 40- second video featuring him has already been shot and is being circulated.

"The GST was a brilliant idea thought of by the Congress. It is another story that the BJP opposed it all the while it was in the opposition. But after coming to power, it started diluting the basic concepts of the GST, and that was not acceptable to us," Nirupam told reporters here.

While the Congress sought GST as a single tax for the entire nation, the BJP introduced four tax slabs and three different sub-types of GST, he said.

"It has become very complicated now. Traders and service providers are required to fill three long forms every month. Thus, the basic purpose of the GST is defeated. This is unlike the way the GST has been implemented in other countries," he said.

"Some people are creating a confusion that we are opposing the same GST that we passed. But this is not true. We have always been for the GST but not in this format.

"We tried for three years to get our reservations noticed by the government but they (the BJP) then started maligning us so we had to pass it," Nirupam said.

"That is why I am suggesting Amitabh Bachchan should not be a party to every foolishness of the BJP. You (Bachchan) are a known person and have a wonderful reputation which may get maligned if there is a backlash from traders," he said.

"Being your fan, I suggest that you withdraw yourself from the GST campaign," the Congress leader said.
The Delhi Police had received intelligence inputs about some terror outfits planning a "London-style attack"-- ploughing van into a crowd of people-- during the International Day of Yoga celebrations at the Connaught Place here.

In view of the alert, the police had barricaded the entry points of eight radials leading to Connaught Place with buses, sources said.

Some gaps were left for the pedestrians to pass through.

This had been done to ensure that even if a vehicle tried to enter into the area it would end up ramming these empty buses, they added.

A man had recently ploughed a van into a crowd of people leaving after offering prayers at a mosque, injuring 11 people near Finsbury Park mosque, north London.

"Ramming a vehicle into pedestrians has become the most common form of terror attack. With a gathering of over 10,000, the event was at a threat from terrorists. We had made the arrangements keeping in mind the vulnerability of the venue," said a senior police officer.

A three-tier security layer was thrown around the area, a senior police officer said, adding, snipers were also stationed on certain buildings to keep a hawk-eye vigil.

Police had received a specific input about a "London- style" attack being planned to disrupt the event that was attended by various dignitaries-- NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-- among others.

As many as 10,000 people joined the dignitaries early this morning at the famed British-era market in the common Yoga performance.

In April, a hijacked beer truck rammed pedestrians at a central Stockholm department store, killing four people, wounding 15 others and sending screaming shoppers flee in panic.

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Hollywood's one of the most illustrious performers Daniel Day-Lewis, who is the only artiste to ever win three Academy Awards for the best actor, has announced retirement from acting.

Day-Lewis' spokeswoman, Leslee Dart, has confirmed the in a statement, stating the 60-year-old star "will no longer be working as an actor", reported 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," Dart said.

Born in London, the actor made his movie debut at the age of 14 with a British drama "Sunday Bloody Sunday" featuring Murray Head, Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch. The film where he played a vandal in an uncredited role.

But it was his 1985 romance film "A Room with a View" which brought him critical acclaim. Based on E M Forster's 1908 novel of the same name, the film saw Day-Lewis in the role of Cecil Vysea, a wealthy and respectable but snobbish and pretentious man.

An alumni of London's National Youth Theatre, Day-Lewis, is known for his unconditional commitment and dedication to his craft.

For his role as paralysed poet Christy Brown in the 1989 movie "My Left Foot", Day-Lewis refused to move from his wheelchair in order to get into the character. The film won him his first Oscar for the best actor.

He then starred in "The Last of the Mohicans", "In the Name of The Father" and Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York".

Day-Lewis received his second best actor Oscar in 2008, for his turn as oil man Daniel Plainview in "There Will Be Blood".

As Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, in the 2012 epic historical drama, Day-Lewis started his preparation a year before the movie's shooting began.

In fact, he wanted the film's director Steven Spielberg to call him "Mr. President" so that he could get his act right. The role won him his third Academy Award.

In his 47 year-long career, Day-Lewis has worked with some of the greatest directors in the history of Hollywood that include, Richard Attenborough, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg.

"Phantom Thread" by director Paul Thomas Anderson, will be Day-Lewis' last film that also features Lesley Manville, Richard Graham and Vicky Krieps.

Set in London's fashion world in the 1950s, the movie is is written by Anderson himself. It is currently in production.

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In squalid camps in Bangladesh, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled violence and persecution in neighbouring Myanmar dream of a better life abroad -- and rely on increasingly high-tech trafficking networks to get them there.

Dhaka denies new arrivals refugee status and, after a major crackdown sealed off the ocean routes traditionally used to traffic migrants to Southeast Asia, many Rohingya are turning to complex smuggling operations to escape Bangladesh.

"People are desperate to leave the camps," said community leader Mohammad Idris.

"Those who have money or gold ornaments are paying smugglers to get them out by air, and those who don't are trying roads."



The Rohingya, who live mainly in Myanmar, are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Many now live in grinding poverty in Bangladesh's southeast coastal district of Cox's Bazar, packed into camps that were home to more than 300,000 Rohingya even before some 70,000 new arrivals poured across the border after the Myanmar army launched a bloody crackdown last October.

Bangladesh denies them the right to work, and is proposing to rehouse them on a mosquito-infested island that regularly floods at high tide.

For years, rickety boats were the main mode of escape for the refugees who would pay hefty amounts to smugglers to get them to Malaysia and Thailand.

Those routes were cut off in 2015 when mass graves of would-be migrants, many of them killed at sea, were discovered in Thailand, triggering a global outcry and a major crackdown on traffickers.

But the smuggling networks swiftly identified new routes out of Bangladesh by air and road, using mobile payments to operate internationally.

Mohammad, an undocumented 20-year-old Rohingya, said he spent 600,000 taka ($7,700) to reach Saudi Arabia, where he now lives.

"I paid a local friend for a Bangladeshi passport and other papers. He also helped me pass through the immigration," Mohammad told AFP using the WhatsApp messaging service. He asked that his family name not be used.

As it becomes more difficult for migrants to leave Bangladesh, many have been forced to head to destinations once considered less appealing.

Those who cannot afford flights are using buses and even travelling on foot to escape Bangladesh, going to India before moving on to Nepal or Pakistan. Some have even settled in the troubled Kashmir region.

There is no reliable data on the value of the trafficking trade, but estimates suggest it is worth millions of dollars in Bangladesh alone.

These networks arrange fake Bangladeshi passports and birth certificates for the Rohingya, a stateless ethnic minority denied citizenship rights in Myanmar even though they have lived in the Buddhist-majority nation for generations.

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East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL) and Jindal Global University (JGU) have agreed to set up a Centre for BRICS Legal Studies through a varsity-level cooperation.

The agreement between ECUPL and JGU was signed at a China-India legal forum, a conference on a theme 'How to Avoid Legal Risks While Investing in India' at ECUPL in Changning Qu, Shanghai in China.

JGU Vice-Chancellor C Raj Kumar said it was important to open institutional mechanisms to navigate and reduce risks for foreign investment in India.

"We share deep and pervasive ties with ECUPL, and are committed to strengthening our relationship through continuous exchange and interaction. The university-level cooperation agreements signed will further help to enhance and deepen our ties with ECUPL, which is amongst the leading universities of China and the world," Kumar said.

"For the last few decades, subsequent governments in India have shown wider political commitment, and there was political consensus for attracting FDI. There is a need for increasing convergence of the mindset of individuals and institutions to reduce and navigate risks," he added.

The forum was organised by JGU, ECUPL and the Dentons Shanghai Office as part of a collaborative initiative between the host institutions, a statement issued by JGU said.

The occasion also saw participation of parliamentarian and former minister of state for commerce and industry E M S Natchiappan, and senior advocate and president of the Indian Society of International Law R Venkataramani.

The deliberations focused on generating fresh and practical knowledge for the upcoming BRICS Summit slated to be held in Xiamen, China in September this year.

Speaking on different roles of Parliament and the Union government on regulating foreign direct investment (FDI) in India, Natchiappan has said, "Since India is a democratic republic union of states, there will be transparency and predictability of the policy of government to reflect the aspirations and protect the welfare of the people...All these are amenable to welcoming FDI in India.

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Some people around town just cant escape the heat. Its part of the job.

Jeff Leland, the owner of Leland Roofing, said he had seven employees working on roofs in Munds Park on Tuesday, when temperatures reached up to 91 degrees.

We have the water hose up on the roof, thats how we cool the shingles off and cool ourselves off, he said. Thats the best way to do it, just bring the water hose on the roof and turn it on when you need it.

Roofers use the hose to cool themselves off, as well as make sure the shingles they are placing are cooled down enough to remain in place and be effective, he said.

Leland said he and his employees take breaks for about 15 minutes every hour and try their best to stay in the shade. Roofers are also given cooling towels to use.

You have to drink a lot of water, thats the bottom line, he said.

James Firchau, a roofer who works for Leland, said the key to staying cool while on top of a roof in the sun is long sleeve shirts and loose fitting clothing.

While it can be tempting to take off your shirt while working in the hot sun to try to cool down, Firchau said it is easy to get sunburnt very quickly while on a roof.

If we take off our shirts, when we get home were redder than lobsters, he said. You can never wear enough sunscreen, because you can get burnt very fast.

Firchau worked on two roofing projects Tuesday, beginning his day in Sunnyside on West Street and then heading to a project in Doney Park. With so much construction and roofing work to do in the summer, it can be nearly impossible to avoid working during the hottest parts of the day, he said.

It doesnt matter if we start at 6 or if we start at 8, we will still be working until the sun goes down because we are so busy, Firchau said. We are really cautious about taking breaks, we know how important it is to get a project finished on schedule, but our health and safety is most important.

Firchau said he has been working for Leland for about a year.

Last summer is no comparison to the heat this year, he said.

Extremely high temperatures are a little unusual for Northern Arizona, said Mike Oxtoby, Coconino County deputy chief health officer in a press release. Many people in this area are not used to the heat and many dont have air conditioning. Extra care is necessary when its this hot, especially when involved in outdoor activities.
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 today.

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.

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Eight letters written by German scientist Albert Einstein have fetched nearly USD 210,000 at an auction today, with the highest bid going to a letter about God's creation of the world.

The letters, written in English between 1951 and 1954, were initially valued between USD 31,000 and USD 46,000.

The highest bid of USD 84,000 was for a letter to eminent physicist David Bohm in February 1954, a year before Einstein's death.

"If God has created the world his primary worry was certainly not to make its understanding easy for us," Einstein wrote in the letter.

In another letter to Bohm, which sold for USD 50,400, Einstein discussed the link his colleague made between quantum theory and "relativistic field theory".

The typewritten letter includes an equation added in neat handwriting and the writer's signature, the 'Times of Israel' reported.

Bohm, born in the US 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.

A 1954 letter in which Einstein discusses the possibility of Bohm moving to Israel was also sold by the Winner's Auction in Jerusalem.

"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," Einstein wrote.

The auction house said the letters came from the estate of Bohm's late widow.

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Yoga guru Ramdev may have led a record 54,000 people in Ahmedabad in performing asanas on International Yoga Day today but there were merely 40 people who performed yoga in his native village Saidalipur in Haryana.

"Some 30 to 40 people performed yoga asanas in the Sant Ashram, located on the outskirts of the village," Saidalipur village Sarpanch (head) Deshpal Nambardar told PTI.

But there were no women among those who performed the asanas, he added.

"People performed yoga for about 90-minute under the guidance of a 60-year-old instructor Amar Singh, who holds a degree in the field," he said.

The village has a population of around 2,000.

The International Yoga Day event held at Ahmedabad's GMDC ground entered the Guinness World Records Book with over 54,000 people, led by Ramdev, performing asanas. The number, however, was drastically lower than Ramdev's earlier claim of three lakh.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani received a certificate of the record from the Guinness Book officials at Gandhinagar.

The sarpanch said that people in the village perform yoga in their houses regularly.

Though Ramdev tried to promote yoga, internal politics in the village has played a spoilsport for his initiatives.

"Many villagers don't support Ramdev as they envy his success," he claimed.

Ramdev offered to set up an Acharyakulam - residential schools on the pattern of gurukuls - on the panchayat land, but villagers refused to give him land, Ramdev's elder brother Devdutt said.

Devdutt, 48, who is busy constructing his house, said, "I didn't perform yoga today."



"I was busy in other works related to the construction of my house," he said, adding those who have some health issues are doing yoga.

On being asked what he wants to say about his brother Ramdev on the yoga day, he said "Ramdev is not connected with the family now. Today he is connected to the people of the entire country."



"I am not dependent upon him (Ramdev)...Last he visited the village in 2008," he said.

Ramdev, born as Ramkrishna Yadav in 1965, did his education from the village school before proceeding for a gurukul in Khanpur, Deshpal said.

Devdutt, who is building a new house near their 15-acre agriculture land, alleged,"the village sarpanch is least bothered about health issues of the villagers."



Devdutt and his wife Dhanmaya found nothing new in yoga day today as it was life as usual for both of them.

Most of the family of Ramdev, including his younger brother, had shifted to Haridwar.

Haryana today observed international Yoga day in all the districts in association with Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth.

In Mahendragarh, the main event was held in Narnaul, the district headquarters, while the smaller event took place at Nangal Chaudhary block, where Saidalipur falls.
Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, Justice Vineet Saran today inaugurated the Legal Assistance Establishment-Nyaya Sanjog, a multi-service single-point institution to provide all facilities for legal aid to the people of the state under one roof.

As per the direction of the Supreme Court of India and under the supervision of National Legal Service Authority (NLSA), the Odisha State Legal Services Authority (OSLSA) has set up the Nyaya Sanjog with an endeavour to enhance the accessibility of legal services to all.

Highlighting the functions of Nyaya Sanjog, OSLSA member secretary B K Mohapatra said the new establishment would render meaningful service to the people in need of legal assistance free of cost and to make the people aware of their rights and the benefits under different schemes introduced by Centre and state government.

"Even the common people can mitigate their grievances with the government offices, authorities and institutions through the assistance of Nyaya Sanjog", Mohapatra said adding that the newly set up body, the first of its kind in the State will also assist in spreading legal awareness among the people.

(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 1730 HRS:



DES 9 AVI-DOHA-AIRINDIA



New Delhi: The government asks Air India and Jet Airways to operate additional temporary flights to Doha to meet the massive demand ahead of Eid, due to a ban on Qatar carriers by some middle-eastern nations.

DEL 15 DL-YOGADAY-TERROR



New Delhi: Delhi Police receives intelligence inputs about some terror outfits planning a "London-style attack" during the International Yoga Day celebrations at Connaught Place here.

DES 15 MEA-YOGA



New Delhi: Nearly hundred diplomats from various foreign missions join a yoga session organised by the external affairs ministry to celebrate the International Day of Yoga here.

DES 6 UP-SP-YOGA



Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party celebrates International Day of Yoga day by undertaking 'cycle yatras' across the state.

DES 10 UP-YOGA-PM-PARTICIPANTS-ILL



Lucknow: Twenty one participants, including several children, fall ill due to adverse weather after taking part in the International Yoga Day programme which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here at the Rambai Ambedkar grounds.

DES 4 PB-CHILDREN-POISON



Kapurthala (PB): A 21-year-old man allegedly laces burgers with poison killing his four siblings before taking his own life here, police say.

DES 12 MOH-AADHAAR-TB-MANDATORY



New Delhi: People suffering from tuberculosis will have to mandatorily submit their Aadhaar number to avail benefits under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme scheme.

DES 11 UP-CONG-IFTAR CANCEL



Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) cancels a 'Roza-Iftar' programme that was scheduled tomorrow without citing any reasons.

DES 19 AVI-MUMBAI AIRPORT



New Delhi: The Mumbai airport is unlikely to participate in the second round of bidding for air routes for the government's regional connectivity scheme or UDAN because of capacity-crunch at the busy aerodrome.

NRG 14 JK-PILGRIMAGE-HELISERVICE



Jammu: In a good for those wishing to undertake the MataMachail pilgrimage in the Kishtwar hills of Jammu and Kashmir, the heli-service for the yatra will be cheaper this year as operators slash the fare to Rs 1,550.

NRG 17 UP-CM OFFICE-GATE-GIRL



Lucknow: Nine-year-old girl has been killed as iron gate falls on her in an under-construction part of the 'Lok Bhawan' building that houses the chief minister's office here, police say.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The International Yoga Day was today celebrated by the Army, Navy, Air Force and NCC at various establishments here and several other places in the eastern and north eastern states.

All stations of Army's Eastern Command including units deployed in counter insurgency and those along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in forward areas observed the International Yoga Day by practising various yoga poses and exercises, a Defence spokesperson said here.

The main event was conducted at the Eastern Command headquarters in Fort William, where the threat of a downpour forced the conduct of the event indoors.

Thousands of troops took part in the event across the Command theatre, the spokesperson said.

Locals from nearby areas and students of various schools, who joined in large numbers, were encouraged to develop yoga as a way of living.

The Navy organised a workshop conducted by professional yoga instructors in which around 150 service personnel of INS Netaji Subhash and allied units attended.

At the Advance HQ of Eastern Air Command in Kolkata, all personnel and their families participated in the yoga sessions.

Around 6,500 NCC cadets under the aegis of NCC Directorate West Bengal and Sikkim participated in yoga sessions at Brigade Parade Ground (Maidan) and Tarakeshwar Degree College, the spokesperson said.

The overall participation from NCC stood at about 39,000 cadets, officers, instructors and other staff at 101 venues, including schools and colleges, in West Bengal and Sikkim, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
France's interior minister has ordered a review of registered gun owners who are also on the country's extremist watchlist after one of them rammed a car laden with weapons and gas canisters into a police van on Paris's Champs-Elysees.

Adam Djaziri, a suspected Islamist who had been on the watchlist since 2015, was killed on Monday as his car smashed into a police vehicle on the French capital's most famous avenue.

Two handguns and a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle were found in the 31-year 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 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.

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 inquiry 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.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper to appear today explained that under current law the authorities cannot systematically take away a weapons permit from someone who is on a watchlist, but he vowed to take another look.

"I have asked my services to conduct a new review of the people monitored for radicalisation to see who might be likely to legally possess a weapon," he said.

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.

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A three-year-old girl suffering from a critical disorder, in which the urine tends to go back to the kidneys, has become the youngest person in SAARC region to undergo a blood group incompatible kidney transplant, claimed an NCR-based hospital.

The girl, Pratyusha, weighing 10 kgs was suffering 'reflux nephropathy' since birth and was operated upon at the Medanta Hospital.

"The major risk of blood group incompatible transplant is hyperacute rejection (kidney may stop working the same day of transplant). Looking at the criticality of the surgery, we designed a protocol to remove the antibodies and then conducted the transplant on April 5.

"Since, the mother had a different blood group, the child received renal transplant with mother as the donor, with a designed desensitisation and immunosuppressive protocol," said Dr Sidharth Sethi, Consultant, Pediatric Nephrology and Pediatric Renal Transplant, Medanta, in a release.

According to the hospital authorities, the girl required an early kidney transplant, but there was no blood group compatible donor.

An attempt was made to swap the donors with other families and for cadaveric donation list, but nothing materialised.

"After six months of desperate search, we planned to take mother as a donor which was a blood group incompatible transplant. The child was B positive and the mother was A positive," a hospital official said.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) comprises eight member states: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

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The government has given a last chance to district cooperative banks, commercial banks and post offices to deposit the banned Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes with the Reserve Bank by July 20, provided they were collected within the specified time period.

After the November 8 shock demonetisation announcement, the government had allowed commercial banks and post offices to accept the junked currency from the public till December 30. District central cooperative banks were allowed to accept them only till November 14.

The finance ministry, through a notification today, allowed banks and post offices to exchange any old junked notes with RBI in the next one month, provided they were collected by December 30, 2016. The same window would also be available to cooperative banks if they had collected the banned notes by November 14.

The earlier window was open till December 31, a day after the 50-day period of demonetisation of high value currency.

According to a government official, the notification for the fresh window comes as per the commitment given to the Supreme Court.

Last December, government had made a commitment to the apex court that it will soon issue a notification allowing the district cooperative banks to deposit the demonetised notes with the RBI.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had told a bench headed by the then Chief Justice T S Thakur that the district credit cooperative banks in Maharashtra alone have received Rs 5,000 crore in old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination in just four days, from November 10-14, when they were allowed to accept them.

He had also said that a total of Rs 8,000 crore had been received by the banks all over the country.

The November 10-14 window was ambiguous for co-operative banks, post which these banks had challenged government's notification in the Court.

The formal notification for cooperative banks to exchange old currency had come from the finance ministry only on November 14, the last date for them to accept the junked notes.

Today's notification said that banks and post offices will have to give reasons for not depositing the withdrawn notes with the specified time period "subject to the satisfaction of the RBI".

Money worth crores is also pending with post offices and various banks branches located in remote areas, the official said.

Banks, post offices had requested the Finance Ministry to allow a window to exhaust the money received during the demonetisation window which they could not deposit with RBI in the stipulated time.

After demonetisation, the government gave holders of the junked currency a 50-day window to deposit it in their bank or post office accounts by December 30.

But cooperative banks were on November 14 barred from accepting the junked notes as deposits or exchange them with new currency.

This left cooperative banks with crores of invalid currency notes. According to a recent report, district central cooperative banks in Maharashtra alone are stuck with Rs 2,770 crore worth old notes they collected during the early days of demonetisation but were unable to deposit them with RBI.

This had led to stalling of a Maharashtra government scheme to hand out Rs 10,000 cash to distressed farmers.

Several leaders including NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and those from Shiv Sena had represented to the government for allowing cooperative banks to exchange old notes.

The relief has finally come.

In the notification, the ministry said that "specified bank notes may be deposited by such Bank, Post Office or District Central Cooperative Bank, as the case may be, in any office of the Reserve Bank, within a period of 30 days from the commencement of these rules, and get the exchange value thereof by credit" to their account.

While the grace period for resident Indians to deposit the invalidated currency notes expired on 31 March, the non- resident Indians have time till June 30 to deposit such currencies.

RBI will accept deposits collected by any bank or post office by December 30, 2016 or by any District Central Cooperative Bank from November 10-14, 2016 should be deposited within 30 days, the notification said.

They should also cite valid reasons for non-deposit of the specified bank notes within the period, it added.

Old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were junked from November 8, 2016 to eliminate black money and curb infusion and circulation of fake Indian currency notes (FICNs).

India is the second-largest producer and consumer of currency notes. The circulation of banknotes has increased to 90.27 billion pieces from 64.58 billion over the last five years.

As on November 8, 2016, the total amount of currency in circulation was Rs 17.7 lakh crore, which included specified bank notes (SBNs) of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

As per the last official count released by RBI on December 13, banks had garnered Rs 12.44 lakh crore in banned notes till December 10.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government needs to rethink and bring all nuts, including almonds, under a uniform rate under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a senior official of the Almond Board of California (ABC) said today.

"For us we are clear - all nuts should be at same tax rates of 5 per cent," the Board's Regional Director, India, Sudarshan Mazumdar told PTI here.

Initially, all the nuts and dry fruits were put in the 12 per cent tax bracket under GST but the Centre subsequently reduced it to 5 per cent only in respect of cashew and raisins.

"Actually, we look at almonds as fresh nuts because it comes straight from tree and there is no further processing. Now, this is strange for us... In fact if you look at since (India's) independence all the nuts have always been on the same tax bracket.

"They were never differentiated...For the first time we are finding that a differentiation is happening...For us the reasons are not clear why it is happening. There is an effort to pull out a couple of nuts and put them in different tax brackets," he said.

Mazumdar hoped the government would reconsider its decision and levy a common GST rate of 5 per cent across all nuts so there is no discrimination among these dry fruits.

He said some dry fruits and kirana associations and traders have approached the government with representations to make the tariff structure equitable across nuts.

"For us, all nuts should be (taxed) at same rates... otherwise you are causing distortion in the market because you are forcing people to choose one nut over the other through the tariff instead of the natural demand growth."



On the volume of California's almond exports to India, he said, "From August 2016 to May this year, we have already shipped 147 million pounds. It is a huge growth as compared to 126 million pounds in 2015-16."



Spain is the largest importer of California almonds from the US at 175 million pounds, followed by India at 147 million pounds and China 132 million pounds. Spain is not essentially a consumption centre of almonds and acts as a processing facility for all of Europe. From consumption perspective, India is still the largest market, he explained.

Mazumdar claimed during the January to December 2016 shipments, California almonds had 81 per cent share in India followed by Australian almonds at 13 per cent and Iran at 3 per cent.

According to him, "People are getting comfortable with the health benefits of almonds."



He said the Board is focusing on building the market in India, continuing to do research on the health benefits, and educating consumers on the different ways they can have almonds as snack.

"Our basic focus is on increasing snacking in India. We feel there is a huge opportunity for afternoon, mid-morning snacking to increase in India and we are seeing through our studies that people are consuming almonds more and more in afternoon and mid-morning," the official said.

Mazumdar said they see a role for almonds replacing a lot of unhealthy snacks for mid-morning and afternoon consumption.

"While some people plan for healthy meals, they forget it during snacking. We want to encourage people to have healthy snacking in which almonds can play an easy role," he added.

ABC is an international almond industry body that engages in production, nutrition and market research, advertising and promotion, quality control and statistical analysis and dissemination.

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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.
India and Russia today identified a number of key areas to bolster cooperation in the science and technology sector including space and marine technologies, IT and deep ocean engineering.

The areas were chosen at the first meeting of India- Russia Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation which was co-chaired by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogizin.

At the meeting at the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, both the sides finalised the working procedures for the Committee to ensure speedy decision making in implementing joint projects, official sources said.

Describing Russia as a partner of choice for India in high technology sector, Jaitley said the new mechanism will further energise the bilateral partnership as it will help in opening up advanced areas of cooperation which will benefit the future generations.

The meeting of the Joint Committee took place along with the fifth edition of TECHNOPROM, an annual forum focusing on innovation and technology.

Addressing the forum, Rogizin praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative and said it was an inspiration for Russia to launch its own version of drive to enhance industrialisation.

Russia has launched a "Do It In Russia" initiative to promote local manufacturing and technology development.

"We recognise that in today's fast moving world of technological innovation and information driven business models, manufacturing can thrive only if we are able to establish a symbiotic relationship between innovation and enterprise," Jaitley said while addressing the forum.

Sources said that India is considering to launch a nano satellite of Samara State University on an Indian launch vehicle.

The meeting of the Joint S&T committee finalised a range of bilateral areas of cooperation including space and marine technologies, IT, deep ocean engineering as well as modelling and simulation, sources said.

They said that cooperation in these areas would be undertaken through futuristic projects with participation of research centres and innovative industrial enterprises of both the countries.

Jaitley, who arrived here today on a three-day visit to Russia, will now travel to Moscow to co-chair India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military Technological Cooperation on June 23.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian agricultural microbiologist Shrihari Chandraghatgi has been conferred the Ministry of Environment Award for 2017 in Japan for developing cutting edge technologies to address burning environmental problems.

Chandraghatgi, who is President and CEO of EcoCycle Corporation, is the first foreigner to be given the Ministry of Environment Award, the highest award in environmental sector in Japan, a company release said.

The Ministry of Environment Award is the highest honour given in the environmental sector every year jointly by the Ministry of Environment, Japan, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan and The Nikkan Kogyo Shinbun (a media group).

The award was given away recently by State Minister of Environment, Japan, Seki Yoshihiro, at a ceremony at Kasumegaseki, Tokyo.

Chandraghatgi, hailing from Siddapura in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, has been residing in Tokyo for almost two decades. He has over a dozen patents against his name. These patented technologies have been applied over 400 sites in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, India, China and the US, the release said.

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Service personnel and defence civilians from Indian Naval Academy (INA), INS Zamoein and "INHS Navjiani",along with their famiy members, participated in the third International Yoga Day celebrations today, at the INA premises in Ezhimala in nearby Kannur district.

President of Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA) and yoga therapist, Meena Bhokare led the practice-cum demonstrationof yoga, organised by INS Zamorin.

The participants performed various asanas, pranayam andmeditation as part of the event.

The mass yoga demonstration today was the culmination of the two-week long yoga instruction camp which commenced on June 8, in association with "The Art of Living Foundation" at Payyanur in Kannur district, a release from INA said.

The camp was aimed at creating awareness about the benefits ofyoga and to make it an integral part of life in keepingwith this year's theme "Yoga for Health", it said.

INA Commandant Vice Admiral S V Bhokare and INA principal Rear Admiral Amit Vikram, besides many other senior officers of INA were present on the occasion.

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Insurance regulator Irdai wants increase in the retirement age of its members.

The Hyderabad-based watchdog has written a letter to the Centre, urging it to raise the retirement age of its members to 65 years from the existing 62.

According to Irdai, members of other financial regulators remain in office till the age of 65 and this benefit should be extended to their counterparts in the insurance watchdog too.

Irdai had discussed the issue at its recently held board meeting and has now written to the finance ministry to bring about the necessary changes in the Insurance Act in this connection, a senior official of the regulator told PTI.

Section 5 of the Irdai Act says the tenure of whole- time members should be for a term of 5 years provided that no person continues as a whole-time member once he/she attains the age of 62.

Irdai has argued that the corresponding provision relating to whole-time members under the SEBI Act provides for a tenure of 5 years or till they attain the age of 65, whichever was earlier.

"With a view to bring parity in respective provisions of the Irdai Act, 1999 and SEBI Act, 1992, the regulator agreed to the proposal that the matter be referred to the DFS (Department of Financial Services) in the Ministry of Finance along with any other substantive amendments required in any other provisions of the IRDAI Act," the official said.

Currently, Irdai has three members and two other posts are lying vacant.

Irdai chairman T S Vijayan will retire in February next year on completion of his five-year term. VR Iyer (member finance and investment) retired in May.

The retirement of PJ Joseph (member, non-life) is due in June 2019 whereas Nilesh Sathe (member, life) will hang up his boots in May 2019.

Pournima Gupte (member, actuary) is the youngest among them as she has another three years at Irdai before she retires.

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Islamic militants occupied a primary school and took hostages in a southern Philippine village today, a few hours drive from a city where other jihadists were fighting a month-long war, authorities said.

Hundreds of gunmen initially attacked a lightly guarded military outpost at dawn, with about 30 then taking over the school and using civilians as human shields, the military said.

"As of now they are in the school holding the civilians. They are using them as human shields," Captain Arvin Encinas, spokesman for the army division with responsibility for the area, told AFP by phone.

Encinas said the gunmen had planted improvised bombs around the school, a small building in a rural area, and that soldiers had surrounded it.

There were about 20 hostages taken from houses nearby, but no students, Antonio Maganto, the region's education spokesman, told AFP, although he said the exact numbers could not be confirmed.

The unrest occurred in Pigkawayan, a farming town about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Marawi city where fighters linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been battling troops for a month in a conflict that has claimed hundreds of lives.

Armed forces spokesman Restituto Padilla said the attackers at Pikgawayan belonged to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), one of four groups in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao that have pledged allegiance to IS.

Local police said the BIFF attack may have been intended to help the militants in Marawi by distracting the military.

Padilla said the gunmen attacked the outpost at daybreak, then exchanged fire with troops in the morning before retreating in a hit-and-run assault typical of BIFF fighters who are based in Muslim communities in the area.

"It's already resolved. The enemy has withdrawn... They failed," Padilla said late on Wednesday morning.

However about six hours later Encinas reported the hostage crisis at the school.

Padilla then confirmed militants had taken over the school, and said the military would seek to broker a solution.

"I hope this will be resolved peacefully and I hope there will be negotiations for the sake of the people they are holding hostage," he said on the local GMA television network.

Encinas and Padilla said there had also been skirmishes throughout the day outside of Pigkawayan, which is surrounded by marshlands, mountains and farmlands.

Those areas are largely lawless areas with mixed Muslim- Christian communities where the BIFF, other Muslim rebels and political warlords hold sway.

Pigkawayan mayor Eliseo Garsesa said about 200 gunmen were involved in the initial assault.

Muslim rebels have been fighting for more than four decades for an independent or autonomous region in the south of the mainly Catholic nation, with the conflict claiming more than 120,000 lives.

The major rebel organisations have signed, or are pursuing, peace deals with the government, but small hardline groups such as the BIFF have vowed to continue fighting.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across Mindanao, home to 20 million people, on May 23 immediately after fighters flying the IS flag rampaged through Marawi.

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Arrested former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan was today brought here from Chennai and taken to the Presidency correctional home (jail) where he complained of chest pain.

A team of state CID officers brought him by an Air India flight, a senior police officer said.

Karnan, dressed in white shirt and trouser, came out of the airport escorted by policemen in civil dress. He was whisked away by the police when the reporters tried to approach him.

Tight security arrangements were made at the airport where senior police officers, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, were present.

"His (Karnan's) medical tests were completed at the airport and he was taken straightaway to the jail," the officer said.

A senior official at the Presidency jail said 62-year-old Karnan complained of chest pain soon after he was taken inside and a team of doctors from the jail hospital was examining him.

"He is old and seems to be unwell too. We do not want to take any chance. An ECG was done on him," he said, adding Karnan might be moved to a state-run hospital if anything wrong is found in his medical report.

Karnan, who had been evading arrest since the May 9 Supreme Court order awarding a six-month jail term, was arrested last night by a team of West Bengal CID from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km from Coimbatore, where he was "hiding" for the past few days.

The former high court judge was brought to Chennai from Coimbatore by a private airline past midnight yesterday and later accommodated in the retiring room in the airport complex amid tight security.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping in Coimbatore who traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls. Tamil Nadu police provided the technical support to trace his whereabouts, a senior local police officer had said.

Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, had retired from service on June 12 as a fugitive.

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, had sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.

Three days after the sentence, Karnan had moved the apex court for staying his arrest.

He had enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu in 1983 and was appointed a judge of the Madras High Court in 2009. He was transferred to the Calcutta High Court on March 11, 2016.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Facing mounting pressure from farmers and opposition parties, the Karnataka government today announced crop loan waiver of up to Rs 50,000 per farmer, that will cost Rs 8,165 crore to the state exchequer.

The waiver will help 22,27,506 farmers who had obtained loans from cooperative banks, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in the Assembly.

Karnataka has become the fourth state this year to take such step following Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab. The state is headed for polls Assembly polls next year.

"Farmers are in distress. They have been demandingloan waiver. We have to respond to farmers even though itwill have impact on the state's finances," Siddaramaiah said.

He said that in the interest of the agriculture sector, the government has decided to come to the rescue of 22,27,506farmers and waived their crop loans or short-term loan fromcooperative banks outstanding till yesterday, by Rs 50,000 oneach farmer, irrespective of the loan amount.

"Unlike in Uttar Pradesh, the order to this effect will be issued immediately," he added.

Karnataka has been reeling under successive years of drought, with the last two years being described as "severe" by the government.

Siddaramaiah had been under constant attack from the opposition BJP, which has accused him of "dilly dallying" on loan waiver.

But he had put the onus on the NDA government at the Centre, saying it had to take the initiative to waive loans borrowed from nationalised andgrameen banks which came under its ambit.

Of over Rs 52,000 crore crop loan or short term loan obtained by farmers, 80 per cent (about Rs42,000 crore) has been obtained from nationalised and grameen banks and 20 per cent (Rs 10,736 crore) from cooperative banks.

The Karnataka government, which had initially said that itwould announce loan waiver if the central government agreesto do its part, had come under intense pressure following waivers by the other three states without the Centre's assistance.

Raising the political pitch, BJP state President B S Yeddyurappa had also announced a state-wide agitation, culminating in a stir in Bengaluru.

While making the announcement today, Siddaramaiah demandedthat the Centre should now come to the rescue of farmers by waiving the loan obtained from nationalised and grameen banks.

He said the state government's move would only benefit20 per cent of the farmers.

The Chief Minister and Congress MLAs also chidedBJP over the Centre being non-committal on the issue.

"BJP does not have any moral rights to speak about farmers," Siddaramaiah said.

Accusing BJP of abandoning and forgetting the farmers, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi during hisrecent visit to the state had advised the state government toassist them.

"Karnataka's farmers should feel that this is their government, and I am confident that the Chief Minister is constantly listening to them and working for their interest," he had said.

BJP and JDS on their part have claimed that theloan waiver announcement was a result of their relentlessefforts both inside and outside the House.

Appreciating the government for understanding farmer's feelings, Opposition Leader Jagadish Shettar said: "Let us together work towards ensuring central assistance to farmers."



Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had yesterday said that the Centre was not considering any proposal for farm loanwaiver, and it intends to adhere to the Fiscal Responsibilityand Budget Management (FRBM) Act and fiscal deficit targets.

Farmers in various parts of the country have been agitating seeking waiver of loans.

Keeping up the poll promise, Uttar Pradesh was thefirst state this year to announce Rs 36,359 crore farm debtwaiver for small and marginal farmers.

This was followed by Rs30,000 crore farm loan waiver in Maharashtra amidst large-scale protests.

On Monday, Punjab had 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 last loan waiver for farmers in Karnataka was announced by the Shettar-led BJP government to the tune of Rs 3,600 crore ahead of the 2013 assembly polls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two more ministers from the centrist party that helped bring French President Emmanuel Macron to power quit the government today as he prepared to unveil a new cabinet.

Justice Minister Francois Bayrou, leader of the small MoDem party and a key ally of Macron's in the presidential campaign, told AFP: "I have taken a decision not to be part of the next government".

European Affairs Minister Marielle de Sarnez is also set to resign, meaning all three MoDem ministers are leaving the cabinet after just over one month in office.

Defence Minister Sylvie Goulard stood down yesterday, saying she could not carry on while MoDem was facing an investigation into claims it broke European Parliament rules by using funds to pay assistants who are actually based in France.

MoDem entered an alliance with Macron's 14-month-old Republic on the Move (REM) movement for the presidential and legislative elections.

In exchange, the president rewarded the party for its support by giving them key jobs in his first cabinet -- a caretaker government between the two elections.

France's youngest ever president has pledged to usher in a new era of cleaner politics after a series of scandals involving ministers under his Socialist predecessor Francois Hollande.

Observers say that pledge makes it difficult for Macron to keep MoDem in his new government while it is facing a probe.

Richard Ferrand, a junior minister from Macron's party, has also left the government, this time at the president's request after he became embroiled in a conflict-of-interest scandal involving his wife.

Macron hopes to complete a reshuffle later Wednesday after his party won a commanding majority in the parliamentary elections at the weekend.

REM took 308 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, meaning it does not need the support of MoDem, which won 42 seats, to push legislation through parliament.

But Bayrou's departure also deprives Macron of a centrist partner as he seeks to pull together a new government to push forward his pro-business agenda.

Bayrou, 66, was a key backer of Macron's 14-month-old party during the presidential campaign, and his support was crucial in lending legitimacy to the inexperienced candidate.

When Bayrou threw his weight behind Macron's fledging party, the future president hailed it as a "turning point" in his campaign.

Government spokesman Christophe Castaner said Bayrou's decision to quit was a "personal choice" which "simplifies the situation".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma today slammed the Centre for not including sugar under the National Food Security Act, 2013 and said the state will provide one kg sugar to every household in the state.

"The Centre has failed to listen to us and discontinued the distribution of sugar from the programme (NFSA). But we have decided to work out the modalities from our own resources to continue providing sugar apart from rice," he said while addressing at a public meeting here.

"Though we will not be able to provide 3 kg per household, we will continue to give sugar at 1 kg per household from the state's own resources", he said.

Meghalaya is the only state in the country to provide 3 kg packaged sugar under the National Food Security programme, but the distribution of sugar has been recently withdrawn by the Central Government.

The Chief Minister also distributed certificates of appreciation to wholesalers and fair price shop dealers here as a token of the state government's appreciation for their contribution in successfully implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.

"The state government has been able to address the challenges of implementation of the Act in terms of distribution through the active support and partnership of different stakeholders, particularly the wholesalers and fair price shop dealers," he said.

According to the Chief Minister, the programme is a mark of acknowledgement by the government for their hard work and all the hardship they have to undergo in lifting, handling and transporting the commodities to make them reach to the beneficiaries.

Terming the National Food Security Mission as the biggest Food Security Programme in the world, the Chief Minister said it is a commitment of the Government designed for the needy which has been mandated by a law which is binding on the authorities to take care of the citizens.

The Chief Minister also motivated the wholesalers and dealers telling them that they should consider the service as a social service and not as an enterprise but to learn from it and expand their horizon to building successful business models to enhance their livelihood.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Mumbai airport is unlikely to participate in the second round of bidding for air routes for the government's regional connectivity scheme or UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) because of capacity crunch at the busy aerodrome.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport handled 837 flights a day, or one in 65 seconds, on an average in FY17, becoming the world's busiest airport with single-runway operations.

According to sources, while the airport has a capacity of 45 flights per hour, it often sees an aircraft movement rate of 54.

Under the regional connectivity scheme, also known as UDAN, routes are bid out to airline operators based on certain criteria, including that related to tariff and requirement of subsidy from the government.

After stakeholder consultations, the routes and airports that would be made available for bidding are decided. Participating airports are required to provide certain incentives to the carrier concerned.

The aims to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying affordable by offering fares capped at Rs 2,500 per hour on select routes.

"Mumbai, Juhu and Safdarjung airport in Delhi are unlikely to be part of the second phase of the regional connectivity scheme (RCS)," said a senior official at the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Because of slot constraints, the GVK-AAI run airport was able to accede to only six out of the total 20 requested by the government for the first round of bidding in March.

Of the total 128 routes awarded in the first round of bidding, seven routes were from Mumbai and they were granted to three carriers  SpiceJet, Air Deccan and True Jet.

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet will be launching daily direct flights to Porbandar and Kandla from Mumbai from July 10.
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 NATO military plane today approached the plane of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu above the Baltic Sea, Russian agencies reported, the third such encounter in three days.

A NATO fighter jet tried to approach Shoigu's plane but a Russian escort plane intervened to defend it, Interfax agency reported, citing journalists accompanying the minister.

The escort plane, a Sukhoi SU-27, demonstrated it was armed by rocking its wings, after which the NATO plane flew off, Interfax reported.

Russian state television aired defence ministry footage of the incident, reporting that it took place over neutral waters.

NATO and national air forces decided to monitor flights after last week tracking "an unusually large number of Russian military aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea," a NATO spokesman said in a statement sent to AFP.

NATO insisted the crew's actions were "routine" to identify the plane while "maintaining a safe distance at all times" and then break away.

Shoigu today was flying to Kaliningrad, a highly militarised Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, to take part in a meeting with defence officials there.

At the meeting, he warned that "the situation near Russia's western borders is tending to get worse," the ministry said on its website.

"This is tied with the upsurge of military activity of NATO countries in Eastern Europe," Shoigu added.

The meeting came after NATO held military exercises at the weekend in Poland on the Lithuanian border close to Kaliningrad.

NATO is deploying four international battalions in Poland and each of the former Soviet Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Moscow sees the NATO build-up in the region as demonstrating a desire to contain Russia.

Today, Sweden summoned Russia's ambassador after a Russian Sukhoi fighter jet flew unusually close to a Swedish reconnaissance plane above the Baltic Sea.

"The Russian behaviour is unacceptable" and had increased the risk of a serious incident, Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told the TT agency.

That incident, in international airspace, happened on Monday, a Swedish army statement said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The National Green Tribunal has slapped massive fines on six industries in Bhiwadi and Khuskhera industrial areas in Rajasthan's Alwar district for discharging effluents in open and polluting the environment.

A vacation bench headed by Justice Jawad Rahim imposed environmental compensation on Active Toys Pvt Ltd, BG Steel, Kesri Steels Limited (Unit-II), Agrawal Metal Works Pvt Ltd Asiatic Electrical and Switchgear Pvt Ltd and Shyam Auto Pvt. Ltd after an inspection team found deficiencies in their units.

While Active Toys Pvt Ltd, BG Steel, Kesri Steels Limited (Unit-II) Asiatic Electrical and Switchgear and Shyam Auto Pvt. Ltd have been asked to pay of Rs 10 lakh each, Agrawal Metal Works Pvt Ltd will have to cough up a compensation of Rs 15 lakh besides giving an undertaking that they would not cause any pollution and would take extra precautions in future.

They have also been asked to comply with the observations and findings of the inspection team within three months.

"Subject to the applicant's depositing the environmental compensation to the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB) and the further undertaking to the tribunal, we permit these industries to operate, but in the event of default, the industries would be liable to be shut down and would also be liable to pay further environmental compensation for polluting the environment in the past and in the current period," the bench said.

The green panel asked the RSPCB to restore their electricity after the payment of the environmental compensation and revive their consent subject to conditions stipulated in the order.

"In the event of default of any of the directions, the industries will be shut down and be exposed to such penal action and such action in law as may be permissible. 25 per cent of the environmental compensation so deposited be remitted to Central Pollution Control Board," the bench said.

It also ordered Agrawal Metal Works Pvt Ltd and Shyam Auto Pvt Ltd to obtain permission from the Central Ground Water Authority for extraction of ground water and asked it to install rain water harvesting system for replacing of the depletion caused by extraction of water.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Sumitra Devi, a local ward member of Dharuhera Municipal Committee and others highlighting the menace of water pollution faced by local residents of about 20 villages caused by the Bhiwadi and Khuskhera industrial areas.

"The discharge of untreated heavy industrial effluents (containing dangerous chemical and radioactive substance) is contaminating the environment (air and water) and making it dangerous, poisonous and unfit for living a healthy life," the plea had said.

It had said that the state has failed to take any strict legal action against the industries that are discharging the waste and untreated waste industrial effluents in the water.

"The discharge of such waste without proper treatment plan results in pollution of the water and violates the provisions of EP Act, 1986 along with its rules and the Water Act, 1974," the plea had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today started recording the statements of some jailed SIMI suspects, days after their relatives moved it alleging that the undertrials were being tortured and forced to chant "anti-Islamic" slogans.

"A team of the NHRC landed in Bhopal yesterday and recorded the statements of the relatives of the undertrials allegedly having links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)," Parvez Alam, advocate of one of the jailed men, told PTI today.

"The panel is recording the statements of my clients today to corroborate what their family members have told it a day earlier. Myself along with Syed Sajid Ali, Mohammed Farooq, Deepchand Yadav, Varsha Lohare, advocates of other SIMI suspects, have met the rights' team," he added.

"We have told the rights' panel headed by NHRC Senior Superintendent of Police Pupul Dutta Prasad comprising two others that our clients are not getting water and meals properly in jail," Alam said.

They are being beaten up and wrongly confined to the cells despite the fact that they were not convicts, he said.

According to the jail manual, undertrials cannot be confined to cells, he said.

The SIMI suspects have not even taken baths for the last two months and are wearing dirty clothes.

"We are not being allowed to meet our clients in the jail," he further alleged.

"We have told the NHRC delegation all these things," he added.

Alam said that 21 SIMI suspects, who are being tried were lodged in the Central Jail. Besides, nine SIMI men have been brought to the prison here from Indore recently.

Jail Superintendent Dinesh Nargava, however, denied that ill-treatment was being meted out to the SIMI suspects.

"We have provided the documents and evidences against the allegations to NHRC's delegation," he added.

Asked for how long the rights' panel would be in Bhopal, he said it is likely to stay until June 23.

On May 24, wives and other relatives of 21 SIMI suspects had met NHRC member Justice (retired) D Murugesan in New Delhi and complained that the undertrials were being brutally beaten and threatened with death by jail authorities.

Farzana, wife of SIMI suspect Mohammed Adil had told media after meeting the rights panel in the national capital that her husband is being tortured and forced to chant anti- Islamic slogans.

The kin of the jailed undertrials had said the ill- treatment had intensified after the alleged encounter killing of 8 SIMI suspects hours after they broke out of the Bhopal jail in Madhya Pradesh on October 31 last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An agreement between the NPCIL and Westinghouse to build six atomic reactors in Andhra Pradesh is unlikely to be signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US next week.

A financial turmoil in Westinghouse and an absence of a functional reference atomic plant were the main impediments behind the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited's (NPCIL) unwillingness to sign the accord with the American nuclear giant, official sources said.

According to a June 2015 joint statement by Modi and the then US president Barack Obama, both the sides had resolved to work towards "finalising the contractual agreement by June, 2017".

However, a lot of water has flown under the bridge since then. Westinghouse, which was acquired by Japanese conglomerate Toshiba in 2007, filed for bankruptcy in March.

Apprehending uncertainty, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the NPCIL are unwilling to go ahead with any agreement with the beleaguered company till it comes out of the financial mess.

"It is unlikely that we will sign an agreement with Westinghouse when the prime minister visits the US. However, we are making good use of time to hold discussions on the techno-commercial aspects," a senior government official said.

An e-mail sent by PTI to Westinghouse seeking a response from it on the issue was not replied to.

Modi is scheduled to visit the US on June 25-26, during which he is slated to meet President Donald Trump.

The Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement was signed in 2008, under which Westinghouse and GE Hitachi were to construct six power reactors each in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Initially, Westinghouse was allocated the Mithi Virdi site in Gujarat, but was later given the Kovvada site in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh.

The company was to build six AP-1000 atomic reactors with a capacity of 1,208 MW each at Kovvada.

With a total capacity of 7,248 MW, the government had a plan to make it one of the largest nuclear parks in south Asia.

The official also said any foreign company needed to demonstrate a functional nuclear plant using the same technology.

This is a pre-requisite to obtain permission from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the nuclear watchdog in the country.

Westinghouse's AP-1000 technology plants are at various stages of construction in different countries and are yet to start commercial operations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 30-year-old man was arrested from Nashik yesterday for allegedly killing the 40-year-old husband of a woman at her behest in suburban Bandra last month, police said today.

Police traced Chetan Waghela to his hideout in Nashik, nearly a month after one Sachin Chari was found dead with his throat slit on the terrace of a government colony building in Bandra (east).

The plot to kill Sachin was unravelled after police picked discrepancies in the statement given by the deceased's wife Sonali Chari on his death. Sonali was arrested after she spilled the beans during interrogation, an official said.

Sonali told police that she decided to get rid of Sachin as she was fed up with frequent quarrels and roped in Vaghela.

As per the plan, Vaghela called Sachin to the terrace of the building on May 28 and both of them consumed liquor, the official said, adding that Vaghela then slit Sachin's throat using a sharp-edged weapon.

According to police, Vaghela travelled to Shirdi, Vadodara, Ahmedabad before going to Nashik, where he was traced and arrested.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An initial survey has been conducted jointly by ONGC and UNESCO for declaring Chilika Lake as a UNESCO world heritage site and giving global recognition to Mangalajodi for conservation measures.

The survey was done to give a push to the project for conservation of eco-system in and around Chilika Lake area taken up by ONGC in partnership with UNESCO.

A joint team visited Mangalajodi wetlands and surrounding villages yesterday to have a first hand understanding of the conservation issues in the area. The team comprised of Shigeru Aoyagi, Director - UNESCO for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka and D D Misra, Director (HR) of ONGC.

The ambitious project aims to declare Chilika Lake as UNESCO world heritage site and bring Mangalajodi, a bird watchers paradise, to a globally recognised site for its eco-system conservation measures, ONGC officials said.

Officials and representatives from the local administration, including Block Development Officer and Sarpanch also accompanied the visiting team.

As a result of interaction with various stakeholders in the village and local officials, certain focal areas have been identified to begin with so that efforts may finally lead to declaration of Chilika Lake as UNESCO world heritage site, Aoyagi said.

To begin with, various CSR activities are proposed to be taken up by ONGC in Mangalajodi Village.

UNESCO has proposed to set up a world class conservation centre with climate change observatory and state-of-art data and monitoring facilities, Mishra said.

The team also met Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today and apprised him of the visit.

Pradhan appreciated the efforts of ONGC and UNESCO for comprehensive development of the eco-system of Chilika Lake, officials said.

Focus of the initiative is particularly on the wetlands of Mangalajodi, which is intertwined with the conservation of migratory and endemic birds.

The UNESCO Director appreciated the interest shown by Pradhan in conservation efforts and assured that he will also put in his best efforts to enable declaration of Chilika Lake as UNESCO's world heritage site.

For this, a comprehensive dossier with detailed development plan of the eco-system, including that of the inhabitants by involving various union ministries of Rural Development, Finance, Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry and Environment and Forest departments and the state government, will be prepared, Aoyagi said.

Aoyagi also called on Bijayshree Routray, Odisha's minister of Environment and Forest, who assured all possible support from the state government in the project.

The statements of the UNESCO Director and the senior ONGC official came a day after Pradhan asked Odisha government to support UNESCO's plan of developing Chilika Lake as a world heritage site.

"UNESCO, in association with ONGC, plans 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," Pradhan said in his letter to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

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, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Scores of onion farmers today blocked a key road here to protest slow pace of procurement of their produce at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) announced by the Madhya Pradesh government.

They obstructed traffic on the main road close to the Laxmibai Wholesale Market and ended their protest only after the market administration assured them that the procurement process will be fast-tracked, an official said.

"Hundreds of farmers blocked the main road close to the wholesale market, bringing the traffic to a virtual halt," Additional Superintendent of Police Rupesh Kumar Dwivedi said.

He said the farmers withdrew their protest only after assurances from the administration that the onion procurement process will be expedited.

At the protest site, the farmers said they have been waiting to sell their onion stocks, brought in vehicles at the wholesale market, since the last seven days as the procurement process is going on at a snail's pace.

They asked the wholesale market management to quicken the procurement of onion, whose MSP has been fixed at Rs 8 per kg.

Madhya Pradesh has harvested a bumper onion crop this season. In the midst of violent protests by farmers in the first fortnight of June, the state government had announced MSP for onion.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan cannot recall former Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif from Riyadh as he has taken the command of the 41-nation Saudi-led military alliance against the Islamic State in his "personal capacity", the country's top diplomat said today.

Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan prime minister's adviser on foreign affairs, in a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here said that Gen Sharif was not sent by the government to lead the alliance and therefore, cannot be asked to return.

However, reports have previously said the 61-year- old former chief of Army staff was granted approval by the government to serve as head of the alliance for three years.

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had told Geo in April that the government has given Gen Sharif a 'No Objection Certificate' to lead the military alliance.

Gen Sharif, who remained the Army chief for three years until he retired in November, left for Riyadh in April.

According to Saudi Arabia, the alliance is aimed at fighting the Islamic State (IS) and other militant outfits. But after the recent Gulf crisis began to unfold and a Saudi coalition boycotted Qatar for allegedly supporting terrorism, Pakistan found itself in a fix over which side to take.

Aziz said Pakistan will not take any side in the Gulf crisis.

He clarified that Pakistan has remained neutral during the Yemen conflict as mandated by the resolution passed by the parliament in 2015. The top diplomat was referring to the time when Saudi Arabia had launched a military operation against Yemen and Pakistan maintained a "neutral" role.

He said the same resolution will serve as the foundation for the role Pakistan will take in the current Gulf crisis.

"Pakistan doesn't want to interfere in other countries matters and will stick to its non-partisan policy on the Middle East issue."



Committee chairperson Nazir Sadiq said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and has also spoken to Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on phone to reduce tension in the region.

Pakistan has followed a thin line to maintain ties with the Gulf nations amid increasing bilateral rivalries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Someone is operating a fake Facebook page in the name of Pakistan's Supreme Court, it emerged today.

Following reports of a Facebook page being run in the name of Supreme Court of Pakistan, the apex court clarified it does not operate or have any social media accounts.

"The Supreme Court of Pakistan is neither using any Facebook account or page nor any other ID on any other social networking sites," it said in a statement.

The top court also directed the authorities concerned, including the Federal Investigation Agency and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, to block such IDs, pages and take legal action against the delinquents in accordance with law, The Express Tribune reported.

The about a fake Facebook page of the Supreme Court has emerged as the government launched a crackdown against social media users maligning Islam and state institutions.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said last month that the government would not impose restrictions on social media, but at the same time made it clear that unbridled freedom could not be allowed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Iranian drone allegedly on a spying mission was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force fighter jet in restive Balochistan province.

Pakistan Air Force's indigenously built JF-17 Thunder fighter was used to destroy the Iranian drone in Balochistan's Panjgur area, officials said.

It was not clear when the drone was shot down but officials confirmed the debris was found on Monday.

Pakistan has a long border with Iran, which in recent months, has expressed concern over militants operating along the Pakistani border.
A US federal judge has asked for more time to decide if former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli -- who is wanted in several legal cases -- should be released on bond.

Martinelli is in protective custody after being detained Monday, accused of graft and spying on political foes at home.

Judge Edwin Torres ultimately said the case's complicated nature meant he needs more time to make a decision. Martinelli meanwhile remains in custody, according to Alejandro Perez, a member of the ex-president's legal team.

Panama's Supreme Court ordered his arrest in 2015 over accusations that he used public funds to illegally spy on telephone calls and emails of more than 150 prominent opponents.

Martinelli denies the accusations, saying they are politically motivated. The supermarket tycoon governed from 2009 to 2014.

Panama made a request for his extradition last year.

The international police agency Interpol issued a "red notice" on the government's request last month.

The United States Marshals Service arrested Martinelli on the basis of that warrant and the extradition treaty that exists between the two countries.

Panamanian authorities have opened some 200 investigations into Martinelli's administration, according to Transparency International.

Allegations include accusations that he helped embezzle USD 45 million from a government school-lunch program, as well as other cases of extortion, bribe-taking, misappropriation of public funds and abuse of power.

Martinelli has lived in Miami since January 2015 after leaving Panama days before the Supreme Court there launched a corruption investigation against him.

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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has termed the Centre's decision to hike the minimum support price(MSP) of paddy by Rs 80 per quintal as "disappointing," and his party, the BJD today decided to launch a state-wide agaitation against the NDA government.

The farmers' issue is a national issue and cannnot be solved without the support of the union government, Patnaik said adding "The decision of the Centre on MSP yesterday is totally disappointing."



BJD vice-president and Odisha's Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister S N Patro called upon farmers to oppose the Centre's decision of increasing the MSP on paddy. He said the state government would ask the Centre to revise its decision on the MSP on paddy.

"The hike in paddy MSP is very less. Even if the state wants to support the farmers with bonus, it cannot do so due to restrictions imposed by the Centre," he said.

The union agriculture ministry had yesterday announced its decision on paddy MSP and proposed to increase it from Rs 1,470 to Rs 1,550 per quintal.

"We will stage demonstrations across the state and tell people how BJP backtracked from its promises made to the farmers," BJD spokesperson Samir Ranjan Dash said.

Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati criticised the Centre and said the decision to hike MSP by Rs 80 per quintal is a "joke" at the farmers.

"We will launch a stir against the Centre and call other political parties including BJP to come to the streets for the interest of the farmers," Bahinipati said.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Nnatural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said here that the Centre has hiked MSP of paddy three times in the last three years. It has made provision for agri loan at the lowest rate of interest. It has also introduced Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

"The allegations by the state government are only a farce, it has done nothing for the betterment of farmers," he added.

Odisha Assembly had earlier unanimously passed a resolution demanding a hike in paddy MSP to Rs 2,930 per quintal. The house committee chaired by the speaker had also sought an appointment to meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to present their demand for consideration. However, the House Committee has not so far been able to meet the Prime Minister, said BJD Chief Whip Amar Prasad Satpathy.

The agriculture ministry website said the paddy MSP has been hiked on basis of recommendations made by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The price for A-grade paddy is fixed at Rs 1,590 per quintal while the rate of common variety paddy was Rs 1550 per quintal, Patro said.

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A sum of Rs 139 crore was spent on the free pilgrimage scheme by the previous SAD-BJP government last fiscal, leaving public transport undertakings PRTC and Punjab Roadways with an unpaid amount of Rs 13 crore, the Punjab Assembly was informed today.

The Capt Amarinder Singh government has not made any provisions for the scheme in its budget, the House was told.

Replying to a query during the Question Hour, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said the government spent Rs 139 crore during the financial year 2016-17 on the 'Mukh Mantri Tirath Darshan Yatra Scheme'.

The minister informed the House that buses undertook 484 tours of Mata Chintpurni (Himachal Pradesh), 1,191 of Salasar Dhaam in Rajasthan, 337 of Anandpur Sahib, 19 of Vaishno Devi (Katra), 5 of Jawala ji (HP), 39 of Khural Garh, 6,481 tours of the Golden Temple and 223 of Patna Sahib.

Besides trains undertook 87 tours of Nanded Sahib, 18 of Varanasi, 3 of Ajmer Sharif, one of Chennai and 10 of Patna Sahib.

The previous SAD-BJP government had launched the scheme with much fanfare in the last fiscal to take people to religious places free of charge.

Finance minister Badal said that because of these tours, the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) and Punjab Roadways were left with an unpaid amount of Rs 6.24 crore and Rs 7 crore respectively.

He said that the amount which was to be paid to the state roadways undertakings had been covered under the current budgetary provisions.

When AAP MLA Nazar Singh demanded from the government to call this scheme "unconstitutional", the minister said, "the government has not made further provision of the pilgrimage scheme under the new budget".

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NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind today joined the International Yoga Day celebrations in the national capital as he performed asanas at central Delhi's Connaught Place and urged people to take up the traditional practice.

Donning a white yoga-themed t-shirt, he joined dignitaries and other enthusiasts at the iconic venue and performed routines for about 45 minutes.

"We are all here to do yoga. Everyone should do yoga," Kovind told reporters after arriving at the venue.

The 71-year-old low-profile Dalit leader and a two-term BJP Rajya Sabha member, yesterday resigned as Bihar Governor.

The presidential nominee, who arrived in Delhi on June 19, hours after his name was announced by the BJP, has been accorded a 'Z+' cover of NSG commandos.

Mediapersons sought to ask questions, but were fended off by NSG commandos.

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.

The event at Connuaght Place was also attended by Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Vijay Goel, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, besides senior BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi.

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Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump to send out a strong message against child labour and promote child education so that children can be prevented from entering the 'world of extremism'.

"They can definitely come with a strong statement for investing in children and development. That means education, health, and protection of children everywhere in the world. Not only in these two countries," Satyarthi, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, told PTI in an interview.

The founder of 'Bachpan Bachao Andolan', a grassroots movement dedicated to the protection of children and ensuring them education, said the two leaders - who are set to meet here on June 26 - can send a "message to the rest of the world that these two largest democracies care for their children and their most marginalised people."



The 63-year-old activist, who is in America to meet child rights groups, said the US and India can send the message that "we are holding your hands, my dear children, ... So you don't enter (the world of extremism)."



"That will help, not immediately, but in coming years it will help in protecting children if it comes again and again from these two countries or, maybe, many more. It's a matter of leadership."



Born in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, the son of a police officer, Satyarthi studied electrical engineering and went on to become the seventh Indian to win the Nobel prize.

In his more than 30 years as an activist, he has freed tens of thousands of children forced into slavery. He founded the Andolan in 1980 and began raiding factories where children were forced to work, in some cases by their parents who cannot afford to raise them.

According to the movement's website, it has rescued over 83,500 victims of trafficking, slavery and child labour as on October 2014, and helped them re-establish trust in society.

The Nobel laureate said if India and the US showed the leadership, many others would follow. "They can also give a call that we have to hold hands of young people across the world to prevent them from entering those evil forces," he said.

Satyarthi said it was important that the US and India understand the growing problems in the world that includes terrorism, extremism as well as global economy crisis and unemployment.

"They are government problems. Since we are among the most vibrant and most effective and the largest democracies, it becomes our collective responsibility to show the leadership to the rest of the world that we don't care only for ourselves but we care for the rest of the world," he said.

"I hope that both the leaders will show the leadership again as we have been talking that these two countries are natural partners to preserve democracy in the world," he said.

Satyarthi said the US is not untouched by the grave issue of child labour and child marriage. "This is a serious problem here in the US."



"We have come across, and I met, and there were partner organisations have rescued children who were local. They were white Americans. It's a combination of all but definitely because of the West Coast situation most of them are Hispanics," he said.

"We are getting more and more alarming news, and disgusting also, about the problem of early marriages, child marriages and teenage pregnancies in the United States. Except a few states, most states don't have a very clear well-defined minimum age of marriage," he said and urged the US government to make necessary changes in the law in this regard.

Satyarthi also urged Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw from the historic Paris Climate Change Accord.

"I would once again make an honest appeal to President Trump to reconsider his decision on Paris Accord. Climate change and global warming is creating devastating effects on children in most parts of the world," he said.

"(The leaders) know how due to global warming, the traditional livelihood of the parents have been ruined and the children became vulnerable to traffickers... We have also seen an increase in unemployment among adults, the migration crisis, social tension and violence, and trafficking, and child labour. Children are unable to complete their schools," he said.

"To stop illegal migration, a country can build a wall but no wall can stop hot winds or polluted air," Satyarthi concluded.

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Qatar's emir congratulated Saudi Arabia's newly-appointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today and called for "brotherly relations" between the two countries, currently locked in a bitter diplomatic dispute.

State media in the gas-rich Gulf state said Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani had sent a cable of congratulations to the Saudi leadership.

The message was sent to King Salman "on the occasion of the selection of his royal highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud as Crown Prince", said the Qatar Agency.

The statement also expressed hopes "brotherly relations between the two brotherly countries".

A message of congratulations was also posted on social media.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia and a number allies including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed all links with Qatar over accusations that Doha supports extremism.

As well as diplomatic isolation, other measures taken included the closing of Qatar's only land border, which it shares with Saudi.

Qatar denies the charges of supporting extremism.

Despite efforts at mediation from Kuwait, Turkey and the United States, the dispute between the Gulf countries has now entered its third week.

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US President Donald Trump's proposed state visit to the UK is in fresh doubt after there was no mention of it in the Queen's Speech today.

Trump had accepted the Queen's invitation for him to travel to Britain when Prime Minister Theresa May visited Washington in January.

But there have been reports that Trump has changed his mind and does not want to come to the UK while there is potential for protests against him for his controversial remarks against Muslims and other issues.

There is a concern within the British government that it would not help US-UK relations if the US president was embarrassed, the BBC reported.

Queen Elizabeth II did not mention it because no date has been set, Number 10 said.

The Queen's Speech saw the 91-year-old monarch announce the government's legislative programme for the next two years at the State Opening of Parliament.

The monarch always also uses the speech to set out her official plans for the year.

She said she looked forward to welcoming King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain for their state visit in July, and hosting the Commonwealth summit in April next year.

But there was no word about Trump's state visit. October had been suggested as a possible date, the report said.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "An invitation has been extended and accepted.

"The visit wasn't mentioned in the Queen's Speech because a date hasn't been fixed yet.

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Democratic Alliance (NDA) presidential nominee on Wednesday met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who were seen as contenders for the candidature.

He is scheduled to meet ailing former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday.

BJP sources said Kovind (71) paid a courtesy visit to the two leaders credited with playing a key role in the saffron party's growth.

He met Advani (89) in the evening and visited 83-year-old Joshi's residence earlier in the day.

There was talk about Advani and Joshi being considered by the BJP as its pick for the president's post.

While announcing Kovind's name, BJP chief Amit Shah had said the party had gone through a list of names before zeroing in on him. He had, however, declined to name other probables.
The Kremlin has voiced regret about the new US sanctions against Russia and warned of possible retaliation.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that the US move wasn't constructive, adding that "various options are being considered on expert level."



The Trump administration announced yesterday that it has imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and firms over Russian activities in Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the penalties are designed to "maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution."



Russia-US relations have remained tense even as the White House considers scheduling President Donald Trump's meeting with Putin on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 meeting.

Peskov reaffirmed the possibility of such a meeting, but said that no preparations had been made yet.

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Seven Delhi bound flights including two international ones were diverted today to the Jaipur airport due to air traffic congestion.

Two international flights including one from Bangladesh and another from China were among the flights that were diverted. Among the domestic ones that were diverted included flights from Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pant Nagar, airport authorities said.

They said that the flights had to go round for long above New Delhi and were then diverted to Jaipur as they could not land at the airport in the national capital.

As the congestion eased, the flights departed for New Delhi, the officials said.

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I am a Flagstaff constituent writing to vociferously object to the version of the AHCA being drafted behind closed doors in the Senate.

Pushing through an inadequately vetted bill is a recipe for disaster. To succeed, it must have appropriate CBO consideration, input from constituents and a balanced amendment process. The consequences of a rushed and political bill would be catastrophic.

Please, Senators Flake and McCain, represent me and my family as you pledged you would.

JENNIFER SHERMAN

Flagstaff
The soon-to-be-inaugurated airport at the temple town Shirdi is unlikely to be part of government's regional connectivity scheme (RCS) or UDAN with some stakeholders opposed to the 3-year exclusivity clause.

UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) aims at making flying affordable by capping fares at Rs 2,500 per hour on select routes and enhancing air connectivity for tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

Under the scheme, airlines that win the bid for a route gain exclusively right to operate on it for three year.

Airline operators are also provided a subsidy by the Centre and the state governments concerned, along with incentives by the airport, in order offer low fares to passengers.

"Airlines have been demanding that exclusivity clause be removed for the Shirdi airport and if that can't be done the airport should be removed from RCS category," said a civil aviation ministry official.

The Maharashtra government, too, is opposed to the airport being included in RCS as it would restrict the number of operators because of the exclusivity clause, while the travel demand for the pilgrim town is expected to be very high, said an official at the ministry.

Suresh Kakani, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited, said they have raised these concerns before the Civil Aviation Ministry, which, he said, is "willing" to address them.

"If we go for RCS, only one airline can fly on a route which is not good for Shirdi as a single carrier will not be able to sustain the traffic," he argued.

He also said a huge travel demand is expected to and from the airport as Shirdi is a famous pilgrim centre, so there is no need for a government support to promote air travel to the town.

The airport is being built at a cost of Rs 340 crore, with Rs 45 crore funded by the Saibaba Sansthan Trust and the rest by the state government.

It is likely to be inaugurated next month.

The first round of bidding for RCS took place in March when five airline operators were awarded 128 routes.

The ministry is now preparing for a second round of bidding by August. Top officials are likely to meet next week to finalise the list of airports and routes which will be placed for bidding.

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Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has called for a "remedial action" to help kins of the people who disappeared during the two-and-a-half- decade-long civil war.

Wickremesinghe also announced that the Office of Missing Persons will lead the Truth Commission to probe the matter.

The prime minister said the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) would not institute any legal action in persecution but would deliver justice to the relatives of the missing people.

"We must have a closure to this issue. A closure is multi-faceted. The closure requires we address many issues, and take remedial action for a finish," he told the parliament.

A government appointed panel probing the missing people in 2013 said that around 19,000 people have disappeared during the conflict, including some 5,000 government troops.

The OMP is not a law enforcement or judicial agency but a truth-seeking investigative agency, Wickremesinghe added.

He moved to repeal paragraph one of Section 11 in the original Bill approved by the Parliament last year.

The amendment seeks to repeal the general powers of the OMP to enter into such agreements, where necessary, with any person or organisation whether incorporated or otherwise, and whether domestic or foreign, including agreements securing assistance in obtaining information.

The OMP is expected to benefit the relatives of the missing people who will be issued a 'Certificate of Absence' that will enable them to address practical problems as the status of missing persons is not recognised.

Without this legal recognition, the next of the kin also faces issues in accessing frozen assets and property deeds or being eligible for compensation and social welfare benefits, the government said last year.

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Russia's foreign intelligence agency says that Yuri Drozdov, the Soviet spymaster who oversaw a sprawling network of KGB agents abroad, has died. He was 91.

The Foreign Intelligence Service, a KGB successor agency known under its Russian acronym SVR, said Drozdov died today.

It didn't give the cause of his death or any other specifics.

In 1979, Drozdov came to head a KGB department overseeing a network of undercover agents abroad, the job he held until resigning in 1991. The agents who lived abroad under false identity were called "illegals" and considered the elite of Soviet intelligence.

In December 1979, Drozdov led an operation to storm the palace of Afghan President Hafizullah Amin that paved the way to Soviet invasion.

Drozdov also founded the KGB's Vympel special forces unit.

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Spain said today that it had arrested three Moroccans, including a presumed member of the Islamic State group whose profile matched those of terrorists implicated in recent attacks in Britain and France.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry said police apprehended the main suspect, aged 32, in the Madrid neighbourhood of Las Delicias, where the three men lived together.

The man, who was not identified, was described as being "in an advanced state of radicalisation" and had in his possession "an extensive ideological and electronic library of numerous manuals on jihadist terrorism", including specific manuals on suicide bombing and "electronic jihad", the ministry said.

"He had an extremely dangerous profile, similar to that of terrorists recently implicated in the attacks in Britain or in France," it added.

The man intended to radicalise others and persuade them to commit terror acts, the ministry said, making him "an obvious threat to the security of our country."



During the nighttime raid, police also arrested the two other men, aged 33 and 38, who lived with him.

The arrests came as security measures have been tightened ahead of the Friday opening of the WorldPride festival, one of the world's largest LGBTQ events, with an estimated two million people expected to attend through July 2.

For the past two years, Spain, the third most popular tourist destination in the world, has been on high terror alert.

While both Morocco and Spain have been spared in the wave of recent jihadist-inspired terror attacks that have struck Europe, Rabat and Madrid collaborate closely in the fight against extremism.

In 2016, police arrested at least 69 people as part of its fight against Islamist terrorism and have apprehended more than 35 people this year, according to ministry figures.

In 2004, Spain was hit by the deadliest Islamist attack on European soil, when 191 people were killed in bombings on commuter trains in Madrid.

And Morocco was targeted in 2003 and 2011 in attacks on the cities of Casablanca and Marrakesh, with 45 and 17 fatalities respectively.

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Karnataka assembly Speaker K B Koliwad today sentenced two journalists of Kannada tabloids, including noted scribe Ravi Belagere, a year in jail for writing defamatory articles against legislators.

"The State Assembly has decided to punish the two journalists of Kannada tabloids for publishing defamatory articles against legislators," Koliwad announced on the floor of the House here.

Besides the jail term, the speaker also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of them.

"I approve the recommendation of the privilege committee which had recommended a year's imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 on "Hi Bangalore" and "Yelahanka Voice" editors," Koliwad said.

Belagere is editor of "Hi Bangalore."



If the editors fail to pay the fine, the jail term would be extended to another six months, the speaker said.

The Privileges Committee of the assembly had recommended jail for Belagere and Anil Raju of 'Yelahanka Voice' for publishing articles against legislators, including Koliwad.

The article against Koliwad was published in the September 2014 issue of 'Hi Bangalore.'



Former Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa had referred the issue to the committee after Koliwad had lodged a complaint against Belagere.

Congress and BJP MLAs, B M Nagaraju and S R Viswanath raised the issue in the House and recommended action against the journalists.

Nagaraju alleged that Belagare, in spite of being summoned by the committee, was not present for the hearing.

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The Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) department today urged the Odisha government to implement provisions under Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 for welfare of above 12.5 lakh people in the state.

RPwD Act-2016 recognises 21 categories of disabilities instead of 7 in earlier Act, said SSEPD secretary Nitin Chandra at the first ever meeting of Inter Agency Working Group (IAWG) formed for the purpose.

He said the Act envisages reservation in employment which is proposed to be increased from present three per cent to four per cent, provision for imprisonment and fine for violence, atrocities and denial of rights to PwDs.

The new Act also gives importance to education, health care, skill development, protection from exploitation, accessibility, employment, protection of equal rights, grievance redressal and human resources development, Chandra said while requesting all government departments to implement provisions of RPwD Act, 2016 in right earnest.

Satoko Yano, Chief of Education, UNESCO said on the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities(UNPRPD) Project, progress report and five research studies have been done.

Shigeru Aoyagi, Director of UNESCO, New Delhi informed that 15 per cent of world's population has some form of disability.

There are at least 12,44,402 PwDs in Odisha as per 2011 census. Children with Disabilities (CwDs) constitute 6.52 per cent of the State's Disabled Population, he said.

The primary objective of Inter Agency Working Group is to augment cooperation and partnership in Odisha to promote the Rights of CwDs (children with disabilities) to quality education through effective implementation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, Rights to Education Act, 2009 through developmental efforts, policy making and technical support.

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Homegrown wine company Sula Vineyards today announced appointment of Nick Pringle as its Chief Operating Officer (COO) with immediate effect.

He will oversee strategy and operations in his capacity as COO and work closely with company founder and CEO Rajeev Samant, Sula Vineyards said in a statement.

Commenting on the appointment, Samant said Pringle brought a wealth of experience from his previous roles at Accolade Wines and AB InBev and is the right person to help steer Sula Vineyards to even greater heights.

Pringle has over 20 years of experience in the wine and spirits industry, including 12 years at AB InBev. He also worked at Constellation assuming a variety of roles and eventually joined Accolade Wines to strengthen Hardys globally in 2011.

On his new role, Pringle said India is a very young and dynamic market and has immense potential to grow in the wine sector.

"Despite barriers, Sula entered the wine industry here in India and carved a niche for itself as both, the best and leading wine company," he added.

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Sweden today summoned Russia's ambassador after a Russian fighter jet flew unusually close to a Swedish reconnaissance plane in international airspace above the Baltic Sea, a further sign of rising military tensions in the region.

"The Russian ambassador has been asked to come to the foreign ministry soon," spokesman Gunnar Vrang told AFP, without specifying further.

Referring to Monday's incident, the Swedish Armed Forces said in a statement that it was not unusual for Russian planes to approach and identify Swedish surveillance missions.

"This time, however, the Russian aircraft behaved in such a way that it has to be considered noteworthy, among other things the distance between the aircraft was at times very short," it said today.

Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist slammed Russia as "unprofessional" and urged Moscow to avoid incidents like this again.

"The Russian behaviour is unacceptable. From a security point of view, it is unprofessional and the risk of serious incidents increases significantly," he told TT agency in a written statement.

"Everyone should have a fundamental interest in not (letting) these incidents occur," he added.

In 2014, Sweden and neighbouring Denmark summoned Russia's ambassadors in protest over a near miss between a Russian surveillance plane and a commercial aircraft.

Both Swedish and Danish jet fighters were scrambled in response to the incident which reportedly took place in international airspace covered by Swedish air traffic control.

Sweden -- which unlike Denmark is not a NATO member -- said at the time that the Russian plane had come dangerously close to a Scandinavian Airlines passenger jet.

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Tata Steel today inaugurated Tata Steel Sampoorna, a common store which aims to provide a one-stop solution to rural consumers, at Lakshmeshwar village in Gadag district in north Karnataka.

The first store, which will have on sale, products from various Tata Steel brands under one single roof, was opened by T V Narendran, Managing Director of Tata Steel India & SEA, a company release said.

Over 200 farmers of the village were present at the inauguration.

With the aim of being more consumer-centric, Tata Steel has envisioned a consumption segmentation through its B2C brands such as Tata Tiscon, Tata Shaktee, Durashine, Tata Wiron, Tata Pipes, Tata Structura, Tata Agrico, Pravesh, Nest In and Tata Bearings.

These individual brands continue to operate independently in rural areas with a focus on maximising the potential of rural markets, the release said.

Narendran also flagged off the 'Doors of India' Campaign, under the brand 'Pravesh,' which aims to reduce carbon footprint by providing wood finish steel doors with better aesthetics for consumers.

The introduction of 'Pravesh Doors,' steel doors that have the elegance of wood, in the company's brand portfolio is yet another endeavour to provide value-added steel solutions to individual house builders in semi-urban and rural markets.

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Industry bigwigs Sunil Bharti Mittal and Anil Ambani along with other telecom players will meet Communications Minister Manoj Sinha tomorrow to discuss the financial difficulties being faced by the sector.

The meeting comes just days after an inter-ministerial group held a dialogue with all telecom companies on the industry's financial stress and measures that can be taken to ease the situation.

It will be, among others, attended by Idea Cellular Managing Director Himanshu Kapania, Tata Sons Director Ishaat Hussain and Reliance Jio Infocomm Board Member, Mahendra Nahata, sources said.

Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan will also be present, they said.

Jio had last week ascribed the financial stress in the telecom sector to existing operators like Airtel and Idea running businesses on debt and investing heavily in unrelated sectors. Jio alleged that the incumbent operators had been reluctant in infusing equity and hence the financial stress is their own creation.

The incumbent operators, on the other hand, had hit back saying the current call connect charge (or Interconnection Usage Charges) of 14 paise/minute is below cost and needs to be corrected to "prevent predatory voice pricing environment".

India's largest telecom company Bharti Airtel had accused Jio of predatory pricing and demanded that operators be paid more for calls terminating on their networks as also the right to retain customers through incentives.

The large operators had also spoken in one voice on reduction of levies like licence fee, spectrum usage charges and GST. They also sought an extension on deferred spectrum liabilities - meaning that the amount they bid for radiowaves should be payable over a longer period.

Citing Rs 4.6 lakh crore cumulative debt staring the sector, the incumbents have made a case for urgent relief measures like extension on payment of deferred spectrum liability and cut in levies.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India too had met the telecom companies last week, where Idea Cellular suggested imposition of a minimum floor price for voice and data services.

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French defence firm Thales and Reliance Defence Limited (RDL) today sealed a deal for setting up a joint venture (JV) aimed at enhancing India's air defence capabilities.

The RDL will have 51 per cent stakes while the share of Thales in the JV will be 49 per cent.

The JV is being set up to develop India's capabilities to integrate and maintain radars and manufacture high performance airborne electronics.

Thales is a leading supplier of radars, electronic warfare solutions and software to Dassault Aviation which is supplying 36 Rafale jets to India at a cost of around Rs 60,000 crore.

The mega deal for the jets has an around 50 per cent offset clause in accordance with India's defence procurement policy. Under this clause, French companies involved in the project would have to generate business worth Rs 30,000 crore in India.

The Thales-RDL JV is being set up to leverage Thales' offset commitment as part of the deal for the 36 fighters planes.

"We are delighted to seal this strategic collaboration with Reliance Defence Limited. This JV resonates with our strategy to strengthen our industrial footprint in the country by building collaborations with the Indian industry," said Patrice Caine, the chairman and CEO of Thales, after finalising the deal in Paris.

Anil Ambani, the chairman of the Reliance Group, called the "strategic partnership" with Thales yet another milestone for his company.

"The strategic partnership with global leader Thales is another major milestone in our march towards best in the class manufacturing at support facilities for military hardware in India," he said.

Reliance, he added, was committed to the government's 'Make in India' and 'Skill India' initiatives and would continue to remain in the forefront, partnering with leading companies in the world.

The JV would develop skills and activity in the Special Economic Zone of Mihan-Nagpur along with an Indian supply chain for the manufacturing of microwave technologies and high performance airborne electronics, the two companies said in a joint statement.

Thales is a leading company in the aerospace domain. It currently has over 300 employees working with its wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, Thales India Pvt Ltd.

India had in September last year signed a Euro 7.87 billion (approx Rs 59,000 crore) deal with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons and equipped with latest missiles.

The Rafale aircraft to be manufactured by French aviation company Dassault, will come with various India- specific modifications.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Following are the top foreign stories at 1700 hours today:



FGN31 UK-LD PHILIP



Queen's husband Prince Philip admitted to hospital



By Aditi Khanna



London: Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philip was admitted to hospital as a "precautionary" measure, Buckingham Palace said today.

FGN28 PHILIPPINES-SCHOOL-HOSTAGES



'Islamic militants occupy Philippine school, take



Hostages'



Manila:(AFP)Islamic militants occupied a primary school in a southern Philippine village today and took hostages, the military said.

FGN24 UBER-CEO-3RDLD RESIGNATION



Uber CEO Kalanick gives in to shareholder pressure,



Resigns



New York: Uber's embattled CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned from the ride-sharing company in the face of intense pressure from some of its investors.

FGN8 SAUDI-LD KING



Saudi king upends royal succession, names son as 1st heir



Riyadh: (AP) Saudi Arabia's King Salman today appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, placing him firmly as first-in-line to the throne and removing the country's counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington from the royal line of succession.

FGN33 LANKA-MONK



Controversial Buddhist monk surrenders to court in Sri



Lanka



Colombo: Controversial Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thero, wanted for hate remarks against the minority Muslim community, today surrendered to a local court here.

FGN20 FRANCE-LD POLITICS



Key Macron ally says he is quitting French government



Paris (AFP): France's justice minister Francois Bayrou, a key ally of President Emmanuel Macron today said he was quitting the government, as his party battles a funding scandal.

FGN18 UN-YOGA



Yoga close to UN values of sustainability, peace:



Official



By Yoshita Singh



United Nations: Yoga can make an important contribution in achieving a healthy life and promoting well being for all at a time when the world is striving to achieve sustainable development goals, a top UN official has said on the eve of the third International Yoga Day.

FGN32 INDORUSSIA-JAITLEY



India seeks Russian firms' support in defence



Manufacturing



Moscow: Showcasing policy initiatives for defence production in India, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley today invited Russian firms to join hands with Indian companies in developing high-end military platforms and weapons systems.

FGN27 PENTAGON-AFGHAN-PAK



Afghan-oriented militants getting support from elements



Of Pak govt: Pentagon



By Lalit K Jha



Washington: In a damning report, the Pentagon has said Afghan-oriented militant groups, including the Taliban and Haqqani Network, benefit from "support" from elements of the Pakistan government.

FGN21 US-SATYARTHI



PTI Special: Protect the child, Satyarthi tells Modi and



Trump



By Lalit K Jha



Washington: Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump to send out a strong message against child labour and promote child education so that children can be prevented from entering the 'world of extremism'.

FGN23 BELGIUM-SUSPECT



Belgium has identified station bomber: interior minister



Brussels (AFP): Belgian security forces have identified a man who set off an explosion at a Brussels train station before he was shot and killed, Interior Minister Jan Jambon said today.

FGN22 US-CHINA-LD NKOREA



China's efforts on N Korea not worked out: Trump



By Lalit K Jha



Washington: China's efforts to rein in North Korea have "not worked" out, US President Donald Trump has said but appreciated Beijing for its attempts to pursue its closest ally to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

FGN12 US-AFGHAN-INDIA



India most reliable partner for Afghanistan: Pentagon



By Lalit K Jha



Washington: India is Afghanistan's most reliable regional partner, the Pentagon has said in its latest Afghan report, the first under the Trump administration.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner had a "productive" meeting with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, the White House has said.

Kushner, accompanied by Trump's Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, was also meeting Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank yesterday.

"The meeting was productive and the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to advancing President Trump's goal of a genuine and lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians that enhances stability in the region," the White House said.

"This is an opportunity to pursue our common goals of security, prosperity and peace," Netanyahu told Kushner in a short video released by the premier's office.

"I welcome you here in that spirit. I know of your efforts, the president's efforts, and I look forward to working with you."



Greenblatt and Kushner are attempting to broker a deal to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, frozen since US-led talks collapsed in 2014.

Both men accompanied Trump in May on his first visit as president to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, attended the meeting with Netanyahu alongside Kushner and Greenblatt.

"The three United States officials discussed Israel's priorities and potential next steps with Prime Minister Netanyahu, acknowledging the critical role Israel plays in the security of the region," it said in a statement.

"The United States officials and Israeli leadership underscored that forging peace will take time and stressed the importance of doing everything possible to create an environment conducive to peacemaking."



A White House official said this week Trump "strongly believes that peace is possible," and that Greenblatt and Kushner expect to visit the region multiple times in coming months in a bid to build confidence between the two sides.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump today congratulated Saudi Arabia's newly-appointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom he discussed the thorny diplomatic row between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors, including Riyadh.

"The president and the crown prince committed to close cooperation to advance our shared goals of security, stability, and prosperity across the Middle East and beyond," the White House said in a statement about their telephone talks.

"The two leaders discussed the priority of cutting off all support for terrorists and extremists, as well as how to resolve the ongoing dispute with Qatar," the statement added.

The region is in the throes of a deep crisis.

Earlier this month, Riyadh and several of its allies including Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, cut ties with Qatar over accusations that Doha supports extremist groups, including some linked to Saudi foe Iran -- a claim Tehran denies.

In addition to diplomatic isolation, other measures taken included closing Qatar's only land border, banning its planes from using their airspace and barring Qatari nationals from transiting through their airports.

Qatar is home to the biggest US air base in the Middle East -- a hub in the war against the Islamic State group.

Trump's administration has sent contradictory signals on the crisis. While Trump has made statements siding with Saudi Arabia, Washington has shown mounting frustration over the kingdom's role in the crisis.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said yesterday that the US was "mystified" that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have failed to present details justifying their embargo on Qatar.

"The more that time goes by, the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE," Nauert said.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has been tasked by Trump to oversee an end to the crisis, has been working the phones in recent days trying to defuse a standoff that has put key US allies at loggerheads with one another.

Tillerson said today that Saudi Arabia and its allies had prepared a list of demands to be presented to Qatar.

"We hope the list of demands will soon be presented to Qatar and will be reasonable and actionable," Tillerson said in a statement.

"We support the Kuwaiti mediation effort and look forward to this matter moving toward a resolution.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Turkey's main opposition leader has accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of influencing the judiciary, speaking on the trail of his unprecedented protest march in defiance of the Turkish strongman leader.

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu called the march after former journalist-turned-CHP lawmaker Enis Berberoglu was sentenced by an Istanbul court to 25 years in prison last week on charges of leaking classified information to a newspaper.

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 yesterday, Kilicdaroglu spoke to hundreds in the town of Camlidere, on the outskirts of the capital.

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."



Erdogan fired back at the CHP leader, who has become the president's most notable political opponent since the jailing last year of Selahattin Demirtas of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Kilicdaroglu is "a lying machine, everyone knows that in this country", Erdogan said in an Ankara speech. "He now needs to back up his allegations. Go ahead and prove it."



In his speech, 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 holds 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, hit back at the remarks.

"They say, 'why do you seek justice walking?' Why would we walk if there is justice? We would live in peace.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) militants were today arrested from Jilingburu village in Khunti district, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, police launched a search operation in the village and arrested the two ultras, Superintendent of Police Ashwini Kumar Sinha said.

Three motorcycles, two mobile phones and solar plates were seized from them, Sinha said.

In another incident, the CRPF and the district police, in a joint operation, seized huge amount of explosives at Bichilidag forest in Latehar district.

Five improvised explosive devices, five hand grenades, four kgs of explosive in liquid form, two electronic detonators and twelve live cartridges were seized, CRPF Assistant Commandant Amit Sachan said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said he was in talks with authorities in Congo Republic on the fate of its troops who are facing accusations of misconduct while serving as peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.

UN officials told AFP that the 629 troops serving in the MINUSCA force will be withdrawn as a result of the allegations of sex abuse, corruption and poor discipline.

Guterres was to announce the withdrawal during a press conference yesterday, but discussions were continuing with the government in Brazzaville, delaying the announcement.

The UN chief said he was engaged in "necessary contact with the authorities of the country before a public announcement of the measure."



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 seven victims, six of whom were children.

Following a MINUSCA assessment of the Berberati base in March, Keita said there had been "no improvements in the behaviour 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 memo and a 66-page UN assessment of the Congolese troops were released by the Code Blue Campaign of non- governmental organisations seeking to expose cases of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
International Yoga Day was enthusiastically observed across Odisha today, with Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram participating in programmes at Bhubaneswar and Sundargarh respectively.

In the state capital, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan attended a yoga camp at Janata Maidan where a large number of people from different spheres of society assembled for the session.

Nehru Yuva Kendra Society (NYKS) and NCC took part actively in the initiative on the day for which the theme this year is Yoga for Health. Instructors of various Yoga institutes imparted yoga training.

Highlighting the benefits of the exercise, Pradhan said people should perform yoga regularly in order to keep themselves physically and mentally fit.

Besides India, International Yoga Day is being observed in a large number of countries as yoga has been recognised as a means to maintain good health, he said.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, who joined a yoga event in Sundargarh district, said due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, yoga has attained recognition across the globe.

A state level function was held at Jaydev Bhavan in the state capital at the initiative of Ayush directorate. State health and family welfare minister Pratap Jena highlighted the role of yoga in keeping people mentally and physically healthy and stress-free.

A number of yoga camps were organised throughout the state where people belonging to different sections of society, including school students, leaders and distinguished personalities took part in the yoga sessions.

The day was also observed in different educational institutions and industrial units across the state.

In the seaside pilgrim town of Puri, internationally acclaimed sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created a beautiful sand sculpture depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting in the 'Padmasana' posture.

Pattnaik said his sculpture aims at spreading the message of peace and harmony through Yoga.

Coal miners began their day with yoga at 32 special camps organised by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) to promote wellness in life through yoga, as it celebrated 3rd International Yoga Day.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, the Trump administration said today it will spend $7.5 million to help advance India's power grid, as part of the two countries' commitments to ensuring access to affordable and reliable energy.

The Ministry of Science and Technology and industry will match the commitment of US' Department of Energy, bringing the total commitment to $30 million, officials here said.

"This new consortium demonstrates the US and Indian commitments to ensuring access to affordable and reliable energy in both countries," Energy Secretary Rick Perry said.

"We know that continued grid innovation will promote economic growth and energy security in the United States and India," he said.

The initiative, part of America's commitment to fostering the reliable, resilient and secure delivery of electricity, was needed for the strong US national security, economic growth and global leadership, as well as furthering Department of Energy (DOE)'s collaboration with India under the US-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE), officials said.

The US-India collaboration for smart distribution system with storage (UI-ASSIST) was selected as the new consortia for Smart Grid and Energy Storage under the US-India Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center (JCERDC), the DOE said in a statement.

To help pave the way to a more advanced distribution grid that will allow greater use of distributed energy resources such as microgrids and energy storage, the new consortia will bring together experts from academia, DOE's national laboratories and industry, it said.

Together with their counterparts in India, the center will conduct research and deploy new smart grid and energy storage technologies that will modernise the grids of both the nations to make them "smarter", while increasing resilience and reliability, the DOE said.

Through JCERDC, the US' world class installations and national laboratories will contribute their expertise and capabilities as India expands energy access to its remote areas, improves its grid reliability and resilience, and strengthens its energy security.

The US participants will gain insight from India's grid modernisation efforts  a potential export market for US equipment worth billions of dollars  and promote researcher access to India's grid operational experience, it said.

UI-ASSIST's US team, led by Washington State University, is comprised of MIT, Texas A&M University, University of Hawaii, Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Snohomish County (WA) Public Utility District, Avista, Burns and McDonnell, ETAP Operation Technology, ALSTOM Grid/GE Grid Solutions, Clean Energy Storage, ABB, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).

The Indian team, led by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, includes partners from IIIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Roorkee, IIT Bhubaneshwar and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) New Delhi.
"Why should you do away with re- evaluation?" This was a query put to the CBSE by the Delhi High Court after being shown answer sheets where correct responses to questions had been awarded zero marks.

A bench of justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and A K Chawla asked Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, appearing for the CBSE, how the Board will explain such "apparent errors" in evaluation.

It was not swayed by the claim of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) that the decision to scrap re- evaluation was taken due to minuscule number of errors in checking answer sheets.

"Even if only one student is affected, the career of that student is at stake," the court said and added that even minuscule marks are of importance as it decides whether a student would get the college and course of his or her choice.

The court's observation came while hearing several pleas by students, who gave the board exams this year, against the CBSE's decision to scrap its re-evaluation policy.

The bench asked the Board to file on record its governing body and examination committee's reasoning behind the decision of October last year and listed the petitions for hearing on June 23.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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They idly stretched, bended to their left, then right, looked up and down before twirling a little -- all in near-perfect harmony.

At the International Yoga Day celebrations in Delhi's Connaught Place, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor Anil Baijal today struck yogic postures in near- perfect coordination.

Kejriwal and Baijal's syncronised yogic postures were in stark contrast to their working equation, which is marked by a running battle over issues of jurisdiction, one that has reached the doorstep of the judiciary.

It was perhaps fitting that Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who was captured performing asanas in the same frame, told reporters at the venue that yoga should not be considered "political".

"Yoga is not political and it is not religious. It is a traditional Indian art and has been practised in the country from times immemorial," he said.

Kejriwal had participated in the first Yoga Day celebrations at Rajpath along with his deputy Manish Sisodia. Then LG Najeeb Jung was also present but in a different enclosure and the two had not exchanged pleasantries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
1. In 303 BCE, Seleucus I and Chandragupta signed a peace treaty and an intermarriage agreement. This allowed for inter-marriage between Indians and Greeks, both for commoners and members of the respective dynasties. Connect this with an Indian brand.

Epigamia, the Greek yoghurt brand launched recently from Mumbai.In ancient Athens "epigamia" designated the legal right to contract a marriage. In particular it regulated the right of intermarrying into another city-state. It was also a way of formalizing the relationship between different nations



2. This endowment is considered to be the worlds richest. Its natural resources bets helped it profit for more than a decade. It is selling off one of the most distinctive bets: 3,000-plus hectares of dairy farms and about 5,000-plus cows in New Zealand. It holds a $4-billion natural resources portfolio that directly owns assets in five continents. It owns California vineyards, Chilean forests and Brazilian soybean and maize farms.



Harvard University

All these three men are knights of the The Order of the Golden Fleece, a Roman Catholic order of chivalry. Its logo has been adopted by the American shirt maker Brooks Brothers

Greek-Canadian Sam Panopoulos, who passed away recently was the creator of the Hawaiian Pizza



5. If you are using a Being Smart what and whose product would that be?

Smart phones brands owned and created by actor Salman KhanWestern UnionTajnessLong grain American Jasmine and American Basmati rice grown by a company called RiceTec Inc. in the USBosch and MerckBharat Financial Inclusion Limited, formerly known as SKS Finance, founded by the very famous Vikram Akula. Inspired by Akula, filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker, of Lagaan fame, made the film Swades starring actor Shah Rukh Khan.
Cab aggregator Uber's Chief Executive Officer, Travis Kalanick , resigned on Tuesday, reported the New York Times. The decision came after the mounting pressure on the firm in the light of various scandals and controversies lately.

Travis Kalanick founded the ride hailing service, Uber in 2009. But lately, Uber was in headlines for all the wrong reasons which led to a shareholder revolt that resulted in Kalanick's resignation.

According to The New York Times, a group of major Uber investors demanded Kalanick's resignation earlier Tuesday. Kalanick will reportedly stay on Uber's board.

"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," Kalnick said in a statement.

Emil Michael, senior vice president and a close Kalanick ally, had left the company too, according to Reuters.

Earlier this month, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick took a leave of absence for an unspecified period and let his leadership team run the troubled ride-hailing company in his absence.

Kalanick told employees about his decision in a memo. He said he needed time off to grieve for his mother, who died in a May boating accident. He also added that he was responsible for the company's current situation and needed to become a better leader.

The announcement came after former US Attorney Eric Holder released a list of recommendations to improve Uber's toxic culture.




After Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Maharashtra, Punjab has emerged as the third state in India to waiver farm loans, a move that will benefit 10.25 lakh farmers, double the relief provided by the other two states.

However, can waiving loans solve the larger agricultural crisis that have plunged the farmers into despair?

Amid the Tamil Nadu farmers protest in Delhi, rural affairs expert and founder editor of PARI (People's Archive of Rural India) P. Sainath spoke to Rajdeep Sardesai on 'News Today' aptly stating the that trying to solve farmer suicides without considering the larger agrarian crisis is like trying to mop the floor with all the taps open and running.

Breaking down the agricultural crisis

To understand why the farm loan waivers are not a permanent solution, it is imperative to grasp the magnitude of today's agricultural state in India.

According to NSSO's 70th round Agricultural Census (2013-2014), among the estimated 90.2 million agricultural rural households, over 50 per cent suffer from severe debt and outstanding loans that translates to nearly Rs 42,000 per household.

While bankruptcy and indebtedness were the leading reason for farmer suicides in 2013-14, farming-related issues such as crop failure and inability to sell produce, family problems, illness and drug/alcohol abuse kill 3,667 cultivators - a number greater the 3,097 deaths due to lack of finance, says the NSSO report.

Farming - once a backbone of the Indian economy - is now simply a loss making business for farmers.

As per the NSSO data in 2013-14, Rs 6,426 was the average monthly income per agriculture household out of which 52 per cent is generated from non-farming activities like animal husbandry, wages and salaries and other business.

ALSO READ: Why it will take more than loan waivers to save farmers from debt trap

For smaller farmers, who completely depend on cultivation, the scenario was much worse. Their expenditure overran their income.

NSSO shows that farmers with 4-10 hectares of land easily made an income that was double their expenditure. However, farmers with less than 1 hectare perpetually lost money due the costs of production.

MP faces MSP trouble

In the state of Madhya Pradesh, that witnessed violence between farmers and cops in the first week of June, the main reason for protest was due to a glut in production and no announcement of minimum support price (MSP) for onions and potatoes.

The issue of MSP spills into other states as well.

In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, red chilies that should have a MSP of Rs 12,000 are being sold at a wholesale price of Rs 4,000-6,000. Sunflower and Moong Dal in UP and Bihar is being sold at Rs 4,000 when the MSP stands at Rs 5,200 (data by news flicks: Farms on Fire ).

Improper storage facilities and processing has even led to bumper harvest being sold at dirt cheap rates.

The unaccounted and unaccommodated

Waivers clear bank debt but fail to address the private debt holdings of farmers, which make up most part of farmer debt.

Further, waivers are granted with a cut-off mark in landholdings not taking into account that many farmers own land way above the cut-off mark not because they are well off, but, because their lands are highly unproductive and unirrigated.

Such landless and small-time farmers require protection as benefits of waivers might not always trickle down to them.

To waiver or not?

Back in 2008, the UPA government announced a Rs 60,000 crore waiver for farmers. Nine years hence, the country has returned to square one, raising an important question: Why did it not work?

ALSO READ: How farm loan waivers helped politicians reap a rich harvest

In Sainath words, "they [waivers] are merely a tool, not a transformation; mechanism not a solution; relief not an answer to the greater problem."

What fell short from the government's part was to tackle the root cause of agrarian crisis and create pragmatic policy framework.

Today, if we see protests and demonstrations, it is merely to draw attention to the issue plaguing the agricultural sector.



"These strikes, protests and episodes are manifestations of the agrarian crisis and not the crises in themselves," says Sainath in a video by PARI.

Going forward with a policy outlook

In an article by Al Jazeera, experts attribute 'short-sighted' policies and negligence in agriculture over several decades that have led to the current state of despair.

The government has stopped public provisioning of agricultural inputs. Prices of fertilisers, seeds and other inputs have tripled over the years, which have not been checked and provided for by the Centre, explains Sainath in his video.

Real income of farmers remain stagnant (some cases declined) in contrast to rising prices, crushing the lives of farmers, he adds.

M S Swaminathan, pioneer of India's Green Revolution, describes the vicious cycle of bad monsoons, poor procurement price that have lead to farmer's borrowing from money lenders and financial institutions which they will never be able to pay back leading to a debt trap.

"Loan waivers, though temporarily necessary for the revival of farming, do not provide conditions for a secure credit system in the long term," he says in an interview to Al Jazeera.

Many experts have suggested the implementation of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF). It was chaired by M S Swaminathan, constituted on November 18, 2004 submitting a total of 5 reports by 2006 that suggested a 'faster and more inclusive growth' for farmers.

The Swaminathan Commission recommended MSP for grains, protection of small farmers and addressal of risks in overtaking agriculture as a profession.

The commission observed that farmers need to have access over resources such as land, water, bio-resources, credit and insurance, technology and markets and that agriculture needs to be shifted to the concurrent list instead of the state list at which it is currently at.

Only a broad-based, holistic policy with policy-makers looking at the agrarian crisis through the farmers' lens can cast a ray of hope in solving the issue.

As P. Sainath describes, when a calamity strikes, relief is urgent but going forward what needs to be in place is not merely anti-natural calamity measures but larger anti-indebtedness strategies to tackle the great agrarian crisis.
India's population could surpass that of China's around 2024, two years later than previously estimated, and is projected to touch 1.5 billion in 2030, according to a UN forecast.

The World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that currently China with 1.41 billion inhabitants and India with 1.34 billion remain the two most populous countries, comprising 19 and 18 per cent of the total global population.

"In roughly seven years, or around 2024, the population of India is expected to surpass that of China," the report said.

The 2017 Revision of World Population Prospects is the 25th round of official UN population estimates and projections.

In its 24th round of estimates released in 2015, it was projected that the population of India will surpass that of China's by 2022.

The new estimates released here today said that in 2024, India and China are expected to have roughly a population of 1.44 billion each. After that, India s population is projected to continue growing for several decades to around 1.5 billion in 2030 and approaching 1.66 billion in 2050, while the population of China is projected to remain stable until the 2030s, after which it may begin a slow decline.

India s population may eventually see a decline in the half century after 2050 to 1.51 billion by 2100 but it will still be the most populous country in the world.

In India, life expectancy at birth will be 71 years in 2025-2030, growing to 74.2 years in 2045-2050. The under-five mortality rate will decline from 32.3 deaths under age five per 1,000 live births in 2025-2030 to 18.6 in 2045-2050.

The report said the current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100.

"With roughly 83 million people being added to the world s population every year, the upward trend in population size is expected to continue, even assuming that fertility levels will continue to decline, it said.

Ten countries are expected to account collectively for more than half of the world s projected population increase over the period 2017-2050: India, Nigeria, Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the United States, Uganda, Indonesia and Egypt.

Among the ten largest countries worldwide, Nigeria is growing the most rapidly. Consequently, the population of Nigeria, currently the world s 7th largest, is projected to surpass that of the US and become the third largest country in the world shortly before 2050.

Further, large and persistent economic and demographic asymmetries between countries are likely to remain key drivers of international migration for the foreseeable future. Between 2015 and 2050, the top net receivers of international migrants (more than 100,000 annually) are projected to be the US, Germany, Canada, UK, Australia and Russia.

The countries projected to be net senders of more than 100,000 migrants annually include India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Indonesia.

The report said that in 2010-2015, around 46 per cent of the world s population lived in intermediate-fertility countries, where women have on average between 2.1 and 5 births over a lifetime.

Intermediate-fertility countries are found in many regions, with the largest being India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico and the Philippines.

In 2045-2050, it is expected that slightly less than a third of the world s population will live in countries with fertility in this range. By that time, most of the world's population will be living in countries with relatively low levels of fertility, where women bear fewer than 2.1 children on average.

The report highlights that a reduction in the fertility level results not only in a slower pace of population growth but also in an older population. Compared to 2017, the number of persons aged 60 or above is expected to more than double by 2050 and to more than triple by 2100, rising from 962 million globally in 2017 to 2.1 billion in 2050 and 3.1 billion in 2100.

"Population ageing is projected to have a profound effect on societies, underscoring the fiscal and political pressures that the health care, old-age pension and social protection systems of many countries are likely to face in the coming decades, it said.

Substantial improvements in life expectancy have occurred in recent years. Globally, life expectancy at birth has risen from 65 years for men and 69 years for women in 2000-2005 to 69 years for men and 73 years for women in 2010-2015.
Indian and the rest of the world are today celebrating the third International Yoga Day with many events taking place in top cities such as New Delhi, London, New York.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the crowd which had gathered at a yoga day event in Lucknow in the early hours to emphasise on the health benefits of doing yoga.

PM Modi said he was pleased to see so many yoga institutions crop up in the country in recent times. He also said the demand for yoga teachers had increased as more people take up the traditional exercise.

PM Modi also joined the yoga practitioners, which included many students, to do yoga at the event.

INTERNATIONAL YOGA DAY: MAIN HIGHLIGHTS

"From Lucknow I convey my greetings to all those joining the Yoga Day 2017 celebrations all over India," Modi said, urging people to make yoga a part of their lives. He also said that the growing popularity of yoga had helped India connect with the rest of the world. He also highlighted that yoga was not expensive to practice. Yoga is about health assurance, he said. He went on to add: "Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness". A total of 55,000 yoga enthusiasts were believed to have been present at the event that started really early in the day. UP Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were also present. Meanwhile, the government has also launched a mobile app - Celebrating Yoga - to help people find the closest yoga venue on International Yoga Day. Many other leaders from the BJP are expected to practice yoga at events in differents parts of the country. Also, the BJP's presidential nominee, Ram Nath Kovind, will perform yoga at New Delhi's Connaught Place.

INTERNATIONAL YOGA DAY CELEBRATIONS

Sand artist and Padma Shri Awardee Suddarshan Patnaik made a sand art of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Puri beach in Odisha.

'Yoga for Harmony and Peace' - my Sand art on #InternationalYogaDay at Puri Beach in Odisha#IYD2017 #YogaDay pic.twitter.com/C4tyamzJiL - Sudarsan Pattnaik (@sudarsansand) June 21, 2017

Sri Sri Ravi Shakar from The Art of Living tweeted pics from a yoga event in South Africa .

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Law & Justice, Information Technology Minister of India, tweeted a pic from a yoga event in Patna, Bihar

Venkaiah Naid, Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, participated at a yoga event organized by New Delhi Municipal Council

Celebrating #InternationalYogaDay with the people of New Delhi, at an event organised by NDMC. Yoga is our tradition, it's our culture. pic.twitter.com/Eaqyt7JPZd - M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) June 21, 2017

Dr Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister of State for Culture & Tourism, was present at a yoga centre in Coimbatore

Offering Kailash Teerth to Yogeshwar Linga at Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore.#InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/4lN7UY6P5D - Dr. Mahesh Sharma (@dr_maheshsharma) June 21, 2017

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was spotted doing yoga at an event in Bhubaneswar

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan does Yoga in Bhubaneswar #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/Nr4VUDVN7T - ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin took part in at a yoga day event in New York

India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin performs Yoga in New York #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/Zm1UDBNay0 - ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017



Yoga Day was also marked by Indian security forces located in difficult terrain and border areas. ITBP jawans did yoga early in the morning at about 18000 feet in Ladakh where the temperature is a freezing -25 degrees.

#WATCH ITBP jawans doing Yoga at nearly 18000 feet in Ladakh in -25 degrees #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/YvSGqpQnxF - ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Yoga Day event also took place above Indian military carrier INS Vikramaditya
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
Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal today blamed commercial banks for "unethical" loaning to farmers which made growers "debt ridden".

He also asserted that debt waiver alone would not help distressed growers.

"I was told that when commercial banks gave loans to them (farmers), they were very unethical. While a cooperative bank does not extend loan more than Rs 40,000 per acre, they (commercial banks) gave Rs 5 lakh per acre," Manpreet said while talking to reporters here.

Badal, who presented the state budget for the year 2017- 18 in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, stressed that the government would take up the matter with bankers to ensure farmers are not extended loans more than their requirements.

Asked whether the Rs 1,500 crore budgeted for farm debt waiver was sufficient, Manpreet acknowledged it was a small amount but would enable the government to repay farmers' instalments for one year.

"We will become the debtor of the banks as we are ready to give sovereign guarantees. We will take over the farmers' debt," he said, adding that the government would pay debt waiver amount from its own resources.

He said each year the state government would make a provision for the debt waiver amount while adding that the expert panel set up on debt waiver would work out exact amount of farmers' debt in the state.

Yesterday, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had 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 which would benefit a total of 10.25 lakh farmers.

Asked whether the debt waiver would cover commercial banks' loans, he said, "It will cover loan taken from PSU banks, commercial banks including cooperative banks."

He said government would also make an arrangement with banks to work out the modalities for loan waiver which might include one time settlement.

"Punjab is probably the most indebted state in terms of agriculture in the country," he noted.

"I agree, solution lies in multi-pronged approach and debt waiver alone will not help the farmer. We will have to create employment opportunities for farmers' children and provide them necessary skills to enable them to stand on their feet," the minister added.

Regarding additional liability of Rs 29,919.96 crore on account of cash credit limit legacy accounts taken by the previous regime, he said the state government will conduct third party audit in this regard.

Badal acknowledged that the state would be unable to contain fiscal deficit at 3 per cent limit as per FRBM Act, 2003, mainly due to the additional debt servicing liability and the "dilapidated finances that we have inherited."

"As of now the net borrowing limit of the state has been fixed at Rs 12,819 crore by RBI. This leaves a funding gap of Rs 10,273 crore this year. This gap would need to be covered during the course of the year through Additional Resource Mobilisation (ARM) and control of revenue expenditure."

"I would like to first see the impact of GST on the resources of the state during the year before I suggest any Additional Resource Mobilisation," he said.

He further said that the government would soon establish debt reconciliation boards in every district to resolve cases pertaining to loans taken by farmers from informal sectors.
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Indian immigrants in Saudi Arabia are set to be hit by the Kingdom's newly introduced 'family tax' that will come into effect starting from July 1.

The tax requires employed persons to pay a fee of 100 riyals (Rs 1,700 approx) per dependent each month. So, an Indian expat living with his wife and two chidlren will require to pay 300 riyals monthly.

Additionally, the fee needs to be paid in advance as per regulations. This means that if a man's dependant wife is to stay in Saudi Arabia for one year, a total of 1,200 riyals needs to be paid in advance at the time of the renewal of the residence permit.

To make matters worse, this tax is said to increase by 100 riyals each year per dependent till the year 2020.

How will it affect Indians?

The dependent fee is likely to be a huge financial burden for the 41 lakh Indians - the largest expat group in Saudi Arabia.

Many families have been forced to return to India or send back dependents because they can't afford the fee, reports the Times of India.

While some companies have stepped forward to compensate their employees for the dependant fee, most people have to pay it themselves.

The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that this move would affect all expats equally.

Besides the tax, cost of living in Saudi Arabia is going to increase drastically from July 1. Prices of beverages is set to go up by 100 per cent while tobacco products will be affected equally.

Further, job security is a major concern. Post the fall of crude oil prices, many Indian workers have been laid off with employees in other industries wary about staying back in the country.




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.
The Karnataka government on Wednesday waived farm loans worth Rs 8,167 crore.

Over 22 lakh farmers who availed up to loans of Rs 50,000 will be benefited by the announcement.

The state has been reeling under severe drought, worst in 42 years.

Siddaramaiah-led Congress government has been facing intense pressure for long to dole out loan waivers to farmers after Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab made similar announcements to fullfill their poll promises. The BJP in Opposition had been for long demanding loan waiver for farmers of the state.

On Monday, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced crop loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh for farmers who own less than five acre of agricultural land and a flat relief of Rs 2 lakh for all other marginal farmers, irrespective of the loan amount. The initiative would provide double the relief announced by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, he said.

BJP governments led by Yogi Adityanath and Devendra Fadnavis are in power in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, respectively. On June 11, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced farm loan waiver which would require his government to raise Rs 25,000 crore or more. In April, the UP government waived farm loan worth Rs 36,000 crore.

The loan waiver will benefit around 86 lakh small and marginal farmers in Uttar Pradesh. Also, the waiver has fulfilled one of the biggest poll promises of BJP that if voted to power, it will waive off the farmer loans in its very first Cabinet meeting. At Rs 36,359 crore, the loan waiver announced by the Yogi government was the biggest at that time by any state.

In fact it is more than half the size of the loan waiver, announced by UPA-1 government in 2008 for whole of India. The maximum amount of loan to be waived has been fixed at Rs 1 lakh per farmer.
In what could be called a homecoming for Air India, the Tata Group is reportedly considering buying debt-ridden national carrier from the government in partnership with Singapore Airlines. Air India was founded by JRD Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932 which was nationalised in 1953.

Also read: FM hints at privatisation of Air India: Here are 5 other countries which sold their national carriers



ET Now today reported that Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran held informal talks with the government, expressing preliminary interest in buying a controlling stake in Air India with a 51 per cent equity holding. The government is happy with the Tata Group's interest in the heavily debt-laden carrier, the report said.

Meanwhile, another report in The Economic Times suggests that the Union Cabinet may clear the decks for stake sale in loss-making Air India this week.

Talks about privatising Air India have been going on for a month. It all started with an interview that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave to DD News where he said that if private airlines could handle 86 per cent passengers then they could also handle 100 per cent.

While Air India's market share is just around 14 per cent, its debt burden has piled up to reach Rs 50,000 crore. Of the total debt, Rs 20,000-25,000 crore is related to aircraft valuation.

Also read: Maharaja on Sale: Why would anyone buy debt-ridden Air India?



Days after Jaitley's comments, the National Institution for Transforming India or NITI Aayog also rooted for its disinvestment. But a few days later, Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju admitted that finding a scapegoat - in the form of a strategic investor - might not be easy. And it was felt that even as the government machinery was pulling out all the stops to find a suitor, the sell-off could be tricky.

Is Disinvestment the Best Way Forward?

It is the third serious attempt by the Indian government to sell off Air India. In 1999, when Jaitley was the Disinvestment Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he came up with a similar proposal, but it did not materialise.

In fact, the repeated efforts by several governments to revive the airline had never yielded favourable results. That the airline could post operational profits of Rs 105 crore in 2015/16 was considered its biggest achievement during the past decade. But the euphoria did not last long.

The luxury of letting the government run the show at Air India - and burn taxpayers' money - is, indeed, over. It is now time to choose short-term pain for long-term gains.


It's just been one day since OnePlus launched their latest and greatest for the year 2017, OnePlus 5. Though the device is receiving a mixed response on its new features and design, one thing OnePlus was sure about in their new flagship was its performance. However, new reports are surfacing which have serious allegations and doubts against the devices benchmark scores across many applications.

According to a report by XDA developers, the review units given to media outlets have been tweaked to give enhanced benchmark results. The report made serious allegations about the Chinese company that faced similar accusations last year. The report clearly stated, "We have learned about OnePlus' new benchmark cheating mechanism through our review unit."

While it cannot be confirmed if all review units provided by the company were tweaked to yield higher results in benchmarks, OnePlus did come to its defense by not denying the claims altogether but by stating that the testing conditions were made to show the optimal performance of the device.

OnePlus' response stated, "People use benchmark apps in order to ascertain the performance of their device, and we want users to see the true performance of the OnePlus 5. Therefore, we have allowed benchmark apps to run in a state similar to daily usage, including the running of resource intensive apps and games. Additionally, when launching apps the OnePlus 5 runs at a similar state in order to increase the speed in which apps open. We are not overclocking the device, rather we are displaying the performance potential of the OnePlus 5."

However, the statement contradicts the allegation that performance was not targeted on benchmark applications only but also for all day to day activities of the device. XDA, on the other hand claims that the manipulation can be disabled or enabled for testing purposes. Once disabled, only 24.4 per cent of the tests yield the optimum 1.9GHz frequency of the smaller cores whereas with the manipulation enabled the tests yield a frequency of 1.9GHz in 95 per cent results.

We'll receive a clearer picture of the entire issue when OnePlus starts selling the commercial units. If OnePlus 5 operates on full capacity in day to day activities, the device's battery performance will take a hit and can also lead to overheating in many instances. The device was launched in the United States on Tuesday and will be launched in India on June 22.
The chairman of Chinas largest automotive-glass maker said Tuesday that the companys U.S. factory is fundamentally successful despite recent reports of safety and labor issues at the $1 billion plant in southwestern Ohio.

Fuyao Groups Cao Dewang told Caixin that the company was fined $40,000 by the U.S. federal governments Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), not $100,000 as reported in a June 10 New York Times story on the companys facility in the city of Dayton.

For a $1 billion investment project, I dont think a $40,000 fine is an indicator of serious production safety problems, Cao said. Under U.S. law, if there had been serious safety or environmental issues, the entire project wouldve been shut down immediately, and the fine wouldve been at least $100 million.

There had indeed been safety violations during the equipment installation process at Fuyaos factory, which opened on Oct. 1, Cao said. But these issues were fixed after OSHA stepped in, Cao added.

In addition to safety problems, Fuyaos Ohio factory has also faced complaints from workers and an acrimonious union campaign by the United Automobile Workers (UAW), which represents workers in the industry across North America, the New York Times reported.

But Cao told Caixin that while the UAW had once held a meeting at a hotel near the factory, fewer than 30 of the factorys approximately 2,000 employees attended, and there were never any protests at the factory.

Chinese factories expanding abroad will inevitably face challenging environments, but we have to create the conditions for acclimatizing, Cao said. You can only change yourself, not the environment. he said.

Chinese companies must unconditionally fulfill local safety and environmental standards, Cao said.

Fuyao was one of the first Chinese firms to begin investing abroad, and has been investing in the U.S. since 1995. The Ohio factory is its first North American facility. The firm has also opened factories in Russia and Germany.

Its overseas activities cost the company $10 million between 1995 and 1998, Cao said, but he expects the Ohio factory to turn a profit of around $60 million this year.
This is a key housing market to follow since Phoenix saw a large bubble and bust, followed by strong investor buying.



The Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS) reports (table below):



1) Overall sales in May were up 9.3% year-over-year.



2) Active inventory is now down 9.5% year-over-year.



More inventory (a theme in most of 2014) - and less investor buying - suggested price increases would slow sharply in 2014. And prices increases did slow in 2014, only increasing 2.4% according to Case-Shiller.



In 2015, with falling inventory, prices increased a little faster. Prices were up 6.3% in 2015 according to Case-Shiller.



With flat inventory in 2016, prices were up 4.8%.



This is the seventh consecutive month with a YoY decrease in inventory, and prices are up 1.7% through March (7.1% annual rate).





May Residential Sales and Inventory, Greater Phoenix Area, ARMLS Sales YoY

Change

Sales Cash

Sales Percent

Cash Inventory YoY

Change

Inventory May-08 5,6371 --- 1,062 18.8% 54,1611 --- May-09 9,284 64.7% 3,592 38.7% 39,902 -26.3% May-10 9,067 -2.3% 3,341 36.8% 41,326 3.6% May-11 9,811 8.2% 4,523 46.1% 31,661 -23.4% May-12 8,445 13.5% 3,907 46.3% 20,162 -36.3% May-13 9,440 11.8% 3,669 38.9% 19,734 -2.1% May-14 7,442 -21.2% 2,193 29.5% 29,091 47.4% May-15 8,293 11.4% 1,988 24.0% 24,616 -15.4% May-16 8,820 6.4% 1,931 21.9% 25,980 5.5% May-17 9,641 9.3% NA NA 23,520 -9.5% 1 May 2008 does not include manufactured homes, ~100 more
FREMONT, Neb. -- Ground broke Monday morning on the site of a controversial $300 million, 360,000-square-foot poultry processing plant south of Fremont.

A ceremony took place near the intersection of Yager and Cloverly roads, where 2 million chickens per week will be processed for sale at Costco Wholesale stores.

Gov. Pete Ricketts and Mayor Scott Getzschman spoke to the crowd and were joined by representatives from Costco, developer Lincoln Premium Poultry and the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership.

The facility is expected to add about 800 jobs, a news release said.

We believe that this will have a $1.2 billion economic impact on the state every year, Ricketts said. To put that in perspective, thats about 1 percent of our overall state economy. Thats big. Folks, thats how we grow Nebraska.

Rumors about the plant began in March 2016, sparking controversy among opponents who voiced concerns about land and water pollution, odors, available housing and schools for workers and their families and the threat of avian bird flu.

A lawsuit filed by Nebraska Communities United said the land was illegally ruled blighted and substandard for tax increment financing purposes. The lawsuit recently was dismissed.

Getzschman thanked the city council, planning commission, Ricketts, state Sen. Lynne Walz, former Sen. David Schnoor and more for their hard work to bring this project to fruition.

No project that is worth having comes without the challenges and stresses and strain that weve had with this project, Getzschman said. This team did a monumental job. I would like to thank the citizens of Fremont for embracing and supporting this project.

Getzschman said work has begun to prepare for the growth the plant will bring to Fremont.

Now the heavy work begins, Getzschman said. Weve begun to work on housing. We have several proposed projects already in different stages of development in and around the Fremont area.

Speakers throughout Monday's ceremony focused on the economic impact the plant will have on the community, beginning with construction. The processing plant is also expected to draw from a network of farmers who build poultry houses to raise chickens and corn and soybean growers who provide feed sources.

When everything is said and done, the buildings on this location here and farms that will be placed across the region will approach $400 million worth of new construction, said Randy Thelen, senior vice president of the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership.

When the facility is up and running, imagine all the small businesses that are going to have an opportunity to support this facility, Thelen said. A facility of this scale requires all kinds of small business support.

The plant is projected to open in April 2019. It is eligible for $18.3 million in tax-increment financing.
| BY Ricki Green |

Atomic 212 has supercharged its creative, strategy and innovation credentials with ten new hires in its Sydney office. The new staffers have been brought on board amidst a raft of new business wins at the agency.

The agency has lured a number of generalists and specialists from its multinational competitors, bolstering its capabilities across media planning and buying, creative development, marketing technology and complex analytics.

Says Jason Dooris, CEO: These hires are yet another example of strong culture leading to strong business results leading to strong hires which in turn leads to an even stronger culture.

The new hires follow a host of new business wins. In the past month alone the Sydney office

has won work with blue chip brands Lendlease and Nespresso. The Melbourne office has

also begun work with BHP plus more wins to be revealed.

One of the most promising new hires is Cassandra Do Carmo, who has joined the ranks from

Vizeum as strategist. She was one of Dentsus rising stars but has jumped ship to Atomic,

and will work as protege to the agencys award-winning chief strategy officer Ben Taylor,

who made the swap from Vizeum some months back. Do Carmo is a 2016 Young Lions

finalist, and boasts a wealth of experience across FMCG, banking and travel.

Pauline Smyth has also been brought on board as media manager, after more than four years at Mediacoms Edinburgh and Sydney offices, during which time she oversaw major brands like Revlon and Carnival Cruises. She will bolster the Media team, bringing European FMCG and Retail experience to the agency, and strengthening Atomics promise to fast track global learnings in the Australian market.
| BY Ricki Green |

Marketforce chairman John Driscoll (pictured) is stepping down after nearly 30 years with the agency.

The announcement was made by Robert Morgan, chairman of Clemenger Group, majority owners of Marketforce.

John Driscoll has done a superb job leading Marketforce for the last 13 years, said Morgan. He is a great advertising leader, as well as a highly principled and professional executive. I would like to thank John for a magnificent career with Marketforce and wish him well in the next phase of his career.

Morgan said he and Driscoll had been been discussing his desire to step down for some time. He will leave at the end of September.

Driscoll will be succeeded in the leadership of the Marketforce Group, including OMD WA, by Paul Everingham, who was until December last year, the CEO of public affairs and corporate strategy firm GRA Everingham, also part of the Clemenger Group.

After a sabbatical, Paul is coming back to run our Marketforce Group in Perth, said Morgan. He is an extraordinarily creative, entrepreneurial and energetic individual, with highly developed business networks around Australia. Prior to running GRA Everingham, Paul was a senior executive with Chevron and prior to that was Executive Director & CEO of the Liberal Party in WA. He has also experience in the Federal Treasury.

He will join Chief Creative Officer, Pat Lennox and ECD Ben Green in leading the agency, and Angela Nutton as Managing Director of OMD WA.
| BY Ricki Green |

Clemenger BBDO | Touchcast and the NZ Transport Agency have just launched the latest message in the Legend series, the ongoing anti-drink-driving campaign.

Directed by Nick Ball of FINCH, the new story is aimed squarely at provincial lads, reminding these guys they need their bodies to live the full-on lives they love.

The story follows Rats, a real-life, non-acting, true-blooded lovable rogue, with hair to match. It begins as he leaves a party, and then we see what he weighs up against the decision to drive.

The NZ Transport Agency Legend campaign began with Ghost Chips back in 2011, and has targeted different drink driving audiences over the years through a variety of media channels.

This audience is a bunch of lads who dont fear death. So the story focuses on something they care about much more deeply  the time they have with their mates out hunting, riding and hooning around. Thats what an injury could compromise, and thats the stuff they say they live for.

Says Rachel Prince of the NZ Transport Agency: Research told us these guys push the limits with everything they do, including driving drunk. They dont want us telling them what to do or making them feel bad for making the wrong call. We had to find a way to make the right call more appealing.

Says Brigid Alkema, executive creative director of Clemenger BBDO: We knew this piece was going to rely heavily on finding the right character. Nick and his team did a brilliant job in finding our guy, we wanted the real thing and we got him. I think we have something authentic and charming that hopefully the audience will loveand proudly own.

Says Ball: Its a rare opportunity to work with such a brave and confident agency and client team with such a heritage of great and compelling award-winning work. Ive had a blast getting stuck into Rats rather unique world  it was an eye-opening, somewhat confronting experience from beginning to end  but I hope the authenticity of our world carries the message and delivers on what was a pretty fun piece of film to make.

Agency: Clemenger BBDO | Touchcast

Client: NZ Transport Agency

Production Company: FINCH

Director: Nick Ball

Sound Design: The Coopers
| BY Lynchy |

Directors Think Thank and director Rajay Singh recently collaborated with M&C Saatchi Malaysia to produce the new Raya spot. The film has taken a human look on how different cultures celebrate Raya around the world.

Raya (known as Eid globally) is a Muslim celebration that marks the end of the fasting month. The 3-minute video highlights Muslim families in four different countries celebrating the first day of Eid. The commercial was shot in Malaysia, China, India, and Japan; giving viewers a different perspective on the celebration as some of the countries featured are not commonly associated with Islam.

It carries a poignant message that travel and discovery can enrich ones life by widening perspectives. Furthermore, it evokes a warm sense of brotherhood and acceptance by highlighting the faith that is commonly shared across the globe.

The pilot featured in this video is Malaysia Airlines own pilot, Capt. Zakir Ibrahim. All the talents featured in this commercial are real people from real families with no prior experience in acting for commercials. The criteria was set as such to preserve the commercials authenticity and sentiments. It hopes to inspire more people to travel and explore the world by showcasing the beauty of various cultures, traditions and people; and how they celebrate one common festival differently.

The commercial is part of Malaysia Airlines Raya 2017 campaign; where it would also feature a microsite with an interactive user experience. In the microsite, users can learn about unique fashions, cuisines and traditions practiced by Muslims globally on Eid. Users will also be treated to other exclusive contents such as, e-greetings, behind-the-scene footages, and other videos. Through this campaign, Malaysia Airlines aims to uplift the brand and promote the destinations under its network.

DTT director Rajay Singh said, Shooting this film was a real humbling experience. We only worked with non-actors on this shoot. Most of all, it was how these people let us into their lives without any objecting questions. They stayed true to Puasa (Fasting during holy month Ramadan) and fasted throughout. Also, this film was a real collective effort, so I want to give a personal shout out to the client, agency and our friends at Fingerprint Films (India), Shine Films (China) and AOI Pro (Japan). We were under a lot of pressure as we were working to a very tight deadline. But these Guys stood by us and put up with all of our last minute requests, however crazy!

The entire experience was like a journey of discoveries for us. Every country we went to and every person we met along the way taught us something new. Whether it was how they lived their lives, the food they ate or how they spoke, it gave us a whole new perspective on the world. The great thing is that was exactly what we set out to do  show people that travelling enriches lives. And indeed it did for us, added M&C Saatchi Creative director Darren Lee.

Credits 

Executive Creative Producer: Marzuki Maani

Creative Director: Darren Lee

Writer: Darren Lee, Ida Sazreena

Servicing: Doris Lo, Iris De Souza, Mandy Khoo

Executive Producer: Evelynn Tan

Production Company: Directors Think Tank

Director: Rajay Singh

Executive Producer: Tek Nam

DOP: Lee Wing Lok

2nd Unit: Julian Oh, Zaim Rosli

Line Producer: De Shen

Production Manager: Subash

Production Asst: Gray Loi, Darshan

Mumbai Prod. Support: Fingerprint Films

China Prod. Support: Shine Films Co.Ltd

Japan Prod.Support: AOI Pro.Inc

Editor: Affandi Jamaluddin

Post Production: VHQ Post KL
"If Canberra was a person it's not the good-looking person, it's not your person that gets all the attention, but it's your really interesting person, the one you want to go back and talk to a lot more."
The licences will be in addition to two licences already issued, to MainOne for the area around Lagos zone and to IConnect, a subsidiary of IHS, for the north-central zone.

Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said this week that the regulator had received 60 submissions for the five infraco  infrastructure company  licences.

This is a massive number and we are about to complete the processes of the licensing of the remaining five infracos very soon, Danbatta told journalists in Lagos. And I am talking about July. We will come out with the information about the successful bidders, he said, according to the Guardian newspaper of Nigeria.

The licensing process follows the NCCs publication in September 2016 of its policy for open access next generation fibre broadband networks.

This invited proposals for metropolitan fibre infrastructure within the five regions on an open access, non-discriminatory, price-regulated basis. The NCC said that Nigerias federal government will provide financial support in the form of subsidy which shall be competitively determined to facilitate rollout obligations.

The regions to be licensed are north-east, north-west, south-south (sic), south-west and south-east zones.

Danbatta said that the NCC is happy about MainOnes deployment of fibre around Lagos, but not about progress in the north-central zone. We are not happy and action is being taken to ensure a remedial measure is put in place, in order to speed up deployment in the area.

He said the NCC had decided the open access model was an appropriate model for Nigerias fibre backbone infrastructure to bridge the current broadband gap and deliver fast, reliable broadband services to households and businesses.

The licensees will be able to provide dark fibre to wholesale customers and to build fibre-to-the-node metropolitan fibre networks to operators.

Nigerias Guardian newspaper listed potential bidders for the licences as including Cyberspace, ipNX, nTel, Smile Communications, Spectranet, Swift, and Vodacom Business Nigeria.
It was the day we had been dreaming about for years. After 17 years in a building that had been designed as an automobile shop for Beatrice High School, the Beatrice Humane Society held the Grand Opening of its new animal shelter.

Located at 534 S. Reed St. (on Highway 136 across from the college), the building is in full operation and continuing to serve the lost and homeless animals in Gage County.

Ten days ago, the Ambassadors from the Beatrice Area Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the lobby of the new shelter. Others in attendance included major donors, city and county officials, and good friends and supporters of the Beatrice Humane Society.

Also in attendance was Michael Weaver, a native Beatrician who grew up here, graduated from Beatrice High School and then attended the Kansas City Art Institute. Today Mike is a well-respected professional artist who lives in Kansas City.

The Humane Society commissioned Mike to do a special, unique and heartfelt rendition of the shelter that would be given as a gift to the three major donors who made the dream of a new shelter a reality by making the initial gifts. Those dream-makers are the late Velma and Ruby Marsh, the Weston family, and the Scully family.

The painting is a stylized picture of the entrance of the new building with a group of happy dogs and cats looking intently at the viewer with the words Were Thankful 2017 across the canvas. Mike perused the Humane Society website and photos of adoptable animals and painted many of them into his artwork.

His animal portraits are so realistic that shelter staff could go down the line and actually name the animals. Thank you, Mike! And thank you to everyone who has had any part in making our shelter dream come true.

Connecticut Bound

Those of us associated with the Beatrice Animal Shelter are always interested in what lies ahead for the dogs and cats that are adopted from our facility. We know that most of them will stay in the Beatrice/Gage County area, but its not uncommon to have adopters come from Lincoln, Omaha, and other surrounding areas.

Animals have even gone to Colorado and Minnesota and Texas and even as far away as Connecticut. And this week another lucky dog is Connecticut bound.

Vicki Cain grew up in Beatrice while her father, Ken Cain, worked at Beatrice National Bank. The family moved to Minnesota, and then Vicki lived here and there and eventually ended up in Derby, Connecticut. Today she has a two-hour commute one way to New York City to her job in the Development Office of the American Ballet Theatre.

She has also written a book, Travels with Judy -a take-off on John Steinbecks Travels with Charley about the authors adventures traveling around the country with his Standard Poodle. In her book, Vicki traveled with her canine companion Judy," and the two traversed the United States taking in the sights. The book is available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Recently Vicki planned some Memorial Day vacation time in Beatrice to visit her mother, Patricia, who lives with a beautiful cat she adopted from our former shelter on Ella Street. Vicki drove the 1500 miles with her 15-year-old canine companion, Maddie," who was adopted from a Connecticut dog pound."

Vicki was hoping to have a chance to visit the new Beatrice Animal Shelter and check out the adoptable dogs. In April, she lost her dear Topper," an Australian Shepherd she rescued, and she was thinking the time might be right to add an additional member to the family.

As she strolled by the kennels of adoptable dogs, Vicki noticed a pretty blonde and white female Border Collie/Husky mix named Bianca. Bianca is two years old, very well-mannered, and a real sweetheart. It was the perfect match.

Bianca is now known as Buttercup," and so far, she is adjusting well to her new name and her new family. And if Vickis dream comes true, they will be moving back to the Midwest when the time is right. No two-hour commutes here! Safe travels back to Connecticut and best wishes to Buttercup and Vicki for making a match for a lifetime!
Transfer of the shareholding took place yesterday, before a deadline set by the banks of close of business on Friday 23 June.

Now the new owners are in discussion about whether the Nigerian company  officially Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services (EMTS)  can continue to use the Etisalat brand for its operations.

Etisalat Group CFO Serkan Okandan told the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are listed, that the group owned 45% of the ordinary shares in EMTS and 25% of the preference shares. These shares have been transferred to the banks.

Discussions since February did not produce an agreement and the group received a default and security enforcement notice, he said.

The carrying value of these shares in Etisalat Groups books is nil. The remaining financial exposure is related to operational services, such as international roaming, and management and related services.

There is nothing further that we can comment on or disclose for the moment, Okandan told Capacity this morning.

Lere Ojedokun, a spokesman for Etisalat Nigeria, said that discussions are ongoing regarding other issues such as the trading name during this transition phase.

He added: Operations and services to our subscribers remain normal and will in no way be affected as we continue to deliver quality services to our subscribers. We will continue to 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.

Ibrahim Dikko, Etisalat Nigerias vice president for regulatory and corporate affairs, said: We are also appreciative of the tremendous support we have received from the media since inception and we count on their continued support as we transition to a stronger business. We will update our stakeholders and the public on further developments shortly.

He said in a statement: Negotiations with the consortium of lenders are considering a number of possible options.

Etisalat Nigeria had been in financial difficulty since last year, when the banking consortium first said it wanted to take over the company. The regulation  the Nigerian Communications Commission  and the Central Bank of Nigeria persuaded them to hold off, but negotiations were unsuccessful.

One of the suppliers to be affected by the default may be Nokia, which had a managed services contract, signed in 2014, due to expire this year.
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 ...
Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School students line up to shake hands with veterans at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. last week. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN PIERCE

As eighth graders from the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in East Harwich were walking along the Vietnam Memorial during a visit to Washington, D.C. last week, student Kayo Torres spotted several veterans standing near the far end of the reflective wall. He walked up to them, stuck out his hand and thanked them for their service.

His fellow students fell in line behind him, and soon a line snaked along the memorial. The half dozen veterans beamed, and some choked back tears.

I thought it was a good thing to do, Torres said afterwards.

In all the years he's been taking eighth graders to Washington, it was the first time school director Paul Niles had ever seen anything like that.

Those guys were tearing up, Niles said of the veterans. It was a special experience. The confidence of some of our kids to do that outreach, and the way they just naturally fell into the interchange...those are the moments you hope for.

Before graduating this Tuesday, the charter school's entire eighth grade class spent last week on the annual end of the year trip, visiting Gettysburg, Washington, D.C. and Hershey Park. The trip dovetails with the eighth grade curriculum, which is all about why we need government and how our government formed, Niles said. Their studies end at the Civil War; visiting the battlefields and monuments where the most important confrontation in the war occurred helps students put the pieces together, he said.

It's a complex thing, and it involves geography, science and sociology. It really is cool to see kids put it all together, he said.

In Gettysburg, students heard from an actor portraying a Union soldier, visited a home that was occupied by the Confederates, walked the ground at Little Round Top and Devil's Den, where key skirmishes were fought, and ran up the hill where Pickett's Charge  the last, failed assault of the South in the three-day battle  took place. Guides from the National Park Service provided context and commentary to help the experience come alive.

During their day in Washington, the students visited the Martin Luther King, Korean, Vietnam and World War II memorials, as well as the Lincoln Memorial, where a number of them recited the Gettysburg Address for extra credit (see videos of the speeches on the classes' Instagram account, Teamhuzzah). Students also engaged in scavenger hunts at the Museum of American History and the National Gallery of Art.

The trip to Hershey Park for the final day of the trip was the icing on the cake, like a reward, said Niles. Everybody gets to breathe a little bit and have fun, including the half dozen staff members and 10 parent chaperons.

Make sure you put in the story that we study physics at Hershey Park, he added quickly.

In each grade, CCLCS students take long field trips that help build relationships and foster other core values. Shortly after the school was founded 25 years ago, the eighth grade spring trip was to the White Mountains; Niles said that was quickly switched to the fall after they found themselves hiking in the snow still on the ground in early June. He and John Stewart, the school's late founder, designed the Gettysburg/Washington journey as a kind of culminating trip that brought the kids together for an intense week that would allow many of the values of community, many of the active history and civics learning lessons to just all consolidate together in a powerful way.

It's also the last time the kids will be together as a group; for ninth grade, the 80 members of the class scatter to high schools throughout the Cape. They're at an age when relationships are more intense, giving added weight to the week-long intensive.

It's wonderful to give kids that experience, Niles said. They learn a lot of lessons in life, how to get along, how to make the most of their time, how to treasure certain special moments.

Some students had some misgivings about spending an entire week with their classmates.

I expected it to be a lot of fun, but I was a little nervous because we were going to be with our class the whole week, said Elizabeth Anderson. Students, teachers and chaperons stayed in a dormitory at McDaniel College in Westminster, Md., where they also ate at in the school dining hall and swam together in the Olympic-size pool.

It turned out to be the bonding experience they expected, said Anderson and Abby Noonan.

It was stronger than I expected, Noonan said. I got to know people I didn't expect to.

By staying at the college and using teachers and parents to supervise the kids, the trip costs about half as much as other similar school outings, Niles said, which makes it accessible to everyone. It can be grueling, though; teachers must deal with disagreements, patrol halls after lights out, and wake everyone up in the morning. Being responsible for the well-being of 80 kids is a serious responsibility, he said.

But the rewards are worth it, including watching kids rise to the occasion, such as the scene at the Vietnam Memorial.

I love watching the kids come through this, because the stakes are high everywhere we go, said Niles.
An optometrist who worked in Laurel and Plentywood made insurance claims for excessive procedures and ailments his patients didn't have, according to state prosecutors.

Gary Alfred White was charged May 25 with felony counts of Medicaid fraud, false claim to a public agency and theft by insurance fraud. He has yet to appear in a Montana court.

Investigators from state agencies and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana found that from 2012 to 2014, White submitted insurance claims for dozens of patients and recovered some reimbursement, all while many patients were unaware.

White worked as an optometrist in the Laurel Wal-Mart from 2012 to 2014 before opening up an office in Plentywood, according to court documents. For nearly all Medicaid patients, White performed and billed to take a medical photograph of the eye.

In many cases, White didn't even dilate the eye, which is necessary to photograph the retina, charges state.

He billed Blue Cross Blue Shield 28 times for patients' eye photography for $2,100, according to charges. Overall, another doctor who reviewed the case and patient files for investigators said that there was no medical reason for the procedures.

White also diagnosed dozens of patients with benign neoplasm, a localized tumor, charges state. He submitted Medicaid claims for 23 of those patients totaling $4,300. He received $1,900 in reimbursements, according to court documents.

For many of the patients, White retained no records to back up his claims, charges state.

The doctor who reviewed the case files was able to determine that 21 child patients did not show signs of a benign neoplasm.

Investigators interviewed former employees of White, who confirmed that White took eye photography of all patients unless they refused. One of them called White "money hungry," saying he justified the expenses because "the government and insurance companies can afford it," charges state.

Deputy Yellowstone County Attorney Julie Mees said in court Tuesday that White hadn't been summoned yet from South Carolina, where authorities believe he lives.

His court appearance was pushed back to July.
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.
In what may seem a milestone to the education system, the Punjab government has announced free education for girls from nursery to PhD in government schools and colleges. This comes a welcome move in the right direction for women empowerment in the form of education.

Why is free education for girls in Punjab announced?

This might sound like a mere election manifesto, but Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has kept up his poll promise, reassuring faith in him from the people of the state

What are the other women empowerment schemes in Punjab?

The government has also increased the reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies from 33 per cent to 50 per cent.

When was the free education for girls announcement made?

The announcement came during the Chief Minister's speech on the motion of thanks to the Governor's Address in the State Assembly.

How to Empower School Students Through Education?

What are the other education related welfare measures in Punjab?

Free textbooks along with kindergarten classes introduced in the government schools from the next academic year.

Free Wi-FI for 13,000 primary schools and all 48 government colleges.

A pilot project to promote English in government schools from next month

Five new colleges would be set up in the state during this fiscal, notwithstanding the financial crunch faced by the government.

Other people welfare initiatives

Phased waiver of loans of up to Rs 50,000 given to Dalits and economically weak sections by the State Scheduled Caste Corporation and the State Backward Classes Corporation.

A scheme for free houses for the homeless apart from the low-cost housing for the economically weak would also be launched.

A new Lokpal bill, which would bring not only the ministers and all the bureaucrats under in its ambit but the Chief Minister as well.

Also Read: School Building Turns Train: Kerala Students Surprised On Re-opening Day
The Odisha government has slashed down of the fees for the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) after facing criticism from private engineering colleges over BTech admission charges at the time of counselling.

What is the revised OJEE counselling fees?

According to the revised structure, the following is the fees:

General candidates will now have to pay Rs 10,000

SC, ST and differently-abled students will pay Rs 5000 to register for the counselling process in BTech courses.

The State Government, in a notification issued earlier this year, hiked the counselling from Rs 5000 for all category candidates to Rs 25,000.

What does OJEE Chairman have to say?

"The OJEE has decided to cut down the fees for general candidates to 10,000. The fees for SC, ST and physically disabled candidates will remain on par with the previous year's fee,'' OJEE Chairman Tushar Nath said.

Why is OJEE fees reduced?

Odisha Private Engineering Colleges' Association (OPECA) had requested the OJEE committee to reduce the fee structure as it would hurt economically weaker students.

The decision has been taken in the larger interest of the candidates who qualify for OJEE. As per the new guidelines, meritorious students of JEE Main can register themselves and lock choices on OJEE website following which temporary seats would be allotted, Nath added.

OJEE 2017 Results Declared: Check Now!
On the occasion of International Yoga Day, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has directed varsities to commemorate it with celebrations and meaningful activities to spread awareness and knowledge about yoga.

What are the events that the UGC has directed?

The higher education authority has directed the varsities to conduct a lot of programs and send reports, along with videos and photographs of it for the International Yoga Day. In April, the UGC had asked the universities to insure the involvement of the authorities in very 'elaborate training programmes on common Yoga protocol for mass yoga performance as well as discourses, lectures and talks by eminent Yoga experts'.

List of suggestions by UGC for International Yoga Day

Involve a very elaborate training programme on Common Yoga Protocol (CYP) for Mass Yoga performance as well as discourses, lectures and talks by eminent Yoga experts.

Ensuring the maximum participation of the students on for the event and further that the students should be trained at least for a month.

Observe IDY on 21st June, 2017 and participate in the Yoga demonstrations along with organization of quiz competition, yoga trainings, etc.

Organize Yoga workshops for college teachers and to introduce yoga programme in annual festivals of colleges and universities to promote yoga among youth.

Also Read: UGC Will Now Certify Online Courses: HRD
Just like he did two years ago, retired firefighter Frank Ewalt is seeking a Ward 2 seat on the Billings City Council.

Ewalt, 65, joined a race Monday that includes Roger Gravgaard, Tajin Perez and Jeff Smith. The three seek to succeed Councilwoman Angela Cimmino, whos term-limited and is running for mayor.

Ewalt said hes glad he kept the large sign he used during his unsuccessful 2015 campaign.

I was going to get rid of it, but I thought, You know what? Id better save it, and Im glad I did, he said. I dont throw much stuff away.

Ewalt and his wife Laurie have four children and nine grandchildren. Thats all thats changed in the last two years, he joked. We added a grandkid.

He said hes also reprising his previous campaign theme: Let me be Frank with you.

He said his No. 1 issue is that property owners in this town are getting tired of always footing the bill. We keep hearing, Itll only cost this much on a $200,000 home, but a lot of other people use city services besides Billings property owners.

Theres got to be a better way, he said. People are getting it from all angles, including school districts, he said.

It may be, he said, that city services can be paid for in part by alternate means, such as a hike in automobile registration fees. That way people who use Billings streets but don't live inside city limits can share the cost of road construction and upkeep, he said.

Property owners are getting tired of the current system, he said. Somebody is always tapping you for an extra 20 (dollars), and those $20s start adding up.

Although the council has already voted to include residential snowplowing in the 2017-18 budget, Ewalt said he doesnt support the program  except during severe winters, such as the most recent one.

If you cant get through three inches of snow on residential streets, you should move to Phoenix, he said. Maybe last year when we had a 16-inch storm we should make an exception, but a 3-inch storm one day will be 1.5 inches the next, and they are going to spend money clearing that?

The city cant be giving everything away, he said. If you cant give a good return to people, what are you doing it for?

Ewalt said he will bring a little different perspective to the council if hes elected.

Ive always been a firm believer in always questioning, always asking, What about this? he said. I see things differently than most people do. If you get a group of yes people together, you may not get the best solution.

During the 2015 campaign, Ewalt estimates he knocked on 2,500 doors and only about 10 of them were slammed in my face, he said with a laugh. I was apprehensive about doing it, but I really enjoyed it, and I met a lot of great people. You get a lot of great ideas from people. Ill do it again if I make it through the primary.

That primary election is Sept. 12. The general election will be held Nov. 7.
Search and rescue crews are searching a remote section of the Bob Marshall Wilderness for man who went missing Monday northwest of Augusta.

Teton County Sheriff Keith Van Setten says that a backcountry outfitter reported that Eric Hellmuth, 21, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, walked away from camp in the Sun River drainage at about 2 p.m. Monday, and has not been seen since. Authorities received the call at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

He is on foot and not equipped to handle the elements. He does have some outdoor experience but not much mountain experience, and isnt dressed for the mountains of Montana, he said.

Hellmuth was part of a guide training school operating in the North Forth of the Sun River area. He was in the fourth week of the course, Van Setten said.

The search is concentrated near the river confluence with Cabin Creek, about 30 miles northwest of Augusta.

Hellmuth is described as a white male, brown hair, average build and 5 feet 8 inches tall.

About 15 searchers are involved from Teton County Search and Rescue, the Forest Service and outfitters, Van Setten said.

An aerial search will be conducted through Tuesday night by Two Bear Air out of Whitefish. Hellmuth may have a flashlight with him, Van Setten said.
Set to premiere at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show this fall and arrive at dealers shortly after, the new Opel Grandland X is already available for order in Germany.



Powering the Grandland X is a 1.2-liter turbocharged gasoline engine that makes 130PS (128hp) and 230Nm (170lb-ft) of torque and returns a combined 5.5-5.4 l/100 km (51-52 mpg UK / 42-43 mpg US).

Customers will have to pay at least 23,700 (equal to $26,506), tax included, for the entry-level model, which features standard air conditioning with particulate and odor filter, Radio R 4.0 with Bluetooth, Lane Departure Warning, Road Sign Recognition, and Hill Start Assist.

Theres also a 1.6-liter diesel rated at 120PS (118hp) and 300Nm (221lb-ft) of torque, which returns 4.6-4.3 l/100 km (61-66 mpg UK / 51-55 mpg US) and is priced from 25,500 ($28,519).

The options list includes features such as OnStar connectivity, a 360-degree camera system, Advanced Park Assist, Driver Drowsiness Alert, Forward Collision Warning with Automatic Emergency Braking, pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, panoramic glass sunroof, IntelliLink, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, Demon premium sound system, adaptive LED headlights and a two-color finish.

Although it will initially launch with these two engines, the Grandland Xs powertrain portfolio is said to be expanded in the near future.

PHOTO GALLERY
Tesla Motors is close to an agreement for producing its models in China, in a bid to boost the local competitiveness of the EV maker.



Tesla is negotiating with the city of Shanghai in order to build a new manufacturing facility in the Lingang development zone, with the agreement to be announced as soon as this week, Bloomberg reports.

Under Chinas existing rules, Tesla would have to set up a joint venture with at least one local car maker in order to build a factory there, with its identity still not clear.

Local production is key for Tesla in China, where the companys revenue tripled to more than $1 billion last year. Building their models locally will allow the EV maker to avoid the 25 percent import tax currently applied on its existing Model S and Model X and, more crucially, the upcoming Model 3, which is supposed to bring Tesla to the masses and contribute greatly in the Palo Alto-based manufacturer reaching its annual target of 500,000 vehicles.

Moreover, China is already the worlds largest market for electric vehicles since 2015, and the government is pushing ahead with an ambitious plan that will increase sales of PHEVS and EVs 10-fold over the next decade.

PHOTO GALLERY
Two large Chinese automakers are investigating selling vehicles in Canada as they look to continue ongoing expansions.



Guangzhou Automobile Group Motor, which owns Trumpchi, has already confirmed that it will arrive in the United States in 2019 and could launch in Canada the following year, says company general manager Yu Jun.

Additionally, The Globe and Mail reports that SAIC Motor executives are currently in Canada to assess the market and are shaping up to compete against rivals from South Korea and Europe.

In an interview, Jun said that Guangzhou has enjoyed compounded annual growth of 85 per cent in the past six years and in 2016 sold 380,000 vehicles in China. Jun believes that its local success will prepare it for North America.

While Guangzhous sales sales may be impressive in China, proving successful in Canada wont be easy as there is still a perception that the Chinese create cheap and poor quality products. While the new cars might turn out to be much better, shaking this stereotype will be no easy task.

PHOTO GALLERY
Lanzu will also help speed up the delivery of Blue Zoos current and future productions and co-productions. The two companies say that the investment will not only accelerate the speed at which Blue Zoo projects go into production after being greenlit, but will give the studio greater access to the international market, and more specifically, the Chinese market.

Our partnership with CU Animation Investment Holdings Ltd. comes at a time of incredibly exciting growth for Blue Zoo, said studio co-founder Oli Hyatt in a statement. Lanzu will enable us to jointly hold and develop our IP whilst generating growth in the Eastern and global markets. In partnering with Blue Zoo, CU Animation has invested in the talented staff we nurture, our growing business, and our dreams for the future.

It should be noted that Hyatt also founded Animation UK, a group that lobbies the British government on behalf of animation and vfx studios, pushing for tax credits and incentives that support the animation industry.

This is great news for the UK animation industry, said Mark Garnier, international trade minister, UKs Department for International Trade. This new deal further reinforces our position as a global leader in animation production. The Department for International Trade will continue to provide support and advice to businesses like Blue Zoo. We want to attract inward investment to help them and others to achieve their growth ambitions and reach new markets.

And Gina Fegan, director of culture for CU Animation and Zhong Ze Culture Investment Holdings: Blue Zoo stands out in terms of creativity, company ethos, and commercial acumen. We are delighted to partner with them to enable and accelerate IP development and content production, supporting both Lanzu and Blue Zoos international growth.
Photo: www.newsworks.org

If youve heard of the drug ketamine, it has likely been in the context of its use as an anesthetic or pain reliever.

You may also have heard of its illicit use as a street drug.

Interestingly, this medication, which was first developed in 1962, has recently received some attention for its potential use in the treatment of depression.

There has been some excitement about ketamine and other drugs like it as a possible alternative in cases of treatment-resistant depression.

Much more research is still needed, but studies show ketamine clearly has some anti-depressant effect.

Ketamine works differently than other antidepressant medications. It is typically given in a single intravenous dose and works by blocking NMDA receptors.

Unlike existing antidepressants it seems to have a rapid effect, providing symptom relief within 24 hours compared with several weeks for conventional medications.

A meta-analysis (published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2015) of studies examining ketamine use for depression gives mixed results.

It confirmed the rapid therapeutic effect, but also showed its positive effects are short-lived and it is somewhat problematic because of a potential for abuse and neurotoxicity.

Although ketamine provides a powerful and quick effect, results of seven studies show its benefit seems to wane after about a week.

Additional studies looking at ketamine used in conjunction with ECT found that it seemed to augment the anti-depressant effect of ECT at the start of the treatment, but not at the end of the treatment course.

Much more information is needed before we can confidently pronounce ketamine as a useful tool in the battle against depression. We have virtually no data on the use of ketamine on an ongoing basis, there are some real concerns about its safety, and we dont know enough about exactly how it works.

Perhaps with more study and development, ketamine or other NMDA antagonists can be honed and may provide an additional option for people experiencing depression.

In the meantime, if you or a loved on are depressed, speak to your doctor. We do have effective medications and therapy that are proven to help many people.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Craig Reimer

As Okanagan Lake slowly starts to recede, rumours are beginning to swirl about the possibility of a class-action lawsuit over this spring's flooding crisis.

Whether that's just angry homeowners railing against Mother Nature or a legitimate groundswell of discontent remains to be seen.

But if a suit were launched, who could be sued, and for what damages?

Lawyer Andrew Prior at Pihl Law in Kelowna says there's no clear-cut answer  and he has yet to hear of any class-action suit being pondered.

And he should know. Prior deals extensively with waterfront legal issues, such as the construction of docks and access to the foreshore.

"I haven't heard anything," said Prior. "I've seen some chatter on message boards, but nothing concrete."

As far as who could potentially be sued, Prior said such cases often start "deliberately broad and may be refined over time as information comes forward on who made Decision X."

Complicating the matter is management of Okanagan Lake involves all three levels of government, most significantly provincial, he added.

Two aspects limit the ability to sue governments, he said. These are the federal Crown Liability and Proceedings Act and "at law" general limits on the ability to sue over policy decisions.

Governments are often called upon "to make decisions best decided at the ballot box" and not in a court of law, said Prior.

He said it would not be appropriate for him  or any other lawyer  to comment on whether the grounds exist for such a lawsuit without a great deal more information. That would be up to those seeking to sue.

Using building inspection as an example, he said policy decisions may be made to limit the nature of inspections or to rely on experts. The general structure is not something a court can review, but during a specific inspection, there is a "duty of care" that if not met can give rise to liability.

As well, regulation of bodies of water can be complex and must balance competing interests, further muddying the waters.

Prior said such a suit, if launched, would have a fairly narrow scope, and it is still early days.

There's a strong likelihood a case like this would be handled by a law firm out of Vancouver that specializes in class action litigation, he added.

If that happens, the lawyer handling the suit would publicly announce it. The lawyer would typically represent a single client, and if the case is certified, the order would set out whether the proposed class of individuals are automatically in the case, or whether they have to opt in.
This is how you find any kid playing hide and seek. This would also likely work on me...
Photo: Wayne Moore Wendi Swarbrick is again at the centre of a controversy involving the Rutland Park Society.

Infighting between the board of Rutland Park Society and members has reached the courts.

The society's board has petitioned the court, seeking to have a general meeting called by membership ruled invalid.

Several members made applications by requisition to call a general meeting this Thursday. Included are six special requisitions.

Four of those are seeking the expulsion of board members, treasurer Wendi Swarbrick, and directors at large Bob Dhanwant, Chase Jestley and Mike Vasco.

Two other directors, vice-president Traci Savel and director at large Sukhdev Goraya, are also asked to resign.

Those involved in the requisitions claim the two provided misleading information to the membership at the October 2016 AGM.

In a petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court Monday, and amended Tuesday, the society directors are asking the court to declare the requisition defective and not valid, the meeting and that all business, special resolutions and general resolutions voted on be declared invalid.

It further asks a declaration be made that the directors of the society be constituted as they were June 19, and asks the respondents provide in writing evidence of allegations made against the directors and an affidavit confirming those who signed the requisition were aware of its contents.

The directors claim two society members who signed the requisition were not aware of accusations made and did not see a majority of documents included before signing.

They further claim the requisition and supporting letters exceed the 200-word maximum set out in the Societies Act.

"The petitioner submits that by enforcing the requisition, and holding a meeting that allows the respondents to perpetuate of false information, misguide members and harass or bully director and members, the petitioner would be acting contrary to its purposes and would be rendering the proceedings of the meeting ineffective, pursuant to sections 105(1)(b) and 105(1)(d) of the act," the petition concludes.
Photo: Kate Bouey The next phase of work on 30th Street begins June 26.

The City of Vernon is advising drivers of more roadwork.

Silver Star Road will be closed Wednesday to all but local traffic between East Dedecker Road and L&A Road while crews install sanitary sewers, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Drivers are asked to take a detour route along DeDecker and L&A roads while work is in progress.

Meanwhile, working continues on 30th Street in the downtown, with the next phase set to start soon.

Construction on 30th Street, from 30th Avenue to 34th Avenue, will start the week of June 26 and continue until late October.

The project continues as part of the citys investment in infrastructure, helping make Vernon a great place to live and work, said city spokesperson Tanya Laing-Gahr. The project includes road reconstruction, a new multi-use path, new street lights and replacement of water, storm and sanitary sewer.

30th Street will be closed in several phases, starting from north of 30th Avenue to 32nd Avenue until late August.

All businesses in the area will retain access during the work. Detour routes will be modified as construction progresses.
UPDATE: 6:45 p.m.

Conservation officers from the Ministry of Environment are investigating after a video surfaced of someone dumping rock and soil right into Okanagan Lake.

It is still not clear if the individual has a permit to do so and officers are still investigating the incidents which took place on both June 9 and 15.

The conservation officers became aware of it on Saturday and now they are investigating it under the federal fisheries act as well as the provincial water sustainability act, said Inspector Tobe Sprado.

The Water Sustainability Act states that any person who commits a change in and about a stream as a first offence could face a fine up to $200,000 or imprisonment for six months. If it is a continuing offence they face a fine up to $200,000 for each day the offence was committed or six months imprisonment.

According to the Federal Fisheries Act, no person shall deposit or permit the deposit of a deleterious substance of any type in water frequented by fish or any where fish may enter.

Anyone who contravenes that act as a first offence will receive a fine for up to $100,000 or imprisonment for a year.

ORIGINAL: 5 a.m.

Lake Country residents are concerned after seeing someone dump what appears to be fill into Okanagan Lake not far from their drinking water intake.

Most people in the area get their drinking water from the lake, said a resident. We have an intake (just) north of where they are doing this.

The property is on private land with a vineyard, near Lakeshore Drive and Okanagan Centre Road West.

According to a neighbour, the dumping is to protect the property from erosion after ongoing high lake levels.

Heavy equipment could be seen dumping rock and soil into the water on June 9 and 15.

You can see from the pictures there is a big plume of soil heading in the northern direction, said the neighbour.

Up the road, just 100 metres north, is where at least 15 homes get their drinking water from the lake.

Its not my lake, it is all of our lake, and we should all be stewards of our lake, he said.

Castanet reached out to Lake Country City Hall, which is aware of the dumping, but said it does not fall under its jurisdiction.

Coun. Blair Ireland said he is aggressively investigating the incident and has been notified by multiple residents.

The picture I was sent (showed) quite a bit of dirt spread across quite a bit of the lake, and there are a lot private water systems there. Who knows whats in that soil? he said.

Ireland added that in order to fix erosion, there are multiple steps that must be taken.

Its certainly not what most communities do when they place materials in the water, he said.

Large rocks have been recently used in Lake Country to stop erosion, as dirt could just wash away with another storm.

It is everyone's water source here in the valley. We have to make sure it is done properly, safely and environmentally, he said.

A request has been submitted by Castanet to the provincial government for information on the incident and if the individuals have a permit for the work.
Wyoming lawmakers will explore changes to the Wyoming Cowboy Challenge Academy to bring school districts closer to the National Guard program that targets at-risk teens.

Though the number of cadets enrolling in the program has increased in recent years, officials told lawmakers at Tuesday's Joint Education Committee meeting the facility still has empty beds; in 2012, Gov. Matt Mead expanded it from two classes of 100 per year to four classes of 60, with a goal of graduating 48 cadets per class.

WCCA accepts 16- to 18-year-old students who have dropped out of high school. They must voluntarily enroll in the program. The teens go through a five-and-a-half-month residency at the National Guard's Ft. Guernsey facility, undergoing a regime of physical fitness, education, citizenship and leadership, said Maj. Gen. Luke Reiner, the adjutant general of the Wyoming Military Department.

After their residency, the cadets work with a mentor for 12 months. The goal is for the cadets to complete their GED.

Reiner said that right now, cadets primarily find WCCA through word of mouth from former graduates or family. He said school districts typically didn't refer struggling students to WCCA for a number of reasons. For one, the student has to be a dropout  and often when that happens, the school doesn't have any more contact with them.

Reiner said the schools could spot students teetering on the edge of dropping out and recommend WCCA, but that presents more problems: Schools would be recommending students leave their district, which would take dollars out of district coffers, as each student is worth about $16,000 in state funding to a district. On top of that, the student wouldn't count as a transfer to WCCA  he or she would count as a dropout, which hurts the school, district and statewide dropout rate.

John Lyttle, the superintendent for Laramie County School District No. 1, said his district has recommended students turn to WCCA. But he said the loss of a kid  and his or her becoming a dropout rather than a transfer  hurts Laramie 1 more than the loss of funding.

Reiner argued that the program saves the state money, especially if the students were to end up in other court-ordered systems or, worse yet, a penitentiary. The federal government kicks in a substantial amount of money; before the program was expanded in 2012, 75 percent of it was funded by dollars from Washington, D.C.

Reiner's proposition is to incentivize districts to steer at-risk students toward WCCA by crediting the districts, should students receive their GED within a set time limit. He also recommended mirroring a policy in Montana, which allows referring districts to keep part of the funding they would have received had the student stayed in the district.

Or, alternatively and perhaps ideally, Reiner said, once they complete WCCA, students could go back to their original schools and graduate with their original peers.

Kevin Mitchell, the superintendent of Park County School District No. 1, said he supported the program but said that "GEDs get you nowhere," meaning that they wouldn't help Wyoming districts' accountability scores.

"Unless (the committee) chooses to allow the GED to be the same as a high school diploma, this isn't going to change our graduation rate at all," he said. "And that's OK with me. I'm just letting you know they're not the same."

Brian Farmer, the president of the Wyoming School Boards Association, said the conversation should revolve around student benefit and student choice. He acknowledged that WCCA often was the best choice for some students.

Ultimately, lawmakers directed legislative staff to begin work on legislation that would leave some of the funding with the departing student's school district.
Photo: Contributed

KF Aerospace has just completed a five-year contract with WestJet and is expanding its operations in Hamilton and Kelowna.

The WestJet contract included the following work on its fleet of Boeing 737 NG aircraft:

Engineering and design work

Structure maintenance visits

Scimitar winglet installations

Cabin Wi-Fi installations (with live TV)

The addition of Plus seating and other changes

Lease returns

That included nearly 400 aircraft visits to KF's two facilities.

KF said in a press release Tuesday that its quality of work, on-time delivery and program cost management scored consistently in the high 90s, and it will be expanding its service with the airline.

We are very excited to be expanding our work scope with WestJet ... (in) both Hamilton and Kelowna to support the contract renewal, said Bryan Akerstream, director of business development.

The Hamilton operation will hire an additional 50 staff and "ramp up the facility to meet the demands of multiple lines of dedicated work, with further expansion being considered in 2018, said Mike LaBarge, KF's Hamilton maintenance manager.

KF Aerospace, headquartered in Kelowna, employs 900 staff across Canada.

It provides heavy maintenance/modification and engineering services to Canadian, U.S. and international customers; air cargo operations; aircraft leasing; and RCAF pilot training.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The B.C. Liberals say they are now ready to take big money out of politics following last month's election.

Attorney General Andrew Wilkinson says the government's throne speech Thursday will include a plan to end corporate and union donations to political parties.

Read more
Photo: The Canadian Press Luka Rocco Magnotta

A Quebec TV network is reporting that convicted murderer Luka Rocco Magnotta will be getting married this month.

TVA Nouvelles says the man who killed and dismembered Chinese student Jun Lin in 2012 will wed a male inmate from New Brunswick on June 26 at the penitentiary in Port-Cartier, on Quebec's North Shore.

Magnotta, who will turn 35 in July, is serving his life sentence at the maximum-security institution after being convicted in December 2014 of first-degree murder in Lin's slaying.

Magnotta was also found guilty of the four other charges he faced: criminally harassing then-prime minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament; mailing obscene and indecent material; committing an indignity to a body; and publishing obscene materials.

In June 2015, it was revealed that Magnotta was looking for a "prince charming" on a matchmaking website for prisoners.

His profile was posted on Canadian Inmates Connect Inc., a website that tries to hook up lonesome convicts  some behind bars for violent offences like first-degree murder  with potential companions on the outside.
Photo: The Canadian Press Former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell holds a sourtoe cocktail in Dawson City, in 2002.

A mummified human toe that is the key ingredient in a strange drinking ritual in Dawson City has been stolen.

RCMP are searching for the suspects as well as the misappropriated member.

The shrivelled, brown toe vanished Saturday after being added to an infamous sourtoe cocktail served by the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, Yukon.

Hotel manager Geri Colbourne says a couple came in late that night and requested the unique drink but the waitress was called away after pouring two shots. The toe was gone when she returned.

The shrivelled brown toe is included in a shot of alcohol and, according to tradition, drinkers must allow it to touch their lips in order to join the Sourtoe Cocktail Club.

"We get people from all over the world coming here wanting to do the toe and it's well known everywhere and it's such a huge thing for Dawson City and for the Downtown Hotel," Colbourne said. "Why would someone want to ruin that, you know? It just makes no sense to me at all."

RCMP Cpl. Jeff Myke says a theft investigation is underway, adding the toe represents a tradition that has been an important part of community history

"It's not every day that we investigate incidents like this, but the sourtoe represents a Dawson City tradition that has been an important part of the history here for many years," he added.
Photo: Contributed Marshall Street from early May.

More flood barriers along Mill Creek will be broken down today as the threat of flooding in those areas lessens.

Laura Wilson, communications officer with the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre, says crews will be removing sandbags and other flood protection from Marshall Street.

Flood mitigation will be removed from both private property and city installations.

Wilson says people who may be anxious to have sandbags removed before crews arrive can take those to the Cook Road boat launch where they will be dealt with.

As the flood danger along most creeks has receded, the same is not yet true for Okanagan Lake.

The lake remains at historic high levels, and will for several weeks to come.

The lake's slow decline did continue over the past 24 hours. The lake has dropped 1.2 centimetres since Tuesday morning to 343.165 metres above sea level.

It's anticipated the lake will not get down to full pool until sometime in early August.
Elephants famously have great memories, but they're also pretty quick on their feet, as these two adults in Seoul's Grandpark showed when they figured out how to rescue a drowning young elephant.
Photo: Google Maps Swalwell Park in Lake Country

Kelowna RCMP have a 64-year-old man in custody following a physical altercation at Swalwell Park in Lake Country Tuesday afternoon.

According to police, there was a confrontation in the parking lot near the water park when a man was confronted after allegedly committing an indecent act while sitting inside his vehicle.

The confrontation became physical before police arrived and apprehended the man inside the vehicle.

Parents at the scene tell Castanet a father punched the man in the face after he allegedly was watching children in the park.

"RCMP continue their investigation into the allegations made, as investigators look to speak with more potential witnesses," said Cpl. Jesse O'Donaghey.

The unidentified man was released from custody on strict conditions. He is expected to appear in court at a later date.
Photo: Vic Beliveau

Vic Beliveau is an opinionated guy.

And you don't even have to ask him  he'll give you a piece of his mind, and all you have to do is watch him drive down the street.

The Kelowna resident made a political statement this week when he had his pickup stickered up with his assessment of B.C.'s political situation. On his tailgate, he compares what he sees as the merits and faults of the BC Liberals versus an NDP-Green alliance.

There's no doubt where his loyalties lie.

"Myself, I'm retired, but I worry about the future of our kids and grandkids," he said through a thick French Canadian accent, so we will forgive him his spelling errors.

If a likely NDP-Green government comes to pass, he suggested "they are gonna try to claim the air  but we don't want to stop the jobs."

Beliveau is pro resource exports, and in favour of the Site C dam.

The former hydro worker and steel fabricator said if the dam is halted, the money spent will be wasted "and will come from our pockets."

He says, so far, reaction to his brand of tailgate politics has been positive, but he's ready for those who disagree.

"Oh sure, even give them my phone number," he said. "I will tell them."
Photo: Creep Hunters

British Columbia's Prosecution Service says a new special prosecutor has been named to lead the case against a former deputy sheriff charged with sexual offences.

Vancouver lawyer Brock Martland will take over from Michael Tammen, who was recently appointed to the B.C. Supreme Court.

The prosecution service says Martland will conduct an independent review and assessment of the charges faced by Kevin Johnston, who was charged last September with three counts of communicating with an underage person for a sexual offence.

A news release from the prosecution service says a charge of invitation to sexual touching was recently stayed.

The alleged offences are said to have occurred between Aug. 8 and Aug. 27, 2016, at or near the cities of Kamloops and Kelowna.

Johnston is expected to return to court on July 6 in Kelowna to set a date for trial.
Photo: Facebook Cory Van Gilder faces a manslaughter charge in the 2016 death of Zachary Gaudette.

You'd agree it would not be proper to charge someone based on how it makes the RCMP look? asked Jeff Campbell, defence counsel for Cory Van Gilder.

100 per cent, I agree, responded Cpl. Gina Horley, lead RCMP investigator in the case.

Van Gilder's manslaughter trial continued Wedneday with defence peppering Horley and Const. Nedine Ricioppo about a knife victim Zachary Gaudette was reportedly carrying when Van Gilder punched him, leading to his death.

Ricioppo was the first officer to arrive at the Cactus Club on Banks Road on Feb. 17, 2016, after receiving reports of a fight. She found Gaudette lying in the parking lot, unresponsive, as restaurant staff performed CPR.

Gaudette died two days later in the hospital.

On the morning after the incident, Ricioppo met with RCMP investigators, including Horley, and shared what she knew about the case. In briefing notes from that meeting, Ricioppo noted that Gaudette was found with a small knife in his pocket.

Prior to the notes being brought up in court, Ricioppo testified Gaudette had no weapon on him.

I don't recall the knife, and my job is to seize evidence at the scene, so it would have been marked if I would have found the knife, Ricioppo said.

Despite her assertions, Ricioppo said the information in the briefing notes would have come from her.

The knife was not included in the case's exhibits, and neither Ricioppo nor Horley could say where it ended up.

Several witnesses testified previously that they were concerned Gaudette may have had a knife on him when he approached the group of people outside the restaurant, yelling and challenging people to fight.

During a police interview on Feb. 23, 2016, Van Gilder expressed concern that Gaudette may have had a knife. His defence is that use of force was justified, based on self-defence.

In the RCMP's report to Crown counsel, no mention of a knife was made.

Van Gilder wasn't charged until July 2016, almost five months after the incident occurred.

In an April 15, 2016 email Campbell brought up in court Wednesday, Kelowna RCMP spokesperson Jesse O'Donaghey responded to Horley's concerns about ensuring public confidence in the RCMP following the identification of a suspect in Gaudette's death.

Should Crown not lay the charges, it may come back negatively on the RCMP," O'Donaghey wrote.

Horley testified police had been under media pressure to report on the progress in the case.
Madison Erhardt

Firefighters responded to a fire in the chip pile at Tolko Mill in Kelowna Wednesday afternoon.

Smoke was visible from the building about 1 p.m.

When crews arrived on scene, they approached the pile and found that a loader was on fire.

"The Tolko crews had extinguished the fire, and right now, crews are making sure that nothing transfers into the chip pile, which could become quite a big problem, said KFD Platoon Capt. Tim Light.

"Being a machinery, it's likely some mechanical thing went wrong," he added.
When Allison Restemayer from West Fargo was almost 2 years old, she was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder. Allisons parents were told she would become severely mentally delayed by age 3, and that she would likely pass away by 10 years old.

Over the past several years, Allison has been able to get a new  very expensive  therapy that has helped slow the progression of her disorder. Because there are currently no longer lifetime limits on coverage, Allisons family has been able to afford this treatment. Today, Allison is 16 years old.

Allison also needs physical therapy multiple times per week to truly make a difference in her life day-to-day and to help her live longer. Her private insurance covers just 12 physical therapy appointments per year. Allison is one of many children with disabilities or special needs on Medicaid, which covers the rest of her physical therapy. For her, it has been a lifeline.

Allison and her mother, Jennifer, are inspirations. For them, affordable, accessible health care is real life. And Jennifer will do just about anything to make sure Allison gets it. Unfortunately, politics is getting in the way.

Ive long said there are good pieces of the health reform law and parts that need to be fixed. Since 2013, Ive regularly held my health care advisory board meetings comprised of health care leaders across North Dakota to talk about how we can improve health care. Over the past three and a half years, Ive offered a slew of reforms to make the health reform law work better for families and businesses. This is a discussion Republicans and Democrats must have. Its well past time to stop politics and do policy. But the starting point cant be taking away health care for families.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a health care bill that would rip away health coverage from 23 million Americans by 2026, including more than 30,000 North Dakotans. It would enable insurance companies to impose lifetime maximums on coverage, which many North Dakotans like Allison would reach in no time.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report, the bill would take an ax to Medicaid, cutting about $830 billion from the lifesaving, cost-effective program that has enabled 90,000 North Dakota children and individuals with disabilities, seniors and low-income families to get affordable, quality health care. The bill would take away treatment for opioid abuse that has reached epidemic proportions in North Dakota, as Medicaid also covers 17.4 percent of opioid treatment payments in our state.

The Republican health care bill would disproportionately hurt those who rely on rural hospitals and rural health clinics for coverage. Without Medicaid to support these hospitals and the patients they serve, these hospitals and clinics could go away.

The CBO report explicitly confirms that the bill also could make health coverage unaffordable for those with pre-existing conditions, like asthma, diabetes, cancer, or being pregnant  including more than 300,000 North Dakotans.

It would do all of this damage while giving a tax cut to individuals making more than $200,000.

Those who voted for it should know better. It wasnt a vote for North Dakota.

Just as the House bill was crafted and pushed through behind closed doors, the same thing happened in the U.S. Senate. Just 13 senators drafted a bill to revamp the health care system.

Plus, action and uncertainty caused by the administration  as well as Congress  is creating instability in the insurance markets, threatening significant cost increases for consumers in 2018. Independent reports from CBO and Standard & Poors have said the insurance markets are expected to stabilize this year unless the administration causes disruptions. This can't be how health care works.

Health care is personal. No family should have to choose between lifesaving care for a loved one and bankruptcy. Allison and her mother have stood up to tell their story. Now we must stand up for North Dakotans like Allison who need affordable, quality care. Its because of that care that Allisons story continues. Lets help it keep moving forward.
UH researchers have discovered a new material that has proven an effective anode for acid and alkaline batteries, including emerging aqueous metal-ion batteries, offering the promise of safe, long-lasting batteries that work across a range of temperatures.

Modern batteries power everything from cars to cell phones, but they are far from perfect - they catch fire, they perform poorly in cold weather and they have relatively short lifecycles, among other issues. Now researchers from the University of Houston have described a new class of material that addresses many of those concerns.

The researchers, led by Yan Yao, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, report their use of quinones -- an inexpensive, earth-abundant and easily recyclable material -- to create stable anode composites for any aqueous rechargeable battery.

"This new material is cheap and chemically stable in such a corrosive environment," said Yao, who is also a principal investigator with the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH, with an appointment to the chemical and biomolecular engineering faculty. The material also can be used to create a "drop-in replacement" for current battery anodes, allowing the new material to be used without changing existing battery manufacturing lines, he said.

"This can get to market much faster," he said.

Yao and his lab, including research associate Yanliang Liang, who served as first author on the paper, began the work in 2013, after he was awarded $1 million from the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Project Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) RANGE program to develop new battery technology. Other researchers involved in the project include Yan Jing, Saman Gheytani and Kuan-Yi Lee, all of UH, Ping Liu of the University of California-San Diego, and Antonio Faccheti of Northwestern University.

Energy storage is the key to wider adoption of electric cars, wind and solar power, along with other clean energy technologies. But the development of battery storage systems, which would be able to store energy until it is needed and then be recharged with additional generation, has been hampered by the lack of batteries that meet a variety of requirements: environmentally friendly, safe, inexpensive and long-lasting.

"Aqueous rechargeable batteries featuring low-cost and nonflammable water-based electrolytes are intrinsically safe and ... (provide) robustness and cost advantages over competing lithium-ion batteries that use volatile organic electrolytes and are responsible for recent catastrophic explosions," the researchers wrote. But state-of-the-art aqueous rechargeable batteries have a short lifespan, making them unsuitable for applications where it isn't practical to replace them frequently.

The stumbling block, Yao said, has been the anode, the portion of the battery through which energy flows. Existing anode materials are intrinsically structurally and chemically unstable, meaning the battery is only efficient for a relatively short time.

They worked with quinones, an earth-abundant organic material which Yan said costs just $2 per kilogram, demonstrating the material's benefits in three formulations.

The differing formulations offer evidence that the material is an effective anode for both acid batteries and alkaline batteries, such as those used in a car, as well as emerging aqueous metal-ion batteries, Liang said. That means the quinones-based anode will work regardless of which technology dominates in the future, he said.

The new material also allows the batteries to work across temperature ranges, Liang said, unlike some conventional aqueous batteries, which are notoriously balky in cold weather.

Yao said consumers would quickly notice one key difference in this change to existing battery technology. "One of these batteries, as a car battery, could last 10 years," he said. In addition to slowing the deterioration of batteries for vehicles and stationary electricity storage batteries, it also would make battery disposal easier because the material does not contain heavy metals.

The researchers have filed for three patents for the technology and hope to find partners to commercialize the technology.
Five Minutes With Damien Geter Audio Article Vocalist, composer and Richmond Symphony artist in residence Damien Geters musical roots sprouted when he was a boy in the Matoaca District of Chesterfield County, where he was raised and...
Opponents of a hog farm near Buffalo will take their case to the states highest court Thursday.

The case stems from the North Dakota Department of Healths August 2016 decision to grant a permit to Rolling Green Family Farms for a 9,000-swine factory farm to be built in rural Cass County, about 40 miles west of Fargo. A district court judge affirmed the agencys decision in March, prompting the appeal to the North Dakota Supreme Court.

Arguments are set to begin at 2:45 p.m. Thursday.

The group of landowners appealing the case argue the operation is required to get a more protective permit and that the Health Department erred by not reopening the public comment period after the companys disclosure of significant new information, according to a court brief.

In announcing the approval last year, the Health Department said it had added conditions to the permit to address concerns with odors, surface water and groundwater. The department said it received feedback from about 150 people during a public comment period.

A department official said at the time that the permit application complied with their regulations, but neighbors remain concerned.

After considerable research and consultation, the Concerned Citizens of Buffalo are convinced that environmental problems with Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations have a direct impact on human health and welfare for communities that contain these large industrial farms, Liane Stout, a Buffalo resident who is a party to the Supreme Court appeal, wrote in a letter to the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead last week. The only ones who benefit from CAFOs are their CEOs and shareholders, who operate as corporations and live out of state.

Rolling Green is being proposed by Pipestone Holdings, based in southwest Minnesota.

Rolling Green attorney Rob Forward deferred comment to the company Tuesday morning, and Pipestone Holdings Vice President Barry Kerkaert didnt return a voicemail.

Derrick Braaten, the attorney for the appellants, said hes more confident the state Supreme Court will rule in their favor.

In my experience, if youre going to be successful taking on the state you usually have to get up to the Supreme Court, he said.
Rinse, a San Francisco-based startup that picks up and coordinates laundry and dry cleaning, plans to expand its service to Chicago, the company said Wednesday.

The company, co-founded in 2013 by college friends Ajay Prakash and James Joun, currently operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

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With $14 million in new Series B funding, the company plans to expand to several new locations, including Chicago, Houston, Miami, Denver and New York.

Chicago is first up. The service plans to launch here in late July or early August; CEO Prakash said the company has already hired a local manager and started mapping out its plans for the city.

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Rinse will compete against a number of other laundry startups in Chicago, including Dryv, Starchup and Tide Spin. After another competitor, Washio, shut down in 2016, Rinse bought the company's client list and some assets.

But Prakash believes the Rinse's main competition is closer to home.

"The reality is that our competitions are on every corner: our competition is your washer and dryer in the base of your apartment and your unit," Prakash said.

Rinse started with three ZIP codes in San Francisco. Joun came up with the laundry startup idea as he grew up working in his parents' dry-cleaning business, according to Prakash.

The company provides service from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. every day. A driver, scheduled on a website or through the mobile app, picks up the laundry one day, then delivers it back clean and pressed in three days.

"The 8 to 10 p.m. window makes the most sense from the consumer standpoint," Prakash said. "You can create orders before 5 p.m., but you are at work, you don't need to do your dry cleaning and laundry, you don't want people to come pick up at your house at that time, so 8 to 10 p.m. is more consumer-centric."

Rinse offers regular laundry and dry cleaning as well as leather cleaning and clothing repair. Prices depend on service type, with a minimum laundry pick-up of 15 pounds at $1.75 per pound for the regular wash and fold service. Replacing broken and missing buttons is free. Standard delivery costs $3.99, but rush service can be requested for an additional $5.

Prakash said Rinse works to vet the cleaners they work with.

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"You don't know who's a good dry cleaner, you just go to the nearest one," Prakash said. "And you can't assess quality until after you get your clothes back."

Rinse has 30 full-time employees, while around 400 work for them in total, including drivers, according to Prakash. The company would not disclose revenue numbers.

The new funding round was led by Partech Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, and also included existing investors Javelin Ventures, Arena Ventures, Accelerator Ventures and Structure Capital.

yromanyshyn@tronc.com

Twitter @JulRomanyshyn
Chicago tech personalities toasted Uber and its CEO Travis Kalanick when it expanded here in 2011. Now, Kalanick has stepped down under board and public pressure, which some locals agree was the right move for a company trying to save its image.

Kalanick was in Chicago Tuesday night when he received word that investors wanted him out, the New York Times reported.

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His resignation comes after months of turmoil and controversy, including explosive allegations of systemic sexual harassment and discrimination from a former employee, and a widespread social media campaign to #DeleteUber. The company, founded in 2009, is valued at nearly $70 billion.

"As you all know, I love Uber more than anything in the world, but at this difficult moment in my personal life, I have accepted a group of investors' request to step aside, so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight," Kalanick wrote in an email to employees. "I will continue to serve on the board, and will be available in any and all ways to help Uber become everything we've dreamed it would be."

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He will remain on the company's board of directors.

Chicago became Uber's fourth market in late 2011, when it was still just a black car service and had only $11 million in venture funding. Kalanick was on hand for the launch event. The following month, he gave a talk at Chicago Ideas Week called "Do You Trust Your Transportation?"

In 2012, he spoke at Techweek Chicago. He was a main speaker at the inaugural Chicago Venture Summit in 2014. And earlier this year, he met with the Rev. Jesse Jackson on the South Side for a conversation on diversity.

As Uber grew, it brought many of its additional services, such as food delivery through UberEats and retail delivery through UberRush, to Chicago. And in 2015, it announced a partnership with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago to recruit female drivers.

YWCA CEO Dorri McWhorter  said despite Uber's issues, her organization values its partnership with the ride-hailing company, which has donated "tens of thousands" of dollars, given free ride vouchers to YWCA members for rides to job interviews and training and helped sign up female drivers since 2015. In the first six months of the partnership, the latest data available, Uber added 15,000 drivers, she said.

Some 30 percent of Uber's "tens of thousands" of active drivers in Chicago are women, an Uber spokeswoman said.

Most of YWCA's contact with Uber has been through its Chicago office, which McWhorter praised.

"It would be different if they weren't working to address the issues," she said. "We're monitoring that, quite honestly, to see how we want to be affiliated with them."

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McWhorter said Uber's use of contract drivers provides the kind of flexibility she wants women workers to have, but said she "firmly believes" the change in leadership is an opportunity for Uber to address its cultural issues and build a better company.

Basecamp CEO Jason Fried , who said he sometimes uses Uber's black car service when there aren't alternatives, said Kalanick stepping down was the right move. In February, he told employees the company would no longer reimburse Uber rides.

He said the company plans to reevaluate in late August whether it will reverse its policy on Uber reimbursements, but that will depend on whether it thinks Uber has genuinely changed.

"I think (Kalanick stepping down) was because of public pressure and not because Uber has had a change of heart," Fried said.

Fried said Uber's current disarray is symbolic of what can happen when companies chase growth at all costs, and when investors ignore transgressions.

Victor Pascucci III, managing director of Chicago venture capital firm Lightbank, said Kalanick's removal could be a net positive for drivers and riders in Chicago who had become "disenchanted" with the CEO's brash tactics and personality. But with Kalanick staying on the board, it could be tough going for whoever steps into the CEO role, he said.

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"That new CEO has to come and replace the entire culture with the guy sitting across from him who's responsible for his compensation, responsible for his review and actually is responsible for managing him," Pascucci said. "That's not an easy spot."

Chris Neumann, a driver who's been working with Uber for six months, said he read about Kalanick's resignation on Facebook Wednesday morning.

"I think it was needed, I think it was right thing to do," he said, after getting his car checked out at Uber's driver hub on Chicago's Near North Side later that day.

Threats to #DeleteUber didn't have much effect on his income, he said. But he hopes the management changes will have a positive impact for workers.

"It's going to be better  I can see improvements already," he said, adding that he felt the company has shown more care for workers over the last couple of months. "There's still a long way to go to fix the problems that happened. It's gonna take a little longer than two months to fix it all, but people will see."

Kevin Morgan heard about Kalanick's ouster early Wednesday morning, before he took a flight from Washington, D.C., to Chicago for Techweek. Morgan took a Lyft to the airport in Washington, having deleted Uber in April over concerns about the app tracking users.

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Morgan, a director at the Washington D.C. Economic Partnership and a mentor for tech companies, has a background in fixing tech companies. He said Uber's next moves will show if the company is willing to improve.

"Absolutely, I will give them another chance," he said. "(I) welcome opportunities to see how they really follow an updated set of values that I think represent both the workers and people who use Uber."

aelahi@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @aminamania
Now that its bad-boy co-founder Travis Kalanick has resigned as Uber's CEO, the question will be asked: Is Kalanick's departure bad for Uber, or good for Uber?

The answer is yes.

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It's good for Uber, because the company has a better chance of shedding its reputation as a howlingly bad place to work unless you're a young white male; and its reputation for getting its way with civic officials by breaking rules, regulations and norms. These changes, if they occur, will improve its ability to recruit talented personnel, and reduce the friction  ultimately costly  that attended its truculent entry into every new market and its continuing squeeze on its 200,000 drivers.

Uber has not shown that it can profitably produce better taxi service under competitive conditions.  Transportation expert Hubert Horan

It's bad for Uber, because Kalanick's messianic sales pitch obscured the fundamental unprofitability of its business model. It's not that the company's humongous losses were invisible, since its venture investors undoubtedly knew the numbers and the few financial reports the privately-held company dribbled out were all written in deep red.

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But Kalanick had persuaded his backers and an uncritical tech press that, trust him on this, the endgame would be glorious  after all, the company was growing incredibly fast. Uber rode his self-confidence to a putative value of $70 billion. Never mind that this valuation was based only on arithmetic, derived from the meagerness of the stake in the company purchased by the latest round of investments. In the venture world, you're only as valuable as the last round, so the next round will tell us a lot.

Ousted as CEO by Uber's biggest investors after a string of embarrassing controversies and scandals, Kalanick will remain an Uber director and reportedly retains a commanding share of board votes. But it will be up to someone else to define Uber for the future. The search for a new CEO is underway, and that choice will be crucial. So, too, will the filling of the numerous top jobs currently vacant, including chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

But the redefinition of Uber will have to confront reality, which is far less rosy than the myth. Kalanick promoted the impression that Uber's current success and its world-dominating future derive from the inexorable advantages of technology. The truth is that Uber's success is based on two unsustainable tactics: subsidizing fares and exploiting drivers.

What's the real cost of an Uber trip? The passengers don't know, and we don't know. That's because customers pay only a portion of the fares shown on their Uber smartphone apps; much, if not most, of the cost is covered by the company's venture investors  that's where a goodly portion of their investments has been burned up.

What happens when that well runs dry? The fares will rise, and one of Uber's selling points  its price advantage compared to yellow-cab service  will narrow or disappear.

Dirty little secret: According to the company's own figures, nearly half of all Uber drivers abandon the company within a year. (Uber)

"Uber has not shown that it can profitably produce better taxi service under competitive conditions," says Hubert Horan, a transportation expert who has written extensively about the company at nakedcapitalism.com. "A battle between fragmented, poorly capitalized incumbents and Silicon Valley billionaires supplying billions in predatory subsidies is not neutral market competition."

Can Uber continue to stick its drivers with heavy expenses? That's doubtful. Uber forces drivers to cover their own fuel, maintenance, vehicle wear and tear, and insurance. Drivers begin to get this message after only a few months of working for Uber, at which point they discover that, net-net, they're driving for something close to minimum wage. A company-funded study determined in 2015 that nearly half of its drivers drop out within a year.

Uber exploits its drivers in other ways. The company recruits as many drivers as it can in any region, then tries to manage their movement by raising fares in high-demand places or times, whether it's rush hour, the location of a big event, or the site of an emergency. That means that in normal conditions the supply of drivers exceeds demand. That's good for passengers, who often can summon a driver within minutes, but bad for drivers, who scramble for work. The conundrum was best expressed to me by an Uber driver in Washington, D.C., who explained that he fled the yellow-cab taxi business because of competition from Uber, only to discover as an Uber driver that he was still facing competition from Uber.

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The pushback against this employment model is coming from several sources. They include state and federal labor regulators, who have been increasingly looking askance at the claim by Uber  and many other such companies  that their core employees are really only "independent contractors" working for themselves and therefore not entitled to employment rights or fringe benefits.

It's coming from drivers themselves, who are beginning to organize (with the assistance of government officials in places like Seattle, which has passed a law allowing the drivers to unionize). It's likely that Uber's cost of employing drivers is destined to rise, another erosion of its business model.

The impact of those forces emerged quickly after the first signs of Kalanick's loosened grip, the announcement last week that he would be taking a leave of absence from the CEO's job to grieve for his recently-deceased mother and ponder his personality. As part of a "180 days of change" PR campaign, the company added a tipping function to its smartphone app, after years of refusing to countenance this benefit to drivers. Uber also narrowed the period in which customers could cancel their rides to two minutes from five, and added a charge to customers for every minute they keep a driver waiting after a brief grace period. The effect of these changes, of course, is to raise the price of an Uber trip for passengers  the first glimmer of a move toward real cost.

The most important consequence of Kalanick's ouster as CEO may be that all these factors will get reconsidered by investors. What they may discover is that the assumptions on which Uber's vaunted $70-billion valuation are just that  assumptions.

As we observed back in 2015, the financial and market arguments underlying Uber's ambitions are based on a lot of Ifs. No one is quite sure how to measure its core market. If it's the existing taxi business, it could be anywhere from $20 billion to $100 billion.

What's Uber's potential share of this market? Take a wild guess, because that's all anyone can do. If it's 50% of the top estimate, then Uber would capture gross revenue of $150 billion a year; if it's 5% of the lower estimate, that number would be $4 billion. Kalanick was a master at focusing investors' attention on the biggest estimates, but he won't be able to do that anymore.

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Kalanick also was able to communicate a Silicon Valley-centric vision of a world transformed by technology. This modest little app was capable of upending an old, inefficient transportation service model. The possibilities were limitless. That's why we've seen an unending stream of pitches for "the Uber of ______" making their way through the halls of venture firms and across the pixels of technology websites. In virtually every case, the promise has turned out to be more complicated. That may be because even in Uber's case, the promise has been more complicated.

Uber's persona was Kalanick's persona. Beyond question he deserves credit for the company's growth in valuation. But it will be a mistake to think that the company's flaws derived only from his personal shortcomings. They're more basic, and now they will be on display, under a glaring spotlight. Be ready for a transformed Uber, and don't be surprised if its future is less compelling, emotionally and economically, than its past.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltzik's blog.
An employee works last month at Zimmer Biomet in Warsaw, Ind. (AJ Mast / For The Washington Post)

WARSAW, Ind.  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 nation's low unemployment rate: It is struggling to find enough workers, despite offering some of the region's best pay and benefits. Forty positions sit open.

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Other manufacturers in Kosciusko County, home to roughly a 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  it could force them to decamp their home town in search of workers.

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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 country's economic expansion, especially as millions of baby boomers enter retirement.

Zimmer Biomet is struggling to find enough workers in Warsaw, Ind., despite offering some of the region's 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, where the unemployment rate rests at just 2 percent. Of the county's 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 Warsaw's business, the chances of companies relocating is "extraordinarily high," said Michael Hicks, a labor economist at Indiana's 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 less, 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.

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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 would more likely transition to Indianapolis or Chicago, he said, since quality control is crucial for medical implants, and businesses want to safeguard their designs from foreign competitors.

Steve Hill works with parts on the buffing wheel at Zimmer Biomet. (AJ Mast / For The Washington Post)

Warsaw's 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, 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. That's 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.

"There's great demand for our product," said Matthew Linville, Zimmer Biomet's director of human resources, "but there is a limited amount of skilled labor in the area."

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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 system's STEM programs and $2 million for a nearby college's science center. It has underwritten another $2 million for the city's YMCA.

"Homegrown is great, but we know we're growing fast," said Monica Kendrick, head of communications at the company, "so bringing people into the community is important."

Zimmer Biomet's 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 ... I'm not saying it's 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 good-paying factory positions that do not require a college degree.

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But many of those jobs were filled by baby boomers in the community, who are now 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 from 12,689 in 2000 to 14,289. County data show surgical appliance manufacturing employment in the area  which covers orthopedic device production  has swelled from 5,003 jobs in 2005 to 6,803 in 2015.

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.

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"If we don't 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 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's 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 Warsaw's 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.

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"The number of jobs is growing faster than the population rate," Bishop said.

The industry's 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 state's 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 College's 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 is: 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.

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None of the group's 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.

Kids at a STEM-focused elementary school learn how to code on iPads. In the hallway sits a pipe-cleaner replica of the skier Lindsey Vonn's knee.

Middle-schoolers drive remote-controlled cars they built in a robotics course, slamming them together in a makeshift demolition pen. Juniors and seniors operate machinery 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.

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"There's a real sense of urgency," he said. "If we don't provide a workforce ..."

Robertson trailed off. Sure, the orthopedic companies started here. Then international markets opened to them. They grew and grew.

"What's keeping them here in Warsaw, Indiana?"
Candace Keene, who currently lives in an apartment in the Edgewater community area, came across a rental scam while searching for her next place. At first she believed the surprisingly low cost of the rental, but an additional price cut made her wary. (Carolyn Variano/Chicago Tribune )

A few weeks ago, Candace Keene believed she'd struck gold in the rental market.

The 31-year-old senior recruiter for a marketing agency spotted a three-bedroom, single-family home in the Andersonville neighborhood listed on Craigslist for $1,800 per month  about $1,000 less than she expected to pay.

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"My thought was, 'Wow, this is a great deal,'" Keene said of the rental. "'Maybe it hasn't been on the market for a while, or maybe they don't know what the market is.'"

She acted fast, shooting off an email to the listing agent, but didn't receive an immediate response.

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A week passed. Then Keene received a late-evening text that said, "Hello Candace, how are you?"

The texter offered her the unit for $1,500  $300 less than the original ad  with an $800 deposit, which prompted Keene to do some digging.

An online search revealed that the phone number of the "landlord" originated from Google Voice or Skype. Keene then looked up the home's address and stumbled upon the real kicker: The home was listed elsewhere on the market for $550,000.

"I knew it was too good to be true," said Keene, who is renting in Chicago's Edgewater area. Her lease expires in November.

Scams like these are common, especially during the summer months, when it's peak rental season. And scammers are getting more clever, so it's harder than ever to discern a real rental advertisement from a fraud, said Nina Furseth, statistical data analyst with RentHop, an apartment listing website based in New York.

"We receive notice of up to 200 failed scam attempts per week on our site alone," Furseth said.

According to a 2016 study by researchers at New York University, the University of Maryland and Cornell University, Craigslist failed to flag more than half of the scam rental listings posted on its site. Many of those listings lingered for almost a full day before being removed, researchers found. During a five-month period, researchers analyzed more than 2 million Craigslist rental listings; they detected approximately 29,000 fraudulent listings in 20 major cities.

The most common con was a credit report scam. Here's how a typical one works: A scammer lists a fraudulent ad for property the scammer doesn't even own, and when a prospective renter responds, asks him or her to click a link to obtain his or her credit score. Upon clicking, the consumer is directed to a credit score site with a referral ID. If the consumer pays for the report with a credit card, the scammer receives a commission.

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A January 2017 press release from the Federal Trade Commission outlined a related ruse, in which scammers pretended to be property owners and prompted would-be renters to get free credit reports from certain websites before touring the rental. Those purportedly free sites actually enrolled consumers in a credit monitoring service with a $29.94 monthly charge, which many consumers failed to notice for several billing cycles. The FTC leveled charges against a credit reporting company and three individuals involved in the scheme.

Another popular swindle is the one that nearly snagged Keene: the cloned listing con. In this one, scammers make money through a wired rent deposit.

Broker Greg Jaroszewski, with Gagliardo Realty Associates in River Forest, is rather familiar with that scam.

Shortly after listing a four-bedroom Oak Park rental for $4,000 per month in 2015, Jaroszewski began fielding calls from confused prospective tenants who said they found an identical listing on Trulia  but offered at a steep discount of $1,200.

Someone had "cloned and hijacked all the listing information with the contact information," Jaroszewski says, and then "swapped the phone number."

When Jaroszewski contacted the police, they told him that in a different yet similar situation, hackers were taking such a scam one step further by breaking into the home, changing the lock and actually showing the empty rental as if it were theirs.

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"Rental scams are becoming more advanced and difficult to detect," said Damon McCoy, co-author of the rental scam study and assistant professor of computer science and engineering at New York University's Tandon School of Engineering. "The saying goes that there's a sucker born every minute. This is true, but it is also the case that the scammers are becoming more clever at extracting money from their marks."

Still, McCoy said, there are ways to avoid getting scammed, even if it's a sophisticated ploy.

First and foremost: Never, ever send money or provide your credit card information before seeing the property, he said. Secondly, if the rent seems too cheap to be true, it's probably a scam.

Dan Daugherty, founder and CEO of Colorado-based Rentbits, a rental search platform, said to be aware of the following red flags when contacting the listing agent via email: broken English and grammar mistakes; the use of "God bless," "reverend" or "doctor" (these words and phrases are used to build your trust); or the request for a money order or a cashier's check.

Always look up the property's address online to see if it's listed somewhere else at the market rate, Daugherty suggested. Also, Google the email address of the agent to see if anything fishy appears.

Email addresses from Outlook are 19 times more likely to be a scam than those from Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail  and those from non-United States accounts for properties in the U.S. are almost always scams, according to RentHop. The website also urges renters to be wary of overly flexible term: If the ad says rentals ranging from one month to a full year are acceptable, it's likely a fake.

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If all checks out, you see the property and love it and the price is right, never deal in cash, said Renee Porter, an Illinois broker associate with Weichert Realtors.

"You want a paper trail," Porter said. "Even when you have an apartment, you want to pay in something that's traceable and trackable  if you're being pressured to give a cash deposit, it's a red flag."

When scouring the market for a rental, take your time  and take care. If you fork over cash or wire money and it turns out to be a fraudulent rental, retrieving those funds may be a lost cause, Daugherty said.

While renters can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, "most of these scammers are outside of the United States," he cautioned, "which makes it virtually impossible to get the money back."

Danielle Braff is a freelance writer.

ctc-realestate@chicagotribune.com

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Searching for a rental? Take these 6 steps

Verify that the property for rent is legitimate. Make sure that the management company exists (it should have a website with the company's own domain name), or that the landlord is the owner and has the permission to rent the property. Don't be afraid to ask for paperwork to back up the rental, said Nancy Simmons, founder of Apartment Detectives, an apartment search and corporate housing service based in the Washington, D.C., area.

Get it in writing. Spell out any agreements you make with the landlord or management company in writing. This could include anything from a pet clause to language allowing you to add a bidet to the bathroom, said Greg Jaroszewski, an Illinois real estate broker with Gagliardo Realty Associates.

Shoot a video to show the condition of the unit. Walk through the unit with the landlord  just like you would inspect a rental car with the sales agent  and note any damage so you can be sure there will be no misunderstandings regarding the security deposit when you move, Jaroszewski said.

Try it all. Turn on the showers to test the water pressure, check the air conditioner and the stove. Make sure all work and are acceptable, Jaroszewski said.

Review the crime statistics for your street. Before you move in, search local websites for crime data (www.crimereports.com, www.spotcrime.com and www.neighborhoodscout.com are a few resources), Jaroszewski said. Ask the landlords what you can expect if there's a break-in: How quickly will they replace the locks? Will they provide an alarm system or motion detector lights?

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Drive by the home at different times. Pay attention to action on the street and in the neighborhood. Visit during the week and on the weekends, said Renee Porter, broker associate with Weichert Realtors in Illinois. Try to talk with neighbors about what it's like to live in the building. Porter suggested asking, "Are other tenants respectful? Is the landlord responsive to issues and calls?"

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The elementary schools that feed into Hinsdale High School District 86 are interested in making high school-level classes available to their students, but not all the districts are ready to offer those classes in their own schools.

Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills Elementary District 181 is one school district that is ready.

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Seventh- and eighth-graders from Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills middle schools have enrolled in honors classes with high school students at Hinsdale Central in recent years. But in the spring they were told that opportunity would end. District 86 officials determined that due to overcrowding, Central did not have room for middle school students in the 2017-18 school year.

District 181 students, however, could attend classes at Hinsdale South High School, where seventh- and eighth-graders from the district's other feeder districts attended.

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Families did not like that idea, because it would mean longer travel times to Darien, and South was not the high school the students would attend when they graduated middle school, said Kelley Gallt, assistant superintendent for learning at District 181.

The families want their children to be allowed to attend Central, the school "where they eventually will come and forge friendships and have the opportunity to get to know the staff at the school they are zoned for," Gallt said.

When District 86 officials told District 181 administrators that was no longer an option, the elementary school district proposed offering high school-level classes, specifically Spanish 2 honors and algebra 2 trigonometry honors, at its middle schools in cooperation with District 86.

District 86 would have to verify that the middle school teachers were licensed to teach the subjects at the high school level and used the same curriculum and assessments as in the high school class, said Pam Bylsma, District 86's assistant superintendent for academics. The seventh- or eighth-grade students would have to pass the same test as the high school students to earn high school credit.

The District 86 Board had instructed Bylsma to contact the other six feeder districts to make the same opportunities available to all.

"It was universal when I spoke to all the superintendents," Bylsma said, that they would prefer to educate their students at their own school. Superintendents also said the students lose instruction time when they have to travel to another school for one or two classes during the day, she said.

Some of the elementary districts were interested in offering high school French, German, Spanish 1 and geometry to their students, but the arrangement is not feasible for all the districts.

In some schools, the class periods are 42 minutes, which would not equate with a 50-minute class period in District 86, Bylsma said. Some of the feeder districts did not have high school-certified teachers to teach the classes the students needed, and some schools did not have enough students interested in the advanced course to justify offering it.

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Until the number of students increased, Eisenhower Junior High administrators were satisfied to send students who were ready for high school geometry to Hinsdale South.

Regardless of the degree of interest or readiness of the other feeder districts, District 86 Superintendent Bruce Law said none opposed District 86 sanctioning the courses in District 181.

And District 181 officials said their curriculum, exams and class time for Spanish 2 honors and algebra 2 honors were aligned with District 86 and their staff was ready to teach those classes in the upcoming school year.

But the District 86 Board was reluctant and did not vote on the proposal at its June 19 meeting.

"I feel like there are too many moving pieces," board member Kathleen Hirsman said. "I don't know that we are ready."

Board member Bill Carpenter questioned sanctioning middle school classes.

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"This is very difficult, because we want to give the students, no matter where they are, the best opportunities," he said. "But there are so many unknowns. The only way we can control it, to me, is to keep it within our four walls."

If Hinsdale South has room to for seventh- and eighth-graders in some of its classes, District 86 needs to find room for like students in Hinsdale Central, Carpenter said.

But the nine sections of algebra 1 at Central already have 27 to 29 students enrolled in each. There is no room for the 13 District 181 students who want to take the class at Central, Law said, unless the district pays for more staff.

District 86 administrators estimate it would cost at least $18,000 to pay for a teacher to instruct an additional section.

Board member Kevin Camden said he was opposed to any solutions that would cause the district added expense. That raised the question of whether District 181 might be willing to absorb the cost of additional teaching time at Central.

Paying District 86's cost to teach an additional 13 middle school students might be less than District 181 would spend setting up the classes in its own middle schools, Law said.

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The District 181 School Board plans to discuss the idea at its meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at the administrative office, 115 W. 55th St., Clarendon Hills.

Mridu Garg, a former District 181 School Board member who attended the District 86 meeting, said, "$18,000 is a small amount to bear to meet the educational needs of these students."

Otherwise, District 181 students who are ready for high school-level courses will not be treated equitably with their peers in other feeder districts, who can attend South, their designated high school, for advanced level classes, Garg said.
It may not look like much now, but Boxville, a growing shipping container mall, will open on Wednesday in Bronzeville, offering fresh produce, fashion and food to locals. (Urban Juncture)

Bronzeville residents may notice something new under the shadows of the Green Line at 51st Street: Boxville, Chicago's first mall built from shipping containers, and home to the first South Side outpost of Lincoln Park farmers market Green City Market, opens today.

Boxville, which will also host a french fry shop, is anchored by the three-year-old Bike Box, a bike-repair shop built inside a 20-foot steel shipping container. Today's expansion is thanks in part to Chicagoan Bernard Loyd, the founder and president of community development group Urban Juncture, which operates Bronzeville Incubator.

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Corey Gilkey, an owner of the Leaders 1354 streetwear shop, approached the incubator about opening a pomme frites shop, inspired by Gilkey's travels to places like Amsterdam and Belgium, Loyd says. "I told him, 'You don't need that much space for that concept, you only need a fraction. Why don't you consider a box?'"

Months following that meeting, Loyd had a similar discussion with Melissa Flynn, executive director of Green City Market. As Loyd and Flynn discussed Green City's mission of increasing access to fresh produce, he floated the idea of a produce "box" for Green City in Bronzeville, "a neighborhood that doesn't have many healthy options," he says.

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"It's extremely difficult starting a farmers market," Flynn says. "It's crucial to create a sense of place for a community to rally around, and Bike Box has already done that. (Loyd) and Bronzeville Incubator did a lot of work, warming up the community to the space."

RELATED: Our 2017 farmers market guide

Boxville is inspired by shopping centers Market 707 in Toronto and Downtown Container Park in Las Vegas, but with a decidedly community-facing mission.

Bike Box, which had to temporarily close to be relocated in the 100- by 160-foot lot, will be joined by three containers arranged in a squat U-shape. A 40-foot container will be split in two and will house Friistyle, Gilkey's french fry stand; and the Produce Box, Green City's stand, which will sell Italian ice as well as produce. On opening day, the Produce Box will match EBT sales of up to $15.

"Eventually, we hope to offer our regular Green City programming  chef demos, children's activities and tastings  to the whole community as Boxville develops," Flynn says. "We hope to increase access to healthy food but also make it a community event."

Meanwhile, two 20-foot containers will house pop-up shops stocked by local retailers Aplomb, 8ty4 Vintage and Snkr Fiend. A central plaza between the three main containers is in the works.

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"There are many advantages of these containers, but the big thing is they're relatively cheap," says Loyd. "If you don't have a lot of capital, an investment as low as $2,000 gets you a used container, a ready-made structure."

Loyd says the biggest challenge has been working with the city to sign off on the container mall, which will be open only on Wednesdays for now.

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"Is it a building, or is it a food truck without wheels?" he asks. "We're all working together to define the concept. The city sees the potential here, but if the container is permitted like a building, that takes away many of its advantages," such as mobility and adaptability, since buildings are often designated one way only.

Alderman Pat Dowell deferred to city zoning officials on this issue, but praised Green City Market's participation in the project. "Bronzeville has successfully attracted a Mariano's and Walmart, but I'm very excited by more options," says Dowell. "There aren't many places to buy fresh products directly from farmers like in other neighborhoods, and Boxville provides a great setting."

While the process is ongoing, Loyd is eager to attract and sign on more food partners to complement Green City Market and entrepreneurs like Gilkey. "People looking to test their concept or grow their brand, or don't need a lot of space to do what they do  they're all welcome," he says. "Food has to be at the heart of what we do. We want Boxville to bring people out, to bring people together, to make friends over food. Food is the thing."

Boxville is at 51st St. and the Green Line in Bronzeville. Visit www.boxville.org for more details.

jbhernandez@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @joeybear85
Chicken is marinated with lemon and garlic before grilling, then afterward is hit with more flavor from a grilled lemon. ( Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times )

A double-lemon hit flavors this simple grilled chicken  from the marinade and then the grilled fruit's juice. You'll want a wine to contrast that acidity or match it, like these three from Austria, Italy and France.

MAKE THIS

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Grilled lemon chicken

Cut 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in half horizontally; place them on a plate. Combine 3 tablespoons olive oil, the juice of half a lemon and 1 large clove of garlic, finely minced; pour over the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Grill the chicken over a medium-hot fire until cooked through and lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Place 2 lemons cut side down on the grill until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve chicken, sliced, over couscous; squeeze the grilled lemons over. Makes: 4 servings

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Recipe by Mary Ellen Rae, Los Angeles Times

DRINK THIS

Pairings by sommelier Alan Beasey of The Purple Pig, as told to Michael Austin:

2015 Weingut Tegernseerhof Federspiel Terrassen Riesling, Wachau, Austria: This riesling has aromas of grapefruit, fresh lemons and lemon verbena, plus flavors of peach and ripe apricot, honeydew melon and bit of minerality. A touch of sweetness on the finish will perfectly contrast the tartness of the lemon chicken  just as tartness and sweetness coexist in lemonade.

2013 Bastianich Vespa Bianco, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy: For a white wine with more body and structure, this blend of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and picolit is complex yet elegant, with rich fruit and crisp acidity. Aromas include citrus, tropical fruit, peach and honeysuckle. On the palate the wine is lush without being heavy, with lemon, pineapple and apricots followed by an undertone of fresh herbs and a hint of sweetness from the picolit.

2013 Guy Amiot et Fils, Bourgogne Pinot Noir, Burgundy, France: This fresh and fruity red wine boasts bright red cherry and ripe raspberry aromas, and flavors that are bright and crisp: black cherries and black currants complemented by a touch of savory herbs, slight tannins and tart acidity. The style will match the light and savory dish well.
MINOT -- A misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge has been dismissed against an 18-year-old charged following a water balloon prank at Minot High School-Magic City Campus last month.

Xavier Mason Falcon, who had just turned 18, and two 17-year-old boys were accused of smuggling water balloons into the lunchroom as a senior prank and lobbing them at students and staff members. School resource officer Caisee Sandusky wrote in a probable cause affidavit that the boys were loud, boisterous, and disruptive when they were ordered to go to the school office. Magic City Campus assistant principal Harlan Johnson asked her what the boys could be cited for and Sandusky told him they could be cited for disorderly conduct. Supt. Mark Vollmer said later that at least one student slipped on water on the floor after the water balloon prank, but was not badly injured.

The actions of the high school administrators attracted wide criticism from people who wondered why the incident was turned over to the courts for prosecution instead of being handled as an internal disciplinary matter by the school. An online petition asking for the charges to be dropped against the boys garnered more than 1,700 signatures.

Falcon was charged with a Class B misdemeanor in Minot Municipal Court and could have faced up to 30 days in jail and $1,500 in fines if he had been convicted. Falcon pleaded not guilty to disorderly conduct last month and had asked for a bench trial, which was scheduled to be held Thursday. However, Assistant City Attorney Stefanie Stalheim filed a motion to dismiss the charge on Monday.

Although probable cause existed for the incident involving Mr. Falcon, the City now moves to dismiss the charge, wrote Stalheim. This dismissal takes into account the allocation of prosecutorial resources, the Court schedule, and the judicial economy. Pursuant to the factors mentioned in the preceding sentence, the City believes that dismissal is appropriate at this time.

The two other boys were charged in juvenile court. No information about the resolution of their cases has been made public.
Smalls owner and chef Joaquin Soler says, I hope to open in a new space in fall or winter of this year." (Michelle Kanaar / Chicago Tribune)

Back in May, Joaquin Soler, chef-owner of Albany Park's acclaimed Smalls, wrote on the restaurant's Facebook page that the restaurant was temporarily closed for equipment repairs. Instead of the usual menu specials Soler regularly shared on Instagram and Facebook, the only posts in the ensuing weeks were promises of opening again soon. Yesterday was a different story: On Facebook, Soler announced that Smalls is closing up shop.

Truly, that's as dramatic as the news gets, says Soler, who was reached by phone. "I need a bigger space; I need a full kitchen. The Smalls space was just too small  five seats is funny, man."

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"So much of what I want to do with a restaurant, I can't because I'm limited by the space," says Soler, a point he reiterates in his Facebook announcement. "As much thought and time as we put into everything, I can't guarantee the quality when so much of it is delivery, and people might be using a microwave to reheat the food  a pet peeve of mine. A sit-down restaurant, though, I can serve the food exactly how I want and expect it to be served."

For Soler, this was just one of the small (no pun intended) problems that built up over time. "There was no one thing; there wasn't a catalyst for this decision." From the waste incurred by disposable delivery to cramped cooking space, to retraining staff in Filipino techniques for his new menu, Soler says he'd been considering moving into bigger digs for months.

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In his post, Soler wrote, "We want to be more than a take-out joint, and actually have room for our guests to sit down and enjoy our offerings."

For now, plans for Smalls 2.0 are paradoxically in development and on hold. Though Soler has been looking at spaces in "neighborhoods underserved by the kind of food I want to make," he is also taking some time to build and develop a Southwest Michigan farm in which he is a partner.

Soler's wish list for the next iteration of Smalls will ideally incorporate his Filipino influences in larger digs. "I want a space in a neighborhood that's not oversaturated with food concepts. Seating would be about 40 to 60, a patio," he says. "I want to be open late night and serve liquor. The space drives the concept  I couldn't do these things with the current location, and hopefully in a new space, I can actually act on my big ambitions."

As for the farm  as yet unnamed  Soler and his partners have been growing and harvesting orchard fruit (apples, pears, peaches et al.) alongside raspberries, blueberries and a number of experimental specialty vegetables he's used in the Smalls kitchen. Products include chiles, a number of eggplant and tomato varieties, and long beans.

"We spent last year learning what works and doesn't," says Soler. "Agriculture is hard! But it's so rewarding. This year, we're full-on harvesting and selling." Besides sourcing many of Smalls' produce from the farm, Soler and his partners also source for industry friends in the city, which he declined to disclose, as well as distribute to Michigan restaurants through local wholesalers.

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Couple the busy growing season with staffing shortages of harvesters, and Soler has his hands full. "I hope to open in a new space in fall or winter of this year," he says, "but I'll be the first to admit that might be an unrealistic goal."

Soler opened Smalls in 2013 and, since that time, has received national and local praise for his barbecue. In March, he revamped the restaurant's offerings to prominently showcase his Filipino upbringing. Inspired by Filipino turo-turo cafeteria-style restaurants, Soler focused on traditional dishes punched up with modern techniques, yielding more focused, chef-y flavors, as in the kalderata, a smoked-and-stewed dish, or sitaw guisado, stewed long beans.

While fans of Soler and Smalls may have to wait a while for the next location, the chef is hoping to sell branded versions of his various sauces in markets.

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"We're researching and developing Smalls sauces now, and I hope they go on sale around the fall," says Soler. "Part of me was hoping to keep the location for R&D, actually, but I realized it just wouldn't work."

Speaking of which, Soler says he will miss Liz Kavanagh, his landlord and owner of neighboring Lizard's Liquid Lounge. "Liz has always been so supportive."

Though plans are still largely up in the air for Soler, one thing is for sure: He's not bringing back his former venture, Brown Bag Lunch Truck. "No, no, no. No more food trucks for me!"

jbhernandez@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @joeybear85
Milan Christopher, the first openly gay castmember of VH1's hit reality franchise "Love & Hip Hop," has released a powerful new music video, "When I Go," that documents domestic abuse and suicide within the LGBT community. (Courtesy of Milan Christopher)

Move over Kim Kardashian. Rapper-turned-reality-star Milan Christopher, a South Side native, is the latest celebrity to show off his, um, assets for Paper Magazine.

Christopher, who rose to prominence as an openly gay star of VH1's "Love and Hip Hop Hollywood," wears a leather jacket, gloves, socks and a smile as he sits on a motorcycle for one of the magazine's digital covers to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride. Other photos from the shoot, posted online Wednesday, were much, much more NSFW.

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"I just feel like in our culture it's so taboo for a guy to show their bodies but it's OK for a woman to do it. I just kinda want to break that. I think I have a nice body and I think it's art and I just think that it should be celebrated like they celebrate women's bodies. So you know, I could be a guy and be gay and be black and be artistic and be artistic in a nude fashion shoot in the same way that anybody else could," Christopher says in the Paper Magazine story that accompanies the photos.

Christopher, who moved to the West Coast nearly a decade ago, tells Paper he plans to return to Chicago to perform at Pride festivities ahead of the release of his "Culture Vultures" album.

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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP)
The Vessels of Genealogies exhibit by Firelei Baez features drawings of dark women with cascades of hair, the ghostly descendants of African, Latina and Caribbean great-great-grandmothers and goddesses. (Gallery Wendy Norris photo)

The Vietnamese language does not have a word for feminism.

But the country did and does have feminists, including Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, a revolutionary leader of the Indochinese Communist Party in the 1930s. Her elusive figure lurks everywhere and nowhere in "To Name It is to See It," a solo exhibition by Huong Ngo upstairs at the DePaul Art Museum.

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Downstairs is "Vessels of Genealogies," a show by Firelei Baez. Baez has covered the gallery walls in fabulously lush, obsessively intricate drawings of dark women with cascades of living hair, the ghostly descendants of African, Latina and Caribbean great-great-grandmothers and goddesses.

This is what feminist art looks like today. It's called "intersectional" and it attends to the ways in which not just gender but also race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, language, class and sexuality overlap to inform a woman's identity and her experience in the world. Minh Khai was killed by a French firing squad in 1941 not because she was a woman but because she was a bourgeois Vietnamese woman deeply involved in an anti-colonial revolution. Marie Laveau, a vodou practitioner and madam living in antebellum New Orleans, was obliged by state law to tie her hair up in a tignon headscarf not because she was a woman but because she was a free woman of color.

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As befits a mode of feminism built on the recognition of differences, Ngo and Baez take radically dissimilar approaches to these respective histories. Upstairs is rigorous conceptualism realized via a hundred years worth of old and new technologies; downstairs is a remarkable studio practice grounded in pattern and decoration, portraiture and the precedence of practitioners like Wangechi Mutu, Kara Walker, and Julie Mehretu.

Baez depicts Laveau as a vision of abundance, defined by the billowing kinks of her hair, which fill the 61/2 -foot-tall gouache and graphite picture to its wavy edges. She smiles out ebulliently from amid those curls, which cannot be suppressed by any headscarf and instead seem to contain the world: decorative patterns, hair picks, cornrows, feathery plants, breeze walls. Nearby, other larger-than-life-size women feature equally luxuriant tresses, teeming with syncretic mixtures of colorful birds, fireworks, henna designs, snakes, chains, panthers, clenched fists and figures with batons.

An installation of Huong Ngo: To Name It is to See It is on display at the DePaul Art Museum. (Lizabeth Applewhite photo)

Baez, who was born in 1981 in the Dominican Republic to a Dominican mother and a father of Haitian descent, then raised in Miami from age 9, takes her own hairstyles as motif in the caustic "Can I Pass? Introducing the Paper Bag to the Fan Test for the Month of July." To create the series, which references pseudoscientific tests of blackness, Baez colored her ever-changing silhouette in light brown each day for a month, leaving only her eyes glaring out uncannily. Their righteous anger, packed tight into small panels, balances out the unrestrained gorgeousness of her monumental paintings.

In a transfixing second cluster of small works hair goes from being a recognizably cultural and historical element to a surrealistically weird one. Baez's collage drawings, executed on pages from deaccessioned library books, feature engravings of dead white men like Andrew Jackson, their faces covered in permanents and plaits. Fires rage overtop architectural renderings, green miasmas spread unstoppably across maps and everywhere bodacious women, their skin richly patterned, bear witness to the witty defacement.

Meanwhile, for "In Passing," Ngo made a version of the Western-style shirt that Minh Khai was wearing when she was arrested, complete with hidden pockets filled with plans for a future uprising. In a twist, the shirt's transparent fabric is printed with tropical images from a mural in the National Museum of the History of Immigration in Paris. The museum, which originally was intended to honor France's colonial empire but has come full circle, also provides the material for a second garment, a Mandarin-style shirt whose palm leaves camouflage perfectly against a photographic reproduction of the wall painting  just as Minh Khai used various aliases and disguises to evade authorities.

Despite having delved into archives in Vietnam and France, Ngo, whose Vietnamese-Chinese family took refuge in the U.S. a few months after she was born in 1979, can't fix the gaps in the deplorably lacking historical record of Minh Khai. Instead she makes them manifest, reproducing French translations of intercepted letters by laser-cutting them into onionskin paper. The typescript words appear as negative space against a background of teak, a wood introduced to Vietnam by the French at the turn of the last century. A series of all-white puckered drawings bear invisible marks painted with a brush dipped in boiled-rice water, a popular espionage technique of the time. (Displayed adjacent is the iodine solution that makes such transcriptions visible.) An exhibition case filled with common items that would have been used by anti-colonial organizers for coded communication includes, in addition to a scarf and a kitchen strainer, a 3-D-printed buffalo horn, since the original proved inaccessible.

Other gaps can be filled: Absent an official Vietnamese translation for "feminism," Ngo asked a range of artists and scholars to provide their own. The results are published in a voluble broadsheet with a masthead in Danh Da, a typeface created with Ho Chi Minh City designer Giang Nguyen to attend to the dearth of digital fonts for Vietnamese. The translation of Danh Da is an unprintable adjective beginning with the letter "b," used to refer to malicious behavior, especially when committed by a woman. For that, at least, there's a word in Vietnamese.

"Firelei Baez: Vessels of Genealogies" and "Huong Ngo: To Name It is to See It" run through Aug. 6 at the DePaul Art Museum, 935 W. Fullerton Ave., 773-325-7506, museums.depaul.edu.

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Lori Waxman is a freelance critic.

ctc-arts@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @chitribent

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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)
Writer-director Joe Chappelle, a longtime executive producer on "Chicago Fire," is stepping back from his TV duties in order to shoot the political thriller The Pages in town this summer.

The film stars Jamie Lee Curtis as a high-ranking politician in conflict with Tika Sumpter's national security adviser, the latter of whom is being stalked and threatened by different nefarious parties. (This is a return to Chicago for Sumpter, who played Michelle Obama in the locally shot "Southside with You.")

The script for "The Pages" is by Chappelle  long based out of Evanston  who is also directing.

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Chicago has seen a number of TV and film projects land here in recent years  most of which originate from creators with little to no connection to the city (including Steve McQueen's star-filled studio pic "Widows," currently filming). But it's always a promising sign when a project set in Chicago and its neighboring suburbs is actually written and directed by someone who lives here and has an understanding of the city itself beyond broad stroke generalities.

"The Pages," which Chappelle says will have the feel of a 1970s political thriller such as "The Parallax View" or "All the President's Men," is the most significant indie to shoot in town this year so far, in terms of budget and names involved. According to producer Colleen Griffen, they will be shooting downtown as well as locations on the North Shore  in private homes and on the campus of Northwestern University. Work began earlier this week and will continue through the end of July.

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"The inspiration for the movie came from watching two documentaries by the filmmaker Errol Morris," Chappelle told me. "One is the 'Unknown Known,' about Donald Rumsfeld, who was secretary of defense during the second Bush administration and the invasion in Iraq (in the early 2000s). And the other film is 'The Fog of War,' which is about Robert McNamara, who was secretary of defense during Vietnam, who comes across as a man full of remorse, he questions what they did and the decisions made  basically he says, 'We got it wrong.'

Evanston-based writer-director Joe Chappelle and his wife and producer Colleen Griffen are shooting their indie political thriller "The Pages" in Chicago and Evanston this summer.



And it was fascinating to then watch The Unknown Known about Rumsfeld, who had no regrets  or at least, he exhibits no sign of regrets. No self-examination, no What could I have done better or differently to maybe avoid this catastrophe?'"

Chappelle has imbued his two leads with these diverging worldviews, with Sumpter in the McNamara-esque role, Curtis as the no-regrets Rumsfeld type. "I haven't seen movies where it's two women, very high up in the American governmental system, going toe-to-toe."

(The casting on a non-studio project like "The Pages" underscores just how important indie films can be when it comes to opportunities for black women in leading roles.)

Filming at Northwestern will be a full-circle moment for Chappelle and Griffen, who are married to each other and met while attending the university. They have been based in Evanston ever since, even as Chappelle's TV directing gigs involved a hefty out-of-town commute to work on shows such as "The Wire," "Fringe" and "CSI: Miami." As a couple, they have worked together previously, including in the 1993 heist movie "Thieves Quartet," which was also filmed in Chicago.

Chappelle has been a director and executive producer on "Chicago Fire" from the start, and he was the rare producer on the show to actually live in the Chicago area full time. (The show's other producers and writers are based in LA.)

This year was Chappelle's last as executive producer on the show, a decision he said he made in order to free up time to shoot "The Pages," which he wrote while on hiatus. "I made the call based on this epiphany: I don't want to look back 20 or 25 years from now and say, 'You know, that summer of 2017 I should have made that movie.' I'm 57 now, so if Colleen and I are going to do this, this is the summer to do it."

Chapelle and Griffen celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last month. So were giving each other a movie for our anniversary, Griffen joked. Every day we have what we call the hug of care (laughs) where we hug each other because were so terrified of what were doing. But actually I would say that were getting along great and having more fun than we did on Thieves Quartet.

While Chapelle has stepped down from his day-to-day duties on the NBC drama, he hasn't completely cut ties and said will be directing episodes of "Chicago Fire" next season.

nmetz@chicagotribune.com

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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)
I am hoping that you can resolve my issue with American Airlines. I recently booked four airline tickets on the American Airlines site from Buffalo, N.Y., to Miami.

I had to change my flight, and an airline representative told me I would be charged a fee but would be refunded the $2,410 price difference. I was perfectly fine with being charged the cancellation fee.

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I asked to be emailed a copy of the changes so that I could have a hard copy. The representative said I would have to call back after the flight for a receipt. I found that strange and asked her for assurance that I would be able to get a receipt. She assured me I would.

I called back after the flight to get a copy of the receipt, and it was a headache. I then checked my bank statement to see if American refunded me the difference. It didn't.

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American Airlines owes me $2,410. I don't understand why the airline was so quick to charge me additional fare and take it from my account but can't give me back the difference. Can you help?

 Ahlam Shahbel, Toronto

A: American Airlines should have promptly refunded the money, as promised. Actually, it probably shouldn't have charged you a change fee at all, since you made your changes within 24 hours of making the reservation.

American Airlines has a 24-hour rule, mandated by federal law, which requires it to fully refund most tickets within a day of purchase. Since you were making your arrangements for domestic travel, that rule should have applied, even though you reside in Canada. But that isn't the real problem here  it's that the airline offered you a refund but didn't follow through.

You were smart to try to get American's promise in writing. When the airline representative didn't offer a receipt or a written assurance, you were right to be skeptical. I can understand why you would check with your bank after getting only a verbal promise. After all, when it comes to airlines, talk is cheap.

In a case like this, you really need to take your appeal up the chain of command. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of American Airlines' executives on my consumer-advocacy site: http://elliott.org/company-contacts/american-airlines/.

I contacted the airline on your behalf, and it turns out there's a little more to this story. Part of the fee you paid was for your seat assignment, which is nonrefundable. But you were due a refund for the fare difference on your four tickets. It's not clear why American hadn't sent that yet, but after I reached out to the airline, it did.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the author of "How to Be the World's Smartest Traveler." You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org, or email him at chris@elliott.org.

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11 family vacations to brag about

This is the no. 1 thing Americans want to do on vacation
Former White House chief of staff Bill Daley is interviewed in his Chicago Loop office of Argentiere Capital. (Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune)

Former White House chief of staff Bill Daley upset many of his fellow Democrats in 2013 when he correctly predicted that then-Gov. Pat Quinn would not be re-elected.

Now it's Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner who'll be hoping that Daley is not a soothsayer.

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Speaking onstage at the downtown City Club of Chicago luncheon Tuesday, Daley prognosticated that "Bruce Rauner cannot win re-election if he does not get a budget right this year. ... I don't care who's running against him."

And Daley, who briefly threw his hat in the ring for governor in 2013 but is backing Chris Kennedy in this year's Democratic gubernatorial primary, joked to the audience of government and business leaders that if a budget isn't passed in the next two weeks, "Maybe I'll throw my hat in the ring."

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He added, "I said at the time that anybody who was running against Pat Quinn would win ... but I would say right now ... I don't see how Rauner could go to the voters and say, 'I've done something positive.'"

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Rauner has called a special session of the General Assembly during the final 10 days of June in an attempt to hammer out a deal to end a two-year budget impasse.

Asked after the event by Chicago Inc. why Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan would agree to a budget deal if holding out would ensure a Democrat in the governor's mansion when next year's election is over, Daley said he doesn't believe Madigan "wants to collapse the state. I think there's more rationality than that."

But the brother and son of former Chicago mayors added, "If it's strictly on politics then, yeah  just let chaos happen."

Rauner's campaign didn't directly contradict the narrative that he'd be harmed by a failure to reach a budget deal this summer.

"Governor Rauner is fighting for a balanced budget with the reforms to grow jobs and end the corruption in Springfield," the campaign said in a statement. "Voters recognize that Mike Madigan and his allies are blocking a budget and reform to protect the broken status quo they profit from."

kjanssen@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @kimjnews
Henry Nonderf-Lombardi, 2, of Chicago enjoys sharing a fresh roasted strawberry and buttermilk fruit popsicle with his father Victor Lombardi on the first day of the Glenwood Sunday farmers Market in Rogers Park. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

1. Don't complain incessantly about the heat.

You just spent months complaining about the cold. Now it's hot. Simmer in it. Stew in it. Luxuriate in sweat. December will be back as fast as you can say, "Let it snow."

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2. Don't be the neighborhood eyesore.

In the icy, drab days of January, it may be defensible to let your yard or porch look like the county dump. But now you and your neighbors are out and about. The snow has melted. There's no more defending or disguising all that junk.

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If your mess is visible to anyone outside your household, clean it up. You may not mind looking at your old appliances, garbage bags and empty beer bottles, but your neighbors do.

For extra credit, you could plant some flowers the neighbors can see.

3. Go outside.

For lunch. For a walk. When it's quitting time.

At the end of summer, no one ever looks back and thinks, "Boy, I spent some memorable hours at my office desk."

4. Get wet.

A summer without getting wet  in the lake, the ocean, a pool, under the hose  is like a summer without sun.

5. Take a vacation.*

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Vacation doesn't require leaving home, not in Chicago. Tourists come here for vacation, for the museums and the music, the beaches, the parks, the outdoor restaurants.

Vacation requires only that you remove yourself from the workaday routine long enough to remember that there's more to life than obligation.

*Not everyone can afford a vacation. This rule is for people who can but squander the chance.

6. Do not wear white pants to the outdoor festival.

This rule was suggested by a friend who notes that white pants are destined to get conspicuously dirty.

"Stained, grimed, smudged, smeared," she says. "You can really only wear white pants if you are going to stand, like a stemmed flower, at a lovely event, drinking white wine."

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She's right. But I relay this rule regretfully given that another friend recently told me that one of the best ways to mark summer is to buy a pair of white pants and so I did.

In summer, as in the rest of life, one person's do's are another person's don'ts.

7. Don't brag about your vacation.

Especially to people who haven't had one lately.

If you're lucky enough to get one, keep the stories to a minimum unless asked for more. Other people's vacations are like their dreams, best shared selectively, in small portions, with those who are sure to care.

8. Don't begrudge others their vacation.

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You look around the office and notice all the empty desks, sure that all those ghosts are frolicking on some beach while you pick up the work slack for them.

Take a deep breath. One day soon, they'll be back at their desks and muttering at the slack they're picking up because you're gone.

9. Try something different.

Never kayaked on the river?

Never gone to free dance nights at Millennium Park?

Never made it to a Wisconsin supper club, walked Chicago's Riverwalk, taken a summer road trip?

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Whatever that thing is you mean to do every summer, make that summer now.

10. Buy cheap sunglasses.

If you buy pricey ones, you'll lose them. Buy cheap ones and not only will you be unafraid to lose them, you never will.

This is a subset of a sad universal principle: You're destined to lose only what you really care about.

11. Turn it down.

When people go outside, so does the noise. Rooftop parties, backyard bashes, festivals in the park. They're all part of the conviviality of a Chicago summer, but please respect your neighbors.

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If it's after 11 p.m., unless your neighbors have assured you it's OK to party on, it's too late.

12. Eat peaches, not apples.

Or fresh melon and blueberries. Apples are for autumn.

If you absolutely have to eat an apple, don't do it in front of the friend of mine who proposed this rule and added, "Just stop eating apples, what is wrong with you."

As previously noted, not every rule is for everybody.

Except for the next and final one.

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13. Don't start moaning on Aug. 1 that summer is almost over, that once again it's gotten away too soon.

Lamenting the brevity of summer is a Chicago summer tradition, but no need to rush it. And the brevity is part of the beauty.

mschmich@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @MarySchmich
The oldest Jewish pioneer cemetery in North Dakota has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The recognition adds prominence to the rural Sons of Jacob cemetery, the last reminder of the Jewish homesteading community in Garske, which is about 20 miles from Devils Lake.

"I think its about the significance and having something that was almost forgotten to come to the forefront again," said Shirley LaFleur, of Devils Lake, who wrote the application. "This is an agricultural region but we dont usually think about the Jewish settlers as being farmers."

From 1883 to 1925, about 100 Jewish people from Eastern Europe homesteaded there, trying their hand at farming and practicing their beliefs free of persecution. Jews were not allowed to own land in Russia, and some saw an opportunity in the Homestead Act, LaFleur said.

While most stayed to claim their homesteads, they left shortly thereafter due to difficulty farming in the region and minimal resources. Some moved on to bigger cities or Devils Lake, where there was "full Jewish communal life" and major holidays were celebrated in the courthouse, according to the cemetery's website.

The application for the national register said there are at least 17 burials there, including 13 markers. It was the burial ground for Jews farming in the region from Winnipeg to Grand Forks.

The last burial was in 1935, and the cemetery was largely forgotten until the early 2000s when a Jewish descendant of the Garske community traveled from Kansas in search for his family history, according to Mike Connor, of Starkweather, who helps maintain the cemetery. That man, Hal Ettinger, contacted other descendants of people buried there and put up a plaque, which names all of the homesteaders, and rededicated the historic site in 2006.

Since Ettinger died several years ago, a group of descendants and locals have cared for the place. Connor, whose family is Irish but lives 2 miles away, does much of the upkeep, including burning the grass in the spring to make way for wildflowers and repainting fences.

Connor said he often pops by the prairie cemetery just to see who has visited. There is a small mailbox there with a guestbook, and last week people came from Iowa and Nebraska.

By way of explanation for his dedication, he said, "My parents were both early pioneers in this area ... They knew a lot of the Jewish settlers up here."

Members of the board of directors decided to submit for placement on the national register, after they heard about a similar plan in Ashley. Last year, the Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery, marking the largest Jewish farming community in the state, was added to the list and rededicated in May.

The Garske cemetery was approved by the state historical society for the national register and then the National Park Service on June 5.

At one time, there were nine rural Jewish cemeteries in the state, according to the national register application for the Ashley cemetery. Only three, in Garske, Ashley and Regan, are not entirely overgrown today.
Lions Clubs International recently purchased a variety of advertising on CTA to promote its 100th anniversary and upcoming conference at McCormick Place. (Lions Clubs International)

It's a simple message: Be kind.

Ads promoting the message can be found wrapped around CTA trains and buses and at high-traffic stations including the O'Hare Blue Line, Midway Orange Line and Cermak-McCormick Place Green Line stations, according to the CTA.

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The Lions Clubs International, a volunteer service organization based in Oak Brook that's celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, bought the ad space. The messages will be on display through June, a CTA spokeswoman said.

The ads, with phrases such as "Kindness matters: At home in Chicago and around the world," are intended to inspire random acts of kindness, according to the Lions Clubs.

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"In today's world it's too easy to forget the power of doing good. We are constantly bombarded with reminders of what divides us, but doing something nice for someone, even if it's insignificant, can be a powerful way to unite people," President Bob Corlew said in a news release.

The ads, a spokesman said, are timed to coincide with its upcoming centennial convention in Chicago from June 28 to July 4. The group also is planning to host a parade on July 1 downtown during which volunteers will hand out Kindness Matters bracelets to encourage people to do something nice.

"It can be as simple as letting the person behind you move ahead of you in line, giving up your seat on the 'L' or holding the door open," Corlew said. "Kindness is contagious. If someone does something nice for you, you want to spread that feeling."

lvivanco@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @lvivanco
Jose Lopez was badly injured after a Chicago police officer Tasered him and he fell to the pavement and hit his head in July 2011 in the Little Village neighborhood. The city of Chicago has agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle his lawsuit. (Photo provided by attorney John P. DeRose)

The city of Chicago has agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a man who was severely injured when a police officer jolted him with a Taser and he fell and hit his head on the pavement, court records show.

Few lawsuits against Chicago police over the last decade have cost the city as much.

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Jose Lopez was injured in July 2011, as officers were aiding paramedics who had been called to the Little Village neighborhood, where Lopez was experiencing chest pains. Lopez repeatedly refused medical treatment and officers alleged that he took a swing at them before Officer Stevan Vidljinovic tased him, according to court records.

Lopez's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, said he was not combative before he was shocked and crashed to the pavement. One of his attorneys, John DeRose, said Lopez cannot talk and moves very little.

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"On a real great day, he can blink to yes or no questions," DeRose said Wednesday. "He's locked in that body."

Vidljinovic, a 9-year veteran of the department, said in a phone interview that he did nothing wrong or in violation of department policy. He noted that court records indicated that tests found the drug PCP in Lopez's system.

"(The Taser) is a less lethal use of force that we're trained to use  to subdue an individual that's being combative," he said.

The settlement has yet to go to the City Council, which approves legal payouts from the city, but the settlement amount was disclosed in a motion DeRose filed earlier this month.

A city Law Department spokesman declined to comment.

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Lopez's lawsuit went to trial in February and lasted more than two weeks. A jury found that Vidljinovic used excessive force and unlawfully seized Lopez, but did not find that he intentionally inflicted severe injuries on Lopez. Jurors also determined the evidence didn't show Lopez swung at police.

Before jurors could determine damages, the parties reached a settlement, court records show.

If approved, the settlement will be piled on top of more than $500 million that the city has paid out in lawsuits against police since 2004. Just last week, litigation that seeks to force broad reforms in the troubled Police Department cited these payouts as evidence of a pattern of excessive force and misconduct that can only be corrected by putting the police under a federal judge's oversight.

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Mayor Rahm Emanuel has pushed a plan to reform the department without a judge's oversight, and he and his allies have highlighted changes he has made in the 19 months since a video of an officer shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times sparked heated protests.

One of those changes was the addition of hundreds of Tasers to the department's supply. Though the devices are generally less dangerous than guns, people shocked with them are sometimes injured by the falls that result.

dhinkel@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @dhinkel
One man was killed and at least two other people were wounded June 20, 2017, near West Adams Street and South Hoyne Avenue in what was believed to be a rifle shooting, authorities said. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune) (Nuccio Dinuzzo/Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

After a 24-hour lull in shootings, four people were killed and at least seven others were wounded in Chicago Tuesday night through early Wednesday, according to police.

The latest shooting occurred on the Chicago Skyway when a man and woman died in an apparent murder-suicide around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to police.

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In the Garfield Ridge neighborhood on the Southwest Side, a 34-year-old man was shot to death around 1:15 a.m. in the 4500 block of South Leclaire Avenue, police said.

The man was sitting in the passenger seat of a black Jeep with another person when attackers came up on foot and shot him several times, according to police. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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He was identified as Duan Armfield, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Family members gathered on the lawn of a home near the car as police photographed the body curled up inside. A woman who identified herself as the man's aunt said the attack happened in front of his grandmother's house. Women could be heard wailing near the crime scene tape.

About 8:35 p.m. Tuesday on the West Side, a man was killed and at least two other people were wounded in the 200 block of South Hoyne Avenue in what was believed to be an attack using a rifle, authorities said.

A 26-year-old man was shot in the chest and later pronounced dead, according to police. A 23-year-old man was shot in the groin and was in serious condition at Stroger Hospital, and a 21-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the left knee and had his condition stabilized at Stroger.

The man killed was identified as Antwon High, of the 1300 block of South Tripp Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. High was pronounced dead at 9:05 p.m. at Stroger Hospital.

The three were standing on a corner when a dark-colored vehicle drove up and four people got out and fired guns at them, police said.

Police searched for shell casings and bullet holes by flashlight in the 2100 block of West Adams Street, near Hoyne.

Celeste Palomar, 23, was visiting her sister and two young nephews when they heard about five gunshots just outside the family's apartment.

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Palomar walked out the front door and found two men lying on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds and a third person limping and apparently hit in the leg. She recorded the frenzied aftermath in a social media post that showed about a dozen men scattered in the street, some huddled over the victims and one man screaming "C'mon bro! Please! Where the cars at?"

Police found a shell casing under a car and an apparent bullet hole in a brick wall of an apartment building, prompting an officer to ask if everyone inside was OK.

"I'm just glad my nephews were in their room," Palomar said. "They don't go outside like that. But that's why we're trying to move."

The shooting occurred kitty-corner from Chicago Bulls College Prep and across the street from Touhy-Herbert Park. Neighbors say the park has become a gathering place for gang members at night despite its supposed closing time of 9 p.m.

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About 8:20 p.m. on the South Side, a 20-year-old man was shot in the 8100 block of South Stony Island Avenue in the Avalon Park neighborhood, according to police. The man was shot in the abdomen and thigh and was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

The man was walking when a vehicle drove up and someone inside fired a gun at him, police said.

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Between 5:40 p.m. Monday and 5:48 p.m. Tuesday, Chicago police reported no shootings citywide, according to the department's list of major incidents released to news media. Starting at 5:49 p.m. Tuesday, three shootings took place within a half-hour across the city, including one that left 15- and 16-year-old boys hurt on the West Side.

The teens were walking in the 5000 block of W. West End Avenue in South Austin around 6:20 p.m. when a white vehicle pulled up and someone opened fire on them. The 15-year-old was hit in the right foot and taken to Stroger Hospital, and the 16-year-old was hit in the left knee and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. Both were listed in good condition. As of Tuesday evening, no one was in custody, police said.

On the South Side also around 6:20 p.m., a 22-year-old man suffered a graze gunshot wound to the hand in the 4400 block of South Hermitage Avenue in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. The victim refused medical attention, police said.

Tuesday's shootings started with one on the Southwest Side at 5:49 p.m. when a man, 24, was wounded in the shoulder and right side in the 3600 block of West 30th Street in Little Village. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition, according to police.

Check back for updates.
A man and a woman were found shot to death on the Chicago Skyway in what police said may have been a murder-suicide on June 21, 2017. (Alyssa Pointer / Chicago Tribune) (Alyssa Pointer/Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

A woman jumped out of a car on the Chicago Skyway early Wednesday and was shot to death by the driver, who then killed himself as police approached, authorities said.



Eastbound lanes of the expressway were closed for about five hours after the shooting, which occurred around 4:10 a.m. near the 87th Street toll gates.

Lisa Fisher, 49, and Christopher M. Pena, 30, were traveling in a maroon Chrysler and had just slowly passed through a toll gate when Fisher got out and Pena jumped out after her with a gun and shot her, officials said.

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The car kept moving and crashed into a wall farther up the Skyway, police said.

A Chicago police officer arrived and saw Pena running back toward his car. The officer told him to stop, and Pena shot himself in the head.



WGN-TV reported that the shooting was witnessed by a tollway worker who was taken to Trinity Hospital suffering from apparent shock.



The Skyway was closed east of the Dan Ryan Expressway until around 9:30 a.m., police said.

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Fisher lived in the 2100 block of South 25th Ave. in Broadview, and Pena lived in the 100 block of North Mayfield Avenue in Chicago, according to the medical examiner's office.

Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 15 Lisa Fisher was shot to death on the Chicago Skyway early on June 21, 2017. (Family photo)

(Editor's note: An earlier version of this story gave the victim's last name as Fischer)
Raven "Rave'' Lemons had a lot to celebrate.



She had a 6-year-old son, a job she loved and scores of friends. She had just turned 25 and spent Saturday at a barbecue thrown by her father on the Near West Side. Later that night, she headed downtown.



She was standing with a friend from work, a block from the lake on the Near North Side, when shots were fired from a passing white car. Someone near Lemons shot back and everyone scattered, according to new details provided by police and witnesses.



Lemons was hit in the chest and collapsed on the sidewalk in the 400 of East Ohio Street.

"I called her name and walked over to her," the friend, Ericka Matthews, told the Tribune. "I said, 'Wake up, wake up, get up now. It's over, they're done."



Lemons was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, less than four blocks away, and died there. Police said Lemons was caught in gang crossfire but had no affiliation with a gang. No one has been arrested.



The shooting, which occurred about 2:40 a.m. Sunday, has prompted Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd Ward, to propose gating off the Ohio Street underpass from midnight to 6 a.m. to reduce street traffic and increase safety. He also wants police patrols to be increased along the lake.



Matthews said she was shocked that she and her friend were attacked among luxury condos and said the alderman's plan might make the area safer.



"I heard shots. I didn't think it was real," she said. "I didn't think I could be involved, or that it would happen in the street downtown."



Matthews said she and Lemons were standing with 10 other people and were about to leave the lakefront when the white car approached.



Matthews, standing behind Lemons, saw a flash. "I heard shots. I turned around and there was a dude next to me who shot back three times."



She turned and ducked behind a brick wall. When Matthews looked out, she saw Lemons running and then fall. Lemons wasn't moving and she was bleeding. Matthews said she began screaming as almost everyone else ran off.



Among the other witnesses was an Army veteran who served in Iraq.



James Callison, 34, of Minneapolis, was in town with a friend to see the Metallica concert. They'd gone out for dinner and drinks, but it was getting late and Callison's phone was losing power. He left his friend at a club downtown and began walking.



"I started to come around the building and I heard a bunch of gunshots," said Callison, who was in Iraq in 2008 and 2009. "I heard the girl screaming. I walked toward the gunshots and saw this car tear-ass around the corner. He was speeding toward the lake.



"One of the guys in the back seat locked eyes with me, from the driver's side. We looked right at each other and I tucked myself further behind the pillar,'' Callison said.



He stuck around until 6:30 a.m. to tell detectives what he saw and heard.



"Gunshots don't scare me, which is kinda messed up, but you kinda get used to it," he said. "But I felt terrible for the girl and her friend. I wanted to do anything I could to help. If something like this happened to my family member, I would want someone to stay.''



Lemons attended high school on the West Side and briefly studied criminal justice at Kentucky State University. She left school to care for her 6-year-old son, Riley, according to family.



They described her as a jack of all trades who could do hair and makeup, master the grill and DJ.



Relatives said Lemons lost a cousin to gun violence in February on the West Side. He was 23.



Matthews and Lemons met at work, at Neumann Family Services, where they assisted adults with disabilities with everyday chores, such as cooking, shopping and laundry.



"She was a very caring person. She befriended everybody. She had a lot of friends and she was a good mom. She's a very good person, a great person,'' Matthews said through tears.



"Every time I close my eyes, I see her lying there," she said. "My shoes have blood on them. It's Rave's blood on my shoes. It's unbelievable. Why her?"



Chicago Tribune reporter Nereida Moreno contributed.
Francisco Torres-Alvarado, 76, was reported missing from the Chysler Village neighborhood on June 20.

Chicago police are asking for the public's help in finding a 76-year-old man missing from the Chrysler Village neighborhood on Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Francisco Torres-Alvarado was last seen about 10 a.m. when he went for a walk in the 5200 block of West 64th Place, police said. He did not return.

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Torres-Alvarado was wearing a gray polo shirt and a black and red hat. He is described as 5-foot-8 and 170 pounds with medium complexion.

Anyone with information should contact Area Central detectives at 312-747-8380.
With time constantly ticking since the May 21 theft of a pricey clock from a Merchandise Mart design show, the antique dealer it was stolen from on Tuesday announced a reward in hopes of recovering its investment.

According to a statement from Lori Paige, the chief marketing officer of M.S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans, the company is offering $25,000 to anyone who turns in the $425,000 clock to Chicago police  in pristine condition and working order.

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The clock, clad in mother of pearl, 18K white gold and crystal, also is diamond- and sapphire-encrusted and is referred to on the dealer's website as the Asprey & Co. Mystery Clock. And when the group was in town for the Chicago Antiques, Art and Design show, its disappearance quickly became its own mystery.

A store representative at the time said security video was being reviewed, but added they believed that while a couple distracted a vendor employee, another woman took the piece, which is about 5-1/2 inches wide and 8 inches tall.

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Paige urged anyone with information about the clock's whereabouts to contact Detective Li or Detective Nickeas of the Chicago Police Department at 312-742-7456 and reference the M.S. Rau Antiques case.
Eliza Wasni, left, has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder in the slaying of Uber driver Grant Nelson on May 30, 2017. (Village of Lincolnwood; Todd Nelson photo)

The teenage girl accused in a fatal machete attack on an Uber driver made a brief appearance in court Wednesday, but the hearing provided no further insight into what might have motivated the killing.

Authorities say Eliza Wasni, 16, stole a machete and a knife from a Walmart store in Skokie, got into the Uber driver's car blocks away and began hacking and stabbing him from the back seat moments later as the car crossed into Lincolnwood shortly after 3 a.m. May 30.

The driver, Grant Nelson, 34, of Wilmette, was able to run to a nearby building to seek help, and authorities found him bleeding to death nearby. Prosecutors have said the attack was "not provoked in any manner."

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Wasni, who has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder but is being held in a juvenile facility, looked down for most of the hearing and did not speak. She was dressed in Cook County inmate garb and wore her long blonde hair in braids. Prosecutors told the judge that Wasni has now been formally indicted.

Her public defender said at a previous hearing that Wasni was enrolled at Taft High School on Chicago's Northwest Side and lived with a single mother.

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On Wednesday, authorities asked for a DNA swab from Wasni and access to her cellphone, which they will seek via court order if she does not cooperate with the requests.

After the attack, according to authorities, Wasni tried to flee in Nelson's car but ran off on foot after the car struck a median. She was found nearby a short time later in a bra and leggings; a Cubs shirt that she is seen wearing in Walmart security footage was found nearby with bloodstains, officials said.

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Nelson, who attended New Trier High School, was eulogized by his brother Todd Nelson as "a kind soul in a cruel world."

Members of Nelson's family attended Wednesday's hearing. A family member declined to comment, directing questions to a civil attorney the family has retained.

Authorities have said that Wasni, a Chicago resident, took two earlier Uber rides that night before getting into Nelson's car, despite the ride-share company's policy of only accepting customers over the age of 18. She was picked up in Lincolnwood and taken to a train station in Des Plaines, then took another Uber ride to the Skokie Walmart, officials have said, though they did not specify where she was first picked up.

It appears that Skokie police were not immediately alerted by Walmart security staff to the theft of the machete and knife.

Skokie police Officer Eric Swaback said earlier that he had no information indicating that a such call came in that night, though he said a report of a retail theft from Walmart was made later. He declined to specify when or further elaborate.

Walmart spokesman Charles Crowson said the store followed its regular procedure, filing an internal report that was processed by asset protection staff members when they arrived for work later that morning.

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Grace Wong is a Tribune reporter; Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter.
Massage parlors operating illicitly would face bigger fines, and women arrested at such establishments could claim they were victims of human trafficking as a defense under a plan aldermen advanced Wednesday to try to crack down on prostitution.

Studies have shown there are around 24,500 women and girls engaged in some form of "commercial sexual exploitation" in Chicago each year, Laura Ng of the anti-human trafficking organization Traffick Free said after the License Committee passed the ordinance. While it's difficult to know how many of those are trapped at massage parlors, Ng called it a significant problem.

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Southwest Side Ald. Matt O'Shea, 19th, sponsored the measure. He told colleagues Chicago is known as a "national hub" for human trafficking, owing in part to the ease of traveling here from outside the U.S., the city's large immigrant population and the robust convention business in the city.

Under the proposal, fines leveled against business owners for each violation of city licensing provisions would increase fivefold, to $5,000. And it would allow employees arrested for prostitution to avoid conviction if the crime was committed "under duress or was coerced"  a provision designed to protect victims of human trafficking.

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The ordinance also would outlaw passageways from massage businesses to residences; disallow the hiring of massage therapists who don't have a current, valid license; and increase the minimum age for a person to work in any position inside a massage parlor by three years, to 18.

It also includes an easing of city regulations for massage parlors operating legitimately.

The measure comes in the wake of "Operation Hot Towel," a police and Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection crackdown on some troubled massage parlors.

Police made arrests for prostitution at six of the businesses. The business affairs department issued 178 tickets for myriad infractions, 11 cease-and-desist orders to unlicensed businesses and five notices to correct deficiencies during two waves of investigations in April and May.

The ordinance heads to the full City Council next week.

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @_johnbyrne
Mayor Rahm Emanuel listens to remarks by 4th Ward Ald. Sophia King, announcing a new summer safety program in the 3rd and 4th wards in July 2016 at Mandrake Park. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

A South Side alderman on Wednesday defended her husband against the Chicago Board of Ethics' determination that he illegally lobbied Mayor Rahm Emanuel to make sure an annual house music picnic he and his business partners stage each year went on as planned.

Ald. Sophia King, 4th, said the ethics board was "not following the letter or the spirit of the law" when it determined that Alan King had engaged in lobbying activity without registering, as required by city ordinance.

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The city law "certainly needs to be used as it was intended, to get to people who are really trying to make money off of lobbying the government," said the alderman, who added that was "certainly not the case with my husband."

She said the city ordinance on lobbying should be changed to mirror federal guidelines, which define a lobbyist as someone who is paid to influence public officials. But the alderman said she would not try to do that herself because it would pose a conflict.

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Under the city's sweeping ethics ordinance, a lobbyist is defined as someone who "undertakes to influence any legislative or administrative action" by city officials, employees and the City Council or its committees. A person does not have to be paid by a company or party to be considered a lobbyist; they just have to try to influence city officials on behalf of another individual or entity.

The ethics board first determined there was probable cause for a lobbying violation against Alan King in February, nearly two months after a Chicago Tribune story detailed how Chicago's rich and powerful had used Emanuel's personal email to request favors big and small. On Friday, it announced the determination that King had violated the lobbying law.

As a result, King could face a fine of more than $500,000 because the penalty for failing to register is $1,000 a day, starting five business days after the lobbying occurred. But ethics board Chairman William F. Conlon has indicated some fines may be reduced.

In May 2015, Alan King, a lawyer and house music DJ, emailed Emanuel asking to have a fence removed from a Chicago park to accommodate an event being put on by The Chosen Few Ltd.  a company in which he's a partner.

"He was merely trying to get a fence moved," Ald. King said Wednesday. "I don't think that the spirit or the letter of the law is intended to punish somebody who is trying right a wrong."

She said the picnic has been "a tradition of over 28 years, this festival that my husband and his partners put on, which started with literally a hundred people, which is why they call it a picnic  and it grew and it grew and it grew  which is why they needed to put fences up, in order to make sure that people are safe."

"Instead of suing the Park District, because they violated their contract ... he was trying to figure out, 'OK, how do we do this?'" she added. "This picnic was coming up in the next couple of days, so how do you do that?"

This year, the group is holding its "Picnic Weekend x Music Festival" early next month at Jackson Park at 63rd Street and Hayes Drive, according to its website. General admission tickets are $40, while it's $1,500 for four "all access platinum" tickets for both days.

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Sophia King also noted she wasn't an alderman when her husband sent the email. Emanuel appointed King  who along with her husband is friends with former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama  in April 2016 to her City Council seat. She has since won a special election in the 4th Ward, which includes Hyde Park and Kenwood.

In a statement Friday, Alan King said he was "disappointed by the finding of the Board of Ethics" and "for many factual and legal reasons I expected a different outcome." He declined to elaborate on why.

King said he, his friends and colleagues were "committed to taking the appropriate actions when necessary to protect and preserve the picnic, one of the crown jewels of the South Side and the entire city we love."

hdardick@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @ReporterHal
Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is sworn-in to testify at the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Russia's interference in the 2016 election in Washington, D.C. (Michael Reynolds / EPA)

U.S. officials sought Wednesday to underscore for lawmakers the threat Russia posed to the 2016 vote for the White House, outlining efforts to hack into election systems in 21 states and to fill the internet with misinformation during a divisive campaign season.

Officials also revealed what appeared to be a breakdown in communications about how severe the threat appeared, and they reported tensions the Obama administration faced in trying to publicly warn of meddling in the face of a skeptical then-candidate Donald Trump.

"One of the candidates, as you'll recall, was predicting that the election was going to be rigged in some way. And so we were concerned that, by making the statement, we might in and of itself be challenging the integrity of the  of the election process itself," Jeh Johnson, the former head of the Homeland Security Department, told members of the House intelligence committee.

The testimony came during a morning of double-barreled intelligence committee hearings  one in the House and one in the Senate  that underscored the U.S. intelligence community's months-old determination that Russia attempted to meddle in the election. The issue has become a flashpoint for the Trump administration as congressional committees and a special counsel investigate the interference and whether the Trump campaign may have become enmeshed in it.

A day earlier, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said he still has yet to know the president's thoughts on whether Russia interfered.

Johnson said Russian hacking didn't change election totals, but he can't be sure other meddling didn't influence public opinion.

"It is not for me to know to what extent the Russian hacks influenced public opinion and thereby influence the outcome of the election," he said.

Senators said the Homeland Security Department should reveal which state election systems were targeted by hackers as Jeanette Manfra, the department's undersecretary for cybersecurity, demurred.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the committee's ranking Democrat, noted that the FBI has confirmed intrusions into voter registration databases in Arizona and Illinois, and said Americans need to know the identities of the other 19 states where meddling was detected.

"I do not believe our country is made safer by holding this information back from the American public," he said. "To have the number of states that were hacked into or attempted to be hacked into still kept secret is just crazy in my mind."

Manfra said the department was still tracking the meddling in the 21 states and believes it's important to protect the confidentiality of the states.

State elections officials, who testified before the Senate committee, complained that DHS could have offered more information about the hacking.

Michael Hass, the Wisconsin elections commissioner, said DHS could have been more timely  and provided more detail  on election security and threats to elections systems at the local level.

Connie Lawson, Indiana secretary of state and president-elect of the National Association of Secretaries of State, said there were three conference calls led by Johnson with top state election officials about attempts to compromise state elections systems.

She said the calls occurred on Aug. 15, Sept. 8 and Oct. 12. "Each time Secretary Johnson was directly asked about specific, credible threats and each time he confirmed that none existed," Lawson said.

Johnson said in the late summer and into the fall, he was very concerned about the meddling in state election systems and that the department encouraged states to seek assistance from DHS. More than 30 states accepted help, but there was resistance at the state level to a designation that would have funneled needed federal resources their way.

He also said he contacted The Associated Press, which counts votes, and its CEO, Gary Pruitt.

"Prior to Election Day, I also personally reviewed with the CEO of The Associated Press its long-standing election-day reporting process, including the redundancies and safeguards in its systems," Johnson said.

Johnson said he doesn't know whether the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's emails and other Moscow-directed interference "did in fact alter public opinion, and thereby alter the outcome of the presidential election." He said he was frustrated DHS learned of the hack into the DNC late in the game and said the committee refused help because it was using a private cyber security firm.

"In retrospect, it would be easy for me to say that I should have bought a sleeping bag and camped out in front of the DNC in late summer," Johnson said.

WASHINGTON  Associated Press writer Frank Bajak in Houston, Texas, contributed to this report.
Rene Bermudez attends rally for his wife, Liliana Cruz Mendez, with their daughter Danyca, 4, in Fairfax, Va., on May 18, 2017. (Antonio Olivo / The Washington Post)

Federal immigration officials have deported a mother of two from Falls Church, Virginia 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.

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After she was taken into custody, McAuliffe (D) pardoned Cruz Mendez's 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.

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Cases such as Cruz Mendez's 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 Obama's administration. But such cases seem to be more of a priority under President Donald Trump, whose top immigration officials have said they won't 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 Mendez's 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.
But St. Martinville is also disturbingly segregated: The town still holds separate white and black proms. And Quinn, who is black, hopes her daughters will make their own lives somewhere else.

"The 1964 Civil Rights Act has not come here yet," said Quinn, who opted to bus her older daughters out of the parish for school and is now homeschooling her youngest, a 15-year-old.

"The community is still physically separated," and that, she said, "has an effect on your thinking."

A new nationwide Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll conducted this spring finds that although rural Americans are more likely to see their communities as neighborly, safer and having better public schools than people in large cities, those opinions come with wide racial disparities.

Black rural Americans  most of whom live in the South  are far less likely than their white neighbors to feel positively about their communities, the poll finds. Sixty percent of blacks say their area is an excellent or good place to raise children, compared with 80 percent of whites. Rural blacks are 25 percentage points less likely than rural whites to give their community positive marks on safety and are 29 points less likely to say their area is a place where people look out for one another. Rural Hispanics tend to fall in between whites and blacks in rating their communities.

Past surveys have found sharp racial divisions among urban and suburban residents on similar questions, but the Post-Kaiser poll of about 1,700 adults provides a rare look at views of African-Americans and Hispanics in rural communities where they account for less than 2 in 10 residents.

A few blocks north of Quinn's neighborhood off Main Street, the town seems to cut in half, transitioning from predominantly black to predominantly white.

There, Logan Verret and his friends said most of the people they know in St. Martinville send their children to private school, vote Republican and "work hard." Thousands of Louisianans have lost their jobs over the past few years of falling oil prices, but while times are tough, St. Martinville still has "a very strong middle-class society," said Verret, 23.

But Verret and his buddies, who were having lunch at the town's Kajun King restaurant on a recent afternoon, acknowledged that not everyone in St. Martinville shares their views and experience.

Walk out the doors of the Cajun eatery, and there's a newly renovated church across the street, its walls a clean yellow and buttercream and its lawn neatly trimmed. City Hall, the police department and the white-pillared courthouse are nearby, and the sidewalks recently received a $1 million repair.

"When you pass the courthouse, it seems sloppier," Verret said, referring to the predominantly black side of town.

The segregation creates vastly different experiences for white and black residents in this town of 6,100, even amid shared economic pitfalls, a shared fondness for small-town familiarity, and a shared school system. The poll finds that divide reflected across the rural South.

Economics play a big role in rural America's racial divide. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 1 in 4 rural black Americans lives in poverty; for whites, it's just more than 1 in 10. Small towns and farming communities that residents describe as "close-knit" can be starkly split.

"In order for an African-American to get an opportunity, someone has to give them an opportunity," said Yulanda Haddix, 54, who recently moved from Philadelphia back to Starkville, Miss., where she was raised. "We don't get jobs based on credentials alone, not in Mississippi."

In St. Martinville, an old plantation town set amid the sugar cane fields and bayous of southern Louisiana, the disparity is palpable.

The town is 63 percent black and about 35 percent white, and more than 1 in 5 households rely on food stamps, according to census data. But the poverty rate among black residents is more than double what it is among whites. And while many of the white residents said in interviews that they view poverty as deriving from an unwillingness to work, many of the black residents said the area's declining economy made them feel as if the deck was irreversibly stacked against them.

"Our town used to be lively. There used to be places to work, and now it's dying," said Franca Francis, 52, who makes $7 an hour working at a daycare center and runs a carryout restaurant at night. "Now you have to have two jobs to make a living."

It's been years since the local Fruit of the Loom factory and two of the nearby sugar mills shut down; the Walmart folded up and left. Only a few of the town's smaller businesses remain, including the rickety trailer where Francis sells hot links po' boys.

Although its wide French-style balconies and Cajun culture once attracted a stream of tourists, St. Martinville is perhaps best known in history as the place where a black teenager, Willie Francis, survived an attempted execution in the electric chair in 1946. Francis had been convicted by an all-white jury for murdering a white man based on a confession given without a lawyer present. An appeal of his case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where a defense attorney argued that subjecting a prisoner to multiple execution attempts constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The defense lost, and Francis later was executed.

Local legend says that St. Martinville is cursed as the result of its history of racial injustice. In 1891 - before the failed execution of Willie Francis - the town saw another failed execution when the noose fashioned for Louis Michel, a black political activist, turned out to be too long. Michel, who had been convicted of two murders but said he was innocent, survived long enough to utter a curse before he was hanged a second time.

"Until justice is done, the town will not prosper," he said, according to an account of the story in the Daily Iberian, a newspaper based in nearby New Iberia. "Grass will grow in the streets, and nothing will thrive."

The racial power dynamic that his case symbolized lives on, many say.

Ku Klux Klan membership has declined across the country, but it maintains an active recruiting wing in St. Martinville, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Birmingham-based nonprofit organization that tracks hate groups. And parish schools have been the subject of a decades-long desegregation lawsuit.

"The black prom is the one the school hosts, but the whites have their own," Verret said.

The nationwide Post-Kaiser poll finds 66 percent of rural white residents saying their local schools are excellent or good, compared with 50 percent of rural black residents.

When it comes to views on race, white rural Americans diverge significantly from the rest of the country. In the Post-Kaiser poll, white rural Americans are one of few demographic groups more likely to say whites "losing out due to preferences for blacks and Hispanics" is a bigger problem than vice versa, 39 to 30 percent. Among rural whites in the South, 45 percent say whites losing out is the bigger problem.

White Americans' attitudes on this question are tightly connected to partisanship. In rural areas, a 55 percent majority of white Democrats say blacks and Hispanics losing out is the bigger problem, compared with 14 percent of white Republicans. The divide is similar among urban and suburban whites: 61 percent of Democrats say racial minorities losing out is a bigger concern, compared with 20 percent of Republicans.

To the public, St. Martinville authorities tout progress on the issue of race. Twelve years ago, the town elected its first black mayor: Thomas Nelson, now 80. But some black residents said Nelson, whose light skin and straight hair make his race visually ambiguous, has helped perpetuate racial divisions in the interest of capturing the white vote.

The most recent source of tension came last year, when St. Martinville officials shut down the town's decades-old annual Mardi Gras parade  a move viewed negatively by many black residents and positively by many whites.

The parade participants were mostly black, as were the out-of-town fans the celebration drew, and it was growing.

Quinn felt Nelson's decision to shut down the parade pandered to white voters: "He promised the whites he was going to shut the n----- parade down if they voted for him."

But Nelson said the decision was about safety.

"The sheriff couldn't give us enough deputies," he said. "He couldn't afford to participate."

This Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll was conducted April 13-May 1 with a random national sample of 1,686 U.S. adults contacted on landline and cellphones with an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The sample of 1,070 rural Americans has an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 points. The error margin is 4.5 points for the sample of 759 rural whites, and 12 points for the sample of 115 rural blacks.

The Washington Post's Scott Clement contributed to this report.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has been under fire in recent months for his contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential race, has retained the services of Washington lawyer Charles Cooper, a longtime friend.

Cooper was seen sitting behind Sessions when he testified last week before the Senate Intelligence Committee about President Donald Trump and Russia.

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"I do represent the Attorney General, but, as with all clients, do not comment on confidential client matters," Cooper wrote in an email to The Washington Post.

Cooper, a partner with his own firm, Cooper & Kirk, would not say when he was retained by Sessions or whether he is representing Sessions in the special counsel's investigation into Trump and Russia. Sessions, who was the first senator to endorse Trump on the campaign trail, was a top adviser to Trump during his race for president.

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Cooper also assisted Sessions with his January confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, discussing those preparations in an interview with The Post at the time.

Sarah Isgur Flores, a Justice Department spokeswoman, described Cooper as "the attorney general's longtime friend and counsel."

The National Law Journal first reported that Cooper is now Sessions' personal attorney.

Cooper, who clerked for Justice William Rehnquist on the Supreme Court, served in the Justice Department's civil rights division and was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel. He was also a partner at McGuireWoods and at Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge.

Cooper was also under consideration to serve as the Justice Department's solicitor general. He withdrew his name in February, citing his concern after watching Sessions go through the confirmation process to become attorney general.

"After witnessing the treatment that my friend Jeff Sessions, a decent and honorable man who bears only good will and good cheer to everyone he meets, had to endure at the hands of a partisan opposition that will say anything and do anything to advance their political interests, I am unwilling to subject myself, my family and my friends to such a process," Cooper said in a statement at the time.

Several other administration officials have recently retained attorneys. Vice President Mike Pence hired a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to represent him for the special-counsel investigation and the congressional inquiries into possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia.

Since Sessions was confirmed in early February, he has been dogged by questions about his contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign. On March 2, Sessions announced that he was recusing himself from the Russia investigation because of his role in the Trump campaign. His announcement came the day after The Post revealed that Sessions twice met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign and did not disclose that to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing.

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In May, Sessions acknowledged that he did not reveal his meetings last year with Russian officials when he applied for his security clearance. But he said his Senate staff was advised by an FBI employee that he did not have to list his past seven years of foreign contacts while he was a senator.

Last week, during a sometimes testy hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sessions insisted that he had never had any conversations with Russians about "any type of interference" in the presidential election.

The Washington Post's Tom Hamburger contributed to this report.
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 president's promise to make America safe again," Sessions said at the beginning of the Justice Department's two-day summit on crime reduction.

The first round of cities chosen for the new initiative, the National Public Safety Partnership, are Baton Rouge, La.; Birmingham, Ala.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Cincinnati; Houston; Indianapolis; Jackson, Tenn.; Kansas City, Mo.; Lansing, Mich.; Memphis, Tenn.; Springfield, Ill.; and Toledo, Ohio.

"Our nation's violent-crime rate is rising," Sessions said. "In many of our urban areas, this increase is staggering."

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.

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."

Tuesday's event was the first time the Justice Department's 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."
Republican Ralph Norman and his wife, Elaine, right, greet supportrs at a campaign party in Rock Hill, S.C., on June 20, 2017. (Chuck Burton / AP)

Republican Ralph Norman won a special election Tuesday to fill the South Carolina congressional seat vacated by Mick Mulvaney, who resigned to the White House budget director.

The race has garnered far less national attention than another special election in Georgia's 6th District, the most expensive U.S. House contest to date. That race is seen as an early test for the GOP and President Donald Trump since his win over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

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South Carolina's 5th District has been held solidly by Mulvaney since his 2010 victory. There, the GOP ticket defeated Clinton by more than 18 percentage points in November, giving Republicans the confidence they say will keep the seat in their party's hands.

Norman, a millionaire real estate developer, ran against Democrat Archie Parnell for Mulvaney's seat. National surrogates stumped for both. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint campaigned with Norman, while national Democratic Chairman Tom Perez came to town for Parnell.

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Democrats had held the South Carolina seat for more than a century until Mulvaney rode a tea party wave to defeat longtime incumbent John Spratt in 2010.

As they have in other special election contests across the country this year, Democrats recruited a field of candidates to make a play for the GOP-held seat. Norman emerged from a GOP runoff with only a 200-vote victory, a slim margin on which Democrats had hoped to capitalize.

But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee plunked only $275,000 into the South Carolina race, compared with a $5 million investment in the special election in Georgia's 6th District.

Norman, a former state lawmaker who aligns himself with Trump, said during a recent candidate forum that the November presidential election results would work in his favor in his own race.

"Trump is still very popular in our area," Norman said. "His first big decision in putting Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court excited the people we're coming into contact with. He proved his mettle."

David L. O'Neal, a retired Army officer and paratrooper from Tega Cay, backed Norman in the primary and said the Republican earned his general election vote in part because of his stance on veterans' issues.

"As a retired military officer, I feel Ralph is strongest on military issues, wanting a strong defense," O'Neal said Tuesday. "And I know he is 100 percent with the veterans on their issues."
"They're coming after America," former FBI Director James B. Comey told the Senate intelligence committee this month. "They will be back."

In a highly politicized hearing, this bold statement drew strikingly little partisan disagreement. Senators on both sides of the aisle have seemingly reached consensus that foreign agents did try to tamper with the 2016 election and that they are extremely likely to do so again.

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The question is: What do we do about it?

While the ongoing Russia investigation has, understandably, received massive attention, there's so far been scant public focus on the question of how we safeguard our electoral systems from outside interference in the future. Responding to the threat of election hacking isn't exclusively a matter of diplomatic intrigue or international sanctions. It's fundamentally a matter of computer science: how we harden our election technology through cybersecurity standards.

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This week, we're joining a group of more than 100 experts on election administration, computer science and national security in releasing a letter that lays out an actionable plan for safeguarding the vote. The experts include tea party Republicans and progressive Democrats, academic computer scientists and corporate security officials - all united in the view that our nation's rough patchwork of voting security measures is wholly inadequate. One of us (Halderman) will testify Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Russia's attacks last year.

This shouldn't be news to lawmakers. In the past decade, cybersecurity experts have revealed devastating vulnerabilities in every U.S. voting machine they've studied. In 2014, the bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration sounded the alarm about an "impending crisis" of insecure voting technology. In 2015, Lawrence Norden and Christopher Famighetti of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University showed in a comprehensive study that the nation's voting machines are largely past their shelf-lives and deeply insecure. According to a survey of 274 election administrators across 28 states, a strong majority of election officials claim they need security upgrades to voting machines but simply lack the resources.

Ten years ago, Halderman was part of the first academic research team to conduct a comprehensive security analysis of a Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machine. The study's findings were deeply troubling: It's possible to reprogram a machine to cause any candidate to win, without leaving a trace. The research team created malicious software - vote-stealing code - that could spread from machine to machine, much like a computer virus, and invisibly change the election outcome. Since then, cybersecurity experts have studied a wide range of U.S. voting machines - including both touch screens and optical scanners - and in every single case, they found severe vulnerabilities that would allow attackers to sabotage machines or alter votes

This month's blockbuster reporting in the Intercept and Bloomberg News show that hostile nations have our computerized election infrastructure in their sights. And the threats aren't limited to the voting machines and tabulators: adversaries can also go after voter registration databases and electronic poll books to block voters, create long lines at polling places and instill distrust in the system.

So why hasn't Congress acted?

One simple answer is that lawmakers need a straightforward policy agenda to fix the system. The new statement from the 100 election security experts provides a concrete road map:

First, Congress should provide time-sensitive matching funds to states to upgrade voting technologies, and, in particular, replace paperless DRE voting machines with systems that include a good old-fashioned paper ballot  that is to say, a physical record of the vote that's out of reach from cyberattacks.

Second, Congress should call on states to conduct risk-limiting audits for every federal race, by inspecting enough of the paper ballots to tell whether the computer results are accurate. These audits are a common-sense quality control, and they should be routine. Since they only require officials to check a small random sample of ballots, they quickly and affordably provide high assurance that the election outcome was correct. As Ron Rivest of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Philip Stark of the University of California have explained, states can gain high confidence regarding election outcomes by checking as few as 0.5 percent of the ballots in a given contest.

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Finally, Congress should instruct federal agencies to partner with states to conduct serious and comprehensive threat assessment, and to identify and apply best practices in cybersecurity from across sectors to the design of voting equipment and the management of federal elections. This will raise the bar for attacks of all sorts.

There's evidence this agenda can fly even in the age of hyperpartisan gridlock.

While many Democrats have supported election security reforms since former Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., proposed related reforms a decade ago, prominent conservatives are now championing the cause. Recently, retired Army Intelligence Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer  a Fox News contributor and fearless President Barack Obama critic  joined former CIA director James Woolsey - a leading national defense advocate - to call for audits and federal cybersecurity standards. In a Fox News op-ed last month, the two made a conservative case for election security reform as a matter of national security, explaining why, among other factors, Congress' unfunded mandates under the Help America Vote Act of 2002 justify new security investments. Shaffer and Woolsey quote President Donald Trump himself from an interview the morning of the election: "There's something really nice about the old paper ballot system," the then-candidate states. "You don't worry about hacking."

Perhaps the strongest argument why the new federal election security agenda can succeed is cost. New analysis from the Brennan Center finds that the country can replace insecure paperless voting systems for somewhere between $130 million and $400 million. Implementing risk-limiting audits nationally for federal elections would cost less than $20 million a year. These amounts are a rounding error in the administration's $640 billion defense budget request, but the investment would be a guaranteed way to boost voter confidence and significantly strengthen an important element of our national security.

With many state and local officials keen to make necessary tech upgrades, Congress may need to only cover a fraction of the overall costs.

If lawmakers agree with Comey's assessment that foreign agents are "coming after America," it stands to reason that Congress should devote resources to addressing the threat. This is a small price tag for the defense of our democracy.

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Washington Post

J. Alex Halderman is professor of computer science at the University of Michigan and director of Michigan's Center for Computer Security and Society. Justin Talbot-Zorn is a Truman National Security Fellow and an adviser to the National Election Defense Coalition who has served as legislative director to three members of Congress.

Related articles:

Punishing Putin, with or without Trump

What is the Trump administration trying to hide?

Donald Trump is a profoundly incompetent president

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Republicans, beware. The tables will turn.
Governor Bruce Rauner with Will County Executive Larry Walsh, left, at event in the Amazon Romeoville fulfillment center in Romeoville on Thursday June 8, 2017. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Well, that was quick. The Illinois House spent less than a half-hour in session Wednesday, the first day Gov. Bruce Rauner brought lawmakers back to Springfield to pass a budget. It was just enough time for both parties to snipe.

Republicans held a news conference in the morning, calling attention to their recently unveiled budget proposal and blaming House Speaker Michael Madigan for not advancing one. Madigan lieutenant state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, called out Gov. Rauner and the campaign-style television commercials targeting Madigan that Rauner has been airing. "Ask the governor to lay down his arms and put away his weaponry," Lang said on the House floor, chiding Rauner and Republicans who have touted the need for compromise.

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At roughly the same time Lang was chastising Republicans, his Twitter account posted a newspaper editorial highly critical of Rauner. Lang quoted "Governor Junk" from the article, referring to the lousy ratings of Illinois bonds.

See how productively everyone is behaving?

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On Tuesday evening, Rauner delivered a speech from the Old State Capitol in Springfield calling for unity. "Over the next 10 days, we have an opportunity to change the state of Illinois for the better. To give our people a future they can believe in. To give job creators a reason to come, and families a reason to stay," Rauner said. "We can reach an agreement."

Democrats were quick to pounce. That includes Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who slammed the governor's remarks two hours before he even delivered them. Emanuel chided Rauner for giving too many "speeches" and not taking action on the issues plaguing the state.

Funny how Emanuel was in Washington, D.C., at the time, speaking to the National Press Club live on C-SPAN, during which he talked about his own plans to run for a third term in 2019. Then he jetted off to a conference in Montreal.

Emanuel himself has been criticized for giving too many speeches and campaigning constantly. He was already raising millions of dollars in early 2013 for his 2015 re-election bid and had to repay taxpayers after the Tribune pointed out he was using tax dollars to pay for his some of his fundraising trips. He had to cut short an East Coast junket in the fall of 2013 after a highly publicized shooting.

Yes, Rauner's television ads aimed at Madigan and Democrats are "campaigning." And yes, it's early.

But lots of pols are campaigning. Let's not clutch our pearls, aghast.

Rauner's Democratic opponents for the 2018 gubernatorial campaign so far are on the air, on the Web and at news conference podiums bashing Rauner. State Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, spent Tuesday at a campaign event touting his proposals for property tax reform. Then he put out a news release Tuesday night criticizing Rauner for campaigning too much.

During the last six months, including when lawmakers should have been in Springfield working on a budget, Madigan raised at least $122,314 for his campaign fund. During the first three months of the year, that fund spent more than $330,000 on office rent, cellphones, workers and meals. Madigan is ... campaigning.

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Senate President John Cullerton has raised at least $104,500, and hosted and attended several fundraisers. Between January and March 31, he spent at least $150,000 on campaign activity, according to his financial disclosure reports.

Members of both parties campaign constantly, and not just through their fundraising. Day-to-day, they prepare for the next election cycle by protecting fellow members from controversial votes. Legislative leaders substitute members on and off committees when an issue up for discussion might harm (or help) their images in their respective districts. They structure roll calls so that certain lawmakers suddenly are not on the floor when a controversial bill comes up; as if by magic  Poof!  members are excused or otherwise absent.

The leaders give popular-sounding, easy-to-pass bills to freshmen to build up their resumes. It's all about the mail pieces for the next campaign cycle, don't you know?

All of that counts as campaigning, too. But the pols don't call it that. If they did, much of what they do in Springfield would be categorized as self-serving and crass.

Yes, Rauner's ads are campaign ads. Yes, he is aggressively preparing for a re-election fight in 2018. If you find that offensive, fine. We would merely swivel your gaze toward what goes on every day in a statehouse where the other party is firmly committed to maintaining a majority. Pot, meet kettle.

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.

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Five feet isn't a whole lot of space, but Russia apparently thinks it's just enough to send the U.S. a message. On Monday, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet sidled up alongside a U.S. Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane flying over the Baltic Sea, coming within 5 feet of the American aircraft. The Russian jet lingered for a few minutes, then veered away.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin said a NATO F-16 fighter jet flew up to a Russian plane carrying Kremlin Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, again over the Baltic. Shoigu landed safely in the Russian city of Kaliningrad, but the incident clearly rankled the Kremlin. As of Wednesday afternoon, NATO had not confirmed the Russian report.

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Not yet dogfights, just dogs barking at each other.

Nevertheless, using fighter jets to parry and riposte puts both countries at risk of a confrontation that neither could easily walk  or fly  away from. Before this gets out of hand, the administrations of President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin need to remind themselves that neither side needs or wants direct military engagement.

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The apparent cause of all this aerial jousting was the downing Sunday of a Syrian warplane by an American F-18 fighter jet. The U.S. says the Syrian Su-22 aircraft had been dropping bombs near members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the U.S.-backed militia of Kurdish and Arab fighters who have begun the offensive to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa from the Islamic State militant group.

The U.S. takedown of the Syrian bomber incensed Moscow. The Russian Defense Ministry said it would start tracking as potential targets U.S-led coalition warplanes flying in Syrian airspace controlled by the Russian-backed Bashar Assad regime, though it stopped short of saying it would shoot down those planes.

The Pentagon knew that taking down one of Assad's fighter jets would infuriate the Kremlin, but it was the right decision. A key to defeating Islamic State fighters has always been to rout them out of their two major strongholds in the Middle East, Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. Iraqi forces are well on their way to wrapping up the job in Mosul. In Raqqa, the U.S.-backed coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters stands the best chance of reclaiming that city.

When Assad attacks SDF fighters, he makes it that much harder for the U.S. and the international community to achieve victory. But he now knows that if his forces again attack SDF fighters, they risk the same fate that befell the Syrian Su-22.

Achieving victory over Islamic State in Raqqa, by the way, should be as much of a goal for Moscow as it is for Washington. The militant who killed 16 people in an attack on a subway train in St. Petersburg in April is suspected of having links to Islamic State. And a new seedbed for Islamic State recruits has emerged in Central Asia's former Soviet republics, which enjoy visa-free travel with Russia. The U.S. and Russia have reams of divergent views and goals, but defeating Islamic State shouldn't be one of them.

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
A judge released a 57-year-old Chicago man on his own recognizance in connection with a fake bomb threat earlier this month at Presence Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, court records show.

William Kamphouse Jr. is charged with disorderly conduct and accused of telling a security official at the North Highland Avenue facility that he had a bomb in his backpack on June 1, according to charging documents.

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Security didn't believe the threat to be credible because Kamphouse had earlier complained about wait times at the hospital and was intoxicated, Aurora police previously said. Kamphouse was escorted from the building, and his backpack was taken. The Kane County bomb squad was called as a precaution. No explosives were discovered, according to police.

During Monday's hearing, Judge James Hallock agreed, over the objection of prosecutors, to release Kamphouse on a $20,000 personal recognizance bond. Hallock ordered Kamphouse to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation or face being jailed again. Kamphouse must also seek mental health and substance abuse treatment, court documents show.

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Kamphouse is scheduled to return to court on Friday.
Paris Lisy, 24, of Aurora, was sentenced to 7 years in prison after pleading guilty to driving under the influence of marijuana, causing the death of an elderly woman and injuring another person. (Kane County State's Attorney )

An Aurora man was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to killing an elderly woman four years ago, when he lost control of his car while driving under the influence of marijuana.

Kane County circuit court records state Paris T. Lisy, now 24, had 13.4 nanograms of TCH per milliliter in his blood around the time he caused the crash that killed the woman and injured another person, who survived.

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In May, Lisy pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated driving under the influence of marijuana in exchange for agreeing to a seven-year sentence with the Illinois Department of Corrections, a plea accepted by Kane County Circuit Judge James C. Hallock.

Lisy has since been transferred to the state's East Moline Correctional Center, where IDOC records state he's projected for parole in October 2020 and discharge two years later.

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He's also serving a three-year IDOC sentence for a 2013 Aurora burglary, which Kane County records show is concurrent with the DUI sentence.

One of the aggravated DUI counts is a class 4 felony, specifying that Lisy's actions caused another person's death. The other, also a felony, is for causing great bodily harm.

Assistant State's Attorneys Vince Coyle and Bill Engerman prosecuted the case, which stems from an afternoon crash in May 2013 on Aurora's West Side.

County prosecutors said Lisy was driving a 2000 Ford Contour eastbound on the 700 block of New Haven Avenue when the car went off the right side of the road and struck a 2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue legally parked in a spot off the road. The impact caused the Oldsmobile to strike two people, according to a news release from the state's attorney's office.

A 78-year-old Aurora woman, Mary Neimeyer, was knocked to the ground and sustained massive head injuries that caused her death eight days later, according to the news release.

The other person's left femur was shattered, officials said.

A toxicology blood test found THC present in Lisy's system.

Though studies have found people metabolize THC differently than alcohol and that blood concentration is not necessarily an accurate way to gauge intoxication, several states including Illinois have set a legal limit of 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood or 10 nanograms per millileter of other bodily substance. Law enforcement officers can also use standardized field sobriety tests when they suspect someone was driving under the influence of cannabis.

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Lisy's lawyer did not immediately return a phone message left Tuesday afternoon.

In accordance with Illinois law, Lisy has to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, toward which he was given credit for 876 days in the county jail.

hleone@tribpub.com

Twitter @hannahmleone
Owners of America's Dog & Burger restaurant are looking at possible Aurora locations. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune )

Is there an Aurora Dog in the future?

It could be, if the history of America's Dog & Burger coincides with its desire to expand to the second-largest city in Illinois.

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Restaurant officials said this week that the celebrated burger and hot dog restaurant  which started with a road trip more than 20 years ago by brothers George and Manolis Alpogianis  has targeted Aurora as the beginning of a strategic franchise growth.

The restaurant, which currently has four locations in Chicago, is looking at sites in Aurora, but as just the start of a franchising plan to expand into markets from southern Wisconsin, through the Chicago area, and into northwest Indiana.

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Plans call for 30 franchise locations to be added to the region, with growth outward into the rest of the country afterward.

A spokesman for America's Dog & Burger said the company has looked at a site near the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall, at Farnsworth Avenue and Interstate 88, and at a spot near the East Side of downtown.

Currently, the restaurant's four locations in Chicago are at Navy Pier, O'Hare International Airport, inside the state's Thompson Center, and in the Loop at Randolph and State streets.

The restaurant started 23 years ago after the Alpogianis brothers took a road trip together across America to find and taste the best hot dogs across the country. At the time, both brothers were established chefs and restaurant owners  their father, Gus, owned Chicago's Palace Grill.

Brothers George, left, and Manolis Alpogianis, pictured with cashier Analy Camacho at their America's Dog & Burger restaurant in Chicago, are looking at expanding to Aurora. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune )

The result of their trip was a restaurant that featured burgers and designer hot dogs  11 of them named for cities hit on their trip: Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Memphis, Baltimore, San Francisco, New Orleans, Green Bay and Milwaukee.

For instance, the Chicago Dog features mustard, relish, onion, sport peppers, tomato, pickle and celery salt, while the Memphis Dog has pulled pork topped with barbecue sauce and cole slaw. The Milwaukee Dog isn't even a dog at all  it's bratwurst with brown mustard and sauerkraut.

With the franchise expansion in mind, the menu has been expanded to include the usual burgers, but also chicken sandwiches, fish tacos, salads, wraps and soups.

"After 23 years of proven success in the world's culinary epicenter, it is clear that America's Dog & Burger is in position for growth," said Manolis Alpogianis, one of the restaurant owners. "We're franchising our distinctive concept into neighborhoods with a strong sense of community and a love for fresh, indulgent meals, and Aurora fits that mold perfectly."

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A restaurant spokesman said everything on the menu is fresh, never frozen and all ingredients are prepared in-house.

"We've pursued a dream, and it means the world to us to connect with passionate entrepreneurs throughout Aurora that want to be a part of a cutting-edge concept like ours that is redefining its segment," added George Alpogianis.

More information about the restaurant is available at www.americasdog.com and at www.adbfranchise.com.

slord@tribpub.com
It's not that the folks of Whispering Meadows are jealous.

These Yorkville residents say they are more than happy the homeowners of Settlers Ridge subdivision in Sugar Grove finally got their crumbling infrastructure repaired and are now seeing brand new homes rise from the ashes of the 2007 real estate bust.

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They're thrilled things have moved forward in Montgomery and Elgin, as well. "It gives us hope," says Whispering Meadows homeowner Joel Frieders, that someday they too will see new construction going on again . And that they won't have to dodge pot holes the size of Texas.

That might be an exaggeration. But not by much.

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When I met up with Frieders last month  he's also a Yorkville alderman  we went for a stroll around Whispering Meadows that, like Settlers Ridge, has been in limbo since Kimball Hill Homes went bankrupt in the Great Recession and the finance company, Fidelity and Deposit Co. of Maryland, which backed up the developer with a bond, fought efforts to pay for completion of the infrastructure.

And what was apparent as Frieders and I  along with his dog Roxy  took this leisurely walk around the block was a portrait in contrasts: Lovely, well-maintained homes with manicured lawns, maturing trees and beautiful landscaping lining streets that looked like part of a war zone.

"We call this Lake Allendale," noted Frieders, pointing to a huge ugly hole of dirty water in the middle of the street near his home. "As you can see, the majority of the roadway is gone and all that's left are the cold and hot patches the city puts down" which, he quickly added, "the city does not have to maintain because it is not their responsibility to fix these streets and sidewalks."

Unfortunately, Yorkville finds itself in the same predicament as other communities, doing a lot of patch work -- and taking Fidelity, which is owned by Schaumburg-based Zurich North America, to court.

According to Montgomery Village Administrator Jeff Zoephel, it took about five years to finally reach a settlement in 2015 with Fidelity for $750,000 to complete infrastructure work in the Huntington Chase development. While the problems in this subdivision "didn't get quite as bad" as Yorkville's Whispering Meadows, he said, "we were really happy to finish off those roads."

After long court battles, Elgin has also had success in reaching settlements with Fidelity, and two other bond insurance companies, in order to get its Waterford subdivision back on track.

According to Corporate Counsel Bill Cogley, the city received $950,000 from Fidelity in November of 2014; and also settled for a total of $2.3 million from Arch and another $505,000 from Continental. This enabled work to be completed in the three neighborhoods where people were already living, and do the repair work in several incomplete neighborhoods so talks could begin with the new owner in getting construction going again.

The long, drawn-out battle in Sugar Grove was finally settled last November when a Kane County judge ordered Fidelity to pay $2 million to the village for infrastructure repairs in Settlers Ridge. And Yorkville is hoping its legal battle, now slowly winding through the courts because of so many continuances, will "help us complete the work that needs to be done" so the city can take over ownership, said assistant city administrator Erin Willrett.

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Robyn Ziegler, manager of media and public relations for Zurich North America, said in a statement that "the responses we filed with the court in this matter clearly articulate our position that responsibility for this lies with others.

"We trust that the court will make a fair determination," she added, "and we are anxious for this matter to be resolved for the residents of Whispering Meadows."

No one could be more anxious than those homeowners. Attempts to get any help with infrastructure from the new owners of the 71 remaining empty lots in Whispering Meadows, the same group that is now moving ahead with the Waterford project in Elgin, were futile. In a lawsuit filed by Yorkville, said Frieders, a Kendall County judge determined that the new owner was a land investment company and therefore not required to finish the roadwork.

All of this is a "never-ending circle" of frustration, noted Whispering Meadows homeowner Brandy Rawlish. The bond money can't be released until the community is developed, she said, but the company that owns the empty lots can't sell those lots until the roads are finished because no developer wants to buy into a project that will cost so much in in infrastructure.

In the meantime, half-finished roads continue to deteriorate, as do home values. Not only are the streets crumbling right before their eyes, noted resident Matt Marek, homes next to empty lots battle damage from wild animals and flooding. And cars are taking major hits just by driving on the rough roads.

While walking past his home, Marek even showed me the damage already done to his brand new Dodge minivan from the sprays of asphalt that fly off the road. And Frieders says he's already replaced the shocks and struts several times on two different vehicles because of the rocky roads.

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Then there's the safety issue: You just don't see kids riding their bikes, skateboards or scooters on these streets because there's been too many injuries, residents say. And one neighbor woman, I was told, even broke her ankle while jogging.

Frieders, who became an alderman four years ago, in part, because of his frustrations, kneels on the pavement; and, using a small pocketknife, literally peels away chunks of his street to expose black dirt below.

"Forget the pools and the schools we were promised," he said. " I just want my freekin' roads fixed."

Dcrosby@tribpub.com

Twitter @dencrosby
A man and woman from Matteson have been charged with sexually assaulting an incapacitated woman during a recent house party in Orland Park.

Eric Pate, 28, and Aniah King, 19, face one count each of criminal sexual assault for committing a sex act against a victim who was unable to give consent during a house party in the 10700 block of Hollow Tree Court on Saturday night, Orland Park Commander Tony Farrell said.

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Prosecutors said Tuesday that the pair simultaneously allegedly assaulted the "heavily intoxicated" victim during a family party.

Farrell said the alleged victim, who had been brought to the party by a friend, did not know either of the suspects.

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Police were notified of the incident early Sunday morning after the alleged victim, who is in her early 20s, went to the hospital for a sexual assault examination.

Pate and King turned themselves in at the Orland Park Police Department early Sunday afternoon, Farrell said.

Judge Peter Felice set bond for Pate at $500,000 and for King at $300,000. They are due back in court July 17.

zkoeske@tribpub.com

Twitter @ZakKoeske
A Chicago man faces a federal sex trafficking charge in the case of a 16-year-old girl found slain in a Markham garage last Christmas Eve.

Joseph Hazley, 33, was arrested early Wednesday morning and charged with one count of sex trafficking of a minor, FBI spokesman Garrett Croon said.

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According to a federal criminal complaint filed Tuesday, Hazley trafficked the teen, identified in court documents as Minor A, throughout December 2016, arranging multiple dates for commercial sex each day through the classified website Backpage.com.

The law firm representing the teen's mother identified Minor A as Desiree Robinson.

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Hazley allegedly posted ads for Robinson on Backpage.com, taught her how to communicate with customers, provided her with clothing to wear on dates, drove her to dates and acted as security during her meetings with sex buyers, all while having reason to know she was only 16, the complaint states.

On the morning of her death, Hazley and an unnamed female dropped off Robinson at a home in Markham to meet with a sex buyer, according to the complaint.

The pair fell asleep in Hazley's vehicle while waiting for Robinson to return from her sexual encounter with a man, and awoke about two hours later with Robinson nowhere to be found. Hazley then went looking for Robinson, and found her badly beaten body on the ground inside the garage, the complaint states.

An autopsy determined she had been beaten and strangled and that her throat had been slit.

Hazley told responding officers that he had brought Robinson to the location to work as a dancer at a party and identified the sex buyer for police, but was not arrested and charged at the time.

The alleged sex buyer, identified as 32-year-old Antonio Rosales, of Chicago, has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Robinson's death.

"Today's arrest marks a new chapter in our mission to serve justice for Desiree," Yvonne Ambrose, Robinson's mother, said in a statement. "Our family continues to struggle daily with the loss of Desiree, a loving daughter and friend who became victimized by people, a business and a system with no regard for young lives. We are grateful to the FBI and cannot thank them enough for their honorable efforts on behalf of Desiree."

To build its case against Hazley, the FBI reviewed text messages, telephone records and Facebook records; performed cell site analysis; and conducted interviews with Robinson's alleged customers and another woman who Hazley was allegedly pimping simultaneously, identified as Individual B in the federal complaint.

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Individual B, 19, began working as a prostitute for Hazley in August 2016, after being introduced to him by a girlfriend and moving into his home, the complaint states.

She told investigators that he instructed her how to word commercial sex advertisements on Backpage.com to "get the best customers," took photographs of her that were used in the ads and gave her the nickname "Winter" to use in the ads, according to the complaint.

Hazley also provided the woman clothing to wear on her "dates," set the rates she should charge for sex and drove her to all of her dates, waiting outside during her encounters to act as security, the complaint states.

The woman told investigators that Hazley treated her well initially and let her keep half of the money she made, but that things went sour within a few weeks, according to the complaint. He began keeping all of the money for himself and became physically abusive, beating her with wooden and metal spoons that left bruises on her body, the complaint states.

By October 2016, Robinson had entered the picture. Individual B told investigators that Hazley began spending more time with Robinson in November, and that Robinson, who ran away from her grandparents home on Nov. 29, 2016, eventually moved in with her and Hazley in the 6300 block of South Racine Avenue, according to the complaint.

Within a week of Robinson moving in, Hazley was posting ads on Backpage advertising her services, using the name "Nicki," the complaint states.

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An ad depicting Robinson posted on Dec. 10, 2016 read, "Hi Guys My Name Is Nicki I'm New In town for a short stay and looking for upscale Gentlemen to have a great time with I am independent No Law Enforcement Or Police Of Any kind..No Pimps... All Donations are for my time (Companionship) All My Pics are 100% Real So Why Wait Call or Text Me now."

Hazley instructed Individual B to teach Robinson the ropes of the prostitution business  communicating with customers, arranging illicit encounters and setting prices for sexual acts  and had the teens meet customers together on six or seven occasions, according to the complaint.

As with Individual B, Hazley drove Robinson to all of her "dates"  approximately five to six daily  and waited outside while she met with customers, the complaint states.

The criminal complaint details seven separate dates in which Robinson and Hazley allegedly communicated with each other via text message while arranging sexual encounters with customers, including on the morning of her death.

In one instance, Hazley allegedly told Robinson to proceed with a customer after she texted him that he didn't have enough money, saying "get da 100 ... We here now." In another case, he allegedly texted Robinson that she should decline a transaction with a potential customer after learning he had a friend with him and that they both wanted sex.

Robinson arranged to meet with what would end up being her final customer shortly after midnight on Christmas Eve.

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Prosecutors said they believe Rosales found Robinson's escort ad on Backpage.com and arranged for her to be brought to a garage party in the 16200 block of South Hamlin Avenue in Markham.

Antonio Rosales (Cook County sheriff's office)

At 2:18 a.m., she texted him asking if he had the money for their sexual encounter.

He responded that he did and she instructed him to "Come to the car," according to the complaint.

Upon arrival, Rosales allegedly took Robinson to a truck where he had sex with her, prosecutors said.

Robinson left shortly after the encounter, but returned just before 7 a.m. with Hazley and his self-identified female friend, after Rosales texted her to ask for another round.

"Can u cum over I got cash plus ma uncle toolol," Rosales allegedly texted her, according to the federal complaint.

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At 6:52 a.m., Robinson texted Rosales that she was outside, and then went into a garage with him while Hazley and his girlfriend waited in his car, the complaint states.

Inside the garage, Rosales attempted to negotiate for an additional free 15 minutes, and attacked Robinson after she refused, according to prosecutors.

Rosales allegedly admitted while in custody to strangling and punching Robinson after she refused his advances and insulted him, prosecutors said.

The federal complaint against Hazley unsealed Wednesday also alleges that, in addition to pimping Robinson, he had sex with the 16-year-old on multiple occasions.

It states that Individual B told investigators she heard them engaged in sex and once walked in on them in the act. She said she declined Hazley's offer of a threesome, but was ordered by him to sit and watch as he had sex with Robinson, according to the complaint.

Individual B eventually left Hazley in early December, and told investigators she later received a call from Robinson asking for help escaping from him as well, the complaint states.

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The 19-year-old told Robinson she could help, as she was getting her own apartment, but never heard back from her, and later learned that she had been killed, according to the complaint.

Facebook records obtained by the FBI corroborate Individual B's account that Robinson wanted out. In a private message sent to a longtime friend on Dec. 15, 2016, she wrote, "I'm in a situation where I'm (being) pimped," adding, "he won't let me leave," and relaying the address where she was being kept.

A few days after Robinson's slaying, Hazley allegedly texted Individual B asking her to come back and work for him.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

"Now that she's gone, I got no money coming in," he texted her, according to the complaint.

After Individual B refused, Hazley allegedly responded, "I'm not the one to mess with bitch!"

Hazley made his initial appearance in court Wednesday at the Dirksen Federal Building. He faces a 10-year mandatory sentence and up to life in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

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Gina Arquilla DeBoni, an attorney from Romanucci & Blandin LLC, which represents Robinson's mother in a lawsuit against Backpage.com, said a detention hearing for Hazley is scheduled for Friday.

Yvonne Ambrose's lawsuit, filed last month in Cook County Circuit Court, alleges that Backpage.com created an online marketplace for child sex traffickers and contends the company facilitated child sex trafficking by assisting traffickers in the wording of their advertisements to avoid detection by law enforcement.

zkoeske@tribpub.com

Twitter @ZakKoeske
Illinois State Police officials are investigating a road rage incident between two motorists Wednesday morning on westbound Interstate 80 in the Orland Park-Mokena area.

According to a news release from the state police, the incident took place about 7 a.m. near Wolf Road. A preliminary investigation found that the driver of a silver Chevrolet crossover displayed a handgun and may have fired it. But police said there is not enough information to indicate a shooting took place.

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There were no injuries and no damage to the vehicle of the motorist who filed the complaint, police said.

All lanes of traffic are currently open. The incident remains under investigation.

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Anyone who witnessed this incident is asked to contact state police at 815-726-6377. Callers can remain anonymous.

Check back for updates.
Tom Shepherd, of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, conducts a tribute to the Rev. Rod Rhinehart during last year's Blessing of the Waters event in Blue Island. Rhinehart started the annual events 13 years ago. This year's Blessing of the Waters will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday. (Tom Shepherd)

Members of several area churches and others interested in the environment will take their appeal for cleaner water to a higher authority this weekend.

"We pray for clean water and air and for enlightened and dedicated political will to act for better environment," said Tom Shepherd of the Southeast Environmental Task Force and one of the organizers of a Blessing the Waters ceremony set for Sunday at the Calumet Sag Channel aeration station in Blue Island.

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The annual event started 12 years ago under the Rev. Rod Reinhart, a pastor with the Episcopalian Church in Harvey and Blue Island.

The Rev. MaryBeth Ingberg took the reins last year along with Todd Koper of St. Clements Episcopal Church after Reinhart died in 2015.

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Shepherd said the ceremony started with just a few people on the shores of the Cal-Sag Channel but had grown to nearly 100 attendees last year.

Local elected officials are usually on hand along with officials with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

The MWRD's Sidestream Elevated Pool Aeration station, better known locally as the waterfall, helps purify water in the channel and will provide the backdrop for the event.

Ingberg said everyone is invited to the interfaith ceremony.

Local folk artists will provide live music and include songs with messages about the environment. Native American drumming will also be included during the nearly two-hour event.

"Each person is encouraged to take some pre-consecrated water from the Cal-Sag Channel and say some words of their own on behalf of the environment," Shepherd said. "This is an interactive event."

The event could have some political overtones as well.

"Since we began we have experienced such calamities as Hurricane Katrina, earthquakes, epic tsunamis, floods, droughts and now Trump," Shepherd said. "It is rather difficult for environmentalists like myself to avoid politics. There may simply be a passing reference, but we won't focus on politics."

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Ingberg said the gathering serves as a sort of forum, among other things.

"It's kind of an open event," Ingberg said. "People can speak their mind and say what they want.  People bring food. It's a big fellowship event, as well."

Frank Avila, an MWRD commissioner, usually speaks at the event and he said the main message he wants to convey is that people should refrain from using chemical weed killer on their lawns.

He said the chemicals seep into local waterways and that people should only use organic weed killer.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Shepherd said local environmentalists have had some success in years since the ceremony started.

For example, he said they had blocked the Chicago Police Department from using 33 acres of MWRD property on 134th Street for a firing range and practice area.

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Shepherd said the area is comprised of woods and wetlands and is now home to migrating bald eagles.

And Avila said the MWRD is continuing to find ways to be environmentally sustainable.

In two years he said the district will install a system that converts methane gas into energy that will be used to power wastewater treatment plants, saving up to $50 million a year in taxpayer dollars.

The Blessing of the waters starts at 3 p.m. Sunday near the Cal-Sag aeration station, 2250 Fulton St. in Blue Island. More information is with Shepherd at 773-370-3305.

Frank Vaisvilas is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
A Dolton man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges he stole a dozen firearms from a licensed gun dealer outside of Rockford, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Kevin Culps, 20, allegedly stole the firearms from the Loves Park, Ill., dealer on May 8, and Culps was arrested May 30, the government said.

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Along with the theft charges, Culps is charged with illegally possessing the firearms as a convicted felon, and pleaded not guilty to the charges during an arraignment Tuesday, the U.S. attorney said in a news release.
A rendering of the proposed Residence at Brookside Glen apartment development in Tinley Park. Residents of the Brookside Glen subdivision packed a village board meeting Tuesday to argue against approval of the project. (Handout)

Tinley Park's mayor says he won't cast a vote on a controversial apartment project when it comes to the village board for consideration.

Although The Residence at Brookside Glen is still being reviewed by the village's Plan Commission, with a possible vote coming at a June 28 meeting, residents of the Brookside Glen subdivision packed Tuesday's village board meeting, with several speaking out against the 144-unit development.

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Mayor Jacob Vandenberg, who has an uncle involved in the development, told residents at the board meeting he would abstain from a vote on the project.

A mayor typically doesn't vote on matters coming before the board, unless there is a tie, but Vandenberg said he would not vote in such an instance. He had previously said in a statement that, although there is a family connection, he has no financial interest in The Residence, and told the audience Tuesday that "I've recused myself from this conversation."

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Residents of the Brookside Glen subdivision, where The Residence would be built, have said at prior Plan Commission meetings it doesn't fit the character of their neighborhood of single-family detached homes and town homes and would hurt property values.

Two buildings, with 72 apartment units each, would be separated by a clubhouse with an outdoor pool. A dog park also is part of the proposed development. Monthly rents would range from $1,500 to $2,500 for one- and two-bedroom units.

Tracy Mueller, a Brookside resident, told the board Tuesday that "this project doesn't seem right," and that the "targeted market" of residents for the project is "quite different than the rest of the community."

Another resident who said he has children told village officials the project would represent a "large-scale change for a family-based area."

Referring to the buildings as resembling hotels, Michael Stocklose, vice president for Brookside's town home owners association, asked trustees "would you want that in your back yard?"

John Wegner, treasurer of the homeowners association representing single-family detached homes, asked the board to "take into account how the residents feel" when they vote.

With an overflow crowd filling the board's meeting room, other residents listened and watched the meeting from the nearby Kallsen Center.

The large crowds the proposed development have drawn prompted the village to hold the next Plan Commission meeting, where a public hearing on The Residence will resume, in the auditorium at Andrew High School. That meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. June 28.

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If commissioners take a vote at that meeting on the developers' request for special use and site plan approval, their recommendation could initially be considered by the village board at its July 11 meeting, with a second and final vote coming at the board's second July meeting.

Asked point-blank by one resident regarding his feelings about the project, Vandenberg said he had "no opinion one way or another."

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At the close of the meeting, the mayor thanked residents for their comments and concerns and told them "we are listening."

The Residence at Brookside Glen would be developed by Karli Mayher and DJM-Vandenberg Brookside Joint Venture. It would be southwest of 191st Street and 80th Avenue, adjacent to town homes in Brookside Glen.

In 2000, plans were approved for that property for a condominium development consisting of 144 units spread among nine buildings, but it was never built. The developers have said that changes in the housing market have made high-end rental developments more attractive than owner-occupied condos or town homes. Mayher began talks with the village about the current plan last July.

If the proposal doesn't win village approval, the developers could modify the design and make another run at it, village attorney Patrick Connelly told residents.

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"It's not cut and dry," he said. "(The developers) have made every indication that they will come back with something else."

mnolan@tribpub.com

Twitter @mnolan_J
A south suburban high school board member on Tuesday answered to two separate complaints alleging improprieties in recent elections.

During a meeting at the Thompson Center in Chicago, the Illinois State Board of Elections unanimously dismissed one of the complaints and accepted a hearing officer's recommended remedies to address allegations in the second case.

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Both complaints claimed improper conduct by District 228 School Board Parents for Progress, a political committee headed by Bremen High School District 228 trustee Larry Canning.

Former Oak Forest Mayor Patrick Gordon filed the first complaint and provided me with a copy of the hearing officer's recommendations. Gordon alleged Canning "willfully, blatantly and intentionally ignored the campaign disclosure laws." The law defines political committees as necessary when candidates raise or spend $5,000 or more within a year.

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State elections board hearing officer Andy Nauman provided written testimony that Canning filed paperwork organizing the Parents for Progress committee in January 2015. Canning was first elected to the Bremen school board in 2013 and was not a candidate in 2015.

Canning, however, supported a slate of then-Parents for Progress candidates Kristine Resler, Mark Johnson and Kimberly Kampwirth. All three won and ousted incumbents. The committee filed a final report in June 2015.

Gordon alleged Canning should have revived the committee when he ran in April on a Parents for Progress slate with Edward Maggio and Tina Kessens because the slate collectively spent more than $5,000. Canning was the top vote-getter in April, but Maggio, Kessens and others lost to incumbents Debi Stearns and Evelyn Gleason.

"Mr. Gordon believes large sums of money were spent on: multiple types of small signs, large signs, posters, banners, sample ballots, bumper stickers, T-shirts, fundraiser tickets, raffle tickets, a parade float (which was stored in township's garage), postcards, a four-page mailer and printing and postage for three additional mailings," Nauman reported.

Canning works for the Bremen Township highway department and said he had permission to store the float in a township garage between two parades during this year's campaign.

"Mr. Gordon said all of these things add up and he knows campaign materials are not cheap. He indicated that he just worked with a campaign in Bremen Township that raised over $13,000 and they couldn't even afford to send out one mailing to the entire district yet this group had four mailings and more campaign material than they did yet they claim they spent close to $2,000 less," Nauman testified in writing.

Gordon believed Parents for Progress should have filed campaign disclosure reports for the 2017 election because he surmised the candidates must have each spent or raised at least $5,000.

However, Nauman's written testimony said when called to respond, Canning said the three candidates in April determined it would be best to form their own committees. Canning produced receipts showing the slate spent $11,357 and collectively raised $2,337  for a total of $13,694.

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Canning told Nauman when the sum was divided by three, each candidate was responsible for $4,564  below the $5,000 threshold. Therefore, none was required to file committee paperwork with the state board.

In his recommendation to the board, Nauman concluded the Parents for Progress committee was appropriately dissolved in 2015. He noted at the time of its dissolution, the committee owed $8,215 to Canning, who had loaned the committee $9,726.

"Since I do not believe the complainant has identified the proper provisions of the Election Code or rules that align with the allegations of this complaint I recommend the complaint be found not to be filed on justifiable grounds," Nauman wrote.

He concluded, however, that the three candidates in April functioned as one unit and that Canning should reactivate the Parents for Progress committee and "file reports accordingly." The board accepted Nauman's recommendation to dismiss the complaint.

Johnson filed the second complaint and alleged Canning filed false reports and that Parents for Progress committee did not have a treasurer when it existed in 2015. Though Johnson and Resler were part of the committee and were elected to the school board, they've since aligned themselves with a school board majority that is often at odds with Canning.

Nauman noted in his report that the dispute included testimony from Johnson and Resler that both claimed they saw Canning pay $560 in cash to a delivery person from Kenootz Pizza in Midlothian during a 2015 campaign event. Disclosure reports failed to account for the cash that changed hands for the pizza, Johnson alleged.

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Additional allegations included improper accounting of in-kind donations used for raffle prizes at the event and failure to account for donations. Johnson testified that he provided about $200 worth of gift bags for the fundraiser and questioned how Canning accounted for nearly $10,000 in campaign contributions as coming from an "angel donor."

In response, Canning told Nauman that at that first fundraiser he organized as leader of the slate of candidates, he "pooled" all the money raised and had trouble the first time he filed a campaign disclosure report online.

"Mr. Canning admitted he was aware of all the requirements but he believes he did a good job of reporting Parents for Progress activity considering he was a newbie and he had difficulty operating the elections filing reporting system," Nauman wrote.

Canning produced a receipt showing he paid the pizza bill with a credit card, Nauman wrote. Canning told Nauman he, himself, was the "angel donor" who personally paid $3,075 for signage and $6,651 for campaign mailers, and that Johnson and Resler were supposed to continue raising funds to pay him back.

As with the Gordon complaint, Nauman concluded there was "no justifiable grounds" for the allegations. No evidence supporting the claims was provided, he wrote.

"Although, it is apparent that Mr. Johnson and possibly other individuals would not have complied with the subsection concerning in-kind contributions," Nauman wrote.

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Nauman concluded that Resler acted as committee treasurer "in name only," though he was unable to establish Johnson's claim that Canning falsified Resler's signature on quarterly campaign disclosure filings.

"No information or testimony was provided to indicate that the reports were falsified," Nauman wrote. "If Ms. Resler would like to proceed with the allegation that Canning signed her name to a quarterly report, I suggest she take it up with the appropriate state's attorney."

Nauman also found there were indications "record keeping was not sufficient" and "communication between the candidates and the person who filed the report was poor."

As for Johnson's and Kesler's assertions that Canning paid twice for the pizza  once in cash and once via credit card  Nauman recommended "this be further looked into and accounted for appropriately."

Nauman also recommended the Parents for Progress committee reports be amended to account for in-kind contributions specifying the names, amounts and addresses for donors. Additionally, a repeat violation of a similar nature moving forward could subject the committee to a fine of up to $5,000, Nauman recommended.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

He also recommended the committee amend its filings to account for the expense of three raffle prizes; that the committee provide receipts showing payments to campaign workers; and that the committee "must obtain a raffle license" if it is to conduct similar fundraisers again.

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Canning's political adversaries have already used the hints and allegations of financial improprities against him, even before the state board dismissed the claims. During a break in Tuesday's four-hour state board meeting, Canning told me he intends to serve his full term despite a petition calling for his resignation. The petition had gathered 72 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.

"Canning has been accused of campaign finance violations by multiple people which could result in heavy civil financial penalties," states a change.org petition calling for his resignation.

Gordon and Johnson attended Tuesday's hearing but left before the board's decision. I asked Canning, who attended with his wife and one of his two sons, for his reaction.

"I feel this is part of a harassment process that began last fall," Canning said.

tslowik@tribpub.com

Twitter @tedslowik
Amanda Harris stands next the the wall by the Hemmens Cultural Center where the citys Arts Commission is planning to have a mural up to unveil in October. Harris is the city staff liaison to the commission. (Mike Danahey/ The Courier-News)

The city of Elgin should have two new pieces of public art on display in October.

Last week, the City Council unanimously moved forward, for final approval on June 28, a public art plan put together by the city's Cultural Arts Commission. Part of that plan is to set aside $15,000 of the commission's annual budget for a sculpture and a mural this year and in ensuing years. For 2017, the commission's budget is $127,000, according to Amanda Harris, city staff liaison to the commission.

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Monday, Harris said that the commission began seeking and taking applications for such works in March and April, with the caveat that the city might not approve the plan, so that any art, if approved, could be in place this year.

The commission received four submissions for sculptures and seven for murals, Harris said, with applications coming from Illinois and four other Midwestern states. The information artists provided about their pieces was rated on a list of factors, with the three highest scores in each category moved along for the next step.

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Harris said that step was for city staff, including engineering and public works. to look over the designs for the feasibility of their installation. Past that, staff recommendations are headed back to the commission, which is set to make its final decisions at its next monthly meeting, July 10, Harris said.

Harris said the mural would go up on what now is a blank concrete wall on the southeast side of the Hemmens Cultural Center complex. The sculpture would be placed on the southernmost of eight pedestals incorporated into the layout of the Riverside Drive Promenade that were built with the intention that one day they would hold art.

The chosen projects would be unveiled at the Art Harvest in October, Harris said.

Commission chair Joe Vassallo said that the call for art this time was a general one, but in upcoming years they could ask artists for specific themes or for art tied to specific locations in the city. And among the questions, artists were asked for how long they intended for their pieces to be on display in Elgin, Vassallo said.

Of the relatively small set-aside, Vassallo said, "We had to start somewhere, with the budget we have." Having the plan in place with such seed money also helps in looking for grants, Vassallo said.

Harris explained that of the commission's $127,000 budget, aside from the $15,000 now earmarked for public art, another $50,000 is granted to Elgin arts organizations, with the rest of the money put toward functions the group oversees such as the Fringe Festival for theater, a literary festival and a short film festival.

The Council gave the Commission the go-ahead to work on the plan last July in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding Elgin artist David Powers' mural "American Nocturne," but Vassallo said there had been discussion about putting one together for several years prior to that.

Powers' mural from a distance looked like people at a picnic of some sort and was commissioned by the city of Elgin. It first appeared outside the Hemmens Cultural Center in 2007 while being made.

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The work became the subject of a controversy that drew national attention in mid-2016.

The source material for "American Nocturne" was a black-and-white photo taken in August 1930 in Marion, Indiana in which a group of white people are standing in front of the lynching of two black men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. The mural, which was painted by a small group of Judson College students working with Powers, was based on the crowd portion of the photo.

Knowledge of the source material became widely known that May when Elgin Community College student Richard Furr posted about it on the "What's Happening in Elgin?" Facebook page after he and a friend figured out the source material.

The work had been in a downtown walkway for years, but the attention led to the mural being moved indoors. After two public meetings, the work was put into storage, where it remains.

Harris, Vassallo and Tish Powell, the city's council liaison to the commission, said they feel the process now in place could help temper any similar controversy from happening again.

"With public art, anytime (it's installed) there can be a conversation or discussion," Vassallo said.

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The balance the commission hopes to find, Vassallo said, is not to take away from the mission of the city while not trying to censor artists, "but telling them what we're looking for."

Along with picking the two pieces, the commission remains in the midst of putting together an inventory of art the city has among its holdings. Such a list has not been updated since 2002.

Vassallo, who's been involved with the commission for about six years, said that does and doesn't surprise him. He heard the information was at one time kept in a notebook, and that keeping track appears to have fallen through the cracks over the years. It also takes a good deal of man-hours to compile such a list, he noted.

The plan now is to work with the Elgin Area Historical Society, which will manage the database for about $1,000 per year. Harris said that she will be meeting next week with the society about this project, which will involve not only locating but recording 70 pieces of information about each piece.

Harris said the city probably has between 80 and 120 pieces either in storage or on display indoors at city buildings or the Elgin Art Showcase in the Professional Building downtown. The inventory of outdoor art will start with the downtown, Harris said.

Vassallo said eventually the inventory will include war memorials and pieces such as the two life-size bronze sculptures of foxes that were installed on the Highland Avenue Bridge and the Pioneer Family Memorial along the Kimball Street Bridge that both went up in 2001. Other pieces include the bronze fountain statue of a little girl and a little boy under an umbrella that was placed in front of Lords Park Pavilion in 1897, which fell into disrepair in the 1960s and was restored in 1998.

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As such, Vassallo said a challenge for the database is that information on pieces may have been stored by various city departments.

Also being put together is a database of artists who have expressed interest in creating public art for Elgin. This year the Commission also will begin to seek donors for privately sponsored public art projects and embark on a program for what to do with retired art among the city's holdings, Harris said., where pieces would be loaned or donated to schools and nonprofits or returned to their creators.

The recommendations for 2018 include installing a temporary wall on public property where people could create spontaneous art, a sort of collective mural. The Commission would also work with business owners who might be interested in having artists create murals for their buildings.

Looking forward to this effort is longtime downtown businessman Bill Jones. Jones said he would like to have a railroad-themed mural on his building tied to the lines that used to run through the area.

In 2018, the Commission also would start up a neighborhood public art grants program where neighborhood organizations could apply for grants to cover commissions on public art projects for their blocks. That year also would see Elgin begin applying original artwork to utility boxes, using graffiti-proof shrink wrap, Harris said.

Ideas for past 2018 include having artists give talks about their works; hosting juried art shows; giving public art tours; and pairing artists with Elgin businesses for an art in shops program similar to one Aurora has, Harris said.

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The Commission also has suggested that a few years hence the City Council consider creating an ordinance in which a fee equal to 1 percent of the cost of new construction be charged to cover creating public art.

mdanahey@tribpub.com
Former state Rep. Keith Farnham leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse after pleading guilty Dec. 5, 2014, to child porn charges. Farnham died while in federal prison. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Former State Rep. Keith Farnham, 69, of Elgin, who was serving an 8-year prison term for trafficking in child pornography over the Internet, died June 18 at Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina, according Federal Bureau of Prisons officials.

In May 2015, the Elgin Democrat surrendered to authorities at Butner and claimed to be in poor health. Farnham reportedly was suffering from bladder cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, and hepatitis C when he reported to prison.

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Farnham wound up incarcerated after investigators seized computers at Farnham's Elgin home and his Springfield office in March 2014 and found more than 2,750 sexually explicit images and videos of children, some as young as six months old. Farnham, who had held his office since 2009, resigned less than a week after the raid.

"Keith Farnham committed reprehensible crimes, and I continue to feel for the children who were harmed either directly or indirectly by him. And I pray his family finds peace," State Rep. Anna Moeller (D-Elgin) said. Moeller was appointed to the post Farnham had held, and subsequently has been elected and re-elected to the post.

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Terry Ekl, who served as Farnham's attorney said he had recently received a letter from Farnham thanking Ekl for representing him.

"In that letter, he said he knew his days were short," Ekl said.

Ekl said that in cases like Farnham's it was not unusual for people to appear, on the surface, to be very normal, "and they do things that surprise people."

Dan Elvart, who once worked for Farnham, said he had nothing but ill will for Farnham.

Farnham kept a relatively low profile until running for 43rd District State Representative in 2008.

Until that run, Farnham was seldom mentioned in local media, and in 2014 Elgin Mayor David Kaptain noted he rarely encountered Farnham prior to Farnham barely beating three-term incumbent Republican and former Elgin council member Ruth Munson in 2008. Kaptain supported Munson in that race.

In 2001, Farnham and his wife, Susan, were presented with a Mayor's Award for the restoring their historical home they had at the time on Spring Street. That home was displayed during a local historical house walk in 2001, a Christmas walk in 2002, and has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens.

Three years later, Farnham's business, K&R/Christopher Inc., made the local news for a high profile job, a $500,000 contract applying a high-tech finish on structural steel that undergirds the building's glass exterior.

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During the summer of 2007, the Elgin City Council, by a unanimous vote, granted Farnham a $150,000 incentive to turn a rundown former dairy building at Preston and Cooper into condominiums.

That November, Farnham ran for the state representative seat against Munson.

Mark Guethle  Painters District Council 30 Director of Governmental Affairs and Kane County Democrat Chairman  said Farnham had been involved in politics under the radar prior to this.

"We were looking for someone to run for the seat, and he was the only one who wanted to do it," Guethle said.

During his first term, Farnham received the William Stickling memorial award for restoring the old Dairy Lofts building in May 2009. That October, he proposed an ultimately unsuccessful amendment to the Illinois Constitution to limit state spending each fiscal year and require the creation of a rainy day fund to be used during tough times.

The Metro West Council of Government  an association of municipalities in Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties  named Farnham its 2010 legislator of the year that June.

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Over his tenure Farnham hosted phone bill seminars for seniors, animals from Brookfield Zoo to the YWCA, and held a "draft a bill" contest for local eighth grade students.

In 2009 and 2010, Farnham and State Sen. Mike Noland were instrumental in making sure Elgin received River's Edge Redevelopment Zone funding from the State of Illinois in the amount of $8 million and Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity funding in the amount of $1 million to help pay for the Riverside Drive Promenade project, which was mostly completed last fall.

Farnham faced and beat Munson again in 2010.

That December, Carpentersville Village President Ed Ritter and then- Fire Chief John Schuldt publicly thanked Farnham for his help in securing a $100,000 Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Grant to help with the renovation of Carpentersville's Fire Station 2.

In October 2011, Noland and Farnham took credit for helping the city receive $1,758,600 in state grant money for improvements to the Eastside Recreation Center.

By 2012, Farnham's path back to Springfield seemed largely unencumbered. He had no challenger from his party and no Republican to face, either. That July, his former home on Spring Street was used to film a segment of a B-movie horror anthology.

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During 2012 and 2013, Farnham took up the cause of homebrewers, working with them to craft changes to state law than now allow them to offer samples of their beers at public events under certain restrictions.

Before Thanksgiving 2012 Farnham headed to Turkey on a junket that included Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan, representatives of the Illinois Police Benevolent and Protective Association, the Chicago Department of Aviation and other state reps, including fellow Democrats Sara Feigenholtz of Chicago and Robyn Gabel of Evanston.

South Elgin Village Manager Larry Jones and city staff noted they worked with Farnham to set approval for the state providing $4.1 million to fund extending Bowes Road by 4,414 feet, connecting it to Gilpen Avenue and Schneider Drive.

Farnham served on House committees including Economic Development, Public Utilities, Veterans' Affairs and Economic Development. A Maine native, he served in the Navy, and lived in Elgin for more than 30 years.

Like Kaptain, Farnham was a bladder cancer survivor. Kaptain said the men discussed their bouts with the disease, which happened at about the same time.

Kaptain said that Farnham was easy to work with and noted he helped bring money for projects  such as the Riverside Drive Promenade and Bowes Road  to the area.

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Guethle said Farnham voted for what he thought was best for his district which sometimes meant being at odds with some groups and fellow Democrats.

"He got along well with local officials," Guethle said.

Of the child pornography investigation, Elvart said, "It was pretty surprising."

mdanahey@tribpub.com
Aries, K-9 for the St. Charles Police Department, seen with his handler and partner, Officer Nic Anson, died Sunday. The 10-year-old dog had been with St. Charles police since 2008. (City of St. Charles)

St. Charles police are mourning the loss of one of their K-9 officers this week.

Aries, a 10-year-old German Shepherd, died Sunday, police said in a statement this week. Aries had served with Police Officer Nic Anson since 2008.

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"This is a difficult time for the department, but especially for Officer Anson," said Police Chief Jim Keegan. "Nic and Aries worked so well together and Aries truly was a part of Nic's family."

According to St. Charles Police, Aries was rushed to the veterinarian Sunday morning where x-rays revealed he had a large amount of fluid around his abdomen. Officials made the decision to put him down after consulting with the veterinarian.

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The dog assisted in narcotics detection, tracking, building searches, and apprehensions. According police, Aries also assisted Kane County SWAT with operations and was certified by the Illinois State Police. Anson and Aries would train twice a month.

Aries had several signature moments, St. Charles Police said. He located a young girl who had run away from home and assisted in a successful narcotics search with another law enforcement agency.

"Besides his official police duty, he had great outreach for the community," said Lisa Garhan, spokesperson for the City of St. Charles. "I think he will be missed by everyone out there and those of us in the city (departments)."

The city of St. Charles flag is at half-staff this week in honor of Aries, Garhan said. Last year, Aries was honored by the City Council and given an edible "key to the city" by Mayor Ray Rogina.

raguerrero@tribpub.com
The 12-year-old Neil Building on the campus of what was the Fox River Country Day School would be the first building those behind plans for a charter school in Elgin would use, should those plans come to fruition. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News)

School District U46 board members hope to vote on a contract for the area's first charter school next Monday.

What the final contract for the Elgin Math and Science Academy will look like remains to be seen, as board members and attorneys still had questions and concerns at Monday night's school board meeting.

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The two sides remain split over items, such as student discipline, funding and the Fox River Country Day School site. While the number of items needing agreement has shrunk over the past few weeks, some on the board were visibly frustrated over back-and-forth updates, clarifications and suggestions.

"We're going to need something that's final enough that we can vote in the next week or so," said board president Donna Smith.

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One of the items in question was new changes to a section addressing EMSA's facilities in the event of an emergency. Currently, the draft contract allows for EMSA to relocate from the site near Interstate 90 in the event of a catastrophic event.

But board members and attorneys noted the latest draft was broader in its language, potentially allowing for the charter to relocate to another building for non-catastrophic emergency reasons.

Board member Sue Kerr said EMSA's memo made it sound like the buildings may need more repair and work than originally planned. Chief legal officer Miguel Rodriguez said it is uncertain if that is the case the EMSA team attempted to describe in the contract, but the two sides should sit down to address the matter and if the Day School site has issues.

EMSA president Kerry Kelly was not present Monday. Anne Brown, an official with the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, spoke to the board, saying one of her last conversations with Kelly was over this item in question, suggesting the language be more flexible in the event a relocation is necessary.

Another concern arose from how much funding would come from District U46, the charter school's local educational authority. Under EMSA's request, it would receive 92 percent of its per-capita tuition charge funding from U46, or $9,476 per pupil.

However, U46 is requesting one percent lower, at 91 percent funding, or $9,373 per pupil. In a letter to the board, EMSA officials said 92 percent would help maintain a balanced budget.

Board member Melissa Owens said if a one-percent difference in district aid has the potential of "breaking the budget, at that point I think we have some real concerns about the viability of this budget."

The two sides were at odds when it came to student discipline. U46 officials want EMSA to use their student disciplinary code, which Rodriguez said Monday is "one of the best in the country."

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"If the school district approves this charter contract, we are the Local Educational Authority," added Owens. She said EMSA students would be U46 students. "They should be protected to the fullest extent that we protect the students in the district."

However, some on the board want EMSA to have more independence on the matter. Board members Phil Costello, Veronica Noland and Jeanette Ward have at one point lobbied for the charter's independence.

"State and federal law should suffice there," said Costello. "Within that, they have their own autonomy to develop their own discipline."

Board members will meet on Monday. The two sides have set June 30 as a deadline to get a contract through.

If approved, EMSA would become the second charter school in the region, with School District 300 overseeing the Cambridge Lakes Charter School in Pingree Grove.

raguerrero@tribpub.com
Barbara Sittler, retiring Senior Connections Director and Alexander S. Butkus award honoree, left, and Jeanie Ramsey, both of Evanston ( Senior Connections )

Presbyterian Homes in Evanston hosted the Senior Connections 26th annual Appreciation Tea at Westminster Place on April 23.

The intergenerational event celebrated a diverse roster of individuals who volunteer through Senior Connections in a program that matches senior citizens with a volunteer for weekly home visits, enabling the older adult to continue his or her participation in the greater community.

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This year, retiring Senior Connections' Director Barbara Sittler received the Alexander S. Butkus award and the Wendy H. Klinkner Volunteer Leadership Award went to Thomas Gilroy.

For information on volunteering, call 847-869-0682 or email wklinkner@SASIathome.org.
In a 6-0 vote, the Glenview School District 34 Board of Education approved on Monday a three-year contract for full-time and part-time non-certified employees.

The contract, which goes into effect July 1, will apply to cooks, receptionists, custodians, associates and maintenance workers, according to a board report.

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All non-certified employees will receive varied salary increases for the 2017-2018 school year, and the following year all employees except maintenance workers will see a varied increase in salary, according to the report. In the 2019-2020 school year, all non-certified employees will receive a 2 percent increase over the previous year's hourly compensation, it said.

Additionally, all 10-month and 11-month employees will have eight paid holidays and an additional professional development day, according to the board report. Officials are "currently reviewing topics for professional development," it said.

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The district also made "modest changes in our health insurance plans," so beginning Jan. 1, 2018, non-certified employees will be moved to a different health insurance plan, according to a district press release.

The Glenview Professional Association, the bargaining representative for District 34 full-time and part-time non-certified employees, approved the new contract in May with a 98 percent approval rate, according to Heather Hopkins, executive director of human resources. The new contract will allow the district to "attract and retain high quality staff members," she said.

Board President Sam Ach said administrators collected data from neighboring districts to determine changes in the contract that will allow the district to be competitive.

"At the core of this agreement is really a commitment to being able to provide our employees competitive salary and benefits," he said.

akukulka@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @Akukulka11
Board members in North Shore School District 112 expressed concern Tuesday about the optics of using a superintendent search firm linked to a 2015 hiring controversy in their local high school district.

Despite the concerns, they agreed to invite Rosemont-based Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates (HYA) to submit a proposal in order to expand their options beyond the two search firms interviewed Tuesday. The school board heard presentations from two prospective recruiting firms, Ray and Associates and BWP Associates, during their school board meeting.

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"I feel like we owe it to the community to do the very best job and widen that net," said District 112 board member Yumi Ross.

A representative of HYA could not be reached for comment on the firm's interest in being considered for the assignment.

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District 112 is preparing to launch a search for a permanent superintendent to start in mid 2018.

Though the board planned to interview three firms, one recruiter used in the past  School Exec Connect  did not submit a proposal. HYA was not contacted in large part due to the fallout from District 113's superintendent search in 2015.

Co-Interim Superintendent Jane Westerhold also disclosed that she has been an associate of HYA since 2005, meaning she assists with searches from time to time as an independent contractor. Her current District 112 contract prohibits that outside work.

"I recognize, even as an interim, that it would probably be seen as a conflict of interest in the eyes of the community to ask HYA for a proposal," Westerhold said.

Board President Eric Ephraim said his main concern was how the move would be perceived in the community given the events in District 113.

Shortly after District 113 hired a California superintendent as its next schools' chief in early 2015 with HYA's assistance, a series of revelations prompted the school board and the chosen candidate to part ways before she assumed the position.

News reports alleged her husband had engaged in cyber bullying against her critics on a local group's Facebook page.

Some District 113 constituents also were upset to learn of an association between the candidate and the search firm that presented her among the top candidates for the position. HYA acknowledged the candidate had gone through training to assist with searches, but said she did not participated in any searches or receive compensation. HYA at the time said the candidate was not affiliated with the firm at the time she applied for the District 113 opening.

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"There was a lot of vitriol after that," recalled District 112 board member Dan Jenks of the public outrage.

Still, board members agreed to invite HYA to submit a proposal based on the firm's reputation.

Co-Interim Superintendent Edward Rafferty said HYA is one of the most, if not the most, respected firms in the educational search business.

"Many of the larger school districts, many of the high-performing school districts, get proposals from all three firms," Rafferty said. "I think for a district like this, you would want to look at every possible firm."

He acknowledged, however, that if community perceptions would prejudice the process from the start, it would not be advisable to bring in HYA.

Board member Alexander Brunk made it known the events in District 113 would weigh heavily in his selection decision.

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"I think the optics of this are very important, Brunk said.

"This all just happened in the last few years here, and we have to be aware of that," he said.

The prior District 112 school board hired Westerhold and Rafferty to share leadership responsibilities through mid 2018 after former Superintendent Michael Bregy resigned unexpectedly during the middle of the 2016-17 school year. After 2 1/2 years in District 112, Bregy was hired to lead the Beverly Hills, Calif. school system.

Rafferty and Westerhold are each being paid $1,200 a day and receive no benefits. Starting July 1, their work schedules will be limited to 100 days through the remainder of their contracts under state pension rules for retirees drawing benefits from the Teachers' Retirement System.

kberkowtiz@pioneerlocal.com
The USS Fitzgerald is docked on June 18 at the U.S. Naval base in Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo, after colliding with Philippine-flagged container ship ACX Crystal off Japan. (Eugene Hoshiko / AP )

I figure they sounded eight bells earlier this week at Naval Station Great Lakes.

Perhaps the "end of watch" tolling of the bell, marking the death of seven seamen, was done near the bronze "The Lone Sailor" statue dedicated in 1997 on the Recruit Training Command side of the sprawling Navy base by North Chicago.

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The seven died last week after their ship, the USS Fitzgerald, was rammed by a wayward merchant container vessel four times the destroyer's size. The naval collision occurred off the coast of Japan in the early morning hours when most of the ship's 200-member crew were asleep.

At first, the seven were reported missing, thought to have been swept overboard into the Pacific Ocean. After the Fitzgerald limped to its 7th Fleet homeport in Japan, the seven sailors were discovered dead aboard ship.

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Naval accidents are a rare occurrence, but incidents like the Fitzgerald's do happen, and it is a hazard of sea duty.

That is what they train sailors for at Great Lakes. Not for the easy welcoming cruises from exotic port to exotic port, but for the crises, the mishaps that eventually overtake a sterling safety sailing record as the Navy continues its mission as a "global force for good."

The officers and chiefs at Great Lakes have been supplying top-notch sailors to the fleets since President Taft dedicated the 1,600-acre base in 1911. Since 1993, Great Lakes has been the Navy's only recruit training facility in the nation and one of the premier naval training sites in the world.

Annually, about 40,000 new sailors are graduated after boot camp at the "Quarterdeck of the Navy." Afterward, they head to additional training locales across the nation or across the street at the base's mainside or to their first shipboard assignments.

Certainly, the seven, who ranged in age from 19 to 37, went through Great Lakes for recruit training or perhaps advanced Navy teaching, as did their fellow sailors, some who tried to save those trapped in flooded compartments following the crash, according to The Associated Press. That's what shipmates do. That's part of the ethos instilled at Great Lakes.

Sailors at sea weren't the only ones in harm's way last week. A carrier-based Navy pilot took out a Russian-made Syrian jet, which had attacked U.S.-backed forces in the continuing civil war in Syria. According to multiple media reports, it was the first air combat since the Clinton administration sent U.S. forces into the Balkans in the 1990s.

Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

Since then, another U.S. jet shot down an armed Iranian drone over Syria. Things are becoming uncomfortably warm in the conflict there where one needs a score card to determine the players involved and which sides they represent.

While focused on Syria and Russia and sailors dying in a mid-sea mishap, the Trump administration has quietly upped the number of new troops heading to Afghanistan. The Pentagon is sending 4,000 more soldiers to engage the Taliban militants that remain active against the Afghan regime.

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Afghanistan has been the nation's longest war, now in its 16th year. In addition to the latest escalated troop levy, the administration also is weighing sending another 3,000 to 5,000 ground troops to the Afghan theater, according to reports.

There are also U.S. troops in other global hot spots. It remains a dangerous world, one in which sailors and soldiers, Marines and airmen remain ready to respond in kind if the commander-in-chief so directs.

Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.

sellenews@gmail.com

Twitter @sellenews
A man found dead in a retention pond in Crystal Lake this week likely drowned, according to preliminary findings by the McHenry County coroner's office.



The man was found Monday morning in a pond in the 4400 block of Northwest Highway in the northwest suburb, police said. The pond is in a commercial area near Illinois Highway 31.



The man still has not been identified.



Coroner Anne Majewski said in a news release Tuesday that an autopsy conducted "suggests that the adult male ... died from drowning." But toxicology testing is pending, she said.



Crystal Lake police are seeking the public's help in to identify the man.

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.



"We have no reason to believe a threat to the public exists," police said in the release.



Freelance reporter Amanda Marrazzo contributed.
Bryan Ogg, Naper Settlements former curator of research, is seen here in 2015 discussing a collection of artifacts from Naperville's Kroehler Furniture Co. (Jon Cunningham/Naperville Sun )

An attorney representing Naper Settlement's longtime research curator says Bryan Ogg was fired after telling museum officials he wanted to co-author a book on the history of Naperville.

Naper Settlement attorney Kevin O'Hagan, however, said Ogg left his job voluntarily and was not terminated.

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Lawyer Chuck Corrigan, in a June 8 letter to Naper Settlement President and CEO Rena Tamayo-Calabrese, said Ogg was given an ultimatum  to choose between keeping his job or writing the book  that violated his First Amendment rights, resulted in his wrongful termination, and violated city of Naperville and Naperville Heritage Society policies.

Tamayo-Calabrese declined to discuss the matter, referring questions to the attorney.

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"It is my understanding that Mr. Ogg made a resignation that was then accepted by the organization, and apparently he is now changing his mind," O'Hagan told the Naperville Sun. "But the resignation was accepted."

Corrigan disputed that account, saying there was no reason for Ogg to voluntarily leave his job.

"He definitely did not submit a letter of resignation, and he did not orally resign," he said. "They told him he resigned."

Ogg was hired in July 2004 as assistant curator for the Naperville-based history museum. He was promoted to research assistant a few years later, and named curator of research seven years ago, Corrigan said.

The situation began at the end of March, when a local author who wrote a book on a Naperville neighborhood emailed Tamayo-Calabrese about his new book project and Ogg's proposed involvement, Corrigan wrote in his letter.

"Bryan's participation in the book would be solely on Bryan's own time and not on work time," Ogg's attorney's letter reads. "Nothing about the book would in any way pose a conflict of interest for Bryan."

Ogg spoke to Tamayo-Calabrese shortly after receiving the proposal and notified his supervisor about the book via email. Ogg offered to donate any royalties he might receive from book sales to the Naperville Heritage Society, Corrigan said.

Tamayo-Calabrese refused permission for Ogg to co-author the book, according to Ogg's attorney.

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"You told Bryan that he had to either not write the book or resign his job," Corrigan's letter reads. "Bryan stood on his rights and told you he would not resign."

According to Corrigan, Tamayo-Calabrese told Ogg to take the weekend to consider whether he wanted to keep his job or co-author the book. Ogg returned to the office the following Wednesday, after visiting a museum donor in Missouri, and was called into a meeting at which a staff member handed him a memo that announced his resignation, Corrigan said.

"He tore up the memo in front of them. ... He disagreed with the memo because he did not submit a letter of resignation" or anything that could have been construed as such, Corrigan said. Ogg was then given a box to pack up his belongings, Corrigan said.

Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico and John Koranda, chair of the Naperville Heritage Society Board, are CC'ed on the letter.

Chirico did not have a comment on the matter Tuesday. "It's a legal matter at this point," he said.

Ogg is the author of two previous books, written prior to being hired by Naper Settlement, Corrigan said. One is titled, "Peoria Spirits: The Story of Peoria's Brewing & Distilling Industries," which was written while Ogg was working with the Peoria Historical Society, Corrigan said. The other is "Wish You Were Here!: Peoria Edition."

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ehegarty@tribpub.com
Monkey Assassin, an imperial India pale ale, is one of the most recent releases by Pokro Brewing Company in Griffith. (Pokro Brewing Company)

Pokro Brewing Company in Griffith recently upgraded, with the end of March marking the first brew on its new system.

"The previous system was capable of brewing 2.5 barrels for one brew. For this one it can be 10. We've increased our capacity. We can pump out more beer at a time. It actually has increased the efficiency as well," said Robyn Pokropinski, who co-owns Pokro Brewing Company with her husband, Joe.

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The 16-year couple, who opened the business on Valentine's Day 2015, are helped by Dave Gizynski, sales and distribution manager for Pokro Brewing Company, where patrons must be at least 21 years old.

Here is the dish on this local spot, where Leslie Mason, of Schererville, presents Pints and Palettes on the third Thursday of the month and Frank Ruvoli, of Crown Point, hosts open mic nights.

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On the menu: Rotating selections including pierogi platter and tacos. Polish Night on the first Thursday of the month includes bigos, cabbage roll soup, Polish sausage on a bun, potato pancakes and a stuffed pepper dinner.

About the owners: "Joe started homebrewing when he was 20 years old. His mom, Chris, got him a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas. That sparked his interest. He's been brewing on some level for about 20 years. He previously worked in metal fabrication which, believe it or not, is helpful. He was able to fabricate some of his first stands and pieces for the first brew system," said Pokropinski, who has a master of business administration degree. "I worked in marketing and human resources. I managed employees so I have a lot of business background."

A mission statement: "Joe has a lovely little saying that's on his business card. It says, 'Brewing beer to drink and selling the rest.' He brews beer that he, himself, enjoys," said Pokropinski, a Griffith resident who grew up in Lowell. "Joe's mom was 100 percent Polish. He grew up hearing his grandparents speak Polish and eating Polish food. It's comfort food. We're trying to get a homey feel. We want everybody to feel welcome."

Decor: "We have a bit of an Old World, European style in feel," said Pokropinski about the front two tasting rooms where several tables were built by her husband, who also hand-crafted the faux exposed brick. A back area with a man-cave feel includes giant Jenga, boards and bags, and a vintage multicade arcade game.

Specialties: "We always have pierogi on the menu, of course," said Pokropinski, noting that Rob Denny, of Griffith, is kitchen lead. "Rob came up with deep-fried bacon because how do you make anything else better? You deep fry it. He also put cucumber sandwiches on the menu. Those sell pretty well." Also popular is the Double Porker featuring pork tenderloin with fried bacon, topped with beer cheese and served on a ciabatta bun with chips.

We're different because: There are 10 to 12 house-made beers on tap. "Joe does a lot of Belgian and English-style beers. We do have a couple of beers we made specifically for Pierogi Fest last year. We're making those Polish-themed beers again," said Pokropinski, adding that Pokro Brewing Company hosts the second Poktoberfest Oct. 28 with a portion of the proceeds going to Griffith police and fire departments.

Prices: Start at $1.99 for snacks, appetizers and lighter fare or $3.49 for soups, sandwiches and hearty fare.

Logistics: Pokro Brewing Company is at 311 N. Broad St., Griffith. Hours are 2 p.m. to midnight Fridays, noon to midnight Saturdays, noon-8 p.m. Sundays, closed Mondays, 2-10 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 2-11 p.m. Thursdays. Call 219-924-7950 or go to www.pokrobrewing.com.

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Jessi Virtusio is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.
Gary Police Chief Larry McKinley speaks during a press conference on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, concerning the shooting of two children, 8 and 9, in separate attacks Monday night. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

Two children injured in separate shootings Monday in Gary were in stable condition Wednesday, according to family and a hospital spokeswoman, as police continued to investigate.

Gary Police Department had no updates as of Wednesday afternoon about any suspects or arrests in the investigations, according to Lt. Dawn Westerfield, department spokeswoman.

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Chief Larry McKinley said at a news conference Tuesday that it is "unknown if these two incidents were connected with each other" but "this random act will not go unnoticed."

An 8-year-old girl was shot in her left side while eating dinner about 5:15 p.m. on Monday at her grandparents' home in the 2100 block of Chase Street, according to police.

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Hours later, a 9-year-old boy was shot in the chest about 9:30 p.m. about 11/2 miles away while standing in the doorway of a home in the 4300 block of West 19th Avenue, police said.

The children were taken to Methodist Hospital Northlake in Gary before being moved to Comer Children's Hospital in critical but stable condition, according to police.

The girl was "doing a lot better today" and was "getting ready to be moved to a regular room" from intensive care, her grandmother, Valerie Thomas Hopkins, of Gary, said Wednesday.

The boy was in stable condition Wednesday, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

McKinley and Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson visited both of the children, and McKinley said Wednesday that the boy and girl were alert but in pain.

McKinley said his department was starting extra patrols in the area and called the shootings "senseless violence."

"These two innocent children were injured, were harmed and the community needs to stand up," McKinley said.

Freeman-Wilson said that "at some point, people who know what happened have to assist the police."

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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 was joined by area elected officials at the news conference Tuesday who said they were also "outraged" by the shootings.

Gary Common Council President Ronald Brewer said council members were eager to find ways to bring outside help from Lake County Sheriff's Department and Indiana State Police to Gary, and the council discussed the matter at its Tuesday meeting.

Indiana State Police had not been contacted by Gary for extra resources as of Wednesday morning, according to spokeswoman Sgt. Ann Wojas.

The sheriff's department already had officers patrolling Gary, but department leaders met Tuesday about plans for "beefing up" the sheriff's presence, according to Deputy Chief Dan Murchek. The sheriff's department plans to provide extra officers, as well as detectives and resources from the gang and narcotics units.

Lake County Councilman Jamal Washington, D-Merrillville, said he was working with his peers to find funding to support the sheriff's help and plans to present it at their next meeting.

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"We want to have a strategic show of force," said Washington. "We want to make sure it's long lasting and impactful."

rejacobs@post-trib.com

Twitter @ruthyjacobs

Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Merrillville Plan Commission deferred acting on the second phase of the Hunters Glen North duplex development, citing two items that were conditions for approval in the first phase that have yet to be completed, including construction of a berm.

"We need to straighten these out," Commission president and Councilman Shawn Pettit, D-6th, said at the meeting Tuesday.

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The berm was required to shield the neighboring Indian American Cultural Center, 8605 Merrillville Road, from headlights of oncoming vehicles during its religious services.

"(Councilwoman) Chrissy (Barron, D-5th) is not happy that the berm is not in," Pettit told developer Craig Van Prooyen and the engineer for the project, Ryan Marovich.

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Barron told Pettit at another meeting Tuesday that she would like the matter tabled until the berm is started, he said.

"It's not too much to ask that the berm to be put in immediately," Pettit said.

Commission member Brian Dering said the berm could at least be built now so that it is high enough that the headlights don't shine in the cultural center, with landscaping to come in the fall, when the weather is more conducive to planting.

Van Prooyen said he put off building the berm until 86th Avenue is extended by the town to the development.

"The berm would have been done if the road would have been done. It was supposed to be done in May," Van Prooyen said.

Town Manager Bruce Spires said the first leg of the 86th Avenue extension will begin next week, Pettit said it would be completed this year. This will take the road to the first phase of Hunters Glen North.

Spires said he told Van Prooyen that if he started building in the second phase the town would put in a gravel one-way road to be used for emergency purposes and truck construction traffic only.

Pettit also pointed out that there was supposed to be a cash donation in lieu of land for a park in the ward. There currently is no park in Ward 5.

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Pettit said that also was a condition for approval.

Commission attorney William Touchette read the minutes of a meeting in which a representative for Van Prooyen agreed to the donation.

"Part of the problem is Van Prooyen was not at that meeting. His representative made the agreement," Touchette said.

Van Prooyen said he has not yet started to sell duplexes in the second phase.

Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
After 40 years of service to the village of Western Springs, its top boss had decided to step aside and let someone else take over the day-to-day operations of the village.

And village officials aren't looking very far to fill his shoes, as one of their own appears ready to step right in.

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Village manager Patrick Higgins announced publicly Monday that he is retiring effective Aug. 18. He will be replaced by Ingrid Velkme, the director of administrative services.

Higgins, 65, said he has been contemplating retirement for a while, and said now is the right time. He said his decision has nothing to do with politics, as a new village president and three new trustees took over last month, or anything else going on in the village.

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"I originally told former village President Bill Rodeghier three years ago during a luncheon that I was giving my 1,000 day notice," Higgins said. "I pretty much stuck with that."

Higgins said that when he first came to the village in 1977 as part of an internship college graduate degree program, he had no idea that this would be his life's work. Higgins has been village manager for the past 17 years, and officials said he is the longest serving manager in the history of the village.

"I leave this organization in good hands. We have developed an outstanding staff over the years and the new Village Board promises to be every bit as talented and public spirited as its predecessors," Higgins said.

Higgins and his wife, Karron, also live in Western Springs, and he said they plan to continue doing so.

Village President Alice Gallagher said they began discussing Higgins's soon-to-be vacant position during a closed session of the June 12 Village Board meeting, and discussed options for filling the position.

Gallagher said the board came up with two main options: hiring a nationwide search firm to find candidates, which could cost upwards of $25,000 and take up to nine months to complete, or looking within the village staff.

Gallagher said Velkme has served in an assistant to the village manager role. Velkme was interviewed by the board during the closed session meeting on June 12 and Gallagher said, based on her interview, it was obvious she is the right choice for the job.

"Having Ingrid step right in would mean a smooth transition, with no distractions," Gallagher said. "She is familiar with the village, the staff and our upcoming projects, and will hit the ground running."

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No other candidates were interviewed for the village manager position, Gallagher said.

Officials said they will begin to draw up a village manager employment contract for Velkme, who has been with the village since 1987 in various positions, and has served in the assistant manager role since 2000. That contract will need to need to be approved by the Village Board, officials said.

Until then, Higgins said he and the board will begin looking at ways to begin the transition process.
PAWS volunteer Connie Slotkin of Evanston comforted Madison, a 3-month-old male cat, during the second annual PAWS Chicago "Angels with Tails Winnetka" adoption event, held in downtown Winnetka on Saturday. A PAWS official said this week that 36 pets were adopted during the event. (Mark Kodiak Ukena /Pioneer Press )

Downtown Winnetka proved to be the staging ground for 36 dogs and cats to begin new lives with loving families, when the second annual "Angels With Tails Winnetka" adoption event brought dozens of homeless pets from four pet rescue organizations to Lincoln Avenue and Elm Street on Saturday.

The afternoon, presented by Winnetka Animal Hospital and Merrick Pet Care, was organized by PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) Chicago and brought dogs and cats from that no-kill humane pet rescue group's Chicago and Highland Park shelters. It also featured animals from Chicago English Bulldog Rescue, Northbrook-based Heartland Animal Shelter, and the Greater Chicago Cavalier Rescue.

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"We beat our last year's total of 32 adoptions," Julia Poukatch, a communications associate with PAWS Chicago, said Monday of the June 17 event. "It was a beautiful day."

Almost 40 Winnetka businesses lent their stores and storefront areas to "Angels With Tails Winnetka" this year, according to PAWS.

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PAWS Chicago is celebrating its 20th anniversary, after it started with a similar adoption event in downtown Chicago, according to Sara Rehfeld, the group's director of strategic programs and adoption services.

In addition to presenting Winnetka area residents with potential new furry family members, the adoption event also provided educational material about the various rescue groups, and about PAWS' mission to spay and neuter cats and dogs. Dr. Kurt Miller, who founded Winnetka Animal Hospital in 2007, said June 15 that those education efforts were an equally important part of the afternoon.

"The idea of spreading the word about spaying and neutering is very important, which is one of the things that people can learn about at this event," he said.

To learn more about PAWS Chicago, visit www.pawschicago.org/; Chicago English Bulldog Rescue's website is www.ebullymatch.com/, while people can learn more about Heartland Animal Shelter at www.heartlandanimalshelter.net/, and about Greater Chicago Cavalier Rescue at gccavalierrescue.org/.

kroutliffe@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @pioneer_kathy
Police ask public to help identify vehicle allegedly used in homicide
By Jake Liddle

Authorities recently announced tax incentives for venture capital enterprises (VCEs) and individual angel investors (AIs) making investments into tech startups. The incentives for VCEs and AIs are detailed in a joint circular detailing pilot tax policies produced by Chinas Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT).

Most notably, the circular provides similar tax incentives to both corporate and individual investors, irrespective of if individuals make investments as a partner of a limited partner VCE or as an AI. The preferential tax policies aim to promote and nurture venture capital investment.

While a part of Chinas broader initiative to promote the development of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), the pilot program is a component of the US$55.2 billion in tax cuts approved by the government in April.

Pilot tax policies

The authorities will pilot the tax policies in the BeijingTianjin-Hebei area (Jing-Jin-Ji), Shanghai, Suzhou Industrial Park, Wuhan, Xian, Shenyang, Guangdong Province, Anhui Province, and Sichuan Province. VCEs and AIs that make investments into tech startups in these regions may avail of the tax incentives.

The CIT incentives came into effect on January 1, 2017, and the IIT incentives will come into effect on July 1, 2017. Investments made within two years before the implementation of the tax policies will also be eligible for the incentives.

Corporate VCEs, limited partnership VCEs, and AIs that make a direct capital increase (or equity investment) into a tech firm at the seed or startup stage for at least two full years are eligible. Eligible investors can deduct 70 percent of the invested amount from any taxable income amount (derived either directly, distributed by partnership enterprises, or from transfer of equity shares by) in the second year by the tech start up holding equity shares.

Individual Income Tax for Expats in China

If its taxable income does not reach the 70 percent threshold for deduction, it may be carried forward onto the following years to offset further taxable income.

In cases where AIs make multiple investments, and deductions cannot be made because of deregistration and liquidation of a tech startup, the remaining amount can be deducted from taxable incomes derived within 36 months of the deregistration date of the tech startup.

Where a tech startup becomes a listing company in either the Shanghai or Shenzhen stock exchanges, AIs must follow relevant restricted shares regulation in order to sell the startups stocks, which then may be deducted from the tax payable arising from the sales of the stocks.

Such tax policies only apply to cash injections, and not investment through equity transfer from shareholders.

Requirements

In order to enjoy the above preferential tax policies, investors and startups will need to meet the following qualification requirements:

Tech Startups

Should not be established for more than five years at the time of accepting investment;

Should be registered in the respective pilot zones in China and subject to audit of accounts and tax collection;

Employees should not exceed 200 personnel, and should be comprised by over 30 percent holding a bachelors degree or higher at the time of accepting investment;

Total assets and annual sales revenue should not surpass RMB 30 million;

Total costs of R&D should not exceed 20 percent of cost expenditure in the year of investment acceptance;

Shares of the startup should not be listed on any stock exchange within two years of acceptance of investment.

RELATED: Audit and Financial Services from Dezan Shira & Associates

VCEs

Should not be the initiator of the startup;

Should be subject to audit of accounts and tax collection;

Has completed filing with the National Development and Reform Commission or Asset Management Association of China under China Securities Regulatory Commission;

Total equity held by the VCE in the startup should less than 50 percent within two years after the investment has been made.

AIs

Should not be the initiator, employee, or relative of the startup;

Should hold no labor dispatch relation with the startup;

Total equity held by the AI in the startup should less than 50 percent within two years after the investment has been made.

Continued support for SMEs

The Chinese government has been making significant efforts to support SMEs and startups in recent times, having started with corporate income tax (CIT) incentives for VCEs in 2008.

In light of the increasing number of emerging startups, this round of preferential individual income tax (IIT) policies will further support not only provide further support to investment, but will also help to stimulate economic growth and employment opportunities.

Investors should consider the financial background of startups they wish to invest in, as the preferential policies will not be available in cases of non-compliance. Likewise, startups should be ensure that they reach the qualification requirements in order to attract potential investors.



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Greece's flagship Acropolis Museum welcomed a total of 1.4 million people from June 2016 to May 2017, New Acropolis Museum Director and Professor of Archaeology Dimitris Pantermalis announced during a press conference on the occasion of its 8th birthday on Tuesday.

Over 11 million Greek and international visitors have passed through its doors and enjoyed its exhibits since it first opened its doors to the public on June 20, 2009.

"Extroversion has been and remains the main feature of the Acropolis Museum policy," Pantermalis stated.

The Acropolis museum continues to enjoy international acclaim, with foreigners representing 67 percent of its total visitors.

According to the figures presented at the press conference, the number of Chinese visitors (16,369) ranks 6th among foreign visitors, after Americans (148,529), French (69,508), Italians (50,533), British (54,211) and Canadians (22,321).

"To meet our guest's needs, we had also our brochures translated into Chinese," press officer of the Acropolis Museum Danai Zaoussi told Xinhua.

Pantermalis praised during his presentation the Cooperation Agreement that the Acropolis Museum has signed with the Shanghai Museum.

"In December 2016, we visited the Shanghai Museum and began negotiations for the first exchange of exhibits and other activities to take place in the end of 2017," he stated.

For the China-Greece Cultural Exchanges and Cultural Industry Cooperation Year inaugurated in April, the two countries plan exchanges of treasures between museums and collaboration in restoration and preservation of antiquities.

To mark its 8th opening anniversary, the Acropolis museum presented on Tuesday a film about the Acropolis caves and the findings from these caves that were inhabited in prehistoric times.

While, in the evening visitors enjoyed a music concert with famous Greek songs in the Museum's entrance courtyard and free admission to the Museum exhibitions areas from 8 pm until midnight.
The wide-body passenger jet C929, to be jointly developed by China and Russia, is "absolutely possible" to change the market balance in the Chinese aircraft market, said the Russian Airlines Aeroflot's Deputy CEO Giorgio Callegari Tuesday in Paris.

In an interview with Xinhua during the 52nd International Paris Air Show, he said that the project C929 can combine the expertise from Russia and the efficiency of Chinese manufacturers in the aircraft industry, but the change possibly made by C929 is "a long term vision", considering the complexity of aircraft production.

According to him, C929 would be brought into consideration by airline operators if this jet can satisfy the key factors as punctual delivery, competitive products and complete service to support products.

In May this year, the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) has announced that it has set up with its Russian partner United Aircraft Corp (UAC), a joint venture to build C929, 280-seat jets with a range of 12,000 kilometers, in the latest attempt to break into the lucrative market long dominated by aircraft giants, Boeing and Airbus.

The Paris Air Show kicked off on Monday and will end on June 25.
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 exploration of 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, who are all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and also 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.

The military and civilian integration must be based on the situation of the country, Xi said, noting the integration process must bear distinctive Chinese characteristics.

"The ideas, decisions and plans of military and civilian integration must be fully implemented in all fields of national economic and defense construction and in the whole processes," Xi said.

The integration should value national socialist advantage of pooling resources to solve major problems and raising working efficiency, Xi said.

The integration must combine state guidance with the market's role, and comprehensively employ institutional innovation, policy support and legal guarantee to give full play to military and civilian integration, he said.

Xi also noted that the ultimate approach to deepening military and civilian integration lies in reform and innovation, calling for pilot schemes and exemplary models to explore new ways, and expand new space for military and civilian integration.

He also highlighted the proper use of the law in guiding and protecting the integrating procedure and called for improvement in market entry to encourage a larger number of competent enterprises, staff, technology and capital to play a role.

On deepening integrated military and civilian development, Xi called for focusing on key areas such as infrastructure, national defense-related sci-tech industry, weapon and equipment procurement, talent cultivation, socialization of the support system for the military, as well as the mobilization for national defense.

Ideas and requirements of integrated military and civilian development should be implemented in the fields of sea, outer space, cyber space, biology and new energy, Xi said.
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Cambodia (file photo)

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.
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday the U.S. forces should not be present in Iraq under any excuses.

Khamenei said the U.S. forces should not be allowed to enter Iraq "under the pretext of training (Iraqi forces) or other issues," quoted Tehran Times daily.

The Iranian leader made the remarks during meeting with the visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

He urged Abadi not to trust the United States, adding that Washington and its allies are against the Iraqi unity and independence.

Khamenei also said that there is no determination by the United States and its allies to counter terrorists in the region, as the Islamic State (IS) "rose from their backing and money."

For his part, Abadi said Iraq needs the assistance of Iran in fighting the IS and later in reconstructing the country.

The Iraqi prime minister arrived in Tehran Tuesday from Riyadh, where he held talks with top Saudi officials including King Salman.

During his visit to Tehran, Abadi seeks to discuss the expansion of ties between the two neighbors besides the attempts to help Iran and Saudi Arabia reduce the tensions.
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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.
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Photo taken on June 19, 2017 shows the site where a car rammed into a police van on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France. 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. (Xinhua/Li Genxing)

A man who rammed a car into a police van in Paris on Monday pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) and stored weapons at his home to commit attack, a local radio reported on Tuesday.

Identified as Adam Djaziri, the 31-year-old man sworn he was a follower of the IS in a letter to his brother-in-law where he claimed to have played a "double game" in making a cache of arms following his sport shooting activity to pass to act, state-run Franceinfo radio reported.

In a raid to the assailant's home in Essonne, south Paris, police discovered that he had stored weapons, it added, citing a source close to the investigation.

On Monday afternoon, a vehicle crashed into police van in the Champs Elysees avenue near the presidential Palace before it had caught fire.

The man, who died in the attack, was also carrying in his car an assault rifle, two pistols, ammunition and two gas cylinders, according to local media.

He was on intelligences services watch list on links with radical Islamist movement.
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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.
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Suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have reportedly stormed a village in the town of Pigcawayan in southern Philippines early Wednesday, local police said.

Inspector Realan Mamon, police chief of the town of Pigcawayan in North Cotabato, said they received reports that an unknown number of armed men attacked the village at around 5:00 a.m. local time.

Mamon said military troops confirmed the presence of the gunmen in the area, adding that civilians were trapped in the area, where government troops engaged the group in a gunfight.

Local police said earlier that the armed men reportedly stormed a school in the town.

Mamon, however, could not say if there were students being held hostage by the alleged BIFF members as classes had yet to start for the day when the gunmen launched the attack.

The town in the province of North Cotabato is located southeast of Marawi, where the government troops and the IS-inspired militants have been locked in fight since May 23.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has warned of more attacks because of the inroads of Islamic State (IS) into the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
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Islamic State-inspired gunmen briefly seized a village in southern Philippines early on Wednesday, and took hostages as human shields while fleeing, police said.

Government troops have been sent to Pigcawayan town, in Mindanao's North Cotabato province to repel dozens of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) gunmen who occupied Malagakit village, according to Chief Inspector Realan Mamon, the town police chief.

A military official said the attackers also snatched five residents whom they used as human shields as they fled.

The police official told a local radio that the gunmen stormed the farming village at around 5:00 a.m. local time, and that an unknown number of civilians have been trapped in the fighting.

The BIFF, which had split from the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) over ideological differences, has been tagged by security forces as one of the insurgent groups in the Philippines that pledged allegiance to the ultra-radical global terror group.

Captain Arvin Encinas, a regional army spokesperson, said they were still validating reports that among those held hostage by the gunmen were students from a local primary school.

Some BIFF fighters were believed to have slipped to Marawi City, some 300 km from its base in the marshland areas of central Mindanao, and joined other radical groups in the fight against security forces.

The fightings in Marawi City has killed nearly 400 people and displaced over 200,000 and has been going on for nearly a month now.
Note: This is the latest entry in the Acton blog series, What Christians Should Know About Economics. For other entries in the series see this post.

The Term: The Economy (aka Gross National Product)

What it Means: When people refer to the economy they are usually referring to a particular ideaGross Domestic Product (GDP)which is itself simply an economic metric. GDP is often used as a single number that measures the economy. Imagine you wanted to put a price tag on the value of all the final goods and services produced by every sector of the economy (all of the crops grown, all of the lattes served at the coffee shop, all of the hours billed by lawyers, etc). The total number youd put on the price tag is the GDP.

Why it Matters: Humans have seemingly unlimited wants and needsbut a limited amount of resources. This is known as scarcity, and its the fundamental problem in economics. The primary way we solve this problem is through market exchanges: you make something I want or need and I give you something you want or need in return (we do this indirectly through the use of money). The occurrence of all of these exchanges is what we call the economy, which is why we can use the metric that measures the sum of all of these exchangesGDPas a synonym. When we say the economy is growing/shrinking, we are saying the total value of the goods and services being exchanged (GDP) is increasing/decreasing.

An economic unit (whether a family, country, etc.) is generally better off when everyone is able to meet all (or nearly all) of their material needs and many of their material non-necessary desires. That is why economic growth is so important. While the issue is complex and requires some nuance to fully explain, the simplistic answer is that economic growth matters because people continue to have babies.

As the population increases, more resources are needed to feed, clothe, and shelter all of the new people that are being created. To understand why this happens, lets consider a scaled-down economic model.

Imagine a village that has 100 people living in a state of economic equilibrium, that is, their economy is neither growing nor shrinkingtheir GVP (Gross Village Product) never changes. Everyone has just enough food, clothing, shelter, and other amenities to take care of themselvesno more and no less than enough for subsistence living. Now lets imagine that a baby boom occurs, and 20 new children are added to the village. What happens to the standard of living for the villagers? Assuming that they redistribute their resources equitably, everyone (including the new children) will only have 83% of the resources they need to survive. Over time, they will begin to starve or die of malnutrition.

We can see this occurring today in countries with low economic growth (i.e., stagnant or declining GDP). As the population increases, there are not enough resources for everyone to rise above the poverty level.

Similarly, in the U.S. we need to create around 400,000 new jobs every month just to keep up with the babies that are growing up and entering the labor market. If the economy does not grow there will be no jobs for them. In the short term, we can merely shift resources around through redistribution (e.g., unemployment compensation, welfare) to prevent the unemployed from going hungry. But without long-term growth (e.g., long-term increases in GDP) a countrys wealth becomes depleted, causing instability and social breakdown.

However, if the new workers do find jobs and are engaging in productive labor, the economy will automatically grow as these laborers buy goods and services. Economic growth is, after all, a natural byproduct of productivity.

Economic growth is not a goal that should be pursued for its own sake, nor is it a means to achieve a materialist paradise. Economic growth is not the chief end of man, but merely the blessing that results from fulfilling Gods dual cultural mandate: Be fruitful and multiply and steward the earths resources.

Other Stuff You Might Want to Know:

The Economy is a 20th century invention  Its the economy, stupid, is a popular variation on a theme political strategist James Carville came up with for Bill Clintons 1992 presidential campaign. Most everyone who heard that phrase understood it referred to the current economic situation. But if Carville had said it a hundred years sooner, say in 1892, few people would have understood what he meant.

We hear the phrase the economy so often that its hard to believe it was a 20th century invention. But it was invented for the Great Depression. As Zachary Karabell, author of The Leading Indicators, explains:

It was invented because there was clearly a perception that there was something really, really bad going on but they didnt really know what. You could see there were homeless people on the street, you could see there were the Okies heading from their Dust Bowl farms off to California by the tens of thousands, but there was no way of really grasping it.

How GDP is measured  GDP can be determined in three ways. One of the most common is the expenditure approach (i.e., all expenditure incurred by individuals during 1 year). The formula is:

Y = C + I + G + (X  M)

Where (Y) is the sum of consumption (C) (i.e., consumer spending), investment (I) (e.g., investment made by businesses), government spending (G) (e.g., government salaries, weapons systems), and net exports (X  M) (i.e., the stuff we send to other countries minus the stuff we import from others). Notice a problem with this approach? Increasing government spending automatically increases GDP.

GDP is not GNP  Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product sound so similar that many people assume theyre the same. The key difference is that GDP is based on the geographical location of production while GNP is based on ownership of production. So if a U.S. or foreign firm operates within the borders of the U.S., its production counts toward GDP. But if a U.S. firm operates in a foreign country, its output counts toward GNP, but not GDP.

GDP numbers are issued every 3 months, but are frequently revised  GDP numbers come out quarterly, but since its hard to be exact, they are often revised afterward. For example, at the end of April, 2014, the government reported economic output had grown by only a 0.1 percent annualized rate. But a month later (May 29, 2014), the consensus estimates are that the economy actually shrunk by 0.5 percent.

GDP is an indicator of recessions  The technical indicator of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by GDP. (This is the standard definition, though the National Bureau of Economic Researchthe agency that officially determines recessionsdoes not necessarily need to see this occur to call a recession.)

GDP is not a measurement of the standard of living  If you divide a countrys GDP by the number of people living in that country, you get GDP per capita. This number, however, doesnt really tell you much about individual living standards. It would be like dividing a familys income by the number of people in the family. A family may earn $100,000 a year but that doesnt mean the two children in a family of four each have $25,000 of their own money. Decreasing GDP can be a sign that a nation is worse off than it should be, but an increase in GDP does not necessarily mean the standard of living has increased. Sometimes its just improper accounting. For example, in 2010 Ghana made its GDP go up 60 percent overnight just by changing its measurement conventions. The standard of living for Ghanians, however, did not increase just because of the accounting change.

GDP shouldnt be judged for being something its not  In 1968, Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy famously said that GDP does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. All of that is trueand completely irrelevant. GDP can tell us about the state of our economy, but the economy cannot tell us the state of our souls. We shouldnt criticize a metric for failing to measure something it was never intended to gauge.
Two pedestrians walk past the Shanghai FTZ. [Photo/China Daily]

Editor's note: In the run-up to the 19th CPC National Congress, China Daily will cover a series of reforms, showcasing huge improvements in the country's services.

More than 60,000 free trade accounts help serve over 27,000 domestic and overseas companies in about 110 countries and regions

It has become a blueprint for success and a model for economic growth.

Rolled out in September 2013, the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone was the first of its kind.

Since then, it has been a major driver in economic expansion in the city and across the country.

"Shanghai FTZ became a national test modelit was not just a local initiative," said Weng Zuliang, Party secretary of Pudong.

Eye-popping numbers illustrate the achievements of the free trade zone during the past three-and-a-half years.

The Shanghai FTZ has expanded to 120.72 square kilometers from its original size of 28.78 sq km. Last year, it produced 75 percent of GDP for the Pudong New Area, where it is situated.

It also accounted for one fourth of the city's GDP.

Statistics also showed that the "negative list for foreign investment" has been dramatically reduced, while the number of newly registered companies increased to more than 40,000 since 2013.

This equalled the total number posted in the two decades before the trade zone was launched.

"During the past three-and-a-half years, Shanghai FTZ has made major strides in investment, trade, financial reform and the change of government functions," said Weng.

Data revealed that the time needed for clearance of imported container goods and airfreight has been reduced by 25 percent and 11 percent respectively.

More than 60,000 free trade accounts are also in operation, serving more than 27,000 domestic and overseas companies in about 110 countries and regions.

But there are still challenges ahead for the Shanghai FTZ as it continues to grow.

"One of the major tasks in the near future is to become more closely linked to the country's Belt and Road Initiative, so that more companies can reach overseas markets," said Weng.

Again, figures showed that companies registered in the Shanghai FTZ have reported total trade volume of 333.9 billion yuan ($49 billion) with economies involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Breaking down the numbers, it was up to 60 percent of the total trade volume in Shanghai.

In the first quarter of this year it topped 95 billion yuan, up 28.7 percent compared to the same period in 2016.

By the end of last year, companies registered in the trade zone had funded 108 projects in 25 countries related with the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe to the old Silk Road.

Another key area has been total investment volume, which reached 4.38 billion yuan, fueled by Belt and Road projects.

Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, for example, has changed its strategy from being a purely exporting company to funding projects.

So far, the group, which was one of the world's largest manufacturers of cranes and large steel structures, has invested in 14 economies involved in the initiative, Weng confirmed.

"To better participate in the project, the Shanghai FTZ will first seek smoother communication with the local governments," he said.

"We will perfect the infrastructure in Pudong, further complete the financial system and ensure multilateral trade, so that local consumers can have more choices of overseas products," he added.
China's massive power sector is coming under increasing pressure to make progress under State-owned enterprise reform, in a bid to turn around the loss-making industry, analysts said.

There are currently 12 central SOEs in the energy sector, making up more than 10 percent of the country's total number of 102 SOEs. Analysts say it has the biggest potential to restructure through mergers and integration.

Peng Huagang, deputy secretary-general of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, at a news conference in early June reinforced how important it was to speed up reform in sectors like coal power generation, heavy equipment manufacturing and the steel industry.

Soon after, China Shenhua Energy Co and Guodian Technology and Environment Group, two major listed power heavyweights, announced a halt to the trading of their shares.

Analysts said that they suspected the utilities had responded to the latest call on reform by the authorities and halted share trading, because the coal and electricity giants were holding merger talks.

"The coal power generation sector has been falling behind," said Essene Security analyst Peng Weijun.

"The demand for thermal power is declining and the price of coal is going up, and the thermal power companies are losing profits," he said.

"It is very likely the two giants were about to integrate their industrial chain, both their upstream and downstream operations, to solve the problem."

Between March and June, Xiao Yaqing, chairman of the SASAC, made seven field trips to various SOEs to see the progress being made in their reforms.

In his most recent trip to China Shenhua Group, another power company, Xiao said that SOEs should keep deepening their reforms, optimizing their industrial structures and pushing forward supply side economic reform in the power supply system.

Li Jin, chief researcher of the China Enterprise Research Institute, said that not only the electricity and coal sectors saw the possibility for mergers, but also the thermal and nuclear power sectors were weighing their options.

"Some SOEsespecially the heavy industry, energy and power businesseshave too much capacity, while there are others with capacity in short supply," he said.

Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, said that through restructuring the country's nuclear power technologies could achieve higher value-added exportsfor example, with nuclear and high-speed railway technologies with intellectual property rights.

"Approval (of the restructuring) has come at a critical time, as the country embarks on a massive nuclear power plant program to optimize its energy mix," Lin said.
Hong Kong continues to remain an important source of investment for the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Investors from the city have set up more businesses there than any other region or country, according to Li Wei, deputy general manager of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Group Co Ltd, developer and operator of the FTZ.

"Hong Kong tops the rankings of the number of enterprises established in the FTZ by investors from regions or foreign countries since its inauguration in 2013," Li said at a forum on June 8.

By the end of last year, figures showed that nearly 3,200 enterprises had been set up by Hong Kong investors since the FTZ was rolled out nearly four years ago. Taiwan province was a distant second with 456 enterprises while the United States was third with 419.

"Registered capital from Hong Kong was more than $550 billion by the end of last year, which was also the highest," Li said at a forum held by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences in the run up to the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China on July 1.

"Japan was second in the rankings with $23.32 billion and Singapore was third with $23.28 billion," he added.

Hong Kong and Shanghai are vibrant financial centers and have close ties when it comes to services and trade.

Li pointed out that many collaborations go back more than a decade.

Links with the Hong Kong Standards and Testing Centre, which was established in 1963, were established in 2005 when a Shanghai branch was set up in the Waigaoqiao bonded zone.

This later became part of the free trade zone and now the HKSTC is one of the largest institutions in Shanghai to carry out testing in various industries, such as food, toys, digital products, fabrics and furniture.

"Since Shanghai FTZ increasingly uses testing results from third-party institutions, it (HKSTC) will continue to develop here," Li said.

Statistics from the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Group also showed that Hong Kong is a preferred destination for Chinese mainland investors.

There were 369 investment opportunities penciled in for Hong Kong on file with the Shanghai FTZ by the end of last year or one in three of all projects.

"The US came second in that category with 18 percent," Li said.
BEIJING - 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.
BEIJING - China began importing US beef on Tuesday in fulfilling its pledge on the US-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 US 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 US 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 US beef in December 2003 after mad cow disease was found in US 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 US cattle producers, who will be regaining access to an enormous market with an ever-expanding middle class.
BEIJING - 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.
BEIJING - China lauded MSCI for its decision on inclusion of Shanghai and Shenzhen listed stocks into the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, said a spokesperson for the securities regulator on Wednesday.

"The MSCI inclusion responds to the needs of international investors and shows investors' confidence on Chinese economy and financial market. We always welcome this," said Zhang Xiaojun, a spokesperson for the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

China's capital market will welcome overseas investors in a more open manner, Zhang said.

"The MSCI inclusion is both a challenge and an opportunity for China's capital market. We will continue the reform to make it more market-oriented, internationalized and governed by law and help it grow steadily," he said.

The spokesperson vowed to protect investors' legitimate rights, improve the capital market's competence to serve the real economy and increase its international influence.

"The CSRC will work with relevant parties to further improve the rules and regulations for overseas investors to invest in A-shares and facilitate their investment in various ways including tracking the MSCI index," said Zhang.

Global equity indexes provider MSCI announced Tuesday in the United States (Wednesday in Beijing) that beginning in June 2018, it will include China A-shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the MSCI ACWI (All Country World Index) Index.
This morning, Queen Elizabeth II opened a new session of the UK Parliament by delivering her 64th Queens Speech. This event, which contains ceremonial elements dating back centuries, lays out the governments vision for the upcoming legislative session. The 2017 Queens Speech focused primarily on Brexit and enhancing trade with the rest of the world, as well as terrorism, the Paris climate agreement, and NHS funding. This years speech differed from previous years in a number of ways, notably its delayed scheduling, its reduced ceremonial pomp, and the fact that it will usher in a two-year-long session of Parliament.

What is the Queens Speech?

The Queens Speech is the formal beginning of Parliament. This event involves all three constituent elements of Parliament: The Sovereign (King or Queen), the House of Lords, and the House of Commons; members of the judiciary and the Church of England, as well as invited guests, are also traditionally present. From a throne in the House of Lords, the queen reads a speech written by the government that details its legislative agenda for Parliament in the upcoming year or session.

What are the ceremonial elements associated with a typical Queens Speech?

The Sovereign usually rides in a horse-drawn carriage, escorted by the Household Cavalry, approximately one mile from Buckingham Palace to Parliament in Westminster. Wearing the crown and the Robe of State, with its long, dark red velvet train, she leads a procession to take her place at a throne in the House of Lords. At that time a senior official in the House of Lords, known as the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod (usually shortened to Black Rod), walks to the House of Commons to summon the lower chamber to the speech. Lieutenant General David Leakey has served as Black Rod since 2010; the office was instituted in 1350.

When he arrives, the door is slammed in his face  a tradition dating back to the English Civil War, symbolizing Parliaments independence from the monarchy. Black Rod then raps upon the door three times, the doors are opened and MPs, led by the prime minister and the shadow cabinet, process to the House of Lords.

The Lord Chancellor keeps possession of the speech until he hands it to the Sovereign. Until recently, the text was inscribed on vellum, an exquisite parchment made from calfs skin, but is now written on goatskin parchment (which contains no actual goatskin). The queen returns it to him after it has been read. Following the speech, both houses of Parliament meet and draft an Address in Reply to Her Majestys Gracious Speech.

Queen Elizabeth II has only failed to deliver the speech in person twice, in 1959 and 1963, due to pregnancy. In each case, the Lord Chancellor read it in her place.

How was the 2017 Queens Speech different from previous years?

The 2017 Queens Speech stood out in comparison with prior years in three ways:

The prime minister delayed the speech by two days. PM Theresa May moved the Queens Speech, originally scheduled for Monday, to this morning reflecting uncertainty that her Conservative Party would be able to strike a governing arrangement with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The Conservative Party lost its slim majority following the June 8 snap elections, and negotiations to hammer out a confidence and supply arrangement with the DUP haven dragged on longer than anticipated. Failure to secure a vote on the Queens Speech could have triggered a no confidence vote and another national election. The 2017 Queens Speech omitted traditional ceremonial elements. A number of accoutrements of royal pomp and circumstance were missing from this years speech. The queen arrived by car rather than by carriage. She made no royal procession to the House of Lords, and she wore a hat and day dress rather than her crown and Robe of State. Prince Philip, 96, was absent this year after being admitted to King Edward VIII Hospital due to an infection caused by a preexisting condition. The queen was instead accompanied by her son, Prince Charles. There will be no Queens Speech in 2018, as this year begins a rare two-year-long session of Parliament. The prime ministers office announced last week that Parliament will sit for two years, instead of the usual one, to give MPs enough time to fully consider the laws required to make Britain ready for Brexit. This is only the third biennual Parliament since 1949. The last took place in 2010, as David Camerons Conservative Party struck an unsteady coalition government with the Liberal Democratic Party led by Nick Clegg. Critics say the term is designed to help May cling to power; Tory officials say the two-year Parliament was planned before the snap election was called.

What policies did Queen Elizabeth II announce in the 2017 Queens Speech?

The speech, which began at 11:30 a.m. London time, focused largely on Brexit. It featured Theresa Mays characteristic phrases, such as providing stability and securing the best possible deal from the European Union. Among the most significant policies contained in the 27 bills referenced were:

Brexit and EU regulation. Eight of the 27 bills mentioned this morning related to the UKs exit from the European Union. Parliament will vote to repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, which cemented the UKs membership in what became the EU. The queen also referred to the Great Repeal Bill, which will transpose the full body, or acquis, of EU regulations into UK law.

Future free trade deals, global development, and low taxes. The queen said, My government will seek to maintain a deep and special partnership with European allies and to forge new trading relationships across the globe. This echoes Mays vision of expanding free trade, especially with the developing world, since the UK will no longer have to impose high tariffs on imported agricultural goods. This may well stimulate commerce and reduce poverty in underdeveloped nations. The speech promised to spend 0.7 percent of national income on international development to project British values around the world, while keeping taxes low.

Paris climate agreement. The queen vowed to support international action against climate change, including the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Critics say the agreement, which President Trump has opposed, will hamper Western economic growth while doing little to improve the environment.

Additional spending and minimum wage increases. The speech signaled Mays goal of generating tax revenues needed to invest in the National Health Service. The British Red Cross has accused the perpetually imperiled NHS of creating a humanitarian crisis through a combination of long waits, overcrowding, and understaffed facilities. Increasing NHS funding is a top DUP demand. The Queens Speech also vowed to increase the UKs national living wage, which the Institute of Economic Affairs warns will cost thousands of jobs. The queen promised action to tackle the gender pay gap; to fight discrimination based on race, faith, gender, disability or sexual orientation; and to eliminate unfair tenant fees.

Security and privacy reforms. In the wake of a wave of terrorist incidents sweeping the UK, the government has indicated it will crack down on online extremism. It also backs a Data Protection bill that secures greater online privacy, and provisions to allow greater flexibility in serving in the armed forces.

Does this speech put other issues off the table?

The Queens speech added, Other measures will be laid before you. The phrase is a hallmark of such orations, allowing the government to introduce additional policies not delineated in the speech. Among the issues most notably missing from the speech were:

Social care reform. The queen did not mention the more controversial aspects of the Conservative Partys manifesto, such as the so-called dementia tax, ending universal free school lunches for the youngest school children, and means-testing home heating assistance. Tories blame Mays rollout of such policies for their electoral setback.

Immigration. The queen pledged to establish new national policies on immigration; however, the Tories pledge to reduce immigration to tens of thousands a year was conspicuously absent.

President Donald Trumps visit and the U.S-UK special relationship. The Queens Speech made no mention of President Donald Trump making a state visit to the UK. There is a silver lining for the president, though: The queen promised to meet the NATO commitment to spend at least two percent of GDP on defense, a measure he forcefully and publicly advocated during the G-7 and NATO summits last month.

Was there a religious element to her speech?

Queen Elizabeth II concluded her speech by saying, I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels.

You can read the full text of her speech here.

(Photo: Screenshot of the 2017 Queens Speech.)
Customers walk past a L'Oreal counter at a shopping center in Rizhao, Shandong province. [Photo/China Daily]

Major foreign cosmetic companies are basking in the sweet smell of success after a move to cut red tape on imported beauty products in Shanghai.

The decision to prune the customs procedure from three months to one week in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone has been hailed as key breakthrough for overseas makeup and perfume businesses registered in the FTZ.

New regulations started in March and will run for a trial period until Dec 21, 2018. If it proves successful, it will be extended.

"Related departments can provide the filing certificate within five working days now," according to authorities at Shanghai FTZ.

L'Oreal China was one of the first multinational cosmetics companies to benefit from the policy change.

The French group plans to launch a new Lancome cleansing mask later this year to coincide with the new regulations.

"For cosmetic products, three months is a long time in terms of fashion," said Yu Xiao, director of the registration and claim affairs at the scientific and regulatory affairs department at L'Oreal China.

The blue-chip brand reported sales of 7.04 billion euros ($7.9 billion) in the first quarter of this year, according to the company's website, with the Asia Pacific region, which includes China, posting 1.5 billion euros.

"Companies will be more competitive because of the new policy and consumers will be more in tune with international trends," Yu said.

Figures released showed that cosmetics brought into the Shanghai FTZ make up 30.4 percent of the total volume of imported beauty products for the whole country.

Leading global players such as L'Oreal, Estee Lauder and Amore Pacific consider the market here vital to their worldwide operations.

"The new policy will benefit the color cosmetic products the most as they are frequently updated with new editions," Yu said.

"There are always special editions for Christmas and New Year. With this policy, we can catch the right time to roll out our products here," she added.

Since the trade zone was launched nearly four years ago, a total of 73 multinational companies have set up their regional headquarters there.

More than 8,300 foreign firms have registered within the Shanghai FTZ while import and export volumes increased by 5.8 percent last year.
Editor's note: A gathering like Lujiazui Financial Forum offers a platform for dialogues among financial regulators and professionals. The annual meeting, which kicked off in Shanghai on Tuesday, focuses on the industry issues and global economy. Here is a selection of quotes made on the first day of the forum.

"Many Chinese financial institutions have entered the global market and have adapted to international competition, and have experienced substantial changes, particularly in terms of risk management, pricing, and anti-money laundering.

...financial service is a competitive industry and can benefit from opening up. China's financial sector is going to open up further."

-Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China
Some of the mainland's big-cap stocks have been included in a benchmark index of US index provider MSCI, which is widely expected to give a big boost to the wobbling domestic A-share market.

Indeed, the inclusion of 222 A-share companies in its Emerging Markets Index and All Country World Index, beginning in June 2018, could potentially bring in more than $400 billion of funds from institutional investors over the next decade.

However, whether a stock market can fare well does not rely only on capital inflows; more fundamentally, it hinges on a healthy, transparent, and law-based regulatory system.

Such a regulatory system is still needed for the A-share market.

Launched in the early 1990s, the domestic A-share market has made many attempts to improve both the quality of its listed stocks and its regulatory management. Although it has been criticized by many for failing to root out fraud and insider trading, regulators have been strengthening the fight against market irregularities in recent years.

For example, in 2016 and the first five months of this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has issued 194 punitive decisions against 108 companies and 558 corporate managers. It also blocked 64 corporate managers and securities companies' employees from continuing to work in the industry and imposed heavy fines on those found to violate relevant laws and regulations.

Still, to better protect investor interests and boost market morale, the commission needs to learn from their Western counterparts and impose tougher punishments on companies and corporate staff found guilty of fraud and malpractices, so as to clean up the market and restore investor confidence.

In China, a stock must get the go-ahead from a special committee of the CSRC before it can be traded. After it starts trading, however, punishments often seem lenient compared with the regulatory practices of Western countries.

A recent case testifying to the leniency shown by the CSRC is that of Jiangsu Yabaite Technology Co Ltd. The CSRC said in May that investigations found the company fabricated overseas business contracts and trade transactions so that its profits ballooned by 260 million yuan ($38.1 million) from 2015 to September, 2016. In 2015, its fabricated profits accounted for 73 percent of its total reported profits, the CSRC said.

The CSRC fined the company 600,000 yuan and forbade some senior company managers from entering the market again.

But the senior managers of the company sold most of their holdings after the share price rose strongly on the back of the padded corporate earnings while individual investors suffered serious losses as the stock price tumbled from a high of 23.95 yuan per share to 8.13 yuan.

Considering the big gains made by the cheats and the lenient punishments they received, the CSRC's decision has been described as being nothing but encouragement for more such fraud.

In a stock market with sound regulatory rules, such light punishments would be unbelievable.

For example, in the well-known Enron fraud scandal, the company was fined $500 million and ultimately de-listed; corporate CEO Jeff Skilling was convicted of securities fraud and sentenced to 24 years and 4 months in prison; chief financial officer Andrew Fastow was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with no parole; and Arthur Andersen LLP, once one of the global "big five" accounting firms, was found guilty of criminal charges relating to its auditing of Enron, which seriously damaged its credibility and led to its later demise. Loss-suffering shareholders, meanwhile, filed for compensation and received a final settlement of nearly $7.2 billion.

It may take a long time for China's stock market to become as sound as the US', but the regulatory bodies have demonstrated the resolve to continually strengthen regulation to provide a better environment for domestic and international investors.
China will play a leading role in the actions to fight climate change, officials said in a media conference during the recent 8th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM8).

"Up to 23 cities in China took part in the Under 2 MOU committed to climate leadership," said Joan MacNaughton, board chair of The Climate Group. The 23 cities include Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

MacNaughton said that the Climate Group is delighted to work with China on climate issues.

The Under 2 MOU is a government coalition that refers to limiting warming below 2 degrees Celsius, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists say is needed to avoid dangerous consequences.

The Under 2 MOU aims at limiting greenhouse gas emissions to 2 tons per capita, or 80 percent to 95 percent below the 1990 level by 2050. Right now, its members reached 175, accounting for over 1 billion of world population and one third of the world economy.

"China's leadership on climate change goes back so many years. China is the first producer and installer of renewable energy in the world, and is taking an active role in producing solar energy and wind energy," said Christiana Figueres, vice-chair of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.

Figueres said that China is a country that has a compelling vision for green finance under the leadership of the Chinese central bank. "We appreciate China's contribution to global decarbonization," she said.

At present, many companies are eyeing Chinas efforts in climate change. According to Frank van Mierlo, chief executive officer of 1366 Technologies, a Boston-based company producing silicon wafer, an important component used in the solar industry, is already doing business in China, and is considering partnerships in the Chinese market.

The company produces high-performance silicon wafers with half of the production cost. Its advanced manufacturing technology reduces the cost of the wafer by half, requires just a third of the energy and eliminates production steps, time, and wasted material while producing a high performance wafer.

"According to the China Solar Association, China accounts for over 90 percent of the world's silicon wafer production in 2016. It's an important market," said Qian Yanchao, 1366 Technologies' chief representative Asia.

"Environmental protection is the right goal of our company. We make sure that we have an efficient manufacturing industry. Given 50 percent of the market share, our silicon wafer technology will save the earth 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide," van Mierlo said.

Mark Marino contributed to this story.
BEIJING - Chinese business travel market is expected to maintain steady growth this year, according to an industry report.

Managers have positive outlook toward the business travel market, with about 45 percent of those surveyed expecting increased travel this year, out-performing the global average, according to AirPlus, a leading German travel services provider.



About 41 percent of the managers believe that the Chinese economy will support the business travel sector, and that the Belt and Road Initiative will increase international business exchanges.



Over 90 percent of business travelers use mobile payment tools to pay for their trips, according to the report.

Globally, business travel payments will become easier, smarter and safer through digital solutions, according to Michiel Verhaagen,board member of AirPlus International.



China is the fourth largest market for AirPlus, which saw deals grow by 34 percent in 2016, according to Wang Lu, managing director of AirPlus International China.
China set up its first artificial intelligence alliance on Wednesday in a move to expand the industry at a gallop.

Led by the China Center for Information Industry Development, tech giants like Intel China, iFlytek Co Ltd, JD.com, SAP China and Ecovacs Robotics Co teamed up to form the non-profit organization, called China Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation Alliance, or CAIIIA for short.

It focuses on creating AI value through adjusting nimbly to technological acceleration that AI breakthroughs will bring about.

The newly formed alliance set goals to incubate 50 AI-enabled products and 40 firms, launch 20 pilot projects, and set up a general technology platform in the next three years.

At the launching ceremony, CAIIIA reached agreements with government officials to construct four industry bases in Tongzhou in Beijing, Songjiang in Shanghai, Qingshan in Wuhan, and Xixian New Area in Shaanxi province.

The launching ceremony kicked off at the Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Conference 2017, where industry leaders gathered to address opportunities and challenges with AI technologies.

"AI has arrived, incontrovertibly," said Yang Xueshan, former vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the honorary advisor appointed by CAIIIA.

All human tasks, without exception, could be completed by AI technologies by 2050, said Yang, whose prediction is based on China's ever-increasing massive computing power and affordable tech resources in the long run.

So far, over 200 enterprises, including tech firms and research institutions, have joined the alliance.
BEIJING - The State Grid Corporation of China, the country's biggest utility, said on Wednesday that it has completed purchase of a 24-percent stake in Greece's power grid operator, ADMIE.



The 320-million-euro deal marks another major investment by the State Grid in Europe after buying stakes of power grid companies in Portugal and Italy.

ADMIE is owned by Greece's Public Power Corporation (PPC), which owns, runs and maintains the power transmission network across Greece. The network, which is integrated with grids in many other European countries, is a key power transmission corridor in southern Europe.



Beating bidders from Italy and France, the State Grid won the tender in October 2016. Upon completion of the stake transfer, the State Grid will send its own management team to the Greek company.



The two companies will also strengthen cooperation in power grid construction, financial investment, grid operation, research and development and personnel training.



State Grid owns stakes of backbone power grids in seven countries and regions including Italy, Portugal and Australia. It manages assets valued at more than $56.8 billion. All of its overseas projects are profitable.
Baheal Pharm, a Chinese company that focuses on e-health, signed a partnership agreement with IBM in Beijing on Wednesday to introduce Watson for Genomics to medical institutions in China.

Watson for Genomics, a cognitive computing platform for more precise treatment of cancer patients, will help doctors to better identify mutations in cancer that are potentially treatable and provide doctors with treatment options, according to IBM Watson Health.

"The overall death rate of cancer patients in China remains higher than developed countries such as Japan, and a major reason is that some of them receive treatment that is not up to standard," Fu Gang, chairman of Baheal Pharm, said. "We hope the application of Watson for Genomics can help doctors at the grassroots improve treatment for patients."

Lancelot Guo, vice-president of IBM (China), said Watson for Genomics has already been used in some countries, such as the United States, and he hopes patients in China can have new choices with the introduction of the technology.

Jiang Zefei, a doctor specializing in breast cancer at Peoples Liberation Army 307 Hospital in Beijing, said with the help of precise genetic testing doctors can provide more precise treatment to some of their patients, such as avoiding prescribing ineffective drugs.

"Artificial intelligence will not replace doctors, but it can be a good aid to doctors to improve their efficiency and relieve their workload," he said.
Chinese authorities announced that the nation has lifted a 13-year import ban on some US boneless beef and beef on the bone, and industry insiders see it as a win-win result that is expected to drive the economic growth of both countries.

The announcement signals the fulfillment of another achievement of the Sino-US 100-day action plan, which aims to boost bilateral economic ties. Since June 20, eligible US beef has been allowed to be imported into China, according to the statement of General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China.

It also published detailed quarantine requirements, stating that the removal of the ban applies to cattle under 30 months old. Beef importers should be registered at the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China, and imported cattle must be traceable to their birth farm.

Beef imported into China must be sourced from cattle that were born, raised and slaughtered in the United States, or cattle born in Canada and Mexico before being slaughtered in the United States. The cattle must not be the offspring of cattle suspected or diagnosed with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as "mad cow disease", the statement said.

China has banned imports of most US beef since 2003, partly due to concerns over the spread of "mad cow disease". Previously, the US was China's largest supplier of imported beef.

Currently, China is the fastest-growing market for beef consumption globally, and the imported beef mainly comes from Australia, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Last year, consumption of beef in China reached 8 million metric tons, and the market scale achieved 360 billion yuan ($52.7 billion), according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China's domestic beef market has a 10 percent demand gap that needs to be fulfilled by imported suppliers.

"This is a win-win achievement for both China and the United States, the imported US beef will better fulfill the demand of Chinese consumers," said Zhao Ping, director of the international trade research department at the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
Wang Shi, founder and chairman of China's real estate giant Vanke Co Ltd, announced on Wednesday he will step down and the company's president Yu Liang will take his place.

Experts said this move marks the end of a high-profile battle for control of the company, but concerns remain that its stock price is still sluggish.

On the heels of the announcement, Vanke's Shenzhen-listed shares increased by 1.52 percent on Wednesday morning, but closed at 21.04 yuan ($3.14), a gain of just 0.05 percent.

Wang Shi, founder of China's real estate giant Vanke Co Ltd. [Photo provided to China Daily]

As the term of Vanke's current board has expired, its largest shareholder, Shenzhen Metro Group Co Ltd, on Monday proposed a list of nominees for its board of directors to be submitted to a shareholders meeting scheduled for June 30.

Three executives from Vanke are proposed to be included in the board and Yu Liang will become the head of the board. A graduate of Peking University, Yu joined Vanke in 1990 and has been its president since 2001.

On the nomination list, three executives of Shenzhen Metro are also proposed to be elected as non-executive directors, including its Chairman Lin Maode, General Manager Xiao Min, and Chief Financial Officer Chen Xianjun.

A surprise nominee is Sun Shengdian, chairman of Shenzhen Electronics Group Co Ltd, but no executives from Vanke's second and third-largest shareholders are listed.

Wang Shi posted a photo of him and Yu Liang on his WeChat Moments on Wednesday morning, with a caption reading, "When considering the change of the board, I have decided not to be nominated."

He also noted that "Vanke will enter a completely new development stage in the future and I believe it is the best time to pass the baton to Yu Liang's team, who are young but mature."

Yu Liang, new chairman of Vanke Co Ltd. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Wang established Vanke in 1984 in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, but in the beginning it was only engaged in trading and retailing business, according to Tencent News.

In 1988, Wang entered the property industry with the purchase of his first piece of land, and 24 years later Vanke became one of the largest developers in the world in terms of sales volume.

However, it has been stuck in a two-year long battle for control since July 2015, when Baoneng Group started to buy Vanke shares. Baoneng once even proposed to remove Wang from his leading position.

Shenzhen Metro then stepped in and became Vanke's largest shareholder earlier this month, holding almost 30 percent of the company's total shares. The State-owned railway company on Wednesday said it respects Wang's decision and hopes Yu Liang can lead Vanke to the top of the real estate industry.

"Vanke is about to have a period of close cooperation with Shenzhen Metro and the battle for control is finally coming to an end, a result that is positive for Vanke's development," said Ouyang Liangyi, associate professor at Peking University's HSBC Business School in Shenzhen.

He predicted that Baoneng, Vanke's second-largest shareholder, will choose to exit, but it is not easy.

"Shenzhen Metro is already the biggest shareholder so it is unnecessary to buy more. So who else will take it as the stock is already at a relatively high position?" he questioned.
BEIJINGTsinghua Tongfang Co, a technology arm of one of China's elite universities, is planning to acquire a stake in a maker of medical therapies, a deal that has the potential to emerge as the largest-ever investment in a Chinese healthcare company.

Tongfang is planning to buy up to 29.9 percent of Shanghai RAAS Blood Products Co, the two companies said in stock-exchange statements, adding that the terms of the transaction haven't been finalized as yet.

Based on the healthcare company's market value of $14.8 billion, purchasing a stake at that upper limit could cost more than $4.4 billion.

Tongfang plans to buy the stake with cash or by issuing shares, Shanghai RAAS said in its statement.

A maker of therapies derived from human blood plasma, Shanghai RAAS has thrived on China's surging demand for treatments used during surgery or by patients whose blood doesn't clot normally.

China is the world's largest market for blood therapies after the US and the Chinese industry's sales are expected to climb from $2.5 billion in 2014 to $6.2 billion in 2019, data provider Marketing Research Bureau estimates.

Tongfang was established in 1997 as a technology unit under China's Tsinghua University. It manufactures a wide range of products like personal computers, displays and tablets.

The company also provides IT services in the energy, healthcare and financial sectors. Tongfang operates research and manufacturing facilities in more than 20 countries and regions, according to its website.

Shanghai RAAS was informed by its two controlling shareholders that they were planning changes to the listed company's shares, according to a statement on the Shenzhen stock exchange.

Tongfang and RAAS declined to comment beyond their statements and shares of both companies have been suspended since April 21.

BLOOMBERG
DETROIT - Alibaba founder Jack Ma said Tuesday the Chinese e-commerce giant is confident that it will help support one million small US businesses to sell to China and the rest of Asia through its network in the next five years.

"If we can help one million small businesses online and each business can create one job, we can create one million jobs," said Ma, who added that "we are pretty knowledgeable on that."

Ma made the remarks at Gateway' 17, a conference held by Alibaba in Detroit. The conference, which is held on June 20-21, features 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.

Ma said Alibaba has been supporting small US businesses to sell and buy online in the past 18 years. In California alone, the company has already helped create more than 20,000 jobs, according to Ma.

"At the time we had little experience, now we have a lot of experience," he said.

The conference marks Alibaba's official first step to introduce opportunities in China to US small and medium-sized enterprises.

Ma said the company's business strategy in the United States differs from that of Amazon or eBay.

"Our model is to bring American small businesses and farmers to China, (and) to Asia. Because we have a lot of middle class Chinese who need high quality products," he said.

Asked about his opinion on globalisation, Ma said he is a firm believer of it as well as free trade.

"In the past 20 years, globalisation and free trade were designed for big companies and developed countries. In the next 30 years, we should make globalisation more inclusive to support small businesses, young people and farmers," said Ma.
China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group chose Detroit, Michigan to stage its inaugural two-day Gateway '17 Summit, which kicked off on Tuesday and is designed to educate American small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the Chinese market and consumer demands to ultimately help them sell to China.

Approximately 3,000 American SMEs registered for the summit, almost triple the number Alibaba expected. Among them, 673 are from Michigan and 103 of those from the Detroit metro area.

In a conversation with American SME representatives on Tuesday, Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma said this first-ever event was "what he has been dreaming of for 18 years" - a trade show held solely for the benefit of small businesses.

Industry observers believe the event is also to fulfill the promise Ma made during his meeting with the then-president-elect Donald Trump in January - that Alibaba could help create 1 million US jobs over five years by enabling small businesses to sell goods on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms.

Small businesses in China have an acclaimed record of helping Alibaba lay a solid foundation for a decade of rapid growth, and transform the e-commerce company into today's robust conglomerate that has 50,000 employees worldwide and has generated $547 billion in gross merchandise volume as of March 2017, said Ma.

The Chinese success stories can be replicated in the US, he added, "Alibaba is made in China but our mission is to help SMEs worldwide."

Calling himself a true believer in globalization and free trade, Ma hopes globalization could be more "inclusive and support SMEs' participation in globalization".

Having accumulated more than 800 flight hours last year by attending trade shows and expos worldwide to promote Alibaba's business solutions, Ma said he plans to fly longer hours, probably 1,000 or so this year, to help American SMEs grow globally and sell to China.

"This summit is just the very beginning of our endeavors in the US," he said.

Becky Feinberg-Galvez, CEO of Shop4Ties, brought samples of ties and bows from her 30-year-old family factory in Chicago. She said China is a market too huge to miss, and "this summit is educational and informational."

Timeless, a skincare products manufacturer in South California, wants to learn more about the Chinese market at the event. "It's eye-opening to know the huge market potential in China," Glenda Nunez, customer relations manager, said. "We are in the process to work with Tmall to expand our business to China."

On Monday when meeting with Michigan State Lieutenant Governor Brain Calley, Ma shared his thoughts on connecting Midwest small businesses through Alibaba with the 300 million Chinese middle class who won't hesitate to pay heftily for good-quality products.

Representing the vast Midwestern states in the US and hometown to tens of thousands of small businesses and farms, Michigan suffered heavy losses in the economic recession of 2008 and is still struggling to bring back its vigor.

"When the economy went down, big companies just left, but small businesses chose to stay," said Ma. "We want to help them succeed and grow through the internet."

Calley agreed closer and stronger business collaboration with China will benefit the local economy. He said he hopes to launch more cooperation with Alibaba on logistics and tourism in the future.

"We are not Amazon or eBay, we are not selling Alibaba brands," said Ma. "Instead, we are helping American small businesses sell their high-quality products to China. We are happy to help farmers in Michigan to sell their fruits and vegetables to Asia."

Calvin Zhou contributed to this story.
Visitors examine the new Huawei P10 devices during the Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona, Spain on Feb 27. [Photo/VCG]

Chinese mainland companies took 10 spots among the world's top 14 smartphone suppliers in 2016, according to a recent report by market research institute IC Insights.

The shipments of Chinese smartphone brands Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, ZTE, Lenovo, Xiaomi, TCL, Gionee, Meizu and LeEco/Coolpad totaled 587 million units last year, with a combined market share of 39 percent, according to the report.

Of the 14 smartphone suppliers, OPPO and Vivo were the two fastest growing last year with each growing by almost 90 percent. They are owned by the same parent company BBK Electronics.

Shipments of Gionee and Huawei surged by 53 percent and 33 percent respectively in 2016.

As LeEco became Coolpad's largest shareholder in October last year, the report combined the two companies' smartphone shipments.

Apple and Samsung continued to dominate the smartphone market in 2016, but their combined shipment slipped from 555 million units in 2015 to 526 million in 2016, with market shares dropping four percentage points to 35 percent.

In 2016, global smartphone shipments were 1.49 billion units, an increase of 4 percent from 2015.
A soldier from the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison teaches a child to use a mock laser gun. ZHOU HANQING/CHINA DAILY

Openness and care for the community ensure a warm welcome in the city, as Willa Wu reports from Hong Kong.

The People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison has been well-trained, disciplined and civilized during its 20 years in Hong Kong, playing a positive role in safeguarding the city's stability, said Lieutenant General Tan Benhong, the garrison commander.

The garrison has won Hong Kong people's hearts with its low-profile presence, growing openness and continuous care and respect for the local community, he added.

The garrison is a pioneer in China's military history because it is the first time the PLA has stationed and managed troops in a city that has a capitalist economic system and enjoys a high degree of autonomy.

As a result, the garrison's soldiers follow stricter patterns of discipline.

After China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, many in the city feared the garrison would interfere in local affairs. Keeping a low-profile presence is a way of countering suspicions.

However, being low-key does not mean the soldiers never leave their bases. It simply means the garrison respects the Basic Law and the Garrison Law, and does not disturb residents.

In contrast to its low-profile presence, the garrison is open to Hong Kong people so they can learn more about it. So far, the garrison has opened its barracks to visitors 28 times, attracting 620,000 local people.

At the most recent open day, in July last year, the 26,000 free tickets were all taken within four hours of being released.

"I remember the first time we had an open day. The kids who came stood at a distance, with puzzled looks," said Fang Xuegang, deputy squad leader of a naval squadron of the garrison.

"But during last year's open day, the kids all looked excited and eager to take photos with us. Some even asked us to hug them."

Meanwhile, the garrison has organized 12 military summer camps for teenagers and six military experience camps for university students.

As a result, 3,600 local people have caught a glimpse of the country's military power and learn about national security and the progress of the PLA and the country.

In the past 20 years, in addition to routine training and military missions, the garrison has also actively participated in Hong Kong's public activities, showing their care and concern for the community.

The troops have planted more than 92,000 trees, donated 3,380 liters of blood and offered help to 4,300 seniors and children in care homes.

Every day at 6 am, soldiers from the garrison's squadrons spend half an hour on voluntary worksalvaging rubbish floating on the waters near their base on Stonecutters Island.

"We don't produce the rubbish, but we feel obliged to keep Hong Kong clean because the city is a second home to us," Fang said.

During the run-up to the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China, the garrison will maintain a number of principles.

The base will adhere to the one country, two systems principle, discipline itself in accordance with national laws, the Basic Law and the Garrison Law, and equip itself with advanced weaponry and knowledge.

Additionally, the troops will, safeguard national sovereignty, security and developmental interests, as well as Hong Kong's long-term stability and prosperity, said Yue Shixin, political commissar of the Hong Kong Garrison.
Hong Kong's Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor will be the SAR's first female chief executive.CUI NAN/CHINA DAILY

Hong Kong's chief executive-designate, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, says she hopes the city will take advantage of China's increasing economic power to seek new impetus for its long-term prosperity and stability.

Lam, the first female chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said she is optimistic on China's future development and that Hong Kong's rapid growth as an international financial center and regional business hub could not have been achieved without the nation's economic takeoff since the reform and opening-up.

According to the SAR's government, Hong Kong's GDP last year was HK$2.5 trillion ($320.6 billion), an 81 percent nominal increase from 1997.

"Based on my experience as a civil servant in the past more than 30 years, I believe Hong Kong's future is very promising, thanks to our country's rise as an emerging economic power," Lam said.

She said Hong Kong can always find a new growth point under the context of national development.

"The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013 will provide new opportunities for us to move forward and maintain our advantage as a regional service center," she said.

Lam said Hong Kong could use its experience in asset management and risk management to make a contribution to the nation's major development plans, including the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) and the Belt and Road Initiative.

The prosperity and stability Hong Kong has enjoyed during the past 20 years exemplify the successful implementation of the principle of one country, two systems-"Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy, Lam said.

After being elected as Hong Kong's fifth chief executive in March, Lam pledged to do her utmost to uphold the one country, two systems principle and guard Hong Kong's core values.

She also promised to address issues concerning the city's future development, such as applying new resources to education, tackling housing problems and introducing new financial and tax measures.

"I expect Hong Kong to become a place where residents will feel satisfactory, children will grow up happily and healthily, young people will have an arena to exert their advantages and elderly could enjoy their retirement," she said.

Based on the latest data, Hong Kong continues to be the world's most expensive housing market. Lam conceded that rising prices are an urgent issue for the next government and said she intends to tackle the problem with measures such as a "starter home" program.

She also plans to put more resources into the education system to cultivate more talent for sustainable development.

The city government introduced a policy of free kindergarten education this year, extending the 12 years of free education to 15 years.

Lam, who was former chief secretary of administration, said Hong Kong has fallen behind in the Internet Plus industry and that it will be the next government's priority to catch up.

"I invited Jack Ma, the chairman of Alibaba, to my office for advice on developing Hong Kong's internet industry at a faster pace," she said.

To push forward the city's economic development, government needs to become more positive and play news roles, Lam stressed.

"I felt the heavy burden on my shoulders when I received the appointment document from Premier Li Keqiang," Lam said. "Being the chief executive of Hong Kong can be really challenging as I have to be responsible to both the central government and the city.

"But I have confidence in making Hong Kong into a vigorous special administration region in the nation."
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.[Photo/Xinhua]
Editor's note: In the run-up to the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress, China Daily will cover a series of key projects and advanced equipment of national importance, showcasing the country's huge improvement and relentless efforts at innovation.

The thirsty eastern and northern regions of China received 10 billion cubic meters of diverted Yangtze River water as of June 9 - enough to fill Hangzhou's West Lake, in Zhejiang province, 700 times.

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project, one of the world's biggest, has also played an outsized role in other ways, like improving the environment and promoting pollution control, according to the project's construction committee.

"The project has brought tremendous benefits to society, the economy and the environment," the committee said in a statement.

The first phase of the central route, which has been channeling water 1,276 kilometers from Danjiangkou Reservoir to Beijing since 2014, has brought more than 2.28 billion cu m in total, helping to support social and economic growth, said Pan Anjun, a spokesman for the Beijing Water Bureau.

"Beijing's water resources have risen from an average 100 cu m per capita to 150 cu m last year," he said.

The diverted water now accounts for 73 percent of the capital's daily water supply and is pumped to 11 million people, according to the committee, which is under the State Council.

Construction on the grand project of delivering water from the Yangtze basin started on the eastern and central routes in 2002. The first phase of the eastern route was completed in 2013, followed by the first phase of the central route in 2014.

The two long diversion channels have delivered 10 billion cu m of water as of June 6, and served over 93 million people in 33 cities in the arid regions of Beijing, Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Shandong and Jiangsu, the committee said.

In addition to easing their water shortages, these areas have also seen environmental improvements, especially in underground water.

Many cities have relied on underground aquifers as their main source before the arrival of the Yangtze water. In Beijing, the water table rose 36 centimeters in April compared with the same month last year, because of recharging from the diverted water. In some regions, the water table rose by as much as 8 meters, the committee said.

In addition, to protect the quality of water during diversion, the regions through which the channels run have strengthened monitoring and water pollution controls.

The Shandong and Jiangsu provincial governments cooperated in building 426 water pollution control projects between 2001 and 2010 for the eastern route, managing to cut pollution discharges by 85 percent.

More measures have been undertaken, as well, including improvements in the water quality monitoring network and the monthly releases listing water quality in major sections under a State Council plan.

By 2020, all 22,800 villages and 211 counties along the two routes will implement comprehensive pollution controls, according to authorities.

The South-to-North project, initially envisioned in 1952, consists of three planned routes - eastern, central and western - and able to deliver 44.8 billion cu m upon completion, the statement from the committee said.
Zou Daoyi, a founder of the "Leaving Love in the World" group, poses with an employee of an eye hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province.Provided To China Daily

A group of senior citizens in Wuhan, Hubei province, have banded together to offer up their bodies for organ donation and medical research upon death.

The group, which dubs itself "Leaving Love in the World", was initially founded by 19 people, but has since seen its membership more than triple.

Wu Min, one of the group's founders, described it as a volunteer civil organization that provides counseling and promotes organ donation. All members are registered with the Red Cross Society of China, the 66-year-old retired nurse said.

Xia Guangzhong, another of the group's original members, said he was inspired to join by two of his friends, Li Peilan and Zhang Shouling, who died in 2006 and donated their organs after death.

"When I reached 70, I made three big decisions: not to dye my hair anymore, to take plenty of exercise and to be come an organ donor," said the 78-year-old retired principal from Ezhou, Hubei province.

"Organ donation is done out of consideration for social and medical needs. Even if my organs are aging, my skeleton, corneas and skin can all be donated."

Since making the decision, Xia has taken up swimming, hiking, brush calligraphy and the piano to keep his body and mind healthy.

"I started playing the piano at age 70 and love playing The Butterfly Lovers the most," he said.

Ming Wei, a Wuhan Red Cross Society coordinator, said the group's optimism was "touching".

But it has not always been easy to promote organ donation, with some members quitting after complaining the group was obsessed with death. Xia rejects this notion, however. "We are not a group awaiting death; instead, we live life anew everyday," he said.

Organ donation can still be somewhat of a taboo subject in China, especially among the older generation.

Xia said some of the group's members had difficulty convincing their family members that organ donation was the right thing to do. One had even signed the paperwork, but was forced to rip it up by his wife.

Another had forged his son's signature on the consent form, but was eventually able to convince the younger man to change his mind.

So far, seven of the group's members have donated their organs upon death.

"We are proud to be donors," said Xia, as he took the donor card that the Red Cross Society had given him out of his wallet. "We are proud to donate our bodies for transplants and medical research after death."

Xin Wen contributed to this story.
Bu Xian (second from right) poses with workers and children during an interview at an orphanage in Tanzania.Photos Provided To China Daily

Harbin native chronicles lives of compatriots living on continent

A five-episode documentary series entitled Bubu in Africa, which was made by a Chinese woman and aired recently on a TV station in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, has revealed the everyday lives of many ordinary Chinese people on the world's second-largest continent.

Bu Xian, 30, who obtained her master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, gave up her job as the host of a well-known Chinese-language television channel in New York after two years to become a journalist for a Chinese-language newspaper in Tanzania in 2014.

"The television channel I worked for is broadcast across the entire United States, and I enjoyed working there," Bu said. "But I wanted to push my boundaries and test myself outside the US."

Soon after her arrival in Tanzania, Bu made friends with many Chinese, including people who worked at the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, local vendors and those working on projects funded by China.

"I didn't realize how dangerous the place could be until I was told that a relative of the chamber of commerce's president was shot dead there. And I soon heard Chinese friends complaining about traffic congestion, unsanitary living conditions and the poor infrastructure network," Bu said. "I was mystified as to why people chose to stay if life was so hard."

The contrast between the US and Tanzania gave Bu the idea to document the life of Chinese living in Africa. During a short trip back to the US after three months in Tanzania, she told her professor at Columbia University about her documentary plans.

"He advised me not to focus solely on people's bad experiences, but to pay more attention to the daily life of the average Chinese person living in Africa," she said.

Bu took her professor's advice on board and returned to Tanzania.

After hearing the story of several different people from various walks of life, she chose a housewife to be the focus of her first mini documentary.

"In order to take care of her child and her family, she quit her job with a foreign company in China to become a housewife in Africa," Bu said. "During the process of teaching her child Chinese, she started a new business, teaching the language to others, which gave her a new direction in life.

"I really liked the story and tried my best to film and edit a compelling documentary, but my work was heavily criticized by a domestic media expert."

But Bu didn't give up on her original idea. Instead, she spent more time studying high-quality documentaries and she resigned from her job with the newspaper, eight months after arriving in Tanzania, so she could focus fully on filmmaking.

With savings of $15,000, Bu bought a new camera and began a four-month trip around Africa.

"The cost of living is quite high in Tanzania, especially for foreigners," she said. "To save money, I rented a room in a dormitory at a textile factory that was built by China in the 1960s."

It cost her $500 a month, one-fifth of the price of renting an apartment. More importantly, it was much safer to live in the factory due to the security system.

"It is inconvenient and unsafe without a car in Tanzania," she said. "I was lucky that I had many Chinese friends, who helped me a lot. They drove me to different destinations and protected me if we encountered any dangerous situations while filming."

In addition to Tanzania, Bu filmed in Kenya, Zambia and Egypt.

She visited child welfare centers, Chinese communities and the African Maasai ethnic group, which all left a great impression on her and contributed significantly to her documentary series.

"I found Chinese people in Africa to be hardworking and industrious, which is showcased in my work," Bu said.

After completing filming, she returned to her hometown of Harbin at the beginning of last year.

With the help of a local TV station, she completed the editing of her five-part series. In April, Bu received an offer from Tel Aviv University in Israel to study an international master of arts degree in Middle Eastern studies.

"I hope I will have more chances to explore the world," she said. "I believe I will succeed wherever I am thanks to my wonderful experiences in Africa."
It is 11 am. The sun is blazing. Waves of heat lick the cement ground, causing images to waver from afar. It is quiet. Even the grass planted on both sides of the parade ground is still, as if too hot to move.

A troop of 210 soldiers, clad in green uniforms and caps, stands tall in the middle of the parade ground. Their left legs, straight with toes pointed, are lifted at a fixed angle. Sweat, running in rivulets, rolls down their foreheads, cheeks, necks and disappears under their collars to reappear on their uniforms, front and back.

These soldiers are the Guard of Honor of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison.

They are practicing posture training, a routine drill that requires lifting the leg to a certain height and angle; when it touches the ground, a stride of 75 centimeters. When seen from the side, all the legs are lifted in a level line.

"Being neat and orderly is everything to the honor guards. They are the face of the PLA," said Han Yimeng, acting head of the Guard of Honor at the PLA's Hong Kong Garrison.

Han, who has been in charge of drilling honor guards in Hong Kong for seven years, said the major focus of the training lies in appearance and spirit: "The honor guards should present themselves in high spirits with synchronized movements."

Established in 1952, the PLA Guard of Honor is primarily responsible for ceremonial and protocol missions, having long been praised for their elevated spirits and the precision of their drills.

The Hong Kong detachment, which was formed in 1997 with soldiers selected from the PLA Guard of Honor, has carried on the fine tradition, Han said, adding that his troops have won the hearts of the people of Hong Kong people through more than 150 ceremonial missions in the past 20 years.

"I still remember the faces of the Hong Kong people when they saw us parade during the 15th handover anniversary in 2012. I could tell from their expressions that they admired us and felt so proud," Han said.

"Now we will have female guards in the formation."

The first batch of 13 female PLA Guard of Honor soldiers made their debut in Beijing, at a welcoming ceremony for the President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov, when he visited China in May 2014.

Previously, female PLA soldiers were usually assigned to noncombat units, such as communications and artistic troops. However, in recent years, more have joined combat units such as fighter jet squadrons and the Special Forces.

Wang Jinyu, from Hunan province, was one of the new recruits when the PLA Hong Kong Garrison started to train the female guards in February last year.

"To be honest, the drills are painful and tiring," the 25-year-old soldier said, knitting her brows. She recalled training to hoist the 3.75-kilogram bayonet rifle to her shoulder while marching: "The gun is too heavy to be lifted easily by female honor guards. And it is even harder to do it in just 3 seconds with your legs still moving."

She cried several times after failed attempts. "Not because of the painful drills, but because I felt anxious and discouraged at not mastering the skills," she said.

But she did not stop trying. "When I was low in spirits, I watched documentaries about the Guard of Honor. My blood was stirred every time I saw the Guard of Honor marching. I said to myself, 'Look, you are one of them'," she said.

She succeeded, and enjoyed the unexpected bonus of being named as the squad leader.

A popular saying in the squad is that every year an honor guard "exudes a ton of sweat, wears out seven pair of shoes and walks 8,000 kilometers in training".

In addition to training to ensure that every movement is neat and orderly, the honor guards are also required to adopt a standard posture. Han introduced several techniques he uses to correct soldiers' posture: a playing card is put between the knees to make the soldier stand upright; sharp pins are attached to the collar of the uniform to prevent the neck tipping to one side; and a cross is tied on a soldier's back to prevent a hunchbacked posture.

Even the expression in the eyes is included in the training. "The honor guards should have bright, piercing eyes. And the eyes should remain open, only blinking about every 40 seconds." A normal person blinks every five to 10 seconds.

"The Guard of Honor in Hong Kong Garrison is different from those in Beijing. Here in Hong Kong, my troops are a force that can march neatly on ceremonial tasks but also fight like any other army force," Han said.

In addition to movement training, the Guard of Honor also undertakes physical training every day. At 6 am every day, two hours before their routine movement training, the guards undertake 90 minutes of drills to maintain and improve their strength and power - a 5-kilometer run, pushups, situps and other exercises.

"I hope the Hong Kong people will feel proud when they see us march. I also hope they will feel safe when they think about being protected by us - a mighty force and a civilized force," Han said.

The Guard of Honor of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison march at a flag-raising ceremony during an open day last year.

(China Daily 06/21/2017 page6)
Dangerous food, drugs peddled in unregulated market, experts say

Because of a legal and regulatory vacuum, social media in China have become a hotbed for the sale of fake and substandard food and drugs that pose a risk to people's health, experts said.

Businesses enabled by social media, such as WeChat, Sina Weibo and livestreaming platforms - known as social commerce - have prospered in recent years in China, with an estimated market value of 360 billion yuan ($52.7 billion) last year, according to the Internet Society of China.

"It now employs more than 15 million people and is growing rapidly," said Yu Lijuan, head of the society's social commerce division.

Of the products sold via social media, food and drugs were the second-largest category, at 36 percent, behind cosmetics and beauty products, the society found.

According to Li Min, a division director of the Beijing Food and Drug Administration, some social media merchants take advantage of the lack of regulation to profit from substandard products - primarily via WeChat, which has 800 million users.

Current food and drug safety laws and regulations cover e-commerce transacted via major platforms like Taobao, while social media channels have been mostly off the regulatory radar.

"As the communication there is highly personal and private, it's hard to detect and regulate, and that poses health risks to the public," he said.

The municipal FDA formed a special division in 2015 to oversee food and drug safety online. Last year, it launched a cleanup campaign against social media sales of botulinum toxin (Botox is one well-known brand), a popular cosmetic injection for reduction of facial wrinkles. Much of it was substandard and not approved by the drug authorities, Li said.

In June last year, in Huaihua, Hunan province, an operation making and selling fake health food for weight loss was broken up by police. The suspects added the slimming drug sibutramine to products marketed as natural health food. Some buyers were poisoned by overdoses, said Yi Hanzhong, deputy head of the city's public security bureau.

The fake products seized were valued at more than 100 million yuan and sold in 10 provinces, he said.

Yu, of the internet society, urged the government to devise systems to manage the problem.

China is in the process of developing its first e-commerce law, and "social commerce should be governed by that as well", Yu said.
A website set up by software security giant Qihoo 360 to combat telecom fraud has helped police nationwide crack more than 100 cases in the past two years, the company said on Tuesday.

110.360.cn was established in cooperation with the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau in May 2015 as a platform for citizens to report online and offline scams.

So far, it has helped solve cases involving a total of 170 million yuan ($25 million) after sharing data and analysis with more than 200 public security departments across China, according to a company statement.

"Thanks to the sharing of fraud information and data on the website, public security authorities have cracked down on more than 10 fraud gangs," said Tan Xiaosheng, chief security officer at Qihoo 360.

"What we wanted is to take advantage of our technical skills to help police officers break cases, and to provide tips on how to prevent fraud," he said, adding that public security departments continue to show interest in using the platform.

As the authorities are unable to investigate all accusations of fraud, police will set a threshold for the minimum amount of money defrauded to determine whether or not a case can be filed. This means victims who are cheated out of a small sum may never see the person who conned them punished.

However, the 110.360.cn platform collates the data it receives so that potentially related crimes can be integrated, which means several cases involving small amounts could collectively pass the threshold, and then police would investigate.

Zhong Tun, a police officer specializing in online cases in Guiyang, Guizhou province, gave a thumbs-up to the platform, comparing it with an "assistant" in their fight against online fraud.

"We broke three cases and detained four suspects since we joined the platform at the end of last year," he said. "It can be called a breakthrough against online fraud for Guiyang."

The company statement said that in June last year a resident surnamed Luo in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, called police when she was cheated out of 5,000 yuan after opening a website link in a text message.

Luo told police she was asked to accept a gift from an online bank by replying to a message, but the message was spam.

Police analyzed clues provided by Luo on the platform, finding the case related to a fraud gang, and in July worked with the public security bureau in Dongguan, Guangdong province, to arrest suspects, the statement said.

From January to May, 10,882 residents reported on the platform that they had been cheated. Of those, 14.9 percent complained they lost money while searching for part-time jobs on the internet.

"Young people are eager to find jobs, so it is easier for many of them to fall for such recruitment scams," said Pei Zhiyong, a company cybersecurity specialist.
Members of several grassroots people's congresses shared their success stories in setting up special offices to connect with residents during a conference in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday.

The seminar, organized by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislative body, was designed to identify best practices and promote relations nationwide between residents and local deputies to the legislature.

The nation's top legislator, Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said at the seminar on Monday that people's congresses at all levels should narrow the gap between legislators and residents, as well as keep in touch with those who voted for them.

"People's interests can be upheld and maintained effectively if our congresses improve connections with them," he said.

A number of success stories emerged after a guideline was issued in June 2015 by the country's central leadership to improve the performance of people's congresses at the county and township levels. One of those was the establishment of offices, or stations, for grassroots deputies.

Top legislators applauded the moves and called for lower-level governments across the country to become more familiar with people's problems so that more effective solutions can be found.

Huang Youchang, president of the people's congress in Qingyun township, Jiangxi province, called the grassroots office there "a liaison station for deputies and residents", which acts as a sort of "home" for officials.

"The deputies have face-to-face talks with residents at the station, and they channel the people's difficulties to those who can provide solutions," he said.

For example, one deputy, who is also an entrepreneur in the township, repaired a bridge that residents had been complaining about, after some villagers submitted their request to the station.

"The repair finally solved the travel difficulties of 179 villagers who live near the bridge," Huang said. "In the past, it was hard to find deputies, but now residents can see them and speak to them easily."

Yang Xiaoyong, director of the standing committee of the Kongtong district people's congress in Pingliang, Gansu province, said such offices are also good places to train deputies.

So far, the district has built 69 such offices in communities. More than 90 percent of the deputies are educated or trained at the base, Yang said.

Yao Yinliang, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial People's Congress, said: "We've increased our efforts to regulate deputies' work by establishing regular systems in the stations."

He said that similar stations have been established in several cities in the province, including Xi'an, Baoji, Hanzhong and Xianyang.

"People's congresses at each level in Hanzhong have set up 478 deputy stations. About 21,000 deputies have participated in activities organized by the stations so far," he said.

Qin Nianhai, head of the people's congress in Yandao township, Sichuan province, likened the station to a base for deputies, and said it brings them a sense of belonging.
Beijing's Palace Museum will hold a memorial service for a farmer from Henan province who donated a collection of priceless relics he discovered 32 years ago, China Central TV reported on Tuesday.

He Gang of Guqiang village, Shangshui county, donated 19 pieces of silverware from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) to the museum in 1985.

He found the items stored in a tank while digging in a residential area and passed them to the museum, which praised his contribution, saying the silverware helped fill in gaps in collections from that period.

The farmer, 54, was killed recently in an engineering accident.

The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, shared its condolences after learning of He's death and has invited his relatives to a memorial service in Beijing, CCTV reported.
Xi extends condolences over death of Vanuatu's president

Xinhua | Updated: 2017-06-21 13:04

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday extended condolences to Vanuatu's Parliament Speaker and acting President Esmon Saimon over the death of President Baldwin Lonsdale.



Mourning Lonsdale's death, Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and people and in his own name, expressed sincere sympathy to the people of Vanuatu and Lonsdale's family.



China regards Vanuatu as a good friend and partner in the Pacific island region and is willing to work with Vanuatu to continue pushing forward bilateral strategic partnership, Xi said in his message of condolences.



Lonsdale died on Saturday in the Pacific island country's capital of Port Vila. A 10-day national state of mourning has been declared, according to Vanuatu's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and External Trade.
A hospital in the southern metropolis of Shenzhen is to launch air rescue services after striking a partnership with an aviation company.

Shenzhen Hospital of Southern Medical University, has agreed to set up a medical air base in the city with Shanghai Kingwing General Aviation Co.

The first group of medics began receiving training in theoretical knowledge and practical operation on Tuesday, with a drill scheduled for Sunday.

Air rescue is highly efficient as it can reach those in need quicker than ground rescue vehicles and is seldom limited by geographic settings, said Wang Yongjian, director of the hospital's emergency department.

The rapid response time will help save lives, especially when those requiring emergency treatment are in locations that are difficult or time-consuming to get to for ground rescue vehicles, Wang said.

It is estimated that the survival rate of a person seriously injured in a traffic accident is as high as 80 percent if they receive medical treatment within 30 minutes. The rate drops to below 10 percent if they do not receive treatment within 90 minutes.

Kingwing has agreements with hospitals nationwide, offering air rescue services in 22 provinces and cities. The company said it provides about 150 helicopters that are fitted with advanced medical and rescue equipment.
A Palestinian assists a policeman directing traffic at an intersection in Jinan, Shandong province, June 18, 2017. [Photo by Xu Zhenggang/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A 100-day campaign against traffic violations in Jinan, capital city of Shandong province, has attracted foreigners.

On June 18, three Palestinians who work as foreign-language teachers at a school in Jinan volunteered to assist traffic police in traffic guidance.

After receiving 30-minute training on rule and regulations, the three Palestinians helped police guide traffic for half an hour.

On June 10, an American who has been living in Jinan for six years volunteered to assist traffic police.
Toxic gas leakage kills 6 in SW China

Xinhua | Updated: 2017-06-21 14:54

KUNMING - A poisonous gas leak killed six workers at a tunnel construction site in southwest China's Yunnan Province Wednesday morning, local authorities confirmed.



The accident happened in a tunnel along a pivotal railway line that will link the cities of Lincang and Dali, according to sources with China Railway 10th Bureau Group Co., Ltd, the contractor of the project.



The sulfureted hydrogen leak was accompanied by an outpouring of water and sludge inside the tunnel, company sources and witnesses said.



The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Xinjiang starts excavation of ancient city

Xinhua | Updated: 2017-06-21 14:55

URUMQI - Excavation has begun at the site of a 1,000-year-old city in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, archaeologists said Wednesday.



The excavation will continue for more than two months, while archeologists conduct a thorough investigation using modern technology, said Dang Zhihao, associate researcher with the regional institute of cultural relics and archaeology.



The city, known as Dalt and believed to have been built in Song (960-1279) or Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, was discovered in 1985, when a farmer unearthed a silver coin while ploughing a field.



Archeologists identified the Persian word "bolat", which means steel, on the coin. Another villager found a piece of ancient steel weighing about 120 kilograms nearby in 1991, leading many to believe that Dalt was the "steel city" Bolat recorded in contemporary books.



The city lies on the Silk Road, with routes to Kazakhstan, Russia, and central Asia.



According to a book written by Liu Yu during the Yuan Dynasty, the city was prosperous and "a large number of houses had colored glaze as the windows."



Dang told Xinhua that an initial excavation last year in an area of about 200 square meters unearthed several hundred relics made of pottery, bronze, and stone.
NEW YORK -- China has made important progress in its fight against desertification and will endeavor to promote international cooperation by sharing experiences and technologies, a Chinese envoy to the United Nations said here Tuesday at a meeting on combating desertification.

China will host an international conference on countering desertification in September, Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the Unite Nations, told the meeting of the Group of Friends of A Pollution-Free World on Combating Desertification.

The meeting, the 13th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, will be held in the city of Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China.

"The focus of the conference will be technical exchange, experience sharing and international cooperation on combating desertification," Liu said at the meeting he co-chaired with Macharia Kamau, Kenya's permanent representative to the United Nations.

Desertification threatens one fifth of the world's population in two thirds of the world's countries and regions. In the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda adopted in 2015, the goal to stop land-degradation is also included.

Liu introduced some of China's ideas and practices in the fight against desertification.

"China has introduced innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development in its macro policy framework, the 13th five-year plan for economic and social development and has been implementing the vision when combating desertification and eradicating poverty," said he.

He added that China has channeled more funds into environmental protection and encouraged all sectors of the society to participate in conservation.

The country has also been spreading the good practices, techniques and models drawn from key projects such as the Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control Project and the Three-North Shelter Forest Program.

"China has been actively engaged in South-South cooperation under frameworks such as the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation and China-Arab States Cooperation Forum. We have established demonstration centers in developing countries and held many training courses to promote relevant technologies," Liu said.

Talking about the coming conference to be held in Ordos, Liu said, "I hope that in the spirit of win-win cooperation, our Group of Friends will continue to make joint efforts to build a community of shared future for mankind and eco-friendly and green homeland for everyone."
HONG KONG -- The implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle in Hong Kong is "undoubtedly" a success, former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa said in a recent interview, while confident in the metropolis's ability to deal with future challenges.

Tung was sworn in as the first chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) when Hong Kong returned to China from British rule on July 1, 1997.

Calling the handover the "most unforgettable moment" of his life, Tung, now vice chairman of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said, "Watching the Union Jack being lowered and the five-star red flag of China gradually rising, I, a 60-year-old Chinese national, was excited and touched."

This year also marked the 20th anniversary of implementing the Basic Law of the HKSAR. Enacted in accordance with China's Constitution, the Basic Law specifies the guidelines of "one country, two systems" and "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" with a high degree of autonomy.

Over the past 20 years, the capitalist regime in Hong Kong has not changed, neither have people's lifestyles, Tung said, adding that the law has remained almost the same, and both the economy and society have maintained steady growth.

He noted that the rule of law, a core value of Hong Kong society, has been firmly upheld, something the central government has valued and safeguarded

Tung said most Hong Kong residents are aware of the significance of the "one country, two systems" principle and gave heartfelt support to it.

Since 1997, the HKSAR has confronted many challenges. Tung recalled the Asian financial crisis, which broke out in Thailand in July,1997 and soon after swept through Asia rocking Hong Kong.

He also mentioned the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the global financial crisis in 2008.

"Over the 20 years, we have gone through many difficulties. But as we have the Motherland to back us up, dealing with these problems became a little easier," he said.

The past two decades also saw closer ties between Hong Kong and the mainland, with more Hong Kong residents speaking mandarin and learning more about the country and its fast development, he said.

Hong Kong previously depended mainly on trade with America and Europe, but now it has closely integrated with the mainland, and more Hong Kong residents have chosen to develop their careers there, Tung noted.

Tung pointed out that the success of the "one country, two systems" was also recognized by international society. "Many foreign friends said to me with envy, that we have the advantage over them because of 'one country, two systems,'"

However, the 80-year-old admitted Hong Kong still faces some deeply rooted problems, including high property prices, a wide gap between the rich and the poor, difficulty for young people to climb the social ladder and industrial hollowing-out.

But Tung said he remains optimistic about Hong Kong's future. In his view, Hong Kong continued its robust economic growth despite encountering several shocks since 1997, and it has a sufficient fiscal reserve, providing conditions to resolve its problems.

Over the past five years, Hong Kong's GDP grew more than a nominal 5 percent each year, Tung said, "We can solve a lot of problems when we have 4 to 5 percent growth."

On the other hand, Tung believed Hong Kong should seize opportunities brought by China's development and make good use of its strengths in areas such as trade and finance, yuan internationalization, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

He also hoped Hong Kong, a city where the East meets the West, can serve as a bridge for cultural exchange and shed light on the integration of different cultures around the world.
BEIJING -- Yuan Mei, one of China's most wanted fugitives, returned to China and turned herself in to the police, the anti-corruption authority said Wednesday.

Yuan, 46, surrendered on Tuesday. She was a credit clerk at a subbranch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Southwest China's Sichuan province, and fled to the United States in September 2002 after being accused of embezzling public funds, according to a statement released by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Yuan's surrender was due to the "deterrence of the law, motivation from the (government) policy and requests from family," the statement said.

In April 2015, Interpol issued a "red notice" of 100 corruption fugitives wanted by China. Many of the fugitives were former government staff or employees of state-owned enterprises.

More than 40 have since been detained, of whom over two-thirds gave themselves up.
A total of 10,00 medium butterfly orchid, or Phalaenopsis, seedlings started their journey to the United States after a ceremony Wednesday that was held in Foshan's Shunde district.

The inauguration ceremony was held after Weng Minqiang, general manager of Dingliang Biological Technology Co Ltd, was given a special certificate by local inspection and quarantine department to export the flower seedlings.

"The medium butterfly orchid seedlings were given the green light to the United States after they passed strict inspection and quarantine to meet the import standards of the United States," Weng said.

The seedlings are expected to be shipped to the United States in about 20 days via the sea route, Weng said.

This is the first time that butterfly orchid seedlings from the mainland were exported to the United States.

"I hope it is a good beginning for the medium butterfly orchid seedlings exported to the US," Weng said.

According to Weng, the US is a big market for the medium butterfly orchid seedling as the country annually imports more than 23 million butterfly medium butterfly orchid seedlings.

Now only Taiwan province in China exports medium butterfly orchid seedlings to the US, Weng said.

Weng is expecting to be able to be able to annually export more than 1,000 containers of medium butterfly orchid seedlings to the US in the following years. A container contains from 20,000 to 30,000 seedlings of the medium butterfly orchid.

Yang Guohai, deputy director general of the Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, said his bureau would further improve the inspection and quarantine systems to better serve local companies to help promote the export of more high quality flowers abroad.

zhengcaixiogn@chinadaily.com.cn
Premier Li Keqiang will attend the opening ceremony of the 11th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as Summer Davos, from June 26-28 in China's northeastern coastal city Dalian, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced on Wednesday.

The Premier will address the meeting, Geng said, and hold talks with the leaders of Finland and Sweden, meet some of the participants as well as representatives from business, finance, think tanks and the media.

The Summer Davos in Dalian is themed "Achieving Inclusive Growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution", Geng said, and over 1,500 representatives from politics, business, academia and the media from more than 90 countries will attend the meeting.
China said that it has been making unremitting efforts on Pyongyang's nuclear issue, in response to a tweet from US President Donald Trump saying Beijing had tried but failed to help resolve it.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily news briefing that China was not the "focus and the crux" of the issue on the Korean Peninsula.

"In order to resolve the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, China has been making unremitting efforts and we have been playing an important and constructive role," Geng said.

"To sum up, our contributions are recognized by all and our efforts are indispensable."

Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that while he "greatly appreciated the efforts of President Xi Jinping and China" to help with Pyongyang, "it has not worked out".

"At least I know China tried!" he wrote.

Since assuming office in January, Trump has demanded that Beijing put pressure on Pyongyang to curb its nuclear and missile programs.

Geng said China has tried its best with the DPRK on the issue because it is a responsible member of the international community, and "not because of any pressure from other countries".

Top Chinese and United States diplomats and defense chiefs were meeting in Washington for talks on Wednesday, and Pyongyang was to get "top billing", said Susan Thornton, the senior US diplomat for East Asia, according to AFP.

Tao Wenzhao, a senior US studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China made its best efforts on the Korean Peninsula issue, but China does not have the key to solving the issue, as Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said.

"The pivot in solving the issue lies with Pyongyang's improved relations with Washington and Seoul."

Zhou Jin contributed to this story.
Australia suspends its airstrikes in Syria against IS as precaution

MOSCOW - Russia has warned it would track US-led coalition aircraft in Syria as potential "targets" and halted a military hotline with Washington after US forces downed a Syrian jet.

The United States moved quickly to contain an escalation, with a top general saying it would work to relaunch the "deconfliction" hotline 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 group from its Syrian bastion Raqa.

Analysts say neither Washington nor Damascus appear to be seeking further confrontation, although the risks remain high in Syria's increasingly crowded battlefields and airspace.

"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," said Russian Defence Ministry.

It said Washington had failed to use the hotline - a vital incident-prevention tool - before downing the plane near Raqa.

"We will work diplomatically and militarily in the coming hours to re-establish deconfliction," said US General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, referring to the hotline.

Meanwhile, Australia has suspended its airstrikes against IS targets in Syria as a precaution following the Russian warning.

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 jet was downed on Sunday evening after Syrian forces targeted the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

An US 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 US-led coalition said in a statement.

Russia's defense minister said the pilot ejected "above IS-controlled territories" and that his fate was unknown.

The coalition said Syrian troops attacked SDF fighters near Tabqa, south of Raqa, wounding several and chasing them out of the town.

'Aggression'

It said the warplane was targeted in line with the "rules of engagement".

Damascus and Moscow condemned the "aggression".

The Syrian Army said the plane was hit while on a mission against IS extremists and warned of "the grave consequences of this flagrant aggression".

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said it was 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 and Syrian forces in the increasingly tense and crowded space in Syria's north and east.

Backed by the coalition, SDF forces entered Raqa for the first time two weeks ago, after months of fierce fighting, and have seized four neighborhoods.

The Syrian Army is not involved in the offensive, and has instead turned its focus further east to the largely IS-held, oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor.

Pro-government forces are moving on three fronts, south of Raqa, through the Badia desert region in central Syria, and along the eastern border.

It has created tensions, particularly along Syria's border, where the US and its allies are training an anti-IS force at the Al-Tanaf garrison.

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A scene from King Yu [Photo provided to China Daily]

While there are many superhero movies playing in the local multiplex, Chinese dance drama director Wang Ge hopes to showcase Chinese heroes onstage.

In his latest work, King Yu, Wang tells the story of Emperor Yu, who tamed the flooded Yellow River by dredging and rearranging the channels, and launching the Xia Dynasty (c. 21st century-16th century BC), China's first dynasty.

The dance premiered in September at the annual Art Festival of Anhui Province, and later toured national wide at over 60 cities. It will make its debut at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on June 21.

"Like many people of my generation, I grows up with the story of Emperor Yu, who, also known as Da Yu, is a legendary hero," says Wang in Beijing.

Born in Zigong, Sichuan province, the 42-year-old Wang graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy with a bachelor's degree in Chinese folk dance and a master's degree in choreography in 2000. He is an award-winning dancer-choreographer whose works have included Red Sorghum, staged in 2013, which was based on the novel Red Sorghum Clan by Nobel laureate Mo Yan.

"When I realized that young Chinese people are more fascinated by the Western superheroes than our own heroes, I felt sad. I want to make the story of Emperor Yu real and alive onstage again," says Wang.

About two years ago, the director started to develop the dance drama, along with Feng Shuangbai, president of the China Dancers Association, who wrote the script, and co-director Li Zhi.

Feng says the dance drama centers on the story from a Chinese tale, Da Yu Zhi Shui, or Great Yu Controls the Waters.

It opens with Da Yu's father, who failed to control the flooding and was punished by King Yao. Then Da Yu continued his father's mission and vowed to control the flood.

"We want to tell a convincing story about a real man, instead of a man from the book or legend," says the director Wang.

In their research, Wang found out that the location where Da Yu built the dams along the riverbank was Yuhui village, Bengbu city in Anhui province, according to evidence found by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Science, about a decade ago.

So Wang invited over 30 dancers of Anhui province's Huagu Opera Song & Dance Theater to join in the dance drama. They brought local music and dance elements, such as Huangmei Opera, to the work.

Chinese dancers Jiang Wei, Luo Wenbo and Song Yulong respectively play the role of Da Yu, the wife and their son, Qi.

"The wife never meets her husband after he left for the great mission. She takes all the responsibilities in the family, like raising their son alone and farming the lands," says dancer Luo, who performs as Da Yus wife, Nyu Jiao. "Unlike my last performance as a strong and brave woman leading an entire group to fight against the enemies, this wife is soft by look but tough and independent inside."

If you go:

7:30 pm, June 21. NCPA, 2 West Changan Avenue, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6655-0000.
A vase from Qing Dynasty was sold for $825,000 at Sheppard's auction in Ireland. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A Chinese vase that auctioneers expected would sell for 1,200 euros ($1,336) has sold in Ireland for 740,000 euros ($825,000), an Irish record for a piece of art sold at auction.

The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) blue and white double-gourd vase with scroll handles was sold by Sheppard's auctioneers in Durrow, County Laois, southwest of Dublin.

A man from Dublin put the vase up for sale. Sheppard's suggested a guide price of between 800 and 1,200 euros but several buyers sensed an opportunity.

Eleven telephone bidders competed for the vase, which was secured by a Paris-based buyer following seven minutes of bidding.

The item is believed to date from the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, the fourth emperor of the dynasty, who lived between 1711 and 1799. The vase is 23 cm tall and 18 cm wide and is painted with floral patterns and shou decorations. It has the mark of Qianlong on its base.

It is not known how the vase ended up in the Republic of Ireland but Irish broadcaster RTE reported that it could have been "given as a prestigious gift by the Chinese emperor to an important visitor".

Philip Sheppard, of the auction house, told a local newspaper that the high price for the vase was partly explained by the buoyancy of the Chinese art market. He explained that a great deal of the Chinese porcelain in Ireland today was brought into the country during the 19 th century, back when the British ruled Ireland. Last month, China Daily reported that a pair of rare Qing Dynasty famille rose vases sold for 13 million pounds ($16.8 million) at Christie's auction house in London.

The previous Irish record was set at an auction held by Sheppards in which a matchbox-sized piece of carved jade with a guide price of 4,000 to 6,000 euros ended up selling for 630,000 euros in 2012. The jade seal would have been used to mark official documents.

Related:

Ink-brush master receives high acclaim at China Guardian Auctions

Rockefeller's artworks to be sold
Actual forcings differed from estimate of the future

The first is that there is a randomness associated with internal variability. That is, short term changes in climate can happen at random, and are not expected to be predicted at the same time in models as it happens on the planet. The models do show most of them, just not generally at exactly the same time as each other or as it happens. The second factor is that some of the estimates of forcings put into the model for the 21st century ended up being different to the forcings that actually took place.

The first factor is expected. If models are in phase with random variability it is by coincidence. It's not expected. That is, models will incorporate and show that random variability will occur, but this won't generally be at the precise time it will occur. It will usually be out of phase. Think of earth as just another model, one of many. The climate trend will be fairly consistent across models, however the year to year variability will differ between models. (When you combine the output from all the models, the random internal variability shown in individual models all but disappears, because of the averaging.)





estimated forcings in models surface temperature all but disappeared. This is what the scientists found is what happened for troposphere temperatures also.



The scientists tested claims made by some people about sensitivity of climate models. They found that models are not oversensitive. That is, models are not over-estimating anthropogenic warming. Their research was focused on short term variations in the troposphere. The long term projections of climate models are unchanged by their research.



Some of the researchers recently published a different paper, which can be regarded as complementary to this one. In this The second factor more commonly happens when scientists have to estimate future forcings. A forcing could be the amount of greenhouse gas in the air, volcanic eruptions (causing temporary cooling), aerosol density (causing cooling), less solar radiation for a period, or albedo changes. For example, whenforcings in models were replaced with actual forcings, the difference between modeled and observedtemperature all but disappeared. This is what the scientists found is what happened for troposphere temperatures also.The scientists tested claims made by some people about sensitivity of climate models. They found that models are. That is, models are not over-estimating anthropogenic warming. Their research was focused on short term variations in the troposphere. The long term projections of climate models are unchanged by their research.Some of the researchers recently published a different paper, which can be regarded as complementary to this one. In this Nature Geoscience paper , the researchers were asking the question about whether differences between model-simulated and observed tropospheric warming could be due to different sequences of internal variability in the real world and in model world, or to oversensitivity of models. They found that neither could explain the recent differences, which can instead be attributed to estimates of negative forcings being too low, compared to actuals. In the complementary paper , which was published in Scientific Reports, a different question was being looked at. That is, have tropospheric temperatures shown a leveling off in the last two decades. The answer was a clear, no. They didn't level off. Global warming has continued.







How Ryan Maue collaborated with Michael Bastasch to mislead Daily Caller readers

The New Consensus On Global Warming  a shocking admission by Team Climate

From the well maybe there was a hiatus after all walkback department. Even Mann is on board with this paper.

Figure 1 | Annual global mean surface temperature since 1880. The red line is a Data source: GISS NASA The red line is a loess smooth to illustrate the trend.

A scientific consensus has emerged among top mainstream climate scientists that skeptics or lukewarmers were not long ago derided for suggesting  there was a nearly two-decade long hiatus in global warming that climate models failed to accurately predict or replicate.

Figure 2 | Annual global mean surface temperature, 1987 to 2016. The red line is a Data source: GISS NASA The red line is a loess smooth to highlight the trend. The black line shows the misleading cherry pick pushed by science disinformers.

I am aware of a diverse range of conclusions regarding global temperatures, including that over the past two decades satellite data indicates there has been a leveling off of warming, which some scientists refer to as the "hiatus."

In response, Mr. Pruitt claimed that over the past two decades satellite data indicates there has been a leveling off of warming

Ryan Maue has come out as a science disinformer of the worst kind

climate scientist

The reality of long-term anthropogenic warming

Whats interesting, though, is Santer and his co-authors say their paper is unlikely to reconcile the divergent schools of thought regarding the causes of differences between modeled and observed warming rates.

In other words, the uncertainty monster is still a problem.

Although scientific discussion about the causes of short-term differences between modelled and observed warming rates is likely to continue, this discussion does not cast doubt on the reality of long-term anthropogenic warming.

A co-author response about the paper

In no way does paper cast doubt on models.

Instead it shows the importance of nailing down the forcings, the most important being GHGs.  Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) June 20, 2017

Natural forcing & internal variability guarantee temporary slowdowns (& speedups) in warming. It is worthwhile to understand them.  Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) June 20, 2017

Don't explode

From the WUWT comments

June 20, 2017 at 8:52 am

Wow! Could there be integrity still in CAGW climate scientists?

June 20, 2017 at 2:38 pm

D.J. Hawkins writes: No. Desperate CYA maneuvers to preserve possible future grant opportunities, yes.

I think you have that right. The cAGW community, who have always been a politically motivated sub-population of real climate scientists, are doing some backpedaling (fierce backpedaling I think). That cohort sold their integrity for cash on the barrel years ago. Were just seeing them do it again.

June 20, 2017 at 8:56 am

Good, time to stop the crippling green policies and taxes. Figure out how the climate really works, and then let the free market and energy abundance help us to deal with any adverse effects.

June 20, 2017 at 1:31 pm

Hollywood Glitterati: Those fortunate enough to be born beautiful or handsome, have a pleasant voice, and the ability to memorize the lines of a song or script. They believe that their good fortune also imbues them with special insights on science and politics that lays upon them the burden of sharing their wisdom with their fans, who are less fortunate.

June 20, 2017 at 8:56 am

But I was told several years ago that the science was settled! I wish these top scientists would make up their minds.

June 20, 2017 at 8:59 am

Does this mean that we need another round of temperature adjustments? Soon, we will just be comping out of an ice age in the 60s or 70s

After all, a basic tenet of science is to bend reality to fit your model

June 20, 2017 at 9:02 am

So the scientifically responsible and correct moral choice would be to teach students that the climate is not, as per their previous assertions, behaving in step with the predictions of dangerous and unprecedented warming then, wouldnt it?

Any chance of that happening? No, I thought not. But never mind, there isnt any possibility of the BBC, Guardian or New York Times telling their audiences about how a major part of the alarmist fantasy just fell apart.

June 20, 2017 at 10:50 am

My understanding is that the models cannot either hind cast or forecast from first principles, and thus have to be endlessly fudged to be able to do either.

Thats fine (and not unusual in science), if people admit it. But they don;t, and continue to claim that the models work well, when the obviously do not.

June 20, 2017 at 9:19 am

We conclude that model overestimation of tropospheric warming in the early twenty-first century is partly due to systematic deficiencies in some of the post-2000 external forcings used in the model simulations.

===============

in other words, by adjusting the past, we have been feeding lies to the models and they have given us a crazy answer as a result. Big surprise. 2001 Space Odyssey showed what happens when you lie to computers.

Their answer? We need to adjust the post 2000 forcing data to match the pre 2000 adjustments. More aerosols. We need more aerosols post 2000. Thats the ticket.

June 20, 2017 at 9:21 am

So, what does this mean?

 We conclude that model overestimation of tropospheric warming in the early twenty-first century is partly due to systematic deficiencies in some of the post-2000 external forcings used in the model simulations.

Does it mean the forcing due to CO2 was not as big as they thought?

CO2 forcing was not meeting the 20th century projections?

June 20, 2017 at 12:12 pm

Does this man have the first clue as to what the purpose of a conclusion in a scientific paper is supposed to be and what the meaning of non sequitur is? Cant access the full paper but how do you go from establishing that the models are currently useless as predictors of anything  when all of the predictions of AGW are based on those models  and finish your conclusion with the statement that none of the above casts any doubt on the reality of long-term anthropogenic warming.

That right there is crazy talk but I suppose poor Ben had no choice but to once again make with the little clown dance or otherwise he was in an express elevator to Den1er Hell  going down!

Figure 3 | Annual global mean surface temperature since 1880. The black line is the multi-model mean of CMIP5 models. Data sources: The black line is the multi-model mean of CMIP5 models. GISS NASA and KNMI Climate Explorer (CMIP5)

June 20, 2017 at 10:33 am

Climate sensitivity is likely a small, negative number (-0.5). It is the ONLY explanation for the hiatus that makes sense. In fact you can perfectly replicate observations using this assumption.

June 20, 2017 at 9:51 am

Ah, great, pass the ammo. My friends and acquaintances know not to poke this bear about CAGW. Im steadfast that until the models mirror observations that Ill be calling bullsh*t whenever the subject comes up. So happy!

June 20, 2017 at 5:04 pm

Wrong answer. Green House Gases stop 20% total firelight from the sun ever reaching the planet.

20% light not reaching the planet is referred to as a reduction in surface energy density.

That is called cooling.

-

MarkW June 20, 2017 at 2:47 pm

CO2 doesnt block energy from the sun.

References and further reading










Graft fugitive on 'red list' surrenders 2017-06-21 16:38:12 Xinhua Yuan Mei, one of China's most wanted fugitives, returned to China and turned herself in to the police, the anti-corruption authority said Wednesday.

BEIJING -- Yuan Mei, one of China's most wanted fugitives, returned to China and turned herself in to the police, the anti-corruption authority said Wednesday.

Yuan, 46, surrendered on Tuesday. She was a credit clerk at a subbranch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Southwest China's Sichuan province, and fled to the United States in September 2002 after being accused of embezzling public funds, according to a statement released by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Yuan's surrender was due to the "deterrence of the law, motivation from the (government) policy and requests from family," the statement said.

In April 2015, Interpol issued a "red notice" of 100 corruption fugitives wanted by China. Many of the fugitives were former government staff or employees of state-owned enterprises.

More than 40 have since been detained, of whom over two-thirds gave themselves up.
Hungary must strengthen ties with China in area of health: minister 2017-06-21 13:18:17 Xinhua Hungary must strengthen its relations with China in the area of health, Hungarian Minister for National Economy Mihaly Varga said Tuesday, noting that Hungary considers China as a strategic partner in that particular domain.

BUDAPEST - Hungary must strengthen its relations with China in the area of health, Hungarian Minister for National Economy Mihaly Varga said Tuesday, noting that Hungary considers China as a strategic partner in that particular domain.

"Health is one of the most important cornerstones of development, and contributes greatly to the economic growth," Varga said at the "Gateway to Health" conference and exhibition organized with the participation of 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and China.

The exhibition provides an opportunity for China and the 16 CEE countries to present their co-operation, research, development and innovation expertise in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical technology, Industry 4.0., new technologies, medical and health tourism, as well as education.

It also brings opportunities for cooperation between knowledge centers, governments, enterprises and manufacturing bases, especially for pharmaceutical, medical technological, and biotechnological companies.

"Due to the changes in world economy, new growth centers have appeared, while the European Union finds itself imprisoned in a slow-growth trap where western countries will probably grow under 2 percent," Varga explained.

However, the CEE countries are able to achieve a double growth, as Hungary and other countries of the region can count with an economic growth of 4 percent or more, he added.

Varga praised the CEE region for its performance shown in the field of the medical and health industry, recalling that Hungary had been a frontrunner of the pharmaceutical business since the 2000s.

"China considers the CEE region as the engine of the growth of the EU, and we wish to step up health and medical cooperation on the level of regulations, patents, R&D and in the elaboration of common strategies," Minister of China's National Health and Family Planning Commission Li Bin said.
President Xi Jinping meets with the editors and other staff in the newsroom at the headquarters of People's Daily newspaper. [Photo/Xinhua]

The public address system calls on passengers to board flights to Chengdu and Guangzhou. Outside shops selling duty-free Chunghwa brand cigarettes, a group of workmen are squatting to eat noodles during their lunch break. In the queue for security check, a businessman is giving instructions on his mobile in accented Putonghua. But he is from Burundi, and this is Addis Ababa airport in 2017.

Ethiopia is one of the most pronounced examples of where the Chinese century is already upon us. It will have an impact on everything; not least the media. To understand the media in the 21st century, we will all, at least figuratively, need to learn Chinese.

Traditional media are already feeling the shift. The international re-launch of CGTNChina Global Television Networkmarks a turning point in international broadcast journalism. The network, still known within China as CCTV (China Central Television), is expanding its international presence. With journalists in more than 70 countries, production centers in Beijing and Washington will be joined by new studios in London and Nairobi later this year.

President Xi Jinping has urged the network to "tell China's story well, spread China's voice well, let the world know a three-dimensional, colorful China, and showcase China's role as a builder of world peace".

Chinese media remains constrained. Yet the tendency to dismiss it as purely a publicity tool underestimates its sophistication. The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, is tasked with the supervision of China's television, radio and film industries. It promotes themes within the world's largest media system, such as the Chinese Dream and the "peaceful rise" of China.

From the expose of the AIDS "epidemic" in Central China's Henan province to the mass corruption case in Chenzhou, Central China's Hunan province, some of China's largest scandals in recent years have been uncovered as a result of ferocious investigative journalism. In contrast to the adversarial Western "muckraking" model, this so-called "watchdog journalism" works closely with the government.

As China continues its expansion across the international media landscape, some of the principles of Chinese journalism are also being reflected in the Western media.

The SAPPRFT has long encouraged what it calls "constructive journalism". Better known in the West as "solutions-focused journalism", it is the idea that journalists should move beyond the distorted world view presented by breaking news, and focus on what is working in the world. The BBC explicitly endorsed this positive approach in 2016. New BBC World Service programs, such as My Perfect Country, are aiming to solve common problems in countries around the world.

Despite progress, some Western coverage of China itself is still two-dimensional, at best. For example, much of the reporting on the recent Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing recycled decade-old arguments on Chinese neo-colonialism in Africa.

Some in the West have tried harder than others to get to grips with this evolving landscape. In 2014, Mark Zuckerberg conducted a 30-minute question-and-answer session at Tsinghua University in fluent Mandarin, much to the delight of China's engaged netizens.

Many of the disruptive ideas emerging in China's "new media" are world leading. Zuckerberg is not only picking up vocabulary on his visits to Beijingsome of new features of Facebook and WhatsApp are also lessons from ubiquitous Chinese social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo.

This transformational shift is only just getting started. Last year, China moved up two places in Portland's SoftPower 30a ranking of countries' soft power, based on a composite index measuring engagement, culture, government, education digital and enterprise.

As China continues to invest in its soft power assets, we can expect it to rise further up the ranks. Its media will be a key part of this. As the driver of a new era of globalization, international norms in media and reporting will continue to flow from West to East. Businesses and governments will need to learn Chinese. And learn fast.

The author is a consultant at Portland Communications.
Customers try out laptop computers at a Lenovo outlet in Beijing in 2014. Companies like Lenovo and Huawei have shown it is possible for Chinese brands to make an impact on the world stage. Getty Images

A country's image or national brand is similar to that of a corporate brand, meaning that each country has a specific image in the minds of international consumers. A nation's brand is comprised of at least three elements: its economic image, political image, and technological image. In the global market, a national brand is taken by consumers as an important clue in assessing the value and quality of a country's products, often outweighing the effects of corporate brands in the judgments of consumers.

China has a few globally renowned brands, such as Huawei and Lenovo, in the top 100 brands according to the global brand consultancy Interbrand. But since the country is commonly viewed as "the world's factory", most Chinese brands have yet to capture the loyalty of foreign consumers. Chinese brands such as Li-Ning and Haier have experienced many challenges in international markets, mainly due to their lack of global marketing expertise and communication skills. Therefore, to help Chinese companies compete in the global competition boosting China's image as a manufacturer of quality goods has become a most significant need.

International consumers often have a negative image of "made in China" products. According to a 2013 survey conducted by a Chicago-based market research agency, only 17 percent of the consumers in the United States indicated interest in products originating from China. Moreover, more than 50 percent of the consumers surveyed were unwilling to purchase Chinese brands as they regarded them as being of poor quality, and associated them with a lack of social responsibility and food scandals.

Other than instilling consumers' confidence in its products, another important part of establishing a nation's brand is forging positive perceptions of its institutions and culture. China's long history, rich culture, and growing economic power add a certain positive dimension to China's brand. However, negative foreign media reports on China's economic practices and presenting China as a threat create a bad impression of China in the minds of consumers in other countries.

The pace at which Chinese products are entering foreign markets has grown steadily over the years. China is already the world's largest exporting country and its products are sold all around the world. This indicates that international consumers have a certain degree of faith and interest in Chinese brands. Thus Chinese companies and products can help improve the nation's image and its brand by improving the quality of their products and utilizing their marketing campaigns.

One method of improving China's brand among international consumers is to follow consumer psychology principles in promotions. For example, viewing pictures of ancient Chinese architecture and art can activate a positive country image by associating it with traditional Chinese craftsmanship. This is because ancient China is widely viewed as country with arguably the best manufacturing technology and product quality in olden days, with people coming from all over the world to buy its wares.

Furthermore, developing a nation's brand is the result of cooperative efforts between the government and corporations. Previous studies have found that the establishment of nation's image follows the pattern of product brands, corporate brands, the nation's brand. This means that a nation's image is closely correlated with brand images of its corporations. For example, Spain has used the development of brands such as Zara to successfully grow its brand as a nation.

When a good number of Chinese corporate brands become leading brands, they will help forge a strong brand for China.

2017 is the year with the very first Chinese National Brand Day. It's time to reflect on our strategies for developing and establishing China's brand.

The author is an assistant professor in marketing at the school of economics and management at Tsinghua University.
Pedestrians walk past the buildings of the Dalian Commodity Exchange in Dalian, Liaoning province, May 30, 2013. [Photo/VCG]

NORTHEAST CHINA'S LIAONING PROVINCE recently publicized a list of the "spoilers" of the business environment, on which appeared several local government departments. For example, the bureau of law enforcement in the Heping district of Shenyang, Liaoning's capital, "rented" offices from an enterprise and refused to pay the rent. China Youth Daily comments:

It was in 2001 that the World Bank first proposed evaluating the ease of doing business in an economy with an index system. In 2016, it released its flagship report on the business environment in 190 economies, Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All, according to which China's business environment ranks 78th in the world, well behind developed economies.

The central leadership has been paying much attention to China's business environment. In this month alone, Premier Li Keqiang has said several times that China will continue improving its business environment to attract investment.

The business environment is an essential aspect of an economy's global competitiveness. The better the business environment a country has, the easier it is to do business in it. World Bank data show that a good business environment can help investment grow by 0.3 percent and the GDP growth rate to rise by 0.36 percent.

World Bank research also shows that a good business environment needs clear market rules and transparency. Only when the government serves enterprises instead of setting obstacles in their way, will businesses thrive.

However, in Liaoning province, certain government departments have not only set obstacles for businesses, they have also violated enterprises' legal interests, like the example of the "rented" offices cited in the local report. Even after higher authorities required the bureau to pay the rent, they continued to delay paying what they owed.

According to official reports, that bureau is not the only one that hurts enterprises' legal interests. The business environment has to be improved and they have formed a special bureau at the provincial level to regulate it.

The poor business environment in Liaoning has already caused its economy to decline. The GDP growth rate of Liaoning province in 2016 was minus 2.5 percent, making it the only province whose economy shrank. It is time for the Liaoning provincial government to solve that problem, or the province's economic decline will continue.
A birds eye view of buildings set against Shenzhens azure blue sky. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province has introduced China's first standards on anti-bribery applicable to all enterprises.

The standards are not a compulsory certification system, but so far more than 60 domestic enterprises, including Vanke, a leading real estate enterprise, have expressed their desire to apply for certification that they meet the standards, as it is tantamount to gaining the label of an "honest, good and orderly" company, which will help them gain an upper hand over competitors without the certification.

Officials in Shenzhen said that enterprises with such a certification will also be chosen when it comes to government procurement contracts, projects and funds.

The introduction of the anti-bribery management system in Shenzhen has once again shifted public attention to the fight against corruption in China. Commercial bribery, if not checked, will further erode the integrity of the country's business environment and endanger its market fairness. Many top international enterprises go to great lengths to link their anti-bribery reputation to their public image.

China has taken a series of measures in recent years to effectively combat commercial bribery, from lawmaking to the building of the social credit system and the introduction of internal anti-bribery mechanisms in companies. For example, the country has increased the punishments for those found guilty of offering bribes in the Amendment to Criminal Law and defines the concept of commercial bribery in the revised anti-unfair competition law. The creditworthiness list of enterprises the country's business regulator set up in 2016 is also playing its role in combating commercial bribery.

The adoption of the first anti-bribery management system in Shenzhen provides an example for plugging the existing legal loopholes and strengthening the established anti-commercial bribery system. The participation of more and more enterprises in such a system is expected to further purify the country's commercial environment.

--Southern Metropolis Daily
A bank clerk tells a customer how to use the mobile banking services at a bank in Nantong, Jiangsu province, Sept 21, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

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 companies, 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 reducedin 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.
Investors look at computer screens showing stock information at a brokerage in Shanghai, August 13, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

Some of the mainland's big-cap stocks have been included in a benchmark index of US index provider MSCI, which is widely expected to give a big boost to the wobbling domestic A-share market.

Indeed, the inclusion of 222 A-share companies in its Emerging Markets Index and All Country World Index, beginning in June 2018, could potentially bring in more than $400 billion of funds from institutional investors over the next decade.

However, whether a stock market can fare well does not rely only on capital inflows; more fundamentally, it hinges on a healthy, transparent, and law-based regulatory system.

Such a regulatory system is still needed for the A-share market.

Launched in the early 1990s, the domestic A-share market has made many attempts to improve both the quality of its listed stocks and its regulatory management. Although it has been criticized by many for failing to root out fraud and insider trading, regulators have been strengthening the fight against market irregularities in recent years.

For example, in 2016 and the first five months of this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has issued 194 punitive decisions against 108 companies and 558 corporate managers. It also blocked 64 corporate managers and securities companies' employees from continuing to work in the industry and imposed heavy fines on those found to violate relevant laws and regulations.

Still, to better protect investor interests and boost market morale, the commission needs to learn from their Western counterparts and impose tougher punishments on companies and corporate staff found guilty of fraud and malpractices, so as to clean up the market and restore investor confidence.

In China, a stock must get the go-ahead from a special committee of the CSRC before it can be traded. After it starts trading, however, punishments often seem lenient compared with the regulatory practices of Western countries.

A recent case testifying to the leniency shown by the CSRC is that of Jiangsu Yabaite Technology Co Ltd. The CSRC said in May that investigations found the company fabricated overseas business contracts and trade transactions so that its profits ballooned by 260 million yuan ($38.1 million) from 2015 to September, 2016. In 2015, its fabricated profits accounted for 73 percent of its total reported profits, the CSRC said.

The CSRC fined the company 600,000 yuan and forbade some senior company managers from entering the market again.

But the senior managers of the company sold most of their holdings after the share price rose strongly on the back of the padded corporate earnings while individual investors suffered serious losses as the stock price tumbled from a high of 23.95 yuan per share to 8.13 yuan.

Considering the big gains made by the cheats and the lenient punishments they received, the CSRC's decision has been described as being nothing but encouragement for more such fraud.

In a stock market with sound regulatory rules, such light punishments would be unbelievable.

For example, in the well-known Enron fraud scandal, the company was fined $500 million and ultimately de-listed; corporate CEO Jeff Skilling was convicted of securities fraud and sentenced to 24 years and 4 months in prison; chief financial officer Andrew Fastow was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with no parole; and Arthur Andersen LLP, once one of the global "big five" accounting firms, was found guilty of criminal charges relating to its auditing of Enron, which seriously damaged its credibility and led to its later demise. Loss-suffering shareholders, meanwhile, filed for compensation and received a final settlement of nearly $7.2 billion.

It may take a long time for China's stock market to become as sound as the US', but the regulatory bodies need to demonstrate more resolve to continually strengthen regulation to provide a better environment for domestic and international investors.


SHI YU/CHINA DAILY

In late May, two Chinese tourists kidnapped in Quetta in Pakistan's Balochistan province may have been killed. On June 9, Zhang Yingying, a 26-year-old Chinese student visiting the University of Illinois in the United States went missing, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case. On June 12, a British court sentenced two suspects to prison for beating a 67-year-old Chinese man, who was visiting his daughter in Preston, Lancashire, to death in a local park on Jan 1.

These attacks on Chinese nationals abroad have prompted some media outlets to discuss the safety of Chinese overseas. But it is far-fetched for media outlest to use headlines such as "Foreign destinations unsafe for Chinese", implying that Chinese people should not travel abroad for fear of safety. Needless to say, such reports are devoid of logic.

Among the three incidents, two were not related to nationality or ethnicity. Only the Lancashire victim was targeted for being a Chinese, as one of the attackers used a derogatory term to denote Chinese nationals. But despite racism being a reality in those countries, most of the people and the governments there strongly oppose it.

And since no major terrorist group is reported to have targeted Chinese overseas, the attacks on Chinese citizens can be attributed to growing uncertainty in those countries because of social conflicts, terrorist attacks and asylum seekers.

Besides, the number of Chinese traveling abroad is rapidly increasing. Last year, Chinese people made 126 million trips overseas, which could have made them more vulnerable to attacks.

Chinese people traveling abroad on business, or for studies or leisure should take all safety precautions, especially because some habits of Chinese tourists make them easy prey for burglars or thieves. For example, many Chinese tourists prefer to carry large amounts of cash and/or hang their cameras like a shoulder bag, making them easy prey for pickpockets and thieves. And since the number of Chinese citizens traveling overseas for shopping has been rising steadily, some gangs in certain countries, such as France and Italy, are more frequently targeting them. But that has little to do with politics, as such risks could decrease if the tourists take precautionary measures.

Of course, Chinese people have to better prepare their trips after researching about their destinations and the cultural milieus there, and take appropriate steps to reduce the risks. For example, the governments of some countries facing terrorist threats may not be in a position to guarantee the safety of tourists in certain regions; it's better not to visit such regions.

For Chinese citizens who work or study overseas, they are advised to stay in touch with Chinese embassies and consulates, and not hesitate to call the local police when they are in trouble.

The Chinese government, too, could take some measuressuch as the agreement with the Italian government which allowed Chinese and Italian police officers to conduct joint patrols at some key tourism spots in Italy and Chinato make traveling safer for Chinese tourists. And travel agencies and related organizations should give ample information to Chinese people traveling abroad so that the latter can take precautionary measures for their safety.

Liu Simin is vice-president of tourism at Beijing-based Chinese Society for Future Studies. The article is an excerpt from his interview with China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang.
NEW YORK - One can hardly tell what a New York high-rise building has to do with Fosun, one of China's largest private companies, until arriving at the 40-floor skyscraper on 28 Liberty Street in downtown Manhattan's Financial District.

The Chinese investment company bought the office building, formerly named One Chase Manhattan Plaza, from JPMorgan in October 2013 for $725 million. However, the renovation of the plaza helped Chinese investors understand better the ways of doing business in the US.

"There is actually a story about it," said Kate Zhao, director of the marketing & corporate communications of the Fosun Group.

"It is a landmark building, and we need to meet the requirements set out by US authorities in its renaming and renovation," said Zhao.

"Any changes to the facade of the building are prohibited, and many local families who have lived here for generations do not like too many changes either," she told Xinhua.

The acquisition of the skyscraper demonstrates the fact that following rules is a must for foreign investors.

"In the United States, you have to understand and respect the rules and play by the rules," Zhao said.

"Playing by the rules" is one of the major factors that have attracted Chinese companies to increase their investment here. Others include robust economic outlook, the large consumer end market and large base of technology and brand assets.

Fosun has made a total investment of $3 billion in the United States since 2012, supporting about 8,000 local jobs.

A new report jointly released by the Rhodium Group and the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR) shows Chinese companies invested a record $46 billion in the United States in 2016, a tenfold increase compared to just five years ago.

As Chinese companies expand rapidly in the United States, long-term challenges and concerns remain for Chinese investors even though they are getting more and more adapted to the American ways of doing business.

The US trade protectionism, the rising labor costs, biases, and the lack of transparency of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) review process continued to pose threats to Chinese investment, said the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA (CGCC) in its 2016 annual Survey Report on Chinese Enterprises in the United States.

According to the survey, Chinese companies are facing a common challenge - the complex and unfamiliar US legal system that often leads to expensive legal, tax, and compliance costs.

In addition, new challenges have emerged such as the conflicts of laws between the two countries, the complex intellectual property rights system, and the high cost of exceeding compliance management, the survey said.

The US legal and regulatory system involves many different players at the federal and state levels, and this complexity makes the country's regulatory environment harder for Chinese companies to navigate.

"In 2014, we received only two supervisory inspections, but in 2016 we received eight, and in the first half of this year, the number already exceeded eight," said Xu Chen, Chairman of the CGCC, and also President & CEO of Bank of China USA, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"We know they are important, but if we do everything we can to deal with these inspections, do we have extra energy to do our businesses, and to support Chinese enterprises to invest in the United States?" Xu questioned.

Xu told Xinhua that both US and foreign enterprises have been calling for deregulation during last two years.

"Regulation is endless. There are businesses, there are risks. You have to find a balance between development and risk control. Overregulation will take a heavy toll on market efficiency and undermine the competitiveness of the U.S. investment market," Xu elaborated.

The Rhodium Group also warned that Chinese investors would face greater uncertainty and political risk in the United States.

One of the themes of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign was the need for enhanced national security; therefore, it is highly likely that CFIUS reviews will become more stringent under the new administration.

Pin Ni, President of Wanxiang America Corporation, the Chicago-based arm of China's Wanxiang Group Company, called for a more transparent CFIUS review of merger and acquisition deals between American and Chinese enterprises.

Wanxiang's acquisition of A123, a bankrupt electric car battery maker with US federal backing, is seen as a major success story of Chinese investment in America, with Wanxiang turning the company around to profitability and increasing manufacturing capacity. Yet the path to close the deal was rocky because a CFIUS review was called after some lawmakers expressed concerns about taxpayer-funded technology being acquired by a foreign purchaser.

"It is right for any government to monitor foreign investors to ensure national security," Ni said, "However, the CFIUS review should be done through professional assessment without being politicized. Otherwise it would seriously undermine the confidence of foreign investors," Ni told Xinhua recently.

Lu Guanqiu, Chairman and Founder of Wanxiang Group Corporation, once said to former US president Barack Obama "we want to take the United States as our own home, and we also want to be treated as a family."

"For any company that wants to invest in a foreign country, the issue is not about money, instead it is about whether they feel comfortable," Ni said.

Daniel Rosen, Founding Partner of the Rhodium Group, believes China's investment in America will continue to grow.

"Those (capital) flows can happen without us having to make a sacrifice of national security. We don't have to make it, neither do you... The national security issues can be managed if there is political wisdom on both sides," he said.

Xu Jing in Chicago contributed to this story by Xinhua

(China Daily USA 06/15/2017 page2)
Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William are seen at the Royal Ascot on June 20, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

ASCOT, England  Despite unusually high temperatures, members of British society and the royal family have donned their finest hats and fancy outfits for the first day of the Royal Ascot horse race.

With temperatures near 30 degrees Celsius (the 86 degrees Fahrenheit,) race organizers even considered relaxing the strict dress code to allow men to take off their jackets.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla; and Prince William and Kate are all in attendance after arriving in a traditional carriage procession.

They joined race-goers in observing a moment of silence for victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, the attacks at London Bridge and the Manchester concert bombing.

The racecourse says it is donating 100,000 ($126,000) to the British Red Cross UK Solidarity and London Fire Relief Funds and local charities to help victims.

AP
Belgian police take up position following an explosion at Central Station in Brussels, Belgium, June 20, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

BRUSSELS  Soldiers shot a suspect in the heart of Brussels after a small explosion at a busy train station Tuesday night continued a week of extremist attacks in the capitals of Europe.

A bomb squad performed a controlled explosion of a bomb belt the suspect had at the Central Station and was checking to see if there more hazards, VTM network reported. Authorities set up a wide perimeter around the station, located near the city's famed Grand Place square.

It appeared no one else was injured besides the suspect and the damage from the explosion was limited, Brussels prosecutor's office spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch told VRT. It was not clear if the suspect survived.

Nicolas Van Herreweghen, who works for Belgium's national rail company, said the male suspect was very agitated, yelling about jihadists and then "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great," before blowing up something on a baggage trolley.

He said the man appeared to be 30 to 35 years of age.

The government agency that 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.

National newspaper La Libre Belgique quoted the prosecutor's office as saying the suspect was wearing a backpack and an explosive belt. The information could not be immediately confirmed. Photos posted on social media showed a small fire in the station.
Jack Ma talks with American television host Charlie Rose during the inaugural Gateway '17 event at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan, US, June 20, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group chose Detroit, Michigan to stage its inaugural two-day Gateway '17 Summit, which kicked off on Tuesday and is designed to educate American small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the Chinese market and consumer demands to ultimately help them sell to China.

Approximately 3,000 American SMEs registered for the summit, almost triple the number Alibaba expected. Among them, 673 are from Michigan and 103 of those from the Detroit metro area.

In a conversation with American SME representatives on Tuesday, Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma said this first-ever event was "what he has been dreaming of for 18 years" - a trade show held solely for the benefit of small businesses.

Industry observers believe the event is also to fulfill the promise Ma made during his meeting with the then-president-elect Donald Trump in January - that Alibaba could help create 1 million US jobs over five years by enabling small businesses to sell goods on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms.

Small businesses in China have an acclaimed record of helping Alibaba lay a solid foundation for a decade of rapid growth, and transform the e-commerce company into today's robust conglomerate that has 50,000 employees worldwide and has generated $547 billion in gross merchandise volume as of March 2017, said Ma.

The Chinese success stories can be replicated in the US, he added, "Alibaba is made in China but our mission is to help SMEs worldwide."

Calling himself a true believer in globalization and free trade, Ma hopes globalization could be more "inclusive and support SMEs' participation in globalization".

Having accumulated more than 800 flight hours last year by attending trade shows and expos worldwide to promote Alibaba's business solutions, Ma said he plans to fly longer hours, probably 1,000 or so this year, to help American SMEs grow globally and sell to China.

"This summit is just the very beginning of our endeavors in the US," he said.

Becky Feinberg-Galvez, CEO of Shop4Ties, brought samples of ties and bows from her 30-year-old family factory in Chicago. She said China is a market too huge to miss, and "this summit is educational and informational."

Timeless, a skincare products manufacturer in South California, wants to learn more about the Chinese market at the event. "It's eye-opening to know the huge market potential in China," Glenda Nunez, customer relations manager, said. "We are in the process to work with Tmall to expand our business to China."

On Monday when meeting with Michigan State Lieutenant Governor Brain Calley, Ma shared his thoughts on connecting Midwest small businesses through Alibaba with the 300 million Chinese middle class who won't hesitate to pay heftily for good-quality products.

Representing the vast Midwestern states in the US and hometown to tens of thousands of small businesses and farms, Michigan suffered heavy losses in the economic recession of 2008 and is still struggling to bring back its vigor.

"When the economy went down, big companies just left, but small businesses chose to stay," said Ma. "We want to help them succeed and grow through the internet."

Calley agreed closer and stronger business collaboration with China will benefit the local economy. He said he hopes to launch more cooperation with Alibaba on logistics and tourism in the future.

"We are not Amazon or eBay, we are not selling Alibaba brands," said Ma. "Instead, we are helping American small businesses sell their high-quality products to China. We are happy to help farmers in Michigan to sell their fruits and vegetables to Asia."

Calvin Zhou contributed to this story.
New York - The family of a missing Chinese scholar announced that they are working with Champaign County Crime Stoppers to offer a reward of $40,000 for information leading to an arrest in the disappearance of Zhang Yingying, 26.

A visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus, Zhang was last seen getting into a black Saturn Astra on June 9. She has been missing ever since.

On Monday, representatives from Crime Stoppers, the FBI and the university police department were present at a news conference held by UIUC and Zhang's family.

The new reward comes in addition to the FBI's offer of up to $10,000 for the location or whereabouts of Zhang.

"These are two different rewards that are not combined," an FBI official said. "We have broadcast the poster on the FBI Springfield webpage, on Facebook, Instagram, as well as Twitter. So, there are a lot of media sources."

Founded 30 years ago, Champaign County Crime Stoppers is a non-profit organization that allows people to anonymously provide information about criminal activity.

"It is the largest reward Crime Stoppers has ever offered," John Hecker, a local representative of Crime Stoppers, said.

"Crime Stoppers is serving as a facilitator for this. The money was not raised by Crime Stoppers, and is not coming from Crime Stoppers' fund," Hecker said. "This is kind of through the family via a GoFundMe account."

Since the family has arrived in the US, GoFundMe, a platform to raise money for Zhang, has already collected more than $6,000.

"We plan to use most of the money as a fund to search for Zhang. Anyone with clues can call, and the reward is totally anonymous," Hecker said.

Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers on one of its three available platforms: by calling 217-373-TIPS (8477), online at http://373tips.com or by using the P3 Tips mobile app.

Providing information to Crime Stoppers is totally anonymous, which is different from the FBI.

"Calls and messages to Crime Stoppers are routed to a third-party call center, which strips all identifying information from the call before forwarding the information to police," the university police's website said. Hecker mentioned that callers are assigned a unique identifying number instead of using their names. Tips are then sent to FBI.

Crime Stoppers determine the amount of the reward based on the value of each bit of information provided. If there is only one who provides useful information, he or she gets the full reward. The reward is made available after Zhang is found.

"This case is very unique because we are going to make the determination in conjunction with the family," Hecker said. "We will be working closely with the family."

"I hope this $40,000 can lead to more information," a representative of UIUC Chinese Students and Scholars Association said.

The school and local Chinese people are offering help to Zhang's family.

"The university has provided an apartment for the family to stay in, and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association has put together a plan to provide some home-cooked meals for the family," Robin Kaler, associate chancellor of UIUC said.

Investigators from the university's Police Department, Illinois State Police and FBI continue to work around the clock, taking advantage of various technological resources.

"Detectives are following up on hundreds of tips already received," the university police's website said.

Xiao Jiaqiao in New York contributed to this story.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (1st L) shakes hands with a refugee in Iligan, the Philippines, June 20, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

MANILA -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday personally apologized to the residents of Marawi who were displaced during the close to-one month military operations in the southern city and for the declaration of martial law in the whole Mindanao, following attacks by Islamic militants.

The president visited displaced families from Marawi who are currently staying at an evacuation center in Iligan City and led the distribution of financial and relief aid.

In the speech of the event, he said he had no choice but to impose martial law as the Islamic militants were already destroying the city and a lot of people are already being affected by the attacks.

Duterte, who claimed that his grandmother was a Maranao, a local tribe in Mindanao island, said he was hurt and angry that some Maranaos allowed the foreign terrorist ideology to enter the country.

"I would like to say to the Maranao people that I am very, very, very sorry that this happened to us. I hope in the near future, you will find a new heart to forgive my soldiers, the government, even me for declaring martial law," he said.

"I have no choice, they are destroying Marawi. I have to drive them out. But I am very sorry. Please extend my condolences to our Maranao siblings for this incident," he added.

The president on May 23 placed Mindanao under martial law for 60 days and suspended the writ of habeas corpus following attacks by the Maute-Abu Sayyaf Group which had pledged allegiance to the Islamic States.

Duterte said he also had to make the declaration to prevent civil war from developing, noting that some of those who are hurt and affected by the attacks are capable of arming themselves like some Christians.

Meanwhile, he urged everyone not to follow the foreign militant ideologies and to pray for an immediate resolution of the situation.

The fighting has so far resulted in the death of 258 Maute members, 65 soldiers and policemen and 26 civilians, according to Philippine military.

Duterte on Tuesday extended his condolences to the families of the soldiers who were killed in action and assured the families that the government would take care of them.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres takes part in a news conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York, US, June 20, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on World Refugee Day on Tuesday that refugee protection is not a matter of solidarity or generosity, but an obligation under international law.

Guterres urged governments to manage their borders but also to increase their resettlement quotas and protect asylum seekers and people who deserve protection. He called for governments to find political solutions to world's conflicts which resulted in a record 65.6 million refugees, and to fund humanitarian aid.

"We are still witnessing many remarkable examples of solidarity in today's world," he said in a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York. "But at the same time, we are seeing more and more borders being closed, we are seeing more and more refugees being rejected and, namely in countries of the developed world."

Guterres, who was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, announced that he would be leaving on Tuesday for Uganda, which hosts a UN-backed summit this week to support the more than 1.3 million refugees within its borders for the next four years.

About 950,000 refugees from South Sudan have entered Uganda since the start of the conflict in South Sudan in December 2013.

The secretary-general said about 80 percent of the world's refugees are hosted by developing countries with a dramatic impact on their economy, society and security.

He said that the UN General Assembly will hold two key debates next year with the aim of agreeing on two compacts  one on refugees and one on migration.

He said refugees and migrants are two different situations: refugees crossing borders, fleeing conflict or

prosecution, [and] economic migrants who aspire to have a better life and move from one country to another.
The US can play a more constructive role on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), according to a group of Chinese experts visiting New York.

"No matter how you see it, the United States is a part of the BRI because the whole idea is about global growth and development," Zha Daojiong, international political economy professor of Peking University, said at a luncheon event with Bloomberg business journalists and other mainstream media representatives at Bloomberg Philanthropies in New York on Tuesday.

Zha was among a delegation of five Chinese financial and economic scholars in New York to discuss the latest on the BRI.

The delegation also spoke at a forum held by the National Committee on US- China Relations and the India China Institute at the New School on Tuesday night.

Zha said the US could help China by being a part of BRI financing. "We need good risk assessment; we need the private sectors to work with us," he said.

Zha said that one of the ideas in the financing of BRI is public-private partnership (PPP) and China will spread PPP in countries participating in BRI.

The PPP would help facilitate projects as it broadens financing channels for companies. "But it needs to be handled with a lot of foresight and experience, otherwise PPP can become promise, postpone and paralysis, and that's not what you want to see," Zha joked.

"We wanted the US, which is a very important member in major international financial decisions, like (through the) World Bank and Asian Development Bank to continually work with us, (since) we have made some good progress," Zha said.

Zha said that of AIIB projects in the past few years, "even with a short history, it made a right beginning in terms of partnering with World Bank and others to make these loans and gained experiences".

Wang Wen, executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, said to keep its role as the world's capital, New York needs to find the next wave of opportunities, which in his opinion could be the BRI.

Zhai Kun, professor at the School of International Studies of Peking University, said BRI's prospects are bright. However, US President Donald Trump's policy toward Asia and Asia Pacific is uncertain.

The scholars also called for Western mainstream media to provide more news coverage of BRI.

Wang said the inference he draws is that many Western media exaggerate China's global ambition based on BRI. And on the other hand, they underestimate the potential for cooperation between China and the US.

"China is not a revolutionary state of the global order, and China is one of the most important states for supporting the global order that the US established at the end of the World War II," Wang said.

"China and the US have so many fields for cooperating, such as infrastructure," Wang Wen, professor and executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China.

"For example, in infrastructure, China can provide labor, technology, financing. The US has the security, management experience and other soft power," Wang said.

xiaohong@chinadailyusa.com
Britain's First Secretary of State Damian Green arrives to attend a Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in central London on June 20, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

LONDON - There is no one sticking point in talks between British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party but a deal to support May's minority government could take some time, her deputy said on Wednesday.

"There's no individual sticking point. Talks are progressing," First Secretary of State Damian Green, who is effectively May's deputy, told the BBC.

"So we have a lot in common but we are two different parties and so it will take some time to reach a deal."

REUTERS
Belgian police officers and soldiers patrol inside Brussels central railway station after a suicide bomber was shot dead by troops in Brussels, Belgium, June 21, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

BRUSSELS - The suspect who caused a small explosion in Brussels Central Station has been identified as a 36-year-old local man, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said Wednesday.

The man entered the railway station with a bag of explosives at 20:39 local time (1839 GMT) on Tuesday, and started to scream to cause panic before triggering the explosion, Eric Van Der Sypt, spokesperson of the prosecutor's office, said at a press conference.

The suspect, coming from the city's troubled district of Molenbeek, was immediately shot dead by a soldier patrolling the station, the spokesman said.

Born on Jan. 12, 1981, the suspect was not known for any terrorist link before the incident, the spokesman added.

Police searched his home in Molenbeek on Wednesday morning. The case is considered by the prosecutor's office as a failed terrorist attack.

The explosion did not cause any injuries, but traffic in the city was heavily disrupted on Tuesday evening.
Phoebe Cates Kline (born Phoebe Belle Cates; July 16, 1963), known professionally as Phoebe Cates, is an American film actress and former model. She is known primarily for her roles in several 1980s films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins.

Early life [ edit ]

Cates was born in New York City, to a family of television and Broadway production insiders. She is the daughter of Lily and Joseph Cates (originally "Joseph Katz"), [2] who was a major Broadway producer and a pioneering figure in television, and who helped create The $64,000 Question. [3] [4] Her late uncle, Gilbert Cates, produced numerous television specials, often in partnership with Cates's father, as well as several annual Academy Awards shows. Her father and maternal grandmother were of Russian Jewish descent, and her maternal grandfather was Chinese-Filipino. [5] [6] [7] Cates' mother was born in Shanghai, China. [8]

Cates attended the Hewitt School, the Professional Children's School, and the Juilliard School. [9] When she was ten, she wanted to become a dancer. She eventually got a scholarship to the School of American Ballet, but after suffering a serious knee injury at age 15, she gave up her dancing career. [10] She next began a career as a professional model, which was short-lived, although successful. [10] Cates, however, did not like the industry: "It was just the same thing, over and over. After a while, I did it solely for the money." [11]

Career [ edit ]

After ending her modeling career, Cates decided to begin acting. [10] Although her father was an actor as well, he was not enthusiastic about his daughter's new acting career. [10] Cates's acting debut was at age 17 in Paradise (filmed March to May 1981), [12] in which she played Sarah and did several fully nude scenes in the movie, which had a plot similar to The Blue Lagoon. She also sang the film's main theme song and recorded an album of the same name. In a 1982 interview, she recalled having trouble with the change of career, because as a model, she had to be conscious of the camera, whereas in front of the movie camera, she could not. [11] Cates later regretted being in the movie and said, "What I learned was never to do a movie like that again." [10] According to her co-star Willie Aames, "She will have nothing to do with the film. She's really upset about it. She won't do any promotion with me." [13]

Later in 1982, Cates starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which features what Rolling Stone described as "the most memorable bikini-drop in cinema history." [14] She was quoted as saying that she had the most fun in filming that movie. [10] The following year, she was in the sex comedy Private School, which co-starred Matthew Modine and Betsy Russell, and for which she sang on two songs of the film's soundtrack, "Just One Touch" and "How Do I Let You Know".

Cates's later film roles were more modest and largely oriented toward younger audiences, such as the two Gremlins films and the 1991 film Drop Dead Fred. Her face graced the covers of teen magazines such as Seventeen, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, and others. In 1984, she starred in the TV mini-series Lace, based on a novel which Shirley Conran had written. She played the role of Lili "to get away from a sameness in her movie portrayals." [15] During her audition, she so impressed the writer that he wanted to hire her there and then. [15] Cates struggled with the portrayal of a bitter movie star because, despite her character's vicious persona, she intended for the audience to sympathize with her. [16] She did not read Conran's novel, on which the movie was based, because she did not want to have a "fixed image." [16] Her line in the film, "Which one of you bitches is my mother?", was named the greatest line in television history by TV Guide in 1993. [17]

In 1985, Cates appeared Off-Broadway in Rich Relations, written by David Henry Hwang of the Second Stage Theatre. [18] In 1994, she starred in the fact-based romantic comedy-drama Princess Caraboo.

Cates retired from acting in 1994 in order to raise her children. She returned to acting in 2001 for one film, The Anniversary Party, as a favor to her best friend, and former Fast Times at Ridgemont High castmate, Jennifer Jason Leigh, who directed the film.

Personal life [ edit ]

In the early 1980s, Cates shared an apartment in Greenwich Village with her then boyfriend Stavros Merjos. She first met him in 1979, when she went out to her first night in Studio 54 with family friend Andy Warhol. [11]

In 1983, during her audition for a role (that eventually went to Meg Tilly) in The Big Chill, Cates met actor Kevin Kline for the first time and became romantically involved with him despite a 16-year age gap. In 1989, they married, and she changed her name to Phoebe Cates Kline. [19] The Klines thereupon moved to Cates' native New York City with their two children, son Owen Joseph Kline and daughter Greta Simone Kline. Both Owen and Greta appeared, along with their parents, in the 2001 movie The Anniversary Party. Owen also appeared in the 2005 film The Squid and the Whale, whereas Greta pursued a musical career using the stage name Frankie Cosmos. [20]

In 2005, Cates opened her own boutique, called Blue Tree, on New York's Madison Avenue. [21]

Filmography [ edit ]

Film and television [ edit ]
LONDON - The Duke of Edinburgh, known as Prince Philip, was taken to hospital, Buckingham Palace announced on Wednesday morning.

The Duke is the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.

Britain's Prince Philip sits in a train on a journey marking the 175th anniversary of the first train journey by a British monarch, recreating the historic journey made by Queen Victoria on 13th June 1842, from Slough to London Paddington, Britain June 13, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: "The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London last night, as a precautionary measure, for treatment of an infection arising from a pre-existing condition."The 96-year-old prince had been scheduled to accompany the Queen on Wednesday morning as she delivered the Queen's Speech at the Houses of Parliament, which announces the legislative agenda for Prime Minister Theresa May's government.The prince, who has been married to the Queen for 70 years, was also scheduled to accompany the Queen to a horse race on Wednesday afternoon at Ascot, west of London, which is an annual date in the Queen's diary.The Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: "Prince Philip is in good spirits and is disappointed to be missing the State Opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot."Her Majesty is being kept informed and will attend Royal Ascot as planned."Prince Philip attended the racing at Ascot on Tuesday, and the annual birthday parade for the Queen, known as Trooping the Colour, on Saturday.He announced in the spring that he would be retiring from attending official public duties in the fall.In 2013, the prince had an exploratory operation on his abdomen. In 2011, he was treated for a blocked coronary artery. He spent five days in 2012 in hospital with a bladder infection.In 2016, Prince Philip carried out public duties on 110 days.
The photographer Qiao Yu's snapshots of China's rivers and mountains and capturing the everyday day lives of the country's residents were displayed, for the first time, at the On the way to China exhibition in London.

Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the United Kingdom during the exhibition. [Photo by Bo Lueng/chinadaily.com.cn]

Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the United Kingdom said Qiao's work has shown the Chinese photographer's efforts on promoting the friendship between China and the UK.

"His works are full of deep meanings, creativity and emotion," Liu told visitors at the exhibition and described the photographs as poetic and full of creativity.

Liu recalled both he and Qiao were members of the All-China Youth Federation and the Youth Federation of Central Government Departments, although in different year groups, and both also share a passion for photography.

But Liu pointed out that even though Qiao is a professional and he is not, they still discuss the subject and learn from each other.

"Not only does On the way to China present the grand natural scenery of China to the UK, it also depicts the Chinese people's aspirations of pursuing happiness and peace," Liu noted.

Liu said that the emotion Qiao expressed in his photographs shows his deep love for China and the people, adding it is exactly the kind of sentiment a poet would have.

The Chinese envoy highlighted the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-UK ambassadorial diplomatic relations and Sino-UK relations entering a golden age of strategic partnership with cultural exchanges playing an important role for these relations, which includes Qiao's exhibition.

Some 150 pieces of work selected by Qiao are on display. The photographer wanted to show China's rapid social developments over the last 20 years and the daily lives of ordinary Chinese people.

"I wanted to record social changes, to reflect the life of local people and to capture impressive moments," Qiao explained, "Photography is powered by the combination of techniques and arts."
Queen Elizabeth opened an unusual two-year session of the UK parliament on Wednesday which will be dominated if not overwhelmed by groundwork for negotiations for Britains planned exit from the European Union.

The Queen delivered a speech that outlined a government program that bore little resemblance to the manifesto that Prime Minister Theresa May took to the country almost two weeks ago.

She told parliament that the governments priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union and listed a series of domestic priorities.

The speech was much shorter and less detailed than normal, mostly because of the electorates limited endorsement of the prime minister and her Conservative Party. It did not detail an estimated eight bills that will be required to ease the UKs departure from the EU.

May and her Conservative Party failed to get a majority and need the cooperation of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party if they are to govern. By the time of the Queens speech, there was no word of a deal and DUP members were telling reporters that they were astonished by the inefficiency of the Mays office and insisting they would not be taken for granted.

Other reports suggested that the DUP was seeking an additional two billion pounds ($2.5 billion) in government spending in Northern Ireland in return for supporting the government.

The speech highlighted the fact that the British government has two mountains to climb if it is to leave the European Union in an orderly manner. Not only does it have to a come to a complex deal with the 27 countries of the EU, it also has to incorporate tens and thousands of items of legislation and regulation that emanated from the EU into to UK legislation. Failure to do this could leave British airliners grounded and British goods unable to be exported, among a host of catastrophic possibilities.

May also has to carry out a punishing legislative program without a majority and with her own position under threat. Senior ministers and their supporters, while publicly pledging support for May, are actively promoting new candidates for the premiership.

The Queen was accompanied by her son Prince Charles as her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was taken to hospital as a precaution when a pre-existing infection worsened overnight.

The Queen said that the UK would continue to spend two percent of GDP on defence and 0.7 percent on international aid. She also said that she looked forward to welcoming King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain but there was mention of US President Donald Trump, which suggests he will not be visiting the UK in the near future.
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos seems to be sending some confusing signals when it comes to whether states will be allowed to use Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate tests, the SAT, dual-enrollment courses, or career certifications to figure out if students are ready for college and the workforce, some experts say.

Rating schools based on whether they get kids ready for college and the workforce was all the rage in states plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act . And at least eight statesthats about half of the 17 that have turned in plans so farwant to use AP, IB the SAT, dual enrollment courses, or career certifications for accountability.

The problem? Its unclear if DeVos is cool with that, even though she has said she will make local control a big focus of ESSA implementation. Whats more, some experts worry that her team may be telling different states different things when it comes to how they measure college and career readiness.

Heres how this became an issue: Delaware, like almost every state, wants to rate schools based on whether they get kids ready for college and career. To measure that, the districts can use AP test scores, IB test scores, and whether students hit certain targets on the SAT. Districts can also consider whether students have earned a B or better in a college-level course.

And to prove career-readiness, Delaware districts can use scores on military or technical education exams, or examine whether a student has successfully completely some sort of work-based learning experience. (Geeks can check pages 36 and 37 of Delawares application to see all this in black and white. )

The department dinged Delaware for this in a recent feedback letter , saying, essentially, that its approach may not pass muster if not all schools offer AP and IB, and if a significant percentage of kids dont take the tests.

I am confused by this feedback, for sure, said Anne Hyslop, who served in the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama administration and is now a senior associate at Chiefs for Change. She said that as long as states have set a consistent definition of what it means for kids to be college-and-career ready, they could allow districts to demonstrate it in different ways. Otherwise, only states that offer AP, ACT, or the SAT to all their students would be able to use college and career readiness in their systems.

She suggested the department may want to come up with some sort of guidance document, including some examples of how college readiness can be measured. Otherwise states will have to comb through feedback letters to each and every plan and cobble together policy guidance, and [to get] some direction of whats okay and not okay.

We asked the department if Delawares letter meant no state can use a mix of AP, IB, and dual enrollment to measure college and career readiness, as more than half a dozen states want to do. Liz Hill, a spokeswoman, said Delaware specifically may be able to use AP and IB test scores for accountability if it does a better job of explaining how those scores are a valid, statewide measure, as required under ESSA. If they gave us info[rmation] on how that would be the case, it could be fine, Hill said.

But that answer doesnt seem the same as what the department appeared to tell Delaware. We asked Hill for clarification, and well let you know if we hear back.

The answer may matter to more than just Delaware. Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Massachusetts, Nevada, and New Mexico want to use a mix of AP, IB, dual enrollment, and other advanced coursework for accountability.

And Nevada, which also has received feedback from the department, has language in its plan on measuring college-and-career readiness thats pretty similar to Delawares. (If you want to check out Nevadas pitch on this, go to page 32 of its plan. ) Importantly, while Delaware got criticized in its feedback from the department for this, the agency didnt criticize Nevada, although it did ask for more informaton on the college-and-career-ready indicator.

That was perplexing to experts who examined both states plans, including Dale Chu, who is the vice president for policy and operations at America Succeeds, which works to get business involved in education.

Both Nevada and Delaware, Chu said, seem to offer districts a menu of choices when it comes to showing their students are ready for college or the workforce. The main difference, as he sees it, seems to be that Delaware is emphasizing both college and career. But he doesnt see that as a reason for the department to reject Delawares approach, if it is OK with Nevadas.

In terms of the difference ... why does one state get a slap on the hand and the other doesnt? Your guess is as good as mine, said Chu, who previously worked on education issues in Florida and Indiana.

Chu finds the extensive feedback states are getting from DeVos department to be fascinating given that the secretary said she was all about local control. The signals are all over the place. If I were a state, I would selfishly just ignore some of this stuff and say were going to do the plan we want to do.

Already, Chris Minnich, the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers has complained about the departments ESSA approach , saying it goes beyond whats in the law. In fact, his statement on the issue specifically brought up the AP/IB/dual enrollment question.

And if DeVos and Company are using different standards for different states, Congress may start complaining. One of Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.'s biggest gripes about the Obama administration is that it played an inconsistent game of mother may I with states.

Assistant Editor Andrew Ujifusa contributed to this story.

Video: ESSA Explained in 3 Minutes

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
New Mexico State Police believe a body found in the state is that of a pastor who went missing while searching for treasure in the Rocky Mountains.

Medical investigators have not released the identity of the body, but State Police Lt. Elizabeth Armijo told the AP that it is likely Paris Wallace, of Grand Junction, Colo.

Family reported Wallace missing last week. He had been searching for treasure hidden by multimillionaire Forrest Fenn. Fenn announced years ago that he hid artifacts and gold in a chest in the mountains in 2010. He even gave clues about the treasures location in his poem, The Thrill of the Chase.

"I made it hard [to find] deliberately," he said in a 2015 interview. "If it was easy, anyone could do it."

Fenn told CBS Sunday Morning that he didnt hide the treasure in the mines because the mines were too dangerous.

Police found Wallaces car after tracing his cell phone. They then found his backpack in the Rio Grande river. A torn rope was also found. It had been stretched across a tributary of the Rio Grande. Wallaces body was found about five to seven miles downstream from his car.

"My heart and my prayers go out to his family and his church It is such a tragedy, Fenn said in a statement this week.

Wallace isnt the first to die in hopes of finding the treasure in the mountains.

In 2016, Randy Bilyeus remains were found months after he went missing. He, too, was searching for the treasure. Bilyeu was 54.

Photo credit: Thinkstock/grafvision
President Trumps decision to maintain the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv has disappointed conservative Christians who were counting on him to make good on a key campaign promise.

But many expect that the long-awaited move will still occur and seem to give him the benefit of the doubt on the need to at least delay relocating the U.S. mission to Jerusalem given the realities of peacemaking in the Middle East.

Americas recognition of the capital city of our foremost and only democratic ally in the Middle East should not be a bargaining chip, said National Religious Broadcasters President Jerry A. Johnson, in a statement. I am disappointed, but I take the President at his word that this is only a delay in delivering on his promise.

The White House said the decision  which includes a six-month waiver on action related to the embassy  should not be considered in any way a retreat from the Presidents strong support for Israel or his commitment to its alliance with the U.S.

President Trump made this decision to maximize the chances of successfully negotiating a deal between Israel and the Palestinians, fulfilling his solemn obligation to defend Americas national security interests, the White House stated. But, as he has repeatedly stated his intention to move the embassy, the question is not if that move happens, but only when.

Trump had said in a speech last year to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee he wanted to move the embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, and added in a later interview that would happen fairly quickly.

But White House press secretary Sean Spicer had appeared to walk back that pledge at his very first press briefing, saying the administration was at the early stages in this decision-making process.

If it was already a decision, we wouldnt be going through a decision-making process, he said.

Many Christian conservatives who have been strong proponents of relocating the embassy in Israel remain confident that Trump, who garnered 81 percent of the vote of white evangelicals, will keep his promise eventually.

We are disappointed the President chose at this time to sign the Jerusalem Embassy Act waiver but remain hopeful that he will fulfill his campaign pledge and move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, said Christians United for Israel in a statement. The President knows that Jerusalem is the eternal and undivided capital of Israel and we strongly believe that the location of our embassy should reflect that reality.

History proves that Jerusalem has been the recognized capital of Israel for 3000 years, Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress also said in a statement. I trust the Trump Administration to eventually fulfill their commitment to move our embassy to Jerusalem at the most opportune time. Not now does not mean never.'

In mid-May, before Trump visited Israel during his recent trip abroad, about 60 evangelical Christian leaders signed a letter urging the president to end the waivers that every president has granted since Congress called for the relocation of the mission in the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995.

Such suspensions have been repeated semi-annually for two decades, and it is time to end Americas doublespeak, they said in the letter organized by American Christian Leaders for Israel.

That letter mentioned language in the Republican Partys 2016 platform that reads: We recognize Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state and call for the American embassy to be moved there in fulfillment of U.S. law.

And the letter writers noted that Trump had promised the ACLI that that policy would be kept if he made it to the White House: Many of our constituents cast their vote for you due to this commitment.

Johnnie Moore, a member of Trumps evangelical advisory board, referenced the image of Trump praying at the Western Wall and said most evangelicals are convinced that the president remains supportive of Israel, while needing to juggle broader issues related to peace and security in the region.

Most evangelicals will take this decision within its full context, not doubt the presidents support of Israel, and continue to believe that this is something that will happen at the right, appropriate time, he said.

Courtesy: Religion News Service

Photo: President Trump touches the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City on May 22, 2017.

Photo courtesy: Reuters/Ronen Zvulun

Publication date: June 2, 2017
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
In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis warns that the enemy sends errors in pairs: "He relies on our dislike of one to send us into the opposite." Were all prone to address an evil that offends or victimizes us by embracing its flawed opposite. Nowhere is this clearer than the current relationship the church has with social justice, where many American Christians inadvertently embrace the extreme of uncompassionate individualism or permissive secularism. Both are a corruption of the grace and truth that is the gospel, and both feed into one another in subtle but devious ways.

Many conservative Christians reject involvement in what has come to be known as the Christian social justice movement. To them, participation in this movement compromises doctrine by pursuing a false gospel that emphasizes cultural identity, social engineering, and earthly liberation over repentance and spiritual liberation from sin. This world becomes the focus and Gods law is replaced by interpretations of the human experience and relativism. To them, the achievements of this worldly bunch are negated by the frayed social fabric left in their wake. For instance, while they agree with equal treatment under the law for women, many believe the womens equality movement has become an effort to deny natural gender distinctions and ultimately, to subside biological difference. Accurate or not, many evangelical Christians have used this narrative as justification to disparage and obstruct efforts connected with social justice.

At best, this line of reason ignores injustice; at worst, it rationalizes the churchs participation in the oppressive status quo. From the Jim Crow era to mass incarceration today, overlooking systemic ...

1
Martin Luther had no intention of marrying. Though he had preached extensively and passionately on the theology of marriage, matrimony, he had decided, simply wasnt for him. Not that I am insensible to the emotions of the flesh, being neither wood nor stone, he wrote to a friend, but because I have no desire to [marry], and daily expect to die a heretics death.

All that changed once Katharina von Bora landed on Martin Luthers doorstep.

After 18 years in a cloistered convent, Katharina, along with 11 of her fellow nuns, secretly fled the convent in the middle of the night, hiding in a covered wagon. So convicted were they by Martin Luthers writings, particularly those that condemned monasticism as works-based faith, the nuns left the only life they had ever known. Martin, feeling responsible for their livelihood, took on the role of matchmaker for the destitute former nuns, ensuring that each found a suitable husband.

Two years after their risky escape, only one of the nuns still remained single: Katharina. Refusing to marry the suitor Martin had lined up for her, she made a daring suggestion instead: She proposed that the great Reformer marry her himself.

Neither Martin Luther nor Katharina von Bora married each other for love. Each had an agenda the day they crossed the threshold of their home for the first time as husband and wife. Katharina wed in order to survive in a world hostile to women; Martin married out of a sense of obligation to Katharina, as well as to put into practice the theology of marriage he had so passionately preached. Their marriage, at least at the start, was a far cry from our 21st-century Hollywood-influenced expectations of til death ...

1
A federal appeals court has revived part of a lawsuit challenging alleged practices in a Colorado school district to promote fundraising on behalf of Christian groups and allow teachers to participate in student religious groups.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver, upheld the dismissal of most of the suit, but it did allow one parents claim to move forward. That claim alleges that the 67,000-student Douglas County school district violated the First Amendments prohibition on government establishment of religion when it partnered with a Christian student group and solicited donations from the parent and her son for students to go on a foreign religious mission.

A group of parents and students, backed by the American Humanist Association, sued the Douglas County district to challenge a range of alleged unconstitutional practices. The suit alleges that public school administrators partnered with groups such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Adventures in Mission to promote and seek donations for activities such as overseas religious missions. The suit also alleges that some district schools allowed teachers to attend meetings of student religious groups such as FCA and participate in events such as the annual See You at the Pole student religious observance outside of public schools.

A federal district court dismissed all of the claims, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing because none were personally injured by the alleged violations and that none qualified for taxpayer standing.

In its June 20 decision in American Humanist Association v. Douglas County School District RE-1 , the 10th Circuit panel upheld the district court on most of the standing determinations.

But the appellate court revived the claim of a parent identified in court papers as Jane Zoe. The suit says Zoe and her son at Cougar Run Elementary School were asked in 2014 to donate to a fundraiser for a spring break mission to Guatemala involving Adventures in Mission and FCA.

Zoe said in the suit that her son felt coerced into participating and contributing to this religious fundraiser and that school officials expected participation. She further said that as non-Christians, the schools actions in promoting and endorsing a Christian organization ... made us feel like outsiders and unwelcome in our own community.

The district court had ruled that because Zoes contacts with the challenged actions were not conspicuous or constant, she did not suffer a legal injury for standing purposes. The appeals court disagreed.

The record demonstrates that Zoe was directly and personally solicited by school officials to donate to a mission trip, and she was informed that a class at her sons school was partnering with a religious group ... to conduct the fundraiser, the appeals court said. The solicitation further advised that checks for the event should be written to the school. ... These unwelcome contacts are sufficient to establish injury with respect to Zoes claim to retrospective relief.

The case now goes back to the district court.
Seven people were sent to Houston-area hospitals Tuesday after United Airlines Flight 1031 hit severe turbulence in Mexican airspace.

Incidents like the flight from Panama to Houston can be jarring, but how often do they actually occur?

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, 33 passengers and 11 crew members were injured last year due to turbulence. In 2015, it reported a total of 21 people injured.

The National Transportation Safety Board gave a presentation citing an annual average of almost 27 significant turbulence incidents and accidents between 1998 and 2013. These resulted in an average of 14 serious injuries and 69 minor injuries.

For comparison, airlines at Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports reported 455,090 operations, which include takeoffs and landings, in 2016.

Anthony Roman, president of global investigation and risk management firm Roman & Associates, said it's not very common to have cases of turbulence that land people in the hospital when compared with the number of hours commercial airlines fly each year.

"You can get moderate turbulence, which the average passenger will feel as severe, but is not defined as severe by the FAA," he said.

HoustonChronicle: What to expect in the air this summer

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said it's impossible to determine what type of turbulence the United Airlines flight hit, but the most common type is "clear air turbulence." This is impossible to see or detect, which makes it particularly dangerous for passengers not wearing seat belts.

That's why travelers are recommended to wear seat belts even when the sign isn't illuminated, Lunsford said in an email.

Roman said clear air turbulence can cause the plane to experience a sudden and dramatic drop. In very extreme circumstances, passengers and loose objects can become airborne.

This type of turbulence occurs when wind suddenly changes direction, when extreme weather creates severe updrafts and downdrafts or when the plane passes through the jet stream at an unfavorable angle, Roman said.

MORE: Trump plan for air-traffic control a concern for regional airports

Houston-based airline consultant Pete Garcia said passengers are more likely to get injured in cases of clear air turbulence because the crew doesn't have time to prepare for it. In other situations, they can usually detect turbulence and insist passengers buckle up.

The Houston Fire Department confirmed Wednesday morning that seven adults were transported to the hospital. They were low-priority transports, and they mostly complained about head and neck pains.

"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," United Airlines said in a statement on Tuesday.
After a successful run in Uptown Dallas, The Rustic, a restaurant and bar featuring live performances, will break ground this year in downtown Houston for a summer 2018 opening.

The new locale at 1836 Polk St., next to the George R. Brown Convention Center, will include a full-service dining experience featuring farm-fresh, homestyle dishes as well as a selection of wines, spirits and 40 beers on tap. Live musical performances are slated each night on a large outdoor stage and patio.
AP

Oil prices erased earlier gains and began declining on Wednesday, seemingly unimpressed by the Energy Department's report that crude oil inventories dropped by 2.45 million barrels last week  more than analysts had expected.

The nation's stockpile of oil declined to 509.1 million barrels. Analysts had forecast crude inventories would fall by 2.1 million barrels.
Tropical Storm Cindy has halted service at a major oil terminal in the Gulf of Mexico, prompted some evacuations at rigs and platforms and put states from Texas to Florida on notice for flooding rains.

Cindy was 225 miles (360 kilometers) southeast of Galveston, Texas, with top winds of 60 miles an hour early Wednesday. Its center is forecast to move inland over southeastern Texas or southwestern Louisiana Thursday, according to a U.S. National Hurricane Center advisory issued at 5 a.m. New York time.

The storm has triggered watches and warnings along the Texas-Louisiana coast including Galveston Bay, the entrance to the Houston Ship Channel and Sabine Pass, the site of the only active liquefied natural gas export terminal in the lower 48 states. Storms in the Gulf can often roil energy markets because offshore rigs and platforms account for about 17 percent of U.S. crude oil output and 4.1 percent of gas production.

Vessel offloading at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port marine terminal were suspended. The rest of the companys operations, including deliveries from its Clovelly, Louisiana, hub, were expected to continue, according to the companys website.

While the storm may not be a whopper, it will influence shipping and may impact imports and exports of oil for next week, Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at Price Futures Group Inc. in Chicago, wrote in a note.

Enbridge Inc. evacuated nonessential workers from some platforms in the Gulf. Royal Dutch Shell Plc suspended some well operations in the region, though production is unaffected, according to company spokesman Curtis Smith. BP Plc and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. also evacuated nonessential personnel. BHP Billiton Ltd suspended non-essential operations and demobilized non-essential workers.

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. declared a severe weather alert for the southern part of its electric grid, including Louisiana and Mississippi.

Its been a year since the U.S. Gulf Coast took a hit. Tropical Storm Colin and Hurricane Hermine struck Florida last year. The last storm to reach the western Gulf was Tropical Storm Bill in June 2015.

Power outages caused by the storm and subsequent flooding may have the largest market impact. Entergy Corp. said restoration workers in Louisiana and Texas are prepared to respond and that teams in Arkansas and Mississippi are ready to relocate if needed.

Its essentially a demand destroyer for the Deep South, said Matt Rogers, president of the Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland. No production concerns really.

Cindy could bring 6 to 9 inches (15 to 23 centimeters) of rain across parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, with some areas getting as much as 12 inches, the center said. Lesser amounts are forecast in Texas and are expected to spread across Arkansas.
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Memorial City Mall

303 Memorial City Way; memorialcity.com

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: Archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis.7 p.m. Thursday

River Oaks Theatre

2009 W. Gray; landmarktheatres.com

THE ROOM: Comedy about love, passion, betrayal and lies. Midnight Friday

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW: A newly engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must pay a call to a bizarre residence. Midnight Saturday

Houston Museum of Natural Science

5555 Hermann Park Drive; hmns.org

DREAM BIG 3-D: Learn how today's engineers are shaping the world of tomorrow. Multiple screenings daily

PENGUINS 3-D: The tale of a penguin's journey through his species' central rite of passage. Multiple screenings daily

AMAZON ADVENTURE 3-D: A Victorian-era naturalist discovers a butterfly that reinforces Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Multiple screenings daily

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

1001 Bissonnet; mfah.org

CHASING TRANE: Film explores the global power and impact of the music of John Coltrane and reveals the passions, experiences and forces that shaped his life and revolutionary sounds. 7 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday

14 Pews

800 Aurora; 14pews.org

HAROLD AND LILLIAN: A HOLLYWOOD LOVE STORY: A documentary of the romantic and creative partnership of storyboard artist Harold Michelson and film researcher Lillian Michelson. 7 p.m. Thursday

ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL: A small financial institution called Abacus becomes the only company criminally indicted in the wake of the United States' 2008 mortgage crisis. 7 p.m. Friday

QUEST: Director Jonathan Olshefski films the Rainey family for nearly eight years, capturing their struggles in a neighborhood riddled with the same issues of inequality and neglect that plagues so much of America's urban landscape. 7 p.m. Saturday

KEDI: A profile of an ancient city and its unique people, seen through the eyes of the most mysterious and beloved animal humans have ever known, the cat. 5 p.m. Sunday

Central Green Park

23501 Cinco Ranch, Katy; drafthouse.com

MINIONS: Stuart, Kevin and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a supervillain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world. Dusk Saturday

Italian Cultural Center

1101 Milford, iccchouston.com

SEDUCED AND ABANDONED: Agnese is seduced by her sister fiance, and has a tryst with him for which she confesses and tries to repent, only to be discovered by her mother and father. 7 p.m. Wednesday

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

5216 Montrose; camh.org

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT: A toon-hating detective is a cartoon rabbit's only hope to prove his innocence when he is accused of murder. 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Society events are not typically the time for meaningful conversations. In the crush of a drinking crowd, chatter can be politely and even excruciatingly banal: Oh, your shoes are gorgeous - where are they from? How long will you spend this summer in Aspen (or Santa Fe, or Nantucket, or on your yacht in the Mediterranean)?

Lester Smith has been a pretty flashy guy over the years, but his return to the scene on Tuesday was anything but that.

First, he stood shakily at a podium at the Holocaust Museum Houston, delivering a moving speech to explain why he and his wife Sue decided to donate $15 million to the institution's capital campaign. Tears streamed down his face the whole time. They had already promised $1 million to the cause, but he wanted the windfall to be a surprise. And it was - gasps fluttered through the museum's auditorium when Smith's children, Stuart Smith and Shelly Hendry, unveiled the replica of a huge check.

"My motto in life has always been, 'Anything worth doing is worth overdoing," he said. "And I've overdone everything."

Smith, who may be one of Houston's last great lone wildcatters, has spent the last year recovering from a double lung transplant. He's been seriously ill before, from cancer, but being so close to death made him think hard about what he would do if he had another month or year; and whether or not he's done the right things with his life. This seems a crazy thing to even question: Smith and his wife have given away about $150 million during the years to non-profits, mostly for medical causes.

Afterward, the Smiths hosted a superb dinner for about 25 museum insiders at Tony's wine room -- which, by the way, was the site of the first dinner to organize the museum more than 21 years ago. There was celebratory champagne, of course, but this was a beautiful lesson in philanthropic grace. It would have been so easy to boast about having the campus named in their honor. Instead, the Smiths led an evening full of thoughtful toasts and heartfelt dialogue about the importance of the museum's mission.

For many of those at the table, the Holocaust has always been a deeply personal, sad chapter of family history. Others only realized that kind of a connection later: board president Gary Markowitz and capital campaign co-chair Heidi Gerger didn't discover until they were adults that their parents had survived time in Hitler's camps.

Smith, an inveterate jokester and storyteller, kept the evening's tone respectful but not maudlin. One of his funniest hospital tales involved an especially difficult period after the transplant when he was not allowed to intake food or liquids through his mouth, and some of the drugs he was taking made him crazy, angry and thirstier than hell. At one point, he summoned the director of the hospital to his room and told him he was going to take back every dime he ever gave them. Then he grabbed the gentleman's coat, pulled him close, and said, "I'll give you $50,000 for a glass of water."

The guests also saluted architect Mark Mucasey and renowned exhibition designer Ralph Appelbaum, the talents behind the upcoming $33.8 million expansion that will nearly triple the size of the museum. Among those raising glasses to the creative and construction team: Museum CEO Kelly J. Zuniga and Luis Zuniga; Stuart Smith; Shelly and Brian Hendry; campaign co-chair Benjamin Warren; McCarthy Building Companies president Jim Stevenson and his wife, Kelly Stevenson; Fred Zeidman; Debbye Crofoot-Morley and Judy Mucasey.
The city of West University Place Police Department reports that it is investigating several telephone scams recently that need to be brought to the public's attention.

According to a news release, there are numerous ways these scams are perpetrated and the scammers themselves are usually very convincing when committing this crime. Residents are urged to remember that no government agency - local, state or federal - will contact anyone by telephone and ask for payment for anything using prepaid gift cards.

The following are some examples of the types of scams and fraudulent activity we are currently investigating:

A resident received a telephone call from a caller saying that they represent the "Harris County Court System" and the resident has missed jury duty and they owed close to $2,000 for court costs and warrant fees. The suspect convinced the victim that if they did not go to various locations to purchase "Green Dot" cards and forward the numbers on the back to pay his "fine," a warrant would then be issued for their arrest.

A resident was contacted by phone and told that they owed close to $20,000 in back taxes to the IRS. That resident was convinced to travel to various GameStop and Best Buy stores and purchase gaming gift cards and forward the numbers on the back of the cards to the caller to settle the debt.

Another resident was victimized by a different and more technical scam. The resident received a pop-up on her computer that appeared to be from Microsoft and clicked "Yes" to download the program. What followed was a series of contacts from a "tech" telling the victim that her computer was hacked and $300 should fix it. The victim allowed the "tech" to use a remote device and take control of the computer and provided a telephone contact number. The victim was then contacted several times by several other scammers and was told that an investigation by federal agencies was underway due to computer hacking, and convinced the victim that the only way to pay the now close to $2,000 to clear her name was to submit the payment using "I-Tunes" cards. The victim was contacted again and convinced that additional payments were needed and then more "I-Tunes" were purchased and the money was forwarded; now closer to $3,000 was paid.

The police department reports that each of the cases presented are just the bare facts. Even though in each case the scammers are very convincing, they are committing a crime. Sometimes the scammers will use fear and intimidation to complete the crime, while other times, they will seem like charmers and are only contacting the victim to "help" the victim out.

The West University Place Police Department has received other reports from residents that received similar scam telephone calls. Residents area encouraged to report to the police department any suspicious phone calls, emails or any other form of communication that you feel is or might be a scam.

Also, anyone receiving a questionable call is asked to obtain a call-back number for the questionable caller and contact the police at 713-668-0330.
Vahid Salemi/STR

Iran and fellow OPEC members are in talks about making further cuts in oil production, though the group would have a hard time reaching a consensus, according to the countrys top energy official.

Oil producers are struggling to shore up markets after a global supply glut led prices to fall below $50 a barrel this week. The U.S. is pumping an additional 900,000 barrels a day, Irans Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Wednesday on state radio. The increase in American output is more than the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries expected and is contributing to crudes decline, he said.
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Record oil stored in tankers. Market distortion by money managers. Surging production in Libya and Nigeria and a backlog of untapped oil wells in West Texas.

The oil market's bulls and bears both have a lot to chew on these days, as various forecasters offer dueling narratives about what's going on with falling crude prices.

Over the next few weeks and months, both sides of the debate  should oil prices bounce back up or plunge further?  may prove to have valid points, but at the moment, traders are focused on a flurry of signs that oil supply and demand are still out of synch, despite OPEC's hard-won attempt to reduce the oil glut by cutting output.

Related: Falling prices, equipment and labor constraints could slow U.S. drilling surge

On one side, Ed Morse, global head of commodities research at Citigroup, believes the price has become distorted by financial flows into the oil market, and that oil prices could rise toward $60 a barrel by the end of the year as evidence of OPEC's oil-production cuts translate into declines in worldwide crude stockpiles.

He said the net length of managed money  a measure of bets that crude will rise  climbed to a record 920 million barrels in early March, up from 400 million barrels last summer. Now, that figure has dropped toward low levels last seen in 2011, and bets against crude have surged as a more bearish tone dominates the market.

Traders, he said, were tipped off a few months ago by apparent disputes overheard at an IHS CERAWeek meeting a few months ago between Saudi and Russian officials on compliance with oil-production cuts, as well as by defiant U.S. oil producers who told oil ministers at the meeting they'd hit record levels of production growth over the next year or two.

"But the market remains skeptical," Morse said. "They remain skeptical be-cause they want to still see whether there's going to be compliance (with OPEC's oil-production cuts). They remain skeptical because Libya and Nigeria have raised output."

"But underneath that, market fundamentals are incredibly strong," he added, pointing to global demand growth of 1.3 million barrels a day and increasingly optimistic forecasts of worldwide economic growth.

Over the summer, Morse expects oil inventories to shrink by 2 million barrels a day, after the market's realignment of supply and demand was delayed in the first half of the year by a 1.5 million barrel a day increase in production by core OPEC countries and Russia in the last few months of 2016. "I think the market skepticism will be reduced."

The International Energy Agency, a Paris group that consults energy importers, believes oil demand will overtake global production by 500,000 barrels a day in the second quarter, entering the largest market deficit since early 2014.

"If OPEC were to continue to maintain the same production discipline it has demonstrated so far, we can expect stock draws to accelerate as 2017 progresses," said Neil Atkinson, head of the oil markets division at the IEA. So far, though, stocks in developed countries continued to increase in April, Atkinson acknowledged.

On the other side of the debate, analysts say oil prices have fallen into a bear market that will push the commodity into the $30-a-barrel range. U.S. oil prices have plunged 20.6 percent from its 2017 peak of $54.45 a barrel on February 23 to $43.23 a barrel on Tuesday, its lowest settlement this year and the cheapest since Sept. 19.

Related: Oil prices fall to 9-month low amid fears a prolonged dive could set back Houston's economic growth

"Oil is on a downtrend and risks trending into the $30's," said Paul Ciana, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in a note to clients on Tuesday.

One big warning sign came earlier this week when Kpler, a French company that tracks tankers, said floating oil storage climbed to a record 111.9 million barrels in June, according to Bloomberg.

That was the last thing traders want-ed to hear: because floating oil storage is typically more expensive than other containers, they should be the last stocks to increase and the first to shrink, said Jamie Webster, senior director at Boston Consulting Group's Center for Energy Impact in Washington D.C.

"The fact they're growing shows the nightmare in oil prices isn't over," Webster said. "OPEC hasn't cut enough to solve this problem. It's good OPEC has cut but they're not the only game in town anymore."

Libya and Nigeria, two OPEC producers except from the deal to cut output, have raised production in recent months. And even though the prospect of sharply lower oil prices could slow the drilling surge in the United States, shale drillers still have a large backlog of untapped wells they could continue to bring online this year, said Eric Otto, managing director and head of research at the consultancy Rapidan Group in New York.

The number of drilled but uncompleted wells has reached record levels, at 5,946 across the nation and 2,163 in the prolific Permian Basin in West Texas, according to the Energy Department, Otto said despite labor constraints in West Texas, drillers will likely put many of those wells into production in the second half of the year.

"That's where they're resilient," Otto said. "For 2017, the die is largely cast. The questions will be for 2018."
UPDATED

Last night, after four years of negotiations, public school teachers in Philadelphia voted to approve a contract with the district.

The three-year deal is worth $395 million, and means more than 11,000 teachers whose wages have been frozen for years will get raises , reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Ninety-five percent of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers members who voted endorsed the contract. We are really, really pleased about the agreement, said Jerry Jordan, the unions president, according to the Inquirer.

But the contracts price tag 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, the Inquirer reports. 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.

When asked about the potential budget shortfall, Jordan said, The school district has never ever been able to have enough money on hand to fund any contract. ... I certainly negotiated a contract recognizing the fiscal constraints the school district has, but members who work deserve to earn a living wage.

Under the deal, which is expected to be approved by the School Reform Commission today, union members will receive retroactive pay and salary increases. The union did make some concessions , the Philadelphia Public School Notebook explains. Teachers will now have to contribute to their health insurance, and principals will be allowed to hire teachers without considering seniority.

Previously, half of teaching positions were filled by a school-based committee. For the other half, teachers could choose their own schools based on seniority. All positions will be site-selected under the new contract.

This post was updated with comments from PFT President Jerry Jordan.

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Katy's Antonia's Cucina Italiana heads to CaneIsland

One of Katy's most popular family-owned restaurants is bringing its Italian fare to the master-planned community of Cane Island.

Antonia's Cucina Italiana will present its dinner favorites in Cane Island's Amenity Village, 2100 Cane Island Parkway, on Wednesday, June 28, when guests can enjoy Italian classics while seated in the comfort of this resort-style setting within Katy's newest community.

Reservations are required by calling 281-644-6000. Seatings in the Amenity Village's all-new event space are on the hour and half hour from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

To reach the Cane Island Amenity Village, take the new Cane Island Parkway exit off Interstate 10 minutes west of the Grand Parkway. Head north on Cane Island Parkway and take the temporary detour into the community.

Go to www.CaneIsand.com for more information. Also, follow Cane Island at www.Facebook.com/CaneIslandKatyTX and on Instagram and Twitter @caneislandkaty.

Memorial Hermann promotes healthier Houston Workforce

As part of a national effort dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of workplace safety and health programs, Memorial Hermann is proud to continue its efforts to provide leading-edge occupational medicine resources across Greater Houston.

More than 4 million workers sustain job-related injuries or illnesses every year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In an effort to curb this trend, OSHA dedicated June 12 to 18 as its inaugural "Safe & Sound Week," aimed at encouraging organizations to effectively promote and champion workplace safety.

Memorial Hermann Employer Solutions has long been a community leader in offering a comprehensive network of providers specially trained to serve the occupational health needs of employers throughout the region. Recently, Memorial Hermann expanded its efforts to create a healthier workforce in Houston with the opening of a new clinic, Memorial Hermann Katy Occupational Medicine Clinic, dedicated exclusively to occupational medicine for area employers. Additional clinics are expected to open across Houston in the coming months.

In addition to work-related injury assessments and treatments, Memorial Hermann's occupational medicine specialists are also able to provide physicals, disability evaluations, biometric screenings and immunizations, among other specialized services.

Learn more about Memorial Hermann's efforts to foster a healthier workforce in Houston at www.memorialhermann.org/employer-solutions/occupational-medicine-program.

HistoryMaker Homes moves up on sales list

In a much more competitive field that saw builders having to crack 400 annual sales to be included on the esteemed Builder 100 list, HistoryMaker Homes moved up four spots, from No. 64 last year to No. 60 this year.

The builder - homebased in Dallas - closed 800 homes in 2016, a 26 percent increase from the 635 homes closed in 2015.

HistoryMaker Homes builds in 15 developments spanning the Dallas-Fort Worth region, from Fort Worth to Terrell and Waxahachie to Melissa. Pricing in the Metroplex is from the $170,000s.

In October 2016, HistoryMaker debuted in the Wright's Landing community in north Houston. The builder now operates in four Houston-area developments. Pricing in Houston is from the $200,000s.

The Builder 100 is reported annually by Builder Magazine. HistoryMaker Homes first appeared on the list in 2007 and has been included among the Builder 100 ever since.

Visit www.historymaker.com for more information.
The internet is loving the mind of one Sam Houston State University student who replaced her family photos with pictures of her dog.

Marissa Hooper, a 21-year-old from Waxahachie, Texas, was hanging out with her older sister at home when they had an amazing idea - to replace family photos with recreated ones of her 7-year-old Chihuahua, Dixie.

"One afternoon, when my sister and I were at home on the couch, we started looking around at all of the pictures our parents had up of us and family," Hooper told Chron.com. "My sister looked over at me and asked if I thought that they went around and looked at all of these pictures when they missed us, or if I thought they would even notice if we moved them around."

EPIC PHOTO SHOOT: Teen takes epic wedding photos with a burrito

Hooper then made new versions of several photos  Dixie wearing full graduation attire, Dixie recreating her grandmother's portrait and Dixie donning a wig and recreating her sister's kindergarten picture.

"My family loves to joke around," Hooper said. "I started recreating the pictures with Dixie using little objects around the house and replacing pictures when my mom would be in the shower or left to go somewhere."

TEXAS AGAIN: Guy's 'dudeoir' photo shoot is apparently what women really want

It took the college student's mom a few weeks to notice the first set, which were her grandmother and sister's kindergarten picture.

"Embarrassingly, she found those while company was over and knew immediately it had to be one of us playing a joke on her," Hooper said. "She put my sister, my dad and me in a group text but no one fessed up."

It took Hooper's mom only two days to notice Dixie in a graduation cap, and this time she knew who did it.

"I haven't recreated any photos since the graduation photo, but I have had a lot of requests to continue to remake family photos," she said. "So as far as what is next for me and Dixie, we will probably be up to our usual pranks around the house, keeping mom on her toes."

Check out Dixie's new Instagram page for the latest.
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 Coast Guard rescued three men whose boat capsized off the coast of Freeport, officials said Tuesday.

About 3 p.m. Tuesday, the Coast Guard's Houston-Galveston Sector office received a mayday over a marine band radio. But, following the initial distress call, the Coast Guard officials couldn't raise the caller.
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.
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.
Houston Methodist Primary Care Group has announced its expansion in the west region of Houston with the opening of its first location in Katy.

Starting in July, the new practice at 23530 Kingsland Blvd., Suite 130, will provide primary care to the families of Katy.

"With Katy growing at a tremendous rate, it's important for us to expand our footprint to make the health of this community our top priority. Our goal is to make leading medical care more accessible for Katy residents," said Stephen Spielman, MBA, MHA, president of Houston Methodist Primary Care Group.

Internal medicine physician Randa Djendou, MD, joins the new location bringing expertise in both preventive care and the treatment of acute and chronic illnesses. She is affiliated with Houston Methodist West Hospital, creating more access to a network of specialists for continuity of care in the event of hospitalization.

"This new facility is state-of-the-art and allows me to deliver exceptional care and service that continues to set Houston Methodist apart as a leader in medicine," said Djendou. "I look forward to serving the Katy community and patients can now experience compassionate, convenient health care right in their own neighborhood."

Among the many valuable conveniences patients enjoy with HMPCG include same-day appointments when care is needed, online scheduling to accommodate dates and times, and a fast, secure patient portal for communication with your primary care team.

"We're proud to invest in the health of this region, and to lead the charge in bringing family-oriented, primary care that is synonymous with Houston Methodist," said Spielman. "Our physicians are among the best in their respective fields and they each provide a unique brand of expertise met with both commitment and compassion."

To learn more about Houston Methodist Primary Care Group, visit houstonmethodist.org/primarycare or call 713-394-6638.
In pressing a point about the stakes involved with kicking students out of school through suspensions and expulsions, Houston ISD Superintendent Richard Carranza said 14-year-old Trayvon Martin may not have been murdered in 2012 if his Florida school had not suspended him for 10 days.

Carranza spoke to a group of black community leaders assembled by The Defender Media Group passionately about how students - particularly African American boys and young men - are unfairly thrown out of schools for minor misbehavior.

Martin was suspended out-of-school for 10 days and was with his father in Sanford, Fla., during the suspension, which is when he died. A neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman,ultimately was acquitted in 2013 of second-degree murder charges stemming from Martin's death." .

"If that school district and community didnt have a zero tolerance policy or a policy of instead of addressing issue they're suspending kids, Trayvon Martin would have been in school that next Monday," Carranza said. "Its a matter of life or death."

About 100 people gathered at the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in the Medical Center to hear Carranza speak at a community and coffee event Tuesday morning. Defender Publisher Sonceria "Sonny" Messiah-Jiles pressed Carranza about funding inequities, his campus turnaround plan, magnet programs and awarding contracts to minority-owned businesses.

In replying to a question about how the district would uplift its African American male students, Carranza said the district and school board have been working to change prior practices. Earlier this month, the Board of Educaiton approved changes to the Student Code of Conduct that gives principals more options in dealing with student misbehavior. The board also banned suspending students in preschool through third grade.

He said that the district is now working with principals and school leaders on implementing the changes, as well as providing some struggling schools with social workers and wraparound services to help address students' social and emotional needs.

Without changes, Carranza said the district's current and recent discipline practices would ruin lives.

"If you don't think this work is life or death, it is life or death," Carranza said. "We have a system that is perpetuating and permanent underclass in this city and in this school district."

Carranza also said the district has long failed to provide adequate and equitable resources to historically undeserved schools, citing Kashmere High, Cullen Middle and Worthing High schools as examples. Meanwhile, magnet programs that attract a large number of white and Asian students have flourished with extra funding per student.

He said he's working to convene a group of school leaders, parents and community leaders to discuss reviewing how the district funds and operates magnet schools with an eye on reallocating some of their resources to struggling schools. Any changes, which would likely include changes to school zoning and neighborhood feeder patterns, would not be completed until 2018.

But some board members are upset that no such changes will be part of the district's 2017-2018 district budget, which the board will vote on Thursday.

Trustee Jolanda Jones said she took Carranza on his word that he would make substantive changes after hosting community town halls and learning more about the district during the 2016-2017 school year.

"I said okay hes going to make a move this school year coming up because he had the whole previous school year," Jones said. "But were not doing it this school year, so thats literally two school years where were not doing jack."

She said if he was serious about being a change-maker, he would have included magnet funding cuts and 5 percent teacher raises in the proposed budget. But he removed magnet funding cut proposals after parents and others complained and has said there's simply not enough money to provide teachers with raises of more than 2 percent.

Jones also took issue with Carranza's response to questions about discipline. She said it was the school board - not Carranza - that spearheaded banning suspensions for young students and raised alarms about the district's code of conduct, which was changed earlier this month to give principals more options when determining how to punish students.

She said Carranza was using Trayvon Martin's death as a pawn to score political points.

"My point is this: Trayvon could have been visiting his dad, it had nothing to do with suspensions. Trayvon would have still been killed by that racist George Zimmerman, it's just that simple," Jones said. "So to commandeer that to suit your purposes is just wrong."
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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.
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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."

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Twitter: @calebjdowns
Sex Offenders Can't Be Banned From Social Media

When Lester Packingham, Jr. pleaded guilty in 2002 to taking indecent liberties with a child following a sexual relationship he had with a 13-year-old girl while he was 21, social media didn't exist. Facebook wouldn't go online for another two years, and a North Carolina ordinance prohibiting registered sex offenders from accessing any "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" wouldn't be enacted for another six.

Still, Packingham was convicted of violating that statute in 2010, when he took to Facebook to say that "God is Good!" after having a traffic ticket dismissed. Packingham challenged his conviction on First Amendment grounds and the Supreme Court agreed, ruling state laws banning registered sex offenders from social media sites like Facebook are unconstitutional.

Registration and Restrictions

Convicted sex offenders can be subject to a multitude of conditions regarding their probation or parole. Every state has a mandatory sex offender registry requirement, although time on the registry can range from five years to life. And some courts have even sanctioned lifetime GPS monitoring of sex offenders. But the Supreme Court ruled that a blanket ban on all social media was a step too far.

Writing for the unanimous Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy asserted:

[T]o foreclose access to social media altogether is to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights. 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 criminals -- and in some instances especially convicted criminals -- might 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.

The Internet and the Court

While admitting that the case was a first for the court, and noting that 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," the Court was emphatic in its view that a "fundamental principle of the First Amendment is that all persons have access to places where they can speak and listen, and then, after reflection, speak and listen once more."

Courts have often been wary of blanket bans on speech that don't require an inquiry into the content of that speech. And in this case the ban was too extreme: "a State may not enact this complete bar to the exercise of First Amendment rights," the Court held, "on websites integral to the fabric of our modern society and culture."

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Versailles Police

A school employee accused of sodomizing and repeatedly raping an underage student Monday pleaded not guilty in court. She walked in holding hands with her husband of three years.

Lindsey Jarvis, 27, started working as a paraeducator in 2016 at Veterans Park elementary school in Lexington, Ky., Lex18 reports. She's accused of having sex twice with a boy under the age of 16. She resigned after she was arrested.
Houston City Council voted Wednesday to sue the state over its new "sanctuary cities" law, joining Texas' three other largest cities in challenging the controversial measure.

Council voted 10-6 to join San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, El Paso County and several other local governments and nonprofits in a consolidated case challenging the state. Councilman Jack Christie abstained.
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As the area grows, so does the number of residents in need. And nonprofits in northwest Houston are stepping up to help - and expanding their reach.

Northwest Assistance Ministries is helping more than 400 area families and seniors this summer with food and utility needs.

The nonprofit recently completed a fundraising campaign to pay for the assistance. Through the Survival Over Summer campaign, the nonprofit raised $152,102 to help area families and seniors with the high cost of air conditioning and food needs.

In addition, Northwest Assistance Ministries just opened its new $5.37 million Retail and Training Center.

The new workforce training facility will help the area's growing needy population search for jobs, complete job applications and help workers with training to earn a livable wage, said Carole Little, NAM's President and CEO.

The new building will also include a permanent location for NAM's resale shop, which provides cost-free goods to low-income residents. In addition, the shop is open to the public, and all proceeds support NAM's program and services.

Tomball Emergency Assistance Ministries has seen the area needs continue to grow, said Becky Loving, director of Tomball Emergency Assistance Ministries.

The nonprofit has started a new program this summer to help children in food need in the Tomball region. The nonprofit is providing families in need with a bag of kid-friendly food each week, filled with breakfast and lunch items, Loving said.

And the nonprofit is working to start a computer resource guide that will bring together all the resources in the Tomball area to help those in need - medical, housing, financial, plus the services or skills of volunteers from the community, including potentially auto mechanics, plumbers and air conditioner technicians who are willing to donate their services, Loving said.

The new software is called GRACE - God's Resource And Community Exchange.

Tomball Emergency Assistance Ministries is working with a group of community and business leaders, schools, churches and other nonprofits to build the resource.

The number of financially unstable households in northwest Houston continues to rise along with the population. Hundreds of families and seniors struggle to pay for basic needs, primarily food.

Many residents currently work in jobs that are only paying minimum wage, which is not sufficient, Little said.

Northwest Assistance Ministries' new training facility will expand its reach in providing area residents with job training, including certifications, to help residents earn a higher paying job and move out of poverty and into more stable lives, she said.

In addition, the program will fill gaps in the workforce.

The nonprofit works closely with businesses to determine area workforce needs, and continuously researches additional job training needs through contacts with local employers.

In addition, Northwest Assistance Ministries has been expanding its Meals on Wheels over the last year, adding new service ZIP codes, and plans to continue increasing its program over the next year. The nonprofit is in need of volunteers for its growing program.

The Meals on Wheels total growth is expected to be 30 percent new clients over a two-year period. NAM's Meals on Wheels program initially serviced northwest Houston residents living in areas from I-45 to U.S. 290. Now, the agency is able to expand its reach to Highway 6 in the Bear Creek region.

Nonprofits expanding their reach:

NAM's new Retail and Training Center is located at 15555 Kuykendahl Road, behind NAM's headquarters building.

Northwest Assistance Ministries is helping more than 400 area families and seniors this summer with food and utility needs.

Tomball Emergency Assistance Ministries is providing families in need this summer with a bag of kid-friendly food each week, filled with breakfast and lunch items.

TEAM is working to start a computer resource guide that will bring together all the resources in the Tomball area to help those in need.

Northwest Assistance Ministries has been expanding its Meals on Wheels over the last year, adding new service zip codes, and plans to continue increasing its program over the next year.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  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 (https://tinyurl.com/ycfkj3tt ) 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.
A Houston man accused in the shooting death of a 10-month-old baby is set to appear in court Thursday on a separate charge involving a shooting four days earlier.

Jared Balogun, 24, who has a long history of minor arrests, is accused in both shootings, one on June 10, and the June 14 shooting of baby Messiah Marshall in southwest Houston.

Details of both shootings remain unclear, but court records show that Balogun and La'Anthony Carson are accused of shooting at another man without hitting him. Both are charged in felony court with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Balogun is also charged with capital murder in the death of a baby in a different court. He is expected in court on that charge Thursday; a court hearing set for Wednesday was postponed. Officials will eventually consolidate the two charges into the same court.

In the June 14 shooting, police say Balogun and two other men fired at Nigel Marshall as he held his young son near the Nob Hill Apartments on North Braeswood around 1:30 p.m.

Police say the gunfire may have been in retaliation for a previous altercation with the boy's father. Authorities have said the shooting may be gang-related.

Three men approached the infant's father in a parking lot and began firing multiple rounds "indiscriminately," police said.

Marshall fled across the complex parking lot, seeking to shield his son from the gunfire.

At least one bullet hit the baby, who died at a nearby Valero gas station.

Balogun is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm in misdemeanor court.

All of Balogun's cases will be consolidated with the capital murder case, the most serious charge.

If convicted of capital murder, he could face life in prison without parole or the death penalty.

He's remains in the Harris County jail with bail.

brian.rogers@chron.com

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The price tag to an Odessa hail storm that occurred last week has been calculated at $480 million.

Mark Hanna of the Insurance Council of Texas tallied up the damages and spoke to CBS 7 about the extreme figure.
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With Tropical Storm Cindy anticipated to hit the Gulf coast Wednesday night, airlines are offering to re-book flights that may be affected by the storm.

Here's what they're offering:

STORM WATCH: Tropical Storm Cindy expected to hit Texas-Louisiana border overnight

Southwest Airlines is offering passengers flying out of Houston and New Orleans today and Thursday to re-book their flights to their same original cities for no charge. Flights must be re-booked within 14 days of the original flight.

Spirit Airlines will waive fare differences and modification charges for customers flying to, from and through Houston and New Orleans. Flights scheduled to travel from those cities today and Thursday are eligible to be re-booked.

Story continues below...

United Airlines is allowing travelers from the following cities to re-book flights scheduled today or tomorrow from these cities: Houston and Beaumont in Texas; Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles and New Orleans in Louisiana; Panama City, Pensacola and Destin in Florida; and Mobile, Alabama. Flights scheduled today or tomorrow from these cities have to be re-booked by Sunday.

STORM NEWS: Child dies from Cindy's storm surge

JetBlue Airlines is waiving changes and cancellation fees for flights scheduled today and Thursday to and traveling from Houston and New Orleans. Customers have until Monday to re-book flights.

American Airlines is allowing passengers flying to, from or through these cities: Baton Rogue, Lafayette, Lake Charles and New Orleans in Louisiana; Destin and Pensacola in Florida; Houston and Beaumont in Texas; and Mobile, Alabama. The tickets have to be purchased before June 20 and travel on June 22. Passengers have until June 25 to re-book.

Delta Airlines won't charge fees for customers traveling to and from Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Monroe, New Orleans and Shreveport in Louisiana; and Houston.

Anyone flying today or tomorrow should contact their airline to get the most up-to-date information on how the weather is impacting flight times.
Amazon Testing the Limits of Non-Compete Clauses

As a general rule, non-compete agreements and clauses in employment contracts are difficult to enforce. First they must be narrowly tailored enough to be valid, and many courts are loathe to tell people where they can and cannot work. That is especially true in California in general and Silicon Valley in particular, where, as GeekWire notes, "non-compete agreements have long been considered unenforceable."

Not so farther north in Washington State, where Amazon was able to obtain a temporary restraining order against a former executive in its Web Services division, barring him from working from a company the retail monolith contends is a competitor. But that company, and the exec currently in legal limbo, claim Amazon has stretched the definition of competitor too far, to even include a customer company.

Non-Compete, No Work

Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers cloud computing services. Smartsheet offers cloud-based productivity solutions, for the most part in "management and automation of front office knowledge workers." In fact, Smartsheet has been a long-time customer of AWS's cloud services. On paper, they don't appear to be direct competitors, and both companies even have close ties to the same venture capital firm, Madrona Venture Group.

But when Gene Farrell went from Vice President of AWS's Enterprise Applications and EC2 Windows team to Smartsheet's Senior Vice President of Product, Amazon decided to try and block the move via a non-compete agreement Farrell signed with the company. While Smartsheet's attorneys reviewed the agreement and decided there were no issues, King County Superior Court Commissioner Carlos Velategui sided with Amazon's request for a temporary injunction against Farrell's new job until another hearing later this week.

Substantially the Same?

While non-compete agreements are legal in Washington State, Farrell's attorneys claim they are aimed at employees leaving a company and taking customers with them, which is not the case here. Instead, there may be a secret product at play. As GeekWire noted, filings from the case have been heavily redacted and parts hearings have been closed to everyone but the attorneys in the case. There is speculation that it's something that Amazon doesn't do yet that will be at the center of Farrell's case. The central issue will be whether Smartsheet's products are "substantially the same" as whatever Amazon may have in the pipeline.

GeekWire also reports that this isn't the first time that Amazon has attempted to enforce a non-compete agreements when a key executives leave, though that enforcement has not always been consistent. The company sued former AWS execs in 2012 and in 2014, after they took jobs at Google, also working on cloud platform services. (The latter suit was unsuccessful as a federal court declined to enforce much of the non-compete agreement.) Yet, according to Smartsheet, Amazon declined to enforce a non-compete against an "employee who left to be CEO of a competitor company after that employee had approved and priced Amazon's directly competing product."

Whether the company's far-reaching enforcement efforts will take hold in Farrell's case remain to be seen, but provide a sobering reminder that your non-compete clause or agreement might not be enforceable, even if you've had legal counsel vet it first. (Although that can never hurt.)

Editor's note, June 21, 2017: Amazon's lawsuit against Gene Farrell has been dropped after a settlement was reached with Smartsheet.

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Woman Can Sue Hospital for Brain Damage Caused by NuvaRing

In April of 2010, then 17-year-old Sarah Adams was prescribed a NuvaRing contraceptive device by a nurse practitioner at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. Less than three months later, Adams suffered a total cardiac arrest that left her with "significant and permanent brain damage with marked cognitive and fine motor skills deficits," according to a lawsuit she filed against Montefiore.

And last week, a state appeals court in New York allowed that lawsuit to continue, denying Montefiore's motion to dismiss the claims. Here's what happened, factually and legally.

NuvaRing, Old Dangers

Although Adams notified the nurse practitioner about a family history of heart disease and a chronic heart murmur and NuvaRing is known to cause blood clots that can lead to cardiac arrest, she was given the device anyway. Just two months after having the contraceptive device inserted, Adams was complaining of shortness of breath and chest pain and began seeing physicians from her school clinic to her pediatrician, to the emergency room at Bronx Lebanon Hospital.

On June 8, Smith went into total cardiac arrest, and a CT scan showed embolisms in her brain. Smith was hospitalized for a month, and, according to her suit, now requires "constant around-the-clock care."

Accepted Medical Practices

Montefiore tried to get the lawsuit dismissed, relying on a doctor's affidavit contending it did not depart from the accepted standards of medical care in prescribing the NuvaRing or failing to diagnose or remove the NuvaRing as the cause of Adams' distress. Adams responded with her own medical expert, who claimed several "departures from accepted medical practice" by Montefiore and its employees:

[T]he failure to have plaintiff patient sign the consent form and the failure to retain a copy; the failure to document that plaintiff was counseled regarding the serious side effects associated with the use of the NuvaRing and the importance of immediately removing the device in the event she experienced such symptoms; and the failure to properly evaluate plaintiff or to immediately remove the device when plaintiff presented to the clinic complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath.

In the end, the court decided these were decisions best left to a jury, and allowed Adams' lawsuit to proceed.

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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.
The Karen Student Network Group (KSNG) used World Refugee Day on June 20 to call for more action on the return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) around the Thai-Myanmar border.

In a statement, president of the KSNG Saw Htoo Htoo Stin claimed that the government seemed reluctant to repatriate these individuals, fearing it could cause political instability.

Saw Htoo Htoo Stin asked the government, ethnic armed organizations and local and international organizations to help provide passage for the refugees and IDPs to come home with dignity.

There are over 100,000 refugees currently living in nine refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. Additionally, Ei Tu Hta IDP camp houses over 3,000 IDPs and other IDP camps such as Myaing Gyi Ngu, Htee Thay Khi and Naw Ta camps house over 5,000 IDPs.

These refugees will need to return home one day, Saw Htoo Htoo Stin said.

In the statement, the KSNG said pre-departure actions should include improved refugee education, refugee involvement in political reform and the peace process and continued support of refugees.

The group urged the Tatmadaw to relocate military camps away from the villages and clear landmines. It also called on the government to provide adequate land with guarantees for the returning refugees and IDPs.

Key points in the statement surrounding reintegration included recognizing the policies of the Karen Education Department, granting the right to the Kayin people to learn a Kayin curriculum and preventing discrimination against returning students and young people.

The KSNG statement also said the government needs to help create job opportunities for the refugees and IDPs.

Coordinator of the Karen Refugee Committee Saw Hayso added that government action in this regard will be vital to help these individuals return home.

Refugee advocates told KIC News that support for the refugee and IDP camps has been declining and that the residents are struggling with dwindling food supplies.
Chennai, June 21 (IANS) Actress Pooja Hegde, last seen in Ashutosh Gowarikers "Mohenjo Daro", says she had a fulfilling experience while working in the upcoming Telugu entertainer "Duvvada Jagannadham" aka "DJ".



"I thoroughly enjoyed shooting for DJ' and the experience has been very fulfilling. As an actor, it's essential a film does well, but its fate is not in our hands. What's more important are the memories you make while working on each project," Pooja told IANS.



She said: "You spend nearly six months on a project. You leave everything and stay with people you don't even know. If you don't enjoy working with them, nothing else really matters. You need to find a family in the people you work with. I'm glad I found a family in DJ'."



Having mostly played the homely, girl-next-door girl in her Telugu films so far, Pooja has upped the glamour quotient in "DJ"."Unlike my simple and good looking avatars so far, I have played a very glamorous role. It's the kind of character that helped me grow as an actor," she said, heaping praise on co-star Allu Arjun.



"He is like a rubber man someone who can dance phenomenally and he does it with certain swag. I always end up working with great dancers. It was Hrithik (Roshan) last time and now Arjun," she said.



"Each time I saw his dance portion, I'd call him and say how he nailed every step. I would tell him jokingly that I have to take extra dance lessons just to match his performance. He is a very friendly and honest co-star," she said.



Directed by Harish Shankar, the film is slated for release on Friday.



On working with Harish, Pooja said: "He is the funniest director I have ever worked with. You take any behind-the-scene photograph and you'd find us - Harish, Arjun and I - laughing and goofing around. We had so much fun shooting."



Pooja says Harish is very easy to work with.



"He is the kind of director who doesn't mind when you tell him something. He will try and convince you but if your opinion genuinely helps a film, he'd be willing to accept it. A lot of directors don't give this freedom," she added.
Chennai, June 21 (IANS) Actor Rana Daggubati on Wednesday clarified he hasn't signed any new film with filmmaker V.V. Vinayak.Reacting to rumours that he is teaming up with Vinayak for his next, Rana tweeted: "No. Why make up what I'm doing next? I'm on Twitter and will update you every time I decide."



Basking in the success of "Baahubali 2", Rana is gearing up for the release of his next Telugu outing, "Nene Raju, Nene Mantri".In Teja-directed "Nene Raju, Nene Mantri", he plays a politician and is paired with Kajal Aggarwal and Catherine Tresa.The film, to be simultaneously released in Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam, also stars Navdeep and Ashutosh Rana.
Hyderabad June 21 : Recently it was reported that Rana Daggubati has wrapped up the shoot of political thriller drama Nene Raju Nene Mantri. According to the latest update, the makers are going to unveil the trailer of this film on 23rd June at 10 am.

The recently released first teaser starring Rana was a huge hit as he was seen in a completely new avatar. Fans were super impressed with his massy, new look. Rana is playing ruthless politician Raja Jogendra whereas Kajal will be seen playing Radha, an obedient wife who rules over the man who rules the society.

Directed by Teja and produced by D. Suresh Babu under the banner of Suresh Production whereas the music is scored by Anoop Rubens. Nene Raju Nene Mantri, with an excellent cast lineup that includes hugely popular Kajal Aggarwal in the lead alongside Ashutosh Rana, Navdeep, and Catherine Tresa, is expected to be simultaneously released in Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam.
What was last week posed as an indefinite leave of absence is now for good: Travis Kalanick, CEO of scandal-wracked rideshare company Uber, announced that he is leaving the company.

"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," Kalanick said in a statement

Mr. Kalanick's exit came under pressure after hours of drama involving Uber's investors, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, who asked to remain anonymous because the details were confidential.

Earlier on Tuesday, five of Uber's major investors demanded that the chief executive resign immediately. The investors included one of Uber's biggest shareholders, the venture capital firm Benchmark, which has one of its partners, Bill Gurley, on Uber's board. The investors made their demand for Mr. Kalanick to step down in a letter delivered to the chief executive while he was in Chicago, said the people with knowledge of the situation.
Floridas state-created property insurer is going to raise its rates again.

The board that oversees Citizens Property Insurance voted this week on a proposal to raise homeowner rates an average 5.3 percent and commercial accounts by an 8.4 percent average. By unanimous vote, board members recommended a 5.3 percent statewide increase for personal lines policyholders  homeowners, condominium unit owners and renters  with most increases concentrated in three South Florida counties where water losses, assignment of benefits abuse and litigation are disproportionately severe.

State regulators must approve the hike before it can take effect in February 2018.

Citizens has more than 451,000 customers, many of them living near the coast or in south Florida.

Florida has been spared from major hurricanes in recent years, but Citizens officials contend rate hikes are needed to deal with claims associated with water losses not associated with storms. They say the increased rates reflect rising non-weather water losses, assignment of benefits abuse and out-of-control litigation that, left unchecked, will force rate hikes for years to come.

The proposed hikes vary by the type of policy purchased and location.

The 2018 rate proposal continues a recent trend in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Homeowners with multiperil coverage in Miami Dade County, for example, will see an average increase of 10.5 percent, or $359, from 2017 premiums. Broward and Palm Beach county homeowners will see rates increase by 10.4 percent and 9.3 percent respectively.

Outside of the Tricounty area, many policyholders will see rates decrease or remain flat. Citizens homeowners policyholders in 56 of 67 counties will see average rates decrease under the set of proposed rates.

Among the major policy changes is a $10,000 cap on water loss repairs for customers who decide not to participate in the Citizens Managed Repair Program, which links customers with a network of vetted contractors. The voluntary managed repair program, coupled with a free emergency water removal service, will become available to new Citizens policyholders after July 1, 2017, and for existing customers when their policies renew.

Other policy changes include expanding obligations to third parties that accept an assignment of benefits. Currently, contractors who accept an assignment are not bound by the same obligations, including allowing Citizens adjusters to inspect a claim in a timely manner or providing proof that a loss has occurred.

These proposed rate increases and product changes are critical for Citizens efforts to bring some relief to a market that is being made increasingly expensive by unnecessary litigation and out-of-control water loss claims, said Chris Gardner, chairman of the Citizens Board of Governors. Unfortunately, we are making it more expensive for many of our customers to own a home.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A pet squirrel named Joey who gained fame as a crime-fighter might be more of the lover type.

Joey, who police credited with scaring off a burglar trying to break into his homes gun safe, made his long goodbyes earlier this month, then scampered up a backyard apple tree at his Meridian, Idaho, home and hasnt been seen since.

If I had to guess, he found a girlfriend and theyre off doing their squirrel thing, said Adam Pearl, who raised Joey in his home for about 10 months.

A University of Idaho scientist said thats probably right for Joey.

For a lot of mammals, behavior changes once spring comes, said Janet Rachlow, a professor at the schools Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences.

Joey made headlines in February after police went to Pearls home to investigate the burglary and Joey introduced himself. A few hours later, police nabbed a teen burglary suspect with items from Pearls home and scratches on his hands. The teen told police a squirrel at one home came flying out of nowhere and kept attacking him until he left.

Like many famous crime fighters, Joey had a rough start in life. He was abandoned after falling out of his nest not long after being born and would have died if Adam Pearl and his wife, Carmen, hadnt taken him in.

His eyes werent even open, Adam Pearl said. He was about the size of a Bic lighter when we first got him.

They bought supplies and set an alarm every two hours to feed him. Joey thrived, and soon had the run of the house, using a litterbox and learning to scavenge from bowls of nuts.

I wanted him to be able to fend for himself, Adam Pearl said.

Joey did just that, delighting the family with his antics.

Hed let anybody pet him when he was in the house, Pearl said. I guess right up until the kid broke in. Right after that is when he started getting aggressive.

About a month ago, Pearl made the decision to leave a sliding door open after Joey seemed extra rambunctious. Joey eventually ventured out, played with wild squirrels during the day and returned to his bed inside at night.

On June 4, he climbed on Adams shoulder, where he stayed for several minutes getting his ears scratched before disappearing in the apple tree.

I think that was his goodbye, looking back on it, Adam Pearl said.

Rachlow said Joey might have a little bit of culture shock assimilating into squirrel life, but will likely succeed.

Adam Pearl said Joey liked to chew on items in the house, so theres also relief in being an empty-nester.

Hopefully, he doesnt bring any little Joeys into the house, he said.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Friends and family had gathered to celebrate the life of a Montana firefighter when the deck below their feet suddenly gave way, and they became the victims of the type of disaster to which he spent three decades responding.

Nobody died in Saturdays collapse at a lodge on the shore of Flathead Lake, and many of the approximately 50 people who were injured suffered only bruises and scrapes.

But some had to be rushed to surgery for orthopedic and neurological injuries. That was a challenge for the rural area about 50 miles south of Glacier National Park. Helicopters were flown in, and ambulances transported the injured to four hospitals scattered around the region.

There was no immediate word on what caused the collapse of the second-story deck at Glacier Camp, a lodge, camp and retreat center owned by the Presbyterian church.

An investigation into the accident has already begun, Marsha Anson, the general presbyter for the church, said in a statement.

The churchs insurer will try to determine the cause of the decks failure, she said. Lake County Sheriff Don Bell told the Missoulian newspaper that his department would not investigate because there was no crime.

The crowd had gathered for the memorial service of William Nickel, who worked for two fire departments in the Flathead Valley before he died of a heart condition in April. The location of the service was in the bucolic setting of the largest freshwater lake in the West with the Mission Mountains as the backdrop.

The service had ended, and people had gathered on the lodges deck overlooking the lake when it gave way. It was unclear how many people were standing on it when it fell.

Twenty-seven of the people who were injured were taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Only nine remained there as of Monday, spokeswoman Mellody Sharpton said.

Those nine are all listed in good condition, including two who were admitted with critical injuries, she said.

It was not immediately clear how many people taken to other places were still hospitalized.

The lodge was completed in 2004 after receiving a zoning permit from Lake County and a building permit from the state of Montana.

Montana follows International Building Code standards, said Dave Cook, the deputy administrator for the states Business Standards Division. For decks, the occupant load is one person for every 5 square feet of area.

In addition, newly constructed decks must be built to withstand 100 pounds per square foot, he said.

Inspection records from the time the permit was issued for the lodge are no longer on file, but the building had to meet the standards when the permit was issued, Cook said. There are no follow-up inspections.

We look at them when theyre brand new, and if they pass the state standard, were good with it, he said.

The Lake County permit does not include any information on the deck. County officials only check whether a structure being built conforms to how the land is supposed to be used, such as the lot size, setbacks and building heights, said Jacob Feistner, the countys planning director.

A contractor has inspected Glacier Camps other structures to make sure theyre safe, Anson said.

We continue to pray for those injured in Saturdays accident and for their families and the medical teams caring for them, she said.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
It was a scorching hot day in Buckinghamshire, UK when 20-year-old Joey Barge decided to wear a respectable navy pair of shorts to work. He knew he was pushing it, though, and tweeted this:

If women can wear skirts/dresses at work can I wear smart shorts like so? pic.twitter.com/UD0AQ6ZCbP  joey (@jBarge_) June 19, 2017

Shortly after the tweet he was sent home for going against the company's dress code, and was told to change before returning to work. Outraged, he went home and dressed in proper work attire  proper for women, that is.

See you soon, twitter. I'll be sent home soon. pic.twitter.com/XfFyxDeBAK  joey (@jBarge_) June 19, 2017

Barge thought his company would bounce him back home again, but instead they questioned the color of his dress, and said he could change back into his shorts. Looks like his protest had a happy ending for every sweat-laden employee at the office. But on this particular day, Barge decided to remain in the dress.

Thanks Mashable!


Ever since the Ukrainian "Maidan" revolution, the country has been subjected to waves of punishing cyberwar attacks, targeting its power grids, finance ministry, TV networks, election officials, and other critical systems.



These attacks are believed to originate with "Sandworm," a skilled hacker group associated with the Russian government. As bad as the attacks have been, they could have been far worse: the captured malware shows that the attackers only deployed some of their capabilities.





This has led the people defending Ukrainian systems to hypothesize that the attacks are a combination of live fire exercise  to evaluate the weapons' efficacy  and public warning to the US and NATO about Russia's capabilities, should either power attempt to curb Russian ambitions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.





The capabilities on display are impressive and could be deployed against the highly automated US power grid and other systems, where security is more advanced, but where there is much more to secure. Doing so would likely provoke an intense response from the US government and military  the much-vaunted "cyber-deterrence" that is meant to be keeping the fragile peace in nation-states' networks and systems.



The attack they described was almost identical to the one that hit Kyivoblenergo: BlackEnergy, corrupted firmware, disrupted backup power systems, KillDisk. But in this operation, the attackers had taken another step, bombarding the company's call centers with fake phone callspossibly to delay any warnings of the power outage from customers or simply to add another layer of chaos and humiliation. There was another difference too. When the Americans asked whether, as in Kiev, cloned control software had sent the commands that shut off the power, the Prykarpattyaoblenergo engineers said no, that their circuit breakers had been opened by another method. That's when the company's technical director, a tall, serious man with black hair and ice-blue eyes, cut in. Rather than try to explain the hackers' methods to the Americans through a translator, he offered to show them, clicking Play on a video he'd recorded himself on his battered iPhone 5s. The 56-second clip showed a cursor moving around the screen of one of the computers in the company's control room. The pointer glides to the icon for one of the breakers and clicks a command to open it. The video pans from the computer's Samsung monitor to its mouse, which hasn't budged. Then it shows the cursor moving again, seemingly of its own accord, hovering over a breaker and attempting again to cut its flow of power as the engineers in the room ask one another who's controlling it.



HOW AN ENTIRE NATION BECAME RUSSIA'S TEST LAB FOR CYBERWAR [Andy Greenberg/Wired]
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Despite House Speaker Paul Ryan promising on Tuesday to pass a tax reform plan by the end of this year, many investors have their doubts.

"I don't think the market expects [tax reform] to happen this year. I think it's extremely optimistic to think that it will," Albion Financial Chief Investment Officer Jason Ware told CNBC's "Closing Bell" on Tuesday.

Ware believes the White House's priority and pace of handling probes, headlines and health-care reform has left the market pessimistic that tax reform will be passed in 2017.

"There's a lot of moving pieces, and as we've seen so far with this Congress and the new administration, they have had such a hard time focusing on putting out fires," Ware said.

"As much as Paul Ryan says they don't get distracted by that, the reality is they do," Ware said. "These bills come out of committee and need to get the attention of everyone else in Congress, and it's hard to do that when there's so many challenging news stories."

But even if tax reform fails to pass by the end of this year, Haverford Trust Chief Investment Officer Hank Smith says the market is still set up for a win-win situation.

"If we don't get any of these fiscal reforms that the Trump administration has promised, we're still in this 2 percent economy with very little risk of a recession, and the stock market has proven it can do okay," Smith said.

"If we do get [tax reform], the Trump trade is back on, and I think you'll see some of the sectors that did well in the last two months of 2016 pick up again: industrials, basic materials, financials," Smith said. "Really, it's a win-win either way for this market in our view."

But even though confidence in the market has been relatively bullish, Cuttone & Company Senior Vice President Keith Bliss believes investors should be aware of a few red flags that could shake up the market in the long-term.

"There are long-term warning signs that we really need to be cognizant of," Bliss said. "One of those is ... earnings. The earnings have been good in the first quarter, and the second quarter they are okay but they are absolutely diverging ... the earnings growth and dividend growth is absolutely diverging from the total return in the market. We've not seen that kind of diversion since the tech bubble back in the '90s.

"At some point, those two have to reconcile one another," Bliss said. "And it may not be for a couple of years ... but certainly it has to happen."
Republican Karen Handel has won Georgia's record-breaking special congressional election, dashing hopes by Democrats to pull off an upset in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections.

Seen as an early proxy for whether Democrats can flip certain Republican-leaning districts in the President Donald Trump era, Tuesday's election drew national attention and record cash from around the country. Democrats have aimed to leverage Trump's dismal approval rating and opposition to the Republican health-care bill into winning Republican seats and potentially taking control of the House in 2018.

The race for Georgia's 6th District for the seat vacated by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price pitted Handel, 55, the former Georgia secretary of state, against Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year old former congressional aide. Fueled by a rush of donors from around the U.S., Ossoff pushed for an upset in the suburban Atlanta district that Price repeatedly won easily.

He came up short, as Handel won by about 5 percentage points, according to incomplete returns.

The two campaigns and outside groups supporting and opposing the candidates shelled out at least $36 million as of May 31, including more than $22 million from Ossoff's campaign. The election easily set a record for spending in a House race, according to NBC News.

Republicans may see holding the seat as one sign that Trump's agenda and lack of popularity may not be as damaging for the party as Democrats hope. Separately on Tuesday, Republican Ralph Norman avoided an upset by winning a special election in South Carolina's 5th District, a seat vacated by Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney.
Getty Images

Every year, tens of thousands of Americans receive new organs, giving them a new lease on life when the ones they were born with start to fail. In 2016 there were more than 33,600 transplants, a number that has risen by 20 percent in the past five years.



However, there are many more than that waiting on the transplant list  about 120,000 people total. Sometimes they wait for years; an average of about 8,000 people die every year waiting for the organs they need. Researchers, doctors and policymakers are exploring new strategies to increase the supply of organs needed to meet the demand.



Part of the reason for the shortfall is that not all donated organs can be used. One factor is the standard method of transport and storage. There is a short window of time to get the organ to the recipient in time. Another problem is mismatching donors to recipients. In response, there is a movement afoot to find tech solutions to combat the crisis. Most transplantable organs come from deceased donors, and once an organ becomes available, doctors have just a few hours to find a recipient and complete the transplant. "Once an organ is procured, the clock starts ticking," says David Klassen, the chief medical officer at the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). The longer an organ stays outside the body and on ice, the worse it functions, putting the recipient at risk of complications. Sometimes if it takes too long or a donated organ doesn't meet the standards mandated by medical protocols, it must simply be discarded. More from Modern Medicine:

From coding to cancer: How A.I. is changing medicine

The cost of America's most expensive prescription drugs

Firestorm brewing as scientists work to create synthetic DNA UNOS is the organization responsible for organ allocation, and they are constantly working to improve the way they allocate organs for transplantation. Each organ has a different policy, and the allocation algorithms are built around these policies, says Anne Paschke, a spokesperson for UNOS. Programmers and testers create the algorithm from scratch and make sure it works before it is implemented. Unlike algorithms used by places like Facebook or Netflix, which incorporate machine learning or artificial intelligence, UNOS' algorithm compares complex and multifaceted medical and logistical factors, such as the patient's blood type and antigens, and logistical factors such as distance and medical urgency, to match donors to recipients.

watch now

The problem of organ allocation is complicated, and some experts are working to create algorithms that can match donors to recipients even more efficiently. "The way organs are offered to individual centers and they decide whether to accept them or not, it's a bit slow," says Jesse Schold, the director of outcomes research in kidney transplantation at the Cleveland Clinic. "Certainly, there is more to learn regarding behavioral aspects of decision-making, how information is disseminated, and other alterations in the allocation algorithm" that may make the process more efficient and less prone to waste, he says. The equation gets more complex when donors are offered organs that may come with a higher risk of infectious disease or poorer function, such as those that come from older donors or donors with risky behaviors, like drug use. Patients have to agree to accept one of these organs, and though they might be reluctant to accept an organ labeled "high risk," studies show that most of these organs function just fine, and patients who accept them fare much better than those who keep waiting. More recently, the use of medical marijuana has sparked a debate, because potential recipients who have used marijuana become ineligible to receive a transplant due to risk of infection, even if a doctor had prescribed the marijuana.



"Every patient wants the very best organ out there. But the reality is that all organs are different, and they potentially all have issues," Klassen says. "For a patient who is looking at long waiting times, it's better to take an organ that is less than ideal but they have access to much more quickly, as opposed to waiting for a perfect organ, which may take a long time or it may never come."



Allocation algorithms that improve upon those currently used by UNOS would likely prioritize certain clinics based on factors like how likely they would be to accept a high-risk organ. "There's a trade-off between giving all transplant centers and candidates on their list a chance to accept that organ versus making an algorithm that says probabilistically a particular center is most likely to accept this organ based on past behavior or who is on their list," says Schold of the Cleveland Clinic. The challenge comes in trying to allocate these organs efficiently and also fairly.

New techniques introduced

If researchers are successful, these same calculations and questions will look a lot different in the future. Several new techniques could extend the time an organ stays viable outside the body, which could help give doctors more time to find recipients and decrease the number of organs that are underutilized. One technique, called norothermic perfusion, keeps an organ continually awash in a solution similar to the one that would be found in the body at room temperature. Though the idea behind the technique has been around since transplants were first possible, researchers have greatly improved upon it to even repair organs before they are implanted.



Shaf Keshavjee, a transplant surgeon at Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, developed norothermic perfusion. Keshavjee designed the technique initially for lungs  a special machine keeps lungs doused in a solution to keep them damp, as well as a reverse version of a ventilator so the lungs are effectively breathing outside the body. So far, the technique has kept lungs viable for 20 hours outside the body, more than triple the typical time of six hours. That extra time also allows doctors to treat the organs to reduce the risk of rejection or transmission of infectious disease to the recipient.

Since 2010, when Keshavjee did a TED talk that introduced the technique to the world, his clinic alone has completed more than 300 transplants with lungs treated this way, and he estimates another 180 more have been done at other clinics, in Vienna and Paris. The use of the technique has expanded beyond lungs to include livers, hearts and kidneys. In some cases, norothermic perfusion can even improve function of organs, such as kidneys, that had previously worked too poorly to be transplanted into a patient. The equipment for this type of perfusion is new and expensive, but Keshavjee is collaborating with a manufacturer to make the technology easier to use and more affordable so that more clinics can access it, he says. Policy changes from agencies that regulate hospitals and transplantation centers could also help get donated organs to where they're most needed. Changes to the hospital reimbursement system, for example, could encourage more centers to accept high-risk organs, Schold suggests. Education campaigns on the benefits of accepting high-risk organs (or changing that terminology to something less ominous, like "increased risk") and changing the way organ transplant centers are compensated, regulated and evaluated could have a big impact, Schold says.

Artificial organs grown in the lab
Republican Ralph Norman has won a special election to fill the South Carolina congressional seat vacated by Mick Mulvaney, who resigned to work for President Donald Trump's administration.

The millionaire real estate developer won Tuesday's special election over Democrat Archie Parnell in the 5th District, which stretches north from Columbia toward the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Norman, a former state lawmaker, ran a campaign aligning himself with President Donald Trump, who won this district in November by more than 18 percentage points. He emerged as the top vote-getter from a seven-way GOP primary and defeated state lawmaker Tommy Pope by just more than 200 votes in a runoff.

Parnell, a former Goldman Sachs tax adviser, had argued he was best suited to represent the district, which was in Democratic hands for more than 100 years until Mulvaney's 2010 victory.
Saudi Arabia has relieved Muhammad bin Nayef from his role as crown prince, replacing him with Mohammad bin Salman, according to a royal decree published by state news agency SPA. The move positions the 31-year-old Bin Salman to be next in line to the throne.

Bin Salman has been his country's defense minister and deputy crown prince, and was recently credited with a "huge success" for U.S. President Donald Trump's recent decision to stop in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman called for a public pledging of allegiance in Mecca on Wednesday to the new crown prince, Saudi-owned channel al-Arabiya said on Wednesday.

The young prince has taken a central role in Saudi Arabia's efforts to build its economy beyond the oil industry. He holds primary responsibility for the kingdom's military and energy sector.

In March, Bin Salman met Trump in the White House, and agreed that Iran represents a regional security threat.

Here's CNBC's look at Bin Salman's economic vision for his country.

In May, the then-deputy crown prince said his radical economic reforms were succeeding in protecting the kingdom against low oil prices, and he promised massive investments in coming years to help diversify the economy beyond oil.
Why do you want to go to law school?

The biggest mistake people make is going for no good reason or for the wrong reasons, says Hosid. So if it's because you think it looks fun or you want to be rich, you might want to think again. A surprising number of people want to go to law school because they love "Law & Order," says Hosid, but "being a lawyer is nothing like what you see on TV." In fact, it can take lawyers years to even set foot in a court room or get a cushy job like in-house counsel. Similarly, the idea that being a lawyer will make you rich is off-base, says Hosid. "There are actually a lot, a lot, a lot of jobs that  don't make a lot of money," she says. According to U.S. News & World Report, the median private sector salary was $68,300, and the median public sector salary was $52,000 among J.D. recipients in the class of 2015 at ranked law schools. Only 35 law schools of the 197 ranked reported median private sector salaries in the six figures.

What do you envision doing with your law degree?

"Yes, technically you can do anything with a law degree, but that doesn't mean you should," says Hosid. "That doesn't mean you need one." She suggests talking to people in the fields and jobs you're interested in. "Find out how valuable they would view a law degree if you were looking for a job in their position," she says. "Just because you see a lot of people have law degrees, it might not be the case that it's necessary."

"Law & Order": Elisabeth Rohm as A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn, Sam Waterston as Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy Getty Images | NBC

Even if the field does require an advanced degree for you to be taken seriously, you may be able to do a one-year Master's and not a three-year J.D., says Hosid. Also consider whether you'd want to work in the private sector or the public sector, or for a non-profit. Would you want to do trial work or research? In what city or country do you want to find a job? All these factors can affect whether you need a law degree, and if so, where it would be best to go to school.

What is the market like?

"I worked at Georgetown Law School in the Career Services office," says Hosid. "I started when times were really good and employers were bending over backward to take us out to dinner  so we would tell our kids to go to their firms." Then the recession hit. "By the time I left, we were taking them out to dinner and we were flying to cities that Georgetown grads would never go to before to talk to people at law firms and try to convince them to hire Georgetown grads. And we're talking Georgetown grads  it's not Harvard but it's a top law school." The moral of the story is that the legal profession is not immune to the economy. On a positive note for prospective students, law school applications have been down in recent years, which means schools are offering a lot of scholarship money these days, says Hosid.

Can you get into a well-ranked school?

The truth is, a law degree from a school ranked below the top 14-to-25 does not open the same doors as a degree from a top tier institution, says Hosid. That's important when it comes to those higher paying corporate law jobs and other coveted positions. If you can only get in to a lower ranked school  which is the case for most people  graduating at the top of your class and doing extra-curriculars like journals or clinics can help. Hosid also suggests planning to practice in the same geographic location as your school, as the alumni network may be stronger and the school may be more well known regionally.

What's the cost/benefit analysis?

According to U.S. News & World report's 2017 law school rankings, the average cost of tuition and fees among the top 10 law schools is $60,293 per year. For private schools it's $46,164; for public schools it's $26,264 in state and $39,612 out of state. It's also important to consider living or moving expenses and the fact that you may not be making a steady salary for the three years you're in school. Weigh all this against what your law degree could get you in terms of opportunity and salary.

Should you take some time off first?
Generosity is often on display at Goodwill Industries locations  but this time it was the employees who found themselves giving back. Workers at a Zanesville, Ohio Goodwill were shocked to find a bag filled with $100,000 of what they originally believed to be play money amidst a box of donated housewares, reports USA Today. "I just laughed and said, 'Look at all my money I found,'" employee Barb Claypool told the publication. "I thought it was play money. Then [my co-worker] Betsy came over and said we needed to take that to the office."

No one came hunting for the missing cash. Instead, Goodwill made multiple attempts to contact the donor, Lynette Leckrone, by phone, and finally called the local police. Leckrone was apparently unaware that the money was missing. "We are moving closer to Wheeling, [West Virignia], and we have been saving to buy a house," Dan Leckrone, the donor's husband, told USA Today. He said he had withdrawn the money  $97,004, precisely  from the bank and put it in the trunk of the car along with clothes and other household items for donation. He and his wife didn't realize it was missing until they returned home and noticed they'd received voicemails from Goodwill and the police. Michelle Cogswell, Goodwill central manager for the region, said she's never experienced anything like this in her nearly two decades with the organization. "We find the occasional $100 bill or $50 bill, but that's about the most that is found," Cogswell told the publication. "When I heard they found $100,000, I thought they meant $1,000."
Big health insurer Anthem  which already had announced plans to effectively depart Ohio's Obamacare market in 2018  said Wednesday it will almost completely leave Affordable Care Act markets in Wisconsin and Indiana in 2018.

Anthem, as it did with its Ohio pullout, blamed a "volatile" market for individual health plans, as well as "uncertainty" about the federal government's stance on Obamacare's rules and regulations.

The insurer also said it was worried about whether the Trump administration will continue paying insurers billions of dollars in reimbursements for subsidies that reduce out-of-pocket health costs to low-income Obamacare customers.

The administration, with Republican leaders in Congress, is pushing for legislation that could repeal and replace key parts of Obamacare, possibly resulting in millions of people ending their enrollment in individual health plans like those sold by Anthem. Those plans are bought by people who don't have health coverage through a job or elsewhere.

The administration and Congress also have refused to make a long-term guarantee to continue paying insurers the so-called cost-sharing reimbursements to insurers, without which insurers will have to significantly raise their premium prices.

Anthem said Wednesday it will offer just one individual health plan outside of the HealthCare.gov Obamacare marketplace in a single county in Wisconsin, and one such plan also sold outside of that federally run marketplace in five Indiana counties.

By offering those plans, Anthem will avoid a five-year ban on re-entering the individual health plan markets that is imposed on insurers who completely exit a state's Obamacare market.

Anthem currently sells Obamacare plans in 14 states. So far, it has announced plans to almost completely pull out of three of those states in 2018, and it is not clear how many states Anthem may depart.

"After significant dialogue with state leaders and regulators Anthem has made the difficult decision to reduce its 2018 Individual plan offerings in Wisconsin and Indiana," the insurer said.

"While we are pleased that some steps have been taken to address the long-term challenges all health plans serving the Individual market are facing, the Individual market remains volatile," Anthem said.

"Today, planning and pricing for ACA-compliant health plans has become increasingly difficult due to a shrinking and deteriorating individual market, as well as continual changes and uncertainty in federal operations, rules and guidance, including cost-sharing reduction subsidies and the restoration of taxes on fully insured coverage."

Anthem's decision Wednesday does not affect the company's business selling employer-based health coverage, Medicare Advantage, or Medicaid plans in Wisconsin or Indiana.

"We will continue to advocate solutions that will stabilize the market and allow us return to a more robust presence in the future," Anthem said.

"In those states where Anthem has not yet made a final participation decision, we continue to work with regulators and remain actively engaged in dialogue."

Larry Levitt, an Obamacare expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said: "There is no question that Anthem has soured on the marketplace, given underlying instability and the tremendous uncertainty stoked by the Trump administration and the health-care debate in Congress."

"Assuming other insurers in Indiana and Wisconsin stick around, there will still be at least one insurer in all counties in these states," Levitt said.
Bain Capital plans to be the biggest investor in Toshiba's chip unit, providing 850 billion yen ($7.7 billion) in equity as part of a consortium that also includes Japan government investors, three sources briefed on the matter said.

The U.S. private-equity firm will, however, obtain around half that amount in financing from South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, the sources said, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.

Toshiba said earlier it has chosen a consortium of Bain and Japanese government investors as the preferred bidder for its chip business, aiming to clinch a deal worth some 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) by next week as it scrambles for funds to cover massive losses.

State-backed fund, Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ) and the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) will each provide 300 billion yen in equity, while the core banking unit of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc will provide 550 billion yen in financing, they added.

The numbers have yet to be finalized and are still subject to change, one of the sources said.

A representative for DBJ was not immediately available to comment. All other members of the consortium, as well as Toshiba, declined to comment.
U.S. government debt prices were mostly lower on Wednesday, as investors turned their attention to new data releases and the moves in the oil market. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note sat higher at around 2.153 percent at 2:32 p.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was slightly lower at 2.72 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

Treasurys



The oil market is dominating markets across the globe on Wednesday, after prices fell sharply on Tuesday. This came as investors showed concern over the strength of compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC countries when it comes to slashing production. Prices fell again on Wednesday, with U.S. crude settled down 2.3 percent at 42.53 a barrel as glut concerns continue to persist. On the central bank front, the Bank of Japan released its minutes from its monetary policy meeting in April. The minutes showed that policymakers expected the amount of government debt purchases to oscillate under its quantitative easing program, according to Reuters.
Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:

Walgreens Boots Alliance  The drug store operator and lab operator Theranos have reached a tentative settlement of their legal dispute, according to The Wall Street Journal. The proposed deal would see Theranos pay Walgreens less than $30 million, although it has not been finalized and the details could change. Walgreens had sought to recover the $140 million it had put into the partnership.

Winnebago  The recreational vehicle maker beat estimates by 10 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of 82 cents per share. Revenue also beat analysts' forecasts. Winnebago benefited from acquisitions that diversified its product mix, as well as expanding profit margins.

Target  Citi downgraded the retailer's shares to "neutral" from "buy," pointing to soft traffic trends and intensifying competition, among other factors.

PayPal  The payment service was upgraded to "overweight" from "sector weight" at Pacific Crest, based on increasing benefits from the company's various payment platforms.

Chevron  The oil giant was downgraded to "neutral" from "outperform" at Macquarie, a move based largely on the firm's cut in its oil price forecast.

FedEx  The delivery company reported adjusted quarterly profit of $4.25 per share compared to consensus estimates of $3.88 a share. FedEx also beat on the top line and gave an upbeat forecast for the full year. FedEx is benefiting from increased business across all its units, as well as from the acquisition of TNT Express.

Adobe Systems  Adobe earned an adjusted $1.02 per share for its latest quarter, seven cents a share above estimates. The software maker's revenue was slightly above consensus. It also gave strong current-quarter revenue guidance, as customers move to its cloud-based subscription services at a fast pace.

Johnson & Johnson  J&J said a Monday ruling from the Supreme Court involving Bristol-Myers Squibb should help it fight litigation involving its talcum powder products. In the Bristol-Myers case, the court ruled that state courts can't hear claims against companies not based in the state if alleged injuries did not occur in that state. J&J is currently facing accusations that it did not warn women that its talcum powder could cause ovarian cancer.

Shire  The drugmaker won Food and Drug Administration approval for its Mydayis drug, a long-acting treatment for children and adults with attention deficit disorder.

Tesla  Tesla said Chris Lattner  the head of its autopilot software unit  has left the automaker less than six months after joining. Lattner had joined Tesla from Apple earlier this year, but both Lattner and Tesla said the job was not a good fit.

CA Inc.  CA is being considered as a possible acquisition by privately held BMC Software, according to multiple reports. BMC is said to have contacted banks about possible financing for such a deal, which would combine the two largest U.S. makers of information technology management software.

Whirlpool  Chief Executive Officer Jeff Fettig is leaving that post on October 1, with Chief Operating Officer Marc Blitzer said to succeed him. Fettig has been CEO of the appliance maker since 2004, and will remain as chairman.

Red Hat  Red Hat was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" at Stifel Nicolaus, which points to hybrid cloud opportunities for the provider of Linux software.

La-Z-Boy  La-Z-Boy beat estimates by 11 cents a share, with quarterly earnings of 57 cents per share. The recliner maker also saw revenue beat forecasts. La-Z-Boy also saw a same-store sales rise of 2.4 percent.
Business / Economy

by Staff reporter

Fiscal imbalances combined with a large volume of domestic debt are at the core of Zimbabwe's ongoing cash shortages, the World Bank said.In a New Economic Update on Zimbabwe released on Wednesday, the World Bank said the central government's fiscal cash deficit moved to 10% of GDP in 2016, up from 2.3% the previous year."The decision in 2016 to increase agriculture-related spending despite the decline in revenue and the continued growth of the wage bill substantially widened the fiscal deficit.The government's fiscal position expanded by some 8 percentage points of GDP.""The deficit was largely financed from domestic financial markets as external arrears prevented Zimbabwe from gaining access to international capital markets," said the World Bank adding that cash shortages are projected to depress Zimbabwe's medium-term growth prospects as they limit investment for an ongoing structural transformation."The banking sector bore the brunt of the government's financing needs, which led to liquidity shortages in the economy."While the World Bank still expects the country's growth rate to rebound to 2.8% in 2017, "growth rates for 2018/19 are being revised down to less than 1 percent, sharply negative in per capita income terms."Since 2014, the Zimbabwean government has issued Treasury Bills amounting to $4.41m to raise money to fund its expenditure as well as legacy debt issues. Of that amount about $1.1bn matured and has been liquidated leaving an outstanding amount of $3.31m as of the end of February 2017. Since then, more treasury bills have been issued to fund various projects.On the 15th of June, media reports said government had issued treasury bills amounting to $50m to raise funds for irrigation equipment under its specialised Command agriculture programme.Two weeks ago the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also criticised the Zimbabwean government's plans to issue $600m worth of treasury bills to clear debts owed to the country's sole electricity supplier, Zesa Holdings, by local authorities and state authorities, saying these entities should improve their operations and management to avoid debt pile up.The IMF also said budgetary operations are crowding out the private sector, and the skewed expenditure profile towards wages is inhibiting investments in other priority sectors, particularly infrastructure.
European stocks appeared to continue where they left off from the previous session on Wednesday with financial services and insurance stocks leading the losses.



Britain's Provident slumped to the bottom of the benchmark on Wednesday after the firm issued a profit warning. The London-based company said it expects operational disruption from the reorganization of its home credit division to weigh on full-year profits. Its shares tumbled more than 17 percent.



Elsewhere, Britain's Whitbread - which operates the Costa Coffee chain and Premier Inn hotels, said its group sales had increased 7.6 percent in the first three months of the year. The firm had previously warned of tougher trading ahead and said its performance up to June 2 had been in line with expectations. Its shares jumped more than 3 percent on the news.



Meanwhile, as expected, oil was once again front and center on for both European bourses and markets overseas on Wednesday. Prices hovered near multi-month lows as investors discounted evidence of robust compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC producers with a deal to remove a global supply overhang.



Brent crude traded $45.83 a barrel in afternoon trading, down 0.41 percent, while U.S. crude was around $43.40 a barrel, up 0.25 percent.

On Wall Street, stocks traded mixed on Wednesday as oil prices tried to rebound from a sharp fall during the previous session.
Former Apple executive Scott Forstall, right, speaks with John Markoff at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, on June 20, 2017.

Scott Forstall, the former head of iOS software at Apple , said on Tuesday that the reviews of the original iPhone "didn't get it."

In a conversation with former New York Times reporter John Markoff at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, Forstall said that while he was "unconcerned" with the reviews, he felt they focused too much attention on the wrong things.

"The reviews talked about the number of clicks," Forstall said. "Oh, to send an email it takes you six taps or something. It was being compared against other smartphones at the time  Blackberry and all."

Apple was changing "the entire way things were done," Forstall said. He knew how great the iPhone was, despite the device's early critics, he said.

Forstall, 48, was pushed out of Apple in 2012 after the company faced criticism for problems with the Apple Maps app. Apple subsequently changed certain internal processes, including the introduction of a public beta testing program.

Forstall joined Apple in 1997 after Apple acquired Steve Jobs' company NeXT, where he worked on core technologies. At Apple he held various leadership roles and made several appearances during the company's carefully scripted keynotes.

Since leaving Apple, though, Forstall has made very few public appearances. Tuesday's event marked the first time Forstall was speaking publicly in five years. An email released by Wikileaks in 2015 indicated that, among other things, Forstall was advising Snap . Last year Forstall said he was co-producing a Broadway show called "Eclipsed."

Apple announced the first iPhone in 2007. And, Forstall said, Apple had wondered about becoming a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) to provide wireless phone service instead of carriers like AT&T and Verizon.

"Do we do an MVNO? Do we license, white-box a carrier solution through some other carrier? Do we buy spectrum and build out the entire network ourselves? Do we partner with one?" he said.

Ultimately, though, Apple ended up negotiating with carriers.

The iPhone project came out of a tablet initiative and Apple chose to quarter the size, Forstall said. He had no business working on a phone, he said, as he had never sent a text message until he had an iPhone, and he was not familiar with the GSM or CDMA networking systems.

At one point, Forstall was having lunch with Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs, and the two noticed that while they and others around them had phones, they looked "very angsty" while using them, Forstall said.

"No one seems like it's a pleasurable thing to use the phone, but it's a nice thing for communication," Forstall said.

Forstall is not currently working on a new company, he said.
From left: Rebecca Allen, with the Stepan Company, Sharon Varel of Provisur Technologies and Stephen Cotman of McDonald's discuss a tsunami scenario during a session at the Global Travel Risk Summit in Chicago, March 29, 2017.

Corporate travel managers have long had their hands full dealing with political unrest, terrorism and severe weather around the world. But now, they are contending with new complications  issues like security at border crossings and the legalities of data searches of electronic devices at airports. They are holding conferences and seminars, like the Global Travel Risk Summit on Tuesday in New York, to discuss the new concerns about global travel. "In the last six months, it's gone from a simmer to a boil," said Evan Konwiser, a vice president at American Express Global Business Travel, who moderated a session at a recent Association of Corporate Travel Executives conference in New York on how to support and protect business travelers. What, he asked the group, are travel managers at companies doing to adapt their programs? "Are they doing it quickly enough? Smart enough?" he asked. More from The New York Times:

Amazon will let customers try on clothes before buying

Too hot to fly? Climate change may take a toll on air travel

Move Over, Bitcoin. Ether Is the Digital Currency of the Moment. One panelist, Julia Fidler, who manages travel for Microsoft, said, "We're definitely seeing more requests from travelers who ask, 'Tell me what to do; who do I go to to ask?'" She added, "They still want to talk to somebody, know what number to dial, and if there will be somebody there to assist them." A recent study by the association on how current geopolitical issues are affecting travel found that of the 239 corporate travel managers surveyed, 56 percent said they had seen an increase in reports of heightened personal safety concerns in late 2016 and early this year. And 54 percent said travelers had expressed new or growing concerns about how possible changes in visa requirements and immigration policies could affect travel to and from the United States. "The pace of change is faster now than ever before and reaching to more regions not traditionally considered high risk," Greeley Koch, executive director at the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, said in an interview. "And we are starting to see the direct impact on the security and well-being of the traveler." His group worked with American Express Global Business Travel on the survey.

An immersive crisis scenario session at the Global Travel Risk Summit in Chicago, March 29, 2017. David Kasnic | The New York Times

Mr. Koch said more companies were creating policies or strengthening existing ones to clarify what employees can and cannot do and to better assist them when travel disruptions occur. The survey indicated that 47 percent of companies had or planned to introduce training to address safety concerns in the next one to two years; 40 percent were discussing the option. Stephen Barth, a lawyer and professor of hospitality law at the University of Houston, said difficulties often arose from incidents abroad because the legal responsibilities were not clear, even to experts. Workers' compensation laws in the United States do not always protect employees once they leave the country, unlike in Britain, where the Corporate Manslaughter Act "clarifies the responsibility of employers if an employee is put in harm's way," he said. At a recent Global Travel Risk Summit in Chicago, a series of programs were aimed at helping organizations develop safe travel policies. In one, teams of travel managers played out dealing with hypothetical disruptions, like the right time to evacuate during a tsunami, the legal ramifications when an employee becomes paralyzed in a serious crash while using a shared car service or what to do if an employee is kidnapped. Mr. Barth is the founder of HospitalityLawyer.com, which provides legal, safety and security resources for the industry and sponsored the meeting with the BTN Group, a business travel research firm. He said many travelers thought risks involved only extreme situations and did not realize that everyday occurrences could be just as deadly. After a traveler has flown all night with little or no sleep, having to drive on a different side of the street than in the home country "is very high risk," he said. Many problems can be prevented or managed with minor precautions, like learning about a foreign country in advance and obtaining travel insurance coverage. There has been a steady increase since 2012 in the number of Americans buying insurance for international trips, for emergency medical care, medical evacuation and repatriation in the case of a political event or act of God, according to the travel insurance comparison website Squaremouth. But many still do not realize the need, experts say. "It's a misconception that credit cards will cover" most medical needs abroad, said Chris Carnicelli, chief executive of Generali Global Assistance. For many travelers, he added, buying supplemental coverage has "not been top of mind." The industry trend, Mr. Carnicelli said, is to make policies easier to understand and provide coverage "more tailored toward individual travel needs." Identify theft protection, for example, is increasingly important in some countries. Dale Buckner, president and chief executive of Global Guardian, a travel risk management company, said that to deal with cybersecurity effectively, "you have to create a defense in depth." Many organizations still allow employees to use Wi-Fi in hotels and other public places.
George Clooney is selling his tequila company to Diageo for as much as $1 billion, the company announced on Wednesday. But Clooney and business partner Rande Gerber didn't set out to make money by launching Casamigos Tequila. While building their side-by-side vacation homes in Cabo San Lucas, the long-time friends were spending a lot of time in Mexico  and consequently, drinking a lot of tequila. "As you do when you're in Mexico, you drink a lot of tequila," Gerber tells CNBC. "After a couple of months trying a lot of different tequilas, George turned to me and said, 'Why don't we just make our own? One that's perfect for us to drink?'" That's just what the pair did, along with their friend Michael Meldman. The team found a distiller in Jalisco, Mexico, and explained exactly what they were looking for. "It was important that it tasted great and didn't burn going down," Gerber explains. "We wanted one that we could drink straight or on the rocks. One that we could drink all day and all night, and not be hungover in the morning."

The Casamigos co-founders (from left to right): Michael Meldman, George Clooney, and Rande Gerber. Source: Casamigos Tequila

After months of back-and-forth with the distiller, and tasting and developing their tequila, the duo found the perfect product, Gerber recalls: "George opened the sample, poured one for me, poured one for him, and we tasted it. We both looked at each other, had another taste of it, and we were like, 'This is it. It's perfect.'" Casamigos, which loosely translates to "house of friends," was never meant for the public. For two years, it was served exclusively among Gerber and Clooney's friends and family. "It was just for us," Gerber says. "We didn't really want to be in the business. We figured, George is an actor and a director. I own restaurants and bars and wasn't looking to get in another business. "But then the distiller called and said, 'Hey guys, we have a little problem: In the past two years, we've been sending you about a thousand bottles a year. Either you're selling it or you're drinking way too much  either way, we can't keep calling it samples. You guys have to get licensed and do this right.'" The celebrity entrepreneurs, who brought Casamigos to the public in 2013, figured they didn't have a choice. "We wanted to keep drinking it," Gerber says.

George Clooney and Rande Gerber. Source: Casamigos Tequila
The chief marketers of some of the world's largest brands are getting together to tackle sexism and poor representations of diversity in advertising, and will undertake research to understand the impact of changes made to ad campaigns every two years. Companies including Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, AT&T and Facebook are working with UN Women on an "Unstereotype Alliance," to tackle sexism in advertising, while the Association of National Advertisers in the U.S. is continuing its "#SeeHer" initiative, to improve the accuracy of how women are portrayed. Speaking at an event this week held by The Female Quotient, part of the Cannes Lions advertising festival, chief marketing officers spoke of personal realizations about the lack of diversity in advertising. Procter and Gamble's chief brand officer Marc Pritchard said he had an epiphany when he realized on a family holiday several years ago the impact business can have on popular culture and society.

P&G's Marc Pritchard at Cannes Lions in June 2016 Christian Alminana | Cannes Lions

Running P&G's CoverGirl makeup brand at the time, he realized that its models for its "Easy, Breezy, Beautiful" campaign were "too skinny, too monolithic in terms of being blonde haired and blue-eyed, and too white." The company then changed the campaign to feature rapper Queen Latifah and Ellen de Generes, to more accurately represent women. "We can use our voices in advertising as a force for good and a force for growth. With equality comes growth, and just the simple fact that women are paid 20 percent less than men for the same job and you inject that into the market and that's $4.3 trillion worth of purchasing power," Pritchard said. AT&T's chief brand officer Fiona Carter, who described herself as an activist feminist, gave the example of when she reviewed the casting for an advertising campaign soon after she joined the company in 2015. "I realised that the casting we had less than 50 percent women, they weren't in speaking roles, the positions of authority were white males and secondary positions were people of color or they were women. For me that was a personal moment when I realized I had the power and the responsibility to make a change."

AT&T's chief brand officer Fiona Carter, at an event in New York City on April 18, 2017 Ilya S. Savenok | Getty Images
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Blockchain, the technology underlying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, is one of the newest games in town and Israeli start-ups are trying hard to position themselves prominently in the field. With its cybersecurity and financial technology acumen, the country is well placed to play a role, say experts. But how blockchain applies to the real world, apart from bitcoin and its ilk, often remains unclear. And the suspicion is that it will be a niche product, helping other technologies to operate in a secure or more efficient way. Yet, the ambitions of many in the industry go far beyond that. Three founder-CEOs of Israeli blockchain startups explain their often rather grand visions for the future of their companies. Colu, which is the only one really up and running in its intended field, and Synereo are linked to the now almost familiar field of cryptocurrencies but the third, called Wave, proposes a very different idea.

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"We don't believe that payment is a part of what blockchain will bring to the world of trade," Wave's chief executive Gadi Ruschin, boldly states. His startup, supported among others by Barclays, seeks to do away with physical paper transfers in the world of trade, effectively digitizing documents such as bills of lading. The idea is not to change the way trade is being conducted but to eliminate the need to send actual paper post. "I don't think the documents are going to change but you can definitely transport them in an electronic way," explains Ruschin. The system was successfully tested at the end of 2016 in a pilot led by Barclays and more pilots are scheduled this year. Ruschin may not share the vision of financial dominance that some cryptocurrencies exhibit but he's definitely shooting for the stars. In order for his system to be successful it should ideally be adopted by a whole sector: "Everyone understands that using paper documents is not efficient. The only thing we have to explain is that Wave will be the one that in the end will be chosen by the industry."

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One step further goes Synereo's chief executive Dor Konforty. He's aiming at nothing less than bringing down the monopoly that large internet companies such as Facebook and Google have in generating income from online content and its curation. His aim is to, "completely liberate this economy from all these very centralized, very unfair centers of power." He argues that users are being treated merely as "cogs" in the wheels of the large internet companies that profit from the content that they upload and share. "We're not rewarded in any way for creating all this value, for organizing the information on the internet as it is today." He's set to introduce his first product as a beta-release at the end of this month. Called Wild Spark, the idea is to use a cryptocurrency issued by Synereo called AMP, for amplify, to attach value to content. "We've created this game where everything eventually flows up to the creator but anyone who's part this value chain by being a curator by finding audiences that are interested, gets rewarded," says Konforty. Synereo conducted Initial Coin Offerings in 2015 and 2016, raising $5 million, he says. There are about 900 million AMPs trading at just over $0.50 at the time of writing. Blockchain is important in several ways for the system he's developing: "It's a cryptocurrency, you can do micro-transactions, you can easily transfer amounts without a credit card or banks from person to person online."

Getty Images
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Jeff Bezos made his fortune founding Amazon , and spent $250 million of his riches to buy The Washington Post in 2013. After nearly four years running the Post, which Bezos says turned a profit in 2016 and is expected to do the same this year, Bezos has some valuable lessons to pass along to the rest of the news industry, which is struggling to compete for ad dollars against online juggernauts Google and Facebook . Bezos delivered some of this advice at the Future of Newspapers conference in Turin, Italy, on Wednesday. Here are the highlights: Focus on readers first, not advertisers. In response to a question about similarities between running Amazon and the Post, Bezos said: "We run Amazon and The Washington Post in a very similar way in terms of the basic approach. We attempt to be customer-centric, which in the case of the Post means reader-centric. I think you can get confused, you can be advertiser-centric  and what advertisers want, of course, is readers  and so you should be simple-minded about that and you should be focused on readers. If you can focus on readers advertisers will come." You can't shrink your way to relevance. When he took over, Bezos said, the Post already had an "outstanding" tech team and newsroom, and a top-notch editorial leader in Marty Baron. But the newsroom kept eliminating people, which wasn't working.

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"What they needed was a little bit of runway and the encouragement to experiment, and to stop shrinking. You can't shrink your way into relevance." Since then, the paper has added about 140 reporters and significantly expanded the tech team  and it's worked. "We've grown our way into profitability instead of shrinking our way into profitability." Don't look for a patron or expect charity. Bezos was adamant that the Post should be run as a profit-making business, and that news organizations shouldn't hold out for rich patrons who are willing to lose money indefinitely. "This is not a philanthropic endeavor. For me, I really believe, a healthy newspaper that has an independent newsroom should be self-sustaining. And I think it's achievable. And we've achieved it." Part of the reason, he said, is that "constraints drive creativity. The worst thing I could've done for the Post, I believe, is to have said don't worry about revenue, whatever you need, just do the job. Because I don't think that would lead to as much quality when there are in fact constraints." He also said whining about the internet and the death of the old business models won't help anything. "One of the first rules of business is complaining is not a strategy. You have to work with the world as you find it, not as you would have it be."

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Use technology, but don't be a slave to it. One thing the Post has done is create a publishing platform called Arc, which it is selling to other papers including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. It also uses data to do things like test headlines and understand how engaged readers are with particular stories. But he warned there has to be a balance: "I would never let anybody or ask anybody to be slavish to data, but I'd also be super skeptical of people who aren't curious about the data." He also noted that for data to really be useful, it has to be "real time," not delivered a day later. Advertising alone will not support investigative journalism. Bezos thinks the current online ad landscape is incompatible with the kind of journalism the Post wants to do. He had particularly harsh words for programmatic advertising, in which publishers turn to an array of competing advertising networks to sell ads against specific audience segments. "If you really wanted to build a business you could support with advertising alone, especially programmatic advertising, you'd have to be incredibly lean, you'd have to eliminate a lot of layers of editing, you would not do much original material, you would cleverly rewrite other people's material, you would emphasize clever writing as opposed to original sourcing," he said. "If you want to do investigative reporting and other kinds of very expensive reporting, you have to have a model where people will pay you for it." Once the Post started asking people to pay, they happily did, Bezos said. And they continue to do so. "This industry spent 20 years teaching everyone in the world that news should be free. The truth is, readers are smarter than that. They know high-quality journalism is expensive to produce, and they are willing to pay for it, but you have to ask them. We've tightened our paywall, and every time we've tightened our paywall, subscriptions go up." "Democracy dies in darkness." Before introducing its infamous tagline in the wake of President Donald Trump's election, the Post worked on it for more than a year trying to make it sound a little less ... dark. But it couldn't figure out a way. "We wanted a positive version of 'democracy dies in darkness,' and literally we had some of the smartest writers in the world try to invert 'democracy dies in darkness' to get a positive version of it, and we couldn't do it, so we said to hell with it." His final advice: "When you're writing, be riveting, be right and ask people to pay. They will pay."

Watch: What WFM deal says about Bezos
Obama Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson testified Wednesday that he does not believe Russian hacking "altered or suppressed" votes in the 2016 election.

Still, he contended that the United States "can and should do" more to protect its election systems from cyberattacks.

"There are lessons learned from this experience and, in the future, there is probably more we can and should do," he told the House Intelligence Committee.

In a prepared opening statement, Johnson said that cyberattacks "are going to get worse before they get better." During the hearing, he said possible fixes include giving state election officials grants to improve cybersecurity, better educating state and local officials about phishing attacks and putting a federal official at the DHS in charge of boosting protections.

Johnson appeared before the House committee as part of its probe into Moscow's efforts to influence last year's election. The Senate Intelligence Committee held a separate hearing with current officials. The U.S. intelligence community concluded in a January report that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed a campaign to sow doubts about the electoral process and damage candidate Hillary Clinton.

While Johnson said he had not seen evidence that vote tallies were influenced, he stressed that he cannot say whether Russia's effect on public opinion affected the election.

Current and former officials have warned of the potential for efforts to influence future elections. Johnson said he worries about the "vulnerabilities" in state voter registration databases.

"I think there needs to be more done to secure registration databases," he said.

In his testimony, Johnson said he found out about the hack of the Democratic National Committee in 2016, "months" after the FBI and DNC were already in contact about the cyberattack. The DNC "did not feel it needed DHS' assistance at the time" for the attack, which the U.S. has attributed to Russian-backed hackers.

In a statement, DNC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said the organization "has and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement" and has "provided all the information [the FBI] needed to make its assessment." She said that DHS contacted the DNC "months after [the DNC] worked closely with the FBI" and that the DNC gave DHS "detailed information" about the attack.

Johnson offered help to state secretaries of state and other state election officials in mid-August and floated the idea of making election systems "critical infrastructure," which would make them a "top priority" for DHS services. He said state officials did not warm to the idea because some felt it was federal intervention in their systems.

He eventually did designate it critical infrastructure before President Barack Obama left office in January.

Around that time, Johnson said, he started to see reports of "scanning and probing" of state voter registration systems. By the time of the election, 33 states and 36 cities and counties used DHS cybersecurity tools.

Jeanette Manfra, undersecretary for cybersecurity at DHS, told the Senate on Wednesday that 21 state election systems were targeted. She did not disclose which states.

In October, Johnson and then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper released a statement accusing the Russian government of cyberthefts and disclosures that "are intended to interfere with the US election process." The Obama administration has faced criticism for not making a bigger deal out of the Russian efforts before the election.

The House panel's ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, asked Johnson on Wednesday why Obama did not divulge it publicly.

"We did make the statement," Johnson said of the one he and Clapper issued. "And we were very concerned that we not be perceived as taking sides in the election, injecting ourselves into a very heated campaign" or undermining the integrity of the election.

Johnson said he issued other public statements about cyberattacks on the election systems besides the October one. He added that he feels Americans paid less attention to the October statement because it came around the same time as the release of a 2005 tape in which then-candidate Donald Trump bragged about groping women.

Asked if he would do anything differently, Johnson said that "hindsight is brilliant."

He added: "In retrospect, it would have been easy for me to say I should have brought a sleeping bag and camped in front of the DNC."
Martha Stewart says she's now a friend to Jack Ma and applauds how the CEO has been able to grow Alibaba.

"I'm a great admirer of what [Ma's] accomplished in encouraging sellers to find buyers through Alibaba," the domestic maven said Wednesday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street," from the sidelines of Alibaba's Gateway '17 conference in Detroit.

The simple business plan from Ma, a billionaire Chinese businessman who was also at the conference, has allowed the China-based e-commerce player to grow into a "behemoth company," Stewart said.



Stewart sells her Macy's home collection products, such as bathroom towels and pots and pans, on Alibaba's platform, something that has been going "very good" and even sold out at one point, she said.

The conference highlights opportunities for American small businesses to grow in China.

Fresh food and cosmetics are some of the U.S. exports that Alibaba is focusing on at the conference.

"Right here in Detroit there are young entrepreneurs dying to find a marketplace for their products," Stewart said. "If the Chinese marketplace is a viable place for them to sell, can you imagine how many jobs it would encourage?"

Meanwhile, Stewart has been trying to reach China's growing middle class for some time. She told The Guardian last year that Ma was encouraging her, saying Stewart's past experiences at Kmart in the U.S. could ultimately roll over and reach more shoppers in China.



Stewart began her stint in retail by launching a small catering company in the 1970s.

Kmart brought Stewart on as a consultant in 1987, and a decade later she launched the Martha Stewart Living Everyday line, which sold more than $1 billion worth of products at Kmart stores at its peak in 2002.

Stewart's "main message" in partnering with Alibaba today, she said, is to encourage other American manufacturers to do the same  to sell U.S.-made goods via Alibaba's platform. She said businesspeople need to pay attention to the "immense growth" going on in Chinese retailing.

Stewart's meal-kit business, Martha & Marley Spoon, is available on Alibaba's rival site, Amazon.com .

"I think Jeff Bezos, with ... Amazon buying Whole Foods, you are going to be seeing meal kits being sold through Whole Foods," she said. "This is a real opportunity."



In Detroit this week, Ma called out counterfeit goods as being the "cancer" of Alibaba, something the e-retailer, along with Amazon, has struggled with in the past.

As these two e-commerce players spread their wings into new territory, knock-off retailers continue to be one of their biggest obstacles to winning more shoppers and sellers online.
NASA and American multinational conglomerate Honeywell say they now know how to reduce sonic booms when flying a supersonic aircraft over land following the completion of a two-year study.

A ban on supersonic travel over U.S. soil has been in place since the Richard Nixon administration in the early 1970s, amid fears of disrupted sleep and broken windows. Sonic booms are loud sounds similar to that of an explosion that can be generated by supersonic flights.

But Bob Smith, president of Honeywell's Mechanical Systems, said Tuesday that while the problem of sonic booms over populated areas has been a problem since the early days of Concorde, it could be about to change.

"A sonic boom is effectively just a big pressure change. So if you can effectively smooth that pressure change out it becomes a weaker wave so it becomes a rumble instead of a bang," said Smith.

Smith said NASA has been working on aerodynamic techniques to achieve smoother pressure changes to minimize sonic booms. He explained that Honeywell's input is to take the NASA data and allow a pilot to visualize on screen what impact a sonic boom is having on the ground below the plane.

"So a pilot gets an understanding if they are getting into a region where the impingement of a sonic boom on a populated area was getting more critical or less critical," Smith added. "It gives them a visualization of what of that sonic boom footprint effectively is."
News / Local

by Tendai Guta

Government is highly committed to the success of the new education curriculum which was rolled out in January after a successful pilot project last year.The Government has recently secured funds towards the procurement of the new curriculum material, intends to build seventeen state of the art schools as well as feeding all primary school learners. These programmes, among others, will positively contribute to the success of the new curriculum.A week ago, Primary and Secondary Education Minister, Dr Lazarus Dokora revealed that Government had secured $9 million from development partners to purchase learning and teaching materials for primary and secondary schools under the new education curriculum. This Government commitment will bring hope to the classroom practitioners who were finding it difficult to implement the new curriculum due to shortage of resources.Although some critics have castigated the introduction of the new curriculum, accusing Minister Dokora of being over ambitious and overburdening the sector with unnecessary policies and that there were no resources, the availability of funds will go a long way to make work easier for teachers and learners and produce desired results.The much needed materials which include textbooks, sporting and agricultural equipment, among others will benefit Early Childhood Development A, Grades one and three as well as Forms One, Three and Five.The new curriculum which was rolled out in January after a successful pilot project in 2016 has a good package which is expected to produce a wholesome and fully baked learner. Such products of the new curriculum are envisaged to adapt easily to any prevailing socio-economic environment.The provision of learning materials will make the new curriculum achieve its mandate of ushering in a paradigm shift to the education system and effectively expose the learner to the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Heritage Studies as well as exposing learners to life and work learning contexts through the life skills orientation programs.A few weeks ago, Government announced its intention to build 17 world class primary and secondary schools countrywide to match internationally acclaimed education systems. This noble idea will assist in decongesting schools and improve teacher pupil ratio which has a bearing on the quality of education in the country.The move to build schools will improve teachers' working conditions in implementing the new curriculum as well as complementing Zim Asset's Infrastructure and Utilities Cluster. The country currently boasts of 8500 primary and secondary schools and the proposed new schools are part of Government's short term plan which will see the construction of more than 2000 world class schools across Zimbabwe.Feeding of all primary school pupils in the country by year end as announced by the Government some weeks ago, will also assist in the implementation of the new curriculum as the move improves nutrition as well as attendance. Most primary school learners in the rural areas suffer from malnutrition. Some of them sometimes do not go to school while others have since dropped out because of hunger.The feeding programme will definitely motivate them to come to school. This Government programme complements ZimAsset's food security and nutrition cluster which aims at improving availability of quality food and nutrition. Initially the programme only targeted 1.5 million early childhood learners and Grades 1 and 2 pupils, but now includes Grades 3 to 7.
A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said Warmbier's death was a tragedy and said China hopes that the U.S. and North Korea "can handle this issue properly."

"This goes beyond any kind of understanding of law and order, of humanity, of responsibility towards any human being," Mattis said in a joint press conference with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson .

Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old student, died on Monday, shortly after being returned from North Korea in an unconscious state. Last year, Warmbier confessed to trying to take a propaganda banner and had been subsequently sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor.

North Korea was at the top of the agenda when a Chinese delegation met its counterparts in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, in the wake of the death of an American who was detained in the isolated nation for more than a year.

Otto Warmbier (C), a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea from January 2016, is taken to court in the capital Pyongyang in this photo released March 16, 2016.

Pyongyang had claimed Warmbier contracted botulism and fell into a coma after being imprisoned, but doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center have said they found no traces of active botulism.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump called North Korea's treatment of Warmbier a "disgrace," saying Warmbier's death could have been avoided if he was brought home earlier.

The 22-year-old's death personally affected Trump, who expressed personal outrage and told aides about the "inhumanity" of North Korea's behavior, a person with direct knowledge told NBC News.

The president was moved in a similar way when he saw images of Syrian children after a chemical attack, the source told NBC. After the images surfaced, Trump called the chemical attack "an affront to humanity" and subsequently approved a missile strike on the Syrian airfield that had launched the chemical weapons.

In a Tuesday tweet, Trump said that while he "greatly" appreciated Chinese efforts to rein in North Korea, "it has not worked out."

@realDonaldTrump: 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 was not immediately clear if Trump's tweet indicated a policy shift toward either North Korea or China, a longtime ally of the isolated state and its largest trading partner.

An op-ed published by state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times pushed back on Trump's tweet, saying "The US always blames China for not doing enough when Washington is at a loss over the North Korean nuclear issue."

Anxieties about North Korea's nuclear capabilities have escalated amid recent missile tests.

The Global Times op-ed asserted that the U.S. has "absurd" expectations for Beijing to solve the issues on the Korean Peninsula and overestimates China's influence on Pyongyang.

"Sino-US exchanges on the issue must be based on reality and consider the interests of both sides," it said.

In an apparent attempt to smooth tensions, Mattis said that China and the U.S. have the same end goals in mind when it comes to North Korea. Last week, he told Congress that the U.S. is "exhausting all possible diplomatic efforts" to avoid what would be a "catastrophic war."

The retired four-star general said while the U.S. would prevail, it would be "a war more serious in terms of human suffering than anything we have seen since 1953."

When a reporter asked about the president's tweet in Wednesday's briefing, Mattis said that he believes Trump's view of North Korea represents that of the American people and their "frustration with a regime that provokes and provokes and provokes and basically plays outside the rules, plays fast and loose with the truth."

 NBC News and CNBC's Jacob Pramuk and Jeff Daniels contributed to this report.
You know that old adage, "There's no such thing as a free lunch"? For nearly 1 in 5 workers, there is  because they're stealing their co-workers' food. In a recent survey, 18 percent of workers told American Express OPEN they had eaten someone else's lunch out of the office fridge. The charge card issuer polled 1,061 employees during late May and early June.

Packing your lunch instead of dining out is a tried-and-true savings strategy, with good reason, said consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch. Smart shoppers stacking coupons and sales can easily purchase enough supplies to make a weeks' worth of sandwiches, for the price of one takeout sandwich meal. "Consumers definitely need to be packing their lunch to save money on takeout costs, which can be an extremely big part of your budget," she said. The average American spends $2,746 per year on lunches, according to a 2015 Visa survey. That includes two lunches out each week, at an average $11.14 per meal ($1,043 annually) and five packed lunches or meals at home, averaging $6.30 per meal ($1,704 annually). One-third of workers said they always brown-bag their lunch.

So a stolen lunch is a double financial drain. Not only are you losing that average $6.30 spent on groceries for homemade fare, but you're incurring another $11.14 to purchase a replacement takeout meal. An occasional missing lunch may not be a budget-buster, but more regular thefts add up. (AmEx didn't ask if those lunch-stealing workers are repeat offenders.) If an office thief takes your packed lunch once a month, those expenses tally to roughly $210 over the course of a year. Lunch theft happens more often than you might think. Alison Green, author of the Ask a Manager blog, says she receives "a startling number" of questions and complaints about such issues, including workers who have their sandwich stolen daily and people dealing with a lunch thief who happens to be their boss. "What people tend to try first, if this is an ongoing problem, is that they label their food," said Green  but that rarely works.

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U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wednesday, with investors keeping a close eye on moves in the oil market.

Dow futures slipped 14 points, while S&P and Nasdaq futures fell 5 points and 14.25 points, respectively.

Crude prices tumbled more than 2 percent, sending energy stocks lower on Tuesday on signs of rising oil production. That raised doubts about the state of compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC countries when it came to slashing production.

On Tuesday, Libya and Nigeria  who are both exempt from the production reduction deal  were reportedly seeing increases in their oil supplies.

Prices remained under pressure on Wednesday, with U.S. crude trading around $43.50, while Brent hovered around $45.98 at 7:43 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile politics is expected to be lurking at the back of investors' minds, as the U.S. president is expected to hold a "Make America Great Again" rally in Iowa.
Oil prices could be poised to fall below $40 a barrel before too long, according to an analyst at Energy Aspects, as the commodity appeared set to post its largest price slide in the first half of the year for the past two decades.

"This is like a falling knife right now, I genuinely haven't seen sentiment this bad ever," Amrita Sen, the co-founder and chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects, told CNBC on Wednesday.

"We have had clients emailing saying they have been trading this for 20 or 30 years and they have never seen something like this," she added.

Oil prices have tumbled more than 20 percent his year, marking its worst performance for the first six months of the year since 1997 and putting the commodity in bear market territory.

The ongoing decline in prices appears to have stemmed from investors discounting evidence of robust compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC producers with a deal to curtail a global supply overhang.

Prices took a fresh leg lower in the previous session  dipping 2 percent  as 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.



Sen argued that while she would not dare predict the level at which oil prices could stabilize, she refused to rule out the possibility that prices could slip below $40 a barrel in the short-term.

Brent crude traded $46.16 a barrel in early-afternoon deals on Wednesday, up 0.28 percent, while U.S. WTI crude was around $43.70 a barrel, up 0.44 percent.

 CNBC's Tom DiChristopher contributed to this report.
Crisis-hit commodity trader Noble Group has extended a major debt deadline, but analysts warn it may not be enough to restore confidence around the long term viability of the once-soaring firm.

At its peak in 2010, Noble was Asia's largest commodity trader with a market cap of more than $10 billion. Shares hit an all-time high of 17 Singapore dollars in 2011, but have since fallen to about 50 Singapore cents, as it struggles with the aggressive commodity price decline in recent years.

Noble has been forced to shuffle management, sell down assets and slash costs to boost liquidity. At the same time, its management has been navigating a series of credit downgrades, write-downs and accusations of improper accounting standards  all of which contributed to the dramatic collapse in its share price.

"We believe that the company is in dire need of a transformational transaction such as a strategic partner or sale of a significant portion of its assets to arrest the negative feedback loop," said Todd Schubert, head of fixed income research at Bank of Singapore.

On Tuesday, Noble Group said it had reached an agreement with lenders to extend its revolving credit facility by 120 days from 20 June, 2017.

"The Group continues to be in talks with potential investors concerning the sale of an interest in the Group or its subsidiaries or parts of its business," Noble Group said in a Tuesday statement.
Public opposition to the GOP-sponsored House bill to gut Obamacare is growing  even among Republicans.

That increasing unease with the American Health Care Act legislation could spell big trouble for Republican leaders in the Senate, as they prepare to push for passage of their own, still-secret health-care reform bill  which could look quite a bit like the House version.

A new Morning Consult/Politico poll found that half of American voters now say they oppose the AHCA. Back in April, just 37 percent of voters in the same poll opposed that bill.

That is the lowest level of support since the poll began tracking opinion on the legislation.

And while 16 percent of Republican voters opposed the bill in late April, about 30 percent of such voters now say they are against the bill, the Morning Consult/Politico survey found.

Just 35 percent of all voters now approve of the House bill, down from 42 percent at the end of April, according to that poll.

Another survey, also released Wednesday, found that majorities of voters oppose all the key provisions found in the House bill  even in congressional districts that voted strongly for Republicans in recent elections.

Overall, 67 percent of voters in that poll, conducted by the University of Maryland's Program for Public Consultation, oppose the House bill.

The poll asked voters their opinions on seven major parts of the AHCA. Those sections would significantly change, or completely eliminate, key provisions of the Affordable Care Act, as Obamacare is more formally known.

It is not known if all, some, or none of the provisions will be in the draft of the Senate bill to be released Thursday.

But it is expected that there will be at least elements of the provisions in that bill, which Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hopes to put to a vote next week.

One part of the AHCA would allow states to obtain waivers that could allow insurers to either not cover people with pre-existing health conditions, or to charge them higher premiums. More than 75 percent of voters oppose that provision, as do about 60 percent of Republican voters, according to the University of Maryland poll.

There was even stronger opposition to the provision in the House bill that would allow insurers to charge older customers of individual health plans much more than younger people than is now allowed by Obamacare.

Eighty percent of all voters oppose that provision, and in deep "red" districts dominated by the GOP, 80 percent of all Republican voters object to that proposed rule.

Majorities of voters in both Democratic and Republican districts questioned for the Maryland poll oppose the AHCA provision that would give states the power to allow insurers to offer health plans that do not include certain minimum health benefits, as well as the provisions that would tend to reduce Medicaid coverage.

Majorities also don't like the repeal of the requirement that large employers offer health coverage to workers or pay a fine, or a provision that would bar Medicaid benefits from being used at Planned Parenthood clinics.

The highest level of support among voters was for a provision of the AHCA that would repeal Obamacare's individual mandate, which requires most Americans to have some form of health coverage or pay a tax penalty. The House will replace that mandate with a financial penalty imposed on people who let their coverage lapse and then renew it.

But support for that provision came from just 44 percent of all voters, compared with 55 percent who oppose it. Even in deep red districts, the provision had only about 50 percent support from all voters.

President Donald Trump, during a meeting last week with Republican senators, reportedly said the House bill was "mean, mean, mean." And during a meeting early this week with tech company CEOs, Trump told them that the Senate bill needed to have more "heart."

In an interview Wednesday with CNBC's "Squawk Alley," Cigna CEO David Cordani was asked whether it matters to the insurer how much "heart" is in the Senate bill, despite the fact that Obamacare health plans represent just a small fraction of Cigna's business.

"It's clear the legislation needs to evolve," Cordani said. "And what we have been able to prove is that if you can engage individuals into health care, and, very importantly, connect with ... physicians and professionals and better-quality health care, then good things happen."
This undated U.S. Air Force handout image shows a RC-135 Reconnaissance plane used to gather 'imagery intelligence (IMINT), telemetry intelligence (TELINT), and signals intelligence (SIGINT).'

A Russian fighter jet flew within five feet of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane in an "unsafe" manner over the Baltic Sea, U.S. officials have said.

The near miss occurred over international waters on Monday morning, approximately 25 miles northwest of Kaliningrad  a Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania.

"Russia is certainly within its right to exercise within international airspace, but we want them to respect international standards for safety to prevent accidents," U.S. Navy spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis told reporters on Tuesday.

"The vast majority of interactions we have, intercepts that occur when we fly and that are intercepted by the Russians are safe. This is an exception, not the norm, but we were again operating in international airspace and did nothing to provoke," Davis added.

However, Russia disputes the claims, saying the U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft made a "provocative" move towards their Su-27 fighter jet as it intercepted two U.S. planes "flying towards the Russian state border."

"When being escorted, the RC-135 plane made an attempt at approaching the Russian fighter jet making a provocative turn towards it," the TASS state news agency quoted Russia's defense ministry as saying on Tuesday.

There have been over 30 interactions between Russian and U.S. aircrafts and ships close to the Baltic Sea since the beginning of the month, CNN reported.
President Elect Donald Trump, center, walks through the halls of th U.S. Capitol for a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Nov. 10, 2016.

On Friday, my colleagues at Vox, Tara Golshan, Dylan Scott, and Jeff Stein published a remarkable piece collecting interviews with eight congressional Republicans about their health care bill. They asked the simplest question possible: What problems do you think this bill will solve, and how do you think it will solve them? Not a single Republican has a clear answer. The exchange with Sen. John McCain is particularly bizarre:

Tara Golshan Generally, what are the big problems this bill is trying to solve? John McCain Almost all of them. They're trying to get to 51 votes. Tara Golshan Policy-wise. What are the problems [in the American health care system] this is trying to solve  and is the bill doing that right now? John McCain Well, it's whether you have full repeal, whether you have partial repeal, whether you have the basis of it. It's spread all over. Tara Golshan But based on the specifics of the bill you have heard so far, is it solving the problems [in the health care system]? John McCain What I hear is that we have not reached consensus. That's what everybody knows.

More from Vox:

The summer solstice is upon us: 7 things to know about the longest day of the year

Why a conservative health care wonk thinks the AHCA is indefensible

Lyft spent years preparing for Uber's cultural crisis

But McCain's reply, while incoherent, isn't as offensive as Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price's straight lie that Americans will "absolutely not" lose Medicaid coverage under the House bill.

It's worth asking why Republicans are lying about this, why they can't give a clear explanation as to what their bill does, why they're jamming the legislation through a secretive, rushed process that even their own members are criticizing. Because there is a reason. And it is damning.

In 2009, Democrats had an easy answer to what the Affordable Care Act was meant to do: They wanted to cover more people and cut costs. They could give that answer because it was a basically popular position, and because it's what their bill actually did, or at least tried to do.

In 2017, Republicans have a similarly easy answer for their bill: They want to cover fewer people and use the savings to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. That is what their legislation does. But they can't give that answer because it's a horribly unpopular position.

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That is why they are trying to write a bill in secret and pass it before the public has a chance to mobilize against it. That's why, when asked to describe the bill's provisions, Republicans offer baldfaced lies or word salad.
The conservative leanings of small-business owners is not surprising  it is a demographic that skews to the right. Each year, the National Small Business Association publishes a Politics of Small Business report. The most recent results from 2016 found that 50 percent of small-business owners are registered as Republicans, 21 percent as Democrats and 19 percent as Independents or unaffiliated. But as Republicans have struggled to gain broad support for a health-care overhaul, fewer small-business owners are looking at the issue in partisan terms, said John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of the advocacy group Small Business Majority. "They're looking at it in terms of how it impacts their lives."

Main Street speaks out

The most recent survey by BizBuySell, released June 2 with 344 respondents, found that only 45 percent of small-business owners support the GOP-sponsored American Health Care Act. Forty-eight percent, meanwhile, answered that they find the GOP legislation hard to understand. The reality is that the ACA has helped many small businesses afford the costs of employee health-care coverage. Kris Kleindienst, longtime owner of St. Louis, Missouri-based Left Bank Books, said the business has always offered full coverage to its 12 full-time employees  which includes herself and her husband  even though costs posed a considerable financial burden. Kleindienst said staff is the "greatest asset" her business has, and as a result, she could never have imagined not providing it. But she said in the years leading up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act that commitment was "sorely tested." "Deductibles were so high that most of us avoided seeking regular preventive care, let alone treatment," Kleindienst said. "The fact is, we did not think we could afford health insurance, but we tried to keep at least the catastrophic coverage. Our wages, including owners', were low. We sweated everything and put off repairs and expansion plans because we couldn't afford them." When the ACA passed, Kleindienst and her husband, co-owner of the bookstore, were able to purchase a much better policy for the same price. Health insurance is still their single-highest overhead expense, at $80,000 a year. But if Congress repeals and replaces the ACA, Kleindienst said she doubts they will be able to afford even the most basic coverage, a fact that could "imperil our ability to stay in business." "The ACA is not responsible for rising health-care costs. Congress' refusal to regulate the industry is at fault," she said.

Small-business owners who are now dependent upon the marketplaces for coverage are scared to death that it might go away. John Arensmeyer founder and CEO of the advocacy group Small Business Majority
News / National

by Staff reporter

President Robert Mugabe's planned visit to the volatile Masvingo province next week has re-ignited another war between two Zanu PF factions locked in a fierce tussle over his succession with the fresh fight now focused on who will be recognized as the provincial chairperson during the nonagerian's rally at Mucheke Stadium.This comes as the politburo is yet to officially determine who leads the province following a complaint raised by Mutero Masanganise, who was soundly beaten by Ezra Chadzamira in the poll rerun held at the beginning of May.The Zanu-PF provincial leadership here is mobilising 50 000 people for the Presidential Youth Interface rally scheduled for June 30.President Mugabe is visiting all the provinces to interact with youths and has since visited Mashonaland East and Manicaland, where bumper crowds have attended.The Masvingo meeting will be held at an open space outside Mucheke Stadium.Chadzamira said the ruling party should show President Mugabe that Masvingo was a Zanu-PF stronghold by coming in their numbers.Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Senator Shuvai Mahofa said: "We must make sure that the majority of people who will attend President Mugabe's Youth Interface rally next week are youths because there will be no point for youths to be under-represented at the meeting, yet they are the targeted audience."We must give our youths a chance to meet the President because they do not usually get that opportunity."More to follow...
Saudi Arabia's newly named Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is unlikely to make changes to oil production policy, but his more aggressive foreign policy stance could at some point put a political risk premium back in the price of oil, according to RBC's Helima Croft.

King Salman Wednesday named his 31-year-old son to be his successor, replacing his nephew Mohammed bin Nayef, who was stripped of all his posts. Bin Salman has catapulted to power, taking a high-profile role in managing the kingdom and its program to transform the economy, while bin Nayef increasingly fell into a diminished role.

Bin Salman's visit to the U.S. earlier this year paved the way for President Donald Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia, portrayed by the kingdom as an endorsement of its leadership role in the region.

"The rise of MBS will also likely mean even more hawkish foreign policy moves from Saudi Arabia and more intensified efforts to confront Iran," wrote Croft, global head of commodities strategy at RBC. She noted that the prince, known as MBS, launched what has turned out to be a costly war in Yemen and headed up the surprise blockade of Qatar.

"We contend the region could witness more near-term volatility and heightened risk of military confrontation. The political risk premium may therefore be set to stage a comeback," Croft wrote.

In a speech in Riyadh last month, Trump called on Muslim leaders to drive out terrorists, but he also had strong words for Iran. He blamed Iranian leaders for training terrorists and "spreading destruction and chaos across the region." Trump, who is critical of the nuclear deal with Iran, called on all nations to "work together to isolate" Tehran until the regime is "willing to be a partner for peace."

"The key question is what comes next in this quest to counter Iranian influence? Is the Qatar blockade simply the opening act in a broader anti-Iranian offensive? Having President Trump in the White House probably means that MBS will encounter minimal push-back from Washington and a far freer hand to police his neighborhood," Croft wrote.

Al-Jazeera, in its coverage of the shakeup, said Bin Salman had previously said on Saudi TV that it is Iran's goal to "control the Islamic world" and spread Shia doctrine. The Saudi royal family are Sunni Muslim, and according to the Jerusalem Post, bin Salman also commented that the struggle for influence between the Sunni Muslim kingdom and the revolutionary Shi'ite theocracy ought to take place "inside Iran, not in Saudi Arabia."

Bin Salman was also reported as saying he would take "the battle" to Iran, which is on the opposite side in Yemen and Syria.

Iran on Wednesday called the promotion of the prince a "soft coup."

Bin Salman is also spearheading Vision 2030, a plan to diversify the economy away from its dependence on oil, and there could be new momentum with the change in leadership, she noted. A center piece of the plan is the public offering of state-owned Saudi Aramco, expected next year.

"This is a big generational shift in Saudi Arabia. I used to talk about 70 being young for a Crown Prince in Saudi Arabia. To have 31-year old Crown Prince is a decisive break with past practice," Croft said on CNBC Wednesday. "To move aside Mohammed bin Nayef, the counter terrorism czar, the figure of the establishment, this is ground breaking for Saudi Arabia. The question is can Mohammed bin Salman deliver on his big reform plans?"

Oil prices were slightly higher Wednesday, after tumbling Tuesday on supply concerns. The steep drop in crude has put oil back in a bear market, after it reached a high in the mid $50s per barrel early in the year. Saudi Arabia is a key driver of an OPEC deal with non OPEC producers, like Russia, to curb production in an effort to end a supply glut and drive prices higher.
Billionaire Alibaba founder Jack Ma spoke with CNBC from the sidelines of the Gateway '17 conference in Detroit and discussed small businesses and their great potential for growth.

The world's biggest public companies  like Apple, Alphabet and Amazon  have become so dominant that some critics have said they border on monopolies.

But Ma said the power of giant companies is on the decline as more small businesses get exposure with the internet, and have the opportunity to reap the benefits of globalization.

"Large scale was the model," Ma said. "Personalized, custom-made is the future."

Ma has traveled extensively to convince world leaders that small businesses should be the driver of globalization.

In a meeting with then President-elect Donald Trump in January, Ma said Alibaba plans to help create 1 million American jobs over the next five years, mostly by facilitating sales from small businesses.

"The way to figure out the job creation, one of the best ways, is to help small business to sell their local products across the board," Ma said. "And we have to prepare now. Because the next 30 years is going to be painful."

Ma cited China's 300 million middle-class consumers who desire American-made products as the drivers behind this massive job creation.

"The domestic demand and power of China is gonna drive millions and millions of small businesses," Ma said.

Alibaba already has 20,000 small businesses from California alone selling their products through the site, reaching China's massive middle class, and he plans to support many more U.S. small businesses in the future.
Cybereason, a Boston-based cybersecurity firm specializing in end-point detection and response to digital security breaches, on Wednesday announced it secured a $100 million funding from Japanese telecommunications firm SoftBank Corp  a subsidiary of SoftBank Group.

The start-up has raised a total of $189 million in funding to-date, and its backers also include Charles River Ventures, Lockheed Martin and Spark Capital. It declined to disclose valuation.

"This infusion of capital means that Cybereason can add to our technology and growth even faster," Lior Div, co-founder and chief executive officer at Cybereason, told CNBC.

Div founded the company in 2012 with Yossi Naar and Yonatan Striem-Amit, he said.

"The new capital enables (us) to expand our products, hire additional talented people and increase the size of our offices in Boston, Tel Aviv, London and Tokyo  and throughout the broader EMEA and APAC regions," he said.

To be clear, the investment from SoftBank Corp is not part of SoftBank Group's massive Vision Fund, which had its first close in May with over $93 billion of capital committed, and it is targeting a total of $100 billion within the next six months.

Cyberattacks on companies have increased in frequency, forcing businesses to think, and invest, in more advanced means of protection against intruders. Last month, a ransomware attack hit 200,000 computers around the world.

Div said ransomware is one of the biggest threats facing companies today. "The problem the industry faces is that the technology is often not keeping up."

Cybereason's technology does behavioral analytics on every single digital action and interaction happening within a company's network. It processes information in real-time to provide visibility into the security landscape within the network and pulls together related elements of a cyberattack. This way IT specialists in companies can detect and proactively respond against threats.

"(Our) focus on behavioral data means that we look beyond just the ones and zeros of what the data is  we constantly correlate data to understand what the attacker is doing, and their motives," said Div. "We know how to spot potential attacker activities and we can accurately distinguish between good and bad behavior."

Industry stakeholders told CNBC that attacks like these can be costly for businesses on several fronts: the number of hours spent by their IT departments to fix the problem, productivity loss from employees affected, reputation damage and the loss of sensitive data. In some cases, it can be dangerous  for example, the attack affected the National Health Services in the U.K., where patients had to be shuffled around.

The consensus among security experts is that the number of attacks are going to increase in frequency due to the proliferation of connected devices and the so-called Internet of Things.
But Susan Fowler was not the first woman to sound the alarm about foul play at Uber.

Engineer Tess Rinearson wrote a viral blog post in 2016, titled "Dear Uber Recruiter," noting that "Uber's track record on women scares me."

But Tess Rinearson was not the first woman to write about Uber's misconduct.

Sarah Lacy, founder of technology blog Pando Daily and long-time journalist, said in 2014 she had revamped her home security, fearful that Emil Michael, then a top Uber executive, was spying on her after Michael told reporters that he could hire opposition researchers to dig up dirt on them. Lacy had previously written a fierce critique of Uber for a sexist ad campaign in France.

The backlash was fierce. "Masculinity" blog Return of Kings accused her of running an "anti-male" smear campaign.

But Sarah Lacy was not the first woman to talk about Uber's questionable policies.

Uber has always treated its drivers as independent contractors, and has resisted calls for more stringent background checks  for instance, the company (as well as rival Lyft) withdrew service from Austin, Texas, after voters in that city passed a resolution calling for fingerprint checks of Uber drivers. Meanwhile, women across the world accused Uber drivers of raping or sexually assaulting them as early as 2014.

Yet after all this, it was Fowler's blog post that dealt the deadly blow to Kalanick's reign.

The post was special in many ways. A quick glance at her Twitter feed reveals Fowler is well-regarded and is deeply and broadly accomplished. She has intricate, considered opinions on topics ranging from coding to physics to philosophy. Her blog post is personal and level-headed  instead of hurling superlatives at readers, Fowler lays out a simple, well-written chronology that reads as credible.

She described how her manager's chat messages said he "was trying to stay out of trouble at work .... but he couldn't help getting in trouble, because he was looking for women to have sex with." But upper management said he "was a high performer."

She wrote how when men received leather jackets on Uber's dime, "no leather jackets were being ordered for the women because there were not enough women in the organization to justify placing an order."

She described a meeting with her manager where he said she was on "very thin ice for reporting his manager to HR."

"California is an at-will employment state, he said, which means we can fire you if you ever do this again," he said, according to Fowler.

And after that, report after report surfaced describing Uber employees doing drugs, going to escort bars, avoiding regulators, and hiring engineers who may have stolen intellectual property. Over 20 people were dismissed from Uber, although details about the investigation into Fowler's post were never revealed publicly.

But importantly, Fowler's blog post came amid a widening deficit of trust in Silicon Valley.

Amid grumbling about "coastal elites" in middle America, Snapchat reportedly has an exclusive secret floor in its New York office with lavish decorations selected by CEO Evan Spiegel  and pictures aren't allowed. Tesla workers are reportedly passing out on factory floors. Technology companies store hundreds of billions of dollars overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes that execs such as Apple CEO Tim Cook call "crazy"  a perfectly legal move, but one that doesn't necessarily inspire trust among tax-paying citizens who can't take advantage of rules to lower their tax rate.

As more tech insiders speak out about the culture of the Valley, things are changing  not just for women, but for people of color and people of different social classes who are affected by the goings on in Redmond, Menlo Park, Mountain View and Cupertino.

The internet has amplified the voices of individuals in technology. In addition to Sarah Lacy, female journalists like Recode's Kara Swisher and Johana Bhuiyan, Business Insider's Julie Bort, and many others have helped drive these narratives forward. Activists like Ellen Pao of Uber-investor Kapor Capital put muscle behind this coverage.

Still, the woman who started it all has not gotten her due  Fowler said she has not received an apology from Uber. She recently wrote that confidentiality agreements and forced arbitration still enable bad behavior at many technology companies. Women and people of color are still by far minorities in most big technology firms.

Kalanick, who still owns a huge chunk of Uber stock and will remain on the board, may face waning influence.

But the true effect of Fowler's post is just beginning, as is the work left to be done by technology watchers. Because there are many more whistleblowers like Susan Fowler whose stories have fallen on deaf ears. And perhaps, more CEOs due to be toppled.
News / National

by Staff reporter

UNDER-FIRE Zanu-PF political commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere has threatened a gloves off affair, as he takes his antagonists head-on in today's politburo meeting, which is set to decide on his fate following accusations he had formed parallel structures to topple President Robert Mugabe.Kasukuwere was left hanging by a thread last week after his issue was tabled before the politburo, but later deferred to today.In a video recorded in Mashonaland Central, Kasukuwere, at what appeared to be a funeral, declared he was ready for a fight against his adversaries, whom he accused of working to topple Mugabe."He is our President and no one will waylay him. We are there to defend our President and don't listen to the nonsense about the chaos in Mashonaland Central," he said."We know who was behind all those nefarious resolutions. We will be going back to the politburo on Wednesday (today) and we will be telling them."Speaking figuratively, Kasukuwere said he did not fear taking his accusers head-on.The Local Government minister said he was aware of a plot to remove Mugabe from power, which is similar to the one that caused the firing of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru from the party."I decided to say this because you might be confused, the issue is so small," he said."There are those who think they have been delayed (in succeeding Mugabe), but this is what caused us to fire Mujuru. We will not hesitate to fire you if you think you have been delayed."In a thinly veiled attack, widely seen as targeting Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has been touted as a front runner to take over from Mugabe, Kasukuwere said he was ready to expose those who have been nicodemusly approaching him for support."The problem of Mashonaland Central is that we refused factionalism," he charged."We refused to be co-opted into a scheme to remove the President. We refused and we have evidence to that effect."We will be presenting it before the leadership and say on this day, you approached me and said this, but I refused; on that particular day, you came to our province with helicopters with so and so and went to Chiweshe for a meeting."We see it. We can smell it and we can sense it."Mnangagwa and army commanders normally use helicopters when traveling within the country.The Kasukuwere probe report, done by a team led by Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, recommended that the secret service investigates whether Kasukuwere was guilty of treason charges.In another video in which Kasukuwere was addressing a private meeting of close associates, the Local Government minister said Mugabe had not rested since 2013."He has not been given a chance to deliver on behalf of the country, because everyone close to him thinks it's their time," he said."Instead of allowing him time to deliver, they say no 'it's my time to take over'."Mugabe has not been given a chance to attend to road construction, construction of dams, hospitals.
One of President Donald Trump's stated goals during the presidential campaign was to bring the US and Russia closer together. Based on the events of the past few days, the two nations seem further apart than ever  and potentially at real risk of coming to blows.

Take the events of the past 72 hours alone. Yesterday over the Baltic Sea, a Russian fighter jet flying too fast and erratically came very close to a US plane, perhaps to within 5 feet.

This past Sunday, the US shot down a Syrian warplane, the first time America had done that during Syria's civil war. That angered the Russians  allies of the Syrian government  to the point that its Ministry of Defense threatened to target US or allied aircraft flying over Syria west of the Euphrates River. The US ignored Moscow's harsh words and shot down a Syrian drone Tuesday, something certain not to go unnoticed in the Kremlin.

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Taken together, the incidents highlight the deteriorating relationship between the United States and Russia, the world's top two nuclear powers. And it's not looking like they're going to become friends anytime soon, especially in Syria.

There, both countries have a contact channel open to ensure they don't get into a military altercation. But Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesperson, today seemed to indicate that the communications channel is not working like it did before last Sunday's skirmish in Syria.

"We prefer to keep this channel of communication open," Davis told reporters today. "We still maintain our end of it. I'll leave it to the Russians to state what they're doing."

That bodes poorly for the Trump administration as it tries to keep the already tense situation in the active war zone from getting worse. In effect, the risk of a military skirmish between the two countries is growing  and fast.
The approval ratings of chief executives at major companies around the world have been released today by a job recruitment website Glassdoor.

The site has released its Employees' Choice Awards for 2017. These include lists of the most highly rated CEOs in the U.S., UK, Canada, France and Germany. These ratings are based on anonymous reviews and opinions left on

the website by employees at each company. As part of the review, the employees can rate their CEO by choosing from one of three options: approve, disapprove or no opinion of the CEO.

"CEOs tell us the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award is one of the highest honours they can receive because it truly reflects employee opinion about the job they do every day. I congratulate all of the winners on this significant honour," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO, in a press release.

"We know that CEO approval ratings correlate to overall employee satisfaction and trust in senior leadership, which contributes to long-term employee engagement, ultimately helping an employer's recruiting and retention efforts."

To be considered for the award, the companies must have at least 1,000 employees. They also need several approved company reviews on the website; the number varies from at least 20 reviews for French and German companies, to at least 100 for large U.S. companies.

The full lists of all the CEOs is available here and click here to read more about the top 25 U.S. CEOs. Below is the top CEOs from each region.
Theranos is telling its investors that the company finally reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit by Walgreens Boots Alliance , people familiar with the matter have told The Wall Street Journal. The suit argued that the struggling laboratory start-up had breached the companies' contract.

The Journal reported Wednesday morning that the feud between drugstore chain Walgreens and health tech company Theranos is nearing an end.

Walgreens had, at one point, hosted about 40 Theranos blood-testing centers.

In the suit, Walgreens was seeking to recover the $140 million that the retailer says it put into its partnership with Theranos, including a $40 million convertible-debt note and a separate payment as part of an effort to grow that relationship, the Journal said.

The tentative agreement, as reported by the Journal Wednesday, calls for Theranos to pay Walgreens less than $30 million, people familiar with the matter told the publication. The pact hadn't been completed as of late Tuesday and terms could change, the people also said.

Representatives from Theranos and Walgreens didn't immediately respond to requests from CNBC for comment.

Theranos has come out and said the suits against it were without merit. Meanwhile, Theranos still faces a civil investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a criminal investigation by the Justice Department, according to court filings.

Regulators found problems in early 2016 with Theranos' lab practices, which the regulators said put patients in danger.

Walgreens' relationship with Theranos dates back to 2010. After The Journal first raised questions about Theranos' technology in Oct. 2015, Walgreens said it would end expansion of the partnership.

Earlier this year, Theranos said it settled lawsuits with one of its biggest backers.

The start-up said it reached a confidential settlement with hedge fund Partner Fund Management, which invested more than $96 million in Theranos in 2014.

Partner Fund Management had accused Theranos of securities fraud, alleging that the company had attracted the investment '[t]hrough a series of lies, material misstatements and omissions."

Read the full story from The Wall Street Journal.
President Donald Trump (L) and China's President Xi Jinping walk along the front patio of the Mar-a-Lago estate after a bilateral meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, April 7, 2017.

Chinese efforts to persuade North Korea to rein in its nuclear program have failed, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, ratcheting up the rhetoric over the death of an American student who had been detained by Pyongyang.

Trump has held high hopes for greater cooperation from China to exert influence over North Korea, leaning heavily on Chinese President Xi Jinping for his assistance. The two leaders had a high-profile summit in Florida in April and Trump has frequently praised Xi while resisting criticizing Chinese trade practices.

"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 wrote on Twitter.

@realDonaldTrump 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 was unclear whether his remark represented a significant shift in his thinking in the U.S. struggle to stop North Korea's nuclear program and its test launching of missiles or a change in U.S. policy toward China.

"I think the president is signaling some frustration," Christopher Hill, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, told MSNBC. "He's signaling to others that he understands this isn't working, and he's trying to defend himself, or justify himself, by saying that at least they tried as opposed to others who didn't even try."

China's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that China had made "unremitting efforts" to resolve tensions on the Korean peninsula, and that it had "always played and important and constructive role".

"China's efforts to resolve the peninsula nuclear issue is not due to any external pressure, but because China is a member of the region and a responsible member of the international community, and because resolving the peninsula nuclear issue is in China's interests," ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing.

On Tuesday, a U.S. official, who did not want to be identified, said U.S. spy satellites had detected movements recently at North Korea's nuclear test site near a tunnel entrance, but it was unclear if these were preparations for a new nuclear test  perhaps to coincide with high-level talks between the United States and China in Washington on Wednesday.

"North Korea remains prepared to conduct a sixth nuclear test at any time when there is an order from leadership but there are no new unusual indications that can be shared," a South Korean Defense Ministry official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Seoul was in close consultation with Washington over the matter, the official added.

North Korea last tested a nuclear bomb in September, but it has conducted repeated missile test since and vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland, putting it at the forefront of Trump's security worries.
President Donald Trump's state visit to Britain appears to have been postponed, as the announcement was omitted from the Queen's Speech on Wednesday.

In a speech written by the right-wing Conservative government, Queen Elizabeth II delivered the government's legislative program for the next two years.

However, while King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain were set to be welcomed to the U.K. in July, there was no mention of Trump. Typically, the State Opening of Parliament includes scheduled state visits.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Theresa May said the reason Trump's planned visit had not been detailed in the government's plans was that no date had yet been fixed.



Earlier this month, Trump reportedly called May and said he would not wish to go ahead with the trip if it was likely to spark widespread protests and demonstrations.

May had extended an invitation to her American counterpart in the week following Trump's inauguration in January  during a visit to the White House.

Shortly after the invitation was accepted, thousands of people opposed to Trump's planned trip to Britain protested outside Downing Street while almost 2 million people signed a petition urging May to rescind the invitation.
Uber board member and investor Bill Gurley said Travis Kalanick, the chief executive of the ride-hailing service who , would have a "lasting impact on the world", giving praise to the entrepreneur who has courted controversy.

According to the , five of Uber's major investors demanded Kalanick resign immediately.

"Travis has always put Uber first. This is a bold decision and a sign of his devotion and love for Uber. By stepping away, he's taking the time to heal from his personal tragedy while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber's history. We look forward to continuing to serve with him on the board," according to a statement from the Uber board sent to CNBC.

One of the investors who pushed Kalanick to resign was venture capital firm Benchmark, where Gurley is a partner.

But the investor came out late Tuesday to talk up Kalanick's impact on the world with Uber, saying that "many pages in the history books" will be devoted to the entrepreneur.

TWEET

Benchmark was an early investor in Uber. In February 2011, it poured $11 million into the company at a $60 million valuation, according to Crunchbase data.

Before the announcement of Kalanick's resignation, other investors had also signaled their support for the departing CEO.
Uber's public relations crises and management shakeups are affecting how the public looks at the service.

"There's a negative perception  there's no other way to look at this," said Frank Zaccanelli, CEO of investment and development company Fiamma Partners. "The average consumer is concerned that there's too much turmoil going on in the company and might have reservations about using the company's services."

Getting rid of key leaders may be the first step in getting the company back on track, Zaccanelli said. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigned from Uber on Tuesday after pressure from five of Uber's major investors, according to The New York Times. His ouster follows a wave of executives leaving, including Uber SVP of engineering Amit Singhal, who was reportedly the subject of a sexual harassment investigation at previous employer Google, and Uber board member David Bonderman, who made a sexist crack at a company meeting.

"Ultimately what they need to do is put a management team in place that will run the company and provide a complete service that consumers are looking for," Zaccanelli said. "I think there will be a wait-and-see attitude from people in the marketplace to see how Uber addresses it and how the situation works itself out."

Zaccanelli compared the company's crisis to Target , which was able to overcome a massive credit card security breach in 2014. CEO Gregg Steinhafel was forced to resign as a result. To re-establish its image, the company hired cybersecurity experts, created positions such as a chief information security officer, and rolled out more secure payment systems in its stores.



He also compared Kalanick's position to Steve Jobs, who was co-founder and the face of Apple . Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985 amid complaints that he was too hard on employees. Jobs rejoined as interim CEO in 1997 and led the company through its resurgence to become the most valuable company in the world.

To improve public perception, Uber needs to make "drastic changes" to its company culture, said branding agency Base Design partner Geoff Cook. That starts with proving to its employees that it is willing to reverse the sexual harassment and discrimination in the company.

"Its employees are its front-line ambassadors," Cook said.

There's hope Uber can bounce back. According to a Bond Brand Loyalty survey of 28,000 North Americans, which was conducted in January and February during the beginning of Uber's issues, 55 percent of customers were very satisfied with the service, and 60 percent said they'd recommend it to a friend. More importantly, 67 percent enjoyed the service and 79 percent said it was very easy to use.

That means people would have to give up something that made their lives easier if they decided to turn their back on the service, said Kyle Davies, director of research for Bond. Winning them back with some culture changes might be an easier task than expected.

"If you were a customer who decided to leave Uber because of what you've read, you'd also be likely to make your life harder," Davies said.

At the same time, it could be an opportunity for competitors such as Lyft to continue grabbing Uber's market share.

"I would be going at them pretty aggressively," Zaccanelli said. "It is a company that is obviously in a major shakeup and in a major amount of turmoil."
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth II prepare to leave the Houses of Parliament after the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster on May 18, 2016 in London, England. Richard Pohle - WPA Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to work with "humility and resolve" as the right-wing Conservative leader prepares to outline her government's legislative program on Wednesday. In an occasion stripped back of its usual pageantry, the Queen's Speech will set out the government's proposed legislation and policies for the next session of parliament  which will cover a two-year period rather than one. Brexit is expected to dominate the speech while some of May's manifesto pledges are predicted to have been scaled back after an inconclusive General Election earlier this month. The ruling Conservative party is still working to agree terms with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in order for May to govern as a minority government. The speech is written by the government but will be delivered by Queen Elizabeth II at the State Opening of Parliament at around 11.30 a.m. London time on Wednesday. Members of Parliament will debate the contents of the speech in the afternoon.

DUP deal 'can't be taken for granted'

Prime Minister Theresa May attends the London Conference on Somalia at Lancaster House on May 11, 2017 in London, England. Jack Hill - WPA Pool | Getty Images

While formal Brexit negotiations kicked off on Monday, the government is expected to reveal the laws needed to leave the EU  regardless of the final deal with the bloc. Central to this program is the so-called Great Repeal Bill  which would repeal the 1972 European Communities Act and effectively end the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. The bill would also copy existing EU laws in to the U.K.'s statute book, with lawmakers set to debate which bits they wish to keep. For the first time in decades, Britain's prime minister is set to go into the event unsure over whether she will be able to garner enough support to avoid defeat on the program.



Nearly two weeks on from the General Election, the U.K.'s largest party has not been able to secure a confidence and supply deal with the DUP. Senior sources from the Northern Irish party told The Guardian that negotiations, "haven't proceeded the way we would have expected" and a deal "can't be taken for granted."

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Opinion / Columnist

THE blow of a horn disrupts the quietness of the small township of Ngundu in Masvingo Province, rumbling across the fast gathering dusk.Dressed in tight-fitting body revealing clothes, women, mostly teenagers who have been milling around an open market space for almost three hours start screaming in excitement as they race towards the entrance of a truck port.As the truck comes into sight one teenager shouts out the name of her friend. The friend, it later emerges, is the partner of the driver.More and more trucks descend on the area and in no time the small dusty parking bay is congested. An air of excitement suddenly fills the atmosphere.Ngundu Business Centre, about 110km south of Masvingo along the busy Beitbridge-Chirundu highway is usually quiet and passive during the day, but curtly turns into an ugly and infamous place for high levels of teenage prostitution at the approach of dusk.Girls, some as young as 13 years have descended on the area and virtually turned it into a red-light district.In fact, the area has been turned into a paedophile's paradise where older men, especially truck drivers prey on vulnerable teenage girls to quench their insatiable sexual appetite.A Chronicle news crew went out to investigate the after-hours activities of truckers and unearthed startling revelations of how these long distance drivers exploit school children and teenage sex workers.It took less effort to get Maggie (not her real name), who was impatiently awaiting the arrival of her regular client to blurt out the complexities associated with highway prostitution."It's a long story. I came here so that I could make a living from these drivers, but sadly some of these men exploit young girls like us," she says coyly.Maggie dropped out of school last year at the age of 13 while she was doing Form One."I dropped out of school after I completed Grade Seven and prostitution has become a way of life for me," she said as she up-ended a brown Castle Lager bottle with its frothy golden liquid gushing down her throat."In fact, it all started when my peers lured me into prostitution as a part time job to raise extra money for lunch and books and before I knew it I was pregnant," she said.Maggie, who is now 14, was impregnated by a truck driver who had promised to marry her after school."He promised to marry me after school and at first I insisted on protected sex until one night he lured me into drinking beer and we ended up having unprotected sex," she said.The truck driver disappeared after impregnating the girl and never communicated with her again."In fact, all his phones are no longer available. I suspect he changed numbers because of my pregnancy. I'm now forced to continue in this business to fend for my baby who is six months old now," said MaggieUnderlying all these assertions, it became apparent that there was a deep sense of guilt in her voice.A few metres away from the truck port is a nightclub. Some young girls are dancing to the blurring rhumba music.Nomsa (not her real name) looks remarkably similar to the other girls she is with; with pouting lips and mournful eyes in ridiculous fashion.She has slender legs and plaited hair. There is a look of sullen boredom in her eyes as she fidgets with the edges of her tight black mini-skirt.An old man with a balding head walks into the nightclub scratching his nose and looking at them like goats at an auction.He paces up and down in front of the young girls before he stops in front of Nomsa. Minutes later, the two leave the nightclub before Nomsa steers the old man into a nearby dingy brothel.Nomsa emerges about 20 minutes later."That was my first catch for the day and he offered me $1 for a short stint," she said.Sadly, the remuneration is poor and the work is mind numbing, risky and exhausting. For spending the night with one man, she gets a paltry $5.Nomsa says she is forced to have sex with five or six men per night to raise enough money for rent, food and clothes."On nights like this one, with so many men, I'm just too tired to carry on. So I have a shot of mbanje and it gives me a boost," she said.Why do these girls carry on?One reason is that their families are mostly poor. They are forced into prostitution as the best way to support their families back home.The problem of teenage prostitution is a problem of international proportions.The Chronicle also established that pupils in schools along the busy highway have also been caught up in the risky but booming sex trade, which has taken the area by storm.A teacher who declined to be named said some children walking long distances to school are offered lifts by these cunning truckers in return for sex. Some of these school girls rent rooms in the township and other surrounding homes."They have all the freedom to engage in casual sex with truckers for extra money. Sadly, some have dropped out of school after falling pregnant. We have on many occasions seen these children in school uniform disembarking from trucks in the early hours of the morning," said the teacher.The Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children programme manager Mr Maxim Murungweni whose organisation carried out a study between 2015 and 2016, said long distance truck drivers plying routes along the Beitbridge-Chirundu highway are fuelling child prostitution by targeting school children and teenage sex workers."The 16 to 18-year-olds are recent school leavers. In a few years, they'll be the productive ages. Just imagine if they were your children. They're not in this trade because they're willing. The family system is facing challenges due to high divorce rates and this affects children. It's shocking. They pay for sex with an empty bottle of Coke in Beitbridge and Ngundu. We might be happy that HIV infection rates are decreasing, but in the hotpots, the rates are actually increasing," he said.About 2,2 percent of the victims were under the age of 15 years when the study was carried out between 2015 and 2016. It polled about 300 girls, who chronicled tales of horrific gender-based violence in the commercial sex hotspots.Mr Murungweni said at least 23 percent had taken refuge in commercial sex after being orphaned, while the rest were influenced by friends, had fled gender-based violence from their home or had been recruited by thriving commercial sex syndicates that control 5,5 percent of the trade."They see this as an income generating project because of the economic problems that we're going through and some of their parents are ill. They're forced to take care of their families and some of them are attending school and involved in sex work," he said.Mr Murungweni said the study revealed that at Ngundu Growth Point, there was war between old and young sex workers to the extent that the old ones ended up buying school uniforms (to disguise themselves as teenagers)," said Mr Murungweni.National Aids Council director for monitoring and evaluation, Mr Amon Mpofu said the issue of young sex workers needed a strategic approach as it was fast becoming a crisis."We need to critically find a solution to this otherwise the gains made so far in the fight against HIV could mean nothing," he said.With the Aids pandemic taking its horrendous toll on human life, it can only be frightening to imagine what the future holds for these active players, not only in Ngundu, but throughout the country and beyond.The International Labour Organisation in 2010 launched a project on Economic Empowerment and HIV Vulnerability Reduction along Transport Corridors in Southern Africa in a bid to tackle HIV/Aids through empowering sex workers so that they start self income generating projects.The project seeks to respond to the HIV/Aids pandemic through economic empowerment in the transport sector through a strategic approach of mobilising co-operatives and community based organisations.ILO says the major thrust of the programme is to mobilise the tripartite constituents and other strategic partners to contribute to the reduction of HIV infections and mitigation of the impact of Aids through sustainable prevention, improved livelihood strategies, access to care and support structures and initiatives involving affected grassroots communities and transport sector workers and their families.The programme seeks to addresses the needs and vulnerabilities of workers in the informal economy who do not have access to coping mechanisms to mitigate the impact of the disease, such as lack of access to social protection and income.Economic empowerment was a way to increase opportunities and therefore economic resilience of the most vulnerable populations and workers with high risk of exposure to HIV infections.However, these efforts by the ILO to improve the lives of sex workers face several challenges because of the unavailability of funding.Despite the vast challenges, ILO's national co-ordinator on Economic Empowerment and HIV Vulnerability Reduction Mr Colly Masuku said the organisation will intensify the war against prostitution through economic empowerment.He said plans were at an advanced stage to establish a fund to assist the sex workers."The fund, called The Corridor Economic Empowerment Innovative Fund, once established seeks to stimulate opportunities through promoting decent work for members of support structures along selected transport corridors. This is in order to provide viable coping strategies to vulnerable groups by sowing seeds and nurturing a culture of self resilience, entrepreneurship and enterprise development," said Mr Masuku.He said this will in turn create a high awareness of the existence of less risky survival alternatives among infected and affected households and workers alike.Mr Masuku said the fund system and procedures would also minimise lending risks and ensure the potential growth of the fund.He said plans were at an advanced stage to set up such funds to economically empower disadvantaged groups.Chirundu Border Post located on the banks of the Zambezi River in Mashonaland West Province is the second busiest border after Beitbridge and handles more than 6 000 trucks per month.The ILO said it had also targeted this area as it is a high risk for HIV/Aids.The ILO says it seeks to support programmes to respond to the HIV and Aids epidemic in the world of work. Since 2003 the ILO has been running programmes focusing on HIV/Aids prevention impact mitigation in the Transport Sector in Zimbabwe with support from the Swedish International Development Agency.The programme, which is now in its third phase, has contributed significantly to the decline of HIV/Aids prevention across the country.
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.
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Alibaba is highlighting the opportunities for American small businesses in China this week with a conference called Gateway '17 in Detroit.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma, UPS CEO David Abney and home goods icon Martha Stewart are among the featured guests at the conference on Wednesday, when speakers have focused on topics like customer loyalty and globalization.

Ma said earlier this year that he hoped e-commerce ecosystem Alibaba would eventually grow to support 1 million U.S. workers. Fresh food and cosmetics are some of the American exports that Alibaba is highlighting at the conference.
President Donald Trump returned to his comfort zone Wednesday night with a campaign-style rally in Iowa.

At the raucous events, Trump often riffs on the events of the day or lambastes his political opponents or the news media. The showman president is facing pressure in Washington as he faces a reported investigation into whether he attempted to impede the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In Iowa, Trump will likely address his electoral win in the state last year, Republican victories in two special congressional elections Wednesday and the GOP effort to replace the Affordable Care Act.
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Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson testified Wednesday on Russian interference in the 2016 election and U.S. electoral security.

He appeared before the House Intelligence Committee as part of its probe into Moscow's efforts to influence last year's election.

Johnson said that he believes Russian government-backed cyberattacks did not affect the actual vote tally or ballots. He added that he does not know how much the hacks of the Democratic National Committee and alleged Russian efforts to spread misinformation affected public opinion leading up to the election.

He encouraged Congress to adopt a number of possible measures to better protect election systems in the future.

Read more: Jeh Johnson: Russia did not alter vote tallies, but US 'can and should do' more to protect elections
The good thing about failures is if you pay enough attention to them, you can learn how to succeed the next time.

The Democrats have a lot of material to learn from these days.

They just suffered a major failure with Jon Ossoff's loss to Republican Karen Handel in the special House election in Georgia Tuesday night. That makes the Democrats 0 for 4 in special Congressional elections since President Donald Trump took office.

This was the sorest loss of all as the election broke a record for spending in a House race. The money total hit an astounding $55 million, with by far most of the cash flooding into the Ossoff campaign and 86 percent of his money coming from out of state. The party even shipped in several big name celebrities to beat the bushes for the Ossoff campaign.

It seems like the Democrats literally can't buy a victory.

But there are some key lessons they can learn from all of that spending that led to nothing more than a "close, but no cigar" result. And even though they won this round, the Republicans can learn something too.

Here are the top 3 takeaways for the Democrats from the sound and fury of Georgia's 6th district election:

1) The Democrats need a new national message to win local elections

Before the Democrats talk about red states and blue states, or districts that can be "flipped" in elections, they have to craft a national message to voters in the country as a whole. A national party's identity is a dominant factor for every candidate who runs for Congress under that party's nomination. And as much as Ossoff himself shied away from obsessing about President Trump, his party did the opposite.

The Democrats' singular message since even before the inauguration has been doubling and tripling down on the efforts to resist, delegitimize, and even impeach President Trump. Ossoff could not run away from that, especially when almost all of his record campaign war chest was coming from non-Georgia Democrats who clearly only took an interest in him this special election because of what it would do to the White House if he won.

Democrats need to start getting their national spokespeople talking about something other than Donald Trump. And that includes everyone from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, to progressive heroes like Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. They can't just oppose him or even just oppose Republican infrastructure, health care, and tax plans. They need to promote some new ideas of their own. Otherwise, the next Jon Ossoff type out there will be swimming upstream against the cogent argument that he or she is just going to be a small cog in a national protest machine that will do little the change the lives of the voters in any given district or state.

2) The Democrats really need to find persuasive candidates

But even if the Democrats miraculously shake themselves out of their Trump obsession, they still need to do a better job of finding persuasive and appealing candidates. Ossoff seemed like a very nice person, but are the Democrats telling us that a 30-year-old guy who had only worked as a Congressional staffer and no longer lived in the district where was running was the best they could come up with? If you watched Ossoff on the campaign trail or in the debates versus Handel, you saw a well-mannered, intelligent individual. But he wasn't a candidate who excited voters, and that's what you need in such a highly politicized atmosphere.

Of course, finding exciting candidates is easier said than done, Plus, exciting candidates can also be excitable and thus they present a potential gamble. The Republicans got burned in this way back in 2010 when their chances to win back the Senate were undermined by some ill-advised Tea Party backed candidate losers like Christine O'Donnell in Delaware and Sharron Angle in Nevada.

This is a place where some old style machine politics sorting is called for. If the Democrats as a national party were willing to spend tens of millions of dollars to win a single House race, shouldn't they have spent a little more time finding a more experienced and viable candidate? Do the Democrats think they've presented a clear and convincing enough message to the voters that transcends the individual personalities running in any given election?

3) Coming close in traditionally red states and districts doesn't mean much

Some national liberal pundits are still chalking up this special election result as a "moral victory" because it was such a close result in a traditionally Republican stronghold district.

Big deal.

"Almost" really doesn't count for the Democrats who need a victory already. More importantly, while they're getting closer in some red states, President Trump actually flipped supposedly safe Democrat states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The Trump phenomenon and major events like the Great Recession and the bailouts have shaken up the electoral map in this country in ways both establishment parties don't seem to notice. Either way, winning is all that matters and the Democrats aren't winning. Don't be fooled by any pundits trying to peddle the "but the Democrats are gaining on Trump!" nonsense.

*Bonus lesson: The Republicans have something to learn from this too

Of course, that's where the GOP needs to be paying attention too. Their win in Georgia Tuesday night wasn't just the result of the Democrats' blunders. They smartly backed a woman candidate who pushed a common sense locally-focused message. Handel had real government experience as the former Georgia Secretary of State, but she also was a businesswoman for years in more than just one industry. If the Republicans spend too much time laughing it up over the Democrats' mistakes, they might miss the fact that people like Handel are a perfect type of candidate to run in a number of Congressional elections to come. She doesn't seem to have the kind of buoyant personality and speaking style to be a truly national candidate, but other women with similar life and political experiences are out there for the GOP to find and recruit.

Still, the bottom line here is the Democrats need to change course and do it fast. They just spent all the politcal money in the world on the wrong candidate whom they still shackled with an untenable national label. No matter how unpopular President Trump is, they simply cannot win with their existing formula. That is clear to everyone now. What isn't clear is whether this time the Democrats will actually stop, listen and learn.

Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
MSCI unveiled plans to gradually add mainland Chinese shares to its benchmark emerging markets index , injecting buzz into the market, but the stamp of approval may not help investors, say critics.

The index giant will add 222 China A Large Cap stocks  including Bank of China and Tsingtao Brewery  on a gradual basis beginning next year. The review is the fourth straight year MSCI has considered adding the mainland-traded stocks, known as A-shares in China.

Corporate governance is a particular bugbear as many of the 222 companies are large state-owned enterprises, said Kevin Carter, CEO of Big Tree Capital and founder of the Emerging Markets Internet and Ecommerce ETF.

"You have all of these enormous state-owned banks, the four big policy banks, the oil companies, and these are really not run like traditional Western companies," Carter said.

"These companies are filed with inefficiencies, they are filled with conflicts of interest and they are frequently filled with fraud. Adding more of that, even though it's just a small amount, I don't think it helps helps investors," he said, adding that it was not a problem unique to China but also to markets dominated by such mega companies, like Brazil.

MSCI had previously left the A-shares out of the EM (emerging markets) index but it relaxed its investment criteria in March in a bid to address concerns on capital repatriation and suspended stocks.
Opinion / Columnist

Whilst one can understand Mugabe's "bitterness" at being made to look the fool parading a fat cheque not even worth the paper it was written on. Still one has to question why he found it necessary to name and shame the Chinese, particularly doing so now considering the whole episode happened years ago!"They (the five diamond mining companies who had pledged $10 million each at the behest of then Indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere) had me walk here holding a big board inscribed with a (US$1.5 million) cheque that they later refused to honour. You still have that grievance," Mugabe told the Zanu PF rally in Mutare."I'm also bitter that a grown man like me, I'm made to parade a board (cheque) which doesn't mean anything.""We took over everything from the Ghanaians, Lebanese, Chinese and South Africans who were running companies in Chiadzwa so that we do our own mining. But this has taken a rather long time," Mugabe said.The close relationship between China and Mugabe goes back to pre-independence and Mugabe has often called the Chinese his "all-weather friend". The friendship assumed even greater significance in the late 1990s when the Zimbabwe economy took a turn for the worse. First the WB, IMF and other Western Financial institutions refused to give Zimbabwe any more financial assistance because the country was failing to service its debts. But like all cheeky bad-debtors Mugabe turned the tables and blamed the WB, IMF, etc. for having forced Zimbabwe to adopt failed economic policies in the first place.Zimbabwe's economic nose dive resulted in the nose dive of Mugabe's own political fortunes to stay in power Mugabe resorted to more and more political repression and lawlessness. He seized white owned farms to give to his ever demanding but wasteful party loyalists. This plunged the national economy into even greater trouble, forcing him to even greater repressive measure to retain power. It was the Chinese who shielded Mugabe from the international community's criticism and censor of his increasing tyrannical regime.By 2002, the time the Western countries imposed the targeted sanction again Mugabe and a hundred or so in his inner circle for human rights violations and failing to hold free and fair elections, Mugabe was ready to cut all ties with the West. He announced his "Look East" policy with the usual pomp and ceremony to underline his close friendship with the East, especially with China.Make no mistake about, the Chinese are as shrewd and exploitative as any other colonialist to step on African soil. Chinese saw to it that they were repaid for all the military assistance they gave to Mugabe and his Zanla army in the fight for independence. The exploitative relationship became even more so after Mugabe's spectacular 2002 fall out with the West. The Chinese supplied Mugabe with the repressive tear-gas, weapons and even help in the regime's many vote rigging dirty schemes. In return the Chinese had unfettered access to the country's very lucrative deals and resources.Zimbabwe's diamond mining in Marange and Chiadzwa has been one of the most profitable activities for those who did not mind the mud and stench  the mud and stench of corruption. The Chinese were the first in the queue to start mining in Marange, they did not mind the mud and stench of corruption. Indeed, one might even say the thrived in the mud and stench!Rest assured the Chinese were not amused to be booted out of Marange much say to continue to be named and shamed from the public platform! There is a reason in Mugabe's madness!It is no secret that the Chinese have been pushing for Mnangagwa to be the tyrant's successor. Mugabe has been fighting to have his wife take-over and, as we all know, he fights dirty; real dirty. With him, there is no such thing as not hitting below the belt because that is his only target and with the first blow!The Chinese have done a lot of dirty stuff for Mugabe over the years and naming and shaming them over the plundering in Marange is the shot over the Chinese's heads warning them to back-off Zanu PF's succession issue. If they do not back-off, Mugabe will release details of some of the real dirty work China has done for him, enough to damage the China's reputation for many generations to come.No doubt, the Chinese thought they had Mugabe in their pocket. They did, but what they failed to realise was that the cunning tyranny's hand wormed its way into their groan. The Chinese thought Mugabe was their tyrant they would have a say on who replaces him. Now Mugabe is telling them to back-off because he has a fistful of Chinese balls!
Opinion / Columnist

The MDC-T has proved that they are out of touch with reality and green with envy after the over-subscribed President Robert Mugabe's Youth Interface rally which was recently held in Mutare necessitated the embattled opposition party's attack of the ZANU PF party.MDC-T spokesperson, Obert Gutu nonsensically said in a statement that the state of affairs does not bode well for the holding of free and fair elections in 2018. Really! Gutu said this while referring to President Mugabe's highly attended Youth Interface rally in Mutare alleging that people were forced to attend the rally. However, such statements by the opposition only expose how inept they are in dealing with real issues that affect the electorate, which to date has been their major downfall.Gutu and his allies must be encouraged that there is nothing wrong with President Mugabe's rallies. President's youth interface rallies give him the opportunity to interact with the young generation. Because of his busy schedule, President Mugabe at times fails to get the chance to interrelate with youths who are the vanguard of the ruling party. Such events are essential as they give the youths the opportunity to air their views to the President.When Tsvangirai moved around ostensibly to meet traditional leaders in the country's ten provinces, not even a single political party complained about that. Now that it is President Mugabe who is meeting the youths, MDC-T is quick to call for SADC and AU to intervene in local politics. Gutu's call depicts the weakness of opposition parties in the country. It really boggles the mind that whenever the opposition feels challenged, they rush to call for the unnecessary external intervention.The opposition always wants to paint a black picture on the personality of the President and the ruling party, ZANU-PF. If this is the opposition campaigning gimmick for 2018 elections, Gutu and his cronies should find better ways of marketing themselves. The electorate will always subscribe to a political party that has viable policies. Being cry babies will not add any vote to the MDC-T. If they wish to lead this nation, MDC-T should prove it through policies that bring bread and butter on the tables of the electorate.Before addressing the youth interface rally in Mutare, President Mugabe commissioned Dangamvura Community Information Center (CIC), a move that rattled the opposition who derisively reacted labelling it a non-event. One wonders what caliber of an opposition that gets angry at developmental projects just because they, themselves have nothing on their plate.This positive development was spot on as people in that area will now communicate at the click of a mouse. With the advances in technology, the destination of information centers has evolved. It is necessary to note that the launch of CIC by President Mugabe will benefit the community in a number of ways.Sadly, the opposition parties and ZANU-PF detractors have been attacking such a constructive development. Just like any another nation that is living in a global village, Zimbabwe needs information centers. Information centres are significant in the sense that they provide the community with important services and information that they may fail to acquire at personal level.It is also comforting to note that CIC will be accessed for free. Students who may want to do their research will do so for free. Traditionally, academic libraries were viewed as central to information seeking and acquisition of knowledge in learning, but this has since been surpassed by information centres. In simple terms, CIC are now an alternative tool used by students for their research.Mutare is known as a home for diverse farming. Local farmers will, therefore, get the necessary current and accurate information for their crops from these information centres. Truth be told, thorough research is needed in farming to improve the quality of farm produce. Information centers can also be used as a marketing place on behalf of the local suppliers.Hence, the opposition outfits should be ashamed for attacking the efforts that Government is doing for the betterment of the people.
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Techies are supposed to focus on the latest and greatest, the biggest and fastest. I've never been like that. Especially when it comes to cellphones, my computing needs are modest.

So, consider the fairly low end ASUS ZenFone 3 MAX ZC520TL phone which Asus currently sells for roughly $140.

It has a 5.2-in. IPS screen with a resolution of 1280x720. Many phones offer more pixels, but this is sufficient for me and fewer pixels should help with battery life. It has 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, an FM radio, a 4100 mAh battery and its made of metal, not plastic.

On the downside, the Wi-Fi is limited to the 2.4GHz frequency band, it only works with AT&T and T-Mobile and the battery is not removable. Considering the price, it's good enough for some of us, myself included.

The big Defensive Computing question is software.

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The ZenFone 3 ships with Android version 6 Marshmallow and there is no predicting whether Asus will keep up with bug fixes, let alone upgrade the phone to Android 7 Nougat.

Anyone who wants Android bug fixes pretty much has to go with a Google Pixel phone, which currently starts at $650. Ouch. The Pixel hardware specs are better, of course, but for modest needs, like mine, it's like purchasing a steamroller to squash a fly.

I used to think that BlackBerry could also be counted on for Android patches, but that assumption was put in question by a June 1 article in the Android Developers Blog that reported on phones "with a majority of deployed devices running a security update from the last two months."

The only BlackBerry phone on the list was the PRIV, a model with a physical keyboard, which I don't want. The model I would have been interested in, the low end DTEK50, was not on the list. If the DTEK50 got bug fixes, it would be a bargain at $270. Asus did not have one device on the list.

Of course, the ZenFone 3 is far from the only inexpensive Android phone with good enough hardware.

When The Wirecutter wrote about The Best Budget Android Phones they concluded:

If you need a good phone that costs as little as possible, get last years Moto G4 Play. It cuts the right corners to keep the price down without making the experience of using the phone unbearable. The G4 Play runs a clean, fast version of Android Marshmallow with a Nougat update (allegedly) on the way. It has a light-but-durable plastic frame and a grippy back panel that hides a removable battery, something you rarely see anymore in phones of any price. The display and performance are both good enough...

The G4 Play is very similar to the ZenFone 3 both in terms of specs and price. The big differences are the plastic vs. metal body and the removable battery.

But, I am done with Motorola.

My last two phones were high end Motorola models and each had hardware problems. The first one stopped making phone calls, 90% of the time. Everything else worked fine, but nine times out of 10 it would not make or receive a phone call. On the next one, the power button went bad fairly quickly. Here again, it works most of the time, but far too often, the phone reboots rather than wake up, when the button is pressed.

Recently, The Wirecutter changed their recommended budget Android phone to the Moto G5 Plus which sells for about $230. In most respects it's a big upgrade from the G4 Play and the ZenFone 3. While the screen is the same 5.2 inches, the resolution is 19201080. The RAM is either 2GB or 4GB, and the storage is doubled to 32GB. It has a fingerprint sensor, an aluminum back, a 3,000 mAh battery that can not be removed and runs Android 7 Nougat.

But I wouldn't pay $2 for a Motorola phone.

Other recommendations come from Dan Seifert of The Verge. Back in December he wrote about the best phones, and the cheapest recommended Android model was the OnePlus 3T, which now sells for $410.

I have no experience with OnePlus devices, but neither have I forgotten last year's scare with Blu phones that shipped with spyware in their firmware. This has left me hesitant to trust new companies with unfamiliar names.

I feel safer dealing with Asus, a company whose products I have purchased many times in the past. This may be unfair to the newcomers, but my priority is Defensive Computing. Plus, there is no warranty included when you buy the OnePlus 3T for $410.

UPDATE. June 21, 2017. Another reason to skeptical of OnePlus; they apparently cheated on benchmark testing, more than once. See here and here.

For a bit more money, the next cheapest Android phone that Seifert recommends is the Motorola Z Play. But, again, Motorola.

If you don't share my aversion to Motorola, then take note of another Wirecutter article, Will a Budget Android Phone Provide Adequate Security Updates? which says

... budget phones tend to be slower at getting all sorts of updates, including major system over-the-air updates and small security patches. Motorola has traditionally been better than most when it comes to keeping its cheaper phones up to date, but youll still only rarely get one of the cumulative monthly security patches.

Is Motorola better than most? My current Motorola phone, the one with the flaky power button is running Android 6.0.1 with bug fixes from Jan. 1, 2017. Pretty lame, especially considering how much I paid for it. The only Motorola phones to make Google's list are the Moto Z and the Moto Z Droid, both high end models.

So, I am left with a stark choice of paying $140 for an Asus phone without bug fixes or $650 for a Pixel with them.

I like Android, but a choice like this requires taking a step back.

Recently, Matthew Miller of ZDNet, writing about the pros/cons of Android vs. iOS, said

The ability to visit a local retail store to get things fixed, buy accessories, and ask questions is useful. Just a couple of weeks ago, my daughter's iPhone 7 display failed ... She took it to an Apple Store and an hour later walked out with a new replacement at no charge. There's something to be said for having a store available to provide these services ...

And, over at Android Central, Jerry Hildenbrand wrote last week that

An iPhone 5S is still a very usable phone because it was well built and Apple still supports it. There are people who bought one when it was first sold who will keep it until it stops working ... Even the most die-hard Android fanatic has to recognize that Apple has nailed the after-sale support, and it's well worth paying for ...

Speaking of after-sale support, I don't think I've ever gotten any. Google has abdicated support for their operating system just as Microsoft did with Windows.

By the time I was on my third Android phone, moving my contacts to a new phone was critically important. I will never forget the frustration as Google, the hardware vendor and the cellphone company each offered competing solutions. This is no way to run an ecosystem.

Piling on, Hildenbrand adds:

... we need to know the company who made [our phone] and took our money is willing to be there to fix whatever needs fixing when it comes to the software it runs. And unfortunately, you can't count on long-term support from any company in the Android space, even Google. There are plenty of reasons why, and most of them make sense. But that doesn't matter because Apple ... can do it. We should expect the same service from a company as big as Google or Samsung or LG.

All this makes it that much harder to justify any high end Android phone.

Also thinking along this line is Brad Linder of Liliputing who just a few days ago wrote:

I signed up for Googles Project Fi wireless service at the end of 2016 ... The only phones that work with Project Fi are recent Nexus and Pixel devices. While Im a long-time Nexus loyalist, the growing number of $200  $400 smartphones with strong specs is looking more and more tempting ... I managed to pick up a $249 Nexus 5X when they were still available, and it works just fine with Project Fi ... I definitely dont want to spend $649 on a phone ... if my Nexus 5X eventually starts to boot loop or runs into other problems, Im not sure what Ill do.

Years back, the personal computer industry was surprised by the popularity of netbook computers. They were radical, in that they were low end devices in an industry focused on faster as better. Many people had modest computing needs that the industry was not addressing.

The ASUS ZenFone 3 strikes me as the same thing, hardware that's good enough for someone with modest computing needs. But, even netbook computers got bug fixes.

Plus, in at least one respect, the ZenFone 3 is more than bottom of the line. It comes with a fairly high capacity 4100 mAh battery which, along with the relatively low resolution should lead to great battery life. Ben Patterson, writing in PC World, lamented recently that "... as Android phones get more and more powerful, battery life seems to keep shrinking. Indeed, my Nexus 5X can't make it through the day without an afternoon charge, and that's with only a moderate amount of use."

Still, being a Defensive Computing person, leaves me in a quandary. Are Android bug fixes worth $510? I'm not sure they are.

Neither is the Nexus-owning Linder, who wrote that "... I love getting monthly security updates directly from Google, [but] Im not sure I want to pay $600 or more for a phone when you can get great phones for half the price."

And, a good enough phone, for a quarter the price.

Gambling on Asus providing some patches, may well be the logical approach. Heck, I paid through the nose for my current phone and it's six months behind on patches. How much worse could Asus be?

FEEDBACK

Get in touch with me privately by email at my full name at Gmail or publicly on twitter at @defensivecomput.
Enterprises pondering a push into augmented and virtual reality will need to embrace Apples ARKit, if only to access the hundreds of millions of already deployed devices capable of accessing these next-generation experiences. Of course, many see AR and VR as niche products only suitable for gaming, but these technologies have so much more potential. Here are 12 ways you might use ARKit in your enterprise.

Virtual stores

IKEAs recent news that it will be an Apple flagship ARKit partner means youll be able to use your iPhone and an IKEA app to place items from its catalog around your home. The Swedish furniture manufacturer isnt the only one looking to introduce solutions like these. Converse, Gap, Adidas, Lowes and others are developing ways to use AR and VR tech to try, explore and choose items from their stores. Its not at all pushing the envelope to imagine Apples retail stores also providing some form of VR presence. In real estate, you can also anticipate immersive VR tours of potential homes  youll even be able to place your own furniture in them to see what works where. Why would you visit an out-of-town mall when you can get to see the products virtually from where you already are? (This may also foster even more rapid decline in retail real estate revenues).

Remote product support

Want to know how to use your new washing machine? Simple  just point your iPhone at the device, ask Siri a question and youll be rewarded with a virtual guide to the controls. Want to get in-depth troubleshooting advice? Contact the manufacturer and while speaking with support you can show them your device which they can then help you adjust remotely. This means that if they do need to show up to repair the device they will already know exactly what needs to be done. Next stop? A virtual Genius advice bar. Why not?

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Remote facilities management

Sometimes it really helps to take a look at the situation youre walking into if youre an industrial mechanic. A company called Space-Time Insight already develops VR solutions for energy utilities technicians use to diagnose problems before they visit to make repairs. This lets them get to grips with layout, identify potential ambient problems (such as flooding) and ensure they turn up with appropriate equipment. These solutions become even more powerful when used to manage intelligent machines, which may even be able to identify and explain their fault and deliver accurate diagnostic and testing data in real-time. Autonomous, self-healing infrastructure and smart factory machinery is becoming a reality.

Medical diagnosis, treatment, and care

VR and AR both have a part to play in the future of medicine. At famed UK teaching hospital, Barts, doctors use VR to stream life-saving operations to students worldwide. Surgeons are using AR to help ensure accuracy during surgical procedures. At a distance, AR and VR will enable experienced medical staff to diagnose medical conditions accuracy with help from less experienced practitioners on the ground. The opportunity for remote diagnosis and self-diagnosis, training and post-operative care in patients homes is also quite visible here. Its even possible that medical facilities may potentially be able to perform routine operations automatically with supervision from small numbers of highly-trained staff. Thats a lot of steps away, but today you can look to Anatomy 4D as a fantastic example of a VR/AR app for medical student training.

Staff recruitment and training

Human resources departments are traditionally stretched way too thin. The use of AR and VR in staff recruitment and training is already visible. Boeing recently said VR cuts training time by 75 percent. Immersive Technologies Enterprise builds VR training solutions for new employees in the oil and gas industries. The Red Cross, military and others all use VR to help train their people in coping when flung into truly stressful situations. When it comes to attracting talent, firms including Cisco, BetterCloud and others provide VR tours of their facilities to attract new recruits. VR solutions also enable staff to train in the use of complex enterprise infrastructure in their own time, at their own pace, wherever they happen to be.

Distribution and logistics

Particularly as transportation becomes more autonomous, these technologies will enable increasingly smart city and infrastructure management. The potential of VR to transform these industries neednt wait for self-driving cars to become commonplace. DHL already used VR to improve its delivery processes. Youll see increasing adoption of VR glasses inside online product distribution centers, where they are used to put orders together fast. Solutions like the WayRay Navion show the potential of these technologies to improve driver experiences across future generations of road transport.

Down on the farm

The planet is over-populated, and the modern food industry is becoming increasingly complex as it attempts to meet demand. We already have huge farms managed by remote sensing technologies and semi-autonomous farming equipment. VR and AR are enabling even more technology advances across this most important sector, Arias recent Smart Dairy 2025 study identified numerous usage scenarios. These include equipment maintenance, herd-health and location monitoring solutions. AGCO Corp. is also seeing results from use of VR glasses when building agricultural equipment, which it claims make quality checks 20 percent faster.

Product design gets virtual

VR is enabling rapid product prototyping across a range of companies, including Nike, Adidas, Ford, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The theory is simple: Build new products in a virtual environment and you can check component compatibility, and estimate production prices in a far more affordable way than the current system which requires prototypes are actually built. Not only does this enable rapid design and deployment because such systems accelerate new product design, but they also limit overall production costs.

Architecture, building and premises safety

The implications for architecture should be obvious: Planners can now get a flies-eye view of every nook and cranny of a project, potentially enabling them to avoid constructing dangerous buildings. This should reduce building costs, and may save lives in future. Would the dreadful waste of life and seeming incompetence at the UKs Grenfell Tower have taken place if planners had been able to see the dangers virtually before building took place? When it comes to rehearsing disaster management or potential health and safety challenges, VR systems should be a boon for emergency services.

Military and emergency services

Heads-up displays are already in use across all three U.S. armed forces, with nigh vision AR helmets also in development. These real world solutions rely on specialized technologies, so imagine how much more prevalent they will become now the cost of content creation has fallen? VR is already in use for training in the armed forces, now it is becoming possible for rapid deployment forces to train for the exact scenarios they are being called upon to conquer. Similarly, emergency services can use AR to rapidly proliferate emergency instructions (such as guiding people to exits), and use VR to prepare and train for emergency situations.

Culture, travel, history

I love history. We are surrounded by so much of it, but so little is truly visible. AR and VR have a big part to play: Historical and cultural artefacts can be augmented with additional information about them (Smartify is a good example of this), and historical places and events will eventually be as easy and immersive to explore as putting on a VR headset and hitting the play button. When it comes to travel, Lonely Planet uses Wikitude to provide you with local info gleaned from reputable online sources using your iPhone display. This kind of information augmentation is already a product as a service, Blippar provides brands with technologies they can use to deliver such experiences. Sygic Travel this week began offering developers APIs they can use to add its rich collection of travel and place-related information within their own apps. Education is clearly a whole other sector in which these solutions can be deployed.

Branded experiences

One of my favorite AR apps, Spyglass, uses your iPhones built-in GPS to provide you with tools real explorers want to use, including night sky navigation, a compass, and more. In fashion, youll likely see more fashion brands emulating TopShops VR catwalk; there is an opportunity for both enterprise and consumer brands to visualise, develop and deliver engaging yet useful VR tools and experiences designed to open up the opportunity for brand engagement with their customers. A paint manufacturer could potentially introduce a VR-based color chart that lets consumers compare the effects of different colors on their homes, for example. There are also implications for testing product packaging (or anything else) with remotely based focused groups, perhaps by introducing these within virtual malls.

Have you come across any interesting enterprise uses of VR or AR? What are these? Do you see the opportunity in these new technologies, or do you think its all just hype? Please let me know.

Google+? If you use social media and happen to be a Google+ user, why not join AppleHolic's Kool Aid Corner community and join the conversation as we pursue the spirit of the New Model Apple?

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Riyadh Agreement should be basis for solving Qatar crisis: Russia

The current Qatar crisis has worried world leaders and efforts are being made to settle the differences through dialogue. Russia has said the Riyadh Agreement signed in 2014 by six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC countries) forms a good basis for resolving the dispute.

The Russian position was conveyed through Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of Russian State Dumas Foreign Affairs Committee. He was holding talks with the ambassadors of Bahrain and Egypt, the Charge d'affaires of Saudi Arabia and the First Secretary at the Embassy of the UAE in Moscow.

Russia wants that Qatar crisis should be solved within the parameters of Riyadh Agreement. Photo courtesy: visitqatar.qa

In the meeting, First Secretary at the UAE Embassy in Russia, Mohamed Al Mansouri, the Bahraini Ambassador to Russia, Ahmed Al Sahaati, the Egyptian Ambassador to Russia, Dr Mohammed Al Badri, and the Saudi Charge d'Affaires to Russia, Mohammed Al Shammari, explained the political efforts made by their countries to discourage Doha's aggressive policies, and how lack of cooperation led to their decision to cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar to protect their national security and safety.

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed diplomatic relations with Qatar on June 5, 2017.

The four diplomats also said the current phase required concerted efforts by all states to condemn and combat terrorism at the global level.

The Russian parliamentarian said that his country enjoys distinguished relations with the four countries and welcomes consultation with their leaders on various issues of mutual interest.

He expressed his full understanding of the four countries' concerns and the reasons that led them to adopt such a decision. He also exhorted Qatar to sit at the dialogue table with its brothers to remove these fears and resolve the dispute peacefully between them.

Slutsky also suggested the exchange of information and lists between them and cooperation to fight terrorist groups and dry up their sources.
Tensions mount within the SNP over a second referendum

In relative terms, the Scottish Nationalists had an even poorer general election than the (British) Conservatives did, misplacing half a million votes and losing 21 seats to the resurgent unionist parties.

Now a party which has forged a slightly creepy, phalanx-like internal discipline on the back of ten years of unbroken success seems to be teetering on the brink of civil war, according to the Daily Telegraph, over the future of the partys flagship policy of a second independence referendum.

Polls find that fewer than one in three Scots want the question re-opened anytime soon, yet as Alex Massie explains in the Spectator it looks as if Nicola Sturgeon  like Theresa May, so recently on top of the world  wont let it go, for fear that she may forever lose her chance to be the person who leads Scotland out of the UK.

Now the old split between gradualists and true believers, which Alex Salmond appeared to have decisively won for the former camp back in the 1990s, look to be opening up again. Senior SNP figures are urging the First Minister to stick to her guns. But with many of the remaining Nationalist MPs facing narrow majorities and clearly identified unionist challengers, others are desperate to drop a policy which is uniting pro-UK voters against the party.

This divide also aligns with a split between the old Nationalist base in Tory-facing rural seats and the new wave of converts in central Scotland. Sturgeon apparently intends to reveal her plans before the summer recess  finding a position that closes these divisions will be a real challenge.

Elsewhere another of the SNPs anti-British policies is also under fresh pressure. The Transport and Salaried Staff Association (TSSA), a rail union, has attacked the Scottish Governments plan to merge the British Transport Police into their leviathan Police Scotland force as devolution for devolutions sake that will leave travellers with poorer protection.

First post-Brexit survey finds no surge in support for Northern Irish secession

As the race narrowed ahead of the 2016 EU referendum, various potential threats to the Union were cited, with more or less conviction and plausibility, as reasons for sceptical voters who hold their noses and back Remain.

This site was sceptical, and in the year since that scepticism is holding up rather well. We rubbished the idea that leaving the EU jeopardised the Union in Wales and lo, Wales voted Leave. We expressed more measured scepticism about the potential impact on Scotland, and that country looks farther from independence than at any point since 2014 (see next item).

Northern Ireland was a slightly trickier question. The economic interest of Northern Ireland in continuing the Union is so emphatic as to be beyond plausible contestation, but thats no guarantee in a province where communal loyalty has squeezed out normal left-right economic politics entirely. The Governments lost majority and need to deal with the DUP has thrust the Province into the spotlight, but beyond Sinn Feins posturing the implications for its constitutional status havent been backed by much evidence.

Until now. This week the News Letter reveals the results of the first major post-Brexit survey of Northern Irish attitudes has recorded no surge in support for Irish unity. The latest Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, which had previously showed a large proportion  sometimes even a majority  of Catholics being comfortable with the status quo, found support for Ulsters absorption into a Greater Irish state at just 19 per cent.

There are modest advances for the nationalist cause across most social groups (save for those aged 35-44), but nothing resembling the sort of shift that would require James Brokenshire, the Secretary of State, to call a border poll.

On the specific subject of Brexit, the vast majority of people said that it had made no difference to their position, compared to 16 per cent who were more likely to back leaving the UK and seven per cent who were less likely.

Duncan joins the Scottish Office and promises to work with the Scottish Government

Ian Duncan, the Conservative MEP for Scotland who fell so narrowly short of unseating Pete Wishart at the general election, has confirmed that he is joining the Government as a new minister at the Scotland Office, and will be created a life peer in order to take up the position.

The reasoning is that, as an experienced hand in Brussels, he can provide some useful experience to the UK bench during the Brexit negotiations and help to manage the Scottish dimensions of our departure.

It hasnt proved an uncontroversial move. After an election in which the Conservatives picked up 12 new MPs north of the border, it seems unusual to resort to a fresh peerage to staff the Scotland Office. Ennobling Duncan so soon after his failure at the ballot box has also raised eyebrows.

More seriously, he then embroiled himself in a row over the negotiations when he suggested that the SNP-led Scottish Government should have a formal role in the Brexit talks, a position which had previously been firmly ruled out by the Government. His statement states that he will work in close collaboration with the Scottish Government but makes no mention of a formal role.
Rebecca Lowe Coulson was Parliamentary Candidate for the City of Durham at the 2015 General Election.

During the run-up to the 2010 election, Michael Portillo claimed that whilst Conservatives think that Labour voters are misguided, Labour voters think that Conservatives are evil. I often think about this. Of course, its a highly-stylised generalisation, but, for me  having grown up on the centre-right in the North East  its always resonated.

Now, amidst the fallout of the general election, I find myself wanting to apply Portillos thinking the other side is evil claim the other way round. Throughout May and June, we were offered  as with Remain versus Leave  a Conservative resistance to the popular energy of Corbyn-power that was, at best, resoundingly dismissive. Vote Labour, and youre a fool. Vote Labour, and youre an idiot. Vote Labour, and yes, youre evil. Is it sensible to denounce your potential electors like that? Is it right? How did we lose the ability to argue properly against the left?

When strong words are backed up by little but fear and loathing, its unsurprising if they backfire. The standard arguments we once assumed to be widespread have clearly been forgotten  or were never known by some. How many people remain aware of the historical inefficiencies of nationalised utilities? And how the very aim  and success  of nuclear deterrence is the prevention of suffering? And why people living under hard-left regimes might be unhappy? And what happened during the Troubles?

Those of us who dont see ourselves as on the left  whatever we might generally take that to mean; this is not a piece about Jeremy Corbyns positioning  need to remake those arguments. We have to be able to explain, simply and clearly, why its possible for someone to vote for something aside from soft-core socialism and still  or, in part, therefore  be a good person.

If we dont make that case positively, and criticise our opposition justifiably, then we become unable to differentiate  as Portillo implied  between misguided and evil. Is it necessary to point out here that, in a moral sense, most of the Lefts ideas are not inherently bad? And that making exaggerated claims along those lines dilutes our ability to warn people about the ideas that truly are?

Part of our problem lies in the gulf between extremes. Many see the recent election result as a return to binary pendulum politics; certainly, the Conservatives and Labour now share a bigger portion of the vote than they have for decades. For some, the preceding era was defined by its plurality: a time in which the number of political contenders ballooned. For others, it was an era of stricture: a time in which the mainstream bunched over a particular agenda.

Yet  regardless of which party they opt for  people on the Left are not all the same; neither are those on the opposing side. Often, the disagreements between those two old camps are less substantial than the disagreements erupting within each camps own tents. Brexit shows this better than most. As does the Conservative pledge to raise the means-tested floor for social-care payments; and Labours enduring support for the middle class in the fight against tuition fees. Left and Right remain, as ever, signifiers of sometime relevance.

In a modern, developed nation like Britain, there are many important things on which almost all of us agree. A failure to recognise and celebrate that does not help us. That well-intentioned people can, for instance, be persuaded that only the left cares about the poor means the responsible right is doing something seriously wrong  not necessarily in its priorities or approach, but certainly in how it communicates those.

Whatever Brexit may have taught us about division, it remains a hidden truth that we concur on the most basic social fundamentals; we need to emphasise, for instance, that the general desire to control immigration hinges on sovereignty, rather than prejudice. But, most crucial, perhaps, is to accept that most of us are in favour of capitalism. This hardly seems a controversial claim  at least in the sense of believing that we should be allowed to own and manage our own things. If it really came down to it, wouldnt most of Labours supporters baulk at setting a precedent for the non-wartime requisitioning of private property?

But until both sides accept that its grand hyperbole to think that anyone except hardcore theoreticians might crave completely untrammelled free markets  not least because its impossible to see how these could be applied outside of a Nozickian thought experiment  it will remain difficult for us to work together in addressing the genuine exploitations of big business. Free-marketeers need to step up on this.

Similarly, most of us agree that the state should play some kind of role in the countrys key sectors  even if just in terms of providing regulation. Small-statists need to point out that they are, by definition, not anarchists; the Left needs to stop peddling the idea that private providers playing a role within such sectors is the sensationalised privatisation they have led people to fear. Part of the reason its hard to argue with our opponents is that  rhetoric aside  we actually often agree. In many ways, this country works well; in some, it clearly doesnt. Appreciating the good, and addressing the bad is essential for progress.

How to address the bad  rather than the fact that we should  is where the real disagreements creep in. And a vital part of criticising the left is making a positive case for alternative positions. For a start, we should remind people of the good that those alternatives have brought  from Disraelis social reforms, to the boom in living standards that market approaches have driven, across the world, over the past half century. Someone recently told me that only the Left has heroes, and I know what he means: the other side needs to point up the people and ideas they find worth celebrating, too.

That return us to differentiation. The rehabilitation of the non-Left must be led, or at least be supported, by a coalition. Politicians in the centre; those on the centre-right; the non-leftist liberals; the conservatives; the Brexiters, releavers, and those yet to be convinced of Britains future outside the EU; the small-statists and the paternalists  all have a duty to press for and provide proper representation for those voters who feel drawn to non-leftist politics: to help them make a positive choice.

Those of us defining ourselves as something aside from on the left are not all the same, but we do face the same challenge. In a week in which YouGov tells us that 43 per cent of Britons think our country would be a better place to live if it were run by a genuinely socialist government, theres clearly work to be done.
Punjab govt to set up North India's first skill development University at Chamkaur Sahib

UNI, Chandigarh | Published : 20th June, 2017

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.

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CORNWALL, Ontario  Cornwall police and firefighting services arrived on the scene of a car fire near the Cornwall waterfront last night around 5:10 p.m.

They found a White Sebring on fire, which was quickly brought under control.

No injuries resulted from the incident.

An investigation is on-going and according to the Cornwall Community Police Services Cst. Dan Cloutier, the case is being treated as arson.
CORNWALL, Ontario  Local man Tim Gadbois had the chance to play the games and spin the wheel on the Price is Right on his trip to Los Angeles with his wife Jocelyn in April.

He said that he and his wife have always been fans of day time game shows like the Price is Right and that when Jocelyn found priority tickets, they jumped at their chance to be on-air.

Priority ticket holders are the ones who have a chance to really be on the show, Tim explained.

Tim said that the waiting process started at 8:30 a.m. that day, the show doesnt start filming until 12:30 p.m., but the show has an extensive vetting process and are very selective as to who they let play.

He explained that while he was waiting, he was standing up on a bench and asking who there was also Canadian and getting everyone really riled up.

The crazier you are, the more likely you are to get on the show, he said. You are all screened. Everyone has to audition and you have to be excitable and go crazy. I told my wife that the only way well get on the show is if we are very excitable and I guess I did a good job.

He said once he was called down to the front row, he had five chances to win the first game and move forward, it wasnt until his last chance that he guessed right and got on stage with host Drew Carey.

From there, he won his first game, and to go onto the finals in the Price is Right, each contestant has to spin a big wheel, whoever spins closest to a dollar goes on ahead.

When it was Tims turn to spin, he got as close as you can get, $0.95.

In the final game, Tim went up against one other contestant. Each contestant had to guess the value of their prize package without going over.

She looked at me and said I think Im over and I said  I think you are too, Tim said.

In the end Tim won it all, but for him and Jocelyn, it wasnt about the winning.

We didnt go for the winning, he said. We just went for the experience.
Close

An ambulance roars up to a hospital emergency room. The EMTs carry out a 30-year-old woman. A quick diagnosis: heroin overdose. Thankfully she's alive. She is tracked into the system as an inpatient. As she is checked in, a 43-year-old man walks into the ER helped by two friends who know he has misused the prescription drug OxyContin.

Given recent media coverage, you might think this scene is taking place in 2017. But the opioid epidemic was already raging under the radar in 2014 when 1.27 million people were admitted to emergency rooms or required inpatient stays in the US for opioid issues -- a 64% increase in opioid issues since 2005.

A report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is the most detailed statistical analysis of opioid-related issues ever published. Data for the years since 2014 is still being compiled, but a glimpse of this rising disaster paints a grim and worsening public health picture.

The opioid epidemic has resulted from the burgeoning use of heroin or synthetically produced opioids like OxyContin, Percocet, Oxycodone, and Vicodin. Illegal use of fentanyl mixed heroin has also become of increasing concern for public health officials.

To give you some idea of how the crisis affects us, a few years ago the governor of Vermont devoted 100% of his State of the State address to its citizens' opioid use. He did not talk about taxes or the quality of the roads -- he talked exclusively about heroin.

Opioid abuse among women has increased markedly since 2005, until in 2014 women were just as likely as men to be opioid inpatients. The idea that males have greater opioid issues is crumbling.

The report shows that heartland states along with most western and southern states were more like to take women as inpatients as were California, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Wyoming, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas have had the lowest rates of opioid inpatient admissions, while Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and Washington have had the highest rates.

Twice as many people showed up at ER rooms in 2014 as they did in 2005. About 60% more stayed in hospitals in 2014 than did in 2005. Women were more likely to visit ER than men in states like North Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. Men were more like to visit ERs than women in the Midwest and south.

Not surprisingly, men and women aged 25-44 were most likely to show up at ERs or be admitted as inpatients for opioid abuse.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Detention deception

The lies exposed

Detainees at the Manus Island asylum-seeker camp in Papua New Guinea will be paid compensation for degrading and cruel treatment in a decision hailed as an important human rights victory. The pay out of a conditional settlement of $70 million, to be shared by 1,905 people who have been held on Manus Island since 2012, is a move by the government to avert a public and damning trial against it and security providers Transfield and G4S.

The announcement of a possible settlement with Manus asylum seekers and the Australian government for false imprisonment and the conditions on Manus Island that caused them physical and psychological harm is an admission that the Australian government is responsible for detention on Manus Island. (The governments claim that the Manus camp is PNGs responsibility is a legal fiction: the Australian government paid for the construction of the facilities and employs the staff in it.)

It puts the lie to the continual claims from Peter Dutton that Manus Island is the responsibility of the PNG government, said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

No amount of money can compensate the asylum seekers sent there unlawfully for the damage that has been done to them. They, and their families, have lost almost four years of their lives. Three people have died.

The Australian government ignored the order made by PNG Supreme Court in April last year that the Manus detention centre be closed.

Now the government will pay for unlawfully imprisoning them. But there wont be justice until the refugees and asylum seekers are brought to Australia. The Labor Party, too, must face up to the role that they have played as the government that negotiated an unlawful arrangement with the government of PNG.

The bi-partisan support for offshore detention must end. We expect Bill Shorten to encourage the Coalition government to immediately bring the asylum seekers and refugees to Australia.

No amount of money can solve the fact that refugees do not have a future on PNG. Hundreds of people will be left behind regardless of the US resettlement deal.

The responsibilities of the Australian government for the future and the safety of those on Manus Island did not end with this court case. We expect an apology from Peter Dutton to all those the government has held illegally and we expect an apology for his lies he told when the detention centre was attacked with gunfire on Good Friday.

Mental health toll

A 2014 study of 5,400 asylum seekers in mainland detention centres, Christmas Island, Manus Island and Nauru by medical consulting firm International Health and Medical Services revealed that the detainees mental health is deteriorating in proportion to their time in indefinite detention, and the problem is exacerbated by offshore detention.

The study found that 13 percent of asylum seekers in mainland detention centres and on Christmas Island were suffering extremely severe depression on arrival. A third of the Christmas Island detainees have major mental health issues, indicating a high level of need for torture and trauma counselling services on the island. The mental health of children, who make up about 13 percent of the detainee numbers, was of particular concern.

The number of detainees suffering mental health problems increased to 22 percent for those detained between four and six months and peaked at 44 percent for detention over 19 months. On Manus Island and Nauru approximately half the detainees exhibited symptoms of significant depression, stress or anxiety.

The study claimed that the number of asylum seekers in immigration detention who exhibit clinical symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder now exceeds 1,000.

Manus Island has been without a full-time psychiatrist for six months. The study highlighted the need for specialist torture and trauma counselling services and for psychologists and psychiatrists to work in the detention centres, but made it clear the primary difficulty is the detention environment.

Dr Choong-Siew Yong, a former member of the immigration health advisory group (which the government disbanded) commented:

People are coming as asylum seekers with a high level of mental health problems to begin with, and in the environment of the detention centres and the uncertainty about outcomes, and the fact they are often in detention for long periods of time, those problems remain and in some cases get worse, despite the provision of treatment.

It can be concluded from the report that the current policies of mandatory detention, offshore processing, detaining and resettling asylum seekers in developing nations and forbidding them from ever resettling in Australia are vicious violations of the asylum seekers human rights.
Editorial

The first rule

The first rule once user-pays is established is that you now must make a contribution towards the service that is rightfully yours  and that contribution itself will gradually creep up in price.

Rights become privileges and the quality of services become dependent on your ability to pay.

In this process the individual is pitted against society as those in need of services are not seen as part of society, but instead a burden on it. Government responsibility to society is replaced by individual responsibility.

Ideologically, user-pays is the promotion of individualism: in practice it damns to hell those individuals who do not have the means to provide the basics of life for themselves.

In economic terms, user-pays is a central part of the privatisation drive. Once a service is put on a commercial footing and is turning a profit it is handed over to the private sector by direct sale or is contracted out.

Politically, governments are using this process to erode the basic rights of people. The private sector, which has and is taking over many government functions, is also absolved of any accountability or responsibility for its actions.

Contracting out builds a barrier between government and the people who use the service. This barrier protects profits and covers up incompetence, criminal negligence and corruption. This can be seen in its cold, inhumane manifestation where people are left to struggle alone.

Attacks on the rights of working people involve a combination of government trampling on democratic rights, the privatisation of services and the portrayal of the victim as an economic burden.

Privatisation also results in the replacement of legally enforceable regulation and government supervision by codes of conduct and self-regulation by corporations.

When it comes to handouts to corporations (corporate welfare) there is no shortage of money: they are given billions of dollars of taxpayers money, such as the private health insurance rebate ($6.5 billion) in the governments push to dismantle and privatise Medicare.

Privatisation and the promotion of individualism are the antithesis of the real development of the individual. It is the opposite of a truly democratic government, which is to represent the collective needs of, and be responsible to, society: the community and the individuals who comprise it.

The barriers to peace

Lets be clear: When the US and Australian governments claim they are in support of One China they are lying. Everything they do diplomatically and militarily increasingly exposes the lie, including the current cold war rhetoric about connections with Chinese businesses and the Communist Party of China.

The only thing that constrains the US and its lapdog in the region is their desire to gain advantage from the massive and growing market for their goods and investments and the growing and economic, diplomatic and military strength of Peoples China.

So, instead of pursuing genuine good relations, the Turnbull government is making belligerent announcements about confronting China in the South China Sea while dredging up the communist bogey.

Further, this is based on the false premise that more military spending brings national security, the argument used by the Turnbull government for its grossly increased military spending and the growing US military presence in Australias north.

The fact is, increased military spending will inevitably lead to war.

Real security for all countries can only be achieved by promotion of respect for the independence of all countries, non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations, equality between big and small, acceptance of the right of people of all countries to choose their social and economic system and the conduct of trade on the basis of mutual advantage.

What stands between these objectives being implemented is the likes of Turnbull and Trump and the transnational corporations they serve who regard other countries as primarily territories as a means for domination and exploitation.

These are the barriers to peace.
Seeking asylum is not a crime

Facts: Australians are misinformed when it comes to some basic facts on refugees and asylum seekers. Most people think its a crime to come by boat without a visa seeking protection and most think theres an official queue refugees and asylum seekers can join to be resettled.

Photo: Anna Pha.

A 2015 Red Cross survey of 1,000 people 18+ across Australia found the public do not really know the scale of the issue nor the realities refugees and asylum seekers face. The quiz-style survey questions included facts based on the most recent data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Its not a crime to come to Australia by boat without a visa and ask for protection  yet almost seven out of 10 people think it is, noted the Australian Red Cross. Everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution in other countries, and its not illegal to cross boundaries without documents or passports to do so. People have been fleeing persecution for centuries; think the fall of the Roman Empire, World War I, the Vietnam War.

The survey found that even though there is no official queue for people coming to Australia seeking asylum, more than six in ten people think there is. The UN system does not work on a queue system, there is no orderly line: It is a discretionary process and there is no guarantee that if a refugee waits for a period of time they will be resettled.

There are around 65 million displaced people, refugees and asylum seekers, in the world today.

Asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat are neither engaging in illegal activity, nor are they immigrants.

The UN Refugee Convention (to which Australia is a signatory) recognises that refugees have a right to enter a country for the purposes of seeking asylum, regardless of how they arrive or whether they hold valid travel or identity documents. The Convention stipulates that what would usually be considered as illegal actions (e.g. entering a country without a visa) should not be treated as illegal if a person is seeking asylum. This means that it is incorrect to refer to asylum seekers who arrive without authorisation as illegal, as they in fact have a right to enter Australia to seek asylum.

In line with our obligations under the Convention, Australian law also permits unauthorised entry into Australia for the purposes of seeking asylum. Asylum seekers do not break any Australian laws simply by arriving on boats or without authorisation.

Australian and international law make these allowances because it is not always safe or practicable for asylum seekers to obtain travel documents or travel through authorised channels. Refugees are, by definition, persons fleeing persecution and in most cases are being persecuted by their own government.

It is often too dangerous for refugees to apply for a passport or exit visa or approach an Australian Embassy for a visa, as such actions could put their lives, and the lives of their families, at risk. Refugees may also be forced to flee with little notice due to rapidly deteriorating situations and do not have time to apply for travel documents or arrange travel through authorised channels.

It is also incorrect to refer to asylum seekers as migrants. A migrant is someone who chooses to leave their country to seek a better life. They make a conscious choice to leave and they can return whenever they like. Refugees are forced to leave their country and cannot return unless the situation that forced them to leave improves. Some are forced to flee with no warning; significant numbers of them have suffered torture and trauma. The concerns of refugees are human rights and safety, not economic advantage.

Furthermore, applying for protection onshore is not a means of jumping the queue or bypassing the proper process of applying for protection. In fact, applying onshore is the standard procedure for seeking protection. According to the definition in the UN Refugee Convention, refugees are persons who are outside their country of origin. This means that you cannot apply for refugee status if you are inside your own country. In order to be recognised as a refugee, you must leave your country and apply for refugee status onshore in another country. Every refugee in the world  including those who Australia resettles from overseas  has, at some point, entered another country to seek asylum.

All human beings have a right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution, which makes refugee protection a universal and global responsibility. As a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and as a member of the international community, Australia shares in this responsibility. There is no reason why Australia should be exempt from receiving and processing onshore asylum claims while expecting other nations to fulfil this responsibility. As a developed nation with well-established systems for refugee status determination and strong settlement support infrastructure, Australia is well-placed to play a leading role in refugee protection, both within our region and at a global level.

Refugee flows are primarily affected by war, unrest, violence and human rights abuses. Most people do not wish to leave their homes, families, friends and everything they know and hold dear. They do so as a last resort, to escape persecution and find safety and security for themselves and their families.

Penalising desperate and vulnerable people  who have committed no crime and are in need of protection and assistance  is in itself a crime. Policies which inflict serious harm on asylum seekers or deliberately impede access to effective protection are not acceptable ways of addressing the problem. Policies based on deterrence also fail to address the root cause of the problem, as they do nothing to resolve the conditions which force refugees to flee their homes and undertake risky journeys in the first place, conditions Australia in its support for US-led conflicts, has helped create.

The majority of asylum seekers who have reached Australia by boat have been found to be genuine refugees. Between 70 and 90 percent have typically been found to be refugees.

Australia is one of few nations in the world which imposes mandatory detention on asylum seekers who arrive without visas. In North America and many European nations, most asylum seekers  regardless of how they arrive in the country  are allowed to live in the community while their applications are processed. Only those individuals deemed to be a high security risk are detained.

Compared to other refugee-hosting countries, Australia receives a very small number of asylum applications. The overwhelming majority of the worlds refugees are situated in the developing world in countries neighbouring their own.

The majority of the worlds refugees do eventually return home. This is the most durable solution for the largest number of refugees, both in terms of what is feasible and what is desired by the refugees themselves. UNHCR participates in the voluntary repatriation of thousands of refugees each year, assisting people to return home once conditions in refugee-producing countries have improved and people are no longer at risk of persecution.

For many refugees, however, this is not possible.

Economic status has no bearing on refugee status. A refugee is someone who has a well founded fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. It makes no difference whether a refugee is rich or poor  the point is that they are at risk of, or have experienced, persecution. Many refugees who come to Australia are educated middle-class people, whose education, profession or political opinions have drawn them to the attention of the authorities and resulted in their persecution.
Film Review by Tom Pearson

Il Postino (The Postman)

The poetry of life

In light of the portrayal in Neruda, currently showing in cinemas, we publish the following piece from the Guardian in 1996 to give a more complete picture of Chiles national poet.

There is a pivotal moment in Il Postino when the poet Pablo Neruda points out to his new friend, Mario, a barely-literate postman, that he (Mario) had created a metaphor, an achievement inspired by Nerudas poetry. They are sitting on the sand with the ocean before them.

Neruda smiles with pleasure at having played a part in this small leap in Marios education, but Mario wants to keep on with it. He asks: Then, everything in the world is a metaphor for something else? Stunned, Neruda decides to go for a swim and think it over.

It is 1952 and the communist Pablo Neruda has been exiled from his homeland, Chile. In Il Postino Neruda is living in a house above a fishing village on a small island off the coast of Naples.

He was actually forced into exile by the US-backed dictator, Gonzalez Videla, who came to power in 1948. In 1944, the workers of the nitrate mining region of Antofogasta had asked Neruda to run for Senator and represent them and in 1945, as a member of the Communist Party of Chile, he was elected to the Senate.

He was forced to go underground when his opposition to the Videla dictatorship put his life in danger. The workers protected him, keeping him in their homes and ensuring him safe passage out of the country. Eventually he was given sanctuary by the Italian government.

In the films opening scene Mario, played by Massimo Troisi, touches upon a problem talking with his fisherman father which will later become a telling political issue: the islands shortage of fresh water.

Mario lands the temporary postmans job  delivering Nerudas endless stream of mail  because he can read and write, albeit slowly. Most of the islands population is illiterate.

One scene demonstrates how the medium of film can be used as a means of communication and reflection when a newsreel in the islands cinema hails Nerudas coming and shows footage of the people themselves and their island, which they greet with cheers and applause. Later, Mario uses another form of technology to make a poem.

Mario reveres Neruda. With each journey up the slope, worn, leather mailbag over his shoulder, he chips away at Nerudas distracted introspection and at his own shyness. Finally, he plucks up the courage to ask Neruda to write a poem, on Marios behalf, to Beatrice, with whom he is besotted: the most beautiful woman on the island. She is contemptuous of Mario.

They go down into the village where, to impress her, as Beatrice looks on, Neruda signs a book of his poems with a personal message to Mario.

Marios pursuit of Beatrice is funny and moving, in particular when he uses Nerudas poetry to win her over. The friendship between Mario and Neruda has a kind of warmth and mutual respect which can only exist between two people who have opened up windows to the world for each other.

In Mario the films makers have created a type, rendered with careful detail, and played with a mixture of hesitancy and determination by Troisi. Opposite him is a real person  Neruda  played by Philippe Noiret, an actor so professionally self-assured that he simply is Pablo Neruda.

A celebration of Pablo Neruda

Il Postino could as much be subtitled The Education of Pablo Neruda as The Education of Mario, such is the relationship between the two. Nerudas whole life was the experience of being embraced by, and in turn, embracing the working people. He had a love of humanity which the film conveys, though does not detail.

The following is an extract from Nerudas Childhood and Poetry: a story that is itself a metaphor:

One time, investigating in the back yard of our house in Temuco the tiny objects and minuscule beings of my world, I came upon a hole in one of the boards of the fence. I looked through the hole and saw a landscape like that behind our house, uncared for, and wild. I moved back a few steps, because I sensed vaguely that something was about to happen.

All of a sudden a hand appeared  a tiny hand of a boy about my age. By the time I came close again, the hand was gone, and in its place was a marvellous white toy sheep.

The sheeps wool was faded. The wheels had escaped. All of this only made it more authentic. I had never seen such a wonderful sheep. I looked back through the hole but the boy had disappeared. I went into the house and brought out a treasure of my own: a pine cone, opened, full of odour and resin, which I adored. I set it down in the same spot and went off with the sheep.

I never saw either the hand or the boy again. And I have never again seen a sheep like that either. The toy I lost finally in a fire. But even now, in 1954, almost 50 years old, whenever I pass a toyshop, I look furtively in the window, but its no use. They dont make sheep like that anymore.

I have been a lucky man. To feel the intimacy of brothers is a marvellous thing in life. To feel the love of people whom we love is a fire that feeds our life. But to feel the affection that comes from those whom we do not know, from those unknown to us, who are watching over our dreams and solitude, over our dangers and our weaknesses  that is something still greater and more beautiful because it widens out the boundaries of our being, and unites all living things.

That exchange brought home to me for the first time a precious idea: that all of humanity is somehow together. That experience came to me again much later; this time it stood out strikingly against a background of trouble and persecution.

I never dreamed in my childhood that by giving something resiny, earth-like, and fragrant, I had entered into the brotherhood of humanity. But just as I once left the pine cone by the fence, I have since left my words on the door of so many people who were unknown to me, people in prison, or hunted, or alone.

That is the great lesson I learned in my childhood, in the back yard of a lonely house. Maybe it was nothing but a game two boys played who didnt know each other and wanted to pass to the other some good things of life. Yet this small and mysterious exchange of gifts has perhaps remained inside me like a sedimentary deposit, bringing my poems to life.

The idea that all of humanity is somehow together is alive in the film. Those responsible for Il Postino  director Michael Radford, the authors of the screenplay, Anna Pavignano, Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli, Troisi and Radford and the cast, including Maria Grazia Cucinotta as Beatrice  remain true to that idea right through.

There are snatches of Nerudas poetry throughout the film and one, Poetry, is shown briefly on the screen. The filmmakers are not coy about the politics and mock the crude anti-communism promoted since the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Woven throughout is the light and shade, the laughter and exhilaration, triumph and tragedy of peoples lives. It is a film that carries you through it so that you forget it must resolve itself and finally end: you forget you are watching a film.

It is also about growing political awareness, the rising up of consciousness which can be traced in Pablo Nerudas poetry, as in this exert written while a Senator before he was exiled.

The Guardian, January 31, 1996.

When I was writing my love poems,

which sprouted out from me

everywhere, and I was dying from depression,

nomadic, abandoned, gnawing the alphabet,

they said to me: What a great man you are, Theocritus!

I am not Theocritus: I took hold of life,

And faced her, and kissed her until I subdued her,

and then I went through the tunnels of the mines

to see how other men live.

And when I came out, my hands stained

with depression and garbage,

held up my hands, and showed them to the generals,

and said, I do not take responsibility for this crime.

They started to cough, became disgusted,

left off saying hello,

gave up calling me Theocritus,

and ended by insulting me

and assigning the entire police force to arrest me,

because I did not continue to be occupied

exclusively with metaphysical subjects.
To defend gains and advance democracy

National Congress of the Mazdoor Kissan Party

(Workers & Peasants Party Pakistan  MKP)

Report by the Secretary General Dr Taimur Rahman

The MKP held its all party national congress in the year of the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution in order to emphasise the continuing importance of the lessons of the Russian Revolution, the experience of building socialism in the former Soviet Union, and most importantly the lessons learnt from the defeat of socialism in the recent past.

We resolve that the path to the emancipation of the working people lies only through a struggle for socialism.

In the context of a historical period when the working class is still reorganising from the defeat of socialism the ideological terrain remains littered by many opportunistic theories that are repackaged and represented to the working people as new and novel solutions to the contradictions of capitalism.

Although Pakistan is largely isolated from the international intellectual currents within the socialist movement, the same opportunist theories and trends can also be found in our country. Therefore this Congress represents a step forward in the reorganisation of communist politics in the context of Pakistan.

The Congress itself represents the culmination of a process of several years for the reorganisation of the party on revolutionary ideological principles. The growing opportunism of a section of the former leadership of the party lead not only to continuous splits and factions but eventually to the liquidation of the party into other social democratic formations.

However, those elements that remained ideologically loyal to revolutionary principles, and those that remained strongly embedded in the revolutionary struggles of working people, came together in this Congress. The Congress united three organisations into one. The Pakistan Mazdoor Kissan Party, the Peoples National Congress, and the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party united to form the Mazdoor Kissan Party.

There were 540 party delegates from all over Pakistan and an additional 60 observers from fraternal political parties and trade union organisations in Pakistan. The Congress of the MKP emphasises the continuing relevance of the fundamental methodology of dialectical materialism and the political praxis of Leninism.

History has demonstrated time and time again that the working people cannot take power or maintain power without a Marxist-Leninist party guided by the most advanced theory of the time. The MKP resolves that the state is not, has never been, and can never play a neutral or non-partisan role in the class struggle.

The state

The state is nothing other than the concentrated expression of the rule of a class. Hence, we reject the view that the emancipation of the working people can be accomplished by pursuing a path of class reconciliation. The MKP emphasises that the nature of the dictatorship of the capitalist class has dramatically changed, especially since the fall of the Soviet Union. The dictatorship of the capitalist class relies heavily upon the monopoly over information through the ownership of mass media.

Hence, the illusion of consent is created whereas in fact this brutal system of exploitation is preserved through the manipulation of public opinion in what appears to be a free and open media but is in fact controlled entirely by different sections of the capitalist class.

The MKP resolves that in the context where the working class is just now recovering from three decades of various defeats it is very easy to fall prey to all sort of opportunist theories that in one way or another serve only to manage capitalism rather than to overthrow it.

We feel that it is incumbent on Marxists, though they may be few in number and/or influence, that they continue patiently explaining to the people the need to grasp revolutionary theory, build working class organisations, and work for a socialist tomorrow. The end of the Cold War has proven without a single doubt that the end of the socialist bloc did not bring about a peaceful world, let alone the end of history. It brought about an imperialism that was even more aggressive than in the past.

It brought about new wars of conquest, new forms of barbarism, the crisis of immigration, the destruction of Iraq, Libya, Syria. An immoral coup in Brazil, attempts to overthrow governments in Venezuela, attempts to subvert the remaining vestiges of socialism in East Asia. The faster and more aggressive concentration of capital through derivatives, finance capital, and other forms of accumulation by dispossession.

Hence, the MKP holds its Congress in a highly polarised and charged world today. The liberal cosmopolitan consensus has given way to a nationalist right-wing and even fascist narrative that is eerily reminiscent of the 1930s.

As was the case in the past, this new turn is also the result of the sharpening of contradictions between the classes. It is now quite clear that business in the old way is no longer possible. The revolt against the 1%, against neo-liberal policies, against environmental catastrophes, against the continuous wars and genocides waged on the Third World have exposed all the brutal contradictions of capitalism today. Hence, we feel it necessary to educate and inform the working masses that the solution to the contradictions do not lie either in liberal cosmopolitanism or in rightwing fascist and nationalist narratives.

Defend gains

The solution lies only in the struggle for a socialist future. In this time, when the psychological war has reached a new zenith of perfection, it is very important to remind the working people to defend the gains of socialist struggles of the past, defend those countries against imperialist onslaught that are charting an independent course of economic and political development for themselves, defend the states created by national liberation movements no matter what shape of form they may be in today.

Defending such movements and states does not mean that one becomes apologists for them. In fact, defending them presupposes a Marxist critique of the class character and the reasons for their weaknesses in the struggle against imperialism. At the same time, such critiques can never be framed in a way that serve to advance imperialism against the working people of the world. In the context of the Muslim world, the fascism of religious extremism is very real.

And it can and will be countered by the progressive forces within those countries. We need to remind the working people that these religious extremist groups were created by imperialism itself in order to quell the tide of the progressive movement in the Third World. Hence, it is not imperialism that can reverse the tide of religious extremism. In fact, it is now perfectly and adequately clear to the politically advanced people of the world that imperialism utilises religious extremism as an excuse to destroy and occupy strategically important countries.

The solution to religious extremism and imperialism can only be worked out in every individual country in accordance with the objective and subjective conditions of that country.

Unity

However, the only force that can chart the course for a progressive future is the working people of those countries.

To counter these fascist currents the need is more strongly felt than ever before for the unity of the progressive forces of South Asia against those who are creating national hatred between two nuclear armed Third World countries, namely India and Pakistan.

Only progressive forces can counter the threat of war looming over South Asia and resolve the remaining problems left by British colonial partition because only progressive forces represent the classes of society that are not interested in conquest, predatory wars, occupation, or exploitation. The working people cannot emancipate themselves by subjugating other people. And that is why it is only the working class that can create international peace.

To bring about this progressive change the party resolves to strengthen all working-class organisations, trade unions, student unions, womens organisations, peasant organisations, civil society organisations, and lead them in the struggle against the ruling class for a peoples democratic revolution leading to a socialist future.

The party resolves to defend and advance the principles of democracy and secularism against the right-wing onslaught of religious extremist and fascist forces. This includes the struggle for the rights of women, religious minorities, and all other threatened communities within Pakistan.

The party resolves to defend and advance all the gains of the past in relation to imperialism. The party will struggle against the criminal policies of neo-liberalism that should be considered a form of social murder of the working people. The party resolves to defend and advance the principles of national equality, autonomy, and democracy for all the nationalities that exist within Pakistan. It vows to struggle against national oppression in order to bring about the union of all working people of all nationalities against capitalism, imperialism, and landlordism.

The party resolves to struggle against any form of military rule in Pakistan. The party resolves to defend and advance the principles of peoples rule and will oppose any form of theocratic or military dictatorship that infringes upon the hard-won democratic rights of the working people.

The party resolves that the international and national contradictions that are the result of modern-day capitalism cannot be solved within the framework created by the ruling class itself. They can only be resolved by a determined struggle for socialism in Pakistan and in the world. We send our fraternal and comradely greetings to all our comrades around the world and greet them with the good news of the reorganisation of the Marxist Leninist within Pakistan.

Decisions of the Congress 2017

The ideological and organisational debates and resulting decisions during the Congress are as follows:

The Congress resolved that the term between Congresses should be three years.

There was a lengthy debate on the national question.

The consensus of the Congress was to uphold the resolution of the national question as stated in the program Some comrades raised the point of view that the right of self-determination to other nations within Pakistan should be revisited. They argued that it would be difficult to convince people that the future socialist Pakistan should consist of four republics with the right of nations to self-determination.

The Presidium defended the view that without the determined struggle for complete equality of all nations and ethnicities that live within Pakistan guaranteed by the right of nations to self-determination it would not be possible to bring together the toilers of Pakistan who all come from different national and ethnic backgrounds.

That these measures were necessary in order to bring about the unity of the working class against the ruling class.

There was also a lengthy debate on the class character of the Pakistan Peoples Party. An opinion was expressed that it should be considered purely a party of the landed classes (i.e. a feudal party).

The Presidium defended the view that the capitalists and landlord classes were distributed in all the major political parties of Pakistan. Hence, no one party can be said to be the exclusive party of capital or of the landed gentry.

There was also a debate about whether the word imperialism should be substituted for the word army where questions of religious extremism were being debated. This was also not approved as the passages in question were examining the policy of the Pakistani state specifically rather than imperialism as a system. But it was decided that the word state would be preferable to the word army.

There were some important suggestions made about correcting language and rechecking the statistics within the party document. But since these were not points of ideological contestation they were quickly approved by the Congress.

There was a lengthy debate about the procedure through which the new Central Committee should be chosen.

The procedure whereby the outgoing Central Committee presents a suggested list of candidates to the Congress that is then amended, ratified or rejected by the Congress was challenged by several comrades. In fact, there were also two opinions on this matter within the Presidium of the Party Congress. It was suggested that the new Central Committee should be proposed by the District Committees. And that this proposed list could be approved or rejected by the Congress.

The motion was challenged on the grounds that districts of the party were in such far away places that they were not in a position to know the vital work of comrades in fields that may not have resulted in high membership but are equally vital to the party (such as ideological work or the work of publishing party literature). After a lengthy debate on this issue the suggested list made by the outgoing CC was read to the Congress and the House was invited to suggest names. The list of suggested names went up to 30 candidates.

Then the house was invited to debate how large the new Central Committee should be. The house accepted that it should be a relatively small committee and came to a consensus that the new CC should be about 21 members. After this debate several candidate members of the new CC voluntarily asked for their names to be dropped.

The proposed list now came down to 25. A suggestion was made and approved by the Congress that any member that missed two meetings of the Central Committee within a year will be dropped. With this new rule introduced in place, the Congress finalised these 25 candidates and unanimously elected the new Central Committee.
The Forever War strategy

America is unique among historys warrior states  prioritising endless wars, not ending them to achieve a new era of peace and stability.

The notion is anathema to the nations military, industrial, and media establishment. Wars are waged for power and profits, no other reasons.

All post-WW2 US wars were and continue to be acts of naked aggression against nations threatening no one  raping and destroying them, the human cost incalculable, the villainy unprecedented.

Throughout its history, America has been perpetually at war at home and/or abroad, never a time of peace and stability  a shocking indictment of its abhorrent agenda, the nation a democracy in name only.

Its high crimes against humanity continue endlessly in multiple theatres, wars against other targeted nations to be launched at its discretion  unthinkable nuclear war the greatest risk to our survival.

In last weeks testimony before Senate Armed Services Committee members, Defence Secretary James Mattis said America isnt winning in Afghanistan  nor anywhere else. He failed to explain.

He promised a new Afghan war strategy by mid-July. Its no different from the old one. Here it is before announced:

Continue endless war. Get Congress to appropriate tens of billions more dollars for a lost cause. Claim slow and steady progress.

Later in the face of continued failure, promise another new course, much more money needed to pursue it.

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Joseph (fighting Joe) Dunford lied to Senate Armed Services Committee members, claiming Americas competitive advantage is eroding ... limiting our ability to project power.

US military spending exceeds what all other NATO members, Russia and China spend combined, with all categories included, including black budgets  more than US$1.5 trillion annually, the so-called defence budget one part of it.

The Pentagon and related budgets should be sharply slashed, not increased, Americas empire of bases dismantled, a new era of peace declared  for the first time in US history, swords turned into ploughshares.

A polar opposite agenda is pursued. Permanent war is long-standing US policy, bipartisan-supported out-of-control militarism  at the expense of vital homeland needs, social justice and a nation fit to live in, drowning in hubris and arrogance, along with contempt for democratic values and rule of law principles.

No nation caused more harm to more people over a longer duration. None more greatly threatens humanitys survival.

Peace is a nonstarter. Its always been this way, notably post-9/11. The vast majority of House and Senate members support Americas imperial war agenda  including self-styled progressive Bernie Sanders.

They glorify them, falsely portraying them as humanitarian intervention and democracy building, ignoring the appalling human toll  genocide by any standard.

If a way isnt found to end Americas imperial agenda, itll end us.

globalresearch.ca
Culture & Life

Fascism rides again

The form of government that capitalism finds most congenial is bourgeois democracy, the system we have here in Australia (and indeed in most developed capitalist countries). By staging elections every few years, the people are given the erroneous impression that they and not the owners of the big corporations decide the government and run the country.

However, when the people decide that its time to really take charge of the running of the country, and seek to install a government more responsive to their wishes, capitalism turns nasty and defends itself by resorting to state terrorism, specifically embracing the system known as fascism.

Although Mussolini gave fascism its name, it was a known system before Mussolini popularised its name. In fact, the first fascist country was actually not Italy but Hungary following the overthrow of Bela Kuns short-lived Republic of Councils established in 1918. Even earlier than that, however, the elements of fascism had been developed in Tsarist Russia, especially the use of state terrorism and anti-Jewish pogroms by rampaging gangs of armed thugs (the notorious Black Hundreds). Jews formed a large national minority in Tsarist Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church had no problem with making them a scapegoat for the ills of aristocrat-ridden Russian society.

When the Revolution swept away the remnants of Tsarism, its defenders fled to other countries of Europe where their combined hatred of Jews and Reds found ready acceptance in the post-war chaos of the collapse of a number of the European empires. In Hungary, the powerful and reactionary Catholic Church imposed clerical fascism to prevent any possible return of Kuns Soviet-style regime. Italy soon followed to prevent a workers revolution there.

While the Revolution had ultimately won in Russia after a far-ranging civil war, Britain and the European capitalist powers sought to create what Churchill called a cordon sanitaire around the new Soviet state, lest its revolutionary ideas pollute the rest of Europe. Britain and France helped White Guard counter-revolutionaries into power in the former Russian province of Finland and did the same thing in the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The cordon was quickly joined by Poland, another former part of the Russian empire and in 1918 a country dominated by large landholders. Fearing the spread of Red revolution there, Colonel Pilsudski had seized power soon after the country achieved independence and had installed a military dictatorship.

The anti-Semitism and anti-Communism of the emigre Russian Whites found strong support among the ideologues of the German Nazi Party, who were waging a battle to the death to defend German capitalism from the Communist Party of Germany. Hitler told Germanys business leaders he would rid them of the danger of Red Revolution if they would give him the resources  and the funds  he needed. They did, and he obliged.

The Communist parties of the world warned that the growth of fascist governments would mean war, but the capitalist powers were unconcerned for they were trying to provoke a war that would destroy their socialist rival the USSR. Soviet diplomacy skilfully thwarted that ambition for a time but ultimately war came to the Soviet Union anyway. At prodigious cost, the Soviet Army defeated the fascist forces and saved the world.

After WW2, progressive movements briefly flourished but a frightened capitalism soon resorted to fascism again whenever it perceived a threat to itself. To the people it talked incessantly of democracy but simultaneously spent their wealth building up the military might of what had emerged as the imperialist superpower, the USA. The worlds people were so strongly opposed to any return to the horrors of WW2, however, that the capitalist powers had to pose as the champions of peace while waging a cold war against the Soviet Union and the other countries that had chosen a Socialist form of government. A combination of unprecedented subversive activities, non-stop propaganda and economic blockade left the Socialist countries in a permanent state of siege.

In the wake of WW2, capitalism had found itself challenged by anti-imperialist struggles around the world and had resorted to its usual defence whenever it felt propaganda was not enough. Fascism was soon rampant from Chile to South Africa. The anti-imperialist movement finally suffered a huge setback in 1989 with the abandonment of Socialism in Russia and the dissolution of the USSR. The attempt to break up the country into a host of small states whose resources could be exploited at will failed however.

To prevent any return to Socialism, unsuccessful attempts were made to foist openly fascist regimes on the former republics of the USSR. These attempts were more successful with regard to Eastern Europe, with intensely anti-Communist regimes installed in countries as diverse as Croatia, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Hungary, Poland, and our old friends the Baltic republics.

Fascism is the open rule of the most reactionary elements of capitalism and is resorted to when capitalism perceives itself to be under threat. It relies on the work of demagogues like Hitler or Donald Trump to whip up support while simultaneously diverting attention using racial scapegoats (Jews, Mexicans) and promises to make Germany great or America great again.

The one thing fascism cannot do is meet the needs of the people (since it serves the needs of their exploiters). In fact, the economic sector that benefits most from fascism and most vigorously supports it is the armaments industry and all its related industry subsets. Inevitably, this means that fascisms combination of extravagant promises of national glory, claims of racial superiority and appeals to ultra-patriotism can only be even partially met through aggression. The old slogan Fascism means War is as true today as it was in the 1930s.

The spread of fascism today attests to the growing awareness on the part of the biggest wealthiest corporations that capitalism is in crisis. The working class cannot be fooled forever. Fascism might stop the peoples movement temporarily but it has never succeeded in holding it back permanently.
Channel programs News

New President Of Rolta AdvizeX: We Want More Profit From Services

Rick Saia

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The new president of solution provider giant Rolta AdvizeX wants to invest more in service delivery in an effort to balance its profit mix and complement its technical expertise.

C.R. Howdyshell, who took over as president of the Independence, Ohio-based company earlier this year, said he wants Rolta AdvizeX to split its profit evenly between its service and product offerings, he told CRN in an interview. Right now, the product side drives about 70 to 75 percent of net income, he said.

"Our services business has experienced some very positive growth," said Howdyshell, who joined the company in 2003 and had most recently headed the Midwest region for Rolta  No. 98 on CRN's Solution Provider 500. "We compete in a highly competitive industry with other resellers. Our value-add and our differentiation is around our technical expertise and our ability to articulate the best strategy, the best solution for our customers."

[Related: In 2012, Oracle Services Giant Rolta Acquired SP500 Power AdvizeX]

To drive more profit from services, Howdyshell said Rolta will invest in adding pre-sales solutions architects and service delivery professionals.

"Everything we do should be relevant to our customers, by helping them use technology as a business advantage. That, in turn, ensures we're more relevant to our core technology partners," he wrote in a blog post earlier this month.

Rolta AdvizeX, which has historically focused on data center technologies, wants to focus most on hybrid cloud, Howdyshell told CRN. "That in itself is a lot of work and a lot of effort to be able to articulate for customers the right solution."

"Hybrid cloud, we believe, will make us relevant [and] will keep us relevant," he added. "And for us, we really are going to work with our customers  and their journey to the cloud."

Another priority? Security, where the solution provider has seen "outstanding growth" in the last two years, Howdyshell said.

Rolta AdvizeX has high-level partnerships with several top technology vendors, notably Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Dell EMC and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). In his interview with CRN, Howdyshell said his company sees hyper-converged infrastructure as "probably one of the key new areas of opportunity," and is looking at Dell EMC's and HPE's hyper-converged solutions, especially after the latter's purchase earlier this year of hyper-converged startup SimpliVity, a deal he says will widen opportunities for HPE.

"We typically align with the number one or number two players in the industry," he said, "and we want to do the same when we look at the hyper-converged environment. Our preference is not to be "box pushers" [yet] to really understand the market or the hyper-converged space, and then put the best solution in place."

For Rolta AdvizeX to execute its strategy, "we need to stand behind our best-of-breed solutions and be able to go neck deep with those technologies versus put your toe in the water and be able to sell, basically, a box. That's not what we want to do," he said.

Howdyshell began his career in 1983 with Xerox, where he advanced through its sales organization to senior management roles over the next 17 years.

At Rolta AdvizeX, he succeeded Fred Traversi, who retired earlier this month after 15 years as president, yet remains an executive advisor. The two worked side-by-side between February and June before Traversi stepped aside. "You couldn't ask for better tutelage," Howdyshell said.
Cloud News

SkyKick Revamps Office 365 Migration And Backup Suites

Joseph Tsidulko

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SkyKick, developer of popular tools for facilitating Microsoft Office 365 migrations and backups, on Wednesday significantly revamped both those core products.

The "major overhaul" to SkyKick's cloud migration and backup platforms was driven by recommendations from partners, who wanted more control over and visibility into their projects, said Todd Schwartz, co-founder and co-CEO of the Seattle-based startup.

"One of the things we heard from partners was they wanted more visibility into what our automation was doing and more control of that automation," Schwartz told CRN.

[Related: Here's Who Made Gartner's 2017 Magic Quadrant For Cloud IaaS]

The latest release enhances SkyKick's Office 365 migration suite with a new user interface that delivers granular visibility. It also adds control buttons that execute important email migration functions, mailbox configuration options and more ways to manage devices.

With the new migration platform, partners can start, stop and reset desktop setups remotely, which saves time troubleshooting, Schwartz said.

The updates to the backup platform improve the browse and search experience and for the first time enable partners to restore entire folders and accounts for Microsoft's OneDrive for Business storage service. SkyKick also introduced more powerful SharePoint backup capabilities.

Both releases give partners direct control over all the functionality they need to manage their engagements, he said.

"New interfaces can see what's going on deeper with the algorithms and take more granular action at the user, device level," Schwartz said, "and that's a lot of the stuff that partners were asking for."

SkyKick has about 5,000 global partners.

Mike Prussack, a Windows engineer at Seitel, a Seattle-based SkyKick partner, said the new capabilities will help his company get customers into the cloud even faster.

Seitel has worked with SkyKick tools since the early days of Office 365, "when everyone was still trying to figure out how it was going to work," Prussack told CRN.

"If you ever had a flag come up in your migration saying something couldn't get set up, you pretty much just had to call support and they would look at the back end and see what the issue was and help you resolve it," he said.

With the new tools, which Seitel helped beta test, "instead of calling support we can dig into the migration dashboard," Prussack said.

Ross Jordan, CTO of Connecting Point, a managed service provider based in Greeley, Colo., recently conducted a full Office 365 migration using the latest SkyKick release in which a call to technical support was averted by the new capabilities.

SkyKick "makes the projects the same no matter who the clients are," Jordan told CRN. "We turn on SkyKick and it will take care of most of it."

Past iterations of the platforms, looking to simplify the interface, hid functionality from partners. That left situations where they had no choice but to seek assistance from the vendor.

The new interface empowers the partner. "Essentially, I can click a button and fix this rather than having to have them click a button," Jordan told CRN.

Last year, SkyKick introduced upgrades allowing partners to directly embed SkyKick capabilities into their own websites and custom-built tools.
Data center News

AMD Takes Aim At Intel's Hold On The Server Market With New Epyc Data Center Processors

Lindsey O'Donnell

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AMD is hoping to break Intel's hold on the server market, unveiling Tuesday the official launch of its new Epyc data center chip family.

The Epyc platform, which marks AMD's return to the server market after a four-year hiatus, consists of nine 7000 processors that boast a larger memory bandwidth and broader array of input/output lines.

With our Epyc family of processors, AMD is delivering industry-leading performance on critical enterprise, cloud and machine intelligence workloads, said Lisa Su, president and CEO of AMD, in a statement. Epyc processors offer uncompromising performance for single-socket systems while scaling dual-socket server performance to new heights, outperforming the competition at every price point. We are proud to bring choice and innovation back to the data center with the strong support of our global ecosystem partners.

[Related: Partners: Qualcomm Should Expect Intel To 'Flex Muscles' Around Potential x86 Emulation Infringement Issues]

AMD's Zen-based Epyc lineup ranges from eight-core, 16-thread pieces up to 32-core, 64-thread CPUs with four eight-core dies.

These dies are internally connected through AMD's Infinity Fabric, which the company said is cheaper than trying to pack multiple cores on a single die.

"We are very excited about AMDs new server platform based on the Epyc SoC," said Andrew Kretzer, director of sales and marketing at Bold Data Technology, a Fremont, Calif.-based system builder. "Our preliminary testing has shown Epyc-based systems to excel at memory and I/O-intensive tasks  whether bare metal or virtualized  all at a very competitive price point. Everyone benefits when there is competition in the marketplace."

AMD said that single-socket systems running its high-end Epyc 7601 chip can achieve up to 20 percent capital expenditure savings, compared with Intel's Xeon E5-2660 v4-based two-socket system.

Intel, which has been heavily investing in its data center business as part of its widespread restructuring efforts, currently holds a tight grip on the $16.5 billion server chip market with its popular Xeon chips.

Intel did not respond to a request for comment before publication. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant has said it will refresh its server processors over the summer.

"This competition helps the channel, and it makes Intel very sharp at its game," said Dominic Daninger, vice president of engineering at Northern Computer Technologies, a Burnsville, Minn.-based custom system builder. "The memory bandwidth [on the Epyc SoCs] is good AMD has generally had a lower-priced offering than Intel, so this should generate some interest with our customers."
Internet of things News

IoT Startup Samsara, Led By Meraki Founders, Focuses On Channel After A $40M Funding Round

Lindsey O'Donnell

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Internet of Things startup Samsara, which is led by the founders of Cisco's Meraki business, announced on Wednesday that it had secured $40 million in a Series C funding round.

Kiren Sekar, vice president of product management and marketing at Samsara, told CRN that the company hopes to use the funding in part to double down on its channel strategy, as well as accelerate growth and research and development investments.

"This funding is really about enabling us to make investments in the long term and grow our company at a fast rate," he said. "We're using this funding to invest in research and development to bring our technology to new applications, as well as investing in sales and marketing  including programs for our channel partners and the teams working with our channel partners."

[Related: Cisco Partners Take Notice As Meraki Founders Launch IoT Startup]

Samsara was founded by CEO Sanjit Biswas and CTO John Bicket, who previously founded and led Meraki  a successful cloud networking company that was acquired by Cisco in 2012 for $1.2 billion.

The San Francisco, Calif.-based company in 2015 released its Internet-connected sensor solution, which includes wireless gateways that transmit data to software in the cloud for industrial customers. This software-centric solution takes data from sensors, encrypts and secures that data, and sends it to the cloud, where the company's cloud service aggregates and analyzes the data for business value.

The company has customized and deployed this solution to help improve safety, efficiency, compliance and end-user satisfaction for customers from an array of vertical markets, including transportation, industrial operations, utilities, and warehouses.

For instance, Samsara offers various IoT solutions for the $8 billion vehicle telematics market, including the Samsara VG34, a gateway purpose-built for transportation, as well as connected dash cams and GPS fleet tracking applications.

With its recent funding round, which was led by General Catalyst with participation from existing investor Andreessen Horowitz and Samsara's founders, Samsara said it can now focus on long-term growth both for its platform and its company  including expanding its headcount from 100 employees to 200 by the year's end.

"Thanks to our faster-than-market sales growth, we didn't need additional outside funding for day to day operations," said Samara's co-founder and CEO Biswas in a statement. "But we believe that Samsara's approach to IoT can have a broad impact across large markets. We've already seen the technology benefit customers ranging from vehicle fleet operators to water utilities to energy producers. This new financing lets us invest in long-term technology development to explore new applications for our platform."

The company launched its channel in early 2016, and since then has grown the program to include many resellers and system integrators both on the IT and operational technology side.

"We have a number of very active partners," said Sekar. "Some of them are partners who we know well from our time at Cisco. Meraki's channel was a huge aspect of its success, and we have really great relationships with the channel after our experience there."

Sekar said that Samsara's IoT solution is particularly beneficial to partners because the end-to-end platform means that they can focus on business value for customers instead of getting caught up in configuration and integration.

"The simplicity and ease of use of the product has been an asset for the partners, and it allows them to get out and show value for customers," he said. "The other aspect that has been really attractive is the fact that its a complete system that they can offer, instead of having to bring in different vendors."

Samsara had raised $40 million in two earlier rounds led by Andreessen Horowitz, bringing the company's total capital raised to $80 million.
Security News

CRN Exclusive: Demisto Launches First Partner Program As Market For Security Automation Heats Up

Sarah Kuranda

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Demisto is doubling down on the channel, announcing on Wednesday the launch of its first partner program as the market for security automation and orchestration heats up.

The new Nucleus Partner Program has two tiers: silver and gold, which are based on sales volume and number of trained sales engineers. The company has also rolled out provisions for deal registration, incumbency on expansionary and renewal sales, first right of refusal on professional services, pre- and post-sales training, and high-margin pricing for partners.

The new program is led by Bob Kruse, who joined the company in April as vice president of alliances. Kruse comes to Demisto from Optiv Security, where he was vice president of partner solutions until March. Kruse said the program will provide the foundation for Demisto to "build a lot of momentum and quickly."

[Related: 2017 Security 100: 20 Coolest SIEM And Threat Detection Vendors]

"This is something that is great for us, but it is also great for our channel," Kruse said. "The channel is already experiencing the same [growth with us]."

Tera Davis, managing director at Plano, Texas-based Critical Start, said she is seeing demand grow for security automation and orchestration solutions, especially as customers look to improve their security operations centers. She said Critical Start already has a couple of customers doing proofs-of-concept with Demisto's technology.

"We're continuing to grow as a company, and a company like Demisto is a great addition to our portfolio," Davis said.

Davis said the new partner program is "really nice," highlighting the margins, deal protections and opportunities to work together on deals.

"It shows that they are focused and committed to the channel, especially in their early stage," Davis said. "We are looking forward to having a strong partnership."

The program isn't Demisto's first foray into the channel. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company already worked 100 percent through the channel prior to the launch and does not sell direct. The company first started its engagement with the channel in August, but was mostly "opportunistic and not strategic," co-founder and Vice President of Marketing Rishi Bhargava said. He said the addition of Kruse and the launch of the new program will help scale Demisto's go-to-market and make engagement with the channel more strategic.

"This will help improve our reach. Launching a partner program and a focus on hiring the best of the best channel partners out there is very important to us," Bhargava said.

Demisto will look to add partners in four categories: managed security service providers, system integrators, technology partners, and consulting partners. It has already recruited nearly a dozen security-focused regional, national, and global partners. Kruse said the company is looking to add partners that are security focused and already partner with vendors the company integrates with.

The partner program launch also comes as the market for security automation and orchestration heats up in a big way. The market overall is expected to hit $1.68 billion by 2021, up from $826 million in 2016, according to research firm MarketsandMarkets. With that rising demand has come the start of consolidation in the space, with Microsoft acquiring Demisto competitor Hexadite earlier this month for a reported $100 million.

Founded in 2015, Demisto has garnered significant venture capital attention  including $20 million in funding in February  for its security automation platform. The offering helps SOC analysts automate alert triage, track and manage incidents, automate threat feed correlation, and facilitate incident investigations.

For partners, that market is critical as customers grapple with an increasing security talent shortage and rising number of security alerts, Bhargava said. He said he also sees demand driven by desires to reduce the mean time from attack to response and to provide a consistent process for incident response. Kruse said the lack of cybersecurity talent is the "biggest threat" to partners and customers.

"The lack of skilled talent is probably the biggest cybersecurity threat ever," Kruse said. "If there's no people to run [security solutions], then we're out of luck. That's where automation, machine learning, artificial intelligence can supplement and mitigate that pain."

Kruse said Demisto will continue to develop its partner program, saying it is a "living, breathing program." He said Demisto will also eventually look to "automate things beyond security," applying its technology to other areas of the IT infrastructure and providing "automation and orchestration for everything."
Security News

Partners: Massive RNC Voter Info Data Leak In AWS Highlights Need For Cloud Security Expertise

Sarah Kuranda

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Partners said the importance of a thorough understanding of cloud security is front and center after a massive leak on an AWS server that exposed voting data on nearly 200 million people.

The data was exposed by a misconfigured database stored on a publicly accessible cloud server, hosted on Amazon Web Services' Simple Storage Service (S3). The exposure was first reported by UpGuard's Cyber Risk Team and discovered by Risk Analyst Chris Vickery.

The data exposed, more than 1.1 terabytes, includes personal information on more than 198 million American voters, including names, dates of birth, home addresses, phone numbers, voter registration details, and more.

[Related: How Private Is Your Public Cloud? Stacking Up Google, Microsoft And AWS Data Privacy]

An UpGuard report on the findings said the data repository, which was owned by Republican National Convention-contracted marketing firm Deep Root Analytics, "lacked any protection against access." The report said anyone with an internet connection could navigate to the "dra-dw" bucket then could download the contents of the data warehouse. UpGuard said there was an additional 24 terabytes of data stored that also had not been configured correctly.

"That such an enormous national database could be created and hosted online, missing even the simplest of protections against the data being publicly accessible, is troubling. The ability to collect such information and store it insecurely further calls into question the responsibilities owed by private corporations and political campaigns to those citizens targeted by increasingly high-powered data analytics operations," the UpGuard report said.

Michael Crean, president and CEO at Woodbridge, Va.-based Solutions Granted, said incidents like this highlight the need for customers to make more informed decisions when it comes to implementing security solutions and compensating controls when migrating to the cloud.

"This isn't just about the RNC or about AWS. This is truly about all cloud services. Many, many organizations, especially with Office 365  are moving to the cloud, but a lot of people have not thought about security services when it comes to the cloud," Crean said. "I think an incident like this really starts to materialize what is happening out there  Events like this are 'a-ha moments' and provide validation to our customers that this is a real challenge."

While this incident is extensive, Crean said the challenge around cloud security is even more far-reaching. He said more and more small and medium businesses are migrating to the cloud for cost and efficiency benefits, but may not be aware of the security concerns of the cloud.

"This is truly the beginning," Crean said. "There is probably massive amounts of data leakage, and that will continue to happen. People need to wake up and remember that they are responsible for the choices they make on where they put their data  As consumers, we want to know our data is safe."

UpGuard agreed in its report. The company said incidents like this add to the "increasing inability to trust in the integrity of information technology systems, particularly at scale." It said similar incidents could be prevented if stakeholders follow best practices in collecting and storing data.

"The fundamental problems which exposed this data are not rare, uncommon, or consigned to one side of the partisan divide  Despite the breadth of this breach, it will doubtlessly be topped in the future  to a likely far more damaging effect  if the ethos of cyber resilience across all platforms does not become the common language of all internet-facing systems," the UpGuard report said.

The problem of misconfigurations in cloud platforms isn't uncommon. According to a study by cloud security company Threat Stack, 73 percent of companies had at least one critical security misconfiguration, with the most common misconfigurations around SSH connections.

To prevent these issues, Eric Sessums, cyber security program developer at Tampa, Fla.-based NetWolves, said companies need to implement proper access controls and encryption. Without those tools, he said Amazon S3 cloud servers can expose data to the public. He said NetWolves is also adding a cyber command center to provide employee training, which he said can add an extra layer of security around the cloud.

"Better security configuration controls, access management, and cybersecurity personnel training is one of the ways to prevent exposure of sensitive data," Sessums said. "Training employees and contractors on cybersecurity procedures should always be on the forefront of any cybersecurity teams practice."

Solutions Granted's Crean said companies should also to cloud access security broker (CASB) solutions to not only initially secure cloud environments, but maintain security on an ongoing basis. He said a CASB solution is a tool that "could have easily stopped this from happening." He said partners can play a key role in helping customers navigate their move to the cloud in a secure way.
Security News

Cybereason Lands $100M In Series D Funding, Plans Investments In 'Aggressive Go-To-Market' Push

Sarah Kuranda

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With $100 million in new Series D funding in hand, Cybereason said it will now look to be more aggressive in its go-to-market push, including through partners.

Cybereason announced the new round of funding by previous investor and customer SoftBank Group Corp. on Wednesday. The latest round brings the Boston, Mass.-based company's total funding raised to $189 million.

Cybereason is an endpoint detection and response company that was co-founded by former Unit 8200 members, Israel's equivalent to the NSA. The company's solution looks to bring an offensive mindset to security, actively hunting for threats in an environment using machine learning and artificial intelligence and helping provide tools, such as visibility and forensics, when a threat is identified.

[Related: 10 Hot Startups That Raised VC Funding In May]

In an interview with CRN, CEO Lior Div said the new round of funding would allow Cybereason to step up its go to market strategy in a big way.

"It's a huge vote of trust from someone that knows the ins and outs of the company. We weren't in a position that we needed the money, but we decided together that we want to be more aggressive in our go to market," Div said.

Div said much of that go to market push will go through partners. Cybereason launched its first partner program last week and announced the appointment of Vice President of Channels Gregg Henebry.

"We believe part of our go to market is to be very aggressive with the channel and the partners in our business model," Div said. Div said Cybereason will also invest in expanding its go-to-market push globally, with focus on EMEA and APAC.

Ethan Simmons, managing partner of Pinnacle Technology Partners, said the new round of funding will help Cybereason stand out and prove its staying power in a crowded market for security solutions. He said he expects it will also allow the company to invest in R&D to further accelerate its product roadmap.

"Our goal is to find someone who is committed to their channel strategy, has a good solution, and is going to be around for a while," Simmons said. "This funding helps us have a high confidence that we're comfortable talking to our customers about."

As a partner, Simmons said he has been glad to see Cybereason's growing push through the channel. He expects the new round of funding will further fuel that growth, with more financing for market and channel development funds.

"For us as a channel partner, we're hearing things we like to hear as a partner. They're building out their sales team, but driving that out with the channel in mind," Simmons said. "We're looking to make an impact in the market with them."

Cybereason has been on a strong growth trajectory since it was founded in 2012, with more the 300 employees globally and more than 500 percent growth in revenue last year. Div said the company's growth had been driven by a recognition that current defensive security solutions aren't evolving to meet today's security challenges. He said Cybereason's offensive approach allows it to be more agile and evolve with emerging threats.

"The old method simply isn't working," Div said. "We are the only one that moves from the endpoint detection and response to enterprise detection and response, meaning not just looking at each and every one of the endpoints but collecting information, analyzing it in real-time, and giving you an answer to what is happening in your enterprise as a whole."

Div said Cybereason's long-term vision is to "dominate the cybersecurity market." He said the company would apply the new round of funding to develop its solution and go-to-market strategy. Div said those moves would prepare Cybereason for the long term, whether that means an IPO or not.

"I am not focusing on this right now, but I am focusing on building the company in the most aggressive way we can," Div said. "Then, we will see what the future will bring."
Security News

Microsoft Skype Hit By Alleged DDoS Attack, Causes Connectivity Challenges

Sarah Kuranda

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Microsoft has confirmed an outage in its Skype offering, which caused connectivity issues earlier this week and is allegedly the result of a Distributed Denial of Service attack.

Skype users started complaining about connectivity issues on Monday, with hours of downtime. The issues continued into Tuesday, with users losing connectivity and having trouble exchanging messages on the communications platform. The outage appeared to primarily affect Europe.

It is not clear if the connectivity issues affected just the consumer Skype application, or also Skype for Business.

[Related: Massive DDoS Attack On U.S. College Throws IoT Security Into The Spotlight -- Again]

Microsoft confirmed the issues with the service in a Tweet and on its blog, saying Monday that they were "aware of an incident where users will either lose connectivity to the application or may be unable to send or receive messages. Some users will be unable to see a black bar that indicates them that a group call is ongoing, and longer delays in adding users to their buddy list." On Tuesday Microsoft updated the blog post to say it was "seeing improvements" but some users still were having issues with the service and the company was "working on that."

Microsoft further updated the blog on Tuesday, saying it had made "some configuration corrections and mitigated the impact."

"We are continuing to monitor and we will post an update when the issue is fully resolved," Microsoft said.

Microsoft did not confirm reports at the time that the outage was the result of a DDoS attack. A hacker group, called CyberTeam, claimed responsibility for the attack in a tweet, saying "Skype Down by Cyberteam."

Michael Goldstein, president and CEO of LAN Infotech, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Microsoft partner, called the incident "pretty scary," assuming reports of a DDoS attack were true. He said it is concerning for small and medium businesses if a company as large as Microsoft can be hit by such an attack.

"It is definitely showing how the bad guys, how the dark side, is still looking to push [against big companies]," Goldstein said.

Goldstein said his company views Skype for Business as a "critical product" for both its own business and for its clients. He said he hopes Microsoft is working to bolster its Skype for Business product, as well as its consumer Skype product, against further attacks.

The reports of a DDoS attack against Microsoft come just a few months after a massive DDoS attack on Dyn caused significant Internet outages on the East Coast. The incident took down many popular websites, including Twitter and Netflix, as well as more than 1,200 other sites. The attacks in the October attack came from devices infected by the Mirai botnet  a malware that was revealed earlier in the month and spreads to vulnerable devices by continuously scanning the Internet for IoT systems protected by factory default or hard-coded usernames and passwords.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. VIRGINIA LAY, Plaintiff - Appellant v. SINGING RIVER HEALTH SYSTEM, Defendant - Appellee No. 16-60431 Decided: June 19, 2017

Before BARKSDALE, GRAVES, and HIGGINSON, Circuit Judges.

Virginia Lay challenges the summary judgment granted Singing River Health System against this action, which claims age discrimination in her termination in conjunction with a reduction-in-force. She fails to show a genuine dispute of material fact for whether Singing River's reason for termination was pretext for such claimed discrimination. AFFIRMED.

I.

Singing River is a non-profit healthcare provider in Jackson County, Mississippi. Lay began working for Singing River as director of managed care in 1999, at age 50. In that position, according to her deposition, she was responsible for, inter alia: [m]anaged care contracting, reviewing, working with insurance companies to become in network with them, and running the physician hospital organization at Singing River, Premier Health.

In 2013, Singing River moved Lay's managed-care department within the clinical-integration department, as discussed infra. In doing so, Lay went from reporting directly to the chief financial officer (CFO), Louis Lee Bond, to reporting to the vice president of clinical integration, Chris Morgan, then age 50. As Morgan explained in his deposition, managed care was transferred to [clinical integration] because of the  similarity in work between the two departments. He further stated: the purpose of clinical integration is to sell services. So is managed care[; its purpose] is to sell services.

Through an audit in early 2014, Singing River discovered an $88 million shortfall caused by overstatements of accounts receivable. According to the deposition of Singing River's chief executive officer (CEO), Kevin Holland, the audit forced the hospital into a position of having to evaluate everything that we were doing and evaluate every position in the organization. And we determined where we were effective, where we were not effective.

On the verge of bankruptcy, Singing River hired an outside consultant, The Godbey Group, to evaluate, inter alia, the performance of the managed-care department. Godbey found Singing River's historical approach to financial services  [i]ncluding the managed care contracts woefully inadequate. According to CEO Holland, on Godbey's recommendation, Singing River went back and renegotiated all of [its] managed care contracts, and [it] had a tremendous amount of success with that.

During the restructuring in April 2014, Morgan, CEO Holland, and chief human resources officer (CHRO), Craig Summerlin, discussed possible changes to Morgan and Lay's department. As Morgan stated in his deposition, he, CEO Holland, and CHRO Summerlin decided that [they] would eliminate [Lay]'s position, that [they] would restructure,  and that [they] could probably get by with one person; and then merge managed care with clinical integration to provide more support for whatever parts of clinical integration and managed care would continue.

Singing River's decisionmakers combined portions of Lay's and Morgan's jobs into a new director-of-collaborative-care-network position. Morgan decided to leave Singing River within a month of formulating the restructuring plan, knowing the restructuring would adversely affect his job as well.

Before leaving, Morgan met with Lay and CHRO Summerlin on 22 April 2014 to discuss the restructuring of the managed-care department. Lay stated in her deposition that Morgan told her she had to retire, but did not mention that her position was being eliminated. Rather, she stated, Morgan said: We're looking for people like you who can get the retirement and make the high salary. The parties agree Lay was able to work through June 2014 to maximize her retirement benefits.

When deposed, Morgan could not recall whether Lay expressly accepted the retirement plan, but he construed as her acceptance her assistance in drafting her farewell email. Morgan sent that email to the Singing River staff on 25 April 2014. In response, Lay's 7 May 2014 email to Morgan stated she had a number of productive years left and therefore [she was] not willing to retire because doing so would cause considerable financial hardship.

Soon thereafter, Lay met again with Morgan and CHRO Summerlin to discuss her retirement. In her deposition, Lay stated: she was first informed her position was being eliminated at this second meeting; and she was advised she could apply for other positions within Singing River. Before her position ended, Lay was again encouraged to monitor the Singing River website for job postings of interest to her.

According to Lay, she was forced to retire. In that regard, Lay decided not to apply for any positions at Singing River, and stated in her deposition she did not apply for the position she contends replaced her own because the job description included requiring a master's degree, which she did not have. In her deposition, she stated no one dissuaded her from applying for the position; she understood her position was to be combined with her supervisor's to create a new position; and she admitted her assertionlater made plain in her opening brief herethat the new position's responsibilities overlapped with her former responsibilities by 99.9% was conjecture, based on her cursory review of the new job posting online and the remarks of two employees.

Lay made few attempts to seek comparable employment; and her search for comparable positions concluded after a single conversation with a professional at another local hospital, in which she was told that hospital was not looking to fill a comparable position. At the end of her work for Singing River in June 2014, Lay earned $160,000 annually. Her job search concluded when she took a full-time job, earning $3,000 monthly.

Around the time the restructuring plan was createdApril 2014, before Lay left Singing RiverCFO Bond hired Brian Argo as executive director of finance. After Lay's alleged forced retirement, Argo temporarily took over her responsibilities running the managed-care department.

Argo was 30 and had a master's degree. He had previously served as vice president and chief revenue officer for the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Initially, he oversaw some of managed care, Lay's former work. At the same time, Argo continued to oversee the finance department. He stated in his deposition that Lay's previous duties, which he assumed, did not consume the majority of his day.

Argo continued handling managed care until January 2015, when he hired Jason Rickley, then 32, to fill the new director-of-collaborative-care-network positionwhich, as previously noted, effectively combined Morgan's clinical-integration and Lay's managed-care positions. The position streamlined collaborative-care and managed-care elements, along with analytical elements and population-health initiatives. Collaborative care involved providing credentialing for providers. As CFO Bond stated in his deposition, the new job included duties distinct from those for which Lay had experience.

The director-of-collaborative-care-network job description was posted in November 2014. After being hired in January 2015, Rickley did not work strictly on managed care, as Lay had. In addition to managed-care contracting, Rickley performed reimbursement contract modeling and analysis, and monitored Singing River's population-health initiativemanaging patients' health and hospital experience from start to finish. His annual salary was $110,000. When hired, he was enrolled in a master's-degree program in healthcare administration.

Lay filed this action in April 2015, claiming she was terminated because of her age. Singing River moved for summary judgment approximately a year later. The motion was granted in June 2016. Lay v. Singing River Health Sys., 190 F. Supp. 3d 599, 601 (S.D. Miss. 2016).

In granting summary judgment, the court concluded Lay failed to demonstrate a genuine dispute of material fact regarding whether age was a factor in Singing River's decision to terminate her employment. Id. Contrary to discrimination, the court highlighted: Morgan in fact delayed termination of Lay's position until she was eligible for retirement benefits. Id. at 603. Concluding Lay was clearly terminated as part of a reduction-in-force, and applying the slightly different prima facie elements for a reduction-in-force case, the court ruled there were no genuine disputes of material fact to rebut Singing River's proffered legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for eliminating Lay's position. Id. at 60203.

II.

The summary-judgment record consists of depositions of Lay; CHRO Summerlin; CEO Holland; former vice president of clinical integration, Morgan; CFO Bond; director of revenue integrity, Mark LaFontaine; executive director of finance, Argo; director of collaborative-care network, Rickley; executive assistant to CEO Holland, Windy Taylor; Epic implementation director, Sandra Murray; and benefits specialist, Hattie Williams. Also in the record are Singing River's job descriptions for revenue-cycle project director (a position similar to managed-care director), director of collaborative-care network, and vice president of clinical integration; declarations by CHRO Summerlin and CFO Bond; Lay's work evaluations for 2010, 2011, and 2013; EEOC charges filed by Lay and Murray; news publications reporting on the financial shortfall; emails and other correspondence; the list of individuals terminated by Singing River in conjunction with the reduction-in-force; Lay's second amended complaint; and Singing River's discovery responses.

It goes without saying that a summary judgment is reviewed de novo, applying the same standard as the district court. E.g., Moss v. BMC Software, Inc., 610 F.3d 917, 922 (5th Cir. 2010) (citing Threadgill v. Prudential Sec. Grp., Inc., 145 F.3d 286, 292 (5th Cir. 1998)). The court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Along that line, the evidence in the summary-judgment record is viewed in the light most favorable to the non-movant. E.g., Davidson v. City of Stafford, Tex., 848 F.3d 384, 390 (5th Cir. 2017). In other words, summary judgment is improper if a reasonable factfinder could find in favor of the non-movant. E.g., id. at 394 (reversing summary judgment because factual disputes resolved favorably for the non-movant constituted a colorable claim). In that regard, mere conclusory allegations will not defeat a summary-judgment motion because they do not constitute competent summary-judgment evidence. E.g., Moss, 610 F.3d at 922.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) proscribes an employer's discharg[ing] any individual because of his or her age. 29 U.S.C.  623(a)(1). Under the ADEA, Lay must demonstrate she would not have been terminated but for the alleged discrimination. Gross v. FBL Fin. Servs., Inc., 557 U.S. 167, 176 (2009).

Toward that end, the more than well-known burden-shifting analysis is employed. A plaintiff who establishes a prima facie case of age discrimination raises an inference of unlawful discrimination. Nichols v. Loral Vought Sys. Corp., 81 F.3d 38, 41 (5th Cir. 1996). As a result,

[t]he burden of production then shifts to the defendant to proffer a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the challenged employment action. The defendant may meet this burden by presenting evidence that if believed by the trier of fact, would support a finding that unlawful discrimination was not the cause of the employment action.

Id. (internal citation omitted) (quoting St. Mary's Honor Ctr. v. Hicks, 509 U.S. 502, 50608 (1993)). If defendant meets that burden, the presumption of discrimination created by the plaintiff's prima facie case disappears and the plaintiff must meet [her] ultimate burden of persuasion on the issue of intentional discrimination. Machinchick v. PB Power, Inc., 398 F.3d 345, 350 (5th Cir. 2005).

A.

The parties agree Lay was terminated during a reduction-in-force (RIF). For such RIF circumstances, the elements for the requisite prima facie case are:

In a reduction-in-force case, a plaintiff makes out a prima facie case by showing (1) that [s]he is within the protected age group; (2) that [s]he has been adversely affected by the employer's decision; (3) that [s]he was qualified to assume another position at the time of the discharge; and (4) evidence, circumstantial or direct, from which a factfinder might reasonably conclude that the employer intended to discriminate in reaching the decision at issue.

Nichols, 81 F.3d at 41 (quoting Amburgey v. Corhart Refractories Corp., Inc., 936 F.2d 805, 812 (5th Cir. 1991)).

In granting summary judgment, the district court assumed arguendo a prima facie case was established. Lay, 190 F. Supp. 3d at 602 (the Court will assume without deciding that Lay has cleared the relatively low hurdle of establishing a prima facie case). Although the prima facie vel non issue was inadequately briefed here, we will likewise assume arguendo that a prima facie case is established. (To that end, appellant's brief should include citations to the record in the argument section and not merely in the earlier recitation of facts.)

Accordingly, at issue are: whether Singing River proffers a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the challenged employment action, Nichols, 81 F.3d at 41; and, if so, whether Lay meet[s her] ultimate burden of persuasion on the issue of intentional discrimination, Machinchick, 398 F.3d at 350.

B.

For its claimed non-discriminatory reason, Singing River contends: it restructured multiple departments during large-scale financial hardship; and Lay's was one of many positions eliminated. Eliminating positions amidst department restructuring is legitimate and non-discriminatory. Berquist v. Wash. Mut. Bank, 500 F.3d 344, 35657 (5th Cir. 2007).

The summary-judgment record documents the weight of Singing River's financial burden, with an audit's confirming $30 million in losses in 2013 and 2014 each. Obviously, questioning how an entity handled a financial crisiseven proving its decisions ill-adviseddoes not amount, without more, to pretext for discrimination. Our anti-discrimination laws do not require an employer to make proper decisions, only non-retaliatory ones. LeMaire v. La. Dep't of Transp. & Dev., 480 F.3d 383, 391 (5th Cir. 2007). Because Lay's position was not singularly eliminated, and because the elimination was part of significant restructuring during well-demonstrated financial hardship, Singing River presents a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for the challenged employment action. Nichols, 81 F.3d at 41.

C.

Therefore, the ultimate burden rests with Lay. Machinchick, 398 F.3d at 350. Relying on Rachid v. Jack in the Box, Inc., Lay asserts a reasonable factfinder could find age discrimination was the more likely reason for her termination than the reasons offered by Singing River. 376 F.3d 305 (5th Cir. 2004).

Among the evidence cited for purportedly establishing a reasonable factfinder could determine age discrimination was Singing River's more likely motivation, Lay notes Rickley, whom she views as her replacement, is half her age. She further contends she was forced to retire because of her age and pension status. Finally, Lay contends, through depositions: a Singing River human-resources employee, Sandra Murray, told Lay that she saw age discrimination in firing all the time; and Windy Taylor, the former assistant to Singing River's CEO Holland, stated Holland made a disparaging remark about older female employees in 2005.

1.

While Lay claims her position was replaced by a higher-paid position of essentially identical function, CFO Bond stated in his deposition that the new position consolidated not only Lay's prior responsibilities but those of her supervisor, Morgan, such that a one-to-one comparison is inappropriate. Morgan stated in his deposition that he understood his job was going to be eliminated and/or merged, and he took part in developing that strategy.

Lay asserts: the new position entailed 99.9% of [her] previous job duties under a different title; and Singing River did not save money in eliminating her position because the new employee whose responsibilities included hers was paid a higher salary. The 99.9% assertion in Lay's brief appears to derive from her deposition, when, as discussed supra, she stated she estimated the calculation from the job profile she read online. Lay further stated she did [n]ot specifically know the full responsibilities required for the new position. A reasonable factfinder would not be persuaded by pure conjecture; there is no genuine dispute of material fact on this point. Berquist, 500 F.3d at 356.

Again, to the question of cost via an allegedly higher-paid position, Lay neither challenges the record's confirming $30 million losses in 2013 and 2014, nor overcomes our court's not critiquing business decisions, to the extent they do not evidence discrimination. LeMaire, 480 F.3d at 391. Accordingly, to the extent Lay contends she was replaced by someone half her age, replacement is an inaccurate characterization; therefore, the new employee's age is immaterial. As to being replaced by anyone, Lay fails to raise a genuine [dispute] of material fact regarding the evidence presented to support [Singing River]'s legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for [her] termination. Berquist, 500 F.3d at 356.

2.

Next, Lay contends she was forced to retire because of her age and pension status. We do not preclude the possibility that an employer who targets employees with a particular pension status on the assumption that these employees are likely to be older thereby engages in age discrimination. Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins, 507 U.S. 604, 61213 (1993).

The summary-judgment record, however, demonstrates Lay was not forced to retire, as though a younger person replaced her precise position: her position was eliminated, among other positions, amidst financially-driven restructuring. The summary-judgment record demonstrates discussions of Lay's retirement status were held subsequent to acknowledgement that her position would be eliminated. Lay points to nothing in the summary-judgment record demonstrating her age was expressly discussed during conversations about her termination.

Because Lay provides no evidence that her superiors' discussion of her pension status was made in anything other than a helpful spirit, Lay does not create a genuine dispute of material fact concerning whether Singing River target[ed] employees with a particular pension status. Id. Therefore, as to whether Lay was forced to retire, she fails to raise a genuine [dispute] of material fact regarding the evidence presented to support [Singing River]'s legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for [her] termination. Berquist, 500 F.3d at 356.

3.

Finally, Lay relies on the two above-described sets of hearsay as evidence of age discrimination. She contends, relying on the deposition of Windy Taylor, former executive assistant to Singing River's CEO Holland, that Holland made age-related derogatory comments about employees; and Lay stated in her deposition that Elaine Hiers, program specialist for payroll and retirement, from whom the summary-judgment record contains no evidence, remarked she saw age-based discrimination all the time within Singing River. (Another former employee, Sandra Murray, was deposed. At her deposition, she discussed her own age-discrimination EEOC claim, though she admitted to never personally hearing any age-related discriminatory comments around Singing River regarding her or Lay. In other words, this is an instance in which a former employee, who alleged age discrimination, cannot recall a single concrete, age-related comment.)

a.

As for the alleged remarks by CEO Holland, the record demonstrates Windy Taylor, in her deposition, could recall only one remark, from 2005, approximately nine years before Lay's alleged forced retirement. Taylor recalled Holland stated women above age 40 should not be in management. Undermining the statement's veracity, Taylor admitted to speaking ill of CEO Holland and mocking him on social media. Given the ambiguity, the alleged age-related comment lacks the requisite genuine dispute of material fact.

But, even if accurate, the remark fails our court's test for workplace comments indirectly evidencing age discrimination:

Where a plaintiff offers remarks as circumstantial evidence alongside other alleged discriminatory conduct,  a plaintiff need only show (1) discriminatory animus (2) on the part of a person that is either primarily responsible for the challenged employment action or by a person with influence or leverage over the relevant decisionmaker.

Reed v. Neopost USA, Inc., 701 F.3d 434, 441 (5th Cir. 2012). In the light of Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prod., Inc., 530 U.S. 133 (2000), Reed distinguished that workplace remarks offered as direct evidence of discrimination are still held to the CSC Logic test: Remarks may serve as sufficient evidence of age discrimination if the offered comments are: 1) age related; 2) proximate in time to the terminations; 3) made by an individual with authority over the employment decision at issue; and 4) related to the employment decision at issue. Brown v. CSC Logic, Inc., 82 F.3d 651, 655 (5th Cir. 1996).

Here, while CEO Holland surely held leverage over any relevant decisionmakers who chose to consolidate Lay's position, the one remark his former assistant recalled was not discriminatory animus. Reed, 701 F.3d at 441. The alleged 2005 remark's absence of implication that senior managers were to be fired to make room for younger trainees weighs against such animus. Sandstad v. CB Richard Ellis, Inc., 309 F.3d 893, 897 (5th Cir. 2002). Moreover, even if [the comment was] direct evidence of discrimination, this evidence is insignificant in comparison to the evidence of [Singing River]'s legitimate reasons for [Lay's RIF retirement], and thus is insufficient, on its own, to establish discrimination . Rodriguez v. Eli Lilly & Co., 820 F.3d 759, 765 (5th Cir. 2016) (quoting Auguster v. Vermilion Par. Sch. Bd., 249 F.3d 400, 405 (5th Cir. 2001) (Rodriguez was appealed after summary judgment rather than after trial.)) And, obviously, the alleged comment is far from being proximate in time to Lay's retirement.

b.

The second point of hearsay was the alleged comment by Elaine Hiers, a payroll and retirement specialist in Singing River's human-resources department. Lay stated in her deposition that Hiers, learning of Lay's severance, recounted to Lay seeing age discrimination at Singing River all the time. As noted, the summary-judgment record contains no deposition of, or other evidence from, Hiers; there is only an email from Lay to Hiers requesting a meeting after Morgan's email announcing Lay's retirement.

Needless to say, Lay's recollection of Hiers' statement is inadmissible hearsay. Lay contends the statement is an admission by a party opponent, which, subject to Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(D), is not hearsay. Hiers, however, was not a party opponent for the purpose of employment-discrimination proceedings.

To qualify for that exception, the declarant must be involved in the decision making process affecting the employment action involved. Kelly ex rel. All Heirs at Law of Kelly v. Labouisse, No. 3:07-cv-631, 2009 WL 427103, at *3 (S.D. Miss. 19 Feb. 2009), aff'd sub nom. Kelly v. Labouisse, 364 F. App'x 895 (5th Cir. 2010); see also Ramirez v. Gonzales, 225 F. App'x 203, 210 (5th Cir. 2007). Lay does not contend Hiers was involved in any of the RIF retirement-or-hiring decisions at issue in this action, rendering the alleged statement inadmissible for summary-judgment consideration.

But, even assuming arguendo the alleged statement is an admission by a party opponent, the remark fails the Reed standard for workplace remarks constituting circumstantial evidence of age discrimination: Hiers was neither primarily responsible for the challenged employment action nor a person with influence or leverage over the relevant decisionmaker. Reed, 701 F.3d at 441.

Finally, Lay emphasizes Reeves, in which the Supreme Court overturned our court's reversal of a jury verdict for age discrimination because our court failed to draw all reasonable inferences in favor of [plaintiff], inter alia relying on non-dispositive evidence for defendant's proffered non-discriminatory firing rationale, and discounting age-related comments not made in the direct context of [plaintiff's] termination. 530 U.S. at 15253. Reeves, however, is distinguishable.

In Reeves, but not in the present action: plaintiff was fired outright and not encouraged to apply for other positions in the company; plaintiff directly rebutted claims of poor performance through records demonstrating satisfactory performance; plaintiff testified defendant made disparaging, age-related comments directly to, and about, plaintiff; defendant offered no contention of eliminating plaintiff's position out of financial necessity; and a jury found for plaintiff prior to appeal. Id. at 14445 (plaintiff fired, rebutted poor performance, no dispositive evidence supporting defendant's explanation); 15152 (age-disparaging comments); 139 (jury verdict for plaintiff). Most notably, Reeves did not involve a RIF, which is evaluated by the earlier-described separate prima facie standard. See generally id.; Nichols, 81 F.3d at 41.

Lay offers nothing but conjecture about the manner in which her position was consolidated or her estimation that the new position was 99.9% the same as her former position, based on her single review of a job posting. Lay's further conjecture that other cost-saving methods were available to Singing River is inappropriate for us to consider. LeMaire, 480 F.3d at 391. Lay does not contend any of the age-related comments she presents were made directly about, or to, her. The attenuation is far more pronounced than in Reeves.

Regarding age-related disparaging remarks made by any of Singing River's personnel, Lay fails to create a genuine [dispute] of material fact regarding the evidence presented to support [Singing River]'s legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for [her] termination. Berquist, 500 F.3d at 356.

D.

Lay makes additional points which we need not engage in-depth. While Lay contends a majority of the released employees were older than age 40, as reflected in the Singing River layoff-list in the summary-judgment record, she provides no evidence regarding the overall age makeup of Singing River's employees, or the overall age makeup of new employees: we cannot determine whether her assertion is statistically significant. And, to the extent Lay contends a supervisor expressed to another eliminated employee that Singing River wished he could stay, without making similar representations to Lay, the expression is insignificant, as that employee's position was still eliminated.

In sum, like the plaintiff in Berquist, Lay fails to raise a genuine [dispute] of material fact regarding the evidence presented to support [Singing River]'s legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for [her RIF retirement]. 500 F.3d at 356 (also assuming arguendo a prima facie case). Restated, a reasonable factfinder would not return judgment for Lay regarding her claimed wrongful termination for age discrimination, whether considering her contentions that her same position was duplicated, that she was forced to retire, or that Singing River's decisionmakers made age-related discriminatory comments.

III.

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment is AFFIRMED.

PER CURIAM:*
Having had the privilege to have visited a number of cities throughout the world, I have learned that Chengdu is not Mexico City, Brussels is not Houston, Abuja is not Melbourne, and Johannesburg is not Dubai. Thats because the heart of every city beats differently. Each has its own character, its own vibe, and its own goals for assuring the best standard of living possible for its citizens and for the visiting public.

Likewise, every city is evolving at its own particular pace, though all are aligned to a common principle of modernizing their infrastructure services  public transportation, utilities, health care  by leveraging technology and law enforcement in smart ways to improve quality of life while assuring operational efficiency, stability and security. As noted by Eduardo Paes, the former mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Smart cities are those who manage their resources efficiently. Traffic, public services and disaster response should be operated intelligently in order to minimize costs, reduce carbon emissions and increase performance.

Smart is non negotiable

The term smart cities has been used recently as a label for those seemingly few cities of the world that are consciously embedding technology into all aspects of city planning. However, with current forecasts estimating close to 50 megacities housing over 10 million people and about two-thirds of the worlds population living in urban environments by 2050, the mindset must shift to think of the smartness of any urban center as a non-negotiable element.

Many urban centers are claiming to be ahead of the smart curve though, in actuality, they are finding themselves handcuffed by custom systems that are not interconnected, interoperable, portable, extensible nor efficient in their operations, maintenance, and overall cost-effectiveness. Overcoming this challenge is burdensome, especially when paired with pressure to make progress that can unintentionally lead to chaos as concurrent initiatives are deployed, leading to uncoordinated solutions that can be misaligned to the intended outcomes. No wonder city planners are not sleeping at night.

The diagnosis is seemingly familiar, and not unlike the challenges many enterprises are facing with what are currently referred to as digital transformation projects. What's different for the urban center, however, is the scale of the complexity. The complexity is not just a question of technology deployment, but also taking into consideration economic, political and social issues that shape a citys being. Its an extreme case of a system of systems of systems and more systems problem, for which the only smart solution is a universal consensus-based governance framework.

Technology companies like Cisco and AT&T have developed their own frameworks, driven by their product strategies, especially for IoT. Standards-developing organizations such as ISO, IEC, ITU, IEEE and a number of others are facilitating the development of new standards related to specific pieces of the overall urban development challenges. Recognizing the fragmented (yet well-intended) and disparate approaches,the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which was founded in 1901 and is now part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has launched a working group intended to converge these groups and their respective knowledge assets under the guise of a Smart City Framework.

Cities need a framework to provide smart guidance

The key to the success of any framework is its acceptance by universal consensus. This means the framework is created, maintained and endorsed by the professional community for the benefit of the community itself. The framework provides guidance on how to carry out the work aligned to desired outcomes in conjunction with tools that enable stakeholders to self-assess, benchmark, and measure capability maturity and progress toward the goals. This is indicative of the 20-plus year success experienced by ISACA's globally recognized COBIT framework for the governance and management of enterprise technology, which itself has the potential to be foundational for smart urban initiatives.

For now, city planners find themselves challenged across a wide spectrum of issues, ranging from technology to compliance. As members of the technology community, we need to help them by leveraging our knowledge of technology governance frameworks and their development and deployment, our holistic systems thinking and problem-solving capabilities, and our innate ability to assess and mitigate risk to inspire the confidence necessary to enable innovations that can evolve the urban environment by leveraging the best technology has to offer.

Our work has never been more important. And because we recognize the pervasive nature of technology and understand how to leverage its positive potential, I am confident that we can contribute enough to the evolution of so-called smart cities that the term smart will eventually be dropped from the lexicon. That in itself would be a great accomplishment.
This month Boston hosted the fifth annual Boston TechJam--a virtual block party in the heart of Government Center, complete with food trucks, live music, Jack's Abby brews, and tents filled with new tech innovations.

Thousands of people roamed about playing with new virtual reality tools or learning about promising new job opportunities. While hundreds more attended the event, more than 100 companies, ranging from Black Duck Software, Carbon Black, CyberArk Software, and Innovation Women, waved their banners at their exhibit booths.

I listened to the panel on Diversity, Talent, & Leadership, moderated by Asma Khalid, a reporter at WBUR and NPR. And a diverse panel it was, with Dena Upton, vice president of people and talent at LogMeIn, Yulkendy Valdez, cofounder, Project 99: Changemakers, David Delmar, executive director, founder, Resilient Coder, and David Chang, entrepreneur and angel investor.

Khalid's final question to the panel, "What would you say if you were talking to a junior or senior in high school right now, and you could advise them of the most necessary skill set to enter into the tech sector?"

Upton stole everyone's answer with her shout out, "Coding. Tell them to code."

"Find other people that want to solve the same kind of problem," Chang said.

"Go to meet ups. Get involved. The tech industry is growing in every city," Valdez said.

Delmar made the analogy of watching someone play a game of pool, encouraging them to think about the next shot--the long and the short shots they have to take.

This analogy made me think of the current and emerging security risks in the tech sector, particularly because information and cybersecurity were not mentioned at all in this discussion of recruiting talent.

While I appreciate that coding is a necessary skill set to get into the tech sector, I also know that vulnerabilities in software are a formidable obstacle for security practitioners, so is coding without security at the forefront of mind really going to address the challenges of cybersecurity?

Of the four panel members, only one was able to respond to my inquiry of what they are doing to attract and feed the pipeline specific to cybersecurity.

"I can venture an answer. I can tell you there is a growing and still very nascent effort to bring computer science education to all, into schools, across the border. Cybersecurity is obviously a small part of that, but I have to say it's a start," Delmar said.

That was it. None of the other panelists attempted a response, which got me to thinking, Who--outside of the small part of tech that is cybersecuirty--is thinking about and working to fill this projected skills gap?

I was listening to a panel at a TechJam in one of the most technologically innovative cities in the world, where no one was talking about security.

Last month I was a panelist at the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform on the topic of cybersecurity and its impact on our lives, and when I mentioned this 2 million jobs gap expected by 2019, the audience was in shock.

Who knew? I had no idea? What are people doing about that? were some audience member responses.

After the Boston TechJam, I'm left with the same lingering questions. What are people doing to feed the talent pipeline and educate, attract, and retain talented people for the jobs that have yet to be created in the cybersecurity space?

Obviously, we have to do more to get the word out.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Housatonic Community College President Paul Broadie wont have to worry about gas money when he also becomes interim president at Gateway Community College next month.

The Board of Regents for Higher Education have agreed to give Broadie and other presidents doing double-duty assignments stipends.
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. DOUGLAS BARNES, Petitioner - Appellant v. DARREL VANNOY, WARDEN, LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY, Respondent - Appellee No. 15-30768 Decided: June 19, 2017

Before PRADO, HIGGINSON, and COSTA, Circuit Judges.

A Louisiana jury found Douglas Barnes guilty of murdering Lance Aydell. Barnes sought postconviction review in state court, contending that prosecutors did not disclose a witness's inconsistent pretrial statement in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). After the state court rejected that claim, he raised it in his federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Before the district court ruled, Barnes added an additional Brady claim based on the State's failure to disclose a supposed benefit offered to a different witness for testifying at Barnes's trial. The district court held the federal petition in abeyance while Barnes sought to exhaust his new claim in state court, where it was denied on procedural grounds. We must decide whether the new claim can be heard and whether the state court's decision on Barnes's original claim was contrary to clearly established law under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), 28 U.S.C.  2254(d)(1).

I.

Aydell's murder was the result of a brawl between a group of young men. After the initial melee subsided, the group disbanded. But Barnes, along with Jake Ortega and David Brewer, returned after discovering that someone had slashed their car's tires. Aydell was still at the park with two others, as he had been dizzied from the fight and needed help walking. The boys helping Aydell later testified that at least two of the returning boys proceeded to beat Aydell, who had fallen to the ground. Aydell later died of his injuries, and Barnes, Brewer, and Ortega were convicted for his death.

Barnes's original federal claim, which was rejected on the merits during state postconviction review, centered on newly discovered evidence that impeached the testimony given by Alan Hill. Hill testified that Barnes fought with Aydell during the melee, and that Barnes prevented Hill from assisting Aydell. After Barnes's conviction was final, however, he learned that the State's production of its pretrial conversation with Hill was incomplete. The State failed to disclose a synopsis of Hill's statement to investigating officers, as well as a recording of that statement. Barnes identified three inconsistencies between the newly-revealed statement and Hill's trial testimony: 1) Hill referred to Brewer specifically in the pretrial statement, but at trial he said that he did not know his name; 2) Hill identified Barnes, Ortega, and Brewer as Aydell's attackers in his interview, but at trial he only mentioned Barnes and Ortega; and 3) Hill stated pretrial that as he left the park Brewer struck him through his driver side window while Ortega tried to hit him through the passenger side, but at trial he reversed their locations. Barnes claims that these contradictory statements could have been used to impeach Hill at trial and thus the nondisclosure violates Brady as supplemented by Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972). He also asserts that the nondisclosure prevented him from properly questioning Hill under the Confrontation Clause.

Barnes's original federal claim was sent to the magistrate judge, who recommended that the claim be denied. Before the district court adopted or rejected that recommendation, Barnes discovered new information about another witness. Joseph Cosimini, one of the participants at the park, testified at trial that he saw two people kicking Aydell after the larger group disbanded, but he could only identify Ortega and could not tell whether Brewer or Barnes was the other attacker. Cosimini also testified that his testimony was not the result of a plea agreement he reached on an unrelated robbery charge. Cosimini now says, in an affidavit, that he was approached by one of Barnes's prosecutors after he had agreed to testify but before he took the stand. Cosimini alleges that the lawyer thanked him for his cooperation and said that she could see to it that he got a lighter sentence on the robbery charge.

Cosimini also recants his trial testimony, now saying he is certain that Barnes did not attack Aydell at any point during the night in question. Barnes does not allege that the prosecutor told Cosimini to change his testimony to implicate Barnes, and thus the recantation itself is not part of Barnes's Brady claim. Similar to his claims regarding the Hill evidence, Barnes asserts that the State's failure to disclose the conversation is a Brady/Giglio violation, which also prevented Barnes from fully exercising his confrontation right.

Barnes moved to supplement his Hill claim with the Cosimini affidavit in March 2009. Though Barnes styles these Cosimini-based claims as supplements to his original petition, he admits that they are actually new claims. About a month after filing the motion to supplement, Barnes filed a motion to hold the petition in abeyance so that he could present the Cosimini affidavit to the state court. The district court granted the stay and placed the federal petition in abeyance. Barnes did not, however, file a protective amended petition prior to obtaining the stay, which would have preserved the filing date while he sought exhaustion in state court. Rhines v. Weber, 544 U.S. 269, 27578 (2005).

Back in state court, the State objected to Barnes's second petition on the grounds that it was untimely, repetitive, and failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The Commissioner recommended that the state trial court consider the petition on its merits, concluding that Louisiana law allowed for successive petitions outside of the time period when the new claims were based on new evidence that could not have been discovered within the limitations period. See LA. CODE CRIM. PROC. arts. 930.8(A)(1). The trial court, without providing any reasons for its disagreement, rejected this recommendation and held that Barnes's allegations were untimely and successive. Both the intermediate appellate court and state supreme court denied review.

Back in federal court after an almost five-year delay, Barnes moved to lift the stay and filed his amended petition containing the claim about the Cosimini evidence. The State argued that the claim was untimely under AEDPA's statute of limitations and that, in any event, it was defaulted because the state court had refused to consider it on procedural grounds. The magistrate judge concluded that the supplemental petition was untimely because the stay order did not toll the limitations period, that Barnes was not entitled to equitable tolling, and that the new claims did not relate back to the original petition. The opinion did not address procedural default. Over Barnes objection, the district court found the magistrate's recommendation to be legally correct and denied relief on the original and supplemental petitions. The district court did, however, grant a certificate of appealability.

II.

We begin with Barnes's supplemental petition based on the Cosimini affidavit. Although the district court ruled that these new claims were time barred, we have doubts about whether the district court was correct that tolling was not warranted as the State had full notice of the Cosimini claims before the AEDPA limitations period had run. We need not address that issue, however, because the procedural default rule provides an alternative basis for affirming.

Federal habeas review generally is barred when a petitioner's claim is rejected in state court on a legitimate procedural ground. Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 750 (1991). A procedural default will be given effect during federal habeas review when it was based on an independent and adequate state rule. The independence requirement is met when the state court clearly expresses that the judgment rests on a state procedural bar. Glover v. Cain, 128 F.3d 900, 902 (5th Cir. 1997). The adequacy requirement is met when the state rule is one that is applied evenhandedly to the vast majority of similar claims. Id.

Our ability to assess the adequacy of the procedural dismissal is undermined by the Louisiana court's failure to provide any analysis for its disagreement with the Commissioner's conclusion that the new-evidence exception allowed Barnes's otherwise untimely and successive petition to be considered. See LA. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 930.8(A)(1). But Barnes does not challenge the state trial court's application of procedural law. See Sones, 61 F.3d at 416 (noting that petitioner bears the burden of showing that a state procedural rule is inadequate). In any event, as we explain below, Barnes does not succeed in proving the materiality of his Brady claim even if it is not procedurally defaulted.

A procedurally defaulted claim may be overcome when the petitioner shows a good reason for not complying with the state procedural rule (cause) and that the failure to bring the claim in state court harmed him (prejudice). Coleman, 501 U.S. at 750. For claims alleging a failure to disclose exculpatory or impeachment evidence, cause and prejudice parallel the suppression and materiality components of the alleged Brady violation. Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 280 (1999). This means that, in examining whether Barnes can escape the procedural default rule, we must examine the underlying merits of the Brady claim.

Barnes alleges that the State's failure to disclose the prosecutor's conversation with Cosimini about leniency is the reason he did not timely assert this Brady claim in state court. Showing interference by officials that made compliance with procedural rules impracticable is one accepted way of showing cause. Murray v. Carrier, 477 U.S. 478, 488 (1986). But even assuming that Barnes can show cause, he cannot show that the suppression of the Cosimini conversation prejudiced him.

Potential Brady evidence is prejudicial if it is material. Strickler, 527 U.S. at 282. In turn, evidence is material if it could reasonably be taken to put the whole case in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict. United States v. Hughes, 230 F.3d 815, 819 (5th Cir. 2000) (quoting Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 435 (1995)). Impeachment evidence is usually not material if testimony of the witness who could have been impeached was strongly corroborated by other evidence. United States v. Sipe, 388 F.3d 471, 478 (5th Cir. 2004).

At trial, Cosimini testified that he saw either Brewer or Barnes kicking Aydell, but he could not be sure which one was the attacker. Barnes argues that had he been aware that Cosimini had the incentive of obtaining leniency on his robbery charge when he testified, impeachment on that point could have undermined the statement that Barnes may have been one of Aydell's attackers.

It could also have undermined Cosimini's general credibility as he had testified there was no connection between his testimony and his treatment for the second robbery charge he faced. We do not believe this impeachment evidence would have been powerful enough to undermine confidence in the verdict. Cosimini's testimony was not that harmful given that he could not isolate Barnes as the one kicking Aydell. The weakness of that testimony is revealed by comparing it to that of other witnesses, whose cumulative impact strongly implicated Barnes as one of Aydell's attackers. Chad Babineaux's testimony is the most damning. He confirmed at trial that he was absolutely sure that Doug Barnes [was] one of the three individuals that [he] saw kicking [Aydell] after [Aydell] was down and unconscious during the fight. Brad Fontenot also saw Barnes stomp and kick Aydell while he was on the ground. Heather Verdin testified that Barnes was pretty much tearing into Aydell. All told, seven witnesses confirmed that they saw Barnes either hit or kick Aydell the night of the fight, with multiple witnesses stating that Barnes beat Aydell while he was on the ground. (Mary Justilian); (Andrew Lopez); (Chad Babineaux); (Brad Fontenot); (Adam Reed); (Heather Verdin); (Alan Hill). Even discounting Alan Hill's testimonythe subject of another Brady claimthere was substantial evidence supporting the jury's conclusion that Barnes was one of Aydell's attackers. Compare Hughes, 230 F.3d at 821 (finding undisclosed evidence immaterial under Brady when other evidence pointed to petitioner's guilt), with LaCaze v. Warden La. Corr. Inst. for Women, 645 F.3d 728, 737 (5th Cir. 2011) (finding materiality when the witness to be impeached was the only direct evidence to show a critical element), and Tassin v. Cain, 517 F.3d 770, 780 (5th Cir. 2008) (same).

Not only was there cumulative testimony from other witnesses implicating Barnes, but Cosimini had already been impeached for changing his testimony. On cross examination, Barnes raised Cosimini's testimony from an earlier hearing identifying Brewer as the person kicking Aydell. The following exchange occurred:

Q. (Barnes's Counsel): Now, just to make sure we've got the scene straight, you came into court, you took an oath to tell the truth, right?

A. (Cosimini): Yes, sir.



Q. And what did you testify that Douglas Barnes did in this incident? What did you say at that time when you were under oath?

A. I testified that he stood there wh  and [Brewer] was the one kicked him.



Q. Now, let me ask you the exact same question that [the State] asked you [at the earlier proceeding], when you were under oath. Mr. Cosimini, you personally did not see Doug Barnes hit or kick Lance Aydell, did you?

A. No, sir.

Q. You did not.

A. No, sir.

Q. And that's your story today?

A. Well, I mean, I'm not sure if it was [Barnes] or [Brewer] that had kicked him 

Q. Now, Mr. Cosimini, do you agree that what you just said is different than what you said to [the State] when you were under oath [at the earlier proceeding]?

A. Yes, sir.

Barnes was thus able to show at trial that Cosimini's identification of either Barnes or Brewer as the attacker backtracked from his earlier focus on Brewer. The undisclosed evidence about possible leniency for Cosimini in response to his testimony would have provided a possible motive for this inconsistency. So we do not discount that the information had some additional impeachment value. But the inconsistency identified at trial was already powerful, so it is difficult for Barnes to show that the marginal force of the undisclosed Giglio material could reasonably be taken to put the whole case in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict. Hughes, 230 F.3d at 819 (quoting Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 435 (1995)).

Perhaps most significantly, the quoted trial transcript also shows that Cosimini's testimony was not key in the case against Barnes. Unlike many other witnesses, he did not testify unequivocally that he had seen Barnes attack Aydell. Cosimini's equivocation also weakens the force of any impeachment on the grounds that he might have been shading his testimony to obtain leniency in his robbery case. If Cosimini was trying to help himself by implicating Barnes, he didn't do a very good job of it.

Combine the weakness of Cosimini's already-impeached testimony with the more damaging testimony of numerous other witnesses, and Barnes cannot show the prejudice needed to overcome his procedural default. See Glover v. Cain, 128 F.3d 900, 902 (5th Cir. 1997). As we have explained, this also means the claim would not be a basis for habeas relief even if it did not face this procedural impediment.

III.

Barnes also appeals the district court's dismissal of his Brady claim concerning the Alan Hill testimony. This claim was exhausted and rejected in state court. Habeas cannot be granted on an exhausted state claim unless the state court's decision was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States, 28 U.S.C.  2254(d)(1), or was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding, id.  2254(d)(2). An unreasonable application of law is more than an incorrect application; the incorrect application must also be objectively unreasonable. See Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 263, 40911 (2000).

Hill testified that Barnes fought with Aydell during the melee, and that Barnes prevented Hill from assisting Aydell. As outlined above, Hill's trial testimony about the incident differed in some respects from what he said in his recorded pretrial statement that was not disclosed to Barnes. Barnes claims that these inconsistent statements could have been used to impeach Hill at trial. See Giglio, 405 U.S. at 154 (explaining that evidence favorable to the accused under Brady includes evidence that impeaches the credibility of a witness whose testimony is determinative of guilt or innocence).

Assuming that Barnes is correct in characterizing the undisclosed evidence as inconsistent with Hill's testimony, his Brady claim falls victim to one of the deficiencies of the Cosimini claim: several other witnesses testified that Barnes was one of Aydell's attackers. See Sipe, 388 F.3d at 478. This presents an even greater hurdle for the Hill-based Brady claim as the materiality inquiry for this exhausted claim is evaluated under the deferential AEDPA standard. And although there may be inconsistencies between what Hill told investigators and what he said at trial, Hill was consistent in implicating Barnes in Aydell's attack. Most of the discrepancies make Brewerwho had already been convicted by the time of Barnes's and Ortega's trialless culpable in the trial testimony compared to what was said in the pretrial interview. We recognize that even if the inconsistencies do not focus on Barnes's role, they may still cast doubt on the witness's general credibility or the strength of his recollection. But in light of the other evidence and Hill's consistent identification of Barnes as an attacker, we cannot say that the state court's ruling that the undisclosed evidence was not material was an unreasonable application of Brady.

Barnes also raises a Confrontation Clause claim regarding the Hill evidence, but the failure of his Brady claim spells defeat for this claim as well. The Confrontation Clause is a trial right designed to ensure the opportunity for effective cross examination, not a constitutionally compelled rule of pretrial discovery. Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. 39, 53 (1987). Barnes does not allege that the trial judge limited, in any way, his ability to question Hill. It seems misplaced then for Barnes to bring a Confrontation Clause claim founded in an allegation of undisclosed evidence. See United States v. Stewart, 93 F.3d 189, 192 n.1 (5th Cir. 1996) (We recognize that the right to cross-examine is a trial right designed to prevent improper restrictions on the types of questions that defense counsel may ask during cross-examination.).

In any event, to warrant habeas relief on a Confrontation Clause claim, Barnes must show that the limitation on the scope of his examination had a substantial  effect  in determining the jury's verdict. Burbank v. Cain, 535 F.3d 350, 358 (5th Cir. 2008). Because of the same corroborating evidence from several witnesses we cited in concluding that Hill could not establish materiality for his Brady claim, Barnes cannot meet this prejudice standard for a confrontation claim even if one does fit these allegations. Contrast Wilkerson v. Cain, 233 F.3d 886, 892 (5th Cir. 2000) (finding Confrontation Clause violation when the testimony of the witness to be impeached was the only evidence that petitioner committed the murder); Burbank, 535 F.3d at 35859 (finding the same).

* * *

The judgment of the district court denying Barnes's petition is AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. Although the magistrate's report did not address whether Barnes's new claims were barred by the procedural default rule, the State raised the issue in its opposition to Barnes's motion to supplement the record. The State also raised the issue in opposition to Barnes's objections to the report, though the district court did not address it in its order adopting the magistrate's recommendation. It is an elementary proposition, and the supporting cases too numerous to cite, that this court may affirm the district court's judgment on any grounds supported by the record. Sobranes Recovery Pool I, LLC v. Todd & Hughes Constr. Corp., 509 F.3d 216, 221 (5th Cir. 2007) (quoting Sojourner T v. Edwards, 974 F.3d 27, 30 (5th Cir. 1992)).

. These witnesses were Mary Justilian, Andrew Lopez, Chad Babineaux, Brad Fontenot, Adam Reed, Heather Verdin, and Alan Hill.

. It is not clear that Barnes sufficiently exhausted this claim in his state habeas proceeding. Although Barnes did assert that the undisclosed Hill statement denied him the right to cross-examination, he did not flesh out how the nondisclosure violated his rights under the Confrontation Clause, nor did he invoke the Confrontation Clause by name. Accordingly, the State Commissioner did not address any potential claims under the Confrontation Clause in his recommendation to deny Barnes's state habeas claims. But even if he did exhaust the Confrontation Clause claim, the claim fails for the reasons given above.

GREGG COSTA, Circuit Judge:*
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BRIDGEPORT  His frame is slight, but an office cubicle still seems like a tight fit for an outsized local personality like Ernie Newton.

A humble work space for the man who has in the past likened his struggles to those of great historical figures like Moses and Jesus Christ?

Its not important where you sit, Newton said as he gave a brief tour of his new place of business. Its what you do.

The community activist and once  and maybe future  politician, 61, has a new day job with a prominent nonprofit, Career Resources Inc., helping ex-felons like himself find work and job training.

I dont like calling people ex-felons, Newton said. That puts a stigma on you. So I like to call them returning citizens.

The term is in his job title: Ernest E. Newton II, Returning Citizen Navigator.

Hes done a hell of a job for us, said Scott Wilderman, Careers executive director. He is out there. He is working hard. Hes the first one to show up at work, on time, the last one to leave. I am very impressed with his work ethic right now. And hes been doing good for us.

That includes partnering with the citys Small & Minority Business Office to host a job fair for formerly incarcerated individuals.

The Bridgeport Re-Entry Career Fair is scheduled for June 28, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the downtown Margaret Morton Government Center, 999 Broad St. Twenty employers large  Bridgeport Hospital, Webster Bank, Frontier Communications  and small  Frankies Diner  are scheduled to be on hand.

More Information For more information about the June 28 "Bridgeport Re-Entry Career Fair" for individuals with criminal records, contact: Ernie Newton at newton@careerresources.org/203 953-3251 or Fred Gee at Fred.Gee@bridgeportct.gov/203 576-8473 See More Collapse

We marketed it to the employers so they knew everybody coming to the job fair are all ex-offenders, Wilderman said.

Fliers advertising the event emphasize, Please come prepared with a well-written resume and dressed to impress.

Newton certainly knows something about an eye-catching wardrobe, though on this particular day at the office, his suit was less flamboyantly colorful than usual.

A light brown, right?

Its like an olive color, man. Cmon, Newton chided.

The handkerchief poking out of his breast jacket pocket was definitely gold, the earring on his left lobe shiny.

I really want this story to be about this jobs fair, Newton added. He pointed to another part of his ensemble  a small button on his lapel that read, Hire one, a message to prospective employers to give just one person with a criminal record a chance to prove themselves on the job.

But it is hard not to focus on Newton and the past that lead him to Career Resources, particularly since artifacts from his old political life before his fall are displayed in his cubicle: His name plaque from his state Senate seat  Sen. Newton, 23(rd District); some community leadership awards; the gavel Newton used when he was chairman of the legislatures Black and Puerto Rican caucus.

Also a paperweight with a quote from author and humorist Mark Twain written on it: Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Newton has spent years astonishing supporters and critics with his perseverance. The former find it inspiring, the latter, who question his motives, galling.

A Democrat, Newton was elected to the Bridgeport City Council in the 1980s, then won a seat in the state House of Representatives and moved on to the Senate.

He was convicted of corruption in 2005 and sentenced to five years in a minimum security federal prison.

Who can best relate to (Career Resources) clientele than a person who served (time) and has gone through what theyre going through? Newton said, adding: I feel good. I know Im making a contribution in helping to turn peoples lives around.

Add a twist to that. Even as he helps clients navigate life on the outside, Newton is not free and clear of the criminal justice system quite yet. In March 2015 state Superior Court Judge Julia Dewey sentenced him to six months in prison after a jury concluded Newton had committed three violations of campaign finance law related to his attempted 2012 legislative comeback  one of two tries at political redemption.

Mark Rademacher, the public defender handling Newtons appeal, was quick to point out in an interview for this story that Newton was acquitted on a witness tampering charge and that the jury was deadlocked over a handful of other charges.

The state did not convict him of a crime, but only, at best, of a civil violation, Rademacher said. They have no authority to put him in jail for even a day.

Rademacher is pretty certain his clients conviction will be reversed on appeal, but said that could take until next summer. He added the fact that the judge allowed Newton to go free rather than file his appeal from a jail cell speaks volumes about this case.

Judge Dewey did a great thing, Rademacher said. She did the right thing.

Wilderman was fully aware of Newtons situation.

I figured how cool would it be to have somebody like Ernie who is from the community, who has been incarcerated, be able to make connections with individuals that are returning as well as local employers, Wilderman said.

I want to thank Scott, Newton said. A lot of people talk about second chances but they dont give second chances.

On top of his work for Career Resources, Newton is seriously considering running again for the City Council, though that would likely mean a fierce primary against veteran Councilman James Holloway. Holloway in a recent interview made it clear he believes Newton has no business returning to office.

Does Newton feel like he is living and working under a cloud while his appeal is pending?

I dont. I dont, Newton said, adding: Youre still able to move.

I hope Im showing people who came out of prison it takes patience and time, but once youre a free man, you ought to be treated like a free man.
June 27 is National HIV Testing Day and Planned Parenthood of Southern New England will offer free rapid HIV testing services at select health centers in Connecticut, including those in Bridgeport, Danbury, Stamford, New Haven and Torrington. Rapid HIV tests are quick and simple and can provide results in as fast as 20 minutes.

National HIV Testing Day is a reminder that getting tested for HIV is an important step in stopping the spread of HIV and taking care of your health. In the United States, more than 1.1 million people are living with HIV. Almost one in seven do not know it. In Connecticut, there are more than 10,200 people living with HIV.
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BRIDGEPORT - State elections watchdogs, as expected, on Wednesday made Mayor Joe Ganims bid to run Connecticut more challenging.

The state Elections Enforcement Commission unanimously voted to reject Ganims request to lift a ban barring public officials convicted of crimes related to their office from participating in Connecticuts Citizens Elections Program.

Ganim served seven years in prison after being found guilty in 2003 of racketeering, extortion, bribery and other charges while first mayor. He waged a successful comeback in 2015 and, though raising money for re-election in 2019, is also exploring a gubernatorial bid next year.

He holds his first gubernatorial fundraiser Thursday evening.

Raising campaign money would be easier for Ganim if he could, under the 2005 Citizens Elections Program, agree to contribution and spending limits in exchange for state money. So in April the mayor, through private attorney Arnold Skretta of Guilford, wrote the Elections Enforcement Commission challenging the ban on participation for felons like himself.

Wednesdays vote by the SEEC endorsed a recommendation to reject Ganims request issued by agency staff in May.

This ruling is disappointing but not surprising, Ganim said in a statement, reiterating that he will likely take the matter to court.

Part of Ganims argument is that the people of Bridgeport forgave him, so he has the right to participate in the Citizens Elections Program.

(This law) effectively prevents a candidate who has overcome parts of their past and restored their professional status from participating in a clean elections program, Ganim said. It knowingly and intentionally creates an uneven playing field.

According to the May opinion drafted by SEEC staff, the Citizens Elections Program was an effort to restore trust in government because of the convictions  or repeated parades of corruption  of Ganim, ex-state Treasurer Paul Silvester, ex-Gov. John G. Rowland and ex-Bridgeport state Sen. Ernest Newton.

The ban preventing Ganims participation was passed in 2013 because of Newton, who was convicted of public corruption in 2005 and, in 2012, mounted an unsuccessful bid to rejoin the General Assembly. Newton qualified for state campaign money that year  and then was subsequently convicted of breaking the law to get that grant. He remains free on appeal.

Ganims attorney, Skretta, has said there is no evidence the restrictions on felons were intended to be retroactive. He has also argued the prohibition is unfair, overly punitive, illogical and a violation of the First Amendment (free speech) and the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the U.S. and Connecticut constitutions.

The SEEC staffs May report refuted those allegations. It, for example, pointed out that since the inception of the Citizens Elections Program certain categories of candidates have been barred from participation  write-ins, candidates who change parties  and participation is not a substantive right belonging to all potential candidates.

The public had several weeks to weigh in on the Ganim case. The SEEC received five letters or emails urging public funds be withheld from the mayor. The correspondence hinted at the uphill battle Ganim could face wooing non-Bridgeport voters.

Are these people that vote for politicians that were convicted of a crime insane or is this world all going crazy, wrote Dennis Skurjo of Orange.

Former state Democratic Party Chairman and ex-state Senator Edward Marcus in a letter published by the Connecticut Post in May sided with Ganim: I do believe in second chances but I also believe that once a judges sentence is complied with, the General Assembly cannot create a basis for further punishment or bar to seeking public office. The only bar to public office should be set by the voters.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. JANET PECHER, Individually and as Special Administrator for the Estate of Urban Pecher, Deceased, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. OWENS-ILLINOIS, INC., et al., Defendants-Appellees. Nos. 16-1799 Decided: June 06, 2017

Before FLAUM, MANION, and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

The six cases consolidated on appeal all involve claims related to asbestos exposure over thirty years ago at a single Marshfield, Wisconsin plant which produced fire doors. While complex on the surface, and involving bulky appendices and appeals of separate orders, the thrust of the appeal is quite simple: the claims at issue are covered by the exclusive remedy provisions of Wisconsin's Worker's Compensation Act, Wis. Stat.  102.03(2). Plaintiffs attempt to get around this bar by recharacterizing their injuries as occurring off the job. These arguments are unavailing. In addition, the claims against Owen-Illinois claims are frivolous. As a result, we affirm the multiple rulings of the district court dismissing the claims against both defendants on appeal and denying reconsideration.

I. Background

In April 1952, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued Patent No. 2,593,050 for a Composite Fire Door, assigned to defendant Owens-Illinois. The useful innovation was a fire door that was up-to-code and easy to produce. The patent claims themselves never specifically mention the use of asbestos, but instead describe a fire door with a core of inorganic, rigid, fire-proof, light weight material of a substantially uniform apparent density and consistency throughout. Later versions of the patent contemplate this core material being conventional solid, foam, or honey-combed construction and the like, comprising magnesium oxychloride foam cement, expanded polyurethane, mineral wool mats or gypsum or hardboard honeycomb or egg-crate construction or boards of asbestos bound with cement. While included as examples, these are not elements of the patented subject matter.

In 1956, Owens-Illinois entered into a licensing agreement with Roddis Plywood, set to expire on termination of the patent in 1969. In 1960, Weyerhaeuser Company purchased Roddis Plywood. From some time in the 1950s all the way until 1978, the Marshfield, Wisconsin plant at issue produced at least some fire doors that used asbestos as its thermal insulator. By June 1978, however, the Marshfield plant had ceased using asbestos.

The six plaintiffs on appeal were all employees of that Marshfield plant. All six plaintiffs (or the decedents they represent) developed mesothelioma as a result of asbestos exposure, and on appeal all six raise claims against Owens-Illinois under a theory of negligence arising out of patent design. Three of the six plaintiffs (the Weyerhaeuser plaintiffs)Diane Jacobs, Katrina Masephol, and Janice Seehaferraise claims against Weyerhaeuser Company related to household or community exposure to asbestos.

The initial case involved numerous defendants, and one by one they have dropped out as the case has developed. The two remaining defendants are Weyerhaeuser Company and Owens-Illinois. Claims against Weyerhaeuser by Jacobs, Masephol, and Seehafer were dismissed in an order of February 19, 2016, and a motion for reconsideration was denied on May 5, 2016. These three, represented by the same lawyers, filed a notice of appeal on Monday, June 6, 2016, regarding numerous dismissal orders or orders denying the reconsideration of the dismissal orders. These cases were consolidated with the claims against Owens-Illinois on appeal.

Claims against Owens-Illinois, based upon the licensing of a patent, by plaintiffs Masephol, Boyer, and Seehafer were dismissed in an August 22, 2014, order. Perhaps in light of that order, the remaining three plaintiffs agreed to dismiss similar claims against Owens-Illinois in a stipulation accepted by the court on June 16, 2015, styling the dismissal as involuntary. Five of the six plaintiffs filed their notice of appeal with respect to claims against Owens-Illinois on June 6, 2016 (three of them appealing claims against Weyerhaeuser in the same order). One plaintiff, Janet Pecher, filed her notice of appeal on April 11, 2016, apparently relating back to a standard order of dismissal accepting a settlement from Weyerhaeuser on March 11, 2016.

Needless to say, the posture of this kitchen-sink consolidated appeal is irregular. Nevertheless, the gravamen of the case can be split into two parts: the claims against Weyerhaeuser Company, and the claims against Owens-Illinois. Upon full review, it is clear that all of the orders dismissing the claims against both defendants were proper, and the various appealed orders of the district court are affirmed.

II. Analysis

A. Claims Against Weyerhaeuser Company

Three plaintiffs appeal the dismissal of their claims against Weyerhaeuser Company related to their claims for community and household exposure to asbestos. Each of the Weyerhaeuser plaintiffs worked at Weyerhaeuser for years in close contact with asbestos. Therefore, on the surface at least, it appears their claims should be limited to the procedures set out in Wisconsin's Worker's Compensation Act, which provides the exclusive remedy against the employer for work-related injuries. Yet plaintiffs contend that their asbestos-related injuries were not caused on the job, but at home and in the community, and style these as public and private nuisance claims. For example, one plaintiff, Roger Seehafer, worked for 44 years at the plant cutting and drilling asbestos mineral cores. When he developed mesothelioma years later, plaintiffs' counsel attributes this not to his work in the plant, but to the ambient asbestos in the surrounding community, a public nuisance that significantly contributed to his mesothelioma as he went about his side job hauling milk to and from a dairy a few blocks away. He also relies on ambient exposure related to his one month living in the same city as the plant.

Plaintiffs presented expert witnesses in support of this theory. With respect to the three of the plaintiffs on appeal adverse only to Owens-Illinois (Kathy Boyer, Janet Pecher, and Robert Sydow), the district judge admitted the expert testimony under Fed. R. Evid. 702. But the district judge rejected that expert testimony in the cases of the three Weyerhaeuser plaintiffs who appeal this rulingMasephol, Seehafer, and Jacobs. The district court reasoned that these plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that the expert testimony would be reliable in their cases. This was because none of the three plaintiffs demonstrated that they lived close enough to the Marshfield plant long enough for the experts to opine that non-occupational exposure contributed significantly to their injuries. The district court, reasonably, noted that a small exposure might contribute to contracting mesothelioma. But the testimony of the experts themselves could not support the legal finding of proximate causation for such non-occupational exposure in the cases of Masephol, Seehafer, and Jacobs. However, the court noted that the testimony of the experts might support a finding of proximate causation in the cases of Boyer, Pecher, and Sydow. The court specified it could not ignore the real possibility that any trier of fact might be unable to balance defendant's right to exclude liability or damages for occupational exposures under compensation laws against the understandable, if unduly prejudicial, sympathy that would be engendered at trial in light of the inexorable pain and death that results from this disease.

One need not read between the lines to note that the district court was concerned that the expert testimony proffered by plaintiffs' counsel was an attempt to avoid the exclusive remedy provisions of Wisconsin law, offering jurors a way to award damages under a cause of action that should otherwise be foreclosed. Indeed, the court noted that it may well be the outcome of any trial that the jury finds that all of the plaintiffs' injuries were solely caused by occupational exposure. Even with this in mind, the district court still managed to allow the expert testimony into the Boyer, Pecher, and Sydow cases, because each of these plaintiffs lived closer to the factory. This admission under Rule 702 seems overly deferential to a highly dubious theory of harm, but neither this nor the exclusion of the same testimony with respect to the three plaintiffs on appeal could be considered an abuse of discretion. C.W. v. Textron, Inc., 807 F.3d 827 (7th Cir. 2015). the district court noted in the same order, absent this novel claim of non-occupational exposure, the three Weyerhaeuser plaintiffs (Jacobs, Masephol, and Seehafer) had failed to put forth sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to conclude that non-occupational asbestos exposure was a substantial contributor to their respective injuries. Accordingly, the district court properly dismissed the public and private nuisance claims.

Quite apart from the problems of causality, however, the private nuisance claims fail for a second reason noted by the district court: the plaintiffs failed to provide any individual proof of a current possessory interest in land tainted by asbestos. Plaintiffs do not even attempt to remedy this waiver on appeal, instead claiming that their use and enjoyment of the property they owned decades ago was limited by mesothelioma they developed recently. Under Wisconsin law, however, a private nuisance is an interference with a real property interest. Wisc. Stat.  844.01. There is no contention that the plaintiffs were limited in their use or enjoyment of the property they owned at the time; rather, the argument is that they were harmed by ambient asbestos during their ordinary, unimpeded use and enjoyment of their property, and that they had no idea until they developed mesothelioma years later. Also for that reason, as noted by the district court, these claims would fall outside the six-year Wisconsin statute of limitations for such claims. Wis. Stat.  893.52.

B. Claims Against Owens-Illinois, Inc.

The claims against Owens-Illinois all relate to the company having licensed its Patent No. 2,593,050 to Weyerhaeuser Company during the operative time period. Specifically, all six plaintiffs on appeal alleged that because the fire doors produced at the Marshfield plant were designed by Owens-Illinois, and because Weyerhaeuser happened to use asbestos in producing the fire doors, Owens-Illinois should be on the hook for asbestos-related injuries to Weyerhaeuser employees. Throughout the amended pleadings, the specific form of this argument shifted from a failure-to-warn claim related to the design, to a negligence claim related to the design, to a strict liability claim that Owens-Illinois actually produced some of the asbestos cores contained in the fire doors (there is no evidence for this). In short, the plaintiffs did everything in their power to keep Owens-Illinois a party to this litigation.

However, the claims against Owens-Illinois are frivolous. As noted by the district court in its order of August 22, 2014, dismissing the claims for the first time, there is unanimity among courts that product liability cannot attach to the mere licensing of a patent. In those cases where tort liability can attach to a non-manufacturing licensor of intellectual property, there is always some additional factor for attributing liability.

In arguing for liability for patent holders for products produced by others, plaintiffs cite to the complex statutory scheme envisaged by the Hatch-Waxman Act, 98 Stat. 1585. That Act allows for manufacturers of branded drugs to be on the hook for mislabeling on their generic counterparts, precisely because the generic drug manufacturers are prohibited by law from altering the label in any way. In such a case the branded manufacturer can be said to have caused any mislabeling by a generic drug manufacturer, even if the branded drug manufacturer had no hand in the manufacture or distribution of the drug or the labels.

However attenuated the causal chain in that context, it pales in comparison to the theory of liability advanced by a plaintiff. This theory would hold a patent licensor liable for the injuries caused not merely by the licensees practicing the patented subject matter, but for injuries caused by other, non-essential features of the final product produced by the licensee. Holding a patent licensor liable for injuries they in no sense could be considered to have caused raises serious due process concerns. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe such a theory of liability could be limited to situations in which the patentee and the licensee at issue have a face-to-face relationship. Many research entities, such as universities, do not directly practice their patents or directly license them. Rather, they license their patents to a third party who then turns around and re-licenses again. And ultimately, why not hold the lab researcher himself personally liable if somewhere, down the line, some licensee produces his invention and chooses to build it using a toxic substance?

To the extent the plaintiffs' theory sounds in negligence, and that by designing a door Owens-Illinois opened itself up to liability when workers produced the door, the theory fares no better. The production of ball bearings involves working with molten metal: this is a physical necessity, and readily foreseeable. Yet we do not hold the patentee for a process to create ball bearings accountable for safety slips simply because he or she patented or licensed a process that could involve injury. The patent system is designed to facilitate innovation, to disseminate useful technology far and wide. It is not a substitute for a worker's compensation system.

However described, the plaintiff's theory of liability is, as Owens-Illinois notes, not supported by any decision anywhere. In spite of this, plaintiffs have sought to keep Owens-Illinois a party to this litigation, even going so far as to suggest, without evidence, that Owens-Illinois itself manufactured some of the asbestos cores contained in the fire doors at issue. It gets worse. The record indicates that all relevant claims against Owens-Illinois were dismissed with prejudice on a joint stipulation of the parties on June 16, 2015, on the condition that Owens-Illinois bear its own costs. And yet, plaintiffs reraise these same claims on appeal, in clear contravention of Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(2) and the joint stipulation. Chavez v. Ill. State Police, 251 F.3d 612, 654-55 (7th Cir. 2001) (The case law is clear  that when a district court grants voluntary dismissal[, under Rule 41] a plaintiff has neither the reason nor the right to appeal the dismissal because the plaintiff has received the relief it requested.).

Counsel for Owens-Illinois responds on the merits to these arguments regarding liability, and offers only the most gentle rebuke in their briefing on appeal. But after being haled into court yet again on what appear to be claims both frivolous and dismissed on a stipulation of the parties, one wonders if counsel for Owens-Illinois has resigned itself to endless litigation. It should not. The district court orders dismissing the claims against Owens-Illinois are affirmed, and plaintiffs' counsel must show cause why this portion of the appeal was not frivolous under Rule 38.

III. Certificate of Compliance

At oral argument, we brought to the attention of plaintiff's counsel the non-compliance of its briefing with Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(7) and our local rules. Specifically, we asked counsel why the briefing was so lengthy and why citations were made without spaces, in order to mask the true word count. Counsel indicated that he had requested and been granted leave to enlarge the type-volume limitation to 16,500 words, but had no explanation for the spacing. He had certified that the brief contained 16,453 words, excluding the portions of the brief exempted by Fed. R. App. P. 32(f). Our review of the brief is that on an ordinary word processor it does appear to be just under the word limit. When the citations are cleaned up, however, the count is well over 17,000 words. As we advise in our circuit brief filing checklist, counsel must assure that they count all words in the brief before certifying compliance with Rule 32. See also DeSilva v. DiLeonardi, 185 F.3d 815 (7th Cir. 1999).

The filing error before us is not, however, the sort of unintentional error made by differences in word processor counting functions. It was undoubtedly deliberate. As we noted at oral argument, one string citation without spaces counted as a single word; the same string citation, cleaned up, counted as sixty-eight. This strategy is repeated throughout all seventy-seven pages of the primary brief. A practitioner before this circuit can take one look at the briefing in this case and observe that its bulk is out of the ordinary: no reasonable attorney could have, in good conscience, certified compliance with the type-volume requirements.

IV. Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, the decisions of the district court below are AFFIRMED. Furthermore, the plaintiffs have 14 days to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed for the failure to comply with the type-volume limitations of Rule 32, and to explain why the appeal of the claims involving Owens-Illinois was not frivolous under Rule 38.

FOOTNOTES

. All references will be to this Marshfield plant. Until 1960 it was owned and operated by Roddis Plywood. After 1960 it was owned and operated by Weyerhaeuser.

. Dolin v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 62 F. Supp. 3d 705, 711 (N.D. Ill. 2014). As the court noted in that case: The Act provides for an expedited, less costly approval process for generic versions of drugs whose name-brand predecessors have already obtained FDA approval. Once the name-brand manufacturer's patent expires, generic manufacturers are able to enter the market with the benefit of a far more streamlined approval process. This generic drug application process is referred to as the Abbreviated New Drug Application  One caveat of this approach, however, is that the generic drug's design and warning label must identically match that of the name-brand version of the drug in all material respects. Id. In exchange for this subsidy to their competitors, branded manufacturers were granted extended patent terms.

. We might speculate that this stipulation was an attempt to bring four similarly situated plaintiffs (Pecher, Jacobs, Sydow, and Seehafer) within the ambit of the August 22, 2014 district court order dismissing identical claims. But when presented with a voluntary dismissal by the parties the district court is in a very different situation than when presented with a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.

. This is not even to mention the six additional CDs of sealed material that snuck into the record on appeal, apparently in violation of a June 3, 2015, order of the district court and a confidentiality agreement executed by the parties that same day.

MANION, Circuit Judge.
Trump to reveal Cuba policy in Miami this Friday

US President Donald Trump will announce his administrations changes to U.S.-Cuba policy, according to the Miami Herald.

The location for the event is still in the works. But scheduling the trip indicates the Cuba policy, which has been undergoing drafts for several weeks, will be imminently finalized. And deciding to unveil the policy in Miami suggests it will please the hardline Cuban exiles whose support Trump considered significant to winning Florida, and the presidency.

Vice President Mike Pence is also expected to attend.

A mid-June Trump visit has been rumored since Memorial Day, when word of the Cuba policy rewrite began trickling from alarmed backers of former President Barack Obamas reengagement approach toward the communist island. Trump is preparing to tighten at least some of Obamas changes, including restricting business with the Cuban military and U.S. travel that resembles tourism.

Members of Congress who favor closer U.S.-Cuba ties have urged Trump to maintain Obamas approach. On Thursday, seven Republican lawmakers from outside Florida whose districts see agricultural, industrial or commercial opportunities in Cuba wrote Trump to argue that keeping a foothold Cuba is important for U.S. national security.
Cuba and China Ratify Mutual Trust

Submitted by: Juana

Asia

Havana

Politics and Government

06 / 20 / 2017



The President of the National Assembly of the Peoples Power Esteban Lazo and the Head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party, Song Tao agreed on Monday in Beijing on the high level of mutual trust between both countries.

According to Prensa Latina News Agency, both sides highlighted the friendship and strong ties of cooperation that unites both Parliaments, Parties and Governments which, is the result of a firm political commitment achieved in levels of mutual trust.

The Chinese Party leader also told the member of the Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party on the importance that China concedes its relations with Havana.

He stressed the commitment and disposition of his government, Party and Chinese people in cooperating with the Caribbean island and achieve the consensus reached between Presidents Xi Jinping and Raul Castro during the Head of State of the Asian nation to Cuba in 2014.

On his part, Lazo highlighted the importance of continuing to strengthen mutual cooperation and reiterated the desire to exchange experiences and learn from one another in the construction of socialism and the processes of reform and development underway in both countries.

The Cuban Parliamentarian referred to the advances in the updating process of the islands economic model and denounced the reinforcement of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.

He also condemned the recent position of the US administration of President Donald Trump towards Cuba and added that despite Washingtons new strategy, the Cuban government and people reaffirm its decision to continue its construction of Socialism.

This, without renouncing to one of its principles in consolidating each day more freedom, independence and sovereignty of the nation. (acn)
Cuba and Syria Ratify Interests in Parliamentary Exchanges

The President of the Syrian Friendship with Cuba Parliamentary group, Ayman Malandi ratified on Monday in Damascus an interest in exchanges at that level between both nations during an encounter with the Cuban ambassador to that country, Rogerio Santana.

According to Prensa Latina News Agency, several deputies that are part of the National Assembly of the Syrian People participated in the encounter and reiterated the broad and traditional historic solidarity between the two countries.

Malandi announced that in the coming days a declaration will be issued in support of Cuba before the growing hostility of the US government and against the economic, commercial and financial blockade against the Caribbean island.

The Syrian parliamentarian said that like with Cuba, the common enemies will not be able to conquer us and will firmly continue the resistance against all foreign intervention in support of President Bashar Al Asaad and the Armed Forces.

The Cuban ambassador pointed out the mutual interest in increasing and strengthening relations in a clear identification with the politics of both nations.

On August 11th, 2017, Cuba and the Arab Republic of Syria will celebrate 52 years of diplomatic relations on the principles of cooperation in the political, economic and cultural fields. (acn)
Cuba reiterates willingness to keep talks with the US

Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Cuban Foreign Minister, reiterated today from Vienna, Austria, the willingness of the Cuban government to continue dialogue and cooperation on issues of mutual interest with the United States on the basis of equality and respect.

At a press conference in the Austrian capital, Minister Rodriguez said that Cuba is ready to continue talks on pending bilateral issues with the US government, but will never negotiate any matter inherent to the sovereignty and independence of the Cuban people.

He confirmed Cuba's decision following President Donald Trump's speech last Friday from Miami, in which he announced the determination to intensify the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington against Havana by reversing some measures adopted by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

During the press conference, the Foreign Minister recalled that among the provisions contained in the new policy directive on Cuba, signed by Trump, is the prohibition of economic relations between companies in his country and national companies linked to the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior.

He pointed out that, in addition to ignoring the majority opinion of the Cuban people, who wants to have a better relationship with the US, these guidelines will cause economic damages "not only to state companies, but also to cooperatives, and will especially hurt private sector workers " of the island.

He added that the freedoms of American citizens for travel are also restricted, and opportunities for US companies and entrepreneurs are reduced in the face of competition, coupled with the loss of income and employment that this would generate.

Rodriguez Parrilla acknowledged that Trump's policy "marks a setback in bilateral relations," and has been roundly rejected by large majorities and voices inside and outside the US.

He anticipated that such "unpopular and unsustainable" measures will also affect US relations with the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, and will undermine the credibility of US foreign policy.

The Cuban Foreign Minister assured that Trump ignored the majority support to the lifting of the blockade and the normalization of relations with Cuba, by members of Congress, many of them Republicans, as well as the business sector, various civil society organizations, Cuban.Americans, the press, social networks and public opinion in general.

Referring to Washington's sanctions on Havana, which date back more than half a century, Rodriguez Parrilla said that history would force a US government to lift them, and added that the Island will wait for that moment to arrive with "all the patience, resistance and decision".

In another moment of the press conference, the Minister of Foreign Affairs referred to the "grotesque show out of the Cold War" offered by Trump "before a small audience composed of old minions and thieves of the Batista dictatorship, mercenaries of Playa Giron , terrorists, politicians and cheaters ".

Trump, once again badly advised, makes decisions that only favor petty interests of an aging and extremist minority of Cuban origin, said the Cuban Foreign Minister.

The Cuban government issued an official statement Friday rejecting the new directive signed by the US president, called the Presidential Memorandum of National Security on Strengthening US Policy towards Cuba.

Trump confirmed that he thus repeals the Policy Directive for the normalization of relations with Cuba, issued by Obama in October 2016, and reinforces the application of the extraterritorial blockade, among other limitations.
Cuban Health Colaboration Extended to 162 Countries

Submitted by: Juana

Havana

International

Health and Medicine

06 / 20 / 2017



Cubas health professionals abroad totalling almost 373 thousand have offered their medical aid to 162 countries since its first colaboration to Chile in 1960.

Dr. Regla Angulo, Director of the Medical Colaboration Center told ACN that Cuba currently has over 42 thousand health professionals in 54 countries.

She highlighted the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Specialized Doctors in Disasters and Serious Epidemics, created on September 19 th, 2005 by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro which has been present in 21 countries with 24 medical brigades.

Most recently, made up by 23 health professionals the medical brigade offered its services for a period of 2 months to the Peruvian people in the area of Piura where the population has been affected by intense rains. The medical contingent has assisted over 24 thousand patients of these 987 confirmed cases of dengue and without any casualties reported, said Dr. Rolando Piloto, head of the team.

Among some of the women also present in the medical team is the specialist on Hygiene and Epidemiology Angela Estrella Caramalleta who works in the Provincial Hygiene and Epidemiology Center in Guantanamo.

She told ACN that this was her first mission and she is dedicating it to Commander Fidel Castro, President Raul Castro, and the Cuban Communist Party, the people, family and neighbors which in some way have also cooperated.

Angela said she would like to say so much but is satisfied with their responsibilities. She added that the Cuban medical group will remain in the hearts of the people of Piura and the local authorities.

The population totally lacks the medical services and were desperate; but wherever we arrived we respected the protocol that they have in place and with our work the situation was under control, she said.

When the Cuban medical brigade left, many people cried and wanted us to stay, said the epidemiologist from Guantanamo who along with other members of the Henry Reeve contingent assisted the population suffering from dengue, skin ailments and others.

The Henry Reeve contingent has offered medical assistance to over 3.5 million people and has saved over 80 thousand lives, according to Cuban Health Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda during the 17th World Health Assembly recently held in Geneva.

The Cuban Health Minister together with Dr. Felix Baez, who contracted Ebola in 2014 during his participation in the Henry Reeve Brigade in Sierra Leona, received the Lee Jong-wook Memorial Award granted by the World Health Organization, WHO.

Morales ratified the commitment and disposition of the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade to continue its cooperation on the bases of its experience and results in all countries that request of their aid before any disaster and serious epidemic. (acn)
World Democratic Youth Expresses Solidarity with Cuba

Submitted by: Juana

Europe

international

Politics and Government

06 / 20 / 2017



Text of the Declaration in Solidarity with Cuba made public on Monday in Budapest by the World Federation of Democratic Youths (FMJD) based in Hungry.

The text was send to the over 160 member organizations, friends and collaborators some regional and international, like the Continental Latin American and Caribbean Students Organization (OCLAE) - and shared by the FMJD in its Facebook page.

SOLIDARITY DECLARATION OF THE WORLD FEDERATION OF DEMOCRATIC YOUTHS WITH THE CUBAN REVOLUTION:

On June 16th, 2017, US President Donald Trump announced his governments policy towards Cuba in a public activity where he demonstrated total ignorance of the history and reality of the Cuban people. His decision was endorsed by signing a policy directive called Presidential Memorandum of National Security on the Strengthening of the US Policy towards Cuba with the objective of reinforcing the aggressions against the Cuban Revolution.



The US Head of State justified his decision with alleged concerns on the human rights situation in Cuba and the need to rigorously apply the laws of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against the Cuban people for over half a century and which is condemned by the international community and US citizens. In an arrogant manner, Trump demands internal changes in Cuba as a condition for the lifting of the blockade and improvement of relations between both nations.

The FMJD has always supported the position of the Cuban Revolution that the blockade, as a unilateral policy of the United States imposed since 1962, must be unilaterally lifted immediately and without demanding any conditions to the Cuban people. The genocidal policy constitutes a flagrant and permanent violation of human rights starting from its main objective, which is to deprive the Cuban people to the necessary resources for its development as a sovereign and independent State while the extraterritorial application of the blockade goes against the development of other countries.

Despite the limitations on Cuba that has inflicted the economic war, the Cuban Revolution isolated from imperialist recipes has achieved for the Cuban people to enjoy the fundamental rights and freedoms for the full development of its population, without any type of distinction or discrimination. In addition to its internationalist practice, Cuba has contributed to the development of human rights in many countries in the world.

However, US society has systematically violated the fundamental human rights and has imposed frequent violations in other countries. Its imperialist world policy has demonstrated its negative commitment regarding world peace and indispensable rights for human survival.

The Cuban Revolution is a reference for progressive and left youths in the world. It shows us justice and strength of its victorious socialist project and its commitment of never given in before any type of aggressions for almost 60 years imposed by the main world imperialist power.

The FMJD once again condemns a new US government attempt to intervene in Cubas independence. We support the legitimate right of the Cuban people to its self-determination as an independent and sovereign nation and demand respect to its decisions and right to decide its own future.

Long Live the Cuban Revolution!

Federation of World Democratic Youths

Budapest

June of 2017
STORY LINK GBP EUR Exchange Rate Tumbles to New Weekly Low over Concerns over DUP Deal

Political Uncertainty Continues to Weaken Pound (GBP)

Sterling Recoups Some Losses as Public Deficit Narrows

Euro (EUR) Advances as Eurozone Confidence Looks Set to Rise

Current Interbank Exchange Rates

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The Pound Euro (GBP EUR) exchange rate slipped even further this morning, closing in on the multi-month low stuck last week as investors worry about the political landscape in the UK ahead of the Queens speech.Sterling sentiment remains low this morning ahead of the Queens speech in which the British Monarch is expected to outline the Conservative governments legislative policies for the next two years.However clouding the speech is Theresa Mays failure to strike a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland nearly two weeks after the General Election which left the Tories without a majority in Parliament.May is seeking to form an agreement with the DUP in order gain the support of the partys 10 MPs to help pass legislation as a minority government.While the DUP also supports a hard Brexit, talks are reported to have stalled over the issue of extra funding for Northern Ireland, with members of the DUP warning that the party should not be taken for granted by the Tories.Cabinet minister, Chris Grayling sought to reassure observers that talks would not derail the governments legislative plans;We have got some days until we have a vote on the Queen's Speech. It is not on Queen's Speech day. The vote happens many days later as we have an extended debate first and I am sure we will have a sensible arrangement between the parties when that time comes.While DUP leader Arlene Foster has indicated that her party will back the Queens speech despite an agreement not yet being reached, markets remain concerned over Theresa Mays ability to form a long lasting agreement with the party, with one senior DUP suggesting that her failure to reach a deal reflects poorly on her ability to effectively negotiate in the ongoing Brexit talks.Investors are also concerned by continued speculation that the PM may be ousted by her party as the election blunder and failure to reach a deal with the DUP continues to frustrate many members of the Tory party.Sterling was able to recoup some of its losses this morning however as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the UK Public Deficit fell from 8.68bn to 5.99bn in May.This was a slight improvement on the 7bn economists forecast that the government would have to borrow last month in order to balance the books and was largely attributed to a 4.3% increase in VAT receipts.Scott Bowman, UK economist at Capital Economics said;The strong revenue growth partly reflected a 4.3% rise in VAT receipts  perhaps a sign that consumer spending growth hasnt slowed too sharply recently.That said, we wouldnt read too much into the borrowing figures for the first few months of the fiscal year as they are based on a significant amount of forecast data. Accordingly, we still think that borrowing for the fiscal year as a whole will increase by several billion pounds as a number of one-off factors that lowered borrowing in 2016-17 unwind.The Euro continued to find strength today ahead of tomorrows Eurozone Consumer Confidence data which is expected to show that household sentiment continued to improve in line with the blocs recent economic growth.This may be reinforced by Fridays PMI burst which is expected to show that both the Eurozones Manufacturing and Services Sector continued to expand in June, reaching their highest levels since the start of the Eurozone crisis.Meanwhile the Pound may cede ground again on Thursday as the Confederation for British Industry (CBI) is expected to report that Industrial Trends Orders slipped this month.At the time of writing the GBP EUR exchange rate was trending around 1.1461 and the EUR GBP exchange rate was trending around 0.8725.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

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United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. HANSON COLD STORAGE COMPANY OF INDIANA d/b/a HANSON LOGISTICS, Petitioner/Cross-Respondent, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent/Cross-Petitioner. Nos. 16-3617 Decided: June 20, 2017

Before FLAUM, KANNE, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Thirty-seven employees of an Indiana employer voted in a union-representation election. The employer and the union disputed two of the votes, a suffi-cient number to affect the outcome of the election. The employer argued that one vote should not count, claiming that the voter's intent could not be discerned from the ballot; the union argued that another vote should not count, claiming that the voter was not employed by the employer at the time of the vote. The National Labor Relations Board rejected the employer's argument and counted the first disputed vote as a vote in favor of representation. The Board then concluded that the second disputed vote was no longer outcome determinative of the election. So it dismissed that dispute as moot and certified the union.

The parties now contest the Board's counting of the first disputed vote, a dispute that turns on the intent of a voter who produced a hopelessly unclear ballot. Because we find it impossible to divine the voter's intent from the face of the ballot, we hold that the Board abused its discretion by counting that vote. We further hold that the Board erred by dismissing as moot the union's challenge to the second disputed vote.

I. BACKGROUND

Hanson Logistics is one of the leading providers of pub-lic-refrigerated warehousing and transportation services in the Midwest. It employs dozens of workers at its facilities in Michigan and Indiana. On February 4, 2016, the Internation-al Brotherhood of Teamsters Union Local No. 142 filed a petition to be the exclusive collective-bargaining representative for a subset of Hanson's employees. (App. 5.) Specifically, Local 142 sought to represent Hanson's full-time and regu- lar part-time warehousemen, dockworkers, pickers, runners, team leads, inventory workers and maintenance workers employed by [Hanson] at its facility currently located at 2201 Northwind Parkway, Hobart, Indiana 46342. (App. 6 at 2.) Pursuant to a stipulated election agreement between Hanson and Local 142, on February 29, 2016, the Board conducted an election at Hanson's Hobart facility to determine whether Local 142 would represent those employees. The notice of election stated that [a] majority of the valid ballots cast will determine the results of the election. (App. 6 at 1.) The ballot instructed each voting employee to mark an X in the square of your choice. (App. 6 at 2.)

Thirty-seven employees each cast a ballot in the election. Hanson and Local 142 did not dispute thirty-five of those ballots, eighteen cast in favor of Local 142's representation and seventeen cast against it. Instead, the parties disputed the validity of the two other ballots. Hanson contested a vote cast by an unknown voter (Unknown Voter Ballot), arguing that the unknown voter's intent was unclear from the markings on the ballot. And Local 142 contested a vote cast by a voter named Lawrence Kelly (Lawrence Kelly Ballot), arguing that Kelly was not a Hanson employee at the time of the vote. Because the two disputed votes were outcome determinative of the election, the Board's Field Examiner or-dered Hanson and Local 142 to submit offers of proof, including relevant legal authority, as to the votes' validity.

Both parties complied with the Field Examiner's order, and the Board's Acting Regional DirectorDaniel Nelsonconsidered the parties' challenges. On March 25, 2016, Nelson issued a decision overruling Hanson's challenge to the Unknown Voter Ballot. In so doing, Nelson counted the Unknown Voter Ballot as a vote in favor of Local 142's representation, increasing the vote count from 1817 to 1917 in favor of Local 142's representation. Because Local 142's challenge to the Lawrence Kelly Ballot was no longer outcome determinative, Nelson dismissed that challenge as moot. He then certified Local 142 as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the aforementioned subset of Hanson's employees. Hanson filed a request for review with the Board. But on May 26, 2016, the Board summarily denied that request, finding that Hanson raised no substantial issues war-ranting review. (App. 4.)

Nearly two weeks later, on June 6, 2016, Local 142 sent a letter to Hanson requesting recognition of Local 142 as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the applica-ble subset of Hanson's employees. Hanson responded in a letter that it would not recognize Local No. 142 as the representative of any of its employees because it believe[d] that the Region incorrectly decided the challenged ballots from the February 29, 2016 election. (App. 15.) Three days later, on June 20, 2016, Hanson filed a charge with the Board alleging that Hanson ha[d] failed to bargain in good faith with the Union. (App. 16.)

On July 12, 2016, the Regional Director issued a complaint against Hanson, alleging that Hanson had violated section 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act29 U.S.C.  158(a)(1), (5)by refusing to recognize and bargain with Local 142. Hanson responded to the complaint by again denying that Local 142 was the exclusive collective-bargaining representative. Counsel for the Board then filed a motion to transfer proceedings to the Board and a motion for summary judgment. On September 13, 2016, the Board issued an order affirming Nelson's certification of Local 142 as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative and hold-ing that Hanson's refusal to bargain with Local 142 constituted an unfair labor practice. Hanson then filed a petition for review of the Board's decision in this court, and the Board filed a cross-application for enforcement of its order.

II. ANALYSIS

We begin with a note on our jurisdiction. An employer's path to judicial review of a Board's decision upholding an election and certifying a union is circuitous. N.L.R.B. v. Serv. Am. Corp., 841 F.2d 191, 193 n.3 (7th Cir. 1988). Because Board-certification decisions are not immediately-appealable orders, an employer can obtain judicial review of them only in conjunction with an unfair labor practice order by the Board, which is immediately appealable. Heartland Human Servs. v. N.L.R.B., 746 F.3d 802, 805 (7th Cir. 2014). Thus, an employer who wants judicial review of a Board's certification decision must first affirmatively refuse to bargain with the Board-certified union, thereby exposing itself to an unfair labor practice charge; then wait for the union to file that charge with the Board; and then wait for the Board to hold that the employer committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to bargain with the union. Serv. Am. Corp., 841 F.2d at 193 n.3. Only then can we review the Board's underlying certification decision. Ruan Transp. Corp. v. N.L.R.B., 674 F.3d 672, 674 (7th Cir. 2012).

As discussed above, Hanson followed this procedure. Hanson admits that it refused to bargain with Local 142 and therefore conditionally admits to the charged unfair labor practice; even so, Hanson continues to contest the validity of the union's certification. Because the Board found that Hanson had committed an unfair labor practice, we can review Hanson's underlying certification challenges. But our review in these cases is limited: [w]e presume the validity of a Board-supervised election and will affirm the Board's certification of a union if that decision is supported by substantial evidence. N.L.R.B. v. AmeriCold Logistics, Inc., 214 F.3d 935, 937 (7th Cir. 2000). When the Board's interpretation of a par-ticular outcome-determinative ballot is at issue, as it is here, [w]e give deference to the Board's interpretation of [that] ballot and will reverse only for abuse of discretion. Id. at 939.

Turning to the merits, Hanson argues that the Board erred in two major respects. First, it argues that the Board abused its discretion by counting the Unknown Voter Ballot as a vote in favor of Local 142's representation. Second, Hanson contends that the Board erred by dismissing as moot Local 142's challenge to the Lawrence Kelly Ballot. The Board seeks enforcement of its order. We first address Hanson's argument regarding the Unknown Voter Ballot before turning to its argument regarding the Lawrence Kelly Ballot.

A. Unknown Voter Ballot

The official secret ballot used in Hanson's representation election contained a clear instruction: mark an X in the square of your choice. Beneath that instruction were two boxes, one marked Yes, the other marked No. Nearly all of the voters who participated in the election followed the ballot's simple instruction, marking an X in the box of their choosing and including no other markings on the ballot. But the anonymous voter who submitted the Unknown Voter Ballot did not heed the instruction. Instead, that voter marked a large Xwhich touched the Yes box but also extended far outside of italong with indecipherable scribbling both inside and outside of the box. It is unclear which came first, the X or the scribbles, and the parties admit that the voter's intent in including the scribbles is unclear: the voter may have included them either to void or to em-phasize the vote. Here is a picture of the Unknown Voter Ballot for reference.

Tabular or graphical material not displayable at this time.

Despite this lack of clarity, Acting Regional Director Nelson counted the Unknown Voter Ballot as a Yes vote in favor of Local 142's representation. In so doing, Nelson first cited the Board's longstanding policy of attempting to give effect to voter intent whenever possible. (App. 12 at 2 (citing Hydro Conduit Corp., 260 N.L.R.B. 1352, 1352 (1982)).) He then applied a presumption from a 1982 Board decision, Kaufman's Bakery, Inc., in which the Board regard[ed] a mark in only one box, despite some irregularity, as pre-sumptively a clear indication of the intent of the voter. 264 N.L.R.B. 225, 225 (1982). In that decision, the Board reasoned that,

When a ballot reveals a clear X almost entirely contained within either the Yes box or the No box and no irregular markings appear outside the marked box, there can be little doubt but that the voter intends his vote to be counted in favor of or against, respectively, the designated labor organi-zation.

Id. Because the Unknown Voter Ballot contained markings in only one boxthe Yes boxNelson applied Kaufman's Bakery and presumed that the unknown voter intended to vote in favor of Local 142. The Board affirmed Nelson's decision.

Hanson argues that this was an abuse of discretion. We agree. Both the Board's overarching policy and the rule in this circuit in ballot interpretation cases is to count ballots when the voters' intent is clear, despite irregularities in the manner in which the ballots have been marked. Ruan Transp., 674 F.3d at 675 (emphasis added) (quoting AmeriCold Logistics, 214 F.3d at 939). As we and the Board have noted, voter intent is the touchstone in these cases.

In addressing its policy to give effect to voter intent whenever possible, the Board has stated that it will count a ballot where, despite an irregularity in the manner in which it has been marked, it clearly expresses the voter's intent. Brooks Bros., Inc., 316 N.L.R.B. 176, 176 (1995) (emphasis added); see also J.L.P. Vending Co., Inc., 218 N.L.R.B. 794, 795 (1975) (noting that the Board's object in these types of cases has always been one of ascertaining the voter's inten-tions); Mercy College, 212 N.L.R.B. 925, 925 (1974) (In finding a ballot to be valid the Board requires that the intent of the voter in marking his ballot must be clearly expressed.). But it is not the Board's role to glean voter intent from am-biguous or contradictory markings on a ballot. In re Daim-ler-Chrysler Corp., 338 N.L.R.B. 982, 983 (2003). Thus, the Board will not speculate to divine the intent of a ballot that is not clear, or to negate the intent of a ballot that is other-wise clear. Id. Instead, when the voter fails to ma [ke] his or her preference clear on the face of the ballot, then the ballot must be voided. Id. (emphasis added); see also Weill's Inc., 108 N.L.R.B. 731, 734 (1954).

Here, rather than treat a seemingly unclear ballot as void, the Board applied Kaufman's Bakery to presume that the voter intended to vote. But we aren't even convinced that Kaufman's Bakery should have been applied in this case. By its terms, the presumption applies only when the ballot reveals a clear X almost entirely contained within one of the boxes and no irregular markings appear outside the marked box. Kaufman's Bakery, 264 N.L.R.B. at 225. The X that appears in the Yes box of the Unknown Voter Ballot can hardly be described as clear, given that the scribbling covers much of the X. Moreover, the X is not almost entirely contained within the Yes box and much of the scribblingthe irregular markings in this caseappears outside of that box.

But even if we thought the presumption ought to apply here, we think it is overcome by the circumstances. The Board urges us to strictly apply Kaufman's Bakery: it contends that in every situation where there are markings in only one box, we should presume that the voter intended to cast a vote for that box. Thus, under this strict interpretationand as argued by the Board at oral argumenta ballot that contains only a question mark in one of the boxes and nothing in the other box would have to be counted as a vote for the box that contained the question mark. That can't be right if the Board's overarching goal in these cases is to discern and effectuate the voter's intent: a ballot that contains only a question mark provides absolutely no indication of how the voter intended to vote. The same is true of a ballot that contains an X that may or may not have been scribbled out.

As the Board conceded at oral argument, the markings matter in these cases. When, as here, the irregular markings on the disputed ballot could reasonably be interpreted as an attempt to void the ballot, those markings should not be ig-nored. Although the Board argues that it addressed this ex-act concern in Kaufman's Bakeryin which the Board described as unlikely a voter's strategy of attempting to can-cel his selection and cast a no-choice vote by drawing irregular marks over his original X it did so in reference to stray marks that constituted the slightest variance from the normal manner of ballot marking despite a clear indication of the voter's intent on that ballot. 264 N.L.R.B. at 225. Here, as discussed above, the markings on the Unknown Voter Ballot give no clear indication of the voter's intent to vote, and the scribbles are not merely stray marks but easily could (and maybe should under the circumstances) be interpreted as an outright attempt to void the voter's vote. Simp-ly put, the Kaufman's Bakery presumption is ill-suited to deal with situations like these, where voter intent absolutely can-not be inferred from the marks on the ballot.

In sum, we think it is impossiblewith or without a presumptionto determine the intent of the unknown voter in this case. Nelson and the Board should have treated the Unknown Voter Ballot as void. We hold that their failure to do so was an abuse of discretion.

B. Lawrence Kelly Ballot

Local 142 challenged the Lawrence Kelly Ballot on the ground that Kellyan employee of Hanson who had been absent from work for at least seven months on approved medical leavewas no longer a Hanson employee and was therefore ineligible to vote in the election. Because Nelson counted the Unknown Voter Ballot as a vote in favor of Local 142's representation, he determined that Local 142's challenge to the Lawrence Kelly Ballot was no longer outcome determinative of the election. As such, Nelson deemed that challenge to be moot, and the Board affirmed this decision. That too was an error.

As discussed above, the Unknown Voter Ballot should not have been counted as a vote in favor of Local 142's representation. Thus, the vote tally should have stood at 1817, with Local 142's dispute to the Lawrence Kelly Ballot out-standing. Because employers win all ties in representation elections, the Lawrence Kelly Ballot is outcome determinative. AmeriCold Logistics, 214 F.3d at 937 ([L]ike a base run-ner who reaches the bag at the same time as the ball, a tie goes to the company.). Nelson and the Board should have considered Local 142's dispute to the Lawrence Kelly Ballot.

III. CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, we VACATE the Board's certification decision; DENY the Board's cross-application for enforcement of its unfair-labor practice order; and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FOOTNOTES

. Throughout our opinion, we cite to the appendix in Hanson's opening brief. We include these citations in parentheses. Our reference to App. in these citations refers to this appendix, and the first number following that reference refers to the specific Tab in the appendix to which we are referring. Any additional numbers included in these citations refer to the specific page numbers within that Tab of the appendix.

. Local 142 did not seek to represent Hanson's [d]rivers, WMS coordi-nators, office clerical employees and guards, professional employees and supervisors. (App. 6 at 2.)

. Although Nelson ultimately determined that Local 142's challenge to the Lawrence Kelly Ballot was moot, he did discuss the governing legal standard (and did hint at the likely result in this case) in a footnote of his decision:[T]he fundamental rule governing the eligibility of an employee on sick or maternity leave, known as the Red Arrow test, is that he or she is presumed to continue in such status unless and until the presumption is rebutted by an affirmative showing that the employee has been discharged or has resigned.(App. 12 at 2 n.1 (citing Red Arrow Freight Lines, 278 N.L.R.B. 965, 965 (1986)).).

KANNE, Circuit Judge.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. DONNA NICHOLSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS, et al., Defendants-Appellees. No. 16-4162 Decided: June 20, 2017

Before POSNER, MANION, and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

Peoria police officer Donna Nicholson appeals from a judgment against her in this discrimination and retaliation case. She also appeals the denial of her motion for reconsideration and motion to disqualify Judge Mihm. For the reasons stated below, we agree with the district court that Nicholson did not present sufficient evidence to survive summary judgment on either claim. Moreover, the district court did not err in denying Nicholson's motion for reconsideration or the motion to disqualify Judge Mihm, which was frivolous. Therefore, we affirm the judgment below.

I. Background

Donna Nicholson has been a police officer in Peoria, Illinois since 1991. In 2003, she was assigned the position of Asset Forfeiture investigator. Five years later, Nicholson began having serious issues with fellow officer Jeffrey Wilson, whom she accused of using Peoria Police Department equipment to place her under surveillance. The Department conducted an internal affairs investigation into Wilson's behavior, after which he was suspended for twenty days (although Nicholson notes that the suspension was not directly for the alleged surveillance, but other things such as Wilson's lewd sexual re-marks about Nicholson's daughter). Thereafter, Nicholson filed a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and then a lawsuit related to Wilson's conduct. Her suit was settled and dismissed.

In July 2012, Chief of Police Steven Settingsgaard issued a General Order Regarding Transfer and Rotation (Rotation Policy). The new Rotation Policy provided that all specialty assignments, like Nicholson's position of Asset Forfeiture investigator, would be subject to three-year rotations. The cur-rent occupant of each position could seek reappointment, however, and Nicholson did so, submitting her application in August 2012. She interviewed in October, and it did not go well. According to the panel that interviewed her, Nicholson [i]nterviewed very poorly, seemed angry [and] controlling. She began her interview by refusing to answer any questions until she read aloud a nine-page manifesto, clearly a highly unusual behavior. In the end, the panel concluded that Nicholson was knowledgeable but that the Department was due for [a] change. The panel selected Officer Troy Skaggs, who it said [g]ave an outstanding interview. After her fail-ure to retain the Asset Forfeiture position (and having not ap-plied to any other positions), Nicholson was reassigned to patrol by default on January 6, 2013.

Once Nicholson discovered that she would not remain in the Asset Forfeiture position, she filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC, alleging that sex discrimination and unlawful retaliation cost her the job. After receiving a right-to-sue letter, she filed this case. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants, and then denied Nicholson's motion for reconsideration. The court also denied Nicholson's motion to disqualify Judge Mihm, which was made on the ground that he was counsel for Peoria more than four decades ago. Nicholson timely appealed all three orders.

II. Discussion

A. Standard of Review

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Burton v. Bd. of Regents, 851 F.3d 690, 694 (7th Cir. 2017). Summary judgment is appropriate where there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). Therefore, we view all evidence in the light most favorable to Nicholson, who was the non-moving party. Burton, 851 F.3d at 694. The defendants are entitled to summary judgment if Nicholson cannot present sufficient evidence to create a dispute of material fact regarding any essential element of her legal claims on which she bears the burden of proof. Id.

We review the denial of a motion for reconsideration only for abuse of discretion. United Cent. Bank v. KMWC 845, LLC, 800 F.3d 307, 309 (7th Cir. 2015). In this case, however, our review of the motion for reconsideration essentially merges with the merits of the summary judgment disposition. That is because Nicholson argued below that the district court failed to apply the correct legal standard under this court's decision in Ortiz v. Werner Enterprises, Inc., 834 F.3d 760 (7th Cir. 2016), and so the lower court addressed the merits of that argument. Thus, we review de novo the district court's ultimate conclu-sion that the defendants were entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

B. Legal Standards for Discrimination and Retaliation

Nicholson first claims that she was not reappointed to the Asset Forfeiture position because of her sex, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C.  2000e et seq. After Ortiz, this court has entirely done away with the distinc-tion between direct and indirect evidence and methods of proof for Title VII discrimination claims. As we explained in that case, [e]vidence is evidence. Relevant evidence must be considered and irrelevant evidence disregarded, but no evidence should be treated differently from other evidence because it can be labeled direct or indirect.  Ortiz, 834 F.3d at 765. The proper standard on summary judgment for this claim is simply whether the evidence would permit a reasonable factfinder to conclude that [Nicholson's sex] caused her reassignment. Id.

Nicholson's second claim is that her reassignment was retaliation for having made claims of discrimination in the past, particularly involving the episode with Officer Wilson. To survive summary judgment on a claim of unlawful retaliation, whether under Title VII or 42 U.S.C.  1983, Nicholson must produce enough evidence for a reasonable jury to conclude that (1) she engaged in a statutorily protected activity; (2) the [defendants] took a materially adverse action against her; and (3) there existed a but-for causal connection between the two. Burton, 851 F.3d at 695; see also Smith v. Bray, 681 F.3d 888, 899 (7th Cir. 2012) (abrogated on other grounds by Ortiz) (same legal standards apply under Title VII and  1983).

C. Sex Discrimination Claim

Nicholson argues that a reasonable jury examining the record could conclude that she was not reappointed to the Asset Forfeiture position because of her sex. We disagree. The record simply lacks any evidence to contradict the defendants' position that Skaggs was chosen over Nicholson because of the former's better interview performance. Since there is no admissible evidence that suggests the defendants' explana-tion was a pretext for sex discrimination, the defendants were entitled to summary judgment on this claim.

Nicholson's protests to the contrary are unpersuasive. First, there's no indication that the Rotation Policy was created specifically to target her because she's female. After all, more than twenty male employees were reassigned to patrol after not being retained in specialty positions under the Rotation Policy. Second, Nicholson's argument that the interview pro-cess was a sham is not supported by any admissible evidence, but only by the feelings of another female officer who was un-happy about being excluded from the selection committee. Third, her contention that Skaggs wasn't as good at the Asset Forfeiture job is irrelevant because the decision challenged was the hiring of Skaggs instead of Nicholson. The selection committee obviously didn't have future knowledge of how Skaggs would perform in the job; it could only make its decision based on the candidates' interviews. Skaggs' interview went better than Nicholson's, so he was hired. Without any evidence to the contrary, Nicholson cannot maintain a sex discrimination claim.

D. Retaliation Claim

Next, Nicholson claims that she didn't keep the Asset Forfeiture position because she made claims of discrimination against the Department relating to the surveillance by Officer Wilson. For similar reasons, this claim also fails. There is no evidence that the selection committee chose Skaggs over Nicholson because Nicholson had made prior discrimination claims. Rather, the record demonstrates that Nicholson's poor interview caused her reassignment.

Nor does the chronology help Nicholson's case. The last charge of discrimination she filed in relation to the Wilson ordeal was on September 27, 2011, when she claimed that the City should not be paying Wilson's attorneys' fees to defend against her claims. The selection committee decided to ap-point Skaggs in October 2012. The passage of more than a year between protected activity and the adverse employment action is enough to substantially weaken a retaliation claim. Burton, 851 F.3d at 698 (six-month gap). And the filing of her subsequent lawsuit against Wilson doesn't fill the gap because it happened after the challenged decision. So, instead of facilitating an inference of retaliation, the timing actually harms Nicholson's case.

Moreover, federal courts intervene in these sorts of per-sonnel disputes only where an employer's reason for [an adverse action] is without factual basis or is completely unrea-sonable.  Id. (quoting Hobgood v. Ill. Gaming Bd., 731 F.3d 635, 646 (7th Cir. 2013)). Even if we didn't think that it was particularly smart for the selection committee to pick Skaggs based on the interview, it certainly wasn't irrational. And Nicholson doesn't dispute the facts relating to her interview. Thus, we will not second-guess the defendants' hiring decision in this case. We agree with the district court that the defendants were entitled to summary judgment on Nicholson's retaliation claim.

E. Motion to Disqualify Judge Mihm

Lastly, Nicholson takes issue with Judge Mihm's refusal to recuse himself and his decision to hear, and deny, her motion to disqualify him. Her argument is that Judge Mihm should be disqualified because he worked for the City of Peoria more than 40 years ago. To put it mildly, this is frivolous and we reject it.

A judge must disqualify himself from any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned, 28 U.S.C.  455(a), or when he has served in governmental employment and in such capacity participated as counsel, ad-viser or material witness concerning the proceeding or ex-pressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy, id.  455(b)(3). Judge Mihm has been a federal judge since 1982. He was last employed by the City of Peoria in 1972. Any suggestion that he is biased in favor of the City based upon his employment more than four decades ago is preposterous. We need not spend any more time refuting it. Judge Mihm was well within his rights to decide the motion himself and to deny it.

III. Conclusion

Nicholson has clearly experienced quite the ordeal in the past few years. The surveillance allegations against Officer Wilson, which we assume to be true, are quite unfortunate. But they do not have any bearing on the outcome of this case against the City and Chief Settingsgaard. Nicholson has not presented any admissible evidence that would permit a reasonable jury to conclude that she was reassigned to patrol because of her sex or her previous discrimination claims. Therefore, the district court correctly granted summary judgment to the defendants on those claims.

AFFIRMED

FOOTNOTES

. The police department and the union apparently reached an agreement whereby Wilson agreed that he wouldn't challenge the suspension and the department agreed not to terminate him. That appears to be the reason Wilson's punishment wasn't more severe.

. As a reminder, Nicholson had been in the Asset Forfeiture position for nine years at the time of her reassignment.

. What is more, the head of the selection committee, then-Captain Lisa Snow, was female and Nicholson's childhood friend. Snow has since been promoted to Assistant Chief of Police, the second-highest rank in the Department.

. Nicholson also argues that there is a pattern or practice of sex discrimination at the Peoria Police Department. However, she cites only her own claim and two other incidents over the course of several years. In order to prove that the employer has engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination, then, the plaintiff must show that there is regular, pur-poseful, less-favorable treatment of a protected group. King v. Gen. Elec. Co., 960 F.2d 617, 623 (7th Cir. 1992). Three claims over almost a decade, isolated in nature and unrelated to each other, are insufficient to establish a pattern or practice of discrimination against women.

. The City apparently paid the attorneys' fees because it was obligated to do so under its collective bargaining agreement with the police union.

. At oral argument, Nicholson's counsel went so far as to say that Justice Kagan, for the remainder of her time on the Supreme Court, should have to disclose that she was once the United States Solicitor General. Ap-parently, the suggestion is that Justice Kagan's work on behalf of the federal government would make her potentially biased in favor of the government in all future cases. Our judicial system would hardly function if judges were potentially obliged to disqualify themselves in such situa-tions. Counsel's suggestion is illustrative of the absurdity of Nicholson's argument.

MANION, Circuit Judge.
I am a Cat Woman. My self-appointed mission in life is to save the feline world! To accomplish this mission, I get cats fixed. Perhaps my mission might be slightly delusional. This blog is a mishmash of wishful thinking, rants, experiences as I remember them and of course, cat stories and cat photos. I have a nonprofit now, to help keep the cats here cared for and to fix community cats. Happy Cat Club formed in 2015. Currently, we are on a mission to fix 10,000 cats.
Authorities in Marion County are charging an 18-year-old with criminal attempt to commit first degree murder.

Marion County authorities have charged an 18-year-old with trying to kill his mother.

Paul Nunley is being held without bond at the Marion County Jail on a charged of attempted murder.

Authorities said Carolyn Henry told them that she tried to hide from her son after he shot her in the head with an assault rifle on Friday night.

The family lives on Bennett Lake Road.

Nunley was found with the assault rifle inside the house.

He said he has "anger issues" and was upset that his parents had been fighting and his father left the home for a few days.
If Jeremy Corbyn truly believed in democracy, hed roundly condemn todays Day of Rage, organised by the storm troops of the hard Left to bring London to a halt and help overthrow the Government.

Leave aside the sickening way his Marxist supporters have exploited the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire to promote their hate-filled agenda  hijacking our grief, in the words of local residents and churches.

The very thought of a revolutionary mob seeking to overturn an election result should horrify anyone who cherishes our constitution and rule of law.

Yet from the Labour leader, deafening silence. Worse, he has pandered to protesters thirst for class war by echoing their demands to seize the empty homes of the rich.

People walk through Kensington to protest against the deaths at Glenfell Tower last week

As for Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, yes, he has said half-heartedly that he repudiates the Day of Rage. Yet as the Mail reveals, he has given his backing in the past to the protests organisers from the chillingly-named Movement for Justice by Any Means Necessary.

Meanwhile, this man who would be chancellor has egged on union militants to topple Theresa May in a Red October, with mass protests and a summer of strikes that could do untold harm to the economy.

During the election, Messrs Corbyn and McDonnell presented themselves as misunderstood idealists. How quickly the mask has slipped. And what a warning to anyone tempted to give them power.

Spoken like a Brit!

At the height of Project Fear, Mark Carney missed no opportunity to talk Britain down, predicting disaster if we broke free from Brussels. What a difference a year makes.

In a fine speech yesterday, the Canadian Governor of the Bank of England went in to bat for Britain, delivering a blunt warning to the EU: hands off the City.

Spelling out a much-needed lesson in global finance, he warned Germany and France they would inflict massive damage on Europes economies if they pushed through their long-held ambition to steal part of Londons mammoth currency trading business.

At the height of Project Fear, Mark Carney missed no opportunity to talk Britain down, predicting disaster if we broke free from Brussels

As he pointed out, Frankfurt and Paris are simply not big enough to handle the 750billion of euro trading carried out smoothly every day in the Square Mile, with its world-beating expertise.

True, Mr Carney couldnt resist warning that the early stages of withdrawal may be painful. But how his tone has changed since the referendum. He now speaks like a true Briton, determined to make Brexit a success and even applying for UK citizenship. The Mail rejoices that, at last, he seems firmly on Britains side.

Warning to EU elites

Today comes a timely reminder to Europes political and financial class of precisely why Britain voted Brexit a year ago this Friday.

In a hugely revealing mass survey, think-tank Chatham House finds a yawning chasm between the EUs elites and the general public across the 28-nation bloc, with 71 per cent of privileged influencers saying theyd done well out of the EU, against only 34 per cent of the public.

As for the EUs failures, voters stressed the refugee crisis and migration, while the elite were worried chiefly about red tape.

If Jean-Claude Juncker and Co want to stop others following Britain, they should start listening, double quick, to those whose interests they profess to represent.
Not since the early days of September 1997, after Princess Dianas death, has political aggression in London felt this unhinged.

Back then, there had just been a fatal accident and the mood became frighteningly inflamed. An overexcited media accentuated the zealotry of a few hotheaded republicans until it seemed the entire country was a-boil.

Most unfairly, one woman (the Queen) became the lightning rod for that fury. She had failed to fly a flag at half-mast over Buckingham Palace. She and her family were dysfunctional and wicked and quite beyond salvation. She should be toppled!

Twenty years on, something similar has happened, but the woman who has this time been picked on as the scapegoat is our Prime Minister, Theresa May.

After a spate of fatal incidents, Mrs May is being held up as the culprit.

After a spate of fatal incidents in the last few weeks, Mrs May is being held up as the culprit

From the way some rabble-rousers are behaving, you would think she, personally, had set the Grenfell Tower fire which led to that awful disaster. You would think that she, personally, commissioned the terrorist atrocities in Manchester, Borough Market and Finsbury Park.

Agitators

Comedian Rufus Hound supported the suggestion aired on Twitter  where he has 1.2 million followers  that in the heat of an election it was fortunate timing for Mrs May that children and families were blown to pieces in Manchester. He was seriously suggesting that the suicide bomber was working with the agreement of the Government.

What sort of person makes such a claim? Yet Hound and his ilk  he was not the only one to make such sick comments  were believed by enough impressionable souls to stoke fury at Mrs May for that dreadful Manchester attack. No doubt that helped the Labour partys vote share.

Socialist Workers Party agitators, a few malevolent celebrities and even one or two Tory party insiders are now putting it about that Mrs May is uninterested in the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. She is a cold-hearted monster. She is dysfunctional. She should be toppled!

The Labour leader has turned into a veritable one-man touchy-feely squad, hunting down disaster victims so that he can feel their pain

This criticism is no more justified today than it was in 1997. The difference is that this time it is not the House of Windsor the mob wants to overthrow. It is British parliamentary democracy, at a time when Brexit negotiations with the EU have just begun, and political stability is essential.

I doubt I could ever be mistaken for Theresa Mays greatest fan. She had a dreadful election campaign and made many mistakes.

At a rally in Twickenham, ten days before the nation went to the polls, I put it to her that she was a bit of a glumbucket. She gave me a filthy look.

My glumbucket caused a frisson on social media, where Leftie Tweeters and Facebookers leaped for joy, suggesting that the Mail had turned on Mrs May.

No it hadnt. But she was obviously a bit of a clunker on the campaign trail. That is a quite different thing from the bizarre and vicious hysteria now being directed at Mrs May. She has been castigated as a medieval witch, a weirdo, as someone dead to emotion or empathy (sisterly Polly Toynbee in the Guardian).

Mrs Mays sin? She did not hug Grenfell Tower families in front of the TV cameras when she visited the site hours after the blaze. Instead she talked to the emergency services and decided she would not barge in on the grieving survivors.

Her low-key, aloof-looking visit was contrasted with the emotive response of Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour leader has turned into a veritable one-man touchy-feely squad, hunting down disaster victims so that he can feel their pain.

From the way some rabble-rousers are behaving, you would think she, personally, had set the Grenfell Tower fire which led to that awful disaster

Anyone inside the M25 who is involved in a disaster in the coming days should beware. Within hours you may find a bearded crypto-communist slipping his arm round your shoulder, never mind the fact that he never offered any sympathy to the victims of his beloved IRA heroes.

In London, and on social media, it has become open season on Mrs May. She can do no right. Had she indeed been photographed weeping with Grenfell Tower families, critics would probably have accused her of milking the moment and even of having some sort of nervous breakdown.

When it was discovered that she and the Archbishop of Canterbury had met and prayed, that merely set off another round of head-shaking about how out of touch she was with metropolitan Britain.

Prayer? The chatterati slapped their foreheads and said it was almost time to call the men in white coats.

From this kneejerk criticism of Mrs Mays alleged lack of sympathy to the fire victims, the agitprop crowd make a wild leap to parliamentary politics. They say that Mrs May lost the election and that she should resign and let Mr Corbyn form a Government.

You would think that May, personally, commissioned the terrorist atrocities in Manchester, Borough Market and Finsbury Park

This is delusional. Labour fell miles short of being the biggest party. Mrs May won 42.4 per cent of the vote  a hefty rise on what David Cameron managed in 2015, and almost as good as Tony Blair won in 1997 when he achieved a landslide. Mrs May did not secure a Commons majority, but such are the vagaries of our electoral system.

Falsehood

This Corbyn argument that he has somehow been cheated of power is a rank falsehood. It will leave the voters who did support the Tories over Labour feeling puzzled and ignored. I suspect it will do Labour no good at all at the next election, whenever it is. And there lies the big question.

Is the Labour leadership  and its rent-a-mob friends behind the Day of Rage march planned for central London today  going to let Mrs May bring stability to our country? Or are these adolescent revolutionaries going to continue doing their damnedest to force another election?

One wonders what Brenda of Bristol  the woman who responded with such horror to the idea of this months poll  would have to say to them about that. Brenda might also have a few strong words for government ministers and Tory MPs, who are said to be plotting to replace Mrs May.

Was Boris on manoeuvres with Michael Fallon when they were photographed chatting privately on a pub bench in Kent the other evening? Is David Davis considering taking a punt?

Even Chancellor Philip Hammond  a politician so stupefyingly dull he makes my glumbucket Theresa look like a frilly-skirted circus trapeze artiste  is reported to fancy his chances. Hammond! In saner times he would be lucky to be Secretary of State for Sewage Works.

We must hope that reports of such Cabinet plots are no more accurate than the wildly unfair denunciations of Mrs Mays deadness of emotion.

Poison

This Prime Minister, daughter of an old-school Anglican parson, may not be much good at radiating her feelings in this snowflake-millennial world, but that is not to say she does not have them. She strikes me as a decent, Christian woman who is trying her best to restore a sense of calm after her near-ruinous mistake of calling an early election.

Having spent several days in Herefordshire rather than in the cauldron of London, I doubt that many more than a few hundred hard-Left fanatics truly swallow this poison about Mrs May having conspired in the terror attacks.

Similarly, I suspect most fair onlookers would accept that her failure to hug survivors of the Grenfell fire was evidence of nothing more than a rather old-fashioned belief in respecting the privacy of the bereaved.

For goodness sake  and for the sake of our long-term stability  lets get behind the poor lady. Lay off Mrs May!

Until Brexit is completed, she is the only possible person for No. 10. And do not for a second forget that she is our most effective  possibly only  bulwark against the unthinkable rise of Jeremy Corbyn to the office of prime minister (alongside his Marxist chum John McDonnell). That is an outcome that would damage Britains economic future, and our place in the world, more than anything imaginable.

One can only hope that, like the heatwave, these febrile times abate. They did in 1997. Our wonderful Queen saw off the raucous mob. Lets hope Mrs May will do the same.
When contemplating highly complex and culturally sensitive issues, such as extremism, multiculturalism and how to address the ongoing threat of terrorism, I don't know about you, but I turn to the wisdom of Lily Allen.

After all, what better qualifications for a career in socio-political commentary could there be than writing songs about the inadequacy of your boy-friend's foreplay?

This week, Allen  who used to be a passable pop star, but now spends most of her time proving why it's best not to leave school at 15 and spend most of your formative years drinking, smoking and falling over  tweeted that the real perpetrator of the attack at Finsbury Park mosque was not, in fact, an inadequate drunken loser, but British journalism.

Scroll down for video

Lily, dear, can I just say one thing. I don't pretend to be a pop star. So how about you don't pretend to be a journalist?

'Radicalized by the British media. #FinsburyPark' she posted, before deleting several tweets.

It wasn't her first anti-'meeja' outburst. Earlier, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, she told Channel 4's Jon Snow  in her infuriating Mockney accent (which somehow survived her expensive early schooling at, among others, Prince Charles's old pre-prep Hill House, Millfield and Bedales) that the mainstream media was 'downplaying' the scale of the tragedy by reporting the number of victims confirmed by police to be only 17.

Word going round, apparently, was that it was more likely to be closer to 150.

Lily, dear, can I just say one thing. I don't pretend to be a pop star. So how about you don't pretend to be a journalist?

Of course, everyone knew the death toll would tragically rise. But it would be irresponsible, and cruel to the families involved, to report as fact anything other than the official police figure.

And the truth is that the wicked man who terrorised worshippers at Finsbury Park mosque wasn't 'radicalised'. He was just a thick, drunk, racist, ignorant weirdo.

After all, what better qualifications for a career in socio-political commentary could there be than writing songs about the inadequacy of your boy-friend's foreplay?

Which is not the same as believing you are fighting a holy war against non-believers.

But that's not the issue. Even if this lunatic turns out to be a paid-up member of the English Defence League, the idea that the mainstream media is to blame is absurd.

Ask yourself this one simple question. Where do these attackers get their ideas from? Where do they find the space and, more importantly, the freedom, to share and disseminate their poison?

The answer is the same in every case: the internet.

Specifically, the misguided online narratives and twisted virtual propaganda that create division, stir up hatred  and give both zealots and vulnerable or troubled individuals excuses to commit terrible atrocities.

That is why we are seeing such an escalation in these types of attacks. Because the internet is what all modern extremism, whether it be right, left, or religiously motivated, feeds off.

Fake news, misinformation, call it what you will. It's all made-up nonsense dressed up as fact.

Earlier, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, she told Channel 4's Jon Snow  in her infuriating Mockney accent that the mainstream media was 'downplaying' the scale of the tragedy by reporting the number of victims confirmed by police to be only 17

Such as, for example, the notion doing the rounds a few days ago that Theresa May had Asperger's syndrome; or the rumour that the police were hiding bodies from the Grenfell fire. Spite, malice and hysteria, presented as news.

Far from being the villain of the piece, the mainstream media is the last bastion of truth and decency in a world dominated by an internet that neither accepts nor cares about moral responsibility; that has no boundaries and no control. And that finds fertile ground in the febrile imaginations of angry people.

Sure, newspapers sometimes get things wrong and, when they do, they must be called to account.

But they don't encourage their readers to kill non-believers or abuse young children or go out and rape people  things that happen every day on the internet.

If, instead of indulging in mob-pleasing, virtue-snivelling political point-scoring, Lily Allen was to engage her brain for half a second, she might realise this.

But I'm not holding my breath.

Just be yourself, Theresa

Theresa May faces a cruel paradox: that while Parliament is a place where no one can afford to show their true feelings, politics is a place where an ability to cry in public has almost become a requisite of the job.

That's hard for a woman who many think has no heart, but who is just someone who doesn't wear it on her sleeve.

There's something else. Mrs May belongs to a generation of women who, as minorities in a man's world, learnt to hide their feelings in the interest of self-preservation.

Mrs May belongs to a generation of women who, as minorities in a man's world, learnt to hide their feelings in the interest of self-preservation

It's something many of us did. We compensated for being female by acting tougher and dressing scary. Killer heels and statement jewellery; sharp suits and strong lipstick.

Twenty years ago, when you had to run the gauntlet of institutional sexism, these things were necessary, part of the daily armour of feminism.

But now the menfolk have been subdued, they can seem a bit over the top.

If I had to give Mrs May any advice on how to survive the coming weeks, it would be this: stop trying to please everyone. Stop apologising. Don't let the enemy's narrative get its grip on you, and don't let this single mistake over the election turn into a life-defining failure.

And don't give up. Because however bad things may seem now, they'd be a lot worse if Jeremy Corbyn took control.

I agree with OfCom that it would be a waste of time to launch a probe into Amanda Holden's BGT dress. As you can clearly see, there's literally nothing there.

I agree with OfCom that it would be a waste of time to launch a probe into Amanda Holden's BGT dress. As you can clearly see, there's literally nothing there

Coconut Snake Oil

Having spent the best part of the past two years smugly cooking everything in coconut oil, I now discover that it's just as bad for you as butter or beef dripping.

A study published by the American Heart Association has found coconut oil is 82 per cent saturated fat. More proof, if it were needed, of the general bogusness of the whole 'clean eating' fad  and likely the reason I've suddenly developed high cholesterol.

Still, at least my long-suffering husband can go back to having his vegetables the way he likes them: swimming in butter.

I know we're all meant to lust after Gwyneth Paltrow's perfect body, but there's something curiously unsexy about pictures of her in a tiny bikini on holiday in St Tropez.

Yes, she's in fantastic shape, but it's all just a bit insipid, a bit too try-hard, a bit, well, boring.

By contrast, her ex-husband, Chris Martin, has never looked hotter.

Could it have something to do with the fact that he's suddenly allowed to eat real food again?

Yes, she's in fantastic shape, but it's all just a bit insipid, a bit too try-hard, a bit, well, boring

Voice of childhood

When my family moved abroad in the Seventies, one of the few reminders of Britain was my prized Trumpton record.

There was no such thing as children's TV in Italy, so I loved hearing the tales of 'Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub', narrated by the wonderful Brian Cant, who sadly died this week aged 83.

The man may have gone, but his voice will live on in scratchy recordings like my own, treasured memories of a very British sort of childhood.

Why Jeremy Corbyn is like Donald Trump

Do any of the young people who have been seduced by Jeremy Corbyn realise that he's just a Left-wing version of Donald Trump?

Their tactics are remarkably similar: identify a disenfranchised group of voters, tell them what they want to hear, hand out a few sweeties, make promises you can't possibly keep  and watch them flock to your cause.

Today has been declared a 'Day of Rage' by the rent-a-mob Corbynistas, who have been stirring up trouble ever since the tragedy in Grenfell Tower.

Why don't we fight back with a 'Day of Reconciliation', in which the decent, silent majority get together and behave in a civil manner, over a cup of tea and a slice of lemon drizzle cake?
Advertisement

Two plus-size models have starred in a high fashion shoot in a bid to prove that bigger girls can pull off bright colours and bold prints.

Tia Duffy and Christina Schmidth, both a UK size 14 (US 10), teamed up with designer Hayley Elsaesser - who has dressed the likes of Miley Cyrus - for the striking images which were shot in downtown Toronto, Canada.

The pair can be seen flaunting their curves in a series of bold, eye-catching cuts and colours that show off their voluptuous figures to perfection.

Explaining her inspiration behind the shoot, which she coordinated herself, Irish model Tia told Femail: '[Christina and I] are both a UK size 14 (US 10) but we are sometimes considered the in-between size where clients don't consider us plus size or straight size.

Breaking boundaries: Tia Duffy (left) and Christina Schmidth, both a size 14 (US 10), have teamed up with Canadian designer Hayley Elsaesser - who has dressed the likes of Miley Cyrus - for the striking images which were shot in downtown Toronto

The two plus-size stunners decided to star in the high fashion shoot in a bid to prove that bigger girls can wear bright colours and clashing prints - and Tia (left) said they had a great response from the general public

'We came together in this shoot to show that we can pull off a high fashion editorial regardless of height or size.

'For many years Christina worried about her height in the industry but she is one of Canada's busiest models and has modelled for brands like Reebok and Sears.

'Another issue we wanted to raise was curvier women wearing bright colours and print. I don't usually wear big bright clothes and especially prints because I've always felt that they wouldn't look good on my body. After this shoot that changed completely.'

Tia added: 'The public in general loved our looks and we want to encourage women to wear what ever they want.'

Plus-size and proud: In the shoot, the pair can be seen flaunting their curves in a series of bold, eye-catching cuts and colours that show off their voluptuous figures to perfection

Explaining her inspiration behind the shoot, which she coordinated herself, Tia told Femail: '[Christina and I] are both a UK size 14 but we are sometimes considered the in-between size where clients don't consider us plus size or straight size'

Tia (left) told Femail: 'We came together in this shoot to show that we can pull off a high fashion editorial regardless of height or size. For many years Christina worried about her height in the industry but she is one of Canada's busiest models and has modelled for brands like Reebok and Sears'

Brave Tia revealed: 'I don't usually wear big bright clothes and especially prints because I've always felt that they wouldn't look good on my body. After this shoot that changed completely'

Tia, 28, from Dublin, has walked the runway for designers including Lesley Hampton and recently launched the #BeBodyAware campaign in a bid to boost diversity in the fashion industry.

She recently spoke to Femail about the pressure to look a certain way as a model, saying: '[It's been] horrifying at times to see myself in an image with a different nose or a smaller waist.

'It is important for me as a model to have an organisation like Be Body Aware. We challenge designers and photographers to challenge themselves and in doing so everyone wins.

Tia said of the shoot: 'The public in general loved our looks and we want to encourage women to wear what ever they want'. She recently spoke to Femail about the pressure to look a certain way as a model, saying: '[It's been] horrifying at times to see myself in an image with a different nose or a smaller waist'

Rising star: Tia, 28, from Dublin (left, with Christina), has walked the runway for designers including Lesley Hampton and recently launched the #BeBodyAware campaign in a bid to boost diversity in the fashion industry

Christina's co-star Tia said: 'It is important for me as a model to have an organisation like Be Body Aware. We challenge designers and photographers to challenge themselves and in doing so everyone wins'

'At Be Body Aware we are trying to encourage designers and photographers to come on board everyday.

She added: 'It's our job at Be Body Aware to work between finding that balance and still making sure the images are as honest as possible yet they are still works of art and the photographer doesn't feel chained.

'In doing so it encourages high fashion photographers to become involved and designers also. I think it's a more realistic way of pushing diversity forward.

'Most photographers think it's unfair to try push completely untouched images as it's a part of their art. That is something I'm only understanding recently.'
She's the hottest model in the world right now - and Bella Hadid has added another string to her bow by lending her good looks to a huge beauty campaign.

The stunning 20-year-old has just been unveiled as Nars' Fall 17 campaign model - and showcases her modelling prowess in a series of smouldering shots as she shares her beauty tips with FEMAIL.

Posing in just a leather bra alongside a male model, Bella works the camera to perfection in the new shoot - and even totally strips off in one raunchy shot.

Bella Hadid rocks an edgy new look as she is unveiled as Nars' Fall 17 campaign model - and showcases her modelling prowess in a series of smouldering shots as she shares her beauty tips with FEMAIL

And despite the model good looks that have helped sky-rocket her career, Bella says that her definition of beauty runs far deeper.

'It is being strong and confident from the inside out. I think the most beautiful people are the ones who leave an impression on your heart from their kindness and love,' she said.

So what's the secret behind her flawless looks? 'I keep regime very simple,' she said. 'I wash my face, apply a good mask, followed by an oily serum. I know it sounds generic but drinking water will help with just about anything.'

Bella admits that she and sister Gigi learnt everything they know about beauty from their mother, Yolanda Foster, explaining: 'Growing up my mom taught me about products that are good for your skin, specifically serums and oils.

'She was an advocate for healthy skin and started to teach me about a proper skin routine before makeup.'

Bella forgoes her bra in the smouldering shoot as she tells FEMAIL that her skincare regime is 'very simple'. She said: 'I wash my face, apply a good mask, followed by an oily serum. I know it sounds generic but drinking water will help with just about anything'

Bella, who displays her toned body in the shoot, says that her definition of beauty runs far deeper. 'It is being strong and confident from the inside out,' she said

This is Bella's second big campaign news this week; the model was unveiled as the star of Versus Versace fashion line alongside Zayn Malik.

The 20-year-old model  who is the younger sister of Zayn's girlfriend Gigi Hadid  has joined forces with the dark-haired hunk to model the garments from his collection for the Italian fashion house.

And the former One Direction band member has shared the news the catwalk icon features in the commercial on social media.

Successful Bella was unveiled as the star of Versus Versace fashion line alongside Zayn Malik earlier this week
For millennia it has been the dividing line in the battle of the sexes. Women may be better at multi-tasking, less susceptible to 'man flu' and safer behind the wheel  but, physically, men are the stronger sex.

And no wonder: on average, males are 6in taller than females and have twice the upper-body strength, as well as denser bones, stronger tendons and greater muscle mass.

Wonder Woman may be taking cinemas by storm this summer, but it's always Superman, with his rippling abs and bulging biceps, who saves the damsel in distress.

From longevity and surviving illness to coping with trauma and managing pain, we investigate the surprising ways in which women really are the stronger sex

However, this could be about to change. For a growing body of scientific study is turning centuries-old gender research on its head  by suggesting that women are, in fact, stronger than men.

'We often think of males as being the tougher and more powerful sex,' explains Angela Saini, author of Inferior, a ground-breaking new book which charts the scientists' findings.

'But strength can be defined in different ways. When it comes to the most basic instinct of all  survival  women's bodies tend to be better equipped than men's.'

From longevity and surviving illness to coping with trauma and managing pain, we investigate the surprising ways in which women really are the stronger sex...

ADVANTAGE GIRLS... EVEN IN THE WOMB

Girls' edge over boys doesn't just start at birth  it's there in the womb. Scientists at the University of Adelaide say this may be because a mother's placenta behaves differently depending on the gender of her baby.

Boys are bigger and grow faster in the womb, which can place a strain on the placenta and lead to under-nourishment of the foetus and high blood pressure in the mother.

'With female foetuses, the placenta does more to maintain the pregnancy and increase immunity against infections,' adds Angela Saini. 'Why this is, nobody understands.'

One possible explanation, she says, is that biologically, male foetuses are slightly more common than female ones. 'The difference . . . might simply be nature's way of correcting the balance.'

Scientists at the University of Adelaide say this may be because a mother's placenta behaves differently depending on the gender of her baby

PREMATURE BIRTHS ARE A BIGGER RISK TO BOYS

Boys are 14 per cent more likely than girls to be born prematurely, partly as a result of this under-nourishment in the womb.

Professor Joy Lawn, a neonatologist and epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who conducted a 2013 study into premature births worldwide, says it's the 'biggest risk for baby boys'.

'Even in the womb, girls mature more rapidly than boys, which provides an advantage because the lungs and organs are more developed,' she adds. 'In the UK, an extra 6,000 boys or so are born pre-term each year.'

This means male babies are less developed, which can put their early lives at risk. If a baby boy and girl get exactly the same neonatal medical care, boys are statistically 10 per cent more likely to die.

SOB STORIES MAKE MEN CRY THE MOST

They may act tough, but men are more emotionally fragile.

A UK study that exposed six-year-old boys and girls to a recording of a crying baby found that boys experienced a higher release of stress hormones.

The same researchers also said that boys cry more when upset and take longer to calm down.

The results were confirmed by 2015 neurology research, in which a group of men watched a series of emotional videos  categorised into 'blissful', 'exciting', 'heart-warming' and 'funny'  while their responses were measured via electrodes in their brains.

Men had stronger emotional reactions than women to all four, and responded twice as much to the heartwarming content.

A UK study that exposed six-year-old boys and girls to a recording of a crying baby found that boys experienced a higher release of stress hormones

A HIGHER IQ THAN ALBERT EINSTEIN

The debate over the differences between male and female brains has raged for many years, but new research shows they're far more alike than we imagined  and women have the upper hand.

The hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with emotions and memory, is similar-sized in both sexes. But women have more connections going from left to right across the two halves of the brain, which gives them an advantage in pulling together information from different sources and drawing logical conclusions.

Women consistently outperform men in IQ tests and the highest IQ score ever was recorded by a woman: American author Marilyn vos Savant, who, in the Eighties, got a sky-high score of 228 (far outranking Albert Einstein, between 160 and 190).

This mental strength gives them advantages in education and the workplace, too. Women now account for around 60 per cent of the world's degree-holders, while according to a recent report by McKinsey Research, companies led by women perform better and have more clout than those run by men.

SUPER-POWERED IMMUNE SYSTEM

It's no surprise that adult women's bodies have high levels of oestrogen and progesterone, the female sex hormones. But did you realise that these help to make their immune system stronger and more flexible?

A 2009 Canadian study found these hormones act against a certain enzyme which  in men  hinders the body's defences against bacteria and viruses.

There are two reasons women need a stronger immune system. The first is evolutionary. Dr Leslie Knapp, of the University of Cambridge, says women are better equipped to fight off illness because they're built to carry on the species: 'It only takes one male to reproduce with lots of females, but females are much more important in terms of producing offspring.'

A 2009 Canadian study found these hormones act against a certain enzyme which  in men  hinders the body's defences against bacteria and viruses

FORCE OF NATURE It's hard to argue that women are physically stronger than men (although some certainly are  recent statistics have shown a spike in the number of female bodybuilders in the UK). On average, men have bigger builds, with more muscle compared to fat, and a more even fat distribution throughout their bodies. However, a fit woman generates the same force per unit of muscle as a similarly fit man; she just has a lower total muscle mass (as opposed to less muscle strength) so cant lift the heaviest weights. Womens legs may even be stronger than mens, muscle for muscle. Comparing leg strength to lean body weight (that is, a persons weight not including the weight of the fat on their body), womens legs are actually 5.8 per cent stronger than mens. Advertisement

The second explanation is biological, based on the fact that women can bear children. In very basic terms, a pregnancy is the same as foreign tissue growing inside a woman's body. Normally, a person's immune system would reject any such foreign matter.

But unlike men, women's immune systems have two gears: one that can attack the bug making her sick, and another that can nurture the new tissue of a growing foetus. This flexibility makes pregnancy possible  and makes women stronger and better at battling disease.

But women's powerful immune systems can sometimes attack themselves, making them more prone to autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis.

WHY WOMEN DON'T GET 'MAN FLU'

If A nasty bug does penetrate that iron-clad immune system, women still have the advantage: they fight off sickness faster.

Studies have shown that females have more white blood cells

Studies have shown that females have more white blood cells, the parts of the blood which produce antibodies  natural proteins which neutralise bacteria and viruses.

Disease therefore progresses faster in men  and tends to take hold earlier in their lives. In 12 of the 15 most common causes of death, including cancer and heart disease, men die at a much higher rate than women.

Dr Steve Austad, a leading authority on the science of ageing from the University of Alabama, says women are far more robust.

'Pretty much at every age, women seem to survive better than men,' he explains. 'Once I started investigating, I found that women had resistance to almost all major causes of death.'

The fairer sex are even better at battling coughs and colds, suggesting that 'man flu'  that infamous ailment which floors even the healthiest men  may actually exist.

AND THEY'RE NOT SCARED OF DOCTORS

Of course, social factors are at play, too. Not only are women biologically stronger when they're sick, but they're far more sensible about it.

British researchers have found that women are better than men at reporting poor health, and more likely to seek medical help when they first experience symptoms.

According to the National Pharmacy Association, men visit their GP four times a year compared to six times for women, visit a pharmacy four times a year compared to 18  and are twice as likely to take medication without reading the label.

The study also found that nearly nine in ten men don't like to trouble medical professionals unless they have a 'serious problem'. That lack of oversight may help to explain why 36 per cent are obese (compared to 28 per cent of women) and why men are twice as likely to have an alcohol disorder.

British researchers have found that women are better than men at reporting poor health, and more likely to seek medical help when they first experience symptoms

ARE HORMONES THE KEY TO A LONG LIFE?

Of THE 43 'supercentenarians' in the world  people over 110 years old  42 are women.

In Britain, there are 150 people over the age of 107, only eight of whom are men.

Bessie Camm, a former nurse from Rotherham, Yorkshire, is the UK's oldest person at 112, and puts her longevity down to 'hard work, knowing lovely people and good food'.

Scientists still haven't pinned down the reason for this longer lifespan, with potential explanations including lower blood pressure (men tend to have riskier jobs and lifestyles) and the idea that a woman's heart rate increases during the second half of her menstrual cycle, offering the same benefits as moderate exercise.

Expert on ageing Dr Austad says it may once again be down to hormones. 'Some research suggests that hormones given for a few weeks early in life can have huge effects,' he explains.

Studies of men who have suffered castration, thus cutting off their supply of male hormones, suggest that the earlier this happens, the longer they are likely to live.

DNA THAT'S GOT THE XX FACTOR

Men may not be from Mars, but they do have very different DNA to women.

The bundles of DNA within each of our cells are known as chromosomes. These come in pairs, and in the 23rd pair  which determines gender  women have two X chromosomes, while men have an X and a Y.

Scientists say this difference affects our health. Women, with two versions of the X chromosome, have a back-up copy in case one is faulty or goes wrong.

Men, on the other hand, have no spare if their cells malfunction or if there's a genetic mutation on the X chromosome which causes illness or disability.

Women, with two versions of the X chromosome, have a back-up copy in case one is faulty or goes wrong

This affects everything from life-altering conditions to something as basic as temperature.

The double-strength XX chromosomes make women more resilient to hot and cold (women also deal well with cold because they have deeper layers of fat under their skin, which keep them  and their babies  warm).

Meanwhile, men are more vulnerable to certain genetic disorders that affect the X chromosome.

These include red-green colour blindness, haemophilia (which stops the blood from clotting) and muscular dystrophy (degenerative muscle wastage).

'Mental retardation, which affects . . . significantly more men than women, also has a strong link to the X chromosome,' explains Angela Saini.

THE PERILS OF PLAYING THE FIELD

Even in the animal kingdom, males are renowned for being promiscuous  and this gives the females a crucial advantage.

'Men produce lots of sperm and don't necessarily need to invest in their children, while women have only a couple of eggs to fertilise at a time, followed by nine months of pregnancy and many years of child-raising,' explains Angela Saini.

Therefore, women are often choosier about picking a mate, which makes their sex lives safer than men's, as they're less likely to sleep with a stranger or risk contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

Women are often choosier about picking a mate, which makes their sex lives safer than men's, as they're less likely to sleep with a stranger or risk contracting a sexually transmitted disease

YES, LADIES, YOU'RE BORN SURVIVORS!

In PURE biological terms, women are better at dealing with traumatic events such as car accidents, heart attacks and other types of shock.

According to a 2009 study at the University of Florida, females have a higher tolerance for pain (which helps when it comes to childbirth). There's also the size factor: men tend to be bigger, so they have more cells in their bodies, which means a bigger total number of cells are likely to be damaged in a traumatic event and slows their rate of recovery.

Dr Austad says women are, quite simply, 'better survivors'. 'Part of the reason there are more women than men around in ill health is to do with the fact that women have survived events that would kill men,' he adds.
The federal trial of eight former employees of the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain may be held in Chattanooga.

Prosecutors and the defense have agreed to move it due to publicity about the case in Knoxville, where the company headquarters are located.

The highly successful firm was founded by members of the Haslam family.

The trial is set to start on Oct.

31.

Ten former Pilot employees have pleaded guilty in connection with a scheme to cheat customers out of promised rebates and discounts.

The firm paid a $92 million federal penalty. It spent $85 million on a class-action settlement with 5,500 trucking companies.
Carrie Bickmore has been outspoken about her opposition against Australia's tampon tax.

And on Tuesday she joined forces with friend and fellow The Project co-host Fifi Box to express their anger over the 10 per cent GST on sanitary products with a rap.

The hilarious video features Carrie and Fifi donning fur coats and plenty of bling as they try to channel 'MC Bicks and DJ Box' for a song titled 'Don't Tax My Flow'.

The Project co-hosts Carrie Bickmore and Fifi Box joined forces on Tuesday to rap about how much they opposed Australia's tampon tax

The hilarious video features Carrie and Fifi donning fur coats and plenty of bling as they try to channel 'MC Bicks and DJ Box' for a song titled 'Don't Tax My Flow'

Carrie starts off the rap, singing: 'Every month Aussie women get their cramp on, every month Aussie women need a tampon.'

'The tax man got his hand out,' she continues, '10 per cent GST get the f**k out.'

Greens senator Larissa Waters then appears on the screen.

'Tampons are taxed because they're "luxurious,' she begins. 'Which frankly guys, makes me furious.'

Fifi then tries to give it her best go, although she doesn't quite capture Carrie's flow.

'Time of the month crazy,' she raps with gusto, before the music grinds to a halt.

'You know, cause of the PMS thing,' she continues.

Fifi raps with gusto about the crazy 'time of the month', before the music grinds to a halt as she says: 'You know, cause of the PMS thing'

Carrie concludes the rap with the ultimate mic drop, joking that she couldn't think of a word that rhymes with 'Greg Hunt'

Carrie then appears back on screen, rapping about how 'condoms and lubes are exempt for dudes'.

'That's why the Greens tried to stick it to the tax man, but the Government and Labor wouldn't back the plan'.

'They say they can't touch the tax cause the states need the money,' she continues.

'But if we sold Tassie, we'd be cashed up honey!'

Carrie then finishes up her rap with the ultimate mic drop.

'So it's time to make things fair, come on Greg Hunt,' she begins.

The women also hit out at how 'condoms and lubes are exempt for dudes', but tampons and sanitary pads are still considered luxury items

The rap was a bit of fun before Carrie launched into a heated exchange with opposition health spokesperson Catherine King on Tuesday night

'I don't have a word that rhymes with Greg Hunt,' Carrie concludes with a wink.

The rap was a bit of fun before Carrie launched into a heated exchange with opposition health spokesperson Catherine King on Tuesday night.

Carrie did not hold back, urging King to 'get it done, it's 2017!'

'I can only assume you and your colleagues think tampons and pads are luxuries?' Carrie began her line of questioning.

'Not at all,' Catherine responded. 'We want to see the GSP removed from tampons and sanitary pads.'

Carrie, who is in favour of eliminating the tax placed on tampons and sanitary pads, did not hold back, urging King to 'get it done, it's 2017!' on Tuesday

Carrie and Fifi's rap came after both the Coalition and Labor voted down a Greens Senate move to axe the tax applied to women's sanitary items

'Unfortunately, what we saw yesterday was a stunt from the Greens,' she continued.

'They tacked on an attempt to get rid of the tampon tax onto a GST bill which would have scuttled the opportunity we had for retailers in this country to have an even playing field with foreign retailers.'

'It is not the way to go about it. We have to get rid of this tax. I am happy to lead the charge on that, but we have to do it properly,' Catherine continued.

But Carrie was not impressed with her explanation.

'It seems ridiculous that we are having this conversation,' the TV host said. 'Today I was reading that incontinence pads are GST-free but sanitary pads aren't.'

Admitting it was 'crazy', Catherine stated: 'They have funding for public hospitals, all the things they are funding so we have to find a replacement for it.'

'That will be the challenge. It is really important that we do it and the more we talk about it, hopefully we can get it done this time.'

Carrie's comments were in relation to yesterday's events that saw both the Coalition and Labor voting down a Greens Senate move to ax the tax applied to women's sanitary items.
They are the everyday occurrences that leave many people scratching their heads.

Just what kind of compensation are you entitled to if your airline cancels your flight?

What do you do about a retailer who is quibbling over a refund?

On Tuesday, Australian consumer advocacy group Choice held a question and answer session on its popular Facebook page - with an expert on hand to answer some of the most burning consumer questions.

Consumer advocacy group Choice held a question and answer session on its Facebook page - with an expert on hand to answer some of the most burning consumer questions.

This consumer asked about warranties - and whether a retailer can ask for someone to pay the difference if a product was purchased on special offer

Within an hour, Consumer Rights Adviser, Meredith was inundated with requests for help from members of the public.

'Can you be asked to pay the difference between the original price paid (on special at the time) and the full price when returning a product for a warranty replacement? This happened in-store at a major retailer,' one person asked.

To which expert, Meredith had a swift and simple response.

'This doesn't sound right,' she wrote. 'If the product is faulty, it doesn't matter if you bought it on special (unless the fault was the reason for the discount),' she wrote.

'I suggest you go back and ask for a refund of the difference. Tell them you've told CHOICE and we are interested in their response.'

'My flight from Sydney to Perth with Tiger was cancelled three hours before take off, cancelling my trip altogether,' one woman wrote, before asking what her rights were (stock image)

Another commenter, Fleur, had a query many people might relate to - involving consumer rights regarding cancelled flights.

'My flight from Sydney to Perth with Tiger was cancelled three hours before take off, cancelling my trip altogether,' she wrote.

'Can I make them pay for my already booked accommodation, car hire and pre paid restaurants?'

'If your airline can't get you to your destination for reasons within their control, they'll claim they only have to refund you for your trip,' Meredith wrote.

'Last year, we made a super complaint against the airline industry arguing that airlines should have to compensate you for other losses you incur as a result of their delay or cancellation.'

'If your airline can't get you to your destination for reasons within their control, they'll claim they only have to refund you for your trip,' Meredith wrote

Meredith went on to say that Choice had developed a 'handy tool' so consumers can get in touch directly with their airline to ask for compensation.

'If you have travel insurance you may also be able to make a complaint with your insurer,' Meredith added.

Another question asked about retail stores that claim they have a policy of 'no refunds, no returns' and what this means for consumers.

'Retail stores can have a policy of no refunds or returns where a customer changes their mind,' Meredith wrote.

Another question asked about retail stores that claim they have a policy of 'no refunds, no returns' and what this means for consumers

'However, if an item is faulty, the customer should be able to return the item for a repair (if that's possible) or a replacement or refund.

'If something doesn't fit, that might fall under the change of mind category,' she wrote. 'A gentle reminder to the staff member that the Australian Consumer Law provides for refunds or returns for faulty goods is a good idea, otherwise try to speak to the manager or store owner,' she said.

Finally, what about those dreaded parking tickets? Meredith received one query from a woman who had received a ticket from a private operator for $65.

'I lodged two appeals but after the second one... I noticed their own T&C stated the wrong address for the car park and I may not have been liable at all.

Meredith received one query from a woman who had received a ticket from a private operator for $65 (stock image)

'If you don't pay, the car park might send your bill to a debt collection agency,' Meredith said. 'If so, tell them the debt is disputed and you have been trying to engage but had no response

'I've tried contacting them via email but they ignore all appeals related emails,' the woman wrote. 'Is there anything I can actually do or am I stuck paying the $65?'

Meredith warned that it's important not to ignore issues like these.

'If you don't pay, the car park might send your bill to a debt collection agency,' she said. 'If so, tell them the debt is disputed and you have been trying to engage but had no response.

'Try [the state's] Consumer and Business Services... they may have come across this car park before and may have some specific advice for you.'
The Duke of Cambridge is celebrating his 35th birthday.

William, who attended Royal Ascot with the Duchess of Cambridge on Tuesday, is expected to spend the day privately with Kate and their children Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

This year, the Duke is making some major changes to his life by becoming a full-time royal.

He is due to finish his job as an air ambulance helicopter pilot later in the summer as the Cambridges leave the countryside for a life in the city.

Scroll down for video

Prince William turns 35 today and is expected to spend the day privately with Kate and their children after attending Ascot yesterday

With Prince George starting school in London in September, their main home will be Kensington Palace, but Anmer Hall, the family's 10-bedroom mansion in Norfolk, will still be used for weekend retreats.

William will be joining the royals in stepping up to his assist his grandmother the Queen when the Duke of Edinburgh retires from public duties in the autumn.

His increased royal duties will round off a year where he faced criticism for being 'work shy', especially after it was revealed he'd missed the annual Commonwealth Day service to go on a ski trip.

The future king faced embarrassment when he was pictured 'dad dancing' in a nightclub in Verbier and enjoying a boozy lunch with a glamorous Australian model.

The father-of-two is set to make some big changes this year, including moving to London where Prince George will attend school

Prince William, pictured visiting the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire, will take on more royal duties to support his grandmother, 91

In 2016 both the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, conducted more engagements than their grandson, who undertook 188. The Queen had 332 visits and meetings, and Philip 219.

Next month, the Duke and Duchess will pay a five-day official visit to Poland and Germany - visiting Warsaw and Hamburg.

The trip - at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office - is being seen as another Brexit diplomacy tour by the royals, to help improve the UK's relations with Europe as it leaves the EU.

In the past year, William has opened up about the loss of his mother Diana for the first time

This past year has also seen William open up for the first time about the loss of his mother Diana as the 20th anniversary of her death approaches.

He told GQ magazine: 'I am in a better place about it than I have been for a long time, where I can talk about her more openly, talk about her more honestly, and I can remember her better, and publicly talk about her better.

'It has taken me almost 20 years to get to that stage.'
A mother-of-five has spoken out about how she gets to travel the world for free with the potential love matches she meets online.

Suzanne Thatcher, from Destin, Florida, has made trips to Italy and across the US, staying in luxurious hotels and flying first class - all paid for by men she began chatting with on a dating site for travel fans.

While she has a strict 'separate rooms' policy, Suzanne says she's keen to see more destinations for free including Japan and Tahiti - and hopes to find love on the way.

Have passport, will travel! Suzanne Thatcher, from Destin, Florida, has travelled the globe for free after signing up for a site when men offer to buy potential love matches holidays

The glamorous mother-of-five, 52, says she love 'having experiences that she can't afford'

Ticket to love: Suzanne pictured in Pompeii last year with a dater who paid for her travel. Right: on the same trip at the Sant'Eustachio in Rome

She explains how what started out as a joke has become her favourite way to see the world: 'My friends laughed at first but now I've even persuaded some of my male friends to sign up to find travel companions themselves.'

Suzanne insists that she is honest from the outset with the men she dates, making it clear that they will have separate rooms and she won't do anything she doesn't feel comfortable with.

She says: 'If you are someone looking for an experience that you can't afford, this is a fabulous way to do it, as long as you do it properly.

'It is important that you talk about expectations from the outset, but also that you have good chemistry from the start.'

After the breakdown of her second marriage last year, Suzanne was looking for new ways to enjoy life.

She says: 'I'd done some travelling with my girlfriends to Mexico and Puerto Rico when I was younger, but with five kids, a job and my husband running his own business at the time, it was difficult to get away, as I got older.

'When my marriage broke down and my kids flew the nest, there was so much I wanted to do and see. But I was volunteering full-time in local politics and at an animal shelter and didn't have the means to do so.'

Suzanne says that after her second marriage broke down, she worked as a volunteer and didn't have the money to fund trips to far-flung places

Suzanne spent her first trip using Misstravel.com in the US because she felt safer; but admits she's become hooked on seeing the world for free

'One of my girlfriends mentioned a website called MissTravel.com - a site for travel seeking singles - and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do some of things I enjoyed.'

Although some of Suzanne's friends and family - including her three daughters aged between 18 and 33, and her sons, aged 28 and 21 - had some doubts, Suzanne was determined to have some new adventures.

She said: 'My kids thought it was crazy and a little bit risky, but I am an adventurous person and I knew that if I was diligent and did it my way, it would be an amazing opportunity.'

Within a few weeks, in September 2016 Suzanne went on her first trip across the US  spending the weekend in Texas. She explained: 'I met this guy online and he seemed like a really nice, genuine man. He works as an analytic consultant and was just a few years older than me.

I was never really looking for love. I wasn't ruling it out but I wanted to meet people with a common love of travel... Suzanne Thatcher

He was going to a charity event for motorcycle enthusiasts. I loved motorcycles when I was younger, so I decided to take the plunge. I felt safer having my first trip within the US.

'It was very important from the beginning to be really honest about what we both expected from this and if I wasn't comfortable with it, I wouldn't continue it.

'He flew from Florida and I flew from Wisconsin and we met each other for the first time at the airport. From the moment we met, I really enjoyed his company.'

He whisked Suzanne off to a five-star hotel, where they had separate rooms, and she was able to pamper herself ahead of the event.

She said: 'We had amazing food and drink and went to the event on a motorcycle, with a police escort from our hotel to the ball because there was a huge crew together. It was so fabulous and so much fun.'

The next day he took her for breakfast and introduced her to his family, before taking her back to the airport.

A short time later, eager for another adventure, Suzanne began speaking to another man online. Keen to impress, he asked her where she would like to go and she chose a holiday in Rome.

Suzanne, who now works as a retail manager, said an adventure to Rome with one of her dates was thrilling and they remain 'great friends'

But, with conflicting schedules, as Suzanne prepared to volunteer for local politicians during the US election, they put their trip on hold, but kept in touch. She said: 'As the election came around, I told him I would have a three week window, but I wasn't sure he could make it work.

Within a few days, though, he called me and told me we were going. 'I couldn't believe it. It was like a dream. Before I left, we'd confirmed that I would have my own room and there were no expectations with the relationship. I thought I had nothing to lose. 'His wife had sadly passed away a few years before and he just wanted someone to enjoy travelling with.

He was again around the same age and owned his own business' Suzanne was flown first class to Rome and lavished with amazing food and wine for 10 days in some of Italy's most famous cities. She recalled: 'It was all perfect. We got to know each other and really clicked. It was a real adventure and exactly what I was looking for.

Separate rooms only: Suzanne says she makes it clear from the first interaction that she won't do anything she doesn't want to with her dates

Diligent: Suzanne says she's always careful and won't attend any trip that doesn't sound safe. Picured: VIP tickets from a concert with US singer Vince Neil

We went sightseeing around Rome, as well as to Florence and Pompeii, where he had arranged for a one-on-one tour with an archaeologist in Pompeii.

He made it so special. 'At the end of the trip, we said goodbye at the airport and it was actually quite emotional because we had such a wonderful time. I would never have been able to do that without his amazing generosity.

'We have remained great friends. He's started dating someone now and I'm so pleased he is happy, because he gave me such an amazing experience.'

Just weeks later, Suzanne moved from Wisconsin to Florida to start a new job as a retail manager and travelling became more difficult.

'Starting a new job, it has been hard to have time off. I have had a couple of offers to go places, but it's just not possible right now. I have lots of plans for the future though,' Suzanne explained.

Now settled in her new home, she has already started chatting to more men online and hopes to set off on another trip in the coming months. 'I was never really looking for love. I wasn't ruling it out but I wanted to meet people with a common love of travel. 'There are still so many places I want to see.

I'd love to go to Tahiti or London or Japan. I don't usually set out for a particular destination - it's more about what comes up - but those places would be amazing. 'I have nothing negative to say about my experiences so far so I can't wait for more in the future.'
Budget supermarket Aldi has unleashed a heatwave wardrobe, offering its own take on more expensive summerwear designs.

The German cut-price groceries goliath has launched a series of hats, shorts, sandals and dresses that look remarkably similar to items already on the high street.

There's a 6.99 sun hat that carries a scrawl on its wide brim reading: 'sun, sea and sand', which bears an uncanny likeness to Eugenia Kim's designer 'Talk to the sand' sunhat, currently retailing at 380.00.

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Eugenia Kim's glam sequined 'Talk to the sand' sun hat will set you back 380

Aldi has clearly taken inspiration from the hat handwriting with this 3.99 offering...no sequins included

Best foot forward: A pair of Aldi sandals offers change from a tenner. Meanwhile, high quality sandal brand Birkenstock's Arizona version is shinier - and at 75, more expensive

The lines may tremor a little more but this striped Aldi maxi dress (left, 7.99, isn't a million miles away from the John Lewis alternative, which costs 55

A navy and white-striped summer maxi dress is a breezy 7.99 and doesn't look dissimilar to a John Lewis alternative that would ring through the til at 55.

And a 9.99 silver comfort sandal does a good impression of Birkenstock's 75 silver Arizona version.

The range, which includes a menswear and ladieswear range, includes palm tree beach shorts for men at 4.99, undercutting M&S' similar design by nearly 7.

The chain, which has become famous for its ability to offer designs coveted by the middle classes at purse-friendly prices, says its looked to the high street for inspiration.

Denim shorts: Aldi's lace version with a frill trim will set you back 6.99, while an embroidered pair at Moto for Topshop costs 29

Menswear: Swimshorts from the cut-price supermarket is priced at 4.99 Dolce & Gabbana's print bermuda in navy costs 87

Shirt wars: Aldi have an 8.99 take on Superdry's ghost button down shirt. The popular high street brand sells its version for 45

Classic chino shorts will ring the till at 6.99 and would be hard to distinguish in a line-up from Zara's 29.99 tan bermuda short

Tony Baines, Managing Director for Corporate Buying at Aldi comments: 'As temperatures creep up and sun seekers look to update their wardrobes, weve tapped in to the latest high-street trends to offer our customers a great-value fashion range that doesnt compromise on style.'

In May, the brand made a statement of intent when it comes to summer gadgets, offering a portable drinks cooler, which works in much the same way as a mini fridge, except it comes on wheels and often has a much larger capacity for wine, for more than 200 less than the nearest rival product.

The cooler will usually set you back nearly 400 - but Aldi has released a 179.99 cut-price version.
Prince Harry has revealed his anguish at being forced to walk behind his mother's coffin as a 12-year-old and said no 'child should be asked to do that under any circumstances'.

In 1997, the youngster joined his father, the Prince of Wales, his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, 15-year-old brother, Prince William, and uncle, Earl Spencer, in a funeral procession through the streets of London for Diana, Princess of Wales.

He told Angela Levin in an exclusive interview with Newsweek magazine: 'My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television.

'I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don't think it would happen today.'

In the wide-ranging interview the Prince also said he aches to be something other than Prince Harry and feels he has just a 'smallish window' of time to make an impact and difference before he is overshadowed by William's children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

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Prince Harry has recalled walking behind his mother's coffin as a 12-year-old and said no 'child should be asked to do that under any circumstances'. He is pictured in 1997 at Diana, Princess of Wales's funeral alongside William, Prince Charles, Earl Spencer and Prince Philip behind the cortege as it set off from St James's Palace and made its way to Westminster Abbey

Harry also praised Diana for playing a huge part in showing him the importance of an ordinary life.

He added that he did his own shopping, saying: 'People would be amazed by the ordinary life William and I live.'

The Prince, who is dating American actress Meghan Markle, said if he was lucky enough to have children he was determined they should have a relatively normal life, adding: 'Even if I was king, I would do my own shopping.'

Asked whether he worried that an ordinary Royal Family would take away The Firm's mystery, Harry replied: 'It's a tricky balancing act. We don't want to dilute the magic ... The British public and the whole world need institutions like it.'

Prince Harry said: 'My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television'. He is pictured with Prince William, bowing their heads as their mother's coffin is taken out of Westminster Abbey following her funeral service. Prince Harry also recently revealed he sought counselling after two years of 'total chaos' having spent nearly 20 years 'not thinking' about the death of his mother

In 1997, the youngster joined his father, the Prince of Wales, his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, 15-year-old brother, Prince William, and uncle, Earl Spencer, in the funeral procession

Prince Philip, Prince William and Earl Spencer are pictured walking behind the cortege as it set off from St James s Palace and made its way to Westminster Abbey

Harry has also appeared in a short broadcast by Forces TV in which he opened up about how his time in Afghanistan was the trigger for him to get help dealing with his mother's death (he is pictured with her in 1995)

The Newsweek article reports that Harry said several times that he aches to be something other than Prince Harry and that he is in a rush to make something of his life and make a difference.

'I feel there is just a smallish window when people are interested in me before (William's children Prince George and Princess Charlotte) take over, and I've got to make the most of it,' he said in the interview at Kensington Palace.

Harry has also appeared in a short broadcast by Forces TV in which he opened up about how his time in Afghanistan was the trigger for him to get help dealing with his mother's death.

The Prince also said he feels there is just a 'smallish window' when people are interested in him before William's children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, take over

Harry, who served on two front line tours with the Army, was filmed in conversation with Paralympic medal winner and former Invictus Games captain Dave Henson.

He said Afghanistan was the moment he realised he had to deal with his problems and that the Invictus Games he set up for wounded service personnel had been 'a sort of cure'.

Harry was recently praised by mental health charities for revealing he sought counselling as he confessed it was not until his late 20s that he processed his grief for Diana, who was killed in a car crash 20 years ago this year.
The Dutch royals' state visit to Italy is all about strengthening ties between the two countries.

But although it's effectively a business trip, Queen Maxima seems to be finding her spell in the Med highly enjoyable.

The Queen, who touched down in Sicily on day two of the four-day trip today, was every inch the Italian femme fatale in her chic white summer dress, wide-brimmed hat, towering wedges and glamorous tortoiseshell shades.

Maxima, 46, accompanied by her husband King Willem-Alexander, beamed widely as she was snapped sampling the local cuisine in Palermo, chatting with market vendors, and clutching a bouquet of fresh white blooms.

Queen Maxima and her husband King Willem-Alexander touched down in Sicily on day two of their state visit to Italy

The glamorous Dutch Queen, who wore another wide brimmed hat and a chic white summer dress, is clearly enjoying her spell in Italy

She and King Willem-Alexander sampled some of the local cuisine in Palermo, Sicily

The mother-of-three piled on gold accessories to offset her showstopping ensemble, including a distinctive pair of fan-shaped earrings, a collar necklace and an armful of bracelets.

Her bamboo clutch bag matched her hat and the neutral gloves she was wearing as she hit the tarmac in Sicily.

In contrast to his wife's summery style, King Willem-Alexander cut a formal figure in his grey suit and pale blue tie, though he appeared to be equally happy to be enjoying a taste of La Dolce Vita.

Maxima glammed up her look further with a pair of distinctive fan shaped gold earrings and a gold statement necklace

Holiday mode: Maxima clutches a bouquet as she and her husband meander through a market in Sicily

She shielded her face from the sun with a wide-brimmed hat, but her husband King Willem-Alexander stuck to his usual, formal style

The Queen had a huge smile for well-wishers who whipped out their cameras to take a snap

Leoluca Orlando, Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander Dutch waved at the crowds from the balcony

The short flight to the island was the second plane trip in as many days for the Dutch royals, who arrived at Ciampino in Rome yesterday.

Italy pulled out all the stops to welcome them, with dignitaries lining the red carpet to greet the couple, and a pretty bunch of flowers swiftly presented to the Queen.

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 and her husband were flanked by security as they made their way around

The King and Queen looked pleased to be sampling some of the food on offer to them

The couple were given a red carpet to walked on when they stepped off the plane

King Willem-Alexander smiled as he shook the hands of those who had gathered to meet them

The couple looked as though they were listening intently as they sat and spoke to people

Queen Maxima kept her wide brimmed hat on indoors and looked to be in high spirits

The Dutch queen kept her flowers in one hand as she walked around the market
Princess Beatrice and her sister Eugenie led the best dressed at the V&A summer party on Wednesday night.

The royal sisters, who have been busy on the society circuit this week, pushed the sartorial boundaries in two very fashion-forward dresses at the event in London.

Princess Beatrice, 28, looked chic in a blue dress with sheer panelling, whilst her younger sister plumped for a colourful printed summer dress.

Princess Beatrice and her sister Eugenie led the best dressed at the V&A summer party in two very fashion-forward frocks on Wednesday

Both ladies showcased a golden summer glow and offset their outfits with simple black heels.

Whilst single Beatrice flew solo, her sister arrived on the arm of her boyfriend, Jack Brooksbank.

The event, which was sponsored by Harrods, is one of the most well-attended parties of the summer.

With committee members including Tom Ford and Sophie Dahl, the event draws in a seriously starry and stylish crowd.

Princess Eugenie was seen whispering something to her big sister as they posed outside the event, which was sponsored by Harrods

The event was sponsored by Harrods so the stylish sisters ensured they stopped for a photo with one of the iconic doormen

The youngest of the two sisters was joined by her long-term boyfriend, Jack Brooksbank

Beatrice opted for a semi sheer blue gown, whilst her sister donned a colourful printed summer dress for the event

The sisters have had a busy week so far, which kicked off with a family trip to Royal Ascot

Princess Beatrice stunned as she showcased her trim new figure at the 2017 annual V&A Summer Party in partnership with Harrods at the Victoria and Albert Museum

Earlier today, Beatrice embraced the sunnier climes in a black mini skirt as she stepped out on the hottest day of the year.

The 28-year-old showcased her toned legs in the mini skirt, which she teamed with a cool blue blouse and snakeskin pumps.

The royal appeared to be having a rather animated chat on the phone as she navigated the Mayfair streets.

Jack Brooksbank and Princess Eugenie made a stylish couple as they posed for snaps

Samantha Cameron was also in attendance at the glitzy bash and donned a simple black ensemble with nude and black courts

David Cameron's wife, who has her own fashion collection, accessorised with a simple blue tote

Other famous faces in attendance included Made In Chelsea star, Rosie Fortescue. TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp looked chic in a pearl embellished gown

Princess Beatrice displayed her toned figure in a black mini skirt and blue blouse as she braved the heatwave out and about in London

She displayed a golden glow as she strutted down the street in stylish oversized sunglasses.

The royal enjoyed a day out at Ascot with the royal family on Tuesday - and stunned in an elegant cream coatdress.

While Kate, Sophie and Princess Beatrice looked chic in elegant summer gowns, Princess Eugenie missed the mark in an unflattering black dress at Ascot.

The 27-year-old's black fit and flare dress, with intricate floral embellishment, did little to flatter her hourglass frame.

The black outfit was a somewhat odd choice for the scorching summer's day where a crisp white dress - like Kate's - would have been a more sensible option.

The 28-year-old teamed her skirt with a cool blue blouse and snakeskin pumps. She was seen chatting away on the phone to a friend as she walked through the Mayfair street

Missing the mark: Princess Eugenie donned a frumpy black dress as she joined chic Kate, Beatrice and Sophie at Ascot on Tuesday

Odd choice: The black outfit was a strange for the scorching summer's day where a crisp white dress would have been a more sensible option

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.

Elsewhere, 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.

Winter style: Eugenie bucked the trend for pretty florals, opting for an edgier look. Her sister Beatrice went for a much softer look

Sister sister: The royal, who works in art, teamed the outfit with a fun hat in liquorice allsorts colours

Arriving in style: Eugenie's hat had a splash of pink to add some colour to her look

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.

After the traditional carriage parade, proceedings took a solemn turn after the royals led a minute's silence in the wake of Grenfell Tower fire and the terror attacks in London and Manchester.

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.

Chic: Elsewhere, Kate, 35, stunned in a bespoke lace dress by her favourite designer Alexander McQueen, complete with a matching hat, whilst Sophie Wessex looked vibrant in green

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.
My Abba friends, my Abba ladies and Abba gentlemen. I want to tell you something important about life.

Which is that you havent lived until you have heard I Have A Dream played to a Greek bouzouki beat. You havent eaten until you have tasted an Abbatastic pudding called The Ouzo Flavoured Semolina Dream, pistachio crust optional. And you havent really danced until you have danced to Dancing Queen on a strobing LED table in a fake bougainvillea-swagged Greek taverna in the middle of an amusement park on an island in downtown Stockholm.

Welcome to Mamma Mia! The Party, the latest smash hit venture from former band member Bjorn Ulvaeus on behalf of the Abba team.

Welcome to Mamma Mia! The Party, the latest smash hit venture from former band member Bjorn Ulvaeus on behalf of the Abba team

You know the story by now. First there was Abba, whose perfect pop hits garlanded the Seventies and made international stars of the Swedish group.

Then came Abba the implausible musical (Mamma Mia!), hotly pursued by Abba the even more unlikely film version, starring Meryl Streep as a hotelier on a Greek island who didnt know which of three men had fathered her child.

It happens! Now here comes Abba the restaurant, a Scandi-Hellenic inspired hummus and hits theatrical experience that is taking Sweden by storm  and is on its way to London.

Everyone seems positive, Mr Ulvaeus tells me. We just need to get the final go-ahead.

How did this incredible thing happen? A few years ago, to paraphrase one of Abbas much-loved songs, Bjorn had a dream, a fantasy, to help him through reality.

He felt bad that people were in a party mood while watching the Abba musical or the film, but that there was nowhere for them to go afterwards.

There are no clubs, no nothing for people of that age group if they want to party, he says.

So he cooked up this extraordinary four-hour extravaganza; an evening that provides dinner, a show with live music and then a disco  at a ticket price of around 120 per head.

First there was Abba (above), whose perfect pop hits garlanded the Seventies and made international stars of the Swedish group. Then came Abba the implausible musical, hotly pursued by Abba the even more unlikely film version

Just like the original Mamma Mia!, the storyline is told through the medium of Abba songs, with as many of them as possible threaded onto this giant kebab of meaty pop delights.

Mamma Mia! The Party opened 18 months ago in Stockholm and has been playing to full houses ever since. There are six performances each week, all of them playing to a capacity audience of 450, with everybody crammed at taverna tables to snack on meze, drink wine and experience the emotional force that can still be wrung out of these pop classics.

The world simply cannot get enough of Abba music, and even Bjorn is at a loss to explain why: I dont know what it is, it is an enigma to me why these songs keep coming back.

When we wrote and recorded them, we thought they might last two years. We didnt expect this after 35 years.

The band split in 1982, and have sold over 375 million records.

Today, Bjorn is perhaps richer than many small countries. He lives on a private island in the Stockholm archipelago, loves his family (a father of four, he is married to Swedish rock journalist Lena Kallersjo) and tootling around in his electric car.

He does not need the fame, the money or the aggravation of producing an ambitious new stage show that he wants to take to London and eventually around the world. So why is he doing it? Because it is fun! he cries. I am 72 years old and I am only doing things I think are fun.

Certainly, fun is the key word on this Friday night, where the Mamma Mia! The Party joint is rocking. The only thing to do is park ones golden carriage of cynicism at the front door and relish the sheer implausibility of it all, for resistance against this onslaught of Abbaesque good cheer is futile.

During this immersive dining experience, we  the audience  are actually part of the show.

Now here comes Abba the restaurant, a Scandi-Hellenic inspired hummus and hits theatrical experience that is taking Sweden by storm  and is on its way to London

The conceit is that we are supposed to be customers dining at Nikos Taverna on the Greek island of Skopelos, where the Mamma Mia film was made.

The story is that Kicki (Anki Albertsson) was working on the film but stayed behind to marry Nikos (Michalis Koutsogiannakis) and help him run his taverna.

Business wasnt doing so well, so she suggested holding Abba-themed nights to bring in the punters.

Reality vies with fantasy throughout the evening, and while there may be a dark side to Swedish nature, as evinced in their love of Scandi noir, glum detectives such as Wallander and the gothic horror of Stieg Larssons novels, it doesnt take much to get the audience into the party mood.

Yet to look up at the battery of lights and equipment in the ceiling is to understand that we are actually on a stage set, not in a restaurant at all. One in which the attention to detail is extraordinary.

Tinted lights bathe everyone in a butterscotch glaze, a deliberate effect to make pasty northern Europeans look like tanned holidaymakers. The walls are painted Aegean blue, the tables are laid with checked cloths and big loaves of sesame studded country bread, just like they would be on Skopelos itself.

There is meze, octopus, big bowls of Greek salad and main course platters of grilled meats, all of it is served banquet-style. We dine as we watch the show which, as the script is in Swedish, Im not really following.

Why is Kicki suddenly in a blue sequinned cape edged with white fur; who are the babes in the gold frocks, why are that young couple storming around looking overwrought?

I ask a bilingual lady at the next table if she can explain the plot. Incest, she says, and I nearly choke on my olive.

Incest? Well, not quite. Kickis son from another relationship falls in love with Nikoss daughter from his first marriage. Nikoss Greek Orthodox grandmother disapproves because she feels that the family relationship is too close and that the romance should be forbidden.

Mamma Mia! The Party opened 18 months ago in Stockholm and has been playing to full houses ever since. There are six performances each week, all of them playing to a capacity audience of 450, with everybody crammed at taverna tables to snack on meze, drink wine and experience the emotional force that can still be wrung out of these pop classics

Dont even ask how songs such as Super Trouper and Tiger fit that narrative. Or why a water sprite climbs out of the restaurants courtyard fountain to do acrobatics with a hoop, while Nikos marches around dressed like a druid with gold leaves in his hair. I didnt understand that bit, I tell Bjorn when we meet for

coffee the following day. You are not supposed to, he says. It is a dream sequence.

Ulvaeus has been involved at every step of the process, from storyline to set to choosing the menu. We had chefs, tastings, I tried everything, I even approved the hummus. And the Ouzo Flavoured Semolina Dream dessert?

That, too.

Did he turn anything down?

Yes. A souvlaki (Greek kebab) thing they suggested, it was simply too dry! He confesses that the rehearsal period was not easy. After 40 or 50 previews, he began to wonder if he had made a terrible mistake. I said to myself; What the hell are you doing? This is going to be a disaster! Then you press on, and just try to make it happen to fit your original vision.

As far as the UK is concerned, Bjorn originally wanted to open in Londons West End, but it proved impossible to find a venue.

Now they are in talks to use the Coin Street Community Centre, near Waterloo Station on the South Bank. I am hopeful, he says.

So am I. For a bit of jolly good cheer and the simple fun of a feel-good, Abba-fuelled show could do us all a world of good. Mamma Mia, here we go again? Fingers crossed.
The County Commission on Wednesday morning rejected a property tax increase and approved a $691.5 million budget by a vote of 8-1.

Commissioner Joe Graham earlier had discussed the commission keeping the millage rate the same as now after the rate was lowered due to the property reappraisal. He insisted that would not be a tax increase, but other commissioners said it would be.

Commissioner Tim Boyd cast the only no vote. He said new county school superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson needed time to study it. Dr. Johnson was in attendance at the packed session.

County Mayor Jim Coppinger said, This has been a difficult budget year, despite financial challenges, we have again presented a budget to taxpayers which delivers additional funding for government, education and public safety needs.

We operate government in a fiscally conservative manner that taxpayers expect. This is why we have been able to deliver a no-tax increase budget for seven years in a row, while at the same time maintaining our AAA bond rating from the three top bond rating agencies in the country. These efforts enable us to borrow money at a low rate saving taxpayers millions of dollars.



He said 66x percent of Hamilton Countys budget will go to fund the education system. The Hamilton County Department of Educations budget is now $425.7 million. This is an $8 million increase over last year.

County Mayor Coppinger said, There is nothing more important to me than educating our young people, during my tenure as mayor we have spent $138 million to build new schools or additions. Since 2011 school funding has gone up $53.8 million.

The Sheriffs Departments funding increased 5.4 percent over last years budget. The sheriffs $35.2 million budget will allow him to hire 22 new officers of which six will be school resource officers.

County Mayor Coppinger also praised the new Mental Health Court saying this may help reduce some of the population issues at the jail. He said, Unfortunately 25 to 30 percent of the people incarcerated in our county jails have been diagnosed with mental illness.

He said the county was able to once again hold the line on employees health insurance costs with no increase in employees health insurance.
My sister was the one who broke the news that our mother was dead. Id missed a call from her and as I listened to her brief message: Hi Danu, please call me, I knew instinctively that it would concern one of our elderly parents.

I rang back immediately and discovered our mother, Kate, who was in her 80s, had died during a routine operation in hospital. It was unexpected, but peaceful. I felt glad about that.

Our conversation was as brief as it was polite. I didnt ask about funeral arrangements and she didnt offer any details. I asked how she was and she said she was fine, as was our father.

But as I put the phone down, my hands shook.

My son David, 20, was at home and as I told him the news he hugged me. No tears came. I was in shock.

The woman who had loomed so large over my life was gone.

Danu Morrigan says her mother's cruelty was not violent, rather 'death by a thousand cuts' (picture posed by model)

A few hours later, a family friend called to offer her condolences. When she mentioned seeing me at the funeral, I told her firmly that I wouldnt be going. She was stunned, perhaps assuming I would be full of regret if I didnt say my goodbyes.

But I was resolute about not attending. How could I pretend wed had a normal relationship when the opposite was true?

In the hours after that phone call, numbness gave way to relief. She was gone; it was finally over.

I felt anger, too. Now it was certain that she would never acknowledge how deeply she had scarred me. I felt an ache that wed never get the chance to heal the wounds of the past.

Deep down, though, I also knew this would not have happened anyway. Her cruelty to me was not dramatic, or violent. Rather, it was death by a thousand cuts.

Over the years, she demeaned me, again and again, paying little heed to the direction of my life there were no pep talks before job interviews, for example.

She never hugged me or showed affection, not even when I was little and in pain, or frightened.

Her neglect manifested itself in many ways, from taking such little care of my cleanliness and physical care when I was a young girl that I was often wearing the same vest for months until it was literally grey, with tidemarks of grime around my neck and ears; to my wedding day aged 26, when no praise passed her lips.

She chose to go on instead about having had to change her outfit to fit the colour scheme Id painstakingly chosen.

On learning on her mother's death, Danu 'was certain that she would never acknowledge how deeply she had scarred me. I felt an ache that wed never get the chance to heal the wounds of the past' (file photo)

My mother focused only on herself. She had an insatiable need for attention from others and no empathy for anyone else  even her own children. In short, she was a narcissist who never, ever showed me any love.

Mothers love their children; theyll do anything for them. Thats what our culture tells us.

But mine never loved me and I often think my real bereavement began the day I came into the world 52 years ago, not the day she died.

I was born in Dublin, the eldest of four with one brother and two sisters. My mother worked in the civil service before she married but gave up when she had children, as women did then.

My father, Philip, also worked in the civil service and, although we were not well off, we owned our own home and there was always food on the table. He was kind. Any hugs or attention came from him. However, while my father is still alive, were also estranged as he defended my mother.

He was furious with me when I cut contact with her. I destroyed all the photos of her, erased her from my life  but I still regret losing him.

There were some good times, when my mother appeared perfectly pleasant. But the minute you disagreed with her about anything (even the wrong political opinion), shed strike.

I was only ever one word from her snapping viciously: Thats enough! I had to be eternally on guard in her company.

My first memory of her criticising me was when I was just six. I was strutting playfully in front of a mirror when she said: Youre starting to get fat  you want to watch that! It was the first of many derogatory comments about my body.

She made little effort to help me care for myself. Aged 12, I remember going to school in my slippers because my shoes were worn through.

As a teenager, the neglect and disinterest continued. I became desperately unhappy. Little wonder that I developed an eating disorder, forgoing breakfast and lunch but eating everything in sight for dinner, before vomiting violently.

My mother never mentioned it. Years later however, she told me with huge satisfaction: Oh you thought you were fooling us, but we could all hear you throwing up. My abiding thought was: So why didnt you try to help me?

There was no advice about schooling. No discussion of what I might do afterwards or guidance about how to be in the world; no chats about boyfriends, make-up or clothes. It was existing in an emotional vacuum.

Danu reflects on her relationship with her mother: 'There were some good times, when my mother appeared perfectly pleasant. But the minute you disagreed with her about anything (even the wrong political opinion), shed strike' (file photo)

Such was my misery I tried to commit suicide three weeks before my 17th birthday. The method I chose would never have worked, but I didnt realise that  my attempt was genuine, and desperate. My parents found me in time but didnt take me to hospital, nor discuss it.

A few days afterwards, I was on a trip with a friend, and kept praying our car would crash.

I still had no idea it was my mothers behaviour causing my depression. How was I to know life could be any different?

I had no other relatives to speak to about how bad things were  tellingly, many of my cousins, aunts and uncles were also estranged from my mother.

My siblings and I would moan together about our parents, the way teenagers do, but I have no idea if their experience was worse or better than mine, and weve never discussed it since. Only my younger sister had remained in any kind of contact with her.

But it was becoming a mother myself which really opened my eyes to how cruel she had been.

I felt so much affection for my tiny son. I wanted to wrap him up in love. But it also proved to me what Id missed with my own mother. She didnt visit me. She only met my son when I visited her house  and then made no move to hold him. Even when I thrust him into her arms, she appeared disinterested.

We continued our relationship throughout my 30s and early 40s, in spite of the dread I felt with every visit.

My husband tolerated my mothers behaviour because I asked him to. But each time we visited, I felt worn to breaking point.

I know where shes buried, but I have no desire to visit her grave

I finally severed contact nine years ago. My parents invited us to a meal for their wedding anniversary and a friend Maggie, who was staying with us, came too, even though Id tried to dissuade her (Ive always kept friends at arms length from my mother).

After witnessing my mother first hand, she was shocked.

We were at the restaurant for two hours and 25 minutes and, apart from the moment we ordered, my mother talked incessantly about herself.

Neither of my parents spoke to my then 12-year-old son after the initial hello, despite him then being the only grandchild they were in touch with (they were estranged from the others).

They ignored my younger sister, and didnt pay attention to my friend. No wonder she was appalled. Finally, someone had confirmed it wasnt just me. And I knew, instantly, I didnt want to see my parents again.

Maggies perspective gave me the permission I needed to cut all ties, so I sent a letter saying I didnt want any kind of contact. I dont do this in anger, I wrote. I do it in self-preservation. I wish you the very best.

The relief was palpable. I could finally get on with my life.

I always knew I would eventually get the call to tell me mum was dead. But for me, she had already been gone a long time.

I know where shes buried, but I have no desire to visit her grave. I havent resolved the question of whether or not I can forgive her. All I can say is I hope she rests in peace. Im glad Ive finally found some of my own.

Dear Daughter Of A Narcissistic Mother  100 Letters To Help You Recover And Thrive is published by dltbooks.com at 9.99.

daughtersofnarcissisticmothers.com.
Kym Field with her baby Alfie, who was stillborn

Babies are dying needlessly because midwives are failing to properly monitor their heartbeats, experts warn.

Up to three quarters of infants who were either stillborn or suffered serious brain damage could have been healthy with more thorough checks.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is today calling for a raft of new measures on maternity wards to improve the care of mothers and newborns.

These include more regular checks of the baby's heartbeat during the labour and senior doctors being summoned to supervise complex births.

Only two months ago the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt launched a major investigation into a cluster of needless baby deaths at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital in Shropshire.

Up to nine babies died under suspicious circumstances at the trust between September 2014 and May 2016 of which seven were avoidable and two have yet to be investigated.

In several cases, staff failed to properly read or interpret the babies' heart rate during the labour, which gives a crucial indication of whether they are stressed.

But today's report warns that similar mistakes are occurring in other maternity units across the country.

Only two months ago the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt launched a major investigation into a cluster of needless baby deaths at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital in Shropshire

The UK's stillbirth rates are amongst the highest in Europe and they have not come down despite recent improvements in care.

Approximately 1 in every 200 labours results in a stillbirth and Poland, the Czech Republic and Croatia all have lower rates.

Babies' heart rates are usually monitored using a a cardiotocograph scan or CTG, which gives an indication of whether they are becoming stressed due to contractions.

But they are quite difficult to read and often midwives mistakenly pick up the mother's heart rate by mistake.

Midwives working in extremely busy maternity wards may not have time to check the heart rate regularly.

This means they might miss the warning signs that the baby is becoming distressed prompting them to intervene in the delivery.

Maternity wards in the NHS are extremely overstretched due to the rising birth rate and the fact that labours are becoming more complex as mothers are older.

They are also severely understaffed and although the number of midwives has increased, it has not kept pace with demand.

Today's report examined the cases of 1,136 babies born in 2015, of which 126 were stillborn, 156 died within a week of birth and 854 suffered severe brain injury.

The authors concluded that 76 per cent of babies could have had 'better outcomes' had they experienced better care.

Professor Lesley Regan, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: 'It is a profound tragedy whenever a death, disability or illness of a baby results from incidents during labour.

'The emotional cost to each family is incalculable and we owe it to them to properly investigate what happened and ensure the individuals and the healthcare trusts involved take the steps needed to avoid making the same mistakes again.

'Through our detailed analysis of local reviews we are beginning to understand the vast variation in the effort and time that different NHS institutions put into investigating incidents and learning from mistakes in their maternity services.

Up to nine babies died under suspicious circumstances at the Shopshire Hospital between September 2014 and May 2016

The report also calls for staff to ensure they take proper breaks if stressed and tired, to ensure they don't make mistakes with readings.

Professor Zarko Alfirevic, consultant obstetrician at Liverpool Women's Hospital, and lead author of the report said: 'Until every incident is thoroughly investigated and important lessons identified locally, our understanding of the national picture will remain incomplete. The focus of a local investigation should be on finding system-wide solutions for improving the quality of care, rather than actions focusing only on individuals

'Problems with accurate assessment of fetal wellbeing during labour and consistent issues with staff understanding and processing of complex situations, including interpreting fetal heartrate patterns, have been cited as factors in many of the cases we have investigated.

'We urge everyone working in maternity care to ensure the report's recommendations are followed at all times.'

Women speak out after substandard care caused the stillbirth of their sons

Two women have told how poor care in labour led to the stillbirth of their sons.

Mel Scott, from Somerset, experienced a 'beautiful, problem-free pregnancy' until things went wrong in labour.

She said: 'At 41 weeks, I thought my waters had broken so my husband, Barry, and I went to hospital.

'I was admitted to the antenatal ward but a few hours later a CTG showed my baby's heartbeat was dropping so I was rushed in for an emergency Caesarean section.

'On August 2, Finley John Scott was born. Sadly he didn't wake up.

Mel Scott, with her husband Barry and baby Finley. The couple later discovered that key opportunities to save Finley had been missed

'Barry arrived at the hospital to discover that I'd had surgery, we had a son and that he hadn't been able to be resuscitated.

'Barry spent time with the midwife, bathing and dressing Finley, all of which was captured on video.

'We were fortunate to be able to stay for three days in the bereavement suite and make treasured memories with our son.

'We had prints of his hands and feet done, he was blessed, casts were made, we gave him gifts and friends and family visited.

'We later discovered that key opportunities to save Finley were missed.

'The first CTG was in fact suspicious and there were delays in a doctor seeing me due to the busy labour ward. There were queries over whether a different outcome may have occurred had I had one-to-one care on the labour ward.

Undated family handout photo of Kym Field with her husband Mark, from Cambridgeshire, who lost their child in 2015

'Each Baby Counts is so important. Whilst no one can say that Finley would have survived, having doubts about the path that my labour took is distressing to me. I wish everything that could have been done was done.'

Kym Field, from Cambridgeshire, went into hospital in December 2015 to be induced.

She said: Leaving the house, my husband and I we were so full of excitement and anticipation to meet the baby we had waited nine months for.

'As soon as my baby, Alfie, was born, he was handed to paediatric doctors.

'He was then briefly shown to us before being whisked away. The next morning we were told there was nothing more they could do for our perfect baby boy, who was the image of his father.

Ms Field believes her child's death wa ss down to 'errors and negligence

'Details were sparse but we were told he had no brain activity. We had to say goodbye before we even had chance to say hello.

'It was, to this day, the hardest thing we have ever had to do. Instead of organising a date for family to come and meet our perfect new bundle, we arranged his funeral.

'After three months of going round and round every eventuality in our head, we were told 'the root cause of the incident was that Alfie's CTG trace was misinterpreted during labour'.

'Our baby's death was down to a collection of errors and negligence.

'He was our perfectly healthy boy until a few hours before he was born when he was showing all the signs of struggling but this was simply not interpreted correctly.

'Many opportunities were missed. Hospital meetings and the inquest passed in a blur. All we wanted was our precious perfect baby in our arms.

'One thing was for sure, we had to do everything we could to ensure no one else found themselves in our situation, or those who did had support in place.

'After raising 10,000 for charity, we later discovered Each Baby Counts.

'Finally, someone who acknowledges that mistakes happen and wants to work together to ensure they are learnt from. No family should ever have to go through what we have.'
A woman has spoken movingly about her ongoing battle with excruciating pain, caused by hundreds of tiny, pea-sized tumours, growing all over her face and body.

Noreen Steenson, 43, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, has been left afraid to leave the house because of taunts from strangers who have accused her of being contagious.

Ms Steenson, who lives alone with her 15-year-old Yorkshire terrier, has been diagnosed with rare and incurable neurofibromatosis (NF) type 1.

Any one of the hundreds of tumours that cover her body could turn cancerous, leaving Ms Steenson constantly fearing for her life.

And, despite having operations to remove the tumours almost every year since she was 17, they continue to grow everywhere - even between her fingers and toes.

Noreen Steenson, 43, (pictured on holiday in Portugal) wakes up to a new lump every day, caused by a rare and incurable genetic condition known as neurofibromatosis (NF) type 1

WHAT IS NEUROFIBROMATOSIS TYPE 1? Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) affects one in 3,000 people in the UK to some extent, with severe cases such as Ms Steenson's occurring rarely. Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is caused by a genetic mutation that affects nerve tissue growth. Around half of cases are inherited from a parent and the other half occur spontaneously. Early symptoms include flat brown birthmarks, and lumps and bumps in unusual places. It is also associated with mild learning difficulties. Most people with NF1 are otherwise healthy and live to a normal life expectancy. There is no cure. Surgery can be performed to remove the benign growths. Source: The Neuro Foundation Advertisement

Cruel taunts from strangers

The tumours on Ms Steenson's face and arms have led to cruel taunts from strangers.

'Sometimes I can't face going out of the house,' she said.

'I have lived by myself, with my 15-year-old Yorkshire Terrier, Becks, since my mum Muriel died from a heart attack seven years ago.

'It's easier just to stay indoors, as my face is covered in lumps and people stare at me and make fun of me.'

She recalled an incident where a stranger refused to come close to her, fearing that she was contagious.

Ms Steenson said: 'A few years ago, I was buying something at a chemist and the woman asked me to put the money on the counter. She didn't want to take it out of my hand.

'I think she thought she would catch something. It left me in tears. People can be so cruel.

'I have had it all my life, so I am used to it, but it is still upsetting and it does hurt.'

Ms Steenson, from Belfast, has had operations to remove her tumours every year since age 17

Despite operations, her tumours continue to grow everywhere - including between her toes

Painful lumps appeared in puberty

The disease is caused by a genetic mutation, which causes her nerve tissue to grow uncontrollably.

Ms Steenson, who is in too much pain to work, said: 'I never know what it will be like when I wake up. There's almost one new lump every day, but I've learnt to take each day as it comes.'

Despite having developmental problems as a young child, it wasn't until she hit puberty that the lumps started to appear everywhere.

Ms Steenson said: 'Throughout my life, my development was slow. I was about two before I learnt how to walk and I didn't grow any teeth until I was over two.

'I didn't have many lumps until I hit my teenage years and puberty.

'I was lucky that my GP in Belfast knew about the condition, as I was only the second sufferer recorded in Northern Ireland.'

Soon the lumps started to appear all over her body, and by the time she was 17, she had her first operation to remove them from her right hand, making it difficult to move.

Despite developmental problems during her childhood, Ms Steenson's tumours did not start appearing on her body until she hit puberty. She is pictured aged eight (left) and 12 (right)

Ms Steenson constantly needs to check on the lumps and requires surgery almost annually to remove the worst ones. She is pictured with brother in law Lee (middle) and sister Roisin (right)

Living with the condition

Sadly, as there is no cure for the condition, Ms Steenson constantly needs to check on the lumps and requires surgery almost annually to remove some from the most badly affected areas.

'It does get worse and there is a risk that any of the tumours could turn cancerous,' she said. 'I am at high risk of breast cancer, as they could turn mutate there. I take each day as it comes.

'I am in agony at the minute, because they are all over my feet. It is difficult to walk, because they are covering my soles and in between my toes. Any pressure on them is very painful.

'I'm also having investigations, because I'm worried they are developing on the inside of my throat, which is dangerous and uncomfortable.'

The tumours on Ms Steenson's face and arms have also led to cruel taunts from strangers

Ms Steenson, pictured with her mother Muriel (left) before her death, has found solace in talking to other neurofibromatosis type 1 sufferers who she has met on the internet

Ms Steenson, pictured in Benidorm in 2013, said talking to other sufferers has been a 'lifeline'

Online support has been a 'lifeline'

Ms Steenson has a lot of support from friends and other sufferers, though, who she has met online.

She said: 'I have been going to a local day centre for adults, two days a week, for 16 years. They have been so helpful throughout everything.

'It is a safe place, where no one judges me and I can just be myself.

'Meeting people online has also really helped as it's made me realise I'm not alone.

'We go through similar problems. We give each other advice, based on how we have coped with situations. It is a lifeline.'
The genetic mutations that harm our health may also make us more stupid, new research has revealed.

A study found smart people have fewer genetic mutations that negatively affect intelligence and health, rather than having more mutations that make them smarter.

This suggests that being born with few bad mutations could be more important to being smart than having lots of mutations that have a positive effect on intelligence.

Scientists said the results could be used to guide gene editing - as 'fixing' these mutations could make people healthier and smarter at the same time.

Experts hailed the discovery as 'one of the most exciting studies on the genetics of intelligence' in recent times.

The genetic mutations that harm our health may also make us more stupid, research reveals

CHILDREN WITH HANDS-ON FATHERS ARE SMARTER Fathers who spend quality time with their children in their first few months of life have a positive impact on their baby's later intelligence, according to a study published in May. Having a sensitive, calm and less anxious father also results in more intelligent youngsters, the research added. Father engagement was found to boost a child's abilities regardless of family income. Study author Professor Paul Ramchandani, of Imperial College London, said: 'The clear message for new fathers here is to get stuck in and play with your baby. 'Even when they're really young playing and interacting with them can have a positive effect.' Advertisement

What makes some people smarter than others?

Intelligence depends on both genetics and the conditions that you grow up in.

For example, children brought up with plenty to eat and toys to play with tend to score better on IQ tests than children deprived of these benefits.

But genes are known to play a role.

Studies of identical twins, who share the same DNA, have indicated that 50 to 80 per cent of variation in how smart people are is likely to be down to genetics.

But a large proportion of the variation between different people's intelligence is yet to be explained.

How was the study conducted?

To address this, researchers from the University of Edinburgh analysed genetic data from 20,000 people taking part in a study called Generation Scotland, the New Scientist reports.

The researchers used statistical techniques to work out the effect of rare genetic mutations on intelligence.

A study found smart people have fewer genetic mutations that negatively affect intelligence and health, rather than having more genetic mutations that make them smarter (stock photo)

Because these genetic variants are so rare, previous studies have missed their possible effects.

They found that these rare genetic mutations could be the missing link that can help us explain why some people are much more intelligent than others.

'This is one of the most exciting studies on the genetics of intelligence I've seen for a while,' Steve Stewart-Williams of the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, told New Scientist.

How do genes for poor health get passed on?

The rare genetic mutations studied by the researchers are thought to have a negative impact on intelligence and health.

But each rare mutation is thought to only have a small effect on health, the researchers said.

Because their effects are small, it is harder for these negative mutations to be 'weeded out' by evolution.

That's because a person with only a slightly higher chance of catching a disease is still very likely to live to have children, allowing the negative genes to be passed on to the next generation.

Although the effect of each mutation is small, collectively they could be harming our health and chances of being intelligence, the researchers said.

Creating a smarter and healthier human race

Scientists suggested the discovery of these negative mutations could one day inform human gene editing.

Using advanced genetic techniques, scientists could theoretically 'delete' these mutations from our DNA.

By doing this, we could make ourselves smarter and healthier at the same time.

'I think this [study] strengthens the moral case for pursuing genome editing technologies,' ethicist Christopher Gyngell of the University of Oxford told New Scientist.

'It would be killing two birds with one stone, and that would be a good thing.'
Breastfeeding for a year reduces a mother's chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke later in life, according to new research.

A study found that the longer a mother breastfeeds, the greater the cardiovascular health benefit appears to be.

Previous studies have suggested that mothers get short-term health benefits from breastfeeding, including weight loss and lower cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels after pregnancy.

But the long-term effects of breastfeeding on the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in mothers are unclear.

Now a new study has found that women who breastfeed for 12 months have nearly a ten per cent lower risk of developing heart disease or suffering a stroke later in life.

Scroll down for video

Breastfeeding for a year reduces the chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke later in life

BREASTFEEDING DOESN'T MAKE CHILDREN SMARTER Breastfeeding doesn't make children smarter, according to a study published in March. Researchers from University College Dublin measured the cognitive abilities of nearly 8,000 children who were breastfed. They were tested at age three for their vocabulary and problem-solving abilities for the study published in the journal Pediatrics. When they turned five, their teachers were also quizzed in terms of how they felt the infants were developing. The benefits of breastfeeding could only be found at age three, with no such proven links existing at the later follow-up period. Advertisement

How was the study conducted?

Researchers from Oxford University, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking University analysed figures from 289,573 Chinese women with an average age of 51.

Chinese women breastfeed their babies for an average of 12 months.

Nearly all were mothers and none had cardiovascular disease when they enrolled in the study.

After eight years of follow-up, there were 16,671 cases of coronary heart disease, which includes heart attacks, and 23,983 stroke cases.

What did the study find?

Compared to women who had never breastfed, mothers who breastfed their babies had a nine per cent lower risk of heart disease and an eight per cent lower risk of stroke.

Among mums who breastfed each of their babies for two years or more, heart disease risk was 18 per cent lower and stroke risk was 17 per cent lower than among mothers who never breastfed.

And each additional six months of breastfeeding per baby was associated with a four per cent lower risk of heart disease and a three per cent lower risk of stroke.

The researchers considered a range of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and physical activity that could have biased results.

Women who breastfeed for a year have a 10 per cent lower risk of heart disease later in life

Breastfeeding 'resets' a mother's metabolism

Lead researcher Dr Sanne Peters, a research fellow at Oxford University, said: 'Although we cannot establish the causal effects, the health benefits to the mother from breastfeeding may be explained by a faster 'reset' of the mother's metabolism after pregnancy.

'Pregnancy changes a woman's metabolism dramatically as she stores fat to provide the energy necessary for her baby's growth and for breastfeeding once the baby is born.

'Breastfeeding could eliminate the stored fat faster and more completely.'

The researchers noted that women who breastfeed may be more likely to take other beneficial healthly measures that lower their risk of cardiovascular disease compared to women who don't breastfeed.

They said that because the study was observational, relying on information provided by the mothers about their breastfeeding histories, it does not prove cause and effect.

Breastfeeding should be more 'widespread'

A total of 97 per cent of the women in the study breastfed each of their babies for an average of 12 months. Women in the west typically breastfeed for six months.

Senior researcher Professor Zhengming Chen, of Oxford University, said: 'The findings should encourage more widespread breastfeeding for the benefit of the mother as well as the child.

'The study provides support for the World Health Organisation's recommendation that mothers should breastfeed their babies exclusively for their first six months of life.'

The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
A new drug trend may be emerging: Injecting a deadly cocktail of drugs and other people's blood to get high.

Last year, police in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, apprehended a man carrying a vial of blood containing 13 different substances including methamphetamine.

The practice is dangerous because it can lead to the spread HIV, hepatitis and other blood-borne infections.

Last year, police in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, encountered a man carrying a vial of blood containing 13 different substances including methamphetamine

Cases of people injecting other people's blood were reported by the New York Times in 2010.

The article reported that heroin users in some African cities such as Dar es Salaam in Tanzania deliberately inject themselves with another heroin addict's blood to share the high.

However, in the case of the man arrested in Bucks County last year, he claimed that the vial he was carrying only contained human blood and fentanyl - a very strong painkiller that, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent.

WHAT THE VIAL CONTAINED Last year, police in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, encountered a man carrying a vial of blood. While he claimed it only contained blood and fentanyl - a strong painkiller 50 to 100 times more potent that morphone - an analysis of the sample showed otherwise. The sample contained: Ethanol : The principle type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages.

: The principle type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. Methamphetamine : Stimulant drug that produces a rush of euphoria.

: Stimulant drug that produces a rush of euphoria. Amphetamine : A central nervous sustem stimulant that can be used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy and obesity.

: A central nervous sustem stimulant that can be used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy and obesity. MDA : A psychedelic drug that is ecnountered mainly as a recreational drug.

: A psychedelic drug that is ecnountered mainly as a recreational drug. 6-monoacetylmorphine : A metabolite of heroin - it's presence in blood or urine indicated that heorin was used.

: A metabolite of heroin - it's presence in blood or urine indicated that heorin was used. Codeine : Opioid pain medication used to treat mild to moderately severe pain.

: Opioid pain medication used to treat mild to moderately severe pain. Morphine : Opioid pain medication used to treat mild to moderately severe pain.

: Opioid pain medication used to treat mild to moderately severe pain. Alprazolam : A benzodiazepine that's used to treat anxiety disorders, panic disorders.

: A benzodiazepine that's used to treat anxiety disorders, panic disorders. Delta-9 THC : Used as an appetite stimulant for people suffering from chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

: Used as an appetite stimulant for people suffering from chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Ephedrine : Used for temporary relief of shortness of breath, chest tightness and wheezing due to bronchial asthma.

: Used for temporary relief of shortness of breath, chest tightness and wheezing due to bronchial asthma. Pseudoephedrine : A decongestant that shrinks blood vessels in the nasal passages, as dilated blood vessles can cause nasal congestion.

: A decongestant that shrinks blood vessels in the nasal passages, as dilated blood vessles can cause nasal congestion. Norpseudoephedrine : A drug that is most commonly used to narrow the blood vessels in the nose, and as an appetite suppressant.

: A drug that is most commonly used to narrow the blood vessels in the nose, and as an appetite suppressant. Human blood Source: Drugs.com and PubChem Advertisement

So, either the man was unaware of the contents of the vial, or he lied to law enforcement officials when questioned.

Dr Laura Labay, a forensic toxicologist, analyzed the contents of the vial with her colleague Dr Charles Catanese, and published their results in a study.

'It was the strangest thing,' Dr Labay told Popular Science.

'If you look at whole blood in a test tube, it's thick.

'This looked like blood but it was more watery.'

The researcher discovered that, contrary to what the Pennsylvania man had claimed, the vial contained 13 different substances including ethanol, codeine, morphine and methamphetamine.

When drug users inject themselves, a blood tends to fall back inside the syringe.

Dr Labay and her colleagues have noticed that sometimes users lets their blood spill back into the syringe and then give it to someone else to taste the drug - but they say this is the first time they've seen someone keep a drug-containing syringe for later user.

According to Popular Science, the researchers say that because the most of the drugs in the sample were present at lower levels than the usual dose, and because the blood contained 'metabolites' that arise after the body breaks down these drugs, the blood most likely came from someone who'd used pseudoephedrine and heroin before.

However, methamphetamine levels were in the vial were very high for the human body to cope with, so the researchers suggest that someone added it to the blood.

The researchers still aren't sure why someone would want to take these drugs in this manner, but it could be because the user thought it would intensify the experience of the methamphetamine, or maybe he or she liked the idea of using blood.

When drug users inject themselves, a blood tends to fall back inside the syringe. Dr Labay and her colleagues have noticed that sometimes users lets their blood spill back into the syringe and then give it to someone else to taste the drug

However, injecting someone else's blood into your body can lead to some serious health risks.

Firstly, the main carrying the vial was either lying or unaware of what the vial contained, so he could have administered substances to himself that he wasn't aware he was taking.

And if the man had a high tolerance of Fentanyl, he could have injected a larger dose of the blood and potentially overdosed on the high levels of methamphetamine in the sample.

Sharing needles and injecting blood can also lead to blood-borne infections such as HIV and hepatitis.

In addition, injecting yourself with blood that isn't the same blood type as yours can lead to blood clot formation, blocking your veins and killing you.
The wildly popular fidget spinners are potentially dangerous to children, experts claim.

A watchdog group has issued a warning against the toy because the devices can fall apart and the small pieces can create a choking hazard.

The plastic and metal spinners are already banned in many schools because they distract students, Boston-based World Against Toys Causing Harm claim.

Children in Texas and Oregon have been taken to hospitals recently after choking on fidget spinner pieces, W.A.T.C.H. said. One required surgery.

Now the organization is cautioning parents to be wary of fidget spinners because of the potential danger they can have.

Fidget spinners are potentially dangerous because they can become a choking hazard, a Boston-based watchdog group claims. The toys have already been banned from schools because they are distracting

W.A.T.C.H. organization president Joan Siff said: 'Do not be lulled into a false sense of security that a toy is safe simply because it is popular.'

Fidget spinners are small devices that a person can spin between his or her fingers or on a surface, and are now a common sight across the world.

Last week, German customs officials destroyed 39 tons of the whirling gizmos over safety concerns.

They say they tested the toys, which came in multiple shipments from China, and found that bits could fall off and pose possible choking hazards for small children.

Customs spokeswoman Christine Strauss says they were also missing other required details, like legible instructions and information about which company produced the product.

The devices are regularly marketed for helping to provide increased focus and stress relief for people who have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Anxiety and Autism - however, there is no proof to support this.

Experts even claim fidget spinners not only distract the child but other children nearby, prompting schools to ban them.

DISRUPTIVE CHILD? TREAT THE PARENTS, STUDY CLAIMS It may be assumed that treating children with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) should focus on the patient. Yet, a review of 64 studies reveals that its crucial for parents to be involved for DBD treatment success. Study author, Dr Jennifer Kaminski, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: 'The results of this review add even more support behind the notion that parental involvement in treating disruptive behavioral issues in children is very important. 'Parents should consider these therapies when looking for the right treatment for their child. With the help of trained professionals, they can be an active participant in their child's treatment.' Around one-third to one-half of ADHD sufferers have a form of DBD. DBDs covers a range of symptoms including aggression, defiance and rule-breaking behavior. If untreated, it can increase the risk of mental disorders, prison and even premature death in later life. Advertisement

Dr Mark Rapport, director of the Children's Learning Clinic at the University of Central Florida, previously told the Daily Mail Online he has not come across any scientific evidence of the devices' alleged positive effects.

Dr Rapport's 2015 study found that children with ADHD who participated in activities involving 'gross body movement,' which is movement of the limbs or large parts of the body, performed better than those who sat still during memory tasks.

However, fidget spinners don't require the user to engage in gross body movement, which appears to increase brain arousal necessary to engage in many cognitive tasks, said Dr Rapport.

'Using a spinner like gadget is more likely to serve as a distraction than a benefit for individuals with ADHD,' he said.

W.A.T.C.H. also warned about the fire dangers posed by lithium batteries in hoverboards; the potential for blunt force injuries from plastic weapons based on superhero movies; and impact injuries from non-motorized scooters.

Not all the possible summer safety hazards on the W.A.T.C.H. list had to do with children's playthings. It also includes warnings about water safety, and the risks posed by clothing drawstrings.

W.A.T.C.H doesn't tell the whole story and 'tends to needlessly frighten parents,' said Joan Lawrence, vice president of safety standards at The Toy Association, an industry group of toy manufacturers and retailers, which helps develop safety standards. Toy safety is highly regulated under federal law, she said.

Lawrence, known as the 'toy safety mom' pointed out that hoverboards and non-motorized scooters are not considered toys under federal regulatory definitions.

The Toy Association last month issued its own guidelines for parents thinking of buying fidget spinners, including following age recommendations on the packaging, buying only from reputable retailers, and inspecting them frequently for loose parts.

'Look at it before you buy it,' she said. 'If it's not age graded, put it down.'
RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy says his friend and superstar Rajinikanth will enter politics.

Talking to India Today, he said, 'There is a huge vacuum in Tamil Nadu politics which is inviting for Rajini.

'So if he has ever thought of entering politics, this is probably the best time. In my view, he has already made up his mind. He is only looking for the right timing to make the announcement. I think he will launch his own party.'

RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy is a friend of the legendary actor

He added, 'He must have an alliance with BJP because this is my surmise. Because there is a lot of convergence between him and BJP. First of all, he would not like to have a purely regional setup. He would like to have a national perspective. And he cannot have a national perspective unless he is with the Congress or BJP.'

'Obviously, there are very little similarities between him and Congress, and so I believe BJP will be his natural choice.

'When people will ask about his political experience, that is where I think Modi's personality will come to play. I don't think he needs grooming.

'No one looked for political experience in the past. NTR came into politics. He was a pure actor and had no great experience. He came and did well.

'What you require is connectivity to people, dedication, honesty and capacity to provide leadership. I think Rajinikanth will be able to do that,' he further said.

Slapping a cobra: The Government of India has honoured Rajinikanth with the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2016 for his contributions to the arts

Gurumurthy says the BJP is Rajinikanth's 'natural choice' for an alliance

Speaking on various other Tamil issues, Gurumurthy said Sasikala's family should not attempt to enter politics.

Reacting to an interview on India Today TV's of Sasikala's nephew Jeyanandh Dhivakaran, he said, 'I think it is illiteracy to give importance to the Sasikala family.

'Mafias give support from behind, but once they come ahead, you can never hope to run the party because it requires popular support. They are amongst the most hated people in Tamil Nadu politics.' Gurumurthy also said that MK Stalin is still living in the past and couldn't deal with the political situation in Tamil Nadu properly.

Politics? Narendra Modi (right) clad in traditional south Indian Dhoti attire, walks with Indian film actor and cultural icon Rajinikanth (left) during a visit to the actor's residence

He, however, accepted that BJP's farm policy is no different from UPA's and it needs to be changed.

'There are 100 million small and marginal farmers for whom farming is a backward integration for their kitchen; for whom no government has any policy, modern economic thinkers have no policy and so the BJP is no different.

Indian Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan (R) and Rajinikanth

In Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the problem is over production and in Tamil Nadu, it is under production,' he said.

Gurumurthy challenged P Chidambaram on various cases and said, 'Chidambaram cannot sue me as I have more proof against his son Karti.'

On the Presidential polls, he defended Ram Nath Kovind's candidature.

Bollywood superstar Rajinikanth has lost none of his box-office clout after the 65-year-old's latest film Kabali romped home with a Rs 210-crore opening weekend worldwide
Deserted and quiet during the day, a high-end meat factory near Delhi bursts into activity at night.

In the daytime, the sprawling Al-Nasir Exports' abattoir at Ghaziabad's Dasna appears to have been impacted heavily by the Yogi Adityanath government's stringent regulation of the meat trade.

This buffalo slaughterhouse is also under the scanner for alleged construction violations. The Ghaziabad Development Authority has already raised several objections over its building plan and land use.

Al-Nasir Exports' abattoir at Ghaziabad's Dasna denied the allegations

Potential penalties aside, the abattoir erupts into action when darkness descends. In the thick of night, this plush slaughterhouse turns into a house of horror where buffaloes and their little ones are literally put to the sword.

When India Today TV's undercover team walked into its huge compound little after midnight recently, a horrendous sight unfolded on its secret cameras: hundreds of buffaloes, their babies lying on a blood-spattered floor, their throats slashed by primitive swords.

Conscious of their surroundings, the animals and their offspring were killed in front of one another in gross breach of anti-cruelty laws.

Bleeding survivors trembled as sword-wielding butchers walked over carcasses to deliver a fatal swipe. Calves tried to escape, but could not, pulled as they were by their legs and slashed at the neck.

When India Today TV's undercover team walked into its huge compound little after midnight recently, a horrendous sight unfolded on its secret cameras

The country's anti-cruelty laws ban killing of pregnant or nursing animals and their babies less than three months in age. No animal is allowed to be slaughtered in sight of other animals in abattoirs either.

But India Today TV recorded extreme abuse at the Dasna slaughterhouse of Al-Nasir Exports, which on its website boasts itself as a global leader in frozen halal, buffalo meat.

The company also makes tall claims about compliance with international standards for slaughtering, bragging its quality controls. But the probe discovered severe contraventions at its abattoir.

Wrapped in plastic packaging, Al-Nasir's meat products bear no resemblance to what our reporters found. An indescribable stench comes out of a thick, dark drain along the abattoir.

When reached for comment, Al-Nasir's director Mohammad Salim Qureshi issued a flat denial of any wrongdoing.

'We have all papers and licensing,' he claimed. 'Where do you procure such animals for slaughtering when there's a ban on their sale?' asked the reporter.

'The new central law hasn't been implemented fully yet,' Quershi replied. 'So far, it (slaughtering) is happening regularly.'

Sick: The animals and their offspring were killed in front of one another

But abuse and environment degradation appeared to be a common practice in various animal businesses, big and small.

In the bushes of Amroha, India Today TV's investigative reporters saw livestock crammed into a truck wagon for a hideous journey to one of the numerous, hole-in-the-wall slaughterhouses dotting UP.

The team visited a home turned into an abattoir for spot butchering and sale of buffalo meat. 'You want meat. Get it from here. We'll slaughter it and weigh it for you here itself,' said Arif, its owner. 'We'll make it (slaughter) it for you at night. We'll give you at Rs 140 a kilo.'

Soon, Arif untied a buffalo, pulled it outside of the house and on to a truck.

Chopped and skinned carcasses of buffaloes could also be seen at dilapidated meat shops in parts of Amroha.

'What I have here are (meat of) five male buffaloes. I'll get more animals from the market if our deal is finalised,' said Amir, a meat seller.

'It will be Rs 150 (per kg).' In Agra, the reporters met Chand, a supplier of buffalo meat and a butcher himself. 'Did slaughtering happen today?' asked the journalist.

'Yes, five-six buffaloes were slaughtered at our own home,' Chand confessed. A middleman in meat business, Zaheer-ud-Din also guaranteed supplies of outlawed produce.

A resident of Agra's Sadar Bazaar area, he disclosed how he would organise the delivery.

'We will do it (the slaughtering) at home itself,' he explained.

(By Jamshed Khan, Sushant Pathak, Syed Masroor Hasan and Md Hizbullah in Dasna, Amroha and Agra, with inputs from Ashutosh Mishra)
Heavy rain may cause flooding in the Chattanooga area this weekend, officials said.

Amy Maxwell of the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management said the office continues to receive weather updates with the National Weather Service (Morristown, Tn.) regarding the potential heavy rain arriving in Hamilton County the end of this week.

She said, "We encourage everyone to stay tuned to their local media outlets for weather updates. Flooding is likely to occur, especially creeks, streams and small rivers. Heavy rains may be so intense that small creeks and streams are unable to accommodate so much water. Storm drains and culverts may turn into raging bodies of water. If you live in a 'flood prone' area, please be aware of all flood warning updates."

Due to the weather forecast, Lake Winnepesaukah will be closed Thursday. It is to reopen on Friday.

TVA officials, noting that heavy rains are forecast for much of the Tennessee Valley from tropical storm Cindy beginning Thursday, said they are taking steps designed to help minimize flooding. TVA will be lowering some lake levels to create additional water storage capacity. Those lakes being lowered include Fort Loudoun, Watts Bar, Chickamauga, Nickajack, Guntersville, Wheeler, Wilson, Pickwick, and Kentucky.

Current forecasts predict five to six inches of rain moving into the Tennessee Valley region late Thursday through Saturday. Normal rainfall for the entire month of June is usually about fourinches.

We are taking proactive steps to prepare for this coming rain event by lowering lake levels where we have the ability to create additional storage for the rain we expect to receive, said James Everett, manager of River Forecasting Center Operations Support. Our team will be closely tracking this system and continuously receiving up-to-the-minute information about rainfall and lake levels. This data will be used to model various scenarios and help us minimize flood damage along TVAs entire system of dams and reservoirs.

With Tennessee River lake levels dropping over the next few days, property owners should take appropriate measures to protect boats and other property that may be impacted by the drawdown. When TVA begins moving more water through its dams it will cause faster-than-normal river flows and excess debris. Extra caution should be taken in all river traffic and lake recreation. Reservoir levels could also rise quickly once the rainfall accumulates into the rivers, creeks and streams that flow into the reservoirs.

On Monday, TVA began to drawn down lake levels by releasing water through hydro turbines to generate electricity. If necessary, TVA will supplement turbine releases by spilling or sluicing excess water to further lower lake levels.

Lakes located on Tennessee River tributaries will remain near current levels and only minimum flows will be released. Tributary lakes may experience spikes in water levels depending on the amount of rainfall and runoff received from the storm.

TVA manages its 49 dams, including nine dams on the main stem of the Tennessee River and 10 major tributary dams, to regulate the amount of water stored behind the dams upstream to help control flooding downstream.

Up-to-date information will be provided on TVAs Facebook page (facebook.com/TVA) and Twitter feed (@TVAnews). Real-time lake level information is available on the free TVA Lake Info app for smartphones or at TVA.gov.

Ms. Maxwell gave some safety tips to remember:

Pay attention to hazard signs and roadblocks. Ignoring them threatens life and property, and can result in enforcement action by police.

Rain reduces traction and causes tires to hydroplane. Slow your speed accordingly.

Water on roads may be deeper than it looks. Watch for vehicles traveling too fast. They can throw up blinding sheets of water.

Dont cross rain-swollen washes. You can be caught in a flash flood that can sweep your vehicle away or become stranded.

Control of a vehicle is lost in six inches of water. Most vehicles will begin to float in two feet of water.

During a storm, emergency services will be very busy, only call for immediate assistance if there is a risk of life or serious property damage.Remember. . . 'Turn around, don't drown.'
Crime is down in Delhi and the police's crime resolution rate is up, data in possession of Mail Today shows.

With effective ground policing and the formation of core teams at the district level, city cops have managed to slash the crime rate by 31.54 per cent and crack many more heinous crimes compared to last year.

The solve rate has gone up by 16.77 per cent. Senior officials say the policing methods brought in by commissioner Amulya Kumar Patnaik have been very successful.

Unexpected: Crime is down in Delhi and the police's crime resolution rate is up, data in possession of Mail Today shows.

The official data also reveals that incidents of dacoity (violent robbery) have gone down by 21.05 per cent and this year Delhi Police managed to solve 93.33 per cent of the cases.

Instances of robbery have gone down too. In 2016, up to May 15, as many as 2,177 such cases were reported, compared to 1,180 in the same period this year.

Cops managed to solve 45.15 per cent of the cases in 2015, while the figure this year is 65.42 per cent.

The Capital has often been tagged with the dubious the distinction of being India's most unsafe metropolitan city.

Giving credit to foot patrolling and effective investigation by special teams formed in all districts, senior Delhi Police officials said, 'In the near future the crime rate will go down and whenever a case will be reported it will be solved.'

This year, 740 cases of rape were reported till May 15, compared to 802 in 2016.

And cops have cracked 77.30 per cent of the cases reported this year. Senior officials added that one of the reasons behind the improving solve rate is promotions of cops and power of investigation granted to them.

Patnaik, who took charge as Delhi's police commissioner on January 31 this year, is the man behind the promotions as he believes that promoting cops will not only help in reducing pendency files but will also boost their morale, sources said.

In 2016, as many as 18,702 personnel were promoted by granting 'special grade designation'. This includes 9,364 head constables to assistant sub-inspectors and 933 constables to head constables.

A total of 51 inspectors were also promoted to ACP, 117 sub-inspectors to inspectors, 596 ASI to sub-inspectors.

Not only this: 1,923 personnel were promoted for functional requirements under the comprehensive scheme.

Patnaik, a 1985-batch IPS officer, will be on his post for the next three years. He was previously the special commissioner (administration) in Delhi Police.

When he became the commissioner, Mail Today had reported that senior officers described Patnaik as someone who has a deep knowledge of policing and the law and order situation.

'He is very competent in administration and investigation. He will make police work on the ground,' an official said in January.

Since then, sources say the top cop has kept a tight vigil on crime trends and regularly conducts meetings with the district heads to guide them on how to curb offences and solve cases.

Amulya Kumar Patnaik (middle) has enjoyed success in the national Capital

Not only has the efficiency of solving heinous crimes improved but the number of street crimes cracked by cops has also gone up.

Be it snatching, burglary or motor vehicle theft, this year Delhi Police managed to solve most cases. Around 33.82 per cent of snatching cases have been solved, compared to 19.28 per cent last year.

In February, as reported by Mail Today, Patnaik had formed core teams, special investigation teams and law & order research teams in every district to solve all the cases.

Also, special training is being given for better policing. The law and order research team comprises officials till inspector rank. It helped the cops improve policing methods, said officials.
The FTSE 100 closed down 24.92 points at 7447.79 as market sentiment turned negative and an interest rate hike moved closer.

Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane suggested a rise in the cost of borrowing might be needed 'well ahead of current market expectations'.

Despite the formal beginning of Brexit talks, the FTSE 100 traded well above 7500 earlier this week, Germanys DAX hit a new record, and many of the main European indices such as Frances CAC 40 and Italys FTSE MIB also flashed green.

That changed today and as talks progress, investors will be trying to get a read on whether this is the beginning of a prolonged dip or just one bad session.

Oil is in focus again after a big sell-off yesterday saw the price of a barrel sink as low as $43. Brent crude recovered to trade at $45.65 today.
Brave Bison shot up after former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie (pictured) and his son Ashley failed in their bid to oust the firms chairman following a boardroom bust-up

Digital broadcaster Brave Bison shot up after former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie and his son Ashley failed in their bid to oust the firms chairman following a boardroom bust-up.

The pair, who own a combined 8 per cent stake in the AIM-listed media company, launched a bid to force out chairman Sir Robin Miller and non-executive director Paul Marshall earlier this year.

The attempted coup followed Ashley MacKenzies resignation as chief executive in January, which the firm put down to a disagreement over the companys future. It is believed the board did not agree with MacKenzies plans to put Brave Bison up for sale, with talks of a takeover by Bob Geldof-founded Zinc Media collapsing last week.

But father and son failed to gather the support of enough shareholders at Brave Bisons annual general meeting yesterday, with both Miller and Marshall re-elected to the firms board.

The firm also announced that MacKenzies permanent replacement as chief executive will be Claire Hungate, currently a managing director at Warner Bros Television. Shares rose 10.2 per cent, or 0.1p, to 1.2p.

Biotech firm Shire rose after securing regulatory approval for its long-lasting treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which affects up to 11 per cent of American children.

Shire hopes to begin selling Mydayis later this year after it was given the green light by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Mydayis contains similar active ingredients  including amphetamine  as Adderall, Shires other popular treatment for ADHD. But the medicine can last for up to 16 hours  four more than Adderall.

STOCK WATCH: Greatland Gold Precious metals explorer Greatland Gold rose yesterday after reporting an outstanding gold discovery at its base in the Paterson region of Western Australia. The firms peer, Antipa Minerals, found high-grade gold after digging at its Minyari Dome Project, just 20 miles away from Greatlands site. Greatland Gold recently doubled its landholding in the Paterson region. Shares rose 7.5 per cent, or 0.05p, to 0.62p.

Shires share rose 2 per cent, or 89.5p, to 4460p, although it remains down 4.5 per cent for the year as it continues to suffer from an increasingly competitive market.

The FTSE 100 finished down 0.3 per cent, or 24.92 points, at 7447.79 after spending all day in the red.

Oil majors also suffered another tough session after the price of the black stuff fell to another multi-month low over concerns of a potential global oversupply.

Shell fell 1.3 per cent, or 28.5p, to 2097p, while BP was down 0.8 per cent, or 3.55p, to 456.7p after analysts at Macquarie suggested they could be worst hit by low oil prices.

A rally in copper, platinum and gold prices helped miners to prop up the FTSE 100 despite Moodys warning that South African regulations could hit the sector. It said that a new charter seeking to raise the minimum threshold for black ownership of mining companies to 30 per cent from 26 per cent will require miners to use cash or raise debt to create the additional shares for purchase. Despite Moodys listing Anglo American as one of the worst potential casualties of the charter, the miner rose 1.7 per cent, or 16.3p, to 975.7p. Meanwhile, Glencore was up 1.8 per cent, or 4.85p, at 281.45p and Rio Tinto advanced 0.7 per cent, or 20p, to 3020p.

Healthcare property investor Assura sat at the top of the FTSE 250 following its successful placing of 98.4 million of shares in the market on Tuesday. The firm rose 3.7 per cent, or 2.3p, to 64p.

Meanwhile, Allied Irish Banks increased the price of its float due to demand. The bank will sell 25 per cent back to the public after it was rescued during the financial crisis in a bailout which costs Irish taxpayers 18.5 billion.

Earlier this month shares were priced at between 3.90 and 4.90. But this has been revised up to 4.20 to 4.60 after books were oversubscribed multiple times. Shares will be floated in both Dublin and London.
Dominic Taylor, 59, the boss of retail payments firm PayPoint

The boss of retail payments firm PayPoint was paid 1.1 million last year  a 23 per cent rise  after overseeing a profit surge.

Dominic Taylor, 59, took home a 500,000 salary and 78,000 towards his pension and bonuses worth 518,000.

He also pocketed 25,000 of benefits such as a car allowance and health insurance.

Father-of-two Taylor spent 12 years as a submarine squadron training officer before moving into business, joining Vodafone in 1991 to help set up its German arm.
Up to 1,110 workers at Tesco's call centre in Cardiff could lose their job next year as the supermarket continues with its cost-cutting drive.

Tesco said it would shut down its Customer Engagement Centre in the Welsh city in February 2018 and instead consolidate all its call centre operations in its Dundee site, where 250 new jobs will be created.

Tesco's UK chief executive Matt Davies said the decision had been 'difficult' but that the closure was needed in order to run the business in a 'sustainable and cost-effective way'.

Jobs to go: Tesco said it will shut down its call centre in Cardiff in February next year

The union Usdaw said staff were 'understandably shocked' after having been briefed about the planned job cuts this afternoon and added it was entering talks with Tesco over the coming weeks.

Tesco's Davies said: 'The retail sector is facing unprecedented challenges and we must ensure we run our business in a sustainable and cost-effective way, while meeting the changing needs of our customers.

'To help us achieve this, we've taken the difficult decision to close our customer service operations in Cardiff.

'We realise this will have a significant effect on colleagues in the Cardiff area, and our priority now is to continue to do all we can to support them at this time.'

Usdaw divisional officer Nick Ireland said: 'This is clearly devastating news for our members and will have a wider impact on South Wales, as so many jobs are potentially lost to our local economy.

'We will now enter into consultation talks with the company over the coming weeks to look at the business case for the proposed closure.

'Our priorities are to keep as many members as possible in employment, whether that is with Tesco or other local employers, and to get the best possible deal for our members.'

The job cuts announced today are the latest in a string of cost-cutting measures unveiled by the supermarket over the past couple of years as it tries to remain profitable and competitive in the race with discounters Aldi and Lidl, which have eaten into its market share.

Tesco, under the leadership of group chief executive Dave Lewis who joined in 2014, has been working hard to turn itself around after one of the biggest losses in UK corporate history in 2015.

Today's announcement follows Tesco's plans announced in April to slash the number of hours its stores are open, which put some 3,000 jobs at risk.

The retail giant said it was shifting overnight shelf-stacking to daytime in 69 stores and ending round-the-clock opening in eight stores - a move that would lead to redundancies, the supermarket said.

In February, Tesco said it was axing 1,700 deputy manager roles while creating 3,300 shift leader roles. This followed 1,000 job cuts announced in January.
Fossil fuel firms have been suffering from a market glut in which supply outstrips demand

Oil dropped below $45 a barrel for the first time this year as concerns mount that it will be impossible to curb over-production.

Fossil fuel firms have been suffering from a market glut in which supply far outstrips demand, forcing them to sell it cheaper.

The Opec cartel of oil-producing states has been battling to limit drilling so prices can rise  but progress has so far been fitful.

Although oil giants such as Russia and Saudi Arabia have kept a lid on production, markets were spooked yesterday by reports of increased levels in Libya and Nigeria.
Just one day after his former colleagues were charged with fraud, ex-Barclays boss Bob Diamond began raising 159m to boost his new firms presence in Nigeria

Just one day after his former colleagues were charged with fraud, ex-Barclays boss Safari Bob Diamond began raising 159 million to boost his new firms presence in Nigeria.

The financier  who quit as the banks chief executive over the Libor rate-rigging scandal in 2012  has been battling to conquer Africa through his investment vehicle Atlas Mara.

On Tuesday, Diamonds predecessor at Barclays, along with three other former bosses, were charged with fraud over a 7 billion cash call at the height of the financial crisis.

At the time, Diamond was head of Barclays US division.

Atlas Mara is now raising extra cash by selling a 35 per cent stake and issuing a bond to Canadian investment company Fairfax Africa Holdings.

Existing investors will also be asked to put their hands in their pockets.

Atlas, which owns lenders in seven countries across Africa, will use the cash to boost its holding in Union Bank of Nigeria to 44.5 per cent.

Diamonds firm has seen its value plunge almost 80 per cent since floating on the London stock market in December 2013 amid concerns over its direction.

On Tuesday, Diamonds predecessor at Barclays, along with three other former bosses, were charged with fraud over a 7 billion cash call at the height of the financial crisis. At the time, Diamond was head of Barclays US division

Union is Atlass biggest African investment but has been Nigerias worst-performing bank stock this year as it struggled to cope with an economic squeeze.

Diamond, 65, has long believed in the continents potential for growth and was an enthusiastic backer of Barclays presence there, which current boss Jes Staley has been winding up.

The former chief executive made a shock return to City life earlier this year when Atlas launched a 15.5 million takeover of stockbroker Panmure Gordon, which is nearing completion.
There is a great deal of snobbery in the way that the City has come rushing to the defence of former Barclays chief executive John Varley.

The idea that he is the paragon in braces targeted by the Serious Fraud Office for saving his bank while others such as Fred Goodwin at Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS chief Andy Hornby have escaped anything more than censure and public outrage is not quite right.

It should be remembered that it was Varley who pursued the Dutch bank ABN Amro and was even willing to shift the Barclays eagle to Amsterdam before being outbid by RBS. Had Varley had his way, he might have fallen into the same trap as Goodwin.

There is a great deal of snobbery in the way that the City has come rushing to the defence of former Barclays chief executive John Varley, says Alex Brummer (Varley pictured above)

The case against Varleys stewardship includes the Protium deal which was criticised by UK and American regulators.

In September 2009, Barclays sold a 7.8 billion package of toxic mortgage securities to a team of 45 of its own traders. Barclays lent them the money, parked the assets offshore in the Caymans, paid them a performance fee and then bought them back at a loss. The Financial Services Authority was clear that it was uncomfortable with the deal.

In the same year, while Varley was still at the helm, Barclays Global Investors  a pioneer in exchange traded funds  was sold to BlackRock for $13.5 billion (10.7 billion).

Barclays highest-paid director, American Bob Diamond, was a shareholder in BGI and collected 20 million from the sale.

Profiting from inter-company transactions is generally frowned upon in corporate life, but Varley did nothing to rein in the enthusiasm of his valuable executive.

Barclays highest-paid director, American Bob Diamond (above), was a shareholder in BGI and collected 20 million from the sale

There has been some surprise that Diamond was not involved in the Qatar deal which kept Barclays out of the reach of the taxpayer.

As head of the investment bank, he was in New York buying the remnants of Lehman Brothers.

Diamond was elevated to chief executive but his luck ran out when he was sacked over the Libor scandal.

The ambitions of Safari Bob have not been curbed and his African investment vehicle Atlas Mara just raised a further $200 million from investors. Onwards and upwards for Diamond while Varley faces the slings and arrows.

Uber undone

Corporate disrupters often attract flak. Googles early days were blighted by lawsuits from movie makers, record producers and publishers claiming piracy. None of this halted its progress towards $1,000 a share.

Uber too has experienced mounting problems. Cities around the world have sought to level the market by granting the same freedoms to existing car services or by reining in Ubers operations. There have been challenges to freelance contracts for drivers and Ubers practice of paying for parking tickets incurred by drivers.

Personal experience suggests none of this has dampened enthusiasm for an app and service which looks to have transformed transport in towns. What really has damaged Uber is the culture at the very top.

Waving goodbye: Travis Kalanick has stepped down as CEO of Uber

Founder and chief executive Travis Kalanick joins an exodus of senior management which allowed bullying and sexism to develop. The lapses scarred Ubers reputation among venture capitalists and the board of an enterprise currently valued at up to $70 billion.

Kalanicks departure from the top job is a big setback. We have seen this in the tech sector before with the late Steve Jobs at Apple and Biz Stone at Twitter. Both returned to the fold when the commercial going became tough.

What Ubers experience does demonstrate is that the brilliant young engineers behind many of the Silicon Valley giants lack corporate sophistication. Free-wheeling style is all well and good but it can damage brands.

There are important lessons here for newcomers such as Snap as well as the more established firms such as Facebook.

Founders need to understand that when they raise money from investors they take on wider governance responsibilities. Riches beyond the dreams of avarice early in life dont necessarily make for good judgment or decent behaviour.

Rough justice

How marvellous that Centrica, owner of British Gas, wants to be a 21st century enterprise with smart technology which can turn on the lights, tells you when food is rotting in the fridge and much more.

But wouldnt consumers be better served if the money had been invested in the Rough gas storage facility which is all that stands between Britain and the lights going out if LNG imports are blocked? Risible.
A former US diplomat and think-tank chief says there is no viable plan in place to deal with the end of Kim Jong-un's regime in North Korea.

Mark Tokola, a retired member of the US senior foreign service and head of the Korean Economic Institute, warned that governments and NGOs need to 'prepare for chaos' in the region if Kim is toppled.

Speaking at the Symposium on Human Rights in North Korea, he told Mail Online: 'My great fear is being called in front of some panel five years from now and have them say: "What were you thinking? Why weren't you ready for this? What was your plan?"'

Mark Tokola, a retired US diplomat and think-tank chief, says he fears the collapsed of Kim Jong-un's regime because there is no viable plan in place for the 'chaos' that would follow

President Donald Trump tweeted that attempts by Beijing to rein in North Korea had failed, raising the prospect of US military intervention

Mr Tokola added: 'If the North Korean regime collapses, it could happen quickly. No country is going to be able to deal with the situation on their own.

'It will be a tough challenge and will require coordination and cooperation.

'All of us, government and non-government, may need to be held accountable after the collapse for not having had a workable plan to deal with the problem.'

The key barrier to drawing up a plan, Mr Tokola believes, is China - with Xi Jinping's regime refusing to discuss the idea that Kim's regime will come to an end.

Without cooperation from Beijing, which is North Korea's closest ally and trading partner, it has been almost impossible for other regional players to draw up plans which could be used, he said.

South Korea confirmed on Wednesday that a drone which crashed on its territory last month was sent by the North, calling it 'a provocation'

Officials in Seoul said the spying mission violated the Korean War peace treaty, and if Kim's regime does not stop 'our military will forcefully retaliate' (drone crash site, pictured)

Tensions on the Korean peninsula dramatically increased this week when Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student held by the North for trying to steal a propaganda poster, died after being handed back to US authorities in a coma.

On Tuesday night President Donald Trump tweeted that attempts by Beijing to rein in Pyongyang 'had not worked out' - raising fears of a possible military intervention.

Trump has repeatedly called on Xi Jinping's regime to 'solve' the North Korea problem, saying that if China could not do it 'we will'.

On Wednesday South Korea confirmed that a drone which crashed in the Demilitarized Zone last month was sent by the North to spy on the US-made THAAD missile defense system stationed outside of Seoul.

Meanwhile two US officials warned of 'new activity' at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, and said a sixth test could be timed to coincide with a Chinese visit to Washington on Wednesday

Analysts from observation group 38North released these images of the test site earlier this month, saying it seems to be in standby mode

South Korean officials described the move as 'a provocation' and said if Kim Jong-un's regime does not stop 'our military will forcefully retaliate'.

Meanwhile two US officials told CNN that increased activity has been detected at the dictator's nuclear testing site, possibly indicating preparations for a sixth test.

While the officials said the much-anticipated test is far from certain, there are concerns it could be timed to coincide with a visit by Chinese officials to Washington DC on Wednesday.

Satellite images published this month by observation group 38North confirmed continuing activity at the Punggye-ri site, though its analysts said the site still appears to be in standby mode.

If a test were carried out, it could prompt pre-emptive strikes by the 'armada' President Trump has stationed in the region, and provoke all-out war in the region.
An eyewitness to a murder told a Criminal Court jury that a man in the back seat of her boyfriend's car told another youth to shoot the boyfriend.

Charles "Chaz" Holsey, 19, died as a result of the gunfire after a drug deal gone bad on March 2, 2015.

Briston Smith, who was 18 at the time of the slaying, is standing trial for felony murder and attempted especially aggravated robbery.

Prosecutor AnCharlene Davis told the jury in the courtroom of Judge Barry Steelman that it was Smith who told Adram Young to fire. Young, who was 17 at the time, is awaiting trial. Robert Thompson, who police say drove Smith and Young to behind the Kangaroo on Dallas Road, was also charged.

Smith told police that he told Young that the deal was "not worth killing anybody," but Young shot anyway.

Courtney Thompson said Holsey sometimes sold marijuana and she went with him on several deals.

She said that night that her mother fixed dinner for her and Holsey, then the two East Hamilton High graduates headed downtown to consummate the deal.

She said she thought it was with a white male, B.J., who had gone to Berry College as Holsey had. She said Holsey had gone to Rome, Ga., to get the drugs. She said he had sold marijuana to B.J. before.

The witness said there were some texts with "B.J." and then some calls. The location was first to be the Publix parking lot on N. Market Street, but police cars were there. It was moved to Walgreens and then to behind the Kangaroo.

She said they arrived first in Holsey's black BMW, then a white Ford Taurus pulled up. She said two black males got out. She said one wearing a maroon hoodie got behind Holsey in the car and one wearing a blue hoodie got behind her. Prosecutor Davis said Young was wearing the maroon hoodie and Smith the blue one.

The witness said they "talked price" and the man in the blue hoodie wanted to "go half." She said when Holsey told him no that the man grabbed the marijuana, saying, "Give me that s--t."

She said when Holsey refused, that the man in the blue hoodie said, "Shoot his a--."

She said shots then rang out and the pair got out of the vehicle. She said when she opened the passenger door that the gunman came toward her. She said she then closed the door and locked it.

Prosecutor Davis said Young fired three times through the back of the driver's seat and fired again, striking the car, after he got out.

Ms.Thompson, who had to pause a number of times to regain her composure, said she told her boyfriend that she had dated since ninth grade, "Chaz, let's go. Let's get out of here."

She said Holsey told her, "Courtney, they shot me. They shot me."

She said he steered the vehicle onto Market Street, but finally blanked out and she had to take the wheel. The vehicle rolled into a pickup truck. Holsey was taken to Erlanger Hospital, where he died after bleeding severely. The shots hit two arteries.

Prosecutor Davis said Smith did not have the money to pay for the marijuana and had planned the robbery prior to arriving. Honing in on the testimony about "Shoot his a--," she said, "Those three words were the cause of the murder of Chaz Holsey."

Defense attorney Brian Pearce told the jury that Smith had not known there was going to be a robbery or shooting.

He said police pressured him into a statement that he said was the version that police wanted.
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.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Trump administration on Tuesday that if the United States disengages from the international community it will be replaced - saying that won't be good for America or for the world.

At his first press conference since taking the reins of the United Nations on January 1, Guterres also said that proposed cuts in US funding for the UN would be disastrous and create 'an unsolvable problem to the management of the UN'.

The United States is the biggest contributor to the United Nations, paying 22 percent of the $5.4billion core budget and 28.5 percent of the $7.9billion peacekeeping budget.

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.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the US will be replaced on the world stage if the country disengages from the international community

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.

Asked about a new world order sparked by the Trump administration's actions, Guterres said: 'I believe that if the United States disengages in relation of many aspects of foreign policy and many of international relations, it will be unavoidable that other actors will occupy that space.'

'And I don't think this is good for the United States and I don't think this is good for the world,' he said.

The UN chief stressed that he is not afraid to stand up to President Donald Trump, citing his vocal opposition to the US leader's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.

He said the mobilization of US business and civil society in support or the climate deal is 'a signal of hope that we very much encourage.'

Looking at the array of global crises, Guterres expressed concern that there could be a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia over Syria and urged a de-escalation of the dispute between Washington and Moscow over the US downing of a Syrian jet.

Guterres plans to visit Washington DC next week to ask Congress to boost funding for the UN

This is very important, he said, 'because these kind 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.'

'So, 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 said.

The UN chief said he has been actively involved in trying to promote 'effective mediation' in a large number of global conflicts including South Sudan, Congo, Central African Republic, Syria, Libya and more recently Afghanistan and Cyprus.

'That doesn't mean that problems are easy to be solved,' he said.

'In a world where power relations are unclear and where impunity and unpredictability tend to prevail, what we see is that the capacity of prevention and conflict resolution of the international community as a whole, but also of the UN in particular, are today severely limited.'

Nonetheless, Guterres said: 'I intend to go on very actively engaged in these kind of contacts.'

He reiterated, however, that he thought the most likely successful mediation of the dispute between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries should be regional like the current effort led by Kuwait.

President Trump is seen Monday in the Oval Office. His proposed budget would make cuts to the funding that the US sends to the United Nations

But he said if the United States gets involved in mediation, 'that, of course, will be welcome if they are able to do so in an effective way.'

He also said the UN has not taken any initiative in mediation of the North Korean nuclear dispute, leaving the effort at the moment to the Security Council.

'We know that there are important talks taking place by different countries that have leverage and influence in relation to the countries in the region,' Guterres said.

The secretary-general, who served as UN high commissioner for refugees for 10 years, chose World Refugee Day for the press conference and appealed to all UN member states not to refuse entry to those seeking asylum and deserving protection.

He also urged rich countries to do much more to support the 80 percent of the world's refugees living in the developing world - and to increase the number of refugees they will give new homes to.

The United States is 'by far the largest resettlement country in the world' with a 'very generous and positive policy,' Guterres said.

But Trump is moving to significantly reduce the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States, even as his bid to temporarily suspend admissions is stalled in the courts.

His budget proposal calls for a 25 percent cut in funds for resettling refugees on American soil.

Guterres said he has strongly encouraged the United States 'to come back to the levels of resettlement that we witnessed until two or three years ago.'
Police believe a father murdered his young son and daughter then hanged himself on Father's Day during a custody battle with his estranged wife.

Deputies from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department arrived at the Santa Rosa, California, home of Alvaro Camara, 40, on Monday morning to a horrifying scene as they responded to a welfare check.

He was supposed to drop his six-year-old daughter and 18-month-old son off at their mother's house Sunday night, but never showed up. The estranged wife and mother of the two deceased children released a statement Tuesday 'I sit... swaddled in my daughter's blanket and drinking tea from a cup that reads 'I love you mom', fighting back the tears and struggling to make sense of this horrific situation'

'I sought help on numerous occasions and said many many many times my children were in danger in their fathers care and I didn't receive the urgent help I needed to save them' the statement concludes.

Deputies found Camara and his children dead inside the home. Camara hanged himself in a bedroom, the bodies of his daughter and son were nearby.

Alvaro Camara pictured with his two young children, his daughter Juliana was 6, and his little son, Julian, was just 18-months-old

Alvaro Camara pictured with his two young children in an older image, his daughter Juliana was 6, and his little son, Julian, was just 18-months-old when they were killed

A police cruiser at the gruesome scene on Monday, cops climbed through Camara's apartment window to find his two children dead next to his hanging lifeless body

Camara's two children, six-year-old daughter Juliana and 18-month-old son, Julian, spent Father's Day with him.

He was married, but had been separated from his wife for six months.

Neighbors say he lived in the complex only a few months but the arguments between him and his wife were intense on several occasions.

Officers aren't saying how the children died at this time.

Deputies say Camara and the children's mother were involved in a custody dispute before the double murder-suicide.

'I'm not quite sure what was going through his mind,' said Camara's sister, Jessica Espada to KTVU who arrived at the scene. 'It just caught all of us by surprise, and it's very tragic, we aren't sure why he would do such a thing?'

Alvaro Camara, in an image from his Facebook profile

Residents had been getting to know the children, after Camara moved in a few months ago. 'A beautiful little girl and a sweet little boy,' said neighbor Julia Poncia.

'He was great, he'd have the kids visit, and ride bikes, and he'd take them to the park,' Poncia said sadly, 'and so I don't know. You just never know about people.'

'It's an absolute tragedy to see two young children lose their lives in a custody dispute,' Santa Rosa Police Lt. John Cregan.

Detectives were at the scene all day Monday, trying to determine a timeline, and a trigger for the sudden violence. Camara was supposed to hand the kids over to his estranged wife at his apartment Sunday evening at 7pm.

When no one answered her knock she called the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department. Deputies Sunday night found Camara's place dark and quiet as well, and figured he was extending his Father's Day visit with them.

They left, and returned Monday morning, with worried relatives. Climbing through a bathroom window, they were able to find the bodies.

Camara, 40, pictured with his daughter Juliana, she was just 6-years-old

Camara police say killed his two children (pictured) and hung himself, often brought them to the park, according to his neighbors

'Our preliminary investigation shows they did have a volatile arrangement following their separation,' Cregan said, 'and there have been heated verbal exchanges that we're aware of.'

Still, there appeared to be no warning of the violence.

Camara's estranged wife lives outside city limits, so she reported that her kids were unaccounted for to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies Sunday night found Camara's place dark and quiet as well, and figured he was extending his Father's Day visit with them.

They left, and returned Monday morning, with worried relatives. Climbing through a bathroom window, they were able to find the bodies. 'They took off a screen on the window and were trying to go in there,' described a neighbor who gave her name as Tanya.

She lives above the Camara unit, and thought the commotion at his door was odd, because she is convinced she heard him and his daughter speaking earlier in the day.

'I heard them talking this morning, about 7:30 or 8:00, what were they saying, I don't know but I could hear their voices.'

A neighbor said police (pictured) climbed through the window of the apartment Camara had been living in, and found the three bodies just inside on Monday

Another neighbor said Camara had seemed nervous over the weekend.

'We've just noticed he was a little anxious the past couple of days,' shared Carrie Buchholz, 'and the police have been here off and on but he was always really good with the kids.'

The couple had been together about eight years, and filed for divorce only a few months ago.

Police say it's too earlier to know if a more aggressive search for the children might have made a difference.

'We're stilll going to be exploring the timeline to determine when the children were last seen and when the tragedy occurred,' Cregan said.
The police officer who shot Philando Castile during a routine traffic stop last year immediately tried to justify the killing in police interviews afterwards by suggesting that because the young black father had the 'guts' to smoke marijuana in front of his young daughter, he was no doubt violent and would have attacked him.

Jeronimo Yarez opened fire on Castile as he sat in the passenger seat of his car in St. Anthony, Minnesota, last July. Castile's fiancee's four-year-old daughter was in the backseat and his girlfriend was driving.

When Castile admitted calmly that he was carrying a gun, the cop immediately drew his open weapon and began firing while shouting: 'Don't reach for it!'

Yarez, who pulled them over for a broken tail light, claimed in police interviews afterwards that he could tell Castile had been smoking marijuana as soon as he approached the vehicle and used it as part of his justification for opening fire on him.

'I thought I was gonna die and I thought if he's, if he has the, the guts and the audacity to smoke marijuana in front of the five year old girl and risk her lungs and risk her life by giving her secondhand smoke and the front seat passenger doing the same thing then what, what care does he give about me,' Yarez told investigators afterwards.

Police officer Jeronimo Yarez (left) tried to justify shooting Philando Castile (right) by telling detectives afterwards that he was in fear of his life because the young black father had 'the guts' to smoke marijuana in front of his fiancee's daughter

A transcript of the police interview was released on Tuesday days after Yarez's acquittal in the killing. It also shows how he lied to police by saying that Castile said nothing after being shot when video clearly shows him wailing 'I wasn't reaching!'

The police officer was cleared of manslaughter last week despite global outrage over the shooting which grabbed headlines because of Castile's girlfriend who live-streamed the aftermath of it on Facebook.

On Tuesday, authorities released the dash-cam footage from Yarez's patrol car which shows the seconds which preceded it.

That footage shows how, after being shot, Castile wailed: 'I wasn't reaching!' - a detail Yarez left out of his police interview when asked if he'd the victim had anything after being shot.

'No he did not respond. Um he just kept his arms up and I don't remember hearing anything coming out of his mouth if he said anything,' he said.

The harrowing video also shows the young girl opening the door of the car and slowly crawling out, confused, as her father lay reeling in the front seat after being shot.

She was scooped up in confusion by Yarez's partner and taken away from the vehicle.

Yarez is seen above pointing his gun in the car after shooting Castile. The victim's fiancee's four-year-old daughter was in the backseat at the time and let herself out cautiously after the first shots were fired. She was scooped up by Yarez's partner

After the shooting, Castile's girlfriend live-streamed the bloody scene on Facebook in a video that went viral

It showed from start to finish how Yanez pulled the family over and told Castile and his girlfriend that their taillight was broken.

Castile was then heard telling him calmly: 'Sir, I have to tell you, I do have a firearm on me.'

Yanez was cleared of manslaughter last week

Castile, a 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker, had a permit to carry the weapon.

Before Castile could finish his sentence, Yanez drew his own gun.

'Don't reach for it then!' he shouted. He then screamed: 'Don't pull it out!' before firing seven shots in quick succession.

Castile's body was thrown to the right after the first shot. Yanez's backup, Officer Joseph Kauser, jumped back and retreated when the shots were fired.

Yanez was charged with manslaughter but was cleared last week by a jury.

Ten of the 12 jurors were white. They deliberated for five days before telling a judge that they could not break out of deadlock last Wednesday.

They were sent back to deliberate further then, on Friday, acquitted the 29-year-old police officer.

The police dash cam recorded Castile being brought out of the car and lying on the road

The 32-year-old was taken to hospital but died of his injuries later. His death sparked global outrage and protests in Minnesota




Fury has spread through a coastal town in Queensland after a dead chicken was found hanged in a drive through car wash.

A member of the Yeppoon Families group on Facebook posted a picture of the chicken and spoke about the alleged animal cruelty at Yeppoon Car Wash in the caption.

'A friend of mine pulled up at the car wash under the car park this morning to be faced with this!!!!!! JESUS!!!!!!' The user wrote.

Fury has spread through a coastal town in Queensland as a dead chicken is found hanged in a drive-thru car wash

'What type of scumbag loser did this. Wake up to yourself you f@kwit.'

The chicken appears to be held in place by a buckle that is used to hold car mats in place while the vehicle is being cleaned.

The grim discovery was made early on Wednesday morning.

This isn't the first time the community has been forced to face horrific scenes of animal cruelty

This isn't the first time the community has been forced to face horrific scenes of animal cruelty.

Police discovered two dead cows on a property at Lake Mary that were wounded first by an arrow and then shot and killed by a firearm.

Authorities are still investigating both matters.

Anyone with information about either incident is urged to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.
An indigenous woman who was walking along a road near Uluru on Tuesday morning has been fatally run down by a bus operated by a renowned guided tour company.

The woman who was believed to have been from the local community in the area was walking in the direction of the Mutitjulu community, 24 km south of Yulara when she was struck down by a bus operated by ATT Kings tours, reports NT News.

The Northern Territory police said the 32-year-old woman's death had occurred along the Lasseter Highway stretch.

This is the stretch of road where the 32-year-old aboriginal woman had been struck down

The unidentified pedestrian was run down at about 6.30 am as the bus load of tourist were making a trip to Uluru to enjoy the sunrise.

Although the driver and passengers of the bus escaped without a scratch, a ATT Kings company spokeswoman said many were being treated for shock and had been offered counselling.

'Senior company representatives have traveled to the NT and are providing guests and the driver with support and counselling during this difficult time.

'A doctor is also available to assist with shock,' she said.

'We are in constant dialogue with our colleagues on the ground and we will provide further information as soon as it becomes available.

ATT Kings spokeswoman said her company would work closely with the police in regards to the accident.

The woman was killed not too far away from one of Australia's most treasured and iconic spots

Folliowing the crash, traffic restrictions had been put in place with roads leading to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park being cordoned off from the public for a number of hours.

A post on the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Facebook page on Tuesday confirmed this.

'Access in and out of Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park is closed this morning due to a fatal crash on the Lasseter Highway near Yulara Drive.

'Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services are at the scene.

'We''ll provide more information when we can.'

The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park FB page warns tourist of delays following the fatal crash




Pauline Hanson has slammed Derryn Hinch for promising a bombshell about her chief-of-staff James Ashby only to chicken out.

The One Nation leader is upset at the fellow senator for telling Melbourne radio on Tuesday there would be a big announcement about her prominent staffer.

'I'm angry about it. He's put out the perception there  a lot of people will think there's something to it,' she told conservative radio presenters Steve Price and Andrew Bolt on 2GB.

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Pauline Hanson (pictured) has hit out at Derryn Hinch for promising a 'bombshell' about her chief-of-staff James Ashby

Victorian senator Derryn Hinch hinted new information will be revealed about James Ashby

'There is absolutely nothing to it. It's disgusting, a man in his position as a senator to actually do that, it's so wrong.'

Senator Hanson said her office was also told rumours that police would be raiding their office computers.

However, Senator Hinch issued a statement on Tuesday night quashing rumours he was going to use parliamentary privilege to make an accusation about Mr Ashby.

'On 3AW this morning, I predicted a One Nation bombshell would drop today,' he said.

'A news tip from a usually reliable source.

'There were erroneous reports that I was going to raise an issue in the Senate. Not true.'

Pauline Hanson's chief-of-staff James Ashby is the subject of a 'bombshell' speculation

Derryn Hinch issued a statement on Tuesday night denying he was going to make an accusation about James Ashby under parliamentary privilege

James Ashby on Tuesday joked about getting sacked after Senator Hinch hinted at a bombshell announcement about the One Nation staffer.

Senator Hinch had told Melbourne radio morning broadcaster Neil Mitchell there would be big news about the political operator.

However, Mr Ashby was coy when asked what the Victorian senator, a former radio and television journalist, possibly meant.

'I've heard I'm getting sacked today,' Mr Ashby told reporters jokingly, after having lunch at Parliament House.

Melbourne radio 3AW broadcaster Neil Mitchell asked Derryn Hinch if he was making hints about One Nation chief-of-staff James Ashby

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.

'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 had 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.
With the end of the financial year just around the corner, an accounting expert has compiled a list of secret ways you can save money on your tax return.

James Solomons, head of accounting at Xero, said small business owners in Australia could potentially claim dogs, sunscreen and handbags as tax-deductible expenses.

'If you have a dog that safeguards your small-business site, you can claim food, vet bills and the cost of buying the animal,' Mr Solomons told news.com.au.

An accounting expert has compiled a list of secret ways you can save money on your tax return (stock image)

Tax payers who use their own dogs for work, such as guard or cattle dogs, can claim veterinarian and food bills (German shepherd stock image pictured)

Small business owners who use their own dogs for work, such as guard or cattle dogs, can claim veterinarian and food bills, along with the price of buying the pet.

Mr Solomons said taxpayers could claim a handbag in their expenses, as long as its primary use was for work and its price tag reflected the owner's business revenue.

'Claiming a $3000 Prada on yearly turnover of $100,000 might look unreasonable. But a $200 handbag should be fine,' he said.

'On the other hand, if your revenue is $2 million a year, that Prada may well be justifiable.'

In order to be eligible to claim a handbag as a work expense, taxpayers need to prove the bag was used for carrying more than just personal items, possibly by keeping a logbook.

Financial expert James Solomons said taxpayers could claim on designer handbags - provided the price tag reflected the owner's business revenue

Mr Solomons said taxpayers who were required to work outside as part of their job were entitled to claim expenses for sunscreen and makeup with an SPF factor.

The Tax Office also allows Australians to claim for sunglasses deductions when a worker is exposed to the sun.

But he warned about the dangers of claiming exorbitant amounts of money on a pair of sunglasses for working purposes.

'If you go and try to claim a $400 pair of Prada sunglasses, but youre a plumber, youre going to get a few questions asked,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Solomons said education and training were both tax deductible, as were portions of your electricity, gas and water bills if you run your business from your home.

'If you travel to remote locations to work for extended periods, you may be able to claim the costs of a caravan or Winnebago,' he added.

Sunscreen: If your job means you work outside for a lot of the day, you are entitled to claim on sunscreen and makeup that has an SPF factor

Mr Solomons (pictured), head of accounting at Xero, said Australians could legitimately claim dogs, sunscreen, handbags and electricity bills as tax deductible expenses

ATO tax return tips The Australian Taxation Office has compiled a list of tax deductions you can claim for work-related expenses. They include: Vehicle and travel (including travel between work and home) Clothing, laundry and dry-cleaning Gifts and donations Home office expenses Interest, dividend and other investment income deductions Self-education expenses Tools and equipment Advertisement

Small business owners who perform any part of their work duties from home can claim a number of items, including computers, printers, printer ink, desks, chairs and stationery.

If you use part of your home as an office space, you may be entitled to a deduction for the costs of running it.

'If you are an employee and required to use your computer, phone or other electronic device for work purposes, you may be able to claim a deduction for your costs,' according to the ATO.

While there are some bizarre deductions that can be claimed, the ATO urges tax payers to remember three golden rules when lodging their returns.

'One, make sure you spent the money yourself and were not reimbursed,' ATO Assistant Commissioner Graham Whyte said.

'Two, make sure it's related to your job and three, you need a record to prove it.'

Finance expert's DOs and DON'Ts DO: Speak to an accountant before filing your tax return. DO: Keep receipts for everything you buy that has a direct connection to your employment. Without receipts you are not entitled to claim any deductions. DO: Use an online service to auto-scan your receipts and keep digital copies. DO: Check online to see what work-related expenses your specific industry is entitled to. DON'T: Think you can claim something because your colleague claimed it. DON'T: Think you can get away with not including all aspects of your income, including making money on investments. The ATO has sophisticated data capable of detecting dodgy tax returns. Advertisement
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The final photographs of Otto Warmbier in North Korea show him happily mingling with locals, drinking beer and laughing with his tour group of new friends before he was jailed for stealing a propaganda poster, imprisoned for 17 months and 'brutalised' into a coma from which he died this week.

The images were obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com on Tuesday, a day after the 22-year-old died at a hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, after being suddenly returned to his family on 'humanitarian release' by the North Korean regime on June 13.

They show him gleefully throwing snowballs with portraits of dictator Kim Jong Un in the background and posing with local women and members of the tour group he was a part of.

In others, he is seen sampling local delicacies in restaurants, posing for a selfies and giggling on their bus on New Year's Eve.

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In the final photographs of Otto Warmbier before he was imprisoned by North Korean officials and brutalized into a coma, the 22-year-old is seen laughing with his new friends during their tour and enjoying the culture which would later cost him his life

Clearly comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings, Otto was a popular member of his tour group. He is seen enjoying a meal of local food washed down with Heineken and water

In another image, the University of Virginia student smiles to have his photo taken in front of bronze statues of Kim Jong Un and Kim Jong II. Jong Un has been blamed for his death by politicians including the president and by Otto's grieving family

He is joyful in all of them and oblivious to the shocking fate which awaited him at Pyongyang Airport where he was arrested as he tried to make his way home on January 2, 2016 for stealing a poster at a hotel.

Grainy surveillance footage appeared to show him ripping it down. North Korean authorities say he stole it and likened it to a hostile act on the country and jailed Otto mercilessly for it.

His friends on the trip say he never removed the poster from the hotel and say he was in bed on the night of the alleged theft with an early flight to catch the next day and no reason to risk his freedom.

'He was in bed the night in question, and the next morning we had an early departure from the airport. He was in a good mood that morning.

'The poster story didn't arise until a few weeks later. The footage North Korea released was grainy, and only showed someone taking it down, and not even leaving with it,' said one member of the group who wished to remain anonymous.

'Irregardless the punishment never fit the crime, and now it is even more so. The cruel, harsh and barbaric North Korean regime murdered an innocent 22-year old American student, and more importantly our dear friend,' they added.

They remembered Otto by his 'laugh, his infectious smile, and his ability to love everyone.'

Towering over local women, Otto smiles again for another photograph on a snowy day during the trip in 2016

Gleefully, he tosses snowballs and poses for a selfie with one of his new friends at the restaurant while enjoying their meal

On New Year's Eve, Otto laughs and grimaces with his friends as they make their way to their next destination on their bus

Another snowball fight, this time with local children who joined Otto and his friends to pose for the camera

Danny Gratton, Otto's roommate in the hotel, was with him when he was unceremoniously arrested at Pyongyang Airport.

He told The Washington Post on Monday that two guards tapped him on the shoulder and marched him away without explanation.

'No words were spoken. Two guards just come over and simply tapped Otto on the shoulder and led him away. I just said kind of quite nervously, "Well, thats the last well see of you." Theres a great irony in those words,' he said.

Otto's death has sent shockwaves through Washington D.C. and has added a sobering, human dimension to the US's bubbling tension with North Korea.

President Trump, Vice President Pence, John McCain and others at all levels of government have admonished Kim Jong Un - and the Obama administration - for the student's disturbing fate.

As his family announced his death on Monday, they didn't reserve any diplomacy either.

'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,' Cindy and Fred Warmbier said in a statement.

'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.

Curious about the local culture, he is seen watching as others dig into their food on another day of the trip

In the pale blue jacket and boots he wore throughout the trip, Otto poses with another of his new friends and laughs long during a group joke on the bus

Selfie squad: Otto, wearing some plaid earmuffs and his blue jacket, leads the snap-happy pack as they take in the sights

Shocked doctors from the Cincinnati Medical Center, where Otto was rushed immediately after he returned to the US last week, say he suffered extensive brain loss.

He was almost vegetative when he returned to Ohio. They say he was unable to speak, showed no signs he could understand what others were saying to him and gave a bleak prognosis.

None offered speculation on what may have caused his condition but they undermined North Korea's dubious story that it was the result of botulism, a form of severe food poisoning. They claim he contracted it while in their custody and that a sleeping pill they gave him sent him into a coma.

North Korean doctors claimed the student had been this way since the day after he was sentenced to 15 years hard labour in 2016.

The American doctors who reviewed MRI scans that were sent back on a private medical plane with him say they saw no evidence of botulism.

They suggested that his condition was more likely the result of a heart attack but would not speculate on what may have caused such a trauma in a young, otherwise healthy man.

Otto returned to Cincinnati last week on a private medical plane. He was almost vegetative, unable to speak or communicate with family and was taken straight to the hospital where he died on Tuesday

In March 2016, he wept as he was led away by North Korean police after being sentenced to 15 years hard labour. North Korean officials say the following day, he contracted botulism - a form of food poisoning - and that this is what caused his medical decline

On Tuesday, a coroner in Cincinnati granted the Warmbier family's request not to have an autopsy performed on Otto's body. The family has not offered any explanation for the decision.

They have however planned a public funeral for their son which will take place on Thursday at his old high school in the town of Wyoming, Ohio.

President Trump has been disturbed by the youngster's death and spoke numerous times on Monday and Tuesday to mourn him.

In a statement, he 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 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.

Fred Warmbier (pictured) and his wife Cindy have requested that a coroner does not perform an autopsy on their son's body and have organized a public funeral for him at his old high school

'The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.'

Vice President Pence said his death served as a 'tragic example' of the country's 'disregard for human life.'

John McCain went even further, saying dictator Kim Jong Un 'murdered' the student.

On Tuesday, still haunted by his death and its impact with the country's relations with North Korea, President Trump said China had been unhelpful in resolving the situation before it was too late but gave President Xi Jinping credit for trying.

'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 tweeted.

He later blamed President Obama for not rescuing Otto from the regime's grip sooner.

'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, adding: 'He should have been brought home that same day. The results would have been a lot different.'

Otto's release last week coincided with a bizarre visit to North Korea by actor Dennis Rodman.

There were loose suggestions the trip was an attempt by North Korean officials to distract from Warmbier's condition.

Rodman, who wore a t-shirt emblazoned with a caricature of himself and the words 'Ambassador Rodman' on the front, has not commented on Warmbier's death.

Young Pioneer Tours, the tour group which organized Otto's trip, has also faced a barrage of criticism. It suddenly announced it would stop taking Americans to the country after Otto's death on Monday.

Otto's father said it had 'lured' him there with a fantasy description of a boozy but safe holiday.

'He was trying to leave the country and he was taken hostage. They advertise it as the safest tour ever. But they provide fodder for the North Koreans. They took him hostage. And the outcome is self-evident,' Fred Warmbier said.

A British lawyer, who visited North Korea with the same company in 2011, said she was taken to an 'off-limits' floor of a hotel in Pyongyang by her guide.

She told DailyMail.com how she feared the tour company, which is based in China, underestimated the risks involved and was taking young, naive tourists into potentially dangerous situations.
Bauer Media boss Nick Chan (pictured) has left his role as CEO after Hollywood star Rebel Wilson successfully sued the publisher

Bauer Media boss Nick Chan has left his role as CEO a week after Hollywood star Rebel Wilson successfully sued the magazine publisher for defamation.

Mr Chan's resignation was revealed on Wednesday - just over a year after he took over the position for David Goodchild.

Paul Dykzeul, the publisher's New Zealand head, will replace Mr Chan and relocate to Sydney in due coarse, according to a Bauer press release.

'I want to thank Nick for the work he has done in helping to position the business for future growth and wish him the best in his future endeavours,' Executive board member Andreas Schoo said.

Mr Chan was with Seven West Media before being hired at Bauer.

A Hollywood agent is expected to give evidence about how Australian actor Rebel Wilson lost millions in earnings because of a series of defamatory articles in Bauer's Woman's Day.

Wilson (pictured) is applying for special damages in a bid to reap millions in lost earnings after winning her case

The star is applying for special damages in a bid to reap millions in lost earnings after winning her defamation case against gossip magazine publisher Bauer Media last week.

Lawyers for the 37-year-old maintain she's owed millions because she lost roles in Kung Fu Panda 3 and Trolls after the series of defamatory articles were published.

Agent and producer Peter Principato is expected to give evidence via video link when a hearing resumes on Wednesday.

Principato believes Wilson would have received $5 million to $6 million a film, following on from the success of her movie Pitch Perfect 2, if not for the articles.

Lawyers for the 37-year-old (pictured) maintain she's owed millions because she lost roles in Kung Fu Panda 3 and Trolls after the series of defamatory articles were published

On Monday counsel for Bauer tried to have Principato's evidence about Wilson's claimed losses excluded.

Barrister Georgina Schoff QC said Principato's evidence was mere speculation and should be deemed inadmissible.

But Justice John Dixon refused Bauer's application to exclude Principato's evidence after Wilson's lawyers said his evidence was relevant given he could not identify any other factor, apart from the published articles, to explain her loss of career trajectory.
County Auditor Jenneth Randall on Wednesday morning went before the County Commission defending her audit of the Chattanooga Visitors Bureau.

Commissioner Tim Boyd earlier said a critical audit by a staff member of the auditor's office was never released, but a milder version was issued.

Ms. Randall said audits "must be independent, unbiased and objective."

She said the staff member who made the report is not a certified public accountant as she is.

His work, she said, "went beyond the scope of the requested information."

She said it did not have responses from CVB officials. She said she met with the CVB before submitting the official audit.

Ms. Randall said the staffer's report, including items about CVB travel that she said were not fully examined to find out reasons for the travel, "should never have been disclosed."

She said it stated that no financial reports had been filed by the agency, but she said it had.

Saying she has no ties to the CVB, she said, "I definitely don't have an agenda.

"I will not sign an audit report that is not complete or doesn't meet professional standards."

Here is the full statement of Ms. Randall:

Im Jenneth Randall, and I have been the County Auditor for Hamilton County Government since November 17, 2016. My office is located at 117 E. 7th Street.

Thank you Mayor and Commissioners for allowing me time to discuss the official audit report of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau (dated February 22, 2017), and the related news accounts dealing with that audit. Funding to the CVB and its reporting was mandated by Hamilton County Resolution No. 207-27.

I hope to address the various questions that have surfaced since the public release of this official audit report.

Please keep in mind that the County Auditors Office must be independent and unbiased in its reporting.

The official audit report that was issued had been reviewed by two (2) internal certified public accountants. The employee who was assigned to work on this audit, and who subsequently distributed the internal notes ---- is not a certified public accountant.

In May of 2016, this same employee advised me (as his supervisor) that written CVB reports had not been filed with Hamilton County Government (as required by Resolution No. 207-27). That statement was included in the official audit report.

I recently contacted the County Clerks Office and they confirmed that they do, in fact, have audited financial statements from the CVB for all eight (8) years. I also spoke with the Mayors Office who confirmed that they also have these same financial statements. It was incorrect for the employee and for me to state that no reports were filed with Hamilton County Government.

Additionally, the CVB has given updates on tourism at public meetings, on their website, in newspapers, in electronic media, and through other resources.

Id like to explain to you something about audits



-an audit is limited by the scope of the requested work

-the internal notes that have been made public went beyond the scope of the requested work

We are required to follow Audit Standards prior to issuing a report those standards have to be independent, unbiased, and objective. I assure you that the official audit complies with these standards.



According to audit standards, before any kind of official audit report is released, the audited entity (CVB) should be provided a draft report for discussion to help develop a report that is fair, complete, and objective. Its kind of like an exit interview.

The employees internal document that was distributed was not discussed with the CVB nor was the CVB allowed to provide any feedback. Please note that in February, 2017, I met with the CVB as required by Standards before the Auditors Office issued the official report that was ultimately signed by me.

In the released notes there is no evidence of audit work having been done to explain the questioned travel expenses, such as, Who traveled and the purpose of the travel?, or Was a conference room rented for a meeting?, or How many potential customers were present?

These are some of the reasons why the released NOTES are incomplete and should never have been released.

I did not go to college two years and night school for eight years, then study another 2-1/2 years to be a Certified Public Accountant in order to risk my career and reputation for any entity.

I have no personal ties with the CVB; I know no one who works there; and I have no political agenda. I have worked in the accounting field for over 40 years, the last 26 years being with Hamilton County Government, specifically 25 years in the County Auditors Office.

I can assure you that I will not sign an official audit that is incomplete or does not meet professional Audit Standards.
The name of a soldier found dead near the Fort Hood base in Texas last week has been released.

Private First Class Devon James Tucker was discovered 'unresponsive' in his off-base home on June 15, an army statement released on Tuesday read. He is the 13th person assigned to the base to die since November last year.

The 21-year-old was living in a home in Copperas Cove - about 10 miles southwest of the base.

An army statement detailed Tucker's service history since he entered active duty in January 2016.

Private First Class Devon James Tucker (pictured) was found 'unresponsive' in his off-base home on June 15, the army said on Tuesday

'He was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas, since May 2016,' it read.

'Tucker deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from August 2016 to February 2017.

'Tucker's awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medals with campaign star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and NATO Medal.'

The statement closed by saying an investigation by local police into the death is ongoing.

Tucker was living in a home in Copperas Cove - about 10 miles southwest of the base. Fort Hood base is pictured on June 3, 2016

Tucker's death makes him the thirteenth soldier assigned to the base to have died since November 2016.

Alex Mathew Dean Taylor, 23, a soldier assigned to the 15th Military Intelligence Battalion, was found dead while on duty at the base on January 11 this year.

Before Taylor, Private First Class Randal K Anderson, 22, died from what Army officials said was 'an apparent gunshot wound' in the nearby town of Killeen on January 2.

On November 26, Private Wanya Bruns, 20, also died from a gunshot in Killeen.

On January 2, Randal K. Anderson (left), 22, died from 'an apparent gunshot wound' in Killeen, Texas; On November 26, Wanya Bruns (center), 20, also died from a gunshot in Killeen; and Kevin Paulino (right) died from a gunshot wound in Peru, Indiana

Three soldiers based at Fort Hood died on November 12 while serving in Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. John Perry (left), 30; Private First Class Tyler Iubelt (center), 20; and Sgt. First Class Allan Brown (right), 46, were killed as a result of a suicide bomb attack at Bagram air base

Alex Mathew Dean Taylor (left), 23, a soldier assigned to the 15th Military Intelligence Battalion, was found dead while on duty at the base on January 11 this year. Private Dakota Lee Stump (right), 19, was found dead on the Fort Hood base on November 3 in an apparent car accident

Ten days prior to Bruns' death, Private Kevin Paulino, a 24-year-old soldier originally from the Bronx, died from a gunshot wound in Peru, Indiana.

Paulino had enlisted in the military as an infantryman in May, and was stationed at Fort Hood.

Three more soldiers who were based at Fort Hood died on November 12 while serving in Afghanistan.

Staff Sergeant John Perry, 30; Private First Class Tyler Iubelt, 20; and Sergeant First Class Allan Brown, 46, were killed as a result of a suicide bomb attack at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.

Further, Private Dakota Lee Stump, 19, was found dead on the Fort Hood base on November 3 in an apparent car accident.

He had been missing since October 10.

Two other unnamed soldiers stationed at Fort Hood died from unspecified illness, while another died in a car accident on January 9.
Now mom could join son behind bars as she awaits trial for aiding his flight

10 years probation but is currently jailed for violating terms of release

The mother of 'affluenza' teen Ethan Couch could be joining him behind bars, after prosecutors claimed she has violated the terms of her bond by drinking alcohol.

Prosecutors filed a motion on Tuesday in Fort Worth, Texas, seeking to revoke Tonya Couch's bond on charges of money laundering and hindering the apprehension of a felon.

Those charges stem from her 2015 flight to Mexico with son Ethan Couch, 20, who killed four in a 2013 drunk driving crash that his lawyers blamed on 'affluenza', meaning he couldn't tell right from wrong because of his affluent upbringing.

Ethan Couch was sentenced to 10 years probation in that case but is currently behind bars after skipping a probation meeting and fleeing with his mother to Mexico in 2015.

With a cigarette in her hand, Tonya Couch is seen serving drinks last year at the Honky Tonk Woman Saloon in Azle, Texas, the same day she was released from home confinement

Tonya Couch, left, is seen leaving court with her attorney after making a brief appearance in September. She could now be jailed after allegedly violating her parole by drinking

The 49-year-old (musghot left) could now join her son Ethan (right) in Tarrant County Jail, where he is serving out a two-year prison sentence for violating his probation

Now Tonya Couch could join her son behind bars as she awaits trial, after prosecutors said she 'failed to abstain from the possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages' in a motion reported by the Star-Telegram.

Couch, 49, had been free on bond since January 2016, and last year it was reported that she was working as a bartender at the Honky Tonk Woman Saloon in Azle, Texas.

That job was approved by the county probation office, but the conditions of her bond prohibited her from consuming or possessing alcohol.

Couch was spotted at the bar on the day she was released from her home confinement.

Couch is seen being taken into custody after she was captured while on the run her son in Mexico. She was charged money laundering and hindering the apprehension of a felon

The county probation office approved Tonya Couch's bartending job at The Honky Tonk Woman biker bar, but she was prohibited from drinking or possessing alcohol

A picture shows patrons enjoying a drink in the packed Honky Tonk Woman

In April, t he Texas Supreme Court denied an early release request for Couch, who was 16 when he got behind the wheel of his father's F-150 truck with three times the legal limit for alcohol in his blood.

He smashed into a stationary white Mercedes SUV at 70mph, killing the driver, Breanna Mitchell, along with mother and daughter Holly and Shelby Boyles and pastor Brian Jennings, who were all trying to help Mitchell get her car going.

Ethan Couch's father is also currently on probation, after he was found guilty of falsely impersonating a police officer last year.

Fred Couch, 51, was charged in September 2014 with impersonating a police officer, which is a Class B misdemeanor.

The charge stems from an August 2014 incident in which he was armed with a gun when he went to Keith Capo's doorstep along with a neighbor to talk about a disagreement that took place days earlier.

Four people died in 2013 when Ethan Couch, then 16, ran over them while driving with a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit. He is pictured at a court hearing in April

Tonya Couch was initially charged with aiding her son's flight, a felony that is punishable by up to 10 years in prison

Tonya Couch and her son left Texas and headed to Mexico after a video surfaced on social media in early December 2015 showing Ethan at an alcohol-fueled party, in likely violation of his probation deal.

The mother and son then drove 1,200 miles to the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta where they stayed at the glamorous Los Tules resort.

While there, Ethan Couch was said to have made repeat visits to a 'sex club' called Harem where he was allegedly spotted snorting cocaine and guzzling Pacifico beers - running up a $2,000 tab, which he was forced to ask his mother to settle.

The two later moved to a run-down apartment four blocks from the beach but were discovered after a signal from one of their cellphones alerted authorities as they dialed out for Domino's pizza.

Both initially contested their extradition from Mexico but Tonya was returned to the US in early January 2016 and was released from jail after posting a $75,000 bond.

She was deported to Texas in January 2016 and posted bond after being remanded to Texas authorities.
A regional rugby league club in New South Wales will take disciplinary action against a fan after he was accused of yelling a racial slur towards its indigenous players on Tuesday night.

The Coffs Harbour Comets president said they will not tolerate racism after a racial slur was directed towards the players witnessed by trainer Dion Dawes and indigenous star forward Liam Kelly-Wynn.

Kelly-Wynn was standing next to Don Dawes about to come back on the field after being sin-binned earlier in the Group 2 First Grade game when a spectator yelled out to his trainer, 'Dion, control your monkeys', according to The Coffs Coast Advocate.

Liam Kelly-Wynn (pictured) was playing for the Comets when a spectator is accused of yelling out a racial slur heard by the forward, trainer and other fans

The club have rallied behind Liam Kelly-Wynne (pictured) and claimed they will not tolerate racism in rugby league

Forward Kelly-Wynn said he was rattled after the unexpected racial slur.

'There's no room for racism,' the indigenous forward told the publication.

'My Nan raised us boys to treat people the way you want to be treated and to be treated like that, it belittled me straight away.'

Trainer Dawes said he was proud of how his player shrugged off the demeaning comment from the spectator.

Club president Steve Gooley posted on Facebook claiming the club were completely behind young gun Kelly-Wynn and will take action.

'We do not tolerate racism at our club. We also will be 100% supporting our young player Liam Kelly-Wynne who under no circumstances deserved this treatment,' the club president posted.

The club have claimed they can identify the fan who is accused of yelling the obscene comment and supporters have taken to the clubs Facebook page to also offer support to identify the man if needed.
A Brooklyn man who allegedly punched his 16-month-old daughter into a coma said he told the baby's mother to get an abortion when she was pregnant.

'Feel mad disrespected,' Shaquan Taylor, 19, wrote in a Facebook post in February 2016 around the time his daughter Nylah Lewis was born. 'Told that lil b***h to get abortion (and) she tells me she is but still keep it. Exactly why I hate that lil b***h.'

The child's injuries are so extreme that prosecutors said in court early Tuesday they don't expect her to live another 24 hours according to the New York Daily News.

Little Nylah was rushed to Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn on Sunday.

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Prosecutors said Tuesday they don't expect Nylah Lewis (pictured) to live another 24-hours

Her mother, Tammy Lewis had left little Nylaha (both left) with her father, Shaquan Taylor (right) during Father's Day but returned to see her daughter covered in bruises, gasping for air

Police arrested Taylor for allegedly cracking Nylah's skull and blackening her eye during a horrific attack on the baby.

Little Nylaha suffered a bleeding in the brain and two skull fractures and bruising on her legs face and other parts of her body at the hands of her father, police say.

Taylor often ranted about the girl's mother, Tammy Lewis, 17, on Facebook. 'I didn't even want to have a baby by her (and) it's sad to say, but f*** it, s*** happens,' he wrote in February 2016. 'Please don't ask who Nylah's moms is nor do I still f*** with her cause NO,' he wrote. 'Just f***ed (that) hotty a**, that's it.'

Sometime Sunday afternoon, Taylor sent a Facebook message to Lewis telling her there was a problem and that she needed to pick up Nylah, police sources said.

Taylor took to Facebook saying he told the baby's mother he wanted her to get an abortion

Taylor often took to Facebook to air his frustrations over the mother of his baby, Tammy Lewis

Taylor shared this disturbing message on the day of his baby daughter's vicious beat-down

Sixteen month old Nylaha Lewis - pictured - is in a coma, after she was, allegedly, nearly beaten to death by her father

When Lewis arrived, her daughter was face up on the couch and struggling to breathe.

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.'

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.

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.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd (pictured) is under pressure to boost cash for the Metropolitan Police

Ministers were last night said to be considering a U-turn on police funding after the head of Scotland Yard warned the force was stretched by terror attacks and a rise in violent crime.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd was under pressure to boost cash for the Metropolitan Police after Commissioner Cressida Dick said she was facing a shortfall of 400million over the next few years.

She is also being pressed to scrap a controversial shake-up of the police funding formula following stark warnings that budget cuts in Britains biggest force would put Londons security at risk of a terror atrocity.

Met chiefs were braced to lose millions from their annual budget when the Home Office changes the method by which resources are allocated to forces across the country later this year. Before a previous shake-up was axed in 2015, Scotland Yard said it stood to lose 184million.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned the city has lost thousands of police staff since 2010, while Miss Dick has said she would obviously be seeking extra resources.

Miss Dick told BBC London: Were not having any fewer calls from the public, so were stretched. We do undoubtedly need a very capable police service in the future for all the reasons people can see.

'Im sure we can become more efficient, however, we need the resources to do the job and I am talking to the Government and to the mayor about that.

Mr Khan said: Im pleased that the Government look likely to drop their plans to change the police funding formula. However, this alone is not enough to protect police numbers in London or to ensure we are able to deal with major counter-terrorism incidents and the rise in violent crime.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said she was facing a shortfall of 400million over the next few years

The Home Office has already made the Met find 600million of savings following cuts since 2010. Their plans to make the Met find a further 400million of savings on top of this over the next few years will have a big impact on policing in London.

The Government faced criticism during the general election over the scale of police cuts since 2010, which led to 20,000 fewer bobbies on the streets, following the terror attacks in Manchester and London Bridge.

A Home Office spokesman said: The Government is undertaking a period of engagement with policing partners and independent experts on the police funding formula. The arrangements are outdated and do not reflect the demands of modern policing.
The spate of recent terror attacks in the United Kingdom has led Australians to avoid making overseas stopovers in potential terror hotspots.

In the past month the world has been rocked by bombings in Manchester, an attack on the London Bridge and most recently, Monday's van incident outside a mosque.

Closer to home, a man threatened to blow up a plane and an ISIS-inspired gunman was involved in a long-running siege, during two horrifying attacks in Melbourne.

And now travel agents are reporting a drop off in international bookings, particularly to the United States and Middle East - while passengers are ditching Qatar Airways after a blockade by neighbouring gulf nations, The Australian reports.

The spate of recent terror attacks in the United Kingdom has seen Australians avoid overseas stopovers in potential terror hotspots in their droves (pictured is the Manchester attack)

In the past month the world has been rocked by bombings in Manchester, an attack on London Bridge and most recently, Monday's van incident outside a mosque (pictured). Melbourne has also had two attacks, including an armed siege for which ISIS claimed responsibility

In early June, nations throughout the Gulf including Saudi Arabia and the UAE put a blockade on air and sea travel to Qatar because of its alleged support for terrorists.

As a result, passengers choosing to fly with the international airline have reportedly dropped off dramatically.

Of those still flying with Qatar, bookings to the US and stopovers in London for those enjoying a European summer are also down - all following the wave of terror attacks.

However according to Graham Turner, managing director of travel site Flight Centre, despite the attacks in London, most people who had pre-booked trips are still keen to go.

'Most people go to London for the summer and have already booked,' Mr Turner said.

'We are not seeing any abnormal cancellations. It's surprising but the one drop-off we have seen in bookings is to the US at the moment.'

Passengers are ditching Qatar Airways after a blockade by neighbouring gulf nations stopped its planes from stopping there, because of Qatar's alleged support for terrorist organisations

A man onboard a Malaysia Airlines flight reportedly threatened to blow it up just moments after take-off from Melbourne airport. As a result of the increased spate of terror attacks, tourists are ditching stopovers in London during their European summer vacations

Belgium saw a dramatic drop off in tourists last year because of terror, with visitors dropping off by as much as 46 per cent after bombings killed 35 people in March.

However travel numbers to the country had recovered, until its capital Brussels again came under attack from a suspected suicide bomber on Wednesday.

'That had a really big impact and since then it has fully recovered and traffic has been growing strongly,' Peter Harbison, from the Centre for Aviation, said of the 2016 bombings.

While Flight Centre saw a drop off in travel to the US and stopovers in London, fellow booking agent Webjet claimed it had not seen a downturn in travel to either nation.
Alexander Monson was the son of British peer Lord Nicholas Monson

A young British aristocrat who died in police custody in Kenya was unlawfully killed, his family claimed at the re-opening of a inquest into his death.

Alexander Monson, the 28-year-old son of British peer Lord Nicholas Monson, died from blunt force trauma to the head after he was stopped in a car outside a nightclub in the Kenyan beach resort of Diani in May 2012.

The inquest, which resumed in Mombasa yesterday after a 13-month delay, heard that police made no effort to establish whether Mr Monson was responsible for cannabis found in the car.

There were three other passengers in the vehicle at the time, and he was not seen smoking marijuana by officers involved in the case.

Arresting officer PC William Serem told the hearing he only saw his commanding officer Corporal Naftali Chege brandishing a half-lit joint and claiming he had snatched it from Mr Monson.

There were four occupants in the car, one asleep in the co-drivers seat, he said.

Two passengers alighted while Corporal Chege was talking to Alexander.

After his arrest Mr Monson was found unconscious in the local police station, and died later in hospital.

The Monson family's lawyer said there was clear evidence of unlawful killing

Police initially claimed he died from a drugs overdose.

But two pathology reports suggested he had suffered internal bleeding on his brain and severe bruising suggested he had been kicked in the groin.

PC Serem described how Mr Monson was left alone in the office with Corporal Chege, who was responsible for processing his arrest.

What you are saying is the fate of Alexander is clearly in the hands of Chege, Alfred Olaba, a lawyer for the Monson family, told the hearing.

Mr Monson was arrested for allegedly smoking marijuana and transferred to a police station where he died

Mr Monsons mother, Hilary, watched PC Serem give testimony on the details of her sons final hours from a back bench at Mombasa High Court, in the resumption of a drawn-out inquest that has lasted more than five years.

This is the first time I have actually been able to hear this. The police need to know that they destroy lives, she said outside court.

Iain Daniels, a British lawyer advising the Monson family, said: The evidence of unlawful killing is indisputable.

We have come some way today to establish who had access to Alexander and when.

The inquest continues.
The young mother of a four-month-old baby girl who died suddenly last month has been charged with aggravated grievous bodily harm.

Cassie Doohan, 18, was charged overnight after officers received the summary of a post mortem examination of her infant daughter, Anastasia Rose Hand, according to ABC.

Ms Doohan is expected to appear in Perth Magistrates Court today.

Anastasia's life support machine was turned off on May 28, two days after her father David Hand, 21, found her unresponsive at home in Capel, Western Australia.

Mr Hand said he fed Anastasia a bottle at around 9am on May 26, then placed her in her crib when she fell asleep.

Cassie Doohan, 18, the mother of a four-month-old baby girl (pictured) who died suddenly last month in Perth, has been charged with aggravated grievous bodily harm

Ms Doohan was charged overnight after officers received the summary of a post mortem examination of her infant daughter, Anastasia Rose Hand (pictured)

He returned after a shower to pick her up and pass her over to Ms Doohan, but the infant was unresponsive.

Anastasia was taken to Bunbury Hospital but then flown to Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth.

Her parents were questioned by police in Bunbury, but were later released.

Ms Doohan was so distressed that she was taken to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and sedated, the West Australian reports.

She was released the following day to visit her daughter.

Anastasia's family requested that the child be blessed in hospital, because she had not yet been christened, before the life support was turned off.

Anastasia's life support machine was turned off on May 28, two days after her father David Hand, 21, found her unresponsive at home in Capel, Western Australia

Anastasia was found unresponsive at her home (pictured)

Despite their age, Mr Hand and Ms Doohan had embraced parenthood and their little girl 'meant the world to them,' the family told the West Australian.

The couple had recently moved to Capel Mr Hand had been offered, but it later fell through.

The baby's grandfather Brian Hand set up a GoFundMe page to help the unemployed parents pay for their child's funeral.

'David and Cassie tragically lost their beloved baby girl,' he wrote on the page.

'David is unemployed and has no way to pay for his precious child's funeral.

'I am sending out this appeal to help them, so that they can grieve for their loss without the added stress of this financial burden.'
A British-run tour company has been accused of running dangerously boorish, booze-filled trips to North Korea following the death of a US tourist who ended up behind bars and in a coma.

Donald Trump yesterday condemned the death of Otto Warmbier, 22, as a 'total disgrace' and said he would still be alive if he had been brought home earlier.

The student died just days after arriving back in the US, having been released from a North Korean prison where he had spent 18 months.

He had been sentenced to 15 years hard labour after apparently admitting he stole a North Korean propaganda banner from his hotel.

A British-run tour company has been accused of running dangerously boorish trips to North Korea following the death of US tourist Otto Warmbier (left)

Warmbier's, Otto and Cindy, said their son had been subjected to 'awful torturous mistreatment' and accused the travel company, Young Pioneer Tours, of 'luring young Americans' to the rogue state

There has been widespread US scepticism about Pyongyang's claim that the University of Virginia student contracted botulism and never woke up after being given a sleeping pill shortly after his trial in March 2016.

US doctors who examined him said there were no signs of botulism but 'extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain' consistent with oxygen deprivation.

Republican senator John McCain said yesterday he had been 'murdered' by the Kim Jong-un regime. Senator Marco Rubio said he 'should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it'.

Mr Warmbier joined a four-day, three-night trip to the brutally repressive 'hermit kingdom' while he was en route to Hong Kong as part of his degree course.

His parents, Otto and Cindy, who announced his death on Monday night, said their son had been subjected to 'awful torturous mistreatment'.

They have also accused the travel company, Young Pioneer Tours, of 'luring young Americans' to the rogue state.

'He was trying to leave the country and he was taken hostage.

'They advertise it as the safest tour ever. But they provide fodder for the North Koreans. They took him hostage. And the outcome is self-evident,' said Mr Warmbier.

US doctors who examined Warmbier (pictured) said there were no signs of botulism but 'extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain' consistent with oxygen deprivation

The China-based company - whose founder and chief executive is British entrepreneur Gareth Johnson - was still describing North Korea as 'extremely safe' on its website even after Mr Warmbier was flown back to his Cincinnati home in a coma.

Young Pioneer Tours abruptly announced yesterday that it is no longer taking US tourists to North Korea as the risk for them has 'become too high'. The company, set up in 2008, said it was 'reeling with the shock of a young man's life taken well before his time'.

The company claimed in a statement it had made 'constant requests' to see him during his captivity only to be told that he was 'fine'.

However, former tour guests have criticised the company and 36-year-old Mr Johnson in particular. British tourist Danny Gratton, who shared a room with Mr Warmbier during the fateful tour in December 2005 and was the only westerner to see him being arrested, said he was 'stunned' that the tour company has never asked him about what happened.

Warmbier died just days after arriving back in the US

Mr Gratton, a sales manager from Stone in Staffordshire, said he doubted Mr Warmbier ever tried to steal anything in Pyongyang.

'Otto was just a really great lad who fell into the most horrendous situation that no one could ever believe,' he said. 'It's just something I think in the Western world we just can't understand, we just can't grasp, the evilness behind that dictatorship.'

Young Pioneer Tours offers 'budget travel to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from', including in central Asia and Africa.

However critics say the company's website seriously underplays the risk that tourists face in North Korea of prison sentences or hard labour for minor transgressions.

Mr Johnson, originally from west London, left the UK at 21, working as a barman in the Cayman Islands and teaching English in China.

Mr Johson's social media accounts include photos of him and other Young Pioneer tour guides drinking whisky from the bottle while taking groups to North Korea. He posted one of himself cuddling a bottle of spirits little more than a week after Mr Warmbier was detained.

Adam Pitt, a 33-year-old British ex-pat living in Dubai, claimed Mr Johnson was 'pretty much blind drunk the entire time we were in the country' during a tour in February 2013, placing his group in potentially serious danger if they inadvertently offended their hosts.

Young Pioneer Tours abruptly announced yesterday that it is no longer taking US tourists to North Korea

He said people on the tour also drank to excess and asked sexually provocative questions of a female North Korean guide - which Mr Johnson allegedly did nothing to stop and even encouraged.

Mr Pitt also claimed Mr Johnson once almost got them all arrested as they were taking a train back to Beijing. The guards became unaccountably angry with the group and demanded they leave the train but Mr Johnson was so drunk he was barely able to stand, said Mr Pitt. Their guide eventually paid off the guards with bribes, Mr Pitt added.

North Korea relies heavily on foreign tourism to provide it with much needed foreign currency. However, Mr Pitt warned it was too dangerous a place for tourists to go where their guides were incapable of looking after them.

Mr Johnson and his company have yet to respond to the criticism. Fellow Young Pioneer tour guide Rowan Beard rejected Mr Pitt's claim his group was almost arrested. He admitted people drank alcohol on the tours but insisted it wasn't excessive.
Ivanka Trump is responding to jokes following her awkward hug with Senator Marco Rubio at the US Capitol on Tuesday morning.

The First Daughter borrowed a favorite phrase of her father's as she sent out a tweet that read: 'Fake news! Marco is an excellent hugger...'

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.

Twitter users quickly poked fun at the 'failed hug' - but Rubio and Ivanka didn't miss an opportunity to take digs at themselves.

Fake news! Ivanka Trump borrowed a phrase of her father's to address the hysteria after a cringe-worthy photo of a 'failed hug' with Senator Marco Rubio emerged

Fade into you: Senator Rubio and Ivanka 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

Under 'investigation': It seemed no one enjoyed the frenzy over the cringe-worthy photo more than the usually silent Rubio, who opened an 'investigation' into whether or not the hug actually took place

Not true: Rubio rounded up the 'evidence' and declared that 'press covfefe of alleged failed hug is false'

It seemed no one enjoyed the frenzy over the cringe-worthy photo more than the usually silent Rubio. As tweets piled up at his expense, he joined in and opened an 'investigation' on Twitter into whether a hug took place.

'Just left Intel comm & informed meeting 2day with @ivankatrump blowing up twitter over alleged failed hug! Investigating. Will respond soon,' he tweeted mid-afternoon.

About an hour-and-a-half later, he followed up with: 'Based on review of evidence & my own recollection, have concluded no hug was even attempted & press covfefe of alleged failed hug is false.'

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.'
After Vilifying Trump's Pullout From Climate Pact, City Hall Will Host Climate Summit

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jun 21, 2017 8:19PM



Photo by Tyler LaRiviere/Chicagoist

Just weeks after President Donald Trump shocked climate advocates around the world and others concerned about global warming by pulling the United States out of the landmark, international climate change prevention pact the Paris Accord, Chicago has announced it will host a climate summit for North American Cities.

The City of Chicago was one of nearly 300 cities around the U.S. to renounce Trump's move earlier this month and to commit to following or exceeding the Paris Accord guidelines on reducing carbon emissions, even without the U.S.'s formal sign-on. On Wednesday the Mayor's Office announced plans to host a climate summit on the Paris Accord and other initiatives to address climate change for mayors of cities around the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Chicago is partnering with the international group the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy to host the summit, which will take place in the late fall, the mayor announced in a press release.

"We are ready to show the world that we will not wait on others to forge our destiny to more sustainable and more productive cities," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement.



Former United Nations official Christiana Figueres, the covenant's co-chair, stressed in the announcement that it is in the economic and environmental self-interests of cities to follow the Paris Accord. The purpose of the summit will be to help mayors discuss how they will reduce carbon emissions in their cities, "regardless of action taken by their respective federal governments," the release said. The mayors are also expected to announce local environmental programs. Chicago is currently working to convert the city's municipal buildings to run on 100 percent renewable energy by 2025.

The exact dates and other details of the summit have not been announced yet.
When police were called they tried to subdue the man but he was considered very 'aggressive and erratic'

A man believed to be under the influence of drugs has been tasered after storming a childcare centre and trashing it.

The 21-year-old man from Bull Creek, in Western Australia, broke into Canning Vale childcare centre on Tuesday afternoon at 5.25pm.

He managed to 'trash' the child care centre while staff, parents and children were still inside, WA Today reported.

When police were called they tried to subdue the man but he was considered very 'aggressive and erratic.'

That's when a taser was used.

Police Sergeant Andrew Maher said that they managed to arrest the man and took him to Fiona Stanley Hospital.

The 21-year-old man from Bull Creek, in Western Australia, broke into Canning Vale childcare centre on Tuesday afternoon at 5.25pm

He will be tested for illicit substances which police believe he was under the influence at the time of the bizarre rampage.

Nobody was injured during the incident.

He has been charged with aggravated burglary and criminal damage and will appear in Armadale Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Bill O'Reilly has been dealt yet another blow, this time by a New York court which has overturned a $14.5million default judgement he was set to win from his ex-wife.

In April 2016, OReilly filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit against Maureen McPhilmy, claiming she duped him into signing their 2011 divorce settlement under false pretenses.

McPhilmy failed to respond to the lawsuit and O'Reilly was awarded the $14.5million by default. He was quick to collect and filed restraining orders which essentially froze his ex-wife's bank accounts until he was paid.

She filed an appeal of the judgement and was granted it, unfreezing her funds. A judge also vacated the $14.5million judgement.

On Monday, the decision became known when documents were filed publicly in Nassau County, New York, where both live, which confirm it.

Bill O'Reilly will not see the $14.5million judgement that was awarded to him by default when his ex-wife Maureen McPhilmy (seen together in 2002) failed to respond to a lawsuit he filed against her last year

A judge overturned the default judgement. Documents of the decision were filed in a Nassau County court in New York on Monday

It is the latest development in a long legal saga surrounding their 2011 divorce and is the most recent set-back in O'Reilly's ongoing problems.

O'Reilly, 67, was fired by Fox News earlier this year amid growing accusations he sexually harassed female colleagues.

He has vowed to launch his own 'operation' to take on his 'declining' old employer. He vehemently denies the sexual harassment allegations and has done ever since they were aired.

McPhilmy, 51, was married to the star for 15 years before their divorce in 2011. They have two children together.

After suing her last year and being awarded the judgement, he launched a similar lawsuit against Michael Klarm, her lawyer in the divorce.

McPhilmy (above in May last year) claims O'Reilly beat her and was unfaithful during their 15-year marriage

He claims the pair worked together to dupe him into an unreasonable divorce agreement. O'Reilly claimed she had been having an affair with Long Island police detective Jeffrey Gross who she went on to marry.

In response to O'Reilly's lawsuit against him, Klar asked to be allowed to submit 1,000 documents from the divorce.

The documents include accusations of infidelity and abuse.

One, which was submitted in May, is a harrowing account given by McPhilmy of how he allegedly beat her and slammed her against a wall after she caught him having phone-sex with someone else in the bedroom of their Manhasset home.

McPhilmy claimed in the affidavit that alone-foot hole was left in the bedroom wall as a result of O'Reilly throwing her across the room at the start of the alleged altercation.

She was then grabbed by O'Reilly, who wrapped his arms around her so she was unable to move and dragged her down the hallway of their home according to the affidavit.

Then, when they reached the staircase, McPhilmy claimed that O'Reilly began dragging her by the neck and he walked downstairs and through the kitchen, where he eventually let go when they ran into one of their security guards.

The affidavit stated that McPhilmy was screaming out in pain as she was being dragged and telling O'Reilly he was hurting her, but refused to file a report or speak with authorities when approached by the security guard who witnessed the alleged incident.

It was also stated in the filing that the man in the kitchen, who had been hired to protect the family, was caught off guard at the sight of O'Reilly naked from the waist down.

Two of the women who received settlements after accusing O'Reilly of harassment, Andrea Mackris and Juliet Ruddy, stated that they believed he was masturbating when he called them up for unwanted phone sex conversations.
A bold social media campaign has kicked off in a bid to keep Australia Capital Territory public space ad free.

The campaign which features two 'naked' women standing behind white placards have been making their rounds since Friday thanks to Ad Free Canberra, a community Facebook page that was responsible in drawing attention to the cause.

Social researchers Lisa Petheram, and Deborah Cleland can be seen standing out and about in several public places in Canberra holding white placards and voicing their agreement on having the 1930s billboard ban intact.

Social research Ms Petheram was happy to be apart of the campaign to ban billboard ads

With more than 215 people liking the page, the group was also responsible for asking Canberrians to send in written submissions to maintain the state's billboard ban after ACT chief minister Andrew Barr signaled the possible relaxation of the regulations in January.

The page was set up Green Institute executive director Tim Hallo who is also one of the administrators of the Ad Free Canberra page told the Canberra Times there was no actual nudity in the campaign just carefully crafted photos with a clear message.

'Canberra's mostly ad-free state, as part of its natural beauty, is one of the city's most precious features.

'It should be cherished and protected, not whittled away.

'Encroachments of advertising into public space should be pushed back with stricter enforcement, not used as an excuse to rewind regulation.

Mr Hallo told Daily Mail Australia there was hardly any real remuneration derived from outdoor media campaigns with the state government estimated to earn a close $500,000 from selling public space.

Going all out for a cause, Canberrians would do anything to keep their public space ad free

Describing the remunerations as very little, Mr Hallo opined that the state government could resort to other things to get money instead.

He also said billboard ads are known to cause a person depression and anxiety with some campaign known to force a person to buy something they don't need.

The message is loud and clear, NO to billboards ads in Canberra please says Ms Petheram

Submissions to the billboard inquiry closed on Tuesday.

All six of the submissions published online had opposed to the deregulation of outdoor advertising.

However, Mr Hallo said there were more submission including his that hasn't been posted online yet.

Ad Free Canberra started a social media campaign to get more people involved with the cause

Ms Petheram who has lived in Canberra for six year says the campaign did not involve nudity

'I believe there are more than six submission.

'Its probably not all been posted on the page yet,'he said.

Even Ms Petheram had a written submission on the matter as she was extremely concerned with growing mental health that billboards would have on the masses.

She also told Daily Mail Australia that she and her friend Ms Cleland was not actually naked for the campaign but were wearing strapless blouses and skirts instead.

Ms Cleland seen here with a billboard opposing the states plan to allow more ads in the open

'We are asking that submissions to the inquiry be re-opened and there be more engagement of the Canberra community on this issue because not many people knew about it until recently,' Ms Petheram said.

'We also would like to see that the Ngunnawal people be fully informed and consulted about the issue of billboards and given time to lodge submissions.

'We also think existing legislation on large-scale advertising should be amended, strengthened and enforced, including bus stop and 'wrap' advertising and advertising on buildings, fences and trailers.'




State Supreme Court Justice Lori Sattler lost over $1Million in the email scam

A New York Supreme Court judge was fooled out of more than $1million in an email scam.

Justice Lori Sattler, 51, was duped by an email she believed had come from her real estate lawyer, but in actuality it came from a scammer.

Sattler, a judge in the First District of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, went to police Friday saying she received the email June 7 from someone that she thought was her lawyer. The imposter told her to send the money to an account in Arizona.

She followed the instructions and wired $1,057,500 to the account, the money was then transferred to a Commerce Bank of China in Hong Kong, sources told The New York Daily News.

Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the Office of Court Administration, declined comment based on the pending investigation.

The FBI and the NYPD's Financial Crimes Task Force are leading up the investigation.

'It is correct that the judge was the victim of a crime  and as it is a pending criminal matter we can't comment any further,' Chalfen said.

Justice Lori Sattler was trying to sell her tony Upper East Side apartment, when she got snagged in the email scam, pictured is her street

In 2013, Sattler presided over the custody battle between Lisa Mehos and her ex-husband Manuel Mehos.

During the trial, she allowed evidence that Lisa Mehos had had an abortion  over the strenuous objections of Mehos' lawyer, who called it a setback for women's rights.

At the time, Sattler also expressed her displeasure that the case had become, in her words, 'newspaper fodder.'
A British tourist has revealed how she was taken to a 'secret' floor of a North Korean hotel by the same tour company which arranged American student Otto Warmbier's fatal trip to the country.

The woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, visited a hotel on an island in Pyongyang's river as part of a nine-day trip with Young Pioneer Tours in 2011.

She told DailyMail.com that one evening, after her group had finished dinner, her tour guide encouraged them to visit one floor that was 'off limits'.

'We had to be very quiet and the excursion felt very clandestine and a little bit scary,' she said, adding that the floor was made up of offices and conference rooms which were in 'disarray'.

After a brief visit, her group left the out-of-bounds level and the rest of their trip ended without incident unlike Otto's which resulted in him being jailed for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster from a hotel in the same city.

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A British tourist has revealed how she was lured to a secret floor of a hotel in North Korea by the same tourist company used by American student Otto Warmbier (left in a photograph days before his arrest in Pyongyang in 2016)

There is only one hotel which fits the woman's description and that is Yanggakdo International Hotel, the same establishment where Otto is accused of stealing a poster on the final night of his trip in 2016.

As he attempted to return to the US on January 2 after a fun-filled trip with new friends, Otto was arrested at the airport and flung in North Korean jail. In March, he made a brief appearance before the local censored media but then disappeared into the custody of North Korean officials until last week when he was suddenly allowed to return home on 'humanitarian release.'

He returned to the US on a private medical plane in a coma and died on Tuesday, just six days after the plane touched down. Shocked American doctors who examined him before his death said that his condition was likely caused by a heart attack brought on by a of oxygen to the brain.

North Korean officials claim he had been that way since taking a sleeping pill to allow him to rest after contracting a bout of food poisoning - a dubious story that has been widely undermined by health professionals and the young man's family.

His death has sparked global outrage and heightens the simmering tension between Kim Jong Un and the rest of the world.

The woman, who spent a year living in South Korea before her 2011 trip, said she fears the tour company has been irresponsibly leading young, naive tourists into dangerous situations without properly assessing the risks for years.

Yanggakdo International Hotel sits on an island in Pyongyang's river. It is where Otto Warmbier was accused of stealing a propaganda poster in 2016 and is the only hotel which fits the woman's description of the hotel where she was shown a secret floor in 2011

'Tour companies seem to routinely take people to that floor - knowing that it is off limits,' she said, explaining that her visit to it was billed as 'a bit of risky fun'.

'What I worry about is that tour companies are taking giddy young adults to this country and placing them in danger as they underestimate the risks involved.'

Like Otto's group, the woman's was made up of international tourists who had never been to the country before.

'There was a Danish guy whose trip to DPRK was his first time leaving his country; two Canadians who thought the negative press they had seen about the country was American propaganda; a Malaysian engineering student who was fiercely anti-USA and had no idea of the reality or restraints of the nasty regime and an Australian globe trotter,' she said.

Young Pioneer Tours, which is based in China but run in the UK, did not respond to repeated requests for a response to the accusations on Tuesday night.

It is now operated by any North Korean agency but pairs up with local hosts and workers once on the ground to faciliate excursions, meals and hotel stays.

After Otto's death, it posted a statement on Facebook claiming that it had made numerous attempts to reach him during his captivity but that North Korean officials blocked them.

In light of his horrifying experience, it has stopped accepting American citizens on its trips which cost around $1500.

The woman said she worried the tour group which arranged both of their trips was irresponsibly leading tourists to danger. Otto is seen above in Pyongyang with his friends on New Year's Eve

Young Pioneer Tours shared this statement on Facebook after Otto's death on Monday

Otto's family slammed the tour company (whose guides are pictured above) for 'luring' vulnerable young Americans to the country without properly assessing the risks involved

Otto was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in March 2016 after his arrest. These are the last photographs of him at a press conference before he was hidden away and 'brutalized' into a coma

Its founder, British-born Gareth Johnson, was described by other past customers as being constantly drunk during tours.

On Tuesday, others who were on Otto's trip shared photographs of his final moments with DailyMail.com.

In them, the University of Virginia student appeared happy and care-free, clearly enjoying the unfamiliar surroundings and his new friends.

The group said they wanted to remember him not by the distressing images of his March 2016 press conference after he was sentenced to 15 years hard labour, and chose to focus instead on the happy memories they made with him in the days before his arrest.

The Warmbier family took the same approach in its statement after its death.

While acknowledging the 'awful, torturous mistreatment' he received at the hands of North Korean officials, they said they wanted to 'focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person.'

President Trump has slammed the country and its 'brutal regime' in response to Otto's death.

President Trump has spoken out against North Korea several times since Otto's death
The dramatic moment cops rescued an infant from a hot car in a Walmart parking lot has been caught on video - and cops say the mother has shown little remorse for leaving the kid for over two hours.

Mother Kelly Decorrevont, 35, was arrested after the rescue on Monday in Evansville, Indiana, and was charged with child neglect and possession of marijuana after cops found pot in her purse.

Decorrevont's four-month-old infant was left in the car for over two-and-a-half hours on a day when temperatures reached 86 degrees.

But officers at the scene said she 'did not seem very remorseful', according to a warrant affidavit reported by WFIE.

Kelly Decorrevont (left in mugshot and right in family photo) was arrested after her infant was left locked in a hot car

A bystander saw the young infant crying and sweating inside the locked car, and flagged down a police officer in the area

Officer Hackworth used a tire iron to smash in the passenger window, saving the four-month-old infant trapped inside

The shocking incident unfolded when a bystander saw the young infant crying and sweating inside the locked car.

They quickly flagged down a police officer in the area.

Cops first tried breaking the window of the car with a length of scrap metal, which bent and twisted as it bounced off the car's passenger window.

Then a bystander retrieved a tire iron from his car, which Officer Hackworth used to smash in the window.

A store employee helped remove the infant's car seat from the vehicle once entry was gained.

A store employee helped remove the infant's car seat from the vehicle once entry was gained

The baby was taken to a hospital for treatment and is now in the custody of Child Protective Services.

When police found Decorrevont and questioned her, the unrepentant mother blamed her teenage daughter, saying the girl must have locked the baby in the car without her knowing.

Police said they discovered a burnt cigarette butt with traces of marijuana in Decorrevont's purse as they arrested her, which they said she admitted to smoking.

Her bail was set at $750 cash or $7,500 surety, and she is due back in court on Friday.
A young waiter has been left with gruesome injuries after an angry diner bit him on the arm and tried to strangle him, after leaving a restaurant without paying her bill.

The 48-year-old woman was reportedly dining with a friend at a Chinese restaurant in Adelaide on Monday night, when she attempted to pay for just half a main meal.

When told that wasn't possible, she allegedly fled the eatery without paying - only to be pursued on foot by the 19-year-old Chinese-born waiter.

Catching up to the woman after her 'dine and dash', she then turned on the waiter and allegedly bit him on the arm, before also attempting to choke him.

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A young waiter has been left with gruesome injuries(pictured) after an angry diner bit him on the arm and tried to strangle him, after leaving an Adelaide restaurant without paying the bill

The woman was charged by police with aggravated assault and fail to pay for meals.

Images of the waiter's arm show bite marks, cuts and heavy swelling from where the woman allegedly lashed out.

In a statement, South Australia Police said the alleged attacker had left the waiter bloodied.

'Police were called to a seafood restaurant on Gouger Street after a woman had allegedly failed to pay for a meal,' the statement read.

'On arrival the patrol spoke to a waiter from the restaurant, who stated the woman left without paying for a meal and when stopped she allegedly tried to strangle the waiter and then bit him on the arm drawing blood.

'The waiter had to be a treated in hospital with the cut requiring stitches.'

The woman was granted bail and will reappear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on July 26.
Social media was abuzz on a cold Wednesday morning wondering why flags across the nation were seen flying at half-mast.

Despite the rumbles on social media the flags were at half-mast as a sign of respect to Vanuatu President Baldwin Lonsdale, 67, who passed away on June 17.

The flags adorning the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge flickered in the cold morning breeze at half-mast, while the flags on Adelaide's town hall followed.

Flags seen at half-mast on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Wednesday

The flags at half-mast at the City of Adelaide town hall on Wednesday

The much loved Vanuatu President Baldwin Lonsdale (pictured) died on June 17

Flags in New Zealand Parliament and on the Auckland Harbour Bridge were also pictured at half-mast as a mark of respect for the president.

His excellency Womtelo Reverend Baldwin Lonsdale oversaw Vanuatu's rebuild after Cyclone Pam devastated more than 75,000 people the small nation consisting of 80 small islands in the South Pacific.

He was sworn into parliament in September 2014 and was a former civil servant.

Vanuatu is located north east of Australia and west of Fiji and the much loved president was the second Anglican priest to become leader.
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On Saturday, seven sailors died when a destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald, collided with a Philippines-flagged cargo ship just outside Tokyo Bay in Japan.

And the most senior of the seven - Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr - could have saved himself but instead decided to save others.

His uncle said he called the sailors on his ship his 'kids' and by various accounts Rehm, 37, saved at least 20 of them after the collision.

'He said, "If my kids die, I'm going to die",' Stanley Rehm Jr told The Daily Beast. 'He could have walked away and been safe.'

Rehm was thinking of retiring when his tour ended in three months unless he managed to secure a promotion to chief, according to his uncle.

However, he died when his colleagues were forced to close a hatch he had jumped into, in order to stop the ship from going down.

'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.'

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The most senior of the seven sailors who died on the USS Fitzgerald, Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr (pictured), 37, could have saved himself but instead decided to save others. By various accounts, his family says he saved at least 20 of them after the collision before dying when his colleagues were forced to close a hatch he had jumped into, in order to stop the ship from going down

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

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, Good Morning America reported.

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.

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

Emergency hatches were closed on the compromised berthing compartments to stop the ship from sinking.

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.'

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
Chicagoans Found A Rare, 35mm Print Of 'Suspiria' & It's Coming To The Big Screen

By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 21, 2017 10:20PM



'Suspiria' / IMDB

The cult horror classic Suspiria is back on cinephiles' minds (honestly it's never far) thanks to the Tilda Swinton-starring remake due out this year, but there's even more exciting news related to Dario Argento's original giallo masterpiece. A rare, 35mm, uncut Italian print of the 1977 original was just unearthed, courtesy of our city's very own Chicago Cinema Society.

The story begins almost like a horror flick itself: it was found inside storage at an old, shuttered cinema in Italy, where it had been untouched since right around the film's original release.

Chicago Cinema Society notes, "After a brief inspection to assess the overall condition of the print, it appears as if it had only been screened a handful of times at most. The print is in excellent physical condition with no substantial wear, uncut heads and tails, minimal fading and no vinegar syndrome."

As fans know, there are a lot of suboptimal, truncated versions of Suspiria floating around out there. This is the good stuff.

"Once we had the print in our film archive, we then made a very careful inspection to determine which version of Suspiria we had obtained," Chicago Cinema Society wrote. "We were stunned to find that the print is a completely uncut 6 reel print with a run time of 98 minutes in Italian language."

The major find will be screened at several theaters across the country over the coming year, including a TBD date at the Music Box in the fall.

If you've never seen Suspiriaa candy-colored, spectacularly garish, Goblin-soundtracked chronicle of murder at an exclusive German ballet academylet this be your intro.

The local standout exhibition crew also uploaded some samples of the print to give a taste. Keep in mind, they're recordings of projections, so there's some screen flicker. Don't let that dull the excitement.




The Project's Waleed Aly has suggested far-right extremists could soon kill Muslims in Australia.

In his daily editorial, the Muslim host said this week's suspected terrorist attack on the Finsbury Park Mosque in London could be a sign of things to come locally.

'Fear and hatred are powerful, destructive forces and in Australia we're not immune,' he told the Ten Network program.

'So could a violent, anti-Islamic attack happen here?'

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The Project's Waleed Aly asked if a terrorist attack on Muslims could happen in Australia

Waleed Aly likened mosque alleged murderer Darren Osborne to Islamist terrorism

Aly also likened the alleged UK terrorist attack by anti-Muslim father-of-four Darren Osborne, 47, to Islamist extremism.

'It seems like that on the wings of our society weve got extremists, whether theyre Islamist extremists or, in these recent cases, far-right extremists that are kind of tearing away the centre, theyre making it so that there is nothing in the middle, nothing can hold and everyone has to choose a side in this fight,' he said.

Avi Yemini, a former Israeli solider and conservative political activist, said it was outrageous for Mr Aly to suggest one far-right terrorist attack was comparable with the thousands of Islamist terrorist attacks that have occurred in the West since 2001.

'We've had one, one, terror attack against the Islamic community,' he said.

Former Israeli army soldier Avi Yemini says Waleed Aly shouldn't downplay Islamist terror

Muslim Labor MP Anne Aly (right) says Islamist and far-right terrorists have a lot in common

'In fact, since that terror attack there's been half a dozen others against other people by Muslims in the name of Islam.

'You cannot justify it. You cannot minimise it, Waleed and you cannot put it on the same level. It's not.'

The Project also featured Australia's first female Muslim federal MP Anne Aly, a former counter-terrorism expert, who suggested the media had failed to use the term 'terrorist' to describe the Finsbury mosque attack.

'If we start calling these revenge attacks instead of calling them for what they are which is terrorism, we feed right into that whole construction of justifying them,' she said.

The Egyptian-born Labor politician said far-right extremists had a lot in common with Islamist terrorists, who killed eight people in central London earlier this month.

'Sometimes I wish they'd go and have a picnic together, share some fried chicken,' she said.

Mr Yemini, who has faced death threats for publicly criticising Islamist extremism, said both Egyptian-born Alies needed to actually condemn the Islamist ideology behind terrorism.

'You have a problem within your religion that needs hard looking at. You need reformation,' he said.

'At the moment, terror is 99.995 per cent Islamic.'
A NSW man who said 'don't call me dad, call me babe' as he was sexually assaulting his young stepdaughter has received a minor cut in his jail term.

He had admitted a number of sex offences relating to his abuse of the girl from when she was aged 11 until she reported him to police when she was 16.

On Wednesday, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal cut the man's non-parole period from 11 to 10 years after concluding the District Court judge made an error in the way he structured the sentence.

A NSW man who sexually assaulted his stepdaughter for five years beginning from when she was 11-years-old has received a minor cut in his jail term (stock image)

The stepfather regularly abused the girl, starting off in their home but later taking her to a local motel and telling the girl's mother, his wife, that she had medical appointments.

On one occasion at the motel, after he earlier told staff they had a family member staying in hospital, the girl said 'no, dad' as he started to abuse her.

He replied: 'Don't call me dad, call me babe'.

In her victim impact statement, she spoke of having nightmares, being depressed, living with fear, and having problems coping with her education and relationships.

On Wednesday, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal cut the man's non-parole period from 11 to 10 years after concluding the District Court judge made an error in the way he structured the sentence (stock image)

The sentencing judge referred to a psychological report showing that the man had little insight into the seriousness of his offending.

'(He) said that he was not sexually attracted to young girls and suggested that the victim was sexually interested in him, and that the feelings were mutual,' the Appeal Court noted.

In finding general deterrence to be important when sentencing for this kind of offending, the District Court judge said 'a very clear message must be sent to the community that such crimes are abhorrent' and that very significant jail terms would be imposed on them.

The maximum term of 15 years remains.
After another busy day in Washington on Tuesday, the president and first lady slipped out for a low-key dinner at the home of Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen.

The Trumps slipped out of the White House quickly and quietly, ducking in to a waiting motorcade which drove them the 3.1 miles to the Naval Observatory.

First Lady Melania was typically stylish in a black lace cocktail dress and black leather pointed pumps.

She wore a pair of large black sunglasses as she made her way through the evening heat and into the waiting car behind her husband.

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were taken by their motorcade to the Naval Observatory on Tuesday to have dinner with Vice President Pence and his wife

Donald seemed eager to get in to the cool air conditioned vehicle, barely stopping as he made his way to his seat.

He had spent the day hosting Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko with Vice President Pence and posed for a photo-op inside the Oval Office in the early afternoon.

The day's talk was focused on North Korea after the sad news on Monday night that Otto Warmbier, an American student who was held captive by there for 17 months, had died after returning to US soil in a coma.

Both Trump and Pence have spoke out against Kim Jong Un on Monday and repeated their anger with his regime on Tuesday.

First Lady Melania Trump was elegant in a black lace cocktail dress and black leather stilettos

Melania accessorized with a pair of dark sunglasses. She followed her husband in to the waiting motorcade

After dinner, the president took to Twitter to congratulate fellow Republicans in South Carolina and Georgia for their special election victories

Otto was arrested during a trip to North Korea in January 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster from a hotel.

Karen Handel won Georgia's house special election on Tuesday

After dinner on Tuesday night, talk turned to a cheerier subject - the Republicans victory in special elections across the country.

On Twitter, Trump and Pence both congratulated Karen Handel on her win in the Georgia House special election.

'Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!' said the president.

Ralph Norman won the same race in South Carolina, prompting more victorious tweets from Trump and Pence.

'Ralph Norman ran a fantastic race to win in the Great State of South Carolina's 5th District. We are all honored by your success tonight!' he said.

He then used the opportunity to thank Fox News for its coverage of his 'huge win' and said: '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.'
Four Muslim men charged with planning to bomb Melbourne landmarks on Christmas Day allegedly tried to go to Syria before working on an Islamic State-inspired attack on home soil.

Ibrahim Abbas, 23, his brother Hamza Abbas, 22, Ahmed Mohamed, 24, and Abdullah Chaarani, 26, each appeared before Melbourne Magistrates' Court via video link on Wednesday.

Police allege the four were behind an Islamic State-inspired plot targeting Flinders Street Station, Federation Square and St Paul's Cathedral.

Four men charged with planning to bomb Melbourne landmarks on Christmas Day faced court on Wednesday. Women wearing niqabs are seen above at a property during raids last December that resulted in the terror arrests

Police allege the four were behind an Islamic State-inspired plot targeting Flinders Street Station (pictured), Federation Square and St Paul's Cathedral

The men are each charged with preparing or planning a terrorist act between December 1 and December 22 last year.

They are accused of planning to use an improvised explosive device and other weapons to attack the landmarks.

The alleged plot was thwarted after authorities raided homes across Melbourne's north in December.

The men allegedly began working on the plot because they were unable to travel to Syria, the court heard on Wednesday.

The men are accused of planning to use an improvised explosive device and other weapons to attack the landmarks (police pictured at a home in Meadow Heights that was raided last year)

The men allegedly began working on the plot because they were unable to travel to Syria (Melbourne's Federation Square pictured, site of alleged planned terror attack)

Police suspect the group of men used a remote site outside of Melbourne's CBD to allegedly test their improvised explosive devices, the court heard.

Chaarani was also said to have been spotted at the site, The Age reported.

The men are fighting the charges and will return to court on August 21 for a five-day committal hearing, which will determine whether they should stand trial.

They have been in custody since their arrest in December.
Donald Trump has heaped praise on Republican Karen Handel after she won a special election runoff in Georgia, and celebrated a string of GOP wins.

The president fired off a flurry of tweets on Tuesday night after Handel defeated her upstart Democratic challenge Jon Ossoff 52-48.

The margin was much lower than when Trumps' Secretary for Health and Human Services Tom Price won the 6th District last year, when he was re-elected with a 24 point buffer.

'Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!' he tweeted after the result was confirmed.

Earlier, he wrote, 'Things are looking great for Karen H!' and: 'Thank you @FoxNews "Huge win for President Trump and GOP in Georgia Congressional Special Election."'

Donald Trump has praised on Republican Karen Handel after she won a special election runoff in Georgia, while celebrating other recent GOP wins. Trump is pictured in Miami on June 16

About an hour later Trump was talking up the Republican Party as a whole, pointing to wins it has achieved in special elections across the country since he won in November last year.

'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 wrote.

It appears as though Trump's tweet was in reference to four special elections that have been held where Democrats were hoping to oust the Republicans from a congressional seat.

Those races were held in Georgia and South Carolina on Tuesday, as well as Kansas and Montana.

Trump sent out a series of tweets on Tuesday night as the results from Georgia and South Carolina rolled in

South Carolina's race was won by Ralph Norman - who received a shout-out from Trump on Twitter Tuesday night, while Ron Estes won in Kansas to replace Mike Pompeo in April and reporter-slamming Republican Greg Gianforte was victorious in Montana last month.

There has been a fifth special election vote, held in California, but it was held by the Democrats - with Jimmy Gomez replacing Xavier Becerra.

The party has one more chance to flip a seat when Jason Chaffetz's congressional spot in Utah goes to a vote on August 15. However it is unlikely the blue team will secure the seat, with Chaffetz winning it 73 per cent to 27 last year.

Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th District Congressional seat Karen Handel declares victory during an election-night watch party

Jon Ossoff adjusts his microphone as he concedes to Republican Karen Handel at his election night party in Atlanta

Republican Ralph Norman is hugged by his wife Elaine as they celebrate with supporters at a campaign party in South Carolin

Speaking after her win on Tuesday night, Handel thanked Trump - despite being hesitant to mention him during the campaign.

'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 Handels most public embrace of the man whose tenuous standing in this well-educated, suburban enclave made a previously safe Republican district close in the first place.

Trump had been spruiking the 55-year-old on Twitter in recent day, repeatedly tweeting about the importance of the election and attacking Ossoff.
A burglar mistakenly thought he could make himself at home during a break-in in New Mexico, what he didn't know was the homeowner was watching him live on his phone.

Mark Thompson was caught on camera casually putting on the homeowner's jacket, grabbing a beer and even turning on the TV.

The tech savvy homeowner, Micah, quickly called his neighbor, Shandra Vestal, across the street for help.

She and her husband jumped to action, grabbing two pistols before heading to the the property.

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The alleged burglar, Mark Thompson, puts on the homeowner's jacket before he grabs a beer

Mark Thompson (pictured) was tied up with duct tape by the fast acting band of neighbors

The alleged burglar's movements had set off an alert to the homeowner about someone in his North Valley home on Sunday according to Albuquerque Police.

'I went to my garage, my husband and I. We got two pistols, says Vestal. 'We met [Micah] at the cul-de-sac.

He blocked off the entry of the cul-de-sac to make sure if he did have a vehicle, the man entering the home wouldn't be able to escape,' she said. 'As he pulled in, I passed him this 45 and then I got the other Ruger.'

The homeowner called his neighbor, Shandra Vestal (right), she grabbed two pistols and gave one to him to use

Mark Thompson mugshot, police say he is wearing clothes stolen in previous break in

That's when the woman, her husband, and the home owner confronted Thompson.

'Micah and I went into the home with two of the loaded weapons.

Micah announced himself to the perpetrator saying, '"I have a loaded weapon, get down on your hands and knees,"' said Vestal.

'At that time, I came up behind him and we got the individual on his hands and knees to lay down.'

Things were about to get sticky for the sticky fingered burglar.

'We got his arms and his feet duct taped. Then we picked him up, carried him out to the front yard and waited for the police to show up,' said Vestal to KRQE 13.

Micah's fast acting neighbor, Shandra Vestal (right) grabbed two pistols from her gun safe (left) before heading over to the property with her husband

When police showed up, they found Thompson on the ground, his hands and ankles taped.

'The police had told us that the home prior that he had broken into. He was wearing the same clothes he had stolen from that home when he broke into Micah's house,' Vestal said to

The less than slick burglar tried to talk his way out of trouble. Vestal: 'He truly said, 'I'm not trying to steal anything, I just want to be friends.'
A former Muslim imam who married off a 14-year-old girl to a 34-year-old man has escaped jail time and placed on a good behaviour order.

Ibrahim Omerdic, 62, was found guilty of solemnising the marriage of the teenage girl and a man, 34, during a ceremony in Noble Park, Melbourne, last September.

Magistrate Phillip Goldberg on Wednesday sentenced Omerdic to two months' prison for his 'serious breach of trust' but released him immediately on a two-year recognisance release order.

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Imam Ibrahim Omerdic, 62, (pictured) found guilty of solemnising the marriage of a teenage girl and a 34-year-old man

Former imam Omerdic was filmed during the document signing at the ceremony

Omerdic was an imam of the Bosnian Islamic Society and Noble Park Mosque, but he was suspended after his November arrest over the wedding.

'If (he) is happy with something, do it. If (he) is not happy with something, don't do it,' he tells the girl in the shaky mobile footage.

Omerdic can also be heard telling the child's mother and her betrothed: 'She's very young.'

He had fought the charge, claiming the marriage was not subsequently formalised under Australian law.

But the magistrate was satisfied the ceremony was completed and the marriage occurred, finding Omerdic guilty.

Prosecutor Krista Breckweg said the celebrant showed no remorse for his actions and should be jailed in order to deter child weddings in future.

Ibrahim Omerdic was the former cleric at the Noble Park Mosque

'This offending involved a man marrying a child to an older man, knowingly,' Ms Breckweg told the court.

'There needs to be a message sent to the community that this will not be tolerated.

'You can't do this.'

Defence lawyer Daniel Gurvich QC said Omerdic had already been suspended as an imam and a Justice of the Peace, and should not be punished further with jail.

'It was not a pre-meditated criminal offence,' Mr Gurvich said.

'There was a degree of spontaneity, poor judgement and regret.
The Finsbury Park terror suspect allegedly planned to target a Muslim march in London - but got drunk and missed it so attacked worshippers at a mosque instead, it was claimed today.

Darren Osborne, 47, told locals at a pub in Cardiff on Saturday night that he was going to do something about them after hearing there was a Ramadan rally planned in London the next day.

Andy Parker, the landlord of Osbornes local pub, claimed the alleged attacker had been ranting about the pro-Palestinian Al Quds day rally, which took place on Sunday afternoon.

But it appears he got drunk in his local pub, was thrown out for rowing with drinkers and then passed out in the cab of the van he later used as a weapon to kill one and maim at least eight more.

Father-of-four Darren Osborne from Cardiff (left) has been named as the suspect behind the Finsbury Park terror attack (right) - he is believed to have changed his target

Drinkers in South Wales say Osborne had been ranting about the pro-Palestinian Al Quds day rally, which took place on Sunday afternoon (pictured)

Andy Parker, the landlord of Osbornes local pub the Hollybush, pictured, claimed the alleged attacker may have had another target

Darren Osborne aged four with his sister Nicola, who says her brother had mental health problems and recently tried to kill himself

Mr Parker, who runs the Hollybush pub in Pentwyn, told The Daily Telegraph: The gentleman came in and was very political with everyone he spoke to.

He was very motivated about the Muslim Al Quds day rally going on on Sunday in London and kept saying: Our brothers and sisters are dying and someone needs to do something about it.

He kept saying he would do something about it, but he kept going on about it, and was saying we need to stand up to Muslims.

Another customer said Mr Osborne was making notes on a piece of paper.

They said they believe his plan was to target the march, but he then went to the mosque when that didnt work out.

Hours later it appears police were warned he was drunk and unconscious on the front seat of his rented white van 24 hours before he allegedly used it as a weapon to murder and maim Muslims.

He was reportedly seen sleeping across the front three seats of the box van in his home town of Cardiff in the early hours of Father's Day.

South Wales Police confirmed they were called to a report of an insecure van parked on a street in the Llanedeyrn area of Cardiff, 24 hours before the attack in London.

In a statement released on Tuesday afternoon, the force said officers responded to a call at 12.27am on Sunday, June 18.

They said: 'Officers attended, a male was asleep inside the vehicle, which showed no signs of having been driven recently.

'The officers' assessment was that no offences were disclosed.'

Friends said he was 'motivated' by the Muslim Al Quds day rally going on on Sunday (pictured) and kept saying: Our brothers and sisters are dying and someone needs to do something about it'

The hired van ploughed into people outside the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park, north London, in what has been described as a 'deliberate and horrific terror attack on innocent people'

Darren Osborne, 47, recently tried to kill himself, his sister has said.

He was depressed and struggling to cope as he drank heavily and had been forced to live in a tent after being thrown out by the mother of his four children.

His sister Nicola, who turned 50 on the day of the Finsbury Park attack, said his behaviour was spiralling out of control and he had even begged to be sectioned.

Her comments came as it was revealed last night that a South Wales Police officer spoke to Osborne 24 hours before the attack after a resident found him sleeping inside the white rental van in Cardiff.

Speaking outside her Weston-Super-Mare flat, Miss Osborne wept as she said her brother is known in the Somerset seaside town as a violent man and a thug. But she insisted he is not racist and not a terrorist and instead he is instead someone who needs help.

He tried to kill himself six to eight weeks ago. He threw himself into the river in Cardiff, she said. He asked to be taken into care and wanted to be sectioned but the authorities wouldnt do it.

He came to see me after he tried to kill himself. He showed me the bump on his head. I dont know how he got out of the river, or really what happened. He asked me if he could stay.

But he has made my life a misery over the years. Weston is a small town. Everyone knows Darren.

Ive lost jobs, boyfriends, after people found out I am Darren Osbornes sister. I am his complete opposite.

Forensic officers move the van from the attack site at Finsbury Park. The incident led to the death of Makram Ali, whose daughter saw him die

His sister Nicola, 50, said their mother, Christine Osborne, (centre) will be 'broken for life' and described the attack as an 'atrocity'. It was also revealed he split from his partner Sarah Andrews six months ago (right)

Path of destruction: Osborne is accused of using a 80-a-day van rented in south Wales as a weapon to run down a group of Muslims including at least one in a wheelchair

It also emerged last night that Osborne reportedly stopped to ask for directions to Finsbury Park Mosque. Toufik Kacimi, 48, who runs the Muslim Welfare House just yards from where the van ploughed into crowds, said: The attacker was looking for Finsbury Park Mosque, but he couldnt find it. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Counter-terrorist police continue to investigate the horrific north London smash in the early hours of Sunday morning which left 11 worshippers injured. They were helping Makram Ali, 51, who collapsed and died minutes later in front of his 26-year-old daughter.

Investigators are trying to untangle why an angry loser from Cardiff suddenly decided to drive 150 miles across the country and unleash mayhem.

They continue to hold Osborne on suspicion of attempted murder and terrorist offences at a high-security south London police station after obtaining a warrant to detain him further.

Last night, a resident who lives on the same estate as Osborne said he called police when he found him sleeping in the van. Edward Gardiner said he tried to ask Osborne, who smelled strongly of alcohol, what he was doing before dialling 101. The force confirmed that an officer spoke to Osborne but took no action as there was no evidence that the father of four had driven the 80-a-day van.

Meanwhile, relatives, school friends and neighbours said Osborne was an angry and violent man who often got into fights.

Born in Singapore, he went to primary school in Milton Keynes before moving to Weston-Super-Mare with his sister and mother, Christine. His father John moved to Abu Dhabi. Miss Osborne said he suffered a disability after severing nerves in his hand while stabbing a car in a violent rage.

She said: Im not going to say that he is an angel. But he is not racist and he is not a terrorist. He is someone who is lost. He needs help. He is not well. He is currently on antidepressants.

I feel so sorry for the people he hurt. And I hope that he didnt cause that mans death who had the heart attack. I am angry with him as well.
Muslim diversity campaigner Mariam Veiszadeh has tweeted an image of herself outside Sydney's Lindt cafe to slam critics who allege she doesn't say enough about Islamist terror.

The hijab-wearing lawyer and part-time social justice warrior told her Twitter followers how she had joined mourners in Martin Place following the deadly siege in December 2014.

'If one more dimwit tells me I don't speak out against terror,' she said in the wake of this week's terrorist attack at a London mosque.

Mariam Veiszadeh (third from the right) laid a wreath outside Sydney's Lindt cafe in 2014

The Muslim social justice campaigner tweeted that her terror remark critics were 'dimwits'

Conservative Jewish activist Avi Yemini said Mariam Veiszadeh needed to say more about Islamist terrorism

'I was one of the first Aussie Muslims laying flowers at Martin Place siege memorial.'

The Shia Muslim activist tweeted the image after Daily Mail Australia told her former Israeli soldier Avi Yemini had criticised for her saying more on Twitter about this week's Finsbury Park Mosque attack in London than this month's London Bridge Islamist terror attack.

'We will never eradicate 'Islamic extremism' until Muslim leaders like Mariam Veiszadeh are as outraged about Islamic terror as they are about any attack on Muslims,' he said.

Mrs Veiszadeh had argued she was more outspoken about the Finsbury mosque attack because she was the founder of the Islamophobia Register Australia campaign.

Mrs Mariam Veiszadeh wipes away tears as she joins mourners in Sydney's Martin Place

The lawyer and Islamophobia Register Australia leader joined a queue to pay her respects

'One of the areas that I advocate against is Islamophobia,' she said.

'It's like when there's an incident around homophobia and you come out and you speak about homophobia because that's something you have been campaigning against.'

The wife of New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian's media director Ehssan Veiszadeh published one original tweet on June 3 to condemn the London Bridge terrorist atrocity that killed eight people, including two Australians.

However, on Tuesday she put out five tweets about Sunday's alleged Finbury mosque attack in London's north, that killed a Muslim worshiper.

On tweet said far-right extremists were given too much freedom compared with Islamist 'hate preachers'.

'When far-right extremists draped in flags make remarks which have the same potential, we cite freedom of speech and declare they need to be ignored,' she said.

The lawyer criticised how far-right activists are allowed to make anti-Muslim comments

The lawyer, who moved to Australia as a refugee from Afghanistan in 1988, tweeted about the Manchester terrorist attack in May and the Nice terrorist attack in July 2016.

In December 16, 2014, Mrs Veiszadeh joined thousands of mourners after Iranian-born gunman Man Monis, who came to Australia as a refugee in 1996, killed cafe manager Tori Johnson at the end of a 16-hour siege.

Barrister Katrina Dawson was killed in the crossfire as police stormed the Martin Place crime scene.

Coroner Michael Barnes concluded in May the hostage taking of 18 people was an act of terror.
An animal-loving hunter has sparked a debate after killing three cats with a bow and arrow, claiming they needed to be shot because they're 'feral.'

Renee Sullivan, 20, of Bendigo, Victoria, shared pictures of herself in camouflage gear, holding her weapon in front of her kills on Facebook this week.

'Today I managed to wait these guys out and get my first kill of species, 3 cats. One happy chappy,' she captioned the image.

Her post sparked backlash from some who blasted what she did as 'barbaric.'

Renee Sullivan sparked a debate after killing three cats with a bow and arrow and posting a picture on social media (above)

But Ms Sullivan, a self-described cat lover who says she has volunteered at an animal welfare agency, but others praised her for culling 'feral' animals.

She defended her actions by saying the cats she killed would have preyed on other animals.

Ms Sullivan hunted the animals on a friend's property, where they posed a risk to newborn lambs, she told the Bendigo Advertiser.

'I'm a bowhunter, I kill animals,' she added on Facebook.

'I killed these cats because they were gonna grow up to become lamb and wildlife killers.'

She added: 'I have been watching [the cats] the last couple times I have been out here.

Ms Sullivan claimed the cats needed to be shot because they are dangerous to other animals

The 20-year-old, who describes herself as an animal lover, has previously shared pictures of rabbits she has shot

'They were born feral and they remain feral, they had no chance at being domesticated.

'I managed to wait them out so I shot them, instant death straight through the chest.'

She added: 'There are many people who do this, I am not the only one.'

But RSPCA Victoria contradicted her claims that the deaths were humane  saying even an arrow from the most skilled marksperson wouldn't result in instant death.

Although chief executive officer Liz Walker conceded that in some circumstances, it is necessary to control the population of wild animals, she insisted bowhunting was not the way to do so.

'When an animal is fatally shot with a bow, it can take several minutes for them to die and it will suffer severe pain over this period due to the high level of tissue trauma and damage to organs,' Dr Walker told the Advertiser.

Ms Sullivan says she's been inundated with messages slamming her hunting, but urged her critics to research feral cats.

However, when asked about why she photographed her kills, she said that without a photo 'you can't claim it.'

On Instagram, she has shared pictures of rabbits she has shot and said that she'd like to hunt deer.

The Australian Bowhunters Association, which she is a part of, has guidelines on how hunters should photograph their kills  including making sure no arrows are still in them and no pictures to be taken of bloody animals.
Contractor Responsible For Painting Over Pilsen Mural Regrets Controversial 'Making Chicago Great Again' Post

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jun 21, 2017 6:59PM



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Just a day after some Pilsen residents mourned the loss of the iconic Casa Aztlan murals, anger boiled up again on Wednesday over a controversial comment posted by a general contractor working on the property's conversion into apartments. In a now-deleted post from February, Real Restoration Group approximated Donald Trump's notorious campaign slogan with a photo of the space formerly home to the community center: "New project started today. #makingchicagogreatagain." The CEO later expressed regret and emphasized having no enthusiasm for Trump.

Some were irate with the post. "Paraphrasing an anti-Mexican racist President as they displace Mexican people... I was not being hyperbolic when I said this was a rehearsal of colonialism," wrote Ricardo Gamboa, the user who shared the post, which was written in February. Others left critical comments and visitor posts on the company's Facebook page.

Morris Gershengorin, CEO of Real Restoration Group, told Chicagoist that it in retrospect it was a poor decision. "Now, looking back, was it a smart thing to write? No, but theres no association of my company for support of Donald Trump or any politician Im pro-people. Im pro-neighborhood.

"I did not vote for Donald Trump. Frankly Im not a fan of politics as a whole," said Gershengorin.

He said that he saw working on the building, which was vacant after Casa Aztlan lost the building, in 2013, as "doing something positive for the community, not negative." Noting that his parents were first generation immigrants from Ukraine, Gershengorin said he is "deeply offended" at being characterized as a racist. "I'm for roots, for history, for community," he told Chicagoist.

There was also property damage done to the building, according to Gershengorin. Police were notified after vandals spray-painted portions of the inside of the property, he said.

Casa Aztlan was deeply tied to Chicago nascent Chicano movement in the 1970s and remained a respected neighborhood institution for decades. The celebrated murals that adorned its former space at 1831 S. Racine Ave. were painted over in gray on Monday, as work is underway to convert the space into apartments. People gathered on Tuesday outside the space to mourn the removal.
A Muslim man who laughed over his trembling five-year-old son as his family prepared for the boy's 'execution' claims he was teaching him honesty.

Kiimatangiroa Junior Samuel, 41, from Hastings, New Zealand made his son collect a hammer and kneel on white sheets so he could be 'executed' for running around a mosque during prayer time on February 26 this year.

A court heard Samuel made his other children aged seven, nine and 10 collect sheets to stop the blood from the execution 'getting on the floor',Stuff reported.

A Muslim man who laughed over his trembling five-year-old son as his family prepared for the boy's 'execution' claims he was teaching him honesty

Once the execution had been set up the 41-year-old man told his older children to 'look away so you don't see all the blood'.

The five-year-old cried as he was made to close his eyes, before his father laughed out loud at the scene.

The man told the court he never intended on carrying out the death threat.

Judge Max Courtney said it was 'the cruellest set of facts I have ever come across' before sentencing him to four-and-a-half years behind bars for threatening to kill.

'It's horrendous... It is certainly not the way you instill honesty and truthfulness in your children,' he said.

The father also plead guilty to nine other charges of assault against his young children.

The court heard the man would often twist his children's arms and hit them with a broom daily.

The judge rejected the man's claims that he treated his children in line with his culture.
An ex-brothel madam who recently sold her multi-million-dollar waterfront mansion could be prevented from getting her hands on the money.

Several parties had placed caveats on the Yowie Bay property which Jamelie Lahood sold on April 26, with the NSW Supreme Court being told the $2.8 million sale price was far below the expected valuation.

Among those disputing the sale of the property is Kings Cross identity Fadi Ibrahim, who holds a stake in the property.

He is the brother of high-profile nightclub boss John Ibrahim, who was shot in 2009.

Mr Ibrahim's case went to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as he sought to recover $2.9 million he claimed was owed to him by Ms Lahood, Fairfax Media reported.

Mr Ibrahim had gone all out to stop the sale of property in order for it to sell for a better price

Justice Michael Slattery agreed to extend Mr Ibrahim's caveat on the property if he paid the outstanding stamp duty.

The mansion, which has direct water access, had been valued between $3.8 million to $4.2 million.

Core Logic Property Data indicated that property values in Yowie Bay have risen by 60 percent in past five years, and given the house had been purchased for $3 million in 2011, its April sale was at a bargain price.

Ms Lahood who ran the Stiletto brothel at Camperdown with her former fiancee, Eddie Hayson up till 2014 is no stranger to controversy.

The Australian Taxation Office last year reportedly pursued her for $16 million in unpaid income tax.

Jamelie Lahood used to operate Stiletto brothel in Camperdown with her former fiancee

The frontal view of the Yowie Bay property which has direct assess to water and five rooms

ATO later dropped the case but retained a caveat on several of her properties, including the waterfront Yowie Bay mansion.

She had bought five-bedroom house from Fantastic Furniture chairman Julian Tertini for $3 million in 2011.

Besides Mr Ibrahim and the ATO, a law firm also had registered a caveat on the property.

The property also boast a swimming pool that over looks magnificent water views such as this

Westpac has also started a separate lawsuit against Ms Lahood, who had taken a $2.2 million mortgage for the Yowie Bay home.

A Westpac lawyer confirmed this.

Barrister Craig Wilson said Mr Ibrahim and the others placed an injunction on the sale of the property because they wanted to maximize the sale price, given how many parties had claims up a share of the proceeds.

The matter will return to court on Friday.

The Yowie Bay mansion is said to be worth anywhere between $3.8 million to $4.2 million
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Revellers at Glastonbury Festival continued the party well into the night, following scorching temperatures on the first day of the famous event.

Music fans covered their faces with glitter and slipped into their sparkly party gear as they prepared for the festivities of the night ahead, after watching the sun set over Worthy Farm in Somerset.

Earlier in the day, 200,000 people descended on the site, with festival-goers risking heatstroke as temperatures soared to 31 degrees (87.8F).

However, it is not expected to be as hot on Thursday - with highs of 23C predicted - and thunderstorms set to hit the festival site.

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Revellers at Glastonbury Festival continued the party well into the night, following scorching temperatures on the first day of the famous event

Festival-goers covered their faces with glitter and slipped into their party gear as they prepared for the evening's festivities

Earlier in the day, 200,000 people descended on the site, with music fans risking heatstroke on the Somerset festival's as temperatures soared to 31 degrees

A pair of illuminated dragons lit up the campsite as revellers partied into the night on the first day of the festival

Festival-goers sat around and chatted as candles lit up the Worthy Farm site in Somerset on Wednesday night

Crowds gathered to watch the stunning firework display above the camp site as festivities continued well into the night

Revellers put on their glitter and sequins as the parties carried on into the early hours of the morning on Wednesday

Festival-goers were seen dancing into the night outside the Beat Hotel bar (left); as a large bonfire was lit on the site (right)

Fireworks lit up the sky over Glastonbury Festival to mark the end of the first day, with the whole site illuminated by lights

The impressive display topped off a glorious first day at the festival, which saw scorching highs of 31 degrees (87.8F)

On Wednesday, the scorching highs of 31 degrees (87.8F) made it the festival's hottest ever day, beating the record 27.3C (81.14F) set in 1989 and 2010, according to Met Office records.

While boho outfits teamed with wellies are typically the backbone of festival fashion, they were usurped by beachwear as revellers stripped down to their bikini tops on the first day of the festival.

Worthy Farm isn't the only place sweltering across the UK; Heathrow in west London had recorded temperatures of 34.5C (94.1F) by 4pm, the highest for June since the 35.6C (96F) recorded in Southampton on June 28 1976.

The 40-year high  which is the hottest summer solstice on record  has been recorded as parts of Britain swelter in the fifth consecutive day with temperatures above 30C (86F).

Music fans waved their hands in the air as they sat back and enjoyed the beautiful evening on the first day of the festival

One reveller was seen applying glitter on her friend's face, after the pair slipped into their crop tops for the night ahead

A group of friends were seen taking selfies in front of the famous Glastonbury sign, as dusk descended on the festival site

Earlier in the day, women arriving at the event were more than happy to be sprayed down with a cool hose as they arrived in their bikinis and hot pants

Crowds bathed themselves in the glorious sunshine at a festival that is better known for its rain showers and mud

Another festival-goer took a selfie of her glitter-covered face, as dusk descended upon Worthy Farm on Wednesday

But the hottest prolonged spell in June since the drought summer of 1976 is set to come to an end, as a cold front sweeps across the UK overnight.

There are also weather warnings in place for Wednesday afternoon and evening, with heavy rain and thunderstorms forecast for parts of southern Scotland, northern England, north Wales and the Midlands.

But back at Worthy Farm, revellers found their own way to cool off. Some took shelter under trees or carried parasols, but others braved it in bikini tops and hot pants, while male ticket holders were equally quick to strip off their shirts and go topless.

One reveller slipped into an embellished crop top and high-waisted sequin pants for the first night of the festival

A pair of friends looked to be in very high spirits as they shared a hug (left); while one woman showed off her very eccentric ensemble (right)

Crowds sat back and relaxed as the sun set over the Worthy Farm site, as campers prepared for their first night under the stars

Pictured are a series of luxury yurts on the festival site, as music fans enjoyed a stunning sunset over the Somerset farm

Crowds of revellers basked in the sunshine as they partied into the evening, before spending their first night under the stars

A group of friends donned their angel wings and denim shorts as they posed for photographs at the festival

Festival-goers lay back on beanbags as crowds gathered to watch the sun go down over the famous Somerset site

One reveller showed off her sheer skirt as the sky was filled with shades of orange and pink (left); while another played with bubbles as the sun set (right)

Festival-goers were in their full summer gear on the sizzling first day, with floaty tops and boho dresses out in full force

Revellers looked relaxed as they watched the sun set over the festival site, following the hottest ever day at Glastonbury

A woman looked delighted as she blew bubbles into the sky, while other festival-goers at Worthy Farm watched on

A group of revellers wearing their sparkly party gear flashed big smiles as they took a selfie on the first evening of the festival

Festival-goers looked to be in extremely high spirits as they enjoyed the glorious sunshine at Glastonbury

Huge crowds gathered on the hill at Worthy Farm to watch the sun set over the sprawling festival site

Revellers who were desperate to escape the sun were even seeing lying under a hedge to take advantage of the shade. Others indulged in a water fight while a canny group of camping field stewards filled up the paddling pool.

Dozens of people had to be treated for heat stroke after waiting for hours to get in to this year's Glastonbury on possibly the hottest day in the festival's history.

By 2pm more than 38 people were being treated in the medical centre, with many more being looked after where they fell, by on-site paramedics and medical teams as people struggled in the heat and that number is expected to rise into triple figures by the end of today.

Lisa Morris, 45 Kirstie Difford, 23, Amy Grant, 20, and SJ Smallpage, 36, throw water over each other from jugs to cool down

Well it is bikini weather! Lucy Pratt,22 , Emily Muntz,21 and Imogen Stuckes, 22, from Somerset soak up the sunshine

A stunning rainbow formed as revellers were sprayed with water as they cool down at Worthy Farm

A fully-clothed reveller was treated to a freezing cold spritz of water as she made her way inside the festival loaded up with her bags

Festival goers stripped off into their bikinis in an attempt to catch an all-over glow during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton

Camping field stewards use a paddling pool to stay cool amid record-breaking temperatures for the festival

Two women were clearly sweltering in the heat so were more than happy to be doused with a hose

They may not have encountered any water sprinklers or hose pipes but two friends found a much more simple way to cool down

A woman looked ready to rock as she took out her hair scrunchie and danced in the sprinkler

Left: A man displayed some serious sunburn as he slept outside of his tent in a patch of shade. Right: Two revellers made a patch of shade using cardboard boxes as they relaxed by a fence

Jolly festivalgoers stripped off to their summer clothes as they enjoyed dancing in the cool water sprays

In a desperate bid to shade themselves from the sun, people were seen lying under hedges

Bikini tops and hotpants became one of the afternoon's most popular looks as ticket holders did their best to cool down

Festival goer Amy Grant, 20 from Bath cools down by pouring water over her face

Off to the beach girls? These friends were feeling happy that they had brought their bikinis for one of the hottest days of the year

People rest in the shade under a table while having a snack during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm

Ticket holders were eager to take advantage of any small patch of shade they could find

Adele Lockie from Surrey, shelter from the sun in the Hammock Area

Here come the girls! Scantily-clad women donned hotpants and bralets with wellies for the event

A good excuse for a sweet treat! Friends enjoy an ice cream as they start gearing up for the Glastonbury festival

A woman sits in a hammock as temperatures reach record levels at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton on June 21

Parasols look set to replace wellies as the most popular accessory at this year's festival

Harriet Barrow from London, Verity and Hannah Woolnough shelter from the Sun under a sign

A festival goer wears a makeshift hat to shield his head from the sun at Glastonbury

Left: One man donned a fun sombrero, whilst another wore a colourful umbrella hat. Right: Two ladies took shade under a telephone box in the scorching heat

Festival-goers took off their shirts inside one of the tents as they roasted in the scorching heat on the first day of the festival

'This is for a range of incidents and not just related to the heat,' a spokesman for South Western Ambulance Service added.

At one point the queues were more than three and a half hours long in the blistering heat but a new security gate system, with bag searches and turnstiles actually helped speed up the flow, regular festival-goers said.

The longest queues came by mid-morning, when the heat was recorded at 27C and rising.

People arriving were channelled into a special queuing field and meandered around a series of barriers before being let inside in groups of around 100 into the security zone entrances.

Even by mid-morning the heat was taking its toll and medical staff and stewards were advising people to make sure they had hats and water before entering the back of the queue.

A spokesman for South West Ambulance said: 'If you are heading to the Glastonbury Festival it is really important you take plenty of water with you, wear a hat and put on suncream.

Hottest June day since 1976 as temperatures rise above 34C Temperatures soared above 34C as the UK saw its hottest June day since 1976, the Met Office has said. Heathrow in west London had recorded temperatures of 34.5C (94.1F) by 4pm, the highest for June since the 35.6C (96F) recorded in Southampton on June 28 1976. The 40-year high  which is the hottest summer solstice on record  has been recorded as parts of Britain swelter in the fifth consecutive day with temperatures above 30C (86F). But the hottest prolonged spell in June since the drought summer of 1976 is set to come to an end, as a cold front sweeps across the UK overnight. There are also weather warnings in place for Wednesday afternoon and evening, with heavy rain and thunderstorms forecast for parts of southern Scotland, northern England, north Wales and the Midlands. The Met Office warned of the potential for torrential downpours, frequent lightning, very large hailstones and strong gusts of wind, which could lead to localised flooding and temporary disruption of power supplies. Chief meteorologist Steve Willington said: 'The high pressure that has dominated our weather of late is starting to move away, allowing fresher air in from the west. 'A cold front that will pass through the UK will mark an end to the hot spell of weather in the south and bring cloudier skies and lower temperatures.' The sweltering temperatures have seen 'unprecedented demand' for ambulance services in London, with people fainting, collapsing and becoming unconscious in the heat. Advertisement

Wise move! People followed advice to lather up with sunscreen and drink plenty of water

The festival doesn't start in earnest until Friday, leaving plenty of time to relax in the sun

Festival-goers enjoy the glorious weather conditions on what's believed to be the hottest day in the history of the notoriously rainy and muddy event

Popular spot! People took refuge from the sun under a tree as they sought respite from baking temperatures

People gather by the bar to take advantage of a cooling spray of water

These friends were among the few who were brave enough to sit out in the sun, although one wisely shaded herself with an umbrella

People walk around the festival site as temperatures reach record levels at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm

Chilling time! Once people were settled into the campsite they had the opportunity to lie in the shade and relax

The music hasn't even started yet! A female festival goer shakes her hips to show off her tasseled skirt

The first train from London Paddington arrives at Castle Cary station in Somerset delivering thousands of revellers

People shelter from the sun in the Hammock Area during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset

Friends stroll by the The Park at Glastonbury while others sought refuge from the blazing sun

'Long queues are expected at the festival entrance as extra security checks are put in place,' he added.

Simon Taylor 24, from Salisbury, Wilts, was lucky enough to queue before the heat built up: 'It's not been too bad,' he said as he waited at the head of the queue to enter the security zone.

'We got here at 6.50am, faffed around a bit and then we've been queuing for just over two hours to get to this point,' he said.

The numbers in the queue dropped off by midday as temperatures hit 31C and continued to rise and those emerging from the entry process said they had only had to wait half an hour in the heat.

Before Wednesday, the hottest days at the festival were in 2010 and 1989, when temperatures reached 27.3C and in those years, revellers were left with heat stroke and exhaustion.

Thirsty work! Festival goers were warned to be prepared for queuing in the heat and to take measures to avoid sunstroke

Let's hope they brought their wellies! While temperatures are soaring today, rain forecast for tonight could bring on the famous Glastonbury mud

Isn't it a little hot for that? Covering your head in the sun is wise, but perhaps a furry number isn't the best when its 30C

Amy Grant, 20, and SJ Smallpage, 36, throw water over each other to cool down

You might be needing those later! Rain is expected later tonight, signalling the return of the infamous Glastonbury mud

One too many crates? A man took a tumble as he tried to pull along a cart heavily loaded with alochol

Taking a breather: A woman stretches out on top of her luggage to soak up the sun

Revellers were warned not to drink alcohol in the queue and to wear sunscreen as they entered the festival

We love the sunshine! These friends didn't seem flustered by the record temperatures

However, the spokesman urged those travelling to the festival to wear a hat and sun cream and take plenty of water.'

While going to a music festival may conjure up images of being left covered in mud and looking the worse for wear after several days of partying image-conscious revellers were determined to at least start off looking their best.

Female festival goers turned up this morning as the gates at Worthy Farm in Somserset opened with their hair in rollers.

In recent years the festival has seen a surge in pop up 'vanity vans' offering treatments from pedicures to spray tans to image conscious music fans who will be sharing their festival selfies with hundreds of contacts on social media.

Colourful braids are also a popular look among this year's bunch of Glastonbury-goers with many sporting vivid hair extensions.

Here come the girls: Friends share the load as they make their way to the campsite

Party time! The music doesn't start until Friday, but people are already feeling the excitement

Image-conscious music fans are turning up to Glastonbury with their hair in rollers to look their best for their festival selfies

They may well end the weekend covered in mud, but many female festival goers are determined to start out looking their best

Colourful braided hair extensions are also a popular choice among this years' crop of music fans at Glastonbury

Although she kept it casual in a tracksuit, Amy Dulligan from Manchester was keen to make sure her hair looked on point

Did you come straight from the hairdressers? With social media selfies in mind, festival goers are not content with looking scruffy

Selfie time! With attendees set to share their festival photos with hundreds of people on social media, they're determined to look their best

The gates opened at the site this morning and excited revellers clad in colourful costumes, hotpants and typical festival garb are queuing to get through increased security measures, stepped up in the wake of recent terror attacks in London and Manchester.

Anna Harris and Georgia Nightingale, both 25, from south London, set off at 1.30am and entered the gates at 8.10am.

Miss Harris, who has attended the festival for the past three years, said: 'Security does seem stricter this year, they were checking bags.

Despite keeping the sun off with an umbrella and a hat, this reveller couldn't avoid the dreaded sweat patches

A man covers his head with a t-shirt amid warnings from organisers to take precautions against sunstroke

Making themselves at home! Friends carry an inflatable mattress into the camp site

Two men shelter from the hot sunny weather with two small pretty brightly coloured umbrellas

Festival goers are subjected to security checks and bag searches as soon as they arrive on site

At one with nature! A festival goer soaks up the sun while perched on top of the stone circle

Chilling with a cider! These friends were eager to whip off their shirts as they battled soaring temperatures

Women carrying air beds to their campsite as they setlle in for the next few days

PC Sims and PC Williams from Glastonbury enjoy an ice-cream at Worthy Farm

This music fan put on an eye-catching display in a tie dye jumper teamed with a sequinned bum bag (left). A purple-haired festival goer arrives with a trolley full of cider (right)

Hitching a ride! Darrell Ridewood, 33 from Midsomer Norton and Amy Wiggins, 29 from Leeds cleverly piled all their booze into a wheelbarrow

Taking shelter! This woman wisely brought along a pretty parasol to shield her from the sun's rays

'There were some checks but there are so many people and it is so hot. The queues were better than I thought they would be.'

Joe Stacey, 23, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, who set off at 3am said: 'Security was much tighter than it usually is. They were searching every single person. The queues were staggered too, we were separated into lines.'

His friend, Devoney Payne, 22, from Frome, Somerset, said: 'Every person had their bag checked. There were police dogs and we saw a metal detector.'

Despite the temperatures the infamous Glastonbury mud could still make an appearance.

Heavy showers and a thunderstorm are predicted on Wednesday night, but luckily most people seemed to be prepared with wellies.

Founder Michael Eavis greeted those queueing outside as the green metal gates opened this morning, saying: 'Hooray! Welcome to Glastonbury.'

Shows on the seven biggest stages start on Friday, but rucksack-lugging revellers like to get there early to secure a decent spot to pitch their tents in.

'There were some checks but there are so many people and it is so hot. The queues were better than I thought they would be,' said Anna Harris, 25, from south London, who was among the first to get in.

Fully loaded! Some revellers looked like they were moving house as they arrived with mountains of luggage

Tens od thousands of people are expected to descend on the Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts over the next few days

Selfie ready! A girl sporting blue braids and pink flowery wellies stood out from the crowd

Ready to party! The music doesn't start until Friday but excited revellers are already getting into the spirit of things

One girl stood out from the crowd in a star print bikini top, glittery make-up and pom pom earrings

Friends make their way to the campsite after going through heightened security to gain access to the festival

Festival goers cool themselves down with fans. The Met Office has warned the scorching temperatures will reach 33 degrees in some parts of the country on Wednesday

Revellers putting on the sun cream at the Glastonbury Festival as the UK braces for the hottest June day for 40 years

That's one way to beat the heat! A novelty umbrella hat and a can of cider goes a long way in a heatwave

Feeling the burn: Temperatures could reach 30C at the 900-acre Somerset site - 10C higher than usual - in the lead-up to the world-famous event

Revellers wisely take a break to beat the heat with an ice cream

Delighted to be here! All 135,000 tickets have sold out, with a further 40,000 people accredited to attend

Tickets cost 238 ($300, 270 euros) and all 135,000 have sold out, with a further 40,000 people accredited to attend.

'It's like going to another country, a hip and thrilling Brigadoon that appears every year or so,' the festival said.

'You enter a huge tented city, a mini-state under canvas. British law still applies, but the rules of society are a bit different, a little bit freer. Everyone is here to have a wild time in their own way.'

The festival, hosting a population of 200,000, is being headlined by Radiohead, Foo Fighters and Ed Sheeran.

Johnny Depp will make an appearance, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is due to give a talk and introduce US rap duo Run The Jewels.

Police and festival organisers have warned that extra security checks will take place after recent attacks in London and Manchester.

Avon and Somerset Police have said there is 'no intelligence' to suggest a specific threat to the festival.

A reveller flashed her legs in a green leopard print skirt with a daring side slit. Another kept it simple in a black dress and khaki jacket

Kick up your heels! They may have faced an early start, but it certainly didn't dampen spirits among ticket holders

Well stocked! This pair certainly won't have to worry about queuing for the bar over the weekend

Tired already! A woman looked a little fed up as she lugged her belongings to the campsite

A reveller is searched as she arrives at Worthy Farm in Somerset for the Glastonbury Festival

Is that your teddy bear? A woman came with a furry backpack strapped to her luggage

It's finally here! A festival goer beams as she gets her wristband at the entrance to the festival

Glastonbury Festival has tweeted advice to people travelling to the festival in the heat to take precautions against sunstroke, tweeting: 'If you're queuing in the heat drink lots of water. If you don't have enough, ask the stewards and security.

'Don't drink alcohol in the queue. It will dehydrate you. Take off your rucksack - it is insulating you and stopping you from losing heat.

'Loosen your clothing and allow the air to circulate. Seek shade from wherever you can. Wear hats or improvise a hat.

People hauled their belongings on trolleys and backpacks as they made their way to the festival in sweltering temperatures

Even being on crutches wasn't going to keep this music fan away from the much-anticipated event

Ready for a cold one? Festival goers makes their way to the campsite with boxes of beer

A woman joins the hordes and pushes her luggage along towards the campsite

'Reapply sunscreen and cover up. Factor 30 is good but covering your skin is better. If you have young children or you are a vulnerable adult, make yourself known to security. If you feel ill or faint, seek help from stewards and security.'

Festival-goers sought shade under trees and enjoyed ice creams to keep cool.

Public Health England's South West Centre urged people to 'be prepared' for queuing in the heat.

It tweeted a link to the NHS information page for heat exhaustion and heatstroke.

Meteorologist Alex Deakin, from the Met Office, added: 'It is going to be a hot, hot start to the festival this year.

The Somerset Festival, which Michael Eavis started in 1970 when several hundred hippies paid just 1, now attracts more than 200,000 people. Pictured, Mr Eavis welcomes revellers

Anna Harris (right) and Georgia Nightingale (centre), both 25, arrive at the festival in colourfully adorned hats

Police sniffer dogs check the bags of the first wave of early arrivals at the Glastonbury festival

Sniffer dogs are assisting the police as festival-goers face heightened security at the festival

Tens of thousands of music fans arrive for the world famous Glastonbury music festival at Worthy Farm, in Somerset

Festival goers wait for the gates to open amid heightened security this year, in the wake of terror attacks in Manchester and London

Will they need their wellies? Festival goers made their way through the gates loaded with heavy bags and tents

Start as you mean to go on! A festival goer enjoys a cider in the queue for the festival gates to open

As some 200,000 people descend on the site, this year could see the hottest festival on record with temperatures expected to soar above 93F

Temperatures could reach 30C at the 900-acre Somerset site - 10C higher than usual - in the lead-up to the the world-famous event

'It could be one of the hottest days we've actually recorded at the festival, temperatures may get to 30C.

'But then there will be a big change, it turns cooler and much fresher, and although there's not a lot of rain in the forecast for this year's festival, there is the risk of seeing a thunderstorm on Wednesday night.

'Certainly for Wednesday itself - queuing in cars, setting up the tent - it is going to be hot.

'After that, there's a small chance of some showers but it is much, much cooler and much fresher as the music gets under way.'

The Met Office is advising people to bring a Pac a Mac and sun lotion in readiness for the unpredictable British weather

Michael Eavis walks through the gates to greet the first festival goers, minutes before he is due to open the festival

People made their way into the festival at daybreak, on what is set to be the hottest day of the year

More than 20 couples will take part in ancient handfasting ceremonies at Glastonbury to bind themselves together. During the ceremony, on the site's Healing Field, the couple's hands are tied together using a special cord - literally 'tying the knot'

The eclectic Somerset festival is renowned around the world for its hippy and bohemian vibe

People have been patiently waiting for hours to get onto the site and set up their tents for the weekend

Stringent security measures have been put in place this year, with more police in place to keep revellers safe

There have only been eight years when Glastonbury Festival has seen no rainfall - so no doubt music fans will be keen to soak up some rays

Police and festival organisers have warned that extra security checks will take place after recent attacks in London and Manchester

Precious cargo! A festival goers secures a supply of booze to a trolley with brown tape

Taking a breather already! When there's days of partying ahead it's crucial to conserve your energy

There have only been eight years when Glastonbury Festival has seen no rainfall.

The hottest days were in 2010 and 1989, when temperatures reached 27.3C - leaving some revellers with heatstroke and exhaustion.

Ticket-holders staying in camper vans and caravans were allowed entry from midday on Tuesday - with other festival-goers entering from 8am on Wednesday.

Catching 40 winks: Music fans started to queue at dawn to gain access to the site

Thumbs up! An excited music fan looked thrilled to finally get through the gates of the festival, even though the music doesn't start until Friday

Jeremy Corbyn will appear at Glastonbury this summer - a year after he was forced to pull out because of the Brexit referendum, and will introduce US leftie rap duo Run the Jewels and address the crowds from the stage

Those already on site have posted on social media about bag checks, with some vehicles and property searched by sniffer dogs.

Organisers and police have urged attendees to pack light, place luggage tags or ID on all bags and expect searches.

'Like the rest of the UK, festival-goers should be alert but not alarmed,' Assistant Chief Constable Caroline Peters said.

Time for a spot of sunbathing. With two days to go until any acts appear, there's plenty of time to chill out on site

Exciting times! This woman looked delighted to finally arrive and get settled in

Revellers wisely took refuge under the shade of a huge tree to escape the midday sun

A group of Glastonbury revellers have posted images on Facebook boasting about apparently breaking in to the festival.

An image appeared on the site of Sam Binks, 27, claiming to have breached security and made it into the world's biggest music event with five friends.

He shared a photo of the group sitting at the Stone Circle in the early hours of Tuesday with the caption: 'Landed in Glastonbury after a hard break in. So far 5 out of 12 have made it!'

Well prepared! People came armed with everything from waterproof jackets and beer to roll up sleeping mats

Sam, according to social media, is from Stourbridge, West Midlands. The electrician added: 'T bone is in a portaloo on the outside. Only 5 of us got in. It was bad.'

When approached online for comment, Sam claimed the photo was not genuine.

He said: 'It was a hoax. Photos [sic] from two years ago.'

The festival, hosting a population of 200,000, is being headlined by Radiohead, Foo Fighters and Ed Sheeran

Johnny Depp will make an appearance, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is due to give a talk and introduce US rap duo Run The Jewels

People loaded up crates filled with clothes, toiletries and supplies and wheeled them onto the site on trailers

There is a heavy police presence at the scene, with police cars guarding the gates as thousands make their way through

Even so, the post has so far racked up dozens of likes, with other Facebook users congratulating the fugitive festival-goers.

The festival's organiser, site owner Michael Eavis, has previously been criticised for having lax security.

In 2002, a 1m, 12ft 'super' fence was built to stop unauthorised access to the festival after it was estimated that 100,000 people broke into the 2000 event.

One of the most famous festivals in the world, Glastonbury has gone ahead despite recent terror attacks

Glastonbury Festival has been approached for comment.

The music extravaganza is expected to be the most shared live event of the year, with mobile network EE expecting 40 terabytes of data to be used.

The telecoms giant, the official technology and communications partner for the festival, will place a temporary 4G network across the site.

It is also providing free 4G Wi-Fi and phone charging on-site, including wireless charging for the first time.

Worthy Farm will have 10 information signs powered by urine, thanks to a new 40-person urinal near the Pyramid Stage.

The urine is converted into electricity thanks to technology developed by the University of the West of England.

A second 'Pee Power' site at the festival will charge lighting and mobile phones.

Glastonbury Festival takes place from Wednesday to Sunday.
South Korea has threatened military action against the North after confirming Kim Jong-un sent a drone to spy on their new missile defenses.

Seoul strongly condemned the spying mission, calling it an 'act of provocation' and said if Kim Jong-un does not stop 'our military will forcefully retaliate'.

Meanwhile two US officials told CNN that increased activity has been detected at the dictator's nuclear testing site, possibly indicating preparations for a sixth test.

While the officials said the much-anticipated test is far from certain, there are concerns it could be timed to coincide with a visit by Chinese officials to Washington DC on Wednesday.

South Korea has threatened the North with military action after confirming that a spy drone found crashed on its territory last month was sent by Kim Jong-un's regime

Seoul says data and 550 images collected from the drone shows it was sent to spy on military bases, and in particular the US THAAD missile defense system

Military officials called the spying missing 'an act of provocation' and said if the North does not desist 'our military will forcefully retaliate'

The drone was found crashed in a wooded area near the Demilitarized Zone which separates the two Koreas on May 2

Satellite images published this month by observation group 38North confirmed continuing activity at the Punggye-ri site, though its analysts said the site still appears to be in standby mode.

If a test were carried out, it could prompt pre-emptive strikes by the 'armada' President Trump has stationed in the region, and provoke all-out war in the region.

In a sign that the situation could rapidly deteriorate, Trump tweeted on Tuesday that efforts by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to control North Korea had 'not worked out'.

The President has repeatedly said that if the Chinese could not 'solve' the North Korea issue, 'we will.'

South Korea's military said on Wednesday that a drone found earlier this month on a mountain near the Demilitarised Zone was confirmed to have been from North Korea

A spokesman said it was a 'grave provocation' that violated the Korean War truce.

The threat came as two US officials told CNN of 'new activity' at North Korea's nuclear testing site, raising fears of a much anticipated sixth test

Analysts for observation group 38North published satellite images of the site earlier this month, saying it appears to be in standby mode

US officials fear a sixth test could be carried out at the Punggye-ri site on Wednesday as Chinese military officials visit Washington DC

The drone crashed while returning to the North and was found equipped with a camera and aerial photographs of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile defense system site in a southern region of South Korea, South Korean officials said.

The origin and flight path of the drone were confirmed in an analysis of the onboard computer and camera, officials said.

'The intrusion of our airspace by the North Korean drone and photographing of a military base is a violation of the Armistice and an agreement on non-aggression and is an act of grave provocation,' Joint Chiefs of Staff official Jeon Dong-jin said.

'We strongly condemn the North's continued attempts at penetrating the South with drones and once again, demand all acts of provocation are halted,' he added.

The drone had been launched in the Kumgang-gun area in Kangwon Province on May 2, the defense ministry's spokesman Moon Sang-gyun told the briefing.

'The aircraft proceeded to fly for a total of five hours and thirty minutes and its assessed flight path matched the evidence seen in the photographs taken by it,' said Moon.

Fears that President Trump will act to combat North Korea's nuclear programme increased on Tuesday after he said Chinese efforts to reign in the regime have 'not worked out'

South Korea said images found on the drone and its flight path show it was sent to spy on the THAAD anti-missile defense system stationed in South Korea

The system, which is designed to shoot down warheads from North Korea, is currently deployed on a golf course near Seoul (pictured)

Moon added the drone had been found with roughly 550 photographs and the military assessed it aimed to collect information on South Korean military bases and the anti-missile THAAD system located in Seongju.

The drone had turned around in Seongju after taking photographs, Moon said, and later crashed in Inje-gun in the South's Gangwon Province where it was found by South Korean military on June 9.

The U.S. THAAD anti-defense system has been deployed in South Korea to counter a growing missile threat from North Korea. North Korean drones are known to have flown over South Korea several times.

The defense ministry said on Wednesday this latest drone largely matched another North Korean drone discovered in 2014 on Baengnyeong Island, near the inter-Korean maritime border.

Japan also sought to reassure its citizens over fears of an attack by North Korea by carrying out a public test of its own missile defenses on Wednesday.

Japan sought to reassure it citizens over fears of an attack by North Korea with a public test of its own missile defense system on Wednesday

A PAC-3 Patriot battery drove on to the Asaka Self Defense Forces base near Tokyo, deployed its radar antenna and raised its missile launcher to firing position. The drill is one of four being held across Japan.

'Making this public is a way to reassure people about their safety and bring peace of mind,' Akinori Hanada, an Air Self Defense Force major, told reporters.

Increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula came after Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student imprisoned by Kim Jong-un's regime for trying to steal a propaganda poster, died after being handed back to the US in a coma.

While it is unclear how Warmbier ended up with the severe brain damage which ultimately caused his death, several prominent US politicians - including Senator John McCain - have accused North Korea of state-sponsored murder.
The man who volunteered to be a human guinea pig by undertaking the world's first head transplant this year has admitted his dream will never happen.

Severely handicapped Russian Valery Spiridonov, 31, now accepts his hopes of his head being grafted onto a new healthy body are over.

Controversial pioneering neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero - dubbed Dr Frankenstein - has vowed to undertake the first such transplant in China with an as yet unnamed local patient undergoing the operation.

Valery Spiridonov, 31, who suffers from a muscle-wasting disease and had volunteered to undergo the world's first head transplant, says the operation will not go ahead

As preparation the Turin-based medic was recently part of a team that attached a new head to a rat.

But Spiridonov - who worked with Professor Canavero for two years and became the human face of hopes for head transplant surgery - acknowledged he had now lost his hopes a new body free from disabilities.

He suffers from Werdnig-Hoffman disease, a form of spinal muscular atrophy, and has already defied predictions of poor life expectancy.

Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero, who worked with Mr Spiridonov for two years on the project, has now found a new patient in China

'Given that I cannot rely on my Italian colleague, I have to take my health into my own hands,' he said in his first comment on Dr Canavero's decision to work with a Chinese patient instead.

The Russian will now seek new conventional spinal surgery to improve his life, rather than an experimental operation which medical experts warned had a high risk of death.

'Luckily, there is quite a well-tested surgery for cases like mine when a steel implant is used to support a spine in straight position,' said Spiridonov.

'There are several places in Russia where they carry out such surgery. It eases breathing and helps move in public transport, and just sit down.

'The surgery will not bring strong muscles back and won't let me walk, but it will radically improve the quality of my life.'

He hopes to use crowdfunding to raise the estimated 32,000 he will need for this operation compared with the 12 million expected head transplant cost.

Spiridonov had earlier argued that it was important people stepped forward who were ready to undertake a new kind of surgery that could revolutionise human life.

He attended a major medical conference with Dr Canavero.

The Russian previously said: 'If you want something to be done, you need to participate in it.

Mr Spiridonov says the announcement comes as 'a weight off my chest' and he will now seek more conventional treatment for his condition

'I do understand the risks of such surgery. They are multiple.'

Now he says: 'Do I feel offended? No I am not.

'I am highly grateful to Canavero. Thanks to our joint efforts, a lot is changing for the better, and for me too.'

He admitted: 'I feel a weight lifted off my chest. I never had a vain motive to become the first one.

'I gave two years of my life to this project. I will be glad to see it happening (with someone else).'

He had hoped a head transplant would lead to him have 'an independent life similar to other people' but acknowledged that as a result of Dr Canavero decision to work in China, his future would be as a handicapped person.

'But I am already used to such a life'.

Mr Canavero, who has been dubbed Dr Frankenstein, says the pioneering surgery will still go ahead with an as-yet unnamed patient somewhere in China

By being 'at the centre of world attention for a long period', his life had become richer and he was involved in several scientific projects.

Dr Canavero 'changed a lot for me and gave me a number of new abilities which are a joy to use'.

He said: 'I am part of a team working to create the world's first robotic aid which would help humans in moving heavy weights and luggage.

'I am also working on developing an intelligent wheelchair, so my life is full without preparing for a controversial head transplant operation.

'Everything is for the best.

'Last but not least, I have a girlfriend and we spend a lot of time travelling together.'

The Italian believes his best hopes for financing head transplants are in China, where he is working with colleague Xiaoping Ren from the Harbin Medical University.

Dr Canavero caused more shock this year by saying he intends to attach previously frozen brains of the dead into donor bodies.

Many experts are deeply sceptical - and critical - of his methods, but he claims such brains can be awoken, effectively giving new life to the deceased.
Applications by migrants from Eastern Europe for the right to work in Britain have plunged since the vote for Brexit.

A leading think-tank has found that the number of workers from Poland and seven other former Eastern Bloc countries registering for employment have fallen to a record low.

The count of those who asked for National Insurance numbers (NINos)  necessary for anyone who wants a job legally in the UK  fell by around a third in a year.

Applications by migrants from Eastern Europe for the right to work in Britain have plunged since the vote for Brexit (shown in graph). EU14 refers to those from countries that were EU members before 2004; A8 shows the countries that joined the EU in 2004  Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia - while A2 workers are from Romania or Bulgaria

The count of those who asked for National Insurance numbers (NINos)  necessary for anyone who wants a job legally in the UK  fell by around a third in a year

The report revealed NINo applicants from the so-called EU8 ex-Soviet satellites - Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia  plummeted from 40,000 in the first three months of 2016 to about 26,000 in the same period this year.

This is the lowest restrictions on the free movement of workers were lifted when the countries joined the European Union in 2004. It was also a fraction of the 2007 peak when there were 111,000 NI registrations.

The new analysis suggests the historic vote to leave the Brussels bloc is having an effect. It will hand hope to Prime Minister Theresa May that her pledge to control the countrys borders and cut net migration to the tens of thousands is achievable.

But it will alarm employers who have warned that some sectors of the economy, such as construction, agriculture and horticulture, rely heavily on EU workers and could struggle if the labour supply dries up.

The figures by the University of Oxfords Migration Observatory mirror the spectacular fall in the level of net migration from the EU8 last year to just 5,000 - a record low since 2004.

Dr Carlos Vargas-Silva, acting director of the respected think-tank, said: We are seeing indications that the UK has become less of an attractive destination for migrants from Poland and the other A8 countries since the referendum on leaving the EU.

This graph shows the change in net migration to the UK, with a drop off after 2015

The paper suggested the fall was linked to the strength of the pound.

It said: The referendum result led to a wave of concern in global financial markets about the UK economy, which immediately resulted in a decline in the value of the pound against other major currencies - reducing the relative value of wages for foreign workers in the UK.

Focus has also fallen on the status of more than three million EU nationals in Britain following the Brexit vote, as well as how immigration from the bloc will be managed following the UK's departure.

The report said: The reduction in the net number of EU migrants has occurred even though there has been no actual change in their legal status.

This suggests that for many EU workers uncertainty related to future residency rights, the value of the pound and the political environment of the UK are likely to play a major role in migration decisions.

Uncertainty about these three aspects is unlikely to decrease in the near future.
A man who was gored by a wild bull after shooting it during a hunting trip has opened up about his long and painful road to recovery.

Victorian man Charles Brown was building a medical centre in Numbulwar, remote Northern Territory, when he went hunting with the locals.

Brown said he and his friends came across what they thought was a wild cow, before shooting it 'to fill their freezers'.

Victorian Charles Brown was building a medical centre in Numbulwar, remote Northern Territory, when he went hunting with some locals

He said his friend shot it three to four times in the chest before realising the animal was actually a bull.

The bull ran off, but Brown said he and his friends wanted to put it out of its misery.

Brown hunted it down and put another four bullets into its head, but before the bull died it reared up and gored him.

'The bull lifted me up by the horn and threw me three or four metres away, puncturing my left butt cheek, peeking my pelvis, tail bone and puncturing my bowel,' he said on his GoFundMe page.

'Then came over to finish me off, putting another hole in and tearing open the back of my arm and trampling me.'

'The bull lifted me up by the horn and threw me three or four metres away, puncturing my left butt cheek, peeking my pelvis, tail bone and puncturing my bowel,' Brown said (pictured following emergency surgery)

Brown (pictured with a wild boar over his shoulders) said he was forced to endure pain for hours before he was treated

Brown said his friend saved his life when he distracted the bull and forced it away.

'It only made it a few metres away and died,' he said.

Brown said he looked down at his body and said 'I think it got me'.

'I got up, grabbed my a*** then looked down and could see blood and s*** everywhere,' he said.

Brown said he was so isolated he and his friends were forced to drive for two hours to reach the closest 'hunting camp'.

Brown (pictured) said he was so isolated he and his friends were forced to drive for two hours to reach the closest 'hunting camp'

During the car trip, Brown said he thought he might die.

'I was getting cold and starting to feel a lot more pain, so I asked (my friend) to get his phone out and write a few words to my family and friends in case I didn't make it,' he said.

When they arrived he said the ordeal was far from over.

A friend had to drive two hours away to the nearest phone to call an ambulance.

It took another four hours before the ambulance reached him.

Brown said it was early the next morning before he finally made it to Darwin hospital.

'I was getting cold and starting to feel a lot more pain, so I asked (my friend) to get his phone out and write a few words to my family and friends in case i didn't make it,' Brown (pictured left) said

Brown is now fundraising to bring his car from the Northern Territory back to Victoria so he can sell it for extra cash to pay his medical bills

Brown spent five weeks in hospital with a colostomy bag while gaining his mobility back.

Five months later, Brown said he was still undergoing serious treatment for his injuries.

'I became septic and an abscess grew under my tailbone causing me more and more pain,' he said.

He said he expected to be out of work for another eight months.

Brown is now fundraising to bring his car from the Northern Territory back to Victoria so he can sell it for extra cash to pay his medical bills.
Mohammed bin Salman has been promoted to crown prince and heir to the throne of Saudi Arabia in a shock move by King Salman.

It comes after a suspected power struggle between 31-year-old Salman, who was previously deputy crown prince and defence minister, and his cousin Mohammed bin Nayef, who he is replacing.

Salman, nicknamed 'Mr Everything', is the son of King Salman bin Abdulaziz and is seen as symbolising the hopes of the youth of the country's population, more than half of which is under 25.

Pictured: New crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman, 31, who is nicknamed 'Mr Everything'

Rivals? Mohamed bin Salman, left, is rumoured to have been battling with his cousin Mohammed bin Nayef, right

Madawi al-Rasheed, a visiting professor at the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, said there are rumours that Salman and Nayef have been battling behind the scenes for some time - and there remains a possibility it could continue.

She wrote in Middle East Eye: 'With the advent of social media, Saudis will either applaud if Mohammed bin Salman ousts his senior cousin while his father is still alive or simply remain oblivious spectators to the royal drama.

'With so many powers now in the hands of Mohammed bin Salman, including the soft power of the Saudi media and the global outreach of the public relations companies he employs, it is difficult to forecast any real challenges to his inauguration as the future king.'

But she also warned: 'Should a power struggle erupt after King Salman dies, it is certain that it will represent a serious blow to dynastic rule in the kingdom and the future of the house of Saud.'

Previously deputy crown prince, Salman (pictured with US President Donald Trump), is rumoured to have been involved in a power struggle with his cousin Mohammed bin Nayef behind the scenes

Today's news was announced by Saudi state agency SPA, which said Nayef has been relieved of his post and replaced by Salman, who becomes deputy prime minister and retains his defence and other portfolios, a royal decree issued by the Saudi state agency said SPA.

Nayef, for years the kingdom's counter-terrorism chief who put down an al Qaeda campaign of bombings in 2003-06, is relieved of all positions, the decree said.

Even as deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman has been responsible for running Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, dictating an energy policy with global implications and spearheading plans for the kingdom to build an economic future after oil.

Al Arabiya television reported that the promotion of the prince was approved by the kingdom's Allegiance Council, and that the king had called for a public pledging of loyalty to Mohammed bin Salman in Mecca.

Should a power struggle erupt into the open while King Salman (pictured) is still alive, Madawi al-Rasheed, a visiting professor at the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, said it will represent 'a serious blow to dynastic rule in the kingdom and the future of the house of Saud'

That the royal succession in the world's top oil exporter is closely scrutinised only makes the rapidity of Mohammed bin Salman's rise to power, and the speed with which his better known cousins were brushed aside, more astonishing.

The surprise announcement follows 2-1/2 years of already major changes in Saudi Arabia, which stunned allies in 2015 by launching an air war in Yemen, cutting back on lavish subsidies and proposing in 2016 the partial privatisation of state oil company Aramco.

Pictured: Nayef (right) while pledging allegiance to Salman (left) after his promotion

'He's clearly very bright, very intelligent, very on top of all his briefs' and has significant influence on the 81-year-old monarch, one Western diplomat said.

Among his most prominent positions is chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, which coordinates economic policy. Mohammed also chairs a body overseeing state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

It is said the prince works 16-hour days and draws inspiration from the writings of wartime British prime minister Winston Churchill and Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'.

The prince has given many interviews where he has spoken at length about his economic plans - including ending the country's 'addition' to oil - while other officials are traditionally tight-lipped.

In a rare press briefing in April last year, he seemed relaxed as he took questions from the domestic and international press for about 50 minutes.

A law graduate from Riyadh's King Saud University, the dark-bearded prince with a receding hairline is the father of two boys and two girls and - unlike other members of the royal family - has married only once.

He said that although Islam allows for multiple marriages, modern life does not leave the time.

Salman spent years working for his father when he was governor of Riyadh and when he was crown prince from 2013 to 2015.

'He has a reputation for being aggressive and ambitious,' Bruce Riedel, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who directs the Brookings Intelligence Project in Washington, has said.

Salman chairs the supreme board of Aramco, making him the first member of the ruling family to directly oversee the state oil company, long regarded as the preserve of commoner technocrats.

But perhaps most importantly, he also holds the critical position of gatekeeper to his father, King Salman, who in Saudi Arabia's absolute monarchy retains the final say in any major decision of state.

Outside Saudi Arabia, that rapid advance and the sudden changes to longstanding policies on regional affairs, energy and its economy have prompted unease, adding an unpredictable edge to a kingdom that allies long regarded as a known quantity.

Inside, they have prompted admiration among many younger Saudis who regard his ascent as evidence that their generation is taking a central place in running a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the old.
The NYPD are hunting an armed suspect who shot and wounded a 29-year-old man following a row in a pool hall in Queens.

The incident, which took place on June 10 at 12.15am was inside a social club on Jamaica Avenue.

According to the NYPD, the victim was 'involved in a verbal dispute' when the unidentified suspect shot him three times with a silver handgun.

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The NYPD is hunting this man in connection with a shooting in a Queens pool hall earlier this month. The man is suspected of producing a handgun and shooting his victim three times

The two men, pictured, started scuffling inside a social club in Queens, New York

The incident dramatically escalated when the man in the red t shirt pulled a gun on his victim

Officers from the 103 Precinct are looking for the suspect, who is described as being a black male, 5'8" tall and weighing 180lbs.

He has brown eyes and short black hair. When last seen, he was wearing blue jeans, a red t-shirt and white sneakers.

The incident was captured on the club's CCTV system.

The suspect is believed to have fled southbound from the club which is at 195-39 Jamaica Avenue.

The victim was taken by ambulance to Jamaica Hospital where he is described as being in a 'stable condition'.

Anyone who recognizes the suspect can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

Information can also be supplied through the Crime Stoppers website www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and citing the reference TIP577.

All information is strictly confidential.

Police said a verbal dispute escalated when the man, right, took out the silver handgun

The victim, right, was rushed to hospital where he is described as being in a stable condition
The State Department has opened a formal inquiry into the possible mishandling of classified information by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aides.

Clinton and her staffers still have security clearances which could be revoked depending on the outcome of the investigation.

The inquiry will be looking into whether Clinton and her aides violated government rules with her use of a private email server while serving as the nation's top diplomat.

The State Department has opened a formal inquiry into the possible mishandling of classified information by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aides

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, confirmed the department's formal inquiry to Fox News.

Clinton's spokesman, Nick Merrill, said: 'Nothing's been more thoroughly dissected. It's over. Case closed. Literally.'

A State Department official told MailOnline: 'Due to privacy considerations, the Department cannot provide any information regarding any current or former employees' security clearance or access to classified information.'

Earlier this month Senator Grassley launched another investigation into Hillary Clinton over whether the former secretary of state meddled in a Bangladeshi corruption probe to help a Clinton Foundation donor.

'This new evidence of pay-to-play and special treatment reinforces the appearance that donations to the Clinton Foundation resulted in favorable treatment by Secretary Clinton's State Department,' Grassley said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (pictured), R-Iowa, confirmed the department's formal inquiry

Clinton's spokesman, Nick Merrill (left), said: 'Nothing's been more thoroughly dissected. It's over. Case closed. Literally.'

The Daily Caller first reported Grassley's move after the publication's Investigative Group published a piece in May saying that Clinton had sent top U.S. diplomats to pressure Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheik Hasina, and her son Sajeeb Wazed, as the country investigated Clinton friend Muhammad Yunus for corruption.

Nothing's been more thoroughly dissected. It's over Clinton's spokesman Nick Merrill

Donald Trump has continued to draw attention to Clinton's email troubles throughout his time as president.

Last week Trump blasted 'crooked' Hillary Clinton - less than 24 hours after it was revealed he is being investigated over obstruction of justice.

Trump slammed his former political rival in a series of tweets, after earlier terming a probe by a special counsel 'the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history - led by some very bad and conflicted people!'

Last week Trump blasted 'crooked' Hillary Clinton - less than 24 hours after it was revealed he is being investigated over obstruction of justice

'Why is that Hillary Clintons family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non-dealings are?' Trump asked on Twitter

'Why is that Hillary Clintons family and Dems dealings with Russia are not looked at, but my non-dealings are?' Trump asked on Twitter.

'Crooked H destroyed phones w/ hammer, 'bleached' emails, & had husband meet w/AG days before she was cleared- & they talk about obstruction?' Trump asked, combining his attacks on Clinton with gripes about the evolving Russia investigation.

The tweet revived two attacks from the 2016 campaign, that a Clinton aide destroyed some of her multiple communications devices, and that her team used software to get rid of old emails.

Trump's attack that Clinton 'bleached' her emails was a reference to her use of BleachBit, an open source software to delete emails she considered private.

Donald Trump has also continued to draw attention to Clinton email troubles as president

His mention of her destroying phones was a reference to information, gleaned from FBI documents released in September, than an aide destroyed two Clinton mobile phones that were no longer being used with a hammer.

Trump went after Clinton for her email practices during the second presidential debate in October  where he also said he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her.

'The thing that you should be apologizing for are the 33,000 e-mails that you deleted and that you acid washed,' Trump said.

'You delete 33,000 e-mails. And then you acid wash them, or bleach them, as you would saya very expensive process,'Trump said.
Man & Woman Shot Dead On Chicago Skyway In Apparent Murder-Suicide

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jun 21, 2017 2:25PM



Chicago Skyway tollbooth at 88th Street. Photo via Google Street View.

The Chicago Skyway heading to Indiana was shut down early Wednesday after a man and a woman were found fatally shot near an expressway tollbooth.

Police say the shooting, heard around 4:10 a.m. in the 8800 block of the southbound expressway, appeared to be a murder-suicide. The woman was found with several gunshot wounds and the man was found with a gunshot wound to the head.

A spokesman for the Chicago Skyway Concession Co. which manages the tollway, told the Tribune that the two people were in their car before the shooting. After they drove through the 87th Street toll gate, the woman got out of the car and the man followed her wielding a gun, and shot her. The car crashed near the site of the shooting. Then police who were stationed near the gate approached the man, who shot himself.

The Skyway lanes could be closed until 11 a.m.
A teenage politician who was tipped as a rising star of the Labour Party was sent behind bars over a sex attack on a fellow youth activist which left her feeling shattered in a billion pieces.

Dylan McAughey - a former member of the UK Youth Parliament - was just 17 and dressed in a onesie when he forced himself on the young woman during a night in watching movies and eating pizza.

Dylan McAughey (pictured) - a former member of the UK Youth Parliament - was just 17 and dressed in a onesie when he forced himself on the young woman during a night in watching movies and eating pizza

McAughey who was also a youth mayor elect in his hometown of Oldham, Greater Manchester - grabbed the victims sleeveless playsuit and undid her bra then began biting her neck and breast as she tried to fight him off.

During the '15-minute' assault, the girl, a college student, reminded McAughey he had already had a girlfriend - but he laughed and replied: I dont like her anymore. The girl escaped when her mobile phone started vibrating.

In a statement to police then victim claimed the assault had pushed her into a "blame process which has shattered that alternative reality into a billion pieces, taking her heart and soul with it.

She said she is so haunted by the incident, she dropped out of university quit her part time job, moved away from her home city and has been referred to an eating disorder clinic following bouts of self harm.

Referring to McAughey, the victim added: I wake up screaming and sweating with flashbacks of that incident. This is no life - it isnt my life, because Im no longer living. You broke me more than I ever thought it was possible to break someone.

I had to give up everything because you made me give up on myself. I will never forgive you for what you have done to me and how you have stolen so much away from my life and for making me feel that I am worthless. I may never be okay again because of you.

At Manchester Crown Court, McAughey, now 19 and a father of one, denied sexual assault but was convicted after a trial on June 16 and was locked away in youth custody for two years. He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offender Register for 10 years and was banned from working with children.

The teenager - who was studying law at college in the hopes of becoming a barrister - wrote a letter to trial judge Richard Mansell QC complaining his career prospects had been dashed by failings in the legal system which he loved and adored.

But the judge told him: You took advantage of this girl in the most appalling way when she wanted nothing to do with you sexually.

Yet instead of owning up to what you did and apologising, you have consistently tried to worm your way out of this situation. The effect upon her has been immense and and all this because you couldnt or wouldnt take no for an answer.

Your work outside curricular studies is impressive but it is also noteworthy that your work around self-image and bullying make it all the more unforgiveable that you took advantage of such a vulnerable girl.

Dylan, pictured with Debbie Abrahams, Labour MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, had gone into politics after being a youth ranger and in 2011 he was elected by 8,000 people to become a councillor for Oldham Youth Council and became its chairman

You have demonstrated no remorse for this offence. Not only did you accuse the victim of initiating and enjoying this sexual encounter - you continue to lie and in a letter to me, complain that your hopes of a career in law have been dashed by failings in the legal system.

The legal system has no place for people with attitude like yours and so your loss of career prospects is due entirely to your own actions.

Earlier the court heard how McAughey had gone into politics after being a youth ranger and in 2011 he was elected by 8,000 people to become a councillor for Oldham Youth Council and became its chairman.

In 2014 he clinched a seat in the UK Youth Parliament in 2014 and spoke in a debate that was televised and formally recorded by Hansard about mental health services being made more available for young people. He later became youth mayor elect in Oldham and would pose for numerous selfies with various Labour MPs including Dennis Skinner, Debbie Abrahams and Caroline Flint.

McAughey who was also a youth mayor elect in his hometown of Oldham, Greater Manchester - grabbed the victims sleeveless playsuit and undid her bra then began biting her neck and breast as she tried to fight him off

The incident occurred on December 29 2014 after McAughey invited the girl round to his home via a message on Snapchat to give her a Christmas present.

I met him when we were on an anti-bullying committee, she told police. We went to different schools but we met through that. He just a mate I wasnt attracted to him. I didnt have any feeling towards him he was just a friend.

We had only really met up about two times so I thought it was a bit weird that he got me a Christmas present. When I arrived at his he was wearing trousers and a shirt but then he went and got changed. He appeared from behind the door and was wearing a onesie.

He turned down the lights and pushed me down onto the bed and started kissing my neck. He pulled my tights down and I was crying and saying no but he carried on. He was biting my nipple and I was trying to push him off but he was too strong. He grabbed my arms and wouldnt let me go. I just kept wriggling and saying that I needed to go.

She added: I had no idea he was going to try anything because he had a girlfriend but then he rested his head on my shoulder and that is when he started to kiss my neck.

One hand was on my hip and the other was behind my head. When I told him to stop because he had a girlfriend he laughed and said he didnt like her anymore anyway.

Then he put his hand behind my back and he undid my bra. I went to reach for my phone but he grabbed my arm. I told him that I needed to go home but at that point he had a clump of my hair in his hands.

The-father-of-one invited the girl round to his home via a message on Snapchat to give her a Christmas present

Then he pulled my playsuit down and pulled my bra down with it so that I had nothing on. Then he started biting my neck and my nipple. Then he started going further down and biting me and I kept telling him to get off me and that he was hurting me.

The biting was aggressive and he was using his teeth. I was trying to wriggle away but he was still on me. I was crying and telling him that he was hurting me but he just didnt say anything and just carried on - it must have lasted between 10 to 15 minutes.

He put his hands into my tights and into my underwear and started putting his fingers inside me. He had his legs over mine so they were pinned down. I got a text and he put his head up and I pushed him off and told them that I was going. I grabbed my clothes and put them back on. He was just lying on the bed watching me.

I tried to get off the bed but he wrapped his arms around me and said: You are not going anywhere; you need to stay. In the end I managed to push him off and get off the bed. He walked me to my car because it was dark outside and his mother had told him to earlier on.

The court heard McAughey sent the women a Snapchat message on December 30 saying: I am sorry. I just want to apologise for scaring you I didnt mean to overstep the mark and I know I have probably f***ed it. I didnt want to because I really like you.

The second sent on New Years Eve added: I am sorry I dont know what else I can say to you. I didnt mean to upset you. I havent slept because I have been to figure out what I have done. A third read: Will you come to the police station with me, I shouldnt be allowed out after what I have done..

McAughey later admitted kissing the girl, now 20, but said all sexual contact was consensual and claimed the Snapchat messages were taken out of context. He claimed the woman appeared to be blaming all her misfortunes at his door.
A landmark new law ending the free movement of people will come into force after Brexit in proposals unveiled in the Queen's Speech.

But the government has fallen short of committing itself to slashing immigration to the tens of thousands in a glaring omission in the legislative plan.

Britain will finally regain control over its borders with the introduction of a new, historic, Immigration Bill.

The Bill will allow ministers to tear up EU laws which allow free movement and introduce tougher measures which will subject nationals from the bloc to the same migration checks as people from elsewhere in the world.

The move will finally bring to an end years of uncontrolled immigration which has helped push Britain's schools and hospitals to breaking point and undercut British workers in the jobs market.

The Queen was accompanied by her son Charles as she delivered the Queen's Speech setting out the government's legislative agenda which includes finally ending EU rules on free movement and bringing greater control to Britain's borders

And it is a major victory for voters who backed Brexit last year because they want immigration to come down.

The Immigration Bill represents a fundamental change which will allow Britain to beef up its border controls.

BREXIT BARRAGE: WHAT ARE THE LAWS TO HELP BRITAIN QUIT Today's Queen's Speech contains eight new laws to help deliver Brexit. They are: Repeal Bill

Trade Bill

Customs Bill

Immigration Bill

Agriculture Bill

Fisheries Bill

Nuclear Safeguards Bill

International Sanctions Bill Advertisement

Announcing it, the Queen said: A Bill will be introduced to repeal the European Communities Act and provide certainty for individuals and businesses.

This will be complimented by legislation to ensure that the United Kingdom makes a success of Brexit, establishing new policies on immigration, international sanctions, nuclear safeguards, agriculture and fisheries.

Theresa May said the change will tackle spiraling immigration without damaging the country's ability to attract the brightest and the best.

She said: 'There will be an Immigration Bill that gives us control of the number of people coming here from Europe while allowing us to continue attracting the brightest and the best.'

The government believes this will enable the country to finally create a 'fair and sustainable' immigration system which attracts talent from all over the globe while helping to bring net migration down.

The Queen was accompanied by Prince Charles for the speech at the Houses of Parliament today. The decision to finally end free movement will be welcomed by voters who backed Brexit last year in order to tackle immigration

A smiling monarch stopped to talk to officials as she made her way to the Lords chamber for the address

Mrs May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn chatted awkwardly as they walked from the Commons to the Lords for the speech

During the election campaign, Mrs May re-committed the Tories to slashing net migration to the tens of thousands.

But the Queen's Speech - which spells out the government's plans for new laws - fails to mention the target.

The conspicuous omission will alarm many who backed Brexit in last year's referendum to bring immigration figures down and ease the strain on over-stretched public services.

And it comes amid Cabinet splits over how far immigration should be cit after Brexit.

Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday warned that immigration must not be 'shut down' after Brexit as he led the charge among for a softer Brexit.

While the Queen did not wear her full robes today, peers were garbed in their ermine for the ceremonial set-piece

Members of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms prepare for the arrival of the Queen for the state opening of Parliament

Police are out in force outside parliament today for the Queen's Speech, which sets out the government's plans for new laws

There has been widespread anger at the massive waves of immigration which have arrived in the UK over the past decade.

Tony Blair threw open the country's borders to hundreds of thousands of immigrants coming from Eastern Europe, choosing not to impose restrictions that would have temporarily limited the numbers.

This allowed an unrestricted flow to Britain from eight countries, including Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic, that joined the EU in 2004.

But the massive waves of immigration overwhelmed parts of Britain where schools, hospitals and GP practices struggles with the sheer numbers arriving.

While British workers have complained that the influx has undercut them in the jobs market.

There have long been calls for Britain to bring down the numbers and in 2010 David Cameron pledged the Tories to slashing net migration to the tens of thousands.

But the target has never been met and realistically never could be as long as Britain remained in the EU, which enshrines freedom of movement.

With Brexit free movement is ending and the government can finally enforce tough new measures to curb the flows.
Former Baywatch star and Playboy model Pamela Anderson has invited the French president to dinner at her vegan restaurant.

The American celebrity, who now calls France home, said she wants the country to 'display its strength' by giving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange asylum.

Called 'La Table du Marche' - or 'The Market Table' - the 'sexy' Saint-Tropez eatery is a joint-operation with chef Christophe Leroy.

In a blog post uploaded to her website on Saturday, Anderson, 49, hailed Assange's 'sexiness', branded Theresa May 'the worst Prime Minister in living memory' and told the WikiLeaks chief: 'I love you'.

Pictured: Pamela Anderson, 49, who stopped by the embassy to meet Assange in February

Pictured: Julian Assange, who spoke from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after Sweden dropped its investigation into rape allegations made against him

In her message to Macron and his wife Brigitte, she wrote: 'As a resident of France, my adopted home, I would like to meet with you and discuss Julian's 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.'

In the same post, Anderson also addressed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, writing: 'Jeremy, you and I share a compassion for animals. You and Julian both know how vicious the UK media can be, and how unjust the present government is.'

She added that Corbyn 'could and should' be the next leader of the country.

The Market Table will open on July 4 - The USA's Independence Day - and promises a Champagne bar and 100 per cent vegan menu.

It will be open for 50 days to offer 'lovers of the Cote d'Azur a gourmet, chic and romantic alternative'.

Her blog post said Anderson and Leroy 'will happily greet you a Sensual atmosphere'.

Anderson was spotted delivering lunch to Mr Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in October last year and then again in February this year, saying she was 'concerned' about his health and his family.

Invite: New French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte (pictured) have been invited to Anderson's new vegan restaurant. The former Baywatch star wants France to 'display its strength' by giving WikiLeaks founder Assange asylum

She later wrote about him on her blog in a long message which was accompanied by a photo of him, saying: 'My relationship with Julian  it's no secret. He is one of my favourite people and he might be the most famous, most politicised refugee of our time.'

She referred to Assange as 'a man risking so much with such little gratitude'.

'Thinking of Julian makes me wonder, what is the sexiest quality in a man? Surely the sexiest qualities in a man are bravery and courage. Sexiness in a man is showing strength,' she added.

Assange has been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for five years while hoping to avoid extradition to Sweden over rape allegations.

The investigation was dropped last month, but Assange still faces arrest in London for skipping bail should he leave the embassy.
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Anti-government protesters clashed with police outside Downing Street today despite pleas from Grenfell Tower residents not to let the disaster be 'hijacked' as an excuse for violence.

A group called the Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary (MFJ) are marching from Shepherd's Bush to Downing Street today hoping to 'bring down the government' and 'shut down London'.

As many as 500 people joined the march which coincided with the Queen's Speech.

Some demonstrators angrily confronted and screamed at police officers, resulting in two arrests, the Met Police confirmed.

Dramatic photos showed several people being detained by police as tempers flared in Whitehall, near Downing Street

Anti-government protesters clashed with police outside Downing Street today despite pleas from Grenfell Tower residents not to let the disaster be 'hijacked'

A demonstrator shouts at a police officer near Downing Street today during so-called 'Day of Rage' anti-government protests

A man is detained by police in Whitehall as numbers of the protesters at the 'Day of Rage' demo swelled during the afternoon

Some demonstrators angrily confronted and screamed at police officers, resulting in two arrests, the Met Police confirmed

Police officers have urged activists to stay calm, insisting the force is already stretched at a time of high terror threat

A group called the Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary (MFJ) are marching from Shepherd's Bush to Downing Street today hoping to 'bring down the government'. Pictured: A protester scuffles with police

When the group arrived in Downing Street today, activists confronted and screamed at police officers, resulting in a number of arrests

One man was restrained as he screamed in the face of an officer and another male protester was pinned to the floor by police.

As he was being carried away he repeatedly shouted he was a 'peaceful' protester, while those watching chanted: 'Let him go.'

Another skirmish with police resulted in a man being led away in handcuffs, having been seen shouting at the protesters.

Pockets of the demonstration then began bickering among themselves in Parliament Square, while another section listened to speeches attentively.

Some protesters carried banners referring to Grenfell Tower, despite residents of the block urging no violence

Speaking at the start of the march today, Zeyad Cred, who lives in the shadow of Grenfell Tower, told activists: 'I am begging you, please keep this peaceful, as the minute it turns into something else you have ruined it for the residents.

'If you are really here for justice and are really here for the residents of my community and the people who live in that tower block, you have got to keep it peaceful. Do not promote this 'march of rage' - it is not what we need.'

The views echoed those of Mahad Egal, a fourth-floor resident of Grenfell Tower, who posted a video message posted on social media today.

Dozens of officers were brought to calm the situation, forming a tight barrier between the activists and the gates to Downing Street

Pockets of the demonstration then began bickering among themselves in Parliament Square, while another section listened to speeches attentively

Protesters marching in London today left Shepherd's Bush at the start of a 'Day of Rage' anti-government demonstration

Three groups of anti-government protesters are taking to the streets of central London on the day of the Queen's Speech

Protesters held up signs emblazoned with Prime Minister May's face along the words 'LIAR' and others which bore the words 'Tories out!'

He said: 'I would just like to send a message out: please, to all those protesting, we don't need no violence in the community, we do not want that in our name.

'Please do not disgrace those who have been affected in Grenfell by resorting to violence, we need people to come together. The community has come together, we don't need no violence in the community.'

Mr Egal had to run from the tower block when his next-door neighbour told him his fridge had caught fire, moments before the entire building was engulfed.

Despite the pleas, tempers began to boil over outside the gates of Downing Street when protesters and police squared off, with activists yelling angrily.

Dozens of officers were brought to calm the situation, forming a tight barrier between the activists and the gates to Downing Street.

Police worked in 32C heat to contain the demonstrators and were seen detaining at least two men. They have yet to confirm whether arrests were made.

On regular occasions, the demonstrators sang Jeremy Corbyn's name while calling for Theresa May to resign as they marched towards Downing Street.

Police officers and MPs took to Twitter to appeal for respect for police officers during today's 'Day of Rage' protests

A man is detained by police this afternoon. It is unclear whether he was among the demonstrators. Grenfell House residents have urged organisers not to let the diasster be 'hijacked' to justify violence

The numbers taking part in the march swelled as they neared Downing Street. Some of those taking part wore masks

The protesters have been urged by campaigners, politicians and police to keep the demonstrations peaceful and calm

Grenfell Tower survivors have urged the group not to allow the protest to turn violent, as it would betray their cause

Day of rage protesters take to the streets of London Full story: http://dailym.ai/2rRgktG Posted by Daily Mail on Wednesday, June 21, 2017

The protest is taking place after the Queens' Speech, when the monarch came to Westminster to read Theresa May's plans for the extended two-year Parliament, focusing on Britain leaving the EU.

The demonstrations come at a time when the Metropolitan Police is stretched following three terror attacks in the capital this year, on Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and then Finsbury Park on Sunday night.

One Scotland Yard officer went on Twitter to ask: 'Those protesting at the Day of Rage. Police have one message, Don't be a dick! It's hot and we're already exhausted, demoralised & undervalued.'

Another added: 'Day of rage? Once again pushing the beleaguered police. There isn't an inexhaustible amount of police officers, just exhausted ones!'

Zac Goldsmith, MP for Richmond Park tweeted: '#day of rage - just what our emergency services need right now.'

The Met Police says it has put an 'appropriate policing plan' in place. Road closures and armed police patrols were in place this morning.

The Day of Rage organisers have set up a Facebook page to direct the protests, calling for 'class war' and vowing 'no justice, no peace'.

The demonstrators adopted the cause of justice for Grenfell Tower, although some have urged that the issue not be 'hijacked'

As the march passed Trafalgar Square, many activists sang 'Oh, Jeremy Corbyn' and 'Theresa May, guilty of murder'

A female demonstrator screams at a police officer during the anti-government protests this afternoon

Activists lit flares as they entered Trafalgar Square this afternoon during the first of three planned demonstrations

The crowd of protesters swelled as it entered central London. Some shouted 'murderers' as they marched down Piccadilly

The page states: 'For seven years we have lived through brutal austerity, cuts & anti-immigrant attacks leading to countless deaths.'

Groups plan protests throughout the day 11.30am - 'Day of Rage' demonstrators meet in Shepherd's Bush for speeches. 1pm - Protesters march through London to Downing Street. 4pm - London Socialist Party's anti-austerity demonstration in Parliament Square. 6pm - 'Stand Up to Racism' demo against Conservative-DUP alliance. Advertisement

It continues: 'We've felt our power. We've tasted victory. Now we must escalate our actions to take down this rotten government, which has lost all authority to govern.'

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell made a renewed call for a peaceful demonstration this morning.

'Today, people may call it a Day of Rage or whatever, they have got the right, if they want, to be angry, but they haven't got the right to be violent, all protest must be peaceful,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He later said: 'All protest has got to be peaceful and if you want to see what effective protest is all about I tell you follow the lead of Gandhi, not others.'

Mr McDonnell, who spoke at an event organised by the same group in 2014, has said he will not be attending the protest.

The Metropolitan Police, whose officers were seen scouring Parliament Square today ahead of the ceremony, currently have around 250 officers a day working on the investigation into the Grenfell Tower Blaze, which some have accused the protesters of 'hijacking'.

A range of groups will march through Parliament Square at different times this afternoon, presenting a challenge to police

The demonstration is one of three being held in the centre of London this afternoon, stretching the Metropolitan Police

During the march, protesters demanded that the government stop 'driving the poor and radical minorities out of Kensington'

The Clement James Centre, which has been helping those displaced by the fire, shunned the movement as opportunistic.

'There has been a 'Day of Rage' announced for Wednesday, trying to bring London to a standstill,' a spokesman said yesterday.

'We cannot emphasise enough how against this many of the affected residents we've spoken to are and they do not want their grief hijacked for any violent or destructive means.'

Promotion for today's Day of Rage makes frequent reference to last week's tragedy, which has claimed the lives of at least 79 people and left hundreds more homeless.

As well as the 'Day of Rage' demonstration, two other protests are planned today, one by the London Socialist Party, one by a group called Stand Up to Racism and the other by the MFJ.

The London Socialist Party claim Theresa May 'has no mandate for more austerity' and want the Prime Minister 'to go'.

Armed police have been patrolling Parliament Square this morning ahead of the ceremony

Security was tight around Parliament today as Westminster prepared for the Queen's Speech

Armed police have been patrolling Parliament Square this morning ahead of the ceremony

Security personnel were seen on top of Buckingham Palace as the Queen left this morning

It is expected to be a challenging day for the Met Police with three separate protests planned

The Queen was driven from Buckingham Palace to Parliament to deliver the speech

The Queen delivered a speech centred on Britain's plans to leave the EU in the next two years

The Facebook page about their 4pm protest states: 'Let's build the fight for a Corbyn-led Labour Government based on his radical anti-austerity manifesto.'

Stand Up To Racism, which doesn't start until 6pm, are against the Conservatives and DUP parties working together.

The Facebook page for that protests insists Theresa was 'profoundly rejected at the polls' and its followers plan to 'send a clear message that we did not vote for this toxic agenda'.
A barrage of Brexit legislation was unveiled in the Queen's Speech today as ministers confirmed eight separate new packages of laws were needed.

The vast Brexit agenda lays the ground for years of Parliamentary warfare as Remain supporters will have hundreds of opportunities to challenge and defy the Government.

Next year's Queen's Speech has already been cancelled to try and make time to force through the package of new laws.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the package - which contains the flagship Repeal Bill plus measures on immigration, trade, farming and fishing - about getting 'Brexit right'.

Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured leaving No 10 today) said the package - which contains the flagship Repeal Bill plus measures on immigration, trade, farming and fishing - about getting 'Brexit right'

The Queen (pictured on the throne with Prince Charles today) unveiled a series of eight Brexit bills that must be passed in the next two years

The legislation is likely to get bogged down in months of Parliamentary trench warfare after today's announcements

In her foreword to the speech, she said: 'Much has been said in recent days about what the general election signified about Britain's decision to leave the EU.

'The fact is that over 80 per cent of the electorate backed the two major parties, both of whom campaigned on manifestos that said we should honour the democratic decision of the British people.

'While this will be a government that consults and listens, we are clear we are going to see Brexit through working with Parliament, business, the devolved administrations and others to ensure a smooth and orderly withdrawal.'

Unveiling the Brexit package in the speech, the Queen said: 'A Bill will be introduced to repeal the European Communities Act and provide certainty for individuals and businesses.

BREXIT BARRAGE: WHAT ARE THE LAWS TO HELP BRITAIN QUIT Today's Queen's Speech contains eight new laws to help deliver Brexit. They are: Repeal Bill

Trade Bill

Customs Bill

Immigration Bill

Agriculture Bill

Fisheries Bill

Nuclear Safeguards Bill

International Sanctions Bill Advertisement

'This will be complemented by legislation to ensure the United Kingdom makes a success of Brexit, establishing new national policies on immigration, international sanctions, nuclear safeguards, agriculture and fisheries.'

The main challenge for Mrs May's ministers will be delivering the Repeal Bill, the flagship piece of legislation that transfers existing EU laws into UK law.

MPs on both sides of the Brexit divide will see it as a chance to either trim EU rules or beef up protections.

But few will be happy to see the legislation - which creates short term sweeping powers for ministers to change the law - pass as published.

The package includes a new Immigration Bill to set new rules on EU nationals coming to Britain after Brexit.

It conspicuously contains no mention of the 'tens of thousands' target for net migration.

Huge security precautions were put in place around the Palace of Westminster today (pictured) as road closures were put in place by a heavy police presence

Security staff checked drains as part of the sweep around Westminster this morning (pictured)

A Trade Bill and a Customs Bill will lay the ground for Britain's post-Brexit trading policy, setting new rules on imports and exports.

It will make sure an independent customs regime is in place on the day Britain leaves the EU single market.

The legislation will have to accommodate whatever future agreement is made on how UK-EU trade works - something which is currently deeply unclear.

Leaving the EU's Commons Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy mean more new laws are needed.

The Agriculture Bill will provide 'stability' to farmers as Britain leaves the EU's subsidy system and lays out new protections for the environment.

A Fisheries Bill will set out rules for how Britain manages farming of its territorial waters.

Leaving the EU also means quitting nuclear power regulations, all of which will need to be replicated in UK law in a new Nuclear Safeguards Bill.

Ensuring Britain still takes part in international sanctions imposed by the EU will be taken care of in an International Sanctions Bill.
The owners of a family-run studio targeted by hackers who leaked 10 episodes of Orange is the New Black online have admitted 'ignorance' about security.

Rick Larson and Jill Larson were horrified to learn that a shady group named The Dark Overlord had accessed files at Larson Studios, which specializes in digital mixing.

They paid $50,000 to the extortionists, but the hackers later approached other companies, including Netflix, demanding more money.

The hackers, named the Dark Overlord, leaked 10 episodes of Netflix drama Orange is the New Black after stealing the files from Larson Studios

The extortionists released the shows online before their scheduled release date after Neflix refused to pay a ransom

Among the shows stolen were episodes due to be aired on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, the Disney Channel, and NatGeo, among others.

New Girl, The Catch, NCIS: Los Angeles and The Middle were among the shows stolen, the group claimed.

When Netflix refused to pay, episodes of the popular show were posted online weeks before their scheduled release date.

For the first time, the Larsons have opened up about the ordeal, which saw the company targeted because one of its computers was still using Windows 7.

Another show has allegedly been targeted in the latest hacking scandal was ABC's The Catch

The hacker behind the latest round of threats claims to have episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles

Rick Larson told Variety: 'A lot of what went on was ignorance. We are a small company.

'Did we even know what the content security departments were at our clients? Absolutely not. I couldnt have told you who to call. I can now.'

Initially the couple did not take text messages from the extortionists seriously until a Chirstmas Day email threatened to leak all the company's data.

Director of digital systems Chris Unthank said: 'Once I was able to look at our server, my hands started shaking, and I almost threw up.'

Chief engineer David Dondorf said: 'They were basically just trolling around to see if they could find a computer that they could open. It wasnt aimed at us.'

A Twitter account that purportedly belongs to The Dark Overlord provided a link to pirated episodes of 'Orange Is the New Black' and threatened other networks

Shocked by what had happened, the studio contacted the FBI, who advised against paying a ransom.

After more than a month of negotiation, the company agreed to pay up, assured that the stolen data would be destroyed.

But in March the FBI contacted the business informing them that the hackers had approached other studios in Hollywood demanding money.

Among these were Netflix, who were threatened with the prospect of Orange is the New Black being released online.

The Dark Overlord first released one episode of the hit show, followed by another nine when Netflix held firm.

Jill Larson said the hackers subsequently got in touch saying her studio had broken an agreement not to tell anyone about the extortion by contacting the FBI.

'So they decided to punish us,' she told Variety.

One of the shows the hacker claimed to have stolen episodes of is Fox's comedy, New Girl

Since it happened some studios have stopped working the Larsons, but many have remained loyal.

It has led to calls to standardize security at all companies who work for film studios, such as sound and color specialists.

The hacker, operating under the name The Dark Overlord, in April provided DataBreaches.net with a full list of the shows and movies it claims to have gotten hold of.

And while its alleged release over the weekend seemed to only be targeting Netflix, the new list features shows from ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Disney Channel, NatGeo, and more.

Some of the shows named are: NCIS Los Angeles, New Girl, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and The Catch.

Other shows, including Celebrity Apprentice, have already aired and wrapped up this year. The hacker told DataBreaches.net it got access to the titles in December.
The Grenfell Tower charity single was ripped off iTunes and put on YouTube just minutes after its release - depriving residents of much needed funds.

Bridge Over Troubled Water was covered by a troupe of A-list musicians enlisted by Simon Cowell to raise money for those who lived in the tower.

It was recorded over the weekend and released on Wednesday, but got uploaded to the video sharing website within just two minutes.

The charity single was recorded over the weekend and released on Wednesday, but got uploaded to the video sharing website within just two minutes

Youtuber 'Luke Seymour' racked up more than 10,000 views on his ripped off cover within an hour. MailOnline has contacted him for a comment.

The single is meant to raise money for residents affected by the Grenfell Fire - which killed 79 and injured scores more - via The London Community Foundation.

Commenting on YouTube, Dan Scudamore said: 'Well done for making this available for free when the idea is to raise money for those that desperately need it!'

Margaret Cottrell said: 'Doesn't this defeat the object - sharing it on here. Over 9,000 views. Has anyone of you bought it?'

Artists who sang on the track include Robbie Williams, Jessie J and Emeli Sande, with grime artist Stormzy adding a rap intro.

The cover version of the song, originally recorded by Simon and Garfunkel, was put together at Sarm West recording studio in Notting Hill, west London - just half a mile from the blaze.

Youtuber 'Luke Seymour' racked up more than 10,000 views on his ripped off cover within an hour. MailOnline has contacted him for comment. Pictured: Emeli Sande singing on the single

Gregory Porter was another star who helped record the single, which has received widespread praise on social media

Luke Seymour included a link to a donation page in the description.

The single has received widespread praise on social media, with one listener writing: 'The Grenfell Tower single is lovely...'

Another wrote: 'Wow... Absolutely sobbing listening to the Grenfell Charity Single. Never been touched more by music in my life.'

The stars of the song - including Robbie Williams(pictured) and James Blunt - were pictured recording the track just a day before

And someone else said: 'So emotional listening to the Grenfell charity single! it's beautiful #ArtistsForGrenfell... Woah...the Grenfell Tower single is something...'

As the song was played on Good Morning Britain, the show's host Piers Morgan wrote: 'Wow how amazing, what a haunting version.

'Well done Simon Cowell, and got it together in an unbelievable short time. Go out and buy it, make it number one. Well done to all the artists involved.'

The touching artwork for the single, which features a wicker heart wrapped with fairy lights, was revealed to be centered around a symbol in a nearby church hall.

The stars of the song - including Robbie Williams, Emili Sande and James Blunt - were pictured recording the track just a day before.

Nile Rodgers played the guitar and recent Britain's Got Talent winner Tokio Myers was on the piano.

MailOnline has contacted YouTube to ask if it will take the video down.

To donate in aid of Grenfell Tower visit here: artistsforgrenfell.com
Tight security was in place around Parliament today for the Queen's Speech.

The Queen came to Westminster to read Theresa May's plans for the next two years - an extended Parliament to take account of the time needed to pass Brexit legislation.

Police were seen scouring the square today as they deal with the ongoing terrorist threat and plans for a so-called 'Day of Rage' protest.

Security was tight around Parliament today as Westminster prepared for the Queen's Speech

Armed police have been patrolling Parliament Square this morning ahead of the ceremony

Security personnel were seen on top of Buckingham Palace as the Queen left this morning

The usual pomp and pageantry of the State Opening of Parliament was watered down this year as the Queen formally opens the new session.

The 91-year-old monarch delivered her speech on what is usually the most colourful event of the Parliamentary calendar wearing a day dress and hat, rather than the Imperial state crown and ceremonial robes.

This year's ceremony took place four days after the Trooping the Colour, it was deemed infeasible for the military and the Royal Mews to stage two major events in such a short period.

The Queen travel to and from the Palace of Westminster by car with Prince Charles after the Duke of Edinburgh was taken in hospital with an infection.

The event and the protest planned outside later come at a time when the Metropolitan Police is stretched following three terror attacks this year, on Westminster Bridge, London Bridge and then in Finsbury Park on Sunday night.

The Metropolitan Police are also taking part in the investigation into the Grenfell Tower Blaze, which some have accused the protesters of 'hijacking'.

It is expected to be a challenging day for the Met Police with three separate protests planned

Sniffer dogs were brought in this morning to scour the area around the Houses of Parliament

Met Police officers behind a security barrier installed in the wake of the terror threat to London

Road closures are in place as Westminster prepares for a so-called Day of Rage protests

The Queen's procession to the Chamber of the House of Lords, where she takes the throne and delivers her speech, were reduced today, with no heralds present.

Yet other traditions did prevail inside the Houses of Parliament.

Black Rod, the House of Lords official, summoned the House of Commons to the Lords after the Queen has taken her seat in the chamber.

He approached the Commons, the door of the Chamber was slammed in his face to demonstrate the supremacy of the Lower House over the Lords.

He knocked three times with his Black Rod, from which he derives his name, and was finally admitted.

The Queen was driven from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament to deliver the speech

Huge crowds turned out, although the full pomp and ceremony on the day was not carried out following the snap election

The Queen delivered a speech centred on Britain's plans to leave the EU in the next two years

The Serjeant-at-Arms, carrying the Mace, led the procession to the Lords followed by the Commons Speaker and Black Rod.

The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and MPs followed them, and when they reached the Lords chamber, they stood at the opposite end to the throne, known as the Bar.

The Queen's Speech was delivered to the throne by the Lord Chancellor in a special silk bag.

Although the Queen read the Speech, the content is entirely drawn up by the Government and approved by the cabinet.

The final words, 'other measures will be laid before you', give the Government flexibility to introduce other legislation as necessary.

When the Queen left, the Royal Standard was taken down and the Union Flag hoisted.

This afternoon, Parliament goes back to work, with each house meeting separately to begin debating the content of the speech

Yeoman Warders take part in the traditional 'ceremonial search' in the Peer's Lobby in the Houses of Parliament

The ceremonial element of the day has been pared down this year due to it coming a few days after the Trooping the Colour parade
Donald Trump's controversial state visit to Britain looks like it has been pushed back to 2019 after it was left out of the Queen's Speech.

The White House has denied reports the US president delayed the trip amid fears it will spark some of the biggest protests the country has ever seen.

But in today's address to Parliament, the Queen made no mention of the promised visit, although she does refer to another state visit by King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain in July.

The trip was initially expected this summer before being pushed back to the autumn, but it now appears to be delayed by some time.

The Queen's Speech usually sets out all the forthcoming state visits to Britain for the forthcoming year.

Theresa May, pictured with Donald Trump in Washington in January, invited the US president to come to Britain on a coveted state visit where he will be hosted by the Queen. But the invite was hugely controversial and appears to have now been pushed back to 2019

The Queen did not mention Mr Trump's visit in the Queen's speech. It comes after the US president reportedly said he does ot want to come to Britain if there are protests

The Lords was packed to watch the Queen deliver her speech, which sets out the laws for the next two years

In an unusual move, the government said it will not hold another Queen's speech for two years - meaning that Mr Trump's visit looks like it has been kicked back until at least 2019.

Theresa May's decision to extend the coveted invite of a state visit to Mr Trump so soon after his inauguration was hugely controversial.

He would be hosted by the Queen, probably in Buckingham Palace, and treated to all the pomp and ceremony only rolled out for the occasions.

Queen Letizia of Spain, pictured in Spain yesterday, will come to Britain on a state visit this year with her husband King Felipe

But demonstrators were expected to descend on London to disrupt the visit in what was expected to be some of the biggest protests in living memory.

And British popular anger towards Mr Trump has swelled in recent weeks after the US president publicly attacked London Mayor Sadiq Khan over his response to the latest terror attacks on the capital.

The Met was bracing itself for massive and potentially violent protests with reports the police operation alone could cost a staggering 10million - making the state visit potentially the most expensive in history.

Scenes of angry protesters out on the streets would heap pressure on the already beleaguered Prime Minister, who is hanging on in No 10 by a thread after failing to win a majority at the election.

While it would put further strain on the police who are already stretched dealing with the massive number of terror attacks and plots being mounted against the UK.

And Mr Trump, who is famously very sensitive to public criticism, is likely to have reacted angrily if the trip was disrupted by angry protesters.

The Queen was held the hand of her son Charles as she made her way to deliver the speech on the throne in the House of Lords. In front of her an official carries her crown upon a red velvet cushion

Crowds gathered to watch the Queen make the short journey to Parliament for the state opening of parliament - the most colourful day in the parliamentary calendar

The visit of King Felipe and his wife Queen Letizia had been scheduled for the beginning of June but was pushed back so it did not clash with the snap election.

The glamorous couple, who have two daughters, will be the first Spanish monarchs to come to Britain on a state visit since 1986 when King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia came to the UK.

The Queen made a state visit to Spain in 1988.

Mrs Mays official spokesman said Mr Trumps state visit was omitted from the speech because a date has not been fixed.

He said: The invitation has been extended and the invitation has been accepted.

The spokesman did not answer when asked if the visit would happen in 2017, as was announced when Mrs May extended the invitation in January.
An angry mob rioted and attacked police officers after a teenage schoolgirl was allegedly raped in a hospital's intensive care unit.

Baton-wielding officers tried to control hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Jagriti Hospital in the city of Kanpur in northern India's Uttar Pradesh state.

But the crowd turned on the police officers, throwing stones and charging back at their lines, in violent scenes caught on camera by eyewitnesses.

One police officer was kicked and punched unconscious after he found himself isolated and surrounded by demonstrators.

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Pictured: Rioters attacking police officers in Kanpur after the alleged rape of a schoolgirl

Violence broke out after news spread that a student named Akansha, believed to be 17 or 18 years old, had been raped in the hospital's intensive care unit.

She had been rushed to the hospital after falling ill and losing consciousness at a party in the city.

Akansha claimed that she was drugged and raped by a ward boy, or nursing assistant, later that same night.

She said: 'After I was brought to the ICU, my mother changed my clothes. Late at night, the ward boy showed up and said since your clothes are wet, they will need to be changed.

The schoolgirl had said she was sent to sleep with an injection before being raped. Pictured: Rioting outside the hospital

Two policemen were sent to intensive care after the rioting. Pictured: An encounter between a rioter and protestor

'I asked him to call a nurse or my mother but he refused. He said that there is no nurse available and my mother had gone back to the party and my father had gone to take medicine.

'Then he took me to the washroom and said not to feel shy in front of him.

'I had to change clothes in front of the ward boy. He then asked me to change my top as well and started unbuttoning my top himself. I ran away to my bed. He then ran away.

'The ward boy came again and injected me, which caused me to fall sleep. He took advantage of the situation and raped me.

Pictured: The riot outside Jagriti Hospital

Pictured: A police officer being held by a protestor during the rioting

'I could feel something wrong was happening but I couldn't do anything as I was under the influence of the drug.'

Akansha's father, who was not named by local media, said that he had been prevented from seeing his daughter that night.

He added: 'In the morning I forcibly entered the ICU, where seeing the condition of my daughter's clothes, I suspected that something was wrong.

'I shook her awake and she started crying and told me about the whole incident.'

Deputy inspector general of Kanpur police Sonia Singh said the girl's family members have been 'up in arms against the hospital for a couple of days', according to Outlook magazine.

Pictured: What appears to be a wounded police officer lying on the ground

She added: 'We are doing our best to douse down the situation because we cannot tolerate lawlessness. However, stringent action against the accused will be taken.'

It is not reported whether police are investigating the rape allegations.

The identity and whereabouts of the accused are not known.

The Times of India has reported that three policemen were injured during Saturday's riots, with two being monitored in intensive care.
Milwaukee Cop Acquitted In Fatal Shooting Of Sylville Smith

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jun 21, 2017 10:07PM



Photo: Darren Hauck / Getty Images

The Milwaukee police officer who fatally shot 23-year-old Sylville Smith last summer has been acquitted of criminal charges.

Officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who was fired from his police department last fall, was charged with reckless homicide in the killing, which fueled two days of protests in Milwaukee as well as ongoing national outrage over police officers using excessive force to injure or kill people of color.

Heaggan-Brown shot Smith in August of 2016 after the officer and his partner stopped Smith on the street, suspecting that he was involved in a drug deal. Smith, who was armed with a handgun, ran from the officers until he reached a fence. He then threw his gun over the fence, according to dashcam footage of the encounter. At that moment, Heaggan-Brown fired at him, hitting his right arm. Smith fell to the ground, where Heaggan-Brown shot at him again, striking him in the chest.

Prosecutors had argued before a jury that the first shot was reasonable, but the second shot was not, because Heaggan-Brown had no reason to fear for his life once Smith was on the ground, unarmed. The officer's defense attorneys argued that he was in fact following police procedure at every step of the incidentparticularly a policy that told officers to expect that a suspect with one weapon might have another.

Heaggan-Brown was fired from the Milwaukee Police Department last fall on sexual assault charges, according to the New York Times. The officer is going to face a jury trial in August for the sexual assault charges, which follow a disturbing narrative: Heaggan-Brown allegedly had been drinking heavily at a bar the night after Smith's shooting, where he "bragged about being able to do whatever without repercussions" to a man whom he later sexually assaulted. The following morning Heaggan-Brown reportedly left the man at a Milwaukee area hospital, then text a Police Department superior to say he had made a mistake and wanted "to handle this in the most secret and right way possible."
The Duke of Edinburgh is said to be up and about despite spending the last two nights in hospital with an infection.

The setback, which forced the 96-year-old to miss the State Opening of Parliament and some of Royal Ascot, comes amid a schedule of engagements that would challenge a man half his age.

But Buckingham Palace insisted that the Queens husband of almost 70 years was in good spirits. It is believed that he is suffering from a recurrence of the bladder infection that twice saw him admitted to hospital in 2012.

Although he recently announced plans to retire from official duties in the autumn, he spent Tuesday at Royal Ascot with the Queen.

The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to hospital last night as a 'precautionary measure' for treatment of an infection arising from a pre-existing condition. He is pictured yesterday with the Queen at Ascot

Prince Philip, who is due to retire in the autumn, is pictured riding a horse and carriage through Windsor Palace on Tuesday

The day before, Prince Philip enjoyed carriage-driving through Windsor Great Park; on Sunday he was at the Guards Polo at Windsor and he spent much of Saturday at Trooping the Colour. Last week he travelled with the Queen by train from Slough to London on Tuesday, held a reception at Buckingham Palace for one of his charities, Plan UK, on Wednesday, and undertook two engagements with the monarch in London on Thursday.

On Tuesday evening his personal physician was summoned to Windsor Castle, who recommended he be admitted to private King Edward VII Hospital in London as a precautionary measure.

Prince Charles stepped in for his father at the State Opening of Parliament, supporting the Queen.

Prince Philip - who celebrated his 96th birthday two weeks ago - was 'disappointed' to be missing today's planned engagements,' a spokesman added.

The Queen and Prince Charles arrived together in a car, rather than the more traditional carriage, before Charles sat by his mother's side as she outlined the Government's plans to the House of Lords.

The Queen later returned to Windsor before arriving at Royal Ascot this afternoon.

Announcing Philip's illness yesterday morning, a Palace spokesman said: 'The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to hospital, as a precautionary measure, for treatment of an infection arising from a pre-existing condition.

'Prince Philip is in good spirits and is disappointed to be missing the State Opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot.

'The Prince of Wales will accompany the Queen to the State Opening. Her Majesty is being kept informed and will attend Royal Ascot as planned this afternoon.'

It is understood the Duke was at Windsor Castle when he was taken to hospital.

He was not admitted as an emergency but on the advice of a doctor. His condition is not believed to be serious, but it is unclear how long he will be kept in hospital.

Buckingham Palace would not go into details of the condition or infection, but Philip was reported to have been up and about on Wednesday morning, indicating the medical issue is not serious enough to leave him bed-bound.

Charles was by the Queen's side in the House of Lords his morning as she delivered the Government's plan (pictured). The pair arrived in a car, rather than a carriage

Queen Elizabeth is pictured delivering her speech in May last year with the Duke of Edinburgh by her side. This year, she was not wearing her imperial, as is tradition

Yesterday, the Duke was said to be on 'good form' as he accompanied the Queen for the opening day of Royal Ascot on one of the hottest days of the year.

They were joined by many members of their family, including Charles and Camilla, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.

Last month, it was announced that Philip would take a step back from public duties in the autumn to enjoy a well-earned retirement, after 70 years dedicated service to Britain and Her Majesty.

With his father in hospital, The Prince of Wales has accompanied the Queen to Parliament for the Queen's Speech

The Queen and Prince Charles are pictured walking through the Royal Gallery in the Houses of Parliament prior to the Queen's Speech

After delivering her speech, Her Majesty arrived at Ascot Racecourse with the Duchess of Cornwall

Buckingham Palace said at the time of the announcement that his decision to retire was not health-related.

Philip - the nation's longest serving royal consort - has previously been described as an 'astonishingly fit man' who has enjoyed good health throughout much of his life.

He still enjoys carriage driving and is keen to make the most of his leisure time when he steps away from the limelight in a few months.

But, as his age has advanced beyond 90 he has faced a number of scares.

Abdominal surgery, bladder infections and a blocked coronary artery have seen him admitted to hospital on a number of occasions.

The Duke, pictured at Trooping The Colour on Saturday, is said to be 'in good spirits' and 'disappointed' to be missing today's engagements

He also contracted a bladder infection in 2012, forcing him to miss the majority of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

He had taken part in the Jubilee river pageant in extremely wet and windy conditions the day before.

But Philip has always bounced back from his illnesses. After that infection, Philip was discharged from hospital the day before his 91st birthday.

Asked if he was feeling better as he was leaving, he quipped: 'Well, I wouldn't be coming out if I wasn't.'

And, despite having to spend two months convalescing following an operation on his abdomen in October 2013, he appeared sprightly and walked unaided on an official visit to a care home where, at the age of 92, he was older than many of the residents.

Several of his ailments and injuries have also been sports related.

Philip suffers from arthritis in his right wrist and broke a bone in his ankle playing polo. He also developed synovitis, a rheumatic condition of the tendon in the hand, after a polo fall.

It was his arthritic wrist which forced him to give up polo in 1971 - the year of his 50th birthday. Instead, he decided to take up horse-carriage driving, a hobby he has continued.

The Duke is also an advocate of healthy eating combined with exercise. He once said he more or less followed the Atkins diet and drinks only moderately.

He takes the stairs rather than lifts and still fits into the uniform he wore on his wedding day.

Police stand guard outside King Edward VII hospital where Prince Philip is receiving treatment

Philip is also well-known for his robust constitution. He told a flu expert at a research centre last year that he had not had the illness for 40 years.

When the Duke was in his 70s one of the Queen's former physicians described him as 'astonishingly fit for a man of his age'.

The first public acknowledgement of his advancing years came as he was preparing to turn 90, when he stepped down as president or patron of more than a dozen organisations ahead of his milestone birthday.

WHAT COULD THE INFECTION BE? The Duke of Edinburgh has been plagued with a recurring bladder infection in recent years. In June 2012, he was taken to the King Edward VII Hospital, where he stayed for a 'few days' after falling ill with the bug. At the time, it made him miss the final two days of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Despite recovering well, according to nurses, he went onto develop the same infection again two months later, in August 2012, while staying at Balmoral. He was taken to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as a 'precautionary measure' at the time. He spent six days there under the care of the nurses. Given infections account for one third of all deaths in people 65 years and older, figures suggest, it is essential Prince Philip has hospital treatment. Elderly people are known to have weaker immune systems, and are thus more susceptible to bugs, such as flu and pneumonia. Elizabeth Kavaler, a urologist at Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, previously told MedPageToday that bladder infections are one of the most common in elderly men. She said this was because they often struggle to empty their bladder, giving bacteria the chance to thrive and reproduce. Advertisement

In October 2011 the Duke pulled out of an overnight stay in Italy because of a cold - shortly after a busy 11-day official royal tour to Australia.

Just weeks later the Duke, at the age of 90, was taken to hospital by helicopter from Sandringham after suffering chest pains as the Royal Family were preparing for Christmas.

He was treated for a blocked coronary artery at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire and underwent a minimally-invasive procedure of coronary stenting, before spending Christmas Day and Boxing Day in hospital.

A few days after being discharged, he appeared in good health as he attended the annual New Year's Day church service at Sandringham.

In August 2012, the Duke also spent five nights at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary - again for a bladder infection - after being taken to hospital during the royals' annual summer break at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire.

In June 2013, Buckingham Palace announced that he had been admitted to hospital for an exploratory operation on his abdomen and was expected to stay in the London Clinic for up to two weeks.

He underwent surgery under general anaesthetic the next day and the Palace said he was progressing satisfactorily and that the results would be analysed and he would spend two months convalescing.

In May 2014 the Duke had a 'minor procedure' carried out on his right hand at Buckingham Palace and was seen wearing a bandage to protect it.

Just ahead of his 95th birthday in June 2016, he pulled out of the Battle of Jutland anniversary events following medical advice, with his son-in-law, Vice-Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, saying he had a 'minor ailment'.

Yet the Queen's official birthday celebrations in June 2016 saw Philip, who turned 95 that weekend, join the monarch throughout a busy few days of festivities, from a service of thanksgiving to Trooping the Colour and a street party in The Mall.

Both the Queen and the Duke fell ill with heavy colds before Christmas in 2016, forcing them to delay their trip to Sandringham by a day.

But while the Queen was not well enough to attend the Christmas Day church service nor the New Year's Day one, Philip went to both.

Last weekend the Duke helped the Queen celebrate her official 91st birthday at the annual Trooping the Colour parade.
A woman working for ISIS known as 'crocodile jaws' has had her teeth shattered in a revenge attack after she bit hundreds of women deemed to be violating modesty laws.

The woman was reportedly ambushed outside her house in the northern Iraqi town of Hawija, Kirkuk as revenge for biting more than 200 women.

She was a 'biter' for ISIS's female vigilante division, tasked with savagely chomping on the hands of other women accused of disobeying the group's moral code.

'That woman had bitten more than 200 women. She is from Mosul and had worked with the group for three years,' Iraqi News quoted a source as saying.

The woman, a 'biter' for the Islamic State, was ambushed in a suspected revenge attack in Kirkuk. Pictured: Iraqi soldiers, who are advancing on the group's territory, with a captured Islamic State flag

ISIS took control of Hawija, near Kirkuk, in 2014. Pictured: The group on the move at about the time it declared a caliphate in Iraq and Syria

ISIS has ruled parts of southwest Kirkuk since 2014 and has executed dozens of civilians and security personnel.

Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes there.

Iraqi security forces are currently concentrating on reclaiming Mosul, the city where ISIS proclaimed its territory to be a caliphate.

Leaders in Hawija are appealing for the Iraqi government to liberate their town. Pictured: Anti-ISIS troops outside Kirkuk

But various leaders in Kirkuk have called for the liberation of Hawija, which they say is suffering a humanitarian crisis.

It is expected that once the battle for Mosul has been won that the likes of Hawija will be next to be freed.

The town has a population of around 100,000 people, most of whom are Sunni Arabs.
Terrorists could face tougher prison sentences under a new extremism crackdown, the Queen's Speech revealed today.

Building on Theresa May's vow to overhaul anti-terror laws in the wake of the London Bridge attack, today's Government programme announces a new Commission for Countering Extremism.

No 10 today said the review would consider all aspect of counter terrorism policy, including the controversial Prevent programme.

The Prime Minister has warned Britain has been too tolerant of intolerance and promised things would change as the nation undergoes a wave of attacks.

Armed officers patrolled outside Parliament today (pictured) ahead of a Queen's Speech that included new counter terrorism plans

The Queen announced a Commission on Countering Extremism in her annual State Opening of Parliament today (pictured)

The Queen was accompanied to the throne in the House of Lords by Prince Charles (pictured) after the Duke of Edinburgh was taken ill

In the speech, the Queen said: 'In the light of the terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, my Government's counter terrorism strategy will be reviewed to ensure the police and security services have all the powers they need, and that the length of custodial sentences for terrorism-related offences are sufficient to keep the population safe.'

In the wake of attacks at Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge, Mrs May warned of an 'unprecedented' threat from terrorism.

She said 'enough is enough' and laid out a four point plan for how she would tackle problem.

She announced a review of counter-terrorism strategy to make sure police and security services have 'all the powers they need to protect our country'.

The new Commission for Countering Extremism will be given the task of supporting the Government in 'stamping out extremist ideology in all its forms'.

It will review counter-terrorism powers, prison sentences for convicted terrorists and work with internet firms to halt the spread of extremist material.

Official figures show sentences handed to those convicted of terror-related charges have been increasing.

In the year to the end of March, the most common term was between four and 10 years, accounting for 41 per cent of the cases.

This denoted a shift compared to the previous two years, when the most frequent sentence length was between one and four years.

The Prime Minister (pictured leaving No 10 today) has warned Britain has been too tolerant of intolerance and promised things would change as the nation undergoes a wave of attacks

The counter-terror review is included among the 'non-legislative' measures outlined in the Queen's Speech - but the Government insisted it 'will not hesitate' to introduce new legislation if necessary.

Officials will also look at what further steps need to be taken to halt the spread of extremist material and 'poisonous' propaganda online.

In her speech in the aftermath of London Bridge, Mrs May said: 'In light of what we are learning about the changing threat, we need to review Britain's counter-terrorism strategy to make sure the police and security services have all the powers they need.

'And if we need to increase the length of custodial sentences for terrorist-related offences - even apparently less serious offences - that is what we will do.

'Since the emergence of the threat from Islamist-inspired terrorism, our country has made significant progress in disrupting plots and protecting the public.

'But it is time to say `Enough is enough'.

'Everybody needs to go about their lives as they normally would. Our society should continue to function in accordance with our values.

'But when it comes to taking on extremism and terrorism, things need to change.'
Europe has turned a corner as a recent wave of anti-EU movements peters out, according to President Donald Tusk.

Tusk, president of the Council of Europe, said the bloc was again being seen as a solution, rather the problem, and that recent difficulties had strengthened it.

'It is fair to say that we will meet in a different political context from that of a few months ago, when the anti-EU forces were on the rise,' Tusk said in a letter to EU leaders ahead of a summit starting on Thursday.

Donald Tusk wrote to European leaders to assure them that 'political parties that built their strength on anti-European sentiments are beginning to diminish'

'The current developments on the continent seem to indicate that we are slowly turning the corner.

'In many of our countries, the political parties that have built their strength on anti-EU sentiments are beginning to diminish,' he said.

In Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May lost her majority earlier this month having banked on a wave of anti-EU sentiment which failed to rally to her party.

In France, Emmanuel Macron won the presidential election last month, then capitalised by securing a huge parliamentary majority on Sunday.

His opponent, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, had vowed to hold a vote on taking France out of the European Union if she won.

'We are witnessing the return of the EU rather as a solution, not a problem. Paradoxically, the tough challenges of the recent months have made us more united than before,' Tusk said.

Apart from Brexit, the EU is also facing a major immigration challenge which, though abated, is still fuelling anti-EU sentiment.

Theresa May lost her parliamentary majority in a general election in which she banked on a wave of anti-EU sentiment that failed to rally to her

Pro-European Emmanuel Macron defeated anti-EU Marine Le Pen in French elections last month, before winning a huge parliamentary majority on Sunday

Some blame the EU for not acting fast enough to stop the inflow of migrants arriving from the Middle East and Africa.

A series of attacks by Islamist militants in Britain, France, Sweden, Germany and Belgium, in which hundreds were killed, have added to concerns.

To further stem migration flows, Tusk said the EU should give more money to support Libyan Navy Coastguards to help stop people being smuggled into the EU by sea.

There is also discontent over global trade, perceived as a threat to jobs in Europe.

'Therefore, during the upcoming European Council, I want us to move further on our policy response in these three areas,' Tusk said in the letter to the leaders.

He said that while the EU could not replace governments in fighting home-grown militants, it could put pressure on technology firms to act against 'content that spreads terrorist material or incites to violence.'

Europe should also set up joint defence capabilities to improve security, Tusk said, and he also called for better instruments to defend EU trade against unfair competition and 'uncontrolled globalisation'.
Labour veteran and staunch republican Dennis Skinner sent MPs including Jeremy Corbyn into hysterics today after he told Black Rod to get his 'skates on' so the Queen can get to Ascot.

The Beast of Bolsover, 85, is famed for his heckling in the Commons ahead of the State Opening of Parliament and this year quipped about Her Majesty's trip to the races this afternoon.

As Black Rod invited MPs to the House of Commons to hear the Queen, Mr Skinner, who has been an MP since 1970, yelled: 'Yeah - better get your skates on, the first race is at half past two'.

MPs roared with laughter and even Black Rod, Lieutenant General David Leakey, smirked at the quip about Theresa May disrupting Her Majesty's racing plans.

The PM's attempts to do a deal with the DUP to secure a majority meant she delayed the Queen's Speech by two days and forced the monarch to come to Parliament during her beloved Royal Ascot week.

The 91-year-old monarch has attended Royal Ascot every year since she came to the throne in 1952.

Labour veteran Dennis Skinner (pictured left leaning forward) sent MPs including Jeremy Corbyn into hysterics today after he told Black Rod to get his 'skates on' so the Queen can get to Ascot

Black Rod laughed after Mr Skinner's joke about the Queen's Ascot trip this afternoon

Mps including Jeremy Corbyn (pictured fourth from bottom on the right) laughed loudly at Mr Skinner's remarks

Dennis Skinner's heckling is a Queen's Speech fixture Dennis Skinner's remarks have become part of the pomp and circumstance of the State Opening of Parliament. The republican's quips are most often at the Queen's expense. In 2016 the Bolsover MP received cheers from some Opposition MPs as he shouted: 'Hands off the BBC,' in the Commons as MPs were summoned to hear the Queen's Speech. In 2015 he opted to stay silent in a break from tradition, having shouted the previous year: 'Coalition's last stand.' Traditionally Mr Skinner shouts out as Lieutenant General David Leakey instructs elected parliamentarians to attend the Queen in the Lords. He won widespread laughs in 2013 when he shouted: 'Royal Mail for sale. Queen's head privatised,' in reference to the planned Royal Mail privatisation. In 2012 he angered Tory MPs by drawing attention to the country's economic difficulties, saying: 'Jubilee year, double dip recession, what a start.' And in 2006, as the film The Queen was released, Mr Skinner joked: 'Have you got Helen Mirren on standby?' In one of his earliest interventions about Her Majesty, Mr Skinner said in 1987: 'Tell her to sell up!' Advertisement

The Queen is rushing to Royal Ascot - one of her favourite annual events - after the her speech was delayed by two days and clashed with the world famous race meeting.

She was accompanied today by Prince Charles because her husband prince Philip was taken to hospital last night 'as a precaution'.

Her Majesty particularly looks forward to heading to the Berkshire racecourse each June, where she keeps a close eye on the form and the winners from the Royal Enclosure.

The State Opening of Parliament had been planned for Monday June 19, but it was shifted to today as Mrs May continued talks with the Democratic Unionist Party to secure their support.

No deal is done yet and the Queen's Ascot trip was delayed, causing her inconvenience and embarrassing the PM and her ministers.

Mr Skinner's remarks have become part of the pomp and circumstance of the State Opening of Parliament, which was watered down this year because it comes four days after Trooping the Colour.

In 2016 the Bolsover MP received cheers from some Opposition MPs as he shouted: 'Hands off the BBC,' in the Commons as MPs were summoned to hear the Queen's Speech.

But in 2015 he opted to stay silent in a break from tradition, having shouted the previous year: 'Coalition's last stand.'

Traditionally, Mr Skinner shouts out as Lieutenant General David Leakey instructs elected parliamentarians to attend the Queen in the Lords.

He won widespread laughs in 2013 when he shouted: 'Royal Mail for sale. Queen's head privatised,' in reference to the planned Royal Mail privatisation.

The Queen was accompanied today by Prince Charles because her husband prince Philip was taken to hospital last night 'as a precaution'

In 2012 he angered Tory MPs by drawing attention to the country's economic difficulties, saying: 'Jubilee year, double dip recession, what a start.'

And in 2006, as the film The Queen was released, Mr Skinner joked: 'Have you got Helen Mirren on standby?'

In one of his earliest interventions about Her Majesty, Mr Skinner said in 1987: 'Tell her to sell up!'
A Californian naval veteran and his wife have been ordered to remove a second flagpole from their property or face being fined.

Sherri and Ron Raeta moved into their new home in Galt, California in May and soon erected two flag poles.

One of the flags was to recognize Mr Raeta's service in the US Navy in the 1950s.

Ron Raeta, pictured with his wife Sherri, right, have been ordered by city officials in Galt, California to remove a second flag pole from their property as it breaches planning regulations

The couple moved into their home, pictured, in May and soon erected two flagpoles to remember Mr Raeta's naval service in the 1950s and Mrs Raeta's father who fought during the Second World War. However they were ordered to remove one pole due to local regulations

The second flag was to commemorate Mrs Raeta's father, who fought in the Second World War.

However, soon after the the poles were erected, the family were informed they were in breach of the city's ordinances which prohibit more than one flagpole outside any house.

According to the Galt Herald, Mrs Raeta addressed a city council meeting on June 6 where she claimed she had the right to fly two flags.

However, the city council responded the regulations are clear and only one pole may be erected.

She told the paper: 'This is really upsetting. If I didn't have all this money tied up in my house, I'd probably move.'

She said she could try and amend the city ordinance on flag flying, however this would cost her $4,000.

The city's restriction does not apply to flags which are directly attached to a house.

Mr Raeta, who served on a battleship between 1955 and 1956 told ABC 10: 'People got killed when they raised the flag. When they raise it and were trying to raise ours. They want us to take it down, it's ridiculous.'

He added: 'If I get fined, I get fined. Thats the way I look at it. Its still my house, its still my country, its still my flag.'
Police have tracked down a man who allegedly sent death threats to Israeli army veteran and prominent community member Avi Yemini.

Mr Yemini posted the news to his Facebook account on Wednesday with a photo at Caulfield police station.

Mr Yemini wrote: 'Thank you to Victoria Police for tracking down the coward who threatened to shoot me.'

'I look forward to meeting you.'

Scroll down for video

A man who allegedly threatened Israeli army veteran Avi Yemini (pictured) has been arrested. Mr Yemini posted this photo to Facebook on Wednesday, thanking Victoria Police for their help

An abusive caller threatened to shoot the gym owner in the head and demanded he 'get the f**k out of the country' earlier this year.

The expletive-laden call was placed to self-defence gym IDF Training, which is run by Mr Yemini.

A recording of the conversation revealed the caller exchanged pleasantries with the gym's offsite reception, who offered to deliver a message to Mr Yemini.

'Is he the ex-IDF bloke?' the unidentified caller asked, to which the jovial call centre operator replied 'yeah 100 per cent'.

An abusive 'Palestine supporter' threatened to shoot Jewish gym owner Avi Yemini (pictured) in the head and demanded he 'get the f**k out of the country' earlier this year

'So he knows how to shoot Palestinians?' was the response from the increasingly agitated caller on the recording obtained by Daily Mail Australia.

The staunchly professional operator took it in his stride, saying 'I'm not too sure to be honest with you', before the caller launched into an anti-Semitic tirade.

'He does, the f**kin' c**kscuker. Well I wanna learn how to shoot, because I wanna shoot him in the f**kin' head. He's a f**kin' c**ksuckin' zionist. Why are you even working there mate?'

After a short pause the operator repeated that he was just the offsite reception, but was quickly cut off.

The caller is believed to have exchanged pleasantries with the gym's offsite reception, who offered to deliver a message to Mr Yemini

'You tell Avi to get the f**k out of the country, the f**kin' c**ksucking f**kin' Jew,' the caller snarled.

Mr Yemini said he did not know who the man on the line was, but had traced the call to Deer Park, a predominantly Muslim suburb of Melbourne.

He said the matter had been reported to police, who were trying to identify the caller.

Mr Yemini said the operator who took the call was 'very good under the circumstances. It was pretty vile and full on'.

'We've had threats and anti-Semitic things said to us in the past, but this is the worst ever,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Yemini said he did not know who the man on the line was, but had traced the call to Deer Park, a predominantly Muslim suburb of Melbourne

Mr Yemini said he was happy to debate issues with anyone, even if they were Muslim, but to attack someone for their religion or race was unacceptable.

'And then when you're talking about shooting someone in the face, you're crossing a line whether you mean it or not,' he said.

'I am outspoken and criticise aspects of Islam... which is often met with threats, but it won't stop me.'

Mr Yemini said his employees were on high alert for any potential threats and he was being more vigilant than usual about his and his family's safety.

'We are taking it seriously as a real threat and trying to shut it down before it escalates,' he said.

Mr Yemini said he was happy to debate issues with anyone, even if they are Muslim, but to attack someone for their religion or race was unacceptable

IDF Training runs a fitness gym and classes in Krav Maga, a martial art used by Israeli special forces.

It was frequented by 10-year-old Thalia Hakin, who was killed in the Bourke Street car rampage in January, and her sister Maggie who was injured.

Mr Yemini started a fundraising effort to help their family, which gathered about $142,000.

Caulfield Police Station, where the phone call was reported to, declined to comment on the progress of the investigation.
The Pentagon wasted $28million on woodland camouflage uniforms for Afghan soldiers even though most of the country is desert.

A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found that the Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak chose the expensive, privately-owned 'forest' color pattern instead of free camouflage schemes owned by the U.S. government.

The damning report notes that 'forests cover only 2.1 per cent of Afghanistan's total land area.'

The Pentagon wasted $28million on woodland camouflage uniforms (pictured) for Afghan soldiers even though most of the country is desert

In February 2007, U.S. officials training the Afghan army 'ran across' the camouflage from a company called HyperStealth and showed them to minister Wardak.

He 'liked what he saw' and 1,364,602 uniforms, as well as 88,010 extra pairs of pants, were purchased.

'My concern is what if the minister of defense liked purple, or liked pink?' John Sopko, the special inspector general, told USA TODAY in an interview.

'Are we going to buy pink uniforms for soldiers and not ask questions? That's insane. This is just simply stupid on its face.'

'We wasted $28 million of taxpayers' money in the name of fashion, because the defense minister thought that that pattern was pretty. So if he thought pink or chartreuse was it, would we have done that?'

The report added: 'Our analysis found that DOD's [Department of Defense] decision to procure ANA [Afghan National Army] uniforms using a proprietary camouflage pattern was not based on an evaluation of its appropriateness for the Afghan environment.

'DOD procured ANA uniforms using a proprietary camouflage pattern without determining the pattern's effectiveness in Afghanistan compared to other available patterns.

'My concern is what if the minister of defense liked purple, or liked pink?' said John Sopko (pictured), the special inspector general

'As a result, neither DOD nor the Afghan government knows whether the ANA uniform is appropriate to the Afghan environment, or whether it actually hinders their operations by providing a more clearly visible target to the enemy.

The report goes on: 'While we understand the importance of providing the ANA with a unique uniform that distinguishes it from its allies..., we are concerned with the way in which DOD approached requirement generation, validation, and procurement with respect to ANA uniforms.

We wasted $28 million of taxpayers' money in the name of fashion, because the defense minister thought that that pattern was pretty Special inspector general John Sopko

'Furthermore, DOD's lack of due diligence and its decision to purchase ANA uniforms using a proprietary camouflage pattern appear to have resulted in unit costs that are significantly higher than those for similar non-proprietary camouflaged uniforms, potentially costing the U.S. taxpayers an additional $26.65 million$28.23 million since 2008.'

'Moreover, given our historical and pledged commitments supporting the continued development of the ANA, our analysis found that changing the ANA uniform to a non-proprietary camouflage pattern, similar to those procured for comparable ANP units, could save U.S. taxpayers between $68.61 million and $72.21 million over the next ten years.

'As a result, we suggest that a DOD organization with appropriate expertise in military uniforms conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the current ANA uniform specification to determine whether there is a more effective alternative, considering both operational environment and cost, available to the ANA.'
A Russian fighter jet chased off a NATO aircraft after it buzzed a plane carrying defence minister Sergei Shoigu over the Baltic Sea, Russian news agencies have said.

The F-16 had tried to approach the aircraft carrying the defence minister even though it was flying over neutral waters, agencies said today, before a Russian Sukhoi-27 turned up to warn it off.

Shoigu was reported to be en route to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad for a meeting to discuss how well Russia's western flank was defended.

In dramatic footage appearing to show the incident unfolding, a Sukhoi-27 can be seen flying between an F-16 and another plane before tilting its wings. The F-16 then seems to fly off.

Dramatic footage captured the moment a a Russian fighter jet (left) chased off a NATO aircraft after it buzzed a plane carrying defence minister Sergei Shoigu over the Baltic Sea

In the video said to have been taken of the incident, the F-16 (pictured right) can be seen being chased off by the Sukhoi-27 (left)

Pictured: The F-16 coming very close to the plane containing defence minister Sergei Shoigu

The report comes as Sweden summoned Russia's ambassador today after a fighter jet flew unusually close to a Swedish reconnaissance plane in international airspace above the Baltic Sea, a further sign of rising military tensions in the region.

Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist slammed Russia as 'unprofessional' and urged Moscow to avoid incidents like this again.

During the incident involving the Russian defence minister, it was reported that the Russian jet sent to warn off the NATO fighter inserted itself between Shoigu's plane and the NATO fighter and tilted its wings from side to side to show the weapons it was carrying.

After that, agencies said the F-16 left the area.

Pictured: A map showing the possible route the defence minister's plane could freely take over the Baltic Sea

Recently the Baltic Sea has become an area of rising tensions between Moscow and NATO.

The Swedish incident - which occurred on Monday - prompted a strong reaction from Sweden's government.

The Swedish Armed Forces said in a statement that it was not unusual for Russian planes to approach and identify Swedish surveillance missions.

'This time, however, the Russian aircraft behaved in such a way that it has to be considered noteworthy, among other things the distance between the aircraft was at times very short,' it said.

Pictured: Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, with President Vladimir Putin

Earlier this month, Russia scrambled a fighter jet to intercept a nuclear-capable US B-52 strategic bomber it said was flying over the Baltic near its border, in an incident that had echoes of the Cold War.

The Kremlin referred questions about the latest incident to the defence ministry, which did not immediately comment.

It has said in the past that all Russian flights over the Baltic are conducted in strict accordance with international law.

Sukhoi-27 The Russian fighter jet reportedly lifted its wings to show the weapons it was carrying to the NATO fighter. Pictured: Stock images of a Sukhoi-27 jet, left, and an F-16, right - Weapons: Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-301 autocannon capable of firing 1,800 high explosive or armour piercing rounds per minute and Vympel R-73 and Vympel R-27 air-to-air missiles - the latter capable of flying 80 miles at mach 4.5 to reach its target - Hardpoints (weapons slots): 10 - Top speed: 1,320mph - Country of origin: Russia - First built: 1982 - Basic cost: $30m - Manufacturer: Sukhoi - Number in service: 809 - Used by: Several forces, including the air forces of Russia, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Vietnam and Angola Advertisement

F-16 Pictured: The American-made F-16, which was first produced in 1973 - Weapons: M61 Vulcan Gatling gun capable of firing 6,600 rounds of 20mm calibre bullets per minute, AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles capable of hitting targets up to 111 miles away and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles capable of hitting targets 22 miles away using infrared homing - Hardpoints: 9 - Top speed: 1553mph - Country of origin: USA - First built: 1973 - Basic cost: Between $14.6 and $18.8m - Manufacturer: General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) - Number in service: 4,537 - Used by: 26 forces, including the air forces of the USA, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Pakistan and Chile Advertisement

The incident occurred a day after the Russian defence ministry said an RC-135 US reconnaissance plane had swerved dangerously in the proximity of a Russian fighter jet over the Baltic.

The ministry said at the same time that another RC-135 had been intercepted by a Russian jet in the same area.

The Pentagon had a different version of events.

Apparently referring to the same episode, Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said the U.S. aircraft 'did nothing to provoke this behaviour.'

The Pentagon said the intercept had been unsafe and accused the Russian pilot of flying too fast and having 'poor control' over his SU-27 fighter jet.
Jeremy Corbyn's aides denied he had failed to show respect to the Queen today after he did not bow to the monarch on arrival for the State Opening of parliament.

The Labour leader, a long-standing republican, was spotted alongside Theresa May as she bowed her head in respect to the monarch.

While Mrs May followed the example of the Speaker and other officials, Mr Corbyn stood upright.

The incident could inflame long-standing criticism over the veteran left-winger's attitude to the monarchy.

But aides to the Labour leader insisted protocol was that the Speaker and officials bowed on behalf of MPs.

Other politicians including senior Tories Boris Johnson and Damian Green could be seen arriving behind Mr Corbyn seemingly without bowing their heads.

Footage from previous State Openings also appear to show David Cameron making his way into the Lord without inclining his head.

The Labour leader, a long-standing republican, was spotted alongside Theresa May as she bowed her head in respect to the monarch

The Queen took her seat on the throne at the Palace of Westminster today as she opened the new parliamentary session

Mr Corbyn was previously accused of lacking patriotism for failed to sing the national anthem at a memorial event.

At the Battle of Britain service at St Pauls Cathedral in 2015 he was pictured standing silently with his hands clasped and holding his order of service as others around him sang God Save the Queen.

Mr Corbyn later insisted he had not deliberately refused to sing the anthem but had been lost in reflection.

The latest episode came as MPs and peers gathered to hear the Queen unveil the government's new legislative programme.

Mr Corbyn and Theresa May were seen chatting awkwardly as they walked between the House of Commons and the Lords.

By tradition, politicians and officials bow their heads as they arrive for the ceremony.

But the Labour leader did not follow suit with the PM, the Speaker and other MPs.

It is not clear whether he was distracted or deliberately avoided the gesture.

Mr Corbyn was pressed on his republican beliefs during the election campaign.

In an interview with Jeremy Paxman on Channel 4 and Sky News, Mr Corbyn insisted he had no plans to try to remove the monarchy.

Mrs May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn chatted awkwardly as they walked from the Commons to the Lords for the speech today
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."
Muslims in China fasting during the holy month of Ramadan are being fined and sent to classes to 'educate' them in religious extremism.

The government in Xinjiang have also enforced a rule demanding that all restaurants in the region remain open.

The Chinese government claims it is trying to curb terrorism and extremism which it blames on Islamist militants.

Prayer time at a Mosque in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (File photo)

Uyghur men gather for morning prayers at the Id Kah Mosque during Corban (File photo)

Women from the Islamic Uyghur group work in a small factory in Xinjiang (File photo)

XINJIANG FIGURES Muslims in China make up 1.8 percent of the country's population.

Xinjiang province is home to 10.37 million Uygurs.

The province has some 24,400 Muslim mosques Source: Statistic Bureau of Xinjiang Advertisement

According to Radio Free Asia, authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have punished around 100 people for breaking restrictions on the observance of Ramadan.

Any state employees that are found fasting are handed fines of around 500 yuan (57.68) or sent to education classes aimed to 'stamp out religious extremism' and educate on Chinese values.

According to the report, many of those punished were members of the local government.

Uygur women wear their head scarves while shopping at a market (File photo)

Uyghur men sit inside a mosque during the Ramadan month in Kashgar (File photo)

A ban on government officials fasting was introduced in 2014 under the guise of protecting people's health and ensuring that the government continues on with the theme of a religious less state.

Authorities in China reportedly issued a notice adopting measures during the holy month of Ramadan which is observed from May 26 to June 24 this year. These measures include ensuring that restaurants remain open during Ramadan.

The notice says the measures aim to create national unity especially in minority groups.

In recent years there have been crackdowns by the Chinese government in the region in a bid to curb terrorism which it blames on Islamist militants.

Xinjiang is home to 10.37 million Uygurs who practice the Muslim faith. It is a four and a half hour flight from Beijing.

Many Muslims in the country say they feel victimised by the government who have tightened control on the region.

While previous rules also banned long beards for men and head coverings for women.
A Florida clothing company is facing scrutiny after promoting a male romper, or 'romp-him' emblazoned with Kim Jong Un's face.

The online retailer 'Get On Fleek' started selling the outfit, printed on it a closeup of the North Korean dictator's mug, last week for a 'bargain' price of $79, according to Next Shark.

And after the controversial outfit started popping up on people's sidebars and news feeds, some social media users began to accuse the company of glorifying the dictator.

The online retailer 'Get On Fleek' started selling the outfit, printed on it a closeup of the North Korean dictator's mug, last week for a 'bargain' price of $79

The new romper was ill timed, as it was released just around the time Otto Warmbier was returned from being imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months. He died on Monday from injuries sustained there

This came at a particularly bad time for the company, after the hermit kingdom made headlines for the brutalization of the American college student Otto Warmbier, who died from injuries he sustained while imprisoned there.

He was held in a North Korean prison for 17 months after being accused of stealing a propaganda flag during a school trip. Warmbier returned to the United States in a coma last week, and died just six days later.

But the Florida-based company doesn't seem perturbed by this.

Get On Fleek continues to promote the rompers, specifically the 'romp-Kim', and even said it is one of their best products.

Social media users are not keeping quiet about these 'horrible' rompers.

Get On Fleek continues to promote the rompers, specifically the 'romp-Kim,' and even said it is one of their best products

'I did it! I found the worst thing on the internet. A combination of so much awful,' ESPN anchor Cary Chow tweeted, with a photo of the clothing item

Columnist Charles Blow chimed in as well, tweeting: So wait: The romphim has morphed into a romp-kim? This summer, I tell you'

'I did it! I found the worst thing on the internet. A combination of so much awful,' ESPN anchor Cary Chow tweeted, with a photo of the clothing item.

Columnist Charles Blow chimed in as well, tweeting: So wait: The romphim has morphed into a romp-kim? This summer, I tell you'

The Orlando-based retailer sells the same style of 'romphim' in other patterns as well, and some of the more popular prints range from '420 Obama' to 'pepperoni pizza'.
A multi-millionaire aromatherapist and her award-winning architect former partner are set for a court battle to resolve a feud over their Caribbean dream home.

Anastasia Alexander and Alfred Munkenbeck were 'in a romantic relationship' in 2011 when they agreed to put 1million into developing their holiday home in St Lucia.

But in 2014 their relationship broke down, according to High Court documents, and they are now arguing with each other over who should pay for the building work.

Anastasia Alexander and Alfred Munkenbeck were 'in a romantic relationship' in 2011 when they agreed to put 1million into developing their holiday home in St Lucia

The grand Villa Coulibri was transformed over five years into an eight-bedroom eco villa which they boast is 'more than a house.'

The deluxe 'architectural statement' has four swimming pools and cantilevers out from the top of a cliff, so it hangs partly suspended 500 feet above the Caribbean.

But Mr Munkenbeck claims Ms Alexander 'ceased contributing' when they split three years ago and so owes him 250,000 for his design work and expenses.

She, however, says Mr Munkenbeck made the project more complicated and expensive than it needed to be, and she should not now be expected to stump up.

Legal papers say the villa was originally a relatively humble holiday home owned by Mrs Alexander and worth about 150,000.

But the couple agreed between 2011 and 2013 to spend more than 1m developing it into a cutting edge 'work of architecture'.

Mr Munkenbeck was given joint ownership of the house as part payment for his work on the project, the court documents state

The grand Villa Coulibri was transformed over five years into an eight-bedroom eco villa which they boast is 'more than a house.' It includes this stunning infinity pool

This included installing a 48ft infinity pool and solar hot tub, pushing fees for paying guests up to 1,350 a night.

Mr Munkenbeck was given joint ownership of the house as part payment for his work on the project, the court documents state.

Greenheart timber from Guyana and sustainable teak from colonial plantations in Trinidad were imported to construct the building which is entered via a 33ft bridge.

Five domestic and grounds staff look after visitors to the lodge, which also boasts a 500hp, 14-seater, powerboat with its own captain.

This can be used for fishing, diving and whale-watching expeditions.

Mr Munkenbeck, of Kensal Rise, London, says that it took five years of work and over 1m of investment to transform the holiday home into an architectural wonder.

The contents of the writ and the defence have yet to be tested in evidence before a judge. Pictured: A speed boat belonging to the property

His barrister, Patrick Maxwell, claims that after the couple split in 2014 Ms Alexander 'ceased contributing towards her share of the funding'.

This left the architect to fork out 500,000 from his own pocket to get the project finished.

The deluxe 'architectural statement' has four swimming pools and cantilevers out from the top of a cliff, so it hangs partly suspended 500 feet above the Caribbean

He is now suing her for a 250,000 half share of the money he says he spent.

But Ms Alexander insists she should not be expected to pay for 'unnecessary' building and design work she did not want.

Ms Alexander, who lives in a 2.5m, 16th-century barn conversion, says Mr Munkenbeck 'ignored the terms of the parties' agreement and the budget.'

He had 'repeatedly made unilateral decisions which caused further substantial increases to the costs of the property's development'.

This brought the development price above the 1.05m they had agreed, she claims.

'Such decisions included repeatedly revising the architectural drawings, using imported goods and labour rather than using local supplies [and] using unnecessarily expensive materials,' she adds in her defence to the claim.

She also accuses Mr Munkenbeck of 'adding unnecessary design features' and 'purchasing unnecessary fittings and equipment.'

Mr Munkenbeck, who lives in London, said he had to fork out 500,000 from his own pocket to get the project finished

The architect 'caused further works to take place at the property, which included staff accommodation and a complex terrace structure'.

These were 'neither agreed by Ms Alexander nor necessary parts of the development,' she claims.

Her barrister, Dov Ohrenstein, says Ms Alexander should not be held personally liable for any claim, as the ownership of the villa has been transferred to a company the former couple control.

Ms Alexander also argues that the High Court claim ought to be stayed until legal proceedings currently underway in St Lucia are concluded.

The contents of the writ and the defence have yet to be tested in evidence before a judge.
Fourteen passengers on board a flight from Panama City to Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport were injured on Tuesday when the plane struck severe turbulence.

Those on board United flight 1031 said passengers were tossed around like rag dolls and that one woman was even slammed into the ceiling.

The plane struct turbulence mid-way through the flight, while cruising 80 miles east of Cancun, Mexico around 1:40pm Tuesday - on the outskirts of Tropical Storm Cindy.

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Fourteen people were injured after a United flight from Panama City to Houston, Texas on Tuesday encountered severe turbulence

Seven of the 14 injured were transported to the hospital - some for trauma and others for issues like anxiety, chest pain and shortness of breath

United flight 1031 came across the turbulence while cruising about 18 miles east of Cancun, Mexico. The plane pictured on the tarmac in Houston on Tuesday above

Carlos Padron and his daughter Isa were two of the passengers on the plane. Carlos was left with a scab on his head after banging it during the turbulence.

'Many people were crying,' he told ABC 13.

'Many people, they jumped to the ceiling of the plane,' his daughter added.

The plane was able to continue on to their final destination of Houston, and landed without incident.

Paramedics met the plane on the ground to assist with the more than a dozen injured passengers.

Of the 160 that were on board, 14 were injured and seven were taken to the hospital.

Isa (left) and Carlos Patron (right) were passengers on the flight. Mr Padron was left with a scar on his forehead after banging his head during the flight

Those injured included teens, grandparents and a crew member.

Authorities say some of the passengers were taken to the hospital for anxiety, chest pain and shortness of breath, but most simply had minor bumps, bruises and neck pain. There was no word on their conditions.

Following the incident, United issued a statement saying their thoughts and concerns are with the injured.

Those injured included teens, grandparents and a crew member. Above, emergency officials on the ground near the plane on Tuesday

Following the incident, United issued a statement saying their thoughts and concerns are with the injured

Above, an ambulance on the ground near United flight 1031 on Tuesday

The radar picture above shows inclement weather in the area of where the flight encountered turbulence

'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,' the statement reads.

The Federal Aviation Administration also confirmed the incident in a statement.

'United Flight 1031, a Boeing 737, reported encountering severe turbulence in Mexican airspace, about 80 miles east of Cancun. The aircraft landed safely at George Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport just after 2:30 p.m,' the statement said.
The KKK has sent fliers across three states branding itself the 'Kool Kids Klub' to advertise a controversial upcoming rally in Virginia.

The race hate group sent notifications about the rally to homes in upstate New York, Texas and Alabama.

The KKK are planning to march in Charlottsville, Virginia on July 8 to protest against the renaming of two city parks and the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee.

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The Ku Klux Klan has been delivering fliers for a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia to residents in upstate New York contained within a plastic bag and weighed down with cat litter. Fulton County Sheriff's Office released pictures of the fliers on their Facebook page

The KKK has been protesting over the removal of the confederate flag from public buildings

The KKK held a major rally in Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia in May to protest against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee from the area. The racist group is planning to return to the city on July 8 to hold another rally against the decision

Several residents in Northville, about 170 miles north of New York City reported finding flyers found on their driveways advertising the rally.

The flyers were protected from the weather inside plastic bag and weighed down with cat litter.

According to New York Upstate the fliers contain references to the 'cultural genocide of white people'.

Fulton County Sheriff's office, which covers Northville, shared images of the fliers on Facebook.

It urged people with CCTV footage to pass along details of the license plate to the authorities.

In a message to residents, the department warned: 'Please be aware that there are individuals going around representing themselves as members of the KKK

'Recent activity has them in Northville over night where they are leaving small bags containing informational pamphlets and kitty litter. This is NOT harmful and can be thrown out.'

The Washington Times said similar fliers had been delivered in Texas and Alabama.

The KKK are marching in Charlottesville next month after city council officials decided to rename two parks named after civil war figures Robert E Lee and Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson.

Lee Park is now known as Emancipation Park, while Jackson Park has been changed to Justice Park. A statue of Lee was also removed.

The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan received permission to hold a protest in Charlottesville despite the strong opposition of civil rights groups.

According to NBC 29, Charlottesville Police chief Al Thomas said: 'Law enforcement has a responsibility to ensure that free speech is enabled no matter how much we disagree with the message.'

Civil rights groups have said they will hold counter demonstrations leading to fears there could be violence.
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A Dutch private investigator who is working to recover the most expensive pieces of art ever stolen says that the masterpieces may be in the possession of former members of the Irish Republican Army, it was reported on Wednesday.

Arthur Brand, a reputed art advisor in Europe who has a track record of finding stolen art, says that he suspects the works that were taken nearly three decades ago from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston are in Ireland.

Last month, the museum doubled its reward to $10million for information that leads to the return of 13 works of art stolen more than two decades ago in the largest art heist in US history.

Two men dressed in Boston police uniforms gained entrance to the museum on March 18, 1990, by telling the security guard at the watch desk that they were responding to a report of a disturbance, according to authorities.

The guard did not follow museum policy and allowed the men into the museum.

The thieves handcuffed the museum's two guards on duty and put them in separate areas of the museum's basement.

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Arthur Brand gained his reputation thanks to his successful recovery of bronze horses that once belonged to Adolf Hitler. Brand is pictured above

Now Brand is following up on leads that suggest the art wound up in the hands of former members of the IRA, the Irish republican terrorist group that tried to pull Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. IRA gunmen are seen above in Northern Ireland on February 12, 1977

The suspects robbed the museum of about $500million worth of masterpieces that included works by Rembrandt, Manet and Vermeer.

The FBI told The Associated Press in 2015 that two suspects are deceased.

'These are some of the most famous paintings ever produced by mankind, and it's time to bring them back,' Brand told WBZ-TV.

Brand has earned the moniker 'the Indiana Jones of the art world' thanks to his successful recovery of bronze horses that once belonged to Adolf Hitler.

Brand says he is now working to recover the most expensive pieces of art ever stolen - the heist of 13 masterpieces worth $500million total that were taken from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. The above 2010 photo shows an empty frame that once housed Rembrandt's 'Storm on the Sea of Galilee' painting, which the thieves cut out and stole

The Rembrandt painting, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, depicts the miracle of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee as told in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament

A Lady and Gentleman in Black is another painting by Rembrandt which hung in the Boston museum before it was stolen

The Concert (above) is a painting by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. It depicts a man and two women playing music. It is thought to be the most valuable unrecovered stolen painting ever, with a value estimated at over $200million

Landscape with Obelisk (above) is a painting by Dutch artist Govert Flinck. Painted in 1638, it was once attributed to Rembrandt

Chez Tortoni (above) is a painting by the French artist Edouard Manet. It was painted sometime between 1878 and 1880

'Everybody thought them to be destroyed for 70 years 75 years and then they popped up,' Brand said.

Now Brand is following up on leads that suggest the art wound up in the hands of former members of the IRA, the Irish republican terrorist group that tried to pull Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom.

'Former IRA sources have told me or people that I know that there has been talk about these paintings for years within the IRA,' said Brand.

The FBI told The Associated Press in 2015 that the two suspects in the heist are deceased. The bureau has never named the men

A security guard is seen standing outside the Dutch Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on March 21, 1990 - just three days after the theft

Brand said that he is basing his assumption on two leads  one from a well-known Dutch criminal, who showed photos of the art in the 1990s, and another which he will not divulge.

Authorities are so eager to recover the stolen art that the FBI has offered a $10million reward while pledging that nobody will be arrested.

'In this case the FBI has assured that nobody will get arrested and they will get a reward and I know the FBI is telling the truth,' Brand said.

He said that if he ends up finding the art, he will decline the $10million reward.

'The $10 million will not be for me. They can give me one beer. That's enough. And they can go away with the $10 million and we will celebrate all of us the return of these paintings,' Brand said.

'Somebody out there knows where they are.'

In 1997, the museum increased its reward from $1million to $5million. The new $10million reward expires at midnight December 31.
The six prison inmates from Georgia who saved the life of a correctional officer who collapsed in the intense heat after suffering a heart attack, are to have their sentences cut by a quarter.

A correctional officer was providing security for the Polk County Sheriff's Office while the prisoners carried out community service, cutting grass in a local cemetery when the man suddenly had trouble breathing.

The unidentified officer collapsed, but instead of making a run for it, the six inmates raced to help him, removing his bullet proof vest and then began to perform CPR.

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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

Polk County Sheriff Johnny Moats said he is going to knock a quarter off the inmates sentences 'Anytime we have inmates that go beyond normal duties, we cut them some extra time off'

The six inmates decided to act  one used the guards work phone to call 911 while others removed the correctional officers bulletproof vest so they could perform CPR

One of the inmates then dialed 911 to summon an ambulance.

Inmate Greg Williams said when the officer collapsed at first he stopped breathing.

He told 11alive.com: 'When he started breathing again, 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 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

It was 76 degrees with 100 percent humidity when the officer passed out. One of the inmates said the officer was unconscious for a minute

The inmates work alongside the deputy carrying out community work at least five days a week

'As we watched the horrific manhunt 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. We are very proud of the actions of all 6 inmates,' the Polk County Sheriff's Office said in a post on Facebook.

The officer's family even bought the six men lunch and desserts as a thank-you for their life-saving quick action.

Since the incident, the deputy has since revealed that when he woke up that morning he didn't feel well.

The inmates who were jailed for minor criminal offenses were cutting grass when the officer collapsed and stopped breathing

The sheriff's office said they are very proud of the actions of all 6 inmates involved

The deputy sheriff who did not want to be identified has recovered and is already back at work

It was hot outside with humidity at 100 percent.

He knew all six inmates extremely well from working together seven hours a day, five days a week.

'We spend a lot of time together,' the deputy told WKYC. 'I started coughing spells, and every time I got those, I'd get hotter,' the deputy said. 'It was just harder to keep upI just finally went down after a couple of minutes doing that.

'Once I actually went down, I was already in one of my hyperventilating spells,' he continued. 'So at that point, I was just trying to breath. I really wasn't thinking much, but just trying to get everything under control.'

'None of my guys ran,' the deputy said. 'None of them did anything they shouldn't have done.'

On Monday, the sheriffs office treated the six men to lunch in the park and desserts prepared by the officers family members

The inmates are being praised for their after helping to save the life of a correctional officer instead of taking advantage and making a run for it

Polk County Sheriff Johnny Moats has revealed that the men will have about a quarter of their sentences removed.

'Anytime we have a trustee or inmate crew, that goes beyond normal duties, we cut them some extra time off,' Moats said.

'They could have taken the gun, got the work van and gone,' Moats told Time. 'They could have done anything they wanted. They were out there by themselves with this one officer. If they would have left him there, it could have been hours before anyone came across him.'
An outspoken former Donald Trump campaign manager said Wednesday that the special counsel investigation into the president's campaign 'should end immediately.'

Corey Lewandowski, on 'Fox & Friends,' was reacting to New York Times columnist David Brooks' contention that there is meager evidence suggesting Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to swing the 2016 election.

'David Brooks is not a Trump supporter. He's truly a Trump hater,' he said. 'And if you have someone as liberal as him, from the failing New York Times, coming on and telling you that there's nothing there, maybe  just maybe  the people in Washington should understand this. There is no collusion.

'There is no obstruction. There was no communication. It's time to move on from this.'

Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager, said on 'Fox & Friends' that the Justice Department's special counsel probe into Trump-Russia collusion should be shut down

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller (center) is at the helm of the investigation, but Lewandowski asked: 'What is Bob Mueller doing?'

Brooks, a center-left Republican, wrote in a Tuesday op-ed for the Times that 'as the Trump-Russia story has evolved, it is striking how little evidence there is that any underlying crime occurred  that there was any actual collusion between the Donald Trump campaign and the Russians.'

'[L]et's not get ahead of ourselves and assume that this link exists,' he added.

During Sunday's broadcast of 'Meet the Press' on NBC, Brooks said the evidence uncovered so far is hardly persuasive.

'I'm bothered by the lack of emerging evidence about the underlying crime, that there was actually collusion or coordination between the Trump White House [and Russia],' he admitted.

'I'm actually getting more uncomfortable with this whole deal.'

New York Times columnist David Brooks conceded on Sunday that there's no real evidence of a Trump-Russia tie: 'I'm actually getting more uncomfortable with this whole deal'

Lewandowski vented that even Democrats haven't been able to surface any evidence that Trumpworld had meaningful Russia ties during the 2016 election season

Lewandowski on Wednesday also alluded to Democratic politicians who had conceded the lack of evidence.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a key member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and others have said publicly that none has come to light.

'Now that the Democrats have said there's no collusion, you've got the mainstream media with the failing New York Times saying it, you've got Republicans saying it  What is Bob Mueller doing?' he asked.

'I don't even understand his role anymore. Because everyone has said there is nothing here. And so this investigation should end immediately.'

Lewandowski also piled on Democrats for losing a paid of congressional special elections on Tuesday night in Georgia and South Carolina, saying they should engage in self-examination instead of making excuses.

Foul weather in Georgia's 6th Congressional District helped depress turnout, with Democrats suggesting it affected their majority precincts more than Republicans'.

'It's amazing: "It only rained on Democrats when they were in line down there  no Republicans got wet." Look, it's an excuse every single time,' he said.

'Let's stop making excuses. Let's realize that the Democratic Party is completely lost. They have no leadership. They have no message. They have no path foward.'

'They had a flawed candidate,' he added. 'They had a terrible message. They want to make this all about Donald Trump. Great. It's about Donald Trump, and he's winning.'
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Rarely-seen images of Second World War aircraft are set to be revealed in a new book.

Aerial photographer John Dibbs and historian Kent Ramsey have spent 10 years finding - and restoring - the breathtaking images from the conflict for Storm of Eagles: The Greatest Aviation Photographs of World War II.

The Second World War is typically represented by grainy, black and white images but these restored images capture the pilots and their aircraft in striking detail and, in some instances, vibrant colour.

Aerial photographer John Dibbs and historian Kent Ramsey have spent 10 years finding - and restoring - images from the conflict for Storm of Eagles: The Greatest Aviation Photographs of World War II. Pictured is Lancaster and crew preparing for another mission in May 1944. Incredibly this aircraft flew 137 raids from June 1942 to the end of the war without being downed

A group of USAAF Boeing B-17s head for Germany in Autumn 1943. Above, a P-47 fighter escort weaves overhead to stay with the slower bombers

Above an RAF Hurricane test fires its eight 303 machine guns near Murmansk, Russia, in 1942. Mr Dibbs, who is from London but now lives in Seattle, said: 'It dawned on me that scratchy, fuzzy old photographs in books only distance us from the subject, when they intend to do the opposite'

Pictured is the Hurricane of Sqn Ldr Tony Rook near Murmansk, Russia in 1941. An RAF squadron was sent to Russia to aid the beleagured country

Included in the book is the alarming sight of an American B-24 Liberator bomber which has been shot at by the Luftwaffe over Austria.

The fire behind the left outboard engine seems small but it quickly reached the fuel tank causing the aircraft to burst into flames, killing all 10 members of Lieutenant Kenneth Whiting's crew.

Another incredible image captures a US Air Force pilot offering guidance to a group of pilots who had signed up to the Women's Airforce Service.

Germany's Third Reich recognised that 'a photograph was worth a thousand words' so when the German Blitzkreig of Europe began in 1939 war correspondents and photographers were sent into battle alongside the troops.

On all sides, images were used as a tool of propaganda to bolster morale 'back home' about how well the war effort was going.

The Second World War is typically represented by grainy, black and white images but these restored images capture the pilots and their aircraft in striking detail and, in some instances, vibrant colour. Pictured is massed Grumman F4F's on the flight deck of USS Ranger in autumn 1942

US Vought F4U taxiing at Torokina Field, Bougainville Island, in Papua New Guinea, in December 1943. Germany's Third Reich recognised that 'a photograph was worth a thousand words' so when the German Blitzkreig of Europe began in 1939 war correspondents and photographers were sent into battle alongside the troops

A USAAF P-47 Thunderbolt, with its pilot and groundcrew, are pictured at Boxted, England, in July 1944. There was huge technical development in camera and film during the war. Nearly all the early war images were black and white, and needed basic retouching even back then to reproduce well

There was huge technical development in camera and film during the war. Nearly all the early war images were black and white, and needed basic retouching even back then to reproduce well.

However, by the end of the war, Kodak had created the revolutionary Kodachrome film which produced 'breathtaking' results as if they were taken yesterday.

Mr Dibbs, who is from London but now lives in Seattle, and who regularly shares his work via his Facebook page The Plane Picture Company, said: 'It dawned on me that scratchy, fuzzy old photographs in books only distance us from the subject, when they intend to do the opposite.

'I wanted to create a book that was a window through time, no scratches, dust or blur.

'You have to start with a great original to scan from, that is the key.

A long range fuel tank of a Spitfire is seen being converted to carry beer in Tangmere, Britain, to thirsty troops fighting in Normandy in July 1944

Heroic ground crew races to free the pilot from this crashed Grumman F6f, in November 1943. Luckily, both pilot and ground crew survived

Another incredible image captures a US Air Force pilot offering guidance to a group of pilots who had signed up to the Women's Airforce Service. It was taken in Avenger Field, Texas

'Kent and I spent over 10 years hunting down original copies of the photos.

'We wanted to represent every theatre of conflict.

'As we sourced them by purchasing or being loaned originals, I scanned them on a very high end scanner - some were original film, some original prints..

'We then set about retouching out any dust or scratches, so the images look like a window through time.

'The colour images were especially rewarding as you see some of the pilots who I only knew as 80-90 year olds in full colour as a 20 year old. So fresh faced, but warriors all.'

For Mr Dibbs, 51, the 'find of the book' was a collection of images of American flying ace Lieutenant Colonel Fred Christiansen who shot down six planes on D-Day. The pair met at Duxford Airfield 20 years ago.

Through the help of the flying ace's daughter Diane, Mr Dibbs was able to track down Kirby Milton in Michigan, United States, who had a treasure trove of never before seen colour images of Lt Col Christiansen in his family woodshed.

Included in the book is the alarming sight of an American B-24 Liberator bomber which was shot at by the Luftwaffe over Austria. All 10 crew were killed as the flames spread

An erupting Mount Vesuvius didn't stop the bombers getting through in March 1944, as several B25s headed for Monte Cassino

These images were previously thought lost in a plane crash in the Second World War.

The image which resonated with him most was of a pilot being buried at sea of his carrier.

He said: 'The image is so eerie and simple, but incredibly powerful. My assistant who is 25 years old had a realisation that the casualty about to be laid to rest was likely five years younger than him.

'It's an anonymous image, but more powerful because of it, it represents so many deaths that took place.

'The sacrifice of those times is beyond imagination, and if this book moves people to appreciate the effects of poorly conducted politics or how that process can de-stabilise the globe, then it will have become more than a book on old aircraft - that's why there are so many people pictures in it.'

London born Mr Dibbs' interest in aviation was passed on by his father who grew up during the Battle of Britain near Northolt aerodrome.

US shipmates are seen burying a fallen comrade at sea at sea a fallen comrade. Speaking about this image, Mr Dibbs said: 'The image is so eerie and simple, but incredibly powerful. My assistant who is 25 years old had a realisation that the casualty about to be laid to rest was likely five years younger than him'

Mr Dibbs' interest in aviation was passed on by his father who grew up during the Battle of Britain near Northolt aerodrome. Pictured is the German aircraft, a Heinkel He 111, flying over London in September 1940

Mr Dibbs has flown more than 1,150 aerial sorties in 125 different types, taking spell-binding photos of Spitfires and Hurricanes for previous books. Pictured is massed flight of Heinkel He 111's heading for Russia in 1942

He has flown over 1,150 aerial sorties in 125 different types, taking spell-binding photos of Spitfires and Hurricanes for previous books.

Mr Ramsey's uncle, Captain John G. Austin, was a photo reconnaissance pilot who was killed in action one month before VE day.

For Mr Ramsey, 62, from Iowa, this book is his way of 'honouring' his uncle and the other brave pilots who were killed in the war.

He said: 'John and I started talking about the project more than ten years ago, and we have both been collecting historical Second World War aviation images for over 20 years.

'I worked on this book to honour my uncle and the thousands of other brave pilots that gave their lives during the Second World War.

'I hope that the other 5,328 men buried alongside my uncle at the Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium would also be honoured by this book.'

The book will be officially launched at the Flying Legends Air Show at Duxford Airfield on July 8-9 which both Mr Dibbs and Mr Ramsey will attend.
Commissioners in a suburban Atlanta county have voted to publicly reprimand a Republican colleague for calling civil rights leader Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia a 'racist pig' on Facebook.

News outlets report the decision on Tuesday followed the recommendation of Gwinnett County's ethics board, which voted earlier in June to sustain the ethics complaint against Commissioner Tommy Hunter.

He did not attend the meeting, which included a public hearing.

The public reprimand will involve posting a written rebuke on the county's website, on the wall of the courthouse and in the local newspaper.

An Atlanta woman, Nancy Turner, filed the complaint against Hunter on February 6.

Commissioners in a suburban Atlanta county have voted to publicly reprimand a Republican colleague, Tommy Hunter (left), for calling civil rights leader Democratic Rep. John Lewis (right) of Georgia a 'racist pig' on Facebook

Hunter lashed out at Lewis on January 14 in response to the Democratic congressman's decision to boycott Donald Trump's inauguration, which took place a week later. 'John Lewis is a racist pig,' Hunter wrote on his Facebook page

In a second post made the next day, he added: 'John Lewis' district is drawn to keep him in power. His wins are illegitimate. How can other reps be concerned about working with him'

Hunter spokesman Seth Weathers issued a statement that reads, in part, 'We now know that mob rule controls the Gwinnett County Commission Board.'

Hunter lashed out at Lewis on January 14 in response to the Democratic congressman's decision to boycott Donald Trump's inauguration, which took place a week later.

'John Lewis is a racist pig,' Hunter wrote on his Facebook page.

The public reprimand will involve posting a written rebuke on the county's website, on the wall of the courthouse and in the local newspaper. Hunter is seen above

'There ain't one political pundit that didn't say on November 9 that this would be Demonrats EXACT response to Trump winning.'

Hunter continued: 'Like I heard Rush [Limbaugh], I believe, say, Demonrats DO NOT live in reality. They believe the polls were right and THE REAL VOTES were wrong.

'What a bunch of idiots.'

In a second post made the next day, he added: 'John Lewis' district is drawn to keep him in power. His wins are illegitimate. How can other reps be concerned about working with him.'

However, he also deleted both of the posts.

Hunter, whose district is around 25 miles north-east from Lewis' 5th congressional district in Atlanta, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his 'racist pig' comment was 'probably an overreaction out of aggravation'.

But he said he stood by his other comments.

The commissioner, who is vice-president of an environmental testing firm in the county, was incensed by remarks Lewis made to NBC News on January 13.

The representative, who was one of the 'Big Six' of civil rights in the 1960s, along with Martin Luther King Jr, told the station: 'I don't see this President-elect as a legitimate president.

'I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.'

After Lewis condemned President Donald Trump as 'illegitimate,' Trump responded furiously on Twitter, saying he 'should spend more time' 'fixing' his 'horrible' and 'crime-infested' district, and said he was 'All talk, talk, talk - no action or results'

He added: 'You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong.'

Trump responded furiously to Lewis on Twitter, saying he 'should spend more time' 'fixing' his 'horrible' and 'crime-infested' district, and said he was 'All talk, talk, talk - no action or results.'

Speaking to the Journal-Constitution, Hunter said he was 'grateful for what the Congressman did in Selma and other times during the civil rights movement'.

But he also accused Lewis of 'using his fame as a way to continually divide the races', falsely calling Trump racist and trying to delegitimize the election by saying Trump only won because of Russian hacks 'which, of course, we all know didn't occur'.

'Therefore I claim [Lewis] is illegitimate and make just as many unsubstantiated claims as [Trump] does,' he said. 'After all, in today's world, it's not about the evidence, but the seriousness of the charges.'

Since word got out about his Facebook posts, Hunter's comments pages have filled up with fiery invective.

'Embarrassed to be from Georgia,' wrote Katherine Hunt Arabis. 'Consider apologizing to John Lewis and to your constituents, the city, and people everywhere your words hurt.'

Gwinnett County has a 47 per cent minority population according to the 2010 US census; 24 per cent of the population is black.
An exhibition of modern Chinese art named "Masterpieces made by prominent Chinese artists" has recently kicked off in Kiev to boost Chinese-Ukrainian cultural ties.

The exhibition features 35 pieces of art made by two well-known artists from China's eastern Jiangsu Province -- You Yaoming, curator of the Wuxi Greenwave Art Gallery, and Yin Xianming, a member of the Chinese Artists' Association.

Both artists have worked for decades to popularize Chinese art abroad. For their outstanding contribution to the development of cultural relations between China and Ukraine, in 2016, You and Yin became foreign members of Ukraine's National Academy of Arts -- the title that has been awarded to only 22 foreigners so far.

At the exhibition, Chinese artists showed local public traditional Chinese ink paintings, graphics, ceramics and sculptures depicting landscapes, animals and architecture.

While speaking with Xinhua correspondent, Yin said that he views the art show as an instrument to provide a glimpse into the Chinese history and culture to Ukrainians.

"This exhibition mainly presents my latest works. This art series is entitled "The styles of the Han Dynasty". This time I brought 5 sculptures and 15 paintings to the exposition," Yin said.

The two-week exposition, which was jointly organized by Ukraine's National Academy of Arts and the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, was attended by dozens of local artists during its opening day.

Andrey Chebykin, the head of Ukraine' s National Academy of Arts, has described the show as a platform to promote cultural exchanges between China and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, You said that Chinese-Ukrainian cultural ties have witnessed a rapid development in the recent years, which is evidenced by frequent artistic exchanges.

"More than 50 Ukrainian honored artists have visited China in the recent time. It is very important that those artists have depicted Chinese real life and customs in their works and showed Ukraine the development of China and stories from its past," You said.
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The sheer joy and bounce in Caesars step is unmistakable as he bounds around the dog park at a New Hampshire animal rescue center.

Anyone can tell how much the huge Great Dane is enjoying himself now he is free from the horrors of his Cruella de Vil-like former owner.

For the next few weeks all the black and white giant has to do is wait in his kennel for a permanent owner to come along and adopt him and give him the love and tenderness he has craved all his life.

But in this cage  unlike his previous home in the stately home puppy mill in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, Caesar is regularly fed, watered and exercised.

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Animal Care Specialist Natalie Parker exercises Caesar, one of nine Great Danes that were part of Christina Fay's puppy mill in Wolfeboro, in an enclosed area at the Conway Area Humane Society. The nine dogs, six male and three female, will be adopted out once they have been cleared by veterinarians and neutered or spayed

Parker comforts Caesar (left) and Ellie in an enclosed area at the Conway Area Humane Society

Ellie, one of nine rescued Great Danes that were part of Christina Fay's puppy mill in Wolfeboro, wanders around in an enclosed area at the Conway Area Humane Society on Tuesday showing a sign of over breeding with her sagging teats

And more importantly, he is no longer wallowing in his own waste as his home is regularly mopped clean unlike the filthy mansion where he spent the first few years of his life.

Caesar - a 105-pound one year-old - is one of the 93 Great Danes rescued from Tina Fays De La Sang Monde kennel in an 80-person raid at the weekend.

He is one of nine who were given up by Fay, 59, in the weeks before the raid and so is not stashed away in a secret location in a warehouse. Instead he and his friends Della, Bruno, Bam-Bam, Cubby, Delilah, Uggie, Ellie and Mufasa have relative freedom at the Conway Area Humane Society, 40 minutes north of his former home.

And he and the other dogs are taking to their new home like fish to water, enjoying his regular exercise with shelter animal care specialist Natalie Parker.

You can just see how happy they are. It is so nice to see them just breathing fresh air and running on clean grass, Debra Cameron, the societys operations director told DailyMail.com.

FREE AT LAST: DOGS WERE GIVEN UP BY FAY BEFORE THE RAID ON HER NEW HAMPSHIRE MANSION

Caesar and Cubby are recuperating from their ordeal at the hands of Cuella di Vil breeder in New Hampshire

Delilah (left) and Ellie were cast off by Christina Fay before police raid, currently in rehab at the Conway Area Humane Society

Uggie (left) and Bam-Bam are given plenty of food, TLC and exercise at the animal shelter

Bruno (left) and Della was two of the nine dogs cast off by Fay before the police raid. Della has a condition called cherry eye

To donate to the Conway Area Humane Society which is looking after Caesar and his friends, go to conwayshelter.org and click on the Donate button. The Humane Society of the United States which is looking after the other 84 dogs is also accepting donations Go to humanesociety.org and click on the Donate Now button.

The Privileged Life of Tina Fay She is dubbed Cruella de Vil after the evil heiress who kidnapped puppies for their fur in the Disney classic 101 Dalmatians  and Tina Fay also comes from blueblood stock, DailyMail.com can reveal. Her great grandfather was the presiding justice of the New York appellate court and her grandmother, Dorothy, married famed financier E.F. Hutton when she was 28 and he was 60. Dorothy had scandalized high society by divorcing Tinas grandfather, Homer Metzger, and starting an affair with Hutton. Fay sold puppies at prices ranging from $2,500 to $5,000. Great Danes have litters of anywhere between five and 15, said Rondeau. So there was a lot of money at stake' Soon afterwards, Huttons second wife, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post  who built Donald Trumps Mar a Lago estate  discovered their affair and filed for her own divorce. Hutton and Metzger wed in 1936 and stayed together till his death in 1962. Dorothy later became Viscountess Weir when she married into the family of former British cabinet minister William Weir in 1973. She tied the knot with the Second Viscount Weir in the 700-year-old Gothic Glasgow Cathedral in Scotland. The Times of London reported at the time: It was the third marriage for Mrs. Hutton, who is well known in social and charitable circles in New York. A reception was held at Montgreenan, Lord Weir's country house on his estate in Kilwinning, 15 miles south of Glasgow. About 60 persons attended, including gamekeepers, farmers and foresters who work on the estate, added The Times. Dorothy lived till she was 94, dying in her mansion in Newport, Rhode Island in 2002. Fay, born Maria Christina Patterson, spent part of her childhood in England where her mother lived after her divorce. She went to the uppercrust Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, and Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. She worked at a tony Manhattan public relations company before her own grand wedding in New Yorks St. Patricks Cathedral. She married Patrick Michael Fay, a vice president of the First Boston Corporation in 1987. The couple lived in both Pawling, New York, and Auburn, Maine. Wolfeboro Police Chief Dean Rondeau said she tried to open a puppy mill in Maine but decided not to go ahead when she learned of the number of inspections the state insisted on. Instead she moved to New Hampshire where the regulations were far more lax, paying $1.525 million for a huge eight-bed, 13 bath home at the end of Warren Sands Road in Wolfeboro in 2015. But on Friday, Fays privileged, old-money life came to a screeching halt as she was arrested and thrown in jail in Ossipee, New Hampshire as an 80-strong team of police, humane society workers, veterinarians and health officials removed the huge dogs from her home. She is now out on bail, but Rondeau has vowed to go after her on any charge he can in a bid to put her back behind bars. I am not backing off of anything on this matter, Rondeau told DailyMail.com. I dont care how minute or minor it may be Tina Fay is owning everything. Advertisement

Theyre all lovely dogs, added executive director Virginia Moore. We are just finding out what Great Dane people think is so special about them.

The dogs still have medical problems resulting from their stay at Fays notorious mansion. Many have orthopedic problems, others are suffering from cherry eye, a disfiguring disease that turns the eye red.

Some may even have to have facelifts to relieve the pressure on the eyes caused by the weight of their huge jowls.

Bam-Bams tail is red and sore probably from being kept in a container too small for him. Ellie still has massively engorged udders. She clearly has had puppies  lots of puppies, poor thing, said Cameron.

While Fay's website showed dogs in open grounds, or clean rooms of the house, teams found animals living in cages and squalid conditions

The sad faces of the dogs were enough to tear at the heartstrings of the 80 rescue workers who took the animals away from the hellhole mansion

One black and white dog had a really bad case of cherry eye, a disease where the tear duct gets blocked, leaving the cornea constantly scratching against the eyelid

A sign in the dog obervation area at Conway Area Humane Society lets prospective dog owners know that the 84 Great Danes from Christina Fay's puppy mill are not available of adoption yet.

The nine dogs, six male and three female, will be adopted out once they have been cleared by veterinarians and neutered or spayed. Nearly 400 people have already applied to adopt and are being assessed.

The other 84 Great Danes are still being held under lock and key. They are being treated as evidence in the criminal case against Fay.

Cameron was in the team that raided Fays puppy mill on Friday. You look at it and you think this is heaven for dogs, she said. You go in it and realize it is hell.

Virginia Moore executive director of the Conway Area Humane Society

She said she watched in horror as one dog, who had been kept without water, urinated and then turned round and drank its own waste

For the Conway center, the arrival of the dogs has had its blessings, donations are way up. As DailyMail.com visited, well-wisher Linda Lovering came in with a $100 bill just because.

But costs have also increased, as the huge dogs munch their way through 10 cups of food a day, far more than the kennels normal occupants. Its probably costing us $50 to $100 a day extra just in food, then there are the vets bills on top of that, said Cameron.

And she warned that anyone thinking of adopting should be careful. Great Danes are not for everyone, she said. They are expensive dogs because they eat so much and they require regular veterinary appointments.

And they drool a lot. Only the other day I went into the office and someone pointed out what I had in my hair!

Animal Care Specialist Natalie Parker inspects the ears of Bam-Bam at the Conway Area Humane Society

Fay is due in court in Ossipee, New Hampshire, on August 2. She has already been charged with two counts of animal neglect and other charges including reckless conduct and endangering the welfare of a child worker at the puppy mill will be added, Wolfeboro Police Chief Dean Rondeau told DailyMail.com.

Depending on vets reports, up to 200 additional charges of neglect may be added, he said.

To donate to the Conway Area Humane Society which is looking after Caesar and his friends, go to conwayshelter.org and click on the Donate button. The Humane Society of the United States which is looking after the other 84 dogs is also accepting donations Go to humanesociety.org and click on the Donate Now button.
Amanda Knox is opening her life up to the world.

The young American woman who spent nearly four years in an Italian prison for the murder of her roommate, British student Meredith Kercher, before being acquitted, made her Instagram public on Wednesday.

The photos show the 29-year-old's love of travel, cooking and her new boyfriend, novelist Christopher Robinson.

One recent photo, taken in the Black Forest of Germany, shows Knox playfully dressing up as Little Red Riding Hood while a man in a wolf costume lurks nearby.

Amanda Knox made her Instagram on public on Wednesday, showing off her love of travel, cooking and her new boyfriend. Above, one of the shots in which she dresses up as Little Red Riding Hood

The Little Red Riding photos were taken on a recent trip to the Black Forest in Germany

Knox was 20 years old and studying abroad in Perugia, Italy in 2007 when her British roommate Meredith Kercher was found murdered in the flat they shared.

The American from Seattle, Washington and her then-boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito were initially convicted in Kercher's murder - but were later acquitted and released in 2011.

Since then, Knox has moved back to Seattle, finished college and started working as a freelance writer. She also has dedicated her life to helping the wrongly convicted through work with the Innocence Project and other organizations.

Knox has been posting on the app since 2015, but only just started sharing all of her pictures with the public today. Above, a snap from 2015

After she was released from an Italian prison in 2011, Knox returned to the U.S., finished college and started working as a freelance writer

Many of the snaps show Knox with her new boyfriend Christopher Robinson. The couple pictured above on a trip to Munich last month

Knox and her boyfriend kiss during a trip to the Alsace region of France last month

Her passions are on full display on her Instagram, which has photos dating back to 2015.

In one snap, Knox lays out more than a dozen books on a table on the topic of criminal justice.

In another photo, she wears a shirt that reads 'It could happen to you'.

Knox now dedicates a lot of her time to helping others who have been wrongly accused of crimes

In one of the snaps, Knox shows off a collection of books on the criminal justice system

Knox appears to have a knack for cooking. Many of the photos show off her dinner creations, like this take on the Korean dish bibimbop

Even Amanda Knox participates in throw back Thursday it seems!

Knox and her boyfriend met last year and moved in together a few months later. In one snap they show off matching tattoos

During a trip to Paris, the couple locked a lock with their initials on it on a bridge

But the rest of the photos are by far lighthearted, giving a new glimpse into her otherwise normal life.

Many of the photos show off her knack for cooking, including a particularly appetizing bowl of bibimbop, a Korean dish.

And like many animal lovers, she can't help posting photos of her cats.

Knox's new boyfriend is a common feature of her posts. The two started dating last year and moved in just a few months later.

Some of the photos show the couple kissing, sporting matching tattoos and traveling around the world to places like Montana, New York and France.

During a stop in Paris, the couple took part in a tradition by locking a lock with their initials on it on the Pont des Arts bridge.
Convicted murderer Luka Magnotta has found love behind bars, according to a Quebec TV network that reported he is getting married this month.

The Canadian man and former porn star, stripper and prostitute, was sentenced to life in prison for murdering his Chinese lover, dismembering him, and mailing the body parts to schools and political parties.

Magnotta joined Canadian Inmates Connect Inc., a dating forum that tries to set up lonesome jailbirds, in June 2015, and had his profile removed just one month later after he said he found his 'prince charming'.

Magnotta is now set to wed a male inmate from New Brunswick on June 26 at the Port-Cartier Institution, according to TVA Nouvelles.

Convicted killer Luka Magnotta (left), joined a dating website for inmates while serving a life sentence with parole for the 2012 murder and dismemberment of his lover Jun Lin (right)

Magnottas profile was posted on Canadian Inmates Connect Inc in June 2015. He requested it be taken down after saying he found what he was looking for

Magnotta submitted the profile with the help of a friend who sent the application via snail mail to the dating website's founder Melissa Fazzina.

The profile, which featured two photos of Magnotta in an unbuttoned white shirt, was then posted online with the hopes of attracting potential companions on the outside.

Magnotta described himself as a single white male who was seeking 'single white male, 28-38 years of age, white and in shape.'

He further specified: 'One who is loyal, preferably educated, financially and emotionally stable for a long term committed relationship.

'If you think you could be my prince charming, send me a detailed letter with at least two photos. Only those I deep compatible will receive a response. Serious inquiries only please. All unsolicited mail will be discarded.'

Magnotta was convicted of first-degree murder for the 2012 killing and dismemberment of university student Jun Lin in Montreal in a disturbing case that made international headlines.

The engineering students torso was found in the apartment while parts of his body were posted to political offices in Ottawa (pictured left, Magnotta's mughshot, and right, Lin)

He sent a foot to the Consevative party headquarters, and a hand to the Liberal party of Canada.Other body parts were also mailed to schools in British Columbia

The manhunt began after Magnotta murdered and dismembered Lin, 33 in his Montreal apartment in May 2012.

The engineering students torso was found in the apartment while parts of his body were posted to political offices in Ottawa.

As well as the killing, Magnotta was found guilty of harassing Canadas prime minister for sending a severed foot to his Conservative party headquarters.

A hand was sent to the Liberal party of Canada, and other body parts were also mailed to schools in British Columbia.

A ten-minute videotape purporting to record the horrific crime was posted online, showing a man stabbing his naked and bound victim with an ice pick.

The video, which added a suggestion of cannibalism, was entitled One Lunatic, One Ice Pick and set to the soundtrack from American Psycho, earning the suspect his nickname, Canadian Psycho.

Magnotta went on the run and was captured in an internet cafe in Berlin in June 2012.

Magnotta, pictured in June 2012 arriving at Mirabel airport under tight security, was returned to Canada via military transport from Germany, where he was arrested
Thomas Klocke killed himself after he was accused of using a homophobic slur against a classmate, his father claims

A University of Texas student killed himself after he was accused of using a homophobic slur against a classmate, his father claims.

Thomas Klocke was banned from classes in May 2016 after a classmate hit him with 'bare, unsupported' harassment allegations, according to the federal civil suit filed in April this year.

Barely one month later, Klocke killed himself at Grapevine's Silver Lake Marina Park, just 30 miles from the university's Arlington campus.

His father Wayne is now suing the school, claiming that Klocke was subjected to harsh and unjust punishment, over claims that were never substantiated, which led to his suicide.

'This case serves to highlight just how potentially devastating the consequences are when a student is denied fair process,' family attorney Kenneth Chaiken told the Dallas News.

Chaiken also argues that the school failed to follow Title IX procedures. University of Texas claims that the Title IX was never triggered as the allegations against Klocke were not sexual in nature.

The ordeal began on May 19, 2016, when a fellow management class student, Thomas Watson, who is gay, claimed that Klocke called him a fa***t and wrote that 'Gays should die.'

Watson told Heather Snow, the school's dean of students and vice president of student affairs, in an email that Klocke typed 'Gays should die' on his laptop for him to see.

University of Texas at Arlington student Thomas Klocke killed himself about a month after he was barred from classes when a classmate hit him with 'bare, unsupported' harassment allegations, Klocke's father claims in a federal civil suit against the school

When he told Klocke that he was gay, Klocke reportedly feigned a yawn while saying 'you're a fa***t'.

The gay student 'told Snow that he felt terribly scared and uncomfortable, after which Thomas supposedly told him 'you should consider killing yourself',' according to the suit.

After the class, the gay student contacted Heather Snow, the school's dean of students and vice president of student affairs, who advised him to draft a complaint and send it directly to her, according to the suit.

The suit was filed by Wayne Klocke (pictured), an attorney, on behalf of his son's estate

But Klocke had denied the claims, and accused Watson of flirting with him.

He told school officials at the time that Watson had sat down next to him in class and told Klocke he was 'beautiful'.

Klocke said that, as class got underway, he typed 'stop - I'm straight' into his laptop for the classmate to see, to which the classmate responded 'I'm gay.' Klocke said he again typed 'stop' as the classmate continued to glance at him, and then eventually moved to another seat in the room.

Snow and Dan Moore, UTA's associate director for academic integrity, had interview both Klocke and Watson, as well as a student who sat nearby during the confrontation who said he'd heard Watson tell Klocke that he should leave, according to court documents.

Klocke later received a letter stating that he had violated the university's policy against harassment and was being placed on probation for the rest of his time at the school.

Moore said in court filings that Klocke was entitled to appeal the decision but he had killed himself before the deadline.

However, Klocke's family insist in the lawsuit he did not get a fair review and that Snow and Moore denied Klocke a Title IX hearing to investigate the claims.

Family attorney Kenneth Chaiken (pictured) said the case highlighted the tragic consequences when a student was denied 'fair process'

The school's administrators 'have a vested interest in enacting swift and harsh punishment (almost always upon males) who are merely accused of sexual harassment, sexual violence or aggressive behavior, in order to preserve the appearance of their leadership on the issue,' the suit says.

Klocke, who needed the course to graduate and planned to attend graduate school the following year, killed himself in June of 2016.

The harassment claims and their treatment by administrators caused 'such embarrassment, rage, frenzy, and mental or emotional anguish and pain that he took his own life,' the suit says.

The suit was filed by Wayne Klocke, an attorney, on behalf of his son's estate on April 4.

In a statement to the Daily News, the university said it had 'followed its policies and procedures' and could not comment further.
A Victorian MP took his girlfriend on numerous tax-payer funded holidays overseas while he was Speaker.

MP Telmo Languiller was initially forced to resign as Speaker of the Victorian parliament and repay $37,800 after doubts emerged about him living in a Queenscliff property he was claiming for.

But an investigation by the Herald Sun also revealed Mr Languiller had taken his girlfriend, who he employed as his electorate officer, on several holidays.

Victorian MP Telmo Languiller (pictured) took his girlfriend on numerous tax-payer funded holidays overseas while he was Speaker of the Victorian parliament

Mr Languiller took partner Tatiana Astudillo on four trips while he was Speaker to countries including the U.S, Fiji and Sri Lanka costing $15,000.

It is understood Ms Astudillo was entitled to the travel and did not breach parliamentary rules.

The couple went to Sri Lanka between January 8 and 12, 2016 and listed the trip as costing $4,499, with Ms Astudillos travel, funded out of his electorate spousal allowance, costing $2,774.

In August the same year the pair went to the U.S. and Canada with Ms Astudillo again funded through the electorate spousal allowance, costing $3,141.72.

Mr Languiller took partner Tatiana Astudillo on four trips while he was Speaker to countries including the U.S, Fiji (pictured) and Sri Lanka costing $15,000

A further trip to Fiji and Tonga in July 2016 was also revealed to have been funded by the state parliament.

A further trip to Uruguay and Argentina between April 15 and 25 in 2016, where Mr Languiller met other politicians and officials, cost $4,755 but he claimed Ms Astudillo paid for the South American trip herself.

Mr Languiller defended his trips, saying all were in line with longstanding parliamentary guidelines.

'One trip was privately funded, one was funded by the parliament as part of an official visit, and two more were funded through the spousal allowance. I fully support the governments decision to abolish the spousal allowance for overseas trips,' he told the Herald Sun.
The funeral of a Syrian refugee killed in the Grenfell Tower blaze has been attended by thousands of Londoners and his family, who were flown in from the Middle East.

Mohammad Alhajali, 23, was the first of five of the at least 79 victims of the fire who have been named following the disaster last week.

His family was flown from Syria by the UK Home Office and arrived at the East London Mosque shortly before the funeral at 1.30pm today, where they met privately with mayor Sadiq Khan.

The funeral for Mohammad Alhajali, a victim of the deadly Grenfell Tower blaze, has taken place in a service attended by his family and the Mayor of London

Chief Imam Shaykh Abdul Qayum led the prayer in the main hall of the East London Mosque, with those at the service standing in long rows

Mohammed Alhajali (left and right) was trapped inside his flat for two hours after being separated from his brother, Omar

Family members were in the front row of the mosque's main prayer room, joined at their side by Mr Khan, when the service took place.

Worshippers from across the capital had gathered outside to pay respects to Mr Alhajali, described by this family as 'a very amazing and kind person'.

A midday prayer was held at 1.30pm, attended hundreds of people who regularly pray at the mosque and many others from around the city, before funeral prayers for Mr Alhajali were held.

There was a heightened police patrol outside the mosque, including plain-clothed officers in suits, to provide more support after the terror attack at Finsbury Park Mosque.

East London Mosque officials said midday prayer normally attracts around 2,000 people, but many more were there for the service, given by Imam Shaykh Abdul Quayyum.

Mr Alhajali will be buried later in a private ceremony at the Muslim cemetery in Hainault, east London.

The funeral was attended by London mayor Sadiq Khan, who said he was pleased Mr Alhajali's family were able to be at the service

Mr Alhajali's family were flown from Syria by the Home Office following a public campaign

The family were among thousands of mourners at the East London Mosque this afternoon

In a statement read by family friend Muzna Alnaib, Mr Alhajali's family said: 'He was a loving and caring person always showing support and solidarity with his friends and family stuck back in Syria.

'He never forgot to tell us how much he loved us, his very last words to us were how much he missed us. Ever since he moved away from us we tried to be united with him and his brothers and now, instead, we have been united by his body.

'May he rest in peace and may no other family experience the pain we have endured in the last few days. We would like to thank everyone who has been so kind to us over the past few days.

'In particular we would like to thank the charities and volunteers who have helped us since the fire, especially the Eden Care charity.

'We want to thank all of you who signed the petition to the government to allow us to be here and we would like to thank the home office for their assistance in getting us to London in time for the funeral.'

Alhajali (left), 23, fled his war-torn home of Daraa three years ago with his brother Omar (right)

The family were flown in after thousands of people signed a petition to bring them to the UK

Speaking after the service, Mr Khan said all of London and all of the country are grieving with the family of Mr Alhajali.

He said the dignity with which Mr Alhajali's two brothers have conducted themselves 'makes us all in awe of them' and that he is 'really pleased' his father, mother, two sisters and other family members were able to attend the funeral.

Mr Khan also called on the Government, on 'compassionate grounds', to allow those who lived inside the tower and did not have the right to remain to be given the right to stay in the UK.

He said it was 'crucial' to get the truth about what happened, that the public inquiry into the disaster commences as soon as possible, that those affected are given legal representation paid for by the Government and that the incident report is published this summer.
A strict headteacher has been compared to North Korean despot Kim Jong-Un after advertising for a 29,000-a-year 'director of isolations and detentions'.

As head of the 'Behaviour Correction Unit' at Magna Academy, the new member of staff must be a disciplinarian who 'demands obedience at all times'.

To reinforce the point applicants are warned: 'If you think it is mean to give a detention when a student does not have a pen, this is not the school for you.'

Headteacher Richard Tutt, right, has been compared to North Korean despot Kim Jong-Un, left, after advertising for a 29,000-a-year 'director of isolations and detentions'

Disruptive students will be taught at the facility at the outstanding-rated secondary school until they are ready to be 'reintegrated' back into main lessons.

The school in Poole, Dorset, is one of the best in the country and has been described by former Prime Minister David Cameron as being 'truly inspiring'.

Its headteacher Richard Tutt is known as one of the country's strictest.

Children are routinely given tough punishments for minor infringements such as having pencil cases and rulers of the wrong length.

The latest method to clamp down on ill-discipline has been described as 'Dickensian' by one education expert who said it will give some students a 'sample of prison'.

Andrew Mears, who has been headteacher at five schools during a 26 year career, said the academy's 'authoritarian' methods could affect the pupils' mental health.

Mr Mears said: 'When I first read the advertisement for a Director of Detentions and Isolations I genuinely laughed because I thought it was a spoof.

'Genuinely, I am astonished that the school seems to pride itself on the existence of a "correction unit".

'The job description is emphatic that people who are friendly to students should not apply.

'There is no mention of any therapeutic approaches to address the epidemic of mental health issues in our schools which might go alongside what applicants might see as Dickensian, authoritarian methods.'

The unnamed parent said the advert was 'fanatical' and 'smacks of bootcamp'.

As head of the 'behaviour correction unit' at Magna Academy, the new member of staff must be a disciplinarian who 'demands obedience at all times'

He said: 'There is a difference between discipline and humiliation and I wonder if it is going to come out on a psychiatrist's sofa later in life.'

The academy was formerly known as Ashdown Technology College and was placed in special measures in 2013.

But under the current principal it has enjoyed a resurgence and was rated as 'outstanding' by Ofsted in June 2015.

To reinforce the point applicants are warned: 'If you think it is mean to give a detention when a student does not have a pen, this is not the school for you'

The director of detentions and isolations will work a 10 hour day and some Saturday mornings and get 13 weeks holiday. The job starts in September.

The role states: 'If you believe in a strong "tough love" approach to discipline, no excuses and that children should be respectful and obedient at all times then this may be the role for you.

'The role is suitable for a strong disciplinarian who believes that a culture of excellent behaviour and respect is crucial to the development of children and central to maximising their life chances.

'The role is not suitable for someone who wants to be every student's best friend, who may be willing to accept excuses for poor or disrespectful behaviour, potentially damaging the future life chances of children from any type of background, however challenging.'

Mr Tutt said the correction unit has been introduced to prevent a small number of disruptive students from impacting on others' learning.

He said: 'We have a very small number of students who persistently cause low level disruption to learning in lessons.

The school in Poole, Dorset, is one of the best in the country and has been described by former Prime Minister David Cameron as being 'truly inspiring'

'In order that they do not disrupt other students' learning, these students will be schooled in the Behaviour Correction Unit.

'Placement will be for specified amounts of time, according to the type and level of disruption and to the subsequent impact on others' learning.

'The reason why this post has been created is simply to allow all our teaching staff the freedom to teach 100 per cent of the time and to ensure that no learning time is 'stolen' from our students, the vast majority of whom are excellent learners.

'We passionately believe that addressing and correcting such negative behaviours helps prepare our students for life beyond Magna and to become good citizens, whichever path they choose to follow.

Previously the school sparked a furore among parents when it said that students are required to have only equipment specified by Magna Academy, including a compass

The academy accommodates 637 students aged 11 to 18, of which 91 are in the Sixth Form. Pupils were also told to bring in a plastic ruler like the one pictured

'We value all of our students equally and we strive relentlessly to provide them with the very best educational experience in a highly supportive and caring environment.'

The academy accommodates 637 students aged 11 to 18, of which 91 are in the Sixth Form.

On social media A salty dog wrote 'Is it true that they are changing the name of the school to Kim Academy?'

But another user said: 'This would allow the teachers to teach all those who want to learn rather than wasting their time on those who don't want to learn. Good idea.'
The two Georgia prisoners who murdered their guards, fled a prison bus and went on a crime spree across two states may face execution.

Ricky Dubose, 43, and Donnie Rowe, 24, made their flight from justice on June 13, killing guards Curtis Billue and Christopher Monica in the process.

They then committed a series of carjackings, a burglary and took hostages before being stopped by a heroic homeowner in Tennessee on Thursday and arrested.

On Tuesday they appeared in court in Georgia, where the prosecutor said he intended to seek the death penalty for the pair, WSB-TV reported.

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Execution: Ricky Dubose (left), 43, and Donnie Rowe (right), 24, will face the death penalty after a cross-state crime spree that saw them killing two prison guards and taking hostages

Death penalty: The men were told in court on Monday (pictured) that the murders committed on June 13 would put them on track for a capital trial

The prosecutor told Putnam County Court he hadn't yet filed the paperwork, but intended to pursue the maximum sentence for murder in the state.

Both escapees were serving sentences for armed robbery and other crimes when they overpowered their guards and took their weapons.

One of the men shot Billue and Monica dead; police initially said the identity of who pulled the trigger could not be determined from the bus' camera.

On Monday both men were charged with both killings.

Rowe, 43, had been serving life without parole since 2002, and Dubose, 24, began a 20-year sentence in 2015.

The men then carjacked a passerby, leaving behind the bus and the rest of the prisoners - who were caged - before driving off.

That night they stole a different vehicle from a nearby quarry and burgled a house for clothes, police said.

The men, armed with the guards' 9mm pistols, then dropped off the radar of police until Thursday, two days later.

Jailed: The two men were already serving long jail sentences - Dubose life and Rowe 20 years - when they overpowered two guards on a prison bus, shot them and carjacked a passerby

Capture: The pair were caught on Thursday (pictured) after they ran into the Tennessee driveway of a man they seemingly assumed was a cop

Hero: Patrick Hale (pictured with daughter Taylor and wife Danielle) apprehended the thugs, who had taken an elderly couple hostage and stolen their vehicle earlier that day

The rampage began (1) on state highway 16 in Georgia on June 13 at 6:45am, when Dubose and Rowe killed their guards and carjacked a passerby. (2) At 10:30am, they ransacked a home in Madison and stole clothes. (3) Around 12 hours later, they ditched the car and store a white pickup from a quarry near Madison. They fell off the radar until 2:30pm on June 15, when they held an elderly couple hostage in their Shelbyville, Tennesee home for three hours before stealing their Jeep. They were quickly spotted and after a 100mph chase, they crashed on the I-24 (4). They fled on foot but were captured in Christiana, Tennessee, at 7pm

That's when they broke into the home of an elderly couple in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and held them hostage for several hours.

They told the couple they expected to be dead within 24 hours, and toyed with the idea of making the woman drive them away.

But when he car failed to work, they stole a Jeep and drove off themselves. Police were notified and spotted them around an hour later.

A chase followed that reached speeds of up to 100mph and saw the fugitives firing at cops from their vehicle - though miraculously no-one was hurt.

The pair eventually crashed on the I-24 and fled on foot towards Christiana, Tennessee - but didn't account for homeowner Patrick Hale.

Hale, 35, had been warned the pair were in the area, and had grabbed a gun and his young daughter Taylor with the intent of fleeing to somewhere safer.

But then he saw them approaching his drive - at which point they laid down and allowed themselves to be taken in.

'My vehicle looks very much like a police cruiser,' he later explained.

'I realized I had two ex-cons wanted for murder who had just shot at law enforcement who had nothing to lose and for some reason they surrendered and laid down on the concrete in my driveway.

'If that doesn't make you believe in Jesus Christ, I don't know what does.'

Murdered: Prison officers Curtis Billue (left) and Christopher Monica (right) were killed by one of the fugitives, though it's not yet been released who pulled the trigger
The man who yelled Allahu Akbar' as he stabbed a police officer at a Michigan airport on Wednesday has been identified as Amor Ftouhi, an approximately 50-year-old Canadian man who is originally from Tunisia.

Ftouhi repeatedly stabbed Lt. Jeff Neville from behind at Bishop airport near Flint leaving him in serious but stable condition. The attacker was tackled to the ground by fellow police officers.

This afternoon the FBI confirmed it is treating the episode as a terror attack and said Ftouhi also yelled about Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan while he carried out his attack.

The agency said he has 'a hatred of the US' and traveled to the US from Canada where he apparently worked as an insurance agent.

At an afternoon press conference, an FBI spokesman confirmed that they are investigating the stabbing as an act of terrorism.

Ftouhi is being charged with violence at an international airport, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Authorities also gave more details about Ftouhi's movements before he tried to murder Lt. Jeff Neville by stabbing him in the neck.

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Amor Ftouhi (left) has been identified as the man who stabbed Lt. Jeff Neville (right) at the Flint, Michigan airport on Wednesday

Officials say Ftouhi, who lives in Quebec, crossed into the U.S. on June 16 via Lake Champlain in New York.

According to Le Journal De Montreal he is originally from Tunisia and his picture was released to Fox 2 Detroit.

This morning, he arrived at the airport and walked around a bit - never going past security into the terminals.

They say he spent some time on the first level of the airport, before going upstairs to a restaurant. He then went into a bathroom, dropped his baggage there and then came back out to attack Neville.

Ftouhi stabbed Neville in the neck with a 12-inch knife while yelling 'Allahu Akbar'.

The saying means 'God is great' in Arabic, and is often shouted by Islamic terrorists before attacks or suicide bombings.

The FBI spokesman also said that Ftouhi said something to the extent of 'you have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and you're all going to die'. He added that it was clear the Ftouhi had a 'hatred for the U.S.'

Ftouhi was taken into custody within a minute of the attack.

Authorities said there's no indication that Ftouhi was connected to any international terror organization, or that he was part of any wider plot.

Officials also gave an update on Neville's condition, saying he is now 'resting comfortably' in satisfactory condition at the hospital.

He was rushed to the hospital after the incident this morning in critical condition, but his condition improved after undergoing surgery. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Neville was at his post at the top of a set of escalators just before 10am when he was attacked from behind by a man wielding a knife similar to a Bowie knife. Above, the airport Wednesday

The FBI is reportedly investigating the stabbing as a 'possible act of terror'. Above, the airport on Wednesday

Witnesses said that the weapon that the attacker used was similar to a Bowie knife, like the one above

The airport was evacuated after the stabbing Wednesday morning. Above, evacuees rest near a concrete barrier

Police took the suspect into custody, but have not yet released his identity. Above law enforcement at the scene on Wednesday

Police dogs search cars in a parking lot at Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Michigan

A police dog and his handler patrol a different part of the airport parking lot on Thursday

Sources told NBC 25/Fox 66 that Ftouhi tried to buy a gun before the attack, but was denied one so he bought a knife instead. The whole incident inside the airport was caught on video, the sources added

A witness at the airport told MLive that he saw the cop on his knees, bleeding form the neck.

'The cop was on his hands and knees bleeding from his neck,' said Ken Brown. 'I said they need to get him a towel.'

Brown, who was dropping his daughter off at the airport at the time, said he also saw a man being detained not far from a dropped knife.

Another witness told WJRT that the knifeman's face was 'totally blank' as he carried out the attack.

Neville (pictured left and right) was retired from the Genesee County Sheriff's Office

Neville (above) had been working at the airport since 2001. Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell told WJRT that Neville was an 'amazing deputy'.

A witness at the airport told MLive that he saw the cop on his knees, bleeding form the neck. Above, officers at the airport on Wednesday

A police officer sets up a flare to block the turn lane into Bishop International Airport on Wednesday

Michigan State Police talk outside Bishop International Airport after the stabbing on Wednesday

FBI Detroit spokesman Tim Wiley, center, walks over to brief the media at Bishop International Airport on Wednesday

FBI Detroit spokesman Tim Wiley bows his head after briefing media at Bishop International Airport on Wednesday. He said it was too soon to know if the shooting was an act of terrorism

A Michigan State Police officer escorts a man at Bishop International Airport on Wednesday

Neville has worked as an officer at the airport since 2001. He is currently second in command with the airport police.

Before joining the airport, he worked for two decades at the Genessee Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Robert Pickell toldWJRT that Neville was an 'amazing deputy'.

The airport was closed for most of the day while the FBI investigated, but reopened shortly before 4:30pm.

Airport officials wrote on Facebook just before 10am that all passengers are safe and were being evacuated. They said anyone flying in or out of the airport should stay tuned to their Facebook page for news about when they will be reopening.

At one point more than 100 people were standing on the sidewalk outside of the airport.

Other passengers were seen sitting down near a concrete barrier outside the airport.

The airport was evacuated after the incident. Airport officials said all passengers were safe

Out of an abundance of caution, the Flint City Hall is also operating under heightened security, with police officers stationed around the building.

'Right now we are still awaiting more information about the situation at Bishop Airport this morning,' Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said. 'My thoughts and prayers are with all of our law enforcement officers who work to service and protect us each and every day. I want the public to know that several agencies are involved and working to ensure the situation is under control. However, at this time we are taking extra precautions just to be safe.'

The White House said Wednesday afternoon that President Trump has been briefed on the incident.

Flint has gained national attention in recent years for its water crisis. It's estimated that 100,000 residents were exposed to high levels of lead in the local water supply. While the water quality returned to an acceptable level earlier this year, residents are continuing to use bottled water until the city replaces its lead pipes.

An officer with a bomb-sniffing dog searches the airport after the incident Wednesday morning
Police in Madrid have arrested three Moroccans including an 'extremely dangerous ISIS member' just days before two million people arrive in the city for the Gay Pride festival.

The 32-year-old man was described as being in an 'advanced state of radicalisation' and likened to terrorists behind recent attacks in the UK and France.

Two other suspects he shared a flat with near to Madrid's Atocha train station, one aged 38 and the other aged 33, were also held in dawn raids on Wednesday.

Police in Madrid have arrested three Moroccans including an 'extremely dangerous ISIS member' just days before two million people arrive in the city for the Gay Pride festival

More than 200 suspected jihadists have been arrested in Spain since the start of 2015

Madrid's famous Gay Pride festival will be held from Friday 23 June to Sunday 2 July.

A spokesman for Spain's National Police, referring to ISIS by its acronym DAESH, said: 'Officers have arrested a 32-year-old Moroccan man living in Madrid who belonged to the terrorist organisation DAESH and was in an advanced state of radicalisation.

'He had an extremely dangerous profile, coinciding with those of the terrorists recently involved in attacks in the United Kingdom and France, and was considered an obvious threat to national security.

'The suspect had carried out an exhaustive study and search for official DAESH training material.

Two other suspects he shared a flat with near to Madrid's Atocha train station, one aged 38 and the other aged 33, were also held in dawn raids on Wednesday

A spokesman for Spain's National Police, referring to ISIS by its acronym DAESH, said: 'Officers have arrested a 32-year-old Moroccan man living in Madrid who belonged to the terrorist organisation DAESH and was in an advanced state of radicalisation'

The spokesman added: 'The suspect had carried out an exhaustive study and search for official DAESH training material'

The force added in a statement: 'During the investigation, it has been possible to detect different markers on social media that link this man to ISIS members in Syrian-Iraqi war zones'

'He had compiled an abundant amount of jihadist terror manuals such as a suicide bomber manual or an Electronic Jihad manual.

'The subjects covered by these documents range from ideological preparation through to acts of martyrdom.

'There are other manuals that the police are analysing at the moment.'

The force added in a statement: 'During the investigation, it has been possible to detect different markers on social media that link this man to ISIS members in Syrian-Iraqi war zones.

Madrid's famous Gay Pride festival will be held from Friday 23 June to Sunday 2 July. Pictured, revellers during Madrid's Gay Pride festival last year

More than two million people are expected to turn out for Madrid's Gay Pride parade. Pictured, parade goes in Madrid in 2016

'He was also trying to recruit people in his close circle so he could convince them to wage violent jihad in our country.'

Police say they suspect he could have been training the other two suspects to commit terrorist acts.

More than 200 suspected jihadists have been arrested in Spain since the start of 2015 - 172 of them since it raised its anti-terror alert level to four on a scale of five on June 26 2015.
A Chinese delegation on Tibetan cultural exchange concluded their two-day visit in Vienna Tuesday.

The visit is aimed at promoting better understanding of Tibetan history and reality through lectures and dialogues.

With pictures and documents, Hao Shiyuan, an academy member from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and head of the delegation, gave a lecture on Tibetan Culture and Tibetan Buddhism at the Vienna University during their first day's visit.

Hao's lecture met with great enthusiasm from local audiences.

"I learn about that there are radio and TV broadcasting, newspaper, and even mobile phone apps available in Tibetan languages, for the very first time", said Dr. Rudolf Schneider at the university, adding that this form of lectures and direct exchanges with scholars from China would help get rid of the biases among some westerners.

Richard Trappl, director of the Confucius Institute at the Vienna University, expressed his hopes to organize more such kind of exchanges that could bring Chinese and Austrian scholars and elites together, putting away misunderstandings, and forging ahead co-operations based upon mutual trusts and amicable affections.

Trappl, who first visited Tibet in 1982, said he witnessed huge changes in Tibet when he was there for the second time in 2014, especially in infrastructure development, nature conservation, and cultural preservation.

"The magnificent natural landscapes and its mysterious cultural heritages are of unique appeals, and most of us care more about the ecological conservation and cultural preservation in Tibet," he said.
Theresa May today offered a heartfelt apology to victims of the Grenfell Tower blaze - saying the help for displaced and bereaved families 'was not good enough'.

The Prime Minister said she 'took responsibility' for the 'failure of the state, local and national' to provide assistance in the aftermath of the horrific fire.

And she admitted that victims of the disaster were left homeless, without any belongings or even basic information or help.

Her admission comes a week after the blaze, which killed at least 79 people as it tore through the north Kensington tower block within minutes.

The Prime Minister and government have been widely condemned for their woeful failure to respond during and after the disaster.

Victims were left sleeping in make-shift shelters, reportedly given just 10 a day to survive on and left reliant on hand-outs from the public as state officials were nowhere to be seen.

Speaking in the Commons, Mrs May said: Let me be absolutely clear, the support on the ground for families in the initial hours was not good enough.

The Prime Minister said she 'took responsibility' for the 'failure of the state, local and national' to provide assistance in the immediate aftermath

Earlier, the House held a minute's silence for the victims of the devastating fire in North London last week - amid fears the final death toll could top 100

Families still traumatised by what they went through have been moved into hotels around London since the disaster

People were left without belongings, without roofs over their heads, without even basic information about what had happened, what they should do and where they could seek help.

That was a failure of the state, local and national, to help people when they needed it most. As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure.

And as Prime Minister Ive taken responsibility for doing what I can to help put things right.

She said the whole country is 'heartbroken by the horrific loss of life' and told how she had been touched by hearing the stories of those caught up in the disaster.

Earlier, the House held a minute's silence for the victims of the devastating fire in North London last week - amid fears the final death toll could top 100.

But while the PM was speaking words of contrition in Parliament, furious protesters marched on Westminster in a 'Day of Rage' to demand justice for the victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Theresa May has been widely condemned for her failure to respond decisively to the Grenfell Tower disaster. Protesters today marched on Parliament to demand justice for the victims

Protesters today marched from Shepherds Bush to Parliament to demand justice for the victims of the Grenfell fire disaster

Tensions rose as demonstrators confronted police as they marched on Parliament in the 'Day of Rage' protest. There is widespread anger at the response of the government to the disaster

There remains widespread anger at Mrs May's inept response to the tragedy.

Victims and their families are demanding to know how it was possible for a fire to rip through the tower block and set the whole thing alight like firelighter in minutes.

Serious questions remain over how it was legal to wrap the tower block in cheaper, more flammable cladding.

While Kensington and Chelsea Council chiefs have faced a furious backlash after it emerged they have been sitting on 300million reserves while council services have been stretched.

And criticism has been aimed at Mrs May personally after she failed to show leadership in the wake of the disaster.

She spent most of the day after the tragedy holed up in No 10, and when she did visit the site she failed to meet any victims, families or local residents.

Her aides scrambled to try to rectify the glaring mistake by organising for her to visit a church in the area the next day.

But the PM was heckled as she slipped out a side door in a bid to avoid angry protesters waiting for her outside.

The disaster has been described as her 'Hurricane Katrina moment' - in a reference to President Bush who in 2005 flew over New Orleons in his plane as he visited the flood-ravaged area.

The government has now set up a 5million emergency fund for the victims and ordered a public inquiry into the fire.

Theresa May, pictured being escorted by police out of St Clements Church when she visited it in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower blaze. Angry protesters had gathered outside and heckled the Prime Minister for her slow response to the tragedy

While it has emerged that survivors of the Grenfell Tower blaze are to be moved into flats in a 2billion luxury development in Kensington.

The government has bought up 68 flats in the lavish new apartment block on Kensington High Street to house those who lost their homes in the fire which killed at least 79 people.

The deal is thought to have cost tens of millions of pounds as apartments in the development are currently for sale from 1,575,000 to 8.5 million.

Some of the families currently being put up in hotels in the area will be moved into the flats permanently from the end of next month.

The 68 one, two and three bed flats have been bought by the City of London Corporation in response to the tragedy and handed to Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council for 'long term' social housing.

An average flat is 2.4million but the developer St Edward sold the 68 for a total of 10million in an 'extraordinary gesture' and insisted on being paid what it cost to build them.
A young bride-to-be is believed to have died alongside her brothers after they refused to leave their elderly parents during the Grenfell Tower blaze.

A relative claims Hosna Begum, 22, and her brothers, Hanif, 26, and Hamid, 29, refused to leave their mother, Rabeya, and father, Kamru Miah, who was 82, during the blaze in west London last week.

Their cousin Samir Ahmad, 18, said: 'They stayed with their mum and dad. Family was so important to them. They lived together and they died together.'

Razia Begum, believed to be in her late 60s, with her daughter Hosna, 24, who was due to marry in just three weeks

Members of the UK's Sierra Leone community travelled from Manchester and Birmingham to take part

He revealed the British-Bangledeshi family, who lived on the 17th floor, rang relatives as smoke began to fill their home and the children explained they would not leave their parents.

'Their dad could barely walk anyway. What were they going to do? Abandon him?' Mr Ahmad told The Times. He said the family made their last phone call at 3.10am.

'My auntie spoke to Hanif. He was very calm. He said his time had come, and not to mourn for them, but be happy for them because they would be in a better place.

'Hats off to them. They didn't show cowardice. They stayed with their mum and dad. Family was so important to them. They lived together and they died together.'

He added that one of Hosna's brothers survived the inferno because he had recently moved out.

Hosna, pictured, with her brother Hanif, left, was looking forward to her impending nuptials

Many residents who gathered outside the smoldering ruins of the building said the fire had been caused by a faulty fridge in one of the flats, but the fire service told MailOnline it could not confirm the reports at this stage

Last week another cousin, Abdul Khan, told MailOnline Hosna, a retail worker, was due to be married in just three weeks, in a traditional ceremony in Leicester.

Abdul, 60, who is originally from Bangladesh but who has lived in Britain for decades, told MailOnline: 'The pain had just been getting worse. Five members of family were lost and we had no idea where they were.

'When I found out they were missing I wasn't 100 per cent sure what to think at the time, I was very confused.

Hosna with her father, Komru Miah, 82, who made phone calls inside the flat as the fire raged

'With the state of the fire I had seen on the news I thought maybe they were trapped in the flat.

'My uncle said 'I'm going, forgive me if I've been offensive to anyone'.

'He was on the phone to some relatives for three hours - the blaze was still going down and firefighters and fire crew were struggling to save as many people as they can but it's beyond their control.

'Within 15 minutes the fire had spread through the whole building. How can this happen? When the whole building went up I thought 'it must be a miracle for my family to survive'. My eyes couldn't believe it had happened.

'For me, at that time I said to god 'please find a way that they can come along with other people trapped in the tower who are safe and well'. That's all I could think about in that moment.'

Speaking of Hosna's upcoming wedding, Abdul said: 'Hosna was born and raised here in this country. She was very active, she was very helpful and she was a very loved young lady by the whole family.

Abdul Khan, the cousin of Abdul Hanif, Abdul Hamif and Hosna, who has told of his despair as there is still no word from them

A woman covered in ash is comforted by others as she looks on while the enormous fire rages through the night and into the morning

Fears are growing for thousands of families living in tower blocks around Britain after it was revealed the firm which supplied the panels at the centre of the west London inferno has also carried out similar work across the capital

'She was a very easygoing person, very kind. All the friends that she had who have lost her are still coming to terms with it - they can't feel that she's gone. Last time I saw her all she could talk about was the wedding - everything was arranged, all the invitations were sent.

'She was looking forward to it, she was excited to be getting a life partner, she was getting married to the person that she loves. Her partner is doing terribly - you can imagine what he is going through.

'They were planning a normal Indian Bangladeshi wedding with more than 1,000 guests. Everybody was looking forward to the wedding day and now it's the opposite - everything is turned upside down.'

More than 600 residents desperately tried to escape the flames as the fire broke out in the middle of the night, with many woken by the screams of others and the smell of burning plastic

In this image taken by eyewitness Gurbuz Binici, a huge fire engulfs the 27-storey Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, White City
The family of Finsbury Park terror suspect Darren Osborne (pictured) have been moved to a safe house, it has been claimed

The family of the Finsbury Park terror suspect have been moved to a safe house by police amid fears of retaliation, neighbours say.

Darren Osborne's four children and his former partner Sarah Andrews are currently under police protection as investigators continue to question the 47-year-old over Monday's attack.

Today, neighbours said it was 'tragedy' that the allegations had caused such upheaval for the family.

It comes as it was claimed that Osborne, who lived in Cardiff, only drove to the Finsbury Park Mosque after missing a pro-Palestine march in London because he was drunk.

He then apparently fell asleep in his hired white van, before allegedly driving the vehicle into the group worshippers outside the Muslim Welfare House in north London several hours later.

Speaking today close to Osborne's former home, residents said his 42-year-old partner, who works as a chef, had been moved out of the terraced property with her children when it was raided by anti-terror police.

One said: 'Sarah and the kids have done nothing wrong. But they are clearly in potential danger of reprisals now and no-one knows what the future holds for them.'

Neighbour Mary Coombes, 73, said she thought it was 'horrific' that it had caused 'so much upheaval for his beautiful family'.

'It's very sad what happened to his family. They didn't deserve that,' she said.

'It's going to be horrific for those kids and their mother. I cant say we were close but I don't have a bad word against her. I'm awful sorry for her.'

Osborne and Ms Andrews had moved to Pentwyn, Cardiff from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, in 2006 to make a fresh start.

It is claimed that Osborne had a reputation as a 'drunken trouble-maker' and Ms Andrews also wanted to be closer to her mother Jan Stannard, 63, who had moved to Wales in 2003.

Another neighbour said: 'You have to feel sorry for them. Sarah has a good job working as a chef in a lovely pub and the kids are all settled in local schools.

The father-of-four Cardiff (left and right) has been named as the suspect behind the Finsbury Park terror attack. He is believed to have changed his target

Osborne (pictured) allegedly drove a white van into the group worshippers outside the Muslim Welfare House in north London

'She's already had to start afresh because of Osborne and it looks like she is going to have to do it all again. I have to feel sorry for them.'

Jobless Osborne has been described by some as a devoted father, but others said he was aggressive, violent and prone to causing trouble.

Earlier, Andy Parker, the landlord of Osbornes local pub, claimed the alleged attacker had been in the pub on Saturday night, ranting about the pro-Palestinian Al Quds day rally in London.

Osborne's former partner Sarah Andrews (pictured), 42, and her children have allegedly been moved to a safe house by police

Mr Parker said he told drinkers that he planned to go to the event on Sunday afternoon because 'brothers and sisters were dying and someone needed to do something'.

But it appears he got drunk, was thrown out for rowing and then passed out in the cab of the van which it is claimed he later used as a weapon.

Mr Parker, who runs the Hollybush pub in Pentwyn, told The Daily Telegraph: 'The gentleman came in and was very political with everyone he spoke to.

'He was very motivated about the Muslim Al Quds day rally going on on Sunday in London and kept saying: "Our brothers and sisters are dying and someone needs to do something about it".

'He kept saying he would do something about it, but he kept going on about it, and was saying we need to "stand up to Muslims".'

Another customer said Mr Osborne was 'making notes on a piece of paper'.

They said that they believed he went on to the mosque after missing the march.

Hours later it appears police were warned he was drunk and unconscious on the front seat of his rented white van 24 hours before he allegedly used it as a weapon to murder and maim Muslims.

He was reportedly seen sleeping across the front three seats of the box van in his home town of Cardiff in the early hours of Father's Day.

South Wales Police confirmed they were called to a report of an insecure van parked on a street in the Llanedeyrn area of Cardiff, 24 hours before the attack in London.

Drinkers in South Wales say Osborne had been ranting about the pro-Palestinian Al Quds day rally, which took place on Sunday afternoon (pictured)

Andy Parker, the landlord of Osborne's local pub the Hollybush, pictured, claimed the alleged attacker went to the mosque after missing a Ramadan rally

Osborne aged four with his sister Nicola, who says her brother had mental health problems and recently tried to kill himself

In a statement released on Tuesday afternoon, the force said officers responded to a call at 12.27am on Sunday, June 18.

They said: 'Officers attended, a male was asleep inside the vehicle, which showed no signs of having been driven recently.

'The officers' assessment was that no offences were disclosed.'

It was also revealed that Osborne reportedly stopped to ask for directions to Finsbury Park Mosque.

Toufik Kacimi, 48, who runs the Muslim Welfare House just yards from where the van ploughed into crowds, said: 'The attacker was looking for Finsbury Park Mosque, but he couldn't find it.'

Meanwhile, his sister said that Osborne recently tried to kill himself.

Friends said he was 'motivated' by the Muslim Al Quds day rally going on on Sunday (pictured) and kept saying: 'Our brothers and sisters are dying and someone needs to do something about it'

The hired van ploughed into people outside the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park, north London, in what has been described as a 'deliberate and horrific terror attack on innocent people'

Nicola said he was depressed and struggling to cope as he drank heavily and had been forced to live in a tent after being thrown out by his partner.

Osborne's sister said her brother (pictured) was known in Weston-super-Mare as 'a violent man and a thug'

His sister, who turned 50 on the day of the Finsbury Park attack, said his behaviour was spiralling out of control and he had even begged to be sectioned.

Describing how he was known in Weston-super-Mare as 'a violent man and a thug', Nicola insisted her brother was 'not racist and not a terrorist' but was someone who 'needs help'.

'He tried to kill himself six to eight weeks ago. He threw himself into the river in Cardiff,' she said. 'He asked to be taken into care and wanted to be sectioned but the authorities wouldn't do it.

'He came to see me after he tried to kill himself. He showed me the bump on his head. I don't know how he got out of the river, or really what happened. He asked me if he could stay.

'But he has made my life a misery over the years. Weston is a small town. Everyone knows Darren.

'I've lost jobs, boyfriends, after people found out I am Darren Osborne's sister. I am his complete opposite.'

Her sister said he also suffered a disability after severing nerves in his hand while 'stabbing' a car in a violent rage.

Forensic officers move the van from the attack site at Finsbury Park. The incident led to the death of Makram Ali, whose daughter saw him die

His sister Nicola, 50, said their mother, Christine Osborne, (centre) will be 'broken for life' and described the attack as an 'atrocity'

Path of destruction: Osborne is accused of using a 80-a-day van rented in south Wales as a weapon to run down a group of Muslims including at least one in a wheelchair

She said: 'I'm not going to say that he is an angel. But he is not racist and he is not a terrorist. He is someone who is lost. He needs help. He is not well. He is currently on antidepressants.

'I feel so sorry for the people he hurt. And I hope that he didn't cause that man's death who had the heart attack. I am angry with him as well.'

Osborne's mother, 72-year-old Christine, said her son was 'not a terrorist and had never shown any hatred towards Muslims'.

She described him as 'just a man with problems,' and added 'I don't know how to cope with all this.'

Counter-terrorist police continue to investigate the horrific north London smash, which left 11 worshippers injured.

The group were helping Makram Ali, 51 - who collapsed and died minutes later in front of his 26-year-old daughter - when they were hit by the van.

Investigators continue to hold Osborne on suspicion of attempted murder and terrorist offences at a high-security south London police station.
Democrats lose again (0-4), gloated President Donald Trump last night after his party won Georgias vacant 6th Congressional District.

Then he added an extra ball-spiking slam: Total disarray.

Unlike some of Trumps public statements, this was one that no Democrat could legitimately contest for factual accuracy.

They really HAVE lost all four special House elections since he won the White House.

And they really ARE in total disarray.

Ive spent the past few months warning liberals their constant hysterical behaviour in relation to Trump would backfire and simply strengthen his position.

'Total disarray': Trump celebrated last night's devastating defeat for Democrats

Weeping, wailing and marching every time he breaks wind isnt going to work.

Now we are beginning to see hard ballot box proof of this theory.

Make no mistake, last nights defeat was a devastating one for the Democrats.

It was a seat they were convinced they could win because Trump only carried Georgias 6th District by a tiny 1.5% margin in the general election.

Democrat candidate Jon Ossoff amassed a vast campaigning war chest of $23.6 million and the party threw its full national and local force behind him.

Osoff even arrogantly boasted he was going to send a message to Trump.

This was going to be a referendum on Americas most divisive ever president; the first big success for the frenzied anti-Trump Resistance movement.

He, Jon Ossoff, was going to smack Trump in the political nose and be a hero to his fellow Democrats.

Onlyhe lost.

Badly.

Republican candidate Karen Handel won by a sizeable 4-point margin, having spent just $4 million.

And by doing so, she ensured Trump won again too.

His personal approval rating may be very low, but his ability to win elections at any level of US democracy remains impressively invincible.

Republicans control the White House, the Senate and the House, and have thus rarely been more powerful.

The Democrats, by contrast, have never been in a weaker position in their entire modern history. And a lot of that is down to Barack Obama.

As Rolling Stone reported this week, during Obamas two terms the party lost 13 governorships and their control of state legislatures collapsed from six in 10 to now one in three.

One of Jon Ossoff's supporters can;t hide her disappointment after his defeat last night

Across federal and state government, Democrats have lost nearly 1000 seats!

This is about as bad as it gets.

So what can be done about this dire Democrat demise?

Well, here are my 10 suggestions for how they can sort their s**t out:

1) Dump Hillary. Every time their failed candidate pops up to whine about her loss, they drain more support. Ive seen some bad losers in my time but Mrs Clinton is right up there with the very worst. Shes blamed everything and everyone from Putin to Comey, and she just wont shut up about it. The Democrats need to send Hillary to political Siberia for her own sake as much as theirs.

2) Stop abusing Trump. The self-styled smart crowd in New York and LA think its oh so clever to keep mocking and insulting the President. Yet as last nights result showed, real America  the one between those two large liberal conclaves  doesnt like it. And they will turn out in big numbers to affirm their irritation.

3) Find a leader. The Democrats are completely rudderless at the moment. They desperately need a fresh face and voice to re-ignite their base. That face can be black, white, male, female, young, not-so-young, thin, fat. It doesnt matter who it is, so long as he or she presents a dynamic new image for the party.

4) Get positive. The Democrats lost the general election because they spent the entire time delivering dire warnings of how awful Trump would be in the unthinkable event of him actually winning. He, meanwhile, focused on big, bold, simple messaging led by his vow to Make America Great Again. It was brilliant marketing, and it worked. Millions of Americans believed then, and still believe, that Trump can cut through the usual political nonsense to improve their lives. The Democrats must now offer their own positive vision for America, and do it in a way that resonates with the public.

5) Be inclusive. One of the rare Democrat success stories is Rep. Cheri Bustos, who won her district in Illinois last November by a whopping 20-point margin. She has urged her colleagues to hear out Trump supporters rather than ridicule them. People want to feel theyre being listened to, she told The Christian Science Monitor, that they havent been forgotten. Democrats, she added, need to stop acting like everyone else is a villain. When asked to describe a Trump voter, she responded: Theyre regular people. Meryl Streep might howl with fury at that comment, but that is why Cheri Bustos won big.

6) Get out into the heartland. The NY & LA bubble is so incredibly dangerous for all Democrats. I would say that 95% of all US mainstream media is slavishly devoted to hating Trump. It spews from their every pore in a 24/7 cycle of derision, and it drives huge ratings and circulation. Its making them all very rich, be it CNN, the New York Times or Stephen Colbert. But Ive spent a lot of time filming in states like Texas and Florida in the past two years and trust me, they view Trump in an entirely different way. To defeat him, you must first understand his appeal. To do that, you must go to the places that voted for him and speak to those who bought into him.

7) Stand for something, and mean it. Everybody knows what Trump stands for because hes banged the drum for his core issues - like The Wall, bringing back outsourced jobs and his travel ban - more times than Charlie Watts has banged his for the Rolling Stones. I honestly havent got a clue what the Democrats currently believe really matters to either themselves or Americans. And thats a big problem when youre trying to beat one of the most skilled brand-managers in American political history.

Republican candidate Karen Handel (left) defeated Ossoff (right) by a sizeable 4-point margin, having spent just $4 million.

8) Tell your celebrity fans to shut the **** up. The constant smug, superior, belittling rhetoric that pours out from famous liberals on social media is utterly self-defeating. I know it makes you all feel good when halfwits like Madonna or quarterwits like Chrissy Tiegen tear into Trump on Twitter. But it just serves to remind everyone the Democrats are the party for wealthy, privileged stars who havent got a monkeys cuss how the real world lives or works. Trump is despised by most celebrities, yet adored by tens of millions of working class Americans. And hes living at the White House. Do the math.

9) Do deals with the Republicans. Yes, Im serious. Americans are sick and tired of intransigent Washington politicians obstructing each other. So do the right thing and work with Trump and his team on big, important stuff like healthcare - for the good of the country. I know it will make you puke, but thats the price you pay for losing. The upside is the American people will see a Democrat Party putting them before itself, and that, I guarantee you, will improve your popularity.

10)Learn to win again. Anywhere. And do it on any agenda other than Trump-bashing. Winning is a habit and the Democrats need to pour resources and the right people into doing it again. I dont like losers, Trump said in his book Art of the Deal. Then he elaborated: There are people - I categorize them as lifes losers - who get their sense of accomplishment and achievement from trying to stop others. If they had any real ability they wouldnt be fighting me, theyd be doing something constructive themselves. Hes right. Though I suspect if I asked him his view of losers today, hed reply that in the case of the Democrats hed amend it to read: I dont like these losers, I LOVE them!
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Tropical Storm Cindy has claimed its first victim after a 10-year-old boy was struck by a log washed in by storm surge while he was on vacation with his family on the Alabama coast.

The storm's center, which is still off the coast of Louisiana, is expected to hit land by late Wednesday or early Thursday, before traveling north to Arkansas and east towards Tennessee.

More than 17 million people along the Gulf Coast are bracing themselves for life-threatening flash floods and scrambling to batten down the hatches as tropical storm warnings were issued in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

Torrential downpour and winds nearing 60 miles per hour have already hit the region, and more than a foot of rain threatens southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle by Thursday.

'It's kind of like a slow-motion disaster for us now. It's not wind, it's rain we're concerned about,' said Greg Flynn with the Mississippi Emergency Management Service.

More than 17 million people along the Gulf Coast are bracing themselves for 'life-threatening' flash floods as Tropical Storm Cindy nears (pictured, a beach goer in Cancun on Tuesday)

Cindy was still 165 miles off the shores of Louisiana early Wednesday, but a tropical storm warning was already issued in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama

Residents scrambled to batten down the hatches and rushed to reinforce their homes with sandbags

The storm is expected to make landfall on the coast of Texas and Louisiana by Thursday before hitting Arkansas on Friday and moving north east to Tennessee on Saturday.

But the Gulf Coast was already feeling Cindy's wrath.

The storm claimed the life of a boy from Missouri, who was hit by a log that crashed in on a large wave in Fort Morgan, Alabama, on Wednesday morning, Baldwin County Sheriff's Capt. Stephen Arthur said.

Relatives and emergency workers tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the boy, whose name has not yet been released.

In Gwinnett County, Georgia, two dozen people had to be rescued from a flooded parking lot, where the water was chest-deep on Tuesday.

Flooding was also reported on Alabama's Dauphin Island and flood control locks and gates were being closed along Louisiana's bayou-marbled coast.

Two dozen people had to be rescued from a flooded parking lot in Georgia, where the water was chest-deep on Tuesday. Pictured, the water reaching up to the car's windows

To make matters worse, a tornado watch was issued from Louisiana to Florida, and cyclones were spotted across Mississippi on Wednesday (pictured, a watersprout in Biloxi, MS)

Residents in St. Amant, Louisiana, cleared a container filled with 30,000 sandbags and rushed to protect their homes just nine months after a flood destroyed every fire station and school in the community just nine months ago.

Workers on Grand Isle, Louisiana's barrier island community south of New Orleans, also fought the clock to reinforce a rock levee protecting the island's vulnerable west side.

A voluntary evacuation was also issued in the Bolivar Peninsula in the lone star state on Tuesday, with Galveston County Judge Mark Henry saying: 'Elderly residents and people with medical conditions should make plans to leave the area before dark.'

To make matters worse, a tornado watch was issued from Louisiana to Florida, and cyclones were spotted across Mississippi on Wednesday.

Hundreds of flights were delayed Tuesday at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, according to FlightAware. There were dozens of delays there on Wednesday, in addition to 46 at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

Jetblue, along with American, United and Southwest airlines, are allowing passengers scheduled to fly in and out of airports in the region to rebook their flights.

A tropical storm warning was issued from Texas to Alabama, and Florida could be hit with heavy rain as well

Torrential downpour and winds nearing 60 miles per hour have already hit the region

The storm is expected to make landfall on the coast of Texas and Louisiana by Thursday before reaching Arkansas on Friday and moving north east to Tennessee on Saturday

Rain bands began pushing even before Cindy reached tropical storm strength. It lumbered toward southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas by Wednesday morning, with the major rain threat stretching from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.

'We could see this thing park on the west side of the state and dump rain until Saturday,' Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Lee Smithson said Tuesday.

Cindy's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph Wednesday morning with slight weakening expected to begin Thursday. But the main danger appeared to be from rain.

The prospect had a real estate manager in Mississippi's coastal Jackson County looking for empty property on higher ground for tenants who might need it.

'We're expecting it to be really bad,' Mark Cumbest said of possible flooding.

Forecasters warned of 6 to 9 inches of rain in southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday, and rain could total more than 12 inches in localized areas, the National Hurricane Center forecasted.

Forecasters warned of 6 to 9 inches of rain in southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday (pictured, Shell Beach, LA)

'We're expecting it to be really bad,' Mark Cumbest said of possible flooding. Pictured, a man and his dog in New Orleans on Tuesday

Alabama's Gov. Key Ivey already declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm, and a voluntary evacuation was issued in the Bolivar Peninsula of Texas (pictured, a fisherman in LA)

State and local officials in Louisiana and Mississippi were mulling over emergency declarations.

Alabama's Gov. Key Ivey already declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm in order to 'guarantee state resources' given the threat of torrential rain, dangerous high tides and rip currents.

The city of Biloxi in Mississippi declared a state of emergency, saying it has one of the highest risks of flooding across the state.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the State Operations Center on Tuesday to raise its readiness level from level four/normal conditions to level three/increased readiness.

He also 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.

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.

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.
An east Texas couple arrested on suspicion of locking their 4-year-old son in a dog kennel and forcing him to drink urine are being held on bail bonds of $200,000.

Matthew McMahon and Randa McMahon have been both charged with first degree injury to a child and are being held in Shelby County Jail.

The couple were arrested by officers on June 2 in Somervell County.

Matthew McMahon, left, and his wife Randa McMahon, right, have been charged with first degree injury of a child after allegations were made the boy, 4, had been locked in a kennel

According to court documents secured by KTRE, Mrs McMahon - who is the child's step mother - deprived the boy of water and forced him to drink his own urine.

Authorities received a tip off that the couple locked the boy in a closet and a dog kennel as punishment for wetting himself and not eating his meals.

The court documents said witnesses saw the boy being beaten with a stick until his bottom bled.

Detectives claim Mr McMahon was supportive of his wife's treatment of his son.

Investigators also claimed the youngster was locked in a trailer for an extended period of time while withholding water from him.

Before the couple were arrested, Child Protective Services interviewed Mrs McMahon's adult children who described the relationship their mother had with the boy.

One said her mother did nothing wrong as 'children could safely go for several days without water'.

Another said the child 'has a problem with not wanting to eat' and described him as a 'terrible child'.

Following the arrests, the child has been placed in the care of other family members.
Gareth Blyth, 65, paraded Carmarthen, south Wales, in bright red garb with medals, a helmet and a pony to collect cash for a 'military charity' from shoppers

A fake cavalry officer was arrested for making fake street collections - after it was revealed his horse regiment broke up after the First World War.

Gareth Blyth, 65, paraded Carmarthen, south Wales, in bright red garb with medals, a helmet and a pony to collect cash for a 'military charity' from shoppers.

But a court heard the Walter Mitty figure was wearing fancy dress cavalry replica - and pocketing the cash for himself.

Blyth had a bucket claiming he was collecting for the Welsh Horse Yeomanry Society as he paraded in medals and asked for people to give generously.

He was rumbled by council officials who checked his background - and prosecuted for misleading the public.

A spokesman for Carmarthenshire council said: 'Suspicions were raised initially due to the quality of his military uniform.

'This was that of the Welsh Horse Yeomanry - a British Army regiment disbanded after the First World War.

'On investigation officers ascertained that it was not an official army uniform but a replica.' The council did not grant Blyth a street collection permit.

But a court heard the Walter Mitty figure was wearing fancy dress cavalry replica - and pocketing the cash for himself

The spokesman added: 'Blyth instead claimed that he had been told by police that what he was doing was classed as busking and therefore he didn't require a licence or permit.

'He was interviewed under caution. It was at this interview, accompanied by his solicitor, that he admitted keeping all the money he collected for himself and his horses.'

Blyth was rumbled by council officials who checked his background - and prosecuted for misleading the public

Blyth, of Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, was spotted in his colourful military costume in Guildhall Square, Carmarthen, and other locations.

The cheater that he collected 40 to 50 days a year and declared his earnings to the Inland Revenue, but failed to show any financial records to back up his claim.

Blyth pleaded guilty to three counts under regulation nine of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations - admitting that his actions may have misled many members of the public.

He was given a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay 5,000 costs at Carmarthen magistrates court.

Cllr Philip Hughes is executive board member for public protection.

He said: 'Gareth Blyth misled many members of the public who believed they were donating money to charity.

'Instead, their money was being used to line his pockets.

'He was often seen attracting large crowds, particularly parents with young children, collecting large sums of money from members of the public.

'I congratulate officers for giving this matter the attention it deserved, and for building a case that has resulted in a successful prosecution.'
There were 22 same sex divorces in 2015 in the year after gay marriage first became legal, new statistics show.

In comparison there were 101,055 divorces of opposite sex couples in 2015, a decrease of 9.1 per cent compared with 2014 and a decline of 34 per cent from a recent peak in 2003.

These are the first figures to be released relating to gay divorces as same sex marriages have only been possible in England and Wales since March 29, 2014.

The numbers disprove several critics, including Archbishop of Birmingham Bernard Longley, who warned gay marriage would undermine the Christian view of family.

More than 130 Tory MPs voted against the bill but it was passed with the support of the Lib Dems and Labour.

These are the first figures to be released relating to gay divorces as same sex marriages have only been possible in England and Wales since March 29 2014

At the time David Cameron admitted gay marriage had been deeply unpopular within Tory ranks, but insisted it was the right thing to do.

The Church of England and Roman Catholic Church were against it.

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, the most senior Catholic in England and Wales, lambasted Cameron at the time for his 'undemocratic' and 'Orwellian' plans to legalise gay marriage.

The Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury, Mark Davies, used his Christmas homily to liken moves to legalise same-sex marriage to the way Nazis and Communists tried to undermine religion.

and the legislation says it would be illegal for any Anglican vicar to marry a gay couple.

Londoners Sean Adl-Tabatabai and Sinclair Treadway were among the first to tie the knot when Britain's new marriage law came into effect and are still together - although they now live in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, the male divorce rate for heterosexual couples in 2015 decreased to 8.5 men divorcing per 1,000 married males; 8.6 per cent lower than 2014 and 37 per cent lower than a recent peak in the divorce rate in 2004.

The female divorce rate for opposite sex couples in 2015 decreased to 8.5 women divorcing per 1,000 married females; 8.6 per cent lower than 2014 and 36 per cent lower than 2004.

The divorce rate among opposite sex couples was highest among both men and women aged 40 to 44.

In comparison there were 101,055 divorces of opposite sex couples in 2015

Londoners Sean Adl-Tabatabai and Sinclair Treadway were among the first to tie the knot when Britain's new marriage law came into effect and are still together - they now live in Los Angeles

Andrew Newbury, a partner with Hall Brown Family Law, said that the figures illustrated how financial considerations influence marriage.

He said: 'What we're seeing is money as something of an enabler to divorce and an inhibitor for those at different stages of their married and working lives.

'The previous biggest drop in divorce came at the time of the last recession, when many couples felt that they simply couldn't afford to split up.

'These latest figures suggest that younger couples who believe that their relationships have irretrievably broken down now feel reasonably confident about leaving a marriage and starting anew because they have seen their finances improve in recent years.

'However, that can't be said for individuals - men, in particular - who are nearing the end of their working lives.

'It would appear that they are more cautious about divorcing because they know that they could lose a considerable chunk of their assets without many or any years left to make up what they have to pay out.

The divorce rate among opposite sex couples was highest among men and women aged 40-44

'That might well account for why so many fewer men over the age of 60 are divorcing.

'They see the financial merits in perhaps putting up with an imperfect marriage rather than face the very costly alternative.'

Nicola Haines, Vital Statistics Outputs Branch, said: 'The number of divorces of opposite sex couples decreased by 9.1 per cent in 2015, compared with 2014, and divorce rates declined across all age groups.

'Following the introduction of marriages of same sex couples in March 2014, the first divorces of same sex couples took place in 2015, with 12 female and 10 male couples divorcing.'
This is the bizarre moment a furious female diner tussled with a waiter before allegedly biting him on the arm in a row over an unpaid meal.

The 48-year-old woman tried to flee the Chinese restaurant in Adelaide on Monday night without paying when the 19-year-old waiter pursued on foot.

Mobile footage has surfaced showing the young waiter gripping the woman's handbag to stop her fleeing before police arrive, reports 9 News.

This is the bizarre moment a furious female diner tussled with a waiter before allegedly biting him on the arm

The waiter was left with gruesome bite marks, cuts and swelling after the woman sunk her teeth into him during a dispute outside the seafood restaurant.

'The lady said, 'can we have half the fish?' We normally grill the fish and we serve the whole fish,' a staff member told the network.

But the woman said she only received half the fish, despite being asked to pay the full price.

'They gave me half the fish and asked me to pay the whole price. I told them I just told him that I pay half because they gave me half the fish,' the woman said.

A young waiter has been left with gruesome injuries after an angry diner bit him on the arm and tried to strangle him, after leaving a restaurant without paying her bill.

The 48-year-old woman was dining with a friend on Monday night when she attempted to pay for just half a main meal.

Mobile footage has surfaced showing the young waiter gripping the woman's handbag to stop her fleeing before police arrive

A young waiter has been left with gruesome injuries(pictured) after an angry diner bit him on the arm and tried to strangle him, after leaving an Adelaide restaurant without paying the bill

When told that wasn't possible, she allegedly fled the eatery without paying - only to be pursued on foot by the 19-year-old Chinese-born waiter.

Catching up to the woman after her 'dine and dash', she then turned on the waiter and allegedly bit him on the arm, before also attempting to choke him.

The woman was charged by police with aggravated assault and fail to pay for meals.

In a statement, South Australia Police said the alleged attacker had left the waiter bloodied.

'On arrival the patrol spoke to a waiter from the restaurant, who stated the woman left without paying for a meal and when stopped she allegedly tried to strangle the waiter and then bit him on the arm drawing blood.

The woman was granted bail and will reappear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on July 26.
While there are many superhero movies playing in the local multiplex, Chinese dance drama director Wang Ge hopes to showcase Chinese heroes onstage.

A scene from King Yu [Photo provided to China Daily]

In his latest work, King Yu, Wang tells the story of Emperor Yu, who tamed the flooded Yellow River by dredging and rearranging the channels, and launching the Xia Dynasty (c. 21st century-16th century BC), China's first dynasty.

The dance premiered in September at the annual Art Festival of Anhui Province, and later toured national wide at over 60 cities. It will make its debut at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on June 21.

"Like many people of my generation, I grows up with the story of Emperor Yu, who, also known as Da Yu, is a legendary hero," says Wang in Beijing.

Born in Zigong, Sichuan province, the 42-year-old Wang graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy with a bachelor's degree in Chinese folk dance and a master's degree in choreography in 2000. He is an award-winning dancer-choreographer whose works have included Red Sorghum, staged in 2013, which was based on the novel Red Sorghum Clan by Nobel laureate Mo Yan.

"When I realized that young Chinese people are more fascinated by the Western superheroes than our own heroes, I felt sad. I want to make the story of Emperor Yu real and alive onstage again," says Wang.

About two years ago, the director started to develop the dance drama, along with Feng Shuangbai, president of the China Dancers Association, who wrote the script, and co-director Li Zhi.

Feng says the dance drama centers on the story from a Chinese tale, Da Yu Zhi Shui, or Great Yu Controls the Waters.

It opens with Da Yu's father, who failed to control the flooding and was punished by King Yao. Then Da Yu continued his father's mission and vowed to control the flood.

"We want to tell a convincing story about a real man, instead of a man from the book or legend," says the director Wang.

In their research, Wang found out that the location where Da Yu built the dams along the riverbank was Yuhui village, Bengbu city in Anhui province, according to evidence found by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Science, about a decade ago.

So Wang invited over 30 dancers of Anhui province's Huagu Opera Song & Dance Theater to join in the dance drama. They brought local music and dance elements, such as Huangmei Opera, to the work.

Chinese dancers Jiang Wei, Luo Wenbo and Song Yulong respectively play the role of Da Yu, the wife and their son, Qi.

"The wife never meets her husband after he left for the great mission. She takes all the responsibilities in the family, like raising their son alone and farming the lands," says dancer Luo, who performs as Da Yus wife, Nyu Jiao. "Unlike my last performance as a strong and brave woman leading an entire group to fight against the enemies, this wife is soft by look but tough and independent inside."

If you go:

7:30 pm, June 21. NCPA, 2 West Changan Avenue, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6655-0000.
A man arrested following a five-hour standoff with a SWAT team told police he mistakenly shot at a newspaper delivery man's car believing it belonged to his stripper girlfriend.

Mark Harley Ferguson, 41, was arrested on Friday at his home in Round Rock, Texas following reports someone shot at a tan SUV.

The delivery man told police his vehicle came under fire, prompting an emergency response.

Mark Harley Ferguson, 41, left, was arrested on Friday without incident following a five hour stand-off with Round Rock Police Department's SWAT team, file picture right

According to KXAN Texas, the witness claimed he saw Ferguson run towards his SUV with a flashlight when a bullet hit the front of his vehicle.

Police contacted Ferguson who claimed he did not have a gun.

He had previously reported that people were living in his attic and officers said he suffered from depression.

During telephone negotiations, Ferguson later admitted to chasing the vehicle down the road but denied he had a gun.

He later said he through the SUV belonged to his stripper girlfriend.

WIlliamson is currently being held on a $40,000 bond having been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Dodgy cabbies are using state-of-the-art card skimmers to scam thousands of dollars from oblivious passengers.

The crooked drivers use the skimmers to clone credit card details and copy pin numbers before handing their passengers bogus receipts for fares across Sydney.

The data is then uploaded on to EFTPOS cards and thousands of dollars are being withdrawn at a time, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Hayley Smith says she is a victim of the elaborate scam which sees thousands of dollars being withdrawn at a time from taxi passengers' bank accounts

Hayley Smith says she was scammed when a driver skimmed her card after she took a ride from Annadale in the city's inner west to nearby Homebush.

'Everything seemed normal until I came to pay and he swiped my card (instead of pay pass or insert) and asked me to enter my pin,' she wrote in a Facebook post.

'I thought this was strange at the time but he passed me the receipt and I didn't give it another thought.'

When the $30 transaction didn't show up on her account the next day, she said she became suspicious before receiving a phone call from her bank.

Ms Smith shared a picture of the bogus receipt she was handed for her fare to warn others of the scam

'The next day, I receive a text followed by a call from my bank asking if I have tried to debit $500 / $800 / $1000 from an ATM in Homebush,' she wrote.

'The transaction has still not appeared, which makes it clear that his terminal was to steal my details, not to debit payment.'

Ms Smith shared a picture of the bogus receipt she was handed for her fare to warn others of the scam.

'That ABN does not exist. There are no contact details, nothing that can trace you back to him,' she wrote.

'Therefore he is not only a con artist but also unlikely to be a registered taxi!'

Daily Mail Australia confirmed that the Australian Business Number doesn't exist.

The crooked drivers use the skimmers to clone credit card details and copy pin numbers before handing their passengers fake receipts (stock image)

The NSW Police Fraud Squad told the Telegraph it was aware of reports of the scam in some of the state's taxis and urged victims to come forward.

'If you suspect your card has been skimmed, report it to police. If we aren't aware of the incident, we can't investigate it. If we don't investigate, we can't prevent it,' Acting Superintendent Matt Craft said.

The NSW Taxi Council told the paper it has gone to the police in a desperate bid to have the rogue drivers drivers caught.

'We've gone straight to the top to assist police in this regard, we want to hold drivers accountable, we want them out of this industry,' operations manager Nick Abrahim said.

'It is happening when passengers are most vulnerable, when they're intoxicated late at night.'
A couple from Oklahoma staged an elaborate way to revel the gender of their forthcoming baby by using the state's tradition of noodling.

The art of noodling is ingrained in Oklahomas culture and involves wrestling a fish to the surface.

Shelby and Colt Moore, from Mannford, near Tulsa decided to use the unique tradition as a way of revealing the sex of their child.

Scroll down for video...

Shelby and Colt Moore from Oklahoma had a unique way to reveal the sex of their baby. Colt dove in the water to noodle a catfish. When he brought it up it had a pink tag in its mouth

The noodling made for some lively entertainment on the river for the couple's friends

Video posted to Facebook shows Colt going under water and grabbing the flathead catfish.

When he finally reaches the surface, the catfish has a pink tag in its mouth.

Friends and family of the couple screamed with joy.

Its a girl!!! Collins Taylor Moore will be welcomed into the world on 12-2-17! Shelby posted on Facebook.

The video has since gone viral with more than 1.2 million views.

Shelby and Colt Moore are due to welcome their child into the world in December of 2017
Police in Chicago are investigating the shooting deaths of a man and a woman in an apparent murder-suicide that shut down a major highway during morning rush hour on Tuesday.

A man and a woman were found shot to death on the eastbound side of the Chicago Skyway at the 87th Street toll booth.

Police on Wednesday said they received a report of a shooting at approximately 4.15am, according to WGN-TV.

Scroll down for video

Police in Chicago are investigating the shooting deaths of a man and a woman in an apparent murder-suicide that shut down a major highway during morning rush hour on Tuesday

A man and a woman were found shot to death on the eastbound side of the Chicago Skyway at the 87th Street toll booth

According to the company which manages the tollway, the man and the woman were both in the car before the shooting took place.

As the car drove slowly through the toll gate at 87th Street, the woman got out of a maroon Chrysler.

The man then jumped out after the woman did and shot her, according to the Chicago Tribune.

After the man got out, the car kept moving. It eventually crashed.

Police on Wednesday said they received a report of a shooting at approximately 4.15am near the 88th Street toll plaza

According to the company which manages the tollway, the man and the woman were both in the car before the shooting took place

As the car drove slowly through the toll gate at 87th Street, the woman got out of a maroon Chrysler. The man then jumped out after the woman did and shot her

After the man got out, the car kept moving. It eventually crashed into a highway divider (as seen above)

Police at the toll booth then confronted the man, who shot himself, according to Skyway Concession Company.

A toll booth employee who witnessed the shooting was taken to hospital due to apparent shock.

Police cordoned off the area where the Chrysler had crashed and blocked traffic east of the Dan Ryan Expressway while conducting an investigation.

The lanes were reopened by 10am.

The names of the fatalities have yet to be released.
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Incredible photographs from the aftermath of dramatic cliff fall that saw 50,000 tons of rock crash into the sea shows a huge chunk of the coastline missing.

A huge rescue operation was launched at around 4pm, after the rocks crashed into the waters from a height of around 80 metres, throwing up a huge wave that stunned crowds at Seaford Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex.

Emergency services believe it is extremely lucky there was no loss of life after a massive chunk of cliff face chalk plunged into the sea, around six miles from the famous Seven Sisters cliffs.

Incredible photographs from the aftermath of dramatic cliff fall at Seaford Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex

The rocks crashed into the waters from a height of around 80 metres, throwing up a huge wave

Large parts of Seaford Head around Splash Point, where the slide occurred, were roped off after cracks appeared.

Earlier warnings about the loose chalk attracted people looking to take death defying pictures of themselves on the clifftop.

Another major cliff fall at almost the same point in the cliffs happened during gale force winds over Christmas 2015.

HM Coastguard spokesman Graham Easton said: 'We would urge people to stay away from the cliff edge.

Large parts of Seaford Head around Splash Point, where the slide occurred, were roped off after cracks appeared

Earlier warnings about the loose chalk attracted people looking to take death defying pictures of themselves on the clifftop

'The soft chalk is always a risk.'

Rescue workers from the Fire Service and Coastguard had to search the area to make sure nobody is trapped under the cliff fall.

The beach front along the esplanade was packed with tourists and holidaymakers when the white cliffs collapsed.

Coastguard spokesman Graham Easton said the emergency services launched a make search and rescue operation just after 4pm.

'Following a large cliff fall we were unsure if there were people trapped.

'Fire service and a helicopter are involved in the search.

Rescue workers from the Fire Service and Coastguard had to search the area to make sure nobody is trapped under the cliff fall

Coastguard spokesman Graham Easton said the emergency services launched a make search and rescue operation just after 4pm

'At the moment we are not concerned there are any people missing.'

Fire crews scrambled its rope rescue and technical rescue units to the scene.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency earlier confirmed that there were no reports of any missing people in the area but a search was undertaken because of the 'sheer scale' of the cliff fall.

Around three hours later the search was stood down.

After the dramatic incident, a spokesman said Newhaven and Birling Gap Coastguard Rescue Teams, the UK Coastguard search and rescue helicopter based at Lydd, was on the scene at the scene.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency earlier confirmed that there were no reports of any missing people in the area

However, a search was undertaken nonetheless because of the 'sheer scale' of the cliff fall

Kaimes Beasley, Duty Controller for the UK Coastguard said: 'We will continue to search this area until we are satisfied, along with the other emergency services involved, that no one has been injured or trapped in this fall.

'We are advising beach goers to keep away from the scene and we are currently cordoning off the area in the interests of public safety.

'I cannot stress enough that this rock fall clearly shows how unstable cliff edges can be, so please keep your distance from cliff edges, at both the top and the bottom of the cliffs, at all times.'

An eyewitness told BBC South East : 'I just decided to go in the water and as I've swam out a bit, all I've seen is this huge load of what I thought was smoke.'

The site of a major cliff fall was a hotspot for people taking dangerous selfies.
Victims of the devastating Grenfell Tower blaze may have been poisoned by cyanide gas released by the deadly cladding surrounding the building, experts have claimed.

At least three people injured in the fire in north Kensington have been treated in hospital with a cyanide antidote, but the numbers affected by the toxic gas could be higher.

It comes as husband and wife Omar Belkadi, 32, and his nursery nurse wife Farah Hamdan, 31, are officially named as two more of the victims of the blaze.

Victims of the devastating Grenfell Tower blaze may have been poisoned by cyanide gas released by the deadly cladding surrounding the building, experts have claimed. It comes as husband and wife Omar Belkadi, 32, and his nursery nurse wife Farah Hamdan, 31, (pictured together) are officially named as two more of the victims of the fire

Professor Richard Hull, from the University of Central Lancashire, described how cyanide poisoning may have been a contributing factor in the deaths of Grenfell Tower victims.

He said it was 'an accident waiting to happen', having conducted a study in 2011 that found PIR was the most toxic insulation material being used, out of six materials tested.

Speaking on Sky News, he said: 'The outside wall of the building had 150mm of PIR foam [fitted], and once the fire had spread to that every flat would have its own source of PIR foam, which would have produced enough hydrogen cyanide to kill all the people in that flat.'

Discussing the findings of his report, he said: 'Its been an accident waiting to happen and unfortunately weve got to the stage now where the accident has happened and were standing here saying "I told you so".

'It would have been much better if people had listened to us earlier on when we published the report.'

It is feared cladding fixed to the outside of the 24-storey tower block before the blaze may have allowed the fire to spread quickly, trapping and killing at least 79 residents.

Nursery nurse Ms Hamdan was pronounced dead at the scene. Her six-month-old daughter Leena is still believed to be missing

On Wednesday, a husband and wife were named as two more victims of the devastating Grenfell Tower fire, as the first inquests into those who died in the blaze opened.

Mr Belkadi and his nursery nurse wife Ms Hamdan - who lived in Flat 175 on the 20th floor of the north Kensington tower block - died from smoke inhalation, Westminster Coroner's Court heard.

Their daughters Tamzin Belkadi, six, and Malek, eight, were found in hospital by relatives following the blaze, but their six-month-old baby Leena is still missing.

One of the girls was reportedly in a coma and the other sedated because of trauma, according to family members.

London-born Ms Hamdan was recovered from the fire on 15 June and pronounced dead at the scene. She died of smoke inhalation and was identified by her dental records.

The London Fire Brigade also recovered her Moroccan husband Mr Belkadi from the tower on 15 June and he was declared dead at the scene.

The court heard that he died of inhalation of fire fumes and was also identified by dental records.

Coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox was emotional as she opened the inquests of the first five Grenfell Tower fire victims today, saying she could not imagine the agony suffered by those who perished.

The inquest heard how Anthony Keith Disson, 65 and Khadija Khalloufi, 52, died from inhaling fire fumes as the blaze took hold of the 24-storey block.

Grandfather Mr Disson, who was living in Flat 194 on the 10th floor, was said to have phoned his sons at 3am to say he was trapped in his bathroom.

The Hammersmith-born retired lorry driver later reportedly told a friend: 'Tell my sons that I love them'.

His body was recovered from inside the building on 14 June and pronounced dead at the scene the following day.

He died of 'inhalation of fire fumes' was identified by his fingerprints.

Fellow resident Ms Khalloufi, from Morocco, lived in Flat 143 on the 17th floor and was separated from her husband Sabah Abdullah as they tried to escape.

An inquest into the deaths of five Grenfell Tower victims opened at Westminster Coroner's Court today. The coroner heard how Khadija Khalloufi, 52, (left) and Anthony Keith Disson, 65, (right) died from inhaling fire fumes

She was found 'unresponsive relatively near to her home address' on 14 June and pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem listed her death as inhalation of fire fumes. She was identified by her fingerprints.

Mr Abdullah, who survived the fire, had previously described the moment he lost grip of his wife's hand as they attempted to flee the tower block.

He told MailOnline: 'It was a stampede, with killer smoke. I could see only half a metre in front of me. The noise was indescribable.

I thought, OK, my wife is behind me. All I need to do is keep my hand in her hand and the other hand over my nose.

Ms Khalloufi, from Morocco, lived in Flat 143 on the 17th floor and was separated from her husband Sabah Abdullah (right) as they tried to escape. Mr Abdullah survived the fire

But how could I keep my balance? They kept pushing me left and right, how could I balance?

I found myself letting go of her hand and putting my hand on the rail. I thought she was safe behind me.'

The inquest also heard how shopkeeper Abufras Mohamed Ibrahim, 39, from Sudan, jumped to his death as the fire ripped through the building.

He lived in south Kensington and was visiting his 70-year-old mother Fathaya Alsanousi on the 23rd floor.

Mr Hamilton told the court he was 'seen by emergency services to come from the building and land near to foot of the building'. He was identified by his fingerprints and by his cousin.

His sister Esra Ibrahim, 35 was also reported missing.

The death toll from the devastating fire in north Kensington on June 14 currently stands at 79, with fears that it could be higher

Sixty-five people were rescued by firefighters, from the tower, which contained 127 flats and 227 bedrooms at the time of the fire.

Rescuers have said they do not think they will find anyone else alive in what remains of the tower block.

DCI Matt Bonner, the chief investigating officer, told the court that there was no evidence the fire was deliberately started.

'Tragically the fire resulted in significant loss of life and serious life changing injuries.

'A significant number of families and a large part of the wider community have been effected.

As the inquest opened, coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox (pictured) said she could not imagine the agony suffered by those who perished in the Grenfell Tower disaster

'The fire was quickly declared a major incident. The speed and spread of the fire was unexpected.'

DCI Bonner said an investigation led by the Met Police the London Fire Brigade and other relevant expert organisations was under way.

He said the investigation would look to see if any criminal offences had been committed that led to the fire.

DCI Bonner said: 'We will identify and investigate any criminal offences that have been committed under criminal law.

'The investigation will examine and review all relative regulations, fire safety regulations, health and safety legislation and building regulations and any other statutory of regulatory framework.'

The cause of the fire is yet to be confirmed but is believed to have been a faulty refrigerator that burst into flames in a fourth-floor flat.

The speed at which the fire spread is reportedly believed to have been aided by the building's recently added exterior cladding.

After formally opening the inquests, Dr Wilcox adjourned the inquest until after the criminal investigation has taken place.

She said: 'These inquests will be adjourned in the interest of justice to allow the criminal investigations on behalf of the Metropolitan Police.

'I want to take the opportunity to formally record in court my sincere condolences to everyone touched by these deaths and my thanks to the emergency services for their heroic efforts that have been undertaken and remain ongoing since the event.

'This is sadly the first of five of what are going to be very many inquest openings.'

The cause of the fire is yet to be confirmed but is believed to have been a faulty refrigerator that burst into flames in a fourth-floor flat

Dr Wilcox said she had so far 'identified seven of the deceased' and there would be more identification 'imminently' today and over the next few days.

The other victims to have been officially identified are 24-year-old artist Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, also known as Khadija, and 23-year-old Syrian refugee Mohammad Alhajali.

Dr Wilcox said: 'Identification in this instance is particularly difficult because of the complex nature of the scene.'

'Again I would like to pass my sympathies to all of those who are bereaved and who are waiting on the service of this court. I cannot imagine their agony.'

She said the coroner's service would do 'everything it can' to help the police investigation and the identification and forensic examination of the deceased and the court was working at 'full capacity'.

Dr Wilcox said it was 'very important' that the inquests were done in public.
Prosecutors said Michelle Carter sent her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, dozens of text messages urging him to take his own life.

Carter's lawyer argued that she tried repeatedly to talk him out of it and only began to support the plan when it became clear he would not change his mind. That argument did not succeed.

Here are a series of texts seen in court documents, organized chronologically:

June 19, 2014:

Carter: 'But the mental hospital would help you. I know you don't think it would but I'm telling you, if you give them a chance, they can save your life'

Carter: 'Part of me wants you to try something and fail just so you can go get help'

Roy: 'It doesn't help. Trust me'

Carter: 'So what are you gonna do then? Keep being all talk and no action and everyday go thru saying how badly you wanna kill yourself? Or are you gonna try to get better?'

Roy: 'I can't get better I already made my decision.'

June 23, 2014:

Carter: 'How do you want to harm yourself'

Roy: 'Something idkk yet'

Carter: 'Please don't'

Roy: 'I hate myself I'll always hate myself, I'm never gonna view myself as good I'm so far behind'

Carter: 'What is harming yourself gonna do!? Nothing! It will make it worse!'

Roy: 'Make the pain go away like you said'

Carter: 'It will make the pain go away temporarily, but when you're done, you'll just regret it and feel even worse!'

July 7, 2014:

Roy: 'If you were in my position. honestly what would you do'

Carter: 'I would get help. That's just me tho. When I have a serious problem like that my first instinct is to get help because I know I can't do it on my own'

Later that day, they talk about how he could make carbon monoxide (CO) in order to suffocate to death

Carter: 'Well there's more ways to make CO. Google ways to make it. . . '

Roy: 'Omg'

Carter: 'What'

Roy: 'portable generator that's it'

July 8, 2014:

Carter: 'So are you sure you don't wanna [kill yourself] tonight?'

Roy: 'What do you mean am I sure?'

Carter: 'Like, are you definitely not doing it tonight?'

Roy: 'Idk yet I'll let you know'

Carter: 'Because I'll stay up with you if you wanna do it tonight'

Roy: 'Another day wouldn't hurt'

Carter: 'You can't keep pushing it off, tho, that's all you keep doing'

July 11, 2014:

After Roy suggests putting a generator in the truck to make CO rather than a water pump:

Carter: '...Well in my opinion, I think u should do the generator because I don't know much about the pump and with a generator u can't fail'

July 4-12, 2014:

The following was sent over a nine-day span. The *** symbols show a gap in communications between the two.

Carter: 'You're gonna have to prove me wrong because I just don't think you really want this. You just keeps pushing it off to another night and say you'll do it but you never do'

***

Carter: 'SEE THAT'S WHAT I MEAN. YOU KEEP PUSHING IT OFF! You just said you were gonna do it tonight and now you're saying eventually...'

***

Carter: 'But I bet you're gonna be like 'oh, it didn't work because I didn't tape the tube right or something like that' . . . I bet you're gonna say an excuse like that'

***

Carter: 'Do you have the generator?'

Roy: 'not yet lol'

Carter: 'WELL WHEN ARE YOU GETTING IT'

***

Carter: 'You better not be bulls***ing me and saying you're gonna do this and then purposely get caught'

July 11-12, 2014:

Again, *** shows a gap in communications

Roy: 'I'm just to sensitive. I want my family to know there was nothing they could do. I am entrapped in my own thoughts'

Roy: 'like no I would be happy if they had no guilt about it. because I have a bad feeling tht this is going to create a lot of depression between my parents/sisters'

Roy: 'i'm overthinking everything. . f**k. I gotta stop and just do it'

Carter: 'I think your parents know you're in a really bad place. Im not saying they want you to do it, but I honestly feel like they can accept it. They know there's nothing they can do, they've tried helping, everyone's tried. But there's a point that comes where there isn't anything anyone can do to save you, not even yourself, and you've hit that point and I think your parents know you've hit that point. You said you're mom saw a suicide thing on your computer and she didn't say anything. I think she knows it's on your mind and she's prepared for it'

Carter: 'Everyone will be sad for a while, but they will get over it and move on. They won't be in depression I won't let that happen. They know how sad you are and they know that you're doing this to be happy, and I think they will understand and accept it. They'll always carry u in their hearts'

***

Roy: 'i don't want anyone hurt in the process though'

Roy: 'I meant when they open the door, all the carbon monoxide is gonna come out they can't see it or smell it. whoever opens the door'

Carter: 'They will see the generator and know that you died of CO. . . .'

***

Roy: 'hey can you do me a favor'

Carter: 'Yes of course'

Roy: 'just be there for my family :)'

Carter: 'Conrad, of course I will be there for your family. I will help them as much as I can to get thru this, ill tell them about how amazing their son/brother truly was'

***

Roy: 'Idk I'm freaking out again'

Roy: I'm overthinking'

Carter: 'I thought you wanted to do this. The time is right and you're ready, you just need to do it! You can't keep living this way. You just need to do it like you did last time and not think about it and just do it babe. You can't keep doing this every day'

Roy: 'I do want to. but like I'm freaking for my family. I guess'

Roy: 'idkkk'

Carter: 'Conrad. I told you I'll take care of them. Everyone will take care of them to make sure they won't be alone and people will help them get thru it. We talked about this, they will be okay and accept it. People who commit suicide don't think this much and they just do it'

July 12, 2014:

In these exchanges on the day before his body was found, Roy expresses more hesitation about his plan.

Carter: 'So I guess you aren't gonna do it then, all that for nothing'

Carter: 'I'm just confused like you were so ready and determined'

Roy: 'I am gonna eventually'

Roy: 'I really don't know what I'm waiting for. . but I have everything lined up'

Carter: 'No, you're not, Conrad. Last night was it. You keep pushing it off and you say you'll do it but u never do. Its always gonna be that way if u don't take action'

Carter: 'You're just making it harder on yourself by pushing it off, you just have to do it'

Carter: 'Do u wanna do it now?'

Roy: 'Is it too late?'

Roy: 'Idkk it's already light outside'

Roy: I'm gonna go back to sleep, love you I'll text you tomorrow'

Carter: 'No? Its probably the best time now because everyone's sleeping. Just go somewhere in your truck. And no one's really out right now because it's an awkward time'

Carter: 'If u don't do it now you're never gonna do it'

Carter: 'And u can say you'll do it tomorrow but you probably won't'

***

Carter: 'You just need to do it Conrad or I'm gonna get you help'

Carter: 'You can't keep doing this everyday'

Roy: 'Okay I'm gonna do it today'

Carter: 'Do you promise'

Roy: 'I promise babe'

Roy: 'I have to now'

Carter: 'Like right now?'

Roy: 'where do I go? :('

Carter: 'And u can't break a promise. And just go in a quiet parking lot or something.'
Police have launched a nationwide manhunt Gerald Michael 'Mike' Bullinger, 60, after the decomposed bodies of three women were found in his Idaho farmhouse on Monday

Police have launched a nationwide manhunt for the owner of an Idaho farmhouse where the badly decomposed bodies of three slain women were discovered earlier this week.

Gerald Michael 'Mike' Bullinger, 60, is a suspect in the three murders and has been charged with failing to report the deaths after the bodies were found by authorities on Monday at the home in Caldwell.

Bullinger was last seen in Ogden, Utah about 10 days ago.

'We would consider him armed and dangerous at this time,' Canyon County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Marv Dashiell said on Wednesday.

'If someone does come into contact with him or observe him, we request that they contact local law enforcement immediately.'

Bullinger, a pilot, had purchased the Idaho farmhouse last month with his wife, 57-year-old Cheryl Baker.

The couple were in the process of moving to Idaho from Utah when one of Bullinger's relatives called police to ask for a welfare check, saying the family hadn't been heard from for a few days.

The sheriff's deputy responding to the home noticed signs that something was amiss and so began looking around the tiny farmhouse and wooded lot

A sheriff's deputy found the decomposed bodies at the property (above) on Monday after family members called police to ask for a welfare check, saying Bullinger and his wife Cheryl Baker hadn't been heard from for a few days

That's when the deputy discovered a gruesome scene: A shed on the property held three badly decomposed bodies, each laying side-by-side and hidden under some sort of covering.

Several dead birds and dogs - likely family pets - were also found on the property, and other living animals including a snake, rat and some rabbits were removed during the subsequent investigation.

At first, investigators couldn't determine the gender of the bodies or what killed them, but autopsies completed Tuesday revealed that the three women had each been shot once.

The women ranged in age from mid-teens to late 50s, and their ages and statures matched the description of people thought to have been living at the home.

Dashiell said investigators are working with family members to try to positively identify the bodies using DNA or other forensics.

The women had been dead for one to two weeks before their remains were found.

Police are actively seeking Bullinger and believe he may be driving a white 2007 Ford Focus with Utah license plates numbered 129UMP. He is about 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs an estimated 240 pounds, with gray hair and brown eyes.

Canyon County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Marv Dashiell said on Wednesday the women had been dead for one to two weeks before their remains were found

Baker's brother, Byron Baker, told the Idaho Statesman newspaper that family members became concerned because they hadn't heard from them during their move to Idaho.

Byron said he thought the couple lived alone and was unsure who anyone else at the home might be.

'I just don't know what to believe,' he told the Idaho Statesman on Tuesday. 'There are four people involved here. Three bodies and someone who covered the bodies.'

He also described a strange text his sister had sent to a close friend in Utah around June 11, which read: 'Take care of my dogs. I don't know if I'm coming back.'

Cheryl Baker had just retired from her job as an art teacher at GreenWood Charter School in Harrisville, Utah, and Bullinger was a pilot with Classic Aviations Service in Utah before taking on contract work in Idaho.

Neighbors of the Caldwell home reported hearing a gunshot or other noises about 10 days ago, but gunshots aren't uncommon in the rural area where many avid hunters and target shooters live.

One neighbor, Cindy Morrison, said she heard a loud scream early one morning sometime around June 6 to June 10, but wasn't sure at the time whether it was an animal or a woman who made the noise. She didn't hear anything else and opted not to call police.
George Clooney is reportedly set to personally make up to $233 million after selling the premium tequila brand Casamigos for a whopping $1 billion.

Diageo PLC, a British distiller of spirits, confirmed on Wednesday it will pay Clooney and his two business partners $700 million initially for the tequila company. An additional $300 million will also be paid depending on the brand's performance over the next decade.

The Hollywood star started Casamigos on a whim four years ago with Cindy Crawford's entrepreneur husband Rande Gerber and real estate developer Mike Meldman.

The trio is understood to have equal stakes in the brand with no outside investment, Forbes reports. The initial $700 million payout would mean up to $233 million pretax for each of the co-owners.

The lucrative deal is expected to close in second half of the year. Both Clooney and Gerber said they are planning to maintain close ties to their brand.

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Liquid gold: George Clooney and his business partners, Michael Meldman (far left) and Rande Gerber (second right) have signed a deal to sell their premium tequila brand Casamigos for a whopping $1billion

Bottoms up: Clooney, Meldman and Gerber launched the premium tequila company in 2013 as a passion project

Casamigos, loosely translated from Spanish as 'house of friends,' was launched four years ago by Clooney, Gerber and Meldman as a passion project.

Since then, it has won numerous accolades for superior taste and smoothness of texture, and sales have climbed fast.

Casamigos' unlikely success story Casamigos, or 'house of friends,' was launched in 2013 by founders George Clooney, Cindy Crawford's husband Rande Gerber, and real estate developer Mike Meldman. Clooney and Gerber became interested in tequila a few years earlier while vacationing with their families in Mexico, and eventually decided to distill their own agave-based spirit for personal consumption. Gerber and Clooney spent two years meeting with distillers and sampling tequila until they found a recipe they liked. When they started importing 1,000 bottles a year into the UK, their distiller in Mexico told them they would have to secure an alcohol license. In 2013, they teamed up with Meldman and a liquor distributor in the US, and started selling it to the general public. Over the past four years, the super-premium tequila, made from blue Weber agaves, has racked up multiple awards for taste and smoothness, emerging as the fastest growing brand of upscale tequila in the US. Casamigos sold 120,000 cases of tequila in 2016, and the brand is on track to reach over 170,000 cases by the end of this year. Advertisement

Speaking of the billion-dollar sale, Clooney, 56, said in a statement to Deadline: 'This reflects Diageo's belief in our company and our belief in Diageo.

'But we're not going anywhere. We'll still be very much a part of Casamigos. Starting with a shot tonight. Maybe two.'

In an interview with CNBC last year, the Ocean's Eleven star revealed that he and Gerber came up with the idea for Casamigos when they bought neighboring homes in Mexico and developed a strong taste for tequila.

Seeking a superior product, the two friends decided to launch their own line of agave-based spirits.

Gerber corroborated Clooney's origin story in an interview with Business Insider this past march.

'Casamigos really started by accident as far as a company,' Gerber said at the time.

'As you do in Mexico, we would drink a lot of tequila. We'd go out to bars and restaurants, and bartenders would recommend them. Some were good, some not so good, and some expensive. There came a point where George turned to me and said, 'Why don't we create one that's perfect for us?''

Gerber and Clooney spent two years researching the industry, which entailed meeting with distillers and sampling 700 different types of tequila until they came upon a recipe they liked the best.

The plan was to create a tequila that would not leave an unpleasant aftertaste or be accompanied by a hangover.

At first, Clooney and Gerber had the tequila produced just for personal use and to share with friends and family, but when they started importing 1,000 bottles a year into the UK, their distiller in Mexico told them they would have to secure an alcohol license.

Clooney, pictured with Gerber in a Casamigos ad, said he plans to stay involved in the brand that he helped create

Cindy Crawford is pictured with her husband Rande Gerber at a Casamigos event, left. On the right, Clooney, Gerber and Meldman arrive on board their Casamigos tequila plane at the Van Nuys Airport in California in October 2013

Three amigos: Founders of Casamigos Tequila Mike Meldman, George Clooney and Rande Gerber attend the launch of Casamigos Tequila at Ushuaia Beach Hotel Ibiza on August 23, 2015 in Ibiza, Spain

Make a wish: In May 2017, Rande Gerber shared this image on his Instagram page, writing: 'Celebrating our Birthdays @casamigos style. Thanks for the cool cake Amal. #houseoffriends'

In 2013, they teamed up with Meldman and a liquor distributor in the US, and started selling it to the general public.

Four years later, Casamigos is available for purchase in 20 countries. A 750-milliliter bottle of Casamigos tequila now retails in the US for $45 to $55.

According to a press release from Diageo PLC confirming the purchase on Wednesday, Casamigos sold 120,000 cases of its premium tequila in 2016, and the brand is on track to reach over 170,000 cases by the end of this year.

Describing Casamigos as 'the fastest growing super-premium tequila brand in the US,' Diageo said the deal will allow the maker of Smirnoff vodka and Guinness beer to strengthen its participation in the tequila category and expand the brand worldwide.

'We believe Casamigos will play a complementary role alongside Tequila Don Julio,' said Deirdre Mahlan, President Diageo North America. 'We look forward to partnering with Rande, George and Mike to realise the full potential of the brand.'

The windfall from the Casamigos sale should come in handy for Clooney, who became a father earlier this month when his wife, human rights attorney Amal Clooney, welcomed the couple's twins, Ella and Alexander, in London.

New parents: Clooney and wife Amal, pictured here in Paris in February 2017, welcomed their twins, Ella and Alexander, in early June
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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.
The mystery of what happened to pilot Amelia Earhart (above) and her navigator almost 80 years ago could be solved with the help of bone-sniffing dogs

The mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart and her navigator almost 80 years ago could be solved with the help of bone-sniffing dogs, it was learned on Wednesday.

An expedition of forensic scientists is due to set sail on Saturday for a remote Pacific island together with specially trained dogs in an effort to find the pilots' remains, National Geographic reported on Wednesday.

The mission is being organized by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR).

It is bound for the tiny, uninhabited island of Nikumaroro, which lies about 1,000 miles north of Fiji.

Experts who have investigated the disappearance of Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan believe that their plane ended up on that island after missing their intended destination in June 1937.

Earhart, who in 1932 became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo, vanished while trying to find Howland Island, 1,700 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu.

The human remains detection dogs from the Institute for Canine Forensics have been able to detect bones buried as much as nine feet underground, according to National Geographic. They will be used to help find the remains of Earhart and Fred Noonan

Archaeologists will call on the services of four border collies  Berkeley, Piper, Marcy, and Kayle

Earhart, who in 1932 became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean solo, and her navigator, Noonan (seen left with Earhart in this 1937 image), vanished while trying to find Howland Island, 1,700 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu

TIGHAR believes that Earhart's real fate is more chilling: she died a castaway on a different Pacific island.

Earhart was four months into her 29,000-mile trip when she began to run low on fuel while trying to find Howland Island.

She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were last seen on radar on June 2.

Then they disappeared.

What happened to the pair is a mystery, but experts believe they didn't plunge into the water.

Nikumaroro lies 350 nautical miles southwest of Howland.

Earhart was four months into her 29,000-mile trip when she began to run low on fuel while trying to find Howland Island. She is seen above sitting atop her Electra 10e aircraft in Los Angeles just before her departure for Oakland on March 10, 1937

In her last confirmed radio message, Earhart identified the island's position on the map.

TIGHAR members - including engineers and archaeologists - also claim to have found aluminium paneling fitting 1930s specifications, Plexiglas like that used in Earhart's plane, and ball bearings.

They also claim to have found a size 9 Cat's Paw heel dating from the 1930s, similar to that seen on Earhart's footwear in world flight photos.

But the plane itself is nowhere to be found because it likely would have been pulled into the sea by the tide.

TIGHAR has so far sent 12 missions in search of Earhart, though this time there is a sense that scientists are getting closer to finding out what exactly happened to her.

An expedition of forensic scientists is due to set sail on Saturday for Nikumaroro, a remote Pacific island 1,000 miles north of Fiji, together with specially trained dogs in an effort to find the pilots' remains

In 1940, Gerald Gallagher, a British colonial officer and licensed pilot, told his superiors that he'd found a skeleton on the island (seen above in this file photo)

'This expedition is less of a shot in the dark than any expedition we've had,' says Tom King, TIGHAR'S senior archaeologist.

In 1940, Gerald Gallagher, a British colonial officer and licensed pilot, told his superiors that he'd found a skeleton on the island.

It was sent to Fiji where measurements were taken.

It was initially identified as male, but re-examination of the measurements in 1998 concluded it was probably a tall white female.

The bones were lost in the years between.

TIGHAR archaeologists believe that not only do they think they know where the bones were found, but that there are additional bones at the site.

'There's real potential for there to be more bones there,' says King.

'There are 193 bones unaccounted for.'

That is why TIGHAR is bringing dogs to this expedition.

TIGHAR members - including engineers and archaeologists - also claim to have found aluminium paneling fitting 1930s specifications used in Earhart's plane

The human remains detection dogs from the Institute for Canine Forensics have been able to detect bones buried as much as nine feet underground, according to National Geographic.

'No other technology is more sophisticated than the dogs,' says Fred Hiebert, archaeologist in residence at the National Geographic Society.

'They have a higher rate of success identifying things than ground-penetrating radar.'

Archaeologists will call on the services of four border collies  Berkeley, Piper, Marcy, and Kayle.

Their mission, however, will not be without challenges.

The canines will have to endure a long flight across the Pacific Ocean.

Then they will be on board a week-long ocean voyage to the remote island.

There is also the tropical conditions and heat, which handlers say could hamper their effectiveness.

The archaeologists are hoping that the dogs unearth bones, which would then be sent back to the United States for DNA analysis.
A sketch drawn by one of the surgeons who operated on John F Kennedy after his fatal shooting that contradicts the official story has gone up for auction.

Dr Robert McClelland, who drew the image, had held Kennedy's head in the operating theater after the president was shot while riding in a motorcade through Dallas on November 22, 1963.

The illustration, which is up for bidding at the Nate D Sanders auction house, shows the exit and entry wounds as McClelland saw them - and they don't match the official account at all.

Illustration: This sketch, drawn by the surgeon who held Kennedy's head as he was rushed to surgery, shows his initial impressions of the assassination - with bullets coming from the front

Assassinated: Kennedy is seen here ten days before his death. McClelland later amended his theory, saying the wound to the head came from the front, and the neck hit from the rear

The ballpoint pen illustration, which is signed by McClelland, is undated, but was likely drawn not too long after he operated on the president.

It shows a side view of Kennedy's head with a large four-by-five-inch exit wound at the rear.

It also shows a small entrance wound low on Kennedy's neck. McClelland's handwritten notes say that he observed these with his own eyes.

He also drew in a 'probable' entrance wound at Kennedy's hairline on his forehead and a second 'probable' exit wound in his back.

These wounds - which he says he didn't see himself - correspond with the two wounds he observed.

Importantly, McClelland's illustration directly contradicts the story told by official investigators.

They said that Kennedy was shot from behind by Lee Harvey Oswald from a sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository.

But McClelland's illustration suggests that he interpreted the wounds he saw - a small hole in the neck and the large split-open hole at the back of Kennedy's head - as coming from the front.

McClelland, amended his theory in 1975 after watching the footage shot by Abraham Zapruder.

Shot: Kennedy was shot on November 22, 1963 (pictured). The official report said that he was shot by one shooter - Lee Harvey Oswald - from behind, with two bullets

'The first bullet hit him in the back, not in the front as we thought at the time,' he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

'Several seconds later, the second shot hits him and his head literally explodes, and he was thrown violently backward and to the left as you would expect someone hit by a high-caliber bullet from the front, not from above and behind.'

McClelland said the front shot 'would have had to come in from the picket fence on the grassy knoll, in my view of it.'

As for who pulled the triggers - and whether Oswald was a 'patsy' as he claimed or working in tandem with another figure - McClelland said he has 'no opinion on that'.

Coincidentally, McClelland also operated on Lee Harvey Oswald after he was fatally shot by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963.

The sketch is being auctioned online; the auction closes at 8pm EST on Thursday. The starting bid is $2,500. There are currently zero bids.
A fighter jet crashed at a Houston airbase Wednesday, causing a one-mile area to be evacuated around the scene of the accident.

The F-16 aircraft from the 138th Fighter Wing at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base went down during takeoff on a training mission for NORAD, according to KHOU.

The aircraft was carrying ammunition when it crashed around 10.30am local time.

A fighter jet crashed at a Houston airbase Wednesday, causing a one-mile area to be evacuated around the scene of the accident

The pilot safely ejected himself from the plane, and is now being treated at an area hospital

The pilot safely ejected himself from the plane, and is now being treated at an area hospital, according to officials. He walked to the ambulance and is said to be fine.

Following the crash, a one-mile area around the airport was immediately evacuated as a precaution because there was ammunition on board.

Emergency workers responded immediately to the scene as the area was being cleared out.

Following the crash, a one-mile area around the airport was immediately evacuated as a precaution because there was ammunition on board

The Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base (pictured) is used by the United States military, NASA and general aviation tenants, but not commercial airlines, according to the Houston Chronicle

'The Houston Fire Department is responding to a military jet which has caught fire on the north side of Ellington Field in southeast Houston,' the Office of Emergency Management said in a statement.

'Personnel from Ellington Field are being evacuated, and residents in the area can expect to see increased traffic and emergency vehicles,' the statement read.

The Ellington Airport is used by the United States military, NASA and general aviation tenants, but not commercial airlines, according to the Houston Chronicle.
An American who was detained by North Korea dictator Kim Jong-un's brutal regime has warned the US against taking aggressive action to revenge the death of student Otto Warmbier.

Jeffrey Fowle, who was held by North Korea for leaving a Bible behind in a nightclub and put into solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, said he feared retaliation could lead to the execution of American hostages still in the country's prison cells.

President Trump vented his anger at North Korea when he described the student's incarceration for stealing a poster as a 'disgrace' and the cold war between the nations has grown more intense with Warmbier's death.

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Jeffrey Fowle was detained in North Korea for six months in 2014. He left a Bible at a nightclub and was punished with imprisonment which he said was 'mental torture'

Fowle said he understands Trump's anger about Otto Warmbier's detainment, but cautioned him saying the situation is delicate considering the regime has three captive US citizens

The 22-year-old died on Monday at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center after being flown back following 17 months in detention. The North Koreans claimed he had contracted botulism and fallen into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

But Arizona Sen. John McCain and other lawmakers have declared that Warmbier's death constituted 'murder' and upped pressure on the White House to take sterner action.

Fowle, 59, speaking at his farmhouse in Miamisburg, Ohio, told DailyMail.com the President had to carefully weigh up his options in order to prevent North Korea 'publicly executing' one of the three Americans being held there.

Father-of-three Fowle, who was released six months after admitting he attempted proselytizing in a country where missionary activity is a crime, said he understood Trump's anger.

But he added: 'We are caught between a rock and a hard place.

'It is a very delicate issue because three Americans are over there plus a Canadian.

Jeffrey Fowle was kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. He does not think westerners are treated worse than North Korea detainees who sometimes never see the light of day

'In consideration of the four North Americans who are there now, there is a limit to what we can do, particularly militarily.

'Any attack on the mainland and they might haul out one of those detainees and execute them publicly as retaliation.'

Fowle added: 'They could do anything and I think we have to measure our response,

'We have negotiated and offered dialogue and it hasn't worked out for 20 to 25 years. There seems to be very limited options.

'They are all very bad options and that's the whole conundrum of this situation.'

Fowle says that it's possible Warmbier was released last week because the North Koreans realized he was going to die and didn't want him to pass away on their soil.

He said he believed, however, that it was unlikely that the student had been physically tortured or treated as harshly as North Korean detainees 'who sometimes never see the light of day.'

The farmer said westerners in North Korean prisons don't usually receive beatings

He said he 'would be surprised if a Westerner would be mistreated to the point of death.'

Fowle added: 'I don't know if they poisoned Otto, I would doubt it.

'If you are North Korean and you go to prison, you never see the light of day. They have kids who never see the light of day.

'For the westerners caught up in there, I have the general impression that they do not receive beatings as a rule, but I only have my own experiences to go on which was mainly mental torture

'I wasn't beaten and for the first few weeks was held in a hotel until I made a formal declaration of what I had done.

'The possibility of spending years and years in prison was definitely there

'But the worst part is being alone for 23 hours a day and now knowing what is happening and to your family too.

'The North Koreans usually have an eye on releasing the westerners. It is not to their advantage to have us leaving as damaged goods so to speak.

Fowle visited North Korea 'to see the road less traveled' in 2014. He is fascinated by Communism and has visited Russia, his wife's birthplace, several times

Fowle wonders if Warmbier was released because North Korea knew he was going to die. He speculated that it would be a worse for the regime and the US if the 22-year-old died there

'But I am wondering now if they released him (Warmbier) because they knew he was going to die, seeing he has passed away.

'I don't know what would have transpired then if he had died there.

It would have been a lot more problematic I imagine for both North Korea and the US.'

He had gone to North Korea through a travel company Koryo Tours run by a couple of British expats, based in Beijing.

The carpenter and farmer, a devout Christian, said it was not his main intention to go there as a missionary 'but to see the road less traveled.'

Detained: Kim Sang Duk, Kim Hak-Song and Kim Dong Chul are the three Americans imprisoned in North Korea

He had been fascinated by Communism and is married to a Russian woman Tatyana and has visited her birth place several times.

He was arrested in May 2014 in the northern port city of Chongjin and released in October of that year and flown home in a US military jet.

The US citizens still being detained there are accounting professor Kim Sang Duk, businessman Kim Dong Chul and Kim Hak-Song, who worked at Pyongyang University.

Fowle added: 'Otto's death is a tragedy for sure. I would like to send my sympathy to his family.'
Tinu Collins, 25, from Manchester, said she slipped and fell from a balcony following an argument with her partner, who lives in the affluent Westlands district of Nairobi

A British woman suffered a broken spine, pelvis and leg after falling from a fifth-floor balcony after a row with a rapper fiance at his Kenyan home.

Tinu Collins, 25, from Manchester, said she slipped and fell from a balcony following an argument with her partner, who lives in the affluent Westlands district of Nairobi.

She broke her left leg, right ankle, pelvis and spine in the fall, at around 11pm on June 12, but somehow survived.

Miss Collins' friends have now launched a fundraising drive to pay for hertreatment as she doesn't have medical insurance.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News from her Nairobi hospital bed, Miss Collins said: 'I just had an operation yesterday. I'm feeling a bit better now.'

Explaining how she fell, she said: 'Basically I was a bit drunk sitting on the balcony to get a bit of fresh air. I was having an argument with my boyfriend. My foot slipped.

'I grabbed onto the railings to pull myself up, but I couldn't and fell from the fifth floor. I was conscious when I fell.'

She added: 'I'm very lucky to be alive.'

Tinu Collins (left) from Manchester after having an argument with her rapper fiance

Miss Collins' fiance, a London-based rapper known as Trapking Chrome, who divides his time between the UK and Kenya, told the newspaper: 'She was a bit tipsy sitting on the balcony. She slipped and tried to hold onto the bar. She fell all the way down. It happened so fast.

'I ran downstairs immediately. She was laying down on the floor, screaming.

'That's how I knew she was alive, because she was making a noise.

'I thought she had died. It's pretty high up. But she's alive. Thank God she's alive.'

Miss Collins suffered a broken spine, pelvis and leg after falling from a fifth-floor balcony

He confirmed he was spoken to by police, but vehemently denied 'rumours' in the Kenyan media that he had pushed his fiancee.

He added: 'Everyone's saying I'm the one who's pushed my fiancee, but the truth is I didn't push her.

'I was in the living room. She went outside to get some fresh air and she slipped. It happened in a matter of seconds.'

A police investigation into the incident was continuing, he said.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'We are providing assistance to a British woman, who was hospitalised in Kenya, and her family. We are also in touch with local authorities.'

The National Police Service in Kenya has yet to comment.
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday fired its highly regarded chief foreign affairs correspondent after evidence emerged of his involvement in prospective commercial deals - including one involving arms sales to foreign governments - with an international businessman who was one of his key sources.

The reporter, Jay Solomon, was offered a 10 percent stake in a fledgling company, Denx LLC, by Farhad Azima, an Iranian-born aviation magnate who has ferried weapons for the CIA.

It was not clear whether Solomon ever received money or formally accepted a stake in the company.

'We are dismayed by the actions and poor judgment of Jay Solomon,' Wall Street Journal spokesman Steve Severinghaus wrote in a statement to The Associated Press.

'While our own investigation continues, we have concluded that Mr. Solomon violated his ethical obligations as a reporter, as well as our standards.'

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday fired its highly regarded chief foreign affairs correspondent, Jay Solomon (seen above in this 2014 file photo), after evidence emerged of his involvement in prospective commercial deals

Solomon was offered a 10 percent stake in a fledgling company, Denx LLC, by Farhad Azima (seen above in this May 2016 file photo), an Iranian-born aviation magnate who has ferried weapons for the CIA

Azima was the subject of an AP investigative article published Tuesday.

During the course of its investigation, the AP obtained emails and text messages between Azima and Solomon, as well as an operating agreement for Denx dated March 2015, which listed an apparent stake for Solomon.

As part of its reporting, the AP had asked the Journal about the documents appearing to link Solomon and Azima.

The relationship was uncovered in interviews and in internal documents that Azima's lawyer said were stolen by hackers.

'I clearly made mistakes in my reporting and entered into a world I didn't understand,' Solomon told the AP on Wednesday.

'I clearly made mistakes in my reporting and entered into a world I didn't understand,' Solomon said on Wednesday. He is seen above in this September 2004 file photo

'I never entered into any business with Farhad Azima, nor did I ever intend to.

'But I understand why the emails and the conversations I had with Mr. Azima may look like I was involved in some seriously troubling activities.

'I apologize to my bosses and colleagues at the Journal, who were nothing but great to me.'

Two other Denx partners - ex-CIA employees Gary Bernsten and Scott Modell - told the AP that Solomon was involved in discussing proposed deals with Azima at the same time he continued to cultivate the businessman as a source for his stories for the Journal.

Bernsten and Modell said Solomon withdrew from the venture shortly after business efforts began and that the venture never added up to much.

They provided no evidence as to when Solomon withdrew.

The emails and texts reviewed by the AP - tens of thousands of pages covering more than eight years - included more than 18 months of communications involving the apparent business effort.

Some messages described a need for Solomon's Social Security number to file the company's taxes, but there was no evidence Solomon provided it.

Denx was shuttered last year, according to Florida business registration records.

In an April 2015 email, Azima wrote to Solomon about a proposal for a $725 million air-operations, surveillance and reconnaissance support contract with the United Arab Emirates that would allow planes to spy on activity inside nearby Iran.

Solomon was supposed to ferry the proposal to UAE government representatives at a lunch the following day, the email said.

'We all wish best of luck to Jay on his first defense sale,' Azima wrote to Solomon, Bernsten and Modell.

Under the proposed UAE deal, Azima's firms were to manage specially equipped surveillance planes to monitor activity in Iran, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

In October 2014, Solomon wrote to Azima in a text message: 'Our business opportunities are so promising.'

In another message that same month, Solomon asked Azima whether he had told a mutual friend about their business plans.

'Hell no!' Azima replied.

The emails show Solomon's relationship with Azima began professionally, as the reporter cultivated the businessman as a source of information about Iranian money in a Georgian hotel deal and other matters.

A review of Solomon's published work over the past four years indicated Azima never appeared by name in the newspaper.

The hacked materials also demonstrate that Azima cultivated close relationships with fellow Western and American journalists, including those at the AP, and frequently communicated with them by phone, text and email.

None appeared to involve the same level of personal involvement or referenced potential business deals.

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 an April 2016 memo, a public relations firm he worked with, Prime Strategies, suggested Solomon could be called upon to 'write a feature story about Farhad' to help combat negative coverage.

In May 2015, Bernsten - using an email under the alias 'The Vicar' - told Azima of a plan to help a dissident member of the Kuwaiti royal family instigate public protests over corruption with the goal of bringing down the nation's government.

Though the Kuwaiti plan involved Denx, Solomon was not included in the emails and said he knew nothing about it.

It does not appear the plans were ever executed, as 87-year-old Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah remains in power.
Otto Warmbier's college girlfriend has mourned her soulmate who she said helped helped her 'become a better human being'.

Alex Vagonis spoke lovingly about him at a candlelight vigil Tuesday night at the University of Virginia campus that was attended by other students and university faculty.

Vagonis, who was the Ohio man's girlfriend at the time of his detention in North Korea in January 2016, said the couple first met at a party at his apartment.

She said she noticed his 'insane' tie collection, which he became known for on campus.

'I'm talking an entire plastic bin filled to the brim with designer ties acquired from various thrift and consignment shops,' Vagonis told the vigil crowd.

Alex Vagonis spoke about her boyfriend Otto at a candlelight vigil Tuesday evening on the University of Virginia campus that was attended by other students and university faculty

Otto Warmbier's college girlfriend says he was her soul mate who helped her 'become a better human being.' She was the Ohio man's girlfriend at the time of his detention in North Korea that began in January 2016, and said everyone knew him on campus for his 'insane tie collection'

'He was my soul mate on so many levels and I truly believe that he helped me become a better human being, the person that I am today,' Vagonis said.

'And it wasn't just my life he made more colorful, but everyone else's.'

She said it was rare to go somewhere on campus with Warmbier without him running into someone that he knew.

Vagonis said moving forward it was okay to feel frustrated and angry about the circumstances surrounding his death.

'I personally have found some peace in knowing that he was finally able to come home to be with his family who loved him so fiercely, to be back where he belonged before he passed,' she said.

Vagonis added that it was important to thrive, despite the tragedy.

'To do otherwise would just be an insult to Otto, knowing that he always wanted to see others fly,' she said.

Warmbier was returned 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.

He returned in a vegetative state, unable to communicate with his family and with devastating brain loss.

North Korean authorities dubiously blamed his condition on a bout of food poisoning which they said he suffered while imprisoned and released him on 'humanitarian grounds'.

Vagonis, pictured left hugging Warmbier, finds some peace knowing he made it back to Ohio and with his family before he died Monday. Since his death, different groups have remembered their friend as a good person

In March 2016, he wept as he was led away by North Korean police after being sentenced to 15 years hard labour. He was arrested in January of 2016 for allegedly attempting to steal a North Korean propaganda photo at a hotel

His family announced his death on Monday, laying the blame for it squarely with Kim Jong Un and his regime.

The Hamilton County coroner is still trying to determine the manner and cause of his death Monday, less than a week after his return.

Since his death, different groups have remembered their friend as a good person, and last photos of him during the North Korea trip show a carefree and joyful man, gleefully throwing snowballs and sampling local delicacies.

On January 2, Warmbier was arrested as he tried to make his way home for stealing a poster at a hotel.

Grainy surveillance footage appeared to show him ripping it down. North Korean authorities say he stole it and likened it to a hostile act on the country and jailed Otto mercilessly for it.

His friends on the trip say he never removed the poster from the hotel and say he was in bed on the night of the alleged theft with an early flight to catch the next day and no reason to risk his freedom

His friends on the trip say he never removed the poster from the hotel and say he was in bed on the night of the alleged theft with an early flight to catch the next day and no reason to risk his freedom.

'He was in bed the night in question, and the next morning we had an early departure from the airport. He was in a good mood that morning.

'The poster story didn't arise until a few weeks later. The footage North Korea released was grainy, and only showed someone taking it down, and not even leaving with it,' said one member of the group who wished to remain anonymous.

'Irregardless the punishment never fit the crime, and now it is even more so. The cruel, harsh and barbaric North Korean regime murdered an innocent 22-year old American student, and more importantly our dear friend,' they added.

They remembered Otto by his 'laugh, his infectious smile, and his ability to love everyone.'

In the final photographs of Otto Warmbier before he was imprisoned by North Korean officials and brutalized into a coma, the 22-year-old is seen laughing with his new friends during their tour and enjoying the culture which would later cost him his life

Gleefully, he tosses snowballs and poses for a selfie with one of his new friends at the restaurant while enjoying their meal

Another snowball fight, this time with local children who joined Otto and his friends to pose for the camera

Danny Gratton, Otto's roommate in the hotel, was with him when he was unceremoniously arrested at Pyongyang Airport.

He told The Washington Post on Monday two guards tapped his friend on the shoulder and marched him away without explanation.

'No words were spoken. Two guards just come over and simply tapped Otto on the shoulder and led him away. I just said kind of quite nervously, 'Well, that's the last we'll see of you.' There's a great irony in those words,' he said.

Otto's death has sent shockwaves through Washington D.C. and has added a sobering, human dimension to the US's bubbling tension with North Korea.

President Trump, Vice President Pence, John McCain and others at all levels of government have admonished Kim Jong Un - and the Obama administration - for the student's disturbing fate.

Otto returned to Cincinnati last week on a private medical plane. He was almost vegetative, unable to speak or communicate with family and was taken straight to the hospital where he died on Tuesday

As his family announced his death on Monday, they didn't reserve any diplomacy either.

'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,' Cindy and Fred Warmbier said in a statement.

'When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th, he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands.

Fred Warmbier (pictured) and his wife Cindy have requested that a coroner does not perform an autopsy on their son's body and have organized a public funeral for him at his old high school

'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.'

Doctors said he suffered extreme brain loss during his imprisonment, and was almost vegetative when he finally made it home to Ohio.

None offered speculation on what may have caused his condition but they undermined North Korea's dubious story that it was the result of botulism, a form of severe food poisoning. They claim he contracted it while in their custody and that a sleeping pill they gave him sent him into a coma.

North Korean doctors claimed the student had been this way since the day after he was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in 2016.

The American doctors who reviewed MRI scans that were sent back on a private medical plane with him say they saw no evidence of botulism.

They suggested his condition was more likely the result of a heart attack but would not speculate on what may have caused such a trauma in a young, otherwise healthy man.

Otto's family has planned a public funeral for their son which will take place on Thursday at his old high school in the town of Wyoming, Ohio. Pictured are the preparations

On Tuesday, a coroner in Cincinnati granted the Warmbier family's request not to have an autopsy performed on Otto's body. The family has not offered any explanation for the decision.

They have however planned a public funeral for their son which will take place on Thursday at his old high school in the town of Wyoming, Ohio.

While the service is open to the public, news media will be kept outside the school and outside the cemetery afterward in designated areas. The family plans to release photos afterward.
These builders came up with an ingenious way to beat the heat during their lunch break.

Desperate to cool off, Steve Moran, 47, and Alex Williams, 33, filled up their dumper truck's bucket with water and turned it into a personal swimming pool.

The pair then stripped to their underwear and jumped in to their home-made plunge pool.

They even had their own rubber duck mascot, Edward, bobbing in the dumper truck pool with them.

Builders Steve Moran and Alex Williams turned their dumper truck into an infinity pool

The builders used their truck to cool off in the sweltering conditions in Devon today

The pair have been working on industrial units in Plympton, Devon, for three months and filled up the dumper truck bucket to help them lay new concrete.

Once it was full they decided to shed their clothes and splash around in their creation.

Mr Moran said: 'Who needs Ibiza when you have your very own pool.

'As you can see we had a dumper truck there and we were going to lay concrete so we needed to fill it with water.

'We filled it up and thought "hang on, that's not going straight out" and we got in. It was lovely getting in.

'Me and Alex both stripped off to our boxers and jumped straight in without hesitation. It was lovely, a breath of fresh air compared to the heat.

'Working hard on a building site you can imagine what they was like in this heat, getting quite sweaty, so it was a luxury to cool off.

'When Alex was looking over the edge at the view he joked it was like one of those infinity pools.'

The builders stripped down to their boxers and clambered into their swimming pool truck

Britain sizzled in sweltering conditions today, in what was the hottest June day since 1976.

Roads melted and some schools sent children home for the day as heat-related casualties caused a drain on emergency services.

At Glastonbury festival, scorching conditions meant dozens of revellers had to be treated for problems caused by the weather within hours of the site opening at 7am.

The 41-year peak temperature was recorded at Heathrow at 4pm and comes as parts of Britain have had five consecutive days above 86F (30C).

It is the highest for the month since the 96F (35.6C) recorded in Southampton on June 28, 1976.

And it's the hottest prolonged spell since that drought summer  when James Callaghan was Prime Minister and You to Me are Everything by The Real Thing topped the singles charts.

To top it off, the 34.5C temperature (94F) recorded at Heathrow airport at 4pm today was also the second hottest June day since records began 167 years ago.
Ivanka Trump made her second appearance on Capitol Hill this week on Wednesday, appearing alongside House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

The first daughter, and top White house aide, met with the No. 2 House Republican and other lawmakers for 'a discussion on improvements to our workforce and workplace,' a spokesman for McCarthy told the Associated Press.

Last week, Ivanka Trump had appeared alongside her father, President Trump, to promote the expansion of apprenticeships in the United States.

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First daughter Ivanka Trump (center) returned to Capitol Hill Wednesday, this time to meet with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to talk workforce and workplace issues

Ivanka Trump (right), accompanied by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (left), spent part of her Wednesday on Capitol Hill

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (left) and Ivanka Trump (right) were spotted walking the halls of Congress Wednesday

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (right) escorts Ivanka Trump (left) into a room on Capitol Hill for a meeting on workforce and workplace issues

Ivanka Trump made her debut on Capitol Hill Tuesday 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

Yesterday she made her Capitol Hill debut, complete with giving Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., an awkward hug, to discuss some of her other top issues: a childcare tax credit, proposed by Senate Republicans, and paid family leave.

'Just left a productive meeting on the Hill to discuss issues affecting American working families, including childcare & paid family leave!' she tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

She attended a discussion organized by Rubio that looked at proposals to benefit parents.

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.

On Tuesday, the president's daughter attended a discussion organized by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida that looked at proposals to benefit parents

'Allies on and off the Hill have said that enhancing the child tax credit will best achieve President Trump's 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.

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.

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

'I think we're trying to help the same people,' Rubio said of Ivanka's plan to Politico last week. 'I think there's 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.

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 they're open to other ideas,' Sawhill told the AP.

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

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 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 won't 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.

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

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.

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.
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Portugal's worst-ever fire which claimed the lives of at least 64 people may not have been started on purpose and not by lightning as originally thought.

Police are being called in to investigate a claim that a 'criminal hand' might have been behind the horrendous forest blaze which broke out in Pedrogao Grande.

Both the Spanish and Portuguese press are reporting concerns said to have been voiced by firefighters' boss Jaime Marta Soares in an interview with a local radio station.

Up to 2,000 firefighters were still battling the forest fires on Monday as reinforcements arrived from France, Spain and Italy

Portugal was in mourning after at 64 people died in a fire, which was thought to have been sparked by a lightning strike on Saturday

Flames spread quickly through small towns and villages in central Portugal after the fire started on Saturday. Police are being called in to investigate a claim that a 'criminal hand' might have been behind the horrendous forest blaze

The president of Portugal's League of Firefighters was quoted saying that the a storm did not hit the area until two hours after the fire first broke out.

The authorities say the blaze started when a lightning bolt hit a tree the previous day but this has already been questioned by local residents and some fire specialists.

Householders living in the area say they didn't see any lightning bolts at all and the only alerts were about the high temperatures.

The fire chief has told the media that he believes the ferocious blaze was 'criminal in origin' and that this should be investigated.

Villagers look at a flames during a wildfire near the village of Mega Fundeira, in the central Pedrogao Grande region of Portugal, where all of the victims were located

Antonio Costa, Portugal's Prime Minister, branded the fire 'the greatest human tragedy in Portugal in living memory'

Firefighters were still battling the flames on Monday afternoon, almost two days after the blaze started in central Portugal

He says lightning strikes might have made it worse but 98 per cent of fires in Portugal are caused by humans and in about a third of them, deliberately provoked.

The press in Portugal are reporting him as saying he had the greatest respect for the authorities but the suspected cause of the fire should not have been given so quickly until everything had been investigated.

'I have the conviction that this was provoked, the storm came much later, when the fire was already of great proportions,' he is reported as saying.

Rodrigo Rosario (pictured left and right) died with his uncle, Sidel Belchior, aged 37, when fire engulfed the car in which they were travelling

Some 200 people were injured in the fires - including four fire fighters - as Red Cross workers helped to treat them

As first responders continued to pour into the area affected by the fires, there was growing criticism for authorities for not doing more to prevent the tragedy

It is being suggested that if doubt had been cast on the cause from the start, the person responsible might have been caught in the area.

The fire is now said to have injured more than 200 people, rather than the 59 originally estimated.

Efforts are still being made to identify the 64 victims, at least 30 of whom were incinerated in their cars as they tried to make their escape.

The speculation about 'human involvement' is dominating the press in Portugal as firemen continue to fight the blaze which is still active in some parts of Pedrogao Grande.

Portuguese Republican National Guard soldiers battle with a forest fire in Capela Sao Neitel, Alvaiazere, central Portugal

A policeman stands by a dead body of a victim of a wildfire in Pedrogao. The wildfire has killed at least 64 people and injured hundreds more. Several hundred firefighters and 160 vehicles were dispatched late on June 17 to tackle the blaze

Police investigators stand by a burnt car on the road between Castanheira de Pera and Figueiro dos Vinhos, central Portugal. Raging forest fires in central Portugal killed 64 people, many of them trapped in their cars

A report published tonight on a Portuguese firefighters' site says the police will be talking to Jaime Marta Soares about his concerns and he has reportedly welcomed this.

However, another report from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atomosphere says the cause WAS the weather though it agrees there should be an in-depth investigation.

The authorities have also been answering criticism about the way the blaze was handled although this had been rejected by Portugal's Prime Minister.

It is estimated that 30 thousand hectares of land have been affected so far.

Firefighters work to put out a forest fire near Bouca, in central Portugal. It is estimated that 30 thousand hectares of land have been affected so far

Portugal has been experiencing soaring temperatures of up to 40 degrees and this, coupled with the wind, fuelled the flames
The 19th China-EU Summit in Brussels showed there is room for closer collaboration between the two sides despite differences.

Of course, the Chinese administration does not find this summit sufficient in approaching Europe to gain the results it seeks. So, it is also enhancing bilateral relations with almost all the European states, of which France and the U.K. occupy an import place due to their special importance and history.

Also, both held elections recently, and now need to review their foreign policy options, with China top of the agenda.

To start with the new President of France Emmanuel Macron. His victory in the May presidential elections and now his recent victory in local legislative ones, mean he has a firm base to become a powerful leader for the coming five years.

Against the threat of an anti-EU, far-right politician [Marine Le Pen] coming to power, Macron helps Europe to breathe a little easier amid particularly difficult and complicated circumstances; however, it's too early to say if he will succeed in reinvigorating the French-German partnership and revitalizing the European integration project.

However, he certainly deserves an opportunity and can benefit from a limited grace period after all the hectic electioneering.

Macron's commitment to work for a better Europe goes hand-in-hand with China's European policy. Beijing wants the EU to remain united and move closer to fiscal and perhaps political integration. Although it's sometimes hard to understand the complex procedure of decision-making in Brussels, China believes a strong EU will contribute to the further improvement of Sino-European relations and will play a catalytic role for the preservation of world peace as well as challenging the U.S.-dollar dominated economic order.

Macron in public has shown himself positively disposed towards China. He has said "bilateral relations between France and China have historical meaning" and he hoped "to further continue the friendly relations," with a focus on many issues of common interest such as climate change, energy, trade, terrorism and the preservation of world peace. Macron is also knowledgeable about China's history as he has positively referred to both Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

As for strengthening the already excellent bilateral ties at the political, economic and cultural level, it is expected that "Made in China 2025" will align with France's development strategy of "Industry of the Future." Paris also welcomes the Belt and Road Initiative.

Continuing on to British Prime Minister Theresa May, her domestic position does not seem as strong as it used to be prior to her ill-judged decision to call an early election. This backfired, as her Conservative Party failed to have the needed majority to form a government alone. In a hung parliament, the Conservatives are now the largest party with 318 seats  as opposed to 331 in the 2015 general  and the Labour party follows with 262 seats (from 230 two years ago). Hence, she has to rely on fragile cooperation with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to politically survive. This small and relatively unknown party is based in Northern Ireland and will back May on a vote-by-vote basis with its 10 MPs.

Further to this, the future international position of the U.K. can hardly be anticipated. The country is in the process of preparing to enter disengagement negotiations with the EU. No one knows how long the talks will last, what May will achieve in the end and if her proposed "deep and special partnership" with the EU is feasible.

At the beginning, she had been in favor of a "hard Brexit" (a complete break), but the participation of DUP in the new British coalition government will possibly make her susceptible to a lesser alternative.

The situation is so unpredictable that during a recent joint press conference Macron gave with May after their Paris meeting, he mentioned the possibility of reopening the EU door at least until the U.K. actually departs.

Irrespective of the Brexit setback, Sino-British relations are flourishing. The Hinkley project on jointly developing nuclear energy in the U.K. is certainly the flagship. From the moment May decided to respect the commitment of her predecessor David Cameron  despite some initial questioning  China has been prepared to closely work with her. This was confirmed at the Hangzhou G2O Summit last September when the two countries also discussed new policy ideas such as the potential signing of a free trade agreement. Other fields of cooperation bringing win-win results include investments, trade, education and tourism.

May openly counts on her country's partnership with China  perhaps more now that she has to start negotiating on Brexit. It is surely no coincidence that she has a Weibo account to directly communicate with Chinese people.

On the occasion of the beginning of the present Year of the Rooster, she spoke glowingly of this being an important starting point for strengthened bilateral relations.

All in all, a lot is expected between China and France and China and the U.K. in the coming months and years. After all, these three are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, thus sharing a joint responsibility for a better world amid turbulent times.

George N. Tzogopoulos is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/GeorgeNTzogopoulos.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Who could blame the Queen if she sounded a little below par at yesterdays State Opening of Parliament?

Instead of a mid-morning trundle to Ascot after poring over the newspapers racing tips, she had to head to Westminster, and without the hospitalised Duke of Edinburgh. Whod be a monarch?

The ceremony, shorn of much of its pomp, felt not so much royal as municipal. No horse-drawn carriages, the Crown on a pillow in the back of a car and not even any pageboy train-bearers. Swizz. It was a wonder the marching band had not been told to wear council traffic-marshal high-viz tabards. Take away the ceremonial and you leave it all looking a bit drab. And that is before you analyse the v. short speech, much of which could have been written by Harold Wilson.

The Queen was helped up the steps to the throne by her son and heir Prince Charles as MPs and peers awaited her address in the Lords chamber

Awaiting Her Majesty was the ghastly, fake, Brexit-hating, pocket-filling, claret-gargling, cliche-spouting modern House of Lords: a worm-farm of bien pensant quangocrats, activist judges, busybodies, fallen stooges, ex-MPs and a few last mouldering viscounts.

Suggestion to Downing Street: why not steal a march on Corbyns rich middle-class Labour revolutionaries  who as I write this are mounting a spittle-flecked protest at the gates, in risibly small numbers  and axe those last hereditaries?

Some of them would be glad to be put out of their misery and never again have to listen to a turgid Europhile speech by Lord (Quentin) Davies of Stamford, whose hair had yesterday changed from its old raven to something closer to orange.

The Upper House is never going to be helpful to the Tories and if Theresa May ejected the last blue-bloods she might at least create a sense of radicalism.

MPs filed through from the Commons to the Lords for the monarch's speech today, which sets out the new government's legislative programme

The Queen's full regalia from last year (pictured top) was in sharp contrast to this year

Among those sitting on the Lords benches in his ermine robes yesterday was the Lib Dems Viscount Thurso, a hereditary who became an MP, was dumped by the voters, and then sashayed back to the Lords in a Lib Dem hereditaries by-election which had an electorate of just... three.

Thurso, a James Robertson-Justice lookalike, cut a portrait of blithe entitlement. On the other side of the Chamber was Lady Uddin, a sometime Labour community activist who, since an expenses fiddle, has taken to wearing a headscarf. Look, Im a minorities victim!

State Openings always make me boil, even when we are not having a heatwave: in the morning there is the spectacle of the unelected peers and the skin-crawling moment when the Supreme Court judges come prancing in, Lady Hale and Lord Neuberger and co greeting peers and bishops like chums at a cocktail party. Have these judicial snoots no idea just how corruptingly cosy it all looks?

This year, the Queen and Prince Charles arrived at the Houses of Parliament by car (shown)

Last year, the monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in a horse-drawn carriage (pictured)

In the afternoon, we have the reassembled Commons, the green benches filled with almost exactly the same crop of inadequates, Whips suck-ups, sex-scandal survivors (K. Vaz) and rhubarb merchants as the last Parliament. Richard Benyon (Con, Newbury) actually made a pretty decent proposers speech, pointing out that his great-great-grandfather had been an MP from 1860-76 and in all that time made not a single speech. The late speaker George Thomas, when he heard of this feat, clutched his brow and said why cant we have a few more like that these days?

Kwasi Kwarteng (Con, Spelthorne), seconding, had a juicy dig at George Osbornes scrupulously fair editorship of the London Evening Standard. Biggest laugh of the day. The main political interest in the Commons lay in the performances of Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May. Mr Corbyn did not receive much of a whoomph of support from his backbenchers. His best moments were when he talked about the Grenfell Tower fire. His worst moments were, well, everything else. He spoke for too long.

When Mrs May rose, Blyth Valleys Ronnie Campbell (Lab) did a neck-in-noose gesture. But Mrs May started well, being statesmanlike as she discussed terrorism and the Grenfell Tower fire. She was later blown a little off course by interventions but she finished the day stronger than she had started it.
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The screaming skeletons of dozens of Russian soldiers who were killed during a battle 150 years ago have been discovered in a mass grave in eastern Poland.

The remains were unearthed by archaeologists on the site of the Battle of Zyrzyn, off the S17 Lublin-Warsaw expressway in Zerdz, eastern Poland.

The Russian soldiers had been transporting cargo worth 200,000 roubles (2,500) when they were killed by Polish forces in 1863.

Photographs show the skeleton's mouths wide open as they lie alongside one another at the site of the battlefield.

Archaeologists believe that about eighty soldiers, presumed to be Russian, were buried in the mass grave.

Nearly 200 Russian soldiers were killed during the battle, with 282 captured as prisoners of war. Around 90 of the 500 soldiers managed to escape when they encountered Polish troops.

The screaming skeletons of dozens of Russian soldiers who were killed during a battle 150 years ago have been discovered in a mass grave in eastern Poland

Pictured are the skulls of two skeletons found by archaeologists. The remains were unearthed on the site of the Battle of Zyrzyn, off the S17 Lublin-Warsaw expressway in Zerdz, eastern Poland

Archaeologists are seen working on the excavation site. Experts believe about eighty soldiers were buried in the mass grave

Pictured are the remains of four soldiers lying together in the mass grave. The Russian soldiers had been transporting a cargo worth 200,000 roubles (2,500) when they were killed by Polish forces in 1863

Photographs from the excavation site show the mouths of the skeletons wide open. Nearly 200 Russian soldiers were killed during the battle

The skeletons can be seen lying in close proximity to one another. Those buried in the mass grave are presumed to be Russian

Archaeologists are seen examining the remains of half a dozen soldiers, who were discovered lying side by side
Plans for an 18billion expansion of Heathrow Airport could be blocked in the Commons, Government sources admitted last night.

Yesterdays Queens Speech made no mention of proposals to build a new runway, which the Government backed last year.

Downing Street later said Theresa May remained committed to holding a Commons vote on the plans. But Government sources said it was unclear if they could now push it through following the loss of the Conservative majority.

The runway scheme was among numerous Tory plans to be stripped from the speech. The Prime Ministers manifesto appeared to be in tatters as key pledges on grammar schools, fox hunting and pensions were all not mentioned.

Mrs May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn chatted awkwardly as they walked from the Commons to the Lords for the speech

Plans for an 18billion expansion of Heathrow Airport could be blocked in the Commons, Government sources admitted last night (pictured: A plane flies over Cranford)

Asked why so many campaign promises had been ditched, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told BBC Radio 4: Im not going to hide it from you that the election did not turn out exactly as we would have hoped.

A successful prime minister would expect to use their first Queens Speech after an election to implement the main proposals in their manifesto. But instead, the most controversial Tory plans were dropped in a bid to get Mrs Mays legislative programme through the Commons.

Mrs May had promised means-testing of the winter fuel payment, but this does not feature in the package. She also pledged to replace David Camerons pensions triple lock with a double lock, but there were no measures in the speech to implement this.

Ending the ban on new grammar schools also fell by the wayside. Instead, documents released alongside the speech state the Government will look at all the options for ensuring all children go to good or outstanding schools.

MPs filed through from the Commons to the Lords for the monarch's speech today, which sets out the new government's legislative programme

Promises for a vote on repealing the fox-hunting ban also did not feature in the speech.

And rather than deliver a bill to enforce an energy price cap, the speech suggests consumers could be better protected by regulators than legislation. The most controversial element of the Conservative policy package  the so-called dementia tax  was not included either.

Some party insiders have blamed Mrs Mays failure to secure a majority on June 8 on the bruising reception given to some of the proposals.

Yesterday one unnamed Tory MP said: They asked me how much of the manifesto Id like to see in the Queens Speech and I said hopefully none.

Support for Heathrow expansion in the Commons was looking tight even before the snap election.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Labour counterpart Diane Abbott were seen in conversation on the way to hear the speech

Mrs May indicated last year that ministers are likely to get a free vote on the issue, following warnings that senior Cabinet ministers such as Mr Johnson and Education Secretary Justine Greening might otherwise walk out. Tory whips have warned that as many as 40 Tory MPs could vote against the plans over concerns about noise and the environmental impact on their constituencies.

Defeat over Heathrow would be a significant embarrassment for Mrs May, who made the issue a priority when she took power last year.

But it would be welcomed by Mr Johnson, the favourite to succeed her, who has previously called for the project to be consigned to the bin.

The Foreign Secretary has vowed to lie down in front of bulldozers to prevent the project ever going ahead, and could now mobilise his Tory supporters to help kill it off.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon was deep in discussion with Labour's Angela Rayner as they walked through Central Lobby to the Lords today

A senior Government source said: Heathrow, like some of the counter-terrorism agenda, is one of those issues where we may struggle for numbers. It doesnt need primary legislation, but we are committed to giving parliament a vote.

Labours position on the issue is unclear. Senior figures such as Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and London Mayor Sadiq Khan are opposed to the construction of a third runway.

But the partys manifesto is silent on the issue. Privately, ministers believe Labour will now oppose expansion at Heathrow in a bid to force an embarrassing defeat on the Government.

Downing Street yesterday said that a consultation on the runway project had closed last month. Ministers are now considering the responses before making a formal recommendation to parliament, probably later this year.

A spokesman said: We are fully committed to the construction of a new runway at Heathrow.
A Texas mother is due to have six plastic surgeries on the same day in a bid to look like Melania Trump.

Claudia Sierra, 42, is set to undergo the procedures in two weeks at Utopia Plastic Surgery and Medi Spa in Cypress, Texas.

They are a Brazilian butt lift, liposuction, tummy tuck, nose job, eyelid lift, revision breast construction. She will also have Botox and fillers.

Ms. Sierra said she wanted to look like the first lady she knows she is 'inside'.

'Melania for me illustrates power and strength; she is our First Lady and I am looking forward to more closely resembling her and becoming a better version of me and for it to show on the outside.'

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Claudia Sierra (left) is having eight plastic surgery procedures to look like Melania Trump

The surgeries will be carried out by media-savvy surgeon Dr. Franklin Rose who spoke to DailyMail.com last year about how more and more women were coming to him to look like Ivanka Trump.

Since Melania assumed the role of first lady, her look is more in demand, he said.

'I have had many women visit my office wanting the "Ivanka Look" and so its not really surprising to see women now requesting to look more like Melania, who is simply gorgeous,' he said in a statement.

Some of the surgeries Claudia will undergo are to correct previous procedures. They include her nose job and breast reconstruction which she had carried out after beating breast cancer.

The more arduous procedures will take place in two weeks and will be filmed for an episode of Inside Edition that will air later in the year.

It is not clear who is paying for the surgeries or how much they are worth in total.

Claudia has already undergone Botox injections to kick off her Melania make-over. The surgery live streamed them on Facebook

The 42-year-old is having an eyelid lift and breast reconstruction as part of the overhaul

She is also undergoing a tummy tuck and liposuction on her thighs. Dr. Franklin Rose is seen above explaining the procedures for a Facebook live

The mother-of-two is a breast cancer survivor. She says she wants to look on the outside like the first lady 'she knows she is on the inside'

Eager to get on with her Melania makeover, Claudia has already had Botox and fillers injected in her face.

She allowed for those injections to be filmed and streamed on Facebook this week.

Dr. Rose said that while she didn't need the surgeries, they allow him to transform her into a 'hyper beautiful' woman.

'This might be the 1000th very, very beautiful patient that Ive operated on; in an odd way, its sort of more enjoyable because you can take the beautiful into the hyper-beautiful,' he said.

In November, Dr. Rose told DailyMail.com how Texan women were coming to him in large numbers requesting to be transformed to look more like Ivanka.

At the time, he said no one had yet asked to be resemble Melania but speculated that both the first lady and first daughter have undergone surgery and injections, possibly from the same physician.
A woman described as the 'Vegan Bernie Madoff' has been jailed for more than three months after she confessed to stealing more than $1million from her former workers and investors.

Sarma Melngailis appeared in Brooklyn's Supreme Court on Wednesday, accused of withholding $40,000 in wages from 84 employees, stealing $840,000 from investors, and siphoning a further $1.6million from her business accounts.

Melngailis, who held a bible behind her back in court as the sentence was handed down, will complete her prison term on New York's notorious Rikers Island.

The 44-year-old rose to popularity when her two Manhattan vegan eateries - Lucky Duck restaurant and Pure Food & Wine - became foodie sensations in the city.

Sarma Melngailis (pictured) pleaded guilty to stealing from investors and staff members during an appearance in Brooklyn's Supreme Court on Wednesday

However, in May 2015, the money disappeared.

During her court appearance, Melngailis - as well as her estranged husband, Anthony Strangis - pleaded guilty to hatching the scam, which involved her not paying 84 employees.

One of the conditions included in her plea required the 44-year-old to fess up to ripping off one investor to the tune of $200,000, the New York Daily News reports.

As part of her punishment, she was also ordered to cough up $1.5million in restitution payments.

Melngailis had been accused of withholding $40,000 in wages from 84 employees, stealing $840,000 from investors, and siphoning a further $1.6million from her business accounts

Sarma Melngailis is pictured in court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to stealing money from her staff and investors

The 44-year-old appeared to drop her head during her appearance in the Brooklyn court on Wednesday

Her husband, who pretended to be a cashed-up businessman in an attempt to attract new investors, was sentenced to time served.

He had already spent a year behind bars at Rikers.

Prior to her downfall, Melngailis had book deals, and celebrity customers such as Chelsea Clinton, Alec Baldwin, Woody Harrelson and Kyle MacLachlan.

But things took a wrong turn, friends and family say, when she met Strangis in 2007.

She would later call the man a 'sociopath' after he disappeared with their eight-month-old son in 2010, but she still brought him on board as a manager in 2013.

From January 2014 to January 2015, Melngailis reportedly transferred over $1.6million from the business accounts to her personal bank account.

The 44-year-old is pictured holding a bible in her hands - which were handcuffed behind her back - as she was escorted out of the courtroom

Melngailis and Strangis are pictured after their arrests in Tennessee in May 2015

Melngailis and Strangis took money from investors, didn't pay $400,000 in taxes and spent more than $2million at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun Casinos, prosecutors say.

They also dropped $80,000 on pricey watches and $70,000 on trips to Europe and $10,000 in Uber rides, according to an indictment.

A year after they disappeared, the pair were arrested in Sevierville, Tennessee, in May 2015. They had been hiding out, but were busted after they ordered a pizza from Dominos.

If they had taken the case to trial, both could have faced 15 years in prison in prison for grand larceny.

The 44-year-old has been active on social media in the weeks leading up to her court appearance
Rebel Wilson could receive upwards of $7million after successfully filing a defamation suit against Bauer Media - but she won't profit herself.

The Pitch Perfect star has vowed to donate every cent to charities, scholarships and the Australian film industry.

During closing submissions at the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday, Ms Wilson's barrister claimed the cost of losing one film role, estimated at $5.893million, and general damages of $1.2million.

Rebel Wilson has vowed she will donate every dollar of defamation damages she receives from Bauer Media to charity, scholarships and Australian film

Barrister Matt Collins QC said there was a 'degree of art and guesswork involved', when calculating the actress' losses.

Taking to Twitter at about 4.15 on Thursday morning, Ms Wilson said she wouldn't be keeping any money she was awarded.

'Re my defamation case win, any $'s I receive will go to charity, scholarships or invested into the Aussie film industry to provide jobs,' she wrote.

The tweet was quickly followed up with another which read: 'I take being a role model very seriously'.

Wilson, 37, sued Bauer - the publisher of Woman's Day, Australian Women's Weekly, NW and OK magazine - over eight articles in 2015.

The stories in question claimed she was a serial liar and told 'pork pies' about her real name, age and childhood to make it in Hollywood.

Justice John Dixon has said he would not deliver judgment before July 1.
Theresa May was facing 'legislative war' over Brexit last night as diehard Remainers in the Commons, Lords and Scotland prepared to thwart her strategy for a clean EU exit.

The Prime Minister made Brexit the centrepiece of a slimmed-down Queen's Speech yesterday, with plans for eight major pieces of legislation designed to take back control from Brussels.

Mrs May told the Commons she was committed to 'delivering the will of the British people', with a series of Bills that will end free movement, allow Britain to forge its own trade deals and restore powers that have been ceded to Brussels for 40 years.

The Prime Minister made Brexit the centrepiece of a slimmed-down Queen's Speech yesterday

But Brexit opponents seized on the Prime Minister's weakened authority in the wake of her election setback to warn they will fight her 'every step of the way'.

In a surprise admission, Mrs May said her Brexit plans may need the 'consent' of the Scottish parliament, where Nicola Sturgeon has said she will oppose any move to take Britain out of the single market.

In the Lords, pro-Remain peers claimed that Mrs May's failure to secure a majority meant they did not have to respect Tory manifesto pledges.

The Lib Dems, who have more than 100 peers, said Mrs May would face 'legislative war' over Brexit.

In a surprise admission, Mrs May said her Brexit plans may need the 'consent' of the Scottish parliament

Nicola Sturgeon has said she will oppose any move to take Britain out of the single market

CORBYN DENIES SLIGHTING QUEEN BY NOT BOWING HEAD The Labour leader remained upright while Theresa May bowed her head Jeremy Corbyn's aides denied he had failed to show respect to the Queen today after he did not bow to the monarch on arrival for the State Opening of parliament. While Theresa May followed the example of the Speaker and other officials, Mr Corbyn, a long-standing republican, stood upright. The incident could inflame long-standing criticism over the veteran left-winger's attitude to the monarchy. But aides to the Labour leader insisted protocol was that the Speaker and officials bowed on behalf of MPs. Advertisement

And in the Commons, pro-Remain Tories warned they could vote with Labour unless the PM agrees to 'compromise'. The row came as:

- Mrs May was forced to rip up the Tory manifesto, ditching pledges to bring back grammar schools, scrap the winter fuel allowance, end free school dinners and repeal the foxhunting ban;

- The Prime Minister's deputy Damian Green admitted the Tories may fail to seal a Commons pact with the Democratic Unionist party, leaving Mrs May without a majority.

- Donald Trump's state visit to the UK appeared to have been shelved after the Queen made no mention of it when setting out her plans to Parliament;

- Mrs May prepared for bruising Brexit talks in Brussels today where she will set out a 'generous' offer to protect the rights of 3.2 million EU citizens living in the UK;

- The Prime Minister apologised to residents of Grenfell Tower for 'a failure of the state  local and national  to help people when they needed it most';

- Government sources warned that plans for a new runway at Heathrow could be defeated in the Commons;

- Jeremy Corbyn claimed Labour was now 'not merely an opposition but a government in waiting'.

Eurosceptic Tories hailed the Queen's Speech for its clear focus on Brexit and Mrs May's determination to drive it through.

Former Cabinet minister John Redwood said: 'This is perhaps the most important Queen's Speech that I've ever seen in my time as a Member of Parliament because there is this fundamental legislation to give this Parliament back, on behalf of the people, powers over all our law making.'

Of 27 Bills and draft Bills announced for the two-year session, Brexit accounts for eight.

Jeremy Corbyn claimed Labour was now 'not merely an opposition but a government in waiting'

These include the flagship Repeal Bill, which will transpose existing EU regulations into British law to prevent a legal 'cliff edge' when Britain leaves in 2019. Officials said a new Immigration Bill would 'allow the Government to end the EU's rules on free movement' and establish its own controls for the first time in decades.

A spokesman for Mrs May said she remained 'fully committed' to the target of reducing net immigration to the 'tens of thousands'.

STATE OPENING'S POMP AND CEREMONY IS CUT BACK The Queen's full regalia from last year (pictured top) was in sharp contrast to this year The usual pomp and pageantry of the State Opening of Parliament has been watered down this year as the Queen formally opens the new session. The 91-year-old monarch delivered her speech wearing a day dress and hat, rather than the usual Imperial state crown and ceremonial robes. This year's ceremony was scaled down because it is taking place just four days after the Trooping the Colour and it was deemed infeasible for the military to stage two major events in such a short period. It means the Queen travelled to and from the Palace of Westminster by car rather than by carriage. Advertisement

The scale of Mrs May's legislative challenge was underlined when she acknowledged it was 'possible' she may need the 'consent' of the Scottish Parliament for the Repeal Bill. Government sources confirmed it was likely to need a so-called 'legislative consent motion' from Holyrood.

While the Scottish Parliament cannot veto Brexit, any move by Westminster to ride roughshod over its views could spark a constitutional crisis.

The SNP's Brexit spokesman Michael Russell said the party would refuse to give consent if any powers in devolved areas, such as fishing and farming, go from Brussels to Westminster. He described the Government's stance as 'deeply concerning'.

In the Commons, the pro-EU Tory grandee Kenneth Clarke warned that Mrs May would fail to get her legislation through unless she backed down over issues such as the single market.

He told MPs that the votes of the DUP would not be enough to guarantee a majority on Brexit unless there was 'some sort of compromise' on the Tory benches.

Mr Corbyn also suggested Labour would fight the Tories over the detail of the Brexit legislation. He told MPs: 'We will use every opportunity to vote down Government policies that have failed to win public support.'

And Mrs May was facing problems in the Lords. Under the Salisbury Convention  an agreement designed to prevent manifesto pledges being blocked in the Lords  peers do not oppose measures in a ruling party's manifesto. But senior Lib Dems said this did not now apply because Mrs May had failed to win a majority.

The convention dates back to the 1940s when a majority Labour government in the Commons was hugely outnumbered in the Lords. No 10 said yesterday lawyers believed it still applied despite the Tories' failure to win a majority.
The controversial cladding blamed for fuelling the devastating Grenfell Tower inferno is fine to use on high-rise apartments in Australia, a top building firm claims.

In the wake of last week's horrific blaze which ripped through the west-London block claiming at least 79 lives, witnesses told how cladding seemed to accelerate the fire.

After the blaze, it was revealed that a Melbourne apartment block which caught fire in 2014 was covered in a similar brand of Chinese-made cladding.

While some have called for the product to be banned worldwide, the builder of the Melbourne high-rise that caught alight says the cladding was cleared by experts and is safe to use, The Australian reports.

The controversial cladding blamed for fuelling the devastating Grenfell Tower inferno and a fire in Melbourne's Lacrosse apartments in 2014 (pictured), should still be used on high-rise apartments in Australia, a top building firm has claimed

The 27-storey Grenfell Tower in London caught alight on Wednesday (pictured), producing horrifying images which were eerily similar to those seen in the 2014 Melbourne apartment blaze

In late-2014, more than 400 residents were forced to flee for their lives in the middle of the night as the Lacrosse building, in Melbourne's Docklands precinct, caught fire.

An estimated $15 million damage was caused to the high-rise complex, with pictures of the blaze bearing an eerie resemblance to the horrifying scenes at Grenfell Tower in London.

Following the blaze, started by a lit cigarette left on a balcony, an investigation found around half of buildings in Melbourne used the Alcuobest product.

It found the cladding should never have been put in the building and ordered it to be taken down by mid-2018, despite builders being given the OK to use it.

But LU Simon, the firm who built the Lacrosse building, claimed in a VCAT hearing the cladding was tested and dubbed 'suitable for use on the external cladding of buildings including high-rise residential and commercial buildings'.

'The use of Alucobest (or similar composite aluminium panel products such as Alucobond) in buildings of this type has been a common practice across Australia for at least 40 years,' the documents reportedly read.

The 2014 Melbourne fire caused $15 million in damage, while an investigation later revealed more than 50 per cent of buildings used the cladding. But LU Simon, the firm who built the Lacrosse building, claimed in a VCAT hearing the cladding was tested and 'suitable for use'

Following the Docklands blaze, an audit of 170 buildings was carried out. Recently, 41 were still classed as being 'non-compliant', which authorities say does not mean they are unsafe

despite the claims of LU Simon, another building expert last week claimed the cladding used in the Lacrosse building and Grenfell Tower (pictured) was 'like a firecracker'

'Until the (Lacrosse) fire incident... it was standard practice in the industry to use aluminium composite panels on the external walls of buildings... across all the states and territories of Australia.

'The use of such panels has been routinely approved by the MFB, independent fire engineers, architects and building surveyors.'

But despite the claims of LU Simon, another building expert last week claimed the cladding used in the Lacrosse building and Grenfell Tower was 'like a firecracker'

There are real fears that that nobody who lived on the top three residential floors may have survived the unprecedented fire

An emotional woman wearing a breathing mask holds her head in despair as she rests on the pavement near the scene of the blaze in west London

'This product is so flammable, it's like a firecracker,' Phil Dwyer, president of Builders Collective of Australia, told 3AW.

Mr Dwyer said anyone looking to buy an apartment should ask one question: 'Is there any combustible cladding on the building?'

'Don't buy it, don't take the risk... It's just not worth it.'

The death toll from the Grenfell Tower inferno so far stands at 79, with authorities still searching the building's rubble.
The Senate health care bill, being drafted by Republicans behind closed doors, finally came to light.

The Washington Post got a draft of the legislation Wednesday afternoon, which was being passed among lobbyists and aides.

The bill would repeal most of the taxes that pay for Obamacare, roll back expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, reshape its subsidies, give states wider latitude to opt out of its regulations and eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

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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

President Trump, in a meeting with tech titans, reportedly told them he wanted to see a Senate GOP health care bill with 'more heart'

The Senate legislation would link federal insurance subsidies to income, a change from a House-passed bill that tied them to age, the Post reported.

The Senate bill also cuts off Obamacare's Medicaid expansion more gradually than the House legislation, which passed on May 4.

It removes language restricting federally subsidized health plans from covering abortions.

Before this draft came to light, President Trump said in a private meeting with tech CEOs that he wanted to see a Senate health care bill with with 'more heart,' according to CNBC, after complaining behind closed doors that the House GOP Obamacare repeal bill was 'mean.'

The discussion on Capitol Hill, however, was focused on meeting a Fourth of July deadline.

'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.'

A publicly-released draft is still expected Thursday, with McConnell presenting it to senators at a morning meeting, the Post reported.

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.

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

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.'

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.
 Flash

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.

"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 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.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called on lawmakers to grant "flexibility" to the White House in dealing with Russia.

He urged the Congress "to ensure any legislation allows the president to have the flexibility to adjust sanctions to meet the needs of what is always an evolving diplomatic situation."

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said new U.S. 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-U.S. relations. I think this is harmful," Putin was quoted by Russian news agency Tass as saying.
A father and his six-year-old son drowned while swimming at a popular watering hole in Georgia.

Joshua Kistler, 38, and son Jaxon, of Dahlonega, Georgia, were in Dicks Creek Falls in the Chattahoochee National Forest, when the tragedy unfolded.

They slipped off a rock into the water and struggled to get above the surface.

Authorities said the water is shallow but can have deceivingly strong undertows that can sneak up on swimmers.

Joshua Kistler and his son, Jaxon, six, both drowned in a popular watering hole in Suches, Georgia, while they were swimming

Dicks Creek Falls, above, was the scene of tragedy Tuesday afternoon when a father and son from Dahlonega drowned in the falls

'When the father and son went off the rocks and into the water, they had trouble staying above the water,' Lieutenant Chris Pfrogner of the Lumpkin County Sheriffs Office said.

'The witnesses saw them slide off the rock and go below the surface,' Pfrogner told Fortsyth News.

'The son slid off the rock after the father.'

The pair both drowned as the father tried to get his boy back above the surface of the water.

Police and EMTs were called to the area about 2pm but it was too late.

'Its just a terrible accident,' Pfrongner said. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims' family.'

Joshua was married to Gretchen, right. Witnesses say the son slipped off a rock and the father died trying to help him in the shallow but unexpectedly dangerous waters

The pair were often seen on Facebook in and around water, but authorities said that the shallow waters of the falls held hidden dangers of strong undertow

Friends on social media shared memories of the doting father.

'He was the kind of guy that you could count on,' wrote William Illg. 'If ever I was in the weeds, Josh was there to help.

'If ever I needed someone to pick me up and dust me off after a hard shift - Josh was that guy. He always made people laugh and he captured the hearts of many.'

According to his Facebook profile, Kistler was married to Gretchen Kistler and he worked at Sherman Williams Company.
A girl in China became critically ill after swallowing a medical needle by accident while visiting the dentist.

The six-year-old was taken to the ER by her mother when the dentist said one of his dental needles had gone missing.

Luckily, the 1.2-inch-long object was excreted from her body three days later when the child was under hospital observation.

An x-ray scan showed the 1.2-inch-long dental needle lodged in the girl's stomach in China

The child had accidentally swallowed the needle (pictured) during a root canal therapy

According to People's Daily Online, Ms Hu took her six-year-old daughter, known as Qianqian, to the Wenzhou Dental Hospital for root canal therapy on June 6.

Ms Hu was told that the operation would take roughly 30 minutes, but she saw the dentist coming out of the operation theatre just 20 minutes later.

'The dentist told me there was one needle missing from his tray and it could have been in my daughter's belly,' said the mother.

The worried mother immediately took Qianqian to The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College.

An x-ray scan revealed that the sharp object had been lodged in Qianqian's stomach.

Doctors at the hospital registered Qianqian as a 'critically ill' patient with damaged digestive tract.

Gastroenterologists at the hospital told Qianqian's mother that they could not perform a gastroscopy on Qianqian because she had eaten.

They said they would have to observe Qianqian's situation.

According to the doctors, the best scenario would be that the needle could come out of Qianqian's body through excretion, said Ms Hu.

But if the needle got stuck in any organs, Qianqian would have to underogo surgery.

A second x-ray on the next morning showed that the needle had relocated to Qianqian's intestines.

Ms Hu, mother of the six-year-old, did not agree to the dental hospital's compensation

Ms Hu said she found the needle in the girl's faeces on the third day.

'The needle, called H files, is used to clean and shape the root canal during the endodontic therapy,' the dentist, surnamed Jin, explained. 'She was feeling nauseous during the treatment and her tongue blocked the file. When I tried to take it out, she gulped [it] down.'

Shocked by the incident, Ms Hu demanded Wenzhou Dental Hospital issue a public apology or pay them 40,000 yuan (4,638) compensation.

The mother and the dental hospital are currently negotiating about the terms of compensation.
Hundreds of earthquakes have hit Yellowstone National Park in the space of a week, according to experts.

A total of 464 quakes have been recorded over the past week at Yellowstone, which sits above one of the world's most dangerous supervolcanoes.

This is the highest number of earthquakes at the park within a single week in the past five years.

The recent activity has raised fears that the supervolcano is about to blow.

If it were to erupt, the Yellowstone supervolcano would be one thousand times as powerful as the 1980 Mount St Helens eruption, experts claim - although they say the risk is 'low'.

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A swarm of hundreds of earthquakes have hit Yellowstone National Park, the highest number within a single week in the past five years. The Grand Prismatic hot spring (pictured) is among the park's many hydrothermal features created by the supervolcano (stock image)

EARTHQUAKE SWARM Researchers from the University of Utah's Seismograph Stations (UUSS) have been monitoring the activity since it began last Monday, June 12. A total of 464 quakes have been recorded over the past week at Yellowstone, which sits above one of the world's most dangerous supervolcanoes. The strongest quake hit, of 4.4 magnitude, hit on Thursday, June 15. The latest hit on Monday, June 19, with a magnitude three earthquake striking 8.6 miles (14 km) north northeast of West Yellowstone, Montana. Earthquake swarms are common in Yellowstone and, on average, comprise about 50 per cent of the total activity in the Yellowstone region. Although the latest swarm is the largest since 2012, it is fewer than weekly counts during similar events in 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2010. The tremors were recorded at depths from ground level to nine miles (14.5 km) below sea level. Seismic activity could be a sign of an impending eruption of the supervolcano, although this is currently impossible to predict exactly. Advertisement

Researchers from the University of Utah's Seismograph Stations (UUSS) have been monitoring the activity since it began last Monday, June 12.

The strongest quake of 4.4 magnitude hit on Thursday, June 15.

The latest hit on Monday, June 19, with a magnitude three earthquake striking 8.6 miles (14 km) north northeast of West Yellowstone, Montana.

UUSS said the quake was part of 'an energetic sequence' of earthquakes magnitude two and larger in the area.

A spokesman said: 'The epicentre of the shock was located in Yellowstone National Park, eight miles north-northeast of the town of West Yellowstone.

'The earthquake was felt in the towns of West Yellowstone and Gardiner, Montana, in Yellowstone National Park, and elsewhere in the surrounding region.'

Earthquake swarms are common in Yellowstone and, on average, comprise about 50 per cent of the total activity in the Yellowstone region.

Although the latest swarm is the largest since 2012, it is fewer than weekly counts during similar events in 2002, 2004, 2008 and 2010.

As well as the magnitude four tremor, five in the magnitude three range, 57 in the magnitude two range, 238 in the magnitude one range, 157 in the magnitude zero range, and six with magnitudes of less than zero were also recorded.

The tremors were recorded at depths from ground level to nine miles (14.5 km) below sea level.

The University of Utah is part of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO), which provides long-term monitoring of volcanic and earthquake activity in the region.

YVO is one of the five United States Geological Survey volcano observatories that monitor volcanoes within the United States for science and public safety.

Researchers from the University of Utah's Seismograph Stations (UUSS) have been monitoring the activity since it began last Monday, June 12. Pictured - The location of the earthquakes that are part of the swarm as (red symbols)

Earthquake swarms are common in Yellowstone and, on average, comprise around 50 per cent of the total seismic activity in the Yellowstone region. Pictured - seismic data for the magnitude 4.4 quake which took place on Thursday, June 15

In a written statement, a spokesman for the team said: 'Yellowstone hasn't erupted for 70,000 years, so it's going to take some impressive earthquakes and ground uplift to get things started.'

'Besides intense earthquake swarms, we expect rapid and notable uplift around the caldera.

'Finally, rising magma will cause explosions from the boiling-temperature geothermal reservoirs.

'Even with explosions, earthquakes and notable ground uplift, the most likely volcanic eruptions would be the type that would have minimal effect outside the park itself.'

Yellowstone is the site of the largest and most diverse collection of natural thermal features in the world.

SCIENTISTS FIND A MASSIVE MAGMA CHAMBER UNDER YELLOWSTONE PARK Previous research found a relatively small magma chamber, known as the upper-crustal magma reservoir, beneath the surface In the heart of Yellowstone National Park, a supervolcano releases around 45,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide each day. But the magma chamber lying directly beneath its surface is not considered large enough to produce such levels, so researchers have been searching for an alternative source for years. In April 2015, by tracking seismic waves, geophysicists discovered a huge secondary chamber deeper underground that's so large its partly-molten rock could fill the Grand Canyon 11 times over. Previous research found a relatively small magma chamber, known as the upper-crustal magma reservoir, directly beneath the surface in 2013 that measures 2,500 cubic miles (10,420 cubic km). To discover the latest chamber, Hsin-Hua Huang from the University of Utah and his colleagues tracked seismic waves from almost 5,000 earthquakes. This USGS graphic shows how a 'super eruption' of the molten lava under Yellowstone National Park would spread ash across the United States These readings combined data from the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, which collected shallow readings from nearby quakes in Utah, Idaho, the Teton Range and Yellowstone, and from the Earthscope array, which revealed deeper readings from temblors from more further afield. Each of these quakes created waves that echoed around the supervolcano. The movement and structure of these waves could then be used to map the earth beneath. The researchers said in their paper: 'The Yellowstone magmatic system from the mantle plume to the upper crust', published in the journal Science, that the reservoir contains around 98 per cent hot rock. The remaining 2 per cent is molten rock and is too deep to directly cause an eruption, they added. Advertisement

Seismic activity could be a sign of an impending eruption of the supervolcano, although this is currently impossible to predict exactly.

While it has lain dormant for more than 70,000 years, scientists say that we can't rule out the possibility eruption may some day take place, although they say the chances are extremely slim.

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake, which hit the park in 2014, was the most powerful to strike the area in nearly 30 years.

In 2013, a study into the super volcano found the underground magma chamber to be 2.5 times larger than previously thought, with the cavern spanning a 90km by 30km area and capable of holding tons of molten rock.

Experts say there is a one in 700,000 annual chance of a volcanic eruption at the site. Pictured is an artist's impression

Yellowstone National Park spans the midwestern US states of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana (pictured)

The volcano a sits atop a huge reserve of molten rock that last erupted 640,000 years ago.

It is one of the largest active continental silicic volcanic fields in the world. Silicic is used to describe magma or igneous rock rich in silica.

The Grand Prismatic hot spring in Yellowstone National Park is among the park's many hydrothermal features created by the Yellowstone supervolcano.

Experts say there is a one in 700,000 annual chance of a volcanic eruption at the site.

If the volcano were ever to erupt, observers say the outflow of lava, ash and smoke would likely devastate the United States and affect the entire world.
Firefighters in Los Angeles could soon get a helping hand from drones to help track down missing hikers, examine risks in burning buildings and search confined spaces.

A landmark vote by the Los Angeles City Council has allowed the department to seek authorisation for use of drones in the field.

While the drones have the potential to save thousands of lives, not everyone is happy with the decision, with some saying the unmanned flying systems raise 'serious privacy concerns.'

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Firefighters in Los Angeles could soon get a helping hand from drones to help track down missing hikers, examine risks in burning buildings and search confined spaces (stock image)

FIRE-FIGHTING DRONES Officials from the Fire Department confirmed that the drones will not be used for police surveillance, but to assess hazards in hard-to-reach places. This includes tracking down missing hikers, examining risks in buring buildings and examining confined spacess. The drones could be equipped with technology to communicate with people, such as stranded hikers, allowing rescuers to ask questions such as 'What do you need?' or 'Are you hurt?' Advertisement

The vote was passed yesterday, and the decision now heads to the entire council for approval.

Speaking to the LA Times, Councilman Mitch Englander said: 'I think there's a tremendous opportunity to save lives.'

No drones will be launched until the Board of Fire Commissioners and the City Council has approved the policy on how they will be use.

Officials from the Fire Department confirmed that the drones will not be used for police surveillance, but to assess hazards in hard-to-reach places.

Mr Englander said that the drones could be equipped with technology to communicate with people, such as stranded hikers, allowing rescuers to ask questions such as 'What do you need?' or 'Are you hurt?'

But not everyone is behind the plans, and some people have raised concerns over privacy.

Hamid Khan, founder of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, said that the drones could provide a 'backdoor' to share information with the police.

Mr Khan said: 'We are deeply concerned about this development.'

Officials from the Fire Department confirmed that the drones will not be used for police surveillance, but to assess hazards in hard-to-reach places, such as burning buildings (stock image)

PRIVACY CONCERNS Not everyone is behind the plans, and some people have raised concerns over privacy. Hamid Khan, founder of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, said that the drones could provide a 'backdoor' to share information with the police. Mr Khan said: 'We are deeply concerned about this development.' And the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California says that the policy needs to be clarified before it is authorised. Melanie Ochoa, staff attorney at the ACLU, said: 'We can't protect against mission creep because we don't know what the mission is to start with.' The ACLU also suggested that the rules about sharing footage from drones should be straightened out. Advertisement

And the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California says the policy needs to be clarified before it is authorised.

Melanie Ochoa, staff attorney at the ACLU, said: 'We can't protect against mission creep because we don't know what the mission is to start with.'

The ACLU also suggested that the rules about sharing footage from drones should be straightened out.

But the Fire Department has reassured that it is taking careful measures to address these concerns.

The department plans to provide quarterly reports on drone use and alert authorities ahead of a drone being deployed, according to a report.

Jeremy Oberstein, spokesperson for the Fire Department said it 'will engage in regular dialogue with the public safety committee to make sure there's proper oversight', adding that the drones would operate under 'tight guidelines.'

The first six drones with cameras are estimated to cost $40,000 (32,000), and will be paid for using money donated by the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.
The existence of parallel universes within an unseen dimension has long been one of the universe's biggest 'what ifs'.

Now the European Space Agency (EA) has approved a mission that will hunt for gravitational waves - mysterious space-time disturbances that could finally prove the existence of extra dimensions.

Physicists think that unknown dimensions could cause ripples through reality by modifying these gravitational waves.

Since gravity is likely to occupy all dimensions that exist, its waves are a promising way to detect unknown dimensions.

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The LISA mission (artist's impression), now scheduled for 2034, will be made up of three identical satellites separated by 2.5 million km (1.5 million miles) in a triangular formation. The craft will follow Earth in its orbit around the sun while firing lasers between one another

GRAVITATIONAL WAVES The universe is made up of a 'fabric of space-time'. This corresponds to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, published in 1916. Objects in the universe bend this fabric, and more massive objects bend it more. Gravitational waves are considered ripples in this fabric. They can be produced, for instance, when black holes orbit each other or by the merging of galaxies. Gravitational waves are also thought to have been produced during the Big Bang. Physicists believe the waves can offer insights into fundamental physics. For instance, they could shed light on the idea that, at one point, most or all of the forces of nature were combined into a single force. Advertisement

In search of these waves, ESA has now given its Laser Interferometer Space Antenna mission (LISA) the green light for 2034 after decades of development and delays.

'I think there's a mixture of super-excitement and "at last",' Professor Mark McCaughrean, ESA's senior adviser for science & exploration, told New Scientist.

'We're finally over the starting line  it's great.'

LISA will be made up of three identical satellites, separated by 2.5 million km (1.5 million miles) in a triangular formation, that will follow Earth in its orbit around the sun.

The three craft will beam powerful lasers between one another as they search for ripples in space-time caused by gravitational waves.

The LISA satellites will read how these waves warp space by detecting tiny changes in the distances the laser beams travel.

Gravitational waves are often created by by celestial objects with very strong gravity, such as pairs of merging black holes.

The primary targets for LISA's observations will be merging supermassive black holes, Professor McCaughrean said, in a bid to better understand the powerful celestial bodies.

This is not the first time that scientists have delved into the origins of gravitational waves.

Earlier this year, researchers suggested that gravitational waves could also be evidence of an unseen, extra dimension.

The LISA satellites (artist's impression) will read how gravitational waves warp space by detecting tiny changes in the distances the laser beams travel

THE NEW SPACECRAFT ESA has now given its Laser Interferometer Space Antenna mission (LISA) the green light after decades of development and delays. LISA will be made up of three identical satellites orbiting the sun in a wide triangular formation. The satellites will beam lasers between one another. The presence of gravitational waves will cause tiny changes to the distances these lasers travel. An extra dimension would change the way gravitational waves stretch space. If these changes can be detected, it could help discover an extra dimension. Advertisement

While scientists don't yet have the technology to prove this, by 2034 LISA could provide a route to testing ripples in space-time for evidence of parallel universes.

Speaking to New Scientist last month, Gustavo Lucena Gomez, who is leading a study into extra dimensions at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany, said: 'If there are extra dimensions in the universe, then gravitational waves can walk along any dimension, even the extra dimensions.'

Gravity is weaker than other fundamental forces, and experts have long wondered whether this is because some of it is escaping into an extra dimension.

The German team set out to calculate how an extra dimension would affect gravitational waves, and found two strange effects  extra waves at high frequencies, and a change in how gravitational waves stretch space.

As gravitational waves move through an extra dimension, the researchers found that they should generate a 'tower' of extra gravitational waves with higher frequencies.

But observatories are currently unable to detect frequencies that high, and instead focus on lower frequency gravitational waves.

Unknown dimensions could cause ripples through reality by modifying gravitational waves - changes in the space-time fabric. Since gravity is likely to occupy all dimensions that exist, its waves are a promising way to detect unknown dimensions (artist's impression)

Physicists think that unknown dimensions could cause ripples through reality by modifying gravitational waves - changes in the space-time fabric. These waves can also be triggered by two colliding planets or black holes (artist's impression)

This could make spotting the gravitational wave towers a challenge.

But detecting the change in how gravitational waves stretch space could be easier, according to the researchers.

Dr Lucena Gomez said: 'If extra dimensions are in our universe, this would stretch or shrink space-time in a different way that standard gravitational waves would never do.'

Gravitational waves stretch space as they ripple through the universe a bit like a rubber band  the ellipse gets longer in one direction and shorter in the other, before returning to its original shape.

The targets for LISA's observations will be merging supermassive black holes in a bid to better understand the powerful celestial bodies (artist's impression) but it could eventually be used to test ripples in space time for signs of an extra dimension

The existence of parallel universes within an unseen dimension has long been one of the universe's biggest 'what ifs' (stock image)

But an extra dimension could add another way for gravitational waves to stretch space, called a breathing mode.

In the same way that lungs expand as you breathe, gravitational waves cause space to expand and contract, in addition to stretching.

Dr Lucena Gomez said: 'With more detectors we will be able to see whether this breathing mode is happening.'

Dr Emilian Dudas, from the Ecole Polytechnique in France told New Scientist: 'Extra dimensions have been discussed for a long time from different points of view.

'Gravitational waves could be a new twist on looking for extra dimensions.'
It's good news for people who find work a drag, as Alibaba founder Jack Ma believes we will work just four hours a day for four days a week by 2047.

The Chinese billionaire said he believed people would reap the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) and be free to spend more time travelling and less time working.

But the 52-year-old founder of Alibaba - China's equivalent of eBay - also warned 'there's going to be trouble' with AI in the future unless governments move fast.

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The Chinese billionaire Jack Ma said he believed people would reap the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) and be free to spend more time travelling and less time working

MA'S THOUGHTS ON AI The Chinese billionaire said he believed people would reap the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) and be free to spend more time travelling and less time working. The 52-year-old Alibaba founder - China's equivalent of eBay - warned 'there's going to be trouble' with AI in the future unless governments move fast. 'We should make sure the machine can do things that human beings cannot do', he said. 'And we have to prepare now. Because the next 30 years is going to be painful.' 'I think in the next 30 years, people only work four hours a day and maybe four days a week', he said. Advertisement

'The first technology revolution caused World War I,' Ma told CNBC at the Gateway '17 conference in Detroit.

'The second technology revolution caused World War II. This is the third technology revolution', he said.

Ma, who is worth 22.8 billion ($28.4 billion), warned that people should not be making machines that work like humans.

'We should make sure the machine can do things that human beings cannot do', he said.

'And we have to prepare now. Because the next 30 years is going to be painful.'

Ma thinks that we can hugely benefit from AI over the coming decades - although not without warning.

'I think in the next 30 years, people will only work four hours a day and maybe four days a week', he said.

'My grandfather worked 16 hours a day in the farmland and [thought he was] very busy. We work eight hours, five days a week and think we are very busy.'

But, it wasn't all positive. Ma expressed concern about the effects of AI and globalisation over the coming years.

'This is why I'm travelling, talking to all the government and state leaders and telling them move fast. If they do not move fast, there's going to be trouble,' he said.

It's good news for people who find work a drag as Alibaba founder Jack Ma believes we could work as little as 16 hours a week in three decades time (stock image)

'So when we see something is coming, we have to prepare now. My belief is that you have to repair the roof while it is still functioning.'

Ultimately, the billionaire said that humans could never gain the wisdom that humans have - saying that fundamentally 'humans will win.'

Earlier this year, the Chinese billionaire said that the world's best CEO will be a robot within the next 30 years.

Robots will get the world's top jobs because they are 'quicker and more rational' than humans, he said at an entrepreneurship conference in central China.

He added that they would be more suitable as CEOs because they don't get overcome by their emotions, such as by getting annoyed with their competitors.

He also warned that the world is not yet prepared for the changes that will be brought around by the advent of robots.

'In the next three decades, the world will experience far more pain than happiness,' he said.
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It is set to be one of the fastest helicopters in the sky.

Airbus has revealed a radical new concept it says will be able to fly at speeds of 250mph.

The aerospace firm said it could revolutionise everything from search and rescue and air ambulances to private travel.

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Final assembly of the demonstrator is expected to start in 2019, with a first flight the next year, Guillaume Faury, Airbus Helicopters CEO said at the Paris air show

RACER SPECS The Racer demonstrator will use an innovative 'box-wing' design, optimised for aerodynamic efficiency, will provide lift in cruise mode while isolating passengers during ground operations from the 'pusher' lateral rotors designed to generate thrust in forward flight. Optimised for performance and low acoustic signature, these lateral rotors as well as the main rotor will be driven by two RTM322 engines. Advertisement

It combines fixed wings for energy efficient lift, propellers (so called lateral rotors) for energy-efficient propulsion and a main rotor that provides energy-efficient VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) flight capabilities.

Airbus Helicopters has the aerodynamic configuration of the high speed demonstrator it is developing as part of the Clean Sky 2 European research programme.

Codenamed Racer, for Rapid And Cost-Effective Rotorcraft, the demonstrator was unveiled today at the Paris air show.

It will incorporate a host of innovative features and will be optimised for a cruise speed of more than 400 km/h, the firm says.

'Today we unveil our bold vision for the future of high-speed rotorcraft,' said Guillaume Faury, Airbus Helicopters CEO.

'This new project, pulling together the skills and know-how of dozens of European partners through the Clean Sky 2 initiative, aims to bring increased speed and range at the right cost, thanks to a simple, safe and proven aerodynamic formula.

'It will pave the way for new time-sensitive services for 2030 and beyond, setting new benchmarks for high-speed helicopter transportation.'

Final assembly of the demonstrator is expected to start in 2019, with a first flight the next year.

The Racer demonstrator will use an 'box-wing' design, optimised for aerodynamic efficiency, will provide lift in cruise mode while isolating passengers during ground operations from the 'pusher' lateral rotors designed to generate thrust in forward flight.

These lateral rotors as well as the main rotor will be driven by two RTM322 engines.

An 'eco mode' will be tested by the engine manufacturer to show off fuel savings and increasing range.

The Racer demonstrator will also benefit from a hybrid metallic-composite airframe, specifically designed for low weight and low recurring costs.

It combines fixed wings for energy efficient lift, propellers (so called lateral rotors) for energy-efficient propulsion and a main rotor that provides energy-efficient VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) flight capabilities

It will incorporate a host of innovative features and will be optimised for a cruise speed of more than 400 km/h, the firm says

Airbus says it will 'demonstrate its suitability for a wide spectrum of missions where increased speed and efficiency will bring significant added value for citizens and operators.

'This is especially the case for emergency medical services and search and rescue operations, as well as for public services, commercial air transport and private and business aviation,' it says.

Airbus says it will 'demonstrate its suitability for a wide spectrum of missions where increased speed and efficiency will bring significant added value for citizens and operators'
While all manner of strange and quirky craft have taken to the skies for the annual Paris air show, a a rare aerobatic display from the American F-35 has wowed crowds - and sent NATO a clear message.

Lockheed Martin today revealed footage of the incredible flights, which are being carried out daily at the show.

The six-minute flight features a full power takeoff showing off its 40,000 pounds of thrust, steep climbs, and the tightest possible turns, and is designed to head off doubts over the controversial jet's ability to dogfight.

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'After 10 years since first flight, with our first opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities and the maneuverability of the F-35, we are going to crush years of misinformation about what this aircraft is capable of doing,' Lockheed Martin test pilot Billie Flynn said in an interview with Aviation Week.

In an Associated Press interview at the opening Monday of the Paris Air Show, Brigadier General Select Todd Canterbury said the displays of the new jet are to 'showcase the capability to all of our European partners and NATO allies' and 'to reassure them that we are committed to NATO 100 percent and that we have got the capability to respond to any action necessary.'

Canterbury, director of the Air Force F-35 Integration Office at the Pentagon, also spoke about recent problems that grounded F-35s at Luke Airforce Base in Arizona.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called NATO obsolete and excoriated European allies last month for not spending enough on their own defenses.

THE INCREDIBLE F-35 PARIS SHOW The flight demonstration starts with an afterburner takeoff, almost immediately pointing the nose to the sky and letting the aircraft climb away essentially vertically. This impressive move is unique to the F-22 and the F-35, the pilot says. Next, the F35 will reverse back in front of the crowd, and perform a 'square loop' to show the aircraft's instantaneous pitch capability and high angle-of-attack (AOA) maneuverability. It then turns around, reverses back in front of the crowd, and perform a slow-speed pass. Afterwards, it lights up the afterburner and fly straight up into the sky once again. It then pulls up vertically in front of the crowd to execute a 'power loop,' where the aircraft flips on its back. Next is a spiral at 50 degrees AOA, called a 'pedal turn.' After reversing again in front of the crowd, the last move is a maximum-G, 360-deg. turn, which highlights the maximum-rate, minimum-radius-turn capability of the aircraft. Advertisement

Since May 2, F-35 pilots on five occasions reported symptoms of hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, he said.

US military personnel escort a Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet towards the runway at the International Paris Air Show in Le Bourget outside Paris

The Air Force says the F-35's backup oxygen system worked in each instance, and the pilot was able to land the plane safely.

'It could range to anything from headaches, to nausea, to color-blindness,' he told the AP.

Planes were subsequently grounded at Luke, and only began flying again a few days ago, even though the cause of the fault has not been found.

A team of engineers, test pilots, medics and others experts are 'digging into this problem 24 hours a day,' to try to identify the cause, Canterbury said.

'It could be lack of oxygen. It could be too much oxygen, too much carbon dioxide.'

After roaring off the Le Bourget airport tarmac into a vertical climb with its afterburner, the F-35 wows with a series of loops and gravity defying moves, showing maneuverability so catlike it can turn corners so sharp that it seems to carve squares in the sky.

A Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II flies during a flight demonstration on the opening day of the 52nd Paris Air Show held at Le Bourget, north of Paris, France, 19 June 2017. The 2017 International Paris Air Show runs from 23 to 25 June

Lockheed Martin today revealed footage on the incredible flights, which are being carried out daily at the show.

There have been similar incidents 'across a number of bases, but not in clusters like we saw at Luke.'

The local commander at Luke will decide when the planes can fly again, he said. Canterbury said the pilots will 'start flying as soon as they can. They are ready.'

Luke is a training base for F-35 pilots. Operational units have not had such issues, he said.

U.S. servicemen gather next to a F-35 Lightning II at Paris Air Show, on the eve of its opening, in Le Bourget, east of Paris, France, Sunday, June 18, 2017. While Airbus and Boeing will again hog the spotlight at the Paris Air Show with their battle for ever-larger slices of the lucrative pie in the sky, a lot of the really interesting stuff will be going on elsewhere at next week's massive biennial aviation and defense industry gathering.

'It's still too early to tell the root cause,' he said. 'An airplane in development, such as this, will have teething problems.'

The F-35 flew briefly at the Farnborough Air Show last year but this year in Paris it will have its debut aerial demonstrations.

The daily aerobatic shows by the F-35 promise to be spectacular, punctuated by the howl of its 40,000 pounds of thrust.

French President Emmanuel Macron (2-L) listens to Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier (C) while visiting the Paris Air Show. Macron landed at the Bourget airfield in an Airbus A400-M military transport plane to launch the aviation showcase, the Paris Air show, running from 19 - 25 June 2017, where the latest Boeing and Airbus passenger jets will vie for attention with a F-35 warplane, drones and other and high-tech hardware. EPA/MICHEL EULER / POOL MAXPPP OUT

French President Emmanuel Macron exits the cockpit of a Rafale jet fighter helped by Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier (R) while visiting the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, north of Paris, France, 19 June 2017.

F-35 FACT SHEET Role: Stealth multirole fighter First flight: December 15, 2006 Unit cost (not including engine): F-35A - $98million F-35B - $104million F-35C - $116million Number built: 115 (as of November 2014) Length: 15.67m Wingspan: 10.7m Height: 4.33m Max speed (F-35A): 1,930kph Advertisement

'This is a beastly airplane,' said chief F-35 test pilot Alan Norman.

After roaring off the Le Bourget airport tarmac into a vertical climb with its afterburner, the F-35 will wow with a series of loops and gravity defying moves, showing maneuverability so catlike it can turn corners so sharp that it seems to carve squares in the sky.

It will also show its ability to slow down to a crawl - a trick that can force pursuers to fly past and become the hunted and which Tom Cruise famously showed off in Top Gun.

Eight countries are partners of the program and are taking F-35s: the U.K., Australia, Italy, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, and Turkey.

Three other nations have bought F-35s: Japan, Israel and South Korea.

Canterbury said Germany, Belgium and Singapore have requested information about the F-35, a potential first step toward possible purchases.
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Two months before the first total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States in a century, NASA has revealed its plans to study and promote a celestial show that will darken skies from Oregon to South Carolina.

During the Aug. 21 eclipse, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth, blocking the face of the sun and leaving only its outer atmosphere, or corona, visible in the sky.

It is the first coast-to-coast total eclipse since 1918 - and NASA has creraqted a pair of eclipse posters to celebrate the occasion.

Scroll down for video and an interactive eclipse map

To celebrate the upcoming eclipse, NASA has also created these retro posters to mark the occasion,. which can be downloaded for free online here

HOW NASA WILL WATCH The space agency said viewers around the world will be provided a wealth of images captured before, during, and after the eclipse by 11 spacecraft, at least three NASA aircraft, more than 50 high-altitude balloons, and the astronauts aboard the International Space Station  each offering a unique vantage point for the celestial event. NASA spacecraft capturing the event include: NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which will turn toward Earth to track the shadow of the moon on our planet; a host of Earth-observing spacecraft, which can both observe the shadow of the moon and measure how it affects Earths weather; and a fleet of solar observing spacecraft. NASA images and data of the eclipse will complement that collected by other scientific organizations. Advertisement

Weather permitting, astronomy enthusiasts can watch as the moon's 70-mile (113-km) wide shadow crosses the country, starting at 10:15 a.m. PDT (1715 GMT) around Lincoln Beach, Oregon, and ending at 2:49 p.m. EDT (1849 GMT) in McClellanville, South Carolina.

The space agency said viewers around the world will be provided a wealth of images captured before, during, and after the eclipse by 11 spacecraft, at least three NASA aircraft, more than 50 high-altitude balloons, and the astronauts aboard the International Space Station  each offering a unique vantage point for the celestial event.

NASA spacecraft capturing the event include: NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which will turn toward Earth to track the shadow of the moon on our planet; a host of Earth-observing spacecraft, which can both observe the shadow of the moon and measure how it affects Earths weather; and a fleet of solar observing spacecraft.

In addition, NASA Television will air a multi-hour show, Eclipse Across America: Through the Eyes of NASA, with unprecedented live video of the celestial event, along with coverage of activities in parks, libraries, stadiums, festivals and museums across the nation, and on social media.

'Never before will a celestial event be viewed by so many and explored from so many vantage points  from space, from the air, and from the ground,' said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

'With our fellow agencies and a host of scientific organizations, NASA will continue to amplify one key message: Take time to experience the Aug. 21 eclipse, but experience it safely.'

Coast to coast, from Oregon to South Carolina, 14 states will  over a span of almost two hours  experience more than two minutes of darkness in the middle of the day.

When the moon completely blocks the sun, day will turn into night and make visible the otherwise hidden solar corona, the sun's atmosphere. Bright stars and planets also will become visible.

Using specialized solar viewing glasses or other equipment, all of North America will be able to view at least a partial eclipse lasting two to four hours.

Total solar eclipses occur somewhere on Earth every year or so, but most cast their shadow over oceans or remote land.

The last time a part of the contiguous U.S. saw a total eclipse was in 1979.

All of North America will experience a partial eclipse, though the difference between a full and partial eclipse is 'literally the difference between night and day,' said astronomer Rick Fienberg of the American Astronomical Society.

He noted that even a 99 percent eclipse will not reveal the sun's corona.

And during a total eclipse, the temperature drops and the horizon is ringed by the colors of sunset.

'The sky gets deep twilight blue and bright stars and planets come out,' Fienberg said.

'Animals and birds behave strangely, like it's the end of the day.'

More than 12 million Americans live in the path of the full eclipse, said astronomer Angela Speck, who heads the society's eclipse public outreach campaign.

WHERE TO SEE THE HISTORIC AUGUST ECLIPSE The path of totality will stretch from Lincoln Beach, Oregon, to Charleston South Carolina. To find out exactly when and where it will be visible, visit NASA's interactive map, and click on a city along the path. Totality will cross the US from west to east, beginning at Lincoln Beach, Oregon, where totality will occur at 10:16 a.m. (PDT). It will the US over roughly an hour and a half, passing through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. It will end near Charleston, South Carolina, at 2:48 p.m. (EDT), according to NASA. Advertisement

The entire U.S. population, except for northern Maine, lives within 900 miles of the full eclipse's path.

Travel groups and many scientists will be heading to Oregon's northwest desert, which has the best odds of favorable weather for viewing, according to the website eclipsophile.com.

Experts caution that the only safe time to look at the sun without special eclipse glasses is during totality when the surface of the sun is completely blocked by the moon.

Earlier this month a new interactive tool aims to show hopefuls exactly where and when to best see the phenomenon, whether you're viewing it from home or traveling long distance to catch a glimpse.

The simulator from the Eclipse Megamovie 2017 project reveals the path of the sun on August 21, starting in the hours leading up to the total eclipse, to the point when the moon passes directly in front.

To use the tool, type in the name of your city and drag the circle on the timebar to watch how the sun moves across the sky over the course of the day. The simulator indicates what time the total eclipse will be visible, or the partial eclipse for those outside the path of totality

This image of the moon crossing in front of the sun was captured on Jan. 30, 2014, by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observing an eclipse from its vantage point in space.

For locations within the path of totality, the simulator indicates what time the total eclipse will hit.

If you're not in the 70-mile-wide path of totality, don't fret; as the simulator shows, other locations across the US will still see a partial eclipse.

This is indicated on the timebar as well, and will be visible all across North America, and even in parts of South America, Africa, and Europe, according to NASA.

The total solar eclipse will pass from coast-to-coast through the continental US, for the first time in nearly a century.

The August 21 event will be visible to millions of people as it crosses through 14 states, with the path of totality stretching from Lincoln Beach, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina.

During this time, the sun will be completely blocked by the moon, leaving only the 'pearly white rays' of its elusive corona visible to the naked eye  but, even in areas set to experience the longest duration of totality, the sun will only be fully covered for less than three minutes.

To be sure you don't miss out on the rare event, scientists have revealed many ways to prepare ahead, from what time the eclipse will pass through your city, to when you should put on your safety glasses.

The total solar eclipse will pass from coast-to-coast through the continental US, for the first time in nearly a century. The August 21 event will be visible to millions of people as it crosses through 14 states, with the path of totality stretching from Lincoln Beach, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina

Totality will cross the US from west to east, beginning at Lincoln Beach, Oregon.

There, the total solar eclipse will begin at 10:16 a.m. (PDT).

The phenomenon will then cross through the US over the course of roughly an hour and a half, passing through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and North and South Carolina.

It will end near Charleston, South Carolina, at 2:48 p.m. (EDT), according to NASA.

While the totality itself will last just a few minutes, the eclipse  from start to finish  will span more than an hour as the moon moves in and out of the sun's path, giving rise to a series of crescents along the way.

If you're not in the 70-mile-wide path of totality, don't fret; as the simulator shows, other locations across the US will still see a partial eclipse. This is indicated on the timebar as well, and will be visible all across North America, and even in parts of South America, Africa, and Europe

The August 21 event will be visible to millions of people as it crosses through 14 states, with the path of totality stretching from Lincoln Beach, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina. A view of the Western and central US is shown. The best views of totality will be along the red line, though it will be visible in areas within the purple as well

It's not enough just to know where to see it, though.

Viewers must also be prepared with the proper gear to protect their eyes during the event.

Otherwise, NASA warns, you could 'severely hurt your eyes.'

The space agency says viewers should be equipped with special specs such as Rainbow Symphony, American Paper Optics, Thousand Oaks Optical, and TSE 17.

These are just four that meet the ISO 12312-2 international standard.

THE TOTAL ECLIPSE 'CLOUDINESS MAP' The NOAA has revealed a 'cloudiness' map to help viewers prepare for potential visibility issues ahead of eclipse day. The darker the dot, the greater the chance for cloudiness at the hour of peak viewing during the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. Dots represent automated weather stations that reported the cloudiness data and show the 10-year cloudiness average for August 21, 20012010. Advertisement

Scientists have long been preparing for the August 2017 event, which will offer a rare glimpse at the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona. This feature is invisible to the naked eye except during a total solar eclipse. To view it otherwise, scientists must use a telescope known as a coronagraph

The glasses should be put on when the partial eclipse begins, meaning when the sun becomes partially covered by the moon.

And, they should remain on for the entirety of the phases leading up to totality.

Once the moon has completely blocked out the sun, causing it to suddenly become dark, viewers can then remove the glasses for a short amount of time.

This may last just a minute, though, and the glasses will need to be put back on for the final stages of the eclipse.

Still, no matter how much you prepare, the ability to see the eclipse will all boil down to the weather conditions that day.

While the totality itself will last just a few minutes, the eclipse  from start to finish  will span more than an hour as the moon moves in and out of the sun's path, giving rise to a series of crescents along the way

PROTECTING YOUR EYES Viewers must also be prepared with the proper gear to protect their eyes during the event. Otherwise, NASA warns, you could 'severely hurt your eyes' The space agency says viewers should be equipped with special specs such as Rainbow Symphony, American Paper Optics, Thousand Oaks Optical, and TSE 17. These are just four that meet the ISO 12312-2 international standard. And, they warn that you should never look at the sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars. According to NASA, eclipse glasses should be put on when the partial eclipse begins, meaning when the sun becomes partially covered by the moon. And, they should remain on for the entirety of the phases leading up to totality. Once the moon has completely blocked out the sun, causing it to suddenly become dark, viewers can then remove the glasses for a short amount of time. This may last just a minute, though, and the glasses will need to be put back on for the final stages of the eclipse. Advertisement

In the event that clouds or storms do pass through, obscuring the phenomenon, NASA will be hosting an Eclipse Megacast for four hours.

This will be live-streamed on NASA TV, along with local and national TV stations, ensuring that even viewers who cannot make it a location on the path of totality or are experiencing poor sky conditions can see the rare eclipse.

A HISTORIC ECLIPSE The total solar eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 will cross the continental United States beginning in Oregon and ending in South Carolina. While a total solar eclipse occurred over the continental US in 1979, the last time one such event spanned the country coast to coast was in 1918. In that event, the the path of totality entered through the southwest corner of Washington and passed over Denver, Colorado, Jackson, Mississippi, and Orlando, Florida before exiting the country at the Atlantic coast of Florida. This year, the path of totality will cross through 14 states, with the path of totality stretching from Lincoln Beach, Oregon, to Charleston, South Carolina. Advertisement

Scientists have long been preparing for the August 2017 event, which will offer a rare glimpse at the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona.

This feature is invisible to the naked eye except during a total solar eclipse. To view it otherwise, scientists must use a telescope known as a coronagraph.

In the brief window when the sun is blocked out by the moon, scientists will take measurements from both the ground and the sky, the LA Times reports.

Some will even fly specialized planes upwards of 49,000 feet, using custom-built instruments to analyze the corona in infrared.

Previous eclipses have revealed a bizarre phenomenon in which the sun's outer atmosphere is far hotter than the surface, at an average of 1 million degrees Kelvin, compared to about 6,000 degrees Kelvin, respectively.

'The fundamental question we are asking is, what is causing the atmosphere to heat up like that?' Shadia Habbal, a solar wind at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy who has led 14 eclipse expeditions, told the LA Times.

'This is one of the scientific mysteries regarding the sun that remains unanswered.'
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A new statewide poll by researchers with the University of California, Berkeley, indicates that 56 percent of Californians worry that they or a family member may lose their health insurance coverage if the U.S. Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Findings from the poll by the UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) were released Tuesday, at a time when the Congress in the national capital of Washington D.C. now is considering legislation to repeal and replace the ACA, popularly known as Obama Care, after former U.S. President Barack Obama, who signed the national health reform legislation into law in 2010.

Among those who are worried about the future of the ACA, 39 percent say they are "very worried" and 17 percent say they are "somewhat worried."

Concern about losing health coverage varies with household income. Of residents at the lowest end of the income scale, namely less than 20,000 U.S. dollars per year, 77 percent are worried, as are 81 percent of those currently covered by Medi-Cal, the state-wide public program that provides health coverage to low-income adults and children.

By contrast, only about one in three residents with incomes of 100,000 dollars or more express such concerns.

In addition, Latinos (71 percent) and African Americans (67 percent) are somewhat more likely to be concerned about losing health coverage than white non-Hispanics (46 percent) and Asian Americans (50 percent).

Meanwhile, the poll finds public support for the ACA reaching record proportions. Supporters of the ACA now outnumber opponents in California, the most populous state in America, by a greater than two-to-one margin, 65 percent to 26 percent, with 45 percent supporting the law strongly.

Administered by telephone in six languages and dialects on May 4-31, 2017, the poll was conducted on behalf of the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF). Tuesday's release is the first of a two-part series of reports examining California public opinion about the ACA and health insurance coverage issues. Part two, for release Wednesday, focuses on coverage for mental health and substance use disorder treatment.

The poll included a large-scale statewide sample of 1,628 California adults, and the margin of error for the results is plus or minus 5 percent.
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You realise just how close you are to nature at Anabezi the second you arrive at its luxury safari camp.

After a transfer in a toy-like safari plane and A-list worthy boat ride, you arrive on the banks of Zambias great Zambezi river.

But theres no walking up to this luxury camp, oh no. Expert guides chauffeur you the few hundred metres to camp in a safari jeep because there are elephants EVERYWHERE.

Anabezi Luxury Tented Camp is a collection of 10 luxury stilted tents on the Zambezi river

Theres no walking up to this luxury camp when you arrive. Expert guides chauffeur you the few hundred metres to camp in a safari jeep because there are elephants EVERYWHERE

Anabezi is the playground of the Big Five, and alongside its five-star offerings, its as wild and remote as it gets

Anabezi Luxury Tented Camp got its name from the great Zambezi River it perches on, and the Ana trees that our long-trunked pachyderms love to feed on.

After speeding down Africas fourth largest river, you arrive at this collection of 10 luxury stilted tents and youre immediately greeted with ice-cold towels and fruit cocktails.

It all feels very surreal to receive such top-notch treatment in the Zambias ultra-remote Lower Zambezi National Park. But Anabezi is the playground of the Big Five, and alongside its five-star offerings, its as wild and remote as it gets.

What makes this safari camp so special is its clever design that puts you right in front of Africas biggest beasts.

An elevated wooden walkway runs between your luxurious tent and the chic lounge area.

Our room is bedecked in smart wooden furniture, a chic coffee table scattered with wildlife books and beds boasting luxurious cotton sheets and elegant mosquito drapes.

What makes this safari camp so special is its clever design that puts you right in front of Africas biggest beasts

Lucy's room is bedecked in smart wooden furniture, a chic coffee table scattered with wildlife books and beds boasting luxurious cotton sheets and elegant mosquito drapes

The bathroom boasts a free-standing bath and luxurious bath products. Or you can go au naturel in the outside rainforest shower

When its time to wash, think five-star city hotel meets bush chic.

The bathroom boasts a free-standing bath and luxurious bath products. Or you can go au naturel in the outside rainforest shower.

Even the loo with a view allows you to do your business without missing the elephant action.

Speaking of elephants, before we do anything at Anabezi, we receive a safety talk about the camp and our long-nosed friends.

Assistant manager Nathan tells us to never leave the wooden walkway of the camp and to respect the nature. Never try and confront an animal. Simply back off and walk away.

Guests can luxuriate in plunge pools while admiring the exotic wildlife that lives all around

Oh, and dont be alarmed by resident tusker Biscuit Billy. He hangs around camp a lot but is one of the friendly ones.

If an animal does manage to enter your room at night and you are genuinely in danger, only then can you sound the foghorn in your room.

We sign a disclosure form agreeing that Anabezi camp is not responsible for any death or injury during our stay. I retreat to our tent, as excited as a child that were this close to nature.

Within minutes Im on my private decking armed with my GoPro as I watch one of Biscuit Billys friends use his immense strength to shake the edible pods off a nearby Ana tree.

When I can bare to drag myself away from shooting my own David Attenborough documentary, I discover that Anabezi has some A-list worthy places to relax and cool off.

Theres my own plunge pool which overlooks the riverbanks and two dreamy infinity pools for all guests to use. One overlooks the watering hole on the Mushika Flood Plain and its impossible not to be mesmerised by the impala, elephants and baboons who come here to quench their thirst.

The other is located by the ultra-chic Zambezi deck where youll find a bar, lounge and dining area. This is where we force ourselves awake at the crack of dawn with tasty pre-game drive breakfasts and strong cups of coffee. Its also where we dine by candlelight on sumptuous African fusion cuisine by the camps Zimbabwean chef.

One evening as we feast on steak and delectable South African wines, we hear the heavy breathing of a beast. Below the stilted deck we spot three male buffalos peering up at us in the dark.

Guests bob on the Zambezi River during a fishing trip. A herd of elephants can be seen foraging in the background

Another night as were just returning from a game-drive, Nathan darts across the wooden walkway as one of these horned beasts tries to charge him.

Later he appears so nonchalant about it. Nothing fazes the staff here who live and breathe safari life.

The exciting stories keep on coming and we later hear a leopard has dragged an impala into the bushes behind Tent Three.

Alas, we didnt witness it but it all keeps you on your toes. Its no wonder this wildlife-packed region is set to feature in Great Parks of Africa: The Lower Zambezi - a one hour 4K documentary special for Love Nature and Smithsonian Earth.

With buffalo roaming and talks of hungry leopards, the prospect of a walking safari feels a bit daunting. I dont fancy being charged at  or even worse, being hunted for dinner by a cat - but Zambia is the land of the famous walking safari. So when in Rome

Walking safaris in Zambia are led by rigorously-trained expert guides and our guide Lawrence makes sure were properly briefed before we set off.

Walk in a single file, dont make any sudden movement and remain calm if any animals approach us. Were also joined by a guard from the Lower Zambezi National Park, whos armed with a rifle. Phew.

During Lucy's stay a leopard dragged an impala into the bushes behind one of the tents

The plan is to start at the bush breakfast spot where the team will be cooking up a five-star brekkie.

But within minutes, the camps general manager Paul, is on the radio and tells us well have to divert as there are two lions nearby. Lawrence changes our route and it all feels a bit perturbing. Especially as its 6am and Ive barely woken up.

As we trek through the African savannah, I begin to relax. Weirdly, walking safaris have a calming effect, even when your sub-conscious keeps reminding you of the dangers. Plus, Im distracted from the reality of it all by Lawrences amazing bush knowledge.

Soon, hes waxing lyrical about animal footprints, territories and how trees emit warning scents to each other when elephants strip their bark.

We stumble across an elephants skull and he explains the amazing conveyor belt-like nature of elephants teeth. We also learn about the staggering emotional intelligence of elephants and the sombre way in which they mourn, holding the bones in their trunks when one dies. It brings home the sad reality of poaching, which is still going on in parts of Africa.

By the time we reach our luxury bush breakfast, the lions have moved on and were treated to fresh pots of coffee, bacon and eggs, surrounded by nature.

This all feels like a dream. But I still yearn to see a big cat.

The ultra-chic main deck is where guests will find a bar, lounge and dining area

For the rest of our stay, we take a relaxing fishing trip on the Zambezi where we catch and release Tigerfish and watch the sun set with copious amounts of Amarula.

On our last morning, we decide to take one last game drive.

Ive been transfixed by the hundreds of elephants, but its time to see a big cat - from the safety of four wheels.

We search Zambias wilds and when we think our luck is up, our guide John receives a call on the radio about a lion sighting.

Following their directions, he whizzes us over the bumpy scrubland in our Landcruiser and I get the safari rush all over again when we reach a lioness with her two cubs shading under one of the trees.

A few metres from here, the two male lions who had been lurking around the bush breakfast camp are snoozing in the grass.

As the cubs play on a termite mound, the lioness licks her paws and one of the males plods over nonchalantly before yawning a mouth of killer canines.

Im speechless that were so close to this amazing spectacle. Anabezi and the land around it is full of surprises and I dont want to leave.

As we drive across the Lower Zambezis savannah for our flight back to Lusaka, Im reminded of Brian Jackmans quote: Everything in Africa bites, but the safari bug is worst of all.

Its cliche but he was right. I have a feeling well be back.
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From the deck of an aircraft carrier to the sub-zero temperatures of a Himalayan military outpost, tens of thousands of Indians joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to celebrate the third International Yoga Day.

Rains failed to dampen the spirits of about 50,000 people who joined in an outdoor yoga session with the prime minister in a park in Lucknow, capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

'Yoga has connected the world with India,' Modi, looking relaxed in white track pants and blue-collared T-shirt, told a cheering crowd.

Leading by example: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center, performs yoga along with thousands of Indians in Lucknow

That's a crowd-plreaser! A massive yoga workshop conducted by yoga guru Baba Ramdevji in Ahmedabad

Celebration: An Indian holy man performs a move to mark International Yoga Day at Kamakhya temple in Gauhati, India

The practice began in ancient India 5,000 years ago and, recently, Modi described the practice as free health insurance.

Dressed in white, 66-year-old Modi instructed the children at the outdoor yoga session at Rama Bai Ambedkar Ground, occasionally pausing to correct a youngster's posture.

'It was a very nice gesture of prime minister to come out of the dry comfort of his waterproof tent and do yoga with us in the open,' said 18-year-old student Neha Prakash.

'It was not easy. The yoga mat was wet and slippery and water puddles were all around.'

Annual event: Millions of yoga enthusiasts across India and wider Asia take part in mass sessions on June 21 every year

Focus: The political leader was a special VIP at the flashmob gathering, which honoured the practice's age-old heritage

The proof is in the turn-out: 'Yoga has connected the world with India', Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as he rolled his mat along with millions of others on Wednesday

The proof is in the turn-out: 'Yoga has connected the world with India', Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as he rolled his mat along with millions of others on Wednesday

Veteran: Yoga instructor, Tao Porchon-Lynch, 98, performs at a function to mark International Yoga Day in Bangalore, India

Not sure they're a rowdy crowd! An Indian policeman watches over yoga enthusiasts taking part in a massive yoga workshop

People power: Thousands of people gather to show off their various yoga skills as part of the communal exercise

Modi later took to his official Twitter account to thank people across for joining in nationwide. A move which generated numerous 'likes' and comments from impressed followers.

One commentator responded: 'Great excitement among people. I thank PM Modi for bringing out richness of Indian culture and making Yog popular around the globe.'

Just moments earlier Indian Army personnel from the third Electronic Mechanical Engineering stream were seen practicing yoga at a military station in Bhopal.

Impressive: Indian armed forces and their families perform Yoga on the deck of the Indian Naval aircraft carrier Viraat

Attention: Army personnel from the third Electronic Mechanical Engineering stream were practicing yoga in Bhopal

Restorative: The men perform 'pavanamuktasana' - a wind-relieving pose dubbed yoga's equivalent of Pepto Bismol

Age-old: The physical, spiritual and mental practice is thought to have originated around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE

Man power: Huge numbers of men perform yoga on International Yoga Day in the vibrant capitcal city, New Delhi

Similar displays were organised in villages, towns and cities across India, including District Jail and Bhabani Stadium, Sundergarh.

Meanwhile, in Myanmar, people performed exercises near the Shwedagon pagoda, the landmark Buddhist stupa in Yangon. Performances also took place in the United States and South Africa.

The United Nations designated International Yoga Day in 2014.

Stretching themselves: People practice yoga on International Yoga Day, in front of Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar

Popular: The United Nations designated June 21 International Yoga Day in 2014 and it continues to grow in popularity

Big hit: Estimates say over 200million people practice yoga worldwide, including 34 per cent of Americans
A horrified plane passenger has filmed the moment he found his Pakistan International Airlines seat occupied - by cockroaches.

The grim footage, which was recorded by Muhammad Jami and uploaded to Live Leak, shows a number of the insects scurrying across the upholstery before take-off.

At one point they can even be seen running over the airline-branded pillow cover, before darting between the seat and back rest.

Euw! The footage shows a number of insects scurrying across the upholstery before take-off

As the 30-second clip plays out, the disgruntled passenger - who'd only just boarded the craft - can be seen complaining to a PIA air steward.

It's not clear how, or if, the matter was resolved.

Since being shared on social media, the footage has gone viral with thousands of hits across the world.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Pakistan International Airlines has been subjected to criticism.

In fact, it has been battling concerns about safety since a domestic flight crashed in the mountainous Chitral region in December 2016, killing all 47 people on board.

In February it was forced to deny allegations that it booked seven extra passengers onto a flight - causing them to stand from Pakistan's Karachi to Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Gross: A cockroach can be seen running over the airline-branded head-rest cover

As the 30-second clip plays out, the disgruntled passenger can be seen complaining to a PIA air steward

However, a PIA spokesman confirmed to MailOnline that 'disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against the concerned officials' - a pilot and two crew members, for their actions.

Additionally in 2013, one of its pilots was jailed for nine months in Britain for being drunk before he was due to fly from Leeds to Islamabad with 156 people on board.

Other carriers have also suffered unwelcome passengers on their planes.

Oops! In February PIA denied allegations it booked seven extra passengers onto a flight, last month - causing them to stand from Pakistan's Karachi to Medina, Saudi Arabia

In 2014 an Air India flight had to be grounded due to an infestation of rats.

The aircraft's crew noticed the rodent stowaways scurrying free in the rear half of the cabin as the plane, carrying about 200 passengers and staff, landed at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport from Calcutta.

After flight AI021 landed safely and pulled up to the gate, the crew cleared everyone off the Airbus A321 and had it taken out of service, the Times of India reported.
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Forget checking into a hotel  in the future, you may well be docking with it, using the revolutionary Hyperloop system.

Hyperloop is a futuristic transit system that allows travellers to reach their destinations at near-supersonic speeds by travelling through tubes, and now a concept for a Hyperloop Hotel has emerged that would see guests zoom through the tubes in shipping container 'suites' that then attach themselves to modular accommodation.

It might sound loopy to some, but the concept won architect graduate Brandan Siebrecht a prize at the 2017 Radical Innovation Award, an annual competition in the U.S. that seeks game changing ideas in the hospitality trade.

The Hyperloop Hotel, the brainchild of architect graduate Brandan Siebrecht, would be made up of sustainable shipping containers that double up as travelling guest suites

Guests would never need to leave their pods when they arrive at the hotel. Everything from reservation, check-in, and check-out can be done from any smart phone device

Each hotel would cost between $8-10million and customers would pay $1,200 per trip including travel to and from their destination and a single night stay

Siebrecht, a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was inspired by the Hyperloop transportation system already being tested in Vegas.

He said: I believe the Hyperloop One is the next big innovation in transportation in the United States and possibly the world.

'I wanted to explore ways in which this technology could transform the overall travel experience and branch into hospitality.

The concept could cover 13 travel destinations in the United States including Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles

The design relies on a Hyperloop transportation network that could accommodate the container suites

The guest suites are re-purposed shipping containers outfitted for luxury and complete personalization by the user. The shipping containers are sustainable, modular, and of the right size to fit inside a modified Hyperloop transportation tube.

Customers are able to design the layout of their room according to their individual needs. Each guest room is broken into four separate functions: sleeping, bathing, living, and flex.

Guests would never need to leave their pods when they arrive at the hotel. Everything from reservation, check-in, and check-out can be done from any smartphone.

If the concept was made into a reality Siebrecht says that construction costs would vary depending on location, 'but I estimate each hotel to cost $8-10million'.

He added: 'For customers, I estimate it will cost about $1,200 per trip including travel to and from a given destination and a single night stay.'

Customers can design the layout of their room according to their individual needs. Each guest room is broken into four separate functions: sleeping, bathing, living, and flex

His initial design would cover 13 travel destinations in the United States: Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver, Santa Fe, Austin, Chicago, Nashville, Washington, New York City, and Boston.

Siebrecht hopes his idea will become reality in the near future.

He said: This concept is completely feasible as the Hyperloop is already being tested in my home state of Nevada. I am open to a partnership with Tesla and further development of my concept as an expansion or sub-brand of the Hyperloop One.
Rumor has it Drew Barrymore's got herself a new man, and on Monday, she was photographed in the car with him beside her.

The 42-year-old actress was seen driving in West Hollywood with a man in the passenger seat Us Weekly pegged as her current beau David Hutchinson.

Drew had popped on a hat and a pink-rimmed pair of butterfly sunglasses, whereas the man purported to be her flame wore a blue and purple checked shirt.

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The new man?: Drew Barrymore was seen driving in West Hollywood on Monday with a man in the passenger seat Us Weekly pegged as her current beau David Hutchinson

Chatter emerged last week that the scion of the iconic Barrymore acting family - which has included John, Ethel and Lionel - had struck up a relationship with David.

In a report that ran last Friday, Us Weekly quoted a source who'd gossiped Drew and David were 'having a lively conversation' and 'holding hands' in New York City in May.

A source has also divulged to Page Six, as cited in an article that went online last Thursday, that Drew and David 'were in Palm Springs for a wedding last weekend.'

Throwback to 2014: Drew's divorce from her third husband Will Kopelman had been finalized last August, and according to the New York Daily News she'd filed for it the previous month

As both websites have pointed out, Drew's got a brand called Flower Beauty - the products of which are made by Maesa, where David's the senior vice president.

Drew's divorce from her third husband Will Kopelman had been finalized last August, and according to the New York Daily News she'd filed for it the previous month.

They'd married in 2012 and have two daughters: four-year-old Olive, born roughly two and a half months after her parents' wedding, and three-year-old Frankie.

'Photo by dad!': They'd married in 2012 and have two daughters: four-year-old Olive, born roughly two and a half months after her parents' wedding, and three-year-old Frankie

She'd previously been married to comedian Tom Green from 2001 to 2002, during which time she'd appeared in his critically savaged film Freddy Got Fingered.

They'd dated since 1999, and he'd also snagged a part in her 2000 smash hit film Charlie's Angels, in which she'd starred alongside Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz.

Her first marriage had been to a Los Angeles bar owner called Jeremy Thomas, and lasted two months in 1994 - when she was all of 19 - before she filed for divorce.

Work-life balance: She'd previously been married to comedian Tom Green from 2001 to 2002, during which time she'd appeared in his critically savaged film Freddy Got Fingered
Pop group Hanson have apologised for comparing fellow pop star Justin Bieber to 'chlamydia of the ear'.

Appearing on Sunrise on Wednesday morning, the trio, whose claim to fame is the 1997 hit MMMBop, admitted the pot-shot was in poor taste.

'We were joking about koalas and Justin Bieber came up... not our brightest moment,' Isaac Hanson, 36, told host Samantha Armytage.

Sorry: Pop group Hanson have apologised for comparing fellow pop star Justin Bieber to 'chlamydia of the ear'

Taylor Hanson explained the clumsy joke at length, saying: 'You do interviews all the time. This was morning radio, we were making jokes about koalas.

'And it was an unfortunate continuation of a joke about koalas. I will say this, I think we never meant anyone to take that seriously,' he added.

When asked by host Sam if he was a fan of Justin Bieber, Taylor graciously revealed: 'I think he's clearly very talented. Often times what he's not doing on stage is what people seem to be talking about and that's where our joke was coming from'.

Not so clever: 'We were joking about koalas and Justin Bieber came up... not our brightest moment,' Isaac Hanson, 36, told host Samantha Armytage

The furor began when Isaac Hanson compared the Baby hitmaker to 'chlamydia' in an interview with Adelaide's Hit107 FM.

Isaac quipped: 'It's like hanging out with a koala... Chlamydia of the ear, it sucks.'

Another brother referenced the fact most healthy Koalas have chlamydia, which had been discussed in the interview.

Apologies: The trio, whose claim to fame is the 1997 hit MMMBop, admitted the pot-shot was in poor taste

Dissed: The furor began Isaac Hanson compared the Baby hitmaker to 'chlamydia' in an interview with Adelaide's Hit107 FM

'I prefer not to get any venereal diseases so whenever Justin Bieber gets near me or near my ears... it's just ear infections, they're terrible,' Zac said.

The Tulsa born brothers took part in 'Whose Song Is It Anyway?' segment and admitted they didn't listen to much contemporary music.

They did not recognise the No. 1 hit Despacito and after being told the song was by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber, the pop stars didn't hold back.

'Can I just say I'm glad I didn't know what that was,' a Hanson member said.
She's one of the most recognizable stars in the world.

And during her recent trip to Japan with husband Kanye West, Kim Kardashian revealed on The View that 'no one bothered us.'

The 36-year-old star and her husband wanted to explore the country so they 'put on hoodies' and 'took the train.'

Looking flawless: During her recent trip to Japan with husband Kanye West, Kim Kardashian revealed on The View that 'no one bothered us'

Kim said during her Tuesday visit on The View that she surprised her rapper beau with a surprise trip to Tokyo in honor of his 40th birthday.

The makeup entrepreneur explained that Kanye loves Japan, because it's a 'place that he loves to go to get away and get inspiration.'

For the mother of two, the visit was the first time she's been to the country.

Kim said they 'always talked about how we really wanted to go back together.'

The lovebirds, who celebrated their third anniversary of May 24, had just come off a trip to the Bahamas with kids North, four, and Saint, 18 months, before heading to Japan.

Strike a pose: The 36-year-old star and her husband wanted to explore the country so they 'put on hoodies' and 'took the train;' pictured in September at a Harper's Bazaar event in NYC

The twosome jetted off to Japan last week and for most of the trip, they managed to 'sneak away' and not draw too much attention to themselves.

Kim told the hosts of the show that it was 'great to get away when there's no noise and just us. That trip was really special.'

When word on their visit spread, she said it got 'a little crazy towards the end.'

Kanye turned 40 on June 8.

Gorgeous: Kim said during her Tuesday visit on The View that she surprised her rapper beau with a surprise trip to Tokyo in honor of his 40th birthday

Having fun: Kim told the hosts of the show that it was 'great to get away when there's no noise and just us. That trip was really special'

Kim shared photos to her Snapchat during her Japan holiday, including one where she wore a kimono.

The stunning star also posed with Kanye for a mirror selfie during their trip to the East.

The gorgeous reality star hit the View stage in all black, opting for a low-cut bodice with sheer paneling.

She's a beauty! Kim shared photos to her Snapchat during her Japan holiday, including one where she wore a kimono
He's the veteran actor appearing on True Story with Hamish & Andy on Monday.

And John Wood has called out the television industry for 'dropping the ball' and focusing on 'cheap reality stuff' instead of developing more scripted series.

The 70-year-old spoke with News Corp on Wednesday about feeling 'underused for the last 12 years' and the axing of his ABC drama, The Doctor Blake Mysteries.

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Veteran actor: John Wood has called out the television industry for 'dropping the ball' and focusing on 'cheap reality stuff' instead of developing more scripted series

John expressed his disappointment in the ABC's move to cancel The Doctor Blake Mysteries after five seasons, despite strong ratings and an international audience.

He saw the decision as reflective of the industry's 'pretty poor state' overall.

'Everybody went the way of cheap reality stuff, the industry dropped the ball,' he told the publication.

'Ive never seen five minutes of Big Brother. Ive never watched My Kitchen Rules or The Block or any of those things. It doesnt interest me.'

'Everybody went the way of cheap reality stuff; the industry dropped the ball,' he said

Celebrating 50 years as an actor, the Gold Logie-winner rose to fame with roles in acclaimed television series like Rafferty's Rules and Blue Heelers.

He had a recurring role in The Doctor Blake Mysteries as businessman Patrick Tyneman from 2012, starring alongside Craig McLachlan and Nadine Garner.

He called the public broadcaster's choice to end the crime drama 'a poor decision' and claimed it was the network's 'highest-rating show'.

Bad decision! John expressed his disappointment in the ABC's move to cancel The Doctor Blake Mysteries after five seasons, despite strong ratings and an international audience

Veteran: John had a recurring role in The Doctor Blake Mysteries from 2012 as businessman Patrick Tyneman, starring alongside Craig McLachlan (pictured)

The Melbourne-born actor will appear on Monday's episode of True Story with Hamish & Andy, a comedy duo he described as 'friendly and supportive'.

He plays Principal Scott, the head of a school where a gifted student pulls a dramatic scam on a teacher.

He stars alongside fellow screen veterans Glenn Robbins, Ryan Shelton and his former Blue Heelers co-star, Julie Nihill.

Latest role: The Melbourne-born actor will appear on Monday's episode of True Story with Hamish & Andy, a comedy duo he described as 'friendly and supportive'
She shot to international fame as Bolivian agent Camille in Bond film Quantum of Solace.

And Olga Kurylenko proved she was still every inch the Bond babe as she attended the charity dinner of the American Friends of the Louvre, at the Louvre museum in Paris on Tuesday.

The Ukranian actress, 37, who obtained French citizenship in 2001, looked right at home as she mingled with the fashion world's elite and high society at the function.

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Looking good: Olga Kurylenko proved she was still every inch the Bond babe as she attended the charity dinner of the American Friends of the Louvre, at the museum in Paris on Tuesday

Proving that less is more, the brunette beauty donned a floor length black gown that clung to her enviably toned physique.

Allowing her lean legs to take the focus, the garment featured a front thigh high split, whilst she boosted her modelesque frame with a pair of strappy gold heels.

One shoulder in design, the gown also showed off her toned arms and was adorned with gold beading and sequins in an angel wing design.

Bond babe: The Ukranian actress, 37, who obtained French citizenship in 2001, looked right at home as she mingled with the fashion world's elite and high society at the function

Beautiful in black: Proving that less is more, the brunette beauty donned a floor length black gown that clung to her enviably toned physique

No arm done: One shoulder in design, the gown also showed off her toned arms and was adorned with gold beading and sequins in an angel wing design

Keeping her accessories simple so as not to detract from the striking dress she carried a small black patent clutch bag.

A pair of delicate drop earrings and a myriad of gold bracelets aided in injecting some glitz into the stylish ensemble.

Olga finished off the look by styling her glossy chestnut locks in loose waves that framed her flawless features.

Fashion forward: Shoe designer Christian Louboutin (R) and actress Melita Toscan du Plantie (C) were also in attendance at the charity bash

Ravishing in red: Christian and Melita complemented each other in their scarlet ensembles

All together now: Members of Duran Duran Roger Taylor and his wife Gisella Bernales, Nick Rhodes (C) and his wife Nefer Suvio, John Taylor and his wife Gela Nash-Taylor, posed

The actress is also set to star in new film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, alongside Adam Driver and Stellan Skarsgard.

Filming is already underway for the movie, which is directed by Terry Gillam and is due out next year.

Her other upcoming projects include sci-fi film Android, in which she stars alongside Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul, as well as the thriller Mara.
Hospital

Rating:

Trouble At Poundland

Rating:

The English are supposed to be international masters of understatement, but the prize for offhand irony in the face of death went to a laidback French teenager called Victor.

The 16-year-old from Brittany, on the last day of a school trip, was run down on Westminster Bridge in Marchs terrorist attack. His bones were splintered and one lung had collapsed.

We watched a magnificent team of medics battle to save lives in the gripping documentary Hospital (BBC2)

In an outstanding report from St Marys Hospital, Paddington, cameras captured the moment when the senior doctors and managers learned that a major incident had taken place outside the Houses of Parliament

We watched a magnificent team of medics battle to save his life in the gripping documentary Hospital (BBC2). Now Victor just wanted to go home. This trip is starting to get tiring, he said.

In an outstanding report from St Marys Hospital, Paddington, cameras captured the moment when the senior doctors and managers learned that a major incident had taken place outside the Houses of Parliament.

They were in a routine meeting to assess how many beds were free, when someones phone started to jangle.

The intense focus of the surgeons was remarkable to watch. They radiated calm and allowed no one the dangerous luxury of emotional reactions

One department head admitted she would probably fall to pieces when she got home, but histrionics were not permitted in the operating theatre

All eyes around the table glanced at the culprit in reproof and then every other device in the room simultaneously went ping, bleep, warble and squeak.

Protocols were in place. All the staff had rehearsed what to do. The head of admin had a 194-page book of guidelines that covered every eventuality. But its one thing to know the theory, quite another to apply it in real life, under massive pressure.

The intense focus of the surgeons was remarkable to watch. They radiated calm and allowed no one the dangerous luxury of emotional reactions.

One department head admitted she would probably fall to pieces when she got home, but histrionics were not permitted in the operating theatre.

That professional ethos affected the film-makers, too. Hospital documentaries usually follow a format that includes mawkishness and blips of humour. But for the first half-hour, we got nothing but straightforward observation.

Protocols were in place. All the staff had rehearsed what to do. The head of admin had a 194-page book of guidelines that covered every eventuality

But its one thing to know the theory, quite another to apply it in real life, under massive pressure

This reached a peak when armed counter-terrorist police secured the building and told the TV crew to stop filming. The camera operators pretended to comply, but kept the videotape rolling while they pointed the lenses at the floor.

All we could see were boots and the tips of sub-machine guns. No image could illustrate more clearly the ominous reality of London under lockdown.

The second half had a more conventional structure, focusing on three survivors  including newlywed Stephen, who had celebrated his 40th birthday with wife Cara by swimming with sharks at London Aquarium.

They left to call a cab and, by sheer bad luck, were on the bridge at the wrong moment.

All the tribulations of a budget superstore seemed insignificant by comparison, in Trouble At Poundland (ITV)

Stephen was fortunate not to lose a leg, but the most touching aspect was the couples sheer gratitude that they could continue their lives together. Nothing else really mattered.

All the tribulations of a budget superstore seemed insignificant by comparison, in Trouble At Poundland (ITV). There were pallets loaded with more than a million unsold candles in the warehouse, yet the shelves were looking understocked  oh dear, never mind, civilisation will probably survive.

With profits slipping, the voiceover was keen to blame Brexit for the rising cost of European imports.

But if the producers had bothered to think, instead of searching constantly for daft soundbites from shoppers, they might have realised that Poundland is an early indicator of how quitting the EU can boost our national economy.

Buyers at head office were turning to British manufacturers for cheaper chocolates and toilet rolls  which means fewer Euro imports and more UK jobs. Isnt that the whole idea?
Roxy Jacenko will not be hosting the 'welcome home' party planned for husband Oliver Curtis this weekend, following his release from Cooma Correctional Centre on Friday.

Instead the couple's young children - Pixie, five, and Hunter, three - will be handling 'hosting' duties, a person close to the Sydney PR queen has told Daily Mail Australia.

Roxy announced the event on Tuesday, telling guests via text message: 'Pixie and Hunty invite you to drinks on Saturday and Oli will be so excited to see you.'

Change of plans? Roxy Jacenko will not be in charge of the 'welcome home' party for husband Oliver Curtis this weekend, following his release from Cooma Correctional Centre on Friday - as her children Pixie, five, and Hunter, three, will be handling 'hosting' duties

The event is reportedly scheduled to take place at the 37-year-old Sweaty Betty PR founder's Bondi home on Saturday afternoon.

Oliver, 31, was jailed for insider trading in June 2016, but his children still believe that he has been on an extended business trip to China.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Roxy for comment.

'Pixie and Hunty invite you to drinks on Saturday': Roxy, 37, has sent friends a text message invitation which claims the couple's children are hosting Oliver's homecoming party, not her

Business as usual! Roxy previously told Daily Mail Australia she wasn't going to 'celebrate' her husband's release and claimed the former investment banker would be 'straight back to work'

Roxy previously told Daily Mail Australia she wasn't going to 'celebrate' her husband's release and claimed the former investment banker would be 'straight back to work'.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, she also revealed the steps she is taking to protect her children at her 'In Conversation With Roxy Jacenko' event in Melbourne.

'I might have to take (Pixie and Hunter) in the car with him to (his) office so they can see there is no plane involved, or handcuffs for that matter,' she explained.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Roxy 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.'

What's going to happen? It is currently unclear if Roxy will be meeting Oliver at the prison gates upon his release after serving a year for insider trading

It is currently unclear if Roxy will be meeting Oliver at the prison gates upon his release after serving a year for insider trading.

Her marital status has been the subject of rumours for weeks, after she 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 - but little is known about their relationship.
He's more known for his love of fast cars, action hero movie roles and soppy songs.

But Jamie Foxx proved his interests were far-reaching , as he attended the pre-opening drinks reception celebrating the 2017 Serpentine Pavilion designed by Francis Kere at The Serpentine Gallery on Tuesday.

The American actor, 49, put on a suave display in a designer polo shirt as he turned up the style thermometer for the occasion.

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A taste for art: Jamie Foxx proved his interests were far-reaching , as he attended the pre-opening drinks reception celebrating the 2017 Serpentine Pavilion designed by Francis Kere at The Serpentine Gallery on Tuesday

What a Foxx: Jamie looked dapper in bee-embellished designer polo shirt as he attends pre-opening exhibition bash at the Serpentine gallery in London

Showing off his honed physique, Jamie wore a bee-embellished red and black polo shirt, which retails at around 470.

Teaming it with a pair of ripped jeans, he posed alongside fellow party goers for the occasion.

The Django Unchained actor posed alongside architect Francis Kere and Absolutely Fabulous star Ozwald Boateng.

Buff: Teaming his red polo shirt with a pair of ripped jeans, he posed alongside fellow party goers for the occasion

Dapper: The American actor, 49, put on a suave display in a designer polo shirt as he turned up the style thermometer, joined by Francis Kere and Absolutely Fabulous' Ozwald Boateng

Also at the party was Yana Peel, CEO of the Serpentine Galleries, joined by Caroline Rush, Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council and her husband.

Meanwhile the actor's relationship with Katie Holmes - the ex-wife of former Collateral co-star Tom Cruise - is said to be going from strength to strength.

'She's head over heels for him,' a source told UsWeekly, adding that the actress is 'finally ready' broadcast their relationship.

Out and about: Jamie stepped out in a similar outfit in London the next day

Another source close to the couple added: 'Theyre talking about planning a summer trip together in Europe. They're very serious.'

Foxx's daughters Corinne, 23 and Annalise, seven, have since developed a 'close bond' with Suri, Katie's 11-year old daughter with Tom.

The source revealed: 'She gushes about how amazing he is. She says she loves him from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.'
Claire Danes was hard at work Tuesday on the Central Park set of her next film, A Kid Like Jake, bonding with her onscreen son sporting a blue star-spangled cape.

As Alex Wheeler, the 38-year-old actress plays the concerned mother of a precocious four-year-old who prefers princesses to G.I. Joe in the 2018 transgender family drama.

The three-time Emmy winner not only has a four-year-old son Cyrus with her husband Hugh Dancy in the nearby West Village, her Homeland character is also mother to a small child.

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Action! Claire Danes was hard at work Tuesday on the Central Park set of her next film, A Kid Like Jake, bonding with her onscreen son sporting a blue star-spangled cape

Claire - who relies on stylist Petra Flannery - sported a white Madewell top, which featured triangular cut-outs around the neckline, pairing it with dark rinse skinny jeans, a brown bag, and black booties for the outdoor scene.

Danes and her onscreen husband Greg (Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons) accentuate little Jake's 'gender variant expression' in order to secure him a scholarship into kindergarten.

Transgender filmmaker Silas Howard (Transparent) is helming A Kid Like Jake, which also stars Octavia Spencer, Priyanka Chopra, and Michaela Watkins.

Original playwright Daniel Pearle adapted the big-screen version from his 2014 Lincoln Center play, which was a hit at Manhattan's Claire Tow Theater.

BTS: As Alex Wheeler, the 38-year-old actress plays the concerned mother of a precocious four-year-old who prefers princesses to G.I. Joe in the 2018 transgender family drama

Experienced: The three-time Emmy winner not only has a four-year-old son Cyrus with her husband Hugh Dancy, her Homeland character is also mother to a small child

Casual: Claire - who relies on stylist Petra Flannery - sported a white Madewell top with dark rinse skinny jeans, a brown bag, and black booties for the outdoor scene

Acting: Danes and her onscreen husband Greg (Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons) accentuate little Jake's 'gender variant expression' in order to secure him a scholarship into kindergarten

'Block party, capes & tutus oh my!' Transgender filmmaker Silas Howard (R) is helming A Kid Like Jake, which also stars Octavia Spencer, Priyanka Chopra, and Michaela Watkins

Carla Gugino (L) and Peter Grosz (R): Original playwright Daniel Pearle adapted the big-screen version from his 2014 Lincoln Center play, which was a hit at Manhattan's Claire Tow Theater

Fans can next catch the four-time Golden Globe winner as Clare in the children's show dramedy Brigsby Bear - hitting US theaters July 28 - with Mark Hamill, Greg Kinnear, Kyle Mooney, and Andy Samberg.

Emmy nominations will be announced July 13, and Claire is expected to receive yet another nod for her role as bipolar ex-CIA agent Carrie Mathison on the sixth season of the Showtime hit.

'The themes this year had to do with loss,' the Yale drop-out - who's also executive producer - told ET last Wednesday.

'They're often to do with loss, as it's not the first time we've seen Carrie grieve - but that was definitely something I found myself playing pretty consistently between Quinn's change of character and ultimately, his death, and when her daughter is taken from her. She finds that incredibly painful, for obvious reasons.'

Hitting US theaters July 28! Fans can next catch the four-time Golden Globe winner as Clare in the children's show dramedy Brigsby Bear with Mark Hamill, Greg Kinnear, and Kyle Mooney

Emmy nominations will be announced July 13! Claire is expected to receive yet another nod for her role as bipolar ex-CIA agent Carrie Mathison on the sixth season of the Showtime hit
The Ken doll has received a makeover, with 15 new version of Barbie's boyfriend hitting the market.

The updated toys come with unique features such as 'dad bods', cornrows, seven different skin tones and eight hair colours.

But it's the 'hipster' Kens with 'man bun' hairstyles that Sam Armytage disliked when discussing Mattel's millennial update on Wednesday's episode of Sunrise.

Not a fan: Sam Armytage revealed she disliked 'hipster Ken' when discussing Mattel's millennial update on Wednesday's episode of Sunrise

Modern man doll: The 'hipster' Ken has a 'man bun' hairstyle

'It's the man bun one that gets me. Why does Ken need to have a man bun?' the 40-year-old lamented.

Journalist Rita Panahi, a guest on the show, quipped: 'Why does he need to be some pudgy hipster? What's next putting Ken in skinny jeans and giving him a soy latte?'

'We have to remember these are for little girls and some little boys,' Sam reasoned.

The TV host went on to complain the new 'man bun' Ken would make kissing games between Ken and Barbie confusing, perhaps because both dolls have long 'hair'.

New dudes: The Ken doll has received a makeover, with 15 new version of Barbie's boyfriend hitting the market. The updated toys come with unique features such as 'dad bods', cornrows, seven different skin tones and eight hair colours

Not fond: 'It's the man bun one that gets me. Why does Ken need to have a man bun?' the 40-year-old lamented

Kiss chase: The TV host went on to complain the new 'man bun' Ken would make kissing games between Ken and Barbie confusing, perhaps because both dolls have long 'hair'

'You learn to kiss with Ken with Ken and Barbie, by twisting their heads around. And you have to be careful their heads don't fall off.

'Now you'll have Barbie and man bun Ken and you wont be able to tell which one is which,' Sam said.

Sam complained: 'You learn to kiss with Ken with Ken and Barbie, by twisting their heads around. And you have to be careful their heads don't fall off. Now you'll have Barbie and man bun Ken and you wont be able to tell which one is which'

The revelation that Sam used to make her dolls kiss left co-host David Koch a little stunned.

'Well, learnt a bit there didn't we!' he said, squirming in his chair.

He added: 'How Sam learned how to pash!' as Sam laughed and shrugged off the childhood confession.
Danny Dyer has been pictured in an intense conversation with a mystery blonde outside the hotel he is alleged to be staying in away from her family.

The 39-year-old star, who recently returned to EastEnders after taking a break for exhaustion, is said to be residing in a hotel near the set, despite living 19 miles away.

The Football Factory star is said to be without his wife Joanne Mas or their three children, and has been staying alone, reportedly wearing the same outfit for the duration of his stay.

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Listen here: Danny Dyer has been pictured in an intense conversation with a mystery woman outside the hotel he is alleged to be staying in away from her family

The Daily Star reports that Danny has been at the Hertfordshire hotel since Friday, and has spent the weekend, which marked Father's Day alone.

He was also pictured wearing the same pink T-shirt and jeans each day when leaving the hotel, despite the sweltering heatwave.

Danny, who plays Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter on the BBC soap, previously stayed there alone in 2015 after claiming the show had 'rinsed the life out of him'.

A BBC spokesperson told the newspaper: 'Hes filming as usual  nothing has changed. Sometimes, if cast members have an early or late call, they stay nearby.'

MailOnline have contacted Danny's representatives for comment.

Headed to work: The 39-year-old star, who recently returned to EastEnders after taking a break for exhaustion, is said to be residing in a hotel near the set, despite living 19 miles away, while fresh reports claim he has been wearing the same outfit 'every day'

Out and out: Danny's hotel, which boasted a Tudor look, is said to be 19 miles away from his family home

Same look: He was also pictured wearing the same pink T-shirt and jeans each day when leaving the hotel, despite the sweltering heatwave

In trouble: He was also pictured wearing the same pink T-shirt and jeans each day when leaving the hotel, despite the sweltering heatwave

In depth: The star was locked in a serious chat with the mystery blonde

Danny first took an extended break in South Africa from the long-running BBC soap as he was said to have 'spiralled out of control'.

He has thrown himself back into a gruelling filming schedule after his time away, with his big return on the small screen occurring on May 19.

Speaking after Danny's break, former EastEnders star Larry Lamb has said that the pressures of being on the show could cause many of the actors to turn to drink.

The soap legend, 69, admitted that actors on the BBC soap may be resorting to alcohol, as they work 'under stress'.

Tough times: Danny has been spotted in and around the location of the hotel

Heading off: With a briefcase tucked under his arm, he headed off in his plush car

Hard times: Speaking after Danny's break, former EastEnders star Larry Lamb has said that the pressures of being on the show could cause many of the actors to turn to drink

Off we go: Danny was doing the rounds in the area surrounding his hotel

Back in action: He recently returned to EastEnders after taking time out for exhaustion

Flying solo: The actor, 39, is said to be without his wife Joanne Mas or their three children, and has been staying alone, reportedly wearing the same outfit for the duration of his stay

Back on screen: Danny, who plays Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter on the BBC soap, previously stayed there alone in 2015 after claiming the show had 'rinsed the life out of him'

The Gavin and Stacey actor explained to The Sun: 'There are a lot of businesses like EastEnders where people maybe get involved in drinking a bit more than they should.

'It happens with doctors and airline pilots  it happens with people working under a lot of stress.'

While he implied the pressured conditions on set caused the stars to blow off steam, he also claimed the glitzy, high-flying lifestyle that comes with being an actor can also contribute.
He keeps his appearances on her reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians short and sweet.

But on Monday, power couple Kanye West and Kim Kardashian were caught cuddling in an unguarded moment while attending a friend's wedding in Santa Barbara, California.

The Bound 2 rapper, 40, looked sharp in a suit as held his wife close during the rustic nuptials in the Southern California.

Kuddled up: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian attended a wedding with their daughter North in Santa Barbara, California on Monday

Kim kept things simple with her slick raven locks worn straight with a black dress, allowing the bride to shine on her special day.

They were joined by their well-behaved daughter North as they took a low-key seat in the last row of chairs.

North, who just turned four, had her hair tightly pulled back into two cute top knots.

Little angel: The four-year-old looked captivated by the nuptials as she sat with her parents

It appeared that their eighteen-month-old son Saint didn't join them and was most likely being watched by her mom Kris Jenner, who posted a shot of the toddler that same day.

The wedding comes after Kim's whirlwind trip to New York City last week to pre-tape her Tuesday appearance on The View and attend the Forbes Women's Summit.

On the show, Kim revealed the secret to their marriage is remaining 'good friends.'

Only have eyes for each other: The reality star has referred to her husband as her 'best friend'

Kim said, 'I think we started off as friends for so many years. We were friends when we were in other relationships and we were such a good support system for each other for so long, and I think that really helped to be the basis of our relationship.'

She continued, 'We're just such good friends. My friends and my sisters are all like 'You guys can sit and talk in a room' and I know when we're 80 and can hardly move we're just going to be talking and talking.'

'We're just best friends. And I think that's what's so important for us in our marriage.'

Busy: The power couple found time in their nonstop schedules to attend their friend's ceremony

She also revealed that she surprised her rapper beau with a surprise trip to Tokyo in honor of his 40th birthday.

The makeup entrepreneur explained that Kanye loves Japan, because it's a 'place that he loves to go to get away and get inspiration.'

When they wanted to explore the country, she says they 'put on hoodies' and took the train and says 'no one bothered us.'
She is one of the stars of the new NBC comedy Great News.

And on Tuesday, Nicole Richie was a bohemian beauty while at the NBC Summer Cocktail Party in New York.

The 35-year-old was joined by co-star Briga Heelan as well as talent from other network shows.

Flower child: On Tuesday, Nicole Richie was a bohemian beauty while at the NBC Summer Cocktail Party in New York

Nicole looked lovely in a two-piece, halter top and skirt. The satin ensemble featured a floral design and a ruffled edge.

The Candidly Nicole star wore a pair of large, chandelier earrings and white heels.

For hair, the mother-of-two pulled back her blonde locks into a tight updo. Her make-up featured a brow, smokey eye and pale flesh-toned lips.

While making her way into the event, Nicole was also seen carrying a chic straw tote from Buji Baja by Hat Attack.

Styled right: Nicole looked lovely in a two-piece, halter top and skirt. The satin ensemble featured a rose print pattern

Network pals: During the evening, Nicole joined Will & Grace creator Max Mutchnick. The show will return to NBC this fall

Clowning around: The actress was joined by co-star Briga Heelan, 30, as well as Ben Feldman, 37, and Sarah Ramos, 26

Great News co-star Briga Heelan, 30, looked pretty in a bright red jumpsuit, layered underneath a fitted biker jacket.

Actor Ben Feldman, 37, and Sarah Ramos, 26, joined the ladies that evening. The comedic group looked to have a good time, with Ben and Nicole showcasing their lighter sides.

Also at the event was Will & Grace creator Max Mutchnick. The classic comedy will return to NBC this fall

Co-worker: The Great News ladies met up with World of Dance judge Derek Hough, 32

There she goes! Nicole made a chic entrance at the event, carrying a $104 straw tote from Buji Baja by Hat Attack

Dapper: The handsome Utah looked sharp in a black plaid shirt, jeans and dress shoes

Bromance: Derek and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, 42, were in a fit of laughs

Evening attire: Anne Heche, 48, displayed her slim figure in a bright blue, green and gold striped dress

World of Dance judge Derek Hough, 32, made it to the promotional event.

While there, the Utah native was in a fit of giggles with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, 42. The comedian also sported his 'summer of the 'stache' facial hair.

Additionally, The Case for Christ star Mike Vogel and The Brave co-star Anne Heche, 48, also attended that evening.

The two will star in a military drama, set to premiere on Monday, September 25 at 10/9 central.

Work soiree: Arielle Kebbel, 32, Auli'i Cravalho,16, Mike Vogel, 37, Damon J. Gillespie, joined Anne at the NBC-sponsored promotional event
A week after making their official red carpet debut, Patton Oswalt and his new girlfriend Meredith Salenger brought their PDA to the second season premiere of AMC's Preacher.

Fans of the 48-year-old widower were quick to point out the strong resemblance the 47-year-old actress has to his late wife Michelle McNamara, who passed away 14 months ago.

'Preacher Premiere with this cute boy!' tweeted Meredith, who's admitted she's 'super in love' with the Emmy and Grammy-winning comedian.

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Big smiles: A week after making their red carpet debut, Patton Oswalt and his new girlfriend Meredith Salenger brought their PDA to the second season premiere of AMC's Preacher

Eerie: Fans of the 48-year-old widower were quick to point out the strong resemblance the 47-year-old actress has to his late wife Michelle McNamara, who passed away 14 months ago

Salenger opted for a tidy updo, b&w-patterned dress, and purple floral heels; while Oswalt rocked a vest and jeans on the black carpet outside the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

The Virginia-born funnyman reportedly met the Malibu-born brunette through Martha Plimpton, whose late boyfriend River Phoenix co-starred with Meredith in the 1988 flick A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon.

On Sunday, the obviously smitten Salenger tweeted that her 'goal in life' was 'to keep [Patton] smiling.'

Meredith, who's admitted she's 'super in love' with the Emmy and Grammy-winning comedian, tweeted: 'Preacher Premiere with this cute boy!'

Coordinating: Salenger opted for a tidy updo, b&w-patterned dress, and purple floral heels; while Oswalt rocked a vest and jeans on the black carpet outside the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles

Mutual friend: The Virginia-born funnyman reportedly met the Malibu-born brunette through Martha Plimpton, whose late boyfriend River Phoenix co-starred with Meredith in the 1988 flick A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon

The former child star is probably best known for her titular role as a Depression-era tomboy in the 1985 Disney film, The Journey of Natty Gann.

Also a Harvard-educated psychologist, the Dawsons Creek alum has two films due out this year - The Second Coming of Christ and An American Dog Story.

The Goldbergs narrator has similarly vowed to make his eight-year-old daughter Alice's 'days fun' including a recent visit to the Museum of Ice-Cream.

Loved up: On Sunday, the obviously smitten Salenger tweeted that her 'goal in life' was 'to keep [Patton] smiling'

Throwback! The former child star is probably best known for her titular role as a Depression-era tomboy in the 1985 Disney film, The Journey of Natty Gann

Multi-talented: Also a Harvard-educated psychologist, the Dawsons Creek alum has two films due out this year - The Second Coming of Christ and An American Dog Story

And on April 29, Oswalt was right by his princess' side as she got her ears pierced at Studio City Tattoo and Body Piercing.

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 star joined a grief group following the death of the True Crime Diary blogger at age 46 from a lethal combination of prescription drugs and an undiagnosed heart condition.

'[I'm] finishing Michelle's book [The Golden State Killer for Harper Collins] with a lot of help from some very amazing people,' Patton wrote on Facebook last August.

'Where I think about the universe': The Goldbergs narrator has similarly vowed to make his eight-year-old daughter Alice's 'days fun' including a recent visit to the Museum of Ice-Cream

Growing up! And on April 29, Oswalt was right by his princess' side as she got her ears pierced at Studio City Tattoo and Body Piercing

'It will come out. I will let you know. It's all her. We're just taking what's there and letting it tell us how to shape it. It's amazing.'

Actingwise, the Circle star will next play Principal Durbin in the Whitlock High School half-hour sitcom A.P. Bio, which premieres this October on NBC.

Oswalt is also 'getting ready to film my next stand-up special,' but his next scheduled gig doesn't happen until October 8 at the Largo at the Coronet in West Hollywood.

'[I'm] finishing Michelle's book': The Mystery Science Theater 3000 star joined a grief group following the death of the True Crime Diary blogger at age 46 from a lethal combination of prescription drugs and an undiagnosed heart condition

Small-screen gig: Actingwise, Patton will next play Principal Durbin in the Whitlock High School half-hour sitcom A.P. Bio, which premieres this October on NBC
Kris Smith and Sasha Mielczarek have increasingly been spending time together since Sasha split from Sam Frost last December after 18 months together.

On Monday they binged on burgers, and on Wednesday the bromance continued as the pair sweated off the calories with a workout session.

Both Kris, 38, and Sasha, 32, shared an image of Kris staring at his phone instead of working out at a Fitness first gym in Sydney.

Hardly working: Kris Smith and Sasha Mielczarek have increasingly been spending time together since Sasha split from Sam Frost last December after 18 months together

'Working hard' Sasha, who appears to have posted the image first, wrote across the image in yellow text alongside a confused looking emoji.

The pair have been spotted all over Sydney after debuting their bromance last year.

In January they bonded over their bachelor life as they partied together at The Stingray Lounge on the Gold Coast.

The duo were in Queensland for the Magic Millions races but according to The Daily Telegraph, and continued to party together after the event, with Kris later 'seen in line at strip club Hollywoods'.

Twinning! Both Kris, 38, and Sasha, 32 (pictured) shared an image of Kris staring at his phone instead of working out at a Fitness first gym in Sydney

In April, Kris and Sasha spent Anzac Day together at Sydney pub, the Clovelly Hotel, narrowly avoiding a run in with Sasha's ex Sam and her girl posse.

In May, according to Fashion Week insiders, they were caught flirting with women at the Misha x Myer after party.

They also arrived at the exclusive Ellery x Etihad event in Sydney soon after, and looked ready for a fun night out as they posed for a series of fun photos together on the red carpet.

Out of trouble! In April, Kris and Sasha spent Anzac Day together at Sydney pub, the Clovelly Hotel, narrowly avoiding a run in with Sasha's ex Sam and her girl posse

The two buff bachelors also cut sharp figures on the red carpet as they posed together happily for photos at an MJ Bale event at the start of May.

More recently, the friends went for burgers at Hungry Jack's on Monday, later sharing a photo of their man date on Instagram.

Kris wrote in the caption: 'I want a woman that looks at me the way I look at my burger on cheat day.'

Keeping it casual! More recently, the friends went for burgers at Hungry Jack's on Monday, later sharing a photo of their man date on Instagram




Her husband Oliver Curtis is just days away from being released from prison after spending time behind bars for insider trading.

But while her husband is locked away, Roxy Jacenko was spotted out and about with her lookalike Sweaty Betty employees on Wednesday in Sydney.

Flanked by her staff members Holly Asser and Gemma Oldfield, the 37-year-old was dressed head-to-toe in black, with her employees sporting eerily similar outfits.

Eerily similar: Roxy Jacenko (centre) was flanked by her Sweaty Betty 'clone' employees Holly Asser (left) and Gemma Oldfield (right) as they wore all-black in Sydney on Wednesday

Roxy was impeccably dressed, wearing a black button-up blouse teamed with a high-waisted skirt in the same shade.

She added black heeled boots and a large clutch to complete the ensemble.

Publicists Holly and Gemma appeared to be taking style notes from their boss as they also opted to wear black garb and sunglasses.

With matching blonde hairdos, the trio appeared almost identical during the outing.

Is this the work uniform? Roxy seems to have penchant for hiring blondes who wear black

Building an army? After a 60 Minutes report last year that showed the inner workings of Roxy's Sweaty Betty office, viewers accused the PR queen of building an 'army of clones'

The talented business woman has come under fire in the past for hiring similar-looking staff.

After a 60 Minutes report about Roxy in August last year, the publicist was accused of trying to build an army of 'clones' at her company.

Despite the segment focusing on Roxy's husband's legal woes and how the busy mum-of-two juggles family and work, viewers found themselves captivated by the large number of workers who shared many aesthetic features with their employer.

Almost identical! Roxy has come under fire before for hiring 'lookalikes' as her staff

At the time, Roxy responded to the criticism by sharing a photo of her office, which included non-blonde staff members.

'For the half-wits who today suggested I have blonde 'clones' - a little research and you might discover that brunettes are very welcome in our office,' she wrote at the time.

Since then however, she has been seen in a number of selfies with her mostly blonde proteges, fanning the flames surrounding the accusations of her tendency to hire 'clones'.
She has endured her fair share of romantic drama, with much of it documented publicly on Geordie Shore.

But Vicky Pattison has now revealed that after years of woe and heartbreak, she has found Mr Right in new 'supportive' boyfriend John Noble.

Speaking on Wednesday's Lorraine, the reality star, 29, could not contain her happiness as she admitted she has finally found a real 'man' - before going on to discuss her new book, as well as her sudden departure from ITV's Loose Women.

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Candid: Vicky Pattison gushed about her 'supportive' boyfriend John Noble and revealed the REAL reason she left Loose Women on Wednesday's Lorraine

Besotted: The reality star, 29, could not contain her happiness as she admitted she has finally found a real 'man' in boyfriend John (above), rather than a fan

Vicky and John first dated nearly ten years ago, but announced they had rekindled their romance on Instagram in November last year, during her hosting stint in Australia.

Discussing the romance with Lorraine Kelly, the former Geordie Shore star was quick to admit that she has finally found 'The One' in John - thanks to his incredibly 'supportive' nature.

She said of her hunky man: 'Hes lovely. For years Ive struggled with my personal life and finding someone who is supportive of my career and successful in their own right too, and I have that with him.

Happy: Discussing the romance with Lorraine Kelly, the former Geordie Shore star was quick to admit that she has finally found 'The One' in John

The look of love: She said: Hes lovely. For years Ive struggled with my personal life and finding someone who is supportive of my career and successful in their own right too'

Still going strong: Vicky and John first dated nearly ten years ago, but announced they had rekindled their romance on Instagram in November last year

'Hes lovely caring and strong. Ive finally got a man not a fan!'

Promoting her third novel, titled My Sister's Wedding, the Scottish show host then teasingly questioned Vicky whether nuptials of her own could be on the cards.

Remaining coy on the matter, the brunette simply laughed: 'Im kicking myself because I started writing this last year, and at that time my sister didnt even have a boyfriend.

Main man: She added: 'Hes lovely caring and strong. Ive finally got a man not a fan!'

Moving on: Speaking candidly in the interview, the Geordie lass also touched upon why she suddenly quit ITV's Loose Women in September last year

'Now she has, and shes engaged! So I predicted her wedding... why I didnt write about mine I dont know!'

Speaking candidly in the interview, the Geordie lass also touched upon why she suddenly quit ITV's Loose Women in September last year.

At the time, Vicky was rumoured to have been axed from the chat show due to her 'wild partying' - a claim she went on to staunchly deny, with her rep citing the end of her contract as the cause.

Over: At the time, Vicky was rumoured to have been axed from the chat show (above, second right) due to her 'wild partying' - a claim she went on to staunchly deny

Honest: She explained: 'Certain debates would be had and Id be desperate to get involved, but I didnt have an opinion on things like marriage and kids'

A harder time: Keeping things light-hearted, she then joked: 'At the time, I couldnt even get a bloke to text me back!'

Looking back on her departure with Lorraine, the star explained that she simply felt she did not have enough life experience to contribute enough to the show.

She reflected: 'I cant thank them for the opportunity but for me I think I tried to run before I could walk.

'Certain debates would be had and Id be desperate to get involved, but I didnt have an opinion on things like marriage and kids.'

Helping hand: Vicky is currently promoting her new book My Sister's Wedding - and cheekily admitted that while the plot is 'semi-autobiographical', she enlisted the help of a ghost writer

Truth: She said of her novels: 'I do draw from my real life  anyone who knows me and has read my books will be able to draw parallels!'

Looking good: A self-professed gym bunny, Vicky then went on to confirm that her new TV project was based around her passion for fitness

Keeping things light-hearted, she then joked: 'At the time, I couldnt even get a bloke to text me back!'

Since leaving the chat show, Vicky has embarked on a number of new solo projects - going on to host the I'm A Celebrity spin off Extra Camp, and producing her third book, My Sister's Wedding.

However, the beauty did cheekily admit that while all the ideas were her own, and based upon events of her own life, she did receive assistance in the writing process itself.

She said: 'I have a great editor and going to be honest, a very talented ghost writer!

Glowing: Admitting her romance and fitness has helped her feel content, she added: 'You have to be proactive, and this is the year Ive discovered balance in all parts of my life'

New me: The brunette, who has even released her own workout DVD, then added: 'I'm now working on a new show on fitness and nutrition and helping people with body transformations'

Summer chic: Vicky dazzled in a brighter yellow mini dress on the show, paired with sophisticated nude heels

Glamorous: The beauty later left ITV in a stunning one-shoulder maxi dress, adorned with frills on the sleeve and hem

Leggy lady: The frock cut into a saucy slit at the side to reveal her slender pins underneath

Co-ordinated: She accessorised with towering tan heels and a matching belt, which cinched in at her petite waist

'Id be lying if I said these books werent semi-autobiographical. I do draw from my real life  anyone who knows me and has read my books will be able to draw parallels!'

A self-professed gym bunny, having dropped a staggering four dress sizes over the years, Vicky then went on to confirm that her new TV project was based around her passion for fitness.

Admitting her new romance and fitness regime has helped her find contentment in life, she explained: 'You have to be proactive, and this is the year Ive discovered balance in all parts of my life.'

The brunette, who has even released her own workout DVD in the past, then added: 'I'm now working on a new show on fitness and nutrition and helping people with body transformations.'

Windswept: She left her hair in her trademark bouncy curls and beamed for cameras as she made a blustery exit from the studio

Who's that girl? Vicky had arrived at ITV in a rush earlier that day - although still showed off her slim frame in a white crop top

Quick! She kept comfortable in black tracksuit bottoms and sliders as she went rushing into the studios
They have increasingly been spending time together since Sasha split from Sam Frost last December after 18 months together.

And Kris Smith, 38, and Sasha Mielzcarek, 32, continued their bromance in Sydney on Wednesday, enjoying a few drinks before the NRL's State of Origin match.

Sporting New South Wales-themed attire, the pals looked a picture of happiness as they left popular bar and restaurant, Mr Wong.

Feeling the blues? Bromance power couple Kris Smith (left), 38, and Sasha Mielczarek (right), 32, sported New South Wales-themed attire in Sydney on Wednesday, as they enjoyed a few drinks before NRL's State of Origin match

Kris looked effortlessly cool in a white dress shirt, teamed with a navy bomber jacket and lightwash jeans.

Distressed tan leather boots tied in nicely with the casual ensemble.

Former Bachelorette star Sasha opted for a light denim button-up shirt, black slim-fitting jeans, a coordinating jacket and suede lace-up shoes.

Having enjoyed a few beverages at Sydney hotspot Mr Wong, the pair appeared in high spirits, beaming for waiting paparazzi.

Effortless style: Kris sported a white dress shirt, a navy bomber jacket, lightwash jeans and distressed tan leather boots

Cool and casual: Former Bachelorette star Sasha opted for a light denim button-up shirt, black slim-fitting jeans, a coordinating jacket and suede lace-up shoes

The sighting came just hours after the pair took part in a workout session.

Both Kris and Sasha shared an image to Instagram, of Kris staring at his phone instead of working out, at a Fitness First gym in Sydney.

'Working hard', Sasha, who appears to have posted the image first, wrote across the image in yellow text alongside a confused-looking emoji.

Boys will be boys: Having enjoyed a few beverages at Sydney hotspot Mr Wong, the pair appeared in high spirits, beaming for waiting paparazzi

Inseparable: The sighting came just hours after the pair took part in a workout session

The pair have been spotted all over Sydney after debuting their bromance last year.

In January they bonded over their bachelor life as they partied together at The Stingray Lounge on the Gold Coast.

The duo were in Queensland for the Magic Millions races according to The Daily Telegraph, and continued to party together after the event, with Kris later 'seen in line at strip club Hollywoods'.

Antics: Both Kris and Sasha shared an image to Instagram, of Kris staring at his phone instead of working out, at a Fitness First gym in Sydney. 'Working hard' Sasha, who appears to have posted the image first, wrote across the image in yellow text alongside a confused-looking emoji

Firm friends: Kris been spotted with Sasha all over Sydney, after debuting their bromance last year

Bonding: In January they bonded over their bachelor life as they partied together at The Stingray Lounge on the Gold Coast

In April, Kris and Sasha spent Anzac Day together at Sydney pub, the Clovelly Hotel, narrowly avoiding a run-in with Sasha's ex Sam and her girl posse.

In May, according to Fashion Week insiders, they were caught flirting with women at the Misha x Myer after party.

They also arrived at the exclusive Ellery x Etihad event in Sydney soon after, and looked ready for a fun night out as they posed for a series of photos together on the red carpet.

Reports: The duo were in Queensland for the Magic Millions races according to The Daily Telegraph, and continued to party together after the event, with Kris later 'seen in line at strip club Hollywoods'

Awkward: In April, Kris and Sasha spent Anzac Day together at Sydney pub, the Clovelly Hotel, narrowly avoiding a run-in with Sasha's ex Sam and her girl posse

Flirtatious: In May, according to Fashion Week insiders, they were caught flirting with women at the Misha x Myer after party

The two buff bachelors also cut sharp figures on the red carpet as they posed together for photos at an MJ Bale event at the start of May.

More recently, the friends went for burgers at Hungry Jack's on Monday, later sharing a photo of their man date on Instagram.

Kris wrote in the caption: 'I want a woman that looks at me the way I look at my burger on cheat day'.

Red carpet regulars: They also arrived at the exclusive Ellery x Etihad event in Sydney soon after, and looked ready for a fun night out as they posed for a series of photos together on the red carpet

Looking sharp: The two buff bachelors also cut sharp figures on the red carpet as they posed together for photos at an MJ Bale event at the start of May
She's the busty Bachelor babe who was recently spotted partying with American rapper YG.

And on Wednesday, Noni Janur took to Instagram to showcase her famous curves in a plunging black swimsuit.

While some may assume that the 26-year-old was showing off for her boyfriend, The Bachelorette's Sam Johnston, it appears that she was simply just promoting her bikini line.

Simply stunning! The Bachelor's Noni Janur took to Instagram to flaunt her enviable physique just one week after partying with rapper YG

Last week, Noni was living it up like a single lady at an exclusive Sydney soiree with 'Ride Out' rapper YG.

The reality star was in 'party girl' mode as she flaunted her shapely curves in a skimpy outfit while enjoying drinks on a yacht.

Noticeably absent from the festivities was her Bachelorette beau Sam.

Party girl mode! The Bachelor babe (right) was a guest at an exclusive Sydney yacht party hosted by American rapper YG last week - but her boyfriend wasn't invited

Early in the evening, she was pictured in a bedroom below deck while posing in a low-cut lace top and skintight trousers.

She provocatively captioned the photo: 'Room service'.

But later on, she was filmed partying with other female guests and people involved in YG's Australian tour.

'Room service': Early in the evening, she was pictured in a bedroom below deck while posing in a low-cut lace top and skintight trousers

Making friends! The 26-year-old was in 'party girl' mode as she received a kiss from a pal

Bottoms up! Noni's Instagram Story offered fans a glimpse of the expensive yacht

Her Instagram Story offered fans a glimpse of the expensive yacht hired by YG, real name real name Keenon Daequan Ray Jackson.

The boat party was a heady mix of glamorous female guests, pumping music and bottles of Hennessy Cognac.

Noni, who appeared on last year's season of The Bachelor, has been dating Samuel for several months.

Good times! The boat party was a heady mix of glamorous female guests, musicians, pumping music and bottles of Hennessy Cognac

Is she lost? Noni was spotted in an Instagram video taken by a guest on the yacht party

'YG Style!' The party guests appeared to be in high spirits, including a young woman in a revealing top and ripped jeans

Samuel previously appeared on The Bachelorette, but was sent home after telling Georgia Love he was only looking for fame.

On Valentine's Day, Noni and Samuel announced their relationship.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out for comment.

Party: A Sydney event promoter tagged YG in footage from the event, which he posted online

Chill out! Several male guests are pictured taking a break from the festivities

Here come the girls! There was no shortage of young women attending the party
She shot to fame as cast member on Hi-5 before later appearing on The Voice.

But these days, Fely Irvine appears to be a lady of leisure if her Instagram page is anything to go by.

On Wednesday, the 28-year-old shared some bikini-clad images of herself frolicking on the beach in Bermuda.

Flawless: On Wednesday, Fely Irvine shared some bikini-clad images of herself frolicking on the beach in Bermuda

Quoting Mark Twain, she wrote: 'You can go to heaven if you want to, I'd rather stay here in Bermuda!'

On another photo, the beauty wrote: 'in bermuda, the sand is pink... PINK!!'

One fan responded to the post, writing: Hai @felyirvine in Indonesia we have sand pink too come explore islands in Indonesia.

Quoting Mark Twain, she wrote: 'You can go to heaven if you want to, I'd rather stay here in Bermuda!'

The TV personality looked absolutely sensational in a white two-piece bikini.

She wore her hair in loose beachy waves and sported sunglasses to protect her eyes from the sun.

Fely recently walked down the aisle with Home And Away star Tai Hara.

Fame: She shot to fame as cast member on Hi-5 before later appearing on The Voice

The smitten couple announced their engagement in January 2015, after he proposed in Scotland over the Christmas break.

Last year, they brought their first home together.

Their wedding ceremony is said to have taken place in Bali.
He returned to the top of the pop charts two years ago thanks to his Rihanna and Kanye West collaboration 'FourFiveSeconds.'

So it might surprise some people to learn that Paul McCartney didn't even realise that he was included in the song when he heard it for the first time.

Speaking to Tim Minchin on Facebook Live, the 75-year-old said of hearing the track for the first time: 'Am I on this?'

'Am I on this?' Paul McCartney didn't even know that he was featured on Rihanna and Kanye West's 'FourFiveSeconds' when he first heard it

Kanye then informed The Beatles star that his guitar was on the song, but it had been sped-up and manipulated during the production process.

Discussing how the unique collaboration came to be, Paul said: 'I definitely like working with other people, so in Kanye's case I got a phone call from my manager saying Kanye would like to work with you.'

He added: 'I was a little bit nervous at first, but I was intrigued to see how he'd do it.'

Production: Kanye then informed The Beatles star that his guitar was on the song, but it had been sped-up and manipulated during the production process

The rocker also revealed that Rihanna wasn't originally part of the process, and he only found out months later once Kanye had completed the song that the pop princess had been added to it.

'It was great,' he said, praising the track.

'FourFiveSeconds' went on to become a big hit for the veteran rocker, peaking in the top five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the top ten in Australia, and the top twenty in the U.K.

'I definitely like working with other people, so in Kanye's case I got a phone call from my manager saying Kanye would like to work with you,' McCartney explained

Paul is currently preparing to tour Australia this December, which will mark the first time he's been Down Under since 1993.

The legendary music icon will play shows in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, plus a show in Auckland, New Zealand, as part of his 'One On One' world tour.

He can also been seen in a small role in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
She became something of a pin-up after making a bikini-clad appearance in 1979 flick 10.

But forty years later and Bo Derek proved she was as radiant and youthful as ever as she made a dazzling appearance at the 57th Monte Carlo Television Festival in Monaco.

The 60-year-old truly dazzled in a striking emerald green gown as she paraded the carpet of the star-studded closing ceremony with her partner John Corbett, 56, on Tuesday.

Gorgeous: Bo Derek proved she was as radiant and youthful as ever as she made a dazzling appearance at the 57th Monte Carlo Television Festival in Monaco

Loved-up: The 60-year-old truly dazzled in a striking emerald green gown as she paraded the carpet of the star-studded closing ceremony with her partner John Corbett, 56, on Tuesday

The actress looked truly stunning in her slinky green gown, which showed off her enviable figure for her 60 years of age from head to toe.

The dress remained incredibly sophisticated with long sleeves and its demure floor-length hem, but plunged into a saucy V neckline to tease at her famous cleavage underneath.

Upping the sex appeal further, the frock then cut into a sexy split on one side, to show off her long and slender pins to all as she posed for cameras at the bash.

Making them green with envy: The actress looked truly stunning in her slinky green gown, which showed off her enviable figure for her 60 years of age from head to toe

Fit to bust: The dress remained incredibly sophisticated with long sleeves and its demure floor-length hem, but plunged into a saucy V neckline to tease at her famous cleavage

Matching: Remaining co-ordinated from head to toe, the blonde tied her look together with bronze sandal heels and a matching necklace of metallic pearls

Remaining co-ordinated from head to toe, the blonde tied her look together with bronze sandal heels and a matching necklace of metallic pearls.

Leaving her locks in loose, natural waves, Bo left her glowing complexion and smooth skin on display as she cuddled up to her partner on the carpet.

John, 56, matched his love's glamorous appearance at the event in a classic black suit, complete with traditional bow tie.

Proving to be more loved-up than ever as they made their joint appearance, John was seen sweetly adjusting her outfit and jewellery as they headed inside.

Radiant: Leaving her locks in loose, natural waves, Bo left her glowing complexion and smooth skin on display

Besotted: She cuddled up to long-term partner John Corbett, 56, on the carpet

Clean cut: John matched his love's glamorous appearance at the event in a classic black suit, complete with traditional bow tie

Heart-warming: Proving to be more loved-up than ever as they made their joint appearance, John was seen sweetly adjusting her outfit and jewellery as they headed inside

Bo and John, who is best known for his role on Sex And The City, began dating in 2002 after meeting on a blind date.

The romance followed her marriage to American actor John Derek, who was 30 years her senior.

The couple tied the knot in 1976, marking Derek's fourth marriage, and the lovebirds remained wed until his death in 1998.

Bo has been proving her long-lasting beauty for the duration of the festival - having flaunted her youthful complexion and long legs at The Bold and The Beautiful 30th anniversary party on Monday.

Double take! Bo has been proving her long-lasting beauty for the duration of the festival (L) - (right) pictured as Jenny in her bathing suit in movie 10 in 1979

Wow: The film director drew attention to the ruffled neckline as she completed her glamorous looks with a long beaded necklace

Cinched at the waist with a ribbon belt, the movie producer showed off her slender physique as she joined the great and the good at the showbiz bash.

Sweeping her trademark golden locks off her face, she proudly showed off her age-defying features accentuated with deft touches of make-up.

Drawing the attention to her ruffled detailed neckline, the film director completed her glamorous looks with a long beaded necklace.

Beautiful! The TV sensation proudly showed off her age-defying features (L) accentuated with deftly touches of make-up

Sex symbol: Her beauty became iconic after the release of the best selling poster of the film which showed the then rising starlet in a skimpy swimsuit

Stepping back into the limelight, the TV sensation walked with confidence at the A-list affair in sky-scraper high heels.

Kicking off her acting career almost 30 years ago, she starred in the 1979 film which told the story of a middle aged man (Dudley Moore) who becomes infatuated with a young woman (Bo) he has never met before.

Her beauty became iconic after the release of the best selling poster of the film which showed the then rising starlet in a skimpy swimsuit.

What a figure! Showing she's still got what it takes, the movie producer showed off her slender physique as she joined the great and the good at the showbiz bash
Jesse James has been accused of flirting with another woman.

The 48-year-old reality TV star - who was busted for stepping out on wife of five years Sandra Bullock in 2010 - had an inappropriate social media exchange with another woman even though he is married to billionaire heiress Alexis DeJoria, it has been reported.

In an interview with In Touch, hairstylist Myla Harris, 33, says for three months she and Jesse exchanged a series of racy messages over social media, including several referencing specific sex acts.

Restless? Jesse James has been accused of trying to hook up with another woman even though he is married to billionaire heiress Alexis DeJoria; seen in 2013

Together: James and DeJoria join her father Jon DeJoria for his annual Peace, Love and Happiness Charity Ride in Austin, Texas in 2013

The lady: In an interview with In Touch , hairstylist Myla Harris, 33, says for three months she and Jesse exchanged a series of racy messages over social media, including several referencing specific sex acts

Though the relationship was never physically consummated, there was plenty of flirting going on with the star asking the beauty for naked photos, she has insisted.

James has also been accused of repeatedly inviting her to the Texas home he shares with Alexis, who he married in 2013.

'We messaged a few days on Instagram before he had me switch to Snapchat so our [later] conversations and pictures couldnt be saved,' Myla told In Touch.

No clothes here: Though the relationship was never physically consummated, there was plenty of flirting going on with the star asking the beauty for naked photos, she has insisted

Her side: Harris has said that she got into several exchanges with the reality star

More: He wanted to see 'more more' of her, she has claimed

His relationship with Myla began in January, she says, when she reached out to him on Instagram.

The single mother to a three-year-old boy said she lives about 20 miles from Jesse in Texas and knew he was friendly with women on social media.

'I used to watch him when he was on Celebrity Apprentice. I had a crush on him then,' she said.

In Touch claims to have obtained several messages between the two.

More to see: Here the woman claims he wanted to offer a massage

Family man: With his children in Austin in 2010

At first Jesse 'seemed disinterested' in her. But then he asked if she was 'some huge fatty,' according to the publication.

Harris then said she sent a full-frontal nude picture.

'I know thats awful because I know hes married,' Myla told In Touch. 'But in the back of my mind, I knew what type of person he was and so I was like, "Why not?"'

Harris then said he replied, 'Damn!'

His ex: He was busted for stepping out on wife of five years Sandra Bullock in 2010; here they are seen in March just before their split

He then allegedly told Myla she 'better send another,' which she said she did.

Jesse asked Myla to add him on Snapchat, Harris said. Myla said she sent Jesse '10 or 12' naked pictures.

And their conversations 'often centered around Jesses fantasies of oral sex with her,' said Harris. Jesse then sent Myla several shirtless photos of himself, she alleged.

The one that broke them up: In 2010, In Touch broke the story that Monster Garage star Jesse had been cheating on his wife, Sandra, with tattoo model Michelle 'Bombshell' McGee; seen in 2012

He asked her to come over to the house he shares with Alexis, Harris said. 'He would ask me to come the day of,' Myla explained to In Touch.

Harris said the last time she spoke with him, in April, she said she could visit him after 6pm.

'Hes like, "No." He needed me earlier,' she said.

Myla then called him selfish and he blocked her on all social media, she maintained.

Her hot beau: Bullock is now happily living with photographer Bryan Randall; seen in 2014

Neither Jesse nor his wife responded when asked for comment by DailyMail.com.

Alexis is an American drag racer competing in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). She is a member of Kalitta Motorsports and sponsored by Patron Spirits Company. She drives a Toyota Camry funny car

Her father is billionaire John Paul DeJoria, 73, of Paul Mitchell hair care products.

In 2010, In Touch broke the story that Monster Garage star Jesse had been cheating on his wife, Sandra, with tattoo model Michelle 'Bombshell' McGee.

Then several other women also said they had romanced the car fanatic.

Bullock is now happily living with photographer Bryan Randall.

For the full interview with Myla, pick up the new issue of In Touch magazine, on stands now.
She famously shaved off her hair two years ago.

And Rose McGowan certainly showed no signs of wanting to go back as she confidently rocked her cropped cut on Tuesday. The 43-year-old was spotted en route to The Abbey in West Hollywood with a male friend.

The day before, the actress revealed exactly why she dramatically shaved her head in November 2015. In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir Brave, published by i-D, she explained she no longer wanted to look like a 'fantasy f*ck toy.'

Short hair don't care: Rose McGowan certainly showed no signs of wanting to go back to long hair as she confidently rocked her cropped cut on Tuesday

'The ideal version of a woman that is sold to you by every actress in every hair commercial telling you, "this the secret to being beguiling, the secret to getting a man to want you." Long, glossy Kardashian-esque hair that says, "f*** me, big boy,"" she wrote.

'As if that's all we are and all we can be. Hair.'

She revealed that as soon as she cut her hair, everyone asked her if she had broken up with someone, which she found 'sexist, stereotypical, disheartening.'

Day out: The 43-year-old was spotted en route to The Abbey in West Hollywood with a male friend

She explained that even as a child she'd always preferred long hair, and liked 'looking neither female nor male, but hovering somewhere in between.'

'My long hair had always made me uncomfortable. It felt like I had a plant on my head and a sex target on my back,' she wrote. 'It made men en masse look at me while the real me disappeared.'

But she was told  disappointingly, by a female agent  that 'the men doing the hiring in Hollywood wouldn't want to f*** me and if they didn't want to f*** me, they wouldn't hire me.'

Sex target: She famously shaved off her hair two years ago, and this week revealed exactly why in an excerpt from her upcoming book

'I thought I looked more like a blow-up sex doll, the kind with the hole for the mouth. And it didn't feel good,' she continued.

'I had been turned into the ultimate fantasy f*** toy by the Hollywood machine.

'All of the men and women hired to make me look like said fantasy f*** toy did a good job, but I was dying on the inside and embarrassed by what I looked like on the outside.

'See if you're a Jennifer Lawrence America's sweetheart type, you have simple blonde hair, if you're the vixen, it is long, dark and big. Those are the rules, do not deviate.'

The Charmed star concluded by declaring she had indeed been through a break-up: with the collective, societal Hollywood ideal, with the world and with her hair.

Before: The star with her longer hair at an event in Washington DC in 2014

BRAVE is out January 30, 2018.
The search for a new county administrator in Chippewa County begins Tuesday.

Well, maybe. It depends on what County Board supervisors want.

Officially, the countys Executive Committee will discuss recruiting a new county administrator at its meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday in Room 302 of the county courthouse, 711 N. Bridge St., Chippewa Falls.

Current administrator Frank Pascarella on June 9 told the board he will not be seeking a contract renewal beyond Dec. 31, 2017.

After spending over 35 years in municipal and county government positions, it is time for me to seek other opportunities. Those opportunities include addressing some personal, business and family interests, he wrote.

The county switched to an administrator system in 2007. Before then, much of the work was done by county department leaders, including longtime County Clerk Jerry Dachel and Auditor George McDowell.

McDowell died in 2010, just days before he was expected to be named interim county administrator while Bill Reynolds was thought to be called away for extended military leave.

Pascarella is the countys third administrator, following Reynolds and Steve Kubacki, and began in 2012.

Pascarellas contract was last renewed in June 2015 for two years on an 8-6 board vote (one supervisors post was vacant).

Five of the eight supervisors who voted for the extension have since left the board. Two of the six supervisors voting against the extension have also been replaced on the board.

The Herald reported at the time of the contract renewal that Pascarellas annual salary for 2015 was $121,145 and would be $123,871 in 2016 and $126,658 in 2017.

Some supervisors in 2015 questioned whether the county needed a county administrator system. Then-County Board Chairman Paul Michels asked Jon Hochkammer of the Wisconsin Counties Association, to brief the board on its options in May of that year.

He said counties could choose to have an administrative coordinator, a county administrator or a county executive.

As of 2015, according to the UW-Extension Local Government Center, 35 of Wisconsins 72 counties had a administrative coordinator, 26 had a county administrator and 11 had county executives.

As of 2015, four counties had their county board chairs also serve as administrative coordinator. Another 15 had county clerks also serve in that role.

Larger counties, including Dane County, typically have county executives. Under state law, they have four-year terms.

Hochkammer said counties with county executives usually have more office staff than county administrators. County executives are required in the county where they work.

Counties can switch to a county executive system with a majority vote of the board or by referendum.

Hochkammer said in 2015 that county administrators typically are paid more than county executives, with good administrators more than paying their way.

The county administrator is the chief administrative officer for the county, the countys website says. The county administrator is responsible for administering and coordinating the overall operations of all the non-elected departments of the county and for providing staff assistance to the county board of supervisors and its officers, under the guidance and supervision of the county board.
She became engaged to her fiance Matt Kaye back in September, after he popped the question during a romantic holiday in Venice.

And Lacey Turner was not afraid to flash her sparkling rock on Wednesday as she stepped out for the day in sunny London.

The EastEnders actress, 29, looked effortlessly chic in a summery green dress and retro shades as she embarked on another busy day in the capital.

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Diamonds are a girl's best friend: Lacey Turner was not afraid to flash her sparkling rock from fiance Matt Kaye on Wednesday as she stepped out for the day in sunny London

The brunette looked casually cool as she headed out in her green dress, which fell softly against her slim figure all the way down.

Keeping her cool with spaghetti straps, the frock then billowed softly past her frame, before it was met with a trendy drop hem at her knees.

Maintaining the boho and summery vibe throughout, the BBC star kept accessories simple with metallic flip flops and a quirky shoulder bag, of clashing pink woven and rope material.

Boho chic: The brunette looked casually cool as she headed out in her green dress, which fell softly against her slim figure all the way down

Summer chic: Keeping her cool with spaghetti straps, the frock then billowed softly past her frame, before it was met with a trendy drop hem at her knees

Lacey swept her hair back into a messy bun, to leave her clear and glowing skin on show - which she drew further attention to with funky white-rimmed sunglasses.

However, it was the dazzling diamond rock on her fourth finger that captured the most attention - glinting in the sunshine as she happily strolled the streets.

The brunette became engaged to her childhood sweetheart Matt in September last year, after he got down on one knee in Venice, Italy.

Trendy: Lacey swept her hair back into a messy bun, to leave her clear and glowing skin on show - which she drew further attention to with funky white-rimmed sunglasses

Blissful: However, it was the dazzling diamond rock on her fourth finger that captured the most attention - glinting in the sunshine as she happily strolled the streets

Revealing the news mere minutes after the the proposal, Matt took to Istagram to share a snap in which a visibly stunned Lacey shows off her sparking engagement ring.

Captioning the shot, he wrote: 'She said yes ooooosssshhhhhhhh #fiance @laceyturner.'

However the happy couple admitted to OK! that the proposal, which occurred in a gondola during their romantic break, almost didn't go to plan.

Laughing at the memory, Lacey revealed: 'I said yes straight away, of course! Although as we cuddled afterwards the gondola tipped a bit and we nearly fell off!'

Next chapter: The brunette became engaged to her childhood sweetheart Matt in September last year, after he got down on one knee in Venice, Italy

Broody: Lacey confessed recently she is already keen to start a family, stating: 'I'm ready for motherhood, and I want four children - Matt wants three!'

While they are yet to tie the knot, the duo did confess during the interview that they are already keen to start a family together.

Lacey said: 'I'm ready for motherhood, and I want four children - Matt wants three!'

The pair met when they were 15 years old, and have dated intermittently ever since.

Their relationship got into full swing after Lacey split with ex-boyfriend Jake Gotlib in 2006, but the notoriously private star was initially coy about discussing her relationship.
She notoriously documented her incredible 12 stone weight loss after having a gastric band.

Still flaunting the fruits of her transformation, Tina Malone, 54, showcased her slimmed down physique as she enjoyed a sun-soaked break away to Greece on Tuesday.

The Shameless actress - who travelled to Cyprus to meet Consultant Gynaecologist Dr. R. Gazvania at an IVF clinic in May - stripped down to a white bandeau style swimsuit to display slender frame for her lone beach day.

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White hot! Still flaunting the fruits of her transformation, Tina Malone, 54, showcased her slimmed down physique as she enjoyed a sun-soaked break away to Greece on Tuesday

The Liverpudlian was catapulted into the limelight when she played Mo McGee in Channel 4 soap Brookside before making her name in 2005 starring in Shameless until its conclusion in 2013.

Now enjoying a break away from the UK, she sported an eye-catching bikini that featured colourful Aztec print trim across the bust and bottoms.

Her choice of swimwear helped show off the entirety of her frame and plenty of underboob while she frolicked in the inviting sea during her travels.

Walk this way! The Shameless actress - who travelled to Cyprus to meet Consultant Gynaecologist Dr. R. Gazvania at an IVF clinic in May - stripped down to a white bandeau style swimsuit to display slender frame for her lone beach day

Seas the day! The Liverpudlian was catapulted into the limelight when she played Mo McGee in Channel 4 soap Brookside before making her name in 2005 starring in Shameless until its conclusion in 2013

Shore thing: Now enjoying a break away from the UK, she sported an eye-catching bikini that featured colourful Aztec print trim across the bust and bottoms

Simple the breast: Her choice of swimwear helped show off the entirety of her frame and plenty of underboob while she frolicked in the inviting sea during her travels

Striking: Tina displayed her impressive weight loss in her tie-side bottoms that accentuated her slender pins

Soaking up the sun, she covered her peepers in her cat-eye shades while her blonde locks where styled into a sleek bun.

The former CBB star lost 11st 4lb (72 kg) in 16 months when she had a gastric band fitted five years ago, reaching a size 8 and slimming down to 8st 2lb (51kg).

Left with a huge amount of excess of skin, she decided to have an extensive makeover at the hands of a cosmetic surgeon totally 50,000, and documented it on TLC show Tina Malone: My New Body.

The actress had breast implants, a facelift, eye-lift and the handfuls of sagging skin caused by losing 11 stone following a gastric band were removed as well as surgery to fix an 'exploded' implant.

Angling for a compliment: Soaking up the sun, she covered her peepers in her cat-eye shades while her blonde locks where styled into a sleek bun

Life's a beach: Tina's choice of beachwear exhibited her posterior as she waded out in the Aegean sea

Water you thinking about? Although her acting career has gone on the back burner of late, she has transformed her life with her incredible weight loss and most recently planning baby number two with her partner

Taking the bait! She accessorised her beach look with a simple cross necklace

Although her acting career has gone on the back burner of late, she has transformed her life with her incredible weight loss and most recently planning baby number two with her partner.

Tina is already a mother-of-two - including her three-year-old daughter Flame with husband Paul - and recently became a grandmother after her eldest gave birth to a daughter Dorothy.

She was recently blasted by critics after she revealed plans for baby number three and is keen for a son, four years after she travelled to Cyprus to conceive daughter Flame, three.

She said: 'When I had Flame, I was working six days a week beforehand and jumped into the shower straight after giving birth to Flame  the Midwife was like what are you doing? I will still be rocking and rolling at 75. My mother is 78 and is still running rings around my daughter.'

Tatt's nice! She kicked her leg out of the water and showcased her ankle tattoo

Tackle that water: Tina is already a mother-of-two - including her three-year-old daughter Flame with husband Paul - and recently became a grandmother after her eldest gave birth to a daughter Dorothy

She's onboard: She was recently blasted by critics after she revealed plans for baby number three and is keen for a son, four years after she travelled to Cyprus to conceive daughter Flame, three

She's got sole: She said: 'When I had Flame, I was working six days a week beforehand and jumped into the shower straight after giving birth to Flame  the Midwife was like what are you doing?'

The doting mum also said that there would be no stopping her having multiple children, declaring: 'Id have another three. I love kids. If I was sitting here and I was Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart or Simon Cowell youd all be slapping me on the back and saying well done.

'Im not being funny, women - no disrespect - I love a man, but at the end of the day I can be on the phone, run an empire, bring a baby up, walk the dogs, clean the house.

She continued: 'Im that working class I clean for my cleaner, I do everything and still have energy to go to bed with my husband. Living in the world we live in at the moment people need to think positive.

You got to be kidding me: The doting mum also said that there would be no stopping her having multiple children, declaring: 'Id have another three. I love kids'

Motivation: Tina added that her younger husband is also a big motivation, as she wants her husband, to have a son, despite his initial reluctance

Honest: She added: 'Paul was categorically like no, youre not giving birth. If I drop dead tomorrow, I dont really want him left, with one child. Id rather him have two children'

'If I can bring a child into the world, and I mean this sincerely, and educate, inform, give confidence and love and bring a child that grows up to be not xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic or racist, be tolerant and liberal and caring and loving, Im bringing a decent child into the world.'

Tina added that her younger husband is also a big motivation, as she wants her husband, to have a son, despite his initial reluctance.

'Paul was categorically like no, youre not giving birth,' she shared. 'If I drop dead tomorrow, I dont really want him left, with one child. Id rather him have two children.'

Paul also appeared on the show and backed up his wife's comments, telling the Loose Women: 'I want another child. Seeing Flame in the bedroom by herself asking us to come and play with toys with her, it breaks my heart.'
He just got back from walking in Milan's fashion week.

And 'hot felon' Jeremy Meeks, 33, was back stateside enjoying the sunshine in Malibu, California on Tuesday.

The man, who became famous after his handsome mugshot went viral, chose to wear a tight white tank top to show off his chiseled stomach and toned arms.

Still got it! 'Hot felon' Jeremy Meeks, 33, was back stateside enjoying the sunshine in Malibu, California on Tuesday after walking the runway in Milan over the weekend

The father-of-three paired the simple tank with white track pants that featured black designs at the bottom.

Embracing his new fashion career, he chose trendy black Nike high top running shoes to complete the casual look.

Showing off his tattoos, the former criminal stayed true to his edgy reputation.

Meeks' modeling career began after his mugshot went viral in 2014 when it was posted on the Stockton Police Department's Facebook.

Hot: Meeks' modeling career began after his mugshot went viral in 2014 when it was posted on the Stockton Police Department's Facebook

Success after jail: He was sentenced to 27 months in prison on a weapons charge, but since his release has been fully embracing a modeling career

Immediately dubbed the 'Hot Felon', Jeremy's image racked up a huge 75,000 likes, 20,000 comments and 10,000 shares.

His viral fame earned him a contract with White Cross Management and he now boasts 1.1million followers on Instagram.

The Northern California native made his runway debut at Philipp Plein's New York Fashion Week show in February, where stars like Kylie Jenner, Madonna and Paris Hilton were watching from the audience.

Making a name for himself: He's become a favorite of designer Philipp Plein and has modeled in many of his shows, including Milan and New York Fashion Week

He then traveled to Milan for the brand where he continued to show off his toned physique in the Men's Fashion Week show.

In 2013, Jeremy was given 27 months of prison time on weapons charges, according to Inside Edition, and was released in March 2016. Then, he transferred to a halfway house until that July.

The viral social star appears to have left his prison life behind him, and fully embraced his modeling career.
Joanna Clifton has announced her departure from Strictly Come Dancing.

The 33-year-old professional dancer starred on the BBC programme in 2016, winning the coveted glitterball trophy alongside her partner Ore Oduba - but Joanne will not be returning to 'Strictly' when the new series begins later this year.

Ukrainian ballroom and Latin dancer Oksana Platero has also left the programme, with Natalie Lowe having already confirmed her departure from Strictly.

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Gone: Joanna Clifton has announced her departure from Strictly Come Dancing

In a statement to MailOnline, Joanne confirmed she is leaving the show to concentrate on her musical theatre career, explaining that she's currently loving life on the road playing the lead in the UK touring production of Thoroughly Modern Millie:

'I've always had a childhood dream to be on stage, and now that I've achieved everything I've worked for in dancing by becoming a World Champion, winning the Strictly Glitterball and the Christmas Special, I think it's now time to follow my dream. That feeling I get every night onstage the past 6 months as Millie has only confirmed that for me.'

However, Joanna will return to the Strictly ballroom one last time to perform the winners routine with her celebrity partner Ore Oduba at the start of the new series.

She continued: 'Being part of the Strictly experience has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me and I will miss the show so much.

'Its been a tough decision but I am looking forward to facing new challenges and focusing on my musical theatre career.'

She's a winner! The 33-year-old professional dancer starred on the BBC programme in 2016, winning the coveted glitterball trophy alongside her partner Ore Oduba - but Joanne will not be returning to 'Strictly' when the new series begins later this year

Gone: Joining Joanne in departing was show stalwart Natalie Lowe, who took to Twitter to pen: 'I'm going to miss my Strictly family so much. Its been an AMAZING 14yrs Warmest thanks 2 everyone who supported me on'

Joining Joanne in departing was show stalwart Natalie, who took to Twitter to pen: 'I'm going to miss my Strictly family so much. Its been an AMAZING 14yrs Warmest thanks 2 everyone who supported me on'.

Joanne's former dance partner Ore Oduba revealed he had known she was going to quit 'for a while'.

The sports presenter, 31, who won the competition with her last year, told Good Morning Britain: 'I've known about this for a while. Here is a girl who has achieved such great things in everything she's done; she was world ballroom champion, she won the 'Strictly' glitterball trophy and now she is embarking on a new adventure.

Confidante: Ore Oduba, who won Strictly with Joanne last year, revealed he had known she was going to quit the dancing show 'for a while'

'She is going to be absolutely smashing it night after night on stage and we are all so proud of her.

'What she has done is so brave, jumping off a great show like 'Strictly' into this new world. We are wishing her all the best.'

Oksana, who starred on the show for just one season after being paired with Judge Rinder last year, is also exploring new ventures as she left the show.

The trio of female professionals are being replaced by Dianne Buswell, from Australia, Nadiya Bychkova, from Ukraine and Amy Dowden, from Wales.

Supportive friends: Ore told Good Morning Britain: 'What she has done is so brave, jumping off a great show like 'Strictly' into this new world'

Nadiya - who is a two-time World Champion and European Champion in Ballroom and Latin '10' Dance - previously competed on the Bosnian version of 'Strictly' and she is looking forward to impressing the UK fans.

She said: 'I'm extremely happy to be joining the 'Strictly Come Dancing' family this year. One of my biggest dreams is to be part of this great show and I can't wait to get started.'

Dianne, who previously appeared on 'Dancing with the Stars Australia', revealed she is excited by the opportunity to demonstrate her talents on the BBC show.

Newbie! Nadiya Bychkova, from Ukraine is just one of the new professionals lined up for the show

Hot head: Flame haired Australian Dianne Buswell is set to take the stage on the show

She shared: 'What an honour it is to be a part of 'Strictly Come Dancing'. 'Words can't describe how excited I am to take on this amazing challenge and give it my everything.'

On her Instagram post, she shared a picture of the three girls as she penned the caption: 'Soooo this happened !!!!!! OMG soooo happy to tell the world I'll be a pro dancer on this years strictly comedancing what a dream congratulations to Nadiya and Amy !!! See you girls soon'.

And Amy, the current British National Champion, is similarly enthusiastic about the prospect. She said: 'Becoming a professional dancer on 'Strictly Come Dancing' has made my wildest dreams come true, it does not feel real.

'I have always been proud of my Welsh roots and feel so honoured to be the first Welsh professional dancer on the most loved show on TV.'
Kirsten Dunst wore a stylish collared and buttoned-up dress reminiscent of the 1950s when she stepped out in New York City on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old was posing for photos at SiriusXM Studios, where she was joined by Sofia Coppola, who's now directed her in three feature films.

This sighting comes after she said she wanted kids with her 29-year-old Fargo co-star Jesse Plemons, who she is engaged to.

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Seen around New York: Kirsten Dunst wore a stylish collared and buttoned-up dress reminiscent of the 1950s when she stepped out in New York City on Wednesday

Kirsten's dress was cinched in at the waistline to emphasize her enviably trim torso, and it featured red, white and blue patterns streaked across a green field.

Red ankle-strap stilettos clashed against the blue purse she'd slung over her shoulder outdoors, and her engagement ring gleamed at her left hand.

Meanwhile, Sofia had worn a sleeveless white top with a frilly mock bow-tie at the neckline and splotches of glistening embroidery just beneath her shoulders.

Hello, gorgeous: The 35-year-old, who's engaged to her 29-year-old Fargo co-star Jesse Plemons, had folded her sleeves to the elbow and popped on black cat-eye sunglasses

She'd tucked the blouse into a midnight blue and white pair of pinstriped slacks, sliding on a pair of open-toe wedges and accessorizing with a bracelet.

That same day she told USA Today about her upcoming nuptials to her Fargo costar Jesse Plemons: 'Im marrying Landry!'

She went on to explain she may have been joking when she recently declared she was ready to ahve babies: I said it so casually! I realize I have a very cavalier way of speaking. (People) really like to put us in those boxes, though.'

Meanwhile, Kirsten played one of the five Lisbon sisters in Sofia's 1999 feature directorial debut The Virgin Suicides, which was based on Jeffrey Eugenides' 1993 literary debut.

She'd then starred as the title character in Sofia's 2006 film Marie Antoinette about the ultimately guillotined queen to fellow guillotine victim King Louis XVI of France.

Emphasis: Kirsten's dress was cinched in at the waistline to stress her enviably trim torso, and it featured red, white and blue patterns streaked across a green field

Longtime collaborators: Her shades came off once she was posing for photos at SiriusXM Studios, where she was joined by Sofia Coppola, who's now directed her in three feature films

The actress is now featured as Edwina Dabney in Sofia's film The Beguiled, which is adapted from Thomas P. Cullinan's 1966 novel and will be out this Friday.

Elizabeth Hartman had played Edwina in a 1971 movie based on the book, which had starred Clint Eastwood in a role that's been played by Colin Farrell for Sofia's version.

The new version screened at the Cannes Film Festival and made Sofia the second woman ever to win Best Director there - the first having been Soviet director Yuliya Solntseva for her 1961 film Chronicle Of Flaming Years, as Deadline noted.

History together: Kirsten played one of the five Lisbon sisters in Sofia's 1999 feature directorial debut The Virgin Suicides, which was based on Jeffrey Eugenides' 1993 literary debut

Reunited: She'd then starred as the title character in Sofia's 2006 film Marie Antoinette about the ultimately guillotined queen to fellow guillotine victim King Louis XVI of France

Nicole Kidman also stars in the latest The Beguiled in a role Geraldine Page played in 1971, and the new cast includes Elle Fanning, Angourie Rice and Oona Laurence.

The Beguiled, which takes place during the American Civil War, follows a wounded Union soldier who's welcomed and nursed at a girls' seminary in Confederate Mississippi, where his presence eventually has grisly consequences.

Sofia, who's also written The Beguiled, won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2004 for the 2003 second feature film she'd directed, Lost In Translation.

In May she told Marie Claire: 'I'm at a stage in my life where I'm like, I've been working since I was three. It's time to have babies and chill. You know what I mean?' she admitted.

Summer edition: She appeared on the cover of Dazed magazine to promote the highly anticipated film
She's one of the three new dancers set to give Strictly Come Dancing a shake up when it returns this winter.

And Nadiya Bychkova has already set tongues wagging as her racy career as a Playboy cover girl has been revealed - which she is set to balance with her appearance on the BBC show.

The blonde bombshell, 27, is set to fill the shoes of former professional Kristina Rihanoff, 39, known for her fiery and sultry personality - as she joins new sirens Dianne Buswell and Amy Dowden on the new line-up.

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Bikini babe: Nadiya Bychkova has already set tongues wagging with her racy Playboy modelling career, after being announced as a new pro dancer on Strictly Come Dancing

Taking the floor by storm: The blonde bombshell joins new sirens Dianne Buswell (L) and Amy Dowden (R) on the new line-up

Nadiya - who is a two-time World Champion and European Champion in Ballroom and Latin '10' Dance - previously competed on the Bosnian version of 'Strictly' and she is looking forward to impressing the UK fans.

She said: 'I'm extremely happy to be joining the 'Strictly Come Dancing' family this year. One of my biggest dreams is to be part of this great show and I can't wait to get started.'

Whilst she is known for her impeccable dancing skills, the stunning star is also known for her modelling prowess.

Nadiya starred on the front cover of Slovenia's Playboy magazine in April 2015, and also featured on the cover of FHM in March 2012.

Cover girl: As well as dancing, Nadiya starred on the front cover of Slovenia's Playboy magazine in April 2015, and also featured on the cover of FHM in March 2012

Siberian siren: The blonde bombshell draws striking comparisons to former professional Kristina Rihanoff, 39, who was known for her fiery and sultry personality

Cute couple: Kristina - who left Strictly in 2015 to welcome her first child with former celebrity dance partner on the show Ben Cohen - is no stranger to a racy snap of her own

Explaining that her time in front of the camera only helps her dancing abilities, she explained to The Sun: 'Modelling is very closely connected with dance.

'Both require the art of performance and a suitable appearance.'

Kristina - who left Strictly in 2015 to welcome her first child with former celebrity dance partner on the show Ben Cohen - is no stranger to a racy snap of her own, often sharing sultry selfies with her fans.

The couple met in 2013 when they were partnered up on Strictly Come Dancing -while Ben was still married to Abby Blayney.

Professional: Nadiya - who is a two-time World Champion and European Champion in Ballroom and Latin '10' Dance - previously competed on the Bosnian version of 'Strictly'

Ready to rhumba! She said: 'I'm extremely happy to be joining the Strictly Come Dancing family this year. One of my biggest dreams is to be part of this great show'

Model moment: Whilst she is known for her impeccable dancing skills, the stunning star is also known for her modelling prowess. Nadiya starred on the front cover of Ukraine's Playboy

Intertwined: Speaking about juggling her two careers, she said: 'Modelling is very closely connected with dance. 'Both require the art of performance and a suitable appearance'

Also lined up to join the professional dancers when the show returns is Dianne Buswell, from Australia and Amy Dowden, from Wales.

Dianne, who previously appeared on 'Dancing with the Stars Australia', revealed she is excited by the opportunity to demonstrate her talents on the BBC show.

She shared: 'What an honour it is to be a part of 'Strictly Come Dancing'. 'Words can't describe how excited I am to take on this amazing challenge and give it my everything.'

Hot head: Flame haired Australian Dianne Buswell is also set to take the stage on the show as one of the three new professional dancers on the show

'What an honour': Dianne, who previously appeared on Dancing with the Stars Australia, said on Instagram: 'Words can't describe how excited I am to take on this amazing challenge'

Teamwork: She also paid tribute to her dancing co-stars in her announcement on Instagram, writing: 'Congratulations to Nadiya and Amy !!! See you girls soon!'

On her Instagram post, she shared a picture of the three girls as she penned the caption: 'Soooo this happened !!!!!! OMG soooo happy to tell the world I'll be a pro dancer on this years strictly comedancing what a dream congratulations to Nadiya and Amy !!! See you girls soon'.

And Amy, the current British National Champion, is similarly enthusiastic about the prospect.

She said: 'Becoming a professional dancer on 'Strictly Come Dancing' has made my wildest dreams come true, it does not feel real.

All the way from the UK: Flying the flag for the UK was Amy Dowden, from Wales

Doing her bit: Amy, the current British National Champion, is the first ever Welsh professional dancer on the show, gushing the opportunity had 'made her dreams come true'

Excited: She said: 'I have always been proud of my Welsh roots and feel so honoured to be the first Welsh professional dancer on the most loved show on TV'

'I have always been proud of my Welsh roots and feel so honoured to be the first Welsh professional dancer on the most loved show on TV.'

The trio of newcomers have been drafted in following Joanne Clifton departure from Strictly Come Dancing.

The 33-year-old professional dancer starred on the BBC programme in 2016, winning the coveted glitterball trophy alongside her partner Ore Oduba - but Joanne will not be returning to 'Strictly' when the new series begins later this year.

Gone: Joanna Clifton has announced her departure from Strictly Come Dancing

She's a winner! The 33-year-old professional dancer starred on the BBC programme in 2016, winning the coveted glitterball trophy alongside her partner Ore Oduba - but Joanne will not be returning to 'Strictly' when the new series begins later this year

Ukrainian ballroom and Latin dancer Oksana Platero also left the programme, with Natalie Lowe having already confirmed her departure from 'Strictly'.

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Strictly and Joanne for comment.

Joining Joanne in departing was show stalwart Natalie, who took to Twitter to pen: 'I'm going to miss my Strictly family so much. Its been an AMAZING 14yrs Warmest thanks 2 everyone who supported me on'.

Oksana, who starred on the show for just one season after being paired with Judge Rinder last year, is also exploring new ventures as she left the show.
The cast of Downton Abbey have bought the period drama to Singapore for the launch of an exciting new exhibition.

Sophie McShera, who played Daisy in the ITV series, and Laura Carmichael, who starred as Lady Edith, led the cast at the red carpet launch for the anticipated exhibition on Wednesday.

The actresses both pulled out all the stops for the Marina Bay Sands bash, amid the exciting news that the cast will reunite next year to begin production on a movie.

Red carpet night: Sophie McShera led the cast of Downton Abbey on Wednesday who have bought the period drama to Singapore for the launch of an exciting new exhibition

Sophie looked gorgeous in a stunning floral dress for the big night.

The actress chose a colourful print number which flaunted her trim waist with its nipped in belt number.

A tiered skirt flowed down to her strappy black heels, while the stylish star accessorissed with a matching clutch and a chic up do.

Glam ladies: Sophie, who played Daisy in the ITV series, and Laura Carmichael, who starred as Lady Edith, led the cast at the red carpet launch for the anticipated exhibition

Laura meanwhile stuck to elegant black, wowing in a high shine leather midi dress from Roksanda.

The blonde beauty looked gorgeous in the figure flattering number, which she teamed with classic black heels.

She piled her blonde locks up into a sleek up do and added chic drop earrings.

All star lineup: The cast were joined by creator Julian Fellowes (centre) for the launch

Global love: Laura shared a moment with some excited fans as she toured the exhibit

He;ll be back! Lord Julian Fellowes is working on a spin off film to his hit series

The cast convened in Singapore on Tuesday to launch the first leg on the 'fully-immersive exhibition' which shows visitors around the sets atop displaying costumes from the show.

More than 50 official costumes worn by the cast, including Lady Mary, who is played by absent Michelle Dockery, and Lady Edith's dresses will go on show.

The exhibition also saw Michael Edelstein, president at NBCUniversal International Studios, reveal some exciting news about the long-rumoured Downton film.

Looking great! Phyllis Logan who plays Mrs Hughes in the period drama looked gorgeous in green

Dapper: Michael Fox scrubbed up well in a sharp suit teamed with a big smile

Reunited! Phyllis posed with onscreen husband Jim Carter aka Carson

'There's a movie in the works. It's been in the works for some time,' Michael Edelstein told AP.

'We are working on getting the script right,' Edelstein said during press for the exhibition. 'And then we've got to figure out how to get the (cast) together.'

He went onto confirm that production would start in 2018, although it's not known yet which of the cast will sign on, with the latest update coming as a surprise to Sophie who told the press conference:

Good to see you! The acting legend had some fun chats with some young fans

'Oh, well, you've got confirmation before us. We have no idea if that's happening. But we would all love to be part of the film if it was to happen, for sure.'

Laura agreed, adding: 'Well, tell my agent, because we're still waiting to know. We're hoping that will happen soon.'

Last month it was claimed that Julian Fellowes' big screen adaptation of his popular ITV series has finally got the green light.

Time for a selfie! Lord Fellowes got stuck in with the fan snaps

The TV mogul, 67, has reportedly teamed up with Carnival Films, with production slated to begin in September. A source told The Sun: 'Film bosses have requested the services of crew members and accountants to work on the picture.

'A budget has been set and now it's a case of getting everything in place to start shooting. It would take something big to stop the project from happening now.'

MailOnline has contacted Fellowes' representatives for comment. Rumours of a film have been rife ever since Downton bowed out on Christmas Day in 2015.
If a person falls off of a couch and cant get back up, the natural inclination is to call 9-1-1. An ambulance isnt needed, but the person making the call needs a helping hand.

In Chippewa Falls, EMS units have helped on those calls at no charge, no matter how many times they have happened.

That could change. Mayor Greg Hoffman said the city is considering a $75 charge with the fifth such call to a residence.

Theres a tremendous amount of expense, for these kinds of calls, Hoffman said. City taxpayers are picking up what Hoffman terms as a fairly substantial cost.

Sixty-five percent of our patients (use) Medicare or Medicaid, Hoffman said. And that makes a difference on whether the $75 charge will be paid.

So regardless of what is charged, Medicare only reimburses a flat rate, the minutes of the citys Revenues Committee meeting from Wednesday said.

Hoffman said the Revenues Committee recommended raising non-resident EMS fees. He said the increase in fees are needed, because now when city EMS is called to emergencies in the towns of Tilden, Eagle Point, Anson and the village of Cadott, a paramedic responds with the city EMS crew.

In other action, security cameras for City Hall and the Chippewa Falls Public Library were approved by the committee. Hoffman said the cameras will cost about $25,000. The city partnered with Chippewa County to get a better rate on the cameras.

Hoffman said the city will also be taking bids for roof repairs for the library building. An insurance company the city uses will pay up to $26,000 for the roof repair. The balance will come from city funds from the sale of the former city fire station No. 2 on Park Avenue.

The insurance company will not cover any additional damages that may occur from now until the roof is repaired, the committee minutes said.

Hoffman said next year, the project will be placed in the bond (a long-term loan) and the city will get back what it paid toward fixing the roof.

The citys Building Committee, which also met Tuesday, said the city may qualify for whats declared as an emergency situation. It it gets that status, the city could go ahead with the project without bids.

Hoffman said the city is within $35,000 of reaching $2 million in donations for Phase 2 of the development of Chippewa Riverfront Park. The projects cost is $2.4 million.

The committee also declined an offer to buy city-owned land on Chippewa Crossing Boulevard.

Building update

Tuesday nights City Council meeting included an update by Ryan Companies on the construction of the Mills Fleet Farm Distribution Center in the Lake Wissota Business Park. All of the structures exterior walls are up, said Brock Norman of Ryan Companies.

He said roofing of the distribution center started this week. The entire employee parking lot is now paved, he said.

Were probably two to three weeks ahead of schedule, he said. We are blessed with a great site.

FleetFarm will come into the building and install equipment this fall, and they will receive products in January, Norman said.

Funding for sanitary and water infrastructure from Lake View Drive to County S was approved on a 7-0 vote by the council. Hoffman said the citys Wastewater Department will front the cost, about $400,000. The department will be reimbursed by one of the citys Tax Increment Financing Districts.

The council also approved a beer and wine license along with a dance license for the upcoming Northwoods Blues Festival June 30 and July 1 at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds in Chippewa Falls.

It also approved the same licenses for the Leinenkugel 150th Anniversary Celebration from Aug. 10-12 at the fairgrounds.

All seven council members attended Tuesday nights session.
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They 'consciously uncoupled' in 2014 after 11 years of marriage.

But Gwyneth Paltrow proved she was still on the best of terms with her ex-husband Chris Martin, as he joined her sun-soaked trip on a luxury yacht in Cannes on Tuesday.

The 44-year-old American actress made a series of sartorial displays during the relaxing day onboard the vessel, while the British rocker, 40, opted to spend most of his day shirtless as he frolicked in the ocean with their son Moses, 11.

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Friendly exes: Gwyneth Paltrow , 44, proved she was still on good terms with her ex husband Chris Martin, 40, as he joined her sun-soaked trip on a luxury yacht in Cannes on Tuesday

Despite parting ways three years ago, Gwyneth and Chris are still a solid family unit as they indulged in chilled fun in the sun.

The Shallow Hal actress - who also shares daughter Apple, 12, with Chris, began her day in a sensational pretty floral printed jumpsuit, which cinched in at the waist with tie-up detailing.

The garment flaunted the Iron Man star's slender frame and boasted flared trouser legs that were cropped to just above the ankle.

Despite looking absolutely immaculate, the ensemble proved to be Gwyneth's low-key look, as she was later spotted having her hair styled.

Having fun: The American actress made a series of sartorial displays during the relaxing day on board, while the British rocker opted to spend most of his day shirtless as he frolicked on an inflatable slide

Fashionista: The Shallow Hal actress began her day in a sensational pretty floral printed jumpsuit, which cinched in at the waist with tie-up detailing

Stylish: The garment flaunted the Iron Man star's slender frame and boasted flared trouser legs that were cropped to just above the ankle

Comfy: A pair of chic strappy monochrome sandals, which tied up around her ankles, completed the look

Style queen: The beauty's blonde locks were scraped back into a low ponytail and accessorised with a pair of shades

Clearly keen on amping up the glamour, Gwyneth - who filed for divorce in 2015 which was finalised a year later - changed into a gorgeous white figure-hugging dress, which fell at a stylish ankle-grazing level.

Back on shore, she was spotted swiftly hopping into a car as she headed onto the next endeavour of her day.

Chris meanwhile looked like he was having a much more light-hearted time as he messed around on a giant inflatable with his son.

The Coldplay star looked in high spirits as he donned a pair of swimshorts for the day out on the ocean.

Loving life: Meanwhile, Chris - who 'consciously uncoupled' with Gwyneth in 2014 following eleven years of marriage - messed around on a giant inflatable with his son Moses, 11

Hunk: The Coldplay star looked in high spirits as he donned a pair of swim shorts for the day out on the ocean

Father and son bonding: Chris expertly hung off the edge of the inflatable while his son jumped into the water

Lovely: Moses also looked like he was having a blast as he spent quality time with his father

Moses also looked like he was having a blast as he spent quality time with his father.

Once the boat docked, Chris covered up with black top and matching bottoms as he sped away on a scooter.

Chris has moved on from his marriage to Gwyneth and is now reportedly romancing actress Annabelle Wallis.

Gwyneth has also moved on and has been dating Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk for several years now.

Her appearance in France comes after Gwyneth recently revealed she is planning on giving up acting to focus on her lifestyle company Goop.

In the past: Chris' divorce with Gwyneth was finalised in 2016 after a year of being filed

Mane attraction: Gwyneth was later spotted having her hair styled, while another member of her entourage applied her make-up

Gorgeous: Clearly keen on amping up the glamour, Gwyneth changed into a gorgeous white figure-hugging dress

In good condition: Her centre parted locks were styled super straight and framed her striking features - and carried a bag emblazoned with her name

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 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.

'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.

Keeping each other company: Chris and Gwyneth were even spotted having a chat on board

Not awkward: The pair proved to be very much on friendly terms as they chilled out on the luxury yacht

New flame: Chris has moved on from his marriage to Gwyneth and is now reportedly romancing actress Annabelle Wallis

Happy for each other: His ex Gwyneth has also moved on and has been dating Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk for several years now

The actress comes from Hollywood stock, being the daughter of director and producer Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner.

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.'

Chilling: Once the boat docked, Chris covered up with black top and matching bottoms as he sped away on a scooter

He thought this out well: A pair of funky black and pink lace-up trainers provided the utmost comfort for him
The "deconfliction line" used between US and Russian militaries is under threat of being disconnected by Russia after a US jet shot down a Syrian regime warplane

Russia has said it is suspending a special hotline to communicate with the US-led coalition about operations in Syria, raising the risk of a military mishap.

Here is a quick look at the so-called "deconfliction line" and why it has become so important in Syria.

- What is it? -

The line was established in October 2015 after Russia entered Syria's civil war to prop up President Bashar al-Assad.

Both sides agreed to open a regular communications channel after several instances in which Russian and US planes or drones had come close to each other, raising the nightmare prospect of a mid-air collision or some other dangerous encounter.

The link is just a regular phone line staffed on the US side by a Russian-speaking officer in an operations center at a base in Qatar, and has been used almost daily since its inception.

- What has happened? -

On Sunday, a US jet shot down a regime warplane in northern Syria as it "dropped bombs" on US-backed local forces.

Russia condemned the action and said it would sever the deconfliction line.

Moscow made a similar threat in April after the United States launched a cruise missile attack on a regime air base in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons strike on civilians.

- The implications -

It later emerged that Russia and the United States continued to use the hotline even after Moscow said it was hanging up.

It is possible a similar pattern is emerging in this instance.

As on the previous occasion, the Pentagon will not answer whether it is still using the hotline, deferring questions to the Russians.

"We believe that having a channel where we can de-escalate and understand each other's intentions serves a very good purpose and we are hopeful that we can continue to use it," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said Tuesday.

- Does it work? -

Generally, yes. But the system is not perfect, especially when it comes to trying to pass messages to the Syrian regime.

Sunday's downing of a regime plane and an incident this month when an American jet shot down a pro-regime drone illustrate the line's limitations.

The Russians "don't have operational control over the Syrian forces or the pro-regime militias," Davis noted.
Former Barclays chief executive John Varley has been charged with "conspiracy to commit fraud" over emergency fundraising from Qatar during the financial crisis

Former Barclays chief executive John Varley quit as a director of mining giant Rio Tinto on Wednesday after being charged with conspiracy to commit fraud in Britain.

He was among four senior executives from the bank charged on Tuesday by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) following a five-year investigation over emergency fundraising worth billions of dollars from Qatar during the financial crisis.

The Anglo-Australian miner's chairman Jan du Plessis said he had the "highest regard" for Varley, who has been on the Rio board since 2011.

"I am very grateful for Johns outstanding contribution over the five or so years he has been on the board," 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."

His resignation as a non-executive director and chair of the company's remuneration committee will take immediate effect.

Britain's SFO said the charges he faces relate to Barclays "capital raising arrangements with Qatar Holding LLC and Challenger Universal Ltd, which took place in June and October 2008".

It added that they also involve a US$3-billion loan facility made available to the State of Qatar acting through the country's Ministry of Economy and Finance in November 2008.

Barclays has said it was "considering its position", with the defendants due to appear before London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 3.
UN peacekeepers patrol Bria in early June -- a ceasefire between Christian and Muslim militias broke down on June 20, 2017

At least 40 people were killed in clashes on Tuesday in the Central African Republic, aid and security sources said, the day after the signing of a ceasefire deal.

The violence in the central town of Bria was between members of Christian 'anti-balaka' militias and ex-Seleka fighters, the sources said.

In addition, 43 people were injured as of 2100 GMT, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

The violence erupted just a day after the CAR government and rebel groups agreed to an immediate ceasefire, a deal brokered by the Catholic community Sant'Egidio in five days of negotiations in 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 can't allow an attack to happen without reacting," said 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, which had signed Monday's peace accord.

Sporadic fighting has continued since Saturday between Christian 'anti-balaka' militias and the FPRC after its leader Hamad Issa was killed in the town, according to several sources.

"We know that much remains to be done. It is vital that the ceasefire agreed to by the parties is carried out immediately," said UN special representative on CAR, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga.

Battling between armed groups in the Bria area from May 15 to 18 left five people dead, 29 wounded and more than 40,000 others displaced, according to the UN.

Clashes 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 UN's humanitarian coordination agency OCHA.
A Syrian man waters plants near an iron cart loaded with solar panels in the rebel-held town of Douma, on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, on June 7, 2017

Solar panels on wheels make for a strange sight on the streets of Syria's besieged Douma, but the makeshift generator is helping local residents secure water.

Douma lies outside the capital Damascus, in the rebel stronghold of Eastern Ghouta, and has been under a suffocating government siege since 2013.

Residents have had no electricity for four years, relying instead on generators for everything from lighting to refrigeration.

But the siege also means generator fuel is expensive and increasingly rare, which is where the solar panel generator comes in.

It trundles around the city, powering the water pumps residents use to draw supply from underground wells, and helping fill the electricity supply gap.

"The most important thing for a family is to secure water. A house without water is a house without life," said Abu Mohammad Ahmad, an engineer and local council member who supervises the project.

The generator is a simple set-up, just 12 solar panels and six batteries mounted on an iron cart.

The panels each have a capacity of 100 watts a day, and are also used to power the batteries, which serve as a back-up on days when the panel supply is low.

The project supplies local schools, as well as mosques and communal water tanks.

As the cart is pushed and pulled to its next destination, residents weave around it on bicycles, which have become a favoured mode of transport in the city because of the fuel shortages.

Arriving at a blue communal water tank, one of the generator's operators unfurls a cord from the device and connects it to an electric pump.

Soon the chug of the pump is accompanied by the splashing of water filling up the tank.

- A boon for locals -

A mobile solar generator, here seen on June 7, 2017, is providing power to schools and mosques in Syria's rebel-held town of Douma

Local residents arrive with buckets and big plastic bottles to fill up.

Nearby stands Abu Akram, 52, who once owned a minimarket but lost his livelihood when the shop was destroyed in bombardment.

"This is the most successful project in the Ghouta region," he told AFP over the gush of water.

"We used to draw water by using generators, but we're besieged, and fuel is hard to find and very expensive," he added.

He and his neighbours would sometimes club together to buy a single litre of fuel so they could pump up enough water to fill a tank.

"But this project is free and it has helped us a lot," he said.

The project grew out of the failure of a previous local council initiative, under which 13 schools were provided with solar panels.

"Some of the panels were stolen, so we ended up removing them and putting them in storage," said Ahmad, as an employee cleaned the panels behind him.

When the idea was born for a mobile solar generator, they were dug out of storage and strapped to the iron cart, which was built out of the remains of vehicles damaged in bombardment.

A single panel costs $200 and each battery $240, but the set-up also requires an inverter device that costs around $600.

"The more solar panels we could have, the better," said Ahmad, adding that the cart was designed to carry up to 24.

- 'God will reward them' -

Ahmad would like to see the project which began about a month ago expanded to help Douma's approximately 50,000 residents, though costs and availability so far have made it impossible.

"If we get the capacity, we have plans for between 20 and 50 vehicles, which would cover 22 neighbourhoods and secure about 70 percent of the city's water needs," he said.

At a local school, headmaster Bashar, 54, describes the project as "a major improvement".

"Before we used to run the generator and it made so much noise," he said, standing by a wall with a tree painted on it.

"It was really exhausting. Sometimes the generator would work, sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes we'd have fuel, and other times not."

"Now the solar panel cart comes in and we fill up the water tank, and no one even knows it's here. It's great."

At a local mosque, Abu Mohammad Badran, who calls believers to prayer, is delighted by the project.

Muslims perform ablutions before prayer and mosques are usually outfitted with taps to allow them to do so.

"We were really struggling to have water in the mosque. It was so expensive," he said.

During the holy month of "Ramadan we need even more, because the number of people coming to pray is much greater," he added.

"If they fill us up with enough water for a day or two, God will reward them."
Philippine troops have been fighting militants linked to the Islamic State group in Marawi city for over a month

Hundreds of gunmen attacked troops in a southern Philippine village on Wednesday in a hit-and-run assault that may have been intended to help Islamist militants engaged in a nearby urban war, authorities said.

Five civilians who were used as human shields were missing, and soldiers were pursuing the assailants who had quickly retreated, military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla told reporters in Manila.

Padilla said the gunmen attacked a military outpost at daybreak in Pigkawayan, a farming town about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Marawi city where fighters linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been battling troops for a month.

The attack could be a diversionary tactic to ease pressure on the militants in Marawi, local police commander Chief Inspector Realan Mamon said on radio.

Padilla said the attackers belonged to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), one of four armed groups in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao that analysts say have pledged allegiance to IS.

He said the gunmen attacked the lightly defended outpost, then exchanged fire with troops.

"It's already resolved. The enemy has withdrawn... they failed," Padilla said, adding that troops were in pursuit of the militants.

Local authorities initially reported the gunmen had occupied a school before students arrived.

But Padilla made no mention of any incident at the school.

The area around Pigkawayan is made up of marshlands, mountains and farmlands.

Padilla said there were no confirmed casualties but the military had yet to locate the five people initially used as human shields.

Pigkawayan town mayor Eliseo Garsesa said about 200 gunmen were involved, while a police report said there were about 300.

Padilla said the BIFF, a small insurgent group believed to have just a few hundred fighters, had seemingly sought to capitalise on the military being focused on the Marawi war.

"By and large they are just taking advantage... of the situation that we have a very slightly defended outpost and that they think our forces are elsewhere in the province," Padilla said.

- Hardline groups -

An assault on Marawi in the Philippines by fighters flying the IS flag has ignited an unprecedented urban war and claimed hundreds of lives

Muslim rebels have been fighting for more than four decades for an independent or autonomous region in the south of the mainly Catholic nation, with the conflict claiming more than 120,000 lives.

The major rebel organisations have signed, or are pursuing, peace deals with the government, but small hardline groups such as the BIFF have vowed to continue fighting.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across the southern region of Mindanao on May 23 immediately after fighters flying the IS flag rampaged through Marawi.

Their assault on Marawi ignited an unprecedented urban war that has claimed hundreds of lives and which Duterte has warned is part of an IS campaign to establish a base in Mindanao.

The fighting has left Marawi, the most important Muslim city in the Philippines, largely in ruins.

The militants involved in the Marawi fighting are mostly from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf organisations, which have united with the BIFF under the IS umbrella, according to the government.

The military has said foreign fighters, including those from Chechnya, Indonesia and Malaysia, have also joined the Marawi conflict.

IS has ambitions of setting up a caliphate in Southeast Asia -- home to largely Muslim nations like Indonesia and Malaysia -- as the group loses territory in Iraq and Syria.

Garsesa, the town mayor, said local authorities had received text messages over the past several days about an attack somewhere in the area.

The BIFF was blamed for attacking at least nine Mindanao towns in 2008, with the assaults claiming about 400 lives and forcing 600,000 people to flee their homes.
Plans by President Patrice Talon to sell off state assets are causing ructions in Benin, where critics accuse him of "uncontrolled privitasation"

Moves to sell off state assets by Benin's businessman-turned-president Patrice Talon are causing widespread anger, with critics accusing him of "uncontrolled privatisation".

The 59-year-old known as "the cotton king" was elected in March last year on a promise to kick-start the economy, which is largely based on farming.

But his liberal reforms have met opposition in the tiny West African nation, which borders giant neighbours Nigeria to the east and Niger to the north.

The latest dispute is the government's decision to hand over the running of the port in the country's economic hub, Cotonou, to a private company.

Talon's office said the move "aims at positioning the Port of Cotonou as a reference model in the sub-region, which entails modernisation work to guarantee better performance".

The presidency told AFP in an email that the private company will have to fulfil a remit under the supervision of the ministry of transport.

- Free trade -

The port in Cotonou is the main driver of Benin's economy and brings in some 80 percent of the country's tax revenue.

In recent years it has undergone several changes aimed at improving productivity, such as extending its wharves and installing modern cargo handling equipment.

But it struggles to compete with bigger ports such as Lagos in Nigeria, Abidjan in Ivory Coast or Cameroon's Douala, which have also modernised.

As a result, Cotonou has seen goods traffic fall from 10.5 million tonnes in 2014 to 8.7 million tonnes in 2016.

Benjamin Steck, a specialist in west African seaports, said Talon "embodies a new generation of African heads of state who share the concept of economic free trade".

That generation understands that multinationals such as the French group Bollore, which has interests in ports across francophone Africa, "has the capital, the worldwide networks and skills" to make infrastructure more competitive, said Steck.

Huge investment is needed for that but countries themselves do not have the capital, added Steck, from the university of Le Havre, in northern France.

Benin's presidency meanwhile maintains its ports scheme "is neither a privatisation nor a concession" but unions have voiced fears about their jobs.

Last week they staged a warning strike against what they called "hidden privatisation". Another protest is planned for Thursday to try to get the government to back down.

- Conflict of interest -

In the health sector, workers at the CNHU hospital in Cotonou staged a rally on June 8 against the risk of privatising the university medical centre.

Elsewhere, lawmakers and the opposition media have for months condemned the risk of conflict of interest with the head of state's former business activities.

The magazine Forbes Africa estimated Talon's fortune in 2015 at $400 million.

Talon has taken a number of decisions in the cotton industry which made him rich and which created tensions with his predecessor Thomas Boni Yayi.

Boni Yayi in 2012 even accused Talon of wanting to poison him, forcing him to flee the country for nearly three years until he was pardoned.

Since coming to power, Talon has lifted state interests in several factories run by the Society for the Development of Cotton (SODECO), of which he was the majority shareholder.

He has delegated management of its subsidiary to the private sector and wound up public companies such as SONATRA, which promoted cotton, and the ONASA national food security firm.

The aim now is "the withdrawal of the state from the productive sector", he announced at a cabinet meeting on November 30 last year.

- Monopolise public assets -

The FSP opposition and civil society grouping has called for protests in Cotonou on Thursday against what it says is "uncontrolled privatisation" and "arbitrary redundancies" that have left thousands of people unemployed.

They accuses the government of wanting to "monopolise public assets for its own profit".

Opposition figures also highlight the case of the import verification programme (PVI), which involves checks on the value of goods coming into Benin via the Cotonou port.

The firm Benin Control, where Talon headed the board of directors, was awarded the running of the scheme in 2011 but Boni Yayi stopped it when the pair fell out.

Shortly after Talon's election in 2016, the contract was resumed.

Talon, who makes few public statements, has rejected any suggestion of cronyism in rare press interviews.

He maintains he has stepped back from companies in which he was involved.
A month of combat in a southern Philippine city has injured hundreds, while raising fears the Philippines has suddenly become a favourite new battleground for IS

Inside the "Heroes' Ward" at a hospital in the Philippine capital, wounded soldiers read the Bible and recount horror stories of an unprecedented urban war against fighters linked to the Islamic State group.

A month of combat in the southern city of Marawi has claimed the lives of 62 troops and injured hundreds of others, while raising fears the Philippines has suddenly become a favourite new battleground for IS.

At the crowded Manila hospital ward, soldiers give harrowing examples of how the Philippine military -- with little experience in urban warfare -- were caught unprepared for their enemy's tactics and brutality in house-to-house combat.

Marine Sergeant Sandy Benitez said he survived a battle that cost 13 other troops their lives by crawling for nearly five hours along a short stretch of street while trading fire with snipers, after a rocket-propelled grenade pierced his left foot.

Evacuated residents are helped by military troopers disembark from a military vehicle shortly after arriving at a processing center near a hospital in Marawi, on southern Philippine island of Mindanao, on June 21, 2017

"That was the worst firefight I've ever been in," Benitez, a 13-year veteran who had previously battled Islamist militants on remote and mountainous southern islands, told AFP.

"Some of my wounded colleagues, they were losing hope and getting rattled. Some were crying."

Benitez, 34, said he was mostly calm throughout the ordeal, except for when he watched a rocket-propelled grenade kill one of his friends who had enlisted with him.

"When you see your classmate die, sir, you can't help but shed a tear," he said.

Benitez said his unit had been deployed in the evening to try and capture one of the militants' strongholds, supposedly with the advantage of night vision goggles.

Philippine soldiers patrol a lake near the frontline in Marawi, on the southern island of Mindanao, on June 19, 2017

"But they threw gasoline at us, molotov bombs. They created fires, so they had visual on us as well," he said.

The Philippine military has decades of experience battling Islamic militants and communist rebels, with those conflicts claiming tens of thousands of lives.

But those wars have been largely waged in rural and mountainous settings.

The nation's military chiefs and frontline troops such as Benitez say they have relatively little experience in the type of fighting being waged in Marawi, a city of 200,000 residents.

- Learning on the job -

Philippines Marine Sergeant Sandy Benitez, wounded in the ongoing conflict with Islamist militants in the south, says he survived a battle by crawling nearly five hours along a street

It began when hundreds of militants rampaged through Marawi, the most important Islamic city in the mainly Catholic Philippines, on May 23, taking civilians hostage and then posting images online of Christians they said had been executed.

They have since defied a relentless, US-backed bombing campaign that has seen entire districts destroyed, with their snipers based in homes and mosques continuing to pick off ground forces, and civilians being used as human shields.

"If the fight was held in a mountain without its share of civilians roaming around the battleground it would have been very simple," national military spokesman Restituto Padilla told reporters last week.

A military commander overseeing the battle in Marawi who has fought many wars in the southern region of Mindanao, but who asked not to be named to speak candidly, said most troops were learning on the job.

"We have a shallow pool of highly trained people for this specific situation," the commander told AFP, as he described soldiers spending two days trying unsuccessfully to clear a single house and threats such as trip-wire bombs.

Authorities say the militants are mainly from various small local hardline groups opposed to peace agreements that the main Muslim rebel organisations are pursuing, and that they have united behind IS.

Foreign fighters from places such as Chechnya and Libya have also joined, urged on by IS propaganda messages to descend on the Philippines, according to the military.

Soldiers have reported a new-found steel in their enemy in Marawi, with the militants staying and fighting for longer compared with previous battles in which fighters used more traditional guerrilla tactics and escaped quickly after carrying out attacks.

At the military hospital in Manila, Army Corporal Benie Flores, 30, was sitting on a bed with his left shin snapped in two from a sniper bullet that hit him in the third day of the conflict.

Flores said he had never been injured during his seven years as a soldier, which included many battles against the Abu Sayyaf, a US-listed terrorist group that is based on Basilan -- one of the remote southern islands made up mostly of mountains and jungles.

"The difference is Basilan is full of trees while Marawi is full of rooms and civilians," he said.
Hulking excavators claw at riverbanks on Indonesia's Sumatra island in the hunt for gold, transforming what was once a rural idyll into a scarred, pitted moonscape.

It is one of a huge number of illegal gold mines that have sprung up across the resource-rich archipelago as the price of the precious metal has soared, luring people in rural areas to give up jobs in traditional industries.

Now authorities in Sumatra's Jambi province, which has one of the biggest concentrations of illegal mining sites in Indonesia, have started a determined fightback, combining a crackdown with attempts at regulation.

Declines in the price of rubber, which provided a livelihood for many in the area who had worked on plantations tapping the commodity, has driven many locals to more lucrative -- and dangerous -- gold mining.

Iwan, a 43-year-old who works at an illegal site by the Tabir river, left his job on a rubber plantation to become a gold miner two years ago but said life was still difficult.

"This year has been tough because there are days when we don't find any gold," the miner, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.

"But it's still better than being a rubber farmer because rubber is very cheap nowadays."

The illicit industry in Jambi started off in a handful of places with small-time prospectors panning for gold, but has exploded to about 100 sites in recent years.

With authorities apparently doing little to stop the boom in its early years, miners became increasingly bold and began openly using excavators.

Mining in the province is usually carried out at open sites next to rivers, where workers dig shallow pits in the hunt for gold deposits that typically build up next to waterways.

- Miners' lives at risk -

In Jambi, the wildlife-filled jungles have been degraded by the expansion of mines and plantations to devastating effect.

But it is not just the environment that is suffering, miners are putting their lives at risk.

Burning mercury mixed with raw ore to extract gold is common, but can cause serious neurological damage. Miners sometimes develop problems such as tremors and persistent coughing from inhaling the fumes.

In recent months, authorities have stepped up their fight back.

Police have raided mines, authorities have initiated programmes to offer training in farming techniques in a bid to lure workers away from prospecting, and have appointed village heads who are firmly against the practice.

Authorities in Sumatra's Jambi province, which has one of the biggest concentrations of illegal mining sites in Indonesia, have started a determined fightback, combining a crackdown with attempts at regulation.

But officials quickly realised that cracking down alone was not the solution. They are also taking steps to regulate the industry by offering would-be miners a route to working legally.

Under a plan introduced by the local government in December, individual miners and small groups can apply to open up a pit in a "People's Mining Area".

Workers can mine in an approved area after obtaining a permit, said Karel Ibnu Suratno, a senior official from the Jambi government.

He said authorities would be able to oversee the work, meaning that environmental damage would be limited, and local government coffers would get a boost as miners would have to pay tax on the gold they find.

The scheme "is meant to improve people's lives" by ensuring the miners themselves get the profits, rather than the wealthy individuals providing financial backing for the sites who usually remain in the shadows, said Suratno.

"Most of them don't earn much but mining is the only source of income they have," he added.

- 'All I can do' -

The government is facing an uphill struggle to clamp down on the industry however. Since the introduction of the "People's Mining Area" initiative, only one area has successfully applied for a permit.

Authorities have sometimes faced retaliation when they attempt to crack down.

The government is facing an uphill struggle to clamp down on the industry however. Since the introduction of the "People's Mining Area" initiative, only one area has successfully applied for a permit.

After some people allegedly involved in trading illegally-mined gold were arrested in Jambi last year, the local police station was set on fire in a suspected revenge attack.

Activists believe that going after the miners themselves does not really tackle the root cause of the problem, and authorities need to catch the wealthy financiers.

"It's hard to stop illegal mining here as long as the people who finance it are not known, and have not been caught," said a local environmental activist, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

But campaigners say perhaps the biggest challenge is that so many in an area with few employment opportunities have come to rely on illegal gold mining.

"This is all I can do to earn a living," said miner Iwan.
As Hong Kong prepares to mark 20 years since the handover those who left before 1997, fearful of life under Beijing, are reflecting on their decision to abandon the home they loved.

In the years leading up to the return of Hong Kong to China by Britain in 1997, thousands of residents fearful of the future under Beijing jumped ship to start a new life abroad.

As the semi-autonomous city prepares to mark 20 years since the handover and fears grow that China is tightening its grip, those who left are reflecting on their decision to abandon the home they loved.

Philip Fok moved to Australia in 1992 with his wife and two children because he felt unsure of what would happen after July 1 1997.

Fok says China's history under the Communist Party, including the Cultural Revolution which saw purges of political opponents in the 1960s and 1970s and the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, played on people's minds.

Philip Fok moved from Hong Kong to Australia in 1992 with his wife and two children because he felt unsure of what would happen after the handover back to China on July 1 1997.

Working as a mime artist at the time, he felt particularly vulnerable because of his need for freedom of expression.

"To be free, to the artist, is very important," the 69-year-old explains.

Before he emigrated, he performed a mime show at Hong Kong's City Hall theatre called: "The night before and after," dealing with pre-handover uncertainty.

Fok went to Sydney where he already had relatives, but says life was hard -- he struggled to get a visa, had very little English and lived on benefits for two years.

However, he eventually managed to set up a successful painting studio, which he ran until last year, and hosts a weekly Cantonese radio show in Sydney's north west, where he lives.

Fok says his worst fears for Hong Kong have not materialised and argues the city is freer now than in colonial times.

But he has no regrets about leaving.

Philip Fok was a mime artist in his youth in Hong Kong, he fled to Sydney with his family in the early 1990s fearing freedom of expression would be restricted when Hong Kong changed from British to China rule.

"In Australia nobody cares about your dress, nobody cares about your money," he says, adding that artists there are held in higher regard.

In contrast to the densely packed expensive high-rises of Hong Kong, Fok lives in a four-bedroom house and is proud of the vegetable patch in his backyard.

"If I have space I can think. If I have no space I can't think. I love Australia like that," he muses.

- 'Better to leave' -

There are no official emigration figures, but government estimates show hundreds of thousands leaving Hong Kong between 1990 and 1997, with the annual figure hitting 61,700 in 1990 and peaking at 66,200 in 1992.

Vancouver has a thriving Cantonese community and overall there are some 500,000 people of Hong Kong descent now living in Canada, according to government figures.

Australia, Canada and the United States were the top destinations and are still home to thriving Cantonese communities.

Whilst emigration has dropped dramatically, numbers have recently risen again, from 6,900 in 2014 -- the year of major pro-democracy rallies -- to 7,600 in 2016.

Herman Fu, 58, believes the political divisions and lack of opportunities for young people, with increased competition for jobs and salaries outpaced by the cost of living, make the situation "worse than he thought" it would be when he left.

He moved to Toronto in 1987 with his wife and two-year-old son, launching a window covering business, dealing in curtains, blinds and shutters.

Fu originally planned to return once he had gained Canadian citizenship.

But the Tiananmen crackdown changed his mind.

"My idea of the Chinese government was too optimistic and I had to rethink my decision of going back," he says.

Vancouver has a dedicated China Town and Canada overall has been a popular choice for those emigrating from Hong Kong. The US and Australia are also popular destinations.

As Hong Kong boomed in the 90s, Fu felt pangs of regret as his friends rose through the ranks at their companies, but he believes overall the standard of living is better in Canada.

"I'm now living in a 3,600 square feet (330 sq m) house plus the basement, with a lawn. You can't get a lawn unless you're Li Ka-shing in Hong Kong," he explains, referring to the city's richest tycoon.

Fu insists he still loves Hong Kong as the place of his birth but argues it may be better for youngsters to move.

He adds: "If they can't survive in their environment, or they find it hard to improve themselves, better to leave."

- Next generation -

Even for the children of Hong Kong's emigres, there is still a bond with the city.

Justin Fung, 37, was born and raised in Vancouver after his parents were among the first wave of Hong Kongers to move there.

"As a father with a young child at home, I don't know if I'd want her growing up in that system," Justin Fung tells AFP of his fears for Hong Kong's future. His parents were among the first wave to leave for Canada prior to handover.

They went to study in the late 1960s and 70s and decided to stay. Fung says the prospect of a change in China's relations with Hong Kong was causing "rumblings" even back then.

The vast majority of his high school were ethnic Chinese students and there was always easy access to Cantonese food and culture.

Fung refers to Hong Kong as "back home" and spent two years living and working in the city.

But as the handover anniversary looms, he says he would hesitate to relocate permanently as concerns grow over Beijing interference.

He says: "For myself as a father with a young child at home, I don't know if I'd want her growing up in that system."

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MENOMONIE  The Minneapolis man accused in the beating death of a UW-Stout student from Saudi Arabia was in court Monday morning for a status conference.

In custody in the Dunn County Jail, Cullen M. Osburn, 27, faces charges of felony murder and aggravated battery in an altercation involving Hussain Saeed Alnahdi that took place outside a pizza restaurant in downtown Menomonie in the early morning hours of Oct. 30, 2016. Alnahdi died in an Eau Claire hospital as a result of traumatic brain injuries the following day.

Osburns attorney, Christopher Zipko of St. Paul, asked Dunn County Judge Rod Smeltzer for an evidentiary hearing to be scheduled so that he can serve several subpoenas he has prepared to serve on University of Wisconsin-Stout for the student records of several witnesses.

Granting Zipkos request, Smeltzer set a hearing date for Thursday, July 27, with motions to be received by July 10.

Denied

Zipko also asked that the $25,000 cash bond  reduced in April from $75,000  on which Osburn is currently being held be transferred to a signature bond to allow his clients release from the Dunn County Jail where Osburn has been incarcerated since January.

Concerned about an increase in the investigation costs in trying to track down witnesses now that school is out, Zipko pointed out that his client has limited resources. The fact, though, is that weve been here for five months and just now received the police reports with the relevant contact information, the attorney said. My clients resources are limited, and with the waiver of extradition, hes just trying to get back to solid footing.

Noting Osburns lack of ties to the community and the seriousness of the charges against him, Dunn County District Attorney Andrea Nodolf objected. I dont see any new circumstances justifying that motion, she said. Mr. Osburn has a significant criminal history which shows a pattern of failing to follow court orders. ... He left the scene immediately after the incident, cut all ties with law enforcement. ... Its difficult when crossing state lines with additional court orders. The state is also concerned of incentive to flee, given the serious charges. Before denying Zipkos request, Judge Smeltzer pointed out that in April, he significantly reduced the cash bond from $75,000 to $25,000.

About the case

During a preliminary hearing on April 20, Menomonie Police Department Kelly Pollock testified Alnahdis blood was drawn at the hospital, showing a 0.284 percent blood alcohol content.

Pollock said that a female witness heading eastbound on Main Street passed between Alnahdi and an unknown white male on sidewalk in front of Toppers Pizza around 2 a.m. on Oct. 30. She stopped and turned around when she heard yelling behind her.

Pollock said the woman told her she saw Alnahdi put his hands up in the air in a gesture that indicated he did not want to have any problems, then saw the unknown man hit Alnahdi once and believed he tried to hit Alnahdi a second time.

She saw him [Alnahdi] fall backwards, Pollock said. She saw his head strike the side of the building.

Describing the other man, Pollock said the woman saw him running westbound down Main Street.

Pollock also attended the autopsy of Alnahdis body at UW-Madison at which Dr. Michael Steier, forensic pathologist, found that Alnahdi sustained a skull fracture on the right side of the back of his head and determined the cause of death to be from a traumatic brain injury.

He said it required a great deal of force similar to an automobile accident or a fall from a higher story building, Pollock said.

Deonte L. Hughes, Osburns brother, testified he was inside Toppers Pizza with his sister, Mariah Hughes, and friends Joshua Sims and William Hall. As they waited for their pizza order, Hughes wondered where Osburn was, and, looking through the window, saw him outside being grabbed by the collar by Alnahdi and the two men in an altercation.

Hughes said he saw that his brothers necklace had been ripped off, but did not remember witnessing Osburn make contact with Alnahdi, but said he saw his brothers arm swing and saw Alnahdi on the ground as he was pulling Osburn away.

Sims also testified that he, too, saw Alnahdi grab Osburns collar, but did not see Osburn hit Alnahdi from inside the restaurant.

I came out when the dude was falling, Sims said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) rolled out his mat to celebrate International Yoga Day, saying the traditional practice has connected the world with India

Yoga has connected the world with India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday, as he rolled out his mat along with millions of others across the globe to celebrate the ancient practice.

Enthusiasts across India rose at the crack of dawn, many braving monsoon showers, to mark the third International Yoga Day.

Celebrity yoga guru Baba Ramdev claimed to have set a new world record for the largest yoga session by gathering more than 300,000 practitioners at an open-air ground in the western city of Ahmedabad.

Officials from Guinness World Records were checking data from the event, but if confirmed, the numbers easily beat the previous record set two years ago in New Delhi with 36,000 participants.

This year, police in New Delhi closed roads to make room for a mass yoga session held amid tight security in the heart of the capital.

"When all of us, at the same time, do the same movements, it feels special. The energy is different," said 24-year-old Abhi Aggarwal as he waited with his parents for the session to start.

India's prime minister, a teetotal vegetarian who practises yoga daily, led some 50,000 people in an early-morning session in Lucknow, the capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

"Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, or culture are now connecting to India through yoga," Modi said in an address to the crowd.

"Yoga connects body, mind and soul. It is playing a big role in bringing the world together too," he said after performing various poses.

- Soft power -

Modi, who credits his strict yoga regime for his ability to work long hours on little sleep, has been spearheading an initiative to reclaim the practice as an historic part of Indian culture since his Hindu nationalist government came to power in 2014.

He has set up a ministry dedicated to promoting yoga and other traditional practices and persuaded the United Nations to create a dedicated International Yoga Day, a move seen as a triumph of soft power.

Indian scholars believe yoga dates back 5,000 years, based on archaeological evidence of poses found inscribed on stones and references to Yogic teachings in the ancient Hindu scriptures of the Vedas.

On Wednesday the UN headquarters in New York lit up with images of poses, among the events being held across more than 100 countries to mark the third International Yoga Day.

From China's Great Wall to the London Eye, yoga fans performed 'asanas', or poses, at major landmarks.

But not everyone was enthusiastic -- an influential hardline Islamist group in Bangladesh called for Muslims to boycott a yoga event organised by the Indian High Commission (embassy).

Yoga events are being held across more than 100 countries this week to mark the third International Yoga Day

Hundreds of officers were deployed at the national stadium, where the three-hour event was held, after Hefazat-e-Islam said yoga was un-Islamic.

Across India, schoolchildren, soldiers, politicians and bureaucrats bent and twisted their bodies on colourful mats at mass outdoor sessions.

In the southern city of Bangalore 98-year-old American Tao Porchon-Lynch, the world's oldest yoga teacher according to Guinness World Records, led a mass session.

Television footage showed Indian soldiers performing yoga in their military overalls in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, at a height of 18,000 feet (5,500 metres).

Vishnudeo Vishwakarma,a retired former Air India employee, said he began each day with a 5am yoga session.

"If you buy a machine and don't operate it... after one year, the machine will not run. Your body is like that," the 66-year-old told AFP in Delhi. "Your joints and muscles will be stuck up."
Directors Chris Miller (L) and Phil Lord attend a movie premiere in Westwood, California

A spinoff movie of the "Star Wars" franchise about the early life of smuggler and crack pilot Han Solo has lost its two directors, the production company behind the project said on Tuesday.

Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller left the project due to creative differences, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said.

Lord and Miller "are talented filmmakers who have assembled an incredible cast and crew, but it's become clear that we had different creative visions on this film, and we've decided to part ways," Kennedy said.

"A new director will be announced soon," said Kennedy, who is also the film's producer.

In a statement, Lord and Miller also cited "creative differences".

"Unfortunately, our vision and process weren't aligned with our partners on this project. We normally aren't fans of the phrase 'creative differences' but for once this cliche is true," they said.

"We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew," they added.

The surprise announcement came as filming is underway at London's Pinewood Studios for the untitled movie, which is scheduled to come out several months ahead of "Star Wars: Episode VIII" in December 2018.

- 'Culture clash' -

Variety magazine -- which said the directors had been fired -- cited an anonymous source saying that the directors chafed at Kennedy's tight control on the set.

"It was a culture clash from day one," the source told Variety. "She didn't even like the way they folded their socks."

"Kathy, her team and [writer/producer] Larry Kasdan have been doing it their way for a very long time. They know how the cheese is made and that's how they want it made," the source said. "It became a very polarizing set.

In the movie, Alden Ehrenreich stars as Solo, a role that made Harrison Ford a Hollywood superstar in the original 1977 movie and its sequels.

The movie also stars Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Emilia Clarke and Donald Glover as Solo's pal Lando Calrissian.

The film is set in the period before the original 1977 movie, which was released as "Star Wars" but was later retitled "Episode IV: A New Hope."

This is the second of a series of standalone films that began with "Rogue One," released in December, which earned $1 billion worldwide.

Lord and Miller took over the Han Solo directing job after co-directing the box-office hits "The Lego Movie" and both "21 Jump Street" and "22 Jump Street."

Lucasfilm, founded by filmmaker George Lucas, is the production company behind the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" franchises. It was bought by Disney in 2012.
Eleven men go on trial over the gruesome discovery of 71 migrants who had died inside an abandoned truck in Austria nearly two years ago

Eleven men went on trial on Wednesday over the deaths of 71 migrants found in an abandoned truck in Austria nearly two years ago, in one of the most disturbing cases marking Europe's migration crisis.

The gruesome discovery of 59 men, eight women and four children crammed inside a refrigerated lorry near the Hungarian border in August 2015 sparked international revulsion.

It also prompted countries along the now-shut western Balkan migrant route to open their borders to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty, mainly in the Middle East.

The trial is being held in the southern Hungarian town of Kecskemet because authorities determined that the migrants had died in Hungary on their way to Germany.

Surrounded by heavily armed and masked police, the defendants -- 10 Bulgarians, one Afghan and one Lebanese national -- entered the courtroom packed with foreign journalists on Wednesday morning.

The Afghan, identified as 30-year-old Samsoor L. and thought to the ringleader, arrived first and flashed a smile at the crowd.

He held a sign in Pashto reading: "I am neither a killer, nor an oppressor... The attorney general is a big liar."

While all are accused of human trafficking and torture, four including the Afghan have also been charged with "homicide with particular cruelty" and face life imprisonment.

One suspect remains at large and will be tried in absentia, with verdicts expected by the end of the year.

The accused allegedly belonged to a gang that smuggled more than 1,200 people into western Europe at the height of the continent's migration crisis.

According to prosecutors, refugees were "often carried in closed, dark and airless vans unsuitable for passenger transport, in crowded, inhuman, excruciating conditions."

In the case of the 71 asylum seekers, post-mortem examinations revealed they had "suffocated in horrendous conditions" shortly after being picked up near the Serbian-Hungarian border.

All except one have been identified. Most were repatriated to their home countries, while a dozen are buried at a Muslim cemetery in Vienna.

No relatives were present at Wednesday's trial launch.

- 'Screaming the whole time' -

Some 59,000 pages of evidence have been gathered detailing the horror cargo on the side of the A4 motorway in Burgenland state on August 27, 2015.

Authorities displayed photos of suspected human traffickers arrested over the deaths of 71 refugees found squashed inside a 14-square-metre (150-square-foot) cargo container

An Austrian police patrol had spotted the deserted truck and noticed liquid dripping from the vehicle -- decomposing body fluids, as it would later emerge.

Inside, officers discovered a sea of tangled limbs squashed into a 14-square-metre (150-square-feet) cargo container.

Among the corpses was a baby girl, not even a year old.

Investigations showed that the victims -- all from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- had been dead for two days.

The extent of their ordeal was revealed in recently released transcripts of intercepted mobile phone conversations between the smugglers.

"They are screaming the whole time, you can't imagine what's happening here," the Bulgarian driver, named as 26-year-old Ivajlo S., is quoted as saying in the transcripts obtained by German media.

The suspected Afghan boss orders him to ignore the suffocating people and keep on driving: "If they die... drop them off in a forest in Germany."

- No remorse -

German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that Hungarian police had intercepted the chats as part of an ongoing probe into the smuggling ring and failed to act.

Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter last week rejected the allegations as "unfounded", saying the conversations had not been listened to in real time but were recorded for later translation.

Investigators allege that the suspects showed no signs of remorse despite knowing that the migrants had died.

An Afghan suspect holds a sign protesting his innocence as a trial opens for those charged with the deaths of 71 migrants in 2015

A day after the death truck discovery, the gang had loaded another 67 migrants into a refrigerator lorry and again driven to Austria.

"This time the migrants could kick the door of the load area open, thus no one had died," according to prosecutors.

The trial is expected to continue for the rest of the week.
South Sudanese at the Al-Nimir refugee camp in South Sudan, where six million people are now struggling to find food each day, UN aid agencies say

A famine that was declared in parts of South Sudan four months ago is over, UN aid agencies said Wednesday, but extreme hunger has increased to its highest levels ever across the war-torn country.

"The accepted technical definition of famine no longer applies in former Unity State's Leer and Mayandit counties where famine was declared in February," according to a joint statement from the UN children's agency UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

The manmade famine, due to three years of conflict, has affected 100,000 people.

The term famine is used according to a globally agreed scale determined by levels of access to food, acute malnutrition and daily deaths due to hunger.

But while the famine has eased, the number of people struggling to find food each day has grown to six million from 4.9 million in February, in what the agencies said was the "highest level of food insecurity ever experienced in South Sudan."

And the number of people facing emergency levels of hunger -- one step below famine -- has increased to 1.7 million from one million in February.

"The crisis is not over. We are merely keeping people alive but far too many face extreme hunger on the edge of a cliff," said the FAO's director of emergencies Dominique Burgeon.

"The only way to stop this desperate situation is to stop the conflict, ensure unimpeded access and enable people to resume their livelihoods."

South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, was plunged into civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him.

The violence -- initially between ethnic Dinka supporters of Kiir and ethnic Nuer supporters of Machar -- has since spread to other parts of the country, engulfing other ethnic groups.

The United Nations has warned of potential genocide and ethnic cleansing in the country, where there seems to be no prospect of peace in sight.

Farming communities have been driven from their homes, leaving fields unharvested and markets disrupted, and food prices have soared.

More than 3.5 million people have been displaced by the conflict, and tens of thousands killed.
Uber co-founder and chief executive Travis Kalanick has stepped down from his job after pressure from shareholders

Uber's embattled chief executive Travis Kalanick has resigned, yielding to pressure from investors seeking to clean up a toxic corporate culture at the fast-growing ridesharing group.

Kalanick had announced an indefinite leave of absence a week earlier following the release of a report on Uber's workplace troubles by former US attorney general Eric Holder.

His departure, announced late Tuesday, caps a rocky period for the global ridesharing giant, which has been roiled by disturbing reports of a cutthroat workplace culture, harassment, discrimination and questionable business tactics to thwart rivals.

"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," Kalanick said in a statement.

The Uber board of directors welcomed the "bold decision," say it marked a "sign of his devotion and love for Uber."

Kalanick, who has been the driving force behind Uber's massive global expansion and whose brash style had made him a liability, will remain on the board with a large voting stake in the company, whose $68 billion valuation makes it the world's largest venture-backed startup.

The pioneering company has been facing pressure to rein in a no-holds-barred management style led by Kalanick and to reform its work environment.

Investors had been growing impatient with the 40-year-old Kalanick despite a pledge to implement reforms.

In a letter, titled "Moving Uber Forward," key investors told Kalanick that he must immediately leave as part of a necessary change in leadership, The New York Times reported.

The New York Post, citing unnamed sources, said Uber was seeking to recruit Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg for the CEO job, with others on the listing including former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and former Disney operating chief Tom Staggs.

But news site Recode said Sandberg was staying at Facebook, and that candidates include former Ford CEO Alan Mulally and YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki.

- 'Lasting impact' -

An Uber SUV waits for a client in Manhattan. The startup which has become a global phenomenon says its CEO Travis Kalanick is resigning

The removal of Kalanick is "healthy and long overdue," said Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Pace University.

"There was too much uncertainty about the future of the company" with Kalanick in charge, he said.

Chiagouris said the missteps at Uber have dented the company but that "this brand is still the strongest in its category" and can recover under new leadership.

Following Kalanick's announcement, early Uber investor Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital offered praise for the departing CEO.

"There will be many pages in the history books devoted to @travisk -- very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world," Gurley tweeted.

Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research said in a blog post that Kalanick's resignation "leaves an enormous vacuum at the top of the company," but that "this is all for the best long term, even if it's messy in the short term."

Uber has not only disrupted the local transport industry in dozens of countries. It's also been investing in autonomous driving technology, and has provoked a lawsuit from the former Google car unit now called Waymo that accused Uber of stealing trade secrets.

Kalanick's fiery character helped Uber's expansion in the face of opposition from regulators and established taxi operators, but it also got him into trouble.

As Uber faced a series of embarrassing disclosures, he was captured on a dashcam berating and cursing at a driver who had complained about earnings, in a video that went viral.

His resignation comes a day after the company emailed its US drivers to say it would allow passengers to tip them, starting in three cities and rolling out across the country by the end of July.

- Questionable practices -

Before Kalanick's departure, Uber had been shaking up its ranks.

The San Francisco-based firm parted ways with its number two executive, Emil Michael, who had reportedly been linked to a number of questionable practices at Uber, including a visit to a South Korean escort-karaoke bar and an attempt to dig up embarrassing information on journalists.

Previously, Uber said it had fired 20 people after examining 215 claims of discrimination, harassment, unprofessional behavior and bullying.

Uber this month released a 13-page document calling for major reforms at the company based on a probe led by Holder, who investigated allegations of misconduct and ethical lapses.

The report, recommendations of which were adopted by the board, said Uber "should reformulate its written cultural values" to "reflect more inclusive and positive behaviors."

Uber said that its revenue during the first three months of this year rose some 18 percent to $3.4 billion, but the company logged a loss of $708 million without taking into account stock compensation for employees.

burs-rl/sst
A US missionary who spent two years in a North Korean jail says he always thought it was 'unimaginable' that a valuable American prisoner like student Otto Warmbier could die in Pyongyang's custody

A US missionary who spent two years in a North Korean jail said Wednesday he had never imagined that a valuable American prisoner like student Otto Warmbier could die after being taken into Pyongyang's custody.

Kenneth Bae, who was arrested in 2012, sentenced to 15 years hard labour, then freed after a secret mission to Pyongyang led by then-US intelligence chief James Clapper, said he was reasonably well treated in prison as he was a diplomatic bargaining chip.

"Everything depended on the US government's attitude," Korean-American Bae told South Korean broadcaster YTN in an interview broadcast live.

He said he had always thought it was "unimaginable" that a US citizen could die in a North Korean prison, and that he himself was never beaten or otherwise severely maltreated by the regime.

Bae said he had had to work long days in the fields doing manual labour, including planting beans and moving coal, a strenuous regime that caused him to lose 27 kilograms (60 pounds) during his period of detention.

But top Pyongyang officials, including a prosecutor, always made it clear they were going to trade him for diplomatic benefits, asking him "why the US government was so quiet" on his case and had not tried to free him immediately.

The prosecutor "told me the US had moved much quicker to secure the release of female journalists in 2009," Bae said, referring to Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were released after a short period in North Korean detention following a visit from former US president Bill Clinton.

The prosecutor "even said that he thought I would be there until his retirement," Bae, whose two-year stint in detention is the longest period a US citizen has spent in a North Korean prison in recent years.

- Warning from Pyongyang -

The 48-year-old published an account of his imprisonment and spoke with various media outlets after his 2014 release but said he stopped speaking out after Pyongyang warned his "jabbering" was imperilling the release of two American detainees -- including Warmbier.

"Since last year, I refrained from public activities out of concern that it could harm American and Canadian detainees in the North," Bae said in the interview.

But Warmbier's death had forced him to reconsider his position, he added.

"I came here today so that the death of the young man will not be futile but raise awareness about those detained in North Korea," he said.

Sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel while in the country as a tourist, 22-year-old Warmbier was medically evacuated from Pyongyang in a coma last week but died in the US Monday.

In the past North Korea has used the detention of US citizens to obtain high-profile visits from the likes of former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Clinton to secure their release.

Three 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.

North Korea is also holding Korean Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo-Lim who was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour on sedition charges in December 2015.
(FILES) A handout picture provided by the royal palace on June 19, 2017, shows Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud

Saudi King Salman, who ascended the throne in January 2015 and the last of the "Sudairi Seven" to rule, has presided over wideranging efforts to transform his oil-dependent, conservative Islamic realm.

The agent of change has been the 81-year-old Salman's son Mohammed bin Salman, whom the king named Wednesday as crown prince and heir to the throne.

Prince Mohammed, 31, is the architect of plans to diversify the economy and employ more Saudis.

The appointment also assures a transition to a new generation of leadership, leaving King Salman as the last son of the desert kingdom's founder, Abdulaziz bin Saud, to rule.

Born on December 31, 1935, Salman is the 25th son of Abdulaziz bin Saud and the sixth son to sit on the throne.

He belongs to the formidable bloc of brothers known as the Sudairi Seven, after their mother Hassa bint Ahmed al-Sudairi.

Salman was appointed governor of Riyadh province at the age of only 20, in line with a tradition of putting royal family members in charge of key provinces.

He is considered the architect of the development of Riyadh from a desert backwater to a modern metropolis, balancing the historic power of the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

-- Powerful sons --

The governorship "allowed him to serve as a generally very well respected arbiter of Al-Saud family affairs, as well as overseeing the city's emergence", said Eleanor Gillespie of the London-based Gulf States Newsletter.

"Salman has a reputation for probity and for being 'clean' when it comes to money," she said.

He was also said to be a hard worker who arrives in the office daily at 7:00 am.

Salman took on his first ministerial post -- as defence minister -- in 2011 following the death of his brother Prince Sultan.

The following year he was officially named crown prince after the death of the previous heir apparent, his brother Nayef.

Salman acceded to the throne upon the death of his half-brother Abdullah.

"He is a man of dialogue who always preferred to solve problems amicably," said Anwar Eshki, director of the Jeddah-based Middle East Institute for Strategic Studies.

Despite his age, Salman remains active.

He walks with a cane, but stood for many minutes in January to present a procession of air force graduates with awards.

In February and March, he undertook a weeks-long official visit to Asia.

Married three times, Prince Salman has 10 sons, two of whom have died, and a daughter.

In addition to Mohammed bin Salman, the king has three other sons in high-level government posts.

He named Khaled bin Salman, a former fighter pilot believed to be in his late 20s, as ambassador to Washington in April.

At the same time he promoted Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman to the post of state minister for energy affairs.

Until the rise of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the king's most famous son was Prince Sultan, who became the first Saudi to go into space when he joined a 1985 mission on the US space shuttle Discovery.

He is currently head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman

The Al-Saud dynasty gave its family name to the Gulf Arab monarchy of Saudi Arabia ruled by the sons of founder Abdul Aziz bin Saud.

The Al-Sauds trace their origins to the 1700s, when Saud bin Mohammad reigned as a local sheikh in the central Arabian peninsula, the birthplace two centuries later of the only country in the world named after a family.

His son Mohammad allied himself in 1744 with a fiery cleric, Mohammad bin Abdul Wahhab, who advocated a return to purist Islam, spreading the doctrine through the might of the sword.

Mohammad's descendants lost control to Ottoman forces in 1818, but six years later the Saud family retook the desert seat of Riyadh only to squabble over the succession.

By 1902, Abdul Aziz bin Saud expelled the rival Rashidi clan from Riyadh, at the heart of the peninsula, and set about consolidating his power.

Abdul Aziz unified the territories in a series of tribal wars.

He took control of the Gulf coast in 1913, expelled Hussein, the Hashemite sharif of Islam's holy city of Mecca, by 1925, and in 1932 declared himself king of Saudi Arabia.

To strengthen his authority, the new king took in marriage the daughters of tribal chiefs. Today, the ruling family totals up to an estimated 25,000 members, including some 200 influential princes.

Oil was struck in 1938 in the strictly conservative Wahhabi kingdom, transforming it into one of the world's richest countries.

Abdul Aziz had 45 recorded sons. King Saud succeeded the kingdom's founder on his death on November 9, 1953.

Faisal took over on November 2, 1964 after his half-brother was deposed on charges of corruption and incompetence. Saud died in exile in 1969.

The architect of Saudi Arabia's modernisation, Faisal was assassinated by a nephew in March 1975. The assassin was said to be mentally disturbed.

Khaled, another half-brother, took over and ruled until his death in 1982, when Fahd became king, appointing Abdullah, two years his junior, as crown prince.

Abdullah ran the day-to-day affairs of state after Fahd suffered a stroke in November 1995.

The popular prince acceded to the throne automatically following the death of his half-brother, despite a 1992 law passed by Fahd which opened the succession to Abdul Aziz's grandsons and not just his sons.

Salman rose to the throne in January 2015, becoming the last of the bloc of brothers known as the Sudairi Seven, after their mother Hassa bint Ahmed al-Sudairi, to rule.
Certainly the attacker, James Hodgkinson, supported progressive causes and was a volunteer for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential campaign. And as he approached the practice field he reportedly inquired about the political affiliations of the ballplayers. Told they were Republicans, he opened fire with a high-powered assault rifle, wounding five, including House majority whip, Steve Scalise.

But Hodgkinsons assault reflects mental derangement, not political commitment. Rational citizens do not attempt mass murder, much less believe that political goals have much chance of being advanced by assassination. To attribute Hodgkinsons actions to politics is like calling Hannibal Lecter a foodie.

No, Hodgkinsons brutal assault calls for a larger context. Firearms arent to blame for Hodgkinsons attack, but it fits logically into the backdrop of a nation that is saturated with and preoccupied by guns.

First, the saturation: According to the Congressional Research Service, Americans own more than 300 million guns, approximately one for every man, woman and child. The rate of gun ownership is twice the rate in 1968, as well as currently twice the rate, according to gunpolicy.org, of the next international competitors, which are Serbia and Yemen.

Gun sales are down since the election of President Trump, however. This probably doesnt indicate waning interest in firearms; more likely it implies the steady-state saturation envisioned by the National Rifle Association and other gun lobbyists: lots and lots of guns in America and guaranteed access to more at any time. Mission accomplished.

Saturation and preoccupation with firearms go hand in hand, and its hard to say which came first. Americans have always been fond of guns, but as an index on our current interest, try to count the number of gunshots you hear during the trailers for coming attractions the next time you go to the movies.

Or notice the number of gunshots when you watch TV or play a videogame. The most popular ones depend on simulated shooting of other people, often with realistically gruesome effects.

In fact, killing with firearms is so deeply woven into the fabric of America that the last governor of Texas, Rick Perry, gained political leverage by shooting a coyote while out jogging. And the current governor, Greg Abbott, did the same recently by holding up a bullet-ridden target at a shooting range and saying, Im gonna carry this around in case I see any reporters. Ha ha.

So it shouldnt be a surprise that beginning in August all public colleges in Texas will permit their students, teachers and staff to carry concealed weapons onto campus and into classrooms, a long-sought goal of gun lobbyists.

Ive objected in print to this change in policy, but my biggest concern isnt that well experience an outbreak of bloodbaths on college campuses. Its that policies such as this one push us toward a normalized critical mass, with so many guns in every aspect of our lives that no ordinary person can feel safe without one.

Of course, you and I are responsible, rational citizens, incapable of atrocities such as the one committed last week by James Hodgkinson.

But the difference between us and Hodgkinson is a spectrum rather than a bright line. All sorts of psychological makeups exist between us and him. Some are dangerously delusional and some are merely neurotic. Some are subject to fits of anger and all degrees of paranoia and depression.

And all of them are being told daily by the media, by politicians and by public policy that firearms are a normal and essential part of American life. Thats what should really scare us.
Philippine troops have been fighting militants linked to the Islamic State group in Marawi city for over a month

Islamic militants occupied a primary school and took hostages in a southern Philippine village on Wednesday, a few hours drive from a city where other jihadists were fighting a month-long war, authorities said.

Hundreds of gunmen initially attacked a lightly guarded military outpost at dawn, with about 30 then taking over the school and using civilians as human shields, the military said.

"As of now they are in the school holding the civilians. They are using them as human shields," Captain Arvin Encinas, spokesman for the army division with responsibility for the area, told AFP by phone.

Encinas said the gunmen had planted improvised bombs around the school, a small building in a rural area, and that soldiers had surrounded it.

There were about 20 hostages taken from houses nearby, but no students, Antonio Maganto, the region's education spokesman, told AFP, although he said the exact numbers could not be confirmed.

The unrest occurred in Pigkawayan, a farming town about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Marawi city where fighters linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been battling troops for a month in a conflict that has claimed hundreds of lives.

Armed forces spokesman Restituto Padilla said the attackers at Pikgawayan belonged to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), one of four groups in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao that have pledged allegiance to IS.

Local police said the BIFF attack may have been intended to help the militants in Marawi by distracting the military.

Padilla said the gunmen attacked the outpost at daybreak, then exchanged fire with troops in the morning before retreating in a hit-and-run assault typical of BIFF fighters who are based in Muslim communities in the area.

"It's already resolved. The enemy has withdrawn... they failed," Padilla said late on Wednesday morning.

However about six hours later Encinas reported the hostage crisis at the school.

Padilla then confirmed militants had taken over the school, and said the military would seek to broker a solution.

"I hope this will be resolved peacefully and I hope there will be negotiations for the sake of the people they are holding hostage," he said on the local GMA television network.

Encinas and Padilla said there had also been skirmishes throughout the day outside of Pigkawayan, which is surrounded by marshlands, mountains and farmlands.

Those areas are largely lawless areas with mixed Muslim-Christian communities where the BIFF, other Muslim rebels and political warlords hold sway.

Pigkawayan mayor Eliseo Garsesa said about 200 gunmen were involved in the initial assault.

- Hardline groups -

Muslim rebels have been fighting for more than four decades for an independent or autonomous region in the south of the mainly Catholic nation, with the conflict claiming more than 120,000 lives.

An assault on Marawi in the Philippines by fighters flying the IS flag has ignited an unprecedented urban war and claimed hundreds of lives

The major rebel organisations have signed, or are pursuing, peace deals with the government, but small hardline groups such as the BIFF have vowed to continue fighting.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across Mindanao, home to 20 million people, on May 23 immediately after fighters flying the IS flag rampaged through Marawi.

Their assault on Marawi ignited an unprecedented urban war that has claimed hundreds of lives and which Duterte has warned is part of an IS campaign to establish a base in Mindanao.

The fighting has left Marawi, the most important Muslim city in the Philippines, largely in ruins.

The militants involved in the Marawi fighting are mostly from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf organisations, which have united with the BIFF under the IS umbrella, according to the government.

The military has said foreign fighters, including those from Chechnya, Indonesia and Malaysia, have also joined the Marawi conflict.

IS has ambitions of setting up a caliphate in Southeast Asia -- home to largely Muslim nations like Indonesia and Malaysia -- as the group loses territory in Iraq and Syria.

The BIFF was blamed for attacking Christian communities in Mindanao in 2008, triggering a conflict that claimed about 400 lives and forced 600,000 people to flee their homes.
Apple has expanded its legal battle against Qualcomm, accusing the US chip maker of charging for invalid patents in the latest twist in the clash between the two tech giants

Apple has expanded its legal battle against Qualcomm, accusing the US chip maker of charging for invalid patents in the latest twist in the clash between the two tech giants.

In legal filings in a federal court in California on Tuesday, Apple claimed that several Qualcomm patents were invalid because they conflict with existing patents, while other patents were not essential for cell phone communications, according to details of the lawsuit reported by The Wall Street Journal.

In January the iPhone maker filed a lawsuit complaining that Qualcomm -- which produces chips widely used in smartphones and tablets around the world --abused its market power to demand unfair royalties, and demanded billions of dollars in compensation.

Apple filed two similar complaints against Qualcomm in China days later.

However Qualcomm countersued in April, claiming that Apple breached agreements and encouraged regulatory attacks worldwide on Qualcomm.

"Qualcomm's illegal business practices are harming Apple and the entire industry," Apple said in an email Tuesday to AFP.

"They supply us with a single connectivity component, but for years have been demanding a percentage of the total cost of our products - effectively taxing Apple's innovation."

Qualcomm, in a statement by legal counsel Don Rosenberg, denied the accusations.

Apple "knows well" that "Qualcomm's innovations are at the heart of every iPhone and enable the most important uses and features of those devices," Rosenberg said.

"It simply is untrue that Qualcomm is seeking to collect royalties for Apple innovations that have nothing to do with Qualcomm's technology."

In January, the US Federal Trade Commission hit Qualcomm with an antitrust suit alleging it abused its dominant market position for processors, resulting in higher prices for consumers.

The complaint said Qualcomm's practices amount to "unlawful maintenance of a monopoly in baseband processors," which are devices that enable cellular communications in phones and other products. Qualcomm rejected the claims as "flawed".

The San Diego, California, group in 2015 agreed to pay $975 million to settle antitrust charges in China.

Qualcomm is challenging a European Union competition inquiry which could result in a fine of up to 10 percent of its annual sales, which amounted to $26.5 billion in 2015.
A South Sudanese woman walks at Al-Nimir refugee camp in Sudan's East Dafur on June 20, 2017, World Refugee Day

Together with her husband and seven children, a hungry and thirsty Shadiya Ibrahim fled war and famine in South Sudan and says she has found safety in Sudan's conflict-ravaged Darfur.

"This was the only place we knew we could come to," Ibrahim said at El Nimir camp in East Darfur, a newly opened facility for refugees crossing into Sudan by the hundreds each day.

Ibrahim, 40, was among a crowd gathered on Tuesday to mark World Refugee Day at the camp in the presence of US charge d'affaires Steven Koutsis, making a visit to Darfur.

Koutsis travelled across vast stretches of Darfur -- a region the size of France -- to assess the security situation before President Donald Trump decides next month to whether to permanently lift a two-decades-old trade embargo on Khartoum.

Even as Koutsis makes his assessment, Darfur has become a refuge for South Sudanese like Ibrahim.

"We are peaceful and secure here. There we lived in fear, but now we no longer feel afraid," she told AFP.

A brutal conflict ntroke out in Darfur itself in 2003 when ethnic minority groups took up arms against President Omar al-Bashir's Arab-dominated government, which launched a deadly counter-insurgency.

At least 300,000 people have since been killed and 2.5 million displaced in Darfur, the United Nations says.

Sudanese officials claim the conflict in Darfur has ended, despite reports of continued fighting between government forces and rebels.

- 'Hungry and raped' -

Ibrahim and several other refugees at El Nimir camp say the difficulties they face in the camp are minor compared to the trauma they experienced in their country.

Ibrahim fled in January from her home in the town of Raja after her father was killed in fighting between forces of President Salwa Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar.

South Sudan -- formed after the south split from the north in 2011 -- plunged into a civil war just two years later when Kiir fell out with Machar.

Since then the war has seen ethnic massacres, attacks on civilians, widespread rape and other human rights abuses.

Young South Sudanese refugees fill water jugs at Al-Nimir refugee camp in Sudan's East Dafur on June 20, 2017

"Women have suffered the most in the war," said Ibrahim. "We lost our husbands and our fathers. We have been left hungry and raped."

About 400,000 South Sudanese have arrived in Sudan since the war erupted in the world's youngest country, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

About 50 percent of them live in 10 camps in Sudan, while the rest are scattered in cities and towns.

The increasing number of refugees fleeing the war and famine in South Sudan has only put pressure on Sudan's resources, Sudanese officials and tribal chiefs say.

"The healthcare sector in particular is under severe pressure," Mohamed Mussa Madibu, chief of Sudan's powerful Rizeigat tribe said in a meeting with Koutsis.

Cooperation in efforts to resolve the war in South Sudan is key demand of Washington to help lift sanctions on Khartoum, first imposed over Khartoum's alleged for Islamist groups.

"We hope that the Sudanese government's cooperation continues until the refugees are able to return home safe," Koutsis said.

- 'I want to study' -

More than 5,000 refugees live in El Nimir camp, which opened in April. The camp is spread across a vast open area near El Daien, the capital of East Darfur state.

A long muddy road connects the camp to El Daien, raising concerns that delivering aid to the facility in the rainy season could be a challenge for aid workers.

A quick tour of the camp showed refugees -- mostly women -- living in thatched huts and children playing in open areas.

Despite the scorching mid-day sun, groups of children and women performed traditional African dances as they marked World Refugee Day.

UNHCR officials said a hospital was already under construction in the camp, while plans were being finalised to open two schools.

"It is not easy to live in a camp when you once had a home," said 12-year-old Houda, who also fled from Raja with her family.

"But then we are safe here. What I want is a school because I want to study," she said. "When I grow, I want to become a powerful voice of my people."
Sudan's fleet of Russian-manufactured aircraft has suffered several crashes in recent years, with the military frequently blaming technical problems and bad weather

A Sudanese military helicopter has crashed in Northern State, killing all four crew members on board, the army said on Wednesday, in the latest accident to hit its ageing fleet.

The Russian-built Mi-17 helicopter crashed late on Tuesday due to "bad weather" in state capital Dongola, army spokesman Brigadier Ahmed Khalifa Shami said in a statement.

"All four crew members on board were martyred."

Sudan's fleet of Russian-manufactured aircraft has suffered several crashes in recent years, with the military frequently blaming technical problems and bad weather.

In April 2016, a Soviet-era Antonov An-26 transport plane crashed while landing in El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan state. All five crew members on board were killed.

In June 2013, two air force crew died when their helicopter crashed in war-torn Blue Nile state, just a week after one went down in South Kordofan state, another war zone.

The military has relied heavily on air power in its campaign against rebel groups in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur.

Rebels often claim to have shot down military aircraft in Sudan's conflict zones.
No caption

The UN voiced alarm Wednesday at the many Nigerian refugees returning from Cameroon to Banki, a border town clouded by Boko Haram violence and already struggling with overstretched supplies and services.

"I am extremely worried that large numbers of Nigerian refugees hosted in Cameroon are again returning to northeast Nigeria - into a situation dangerously unprepared to receive them," UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement.

The Nigerian military recaptured Banki in September 2015 after fierce battles with the Islamist militants, whose insurgency has killed at least 20,000 in Nigeria alone since 2009.

On June 1, UNHCR had said that more than 12,000 refugees had returned to the area in May alone, complaining about difficult conditions in the Minawao refugee camp on the Cameroonian side of the border, and insisting they needed to get home to harvest crops.

The UNHCR says more than 12,000 refugees have recently returned to Banki in northeastern Nigeria

They joined some 45,000 people who have fled into the town from elsewhere in Nigeria, adding to the problems caused by a lack of shelter, severe overcrowding, inadequate water supplies and sanitations facilities and insufficient aid.

And in the past three weeks, another 889 refugees, most of them children, have returned to Banki, the agency said Wednesday.

"It is my firm view that returns are not sustainable at this time," Grandi said, pointing out that the returning refugees had "put a strain on the few existing services."

And the situation could become even more difficult in Banki once the rains begin, bringing with them an elevated risk of the spread of diseases.

The Nigerian military recaptured Banki in September 2015 after fierce battles with Boko Haram insurgents

"A new emergency, just as the rainy season is starting, has to be avoided at all costs," Grandi said.

He said UNHCR was working hard to step up an information campagne in the Minawao camp "to ensure that refugees are given accurate information on the conditions in Banki before they make the choice to return."

UNHCR said it was also working to help improve the situation in the town and ensure that returnees are quickly screened and receive food and shelter and other basic support.
(FILES) Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and air force commander Major General Amir Eshel stand next to David's Sling missile defence system during a ceremony on April 2, 2017, at Hatzor air base

The head of Israel's air force said Wednesday that in any future conflict with Lebanon the Jewish state will have "unimaginable" military power at its disposal.

Major General Amir Eshel told a security conference that Israel's armed forces now have far more punch than they did in the 2006 war against Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

"What the air force was able to do quantitatively in the... Lebanon war over the course of 34 days we can do today in 48-60 hours," he told the conference at Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.

"This is potential power unimaginable in its scope, much different to what we have seen in the past and far greater than people estimate."

Israeli troops poured into southern Lebanon after the Shiite militia seized two soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid on July 12, 2006 in a war that killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets from neighbouring Lebanon during the conflict, with one million Israelis in the north of the country coming under heavy fire for more than a month.

Since then Israel has built up a sophisticated defence system, including the Iron Dome short-range interceptor which has successfully brought down rockets fired from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt's lawless Sinai region and the Gaza Strip.

It also has the medium-range David's Sling and the Arrow missile defence system, designed to counter more distant threats.

The army said that an Arrow was deployed in March to destroy a Syrian rocket which posed a "ballistic threat" during Israeli air strikes which drew retaliatory missile fire.

The Israeli air force has also started taking delivery of 50 advanced F-35 warplanes from the United States.

Eshel did not draw a scenario for a future war with Lebanon or Syria, saying only that Israel must strike hard and fast in case of conflict.

"If war breaks out in the north, we have to open with all our strength from the start," he said.

"Threats to Israel air force aircraft in the Lebanese arena will not stop the air force. They may disrupt operations here and there but that will not stop us."

He went on to warn Lebanese civilians of the danger to them posed by Hezbollah military installations in residential areas.

"There is a very high potential for collateral damage, for harming people who are not involved, people who we have no wish to harm," he said.

"If before the eruption of hostilities, or right when they begin, Lebanese residents were to leave those places they will not be hit."
British press reports said US President Donald Trump's visit was now in jeopardy, but a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May insisted the invitation had not been revoked

US President Donald Trump's planned state visit to Britain later this year got no mention in Queen Elizabeth II's speech to parliament on Wednesday, raising doubts about whether it will go ahead.

The omission follows media reports that Trump no longer wants to come because of British public opposition to the visit, after a petition to cancel it received more than 1.8 million signatures.

It is customary for the monarch to list state visits in the annual speech, and Elizabeth did mention one such visit coming up next month by Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia.

But the speech glided over the invitation to Trump, which was widely criticised in Britain as an attempt by Prime Minister Theresa May to curry favour with the president during his first year in office.

British press reports after the speech said the visit was clearly now in jeopardy, but a spokesman for May insisted the invitation had not been revoked.

"The visit wasn't mentioned in the Queen's Speech because a date hasn't been fixed yet," the spokesman said.
Fugitive Buddhist monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara arrives at a court in Colombo

A radical Buddhist monk wanted in connection with a string of hate attacks in Sri Lanka surrendered Wednesday after four weeks on the run, police said.

Galagodaatte Gnanasara gave himself up before a magistrate and was then arrested in connection with arson attacks targeting the island's minority Muslim community in recent months.

Police spokesman Priyantha Jayakody said he had been released on bail of $8,000 and ordered to refrain from hate speech and inciting violence.

Jayakody said four police teams had been looking for Gnanasara before he turned up in court Wednesday.

Authorities in the Buddhist-majority nation are under international pressure to crack down on a wave of religious violence that has escalated since April, including arson attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses and the desecration of a cemetery.

Gnanasara was not immediately available for comment but his Buddhist Force, or BBS, has denied allegations it was behind the latest unrest.

The original arrest warrant issued for Gnanasara dates back to April 2014, when he was accused of insulting the Koran.

Months later, anti-Muslim riots at the tourist resort of Aluthgama left four people dead and hundreds of Muslim homes destroyed.

The BBS had said their leader was ready to give himself up if he was assured protection, but Jayakody denied there had been a deal allowing him to emerge from hiding.

Police had already arrested 14 people, including a BBS monk, over the latest violence.

They say four of the suspects in custody are close associates of Gnanasara, who went underground on May 26 when police tried to question him.

Gnanasara maintains close ties with Wirathu, an extremist monk in Mandalay whose hate speech has galvanised religious tensions in Myanmar.

Wirathu visited Sri Lanka as a guest of Gnanasara shortly after the 2014 violence.

The government has vowed to protect Muslims and prevent the violence from escalating. Legislators have promised tougher laws against hate speech.
Violence has gripped the Central African Republic town of Bria since mid May, also spreading to several other places in the country's south east

The death toll from clashes in Central African Republic has surged to around 100, local officials said Wednesday of violence that erupted hours after the government signed a truce with rebel groups.

The bloodshed, which left dozens more injured, dashed hopes of an end to the simmering sectarian violence which has blighted the country since 2013.

Although the unrest has long pitted Christian anti-Balaka militias against mainly Muslim ex-Seleka rebels, there have been growing splits within the various armed groups that have turned deadly.

Shooting erupted early on Tuesday in the central town of Bria and continued for about six hours, leaving around 100 people dead, according to the town's mayor Maurice Belikoussou and its parish priest.

"We have counted around a hundred deaths, the population is terrified and showing signs of psychosis," Father Gildas Gbenai of Saint-Louis de Bria told AFP by phone.

"The humanitarian situation is alarming."

The fighting began just hours after Bangui reached a deal with rebel groups on an immediate ceasefire in an agreement brokered by a Catholic group in Rome.

- Engulfed by violence -

"The warring parties burned villages and neighbourhoods of Bria, forcing more of the population out with many fleeing into the bush," local MP Arsene Kongbo told AFP on Wednesday.

As the shooting intensified, the UN's MINUSCA peacekeeping mission, which has a permanent presence in Bria, moved in to try and protect civilians, spokesman Vladimir Monteiro said.

The peacekeepers managed to "secure the camp for internally displaced people" as well as the area by the hospital, he said. MINUSCA has 10,000 troops and 2,000 civilians currently serving in the country.

Since mid-May, Bria and several other southeastern towns -- Bangassou, Alindao and Mobaye -- have been engulfed by violence.

By the end of the month, the fighting had already killed 300 people, and displaced 100,000 others, according to the UN and government.

In Bria alone, the violence has forced more than 40,000 people out of their homes, figures from the UN humanitarian agency OCHA show.

- Power struggle between rebels -

Tuesday's clashes saw deadly fighting between rival factions of the FPRC, one of the main pro-Muslim armed groups, with gunmen battling in the streets of Bria, a strategic mining hub in a diamond-rich region.

"There was a 'slight' disagreement between the FPRC's leaders," said a senior member of the group, describing it as a power struggle. "Each one wants to assert his power."

The fighting pitted one faction of the FPRC that is closer to the anti-Balaka militias against a rival gang which is closer to the Muslim branch of the group as espoused by Abdoulaye Hissene, the ex Seleka coalition's former chief.

After the Seleka group was forced out of Bangui in 2014, it split into several factions which have since turned on each other, some joining forces with anti-Balaka groups.

Monday's short-lived agreement, which was announced after five days of talks in Rome, had been hailed as a precious chance to stabilise one of the world's most volatile and poorest countries.

In the strife-torn Central African Republic town of Bria, the wave of violence has forced more than 40,000 people out of their homes, UN figures show

Under the deal, which was signed by 13 of the 14 rebel factions in CAR, armed groups were to be granted political representation in exchange for an end to attacks and blockades.

But just hours later, intense shooting began with dozens taken to hospital with bullet wounds, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) representative in Bria said.

- Nobel for failed peace? -

"The crisis in Central Africa doesn't lack for peace deals, what it does lack is the forces to ensure such deals are respected," Thierry Vircoulon, a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), told AFP on Monday.

"If there was a Nobel prize for hopeless peace agreements, Central Africa would definitely win," said Djamil Babanani, spokesman for the FPRC.

Although he criticised the "international pressure" brought to bear over the agreement, he said the FPRC would not pull out.

The bloodshed prompted urgent calls from the UN for an immediate halt to the violence.

"It is vital that the cease-fire agreed upon by the parties comes into force immediately," said Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the UN's special representative in Central Africa.

On June 19, Central Africa's government and rebel groups agreed on an immediate ceasefire in exchange for armed factions getting political representation

He said violence across the country since mid-May had displaced more than 100,000 people internally and forced another 20,000 to seek refuge in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

"The total number of internally displaced persons has therefore surpassed the 500,000 mark."

One of the world's poorest nations, CAR has been struggling to recover from a 2013 civil war that started when President Francois Bozize was overthrown by a coalition of Muslim-majority rebel groups called the Seleka.

Christians, who account for about 80 percent of the population, sought revenge by organising vigilante units dubbed "anti-balaka" in reference to the machetes used by the rebels.

In 2014, the Seleka were ousted by a military intervention led by former colonial ruler France, triggering the bloodiest sectarian violence in the country's history.
India's Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of a high court judge

A former judge who led police on a 40-day manhunt across India has been arrested and jailed on contempt charges after a lengthy battle with the courts, an official said Wednesday.

C.S Karnan had been on the lam since the Supreme Court in May found him guilty of contempt, the first case of its kind against a sitting judge in India's history.

The court had ordered police in West Bengal state -- where the 62-year-old had been a high court judge -- to detain Karnan on grounds of disrespecting the judiciary but he fled and sparked a nationwide manhunt.

Authorities finally caught up with him on Tuesday evening, arresting Karnan at a resort in Tamil Nadu state more than 2,000 kilometres away, said Anuj Sharma from West Bengal police.

"He was taken by an Air India flight to Kolkata on Wednesday afternoon. He was sent to the city's presidency jail after his health was examined," Sharma, a police director-general, told AFP.

Karnan looked comfortable and waved to the media as he was escorted under guard from the airport in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal.

His request for bail and a suspended sentence was rejected by the Supreme Court and he was remanded in custody.

Karnan's run-in with the judiciary began earlier this year, when he made allegations of misconduct by other judges.

He was barred from judicial duties for his remarks but that only fanned the dispute further, until he was found guilty of contempt.
Otto Warmbier's family has asked that no autopsy be performed on the US student who died days after being evacuated in a coma from North Korean detention

The family of Otto Warmbier has asked that no autopsy be performed on the body of the US student who died days after being evacuated in a coma from North Korean detention.

The Hamilton County Coroner's Office in Warmbier's home state of Ohio said it will rely on an external examination of the 22-year-old's body and medical records to determine the cause of death.

"It's not uncommon to get autopsy objections," Justin Weber of the coroner's office told AFP. "It's the family's choice."

Warmbier died Monday of severe brain damage, following 18 months of captivity in North Korea.

He was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel during a tourist trip.

He was medically evacuated in a coma last week, and his death further strained relations between Pyongyang and Washington, with US President Donald Trump calling it a "total disgrace."

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.

The coroner's office has reached no conclusions yet as to the cause of Warmbier's death, but his doctors have said that the young man suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, likely due to cardiopulmonary arrest.

Medical tests did not reveal what precipitated Warmbier's injuries, but also found no evidence of the botulism infection that North Korea claimed as the cause along with a sleeping pill.

Warmbier will be buried Thursday at Oak Hill Cemetery in Cincinnati, following a funeral service at Wyoming High School, where he attended school and graduated in 2013.
France carried out a military intervention in Mali in 2013 to drive out jihadist groups

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Wednesday that paves the way for deployment of a five-nation African military force to fight jihadists in the Sahel region.

The French-drafted resolution welcomes the deployment but does not grant UN authorization to the 5,000-strong force after the United States opposed formal Security Council backing for the operation.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- which make up the so-called G5 -- agreed in March to set up the joint counterterrorism operation and the African Union had sought UN backing.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the council had expressed "its full, clear and total support" for the African force and called on the international community to provide assistance to the troops.

The United States had argued that UN authorization was not legally necessary because the troops will be operating on the territory of the five countries.

After two weeks of negotiations, France dropped the request for formal UN authorization and for a special UN report on financing for the force.

The 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.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre highlighted the unanimous vote at the council, calling it proof of "maximum political support" for the G5 force.

"At a time when terrorism is striking everywhere in the world, we cannot let the Sahel region become a new haven for terrorist organizations from the entire world," Delattre told the council.

"It is our security which is at stake in the Sahel, not just the security of the G5 countries."

- Funding needed -

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.

Addressing the council, Mali's ambassador expressed gratitude but said the force will need logistical and financial support.

"I appeal for increased and substantial support from our bilateral and multilateral partners to mobilize the necessary means to ensure the force is operational and effective," said Issa Konfourou.

France had initially pushed for a report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres outlining the logistical and financial needs, but in negotiations that language was dropped.

The 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.

The United States, the leading financial contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, wants to scale back funding and had strongly opposed any plan for UN funding.

The resolution notes that a pledging conference will be held to raise funds for the force but states that the G5 countries "have the responsibility to provide" the troops with adequate resources.

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.

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 deal to hand over the Red Sea islands of Tiran (foreground) and Sanafir (background) to Saudi Arabia sparked rare street protests across Egypt

Egypt's top court on Wednesday suspended all previous rulings on whether Cairo can transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, as it considers who has legal jurisdiction.

In the latest twist in a long legal saga, a spokesman for the Constitutional Court said its chief judge had "issued a temporary order to halt the implementation of all rulings that were issued over the Tiran and Sanafir accord".

The spokesman, Ragab Selim, told AFP the suspension would last until the court could determine which of the legal rulings in the case "will be implemented and which was issued by the institution with jurisdiction".

He would not say how long it might take for the court to make a decision.

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Egypt's parliament approved the transfer of the islands to Saudi Arabia on June 14 despite significant public opposition.

The deal sparked rare street protests after it was signed last year, with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi accused of having sold the islands to Saudi Arabia.

A lower court had ruled that the transfer would be illegal, a decision that was upheld by Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court but declared invalid by another judicial body, the Court for Urgent Matters.

Sisi on Tuesday again stressed "the need to return rights to owners" when it comes to the two islands, which Cairo says belong to Saudi Arabia and were leased to Egypt in the 1950s.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (left) sparked protests when he handed over two islands to Riyadh after trade talks with Saudi King Salman in April 2016

During an event marking iftar, the daily breaking of the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Sisi "affirmed that nations are governed by constitutions and laws and legitimate rights, not whims or emotions," the presidency said in a statement.

Lying at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, the islands can be used to control access to the Israeli port of Eilat.

They were captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war before being returned to Egypt under the 1979 Camp David Accords.
Men and women mingle at Berlin's new mosque, founded by among others Turkish-born women's rights activist Seyran Ates -- but Turkey's religious affairs agency is not happy

Turkey's religious affairs agency has expressed distaste over a new mosque in Berlin where men and women mingle freely, saying it was incompatible with the principes of Islam.

Diyanet, which oversees religious activity in Turkey, said that such ideas were in line with projects led by the group of Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey blames for the July 15 failed coup.

Men and women pray side by side at the mosque that opened earlier this month in Berlin, which has female imams and where Muslims of all sects of the faith are welcome to worship together.

Supporters of the Berlin mosque said it would allow liberal Muslims to worship freely but in a tough statement Diyanet took a different stance.

It said that the mosque "neglects" the basic principles of Islam and was "incompatible with the worship, knowledge and methodology" accumulated since the faith was founded by the Prophet Mohammed 14 centuries ago.

"It is clear that this has been a project carried out for many years by FETO and other ill-gotten structures for the engineering of religion," it added.

"We are convinced that all fellow believers will keep their distance from such provocations and show wisdom in the face of this," Diyanet said in the statement published late Tuesday.

Turkey says that the failed coup was carried out by the Fethullah Terror Group (FETO) led by the US-based Gulen. Gulen denies leading any terror organisation and rejects having any hand in the coup bid.

Diyanet has influence over Muslim worship among the Turkish diaspora through the Ditib organisation controlled by Ankara that manages some 900 mosques or religious communities in Germany. Diyanet sends clerics to work in its mosques.

Earlier this year, a furore erupted when German police raided the homes of four Turkish Muslim clerics working for Ditib suspected of spying for the government on the movement of Gulen.

Diyanet later said it had recalled six clerics from Germany for exceeding their authority but lashed out at German police for raiding the homes of the preachers.
Philippine troops have been fighting militants linked to the Islamic State group in Marawi city for over a month

Islamic militants launched a day-long assault on a southern Philippine village Wednesday during which they held 31 people hostage inside a school, authorities said, raising fears of spreading violence as other jihadists fought a month-long urban war nearby.

Hundreds of gunmen attacked a lightly guarded military outpost at dawn, with some then taking over the school and using civilians as human shields throughout the day before fleeing at night, the military said.

"It's all resolved, all the hostages have been accounted for, no one was hurt," military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla told AFP by phone on Wednesday night.

The military said earlier that the gunmen had planted improvised bombs around the school, a small building in a rural area, and that soldiers had surrounded it.

Padilla and a local military spokesman said the militants were able to use the cover of darkness to escape, while leaving their 31 hostages unharmed. They said 12 children were among the hostages.

The unrest occurred in Pigkawayan, a farming town about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Marawi city where fighters linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been battling troops for a month in a conflict that has claimed hundreds of lives.

An assault on Marawi in the Philippines by fighters flying the IS flag has ignited an unprecedented urban war and claimed hundreds of lives

Armed forces spokesman Restituto Padilla said the attackers at Pikgawayan belonged to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), one of four groups in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao that have pledged allegiance to IS.

Local police said the BIFF attack may have been intended to help the militants in Marawi by distracting the military, although Padilla insisted it was unrelated.

Padilla said gunmen engaged in skirmishes throughout the day in and around Pigkawayan, while others occupied the school and using civilians seized from neighbouring homes as human shields.

Pigkawayan is part of a largely lawless areas with mixed Muslim-Christian communities where the BIFF, other Muslim rebels and political warlords hold sway. The town is surrounded by marshlands, mountains and farmlands.

About 200 gunmen were involved in the initial assault, according to Pigkawayan mayor Eliseo Garsesa.

- Hardline groups -

Muslim rebels have been fighting for more than four decades for an independent or autonomous region in the south of the mainly Catholic nation, with the conflict claiming more than 120,000 lives.

The major rebel organisations have signed, or are pursuing, peace deals with the government, but small hardline groups such as the BIFF have vowed to continue fighting.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across Mindanao, home to 20 million people, on May 23 immediately after fighters flying the IS flag rampaged through Marawi.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across Mindanao, home to 20 million people, on May 23 immediately after fighters flying the IS flag rampaged through Marawi.

Their assault on Marawi ignited an unprecedented urban war that has claimed hundreds of lives and which Duterte has warned is part of an IS campaign to establish a base in Mindanao.

The fighting has left Marawi, the most important Muslim city in the Philippines, largely in ruins.

The militants involved in the Marawi fighting are mostly from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf organisations, which have united with the BIFF under the IS umbrella, according to the government.

The military has said foreign fighters, including those from Chechnya, Indonesia and Malaysia, have also joined the Marawi conflict.

IS has ambitions of setting up a caliphate in Southeast Asia -- home to largely Muslim nations like Indonesia and Malaysia -- as the group loses territory in Iraq and Syria.

The BIFF was blamed for attacking Christian communities in Mindanao in 2008, triggering a conflict that claimed about 400 lives and forced 600,000 people to flee their homes.

Padilla said Wednesday's unrest at Pigkawayan was not related to the Marawi conflict, saying BIFF fighters were seeking to counter a military offensive against it.

"Apparently they wanted to get even after recent setbacks," Padilla told AFP.

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Residents of impoverished communities in Lagos have won a court reprieve against government plans to demolish their homes

Impoverished fishing communities in Nigeria's financial capital, Lagos, celebrated a court ruling on Wednesday that said government demolitions of their homes were illegal.

Residents went to court in October to protest the Lagos state government's plan to demolish their waterfront communities on the pretext of cutting crime in the megacity.

The government went ahead with the demolitions in a series of raids across the city that saw security agents bulldoze homes to the ground and in April shoot people with live ammunition.

Judge Adeniyi Onigbanjo, sitting at the Lagos State High Court, on Wednesday ruled that the demolitions were unconstitutional and violated the residents' rights.

He ordered the state government to hold consultations with the communities before any further evictions and provide compensation for the destruction of their property.

"We are mostly relieved, finally we have a decision," the residents' lawyer Omotayo Enujiugha told AFP outside court, where over 100 community members had gathered for the verdict.

"We really appreciate the fact that at the end of the day the judge ruled that rights were violated," he added.

The case has cast a spotlight on how Nigeria is wrestling with rapid urbanisation and population growth in its major cities such as Lagos, which is home to 20 million people.

It is also being seen as a test of Nigeria's graft-plagued judiciary, which has a reputation for siding with the wealthy and famous.

The residents have been given legal support from the non-profit group Justice and Empowerment Initiatives.

Its co-director Megan Chapman said: "It (the court) found that any demolition or eviction without adequate notice and provision of adequate shelter or resettlement to another location is unconstitutional.

"They ordered that the government must enter into consultation with the residents if they intend on carrying out any further evictions.

"The court gave a clear court order that no further evictions are allowed until that consultation process continues."

While the residents acknowledged the Lagos government may still try to go ahead with demolitions in the future, they said they were relieved the court had ruled in their favour.

"I'm very grateful. The fear of our people was that the whole community would be torn down," said Oladipupo Aireomiye, a 38-year-old living in Ebute Ilaje, a community that was handed its eviction notice earlier this year.

"The judgment gives us hope. At least for now we can sleep with our eyes closed."
The force will have its headquarters in Mali, but will be under a separate command from the UN peacekeeping force MINUSMA

The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution paving the way for the deployment of a five-nation African military force to fight jihadists in the Sahel region.

What are the origins of the force to number up to 5,000 troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, and why is it needed?

- Why now? -

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- the so-called "G5 Sahel" countries just south of the Sahara -- first raised the idea of a regional force in November 2015 in Chad's capital, N'Djamena.

The idea resurfaced in the light of the deteriorating security situation in Mali, and following mounting incidents of jihadist violence in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

In January, those three countries decided to create a joint security force on their mutual borders, and in February Sahel heads of state announced the "immediate" creation of a troop corps from all five countries.

France, which tabled the UN resolution passed on Wednesday, carried out a military intervention in Mali in 2013 to drive out jihadist groups, some of which were linked to Al-Qaeda, who 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 domestic and foreign forces in violence that now has also engulfed parts of central Mali.

New French President Emmanuel Macron reconfirmed his nation's commitment to fighting terrorism in the Sahel on a visit to Mali last month

Spillover attacks in Burkina Faso and Niger are causing increasing alarm.

- What is the force's mandate? -

The force is expected to deploy up to 5,000 military, police and civilian personnel for an initial period of 12 months, but the amended resolution submitted to the Security Council does not give it full UN authorisation.

It will be led by General Didier Dacko, a former chief of the Malian army.

The force will operate in border areas and work to eradicate the actions of jihadist armed groups and other organised criminal groups.

The UN resolution "welcomes the deployment" of the G5 force which is aimed at "restoring peace and security in the Sahel region" and drops a provision that invoked chapter 7 of the UN charter, which authorises 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.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on a visit to Mali in May that a phased rollout was envisaged for border regions of the country's centre, an area that has seen an uptick in attacks once concentrated in the restive north.

- What about the existing foreign forces in Mali? -

The force will have its headquarters in Mali, but will be under a separate command from the UN peacekeeping force MINUSMA, which has been deployed in the country since 2013.

It is also separate to but will complement the work of France's own 4,000-strong military presence in the region, known as the Barkhane force.

Lacroix has insisted on clearly defined roles for the three different deployments which will now be operating in Mali.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for "close cooperation" between any G5 force and Barkhane. It could offer an "improved operational environment for MINUSMA," which has suffered funding shortfalls and the deaths of dozens of peacekeepers, he said.

However he urged nations to "maintain their contributions to the (UN) mission", a possible reference to Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad whose troops already make up a third of the manpower of the MINUSMA force.

- How will the Sahel force be funded? -

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 promised 50 million euros of support, with diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini citing stability of the Sahel region as "crucial not only for Africa but also for Europe."

The UN resolution passed Wednesday also encourages "further support from bilateral and multilateral partners" for the force's costs.
President Donald Trump seized on the result of Georgia's special election as a vote of confidence

President Donald Trump basked Wednesday in a Republican victory in a closely-watched election in Georgia, telling cheering supporters at a campaign-style rally in Iowa that "the people love us."

Tuesday's congressional election had been widely cast as a referendum on the young administration as it battles a swirling Russian scandal and a string of legislative setbacks -- and the president seized on the result as a vote of confidence.

"We won last night," he told the crowd in Cedar Rapids. "All we do is win, win, win!"

Establishment Republican Karen Handel defeated Democratic novice Jon Ossoff after what turned into the most expensive congressional race in history, retaining a seat her camp has held since 1979 -- and calming party jitters about the impact of the president's troubles on local and national politics.

"The truth is, the people love us," Trump crowed to the Iowa gathering.

After wins in South Carolina, Kansas and Montana, Trump's Republicans have now won all four special elections held since his inauguration in January, leaving Democrats demoralized as they seek to snatch control of Congress in next year's mid-term elections.

"They thought they were going to win last night in Atlanta," Trump jeered at the Democrats. "They spent close to $30 million on this kid!"

The Republican Party interpreted the results in Georgia as a sign Donald Trump's core supporters remain faithful despite turbulence in Washington

The Republican Party interpreted the results as a sign Trump's core supporters remain faithful despite turbulence in Washington: no major legislative achievements to date, a White House mired in scandal over the probe looking into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russian election meddling, and potential obstruction of justice by the president himself.

Hammering home his campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again," Trump reprised his key campaign themes: defending American borders, repealing the Obamacare "disaster," promising record tax cuts -- and touting "the amazing progress that we have already made."

Promising once more to erect a wall on the Mexican border, he raised the possibility of building it with solar panels -- an idea he reportedly floated earlier this month -- using the energy thus generated to help cover construction costs.

"Pretty good imagination, right? My idea," he quipped.

- New health battle -

Establishment Republican Karen Handel defeated Democratic novice Jon Ossoff in Tuesday's tough contest in Georgia's sixth congressonal district

On Capitol Hill, the Republican win in Georgia may indeed embolden the party to press ahead with Trump's political agenda, notably reform of Barack Obama's health care law and an overhaul of the tax code.

The Senate's Republican leadership said it will unveil on Thursday a new health bill. The legislation faces unanimous opposition from Democrats and skepticism from some Republicans, who have voiced concern about the secrecy of the drafting process.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has insisted he wants a vote on the bill by June 30.

But while the Democratic losses of recent months have been demoralizing for the party, some see reason for optimism.

In each of the four congressional races, Democrats did far better than in previous elections.

"Last night's results were far from a disaster for Democrats, and Republicans shouldn't be tempted to believe their House majority is safe," wrote David Wasserman, an editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff, who conceded defeat in Georgia's special election Tuesday, secured 48.1 percent of the vote, 10 points higher than the Democrat in November's race

"In fact, their majority is still very much at risk."

Democrats would need to flip 24 seats to retake the 435-member House of Representatives in next year's mid-term elections, and analysts believe Republicans are vulnerable in at least that many districts.

Some Democrats however believe their party has wasted too much time licking its wounds from the presidential defeat, instead of regrouping and refocusing on top domestic issues such as the economy.

And others warn the mounting scandals in Trumpland had further diverted the party from addressing the needs of ordinary citizens.
A supporter of Guy Philippe -- then elected to serve as a Haitian senator -- holds a sign during protests in front of the US embassy on January 13, 2017 in Port-au-Prince

A former Haitian coup leader and elected senator was sentenced to nine years in a US federal prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to conspiring to launder drug money.

Guy Philippe, a 49-year-old former senior police officer convicted of taking bribes from drug traffickers, had entered his guilty plea in April in exchange for a reduced sentence.

He had evaded law enforcement for nearly a decade and was arrested in Haiti on January 5, just days before he was to be sworn in as a senator -- which would have given him immunity from prosecution.

Philippe was elected to the Haitian parliament in November. He had close ties to the country's President Jovenel Moise.

In 2004, he helped lead an armed rebellion against then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was forced to flee the country.

The US drug charges had been hanging over him since 2005.

In his guilty plea, Philippe admitted he had abused his position as a high-ranking police officer to protect narcotics shipments headed to the United States between 1999 and 2003.

He did so in exchange for bribes from drug traffickers that totaled between $1.5 million and $3.5 million, knowing the proceeds came from cocaine sales in Miami and other locations in the United States, prosecutors said.

Philippe gave some of the bribe money to other Haitian police and security personnel to ensure their cooperation, the US Justice Department said.

His cut was used to buy a house in Florida, for his use and that of his family while in the US.

In one instance, Philippe was said to have wired $376,000 in drug proceeds to his joint bank account in Miami from banks in Haiti and Ecuador using the names of others.

He also admitted to organizing $70,000 in drug money to be deposited into his account in amounts under the $10,000 level that triggers US reporting requirements.
Michigan State Police said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was in charge of the scene, while the airport tweeted that local and state agencies were also on site

The FBI said it is investigating as an "act of terrorism" a knife attack on a Michigan airport police officer on Wednesday by a man yelling "Allahu Akbar."

The suspect, who is in custody and cooperating with investigators, is a Canadian resident in his 50s named Amor Ftouhi, FBI special agent David Gelios told a news conference.

"We're investigating this incident today as an act of terrorism," he said.

Security camera footage showed Ftouhi lingering at Bishop International Airport with baggage before pulling out a 12-inch knife, yelling "Allahu Akbar" and stabbing an officer in the neck in a non-secured, public area, police said.

The injured officer, a 16-year veteran of the airport police force identified as Jeff Neville, was out of surgery and in stable condition, state police said.

Neville wrestled Ftouhi to the ground after the assault, police said.

Authorities said Ftouhi had expressed "hatred for the United States" during questioning in custody, and were conducting joint operations in Canada and the US in the wake of the stabbing.

Canadian media reported that police were carrying out a search of Ftouhi's home in Montreal and had made two arrests in connection with the stabbing incident.

Local television footage showed the four-story building where Ftouhi reportedly lives, in the Rosemont area of Montreal, surrounded by a police cordon.

It showed three women, their faces concealed by blankets, being led away by Canadian gendarmes and provincial police officers.

Ftouhi legally entered the United States in Lake Champlain, New York on June 16th, Gelios said.

"We're trying to develop further information as to his timeline and where he went after he entered the United States," he added.

No passengers were harmed in Wednesday's assault, according to the airport, which was evacuated and remained closed until further notice.
DOE Gets Failing Grade for So-called Transgender Student Memo

Contact: Liberty Counsel, 407-875-1776, Media@LC.org; Press Kit



WASHINGTON, June 21, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued a memo to public schools and teachers explaining that refusal to refer to so-called transgender students by their preferred pronoun or name could be grounds for an investigation.



The OCR recently issued an internal memo "to explain the effects of developments on the enforcement of Title IX" regarding complaints involving so-called transgender students.

The memo, written by acting assistant secretary for civil rights Candice Jackson, lists several reasons why OCR investigators would assert "subject matter jurisdiction over and open [a case] for investigation." For example, a school's failure to quickly resolve a so-called transgender student's complaint of sex discrimination or treating a student different because of his or her failure to conform to "stereotyped notions of masculinity or femininity."

That list also includes "refusing to use a transgender student's preferred name or pronouns when the school uses preferred names for gender-conforming students or when the refusal is motivated by animus toward people who do not conform to sex stereotypes." An investigation could be conducted if there is failure to assess whether sexual harassment or gender-based harassment of a "transgender student created a hostile environment."

However, not included on the list of reasons for an investigation is the act of denying so-called transgender students the right to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their subjective gender.

"Title IX does not require a school district or teacher to call students by false gender pronouns," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "Title IX is silent regarding the use of pronouns, and it cannot be a violation to refer to students by pronouns consistent with their actual sex. Requiring false pronoun usage by teachers is a compelled speech violation for teachers and compelling students to participate in a lie violates their right to free speech. I thought we had seen the last of this nonsense coming out of the Department of Education. I call upon Betsy DeVoss to end this new policy," said Staver.

Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
"We hope the list of demands will soon be presented to Qatar and will be reasonable and actionable," US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said

Saudi Arabia and its allies have drawn up a list of demands to be presented to Qatar, the United States said Wednesday, as President Donald Trump discussed the regional crisis with new Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The latest moves came as Washington stepped up its efforts to resolve the thorny row between Qatar -- home to the biggest US air base in the Middle East -- and its neighbors, led by Riyadh.

"We hope the list of demands will soon be presented to Qatar and will be reasonable and actionable," US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, in a statement.

Later, addressing reporters after a meeting with senior Chinese officials, Tillerson said Washington had been pushing for a clear list of grievances.

"Our role has been to encourage the parties to get their issues on the table, clearly articulated, so that those issues can be addressed and some resolution process can get underway to bring this to a conclusion," he said.

"Our desire is for unity within the Gulf and unity within the GCC and that we direct all of our efforts onto the war against terror," he said, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council, a fractious regional alliance.

Two weeks ago, Riyadh and several of its allies including Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, cut ties with Qatar over accusations that Doha supports extremist groups, including some linked to Saudi foe Iran -- a claim Qatar denies.

In addition to diplomatic isolation, other measures taken included closing Qatar's only land border, banning its planes from using their airspace and barring Qatari nationals from transiting through their airports.

Trump's administration has sent contradictory signals on the crisis. While the US president has made statements siding with Saudi Arabia, Washington has shown mounting frustration over the kingdom's role in the crisis.

Tillerson's spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tuesday that the US was "mystified" that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have failed to present details justifying their embargo on Qatar.

"The more that time goes by, the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE," Nauert said.

On Wednesday, Trump discussed the Qatar row with Saudi Arabia's newly-appointed crown prince, on a call during which he also offered his congratulations to the new heir to the throne.

"The president and the crown prince committed to close cooperation to advance our shared goals of security, stability, and prosperity across the Middle East and beyond," the White House said in a statement.

"The two leaders discussed the priority of cutting off all support for terrorists and extremists, as well as how to resolve the ongoing dispute with Qatar," the statement added.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's King Salman ousted his nephew as crown prince and installed Mohammed, his son, as heir to the throne.

Trump, 71, and Mohammed, 31, have met twice -- once in Riyadh during the US leader's recent trip to Saudi Arabia and once in mid-March at the White House.
US President Donald Trump (L) congratulated Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pictured in March 2017 when Salman was still Deputy Crown Prince

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday congratulated Saudi Arabia's newly appointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with whom he discussed the thorny diplomatic row between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors, including Riyadh.

"The president and the crown prince committed to close cooperation to advance our shared goals of security, stability, and prosperity across the Middle East and beyond," the White House said in a statement about their telephone talks.

"The two leaders discussed the priority of cutting off all support for terrorists and extremists, as well as how to resolve the ongoing dispute with Qatar," the statement added.

The region is in the throes of a deep crisis.

Earlier this month, Riyadh and several of its allies including Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, cut ties with Qatar over accusations that Doha supports extremist groups, including some linked to Saudi foe Iran -- a claim Tehran denies.

In addition to diplomatic isolation, other measures taken included closing Qatar's only land border, banning its planes from using their airspace and barring Qatari nationals from transiting through their airports.

Qatar is home to the biggest US air base in the Middle East -- a hub in the war against the Islamic State group.

Trump's administration has sent contradictory signals on the crisis. While Trump has made statements siding with Saudi Arabia, Washington has shown mounting frustration over the kingdom's role in the crisis.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tuesday that the US was "mystified" that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have failed to present details justifying their embargo on Qatar.

"The more that time goes by, the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE," Nauert said.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has been tasked by Trump to oversee an end to the crisis, has been working the phones in recent days trying to defuse a standoff that has put key US allies at loggerheads with one another.

Tillerson said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia and its allies had prepared a list of demands to be presented to Qatar.

"We hope the list of demands will soon be presented to Qatar and will be reasonable and actionable," Tillerson said in a statement.

"We support the Kuwaiti mediation effort and look forward to this matter moving toward a resolution.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's King Salman ousted his nephew as crown prince and installed Mohammed, his son, as heir to the throne.

Trump, 71, and Mohammed, 31, have met twice -- once in Riyadh during the US leader's recent trip to Saudi Arabia and once in mid-March at the White House.
Detractors of Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, pictured in July 2016, believe that the proposed and now postponed constitutional referendum would give Keita excessive power

Mali on Wednesday delayed a constitutional referendum due to be held on July 9 in the face of heavy political opposition and street protests.

The vote was aimed at enshrining elements of a 2015 peace deal into the charter and establishing a senate in parliament, but came under intense scrutiny in recent weeks.

The cabinet "has decided to delay the referendum initially planned for July 9 to a future date," a statement issued by the government said, without providing a reason or a new date for the vote.

The referendum faced opposition from those who say it gives President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita excessive powers.

Detractors also said such a vote could not be held safely in the troubled north, which remains wracked by insecurity, jihadist activity, and a near absence of the state.

Thousands protested against the referendum last weekend in Bamako and two parties serving in the governmental grouping in parliament on Tuesday called for it to be delayed to "cool down" rising tensions.

Beyond the senate, the referendum would enshrine in the constitution the establishment of five administrative regions in the north elected by popular vote.

Mali's former rebel alliance on Tuesday rejected a national reconciliation charter unveiled on the second anniversary of their signing a peace deal with the government, further underscoring the country's fraying peace process.

The deal signed in 2015 aimed at curbing separatist uprisings in Mali's north after a 2012 rebellion was hijacked by jihadists, throwing the nation into chaos.

But Mali's jihadists did not sign the peace deal and have continued to wreak havoc despite an ongoing French-led military intervention in 2013 to remove them.

In a sign of their growing confidence, an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance claimed responsibility Monday for a weekend attack on a tourist resort near Mali's capital that left five people dead.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured in May 2017, "emphasized the value of maintaining an open dialogue amongst disputing parties" in the Gulf, his office said

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed "concern about the funding of terrorism" to the emir of Qatar on Wednesday, calling for dialogue to end Doha's row with Arab states.

In a telephone call with Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, "the prime minister raised Canada's concern with the funding of terrorism and extremism, wherever it takes place," according to a statement.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt moved earlier this month to isolate Qatar, accusing the rich Gulf state of assisting extremist groups.

Trudeau "emphasized the value of maintaining an open dialogue amongst disputing parties," his office said.

"The leaders further discussed the need to de-escalate current tensions, limit the impact on affected families in the region, and continue to address the root causes of terrorism."
Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show, has spoken out against racial bias from police in the United States

Trevor Noah, one of the most prominent comedy hosts in the United States, has spoken out against the wider problem of racial bias among police, saying he has been stopped by American officers "eight to 10 times."

Noah, who is South African and hosts "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, made the remarks after a Minnesota police officer was acquitted of all charges over the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Philando Castile last July.

Speaking to the audience between taping segments for the show on Tuesday, the 33-year-old said he had been stopped by police "at least eight to 10 times" in the six years he has lived in the US.

"I've been stopped in rental cars, I've been stopped in my car, I've been stopped in a car with tinted windows, a car with rims, a car with no rims. I've been stopped in a Tesla," Noah said.

"You get to a point where you realize it's just part of a black person's life in America," he added. "It's insane that it's such a normal thing."

The Minnesota officer was acquitted last Friday over the shooting of Castile, who was in the vehicle with his girlfriend and her four-year-old daughter.

Castile was initially singled out for a traffic stop because the officer thought he resembled a robbery suspect.

The officer opened fire while Castile was buckled in his seat, saying he thought Castile was reaching for the gun, which the motorist had earlier volunteered he was carrying legally.

"Whenever I get pulled over, the first thing I do is throw my arms out the window and it looks so stupid when you see me," said Noah.

The United States has been beset in recent years by protests and national debate about allegations of police brutality and institutional racism over a string of deadly shootings of unarmed black suspects.

"Often times in America the conversation gets caught up in racism as it pertains to black and white, but I don't believe that that is the conversation," Noah said.

"I believe that the police force as a whole is trained in such a way that it creates state racism. That is different."

Noah grew up in the South African township of Soweto, the child of a then-prohibited relationship between a black woman and a white Swiss father.
A US soldier is seen on June 21, 2017 in the city of Mosul, where he is part of a team advising Iraqi forces in their battle to retake the city from the Islamic State group

In a once-plush house in west Mosul, a handful of US soldiers watch on as an Iraqi commander barks orders over the radio to his troops fighting jihadists little more than a mile away.

Senior Iraqi officers huddle around a map showing their forces' advance against the Islamic State group in Mosul's Old City, as walkie-talkies crackle with strained voices giving the latest news from the front.

The US officers step in occasionally to comment on the tense back-and-forths.

The Americans are part of a dozens-strong advisory team based in the makeshift command post, in a battered neighbourhood pock-marked by shelling less than two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the front line.

"We live with them on a daily basis, hand in hand," says Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Kaiser, the youthful-looking officer advising the commander of the Iraqi 16th Division.

In the hallway outside the command centre, two US soldiers in body armour sit with rifles at their sides at the foot of a spiral staircase next to a disused water fountain.

They are taking a break from guard duty on the sweltering street outside, where their armoured vehicles are parked.

Resting in another room in the house, which is plastered with maps of the city, Kaiser says his role has changed drastically since his last visit to the city, when he was part of the US forces based in Mosul more than a decade ago.

- Difficult terrain -

US soldiers who are part of a team advising Iraqi forces are seen in Mosul on June 21, 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the city from the Islamic State group

Using video feeds from surveillance drones, satellite maps and reports from the Iraqi troops on the ground, he now advises the commander of the division on how best to press on in the face of fierce resistance from the jihadists.

Some of what made the jihadists a formidable fighting force in the early stages of the battle for Mosul, launched by Iraqi forces with support from the US-led coalition in October, has changed in the latest fighting, Kaiser says.

Their weapons and manpower have been ground down in months of fighting.

"Because the distances are so close they can't use anti-armour weaponry, they can't use snipers, they don't have a VBIED (vehicle-born improvised explosive device) capacity like they did," he says.

But he concedes the Old City is very tough terrain for fighting.

On the street outside the command centre, the sound of mortar rounds can be heard in the distance and thick smoke can be seen billowing from sites hit by warplanes and artillery.

A major worry for Iraqi forces, and for Kaiser's team, is the large number of civilians trapped in Mosul's Old City, and how to avoid harming them in their operations.

"The criminal gangs of Daesh are using civilians as human shields to hinder the movement of our units," says Colonel Issam Ghadban, head of media for the division Kaiser is attached to, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

As many as 100,000 civilians could be trapped there, in what the UN refugee agency's Iraq representative Bruno Geddo has called the "largest urban warfare since World War II".

- Human shields video -

US soldiers are seen on June 21, 2017 in Mosul, where they are part of a team advising Iraqi forces in their battle to retake the city from the Islamic State group

On June 8, the UN's rights office said it had credible reports that 230 civilians have been killed by the IS group trying to flee west Mosul since May 26.

The coalition also announced in March that it would investigate reports its strikes had killed a large number of civilians in the area of Mosul al-Jadida.

"We want the protection of civilians to be put at the centre of the military operations, we continue to advocate for fighting to respect the principles of precaution, distinction and proportionality," Geddo says.

Every day, teams launch small surveillance drones from the house in West Mosul where Kaiser's unit works with the Iraqi division, and it was via the grainy video from one of these that he witnessed the threat to civilians in the Old City.

After striking a house from which IS jihadists were trying to detonate explosives, Kaiser and the Iraqi commanders watched the aftermath.

"We watched two ISIS members wearing the full military equipment, with rifles, start shuttling women and children into that building," he says, using another acronym for IS.

"They're trying to goad you into striking civilians, by moving civilians, women and children, to protect their vital capability sets."
US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis (L), alongside US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, has spoken out against North Korea's treatment of a US student who died after a long detention in Pyongyang

North Korea's treatment of an American student who died after being released from detention in a coma was inhuman and US patience with Pyongyang is running out, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Wednesday.

Otto Warmbier, 22, suffered severe brain damage in North Korea and died on Monday following 18 months of captivity in North Korea after he was sentenced to hard labor for stealing a political poster from a hotel.

"To see a young man go over there healthy and, (after) a minor act of mischief, come home dead basically... this goes beyond any kind of understanding of law and order, of humanity, of responsibility towards any human being," Mattis said.

"What you are seeing I think is the American people's frustration with the regime that provokes and provokes and provokes and basically (is) playing outside the rules, plays fast and loose with the truth, that sort of thing."

Otto Warmbier, in a file photo taken on February 29, 2016, died in the United States after being released from North Korea in a coma

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly slammed North Korea over its treatment of Warmbier, who died within days of returning to the United States.

Mattis was speaking alongside Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after the two met Chinese officials to discuss North Korea and other regional issues, including China's continued military build up in the South China Sea.

"We had an open and frank dialog about what more can be done in areas of common interest," he said.

Tillerson said "efforts continue" towards securing the release of three more American citizens that are still being "illegally detained" by Kim Jong-Un's regime in Pyongyang.
Police in riot gear line up in August 2016 as angry crowds protested the officer-involved killing of Sylville Smith in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

A former Wisconsin police officer was acquitted Wednesday in the fatal shooting of an African-American man, a killing that had ignited two nights of unrest in Milwaukee.

Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, was found not guilty of first-degree reckless homicide in the killing of Sylville Smith, who was carrying a semi-automatic pistol during a brief foot chase that led to the shooting.

The reading of the verdict was interrupted by anguished cries from some of the attendees in the gallery.

While the officer and the victim in this case were both African American, it was one in a series of fatal shootings of black people across the United States.

The incident highlighted how a person's race might bias an officer's decision to use deadly force.

Prosecutors focused on the second of two shots aimed at Smith, saying he was no longer armed by that time and the officer should not have fired again.

Heaggan-Brown's attorneys argued that he acted in self-defense and was forced to make a quick decision about whether to shoot.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm urged those disappointed with the verdict to remain calm, saying the case was a difficult one for prosecutors.

"Any prosecutor will tell you that self-defense cases are tough cases," Chisholm told a news conference after the verdict.

Relying mostly on body camera footage from Heaggan-Brown and a second officer, authorities said the first shot struck Smith in the arm as he was raising his right hand, which was holding the gun.

Smith then fell to the ground and was unarmed, but Heaggan-Brown fired a second shot at Smith's chest, according to the criminal complaint.

The 23-year-old Smith died at the scene.

The officer was fired from the Milwaukee Police Department in October following unrelated sexual assault charges.

The shooting triggered two days of turbulent protests that saw cars and businesses in the city set on fire, and police targeted with gunshots, rocks and bottles.

"The relationship between law enforcement and the justice system, and the communities they serve, is under some severe strain right now," Chisholm said.

The ruling follows Friday's acquittal of Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez, 29, in the shooting death of black motorist Philando Castile, whose dying moments were livestreamed on Facebook.

And all six Baltimore officers charged over the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, due to spinal cord injuries suffered in the back of a police van, were eventually cleared.
Donald Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner (L) meets Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas as part of an attempt to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations

US President Donald Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner held "productive" meetings with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, the White House said.

Kushner, accompanied by Trump's Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, is attempting to broker a deal to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, frozen since US-led talks collapsed in 2014.

Washington's ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, also attended the sit-down with Netanyahu.

"The three United States officials discussed Israel's priorities and potential next steps with Prime Minister Netanyahu, acknowledging the critical role Israel plays in the security of the region," the White House said in a statement.

"The meeting was productive and the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to advancing President Trump's goal of a genuine and lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians that enhances stability in the region," the statement read.

In short video released by Netanyahu's office, the prime minister told Kushner: "This is an opportunity to pursue our common goals of security, prosperity and peace."

"I welcome you here in that spirit. I know of your efforts, the president's efforts, and I look forward to working with you."

Greenblatt and Kushner both accompanied Trump in May on his first visit as president to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Both men also met Abbas and his senior advisors in Ramallah, accompanied by US Consul General Donald Blome, for talks the White House also dubbed "productive."

"Kushner and Greenblatt discussed with President Abbas priorities for the Palestinians and potential next steps, acknowledging the need for economic opportunities for Palestinians and major investments in the Palestinian economy," it said.

A White House official said this week Trump "strongly believes that peace is possible," and that Greenblatt and Kushner expect to visit the region multiple times in coming months in a bid to build confidence between the two sides.
"There is little doubt that the US financial system is stronger today than it was a decade ago," Jerome Powell said in testimony to be delivered before the Senate Banking Committee, but "we must also be vigilant against new risks that may develop"

The US Federal Reserve is open to easing some banking regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis, including stress tests and the so-called Volcker Rule, according to a central bank governor.

In testimony to be delivered Thursday, Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell said some reasonable reforms could be in order. But he argued reforms made since the crisis had left the US banking sector in better condition than it was before the meltdown.

The central bank should consider adjusting regulations "in common-sense ways that will simplify rules and reduce unnecessary regulatory burden without compromising safety and soundness," Powell said in prepared remarks released Wednesday.

The testimony comes as the Trump administration prepares to modify much of the regulation included in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which was enacted in response to the crisis.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday is also due to publish the results of annual stress tests for major banks, which are called for under Dodd-Frank and intended to make sure lenders are on solid capital footing in the event of a crisis.

The financial industry, and mid-size banks in particular, have complained of the burden the new regulations place on lenders.

The Fed would support raising the threshold for the stress-test requirement, applying it to banks with $50 billion or more in assets from the current $10 billion.

The central bank could likewise exempt smaller banks from the Volcker Rule, which restricts certain speculative and risky trades made with a bank's own assets, according to Powell.

"There is little doubt that the US financial system is stronger today than it was a decade ago," Powell said in testimony to be delivered before the Senate Banking Committee.

"We must also be vigilant against new risks that may develop."
Malteser International Americas Honors the Resilience of Refugees, Migrants and Displaced People on World Refugee Day

With supportive programs, the most vulnerable show strength, courage, and resilience in face of enormous difficulties and despair

NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- 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 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's Cash-for-Work program 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 anymore. 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 has 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, donate today: https://orderofmaltarelief.org/donation

About Malteser International Americas:
Teacher gun training, however, has been denounced by groups that favor gun control and who say weapons do not belong in schools

Teachers in Colorado are being trained to use guns, which they will be allowed to carry in classrooms to fire back in the event of a school shooting.

A group of 17 teachers and staff in Weld County are taking part in a three-day course this week organized by the conservative organization Coloradans for Civil Liberties.

Laura Carno, the founder of the group, told AFP that the so-called FASTER training is carried out by off-duty police officers who teach participants how to respond in the event of an emergency.

FASTER is the acronym for "Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response," a program created in the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children as well as six staff members were killed.

"The reason why (carrying weapons in schools) is developing is because it's a dangerous world," Carno said, referring to some of the mass shootings that have taken place in the United States in recent years.

Under Colorado law, staff at schools can carry concealed weapons as long as they have a permit and are designated as security officers.

Carno said the majority of those taking part in the training this week work in rural districts where a police response could take 30 to 45 minutes.

The training involves lessons about gun safety and use as well as emergency response and how to overcome a threat as students flee a classroom that comes under attack.

"The purpose is not to replace police and emergency medical personnel, but to allow teachers, administrators, and other personnel on-site to stop school violence rapidly and render medical aid immediately," according to FASTER's website.

Such training, however, has been denounced by groups that favor gun control and who say weapons do not belong in schools.

"The dangers of adding guns to a school environment are dramatically increased by allowing loaded lethal weapons into a school environment on a daily basis -- as the promoters of FASTER envision," Ken Tolz, founder of Safe Campus Colorado, told the NBC station in Denver.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - A judge is refusing to dismiss murder charges against an Alabama inmate who has been held in jail for a decade without a trial.

Houston County Circuit Judge Kevin Moulton wrote in a Friday order that there is no evidence the state purposely delayed the case against Kharon Davis.

Davis is charged in the 2007 shooting death of Pete Reaves. He has been held in jail for a decade without bail.

His attorneys say the original judge allowed Davis to be represented for four years by an attorney with a conflict of interest because the attorney's son was the police investigator on the case.

Moulton wrote that Davis knew about the conflict and kept the attorney.

The case goes to trial Sept. 18.
ORONO, Maine (AP) - The unwanted crabs that have plagued Maine's clam beds for years might soon play a new role - as appetizer.

Two University of Maine scientists and a former graduate student believe they may have found a solution to the state's trouble with invasive green crabs, and it involves turning the clawed critters into savory pastries.

The green crabs threaten Maine's environment and economy because they're ravenous predators of softshell clams, one of the state's signature seafood items. State officials have said the crabs, which are native to Europe and turn red once cooked, have increased in numbers in recent years as water temperatures off Maine rise.

In this February 2010 photo provided by food scientist Joseph Galetti, he holds a fully cooked green crab with a thermocouple stuck in its eye in Orono, Maine. Galetti was part of a team of University of Maine researchers who worked to turn the invasive crabs into a food product that would give fishermen an incentive to catch them. (Joseph Galetti/Denise Skonberg via AP)

Fishermen and state fishery managers have long struggled to find ways to control the population by making the crabs, which net fishermen less than a dollar per pound, worth catching. Now, three food scientists say they've happened upon a food product that might just be viable: green crab empanadas.

"I chose the green crab specifically because it was local; it was a project affecting the state of Maine," said Joseph Galetti, one of the scientists involved. "So by creating a value-added food product that people will enjoy, we can stimulate a green crab fishery."

And it's not just pie in the sky. Galetti and his colleagues have served up samples to taste testers and published findings this year in the Journal of Aquatic Food Product Technology stating that about two-thirds of testers would "probably" or "definitely" buy the product if it were locally available.

The project was a collaboration between Galetti, who is now a food scientist in New Hampshire, and UMaine food scientists Beth Calder and Denise Skonberg. Calder and Skonberg had been looking to create some kind of value-added product involving green crabs and recruited Galetti to work on the project when he was a graduate student because he has a background in the culinary arts.

The empanada is a fried pastry that mixes minced green crab meat with onions, corn, cayenne pepper and thyme. The scientists say they hope the recent publication of their study will drive interest among food companies in making the product commercially. The university is promoting the findings in the hopes of getting fishermen interested in catching green crabs and chefs interested in cooking with the critters.

The study states that the 87-person panel of taste testers rated the empanada between "like slightly" and "like moderately," which the scientists describe as pretty impressive for food made out of an invasive pest.

The crabs first became noticeable in Maine around the turn of the 20th century and are infamous for the damage they can do to coastal habitats like eelgrass beds and salt marshes. They are the subject of a small fishery in Europe, but the small crabs lack popularity as food because they contain little meat.

Skonberg said one of the reasons it's important to find a commercial use for them is their resilience. They can survive freezing weather, they are resistant to some chemicals used to kill sea pests, and each female can produce hundreds of thousands of offspring.

All the better reason to give people an incentive to eat them, Skonberg said.

"They are hard to kill, and with the reproductive rate and the water warming, they are doing incredibly well," Skonberg said. "If we don't have any use for them at all, it's hard."
MILAN (AP) - Carla Fendi, one of the five sisters who transformed the family leather goods business into a global luxury fashion house long known for its furs, has died following a long illness. She was 79.

The Rome-based fashion house confirmed Fendi's death Monday, expressing pain for the loss and gratitude for her continued contributions.

The sisters opened the first Fendi store in Rome's historic center in 1964, and a year later hired a young designer named Karl Lagerfeld who helped catapult the Italian brand into global fame, with a focus on designing luxury furs.

FILE - In this, Oct. 20, 2014 file photo Carla Fendi arrives at the inauguration of architect Frank Gehry's latest creation, the Louis Vuitton Foundation art museum and cultural center in Paris. Carla Fendi, one of the five sisters who transformed the family leather goods business into a global luxury fashion house long known for its furs, has died following a long illness. The Rome-based fashion house confirmed Fendi's death Monday, June 19, 2017, at the age of 79, expressing pain for the loss and gratitude for her continued contributions. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

Each sister had her role, and Carla Fendi, as Fendi president, was the family business' public face until they sold to the French luxury group LVMH in 1999. She was honorary president until her death.

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011 file photo Carla Fendi arrives at her company fashion show in Milan, Italy. Carla Fendi, one of the five sisters who transformed the family leather goods business into a global luxury fashion house long known for its furs, has died following a long illness. The Rome-based fashion house confirmed Fendi's death Monday, June 19, 2017, at the age of 79, expressing pain for the loss and gratitude for her continued contributions. (AP Photo/Giuseppe Aresu, file)
LONDON (AP) - 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."

A message stands amongst floral tributes for the victims of the June 14 fire, believed to have killed some dozens of people at the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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."

A man looks at missing posters for people still missing and thought to be unlikely to have survived the June 14 fire believed to have killed some dozens of people at the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

A man looks at tribute messages written for the victims of the June 14 fire that is believed to have killed dozens of people at the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

A woman with a young child looks at floral tributes at the southern end of London Bridge, where in a June 3 attack three men drove people down and then went on a stabbing rampage that ended in Borough Market, where they were shot dead by police, in London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

People look at the fire-gutted 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London, where a fire on June 14 is believed to have killed some dozens of people, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

People stand by written tribute messages, many from international visitors, at the southern end of London Bridge, where in a June 3 attack three men drove people down and then went on a stabbing rampage that ended in Borough Market, where they were shot dead by police, in London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

A woman writes a message amongst tributes for the victims of the June 14 fire, believed to have killed some dozens of people at the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

People look at tributes placed nearby for the victims of the June 14 fire that is believed to have killed some dozens of people at the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Written tributes of unity are displayed after being placed by the scene of an attack where a man drove into a group of people near a mosque early Monday morning, in the Finsbury Park area of north London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

A woman looks at tributes placed at the scene of an attack where a man drove into a group of people near a mosque early Monday morning, in the Finsbury Park area of north London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Experts say a Supreme Court ruling this week could have a "chilling effect" on the many lawsuits filed in St. Louis claiming talcum powder causes a deadly form of cancer in women.

Justices ruled 8-1 Monday that hundreds of out-state-residents can't sue Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in California state court over reactions to the blood thinner Plavix. It followed a similar ruling in another case in May. Both were seen as wins for companies opposed to "venue shopping."

In four cases over the past 16 months, St. Louis juries have awarded more than $300 million combined over claims Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder caused ovarian cancer. Experts say the ruling will likely require new trials those cases, and could mean that hundreds of additional cases will have to be filed elsewhere.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to drug-test Medicaid recipients and increase premiums on poor people drew five fully positive comments out of more than 1,000 submitted by the public, with one of the supportive letters coming from his own lieutenant governor, according to a review by The Associated Press.

The supportive remarks amounted to less than half a percent of the comments submitted by doctors, religious leaders, insurance companies, foster parents and others during a 30-day period for the public to weigh in before Walker submitted his plan to the federal government. The Republican needs a waiver from President Donald Trump's administration for any changes to take effect.

The plan would make Wisconsin the first state in the country to require a drug screening as a condition for Medicaid eligibility.

"It doesn't surprise me at all because there was certainly no public push for these changes," said Robert Kraig, executive director of the advocacy group Citizens Action, which helped organize comments against the plan and submitted more than 650 in opposition from individuals, doctors, nurses and others.

A total of 1,050 comments rolled into the state Department of Health Services starting on April 19, in emails, letters, public testimony and phone voicemails. The AP used the state's open records law to obtain the comments, many of which were redacted by the state to remove names and other identifying information.

Walker - who has touted the proposal as a way to move people off public aid programs and into the workforce - said he made changes in response to the public comments before submitting his waiver request two weeks ago.

Those changes included scaling back the new premiums he wants to charge and reducing the cost of a new co-payment for emergency room visits. The plan also now allows people who refuse a drug test to reapply for Medicaid benefits when they consent to treatment, rather than getting shut out for six months.

But the core proposals remained unaltered.

In response to the AP's tally, Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said the governor's plan has generated support through other avenues.

"The governor hears from employers all the time who say they are looking to hire people who are ready to work and able to pass a drug test," Evenson said. "If someone fails the test, we offer treatment at no cost to them so they can get healthy and back into the workforce."

Evenson called the proposal "reasonable, common-sense reforms to help people move from government dependence to true independence."

Walker, who is up for re-election next year, has defended drug tests as a way to get people into treatment, which he wants to be funded by federal Medicaid money, so they can get a job.

Hundreds of people who submitted comments made clear they didn't like them.

"Drug testing has been determined to be expensive, ineffective, and illegal," wrote Bobby Peterson, executive director of ABC for Health, a nonprofit Madison law firm that helps people get health care.

Others described Walker's proposal as cruel, sad, demeaning or ineffective.

"You have espoused Jesus and are embracing the devil and demons that have gained control of the political process," said another email, the name of the sender also redacted. "May God have mercy on you in this time of reckoning for surely you are cursed."

The handful of supportive comments thanked Walker.

"As a hardworking citizen of the state and of my country, I think the drug testing should be required and not based on a health assessment screen," one person said in a voicemail.

Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and state Rep. John Nygren also wrote in support, citing their jobs as co-chairs of a governor's task force on opioid abuse. They called the drug-screening proposal an important tool in identifying Medicaid recipients in need of treatment.

The Trump administration could make a decision by this summer. The new requirements are slated to take effect in April 2019.

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Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sbauerAP
ALLEN PARK, Michigan (AP) - Detroit Lions defensive tackle Khyri Thornton has been suspended for the first six games of the 2017 season for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.

Thornton can return to the active roster on Oct. 16, at the start of a bye week, and will be eligible to play Oct. 29 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is permitted to practice with the Lions during training camp and is eligible to play in preseason games.

Thornton played in 19 games during the previous two seasons with the Lions, starting six games last season. He seemed to be headed for a backup role this season behind defensive tackles Haloti Ngata and A'Shawn Robinson.

FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017 file photo, Detroit Lions defensive tackle Khyri Thornton walks on the field before an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers in Detroit. Detroit Lions defensive tackle Khyri Thornton has violated the NFL's substance-abuse policy. The league announced Tuesday, June 20, 2017 that Thornton will be suspended without pay for the first six games of the 2017 season. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson, File)

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More AP NFL: http://pro32.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed Josette Sheeran who formerly led the U.N. World Food Program as his special envoy for Haiti with a mandate to raise money for a trust fund to help victims of a cholera outbreak that has afflicted over 800,000 people.

Guterres announced Tuesday that Sheeran, who heads the Asia Society, will be "fully engaged" in fundraising for Haiti which she visited for WFP and as U.S. undersecretary of state.

The U.N. is seeking $400 million to aid affected communities and help eradicate cholera in Haiti but as of late May only $2.67 million had been contributed to the fund.

U.N. troops from Nepal were widely blamed for introducing cholera to Haiti after a devastating earthquake in 2010. The death toll as of April was over 9,500.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement in the coming days on whether any recordings exist of his private conversations with former FBI Director James Comey, potentially bringing to an end one of the central mysteries of the ongoing probe that has consumed his White House.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that he expects an announcement "this week" on the possibility of tapes. The president fired Comey in May and then tweeted that the lawman, who was overseeing the investigation into possible contacts between Trump's campaign and Russian officials, "better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press."

Trump and his aides have since then steadfastly refused to clarify that extraordinary if ambiguous warning. The president last month told reporters that "I'll tell you about that maybe sometime in the near future" but offered no hints as to whether the tapes exists, except saying that some journalists would "be very disappointed" to find out the answer.

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The House intelligence committee has asked White House counsel Don McGahn to provide an answer to the question about tapes by Friday. Under a post-Watergate law, the Presidential Records Act, recordings made by presidents belong to the people and can eventually be made public. Destroying them would be a crime.

Comey testified before the Senate that Trump asked for his loyalty and asked for him to drop the probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Some have raised the possibility that Trump's request constituted obstruction of justice, but the president has yet to produce the tapes that could theoretically clear his name.

The investigation was originally launched to look into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. Trump has at times cast doubt on that conclusion, and Spicer said Tuesday that he has yet to discuss with the president whether he believes that Moscow was behind the election interference.

"I have not sat down and talked to him about that specific thing," Spicer said.

America's top intelligence officials have concluded that Russia undoubtedly interfered in America's 2016 presidential campaign. Characterizing it as the "high-confidence judgment of the entire intelligence community," Comey testified that there is no doubt that the Russians meddled "with "purpose," ''sophistication" and technology. Trump, meanwhile, has dismissed investigations into the meddling and potential collusion with his campaign associates as a "witch hunt."

Robert Mueller, the special counsel now overseeing the investigation, met Tuesday with the leaders of the House Intelligence committee. Reps. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., issued a brief statement saying the meeting but provided no details about their discussion.

Mueller is slated to meet Wednesday with top members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including the chairman, GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and the top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. He'll also meet with Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

One reason for the Capitol Hill meetings is to ensure there is no conflict between Mueller's probe and the work of the congressional committees.

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Lemire reported from New York.

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Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire and Colvin at http://twitter.com/@colvinj
EWTN Live to Feature Bishop Bill Skylstad, WWME North American Leadership Priest, This Week Contact: Dick & Diane Baumbach, Worldwide Marriage Encounter, 321-544-3440, dickanddiane66@bellsouth.net, media@wwme.org



BIRMINGHAM, Ala., June 21, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- Bishop Bill Skylstad, the North American ecclesial priest for Worldwide Marriage Encounter (WWME), the original faith-based marriage enrichment program, will be the featured guest this week on EWTN Live hosted by Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN).



The EWTN Live show will air on June 21, 22 and 25 at various times. Bishop Bill serves with Gene & Maggie Tokraks as the WWME North American leadership team.



Bishop Bill is the Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Spokane, WA. He has been actively involved with Worldwide Marriage Encounter for many years. He is also the former president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).



In addition to Bishop Bill's interview on EWTN Live he also will be appearing later this year on EWTN with the Tokraks on an episode of Church Universal hosted by Fr. Joseph Mary.



Earlier this month Church Universal filmed three separate episodes about WWME. The other guests were Joe & Sue Talarico and Fr. Tom Ogg, the WWME United States Ecclesial Team and Peter & Sheila Oprysko and Fr. Tom Griffith, SVD, the WWME 50th Anniversary Convention Ecclesial Chair Coordinators. The convention will be held next year in Lombard, IL from June 22 to 24, 2018.



The television series "Church Universal" started in 2014. The show focuses on lay movements in the Catholic Church and tells their stories focusing on the programs and activities they provide.



Worldwide Marriage Encounter has been offering weekend experiences for over 49 years and is considered the original faith-based marriage enrichment program. The programs are continually updated to keep abreast of changes in society, and WWME now offers evening and half-day programs that are presented at parishes and other church facilities. The weekend program, traditionally presented as an overnight experience at a hotel or retreat center, can also be presented at the parish where the couples return to their homes in the evenings. WWME has a presence in almost 100 countries, which makes it the largest pro-marriage movement in the world. In North America, the WWME programs are presented in English, Spanish, French, and Korean languages.



Worldwide Marriage Encounter offers married couples the opportunity to spend time together away from the busyness of the world to focus on each other. Priests are also encouraged to attend a WWME weekend, which offers insights into their relationship with the church and their parishioners, and how their Sacrament of Holy Orders interacts with the Sacrament of Matrimony. WWME offers tools for building and maintaining a strong, Christian marriage in today's world. To learn more about the Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends online, go to wwme.org, or contact the WWME national office at (909) 863-9963.



Media inquires -please contact Dick & Diane Baumbach at 321-544-3440 / dickanddiane66@bellsouth.net or media@wwme.org

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ABUROC, South Sudan (AP) - Albin Koolekheh watched his 4-year-old son die in his arms. He and his family were among tens of thousands of people who escaped a wave of fighting in South Sudan's civil war, only to find themselves living in a filthy camp near the border with Sudan.

A new report by Amnesty International says South Sudanese forces burned, shelled and ransacked homes between January and May, killing civilians and forcing thousands like Koolekheh from the Shilluk ethnic minority to flee.

"Even considering South Sudan's history of ethnic hostility," the mass displacement was shocking, the report says.

In this photo taken Monday, June 19, 2017, Elizabeth Adwok, left, an ethnic Shilluk who arrived with her seven children in April after having been forcefully displaced from her home three times since South Sudan's conflict began, cooks sorghum in her small hut in the village of Aburoc, South Sudan where she lives with other displaced people. A new report by Amnesty International says South Sudanese forces burned, shelled and ransacked homes between January and May, killing civilians and forcing thousands from the Shilluk ethnic minority to flee. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

As South Sudan faces its fourth year of civil war, the fighting shows no signs of ending. Both government and opposition forces have been accused of war crimes including mass rape and targeted killings, while the United Nations warns of ethnic violence. While the focus has been on ethnic tensions between the Dinka of President Salva Kiir and the Nuer of rebel leader Riek Machar, the new report highlights the threat to others caught in the crossfire.

When government troops attacked his hometown of Wau Shilluk in January, Koolekheh grabbed his wife and three children and left. After a day of walking through the bush, his youngest son fell sick. With no food or water, the boy died on the side of the road.

"Bullets, guns, screaming, it was everywhere," the weary 32-year-old father told The Associated Press this week. "This violence is known to the world. But what is everyone doing about it?"

Now Koolekheh crouches on the dirt floor in the back room of a small shop, scrubbing metal bowls with a rag, his eyes fixed on the floor.

He and his family are sheltering in Aburoc, an ad hoc displaced person's camp. At the peak of the fighting, 25,000 people were living in this bleak shantytown. Now roughly 10,000 remain, the rest gone to Sudan or nearby villages.

Makeshift houses with plastic roofs are scattered across muddy fields. Food is scarce and disease is rife. A cholera outbreak threatened the population in May.

Yet many have no choice but to call this town home. This is their third or fourth attempt at finding refuge in less than six months after being uprooted over and over by violence.

Satellite imagery collected by Amnesty International shows the destruction of homes and other civilian buildings, including a temple, in the central areas of Wau Shilluk.

The group's report says government troops often deliberately killed civilians, shooting them in the back when they tried to flee.

"These accounts are unfounded," said a South Sudan military spokesman, Col. Santo Domic Chol. He said it isn't within the military's mandate to kill civilians and chase them from their homes.

Yet stories abound of families fleeing for their lives.

When government forces attacked the nearby opposition-held town of Kodok three months ago, Victoria Adhong said she fled and will never go back. Although Aburoc is currently peaceful, Adhong, the acting governor of Fashoda state, said it's hard to feel safe when the "enemy's next door."

Another of the displaced, Elizabeth Adwok, said she fled Kodok with her seven children amid gunfire. They arrived in Aburoc in April and have struggled to find food, with little in the market and prices high.

"We're not here because we like it," Adwok said. "But we have nothing."

The International Committee of the Red Cross, one of the few organizations with a presence in Aburoc, warned that with the onset of the rainy season things will only get worse.

"Access to food, water and health care is extremely limited," said Matthieu Desselas, head of the office in Kodok.

But for the thousands of civilians already so far from their homes, this town is their last hope.

"It's the only place left for me in South Sudan," Koolekheh said. "I'll stay here until there's peace."
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A New Zealand lawmaker accused of making secret recordings of a staff member and then lying about what he did says he will quit when his term expires in September.

Todd Barclay announced Wednesday he won't run in the upcoming election. He said he didn't want the issues that were important to his district and country to be overshadowed by what he described as an employment dispute.

The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Bill English released a statement he made to police last year in which he said Barclay told him he'd left a recording device running in his office and captured criticism from a staffer.

In this image made from video, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English is questioned by reporters about secret recordings made by MP Todd Barclay, on his way the the National caucus at Parliament, Wellington, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. English on Tuesday released a statement he made last year to police, saying that lawmaker Todd Barclay told him that Barclay left a recording device running in his electorate office and captured criticism from a staffer. (Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald via AP)

English's actions were prompted by an investigation by the Newsroom website. The Prime Minister continues to face questions about why he didn't act sooner or more decisively to sanction Barclay.

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.

English said he had taken steps to address the matter by reporting it to district officials and the police. He said he hopes the government can get back to running the country following Barclay's announcement.

"He's made, I think, a very difficult decision for a young politician, but it's the right one," English said.

He said Barclay made a statement about the issue on Tuesday which he'd later acknowledged was untrue.

Initially on Tuesday, Barclay said he was aware of the secret taping allegations but "totally refute them." But after English released his police statement, Barclay backtracked. He said he accepted English's versions of events and was "sorry if any of the answers I gave this morning were misleading."

In his resignation statement, Barclay said getting elected was "the proudest moment of my life" but that it was in the best interests of the government for him to leave.

English will be hoping the resignation doesn't sour voters on the National Party, which has won the past three elections under former leader John Key. Recent polls indicate the National Party remains the most popular party and English the preferred prime minister ahead of September's nationwide elections.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The wife of a likely Senate candidate averages a 26.5-hour work week in her $240,000-a-year job doing legal consulting for an Indianapolis suburb, according to timesheets reviewed by The Associated Press.

Unlike many government contract attorneys who are paid by the hour or project, Jennifer Messer receives the same $20,000 monthly check from Fishers regardless of how much she works. Since signing the contract in early 2015, Messer logged a full 40-hour week just once, working about 50 hours between March 28 and April 3, 2016.

Legal experts say the part-time arrangement, which Messer primarily does from home in suburban Washington, doesn't appear to break any rules. But it could create problems for her husband, Republican Rep. Luke Messer, who was elected in 2012 on a pledge to "stop the reckless spending" and is preparing to challenge Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly next year.

FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2012, file photo, U.S. Rep. Luke Messer and his wife Jennifer Messer are photographed in their home in Shelbyville, Ind. Jennifer Messer averages a 26.5-hour work week in her $240,000-a-year job doing legal consulting for an Indianapolis suburb, according to time sheets reviewed by The Associated Press. Many government contract attorneys are paid by the hour or project. But Jennifer Messer receives the same $20,000 monthly check from Fishers regardless of how much she works. Her contract with the city dates back to 2015. (Tom Russo/Daily Reporter via AP, File)

Mark GiaQuinta, a prominent Indiana tax litigator who has extensive experience with municipal issues, said it's difficult to know if Fishers taxpayers are getting a good deal. He says the city should ask an outside party to review Messer's work and release it publicly.

"I think most lawyers you talk to would find it unusual. How many individuals would hire a lawyer in a different state and pay them on a $20,000-a-month retainer?" said GiaQuinta, a one-time Fort Wayne Democratic city council member and long-serving president of the city's school district board. "The more prominent the political connection, the more transparent the arrangement needs to be and the more you need to justify it by a periodic independent audit."

Fishers conducts its own review of contracts, including Messer's, which are submitted to a three-member board that includes the mayor and two mayoral appointees for approval, according to city spokeswoman Ashley Elrod and the city's website.

Messer, who says she often works on weekends and during vacation, is paid much more than the city's two staff attorneys. Messer said last month that she has one additional client but declined to offer additional details, including how much work that entails.

Fishers, a city of about 85,000 people, released her timesheets after the AP first reported on her contract last month. A complete accounting of her hourly work was sought before publishing that story, but just two months of records were initially released.

Administrators in other large Indiana cities say they try to avoid arrangements like Messer's.

Officials in Fort Wayne and South Bend, which rank second and fourth respectively among Indiana cities in population, say much of their economic development work - Messer's specialty - is handled in-house by their primary attorneys.

The same goes for Bloomington, which is similar in size to Fishers. Mary Catherine Carmichael, the city's spokeswoman, said Bloomington could hire between two and three attorneys, including benefits, for the same amount Fishers pays Messer each year. The average salary and benefits package for the city's seven full-time lawyers is about $105,000 a year, she said.

Indianapolis, the state's largest city, does not currently have any attorneys under contract that make a flat monthly fee of $20,000 or more, officials said.

In Evansville, the state's third-largest city, a firm works under contract to handle most of the city's legal work, including economic development. Records show the firm was paid about $478,000 in 2016 after a team of 20 lawyers put in a total of 3,094 hours of work - an average of about 60 hours a week.

The Indianapolis suburb of Carmel, one of the wealthiest communities in the U.S., recently entered into a similar $20,000-a month-agreement as Fishers has with Messer. But under its contract, a 10-person consulting team based in Oklahoma is helping lure a hotel for the city. The contract requires the consultant to oversee the hotel's design while also getting it the proper permits, staff and vendors.

GiaQuinta, the tax litigator, said Fort Wayne schools paid a longtime attorney a similar amount as Messer while he was board president, but that attorney was required to be in the building four days a week. And when he retired, the school board specifically sought to hire a new attorney whose pay was less than half of that, he said.

Messer's yearly take-home pay almost equals the combined total Fishers, estimated to be Indiana's sixth-largest city, paid to three other private firms in 2016.

Mayor Scott Fadness says the city is getting good value because Messer "authored or negotiated 35 major economic development agreements, not to include the dozens of agreements that never came to fruition."

While Fadness insists the contract has helped save the city money, it recently hired a new staff attorney. Along with the amount paid to other firms that provide basic legal services, the city is on track to spend about $500,000 this year. When Messer was part of a firm that handled most of the city's legal work until 2014, the city spent an average of $400,640 per year for those services.

"I work diligently for Fishers and have never, in eight years, taken my job for granted," she said in an opinion article published last month in the Indianapolis Star in response to the AP's previous reporting about her contract. "My job is a privilege - not just because I love the economic development work that I do, but because I work with a group of rock-stars."
JERUSALEM (AP) - President Donald Trump's son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, is headed to the region with ambitious hopes of laying the groundwork for a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.

Trump has a number of advantages that could help him succeed where a string of predecessors have failed. But the deep divisions between the sides remain, clouding the chances of any significant breakthrough.

Here is a look at what lies ahead:

File - In this Monday, June 19, 2017 file photo, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner speaks at a White House meeting in Washington. President Donald Trump's son in law and chief Mideast adviser, Jared Kushner, is headed to Jerusalem for his first working visit in hopes of laying the ground work for a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. T(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FESTERING CONFLICT

This month marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war - a seminal event in which Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. The Palestinians claim these areas for a future independent state.

After two decades of failed U.S.-led peace efforts, Palestinian statehood seems distant. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a return to anything close to Israel's pre-1967 lines, and Israel has settled over 600,000 of its citizens in the West Bank and east Jerusalem to complicate any partition of the land. Netanyahu's government is also dominated by religious and nationalist hardliners who oppose Palestinian statehood and will fight any major concessions.

Few Israelis can contemplate dividing Jerusalem, and almost none would entertain Palestinian demands for allowing refugees and their descendants, who now number in the millions, the right to live in Israel.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, have rejected Netanyahu's demands to recognize Israel's Jewish identity. They will also hear Israeli complaints about alleged anti-Israeli incitement in speeches, textbooks and social media, and demands that they halt welfare payments to the families of Palestinians involved in violence against Israelis.

Lurking in the background is the Islamic militant group Hamas' continued control of the Gaza Strip. Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies, and Abbas' failure to regain control of Gaza, a decade after Hamas overran his forces there, would be another complicating factor in enforcing any deal.

___

WHY BOTHER?

For decades, Republican and Democratic presidents have repeatedly failed at reaching what Trump calls "the ultimate deal." And prospects look dim for Kushner and his envoy, Jason Greenblatt.

But the Trump administration enjoys some advantages that could help. In his few months in office, Trump has forged a good working relationship with both the Israelis and Palestinians, highlighted by a successful visit to the region last month. Trump also received a warm welcome in Saudi Arabia, a potentially key player for Trump's goal of pursuing a region-wide deal.

Kushner, the son of a wealthy Jewish real-estate developer, also has a personal connection with Netanyahu. At a White House meeting in February, Netanyahu warmly noted he had known Kushner since he was a child.

There is also the fear factor. The president's volatile and unpredictable personality could make it harder for either side to reject proposed concessions or goodwill gestures.

___

MAN OF MYSTERY

Trump has yet to lay out a clear vision for a peace agreement. He has not even been clear about whether he supports a two-state solution - the cornerstone of international diplomatic efforts for the past two decades.

But he has given hints of what he has in mind. He has publicly asked Netanyahu to show restraint in settlement construction, and he has pressured the Palestinians on the issues of incitement and welfare payments to militants' families.

Although no major breakthroughs are expected on this visit, a clearer picture of Trump's strategy could soon emerge.

Palestinian officials say the U.S. is preparing for a 12- to 18-month negotiating period. They say the U.S. is promising to be actively involved and may even present a declaration of principles as a guide for talks.

But the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a confidential diplomatic matter, stressed the situation is fluid.

___

DOOMED TO FAIL?

Even if Kushner succeeds in restarting peace talks, he will soon run into the same problems that have doomed his predecessors: Each side's maximum offers fall short of the other's minimum demands.

Success would require creativity and likely a system of incentives and disincentives to push the sides toward compromise.

One approach that Palestinian officials say has come up in preliminary talks is an interim deal for an independent Palestinian state in temporary borders. Stickier issues, like the fate of Jerusalem and its holy sites, claims of Palestinian refugees and final borders, would be tackled later on.

The Palestinians reject such an approach, fearing that a temporary deal that falls short of their dreams will ultimately become permanent.

It is also not clear whether such a scaled-back deal would succeed in bringing Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries to normalize relations with Israel, as is the hope.

Also, looming over everything is the probe into Trump administration officials' ties to Russia. While not posing an immediate threat, it could turn into a major distraction for the president and his son in law.
DUNWOODY, Ga. (AP) - Republicans say Karen Handel's victory in Georgia's 6th Congressional District proves the GOP is still the dominant party in Georgia.

Georgia Republican Party Chairman John Watson credited Handel for "crushing liberal dreams."

Democrats say Jon Ossoff's 48 percent showing in a Republican stronghold is proof that they're actually making progress toward making Georgia a genuine battleground.

CORRECTS THE SPELLING OF HANDEL'S FIRST NAME TO KAREN - Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th District Congressional seat Karen Handel celebrates with her husband Steve as she declares victory during an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Turns out, both sides can be right this time.

"This was not a cakewalk for them," Ossoff supporter Jen Cox said. "And it never will be again. That's the win for us today."

For eight years living in the traditionally conservative area, Cox kept her mouth shut about politics until she was certain of her neighbors' leanings. Cox, a 47-year-old Realtor and mother of two daughters, co-founded a group this year called "Pave It Blue" focused on backing Ossoff's campaign and other red seats that could be poachable.

Handel backers, though, hailed Tuesday's results as confirmation that the district remains solidly in the party's grasp. "Karen was able to pull Republicans back together," said Jim Phillips, a 69-year-old retiree from Marietta who has volunteered on several Handel campaigns.

He doesn't expect the district's leanings to change in the coming years either, betting that its makeup of well-educated and well-off voters will give Republicans "with a strong platform, a good history and a good record" a path to victory.

Those polar views the day after Handel's 4-point win over Ossoff can be partly attributed to sheer partisanship - voters seeing the world through their party identity. But each side having a base of voters who believe in the strength of their respective parties is itself an ingredient required for competitive politics.

And Ossoff's 48 percent is a higher mark than Democrats have managed in recent statewide races involving less of a GOP advantage than Atlanta's northern suburbs.

That leaves Georgia Democratic Chairman Dubose Porter and other Democrats claiming some hope from Ossoff's defeat as both parties look ahead to the 2018 elections, when Democrats will try to dent Republicans' monopoly on statewide offices and the legislature. All of the state's congressional seats, including Handel's, will be on the ballot as well.

"This was a pretty good fight ... exciting to be a part of," Porter said of the Ossoff race. "It will only get better in 2018."

Democrats have said for several election cycles that the Republican-run state is on the cusp of battleground status - turning from red to purple in the common political parlance. It started with then-Sen. Barack Obama managing 46 percent of the vote here in 2008. Georgia had the narrowest margin of the states that Obama did not win that year.

Yet Democrats have consistently fallen short of their own expectations since. Obama didn't match his first performance in his re-election campaign. Hillary Clinton landed at 45 percent.

Porter and other Democrats ballyhooed their U.S. Senate and gubernatorial nominees in 2014, recruiting a pair of famous Georgia political names and helping them raise millions of dollars to finance credible campaigns. But former Sen. Sam Nunn's daughter Michelle Nunn managed just 45 percent of the vote after an expensive race against Republican David Perdue, now the state's junior senator. Jason Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, fared no better, falling just shy of 45 percent against incumbent Gov. Nathan Deal.

Along the way, Republicans have solidified near-supermajority control of the General Assembly.

The next high-profile test for Georgia Democrats comes in the 2018 governor's race, with at least two of the state party's rising stars running in a primary. Porter said Wednesday that he expects Democrats to field "strong candidates" for every statewide down ballot office - something the party hasn't managed in recent years.

"Expectations have changed. (Democrats) are disappointed with loss and (Republicans) relieved with win. Indicates teams going in different directions," Jason Carter himself noted Wednesday morning on Twitter.

South Carolina Democrats are seeking the same silver lining after Archie Parnell lost a congressional special election there Tuesday night by essentially the same margin as Ossoff. Parnell may have benefited from the lack of national attention on that race, though. Republicans hammered Ossoff in Georgia with ads labeling him the "hand-picked" candidate of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Ossoff's campaign was less direct in trying to link Handel with Trump, who barely edged Clinton in November in the 6th District. Handel supporter John Salvesen attributed her more comfortable margin of victory over Ossoff to Republicans determined to defeat a candidate they considered representative of national Democrats - with some encouragement from Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

"I really think their involvement was the difference maker," Salvesen, 52, said.

___

Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/BillBarrowAP .

CORRECTS THE SPELLING OF HANDEL'S FIRST NAME TO KAREN - Supporters react as election results for Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District seat Karen Handel are shown on a television during an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

CORRECTS THE SPELLING OF HANDEL'S FIRST NAME TO KAREN - Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th District Congressional seat Karen Handel declares victory during an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

CORRECTS THE SPELLING OF HANDEL'S FIRST NAME TO KAREN - Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District seat Karen Handel declares victory during an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. (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)

Supporter Sharon Sigler, right, cries as 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)

Supporter Jan Yanes, center, cries as 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 concedes to Republican Karen Handel at his election night party in Atlanta, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Uber has had a rough year, largely of it its own making. There have been lawsuits, allegations of sexual harassment and a profanity-laced outburst by its CEO that was caught on video.

On Wednesday, Uber CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick resigned under pressure from investors.

Here's a timeline of Uber's troubles so far this year.

__ Jan. 28: After President Donald Trump releases his first executive order on immigration, New York taxi drivers protest by refusing to pick up passengers at Kennedy Airport for an hour. Some protesters say Uber tries to capitalize on the protest by picking up passengers anyway, prompting a Twitter protest urging people to delete Uber's app from their smartphones.

- Feb. 2: Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quits President Trump's council of business leaders amid mounting pressure from employees and customers over the immigration order.

- Feb. 19: A former Uber engineer, Susan Fowler, discloses sexual harassment and sexism claims in a blog post about her year at Uber. Fowler says her boss propositioned her and higher-ups ignored her complaints. Kalanick calls Fowler's accusations "abhorrent" and hires former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate.

- Feb. 23: Waymo, a self-driving car company spun off from Google, sues Uber. Waymo alleges that Anthony Levandowski - a former top manager for Google's self-driving car project - stole pivotal technology from Google before leaving to run Uber's self-driving car division.

- Feb. 28: A video emerges of Kalanick arguing with an Uber driver. It includes yelling and profanity and ends with a combative Kalanick dismissing the agitated driver's claims that sharp reductions in fares forced him into bankruptcy. In an email to employees, Kalanick admits he needs leadership help. "I must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up," he says.

- March 3: The New York Times reveals that Uber used a phony version of its app to thwart authorities in cities where it was operating illegally. Uber's so-called Greyball software identified regulators who were posing as riders and blocked access to them. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Uber's use of the Greyball software.

- March 19: Uber's president, Jeff Jones, resigns less than a year after joining the company. He tells the tech blog Recode that his approach to leadership is at odds with what he experienced at Uber.

__ April 18: Sherif Marakby, a global vice president who leads Uber's self-driving car program, leaves the company.

- April 27: Levandowski announces he is stepping aside while Uber defends itself against the allegations from Waymo.

- May 11: A federal judge in San Francisco rejects Uber's request for arbitration and refers Waymo's case to the U.S. Attorney's office for a possible criminal investigation. Days later the judge bans Uber from using technology taken from Waymo, but doesn't order Uber to halt its self-driving vehicle program, as Waymo requested. The case is set for trial in October.

__ May 26: Kalanick's mother dies in a boating accident. His father is seriously injured.

__ May 30: Uber fires Levandowski.

__ May 31: Uber's finance chief Gautam Gupta says he plans to leave the company in July.

__ June 6: Uber fires 20 people after a law firm, Perkins Coie, investigates complaints of harassment, bullying and retaliation. That investigation, which was separate from Holder's, checked into 215 complaints; 57 are still under investigation.

__ June 11: Uber's board meets with Holder and adopts a series of recommendations based on his report.

__ June 12: Emil Michael, Uber's senior vice president for business and a close ally of Kalanick, leaves the company.

__ June 13: Kalanick tells Uber employees that he's taking a leave for an unspecified period, but will be available for "the most strategic decisions." Uber's board releases Holder's recommendations, which include removing some of Kalanick's responsibilities and replacing Uber's chairman and founder, Garrett Camp, with an independent chairman. Holder also recommends many cultural and policy changes, from establishing an effective complaint process to recruiting more diverse applicants to prohibiting alcohol and drug use during core work hours.

__ June 20: Uber embarks on "180 days of change," seeking to persuade riders and investors that it is a company with a conscience and a heart. The first move was allowing riders the ability to give drivers tips through the Uber app, something that Kalanick had resisted. Details of the rest of the plan were not made public.

__ June 21: CEO Travis Kalanick resigns under pressure from investors and the board. He will stay on as a board member.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - U.S. officials are "in the final stages" of vetting up to 1,250 refugees rejected by Australia for resettlement in the United States, an Australian official said Wednesday.

The refugees are among hundreds of asylum seekers - mostly from Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka - who have been languishing for up to four years in immigration camps on the impoverished Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said U.S. State and Homeland Security Department officials should be commended for their effective work with the Australian, Papua New Guinea and Nauru governments to fulfill a promise by President Barak Obama's administration to take up to 1,250 refugees off Australia's hands.

Australia's Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton speaks to reporters in Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. The Australian minister said U.S. officials are "in the final stages" of vetting up to 1,250 refugees rejected by Australia for resettlement in the United States. The refugees are among hundreds of asylum seekers - mostly from Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka - who have been languishing for up to four years in immigration camps on the impoverished Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk)

"There's no delay in the process," Dutton told reporters. "It's in the final stages and I'm very pleased that hopefully as soon as possible we can get people ... off the islands."

Dutton declined to outline any details of that process or say when the first refugees were likely to leave the islands. Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump berated Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during their first telephone conversation as national leaders in January over the deal which Trump described in a tweet as "dumb."

Trump said the refugees would be subjected to "extreme vetting" before they were accepted. There are few details on what that would entail.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence assured Turnbull during a visit to Australia in April that the Trump administration will honor the deal, but "that doesn't mean we admire the agreement."

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul, an Australia-based advocate, said he had been told that U.S. officials had interviewed around 600 asylum seekers and conducted more than 200 medical examinations on Nauru. They had interviewed 300 at the men-only facility at Papua New Guinea's Manus Island and completed 70 medical examinations, he said.

"We are getting close to some people being taken from Nauru," Rintoul said.

Australia will not settle any refugees who try to arrive by boat - a policy that the government says dissuades asylum seekers from attempting the dangerous and occasionally deadly ocean crossing from Indonesia. Australia instead pays Papua New Guinea and Nauru to house asylum seekers in camps that have been plagued by reports of abuse and draconian conditions.

Australia last week reached a settlement of 90 million Australian dollars ($68 million) with more than 1,900 asylum seekers who sued over their treatment on Manus Island.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Dutch prosecutors say an 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of spreading propaganda for the Islamic State group.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that the teen was detained last week in the central city of Utrecht on suspicion of "involvement in a terrorist crime." Police also are investigating whether he taught others how to make explosives.

An investigating judge on Tuesday ordered the man detained for two weeks while investigations continue.

Prosecutors say the man was arrested based on information from the main Dutch intelligence agency.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States said Wednesday that China has a responsibility to exert much greater pressure on North Korea to prevent escalating tensions with a government that ignores the law and "provokes and provokes and provokes."

U.S. diplomatic and defense chiefs met their Chinese counterparts for security talks and pushed China to rein in companies that allegedly deal with its wayward ally North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions.

Trump has been counting on China to use its economic leverage with the government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as American concern grows over the North's acceleration toward having a nuclear missile that can strike the U.S. mainland.

Secretry of State Rex Tillerson, center left, meets with Chinese State Counselor Yang Jiechi and Fang Fenghui at a diplomatic and security dialogue meeting at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Trump tweeted ahead of Wednesday's talks that Beijing's efforts to sway Pyongyang weren't working. That comment came amid outrage in Washington over the death of Otto Warmbier days after the comatose American student was released from imprisonment in North Korea.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Trump's commentary "represents the American people's view of North Korea right now. We see a young man go over there healthy and with a minor act of mischief" and come home on the verge of death.

"What you are seeing I think is the American people's frustration with the regime that provokes and provokes and provokes and basically plays outside rules, plays fast and loose with the truth," Mattis told a news conference.

At the talks, Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hosted Chinese foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi and Gen. Fang Fenghui, chief of the People's Liberation Army's joint staff department.

Their meeting took place against a backdrop of high tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula. On Tuesday, the U.S. flew two supersonic B-1B bombers there in a show of force. South Korea's Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with its fighter jets aimed at deterring the North.

"China understands that the United States regards North Korea as our top security threat," Tillerson said. "We reiterated to China that it has a diplomatic responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime if they want to prevent further escalation in the region."

Tillerson called for increased efforts to curtail the North's illicit revenue streams of revenue that allegedly help fund its nuclear weapon and missile programs. He said the two sides agreed on the need for companies not to deal with North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions, but did not specify any particular action China was promising to take.

Mattis said China "continues to work these issues."

North Korea conducts about 90 percent of its trade through China, which maintains that it implements the U.N. sanctions properly.

Chinese officials were not immediately available for comment after the talks. Beforehand, China said it was hoping for "positive outcomes" from Wednesday's dialogue. It had long pushed for a resumption of U.S. negotiations with North Korea, which currently appears a remote prospect.

The talks also covered the South China Sea, where Beijing's island-building and construction of possible military facilities have rattled neighbors and caused tension with Washington. The officials also discussed U.S.-Chinese military cooperation to reduce risk of conflict, as well as efforts to defeat the Islamic State group.

Divisive trade issues will be dealt with at a later date.

Like past presidents, Trump is finding the U.S. has limited scope for punishing North Korea, particularly over the arrest of U.S. citizens. Three Americans remain in detention in the reclusive country.

Trump's administration is considering a ban on Americans visiting North Korea. That would only slightly add to the North's isolation and loss of revenue. The route to inflicting significant economic pain on Kim's government remains through China.

Washington has one threat it can use with Beijing: the possibility of "secondary" sanctions that go after Chinese companies doing business in North Korea. Such a move risks fraying relations between the world's two biggest economies.

The Chinese state-run Global Times warned in an editorial that if Washington imposes sanctions against Chinese enterprises "it will lead to grave friction between China and the U.S."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, right, and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis appear at news conference following a Diplomatic and Security Dialogue Meeting with a Chinese delegation including State Counselor Yang Jiechi and military Chief of Joint Staff Fang Fenghui, at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis walks from the podium after a news conference with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, following a Diplomatic and Security Dialogue Meeting with a Chinese delegation including State Counselor Yang Jiechi and military Chief of Joint Staff Fang Fenghui, at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
LONDON (AP) - The Latest on the Queen's Speech outling UK government program (all times local):

11:00 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth II will outline the government's legislative program with far less pageantry than usual Wednesday in a speech expected to be dominated by a discussion of Britain's plans for leaving the European Union.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, 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)

The speech comes after May lost her majority in a snap election earlier this month, leaving her to head a minority government with no deal so far to insure that the government can deliver on its agenda. Normally this speech repeats key legislative promises made during the election campaign, but May is expected to omit the most controversial items of her election manifesto because they were rejected by a majority of voters.

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9:00 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth II will outline the government's legislative program with far less pageantry than usual Wednesday in a speech expected to be dominated by a discussion of Britain's plans for leaving the European Union.

The program set out in the so-called Queen's Speech at the state opening of Parliament will include "a number of bills" intended to make Brexit successful, according to Prime Minister Theresa May's office. While the Queen reads the speech to lawmakers, it is written by the prime minister and her staff. May is promising a government "that consults and listens."

"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," May said in a statement. "We will work hard every day to gain the trust and confidence of the British people, making their priorities our priorities."
home US Pastor from Iraq tells American church to avoid politicizing refugee crisis

A Texas pastor who fled from Iraq decades ago has urged the Church to avoid politics amid the ongoing debate about travel bans and keep sharing the Gospel to refugees.

Jalil Dawood, lead pastor at Arabic Church of Dallas and founder of World Refugee Care, has just released a new book titled "The Refugee: A Story of God's Grace on One Man's Road to Refugee," where he recounts his own journey as a refugee from Iraq. He is hoping that the book will inspire other Christians to lend their support to the millions of refugees in need, both in the U.S. and abroad.

"There is a lot of misinformation about how to deal with refugees [today]," he said in a recent interview with The Christian Post. "God is sending the nations here. And God wants us to reach out to those people," he added.

Dawood fled from Iraq in 1982 during the brutal IranaIraq war when he was just 18-years-old. He traveled to Rome with the aim of acquiring refugee status in the U.S. as two of his brothers had done in the past.

While he was raised in a traditional Christian family in Baghdad, he felt as though he does not have a real connection with God. But that changed when he heard an American named Steve sharing the Gospel while he was in Rome.

He initially went to the club where Steve was preaching to learn English and watch movies, but he ended up attending a Bible study, where he said he heard the Gospel message clearly for the first time and accepted the Lord. He was then taken in as a disciple by Steve and his wife, Marilyn, who prayed for him when he was approved to come to the U.S.

Dawood was shocked to hear an American talk about God because he had believed that U.S. was the most godless country. He said that such mindsets are still strongly prevalent in Iraq even though there had been a few changes due to the internet.

The pastor has stated in an interview with CBN that he agrees with President Donald Trump's travel ban which prohibits travelers from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

However, when asked by The Christian Post what he would tell the American Church if he had a chance to speak for five minutes without any interruptions he said: "I would say, stay out of politics, help refugees, and share the Gospel with them."

"I was extremely disappointed in the American Church when everybody went out, protested President Trump stopping certain nations from coming here because there are millions of Christian refugees in the Middle East and nobody cares about them," he added.

The pastor reminded Christians that Jesus was once a refugee, and he pointed out that the people of Israel were commanded by God to show kindness to strangers because they were once refugees in Egypt. He contended that refugees will never forget the help they are given, and just as Steve and Marilyn showed him kindness, such a witness will have a profound effect on Muslims in particular.

Dawood, who preaches at a church comprised mainly of immigrants and refugees, said that when Christians exhibit this kindness, it is simply obedience to God.

"The Lord says, 'I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me water, I was naked and you clothed me. When I was in prison you came to me. And when you've done it to the least you've done it to me," he said.
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's foreign intelligence agency says that Yuri Drozdov, the Soviet spymaster who oversaw a sprawling network of KGB agents abroad, has died. He was 91.

The Foreign Intelligence Service, a KGB successor agency known under its Russian acronym SVR, said Drozdov died Wednesday. It didn't give the cause of his death or any other specifics.

In 1979, Drozdov came to head a KGB department overseeing a network of undercover agents abroad, the job he held until resigning in 1991. The agents who lived abroad under false identity were called "illegals" and considered the elite of Soviet intelligence.

In December 1979, Drozdov led an operation to storm the palace of Afghan President Hafizullah Amin that paved the way to Soviet invasion.

Drozdov also founded the KGB's Vympel special forces unit.
DUNWOODY, Ga. (AP) - The Latest on Georgia's 6th District Congressional race (all times local):

6:05 a.m.

President Donald Trump took to Twitter to celebrate Republican Karen Handel's victory in a Georgia special congressional race that became an expensive national proxy for Washington wars ahead of next year's midterm elections.

CORRECTS THE SPELLING OF HANDEL'S FIRST NAME TO KAREN - Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th District Congressional seat Karen Handel declares victory during an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

In a Tuesday night tweet, Trump congratulated Handel and said "we are all very proud of you!"

In another tweet, Trump also congratulated Republican Ralph Norman, who won a special congressional election in South Carolina.

And in a third tweet, the president gloated over those wins and other recent Republican wins, saying "the special elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICAN GREAT AGAIN are 5 and 0! All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0."

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3:10 a.m.

Republicans have some breathing room after Karen Handel won a nationally watched congressional election in Georgia to avoid a major upset ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Her victory Tuesday over Democrat Jon Ossoff in Georgia's 6th Congressional District means Republicans held all four of their seats that were up for grabs in special elections this spring.

Democrats still managed narrower margins than usual in all four districts, and they hope that bodes well for next year's midterms.

The Georgia race ends as the most expensive House campaign in U.S. history, with a tab that may exceed $50 million.

Handel becomes the first Republican woman to represent Georgia in Congress.

Ossoff becomes the latest Democrat to run a widely complemented campaign in a Republican-leaning state, yet still lose.

CORRECTS THE SPELLING OF HANDEL'S FIRST NAME TO KAREN - Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th District Congressional seat Karen Handel celebrates with her husband Steve as she declares victory during an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

CORRECTS THE SPELLING OF HANDEL'S FIRST NAME TO KAREN - Supporters react as election results for Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District seat Karen Handel are shown on a television during an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

CORRECTS THE SPELLING OF HANDEL'S FIRST NAME TO KAREN - Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional District seat Karen Handel declares victory during an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. (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)

Supporter Sharon Sigler, right, cries as 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)

Supporter Jan Yanes, center, cries as 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 concedes to Republican Karen Handel at his election night party in Atlanta, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
STOCKHOLM (AP) - Sweden on Wednesday summoned Russia's ambassador in the country after a Russian fighter jet flew close to a Swedish reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Gunnar Vrang told The Associated Press the meeting that "will take place in the near future" will discuss among other things the incident described by Sweden's Armed Forces.

Sweden's top military authority said a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter flew on Monday close to a Swedish Gulfstream reconnaissance plane, adding the distance between them "was very short."

Sweden's Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist called the Russian action "unacceptable" and "unprofessional." He said "the risk of serious incidents increases significantly" with such moves.

The episode comes at a time of growing military activity in the Baltic Sea region, with several reports of airspace violations by Russian military aircraft and an increased presence of Russian military vessels.

There was no immediate Russian reaction.
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis is offering 460,000 euros (more than $500,000) in aid for South Sudan to help finance two hospitals, a school and farm equipment.

Francis had hoped to visit South Sudan in October to draw attention to the plight of its people faced with starvation and civil war, but called off the trip because the conditions wouldn't permit it.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, Francis' point-man for peace and refugee issues, said Wednesday the aid project aims to show his personal solidarity with South Sudan's people.

In this photo taken Monday, June 19, 2017, a displaced family carrying their belongings walks in search of refuge towards the village of Aburoc, South Sudan. A new report by Amnesty International says South Sudanese forces burned, shelled and ransacked homes between January and May, killing civilians and forcing thousands from the Shilluk ethnic minority to flee. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

The money will go to help fund two hospitals run by the Combonian missionary sisters, a primary school run by a humanitarian group "Solidarity with South Sudan" and an agricultural project run by the Vatican's Caritas foundation.
KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) - Rwanda's military says a 52-year-old woman has been killed in an attack by unknown gunmen in the southwestern district of Rusizi near the Burundi border.

Rwandan military spokesman Col. Rene Ngendahimana says the attack occurred late Tuesday in the same area where gunmen killed two civilians in March and fled into Burundian territory.

Ngendahimana says eight others were injured in this latest attack.

He says it is not yet known whether the attackers came from Burundi.

Relations between Rwanda and Burundi have been strained following allegations by Burundi's government that rebels opposed to President Pierre Nkurunziza are being trained and armed in Rwanda.

Rwanda has repeatedly denied the allegations.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - The first of Western-made jet aircraft for carrying government officials has arrived in Poland.

On Wednesday, a Gulfstream G550 capable of carrying 19 people arrived in Warsaw to an official welcome and Catholic blessing.

For over two decades, consecutive governments postponed the costly purchase of VIP planes, though the Soviet-made fleet inherited from the communist era was aging and developing technical problems.

The first new jet for Poland's government officials, U.S. made Gulfstream G550, is blessed by a priest after it landed at the military airport, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Since early 1990s Poland has been planning to buy new planes for VIP's to replace Soviet made aircrafts.(AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

In 1999 a government plane made an emergency landing in the Saudi Arabian desert. There were other incidents.

The current government decided to buy two Gulfstream G550 and three Boeing 737 jets.

The ruling party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, is sensitive to air travel safety after his twin, President Lech Kaczynski was killed in a 2010 plane crash, which, however, was not blamed on any technical issues.

The first new jet for Poland's government officials, U.S. made Gulfstream G550, is being welcomed with a water cannon salute as it lands at the military airport, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Since early 1990s Poland has been planning to buy new planes for VIP's to replace Soviet made aircrafts. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
UPPER DARBY, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania day care worker shown on surveillance video pushing a child down a flight of stairs has pleaded guilty to assault.

Upper Darby police say 52-year-old Sarah Gable, of Folcroft, was arrested in March soon after the owners of Child Care of the Future saw what happened. The video shows Gable pushing a 4-year-old girl down the steps before apparently realizing there was a newly installed camera. She then helped the child down the next flight of stairs.

Gable was fired. The child sustained a knee injury and returned to the day care.

Gable pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of simple assault and endangering the welfare of a child. She will be sentenced in August.
LONDON (AP) - Detectives in London still are trying to determine the cause of the death for a Muslim man who died during the van attack near Finsbury Park Mosque, the city's police chief said Wednesday.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said a special post-mortem examination has been carried out on the victim, 51-year-old Makram Ali. Ali was already ill and receiving first aid early Monday when a van swerved at him and other pedestrians.

It will be important for police and prosecutors to determine if he died as a direct result of the van attack. If the attack is judged to have caused his death, the suspect could face more serious charges than if Ali were found to have died for other reasons.

People attend a vigil at Finsbury Park Mosque, in north London, Tuesday June 20, 2017. People remain hospitalized after a driver plowed into a crowd spilling out of the north London mosque after Ramadan services on Monday. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)

Police have characterized the incident, which came as worshippers were leaving mosques after prayers marking the holy month of Ramadan, as a terrorist attack directed at Muslims.

Ali was pronounced dead at the scene and nine other people were hospitalized. British health officials said four patients were still hospitalized Wednesday, with two in critical condition.

Suspect Darren Osborne, 47, is being questioned by police but has not been charged. Osborne, who had been living in Wales, was arrested on several counts, including suspicion of murder.

His family said he had been "troubled" for a long time.

The attack has raised tensions in London, which had already been struck by three separate terror attacks in the last three months.

London police say a man was subdued with a stun gun and arrested early Wednesday after he was reported to be attacking people at the Regents Park Mosque in north London.

Police said no one was actually attacked but the man was waving a shoe horn taken from the mosque at people.

Police said that incident is not seen as related to terrorism.

A local resident sits next to floral tributes placed at the scene of an attack where a man drove into a group of people near a mosque early Monday morning, in the Finsbury Park area of north London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Britain's Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks outside Finsbury Park Mosque, in north London, Tuesday June 20, 2017. People remain hospitalized after a driver plowed into a crowd spilling out of the north London mosque after Ramadan services on Monday. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)

A woman looks at tributes placed at the scene of an attack where a man drove into a group of people near a mosque early Monday morning, in the Finsbury Park area of north London, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The people of London are coping with deep divisions amid dramatic extremist attacks and an apartment tower fire over the past weeks, with three deadly Islamic extremist attacks, London's worst fire in decades and a group of Muslims intentionally run down by a man in a van.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on high-level talks between the United States and China (all times local):

4 p.m.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says China has a responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to prevent an escalation of tensions in the region.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appears at news conference with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis following a Diplomatic and Security Dialogue Meeting with a Chinese delegation including State Counselor Yang Jiechi and military Chief of Joint Staff Fang Fenghui, at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Tillerson told a news conference after security talks with China on Wednesday that North Korea is using money laundering, extortion and malicious cyber activity to help fund its weapons programs.

He says, "We must step up our efforts to curtail these sources of revenue."

Tillerson says the U.S. and China agree that their companies should not do business with any North Korean companies that are subject to U.N. sanctions.

He is not specifying any particular action China may take to meet that goal.

North Korea conducts about 90 percent of its trade through China. China maintains that it implements the U.N. sanctions properly.

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3:25 p.m.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the American people are growing increasingly frustrated over the government in North Korea that "provokes, provokes and provokes."

Mattis was speaking after high-level security talks Wednesday with China in which North Korea was a key topic of discussion. Ahead of the talks, President Donald Trump tweeted that Beijing's efforts to sway its wayward ally weren't working.

Mattis says Trump's commentary on North Korea reflects frustration over the death of an American college student after his imprisonment in the isolated nation.

He says the student, Otto Warmbier, had gone there a healthy man and ended up dead after "a minor act of mischief."

Mattis says China shares the U.S. desire for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and "continues to work this issue."

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9 a.m.

U.S. and Chinese diplomats and defense chiefs have begun talks in Washington that are expected to focus on the nuclear and missile threat from North Korea.

Secretary of State State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are hosting China's foreign policy chief, Yang Jiechi (yahng jee-uh-CHEHR'), and uh-CHERR) and the head of the People's Liberation Army's joint staff department, Gen. Fang Fenghui (FAHNG FENG-wuee).

The death of an American college student after his imprisonment in North Korea is threatening to overshadow the talks at the State Department.

The talks are intended to build on progress made when President Donald Trump met China's president in Florida in April.

The officials also will discuss counterterrorism as well as tensions in the South China Sea.

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4:25 a.m.

The death of an American college student after his imprisonment in North Korea is threatening to overshadow high-level U.S.-Chinese talks in Washington.

President Donald Trump has been counting on China to use its economic leverage with North Korea's totalitarian government.

American concern is growing over North Korea's acceleration toward having a nuclear missile that can strike the U.S. mainland.

U.S. and Chinese diplomats and defense chiefs are meeting later Wednesday in Washington for security talks. The U.S. side says North Korea will get "top billing" in the discussions.

They will also talk about tensions in the South China Sea.

No cause of death has been determined for student Otto Warmbier (WARM'-beer). He was held for nearly a year-and-a-half in North Korea before being sent home in a coma last week.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis appears at news conference following a Diplomatic and Security Dialogue Meeting with a Chinese delegation including State Counselor Yang Jiechi and military Chief of Joint Staff Fang Fenghui, at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
CINCINNATI (AP) - Jurors will try again Thursday to reach a verdict in the murder retrial of a white University of Cincinnati police officer who shot an unarmed black motorist after a traffic stop over a missing front license plate.

They got the case Monday and had deliberated more than 18 hours before stopping for the day Wednesday afternoon.

Ray Tensing's first trial ended last November in a hung jury after some 25 hours of deliberations over four days on the murder and voluntary manslaughter charges.

Ray Tensing, a former University of Cincinnati police officer, listens to Assistant Prosecutor Stacey DeGraffenreid present closing arguments at his retrial at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Cincinnati, Monday, June 19, 2017. Tensing is charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of unarmed black motorist Sam DuBose during a 2015 traffic stop. (Cara Owsley/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP, Pool)

The 27-year-old Tensing says he feared for his life in 2015 when 43-year-old Sam DuBose tried to drive away. Prosecutors say Tensing had no reason to shoot him.

Tensing was fired in 2015.

It's among cases across the U.S. that have raised attention to how police deal with blacks.

Ray Tensing, a former University of Cincinnati police officer, listens to Stew Mathews present closing arguments during his retrial at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Cincinnati, Monday, June 19, 2017. Tensing is charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of unarmed black motorist Sam DuBose during a 2015 traffic stop. (Cara Owsley/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP, Pool)

Defense Attorney Stew Mathews and Assistant Prosecutor Seth Tieger, right, talk after the jury was dismissed for deliberations during Ray Tensing's retrial at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Cincinnati, Monday, June 19, 2017. Tensing is charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of unarmed black motorist Sam DuBose during a 2015 traffic stop. (Cara Owsley/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP, Pool)

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Leslie Ghiz presides over Ray Tensing's retrial at the courthouse in Cincinnati, Monday, June 19, 2017. Tensing is charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of unarmed black motorist Sam DuBose during a 2015 traffic stop. (Cara Owsley/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP, Pool)

Ray Tensing, a former University of Cincinnati police officer, listens to Assistant Prosecutor Stacey DeGraffenreid present closing arguments at his retrial at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Cincinnati, Monday, June 19, 2017. Tensing is charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter in the shooting of unarmed black motorist Sam DuBose during a 2015 traffic stop. (Cara Owsley/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP, Pool)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - A Warsaw court began hearing testimony Wednesday on claims by a conservative American political activist that he was defamed by a Polish journalist who described him as "Trump's man" and as sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Matthew Tyrmand of the group Project Veritas brought the case against journalist Tomasz Piatek and Agora, publisher of the liberal Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, over a 2016 article that described Tyrmand as "part of the global war by the right-wing against democracy."

Tyrmand is demanding an apology and 50,000 Polish zlotys ($13,000) he says he will donate to charity if he wins.

James O'Keefe, right, a conservative American activist and head of the Project Veritas group, testifies as a witness in a trial in Warsaw, Poland, on June 21, 2017. O'Keefe testified on behalf of his colleague and friend Matthew Tyrmand, an American activist with his group who is suing a Polish journalist and his publisher for defamation. (AP Photo/Vanessa Gera)

The first person to take the witness stand as the trial opened was Project Veritas founder James O'Keefe. Project Veritas carries out undercover operations in the United States which it says are aimed at uncovering wrongdoing, but the group has been criticized for its tactics.

During the U.S. election campaign last year, the group placed one of its activists undercover inside the Hillary Clinton campaign. It also took two separate donations of $10,000 each from Donald Trump, something that O'Keefe, 32, revealed in his testimony Wednesday,

He insisted the sum was "insignificant" given the group's overall budget of $5 million.

In an article published in May 2016, Piatek wrote an article looking at the activities of Tyrmand, who is the son of the late Leopold Tyrmand, a prominent Polish communist-era dissident and writer. The young Tyrmand is a political commentator in his father's homeland and has served as an informal adviser to the current conservative government.

The starting point for Piatek's article was Tyrmand's criticism of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, a Polish group that has organized anti-government protests over what it sees as erosions of democracy. Piatek described Tyrmand's unsubstantiated allegations that billionaire American0Hungarian investor George Soros was secretly funding the group to bring down the government.

Titled "Leopold's Son, Trump's Man," the article said Tyrmand had expressed sympathy for Putin.

Tyrmand did not take the stand Wednesday, but told The Associated Press there was no basis for the way Piatek described him and that the reporter never tried to contact him for comment.

He said that when the article was published he still supported Republican candidate Ted Cruz and only shifted his allegiance to Trump later. Describing himself as a "transparency advocate," he said the idea that he would support Putin is "beyond offensive."

"The idea that you could Google me and see that somehow I am tied to Vladimir Putin, I cannot let that stand," Tyrmand said.

He and O'Keefe also objected to Piatek referring to O'Keefe as a "specialist in illegal recordings and eavesdropping."

O'Keefe told the court that while he does engage in undercover operations, with methods including people assuming false identities, he never breaks the law.

Piatek, who will only testify later, told the AP his column was a reaction to allusions that Tyrmand had previously made against his newspaper as being governed by the "mafia."

He also said he found it suspicious that Tyrmand did not start the proceedings against him right away, but only sued after a separate article of his was published that was critical of Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz. That article, published in July 2016, exposed the minister's past role editing an anti-Semitic publication.

The next session in the case is in November, with the verdict expected sometime later.

Matthew Tyrmand, left, a conservative American political activist with the group Project Veritas, stands in a court along with his lawyers on the first day of a trial in Warsaw, Poland, on Wednesday June 21, 2017. Tyrmand is suing a Polish journalist for defamation after the journalist in a 2016 article called him "Trump's man" and describing him as sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The journalist, Tomasz Piatek, said his piece was a satirical response to critical remarks Tyrmand had made against his newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza. (AP Photo/Vanessa Gera)
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - The fathers of two of the three U.S. military trainers killed at a Jordanian air base last year said Wednesday that they have more faith in the kingdom's legal system after attending the trial of the alleged gunman this week.

A Jordanian soldier serving at the base has been charged with murder in the November shootings and is being tried by a local military court. The defendant, 1st Sgt. Marik al-Tuwayha, allegedly opened fire on the Americans' convoy as it waited to enter the base, killing three U.S. Army Green Berets.

But bereaved fathers James Moriarty and Brian McEnroe also expressed concern about testimony from gate guards at the base who said they heard a sound, possibly a pistol shot, from the direction of the convoy before the Americans came under fire.

In this fall of 2013 photo, 27-year-old Staff Sgt. James F. Moriarty of Kerrville, Texas, poses after graduating from special forces training in the U.S. Army Green Beret. Moriarty was one of three American soldiers killed in a Jordanian air base on November 4, 2016 in circumstances that remain unclear. (AP photo courtesy of James Moriarty)

Close U.S. military ally Jordan had initially suggested that the Americans triggered the shooting by disobeying orders of Jordanian troops at the gate. Jordan later withdrew this claim and King Abdullah II cleared the U.S. troops of any wrongdoing in a letter to their parents.

"I'll probably go to my grave believing it was not a pistol shot," Moriarty, a 70-year-old trial lawyer from Houston, told The Associated Press after Wednesday's court hearing. "The boys wouldn't have done it. It doesn't make any sense. They were professionals, that wouldn't have been the time and place."

Both fathers have watched security camera footage of the shooting shown to them by U.S. law enforcement officials. While the video did not have sound, the men said it also did not indicate that a pistol shot had been heard because a gate guard did not react until the Americans came under fire.

The victims were 27-year-old Staff Sgt. Matthew C. Lewellen of Kirksville, Missouri; 30-year-old Staff Sgt. Kevin J. McEnroe of Tucson, Arizona; and 27-year-old Staff Sgt. James F. Moriarty of Kerrville, Texas.

Three gate guards told the court this week that a four-car convoy carrying the U.S. military trainers pulled up at the entrance of the al-Jafr air base in southern Jordan before noon on Nov. 4.

All four vehicles passed through the outer gate of the base. The lead vehicle then passed through the inner gate, leaving three more vehicles between the outer and inner gates.

Guards testified that they heard an apparent pistol shot from the direction of the convoy. They said that under the rules of engagement, they were allowed to return fire, but that they did not do so because they could not locate the exact source of the purported gunshot.

At this point, the defendant was in the guard house next to the inner gate, close to the lead car driven by McEnroe, with Lewellen as a passenger.

Moriarty has said the security camera video showed the defendant opening fire on the convoy. McEnroe and Lewellen were killed instantly. Moriarty's son and another U.S. trainer who survived rushed out of their vehicles, tried to take cover and returned fire, while calling on the shooter to stop, the elder Moriarty said.

A crime scene investigator testified this week that 78 rounds were fired from two M-16 rifles, the weapons used by the Jordanian troops, and 19 rounds from pistols used by the U.S. forces.

The bereaved fathers had initially been critical of Jordan's handling of the case.

However, Moriarty said Wednesday that he believes the court "will render justice."

McEnroe said he initially feared he would observe a "show trial," but that he no longer believes this is the case. "The judge and the assistant judges seem genuine in their desire to resolve this and come to a fair verdict," he said.

Moriarty attended all four sessions this week. McEnroe did not come to court Wednesday, saying that he "just didn't want to relive it again."

The next hearing is set for July 4. The fathers are leaving Jordan on Thursday.

The defendant, who has pleaded "not guilty," faces life in prison if convicted.

McEnroe said the defendant should be given a harsher punishment if found guilty.

"Do I feel that the maximum punishment allowed under Jordanian law for his crime fits the crime? Absolutely not. He should be hung," said McEnroe.
FLINT, Mich. (AP) - A Canadian man from Tunisia shouted in Arabic before stabbing a police officer in the neck Wednesday at a Michigan airport, and referenced people being killed overseas during the attack that's now being investigated as an act of terrorism, federal and court officials said.

Amor Ftouhi, 49, of Montreal, was immediately taken into custody. A criminal complaint charging him with committing violence at an airport says Ftouhi asked an officer who subdued him why the officer didn't kill him.

The attack at Bishop International Airport in Flint, Michigan, is being investigated as an act of terrorism, but authorities have no indication at this time that the suspect was involved in a "wider plot," said FBI Special Agent in Charge David Gelios.

A police dog and handler search cars in a parking lot at Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. Officials evacuated the airport Wednesday, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. Authorities say the injured officer's condition is improving. (Jake May/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

"At this time we view him as a lone-wolf attacker," Gelios said. "We have no information to suggest any training."

The criminal complaint said Ftouhi stabbed airport police Lt. Jeff Neville with a large knife after yelling "Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great." According to the FBI, Ftouhi said something similar to "you have killed people in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die."

More charges against Ftouhi could be filed as prosecutors take the case to a grand jury seeking an indictment, Gelios said. The Flint Journal, citing court officials, said Ftouhi is a dual citizen of Canada and Tunisia.

Neville was in satisfactory condition after initially being in critical condition, airport police Chief Chris Miller said at a late afternoon news conference where the charge against Ftouhi was announced.

Ftouhi appeared in federal court in Flint to hear the charge and will get a court-appointed attorney. A court spokesman says Ftouhi will remain in custody until a bond hearing next Wednesday.

The attack occurred just before 10 a.m., prompting officials to evacuate and shut down the airport and add security elsewhere in the Michigan city about 50 miles (80.46 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump was briefed on the stabbing, and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he was "proud of the swift response" by authorities from both the U.S. and Canada.

Police in Canada were searching a Montreal apartment. Montreal police spokesman Benoit Boiselle said officers with their department were assisting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the search on behalf of an FBI request. A number of police stood guard outside the apartment building in the east end of Montreal located on Belair St. in St-Michel borough. Canadian TV footage showed police escorting at least one person from the building where Ftouhi is believed to have lived.

Boiselle said three people staying at the residence had been taken in for questioning.

Luciano Piazza, the building landlord, said Ftouhi was not a difficult tenant and that he is married with children.

"I never had any problems with him," Piazza said. "I'm really surprised. I would see him at least once a month, when he paid his rent."

Gelios said Ftouhi legally entered the U.S. at Champlain, New York, on June 16 and made his way to the Flint airport on Wednesday morning.

Ftouhi spent some time in public, unsecured areas of the airport before going to a restroom where he dropped two bags before attacking the officer with a 12-inch knife that had an 8-inch serrated blade, Gelios said.

Ftouhi never went through any security screening, Gelios said. He described Ftouhi as "cooperative" and talking to investigators.

Witnesses described seeing the suspect being led away as Neville was bleeding, a knife on the ground.

"The cop was on his hands and knees bleeding from his neck," Ken Brown told The Flint Journal. "I said they need to get him a towel."

Cherie Carpenter, who was awaiting a flight to Texas to see her new grandchild, told Flint TV station WJRT she saw the attacker being led away in handcuffs. She described the man in custody as appearing "blank, just totally blank."

Miller, the airport chief, said Neville "fought him to the end," managing to stop the stabbing and bring Ftouhi to the ground as Miller and other officers arrived to help.

After the stabbing, officials stationed police officers at Flint City Hall a few miles away. Mayor Karen Weaver said in a release the situation was "under control" but that officials sought to take "extra precautions."

Genesee County Commissioner Mark Young, a friend of Neville's who retired from the county sheriff's office in 1997, said Neville left that department two years after him. He said Neville served in various capacities with the sheriff's office including in the jail, on road patrol and as a court officer.

Neville retired from the sheriff's office as a lieutenant.

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Karoub reported from Detroit. Associated Press writers Ed White and Corey Williams in Detroit, Rob Gillies in Toronto, Kenneth Thomas in Washington, Patrick Lejtenyi in Montreal and Sadie Gurman in Phoenix, Arizona, contributed to this story.

Police officers gather at a terminal at Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. Officials evacuated the airport Wednesday, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. On Twitter, Michigan State Police say the officer is in critical condition and the FBI was leading the investigation. (Dominic Adams/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

This March 11, 2005 photo shows Jeff Neville in Goodrich, Mich. Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said the officer stabbed Wednesday, June 21, 2017 is Lt. Jeff Neville with the Bishop International Airport police. Officials on Wednesday evacuated an airport in Flint, Michigan, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. Officials on Wednesday evacuated the airport, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. (Steve Jessmore/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

Police dogs search cars in a parking lot at Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. Officials evacuated the airport Wednesday, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. Authorities say the injured officer's condition is improving. (Jake May/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

A police officer sets up a flare to block the turn lane into Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. Officials evacuated the airport Wednesday, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. On Twitter, Michigan State Police say the officer is in critical condition and the FBI was leading the investigation. (Shannon Millard/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

A travelers waits in the parking lot across the street from Flint Bishop Airport on Wednesday, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. A police officer was stabbed in the neck at the Flint airport by a man with a knife Wednesday in what authorities are investigating as a possible act of terrorism. (Callaghan O'Hare /The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

Burton Police Officers gather at Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. Officials evacuated the airport Wednesday, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. On Twitter, Michigan State Police say the officer is in critical condition and the FBI was leading the investigation. (Shannon Millard/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

Travellers walk to a car outside Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. Officials evacuated the airport Wednesday, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. On Twitter, Michigan State Police say the officer is in critical condition and the FBI was leading the investigation. (Shannon Millard/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

Travellers walk from Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. Officials evacuated the airport Wednesday, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. On Twitter, Michigan State Police say the officer is in critical condition and the FBI was leading the investigation. (Shannon Millard/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

Michigan State Police talk outside Bishop International Airport, Wednesday morning, June 21, 2017, in Flint, Mich. Officials evacuated the airport Wednesday, where a witness said he saw an officer bleeding from his neck and a knife nearby on the ground. On Twitter, Michigan State Police say the officer is in critical condition and the FBI was leading the investigation. (Shannon Millard/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)

Police check the identification of a man in front of an apartment building as they stood guard there in Montreal, Wednesday, June 21, 2017, after a Canadian man who shouted in Arabic stabbed a police officer in the neck at a Michigan airport. Amor Ftouhi, of Montreal, was immediately taken into custody. Police in Canada were searching the Montreal apartment where Ftouhi is believed to have lived. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP)
ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's foreign ministry has confirmed the country's air force shot down an unmanned Iranian drone in southwestern Baluchistan province.

The Pakistani Air Force initially declined comment, after reports emerged on Tuesday that one of its jets shot down the drone. But on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesman, Nafees Zakaria, released a statement on the matter.

He says the drone was downed on Monday as it flew up to 4 kilometers, or 2.5 miles, inside Pakistani territory, in the Panjgur sector close to the Pakistani-Iranian border.

Zakaria says Pakistani authorities have shared the information with Iran about striking down the drone.

Iran has expressed concern over militants operating along the Pakistani border and warned that the country was willing to strike militants inside Pakistan - remarks that drew strong protests from Islamabad.
LISBON, Portugal (AP) - A wildfire that killed 64 people last weekend has been brought under control, Portuguese authorities said Wednesday as a minute of silence was held in memory of victims of the country's deadliest natural disaster in decades.

"The fire is no longer progressing," Civil Protection Agency spokesman Vitor Vaz Pinto said, adding that hundreds of firefighters would remain on the scene to prevent it from reigniting.

Since Saturday, more than 1,000 firefighters and more than a dozen water-dropping aircraft were deployed to tackle the blaze that had raged across the central region of Portugal, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) north of Lisbon.

A fire fighting aircraft drops water over a fire outside the village of Pedrogao Grande 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 dozens of people, while authorities came under mounting criticism for not doing more to prevent the tragedy. (AP Photo/Paulo Duarte)

Some of the personnel and equipment was sent by other European Union countries and Morocco.

Cooler temperatures and weaker winds also helped firefighters make progress against a nearby wildfire in Gois. There, about 1,100 firefighters supported by 14 water-dropping aircraft battled the flames, which officials said they expected to extinguish by Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, members of the government and lawmakers stood in silence outside the parliament building in Lisbon at 1 p.m. (1200 GMT.) President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and members of the emergency services gathered near Pedrogao Grande, where the main blaze broke out.

Portugal had already observed three days of national mourning.

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 burnt truck next to a gate in the village of Pobrais, near Pedrogao Grande, 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/Armando Franca)
URBANA, Ill. (AP) - An online fundraising effort has brought in more than $80,000 for the family of a visiting scholar from China who disappeared from the University of Illinois.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/2rRsuTx ) that the U of I Community Credit Union setup the website to help relatives of 26-year-old Yingying Zhang, who was about a month into a yearlong appointment at the central Illinois university when she disappeared June 9. More than 2,100 people have donated the money, which has totaled much more than the original $30,000 goal.

UI spokeswoman Robin Kaler says Zhang's father, aunt and boyfriend have arrived from China and are staying in university housing. She says members of the UI Chinese Students and Scholars Association are providing them with meals.

Zhang is from Jianyang, China. There is a $40,000 reward in her case.

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Information from: The News-Gazette, http://www.news-gazette.com
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's air force chief is warning that his country will strike Hezbollah "with full force" in any future war with the Lebanese Shiite militant group.

Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel touted Israel's superior air power and build-up at a conference Wednesday, saying it can deliver in 48 hours the same blow it took 34 days to inflict on Hezbollah during the 2006 war.

He says Israel must strike "with full force from the beginning" to gain air superiority in any future conflict with the Lebanese archenemy.

Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 rockets on Israeli communities in the 2006 war, while Israel bombarded targets in southern Lebanon. The month of fighting killed an estimated 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, as well as 44 Israeli civilians and 121 Israeli soldiers.
MOSCOW (AP) - The Latest on the new U.S. sanctions against Russia (all times local):

8:20 p.m.

The United States says it regrets Russia's decision to "turn away" from a chance to discuss obstacles in the U.S.-Russia relationship.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a signing ceremony with Brazilian President Michel Temer after their talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. The leaders of Russia and Brazil have agreed to enhance coordination of their foreign policy moves. (Sergei Chirikov/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says the U.S. remains open to discussions with Russia despite its decision to cancel talks between Russia's deputy foreign minister and the No. 3 U.S. diplomat. Russia said it was canceling the talks scheduled for Friday in response to a new round of U.S. sanctions against Russia that were announced Tuesday.

Nauert says those sanctions "didn't come out of nowhere." She says Russia knows what it needs to do to get the sanctions lifted. She says the sanctions will remain until Russia honors its agreements related to Ukraine and stops occupying Crimea.

Nauert says the latest round of sanctions was designed to "counter attempts to circumvent our sanctions."

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5:35 p.m.

Russia's deputy foreign minister says he has cancelled upcoming talks with the U.S. undersecretary of state over a new round of U.S. sanctions against Russia.

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and firms over Russia's activities in Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday quoted Deputy Minister Sergey Ryabkov as saying that "the situation is not conducive to holding a round of this dialogue" that was scheduled for Friday and criticized the U.S. for "not having offered and not offering anything specific" to discuss.

Russia-U.S. relations have remained tense even as the White House considers scheduling President Donald Trump's meeting with Putin on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 meeting.

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3:30 p.m.

The Kremlin has voiced regret about the new U.S. sanctions against Russia and warned of possible retaliation.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that the U.S. move wasn't constructive, adding that "various options are being considered on expert level."

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and firms over Russian activities in Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the penalties are designed to "maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution."

Russia-U.S. relations have remained tense even as the White House considers scheduling President Donald Trump's meeting with Putin on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 meeting.

Peskov reaffirmed the possibility of such a meeting, but said that no preparations had been made yet.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump has called Saudi Arabia's new crown prince to congratulate him on his elevation.

The White House said Wednesday that Trump called Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to express their shared commitment to "cutting off all support for terrorists and extremists, as well as how to resolve the ongoing dispute with Qatar."

Several members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, recently cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of funding extremism.

Trump and Salman also discussed efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Trump has been working to thaw the U.S.-Saudi relationship, which had setbacks under the Obama administration over its nuclear deal with Iran.

The Saudi monarch elevated Salman to crown prince earlier Wednesday.
WEWAHITCHKA, Fla. (AP) - Seven staff members and one inmate have been injured during a "major disturbance" at a Florida prison.

Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Michelle Glady says the disturbance began about 8:15 a.m. Wednesday at Gulf Correctional Institution Annex and was resolved within 30 minutes.

A news release says the prison remained on lockdown Wednesday afternoon, but the situation was under control, and none of the injuries was considered life-threatening.

The release says inmates in multiple dorms were involved, but officials didn't immediately say how many. The inmates were being placed in confinement pending a disciplinary review.

Gulf Correctional Institution Annex is a men's prison in the Florida Panhandle city of Wewahitchka, outside Panama City. It has a maximum capacity of about 1,400 inmates.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The safety record at Los Alamos National Laboratory is facing intensifying criticism as work ramps up to produce a key component for the U.S. nuclear weapons cache.

A series published this week by the Center for Public Integrity cites numerous internal reports and other documents outlining regulators' concerns about safety lapses over the years. The problems involved spilled plutonium and workers positioning plutonium rods in a way that could have had disastrous consequences.

In an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press, Los Alamos officials reassured employees that the lab's plutonium facility is operating safely.

The birthplace of the atomic bomb, Los Alamos has struggled for years to address management and oversight issues as well as more recent safety concerns about the handling of radioactive waste and plutonium used to make cores for nuclear bombs.
Enough insurers are planning to sell coverage on the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges next year to keep them working - if only barely - in most parts of the country.

Competition in many markets has dwindled to one insurer - or none in some cases - and another round of steep price hikes is expected to squeeze consumers who don't receive big income-based tax credits to help pay their bill.

"What we're seeing is a deterioration in these markets, but the markets haven't imploded, they haven't gone into a rapid downward decline," said Dan Mendelson, president of the consulting firm Avalere Health.

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013, file photo, Alan Leafman, center, president of Health Insurance Express, Inc., helps Raquel Bernal, right, and her husband John Bernal, both of Apache Junction, Ariz., navigate the nation's health care insurance system online at the Health Insurance Express store in Mesa, Ariz. Enough insurers are planning to sell coverage through the Affordable Care Act in 2018 to keep the market place working, if only barely, in most parts of the country. However competition in many markets has dwindled to one insurer, or none in some cases, and another round of steep price hikes is expected to squeeze consumers who don't receive big income-based tax credits to help pay their bill. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Health insurers had until Wednesday to declare whether they planned to sell coverage next year on the exchanges in most states. Actual participation and final rates won't be set until late summer or closer to the Nov. 1 start of enrollment for next year's coverage.

Early plans filed by many insurers for next year include premium increases well over 20 percent, and the consulting firm Avalere expects more than 40 percent of U.S. counties to have only one insurer selling coverage on the exchange, the only place where shoppers can get tax credits to help pay the bill. Some counties in Missouri, Ohio, Indiana and Washington will have none if another insurer fails to step in.

The early picture for 2018 looks much like it did for previous years: Insurers are retreating from some markets or charging a lot more to stay in others.

The Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer Anthem said Wednesday that it will leave exchanges in Wisconsin and its home state of Indiana. This comes a few weeks after the nation's second-largest insurer also said it was pulling out of Ohio's exchange.

The health insurer Medica recently said it will return to Iowa next year, a move that saves most of that state's counties from having no exchange options. But Medica anticipates hiking rates more than 43 percent.

Nationwide, prices for individual insurance could rise between 28 and 40 percent on average, according to a prediction by Oliver Wyman Actuarial Consulting.

Most of that expected increase reflects concerns over how President Donald Trump's administration will manage the program, the consulting firm said. It may stop enforcing a mandate that most Americans buy coverage or it may halt cost-sharing payments that soften expenses for people with modest incomes. The mandate is seen as crucial to encouraging healthy people to enroll and balance the costs an insurer incurs from people who use their insurance.

Trump and other administration officials have said that the Affordable Care Act is collapsing, and they are trying to marshal a replacement plan through Congress. The Senate is weighing a new plan and may vote on it next week.

Insurers have been gouged by steep losses on this kind of coverage since they started paying claims in 2014, and big companies like Humana, Aetna and UnitedHealth Group have either left entirely or retreated to just a few states. Those that remain have been raising premiums by 10 percent or more since.

Heading into 2018, insurers are still worried about attracting enough healthy people to balance claims from the sick. But repeated price hikes can fuel that problem because they make insurance less attractive to healthy people.

Despite all those concerns, more than two dozen insurers have said they are making plans to continue selling coverage on the exchanges. Some, like Centene and Oscar are expanding into new markets.

These insurers have decided to stay or expand despite the uncertainty for a few reasons. Some, nonprofit Blue Cross-Blue Shield plans in particular, have spent decades in their markets and are reluctant to end such long-standing presences. They see themselves as the "insurer of last resort," whicH means they make sure a market has at least one coverage option.

Others want to protect investments they have made into setting up networks of providers, hoping they can eventually make money. And others have already found ways to make the business profitable.

Centene, for instance, uses what it has learned managing state and federally funded Medicaid program for the poor to market insurance on the exchanges to low-income customers in areas where it has already formed networks of providers for that business.

Insurers also get an assist from the government. They know that the income-based tax credits that pay most of the insurance bill for some customers shield those people from big price hikes, said Robert Laszewski, a health care consultant and former insurance executive. That means companies can raise their premiums high enough to avoid losses and not worry about hurting the individual or family with the coverage.

"The taxpayer is going to pay for it," Laszewski said.

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AP data journalist Meghan Hoyer contributed to this report.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A federal judge says panhandling is protected by the First Amendment right to free speech, and a New Orleans suburb's ordinance requiring a panhandling license "offends the United States Constitution."

The ACLU of Louisiana's executive director, Marjorie Esman, says District Judge Lance Africk's opinion affirms that the Constitution protects even unpopular speech. She says in a news release that Slidell "may not ban messages it doesn't like or punish people for asking for help."

The ACLU sued for three men, saying they all panhandled in Slidell, usually at high-traffic intersections.

The city had agreed not to enforce the ordinance while it was being challenged.

Africk ruled Monday without trial.

Lawrence Abbott, who represented Slidell, says he cannot comment because a status conference scheduled Monday means the case is still pending.
Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

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June 21

The New York Times on the health care bill:

We do not know a lot about what is in the health care bill that Republicans are trying to rush through the Senate, but what we do know suggests it will be as bad or worse than the dreadful legislation that the House passed in May.

The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is doing everything he can to keep the public in the dark about his plan to undo major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. But Washington being Washington, a few details have become public. All are alarming and depressing. And as they emerge, and the public unveiling of the bill grows closer - it could come on Thursday - the need for a few wise Republicans to stand with Senate Democrats to say "no" becomes ever more urgent.

One provision under consideration in the Senate, according to news reports, would reduce federal spending on Medicaid more than the Dickensian House version does. That would put even more pressure on states to reduce care for the nearly 75 million people who benefit from that program.

Another change would make it much easier for states to let insurance companies sell policies that do not cover treatments like chemotherapy or drugs like insulin, leaving people with pre-existing health problems and those who become sick worse off.

Whatever their differences, the Senate and House versions have this in common: a callous disregard for the health care of millions of people plus a kind of frantic wish to pass something, no matter how destructive and poorly thought out, that lets President Trump and other Republicans claim that they have repealed Obamacare.

The House bill, the American Health Care Act, would rob 23 million people of health insurance and make it harder for millions of others to get the care they need, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It would cut federal spending by about $1.1 trillion over 10 years while giving the wealthy big tax cuts. Those numbers might be somewhat different for the Senate bill but, according to experts, not by much.

Polls show that most Americans do not support the changes the Republicans want to make. A CBS News poll published on Tuesday found that 59 percent of people disapproved of the House bill. That explains why Mr. McConnell wants to have a vote on his legislation before Congress leaves town for the Fourth of July without any hearings or much public debate. He is trying to thread the needle between the ultraconservative and the more moderate members of his caucus. He knows that he can pass the bill with just 50 Republicans and a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence.

Democratic senators are trying to slow the train by putting up procedural roadblocks to unrelated bills. They are also demanding public hearings on the bill, which Mr. McConnell has so far failed to provide. These tactics are unlikely to stop Mr. McConnell, but at the very least they have shone a spotlight on his reprehensible tactics.

But the country needs more than a spotlight. What it needs is at least three Republican senators to come out against the bill. Susan Collins of Maine, the most moderate senator in the G.O.P., is expected to be one of them. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska could well be another because the bill would take a huge toll on people in her state, which has very high health care costs. Under the House bill, the insurance premiums for a 40-year-old in Fairbanks who earns $30,000 a year would jump by about $8,500, to $10,430, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Those numbers should also be of concern to the other senator from Alaska, Dan Sullivan, who has so far not shown his hand.

Other Republican senators who ought to be particularly alarmed include Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Rob Portman of Ohio and Dean Heller of Nevada. Their states expanded Medicaid under the A.C.A. and stand to lose billions of dollars in federal funds under the House and Senate bills. That will make it harder for their states and others to place older adults in nursing homes, provide care to the disabled and offer addiction treatment to people ensnared in the opioid epidemic.

The health care of millions of Americans rests in the hands of a few Republican senators. Who among them will be willing to defy their party and fight for their constituents?

Online: https://www.nytimes.com/

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June 21

The Orange County Register on air traffic control reform:

The U.S. air traffic control system has fallen woefully behind most of the rest of the world, but we may finally be on the cusp of a promising reform decades in the making.

In testimony before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last month, Reason Foundation Director of Transportation Policy Robert Poole identified three main problems with our existing system. First, the Federal Aviation Administration's funding is volatile, subject to the caprices of Congress, and hasn't kept up with technology and large-scale capital improvement needs. Second, the governance structure suffers from too many government agencies micromanaging the system and an FAA with an inherent conflict of interest, since it is responsible for both providing services and conducting investigations of those services. And third, progress and innovation have been stifled by a risk-averse culture more interested in protecting the status quo.

One solution, which has earned support from the White House and within Congress, is to replace the FAA's taxpayer-funded Air Traffic Organization with a federally chartered nonprofit corporation sustained by user fees. This would provide more flexibility and funding stability, including the opportunity to issue revenue bonds to finance long-term capital investments. The structure would make it similar to organizations like the American Red Cross, U.S. Olympic Committee, federal credit unions or rural electricity and telecommunications cooperatives, Poole noted.

Under the current system, "ATC is a high-tech service business that in the U.S. is trapped in a tax-funded regulatory bureaucracy," Poole told us. "The natural incentive of a bureaucracy is to try to make sure that it looks good, and that's not what you want."

The nonprofit corporation model would much better align incentives to serve customers, from airlines and private pilots to, ultimately, commercial airline passengers. Crucially, it would also depoliticize funding and operations decisions.

"It creates a real customer focus," Poole said. The existing system, by contrast, "does not put the customers in charge; it does not put their interests first" because "the FAA's real customer is Congress."

The idea is not so radical. In fact, more than 60 countries have adopted a form of "corporatization" over the past 30 years, leaving the U.S. as one of the relative few to do things the old way. And we do not have to look far for a positive example. Nav Canada, from our neighbor to the north, which operates the world's second-largest air traffic system, adopted a similar format 20 years ago. In that time, its air traffic control fees have fallen 40 percent while its productivity has increased. The FAA's unit cost of service, meanwhile, has increased by 66 percent during that time, even as flight operations have declined. Today, Nav Canada's cost per flight hour is 26 percent lower than the FAA's.

It is clear that our air traffic control governance structure is as antiquated as much of the technology in use. Removing anti-competitive barriers and government interventions, from allowing for greater privatization of airports to adopting market-based pricing of gate slots and runway access, would improve the U.S. air transportation system even more, but the "corporatization" of air traffic control represents a positive, and probably necessary, first step.

Online: http://www.ocregister.com/

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June 16

The Telegraph on using the Grenfell Tower fire for political ends:

Anger was an inevitable response to the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy. Residents who told those in authority about the dangers feel understandably aggrieved that their concerns were never acted on. The apparent failure of anyone at any level of government to follow up on warnings and recommendations is appalling and those responsible should be brought to book.

The immediate requirements following this calamity are to rehouse the survivors and to ensure there are not other tower blocks at similar risk. But another, more sinister development is taking place. The blaze is being used by the Left to feed the "them and us" narrative they want to promote - helped by the fact that this catastrophe occurred in the richest borough in Britain.

This is now being exploited by political activists who have flocked to the area - not to help but to stir up the crowd. On the streets of Kensington yesterday were people with no connection to the tower block who see this as an opportunity to cause trouble.

Just a day after John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, called for mass protests to depose Theresa May's government there are clear signs that Left-wing agitators will use this catastrophe for political ends. Among those outside Kensington Town Hall were known Left-wing activists.

On his visit to the scene on Thursday, Jeremy Corbyn did nothing to tone down the rhetoric of class division that was one of the legacies of last week's election result. The Labour leader is playing a dangerous game. Moreover, had politicians not pledged to heal the divisions in society to mark the first anniversary of the death of Jo Cox, the Labour MP murdered last year? No one doubts that the election and the referendum highlighted the rift in Britain between the better off and the poor, and also between the young and the older generations. But it is the duty of our political leaders to heal wounds, not seek to open them further.

After all, there is nothing inherently unfair about housing people in high-rise buildings. Nor is there anything wrong about trying to make tower blocks look attractive, which the cladding recently erected around Grenfell Tower was partly intended to achieve. The issue is how it was done and the consequences. This disaster is more about the failure of state agencies to respond decisively to the recommendations of safety reports commissioned after previous tragedies.

Was the recent renovation work and the installation of cheaper cladding responsible - and if so are there other buildings that need to be dismantled or the towers evacuated?

All of this represents a huge challenge for any Government in normal circumstances; but when it has no majority and no certainty of staying in office it is infinitely more problematic. Theresa May has announced a public inquiry but that could take months to set up; an interim report is essential to establish the basic facts so that people living in similar accommodation can sleep without the fear that the same could happen to them.

Furthermore, a sense that someone is getting a grip on this disaster and all of its ramifications is a paramount necessity; and yet the local council's response has been woeful while the Government seems to be drifting, rudderless, stunned by the election result and overwhelmed by the magnitude of all the other tasks it faces, not least the Brexit talks that begin on Monday.

Already the UK has had to agree to the terms set by the EU, with the exit fee and nationality rights to be settled before substantive negotiations. This is a clear acknowledgement of the Government's weakness as Mrs May prepares to put a slimmed-down Queen's Speech to Parliament without any guarantee of getting it through, though the DUP is almost certain to support the Conservatives.

Above all, the language of division and instant blame needs to be tempered. Using this tragedy to attack a weakened government for political ends in the way the Left is now doing will achieve nothing and can only foment violence on the streets. For now, finding out what happened and preventing a repeat is what matters - and Mr Corbyn needs to make that clear to his supporters.

Online: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

___

June 20

The Denver Post on pharmaceutical culpability for the opioid epidemic:

An important question for the nation as it struggles with its opioid epidemic is whether, or to what degree, Big Pharma is behind the disaster. Were doctors too often swayed by drugmakers in prescribing painkillers needlessly? Were the drugmakers aware of the dangers of addiction but unwilling to change practices in marketing the drugs? Could more have been done to make the drugs harder to abuse?

Such questions gain even more importance now that the coast-to-coast epidemic is overwhelming hospitals. According to recently released public data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, hospitals saw 1.27 million opioid-related emergency room visits or inpatient stays in 2014, the latest year for which data are available. The total is a 64 percent increase for in-room care and nearly 100 percent increase in the ER from 2005.

So count us as pleased that Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has been working with dozens of state attorneys general in a months-long investigation that intends to answer these questions. Coffman tells us that findings from the recently acknowledged investigation are soon to be released.

What to expect? "We have reason to believe that there are some opioid manufacturers who chose not to see the dangers of over-prescribing," Coffman tells us.

A little history helps in considering the investigation by the attorneys general. Starting in the mid-1970s, as Percocet and Vicodin started showing up in the medicine cabinet, doctors were being told the drugs could work wonders in managing pain. In 1980, a New England Journal of Medicine report stated that addiction shouldn't be of concern. In the '80s, pain-management specialists like Russell Portenoy were telling doctors and patients that opioid painkillers were safe and a more humane alternative to surgery.

In the '90s, Purdue Pharma's OxyContin debuted. Doctors started talking about doing a better job of treating pain. Purdue created a video promotion sent to doctors' offices that showcased patients who had reclaimed their lives from chronic pain, and an expert in the videos claimed the drugs came without serious side effects.

Sales of the painkillers mushroomed, and during the first years of this century, pain management through opioid prescriptions became the expectation.

In 2011, Portenoy and others began reversing their recommendations as addictions to opioids, either prescription drugs or illegals like heroin, began to rise.

"Clearly," Portenoy said, "if I had an inkling of what I know now then, I wouldn't have spoken in the way that I spoke. It was clearly the wrong thing to do."

But it wasn't until last year that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines for prescribing the drugs to alert doctors. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered oxycodone and fentanyl carry warnings about addiction.

Yes, there should be the expectation of personal accountability. Abusing prescription medications or turning to the illegal drug trade to feed an addiction are irresponsible acts. But given that we're talking about highly addictive substances in the first place, the AGs are easily within their right to question whether prescription drugmakers were cynical in promoting their medicines.

We'll have to wait to review the findings to know exactly how to respond. But, as with investigations that revealed corrupt practices in cigarette sales, it's certainly reasonable to think that drugmakers should be on the hook to help cover the societal damage this epidemic has created.

Online: http://www.denverpost.com/

___

June 21

Richmond Times-Dispatch on the GOP's special election victories:

President Donald Trump's much-prophesied destruction of the Republican Party has yet to come to pass and, for now at least, appears to be mainly wishful thinking on the part of progressives and their many pals in the national media. Karen Handel's 4-point victory in Tuesday's special election for a House seat in Georgia makes clear that the Democrats' philosophy - the usual blend of high taxes, big government and identity politics - has not won over moderate voters.

The Democrats expended vast amounts of money, celebrity, and political capital in support of Jon Ossoff, an attractive young candidate running in a district filled with high-income, highly educated voters. And yet they came up short, as they have in every special election this year involving a Republican congressional seat. The resistance, so far, has not been televised. This should be seen as good news for the Republican ticket in Virginia. Ed Gillespie, Jill Vogel, and John Adams face a tough race, but if they continue to run superior campaigns, they'll have a real chance to win in November. Voters in Virginia may be ready for a little hope and change.

It's not all good news for Republicans, though. They've faced competitive challenges in four Republican-leaning congressional districts in 2017, including a surprisingly close race in South Carolina Tuesday. So the voters are restless. The sooner the GOP can confirm conservative judges, pass tax relief and reform, replace Obamacare, and pass a budget that shores up the military while meaningfully restraining federal domestic spending, the better the chances they'll extend their winning streak into 2018.

Online: http://www.richmond.com/

___

June 21

The Los Angeles Times on government surveillance of Americans:

The Trump administration is urgently lobbying Congress to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the National Security Agency to collect the electronic communications of foreigners living abroad. Before he was fired, FBI Director James B. Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that losing Section 702 would be "disastrous."

But Congress should not simply rubber-stamp the law as it exists. Rather, Section 702 should be fine-tuned to afford greater privacy protections for Americans.

Yes, Americans. Because even though residents of this country aren't the targets of Section 702's elaborate electronic dragnet, their emails, phone calls and internet chats can be caught up in it incidentally - for example, when a foreign "target" is emailing or talking on the phone to an American living in the U.S.

Section 702 is the direct descendant of the warrantless electronic surveillance program instituted by the George W. Bush administration after Sept. 11, 2001, that caused a sensation when its existence was exposed by the New York Times in 2005. Unlike that shadowy program, Section 702 was duly enacted by Congress and is overseen fairly rigorously by a federal court, albeit one that meets in secret.

Under Section 702, the government does not need to obtain individual warrants authorizing the surveillance of each person who is targeted. Instead, at the request of the attorney general and the director of national intelligence, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court certifies categories of foreigners who may be appropriately targeted. The court also approves procedures for "minimizing" (protecting the privacy) of information about U.S. citizens collected as part of the surveillance.

Comey's view of the value of Section 702 is widely shared. Sen. Dianne Feinstein says it "has been a valuable part of our counter-terrorism effort." In a report published in 2014, after Edward Snowden's revelations, the president's Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board concluded that intelligence collected under Section 702 "has enabled the discovery of previously unknown terrorist operatives as well as the locations and movements of suspects already known to the government."

But civil liberties groups argue that the program does not sufficiently protect Americans' privacy, although they concede that there is no evidence of egregious abuses.

One persuasive complaint about Section 702 is that the intelligence community hasn't quantified the number of Americans whose conversations have been captured by surveillance under the program, making it difficult to assess whether it is sufficiently circumscribed. Trump's director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, told the Senate that "it remains infeasible to generate an exact, accurate, meaningful and responsive methodology that can count how often a U.S. person's communications may be collected." That strikes us as defeatist. Congress should insist the intelligence community make a good-faith effort to keep track of how many Americans are caught in the Section 702 net.

And while the acquisition of intelligence under the law is supposed to be "consistent with the 4th Amendment," information about Americans (which, remember, is gathered without an individualized warrant) can be retained and turned over to law enforcement if it shows evidence of criminal activity. The chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has recommended that the FBI be required to obtain approval from the FISA court before searching a database of communications gathered under the program in connection with criminal matters so that the Section 702 database doesn't become a repository for fishing expeditions.

That recommendation might seem less urgent given statistics from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence showing that the FBI searched the Section 702 database only once in 2016 in connection with criminal matters unrelated to national security. Still, Americans shouldn't have to face the possibility of prosecution based on information gathered - without a warrant - for foreign intelligence purposes. That contravenes the guarantee of the 4th Amendment that searches must be reasonable and the long-standing practice of requiring warrants based on probable cause.

Another way to protect Americans' privacy would be for Congress to codify a recent decision by the NSA to no longer collect communications in which the email address of a foreign target appeared in the text of a message between Americans. The NSA stopped collecting such "about" messages because it apparently felt it couldn't do so without inadvertently violating safeguards of Americans' privacy.

Finally, unlike the Trump administration and some Republicans in Congress, we believe that this law - even in an improved version - should be authorized for no more than five years, as the current version was in 2012. A program that collects so much personal information about Americans, and that was enacted in response to a terrorist threat that we all hope is temporary, should be subject to periodic review.

Online: http://www.latimes.com/
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Captured polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs could face up to another 10 years in prison after prosecutors filed a new felony charge Wednesday connected to his nearly yearlong time on the run.

The new failure to appear count comes on top of two felony charges in a suspected multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme. Jeffs was awaiting trial on those charges when he escaped from home confinement by using olive oil to slip out of his ankle monitor in Salt Lake City on June 18, 2016.

Many of the other 10 defendants accused in the food-stamp scheme struck plea deals with federal prosecutors, but U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber said Jeffs will be different.

This frame grab from KSFY Television video shows polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs arriving at the Federal Courthouse Thursday, June 15, 2017 in Sioux Falls, S.D. Jeffs has been captured in South Dakota while apparently living out of his pickup truck after nearly a year on the run. Authorities had been hunting for Jeffs since he escaped home confinement in Utah on June 18, 2016, ahead of his trial in an alleged multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme. (KSFY Television via AP)

"Disobeying court orders has consequences, and in federal court those consequences are serious," He said in a statement Wednesday. "We intend to assert the public's right to a speedy trial and look forward to presenting our case to the jury."

No additional charges are expected in connection with the escape, said Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah.

He's also facing conspiracy to commit food-stamp fraud, which carries a sentence of up to five years, and money laundering, which could bring up to 10 years in prison.

Jeffs was recaptured in a small South Dakota town on June 14 after pawning two Leatherman pliers while apparently living out of his pickup truck near the South Dakota-Nebraska state line.

He had been in the area for about two weeks, running low on resources and struggling without the help of fellow sect members after falling out with his brother Warren Jeffs, who runs the group while serving a life prison sentence in Texas for sexual assault of underage brides, the FBI has said.

Their group, known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is based in a small community on the Utah-Arizona border. Members of the sect believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. The group is an offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.

The group has a small compound in far west South Dakota, but Lyle Jeffs was about six hours away when he was arrested.

Jeffs was the last of the defendants in the food stamp fraud case still behind bars when U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart last year in June reversed an earlier decision and granted his release.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A man who stepped out of a pickup truck and started shooting at approaching police in Alaska was carrying two guns and about 400 rounds of ammunition on his body and in his truck, police said.

Matthew Stover also was wearing body armor and a bulletproof mask when four Fairbanks officers returned fire, killing him, Police Chief Erik Jewkes said at a news conference late Tuesday.

No officers were injured.

Jewkes appealed to the public for information about a motive and what must have been Stover's considerable preparations for an armed confrontation.

"We're all looking for answers. Why did this happen? What was his intent? What was he after?" Jewkes said. "Someone out there knows and may or may not want to say."

Stover, 21, of Northway, a village near Alaska's border with Canada, apparently had no previous contact with Fairbanks police, Jewkes said.

The incident began around 3 a.m. Monday when a witness saw a man with a mask and a rifle in the parking lot of a restaurant. The witness spoke to an employee who called 911.

Responding officers could not find the man but alerted staff at Fairbanks Correctional Center, the regional jail and prison, two blocks from the restaurant.

About a half-hour later, as police searched, corrections staff called to report a man with a long gun getting out of a pickup truck parked at a lot used over the winter for snow storage.

The lot is an easy walk from the jail, an ice arena and health facilities including Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.

Five officers approached the truck. From about 100 yards (91 meters), two officers activated lights on their patrol cars and called out with a public address system.

"As soon as that PA announcement started, the suspect exited the vehicle, immediately turned and started running toward the officers, raised an AR-style rifle and began firing as he ran toward the patrol cars," Jewkes said.

Four of the five officers fired back, killing Stover. Along with the rifle, he was carrying a 9mm handgun.

The pickup had been modified to disguise its make, Jewkes said.

When officers smelled camp stove fuel and saw a large bag outside the truck, they called in bomb experts from Fort Wainwright Army Post. They found no explosives.
Simon Cowells charity single, raising funds for those affected by the catastrophic Grenfell Tower fire, will be officially released on Wednesday morning.

His recording of Simon and Garfunkels Bridge Over Troubled Water features the likes of Rita Ora, Robbie Williams, Liam Payne and Jessie J.

The music mogul kicked off the process days after last weeks fire, which killed at least 79 people.

Simon Cowell close up

As well as buying the single, we hope people can support those affected by the Grenfell fire by donating. https://t.co/071cWmDNs1  Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) June 20, 2017

Stars came together to take part in a weekend of recording at West Londons Sarm Studios, half a mile away from Grenfell.

Marking a week since the fire, the track will be played across BBC radio stations from 8am and on ITV before Coronation Street.

All proceeds will go to Artists for Grenfell and will be distributed via The London Community Foundation.

Other artists who have lent their names, and their voices, to the song include Bastille, Brian May, Ella Eyre, James Blunt, Louis Tomlinson, Nile Rodgers, X Factor winner Matt Terry and recent Britains Got Talent winner Tokio Myers.

Sharing the news via his official Twitter page, Cowell urged the nation to buy the single and make further donations via artistsforgrenfell.com.

He wrote: Thank you to everyone for their help and support in making this happen.
Nearly half of students would describe themselves as customers of their university, new research suggests.

Some 47% of undergraduates said they believed they are a way for their university to benefit financially, according to survey conducted for Universities UK.

By contrast, only 18% said they would regard themselves as a customer of their secondary school.

According to the ComRes survey, 80% of students said personalised advice and support are among the top things they desire from their university.

General view of students (Chris Radburn/PA)

Meanwhile, 91% of students who said their course is good value for money also said they value their relationship with their university.

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, said: What is clear from this survey is that students want a personal relationship with their university, rather than the type of engagement they associate with being a customer.

Following the shift to fees and loans-based funding, value for money has become a high-profile issue in higher education.

The research shows that students view their relationship with their university as unique, they value a personalised and collaborative relationship, rather than a superficial consumer transaction.

Ms Dandridge added that although students have clear expectations of their university, they also expect to shape their own experience.
A key plank of controversial probation reforms shows no sign of improving re-offending rates and could be ditched immediately with little impact being felt, a highly critical report concludes.

So-called Through the Gate services were introduced as part of a partial privatisation in 2015 to bridge the gap between prison and the community as criminals prepare for release.

But a scathing joint report by two official watchdogs found none of the early hopes for the measures have been realised.

Report: Through the Gate Resettlement Services for Prisoners Serving 12 Months or More with @HMIPrisonsnews https://t.co/caHlEfO8n3  HMI Probation (@HMIProbation) June 21, 2017

Support for prisoners leaving jail was poor and bodies tasked with delivering the services are making little difference to convicts prospects on release, the review warned. It said community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) were focusing most of their efforts on meeting contractual targets, and called on ministers to look again at the arrangements.

The report by the Chief Inspectors of Probation and Prisons said: If Through the Gate services were removed tomorrow, in our view the impact on the resettlement of prisoners would be negligible.

The findings are the latest in a line of critical assessments of a shake-up of the system for the management of offenders in the community in England and Wales.

A door being closed by a prison guard (Peter Macdiarmid/PA)

Known as Transforming Rehabilitation, the overhaul launched in 2014 saw the creation of the National Probation Service to deal with high-risk individuals, while remaining work was assigned to 21 CRCs.

Previous reports have warned that the public has been left at greater risk of harm as officers manage dozens of cases at any one time and offenders are unseen for weeks or months.

The latest inspection by HM Inspectorates of Probation and Prisons focused on resettlement services for criminals serving sentences of at least 12 months.

Publishing the findings, Chief Inspector of Probation Dame Glenys Stacey said: The gap between the Governments aspirations and reality is so great.

Prison wall

There is no real prospect that these services as they are will reduce reoffending.

Through the Gate arrangements were set up to ease the transition for offenders preparing to re-enter society by helping them find accommodation, employment, training or education, as well as providing support managing finances, benefits and debt.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: Public protection is our top priority and we will take all necessary action to make sure the probation system is reducing re-offending and preventing future victims.

We have undertaken an overarching review of probation, looking at the standards we set for providers and how we hold them to account.

Additionally, we have made changes to how Community Rehabilitation Companies are paid so they can focus on activities that will help cut crime.

As part of the probation review, we have been looking at Through the Gate services and will be publishing our findings in due course.
Conservatives and Democratic Unionists remain miles apart on key elements of a proposed deal to shore up Theresa Mays minority Government, a DUP source has said.

Sticking points are thought to involve DUP demands for additional funding for Northern Ireland, with reports suggesting they are seeking 1 billion for health and similar figures for infrastructure.

The failure to bridge differences casts doubt on Mrs Mays ability to get her Queens Speech through Parliament, with senior minister Damian Green acknowledging it is possible that no agreement will be reached in time for the crunch Commons vote on the package on June 29.

4 pledges in the @duponline manifesto that are worth revisiting when considering the contents of the #QueenSpeech. pic.twitter.com/DEOqT0ceN3  Timothy McLean (@timmehmclean) June 21, 2017

While the DUP has historically voted with Conservatives in a majority of divisions, party sources indicate that the support of its 10 MPs should not be taken for granted.

They have a record of opposing Tory austerity and welfare measures in the last parliament, and it is understood that they could support opposition amendments in these areas during the six-day Queens Speech debate.

DUP insiders are thought to be arguing that failure to reach agreement on a confidence and supply deal could cost the Conservatives more in the long run, as they would be forced to come cap in hand for the partys support on a vote-by-vote basis in the years to come.

One source told the Press Association: They thought they had us in the bag and they wouldnt have to pay a price for it.

Senior Conservative sources said talks with the DUP were ongoing in the hope of reaching a confidence and supply arrangement, under which the Northern Irish party would not join the Government but would guarantee to ensure its survival by voting with it on financial measures and no-confidence motions.

The DUP is also looking for a more generous deal from the Treasury over the planned devolution of corporation tax powers, as well as cuts in air passenger duty.

A DUP source said officials within the Northern Ireland Office are urging caution on a deal because of concerns that the Government could compromise its status as an honest broker in peace process talks.

But Mr Green insisted that there was still every possibility of agreement.

Damian Green said "there's every possibility of a DUP deal" (David Mirzoeff/PA)

The talks have been taking place in a constructive way, the First Secretary of State told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

Clearly, two political parties, we have some differences, but we have a lot in common. Were both unionist parties at our heart.

Were both, obviously, very concerned with combating terrorism, we both have similar views about delivering a good Brexit for this country, and, obviously, were both very, very concerned with the Irish border issue.

All talks of this kind take a long time, they are still continuing.
Theresa May has vowed to overcome the divisions in British society exposed in this months General Election and to build consensus on Brexit, as she ditched or watered down many of the flagship policies from the Conservative manifesto.

But the Prime Minister was accused by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of offering a threadbare Queens Speech, which set out a two-year legislative programme dominated by preparations for withdrawal from the EU.

Of 27 Bills and draft bills unveiled in Mrs Mays first Queens Speech, eight are devoted to the complex process of leaving the EU, including a Repeal Bill to overturn the 1972 Act which took Britain into the European Economic Community, and separate Bills on customs, trade, immigration, fisheries, agriculture, nuclear safeguards and the international sanctions regime.

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire and a string of terror attacks, the Prime Minister also announced plans for a civil disaster taskforce and a new commission for countering extremism, as well as a review of counter-terror strategy and the creation of an independent public advocate to act on behalf of bereaved families.

And she apologised in the House of Commons for the failure of both national and local government to provide survivors of the west London blaze with the support they needed.

Following a bruising election which cost her Conservatives their majority in the Commons, Mrs May ditched manifesto plans to scrap universal free school lunches, expand grammars, means-test winter fuel payments, and offer a free vote on fox-hunting.

And dementia tax proposals for social care reform were downgraded to options in a public consultation.

House of Lords

Speculation that Donald Trumps state visit to the UK may be cancelled was fuelled by its absence from the Queens nine-minute address.

But Downing Street confirmed that the invitation to the US President stands and did not feature because a date is yet to be fixed.

Also unveiled were Bills to extend the HS2 high-speed rail link to Crewe, permit the development of driverless cars, spaceports and commercial satellites, cut whiplash insurance claims, protect victims of domestic abuse and ban letting fees for private rented homes.

The #QueensSpeech sets out the govts agenda for Parliaments working year https://t.co/7m0jXZnM9F pic.twitter.com/cn6ZOoQZbw  House of Lords (@UKHouseofLords) June 21, 2017

Acknowledging that the outcome of this months snap election fell well short of the emphatic victory she had hoped for, Mrs May said that her minority administration would seek to govern with humility to regain voters trust.

She told MPs: The election showed that, as it faces the big challenges of our future, our country is divided  red versus blue, young versus old, Leave versus Remain.

The test for all of us is whether we choose to reflect divisions or help the country overcome them. With humility and resolve, this Government will seek to do the latter.

#QueensSpeech will increase the National Living Wage so that the lowest paid see their wages go up. pic.twitter.com/F01xrnftSD  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) June 21, 2017

We will do what is in the national interest and we will work with anyone in any party that is prepared to do the same.

Mrs May vowed to see Brexit through, but  in a marked softening of her pre-election stance  said that she would seek to build a wide consensus in doing so.

Following her failure to reach agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party, Mrs May is the first PM in decades to be faced by doubts over whether she can get her legislative programme through Parliament.

Learn more about The Queen and Government: https://t.co/bXFbikjB4Q #QueensSpeech  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 21, 2017

Conservative sources said talks with the DUP were ongoing after the Northern Irish party warned its support cannot be taken for granted.

But First Secretary of State Damian Green acknowledged that it may not be possible to reach a deal in time for the Commons vote on the Queens Speech package on June 29.

Mr Corbyn dismissed the programme as thin gruel which showed the Conservatives were running out of ideas.

#QueensSpeech will respond to the devastating life-long impact that domestic abuse has on children. pic.twitter.com/xwNrjORDQB  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) June 21, 2017

This is a Government without a majority, without a mandate, without a serious legislative programme, led by a Prime Minister who has lost her personal authority and is struggling even today to stitch up a deal to stay in office, he said.

But his claim to head a government in waiting was given short shrift by the PM, who mockingly praised him for having fought a spirited campaign and come a good second.

The State Opening of Parliament, delayed by two days because of confusion caused by the inconclusive result of the June 8 election, took place without some of the traditional ceremony, with the Queen arriving by car rather than carriage and wearing a blue dress and hat rather than her robes and state crown.

The #QueensSpeech Repeal Bill will provide a functioning statute book on the day we leave the European Union. pic.twitter.com/jvBRoZeYMv  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) June 21, 2017

As MPs debated, a few hundred protesters gathered for a so-called Day of Rage outside Parliament.

Although the tally of bills unveiled by the Queen was not particularly small, critics said that aside from Brexit it presented only a lightweight agenda to cover two years, rather than the usual one.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: This slimmed-down Queens Speech shows a Government on the edge.

Having dropped everything from the dementia tax to fox hunting, I assume the only reason they have proposed a Space Bill is so they can shoot their manifesto into space and pretend it never existed.

An Immigration Bill will establish new national immigration policies once we leave the EU #QueensSpeech pic.twitter.com/oUcra0ARuZ  UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) June 21, 2017

Party sources insisted Mrs May was confident of getting the Speech through the Commons, even though the result of next Thursdays vote will be on a knife edge if no deal is reached with the DUP, who were reported to be holding out for 2 billion of investment in health and infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

But questions were raised over whether she will be able to get contentious Brexit legislation through the Lords, after Liberal Democrats said they did not believe their peers would be bound by the Salisbury Convention which bars the Upper House from blocking manifesto pledges.

Lib Dem chief whip Alistair Carmichael said that the convention would not apply after Mrs May fed her partys manifesto into a shredder.
Novak Djokovic will warm up for Wimbledon by playing the Aegon International at Eastbourne.

Djokovic has not entered an official grass-court competition between the French Open and Wimbledon since 2010, instead opting for rest and the odd exhibition match.

This year, however, the Serbian has accepted a wild card for Eastbourne, an ATP 250 event, where he will be the number one seed when the main draw begins on Monday.

This will be my first trip to Eastbourne. I have heard great things about the tournament, Djokovic said. I am looking forward to fine-tuning my grass-court game there ahead of Wimbledon.

Tournament director Gavin Fletcher said: The quality of the mens and womens entries is already incredibly high, and the addition of Novak will take the event to an even higher level.

Djokovic will join the likes of Gael Monfils, Feliciano Lopez and John Isner on the south coast as the 12-time grand slam champion looks to find rhythm ahead of the start of Wimbledon on July 3.

He has struggled for form over the last 12 months, failing to win any of the four major tournaments and going past the quarter-finals just once, at the US Open in September.

The 30-year-old began working with Andre Agassi at the French Open last month and the American has suggested the partnership will continue at Wimbledon.

Kyle Edmund will also be in action at Eastbourne (Steven Paston/PA)

Britains Kyle Edmund will also be in action at Eastbourne, as well as Johanna Konta in the womens draw.

But Dan Evans has pulled out with a calf injury and Aljaz Bedene may follow after his withdrawal from Queens with a wrist problem.
The Queens hat at the State Opening of Parliament has sparked humorous comparisons to the European flag on Twitter.

Delphinium blue and adorned with a cluster of matching flowers with bright yellow centres, the hat was designed by the Queens trusted personal assistant and senior dresser Angela Kelly.

Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West, branded it an anti-Brexit hat, writing on Twitter: Sad to see retro Tories dressed for Ascot while Queen ditches crown for her anti-Brexit hat matching the colours and stars of the Euro flag.

The Queen's impressive "EU" hat. (Carl Court/PA)

Sad to see retro Tories dressed for Ascot while Queen ditches crown for her anti-Brexit hat matching the colours and stars of the Euro flag  Paul Flynn (@PaulFlynnMP) June 21, 2017

Other Twitters users shared their amusement after spotting the similarity.

One wrote: Queen wears European blue with gold stars. Hint. Hint, while another said: Was the #Queen trolling the Tories and #brexit by wearing a hat which looks remarkably like an EU flag for #QueensSpeech?!

Other comments included: God Bless The Queen and her pro-EU hat and The award for Best Trolling Using a Hat goes to the #QueensSpeech.

The monarch wore a day dress and hat this year for the ceremonial occasion in the House of Lords, rather than the Imperial State Crown and a gown, after the pomp and ceremony of the event was scaled back because the date fell too close to Trooping the Colour.

The European flag symbolises the European Union and the identity and unity of Europe and features a circle of 12 gold stars on a blue background.

As head of state, the Queen is politically neutral and acts on the advice of her Government in political matters.

The referendum is a matter for the British people to decide, Buckingham Palace said at the time of last years Brexit vote.
The Queen has taken part in the traditional Royal Ascot carriage procession  completing her dash from the State Opening of Parliament.

But missing was the Duke of Edinburgh, who was admitted to hospital last night as a precaution after falling ill with an infection.

Philip was due to join the Queen at Westminster, where she delivered her speech setting out the Governments programme, but the Prince of Wales accompanied her instead.

Her Majesty The Queen leads the Royal Procession on Day Two of #RoyalAscot pic.twitter.com/V0t3ywwx7V  Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 21, 2017

Veteran MP Dennis Skinner saw the funny side of the Queens diary predicament, and in his traditional heckle ahead of the Queens speech joked that MPs and Black Rod should hurry up so she could make the first race at Royal Ascot.

Mr Skinner made both sides of the House laugh when he quipped: Get your skates on, the first race is half past two.

During the procession the Queen was joined in the lead carriage by Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and her former private secretary, Lord Fellowes. They were followed by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent in a second carriage.

The Queen with The Princess Royal at Ascot (Brian Lawless/PA)

Philip was admitted to a private London hospital on Tuesday evening as a precautionary measure for treatment of an infection arising from a pre-existing condition. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the Queen was being kept informed about the Duke.

Betting on the colour of the Queens hat is a favourite flutter for many racegoers, who attempt to second-guess her choice. But a change of outfit left punters stumped and the bookmakers smiling during the second day of Royal Ascot.

The Queen had been seen at the State Opening of Parliament wearing blue, but by the time she arrived at the Berkshire racecourse she had changed into yellow.

Le Brivido wins the first race on Day Two of #RoyalAscot - the Group Three Jersey Stakes pic.twitter.com/uDhR7syWpX  Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 21, 2017

William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said they had taken just 13 bets on yellow, he added: During the News At 10 on Tuesday evening they said the Queen would be going straight to Ascot from the opening of Parliament.

Many people took this literally and lumped on blue when they saw her in Westminster this morning.

Corals John Hill said: After seeing the Queen wear a blue hat for her speech in parliament, many punters expected her to remain in her clothing for Royal Ascot, however, they were left disappointed when she was seen in her procession in a yellow hat, the second favourite in our betting.
Conservationists have launched what they call one of Africas biggest wildlife relocations  the transfer of 7,500 animals over three years to a Mozambican park whose wildlife was nearly wiped out by civil war.

Zinave National Park will receive 500 animals from Gorongosa, another Mozambican park recovering since the war ended in 1992, and about 6,000 from the Sango wildlife area in neighbouring Zimbabwe, said the South Africa-based Peace Parks Foundation.

Other animals are being moved from South Africa.

Elephants will be among the animals being transferred

Peace Parks said Zinave will get species including buffalo, giraffe, wildebeest, zebra and elephants.

Zinave administrator Antonio Bacar said the training of park rangers will increase to prevent poaching.

The hope is that tourists visiting the popular coastal area around Vilanculos will take a safari once Zinave is restocked.
Tommy Fleetwood is looking forward to returning to action in Europe following his superb showing at the US Open.

The Southport player finished fourth at Erin Hills on Sunday, five shots behind winner Brooks Koepka, in his best major performance.

Fleetwood had gone into the final round just one shot off the lead and the experience could prove highly beneficial for the rest of his career.

Tommy Fleetwood is back in action in Germany this week (Adam Davy/PA)

Thank you to everyone for the messages and support from all over! Overwhelming!Amazing experience and makes me want to work harder!  Tommy Fleetwood (@TommyFleetwood1) June 19, 2017

The 26-year-old now returns to the European Tour, on which he has won twice, for this weeks BMW International Open in Munich.

Fleetwood, who is second in the Race to Dubai standings, told www.europeantour.com: Its always one of the best events of the year. I think Ive played this every year since Ive been on tour.

Its a great course and in Germany you do get great crowds. Weather like this makes it even better. Its a great event and I think that shows in the players that you get coming over to play.

The field includes Masters champion Sergio Garcia, who will be making his first competitive appearance in Europe since his Augusta success in April, and last years Open winner Henrik Stenson.

Congratulations and well played @BKoepka , was a pleasure to watch and learn from a major winner! I'm sure it won't be your last!  Tommy Fleetwood (@TommyFleetwood1) June 19, 2017

Stenson is also the defending champion in this event having triumphed in Cologne last year - a victory which provided the springboard for glory at Royal Troon.

Other notable players include Jose Maria Olazabal, Martin Kaymer, Bernd Wiesberger, Rafael Cabrera Bello and Ernie Els.

Early morning practice for the Masters champ#BMWInternationalOpen pic.twitter.com/GiLwjxblBL  DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 21, 2017

Garcia is looking forward to being welcomed onto the tee as Masters champion.

He said: Its beautiful. Its a nice feeling when you hear it on the first tee. Its not easy to be able to get that and I am going to enjoy it as much as possible.
England eased to a nine-wicket victory over South Africa in the Twenty20 opener at the Ageas Bowl with Jonny Bairstow leading the way with a ruthless unbeaten 60.

With six changes made and the likes of Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes absent England made light work of the 143 target with 33 balls to spare.

A disciplined shift with the ball, including a strong debut for Hampshire leg-spinner Mason Crane, paved the way for a victory in the first of this three-match series.

England's Jonny Bairstow (right) celebrates his 50 with Alex Hales during the1st NatWest T20 Blast match at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton (Paul Harding/PA)

And the hosts enjoyed themselves as Bairstow, along with Alex Hales (47no), led the chase to see England home in style.

Jason Roy, dropped from the 50-over side for the Champions Trophy semi-final defeat to Pakistan, opened alongside Hales and eased any nerves with a big six in the third over.

He struck another maximum in the next over, following it up with a hat-trick of fours to show more of the form which saw him establish himself as an international regular.

A spot of over-confidence did for Roy in Andile Phehlukweyos first over as he was trapped lbw reverse sweeping for 28 from 14 balls.

WICKET Roy out lbw after a rapid 28 from 14 balls



45-1 #ENGvSA



Updates: https://t.co/5rSUQ8qi6V pic.twitter.com/j2eagy7iWq  England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 21, 2017

Bairstow was immediately into his stride, clipping his second delivery to the boundary, with Hales clearing the rope off Imran Tahir in the sixth over.

Bairstow then clubbed Tahir for a six before repating the trick off Tabraiz Shamsi.

A misfield from Phehlukweyo saw England bring up the century as Bairstows reverse sweep sneaked under him as he dived on the boundary.

Hales sent another big shot towards Farhaan Behardien but he could not hold the catch and was made to pay as the next ball was sent for six.

Bairstow reached his second T20 half-century with another boundary, still finding time for another sumptuous four before hitting the running run.

Earlier, South Africa had won the toss and elected to bat, only to find themselves three down inside five overs.

Captain AB de Villiers though led the recovery with 65 not out from 58 balls and was well supported by Behardien (64no) in an unbroken stand of 110.

JT Smuts was bowled by David Willey with the first ball of the match and fellow opener Rezza Hendricks could only add three before being caught by Willey at mid-wicket off the bowling of Mark Wood.

FIFTY for @jbairstow21 from 29 balls! 



Here's just one of his boundaries today.



Live: https://t.co/5rSUQ8qi6V pic.twitter.com/8rTtLKR9pR  England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 21, 2017

David Miller (9) then edged into the gloves of Jos Buttler as Wood took a second wicket.

That left De Villiers and Behardien to rebuild and they would stay there for the remainder of the South Africa innings.

Liam Dawson came into the attack ahead of debutant and fellow Hampshire spinner Crane but the newcomer was soon thrown the ball and had a hopeful lbw appeal turned down and the 50 came up for South Africa off Cranes next delivery.

After three run-outs in their Champions Trophy exit at the hands of India, De Villiers survived a repeat as Eoin Morgan missed a shy at the stumps with his counterpart well short.

Morgan continued with spinners at both ends as the runs dried up for South Africa, Crane again with a failed lbw appeal in the 12th over.

De Villiers brought up his 50 in style, hitting his first six of the innings with a superb scoop.

Behardien followed suit at the start of the 19th over to record his first international T20 50 and he celebrated in style with a huge six but the Proteas target always looked under par.

It is as close to a complete performance as you can ask for. The bowlers did an unbelievable job even after taking early wickets. Both ends from the spinners didnt get away from them, the two spinners held their nerves really well and I think there was a bit more in the pitch than when we batted. The way we came out and batted dictated things to them. (Jason) Roy smokes for a few overs and it takes the game away.

It was a slow start and we lost a couple of wickets when it was probably the best time for us to bat. It got really slow after that. I felt good from the word go but unfortunately we had to rebuild for a few overs to get us going again. I think we did okay to get it back, it was really difficult to get it away. We came up 20, 25 runs short and they bowled pretty well.
Alexander Zverev continued his strong run of form ahead of Wimbledon by beating Germanys Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Gerry Weber Open.

Zverev made the last four at the Ricoh Open last week before succumbing to the big-serving Gilles Muller and the 20-year-old impressed again in Halle to overcome Kohlschreiber.

It was his first win against the world number 56 in three attempts and came without a single break point conceded. Zverev for his part is yet to drop serve in the tournament.

Alexander Zverev has reached the quarter-finals in Halle (Friso Gentsch/AP)

Alexander Zverev continues his top form on grass by reaching the quarter-finals at the @GerryWeberOpen. Read: https://t.co/Tr9iae3tDl pic.twitter.com/FvBYoAYSOU  ATP Tour (@atptour) June 21, 2017

Im very satisfied because Philipp is someone who can play very well on grass, Zverev told the official ATP website.

He mixes it up well with his slice and serve, so hes always a difficult opponent on this surface. Im glad I could win in two sets and have the feeling I played well.

Zverev will now play Spains Roberto Bautista Agut, who needed three sets to beat Dustin Brown 6-4 1-6 7-6 (8/6).

Another young talent Dominic Thiem, however, failed to make it through as he endured a surprise defeat to Hollands world number 42 Robin Haase.

#NextGenATP star #AlexanderZverev hits 10 aces in 63 64 win over Kohlschreiber @GERRYWEBERWORLD and reaches 7th QF of season.  ATP Media Info (@ATPMediaInfo) June 21, 2017

Haase saved three set points en route to a 6-3 7-6 (9/7) victory, which secures his first quarter-final in Halle at the fifth attempt.

Thiem had been hoping to sustain momentum after his run to the French Open semi-finals earlier this month but the Austrians first serve let him down and he paid the price.

It was not the best start Ive had. The first set was pretty average, Thiem said.

I played good in the second set and had a lot of chances but he played those set points well and was playing well overall. I hope to get some matches next week (in Antalya) and then get ready for Wimbledon.

Haase will now go up against Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who breezed past Australias Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-3.
By Padraic Halpin

DUBLIN, June 20 (Reuters) - Ireland is set to net at least 3 billion euros ($3.34 billion) from its initial public offering of Allied Irish Banks (AIB) after the bookrunners said order books were covered in the upper half of a narrowed price range.

Dublin launched its long-awaited stock market listing of AIB in May and last week set a price range of between 3.90 euros and 4.90 euros, planning to raise 2.6 billion to 3.3 billion euros from the sale of a 25 percent stake.

Pricing was revised to 4.20 euros to 4.60 euros on Tuesday after books were subscribed multiple times within the initial range. The government will receive 3 billion to 3.1 billion euros if the stock prices in the upper half of the new range.

As the deal also includes a greenshoe or over-allotment option, the size of the IPO could rise to 28.75 percent if demand proves higher than expected following AIB's debut and boost the state's coffers by around another 450 million euros.

The government will use the funds to cut some 1.5 percent from a national debt that at 200 billion euros is still among the highest in the euro zone by most measures.

The float will also be one of Europe's largest bank listings since the 2008 financial crisis and is the biggest test yet of investor demand for a banking sector that required the euro zone's most expensive state rescue less than a decade ago.

One of Ireland's two dominant lenders, AIB needed a 21 billion euro taxpayer bailout to survive a spectacular property crash, the biggest bill for any Irish bank still trading.

But like Ireland's economy, which is growing faster than any other in Europe, the bank has recovered strongly, posting a profit for each of the last three years and becoming the first domestically owned lender to restart dividend since the crash.

Order books will close on Thursday with trading set to commence on Friday, the bookrunners said.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Davy Stockbrokers and Deutsche Bank are acting as global coordinators for the sale. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs GS.N, Goodbody Stockbrokers, JPMorgan and UBS are the bookrunners. ($1 = 0.8989 euros) (Reporting by Padraic Halpin. Editing by Jane Merriman and Susan Thomas)
ABIDJAN, June 20 (Reuters) - At least 42 people were killed on Tuesday in the Central African Republic town of Bria in fighting between rival armed factions, according to the town's mayor, a day after a peace deal was signed to end years of bloodshed.

"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 told Reuters. (Reporting by Crispin Dembassa-Kette; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Gareth Jones)
By Lanre Ola and Ahmed Kingimi

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria June 20 (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram militants killed two people and wounded six others in an ambush on a police convoy in northeast Nigeria's Borno state on Tuesday, a police spokesman said.

Borno has been the state worst hit by the eight-year insurgency by Boko Haram that has killed more than 20,000 people and forced some 2.7 million people to flee their homes in its bid to create an Islamic caliphate.

The raid was the latest in a spate of attacks in the state, birthplace of the insurgency, over the last two weeks. Suicide bombings killed 12 people on Monday and 14 people died in an attack on state capital Maiduguri on June 7.

Borno state police spokesman Damian Chukwu said vehicles including a police patrol convoy and a funeral procession were ambushed on a road around 30 kilometres from Maiduguri. Two people were killed - a policeman and a commercial driver.

Boko Haram has been pushed out of most of the territory that it controlled in early 2015 - a swathe of land around the size of Belgium - by Nigeria's army and troops from neighbouring countries.

But insurgents continue to carry out suicide bombings and raids in northeast Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger.

(Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram;editing by Ralph Boulton)
June 20 (Reuters) - Lawmakers in British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative party believe they can stop Britain leaving the European Union without a deal if such a situation should arise, news media reported on Tuesday.

The economic impact of a "cliff-edge" Brexit, alongside the failure of the Conservatives to win a majority in the general election, should lead to a rethink of the position that "no deal is better than a bad deal", Sky News reported, citing at least 30 Conservative lawmakers.

Sky quoted a former minister saying "no deal is now dead", and anticipating a transition phase of five to 10 years inside the European Economic Area.

May is eight seats short of a majority in Britain's parliament amid increasingly evident cracks in her own party just as crucial Brexit negotiations get under way.

She sets out her policy plans in parliament on Wednesday without an arrangement giving her government enough support to pass legislation. She needs the support of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is expected to use its 10 votes to back her in exchange for a series of agreements.

The BBC also said some senior Conservatives believe they can stop the government leaving the EU without a deal.

"If such a scenario is looming, they would have the numbers to pass an amendment to the EU repeal bill ... cancelling (it)," the BBC's political editor Nicholas Watt said, citing senior Conservatives.

Some business leaders fear that May's insistence that "no deal is better than a bad deal" will cost them business in the European Union, and finance minister Philip Hammond has now re-emerged as big business' leading proponent. (Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary in Edinburgh and Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru)
MANILA, June 21 (Reuters) - A hostage drama that unfolded at a primary school in the southern Philippines on Wednesday has been resolved, a military spokesman said, and the Islamist militants who had held people captive had withdrawn with no reports of casualties.

"It's already resolved," Brigadier General Restituto Padilla told reporters. "They've withdrawn, they are no longer there. The school area is again safe."

However, Padilla also said the military was investigating whether five civilians were still being held by the militants. He said no children had been taken hostage.

Earlier, a spokesman for the militant group said they had taken civilians to a safe place after a gunfight erupted with troops and did not intend to hold them. (Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
By Thin Lei Win

BANGKOK, June 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Wandee Khunchornyakong Juljarern was looking for loans to build a solar farm in 2009, bank after bank rejected her.

They cited her lack of experience in running commercial solar projects, even though she had spent years installing off-grid systems across Thailand. Her new project was a first for the country and too risky, they said.

Back then in her early 50s, they also told her she was too old.

"The more people say, 'You should not try it, you should not take a risk,' the more I want to do it," Wandee said in an interview. Her goal was to prove Thailand could use solar energy, so that "we can change the form of energy production, instead of relying on only conventional means".

Wandee had retired in 2006 after decades as an entrepreneur running multiple businesses. But when the Thai government announced permits for solar power plants that could feed into the grid, she became the first to secure them.

Financing was a major struggle, however. Finally, the tenth and last bank, Kasikornbank, whose president was an engineer, showed interest.

She needed $20 million, but the bank would only fund 60 percent. So Wandee decided to sell some land and the house she had been building.

"My mum said, 'Do what pleases you.' My husband said, 'Let me think for three days'," she recalled. Her response was that she would sell it anyway, she said, roaring with laughter.

Her first solar farm opened in April 2010 in Korat, in Thailand's sunny northeast.

Thanks to her efforts to unlock private financing of about $800 million, by 2014, Wandee's Solar Power Company Group (SPCG) had 36 solar photovoltaic plants with a capacity of 250 megawatts, nearly a fifth of the country's solar production that year.

SPCG is now one of Thailand's largest solar firms. Between 2013 and 2016, its revenues more than doubled and its profits more than quadrupled.

As chairman and CEO of the listed company, Wandee has been recognised by the United Nations for her commitment to clean energy, and in 2015 Forbes dubbed her one of Asia's most powerful women.

"We are helping the world by reducing CO2 (emissions) by almost 200,000 tonnes equivalent per year," said Wandee. This amounts to taking more than 40,000 cars off the road, according to the World Bank.

GREEN AND CHEAP

The company is expanding into solar roof systems and plans to invest in other Southeast Asian countries. It is also looking at Japan, having received financial support from Japanese electronics firm Kyocera during its infancy.

Solar is the future for the region, Wandee said, with Thailand leading the charge.

The Thai government's 2015-2036 Power Development Plan aims to increase solar energy production to 6,000 megawatts, and boost the share of renewable energy from 12 percent to 30 percent of final energy consumption.

Wandee is particularly keen to venture into Myanmar, where millions of people lack access to electricity, but says it is difficult without a concrete national policy on renewable energy.

Worldwide, solar power costs have fallen by 90 percent and wind by half since 2009, removing the need to choose between green or cheap, say experts.

Yet many Southeast Asian nations are still looking to build more coal-fired plants. Thailand has put on hold an 800-megawatt coal plant planned in a region known for its pristine beaches following protests, but the power sector here is dominated by fossil fuels.

According to the United Nations, Thailand's greenhouse gas emissions grew by almost 70 percent between 2000 and 2010, although it now has a target to cut them 20 percent from business-as-usual levels by 2030.

For Wandee, time is of the essence - and solar farms are both quick to set up, taking months rather than years, and clean.

"We are talking about saving our next generation and the future of the planet. Nothing can compare," she said.

LISTEN UP

After SPCG opened its first solar farm, Wandee was told to wait six months to see how it went before starting a second project.

Back then, she had an office of 25 square metres (269 square ft).

"I would call Korat almost every hour asking, 'What's happening? You have enough sun? How many kilowatt hours?'" she said, chuckling in the modern building now housing the company in a fashionable part of Bangkok, with soothing green walls and images of a lush forest on the glass doors and walls.

Luckily, the project outperformed expectations and within three months, she was looking for more investors.

The International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private-sector arm, and the multilateral Clean Technology Fund gave early backing.

Wandee, who still lives in her old house, wants to continue blazing a trail even though she is nearing 60.

She used to get nervous when talking in public, asking herself what people wanted to know. Now she just focuses on what she's got to say.

"Women... have to have confidence in (themselves)," she said. (Reporting by Thin Lei Win, Editing by Megan Rowling; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens rights, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org/climate)
DHAKA, June 21 (Reuters) - Bangladesh's state grains buyer on Wednesday issued its fourth international tender since May, looking to import 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice as it grapples with depleted stocks and record local prices.

The deadline for offers is July 9, with the rice to be shipped within 40 days of signing any deal, a senior official at the country's state grains buyer said, declining to be identified.

The step comes as the government is set to slash tax on rice imports after flash floods hit local output, plunging state reserves to 10-year lows.

Growing demand from Bangladesh will help stoke Asian prices that have already hit multi-year highs in recent months.

Separately, Ataur Rahman, additional secretary at the food ministry, told Reuters last week, that the country would import 200,000 tonnes of white rice at $430 a tonne and 50,000 tonnes of parboiled rice at $470 a tonne from Vietnam in a government-to-government deal.

Those rates are sharply higher than what it has been paying through previous tenders. Bangladesh is buying 50,000 tonnes of white rice at $406.48 a tonne and 100,000 tonnes of parboiled rice at $427.85 and $445.11 a tonne through tenders.

The government is also in talks with Thailand and India to import rice to replenish reserves.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh's central bank has ordered banks to allow traders to import rice without any deposit against letters of credit. (Reporting by Ruma Paul)
SOFIA, June 21 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

-- Bulgarian state railways operator BDZ will receive 224 million levs from the state budget, which will help it cover almost half of its liabilities, after Brussels gave its nod for the state aid. BDZ also plans to buy new trains in September(Capital Daily, Monitor, Standart, Trud)

-- Russian nuclear company Rosatom said it will be interested to construct Belene nuclear power project in Bulgaria if the project kicks off. Bulgaria plans to slate Belene for privatisation and attract foreign investors for 2,000 megawatt nuclear power plant. (Capital Daily, Monitor, Sega, 24 Chasa, Trud)

CAPITAL DAILY - Bulgarian small and medium companies should be buying electricity at market prices by the end of 2018 and households by the end of 2021, the head of the energy regulator said. At present, the regulator sets the prices for households and small businesses.

-- Bulgarian President Rumen Radev invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Bulgaria next year for the 140th anniversary of Bulgaria's liberation from Ottoman rule. (Sega, Monitor, Capital Daily, Standart, Duma, 24 Chasa, Trud) ($1 = 1.7566 leva)
By Geert De Clercq

ESTORIL, Portugal, June 21 (Reuters) - State-owned Estonian utility Eesti Energia plans to list up to 49 percent of its Enefit Renewables unit early next year in an initial public offering (IPO) that could raise up to 500 million euros ($557.25 million), Chief Executive Hando Sutter said.

The IPO is planned for the first half of next year, with the timing to be detailed in August, he said.

The company is looking to raise "a few 100 million euros", probably less than half a billion euros, Sutter told Reuters on the sidelines of the Eurelectric utility conference.

The listing, which was agreed in the new Estonian government's coalition agreement in November, could make Enefit Renewables the biggest listed company on the Tallinn exchange and will be the biggest IPO in the Baltics in years.

Shipping group Tallink is the biggest company on the Baltic stock index with a market value of about 620 million euros.

"(Enefit Renewables) is a little bit too big for Tallinn, it might have made sense to list it somewhere else, but the government wanted to make the domestic stock exchange more active," Sutter said.

Eesti Energia is Estonia's main electricity retailer, with a market share of about 60 percent. It also has a 20 percent market share in Latvia and about 10 percent in Lithuania.

Sutter said the Estonian government had also considered listing the entire firm but decided to start with the renewables unit as that is where most of the company's capital spending will go.

Sutter said the lion's share of the IPO proceeds, some 180 million euros, would go towards the development of a new 140 megawatt (MW) wind park in Tootsi, southwest Estonia. A tender for the park's turbines, with probable capacity of 3 MW each, has been launched.

Eesti Energia also has other renewable energy projects, in wind and biomass.

The tiny Baltic country has total wind capacity of 300 MW, which accounts for about 8 percent of total power consumption.

About 85 percent of the country's electricity is generated from oil shale, which Eesti Energia mines and burns in its own power stations.

Eesti Energia - which operates abroad under the Enefit brand name - has also just acquired a gas and power licence in Poland, where it has set up an office and hired a team to launch power retailing.

Eesti Energia is one of the most digitalised utilities in Europe, with 95 percent of its 650,000 customers on paperless digital subscriptions.

Forty percent of the company's customers are on so-called dynamic tariffs linked directly to wholesale power prices and many have apps on their phone that allow them to take advantage of low prices to charge electric vehicles or heat up water boilers.

Sutter said the company wanted to boost its digital retail offering in neighbouring countries. ($1 = 0.8973 euros) (Additional reporting by David Mardiste in Tallinn and Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo; writing by Geert De Clercq; editing by Susan Thomas)
JAKARTA, June 21 (Reuters) - Members of an Indonesian Islamic sect have issued a complaint that their human rights were breached by a local government refusing to issue them state ID cards unless they renounce their belief, a rights group said on Wednesday.

The Ahmadiyah identify themselves as Muslims, but believe another prophet followed the Prophet Mohammed, who founded Islam. Many mainstream Muslims and hardline groups accuse the sect and other Muslim minorities of apostasy.

A mob of 1,000 people beat to death three Ahmadis in an unprovoked attack in a village in Banten province, west of Jakarta, in 2011 and activists say the group continues to face discrimination.

Indonesia's reputation for tolerance has come under renewed scrutiny since Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian, was sentenced last month to two years in prison for blasphemy in a trial that came after mass Islamist-led rallies and raised religious tensions to the highest in years.

Sixteen people from the village of Manislor in West Java, representing 1,400 members of the sect, told the ombudsman on Tuesday that their lives had been damaged by not having IDs for five years, said Syamsul Alam Agus, executive secretary of One Justice Foundation, a nonprofit organization.

Some were unable to register their marriages, Agus said, adding in one case an Ahmadi was refused treatment at a hospital because of a lack of ID.

According to Agus, in order to obtain ID documents, Ahmadis had to sign a form stating they were Muslims while reading the Shahada, an Islamic creed declaring belief in the oneness of God and Muhammad as God's prophet.

"Not giving an electronic ID card to Manislor's Ahmadiyah followers is not only a violation of human rights, but also breaking the law," Agus said.

Indonesia requires a person to state their religion on official ID cards.

The ombudsman felt there had been maladministration at the local Kuningan government where Manislor is located, but had not formally issued any recommendation, said Ahmad Su'adi, an ombudsman official, adding that "the state cannot force people" to denounce or join a religion.

The Kuningan government could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, but in a June 2016 post on its website, the head of the Kuningan regency, Acep Purnama, defended its refusal to hand out identity documents to followers of Ahmadiyah and an animist belief, Sunda Wiwitan.

"We are not discriminating or being intolerant... But this is an issue of principle that has to be resolved together and must be accepted by all Kuningan people. This isn't about majority or minority," he was quoted as saying.

Earlier this month, the government of Depok city near Jakarta sealed off a mosque frequently used by Ahmadis during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, according to media reports.

Muslims make up nearly 90 percent of Indonesia's 250 million people but there are sizeable communities of Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and people who adhere to traditional beliefs. (Reporting by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Ed Davies and Nick Macfie)
By Mahmoud Mourad

CAIRO, June 21 (Reuters) - Egypt's top court has temporarily halted all verdicts on a contested deal to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia until it decides who has jurisdiction, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

Egypt's parliament last week backed plans for the uninhabited islands under an accord that attracted widespread public criticism. But the deal has been caught in a dispute over which institution has the final say after Egypt's highest administrative court rejected it last year.

A separate court suspended the Supreme Administrative Court's verdict. The agreement now sees two courts and parliament in a battle over jurisdiction.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government last year announced a maritime demarcation agreement that cedes control of Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia, an ally which has given billions of dollars of aid to Egypt.

Supreme Constitutional Court spokesman Ragab Saleem said: "The Constitutional Court, in cases of contradictory judgments, looks at who has jurisdiction.

"It might see one side has jurisdiction, or that neither side has. It might be under the jurisdiction of another entity."

He said the court was not examining whether the deal was constitutional and did not give a timeframe for a decision. State media earlier reported the ruling was made to allow time to decide on the constitutionality of the islands deal.

Wednesday's decision only applies to the two courts involved, not to parliament, which has approved the deal.

The Egyptian and Saudi governments say the islands are Saudi but have been subject to Egyptian protection since 1950.

But the plan caused street protests last year from many Egyptians who say their sovereignty over the islands dates back to a treaty from before Saudi Arabia was founded.

Parliamentary leaders and government lawyers say the House of Representatives is the only entity allowed to rule on matters of sovereignty. But in June last year the country's highest administrative court ruled Egypt's sovereignty must stand.

The Red Sea deal has become politically sensitive for Sisi's government. Saudi Arabia helped Sisi with aid since he toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.

But Egyptians are eager for economic revival after years of political upheaval and after a devaluation of the Egyptian pound, tax rises and subsidy cuts introduced by Sisi's government that have put pressure on their living costs.

The islands issue touched national pride, prompting thousands of protesters to take to the streets in April chanting "people want the fall of the regime", a slogan little heard since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011. (Reporting by Mahmoud Mourad; Additional reporting by Ahmed Tolba; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
By Karolin Schaps

LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - Centrica expects annual revenue of around 2 billion pounds ($2.54 billion) by 2022 as Britain's biggest energy supplier takes aim at the growing home services market and flexible energy management.

Centrica, parent firm of British Gas, sees zero growth potential from traditional energy supply and power generation into the middle of the next decade.

Instead, it wants to expand in home services, which includes selling tools to detect boiler breakdowns and the Hive smart thermostat.

It also is looking to grow in distributed energy production that offers faster ways of generating electricity and helps businesses better manage their energy needs.

Centrica said it expects its Connected Home and Distributed Energy & Power units to break even by 2019 and for revenue by 2022 to increase ten-fold from just 200 million pounds last year.

"We must turn ourselves into a 21st century energy and services company," Chief Executive Iain Conn told analysts on Wednesday.

As part of this move, Centrica on Wednesday announced the sale of its two biggest gas-fired power plants to Czech peer EPH for 318 million pounds ($401 million).

Centrica's Langage and South Humber power plants, which jointly employ around 130 people, have an installed capacity of 2.3 gigawatts (GW).

Centrica's shares were up 2.9 percent at 1119 GMT, making it the second-biggest gainer on London's FTSE 100 bluechip index.

Two weeks ago it sold its Canadian oil and gas assets and on Tuesday Centrica also announced the closure of its Rough gas storage site, Britain's largest.

In total, Centrica has raised over 900 million pounds from divestments of traditional assets, in line with a 2015 target to divest up to 1 billion pounds worth of assets.

Centrica's diversification reflects low power prices, rising renewables and other factors which have also forced European peers to adopt new business models.

Germany's RWE and E.ON have each split off their retail, networks and renewables businesses.

($1 = 0.7880 pounds) (Editing by David Goodman and Jason Neely)
ZAGREB, June 21 (Reuters) - Indebted Croatian food producer and retailer Agrokor plans to reduce the number of shops run by its retail chain Konzum and lay off workers, a senior manager said on Wednesday.

"We plan to close down at between 80 and 100 shops and to cut some jobs. We must be profitable," Konzum's Chief Executive Slavko Ledic said during a visit to a newly opened store on the Adriatic island of Brac.

He did not specify the number of jobs that would be cut, but said some staff would be transferred to work at other locations.

Agrokor, the biggest employer in the Balkans with about 60,000 staff, was put under state management in April after it built up debts that amounted to at least 40.4 billion kuna ($6 billion) during a rapid expansion in the region.

Konzum currently runs around 700 stores across Croatia. Its revenues fell almost 11 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2017.

"I think the worst is behind us. Now we must do everything to improve (Konzum's) results and profitability which we will have in focus in the rest of the year," Agrokor's government-appointed crisis manager Ante Ramljak said. He added Konzum would also work on opening new stores.

According to the crisis management team, a restructuring plan could be ready later this year which may include a sale or a change in ownership of profitable group companies, pending a deal with creditors.

The creditors include Agrokor's bondholders, suppliers and banks, with the latter including several Croatian banks and the two biggest Russian banks, Sberbank and VTB

Last month, Agrokor secured a 480 million euro ($535 million) loan, giving a boost to Ramljak's efforts to stabilise Agrokor and its businesses.

($1 = 6.6535 kuna)

($1 = 0.8977 euros) (Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by Mark Potter)
By Andy Home

LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - The great tin wall of China is about to come crashing down.

The country is both the world's largest producer and consumer of the packaging and soldering metal.

But its interaction with the rest of the global tin market has in the past been severely constrained by a 10 percent export duty.

Before that tax came into effect at the start of 2008, China had been a net exporter of refined tin. In the period after, it became a net importer, albeit one with steadily diminishing appetite.

The export tax disappeared at the beginning of this year. Don't worry if you didn't notice. Even China's producers didn't see the change coming.

Now they are starting to react, with Yunnan Tin, China's and the world's largest producer, gearing up to start overseas shipments.

A resumption of Chinese exports will be welcome news to short-position holders on the London Metal Exchange (LME) tin contract, which has for months been starved of stocks liquidity and gripped by persistent tightness.

But might the return of China to the global tin stage herald a more profound shift in how this metal is priced?

Graphic on China's refined tin trade 2004-2017:

http://tmsnrt.rs/2rUu5mv

DELAYED REACTION

There has been no discernible reaction to the lifting of the export tax at the start of this year.

China's exports of refined tin were a miniscule 232 tonnes over the January-April period.

That's because there was no consultation or advance warning from China's Commerce Ministry.

The only clue that something had changed was the omission of refined tin from the annual list of commodities qualifying for an export tax.

The resounding official silence may be down to the fact that this looks like a preemptive move to avert a potentially embarrassing World Trade Organization complaints process set in motion by the United States last year.

It's taken local producers several months to confirm that the tax is indeed no more.

And now one, Yunnan Tin, is capitalising on its removal by preparing to export tin under a so-called "processing" deal.

What this means is that the company can import raw materials without paying value-added tax as long as they are used to produce metal for export, which of course is now also tax-free.

Yunnan Tin, it is worth noting, is by some margin the world's largest producer with refined output last year of 76,000 tonnes, more than the next three largest producers combined.

It is also a major importer of raw materials from across the border in Myanmar. Such imports totalled 473,000 tonnes last year. That's a bulk weight figure. Industry association ITRI estimates it translates into 50,000 tonnes of contained tin.

RELIEF FOR LONDON MARKET...?

Yunnan Tin's "YT" brand is one of six Chinese producer brands deliverable against the LME's tin contract.

Which desperately needs some fresh stocks liquidity.

LME inventory stands at just 1,730 tonnes, or an even more marginal 1,480 tonnes if metal that has been earmarked for physical load-out is excluded.

Unsurprisingly, the front part of the curve is tight, with cash metal commanding a premium of $120 per tonne over three-month metal as of Tuesday's close.

This backwardated structure has been a near constant in the London tin market for over two years. But that's because stocks have been so low over the same period.

Rebuilds have been relatively small and short-lived and the London market gives every appearance of having to generate a cash premium just to keep any stocks liquidity at all.

Compare and contrast with the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), which had 4,440 tonnes of tin in its warehouse system at the end of last week.

That's probably symptomatic of broader availability in mainland China, ITRI suggesting there was "some stock" built up in the first quarter of this year.

The association's takeaway is that a renewed flow of metal from China to the rest of the world will cut the current VAT-based price differential between the two markets and, in time, lead to "a rebalancing of pricing, with LME prices falling and China prices rising".

Graphic on LME stocks and spreads: http://tmsnrt.rs/2sSZHxK

...OR A THREAT?

The breaching of the great tin wall of China should have some short-term positives for the London market in terms of stocks liquidity and a consequent dissipation of the tightness that has become almost hard-wired into the LME contract.

But does it also pose a longer-term threat?

The LME tin contract has seen trading activity shrink dramatically over the last couple of years from over 2 million lots in both 2013 and 2014 to 1.4 million last year.

The trend shows no sign of abating, with volumes sliding another 16 percent over the first five months of 2017.

Even within the context of the broader decline in LME activity, tin is something of a stand-out.

The London market is largely being kept alive because just enough players still want to use it as a pricing benchmark.

The obvious alternative would be the ShFE but there is still sufficient wariness about what drives Shanghai pricing to prevent any collective switch.

The ShFE tin contract, launched in 2015, has largely escaped the attention of the flash investment crowds that have roiled other mainland commodity markets.

But the ratio of open interest to volume is still low, averaging under 4 percent in January-April, which suggests a significant element of speculative day-trading.

The ratio on the LME contract, by contrast, averaged 17.5 percent over the same period, implying larger positions being held for longer, indicative of more "trade" hedging presence.

The LME's price-reference franchise looks fragile but OK.

For now at least.

But as the market adjusts to the reality of Chinese exports, it will also become ever more Asia-centric.

There is only one European producer brand listed as LME good delivery; that of Belgium's Metallo Chimique. And right now there are no live LME tin stocks outside of Asian locations. The 120 tonnes at Rotterdam have been cancelled prior to drawdown.

London tin, in other words, looks ripe for a serious challenge from another exchange, particularly an Asian one.

The resumption of Chinese tin exports after a near-decade hiatus may herald more than a simple readjustment of London-Shanghai pricing. It threatens a much more profound reconfiguration of global pricing.

(Editing by Dale Hudson)
By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, June 21 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday unanimously backed a West African force to combat militant groups as well as arms, drug and human trafficking in the Sahel region after diplomats said France softened the resolution's language to secure the support of the United States.

The vast, arid region has in recent years become a breeding ground for jihadist groups - some linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State - that European countries, particularly France, fear could threaten Europe if left unchecked.

Last year, the nations of the Sahel - Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania - proposed establishing specially-trained units of around 100 soldiers each, which would be deployed in areas where jihadist groups are known to operate.

"We cannot let the Sahel become a new refuge for terrorist organizations of the whole world. In the Sahel, all of our security is at stake, not just the security of the ... five states," said French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre.

The United States, however, did not believe a resolution was warranted and did not want the world body to help fund the force, diplomats said. The United States is one of council's five veto powers, along with France, Britain, Russia and China.

The first draft resolution authorized the force to "use all necessary means" to carry out its operations, but following council negotiations, the language was revised to "welcome the deployment."

The resolution also encourages countries to provide support. The European Union has already committed $56 million to the Sahel force.

The United States is trying to cut the cost of U.N. peacekeeping and is reviewing each of the 16 missions as they come up for Security Council renewal. Washington is the largest contributor, paying 28.5 percent of the $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget.

Special units proposed by the five Sahel nations would complement the efforts of regular armed forces, a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali and France's "Operation Barkhane," which has deployed around 4,000 troops across the region.

France first intervened in early 2013 to drive out militants who had seized northern Mali a year earlier. But militants continue to attack in Mali and its neighbors. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols, editing by G Crosse)
By Krisztina Than

KECSKEMET, Hungary, June 21 (Reuters) - People-smugglers ignored the cries of 71 migrants as they suffocated in the back of a truck, then dumped it, crammed with corpses, at the side of an Austrian motorway, a murder trial heard on Wednesday.

Four men are charged with the killings of the 71 men, women and children at the height of Europe's migrant crisis in 2015. They and seven others are also charged with the smuggling of hundreds of people across Europe.

The one Afghan and three Bulgarians facing murder charges were led into the Hungarian courtroom in handcuffs by armed police wearing face masks on the opening day of their trial.

The bearded Afghan man, named as Lahoo Samsooryamal and described as leader of the smuggling gang, smiled at the media as he entered. He carried a folder in his hands bearing the words "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great).

The bodies of the 59 men, eight women and four children, from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, were found inside the abandoned truck on August 26, 2015.

"The 71 victims, due to the small space, inability to move, a lack of air and overheating ... died shortly after they set off on the journey," the Kecskemet court said in a statement posted on its website before the hearing.

"Before their deaths they continuously banged on the sides of the lorry and shouted."

The deaths shocked Europe as it struggled to cope with the massive influx of migrants. It was the worst incident of its kind on the route across the Balkans taken by hundreds of thousands fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Prosecutor Gabor Schmidt spoke for five hours in court on Wednesday, listing 26 counts of people-smuggling, with the journey in which the 71 died as one of the last cases.

He said that as the migrant crisis peaked in 2015, the defendants stepped up their operation to maximise profits, taking up to 100 people a day from Hungary to Austria or Germany, mostly along the M1 motorway connecting Budapest with Vienna.

Before the August incident, the defendants had carried many migrants in similar conditions, causing "significant physical and mental suffering", the prosecutor said.

CRIES CEASED

Schmidt said the Afghan defendant had promised to pay 3,500 euros to one of the Bulgarian defendants to drive the Volvo freezer truck from the Serbian-Hungarian border to Germany.

The 71 migrants were carried in the back of the unventilated vehicle, whose doors could not be opened from inside. The three others in the smuggling gang followed the truck in cars, and were in phone contact during the journey.

The migrants started banging on the sides of the vehicle and shouting 30-40 minutes after departure.

Schmidt said the driver of the truck repeatedly told his Afghan boss about the cries for help, but was told not to stop to open the doors. He obeyed.

"The defendants were aware that the people inside the Volvo were shouting and banging ... because they could not breathe," the prosecutor told the court.

"And they were also aware that there were children inside."

The migrants tried to remove rubber insulation and smash holes in the side of the vehicle.

The prosecutor said the Afghan had told one of the other defendants by phone that "he wanted the victims to die" and that if they did, the bodies should be dumped later.

The gang stopped twice to check the engine's coolant water and refuel, but did not open the doors.

At one stop, no more shouting could be heard. The convoy drove across to Austria and abandoned the vehicle near Parndorf.

"They were aware that the victims locked up inside the lorry would suffocate unless let out," the prosecutor said.

"All victims ... died within three hours, at the latest, after the start of the journey."

The four defendants are also charged with smuggling other migrants over several months.

Seven other men are charged only with smuggling. Only six of the seven, who are all Bulgarians, appeared in court in the Hungarian city of Kecskemet. Authorities said one was still on the run.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens and Andrew Roche)
By Nate Raymond

June 21 (Reuters) - Missouri on Wednesday became the third U.S. state to accuse major drug manufacturers of fraudulently misrepresenting the risks of opioid painkillers now at the center of a national addiction epidemic.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said his office filed a lawsuit in a state court in St. Louis against Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson and units of Endo International Plc.

Hawley said the three companies knew their opioid products were addictive and potentially life-threatening, but "engaged in a deliberate campaign of fraud to convince Missouri doctors and consumers otherwise."

"They used bogus front organizations and fake research; they used fraudulent advertising and deceptive trade practices," Hawley said in remarks prepared for a news conference. "And they repeatedly lied about the true risks of the drugs they sold."

Hawley said the lawsuit accuses the companies of violating Missouri's consumer protection laws and its Medicaid statutes and seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and civil penalties.

The case made Missouri the third state to sue drug manufacturers over their opioid marketing and sales practices. Last week a bipartisan group of state attorneys general announced an investigation.

Purdue, J&J and Endo were previously sued in similar lawsuits by the Ohio and Mississippi attorneys general, who also targeted Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Allergan Plc.

Opioids, including prescription painkillers and heroin, killed more than 33,000 people in the United States in 2015, more than any year on record, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

J&J's Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit said in a statement it acted appropriately and responsibly, adding that its opioid pain medications were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and carry mandated warnings about their known risks.

Purdue, which manufactures OxyContin, said it denied the allegations but shared Hawley's concerns about the opioid crisis and was "committed to working collaboratively to find solutions."

Endo declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said its "top priorities include patient safety and ensuring that patients with chronic pain have access to safe and effective therapeutic options."

The FDA this month asked Endo to withdraw its long-lasting opioid painkiller Opana ER from the market.

Beyond the states' cases, similar lawsuits have been filed by local governments, including two California counties; the cities of Chicago and Dayton, Ohio; three Tennessee district attorneys; and nine New York counties. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Tom Brown)
FRANKFURT, June 21 (Reuters) - Germany's parliament on Wednesday approved the planned withdrawal of troops from the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey after Ankara's refusal to allow German lawmakers access to its soldiers there.

Turkey has refused to allow German lawmakers to make what they see as a routine visit to the base, saying that Berlin needs to improve its attitude towards Turkey first.

Turkey was infuriated when Germany, citing security concerns, banned some Turkish politicians from campaigning on its soil, where many Turks live. Ankara responded by accusing Berlin of "Nazi-like" tactics and reigniting a dispute over Incirlik.

"The German Bundestag (parliament) regrets very much that conditions for the continued stationing of the Bundeswehr in Incirlik are not met," the Bundestag said in a document that laid out its decision.

It said a transfer of the 280 German troops from Incirlik to an air base in Jordan should go ahead swiftly.

The Bundestag said on Wednesday its members must have access to troops stationed abroad to fulfil its constitutional duties.

German armed forces are subordinated to parliament, not the government, meaning lawmakers have oversight of the troops. Wednesday's approval followed an earlier government decision that troops must move.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, running for a fourth term in the September election, stressed earlier this month that Germany and Turkey have mutual interests and must keep talking even after the withdrawal.

Critics accuse Merkel of cosying up to President Tayyip Erdogan to secure his help in stemming the flow of migrants to western Europe.

Relations between the NATO allies have soured significantly in the past year.

Turkey reacted angrily to German and European criticism of a domestic security crackdown after a failed coup attempt last July. Berlin is also demanding the release of a German-Turkish journalist in jail in Istanbul on charges of propaganda in support of a terrorist organisation and inciting violence. (Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi Arabia's new crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on Wednesday, congratulating him on his elevation and discussing security and economic issues, the White House said.

"The two leaders discussed the priority of cutting off all support for terrorists and extremists, as well as how to resolve the ongoing dispute with Qatar. They discussed efforts to achieve a lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians," the White House said in a statement after the call. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Marius Bosch and Maher Chmaytelli

MOSUL/ERBIL, Iraq, June 21 (Reuters) - Islamic State militants on Wednesday blew up the Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its famous leaning minaret, Iraq's military said in a statement, as Iraqi forces seeking to expel the group from the city closed in on the site.

It was from this medieval mosque three years ago that the militants' leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled "caliphate" spanning parts of Syria and Iraq.

''Blowing up the al-Hadba minaret and the al-Nuri mosque amounts to an official acknowledgement of defeat,'' Iraqi Prime Minister said in a brief comment on his website.

The Iraqis called the 150-foot (45-metre) leaning minaret Al-Hadba, or "the hunchback." Baghdadi's black flag had flown over it since June 2014.

Islamic State's Amaq news agency accused American aircraft of destroying the mosque, a claim swiftly denied by the U.S.-led coalition fighting the militant group.

"We did not strike in that area," coalition spokesman U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian told Reuters by telephone.

"The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS," U.S. Army Major General Joseph Martin, commander of the coalition's ground component, said in a statement, using an acronym for Islamic State.

The media office for Iraq's military distributed a picture taken from the air that appeared to show the mosque and minaret largely flattened and reduced to rubble among the small houses of the Old City, the historic district where the militants are under siege.

A video seen on social media showed the minaret collapsing vertically in a belch of sand and dust, as a woman lamented in the background, "The minaret, the minaret, the minaret."

The mosque was destroyed as Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) units, which have been battling their way through Mosul's Old City, got within 50 meters (164 feet) of it, according to an Iraqi military statement.

An Iraqi military spokesman gave the timing of the explosion as 9:35 p.m (1835 GMT).

"This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, and is an example of why this brutal organization must be annihilated," said U.S. Major General Martin.

Iraqi forces said earlier on Wednesday that they had started a push toward the mosque.

''This will not prevent us from removing them, no, killing them not removing them, inside the Old City,'' Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior CTS commander in Mosul, said in a video posted over a messaging app.

The forces on Tuesday had encircled the jihadist group's stronghold in the Old City, the last district under Islamic State control in Mosul.

Baghdadi proclaimed himself "caliph," or ruler of all Muslims, from the mosque's pulpit on July 4, 2014, after the insurgents overran vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi's speech from the mosque was the first time he revealed himself to the world, and the footage broadcast then is to this day the only video recording of him as "caliph."

MINARET WAS VULNERABLE

Iraqi officials had privately expressed hope that the mosque could be retaken in time for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. The first day of the Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.

"The battle for the liberation of Mosul is not yet complete, and we remain focused on supporting the Iraqi Security Forces with that objective in mind," said Martin.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate," even though Islamic State would still control territory west and south of the city, the largest over which they held sway in both Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding in the border area between Iraq and Syria, according to U.S. and Iraqi military sources.

The mosque was named after Nuruddin al-Zanki, a noble who fought the early crusaders from a fiefdom that covered territory in modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq. It was built in 1172-73, shortly before his death, and housed an Islamic school.

By the time renowned medieval traveler and scholar Ibn Battuta visited two centuries later, the minaret was leaning. The tilt gave the landmark its popular name: the hunchback.

It was built with seven bands of decorative brickwork in complex geometric patterns also found in Persia and Central Asia.

Nabeel Nouriddin, a historian and archaeologist specialising in Mosul and its Nineveh region, said the minaret had not been renovated since 1970, making it particularly vulnerable to blasts even if it was not directly hit.

The Mosque's destruction occurred during the holiest period of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, its final 10 days. The night of Laylat al-Qadr falls during this period, marking when Muslims believe the Quran was revealed to prophet Mohammed. Islamic State fighters have destroyed many Muslim religious sites, churches and shrines, as well as ancient Assyrian and Roman-era sites in Iraq and in Syria. The group posted videos online in 2015 showing the destruction of artifacts in the Mosul museum, some of which dated from the 7th century BC. It is also suspected of selling artifacts. (additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Phil Stewart in Washington; writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Toni Reinhold)
DOHA, June 21 (Reuters) - Qatar's ruler, whose country is facing a boycott by some of its neighbours over allegations of supporting terrorism, has congratulated Mohammed bin Salman on his appointment as crown prince of Saudi Arabia, the state news agency QNA said.

QNA said the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, sent a cable to Prince Mohammed "wishing him success ... for the good of the kingdom under the wise leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques ... and for more progress for brotherly relations between the two brotherly countries". (Reporting by Tom Finn; writing by Sami Aboudi; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

British forest pumped full of CO2 to test tree absorption

Researchers at a British University have embarked on a decade-long experiment that will pump a forest full of carbon dioxide to measure how it copes with rising levels of the gas - a key driver of climate change. The Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment at the University of Birmingham's Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) will expose a fenced-off section of mature woodland - in Norbury Park in Staffordshire, West Midlands - to levels of CO2 that experts predict will be prevalent in 2050.

Two-month countdown begins to total solar eclipse across U.S.

Two months before the first total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States in a century, NASA on Wednesday is expected to detail its plans to study and promote a celestial show that will darken skies from Oregon to South Carolina. During the Aug. 21 eclipse, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth, blocking the face of the sun and leaving only its outer atmosphere, or corona, visible in the sky.

Scientists rescue samples of melting Bolivian glacier for posterity

A team of international scientists are transporting samples of ice from a melting glacier in Bolivia to Antarctica, for study and preservation before the glacier disappears. The international "Ice Memory" expedition of 15 scientists took samples from the glacier on Illimani Mountain in the Andes and will store them in Antarctica at the French-Italian base of Concordia.
By Lisandra Paraguassu and Cesar Raizer

BRASILIA, June 21 (Reuters) - A Brazilian judge has blocked JBS SA's planned sale of a South American unit while the attorney general's office urged the company's assets be frozen, in signs of fallout from a corruption probe involving the controlling shareholders of the world's No. 1 meatpacker.

Federal Judge Ricardo Leite blocked JBS's $300 million sale of the unit to rival Minerva SA, citing a corruption scandal ensnaring JBS's controlling Batista family, court documents seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday.

In a separate decision, the attorney general's office urged state auditors to freeze assets of JBS and the Batistas, who own 42 percent of JBS. The move guarantees that funds reimbursing state lender BNDES for faulty dealings with JBS will be preserved, the attorney general's office said in a statement.

Common shares in JBS surged 4.3 percent, while those of Minerva reversed early gains on the judge's decision. Minerva's stock shed 2.7 percent to 11.52 reais as of 4:20 p.m. local time (1920 GMT).

Leite, the judge, sits on the court that will review a leniency deal the Batistas reached with prosecutors, and his decision highlights the legal risks for the meatpacker and its founding family.

Last month, Prosecutor-General Rodigo Janot reached a plea agreement with billionaire brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista to avoid prosecution if they turned in 1,893 politicians involved in a bribery scheme. A separate leniency deal between the Batistas and federal prosecutors was signed on May 31, requiring the family to pay a 10.3 billion reais ($3.1 billion)fine over 25 years.

The terms of the plea agreement have drawn intense scrutiny after the Batistas alleged that President Michel Temer took part in a bribery scheme, threatening to topple the president and sink his reform agenda. Leite said in his ruling that the deal to sell JBS beef plants in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay could harm the corruption investigation. (Writing by Marcelo Teixeira, Brad Haynes and Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Cynthia Osterman)
By Alisa Tang

PHNOM PENH, June 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Cambodian activists fighting plans to transform Phnom Penh's largest lake into a luxury development made a tactical decision when they took to the streets - put women on the frontline to show a "gentle" face and prevent violence.

But it was wishful thinking.

The women of Boeung Kak Lake, once home to a thriving community, have been kicked, manhandled, threatened and jailed, one of many land battles globally where women are bearing the brunt of the crackdown on protesters.

"We are mostly women because we are more gentle so we face less violence. This is our strategy," said Im Srey Touch, a 42-year-old activist from Boeung Kak Lake.

"If we let men participate in our protests, we let them stand behind us or outside, and we stand in the front to reduce the likelihood of violence."

In fact, as the number of people killed in land conflicts around the world soars, more than half of the dead have been women, rights watchdogs say.

In Phnom Penh the conflict began in 2007 when nearly 4,000 families were stripped of their housing rights after the Cambodian government leased the Boeung Kak Lake area in the nation's capital to make way for an upmarket mini city.

Since then, the lake has been filled with sand and most of the 4,000 families evicted - with little to no compensation - amid complaints about the social and environmental impact.

Over the years, more than a dozen activists protesting against the evictions have been arrested, most of them women through whom land is passed down in many parts of Cambodia.

In February, a court sentenced Tep Vanny, the most high-profile lake activist, to two and a half years in jail for inciting violence and assaulting security guards.

WHOSE COURTS?

Rights observers say the government is using the courts and jails to muzzle activists, including those defending their land rights against government officials and their business cronies.

"It is a signal to civil society that 'We can come after you whenever we want. The courts are ours. We can make anything we say about you stick,'" said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Asia for New York-based nonprofit Human Rights Watch.

The government of Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) rejects such criticism and says it respects due process.

"The court makes decisions based on the constitution and, like every open society, the court provides justice to everyone no matter who they are," said government spokesman Phay Siphan.

Amnesty International has criticised the Cambodian government for "bending the law to their will" to crack down on dissent. It said 42 criminal cases have been brought against the Boeung Kak Lake activists since 2011.

"Nobody believes Tep Vanny was assaulting these security guards," said Robertson, who accused the judges of being "stooges" of the CPP.

RECIPE FOR VIOLENCE

Home to 15 million people, impoverished Cambodia has a long history of disputes over land rights, many dating back to the 1970s when the communist Khmer Rouge regime destroyed property records, and all housing and land became state property.

Cambodia began to privatise land after 1989, when Hun Sen's CPP-led government shed its communist past and courted foreign investment, paving the way for economic land concessions.

"After privatisation, land prices started going up, and people were at risk of land grabbing by companies, the state and well-connected individuals," said Naly Pilorge, director of the nonprofit Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights (LICADHO).

LICADHO says the lack of a publicly available land register detailing boundaries means authorities could confiscate land, claiming that affected families were living on state property.

Between 2000 and 2014, about 770,000 Cambodians were affected by land conflicts, according to charges presented by lawyers at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

"Because Cambodia is lawless ... with close ties between companies, government, the military and police, it's a recipe for violence," Pilorge said by phone from Phnom Penh.

A BROKEN FAMILY

Despite the court cases and jail time, the Boeung Kak Lake women persist. They protest loudly and lie on the ground when ringed and roughed up by authorities. They are arrested in groups - sometimes just two, and, once, 13 of them.

Pilorge says authorities now appear to be trying a new tack, turning their energies onto Vanny on whom it is taking its toll.

During a brief recess before her guilty verdict on Feb. 23, the 37-year-old divorcee who was arrested last August described the impact of her detention on her son, 11, and daughter, 13.

"I lost my role as a mother. I have a broken family. My child is sick," she said, adding that she could not be there for her daughter's surgery to remove her appendix.

"During the last hearing, my daughter cried until she fainted ... I am a mother but I'm in prison. I can't take care of her."

Activists suspect authorities are using her in a bid to silence other activists ahead of local elections this month and next year's national vote.

A lake activist who was arrested with Vanny last year, Sophea Bov, was convicted for insulting authorities and fined $20. So far Bov has refused to pay the fine, Pilorge said, but no one has come for yet although the judge could imprison her.

"She was hoping that if she refused to pay the fine, she could go to prison to be with Vanny. Imagine where they are now, to think like that," Pilorge said.

"As human beings, we grow and we become stronger with challenges ... these women have been tested, and they've overcome a lot of obstacles." (Reporting by Alisa Tang @alisatang in Bangkok and Phnom Penh, additional reporting by Prak Chan Thul in Phnom Penh, editing by Lyndsay Griffiths and Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)
France has been closely following the developments taking place in the Sri Lankan ports, especially in Colombo because some french companies are also interested in making their presence here, French Ambassador Jean-Marin Schuh said yesterday.

He said this at a news briefing held on board the French helicopter carrier-Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) Mistral which called on the Colombo Port as part of the Jeanne d Arc mission of the French Navy.

When asked whether the French have any concerns over Chinese involvement in Sri Lankan ports, the Ambassador said his country was following the port developments in Hambantota and the East Terminal in Colombo.

He said France was always very careful, attentive and watchful as to the expressions of interest and the needs in terms of capabilities of the Sri Lankan forces. We are following quite closely about the needs of the Sri Lankan navy as well, the Ambassador said.

Referring to the challenges visible in the Indian Ocean, he said human smuggling, narcotics, piracy and terrorism were the challenges faced by the regional countries including Sri Lanka.

LHM Mistral's Commanding Officer Captain Stanislas de Chargeres said they would organise joint exercises with the Sri Lankan Navy, focusing on anti-piracy and anti-narcotics missions, using the Special Forces of the French Navy.

This was the first time a helicopter carrier of the French Navy had visited Sri Lanka and it was also the first time a military ship of the Jeanne d Arc mission did so. Frigate Courbet, the La Fayette-type ship also called on the Colombo Port accompanying the helicopter carrier.

Jeanne d Arc is an amphibious battle mission which is built around the LHD Mistral and Frigate Courbet.

The mission aims at enhancing the naval relations among the French Navy and the navies of the visiting countries, and it also gives a better understanding to the French Navy to intervene into a crisis situation on the command of the President of France.

Also, the operational deployment is a practical training course in real-life conditions for 137 French and foreign midshipmen graduating from the French Naval Academy.

The LHD Mistral and Frigate Courbet sailed from Toulon, France on February 28 this year commencing the Jeanne d Arc mission. It has so far visited Djibouti, India, China, Japan and Guam prior to calling on Colombo Port. The two ships will depart on July 26 for Djibouti again. (By Lahiru Pothmulla)
Government is planning to bring down bacteria which can successfully destroy dengue mosquitoes from Australia, Minister of Health Dr Rajirtha Senaratne told Parliament yesterday.

Referring to questions raised by the opposition MPs on usage of BTI bacteria as in the case of Cuba the minister said that country was successful not because of BTI alone. 'Cuban government applied rigid rules such as demolishing houses which were found to be dengue breeding grounds and we cannot implement such tough laws" he said.

The Minister said a new trace of Dengue which causes severe symptoms than usual have spread over to Sri Lanka There were only Dengue virus 1 or 4 in Sri Lanka earlier but a new trace have been found in the island lately," the minister said. He said it is this new trace that has caused much trouble.

He said patients are being treated in hospital clusters. Citing an example he said a cluster had been created by arranging special wards in IDH Mulleriyawa, Talanggama, and Vetara hospitals to treat the patients.

The minister accepted that there are instances where two patients occupy one bed. "Providing mosquito nets to hospital beds as patients have refused be under nets when they share beds" he said.

He said more than 700,000 breeding grounds have been found across the island and had been fumigated. (By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)
A group of 12 Blue party purohitas at deputy and state level in yahapalanaya have decided to meet for an extra-special powwow after June 22, they say.



The main purpose of this meeting is to take a collective decision on a course of action they should embark on after August this year.



Soon after the meeting, these deputies and state ones will call on Number One who happens to be their party leader as well.



Party stalwarts from Gampaha, Colombo, Ratnapura, Galle and upcountry districts are among the 12-member group.



Meanwhile, sources close to this group say that the decision expected to be taken by the 12-member group come August would be decisive for the future of the Blue party.
By Jayani Ratnayake

Ceylon Tea has come a long way since the first tea field was planted in Sri Lanka in 1867. This weeks TIPS column looks at the export performance of this mature export product during 2016, during the first four months of 2017 and the outlook for the near term.



2017 also marks the achievement of a significant milestone  the 150th anniversary of Ceylon Tea. So, it is indeed a good time for us to critically review the performance of the tea industry and make strategic decisions to make Ceylon Tea relevant in the global market for the future.



Auction prices on the rise, but volumes down

The average auction prices recorded a positive year-on-year (YoY) growth for the 12th consecutive month in April 2017. The sharp pick up in average auction prices recorded in September 2016 sustained its momentum, recording double-digit growth (YoY) in each subsequent month up to April 2017, driven by the low volume coming in to the auctions.



In terms of tea production, however, 2016 saw contraction for the third consecutive year, reaching a seven-year low of 292.6 million kilogrammes. The cumulative auction volumes recorded during the three months of February, March and April 2017 were the lowest levels recorded for the same period since 2012.



The upbeat auction prices have been largely driven by a supply-side slowdown, on account of the drop in field production due to the government policy banning the importation of certain weedicides and drought conditions during the last 4Q 2016 and early 2017.



Global tea demand and SL exports

Global tea demand has been subdued over the past three years with global tea imports contracting for a third consecutive year; the sharpest YoY decline of 16.6 percent was recorded in 2016. Sri Lankas tea exports amounted to US $ 1.27 billion in 2016, with the export value contracting by 5.3 percent on YoY terms, the second consecutive year of negative exports. Macroeconomic instabilities and structurally lower oil prices in key export markets were the main contributors to this trend.



The good news, however, is that tea export earnings have recovered lately. Cumulative export earnings during the first four months of 2017 have rebounded strongly recording the highest export value since 2012. Export price quoted in US dollars (FOB price per kg) reached US $ 5 during this period for the first time since the highly successful export year in 2014. This price hike has been driven by supply shortages in export quantities, which recorded negative YoY growth rates for seven consecutive months since October 2016 (refer Figure 1).



Export performance in key tea markets

It would be useful to highlight some trends and drivers in Sri Lankas key tea markets. The lifting of sanctions on Iran gave a much-needed boost to Sri Lankan tea exports in 2016, recording a YoY growth of 16.8 percent and an export value of US $ 154 million. This also resulted in Iran overtaking Russia as the top export destination for Sri Lankan tea.



Exports to the Middle Eastern region contracted by 8.2 percent on a YoY basis in 2016, a continuation of the negative growth of 16.6 percent recorded in 2015. Sharp YoY contraction in exports was recorded in export destinations such as Turkey (27.7 percent), the UAE (23.7 percent), Jordan (24.1 percent) and Kuwait (46.7 percent).



Meanwhile, exports to Syria recorded a positive YoY growth of 14.9 percent in 2016, after being in a negative growth territory since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2012. However, tea export earnings from Syria in 2016 were half of what they were in the pre-war period (US $ 125 million in 2011).



Exports to Russia contracted for the third convective year, in YoY terms. Sri Lankas share in Russian tea has been on a secular declining trend since it peaked at 50.9 percent in 2006. By last year, it had fallen to 29.3 percent, with India at a very close second of 26 percent.



The economic sanctions imposed on Russia in 2014 worsened the impact of this long-term decline. However, in 2016 Sri Lanka managed to secure its position as the number one exporter to Russia last year  an important gain in what is the worlds largest tea importing nation accounting for 9 percent of global tea demand.



According to EIU calculations, the decline in Russias import of Sri Lankan tea was 6.3 times more than the overall decline in total Russian tea imports (in 2015). Sri Lankas biggest competitors in the Russian market - India and Kenya - have steadily established their presence in the market over the years. India has made a strong comeback recording positive YoY export growth in both 2015 (19.7 percent) and 2016 (6.3 percent).



Commenting on Sri Lankas export performance in Russia, an industry expert stated that price is a crucial factor in the Russian economy, as buyers there are faced with difficult economic conditions. Consumers have shifted towards tea that is cheaper in price but not necessarily poorer in quality than Ceylon Tea. Moreover, major Russian and international brands use international blends, making it difficult for smaller brands from Sri Lanka to compete due to their ability to maintain low prices for their products by leveraging economies of scale.



There has been some improvement in exports to non-traditional markets such as China lately, where exports have grown significantly over the five-year period between 2012 and 2016 pushing the country rank from the 21st to the 10th position. Growth has topped 113 percent during this period.



Outlook for medium-term

Raising the export volumes beyond the current levels is severely constrained by rigidities on the supply side. Supply shortages have also made the auction prices to grow at double digit levels hurting the export competitiveness in already weak export markets. The ability to increase production beyond current levels will depend to a great extent on favourable climatic conditions as well as reversing the government policy restricting the use of certain weedicides.



On the demand side, it is difficult to foresee buoyant market conditions in Sri Lankas main export regions of Russia and the Middle East, which account for 55.2 percent total tea exports). Global oil prices seem unlikely to reach the levels anticipated by OPEC, due to high inventory and production while the United States of America (USA) have recently voted for legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia.



The only relief for exporters has been the relative stability achieved by the Russian rouble over the past 18 months - a gain of approximately 38 percent against the US dollar (from the January 2016 low of USD/RUB: 82.5 to the June 2017 level of just below USD/RUB: 60).



Sri Lankas tea industry needs to evolve and transform to be resilient and strong amidst rapid changes and market headwinds that are happening globally. Consumption habits are evolving at a rapid pace and tea has already gone beyond being a traditional beverage to offering a variety of new formats such as medicated teas, flavoured teas, jellies, sorbets, etc.



These changing preferences increasingly demand for greater innovation in the production and marketing sphere. It is time to make strategic decisions to take Sri Lankan tea to the next level and there is no better time to embark on these than now  when Ceylon Tea proudly celebrates 150 years.



(Jayani Ratnayake is a Research Economist with the Economic Intelligence Unit of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. This article is part of the chambers Trade Intelligence for the Private Sector (TIPS) initiative. Write to eiu@chamber.lk to engage. To know more about the 150-year celebrations of Ceylon Tea and International Tea Convention in August, visit www.ceylonteaevents.com)
Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC (ComBank) yesterday announced the oversubscription of its Rs.10.1 billion rights issue, which was aimed at beefing up the banks capital base and aiding future growth.

ComBank is Sri Lankas largest private sector lender with a total asset base of Rs.1.05 trillion as at March 31, 2017.

The bank issued 84.5 million ordinary voting shares in the ratio of one new share for every 10 shares held at an issue price of Rs.113.60 a share to raise Rs.9.6 billion.

The bank further issued 5.8 million ordinary non-voting shares in the ratio of one new share for every 10 held at Rs.90.8 a share. Through non-voting shares the bank raised Rs.527.7 million.

The number of rights shares under both categories will be calculated after adjusting for the number of shares to be issued as scrip dividend amounting to Rs.2.0 a share.

As of March 31, 2016, the bank had a core-capital base of Rs.75.5 billion and a total capital base of Rs.1036 billion.

The Tier I capital adequacy ratio stood at 11.08 percent while the Tier II at 15.21 percent, comfortably higher than the required regulatory minimums. While the BASEL III demands higher capital adequacy and some additional capital buffers on top of it, ComBank stays even well above those requirements. The BASEL III transitional phase begins from July 1, 2017, with interim capital adequacy requirements till the banks meet the final ratios, which are substantially higher than the existing 5.0 percent and 10 percent.
With over a whopping 67, 205 cases and some 200 deaths being reported countrywide, the Dengue menace has reached new heights. With June being the peak month to inflict the malady on innocent lives, efforts to eradicate the disease has intensified further. As the number of patients being hospitalised is on the rise, the Health Ministry and relevant authorities remain perplexed on how best to address the growing epidemic which has topped the list as one of the major national crises.

According to a recent statement by Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, the ministry is currently studying the possibility of importing Wolbachia -- a newly-developed bacterium for Dengue control -- from Australia. It is believed that the bacterium combats the virus from replicating inside the mosquitoes, and that by getting Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes to mate and pass the bacterium to future generations, the cases of Dengue will diminish. Thus, given the fact that this plan works out, it could be surmised that mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia would fail to transmit the Dengue.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, several officials from the health sector explained the gravity of the situation whilst shedding light upon the baffling question: why has the number of Dengue cases increased steeply in Sri Lanka during the recent past? While underscoring the need for constructive engagement to battle this menace, they stressed the need to raise more awareness among the general public on this concern.

With Dengue patients spiking up in the monsoon season, more and more lives are being threatened every day. This increase is inevitable. Hospitals are flooding with Dengue patients, and what lies ahead is the challenge of reducing the number of deaths caused from this disease.

The number of Dengue patients being hospitalised keeps increasing on a daily basis. Despite limited facilities, relevant authorities travel that extra mile to nurse and recuperate these patients. With the onset of the monsoon season, the number of Dengue patients augmented as anticipated. Our main aim right now is to reduce the number of deaths caused by Dengue.

Against this backdrop props the question about Dextran 40, a drug used to treat Dengue patients, which might be running out of stock.

Dr. Hasitha assured that there were sufficient stocks at the moment, and that steps were being taken to ensure that there would be no shortage in future whatsoever.

Currently, the drugs for Dengue are not in short supply. But we have made plans to ensure that necessary drugs will be available in future. We have to depend on the international supplier, Dr. Hasitha said.

Despite limited facilities, relevant authorities travel that extra mile to nurse and recuperate these patients

However, with Dengue posing a serious threat to the lives of the people, the public is strictly advised to identify and eliminate Dengue breeding grounds in their surroundings. Dr. Hasitha advises patients to get a full blood count on the first sign of fever.

Drugs for Dengue are not in short supply. But we have made plans to ensure that necessary drugs will be available in future

Seek medical attention on the contraction of fever as early as possible with a full blood count on time is of essence. Never resort to self-medication. Generally, painkillers and unprescribed drugs are not treatment for fever and should be avoided at any cost. On such occasions, patients could face serious hygienic complications including bleeding. Even on receiving medication, a patient should be aware if he or she has been prescribed painkillers and should avoid taking such drugs. It is just as important for the general public to stay vigilant and destroy mosquito breeding grounds. This should not be an isolated effort. Each and every individual in the country has to take the responsibility and act to control the Dengue menace.



Hospital facilities available for patients are on verging limits with Dengue raising its ugly head in the most abrupt way this year. According to Professor Arjuna, despite concerns over a dearth of accommodation, Dengue patients are being treated as usual.

Dengue has risen like we have never seen before. The Type 2 Dengue virus is to also take the blame for this drastic rise

Facilities at the Ragama Hospital are limited with respect to the number of Dengue patients. Although it is difficult, we are managing our patients. It is a struggle. Extended hospital facilities are the need of the hour. We do not require ventilators or more ICUs. What we need in particular are more high dependency units (HDUs). Currently, we have shifted some of the patients to the ICUs due to lack of space, even though they do not require intensive care. This occupies more space at ICUs which are required by patients in a more critical condition. More staff is also a must. Nurses should be extended to treat patients more effectively and efficiently. This will help us reduce the number of deaths caused by Dengue, Prof. De Silva said.

The rise in the number of Dengue patients with the monsoon season has brought more devastating results than expected. Unknown modes of Dengue breeding have been uncovered by research. It has been surmised that Aedes aegypti, mosquitoes that transmit Dengue, possess the ability to breed in salty and dirty water. This causes a general perception that Dengue can only breed in clear, clean water to stand corrected also extending the range of potential mosquito breeding sites to which our attention has to be directed to.

This year, Dengue has risen like we have never seen before. The Type 2 Dengue virus is to also take the blame for this drastic rise. Researches prove that Dengue mosquitoes can also breed in salty and impure water. Hence, controlling the severity of the Dengue situation in the country corresponds to managing a war at the moment. The conditions have worsened, particularly with the recent rains.

Garbage situation in the country is definitely linked to the Dengue matter causing negative effects on the issue. We should approach an all-out ban on plastic that should include polythene bags in the least

Professor Arjuna pointed out that the development of a Dengue vaccine was underway.

It will be awhile before the Dengue vaccine will be administered in the treatment of patients as it is still being developed and has not been tested out yet. But once done, the situation in the country will improve drastically. Other prevalent issues do not seem to help resolve this menace any further. For instance, can the garbage dilemma in the country aggravate the Dengue victim count this year?

The garbage situation in the country is definitely linked to the Dengue matter causing negative effects on the issue. We should approach an all-out ban on plastic that should include polythene bags in the least. Efforts to control Dengue should continue as Dengue shows signs of remaining for a long time. The government should look into these concerns and take apt measures forthwith. But they alone cannot accomplish this. We have to assist as well.



Refuting the allegations that the hospital has provided drugs other than Paracetamol to patients, Consultant Physician of the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama clarified that some private hospitals have engaged in such medical practice and that Infectious Diseases Hospital was not responsible for any such medical malpractice.

Currently, an inquiry is being conducted by the ministry with regard to this matter. Government hospitals dont administer any other drug except Paracetamol to its Dengue patients. Sometimes, patients tend to take drugs such as Diclofenac Sodium instead of Paracetamol either on their own accord or upon the directions of a private medical practitioner. Such things could lead into health complications in a Dengue patient, he said.

Sometimes, patients tend to take drugs such as Diclofenac Sodium instead of Paracetamol either on their own accord or upon the directions of a private medical practitioner

Commenting on the number of Dengue patients being admitted into the hospital, Dr. Wijewickrama said despite there were no deaths reported, the number of Dengue patients being reported at IDH had increased significantly. He said all hospitals in Colombo were filled beyond their capacities with Dengue patients.



Dengue widespread has raised severe concerns throughout the island, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) share their thoughts on the outbreak. Dr. Sugandhika Perera voiced her concerns regarding the epidemic on behalf of the WHO.

Dengue cases are increasing globally with more frequent and severe outbreaks. Effective mosquito control through active community participation and taking measures to prevent mosquito bites remain the mainstay of Dengue prevention. These measures need to be further strengthened, particularly in the identified high-risk districts, after experiencing the South West monsoons. Raising awareness among people to ensure they fully participate in preventing and removing vector breeding sites from the environment  their homes, workplaces and other surroundings are of critical importance. Additionally, people must take adequate personal protection measures to protect themselves against mosquito bites. According to Dr. Perera, the WHO is closely monitoring the situation and liaising with relevant authorities to help control the Dengue uproar.

WHO has been supporting the government for building capacity of health staff on Dengue management, mosquito control measures and effective community awareness and engagement

The WHO has been supporting the government for building capacity of health staff on Dengue management, mosquito control measures and effective community awareness and engagement. The WHO is liaising closely with the Epidemiology Unit, National Dengue Control Unit and Disaster Preparedness and Response Division of the Health Ministry to provide technical assistance required by the government.

Dr. Prachila Samaraweera, Consultant Community Physician attached to the Dengue Control Unit, said fumigation was being carried out islandwide in areas that have been identified as Dengue breeding grounds.

Currently, a rising number of patients have been reported from fourteen districts, among which Colombo, Gampaha, Galle, Matara, Kalutara, Hambantota, Puttalam, Kegalle, Kurunegala and Ratnapura have recorded a high number of Dengue patients. Therefore, instead of fumigating one selected location, we have decided to conduct a special fumigation programme according to a cluster method in selected locations. The fogging programme is carried out as either individual fogging or carpet fogging in these areas. Despite the importance of eliminating areas that are identified as mosquito breeding grounds through fogging, it should be noted that the effect of fogging would remain in the fumigated area only for about half an hour or so.

Instead of fumigating one selected location, we have decided to conduct a special fumigation programme according to a cluster method in selected locations

Therefore, even if adult mosquitoes in the area are destroyed, if the location provides a favourable atmosphere for mosquito larvae, the total eradication of Dengue mosquitoes through fumigation would remain a futile effort. We have already taken steps to identify and destroy mosquito breeding sites with the cooperation of the military police, government institutes, health officials and the support of the general public. It is important to remove empty cans, tyres and containers from lying on the ground and dispose them properly because the adult female mosquito lays eggs in fresh water accumulated in such containers,

Dr. Samaraweera said.

According to the Dengue Control Programme that would be conducted for three months as per the Presidents directive, all schools have been advised to clean their premises once a week on every Friday for one hour which is currently being carried out in an effective manner. We have also advised all institutes representing the public and private sectors to take similar initiation in their office premises. It is compulsory that patients who have fever for more than forty eight hours get themselves tested for a full blood count. Measures have also been taken to lower the charges of the full blood count to a maximum of Rs. 250 in private medical institutions, Dr. Samaraweera added.

Speaking to, Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital Director Dr. Susitha Senaratne said the situation with regard to administering Dengue patients was under control although they experienced a problem few days ago in accommodating patients.

Dengue patients are being admitted to hospital, depending on the availability of beds. However, we see a significant rise in the number of Dengue cases although no deaths were reported from the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital during the recent past. Some unknown change may have triggered lately since the number of Dengue larvae has risen fourfold.

Rainfall, poor waste management systems as well as natural disasters like floods have further intensified mosquito breeding grounds islandwide. Also, mosquitoes bearing the Type 11 virus have increased over time, thereby making patients more vulnerable to the viral fever. We noticed that patients who were diagnosed with Dengue fever suffered from various complications than those who had contracted the disease for the first time. Our hospital staff is doing everything possible within their capacity to treat the patients, Dr. Senaratne added.

Number of Dengue cases although no deaths were reported from the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital during the recent past

When inquired about the availability of Dextran, he said the drug was available in sufficient quantities. Further, he advised that patients should not be administered any pill other than Paracetamol since that could lead into other complications including excessive bleeding.

According to Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) Assistant Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge, the Dengue situation in the country has already reached unacceptable levels. He sheds light upon a crucial point with regard to recent developments.

With two hundred deaths per 60,000 Dengue patients, the death prevalence this year remains unacceptably high. Sri Lanka was able to reduce the Dengue death prevalence starting from 2012 until last year with the help of protocols, but this year, this value has reached almost double the value of last year, he reveals.

The government should take more interest in establishing the reason for this high number. Some of these deaths could have been prevented. So, they need to conduct district-level death reviews to go in depth to investigate the causes for these deaths, Dr. Aluthge said, adding that doing so would help prevent such events from recurring in the future. According to Dr. Aluthge, some of these deaths had been caused by Quacks who posed as qualified doctors. They have prescribed painkillers that contraindicate Dengue. When inquired if there was a connection between Dengue and garbage, two of the biggest crises the government is facing currently, Dr. Aluthge said there was so.

Although the officials strive to attribute the ever-increasing number of Dengue patients to the change in the viral strain, entomological surveys have revealed an unacceptable increase in mosquito density in the past few months. The solid waste that is lying by the roadside without being collected definitely plays a big part in this. The government should have a national plan on garbage management, and the local authorities active participation should be ensured, Dr. Aluthge stresses.

When questioned if the government had taken adequate measures to raise public awareness on this concern, Dr. Aluthge said: The Health Ministry has recently focused most of its energy on whitewashing the name of SAITM via paid advertisements using public money. They should focus those efforts plus the money on raising awareness on crucial matters like Dengue on mass media, specially focusing on preventing deaths caused from Dengue, he said.

The government should take more interest in establishing the reason for this high number. Some of these deaths could have been prevented

Dr. Aluthge also commented on the unequal distribution of resources by the government, taking as examples the situations where supplies like fogging machines and vehicles did not reach the areas where they were needed the most. He points out that this is due to the lack of a proper system for the ground-level information to reach administrative levels.

Commenting on the situation where there was an abundance of patients in some hospitals, he suggests that the government should use the underutilised wards in nearby hospitals to the National Infectious Disease Hospital and other major hospitals. Specialist physicians and paediatricians should be assigned to those wards in a visiting basis, he added presenting GMOAs solution to the problem.

Further, he emphasised the need for a national-level plan to prevent further Dengue casualties which is more crucial than ever.

One of the main reasons for the non-implementation of necessary plans is the lack of proper leadership within the Health Ministry. With the absence of a Health Secretary for more than two months and with an Acting Director General in place of a permanent one, the ministry has failed to achieve their maximum in a crisis situation like this. We gathered the experts in both curative and preventative sectors of Dengue to one place for an action committee meeting held on Monday, since we see deficiencies in government intervention.

There were discussions about many crucial points like the ground-level participation in sending information, updating the current information gathering systems, and the final conclusions would be presented as a proposal to the government at the end of this week, he added. Dr. Aluthge stresses that this is not a time to take sides but a time to put all differences aside, commenting that the Health minister is reluctant to work in unity with the trade unions.

As the GMOA, we ask the president to intervene in this matter and take things into his own hands at least as a temporary measure. We ask him to join us to save the country from the impending disaster, he concluded.

One of the main reasons for the non-implementation of necessary plans is the lack of proper leadership within the Health Ministry

Meanwhile, a confidential source who wished to remain anonymous from inside the Central Province healthcare sector divulged that the patient load in many of the main hospitals in the Central Province increased daily, reaching an uncontrollable level. The hospital staff and facilities are highly inadequate to manage the overwhelming number of patients, hence the staff is forced to discharge the patients as soon as they are out of the critical phase.

The source also pointed out that the growing problem of garbage in the Central Province as a main cause for the increasing Dengue incidence in the area, and stressed on the need of practicing proper disposal of garbage. The source also urged the government to take immediate action to supply the equipment like infusion pumps and necessary drugs to the needed hospitals as soon as possible.
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 Tuesday.



The ex-wife, brother and sister-in-law of Adam Dzaziri were detained late on Monday afternoon after police questioned them at the family home outside Paris.



The assailants father was also taken into custody during the evening, the source said.

Dzaziri was killed in Mondays attack, but there were no other casualties.



Sources close to the probe said he had been on Frances security watchlist since 2015 over ties to the radical Islamist movement.



The suspects father told AFP 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 dead a police officer 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 is to unveil a new anti-terrorism law, designed to allow the state of emergency to be lifted.

PARIS AFP

June20, 2017
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)
Expanding on the its pioneering efforts to incentivize the savings habit, Sri Lankas most innovative bank, HNB PLC, called upon all of its customers to utilize its unprecedented new level of service offering to engage with the bank and ensure that they claim all the valuable rewards available to them with HNB Pathum Vimana Rewards

Enjoying its breakthrough launch in 1993, HNB Pathum Vimana continues to offer unprecedented value for savings nearly a quarter of a century later. However HNB Assistant General Manager- Deposits and Remittances/ Chief Employee Experience Officer, Kalum Wijesooriya notes that despite its age, Pathum Vimana has continued to evolve parallel to the changes which the Sri Lankan economy and its people have witnessed over the past two decades.

For us at HNB, Pathum Vimana continues to yield multifaceted benefits in that it allows us to not only develop the savings habit among our valued customers, but it also gives us an opportunity to deepen our relationships with them and help enhance some of the most important events in their life,

he stated.

Wijesooriya also emphasized that such benefits were open to the entirety of HNBs customer base, irrespective of segments or size.

Through Pathum Vimana rewards every HNB customer with a normal savings or current account that maintains a minimum deposit of Rs. 10,000 three months prior to any of the significant life events covered by the rewards scheme  including an account holders 21st birthday, university graduation, wedding day, childbirth, childs first day in school, moving into a new home, purchasing a vehicle, 10th wedding anniversary, 55th birthday and hospitalization - will entitle customers to rewards of up to Rs. 100,000 in cash prizes.

To-date, Pathum Vimana stands as the most beneficial rewards package in Sri Lankan banking history and moving forward we are working hard to direct the evolution of Pathum Vimana to meet the changing needs of an increasingly digitally-oriented society. At present, a customer need simply speak to their nearest HNB Customer Centre, or write to our deposit mobilization division to claim their rewards.

However moving forward, we also working to build new platforms that will enable a highly interactive new paradigm for customer relationships. These strategies are being developed in alignment with the tremendous improvements to HNBs digital service offering and our customers can also look forward to more developments in this space in the near future, Wijesooriya stated.

Elaborating further on the strategic rationale driving the revamp of Pathum Vimana, HNB Chief Operating Officer, Dilshan Rodrigo stated: We can proudly state that Pathum Vimana is able to offer unmatched value to the widest range of customers. This product represents the very first time in the Sri Lankan banking industry that absolutely all of our customers can be a winner, this is something which no other bank has yet been able to match, and moving forward our customers can expect numerous further initiatives aimed at adding further value under

Pathum Vimana.

With 252 customer centres covering all 9 provinces of Sri Lanka, HNB is Sri Lankas premier retail sector bank. Having been recognized as the Best Retail Bank for nine years by the The Asian Banker, HNB today enjoys broad-based growth across all of its business areas, as evidenced by its record breaking financial performance in 2016. More recently the bank has undertaken an extensive digital transformation initiative that has already placed HNB in a leadership position in terms of technology enabled services in the Sri Lankan banking sector.
(c) 2017, Bloomberg  June 19, 2017 - Iran said it fired missiles at Islamic State targets in Syria in retaliation to the jihadists deadly attacks in Tehran last week, a rare strike signalling Irans willingness to escalate its use of military power in the regions conflicts.



Six surface-to-surface missiles were launched on Sunday from western bases in Iran at command centres, logistic sites and suicide car bomb factories in Syrias eastern Deir Ezzor area, 435 miles (700 kilometres) away, the Revolutionary Guard Corps said.



The missile operation is just a very small part of the capability of Irans punitive force against the terrorists and its enemies, the Islamic Students News Agency quoted Guards spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif as telling state TV.
By Chandeepa Wettasinghe

Japanese banking giant JCB International Co. Ltd will be issuing Sri Lankas national banking cards in partnership with LankaClear (Pvt.) Ltds LankaPay brand next year, it was revealed on Tuesday.

The partnership was approved last week by the Monetary Board of the Central Bank, LankaClear CEO Channa de Silva told LankaPay Technovation Awards 2017, which was held on Tuesday in Colombo.

A JCB team was in town to exchange the partnership documents.

JCB-LankaPay co-branded cards will be issued and accepted at all participating ATMs and points of sale, JCB Senior Vice President Yuchiro Kadowaki said.

He added that the new card could be used at ATMs and 35 million vendors that accept JCB cards worldwide. The National Card Scheme was outlined by Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy in the Central Banks 2017 road map.

De Silva said that the participating banks may start issuing the cards next year and hopes the facility will penetrate into the rural economy through greater availability of a common point of sale (POS) platform. Of 34 banks operating in Sri Lanka, 24 are part of LankaPay common ATM-sharing mechanism, while the other banks are in the process of joining.

According to LankaClear, which is owned by the Central Bank and all the licensed commercial banks in Sri Lanka, the transaction costs of separate cards issued by separate banks are too high and the retail sales through cards at POS are at an unacceptably low level.

Over 16 million banking cards were in consumer wallets last year, although just 4.4 percent of transaction volumes went through digital means.

However, the exorbitant fees charged by the banks for their customer to use the ATMs of the others banks and the commissions for digital payments drew criticism from Central Bank Payments and Settlements Department Acting Director Dharmasiri Kumaratunge, recently.

De Silva said that six of the global card issuers were invited to take part in the National Card Scheme tender process.

JCB, founded in 1961, has 105 million card users globally and has been active in Sri Lanka to facilitate the payments of inbound tourists, Kadowaki said.
The dark side of Rajapaksa politics will be revealed in front of Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) General Secretary MP Udaya Gammanpila, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) said yesterday.

Denying allegations made by the parliamentarian that Minister of Megapolis and Western Development Champika Ranawaka had hidden Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera, the party stated that Gamampila was engaged in a mudslinging campaign.

JHU Media Coordinator Anuruddha Karnasooriya explained that the MP who now threatened to expose party secrets played a crucial role in pushing the party to withdraw from the Rajapakse government.

It is hilarious that the individual who wanted the JHU to withdraw from the Rajapaksa government became the Rajapaksas defender. Gammanpilas challenge is a great opportunity for us to prove the dark side of the PHUs political agenda, he said.

Meanwhile, Karnasooriya also said that former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was carrying out an organized mudslinging campaign using leftists and several print and electronic media in a bid to prove the allegations they have made. (Thilanka Kanakarathna)
Law enforcers have arrested a youth for reportedly raping a Sri Lankan girl, who is an MBBS student of University of Science and Technology Chittagong (USTC), in the port city on Sunday.

Md Arif, 26, a sales executive of Khulshi Mart, a commercial establishment in Khulshi area of the city, was arrested yesterday and sent to jail today, our Chittagong staff correspondent reports quoting police.

The victim filed a rape case against Arif with Khulshi Police Station on Monday stating that Arif raped her at a hotel in Khulshi area on Sunday night, said Sub-Inspector Rupak Kanti Chowdhury, the investigation officer of the case.

According to the case statement, Arif, who hails from Panchagarh, got introduced to the girl over the phone and they started chatting from June 11.

On Sunday night, Arif called her at a hotel adjacent to her hostel. As she went to meet him, Arif raped her there, the case statement reads.

Police arrested Arif on Monday afternoon, hours into the victim filed the case, said the SI.

Today, the law enforcers produced the arrestee before a court in Chittagong and the court sent him to jail, he said, adding, We are investigating the incident.(The Daily Star)
More than five years since first launching in Singapore, Mastercard Labs has reaffirmed its commitment to being pioneers of a World Beyond Cash by opening a new Innovation Showcase, housed at its new Asia Pacific headquarters. The space will be a new home base for Mastercard to continue developing innovative digital commerce solutions that simplify and safeguard how we pay for things across banks, merchants, businesses, governments, and consumers around the world.

Located in Singapores DUO Towers, the Mastercard Innovation Showcase will host numerous Fintech innovations developed by various Mastercard Labs around the world, including many that were built in Singapore, and will be one of several Innovation Showcases located in major global cities  including Sydney, Dubai, New York, St. Louis and London.

The interactive innovations on display feature a range of digital payments technologies, from robotics and artificial Intelligence, unattended retail, and contactless payments technology, to wearables, biometrics authentications and solutions that further drive the brands commitment to financial inclusion. These include a payment solution for the humanoid robot Pepper, which is scheduled to be rolled out later this year; Interactive chatbots; and the Qkr! with Masterpass vending machines which allow consumers to purchase items via a mobile application.

In addition to featuring key payment innovations, the Mastercard Innovation Showcase also provides a platform to drive regional Fintech growth through collaborative dialogue, connecting key stakeholders and shaping young talents, such as developer and API networking events, fintech community events and start-up bootcamps, university dialogue sessions as well as lab crawls. Since moving into the space in March, the Mastercard Innovation Showcase has co-innovated with more than 500 visitors from banks, schools, leadership institutes and associations, such as Financial Women's Association Singapore (FWA) and NTUC U Future Leaders.

Made-In-Singapore, shared with the world

Since 2012, Mastercard Labs in Singapore has served as a launch pad for numerous digital innovations and products that have travelled beyond Singapore to be applied successfully in other markets both across Asia Pacific and globally.

Examples of Made-in-Singapore innovations include the conceptualisation and execution of a digital payment platform within humanoid robot, Pepper, extending the robots ability to integrate customer service, information and sales into a seamless and consistent user experience; and Qkr! with Masterpass, a mobile payments platform that enables consumers to order and pay for goods and services from their smart devices via Masterpass, Mastercards global digital payment service. 15 percent of medium and large schools in Australia have chosen to deploy Qkr! with Masterpass as a simple way for parents to make mobile payments for school fees, uniforms, excursions and other educational supplies.

Financial inclusion is also a core focus of innovation by Mastercard Labs. Recently, the team in Singapore developed Masterpass QR, a safe and secure Quick Response (QR) mobile payments solution, ideal for small merchants in locations where POS systems and traditional card readers are not easily accessible. To date, Masterpass QR has been rolled out in India, Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan. Another key innovation supporting the businesss commitment to advancing financial inclusion is the Mastercard Aid Network, an award-winning end-to-end technology solution for humanitarian aid distribution, even in the absence of telecommunications infrastructure.

Tobias Puehse, vice president, Innovation Management, Digital Payments and Labs, Asia Pacific, Mastercard said, Innovation happens when ideas collide. Mastercards expanded Labs in Singapore underscores our commitment to work together with our partners and key stakeholders to focus on addressing the biggest friction points and real-world issues across the commerce and payment eco-system. Today, our Innovation Showcase has already become a central hub in advancing technologies such as chatbots and biometric authentication, while also inspiring up and coming developers and students to shape the future of commerce. As a leader in digital payments, we seek to drive meaningful innovation that positively impacts all Fintech stakeholders and builds a world beyond cash.
(c) 2017, The Washington Post  Jun 20, 2017 - 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. 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 Ottos family and friends, and all who

loved him.
Qatar Airways has again been named as the Airline of the Year by the prestigious 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards, held this week at the Paris Air Show, the fourth time that Qatar Airways has been given this global recognition as the worlds best airline.

In addition to being voted Best Airline by the travellers from around the world, Qatars national carrier also won a raft of other major awards at the ceremony, including Best Airline in the Middle East, Worlds Best Business Class and Worlds Best First Class Airline Lounge.

Qatar Airways home and hub, Hamad International Airport, was this year also rated five-star by Skytrax, one of only five in the world to be given this recognition.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said, For Qatar Airways to be named the Worlds Best Airline particularly at this critical point in time, is a significant testimony of our passengers belief and trust in our unwavering commitment to deliver only the best. This award is also a reflection of the hard work and dedication of every employee at Qatar Airways. Our recognition at Skytrax this year is especially important as these awards are voted by travellers. To them I offer my sincere thanks and I look forward to welcoming them on board soon.

Commenting in regards to the current flight ban affecting the state of Qatar, Al Baker added, At these difficult times of illegal bans on flights out of my country by big bullies, this is an award not to me, not to my airline, but to my country.

The global airline, which was last year voted as having the Worlds Best Business Class, Best Business Class Lounge and Best Airline Staff Service in the Middle East, continues to exceed expectations with its global expansion strategy and product development, including the recent launch of its new, innovative and award-winning Business Class experience, Qsuite. The first fully-fitted aircraft is being showcased at Paris Air Show before going into service this weekend on the London-Doha route.

Qatar Airways patented new seat design has itself already gained industry notoriety after receiving the Best Airline Innovation of the Year award at the 2017 ULTRAS (Ultimate Luxury Travel Related Awards) for its launch of Qsuite. The prestigious award was presented at a ceremony at The Savoy hotel in London, attended by Sarah, Duchess of York and HRH Princess Eugenie of York, along with industry experts and VIPs. The win was significant in that the award was given before the seat has even commenced service, such is the anticipated impact of the design on the premium travel industry.

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 allows colleagues, friends or families travelling together to transform their space into a private suite, allowing them to work, dine and socialise together. These new features provide the ultimate customisable travel experience that enables passengers to create an environment that suits their own unique needs.

The prestigious awards received in Paris mark yet another busy year for Qatar Airways as the airline looks ahead to no less than 24 new destinations to be launched, new aircraft deliveries, the roll-out of the revolutionary Qsuite across the fleet and continued celebrations of the 20th year anniversary. Qatar Airways previously won the title of the Worlds Best Airline in 2011, 2012 and 2015.
Social Empowerment, Welfare and Kandyan Heritage Minister S B Dissanayake has apologized to the Mahanayake Theras on behalf of the government on the allegations made in their statement.

He told a news conference that he felt he was responsible for some of the complaints made by the Theras.

Therefore, I take this opportunity to apologies to the prelates for their annoyance over me or the government, the minister said.

He said the prelates were of the view that the government did not respect Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera.

"As a government, we do not approve his behaviour. However, we cant label him a racist. He has also been vocal on some pressing issues and found solutions for them amid struggles. We should admire his perseverance," the minister said.

He said it was the obligation of the government to create an atmosphere where members of different religions could live in harmony.

Meanwhile, referring to the regaining of the GSP plus facility, the minister said Sri Lanka was isolated by the world community from 2010 to 2015 but with the regaining of this facility, the country had found access to the global arena.

"We were deprived of the GSP concession by the European Union during the previous regime over the situation prevailing in the country at that time. But the situation changed after this government came to power. We should express our gratitude to the EU. This is a great victory by this government," he said. (Sheain Fernandopulle)

Video by Chamil Rupasinghe
There are more than a million Sri Lankan children left behind by their mothers who migrated overseas for employment. According to the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) statistics, the majority of women who migrated overseas, especially to the Middle East, are married and of them more than 90% have children. Many family lives of migrant married women become complicated as the mother who brings the family together is no longer there. Children who are left behind by their mothers are vulnerable to various social and emotional problems which start within the families.

Senuri Dewmini Silva is one such child. Fourteen-year-old Senuris parents are divorced. Her father has re-married and has children. As her mother was trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, she decided to leave her daughter behind and seek employment in Kuwait as a housemaid. What makes Senuris story more pathetic is that she is suffering from a disorder known as Cerebral Palsy (CP) caused by brain damage which had occurred during her birth. She cant move without someones support. Due to the brain damage, her vision is gradually weakening. Senuri has a younger brother. Though she was neglected by her father due to her disorder, her younger brother was accepted and is living with the father and his new family.

She had experienced plenty of emotional problems. Senuri who dropped out of school was sent to Methmihira Centre for Children with Special Needs in Koralawella, Moratuwa. The Centre, led by a group of sisters at St. Michaels Church, Koralawella supported Senuri in many ways, in an attempt to restore some normalcy to Senuris life by providing her the opportunity to connect with same aged children and improve her creative skills.

Senuris maternal grand-mother Namali Fernando had been taking care of her since she was born in a very small house in Egodauyana, Moratuwa. Due to recent heavy rains, their house collapsed several weeks ago. Namali used to escort her helpless grand-daughter to the Centre. After their house collapsed to the ground, Senuri was sent to her paternal grandparents house, which is far from the Centre.

Namali said since she was unable to bear the transport cost of Rs.400 per day for three-wheelers, she was unable to escort Senuri to the Centre during the past few weeks.

Neither of the parents is treating her right. I sent her to her grandparents place temporarily. It has only been two weeks. They had already started complaining that they cant do any other work, as they always have to pay attention to Senuri. Senuri is confined to a room there. She used to try walking when she was living with me. But, now they treat her like an outsider. I dont have a place to keep my grand daughter now. I am also staying at my relatives place, Namali said.

Meanwhile, Senuris physiotherapist said children with such disabilities need proper and regular exercise.

Senuri lacked exercise since the day I saw her. She only receives what we do here at the Centre, the physiotherapist said. She also explained about Senuris disorder.

The disorder affects muscle tone, movement, and the ability to move in a coordinated way. CP is usually caused by brain damage that happens before or during a babys birth, or during the initial 3 to 5 years. Senuri was a premature baby. According to research findings, premature babies have a high chance of having CP.

This type of brain damage can lead to other health complications which can affect vision, hearing, and speech, which result in learning disabilities. Opthalmologists who reveiwed Senuris medical records stated that the condition of her eyes could not be restored to normal eyesight. According to the Physiotherapist, there is no cure for CP, but physiotherapies and special equipment can help in the management of the malady.

Both of her parents are alive but neither of them had even spoken to us. They neglect her. She needs love, affection and support. She needs to feel that she has someone to care for her, the physiotherapist said.

Methmihira Centre for Children with Special Need Dalsi Padmini, a teacher at the Methmihira Centre said the Centre was established by Sister Jasintha in year 2000 in a garage of St. Michaels Church, Koralawella, Moratuwa.

There are about eight teachers including a dancing teacher, a Yoga teacher and a teacher for sewing.

I was one of the very first people who were there since the beginning of this institute. We used to go to houses and teach special children. We got financial support to build the institute from the BBC after they broadcast news about a child from our institute. That childs mother died in the Tsunami

in 2004.

They bought this building for us to maintain the institute. The Centre works as a school for 51 students with special needs. It starts at 7.30 am and ends at 1.30 pm. We recruit children from age 1. Hospitals and schools in the neighbourhood send children with special needs here.

There are about eight teachers including a dancing teacher, a Yoga teacher and a teacher for sewing. The institution has a van to transport all students. Rs. 40,000 per month is paid for the van driver by the institution itself. A few parents of children here are paying the institution only when they have money. Monthly payments for teachers are paid by a donor living in the United Kingdom Residents in Koralawella too help the institution sometimes by offering meals and other requirements. Miss Padmini said.
By Zahara Zuhair

Sri Lanka Shippers Council (SLSC) immediate past Chairman Sean Van Dort called for the total liberalization of the maritime sector, when he said age old walls have to be brought down for the island nation to fully benefit from the seas surrounding it.

Van Dort said the authorities have been promising a single window for shippers to carry out their day-to-day work for the last 25 years and quipped the promise has gone through the backdoor.

All the discussions have been just talk shops. I urge this government to expedite the process to make this a reality, as this will bring down our transaction cost, and give us competitive advantages and speed to promote our products he said.

Van Dort was addressing the Post Business Session of the 47th Annual General Meeting of the Sri Lanka Shippers Council held last Friday, which was graced by National Policies and Economic Affairs Deputy Minister Dr.Harsha de Silva as chief guest.

He told the deputy minister that shippers were involved in establishing the Export Facilitation Centre with the Sri Lanka Customs, where they agreed to pay more charges to the government for the sake of speed and time.

However, he said that he is aware that until recently there was great pressure exerted on the Customs by the parties with vested interests to provide a negative report on the project to the authorities.

Meanwhile, Van Dort said he requested the full support of the government for Sri Lankas Customs e-documentation programme while highlighting the need to revisit draconian laws in the Customs Ordinance and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Act for the development of the industry.

He said that there was a significant breakthrough in 2013 when the Sri Lankan government after much consideration, decided that service providers can only charge for a service rendered to contracting parties, preventing such charges being forced on non-contracting parties.

He said although the successive governments were gripped with fear that if they brought in such regulations ships would stop calling Colombo Port, and exports would suffer. The records show that the port had increased ship arrivals and turnover after the implementation of such regulations.

But, he said there is a strong lobby operating trying to influence the authorities to revert to the old ways where these service providers can milk the shippers from both ends.

Meanwhile in a rare case of self-criticism, Van Dort remarked that the countrys shipping and freight industry is corrupt to its core.

Let me tell you that the shipping and freight market is all corrupt to its core; from managing directors to shipping executivesrobbing from their own companies by ways of kickbacks.

It seems only a hand full of service providers really go out to canvas business on service and quality of their delivery. Trust me I have worked on each sides of the industry, and I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly, he said.

Industry should unite to prosper: Minister

Responding to the claims made by the immediate chairman, Deputy Minister Harsha De Silva, said that the government and the private sector should work hand-in-hand to take the industry forward.

He said pointing out governments flaws only wouldnt help. He said shipping and freight industry stakeholders should unite for the betterment of the industry before blaming the government.

You talked about policy inconsistency; you talked about poor governance, all the governments problems. You also said about liberalization of the shipping industry. We have to ask from the industry people whether they are for liberalization.

You criticized the government for not liberalizing. Im for liberalizing. So Im going to put that question back to you, de Silva said.

Recalling history, he said that whenever Sri Lanka had prospered in the past, it had always leveraged on maritime opportunities, and it will be the same for the future as well.

He said that Sri Lanka has always been a major player in world trade given its unique geographical location.

Pointing out the declining trend in the countrys exports, de Silva said it is extremely important for Sri Lanka to have good diplomatic and trade relations with other countries

We have to further strengthen trade ties with America. Trump will come and Trump will go, but discussions need to be started on access to these markets through trade agreements. We are trying to link Sri Lanka and to build bridges with rest of the world, he stressed.
By Chandeepa Wettasinghe

Japanese banking giant JCB International Co. Ltd. will be issuing Sri Lankas national banking cards in partnership with LankaClear (Pvt) Ltds LankaPay brand next year, it was revealed yesterday.

The partnership was approved last week by the Monetary Board of the Central Bank, LankaClear CEO Channa de Silva said yesterday at the LankaPay Technovation Awards 2017.

A JCB team was in town to exchange the partnership documents.

JCB-LankaPay co-branded cards will be issued and accepted at all participating ATMs and points of sale, JCB Senior Vice President Yuchiro Kadowaki said.

He added that the new card could be used at ATMs and 35 million vendors that accept JCB

cards worldwide.

The National Card Scheme was outlined by Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy in the Central Banks 2017 road map.

De Silva said that participating banks may start issuing the cards next year, and hopes the facility will penetrate into the rural economy through greater availability of a common point of sales

(POS) platform.

Of 34 banks operating in Sri Lanka, 24 are a part of LankaPay common ATM sharing mechanism, while the other banks are in the process of joining.

According to LankaClear, which is owned by the Central Bank and all the licensed commercial banks in Sri Lanka, transaction costs of separate cards issued by separate banks are too high, and retail sales through cards at POS are at an unacceptably low level.

Over 16 million banking cards were in consumer wallets last year, although just 4.4 percent of transaction volumes went through digital means.

However, exorbitant fees charged by banks for their customers to use ATMs of others banks, and commissions for digital payments drew criticism from Central Bank Payments and Settlements Department Acting Director Dharmasiri Kumaratunge, recently.

De Silva said that 6 of the global card issuers were invited to take part in the National Card Scheme

tender process.

JCB, founded in 1961, has 105 million card users globally, and has been active in Sri Lanka to facilitate payments of inbound tourists, Kadowaki said.
The trendy, savvy and hip local womens footwear brand Jessica, opened its exclusive store at No. 160 Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 04 on 9th June, 2017.

The store houses a wide range of footwear and accessories under the Jessica brand, which are fashion focused, vibrant and colourful. Emphasizing on the brands mantra Every woman is a Diva, Jessica helps the modern woman build her own personal style. The diverse and extensive collection interprets the latest trends, providing fashion at an affordable price. The collection is set to empower women to take the day time needs and afterhours in one confident stride.

Marketed and distributed under D. Samson & Sons (Pvt.) Ltd., the opening was graced by the Chairman - Mr. Nandadasa Rajapaksa, Managing Director - Mr. Thusitha Rajapaksa and Mrs. Kaushalya Perera, Director of D. Samson & Sons (Pvt.) Ltd., accompanied by members of the senior management.

Commenting at the opening the Managing Director of D. Samson & Sons (Pvt.) Ltd Mr. Thusitha Rajapaksa said, Jessica is our own brand created exclusively for women. The modern day woman is a multi-tasker, which requires her to be always on the move. Therefore the footwear she chooses has to be comfortable as well as fashionable. We aim to provide both these aspects through our brand. Accessories too play a main role for women as they are seen and used as tools showcasing their confidence and personal style. With the opening of this exclusive store, women can freely experience the range of products Jessica has on offer.

D. Samson & Sons (Pvt.) Ltd is the main marketing and distributing sector of the DSI Samson Group and one of the largest retail networks in the country that provides footwear, accessories and apparel to the local customer. They are the sole distributor for the local footwear brands of DSI, Ranpa, Samsons, Waves, Beat, Supersport and AVI while also distributing international brands such as Reebok, Puma, Fila, Clarks, Arrow, Florsheim, Redtape and U.S. Polo.

The DSS network spans more than 200 company outlets and 4000 dealers and 39 sales representatives island wide. The Founders vision of creating a customer centric business is highly utilized in this company by carefully studying the market to provide the most demanded products that is specific to the area and the customer.
Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera was arrested by the Police Organized Crimes Prevention Division a short while ago for allegedly obstructing the duty of a police officer in Welikada.

The thera was arrested when he arrived at the division to give a statement this afternoon. He was released on bail after being produced in the Colombo Chief Magistrates Court. (Yoshitha Perera and Chaturanga Pradeep)
I have not read Sartres version of The Trojan Women. I have seen Michael Cacoyannis movie adaptation, but that was not Sartre. I have also seen Dharmasiri Bandaranayakes Trojan Kanthawo, but that wasnt Sartre either. When the latter was first staged at Colombo more than two decades ago, it was greeted with the kind of acclaim and popularity that no other political play, except Bandaranayakes previous work, had enjoyed. So much so, in fact, that with a cast numbering more than 40, a ravishing score by Rookantha Goonethilaka, and choreography by Jerome de Silva, it seemed to belong more to the Wendt than to the Lumbini Theatre.

What differentiated Trojan Kanthawo from Eka Adipathi and Makarashaya was that there was nothing satirical about it. Both Eka Adipathi and Makarakshaya were about power and the struggle to retain power through deception. They were also very contemporary, by which I mean they were set in the 20th century, when plays that delved into the abuse of power were laced with humour, with scorn, with derision. The antagonists, who were always the rulers, were subjected to ridicule and parody. They were meant to make you laugh a little, to make you ridicule the system they were in control of. Bandaranayakes great achievement, going by that, was his ability to bring together humour and anger when critiquing that system.

Perhaps it was this that led Piyaseeli Wijegunasingha to criticise those two and praise Trojan Kanthawo. However, the criterion she used to negatively review The Dragon  that it wasnt re-contextualised enough  she discarded to praise Bandaranayakes transposition of Euripides. Her argument was that a play reflecting a certain context needed to be revisited and, if necessary, revised if it were to be made relevant to a contemporary audience. A friend of mine, having seen these plays, remarked to me that they tried to root a foreign experience here without any success. But thats not the real problem. The real problem has to do with whether they were adapted cohesively.

Piyaseeli might have seen in Makaraskshaya everything that was wrong with the Sinhala political theatre of her time. It thrived on symbols, metaphors, and stark, clearly defined dichotomies which never yielded. For a political play to thrive on such symbols, however, there must be victory and there must be defeat. No one would have been enthralled by those symbols if they didnt assume their own opposites. The Dragon in Makarakshaya, for instance, is there because of Lancelot. It doesnt have any meaning outside itself without him. The context as such, in one sense, flows from this dichotomy. Such a dichotomy is missing in Trojan Kanthawo.

Euripides staged The Trojan Women in 415 BC as a response to the Athenian enslavement of the women and children of a small island in the Aegean. It was profoundly radical, so radical, in fact, that when he staged it for his time, he staged it for all time. He said what he wanted to say and said it in the simplest way he could. There were no villains and no innocents to compare them with. It was, and it remains, the most poignant lament for the loss of freedom authored by a Greek playwright.

Moreover, his message was so aligned with his time because of his victims and the horrible destinies they helplessly await: Cassandra expects Agamemnon, who will make her his concubine, Andromache struggles to raise her only son while doubting his fate, Helen contemplates her own follies that led to her citys destruction, while Hecuba, the mother figure, looks on wearily at the remains of her motherland. The slaughter of women and children across the Aegean by Euripides own rulers: this brought out the parallel he might have looked for with the Trojan War.

And in the end, it became both profound and simple. And simplified. In The Dragon, there was room for a conflict that would end in some resolution. But in Trojan Women, the conflict as such could only lead to complete annihilation. So when Dharmasiri Bandaranayake adapted it in the late nineties as a response to the Civil War here, he went for probably the most relevant play he could have gone for, doing away with those dichotomies that had characterised his earlier work. What was so easy about Euripides, however, eventually became what was so difficult about it.

The Trojan Women is so matter-of-fact that adaptation or re-contextualisation is possible only with explicit add-ons. This is not something to be met with in The Dragon, or even Brechts The Threepenny Opera, both of which were adapted here and were in turn adaptations of popular folklore. The symbols in them are already there, derived from the myths that inspired them. Euripides play, on the other hand, was conceived with a point of reference that was relevant to his time. The only way an adaptation could work, not surprisingly, was by explicit symbols which showed how the playwright had tried to bring its message closer to home.

To a considerable extent at least, this explains why in Trojan Kanthawo, Bandaranayake (together with Rookantha Goonethilakas score) brought on stage the modern war tank and the Sinhalese soldier. There was always a sense of political explicitness in his production, as such, that one did not come across in Makarakshaya, by which I am not paying it a compliment: the truth is both Eka Adipathi and Makarakshaya were aware of their relevance, while Trojan Kanthawo could not have projected such a relevance without resorting to symbols.

But this wasnt all. Inasmuch as these symbols were add-ons, they or rather the political undertones beneath them were undone by something that Bandaranayake should have removed, but did not remove: divine intervention. In bringing on stage the army tank and the Sinhalese soldiers, with those laser sound effects that were unfortunately at odds with the seriousness they tried to evoke (which is why I have reservations about Rookanthas score), he was secularising a war that was rooted in a struggle between the gods, as seen in the beginning with an argument between Poseidon and Athena. By refusing to do away with those gods, however, he confounded us. Again, I am not paying a compliment: without a proper justification for this incongruity, Trojan Kanthawo eventually becomes a hazy political comment.

There was nothing divine about the Civil War we endured for three decades. There was nothing that could explain it, rationalise it, except the follies of human beings. That latter point was what Trojan Kanthawo brought out, however roughly and explicitly, with the intrusion of the Sinhalese soldiers. But when I see Poseidon arguing with Athena about how to punish the Greek army, when we know for certain that this same Greek/Sinhala army are enjoying their spoils and captives, I wonder where Bandaranayake was more inconsistent: his choice of allegorising Euripides as a comment on our time, or his choice of retaining the gods as a comment on their time. What was Trojan about our war, and what was Sinhalese and Tamil about their war? The one was divine, the other secular. Can they really subsist?

Perhaps a comparison with The Dragon might help. The titular dragon in there was a metaphor, and a very malleable one at that. It was possible to reconfigure, to re-contextualise, without losing the mythical overtones of the original. To be sure, it was a myth turned inside-out, but we knew it was a myth all along, even when Lancelot remarked, Well have to kill the dragon in all of them when he discovered that the Burgomaster had taken over his foes position. It was a classic case of the mythical not trumping the secular. There was no question about its relevance, consequently: in the end, it resorted to popular folklore to reflect on the present.

This leads me to my final question: has Trojan Kanthawo, which was staged again two weeks ago at the Wendt, outlasted its relevance in a way that Bandaranayakes other work has not? I wouldnt like to say that it has, but then thats the only answer I can think of. Forget the point that the war is over: war is everywhere, even in times of peace, and it would be futile to think otherwise. Reflect instead on the central conflict I highlighted before. Wasnt Bandaranayakes aim to critique what he conceived as a war fought against our own people? If so, why did he secularise it without doing away with those gods? Particularly when wars are fought with or without Olympus? These are questions, yes, but they make me unhappy, not because they cant be answered, but because we choose not to answer them.
June 21 is internationally celebrated as the World Yoga Day. In hundreds of cities around the world, thousands of people come together for yoga. Sometimes the numbers run into tens of thousands.

Guinness World Records are regularly broken. And the cities are not just Indian  from Times Square in New York to the National Museum in Dhaka, yoga has become a near ubiquitous presence around the globe.

Soft power?

Along with speeches about Indias ancient culture, the World Yoga Day inevitably invokes talk of Indias contemporary soft power. The very fact that a world yoga day is celebrated at all is considered an example of Indias soft power.

Since 2006, yoga gurus like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar were trying to lobby the UN to declare a world yoga day. After a vigorous diplomatic push from PM Modi in 2014, the United Nations General Assembly put the date in the calendar.

Analysts have termed it Yoga diplomacy and wondered whether the practise of yoga will bolster Indias cultural standing  whether, by exposing and familiarising citizens of a globalised world with its own historic-cultural customs, India will gain geopolitical muscle to flex.

Soft power is the capacity to attract and persuade others to do things they otherwise wouldnt. Joseph Nye, a US foreign policy veteran, coined the phrase soft power in 1990. He encourages readers of his book The Future of Power to think of soft power in terms of resources. Power is derived from resources, and soft power is no different.

Beijing celebrates International Yoga Day at Great Wall of China.

Hard power rests on military resources like navy fleets, attack aircrafts and a capacity to inflict harm. Soft power, on the other hand, rests on three primary resources: culture, political values and foreign policy.

Indian culture is among the oldest in the world. Throughout millennia, India has exported cuisine, architecture, religious precepts and other cultural products that have taken deep roots in the near abroad and registered their presence in most parts of the world. Besides the age of our culture, its variety is remarkable, too.

UNDP, in its 2004 report, praised Indias pluralist policies and noted how great economic and social progress had been made since 1947 despite the staggering diversity of the land  diversity that the experts had predicted would be paralysing.

Secondly, Indias political values are much admired in the world. Principles of secularism and democracy have been upheld since Independence. There have been slips  the Emergency comes to mind  but which society hasnt had occasions that it must look back upon with a pinch of regret and feel the heavy weight of lessons? Today, we are not only a democratic nation  we are also the worlds largest.

Adam Robert, in his new book Superfast Primetime Ultimate Nation, mentions that India is better placed than China to build supportive networks internationally since it happens to be a democracy. Over 100 of the 192 states in the world are democracies, and soft power originates from shared values. China, for all its economic growth, remains, politically, an oddity of the 20th century and doesnt offer a model of a democratic society that most people of the world aspire toward. India fulfils that demand.

Thirdly, while Indias foreign policy leaves much to be desired, recent attempts at outreach by PM Modi signal a change in the direction. Sushma Swarajs use of Twitter to take note of, and respond to, emergencies abroad hints at fresh vigour. Further, as the magazine Foreign Policy has noted, after China, India is the largest donor in the developing world.

Hence, while India might not be firing on all cylinders, she has the soft power resources in great abandon and seems to be marshalling those resources reasonably well. Why, then, was India not even among the top 30 soft powers according to a Portland report? How did India manage a rank lower than debt-ridden Greece, benign New Zealand, and tiny Belgium?

A hard look

Joseph Nye, in his TED talk, talks about two great power shifts happening in the 21st century. The first is the shift of power from West to East  he calls this power transition. India and China are the most populous nations on the planet  and also two of its fastest growing. This isnt historically unprecedented  India and China used to be the two most powerful economies in the world before the Industrial Revolution.

Joseph Nye, hence, notes that this century is not witnessing a rise of Asia as popularly reported  but rather, a return of Asia.

The second power shift is happening from state to non-state actors. Joseph Nye calls this power diffusion. Examples of this diffusion are many: transnational corporations exist across borders and terror groups destabilise entire regions. Both of them are non-state actors. Add to the mix NGOs, popular culture, and the disorienting chaos agents of the internet, and we have a world in which power has been democratised.

India is losing out in both of these shifts.

A significant chunk of the transitional shift has been gobbled up by China. As manufacturing jobs moved eastward toward the end of the 20th century, China consistently broke growth records. It established ports, laid down roads, set up new power plants  even today, China opens one coal-based power plant every week. The Chinese economy grew by an average of 9.74 per cent from 1989 until 2017 an astonishing, breathless run that continued for almost 30 years.

Other than China, Asian nations such as Japan, South Korea, and Singapore wolfed off big pieces as the pie travelled east. Now it is 2017, and Indias manufacturing revolution is yet to happen. In 2016, World Bank put out a report predicting that 69 per cent of jobs in India will be vulnerable to automation in the future. One wonders if the window to experience decades long economic growthand derive hard and soft power from ithas closed for our country.

The consequences of power diffusion are harder to measure. However, a look at a countrys non-state institutions can be revealing. American brands like Apple, Amazon, Airbnb and others have a global customer base. They help America project soft power  they sell American notions of consumption, freedom, and choice. The British, on the other hand, have the English language  the worlds lingua franca. Institutions like the British Council further promote British values and culture across hundreds of countries.

Taking inspiration from the British Council, the Chinese established the Confucius Institute in 2004. 13 years later, it has 300 centres across the world. Meanwhile, Indias comparable institute, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) was established in 1950 and has a paltry 35 centres around the globe.

Money is a big determinant  the Chinese pump $20 billion into the Confucius Institute every year while ICCRs budget was Rs 192 crore in 2015-16. The money imbalance aside, is ICCR really the best name for an institute that is supposed to present India as an attractive brand abroad? It wouldnt hurt, as The Diplomat has noted, to come up with a more memorable name.

Portlands report considers education as one of the matrixes of soft power. USA took in 1.2 million international students in 2016. UK gives 3,00,000 visas to international students every year. China is rapidly catching up  440,000 foreign students studied in China last year. India, however, doesnt have a single university in the top 200 universities of the world.

When was the last time an Indian company influenced global tastes as tens of American, European, Japanese, South Korean  and now increasingly, Chinese  companies do? When was the last time an Indian NGO  like Amnesty International of London or Greenpeace of Amsterdam  established a global footprint promoting humanitarian projects?

In the transition of power we are losing to other states. In the diffusion of power, we are ceding ground to non-state actors not our own.

India should move beyond asanas and analysis and take action. Having the Indian story merely out there, jostling with a hundred other stories, isnt necessarily winning the war of narrative. Our cultural outreach must be well-oiled, well-funded, and primed to produce geopolitical clout.

Our moves  whether they be hard power thrusts or soft power manoeuvres  must emanate from consistent strategy. In the age of internet, India must amplify its strengths and work rapidly to right the wrongs.
Imagine the unbearable loneliness of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) original and the party's true "Hindu Hridaya Samrat" (emperor of Hindu hearts) Lal Krishna Advani - the Rath Yatri who blazed a bloody trail across India for the Ram mandir. He was hoping to be the choice of the Sangh, to be elected as India's first "saffron mahamaheem" president. Political insiders knew it was never to be, but Advani cherished hopes and did share them with his acolytes.

Eighty-nine-year old Advani, who took BJP from a two-MP party to forming the first NDA government was always the best man, never the groom. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister, Advani had to be content with being deputy PM, then for a while he was described as "PM in waiting", with even the mild mannered then PM Manmohan Singh taking an uncharacteristic jibe at his "eternally waiting" status.

Advani led the BJP in two unsuccessful election campaigns, which he still feels were sabotaged from within. Unusual for a top politician, Advani was devoted to his wife Kamala, who he lost last year in April, and his two children: Pratibha and Jayant.

I have had many encounters with the man whose appearance personified RK Laxman's common man. I still remember his penchant for the understated dramatic. At a meeting in North Block, when he was home minister sitting in the beautiful wood-panelled office in his well-tailored bandgala, I remember asking Advani why India was not acting after the attack on Parliament.

The strategy behind Ram Nath Kovind's candidature is obvious. Photo: PTI

Across the table, Advani smiled and took out a document. That was the one-year stand-off at the border in the 2000-2001 Operation Parakram, where soldiers had been kept war-ready for a year.

I got my scoop and was thrilled. Another time, when his entire family was present at a lunch, his son Jayant told me that he was keen on joining politics and asked if could pose a question to "Dada" and ask him what he felt.

I was quite nonplussed but since we were at the same table, I did ask saying, "What would you feel about Pratibha and Jayant joining politics. He seems quite keen."

Advani got up and said extremely dramatically: "As long as I am alive I will never allow my children to join politics. I don't believe in dynasties."

It's a testament to Advani's progress in public life that while now he's on trial for the conspiracy to destroy the Babri Masjid, even West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on June 21 that she would have supported a consensus candidate if Advani or Sushma Swaraj had been nominated by the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

That was never to be as the RSS has long nursed a grudge against Advani after his ill-starred trip to Pakistan, where he tried to reinvent himself in a secular mould by calling Mohammad Ali Jinnah "secular".

This was rich and particularly hard to swallow, coming from a man who invented the Hindu persecution complex by repeatedly railing against "pseudo secularism" and had campaigned ardently for the construction of the Ram Mandir.

Advani was always conflicted, calling the day the Babri Masjid was brought down by the kar servaks as the "saddest day of my life". He, perhaps, realised that the potent issue was politically over and he had an albatross around his neck for life.

Modi, the man who replaced him as the uber "Hindu mensch", had no such qualms. After Advani publicly opposed his candidature as PM and was shot down by the BJP and the RSS, Modi retaliated by putting him out to pasture in the quaintly-named "margdarshak mandal" along with his old enemy Dr Murli Manohar Joshi.

His proteges, the second-generation leaders Advani had nursed in the BJP, publicly deserted him. Only Sushma Swaraj and Shivraj Singh Chouhan stayed loyal to the Sangh veteran and are still paying the price.

Ironically, when Vajpayee wanted Modi to resign after the Gujarat 2002 riots, Advani virtually led a BJP revolt and saved Modi to checkmate Vajpayee.

Modi did not choose to be the bigger man and did not return the favour, preferring to stump the Opposition and nominate Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind, a Hindi heartland Dalit, to further his and the Sangh's project to reimagine the BJP as a party of the larger "Hindu Samaj" and not just the Hindu upper castes.

Advani must have been heartbroken.

Advani was always conflicted, calling the day the Babri Masjid was brought down by the kar servaks as the 'saddest day of my life'. Photo: India Today

Political observers express surprise that Advani even nursed hopes as both the RSS and Modi have neither forgotten his Opposition nor forgiven him.

Advani's cause was doomed when another sidelined rebel leader, Shatrughan Sinha publicly batted for him. It was a sign of how utterly marginalised Advani was within the Sangh parivar where once he had ruled unquestioned.

While Advani has become a chronic rebel, the case of Joshi is even more tragic. The third president of BJP, Modi was his "sarthi" (charioteer) during his "Ekta Yatra" to Kashmir where he unfurled the flag in Lal Chowk.

Joshi even gave up his Varanasi seat for Modi and was on reasonably good terms with him. He has always maintained the best of terms with the RSS. Yet, when the time came, he too was discarded by both Modi and the RSS.

At the end of their political careers, with no "guru dakshina", both leaders who never got along now share a common pain and the loneliness of being forgotten leaders.
Almost everyone who has worked with the BJP chief Amit Shah will tell you about his love for numbers and his knack of approaching every political issue with businesslike shrewdness. What does that mean?

A former stock broker, Shah is less likely to be driven by sentiment and a lot more with number crunching. And when you look at the decision to nominate Ram Nath Kovind as NDAs presidential candidate from that perspective, it would make a lot more sense. Besides being a Dalit and a his connect with the hindi heartland, he could also be the key for an alliance with Nitish Kumars JD(U), when Bihar goes to polls next in 2020.

The two  Kumar and Kovind - have shared a special, non-confrontational relationship - a big departure from the previous governor of Bihar, Devanand Konwar, who was in office from June 2009 to March 2013 and bickered incessantly with the chief minister over appointment of vice-chancellors.

Kumar and Kovind have shared a special, non-confrontational relationship.

Nitish Kumar, who had criticised the prime minister during the appointment of Kovind as governor for playing the "Dalit card" has not hit out at Kovind after he came to power. In fact, it has been a well-oiled working and amiable relationship.

Most importantly, Kovind supported Nitish in passing the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016. The state had brought in a new alcohol prohibition law after the Patna High Court quashed down the prohibition law, calling it illegal. Kovind, a lawyer, gave his assent to the new law.

Relations between the BJP and JD (U), an important alliance partner for the BJP, have been on a sticky wicket since Kumar broke off with the BJP for the first time in 2013 after 17 years. But since then, Nitish has softened his stance towards Modi and famously missed the luncheon meet organised by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in May this year, and instead, attended the lunch hosted by Narendra Modi in honour of the Mauritius prime minister.

Murmurs of reviving the alliance between the BJP and JD (U) have been doing the rounds and Kovinds nomination could just be the clincher. Getting together with JD (U) will further consolidate BJPs position in the Hindi heartland. It would also remove the "Brahmin-baniya" tag from the BJP.
Lately, there has been much clamour over the role of Saudi Arabia in abetting terror in the Middle East region, apparently in the kingdom's bid to assert authority as also to checkmate another power Iran, which Saudi alleges lends relentless support to terror groups in Syria, Bahrain and Qatar among others.

Meanwhile, the kingdom's attempts to isolate Qatar and push it to the wall have turned the heat up in the Middle East, vitiating the environment.

It would also appear that Donald Trump's visit to Riyadh has led to further escalation of tensions in the region, helping forces inimical to Iran embark on any bloody misadventure. Security analysts the world over, particularly in the West, and the western media have been targeting Saudi Arabia for proliferating jihadi movements, fostering Islamic fundamentalism.

It therefore appears imperative to undertake a close examination of recent Saudi actions, which appear acrimonious. Recent bombings (May 22) in Manchester were yet another grim reminder that the threat from radical Islamic terrorism continues to recur and Saudi Arabia remains central to the spread of such terrorism.

Yet, according to Fareed Zakaria of the CNN, Riyadh has managed to evade and deflect any responsibility.

Qatar's foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thanii. Photo: Reuters

The facts are open in public domain. For more than half a century now, Saudi Arabia has propagated its parochial, puritanical and intolerant version of Islam, originally practised almost nowhere else across the Islamic world.

It is pertinent to mention Osama bin Laden was Saudi as were 15 of the 19 terrorists responsible for 9/11 - 12 among them from UAE, one from Egypt and one from Lebanon.

The US security agencies claim - based on a leaked email from former secretary of state Hillary Clinton - that in recent years the Saudi government has been providing tacit financial and logistical support to ISIS and other ultra-Sunni groups in the region.

Further, Saudi nationals make up the second largest group of foreign fighters in the IS and, by some accounts, the largest group in Iraqi operations. (The largest are from Tunisia, the third largest from Russia, the fourth largest from Turkey and fifth largest from Jordan.)

As is common knowledge, ISIS draws its beliefs from Saudi Arabia's Wahabbi Islam. As the erstwhile Imam of the kingdom's grand mosque disclosed last year, ISIS "exploited our own principles that can be found in our books. We follow the same thoughts but applied in a refined way".

There are perceptions that Saudi money is now transforming European Islam. German intelligence leaks suggest that charities closely connected with government offices of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are funding mosques, madarsas and Imams to disseminate a fundamentalist and intolerant version of Islam throughout Germany.

According to Carlotta Gall of the New York Times, in Kosovo, a 500-year-old tradition of moderate Islam is being systematically destroyed.

From their respective bases, the Saudi-trained Imams have successfully propagated the supremacy of Sharia as well as the ideas of violent jihad.

Also, Saudi Arabia has begun to show many of its egregious practices and is now being run de facto by a young and intelligent reformer, deputy crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who appears to be refreshingly pragmatic. Yet, so far, Saudi reforms have translated into better economic policy for the kingdom - not a break with its powerful religious establishment.

In the meantime, Trump's speech on Islam seemed to zero in on the problem when he remarked, "No discussion of stamping out this threat would be complete without mentioning the government that gives terrorists all three - safe harbour, financial support and the rock solid standing needed for recruitment."

But Trump, it turns out, was not talking about its host Saudi Arabia but Iran. And such a remark is not objective. Iran undoubtedly is a destabilising force in the Middle East and supports some undesirable players. But it is wide off the mark to allege that it is the source of jihadi terror.

As per an analysis of the global terrorism data base, 94 per cent of the deaths caused by Islamic terrorism since 2001 were perpetrated by al Qaeda, ISIS and other Sunni jihadists. Iran is fighting those groups, but not fuelling them as confirmed authoritatively in a CNN presentation by expert Fareed Zakaria. Significantly, almost every terror attack in the West has had some connection to Saudi Arabia and virtually none has been linked to Iran.

Trump, meanwhile, has adopted the Saudi line on terrorism which deflects any blame on the kingdom and redirects it towards Iran. The Saudis impress Trump's inexperienced negotiators with attention, arms deals and donations to a World Bank fund for women that Ivanka Trump is spearheading.

Even though Trump demanded in 2016 that the Clinton foundation return money from the Saudis who want women as slaves and to kill gays. Saudis played up Donald Trump facilitating the US to sign up for Saudi Arabia's Middle East policy of a relentless series of battles against Shias and their allies throughout the region. This is likely to entangle Washington in a never ending sectarian struggle, encourage instability and complicate its ties with countries like Iraq that desire good relations with both sides.

Importantly, it is unlikely to do nothing to address the direct and ongoing threat to the US of jihadi terrorism . Saudi attempts to dominate the region and beyond were also manifested in a recent development when Pakistan refused to bow to the Saudi pressures calling for giving up a neutral stance and throw its weight behind Riyadh in all issues, especially in alienating itself from Qatar in the light of fresh Gulf crisis.

Saudi monarch Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud met Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last week at Jeddah and is believed to have served an ultimatum to Islamabad that it must choose between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The king was perhaps undiplomatic and forthright in asking, "Are you with us or Qatar?"

Such bold queries and diktat suggest that Saudi Arabia wants to assert that it is the boss in the region and any defiance would be seen unkindly. It is obviously drawing its strength from external quarters to whack.
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.

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 came to the Great Wall of China for the first time.

And on Tuesday, June 20, 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 20 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.

Whats behind the following?

The Chinese government is also apparently intrigued. This month, a first-ever official study about the yoga phenomenon will be released. 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.

We found that the popularity of yoga was highly related with a citys 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. This was very surprising, Zhang said. He speculated it could be related to the widely held national perception of young women in Chinas northeast being very health and beauty conscious.

Yin Yan, founder of YogiYoga, who set up one of Chinas 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.

Theres 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.
Registration open for nursing class

COLUMBUS -- Registration is open for a nursing assistant class that will be held from Monday through July 27 at Central Community College-Columbus.

Students must attend a mandatory orientation session, but because the Nebraska Health Care Association curriculum is offered in an individualized format, theyll be able to attend class during the hours most convenient to them. The lab will be open from 12:30-5:45 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The class is limited to the first 25 individuals who register. The cost is $382, which includes in-state tuition, fees and books.

For more information or to register, contact the CCC Extended Learning Services Office at 402-562-1225; toll-free at 1-877-222-0780, ext. 1225; or email cwagner@cccneb.edu.

Student prep course offered

COLUMBUS -- Orientation: Successful Student Prep will be held from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. June 28 at Central Community College-Columbus.

The event will give participants an opportunity to meet with campus faculty and staff, tour the campus, practice using CCC software and technology, learn important information about the college and register for classes. Special sessions will be held for parents and significant others, who are encouraged to attend the event with their student. Students must register in advance for the orientation event. New students are encouraged to complete the pre-enrollment assessment test before attending orientation. They may make an appointment by contacting Deb Adkisson at 402-562-1206 or dadkisson@cccneb.edu.

For more information about the admissions process or to sign up for the session, contact the Admissions Office at 402-562-1257.

Distracted driving program scheduled

COLUMBUS -- Columbus Community Hospital will host a program, The Dangers of Distracted Driving, from noon-1 p.m. July 7 in the third-floor conference room.

A complimentary buffet lunch will precede the program at 11:45 a.m. The featured speaker will be Mark Segerstrom of the Nebraska Safety Council.

RSVP by July 3 by calling 402-562-4490 or emailing imjarecki@columbushosp.org.

Sea lion pup born at zoo

OMAHA (AP)  A newborn California sea lion pup is the newest addition at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.

The pup, currently on display, was born Saturday, and a contest to name it will be launched next week.

Zoo keepers will choose several possible names for the new pup. The options will be listed on the zoo's Facebook page. The vote begins Monday and ends July 3.

The winning name will be announced via Facebook Live on July 4.

California sea lions are usually found along the coastlines of the Pacific Northwest. Males weigh between 700 and 1,000 pounds. Females weigh between 200 and 250 pounds.

Fewer than a quarter of accredited zoos have sea lions on display.
RICHMOND  Virginia's information technology agency struck back against Northrop Grumman on Wednesday with a $300 million counter-suit that claims the McLean-based corporation has blocked the transition of state information services to new providers and cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

The state suit, filed by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, or VITA, in Richmond Circuit Court represents a forceful answer to the civil suit Northrop Grumman filed against the state in Richmond court at the end of last month.

"Northrop Grumman is taking advantage of its current control of the commonwealth's IT infrastructure - essentially holding it hostage - to demand tens of millions of dollars of additional payment for transition work Northrop Grumman already is obligated to provide under its government contract," VITA states in its counterclaim, filed by attorneys for Hogan Lovells US LLP, a law firm with offices in McLean and Washington, D.C.

The dueling lawsuits have intensified what already had turned into an ugly divorce between the state and Northrop Grumman, as Virginia moves to disentangle its government information technology system from a 13-year, $2.4 billion contract that is due to expire in mid-2019.

Instead of seeking a new deal with Northrop Grumman or another single, large provider, the state has begun awarding contracts to multiple providers for services, but the company has condemned the approach as risky to IT security and costly to state taxpayers.

The lawsuit that Northrop Grumman filed last month alleges that Gov. Terry McAuliffe refused to ratify a mediated settlement that the company had negotiated with administration officials, including Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson, to compensate the company for the costs of transferring services to new providers. The suit seeks at least $10.2 million from the state.

McAuliffe said he refused to agree to the proposed settlement because it would have been a bad deal for taxpayers, who would have been required to pay more to Northrop Grumman for services the company already was obligated to provide.

Northrop Grumman said it has invested $300 million in the state's IT network, including data centers in Chester and Southwest Virginia, but VITA said in its counterclaim on Wednesday that the company had invested just 12 percent of the fees it has received from the state.

"This is far lower than expected and far lower than the level of investment made by companies that have performed similar systems integration and IT infrastructure management functions in other states," the counter-suit states.

VITA also derided Northrop Grumman's performance under the contract, which the state suit described as "disappointing."

"There were delays in implementing and upgrading systems and the commonwealth suffered through periods of service outages and generally poor service," it said, citing an outage at the Chester data center in 2010 that affected the operations of 26 state agencies.

Northrop Grumman Vice President Tim Paynter defended the company's performance under the contract and called the state's counter claims "baseless."

"We are disappointed that the commonwealth has chosen to continue its unfortunate strategy of disruption and blaming others, rather than addressing its IT requirements and honoring its contractual obligations, including by implementing the Settlement Agreement the parties reached to provide for the continuity and security of the commonwealths IT operations," Paynter said in a statement Wednesday evening.
On the first day of summer, well cover some summer events in todays column.

In just a couple weeks our focus will shift to Platte County Ag Park. Up first will be Red, White, KaBoom on July 3. The committee has been hard at work for months on fundraising for the fireworks display as well as planning the event itself. They have again planned an event that is much more than the areas largest fireworks display. The YMCA will have kids activities prior to the fireworks, there will be live music at 7:30 p.m. with Freedom Road and of course well have plenty to eat and drink. For the second year, the rides and games of Moores Greater Shows will be going that evening because its also county fair week. As you can see, there will be plenty of reasons to come out to Ag Park even before dusk.

Of course, at dusk (which will be around 10 p.m.) the fireworks display begins. Midwest Pyrotechnics has some special things planned again, as they always do, and you will be blown away.

The Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce is inviting veterans and active military to enjoy reserved box seats for this years Red, White, KaBoom fireworks display. Veterans and military personnel can pick up reserved-seat wristbands at the chamber office at 753 33rd Ave. during regular business hours, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Wristbands will need to be worn to gain entrance to the box seats.

For those coming to Ag Park, you may want to note that well offer a shuttle from the NPPD parking lot if you dont want to fight the traffic before or, especially, after the fireworks.

That same week well invite you back out to Ag Park for the annual Businesspersons Breakfast at 7 a.m. Thursday, July 6, at the Ag Park Club Room. Dr. Michael Boehm is the keynote speaker. Dr. Boehm was recently named the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Harlan Vice Chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and University of Nebraska vice president for agriculture and natural resources.

The breakfast is complimentary to chamber members and area businesspeople thanks to the support of the Chamber Agribusiness Committee and Platte County Ag Society. We do need an RSVP for food planning, so call the chamber office at 564-2769 to tell us youre coming.

The Columbus Days Board met again this week and they are nearly finished with this years Columbus Days schedule. That schedule is posted on the chambers website at www.thecolumbuspage.com on the events page.

They have confirmed the lineup of vendors for the Columbus BBQ Classic, which is always a highlight of the celebration. Youll certainly want to save some appetite for that Friday night and Saturday.

One aspect thats unique to the summer of 2017 is the Something Good Summer Series events. These have been so much fun. Each Summer Series event introduces you to a chamber member or community event, while also giving you a chance to win at least $2,000 in cash on Columbus Days weekend. Keep in touch with that schedule on our website, or on the SomethingGoodColumbus.com website.

As you can see, we have no shortage of summer fun. I hope youll enjoy most, or all of it, because these events are part of what makes Columbus unique and wed love for you to come enjoy some of something good in Columbus.
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Police

May 20

11:17 a.m. - In the 3300 block of 23rd Street, Juan A. Renteria, 19, 4195 East 29th St. #721, cited for shoplifting.

May 24

5:53 a.m. - At 23rd Street and 33rd Avenue, Layne C. Jenssen, 19, Platte Center, cited for traffic signal violation.

May 26

3:07 p.m. - At 23rd Street and Third Avenue, Christopher A.C. Weber, 30, Bellwood, cited for leaving the scene of an accident.

3:07 p.m. - At 23rd Street and Third Avenue, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Christopher A. Weber, 30, Bellwood, and Kevin T. McNabb, 58, 209 27th St. #18.

May 28

3:26 a.m. - In the 3000 block of 23rd Street, Carlee M. Saul, 18, Newman Grove, cited for MIP of alcohol, learners permit violation.

May 30

12:15 p.m. - At East 11th Avenue and 23rd Street, traffic accident. Unknown driver struck vehicle driven by Mary A. Henke, 56, 3806 34th St.

June 1

4:24 p.m. - In the 2400 block of 39th Avenue, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Lateisha M. Carnahan, 25, 3015 Seventh St., and Janet M. Moser, 58, 3062 Kummer Drive.

June 2

1:54 a.m. - In the 1200 block of 41st Avenue, Jonathan O. Bonilla, 20, 4120 16th St., cited for possession of THC controlled substance, possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia.

1:54 a.m. - In the 1200 block of 41st Avenue, Carlos Salgado, 25, 3821 12th St., cited for possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia.

3 a.m. - In the 3500 block of 21st Street, Warren L. Criswell, 18, 3512 21st St., jailed for DUI, possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia.

3:09 a.m. - No address given, Jordan M. Miller, 20, 758 13th Ave., cited for possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia.

June 5

1:23 p.m. - At Eighth Street and 18th Avenue, Francisco Herrera Lopez, 33, 223 Sixth St., cited for following too closely, no operators license.

June 6

9:24 a.m. - In the 1000 block of 24th Avenue, Lee M. Hicks, 37, Waverly, jailed for possession of controlled substance.

9:25 a.m. - In the 1000 block of 24th Avenue, Jason A. Bender, 43, 1059 24th Ave., jailed for distribution of controlled substance, possession of controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia.

9:25 a.m. - In the 1000 block of 24th Avenue, Joshua E. Ertzner, 32, Fremont, jailed for possession of controlled substance.

9:25 a.m. - In the 1000 block of 24th Avenue, Terri L. Rohloff, 25, 1059 24th Ave., jailed for possession of controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana.

9:25 a.m. - In the 1000 block of 24th Avenue, Brittney A. Rohlofs, 33, 1059 24th Ave., jailed for possession of controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia.

11 a.m. - In the 1000 block of 24th Avenue, Anthony D. Gilsdorf, 37, 1059 24th Ave., cited for possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia.

1:23 p.m. - Eighth Street and 11th Avenue, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Francisco Herrera-Lopez, 34, 223 Sixth St., and Roger Kluck, 63, Schuyler.

8:16 p.m. - In the 3000 block of 22nd Street, criminal mischief, $200 damage to door.

June 12

2:13 p.m. - On 23rd Street near East 11th Avenue, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Doroteo Munoz, 50, South Sioux City, and Brian P. Collins, 46, Lu Verne, Iowa.

4:28 p.m. - At 23rd Street and East Third Avenue, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Maria M. Ortiz, 18, Schuyler, and Miguel A. Sixtos, 23, Norfolk.

June 13

11:10 a.m. - In the 900 block of 23rd Street, Alidahir A. Mohamed, 29, Schuyler, cited for improper lane change.

3:35 p.m. - On Pawnee Park Drive, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Miguel A. Ruiz, 16, 3921 12th St., and Autumn M. Tindall, 16, 2516 18th St.

June 14

12:13 p.m. - At 33rd Avenue and 14th Street, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Michael W. Irby, 22, 3764 Linden Drive, and Orlando LA O Hehavaria, 45, 2610 25th St.

June 15

12:10 p.m. - At 38th Street and 33rd Avenue, traffic accident. Vehicle driven by Douglas O. Draeger, 59, Osceola.

4:24 p.m. - At 14th Avenue and Eighth Street, Timothy R. Lockhart, 30, Fremont, cited for stop sign violation.

4:24 p.m. - At Eight Street and 14th Avenue, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Timothy R. Lockhart, 30, Fremont, and Nichole D. Bixenmann, 42, 3606 Southeast Seventh St.

5:41 p.m. - In the 800 block of East 23rd Street, Stacey A. Raya, 48, 3311 17th St., jailed for third offense shoplifting.

June 16

11:48 a.m. - At 15th Street and 23rd Avenue, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Adrian F. Chlopek, 36, Fullerton, and Sherri S. Wegner, 54, 1215 10th St.

1:07 p.m. - In the 3000 block of 25th Street, Cindy L. Houdesheldt, 67, 2433 32nd St., cited for failure to maintain control.

1:07 p.m. - In the 3000 block of 25th Street, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Cindy L. Houdesheldt, 67, 2433 32nd St., and Damon J. Vogt, 44, Creston.

No time given - In the 2500 block of Fourth Avenue, George G. Schultz, 73, 10 Carriage House, jailed for second offense DUI, refusal of chemical test, refusal of PBT, open container.

3:21 p.m. - At 33rd Avenue and 13th Street, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Anthony H. Stec, 84, Sutton, and Alejandra Gill, 30, 2411 Fifth St.

4:58 p.m. - In the 3000 block of 23rd Street, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Natasha J. Becker, 17, 1322 Fifth St., and Justin J. Liss, 61, Stromsburg.

June 17

10:05 a.m. - In the 3000 block of 23rd Street, traffic accident. Vehicle driven by Chloe G. Discoe, 18, 2316 Muirfeild Place, struck parked vehicle owned by Ryan S. Siowell, 3805 22nd St.

June 18

1:39 a.m. - In the 2000 block of Pershing Road, Lance R. Pfeifer, 49, 16 Deer River Road, jailed for assault, strangulation.

2:56 p.m. - At 25th Street near East Sixth Avenue, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Jessie R. Lance, 22, 353 18th Ave., and Yordanka Semanat, 34, 3104 19th St.

3:39 p.m. - In the 2200 block of 26th Avenue, traffic accident. Vehicles driven by Evelyn Juarez Morles, 28, 1664 27th Ave., and Yordanka Semanat, 34, 3104 19th St.

June 19

10:11 p.m. - In the 2500 block of 29th Avenue, theft. Miscellaneous tools taken, $55 loss.

No time given - In the 2600 block of 25th Street, hit and run of unoccupied vehicle owned by Orlando La O Hechavarria/Elizabeth Hernandez-Gallardo, 2610 25th St.

Sheriff

June 16

12:47 a.m. - In the 4000 block of East 26th St., Jose Delgado-Martinez of Columbus cited for possession of less than 1 ounce marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

11:26 a.m. - At 18th Avenue and 83rd Street, George Schultz cited for leaving the scene of an accident.

12:14 p.m. - In the 2200 block of East 29th Street, Esther Dominguez-Alarcon jailed for no operator's license.

June 17

1:41 a.m. - Highway 30 and West 250th Avenue, Eric Shotkoski of Fullerton cited for speeding.

2 p.m. - Central Highway and West 460th Avenue, Brent Sindelar of St. Edward cited for violating stop sign, written warning for no proof of insurance, no operators license and expired registration.

2:41 p.m. - Highway 30 and East 29th Avenue, Jody R. Kuhaneck of Hanover, Kansas, jailed on driving under the influence, written warning, no headlights or taillights.

8:36 p.m. - Highway 30 and South 55th Avenue, Joel Sanchez Miranda of Columbus cited for speeding.

11:05 p.m. - Highway 30 and 350th Avenue, Omar Y. Idriss of Grand Island cited for speeding.

11:50 p.m. - Eighth Street and railroad crossing, Dustin Podoll of Columbus cited for speeding.

June 18

9:15 p.m. - At Highway 30 near T-Bone Truck Stop, Karl Kraus of Columbus cited for speeding.

9:37 p.m. - On Monastery Road and Shell Creek, Yoel Martinex Pradera of Miami, was jailed on driving under the influence, driving left of center, driving on the shoulder.

10:55 p.m. - Monastery Road and 295th Street, James Gerhold of Columbus cited for speeding.

June 19

12:47 a.m. - At 460th Street and Highway 81, Megan Nissen of Wayne cited for speeding.

2:10 a.m. - At 287th Street and Highway 81, Jazz Buttaro of Columbus cited for no operators license and issued correction card for white light to the rear.

6:17 p.m. - Monastery Road and 400th Street, Kyle Brockhaus of Humphrey cited for speeding.

Fire

June 17

1:56 p.m. - In the 2700 block of 28th Street, medical.

3:53 p.m. - In the 4000 block of 38th Street, medical.

4:57 p.m. - In the 4500 block of 38th Street, medical.

June 18

1:49 a.m. - In the 2300 block of Pershing Road, medical.

9:20 a.m. - In the 2300 block of 242nd Avenue, medical.

10:58 a.m. - In the 10 block of Lakeshore Drive, medical.

2:50 p.m. - In the 2500 block of 12th Street, medical.

7:16 p.m. - In Pawnee Park West, medical.

June 19

8:04 a.m. - In the 4700 block of 38th Street, medical.
COLUMBUS  A well-known Scotus Central Catholic graduate is heading back to his alma mater to support a new school project.

Former United States Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is scheduled to be at a dinner that will raise money for a STEAM lab/makerspace.

Hagel, a 1964 graduate of SCC who also served in the U.S. Senate, has been a longtime supporter of the local school, often giving to the annual gala. When he was contacted about giving again, Hagel was willing, but also open to doing something different, said John Schueth, the schools development director.

For a number of years, Hagel contributed a private lunch and tour of the U.S. Capitol Building for the gala.

Those trips were great, but things are so much more restrictive, as far as getting tours of the Capitol. We also wanted to do something to honor Chuck, Schueth said.

After a bit of brainstorming and consideration for Hagels accomplishments while serving the country as a member of the military and an elected and appointed official, the decision was made to hold a dinner to raise funds for the Chuck Hagel Legacy Project, which includes the STEAM lab/makerspace.

STEAM includes science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, and has been on school officials' wish list for a while. There isnt a specific fundraising goal for the project.

The skys kind of the limit. Whatever we get, we will use for a STEAM lab, Schueth said.

The dinner will be Sept. 22 at the school, 1554 18th Ave. School tours will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by a social hour at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets are $50 and must be purchased by Sept. 14.

Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran, represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate from 1997-2009 and was secretary of defense from 2013-15. In addition to attending the dinner where he will be the guest speaker, Hagel will also address the student body during an assembly earlier in the day.

The new Columbus High School has a STEM Academy that provides hands-on educational opportunities for students. Scotus lab will also include the arts to encompass creativity and innovation.

Along with the Catholic, faith-based education that is part of the entire curriculum, Scotus students using the STEAM lab will be better prepared to take on leadership roles in the established and emerging careers of our society, a press release stated.

The lab will feature equipment such as 3-D printing, robotics, graphic design, whiteboards, computers, video production, audio production and a variety of materials and experimental supplies. A makerspace will also be included that encourages students to think critically and innovatively with hands-on construction and the testing of models.

The lab will be built into the school curriculum and a location is still being selected. Schueth said the lab will be similar to the one at CHS, but on a smaller scale.

We arent thinking of a multimillion-dollar facility. Somewhere in the $100,000 to $150,000 range would be great, he said.
CLARKSON  Czech Days organizer Rob Brabec said it takes a lot of time to put the Clarkson celebration together, but the effort is worthwhile for the weekend filled with Czech dancing, accordion music, dinners and much more.

Thats what its all about, Brabec said. And plenty of beer.

The annual event is a big draw for Clarkson residents and those who have moved away as it brings the community together.

Its also a good homecoming for people to come back and visit, said Brabec. It gives the community something to look forward to every year. If you dont have something in your town, pretty soon everybody stops working together.

This year is the 55th anniversary of Czech Days, which runs Friday through Sunday and attracts people from across the state and Midwest.

I suppose the majority are within a 25-, 30-miles radius, Brabec said of the crowds. We do pull a lot of people from out of state.

Brabec, who has been on the Czech Days committee since 1989, serving as chairman for four years, said the event brings between 7,000 and 10,000 people to the small community of Clarkson, which has a population around 600.

We make room, he said.

Petr House Bed and Breakfast owner Karen Brabec  one of Robs distant relatives  said her two houses are booked for the weekend months in advance.

They are full from year to year, she said. I have one room left because someone backed out on me, and itll get filled.

Other attendees stay at area campgrounds, bed and breakfasts and hotels. The event is a nice financial boost for businesses.

Through the summer, thats my busiest time, Karen Brabec said.

She will also be celebrating a milestone during Czech Days.

Its my 50th class reunion, she said, noting that the event was scheduled for this weekend because everyone comes back home for Czech Days.

While in town, hundreds of people stop by the Clarkson Bakery, owned by Karen Brabec's daughter Kim Scott and famous for its kolaches. The fruit-filled pastry has a special place in the celebration  Scott donates a dozen for the Czech Queen and those needed for the kolache-eating contest.

Were trying to do some prep work this week because people come to Clarkson and theyre expecting their kolaches, said Scott, who hires a high school student to run a kolache stand outside the Clarkson Opera House during the weekend.

She and her crew stay up all night baking to prepare for each day.

Its a lot of hours, its hot, so you want to come home and at least sleep a little bit, but not too much, she said. Were happy to do it.

The Clarkson Museum has been preparing for Czech Days since April, according to Ruth Waters, who is president of the local historical society.

We have over 7,000 items in the museum that have to be cleaned," she said of the prep work.

She also has to recruit volunteers to help run the museum, where an estimated 600 to 700 people will check out 22 rooms filled with Czech artifacts over the weekend.

When they leave, their reaction is, Oh wow, Waters said.

With items from the 1800s to the present, Waters said "there's a lot of reminiscing for all generations" at the museum.

For more information about Czech Days, visit www.clarksonczechdays.com.
Agriculture is Nebraskas No. 1 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 No. 1 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 No. 1 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.




1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
Page Content

On 4 July 2017, the ENVE commission will hold its 14th meeting in Tallinn. On this occasion, members of the ENVE commission will discuss and adopt the following opinions:

Opinion on Environmental Implementation Review - Rapporteur: Andrew COOPER (UK/EA);

Opinion on Space Strategy for Europe - Rapporteur: Andres JAADLA (EE/ALDE).



The meeting will also represent an opportunity to the ENVE members to have an exchange of views on the role of waste-to-energy in the circular economy [Rapporteur: Kata TUTTO (HU/PES)] and climate finance as an essential tool for the implementation of the Paris Agreement [Rapporteur: Marco DUS (IT/PES)].


Mumbai: Infosys seems to be swimming in troubled waters again as its former head of immigration Erin Green slapped a lawsuit against the IT firm in the US, for discrimination against employees on the basis of ethnicity.

This is the second time that such an allegation has been made against the company. Green filed the lawsuit on June 19, according to an article in the Mint.

According to documents procured by BloombergQuint, Green, who was sacked last year, had not received any warning or performance improvement intimation prior to being sacked. He alleged that Infosys systematically discriminates against its employees and especially against those who are not South Asians. He said that this discrimination finds manifestation in hiring, promotion, compensation and termination of employees.

Green accused Vasudeva Nayak, the former head of global immigration and Binod Hampapur, executive vice-president and global head of talent and technology operations, of discrimination along lines of ethnicity. Plaintiff (Green) was terminated because of Defendants (Infosys) obsessional preference for employees of South Asian race and national origin, usually Indian, and as retaliation for reporting Nayak and Hampapurs discriminatory treatment of himself and others on the basis of race and national origin. His termination was in violation of Defendants policy which requires progressive warnings or placement on a performance improvement plan prior to termination, the complaint read.

These charges once again bring Infosys to the centre of yet another controversy while it is already battling another lawsuit along the same lines. This lawsuit was filed by four of its US employees in 2013.

Infosys, along with other Indian IT firms, is also facing an attack from the Donald Trump government as it seeks to protect jobs for US citizens.
New Delhi: Reliance Capital today said it has received approval from National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for shareholders' meeting on demerger of Reliance Home Finance, a move that will facilitate independent listing of the home finance unit on exchanges.

The company has already received 'no-objection' from the BSE and the NSE on the scheme. Listing of Reliance Home Finance is expected to be completed by September, Reliance Capital said.

For every share held in Reliance Capital, shareholders will get one share of Reliance Home Finance after listing. The proposal is expected to unlock substantial value for all existing shareholders and will benefit nearly one million shareholders of Reliance Capital. "A tribunal-convened meeting of the shareholders of the company is scheduled to be held on July 24...for consideration of the proposed scheme of arrangement for demerger of Real Estate Lending Business of the company into its wholly-owned subsidiary viz Reliance Home Finance," Reliance Capital said in a regulatory filing to stock exchanges.

Reliance Home Finance, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Reliance Capital, provides a wide range of solutions like home loans, construction finance and affordable housing loans.

As on March 31, 2017, Reliance Home Finance has an asset base of Rs 11,174 crore.
Sources had said that 51% or more of the airlines stake could be sold by the Centre to a private entity.

New Delhi: Will the wheel eventually turn a full circle decades after the private Tata Airlines was renamed as Air India and subsequently nationalised by the government as the national carrier?

Speculation has been triggered following reports by a TV channel that the Tata Group  in partnership with Singapore Airlines  may be interested in acquiring a majority 51 per cent stake in Air India, if it is privatised by the government.

According to TV reports, a top functionary of the Tata Group is believed to have held informal talks with the government to explore the possibility of acquiring majority stake in the carrier.

If this happens, it would mean that the Tatas would once again be partners in an airline which once belonged to them.

The government currently owns 100 per cent stake in Air India and is the ow-ner of the national carrier. In 1932, J.R.D. Tata had started Tata Airlines, which was later renamed as Air India in 1946 and subsequently nationalised in 1953.

The Tata Group is currently a partner in two domestic airlines in the country. It has partnered with Singapore Airlines in Vistara and with Malaysia-based low cost carrier AirAsia in AirAsia India.

Just about four years ago in 2013, the Tatas had indicated that they could consider investing in Air India in case it is privatised in the years to come.

In 2000, when the NDA was in power, Tata and Singapore Airlines had jointly bid for the 40 per cent disinvestment of Air India but withdrew from it in December, 2001. The disinvestment of Air India ultimately did not take place then due to political opposition.

Air India appears to be inching towards privatisation, with the Cabinet expected to take a final decision eventually on the airlines fate. Top government sources had said recently that a major issue under consideration is the `50,000 crore debt that the airline is reeling under.

Sources had said finance minister Arun Jaitley is expected to take a final view on how much of the debt, the government will shoulder by waiving it off.

The sources had said that 51 per cent or more of the airlines stake could be sold by the government to a private entity, which will then mean that the airline is privatised.

Another option is that the government allows Air India to remain a national carrier by controlling at least 51 per cent stake.

Air India has incurred losses worth thousands of crores but is surviving based on a government bailout package of Rs 30,000 crore that began during the tenure of the UPA-2 government. But this figure could go upto even Rs 50,000 crore in the next five years, with government sources saying that the government has infused an equity of about Rs 25,000 crore into Air India in the past five years.

Air India has a debt burden of about Rs 50,000 crore and a large part of it is due to the loans taken for acquisition of 111 aircraft (68 for Air India and 43 for the erstwhile Indian Airlines) in 2005-06.

A financial Turnaround Plan was put in place for the airline in 2012 but the NDA government, after three years in power, is now convinced that the TAP will not succeed in making the airline profitable. Though Air India had reported an operating profit in 2015-16, these huge debts continue to be insurmountable.
New Delhi: The Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha on Tuesday reviewed the overall preparedness for the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1.

At a meeting attended by secretaries of 30 ministries connected with GST, Sinha asked all involved to take full responsibility of their stakeholders, and for the successful implementation of the GST.

The meeting also held video conferencing with about 167 Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) over GST.

The Cabinet Secretary expressed his satisfaction over the preparedness of different ministries and PSUs for the launch of the GST with effect from July 1.

However, Sinha asked the team members to leave no stone unturned for the effective and smooth implementation on the new tax regime by educating and involving all the concerned stakeholders.

The focus of the review was on the progress made by PSUs in getting ready for GST and preparation in their IT system as well.

Other aspects included the arrangements made by the departments for opening the GST Facilitation Cell and a Call Center to guide their respective 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, and other related issues.
New Delhi: The commerce ministry today said it is engaged in an inter-departmental consultation to resolve issues of exporters related with Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The GST related concerns were raised by exporters during the second meeting of the Board of Trade, chaired by Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here today. "The government is fully seized with the concerns of the exporters and is engaged in intensive inter-departmental consultations with Department of Revenue on their concerns related to GST," an official statement quoting Sitharaman said.

She directed the officers of the departments of commerce, revenue and Directorate General of Foreign Trade to consider all the issues appropriately for the mid-term review of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP). Exporters have raised issues pertaining to timely refund of duties under the new indirect tax regime, which will be implemented from July 1.

The review of the FTP (2015-20) was launched in April last year and it was due on September 1 this year. It was preponed so that the policy is in sync with the changes being brought about to GST regime. "The representatives of industry expressed their concerns on few issues of GST, especially blocking of working capital due to refund instead of exemption of IGST on import of raw material and capital goods for export," it said.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of industry, Export Promotion Councils and Commodity Boards. The official side was represented by secretaries of commerce, industry, pharmaceuticals and senior officers from Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Civil Aviation, among others.
New Delhi: The government has permitted banks and post offices to deposit junked Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes with the Reserve Bank by July 20.

This is the second window the government has provided to banks, post offices and cooperative banks for depositing the junked notes with RBI.

The earlier window was open till December 31, a day after the 50-day period of demonetisation of high value currency.

"Such specified bank notes may be deposited by such bank, post office or district central cooperative bank, as the case may be, in any office of the Reserve Bank, within a period of 30 days from the commencement of these rules," said a government notification.

It further said that they should get the exchange value by credit to the account of such subject to the satisfaction of the RBI of the conditions specified.

RBI will accept deposits collected by any bank or post office by December 30, 2016 or by any District Central Cooperative Bank from November 10-14, 2016 should be deposited within 30 days, the notification said.

They should also cite valid reasons for non-deposit of the specified bank notes within the period, it said. Old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were junked from November 8, 2016 to eliminate black money and curb infusion and circulation of fake Indian currency notes (FICNs).

India is the second-largest producer and consumer of currency notes. Circulation of banknotes has increased to 90.27 billion pieces from 64.58 billion over the last five years.

As on November 8, 2016, the total amount of currency in circulation was Rs 17.7 lakh crore, which included specified bank notes (SBNs) of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

As per the last official count released by RBI on December 13, banks had garnered Rs 12.44 lakh crore in banned notes till December 10.
Mumbai: The Finance Ministry said district central cooperative banks can surrender their stockpile of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 scrapped notes with the Reserve Bank of India by July 20, according to a report on NDTV.

These banks have also been allowed to exchange the value of old notes by seeking new legal tenders. This is the second window provided by the government for depositing demonetised notes.

Finance Ministry statement

"Specified bank notes may be deposited by such Bank, Post Office or District Central Cooperative Bank, as the case may be, in any office of the Reserve Bank, within a period of 30 days from the commencement of these rules, and get the exchange value thereof by credit to the account of such Bank, Post Office or District Central Cooperative Bank, as the case may be, subject to the satisfaction of the Reserve Bank of the conditions specified in the said notification and the reasons for non-deposit of the specified bank notes within the period under that notification," read a government notification.

They should also cite valid reasons for non-deposit of the specified bank notes within the period, it said.

Earlier, reports had claimed that a number of district central cooperative banks did not have enough cash to give them to farmers. The situation has been worse in Maharashtra which has been facing massive farmer revolts.

Many cooperative banks said the RBI had not been accepting their huge stockpile of old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes that were banned under the demonetisation drive started on November 8 last year.

Nashik's District Central Cooperative Bank told NDTV they still have a stockpile of Rs 340 crore in these junk notes. "Unless this money is converted to new, payments will be hard to make," NDTV quoted Narendra Darade, Chairman of Nashik's DCCB as saying.

The 'abrupt' notes recall decision sucked out a total currency worth Rs 15 lakh crore form the banking system thus leading to long queues outside ATM booths and bank branches across the country.
Mumbai: After the critically acclaimed Talvar, Meghna Gulzar is flagging off the screen adaptation of Harinder Sikkas book, Calling Sehmat, which has Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal in the lead roles. Alia is also known for experimenting her roles, be it her role in Highway, Udta Punjab or Dear Zindagi and we have seen Vicky portraying variety of roles from playing a boy next door in Masaan to a top cop in Raman Raghav 2.0.

The director has conducted a workshop for the actors to get in the skin of their characters. Alia and Vicky would be given hands on training on the film and on the kind of performance the director expects from them.

It is a story of a Kashmiri woman, who is married to a Pakistani Army Officer and so Alia and Vicky are training on the dialect and accent as well as the general features of the character. The film is set against the backdrop of the 1971 war and it is a very real drama and thus the feelings expressed have to be absolutely authentic.

Alia will be seen playing a Kashmiri woman working for the Indian intelligence, spying on her husband, a Pak armyman, played by Vicky.

The team has joined for workshops for a couple of weeks before they begin shooting at the end of this month. It will be interesting to see this unique pairing of experimental actors together in this movie.
Mumbai: Son of late veteran actor Vinod Khanna, Sakshi Khanna, is all set to launch his career in Bollywood with none other than the veteran producer-director of Btown Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB).

Now we hear that the young actors dream debut with one of the most celebrated directors will have to wait for some time. SLB, who was to produce the film under his production house SLB films, has postponed Sakshis debut flick as the team is occupied with Padmavati.

When we contacted SLB Films, the spokesperson said, Bhansali Productions is currently busy with Padmavati as the shooting is underway. Given the scale of the film the production house has their hands full.

The untitled film was also supposed to mark the directorial debut of casting director Mukesh Chhabra. In a recent interview with a leading news agency, Chhabra had revealed that it (the film) is going to be a love story.

On April 27, Sakshis father Vinod Khanna died after a prolonged battle with cancer. Sakshi is his third son.
Mumbai: Rapper Prodigy, one half of the hip-hop duo Mobb Deep, has died at the age of 42.

The news of his death was confirmed by his publicist in a statement, which read, "It is with extreme sadness and disbelief that we confirm the death of our dear friend Albert Johnson, better known to millions of fans as Prodigy of legendary NY rap duo Mobb Deep."

The statement also noted that the 'Saga' hit-maker was hospitalized a few days ago in Vegas after a Mobb Deep performance for complications caused by a sickle cell anaemia crisis.

The statement continued, "As most of his fans know, Prodigy battled the disease since birth. The exact causes of death have yet to be determined. We would like to thank everyone for respecting the family's privacy at this time."

The artist suffered from health issues throughout his life.

Prodigy first broke out onto the music scene with his partner, Havoc, forming Mobb Deep in their hometown New York City in the 1990s.

The duo participated in high profile feuds during their early years, and once had beef during the media-fuelled East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry with Tupac and Biggie Smalls.

Prodigy launched a solo career in 2000, releasing mix-tapes in collaboration with a range of producers including Un Pacino, Big Twins, and the Alchemist.

Prodigy spent most of a three and a half year sentence in a medium-security dorm at the Mid-State Correctional Facility in New York State after agreeing to a plea deal over weapons charges in 2007.

Fellow musicians such as Nicki Minaj and Nasir Jones offered their condolences over social media.
After canning a few action scenes for his upcoming film Jai Lava Kusa, Jr NTR is now shooting romantic scenes with Nivetha Thomas and Raashi Khanna.

Presently key scenes between the Jr NTR and the two female leads are being shot on a special set at RFC, says a source from the unit. The actor is playing three different roles in the film which is likely to release in the first week of September.

Balakrishnas film has already been announced for a Dasara release and Jr NTR doesnt want to compete with his uncle. So, he now plans to release the film a bit early. And the shoot has been planned accordingly, adds the source.

K.S. Ravindra (Bobby) is the director of the film which has story by Kona Venkat. Jr NTRs brother Kalyan Ram is producing the film.
Bond's autobiography, which he said he wrote after much persuasion by friends, is an account of a life well lived and "by and large, without regrets" (Photo: AFP)

Mumbai: Believe it or not, but a "mildly erotic" story almost landed writer Ruskin Bond in jail.

Speaking at the launch of his autobiography 'Lone Fox Dancing' at the Taj Mahal Hotel here yesterday, the Mussoorie-based author recalled how a non-bailable warrant was issued against him during the Emergency.

"A constable from Bombay brought the warrant up to Mussoorie. He was a very nice man and I took him to the pictures," he said.

The popular author of children's book said he had to finally appear in a Bombay court, and the case dragged on for about two years.

"It wasn't much fun at all," he said. "But in the end, I got an Honourable acquittal and the judge said he enjoyed the story too," Bond said.

The story -- The Sensualist -- appeared in a magazine called Debonair.

"It was a mildly erotic story about a recluse who reminisces about his misspent youth; but it was no Lady Chatterley's Lover," Bond writes in his autobiography.

However, the writer went on to say the reason behind the warrant was not the story alone, but perhaps also that he was editing the Imprint magazine during the Emergency, when strict restrictions had been imposed on the media.

"But I was a cautious man...I used to just write editorials on trees, wild flowers and the environment in general...So we managed to survive that period," he told the gathering at the book launch.

Did he bring the matter up with then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi when he met her?

"No. I guess she already knew about it. In fact, I was still under trial when I met her," Bond said.

When asked if he played safe at the meeting, too, by talking about birds and trees with the prime minister, he replied, "Yes, she was very interested in nature".

Born and brought up in British India, the 83-year-old writer left for England in the 1950s for better prospects, only to realise he had left his heart behind in India.

"India was home. It wasn't just my mother's or step- father's home, home was the land itself... The soil here. I never owned any property in my life and yet I believe everything here belongs to me. The entire country belongs to me," he said.

So, Bond added, he returned to India "for the relationships, the friends, the attachments -- those were the things I couldn't find there in England".

But the octogenarian recalled that he was once asked to pay the entry fee for foreigners at the Sun Temple in Konark, and had a hard time proving he was not a foreigner.

The otherwise lucid narrator said he failed to convince the man at the ticket counter about his Indian identity, while a Sikh man holding a British passport standing next to him easily made it through.

"I asked the Sikh gentleman, 'Where were you born?'. He said, 'Birmingham'. And I was born in PEPSU, what was the Patiala East Punjab States Union. So I was more Sikh than he was," he said, leaving the audience in splits.

Bond's autobiography, which he said he wrote after much persuasion by friends, is an account of a life well lived and "by and large, without regrets".
Thiruvananthapuram: The shortage of doctors in health service department has badly hit disease control, prevention and treatment activities across the state amid increasing cases of fever. The existing doctors strength is based on the staff pattern which was finalised in 1966. According to Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) ideally the health department should have 8,000 to 9,000 doctors considering the huge work load in 1,250 hospitals including district, taluk and general hospitals.

Increase in staff strength has been a major demand of the KGMOA in view of the shortage of doctors in all categories including assistant surgeons, specialists and specialist (admn) cadre. With the existing doctors taking the extra load because of the fever related patient rush, the health care services in many hospitals have been adversely affected. Besides many doctors are forced to work for 12 to 15 hours continuously. Most regular doctors are handling administrative responsibilities of DMO, DHS, additional directors and heads of disease control programmes and their services towards public health sector are limited. Moreover, specialists and general medics have limited experience in operational and management issues.

Though the health department had raised an exclusive administrative cadre for non-specialist doctors, none is trained in public health issues. Even health and sanitation staff, ASHA workers who are responsible for ground-level disease prevention activities are over burdened with various other responsibilities. Meanwhile, health minister K. K. Shailaja admitted that shortage of doctors had adversely affected fever control measures across the state. She said the services of doctors from the private sector would be requisitioned in view of the increasing fever cases.
Mumbai: A Mumbai based lawyer was repeatedly molested and groped by a male co-passenger mid-air in a Delhi-Mumbai flight on Monday morning.

The accused, a Gurgaon resident, Mohit Kanvar was arrested by Sahar police for the incident.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, the accused allegedly continued touching the woman, sitting next to him, even after she complained to the air hostess.

The woman then informed the pilot about the incident and was allowed to change her seat. When she got her seat changed, he allegedly asked her: You do not like to be touched?

The woman said that around 8.30 am, mid-flight, the accused touched her with his left hand and left leg.

When the victim turned to ask the man to sit properly, she saw that he had kept his eyes closed. She then pulled down the arm rest to distance herself from him.

Kanvar then folded his right arm towards her and groped her again. This time, she alerted the air hostess, who advised the man to sit properly. But he abused her for the rebuke.

Once the plane landed at the CST International Airport, Mumbai, the pilot alerted the Sahar police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Kanvar was arrested and booked under section 354 (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has backed National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) Presidential nominee Bihar Governor Ramnath Kovind and has said that with his illustrious background in the legal arena, the latter's knowledge and understanding of the Constitution would benefit the nation.

Prime Minister Modi on Monday took to Twitter and, in a series of tweets, said, "Shri Ram Nath Kovind, a farmer's son, comes from a humble background. He devoted his life to public service & worked for poor and marginalised. With his illustrious background in the legal arena, Shri Kovind's knowledge and understanding of the Constitution will benefit the nation. I am sure Shri Ram Nath Kovind will make an exceptional President & continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised."

Earlier in the day, the NDA announced Bihar Governor Ramnath Kovind as its candidate for the upcoming Presidential polls.

The announcement was made in a press briefing by BJP national president Amit Shah.

Shah further said that the saffron party hoped that the Dalit nominee, Kovind, would remain unchallenged as the choice and would be unanimously selected as the President of India.

Shah also informed that the BJP leaders have talked to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who told them that they would hold discussions over the Presidential nominee and proceed further.

The parliamentary board of the BJP met in Delhi on Monday to discuss the upcoming Presidential election.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari and M Venkaiah Naidu and other senior party leaders deliberated on the names for the top constitutional post.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Naidu had earlier met Communist Party of India (CPI) leaders D. Raja and Sudhakar Reddy at the latter's party office over presidential elections.

Naidu also spoke to Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav and Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders Ram Gopal Yadav and Naresh Agrawal over phone and met Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and senior Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Satish Chandra Mishra in this regard.

The BJP formed a panel for parleys with the Opposition as Sonia constituted a sub-group of the opposition parties for the Presidential election to create troubled waters for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the country's coveted post.

Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, TMC leader Derek O'Brien, Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav, BSP's Satish Chandra Mishra, DMK leader R. S. Bharathi and NCP's Praful Patel are part of the sub-group.

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 25.

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.
Chennai: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Tuesday staged another walkout from the Tamil Nadu Assembly following their dissatisfaction over Chief Minister E Palanisamy's "unacceptable" reply on the question of cattle trade regulations.

After the walkout, DMK working president M K Stalin addressed the media and said, "The Chief Minister's reply on the cattle trade regulations is not acceptable. He should condemn the issue as the Kerala Chief Minister is doing. He should at least bring a notification regarding the slaughter issue."

This is the DMK's fifth consecutive walkout from the Assembly after discussions on the alleged sting operation of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MLAs accepting bribes were not allowed to take place.

Earlier on June 19, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal ruled that the DMK Compact Disc (CD) submitted to raise the issue of alleged horse-trading of some AIADMK MLAs was only a TV channel's video footage with no evidential value.

The issue could not be allowed to be raised in the House based on the media reportage, be it print or visual, Dhanapal said, adding the CD submitted by DMK legislator K Pichandi only contained footage aired by a television channel.

Matters pending before the court too cannot be raised, Dhanapal said adding that allowing discussion on such matters would go against the House rules and traditions.

Stalin had earlier expressed dissatisfaction over Palanisamy's reply on the R K Nagar by-poll irregularities.

Stalin, whose party along with the Congress, staged a walkout from the state's Assembly after the Chief Minister's reply, said that Palanisamy gave a very vague answer when questioned about the case.

This development came after the Election Commission on Sunday, in a response to Right to Information (RTI) query, directed an FIR against AIADMK leaders T T V Dinakaran, Palanisamy, Vijayabhaskar, Sellur K Raju, Thangamani, Sengotaiyan and Velumani in R K Nagar by-poll bribery case.

The EC in a statement said that it had received a report from the income tax department regarding the search and seizure of certain documents indicating large scale distribution of money to bribe voters to influence the by-polls in R K Nagar Assembly Constituency which is an offence under Section 171-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The commission has demanded a quick and appropriate action in the matter.
Madhya Pradesh's Congress President Arun Yadav said they performed this asana to draw attention of the ruling government towards the miserable situation of the farmers. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

Bhopal: The Congress held a unique protest for the Mandsaur farmer killings on Wednesday through Yoga, also commemorating the International Yoga day at the same time.

Party workers performed 'shavaasana' (a relaxing posture said to resemble a dead body), to mark their protest against the recent death of six farmers in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district in police firing.

The 'protest yoga' was observed in front of the party office in wake of the recent widespread protest in the state demanding fair price for their crops.

Madhya Pradesh's Congress President Arun Yadav said they performed this asana to draw attention of the ruling government towards the miserable situation of the famers.

Mandsaur has become the epicentre of farmers' agitation over a demand for loan waivers and better prices for their produce.

During an agitation, six farmers were gunned down by the police, subsquently drawing criticism from political parties. The situation forced the district officials to impose Section 144, and restricted prominent personalities from visiting the violence-hit district.

A number of political leaders, including Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and social activists, tried to visit Mandsaur but the police didn't let them enter the area.

Section 144 was later revoked ahead of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's visit to the families of the deceased farmers.
New Delhi: The Army has rejected an indigenously built assault rifle, citing poor quality and ineffective fire power, and is soon likely to take a fresh call on procuring similar weapons to replace the INSAS rifles.

The Army decided to reject the 7.62x51 mm guns built by the Rifle Factory Ishapore after they miserably failed the firing tests last week.

Official sources said there were "excessive number of faults" in the guns and "complete redesigning of the magazine" was needed to consider the guns to be used by the Army.

"Excessive flash and sound signature" were observed in the rifles during the trials, they said adding reliability aspect of the weapons needs comprehensive analysis.

The rifles had excessive number of faults and stoppages to the extent of more than twenty times the maximum permissible standards, the sources said.

The Army last year had rejected another indigenously-built assault rifle called the 5.56 mm Excalibur guns as it did not meet the required standards.

A high-level meeting will be held on Thursday to decide about procurement of assault rifles for the armed forces. The meeting is likely to deliberate on specifications required for the assault rifles.

The meeting is being attended by representatives of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy besides top officials of the Defence Ministry.

The Army last year had floated Request for Proposal for the assault guns and around 20 firms had responded to it.

The Army badly needs the assault rifles it is learnt to have been disappointed over delay in their procurement.
Hundreds of people from North east protest in front of Town Hall to extend support for Gorkhaland, in Bengaluru on Tuesday Shashidhar B

Bengaluru: Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of Town Hall in Bengaluru on Tuesday to extend their support for a separate Gorkhaland which has turned into a burning issue in Darjeeling and surrounding areas.

The protesters condemned the atrocities being committed against the agitators by the forces in Darjeeling, which is in the middle of an indefinite strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

Tuesday marked the seventh day of the strike, and protests have spread to Delhi, Bengaluru and other major cities of the country.

Members of the North East community, who are large in number, pursuing various professions in Bengaluru, gathered for the protest in front of Town hall, with Mr Rahul Rai, president of NEP India Foundation, leading them.

Many protesters held placards and Indian flags, while some, dressed in their regional attire, chanted

We Want Gorkhaland. They wanted Nepali language and their identity to be protected.

They were categorical that they dont want to be part of West Bengal.

The people are scared to go back to their hometowns as the situation is bad in Darjeeling. People belonging to North Bengali Hills are protesting not only in Bengaluru, but all over the country. A meeting will take place in Siliguri on Thursday and later with the Centre. Some result is expected, and we hope that our demand will be met, Mr Rai said.

Now, the entire future generation has become aware of the value of their identity. We have no political agenda and this is purely a peoples movement. For a long time, the people in the Hills were anticipating imposition of Bengali language on them, and it has happened now, he said

The protest has now become more about their identity as Gorkhalis. Sadly, we are still not recognised as citizens of this country, he added.

Mr Rai said that there will be further protests in Bengaluru depending on the situation in Darjeeling.
New Delhi: India and Russia held discussions this week to enhance their cooperation in the field of science and technology.

Ashutosh Sharma, secretary, Department of Science and Technology, who was on a three-day visit to the Eurasian nation, met top Russian scientists regarding establishment of joint cooperation in areas of big data and cyber physical systems.

He also signed a new MoU with the Fund for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE).

This aims at facilitating joint efforts to support enterprises to improve their international competitiveness through cooperation, innovative activities and technology transfer in jointly defined thematic areas.

In St Petersburg, Sharma visited the Ioffe Physico- Technical Institute to explore new cooperation opportunities between the two countries in the area of clean energy.

He further met the head of the Russian Science Foundation to launch a second call for projects, thus marking successful implementation of the first call which has resulted in 17 joint basic and exploratory research projects.

One more meeting with Federal Agency for Scientific Organisations (FASO) was focused on implementing the MoU in the field of science, technology and innovation that was signed in 2016.

The agreement is expected to enhance closer interaction between scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the scientists of India.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar greets Governor Ram Nath Kovind on being announced as NDAs presidential candidate, in Patna on Monday. (Photo: PTI)

Patna (Bihar): In a major blow to the Opposition, the Janata Dal (United) on Wednesday confirmed they will skip Opposition's meet on Presidential election on Thursday and support the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind, party spokesperson KC Tyagi said.

"All the leaders have decided that we will support Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president. He is Bihar's first Governor who has been nominated for this post. We are very happy with this, it is the matter of Bihar's development," Senior JD (U) leader Ratnesh Sada said after meeting all the party leaders here.

The development comes ahead of the major Opposition meeting slated to be held on Thursday.

Earlier on June 19, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that a thorough discussion will be held on the matter within the Janata Dal (United) party.

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 "I had a word with Laluji and Sonia Gandhi, and there will be discussion on this. I have told them about my views".

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 election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17. President Pranab Mukherjee will demit office on July 24.
Chennai: Justice C.S. Karnan, retired Calcutta high court judge, who was on the run for 40 days since he vanished from government guest house in Chennai on May 10 was arrested from a private guest house in Malumachampatti in Coimbatore by a West Bengal police team headed by DGP Raj Kanojia. on Tuesday.

A seven-member constitution bench headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice J. S. Khehar, sentenced Karnan, then sitting Calcutta HC judge, for six months imprisonment on May 9 in a contempt case.

"We have arrested him finally. And will be taking him to Kolkata immediately," a relieved Raj Kanojia, who had been hunting for the judge who was on the run for the last 40 days, told this newspaper on Tuesday night.

At Coimbatore airport on Tuesday night Karnan, belonging to Dalit community, told reporters that he was not a terrorist. Though the West Bengal police team members were not ready to disclose the details on how they tracked the judge, who retired on June 12, sources said that the WB police had been tracking him systematically by following his mobile phone signals.

He was untraceable for some days when he was not using phone and when he was not contacting people from his close circle, sources said. When contacted his lawyer Mathews J. Nedumpara said that he will be moving Karnans bail petition at Supreme Court on Wednesday.

According to sources, though Karnan had vanished on May 10 from Chennai he was holed in the city for some days before moving to Panangad at Kochi in Kerala. However he shifted to a lawyer's house in Namakkal 10 days back and later shifted to a guest house in Malumachampatti in Coimbatore from where the WB police arrested him on Tuesday.

Karnan had earlier moved the top court for the suspension of his sentence and sought review of the May 9 order but he did not get any relief. His plea for review was declined on technical grounds without its coming before the seven judges bench.

His lawyer had repeatedly told apex court the detailed order holding him guilty of contempt was never made available to him after May 9 - something he was entitled to like any other litigant. The delay in the arrest of Karnan, was a saving grace for the judiciary and avoided the scenario of a serving judge of a high court being sent to jail.
Karnan is the first sitting High Court judge to be awarded a jail term by apex court. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

New Delhi: A day after retired Kolkata High Court judge CS Karnan was arrested, the Congress party on Wednesday dubbed the former as a 'rotten egg' and asserted that he should have been more mindful as it was a high office which he adorned.

Senior advocate and Congress leader K.T.S Tulsi said that he is ashamed of the way Karnan conducted himself, while adding that it is appalling to him that why did the retired judge instigate a tirade against the judiciary, which serves the nation like a mother.

Averring that Karnan's behaviour became bad to worse Tulsi added that the former should have known that no judge is a free agent as is controlled by law.

"It's a very unfortunate episode, it's unprecedented. Nobody has misbehaved to this extent. There can be rotten eggs in every system. Justice Karnan has been conducting himself in an improper manner for a long time. He has embarrassed his colleagues in Madras High Court and after that he was transferred and it was thought that he will be chastened, but his behaviour went on from bad to worse. And then he started threatening and challenging the authorities of the Supreme Court," said Tulsi.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has refused to suspend the six-month imprisonment sentence for Karnan, in a contempt of court case.

A vacation bench of the apex court headed by Justice DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to give any relief in the matter.

Mathew J Nedumpara, lawyer appearing for Karnan, mentioned the matter before the vacation bench of the top court.

Nedumpara pleaded to the Apex Court seeking bail and suspension of the six months jail sentence, to which the court observed, "The seven judge bench had passed the order. It binds everybody. It binds us also."

Karnan was arrested by the Kolkata police in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu on Tuesday and brought to the national capital.

Justice Karnan's close aide and his counsel confirmed the arrest, adding that he would move the Supreme Court 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 on transit remand.
New Delhi: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday announced to waive off short term loan of farmers till Rs 50,000 availed till June 20, 2017 from cooperative banks.

With this, loans worth Rs 8165 crores will be waived, which will benefit around 22,27,506 farmers across state.

In these critical times, our govt will waive farmer loans upto Rs. 50000, availed till 20/06/2017 from cooperative banks. #EmpoweringKtaka  CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) June 21, 2017

"Farmers are in distress. They have been demanding loan waiver. We have to respond to farmers, even though it will have an impact on state's finances," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.

Following the announcement which brings major relief to farmers, Siddaramaiah will consider the acute drought and waive farmer loans from commercial banks.

On behalf of our farmers, I request @PMOIndia to consider the acute drought & waive farmer loans from commercial banks. #EmpoweringKtaka  CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) June 21, 2017

Further stating that the state government is strongly 'pro-farmer', the Chief Minister stated that Karnataka is the first state in country to transfer input subsidies directly to bank accounts of farmers.

Earlier on June 19, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh 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.

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 state government also decided to raise the ex-gratia for suicide affected families to Rs. 5 lakh from Rs.3 lakh.

On June 11, Maharashtra Government announced complete loan waiver to farmers.

The government has decided to form a committee to set the criteria to waive off loans.

However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley earlier in June had said the Centre would not fund for loan waivers for farmers, adding that the states must fund for this on their own expense.
Former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan upon his arrival at the airport in Kolkata on Wednesday. (Photo: PTI)

Kolkata: Arrested former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan was taken to a state-run hospital this evening when he complained of chest pain after he was brought from Chennai and sent to the Presidency correctional home (jail) in Kolkata.

"Karnan complained of chest pain at the airport itself. He was checked by our doctors there and then brought to the Presidency correctional home where he complained that his chest pain had aggravated," a senior official at the Presidency correctional home (jail) said.

It was learnt that the 62-year-old Karnan's blood pressure was found to be quite high and doctors at the Presidency correctional home prescribed him to be taken to the state-run SSKM hospital for further check-up.

Asked whether Karnan was likely to be admitted to the hospital, the officer said it depended on the doctors who were conducting the medical check-up of the former judge.

"He is old and seems to be unwell too. We do not want to take any chance. An ECG was done on him," he said.

Earlier, a team of state CID officers brought him by an Air India flight, a senior police officer said.

Karnan, dressed in white shirt and trouser, came out of the airport escorted by policemen in civil dress. He was whisked away by the police when the reporters tried to approach him.

Tight security arrangements were made at the airport where senior police officers, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, were present.

Karnan had been evading arrest since the May 9 Supreme Court order awarding him a six-month jail term and was arrested on Tuesday night by a team of West Bengal CID from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km from Coimbatore, where he was allegedly hiding for the past few days.

The former high court judge was brought to Chennai from Coimbatore by a private airline past midnight on Tuesday and later accommodated in the retiring room in the airport complex amid tight security.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping in Coimbatore who traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls. Tamil Nadu police provided the technical support to trace his whereabouts, a senior local police officer had said.

Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, had retired from service on June 12 as a fugitive.

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, had sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.
New Delhi: Prakash Ambedkar, a former MP and grandson of B R Ambedkar, is emerging as the top pick of Left parties for the presidential election.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury is holding informal consultations with the Congress and non-NDA parties to know their opinion about his candidature, sources in Left parties said on.

"We are thinking of Prakash Ambedkar. If the Congress and other opposition parties agree, we will put him up (for the July 17 presidential election)," a source in the Left camp said.

63-year-old Prakash is a former Lok Sabha member from Akola in Maharashtra and is the leader of Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh.

The Left parties are firm that the opposition must put up its candidate against NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind, though they are well aware that the numbers are loaded against them, the sources said.

"It will be a political contest, we are not expecting to win the election," a top Left leader said.

Senior leaders of non-NDA parties, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, NCP president Sharad Pawar and Yechury, are slated to meet on Thursday to discuss the issue.

Earlier it was learned that besides Ambedkar, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, ex-Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, CPI national secretary D Raja and retired diplomat Gopal Krishna Gandhi are being considered as probable contenders by Opposition parties.

The JD(U) has decided to back the candidature of the NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, party MLA Ratnesh Sada said on Wednesday.

"The JD(U) has decided to back Kovind's candidature in the presidential election," Sada told reporters, claiming that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is also the JD(U) national president, as having told the party legislators about it at a meeting on Wednesday morning.

"The chief minister told us that the JD(U) will support Kovind's candidature in the presidential election as he is a good man. There were about 60 JD(U) MLAs present in the meeting and they echoed the chief minister's view," Sada said.

The JD(U) legislators said at the meeting that it was "a matter of pride for Bihar" that a governor serving the state had been made a candidate for the president's post, the JD(U) MLA from Sonbarsa in Saharsa district said.

JD(U) national spokesperson K C Tyagi, however, said that the party would make clear its stand on the presidential election after its core group meeting, being presided by the chief minister.

The JD(U)'s stand to back Kovind in the presidential election would be a setback to the opposition unity.

The 18-member opposition group is scheduled to meet in Delhi on Thursday to take a decision on the issue after the Congress and some other opposition parties made it clear that they would oppose Kovind's candidature.
Hyderabad: Indian workers in Saudi Arabia will be hit hard, starting July 1, as the kingdom doubles the annual visa charges for their dependents from Saudi Riyal (SR) 50 to SR 100 per month for each dependent. Worse, the charges will double again next year and again by 2020. Blue-collar workers earning SR 900 (about Rs 15,514) to SR 1,500 (Rs 25,860) a month will be the hardest hit, and many of them are from Telangana.

At present, non-Saudi workers on a Iqamah, or work visa, have to pay SR 50 (`862) per month for each dependent. From July 1, that charge doubles to SR 100 (Rs 1,724). Mohammad Riyaz from Old City, who has settled in Saudi, said that the charges are mandatory for those who want to keep their family in the kingdom. Companies pay for the Iqamah, but not for dependent visas, but they give us proper supporting documents to obtain dependent visas, Riyaz said.

Riyaz has been in the Saudi for 10 years, with his wife and two daughters. From July, I have to pay SR 3,600 per annum on dependent visas, apart from paying for my childrens education. Next year, the visa charges go up to SR 7,200, in 2019 it will be SR 10,800, and in 2020 it will be SR 14,400. My salary is SR 2,000 per month now, and I may get increment of SR 500 in 2020. Ill be spending half my salary on dependent visas. Most workers like me will have to send their families back to India. I cant even imagine the situation of workers earning less than I do. Shaik Chand Pasha, president of the Gulf Returned Welfare Members Society, said that blue collar workers from Telangana will bear the brunt of the hike in charges.
80% of burns cases are on account of stove, gas, boiling water and kerosene.

Hyderabad: Seventy per cent of burns patients come to Gandhi Hospital from Nalgonda, Mahbunagar, Medak, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Adilabad districts, since there is no proper infection control unit in the area hospitals in these districts.

Dr A. Subodh Kumar, head of the department of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Gandhi Hospital, said, Eighty per cent of the burns cases are caused by stove, gas, boiling water and kerosene. These patients are kept in the ward from one month to three months, depending on the severity of their burns. They require different procedures like debriment, skin grafting and flaps and those are very expensive in private hospitals.

In the districts, the patients get only first aid treatment and are then referred to the tertiary centre for infection control for other procedures.

Which is why, despite there being 59 beds in Gandhi Hospital, there is still always a dearth of beds as the number of patients is very high.

Gandhi Hospital superintendent Dr P. Shravan Kumar said, On an average there are 4 to 5 new cases of burn injuries on a daily basis. In the year 2016, the unit had a total of 1,500 cases.

Yet there are challenges as the hospital has a shortage of paramedical staff to do daily dressings for these patients, which helps in faster recovery.

A senior doctor explained, The proposal of increasing the paramedical staff has been sent to the government as it is required in both critical care and emergency sectors.

With this high number and with prolonged treatment procedures, accommodating all patients is difficult.

The proposal to develop burns and reconstructive units in the area hospitals of the government has not met with a favourable response.

A senior government officer on condition of anonymity explained, Units like burns and reconstructive surgeries require highly specialised care and there is a need for full-time doctors and paramedical staff.

He further adds that the government has to ensure that the doctors are available and willing to stay away from the city in these districts.

Till this challenge is met the burden in the teaching hospitals is going to continue, said government doctors.
Yoga by Himveers of ITBP at 18000 ft in Ladakh, Himalayas (Photo: ITBP_official/Twitter)

Ladakh: Joining the nation in celebrating the third edition of International Yoga Day, the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force on Wednesday performed yoga at nearly 18000 feet above the sea level in Ladakh at biting -25Celsius.

Navy personnel also joined in the celebrations and performed Yoga onboard Indian Naval Ship (INS) Jalashwa and Kirch in the Bay of Bengal.

ITBP personnel celebrated yoga at various locations across India, including Himachal Pradesh's Kullu, Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon District, Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district.

This year the theme of the day is 'Yoga for Harmony and Peace'. The yoga protocol began on Wednesday at 7 a.m. and lasted for 45 minutes.

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the International Yoga Day celebrations in Lucknow.

The entire world has been equally thrilled and pumped up to observe the occasion, taking a pledge to keep their body, mind and soul fit.

The age-old Indian practice has brought people from different cultures and countries together and this could be clearly seen from the zeal and enthusiasm with which the people across the globe are practicing yoga.

Modi while addressing the gathering on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow said that Yoga has become an integral part of every Indian household.

Conveying his greetings to all those who joined the Yoga Day 2017 celebrations across India and the world, Modi said Yoga's immense popularity outside India is high and has connected the world with India.

"I am happy to see so many Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing. Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness," Prime Minister Modi said.

The international day for yoga is celebrated annually since its inception in 2015.

An International day for Yoga was declared unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 11 December 2014.
New Delhi: Continuing his attack on the Centre over farmers, Communist Party Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday asserted that instead of aiding farmers in distress the Government is treating them like 'Terrorists'.

In a strong worded tweet Yechury said, Even young kids not spared.

Instead of aiding farmers in distress, BJP govts try to clamp down on dissent and treats them "like terrorists". Even young kids not spared. https://t.co/Co6Tmpwoln  Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) June 21, 2017

Yechury in his letter also said that thousands of farmers have committed suicide in last three years.

The CPI-M has demanded a law which gives right to farmers to sell their produce at Maximum Support Price (MSP).

Yechury tweeted a copy of his letter to the Prime Minister urging him to legislate a law giving farmers the right to sell their produce.

This is why we have written to PM on June 15, demanding a Right to Sell at MSP for farmers, with MSP = CACP-computed input costs + 50%. pic.twitter.com/0nXfDXB7Dx  Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) June 21, 2017

Yechury, in his letter, reminded the government of its promise of Maximum Support Price (MSP), that will provide 50% net profit to farmers over their production cost.

Drawing his attention to the farmers' protest that have been taking place across the country, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, Yechury asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pass legislation in the forthcoming monsoon session of parliament to provide profitable MSP to farmers.

This comes after the incident in which five farmers were killed in police firing during a protest on June 6 in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh.

The farmers in the central state were demanding remunerative prices for their produce and a loan waiver. They were also demanding that they should be given Rs 50 per litre of milk bought from them as they spend Rs 37 per litre.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The BJP held a protest outside Thiruvananthapuram Corporation demanding that Mayor V.K. Prasanth resign alleging that the civic bodys dengue control activities had been ineffective. Inaugurating it, BJP State President Kummanam Rajasekharan said that the Corporation should open relief camps on a war footing, as hospitals were packed with patients. He said that it was because of the civic bodys failure that the hospitals in the city were full of patients. He said that the basic needs of the people were being neglected in the Corporation, and the Central government should intervene, because the urgency of the situation demanded it.

Kummanam alleged that the Corporation was misusing central funds. The Corporation should issue a white paper on fund utilisation, he said. Every ward has been allocated `35,000 of which `25,000 has been dispensed to health inspectors. Mayor V.K. Prasanth had said that the money would not be used to pay health workers, but to repair fogging and spraying machines. However, health wing officials told DC that they were still using it to pay workers cleaning the drains. When asked about this, Mayor V.K. Prasanth had said that it was the health inspectors discretion, and workers deployed after 1 pm had to be paid the additional amount. At a press meet on Tuesday, the Mayor said a mobile clinic with 5 doctors and 10 nurses would be launched to deal with the rush in hospitals. He said that everyone should keep their political differences aside, and support the dengue control measures.
Member of the Public Health Foundation of India says the medical fraternity does not appear to have read the amendment properly. (Graphic: Murali Hassan)

Protests have erupted against the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2017, which seeks to bring more accountability to the booming healthcare sector. Doctors in private practice are understandably furious and demand that government hospitals be brought under the law's ambit, too. While public facilities have checks and balances in place already, they are in pathetic condition, a problem that regulations in the private sector won't address, reports Joyeeta Chakravorty

The governments decision to amend an existing law to help it regulate private medical establishments has kicked off a row with hospitals going on the warpath against its interference in their affairs and decrying its attempts to fix the amounts they can charge their patients.

While protests have broken out over the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the streets, things were no better for the government in the legislature on Tuesday with MLAs cutting across party lines, finding it unacceptable. Bowing to their demands, it referred to the Bill to a joint legislature panel for a re-look.

The private hospitals are expectedly unhappy as the Bill allows the state government to fix the rates or charges for each class of treatment and even penalise them for collecting more than it prescribes. But the new law in the making also attempts to put a stop to hospitals demanding advance payment from patients in emergencies and demanding any dues when handing over dead bodies to families.

While there is a lot to say in its favour as a result, those against the Bill are putting up a pretty strong argument too. Whatever anyone might believe, the fact of the matter is that every year some 60 to 70 complaints are brought to the notice of the Karnataka Medical Council and almost 70 per cent are against private practitioners.

"The Karnataka Medical Council focuses on doctor negligence and the hospital if it is party to it. Under Section 15 of the KMC Act we can set up an inquiry, explains KMC president, Dr H Veerabhadrappa, who, however, believes that the biggest problem lies not in the law but in its implementation.

Regretting that only tertiary inspection is done for the registration of private medical establishments in the state under the existing law and there are no surprise inspections, he stresses that proper and systematic enforcement of the law can help eradicate quackery and malpractices in the private sector. In his view the current amendments to the Act are both ill-construed and misconstrued.

But a member of the Public Health Foundation of India says the medical fraternity does not appear to have read the amendment properly. The government is trying to introduce a universal health coverage programme under which the economic status of a person should not stop him or her from having access to the best treatment, he maintains. Opposing the idea of bringing government hospitals under the ambit of the amended Act, he says, Government hospitals are not for profit and are short of funds and resources. Asking for them to be brought under the Act is not required as they already have checks and balances in place. Also, when the government is reimbursing private hospitals under various health insurance schemes it is responsible for checking how the taxpayer's money is spent."

Mr Vinay Sreenivasa of the Alternative Law Forum says what the protesting doctors dont seem to realise is that the government will not fix hospital charges but a sub- committee, which will have representatives from private hospitals as well. I don't see any reason for the protest," he adds.

But former Supreme Court judge and former Lokayukta of the state, Santosh Hedge is entirely against the government interfering in the affairs of private medical establishments in the manner described in the amendment.

 It is completely irrational and also dismissive of the corruption and issues long prevailing in the government hospitals. When I was part of the judiciary in various capacities and roles, I have seen the pathetic state of affairs in government hospitals. The government must first address this. This amendment will not stand scrutiny in the court of law even for five minutes, he contends.

Dr Edmond Fernandes, founder and CEO, Centre for Health and Development (CHD Group), Mangaluru too argues that affordable healthcare cannot be achieved by merely regulating the private sector and leaving the public sector un-regulated, often vacant, cockroach infested and with crumbling infrastructure. He argues that health is too complex a problem to be settled by merely amending the law.

Bill is good, but needs tweaking

Faced with strong opposition to the Private Medical Establishment Bill in its present form in the Legislative Assembly, the government on Tuesday agreed to refer it to the Joint Legislature Committee.

While most members felt the governments intentions in introducing the Bill were good, they believed some of its provisions could upset doctors and leave private hospitals at the mercy of some "unruly elements."

Moving the Bill, Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ramesh Kumar, explained it was meant to come to the rescue of the poor, who were fleeced by private hospitals. Pointing out that the government had paid over `1000 crore to private hospitals since the Yashaswini health care insurance scheme was launched, he argued it had a right to regulate their charges. The private hospitals get away with a lot. Some even misuse the health insurance scheme. Recently, insurance companies blacklisted over 349 private hospitals, he recalled.

Giving the instance of a child, Kauser, who was left disabled due to wrong medication administered by a private hospital, he said,Her parents dont want any money, but only for the guilty to be punished.

While assuring doctors that the Bill did not intend to target them, he said small and medium hospitals would not be affected either.

BJP member, Dr Ashwathnarayan however, argued that the Bill was not legally sustainable and accused the government of doing little to improve its own hospitals while targeting the private.

Private healthcare unregulated, needs checks and balances: Dr Sylvia Karpagam, Public health doctor and researcher

The governments decision to regulate private medical establishments, introduce a charter of patients rights, create a grievance redressal committee and fix a cap on hospital rates should be strongly applauded and supported. It should not give in to the pressure exerted by the private sector lobby and the doctors , who have suddenly become the new victims and feel they are justified in shutting shop and coming out onto the streets against the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2017, that was tabled in the state Assembly.

While they want to see the Vikramjit Sen (VS) Committee recommendations implemented, they fail to mention that the committee had deliberately excluded patients/citizens rights groups from having any say and allowed the private sector to completely take over of decision making , which is not surprising as it is entirely in favour of promoting the interests of private medical establishments.

Karnataka has seen a massive growth of the private sector, which has neither self-regulated nor allowed any form of government control. This has led to rampart overcharging, denial of patients rights, negligence, unnecessary procedures and tests.

The criticism that government hospitals are not accountable is untrue. They are much more accountable than the private sector when it comes to training guidelines, standard treatment protocols, reporting morbidity/mortality and referrals. While no one can claim that government hospitals are perfect, they are much more within the ambit of regulation and control.

The clamour by private hospitals to bring government hospitals within the ambit of the VS committee is not borne out of concern for the patient, but to ensure that there is a handle to shut them down so that people are completely and absolutely at their mercy.

It is well known that private hospitals have no mechanism of reporting data on morbidity, mortality, caesarean sections, hysterectomies and other surgeries. There is poor documentation and maintenance of records giving the rationale (if any) behind investigations and treatment, referral patterns and cause of death. Patients therefore have very little access to information if they would like to have a second opinion, which they are entitled to, or if they suspect negligence and would like to pursue the case legally.

On the other hand, the public health system has a more rigorous system of data collection and transmission, which helps to understand disease and mortality, as well as diseases of public health concern.

Under the Vajpayee Arogyashree Scheme (VAS), private empanelled hospitals have demonstrated how they are ready to manipulate the government for economic gains, pick and choose lucrative patients, while closing the door on patients who are terminally ill or who require protracted care. They have also been seen charging patients over and above the money received through VAS. This has created a burden on patients, with out of pocket expenditure under the scheme ranging between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 1 lakh.

One has never seen doctors out on the street protesting this violation of patients rights and misuse of public money.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs yoga during a mass yoga event on 3rd International Yoga Day in Lucknow on Wednesday. (Photo: PTI)

Ahmedabad: Lauding the success of the World Yoga Day, Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev on Wednesday informed that 24 new world records have been set on the grand occasion.

Appreciating the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) efforts to make the World Yoga day a hit, Ramdev said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated that a new world record should be set in Yoga. Due to BJP chief Amit Shah's guidance, and Gujarat government's support, the event was a massive hit and we were successful in setting 24 new world records."

Ramdev further said that Yoga is an integral part of the Indian culture and India should dominate the world in Yoga.

"Further, I would be visiting US and Canada for celebrating the Yoga day, and I really wish that the way in which the West dominates the world in terms of technology and economy, India should lead the world in Yoga", he added.

Baba Ramdev along with the government's support aims at operating 11 lakh free yoga classes across the country in the coming 3-5 years.

"We have taken an oath that in the coming 3-5 years, 11 lakh free classes will be created across the country," he said, adding that his venture Patanjali would fully support the cause.

While reminiscing his journey of Yoga, he said that he had no idea that one day, the campaign to promote Yoga would become such a huge success.

"This has been the biggest day of Yoga in my life. When I started my journey 25 years ago, by organising a camp in Surat, I had no idea that one day the campaign would become so massive."

The event witnessed more than 3 lakh people.

BJP Chief Amit Shah along with Gujarat Chief minister Vijay Rupani and other government officials were present at the event.

A four-day camp was organised in Ahmedabad ahead of the World Yoga Day.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Prime Minister addressed a gathering in Lucknow on the occasion of Yoga day.

"I am happy to see so many Yoga institutes being opened over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing.

Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness," Prime Minister Modi said.

He said that Yoga is an integral part of the Indian tradition and it unites the country.
THRISSUR: The results of the third-year MBBS exams were allegedly leaked a day before its official publication on Tuesday by Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS). University officials received complaints on Tuesday that Kolenchery Medical College in Ernakulam had uploaded the result of its 100 students on the college website Monday afternoon and quickly withdrew as it sparked off a controversy.

Vice-chancellor M.K.C. Nair ordered a probe, and the KUHS officials filed a complaint with the police cyber cell. Sources close to KUHS said the result would have been transferred from the section handling the exams in the varsity through a WhatsApp message. KUHS officials said the Kolenchery Medical College officials had denied it. They cross-checked the copy of the alleged leaked results and found that it matched with the original.
Unfortunately for the women it proposes to help, the centre continues to flounder, despite the shift.

Hyderabad: Telanganas One-stop crisis centre for women'is not living up to its purpose fully. Telangana was the first state to launch a 'One-Stop Crisis Centre' i.e. a Nirbhaya centre for women in distress in 2015, at the Kondapur Area Hospital. An average of fifty victims of rape, dowry harassment and domestic abuse cases were registered.

But the centre lacked basic facilities such as a landline connection, transportation service from rural parts of the district, medical tests for rape victims and the facility for storage of evidence of rape victims.

Owing to all the difficulties and lack of facilities, the centre was proposed to be shifted to a hospital with better facilities. Finally, after much delay, it was shifted to Vanasthalipuram Area Hospital a month ago.

Unfortunately for the women it proposes to help, the centre continues to flounder, despite the shift. There are several problems facing the centre, first amongst them being communication. The centre was supposed to ensure police service for rape victims at the centre so that the victims could avoid going to the police station to file a First Information Report (FIR).

But S. Murali Krishna, the inspector of police of Vanasthalipuram was unaware of the shift. When asked, he said, I do not have any information regarding the relocation of the Nirbhaya centre and therefore haven't taken any cases there myself.

Strangely enough, the hospital authorities have little clue about the centre in its premises. The superintendent of Vanasthalipuram Area Hospital, Dr Nagavardhan Rao claimed that the hospital was just providing facilities for the Nirbhaya centre but they weren't responsible for it and no official record of the patients were maintained.

Meanwhile, we spoke to a woman Swati J (name changed) who said, I had tried contacting the hospital through the landline number listed online but the office said that they had no details of the Nirbhaya centre and couldn't redirect me. I asked for doctors who treated patients at the centre but I was informed that no doctors were available. As the last resort, I tried calling the helpline number 181 which was listed for the One Stop Crisis Centre but it was a regular women's helpline number that could not redirect me to Nirbhaya centre. My case was not that severe but how would a woman in emergency reach the centre? How indeed.
Hyderabad: Could Hussainsagar Lake, the pride of Hyderabad, do with an overhaul? Or to put it nicely, a makeover? The architects in the city along with many residents, certainly feel so. The beautiful Hussainsagar Lake which was once the haven of city slickers needing a break during the day or in the evenings, is now largely inaccessible to the public thanks to large portions of the lakefront being privately managed.

Pedestrians and lake goers now have very few areas to explore and enjoy. Places like Sanjeeviah Park and Peoples Plaza are still accessible but a large part of the lakefront has now become a part of some commercial activity or the other.

A lake should be accessible from all sides to the public, because in an urban setting very few open spaces of leisure exist, says Shankar Narayan an architect who has been against the privatization and concretization of lake beds. Across the 10km lakefront, spaces like Jalavihar, P.V Narasimha Rao memorial, Eat Street compel the public to enter the private setting if they want to see the beauty of the lake.

Narayan also observes that the tank borders have now been concretized which can be dangerous. According to him, it should retain the soil and green cover to have an environmentally sustainable discharge area for flood-like situations as seen in 2016. Agreeing with this concept, Sneha Pathasarthy, an architect from Deccan Amalgam observes in her design project with EPFAD at Barcelona, that the 3.6 Km Necklace Road remains inaccessible to the public on the northern and western sides of the lake, as railway lines for MMTS, to Sanjeeviah Park Stop and Necklace Road Stop are in this corridor. She explains the urban structure she conceived, in a way recreates the elevated points that the city had during the Nizams. They were accessible only to the rich, but these urban structures are intended to be inclusive.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar greets Governor Ram Nath Kovind on being announced as NDAs presidential candidate, in Patna on Monday. (Photo: PTI)

Patna (Bihar): In a major blow to the Opposition, the Janata Dal (United) on Wednesday confirmed they will support the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

"All the leaders have decided that we will support Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president. He is Bihar's first Governor who has been nominated for this post. We are very happy with this, it is the matter of Bihar's development," Senior JD (U) leader Ratnesh Sada said after meeting all the party leaders here.

The development comes ahead of the major Opposition meeting slated to be held on Thursday.

Earlier on June 19, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that a thorough discussion will be held on the matter within the Janata Dal (United) party.

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".

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 election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17. President Pranab Mukherjee will demit office on July 24.
Mumbai: Shiv Sena, a key constituent of the BJP-led coalition, on Tuesday extended its support for the NDA's presidential choice Ram Nath Kovind, saying he is a "simple and decent human being."

Interestingly, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had on Monday stated that Sena was not interested in backing Kovind if his candidature is aimed at garnering Dalit votes.

If Sena's 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 NDA's 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 backflip 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 Shah's 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."

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, didn't show any interest whereas Swaminathan chose not to react.

Thackeray had said Sena had proposed Bhagwat's 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.

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.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in conversation with Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait and others during the Assembly session in Bengaluru on Tuesday (Photo:DC)

Bengaluru: Opposition members in the Assembly on Tuesday stiffly opposed the bill to amend the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act in its present form though everyone appreciated the motive behind presenting the bill.

Leading the attack, former Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mr Suresh Kumar wanted to know whether the government had ensured that its healthcare system was perfect. He cited the example of setting up diagnosis and dialysis centres in his constituency with the Legislator's fund. Instead of handing them over to the government, Mr Suresh Kumar said he made Rotary Club sign an MoU with the government after which it took over the maintenance of these centres. Had we given this task to the government, the system would have collapsed, he said.

Besides, there are unruly elements in society who will make the best of such norms though they have nothing to do with it. A charter like this will only encourage them to prey on private hospitals, he warned.

Requesting the government not to hurry through the bill, Mr Suresh Kumar wanted it to be referred to a Joint House Committee which could give its recommendations in a month.

Even former Health and Family Welfare Minister Mr A.B. Malakaraddy said some technical aspects in the bill needed to be debated thoroughly.

While BJP member Dr Ashwathnarayan charged that the government was bringing the bill to cover up its failures in the public healthcare system, another BJP member and former minister Mr Basavaraj Bommai said there was a need to monitor the healthcare system, instead of regulating it.

Besides, the bill needed a comprehensive review, as it introduces more red tape in the healthcare system. For example, the Grievances Redressal Committees will be headed by the DC or ZP CEOs. Instead, these committees could be converted into professional bodies by making district health officers head them. There is a rule that the number of representatives from private medical establishments should not exceed one third of the committee members, which is not fair as there should be more professionals in the committee, he said.
When Americas defence secretary James Mattis admitted to the US Congress last week that we are not winning in Afghanistan right now, he was at best telling a half-truth. The fact is, the US-led coalition and its local Afghan partners are slowly but inexorably losing the 16-year-old war against the Taliban. While Mr Mattis asserted that the Pentagon would soon come up with a strategy to change the tide of the war, the reality is there is no effective counter-strategy against the Taliban anywhere in sight.

The notion that the additional 4,000 American soldiers that the Pentagon plans to ship to the battlefront will stop the Taliban advance when 150,000 of them couldnt do it a few years earlier is really clutching at straws.

The Islamist hordes, financed, trained and armed by Pakistan, are gradually creeping back towards the capital, Kabul, which they had hastily abandoned in 2001 just a month after the 9/11 attacks on America.

The Special Inspector-General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), in its most recent February 2017 report to the US Congress, states that the Taliban controls 11 districts and influences 34 of Afghanistans 407 districts (11 per cent), while the Afghan government controls 97 districts and influences 146 (60 per cent). Twenty-nine per cent of Afghanistans districts remain contested.

The Long War Journal, an authoritative American website on military issues, has pointed out that the Taliban today control a belt of bases in the south that stretches across the provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Zabul, and Ghazni. The Taliban presence in the two strategic southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand are particularly troubling. The Taliban has claimed it controls four of Kandahars 18 districts and dominates five more. Kandahar, it would be recalled, was the birthplace of the Taliban and their political headquarters.

Even in the north, where the Taliban has traditionally been weak, the key city of Kunduz has come under attack and was once totally abandoned by Afghan government forces last year. This April, the Taliban attacked a major Afghan Army base near Mazar-e-Sharif in the north and killed an estimated 170 government soldiers.

The rate and ferocity of Taliban attacks have soared this year. This is leading to loss of control of territory and horrendous casualties. Last year, 6,800 Afghan soldiers were killed and thousands were wounded. Many thousands more are reported to have deserted. This year promises to be bloodier and the string of military disasters have led to the suspension of several generals and a defence minister.

Currently, there are about 8,400 American troops in Afghanistan providing support for the Afghan Army and some in the Trump administration are reported to be contemplating increasing that number by about 4,000. But how extra troops could be decisive in todays situation against a well-equipped and confident Taliban has not been spelt out.

President Trumps defence secretary, however, sounds optimistic. Mr Mattis told the Congress that Afghanistan would be transformed a year from now: government corruption would be reduced and the Taliban would be rolled back.

That might just take a miracle to achieve. Afghanistans well-meaning but bumbling President, Ashraf Ghani, has failed to curb corruption or provide the kind of leadership required in these desperate times. The prognosis made by the US intelligence community does not reflect the optimism exuded by the US defence secretary. Daniel Coats, director of national intelligence, said at a Senate hearing: The intelligence community assesses that the political and security situation in Afghanistan will almost certainly deteriorate through 2018, even with a modest increase in military assistance by the US and its partners.

The key issue is the refusal or inability of the US leadership to deal with the root of the Afghan problem: the Pakistan Army, which sustains, guides and mentors the Taliban.

Hundreds of senior US military and intelligence officials have repeatedly voiced their frustration at Rawalpindis controlling hand over the Taliban. Despite having specific information on how the Pakistan Armys covert wing, the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), has orchestrated several terrorist and military assaults leading to the death of Afghan and coalition combatants, Washington has refused to act so far.

The deaths to date of more than 2,300 Americans and an estimated 17,000 wounded in Afghanistan have not compelled decision-makers in Washington to change strategy on Pakistan. The Taliban surge is unlikely to make them suddenly change their minds. Retired Lt. Gen. Douglas Edward Lute, who has served on the National Security Council staff in both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, told a PBS interviewer that the US has several interests in Pakistan which I think surpass our interest in dealing with the Afghan Taliban. When the PBS journalist pointed out that Pakistan obviously looms very large in Afghanistan, and provide a consistent safe haven for the Taliban, the retired general replied that Pakistans internal stability itself was more important than the Taliban.

Here you have more than 180 million Pakistanis in a country where you have not just the Afghan Taliban, but the Pakistani Taliban, remnants of Al Qaeda, and other regional terrorist groups, all of which threaten the stability of the state, he pointed out, adding that Pakistan was also a state which has the fastest growing, the fastest expanding nuclear arsenal in the world. So, that very dangerous cocktail of terrorists, extremists, and nuclear weapons is actually probably more of a vital national interest to us than Pakistans support for the Afghan Taliban. So, theres a large array of complex interests here which are at play.

If that is what Washingtons Taliban policy rests on, then nothing can stop Pakistan and thereby the Taliban. Instead of contemplating a modest increase in troop levels, the Pentagon would do well to work out an exit policy. Goodbye Afghanistan, and hello Taliban!
The US is believed to hold the most complete catalogue, listing an estimated 20,000 pieces of junk. (Photo: 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.

(Photo: AFP)

"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 orbit -- including the manned International Space Station -- makes 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 Europe -- both ESA and its individual members -- fewer 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 secrets -- and "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 satellites -- Kosmos and Iridium -- collided 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 debris -- off 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

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Chennai: Though the scientific community is filled with enthusiasm about the Nasas new findings of the earth like planets in the universe, the US space organisation has clearly set its sight on colonising Mars in the coming decades.

Sending humans to orbit Mars is our primary mission now. We are working on the human and rocket technologies required for the long mission, said Lt General Larry James, deputy director of Nasas Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

He delivered a talk on Exploring our world, the solar system and the universe at Birla Planetarium on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters after the event he said, We are doing human research in that mission. Next stage is going to lunar space and building habitat there and staying for long periods of time.

Explaining the technology he said, Its generally five to six months to go to Mars and probably stay there for a year or so that the planets align themselves to come back to earth in a shorter time.

We are talking about two to three years to orbit Mars and come back. So how do you keep the crew alive that long in terms of protecting them from radiation and ensure they have supplies? So, a lot of work still has to be done just to make sure the crew safety, he said.

Nasa is also designing new rockets called Space Launch System (SLS) for carrying the human to Mars. Nasa is in the middle of building the rocket and testing its components. The first launch will be 2019, he said.

The space organisation is looking sometime in 2030 to send a man to orbit Mars and come back.

He also said like the Antartica expeditions it is possible to build habitats on Mars.

Speaking about the earth like candidates found by Nasas Kepler telescope he said, There is no evidence of life yet.

The data you get from Kepler is primarily that the planet is there and how fast it is going around the star and how big is that. Knowing how fast it is going around the star we can state how far it is from the sun whether it is in the habitable zone, he said.

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Apple argued that the ruling involving Lexmark showed that Qualcomm was entitled to only "one reward" for its intellectual property and products.

Apple broadened a legal attack on Qualcomm, arguing to a US federal court that licence 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 US 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 licence agreements before purchasing chips, known in the industry as "no licence, no chips".

The licence 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 licence or a chip, but not both, Apple argued.

Apple wants to be able to buy chips without signing the licence 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.

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The messaging app is currently used by over 1.2 billion users globally and by over 200 million users in India alone.

WhatsApp had earlier announced to drop support for BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40 and Nokia Symbian S60 from June 30, disappointing many customers. But almost 10-days before the decided date of end-of-life for its service on the aforementioned platforms, WhatsApp is extending support for a few platformsBlackBerry 10 (and BlackBerry OS 7+) and Nokia S40 until December 2017, reported CrackBerry.

According to the report, extend of end-of-life date was first reported by WhatsApp fan blog WhatsAppen.

The messaging app will stop working on Nokia Symbian S60 platform from June 30, 2017.

This is the second time when Facebook-owned WhatsApp has pushed the end-of-life for its service on BlackBerrys platform. The first time, it extended the support for BlackBerry OS to June 30, 2017, from the initial deadline set as December 2016. The company has already dropped support for older operating systems, including Android older than v2.3.3, Windows Phone 7, and iOS 6 (or older) platforms.

The messaging app is currently used by over 1.2 billion users globally and by over 200 million users in India alone.

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Washington: In a damning report, the Pentagon has said Afghan-oriented militant groups, including the Taliban and Haqqani Network, benefit from "support" from elements of the Pakistan government.

"Pakistan views the outcome of Afghanistan to be in its vital national interest and thus remains driven by its India-centric regional policy objectives," the Pentagon said in its latest Afghan report, the first under the Trump administration.

Running into nearly 100 pages, the report identifies Pakistan as the most influential external actor affecting Afghanistan's stability and the outcome of the missions in this war-torn country.

"Afghan-oriented militant groups, including the Taliban and Haqqani Network, retain freedom of action inside Pakistani territory and benefit from support from elements of the Pakistani Government," the report said.

"Although Pakistani military operations have disrupted some militant sanctuaries, certain extremist groups such as the Taliban and the Haqqani Network were able to relocate and continue to operate in and from Pakistan," the report said.

The US continues to convey to Pakistan at all levels the importance of taking action against all terrorist and extremist groups, it said. The Afghanistan-Pakistan border region remains a sanctuary for various groups, including al Qaeda, al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the Haqqani Network, Lashkar- e-Tayyiba, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ISIS, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, it said.

"Sanctuary on the Pakistan side and presence on the Afghan side remain a security challenge for both countries and pose a threat to regional security and stability," it noted.

Interestingly, the Pentagon report comes days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden meeting with US President Donald Trump during which the issue of terrorism will be one of the topics of discussion.

Noting that Afghanistan faces a continuing threat from an externally-enabled insurgency with as many as 20 total terrorist organisations operating in the country, the highest concentration of terrorist groups in the world, the report said these pervasive insurgent terrorist and criminal networks constitute a threat to Afghanistan's stability.

Increased collaboration between Afghanistan and Pakistan is critical to maintaining pressure on militant and terrorist groups and for meeting the enduring security requirements on both sides of the shared border, the Pentagon said.

The trust deficit resulting from Pakistan's support of and inaction against Afghan-oriented extremists hampers the bilateral military collaboration required to achieve enduring security, the Pentagon acknowledged.

Since the beginning of President Ashraf Ghani's tenure, leaders from both countries have made several attempts to improve relations and to address mutual security interests more effectively, such as the threat from various extremist groups that reside in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, it said.

"These efforts have largely ceased following major high-profile terrorist attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and public statements by each government disparaging one another.

Each country publicly claims that the other provides sanctuary to certain militant groups and lacks the will to combat them," the Pentagon said.
Sao Paulo: Brazil's federal police force says it has found evidence that embattled President Michel Temer received bribes to help businesses.

Investigators said in a preliminary report published on Tuesday by Brazil's top court that Temer deserves to be investigated for corruption. Temer has denied any wrongdoing and has already pledged not to resign.

Attorney General Rodrigo Janot said last month there were enough preliminary indications of wrongdoing for Temer to be investigated for corruption and obstruction of justice.

If Brazil's top prosecutor agrees with the federal police recommendation, Congress will decide whether Temer should be investigated by the country's Supreme Court. The court is the only body that can formally investigate the president.

If two-thirds of Congress votes to allow the investigation, Temer would be suspended from office pending trial.
Washington: US President Donald Trump took to Twitter Tuesday to thank China for attempting to resolve tensions with North Korea, but declared that Beijing's "efforts" had failed.

"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 wrote.

The tweet came a day after the death of Otto Warmbier -- a US student who returned in a coma from prison in North Korea -- and on the eve of a first US-China strategic security dialogue.

Since coming to office, Trump has tried to get Beijing to put pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

It was unclear if the tweet was a signal that those efforts have failed. That conclusion could be seen as a warning of unilateral US action to follow.
Washington: The Paris climate deal would have given a virtual free pass to India and China and cost American economy more than 6.5 million jobs, US Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday.

"This President put America first not long ago when President Trump made the decision to withdraw the United States of America from the Paris Climate Accord, Pence said in his remarks to the National Association of Manufacturers 2017 Manufacturing Summit.

"You know, one independent study found that the Paris Accord would have actually cost the US economy more than 6.5 million manufacturing jobs in the next 25 years while giving countries like China and India virtually a free pass," Pence said.

He said by withdrawing America from "this terrible deal", President Trump put America first.

"He left the door opening to renegotiating the deal or coming up with a different agreement. But he put America first, and I promise the manufacturers in this room that President Donald Trump always will," Pence said.

He said Trump has put a renewed emphasis on American energy.

"He approved the Keystone and Dakota Pipelines early in this administration, and the Dakota Pipeline is already rolling and Keystone is being built as we speak," Pence said.

"President Trump is fighting every day to make sure that American manufacturers have affordable, abundant, and reliable energy that you need to power your factories and power our future," Pence said amidst applause from the audience.
Washington: Republican Senator Marco Rubio opened a Twitter 'investigation' on Tuesday afternoon, after his meeting with US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump the same day went viral on twitter. A photograph of the two in an awkward attempt to embrace was posted on twitter, following which the US senator was trolled by twitteratis.

Marco Rubio hugs Ivanka like she's a giant bottle of water. pic.twitter.com/KgfoNTtb2O  Diane N. Sevenay (@Diane_7A) June 20, 2017

Left in indignation by the twitter burst, Rubio in an act of defiance posted several photographs on twitter.

Just left Intel comm & informed meeting 2day with @IvankaTrump blowing up twitter over alleged failed hug! Investigating. Will respond soon  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

A few minutes later, Rubio expressed in a tweet that he has his own evidence to call the hug 'unattempted' and his team is seeking evidence for the same.

Just left Intel comm & informed meeting 2day with @IvankaTrump blowing up twitter over alleged failed hug! Investigating. Will respond soon  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

He posted pictures which provided an insight to the failed hug.

Just left Intel comm & informed meeting 2day with @IvankaTrump blowing up twitter over alleged failed hug! Investigating. Will respond soon  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

In his last tweet, Rubio concluded the case by asserting that based on his recollection of the incident, no hug was attempted.

Based on review of evidence & my own recollection, have concluded no hug was even attempted & press covfefe of alleged failed hug is false  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 20, 2017

Contradicting Rubio's tweets, Ivanka confirmed that there was a hug attempted.

Anonymous sources say @marcorubio planned the alleged failed hug. I have no comment (but I would have hugged him anyway! ) https://t.co/TChrqWsL4D  Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2017

Fake news! Marco is an excellent hugger... https://t.co/Dk7XXRQlX8  Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2017

Earlier on Tuesday, Ivanka Trump was at the Capitol Hill to meet Rubio and other law makers to discuss "pro-family" tax reforms. According to CNN, Rubio said that Ivanka had expressed in different elements which should be present in pro-family tax reform.

He said, "We wanted her and the White House to be exposed to individual members who have been working on pieces that I think can be part of that reform."

The President's daughter has been supporting the cause since 2015.
Washington: In a dramatic shift, the Trump administration on Tuesday demanded that Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries boycotting Qatar detail their complaints about the small Persian Gulf monarchy's support for extremism and reach a speedy resolution to the diplomatic crisis.

The comments suggested Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was losing patience in a mediation attempt.

The State Department said it was "mystified" that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates had not yet made clear their claims against Qatar or what they want to end the blockade.

Using the word "embargo" several times, spokeswoman Heather Nauert also questioned if the actions were a response to Qatari support for extremism, as the Saudis and others claim, or reflect other tensions.

"Now that it's 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," she told reporters. "The more the 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," Nauert added. "Were the actions really about their concerns regarding Qatar's alleged support for terrorism or were they about the long simmering grievances?"

Nauert noted that Tillerson had held more than 20 phone calls and in-person meetings with senior officials from the countries involved since the crisis erupted earlier this month.

Tillerson also cancelled a scheduled trip to an Organization of American States meeting this week in Mexico to work the Qatar crisis. He will remain engaged, Nauert said, but wants results.

"We are encouraging all sides to de-escalate tensions and engage in constructive dialogue," Nauert said.

She called on all parties to fight terrorism and meet commitments they made when President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia last month.

Until Tuesday, the US had generally aligned itself with Saudi Arabia. Trump had tweeted that Arab leaders had told him they blamed Qatar for funding extremism.

That was shortly after Saudi Arabia and its partners cut ties with Qatar and blocked air, sea and land traffic to the peninsular nation.
The scheme was motivated by the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in which a rifle-wielding man killed 26 people, mostly young children, at a Connecticut primary school.(Photo: PTI/Representational Image)

In the US state of Colorado, school staff are being taught a new defense against school shooters  to shoot back. According to media reports, teachers are being trained to carry guns in classrooms in Colorado so they can protect the children.

The scheme was motivated by the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in which a rifle-wielding man killed 26 people, mostly young children, at a Connecticut primary school.

The three-day course consists of firearms and medical training. In a nutshell, it is training for teachers and other school staff who are armed first responders in their schools, Laura Caro, founder of Coloradans for Civil Liberties which paid for about 17 staff members from Colorado schools to receive the training, told 9news.

The course was set up by parents, law enforcement officers and medical experts who believe that US schools are a soft target for violence. The group refers to schools as victim zones, the BBC report said.

Under Colorado law, school staff members can carry concealed weapons in school so long as they have a permit and are designated as a security officer.
Government soldiers on military vehicles patrol after a continued assault on fighters from the Maute group who have taken over large parts of Marawi city, southern Philippines. (Photo: AP)

Manila: About 200 gunmen attacked troops and occupied a primary school in a southern Philippine village on Wednesday, in what appeared to be a diversionary tactic to help Islamist militants engaged in a nearby urban war, authorities said.

Police and the local mayor said militants took over the school after attacking an army detachment in Pigkawayan, a farming town about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Marawi city where militants linked to the Islamic State group have been fighting government troops for over a month.

Chief Inspector Realan Mamon could not confirm if students or teachers were being held hostage. The attack happened at dawn, before the school opened.

He said in a radio interview the attack could be a diversionary tactic to ease pressure on the militants in Marawi.

Mamon said the gunmen were believed to be from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), one of four armed groups in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao that analysts say have pledged allegiance to IS.

Pigkawayan town mayor Eliseo Garsesa said about 200 gunmen were involved.
American student Otto Warmbier, center, is escorted at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang, North Korea. Warmbier, an American college student who was released by North Korea in a coma last week after almost a year and a half in captivity, died Monday. (Photo: AP)

Seoul: A US missionary who spent two years in a North Korean jail said on Wednesday he had never imagined that a valuable American prisoner like student Otto Warmbier could die after being taken into Pyongyang's custody.

Kenneth Bae, who was arrested in 2012, sentenced to 15 years hard labour, then freed after a secret mission to Pyongyang led by then-US intelligence chief James Clapper, said he was reasonably well treated in prison as he was a diplomatic bargaining chip.

"Everything depended on the US government's attitude," Korean-American Bae told South Korean broadcaster YTN in an interview broadcast live. He said he had always thought it was "unimaginable" that a US citizen could die in a North Korean prison, and that he himself was never beaten or otherwise severely maltreated by the regime.

Bae said he had had to work long days in the fields doing manual labour, including planting beans and moving coal, a strenuous regime that caused him to lose 27 kilograms (60 pounds) during his period of detention.

But top Pyongyang officials, including a prosecutor, always made it clear they were going to trade him for diplomatic benefits, asking him "why the US government was so quiet" on his case and had not tried to free him immediately.

The prosecutor "told me the US had moved much quicker to secure the release of female journalists in 2009," Bae said, referring to Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were released after a short period in North Korean detention following a visit from former US president Bill Clinton.

The prosecutor "even said that he thought I would be there until his retirement," Bae, whose two-year stint in detention is the longest period a US citizen has spent in a North Korean prison in recent years.

Warning from Pyongyang:

The 48-year-old published an account of his imprisonment and spoke with various media outlets after his 2014 release but said he stopped speaking out after Pyongyang warned his "jabbering" was imperilling the release of two American detainees including Warmbier.

"Since last year, I refrained from public activities out of concern that it could harm American and Canadian detainees in the North," Bae said in the interview. But Warmbier's death had forced him to reconsider his position, he added.

"I came here today so that the death of the young man will not be futile but raise awareness about those detained in North Korea," he said. Sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel while in the country as a tourist, 22-year-old Warmbier was medically evacuated from Pyongyang in a coma last week but died in the US Monday.

In the past North Korea has used the detention of US citizens to obtain high-profile visits from the likes of former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Clinton to secure their release.

Three 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.

North Korea is also holding Korean Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo-Lim who was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour on sedition charges in December 2015.
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 string 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 family of Darren Osborne, the man suspected of deliberately driving into the Muslim group, said he was "troubled", while regulars at his local pub said he was thrown out for threatening to kill Muslims.

Osborne, 47, a father of four from Cardiff in Wales, was arrested after the attack and police on Tuesday were granted permission to hold him for questioning until Saturday. Police are treating the incident as a terror attack but believe the suspect acted alone.

The spate of attacks had "bruised but not broken the heart of this great nation", Home Secretary Amber Rudd said. British Prime Minister Theresa May, who has been criticised for her response to a deadly fire in London last week, described Monday's incident as "sickening" and vowed to fight extremism in all its forms.

The attack has raised fears of retaliation against Muslims after three deadly strikes by Islamist extremists in London and the northern city of Manchester. One man who was already receiving first aid at the time died following Monday's attack.

Seven people remain in hospital and three were moved out of critical care on Tuesday. "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. 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 his uncle was "not a racist". "It's madness. It is obviously sheer madness," he said.

Osborne reportedly went drinking at his local Hollybush pub on Saturday night, before being thrown out for a threatening rant about Muslims. A pubgoer, Jack Norman, told Wales Online that Osborne was "ranting and raving about terrorism".

Suspect saved by imam:

Around 300 Londoners gathered on Tuesday outside Finsbury Park Mosque, in the second vigil held since the attack. "If this mosque is attacked, if a synagogue is attacked, if any person is attacked, we are all under attack because of it," said opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is also the neighbourhood's MP. "Let us have a sense of solidarity in all communities," he told the crowd.

Following the attack, the van driver was pinned down by locals before being shielded from retaliatory violence by an imam and detained by police. 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."

'Does not remember anything':

But Rawah-ud-din Arif Khan, the imam of another mosque nearby, conceded: "There is fear among our community. "These people want to divide us. We have to make sure that we don't fall into their trap," he told.

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 attacks 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 nearby British parliament.

Two months later, on May 22, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a pop concert in Manchester, killing 22 people including children.

On June 3, eight people were killed in a van and knife attack on London Bridge and nearby Borough Market.
Belgian Army soldiers patrol near Central Station in Brussels after a reported explosion on Tuesday (Photo: AP)

Brussels: An explosion rocked the central train station in Brussels on Tuesday and a man was shot by police during the incident, prosecutors told Belgian media.

A suspect shouted out "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) before causing the explosion, a witness said.

Belgium's national crisis said the suspect had been "neutralised" and the situation was under control.

The incident took place around 1900 GMT, causing the city's Gare Centrale to be evacuated. The nearby Grand Place, a major tourist destination, was also evacuated.

"I went down the mezzanine level, someone was shouting. Then he cried 'Allahu Akbar', and he blew up a trolley," Nicolas Van Herrewegen, 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," the witness said.

About an hour after the events, the situation was "under control", the federal crisis centre said in a tweet.

"People are running everywhere," a witness told RTL news as soon as the incident occurred.

"Panic in the Gare Centrale. Shots heard," another witness told the broadcaster.

Firemen were called to the scene after the report of the small explosion, RTBF broadcaster reported.

The incident in Belgium comes a day after a man mowed down Muslims near a mosque in London, and a radical Islamist on a terror watch-list rammed a car laden with weapons and gas into a police vehicle in Paris.

Brussels has been on high alert since Islamic State 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 jihadist cell behind the November 2016 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

Soldiers have been deployed at railway stations, government buildings and European Union institutions in Brussels since the aftermath of the Paris attacks when a link to Belgium was first established.

Belgium suffered a further 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.
London: US President Donald Trump's planned state visit to Britain later this year got no mention in Queen Elizabeth II's speech to parliament on Wednesday, raising doubts about whether it will go ahead.

The omission follows media reports that Trump no longer wants to come because of British public opposition to the visit, after a petition to cancel it received more than 1.8 million signatures.

It is customary for the monarch to list state visits in the annual speech, and Elizabeth did mention one such visit coming up next month by Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia.

But the speech glided over the invitation to Trump, which was widely criticised in Britain as an attempt by Prime Minister Theresa May to curry favour with the president during his first year in office.

British press reports after the speech said the visit was clearly now in jeopardy, but a spokesman for May insisted the invitation had not been revoked.

"The visit wasn't mentioned in the Queen's Speech because a date hasn't been fixed yet," the spokesman said.
Lahore: The population of Hindus in Pakistan has declined drastically from about 23 per cent in 1947 to only 6 per cent now due to forced conversions, oppression and suppression in the Islamic nation the Nation reported.

The minority Hindu girls are being abducted, forcibly converted and married to Muslims and thus the minority community, which was once a major society in Pakistan has been reduced to the margins.

The majority of the Hindu population is settled in Sindh and the province has witnessed a rise in crimes targeting the religious minority. Hindu girls are specifically targeted to convert them to Islam, The newspaper reported.

There have been many instances when Hindus belonging to lower castes are being forcibly converted while upper-caste Hindus complain of their traders being kidnapped for ransom.

Pakistan was born with the promise that everyone was free to practice their religion and would be guaranteed basic rights but Hindus have been denied even the freedom to live with respect.

According to a report by Movement for Solidarity and Peace, 1000 non-Muslim girls are converted to Islam every year in Pakistan and in Sindh, the ratio is 20 or more girls per month.

"A number of Muslim MNAs, he said, have mocked Hindus for worshiping cows. In their mindless hate-spewing, they ignore the fact that four million Hindus live in Pakistan and their derogatory words hurt the religious sentiments of the local Hindu community. Perhaps, they too need to be sensitised and educated that all Hindus are not Indians and all Indians are not Hindus. India has over 200 million Muslims and other minority groups as well, " the Dawn had reported earlier.

In the 1998 Census the Hindu population was found to be 2,443,614. Hindus are found in all provinces of Pakistan but are mostly concentrated in Sindh. They speak a variety of languages such as Sindhi, Seraiki, Aer, Dhatki, Gera, Goaria, Gurgula, Jandavra, Kabutra, Koli, Loarki, Marwari, Sansi, Vaghri and Gujarati, according to wikipedia,

The atrocities by the Pakistani government and the stern conditions of the Sharia Law has resulted into the migration of 5000 Hindu families from Pakistan to India per year.

Even the Pakistani police refuse to take any action, and after a couple of days the girl is brought back with legal documents of conversion. This ensures the legal cover to avoid being punished by law.

The issue was raised by the Patron-in-Chief of the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC), Dr Ramesh Kumar who argued that religious pressure groups promote hate mongering in the region and create enough pressure to stop anyone from taking any action.
India will protest Chinas new offer to fund a controversial hydro-electric-cum-irrigation project, which Pakistan wants to build on the Indus River in an area it has illegally occupied.



Though New Delhis strong objection in the past had prompted the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to reject Islamabads plea for funding the Diamer-Bhasha dam, Beijing has of late offered to support it by making it a part of the proposed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).



New Delhi took note of the media reports from Islamabad, quoting chairman of the Water and Power Development Authority of Pakistan Muzammil Hussain as saying Beijing had offered to fund the Diamer-Bhasha project.



Hussain apparently told the Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reforms of the National Assembly of Pakistan that Beijing and Islamabad had been seriously considering making the project a part of CPEC.



The Diamer-Bhasha dam is proposed to be built on the Indus River in Gilgit Baltistan, which is part of the areas India accuses Pakistan of illegally occupying in Kashmir.



The project is envisaged to consist of a huge reservoir for storage of 6.3 million acre feet of water and two power stations with a total installed generation capacity of 4,500 MW. It was originally conceived by Pakistan in 2006, but could not make much progress as international lending agencies declined to fund the project because of New Delhis objections.



Hussain was quoted as saying that the cost of the project had been estimated to be $14.49 billion. Another media report from Islamabad indicated that the Pakistan government was expecting to commence works on the project next year.



India is also opposed to Chinas One Belt One Road project, as the CPEC is a component of the ambitious cross-continental connectivity initiative envisaged by Chinese President Xi Jinping.




With the Shiv Sena throwing its lot behind the BJP nominee for the Presidential poll, Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday emerged as the unanimous candidate of the ruling coalition.



The BJP is still not complacent about Kovinds election and is reaching out to more Opposition parties besides the BJD, TRS, Y S R Congress and the AIADMK who have promised their support.



Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, one of the three ministers in the panel set up to hold consultations with the Opposition on garnering support for the BJP nominee, spoke to JD(S) national president and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, DMK working president M K Stalin and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss.



While Gowda told Naidu that he would convey his partys stand after speaking with Karnataka JD(S) president H D Kumaraswamy, who is away on a trip, Stalin and Ramadoss have also assured that they would get back after holding discussions with their party leaders.



INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala is said to have responded positively to the BJPs request for support during his meeting with Naidu. The PDP, which is running an alliance government with the BJP in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), has also pledged its support for Kovind.



J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti assured her partys support when Naidu spoke to her. Naidu, while thanking Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his support, invited him to be present on Friday when Kovind files his nomination for the Presidential election. A source in the BJP said Patnaik has agreed to the request. The chief ministers of BJP-ruled states have been asked to be present during the filing of nomination to make it a grand affair.
Two local Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants were killed in an overnight encounter with the security forces in Rafiabad area of north Kashmir's Baramulla district on Wednesday.



A police official said that a joint party of Armys 22 Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group (SOG) of J&K Police launched a search operation after specific information about the presence of militants in Pazalpora village of Rafiabad, 60 km from here, late Tuesday evening.



"As the search party intensified the combing operation, the militants hiding in a house opened indiscriminate fire on them, triggering an encounter. The operation was halted for the night and resumed in the morning when both the militants were neutralised," he said and added two AK rifles, five magazines, a hand grenade and a pouch have been found at the encounter site.



The slain militants were identified as Gulzar Ahmad and Basit Ahmad, both locals belonging to Hizbul outfit.



The encounter comes as the situation in the Valley was already precarious after the killing of six policemen and two civilians in south Kashmir last week. While most of the encounters in recent months have been happening in southern districts of Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama, a senior police officer said, north Kashmir has more militants active on the ground than the South.



"Contrary to what is being projected in the media that South Kashmir is hotbed of militancy, the figures reveal that North has more active militants. The militants in the north are mostly foreigners," he told Deccan Herald.



Stating that in the next few months, north Kashmir may hot up, he said, "South Kashmir has 112 active militants and 99 among them are locals while the north has 141 ultras active out of whom 118 are foreigners. The militants in the north are well-trained and equipped compared to their counterparts in South."
Saudi Arabia's King Salman today appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, placing him firmly as first-in-line to the throne and removing the country's counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington from the royal line of succession.



In a series of royal decrees carried on the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the monarch stripped Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who had been positioned to inherit the throne, from his title as crown prince and from his powerful position as the country's interior minister overseeing security.



The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman already oversees a vast portfolio as defence minister and head of an economic council tasked with overhauling the country's economy.



He had previously been the second-in-line to the throne as deputy crown prince, though royal watchers had long suspected his rise to power under his father's reign might also accelerate his ascension to the throne.



The young prince was little known to Saudis and outsiders before Salman became king in January 2015. He had previously been in charge of his father's royal court when Salman was the crown prince.



The Saudi monarch, who holds near absolute powers, quickly awarded his son expansive powers to the surprise of many within the royal family who are more senior and more experienced than Mohammed bin Salman, also known by his initials MBS.



The royal decree issued today stated that "a majority" of senior royal members from the so-called Allegiance Council supported the recasting of the line of succession. Saudi Arabia's state TV said 31 out of 34 of the council's members voted in favour of the changes.



The Allegiance Council is a body made up of the sons and prominent grandsons of the founder of the Saudi state, the late King Abdul-Aziz, who vote to pick the king and crown prince from among themselves.



Over the weekend, the king had issued a decree restructuring Saudi Arabia's system for prosecutions that stripped Mohammed bin Nayef of longstanding powers overseeing criminal investigations and instead ordered that a newly- named Office of Public Prosecution and prosecutor report directly to the monarch.



Mohammed bin Nayef was not believed to have played a significant role in Saudi and Emirati-led efforts to isolate Qatar for its support of Islamist groups and ties with Iran.



The prince had appeared to be slipping from the public eye as his nephew, Mohammed bin Salman, embarked on major overseas visits, including a trip to the White House to meet President Donald Trump in March.



That visit to Washington helped lay the foundation for Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in May, which marked the president's first overseas visit and which was promoted heavily by the kingdom as proof of its weight in the region and wider Muslim world.



Saudi-US relations had cooled under the Obama administration after Washington pursued a nuclear accord with Shiite-ruled Iran that the Sunni-ruled kingdom strongly opposed.



The warm ties forged between Riyadh and Washington under the Trump administration may have helped accelerate Mohammed bin Salman's ascension as crown prince.



Despite his ambitions, which include overhauling the kingdom's economy away from its reliance on oil, the prince has faced failures and strong criticism for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which he oversees as defence minister.



The war, launched more than two years ago, has failed to dislodge Iranian-allied rebels known as Houthis from the capital, Sanaa, and has had devastating effects on the impoverished country.



Rights groups say Saudi forces have killed scores of civilians and have called on the US, as well as the UK and France, to halt the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia that could be used in the Yemen war.



The US already is helping the Saudis with intelligence and logistical support for the bombing campaign in Yemen, and the Trump administration has signalled it could assist with greater intelligence support to counter Iranian influence there.
More than 5000 yoga enthusiast took part in the event organised by the state government of Karnataka.



Tao Porchon Lynch (98), from New-York and Amma Nannamal (97), from Tamil Nadu, demonstrated several asanas and proved the effectiveness of yoga in having healthy life at this age.

Swashaguru Vachananda tutored the yoga participants in performing various yoga postures and explained the importance of every gesture of yoga.



Social activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday graced the third International Yoga Day celebration held in Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has said 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 and two times the Prime Minister of India," Guterres said with a laughter, responding to a question during a press briefing here whether he is engaged in bringing about a dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.



"For someone accused of doing nothing, it is quite a number of meetings," the Secretary-General said, referring to criticism that he has been shying away and is reluctant to act to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue.



Guterres, addressing reporters at his first press conference at the world bodys headquarters since assuming office in January, was asked about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control and the ceasefire violations since he assumed office.



Guterres did not elaborate further but through his response, he did not make any indication that he will act as a mediator between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.



Modi and Guterres had met in St Petersburg earlier in June 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.



Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the UN chief had 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 (SCO) summit.



Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked at press briefings about the Secretary Generals response to the situation in Kashmir, has repeatedly said that Guterres is following the situation in the region closely.



The UN Chief has not made any direct intervention to resolve the issue, reiterating his call for India and Pakistan to find a peaceful solution through engagement and dialogue.



Pakistan continuously raises the Kashmir issue at the UN seeking the world body's intervention in the dispute with India. But New Delhi has always maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue with Islamabad.


A day after the arrest of former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan, the Supreme Court today refused to entertain his plea for interim bail and suspension of the six-month sentence awarded to him for contempt of court.



The apex court said it was duty-bound by the seven- judge bench's order in the case and "cannot override it".



"The matter has been heard by a seven-judge bench and order has been passed. The order is binding on us. We in vacation cannot override it. It is nothing we can do," a vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul said.



Appearing for the retired judge, who was arrested in Coimbatore yesterday after being on the run for more than a month, advocate Mathews J Nedumpara said equity demands that he be granted bail till the court reopened.



However, the bench said, "All equity is subject to law and judicial discipline. You mention the matter before the bench of chief justice."



Nedumpara contended that the bench had all the power to pass an order granting bail and suspension of the six months sentence, as the detailed judgement in the case was yet to be passed by the seven-judge bench.



The submissions did not impress the bench which declined to entertain his plea.



Karnan, 62, who retired on June 12 as Calcutta High Court judge, was arrested last evening by the West Bengal CID. He had been in Coimbatore since May 9 when the apex court held him guilty for contempt of court and sentenced him for six months.



Karnan has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court and also the first 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 seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, had on May 9 directed the West Bengal director general of police to take the then serving judge into custody immediately.



Despite several attempts, Karnan has failed to get any relief from the apex court's vacation benches which has refused to hear his plea seeking a stay of its jail term order.



His lawyers also claimed to have approached President Pranab Mukherjee for exercising his power to stay the apex court's order, but there has been no relief for the ex-judge.



After being sentenced, 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 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.

Earlier, the apex court had issued a bailable warrant against him to secure his presence in the contempt case.



He 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.



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 later suspended by the Supreme Court.


France's justice minister Francois Bayrou, a key ally of President Emmanuel Macron today said he was quitting the government, as his party battles a funding scandal.



The small centrist MoDem party, founded by Bayrou, is in an alliance with Macron's 14-month-old Republic on the Move (REM) movement, and Bayrou was one of two Modem ministers in the cabinet.



Macron has been carrying out a partial reshuffle of his month-old government following parliamentary elections that handed him and his MoDem allies a commanding majority.



"I have taken a decision not to be part of the next government," Bayrou said, adding that he would hold a press conference at 5:00 pm (1500 GMT).



MoDem is facing allegations it used European parliamentary funds to pay assistants actually based in France.



The other MoDem minister, former defence minister Sylvie Goulard, also announced her resignation yesterday.



Bayrou was a key backer of Macron's movement during the presidential campaign, and his support was crucial in winning centrist votes for the new president.



He has dismissed the allegations of fake jobs in his party.
Its now official. Taking the wind out of Oppositions sails, the Janata Dal (United) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday evening decided to back the NDA presidential candidate Ramnath Kovind who resigned as Bihar Governor on Tuesday.



The decision was taken unanimously at the JD (U) meeting, attended by senior party legislators and parliamentarians, including Sharad Yadav, to back Kovind due to the latters impeccable record as Bihar Governor. Nitish, who shared a very cordial working relationship with Kovind, has already expressed his feelings to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, said party secretary general KC Tyagi here on Wednesday.



Flanked by Nitishs close aide Lallan Singh and RCP Singh, Tyagi added that in view of todays political development, there was no point of Nitish Kumar or any other JD (U) leader attending the Opposition meeting convened by Sonia in New Delhi on Thursday.



The Congress president had convened a meeting of all the 17 Opposition parties to deliberate on the issue of selecting a joint candidate who could be pitted against Kovind.



Tyagi, however, reiterated that despite Nitishs support to NDA nominee Kovind, there was no threat to the ruling coalition in Bihar in which the RJD and the Congress were two alliance partners of the JD (U). The support to Kovind has nothing to do with the Grand Alliance in Bihar, said Tyagi, adding that Nitishs support to the NDA nominee was due to personal reasons, and it was limited only to presidential elections.

We have seen Governors like Buta Singh, a Congressman, with whom Nitish never shared a cordial relationship. Kovind was, however, a non-controversial and affable person who performed his role as Bihar Governor in a dignified manner, Tyagi added.



Nitishs move, however, drew sharp flak from its alliance partner - the RJD. Nitish has ditched the Grand Alliance. He has also thrown a spanner in the Opposition unity, said Bhai Birendra, a close Lalu aide and RJD legislator from Maner.






The farmers performed 'shavasana' (an asana in which the person lies quietly on the ground as if he is dead) to register their protest and also raised anti-government slogans.



According to the police sources here, many state and national highways witnessed huge traffic jams following the protests from the farmers.



Sources said that the farmers blocked traffic on the highways in Kanpur, Jalaun, Faizabad, Barabanki, Meerut, Gorakhpur and many other places.



''Yoga is all right but we also want food...the exploitation of the farmers must stop,'' said Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) state vice-president Balram Lambardar, who led the farmers's protest in Jalaun, said.



He said that the farmers would continue to protest the wrong policies of the central and the state governments until their demands, which included complete waiver of all types of farm loans, raising the minimum support prices of the food grains and sugarcane and providing better marketing facilities were conceded.



Hundreds of farmers prostrated on the national highway connecting Lucknow with Gorakhpur bringing the traffic to a complete halt, sources said.



Farmers had a scuffle with the police in Meerut, when the latter tried to forcibly evict the farmers from the road. The farmers, who had blocked NH 58 left after the Yoga Day program in the state capital, which was led by Modi, was over.



Police officials here said that there was no report of any kind of violence from anywhere in the state. Security personnel in strength had been deployed on the highways to maintain law and order.



Around the time prime minister Narendra Modi was performing Yoga at Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan here and telling the people about its importance in life, thousands of farmers were performing 'virodhasana' (protest) on the highways in Uttar Pradesh to register their protest against death of farmers in police firing in Madhya Pradesh and ''anti-farmer'' policies of the NDA government.
The skirmish took place this morning in the forest near Hasnar village when a joint team of the Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Group (DRG) was out on an anti-Maoist operation, Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh told PTI.



"Two women Naxals were killed in the incident," he said.



The squad had earlier launched the operation in the restive Abhujmad area, considered as a Maoist den, located around 300 kms from here, he said.



When the patrolling team was cordoning off a forest patch near Hasnar, the security men spotted a Maoist camp and started encircling the area, he said.



On sensing the presence of the security personnel, the rebels started firing indiscriminately on them leading to the gunbattle, he said.



The encounter lasted for about one hour following which the ultras fled into the forest, the SP said.



Later during a search, the bodies of two women Maoists clad in 'uniform' were found at the spot.



The police also recovered two .315 bore guns, some explosives, Maoists uniforms, their literatures and several other items from the site, Singh said.



Further details are awaited as the operation is still underway in the region, he said.



Earlier, three Naxals, including two women, were killed in an encounter with police in Rajnandgaon district on June 18 while a Maoist deputy commander was gunned down on June 19 in Kanker district.

Two women Naxals were today gunned down in a fierce encounter with police at a forest in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district, an official said.
Infosys, the second-largest IT services company, is facing legal heat in the US as its former head of immigration filed a lawsuit for alleged employee discrimination and retaliation by senior management.



Erin Green, who joined Infosys in 2011 and headed immigration in the US, filed a lawsuit on June 19 before a US district court in the Eastern District of Texas, seeking a trial by a jury.



Greens case is handled by Kilgore & Kilgore, PLC, a law firm based out of Texas. The mail sent by DH is still awaiting a response from the law firm.



When contacted by DH on the legal proceedings by the former US employee, the company said, Infosys does not comment on ongoing litigation.



According to the complaint, Green questioned discrimination against non-Asian employees at the company. Green resigned from Infosys last year and now works with Arnall Golden Gregory LLP based out of Atlanta as counsel. Before joining Infosys, Green also worked as Head of US Immigration Department at Kan-Tor & Acco for three years and Served as Senior Associate at EY for one year.



Green, during his stint at Infosys, reported to senior executives Vasudeva Nayak, who was the head of global immigration and Binod Hampapur, who was the executive vice-president and global head of talent and technology operations of Infosys.



Infosys is facing the complaint of Green at a time when the Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka is focussing on local hiring as the new Trump-led US administration put visa restriction and mooted Buy American and Hire Amarican policy.



Sikka recently outlined his strategy for local hiring by committing to recruit 10,000 employees in the coming two years.



Commenting on the development, T V Mohandas Pai, former board member of Infosys, said the filing of lawsuit by Green against the company will not have any bearing on the company's intent to expand in the US.



"The filing of lawsuit by Green against Infosys alleging employee discrimination will not have any bearings on the company's intent to hire 10,000 Americans in the next two years," Pai said.



This is the second time that Infosys is facing discrimination charges. In 2013, four former employees of the company had filed similar lawsuit against the company alleging discrimination based on ethnicity.



Also Commenting on the development, Aston Business School, UK, Doctoral Research Scholar Sanjoy Sen said claims of discriminatory behaviour against Indian IT companies lodged by individuals of non - Indian origin are likely to get the benefit of public sentiment in the US and more attention than they deserve in the current environment of heightened anti - immigration approach to policy.



A perception does exist in certain quarters that employees of Indian origin have a deeper urge to learn, understand and work with technology supported by a stronger work ethic than their American counterparts. However, Indian IT companies must reinforce their anti - discriminatory policies and proper implementation of the same to manage the risks relating to loss of reputation, international business and shareholder value, he said.


Tamil Nadu police on Wednesday arrested a Bengaluru-based woman on the charges of cheating several elderly citizens including indulging in chain snatching activities in the city.



Police said Asha Soundarya (37) hailing from Lingarajapuram in Bengaluru escaped to Chennai on her two-wheeler couple of months back to evade arrest in her State after having involved in several robbery cases there.



Following a complaint from a senior citizen and acting on a tip-off, police detained Asha at T-Nagar area in the city.



Initial investigation revealed that Asha, who was staying in a room at Arumbakkam area, involved in chain snatching and robbing elderly persons in a busy location like T-Nagar, Kodambakkam and Nungambakkam areas in the city.



Police also recovered about 15 grams of gold jewels from the accused. Investigations also revealed that soon after she lost her husband two years back in a road accident, Asha started indulging in small crimes at Bengaluru till local police warned to book her under Goondas Act.



Therefore, fearing arrest, Asha fled to Chennai and continued with her criminal activities. Asha was lodged in Puzhal prison.








South Sudan's famine was the first to be formally declared anywhere in the world since 2011's crisis in Somalia. The situation remains critical, according to reports by South Sudan's National Bureau of Statistics and the UN's updated food and security analysis.





"People are in a catastrophic situation," said Serge Tissot of the Food and Agricultural Organization.





In February, South Sudan declared two counties in Unity State to be in famine. Although those areas are still in critical condition, early detection and a rapid response succeeded in pulling them out of famine, a Phase 5 classification, the World Food Program said.





The UN warned that South Sudan's crisis is worsening and that removing the label of famine doesn't mean the situation has actually improved.





"Even though we've taken it (famine) off the table, we have more people in Phase 4 than ever before," said Joyce Luma, WFP's country director. "If we don't assist this population, 1.7 million people will soon be in famine."





Famine is declared when three conditions are found in a single location: At least 20 percent of the population faces extreme food shortages, at least 30 percent of children under 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition and people are dying at double the normal rate.





An estimated 45,000 people still face starvation in Leer, Koch and Mayendit counties with additional areas across the country has deteriorated as well.





In former Jonglei state, an area that previously had one of the lowest levels of acute malnutrition, roughly 20,000 people are experiencing catastrophic food insecurity.





"It's when people don't know where their next meal will come from," WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said. At a recent food distribution in the town of Old Fangak in Greater Jonglei, 10,000 people came to register for a WFP food drop and 30,000 more are expected to come within the week.





"All I eat are vegetables and leaves," said Nyatang Toy as she waited in line last week to receive her ration cards. The skinny 7-year-old walked for three hours from her village to collect food for her parents and five siblings who were too weak to come with her, she said.





"How can we be at this stage where people are starving and we're dropping bags of food from the air?" Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada's minister of international development, told The Associated Press during a trip last week to the area.

South Sudan no longer has areas in famine, but almost 2 million people are on the brink of starvation and an estimated 6 million people, half the population, will face extreme food insecurity between June and July, according to reports by the government and the United Nations released today.




"The central committee of our party has decided to offer a 12-hour window, from 6 AM to 6 PM on June 23, to the schools in the hills to evacuate their students.





"The students will be allowed to go to Siliguri and Rongpo only in school buses. The indefinite shutdown will continue. Only the students will be allowed to leave safely," senior GJM leader Binay Tamang told reporters here.





He said barring school buses, no other vehicle would be allowed to leave the hills during the 12-hour "window".





An indefinite bandh was called in the hills by GJM on June 15.





With supplies running out and the vacations to start shortly, the renowned boarding schools of Darjeeling are facing a harrowing time due to the shutdown.





Darjeeling is home to some of the oldest and renowned boarding schools in the country, but with the GJM-sponsored indefinite shutdown over the demand of a separate Gorkhaland entering its seventh day today, the school authorities are at their wits' end as regards how to send the students home once the vacation starts next week.





"We are facing two problems presently. One is of the supply of food stock and another is of sending the students home," Rabindra Subba, the principal of Himali boarding school, said.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) today offered a 12-hour "window" on June 23 to the schools in the Darjeeling hills to evacuate their students safely to Siliguri and Rongpo.
When the Janata Dal (United) decided to support the NDA presidential candidate Ramnath Kovind, it came as a pleasant surprise to many political pundits, but those who have read Nitish well were not amused one bit.



Reason: This was not the first time that Nitish was taking a decision contrary to general belief or perception. A day before the Opposition was slated to meet in New Delhi under the leadership of Congress president Sonia Gandhi on June 22, the JD (U)s decision to go along with the NDA nominee has taken the wind out of Opposition's sails. Ironically, it was Nitish who persuaded Sonia in April to field an Opposition candidate for presidential polls but later back-tracked. First, he skipped her luncheon meeting on May 26, then a day later he had lunch with his arch-rival Narendra Modi; and now when the Opposition was all set to announce a joint candidate to challenge Kovind, Nitish decided to ditch Sonia again.



But if one looks into the political journey of Nitish, the JD (U) chief has surprised one and all. During the 1977 polls when all the proteges of JP (as veteran Socialist Jaya Prakash Narayan was fondly called), including Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan, won, Nitish was defeated. Similarly, during 1985 Bihar Assembly elections, when all the Janata Party stalwarts lost the polls (held in the aftermath of Indira Gandhis assassination), Nitish won.



The biggest surprise in recent times was when he, despite being in the NDA, supported Pranab Mukherjee as President, who, in 2012, was a UPA nominee against NDA candidate PA Sangma. More recently, when all the Opposition leaders were after Modis blood on the issue of demonetization, Nitish came out in support of Modi, with whom he has a decade-old rivalry. Not only Nitish backed Modi on this issue, he appealed to the Prime Minister to launch a crackdown on benami property as well. If you really want to hit at black money, launch a crackdown on benami property, Nitish said without taking names of Lalu Prasad or any other politician.



Some Opposition leaders may have favoured Nitish as the rallying point for all those who are opposed to the BJP, but Nitish has surprised them by standing by the saffron party with whom he remained as an alliance partner for 18 years. No wonder, Nitish supported Modi when Opposition questioned surgical strike last year. Modi reciprocated Nitishs gesture when this year in Patna the Prime Minister lauded Nitish for strictly enforcing prohibition. Only someone of Nitishs stature could have brought in such social revolution, Modi showered encomiums on Bihar CM, with whom his rivalry is well known.
The government's surprise announcement on the midnight of Tuesday to allow district cooperative banks to exchange demonetised currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 with the Reserve Bank of India may trigger more such demands from citizens still left with old bills.



The government had set December 30 deadline for exchanging junked notes barring some exigencies for which the window was open until March 31 only with RBI.



However, much after the deadline, the RBI officials kept getting requests from individuals who failed to exchange the junked currency in time. Most of the requests came from students who accidentally found demonetised notes inside cupboards or in their books.



"There is a ray of hope that the RBI may open a small window for this category too," a government official said, however, he was not too sure of the move especially after the government issued an ordinance to penalise people holding junked notes in excess of 10.



Another official said the government may have allowed the exchange facility to cooperative banks because it would help states to deal with farm loan waiver. Many states had been demanding such a relief in absence of Centre coming forth with financial support.



The Shiv Sena last week vociferously demanded that the RBI exchange old notes close to Rs 2,772 crore for new ones in central cooperative banks which were worst hit after demonetization.



As the Centre's announcement coincided with Shiv Sena extending support to NDA's Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, the Opposition Congress asked if Sena's pressure worked on this.



Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said, "was the midnight gazette notification perfectly timed with garnering support for the Presidential candidate?"



Six days into demonetisation on November 14, the RBI had banned cooperative banks from exchanging scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. It had also asked these lenders not to accept junked currency notes as deposits. Though the RBI did not give any reason for its directive, it is believed that money laundering suspicions forced the bank to do so.





States like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra where cooperative banks are actively involved with providing credit to farmers, have since been asking the Centre to relax certain norms to help affected farm sector.



Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac had even said that cooperative banks in the state have Rs 90,000 crore in deposits and Rs 75,000 crore in credits. The deposit-credit ratio at 80% is much higher than the state's largest nationalised bank, State Bank of Travancore.






The Income Tax Department has already acted on the "expose" about the RJD chief's family amassing benami properties worth more than Rs 1,000 crore by ordering provisional attachment of 14 properties in Delhi and Patna to the tune of Rs 170-80 crore, he told reporters here.



"... some of these benami properties belong to Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav," he alleged.



Seeking to remind Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of his government's "zero-tolerance" policy on corruption, Modi asked the former to take cognisance of I-T department's action against Prasad's family members.



"The onus is on the Chief Minister to take action against Tejashwi and Tej Pratap if he is serious about his government's zero tolerance policy on corruption ...," the BJP leader said.



About a fortnight ago, Chief Minister Kumar, while Commenting on the allegations, had said that if the Centre had proof against his cabinet ministers then what was stopping the central agencies from acting.



Lalu Prasad has consistently brushed aside charges against his family members about amassing benami properties by saying that all transactions were on record and declared before relevant authorities.

BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today demanded sacking of Lalu Prasad's minister sons -- Tejashwi and Tej Pratap -- from Bihar government, a day after the Income Tax Department charged six family members of the RJD chief under anti-benami assets Act in connection with its probe into alleged land deals worth Rs 1,000 crore.


"He was booked under section 119 (a) of the Kerala Police Act pertaining to the offence of misbehaving with the passenger and publicly making a sexual gesture or doing acts degrading the dignity of women," a senior police officer told PTI.



The incident happened at Aakkulam, a suburb near here, while the woman passenger was returning home from her workplace at Kazakkuttam on June 13 night.



According to the complaint, the woman, an employee of the Technopark Phase 3, had hired a taxi via UberApp to Jagathy in the city by 7.30 pm.



The driver made attempts to befriend the woman during the journey, the complaint said. While the car was about to reach Aakkulam, he grabbed her leg below the knee, it said.



According to the complaint, she shouted and asked him to stop the car. When he parked the vehicle, she alighted. The driver then apologised and left, the complaint said.



Though the victim complained to Uber, they just sent an 'apology mail,' stating that this would not be repeated.



'Prathidhwani' sources said they took up the matter as the woman did not want to reveal her identity but wanted to make sure that no other woman faced a similar ordeal.

An Uber taxi driver has been arrested for allegedly misbehaving with a woman IT professional of Technopark here, the police said today.The police said the 32-year-old driver was arrested on a complaint from 'Prathidhwani,' a socio-cultural outfit of the Technopark IT employees.
Arrested former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan was today brought here from Chennai and taken to the Presidency Correctional home (jail) where he complained of chest pain. A team of state CID officers brought him by an Air India flight, a senior police officer said.



Karnan, dressed in white shirt and trouser, came out of the airport escorted by policemen in civil dress. He was whisked away by the police when the reporters tried to approach him. Tight security arrangements were made at the airport where senior police officers, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, were present.



"His (Karnan's) medical tests were completed at the airport and he was taken straightaway to the jail," the officer said. A senior official at the Presidency Jail said 62-year-old Karnan complained of chest pain soon after he was taken inside and a team of doctors from the jail hospital was examining him.



"He is old and seems to be unwell too. We do not want to take any chance. An ECG was done on him," he said, adding Karnan might be moved to a state-run hospital if anything wrong is found in his medical report.



Karnan, who had been evading arrest since the May 9 Supreme Court order awarding a six-month jail term, was arrested last night by a team of West Bengal CID from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km from Coimbatore, where he was "hiding" for the past few days.



The former high court judge was brought to Chennai from Coimbatore by a private airline past midnight yesterday and later accommodated in the retiring room in the airport complex amid tight security.



Three police teams from Kolkata were camping in Coimbatore who traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls. Tamil Nadu police provided the technical support to trace his whereabouts, a senior local police officer had said.



Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, had retired from service on June 12 as a fugitive.



A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar had sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.



Three days after the sentence, Karnan had moved the apex court for staying his arrest. He had enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu in 1983 and was appointed a judge of the Madras High Court in 2009. He was transferred to the Calcutta High Court on March 11, 2016.
NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday met senior BJP leaders LK Advani and MM Joshi to win their support ahead of the presidential poll on July 17.



Accompanied with BJP leaders Ram Lal and Bhupendra Yadav, Kovind drove down to meet Murli Manohar Joshi at his residence early in the day. Former party president and union minister Joshi, whose name was doing the rounds for the constitutional seat, greeted him for becoming becoming the presidential candidate of the ruling coalition.



Towards evening, he also met former deputy prime minister LK Advani who conveyed his best wishes to the former Bihar governor. Picking up Kovind for the race to Rashtrapati Bhavan was not only a surprise to the opposition, it was also to both the leaders of the BJP's margdarshak mandal. They too were informed of the party's decision after the BJP parliamentary board gave it's nod on Monday. Among top contenders for President's post who missed the bus was Kaptan Singh Solanki -- presently governor of Haryana.



In the run up to the election, Kovind is reaching out to leaders of his own party and to that of opposition as the BJP is cobbling up numbers beyond victory margin to surpass 7,13,763 votes Pranab Mukherjee had got in last 2012 election to become President of India. In the electoral college having 10,98,903 votes, NDA has got 5,37,683 votes. The shortfall is about 12000 votes. The BJP floor managers are working to achieve that target since five opposition parties -- JDU, BJD, AIADMK, TRS and YSR Congress -- have come out in favour of the NDA nominee. Other than that, the Dalit leader has emerged as the unanimous choice of the NDA after mercurial Shiv Sena backing him.



A visibly relaxed Kovind, 71, joined the International Yoga Day celebrations in the national capital. RSS sources, meanwhile, said no internal discussions have taken place so far on shortlisting a candidate for election to the post of vice president which will take place in first week of August.






Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has told opposition leaders that Ram Nath Kovind chosen by the BJP for President's post is "not a RSS swayamsewak."



Rather, Kovind has had no strong connection whatsoever with the RSS, according to him.

Explaining his "predicament" as to why he has to back Kovind, Kumar told some Congress and his own party leaders that Kovind's interactions with the RSS were rather limited during his political journey in the BJP, having joined it only in the early 1990s.



Secondly, Kumar said, he has had excellent working relationship with Kovind as his state governor.

Unlike, other BJP-appointed governors who have made things difficult for some non-BJP chief ministers, Kovind had never once created any problem for him, Kumar said.



Kumar's explanation, though, is not cutting much ice with the Congress and Left leaders -- as they find his stand quite surprising, considering that it was he who had wanted Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to take the initiative to unite the opposition ahead of the next Lok Sabha polls.



According to some Janata Dal(United) leaders close to Kumar, the opposition leaders must realise that Kovind was helped by successive Congress governments between 1980-1993 when he remained their standing counsel in the Supreme Court. So much so, he was even "retained" as standing counsel by the Narasimha Rao government despite joining the BJP in 1991.



The JD(U) leaders said their assessment was that Modi picked Kovind despite his not-so-strong RSS links, arguing that there was no Dalit leader of stature from UP for the post. Kumar conveyed to his party leaders that he would not like to be seen as blocking a candidate who was governor of his state.



Many JD(U) leaders, however, conceded that Kumar's U-turn could not be just one episode, considering his equations with the alliance partner, Rashtriya Lok Dal, headed by Lalu Prasad, are not too good.



Last January, Prime Minister Narendra Modihad had publicly praised Kumar's alcohol ban in Bihar, saying that it was an important goal. With Lalu and his family members under the scanner by Central agencies for tax violations and holding benami properties, his party's relationship with Kumar could face more trouble. Bihar BJP leaders have repeatedly said they would not mind backing Kumar if he snapped ties with the RJD.



Ironically, Kumar's ties with BJP, which was then an alliance partner, took a nose dive when he had backed Pranab Mukherjee's candidature in the 2012 presidential polls though he was a member of the National Democratic Alliance. Kumar refused to back opposition's contender, PA Sangma. A year later, the JD(U) broke its 17-year alliance with BJP after Narendra Modi was declared the saffron partys prime ministerial candidate.



In 2015, Kumar buried the hatchet with Lalu to form an alliance. Kumar has repeatedly denied allegations -- including from Lalu's party and the Congress -- that he is approaching a union with the BJP.
Speculation was rife on Wednesday that Tata Group has evinced interest in buying majority stakes in Air India, following the governments plans to reduce its share in the flag carrier.



Senior government ministers had earlier said that they were looking at several options, including selling majority stake or reducing its shares in the airline.



On Wednesday, a TV news channel report said that Tata Group, in partnership with Singapore Airlines, could be looking at buying the carrier.



Air India was initially owned by Tata Group, before it was nationalised in 1953. At present, Tata Group has stakes in Vistara, its full-service joint venture with Singapore Airlines, and low-cost carrier AirAsia India, its joint venture with Malaysias AirAsia Bhd.



The report said that Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran has held informal talks with the government, expressing preliminary interest in buying a controlling stake in Air India with 51% equity.



Officials had earlier said that the Union Cabinet will soon take a call on Niti Aayogs suggestion to privatise Air India, in which the government is pumping money to keep it afloat.



Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had said that all options, including disinvestment, is before the government to take Air India to a new high.



The talks come against the backdrop of arguments that there is no point in the government pumping in money into Air India as part of its Turn Around Plan and Financial Restructuring Plan (TAP-FRP). Under the TAP-FRP approved in April 2012, the government had committed to infuse equity of Rs 42,182 crore from 2011-12 to 2031-32.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumars decision to support Ram Nath Kovind, the NDAs Presidential candidate, has thrown the Oppositions plans into disarray.



The JD(U), headed by Nitish, announced the decision a day ahead of a meeting to choose a joint Opposition candidate from four probables, with former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as the front-runner.



The JD(U) will skip Thursdays meeting called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, but insisted the partys alliance with the Congress and the Lalu Prasad-led RJD would continue.



Though Nitishs decision is not a total surprise, some leaders feel it takes the sting out of the fight. Incidentally, he was one of the first to moot the idea of a joint Opposition candidate.



Four probables



Sources said the Oppositions choice has now narrowed down to four names  Congress leaders Meira and Sushil Kumar Shinde, B R Ambedkars grandson Prakash Ambedkar and former Rajya Sabha MP Balachandra Mungerkar.



Though the Left parties would prefer Mungerkar or Ambedkar, sources said Meira, who met Sonia on Wednesday, could emerge as the joint choice, keeping the sensibilities of parties like BSP in mind.

She has more acceptability now. Leaders dont see her as a Congress candidate, but as a former Speaker, a senior non-Congress Opposition leader said.



Soon after the JD(U) announced its decision, and amid wavering by some parties, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad telephoned CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury to convey Sonias message that her party was determined to fight.



The Left is for a contest. The contest is not about the character of the candidate, but a political fight. We want somebody who can safeguard Constitutional values, Yechury said.



Before this, all eyes were on Patna, even though Nitish had told alliance partners Sonia and Lalu that he could not oppose Kovind, a Maha Dalit and till recently governor of Bihar, with whom he enjoyed a good relationship. Sharad Yadav, senior JD(U) leader initially considered as a Presidential probable, fell in line with Nitishs choice after being told it was a one-time decision.



The support to Kovind has nothing to do with the Grand Alliance in Bihar. Nitishs support to the NDA nominee was due to personal reasons and is limited only to the Presidential election, JD(U) spokesperson K C Tyagi told reporters in Patna.



However, RJD legislator Bhai Birendra, a close Lalu aide, said, Nitish has ditched the Grand Alliance and wrecked Opposition unity.



Meira is front-runner



So, who will the Opposition field against Kovind? Sources said Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shindes name had come up, but some leaders opposed him because he had rubbed them the wrong way during his tenure as Union home minister.



BSP president Mayawati is unlikely to accept Prakash Ambedkar, Dr B R Ambedkars grandson and one of four candidates on the Opposition shortlist, they said.



The front-runner is former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar. There was opposition to Meira Kumars name. But it has withered away now. She is more acceptable than Shinde, a senior leader said.
Bowing to pressure from Opposition parties, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday announced waiver of short-term crop loans to the tune of Rs 8,167 crore availed by farmers from co-operative banks in the state.



About 22.27 lakh small farmers who had availed up to Rs 50,000 loan from co-operative banks will benefit from the governments gesture. All outstanding loans as on June 20 this year will be waived. However, Siddaramaiah, who also holds the finance portfolio, did not disclose how he would mobilise resources to implement it.



The ruling Congress has been under intense pressure to write off farm loans after the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab waived farm loans recently. Opposition parties, the BJP and the JD(S), in Karnataka had been demanding a loan waiver and had even threatened to go on agitation. The chief minister, however, had maintained that his government is ready for waiver if the Centre waives farm loans taken from nationalised banks.



Siddaramaiah appears to have relented after a nudge from Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The Congress leader had asked the chief minister to bail out farmers during his recent visit to Bengaluru.



Karnataka has been reeling under drought for the past two years. As many as 139 taluks have been declared drought-affected by the government. Crop loans were last waived in 2013 by the BJP government headed by Jagadish Shettar. About Rs 3,600 crore was written off by the Shettar regime.



Centres turn



We have waived co-operative farm loans. The Centre should now come to the rescue of farmers who have obtained loans from nationalised banks and rural banks. I demand that the Centre waive short-term loans worth Rs 42,000 crore availed by farmers from nationalised banks and rural banks...Otherwise, the BJP will not have the moral right to speak a word about farmers, Siddaramaiah stated after announcing the loan waiver in the Assembly.



The farmers have taken altogether Rs 52,000 crore in short-term crop loans in Karnataka. Of this, Rs 10,736 crore are from co-operative societies and the remaining from nationalised banks and rural banks. This means that about 80% farmers who have availed loan will benefit if the Centre takes a similar decision. Hence, the Centre has more responsibility in this regard, he added.




The order of the High Court of Karnataka banning commercial buildings in residential main area is flagrantly violated along the 10th Main Water Tank Road and surrounding areas in Indiranagar.



Several commercial buildings dot this road, classified as residential main zone in the comprehensive development plan of the Bangalore Development Authority.



The ward engineers of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), in reply to RTI queries by residents, admit that these buildings not only violate zoning regulations, but also lack trade licences. Yet, these buildings are intact and do brisk business.



Imagine a situation where 60-70 people are in an office adjacent to a residential building. Opening the windows of our house would mean that we are constantly under the gaze of these strangers. Our privacy has gone for a toss, says Praveen S, a member of Indiranagar Second Stage Residents



Welfare Association. Pubs and spas, he says, have added more to the nuisance. God knows what all happens inside these spas and pubs, he adds. Indiranagar, Jayanagar, JP Nagar, Malleswaram, Rajajinagar, Banashankari, BTM Layout, Koramangala, HSR Layout and Padmanabhanagar are among the areas which have become commercial hubs, thanks to BBMPs apathy.



BBMP reluctant



About six months ago, the BBMP had issued advertisements in newspapers warning property owners to shut down commercial buildings if they are located in the residential areas where the width of the roads is below 40 feet. However, the caution seems to have had no effect anywhere in the city, while the BBMP appears to be contented with its action.



Many corporators too are unwilling to shut down commercial buildings in the residential areas. Meanwhile, the citizens cry for action against commercial buildings in their residential areas has grown louder.



On January 21, BBMP council decided to constitute a committee, which would send a proposal for amending the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act to allow commercial buildings in residential areas. But, there has been no word on the committee till this date.



The proposed committee will submit a proposal in the BBMP council to amend the KMC Act and let the existing commercial buildings to operate. Once approved in the council, the proposal will be sent to the state government for further action, said BBMPs taxation and finance committee chairman M K Gunashekar.



A corporator said many people whose livelihood depend on commercial buildings will be thrown to the streets if such a ban is imposed. Requesting anonymity, a corporator sought to know, Where will the owners of buildings and shopkeepers go? We have to think on those lines too.

Protest by RWAs



Palikes advertisement and limited action was the fallout of numerous petitions by the residents groups demanding crackdown against the commercial buildings in their residential localities. These groups had earlier moved the Karnataka High Court against the errant commercial buildings and got an order in their favour.



While hearing the case, the court had ordered on November 8, 2012: If plans have been sanctioned after passing the order dated January 25, 2012, prima facie action may call for initiation of contempt of court proceedings. Even if permissions have been granted, we see no reason or justification for the BBMP not to take steps for recalling the permissions granted by them.



Yet the Palike has come out with an excuse. BBMP joint commissioner Sarfaraz Khan said: We will discourage commercial activities in residential areas by denying renewal of trade licences of such commercial establishments. He said that the repercussions would be serious if such commercial buildings are closed abruptly.



I can show you with proof that 95% of commercial establishments in Indiranagar do not have trade licences. In fact, 99% of shops in the city do not have trade licences. Palike is reluctant to act against the erring commercial buildings, said Sneha Nandihal of BRACE. She felt that political pressure was preventing action against errant commercial buildings.



Residents up in arms



After we learnt that Palike council intended to form a committee, we gave a representation to Mayor G Padmavathi and her deputy. We told her that the formation of such a committee would amount to contempt of court. Probably, Palike has dropped the plan, said G R Balaji, secretary of Jayanagar First Block Organisation of Residents for Clean Environment (FORCE).



Balaji said the formation of the committee itself would be against the comprehensive development plan, KMC Act, high court order and the subsequent gazette notification by the Karnataka government ordering a blanket ban on commercial establishments in the residential main area.



People living in Indira Nagar, Malleswaram, JP Nagar, Koramangala, HSR Layout and other residential areas have held several protests in the recent past against rampant commercialisation of residential areas. They have started identifying commercial buildings in these localities and are flooding the BBMP with complaints.




At daybreak on Wednesday, Kanteerava Stadium witnessed more than 11,000 people participating in the International Yoga Day.



The event, which was organised by Health department and Ayush in association with Shwasa Foundation, was inaugurated by Minister of Health and Family Welfare K R Ramesh Kumar while Union Minister Ananth Kumar and other state representatives attended the function. This is for the first time that we have such a big crowd performing yoga, said deputy director of Yoga and Naturopathy, Ayush, Dr V P Satish.



The event was marked by a mass suryanamaskara followed by a 33-minute common yoga protocol. Yoga enthusiasts from around he world were also invited for the event. Tao Porchaon Lynch (98) from New York and 97-year-old Nanammal from Tamil Nadu were the attractions.



Social activist Anna Hazare, Pilot Baba from Kayakalpa Ashram and Yogi Mata Kiko Ikova, Founder of Ikova Yoga Foundation from Japan also participated in the programme.



In another event, Karnataka State Yoga Academy, in association with S-VYASA University celebrated International Yoga Day at PES University where 3,000 people took part. Governor Vajubhai Vala inaugurated the event. The International Yoga Committee organised yoga at around 300 locations across the state under the slogan Vriksha Kranthi Yoga Shanti.



Around 8,000 people gathered to perform yoga on the GKVK premises. More than 30,000 BMTC workers performed yoga at 40 different BMTC depots across the city.



Yoga events were also held at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans), South Western Railway and institutions like Bangalore University, BNM Institute of Technology and Akshar Power Yoga Academy.
The Indian Army has rejected an indigenous assault rifle designed by a domestic ordnance factory, claiming that the gun requires considerable design improvement before it becomes fit for trials at the Infantry School, Mhow.



Demonstration firing of the 7.62 x 51 mm rifle  made by the Rifle Factory Ichapore, Kolkata  took place on June 13 and 14. Following this, the armys project management team said the gun was only a prototype that requires comprehensive design analysis and improvement.



In September 2016, the defence ministry issued a request for information (RFI) seeking to procure 1,85,000 assault rifles with telescopic sights for the army, of which 65,000 guns would be purchased

immediately.



The manufacturers were asked to spell out whether they would be able to supply the weapon within four to 28 months of signing the contract. More than a dozen manufacturers from all over the world including the Israel Weapon Industries, Beretta (Italy), Ceska (Czech), SIG Sauer (Switzerland) and Colt (USA) responded to the RFI.



A final decision on the indigenous rifle and the roadmap for the assault rifle procurement programme might be taken at a meeting at the army headquarters on Wednesday, sources said. For long, the army has been trying to replace its existing assault rifles, but could not succeed in the absence of a suitable replacement.



While the indigenous effort to create a shoot-to-kill gun at Ichapore was encouraged by the defence ministry, the product is far from satisfactory. The shortcomings range from excessive recoil experienced in the prototype to the barrel bulge that raises concerns about the safety of the rifle. Other drawbacks are excessive flash and sound signatures and a need to redesign the magazine for achieving effective feeding.



A compatible sighting system is essential for employment or even evaluation of the weapon for various parameters like effective range and accuracy. In the absence of these, is the rifle ready? said a source at the army headquarters.



In 2011, the army floated a global tender for the purchase of 66,000 assault rifles, which included the transfer of technology to the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board. The tender was cancelled later because none of the competitors could meet the quality specifications.



The rifle would replace the INSAS 5.56 mm assault rifles, which the army has not found satisfactory, even though the force was using it since the 1990s.
The AIADMK (Amma), led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, on Wednesday announced support to the NDAs Presidential nominee, Ram Nath Kovind.



The announcement came two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up Palaniswami to seek his partys support for Kovind.



A press release issued by the AIADMK headquarters here recalled the prime minister calling up Palaniswami, who is also party headquarters secretary, seeking support for Kovind, and said the matter was discussed by the party high command. Based on the deliberations, it was decided to unanimously extend support to Kovind, the release said.



On Tuesday, party leader T T V Dhinakaran had said in Bengaluru, after meeting his aunt V K Sasikala in jail, that AIADMK (Amma)s stand on backing the NDA nominee would be decided by her.



Kerala JD(U) disagrees



The Kerala unit of JD(U), which is part of the Congress-led UDF, will vote against the party diktat to support Kovind.



It has no MLAs in the Assembly, but its state president M P Veerendra Kumar is a Rajya Sabha MP.



Kumar said he had held discussions with JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in this regard. I told Nitish Kumar it would be difficult to support the NDA nominee. He has given his approval to vote for the candidate desirable to the state unit, he said in Kozhikode.
The governments surprise announcement late on Monday night to allow district cooperative banks to exchange demonetised currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 with the RBI may trigger more such demands from those still left with the old bills.



The government had set December 30 as the deadline for exchanging the banned notes, barring some exigencies for which the window was open until March 31 only with the RBI.



However, much after the deadline, the RBI kept getting requests from individuals who failed to exchange the notes. Most of the requests came from students who accidentally found the demonetised notes inside their cupboards or in their books.



There is a ray of hope that the RBI may open a small window for this category too, a government official said. But he was not sure of the move, especially after the government issued an ordinance to penalise people holding more than 10 banned notes.



Another official said the government may have allowed the exchange facility to cooperative banks because it would help states to deal with farm loan waiver. Many states have been demanding such a relief as the Centre is not lending financial support.



The Shiv Sena last week vociferously demanded that the RBI exchange old notes close to Rs 2,772 crore for new ones in central cooperative banks, which were worst hit after demonetisation.



As the Centre's announcement coincided with the Sena extending support to BJP's Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, the Opposition Congress asked if Senas pressure worked.



Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said, Was the midnight gazette notification perfectly timed with garnering support for the Presidential candidate? Six days after demonetisation on November 14, the RBI had banned cooperative banks from exchanging scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. It had also asked the banks not to accept the junked currency notes as deposits.



Though the RBI did not give any reason for its directive, it is believed that money laundering suspicions forced the bank to do so. States like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, where cooperative banks are actively involved with providing credit to farmers, have since been asking the Centre to relax certain norms to help the farm sector.



Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac had even said that cooperative banks in the state have Rs 90,000 crore in deposits and Rs 75,000 crore in credits. The deposit-credit ratio at 80% is much higher than the state's largest nationalised bank, State Bank of Travancore.
The Bengaluru police on Tuesday arrested a head constable attached to the Kote police station in Chitradurga and his three associates for trying to exchange demonetised Turkish currency Lira, of notional value Rs 71 crore for Rs 27 lakh, with two city-based businessmen.



The police seized 78 notes of 5 lakh denomination Liras, a loaded service pistol and an Alto car from the suspects.



The head constable identified as Nagaraju has been booked for attempt to murder and under sections of the Indian Arms Act for threatening a policeman by pointing the pistol to his head, the police said.



The others arrested are Shivaraju (50), a primary school teacher from Chitradurga, Murali (40), a film producer from Mathikere in Bengaluru and Aravind Prasad (40), a realtor from Davangere. The police are on the lookout for one of the suspects Channa Reddy, also from Chitradurga, who managed to escape.



Chellaswamial N (33), a sales executive, approached the Marthahalli police on Tuesday and alerted them about a few persons from Chitradurga contacting his friend and business partner Shakir frequently over phone and telling him that they have high-value redeemable Turkish Liras worth Rs 100 crore. They told Shakir that they wanted to dispose them. They told Shakir that each note is of 5 lakh Liras (value of 1 Lira is Rs 18.27) and worth Rs. 91.4 lakh and they can become rich overnight by exchanging them in the international market.



Chellaswamial and Shakir expressed interest in the deal and asked them to come down to Bengaluru. The duo suspected something amiss and kept the police in loop. On Tuesday afternoon, Nagaraju, Reddy and their accomplices arrived from Chitradurga and met Chellaswamil and Shakir near Marthahalli bridge. Nagaraju showed a single currency of 5 lakh Liras to the duo and explained its value in the international market, comparing it with USD. They told the duo that they had 78 such Liars worth Rs 71 crore which they were ready to exchange for a mere Rs 27 lakh.



Shakir and Challaswaial said they were ready for the deal and asked the five to meet them at the parking lot of the Innovative Multiplex on Marthahalli Ring Road at 8.30 pm. The duo, who informed the police, was waiting at the parking lot of the theatre. Around 8.45 pm, the five men arrived in an Alto car and the police surrounded them after Chellaswamial and Shakir identified them.



Arrest drama



Nagaraju immediately pulled out a loaded pistol and pointed it at head constable Thimmapparajus head. Meanwhile, the other policemen pounced on him, snatched the weapon and pinned him down. In the melee, Reddy managed to escaped. Nagaraju and others were apprehended by the police.



Later, the police found that Nagaraju was a head constable in Chitradurga. He had earlier served in Internal Security Division (ISD) and had a service pistol issued in his name. Even after he was transferred to the Kote police station from ISD, Nagaraju had not returned his pistol and kept it with him apparently for illegal use, the police suspect.



Interrogation of Nagaraju revealed the man behind the foreign currency exchange racket was Reddy, who was arrested in 2016 in a similar case. The police learnt that Nagaraju had befriended Reddy and helped him obtain bail, after which the two continued with foreign currency exchange business.



The police said the gang convinced gullible businessmen to buy the Liras telling them that the currency was demonetised on December 30, 2015 and the high-value currency can be exchanged in Turkey till December 30, 2019.
The menu of offerings at the San Diego International Beer Festival has grown so vast and varied that even its co-founder (and local beer impresario) Tom Nickel is at a loss to keep up.

Id be surprised if I even get to try 20 or 30 in the festivals three days, Nickel said. Theres just no way to sample everything.

Thats 1,500 beers in 51 categories from a dozen countries and nearly 30 states  360 of which were poured at the five sessions that are spread out over three days, June 16-18. As the 1,200 attendees on Sunday, June 18 happily threw back the unlimited pours at the Del Mar Arena, Nickel reflected on how far the festival has come since he helped it evolve from the county fairs home-brewing contest. He pointed to hard-to-find brews from Belgium and Australia  even one from Tibet  as evidence of what he might love most about the three-day extravaganza that now attracts more than 8,000 people.

This is more about the everyday beer drinker rather than the diehard craft drinkers, he said. Doing this during the fair means we capture a different crowd than the people who are going to, say, North Park or the Brewers Guild Festival or the Stone Brewing Anniversary party or any of those other big festivals around town. At those youre preaching to the choir a little bit. Here we get a lot of people who are curious about craft beer but maybe not really steeped in it yet.

Despite how much the festival has grown since its 2007 debut, it hasnt outgrown its local roots. North County breweries hold their own year in and year out: Pizza Port Brewing Company and The Lost Abbey are safe bets to nab gold medals, not to mention the slew of winners from the regions emerging beer hotbed between Sorrento Valley and Mira Mesa, a hub that now boasts more than two dozen breweries and a pair of distilleries.

Leading those breweries was this years overall champion, AleSmith Brewing Company, which had two of its beers win top honors in their respective categories: Private Stock for the British-style strong ales and Old Numbskull for the barley wines.

We always like to bring some beers that get the beer geeks excited  like one we showed earlier today, Noble Empire, our bourbon-barrel-aged imperial porter, which retails for $32 a bottle, said Eric McCoy, a sales rep for AleSmith. We always like to pour something like that, but we also make sure to pour something for the people, which this year is our pilsner, a little bit lighter and kind of for a less-discerning palate.

Taking top honors in a region as suds-obsessed as San Diego, Nickel said, brings with it a level of prestige roughly on a par with winning a wine award in Napa Valley.

This keeps getting better and better every year, McCoy said. The quality of beer is getting better and theres more breweries involved, which means more competition, which means more prestige, and thats driving even more breweries to come in.

All that growth has now brought the festival to a tipping point.

Two years ago, the competition portion of the festival drew 900 entries. This year the India pale ale (IPA) category alone brought in 100 of the 1,500 entries overall  so many that the Del Mar Arena barely has room for them all.

That trajectory has compelled the festivals managers to meet this summer to figure out whether to break off into a standalone event not during the county fair, a decision complicated by the fact that the fairs beer, wine and liquor festivals have become a key part of the fairs strategy for keeping attendance  and relevance  up.

We cant really grow any bigger in this space so the decision has to be made of whether this is the size we want to be or do we want to let this keep growing, Nickel said. Certainly if we moved into something like OBrien Hall or one of the fairgrounds other big venues, we could handle more breweries, more people, have it maybe be a four-day event.

For more information and a list of this years festival winners, visit www.sandiegobeerfestival.com.
In the largest dance studio at Royal Academy of Performing Arts, young dancers tap, twirl, leap and dance on pointe in a big, vibrant recreation of a number from the musical La La Land for their upcoming annual recital.

In the next state-of-the-art studio over, little tykes in tutus finish up a beginning ballet class as parents watch classes in action from a roomy parent lounge.

All of it has been owner Francine Gartons dream, finally realized in 2014 when she moved to the large Sorrento Valley space from the studio she had outgrown in Carmel Valley. Less than three years after moving in, she will now be forced to leave it all behind.

In February, Royal Academy of Performing Arts, Del Mar Ballet and Inspired Movement were all notified by the citys Development Services Department that they were in violation of the zoning.

Both Royal Academy of Performing Arts (RAPA) and Del Mar Ballet must be out of their studios by July 31.

My world fell apart, Garton said of receiving the notice. I can talk about it now because I feel like Im numb.

The zoning in Sorrento Valley allows a mix of light industrial, office and commercial uses but does not allow instructional studios. Instructional studios are defined as uses that provide a place where skills including dance, art and martial arts are taught to individuals or groups. Instructional studios do not include educational facilities.

Within less than a mile from the studio there are several businesses that fall under instructional studios, including art and music studios, a volleyball club, a karate studio, several yoga studios, a barre studio and specialty workout gyms that offer group exercise classes. Yet only the three dance studios were targeted as the city is reactive not proactive. According to Michael Richmond, deputy director of the Development Services Departments Code Enforcement Division (CED), the city had only received complaints about the dance studios.

CED responds to citizen complaints regarding alleged land use and building code violations on private property, Richmond said. CED does not perform proactive enforcement at this time.

It is city policy to not identify the source of complaints but the studios believe that it was a competing Carmel Valley dance studio.

At one point Garton said she felt like RAPA would have to shut down entirely and she pictured herself on stage at the June recital saying a painful, final goodbye.

Ive put my heart and soul and everything Ive got into this, Garton said.

Garton opened Royal Dance Academy in the Piazza Carmel shopping center in 2001, expanding multiple times while her studio grew in popularity. For years she talked about her vision for RAPA and it finally became a reality in October 2014. She invested everything she had into the 15,000-square- foot building  creating five state-of-the-art dance studios, a large retail section, dressing room and quiet study room for dancers, parents lounge, conference rooms and office space.

An anonymous letter arrived in November 2016  telling Garton that she was breaking the law and putting children in danger. She nearly fell out of her chair reading the letter, handing it off to her landlord.

We thought it must have been a hoax, Garton said.

When she heard Del Mar Ballet had also received multiple anonymous letters and a letter from the city, she encouraged them that it was nothing, there was no possible way they could close down the studios for violating the zoning  if they did, they would have to close nearly every door on the street.

Garton will never forget the day in February. She had just finished teaching a class and her mother, Madeline Wilson, who works at the studios front desk, let her know the city had called them too. The city then sent a Civil Penalty Notice and Order which required compliance within 30 days.

Garton called the city asking if it was a joke and found that the investigator had already been out to visit RAPA and the other studios.

Can you not see the faces of the kids and all of the joy? Garton said she asked the investigator Theres an energy, a buzz, a beautiful atmosphere, creativity, laughter, its like one big gorgeous family. I asked , You cant really close it, can you?

Im sobbing at the city, thinking I cant believe that this is really happening.

According to Richmond, all of the dance studio operators contacted the department and began working toward compliance.

The San Diego Municipal Code describes the various remedies and procedures for enforcement, including fines, Richmond said. CEDs goal is to work with owners to achieve voluntary compliance.

Garton retained a lawyer and found out that to fight the zoning would cost a lot of time and thousands of dollars. The stress and the fear was often too much to take over the next few months and although it broke her heart, because she had put so much into the building, she realized that she would have to let it go. She couldnt risk losing her business and displacing her dancers.

While she felt like the city was practicing selective zoning, for the other businesses to be forced to move someone would have to complain. Garton said it would not be her.

I know what it takes to open a business, the risk, the money, its so hard. Why would I do that to another business I respect? Garton asked.

Garton said its not fair that they were targeted when so many other similar businesses will be allowed to remain but she acknowledges the city is just doing its job.

Richmond said that the City Treasurers Office issues Business Tax Certificates and it is incumbent upon all responsible parties to perform due diligence to confirm uses are allowed and appropriate permits are obtained when opening or operating a business. He said to avoid situations like this from occurring, the citys Economic Development Department can provide assistance for those looking to start new businesses.

Down the street from RAPA, Del Mar Ballet was faced with the same hard choices  they would also have to move but to where? The studio owned by Marie Arts and Ben Adams had been in their Sorrento Valley location for eight years.

A new beginning was announced last week, as Del Mar Ballet and Royal Academy of Performing Arts have decided to merge at Merge, a brand new mixed retail center on Carmel Mountain Road and Carmel Country Road. The studios will come together under the name Pacific Arts Dance Center and they hope to be the premier dance enterprise in all of San Diego. The studios will have most of the top floor with wonderful views and a huge balcony that converts to a performance venue.

From something so sickening, something beautiful has come from it, Garton said. At a time when I thought there was no light at the end of the tunnel I got with Marie and realized they shared the same standards and values and goals for their students.

Through all of the ups and downs of the roller coaster that has been going on behind the scenes, we have charted an entirely new course with a new location beyond our wildest dreams, Arts wrote in a letter to her dancers. A location where our artistic vision can truly shine and where we will find a new and lasting home.

Its a 6,000-square-foot space, half the size of Gartons Sorrento Valley studio. There will be four studios instead of five, and she will lose many of the amenities she spoiled her dancers and parents with. They will still have a dressing room, music and acting studio for performing arts programs and space for Zumba classes. And they will still be a family. A bigger, newer one.

The toughest of times can bring out the greatest light in people and shine on new opportunities that would have never otherwise been discovered, Arts said. It has been an incredibly tough time for all of us over the past few months. There is nothing like an attempted annihilation of our work and artistic expression to really show what can be accomplished when we all come together and support each other.
By Lauren Frayer

20 June 2017

ELVAS, Portugal (Los Angeles Times)  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.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. [Reminiscent of Australias Black Saturday forest fires in 2009. Des]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.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. [more]

Reeling from its deadliest forest fire, Portugal finds a villain: eucalyptus trees

By Miguel Riopa

21 June 2017

(AFP)  Portugals N236, now dubbed the road of death, lies charred black from the devastating fire that swept from one side of forest to the other, trapping families and couples in their cars, and firefighters who had come to the rescue.

Road signs are burnt and unreadable, plumes of smoke rise from the ground on either side, and blackened car tracks cut across the tarmac, a grim reminder of the fierce blaze that killed 47 people Saturday, among the 64 victims of the giant fires.Why were they caught in the inferno? Should the road have been blocked by police? Should they have been directed elsewhere?Or was the fire moving so fast and unpredictably that there was nothing anyone could have done? []Serra da Fonseca said that many of those who met their death on the N236 had been spending the day at a popular resort with an artificial wave pool in Castanheira de Pera, and decided to go home when they heard about the fire.He wonders why they were allowed to take the road south to the main IC8 road that goes through the area, even if that was the quickest route, when police knew that a fire was raging in the area.They should have told them to go the opposite way, he said, pointing to the N236 that runs past his restaurant into the hills above, where a thick cloud of smoke now hangs from another forest fire.Its longer but it was safer that day.But for Samantha, a Briton who lives nearby, heading south appeared to be the quickest route for people who did not know the area well, particularly at a time of confusion when the fire was spreading at lightning speed.If youre a tourist, you go that way, she said.I dont think anyone knew the extent of it.And on Saturday, there were only a few policemen working, said David, a 44-year-old cameraman who lives in Lisbon but who was visiting his parents.In the panic, they couldnt avoid the tragedy, it was impossible, he said. [more]

Questions swirl over Portugal fires road of death
New light has been shed on the association between type 1 diabetes and asthma by an international study.

The two conditions have been linked by previous studies but now research from Finland suggests having asthma increases the risk of type 1 diabetes by 41 per cent. Those with type 1 diabetes, however, have a decreased risk of developing asthma by 18 per cent.

Dr Johanna Metsala, from the National Institute for Health and Welfare based in Helsinki, is the lead researcher in a study which has just been presented at the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Congress 2017.

Metsala told delegates: The association between asthma and type 1 diabetes is more complex than we previously thought. Prior asthma increased the risk of type 1 diabetes, but prior type 1 diabetes decreased the risk of subsequent asthma. This association was seen at all ages. This was a fairly novel observation.

Metsala said all previous research on the links between the two conditions had not thrown up conclusive evidence about the relationship between asthma and type 1 diabetes.

Her team combed through Finnish health records looking at children born between 1981 and 2008 who had either type 1 diabetes or asthma by the time they were aged 16 or the year 2010.

They examined a pool of 171,138 children as part of a sample representing 10 per cent of youngsters born between those years. In total, 80,871 children had asthma, while 8,939 had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The team also found that 602 had both conditions.

Professor Peter Vuillermi, a pediatrics specialist from Australias Deakin University, attended the conference and commented: I think comparing them and trying to understand what the similarities and differences are is likely to be really informative. It would be also nice to know if theres a link across other allergic conditions that use different medications, such as food allergy.
All devices comes with 7th Gen Intel processors with support for Windows Ink and the HP Pavilion x360 is available in 11.6-inch and 14-inch models, while Spectre x360 is only available in a 13.3-inch model

HP has launched the Spectre x360 and Pavilion x360 convertible laptops in India. The HP Spectre x360 13.3-inch model starts at Rs. 1,15,290. The HP Pavillion X360 11.6-inch model starts at Rs. 40,290, while the 14-inch model starts at Rs. 55,290.All devices are available with 7th Generation Intel processors with support for Windows Ink, an up to 4GB Nvidia dedicated graphics.

Ketan Patel, Sr. Director, Personal Systems, HP Inc. India stated, At HP, it is our continuous endeavor to create incredible customer experiences for both personal and professional needs of todays millennials. The new range of Pavilion and Spectre devices are best fitted for Inking ecosystem. They will truly fulfill the functional and creative needs of students and young working professionals, by giving wings to their imagination and empowering their passion and skills.

The HP Pavilion x360 is available with options for the 7th Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. There is also an option with hybrid storage consisting of 1TB HDD and 8GB SSD. Both variants of the laptop feature a multi-touch IPS FHD display as well as a full size textured island-style backlit keyboard. The device comes with Bang and Olufsen speakers with HP Audio Boost. The company claims that the Pavilion x360 offers up to 10 hours of battery life with support for fast charge.

The HP claims that the Spectre x360 is one of the thinnest and lightest convertible PCs with a thickness of 0.55-inches. It comes with a 13.3-inch FHD IPS display and offers an option between Intels Core i7 and Core i5 processors. The laptop offers 16GB of RAM and storage of up to 512GB PCIe SSD. Like the Pavilion x360, the Spectre x360 also comes with Bang and Olufsen Audio with HP Audio Boost along with Smart Amp. The device supports HPs Fast Charge technology and the company claims that the device can offer up to 12 hours and 45 minutes.

The HP Pavilion x360 14-inch, and Spectre x360 come pre-bundled with HP Active Pen.
Samsung was rumoured to launch Galaxy S8 with a dual-rear camera setup, but the company stuck with a tradition single camera setup with its new flagship

Samsung might be working on a variant of Galaxy S8 and S8+ with dual rear camera setup. Ahead of Galaxy S8 launch in March, there were rumours that the company will bring dual camera setup to its flagship, but the company ended up sticking with the tried and tested single camera setup instead. However, a new Weibo post suggests there could be a dual camera bearing Galaxy S8 in works as well.

The post shows a Galaxy S8 variant with vertically placed dual-rear camera setup. Further, the device doesn't seem to have a fingerprint reader, which is located next to the rear camera module in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ phones that were launched. It is not clear whether Samsung is really working on a variant of Galaxy S8 with a dual-rear camera and it is unlikely that Samsung will announce a new version of Galaxy S8 just months after the launch. It should be noted that a very similar looking phone was leaked back in April, and was tipped to be a prototype of the Galaxy S8+. It suggested that the company considered the set up at the very least, before finalising on the version with a single camera.

Samsung is reportedly planning to launch the Galaxy Note 8 in August. The phone is said to feature dual-rear camera setup and most reports suggest the handset will sport a fingerprint sensor embedded under the display. The Note 8 is expected to look similar to Galaxy S8 with a larger Infinity Display, an updated Snapdragon 836 SoC, and up to 8GB RAM.
AMD launches Zen-based datacenter processors and new GPU accelerators for servers

AMD has launched its EPYC 7000 series high-performance datacenter processors. AMD was joined by multiple customers and partners at the global launch event on June 20 in presenting an array of systems, product demonstrations, and customer testimonials. The EPYC comes with up to 32 high-performance Zen cores and an exclusive feature set.

At the event, AMD also launched Radeon Instinct GPU server accelerators including Radeon Instinct MI25, MI18 and MI6 as well as ROCm 1.6 software platform to help improve performance and efficiency for deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI) calculation.

The Radeon Instinct MI25 features AMD's new Vega architecture using a 14nm FinFET process and is suitable for large-scale machine intelligence and deep learning applications. The MI18 uses the high-performance, low-power Fiji GPU architecture and is designed for machine learning calculation and all sorts of HPC applications, AMD said. The MI6 is based on Polaris architecture and is also created for HPC, machine learning and Edge intelligence applications. AMD will start supplying the Radeon Instinct products to partners in the third quarter of 2017.

Worldwide major server manufacturers also introduced products based on AMD EPYC 7000-series processors at the launch, including HPE, Dell, Asustek, Gigabyte, Inventec, Lenovo, Sugon, Supermicro, Tyan, and Wistron. Primary hypervisor and server operating system providers Microsoft, Red Hat, and VMware showcased optimized support for EPYC, while key server hardware ecosystem partners Mellanox, Samsung Electronics, and Xilinx were also featured in EPYC-optimized platforms.

All EPYC processors combine innovative security features, enterprise-class reliability, and support a full feature-set, according to AMD. An AMD EPYC 7601 CPU-based one-socket system shifts expectations for single socket server performance, helping lower total-cost-of-ownership (TCO), providing up to 20% capex savings compared to the Intel Xeon E5-2660 v4-based two-socket system, claimed AMD.

The EPYC processors feature scalable system on chip (SoC) design ranging from 8-core to 32-core, supporting two high-performance threads per core. They also feature memory bandwidth configuration with eight channels of memory on every EPYC device. In a two-socket server, there is support for up to 32 DIMMS of DDR4 on 16 memory channels, delivering up to 4TB of total memory capacity.

The 32-core EPYC 7601, 7551 and 7501 are priced starting at US$3,400, while the EPYC 7451 and 7401 are starting at US$1,850, the EPYC 7351, 7301 and 7281 US$650 and the EPYC 7251 US$475. For one-socket solutions, the EPYC 7551P is priced at US$2,100, the EPYC 7401P US$1,075 and the EPYC 7351P US$750.

AMD CEO Lisa Su revealed at the event that following the releases of these 14nm Zen-based Naples series EPYC processors, the company is set to release its 7nm Zen 2-based Rome series processors between 2017-2020 to succeed the Naples series. In 2020, AMD will then announce the next-generation 7nm Zen 3-based Milan series.

AMD may switch the manufacturing partner for its 7nm processors from GlobalFoundries to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which would improve yield rates and costs, according to industry sources.

AMD EPYC datacenter processors: specifications Model Core / Thread Base freq (GHz) Max boost (GHz) TDP (W) EPYC 7601 32 / 64 2.2 3.2 180 EPYC 7551P 32 / 64 2.0 3.0 180 EPYC 7501 32 / 64 2.0 3.0 155/170 EPYC 7451 24 / 48 2.3 3.2 180 EPYC 7401P 24 / 48 2.0 3.0 155/170 EPYC 7351P 16 / 32 2.4 2.9 155/170 EPYC 7301 16 / 32 2.2 2.7 155/170 EPYC 7281 16 / 32 2.1 2.7 155/170 EPYC 7251 8 / 16 2.1 2.9 120

AMD EPYC datacenter processor

Photo: Monica Chen, Digitimes, June 2017
Do you feel beaten-up by the media lately? In just the last few weeks we have seen several articles written and a video on YouTube about the behaviors of expats wrecking havoc, (LOL) in Cuenca Ecuador. hahahahahaha



Wrecking Havoc? Now thats dramatic.



When we read and study these bits of prose it becomes increasingly apparent that this article and video are just overblown media hype to garner reactions from the expat community. Dont tell anyone but I think it is working. The article has over 1,500 comments at the bottom of it, mostly from expats and potential expats becoming defensive and blaming one another.



It all seems like very well-planned agendas to keep people out or to keep a certain type of people out; maybe the lower pension retirees?

In her article the city of Cuenca was quoted as saying We didnt mean for Cuenca to become a retirement destination.





Lets take a look at the article.



Source: http://www.breitbart.com/



TITLE: US Baby Boomers Gentrifying Socialist Ecuador and Threatening the Stability of its Welfare State



The title implies expats are selfish and snotty.



Excuse me, but I had to look up the word gentrify Ive never heard of it before and I read a lot. My Microsoft Word didnt even have the word in its vocabulary either. Cmon Bill Gates, whats the matter with you?

Oh really? Weve all been fooled then.Lets take a look at the article.Source:The title implies expats are selfish and snotty.Excuse me, but I had to look up the word gentrify Ive never heard of it before and I read a lot. My Microsoft Word didnt even have the word in its vocabulary either. Cmon Bill Gates, whats the matter with you?





WE looked up the definition just in case you were wondering too.



GENTRIFY  renovate and improve (especially a house or district) so that it conforms to middle-class taste.



We could dissect this silly article and video to death but thats not really what this blog post is about. We just want to know the reasons for publishing hearsay, and not to mention that it is old news and that they were published in the span of just a few days apart from each other.



You and I both know the information reported is overblown and not entirely accurate. And that is why we call it hearsay because after something has been mentioned over and over and over again, the wording evolves and transforms the content in such a manner it is not what it was or how it actually happened to begin with.



Have you ever wondered how a complete stranger that does not even live here (Ecuador) has the credence to be an authority over the behaviors of expats in a certain retirement city?



Who is the writer? Where is the credibility? We do not see any. However, expats are reposting these silly reports all over the Internet like she has some kind of influence over the behaviors of some expats in Cuenca Ecuadorand people are eating it upgobblegobble!



Whats truly strange about the article and the video (we got a good laugh) is the subject matter of what they are reporting on is NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN. In fact weve been talking about this very same stuff going on almost since the beginning of our



Heres whats weird: The article above is from a journalist who, after looking over her dossier only reports about political upheaval, political destruction and terror in countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Philippines and the UKand now...and noware you ready for this folks? New writers often use difficult wording in their prose because they think it makes them look like better writers. But actually, it makes them look like newbie writers.WE looked up the definition just in case you were wondering too.GENTRIFY  renovate and improve (especially a house or district) so that it conforms to middle-class taste.We couldbut thats not really what this blog post is about. We just want to know the reasons for publishing hearsay, and not to mention that it isand that they were published in the span of just a few days apart from each other.You and I both know the information reported isand not entirely accurate. And that is whybecause after something has been mentioned over and over and over again, the wording evolves and transforms the content in such a manner it is not whator howto begin with.Have you ever wondered how a complete stranger that does not even live here (Ecuador) has theto be an authority over thein a certain retirement city?Who is the writer?We do not see any. However, expats are reposting these silly reports all over the Internet like she has some kind of influence over the behaviors of some expats in Cuenca Ecuadorand people are eating it upgobblegobble!Whats(we got a good laugh) is the subject matter of what they are reporting on is NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN. In fact weve been talking about this very same stuff going on almost since the beginning of our Discover Cuenca Ecuador blog years ago...and we live here.Heres whats weird: The article above is from a journalist who, after looking over her dossier only reports about political upheaval, political destruction and terror in countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Philippines and the UKand now...and now

Here goesand now among all of her politically violent articles there is one amongst all of this terror where her focus is on a small expat community and the expats that live there not learning the language.

Woopdeedoo!



We really are laughing out loud and you should be too.



How in the world can this petty news piece of some expat retirees in Cuenca Ecuador compare to her other stuff about innocent people and children getting bombed and political content with violent terror attacks across parts of the world thousands of miles away? I am at a loss for words; its so shamefully disgraceful.



What she reported is nothing new to any of us; its old news reported years prior on several expat blogs, including ours. Why dredge up old news and then gossip about it?



Seriously guys, where are they getting their information from? If not copying from the bloggers, who actually live here? Just change the wording around and hype it up a bit and "walah", just like that, you got an article and a video. Wow.

But we say, expats care, tourist don't.



And then there is the video. The video is an assortment of clips from old media reports and expat videos dated as far back as 2012. There is absolutely nothing in the video that we didnt already know; the video is also confusing, misleading, and inaccurate and slanted just to name a few.



The title is not only silly but sounds racist. The title is making us laugh our heads off. hahahahaha Locals complain over the influx of White English Speaking People. Why does it matter if the people are red, yellow, brown grey, black, white or blue?



Really, some locals are complaining? Why is that even news? This sediment has been written about 5 years ago. It happens in all the paradise cities that the Retire Abroad Magazines (RAM) promote.



If you think Cuenca Ecuador is the only retirement destination feeling the tourist crunch because of being labeled the BEST PLACE to LIVE in the world then please do some more research. Its happening everywhere, Costa Rica, Panama, D.R, and now ColombiaTheres consequences to notoriety and now they have to deal with the consequences, including Cuenca Ecuador.



BACK to the VIDEO: Who is this person? Take a look at the videos he usually makes. Very political and opinionated videos trying to sway people and then out of the blue like the journalist above he makes a video that is so unlike all the rest of his videos about a small expat community in Cuenca Ecuador.



Are you confused like we are?



On another note, is the city of Cuenca behaving hospitable as they are quoted as saying We didnt mean for Cuenca to become a retirement destination. Do you feel warm and fuzzy when you read that?



You did not intend on Cuenca being a retirement haven? Oh really, you had us fooled and probably thousands of others fooled too.



The International Relations Director for Ecuador is quoted as telling the Herald, Cuencanos are feeling like strangers in their own city.

Feeling like a stranger in a city of 350,000 population and maybe 10,000 permanent gringos. (and our guess for permanent expats is high).



How can Cuencanos tell the difference between a tourist and permanent expat anyway?

Well, THEY CANT.



What is more believable is all the tourists that come in every day, week, month, year to Cuenca behaving selfishly, and local and expat real estate agents driving up rents, and these tourists becoming agitated and upset because they do not speak a lick of Spanish because they're on vacation and all they care about is having a good time for themselves and then they leave, and a new set of without a care tourists arrive right behind them and the cycle starts all over again.



Expats care, tourists dont.



Think about it. It is much more believable that hundreds of thousands of different tourists arriving daily, monthly, yearly to Cuenca Ecuador is going to be more of an impairment on the city and how the locals feel than a few thousand permanent residents that live here.



Expats care, tourists dont.



So, aside from the in-hospitality of Ecuador changing VISA requirements recently and compelling foreign residents to have health insurance, and saying they didnt intend on Cuenca being a retirement city, the only thing that makes these two reports stand out from all the rest is that they come from off the cuff, oddball copycat media sources and right on the heels of one another, while (sadly) some expats are reposting these hearsay reports all over the Internet because they think its NEW news.



But its not NEW news, its old, transformed news made to look like NEW news.

This does give us time to reflect on what being a respectful expat means. We all makes mistakes and to err is to be human, however to make the same mistakes over and over again or to try and change something or someone that we have no right to change is erring over and over again.

Uprooting ones life and moving to a totally different culture is difficult and can be challenge for most people...patience and kindness are virtues that are much needed from all of us, no matter where we live in the world....we still believe that most Ecuadorians welcome us to their country so don't get too serious over it.

Thanks guys, see ya next article or VLOG. If this article interests you, then you'll like these too. The first one is a must read if anyone is still confused, angry or blaming others because of these silly copycat reports..

PS...

We just want to say that because gossip grows in steps with each new report, it turns it into misinformation and can ruin the reputation of a person or a group of people which is what is now happening with the expats that live in Cuenca. The reports that are coming out are totally warped and misleading thousands of people. Thanks to copycats.
Market your business to decision makers around the Northwest




Philippine forces today fought off Pro-Islamic State militants who stormed a school in the southern Philippines and held several students hostage. The militants who were holding students captive and using civilians as human shields withdraw after a fierce gun fight.

Police said about 300 armed men, among them members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), stormed the school early in the day.

'It's already resolved,' Padilla told a regular briefing. 'They've withdrawn, they are no longer there. The school area is again safe. The troops are in pursuit mode.'

Witnesses about a kilometre from the school said they could hear gunfire, with troops preventing anyone from getting closer.

Reports quoting a spokesman for the BIFF, said that the militants had taken civilians to a place safe from the crossfire, and did not intend to hold them hostage.

The spokesman said the incident at Pigcawayan was not related to the fighting in Marawi. 'This has come from a group that has long committed harassments,' he said.

Earlier, reports quoting police sources in Pigcawayan said civilians were trapped in the crossfire.

''We can confirm that they occupied a school and there were civilians trapped. We are in the process of determining how many were trapped and their identities,'' reports said quoting a police officer.

Meanwhile, government forces continued air assaults against insurgents from the Maute group, who have taken over large parts of Marawi City. An unspecified number of BIFF gunmen also raided the village of Malagakit in North Cotabato province at dawn today and engaged government forces in a firefight. Villagers have fled to safety.

Forces doubt the attack on the school may be an attempt to divert the military's focus away from the militants who have laid siege on southern Marawi city.
The Enterprise area was part of Alabamas drop to its lowest unemployment rate in almost a decade.

Coffee Countys unemployment rate for May was 4.3 percent, which was a drop of 0.3 percent from April, according to numbers released last week by the Alabama Department of Labor and Gov. Kay Ivey. That was a piece of the bigger puzzle that showed the states rate at 4.9 percent. That is the lowest rate for Alabama since March 2008, when the rate was 4.8 percent.

Those good economic numbers have been felt in the Wiregrass region.

Enterprise Chamber of Commerce President Erin Grantham said the general feeling among businesses in the city is that the economy is doing well, and that she has not heard anything negative regarding it.

Weve got more businesses that are coming to town and new businesses that are building quite rapidly it feels like, so I think thats a strong indicator of a growing economy, she said. Which of course, all of thats going to open opportunities for employment.

Among the new businesses that have opened recently in Enterprise are Cafe Roma, which moved from Daleville, the 10-screen Clark Cinemas and Ohana Smoothie Shop. On Tuesday, according to a report by MadeInAlabama.com, Enterprise-based Arista Aviation has agreed on a deal with the International Defense and Aerospace Group LLCE to sell four modified UH-60A helicopters to IDAG.

Jonathan Tullos, executive director of the Wiregrass Economic Development Corporation, said the new Trump administration has inspired confidence with business owners.

Youre starting to see them make decisions that maybe they were hesitant to make before, he said. And a lot of has to do with that. A lot of it has to do with the business climate in Alabama. It starts at the local level and goes all the way up. I think weve certainly got things set up well in our area, as a state, and we have a lot of good local elected officials and a lot of good state elected officials.

Elsewhere in the Wiregrass region, Houston Countys unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percent to 4.1; Geneva County dropped 0.2 percent to 4; Dale County was at 4.5 percent, down 0.3; Pike County fell 0.2 percent to 4.5; Henry County went to 4.5 percent from 5; and Barbour County dropped 0.6 percent to 5.6.

The Dothan Eagle and Associated Press contributed to this report.
Since launching in July 2015, the Federal Governments employment services program, jobactive, has helped employers from across Australia recruit more than 400,000 suitably skilled workers.

The popularity of jobactive with employers is attributable to the range of services, available through the program, that make it cost-effective and hassle-free for businesses, especially SMEs, to recruit staff who are matched to their needs. Below is an overview of the key services available to employers and the value their business can derive.

Tailored services

By tapping into a network of jobactive providers from over 1,700 locations across Australia, employers gain access to tailored, end-to-end recruitment services at no cost to their business.

An employers local jobactive provider can recommend a shortlist of screened and job-ready candidates based on an assessment of their specific business requirements including the job vacancy or vacancies they need filled.

If required, the provider will arrange for the best-suited job candidates to receive work-related equipment and/or undergo pre-employment training to help them obtain the skills the employer needs. In addition, the provider will offer support while the new employee or employees settles in. This offering is a huge boon for resource-poor small businesses, especially considering the financial and opportunity costs associated with bad hires.

Self-service

As an alternative to engaging their local jobactive provider, an employer may choose to advertise and self-manage their job vacancies. Using the free online jobs board on jobactives website or the free jobactive Employer app (available from iTunes and Google Play), employers can shortlist, rate and contact candidates from one dashboard.

Wage subsidies

There are financial incentives for business that employ job seekers through jobactive. Businesses that meet the eligibility criteria can access wage subsidies of up to $10,000 by hiring workers aged 15 to 24 years of age or those aged 50 and above. Meanwhile, businesses that hire eligible job seekers who are 25 to 29 years of age, principal carer parents, in long-term unemployment or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can obtain up to $6,500 in wage subsidies.

The financial incentive for engaging mature workers with a jobactive Restart wage subsidy is the governments strategy for harnessing the skills of the ageing population. It is also serves as a reminder to employers that workers aged 50 and above are not only reliable and flexible but, owing to their lifetime of experiences, make great mentors to their younger colleagues and can offer unique insights that help businesses capitalise on ageing customer bases.

The government has stated that employers can use the subsidies, which are paid by their jobactive provider over a six-month period, to help cover the costs of hiring and training new staff. Critically, employers can set the payment schedule to suit their needs.

There is an option to receive 40% of the total wage subsidy four weeks after onboarding a new employee. Employers can also elect to receive subsidy payments of a fortnightly basis to help them manage their cashflow  a pain point for many SMEs.

Trial a job seeker

To help employers make informed hiring decisions, jobactive offers programs that allow them to trial pre-hires and thus determine whether they will be a good fit for their business.

Under the National Work Experience Programme, employers host suitable job seekers, referred to them by their jobactive provider, in unpaid work experience placements of up to 25 hours a week, for a maximum of four weeks. This period is an opportunity for job seekers to demonstrate their skills and good work attitude while gaining experience and confidence that increase their value to the host employer. Following the placement, there is no obligation for the employer to hire a job seeker if they do not meet their business needs; however, if a job seeker is a good fit and is offered ongoing employment, the employer may be eligible for a wage subsidy.

Meanwhile, Youth Jobs PaTH enables employers to trial a young person, aged 17 to 24, in a structured, supervised internship placement lasting between four and 12 weeks. For the duration of the placement, both the employer and the intern will receive support from the assigned jobactive provider. To help them cover the costs of hosting an intern, employers receive a one-off payment of $1000. Plus, all interns are insured for the duration of their placement. As with National Work Experience, employers that engage an intern in full-time employment may be eligible for a wage subsidy of up to $10,000.

For more information on jobactive, including the services available to employers and the wage subsidies they may be eligible for, visit the jobactive website.
More than half a million small businesses stand to benefit from tax cuts included in the 2017-18 NSW Budget, according to Treasurer Dominic Perrottet.

In a statement, released yesterday, the Treasurer announced: From 1 January 2018, the NSW Government will abolish insurance duty for small businesses on commercial vehicle insurance (including aircraft), professional indemnity insurance, and product and public liability insurance. The changes will apply to businesses with an aggregated turnover of less than $2 million.

The measures announced today will save money for up to 600,000 small businesses, helping them to grow, securing the jobs they create and enabling them to prosper in a more competitive economy.

Perrottet also advised that form the start of next year, farmers will no longer have to pay duties on crop and livestock insurance

These tax reductions are expected to save farmers and NSW small businesses $330m over the next four years, he said.

Other budgetary measures with implications for small businesses include $96 million worth of support for high potential businesses through Jobs for NSW plus $30.5 million for business advisory services to help reduce red tape and drive innovation

Trent Innes, managing director of cloud accounting company Xero Australia said the NSW Budget shows NSW government has listened to small businesses and the issues they care about, and is acting on them. He continued, The average business owner currently still spends 11 hours a week complying with government rules and regulations, so its encouraging to see that small businesses in NSW will have some relief from restrictive bureaucracy. The time lost in bureaucracy can now be spent innovating and growing.

Dean McEvoy, co-founder and CEO TechSydney  an entrepreneur-led advocacy group  said the unprecedented $4.5 billion budget surplus was an opportunity to reinvest in areas that will grow the economy; however, he said he was disappointed theres not more on the table for tech innovation.

He continued, We are keen to see a greater commitment to innovation from the State  at the Premiers level down. We need a clearly articulated innovation strategy and a plan as to how NSW plans to compete in this area. We would like to see startups considered in the rollout of infrastructure spending around [NSW]  in particular with the investment into health and energy we must consider opportunities for innovative tech startups in this space.

McEvoy said the governments $536 million investment in NSW digital health infrastructure represents a good opportunity to begin building a centre of excellence in this field. He added, As this infrastructure rolls out, we are keen to see NSW based tech startups have an even playing field to compete for these opportunities.

McEvoy said the governments decision to reinvest surplus funds into the education sector must involve the building of technology skills  from primary through to University.

Unless we feed more graduates into the technology pipeline, NSW runs the risk of seeing its growing tech community shift elsewhere, he said. We also need to give our NSW students a fighting chance at competing and helping to build the businesses of the future. With economies around the world gearing up for this challenge, our students will need to be deeply grounded in technology skills to be able to compete in this area.
Suma Chakrabarti to co-chair Foreign Investors Council dedicated to sustainable energy and sign new investments

EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti is to visit Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on 22-23 June to co-chair the meeting of the Foreign Investors Council.

He will meet the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and hold meetings with Kazakhstans Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintayev, other senior officials and representatives of the business community.

The 30th plenary session of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) will gather on 22 June in Astana to discuss the topic New Energy. The FIC is chaired by the presidents of Kazakhstan and the EBRD. In his opening remarks, President Chakrabarti will point out the importance of green and renewable energy investments where the Bank is a recognised leader in its countries of operations.

Natalia Khanjenkova, EBRD Managing Director, Central Asia and Russia, and Agris Preimanis, EBRD Director, Kazakhstan, will also attend the FIC.

Following the meeting, on 23 June President Chakrabarti will deliver a speech at Astanas Nazarbayev University about Kazakhstan and Central Asia: the transition to effective market economies. The keynote address will discuss the direction of development for Central Asia and the role of the youth.

President Chakrabartis visit will also provide the opportunity to sign several agreements on future projects and areas of cooperation underlining the Banks commitment to Kazakhstan. The signings will range from renewable energy investments to public utility renovations, sustainable natural resources development, the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and other vital areas.

The Presidents visit will conclude two weeks of EBRD participation in events held in parallel with the Astana Expo 2017. The Bank attended the Ministerial Conference on Energy; the 8th Sustainable Energy Forum and the Astana Economic Forum, with a delegation led by EBRD managing directors Nandita Parshad and Mattia Romani.

In the first three days of Expo, senior EBRD representatives signed projects to double the size of the first large-scale solar plant in Kazakhstan, Burnoye Solar-2, and invest in the first project under the new inclusion programme for energy and natural resources, ShalkiyaZinc. The EBRD is the largest financier and a staunch supporter of reform in the area of renewable energy, both in Kazakhstan and its entire region.

To date, the EBRD has invested 7.3 billion in various sectors of Kazakhstans economy, with a focus on non-oil and gas sectors, where it is the largest institutional investor. Close to 1.65 billion has been invested in sustainable energy and resource projects; one of the latest examples of cooperation in this area is a US$ 180 million programme to rehabilitate irrigation systems in three regions of Kazakhstan.
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Self-driving cars, robot-assisted surgery, automated news writing, a huggable, humanoid Mickey Mouse character at Disney Worldthese are just a few examples of the many ways computer science is changing the way we live, work, learn, and play. This push toward the automation of tasks and jobs, and the creation of more intelligent technologies that can simulate human decisions and emotions, has substantial benefits for society. Many technological innovations are advancing health care, public safety, communication, education, and science, and are improving the quality of life for those who have access to them.

There is no one better to access these tools than the students who will shape the technology of our future. In recent years, the dizzying pace of technological innovation has motivated a surge of interest in creating quality computer-science-education experiences for all K-12 students in the United States. In early 2016, President Barack Obama announced the Computer Science for All initiative, which called for more than $4 billion in federal funding to expand computer science in elementary, middle, and high school.

Though Congress never set aside the proposed $4 billion, the initiative set in motion a new focus on computer science, triggering change across the country. Some states, including Arkansas, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia, now require all high schools to teach computer science, while districts such as San Francisco are teaching computer science at all grade levels. And we are both members of the CSforAll Consortium, a hub for the initiative, which is made up of more than 230 organizations that are continuing to connect schools, funders, and researchers together.

There is still much work to do, however. In an ongoing, multiyear study on computer science education conducted by Google and Gallup, researchers found that although students, parents, teachers, and school administrators value computer science, it is still not offered in many schools. This is because of a lack of time, funding, and qualified teachers. Only 25 percent of schools nationwide reported offering a computer science class in 2014-15, and while that number rose to 40 percent in 2015-16, we are still years away from providing sufficient computer science education in all schools.

As educational researchers focused on computer science learning, we welcome the push by more districts to teach the discipline to students. But we believe that our nations current conception of computer science education does not go far enough. It is not sufficient to simply give more students access. As computer science continues to expand, we advocate for educators to teach functional computer science literacy, just as the field of science education has spent decades refining an approach to teaching socio-scientific reasoning (which integrates learning science content in the context of real-world issues).

We must teach children not just to think about how to design and program a particular technology."

In fact, Kamau Bobb, a program officer for the National Science Foundation, raised a red flag last year that without critical analysis and redress of existing educational inequities, Obamas computer science initiative might result in more for the haves and less for the have-nots, and may actually undermine equity and inclusion in computing fields. This concern is palpable when one considers the fact that in 2014, according to Fortune, the leadership teams of nine powerhouse technology companies in the United States were overwhelmingly male (about 70 percent to 90 percent) and overwhelmingly white (about 65 percent to 85 percent). Greater attention must be paid to the disproportionate influence that a small group of people have over how the rest of us think, feel, and behave. We have an urgent need for an educated populace that will question, push back, and transform these technological innovations toward equitable and ethical uses in society.

Because of this, we must teach children not just to think about how to design and program a particular technology, but to consider its potential role and impact on society. Schools have a strong need to infuse critical thinking about the benefits and drawbacks of using technological innovations. Computer science educators should prepare students not only to learn computer science concepts and practices, but also how to deal with pressing ethical questions related to the capabilities of technologyincluding mass surveillance, the spreading of fake news through social media, malicious hacking, and the loss of jobs to automation.

They should also help students think about the ethical implications of creating technologies from few perspectives versus multiple perspectives, of using communications technologies to watch people versus reach out to people, and of using algorithmic trading to amass fortune versus investing in companies that provide a product or service useful to society.

Consideration of the ethical and social issues related to computer science should be woven throughout a computer science curriculum. And the teaching of ethics should be rooted in our shared democratic values of participation, representation, and justice. Fulfilling the promise laid out by Obamas initiative to truly make computer science education a priority should continue to be the work of states and districts around the country. But without addressing the ethical issues engendered by our technological innovations, computer science for K-12 students will not live up to its full potential.




China accepts first shipment of beef from US after 14 years

After 14 years, China allowed the entry of imported US beef into the country on Tuesday, June 20.

The acceptance of the first beef shipment from the US since 2003 fulfilled China's pledge on the US-China 100-day action plan to boost bilateral economic ties, Xinhua reported.

Under an agreement reached with Washington, China is to accept only products from beef cattle aged younger than 30 months. Beef importers should also be registered at the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China.

Likewise, cattle must be traceable to their birth farm. They should be raised and slaughtered in the US. Although cattle imported from Canada and Mexico are acceptable, they should be slaughtered in the US.

Banned for importation are the offspring of cattle with or suspected with mad cow disease. The agreement also deals with veterinary drug regulation, as well as packaging and shipment standards.

Xinhua said that during a meeting at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April, leaders of the two nations agreed to initiate a 100-day action plan to boost bilateral economic cooperation.

As a result of the action plan, China will allow imports of US 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 US beef in December 2003 after mad cow disease was found in US cattle. Before the ban, the US was China's largest supplier of imported beef.
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.
At a special conference at the European Parliament in Brussels on 21 June 2017, EIB Vice-President Dario Scannapieco laid out the actions that the EU bank is taking to help manage migration to Europe and to tackle its root causes in Europes neighbourhood and beyond.

Speaking alongside European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, Vice-President Scannapieco told the conference: While we hope that international conflict resolution efforts will soon reduce the current refugee crisis, economic migration is, and will remain, a constant issue for the EU. So we must build long-term economic resilience and help countries that face political and economic instability. At the EIB we are using our knowledge, experience and resources as the largest multilateral financial institution active inside and outside the EU to address these needs.

Sustaining 38 000 jobs in the Mediterranean Neighbourhood

Dario Scannapieco also announced progress under the EIBs new Economic Resilience Initiative for the Southern Neighbourhood: We have recently approved loans for SMEs for EUR 600 million that will be intermediated through banks active in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and the West Bank that will support growth and sustain approximately 38 000 jobs. We are discussing a blended Municipal Infrastructure Facility to support local communities in Serbia impacted by the refugee crisis in sectors such as waste, health, education and social housing.

Full speech
Accommodation concerns for Manx patients at new Liverpool hospital



Health Minister Kate Beecroft admits the changes are a concern.

The Health Minister admits she's concerned about the lack of accommodation available to relatives of Manx patients at the new Royal Liverpool Hospital.

Those travelling with Manx residents undergoing hospital treatment can currently stay at a stand-alone facility at a nearby budget-priced hotel, but the lease on that facility will expire when the new hospital opens.

Relatives will still be able to book accommodation at Broadgreen, but Kate Beecroft warns this is less convenient than staying in the city centre.

Mrs Beecroft says the new hospital should be welcomed overall, but that the lack of facilities for families could cause difficulties.

All rooms at the new hospital are single rooms, but will have recliners available for relatives to stay overnight.
United Parcel Service has purchased a 595,000-square-foot distribution center in South Middleton Township.

UPS purchased the center at 1 Ames Drive from Dermody properties, according to a news release Tuesday from CBRE Capital Markets Institutional Properties team and CBRE National Partners, the real estate company that represented the seller.

UPS has been leasing the property since August 2016.

Susan Rosenberg, UPS public relations director, said the company began using the facility last fall after outfitting it with conveyor systems prior to the holiday season.

Its focus was more for the unloading, sorting and re-loading of trailers for packages that move on to other processing points in the area, she wrote in an email.

Another work shift and additional processing capacity are expected to be added to the facility this fall. UPS also will have a delivery center to dispatch additional trucks in the area during the holidays. It will also use a portion of the property as a truck staging area and employee parking.

The additional capacity will mean more job opportunities for the area, Rosenberg said.

We generally wont ramp up for seasonal hiring until sometime in October, and its premature to define our specific hiring numbers right now, as our planning processes are underway and were just beginning to engage with our shipping customers to refine forecasts, Rosenberg wrote.

UPS has a main facility in Harrisburg that has both hub processing and the dispatch for the familiar brown trucks. Allentown and Stroudsburg are also home to UPS facilities.

Flexibility

The Carlisle building, however, is similar to supplemental warehouse leases or purchased warehouse space the company added in Easton last year and a modular structure it built near its Harrisburg gateway facility two years ago.

These leases and purchased space around the country provide similar operations that give us flexibility and help us manage growth and seasonal spikes all around, Rosenberg wrote. Weve definitely seen growth in central Pennsylvania by our shipping customers as well as the general growth of e-commerce and residential delivery.

UPS employs 4,800 people across a number of small package facilities in central Pennsylvania.

Though UPS declined to comment on the purchase price citing company policy, the website for NAI Commercial Partners Inc., which represented UPS in the purchase, indicated UPS bought the facility from Dermody Properties for $55 million.

We were excited that nearly 20 written offers helped drive UPS to purchase the building at a new high-water mark, said Michael Hines, vice chairman, CBRE.

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 CBREs Harrisburg group assisted with the sale.

Dermody, out of Denver, purchased the 107-acre LogistiCenter site in 2013. It included a 700,000-square foot warehouse. Dermody built the 595,000-square-foot distribution center in 2015.

Carlisle is the premier market for regional distribution in the northeast U.S., said Douglas A. Kiersey Jr., president of Dermody Properties, in 2013. So the development of LogistiCenter Carlisle fits within our strategy of developing superior industrial facilities in markets that provide our clients easy access to their customers.
Summer stock theater, an American tradition dating back nearly 100 years, is once again moving into the spotlight in central Pennsylvania, with glittery productions at both Totem Pole Playhouse and Gretna Theatre.

Pure summer stock, which is said to have started at The Muny in St. Louis in 1919, refers to theaters that perform only during the summer, use resident companies and draw on existing (or stock) scenery and costumes.

Summer stock was a training ground for younger actors and provided even major stars an outlet for summer work. William Shatner, for example, worked summer stock after the cancellation of the Star Trek television series.

This so-called straw hat circuit has been in Pennsylvania since the 1920s, and both Totem Pole (67 years) and Gretna (90 years) have long histories in the art form. The fact that both have survived to the present day makes them something of a rarity in an era which has seen a steep decline in the number of summer stock theaters.

Totem Pole

Totem Poles second production of 2017, following Driving Miss Daisy with well-known actress Michael Learned (The Waltons), is a very funny musical homage titled The Drowsy Chaperone, which runs through July 2 at the theater in Caledonia State Park.

Chaperone, winner of five Tony Awards in 2006, is a loving parody of those hokey Jazz Age musical comedies of the 20s, featuring a book by Bob Martin and Don McKeller and music by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison.

Totem Poles production stars Darren Server as the Man in the Chair, an irrepressible fan of musical comedies who provides the narrative thread for the piece as he sits at home, listening to a recording of a fictitious 1928 musical called The Drowsy Chaperone.

As he listens, the musical literally comes to life around him, with show-stopping production numbers and unlikely plot twists. Totem Poles cast also includes Daniel Plimpton, Beth DeMichele, Elizabeth Broadhurst and Sandy Rosenberg in key roles.

Also on hand are former Totem Pole artistic director Ray Ficca in the role of Adolpho, and Shane Partlow, who did a memorable turn at the playhouse in 2015 as the title character in The Nerd, portrays the Underling.

The director is Ryan Gibbs, who some local theater fans will remember as the former artistic director at Allenberry Playhouse in Boiling Springs.

Gretna

About 80 miles to the northeast of Totem Pole, Gretna Theatre is about to launch its 2017 season with Neil Simons Broadway Bound, which opens today and continues through Monday in the tiny Lebanon County borough of Mount Gretna.

The production in the open-air Mount Gretna Playhouse stars Kim Zimmer, who has done two turns (1983-90 and 1995-2009) as Reva on the long-running TV soap opera Guiding Light. Zimmer has won four Daytime Emmy Awards for that portrayal.

In Broadway Bound, she portrays Kate, whose husband Jack (Joseph Menino) is cheating on her. The bittersweet comedy is the last  and probably the weakest  chapter in Simons semi-autobiographical trilogy that also included Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues.

While best-known for her work in daytime drama, Zimmer is no stranger to live theater. She started her career on stage, and the Michigan native has performed many times at her home states oldest summer stock theater, the Barn Theatre in Augusta.

Gretnas production also features Josh Lerner and Anthony Malcher as Kates sons Eugene and Stanley, respectively, and Robert Zukerman as Ben, Kates elderly father. Leslie Burby directs.
HARRISBURG  Tuesday became a historic day for animals as what Gov. Tom Wolf calls the most comprehensive animal welfare package in the states history cleared its final legislative hurdle.

House Bill 1238 made its way through the state Capitol. It passed unanimously in the state Senate with a 49-to-0 vote.

I think this is a strong message to the citizens of Pennsylvania that we care about our pets. We care about our pets. We are about the humane treatment of animals. Thats what this is all about. This is about humane treatment. Its not about us. It about the pets, said Sen. Richard Alloway, R-Cumberland/Franklin.

Alloway is the original sponsor of Libres Law. Rep. Todd Stephens sponsored it in the House.

This is a huge win. Those who abuse animals oftentimes are those who go on to abuse children or commit acts of domestic violence, said Stephens, R-Montgomery.

House Bill 1238 includes Libres Law, which creates a felony statute for severe animal abuse resulting in serious bodily injury. Pennsylvania was one of three states not having a felony punishment.

Cordelias Law is in the package. It adds protections for horses.

A bill banning tethering outside 24/7 and in inclement weather and another bill requiring convicted animal abusers to give up their pets is also included.

Libre met the governor on Tuesday. Wolf says hes an animal lover and supports the bill.

Im hoping Libres Law will make life better for animals in Pennsylvania, but I think all of us who live around animals, it will make our lives better too, he said.

This was such a team effort, and advocates made the difference in getting this bill across the finish line, said Kristen Tullo, Pennsylvania director of the Humane Society of the United States.

Happy, happy tears, Janine Guido said moments after the bill passed.

Guido is Libres human mom. She got a call on July 4, 2016, from Jen Nields, a humane officer. Nields told her produce driver Dextin Orme found Libre clinging to life on a Lancaster County farm. Libres breeder later admitted to police he left Libre for dead.

Now, Guido saw Libre lobbying the state Capitol to prevent other animals from going through the same thing.

Dont give up. The people behind him the whole way were amazing. They were truly Libre strong, and they pulled through. They kept on fighting for him when he had no voice, and here we are today, said Guido, the president and founder of Speranza Animal Rescue.

The governor says he will sign the bill into law within the next 10 days.
According to a recent study by political scientists Yascha Mounk and Roberto Stefan Foa, only one third of the millennials  those born since the early 1980s  in the United States and the Netherlands believe that it is absolutely essential to live in a democracy. Two thirds of the European millennials believe that a military coup could in theory be legitimate if the incumbent government was deemed incompetent or failing. These trends are worrying.

Western liberal democracies are in a vulnerable state. Simplistic populist rhetoric us vs. them with often-xenophobic undertones and attempts to undermine the legitimacy of democratic institutions can count on a receptive audience and a thriving social media environment. In many European countries, including core EU members such as France or Austria, far-right parties have moved beyond the fringe and became political forces to be reckoned with.

For years, this development has been helped by EU funding. European populist parties would not have been able to reach the heights of their current representation if it had not been for the money and political tools provided by the European Union  the very institution they are trying to destroy. Access to European funds is key to understanding the gestation and rise of the Eurosceptic populist forces. Last year alone, the Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (MELD), led by Marine Le Pens Front National, was granted 1.55 million as part of the annual subsidies provided by the European Parliament to cover up to 85% of expenses related to the European political agenda of EU political parties. The Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD)  led by the British Eurosceptic party, UKIP  received 1.4 million.

Although funding is certainly important, the real stage for far-right parties is the Council of the European Union  an institution that has become their loudspeaker. The Council has enabled many of these populist forces to make themselves influential actors in their respective countries national politics. It is from this strategic position at the heart of the European Union that these parties influence political agendas and become the real alternatives to power  indirect power. The textbook example of this would be the Eurosceptic party UKIP, which, without having ever won a single seat in the Westminster parliament, managed to drag the British Conservatives into calling the referendum on the European Union.

Yes, liberal democracies are fragile. Yes, considerable parts of European population including young people can imagine living in an authoritarian system. And yes, xenophobic parties have moved from their periphery very close to the political mainstream and have a major impact on everyday politics. Yet, to compare todays populists with yesterdays fascists is a stretch. Although the challenges for liberal democracies are real, there is also hope  hope that was also brought by the result of the recent elections in the Netherlands and France.

Populism in Europe: From Symptom to Alternative?  Study by a Team of Authors 

Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB).

(The Study can be downloaded here)
EU foreign ministers met with their African counterparts in Luxembourg to express their commitment to boost their mutual cooperation in preparation for an ambitious and successful EU-Africa summit in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on 29 and 30 November this year. Ministers devoted most of their time together to discuss migration and related policies meant at building more resilient states and societies in sub-Saharan Africa as well as creating job opportunities and alternatives to migration of jobs in smuggling.

According to a statement in the Africa-EU Partnership: A Renewed Impetus, it is in the EUs strategic interest to deepen and adapt its long-standing partnership with Africa given the constantly changing nature of the global dynamics. A stronger political relationship is envisaged and strategic objectives are being turned into actions, taking into account Africas vision and priorities.

The conclusions that both sides adopted during their meeting emphasize the importance of Africas main partner in the fields of foreign investment, trade, place of origin for remittances, development and humanitarian assistance as well as defense and security. The general view is such that a cooperation framework encompassing a range of areas is the best way to manage migration and prevent radicalization. Leaders said that they were supportive of the initial proposals for actions focused on more and better jobs, especially for youth.

Gianni Pittella, leader of the European Parliaments S&D group, said that the document demonstrated the EUs strategic interest in Africa but added that a more constructive approach is needed based on a long-term strategy. A new partnership means that Europeans shift their focus to development through investments, democracy, good governance, and education, whilst Africans also have their share of responsibility. To this end, the implementation of a long-term EU development plan for Africa is essential.
The European Commission proposed two initiatives to persuade EU member states to cooperate more on defense and thus reduce waste in defense research and procurement. Currently, the majority of EU countries buy most of their arms from national suppliers. They also have the tendency to spend the vast majority of their research budgets at home, which is a good way to shield indigenous industry from competition but a wasteful way to build armed forces. Importantly, the EU collectively spends about half of what the United States does on defense and can readily deploy only 3 percent of their armed forces.

These problems were recognized long ago and in 2011, the EU promised to pool and share arms purchases to increase efficiency. Faced with the dilemma of awarding part or all of a defense contract to a foreign bidder or supporting the industry at home, EU governments invariably opted for helping domestic industry. To motivate member states, the EU executive is now offering two types of financial incentives to reconsider.

One initiative that was launched this year offers direct grants to groups of at least 8 countries that choose to do research and development of military technology together. Another tool to pool money will be launched in 2019 to co-finance the development and purchase of promising new weapons systems if at least 3 countries join their forces.

The Commission hopes that governments will find the cash offer attractive enough, which will prompt them to abandon their protectionist stance. Despite the promise of 5.5 billion, the actual amounts committed are much more modest. The total sum of funding set aside for research grants this year is 25 million, a small fraction of the cumulative 8.8 billion ($9.9 billion) that EU countries spent on defense research and development in 2014. However, the amounts allocated to development of promising prototypes are bigger: 500 million ($563 million) for both 2019 and 2020, although compared with total EU spending on defense investment  34 billion ($38 billion) in 2014  the money is relatively modest.

The European Commission says that the current funding is just for a start and it already plans to quadruple the money after 2020. The plan is to increase funds for joint military research 20 times the same year but EU spending planned 7 years ahead of time and the current period ends in 2020 and nothing has been planned beyond that horizon yet. Moreover, with the UK leaving the EU, there will be less money available.

The Commission is trying hard to motivate EU countries and is right to focus on positive incentives. Financial inducements could prove effective and with EU cash on the table, defense and finance ministers will have a powerful reason to avoid the less efficient national procurement and promote collaboration.

Cajoling Europe Into Cooperating on Defense  Op-Ed by Tomas Valasek  Carnegie Europe.

(The Op-Ed can be downloaded here)
Home  Articles  Is this the end of austerity? Fri, 11th November 2022

Is this the end of austerity?

Published: 21 Jun at 9 AM by Admin and tagged under category Economy



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When George Osborne announced that his budget surplus target was delayed until 2025 in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, it signalled to many that the UKs aggressive austerity programme was in crisis  and potentially over. Now Theresa Mays Chief of Staff, Gavin Barwell, as well as Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond have signalled that the governments long-standing austerity programme may well be off the cards for good.Austerity refers to measures taken by the government to cut back on government spending and attempt to balance the books . The policy has been firmly at the core of both the Coalition government and David Camerons Conservative government, though it has not been without its critics.Now it looks like the government is coming on board with those critics, with signals coming from across the Tory party that economic policy may be changing. Mays Chief of Staff Barwell, when discussing the losses of the 2017 election, offered the explanation that the public were tired of austerity, and it was for the new government to improve quality of life.I think back to the speech that Theresa gave outside No 10 on her first day as Prime Minister, where she made this really powerful point that the country as a whole is doing well economically but not everyone is seeing the benefits of that success, Barwell commented Furthermore, Chancellor Hammond told Andrew Marr that people were weary of the long slog of austerity. These comments from the man in charge of the budget and government spending suggest a change is definitely on the table.The opposition have been agitating for such a policy for several years. During the election campaign, the Labour Party in particular were able to tap into the feeling across the UK that there needs to be a significant rethink of economic policies. Corbyns unexpected electoral successes, with 262 seats that snatched away from Theresa May her anticipated landslide majority demonstrated the appeal of his new rhetoric.Corbyns anti-austerity message has been consistent throughout his tenure as Labour leader, and post-election he remains committed to its message, telling The Mirror, We want to end austerity and invest in this country and thats what were going to do. Nearly 13 million people voted for us to do it. Thats why Im here.On the government side, their current electoral predicament has also played a role in the recent developments. In particular, the failure to gain a majority and the need to form a minority government with the Democratic Unionist Part (DUP) has caused many within the Conservative Party to rethink their economic policy. Since the 2015 election and the slim majority that the Conservatives won then, the party has failed to implement their austerity programme as successfully as during the Coalition government  having to abandon, for example, planned tax credit cuts. With the inclusion of the DUP in a minority government set-up, this looks set to continue, with the Northern Irish party largely opposing intense spending cuts.Whats more, as with many issues in British politics today, the question of austerity and economic policy is now linked to Brexit. Senior Tories, including Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson are recognising the need to appeal to disgruntled remain voters. Davidson commented: We do have to make sure that we invite other people in now. This isn't just going to be a Tory Brexit, this is going to have to involve the whole country. With these indications from across the Conservative Party, it really does look like the beginning of the end for austerity in the UK.
Home  Articles  What to expect now Brexit negotiations have kicked off Fri, 11th November 2022

What to expect now Brexit negotiations have kicked off

Published: 21 Jun at 9 AM by Admin and tagged under category Brexit



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On Monday 19 June, the long-awaited moment finally arrived, as Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, finally arrived in Brussels for the UKs Brexit negotiations to begin. Many had anticipated that the beginning of the talks may have been delayed in light of the continuing negotiations with the DUP and Conservatives over the future of their minority government, but they did go ahead as planned. With both sides now in the same room and hashing out the issues, what can we expect in the months ahead?The main takeaway from the talks so far has been the agreement on the timetable for the subsequent talks to follow. Prior to their commencement, Davis had been suggesting that the UK could simultaneously negotiate both trade talks and so-called divorce talks, that agree the terms of the UKs exit. He had insisted that putting together the timetable could become the row of the summer and that it was wholly illogical to not have the talks take place at the same time.However, just one day into the process, the UK team has already conceded this point, and agreed that exit talks will take place first. The EUs chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, struck a tough tone in the first press conference to take place after the days talks, arguing that the EU was not in a frame of mind to make concessions.The United Kingdom has decided to leave the European Union, it is not the other way around, he said.The United Kingdom is going to leave the European Union, single market and the customs union, not the other way around. So, we each have to assume our responsibility and the consequences of our decisions. And the consequences are substantial.On a practical basis, several initial steps were agreed for the way forward. Talks will first focus on the rights on British citizens living in the EU, and EU citizens living in the UK, a financial settlement, and what were called other separation issues. There were clear suggestions from both men that the UK will go through what has been called a hard Brexit and will leave the customs union and the single market.Other matters that were raised as the first priority for talks include the situation in Northern Ireland and the future of the Good Friday Agreement and the common travel area, though suggestions were made that these talks may take significant time.It is only after these first divorce matters are settled to the satisfaction of the European Council that talks about how the UKs future relationship with the EU will look can begin. Barnier confirmed in the press conference. I will do all I can to put emotion to one side and stick to the facts, the figures, and the legal basis, Barnier said to reporters.Davis failure to secure the timetable he had previously sought has already been criticised back home in the UK. Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats and a vocal opponent of Brexit, said Davis had been humiliated. He elaborated: One day in, he has capitulated. The man is a joker. Despite the governments posturing, the EU was clear today it has not made a single concession to David Davis.Meanwhile, Davis has insisted that the talks had a promising start, with the most important outcome being how the talks finish, rather than how they start. Only time will tell how that turns out.
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I am not alone in missing compassionate legislators. Their strong commitment to the well-being of their constituents kept them grounded in reality. As voters, we felt that they understood the inalienable rights of all people to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. Everyone living in the U.S. has the right to a life without fear of hunger, abuse, poverty, homelessness or desperation.

But here we are at budget time, appealing to legislators with little understanding of how to defend our rights and how to listen to their constituents. Life, liberty and happiness are a broken promise for millions of U.S. men, women and children who see little hope on the horizon.

The safety net, or welfare so disparaged by our elected leaders, is a total of $6,000 a year for a mother with two children:

a. TANF (welfare) for a mother with two children = $2,400 a year.

b. SNAP (food stamps) for a mother w/2 children = $3,600 a year.

The U.S. invests less in our families than any other country in the developed world. But the budget proposals of our elected leaders  for less food for the hungry, less housing for the homeless, less healthcare for those most in need, less funding for public schools and universities  are an affront to the Declaration of Independence and an abuse of the moral obligation of our leaders to ensure the welfare of their people.

What is the reality?

Over half of our U.S. citizens do not have the resources to handle an unexpected bill of $400.

More than 20 percent of our most precious resource  our children  are living in poverty and increasing homelessness.

The majority of women and children who are homeless are fleeing abuse and violence.

The U.S. has the highest infant mortality rate and the lowest support for low income womens healthcare in the developed world.

A childs zip code and their parents income determine the quality of their education and their access to early childhood education.

Rent is unaffordable to many working families  sometimes 80 percent of their paycheck.

Wages are too low (fulltime work at minimum wage = $15,080 a year) for many working families to afford a home or to afford higher education for themselves or their children.

In 1516, Sir Thomas More wrote that leaders should help people to be prosperous and happy, because poverty breeds anger, distrust and despair. Five hundred years later we have lost sight of why we should help our citizens to be prosperous.

Is it possible to do this when legislators tell us that we dont have enough money?

You bet it is. And next week you can make this happen.

Call, visit and write to your legislators, and tell them we want a budget that puts people first.

Tell them we want a severance tax on gas like every other state has.

Tell them we want multinational corporations to pay their fair share and stop using the Delaware loophole.

Tell them we have a huge revenue deficit, and we are paying them to find the revenuenot cut funding from our neighbors in need.

And if some cuts are necessary, tell them to cut their six figure pay checks and pensions  that we pay for. One senator recently wrote that illegal immigration has bankrupted tax payers and endangered American communities. He needs a reality check.

Dr. Jill Sunday Bartoli is the co-chair of NOAH (New Options for Affordable Housing)
Hi all,



I'm moving to Prince George for 4 years and need advice on type of vehicle to buy. I have a 4 door sedan front-wheel drive but was thinking of buying SUV or something 4-wheel drive due to weather over there.



So my questions are:

How bad does it snow out there in winter?

How well and how fast do roads get cleaned after the snowfall?

Should I seriously consider buying a 4-wheel drive or would I get by with my sedan during winter months?



Would love to hear from someone who lives there!



Cheers
Everyone can get the opportunity to work in Canada. You just need to find an employer willing to hire you and, of course, obtain an ITA from the Gov't. You need to Google more and read in detail the Immigration to Canada. Immigration and citizenship This site, if read properly, will give you everything you need to apply for Immigration to Canada, IMO, the greatest country in the world.It is unlikely you can find employment without being in Canada. It would be prudent if you come for a visit and test the job market, see what's available for you.You should get your qualification equalized through WES to determine what you can present to Canadian employers.
My wife and I have a new mutuelle sante coverage and I'm looking at a letter stating that we need to send them the originals of our social security statements.



Is that request normal? I assume we would have to do it and we would keep a copy but my preference has always been to retain originals and provide copies; not the other way around.



Thanks
June 21: International Yoga Day

Published: June 21, 2017

June 21st is annually celebrated as International Yoga Day since the year 2015. This year, the 3rd International Day of Yoga is being observed. The purpose of the yoga day is to promote yoga and make it as a part of peoples daily routine.

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated a mass yoga demonstration to commemorate the 3rd International Day of Yoga at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

According to UN, this year Yoga Days theme is Yoga for Health. The theme has been chosen to highlight the fact that yoga can contribute in a holistic way to achieving an equilibrium between mind and body.

To mark the celebrations, massive Yoga practice sessions and demonstrations were being held in several places across the country and the world. This year many organisations are organising events to create a Guinness World Record by forming longest human chains and other Yoga related activities. In total, around 5,000 events have been scheduled to take place in about 180 countries. Some of the countries in which yoga day are celebrated are China, UK, the US, Bangladesh, South Africa etc. Indian high commissions around the world have organised many mass yoga demonstrations at various parts of the world. To mark the occasion, the headquarters of the United Nations in New York has been lit up with images of yoga postures.

Background

The first International Yoga Day (IYD) was celebrated across the world on 21 June 2015.

The idea of celebrating the International Yoga Day was pitched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2014. In December 2014, UNGA had unanimously adopted an India-led resolution to observe 21st June as International Day of Yoga. This resolution was adopted under the agenda of Global Health and Foreign Policy. The date 21st June was selected because it represents one of the two solstices and is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere which has special significance in many parts of the world.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2017

Topics: Current Affairs - 2017  International  International Yoga Day  National

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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.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The 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.
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SEGUIN  A July 10 public opening is scheduled for the new municipal animal shelter, a spacious high-efficiency facility beside Max Starcke Park, more than eight months behind schedule.

The debut date was set Tuesday by Deputy Police Chief Bruce Ure after a punch-list walk-through of the shelter with architect Dave Duman and a representative of the builder, Tegrity Contractors of Austin.

The few unfinished elements should be resolved by next Tuesday when the Texas Department of State Health Services inspects medical and quarantine rooms at the 10,600 square-foot structure on Fred Byrd Drive.

The $3.58 million facility cant be finished soon enough for staffers at the citys outdated shelter on South River Street, where guests and employees share one room and theres no air conditioning for the four-legged clientele.

Its hot and stinky, interim shelter supervisor Shelley Lutz said Tuesday after cleaning the rudimentary pens holding 65 cats and 21 dogs.

Relocating to the new shelter should boost employee morale, she predicted, and help spur more pet adoptions.

Beyond giving staffers more office space and a break room, the new facility features glass-sided kennels and get-to-know rooms to help promote adoptions and reduce the number of strays put down in its on-site crematorium.

The city has also contracted with local veterinarian Scott Bugai to provide on-site care, including spaying and neutering. No medical care is provided at the old shelter.

The new shelter is top-of-the-line, said Lutz, whos among roughly 40 applicants to succeed Animal Services Supervisor Leah Lewis, who resigned in February.

Ure said he expects the position to be filled before workers move into the new shelter July 6.

He blamed recurring rains during foundation work for some delays on the project, which was begun in April 2016 and initially due for completion Oct. 31 that year, followed by difficulties getting delivery from suppliers of bathroom tile and metal cages.

Its very frustrating, Duman, of Quorum Architects, said of the delays.

His design includes LED lighting that dims itself when skylights provide adequate illumination, plus kennels featuring sloped floors and drainage canals to ease cleanups.

Its durable, very functional and efficient, he said. Every time I come here I get excited.

Mayor Don Keil expects the towns plentiful animal lovers to have the same reaction once they finally get a peek inside the shelter, which can accommodate 150 dogs and at least that many cats.

Wherever I go people say, When is the new facility going to be open? Whats the deal? said Keil. Its just a super facility all the way around.

He expects the new sites high-profile location and inviting amenities to result in greater public patronage and pet adoptions.

Its an attractive, entertaining place to visit the animals and to make a choice on what animal youd like to adopt, he said. Were going from a flea bag hotel to the Hyatt Regency.

The lobby features a glass-sided play room where cats will be placed during the day, their antics live-streamed online as The Cat Cam.

Although the delayed completion is disappointing to all involved, Ure said it didnt cost the city extra, noting Tegrity Contractors has paid the utility bills there up until now. Tegrity officials declined comment.

zeke@express-news.net
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AUSTIN  U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett has represented three districts, jumping from one to the next as Republicans repeatedly and unsuccessfully have sought to boot the Democrat out of Congress through redistricting.

I say this with reverence: Doggett is a bit like a cockroach in the sense that in a nuclear winter, he would be the one that survives, said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant who is the new chairman of the Travis County Republican Party.

If the U.S. Supreme Court limits partisan gerrymandering in a Wisconsin case it has agreed to hear this fall, efforts like those aimed at Doggett could be restricted and potentially give Democrats at least two more congressional seats in Texas, experts say.

The case clearly could have an impact on Texas, because Texas on its congressional maps has pretty significant partisan bias. Its not the highest in the country, but its statistically significant, and its one of the six or seven states that are the main drivers of partisan bias in the Congress as a whole, said Michael Li, senior redistricting counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

The Wisconsin case turns on whether Republicans in that state gave their party too much of an advantage in drawing districts for their state assembly. A federal court panel last year ruled that they did.

Those who challenged partisan gerrymandering said Democratic votes were wasted when Democrats either were packed into districts where their party already had a majority or allocated among Republican-majority districts in numbers too small to make a difference in the outcome.

The high court is taking up the Wisconsin case in the wake of a ruling by a federal court panel in Texas in another suit claiming that three congressional districts drawn in 2011 by the Republican-dominated Legislature violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting minority voting strength. They are District 35, represented by Doggett; District 23, represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Will Hurd of Helotes; and District 27, represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Farenthold of Corpus Christi.

A court proceeding starts next month on whether racial problems continued in fresh redistricting in 2013, including a look at those three districts and others. Besides the racial claim, the Texas Democratic Party also asserted there was partisan gerrymandering.

Matt Angle, who directs the pro-Democratic Lone Star Project, said there is no question that Texas has experienced partisan gerrymandering. He said Democrats have an opportunity to be elected in 12 of the 36 congressional districts if you count (District) 23, a very marginal seat which we dont hold.

Out of 36, thats obviously just 33 percent, he said. In our worst years, our worst campaigns get 39 percent of the vote.

The San Antonio court has said it wont adjudicate a claim until the Supreme Court lays down a standard, said Chad Dunn, the Texas Democratic Partys general counsel.

When the San Antonio court makes its final determination, we expect to appeal to the Supreme Court and ask it to strike down the Texas map as a partisan gerrymander in addition to a racially discriminatory gerrymander, said Dunn.

Dunn said the number of seats that Democrats could gain if they prevail could be anywhere from two to three or four  numbers mentioned by other experts  to as high as six.

Doggetts congressional district, Dunn said, is an unfortunate example of racial gerrymandering and partisan gerrymandering.

The Austin congressman started his career representing District 10, the one held by legendary Texas Democrats J.J. Jake Pickle and Lyndon B. Johnson.

When that district was split up in 2003, in a redistricting effort urged on by then-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Doggett ran and won in District 25, which stretched south to the border.

When District 25 was turned into Republican territory in subsequent redistricting, Doggett switched again to run in District 35, which is anchored in San Antonio. He won again.

The redistricting changes have left Doggett as the sole Democratic congressman with a toehold in Travis County, which former Gov. Rick Perry has called the blueberry in the tomato soup of Texas because of its liberal leanings. The other four congressmen with a piece of Travis are Republican.

Its given me a chance to travel across Texas and meet a lot of good people, just not all at once, Doggett quipped.

With Republicans determined to put me in districts with people who didnt know me and my values, I have had to repeatedly redouble my efforts, he added. I believe I am the only representative to have served here in three separately numbered districts  the 10th, 25th and now the 35th. But redistricting is really not about me. Gerrymandering reduces the accessibility and accountability that folks deserve.

Doggett said Tuesday that hell soldier on regardless of what the future holds.

I have always taken the view that wherever the Republicans place me and whatever the courts rule, I am on the ground working to represent and respond, Doggett said. My plan is to file for reelection in the district exactly as it is configured today, until such time as the U.S. Supreme Court says otherwise.

Political scientist Mark Jones of Rice University said that Doggett is in a difficult category as an Anglo Democrat, since Republicans under the Voting Rights Act are required to draw a number of majority minority districts, giving more protection to Latino and African American incumbents.

Angle, of the Lone Star Project, said correcting the racial problems asserted by Democrats also could address the partisan issue.

If you correct for the racial discrimination in Texas, you go a long way toward resolving the partisan problems, because the only way that in a state like Texas thats got a huge minority population that the Republicans can get a considerably larger number of seats than just the politics say they should is to overtly undermine the voting strength of blacks and Hispanics, he said.

Li, of the Brennan Center, said one possible remedy to partisan gerrymandering would be to create an additional Latino opportunity district in the Dallas-Fort Worth area which would be a Democrat seat almost guaranteed, along with an additional seat in South Texas and a Democratic seat anchored in Travis County.

Mackowiak said he hasnt been directly involved in redistricting, but I can say that Republicans dont want to disenfranchise any voters. We believe Hispanic voters are naturally aligned with Republicans on values alone.

On the partisan aspect of redistricting, Mackowiak said, both Democrats and Republicans have been players.

No one has clean hands, Mackowiak said. Both sides, when theyve had power, have tried to draw maps in ways to advantage them.

The New York Times contributed to this report

pfikac@express-news.net

Twitter: @pfikac
This is a good arrangement for young people that dont have the means to purchase their own farm and for land owners that dont have the time or ability to manage a large sheep operation.
THE Robinson family of Bedar, in the shadow of Woondillon rock at Babakin, have capped their best dollar returns from their sheep enterprise that coincided with a timely sequence of farm business decisions, to win WAMMCOs prime lamb producer of the month title for May 2017.
Ten-year-old Olivia Carrow of Bonne Terre was named Missouri International Girl Young Miss on March 26 in Branson.

She is the first in Missouri to hold this title. Carrow competed against other girls ages 10-12 in interview, talent, and modeling to win the coveted title. She met girls from all across the state of Missouri and Kansas. Carrow now qualifies to represent Missouri in Atlanta, Ga. at the 2017 International Girl Finals Aug. 1-6 where she will compete against girls from across the United States, the Cayman Islands and South Africa. Carrow originally qualified for the Missouri State competition by winning her local title of St. Francois County Young Miss in January.

Carrow attends North County Intermediate School and just completed the fifth grade. She dances competitively at Dance Creations Dance Studio. Carrow is the daughter of Aaron and Elizabeth Carrow of Bonne Terre. Her grandparents are Michael and Guadalupe Davis of Desloge.

If crowned the winner, the Show-Me girl has a chance to win up to $5,000 in college scholarships, an educational tour and the chance for numerous performance opportunities throughout the state and country.

She is currently seeking sponsors to attend the International competition. For information on a business sponsorship, please contact Elizabeth Carrow at liz.carrow@gmail.com. Individuals may also purchase good luck wishes for $10 each. These will be printed in the souvenir program. Each listing will contain the name and city of patron.

Carrow and her family would like to thank the businesses who have already committed to a sponsorship including Desloge Walmart, Denise Cassidy of Laneykins, Critter Lane Petting Zoo, Willette Home Furniture & Appliance and Dominos Pizza of Bonne Terre.

For more information about the International Girl Youth Development Program. Please go to Natural Pageants/International Girl www.internationalgirlpageant.com
Warrenton, VA (20186)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with thundershowers developing for the afternoon. Potential for heavy rainfall. High around 70F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

A steady rain this evening. Showers continuing overnight. Low 57F. SSE winds shifting to W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Once again, the Farmington School District has been recognized for excellence with the Truman Learning Center awarded the prestigious FutureBuilders Early Childhood Education "Program of the Year" by the Missouri School Board Association.

This award makes me so happy, said Kim Johnson, the principal at the Truman Learning Center. I see what good things our teachers do every day, and the wonderful support we get from the administration, but it is so nice when someone from outside looks in and says, you guys are doing a great job.' It really brings me a lot of joy.

According to Johnson, FutureBuilders awarded the program of the year to three schools based upon district size - small, medium and large. Truman was selected in the medium district size.

It is really exciting to be selected, Johnson said. In the congratulations letter, it said this years competition was difficult because there were numerous excellent nominations.

She worked with Parents as Teachers Director Kim Weakley to submit the application.

Johnson said the application process required discussing five different areas and how the school implements those areas. The five included support of child development; innovation; involvement with parents, families and the community; commitment leadership in the field and school readiness.

When you are busy with the day-to-day activity of the school, you dont think about what you do, Johnson said. But when we wrote it all out, we realized we do a lot of good things.

After sending the application off, Johnson said a great deal of time passed and neither heard about the award.

I sent the application off to the Missouri School Board Association and I didnt hear anything. I even asked Kim if she had heard anything, Johnson said. Finally, we were having Fun Day, and (Superintendent) Matt Ruble came over saying he had to talk to me."

Johnson said she thought the superintendent would not be delivering bad news on "Fun Day" at the school.

"He just couldnt," she said. "And then he told me that we had been selected as the program of the year.

Johnson believes Truman was presented the award because of the staff's commitment not only to the child but to the family as well.

When you think of early childhood, most people think of preschool, Johnson said. But it is so much larger. Kim starts meeting with parents during pregnancy. So, she sees the parents and the child during those critical developmental times  infant and toddler. Then they come to us at Pre-K and then through kindergarten. When they are ready to go to first grade, we have had some of these kids with us for six years, which is during those critical years of child development.

One of the things Johnson believes led the school to be awarded the recognition is the summer school program. According to the principal, the school has incoming kindergartners at summer school to teach school readiness.

We have all of our preschool kids, along with kids from St. Paul and St. Joe - even if they are going back to those two schools - come to summer school, Johnson said. Some of these kids have been to preschool, but some havent been anywhere before. Its a really good opportunity for them to come in and learn the structure of the classroom.

In addition to summer school, and working with the families, Johnson said the support of the community was key to winning the award.

The bond issue and adding on to the learning center has made a big difference, Johnson said. I love working with Kim and getting to know the families. It is just a really good set-up we have in Farmington.

Johnson and the faculty and staff will be recognized at the MSBAs Annual Conference on Oct. 7 at Tan-Tar-A Resort where they will highlight their Early Childhood Education program to the conference.

For more information on the Parents as Teachers Program, contact Weakley or Johnson at 701-1370.
Madonna is reportedly dating Kevin Sampaio.

Madonna

The 58-year-old - who has 20-year-old Lourdes, Rocco, 16, David and Mercy, both 11, and four-year-old twins Stella and Esther - is rumoured to have recently dumped her former flame Aboubakar Soumahoro, 26, after over one year of dating, and has already bagged herself a new hunk in the form of the 31-year-old model.

It is believed Madonna and her ex beau, who lived with her and her brood in the musician's New York home, came to logger heads over her children because he continually tried to parent her kids, the New York Post has reported.

It is also believed the custody battle involving Rocco, who is now living with his filmmaker father Guy Ritchie, also caused a lot of tension for the former couple.

Although it is early days for the Kevin and Madonna, it has been reported Madonna has already taken a liking to the catwalk icon, because he has proved himself to be a trustworthy partner by keeping details of their romance close to his chest.

It has been reported the couple met in November 2015 at a celebrity bash in London, England, and sparks were already flying during their first meeting.

And almost two years on, the duo are believed to be taking their relationship to the next step as they have recently enjoyed a romantic getaway to Lisbon, to help them get to know one another better away from prying eyes.

Madonna has reportedly been hesitant about making her relationship public as she wanted to be sure she could trust Kevin.

A source told Radar Online: "Madonna did not want to go public with Kevin until now because she was just trying to get to know him better and she wanted to make sure that she could trust him."

But Kevin has continued to show he is devoted and supportive of the 'Like A Virgin' hitmaker and her longstanding music career as he was spotted at her concert in South America, which was part of her 'Rebel Heart' tour.

It has also been reported the dark-haired hunk has even relocated from the Ivory Coast to New York to be closer to his lover.
Conde Nast is to launch a Polish edition of Vogue in 2018.

Vogue magazine

The publishing house has announced plans to expand its offering and to that end, it has partnered with new media venture Visteria to develop its presence in Eastern Europe.

Karina Dobrotvorskaya, president of Conde Nast new markets and editorial director of brand development, said: "Conde Nast always believed in local autonomy, in local creativity and relevance of its editions for local readers."

The move marks a deviation from the company's digital-first strategy, but Karina explained the thinking behind the decision.

Speaking to BusinessOfFashion.com, she said: "Yes, digital is becoming increasingly globalised, but print readers are still looking for a unique experience.

"So we do believe Poland deserves its own highly creative edition of Vogue which will be different from the other 22 Vogues."

It has been confirmed that Filip Niedenthal will be the magazine's launch editor-in-chief, while Polish model Malgosia Bela is taking up the job of editor-at-large.

Commenting on the company's latest move, Filip - who previously helped to launch Esquire in Poland - said: "Polish readers have been waiting for their own edition of Vogue for years now.

"Rumours that it was about to launch have been rife since I started working in the business 17 years ago."

Vogue began as a weekly newspaper in the US in 1892, but there are currently 22 international editions of the magazine, with Vogue Arabia being the most recent to launch.
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have left the Han Solo 'Star Wars' spin-off due to "creative differences".

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

The directorial duo signed up to the project - which focuses on the origins of the Rebel Alliance leader, played by Alden Ehrenreich - in July 2015 and began shooting in February, but they have now stepped away from the movie as their "visions" for the film differed from what studio bosses were looking for.

The filmmakers said in a statement: "Unfortunately, our vision and process weren't aligned with our partners on this project.

"We normally aren't fans of the phrase 'creative differences' but for once this cliche is true. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew."

And Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy hailed the pair "talented filmmakers" but explained it was felt best they "parted ways".

She said: "Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are talented filmmakers who have assembled an incredible cast and crew, but it's become clear that we had different creative visions on this film, and we've decided to part ways. A new director will be announced soon."

It has been claimed the directors had been in conflict with Kathleen for months and didn't appreciate the tight control the producer took on set.

A source told Variety: "It was a culture clash from day one. She didn't even like the way they folded their socks...

"They weren't given the leeway to do what they had to do."

The '21 Jump Street' filmmakers were hired for their distinctive brand of filmmaking, but the insider claimed Kathleen didn't approve of their shooting style of process of interacting with the cast and crew.

And Phil and Christopher also clashed with co-writer and executive producer Lawrence Kasdan - who has worked on the franchise since 1980 - as he was also critical of their choices.

The source said: "Kathy, her team and Larry Kasdan have been doing it their way for a very long time. They know how the cheese is made and that's how they want it made. It became a very polarising set."

Ron Howard is now tipped to take over the movie.
Based in East London, Andrea Chamberlain and Leon Brown make up the unique musical duo that is, All Flags Are Grey. Previously working on projects together before reconnecting to form this special group, theyll be officially releasing their debut single Bare Bones via Seven Wishbones on June 30. We caught up with Andrea before then to hear a little more about her inspirations, aspirations, goals and desires

Leon Brown and Andrea Chamberlain are, All Flags Are Grey

For those who may be new to your music, how best would you describe your sound?

Its the most difficult question any musician can be asked, we always try to give a politicians answer to avoid it  there is no definite expression but only ever a perception of it  in other words, people are just going to have to listen to it and make their own minds up.

What challenges have you faced in the music industry so far?

I guess the challenge is not to aim for perfection when writing or producing because it doesnt exist. Its sometimes hard to know when to stop; when a record is finished, so to speak. But its being able to let go of it; sometimes its the imperfections that make the track great, to capture a mood and to be able to invoke a feeling in the listener is key.

How difficult would you say this career path is in terms of making a name for yourself?

I think its important to avoid the desire to try to make a name, as such, and just concentrate on the music itself and what were attempting to express by it. Ultimately if that works the name evolves as it should. Our most recent track Bare Bones tackles the subject of addictive behaviour and self-inflicted loss. Its about showing vulnerability, self-loathing and feeling trapped and isolated, which Im sure people will be able to relate to.

How important is it for you to have creative control over the work you produce?

Its the most important thing as artists in our opinion. However, its very important not to become insular whilst keeping creative control, so in turn collaboration with creatives you respect can also be a great thing, and not always with people whom have the same genre choice; some of the most iconic works have been formed by the mix of different perspectives.

Where do you draw influence and inspiration from for your work?

We dont want to reinvent the wheel, so theres never a beat, a guitar riff or melody just for the sake of it. And we try to make every element matter; the honest answer is its just too big a thing to pin down. The world and everything around is a constant influence, but if we are talking influences from various artist figures we would say Patti Smith, Grace Slick, Jim Jamusch Jake and Dinos appear in the list of many!

If you could collaborate with anybody going forward, who would you choose and why?

Polystyrene from Xray Specs would have to be a first choice, though sadly thats something that wont happen in this lifetime Wanda Jackson is a close second  Funnel of Love is a great song and theyre both really unique vocalists which is so important as an artist, but I think an artist of the now it would most probably be Grimes.

Tell us a random, funny fact about you that not many people know

I had superimposed my vagina into iconic jackets of different epochs as part of an exhibition in Berlin that was to show the objectification of women. I had some left over A2 sixe artwork, so I thought I would prepare some highly unsavoury paintings juxtaposing the British class system. We went to a private view of a well-known art even in London and secretly inserted these artworks into a few of the galleries one gallery owner took it very well and actually bought one!

Do you have definitive aims or goals for your career?

It gets said all the time and most dont, but we never want to make the same song twice. Bowie laid down that mantle and its rarely picked up. But we see change and development as the only reason to exist at all in any kind of meaningful way.

What should we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?

Were playing some shows in Germany and the Netherlands towards the end of the year as well as numerous London gigs. We will also release an EP in September time and we are currently collaborating on music for an indie film which is to be released across some of the independent cinemas next year. Andrea also co-owns a boutique publisher which is partnered with a label in Japan, with releases imminent there also!

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Geri Horner is "proud" to be part of the Grenfell Tower charity single.

Geri Horner

The former Spice Girl is thrilled to hear how the track - a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' - has come together and took to Twitter on Wednesday (21.06.17) to urge her fans to download the track and donate to the victims of the devastating fire in west London, which killed over 70 people.

Geri wrote: "Proud to be a part of this & support those affected by the Grenfell tragedy. You can also make a donation here: http://artistsforgrenfell.com (sic)"

Paloma Faith shared a poignant message alongside the link to donate.

She wrote on the social media site: "In light of the terrible tragedy at Grenfell a few of us came together to raise some money for the victims. https://artistsforgrenfell.com/ ... Please download today and make donations here https://artistsforgrenfell.com/ ... You cannot fight fire with fire. The most dignified and loudest protest is calm, peaceful and defiant. Remember Martin Luther King."

Craig David - who also took part in the track - took to social media to offer his thoughts and prayers to those who had been affected by the fire, writing: "My thoughts and prayers are with everyone whose lives were affected by the Grenfell Tower fire (sic)"

Whilst Matt Terry, 2016's 'X Factor' winner, thanked fans as the song climbed to number 1 in the UK iTunes charts.

He wrote: "Guys thank you ... Bridge Over Troubled Water is Number 1. This is such an incredible cause and I love it when we all stand together (sic)"

The cover of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' also features performances from the likes of Stormzy, Robbie Williams, Leona Lewis, Rita Ora and The Who's Roger Daltrey whilst musical accompanient was provided by 'Britain's Got Talent' winner Tokio Myers, The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, Nile Rodgers and Queen's Brian May.
The Duke of Edinburgh has been rushed to hospital with an infection.

Prince Philip

The 96-year-old royal is believed to have been admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London on Tuesday evening (20.06.17) as a "precautionary measure" after an infection related to a "pre-existing condition" surfaced again.

A statement released from Buckingham Palace, which has been obtained by the Telegraph Online, reads: "The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London last night, as a precautionary measure, for treatment of an infection arising from a pre-existing condition."

However, Prince Philip is in "good spirits" despite the illness, although he is "disappointed" the medical emergency means he is unable to attend the State Opening of Parliament and the second day of Royal Ascot on Wednesday (21.06.17).

The statement continued: "Prince Philip is in good spirits and is disappointed to be missing the State Opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot."

Although Philip cannot make the official opening that marks the new Parliament's session, his son Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, will attend the event alongside Queen Elizabeth II in his place.

The statement confirmed: "The Prince of Wales will accompany The Queen to the State Opening."

While the 91-year-old monarch will be kept updated about her husband's well-being throughout the day, she will still go ahead with her royal duties and appearances, which will see her head to Ascot in England to watch the horses compete against one another for the top prize.

The statement concluded: "Her Majesty is being kept informed and will attend Royal Ascot as planned this afternoon."
Vicky Pattison "would love to go back" to 'Loose Women' - but only when she's older.

Vicky Pattison

The 29-year-old reality TV star was hired as a panellist on the lunchtime chat show after she was crowned queen of the 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' jungle at the end of 2015 but, after just nine months in her position, she quit and has admitted her decision was based on the fact she didn't have enough life experience to comment.

Speaking on 'Lorraine' on Wednesday (21.06.17), she said: "I can't thank the 'Loose Women' team and everyone at ITV enough for giving me such an amazing opportunity.

"But I think, for me, I tried to run before I could walk. I think maybe certain things were discussed and debates we'd have and I'd be desperate to get involved but feel like I didn't really have an opinion on them. Things like marriage and kids, and at the time I couldn't even get a lad to text me back. I was like, 'I'm out. Nothing in my locker.' "

"I would love to go back."

However, the former 'Geordie Shore' star is too busy at the moment to return to the programme as she's working on a new on-screen project based on health and fitness.

She explained: "I'm really passionate about health and fitness and nutrition and the rest of it. This is the year I've discovered balance in loads of different parts of my life and I'd love to impart some of that wisdom so I'm actually working on a new show based on health and fitness and nutrition, helping people with body transformations."
Thursdays meeting of the Mineral Area College Board of Trustees marked the last for Gil Kennon, who announced his plan to retire this spring, but begins a new era for the school with the promotion of 20-year MAC business and computer networking instructor to dean of the Career & Technical Education Division.

The trustees selected McMillians to fill the vacancy to be left soon by Kennon prior to the open session of the afternoon meeting. The transition is expected to take place July 1, when the new fiscal year starts.

As dean of Career & Technical Education Division, McMillian will join the presidents cabinet, which includes the dean of Student Services, the dean of Arts & Sciences, the human resources director, the chief financial officer and the facilities director.

McMillian, of Park Hills, will oversee 39 full-time faculty and 143 adjunct faculty members in the CTE division, which includes such programs as nursing, business education, computer information services, law enforcement and manufacturing technology.

The new dean began working for the college in 1997 as a professor of business education and computer networking. He became department chair of Business Education and Computer Networking in 2001, and became computer information systems coordinator  which reports to the dean of Arts & Sciences  in 2016. He has also been an adjunct professor for Central Methodist University at their MAC center in Park Hills since 2002.

Before coming to MAC, McMillian worked at Sanford Brown College in Granite City, Illinois, from 1988 to 1990. From 1990 to 1993, he worked as a systems support representative and as an implementation consultant for Alcon Systems Inc. in St. Louis. From 1993 to 1997, he worked for AMS Services Inc. as a Novell System support representative, online coordinator and technical analyst.

Awards received by McMillian while at MAC include the Missouri Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, and Missouri Association for Career and Technical Education, Post-Secondary Teacher of the Year in 2017; Faculty Member of the Year in 2013 and 2016; Missouri Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2013; Missouri Phi Beta Lambda Adviser of the Year, and Outstanding Business Education, SEMO District Business Education Association in 2006; Outstanding Business Educator, Post-Secondary, Missouri Business Education Association in 2005.

McMillian holds several degrees, including a Master of Business Administration from Missouri Baptist University in 2008; Master of Science in Education from Southwest Baptist University in 1999; Bachelors Degree in Business Education from Southeast Missouri State University in 1986; an associate degree from MAC in 1984 and a certificate in data processing from Leadbelt Area Vocational School, the precursor to UniTec, in 1982.

McMillian has worked on a number of projects related to the colleges regional accreditation, attended Leadership Academy in 2010, and has been instrumental on a number of committees, special projects, strategic plans and academic advisory and implementation efforts.

In other action, the board heard the latest enrollment numbers for the summer and fall semesters from Dean of Students Jean Merrill-Doss.

We are almost through the second week of classes and currently summer enrollment is down about 5 percent and about 44 percent in headcount and about 451 in credit hours, or about 9 percent, she said. For fall we are down about 9 percent in headcount and about 7 percent in credit hours.

We do have another CARDS program in about a week-and-a-half and then after June 30 we will go to our individual one-on-one meetings with students as they come in and hope to be able to do a little bit more bonding and build that retention in from the beginning.

Later in the meeting, MAC President Dr. Steve Kurtz presented the 2018 fiscal year budget to the trustees for approval that, because of expected cuts in the states funding of higher education and a decline in enrollment, has been cut wherever possible.

The board will hold its annual summer retreat on July 13. There will be a brief portion of the meeting set aside for business that will be open to the public.
Firth married Italian documentary film producer Giuggioli on 21st June 1997 and they now have homes in Chiswick, London and Umbria, Italy. When Firth began to date Livia, he took up Italian lessons and now he is fluent in the language.

Colin Firth and Livia Giuggioli (Credit: Famous)

The couple met in Colombia when they were both working on the set of the mini-series 'Nostromo' and the romance allegedly blossomed from there. Firth previously dated two women he worked alongside; Meg Tilly from Valmont and Jennifer Ehle from Pride and Prejudice.

One of their most defining moments as a couple was when they dined with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge or William and Kate at an ARK charity event in March 2011.

They have two sons, Luca and Matteo and have jointly set up Eco-Age which is a shop in Chiswick that promotes eco-friendly products.

Happy Wedding Anniversary Colin and Livia!

Source: Wikipedia and IMDB

by Lucy Moore for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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The world has already started prepping up to celebrate International Yoga Day on 21 June 2017. The idea of an International Day of Yoga was the first proposed by the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi during his speech at the UN General Assembly, on 27 September 2014. The date of 21 June was suggested by the Prime Minister, as it is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and shares special significance in many parts of the world. Following this, the UNGA declared an International Yoga Day which is celebrated annually on 21 June, since its inception in 2015. During the first International Yoga Day celebrations in Delhi, the Prime Minister led more than 35,000 participants performing yoga. This year too, different nations have planned to celebrate Yoga Day on a large scale. The state of Mysore will be attempting to create a new Guinness Record for the largest number of people taking part in a yoga class. Beijing's iconic Great Wall as well as numerous parks, lakes and resorts across China have become venues for the both official and unofficial yoga events being held with active support of Chinese government bodies. Yoga is a great form of exercise that helps you to achieve a healthy body and a relaxed mind. Our fashion edit of the 10 essentials will instantly help you up your yoga game:
The Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT), a private body promoting Italian textile machinery, has announced that Italian textile machinery manufacturers will partake at the upcoming edition of CAITME, the Central Asian International Textile Machinery Exhibition, to be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from September 13 to 15, 2017.16 Italian textile machinery manufacturers will exhibit in the common area set up by the Italian Trade Agency and ACIMIT.

The Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT), a private body promoting Italian textile machinery, has announced that Italian textile machinery manufacturers will partake at the upcoming edition of CAITME, the Central Asian International Textile Machinery Exhibition, to be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from September 13 to 15, 2017.#

Among these companies, ACIMITs associated members include Beta Machinery, Caru, Cormatex, Durst, Ferraro, Mcs, Pozzi Leopoldo, Ramallumin, Ratti, Rite, Santex Rimar Group, Savio, Sicam, Smit, Stalam, and Unitech.At CAITME, Italian exhibitors will show the most advanced technology applied to the textile sector, offering proper solutions in terms of efficiency, costs saving, and sustainability.Uzbekistan is one of the largest producers and exporters of cotton and its textile industry is a relevant driver for the national economy. Thanks to the availability of raw materials and low production costs the business conditions are favourable for the development of the local industry. The upgrading of installed equipment is considered a step to achieve this goal.In 2016, Italian exports amounted to 15 million, exceeding 2015 figures, with a 16 per cent increase. Among the Italian machines most in demand by Uzbek textile companies are knitting machinery (62 per cent of the overall total) and spinning machinery (24 per cent). (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
His Excellency the President Major-General (Retd) Jioji Konrote is currently in Vanuatu representing Fiji at the State funeral for Vanuatus late President, His Excellency Womtelo Reverend Baldwin Lonsdale.



President Lonsdale passed away on Saturday and the State funeral is scheduled for Wednesday 21 June.



His Excellency President Konrotes condolence message was as follows:



I wish to express on behalf of the Fijian Government and all Fijians, as well as my own, our profound and sincere condolences and sympathies on the passing away of the President of the Republic of Vanuatu, His Excellency the late Womtelo Reverend Baldwin Lonsdale.



We were all shocked and equally saddened to learn of his passing. His Excellency the President Reverend Lonsdale had built a strong and admirable reputation as a man of high principles and integrity, who was willing to take a stand for what he believed to be right and proper, for the greater good of his country.



His death will be a huge loss to the Republic of Vanuatu, as indeed to the Pacific, and we are all the poorer with his passing.



Our deepest sympathies go to his family and to all our Wantok in Vanuatu.



With the deep bond of friendship as members of Melanesia and the wider Pacific community, Fiji and all Fijians today join Vanuatu in mourning the passing of a paragon of virtue.



Fijis High Commissioner to Vanuatu, Commodore Esala Teleni is accompanying the President.



The Chief Justice, Honourable Justice Anthony Gates is acting as President until Thursday 22 June.


A month ago, there were rumours in Gandhinagar that Amy Jackson would be roped in as the female lead for the movie, The Villain. Well, the rumours were later verified to be true by the film's director, Prem.

The cast and crew of the movie were supposed to start the shooting in London from June 15 but the plans were delayed due to terror attacks in Manchester. Director Prem had informed that Amy Jackson would be joining the crew at London, but that was not possible.

Now, Amy Jackson has finally landed in Bangkok to unite with the team of The Villain. A few photos to prove the above made claim, have been released on the internet. With this movie, Amy Jackson will make her debut in Sandalwood.

The Villain was already in news for its delay in filming and due to the unavailability of heroines that suited Prem's expectations. But, Amy is now officially a part of the project that will be directed by Prem.

Some of the pictures from the sets of The Villain in Bangkok have surfaced online along with some interesting information.

Who will Amy Jackson be paired with?

If you're curious enough, read more..
Sole Reason For Fitness  Yoga

Sanjana tells us that the main reason for fitness is power yoga. According to her, the most precious and important moment of her daily schedule is while doing power yoga.

No Insecurities

It has been nearly a decade since Sanjana started working in the film industry. As per what she said, it is power yoga that has filled her life with confidence and will power, hence she has never felt insecure.

Life Is Dependant On Yoga

Sanjana feels that her life is entirely dependant on yoga. Yoga helps keep her mind, body and soul in tandem, which wouldn't have been possible otherwise to her.

Raising Awareness About Yoga

"Yoga will definitely help change your mind and body. Life will be tension and stress-free with yoga and it gives you inner peace. I am a live example as I reap benefits of doing yoga, every day. I am trying my best to help create awareness about the powers of yoga and am insisting people to practise it", said Sanjana.

Sanjana Yoga Academy

By the way, Sanjana has her own yoga academy which is situated in Koramangala, Bengaluru. It is a luxurious and posh yoga centre having facilities like meditation hall, prayer hall and necessary yoga equipments.

Sanjana's Yoga Postures

Sanjana Galrani, without a doubt in mind, performs all kinds of postures in yoga due to her expertise in the field. It usually takes years together to get it right for any yoga performer and Sanjana seems to have achieved it.

Everyone Should Practise Yoga

"Everybody should do yoga to keep their mind, body and soul at peace. There is no disease that is incurable with yoga. Begin a new life by starting yoga practise from today", concluded Sanjana.
Dulquer Salmaan, the charming actor and wife Amaal Sufiya recently welcomed their first child, a baby girl. In the recent interview given to Star N Style magazine, Dulquer opened up about Amaal and daughter Maryam Ameerah.

The actor stated that his admiration for his wife has increased after understanding how well she embraced the motherhood. Dulquer states that his wife has totally changed as a person, and now her biggest priority is their daughter.

Interestingly, the charming actor also revealed he has never fallen in love until he met wife Amaal Sufiya. Dulquer Salmaan also stated that he is married to the most attractive woman he has ever met.

The actor could only spend about one week with his newborn daughter, as he is extremely busy with his shooting schedule. Dulquer Salmaan and family are planning to have a grand celebration ahead, as this is Maryam's first Eid.

Solo, the highly anticipated Dulquer Salmaan-Bejoy Nambiar project, is expected to hit the theatres in August 2017. The actor will next join the sets of his Telugu debut Mahanati, in which he appears as the legendary actor Gemini Ganesan.
Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recentglobal OSS BSS software market 2017-2021report. This market research report also lists 15 other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170714005502/en/

Technavio has published a new report on the global OSS BSS software market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Competitive vendor landscape

According to the market research analysis, the OSS and BSS software providers continue to spend billions of dollars on OSS and BSS solutions as well as platforms to address the complex set of services. The increased focus on the overall customer experience combined with operational pressures has urged CSPs to realign their OSS and BSS goals in tandem with strategic business objectives.

"Vendors are developing innovations including updated solutions for cloud-based solutions, SaaS, and network provisioning delivery. Further, an increased demand for convergent charging software has changed the dynamics of the market with new vendors entering the market because of its immense growth potential. Also, existing OSS BSS providers are also bringing innovation into their convergent charging software offerings. Telecom network infrastructure providers are also entering the market leading to an escalation in the competition among existing players," says Rohan Joy Thomas, a lead analyst at Technavio for enterprise application research.

This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing

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Technaviomarket research analysts identify the following key vendors:

AMDOCS

AMDOCS is one of the world's leading providers of software and services to its customers in the communications, media, and entertainment industries. The company develops, implements, and manages software and services associated with BSS, OSS, and network operations. It enables service providers to introduce new products and services, process orders, monetize data, support new business models, and enhance their understanding of their customers.

Ericsson

Ericsson provides telecommunications equipment and services to mobile and fixed network operators worldwide. Ericsson has a unique combination of IT offerings to achieve growth and profitability in the networked ecosystem. Its software portfolio includes revenue manager, cloud manager, catalog manager, customer and partner management, revenue and policy management, customer experience management and analytics, and related business solutions. It provides cloud-ready convergent charging and billing systems that redefine the role of BSS.

Huawei Technologies

Huawei Technologies manufactures, sells, and markets telecommunications equipment worldwide. Huawei Technologies provides BSS managed solutions comprising information technology operations (ITO), business process outsourcing (BPO), and transformation service offerings tailored to meet the telecom operator's requirements. It helps telecom operators expand their customer base, enhance customer loyalty, raise their profitability, and reduce their CAPEX and OPEX.

Netcracker Technology Corporation

Netcracker Technology Corporation is a global provider of integrated cloud-ready solutions for communications service providers. The company offers a range of solutions for managing and delivering transformation projects that span customer experience management, enterprise solutions, infrastructure optimization, as well as content and service monetization. The company is a leading provider of convergent billing, enterprise billing, as well as wholesale and retail billing solutions. The company's convergent solutions include real-time convergent charging (RTCC) services, which integrate all service charges onto a single customer invoice.

Redknee

Redknee provides real-time monetization software to more than 250 customers. It delivers real-time billing and customer care solutions in the market. Redknee launched Redknee Unified, which is a highly configurable real-time end-to-end converged charging, billing, policy management, and customer care solution. The company provides virtualized BSS to manage mission-critical applications in private, public, and hybrid cloud environments. It also provides a Wi-Fi monetization solution, which helps customers experience effortless authentication and the highest quality of service (QoS) and CSPs to explore new sources revenue while achieving better 3G and 4G network utilization.

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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/17 -- China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. (TSX: CGG)(HKSE: 2099) (the "Company" or "China Gold International Resources") announces the results of its annual general and special meeting of shareholders (the "AGM") held on June 28, 2017.

A total of 272,169,498 common shares, representing 68.66% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company, were present in person or by proxy at the meeting. The detailed results are presented below:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No. Resolutions Number of Votes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 To set the number of directors of For Against Total the Company at nine (9); --------------------------------------- 268,911,610 47,465 268,959,075 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 To elect as directors: For Withheld Total ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Xin SONG; 256,996,249 11,962,826 268,959,075 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (ii) Bing LIU; 256,996,249 11,962,826 268,959,075 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (iii) Lianzhong SUN; 256,969,784 11,989,291 268,959,075 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (iv) Liangyou JIANG; 256,985,784 11,973,291 268,959,075 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (v) Ian HE; 262,685,413 6,273,662 268,959,075 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (vi) Yunfei CHEN; 264,246,581 4,712,494 268,959,075 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (vii) Gregory HALL; 264,039,241 4,919,834 268,959,075 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (viii)John King BURNS; and 264,246,981 4,712,094 268,959,075 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (ix) Xiangdong JIANG; 254,572,396 14,386,679 268,959,075 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 To re-appoint Deloitte Touche For Withhold Total Tohmatsu as auditors of the Company at a remuneration to be fixed by the board of directors; --------------------------------------- 272,151,131 18,367 272,169,498 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 To grant to the board of directors For Against Total a general mandate to allot, issue and otherwise deal with unissued shares not exceeding 20% of the aggregate number of issued shares of the Company as at the date of the passing of this resolution and the said approval shall be limited accordingly; --------------------------------------- 178,356,001 90,603,075 268,959,076 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 To grant to the board of directors For Against Total a general mandate to repurchase shares not exceeding 10% of the aggregate number of issued shares of the Company as at the date of the passing of this resolution and the said approval shall be limited accordingly; --------------------------------------- 218,559,951 50,399,124 268,959,075 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 To extend the share allotment For Against Total mandate by the addition thereto of the shares repurchased by the Company; --------------------------------------- 178,444,836 90,514,239 268,959,075 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 To vote on an ordinary resolution For Against Total of the independent shareholders of the Company approving the Supplemental Contract for Purchase and Sale of Dore, the Cap thereunder, and the transactions contemplated thereunder; and --------------------------------------- 64,210,242 50,400,103 114,610,345 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 To vote on an ordinary resolution For Against Total of the independent shareholders of the Company approving the Supplemental Product and Service Framework Agreement, the Cap thereunder, and the transactions contemplated thereunder. --------------------------------------- 64,206,676 50,403,669 114,610,345 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Together with the re-election of the directors of the Company, the Company is pleased to announce that Xiangdong Jiang has transitioned from an executive director role to a non-executive director role. Mr. Jiang resigned as an officer of the Company for personal reasons but will remain a director of the Company.

In response to feedback received from shareholders, the Company did not submit before the AGM resolutions to approve the Supplemental Loan Framework Agreement or the New Financial Services Agreement.

Each of the Supplemental Contract for Purchase and Sale of Dore and the Supplemental Product and Service Framework Agreement constitute "related party transactions" for purposes of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). Pursuant to MI 61-101, related party transactions are subject to formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements unless an exemption is available. The minority shareholder approval requirements are similar to those set out in the rules of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, so since minority shareholder approval was received at the AGM, the Company has not considered applied exemptions which would be available under MI 61-101. Each of the Supplemental Contract for Purchase and Sale of Dore and the Supplemental Product and Service Framework Agreement are exempt from the valuation requirements of MI 61-101. The Supplemental Contract for Purchase and Sale of Dore is exempt pursuant to section 5.5(d) of MI 61-101 as it constitutes the sale of inventory of the Company in the ordinary course of business. The Supplemental Product and Service Framework Agreement is comprised of several components. The mining service component is not contemplated under MI 61-101 as constituting a related party transaction. The sale of copper concentrate is exempt pursuant to section 5.5(d) of MI 61-101 as it constitutes the sale of inventory in the ordinary course of business. The mining equipment product sale component is exempt as it is excluded from the definition of a related party transaction under MI 61-101 because under section (b) of the definition of a related party transaction, purchases of equipment from third parties only constitute a related party transaction if the proportion of the ownership interest is not equal to the proportion of the asset acquired from the third party. In the case of the Supplemental Product and Service Framework Agreement, the Company leverages the buying power of China National Gold to procure better pricing for mining equipment than it would be able to on its own.

For further details of the voting results please visit the Company's website at www.chinagoldintl.com, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited's website at www.hkex.com.hk or SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About China Gold International Resources

China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and operates both profitable and growing mines, the CSH Gold Mine in Inner Mongolia, and the Jiama Copper-Gold Polymetallic Mine in Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The Company's objective is to continue to build shareholder value by growing production at its current mining operations, expanding its resource base, and aggressively acquiring and developing new projects internationally. The Company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CGG) and the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HKSE: 2099).

Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information regarding China Gold International Resources contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although China Gold International Resources believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. China Gold International Resources cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what China Gold International Resources currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and subject to change after that date.

Contacts:

Elena M. Kazimirova

Investor Relations Manager and Financial Analyst

Tel: +1.604.609.5098

Email: info@chinagoldintl.com

Website: www.chinagoldintl.com




Regulatory News:

United Company RUSAL Plc (Paris:RUSAL) (Paris:RUAL):

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.

UNITED COMPANY RUSAL PLC

(Incorporated under the laws of Jersey with limited liability)

(Stock Code: 486)

POLL RESULTS OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HELD ON 20 JUNE 2017

United Company RUSAL Plc ("Company") is pleased to announce that at the annual general meeting ("AGM") of the Company held on 20 June 2017, the proposed resolutions (except for Resolution 5 which was not passed as a special resolution and Resolution 6 which was not passed as an ordinary resolution as it was conditional upon Resolutions 4 and 5 being passed) set out in the notice of AGM dated 19 May 2017 ("Notice") were duly passed by the shareholders of the Company ("Shareholders") by way of poll. Pursuant to the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("Listing Rules"), poll voting was required.

The poll results in respect of the resolutions proposed at the AGM were as follows:

Resolutions proposed at the AGM No. of Votes (%) For Against Abstain 1 To receive and consider the audited

financial statements, the report of the

directors of the Company

("Directors") and the auditor's report

of the Company, each for the year

ended 31 December 2016. 11,444,917,140

(100.00%) 0

(0.00%) 2,400,970,089 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution. 2(a) To re-appoint Mr. Dmitry Afanasiev as a

non-executive Director. 13,687,002,989

(98.91%) 151,084,250

(1.09%) 7,804,000 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution.

Resolutions proposed at the AGM No. of Votes (%) For Against Abstain 2(b) To re-appoint Mr. Mark Garber as an

independent non-executive Director. 13,842,219,733

(99.97%) 3,671,506

(0.03%) 0 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution. 2(c) To re-appoint Mr. Ivan Glasenberg as a

non-executive Director. 13,803,602,733

(99.75%) 34,484,506

(0.25%) 7,804,000 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution. 2(d) To re-appoint Mr. Maksim Goldman as a

non-executive Director. 13,803,738,733

(99.75%) 34,348,506

(0.25%) 7,804,000 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution. 2(e) To re-appoint Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya as a

non-executive Director. 13,795,459,212

(99.69%) 42,628,027

(0.31%) 7,804,000 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution. 2(f) To re-appoint Mr. Matthias Warnig as an

independent non-executive Director. 13,842,219,733

(99.97%) 3,671,506

(0.03%) 0 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution. 2(g) To re-appoint Mr. Siegfried Wolf as an

executive Director. 13,841,240,733

(99.97%) 4,650,506

(0.03%) 0 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution. 2(h) To re-appoint Mr. Marco Musetti as a

non-executive Director. 13,803,738,733

(99.75%) 34,348,506

(0.25%) 7,804,000 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution. 3 To appoint JSC KPMG as the auditor

and authorise the Directors to fix the

remuneration of the auditor for the

year ending 31 December 2017. 13,845,418,239

(100.00%) 0

(0.00%) 0 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution. 4 To give a general mandate to the Directors

to allot, issue, grant and deal with

additional securities of the Company. 8,653,596,843

(62.50%) 5,192,198,569

(37.50%) 0 The resolution was duly passed as an ordinary resolution. 5 To give a general mandate to the

Company and the Directors on behalf

of the Company to repurchase

securities of the Company (to be

passed as a special resolution). 8,769,872,634

(63.34%) 5,075,713,019

(36.66%) 0 The resolution was not passed as a special resolution.

Resolutions proposed at the AGM No. of Votes (%) For Against Abstain 6 Conditional upon Resolutions 4 and 5 8,655,412,257 5,190,077,569 0 being passed, to extend the general (62.51%) (37.49%) mandate granted to the Directors to allot, issue, grant and deal with additional securities of the Company by the addition of the aggregate nominal value of the securities repurchased. As this resolution was conditional upon Resolutions 4 and 5 being passed, the resolution was not passed as an ordinary resolution.

The total number of shares entitling the Shareholders to attend and vote for or against each and every resolution at the AGM was 15,193,014,862 shares, representing the entire issued share capital of the Company as at the date of the AGM. There were no shares entitling the holders to attend and abstain from voting in favour of the resolutions at the AGM as set out in Rule 13.40 of the Listing Rules, and there were no shares of holders that are required under the Listing Rules to abstain from voting at the AGM. None of the Shareholders have stated their intention in the circular of the Company dated 19 May 2017 to vote against or to abstain from voting on any of the resolutions at the AGM. The Company's branch share registrar in Hong Kong, Computershare Hong Kong Investor Services Limited, was appointed as the scrutineer at the AGM for the purpose of vote-taking.

By Order of the Board of Directors of

United Company RUSAL Plc

Aby Wong Po Ying

Company Secretary

21 June 2017

As at the date of this announcement, the executive Directors are Mr. Oleg Deripaska, Mr. Vladislav Soloviev and Mr. Siegfried Wolf, the non-executive Directors are Mr. Maxim Sokov, Mr. Dmitry Afanasiev, Mr. Ivan Glasenberg, Mr. Maksim Goldman, Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, Mr. Daniel Lesin Wolfe, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya, Ms. Ekaterina Nikitina and Mr. Marco Musetti, and the independent non-executive Directors are Mr. Matthias Warnig (Chairman), Mr. Philip Lader, Dr. Elsie Leung Oi-sie, Mr. Mark Garber, Mr. Dmitry Vasiliev and Mr. Bernard Zonneveld.

All announcements and press releases published by the Company are available on its website under the links http://www.rusal.ru/en/investors/info.aspx,http://rusal.ru/investors/info/moex/ and http://www.rusal.ru/en/press-center/press-releases.aspx, respectively.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005776/en/

Contacts:

United Company RUSAL Plc




GARUDA INDONESIA Corporate Communications Soekarno Hatta International Airport Email: corpcomm@garuda-indonesia.com Phone: +62 21 2560 1069 | Fax: +62 21 2560 1068 Website: www.garuda-indonesia.com | Twitter: @IndonesiaGaruda

LE BOURGET, FRANCE, June 21, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - Garuda Indonesia, the national flag carrier of Indonesia, has been awarded 'World's Best Cabin Crew 2017' by the Skytrax World Airline Awards, held at the Paris Air Show, Le Bourget, France. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Garuda has been recognized as world's best, the award being presented by Skytrax CEO Edward Plaisted to Garuda Indonesia President and CEO Pahala N. Mansury during the official ceremony, last night, Tuesday, June 16.The President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Pahala N. Mansury, said, "The 'World's Best Cabin Crew' award is another remarkable milestone for our airline, and Garuda Indonesia proudly accepts the achievement for our beloved nation, Indonesia. Our dedication to continuously giving you the highest level of service has brought us to win the World's Best Cabin Crew now four years in a row. Thank you for trusting your journey with Garuda Indonesia."Being awarded World's Best Cabin Staff 2017 is certainly an honour for all Garuda's dedicated employees -- and in particular for our cabin crews, who have committed themselves wholeheartedly to the advancement of Garuda Indonesia and have together embraced the challenge to achieve a "Service of Excellence" level. I believe that this award will serve as further inspiration for Garuda and its employees, to remain committed and to improve even further, while it is also firm recognition of our sustained development in recent years, not only in terms of services, but throughout all aspects of our company," added Pahala.Recognition of the 'World's Best Cabin Crew 2017' is based on an assessment by the"Customer Satisfaction Survey" conducted globally by Skytrax, involving more than 18 million passengers. The survey was conducted on more than 245 international airlines, and held annually by measuring 41 major aspects related to products and services provided by airlines.Skytrax CEO Edward Plaisted said, "The 'World's Best Cabin Crew' award is one of the most prestigious honors in the world of aviation. To have secured this award for four consecutive years is remarkable and unprecedented, and the staff and management of Garuda should be enormously proud of this achievement. The Garuda Indonesia cabin crew deliver hospitality and efficiency at the highest level."Indonesian Ambassador to France Hotmangaradja Pandjaitan expressed his appreciation for Garuda Indonesia's success in continuing with the title for a fourth time. "Maintaining best predicate is not an easy thing. We believe that everyone in Garuda Indonesia has worked hard especially in providing the best service to all passenger. This achievement will certainly bring out the name of Indonesia in the eyes of the world," explains Hotmangaradja.In addition to winning World's Best Cabin Crew 2017, Garuda Indonesia re-entered the ranks of the 'Top 10 Global Airlines', ranking 10th among the world's best, including Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, ANA All Nippon Airways, Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Eva Air, Lufthansa, Ethiad Airways and Hainan Airlines."In line with the company's strategy through it's "5 Quick Wins Priority" program, Garuda Indonesia will continuously focus on service enhancement programs. Through our distinctive service concept, the "Garuda Indonesia Experience", which highlights Indonesia's warm hospitality and rich diverse culture, and combined with platform enhancement in digital services, we are optimistic that Garuda Indonesia will be even more developed in the future," said Pahala.As Garuda Indonesia carries out its business development program along with continuous service enhancements, the airline's performance is increasingly being recognized at an international level. In February 2016, Garuda Indonesia was recognized as a 'Five Star Airline' by Skytrax for the second consecutive year. Perviously, Garuda Indonesia was awarded the 'World's Best Regional Airline' at the Farnborough International Airshow 2012, with the 'World's Best Economy Class' by Skytrax during the Paris Aishow 2013. Garuda Indonesia is now also included in the 'World's Top 10 Airlines' by Skytrax.Since 2014, Garuda Indonesia has officially become part of SkyTeam's global alliance, a global airline alliance with 20 member airlines offering a global network of more than 17,343 flights per day to 1,062 destinations in 177 countries.About Garuda Indonesia GroupThe Garuda Indonesia Group (IDX:GIAA) operates 194 aircraft: consisting of 10 Boeing 777-300ER, 25 Airbus A330-200/300, 2 Boeing 747-400, 76 Boeing 737-800NG, 18 Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen, and 15 ATR72-600, or 146 aircraft operated by Garuda Indonesia, and 40 Airbus A320 and 8 Boeing 737-300/500 operated by Citilink, with an average aircraft age of 4.6 years.Management is implementing an 'Excellent Services' program that requires sustainable service development. It has shown world-class results with 'World's Best Cabin Staff' awarded Garuda's cabin crew by Skytrax for the fourth consecutive year in 2017.In addition to the World's Best Cabin Staff award, Garuda Indonesia has maintained its reputation as a five-star airline, including being named as Top 5 World's Best Airlines in Asia, Top 10 World's Best First Class Airlines, Top 10 World's Best Economy Class Airlines, and The Most Loved Airline.Garuda Indonesia also won the Outstanding Food Service by a Carrier award from Pax International Magazine, the Top 10 World's Most Favourite Airlines from TripAdvisor, Best Cabin Services by Smart Travel Asia, and Best First Class Sparkling Wine-Champagne from Business Traveller. For more information, please visit www.garuda-indonesia.com.Source: Garuda Indonesia GroupContact:Copyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Technology, Finance and Retail Chief Executives Dominate UK Top 50





LONDON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- /b>Glassdoor, one of the world's largest job sites, has announced the winners of its annual Employees' Choice Awards, honouring the Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 across UK, France, Germany and North America. Unlike any other workplace awards, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback, by completing a company review, about their CEOs leadership, along with insight into their job, work environment and employer over the past year.

This year, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards feature six distinct categories, honouring the Highest Rated CEOs across the UK, U.S. (large companies and SMEs), Canada, France and Germany. In the UK, Glassdoor has expanded its awards to recognise the 50 Highest Rated CEOs (recognising CEOs at employers with 1,000 or more employees). Winners are ranked based on their overall CEO approval rating from employees during the past year.

The top ten Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 in the UK are:

1. Anglian Water's Peter Simpson (98 percent approval)

2. Salesforce's Marc Benioff (97 percent approval)

3. HomeServe UK's Martin Bennett (96 percent approval)

4. Google's Sundar Pichai (96 percent approval)

5. Nationwide Building Society's Joe Garner (96 percent approval)

6. Rolls-Royce's Warren East (95 percent approval)

7. PageGroup's Steve Ingham (95 percent approval)

8. Microsoft's Satya Nadella (95 percent approval)

9. Expedia's Dara Khosrowshahi (95 percent approval)

10. Royal London's Phil Loney (95 percent approval)

"CEOs tell us the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award is one of the highest honours they can receive because it truly reflects employee opinion about the job they do every day. I congratulate all of the winners on this significant honour," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "We know that CEO approval ratings correlate to overall employee satisfaction and trust in senior leadership, which contributes to long-term employee engagement, ultimately helping an employer's recruiting and retention efforts."

Glassdoor's 50 Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 in the UK list features winning chief executives across diverse industries spanning technology, retail, consulting, utilities and more. As part of the expanded awards, Anglian Water's Peter Simpson (No.1, 98 percent approval) is among 29 CEOs making their first appearance as a Highest Rated CEO, coming in ahead of well-known tech business CEOs. He's joined by Nationwide's Joe Garner (No.5, 96 percent approval), and Rolls-Royce's Warren East (No.6, 95 percent approval). Only four women CEOs make the top 50 this year: Bromford's Philippa Jones (No.11, 94 percent approval), easyJet's Carolyn McCall (No. 30, 89 percent approval) Grant Thornton's Sacha Romanovitch (No.35, 88 percent approval) and Enterprise's Pam Nicholls (No. 49, 85 percent).

Last year's winner, Craig Donaldson, has dropped 32 positions to No.33 with a 89 percent approval rating, however still features above CEOs from the likes of IKEA, Nando's and EY.

SEE THE 2017 WINNERS: All winning CEOs across this year's six categories can be found by visiting:

50 Highest Rated CEOs - UK

100 Highest Rated CEOs - U.S.

25 Highest Rated CEOs at Small and Medium Companies - U.S.

25 Highest Rated CEOs - Canada

10 Highest Rated CEOs - France

10 Highest Rated CEOs - Germany

WHAT MAKES A GREAT CEO?: According to a study from Glassdoor Economic Research, highly rated CEOs are statistically linked to companies with great cultures. Among measures of company culture, the biggest driver of high CEO approval ratings is employee satisfaction with senior leadership. The study also reveals a strong link between CEO approval rating and financial performance.

CEO INTERVIEWS + EMPLOYEE REVIEWS: For interviews with winning CEOs at companies such as Anglian Water, HomeServe UK, Nationwide Building Society, please email pr@glassdoor.com. Employee reviews about winning CEOs, their senior management team and company culture are also available upon request.

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is one of the largest and fastest growing job sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for approximately 700,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labour market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms.

"Glassdoor" and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/525846/glassdoor_logo_us_and_canada_Logo.jpg
ARM Holdings plc today announced that CEO Simon Segars' appointment to the SoftBank Group Corp. (SBG) Board of Directors was formally approved at SBG's 37th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held today in Tokyo.

SBG earlier announced new board candidates to strengthen corporate governance and accelerate growth. Mr. Segars' appointment comes following SoftBank's historic 2016 acquisition of ARM for US$32 billion.

"I'm honored to join the SoftBank Board at this exciting next stage of innovation," said Segars. "In the same way it transformed mobile computing from chip to cloud and all points in between, ARM shapes the smart, connected world of IOT across a common platform. This is at the heart of the SoftBank vision and I look forward to working with the team to make it a reality."

More information on SBG's 37th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders can be found here.

About Simon Segars

Simon Segars, CEO, has been at the heart of transformational change in the technology industry for 25 years. He led the development of early ARM processors for the world's first digital mobile phones and now spearheads ARM's vision for smart and connected technologies that create better social, economic, education and health prospects for all. Before being appointed CEO in July 2013, Simon held several leadership positions within ARM's engineering and business development teams. He is based in California's Silicon Valley, and spends much of his time meeting leading influencers in the world's technology hubs in the US, Europe and China.

In addition to joining the Board of SoftBank Group, Simon serves on the Boards of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), the Electric System Design Alliance (ESD Alliance), and as a non-executive director at Dolby Laboratories, Inc.

About ARM

ARM technology is at the heart of the computing and connectivity revolution that is transforming the way people live and businesses operate. Our advanced, energy-efficient processor designs are enabling the intelligence in 100 billion silicon chips and securely powering products from the sensor to the smartphone to the supercomputer. With more than 1,000 technology partners including the world's largest business and consumer brands, we are driving ARM innovation into all areas compute is happening inside the chip, the network and the cloud.

About SoftBank Group

The SoftBank Group is a global technology player that aspires to drive the Information Revolution. The SoftBank Group is comprised of the holding company SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO: 9984) and its global portfolio of companies, which includes advanced telecommunications, Internet services, AI, smart robotics, IoT and clean energy technology providers. In September 2016, ARM Holdings plc, the world's leading semiconductor IP company, joined the SoftBank Group. To learn more, please visit www.softbank.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006628/en/

Contacts:

for ARM Holdings

Eliza Walsh

arm@allisonpr.com
Capita Asset Services has selected Yardi Voyager 7S, a cloud-based real estate property management and fund accounting solution, for its Real Estate Fund Administration business.

The solution will offer Capita Asset Services' clients a scalable, integrated and end-to-end property management, accounting, and fund administration solution, and is designed to accommodate the evolving needs of Capita Asset Services' high profile and sophisticated client base.

The partnership will mean Capita Asset Services can now offer a huge array of additional options including more detailed investor reporting capabilities, real-time KPI and property asset analysis, alongside transparent data management on a modern technology platform.

Gordon Shaw, managing director, fund solutions at Capita Asset Services, said: "Yardi's Voyager 7S is a class-leading real estate fund administration and property management system, that will accommodate our expanding list of clients, provide enhanced reporting and add workforce mobility to help drive operational efficiencies.

"Voyager's breadth of functionality, from property management, right through the fund accounting processes to investor and client reporting in a single system, will allow us to significantly enhance the services that are available to our existing and target client base. It will also play an integral part in the success of our future growth plans."

Neal Gemassmer, vice president, international for Yardi, said: "We are very pleased to welcome Capita Asset Services on board as one of our latest clients in an increasingly demanding sector. This partnership will help Capita meet increasingly stringent reporting requirements, while driving business efficiencies, delivering such a positive impact in the market they serve."

With more than 40 years' experience and a full range of services to real estate funds, Capita Asset Services' reputable customer base continues to expand, covering more than 50 per cent of the UK's REIT market.

Notes to Editors

Capita Asset Services is a leading European asset servicing platform. We administer and safeguard more than 600bn of assets across 10 highly-regulated European jurisdictions, and work with a broad range of market segments, industries and asset classes. We provide services to more than 7,000 clients, including asset managers and investors, business managers, asset owners, issuers and borrowers.

We are one of the UK's leading funds service providers, with over 85 billion of assets under administration and 40 years of experience, in partnership with some of the most prestigious names in the industry., We provide investment managers with a comprehensive set of onshore and offshore independent management company and fund administration solutions across a wide range of fund structures and asset classes. For information, visit: capitaassetservices.com.

Capita is a leading UK provider of technology enabled customer and business process services and integrated professional support services. With 73,000 people at over 450 sites, including 98 business centres across the UK, Europe, India and South Africa, Capita uses its expertise, infrastructure and scale benefits to transform its clients' services, driving down costs and adding value. Capita is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (CPI.L), with 2016 underlying revenue of 4.9 billion. Further information on Capita can be found at: capita.com.

About Yardi

Yardi develops and supports industry-leading investment and property management software for all types and sizes of real estate companies. Established in 1984, Yardi is based in Santa Barbara, Calif., and serves clients worldwide from offices in Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. For more information, visit: yardi.com/uk.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006283/en/

Contacts:

Yardi Systems Limited

Martin Gedny, +44 (0) 1908 308400

Senior Manager, EMEA Marketing

martin.gedny@yardi.com

or

Capita Press Office

Kirsty Sewter, 0207 654 2386

Kirsty.sewter@capita.co.uk
MetalNRG plc

("MetalNRG" or the "Company")

21 June 2017

Change of Corporate Adviser

MetalNRG (NEX:MNRG), the natural resource investing company quoted on NEX Exchange in London, is pleased to announce that Peterhouse Corporate Finance Limited has been appointed as the Company's NEX Exchange Corporate Adviser with immediate effect.

Paul Johnson Chief Executive Officer of MetalNRG said "I am pleased to announce the appointment of Peterhouse as the Company is about to embark on an aggressive growth phase following an extensive amount of background work to investigate and develop new opportunities. I look forward to working with the Peterhouse team during what is expected to be an exciting phase for the Company."

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

Contact details:

MetalNRG plc

Paul Johnson (Chief Executive Officer) +44 (0) 7766 465617

NEX Exchange Corporate Adviser

PETERHOUSE CORPORATE FINANCE LIMITED +44 (0) 20 7469 0930

Guy Miller

Mark Anwyl

Corporate Broker

SI CAPITAL +44 (0) 1483 413500

Nick Emerson

Andy Thacker

Notes for Editors:

MetalNRG is quoted on the NEX Exchange Growth Market in London with the stock code MNRG and is a natural resource investing company.

NEX Exchange:

Investors wishing to consider trading in NEX Exchange quoted shares can access this market from numerous brokers, a full list of which can be accessed through the following link:

http://www.nexexchange.com/for-investors/find-a-broker/

The list accessed through the link above includes certain brokers offering online trading of NEX Exchange quoted shares.

The Investing Policy of the Company is as follows:

The Company's proposed new Investing Policy is to invest in and/or acquire companies and/or projects within the natural resources and/or energy sector with potential for growth and value creation, over the medium to long term. The Company will also consider opportunities in other related sectors if the Board considers there is an opportunity to generate an attractive return for Shareholders. This will include natural resource technologies and fintech opportunities offering leverage to resource identification, processing, recording, storage and trading businesses.

Where appropriate, the Board may seek to invest in businesses where it may influence the business at a board level, add their expertise to the management of the business, and utilise their significant industry relationships.

The Company's interests in a proposed investment and/or acquisition may range from a minority position to full ownership and may comprise one investment or multiple investments. The proposed investments may be in either quoted or unquoted companies; be made by direct acquisitions or farm-ins; and may be in companies, partnerships, earn-in joint ventures, debt or other loan structures, joint ventures or direct or indirect interests in assets or projects.

The Board may focus on investments where intrinsic value can be achieved from the restructuring of investments or merger of complementary businesses. The Board expects that investments will typically be held for the medium to long term, although short term disposal of assets cannot be ruled out if there is an opportunity to generate an attractive return for Shareholders. The Board will place no minimum or maximum limit on the length of time that any investment may be held. The Company may be both an active and a passive investor depending on the nature of the individual opportunity.

Where the Company builds a portfolio of related assets it is possible that there may be cross-holdings between such assets. The Company does not currently intend to fund any investments with debt or other borrowings, but may do so if appropriate. Investments in early stage assets are expected to be mainly in the form of equity, with debt potentially being raised later to fund the development of such assets. Investments in later stage assets are more likely to include an element of debt to equity gearing. The Board may also offer new Ordinary Shares by way of consideration as well as cash, thereby helping to preserve the Company's cash for working capital and as a reserve against unforeseen contingencies including, for example, delays in collecting accounts receivable, unexpected changes in the economic environment and operational problems.

The Board will conduct initial due diligence appraisals of potential business or projects and, where they believe further investigation is warranted, intend to appoint appropriately qualified persons to assist. The Proposed Board believes its expertise will enable it to determine quickly which opportunities could be viable and so progress quickly to formal due diligence. The Company will not have a separate investment manager. The Company proposes to carry out a comprehensive and thorough project review process in which all material aspects of a potential project or business will be subject to rigorous due diligence, as appropriate.
DEAR ABBY: I've been in an extramarital relationship for 10 years. My husband knows, and so do my close friends.

I love this man dearly, but neither of us want it to be full-time. I have children at home and don't want to disrupt anything. We meet once or twice a week. He touches base with me several times a day, and is attentive where my husband never was.

My husband isn't bitter about the relationship anymore. However, my two closest friends continually say, "Well, why lie to yourself? You know you just say you don't want things full-time so you don't drive him away," which isn't true. We have a great thing -- we travel, we have long discussions, and I can open up to him without any repercussions, bouncing ideas and thoughts off of each other without judgment or criticism.

But I really DON'T want this to be full-time. I enjoy it like I enjoy a good book and a glass of wine -- not every day, but an indulgence and a pleasure. It also feels good to hear "I'm thinking of you" first thing every morning and the last thing every night. I am flattered.

It feels horrible that my two best friends can't understand that I give of myself to my community and my family and need something that is just for me. I have reached the point where I don't want to have these discussions with my friends anymore, so I avoid them. How can I get across to them that I'm fine and happy and content? -- JUST FOR ME

DEAR JUST: You say you are happy and content, and your husband is OK with the arrangement. Don't you think it's time you stopped trying to "sell" the concept of open marriage to your women friends? By now it should be clear that they do not understand. They probably never will. Most people don't. Let it lie!

DEAR ABBY: I am a first-time mom of a toddler. I suffer from (and am being treated for) anxiety issues.

Abby, I am having trouble finding the balance on gun safety and awareness in other people's homes -- especially if my daughter will be visiting. I grew up in a household where my father hunted and had guns in the house. However, he stored them safely in a locked cabinet and was the only one with access to the key. He also stored ammunition separately.

Where do I draw the line? Do I ask everyone whose house I'll be going to whether or not they have guns? What are the appropriate questions? Do I ask where they are stored and who has access? What else should I ask? Or should I mind my own business? I know the questions won't be appreciated by everyone because it will seem like I am questioning their judgment. -- FIRST-TIME MOM IN NEW JERSEY

DEAR FIRST-TIME MOM: If you start asking other parents whether they have guns in their homes and how they store them, your questions may be off-putting. Because you are concerned for your child's safety, why not offer to have the kids visit your house for playdates? I'm sure many of the parents will be glad to have some free time, and it shouldn't offend anyone.

DEAR ABBY: What do you make of a host who issues a BYOB invitation to his party and then proceeds to drink the guests' liquor? -- APPALLED IN FLORIDA

DEAR APPALLED: I'd say he was thirsty.

DEAR ABBY: Recently, I attended my daughter's high school graduation. It was an outdoor event, and to my chagrin, the whole crowd to our left was talking over the speakers, which made it impossible to hear. My children, who also could not hear, were mortified when I shushed the group very loudly. It made no difference, but the argument now is that I acted inappropriately.

I believe I was right, and I wish I had even stood up and asked loudly for them to please be quiet. What do you think? -- QUIET, PLEASE, IN NEW HAVEN

DEAR QUIET, PLEASE: I don't think you did anything wrong. The individuals who were talking were rude not only to the speakers, but also to the audience members who wanted to hear what the speakers were saying without being distracted. Good for you for trying to get them to pipe down. I'm sorry they were so self-entitled that it didn't work.

DEAR ABBY: You missed the mark in your answer to "Mother Doesn't Know Best" (July 7), whose 8-year-old stepson arrives for visits in old, ill-fitting clothing, even though the father purchases new clothes for him on every visit.

I live in Ohio, and the state considers housing, food, electricity, gas and running water as part of the makeup of child support. I know this firsthand. You also need to know if the mother is working and if she contributes to her son's support. What about other expenses (toys, haircuts, uniforms, etc.)?

Part of the problem may be that Stepmom and Dad live across the country and aren't there to see what exactly goes on day to day. Yes, the little boy shouldn't be showing up at their home in clothes that are too small, but even Stepmom said he was putting on weight. -- MITZI IN DAYTON, OHIO

DEAR MITZI: Your points are well taken. However, the majority of the feedback I received about that letter pointed out that children arriving in old clothes for visits with their dads is a popular ploy that some custodial mothers use in order to get new clothes, and some even return the clothes for cash. Read on:

DEAR ABBY: I had a divorced girlfriend I had confided in about this same problem. She said, "Don't you know? We always send the kids to their dad's in their worst clothing. That way, they'll have to buy them new stuff during the visit."

You can't assume that because a child arrives in worn or ill-fitting clothes that the custodial parent is unfit or that the child doesn't have lots of better clothing at home. -- MRS. D. IN VIRGINIA

DEAR ABBY: Please suggest that when Stepmom and Dad buy clothes for his son, they mark the labels with the boy's initials. The mom may be returning the items for cash and buying something she wanted for herself. -- MOM WHO KNOWS

DEAR ABBY: I am writing this as I sit in a hospital at my daughter's bedside. When staff comes into her room, she asks them to wash their hands in front of her before putting on their gloves. Several doctors took offense at this. We even posted a note on the door, asking the staff to wash up inside the room. Were we wrong? She doesn't want to increase her risk of infection. I would think that a patient worried about proper hygiene would not be sneered at by the people trying to get her healthy. -- TRYING TO STAY HEALTHY

DEAR TRYING TO STAY HEALTHY: Bravo to you for speaking up! According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hospital-acquired infections have cost the hospital industry $30 billion and resulted in 100,000 patient deaths. A 2013 New York Times article reported that unless pushed to do so, hospital workers wash their hands only as little as 30 percent of the time they interact with patients. The problem is so widespread that some hospitals must monitor workers via video cameras or have them wear electronic badges to "encourage" compliance, while others have resorted to "bribing" workers to do the right thing.

You were not wrong to ask staffers at your daughter's hospital to wash their hands. Nobody should feel reluctant to ask for something that is standard procedure.

Because many patients in hospitals and care facilities feel vulnerable and dependent, they fear that staff will "dislike" them if they ask for too much. For patients to request handwashing is not only in their best interest, but also the hospital's. Too often, change doesn't happen in the medical profession until patients speak up and advocate for their own well-being. You would not have been "sneered at" if your request hadn't made those individuals feel defensive.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069
LONDON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The UK is set to become the first country in the world to create a free-to-access online photographic showcase of its publicly owned sculpture.

Today (21 June 2017) Art UK announced the start of a major new project - supported by a 2.8 million National Lottery grant - to catalogue the national sculpture collection. In this highly ambitious initiative, around 170,000 sculptures - located inside galleries, museums and public buildings and outdoors in parks, streets and squares - will be displayed on the artuk.org website for enjoyment, learning and research.

This is Art UK's second major digitisation programme, and follows another world-first - its internationally acclaimed oil paintings project which has made over 200,000 publicly owned oil paintings from some 3,000 British collections freely available online.

The national sculpture collection is drawn from almost every country and era, offering insights into cultures as diverse as twelfth-century Nigeria, Victorian Britain, Tokugawa-period Japan, Renaissance Italy and 1960s New York - a truly global collection and arguably the greatest in existence. However, a significant proportion is not on display, and very little of it has been photographed. Furthermore, many public monuments have not been thoroughly catalogued and are at risk of decay or of being lost to public record.

Art UK's three-year project is focusing on sculpture dating from the last thousand years, held in public collections and locations across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. All objects - irrespective of condition or perceived quality - will be recorded and most will be photographed, some in 3D.

The first photographic records will appear on the Art UK website in early 2018. Once online, Art UK's Art Detective network of crowd-sourced expertise will help collections fill in missing information about the sculptures.

A significant proportion of the project's cost will be spent on exciting training, learning and engagement programmes. Art UK's Masterpieces in Schools will follow up the successful initiative to take oil paintings into schools with 125 great, publicly-owned sculptures being transported to primary and secondary schools around the country for a day of hands-on art history. Contemporary sculptors and curators will help Art UK take selected pieces into shopping centres and public libraries, while young people will create films about sculptures. There will also be specially designed events and activities for blind and partially-sighted people.

A UK-wide training and volunteering programme, benefitting nearly 2,000 people across the UK, will offer many opportunities to gain photography and digitisation skills as well as other museum-centred skills.

The total cash cost of the project is expected to be 3.8m (including in-kind partner contributions it amounts to 5.2m). The Heritage Lottery Fund has generously agreed to provide 2.8m of the funding, and Art UK has successfully raised the remaining 1m from a variety of donors. These include Arts Council England, the Scottish Government, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, several other grant-giving trusts and over 70 individual and corporate donors (see artuk.org for a full list).

Seven partners will work alongside Art UK to deliver the project: the BBC, Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, Culture Street, Factum Foundation, Royal British Society of Sculptors, Royal Photographic Society and VocalEyes.

As part of the project Art UK will be opening an office in Glasgow, with the aim of bringing the organisation and its work closer to Scottish collections and audiences.

Sculpture has often been seen as the poor relation of 'flat' art, with the American artist Ad Reinhardt famously teasing that "Sculpture is something you bump into when you back up to look at the painting." Art UK's latest project aims to make online access to the UK's publicly-owned sculpture as easy and fulfilling as it is now for paintings, and thus deal conclusively with this long held received wisdom.

Andrew Ellis, Art UK Director, said 'This project has been four years in the planning. The result will be an astonishing digital showcase for the national collection of sculpture in all its rich and varied glory. All of us at Art UK are deeply grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund and all the other donors who have made this huge undertaking possible.'

Stuart Hobley, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund for London, said 'Wherever you are in the UK you can find public sculpture, quietly existing within our parks, museums and squares. Sculpture can be extraordinary, emotive, even challenging and yet, many of us are unaware that this sort of world-class artwork is on our doorstep and free to access. Thanks to National Lottery players we're able to help Art UK raise awareness of our sculpture heritage by developing its interactive website with exciting activity to get people involved, inspired and exploring this fascinating collection.'

Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, said 'The Scottish Government is committed to increasing opportunities for everyone in Scotland to access and engage in cultural activity, so I'm pleased to support Art UK's project to make sculpture accessible to people across the UK through the internet. I also welcome Art UK's intention to open a Glasgow office and work more closely with Scottish collections.'

Cornelia Parker, Sculptor, remarked 'It's such wonderful news that Art UK has successfully raised the funds to put online the nation's sculpture collection. I can't wait to use the resource.'

Fellow sculptor Richard Deacon added 'I supported this project from the outset since it seemed a great way to make the incredible richness of sculpture in British collections better known. Since then, with the amazing advances in 3D scanning and digital representation, it seems more and more like an idea whose time has come.'

Professor David Ekserdjian, Art UK Trustee and Chairman of the Art UK Sculpture Steering Panel, stated 'Art UK's paintings project has already proved quite how many Sleeping Beauties were waiting to be kissed into life, and now it is the turn of sculpture, which is even more likely to have been overlooked or forgotten.'

J. H. J. Lewis OBE, Chairman, and Keir McGuinness, Vice Chairman, of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association commented 'We are delighted that this HLF Grant will enable the PMSA to work in partnership with Art UK, updating and completing our work of recording sculpture in the public realm throughout the United Kingdom. In addition, as part of Art UK Sculpture, it will be fully available on the internet, which has long also been our wish.'

Go to www.artuk.org to find out more and join the conversation on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using ArtUKsculpturevulture

Art UK

Established in 2002, Art UK (previously known as the Public Catalogue Foundation) is a dynamic arts charity with a national and global reach. We are working to transform access to the UK's publicly owned art collection, much of which is not on display. We do this through digitising artworks and creating exciting opportunities for public interaction with art both online and offline. Our work contributes to the promotion and sustainability of the UK cultural sector and facilitates collaboration between cultural organisations and the public at large. Successful partnership and collaboration are a hallmark of the organisation. Our website, www.artuk.org, is a digital showcase for the UK's public art collections and vital digital infrastructure for the UK's cultural sector.

Between 2003 and 2012 we digitised 212,000 oil paintings from 3,200 locations across the UK as part of our Oil Paintings digitisation project - a unique national achievement. Our Masterpieces in Schools and Art Detective initiatives provide online and offline opportunities for learning and participation and contribute to collection knowledge. Art Detective won both 'Museum Professional' and 'Best of the Web' awards at the 2015 Museums and the Web conference in Chicago. Masterpieces in Schools won the 2014 Collections Trust Participatory Practice Award, the judges commending it as 'greatly imaginative and highly innovative, with very significant impact'.

As a result of the oil painting digitisation project and these records being put online, a small number of significant re-attributions of paintings have been made including to Van Dyck, Gainsborough, Jordaens, Pieter Breughel the Younger, Claude Lorrain, Allan Ramsay and possibly Raphael. Art UK's Art Detective network has since its launch in 2014 had over 100 discoveries of new information about paintings (artuk.org/artdetective/discoveries ).

In February 2016, we launched the Art UK website - a free-to-access digital showcase for the UK's public art collections. This site replaced a predecessor site, Your Paintings, which had sat on bbc.co.uk. Art UK was not merely a replacement for Your Paintings; it was a fundamental redesign and expansion of its technological capabilities, commercial potential, contextual content, interactive features and ambition. The BBC remains our lead partner and brings Art UK to the attention of BBC audiences through links and curated content on bbc.co.uk. Since launch the Art UK website has received over 2.5 million unique users with over 50% coming from overseas. Art UK puts the UK at the forefront of cultural sector digital innovation and was highlighted as an example of digital innovation in the Government's March 2016 Culture White Paper.

Hundreds of Partner Collection events and exhibition listings, provided by Culture24, encourage cultural tourism and support local and regional collections across the UK. Guest contributors help us tell the stories behind artworks. Since September 2016, watercolours, drawings and artworks in other media, already digitised, have started to be progressively added to Art UK by those 650 collections that have become paying Art UK Partners. The Art UK Shop is being piloted with a public launch planned for October.

Art UK won Digital Innovation of the Year at the 2016 Apollo Awards, with Apollo noting that the site 'makes the nation's art available in a way that has no international rival in terms of its ambition, generosity of spirit, or coherence'. Art UK also won the Arts/Culture category and was runner up for the Website of the Year award at the Good Web Guide Awards, 2016. Go to www.artuk.org to find out more.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @artukdotorg

The Heritage Lottery Fund

Thanks to National Lottery players, we invest money to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about - from the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife. www.hlf.org.uk.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use NationalLottery.

For More Information, Interviews & Images

Please contact Brera PR - +44(0)-1702-216658 (Office)

Tracy - tracy@brera-london.com / +44(0)-7887-514984

Adam - adam@brera-london.com / +44(0)7818-061503


This press release may not be distributed directly or indirectly in the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan.

Regulatory News:

Europcar Groupe (Paris:EUCAR) announces today the successful completion of its capital increase through a private placement of shares with qualified and institutional investors in France and internationally that was launched yesterday, in an accelerated book-building.

Europcar Groupe placed 14,612,460 new ordinary shares1 at a price per share of 12.00, including share premium, for a total of 175,349,520, representing approximately 10% of Europcar Groupe's ordinary shares pre-capital raise.

The new ordinary shares will be fully fungible with the existing ordinary shares of Europcar Groupe. They will be admitted to listing on the regulated market of Euronext Paris in the same department as existing Europcar Groupe ordinary shares under the ISIN code FR0012789949. Settlement for the new ordinary shares and their admission to listing on Euronext Paris are expected to take place on June 23, 2017.

Eurazeo subscribed for 2,500,000 new ordinary shares in connection with the capital increase, and will hold 39.22% of the share capital of Europcar Groupe upon completion of the offering. In addition, Eurazeo has agreed with the Global Coordinators for the transaction to a lock-up of 90 days, subject to customary exceptions. Europcar Groupe agreed with the Global Coordinators for the transaction to a lock-up of 120 days, subject to customary exceptions.

The principle of the offering was authorized by Europcar Groupe's supervisory board on May 22, 2017. The transaction was decided by the Chairwoman of the Management Board pursuant to a delegation of authority from the Management Board, which was given during its meeting on June 20, 2017 pursuant to the delegation of authority granted to it by the 22nd and 23rd resolutions of the General Shareholders' Meeting of May 10, 2017. The subscription price of 12.00 per new ordinary share represents a discount of 3.23% compared to the closing price of the shares on Euronext Paris on June 20, 2017.

For informational purposes only, a shareholder who held 1% of the share capital of Europcar Groupe before the issuance of new ordinary shares would hold 0.91% of Europcar Groupe's share capital following the issuance.

Goldman Sachs International and Societe Generale Corporate Investment Banking were Global Coordinators, Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners for the capital increase. Rothschild is acting as financial adviser to Europcar Groupe.

About Europcar Groupe

Europcar Groupe is listed on Euronext Paris. Europcar is the European leader in vehicle rental service and is also a major player in mobility markets. Active in more than 130 countries and territories, including nine subsidiaries in Europe and two in Australia and New Zealand, Europcar serves customers through an extensive vehicle rental network comprised of its wholly-owned subsidiaries as well as sites operated by franchisees and partners. The group operates mainly under the Europcar, InterRent and Ubeeqo brands. Customer satisfaction is at the heart of the group's mission and all of its employees, this commitment fuels the continuous development of new services. The Europcar Lab, based in Paris, was created to better grasp tomorrow's mobility challenges through innovation and strategic investments, such as Ubeeqo, E-Car Club or Brunel.

1 Representing less than 10% of Europcar Groupe's share capital as of the date of this press release, excluding outstanding preferred shares, or 146,124,626 outstanding ordinary shares.

Further details on our website: europcar-group.com

DISCLAIMER

This press release does not constitute a public offer to sell or purchase, or a public solicitation of an offer to sell or purchase, securities in any country or jurisdiction.

This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation to sell or purchase, or a solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any securities in France. Securities mentioned in this press release may not be and will not be offered to the public in France, and may only be offered to qualified investors, as defined in, and in accordance with articles L. 411-2 and D. 411-1 to D. 411-3 of the French Monetary and Financial Code.

The distribution of this press release is directed only at (i) persons outside the United Kingdom, subject to applicable laws, (ii) persons having professional experience in matters relating to investments who fall within the definition of "investment professionals" in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 as amended (the "Order") or (iii) high net worth bodies corporate, unincorporated associations and partnerships and trustees of high value trusts as described in Article 49(2) (a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). The private placement mentioned herein is only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire shares will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on, this press release or any information contained herein.

This press release has been prepared on the understanding that the offer of securities referred to herein in any Member State of the European Union or the members of the European Economic Area Agreement who have transposed the Prospectus Directive (each, a "Concerned Member State") will not require the publication of a prospectus in any Concerned Member State, and no action has been nor will be undertaken to allow the public offering of securities requiring the publication of a prospectus in any Concerned Member State. As a result, any person offering or intending to offer, in any Concerned Member State, the securities that are the subject of the private placement described herein may not do so except in a manner that will not create any obligation on the part of Europcar Groupe or the Global Coordinators, Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners mentioned herein to publish a prospectus with respect to such offer under Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive, as modified by Prospectus Directive Amendment 2010/73/UE. Neither Europcar Groupe nor any of the Global Coordinators, Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners has authorized, nor will authorize, any offer of the securities mentioned referred to herein in circumstances that would result in the obligation on the part of Europcar Groupe or any of the Global Coordinators, Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners to publish a prospectus in connection with such offer.

This press release does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of Directive 2003/71/EC as amended.

This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation to sell or purchase, or a solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any securities of Europcar Groupe in the United States of America. Securities may not be offered, subscribed or sold in the United States of America absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements thereof. The securities of Europcar Groupe have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act and Europcar Groupe does not intend to make a public offer of its securities in the United States of America.

The diffusion of this press release in certain countries may be prohibited under applicable law. This press release may not be published, transmitted or distributed, directly or indirectly, and does not constitute an offer of securities, in the United States (including in the territories and dependencies and in any State of the United States), in Canada, in Australia, or in Japan.

Goldman Sachs International and Societe Generale Corporate Investment Banking are acting solely on behalf of Europcar Groupe, exclusively in connection with the private placement described herein, and will not be responsible to any other person for providing the protections afforded to any of their clients or for providing advice in relation to any offering of the securities of Europcar Groupe.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006639/en/

Contacts:

Europcar Press relations

Nathalie Poujol, +33 1 30 44 98 82

europcarpressoffice@europcar.com

or

Elan Edelman, +33 1 86 21 51 56 or +33 1 86 21 50 38

europcar@elanedelman.com

or

Europcar / Investor relations

Olivier Gernandt, +33 1 30 44 91 44

olivier.gernandt@europcar.com
Europe's leading real estate group for offices, with 15.3 billion euros of assets.

This operation will be accretive of 10% on recurrent net income per share on a full year basis.

This fully financed acquisition will make it possible to increase the free float to around 55%.

Regulatory News:

Gecina (Paris:GFC) announces, following the unanimous approval of its Board of Directors, its proposed acquisition of all the securities of Eurosic. This friendly operation between Gecina and Eurosic is supported by Eurosic's six main shareholders, representing 94.8% of its capital1, under firm agreements signed to sell blocks of securities and undertakings to tender securities for the mandatory public offer that will be submitted once the blocks have been acquired. This acquisition is in line with the Group's total return strategy. Eurosic's integration will be facilitated by Gecina's new organization, which will be implemented starting from July.

Acceleration of Gecina's strategy

The proposed acquisition of Eurosic represents a major acceleration of Gecina's development, further strengthening its positioning as a specialist for prime offices in Paris, continental Europe's leading real estate market. It is also perfectly aligned with the company's value creation strategy.

Eurosic represents a portfolio valued at 6.2 billion euros2, predominantly with prime office assets, located mainly in Paris and the Western Crescent. The new combined structure will have a total portfolio of 19.3 billion euros, making it Europe's fourth largest real estate group. With 15.3 billion euros of office properties, Gecina is further strengthening its leading position as Europe's number one office real estate group

Gecina's offer values Eurosic's office portfolio in Paris at around 9,900 euros/sq.m and Eurosic's office portfolio in Paris and the Paris Region at around 6,600 euros/sq.m. This acquisition reflects an average implied yield that has been estimated at around 5.1% for the office portfolio.

The combined committed development pipeline will represent 2.5 billion euros, with 44% to be prelet3, offering additional potential for the Group to create value and grow its cash flow over the coming years.

Fully secured and financed operation

The operation is based on Gecina acquiring blocks of shares and OSRA bonds from Eurosic's main shareholders, representing approximately 94.8%4 of Eurosic's capital on a diluted basis. This acquisition is covered by the firm agreements to acquire shares signed today with Eurosic's leading shareholders (Batipart, Covea, ACM, Predica, Debiopharm and Latricogne). After the securities have been effectively acquired in line with these agreements, Gecina will submit a mandatory public offer to the French financial markets authority (Autorite des marches financiers, AMF) with an alternative cash branch and an alternative branch based on Gecina shares. Eurosic's main shareholders have made commitments, through the agreements signed today, to tender their remaining securities for the public offer's branch based on Gecina shares.

The cash price for acquiring securities from Eurosic's major shareholders is 51.0 euros per Eurosic share (cum-coupon) and per Eurosic OSRA bond (excluding the 2015 OSRA bond coupon payable on June 29, 2017, but including the 2016 OSRA bond coupon with payment prorated through to the date when the blocks are effectively acquired). The mandatory public offer that will be submitted following the acquisition of the blocks will be based on an alternative cash branch with a price of 51.0 euros per share and per 2015 and 2016 OSRA bond (cum-coupon, with the coupons for interest on the 2015 and 2016 OSRA bonds to be paid to holders respectively on June 29, 2017 and September 26, 2017) and an alternative branch based on Gecina securities, with an exchange ratio of 7 Gecina shares for 20 Eurosic shares or OSRA bonds5

The agreement includes the concomitant sale of Eurosic's diversification portfolio (Eurosic Lagune, Nature Village et Hebergement, and the portfolio in Spain) to Batipart, consisting primarily of leisure, healthcare and hotel assets, which will make it possible to immediately remove assets that are not strategic for Gecina for 463 million euros6. This sale will be carried out based on the same implied premium on the portfolio value as that offered by Gecina and will take into account the transfer duties to be covered by Batipart7

This operation's financing is secured with a 2.5 billion euro bridge facility, which will be refinanced through bond issues for 1.5 billion euros benefiting from the particularly favorable current market conditions and a 1.0 billion euro capital increase8 with preferential subscription rights. Ivanhoe Cambridge has already indicated that it will take part in the capital increase on a "cash-neutral basis", while Credit Agricole Assurances will also participate based on its share. The balance on the capital increase is covered by a bank guarantee commitment. Gecina will also draw 500 million euros of available credit lines9. This operation will therefore make it possible to increase Gecina's float by almost 10%10

Furthermore, under the terms agreed on with its financial services provider, Gecina is closing its share buyback program, which has enabled the Group to buy back 1.8 million shares since February 24, 2017 for a total of 224.5 million euros, with an average of 121.8 euros per share11

This operation will also enable Gecina to accelerate its real estate portfolio rotation strategy, with a minimum of 1.2 billion euros of sales12 expected to be completed within 12 months. As a result, the LTV ratio will be kept below 40%. A further 1 billion euros of sales could be considered depending on market conditions.

Eurosic's integration facilitated by Gecina's new organization

Gecina's new organization that has been rolled out since July and is centered around two business branches offices and residential - will make it possible to rapidly integrate Eurosic's operational teams.

Meka Brunel, Gecina's Chief Executive Officer and Director: "The proposed friendly business combination with Eurosic represents a major step forward with the implementation of Gecina's total return strategy. It will make it possible to consolidate its leadership, with a total portfolio of 19.3 billion euros, including 15.3 billion euros of offices located in Paris and the Paris Region, covering the most buoyant markets around the major Grand Paris hubs. This transaction, creating strong levels of value for Gecina's shareholders, will be immediately accretive with a 10% impact on recurrent net income per share on a full-year basis. It will further strengthen the company's profile for cash flow growth over the coming years and will also make it possible to increase our float, with support from our major shareholders".

Bernard Michel, Chairman: "This operation is in line with Gecina's strategy for development on the Paris real estate market and reflects our shareholders' commitment to generating fresh momentum for the Group".

Acquisition conditions in line with the reappraised Eurosic and Gecina portfolio values

The cash price for acquiring securities from Eurosic's major shareholders is 51.0 euros per Eurosic share (cum-coupon) and per Eurosic OSRA bond (excluding the 2015 OSRA bond coupon payable on June 29, 2017, but including the 2016 OSRA bond coupon with payment prorated through to the date when the blocks are effectively acquired). The mandatory public offer that will be submitted following the acquisition of the blocks will be based on an alternative cash branch with a price of 51.0 euros per share and per 2015 and 2016 OSRA bond13, and an alternative branch based on Gecina securities, with an exchange ratio of 7 Gecina shares for 20 Eurosic shares or OSRA bonds.

The price offered represents a 2.5% premium on the valuation excluding duties and a 1.5% discount on the valuation including duties for Eurosic's portfolio, based on expectations from end-June 2017, with an increase of around 325 million euros according to the preliminary reports prepared by Eurosic's valuers, and a 5.6% premium compared with the adjusted NAV14.

The exchange ratio proposed in connection with the exchange offer takes into consideration the increase in Gecina's portfolio value by around +1.1 billion euros15, as expected at end-June 2017 based on the preliminary reports from Gecina's valuers, with a 6.9% premium versus the adjusted NAV ratio16

Creating value for Gecina's shareholders

This operation will further strengthen the Group's positioning for urban office real estate, particularly in Paris, and will be perfectly aligned with the Group's investment criteria. Following this operation and the planned sales, offices are expected to represent more than 80% of the portfolio, while offices in Paris will represent over 60%. Gecina's shareholders will benefit from the operation's strong value creation potential, in terms of real estate aspects, as well as operational and financial aspects, with an immediate accretive impact expected representing 10% of recurrent net income per share on a full-year basis17. The operation will be neutral in terms of NAV based on the asset-by-asset valuation carried out by Gecina.

The operation will also be accompanied by a 12 million euro reduction in Eurosic's fixed costs, transferred to Batipart in connection with the sale of the diversification business lines, as well as 5 to 10 million euros of additional potential synergies per year for the combined entity.

Eurosic's development pipeline, estimated at 1.0 billion euros, with 11 office projects in Paris, will also dovetail effectively with Gecina's pipeline, while offering the Group additional potential for creating value over the coming years. The combined pipeline for committed projects will be increased to around 2.5 billion euros with an expected yield of around 6%.

Agreement with Eurosic's six main shareholders for nearly 95% of the capital

This amicable operation is supported by Eurosic's six main shareholders (representing 94.8% of the capital18), under the firm agreements signed19 to sell blocks (representing 85.3% of the capital), making it possible to gain control of Eurosic in the short term, as well as the undertakings to tender their securities for the securities branch of the mandatory public offer (representing 9.5% of the capital). These agreements are subject to approval from the French competition authorities and confirmation by the independent expert (to be appointed by Eurosic's Board) that the terms of the sale of Eurosic's diversification assets to Batipart are fair, that there is no infringement concerning the equality of treatment for Eurosic's shareholders due to the sale of the diversification assets, and that the terms of the mandatory tender offer are fair. After gaining control of Eurosic, Gecina will submit, under the same conditions, an uncapped mandatory public offer in cash or Gecina securities.

Provisional timeline

June 20, 2017: signature of the agreements to acquire blocks, the undertakings to tender securities for the public offer and the undertakings to subscribe for the capital increase.

July 17, 2017: publication of Gecina's half-year earnings.

August 2017: acquisition of the blocks of shares and OSRA bonds once the conditions precedent have been cleared, including approval from the French competition authorities and the unqualified findings from the independent expert's report.

September 2017: filing of the mandatory public offer aiming at a squeeze-out of the minorities.

Gecina, living the city in a different way

Gecina owns, manages and develops property holdings worth 12.1 billion euros at end-2016, with nearly 97% located in the Paris Region. The Group is building its business around France's leading office portfolio and a diversification division with residential assets and student residences. Gecina has put sustainable innovation at the heart of its strategy to create value, anticipate its customers' expectations and invest while respecting the environment, thanks to the dedication and expertise of its staff.

Gecina is a French real estate investment trust (SIIC) listed on Euronext Paris, and is part of the SBF 120, Euronext 100, FTSE4Good, DJSI Europe and World, Stoxx Global ESG Leaders and Vigeo indices. In line with its community commitments, Gecina has created a company foundation, which is focused on protecting the environment and supporting all forms of disability.

www.gecina.fr

APPENDIX ACQUISITION OF EUROSIC BY GECINA

PRO FORMA FINANCIAL INFORMATION (UNAUDITED)

DESCRIPTION OF THE TRANSACTION

Gecina is planning to acquire Eurosic which holds assets primarily composed of offices located in Paris and the Paris region. This friendly transaction has the support of Eurosic's 6 major shareholders representing nearly 95% of the capital, via the signing of firm contracts for block sales (for 90% of their respective stakes) and a commitment to submit the balance of their stake to the public tender offer. Following acquisition of the blocks, Gecina will lodge a squeeze-out offer with an alternative in cash or in shares.

The proposed acquisition of Eurosic represents a major acceleration in Gecina's development by strengthening its positioning as a specialist in offices in Paris. At Gecina's request, the agreement includes the concurrent sale to Batipart of Eurosic's diversification portfolio (Eurosic Lagune, Nature Village et Hebergement and assets located in Spain), composed primarily of leisure and healthcare assets which are not strategic for Gecina.

PURPOSE OF THE PRO FORMA FINANCIAL INFORMATION

The pro forma financial information is intended to provide the reader, whether investor or shareholder, with the impact which the transaction described above would have had on Gecina's consolidated income statement for the financial year ended December 31, 2016 and on its consolidated statement of financial position at December 31, 2016 if this transaction had occurred prior to the date when it actually occurred.

The pro forma financial information is presented only as an illustration and does not constitute an indication of the results which the consolidated company would have recorded if the aforesaid business combination had been completed on January 1, 2016. Nor is it an indication of the futures results of the consolidated entity.

The pro forma adjustments detailed below are based on the information available on the date hereof and on certain hypotheses and estimates which Gecina believes are reasonable.

REGULATORY BASIS

The pro forma financial information has been prepared in accordance with Annex I of European Prospectus Regulation no. 809-2004. In effect, Gecina's acquisition of Eurosic implies a change of more than 25% in the income and results of the Gecina Group. The information has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of Annex II 'Pro Forma Financial Information Building Block' of European Regulation no. 809/2004.

The pro forma financial information applies the recommendations issued by ESMA (ESMA/2013/319 of March 20, 2013) and AMF Recommendation no. 2013-08 concerning pro forma financial information, amended on April 15, 2016.

CONSTRUCTION ASSUMPTIONS

The pro forma financial information presented below has been prepared in thousands of euros and includes the following items:

An income statement for the financial year ended December 31, 2016 (as if the acquisition had occurred on January 1, 2016);

A balance sheet at December 31, 2016 (as if the acquisition had occurred on December 31, 2016);

Explanatory notes.

The preliminary analysis of Eurosic's accounting methods and presentation and valuation rules (including investment properties) compared with those of Gecina is based solely on public information. It revealed no significant differences which required aligning the accounting policies in the context of producing the pro forma financial information. However, differences may be identified at the time Eurosic is consolidated in Gecina's financial statements on the basis of the results of a more detailed analysis. As a result, the pro forma information presented does not include a material homogenization restatement.

UNAUDITED PRO FORM FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Pursuant to the AMF Recommendation, Gecina presents unaudited pro forma financial information based on the following consolidated statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) applicable at December 31, 2016:

The audited consolidated financial statements of the Gecina Group for the year ended December 31, 2016;

The audited consolidated balance sheet of the Eurosic Group at December 31, 2016;

The audited consolidated income statement of the Eurosic Group for the financial year ended December 31, 2016.

In accordance with AMF Recommendation no. 2013-08, the effects relating to future synergies and economies of scale because they reflect provisional data, have not been adjusted in the preparation of the pro forma financial information.

All the pro forma adjustments are directly related to the transaction. In particular, the adjustments relating to the unaudited pro forma consolidated income statement may have a recurring or non-recurring impact on the consolidated financial statements of the company. Non recurring items are in particular related to the expenses incurred in the framework of the transaction (advisory fees mainly, subject to potentiel adjustments) and amout to 12 million (note(b) Pro Forma Balance Sheet 2016).

The pro forma adjustments are based on the information available and on certain assumptions which Gecina believes are reasonable:

The acquisition of the Eurosic shares and the redemption of the Obligations Subordonnees Remboursables en Actions Eurosic ('OSRA' Subordinated Notes Redeemable into Eurosic shares) are deemed to have been made in cash and in new Gecina shares to be issued, based on an allocation of 88%/12% respectively (at a price of 51 per share per OSRA, with an assumed exchange ratio of 20 Eurosic shares for 7 Gecina shares. The 88%/12% allocation, as detailed below in the section on Goodwill, is based on an allocation assumption of 50%/50% for the float and a distribution of 90%/10% for the 6 major shareholders pursuant to the agreements signed;

('OSRA' Subordinated Notes Redeemable into Eurosic shares) are deemed to have been made in cash and in new Gecina shares to be issued, based on an allocation of 88%/12% respectively (at a price of 51 per share per OSRA, with an assumed exchange ratio of 20 Eurosic shares for 7 Gecina shares. The 88%/12% allocation, as detailed below in the section on is based on an allocation assumption of 50%/50% for the float and a distribution of 90%/10% for the 6 major shareholders pursuant to the agreements signed; An increase in Gecina's capital of 1 billion euros is fully subscribed for the financing of the Eurosic acquisition, in addition to utilization of new borrowings, particularly under the Euro Medium Term Notes (EMTN) program;

Eurosic is included in Gecina's scope of consolidation using the acquisition method pursuant to IFRS 3 Business combination and Eurosic is fully consolidated with a holding rate of 100% after closing of the tender offers in cash and shares and after implementation of the squeeze-out;

and Eurosic is fully consolidated with a holding rate of 100% after closing of the tender offers in cash and shares and after implementation of the squeeze-out; Eurosic's acquisition of Fonciere de Paris on September 22, 2016 is restated as if it had taken place on January 1, 2016;

The sale of 3 Eurosic companies which are not strategic for Gecina will be completed immediately after the acquisition (net result of the sales is not known precisely at this stage, and is not significant for the entity and, by agreement, has not been taken in the pro forma accounts):

(i) EUROSIC LAGUNE, holding of 61,1%;

(ii) EUROSIC INVESTMENT SPAIN SOCIMI, holding of 71,1%;

(iii) NATURE HEBERGEMENTS, a holding of 50%.

PRO FORMA INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2016 PRO FORMA BALANCE SHEET AT DECEMBER 31, 2016

In 000s GECINA reported EUROSIC reported Fonciere de Paris restatement (FY basis) EUROSIC Pro Forma FdP Business combination effects GECINA Pro Forma EUROSIC Disposals effects Group Pro Forma Gross rental income 500 669 175 635 69 810 245 446 746 115 (39 299) 706 816 Expenses not recharged to tenants (40 735) (8 745) (8 745) (49 480) 4 591 (44 890) Other services and fees 10 499 10 499 10 499 (73) 10 426 Net rental income 459 934 177 390 69 810 247 200 707 134 (37 239) 669 896 Financial royalties and other income on finance leases 3 859 10 573 14 433 14 433 0 14 433 Operating expenses on finance lease transactions (433) (433) (433) 0 (433) Current operating income from finance lease transactions 3 427 10 573 14 000 14 000 0 14 000 Hotel operating income 9 939 (632) 9 307 9 307 0 9 307 Hotel operating expenses (10 057) (10 057) (10 057) 0 (10 057) Amortization and depreciation of hotel operations (650) (650) (650) 0 (650) Current operating income from the hotel business (768) (632) (1 400) (1 400) 0 (1 400) Real estate margin 677 677 677 0 677 Services and other income (net) 1 263 0 1 263 0 1 263 Overhead (64 571) (15 922) (15 922) (80 493) 2 241 (78 252) General operating expenses (31 022) (31 022) (31 022) 0 (31 022) EBITDA 396 626 396 626 (34 998) 361 629 Gains or losses on disposals 50 669 15 304 15 304 65 973 (2 723) 63 250 Change in value of properties 532 963 267 763 267 763 800 726 (30 524) 770 202 Amortization (4 669) 0 (4 669) 0 (4 669) Net impairments and provisions (14 262) (3 132) (3 132) (17 394) 0 (17 394) Effect of business combination (20 423) (20 423) (12 000) (32 423) 0 (32 423) Operating income 961 327 409 216 63 829 473 045 (12 000) 1 422 372 (68 245) 1 354 128 Current operating income 382 364 146 572 63 829 210 401 0 592 765 (34 998) 557 768

In 000s GECINA reported EUROSIC reported Business combinations effects* GECINA Pro Forma EUROSIC Disposals effects Group Pro Forma Note Non-current assets 11 546 893 6 339 473 471 494 18 357 860 (857 940) 17 499 919 Investment properties 10 430 624 5 540 525 499 000 16 470 149 (808 955) 15 661 194 (a) Properties under reconstruction 1 038 680 1 038 680 0 1 038 680 Operating properties 61 139 61 139 0 61 139 Hotel business non-current assets 184 022 184 022 0 184 022 Other property, plant and equipment 7 351 4 281 11 632 (2) 11 630 Intangible assets 6 337 326 6 663 0 6 663 Long-term investments other non-current assets 2 762 5 127 7 889 (877) 7 012 Financial receivables on finance leases 273 034 273 034 0 273 034 Equity accounting of investments in companies 205 205 205 205 (46 187) 159 018 Goodwill 89 854 (27 506) 62 348 0 62 348 Non-current financial instruments 26 692 26 692 (86) 26 606 Deferred tax assets 10 407 10 407 (1 833) 8 574 Current assets 798 779 414 090 0 1 212 869 (115 616) 1 097 253 Properties for sale 547 406 547 406 0 547 406 Inventory 140 677 140 677 0 140 677 Trade receivables 105 949 68 175 174 124 (71 450) 102 674 Trade receivables on finance leases 1 420 1 420 0 1 420 Other receivables 67 673 1 224 68 897 0 68 897 Prepaid expenses 17 641 17 641 0 17 641 Current financial instruments 1 537 1 537 0 1 537 Cash and cash equivalents 58 573 81 125 139 698 (41 708) 97 990 Assets held for sale 121 468 121 468 (2 458) 119 010 Total assets 12 345 672 6 753 563 471 494 19 570 728 (973 556) 18 597 172

* consolidation of Eurosic after tender offers on the basis of the assets valuation realized by Gecina at the transaction date.

In 000s GECINA reported EUROSIC reported Capital increase GECINA Pro Forma capital increase Assets Liabilities FV impact Cash offer* Exchange offer* OSRA effects* Consolidation restatements GECINA Pro Forma EUROSIC Disposals effects Group Pro Forma Note Equity 8 289 659 3 102 430 1 000 000 9 289 659 267 508 (534 139) (12 000) 9 936 935 (255 377) 9 681 557 Capital 475 760 790 485 78 854 554 614 14 862 5 511 574 987 574 987 Share premiums 1 910 693 877 963 921 146 2 831 839 252 647 93 692 3 178 177 3 178 177 Consolidated reserves (Group share) 5 076 063 119 998 5 076 063 5 076 063 5 076 063 Consolidated net income (Group share) 813 472 388 077 813 472 (12 000) 801 472 (3 427) 798 045 OSRA 633 342 0 (633 342) 0 0 Shareholders' equity (Group share) 8 275 988 2 809 866 1 000 000 9 275 988 9 630 700 (3 427) 9 627 272 Non-controlling interests 13 671 292 564 13 671 0 306 235 (251 950) 54 285 0 Non-current liabilities 3 230 868 3 197 337 (1 000 000) 2 230 868 12 000 2 117 421 785 227 12 000 8 354 853 (689 169) 7 665 684 Non-current financial debts 3 158 817 3 141 551 (1 000 000) 2 158 817 12 000 2 117 421 785 227 12 000 8 227 016 (686 733) 7 540 283 (b) Non-current financial instruments 31 013 47 663 31 013 78 676 (2 263) 76 413 Deferred tax liabilities 0 1 736 0 1 736 0 1 736 Non-current provisions (risks and contingencies) 41 038 6 387 41 038 47 425 (173) 47 252 Current liabilities 825 145 453 796 825 145 1 278 941 (29 010) 1 249 931 Current financial debts 481 604 331 287 481 604 812 891 (7 911) 804 980 Deposits 49 301 49 301 49 301 0 49 301 Trade payables 211 671 21 817 211 671 233 488 (4 622) 228 866 Current tax and social security liabilities 41 229 41 229 41 229 1 594 42 823 Other current liabilities 41 340 98 882 41 340 140 222 (16 262) 123 960 Liabilities held for sale 1 809 0 1 809 (1 809) 0 Total liabilities 12 345 672 6 753 563 0 12 345 672 12 000 2 117 421 267 508 251 088 0 19 570 728 (973 556) 18 597 172

* With a 51 price per share and Eurosic OSRA, the cash offer will lead to a 2,9 billion cash-out (2,1 billion for Eurosic shares and 0,8 billion for OSRA). Exchange offer will lead to additional equity for Gecina for 367 million (of which 99 million for OSRA paid in Gecina shares).

NOTES TO THE PRO FORMA FINANCIAL INFORMATION

GOODWILL

The business combination is recognized using the acquisition method stipulated in IFRS 3-Business Combination.

Goodwill (62 million) was calculated using an acquisition price paid in cash and Gecina shares to be issued in an assumed allocation of 88%/12% respectively. This allocation is the result of a 90%/10% share for the 6 major shareholders, while an assumed allocation of 50%/50% was used for the float.

The net equity of Eurosic at December 31, 2016 was also adjusted for the following items:

Cancellation of the historical goodwill recognized at December 31, 2016 (90 million);

Revaluation of the property assets on the estimated transaction date (499 million of additional fair value compared with December 31, 2016, see note b) of Pro Forma Balance Sheet) and mark to market fair value of the fixed-rate debt based on estimates available at December 31, 2016 (12 million in additional liabilities, see note b) of Pro Forma Balance Sheet). The positive net effect on EUROSIC's shareholders' equity is 487 million.

On the date of establishment of this pro forma financial data, and given the complexity of the transaction, a preliminary allocation of the goodwill was made exclusively to the property assets and to the fixed-rate debt. In accordance with IFRS 3, Gecina will have a period of one year from the acquisition date to finalize the allocation of the acquisition price to Eurosic's identifiable assets and liabilities.

In millions of euros 2016 consolidated shareholders' equity 2 810 Cancellation of goodwill (90) Impact of the mark to fair value of the assets liabilities acquired 487 Fair value of the assets and liabilities acquired (A) 3 207 Fair value transferred in the exchange (B) 3 269 of which, cash payment 2 903 of which, EUROSIC shares 2 117 of which, converted OSRAs 785 of which, payment in GECINA shares 367 Provisional goodwill (B) (A) 62

The fair value transferred in the exchange concerns:

The Eurosic shares redeemed and the OSRAs converted, acquired at the unit price of 51, namely a total payment estimated at 2.903 million;

The fair value of the Gecina shares issued (367 million) valued at the market price on the date of the transaction (135 by agreement) and at an assumed exchange ratio of 20 Eurosic shares for 7 Gecina shares, namely an exchange ratio of 0.350x (2.7 million Gecina shares issued in payment for the Eurosic shares, including the converted OSRAs).

ACQUISITION COSTS

In the context of this transaction, the costs for the various legal, financial and accounting advisors were incurred and recorded, pursuant to IFRS 3, in the consolidated income statement in the item Effect of the business combination included in the operating income or loss. At this stage of the estimates, they are 12 million.

FINANCING AND RELATED COSTS

The financing by cash (or refinancing) of this acquisition (2.9 billion) will cover the cash acquisition of the Eurosic shares (2.1 billion) and a portion of the OSRAs (0.8 billion) and will be executed as follows:

Subscription to a capital increase for a total amount of 1 billion;

Issuance of several bonds for a total of about 1.5 billion;

Drawdown of available lines of credit for the balance (0.4 billion).

INTRA-GROUP TRANSACTIONS AND RELATIONS WITH SUBSIDIARIES

Pursuant to AMF Recommendation no. 2013-08, if there are relations between the companies party to the transaction prior to closure, it is recommended that these transactions, which have mechanically become "reciprocal transactions", be restated in the pro forma financial information. No significant reciprocal transaction was identified as part of this transaction.

CORPORATE TAXES

In accordance with AMF Recommendation no. 2013-08, the tax effects applied to the different adjustments made are the same as those used in the historical financial statements of the two companies (Gecina and Eurosic). Since Gecina and Eurosic have chosen the tax treatment for Societes d'Investissement Immobilier Cotees (SIIC Listed Real Estate Investment Trusts), the transaction creates no significant tax liability.

_______________

Gecina draws the public's attention to the risk factors described in section 1.7 ("Risks") of the 2016 reference document. The occurrence of one or more of these risks may have a material adverse effect on Gecina's activities, reputation, financial position, results or outlook, and on Gecina's share price.

Disclaimers

This press release include indications on the objectives, perspectives and development strategies of Gecina and its consolidated subsidiaries ("Gecina") as well as forward-looking statements, in particular in relation to the Eurosic acquisition and the related financing operations described in this press release (the "Eurosic Acquisition"). Those indications may be identified by the use of the future or conditional tense or by forward-looking terminology, including the terms "considers" "anticipates", "thinks", "targets", "expects", "intends", "must", "aims", "estimates", "believes", "wishes", "may", or in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts and shall not be interpreted as guarantees that the facts and data stated will occur. Those forward-looking statements are based on data, assumptions and objectives that Gecina believes to be reasonable. They may evolve or change due to the uncertainties related to the economic, financial, competitive and regulatory environment. In addition, the occurrence of certain risks listed in the section 1.7 "Risks" of the 2016 reference document may have an impact on the activities, the prospects and the financial results of Gecina and its capacity to meet its objectives. The information mentioned in this press release include statements regarding Gecina's intentions, expectations and objectives in relation to, inter alia, the market, the strategy, the growth, the results, the financial situation and the cash position of Gecina. Forward-looking statements mentioned in this press release are provided on the date of this press release. Subject to all relevant laws or regulations, Gecina undertakes no obligation to publish any revisions to any forward-looking statements included in this press release in order to reflect any change in its objectives or in the events, conditions or circumstances after the date of this press release. Gecina operates in a rapidly-changing and competitive environment; it cannot anticipate all the risks, uncertainties or other factors that may affect its activity, their potential impact on it activity or to what extent the occurrence of a risk or a combination of risks may cause results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, being reminded that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.

The consolidated pro forma financial information (unaudited) for the financial year ended on 31 December 2016 presented in this press release have been prepared in accordance with IFRS standards. This information has been prepared in order to present the impacts that the Eurosic Acquisition would have on Gecina's income statements as if the Eurosic Acquisition had taken place on January 1, 2016 and on Gecina's balance sheet as if the Eurosic Acquisition had taken place on December 31, 2016. The consolidated pro forma financial information (unaudited) is set forth below for illustrative purposes only and by its nature, deals with an hypothetical situation. It is based, inter alia, on certain assumptions detailed in the pro forma financial information that may not be accurate. The consolidated pro forma financial information (unaudited) does not purport to be an indication of the results of operations or the financial situation of the Group that would have been achieved if the Eurosic Acquisition had occurred on the dates taken as assumption in order to prepare this pro forma financial information. The consolidated pro forma financial information (unaudited) also does not reflect future operational results or the future financial situation of the Group, nor any potential cost-saving or synergies that would result from the Eurosic Acquisition.

This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute an offer to sell or purchase, or the solicitation of an offer to sell or purchase, securities of Gecina.

No communication or information relating to the contemplated capital increase or the mandatory public offer may be distributed to the public in any jurisdiction (other than France) in which registration or approval is required. No action has been (or will be) undertaken in any jurisdiction outside of France where such steps would be required. The subscription for or purchase of securities of Gecina may be subject to legal or statutory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Gecina assumes no responsibility for any violation of such restrictions by any person. The distribution of this press release in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law.

This press release does not constitute a prospectus within the meaning of Directive 2003/71/EC as amended (the "Prospectus Directive").

The rights issue will be open to the public in France only

With respect to each member State of the European Economic Area other than France (the "Member State"), no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of securities requiring a publication of a prospectus in any Member State. As a result, the securities of Gecina may only be offered in the Member States (a) to qualified investors, as defined by the Prospectus Directive; or (b) in any other circumstances, not requiring Gecina to publish a prospectus as provided under Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive. For the purposes of this paragraph, "securities offered to the public" in a given Member State means any communication, in any form and by any means, of sufficient information about the terms and conditions of the offer and the securities so as to enable an investor to make a decision to buy or subscribe for the securities, as the same may be varied in that Member State. The above selling restrictions are in addition to any other selling restrictions which may be applicable in the Member States.

The distribution of this press release is directed only at (i) persons outside the United Kingdom, subject to applicable laws, or (ii) persons having professional experience in matters relating to investments who fall within the definition of "investment professionals" in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 as amended (the "Order") or (iii) high net worth bodies corporate, unincorporated associations and partnerships and trustees of high value trusts as described in Article 49(2) (a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). The rights issue will only be available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such rights will be engaged in only with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on, this press release or any information contained herein.

This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation to sell or purchase, or a solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any securities of Gecina in the United States of America. Securities may not be offered, subscribed or sold in the United States of America absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements thereof. The securities of Gecina have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act and Gecina does not intend to make a public offer of its securities in the United States of America.

The diffusion of this press release in certain countries may be prohibited under applicable law.

This press release may not be published, transmitted or distributed, directly or indirectly, and does not constitute an offer of securities, in the United-States (including in the territories and dependencies and in any State of the United States), in Canada, in Australia, or in Japan.

1 On a fully diluted basis

2 Based on the offer price of 51.0 euros per share, excluding the diversification portfolio of Eurosic to be sold by Batipart

3 Including the negotiations that are currently being finalized

4 On a fully diluted basis taking into account the OSRA subordinated redeemable bonds and excluding treasury stock, representing a total of 64,732,509 shares

5 Before adjustment of the exchange ratio linked to the capital increase with preferential subscription rights

6 Share value

7 Eurosic's Board of Directors has decided to appoint Ledoubleas an independent expert to confirm that the terms of the sales are fair and that there is no infringement concerning the equality of treatment for Eurosic's shareholders

8 Under the authorizations approved at the General Meeting on 26th April2017

9 Assuming 100% tendering to the cash offer

10 Float increased from 51% to approximately 55% following the capital increase with preferential subscription rights and the tenders for the securities branch of the mandatory public offer

11 The Company has published online an update concerning its share buyback program and its level of debt (on www.gecina.fr)

12 Excluding the sale of Eurosic's diversification portfolio, sold to Batipart

13 Cum-coupon, the coupons for interest on the 2015 and 2016 OSRA bonds will have been paid to holders respectively on June 29, 2017 and September 26, 2017

14 EPRA triple net NAV at December 31, 2016 ex-dividend (42.0 euros per share), taking into account estimated cash flow expected for the first half of the year (+1.3 euros per share) and the increase in the portfolio's valuation based on the preliminary reports prepared by Eurosic's valuers (+5.0 euros per share)

15 +5.2% lfl revaluation on offices portfolio and +25.6% lfl on residential according to preliminary valuers' reports

16 Gecina's EPRA triple net NAV at December 31, 2016 ex-dividend and share buyback (127.1 euros per share), taking into account cash flow for the first half of the year estimated by Gecina (+2.5 euros per share)and the increase in the portfolio's valuation based on the preliminary reports prepared by Gecina's valuers (+17.9 euros per share) versus EPRA triple net NAV

17 Based on Gecina's 2017 guidance, after the capital increase and 1.2 billion euros of disposals in the short term

18 On a fully diluted basis taking into account the OSRA subordinated redeemable bonds and excluding treasury stock, representing a total of 64,732,509 shares

19 Batipart (75% cash and 25% securities), Covea (100% cash), Predica (90% cash and 10% securities), ACM (100% cash), Debiopharm (90% cash and 10% securities), and Latricogne (48% cash and 52% securities)

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005530/en/

Contacts:

GECINA

Financial communications

Samuel Henry-Diesbach, Tel: +33 (0)1 40 40 52 22

samuelhenry-diesbach@gecina.fr

or

Virginie Sterling, Tel: 33 (0)1 40 40 62 48

virginiesterling@gecina.fr

or

Press relations

Brigitte Cachon, Tel: +33 (0)1 40 40 62 45

brigittecachon@gecina.fr

or

Theresa Vu, Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 82 46 13

theresa.vu@consultants.publicis.fr
Regulatory News:

Transgene (Paris:TNG) (Euronext Paris: TNG), a biotech company that designs and develops viral-based immunotherapies announces the launch of Invir.IOTM, its new technology platform dedicated to the design of the next generation of oncolytic viruses. The platform is based on a proprietary technology. Invir.IOTM will allow Transgene to generate a variety of multifunctional immunotherapies aimed at modulating the tumor micro-environment.

A platform to build a portfolio of immunotherapies with complimentary modes of action

The uncontrolled proliferation of cancer cells is made possible via a number of immunosuppressive mechanisms, which allow the tumor to escape the immune system. These complex cellular and metabolic mechanisms occur in the tumor microenvironment. Transgene's oncolytic viruses are designed to directly and selectively destroy cancer cells by the intracellular replication of the virus in the cancer cell (oncolysis). Oncolysis is important as it induces an immune response against tumors (immunogenic lysis) that it is targeting. In addition, the replication of the virus allows the expression of the genes carried by the oncolytic viral genome including therapeutic "weapons" that have been specifically designed to attack the tumor.

Optimized oncolytic viruses to attack the tumor on several fronts and improve cancer treatments

Most immune effector molecules are very effective locally, but can be toxic when administered systemically. The local expression of such therapeutic payloads can significantly augment the anti-cancer effects of viral oncolysis. This is believed to be the result of them efficiently modulating the tumor micro-environment, increasing the immunocompetency of the tumor and at the same time reducing the systemic exposure to these molecules.

Transgene has already demonstrated that its oncolytic viruses derived from its new proprietary Invir.IOTM platform attack tumors on several fronts and can:

induce an immunogenic cancer cell death 1

and express several "anti-cancer weapons" in the tumor, such as cytokines, chemokines, enzymes and/or monoclonal antibodies2 or minibodies.

Transgene's unique know-how will enable the Invir.IOTM platform to design, produce and develop, in a very efficient way, multiple product candidates either alone or through partnerships.

Eric Quemeneur, PharmD, PhD, Executive VP, Chief Scientific Officer of Transgene, said: "With Invir.IOTM, we are reinforcing our pioneering vision and ambition in the field of oncolytic viruses. The launch of our new generation of multifunctional immunotherapies is an important milestone for Transgene. The large therapeutic payload capacity of our viruses is a major competitive advantage for us that will allow us to design and vectorize several weapons that address different pathways in the tumor microenvironment. The product candidates that we intend to generate will combine the intrinsic merits of oncolytic viruses in terms of tumor cell lysis and immune-genesis, with the properties of the vectorized immuno-modulatory molecules. This approach is highly customizable, and we look forward to generating the new generation of oncolytic viruses that we believe will significantly improve the treatment of multiple aggressive cancers."

Transgene's Invir.IOTM platform is based the Company's years of world-leading expertise in molecular virology. Its most advanced research candidates are based on the Company's proprietary, Vaccinia virus strain (VVCOP TK-RR-) which displays the ideal features of an oncolytic virus such as better tumor selectivity, a strong ability to induce immunogenic tumor cell death and to trigger a specific immune response. In addition, its high genome capacity makes Invir.IOTM the ideal platform for the development of a pipeline of multifunctional oncolytics.

-End-

Notes to editors

About Invir.IOTM

Transgene's proprietary oncolytic virus (OV) platform Invir.IOTM allows it to design innovative multifunctional oncolytic viruses. The platform is among others based on the Company's engineered Vaccinia virus strain (VVCOP TK-RR-) which can integrate a variety of functional transgenes. The Invir.IOTM platform has already shown that it can generate products that benefit from multifunctional arming (enzyme, antibody, cytokine, etc.), that are currently being evaluated in preclinical.

About Transgene

Transgene S.A. (Euronext: TNG), part of Institut Merieux, is a publicly traded French biotechnology company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Transgene's programs utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing infected or cancerous cells. The Company's lead clinical-stage programs are: TG4010, a therapeutic vaccine against non-small cell lung cancer, Pexa-Vec, an oncolytic virus against liver cancer, and TG4001, a therapeutic vaccine against HPV-positive head and neck cancers. The Company has several other programs in clinical development, including TG1050 (chronic hepatitis B) and TG6002 (solid tumors). Transgene is based in Strasbourg, France, and has additional operations in Lyon, as well as a joint venture in China. Additional information about Transgene is available at www.transgene.fr

Follow us on Twitter: @TransgeneSA

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. The occurrence of any of these risks could have a significant negative outcome for the Company's activities, perspectives, financial situation, results, regulatory authorities' agreement with development phases, and development. The Company's ability to commercialize its products depends on but is not limited to the following factors: positive pre-clinical data may not be predictive of human clinical results, the success of clinical studies, the ability to obtain financing and/or partnerships for product manufacturing, development and commercialization, and marketing approval by government regulatory authorities. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause the Company's actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors ("Facteurs de Risque") section of the Document de Reference, available on the AMF website (http://www.amf-france.org) or on Transgene's website (www.transgene.fr). Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Transgene undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

1 Fend et al., Immune checkpoint blockade, immunogenic chemotherapy or IFN-a blockade boost the local and abscopal effects of oncolytic virotherapy, Cancer Research, 2017, 77(15); 4146-57

2 Kleinpeter et al., Vectorization in an oncolytic vaccinia virus of an antibody, a Fab and a scFv against programmed cell death -1 (PD-1) allows their intratumoral delivery and an improved tumor-growth inhibition, OncoImmunology, 2016, 5(10)

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170921005807/en/

Contacts:

Transgene:

Lucie Larguier

Director Corporate Communications IR

+33 (0)3 88 27 91 04

investorrelations@transgene.fr

or

Media contacts:

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

David Dible/Marine Perrier

+ 44 (0)20 7638 9571

transgene@citigatedr.co.uk
Forbes Finance Council is an Invitation-Only Community for Executives in Accounting, Financial Planning, Wealth and Asset Management and Investment Firms

HONG KONG, Aug. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Raymond Qu, CEO and Founder of Geoswift, a leading provider of cross-border payment solutions between China and the rest of the world,has been accepted into the Forbes Finance Council, an invitation-only community for executives in accounting, financial planning, wealth and asset management and investment firms.

Raymond Qu joins other Forbes Finance Council members, who are hand-selected, to become part of a curated network of successful peers and get access to a variety of exclusive benefits and resources, including the opportunity to submit thought leadership articles and short tips on industry-related topics for publishing on Forbes.com.

Forbes Councils combines an innovative, high-touch approach to community management perfected by the team behind Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) with the extensive resources and global reach of Forbes. As a result, Forbes Council members get access to the people, benefits and expertise they need to grow their businesses-- and a dedicated member concierge who acts as an extension of their own team, providing personalized one-on-one support.

"I am honored to represent Geoswift in joining the Forbes Finance Council. We've built a global cross border payments business across Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, London, Vancouver, Seattle and San Francisco. We've expanded our team with senior appointments of industry specialists to meet the growing requirements of our international clients. We are at an exciting stage of growth and joining the Council will enable us to contribute further to the payments industry especially those turning to China for opportunities.

International players are often overwhelmed by the complex regulations introduced by People's Bank of China (PBOC). With new market entrants and regulatory developments, I can understand why. Our expertise lies in China and we work with global merchants to facilitate the collection and settlement of currencies into China. Our product infrastructure has also been built to adapt to changes in regulatory policies by the PBOC. We have great business insights on China and we are very positive on the potential it presents.

Our membership with the Forbes Finance Council presents a fantastic opportunity for Geoswift to share our insights and expertise on China's business potential with the rest of the world." Raymond Qu, CEO and Founder of Geoswift.

Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, says, "We are honored to welcome Raymond Qu, into the community. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to curate successful professionals from every industry, creating a vetted, social capital-driven network that helps every member make an even greater impact on the business world."

About Geoswift

Geoswift is an innovative payment technology company connecting China and the rest of the world. The company comprises the world's leading payment technology experts that have a deep understanding of the industry, technology, and global and China monetary policy. Geoswift provides clients with customised one stop cross-border payment solutions to and from China. Geoswift is relied upon by the world's leading ecommerce companies, most prestigious universities and the largest brands in the travel industry to grow their businesses.

Geoswift is an acquirer of UnionPay International in North America and a long-term partner of many other leading financial institutions. It also maintains numbers of currency exchange outlets throughout China. Geoswift is headquartered in Hong Kong with operating offices in Shanghai, Singapore, London, Vancouver, Seattle and San Francisco for strategic and regulatory functions. For more information visit, please visit www.geoswift.com or send in your queries to info@geoswift.com .

About Forbes Councils

Forbes partnered with the founders of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to launch Forbes Councils, invitation-only communities for world-class business professionals in a variety of industries. Members, who are hand-selected by each Council's community team, receive personalized introductions to each other based on their specific needs and gain access to a wide range of business benefits and services, including best-in-class concierge teams, personalized connections, peer-to-peer learning, a business services marketplace, and the opportunity to share thought leadership content on Forbes.com. For more information about Forbes FinanceCouncil, visit https://forbesfinancecouncil.com/. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com.

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/geoswift-cross-border-payment-solutions-provider-accepted-into-forbes-finance-council-300494388.html


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Travis Kalanick, co-founder and chief executive of ride-hailing company Uber, resigned Tuesday after a revolt by a group of investors. However, he will remain on Uber's board of directors.



Just last week, Kalanick announced that he was taking a leave of absence from the company, following the release of an investigation report about Uber's work culture, and partly to grieve the sudden death of his mother in a recent boating accident.



But, that decision was not satisfactory for investors, who demanded Kalanick's immediate resignation in a letter on Tuesday, the New York Times reported.



Kalanick reportedly said, '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.'



New York Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation that Kalanick's exit came under pressure after hours of discussion involving Uber's investors.



Five of Uber's major investors demanded the resignation. As per the report, the investors included the venture capital firm Benchmark, one of Uber's biggest shareholders, whose partner Bill Gurley is on Uber's board.



In a statement, Uber's board reportedly said that Kalanick had always put Uber first and his decision is a sign of his devotion and love for Uber. The board also said that his stepping down as chief executive would give the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber's history.



Kalanick, 40, helped found the ride-hailing service in 2009. The troubles began earlier this year after a former Uber engineer alleged sexual harassment at the company, resulting in internal investigations.



The San Francisco start-up with a valuation of nearly $70 billion faced complaints about sexual harassment, discrimination, and workplace culture, following which the firm fired 20 employees. The company is now lacking other major executive positions as well, including COO, CFO, and CMO.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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HONG KONG, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- CLOUDSEC, the leading internet security conference in Asia Pacific and Europe, will hold its seventh annual event in Hong Kong on August 3, 2017. This event leads up to a tour across APAC countries, including India, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Australia and the United Kingdom, before making the last stop in The Republic of Korea.

Hosted by Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704) (TSE: 4704), CLOUDSEC Hong Kong 2017 gathers together renowned experts, industry thought leaders, businesses and organizations from across the globe to re-evaluate and redefine their understanding of threats, risks and solutions in a rapidly evolving threat landscape. This empowers enterprises to step up their game and 'Level Up' to face the continuous barrage of next-generation threats.

"Over the years, CLOUDSEC has grown to become a credible and innovative platform where the very best of global best-practices pertaining to the latest threats and security strategies come together, along with compelling insights and deliberations by experts that keep raising the bar of excellence," said Bob Hung, General Manager of Hong Kong & Taiwan, Trend Micro. "In 2017, the challenge remains for the industry to Level- Up and devise innovative strategies to stay ahead of cybercriminals in a never-ending supremacy tug-of-war. CLOUDSEC aims to educate and generate awareness about new security issues, and prepare attendees to address a wide spectrum of real-world challenges and current strategies in internet security."

CLOUDSEC Hong Kong 2017 Event Highlights:

DATE: August 3, 2017 (Thursday)

TIME: 8:45 am - 5:00 pm

VENUE: N101 Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, Wanchai

Featured keynote speakers:

Roeland van Zeijst, Digital Crime Officer for Strategy & Outreach, INTERPOL Cybercrime Directorate, shares the multi-stakeholder approach adopted by INTERPOL in fighting against cybercrime

Ryan Flores, Senior Manager, Future Threat Research, Trend Micro, offers insights on challenges faced by organizations in information security and risk management

Other speakers includes Steve Anson from SANS Institute, Legistlative Councillor Charles Mok and Ian Christofis, board member of Cloud Security Alliance Hong Kong & Macau Chapter.

For more information and registration, please visit www.cloudsec.com/hk.

About CLOUDSEC

Founded in 2011, CLOUDSEC has established itself as a global community for cyber security experts and professionals. The CLOUDSEC tagline "Have a Safe Journey" aims to inspire technology professionals and users to embark on a continuous learning journey to explore and learn about industry trends, best practices, and new technologies to secure the digital infrastructures, and manage the technological risks of their organisations in safely supporting their corporate goals. For more information, please visit www.cloudsec.com/hk

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, helps to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Our innovative solutions for consumers, businesses, and governments provide layered security for data centers, cloud environments, networks and endpoints. All our products work together to seamlessly share threat intelligence and provide a connected threat defense with centralized visibility and control, enabling better, faster protection. With more than 5,000 employees in over 50 countries and the world's most advanced global threat intelligence, Trend Micro enables organizations to secure their journey to the cloud. For more information, visit www.trendmicro.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Claudius Lam

Trend Micro

+ 852 2866 4362 (Office)

+ 852 9022 0876 (Mobile)

Email Contact




SHANGHAI, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Cushman & Wakefield, a global leader in commercial real estate services, today held a simulcast live forum themed "Urban Renewal 4.0" in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and officially released the white paper -- URBAN RENEWAL 4.0-SHIFTING TO AN EXCELLENT GLOBAL CITY, discussing this important topic while engaging delegates through cross-region interaction with local governments, Chinese and foreign experts, real estate industry players and financial investment institutions.

Due to rapid urban development in large- and medium-sized cities in China over the past 30 years, urban renewal has ushered in the 4.0 era, along the way shifting from a focus on quantity to the quality of property development and with a constant demand for existing stock renewal.

According to the white paper -- URBAN RENEWAL 4.0-SHIFTING TO AN EXCELLENT GLOBAL CITY -- Urban Renewal 4.0 offers the promise to drive the next stage of modern-day economic development of cities in China. As China continues to rapidly urbanize and cities address mounting urbanization challenges, it is critical to adopt sophisticated schemes for building smart, efficient and sustainable urban centers of excellence.

Urban Renewal 4.0 can help cities futureproof exiting properties for years to come. Essential is the formulation of clear, forward-looking plans and a vision of how citizens will interact with property in the future to address any steady, or sudden step change. There are an abundance of excellent cases in China and in key cities from around the world in which urban renewal/conversions breathed new life into valuable assets that, for example, had faded from glory, were underperforming or were otherwise underutilized.

James Shepherd, Managing Director of Research, Greater China, Cushman & Wakefield, in Shenzhen and Shaun Brodie, Head of Occupier Research, Greater China, Cushman & Wakefield, in Guangzhou delivered a joint presentation and shared key findings on this heavyweight white paper via live simulcast to participants in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

James Shepherd said: "Urban renewal in China has evolved to today's sophisticated version of Urban Renewal 4.0, which has started to take root and will guide China's urban development in the future. City governments increasingly are implementing this new wave of urban renewal not only to cope with complex urbanization issues but to thrive by improving their city's sustainability, livability and economic competitiveness." Shaun Brodie said: "The opportunities for China are immense in realizing an urbanization vision built on the elements, drivers, themes and best practices presented in this report. The ongoing development of vibrant and attractive Chinese cities will hinge on the extent to which city governments and participating stakeholders are active in tackling the challenges and fulfilling the themes of Urban Renewal 4.0."

Cushman & Wakefield's presentation on the impact of Urban Renewal 4.0 covered various industry perspectives at the forum. Edward Cheung, Chairman, Asia Pacific Board | Chief Executive, Greater China, Cushman & Wakefield, shared his insights to all the delegates in four cities through live video connection: "In the new situation of emphasizing stock renewal, how should the government maintain the vitality of economic growth and a city's livability under the environment of limited land space available for use, and how should enterprises work out a proper operation model of "asset operation + capital operation"? This requires not only sophisticated professional management experience, but also cooperation that crosses multiple fields. Cushman & Wakefield would be delighted to work with professionals from all walks of life to create further development in the future. 2017 marks the 100 year anniversary of the Cushman & Wakefield brand and also the company's 25th year operating in mainland China. We firmly believe that Cushman & Wakefield, with its professional service and innovative spirit, will continue to contribute to the future growth and progress of China's cities in the next 25 years, and even the next 100 years to come."

Please view the full version report here

About Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield is a leading global real estate services firm that helps clients transform the way people work, shop and live. The firm's 43,000 employees in more than 60 countries provide deep local and global insights that create significant value for occupiers and investors around the world. Across Greater China, there are 20 offices servicing the local market. Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest commercial real estate services firms with revenues of US$5 billion across core services of agency leasing, asset services, capital markets, facility services, global occupier services, investment & asset management, project management, tenant representation and valuation & advisory. To learn more, please visit www.cushmanwakefield.cn or follow us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/cushman-&-wakefield-greater-china

Media Please Contact:



Elisa Yiu

Associate Director

Marketing and Communications, Hong Kong

+852 2507 0637

Email Contact



Peggy Mak / Penn Leung

Creative Consulting Group

+852 9482 3144 / +852 6077 7342

Email Contact /

Email Contact




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.
MIAMI, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The global final of the world's biggest bartender competition is fast approaching and last night at a prestigious semi-final event in Miami, Marc McArthur of Norwegian Cruise Line captivated a judging panel of leading industry experts to be crowned the best cruise line bartender in the world.

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/525923/Diageo_Global_Travel.jpg )



The next dock for Marc, 28, from South Africa, is the global final of one of the leading and most respected bartender competitions in the world - WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year in Mexico City on 20th - 24th August 2017. Here he will represent cruise lines and battle it out against 56 of the world's best bartenders for the coveted 'WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year' title.

Last year's winner, Jennifer Le Nechet from France has experienced a life-changing journey and now enjoys travelling the world, judging the finals of top bartender competitions. Jennifer was part of last night's judging panel and witnessed Marc's talent and originality.

Marc saw off competition from talented cruise line bartenders from three of the world's top cruise lines during a series of heats, before the final three contenders mixed it up in the deluxe Diageo 396 Bar in Miami last night.

Jennifer Le Nechet judged the proceedings along with fellow industry elites; Enrique De Colsa, Master Distiller of TEQUILA DON JULIO and Ben Potts, one of Miami's finest bartenders.

It wasn't just down to taste; the judges observed the semi-finalists' creativity, knowledge, showmanship and the overall delivered drinking experience. Marc fascinated the judges throughout the 'Mystery Box Challenge' and 'Cocktails Against the Clock Challenge', mixing up unique cocktails with outstanding product from the DIAGEO RESERVE collection.

Marc McArthur, Head Mixologist on board Norwegian Escape, said: "I can't put into words how much this achievement means to me. I've invested a lot of training and dedication into this competition, just making it through to the semi-finals was incredible, but to be judged by last year's winner and succeed to go on to represent the cruise industry in the global final of the WORLD CLASS Bartender of the Year, it's without doubt the highlight of my career. I can't wait to compete with the best and bring the confidence and skills I've developed through the WORLD CLASS program to Mexico City."

Marcos Bibas, Commercial Director, DIAGEO Americas said: "The WORLD CLASS program is devised to educate and inspire bartenders to deliver outstanding drinking experiences, and I'm delighted we can offer this experience to cruise line bartenders on board our partners' ships. Last night we witnessed a thrilling competition showcasing a remarkable standard of craftsmanship and creativity. We want to congratulate all of our finalists and wish Marc the very best of luck at the WORLD CLASS Global Final in August."

Wes Cort, Senior Director, Restaurant and Beverage Development & Operations at Norwegian Cruise Line, said: "We're so pleased for Marc and his achievement. We wish him the best of luck in the WORLD CLASS Final and are confident his craftsmanship and talent will impress the judges once more. We'd like to extend our sincerest gratitude to WORLD CLASS for putting on such a thrilling event and for training our bartenders in the art and science of creating moment-defining cocktails, using award-winning spirits from the DIAGEO RESERVE collection. Our partnership provides Norwegian Cruise Line guests with fine drinking experiences, making our guests' overall cruise vacation unforgettable."

Please drink responsibly, visit DRINKiQ.com.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Eastmain Resources Inc. ("Eastmain" or the "Company") (TSX: ER)(OTCQX: EANRF) is pleased to announce that the Company's common shares began trading on the OTCQX Best Market in the United States under the symbol "EANRF". Eastmain upgraded from the Pink Market. Investors can access trading, real-time level 2 quotes and view a list of the Company's news releases and financial disclosure documents at http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/EANRF/quote.

OTC Markets Group Inc., located in New York, N.Y., operates the OTCQX Best Market. Through OTC Link ATS, OTC Markets Group connects a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services.

Claude Lemasson, Eastmain President and CEO commented, "Upgrading from the Pink Market to OTCQX was a natural next step for Eastmain. This past year, we focused on the transformation of the Company following a change in management in April 2016, and the completion of an aggressive Company-wide drilling program. Looking forward to our catalyst-heavy second half of the year, we believe it necessary to provide easier access for our US-based shareholders to trade Eastmain stock."

About Eastmain Resources Inc.

Eastmain is a Canadian exploration company with 100% interest in the Eau Claire and Eastmain Mine gold deposits, both of which are located within the James Bay District of Quebec. Clearwater, host of the Eau Claire deposit, is the Company's core asset with access to superior infrastructure in a favourable mining jurisdiction. Eastmain also holds a pipeline of exploration projects in this new Canadian mining district, including being a partner in the Eleonore South Joint Venture.

Forwarding-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the use of proceeds of the Offering, and the receipt of regulatory approvals. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words and phrases such as "plans," "expects," "is expected," "budget," "scheduled," "estimates," "forecasts," "intends," "anticipates," or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are based on various assumptions. 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 factors include, the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; as well as those factors discussed in the Company's annual information form. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. 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.

Contacts:

Eastmain Resources Inc.

Claude Lemasson

President and CEO

+1 647-347-3765

lemasson@eastmain.com



Eastmain Resources Inc.

Alison Dwoskin

Manager Investor Relations

+1 647-347-3735

dwoskin@eastmain.com




Airline Will Be First in Italy to Operate 737 MAX

AerCap Holdings N.V. ("AerCap") (NYSE: AER) today announced the signing of a lease agreement with the Italian carrier Neos for two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Based at Milan Malpensa Airport, Neos will become the country's first 737 MAX operator when it takes delivery of the airplane in 2019.

"We are delighted to add Neos to our list of airline customers for the 737 MAX," said Philip Scruggs, President and Chief Commercial Officer, AerCap. "Neos is a long-time customer and we're excited to work with the team on the delivery of their first 737 MAX and we are particularly pleased that Neos will be the first operator of the aircraft type in Italy."

"We are sure that our customers will love the 737 MAX. Its range will allow us to fly further, non-stop and to more destinations with an unmatched fuel efficiency," said Carlo Stradiotti, Chief Executive Officer of Neos.

AerCap is the third largest 737 MAX lessor in the world, with 100 aircraft on order.

About Neos

Founded in 2001, Neos caters to Italy's leisure market providing flights predominately from Milan, but also other major Italian cities, to destinations across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Neos is part of Alpitour World, the leading integrated leisure concern in Italy operating, apart from aviation, in tour operating, hotel management, destination management services and distribution.

About AerCap

AerCap is the global leader in aircraft leasing with, as of March 31, 2017, 1,541 owned, managed or on order aircraft in its portfolio. AerCap has one of the most attractive order books in the industry. AerCap serves approximately 200 customers in approximately 80 countries with comprehensive fleet solutions. AerCap is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (AER) and has its headquarters in Dublin with offices in Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Shannon, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Singapore, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Seattle and Toulouse.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements, estimates and forecasts with respect to future performance and events. These statements, estimates and forecasts are "forward-looking statements." In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negatives thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements and are based on various underlying assumptions and expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and may include projections of our future financial performance based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. As a result, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate or correct. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future performance or events described in the forward-looking statements in this press release might not occur. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results and we do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not undertake any obligation to, and will not, update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For more information regarding AerCap and to be added to our email distribution list, please visit www.aercap.com and follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/aercapnv.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005633/en/

Contacts:

AerCap Holdings N.V.

Media:

Gillian Culhane, +353 1 636 0945

Vice President Corporate Communications

gculhane@aercap.com

or

Investors:

Brian Canniffe, +353 1 418 0461

Head of Investor Relations

bcanniffe@aercap.com
EDMONTON, ALBERTA and NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- (TSX: STN)(NYSE: STN)

Stantec announced today that following a successful eight-year tenure as the Company's president and chief executive officer, Bob Gomes will retire at year's end, effective December 31, 2017. The firm also announced that Gord Johnston, executive vice president of Stantec's Infrastructure business operating unit, was selected by the board of directors to assume the role of president and chief executive officer, effective January 1, 2018. Johnston has more than 30 years of industry leadership experience, including more than 20 years with Stantec. He has also played an active role in helping guide the Company's Strategic Plan over the past nine years.

"Gord's appointment and this transition are exciting milestones in a succession plan that the board of directors has been working on for the past three years," says Aram Keith, chair of Stantec's board of directors. "Gord's people-focused leadership style, industry expertise, and market understanding will build on the success Bob has helped the Company achieve. Gord is focused on the future and helping the Company achieve its long-term strategic goals."

To ensure a smooth transition, Gomes will work with the new CEO until retiring on December 31. Executive vice president and chief financial officer, Dan Lefaivre; executive vice president and chief operating officer, Scott Murray; and executive vice president and chief business officer, Tino DiManno will continue in their roles.

New Perspective, Established Experience

During his Stantec career, Johnston has progressed in various leadership roles after joining the firm's Edmonton-based Water practice in 1990. He later served as the regional business leader for Stantec's Water group in Western Canada before assuming the role of business leader for Stantec's Water business line in 2010. In 2015, he was named to his most recent post as the executive vice president for the firm's Infrastructure business operating unit. As a company leader, Johnston served on Stantec's Disclosure Committee, the Integrity Management Team, and the Executive Health, Safety, Security, and Environment Committee. Johnston has also been active in the firm's acquisition sourcing and integration efforts, particularly with MWH Global, Stantec's largest acquisition to date.

A recognized industry advocate, he has served on the board of directors for the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies (ACEC) in Canada, and as past president of the Consulting Engineers of Alberta. Johnston earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from the University of Alberta before completing the Harvard Business School's Leading Professional Services Firms program. Additionally, he is a credentialed Envision Sustainability Professional through the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. In his role as CEO, Johnston will relocate to Edmonton, Alberta.

"Bob's leadership has paved an excellent path for us to follow and grow," says Johnston. "We will continue to grow and strengthen our global footprint while maintaining our position as a top-tier service provider dedicated to bringing world-class expertise to our clients in local communities around the globe."

A Recognized Legacy

Originally joining the Company in 1988 as an urban land project manager, Gomes held several leadership positions before being appointed president and CEO in 2009. During his time in that role, Gomes led the Company through a sustained period of growth by executing key strategies outlined in the Company's Strategic Plan. Among the highlights is Stantec's successful expansion into multiple global markets, including Europe, India, New Zealand, Australia, South America, and the Middle East, among other geographies. Additionally, the Company enjoyed growth in gross revenue of 229 percent from $1.5 billion in Q1 2009 to $4.8 billion in Q1 2017 while completing nearly 50 acquisitions (including the largest in the Company's history with the 2016 purchase of MWH Global).

Gomes will remain as a director on Stantec's board. Aram Keith offered Gomes the board's gratitude.

"Bob will leave a considerable legacy, and we're grateful for his inspiring leadership over the years," says Keith. "We'll look forward to working with Bob and Gord over the balance of the year to ensure the Company is positioned for continued success through a robust transition plan."

About Stantec

We're active members of the communities we serve. That's why at Stantec, we always design with community in mind.

The Stantec community unites approximately 22,000 employees working in over 400 locations across 6 continents. We collaborate across disciplines and industries to bring buildings, energy and resource, environmental, water, and infrastructure projects to life. Our work-engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, construction services, project management, and project economics, from initial project concept and planning through to design, construction, commissioning, maintenance, decommissioning, and remediation-begins at the intersection of community, creativity, and client relationships.

Our local strength, knowledge, and relationships, coupled with our world-class expertise, have allowed us to go anywhere to meet our clients' needs in more creative and personalized ways. With a long-term commitment to the people and places we serve, Stantec has the unique ability to connect to projects on a personal level and advance the quality of life in communities across the globe. Stantec trades on the TSX and the NYSE under the symbol STN. Visit us at stantec.com or find us on social media.

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Danny Craig

Stantec Public Relations

(949) 923-6085

danny.craig@stantec.com



Investor Contact:

Sonia Kirby

Stantec Investor Relations

(780) 616-2785

sonia.kirby@stantec.com




Moves airlines toward all-digital operations

Significantly extends the quantity of aircraft data available to reduce maintenance costs and improve dispatch reliability

Represents first major basic hardware position by Rockwell Collins on the A320

In a move that will help airlines shift toward all-digital operations, Rockwell Collins has been selected by Airbus for the flight operations and maintenance exchanger (FOMAX) program on the Airbus A320 family of aircraft. The solution, which keeps operators connected to their aircraft by deploying the infrastructure for secure wireless connectivity, represents Rockwell Collins' first major basic content on the A320.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005116/en/

The FOMAX solution from Rockwell Collins will digitally connect aircraft and operators for more efficient operations (Photo: Business Wire).

"We're taking another step toward transforming the modern aircraft and crew to be more digitally connected," said Steve Timm, vice president and general manager of Air Transport Systems. "Working together with Airbus, we're keeping crews better informed while providing better data collection and improved analytics to drive operational efficiency and reduced maintenance."

Rockwell Collins' solution for FOMAX features a compact connectivity unit that collects aircraft maintenance and performance data and automatically sends it to ground-based operations. The unit also sends data automatically to the growing number of mobile applications that are being used by flight crews, as well as into efficiency applications such as weather, flight planning, logbooks, and maintenance prediction and performance calculators, all of which bring new levels of productivity and value to airline operations.

The FOMAX solution builds upon the existing Rockwell Collins SSR-7000 Secure Server Router to also provide the Wi-Fi network for secure crew connectivity on the aircraft as well as the cellular and terminal Wi-Fi equipment. It also interfaces with all major SATCOM connectivity types.

Providing FOMAX as a part of the Airbus digital transformation initiative supports Rockwell Collins' commitment to delivering the airborne equipment required for a digitally connected aircraft.

About Rockwell Collins

Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL) is a leader in aviation and high-integrity solutions for commercial and military customers around the world. Every day we help pilots safely and reliably navigate to the far corners of the earth; keep warfighters aware and informed in battle; deliver millions of messages for airlines and airports; and help passengers stay connected and comfortable throughout their journey. As experts in flight deck avionics, cabin electronics, cabin interiors, information management, mission communications, and simulation and training, we offer a comprehensive portfolio of products and services that can transform our customers' futures. To find out more, please visit www.rockwellcollins.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005116/en/

Contacts:

Rockwell Collins

Onsite:

Pam Tvrdy-Cleary, 319-431-0951

Office: 319-295-0951

pam.tvrdy@rockwellcollins.com

or

Herve Tilloy, 1: 33 (0) 5 61 71 78 70

herve.tilloy@rockwellcollins.com

Follow us on Twitter: @RockwellCollins
eLink' Solution Provides Revenue Gains While Enhancing Enterprise Visibility, Brand Security and Customer Engagement

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan and ZURICH, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --eAgile Inc., a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, announced today the release of their eLink' solution for mobile eCommerce. eLink is the first to combine smartphone-based one-tap ordering, product authentication and customer engagement functions with enterprise-level track and trace visibility into a single solution. eAgile's announcement is concurrent with the news that Apple's iOS 11 update will provide NFC (Near Field Communications) capabilities to the iPhone 7 and 8.

"eLink is one of those rare innovations that can provide immediate benefits across an entire organization," states Gary Burns, eAgile's CEO. "Logistics receives supply chain visibility, marketing can communicate with end users, consumers can order through their phones, owners protect their brands, and we've barely scratched the surface of potential applications."

eAgile is one of just a few companies with the infrastructure and experience already in place to help businesses leverage this new technology. Now with smartphones on both major operating systems, Apple iOS and Android, offering NFC capabilities, demand will only increase to match the expansion of new users.

"We're offering brand owners the ability to capitalize on the new realities of eCommerce and everyone's love of smartphones. The trend shows 50% of eCommerce is from smartphones, which is driven by an estimated 10 billion mobile devices. Those numbers are hard to ignore," says Peter Phaneuf, President of eAgile. "The perfect way to start to compete in an eCommerce-driven marketplace is when you can fund the investment through gains in mobile sales and efficiencies. That's what eLink is showing it can provide."

eAgile's patented eSeal products were first introduced in 2014 and brought the supply chain efficiencies and security benefits of UHF RFID to the healthcare, nutraceutical and over-the-counter markets. eLink takes their eSeal innovation further by integrating the consumer engagement capabilities of NFC into a single tag, single chip solution. The resulting dual frequency solution helps businesses communicate with their customers through their smartphones in more impactful and cost-effective ways.

Operating from a vertically-integrated manufacturing facility where they design, test and manufacture a wide variety of RFID products and software, eAgile has earned a reputation for seamlessly integrating customized solutions with minimal disruption to client operations. The growth of their eSeal product line has allowed them to showcase their experience integrating RFID into filling lines and conveyor systems, maximizing data capture in challenging environments.

eAgile sets the industry standards in IoT solutions by providing high quality, cost effective products that help make RFID easy. From tag conversion to data management software to building complete RFID infrastructures, eAgile has unmatched expertise and capabilities. eAgile's commitment to innovation, quality and providing customer focused solutions drives every aspect of the business. Information: https://www.eagile.com/eLink.

LOGO:Send2Press.com/mediaboom/17-0621s2p-elink-logo-300dpi.jpg

This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com
DUBAI, EAU, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

- UAE declared 2017 as the 'Year of Giving'

The Premier Inn Dubai Ibn Battuta Mall's General Manager Roudi Soubra and his team are giving back to the community during the holy month of Ramadan, one of the activities being the distribution of Iftar meals when drivers have safely stopped and are waiting at the traffic lights. This initiative is part of the "A safe Ramadan" campaign.

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/525915/Distribtion_of_Iftar_Boxes.jpg )

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/525916/Dubai_Municipality_Workers.jpg )

The Safe Ramadan campaign has more than 10,000 volunteers across the UAE, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain to reduce traffic accidents and excessive speed. This event was organised in partnership with the Ministry of Interior (General Directorate of Traffic Coordination) and the cooperation with traffic departments in the seven emirates.

The objective was to keep people safe for Iftar by reducing speed and limiting traffic accidents and to encourage individuals and organizations towards community service and volunteer work.

The Premier Inn Dubai Ibn Battuta Mall also held an Iftar for 75 workers in partnership with Dubai Municipality and welcomed children from the Sharjah Orphanage and Social Services Department. Both events took place at the Premier Inn Dubai Ibn Battuta Mall Nuevo restaurant.

Premier Inn was named the UK's top rated hotel chain for 2015, according to Which? and with over 750 budget hotels and more than 65,000 rooms across the UK and Ireland. Premier Inn hotels are in more locations than any other UK hotel brand for the ease and convenience of families, couples and business travellers alike.

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), there are presently six Premier Inns with five that operate under a strategic partnership between Whitbread plc and Emirates Group.

Award-winning Premier Inn provides quality accommodation and outstanding service at affordable prices with en-suite bathrooms, comfortable beds, TV, complimentary Wi-Fi and in some of our hotels, an all-day dining restaurant and bar, swimming pool, a well-equipped gym and meeting facilities. For more information or reservations, please visit global.premierinn.com.

Contact:

Paul Nelson

Marketing Director

marketing@mena.premierinn.com

iz048850999
MIDDLEBROOK, VA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA), the premier provider of PR, Marketing and Event Planning services to the tech and telecom industries, and founder and host of Telecom Exchange (TEX), the executive-level networking event 'where communications and technology meet,' announces the formation of its TEX Advisory Board. The Board's responsibilities include providing more value to the events' attendees, including but not limited to: timely speaking topics and inspiring speakers for the CEO Roundtables; innovative new partnerships; and new ways to give back to the telecom and tech community.

Board Members include:

Teri Francis, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer of Console Connect, responsible for the overall product strategy, management, design, and innovative vision of the Console platform. Before joining Console, Teri served and Vice President, Technology Development at Equinix where she led the architecture and engineering teams designing private cloud interconnection. Prior to Equinix, Teri was Vice President of Customer Solutions at NTT America responsible for product development and customer engineering for their global IP network. She has over 20 years of diverse experience in technology, networking, cloud, and data center arenas. Ms. Francis earned a Master of Science degree in Telecommunications from Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona.

Liz Kerton, one of the Silicon Valley's most influential women according to the San Jose Business Journal, is a marketing expert focused on technology and telecom. She started Telecom Council of Silicon Valley in 2001, a community of thousands of telecom industry insiders from hundreds of companies including sixty global telcos who are focused on telecom innovation. In 2011, she started the Autotech Council which connects auto makers and their Tier 1 vendors with innovation and entrepreneurs.

Mona Weisberg is a Director at Colliers International in NYC where she is actively working on the business development to lease DataGryd's data center housed in 60 Hudson to telecommunications and enterprise companies. Prior to Colliers, Ms. Weisburg worked with RCN, responsible for business development with the commercial Real Estate community to ensure access of RCN's fiber optic network to NYC's premier properties. Before RCN, Ms. Weisburg was Director of Client Relations/Real Estate for Eureka Broadband Corporation. She originated and maintained relationships with national and regional commercial real estate owners representing over 100 landlords, 200 million square feet/3000 commercial office buildings in five markets; then as Director of Real Estate she compiled a portfolio of over 750 buildings in the Northeast. She established her real estate career at Solomon Associates, where she partnered to launch the Philadelphia tri-state area's first and most successful on-going Retail Tenant Representation firm. Ms. Weisberg holds a B.A. from Drew University and real estate license in New York. She is also a member of REBNY.

Telecom Exchange LA will be held on November 6-7, 2017 at the Doubletree by Hilton in Downtown Los Angeles and Telecom Exchange NYC will be held June 2018 in downtown New York City. Branding opportunities and exhibit tables are available for both events. For more information, email info@thetelecomexchange.com or visit www.thetelecomexchange.com/la.

About JSA

Celebrating more than 12 years of success, Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA) is the preeminent provider of Public Relations, Marketing and Event Planning services to the tech and telecom industries. Awarded 'Most Outstanding Telecoms PR Agency' by LiveWire for 2015 & 2016, our success is attributed to our skilled JSA team, innovative tools, and established media and industry relationships, allowing us to deliver the finest outreach and brand awareness services available -- with measurable return on investment. Our clients enjoy 'insider access' to the top journalists, bloggers, analysts and thought leaders shaping tech and telecom -- as well as critical networking opportunities, including JSA's own industry networking event, Telecom Exchange (TEX).

We also feature client and marketplace news via JSA WalkOuts (new, 3D-like interactive video for lead generation), JSA TV (our video newsroom on YouTube), JSA Radio (our podcast channel on iHeartRadio), Virtual CEO Roundtables (our monthly panel discussions with top industry thought leaders), Tech & Telecom News & Trends (our newsletter) and Tech and Telecom News Now (our industry blog).

To learn more about how JSA can elevate your brand, visit www.jaymiescotto.com.

Join the conversation: Follow JSA on LinkedIn and Twitter.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA)

+1 866.695.3629

Email Contact




CHICAGO (dpa-AFX) - Boeing (BA) announced Wednesday the decision by Shenzhen-based Donghai Airlines to convert 10 737 MAXs on order to 737 MAX 10s at the 2017 Paris Air Show. The order, valued at $1.2 billion at current list prices, will be posted to the Boeing Orders & Deliveries website once all contingencies are cleared. The Chinese carrier will join the 737 MAX 10 launch customer team as one of the first airlines in the world to introduce the newest member of the 737 MAX family. The 737 MAX 10 will be the most profitable single-aisle airplane, offering the lowest seat costs ever. Donghai Airlines currently has a fleet of 15 Boeing 737-800s. The carrier plans to start international long-haul flights between 2021 and 2023 and grow its fleet to 100 airplanes by 2025. 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.
ORLANDO, FL / ACCESSWIRE / June 21, 2017 / Practical Research Partners is pleased to announce that it has initiated coverage of UMF Group Inc. (OTC PINK: UMFG).

UMF Group Inc. (OTC PINK: UMFG):

We initiate coverage on UMF Group Inc. (OTC PINK: UMFG) with a view of undervalued. UMFG is an innovative medical marijuana company which aims to develop cannabinoid based drugs using proprietary whole plant extraction method. UMFG's cannabinoid applications (prodrugs) can be administered to enable selective delivery of THC and cannabidiol (CBD) to the gastrointestinal tract. Site-specific delivery could enable oral drug formulations of cannabinoids to provide therapeutic benefits while reducing or avoiding the systemic delivery of psychoactive THC into the bloodstream.

UMFG currently generates negligible revenues (~$12,098 in 1Q17 and $10,237 in FY16), but the prospects look bright considering the rapid expansion of the medical marijuana market. We believe superior efficacy of company's proprietary platform, faster regulatory approvals and burgeoning cannabinoid based pharmaceuticals market augur well for UMFG. The increasing interest among researchers and healthcare providers regarding the therapeutic uses of marijuana is likely to fuel further growth. With more states easing marijuana restrictions, UMFG represents a unique investment opportunity; however, we caution that the risk remains high.

INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS

Targeted delivery ensures greater efficacy: A prodrug is a medication or compound that, after administration, is metabolized (i.e., converted within the body) into a pharmacologically active drug. Prodrugs are typically designed to overcome well-known drawbacks of currently available therapies. UMFG's prodrug technology enables the selective targeting of specific tissues or organs, including the gut or brain, enabling the drug to have a more targeted effect. As of 2015, there were approximately 15 prodrugs that had been classified as blockbusters, defined as having annual sales in excess of $1 billion.

Low risk regulatory strategy to lead to faster approvals: UMFG plans to take advantage of a more efficient FDA review and approval process that is available for 'whole plant extracts', which reduces the need for large and expensive clinical trials. UMFG plans to develop whole plant pharmaceutical products for symptomatic relief of pain, cramping, and muscle spasticity. There is extensive clinical evidence supporting the potential efficacy of cannabinoids for treatment of each of these indications, including thorough clinical trials conducted by independent investigators. Because there already exists independent verification of the active drug's safety and efficacy, such products may receive marketing approval more quickly than others.

Large Addressable market: The global medical marijuana market is expected to reach a value of $55.8 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research. Washington D.C. along with 28 states have legalized marijuana for medical uses. More states are moving towards granting approval for using marijuana in therapeutic applications which is one of the crucial factors driving the demand. Cannabis has long been considered to have medicinal properties, ranging from treatment of cramps, migraines, convulsions, appetite stimulation and attenuation of nausea and. UMFG, with UMFG, with its unique cannabinoid applications, is well positioned to take advantage of the industry tailwind.

VALUATION

Our fair value for UMFG is undervalued. Our thesis assumes that medical marijuana market will witness exponential growth and the company is successful in commercializing its prodrugs. Though the opportunity remains very large; the synthetic cannabinoid pharmaceuticals market has lagged behind so far and we caution investors that it is a high-risk bet.

Stock Details (June 14, 2017)

Ticker UMFG Exchange OTC Sector Cannabis MCap ($ mn) 103.3 View Undervalued

Key Financials

In $ 2016 1Q17 Revenues 10,237 12,098 EBIT (2,724) 2,956

Share Price Performance

Source: OTC markets

Company History

The company was incorporated in the State of Colorado on 1988 and has changed the name several times. The Company acquired Mobile Airwaves, Inc. a California corporation, on December 13, 2004, concurrent with the acquisition the Company changed its name to Mobile Airwaves Corp. On September 15, 2009, the Company changed its name to American Community Development Inc. Then on February 2, 2017 the name was changed to UMF Group Inc. The company also changed its business from oil & gas exploration to Medical marijuana.

UMF Group Inc. also appointed Nicole Merion, as Director of Business Development. Nicole Merion brings a wealth of scientific knowledge and contacts at the highest levels of academia and production, facilitating UMF Group Inc.'s vision of operating at the cutting edge of technology and research. She also brings a history of production and development to the company and has been working in the Cannabis field for the past ten years.

Business Analysis

UMFG is primarily targeting the burgeoning medical marijuana market via its proprietary cannabinoid applications (prodrugs). The increasing interest among researchers and healthcare providers regarding the therapeutic uses of marijuana is likely to fuel further growth. With more states easing marijuana restrictions, UMFG represents a unique investment opportunity.

Whole Plant Extraction Technology for Prodrug Development: A prodrug is a medication or compound that, after administration, is metabolized (i.e., converted within the body) into a pharmacologically active drug. Prodrugs are typically designed to overcome well-known drawbacks of currently available therapies. UMFG's prodrug technology enables the selective targeting of specific tissues or organs, including the gut or brain, enabling the drug to have a more targeted effect.

Whole Plant Extracts are more stable and soluble than traditional dried cannabis, extracts, and cannabinoids, so there is less risk of non-psychoactive cannabinoids such as "THC-A" being converted to psychoactive THC or otherwise degraded in the acidic stomach environment. Proprietary extracts enable the passage of cannabinoids through the digestive tract and their eventual release within the large intestine or colon, which enables targeted delivery of cannabinoids for treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Because this, these extracts can act remain effective for long duration which can also provide patients with long-lasting or overnight relief, a desirable attribute that is unavailable with medical marijuana or with current cannabinoid pharmaceutical formulations.

Site-specific delivery could enable oral drug formulations of cannabinoids to provide therapeutic benefits while reducing or avoiding the systemic delivery of psychoactive THC into the bloodstream. We believe the company's applications provide superior and differentiated products from the one's currently present in the market.

The Role of Cannabinoids in Pharmaceuticals: Cannabis contains over 100 different identifiable cannabinoids which have varied effects and could potentially be developed into treatments. However, two, in particular, are of note: 1) THC, which demonstrates psychoactive effects, and 2) Cannabidiol (CBD), which is non-psychoactive. CBD makes up the largest component of the cannabis plant (~40% by weight) and is at the centre of the medical research surrounding the endocannabinoid system. The endocannabinoid system is involved with regulating many basic functions of the human body, including sleep, appetite, metabolism, pain, digestion, reproduction, neural development and many more. Due to its widespread effects in the human body, the endocannabinoid system is believed to hold promise in treating many diseases and conditions.

CBD is known to have antianxiety as well as neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties. It has been shown to be effective in treating multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression. Though generally well tolerated, there have been instances of administered CBD getting converted into THC within an acidic stomach environment.

On the other hand, synthetic cannabinoids are known to target the endocannabinoid system in a more specific and efficient way. Many synthetic cannabinoids have been approved as drugs. Dronabinol is a synthetic THC drug that has been approved for treating nausea and for stimulating appetite. Nabiximols is a blend of two cannabinoids, THC and CBD, which has been approved in more than 20 countries for treatment of muscle spasticity in multiple sclerosis, and also for treatment of cancer pain in certain countries.

Pharmaceutical Cannabinoid Market: The global medical marijuana market is expected to reach a value of $55.8 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research. The US medical marijuana sales are projected to increase at a 13% CAGR to $13.3 billion in 2025, according to New Frontier research. Washington D.C. along with 28 states have legalized marijuana for medical uses. Cannabis has long been considered to have medicinal properties, ranging from treatment of cramps, migraines, convulsions, appetite stimulation and attenuation of nausea and vomiting. In fact, a report issued by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine indicated that the active components of Cannabis appear to be useful in treating pain, nausea, muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis as well as other problems.

There are already several approved cannabinoid drugs, including dronabinol, nabilone and nabiximols. For example, Dronabinol is a synthetic version of THC that can be prescribed to cancer and AIDS patients to combat nausea and appetite loss. Nabiximols is approved for multiple sclerosis.

As more states in the US begin to relax restrictions on medical marijuana, and as interest from the public continues to grow, there is a striking increase in the number of clinical trials being sponsored by academic investigators for use of cannabinoids to treat lucrative, large market disease indications. Given UMFG's ability to rapidly create proprietary prodrug versions of each these cannabinoids, we expect it to benefit from emerging data, and increasing recognition from the healthcare providers and regulators of the therapeutic effects of cannabinoids.

Fig 1: US Medical Marijuana Market to be ~$13.3 billion by 2025

Source: New Frontier

Fig 2: Status of Marijuana by State

Source: Georgia Care Project

Low risk regulatory strategy to lead to faster approvals: UMFG has produced 5 new extracts so far and have patent applications that include composition matter claims for extracts of cannabis that have been studied extensively in clinical trials, including THC, CBD, and CBDV. The company is looking to approve these proprietary extracts as pharmaceuticals. UMFG plans to take advantage of a more efficient FDA review and approval process that is available for 'whole plant extracts' (prodrugs), which reduces the need for large and expensive clinical trials. UMFG plans to develop prodrugs for symptomatic relief of pain, cramping, and muscle spasticity that is the result of serious neurological and inflammatory conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis. There is extensive clinical evidence supporting the potential efficacy of cannabinoids for treatment of each of these indications, including thorough clinical trials conducted by independent investigators. Because there already exists independent verification of the active drug's safety and efficacy, such products may receive marketing approval more quickly than others.

UMFG plans to complete preclinical studies necessary in order to launch multiple clinical trials in 2018 that evaluate the clinical pharmacokinetics of drug formulations containing whole plant extracts, as well as their potential for providing symptomatic relief of pain, cramping, and muscle spasticity.

The global market for multiple sclerosis drugs is currently estimated at $17.2 billion in 2014 according to GlobalData. The global market for drugs treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is predicted by Visiongain to reach $9.6 billion in annual revenues in 2017. UMFG is targeting these multi-billion dollar markets with its unique whole plant extract prodrugs.

Cannabis Technology (CannaTech) Solutions: UMFG plans to diversify by providing cannabis related technology solutions to the entire supply chain from seed to sale. UMFG is developing several Information Technology products that cover the array of specialized needs of growers, extractors, processors, or retailers. UMFG's cannatech platform aims to provide business intelligence and insights such as inventory data, sales data and pricing across various client retailers in real time. Getting visibility into inventory and sales at a location supports forecasting and helping those retailers ensure that they have the right amount of inventory at any given time.

FINANCIAL AND FUTURE OUTLOOK

Revenue/Drivers

UMFG is focused on the expanding medical marijuana market via its proprietary whole plant extraction based cannabinoid applications. The company does not have currently have any commercialized product and as such the revenues are negligible. In 1Q17, the revenues stood at ~$12,098, while the net loss stood at $2,724.

The company currently has no FDA approved product. The company is undergoing pre-clinical trials and expect to launch clinical trials in 2018. As such, we do not expect any near-term revenues. The opportunity looks huge and we believe UMFG with its proprietary extracts is well positioned to ride it.

VALUATION

We have evaluated UMFG by using a relative valuation analysis with peer companies in its sector. As stated earlier in this report, we did not use this analysis to determine the price target. The valuations of companies in this industry appear to be heavily influenced by the large market potential of cannabis-based products, rather than classic fundamental analysis. UMFG does not have pharmaceutical products approved for sale by the FDA. In our view, the key determining valuation catalyst for UMFG is whether the company can quickly get approvals for commercial launch of its products, as well as the overall market sentiment toward the cannabis industry. Important events in the near-term to gage this include clinical results from its trials, and to what extent these can show efficacy, and support the strategy that the delivery mechanism can be formulated for a platform of indications.

The current market cap of the company is just ~$103 million. The company is targeting pain and spasticity related to multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease, which combined together represent more than $25 billion in market size globally. Comparing to the opportunity size, the current market cap looks relatively small. Also, the peer group's market cap is in the range of $44 million to $2.5 billion.

Similar companies such as AXIM and Zynerba, which also currently have no FDA approved products and revenues are trading at market cap of $528 million and $237 million respectively. We believe UMFG should also trade in the similar range. Though we note that products of AXIM and ZYNE are already in clinical trial phase. Factoring this, we believe a discount of 30% might be warranted.

Applying a 30% discount to the ZYNE's market cap, we expect UMFG can command valuation of ~$166 million or $1.91 per share.

Source: Capital IQ

RISKS

Financial resources

We see access to liquidity as a key area to watch for UMFG. The company does not generate cash from its operating activities, and will require substantial capital to bring planned products to market. The company ended 1Q17 with no cash on hand and current liabilities of $218,413.

Technology Risk

The pharmaceutical market is subject to change and innovation, and UMFG is exposed to risk that new technology can be introduced which might be make its existing technology. The market for cannabinoid pharmaceuticals is characterized by new investment and new companies entering the market, and UMFG could be exposed to risk from the innovations of these companies.

Competition

UMFG operates in a highly competitive industry. We expect the company to face significant competitive forces from the existing competitors as well as new entrants.

Regulatory Risk

UMFG operates in a highly regulated industry, and will be unable to market its products in the United States without receiving clearance from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Outcomes of the FDA approval process are inherently uncertain and can meaningfully impact future earnings.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

Sean Ross, President

Sean Ross is the President, Secretary, Principal Executive Officer of the company. He was also appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors and as a Director on December 1, 2014.

Nicole Merion, Director Business Development

Nicole Merion was appointed as the Director of Business Development in May 2017. Nicole Merion brings a wealth of scientific knowledge and contacts at the highest levels of academia and production, facilitating UMF Group Inc.'s vision of operating at the cutting edge of technology and research. She also brings a history of production and development to the company and has been working in the Cannabis field for the past ten years.

Disclaimer

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Emerging Markets Consulting, LLC

Florida Office

15701 State Road 50, Suite #205

Clermont, FL 34711

E-mail: jamespainter@emergingmarketsllc.com

Web: www.emergingmarketsllc.com

SOURCE: Practical Research Partners
IRW-PRESS: Golden Dawn Minerals: Golden Dawn beginnt mit der Entwasserung und Instandsetzung der Lexington Mine

Golden Dawn beginnt mit der Entwasserung und Instandsetzung der Lexington Mine

Vancouver, 27. September 2017 - Wolf Wiese, CEO von Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. (TSX-V: GOM; FRANKFURT: 3G8A) (das Unternehmen oder Golden Dawn), informiert im Folgenden uber den aktuellen Stand der Aktivitaten im Edelmetallprojekt Greenwood.

Mine Lexington

Das Unternehmen hat das Umweltministerium der Provinz British Columbia innerhalb der erforderlichen 72-Stunden-Frist informiert, dass die Mobilisierung von Maschinen und Geraten sowie Einsatzpersonal zur Einleitung der Entwasserungsarbeiten in der Lexington Mine erfolgt ist. Das Unternehmen hat derzeit einen Vertragspartner vor Ort und stellt in Zusammenarbeit mit seinem Umweltberater sicher, dass dieses Projekt den Auflagen entsprechend umgesetzt wird. Das erste Entwasserungsprogramm wird laut Schatzung rund vier Wochen in Anspruch nehmen, wobei bis zu 1.000 Kubikmeter pro Tag abgeleitet werden. Anschlieend erfolgt eine kontinuierliche Drainage von bis zu 35 Kubikmeter taglich. Der Zugang zur Mine erfolgt uber zwei Fallstrecken, die im Zuge der Entwasserungsmanahmen saniert werden.

Sobald die Mine vollstandig ausgepumpt wurde, kann die permanente Bergbauinfrastruktur, wie z.B. Stromversorgung und Beluftung, installiert werden, um einen untertagigen Bergbaubetrieb zu ermoglichen. Im Rahmen der ersten Arbeiten werden Kartierungen und Probenahmen in den Abbaubereichen sowie Definitionsbohrungen zur Validierung der Ressourcen und zur unterstutzenden Planung eines Pilotbetriebs durchgefuhrt. Durch den Abbau im Pilotbetrieb soll Beschickungsmaterial fur die Verarbeitungsanlage bereitgestellt werden.

Explorationsprogramm

Im Konzessionsgebiet Golden Crown, wo sich auch die Verarbeitungsanlage und das Absetzbecken fur die Ruckstande befinden, wurden die Explorationsbohrungen Ende August fortgesetzt. Derzeit wird ein Bohrprogramm umgesetzt, mit dem die bekannten Mineralressourcen im Konzessionsgebiet verifiziert und anhand von Erganzungsbohrungen erweitert werden sollen. Bis dato wurden funfzehn Locher fertiggestellt. Diese Arbeiten finden in Vorbereitung auf das Genehmigungsverfahren fur den Bergbaubetrieb Golden Crown in der zweiten Jahreshalfte 2018 statt. Ebenfalls in dieser Saison haben die Geologen des Unternehmens zahlreiche historische Abbaustatten und Mineralaufschlusse untersucht, um weitere Bohrziele abzugrenzen und so die Materialmengen fur die Beschickung der Verarbeitungsanlage in den Folgejahren zu steigern. Samtliche historischen Abbaustatten und aktiven Minen sind weniger als 15 km von der Verarbeitungsanlage des Unternehmens entfernt.

Im Anschluss an das ausgedehnte untertagige Bohrprogramm, das im spaten Fruhjahr diesen Jahres erfolgreich absolviert werden konnte, wurde in der Mine May Mac ein obertagiges Diamantbohrprogramm in begrenztem Umfang durchgefuhrt. Von der Oberflache ausgehend wurden insgesamt 8 Bohrungen uber 1.886 Meter niedergebracht. In diesen Bohrlochern sollten die Auslaufer des Erzgangsystems Skomac in nordwestlicher Streichrichtung erkundet werden. In 7 von 8 Lochern wurden mineralisierte Quarzgange durchteuft, im daruber liegenden Gestein wurde hingegen eine versprengte Kupfermineralisierung durchschnitten. Bemerkenswerte Analyseergebnisse konnten in Loch BF17-03 erzielt werden, wo in einer Tiefe zwischen 204,34 und 204,7 Meter 1,13 g/t Gold, 23,0 g/t Silber und 0,7 % Blei auf 0,36 Meter durchteuft wurden. In einer Tiefe zwischen 45,0 und 45,79 Meter (0,79 Meter-Abschnitt) wurde eine unbekannte Kupfermineralisierung durchschnitten, die 0,24 % Kupfer enthielt.

Die Bohrergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die Auslaufer des Erzgangsystems noch weit uber den aktuellen Abbaubereich hinausreichen und sich vom Ende des Stollens auf Ebene 7 aus mindestens 215 Meter in nordwestlicher Richtung fortsetzen. Weitere Bohrungen sind angezeigt, um mineralisierte Erzfalle im Bereich der Struktur aufzufinden. Bedingt durch die topographischen Eigenschaften dieses Gebiets wird das Erzgangsystem von einer Gesteinsschicht uberlagert, die in nordwestlicher Richtung entlang des Streichens immer machtiger wird. Daraus ergeben sich hohere Kosten und auch Schwierigkeiten bei der exakten Auffindung der Erzgange in der Tiefe. Das Unternehmen wird daher vom Untergrund ausgehend Folgebohrungen durchfuhren. Fur dieses Programm wurde ein Antrag auf Genehmigung einer Erweiterung von Ebene 7 der Mine samt untertagigen Diamantbohrungen eingereicht. Das Unternehmen ist zum Schluss gekommen, dass der Abbau von Material aus der Mine Lexington fur die Beschickung der Verarbeitungsanlage oberste Prioritat hat.

Das Unternehmen hat Kostenschatzungen fur die Wiederinbetriebnahme der unternehmenseigenen Muhle eingeholt, und die Vertragspartner sind einstimmig der Meinung, dass sich die Anlage in einem ausgezeichneten Zustand befindet und fur eine 3-5-wochige Sanierung zur Herstellung der Betriebstuchtigkeit Kosten in Hohe von rund 270.000 Dollar zu veranschlagen sind. Die Arbeiten zur Wiederinbetriebnahme der Verarbeitungsanlage nach der Drainage der Mine Lexington werden voraussichtlich zeitgleich mit der Forderung von Beschickungsmaterial aus der Mine Lexington beginnen.

Die vorstehenden Bohrproben wurden unter der Aufsicht von Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo. gewonnen und zur Analyse an das Labor von Bureau Veritas Minerals in Vancouver (British Columbia) ubermittelt. Bureau Veritas ist ein unabhangiges Auftragslabor mit ISO 9001-Zertifizierung. Die Goldanalyse erfolgte mittels Brandprobe (30 g-Einwaage) und einem abschlieenden ICP-ES-Verfahren. Diejenigen Proben, die reich an sichtbarer Sulfidmineralisierung waren, wurden erneut auf ihren Goldgehalt analysiert. Silber und andere Elemente wurden anhand eines beinahe vollstandigen Aufschlusses aus vier Sauren (ICP-ES-Verfahren) analysiert. Die Qualitatskontrolle wurde mittels Referenz- und Leerproben, die dem Probenstrom in bestimmten Abstanden beigefugt wurden, sichergestellt. Derzeit werden Testanalysen anhand von ausgewahlten Proben durchgefuhrt.

Der fachliche Inhalt dieser Pressemeldung wurde von Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo, Chief Operating Officer des Unternehmens, in seiner Eigenschaft als qualifizierter Sachverstandiger gema Vorschrift NI 43-101 genehmigt.

Fur das Board of Directors: GOLDEN DAWN MINERALS INC.

Wolf Wiese, President & Chief Executive Officer

Weitere Informationen erhalten Sie uber: Corporate Communications (PR-Abteilung) 604-221-8936 allinfo@goldendawnminerals.com

Diese Pressemitteilung wurde vom Management erstellt, welches auch die volle Verantwortung fur deren Inhalt ubernimmt. Die TSX Venture Exchange und deren Regulierungsorgane (in den Statuten der TSX Venture Exchange als Regulation Services Provider bezeichnet) ubernehmen keinerlei Verantwortung fur die Angemessenheit oder Genauigkeit dieser Meldung. Dieses Dokument enthalt bestimmte zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen, die bekannte und unbekannte Risiken, Verzogerungen und Ungewissheiten in sich bergen, welche nicht im Einflussbereich des Unternehmens liegen und dazu fuhren konnen, dass sich tatsachliche Ergebnisse, Leistungen oder Erfolge des Unternehmens erheblich von den Ergebnissen, Leistungen oder Erfolgen unterscheiden, die in diesen zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen zum Ausdruck gebracht wurden. Wir bemuhen uns um das Safe-Harbour-Zertifikat.

Die Ausgangssprache (in der Regel Englisch), in der der Originaltext veroffentlicht wird, ist die offizielle, autorisierte und rechtsgultige Version. Diese Ubersetzung wird zur besseren Verstandigung mitgeliefert. Die deutschsprachige Fassung kann gekurzt oder zusammengefasst sein. Es wird keine Verantwortung oder Haftung: fur den Inhalt, fur die Richtigkeit, der Angemessenheit oder der Genauigkeit dieser Ubersetzung ubernommen. Aus Sicht des Ubersetzers stellt die Meldung keine Kauf- oder Verkaufsempfehlung dar! Bitte beachten Sie die englische Originalmeldung auf www.sedar.com , www.sec.gov , www.asx.com.au/ oder auf der Firmenwebsite!

Die englische Originalmeldung finden Sie unter folgendem Link: http://www.irw-press.at/press_html.aspx?messageID=40968 Die ubersetzte Meldung finden Sie unter folgendem Link: http://www.irw-press.at/press_html.aspx?messageID=40968&tr=1

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ISIN CA3808956070

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Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - September 28, 2017) - Atrium Mortgage Investment Corporation (TSX: AI) (TSX: AI.DB) (TSX: AI.DB.A) (TSX: AI.DB.B) (TSX: AI.DB.C) is pleased to announce that the underwriters of its previously completed public offering of common shares exercised in full their over-allotment option, resulting in the issue of an additional 379,800 shares. The exercise of the over-allotment option brings the total gross proceeds of the public offering to $34,504,830. The underwriting syndicate for the offering of shares was bookrun by TD Securities Inc. and RBC Capital Markets and co-led by CIBC Capital Markets, and included Scotiabank, BMO Capital Markets, National Bank Financial Inc., Canaccord Genuity Corp., GMP Securities L.P., Industrial Alliance Securities Inc. and Raymond James Ltd.

Atrium will use the net proceeds from the exercise of the over-allotment option to repay existing indebtedness under its revolving operating credit facility, which will then be available to be drawn, as required, for general corporate purposes, particularly funding future mortgage loan opportunities.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. The securities being offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States unless an exemption from registration is available. This news release is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of Atrium in any jurisdiction.

About Atrium

Canada's Premier Non-Bank Lender

Atrium is a non-bank provider of residential and commercial mortgages that lends in major urban centres in Canada where the stability and liquidity of real estate are high. Atrium's objectives are to provide its shareholders with stable and secure dividends and preserve shareholders' equity by lending within conservative risk parameters.

Atrium is a Mortgage Investment Corporation (MIC) as defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada), so is not taxed on income provided that its taxable income is paid to its shareholders in the form of dividends within 90 days after December 31 each year. Such dividends are generally treated by shareholders as interest income, so that each shareholder is in the same position as if the mortgage investments made by the company had been made directly by the shareholder. For further information, please refer to regulatory filings available at www.sedar.com or Atrium's website at www.atriummic.com.

For further information, please contact

Robert G. Goodall

President and Chief Executive Officer

(416) 867-1053

info@atriummic.com

www.atriummic.com

Jeffrey D. Sherman

Chief Financial Officer

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.




Borger, Texas--(Newsfile Corp. - August 9, 2017) - Molori Energy Inc. (TSXV: MOL) (OTCQB: MOLOF) ("Molori" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that site preparation is presently underway for the company's first of three Red Cave wells to be drilled in District 10, Texas. Molori's Texas-based operating partner has submitted permits for the next two Red Cave wells the company plans to drill and anticipates receipt of those permits by mid-August. The permits will cover various leases, multiple pay zones including the Red Cave at approximately 2500 feet, Brown Dolomite and Granite Wash zones, and will include rights to both oil and gas.

The drill rig is expected to be fully-operational and the first well spud within 10 days. Following spud, it's anticipated that it will take a further 10-14 days to complete the well, after which the first well will be tested and a decision made as to whether to frac, and if so, what size of frac will be most effective.

Molori estimates the cost of the first well to a target depth of approximately 3,000 - 3500 feet, at between USD $225,000 and USD $300,000.

Commented Joel Dumaresq, CEO of Molori, "With the spud of our first well, we are excited to begin this next phase in Molori's growth and evolution. The locations of our first three wells have been meticulously chosen following several months of work and evaluation. The application of leading edge drilling and fracking techniques in the Red Cave and adjoining formations, presents an exceptional opportunity for us to accelerate our growth in production and reserves."

If indeed successful, and on the Texas Panhandle acreage already under lease, there is the potential for drilling up to an additional 800 wells. Efforts are also progressing to secure additional acreage with access to the Red Cave.

About Molori

Molori Energy Inc. is an oil and gas production company with current operations in the Texas Panhandle West Field.The Company owns a 25 percent working interest in certain leases located in the bifurcated Texas panhandle, operated by Texas-based independent oil and gas producer Ponderosa Energy, LLC ("Ponderosa"), This giant field was discovered in 1910 and expanded three years later to create one of the largest gas fields in the US The experienced management team at Molori is aggressively acquiring select properties which provide immediate cash flow and development opportunities, now and in the years ahead. Molori is seizing the opportunity, in the current oil & gas environment, to assemble oil and gas production now in the years ahead.

Contact Information:

Judy-Ann Pottinger

Director of Communications

Molori Energy Inc.

(604) 617-5290

judy-ann@molorienergy.com

www.molorienergy.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEW RELEASE.

Cautionary Notes Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include but are not limited to those with respect to the prices of oil and gas, the estimation of oil and gas resources and reserves, the realization of oil and gas reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and timing of the development of new deposits, success of exploration activities, permitting time lines, currency fluctuations, requirements for additional capital, Government regulation of oil and gas operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims and limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of pending litigation. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words 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 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 uncertainties include, among others, the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions or economic evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, possible variations in grade and or recovery rates, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, accidents, labor disputes or other risks of the oil & gas industry, delays in obtaining government approvals or financing or incompletion of development or construction activities, risks relating to the integration of acquisitions, to international operations, and to the prices of oil & gas. While the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be 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. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as required by law.
TULSA, OK -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- AppSwarm, Corp (OTC: SWRM), a company focused on the acquisition and development of application-based technologies, announced it has reached an agreement with Winrock Financial LTD for their first acquisition tranche of $1,000,000.

Corporate Management stated, "We are pleased to have our first acquisition capital partner, Winrock Financial LTD, on board. With offices in London and Belize, Winrock hopes to attract other related groups into our M & A capital fund allowing us to move forward on multiple opportunities.

AppSwarm is currently in active acquisition discussions with three firms within the mobile gaming industry. This funding allows us to more aggressively seek to close one of the three proposed transactions."

The Company is pursuing opportunities in acquisition and development projects, along with publishing opportunities for immediate growth and diversity of related revenue streams.

About AppSwarm

AppSwarm, Corp is a technology development and incubation company focused in accelerating the development of mobile applications and technology, fast-tracking product to market. AppSwarm partners with application developers through joint ventures, royalty agreements, marketing partnerships, and outright purchase agreements.

For more information, visit us at www.app-swarm.com, or follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AppSwarm or Twitter https://twitter.com/appswarm

DISCLOSURES: "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risk and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products, product demand, market acceptance risks, fluctuations in operating results, political risk and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with OTCMarkets.com and as required to the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks could cause SWRM's actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, the Company.

Investor and Media Contacts:

AppSwarm, Inc.

888-886-8583

info@app-swarm.com

www.app-swarm.com




LONDON, September 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Following successful environmental certification, the online print provider Onlineprinters has received the French Imprim'Vert label, which translates as "green print". The company has proved the eco-friendly design of its complete manufacturing chain from purchasing to production, energy management and raising staff awareness. "Our customers from all over Europe will benefit from this certification. We used the opportunity to make our production processes, which are already sustainable and resource-saving, even more environmentally friendly," Dr. Michael Fries, CEO of Onlineprinters, comments on the step.

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/554864/Onlineprinters_imprim_vert.jpg )



Imprim'Vert: Criteria for the eco-label

The label is awarded by an advisory board comprised of members from chambers, authorities and associations. To be certified, companies have to meet five criteria: Disposal of hazardous wastes in line with standards, safe storage of harmful liquids, no use of toxic substances, monitoring of the energy consumption and raising the awareness of staff and customers to handle resources in a sustainable manner.

Sustainability is a part of the business model

"The certification has supported us with taking further optimisation measures in various areas. At the same time, environmental protection and sustainability have been a priority for Onlineprinters and the online print business model from the very beginning," Dr. Michael Fries points out, referring among others to the implementation of technologies that reduce waste paper and the use of papers from sustainable forestry and carbon neutral shipping. Environmental consultant, BenoAt Moreau, who is a licensed auditor of Imprim'Vert, has inspected the Onlineprinters production site and comments as follows: "Onlineprinters has already adopted very eco-friendly solutions in many areas." For example, a lot of waste paper is avoided by combining print jobs on so-called combined-run forms. The central ink supply considerably reduces packaging material, printing plates are recycled and the computer centre of the online shop operates with a zero carbon footprint.

Eco-friendly print increasingly important for customers

Onlineprinters aims to introduce eco-friendly and sustainable production solutions in all its workflows. For example, the online print provider generally ships all parcels carbon neutrally at no extra cost. Moreover, Onlineprinters introduced the option of carbon neutral printing in 2013. So far, customers have chosen this option for as much as 200,000 orders, which is equivalent to 3,900 economy flights from Frankfurt to New York. These receipts are used to support different international environmental protection projects.

About Onlineprinters

The Onlineprinters group is one of Europe's leading online printers. True to the motto "Print simply online", the group delivers printed products to 700,000 customers in 30 European countries through its 17 web shops. Internationally, the online print provider is known under the brand name of Onlineprinters, in Germany it operates as diedruckerei.de. Solopress, the UK market leader in online printing, is also a member of the group. The product assortment comprises 1,500 printed products from business cards, stationery and flyers to catalogues, brochures and large-format advertising systems. Onlineprinters produces customized products on an industrial scale: The company's pillars of success are online sales, IT-based production and "combined run printing". The latter uses so-called combined blocks to collectively produce print jobs to minimize costs and reduce the environmental impact. The Onlineprinters group has more than 900 employees and produced over 2.5 billion printed products last year.

About Imprim'Vert

The Imprim'Vert label, a network of 200 environmental representatives, was founded by the Chamber of Commerce of the Loir-et-Cher region (France) in 1998. Since 2007, P2I (Printing Innovation Pole) has been the owner of the brand and manages the national and international operations. At present, more than 2,200 print shops in France and the European Union are certified with the Imprim'Vert label.

The video "A look behind the scenes of Onlineprinters"

http://bit.ly/onlineprinters-en-video

Press contact

Onlineprinters GmbH

Patrick Piecha

Head of Press & Public Relations

Phone: +49-9161-6209807

press@onlineprinters.uk

http://www.onlineprinters.co.uk
Signing Ceremony

Power plant construction site map



Joseph Hood, PR Manager Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Email: mhi-pr@mhi.co.jp Tel: +81-(0)3-6716-2168 Fax: +81-(0)3-6716-5860

TOKYO, June 21, 2017 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. and Sumitomo Corporation signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Societe Tunisienne de l'Electricite et du Gaz (STEG) for a gas-fired combined cycle power plant with a generation capacity of 450 MW in Rades, in Ben Arous Governorate, the Tunisian Republic.The Power Plant construction site is located about 10 km east of the Tunisian capital, Tunis. After the start of its operation, it is expected to provide about 10% of the country's total power generating capacity. The power plant will adopt gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) generation, which is highly efficient with less greenhouse gases, and aims to start with gas turbine initial operation in May 2019, with combined cycle full operation starting in April 2020. The project cost is approximately 38 billion yen, which is financed by the Japanese Official Development Assistant (ODA) organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).In constructing the Power Plant, Sumitomo Corporation will provide balance of plant and undertake civil and installation work. MHPS will provide a M701F gas turbine, a heat recovery steam generator and a steam turbine, and dispatch technical advisors and supervisors to support during the installation and commissioning periods. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation will provide generators. At the same time, MHPS's European subsidiary signed a six-year maintenance contract. In 1985, MHPS delivered gas and oil-fired boilers and steam turbines for a power plant in the same power station, which is still being operated in good condition at a high availability.Following the democratization that occurred with so called the 'Jasmine Revolution' in 2011, Tunisia's economic growth has accelerated, making the development of new power sources a vital issue. The Power Plant will contribute to the Japanese government's "Partnership for Quality Infrastructure" initiative, and Japanese funds and technology will be utilized to meet domestic power demand and help improving basic infrastructure in Tunisia.Sumitomo Corporation has been involved in the construction (EPC) of power plants worldwide with a total capacity exceeding 50,000 MW, and will leverage its extensive track record and experience of successfully completed agreements to enhance its infrastructure-related business on a global scale, thereby contributing to the economic development of countries across the planet through infrastructure improvement.MHPS will continue to promote GTCC generation facilities globally, in order to pursue effective use of natural resources, stable energy supplies, in reduction of environmental impact and sustainability.http://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_SigningCeremony62117.jpgSigning Ceremonyhttp://www.acnnewswire.com/topimg/Low_MHIPowerPlant.jpgPower plant construction site mapAbout Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), headquartered in Tokyo, is one of the world's leading industrial firms with 80,000 group employees and annual consolidated revenues of around 38 billion U.S. dollars. For more than 130 years, the company has channeled big thinking into innovative and integrated solutions that move the world forward. MHI owns a unique business portfolio covering land, sea, sky and even space. MHI delivers innovative and integrated solutions across a wide range of industries from commercial aviation and transportation to power plants and gas turbines, and from machinery and infrastructure to integrated defense and space systems.For more information, please visit the MHI Group website: http://www.mhi-global.com.For Technology, Trends and Tangents, visit MHI's new online media SPECTRA: http://spectra.mhi.com.Source: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Contact:Copyright 2017 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Republican Karen Handel has won a closely contested special House election in Georgia, which was seen as an acid test for President Donald Trump's presidency.



Handel, who has been Georgia's Secretary of State, won 52.7 percent of the votes against her Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, who garnered 47.3.



The special election was called after Rep. Tom Price vacated the seat to become the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Federal Cabinet.



Price had won re-election by more than 23 percentage points last November.



However, even a narrow victory by Handel is seen as a face-saver for Trump, and as a sign of support for his agenda.



In South Carolina fifth district, Republican Ralph Norman beat Democrat Archie Parnell. Norman won by a surprisingly close 3-point margin in a solidly conservative area.



These wins protected Republicans' 24-seat majority in the House of Representatives.



With the President's approval rate at a low level, and the Government mired in controversy surrounding the Trump Campaign's Russian connection, Democrats had hoped to strike a blow against Trump's presidency.



Georgia's sixth district is a traditionally safe Republican forte, but the GOP had to spent a record-setting $50 million to retain a seat that looked to be slipping from the party.



Democrats too have been pumping money into the race, making it the most expensive congressional contest in history.



The House seat became a focus of Democrats nationwide rallying against Trump, pitting a political newcomer Jon Ossoff against the businesswoman-turned politician.



Trump himself led the attack against Ossoff, claiming the documentary filmmaker and former congressional staffer wants to raise taxes and kill health care.



'Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you,' Trump said on Twitter Wednesday.



Handel gave a special thanks to Trump in addition to thanking House Speaker Ryan, the House leadership and 'so many of the members across this country'.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Cloudinary's Website Speed Test Image Analysis Tool Examines Content, Format and Size to Optimize Images for Better User Experience

Known for its easy-to-use media management solution, Cloudinary today announced it has joined forces with WebPagetest to deliver more detailed insights into how images impact a website's load speed. Cloudinary will provide measurable and actionable information about how to go beyond simple compression to optimize web performance. The Cloudinary Website Speed Test Image Analysis Tool will enable WebPagetest users to discover how changes to image size, format selection, quality and encoding parameters can drastically improve website speed and ultimately result in a better user experience for web visitors.

"Images now make up more than 60 percent of an average webpage's weight, so effectively managing images is vital to any website's performance," said Itai Lahan, CEO and co-founder of Cloudinary. "Website performance analysis tools are popular for gauging the impact of images on websites, but they typically only focus on simple compression tips. Our partnership with WebPagetest will enable its users to dive deeper into the challenges images present for their sites, and show them ways to manage images for optimal user experience."

Available now, Cloudinary's Website Speed Test tool will enhance WebPagetest results by examining the content in the images and the formats used, as well as the size. Using its advanced algorithms, Cloudinary will show users how to encode, optimize and resize images, and the impact that will have on page load time. Cloudinary takes into account many factors, including the exact content of an image and the need for responsive design, so images are encoded correctly and look their best regardless of device or viewport and the type of browser on which the page is viewed.

Website Speed Test tool users then will have the option to leverage Cloudinary's cloud-based solution to automate image management and optimization across their sites in order to deliver a superior end-user experience.

"If not handled correctly, images can have a serious impact on website performance," said Patrick Meenan, creator of WebPagetest. "With its proven expertise in image management, Cloudinary is the ideal partner to expand the capabilities of WebPagetest and provide the insights that help our users improve their web development practices."

About Cloudinary

Cloudinary provides a comprehensive cloud-based image and video management solution. With offices in Israel, London and Sunnyvale, Calif., Cloudinary has quickly become the de facto solution used by web and mobile application developers at major companies around the world to streamline image and video management, and deliver an optimal end user experience. Among Cloudinary users are Answers.com, Conde Nast, Gawker, Gizmodo, TED, The Knot, Under Armour, Vogue, Wired and many others. For more information, visit www.cloudinary.com or follow on Twitter @cloudinary.

About WebPagetest

WebPagetest is an open source project that is primarily being developed and supported by Google as part of their efforts to make the web faster. It is a tool that was originally developed by AOL for use internally and was open-sourced in 2008 under a BSD license. The platform is under active development on GitHub and is also packaged up periodically and available for download.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005361/en/

Contacts:

Cloudinary

Nathaniel Hawthorne

cloudinary@bocacommunications.com
CRESCO, PA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/10/17 -- NSAV Holding, Inc. (OTC: NSAV), today announced that its subsidiary, Hemp Beer Inc., will officially launch its e-commerce website on September 5, 2017. The state of the art website will market Hemp Beer and a host of related products. Hemp Beer Inc., will be spun-out as a separate publicly traded company later this month. NSAV plans to develop and market a premium line of hemp beer in both the U.S. and China, two of the world's largest beer consumers. Analysts forecast the global hemp-based foods market to grow at a CAGR of 20.3% during the period 2016-2020.

Last week the Company announced that it will spin-off 20% of Hemp Beer Inc. to its shareholders, who will be awarded with a share dividend based upon their holdings of NSAV on the August 22, 2017 record date. Shareholders will receive approximately one share of Hemp Beer Inc. common stock for every 17 shares of NSAV common stock that they hold on the record date. The dividend will be payable on or around September 5, 2017.

James Tilton, president of NSAV stated, "There can be no denying that online sales of hemp related items, especially food and beverage products, are increasing at an unimaginable rate and NSAV is poised to take full advantage of this. I'm sure all of our shareholders can now see why I chose Hemp Beer to be our first spin-off into a standalone public company."

NSAV's vision is the establishment of a fully integrated technology company that provides turnkey technological solutions to the legal medical cannabis and hemp industries, as well as other areas of the medical industry. Over time, the Company plans to provide a wide range of services such as software solutions, e-commerce, advisory services, financial services, patents and trademarks and information technology.

For further information please contact NSAV at 1 (480) 326-8577 or tenassociates33@gmail.com

The NSAV corporate email address is info@nsavholdinginc.com

The NSAV corporate website can be accessed at http://nsavholdinginc.com

The NSAV Twitter account can be accessed at https://twitter.com/NSAV_MJTechCo

The NSAV Facebook account can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/NSAVHolding

This press release contains certain 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, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Investors are cautioned that, all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, the ability of NSAV Holding, Inc. to accomplish its stated plan of business. NSAV Holding, Inc. believes that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, and therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward- looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a representation by NSAV Holding, Inc. or any other person.

Contact

TEN Associates LLC

1 (480) 326-8577

tenassociates33@gmail.com




- The Socially Responsible Company distinction (Distintivo ESR Empresa Socialmente Responsable in Spanish) is one of the most important recognitions in the field of corporate social responsibility in Latin America

- It is awarded to companies that maintain high standards in working conditions, corporate ethics, engagement with the community and environmental protection

NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Atento S.A. (NYSE: ATTO), the leading provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing services (CRM/BPO) in Latin America, and one of the three top providers worldwide, received the 2017 Socially Responsible Company distinction ESR in Mexico, Argentina and Peru.

This is a top recognition in the field of corporate social responsibility in Latin America, certifying companies that maintain high standards in working conditions, corporate ethics, engagement with the community and environmental protection. Atento has held this distinction in Mexico since 2017 and has now received it for the sixth and fifth time in Argentina and Peru respectively.

According to Atento CEO Alejandro Reynal, "In an environment of growing digitization driving major challenges and opportunities for the region of Latin America, our company remains loyal to its mission of generating value for its customers, employees and the communities where it operates." Reynal added, "Receiving the Socially Responsible Company distinction for another year is recognition to our company's goal to making our society a more sustainable world by remaining committed to people as true engines of social development."

The SRC Award was created in Mexico by the Mexican Center for Philanthropy (CEMEFI) and is given each year to organizations that satisfactorily meet its standards in the categories of business ethics, corporate social responsibility, environmental protection and community engagement. This distinction certifies a company in the eyes of employees, investors, clients, authorities and society overall as having voluntarily and publicly made a commitment to corporate socially responsibility as part of its business culture and strategy.

In the words of Atento's Chief People Officer Inaki Cebollero, "We are very pleased to receive this recognition highlighting the dedication and effort of everyone at Atento to contribute responsibly to the societies where we operate." Cebollero added, "This award further motivates us to continue making progress on the fundamental pillars of corporate social responsibility at Atento: generating employment and economic development as well as committing to the community and eco-efficiency."

About Atento

Atento is the largest provider of customer relationship management and business process outsourcing (CRM BPO) services in Latin America, and among the top three providers globally, based on revenues. Atento is also a leading provider of nearshoring CRM/BPO services to companies that carry out their activities in the United States. Since 1999, the company has developed its business model in 13 countries where it employs 150,000 people. Atento has over 400 clients to whom it offers a wide range of CRM/BPO services through multiple channels. Atento's clients are mostly leading multinational corporations in sectors such as telecommunications, banking and financial services, health, retail and public administrations, among others. Atento's shares trade under the symbol ATTO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In 2016, Atento was named one of the World's 25 Best Multinational Workplaces by Great Place to Work for a fourth consecutive year. For more information visit www.atento.com.

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Mambu provides a best-in-class SaaS banking engine - in response to long-term market trends, helping financial service providers retain relevance and sustainability

LONDON, Aug. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Based on its recent analysis of the native cloud software-as-a-service (SaaS) banking and lending core market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Mambu with the 2017 Europe Frost & Sullivan Award for Growth Excellence Leadership. Mambu has grabbed the first-mover advantage in the space by offering a lean and modern SaaS engine to power innovative loan and deposit products, the cloud-based alternative to legacy core systems.It can deploy in months, employs a subscription pricing structure that moves away from the traditional license model and ensures that growth is truly tied to its customers' success.

Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/545463/Mambu_Award_logo.jpg

Mambu identified the need for a native cloud SaaS engine based on its observation of other consumer-focused industries, the emergence of FinTech start-ups, and the changes occurring in emerging markets where innovative solutions were being used to reach underserved customers. The company engages in collaborative conversations with decision makers to understand strategic plans and overcome challenges. Subsequently, it provides guidance on how the Mambu environment can best be used to aid business growth and help the client execute a digital-first strategy. This approach enables Mambu to lay the foundation for long-term business expansion.

As part of its geographic growth strategy, the company partners with local consultants and product and integration partners that work directly with banks and financial institutions. As it is able to integrate easily with other best-in-class solutions, rather than being the one vendor that offers all solutions, Mambu maintains focus on its area of expertise and improves its solution for enterprise clients. It also works with many FinTech focused startup accelerators, such as Barclays Accelerator, Startupbootcamp, Ynext incubator, and Supercharger, providing program members with discounted access to its platform to enable them to launch more easily.

"Mambu develops a close working relationship with its clients and tries to understand their business strategies and challenges better.This not only ensures an enhanced relationship with customers, but also helps the company to shape their own product, understand market requirements and hone its partnership roadmap. Mambu clearly puts customer relationship management to the best use to identify long term market trends and retain relevance and sustainability," said Deepali Sathe, Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager."To present customers with the best possible customer experience, Mambu product delivery and support is provided by in-house solution experts aligned with the customer's needs regarding the project from the very beginning."

Traditional systems take months and often years before a project takes off, with the follow-up changes and updates all contributing to additional expenses. The losses incurred by delays in time to market and an inability to introduce products in new markets creates a strong case for cloud-based systems. Furthermore, customers realize that in a quickly developing and innovative market, loss of revenues as the result of slow execution impacts both business and credibility. The superior value that Mambu delivers with its cloud solutions far outweighs customers' price concerns.

"Apart from boasting a device-agnostic platform that enables real-time collaboration services like email notifications, Mambu's system employs an intuitive interface and imparts impressive agility to enterprise clients," noted Sathe. "In order to ensure an enhanced user experience, Mambudeploys evolving releases as well as new features and workshops. Every client works within a secure cloud environment, with global redundancy, data security and isolation, and in compliance with local regulations."

Overall, the plethora of value-added services and capabilities has earned Mambu the leadership position in the developing SaaS banking engine market and importantly, has set it up for future growth.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in growth and customer value. It recognizes the superiority of the product/service as well as the overall customer, purchase, ownership, and service experience offered, which has resulted in the recipient company seeing above-market growth and increased revenue. The award lauds the growth, diversification, and sustainability strategies of the company.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About Mambu

Mambu is the SaaS banking engine powering innovative loan and deposit products, the lean alternative to cumbersome core banking systems. Helping clients to successfully start up new business ventures, transform existing operations, launch new products and expand into new markets. Mambu provides financial institutions of all sizes with the agility to rapidly design, launch, service and scale their banking and lending portfolio.

Launched in 2011, our technology powers over 5000 loan and deposit products which serve nearly 4 million end customers. With more than 180 live operations in over 45 countries, ranging from FinTech revolutionaries to traditional banks, Mambu is helping financial institutions evolve and thrive in the digital age.

For more information, please visit our website or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector, and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Contact:

Andrea Steinman

P: 210.477.8425

F: 210.348.1003

E: andrea.steinman@frost.com
AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwired - June 21, 2017) - Bridgepoint Consulting, a leading Texas-based finance, IT and management consulting firm, has named Karen Nicolaou as Director of its Turnaround & Dispute Resolution practice in Houston. Nicolaou will help organizations realign themselves with new strategic plans, crisis management, repositioning and other transition situations.

Nicolaou has 30 years of proven experience as a strategic financial consultant with expertise in restructuring, workout, bankruptcies, trust administration and litigation support. She also has extensive experience managing and supporting companies in distressed and transition situations, including multiple healthcare-related and physician groups.

"Karen's extensive background with bankruptcy and turnaround management, especially in the healthcare industry, will play a key role in strengthening our firm's capabilities in the Houston market," said Bill Patterson, Principal at Bridgepoint Consulting. "We're excited she has joined our team."

Nicolaou is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Valuation Analyst that holds a Bachelor's of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.

Bridgepoint Consulting has offices in Austin, Houston and Dallas. The firm has supported a broad range of clients including financial institutions, government organizations, law firms, family offices and corporations. Additional information about Bridgepoint's services can be found here.

About Bridgepoint Consulting

Bridgepoint Consulting is a leading Texas-based professional services firm that provides strategic services and highly qualified professionals to solve complex financial, management and technology challenges. Since 1999, we've been helping executives and management teams reduce their business and operational risks, bridge resource gaps and improve overall performance. Whether an organization needs interim expertise to improve infrastructure and processes, or strategic management of a major transition or transaction, Bridgepoint's team of 140+ qualified professionals can help. The firm has offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston. For more information on Bridgepoint Consulting, please visit our website at www.BridgepointConsulting.com

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/6/20/11G141496/Images/Karen_Nicolaou-65ea1f94d751bb06afe786af8ebb2c1f.jpg

Contact:

Gina Budd

Bridgepoint Consulting

Ph. 512-422-6571

gbudd@bridgepointconsulting.com
PUNE, India, October 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Magnetic Bearings Market 2017-2022 Global Trends and Forecast Report, Consistent with our stated policy of making, available the best research and analysis report added by ReportsnReports.com to its research database.

Global Magnetic Bearings Market 2017 Industry Research Report is spread across 111 pages, profiles 18 companies and the Magnetic Bearings market analysis in this study is supported with tables and figures on the industry and its players.

Magnetic Bearings market study that is comprehensive in nature, details the current state of the industry while providing a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Magnetic Bearings market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions' development status. Complete report is now available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/993290-global-magnetic-bearings-market-research-report-2017.html .

Market Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Region, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Magnetic Bearings in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), like North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India split by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type Split by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Magnetic Bearings in each application.

This report studies Magnetic Bearings in Global market, especially focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, covering SKF, Schaeffler, Dresser-rand, Mecos AG, Waukesha Bearings, LTi, Calnetix, Levitronix, Zeitlos, Jiuyishun, Nanjing CIGU, FG-AMB, Tianjin Emaging, Advanced Motion Controls, Comsol Inc, Simply Bearings Ltd, NSK, KML Motion. Order a copy at http://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=993290 .

Similar research titled "United States Magnetic Bearings Market Report 2017" is spread across 112 pages and profiles 18 companies that provide a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Magnetic Bearings market analysis is provided for the United States markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status. Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and Bill of Materials cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins. Few key manufacturers included in this report are SKF, Schaeffler, Dresser-rand, Mecos AG, Waukesha Bearings, LTi, Calnetix, Levitronix, Zeitlos, Jiuyishun, Nanjing CIGU, FG-AMB, Tianjin Emaging, Advanced Motion Controls, Comsol Inc, Simply Bearings Ltd, NSK, KML Motion. Read more at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/1007227-united-states-magnetic-bearings-market-report-2017.html .

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DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / December 15, 2017 / North American Cannabis Holdings, Inc. (OTC PINK: USMJ) today announced the scheduling an online presentation to highlight further details on the company's previously announced negotiations to acquire an established medical marijuana dispensary in Canada. The presentation will be posted to the Company's website on Tuesday, December 19th. The expanded merger and acquisition efforts include a broader scope of services and functions to include not only the dispensary, but growing operations as well, and in partnership with Puration, Inc. (OTC PINK: PURA), extraction facilities too. "Within Canada's nationwide legalization, we want to establish the McDonald's of dispensaries and the Sun-Maid Raisons of growers," said Steven Rash, CEO of North American Cannabis Holdings. "Once the United States finally federally legalizes recreational marijuana, we plan to have a recognized brand name in the business."

Learn more about USMJ, its parent company, ACI, and ACI's other holdings to include PURA by visiting: http://www.aciconglomerated.com/

Disclaimer/Safe Harbor:

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act. The statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events that involve risks and uncertainties. Among others, these risks include the expectation that any of the companies mentioned herein will achieve significant sales, the failure to meet schedule or performance requirements of the companies' contracts, the companies' liquidity position, the companies' ability to obtain new contracts, the emergence of competitors with greater financial resources and the impact of competitive pricing. In the light of these uncertainties, the forward-looking events referred to in this release might not occur. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

ACI, USMJ and PURA contact info:

Steven Rash

info@aciconglomerated.com

+1-800-861-1350

https://www.aciconglomerated.com/contact/

SOURCE: North American Cannabis Holdings, Inc.
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 11/13/17 -- It is with great sadness that Orbite Technologies Inc. (NEX: ORT.H) ("Orbite", or the "Company") announces the passing of Lionel Leveille, distinguished and long-time member of its Board of directors.

Mr. Leveille joined Orbite's Board in 2006 and regretfully resigned for health reasons in June of 2017. He served on a number of the Company's Board committees as well as Chairman of the Board. His distinguished career included tenure as President and CEO of Adacel Inc., which operates in the field of aerial navigation control simulation. He also enjoyed an illustrious career in the military and aerospace industry, serving as President of Raytheon Canada, Vice-President of Heroux-Devtek, Vice-President of Bombardier, Vice-President of Oerlikon Aerospace, and Executive Vice-President of CMC Electronics (formerly Canadian Marconi Company). Mr. Leveille was also involved with the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, serving as Chair of several committees as well as Vice-Chairman and Chairman.

"Lionel's expertise, and his belief, dedication and commitment to Orbite were fundamental to our development and growth. Working with Lionel was a privilege. He will be greatly missed and we extend our sincere condolences to his family," said Claude Lamoureux, Orbite's Chairman of the Board.

About Orbite

Orbite Technologies Inc. is a Canadian cleantech company whose innovative and proprietary processes are expected to produce alumina and other high-value products, such as rare earth and rare metal oxides, at one of the lowest costs in the industry, and in a sustainable fashion, using feedstocks that include aluminous clay, kaolin, nepheline, bauxite, red mud, fly ash as well as serpentine residues from chrysotile processing sites. Orbite is currently in the process of finalizing its first commercial high-purity alumina (HPA) production plant in Cap-Chat, Quebec and has completed the basic engineering for a proposed smelter-grade alumina (SGA) production plant, which would use clay mined from its Grande-Vallee deposit. The Company's portfolio contains 15 intellectual property families, including 44 patents and 38 pending patent applications in 11 different countries and regions. The first intellectual property family is patented in Canada, USA, Australia, Japan and Russia. The Company also operates a state of the art technology development center in Laval, Quebec, where its technologies are developed and validated.

Contacts:

Orbite Technologies Inc.

Yves Noel

VP Business Development

514 744-6264

info@orbitetech.com



Media enquiries:

TACT Intelligence-conseil

Mathieu Lavallee, External Media Relations Consultant

514 947-7628

mlavallee@tactconseil.ca




FALLS CHURCH, VA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Sandline Discovery, a boutique litigation support and eDiscovery service provider serving both law firms and corporations in the United States and globally, today announced the addition of Relativity, the eDiscovery software developed by kCura, to serve as the company's primary platform for data processing, hosting and review services. As an authorized partner, Sandline now delivers Relativity to its clients directly instead of through other partners, a change prompted by continued growth in Sandline's hosting and review business.

Whether it is for litigation, information governance, a government request or an internal investigation, Relativity provides a complete set of flexible tools to tackle unique challenges through every phase of a project. Sandline chose Relativity as its primary eDiscovery platform for its expansive features and tools, its ease of use and its reputation as the industry's leading eDiscovery software.

"Becoming a Relativity Authorized Partner is an exciting milestone for Sandline. Our clients already trust us for exceptional service, so being able to directly provide them with premier technology only strengthens our ability to meet their needs," says Sandline Discovery President Jon Canty. "Many Sandline clients are already using Relativity, so it's been a seamless transition to being an authorized partner."

In addition to being named a Relativity Authorized Partner, the company will offer clients unlimited access to Relativity Analytics, further expanding Sandline's analytics and technology-assisted review service. Sandline's team already includes three Relativity Certified Administrators, along with multiple certifications for Relativity Analytics Specialists, Relativity Assisted Review Specialists as well as Relativity Certified Users.

"It's great to have Sandline Discovery as a Relativity Authorized Partner," said George Orr, vice president of customer success and support at kCura. "We believe they have the resources to exceed the expectations of customers with their Relativity offering, and look forward to supporting them in providing their customers with comprehensive eDiscovery services."

About Sandline Discovery

Sandline Discovery is a boutique litigation support and eDiscovery service provider, serving both law firms and corporations in the United States and globally. Sandline specializes in delivering innovative digital evidence solutions with exceptional, high-touch service. Offering services and project management for every stage of the EDRM, Sandline understands the needs of attorneys and anticipates case requirements at every step of the project. For more information, visit www.SandlineDiscovery.com.

About kCura

kCura are the developers of Relativity, an e-discovery platform used by more than 12,000 organizations to manage large volumes of data and quickly identify key issues during litigation, internal investigations and compliance projects. Relativity has over 150,000 active users in 40+ countries from organizations including the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 70 Fortune 100 companies and more than 195 of the Am Law 200. Corporations, law firms and government agencies use Relativity on-premises, in the cloud or as a hybrid platform -- with hosted, on-demand solutions available through a global network of partners. As a platform, Relativity also allows developers to design, build and integrate applications that extend its functionality. kCura has been named one of Chicago's Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for six consecutive years and received the CityLIGHTS Lighthouse Award from the Illinois Technology Association in 2016. Please contact kCura at sales@kcura.com or visit http://www.kcura.com for more information.

Media Contact

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Edge Legal Marketing for Sandline Discovery

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EuroMena is pleased to announce the acquisition of a minority stake of Retail Holding SA (the "Group"), a leading Moroccan Retailer. Proceeds of the investment will mainly be used to fund the expansion of the Group.

The Group was established in the mid-80s by Mr. Zouhair Bennani, initially as a single supermarket in Rabat, operating under the Hyper brand. Over the years the Group grew substantially, and is now one of the major retailers in Morocco. Retail Holding is the franchisee for French giant Carrefour, apparel retailer Kiabi, Virgin Megastore and fast food chain Burger King. The Group recently started its expansion to Africa by taking the control of CDCI (Compagnie de Distribution de Cote d'Ivoire), the second largest player in food distribution in Ivory Coast. It is now the number one player in the supermarket segment, the pioneer and only player in the hypercash segment, and a leader in the commercial real estate sector.

Furthermore, the Group is well positioned for a healthy growth in the coming five years as it will capitalize on the shifting retail landscape in Morocco, where the government is promoting the development of large modern retail spaces, and on the sub-Saharan expansion opportunities.

Gilles de Clerck, Executive Partner of The EuroMena Funds, mentioned on the occasion, "EuroMena is proud to join the retail leader at such an important time for the group, in which it is rapidly expanding in Morocco and regionally, led by an experienced management team".

Paul Khoury, Partner of The EuroMena Funds, added, "We are confident that the group is well positioned for a healthy growth in the coming years, with the government promoting the development of modern retail and a shift in consumer behaviour towards the growing channel".

Zouhair Bennani, Chief Executive Officer of Best Financiere, stated, "We are proud to welcome The EuroMena Funds, a leading private equity firm invested in the MEA (Middle East and Africa) region, as a shareholder of the group and in supporting the development of the company, especially its Label'Vie and Compagnie de distribution de Cote d'Ivoire subsidiaries, both leaders in their respective markets".

EuroMena has accumulated significant experience in the retail sector through its investments in Khoury Home, the leading retailer of home appliances and electronics in Lebanon, and the Indigo Company, a Tunis based apparel retail of international brands with a strong presence in Morocco and Algeria. In line with its strategy, EuroMena will assist the top management of Retail Holding in its growth strategy in the North and Sub-Saharen Africa regions, in which the Fund enjoys a wide network and significant market knowledge.

This transaction is the fourth investment of EuroMena III following the investments in Elephant (FMCG, Nigeria), in Indigo Company (apparel retail franchising, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria), and in Credit Libanais (banking, Lebanon).

About EuroMena:

The EuroMena Fund Management Team has raised more than USD 350 million to date from prominent investors, and has closed more than 25 investments and divestments, within its target region. In June 2016, the Group completed the closing of its third fund, EuroMena III, for a total of USD 150 million, backed by commitments of top tier European institutions such as the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Public Wealth Funds (Proparco), and the UK's Development Finance Institution (CDC Group), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), The German Investment and Development Corporation (DEG), as well as high net worth individuals, and family offices.

EuroMena III's mission is to invest in high growth local companies in the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, turn them into Regional Leading Groups, and prepare them for a profitable exit within a timeframe of 3-5 years.

In addition, The EuroMena Funds are planning on launching a Levant SME Fund and a MEA Debt Fund within the coming 6 months.

*Source: ME NewsWire

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005920/en/

Contacts:

Grey Doha

Denise Yamine, +97444283111

PR Director

Denise.yamine@grey.com
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

A special road-show called "Travel along the Great Silk Road together with Astana EXPO 2017" took place in Hong Kong.

During the event, more than 70 routes around Kazakhstan were presented to international travel agencies. Special tours include visits to picturesque national parks, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, ski and health resorts, etc. A special part of the road show program in Hong Kong was the presentation of the International Specialized exhibition Astana EXPO 2017.

According to Deputy Director of the Promotion and Tourism Department of JSC NC Astana EXPO 2017, President of the Kazakhstani Tourist Association Roza Asanbaeva, the exhibition in Astana will become "a new point on the route of the Great Silk Road".

"In 1889, the Eiffel Tower became the symbol of EXPO in Paris. Now this is a tourist attraction not only in France, but throughout Europe. The symbol of Astana EXPO 2017 is the largest spherical building "Nur-Alem". We invite tourists from all over the world to visit the exhibition from June 10 to September 10" - said R.Asanbayeva.

Especially for tourists from China, who travel to third countries with a transit via Astana and Almaty airports, a visa-free regime up to 72 hours was introduced. Also there is a visa-free regime between Kazakhstan and Hong Kong.

Nur Alem (the Sphere)

The architectural symbol of Astana EXPO 2017 exhibition is its central element - Nur Alem (the Sphere).

It is the world's largest spherical building with the diameter of 80 and height of 100 meters.

At the first floor of the building, the Pavilion of Kazakhstan is placed where visitors are able to acquaint themselves with the history, culture, traditions, places of interest and also recent achievements of Kazakhstan. In the Sphere itself, the Museum of Future is situated. More than just a museum, 'Nur Alem' is to become an innovational hub of the sort and important research and culture center after the Exhibition. Digital, multimedia and interactive technologies allow enhancement of perception of the display area at the second through eighth floors of the Museum of Future, where the basic types of energy are demonstrated: those of the space, sun, biomass, wind, water and kinetics.

About Astana EXPO 2017

The International Specialized exhibition Astana EXPO 2017 'Future Energy' will take place between June 10 and September 10, 2017 in Astana.

Contact: Natalia Kostikova, expo2017@m-p.ru , +7(903)209-35-00
Thomson Reuters Second-Quarter 2017 Earnings Announcement and Webcast Scheduled for Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Conference call and webcast scheduled for 8:30 a.m. EDT

TORONTO, June 21, 2017 --Thomson Reuters (NYSE, TSX: TRI) announced today that its second-quarter 2017 earnings will be issued via news release on Tuesday, August 1, 2017.

Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/13199/THOMSON_REUTERS_LOGO.jpg

Jim Smith, president and chief executive officer, and Stephane Bello, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will host a conference call and simultaneous webcast that morning at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Discussions may include forward-looking information.

You can access the webcast by visiting the "Investor Relations" section of the Thomson Reuters website. Registration for the webcast is now open. Additionally, an archive of the webcast will be available following the presentation.

Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of news and information for professional markets. Our customers rely on us to deliver the intelligence, technology and expertise they need to find trusted answers. The business has operated in more than 100 countries for more than 100 years. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges (symbol: TRI). For more information, visit http://www.thomsonreuters.com/.
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 07/20/17 -- NetworkNewsWire ("NNW"), a multifaceted financial news and publishing company, today announces the publication of an editorial featuring SinglePoint, Inc. (OTC: SING), an NNW client focused on strengthening its position in the marijuana industry through the acquisition of, or investment in, small to mid-sized cannabis companies.

The publication is entitled "Industry Leaders Riding High as Marijuana Demand Outpaces Supply." The editorial shines a light on the rapidly growing legal marijuana industry and how several publicly traded companies are working hard to cash in on the hype.

To view the full publication, visit: https://www.networknewswire.com/industry-leaders-riding-high-marijuana-demand-outpaces-supply/

"In June, SinglePoint secured funding (http://nnw.fm/2MkXl) to continue its acquisition strategy and further the development of its bitcoin payments solution in partnership with First Bitcoin Capital Corp. (BITCF) (http://nnw.fm/fY78J). The joint venture is developing a proprietary bitcoin payment solution that can be implemented in any point-of-sale machine and will allow customers to purchase cannabis products using debit and credit cards without the backing of banks or the FDIC. SinglePoint also recently purchased the domain name www.SingleCoin.com as part of its planned potential initial coin offering (ICO), which would specifically support transactions for the marijuana industry and other high-risk industries.

"Recognizing other opportunities in the high-demand marijuana market, SinglePoint is fattening its acquisition portfolio to create new investment opportunities and boost the availability of equipment, products, and technologies to support the sector's continued growth.

"SinglePoint's portfolio also includes an investment in Convectium Labs, a move that will support the accessory-side of consumer demand. Convectium provides equipment, branding and packaging solutions to the cannabis industry and is the developer of the first cartridge and vape pen oil-filling machines offered through wholesale distribution to cannabis dispensaries."

About SinglePoint, Inc.

SinglePoint, Inc. (SING) has grown from a full-service mobile technology provider to a publicly traded holding company. Through diversification into horizontal markets, SinglePoint is building its portfolio by acquiring an interest in undervalued subsidiaries, thereby providing a rich, diversified holding base. Through its subsidiary company SingleSeed the company is providing products and services to the cannabis industry.

Connect on social media at: https://www.facebook.com/SinglePointMobile, www.twitter.com/_SinglePoint_, www.linkedin.com/company/SinglePoint and www.youtube.com/user/SinglePointMobile

For more information, visit www.SinglePoint.com or www.SingleSeed.com

About NetworkNewsWire

NetworkNewsWire (NNW) provides news aggregation and syndication, enhanced press release services and a full array of social communication solutions. As a multifaceted financial news and distribution company with an extensive team of journalists and contributing writers, NNW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies who need to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. NNW has an ever-growing distribution network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets across the country. By cutting through the overload of information in today's market, NNW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. NNW is where news, content and information converge.

For more information, visit https://www.NetworkNewsWire.com

Please see full disclaimers on the NetworkNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by NNW, wherever published or re-published: http://nnw.fm/Disclaimer

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or future performance of the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. In evaluating such statements, prospective investors should review carefully various risks and uncertainties identified in this release and matters set in the company's SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.

NNW Contact:



NetworkNewsWire (NNW)

New York, New York

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IRW-PRESS: Siyata Mobile Inc.: Siyata Mobile sichert sich neue Marktchance in Frankreich

Siyata Mobile sichert sich neue Marktchance in Frankreich

Montreal, Quebec - 1. August 2017 - Siyata Mobile Inc. (das Unternehmen oder Siyata) (TSX-V:SIM / OTCQX:SYATF) freut sich bekannt zu geben, dass sich das Unternehmen mit dem ersten Auftrag von SETMA SA (SETMA), einem franzosischen Unternehmen fur Fahrzeugelektronik, eine neue Marktchance in Frankreich gesichert hat.

Seit seiner Grundung im Jahr 1948 entwickelt SETMA eine breite Palette von Produkten, die auf die Bedurfnisse der Automobilindustrie zugeschnitten sind, und hat sich bei den Fahrzeugherstellern mittlerweile einen Namen gemacht. SETMA vertreibt Kfz-Zubehor, Komponenten aus Kunststoff, Bluetooth-Gerate und Fahrzeug-Displays. SETMA verfugt uber ein Netzwerk aus 2000 Vertriebsstandorten und einem Katalog mit 2000 Referenzpartnern. Nahere Informationen erhalten Sie auf http://www.setma-sa.com.

Marc Seelenfreund, CEO und Chairman von Siyata Mobile, erklart: SETMA beliefert seine Kunden bereits seit mehr als 50 Jahren mit Technologiesystemen fur die Fahrzeuginnenraumausstattung und hat sich in diesem Bereich als Branchenfuhrer etabliert. Wir freuen uns sehr, mit SETMA in Frankreich als Partner zusammenarbeiten zu durfen und den Kunden des Unternehmens modernste Kommunikationsgerate anbieten zu konnen.

Joseph Zouari, CEO von SETMA, fugt hinzu: Wir freuen uns, hier eine neue innovative Losung fur ein altbekanntes Problem anbieten zu konnen, mit dem die Kosten und das Wirrwarr einer Vielzahl von Geraten nun der Vergangenheit angehort. Sowohl neue als auch gebrauchte Nutzfahrzeuge werden von den Vorzugen dieser Gerate profitieren; es ist uns eine Freude, diese als erstes und einziges Vertriebsunternehmen in Frankreich anzubieten.

Die von Siyata entwickelten Gerate UCP100, CP200, UCP250 und UV350 sind die weltweit ersten 3G- und 4G/LTE-fahigen, fix im Fahrzeug installierten Gerate mit Freisprechfunktion, die mit einem Mikrophon und einem Lautsprecher in hochster Klangqualitat ausgestattet sind und uber externe Antennen fur eine bessere Mobilfunkreichweite verfugen.

Uber Siyata

Siyata Mobile Inc. ist ein fuhrender internationaler Entwickler und Anbieter von mobilen Kommunikationssystemen fur Firmenkunden, der sich auf Fahrzeugvernetzungsprodukte fur professionelle Fuhrparks unter dem Markennamen Uniden Cellular spezialisiert hat. Seit Entwicklung des ersten 3G-fahigen Fahrzeugvernetzungsgerats ist Siyata ein Branchenfuhrer. Im Jahr 2017 wurde nun das weltweit erste integrierte 4G LTE-fahige Kommunikationsgerat fur Fuhrparks auf den Markt gebracht. Durch die Zusammenfuhrung von Sprach-, mobilen Push-to-talk-, Daten- und Fuhrparkmanagementlosungen in einem einzigen Gerat will sich das Unternehmen als DER Anbieter von Fahrzeugvernetzungslosungen fur Nutzfahrzeuge und Fuhrparks auf der ganzen Welt etablieren.

Siyata bietet auerdem stofeste Handys fur industrielle Nutzer und Signalbooster fur private Haushalte, Gebaude und Fuhrparks mit schlechter Funkverbindung an. Zu Siyatas Kundenkreis zahlen Mobilfunkbetreiber, Handler von Nutzfahrzeugtechnologien sowie Fuhrparks aller Groen in Kanada, den Vereinigten Staaten, Europa, Australien und im Mittleren Osten.

Erfahren Sie mehr unter www.siyatamobile.com.

Fur das Board of Directors von:

SIYATA MOBILE INC. Marc Seelenfreund CEO & Director Investor Relations: Arlen Hansen Kin Communications 1-866-684-6730 SIM@kincommunications.com PCG Advisory Group: Kirin Smith, Chief Operating Officer 646.863.6519 ksmith@pcgadvisory.com Verkaufsabteilung: Glenn Kennedy, VP Sales Siyata Mobile Inc. 416-892-1823 glenn_kennedy@siyatamobile.com

Die TSX Venture Exchange und deren Regulierungsorgane (in den Statuten der TSX Venture Exchange als Regulation Services Provider bezeichnet) ubernehmen keinerlei Verantwortung fur die Angemessenheit oder Genauigkeit dieser Meldung.

Diese Pressemitteilung kann zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen enthalten, die Risiken und Ungewissheiten unterworfen sind. Samtliche Aussagen, die keine historischen Tatsachen darstellen, sind als zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen zu betrachten. Obwohl das Unternehmen der Ansicht ist, dass die in solchen zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen zum Ausdruck gebrachten Erwartungen auf angemessenen Annahmen beruhen, sind die Aussagen nicht als Garantien zukunftiger Leistungen zu verstehen. Die eigentlichen Ergebnisse oder Entwicklungen konnten wesentlich von den in zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen zum Ausdruck gebrachten Erwartungen abweichen. Zu den Faktoren, die dazu fuhren konnten, dass sich die tatsachlichen Ergebnisse erheblich von jenen in den zukunftsgerichteten Aussagen unterscheiden, zahlen unter anderem die Marktpreise, die dauerhafte Verfugbarkeit von Kapital und Finanzmittel sowie die allgemeine Wirtschafts-, Markt- oder Geschaftslage. Es gibt keine Gewissheit, dass sich solche Aussagen als richtig herausstellen werden. Den Lesern wird deshalb empfohlen, solche Ungewissheiten nur nach ihren eigenen Mastaben zu bewerten. Wir sind nicht verpflichtet, zukunftsgerichtete Aussagen zu aktualisieren, auer dies ist in den geltenden Gesetzen vorgeschrieben.

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AXC0167 2017-08-01/13:05
NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Beige Market Intelligence announces the publication of an exclusive report on the Global Smart Voice Assistant Speaker Market - Strategic Assessment and Forecast 2017-2022.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161205/445388LOGO )



By Distribution Channels : Retail (mass market players and electronic stores) and online stores

: Retail (mass market players and electronic stores) and online stores By Geography : APAC,Europe,North America,and RoW

APAC,Europe,North America,and RoW Global industry analysis, market size, market share, growth, trends, and forecast 2017-2022

For Free Sample, Click Here: http://www.beigemarketintelligence.com/contactus/request-sample/

The 105-page report includes exclusive information about the market size, trends, drivers, restraints, geographical analysis, and key vendors in the global smart voice assistant speaker market.

View Report for More Information:

Global Smart Voice Assistant Speaker Market - Strategic Assessment and Forecast 2017-2022

A change in technology leads to the transformation in the customer's experience and human interactions. As customers are increasing relying on smartphones and the convenience of information available on them through a large number of websites, their needs along with their expectations have altered. By using a voice-assistance technology, companies are trying to offer their customers something which can assist them and make their life convenient.

This report considers four major regions: APAC, Europe, North America, and RoW (Latin America and MEA). It outlines the major market shareholders and the market size analysis of all regions. According to the analysts at Beige Market Intelligence, North America was the largest geographical market for smart voice assistant speakers globally, accounting for market share of 93.58% and 92.98% in terms of unit shipment and value, respectively in 2016.

Smart Devices Witnessing High Traction among Consumers Worldwide

The concept of smart home is changing the way people live. Several appliances and household equipment in homes are connected by cables and electric wiring, and there are wireless modes of communication. They can be controlled from remote places, using cellphones as terminals. Engrained digital knowledge among consumers will encourage the acceptance of smart devices in their homes. The development of smart devices such as smart voice-assistant speakers and smart home hubs has made it possible to program a complete and autonomous home system. These devices can become an integral part of a smart home. However, the growing popularity of smart voice-assistant speakers pose a threat to the existing smart home hub market worldwide.

Voice-first Technology Continues to Gain Momentum

Voice-first user interfaces have been creating quite a buzz lately in the consumer product market globally. Using voice to interface with consumer products such as computers, tablets, smartphones, and other wearable devices have become quite common. Voice-first technology is being used mostly by the current generation, which is growing around those devices which can reply to our queries. The next generation of consumers would expect AI voice interaction. It is estimated that over 50% of all the human interaction with computers would be voice assisted by 2025.

Voice-first technology is finding its application in today's consumers' lifestyle and is becoming mainstream technology to be used in many consumer devices. According to the estimates by Google Trends, search queries made on Google in 2016 were 35 times more than in 2008. One such embedment is being witnessed in various product segments of consumer devices such as speakers. Voice-first devices include voice-assistant speakers like the ones offered by Amazon (Echo) and Google (Home).

Massive Surge in Demand for Smart Voice Assistant Speakers in US

The demand for smart voice assistant speakers in North America has been nearly more than doubled between 2014 and 2015. The major reason for this demand was increase in the popularity of smart voice assistant speakers among end-users. For instance, about 13 million US households had purchased at least one smart voice assistant speaker until December 2016.

Until March 2017, the US remain the only market in North America where smart voice assistant speakers were launched officially. However, Google Home is set to release in the Canadian market in the second half of 2017. As the US consumer electronics market is largely driven by the innovation and introduction of new product formats, smart voice assistant speakers are witnessing a high adoption among US consumers. Major new entrants in the global smart voice assistant speaker market are likely to be based out of the US in the future. Increasing funding of R&D activities for the introduction of products, which can be lighter, compact, and have differentiated functionalities will contribute to the market growth.

View report:

Global Smart Voice Assistant Speaker Market - Strategic Assessment and Forecast 2017-2022

Global Smart Voice Assistant Speaker Market - Key Vendors and Market Share

The global smart voice assistant speaker market has high growth potential. Vendors are increasingly indulging in distribution and forming conglomerates to cash on several opportunities. The profitability potential is driving vendors to invest in the market. The report profiles major companies in the global market and provides the competitive landscape and market share of the leading players. It covers the entire market outlook regarding the value chain operating in the market.

Alphabet (Google)

Amazon

Other prominent vendors included in the report are Beijing LingLong, Fabriq, Jam Audio, HARMAN, Invoxia, Lenovo, Mattel, Mycroft, NVIDIA, Sony.

Other emerging vendors are Swan Solutions, Cubic Robotics, Silk Labs, Protonet, Interactive Voice, SPACO.

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Browse Related Report:

Global Smart Home Hub Market - Strategic Assessment and Forecast 2017-2022

Global Chatbot Market - Strategic Assessment and Forecast 2017-2022

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Technavio analysts forecast the global distribution feeder automation marketto grow at a CAGR of almost 6% during the forecast period, according to their latest report.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005895/en/

Technavio has published a new report on the global distribution feeder automation market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global distribution feeder automationmarketfor 2017-2021. Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.

The global distribution feeder automation market will continue to register a steady growth during the forecast period due to the increasing demand for uninterrupted power supply, reduced outage time, and stringent government regulations. It is expected that modern infrastructure facilities such as IoT and cloud computing will bring about flexibility in distribution feeder automation, and will provide both financial and operational benefits to utility companies and last-mile users.

This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing

Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free

Technavio analysts highlight the following three factors that are contributing to the growth of the global distribution feeder automation market:

Growing need for uninterrupted power supply

Against the backdrop of dynamic competitive environments, many businesses now realize the need for uninterrupted power supply without compromising on power quality. In recent times, end-users are losing significant revenue even during brief power outages. As most of the manufacturing industries are now shifting toward Just in Time (JIT) delivery, an outage lasting even for a short duration creates a huge mismatch between supply and demand, thereby adversely affecting the overall revenue of the company.

Raghav Bharadwaj Shivaswamy, a lead automation research analyst at Technavio, says, "Utility companies must address a large number of consumer complaints. As distribution feeder automation can reduce the outage time by quickly switching between feeder lines, it puts the utility companies in a better cash flow position

Significant reduction in the maintenance cost of feeder circuits

Most utility companies now focus on reducing their maintenance costs. In the absence of distribution feeder automation, maintenance activities on feeder line faults are dealt on-site, which stretches the outage time and adds to consumers' grievances. Utility companies also incur a loss of revenue due to the traveling costs incurred in on-site maintenance activities.

"Power outages lead to consumer complaints, and utility companies are required to spend a huge amount of money on managing the fuel and labor costs. In addition, prolonged outage time affects the utility company's reputation and may lead to the company losing contracts for upcoming projects," adds Raghav.

Increasing government pressure to improve the quality of power

Most utility companies come under government jurisdiction in many countries. The rising need for power, the shortages in electricity supply, and the low quality of the power supplied are continuously pushing the government to have a closer look at the utilization of electricity, to achieve sustainable economic growth.

Thus, to improve the performance of the distribution network, governments in many countries have issued clear directives to the utility companies to ensure a steady and sustainable distribution power system with enhanced power quality. For instance, the international standard: IEEE 519-1992 specifies the limit of harmonics in power voltage and current.

Top vendors:

ABB

Eaton

Grid Solutions

Schneider Electric

Siemens

Browse Related Reports:

Global Robot Teach Pendant Market 2017-2021

Global Multi-axis Motion Controller Market 2017-2021

Manned Security Services Market in India 2017-2021

Become a Technavio Insights member and access all three of these reports for a fraction of their original cost. As a Technavio Insights member, you will have immediate access to new reports as they're published in addition to all 6,000+ existing reports covering segments like robotics. This subscription nets you thousands in savings, while staying connected to Technavio's constant transforming research library, helping you make informed business decisions more efficiently.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170621005895/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 21, 2017) - Friday Night Inc. (CSE: TGIF) is the latest new listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange, and trades under the symbol "TGIF", having transferred its listing from the TSX Venture Exchange, where it previously traded as QuikFlo Health.

InvestmentPitch Media has produced a "video news alert" which provides a brief overview of the company. If this link is not enabled, please visit www.InvestmentPitch.com and enter "Friday Night" in the search box. The video is also available for viewing on YouTube. (click here)





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The company entered the cannabis sector, through the acquisition of 91% of two Las Vegas based companies.

Alternative Medicine Association, known as AMA, is a licensed medical marijuana producer, and Infused Mfg. provides hemp based and CBD infused products. AMA, the first medical marijuana business licensed in Las Vegas, currently has sales of approximately US$200,000 per month. AMA holds both cultivation and production licenses, and anticipates receiving a recreational license under the new regulations. Only those companies currently holding medical production licenses can apply for recreational licenses prior to June 2019, thereby strengthening the company's competitive advantage.

The Infused products company, with growing sales, has developed several products using hemp and CBD infusions, and prepare mixes to which THC can be added by State legal facilities.

Nevada presents significant opportunities for investors and operators in the legal cannabis market due to the state's rank as a top tourism destination and generous patient reciprocity laws. An Arcview/New Frontier market research report projected an annual compound growth rate of 51% for legal marijuana sales in Nevada, reaching US$629 million by 2020.

The company amalgamated its shares on the basis of one new share for every two old shares.

To close the acquisition, Friday Night issued 32,750,000 post-consolidated shares, paid US$3.4 million, and assume approximately US$1.59 million in debt.

Brayden Sutton, President & CEO, stated: "We are excited to enter into one of the most highly anticipated new markets in the sector. With a proven corporate team and some of the best operators in the space running the facilities, the company is perfectly positioned as a first mover in Clark County."

Concurrent with this acquisition, the company completed a private placement for gross proceeds of $6.6 million through the issuance of approximately 43.5 million units at $0.15 on a post consolidation basis.

Each unit consisted of 1 share and one-half a warrant, with each full warrant exercisable at $0.30 for 24 months. The shares are trading at $0.28.

For more information about the company, please visit the company's website www.FridayNightinc.com, contact Brayden Sutton, President & CEO, at 604-48-0511 or email info@FridayNightinc.com.

Investor relations is handled by Joe Bleackley, who can be reached at 604-343-2977 or by email at ir@fridaynightinc.com.

About InvestmentPitch Media

InvestmentPitch Media is arguably the largest producer and distributer of video content, primarily for small and mid-cap companies. The company specializes in producing short videos based on significant news releases, research reports and other content of interest to investors.

CONTACT:

InvestmentPitch Media

Barry Morgan, CFO

bmorgan@investmentpitch.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After the Republican candidate won Georgia's closely watched special House election, Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., urged his fellow Democrats to focus on a message of economic growth. Murphy suggested in an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday that Democrats should avoid the distraction of the investigation of alleged Russian meddling in last year's election. 'Democrats have to be hyperfocused on an economic message that tells people that the Republican Party is all about economic growth for millionaires and billionaires and the Democratic Party is about economic growth for everybody,' Murphy said. He added, 'The fact that we have spent so much time talking about Russia, you know, has been a distraction from what should be the clear contrast between Democrats and the Trump agenda, which is on economics.' Murphy indicated voters he has spoken to are never talking about issues like the Russia investigation and are instead talking about wages, education, and public safety. The Connecticut Senator argued Democrats should focus on economic growth over economic fairness, which he said is often seen as a call for wealth redistribution. 'Everything Democrats talk about when it comes to the economy has to be about more: higher wages, more college education to get them a better job, lower taxes for the folks that we're targeting,' Murphy said. He added, 'I just think we have to be hyper-focused on this question of wage growth and job growth and don't get scared off by that message just because it's been what Republicans have been talking about.' Murphy said Democrats should highlight their plan to build the economy from the bottom up versus the Republican idea of trickle down. The comments from Murphy come after Republican Karen Handel won the election in Georgia despite national Democrats pumping millions of dollars into the race. 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) -- 06/21/17 -- Hundreds of hotel and hospitality workers will kick off contract negotiations at a rally in front of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel this Thursday, followed by a march down Front Street to the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel, where newly-unionized members are fighting for a first contract. The hotel workers, members of UNITE HERE Local 75, are busy preparing for their next round of contract negotiations, which will affect more than forty properties across the GTA.

The hotel workers will be joined by fellow UNITE HERE union members from several other North American cities, who will share messages of solidarity and support as they enter into contract negotiations of their own. A decade ago, UNITE HERE launched Hotel Workers Rising, a continent-wide campaign to empower and improve the lives of hotel workers. Since then, tens of thousands of hotel workers have won improved wages and benefits, job security, and workload protections.

The march will end at the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel in the Rogers Centre, where workers voted to join the union last year. Since then, they have been fighting for a first contract, refusing to settle for anything less than the same standard contract agreed to by dozens of other hotels across the city.

What: Joined by hotel workers from several other North American cities, hundreds of hotel and hospitality workers and their supporters (with signs, banners, music, chanting and noise-makers) will hold a short rally in front of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, then march down Front Street to the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel in the Rogers Centre. When: Thursday, June 22nd at 4:30pm Where: Rally in front of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel (100 Front Street West), followed by a march to the Renaissance Hotel Toronto Downtown (Rogers Centre, 1 Blue Jays Way)

Contacts:

Marc Hollin

647-408-5428

mhollin@unitehere.org




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- First Cobalt Corp. (TSX VENTURE: FCC)(OTCQB: FTSSF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce it has delivered a proposal to Cobalt One Ltd., which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, for the merger of Cobalt One and First Cobalt. Under the proposal, First Cobalt would acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Cobalt One which would result in the shareholders of Cobalt One holding approximately 60% of the equity in the merged entity and the shareholders of First Cobalt holding the remaining 40%.

If concluded, this merger would consolidate the two largest land packages in the Cobalt camp into a single landholder with over 10,000 hectares (Figure 1). First Cobalt would also become 100% owner of the Yukon refinery, previously a joint venture option between the two companies.

The proposal delivered to Cobalt One includes the following elements:

-- Cobalt One shareholders would own 60% of the merged entity and First Cobalt shareholders would own the remaining 40%, prior to giving effect to any subsequent equity issuances by either company; -- The merged entity would be based in Toronto, a five-hour drive from the Cobalt mining camp; -- First Cobalt would maintain its TSXV listing and seek to obtain a secondary listing on the ASX of CHESS Depositary Interests; and -- It would be a condition of the transaction that the Board of Directors of the merged entity would include Cobalt One Chairman Paul Matysek, Cobalt One CEO Jason Bontempo as well as Bob Cross and some or all of the current First Cobalt Board members.

Trent Mell, President and CEO commented,

"First Cobalt previously concluded a partnership with Cobalt One on the Yukon refinery near Cobalt, Ontario and we shared a common vision for the Cobalt Ontario camp. Both companies believe that a rebirth of this historic mining district will occur through the application of modern geoscience, a better understanding of disseminated cobalt mineralization and ultimately, bulk mining methods. A consolidation of properties, the refinery and the permitted property upon which the refinery is situated offer the potential to significantly shorten the pathway to production. This transaction will benefit shareholders in both companies, while creating one of the largest cobalt exploration companies in the world."

Cobalt One's properties are in Canada, adjacent to First Cobalt's properties, making First Cobalt's Canadian-based management team (with their experience in this region) the ideal choice to manage the merged entity. Consolidating the land package could facilitate new discoveries in this camp, which is unique for its cobalt-silver mineralization, and provide meaningful future cobalt production in a politically stable, mining-friendly jurisdiction. The refinery is a unique asset in this area and the permitted facility could meaningfully accelerate permitting of a future mining and processing operation. First Cobalt also believes Cobalt One is an attractive counterparty due to its Australian Securities Exchange listing and strong institutional shareholder support in that market.

First Cobalt has engaged Canaccord Genuity Corp. as financial advisors and Cassels Brock and Blackwell, LLP as legal advisors on any transactions entered into by the Company.

About Cobalt One

Cobalt One Ltd. is an ASX-listed exploration company focused on cobalt. The company holds a significant land package of 7,272 hectares in the Cobalt region of Ontario Canada. Many of Cobalt One's holdings are adjacent to those of First Cobalt. Cobalt One currently owns the Yukon refinery, located in the Cobalt camp.

To view Figure 1: First Cobalt and Cobalt One land packages in Cobalt camp, Ontario, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Figure1_FirstCobaltCorp.pdf

Readers are cautioned that the proposed transaction with Cobalt One is a proposal only and that the final terms of any transaction remain to be negotiated. Completion of any transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, completion of due diligence, negotiation of definitive agreements in respect of the transaction, and receipt of any required Board, regulatory and shareholder approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. A transaction cannot be completed until these conditions are satisfied, and there can be no assurance that negotiations with Cobalt One will lead to a transaction on terms acceptable to the Company.

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" and include all statements related to the possibility of a merger between Cobalt One and First Cobalt. 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




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- First Cobalt Corp. (TSX VENTURE: FCC)(OTCQB: FTSSF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent ("LOI") to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of CobalTech Mining Inc. (TSX VENTURE: CSK), an arm's length party, through a negotiated share exchange transaction.

CobalTech has assembled a strong portfolio of prospective cobalt properties, including 11 past producing mines in the town of Cobalt, Ontario, the Werner Lake East Cobalt property near Kenora, Ontario and eight properties in the Province of Quebec. Its flagship asset is the Duncan Kerr Project and includes the past-producing Kerr Lake and Lawson mines which operated between 1905 and 1966 and reportedly produced approximately 32.7 million ounces of silver as well as significant cobalt by-product.

CobalTech also owns a 100 tonne per day mill in the town of Cobalt. This asset would complement the Yukon refinery, over which First Cobalt has a joint venture option for a 50% interest.

CobalTech has 6,588 tonnes of crushed stockpile with an average grade of 761 g/t Ag and 0.95% Co over 2,000 samples on its Duncan Kerr property.1 The potential quantity and grade of this stockpile is conceptual in nature, there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the stockpile being delineated as a mineral resource.

The LOI provides both parties the opportunity to exchange information and maintain confidentiality as each party seeks to determine whether mutually beneficial business opportunities may exist. The LOI does not represent a change of business for either company. The LOI does not contemplate a definitive agreement between the parties. First Cobalt has engaged Canaccord Genuity Corp. as financial advisors and Cassels Brock and Blackwell, LLP as legal advisors on any transactions entered into by the Company.

Trent Mell, First Cobalt President and CEO, commented,

"We believe CobalTech's assets in the Cobalt camp are complementary to our own, and see this transaction as an opportunity to provide value to both our shareholders and those of CobalTech. The future potential from 11 additional past producing mines, as well as a milling facility could provide the pathway to early production in this region. This potential transaction is a credit to the quality assets the team at CobalTech have built."

CobalTech CEO Bruce Bragagnolo commented,

"First Cobalt has a strong vision for the future of this region and this transaction will be beneficial to both to CobalTech shareholders and the community. We look forward to finalizing this transaction with First Cobalt in due course."

To view Figure 1 - First Cobalt and CobalTech land packages in Cobalt camp, Ontario, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/First%20Cobalt%20and%20CobalTech.jpg

Readers are cautioned that the LOI entered into with CobalTech is non-binding, and that completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, completion of due diligence, negotiation of definitive agreements in respect of the transaction, receipt of any required regulatory approvals, the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, and the approval of the shareholders of CobalTech. The transaction cannot be completed until these conditions are satisfied. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

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 option 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.

Qualified Persons

Antoine Fournier, P. Geo., M.Sc., Vice President, Exploration for CobalTech is the Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, for the technical information about CobalTech contained in this news release and he has reviewed the technical information contained herein.

On behalf of First Cobalt Corp.

Trent Mell, President & Chief Executive Officer

On behalf of CobalTech Mining Inc.

Bruce Bragagnolo, 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" and include all statements related to the possibility of a merger between Cobalt One and CobalTech. 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



CobalTech Mining Inc.

Bruce Bragagnolo

+1.604.417.9517

bbragagnolo@cobaltechmining.com

www.cobaltechmining.com




DUBLIN, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Smart Windows Market - Report Bundle 2016-2027" report to their offering.

This offer includes two reports covering the Smart Windows Market:



- Smart Windows Materials Markets: 2017 - 2026

- Smart Windows Markets: 2016-2025



1. Smart Windows Materials Markets: 2017 - 2026 (April 2017)



This report identifies the opportunities for materials sold into smart windows markets. The firm most recently issued study of the smart windows market was issued in November of 2016.



This new materials focused study:



- Provides ten-year forecasts of smart windows materials breakouts by type of material (electrochromic, photochromic, thermochromic, SPD, PDLC and emerging technologies) in both volume (square meters) and value ($ millions) terms and by end user markets ( construction, automotive, public transportation and aerospace).

- Identifies the materials strategies of the leading smart windows suppliers and the materials-related R&D that they are undertaking to improve their products.

- Predicts the commercial implications of the research on self-dimming materials being carried out around the world as technologists identify materials and techniques for smart window platforms that will lead to decreased cost, increased durability, and enhanced features for smart windows.

- Discusses how materials strategies can help reduce the cost of smart windows, which has long been considered the key impediment to further market penetration.

- Analyzes the role for polymer-based substrates in the smart windows sector and as a key enablers for retrofitted smart windows.



This report will be a must-read for marketing, business development, and product management executives in the following sectors:



- Smart windows manufacturers

- Conventional windows suppliers

October 2016

Taiwan

- Flat glass products- Specialty chemicals, polymer and smart material firms- Construction and architectural firms- Energy management companies2. Smart Windows Markets: 2016-2025 (This report presents an analysis of the latest developments in the smart window space, which this research believes will fundamentally transform the opportunities available from this space:- In previous reports on smart windows have focused on the growing number of self-dimming coatings that were being proposed as the basis for smart windows. But we are now seeing a maturing of the smart windows with electrochromic windows showing signs of taking a dominant role in the future. This report explores the implications of this trend, while still analyzing the commercial potential of the latest technology entries into the smart windows space.- Rather than just a materials play, as it once was, n-tech believes that much of the value added available to smart windows suppliers will flow from control systems and related electronics. Today smart windows is very much an Internet-of-Things (IoT) story and this report explores how this development is creating opportunities for the smart windows firms on the one hand and how IoT firms will benefit from fitting smart windows into their strategies- In the past the benefits of smart windows have generally be defined almost exclusively in terms of energy efficiency. However, what the research is seeing is that the marketing story around smart windows is now broadening. In future smart windows will be sold on the basis of enhanced comfort and especially as part of a package where smart windows are combined with smart lighting to provide optimal lighting and heating control. This report discusses where the money will be made in combining these two smart technologies and how the smart windows business will adjust to these new requirementsThis report examines smart windows in the construction and aerospace sectors, where there seems to be considerable growth patterns. We also look at the prospects for smart windows in the automotive sector where the market appears to have stalled. As part of this analysis we examine the potential for smart window retrofits - these have become possible only recently and we believe will have profound implications for both the profitability of the smart windows industry and supply chain strategies that this industry adoptsIn addition to providing analysis of these important developments, this report also presents granular ten-year projections in both volume (square meters) and value ($ millions) terms. The report also examines the cost and technical challenges that will have to be overcome for the smart windows markets to make new products a success. This report also develops a roadmap for the next-generation smart windows technologies along with an appraisal of the strategies that the leading smart windows suppliers.This report will provide guidance to all those interested in the business prospects for smart windows and the technologies that make them possible. Those who will benefit from purchasing this study will include marketing and business development executives in the glazing, coatings, construction, automotive and aerospace industries.- BenQ (- Inspectech Aero Service, Inc.- Invisishade- Merck- Scienstry- Smart Films International- Smart Tint- SmartGlass International- Vision SystemsFor more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/spxbkg/smart_windows

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
CALGARY, ALBERTA and VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Shaw Communications Inc. (TSX: SJR.B)(TSX: SJR.PR.A)(TSX: SJR.PR.B)(NYSE: SJR)(TSX VENTURE: SJR.A) and Mobi by Shaw Go are setting the wheels in motion this Canada Day long weekend to help Vancouverites give back to the community. As part of Shaw's Canada 150 birthday wishes campaign, Shaw will donate $1 to Ronald McDonald House British Columbia and Yukon for every ride Vancouver residents and visitors take on Mobi by Shaw Go from Friday, June 30 to Monday, July 3.

"Whether you're biking to work, cruising down Granville Street, or coasting through Stanley Park, using Mobi by Shaw Go throughout the Canada Day long weekend is a great way to give back to families in need," said Chethan Lakshman, Vice President, External Affairs, Shaw Communications. "Vancouver already knows and loves Mobi by Shaw Go, making it the perfect platform to positively impact and support children and youth in B.C."

"Our members enjoy riding Mobi by Shaw Go because it is an easy and eco-friendly way to get around. Knowing that every trip they take from June 30 to July 3 will support a great cause just makes those trips even better," said Mia Kohout, General Manager, Vancouver Bike Share Inc. "We couldn't be more excited for this special Canada 150 partnership and we thank Shaw for providing this great opportunity for our members to give back."

Supported by the Shaw Kids Investment Program (SKIP), Shaw is granting 150 birthday wishes to recognize the people and organizations who are doing exceptional work to improve the lives of children and youth in our communities, both in Vancouver and throughout the rest of the country. Shaw's major Canada 150 partners include ParticipACTION, Canada's National Ballet School's Sharing Dance Day and the Innovation 150: Power of Ideas Tour.

More information about Shaw's Canada 150 campaign is available at shaw.ca/Canada150.

About Shaw

Shaw Communications Inc. is an enhanced connectivity provider. Our Consumer division serves consumers with broadband Internet, Shaw Go WiFi, video and digital phone. Our Wireless division provides wireless voice and data services through an expanding and improving mobile wireless network infrastructure. The Business Network Services division provides business customers with Internet, data, WiFi, telephony and video. The Business Infrastructure Services division, through ViaWest, provides hybrid IT solutions including colocation, cloud computing and security and compliance for North American enterprises.

Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (Symbol: TSX - SJR.B, SJR.PR.A, SJR.PR.B, NYSE - SJR, and TSXV - SJR.A). For more information, please visit www.shaw.ca.

Contacts:

For media inquiries, please contact:

Shaw Communications Inc.

Chethan Lakshman

VP, External Affairs

(403) 930-8448

chethan.lakshman@sjrb.ca




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TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Platinex Inc. (CSE: PTX)(CSE: PTX.CN)(CNSX: PTX) (the "Company") has agreed to purchase 127 claim units totaling 2,032 hectares (5,080 acres) in the Shining Tree area of Ontario. The vendor will receive 436,190 shares of Platinex Inc. in exchange for Platinex receiving a 100% interest in the claims. The acquisition plus the existing property holdings of Platinex are underlain by a 21 km strike length of the Tyrrell-Ridout Deformation Zone which Platinex believes is an important locus of gold mineralization as is evident on nearby IAMGOLD Corp's Cote Lake project and Tahoe Resources' Juby Project. The accompanying map shows the juxtaposition of Platinex's Shining Tree property and major neighboring properties. The acquisition now brings Platinex holdings in the Shining Tree area to 876 claim units covering 14,016 hectares (35,040 acres).

To view the map accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/PTX0621.jpg

About Platinex Inc.

Platinex has a long history of resource exploration and continues to focus efforts in this area, and in addition is now exploring and developing business opportunities in the cannabis industry. Platinex is currently concentrating efforts on the timely and strategic development of an online platform for the cannabis industry. At the same time Platinex has been focusing its mining business efforts in assembling a very large property in the Shining Tree gold camp, which has received little modern exploration compared to other gold camps in the Abitibi greenstone Belt. Shares of Platinex are listed for trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol "PTX".

The information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by James R. Trusler, Geological Engineer, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the Qualified Person for exploration at the Shining Tree property, as defined by National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects".

To receive Company press releases, please email jtrusler@platinex.com and mention "Platinex press release" on the subject line.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Certain of the information contained in this news release may contain "forward-looking information". Forward-looking information and statements may include, among others, statements regarding the future plans, costs, objectives or performance of Platinex, or the assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. In this news release, words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "estimate" and similar words and the negative form thereof are used to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether, or the times at or by which, such future performance will be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information are based on information available at the time and/or management's good-faith belief with respect to future events and are subject to known or unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. The Company does not intend, nor does the Company undertake any obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements contained in this news release to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except if required by applicable laws.

Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Platinex Inc.

Lori Paradis

Corporate Secretary

(416) 268-2682

lparadis@platinex.com

www.platinex.com




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Veresen Inc. ("Veresen") (TSX: VSN) announces that its Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend for June 2017 of $0.0833 per common share. The dividend will be paid on July 21, 2017 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 30, 2017. This dividend is designated an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes.

About Veresen Inc.

Veresen is a publicly-traded dividend paying corporation based in Calgary, Alberta that owns and operates energy infrastructure assets across North America. Veresen is engaged in three principal businesses: a pipeline transportation business comprised of interests in the Alliance Pipeline, the Ruby Pipeline and the Alberta Ethane Gathering System; a midstream business which includes a partnership interest in Veresen Midstream Limited Partnership which owns assets in western Canada, and an ownership interest in Aux Sable which owns a world-class natural gas liquids (NGL) extraction facility near Chicago and other natural gas and NGL processing infrastructure; and a power business comprised of a portfolio of assets in Canada. Veresen is also working to advance Jordan Cove LNG, a 7.8 million tonne per annum natural gas liquefaction facility proposed to be constructed in Coos Bay, Oregon, and the associated Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline. In the normal course of business, Veresen regularly evaluates and pursues acquisition and development opportunities.

Veresen's Common Shares, Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, Series A, Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, Series C, and Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, Series E trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols "VSN", "VSN.PR.A", "VSN.PR.C" and "VSN.PR.E", respectively. For further information, please visit www.vereseninc.com.

Contacts:

Veresen Inc.

Mark Chyc-Cies

Vice President, Corporate Planning & Investor Relations

(403) 213-3633

investor-relations@vereseninc.com




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Smart Real Estate Investment Trust ("SmartREIT") (TSX: SRU.UN) announced today that it will issue its financial results for the three and six months ending June 30, 2017 on Wednesday, August 9, 2017.

SmartREIT will hold a conference call on Wednesday, August 9, 2017 at 5:30 p.m. (ET). Participating on the call will be members of SmartREIT's senior management.

Investors are invited to access the call by dialing 1-800-263-0877. You will be required to identify yourself and the organization on whose behalf you are participating. A recording of this call will be made available Wednesday, August 9, 2017 beginning at 8:30 p.m. (ET) through to 8:30 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday, August 16, 2017. To access the recording, please call 1-888-203-1112 and enter the Replay Passcode 7681867#.

About SmartREIT

SmartREIT is one of Canada's largest real estate investment trusts with total assets of approximately $8.9 billion. It owns and manages 32 million square feet in value-oriented, principally Walmart-anchored retail centres, having the strongest national and regional retailers as well as strong neighbourhood merchants. In addition, SmartREIT is a joint-venture partner in the Premium Outlets locations in Toronto and Montreal with Simon Property Group. SmartREIT is now expanding the breadth of its portfolio to include residential (condominium and rental), office, and self-storage, either on its large urban properties such as the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre or as an adjunct to its existing shopping centres. SmartREIT's core vision is to provide a value-oriented shopping experience in all forms to Canadian consumers and to create high quality mixed use developments in urban settings.

With SmartREIT's 2015 acquisition of SmartCentres, SmartREIT has transformed into a fully integrated real estate provider. SmartREIT and SmartCentres have had a long and successful alliance, helping to provide Canadians with value-focused retail shopping centres across the country. Now, the alliance has grown even stronger, the result is a fully integrated real estate provider with expertise in planning, development, leasing, operations and construction - all under one roof. For more information on SmartREIT, visit www.smartreit.com.

Contacts:

Huw Thomas

Chief Executive Officer

Smart Real Estate Investment Trust

(905) 326-6400 ext. 7649

hthomas@smartreit.com



Peter Sweeney

Chief Financial Officer

Smart Real Estate Investment Trust

(905) 326-6400 ext. 7865

psweeney@smartreit.com




RENO, NV--(Marketwired - June 21, 2017) - Klondex Mines Ltd. (TSX: KDX) (NYSE MKT: KLDX) ("Klondex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce an initial Mineral Resource Estimate for its Hollister Mine ("Hollister") in Nevada, which incorporated results from drilling performed prior to the Company's acquisition of the property and data generated from additional drilling performed by Klondex subsequent to acquiring the property.

Mineral Resource Estimate Highlights (see TABLE 1):

Total Measured and Indicated ("M&I") Mineral Resource Estimate of 428.6k tons grading 0.507 AuEq opt (17.4 AuEq g/t) (217.5k GEOs)

Total Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 176.0k tons grading 0.445 AuEq opt (15.3 AuEq g/t) (78.3k GEOs)

The Gloria zone remains open to the west with the last drilling information intercepting 18.36 AuEq opt over 1.7 ft (629.5 AuEq g/t over 0.52m)

This initial Mineral Resource Estimate does not include any drilling from the Hatter Graben zone; drilling at the Hatter Graben zone commenced on June 19, 2017

TABLE 1: Hollister Mineral Resource Estimate ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Category Tons Au Au Ag Ag AuEq AuEq Au Ag AuEq (k) opt g/t opt g/t opt g/t koz koz koz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Measured 114.3 0.537 18.4 3.05 104.7 0.565 19.4 61.4 349.0 64.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indicated 314.3 0.465 15.9 2.35 80.5 0.487 16.7 146.1 737.9 152.9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total M&I 428.6 0.484 16.6 2.54 86.9 0.507 17.4 207.51,086.9 217.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred 176.0 0.420 14.4 2.71 92.9 0.445 15.3 73.9 476.9 78.3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Mineral resources are calculated at a gold price of US$1,400 per ounce and a silver price of US$19.83 per ounce. 2. Metallurgical recoveries for gold and silver are 92% and 60%, respectively. 3. One ounce of gold is equivalent to 108.24 ounces of silver. 4. Mineral Resources include resource dilution to a minimum mining width of four feet or the vein width plus two feet, whichever is greater. 5. Cut off grades for the Mineral Resources are 0.227 opt AuEq. 6. The effective date for the Mineral Resource is May 31, 2017. 7. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves have not yet demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues. 8. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Resources as an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource category. 9. The Mineral Resources in this press release were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council.

Assays were performed by American Assay (AAL) of Sparks, Nevada, as directed under the supervision of Klondex staff. This organization is an ISO 17025 accredited independent laboratory. Underground drill core samples were assayed using a fire assay one-assay ton method with an ICP finish. If initial Au assays were > 5ppm or Ag was > 200ppm the samples were re-assayed with a gravimetric finish. The quality control and assurance program included the insertion of standards and blanks every tenth sample, and the retention of pulps and rejects. Duplicates are generated by the lab and re-assayed by ALS Chemex of Reno, Nevada. QA/QC samples are tracked and if a results is outside of pre-determined limits the batch is re-assayed and the results replace the previous values. Channel samples were performed by an in-house laboratory using fire assay with gravimetric finish as directed under the supervision of Klondex staff and check samples were sent to AAL.

Drill samples cited in this news release were obtained from drilling by independent contractor American Drilling of Spokane, Washington under the direction of Klondex staff. Logging, splitting, and sampling are conducted at the Winnemucca logging facility.

About Klondex Mines Ltd. (www.klondexmines.com)

Klondex is a well-capitalized, junior-tier gold and silver mining company focused on exploration, development, and production in a safe, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective manner. The Company has 100% interests in three producing mineral properties: the Fire Creek Mine and the Midas Mine and ore milling facility, both of which are located in the state of Nevada, USA, and the True North Gold Mine and mill in Manitoba, Canada. The Company also has 100% interests in two recently acquired projects, the Hollister mine and the Aurora mine and ore milling facility, also located in Nevada, USA.

Qualified Person

Scientific and technical information in this press release has been reviewed and approved for Klondex by "Qualified Person" Brian Morris (AIPG CPG-11786) who is a "Qualified Person" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information

This news release contains certain information that may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking information"), including but not limited to the production and exploration potential at the Hollister Mine, and future exploration and production plans of Klondex. This forward-looking information entails various risks and uncertainties that are based on current expectations, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such information. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the global economy; the price of gold; operational, funding and liquidity risks; the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; the degree to which mineral reserve estimates are reflective of actual mineral reserves; the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with underground operations; and the ability of Klondex to fund its substantial capital requirements and operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and United States available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov, respectively. Readers are urged to read these materials. Klondex assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by law.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors Regarding the Use of Mining Terms

This news release has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. All resource and reserve estimates included or referred to in this news release have been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators that establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. These standards differ significantly from the mineral reserve disclosure requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC") set out in Industry Guide 7.

The SEC's disclosure standards normally do not permit the inclusion of information concerning "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" or "inferred mineral resources" or other descriptions of the amount of mineralization in mineral deposits that do not constitute "reserves" by U.S. standards in documents filed with the SEC. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. U.S. investors should also understand that "inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an "inferred mineral resource" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Consequently, resource information contained in this news release is not comparable to similar information that would generally be disclosed by U.S. companies in accordance with the rules of the SEC.

For More Information

John Seaberg

Senior Vice President, Strategic Relations

O: 775-284-5757

M: 303-668-7991

jseaberg@klondexmines.com
SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Michael Patrick O'Brien, attorney at Jones Waldo and volunteer president for the Ulster Project of Utah, today announced that 12 teens from Omagh in Northern Ireland will arrive in Utah on June 25.

As part of the Ulster Project of Utah, a month-long international peace initiative, American teens will host the 12 visitors as they participate in a variety of service projects and fun activities designed to encourage peace, understanding and harmony between Catholics and Protestants in Ulster, a province in Northern Ireland.

"It is amazing each year to watch these young people get to know each other as just people, rather than by other labels," O'Brien said. The teens do so through social activities, campouts, interfaith church services, discussions and service projects for the local community. Adult counselors from Omagh and Utah guide and assist in the process. A list of all public 2017 Utah Ulster Project activities and events is below.

The Ulster Project was established in 1975 with the grass roots goal of ending the sectarian "troubles" that have plagued Northern Ireland for decades. Although various peace accords in the region have helped establish a peace and reconciliation process, sporadic violence and religious segregation continues.

"The Utah Ulster Project has been bringing Catholic and Protestant teens together in Salt Lake City for more than three decades and to the best of our knowledge, none of these teens have become involved in sectarian violence when they get back home," O'Brien said. "This project is Utah's way of making a difference in the lives of families in Northern Ireland."

For more information, please contact Michael Patrick O'Brien, Ulster Project Board President, at 801.534.7315, mobrien@joneswaldo.com or go to utahulsterproject.org.

Utah Ulster Project 2017 Public Activities

June 26, 2017: UP opening ceremonies at 7 pm at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1070 Foothill Drive, SLC.

July 2, 2017: Sunday church at 11 am at Mount Olympus Presbyterian church, 3280 East 3900 South, SLC.

July 3, 2017: UP Talent Show (dinner available for purchase) at 6 pm (show at 7 pm) at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church Holy Family Hall, 1375 Spring Lane, Holladay.

July 8, 2017: UP car wash fundraiser, 2 pm to 4:30 pm at Our Savior Lutheran Church, 2500 East 3900 South, SLC.

July 9, 2017: Sunday church at 9:45 am at St. James Episcopal church, 7486 Union Park Ave, Midvale.

July 10, 2017: UP Reunion Dance - open to current and alum teens, 7 pm at Mt. Tabor Lutheran Church, 175 South 700 East, SLC.

July 23, 2017: Sunday church at 8:30 am at St. Ambrose Catholic church, 2315 E. Redondo, SLC.

July 24, 2017: UP Closing Ceremonies, at 7 pm, First Presbyterian Church, 12 C Street, SLC.

July 25, 2017: NI teens depart from SLC airport.

About Jones Waldo

Since 1875, Jones Waldo has provided legal services to businesses and community organizations that support and grow Utah's economy. Built on a strong foundation of service and knowledge of the state's core industries, the firm continues to evolve through meeting new challenges, finding innovative solutions and advancing legal trends. With departments in business, real estate and litigation, attorneys at Jones Waldo have the expertise necessary to solve complex client needs in nearly every area of business. Jones Waldo has offices in Salt Lake City, Park City, St. George, Provo and Chicago. Information can be found at www.joneswaldo.com.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Senator Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SNR)(OTC PINK: SNRAF)(FRANKFURT: T1KA) ("Senator" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on upcoming activities this summer. The Company has applied for permits to complete an initial phase of its proposed work program on the Patterson North East (PNE) Uranium Project, located in the western Athabasca basin, Saskatchewan. The Company anticipates commencing work on the project on July 15, 2017.

Due diligence on the Company's proposed acquisition of an interest in the Carter Lake Uranium Project, also located in the Athabasca basin, remains ongoing. As part of due diligence the Company intends to conduct an aerial survey on the project in July.

While exploration work is ongoing, the Company is continuing with its offering of common shares at a price of $1.00 per share on a private placement basis. The Company anticipates completing the placement shortly, and will provide further information as soon as it is available.

Senator is a junior mineral explorer focused on uranium exploration in northern Saskatchewan. Senator has entered into an agreement with an arm's-length vendor to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in the Patterson North East (PNE) Uranium Project, located on the east side of the Athabasca basin in Northern Saskatchewan, the most productive uranium-producing region in the world.

Tim Fernback, President and Chief Executive Officer

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.

Statements in this release that are forward-looking information are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here. Information provided in this document is necessarily summarized and may not contain all available material information. All such forward-looking information and statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. These statements, however, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information or statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements.

Contacts:

Tim Fernback

604-340-3774




NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - June 21, 2017) - VORNADO REALTY TRUST (NYSE: VNO) announced today that it has completed a $220 million financing of The Bartlett, a 699 unit residential building with a 39,000 square foot Whole Foods Market at its base, located in Arlington, Virginia. The five-year interest-only loan is at LIBOR plus 1.70%, currently 2.90%, and matures in June 2022.

As contemplated in the previously filed JBG SMITH Form 10, the property and the $217 million of net proceeds will be transferred to JBG SMITH in connection with the tax-free spin-off of our Washington, D.C. segment.

Vornado Realty Trust is a fully integrated equity real estate investment trust.

Certain statements contained herein may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such 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 such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks associated with the timing of and costs associated with property improvements, financing commitments and general competitive factors.

CONTACT:

Joseph Macnow

(201) 587-1000

888 Seventh Avenue

New York, NY 10019
According to the Complaint, during the Class Period, United Technologies issued and reaffirmed unfounded and inflated earnings guidance, primarily based on the planning assumptions in two of the Company's key business units, namely the UTC Aerospace Systems ("UTAS") and Otis Elevator Co. ("Otis"). The Company failed to disclose or indicate that its earnings forecast relied on planning assumptions for the UTAS and Otis units that were not fully scrutinized and were too aggressive. On July 21, 2015, United Technologies cut its 2015 earnings guidance, based on the weak performance of the UTAS and Otis units. When this news was announced, the Company's stock price dropped 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.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 21, 2017 / Renaissance Gold Inc. (TSX-V: REN) ("RenGold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Kinetic Gold (US) Inc. has signed a Binding Terms Sheet with Ramelius Resources Limited (RMS) ("Ramelius") for an exploration earn-in agreement on its 100% owned Jupiter Project, a Carlin-type target located in Nye County, Nevada.

The Agreement

The Binding Terms Sheet stipulates the terms of a definitive agreement to be prepared within 90 days. The agreed terms grant Ramelius the right to earn a 75% interest in the property by spending US$3,000,000 over a 5-year period. Ramelius paid the Company a one-time payment of US$25,000 upon signing the Binding Terms Sheet, must spend US$250,000 in the first year (firm commitment) before it may withdraw from the agreement, and must spend a minimum of US$100,000 in subsequent years to maintain the agreement.

Following completion of the earn-in, Ramelius will carry the Company's share of joint venture expenditures up to Ramelius making a Decision to Mine. Upon making a Decision to Mine, the Company must either contribute to ongoing joint venture expenditures in proportion to its ownership interest, dilute to a royalty interest, or allow Ramelius to provide project financing for the Company, whereby Ramelius increases its project interest to 80%.

Jupiter Project

The Jupiter Project is located approximately 60 miles southeast of Tonopah, Nevada and 110 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada. The project lies in the historic Queen City (Blackhawk) mining district at the southern end of the Quinn Canyon Range. Historic mercury and base metals workings occur in several locations within and adjacent to the property. Widespread hydrothermal alteration occurs over a 4 x 3 mile area and is characterized by abundant anomalous gold mineralization, with silicification  jarosite alteration. Surface rock chip sampling has yielded abundant and widespread anomalous results, ranging from detection limit up to 3.10 g Au/t, with strongly associated Carlin-suite volatile trace elements arsenic, antimony and mercury. At least one and possibly two phases of intrusive have been identified on the property, which may act as potential "heat engines" driving the hydrothermal activity. The large alteration system and associated mineralization affects both the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and the overlying Tertiary volcanic rocks, and the Company's exploration focus has been on developing Carlin-type targets in the Paleozoic carbonates.

Exploration and target development activities by the Company have included geologic mapping, rock chip sampling and biostratigraphic dating, and have been successful in identifying three new target areas that are prospective for significant gold mineralization in a very similar geologic setting to Newmont's Long Canyon gold mine. Most importantly, the newly developed targets have never been drill tested. This work has redefined the stratigraphic and structural relationships in this area and have identified a previously unrecognized thrust fault, placing upper Cambrian over Ordovician rocks. This relationship indicates that prior drilling in this carbonate package occurred below the potentially highly productive Cambrian-Ordovician unconformity, which is a major host at Long Canyon. The targets consist of drilling to test the Cambrian-Ordovician unconformity in several areas; on strike with known mineralization under interpreted shallow alluvial or volcanic cover, and beneath significant "surface leakage" gold mineralization in overlying Ordovician rocks.

The Jupiter property comprises 120 claims held directly by Kinetic Gold (US) Inc. and is subject to a 1% net smelter returns royalty to Altius Royalty Corporation.

Ronald Parratt, CEO and Executive Chairman states, "This new agreement for a Kinetic Gold property with a company such as Ramelius validates the earlier belief held by RenGold that the Kinetic portfolio would be of great value in the improving gold market. We're optimistic that the portfolio will continue to attract other partners."

Robert Felder, President states, "We are very pleased to bring in such a strong partner as Ramelius to explore our Jupiter project and look forward to collaborating with the Ramelius team going forward."

Qualified Person

All technical data disclosed in this press release has been verified by RenGold's Qualified Person, Robert Felder, M.Sc. and Certified Professional Geologist as recognized by the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG)

About Renaissance Gold Inc.

Renaissance Gold Inc. is a gold/silver exploration company that has a large portfolio of exploration projects in Nevada and Utah. On May 29, 2017, the Company acquired Kinetic Gold Corp. and its subsidiaries which hold various exploration properties all located in Nevada. RenGold's objective is to place all of its projects into exploration agreements with industry partners who provide exploration funding. RenGold applies the extensive exploration experience and high-end technical skills of its founders and team members to search for and acquire new precious metal exploration projects that are then offered for joint venture.

About Ramelius Resources Ltd.

Ramelius Resources Limited is an ASX listed (RMS), successful Australian gold mining and exploration company. Ramelius owns 100% of the Mt. Magnet gold mine, located 600 km north of Perth, Western Australia and the associated 1.7 Mtpa Checker Processing Plant. Ramelius is mining from both open pit and underground deposits at Mt. Magnet as well as mining underground at the high-grade Vivien gold mine near Leinster, located 300 km east of Mt Magnet. The Vivien ore is also trucked to Mt. Magnet for processing. Visit www.rameliusresources.com.au for details.

By: Robert Felder, President and Director

For further information, contact:

Robert Felder, 775-337-1545 or bfelder@rengold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking" statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could," or "should" occur. Although Renaissance Gold Inc. 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 may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Renaissance Gold Inc's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Renaissance Gold Inc. undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates, or opinions, or other factors, should change.

SOURCE: Renaissance Gold Inc.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/21/17 -- Pitchblack Resources Ltd. (NEX: PIT.H) ("Pitchblack" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that today it has entered into a definitive share purchase agreement (the "Purchase Agreement") with Sulliden Mining Capital Inc. ("Sulliden") to purchase from Sulliden all of the shares of a wholly owned subsidiary of Sulliden which holds an option to acquire 100% of the past producing Troilus Gold Project (the "Troilus Project"), located approximately 450 kilometers north east of Val-d'Or (the "Transaction"). 2507868 Ontario Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sulliden (the "Sulliden Sub"), is party to an option agreement with First Quantum Minerals Inc. ("First Quantum") pursuant to which the Sulliden Sub has the right to acquire the Troilus Project upon satisfaction of certain conditions. The two year option was signed in May 2016 and Pitchblack intends to exercise the option following completion of the Transaction.

Agreement with Sulliden

Pitchblack will purchase from Sulliden all of the outstanding equity securities of Sulliden Sub, in consideration for the issuance of 100,000,000 common shares of Pitchblack to Sulliden (the "Consideration"). Based on the closing price of Pitchblack's common shares on June 21, 2017, the deemed sale price for the Sulliden Sub shares is $41 million.

Pitchblack had established a special committee of the board of directors to review the Transaction and they have unanimously approved the Transaction. Although Bill Clarke is considered to be a Non-Arm's Length Party to the Transaction as he is a director of each of Pitchblack and Sulliden, the Transaction constitutes an Arm's Length Transaction as defined by the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"). Pitchblack is not paying any finder's fees in connection with the Transaction.

The Transaction is subject to receipt of certain third party and regulatory approvals, including approval of the TSXV.

G. Scott Moore. President and Chief Executive Officer of Pitchblack, commented: "The opportunity to acquire a project of this size in the Province of Quebec, one of the best mining jurisdictions globally, is a significant opportunity for Pitchblack shareholders."

Details of the Option Agreement Between Sulliden and First Quantum

In May 2016, First Quantum entered into an option agreement (the "Option Agreement") with the Sulliden Sub pursuant to which the Sulliden Sub was granted a two-year option to purchase a 100% interest in the Troilus Project, with First Quantum retaining a variable net smelter royalty of 1.5% or 2.5% depending on the price of gold.

To exercise the option under the Option Agreement, the Sulliden Sub committed to making three cash payments of $100,000 to First Quantum. Two of these payments have been made, and the last remaining payment is to be completed on the date of exercise of the option. In addition, Sulliden Sub committed to spend a minimum of $1,000,000 on engineering and technical studies to evaluate the economic viability of the Troilus Project. Over the last year, Sulliden has spent more than $700,000 towards the advancement of an internal preliminary economic assessment focusing on an underground mining scenario, which satisfies a significant portion of the expenditure commitment made to First Quantum.

The acquisition of the Troilus Project would include all infrastructure, including roads, power lines, camp buildings, permitted tailings pond and associated water treatment facilities. The Troilus mill, however, was removed from the Troilus Project during the first phase of reclamation.

Troilus History & Development Strategy

The Troilus Project is located approximately 175 kilometres by road from Chibougamau, Quebec, Canada. The property covers approximately 4,700 hectares. From 1997 to 2010, Inmet Mining Corporation operated the Troilus Project as an open-pit mine, producing more than 2,000,000 ounces of gold and 70,000 tonnes of copper.

Following the execution of the Option Agreement with First Quantum, Sulliden engaged Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. to complete an updated mineral resource estimate for the Troilus Project based on the high quality historical drill data of the project. The mineral resource estimate highlighted open-pit and underground Indicated mineral resources of 44.0 million tonnes containing 1.8 million ounces of gold at 1.27 g/t gold and 117 million pounds of copper at a grade of 0.12%, or 2.1 million ounces of gold equivalent at 1.45 g/t (see Sulliden press release dated May 25, 2017 for details).

New Pitchblack Management Team

Upon closing of the Transaction, Sulliden intends to transition its technical and operational teams to Pitchblack to accelerate the development of the Troilus Project; the same team who was responsible for the recent successful development of the Shahuindo Gold Project in Peru. The Sulliden management and operations team is led by Justin Reid and the technical team is led by Peter Tagliamonte.

Mr. Reid is a geologist and capital markets executive with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively in the resource space. From February 2013 to August 2014, Mr. Reid served as President of Sulliden Gold Corporation Ltd. Since the sale of Sulliden Gold Corporation Ltd. to Rio Alto Mining Limited, Mr. Reid has served as the CEO of Sulliden Mining Capital Inc. Mr. Reid holds a B.Sc from the University of Regina, an M.Sc from the University of Toronto and MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Mr. Reid started his career as a geologist with the SGS and Cominco Ltd after which he became a partner and senior mining analyst at Cormark Securities in Toronto. In 2009, Mr. Reid was named Executive General Manager at Paladin Energy responsible for leading all merger and acquisition, corporate and market related activities. He returned to Canada in early 2011 assuming the role of Managing Director Global Mining Sales at National Bank Financial, where he directed the firm's sales and trading in the mining sector.

Mr. Tagliamonte is a professional mining engineer and also holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Mr. Tagliamonte is the current CEO of Belo Sun Mining Corp., a precious metal resource exploration and development company focused on the Volta Grande property in Brazil. He is also an executive director of Sulliden Mining Capital Inc. He is the former President and CEO of Central Sun Mining, Chief Executive Officer of Sulliden Gold Corporation Ltd. and former Chief Operating Officer of Desert Sun Mining where he developed the Jacobina Mine in Brazil into a 4,200-tonne-per-day mining operation. Mr. Tagliamonte has over 25 years of progressive managerial experience building and operating mines worldwide, notably in Central and South America. In 2005, he received the Mining Journal's "Mine Manager of the Year" award in recognition for his work in the mining sector. Mr. Tagliamonte also serves as a director of several public companies in the resource sector.

Financing

In connection with the Transaction, Pitchblack expects that it will also complete an equity financing, the terms of which will be disclosed once they have been determined. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, Sulliden has agreed to fund certain working capital requirements of Pitchblack related to the Troilus Project, up to a maximum of $3 million, following the closing of the Transaction for a period of 12 months. Sulliden's obligation shall fall away upon Pitchblack raising a minimum of $5 million of debt or equity financing.

Other Information

Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, acceptance of the TSXV and if applicable, disinterested shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of Pitchblack should be considered highly speculative. The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

About Pitchblack Resources Ltd.

Pitchblack has uranium, coal and gold assets in the Yukon Territory, Canada. The Company is currently reviewing the potential of these properties.

Qualified Person

The technical and scientific content of this release has been reviewed by Blake Hylands, P.Geo., a "qualified person" as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Hylands is an employee of Sulliden Mining Capital.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the Company's plans for developing its properties, the ability to close the proposed Transaction on the terms described, satisfaction of all conditions precedent, receipt of any required third party and regulatory approvals and other transaction statements. 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 state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is 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: transaction risks; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; future prices of mineral prices; accidents, labour disputes and shortages and other risks of the mining industry. Although 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 information 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 information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

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:

Pitchblack Resources Ltd.

G. Scott Moore

President and Chief Executive Officer

416-861-5903

smoore@forbesmanhattan.com




Bessemer Venture Partners, a $4 billion global venture capital firm investing in consumer, enterprise and healthcare technology companies, has promoted Charles Birnbaum, Amit Karp, and Kristina Shen to partner.

Charles Birnbaum joined BVPs New York office in 2013. Birnbaum is actively involved with many BVP portfolio companies, including Main Street Hub, BrightBytes, Bread Finance, and August Home.

He currently serves on the board of Zopa, United Capital, Fabric, Spruce and Eave and was involved in the exits of Yodle, 2U, and Kroll Bond Ratings.

As partner, Birnbaum will continue to focus on financial services, consumer, and education investments.

Amit Karp joined BVP in 2012 in the firms New York office, where he worked closely with BVPs portfolio companies, including Blue Apron and Fuze.

In 2014, Karp moved to BVPs Israel office, taking his knowledge of building high-growth U.S. startups to Israeli companies. He currently serves on the board of otonomo and ScyllaDB and is actively involved in Oryx Vision, Yotpo, Prospera, and Cloudinary, and the exit of CloudLock.

As partner, Karp will lead investments in high-growth Israeli startups across all industries, including edge computing, machine learning, cybersecurity, consumer, and across all company growth-stages.

Kristina Shen joined BVP in 2013. She works closely with BVPs portfolio companies, including Service Titan, RainforestQA, Vidyard, Helpful, and Gainsight. Shen was actively involved in the exit of Instructure and is the BVP lead on the boards of Glint, DoubleDutch and Retail Solutions.

As partner, she will continue to invest in enterprise technology companies, specifically in the areas of human assisted AI, enterprise voice, enterprise mobile and next-generation HR.

FinSMEs

21/06/2017
Celtra, a Boston, MA-based creative management platform for digital advertising, raised $15m in funding.

The round was led by Unilever Ventures and WPP, which are partnering to use Celtras creative technology across Unilevers global marketing organization and its ecosystem of service providers, technology vendors and media suppliers.

Led by Miha Mikek, Founder and CEO, Celtra provides a cloud-based creative management platform for digital advertising based on HTML5 authoring with integrated creative serving, designed from the start for mobile advertising. The agnostic solution enables advanced video, display and native ad products powers campaigns for more than 3,500 brands and 2/3 of Fortune 500 advertisers.

The company also has offices in New York City, San Francisco, London, Ljubljana, Singapore and Sydney.

FinSMEs

21/06/2017
Creathor Venture, a Bad Homburg v.d.H., Germany-based venture capital firm, has promoted three of its long-time Investment Managers to Partners effective June 1st, 2017.

Christian Leikert, Dr Christian Weiss and Christian Weniger complement Creathors management team, joining CEO Dr Gert Kohler and Managing Partners Karlheinz Schmelig and Cedric Kohler.

Christian Leikert, who holds a masters degree in business administration from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, joined Creathor in 2013 as an Investment Manager and has since been responsible for numerous life science investments, especially in the fields of diganostics, medical devices and platform technologies.

He is responsible  amongst others  for Creathors portfolio companies Cube Biotech, Sinopsys Surgical and CEVEC Pharmaceuticals. He joined Karlheinz Schmelig as a Partner on Creathors life science team.

Dr Christian Weiss joined Creathors information technology team in 2015 as an investment manager, supporting portfolio companies such as COBI, zadego or Humanoo. Previously, he worked for McKinsey as an Engagement Manager and co-founded a start-up. He studied Business Administration and Economics at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel and at Yale University, holding a Ph.D. and a Masters degree. Besides further engaging with SaaS and digital health start-ups, Christian will continue to support Creathor on the corporate development side.

Christian Weniger, part of Creathors information technology team since 2015, actively supports several portfolio companies, including Happycar, iFunded and R3Coms. Prior to joining Creathor, he worked in the venture capital team of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the sovereign-wealth fund of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Weniger holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BSc in Business Administration and Commercial Law from the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel. He will continue to bring to the table his expertise in consumer internet and deep tech while also pushing Creathors fundraising and partnership activities forward.

FinSMEs

21/06/2017
Cybereason, a Boston, MA-based cybersecurity startup, received a $100m in a Series D venture capital funding.

The investment was made by SoftBank Corp., a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO: 9984). Following this financing, Cybereason has raised a total of $189m in capital from SoftBank and other investors such as CRV, Spark Capital, and Lockheed Martin.

The company intends to use the funds to increase its growth through new distribution channels and to develop new technologies.

Co-founded in 2012 by Yonatan Striem-Amit, Lior Div and Yossi Naar, Cybereason provides automated SaaS based endpoint detection and response, next-generation antivirus, and managed monitoring services that have protected hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies from highly advanced attacks including, most recently, the global WannaCry Ransomware attack.

The platform is powered by a custom-built in-memory graph, which detects behavioral patterns across every endpoint and surfaces malicious operations in an exceptionally user-friendly interface.

Cybereason also has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo.

FinSMEs

21/06/2017
Rubius Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company pioneering the development of a new class of cell therapies, raised $120m in funding.

The company was conceived, launched and funded by Flagship VentureLabs, the innovation foundry of Flagship Pioneering, which was joined by undisclosed large institutional investors.

The proceeds will be used to accelerate the advancement of Rubius Red-Cell Therapeutics (RCT) product portfolio, to further build out the team and to prepare to enter human clinical trials in 2018.

Led by Torben Straight Nissen, Ph.D., President, Noubar Afeyan, CEO of Flagship Pioneering and Co-Founder of the company, Rubius has developed the technology to grow, genetically engineer and mature long-circulating red cell therapeutics which will provide clinical benefits to a wide range of patients across multiple therapeutic areas.

The platform allows Rubius to express enzymes, agonists, antagonists, binders and combinations in their natural conformation on or inside of red cells. Lead RCT programs include enzyme replacement therapies as well as therapies targeting solid tumors and hematological cancers. Further, the company has demonstrated that RCTs provide potential applications across additional therapeutic areas, such as autoimmune disease, infectious disease, metabolic disease and rare diseases, including hemophilia.

FinSMEs

21/06/2017
After Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last month said he favoured disinvestment of the loss-making state-owned airline Air India, private sector conglomerate Tata Group is believed to have shown interest in buying the national carrier in alliance with Singapore Airlines, an ETNow report said.

It is understood that the recently appointed Tata group chairman N Chandrasekaran has held informal talks with the government for buying a majority stake in Air India.

"Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran has held informal talks with the government, expressing preliminary interest in buying a controlling stake in Air India with 51 per cent equity," the ETNow report said.

If the acquisition of the national carrier goes through, Air India will be back into the fold of Tata Group after the airline was nationalised 64 years back.

JRD Tata had started Tata Airlines in 1932, which was later in 1946 renamed as Air India and was subsequently nationalised in 1953.

Surprisingly in 2013, Ratan Tata, who was at the helm of the Tata group, had said that he will be happy to look at Air India as and when the national carrier is put on the disinvestment list.

In November 2000, Tatas had announced that it will partner with Singapore Airlines (SIA) in its bid to acquire a 40 percent stake in Air-India.

In a press release, the Tatas had said: "Singapore Airlines is a global player with impeccable credentials ... Its airline operating competency will be a significant asset to the consortium and will be critical in ensuring the success of Air India in the international market place."

Although the Tatas have been eyeing Air India for past several years, the salt-to-software conglomerate already has two airline joint ventures operating in India over the past four years.

The Tatas already operate AirAsia India with Tata Sons increasing its stake to 40.06 percent from 30 percent earlier by injecting fresh equity while Telestra's share was reduced to 10 percent from 20 percent.

Another domestic airline company Vistara was also founded in 2013 between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines.

In case of Air India, Tatas will have to deal with the fact that Air India is saddled with debt burden of over Rs 50,000 crore. The airline's market share has fallen to around 14 percent.

"In this country, if 87 or 86 percent flying can be handled by the private sector... then they can also do 100 percent," Jaitley had said last month on the government's plans to disinvest Air India.

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.

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: Telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have questioned regulator TRAI's timing of recent paper on refining mobile network test rules, calling it a disguise after the damage was done by Reliance Jio.

The Mukesh Ambani-led Jio has dismissed the charges saying the incumbents have created a non-issue around network testing, despite clarity in present rules and it is necessary to clear all ambiguities in the existing framework.

The incumbent telecom operators, under the umbrella of industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) in August 2016, alleged that Reliance Jio is bypassing regulations by offering full-fledged services under the guise of test connections and requested the Department of Telecom to ask Reliance Jio to immediately stop all connections provided to 1.5 million users.

At the time, Jio was providing free unlimited 4G data services and voice calls in the test phase. The company launched its commercial service on 5 September, 2016.

Reliance Jio had refuted charges as "malicious, unfounded, ill-informed, and frivolous and are contrary to actual facts".

The tussle between incumbents and Reliance Jio led to exchange of communications between the DoT and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The regulator issued a consultation paper on 1 May this year to refine rules on network testing.

Airtel, in its submission to the TRAI, said that there are no grey areas or ambiguities in the existing guidelines and the paper is no more relevant as damage has already been done.

It said that the present rules clearly state that the enrolment of subscribers is not permitted before the commercial launch of services and the regulator has "failed to act on a suo motu basis over the violation of these rules".

"However, these guidelines have been blatantly violated by the new entrant. Therefore, we are surprised that instead of taking an action against the new entrant, TRAI has issued a consultation paper over the issue," Airtel said.

It added that the delay in action from TRAI allowed the new entrant to amass subscribers in the guise of test users and offer all its services for free.

Vodafone alleged that the TRAI, instead of examining the compliance of licensing terms and conditions by Reliance Jio, has condoned the actions of Reliance Jio in the consultation by citing lack of clarity and converted the consultation into future discussion.

"...the present consultation appears to be disguising these violations by claiming lack of clarity in the license regarding time period for testing, limiting number of SIMs and enrolment of subscribers during the test phase," Vodafone said.

Idea Cellular said the the consultation on network testing has only been issued almost after nine months of having received the formal reference from DoT which "clearly demonstrates the lackadaisical approach of the TRAI towards dealing with such a critical issue" that has resulted in a plethora of problems for the entire telecom industry.

Idea said that the conduct of the TRAI on this specific issue raises serious questions on the Authority's approach towards this issue with regard to the guiding principles of fairness and transparency.
The government on Wednesday allowed banks and post offices to exchange old, big bank notes, which are no longer in circulation, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a month, provided these notes were collected by 30 December 2016, a finance ministry statement said.

Cooperative banks have also been allowed to exchange old currency notes with the RBI, if they had collected these notes by 14 November, the statement said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a shock move on 8 November last year to ditch Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes - worth a combined $256 billion - that he said were fuelling corruption, being forged and even paying for attacks by militants who target India.

Soon after the demonetisation announcement, on 14 November cooperative banks were asked not to accept the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes as deposits or exchange those notes with the new currency notes (read the notification here).

This meant that these lenders could only deal with permissible denominations of Rs 100 and below or take deposits in new currencies that were hardly available in the system.

The move by the central bank had resulted in considerable heartburn in the co-operative banking system and in turn the rural economy, where these lenders have huge presence.

Cooperative banks are particularly important for farmers and lower income groups who want small ticket loans in less time in relation to larger banks.

According to data from Nabard, the country has 32 state cooperative banks, 370 district central cooperative banks as on 31 March 2015. The number of primary agricultural credit societies (PACS), the smaller ones, as on 31 March 2014, stood at 93,042, as per the latest data available.

One of the states which took a major hit due to the curb on cooperative sector is Kerala, where there are over 2,500 cooperative bank branches. The decision pushed the ruling and Opposition fronts led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress, respectively, to the path of agitation.

The Cooperative Bank Employees Federation in Tamil Nadu had alleged that the state's rural economy came to a grinding halt as agricultural cooperative societies, textile and fishermen associations with bank accounts in Central Cooperative Banks had been badly hit after the RBI's circular.

Recently, a report by NDTV said district central cooperative banks in Maharashtra alone are stuck with Rs 2,770 crore worth old notes they collected during the early days of demonetisation, which they have not been able to exchange the notes.

The finance ministry's move on Wednesday will come as a relief to these banks.
As India gears up for the GST shift, multinational firms are giving the move a big thumbs-up. In a candid interview with Firstpost Contributing Editor Rupali Mehra, Director of Scania Sustainable City Solutions Anders Grundstromer, says GST will ease the process of doing business in India as different tax rates for different states was a big obstacle.

Grundstromer, who until recently headed Scania's operations in India, also reacts to news of Tesla eyeing the Indian market and what it means for sustainable transport solutions in India.

What have been your biggest takeaways as far as India goes? Where can the Swedish transport system and sustainable transport pitch in?

What I realised in India is that it is a huge nation. It is actually not just a country, it is a continent with 27 different states and autonomous regions. So to do business in India is like doing business in 27 countries. And when I was there I talked very much about changing the tax system so we can make one market out of India. The biggest obstacles or takeaway for us is that the potential is huge, but there are so many problems to move goods. If you have a production in Bangalore like we do, and we want to sell a truck in another part of India, there are many obstacles and taxes and things like that. That is really killing the business a little bit.

Well, luckily we have GST coming now in India...

Absolutely, that is super important. I have talked about GST during my three years in India. India has talked about it for many years. Now it is finally happening. I am very grateful that the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing this now. Because I think it will be fantastic for India.

In the last few years India and Sweden have signed a list of agreements in the area of science and technology, renewable energy. What is your organisation's vision for the next 10 years?

My vision has always been that we can help India to be more sustainable. We introduced our ethonol buses during my time there, where we take agricultural waste and turn it into ethonol and run buses on that. Now we are taking the next step with bio-methane, where we take sludge from the sewage plants and produce bio-gas from it and run buses on that. I think that is a very smart solution for a smart city in India, because you get rid of your waste problem and you get domestic energy. So we say, 'local waste to local fuel to local transportation'. That's smart, to do it that way. The technology also is well proven and we have lot of partners working along with us. That is our vision  to be leaders in sustainable transport solutions in India and elsewhere in the world.

Often problems that a country like Sweden faces, and it's solutions, may not be the same as solutions needed in India.

Yes, it is a big difference. If we take India for instance. India has 18 percent of the world population but only 4 percent of the fresh water in the world. Due to illegal dumping and bad routines to handle waste, 30 percent of the fresh water is destroyed, and people get sick. I think just delivering buses and trucks like that is not enough in nation like India. You also have to have corporate social responsibility. In this India can learn a lot from Sweden. Even though Sweden is a much smaller country than India, I think we have a lot technology and know-how over the years that India could benefit from and take a giant leap from the situation the country is in today and how it can be tomorrow. The pollution faced by the big cities today can be solved by us..

Going forward, could India become a major export manufacturing hub for your company?

Absolutely. I think so.

And what timeline are you looking at?

You mentioned it yourself, the next 10 years. I think we already have many suppliers in India. There are many promising companies supplying to Scania. They need a little bit more quality awareness, if I may say so. And also social responsibility. When it was at Scania India, I fought a lot to have 50 percent females and 50 percent males.Well that is really important. In fact another Swedish company Ikea is saying that too.

Elon Musk had tweeted 'Tesla is in talks with the Indian government to requesting temporary relief on import restrictions until a factory is built' in India. If Tesla does come to India, does it really heat up the sustainable transport solutions in India, thereby encouraging more companies to come in?

Absolutely. I think Tesla has done a great job bringing sustainability on the agenda, especially electrification. I think he [Elon Musk] has a point. I think it is a little too complicated to manufacture, import and export out of India. The procedures need to be much easier and should help people to establish themselves there and make it easier for companies to do business in India, using Indian products within our core products. There is also a need for more sustainable products. You know how trucks and buses in India are versus the Scania buses. There is a big difference. So that's what we should look for in India. I feel the government could ease rules for import and export from India. At present it is complicated.
New Delhi: More than 800 new aircraft are likely to enter the Indian aviation market, that has been seeing a double digit growth, in the coming years.

Carriers like SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir and Jet Airways have plans or firmed up orders for over 800 new planes, including a good number of smaller aircraft.

Nearly 500 aircraft are presently operated by Indian carriers.

After coming back from the brink, no-frills airline SpiceJet has inked initial pacts yesterday and today for orders of up to 60 new planes. This includes 20 latest Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft and 40 Q400 turboprop planes from Bombardier.

With the latest announcements at the ongoing Paris Air Show, SpiceJet now has plans or final orders in place for a total of 265 new aircraft.

The budget carrier today announced plans to purchase 50 Q400 turboprop aircraft from Bombardier, a day after signing a pact for buying 40 Boeing 737 MAX planes.

Earlier this year, SpiceJet had announced pact with Boeing for 205 new planes -- including the previous order of 55 and an option for buying 50 more aircraft.

Rival and leading carrier IndiGo has placed orders for a staggering 430 planes with Airbus. These orders -- mostly for A320 neos -- were announced in 2011 and 2014.

Besides, IndiGo -- which has the largest market share in domestic aviation -- has plans to acquire as many as 50 smaller aircraft as part of entering into the regional aviation market.

In January 2017, GoAir firmed up the order for 72 A320 neo planes.

Back in November 2015, full-service airline Jet Airways announced placing an order for 75 fuel-efficient Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.

Domestic air traffic has been growing in double digits for more than two years and touched a peak of 25.13 per cent in January this year.

Indian airlines flew more than one crore people last month.

In March, Sydney-based aviation think-tank Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) had said India was the third largest aviation market in terms of domestic passenger traffic.

India's domestic air passenger traffic stood at 100 million in 2016, as per its report.
Srinagar: Even as the Central government will herald the beginning of GST tax regime during a late night function at Central hall of parliament on 30 June, Jammu and Kashmir state will skip the deadline to roll out the indirect tax regime. In the wake of differences between PDP and BJP over its implementation and opposition by political parties including the Hurriyat Conference to the new tax law, there seems to be no indication of earlier implementation of GST in the state.

No we will n0t be able to meet the 1 July deadline to implement the GST. We however hope that the GST is implemented at the earliest in the state, but there are difficulties. We had to adjourn the assembly session since some political parties have opposed the GST implementation, said Minister of State for Finance, Ajay Nanda. The BJP has been pressing on its coalition partner that the GST regime should be implemented at the earliest, but since the PDP is expecting that the new tax law will trigger an agitation its implementation has been deferred. Although government earlier said that a committee headed of different political parties will look into the extension of GST into the state, no orders have been issued to constitute it. The Hurriyat Conference has voiced its opposition to the GST law and has termed it as  tantamount to the weakening of states economy, while the different industry bodies have opposed it stating that this would erode the special status of the state. Both the National Conference and Congress have voiced their opposition to the GST law. NC has even charged the government of eroding the special status of the state and lack of any roadmap.

However, even as the state government has reiterated that it was for the first time that any constitutional amendment of Indian constitution was slated for debate in the legislative assembly, it fears that the pressing with the GST will trigger an agitation in Kashmir. The opposition to GST has come few days before the annual Amarnath pilgrimage is to begin from 29 June. The joint Hurriyat leadership of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik raised concern over proposed implementation of GST in state and said that it is a well thought out plan to cripple our trade and economy. They (Authorities) are hell-bent to harm business community. Few state ministers are in league with authorities in Nagpur and are being lured to implement GST in state, they said in a joint statement.

The state government has, however, said that it will be difficult for the businessmen to carry out trade with rest of the parts of India. The businessmen and traders will face a difficult time and delay in implementation of GST will only harm the economy. We will also not get the compensation package from the Central government, said Nanda. Law Minister, Abdul Haq Khan, said recently that through the discussion on the GST in the assembly the state government was reiterating the supremacy of the state legislature. He said it is ironic that the political parties that are today crying hoarse over the implementation of GST in J&K, facilitated extension of 46 constitutional amendments of the constitution of India to the state and under section-5 of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir the state was free to levy any additional tax or new taxes. However constitutional expert and President of the High Court Bar Association (HCBA), Mian Qayoom, said that he sees the controversy over the GST being propped up to divert the issue from the resolution of Kashmir problem.

The GST is to divert the attention of the people of Jammu and Kashmir from seeking the implementation of United Nation Security Council resolutions which guarantees holding of plebiscite in the state of Jammu and Kashmir under the auspices of Security Council. It is to involve the people in controversies which will prolong the achievement of their cause. Otherwise also Parliament in view of constitutional application order 1954 read with constitutional application order of 1969, constitutional application order of 1972 and constitutional application order of 1985 has no power to make laws with regard to the imposition of taxes in the state of Jammu and Kashmir other than taxes on foreign travel by sea or air, inland air travel, postal articles including money orders, phonograms and telegrams.

As per constitutional experts the difficulty in extending the constitutional amendment 101 to the state of Jammu and Kashmir is due to the special status enjoyed by the state under Article 370, which specifies that either the consultation or the concurrence of the state was to be acquired before extending any central law through the order of the President to the state.

The Article 370 specifies that the power of Parliament to make laws for the state of Jammu and Kashmir shall be limited to those matters in the Union List and the concurrent list which, in consultation with the government of the state, are declared by the President to correspond to matters specified in the Instrument of Accession governing the accession of the State to the Dominion of India. Besides laws can also be made with respect to other matters with the concurrence of the government of the state which the President may by order specify. Furthermore under section 5 of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, the executive and legislative power of the state extends to all matters except those with respect to which Parliament has power to make laws for the state under the provisions of the constitution of India.

Chief spokesman of the BJP, Sunil Sethi, said the state government will have to give concurrence to 101 amendment and it will go to the President who will issue the constitutional order and then it will be extended to the state. Earlier constitutional orders have been extended to the state by the concurrence of the governments. There are some who are stating that Article 370 has been eroded which is wrong as all previous constitutional orders have been extended under Article 370. He, however, said that Article 370 was meant to be a temporary provision. He said that  GST has to come to Jammu and Kashmir and there is no way out.
New Delhi: Industry bigwigs Sunil Bharti Mittal and Anil Ambani along with other telecom players will meet Communications Minister Manoj Sinha tomorrow to discuss the financial difficulties being faced by the sector.

The meeting comes just days after an inter-ministerial group held a dialogue with all telecom companies on the industry's financial stress and measures that can be taken to ease the situation.

It will be, among others, attended by Idea Cellular Managing Director Himanshu Kapania, Tata Sons Director Ishaat Hussain and Reliance Jio Infocomm Board Member, Mahendra Nahata, sources said.

Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan will also be present, they said.

Jio had last week ascribed the financial stress in the telecom sector to existing operators like Airtel and Idea running businesses on debt and investing heavily in unrelated sectors. Jio alleged that the incumbent operators had been reluctant in infusing equity and hence the financial stress is their own creation.

The incumbent operators, on the other hand, had hit back saying the current call connect charge (or Interconnection Usage Charges) of 14 paise/minute is below cost and needs to be corrected to "prevent predatory voice pricing environment".

India's largest telecom company Bharti Airtel had accused Jio of predatory pricing and demanded that operators be paid more for calls terminating on their networks as also the right to retain customers through incentives.

The large operators had also spoken in one voice on reduction of levies like licence fee, spectrum usage charges and GST. They also sought an extension on deferred spectrum liabilities - meaning that the amount they bid for radiowaves should be payable over a longer period.

Citing Rs 4.6 lakh crore cumulative debt staring the sector, the incumbents have made a case for urgent relief measures like extension on payment of deferred spectrum liability and cut in levies.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India too had met the telecom companies last week, where Idea Cellular suggested imposition of a minimum floor price for voice and data services.

(Disclosure - Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd)
Mumbai: Markets regulator Sebi today relaxed norms for stake purchase in distressed listed companies by lenders, exempting them from making open offers for shareholders.

The relaxation would be subject to certain conditions, including shareholders' approval of the stake acquisition by way of special resolution.

The Sebi decision comes against the backdrop of the government and Reserve Bank of India stepping up efforts to tackle the menace of bad loans, amounting to Rs 6 lakh crore.

At the board meeting here, Sebi decided to ease the norms for restructuring in stressed companies that are listed on exchanges as well as for resolution plans approved under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Clearing the proposals, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said they are aimed at facilitating "turnaround of listed companies in distress which will benefit their shareholders and lenders".

Currently, relaxations from preferential issue requirements and from open offer obligations are available for lenders undertaking restructuring of distressed listed companies under Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) scheme.

There have been representations made to Sebi that lenders who have acquired shares and propose to divest them to new investors faced difficulties as the latter have to make an open offers. Such offers further reduce the funds available for investment in the company concerned.

In view of the concerns raised, Sebi has decided to extend the relaxations to the new investors acquiring shares in distressed companies pursuant to such restructuring schemes.

"Such relaxations shall be subject to certain conditions like approval by the shareholders of the companies by special resolution and lock-in of their shareholding for a minimum period of three years," the regulator said in a release.

Further, the relaxations would be applicable for the lenders under other restructuring schemes undertaken in accordance with the RBI guidelines.

Sebi board has also cleared the proposal to provide exemption from open offer obligations "for acquisitions pursuant to resolution plans approved by NCLT under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016".

Under the Code, lenders or the companies seeking insolvency proceedings have to first approach the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
The term 'greatest' has been used by just about everyone when it comes to Daniel Day-Lewis, right from the time the three-time Oscar winner burst upon the scene.

Perhaps that is the reason why anytime Daniel Day-Lewis announces anything it is met with reverence reserved for the gods - be it his silent disappearance from the scene following the release of his film Boxer (1999) or his 'return' to acting with Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002) or the way he told a close few friends that he was off to Dublin post-Lincoln (2012), his last completed film.

As expected then the news of him announcing his retirement from acting has evoked a similar response and considering the reaction, perhaps the world is not going to be same again.

Great as his acting is and brilliant as he may be when it comes to preparing for a role, Daniel Day-Lewis leaving acting is not as great a tragedy as some would like us to believe.

The thing that probably makes Day-Lewis one of the most preeminent actors of our times, in not just his craft but also the way his craft touches the audiences. He's known to fully immerse himself in the character that he is playing to an unbelievable degree. To say that Day-Lewis is merely acting for the camera while in a film would be an understatement.

During the making of My Left Foot he famously remained in character, as the writer with cerebral palsy, to the extent that he was spoon-fed by the crew. For In the Name of the Father (1993) he slept in an abandoned jail and ate only prison rations. For The Crucible (1996), he lived in the film set's replica village without electricity or running water and built his character's house with 17th-century tools and most famously for Gangs of New York he trained as a butcher, caught pneumonia while on set after effusing to change his threadbare coat for a warmer one because it hadn't existed in the 19th century and even wandered about Rome (where Gangs was filmed) in character, fighting strangers.

There is a 'great' Daniel Day-Lewis preparation for every decade from the 1990s till the 2010s and these roles have been acknowledged by the biggest honour possible for any actor - an Academy Award.

He won his second and third Oscar for There Will Be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2012) respectively and was nominated for In the of the Father and Gangs of New York. The emotional excessiveness that Day-Lewis' performances display has connected with audiences consistently for the last three decades and therefore watching him become a character has almost become the gold standard.

For most film fans watching an actor trained in the Method, a style where the artist is supposed to delve deep into his or her own consciousness and allow ones self to become the character, has held great fascination since Marlon Brando made it fashionable in the late 1940s.

The sheer effort that Day-Lewis puts in by itself becomes enough for any 'Daniel Day-Lewis' performance to be considered great. You knew that The Last of the Mohicans (1992) was the real thing because the Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis) you saw on the screen actually lived off the land for six months, trained how to track and skin animals.

Similarly, to prepare for There Will Be Blood Day-Lewis insisted on living in a tent on an abandoned Texas oilfield and therefore he could interpret the feelings and the emotions of the late twentieth-century oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, to perfection. It is hardly surprising then that it was enough for Day-Lewis to show up in order to be judged best actor at most award functions.

Yet watching Day-Lewis play a character can also be a boring affair.

Unless some great co-stars accompany him such as Joan Allen in The Crucible or a well-cast Michelle Pfeiffer with Winona Ryder in The Age of Innocence (1993), Day-Lewis, at times, seems to be acting in a vacuum. See him in the scenes with Leonardo Di Caprio in The Gangs of New York or next to Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln and you notice how most of the times his co-stars look as if they are waiting for him to get done.

There are times when his acting overburdens the very film such as Lincoln where some critics couldnt help but mention that despite being immaculately acted (largely by Day-Lewis, of course) it was a terribly dull film. Day-Lewis cannot be blamed if a film falls short of meeting his expectations but the places where he doesnt have anything gargantuan to bite into (say the musical Nine [2009] or The Ballad of Jack & Rose [2005]) he can be insipid.

In the end, the reality of not watching another Daniel Day-Lewis performance after Phantom Thread, his last film that releases later this year, can be a matter of sadness for anyone who has ever enjoyed a film ever. But at the same time, Day-Lewis was never really there for us to miss him. Actors quit for a host of reasons and then also make a comeback but the chances of Day-Lewis being coaxed into facing the camera ever again are perhaps actually low.

In an interview, he once mentioned that letting go of the characters he has so lovingly created is a hard thing and added, when you've been someone else for that amount of time, it's even more absurd when it's all over. Perhaps Day-Lewis insane, overblown preparations somewhere allowed him to be what he couldnt be in real life and once you become someone else being yourself can be a boring affair.

Are there then no other people left for him to be that he decided to quit at 60, an age when many other great actors have hit a golden phase of their career? Or could it be that he never wants the preparation for a role to end and only retirement offers him the solace of being in character forever?
Los Angeles: With a run-time of approximately one hour and 47 minutes Dunkirk is going to be the shortest film in Christopher Nolan's career since his directorial debut.

The 46-year-old director's World War II epic is this year's one of the highly-anticipated movies, which will hit the US theatres next month.

The film starring Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance and Harry Styles will be the shortest after Nolan's first feature-length film Following, a source confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

Following, a neo-noir crime drama, was released on 12 September, 1998 in Toronto

Dunkirk will be 62 minutes less than Interstellar, which starred Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in the lead role. It was Nolan's longest film with a running time of two hours and 49 minutes.

His 2008 superhero movie The Dark Knight was two hours and 32 minutes long, while Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer Inception was two hours and 28 minutes long.

According to another report by The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker received a warm welcome at CineEurope, the annual gathering of international theater owners, in Barcelona, during a presentation conducted by Warner Bros. where the director revealed that the film was shot entirely on Imax film.

The film is slated to release on 21 July.

(With inputs from PTI)
The tenth International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) concluded at the state capital Thiruvananthapuram on 20 June with the participants declaring solidarity with the three filmmakers whose films were denied permission to screen at the festival by Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Before the beginning of the valedictory function, the directors and workers of films screened at the festival, Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Issac who inaugurated the meet and other political leaders who spoke at the meet made an impromptu protest on the stage and read a statement supporting the directors of banned films. They said the action of union I & B Ministry is completely arbitrary and a state of cultural emergency exists in India at present. They added that they feel they themselves could have protested more strongly in the issue and shouted slogans against union I & B Ministry. The filmmakers requested the audience also to stand up and express unity with the makers of banned films.

The jury of the festival who announced awards in various categories at the function said the yardsticks for deciding winners were simplicity and artistic vision. Filmmakers need to express their ideas in a simple way to enable people understand it rather than creating complex works. The best animation film award was given to the Hindi film The Fish Curry (Maacher Jhol) by Abhishek Verma. The best campus film award went to the Malayalam film Rooms by Sandeep Unni. In the short fiction category, the award for the best film was given to the Hindi film Grandfather by Amar Kaushik and Assamese film Days of Autumn by Mukul Haloi.

In the non fiction category Long Documentary The Books We Made by Anupama Chandra and Uma Tanuku shared jurys special mention along with Of Love and Artistry by Suruchi Sharma. The best long documentary award was also shared by two films; Soz: A Ballad of Maladies by Tushar Madhav and Sarvnik Kaur and Nostalgia For The Future by Rohan Shivakumar and Avijit Mukul Kishore won the best long documentary award jointly. Navroze Contractor award for the best cinematographer was given to Ranjan Palit for his work in the film In Praise of that Angel Face .

The jury recommended that the categories of short and long documentary should be merged in the next time as it is illogical.

Earlier inaugurating the valedictory meet, Thomas Isaac said the state will build cultural complexes in all the 14 district capitals at a cost of Rs 40 crore each. Those complexes will have rehearsing rooms, theatres, meeting halls and all other facilities necessary for screening films and performing other art forms. The government will ensure whatever capital required for building infrastructure and promoting cultural activities, he said.

Explaining the reason for the Government policy to focus on promoting cultural activities, Issac said Kerala which has achieved tremendous progress in areas like healthcare, education, per capita income etc is becoming a consumerist society like advanced nations. People are spending huge money for luxury goods and services. Even the middle class people build palatial houses. In the context the government wants to divert the spending habits of the public from consumer items to the cultural area. The proposed cultural complexes which will come up in the near future will provide an area to the people to spend their money productively on cultural products, Issac said.

The minister added that the way forward for socialist ideas is only through cultural activities and this is one of the reasons why the Left Government in Kerala decided to invest in the sector.

Criticising the Union I & B Ministry for the ban on three films, Issac said he himself may not fully agree with what the films say. However, it is important to give them an opportunity to express the reasons for their dissent. Short films and documentaries need less capital and give opportunities to the marginalised sections to express their ideas before the society. It is a form of resistance which is not appreciated by the BJP Government, he said. He added that Kerala government will soon introduce financial support to selected short film and documentary makers.

As many as 210 films in different categories were screened at the festival. Hundreds of cinephiles, mostly youth from different parts of the country participated in the festival. Noted Malayalam filmmaker KP Kumaran was the guest of honour. Thiruvananthapuram corporation Mayor VK Prasanth, district panchayat president VK Madhu, festival artistic director Bina Paul, and executive director Mahesh Panju were present.
The eve of World Music Day saw the Minister for Tourism of Goa, Manohar Ajgaonkar, unveil plans that will result in the formulation of various schemes by the Department of Tourism.

These schemes will help in promoting the spirit of music, in all its diverse forms via various music festivals that will be held throughout the state of Goa.

According to a statement Ajgaonkar said, "Another reason that draws tourists to Goa is music and I will strive to make Goa a Music Festival Destination," as reported by Web India 123.

Ajgaonkar also said that the government of Goa will be identifying special zones where the proposed late night music festivals can take place, so that the locals of Goa are not inconvenienced, as stated by a report in The Hindu.

The Minister for Tourism warmly greeted many State musicians while he recalled yesteryear's memories of the assorted artists who had previously contributed immensely to both the Indian and especially the Goan music scene through their melodies. These musicians included the likes off Dinanath Mangeshkar, Mogubai Kurdikar, Kishori Amonkar, M. Boyer, Oliver Sean, Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki, Lorna, Anthony Gonsalves, Alfred Rose, Rita Rose, Emiliano Da Cruz, Hema Sardesai, Selwyn Menezes, Sonia Sirsat, Zezinho Fernandes, Colin DCruz and many more, states the same Hindu report.

He also remembered Goyem Shahir late Ulhas Buyao, whose birthday coincidentally clashes with World Music Day.

Goa has been a hot bed for the music scene of India since the very beginning. Whether it is the famed Sunburn or Super Sonic Festivals (electronic music festivals with renowned international and indigenous artists) or Goa's general encouraging disposition towards artists (Jazz, classical music, what have you).

Goa is touted as the leader in the Indian music scenario, boasting of an eclectic mix of the different forms of music that can be found and enjoyed in Goa. Meandering from Indian and Western classical to rock, electronic dance music, jazz, pop, traditional, liturgical and orchestra. Goa has it all.

Various musical instruments like the ghumot, madolin, dhol, along with traditional songs like the dhalo, dulpod, fugdi, mando, etc., are all immensely popular and till date  they continue to be played during celebrations and festivities. Music also plays a huge part in the theatrical art forms that are prevalent in Goa such as the Sangeet Natak and Tiatr (traditional Konkani plays)

Several music producers have set up their recording studios in and around Goa as well.

Ajgaonkar also vehemently urged parents to encourage their children to take up music, as an excercise that will boost Goa's traditional culture for posterity and help in keeping it alive. He also complimented the lovers of music that are in Goa for keeping the musical identity of Goa alive with their support, stated the same Web India 123 report.
It looks like class is back in session at the Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters in the first set photo for X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

Eventhough pre-production on the film is just gearing up at the moment, it looks like the cast and crew are really excited for the new film.

Star James McAvoy (who plays the younger version of professor Charles Xavier) took to Instagram to tease his return as Professor X in a rather unique way.

He approaches. #charlesxavier #xmen #darkpheonix A post shared by James Mcavoy (@jamesmcavoyrealdeal) on Jun 17, 2017 at 4:56am PDT

The team of X-Men: Days of the Future Past is returning as the cast and crew on the set of this film. Longtime x-men writer Simon Kinberg is writing and helming the venture, and the cast includes the likes of Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Beast), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler). Sophie Turner will play the titular role of Dark Phoenix and Jean Gray .

Jessica Chastain is in talks to play the villain of the film X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Lilandra. An empress of the alien race, Lilandra is in search of and eager to eradicate the Phoenix Force. Kinberg previously confirmed that the next X-Men film would jump ahead ten years from Apocalypse (the last X-Men film), offering a 1990s setting for the sequel. The X-Men comics saw a commercial boom during the 90s, following character redesigns by Jim Lee, which went on to be the basis for the fan-favorite animated series. Twitter user @JENLAWFILMS is among those who have gotten ahold of a set photo that shows what looks to be the exterior of the Danger Room. The Danger Room is a part of the X-Men mansion in the comics and works as a battle simulator.

This, followed by a photo of Sophie Turner with a fan near the film's set in Vancouver  confirms that production on the film will begin very soon:

'Sophie Turner' arrives in Montreal ahead of filming 'X-Men: Dark Phoenix'

(takes photo with a fan) #XMenDarkPhoenix pic.twitter.com/UwuUbM26Q8  X-Men Updates (@XMenUpdates) June 19, 2017

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is set to open in theaters on November 2, 2018.
Mumbai: Feroz Abdul Rashid, one of the six convicts in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, on Tuesday 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) nor 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 on Monday 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 toppers 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 on Monday 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.
New Delhi: A delegation of Aam Aadmi Party leaders on Wednesday met Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal alleging that the party was being "singled out" and made to pay fine for "unauthorised occupation" of office premises on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg in Delhi.

AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Ashutosh met Baijal at Raj Niwas and said the party was slapped with a fine for 'illegal' occupation of office premises by the Public Works Department (PWD), despite having 66 MLAs in the 70-numbered Delhi Assembly.

The BJP has only four MLAs in the Assembly, yet it has "seven offices", while the Congress has zero legislators but the party occupies "four offices", they told Baijal.

"There is no logic to this if AAP is being singled out when it has 66 MLAs in Delhi Assembly", they said.

The PWD had cited unauthorised occupation of the bungalow on the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Marg by AAP as its office, and slapped a fine of 27 lakh rupees on it.

The decision for allotment of the bungalow to AAP by the party-ruled government in Delhi was flagged by the Shunglu Committee.

In November 2015, the AAP government had approved a policy for land allotment to state parties. The Kejriwal government then alloted a bungalow to the AAP on Rouse Avenue the following year. The bungalow was earlier alloted to Asim Ahmed Khan, who was later sacked from the Delhi Cabinet over graft charges.

Present Lieutenant Governor had in April this year cancelled the allotment.

A notice was issued by the PWD after this to AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for vacating the premises.

Another senior AAP leader and Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti also met the Lieutenant Governor, seeking his intervention in the "deteriorating" law and order situation in his constituency. A delegation of businessmen and local residents of Malviya Nagar accompanied Bharti.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday sought Congress leader Ashok Chavan's stand to the CBI's submission that the governor cannot be made respondent to his plea against the sanction to try him in the Adarsh housing society scam.

A division bench headed by Justice RV More gave this direction to Congress MP Chavan while hearing his plea against Maharashtra governor C Vidyasagar Rao's decision to grant sanction to the CBI to prosecute him in the scam.

Additional solicitor general Anil Singh, appearing for the CBI, told the court on Wednesday that the governor cannot be made a respondent personally in a petition.

"The petitioner (Chavan) will have to delete the Governor's name as respondent. The state government will have to be impleaded as respondent," Singh said.

The court then directed Chavan's counsel Amit Desai to reply to this argument by the CBI and posted the matter for further hearing on 3 July.

In February last year, Governor Rao had granted sanction to the CBI to prosecute Chavan for committing cheating and other corruption offences besides hatching criminal conspiracy.

Chavan's petition termed the governor's order as "arbitrary, illegal and unjust" and passed without "proper application of mind" and with "malafide intentions."

The CBI had accused Chavan of approving additional floor space index for Adarsh society in lieu of two flats for his relatives. He was also charged with illegally approving, as the then revenue minister, allotment of 40 percent of the flats to civilians in the high rise in posh Colaba.

While the CBI named him as an accused in its FIR, in December 2013 the then Governor K Sankaranarayanan had refused permission to it to prosecute Chavan in the scam.

The high court, however in March 2015, had dismissed a plea made by Chavan, a sitting Lok Sabha MP now from Nanded, for deletion of his name from the case, as the governor had refused to grant sanction.

Following this, the CBI re-approached the Governor seeking sanction, which was granted in February 2016.
Visakhapatnam: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that though the adivasis fought against the British and against exploitation, they have been losing battle against their own governments.

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, said Vijayan addressing the inaugural meeting of Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.

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 and the provisions under the fifth and sixth schedule of the Constitution," he said.

Citing the case of adivasis of Bastar region in Chhattisgarh, the Kerala chief minister said the neo-liberal policy of the government 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 security forces in the name of fighting against the maoists, are evicting the adivasis to facilitate the private companies to set up their industries. As a result the adivasis are getting killed in the crossfire of naxals and the police," Vijayan said.

The colonial policy of displacement which the adivasis faced for decades before the Independence is still continuing, he said, adding, 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 has failed in its role as major opposition party and is reluctant to take on the BJP.

It is now the onus of the Left parties to intensify the struggle against exploitation of the adivasis, he added.
As the historic Kamakhya Temple in Assam gets ready to welcome more than a million pilgrims from across the country, the shrine finds itself embroiled in a rape controversy, after a Thane girl accused a sadhu of sexually assaulting her.

A rape case has been registered in Maharashtra's Thane district, after a woman said the sadhu, identified as Sailal Hiralalji Jedia, raped her at his residence near the temple.

Moscow Saikia, officer in-charge of the Kamakhya outpost of the Guwahati City police, told Firstpost that a Maharashtra police team reached Guwahati on 18 June and conducted joint operations with the local police to look for the sadhu. "The sadhu was staying in a rented house near Kamakhya Temple. As per the allegations raised by the victim, he raped her when she visited him, seeking a solution to some family problem," Saikia said.

However, before the police could reach his residence, the sadhu had fled.

As per sources, the woman visited Jedia three months ago regarding her ailing father. Jedia claimed to possess spiritual powers, and assured her of curing her father. He allegedly took her to his residence near the temple and raped her.

Reports in the local media also said the sadhu made a video of the rape incident and used this to blackmail the woman. "He went to Maharashtra, and threatened the woman that he will make the video public if she didn't pay him Rs 3 lakh," the source said.

The woman paid him Rs 3 lakh, but at that point, he asked her for another Rs 2 lakh, which is when she decided to file a case against him in Thane's Shitalchar police station. "The police team from Thane conducted search operations in various locations in the vicinity of the temple, but he was not found," Saikia said.

Nobody appeared to know where Jedia's permanent address is, but sources have confirmed that he wasn't from Assam. One priest, part of the temple administration, even said Jedia isn't connected with the temple at all. Kabindra Dev Sharma, the priest, told Firstpost that Jedia is among the many fake sadhus who take advantage of pilgrims' anxiety.

"Thousands of frauds pretend to be temple sadhus around the Ambubachi Mela time. They claim to wield supernatural powers, just to hoodwink pilgrims. These sadhus also claim that they can cure diseases, tell fortunes, and help solve personal problems. People should be careful about not falling prey to such traps," Sharma said.

These chargers come just days before the Ambubachi Mela which attracts more than a million pilgrims every year from various parts of the country. The state government was planning to use the occasion to promote tourism in the region. There were also plans of a facelift for the shrine, which would woo high-end tourists. As part of this, the government also promoted a packaged tour as part of a fair, which would provide tent accommodation on the Nilachal Hill where the temple is located and a cruise on the Brahmaputra.

The Telegraph reported that the authorities have also barred Naga sadhus in the main venue during the Ambubachi Mela, as a facelift measure.

Over a million pilgrims are expected to throng the temple for the four-day mela that starts from 22 July.
A petition protesting the 'imposition' of Hindi on Namma Metro signboards took Twitter by storm on Tuesday as people of Bengaluru urged the Karnataka government to banish the use of the language.

The trend (#NammaMetroHindiBeda), fuelled by a social media campaign by Banavasi Balaga Prakashana, saw people criticise the use of Hindi and called it unnecessary', as it was not the local language.

According to a report in Deccan Herald, Banavasi, an association of Kannada lovers, finds no logical reason behind the move.

"We are not against Hindi but we definitely wont allow its imposition. The state government should stick to two languages  Kannada and English  in Namma Metro," the report quoted Arun Javagal of the association as saying.

Karnataka politicians across the party lines, must be ashamed of themselves for painting Bengaluru with Hindi!! #NammaMetroHindiBeda pic.twitter.com/D8GaumMP65  Hariprasad Holla (@hariprasadholla) June 20, 2017

Javagal said that the association had understood  through several RTIs  that the three-language policy in Namma Metro was not backed by either state or the Centre. According to a report in News18, there are far more 'deserving' languages than Hindi as far the numbers are concerned.

Today no kannada in our banks.We dont want the same in Namma Metro.#NammaMetroHindiBeda #NammaMetroKannadaSaku pic.twitter.com/xF2baVMFCg    (@BrdjKarantha) June 20, 2017

The report says, "Going by the population census, after Kannadigas, the next most populous linguistic communities in Bengaluru are Telugu, Urdu and Tamil speakers in that order. None of their languages has been used in Namma Metro."

It adds, "This data is enough to say that Kannada and English reach the masses in Bengaluru. It is unfair and illogical to give prominence to a language like Hindi, which ranks probably sixth or seventh in terms of the number of speakers in Bengaluru."

@uavasanthrao If I travel in Delhi metro will they serve me #Kannada? If not, then why Hindi here? All lang are equal #NammaMetroHindiBeda   (@ajjublr) June 20, 2017

Though Namma Metro gives prominence to Kannada in all the signboards, the Banavasi association feels that such an imposition of Hindi will eventually threaten Kannada. We are able to send a rocket to Mars but cant get a railway ticket in Kannada. Its not that Kannada was never there. Railways used to provide tickets in local languages. But they were phased out gradually, the Deccan Herald report quoted Javagal as saying.

Hindi will slowly replace English and then Kannada. If English is "foreign" y do Delhi metro & hindi belt uses English? #NammaMetroHindiBeda pic.twitter.com/wNCu16ThrJ  Navaneeth Gowda (@NavaneethGowda1) June 20, 2017

Madrid metro has only 2 languages, Chennai, Delhi metro has only 2 langs, wonder why 3 langs in BLR metro. #nammametrohindibeda pic.twitter.com/joOVoQPWMT  Babu Ajay (@Babuajay316) June 20, 2017

Transport systems are life lines of a city. Hindi in metro is an insidious plan to replace Kannada with Hindi. #nammametrohindibeda   (@nripatunga) June 20, 2017

@uavasanthrao Save Karnataka's tax money by not wasting it on unwanted language implementation in our public services. #NammaMetroHindiBeda  Manoj Shastry (@Manojrs008) September 19, 2016
Beijing: China on Tuesday ruled out the chances of BRICS turning into a clique or a military alliance, saying its recently-proposed concept of "BRICS Plus" is only aimed at enhancing cooperation with developing nations.

Several rounds of dialogues were held with the other developing countries outside the BRICS during the previous summits of the bloc, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters when asked about Beijing's proposal for BRICS Plus at the just-concluded Foreign Ministers meeting which was also attended by Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh.

host country to invite countries for interaction on the sidelines.

Chinese officials said Beijing, however, is unlikely to invite Pakistan keeping up with the sensitivities of India, a leading member of the BRICS group.

Geng said BRICS counters are all major countries with influence and they are very representative in the family of emerging markets.

"So cooperation among the countries will better reflect the call and voice of the developing countries. Since the inception of BRICS, it members never seized cooperation and interaction with other developing countries," he said. Geng, however, said while the bloc of emerging economies plans to deepen political and security cooperation from economic collaboration, it will not become a military alliance.

"I want to emphasise that BRICS cooperation has always followed the principle of openness, inclusive and win-win cooperation," Geng said.

"BRICS cooperation does not intend to form a clique or political and military alliances. They do not intend to target, offset, challenge or replace someone," he said. He said the BRICS nations are willing to work with other countries to form a community of shared future for mankind.

"The Chinese side is willing to work with other BRICS countries to promote the development of BRICS cooperation and make positive contribution to world peace and prosperity and jointly tackle global challenges," he said.
Brussels: Belgium said on Wednesday a Moroccan man carried out a foiled terrorist attack with a nail bomb at a busy Brussels train station, the latest in a wave of attacks to hit Europe.

The 36-year-old man, identified only as O.Z, shouted "Allahu Akbar" and tried to detonate a suitcase in a group of passengers at Brussels Central station before a soldier shot him dead on Tuesday.

"It could have been much worse," Belgian federal prosecutor's spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told a news conference. "It is clear that he wanted to cause more damage than he did."

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said a "terrorist attack has been prevented" in the city that hosts the EU and NATO headquarters.

But he said that while security would be stepped up, the country's terror alert level would be kept stable.

"We are not allowing ourselves to be intimidated by terrorists," he added.

The blast came a day after a man mowed down Muslims near a mosque in London, and a suspected Islamist on a terror watchlist rammed a car laden with weapons into a police vehicle in Paris.

The suspect, from the largely immigrant Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek which has been linked to a number of previous attacks, was not known to police for terrorism offences.

Brussels has been on high alert since suicide bombers struck Zavantem Airport and the Maalbeek metro station near the EU quarter 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 2015 suicide bombings and shootings in Paris which left 130 people dead.

Nails and gas bottles

In Tuesday's incident, the man failed to cause any casualties.

He entered the station and twice approached a group of around 10 passengers, the second time standing in the middle of them, prosecutors said.

"He grabbed his suitcase while shouting and causing a partial explosion. Fortunately, nobody was hurt," Van Der Sypt said.

"The suitcase immediately caught fire. The man then left his luggage burning and went down to the platform in pursuit of a station master. Meanwhile, the bag exploded a second time more violently. This bag contained nails and gas bottles," he added.

"The man then returned to the hall where he rushed to a soldier shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest). The soldier immediately opened fire and hit the individual several times."

The man, who died instantly, was not wearing a suicide belt, contrary to some Belgian media reports, he said.

"He was not known to the authorities for any terrorist connection," Van Der Sypt said, declining to give the man's full name while the investigation continues.

Interior Minister Jan Jambon underlined what a close call passengers had when he said the "big explosion did not happen."

Police later raided the man's home in Molenbeek, home to some of the jihadists involved in the Paris and Brussels attacks.

People crying, shouting

Belgium would keep its terror alert level at three on a scale of four, Michel said after chairing a meeting with his national security council.

Events in Brussels including a concert by rock band Coldplay were set to continue, although authorities said there would be extra security and warned people not to bring backpacks.

The busy Central Station in the heart of Brussels, which sits just beside the Grand Place tourist attraction, reopened around 8:00 am (0600 GMT) Wednesday, railway authorities said.

Belgian rail company spokeswoman Elisa Roux said "there were people crying, there were people shouting" after the explosion.

Witness Nicolas Van Herrewegen, a railway employee, said he had gone down to the station's mezzanine level on Tuesday night after hearing somebody shouting.

"Then he yelled 'Allahu Akbar', and he blew up a wheeled suitcase," Van Herrewegen told reporters.

"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.

Soldiers have been deployed at railway stations and landmark buildings in Belgium since the Paris terror attacks when a link to Brussels was first established.
Gangtok: A delegation of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Tuesday 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 in Gangtok for the International Day of Yoga celebrations to be held at Paljor Stadium on Wednesday.

A member of the delegation, RB Bhujel, told PTI 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.
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Wednesday claimed credit for the Union government's decision to allow the district central cooperative (DCC) banks among others to deposit demonetised currency with RBI by 20 July.

The Sena said in a statement on Wednesday that the party president Uddhav Thackeray had demanded that the RBI be allowed to accept the scrapped currency lying with DCC banks in Maharashtra, which would help them give fresh loans to farmers.

After the 8 November shock demonetisation announcement, the government had allowed commercial banks and post offices to accept the junked currency from the public until 30 December. District central cooperative banks were allowed to accept them only until 14 November.

The finance ministry, through a notification on Wednesday, allowed banks and post offices to exchange any old junked notes with RBI in the next one month, provided they were collected by 30 December, 2016. The same window would also be available to co-operative banks if they had collected the banned notes by 14 November.

The earlier window was open until 31 December, a day after the 50-day period of demonetisation.

According to a government official, the notification for the fresh window comes as per the commitment that was given to the Supreme Court.

Last December, the government had made a commitment to the apex court that it will soon issue a notification allowing the district cooperative banks to deposit demonetised notes with the RBI.

According to a recent report, district central cooperative banks in Maharashtra are stuck with Rs 2,770 crore worth old notes they collected during the early days of demonetisation but were unable to deposit them with RBI.

This had led to stalling of a Maharashtra government scheme to hand out Rs 10,000 cash to distressed farmers.

Several leaders including NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and those from Shiv Sena had represented to the government for allowing cooperative banks to exchange old notes.
Nagpur: Environmental activist Dr Vandana Shiva on Wednesday alleged that the Union government was allowing multinational companies to introduce 'toxins' in the form of genetically modified crops.

A nationwide protest will be held against the genetically modified crops on 15 August, she said, speaking at a press conference. The multinational companies have planted their own people in government committees which deal with approval for such crops, she claimed.

Though BT or other genetically modified crops are supposed to be resilient to pests, they have led to emergence of new pests, she said.

Ten states in the country have rejected GM mustard and 13 states have refused to allow plantation of BT brinjal, Shiva claimed.
The concept of triple talaq has divided opinions around the country. The matter has made its way to the Supreme Court which heard the arguments for six days and reserved its verdict. The judgment is expected to come out in July.

In the midst of it all, India's secular nature was debated heavily. Questions from what a secular nation would do to whether we actually are secular at all were discussed throughout the country. An obvious point of comparison is then to other countries and how they deal with the situation. And this is where India fares poorly as even Pakistan has a more progressive law in place.

News18 has quoted former Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Jawwad S Khawaja as saying that triple talaq was never a part of pure Islamic history and was not considered valid as per Islamic law. He further added that, Instant talaq or triple talaq has not been considered valid in Islam and it is not considered to be the best form of divorce under Islamic law. If you look at what jurists have opined in the 1,000-year old history that it was never acceptable and it has never been the most accepted of talaq in any era of Islamic history,

The report further goes into the details on the Pakistani law on divorce and points out a three month cooling-off period built into the process.

Justice Khawaja also said that Even traditional Islamic jurists had never considered or accepted the practice of instant triple talaq as a part of the pure Islamic law. In Pakistan we have a statutory enactment and the statute was based on what the Islamic jurists had spoken of and who had stated that this gap of three months was the best and also served as a cooling-off period between the couple.

Muslim law in India comes from The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 which says that in so far as matters concerning marriage, divorce, inheritance and other personal matters, the law governing Muslims in India shall be the Muslim personal law or the Shariat.

Under Shariat, as applied to India, only a man can initiate divorce  under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1937 a woman may also initiate the divorce  the only difference being that under the former, the husband does not need to show cause, while under the latter, the wife must show cause.

The present case has been filed by Shayara Bano. After being married for 15 years, Bano's husband gave her triple talaq in October 2015. She approached the Supreme Court in 2016, challenging the validity of arbitrary practices against women followed by Muslims. Her petition asks the Supreme Court to declare talaq-e-bidat, polygamy and nikah halala illegal and unconstitutional on the grounds that they violate the rights guaranteed by the Constitution under Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25.

The case was heard by a five-member bench of the Supreme Court. The bench was a unique one as it comprised judges belonging to five different religions.

During the hearing, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) told the Supreme Court that it would issue an advisory to qazis to tell bridegrooms that they will not resort to triple talaq to annul their marriage. This move was called a "mere eyewash" by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi who said it was an attempt to gain "legal sanctity among the community".

After the Supreme Court reserved its verdict, union minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that the NDA government was ready to bring a law to stop the triple talaq in the Muslim community, if necessary. "Our government has made its stand very clear on triple talaq. If necessary, it will bring a legislation against it.. after allowing the community to reach a consensus through deliberations," Naidu has said.

Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Niaz while writing for Firstpost had argued that the abolition of triple talaq is long overdue in independent India. They called it a unilateral and arbitrary practice which results in women being thrown out of homes and rendered destitute in an instant. The women in this case are seeking justice which they are entitled to as citizens in a democracy as they knock at the doors of the courts and the parliament.
Aizawl(Mizoram): The Mizoram unit of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) on Wednesday staged a demonstration in Aizwal demanding a separate 'Gorkhaland' state carving out of West Bengal.

Members of the state committee of the GJM in the sit-in demonstration displayed placards in support of 'Gorkhaland' comprising Darjeeling hill region, Siliguri, Terai, Dooars and surrounding areas.

GJM leaders said that the Gorkhas living in India became Indian citizens in accordance with the Treaty of Sugauli, 1874.

"We the Gorkhas are always mistaken as foreigners due to the fact that we do not have a separate state of our own in the country," they said.

They appealed to the people of Mizoram to support the demand for a separate 'Gorkhaland'.
New Delhi: The army has rejected an indigenously built assault rifle, citing poor quality and ineffective firepower, and is soon likely to take a fresh call on procuring similar weapons to replace the INSAS rifles.

The army decided to reject the 7.62x51 mm guns built by the Ishapore Rifle Factory after they miserably failed the firing tests last week.

Official sources said there were "excessive number of faults" in the guns and "complete redesigning of the magazine" was needed to consider the guns to be used by the army.

"Excessive flash and sound signature" were observed in the rifles during the trials, they said adding reliability aspect of the weapons needs comprehensive analysis.

The rifles had an excessive number of faults and stoppages to the extent of more than twenty times the maximum permissible standards, the sources said.

The army in 2016 had rejected another indigenously-built assault rifle called the 5.56 mm Excalibur guns as it did not meet the required standards.

A high-level meeting is being convened on Thursday to decide about the procurement of assault rifles for the armed forces. The meeting is likely to deliberate on specifications required for the assault rifles.

The meeting is being attended by representatives of the army, the air force and the navy besides top officials of the defence ministry.

The army last year had floated a request for proposal for the assault guns and around 20 firms had responded to it.

The army badly needs the assault rifles it is learnt to have been disappointed over delay in their procurement.
Kolkata: The International Yoga Day was on Wednesday celebrated by the army, navy, air force and NCC at various establishments and several other places in the eastern and North Eastern states.

All stations of army's Eastern Command including units deployed in counter insurgency and those along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in forward areas observed the International Yoga Day by practising various yoga poses and exercises, a Defence spokesperson said.

The main event was conducted at the Eastern Command headquarters in Fort William, where the threat of a downpour forced the conduct of the event indoors.

Thousands of troops took part in the event across the Command theatre, the spokesperson said.

Locals from nearby areas and students of various schools, who joined in large numbers, were encouraged to develop yoga as a way of living.

The navy organised a workshop conducted by professional yoga instructors in which around 150 service personnel of INS Netaji Subhash and allied units attended.

At the Advance Headquarters of Eastern Air Command in Kolkata, all personnel and their families participated in the yoga sessions.

Around 6,500 NCC cadets under the aegis of NCC Directorate West Bengal and Sikkim participated in yoga sessions at Brigade Parade Ground (Maidan) and Tarakeshwar Degree College, the spokesperson said.

The overall participation from NCC stood at about 39,000 cadets, officers, instructors and other staff at 101 venues, including schools and colleges, in West Bengal and Sikkim, he said.
In many of Delhi jails, inmates are finding rehabilitation through meditation. On International Yoga Day, almost 15,000 prisoners are practising yoga.

Swami Ashutosh is on a stage in Tihar Jail. He has been running a prison reform programme in 10 jails since 2015.

What the mind fears the most is its own darkness. Yoga is a slow release from that fear. Confinement is reconciliation. Prisoners have accepted that they have done wrong, and that is the key to the door of reform. Our belief is in our slogan: yog yukt bharat, apraadh mukt bhaarat (a nation that has adopted yoga has chosen to free itself from the clutches of crime) he says.

The seeds for this were sown in 2015, when CBI director Alok Kumar Verma was the Director General of Tihar Jail. Ashutosh was encouraged by jail authorities to organise a two-month long yoga rupantaran or social transformation training programme for the inmates.

A massive programme was organised on 21 June  International Yoga Day  at the Tihar Jail. More than 10,450 inmates participated in the event.

Subsequently, Yoga Teachers Training Course (YTTC) was offered to prisoners serving life sentences. This course allows them to become professional trainers and spread the spirit of yoga. At that time, regular yoga programmes were started in seven jails. Today, yoga training takes place in 10 jails, including the high-security jail in Mandoli.

Mishra and Shukla (names changed to protect their identity) are former inmates of Tihar jail. Mishra says yoga helped him cope during his time in jail, aligning his mind and body. Shukla talks about the suffocation and depression faced by inmates and how yoga helps keep an even keel.

It was nearly impossible for me to accept that I am a criminal. I wanted to cry and run away from myself. Yoga has given me a new life, Shukla says.

Janak Puri, one of the deputy superintendents at Tihar Jail, says, "Yoga is more popular than meditation courses like Art of Living, which requires a trainer be brought from outside. Once the inmates develop an interest in yoga, they teach others and want to practice everyday."

Will meditation prove the cure for recidivism? Time will tell.
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a mass yoga demonstration in New Delhi on Wednesday and said yoga was a holistic approach to physical and mental health.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the president for joining the yoga programme and inspiring the nation on International Yoga Day.

Inaugurating the event, Mukherjee said yoga was an ancient Indian practice which was very useful for curing many diseases and health disorders.

"It is a holistic approach to physical and mental health and well-being," the president said.

He said that on the initiative of the prime minister the United Nations had declared 21 June as International Day of Yoga.

This year, the third International Day of Yoga was observed.

Mukherjee welcomed all participants to the mass yoga demonstration and urged them to practice yoga everyday as a fit mind and fit body was the abode of God.

"Thank you Rashtrapati Ji for joining the YogaDay2017 programme and inspiring the nation," tweeted Modi, who participated in a Yoga Day event in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow.

Officers and staff members of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and their family members as well as residents of the president's estate participated in large numbers in the mass yoga event.
Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yoga, akin to its capacity to unite the body, mind and soul, has played a "big role" in binding the world, cutting across linguistic and cultural barriers.

Addressing a huge gathering at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan on the occasion of the third International Yoga Day celebrations on Wednesday, Modi also asserted that the traditional practice has now become part of every person's life. "Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, or culture, are now connecting to India through yoga. The practice, which connects body, mind and soul, has played a big role in binding the world too," he said.

Donning a white t-shirt and loose trousers, Modi also performed asanas along with over 50,000 yoga enthusiasts braving early morning drizzles.

"Earlier, yoga was only restricted to saints and seers in the Himalayan mountains. Now, it has become part of every person's life," he said in his address.

He also asserted that attaining "wellness" through yoga was more important than simply being physically fit. "It is not important to perform yoga for 24 hours. Even 50 or 60 minutes (is fine) because it lends harmony to the body, mind and intellect. If 1.25 billion Indians and people around the world can attain this state of well-being, then humankind can also tide over problems born out of human thoughts," he said.

He also explained the importance of Yoga using a salt analogy. "Just as the importance of salt is not only to lend taste to food, but also ensure well-being of the body, yoga can similarly have the same importance as salt has in life," he said.

He said yoga is about health assurance. "It is not even expensive to practice," he said.

"I urge everyone to make yoga a part of their lives," he said, adding that he was glad to see several yoga institutes take shape over the last three years.

Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik and chief minister Yogi Adityanath joined the prime minister in performing yoga at the

sprawling venue. In his address, Adityanath thanked Modi for enhancing Yoga's reputation globally.

Intermittent rains since morning failed to deter thousands of yoga enthusiasts, who enjoyed performing asanas fully drenched.

Three years ago, Modi had persuaded the United Nations to declare 21 June as International Yoga Day. Since then, thousands of people hold yoga programmes across the world on this day.

A tight security cordon was put in place around the venue, while all arterial roads were under strict CCTV vigil.

Click here to follow our live coverage of International Yoga Day
Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi did yoga exercises despite rains for at least 15 minutes in Lucknow on Wednesday as he underlined the importance of yoga in connecting the global community and creating jobs. Leading the celebrations of the third edition of the International Yoga Day here at a rain-drenched Ramabai Amedkar Sthal, Modi said yoga was a path to attain wellness and was akin to a free life insurance.

"There was a time when yoga was confined to sages meditating in the Himalayan caves. But now yoga is becoming a part of people's daily life not just in India but across the world," the prime minister said in his address to thousands.

The crowd was estimated to be 45,000 strong, slightly less than the 51,000 which was expected, due to heavy rains that lashed Lucknow since morning. "There are many countries which don't know our language, are not aware about Indian culture or traditions but they too are practising yoga. Much like it connects the mind with the soul, yoga is playing an important role in connecting the world," said Modi, dressed in a white track suit.

Modi said since the United Nations declared 21 June as the International Day for Yoga, awareness about yoga had been rising the world over leading to creation of a new job market. "Today, there is hardly any country where there is no attraction or awareness for yoga. In the last three years, new yoga training institutes have developed, demand for yoga trainers and training institutes have been rising. Youths are now steadily adopting yoga as a profession.

"In countries across the globe the demand for yoga teachers is rising, creating a new job market. Indians are the most preferred choice," he said. He also said efforts were on to standardise yoga practices in India as also the world.

The Prime Minister underlined that yoga in life was as important as salt in food. "Salt not just makes food tasty but also adds nourishment value to it. It is cheap and is used in very small quantity but none can deny its significance.

"More than fitness, more than being healthy, people now yearn for wellness. And there is no better way to attain wellness than yoga," said Modi. Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik, chief minster Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma were among those present at the event.

After addressing the gathering, which cheered him from time to time, the prime minister joined the gathering in the open air venue, amid heavy rains, and practised yoga for more than 15 minutes. Surrounded by heavy security, Modi walked to the mat reserved for him and waved to the crowd. Many tried to shake hands with him.

The Prime Minister did yogic exercises and 'pranayam' as demonstrated by a group of yoga teachers on the stage. He left after 15 minutes even as Naik, Adityanath and others continued to do yoga.

Modi it set to fly back to New Delhi in an Indian Air Force plane. Earlier, addressing the gathering, Adityanath said yoga helps to unite people. "Yoga is an ancient Indian practice and all ancient scriptures including the Vedas have accepted the importance of yoga. Yoga is a way of life and helps to unite people," Adityanath said.
Johannesburg: Over 1,200 yoga enthusiasts in South Africa's Soweto township got their first taste of yoga on Wednesday, when they performed various 'asanas' at an event on the eve of International Day of Yoga.

The Consulate General of India in Johannesburg along with the volunteers of the Art of Living Foundation and yoga school trainers organised the event at a park in the township.

The participants included hundreds of school children who got their first taste of yoga.

Pastor Maureen Sabadell from the Alpha World Ministries Social Care, initiating the event with a universal prayer, explained how yoga brought about the much-needed relief from stress required by all as she expressed gratitude for the organisers sharing the experience with local residents.

"Yoga brings many benefits into our lives," said Consul General Dr KJ Srinivasa as he encouraged the participants to share their experience with others for a stress-free harmonious society.

Yoga exponent Caroline Stieber and her assistants guided the participants through the many postures that yoga offers.

"If there was one clear outcome from this morning's activity, it was the fact that Yoga is a universal practice to be enjoyed by one an all, as a controlled and decisive response to the varied challenges faced from all kinds of stress, by people in every walk of life," said Nutan Kessa of the Art of Living Foundation.

Nthando Maseko, an off-duty policewoman, said "I had always believed that yoga was practised only by followers of Hindu saints, but now I am hooked on it as a devout Christian and will join regular classes just to stay fit".

Hawker Johannes Mthembu, who was passing by the park and decided to join in, said he was impressed at the statement by organisers that yoga brings peace to people.

"South Africa is currently suffering from a wave of violence against women and children amid a huge crime wave. I have seen that yoga can help individuals deal with stress and anger in healthier ways to create a peaceful and healthy society where human values are upheld, and all can live in harmony," said Mthembu.

The event was part of a week-long programme at different venues across South Africa coordinated by the Indian missions in all major cities. It will culminate on Sunday at a special yoga session at Tolstoy Farm, the commune started by Mahatma Gandhi during his tenure in Johannesburg at the turn of the 19th century.
Kolkata/New Delhi: Former Calcutta High Court judge Justice CS Karnan was on Wednesday jailed, a day after he was arrested in the case of contempt but last-ditch efforts by his lawyers to get relief from the Supreme Court failed.

The controversial judge, who was given six months imprisonment on 9 May for contempt by the Supreme Court and had remained untraceable, was brought to Kolkata from Chennai by plane by a team of West Bengal Police led by top official Raj Kanojia and lodged in Presidency jail.

The 62-year-old judge was taken directly from the airport to the jail. In Chennai airport, he told reporters that he was "fighting against corruption". He said he had no complaint against police as they knew he had done nothing wrong.

Earlier in the day, a vacation bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to give him bail or suspend the sentence.

"We can't suspend the sentence as the order of the sentence was passed by a seven-judge bench," the judges said.

The bench's response came as Karnan's counsel Mathew J Nadumpara urged it to grant bail to the former judge, who was arrested in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu by the West Bengal Police on Tuesday.

As he told the bench that "equity demands" his client be granted bail, Justice Chandrachud said: "All equity is subject to law and judicial discipline."

"Sorry, Mr. Nadumpara," the judge said, asking the counsel to mention the matter before the chief justice on the reopening of the court after summer break on 3 July.

Justice Karnan's arrest came 42 days after top court on 9 May held him guilty of contempt for his utterances against the Chief Justice of India and other judges of the apex court and sentenced him to six months imprisonment. The same day, Justice Karnan left Kolkata for Chennai and was virtually untraceable since them. He retired from service earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal Police team said they knew about Karnan's hiding place in Coimbatore for three days before moving in to arrest him.

"We knew about his (Karnan's) whereabouts three days back. We were tracking phone calls of people close to him and we also have our own sources," Kanojia told in Chennai before boarding a flight to Kolkata.

According to him, this was a unique case he had handled in his entire service and "maybe no other police officer will be handling such a case in a long time to come".

"Tracking Karnan was difficult. It was a difficult case," Kanojia said.
Chennai: The police team searching for Calcutta High Court's former judge CS Karnan knew about his hiding place in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu for three days before moving in to arrest him, the West Bengal police chief said on Wednesday.

"We knew about his (Karnan's) whereabouts three days back. We were tracking phone calls of people close to him and we also have our own sources," Director General of Police Raj Kanojia told IANS in Chennai.

Kanojia spoke at the Chennai airport before boarding a flight to Kolkatta.

According to him, this was a unique case he had handled in his entire service and "maybe no other police officer will be handling such a case in a long time to come".

"Tracking Karnan was difficult. It was a difficult case," Kanojia said.

Karnan, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt but was untraceable, was arrested near Coimbatore on Tuesday. Coimbatore is around 500 kilometres from Chennai.

Karnan was eluding arrest for more than a month.
Washington: Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US president Donald Trump to send out a strong message against child labour and promote child education, so that children can be prevented from entering the "world of extremism".

"They can definitely come with a strong statement for investing in children and development. That means education, health, and protection of children everywhere in the world. Not only in these two countries," Satyarthi, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, told PTI in an interview.

The founder of 'Bachpan Bachao Andolan', a grassroots movement dedicated to the protection of children and ensuring them education, said the two leaders  who are set to meet on 26 June  can send a "message to the rest of the world that these two largest democracies care for their children and their most marginalised people".

The 63-year-old activist, who is in the US to meet child rights groups, said the two countries can send the message that "we are holding your hands, my dear children, ... so you don't enter (the world of extremism)".

"That will help, not immediately, but in coming years it will help in protecting children if it comes again and again from these two countries or, maybe, many more. It's a matter of leadership," he said.

Born in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, the son of a police officer, Satyarthi studied electrical engineering and went on to become the seventh Indian to win the Nobel Prize. In his more than 30 years as an activist, he has freed tens of thousands of children forced into slavery. He founded the Andolan in 1980 and began raiding factories where children were forced to work, in some cases by their parents who cannot afford to raise them.

According to the movement's website, it has rescued over 83,500 victims of trafficking, slavery and child labour as on October 2014, and helped them re-establish trust in society.

The Nobel laureate said if India and the US showed the leadership, many others would follow. "They can also give a call that we have to hold hands of young people across the world to prevent them from entering those evil forces," he said.

Satyarthi said it was important that the US and India understand the growing problems in the world that includes terrorism, extremism as well as global economy crisis and unemployment.

"They are government problems. Since we are among the most vibrant and most effective and the largest democracies, it becomes our collective responsibility to show the leadership to the rest of the world that we don't care only for ourselves but we care for the rest of the world," he said.

"I hope that both the leaders will show the leadership again as we have been talking that these two countries are natural partners to preserve democracy in the world," he said.

Satyarthi said the US is not untouched by the grave issue of child labour and child marriage. "This is a serious problem here in the US. We have come across, and I met, and there were partner organisations have rescued children who were local. They were

white Americans. It's a combination of all but definitely because of the West Coast situation most of them are Hispanics," he said.

"We are getting more and more alarming news, and disgusting also, about the problem of early marriages, child marriages and teenage pregnancies in the US. Except a few states, most states don't have a very clear well-defined minimum age of marriage," he said and urged the US government to make necessary changes in the law in this regard.

Satyarthi also urged Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw from the historic Paris Climate Change Accord. "I would once again make an honest appeal to president Trump to reconsider his decision on Paris Accord. Climate change and global warming is creating devastating effects on children in most parts of the world," he said.

"(The leaders) know how due to global warming, the traditional livelihood of the parents have been ruined and the children became vulnerable to traffickers... We have also seen an increase in unemployment among adults, the migration crisis, social tension and violence, and trafficking, and child labour. Children are unable to complete their schools," he said.

"To stop illegal migration, a country can build a wall but no wall can stop hot winds or polluted air," Satyarthi concluded.
Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to grant subsidy of Rs 8,700 crore to consumers on power tariff implemented by the state electricity regulatory commission for 2017-18.

According to the government, farmers will benefit the most because Rs 8,400 crore of the total amount will be availed by the agriculture sector.

The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The state government will pay the subsidy amount to the concerned power companies.

"The Cabinet meeting under the chief minister decided to give the subsidy of Rs 8,700 crore to electricity consumers on the electricity tariff being implemented for the fiscal year 2017-18 by the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission. The benefit of Rs 8,400 crore will be availed by the agricultural consumers," an official release said on Wednesday.

As a result of this decision, the subsidy of Rs 1.75 per unit will be given to agriculture consumers who have permanent connections.

Furthermore, the Cabinet also decided to expand fixed due date of short-term agriculture loan of Kharif season, being disbursed to farmers without interest through cooperative banks for 2016-17, from 28 February to 28 March, 2017.

"The Cabinet also approved providing free power to the well pumps of 5 HP (Horse Power) belonging to the agriculture consumers of SC and ST communities who hold one hectare land," it stated.

Madhya Pradesh recently witnessed large scale protests by farmers demanding better remuneration for their agri produce and a complete loan waiver. Five farmers were killed in police firing at Mandsaur earlier this month during the violence.

In a bid to placate farmers, government had announced a slew of measures.
Bulandshahr: A 25-year-old man, who was arrested in a burglary case at Sikandrabad town, died in police custody on Tuesday.

Wahid was beaten up by the public after he was caught stealing at a temple and was handed over to the police on Tuesday morning, SP(City) Praveen Ranjan Singh said.

The accused was brought to the police station. By the afternoon, his condition started to deteriorate. He died on the way to the district hospital, Singh said.

The police also said six cases had been registered against Wahid in the past.

However, family members of the deceased rejected the charges and called it a custodial death.

The victim's mother Shanno said her son had gone outside to purchase vegetables and had not committed any crime.
Sanjay Nirupam, president of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, took on actor Amitabh Bachchan for promoting the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Tuesday, saying "anti-GST protests will tarnish the actor's image". The government has roped in Bachchan to promote GST, ahead of the scheduled 1 July rollout of the sweeping tax reforms.

"Standing by the government doesn't suit him. Why be a part of BJP'S stupid acts?" Nirupam told CNN-News18. While asking Bachchan to refrain from such acts, he said the government roped him in to promote GST. The state Congress also warned of protests against GST and the actor since the traders are unhappy with the new tax system.

According to Times Now, the Central Board of Excise and Customs made the Bollywood megastar brand ambassador for GST. A 40-second video featuring Bachchan has already been shot and is being circulated.

He added, "GST hurts traders, why is Bachchan promoting it?"

Sanjay Nirupam criticises @SrBachchan becoming ambassador of #GST, says "it is not important he becomes part of every stupid act of BJP" pic.twitter.com/SSN4hIUFOL  News18 (@CNNnews18) June 21, 2017

The actor, however, said that he only did a few advertisements of GST without charging any money for it.

"I am not #GST brand ambassador, just done a few ads and not charged money," Sources quote Amitabh Bachchan pic.twitter.com/3xBALuILVM  News18 (@CNNnews18) June 21, 2017

"The GST was a brilliant idea thought of by the Congress. It is another story that the BJP opposed it all the while it was in the opposition. But after coming to power, it started diluting the basic concepts of the GST, and that was not acceptable to us," Nirupam told reporters here.

While the Congress sought GST as a single tax for the entire nation, the BJP introduced four tax slabs and three different sub-types of GST, he said.

"It has become very complicated now. Traders and service providers are required to fill three long forms every month. Thus, the basic purpose of the GST is defeated. This is unlike the way the GST has been implemented in other countries," he said.

"Some people are creating a confusion that we are opposing the same GST that we passed. But this is not true. We have always been for the GST but not in this format.

"We tried for three years to get our reservations noticed by the government but they (the BJP) then started maligning us so we had to pass it," Nirupam said.

"Being your fan, I suggest that you withdraw yourself from the GST campaign," the Congress leader told Bachchan.

This is not the first time that the veteran actor has taken part in a government campaign. Before GST, Bachchan was the face of polio campaign, Swachh Bharat campaign, the brand ambassador for Uttar Pradesh government and Gujarat tourism. Bachchan had also lent his support to International Yoga Day.

With inputs from PTI
New Delhi: An agreement between the NPCIL and Westinghouse to build six atomic reactors in Andhra Pradesh will unlikely be signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States next week.

A financial turmoil in Westinghouse and an absence of a functional reference atomic plant were the main impediments behind the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited's (NPCIL) unwillingness to sign the accord with the American nuclear giant, official sources said.

According to a June 2015 joint statement by Modi and the then United States president Barack Obama, both the sides had resolved to work towards "finalising the contractual agreement by June 2017".

However, a lot of water has flown under the bridge since then. Westinghouse, which was acquired by Japanese conglomerate Toshiba in 2007, filed for bankruptcy in March.

Apprehending uncertainty, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the NPCIL are unwilling to go ahead with any agreement with the beleaguered company till it comes out of the financial mess.

"It is unlikely that we will sign an agreement with Westinghouse when the prime minister visits the United States. However, we are making good use of time to hold discussions on the techno-commercial aspects," a senior government official said.

An e-mail sent to Westinghouse seeking a response from it on the issue was not replied to.

Modi is scheduled to visit the United States on 25-26 June, during which he is slated to meet President Donald Trump.

The Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement was signed in 2008, under which Westinghouse and GE Hitachi were to construct six power reactors each in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

Initially, Westinghouse was allocated the Mithi Virdi site in Gujarat, but was later given the Kovvada site in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh.

The company was to build six AP-1000 atomic reactors with a capacity of 1,208 MW each at Kovvada.

With a total capacity of 7,248 MW, the government had a plan to make it one of the largest nuclear parks in South Asia.

The official also said any foreign company needed to demonstrate a functional nuclear plant using the same technology.

This is a pre-requisite to obtain permission from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the nuclear watchdog in the country.

Westinghouse's AP-1000 technology plants are at various stages of construction in different countries and are yet to start commercial operations.
Ahmedabad: The International Day of Yoga event held at Ahmedabad's GMDC ground on Wednesday entered the Guinness World Records book with over 54,000 persons, led by Yoga guru Ramdev, participating in it to perform various asanas.

The number, however, is drastically lower than Ramdev's earlier claim of three lakh participants in the event.

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani received the certificate of the record from the Guinness Book officials at Gandhinagar in the afternoon.

The previous record was set in Delhi on June 21, 2015, when 35,985 people performed yoga at Rajpath with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Twenty-two other records, such as the maximum number of Surya Namaskars by one person, were also set during Wednesday's event and certified by the Guinness Book officials.

"Today is the most important day for me, as more than three lakh people performed yoga at one place to set a new world record. We have broken the previous world record, which was set in the presence of our prime minister, by a huge margin," Ramdev had told reporters after the event. However, according to a government release, 54,522 people took part in the Yoga Day event at GMDC ground on Wednesday, beating the earlier record by a margin of over 18,000.

BJP president Amit Shah, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, former chief minister Anandiben Patel, several political leaders besides IAS, IPS officers and the high court judges took part in the event.

Amid early morning drizzle, Ramdev made the participants stretch their limbs to perform various yogic postures.

Leaders of various faiths were specially invited to the event, organised jointly by the BJP government in the state and Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth.

While giving instructions to participants during the event, Ramdev invited Shah and Rupani to join him on the dais and follow him in striking yogic postures.

In his address after the event, Shah thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making yoga popular globally.

"Though India was trying hard to make yoga popular across the globe since 2011, we got success after the United Nations accepted Modi's proposal in 2014 and declared 21 June as International Day of Yoga. Since then the popularity of yoga is increasing across the world rapidly," Shah said.

The yoga day was also celebrated at all the district headquarters in the state. In Rajkot, 792 women took part in 'aqua yoga', where they performed asanas in various swimming pools.
Chandigarh: The Punjab government on Wednesday said it will not spare anyone found "guilty" in the Amritsar food-grain distribution scam in which disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against 22 officials.

The state government will not tolerate misappropriation of food articles meant for distribution among the poor under the Atta Dal scheme, he said in the Punjab Assembly.

The minister informed the House that action was being taken against all the 22 officers found "guilty" in the finding report of the inquiry officer.

The Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies department has been reverted to the rank of District Controller, he said.

The assurance was given by Mohindra, who was speaking on behalf of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, on a call attention notice raised by MLA Bikram Singh Pahara.

An inquiry was ordered following a complaint about diversion in wheat distribution under the Atta Dal scheme in different centres of Amritsar, he said.

Reiterating the government's zero tolerance towards corruption, the minister said four assistant food supply officers and 14 inspectors have been suspended for their alleged role in diverting 45,000 quintiles of wheat worth Rs 10 crore.

The chief minister has given a clear directive to ensure total transparency in all government schemes so that benefits reach the deserving people, he added.
Moscow: Russia's Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation is holding preliminary talks with the Indian government and private companies to expand its footprint in India by venturing into the small container-based mini hydro power segment.

This will take Rosatom beyond the nuclear plant business, an official said. The mini hydel projects it plans to bring to India will have units ranging from 0.5 to 2 MW.

The discussions were taking place through Ganz Engineering and Energetics Machinery, a 100 percent Hungarian subsidiary of the company's engineering division Atomenergomash.

"We consider this another opportunity for cooperation between Rosatom and India. Our office in India is working in this direction. We are discussing the issues both with the government and private bodies," Rusatom International Network President Alexander Merten told a select group of journalists here.

Rusatom International Network is involved in marketing and business development of a number of Rosatom projects abroad.

The small hydro-power plants are pre-fabricated and assembled in the factory. The customer receives three containers  holding the turbine, electrical components and diesel generator, Merten said.

"In case of good demand from India, we are ready to consider the pre-fabrication of the unit, denoting the preliminary assemblage and the assembly line," he said.

Ganz has a 180 year history of producing hydro turbines, which are installed in many plants in a number of countries, and feature even at the Niagara Falls.

He said the mini hydro power units were based on simple designs and were economically viable in remote, mountainous areas where power supply was unavailable.

"We have pilot installation of the mini hydel plants in Georgia and are also discussing the issue with Turkey and Middle Eastern countries."

Dwelling on the advantages of the units, he said the construction and installation of the product on the riverside or any other water reservoir does not involve a high cost and it was also not ecologically harmful.

"There is no need to change the river mouth for installation nor does it require installation of dams. It allows for preservation of ecology," he said on the sidelines of the Atomexpo 2017 organised by Rosatom near the Red Square.

The power generation can be started within a month.

The company said the plants can also be managed through remote control by using a mobile or tablet, making it easier for the owner to keep a tab on the electricity generated by the system.
Moscow: The Kremlin has voiced regret about the new US sanctions against Russia and warned of possible retaliation.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that the US move wasn't constructive, adding that "various options are being considered on expert level."

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and firms over Russian activities in Ukraine. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the penalties are designed to "maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution."

Russia-US relations have remained tense even as the White House considers scheduling President Donald Trump's meeting with Putin on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 meeting.

Peskov reaffirmed the possibility of such a meeting, but said that no preparations had been made yet.
Kohima: A gunfight broke between the Indian Army para commandos and militants in Nagaland's Mon district bordering Myanmar in the early hours of Wednesday, a police official here said.

The exchange of fire took place in Choknyu village near Tapi bridge, when suspected National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) and United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I) militants fired at the para commandos.

"The gunfight lasted for an hour and suspected NSCN(K) and ULFA(I) militants retreated back to the jungles after intensive firing from the para commandos", a Nagaland police official told IANS.

Intelligence officials said that the militants had sneaked into Nagaland from Myanmar to create terror.

The army and para-military Assam Rifles are continuing with the operation to track down the fleeing militants.

A couple of weeks back, an army Major, three ULFA-I militants and a civilian were killed in a gunfight between security forces and combined NSCN-K and ULFA-I militants in the district.

The NSCN(K), which abrogated the ceasefire agreement with the Indian government in April 2015, has been active in Mon and three districts of Arunachal Pradesh  Longding, Tirap and Changlang, after floating a new platform called the United Liberation Front of Western South-East Asia (ULFWSA).

The combined group of north-east militants has carried out a series of attacks on security forces in the past couple of years, the worst being the death of 18 jawans in Chandel district in Manipur in June 2015.

This is a first major strike by the NSCN militants belonging to the Khaplang faction since Shangnyu Shangwang Khaplang's death on 9 June in Myanmar, where they have bases.
Shillong: Anti-railway pressure groups in Meghalaya on Wednesday threatened to further intensify their protests if Chief Minister Mukul Sangma refuses to hold talks with them on the issue of extension of railways up to the state capital Shillong.

The decision was taken after a delegation of the pressure groups, who staged a sit-in demonstration in Shillong, met Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh to discuss the issue.

"We will be compelled to take up another course of action to pressurise the state government to comply with the demands put forth by us," Federation of Khasi-Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) president Wellbirth Rani told reporters after the meeting.

"We have also urged him (Lyngdoh) to speed up the process of dialogue at the earliest and to ensure that all pressure groups including the Khasi Students Union (KSU) are invited," Rani said.

The FKJGP, the Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF), the Ri Bhoi Youth Federation (RBYF) and the Confederation of Ri Bhoi People (CoRP) demanded the state government to put on hold the construction of the railway project in absence of effective mechanisms to check influx of outsiders.

In their meeting with the Lyngdoh, Rani said the home minister had only assured the delegation that he would convey the message to the chief minister to initiate dialogue with the anti-railway pressure groups.

The leaders of the groups had maintained that they will not accept the railways into the Khasi Jaintia Hills region without proper mechanisms to check influx of outsiders in place.

As of now, there are no signs on the part of the government to speed up the setting up of entry/exit points and to implement the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, 2016, HNYF leader Sadon Blah said.

The anti-railway groups will be meeting in Shillong on Thursday to further discuss the outcome of their meeting with the home minister.

The chief minister had recently maintained that the government will not invite any groups for talks until they refrain from criminal and unlawful activities while protesting against railway projects.

Till date, over 10 Khasi Students Union (KSU) members have been arrested for attacking a railway construction site at the Ronghona village in Ri-Bhoi district on 27 May.

Several FIRs have been filed and the arrests were made based on specific information on the involvement of the person or a group of persons, a senior Home department official said.
After Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab, Karnataka government now has waived farmer loans worth Rs 8,167 crore, reported CNN-News 18.

#BREAKING -- Karnataka government waives off farmer loans worth 8,167 crore pic.twitter.com/e0ESuUSf9S  News18 (@CNNnews18) June 21, 2017

According to ANI, chief minister Siddaramaiah announced farm loan waiver for short-term loans up to Rs 50,000, applicable only to cooperative banks loans.

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah announces farm loan waiver for short term loans upto Rs. 50000, applicable only to cooperative banks loans pic.twitter.com/bXsoKYnv5V  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Loans worth Rs. 8165 crores will be waived, benefitting 22,27,506 farmers across state. We know that empowering farmers is #EmpoweringKtaka  CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) June 21, 2017

In August, the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government announced its much touted farm loan waiver, estimated to benefit over 2.15 lakh small and marginal farmers in the state. Uttar Pradesh health minister Siddharth Nath Singh made the announcement that the cabinet has unanimously decided to waive off farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh for small and marginal farmers.

The minister also mentioned that of the 2.30 lakh farmers in the state, roughly 92.5 percent farmers will fit the bill for the announced benefits. Moreover, the government has also decided a complete waiver of farm loans that had turned into non-performing assets (NPA). This, he said would benefit more than seven lakh farmers and would cost the exchequer an additional Rs 5,630 crore. The loan waivers will cause an additional 36,359 crore burden on the state coffers.

The Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra soon followed suit after farmers intensified protests in the state since 1 June. Their demands included loan waiver and rise in Minimum Support Price. "We will be writing off the loans of all deserving and needy farmers. For this we shall make use of IT-based technology. It will be the biggest farm loan waiver in history," Fadnavis had announced.

Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on 19 June announced total waiver of entire crop loans for small and marginal farmers. The loan waiver will for 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.

Farmers in Karnataka have been seeking compensation from the government for the losses incurred by them after their crops went dry in the last drought. Karnataka has seen successive droughts for the past six cropping seasons and some farmers in the state have reportedly received a compensation of one rupee in their bank accounts for damaged crops.

With inputs from agencies
Srinagar: Two militants were today killed in an encounter with security forces in Rafiabad area of Kashmir's Baramulla district, an army official said.

The militants were holed up inside a house in Pazalpora village in Sopore township of the district.

The army official said two weapons were seized and operations were still on in the area.

Following intelligence inputs about the presence of militants, security forces had launched a cordon and search operation last night.

A police official said the search operation was halted for the night but the forces maintained the cordon to stop the militants from escaping.

The operation was resumed this morning and the gunfight started after the trapped militants opened fire on the forces, he said.
By Heather Somerville and Joseph Menn

| SAN FRANCISCO

SAN FRANCISCO Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Travis Kalanick, co-founder of one of the most influential technology companies of its generation, resigned on Tuesday under pressure from investors after a string of setbacks. Kalanick's departure caps a tumultuous period for the world's largest ride-services company that has revolutionized the taxi industry and challenged transportation regulations worldwide.The 40-year-old's pugnacious style largely defined Uber's approach and helped it become a transportation colossus valued at $68 billion, the largest private firm backed by venture capitalists in the world.But that brashness has also been blamed for scandals this year, from the unearthing of a culture of bullying and discrimination at Uber to a U.S. Department of Justice federal investigation and a high-stakes lawsuit filed by Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) that threatens Uber's self-driving car ambitions."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," Kalanick said in an email to employees that was seen by Reuters.Kalanick's departure widens an already gaping hole at the top of Uber which has no chief operating officer, chief financial officer or general counsel at the moment. For now, 14 people who reported to Kalanick are running Uber.Kalanick faced increased scrutiny for a culture of sexism and rule-breaking at the company he helped start in 2009. After a video showing Kalanick berating an Uber driver who had complained about falling wages was released in February, the CEO made a public apology and promised to seek "leadership help."It is not known publicly how much of Uber Kalanick owns, but he has until now wielded near-total control of the company, made possible by a dual-class share structure that gives him and key allies 10 votes per share."TOXIC CULTURE"

Ultimately, it was some of Uber's main investors who forced Kalanick out, according to a source familiar with the matter.Venture capital firm Benchmark, whose partner Bill Gurley is one of Uber's largest shareholders and sits on its board, plus investors First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, Menlo Ventures and Fidelity Investments, all pressed Kalanick to quit.A source close to Menlo Ventures, which led one of Uber's early financing rounds, told Reuters that the firm helped write a letter calling for Kalanick to step down.

The investors delivered the letter to Kalanick while he was in Chicago, the New York Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation. (nyti.ms/2soTB79)Kalanick's decision "was a surprise to everyone", a second Uber spokesman said.In a statement sent to Reuters, the Uber board of directors called Kalanick's resignation "a bold decision" that "gives the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber's history". Kalanick will remain on the board.The CEO's departure comes after a lengthy investigation led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, which concluded that Kalanick's authority should be reduced and that board oversight and independence should increase.Uber hired Holder's firm Covington and Burling to look into its culture and workplace practices after a female former employee, Susan Fowler, publicly accused the company of sexual harassment.What followed was a mountain of scandals, including a criminal investigation into Uber's use of technology to evade regulators in certain cities and a trade secrets lawsuit filed by Alphabet's self-driving division, Waymo.

Uber faces other lawsuits filed by drivers over their pay and treatment, and Uber fired 20 employees for incidents involving discrimination, sexual harassment and other bad behavior earlier this month.Uber "is the very definition of a toxic leadership culture" and Kalanick "set the tone", said Jason Hanold, chief executive officer and managing partner at human resources executive recruitment firm Hanold Associates.SWEEPING POWER

Following the release of the damning Covington report, Kalanick said last week he would take a leave of absence to grieve for his mother, who died recently in a boating accident that also seriously injured his father, and to work on his leadership skills."Uber couldn't make a credible claim that it was committed to the changes it has to make if he was hovering in the wings, waiting to return as CEO," said Erik Gordon, a technology and entrepreneurship expert at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.

Kalanick and other executives were also criticized for the handling of a crisis in India after an Uber driver was arrested for raping a passenger. Though the driver was convicted in 2015, Kalanick and other executives became convinced the crime was a set up by a local rival, former employees said. Eric Alexander, the head of Asian business for Uber, shared medical records internally, including with Kalanick. Alexander argued they showed the woman had been assaulted but not raped, people who spoke to him said. Alexander was fired earlier this month. Even some of Kalanick's staunchest allies have found fault with how Uber has been run. In a blog post on Medium published on Tuesday, Uber co-founder Garrett Camp, who has long aligned himself with Kalanick, called Uber's problems serious."Over the years we have neglected parts of our culture as we have focused on growth. We have failed to build some of the systems that every company needs to scale successfully," Camp wrote.Kalanick has enjoyed sweeping power at Uber, through his share ownership and voting power, as well as his commanding personality and micromanaging tendencies.His authority is not atypical in Silicon Valley, where investors often give founders great autonomy, and Uber's board frequently voiced support of Kalanick despite mounting problems.In March, following the start of the Holder investigation, Uber director Arianna Huffington said on a call with reporters the board had full confidence in Kalanick.She repeated that position on Friday in an interview with Reuters by saying Kalanick's leave of absence was solely his decision.Gurley, one of Kalanick's closest confidants, praised the CEO on Twitter following his resignation."There will be many pages in the history books devoted to @travisk - very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world," Gurley wrote. (Additional reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru and Douglas Busvine in New Delhi; editing by David Clarke and Bill Rigby)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: China needs to be more involved in the global efforts to combat terrorism as it is being increasingly affected

by the menace due to its growing overseas interests, a top US official has said. Susan Thornton, the US acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said the US will raise the issue as part of the US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue in Washington.

The US official noted that China is increasingly involved in economic and other ventures abroad, including in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East as well as throughout Africa.

"We believe that China is increasingly affected by the growing global challenge of terrorism," Thornton told reporters during a conference call ahead of the US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue.

"The two Chinese citizens being taken hostage and then killed in Pakistan sort of underlines that thesis that China is increasingly going to be not only affected, but running into terrorism in places where it is overseas," Thornton said in response to a question.

"Its overseas interests are growing, it's investing more in other places, it's going to have an impact on governments and stability in other countries as it moves into those countries with major investments, and we think that China needs to be more involved in the global efforts to combat terrorism," she said.

Noting that up to now, Chinese have taken a fairly limited profile in counter-terrorism efforts undertaken by the international community, Thornton said, adding that the US would like to see them step up and take more responsibility.

"They have a lot of interest, for example, in Iraq and we think that they should be doing more to contribute to the efforts of the international coalition to defeat Islamic State," she said.

Of late, the US has seen them become more interested over time. "It's kind of an early feelers on getting more involved in this, and we'd like to have a good discussion with them about what more we think they could do," she said.

"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, they've been involved in some of this effort, but very, very limited to date, and I think that we are interested in seeing what else they could do," Thornton said in response to a question.
India exports petroleum products, automobiles, and jewelry, among other things. India also exports Bollywood, traditions, food and pluralistic culture, and while they may be intangible, they have value as soft power. Soft power, unlike hard power, is the ability to attract and co-opt without coercion, which is why it may come as a surprise that yoga too, is heralded as having the potential to wield soft power.

Yoga is positioned as India's "gift to the world", packaged as a means to achieve equality of the mind with the outside world, as well as equality between people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a people's movement, highlighting that it could be practised by atheists and believers and focused on how it is inexpensive. "At zero budget, nowhere in the world is one assured of health  but that is what yoga gives you. Even the poorest of the poor can do this at ease and keep themselves healthy."

Much time and effort was spent trying to define yoga's potential. "Yoga serves as a reminder of the potential for men and women to live in harmony with each other, as well as with nature, at a time when violent forces are threatening to destabilise society. Yoga is an important antidote to such negativity  to move us on the path of peace," said Sushma Swaraj. It is considered as being imperative enough to even warrant the creation of an entire ministry that caters to it. One also cannot deny how much money can be made out of yoga as a business; it is a $30 billion industry in the US alone.

These efforts were given legitimacy when the United Nations passed a resolution adopted by the General Assembly to declare 21 June the International Day of Yoga, and this resolution won the support of 177 member states. People from 192 countries in 251 cities participated in this world-wide phenomenon.

However, it may not be accurate to say that yoga's popularity stems only from the push given to it by the current government; yoga has caught the attention of people living in other countries, and more specifically the West, because of globalisation of culture, the apparent benefits, and exposure to it because of the migration of Indian diaspora. It is also considered attractive by foreign tourists who visit India, some of whom solely do so to go on yoga retreats and to live at yoga centers.

What cannot be denied is that there has also been a change in the way that yoga is perceived worldwide. While some may think of yoga with suspicion as a 'Hindu ritual performed by sages', this is not true of the majority. Yoga is seen as a way to achieve nirvana amidst the pressures of a capitalist life. "The rigours of the typical sedentary white collar job, staring at computer and phone screens, transiting between airports and hotel rooms, have given birth to a wellness industry that attempts to save modern man from the pitfalls modern life. And yoga takes centre stage in the plethora of wellness solutions that help rejuvenate, resuscitate and reflect on the present, even as attention spans attenuate," wrote Vivan Sharan for Global Policy Journal.

Of note, is how yoga has penetrated Chinese culture. Yoga was the spearhead of Modi's soft power push in the country, and as of May 2017, there were 10,800 yoga schools there with people reportedly paying the equivalent of Rs 3,000 every month for training.

But the support for yoga as one of India's biggest exports is not unequivocal. Critics of this strategy have cited the cost of this move, as well as homogenisation of a culture that is portrayed as being "Indian".

For a fitness regime that is touted as being cost-free and one that even the poorest of the poor can practice, the celebrations of International Yoga Day are not cost-effective. More than Rs 32 crore was spent on the organisation of the first Yoga Day, AYUSH minister Shripad Naik told the Lok Sabha. "The total funds earmarked or spent by the AYUSH Ministry and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) were Rs 828.43 lakh for publicity through DAVP, DD and AIR, Rs 758.53 lakh on arrangements for mass yoga demonstration at Rajpath and Rs 182.8 lakh for the international conference on yoga at Vigyan Bhavan," he said.

Rs 34.80 lakh was spent on the production of films and booklets to disseminate information on common yoga protocol. The Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN) and Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga assisted government institutions and NGOs financially and incurred costs of Rs 670 lakh.

There is also the argument that by declaring a day dedicated to this and making it a part of school curricula, the government has politicised it. Some yogics themselves have said that celebrating it on one particular day goes against the principle of consistency, which is integral to yoga. They mention that yoga is a state of being which must not be celebrated at all, let alone nationalise. Another section of critics also warned against the divisive nature of such a decision. They said that extremist right-wing Hindu groups may attempt to reclaim it and try to impose exclusivity on it. The decision also received flak from some Indian minority groups, who said that certain aspects of yoga go against their faith.

What remains to be known is how much of an impact yoga is having and how much of an influence India is able to actually wield through its spread, as many social scientists have asked.
Fifty-six million Indians suffer from depression. Thirty-eight million suffer from anxiety disorders. Thats what a recent World Health Organisation report says.

Now, 50-year-old Savita Dutta didnt think that the above numbers included her. After she lost her husband in March 2016, her blood pressure was up, she was barely sleeping, had stopped going for walks and was generally feeling low. When friends suggested that she get tested and meet a psychiatrist, she did. The tests said she was okay. She continued meeting doctors, but till December, her health showed little improvement. Finally, she concluded that if the problem wasnt with the body, it was probably with the mind. What if she adopted pranayam as a daily practice? Just 10 minutes of Anulom Vilom every day and she began to feel different.

Today, her blood pressure and claustrophobia are both under control, she sleeps better and feels much more productive. She says she owes it all to yoga and pranayam. I breathe in love, and breathe out peace, she says. It seems to have made all the difference. The days that she skips her pranayam, she feels a little low on oxygen: It could be psychological, I dont know. But its brought me back on my feet.

Stress, anxiety, mild depression, Spondylitis, headache and back ache  if you're suffering from any of these conditions, yoga may offer some respite.

Stress is now so normal, we barely consider it a problem anymore. But anything that causes high blood pressure, heart disease obesity and diabetes does sound pretty dangerous. Heres how yoga can help you deal with it:

Yoga for stress: Anjali Mudra, Sukhasana, Marjaryasana, Bitilasana and Uttana Shishosana

The science behind it: When you get stressed out, your SNS (sympathetic nervous system) produces a molecule called nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB). NF-kB in turn produces cytokines that cause cellular inflammation. Now, this is helpful in dealing with stressful situations, but if theres too much cellular inflammation it can lead to higher risk of cancer, faster ageing and even depression. Yoga reduces the production of NF-kB and cytokines, thus, reversing the pro-inflammatory gene expression pattern.

Anxiety is probably another way to say I have a job these days. Dont worry, yoga can help.

Yoga for anxiety: Paschimottanasana, Janu Sirsasana, Salamba Sirsasana, Savasana

The science behind it: Yoga reduces the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, eases respiration and increases heart rate variability. All this helps the body cope when it's in an anxious state.

Mild depression is a combination of tearfulness, irritability, fatigue, negative thinking, tiredness and experiencing more body aches than usual .

Yoga for depression: Urdhva Hastasana in Tadasana, Adho Mukha Vrikshasana, Adho Mukha Shvanasana, Viparita Dandasana, Sarvangasana, Setubandha Sarvangasana

The science behind it: Allopathy targets monoamine systems of the body such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine while yoga targets the parasympathetic and gamma aminobutyric acid system. Mindful movement and conscious awareness have a beneficial impact on the central nervous system. Also, with yoga there are no side-effects. Just be careful with the asanas and do them under guidance from an expert.

There are plenty of studies that show how yoga has helped people overcome depression, sometimes even in cases where antidepressants were failing. (Here are some from the Boston University School of Medicine.)

Spondylitis is a pain in the neck , literally and metaphorically.

Yoga for spondylitis: Surya Namaskar , Matsyasana, Bhujangasana, Makarasana and Bal-Shayanasana

The science behind it: The problem arises because of a stiff neck and trapezius muscle. Yogas back bends help in making the trapezius, cervical and shoulder muscles flexible. Spaces between the vertebrae in the spine are enlarged by pulling the muscles downwards. Yoga exercises also strengthen the cervical muscles and shoulder area in addition to lengthening the cervical column and increasing the spines weight-bearing capacity.The dorsal spine is also strengthened through back bends and made more flexible through asanas that twist the body.

Headaches  the causes today are a dime a dozen. But yoga can help deal with these.

Yoga for headaches: Viparita Karani , Adho Mukho and Svanasana Uttanasana

The science behind it: Yoga helps the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) slow your heart rate and blood pressure. A 2014 study found that people who practised yoga had less frequent headaches. These participants also had a different PNS activity pattern.
There seem to be a growing number of practitioners adopting yogic practices for physical, mental and emotional well-being. If one were to ask a practitioner what is the motivation for the practice of yoga, the answer might include: to lose weight, improve concentration and to reduce stress. However, if one looks at the tradition of yoga and examines how the system is designed, the end goal seems to be an evolution in consciousness through the physical, mental and emotional bodies.

In the science of yoga, in order to transform daily experience, the physical body is first addressed. 'Asana' is a tool to understand and hence improve the functioning of the body. The key to a healthy immune system is the functioning of the 'prana' or the air element within the body. Through effective asana practice, the prana is re-distributed through the body as the blockages in the pranic passageways are cleared. Muscular coordination, improvement in the functioning of the various organs and the ability of the body to respond and adapt to changes in the exterior environment are some of the effects. There has been much research in recent times as to the health benefits of asana and pranayama practice and the types of ailments which can be reversed or prevented. That the mindful practice of asana has health benefits is perhaps accepted by the majority.

There however seems to be less awareness about the mental and emotional bodies and the practice of yoga to understand and transform these. It is quite clear in the tradition that the physical body was seen as an entry into the mental and emotional realms. As one proceeds in the practice, there is a shift from observing the physical to observing the mental and emotional bodies. For the ancient yogis (and also some modern scientists), the body and the mind were seen as inseparable. Rather than being of the opinion that the mind had a location in the head, the yogis saw the mind as being located throughout the body. As the pranic blockages are cleared in various parts of the body, mental health of the practitioner is seen to improve. Physical relaxation and concentration go hand in hand and the asana is seen as a tool to relax the body and focus the mind. If one speaks to long term practitioners of yoga, they could report an increase in mental clarity, a quietude in the mind, an increase in concentration and similar mental effects.

As the practice deepens, there is an understanding of how the emotional body is connected to the physical. By a constant renewal of the physical, there is a renewal of the emotional body. Emotional holding patterns which are the cause of much stress are largely related to conditioning from the past. Memories of the past are seen as being stored in different parts of the body and are related to physical sensations. This relationship between memory and physical sensation is addressed in the path of yoga through the limbs of pratyahara, dharana and dhyana. When pratyahara (sense restraint), dharana (internal focus) and dhyana (single pointed focus) are applied to the asana practice, there is the opportunity to drop habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and responding which could be the cause of repeated suffering.

The removal of such patterns bring about a transformation in the identity of the practitioner. The tradition speaks about an evolution in the level of consciousness by such a transformation of the physical, mental and emotional bodies. The practice of the yogi is then a study of consciousness itself. There is an interest in how the exterior world of name and form is intimately related to the internal world of sensation, thoughts and emotions and how a manipulation of the internal affects the external.

Keshav Mohta has been trained in Satipatthana Vipassana (insight meditation through mindfulness) in the lineage of Mahasi Sayadaw under Patrick Kearney and is a certified yoga teacher from The Yoga Institute, Santacruz. Follow his writing here.
Massachusetts' bid to become the nation's leader in offshore wind power is ramping up. The state's electric utilities, National Grid, Eversource and Unitil, are slated to release by June 30 their requirements for projects seeking to develop the state's first ocean-based wind farm.That sets in motion an ambitious effort to put Massachusetts ahead of states like New York, New Jersey and Maryland also seeking to establish their presence in the nascent U.S. industry. Here's a primer on where things stand:

That sets in motion an ambitious effort to put Massachusetts ahead of states like New York, New Jersey and Maryland also seeking to establish their presence in the nascent U.S. industry. Here's a primer on where things stand:

New Energy Law

A state law passed last year to boost Massachusetts' use of renewable energy outlines the process for developing offshore wind power. The law calls for generating at least 1,600 megawatts of power, roughly enough electricity to power 750,000 homes annually, from offshore wind by 2027. To accomplish this, the utilities are required to secure long-term contracts with wind farm developers in at least two phases: a bid request this June and another in 2019. The law also calls for generating up to 1,200 additional megawatts from other clean energy sources, including hydropower, onshore wind power and solar power by 2027.

Key players

At least three companies have expressed interest in the bid: Rhode Island's Deepwater Wind, Denmark's DONG Energy and Vineyard Wind of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Those three have already taken the key step of securing federal leases to develop offshore wind farms miles of the coasts of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, where the state is focusing its offshore wind efforts.

Each firm comes with its industry bonafides. Deepwater Wind opened the nation's first offshore wind farm off Block Island last year, a five-turbine project generating 30 MW. DONG Energy has installed hundreds of turbines in waters off Europe and has partnered with Eversource on its Massachusetts venture. And Vineyard Wind is partly owned by Portland, Oregon renewable energy developer Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners of Denmark.

Rough Draft

The utilities, in concert with state agencies, have been developing their bid requirements for months. The most recent draft calls for proposals generating between 400 to 800 megawatts of power and outlined key dates, including a December deadline for submitting applications and a May 2018 deadline for picking a winner or winners. But the utilities have also sought input from offshore wind companies and other stakeholders, so it remains to be seen if those specifics are further tweaked.

Size matters?

As the utilities have drafted their bid requirements, there's been some debate about the right size for the wind farms. DONG Energy argues that larger projects generating up to 800 megawatts provide 'efficiencies of scale' that would lead to lower electricity costs for ratepayers. Vineyard Wind believes the more practical approach is developing four projects of 400 megawatts each. And Deepwater Wind has argued for a range of projects of varying sizes.

"We think a more gradual approach makes the most sense," said Jeffrey Grybowski, Deepwater Wind's CEO. "You need to walk before you run."

Too slow?

Timing also has been a concern among some stakeholders. The Conservation Law Foundation, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, has advocated for an accelerated timeline that would allow construction to start as soon as next summer and the wind farm to be operational by 2023.

Vineyard Wind CEO Erich Stephens warns that a prolonged selection process makes it harder for firms to maximize their benefit from federal investment tax credits that are gradually being phased out. That, he said, could ultimately impact costs passed to ratepayers. "Even just a few months makes a huge difference," Stephens said.

The Trump Effect

Offshore wind developers seem united on at least one point: they're not overly concerned about President Donald Trump's policies on renewable energy just yet. Trump was a vocal critic of offshore wind technology as a candidate and businessman.

The companies note that states play a vital role in setting the nation's energy priorities since they regulate utilities, and Massachusetts' Republican Governor Charlie Baker has reaffirmed the state's commitment to its clean energy goals despite the country's withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement. "There's no pause for us," said Thomas Brostrom, president of DONG Energy's North American operations. "We're remain really committed to the market here in Massachusetts and the U.S."

Associated Press
After plowing about $2 billion into minority stakes in Indian e-commerce businesses over the past few years, Japan's SoftBank is upping the stakes, looking to play consolidator and take a more active role at a trio of leading start-ups. According to sources with direct knowledge of the matter, the solar-to-tech conglomerate is seeking to secure a piece of India's industry leaders in everything from payment systems to online shopping and groceries, in a series of deals that would shake up the $65 billion sector.

Among the most high-profile plans is SoftBank's push to engineer a merger between Snapdeal, the No. 3 player in one of the world's most competitive online markets and one of its biggest Indian investments to date, and market leader Flipkart. The deal could be finalised as soon as next week, one of the sources said.

SoftBank has poured roughly $1 billion into Snapdeal since 2014, but competition in e-commerce has risen dramatically with U.S. giant Amazon cranking up its presence and taking the No. 2 spot from Snapdeal. Besides Snapdeal, SoftBank is also close to finalizing a cash infusion of more than $1 billion into Alibaba-backed digital payments firm Paytm - another leader in a highly competitive sector - giving it a more direct say in that group too, according to one source familiar with discussions.

Media reports have separately linked SoftBank to a tie-up between grocery delivery group Grofers, in which it has invested roughly $70 million, and market leader and rival BigBasket. SoftBank, Snapdeal, Paytm and BigBasket did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Grofers said the company did not comment on merger speculation.

"Land of opportunity"

At the heart of the push is the charismatic Masayoshi Son, SoftBank's founder and chairman, the sources said. Son has taken a more active role in the group globally since last year, when he pushed aside his heir apparent, Nikesh Arora.

SoftBank is best-known for its hugely lucrative early stage bet in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, in which it is still the single largest investor. But it has also been a long-time supporter of India - and with some success. "Son is thinking India is the place where he will create one or two Alibabas," said one of the sources familiar with SoftBank ambitions, adding Son sees the country right now as the "land of golden opportunity".

SoftBank is the biggest investor in India's leading ride-share player Ola, which competes with Uber, and its top hotel aggregator Oyo. Son and other partners have also pledged to pour $20 billion into solar projects in the energy-hungry South Asian nation. "They are getting into sectors where the big differentiator, firstly, is going to be technology, of course," said the same source.

"Secondly, also sectors that need large amounts of capital, so you can browbeat or elbow out people with your capital." A Flipkart-Snapdeal combination would create just such a e-commerce behemoth. Flipkart, though battling Amazon, has maintained its pole position and last month it raised $1.4 billion from a trio of cash-rich and tech savvy players that include eBay, Tencent and Microsoft.

It also bought eBay's Indian operations as part of the deal. Meanwhile, SoftBank poured cash into Snapdeal, but Son began to lose patience as it was outpaced by Amazon, said a source at Snapdeal and the source familiar with SoftBank's aspirations. SoftBank has already begun talks with Flipkart's largest investor, Tiger Global, to buy a stake, the two sources said.

To push through the tie-up, SoftBank was likely to invest about $1 billion in Flipkart, both via a direct cash infusion and by buying equity stakes in investors such as Tiger Global, another source said, adding that Snapdeal investors were expected to get one Flipkart share for every 10 Snapdeal shares.

Flipkart did not respond to requests for comment, while a spokeswoman for Tiger Global said the hedge fund did not speak to the media about its investments.

Further consolidation

Forging all these deals could prove to be a challenge. One source familiar with the Grofers-BigBasket talks said a deal, while being considered, looked unlikely as BigBasket has a cash-burn rate significantly higher than that of Grofers, making it hard to justify a deal.

Moreover, even if the deals do click, there is no guarantee bets like a Flipkart-Snapdeal combine will pay off. "In the short-term, yes," said Gartner analyst Sandy Shen. "But things move quickly in e-commerce and Amazon is a strong player with global scale, technology and operational expertise." Still, a Flipkart-Snapdeal combine is likely to revive hopes of a broader consolidation in Indian e-commerce.

Alibaba had explored the possibility of combining Snapdeal and Paytm's e-commerce business with Flipkart about a year ago, one of the sources said, but talks broke down over price. Industry watchers believe that Paytm's marketplace and Tiger Global-backed ShopClues could eventually fold into Flipkart if the tie-up and Paytm investment goes through.

Reuters
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party will take a call on its stand on the presidential poll after an opposition party meeting on Thursday, AAP said on Wednesday.

AAP, however, has not been invited to the meet.

With a total of 85 MLAs in Delhi and Punjab and four MPs, the party has nearly 9,000 votes in the electoral college that will elect the president, but has largely been left out of the opposition parleys on the issue.

"We will take a call after the meeting of opposition parties," senior party leader Ashutosh said. It would take a stand after taking into account the opposition's position on the issue.

He parried a question on whether the party would support NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind, saying that ever since the BJP came to power in May 2014, atrocities against Dalits in the country had increased.

The party was not consulted by a three-member BJP panel which had talks with opposition parties on a consensus candidate for the presidential poll, to be held on 17 July, or invited to a Congress-led meeting of opposition parties on the issue last month.

AAP, however, is in touch with the Trinamool Congress, the Left parties and the JD(U).

The Congress's decision not to invite AAP to the 26 May lunch meeting, hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, was widely perceived as a snub to the party that rules Delhi.

The Congress does not see AAP as an ally, which it believes aims at unseating the Congress as the main opposition party at the national level and in several states in the long run.

In the past, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has often attacked the Congress, especially Gandhi's son-in-law, Robert Vadra.

The Nationalist Congress Party is also seen to be sidelining AAP because of Kejriwal's personal attacks on NCP leader Sharad Pawar.

With Bihar chief minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar "welcoming" the NDA's move nominating Dalit activist Kovind, the opposition seems to be divided on the issue.

But Ashutosh said the JD(U) decision would not influence AAP.
Chennai: Rival factions of ruling AIADMK, led by Chief Minister K Palaniswamy and his predecessor O Panneerselvam respectively hosted separate Iftar parties on Wednesday.

At the Iftar hosted by the AIADMK (Amma) faction, Palaniswamy, also the party headquarters secretary, said his government would remain firm on secularism and social justice policy as laid down by former chief minister Jayalalithaa. "The praying rights and culture of minorities will not face any impediment in this government, which is functioning on the lines of Amma (the late J Jayalalithaa)," he said.

It will stand by the welfare of all sections, including minorities, he said in comments that came a day after he said the state government would implement the court order on the Centre's ban on sale of cattle in markets for slaughter.

Meanwhile, senior AIADMK leader and Ramanathapuram MP S Anwhar Rajhaa denied reports that a section of the ruling party MLAs owing allegiance to the faction's deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran did not attend the Iftar hosted by Palaniswamy. "All the MLAs came," he told reporters without elaborating. He, however, parried a question whether Dinakaran was invited for the Iftar party.

Earlier, a section of ministers had revolted against Dinakaran and asked him to stay away from party affairs. Though he had in April said he would step aside,earlier this month asserted he asserted he would continue doing party work. Meanwhile, AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivai Amma faction led by former chief minister Panneerselvam also hosted an Iftar party for members of Islamic community and others.

True supporters of AIADMK were with him as he was following the path shown by late AIADMK Supremo Jayalalithaa, he said. "It was Amma who showed us to the world. Whatever happens around us, our objective should be to always remain calm and move towards victory," Pannerselvam said. Some others, for that matter, thought they had money and power with them and that they alone will emerge triumphant, he said without naming anybody.

"But we have love and compassion. We have honesty, justice, truth and dharma. Lakhs of supporters walking the dharmic path are with us and so are people of Tamil Nadu."

"With the help of those supporters, with the support of the people of Tamil Nadu and the blessings of Amma, victory will come our way as we walk the path of dharma," he said.

Tamil Maanila Congress(M) president GK Vasan along with a host of leaders shared the dais with Panneerselvam on the occasion. Referring to a small story from the life of Prophet Muhammad, Panneerselvam said whoever stays calm till the end always emerges victorious.

"I am quoting this incident from Prophet Muhammad's life just to convey how being patient is important. If you think I am referring to the current political situation (in Tamil Nadu) I am not responsible for that", he said.

Stating that many schemes were introduced by the late chief minister for the benefit of Muslims in the state, Panneerselvam said even some schemes that were not introduced by Islamic countries have been launched by Jayalalithaa. "Setting up of memorial to Quaid-e-millath (founder of Indian Union Muslim League), increasing the rice quantity for preparing the gruel during Ramzan month were some of the few.

Some of the schemes (introduced by Jayalalithaa) were even hailed by Islamic countries," he said.
Kolkata: The West Bengal government employees in Darjeeling hills, who failed to attend to their regular duties owing to the indefinite shutdown by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM), will face pay cut.

The finance department has also decided to send showcause notices to them and the employees will be required to explain the reason of their absence, sources in the state secretariat said.

The showcause notices would ask the employees who absented from their work during the agitation to explain as to no action be taken against them for their unauthorised absence. Those who do not respond to the showcause notice would be liable to disciplinary actions, the sources said.

Incidentally, soon after GJM had called the indefinite bandh from 12 June, the Mamata Banerjee government had issued a notification stating that government offices situated in Darjeeling and Kalimpong will remain open and all employees should report for duty each day.

The absence of employees on that day will be treated as 'dies non' which will constitute a break in service of the employee and no salary will be admissible unless such absence is covered under permissible grounds, the notification issued by the state government had stated.
Chennai: DMK and Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal were involved in yet another stand-off over the alleged horse trading of AIADMK MLAs on Wednesday, with the principal opposition party urging him to apprise the House about the state Governor's missive on the matter.

The speaker, however, declined to entertain DMK Leader MK Stalin's plea, prompting the latter to lead a walk-out of the entire opposition including Congress and IUML.

Governor Vidyasagar Rao had on Monday directed Dhanapal and Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan to take "appropriate action" on a memorandum submitted by DMK and its allies, seeking a fresh confidence vote and a probe by CBI into corruption and ED to unearth the money trail.

DMK has approached the Governor after unsuccessfully trying to raise in the assembly the issue of alleged horse trading of MLAs ahead of the 18 Feb confidence vote won by Chief Minister E Palaniswamy which surfaced through a TV channel 'sting' operation.

Stalin, Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, quoted the Constitution and House rules and urged Dhanapal to read out the "message" from the Governor.

He also wanted the chair or the chief minister to explain about the governor's letter.

The Speaker, who also cited Constitutional provisions, said he need not inform the House about the letter from Rao since it only required him to take "action."

It did not fall under the category of a "message" as contemplated by the norms, Dhanapal said.

"I only need to apprise the Governor. I will do that..it is strictly confidential," he said.

He, however, admitted receiving a communique in this regard from the Raj Bhavan and that the chief secretary too had written to him.

Dhanapal said rules requiring the Chair to apprise the House on messages from the governor covered legislative business like Demands for Grants for government departments and Bills.

DMK Deputy Leader Duraimurugan, however, said there was "no secret," in the matter and it was a "public document". Even the media had reported it.

At this point, Dhanapal told him to not "confuse," and asserted he had given appropriate explanation.

However, Duraimurugan insisted that the "House is supreme and we are entitled to know," and asked Speaker to inform about the "chief secretary's report."

Stalin joined the argument and said they did not seek a "debate" but only "information," on the matter.

With the speaker remaining firm on his stand, DMK staged a walkout led by Stalin.

Congress and the lone IUML member, both allies of DMK, joined the main opposition and trooped out of the House.

In their memorandum submitted to the governor last week, the opposition parties had urged him to take action following the "expose" by the TV channel.

Stalin had submitted to Rao a CD of visuals of the 'sting operation' aired wherein two AIADMK MLAs including S S Saravanan of Madurai South had purportedly made some claims of horse trading of the ruling party's legislators.

Stalin had sought a comprehensive probe by Central agencies including the CBI and ED and the DMK has also approached the Madras High Court on the issue.
In a hurriedly-called party meeting on Wednesday, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his cabinet of ministers have decided to support the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind as the nomination for the next President of India.

Breaking ranks with the mahagathbandhan, led by ruling JD(U), RJD and Congress in Bihar, Nitish has told Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that he will support the Opposition in all other issues, but he will make an exception for the presidential elections. "He will have a positive attitude towards Kovind," sources told India Today.

After BJP announced Kovind's name as the front-runner in the upcoming elections, Nitish expressed happiness over his candidature. However, the chief minister had 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 after paying a courtesy call to Kovind at the Raj Bhawan, hours after the BJP announced his name as the NDA candidate for the presidential election.

Paying his gratitude to Kovind for serving Bihar, Kumar had said that Kovind has served with distinction during his tenure as the Bihar's governor. "I came to pay a courtesy call to the governor as he is set to leave for the national capital. I am bound to pay my respect to him (Kovind) after declaration of his candidature for the post of the President India," Nitish said.

After a bitter break-up with the BJP before the 2014 General Elections, Nitish has showered praises on Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi for every big decision taken by the Centre government  beginning with the surgical strikes in Pakistan. He publicly lauded government's demonetisation decision. Bihar, in fact, became among the first states to ratify Goods and Services Tax (GST). Modi, on the other hand, also praised Nitish for enacting total liquor prohibition law in Bihar, during the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh.

There have been speculations in media and political circles over deteriorating relations between Nitish and RJD chief and coalition partner Lalu Prasad Yadav. In fact, the JD(U) distanced itself from the RJD after a charges were levelled against Lalu his family members recently. The JD(U) always maintained that it was for the embattled leader Lalu to respond to the charges.

Recently, the income-tax department seized 12 plots which belonged to Lalus son and deputy chief minister of Bihar Tejaswi Yadav, his three daughters and son-in-law. The BJP has demanded removal of Tejashwi as the deputy chief minister and questioned Nitish's "much publicised" zero-tolerance policy against corruption.

With inputs from agencies
Nitish Kumar's message delivered on Monday afternoon minutes after his meeting with NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind at Governor House in Patna clearly indicated where the votes of his party's MPs and MLAs were going for the 17 July polls.

The Bihar chief minister had said three noteworthy things: First, he expressed personal satisfaction and happiness over ruling NDAs nomination of Ram Nath Kovind for the President of India; second, the Governor House of Bihar will have the honour of sending the next head of nation; third, he had conveyed his feeling to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, when she had called him to discuss BJPs surprise announcement of a non-controversial, low-key and credible Dalit leader as their presidential nominee.

Wednesday's meet of senior party leaders convened by Nitish at his residence in Patna formally put a stamp on his personal happiness to meet the norms of a democratic party in a democratic polity. The move, however, is loaded with political implications.

This is a clear snub to the likes of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Sitaram Yechury, Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav who are clinging onto a desperate hope of stitching up an alliance and unite the badly mauled Opposition parties. In fact, Nitish chose to decide his own path just a day before Sonia was to chair a meeting of the grand coalition of Opposition parties to pick their candidate (with less than 38 percent of votes in the Electoral College) to challenge the NDA presidential candidate (with over 62 percent of the total votes of the Electoral College).

In a way, Nitish has pre-empted the dilemma he might have faced if Congress had fielded another Dalit candidate  Meira Kumar  the daughter of Babu Jagjivan Ram who was from Bihar. The Congress was mulling to nominate Meira as their presidential choice to keep the likes of Mayawati, who were wary opposing a Dalit presidential nominee, within their fold.

Just as Sonia and Rahul's politics has been that of family entitlement and dynastic succession, Meira too is a product of politics of entitlement which explains why she was chosen as the Speaker of Lok Sabha in 2009. Her being a Dalit and also the opportunity to become India's first woman Lok Sabha Speaker had cleared the deck for her then. These same entitlement credentials are being flaunted once again in 2017. The Congress has obviously not learnt any lessons from the political harakiri it committed after one of its leaders enthusiastically made the 'chaiwala' comment only to see Narendra Modi occupy the South Block office months later as prime minister.

With his decision to support Kovind, Nitish refused to reduce the prestigious presidential polls to a Dalit versus Dalit contest. After all, the president is the custodian of the Indian Constitution, chief commander of the three armed forces and head of the nation. The highest constitutional post cant be seen through prism of casteist politics.

Nitish has also conveyed a stern message that he can't be taken for granted in the Sonia-Rahul sponsored fragile Opposition unity. His message to the Congress, the Left, TMC, RJD, SP, BSP and others is that he has a mind of his own. BJP got a taste of it in 2012 and 2013.

The Bihar chief minister's decision to stay away from the Opposition meeting has delivered a severe blow to the Congress machinations of uniting the Opposition. Nitish might not have good numbers in Lok Sabha and in Bihar Vidhan Sabha, but he is viewed as the only credible leader in the Opposition ranks. Without Nitish, it becomes a desperate coalition of frustrated leaders  Rahul, Lalu Prasad, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee, Kanimozhi, Yechury, D Raja etc.  who are either themselves or their other top party colleagues are under the CBI radar or are facing existential crisis in the wake of Modis rise.

The proposed unity for the presidential election 2017 was taken as a precursor to build a grand Opposition coalition for 2019 parliamentary election against Modis BJP. Nitish has dealt a blow to that plan by refusing to be a part of the coalition whose central pole is Congress. The party's vice-president continues to project that politics is only a part-time indulgence for him. Instead of being a part of the strategy meets, Rahul has chosen to spend time with his grandmother in Italy after his brief photo-op on the Rajasthan-Madhya Pradesh border.

Bihar chief minister has also refused to side with scam and benami property tainted Lalu Prasad and his family.

On 26 May, Nitish stole the thunder from Sonia'a luncheon meet. His absence made more news than the two dozen Opposition leaders who were present. Only a day later, Nitish was in Delhi to attend a lunch hosted by the prime minister in honour of visiting Indian origin Mauritian dignitary. He also had a one-on-one meeting with Modi.

Once again, Nitish chose to be seen by Modi's side rather than side with Sonia-Rahul-Lalu.

In 2012, Nitish had broken from NDA ranks and supported UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee. This time, he has distanced himself from a hypothetical UPA 3, to support the NDA presidential candidate. One can only speculate what to expect from Nitish in 2018-19.
Patna: RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday said his party will go with other opposition parties in their choice for a presidential candidate.

"We will go with the decision of opposition parties, which will meet in New Delhi on Thursday," he said.

Lalu brushed aside questions on the JD(U) extending support to NDA's pick for the president's post, former Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind.

The RJD supremo had earlier flayed the NDA for not consulting opposition parties and evolve a consensus on the presidential election.

Congress has refused support to Kovind's candidature and said the Opposition will put up its own presidential candidate.

However, 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.A candidate needs 50 percent plus votes to win the poll. Halfway mark comes at 5,49,452.
It has long been thought that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's decision in the Presidential election will decisively indicate the future of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar and also of the Congress led efforts to forge an anti-BJP alliance at the Centre.

Now that Nitish's party Janata Dal (United) has decided to support Ram Nath Kovind for the top post, a BJP nominee supported by other National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, it is safe to assume that the ruling alliance in Bihar might crumble earlier than expected by some political analysts. The biggest alliance partner, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), is now in a fix because Nitish has already distanced himself from the corruption charges levelled against the RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family.

JD(U)'s move has rendered the Opposition meeting scheduled for Thursday meaningless. AIADMK, YSR Congress, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and Shiv Sena have already pledged support for Kovind.

Senior journalist Surendra Kishore feels that now it's only an ideological compulsion for the Congress, Left and the RJD to not support Kovind. Any chance of putting up a fight is meaningless.

"Nitish was seen as a possible leader of the Opposition before the 2019 general elections. However, he was clever enough to sense that it won't work because Congress won't back anyone other than Rahul Gandhi. So, last month he made it clear that he was never in the race for the post of the prime minister," he said.

Kishore believes that the BJP has stalled any possible Opposition unity by projecting a Dalit leader and in his opinion, Nitish might have been conveyed about Kovind's nomination before the formal announcement.

By deciding to go with the BJP, Nitish has made it clear that he will continue to take decisions without taking care of the RJD or the Congress. His growing bonhomie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the talk of the town.

One crucial moment before his decision was when Nitish did not participate in the Opposition meeting called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the pretext of busy schedule but shared the lunch with the prime minister the very next day.

Fissures within the grand coalition became visible just after a year of Nitish Kumar's current term when law and order situation in the state deteriorated and the people started expressing their anger on the streets. In most cases, involvement of RJD supporters came to light and the Opposition attacked Nitish for protecting them. On the other hand, Nitish's party has been projecting him as 'Sushasan Babu' who treated anti-social elements with an iron fist during his first two terms as the chief minister of Bihar. In fact, he had waged a war against the 'Jungle Raj' of Lalu Yadav with the help of the BJP and came to power precisely on these premises, along with social combinations, in the year 2005.

Nitish kept his promises and with focus on developmental works earned the title of "Vikash Purush". But political equations changed in 2013 when the BJP announced Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. JD(U) chose to play the secular card and parted ways with the BJP. After being drubbed in the 2014 general election, it was Nitish's compulsion to join hands with the old 'enemy' Lalu Yadav and the Congress.

This grand alliance registered a thumping victory. It was considered a smooth going for the alliance in the initial few months but first strains started appearing when the defiant supporters and leaders of the RJD allegedly started resorting to the old ways of threatening officials, recommending lists of transfers and postings and forced contractors to give commissions.

This was against the first two avatars of Nitish Kumar  Sushasan Babu and Vikas Purush. The BJP won many states during these months. Its vote share increased in West Bengal and Kerela. This year, the Modi wave swept Uttar Pradesh and the BJP came to power in the state after two decades. It must have played on Nitish's mind because his alliance partner Lalu Yadav was facing a series of corruption charges.

Recently, the Income Tax Department seized 12 plots belonging to Lalu's son and deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav, his three daughters and a son-in-law. The BJP has demanded the removal of Tejaswi as deputy chief minister and questioned Nitish's much publicised zero-tolerance policy against corruption.

Nitish has been showering praise on Modi for every big decision taken by the Centre, beginning from the surgical strike against Pakistan. He publicly lauded the demonetisation move and Bihar was the among the first states who ratified the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Modi reciprocated by praising Nitish for enacting total prohibition law in the state during his speech in Patna at the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Govind Singh.

Seemingly, the BJP and the JD(U)'s approach of not attacking each other had sparked speculations that all was not well within the Mahagathbandhan.


Hyderabad: Prakash Ambedkar, former MP and grandson of BR Ambedkar, is emerging as as the top pick of Left parties for the presidential election.

CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury is holding informal consultations with the Congress and non-NDA parties to know their opinion about his candidature, sources in Left parties said on Wednesday.

"We are thinking of Prakash Ambedkar. If the Congress and other opposition parties agree, we will put him up (for the 17 July presidential election)," a source in CPM told PTI.

63-year-old Prakash is a former Lok Sabha member from Akola in Maharashtra and is the leader of Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh.

The Left parties are firm that the opposition must put up its candidate against NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind, though they are well aware that the numbers are loaded against them, the sources said.

"It will be a political contest, we are not expecting to win the election," a top Left leader said. Senior leaders of non-NDA parties, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, NCP president Sharad Pawar and Yechury, are slated to meet tomorrow to discuss the issue.

Earlier it was learned that besides Ambedkar, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, ex-Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, CPI national secretary D Raja and retired diplomat Gopal Krishna Gandhi are being considered as probable contenders by Opposition parties.
Caste may be bad. Caste may lead to conduct so gross as to be called man's inhumanity to man. All the same, it must be recognized that the Hindus observe caste not because they are inhuman or wrong-headed. They observe caste because they are deeply religious, observed BR Ambedkar, a long time ago.

You may or may not agree with what Ambedkar said but one thing is clear: The caste factor continues to influence elections in India, be it a gram panchayat poll or for that matter, the battle for president. Even now.

Thousands of words have already been written in the media explaining why a Dalit  Ram Nath Kovind  has been chosen as the BJPs nominee for the highest office in the land. We know most of the reasons, which look more or less well-founded.

But what most people dont know about this well thought out decision by the powers that be in the BJP to nominate the former Bihar governor as President of India is that this story has a Gujarati angle: Kovind belongs to the Koli community, which makes up around 24 percent of Gujarats electorate. Remember, Gujarat goes to the polls later this year.

In Gujarat, the Kolis are also beginning to turn against the Patidars. This is important because the BJP considers Gujarat as important as Uttar Pradesh. Kovinds elevation to first citizen would certainly help raise the morale of the Kolis, and in the process, help the BJP easily win the upcoming polls.

Most people in Lutyens' Delhi dont know much about the Kolis. Here are a few facts:

1. In Gujarat, Kolis are classified under OBC category. However, the Centre has been treating them as SCs, particularly in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

2. According to the Gujarat OBC commission, there are 136 castes in the OBC list. The Kolis account for around 40 percent of the state's OBC population.

To understand the political scene, let's examine the Koli community's political leanings from a historical perspective. Until 1998, the Kolis were traditionally Congress voters. The Kshatriya-Harijan-Adivasi-Muslim (KHAM) social alliance brought them a perceived upward mobility. So much so, that they acquired the status of Kshatriyas (deemed to be OBCs in Gujarat). For the Congress, KHAM was a powerful strategy to counter upper caste domination.

However, with the rise of Hindutva in Gujarat, things changed dramatically. The Koli vote bank divided between Congress and the BJP while the Patidars stuck with Narendra Modi's BJP despite a rebellion by a section of party leaders, including Keshubhai Patel.

But with Hardik Patels recent emergence as a Patidar leader in his own right, the political equation has changed once again. Now, the Gujarat BJP must ensure that the Patidars and the Kolis not join hands with the Congress. For the BJP, it's a matter of life and death.

Its significant that both Kolis and Patidars, who are spread across different regions of the state, carry huge political clout. Should they come together and join hands with Muslims, the BJP's fate would be sealed: And that too in the state known as the "Hindutva's experimental balloon.

The Gujarati angle apart, the Koli community is almost as strong in neighbouring Maharashtra. You never know, Maharashtra might see early Assembly elections if the uneasiness between the BJP and the Shiv Sena takes a turn for the worse. Regardless of their public pronouncements, its difficult to believe that the BJP and the Shiv Sena are good friends.

Little wonder then that most analysts seem to marvel at the brilliance of the Narendra Modi - Amit Shah combine. After all, they outsmarted their adversaries yet again.

In his Firstpost article, Sreemoy Talukdar wrote: 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.

Indeed, the Opposition looks stumped.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK faction on Wednesday announced its support for Ram Nath Kovind, adding a further boost to the NDA candidate's chances at the presidential polls.

The decision was announced in Chennai by Chief Minister E Palaniswamy, IANS said, even as opposition parties led by Congress continued their efforts to put up a unified candidate against Kovind.

The election of the lawyer-turned-politician as the 14th president, in any case, is a virtual certainty because of assurance of support by other NDA parties including Shiv Sena, who had in the last two elections had voted against NDA candidates.

"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 PTI at his residence 'Matoshree' in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, stumped by NDA's Dalit face (Kovind) for the presidential election, the opposition parties have accelerated their efforts to field a common candidate.

On Tuesday, CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy had said that a "secular" candidate is the need of the hour for the president's post and that opposition parties would "certainly" field a nominee.

Congress sources had said senior party leaders talked to leaders of other parties to ensure their presence at the crucial 22 June meeting of all non-NDA parties in Parliament, PTI had reported.

However, the opposition camp looks weak with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announcing his party's support to the NDA candidate.

Sources said Congress may now go in for a Dalit face to match the NDA on the issue.

Meira Kumar met Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Wednesday, IANS said. Though there was no official word about the meeting, it is widely believed that Meira Kumar could be the opposition's choice against Kovind.

Like Kovind, Meira Kumar belongs to the Dalit community. She was the first woman speaker of Lok Sabha and also has been a Union minister.

With agency inputs
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Wednesday announced waiving of crop loans of up to Rs 50,000 of over 22 lakh farmers from cooperative banks in the state.

"Crop loans of up to Rs 50,000 borrowed by 22,27,506 farmers from cooperative banks in the state will be waived," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the Assembly.

The waiver of short-term loans will cost the exchequer Rs 8,165 crore.

The decision followed Opposition demand to mitigate farmers' hardships and to give them relief from the severe drought of 2016.

"Crop loans due up to 20 June will be waived, with farmers' total borrowings from cooperative banks standing at Rs 10,736 crore so far," the chief minister said.

Siddaramaiah also urged the Centre to waive crop loans that farmers borrowed from state-run and regional rural banks.

Admitting that the loan waiver would impact the state's finances, Siddaramaiah, who also holds the finance portfolio, said that as the farmers were in distress due to drought, it was his government's duty to respond to their plight.

"Crop loans that farmers took from cooperative banks are only 20 per cent of the total borrowings, including 80 percent from grameen (rural banks), nationalised (state-run) and other banks owned by the central government and its agencies," the chief minister told the state lawmakers.

Claiming victory over the ruling Congress, main Opposition BJP urged the government to increase the loan waiver limit up to Rs 1 lakh.

"Waiving crop loans of up to Rs 50,000 is not a big achievement. We expected the Karnataka government to waive loans of up to Rs 1 lakh. Had Siddaramaiah decided earlier, he would have saved the lives of 1,197 farmers who committed suicide due to debt," BJP state unit president BS Yeddyurappa told reporters.

State Farmers' Association and Green Brigade President Kodihalli Chandrashekar also urged the government to write off the entire crop loans (totalling Rs 10,736 crore).

"Karnataka should follow other states in waiving the entire crop loans. I appeal to Siddaramaiah to double the cooperative loans waiver limit to Rs 1 lakh," said Chandrashekar, an independent lawmaker who represents Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha.

Karnataka is the fourth state to write off farm loans after Punjab, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Demanding complete waiver of crop loans, Karnataka Sugarcane Growers' Association President Karburu Shanthakumar said the government's decision to waive loans of up to Rs 50,000 would lead to more problems for farmers.

"Farmers have no money to repay loans (above Rs 50,000) to avail fresh crop loans during the current kharif season. I urge the state government to waive the total loans for their benefit," Shanthakumar said.
WASHINGTON The United States hopes Arab countries involved in a diplomatic split with Qatar will soon present Doha a list of "reasonable and actionable" demands to move the crisis towards a resolution, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday.The short statement was issued in Tillerson's name a day after the State Department bluntly questioned the motives of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in announcing their boycott of Qatar on June 5, saying it was "mystified" the Gulf states had not released their grievances.

It was Washington's strongest language yet on a dispute that erupted after the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties and transport links to isolate Qatar. The Arab countries accuse Qatar of funding terrorism, fomenting regional instability or cosying up to their enemy Iran. Qatar has denied the accusations."We understand a list of demands has been prepared and coordinated by the Saudis, Emiratis, Egyptians and Bahrainis," the Tillerson statement said. "We hope the list of demands will soon be presented to Qatar and will be reasonable and actionable."

Tillerson said the United States backs a Kuwaiti mediation effort aimed at resolving the crisis.

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.U.S. President Donald Trump has taken a tough stance on Qatar, accusing it of being a "high level" sponsor of terrorism, but he has also offered help to the parties in the dispute to resolve their differences. (Reporting by David Alexander; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Grant McCool)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
AMMAN/BEIRUT Government air and artillery bombardments hit rebel-held areas of the Syrian city of Deraa, on the border with Jordan, on Tuesday after a two-day ceasefire expired, witnesses, rebels and the army said.Syrian state television quoting army sources said they had resumed the offensive, which took place as U.S. and Russian officials were holding another round of secret talks on creating a "de-escalation zone" in southwestern Syria that would include Deraa.U.S. and Russian officials agreed a ceasefire, which ended on Monday, during talks in Amman aimed at strengthening goodwill before more detailed negotiations on setting up the "de-escalation zone", diplomats in Jordan said. On Saturday the Syrian army said it would suspend combat operations in Deraa for 48 hours to support "reconciliation efforts".

The halt in hostilities had been widely expected to be extended with signs of progress in the talks in Amman and an agreement to continue the detailed discussions, diplomats said.A rebel official said Russian jets played a major role in the intensive raids after the army and Iranian backed militias had resumed air and artillery bombardments in the city. "They tried to disperse the rebel forces on several fronts. This is a regime that does not understand truces and they will keep trying to attack but we are ready for them," said commander Abu Rida Abu Nabout, head of the Liwa al Tawhid rebel group fighting in the city.

Rebels in the city and other residents have said this month that the army's bombardment of Deraa has intensified, and Western backed rebels said the army and Iranian backed militias had brought more troops to the city in a possible prelude to a campaign to wrest full control of the city.The army has failed to dislodge the rebels from their stronghold in Deraa city so far, however, and rebel forces have thwarted the army's drive to regain a major border crossing with Jordan and cut rebel supplies east and west of the city.

One witness said barrel bombs, artillery shells and rockets were used in the bombardment of Deraa.Major Issam al Rayes, spokesman for the Southern Front grouping of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels, said rebels had thwarted a government advance towards a rebel held military base southwest of the city near the Jordan border. "They advanced toward the base but where then encircled by rebels and incurred heavy losses and had to retreat," Rayes said, adding that at least 20 army and militia fighters were killed in what he described as a failed offensive. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is backed in the six-year-old war by Russia, Iran and Shi'ite militias while some of the rebels seeking to oust him are supported by the United States, Turkey and Gulf monarchies. (Reporting by Tom Perry and Suleiman al-Khalidi, Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Tom Brown)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Dhaka: At least 4,500 people remained lodged in some 50 shelters in southeastern Bangladesh and more evacuees continue to trickle in as the death toll from ongoing heavy rains touched 170, various sources said.

"Close to 4,500 people are living in shelters, which are expected to remain open until 15 July in view of the possibility of further rains and landslides", Efe news quoted Bangladeshi Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Shah Kamal as saying on Tuesday.

In Rangamati, the worst-affected district from where 116 bodies have been recovered so far and four missing persons are feared dead, authorities opened two new shelters on Monday in response to the growing influx of evacuees, the region's Deputy Commissioner Manzurul Mannan said referring to camps run by the army, police and the Red Crescent.

He added that they had sufficient supplies for residents and even for distribution among affected people living outside the camps, who had already received around 2,100 packets, each containing 30 kg of rice.

On Tuesday itself, a fresh batch of over 20 people, who were feeling unsafe in their own homes amid the raging downpour, arrived at the Shahid Abdul Ali Academy camp in Rangamati, adding to the hundreds already living here since early last week when the rains intensified, informed shelter manager Faruk Sufian.

Since the onset of the crisis on 13 June, the weather department has recorded 679 millimeters of rain in the district, including 74 millimeters in the past 24 hours.

Southern Bangladesh is frequently lashed by tropical cyclones at this time of the year, some of which in previous years have hit the country hard, claiming a large number of lives.
By Philip Blenkinsop, Elizabeth Miles and Robin Emmott

| BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS A Moroccan national who attempted an attack on Brussels' Central Station is suspected of supporting Islamic State militants, prosecutors said on Wednesday, a day after the man tried to detonate a suitcase bomb packed with nails and gas bottles.In an abortive attack that Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said could have been far worse, the man likely made the bomb at his home in the Brussels borough of Molenbeek, a known hotbed of radicalised Muslims, investigators said."There are also indications that the suspect had sympathies for the terrorist organization IS," the prosecutors said in a statement, using an acronym for Islamic State.While little is known about the dead man, who was shot by a soldier on Tuesday evening, any confirmed militant links could fit it into a pattern of recent attacks in European cities claimed by IS, including in London, Paris and Berlin.There was no immediate claim of responsibility on Wednesday.Molenbeek, a poor borough with a big Moroccan Muslim population, gained notoriety after an Islamic State cell based there mounted suicide attacks on Paris in November 2015 that killed 130 people. Associates of that group attacked Brussels itself four months later, killing 32 people.A counter-terrorism prosecutor said the man, who a security source named as Oussama Zariouh and was identified officially as O.Z., was a 36-year-old Moroccan citizen.He set off his bomb on a crowded station concourse below ground at 8:44 p.m. (1844 GMT), prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said. Walking up to some passengers, "he grabbed his suitcase, while shouting and causing a partial explosion. Fortunately, nobody was hurt," Van Der Sypt said.

The suitcase, later found to contain nails and gas bottles, caught fire and then detonated a second time more violently as the man ran downstairs to the platforms.He then ran back up to the concourse where commuters had been milling around and rushed toward a soldier shouting "Allahu akbar" - God is greatest, in Arabic. The soldier, part of a routine patrol, shot him several times. Bomb disposal experts checked the body and found he was not carrying more explosives.Police raided the man's home overnight, Van Der Sypt said. Molenbeek Mayor Francoise Schepmans told reporters that Zariouh was on police files over a drug case last year and was divorced. Bruno Struys, a Belgian author who writes on Islamist militants, said Zariouh had lived in Belgium since 2002, was married from 2004-2007 and moved to Molenbeek in 2013.His Facebook page, which had not been updated in a year, showed a man in his 30s posing regularly for selfies, alone at the wheel of the same car. It said he was self-employed, single, came from Nador on Morocco's Mediterranean coast and graduated from the nearby university at Oujda in 2002.

Posts on the page showed an interest in Islamic charity but no obvious support for militant organisations. Along with Arab musicians, he posted a liking for Canadian pop diva Celine Dion."WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED"

Prime Minister Michel insisted that Belgium, which has been the most fertile European recruiting ground for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, would not bow to threats that have seen combat troops become a permanent fixture at public spaces in Brussels."We will not let ourselves be intimidated," Michel said. "We will go on living our lives as normal."

The Belgian capital, home to the headquarters of NATO and the European Union, took a heavy hit to its tourist industry after last year's deadly attacks at Brussels airport and in the Brussels metro.In Tuesday's incident, visitors and residents out enjoying a hot summer's evening on the ornate Renaissance town square, the Grand Place, close to Central Station, were cleared quickly away by police.Smoke billowed through the 1930s station's marble halls, sending people fleeing, well aware of last year's attacks at Brussels airport and on the metro, as well as of a string of Islamic State-inspired assaults, most recently in Britain."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, he said, attacks in Europe may increase, though many would be by "amateurs".Witness Nicolas Van Herrewegen, a rail worker, told Reuters: "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."Remy Bonnaffe, a 23-year-old lawyer who was waiting for a train home, told Reuters: "I think we had some luck tonight." (Additional reporting by Clement Rossignol, Francesco Guarascio, Jan Strupczewski, Charlotte Steenackers and Alastair Macdonald and Robin Emmott in Brussels and Samia Errazzouki in Rabat; writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Mark Heinrich)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Theresa May's proposed deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has run into a roadblock, with British legal experts checking if it would run foul of the Good Friday Agreement. As per a report in The Guardian, the legal team is planning to apply for a judicial review of the deal once it is announced. High court judges would be asked to examine whether the pact breaches the government's commitment to exercise "rigorous impartiality" in the Good Friday Agreement.

The case could be heard in the Supreme Court because of its constitutional significance, and it follows warnings from several politicians, that it may undermine Northern Ireland's peace process. The report also mentioned that the legal challenge to the deal has been in the works, but they are waiting until Theresa May's Conservatives officially announce the deal.

Among the leading voices opposing the deal is the Irish party Sinn Fein, which has said it will oppose any deal between Tories and the DUP that undermines the peace deal.

According to Evening Standard, Michelle O'Neill, Sinn Fein leader in Northern Ireland, said, "We were very clear with the prime minister that any deal with herself and the DUP cannot undermine the Good Friday Agreement. We made it very clear that any package (on restoring power-sharing) that is delivered, there has to be a strong financial package to allow us to deliver good public services when we get the executive up and running again."

Among the many experts who criticised the proposed deal was former prime minister John Major, who was quoted by the BBC as saying he understands why the Tories want to shore up the parliamentary position, but "a fundamental part of the peace process in Northern Ireland is that the UK government needs to remain impartial". He said he is "wary and dubious" about the deal. "People shouldn't regard (the peace process) as a given, and we cannot know if that impartiality is going to be crucial at some stage in the future," he said.

However, the prime minister has repeatedly said that the deal wouldn't run foul of the Good Friday Agreement, as Westminster is committed to honouring the 1998 deal. "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," Theresa May was quoted as saying by The Independent. "As a UK government, we remain absolutely steadfast in our commitment to the Belfast Agreement, its successor agreements."

The Good Friday Agreement was a deal signed in April 1998 between British and Irish governments, meant to bring an end to 30 years of sectarian conflict. As mentioned in the BBC, the agreement set up a power sharing assembly to govern Northern Ireland by cross-community consent.

The contentious portion of the agreement, the section that may attract legal scrutiny after the Tories' deal, will focus on subsection five of article one. It states that the British and Irish governments will "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."

Of this, the term "rigorous impartiality" will be probed by the courts, and the government's ability to uphold this principle.
Jerusalem: A former head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency told an Israeli security conference on Wednesday that the United States' declining world role under President Donald Trump is today's greatest menace.

"The biggest threat the world faces is how we all adjust to the progressive withdrawal of responsible American leadership and the network of alliances that America maintained with Europe, with Asian countries and the pattern of alliances and partnerships they had across this region," John Sawers said.

"It's going to have a major disruptive effect and no one is yet adjusting to it.

"It is now having a major impact in the security world, and I think it's how we adjust to that  the behaviours of other countries trying to take advantage of it  which poses the biggest threat in the world," he added.

Since taking office in January, Trump has pledged to overhaul former US president Barack Obama's deal to restore ties with Cuba, reaffirming the existing US trade embargo and tightening rules for Americans visiting the island.

On a trip to Brussels in May, the US president stunned European allies and his entire foreign policy team by removing a line from his speech that highlighted US support of NATO's collective security.

Earlier this month, G7 partners were dismayed when he pulled Washington out of the 2015 Paris accord on fighting climate change.

Sawers told the conference in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, that a populist backlash against globalisation had brought about a profound change in western politics.

"I've got serious reservations about Donald Trump as president of the United States," said Sawers, who also served as Britain's ambassador to the United Nations.

"But I see him not as the cause of these problems, but as a consequence of the changes in American society and America's willingness to uphold the burdens of the world as it has for the past 70 years or so."

Sawers said contributing factors were a lack of success in military "ventures" in Iraq and Afghanistan and the world financial crash.
Jerusalem: President Donald Trump's son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, arrived in the region on Wednesday for a daylong visit aimed at restarting long-dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Trump has tasked Kushner with the ambitious goal of laying the groundwork for what he calls the "ultimate deal"  but deep divisions remain, clouding chances of a significant breakthrough in one of the longest Mideast crises.

Kushner first met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Israeli envoy in Washington Ron Dermer and American Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt, at Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem.

A video released by Netanyahu's office shows him embracing Kushner and saying: "This is an opportunity to pursue our common goals of security, prosperity and peace."

Later, Kushner will meet with and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

This month marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war  a seminal event in which Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians claim these territories for their future independent state.

After two decades of failed US-led peace efforts, Palestinian statehood seems distant. Envoy Jason Greenblatt has already made several visits.

Even before his meetings, Kushner faced a new crisis.

On the eve of his arrival, Israel broke ground on a new West Bank settlement for residents of an illegally built outpost that was dismantled in February under orders from the Supreme Court.

Netanyahu had vowed to compensate the residents of Amona with a new settlement, built on a nearby site in the northern West Bank.

"The people of Amona really appreciate his efforts and the efforts from his office in fulfilling this commitment that started to come alive to create this new community," said Avichai Boaron, a spokesman for the settlers.

The move has infuriated the Palestinians, who say all settlements are illegal obstacles to peace. Trump has asked Israel to show "restraint" in its settlement construction.

"This is the way Netanyahu is meeting Trump's envoys," said Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian official. "The real question here is will the administration of Trump tell Israel that it is enough and they have to stop immediately all settlement activities, or they will accept this Israeli provocation?"

Kushner did not speak to reporters ahead of his talks Wednesday, and Israeli security agents blocked AP cameramen from filming the arrival of his convoy. In one case, a cameraman was ordered to leave a sidewalk outside the government compound that houses Netanyahu's office, and in other case, a cameraman was ordered to delete his memory card of all images of the prime minister's office.

Once on the ground, Kushner immediately paid a condolence visit to the family of a young female Israeli police officer who was killed by Palestinian attackers over the weekend near Jerusalem's Old City. Kushner said Trump asked him to personally convey the condolences of the American people.

Three Palestinian attackers armed with an automatic weapon and knives assaulted officers on duty near the Old City in two locations on Friday evening.

Police said Staff Sgt. Maj. Hadas Malka, 23, was rushing to respond to the initial attack nearby when a Palestinian assaulted her with a knife. Malka wrestled with the man for several seconds as he stabbed her multiple times before other officers saw what was happening and opened fire, killing him, police said. She later died of her wounds in hospital.

Thousands attended her funeral Saturday night. Netanyahu visited her grieving family on Sunday and called Malka "everybody's daughter and everybody's hero." He also criticized Abbas for not condemning the attack.

It was the latest incident in a wave of Palestinian attacks that began in September 2015. Since then, Palestinian assailants have killed 43 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British student, mainly in stabbing attacks. Some 250 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire during the same period, most of them identified as attackers by Israel.
Queen Elizabeth II outlined the legislative agenda dominated by preparation for Britain's departure from the European Union in her speech on Wednesday. The speech is prepared by the government and marks the official start of parliamentary proceedings every year and sets the agenda that is to be passed by both houses during the course of the year.

Here is the full text of the Queen's 2017 speech delivered on 21 June in the Houses of Parliament:

My Lords and Members of the House of Commons.

My governments priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union. My ministers are committed to working with Parliament, the devolved administrations, business and others to build the widest possible consensus on the countrys future outside the European Union.

A bill will be introduced to repeal the European Communities Act and provide certainty for individuals and businesses. This will be complemented by legislation to ensure that the United Kingdom makes a success of Brexit, establishing new national policies on immigration, international sanctions, nuclear safeguards, agriculture, and fisheries.

My government will seek to maintain a deep and special partnership with European allies and to forge new trading relationships across the globe. New bills on trade and customs will help to implement an independent trade policy, and support will be given to help British businesses export to markets around the world.

My ministers will strengthen the economy so that it supports the creation of jobs and generates the tax revenues needed to invest in the National Health Service, schools, and other public services.

My government will continue to improve the public finances, while keeping taxes low. It will spread prosperity and opportunity across the country through a new modern, industrial strategy.

My government will work to attract investment in infrastructure to support economic growth. Legislation will be introduced to ensure the United Kingdom remains a world leader in new industries, including electric cars and commercial satellites. A new bill will also be brought forward to deliver the next phase of high-speed rail.

My government will continue to work to ensure that every child has the opportunity to attend a good school and that all schools are fairly funded. My ministers will work to ensure people have the skills they need for the high-skilled, high-wage jobs of the future, including through a major reform of technical education.

The National Living Wage will be increased so that people who are on the lowest pay benefit from the same improvements in earnings as higher paid workers. My ministers will seek to enhance rights and protections in the modern workplace.

My government will make further progress to tackle the gender pay gap and discrimination against people on the basis of their race, faith, gender, disability or sexual orientation.

Legislation will be brought forward to protect the victims of domestic violence and abuse.

My government will reform mental health legislation and ensure that mental health is prioritised in the National Health Service in England.

Proposals will be brought forward to ban unfair tenant fees, promote fairness and transparency in the housing market, and help ensure more homes are built.

My ministers will work to improve social care and will bring forward proposals for consultation.

My government will ensure fairer markets for consumers, this will include bringing forward measures to help tackle unfair practices in the energy market to help reduce energy bills.

A priority will be to build a more united country, strengthening the social, economic and cultural bonds between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

My government will work in cooperation with the devolved administrations, and it will work with all of the parties in Northern Ireland to support the return of devolved government.

A new law will ensure that the United Kingdom retains its world-class regime protecting personal data, and proposals for a new digital charter will be brought forward to ensure that the United Kingdom is the safest place to be online.

Legislation will also be introduced to modernise the courts system and to help reduce motor insurance premiums.

My government will initiate a full public inquiry into the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower to ascertain the causes, and ensure that the appropriate lessons are learnt.

To support victims, my government will take forward measures to introduce an independent public advocate, who will act for bereaved families after a public disaster and support them at public inquests.

My ministers will continue to invest in our gallant Armed Forces, meeting the NATO commitment to spend at least two per cent of national income on defence, and delivering on the Armed Forces Covenant across the United Kingdom.

My government will bring forward proposals to ensure that critical national infrastructure is protected to safeguard national security.

A commission for countering extremism will be established to support the government in stamping out extremist ideology in all its forms, both across society and on the internet, so it is denied a safe space to spread.

In the light of the terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, my governments counter-terrorism strategy will be reviewed to ensure that the police and security services have all the powers they need, and that the length of custodial sentences for terrorism-related offences are sufficient to keep the population safe.

My ministers will ensure that the United Kingdoms leading role on the world stage is maintained and enhanced as it leaves the European Union.

As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, committed to spending zero point seven per cent of national income on international development, my government will continue to drive international efforts that increase global security and project British values around the world.

My government will work to find sustainable political solutions to conflicts across the Middle East. It will work to tackle the threat of terrorism at source by continuing the United Kingdoms leading role in international military action to destroy Daesh in Iraq and Syria. It will also lead efforts to reform the international system to improve the United Kingdoms ability to tackle mass migration, alleviate poverty, and end modern slavery.

My government will continue to support international action against climate change, including the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Prince Philip and I look forward to welcoming Their Majesties King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain on a State Visit in July.

My government will host the Commonwealth Summit in April of next year to cement its relevance to this, and future generations.

Members of the House of Commons:

Estimates for the public services will be laid before you.

My Lords and Members of the House of Commons:

Other measures will be laid before you.

I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels.
Washington: Voters in Georgia cast ballots in the priciest US congressional race ever, a $60 million political nailbiter where a Democratic novice could score an upset in a conservative stronghold  and deal a blow to president Donald Trump.

The special election in the southern state is painted as a referendum on Trump, and the result may presage how his presidency  for better or worse  could influence the battle for control of Congress in 2018.

The race appeared virtually deadlocked as Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old filmmaker and onetime political staffer running on a centrist message, and Republican Karen Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, spent election day seeking to convert as many independent or undecided voters as possible.

Republicans are facing a sobering reminder of their president's poor approval ratings, which could act as a drag on their efforts to hold not just this congressional seat, but the 435-member House of Representatives next year. With Democrats potentially striking the first blow against Trump in 2017, the race has drawn substantial national attention -- and vast outside contributions.

Ossoff took to Twitter to urge constituents to "summon everything we've got" and troop to the polls despite rain falling on Georgia's sixth congressional district, as the president reiterated his support for Handel, 55.

"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," he tweeted early on Tuesday.

Handel, Trump said, "will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare strong security  a hard worker who will never give up! VOTE TODAY." Polls close at 7:00 pm.

Ossoff, who grew up in the electoral district but lives just outside the boundary so his fiancee can be closer to the hospital where she works, is trying to flip the Atlanta suburbs that Republican Tom Price left to become Trump's health secretary.

The Democrat won the first round against several candidates in April, but fell just shy of outright victory. The 20 June runoff quickly became the most expensive House race in history, with the campaigns, political action committees and other outside groups raising nearly $60 million, according to government reform and ethics group Issue One.

"Out-of-state money has poured in on both sides. It's become a little bit of an arms race," Ossoff told CNN. Handel, her own campaign flooded with outside donations, has kept the race tight, emphasising her area roots. Voters "are not interested in Hollywood, California coming in and buying this seat," she told Fox News.

Republicans have held the seat since 1979. But as an increasingly well-educated, diverse suburban district it is exactly the kind of territory which Democrats need to win if they want to gain the 24 seats necessary to reclaim the House in 2018.

As the two parties duked it out, Trump loomed large over Georgia. "The Trump phenomenon is extremely dominant in this

race," and Handel's fate is most likely tied to voters' views of the president, Georgia-based Republican strategist Chip Lake told AFP.

A Handel win could energise Republicans, boosting their efforts with health care and tax reform legislation. Her loss would prompt party-wide handwringing. "If we're losing upper middle-class suburban seats in the South, we need to start having discussions immediately on... how in the world are we going to limit the damage in 2018 with Donald Trump as head of our party and president of the United States," Lake added.
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.
Spanish police arrested a 32-year-old Moroccan in a dawn raid in central Madrid on Tuesday, and said he was a "highly radicalised" man with a large collection of extreme Islamist material, including a manual for suicide bombers, the government said.

Police also arrested two other Moroccan men aged 38 and 33 who lived with the first man in the residential apartment, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Television images showed armed police in riot gear storming the apartment building before dawn and men dressed in white robes and motorcycle helmets being grappled to the ground and handcuffed outside the apartment block.

The man had an extremely dangerous profile, similar to that of those who carried out recent attacks in Britain and France, the government said, without giving further details.

He had tried to recruit others to carry out an Islamist attack in Spain, it said.
India and Afghanistan have established an air freight corridor as a way around Pakistan's stubborn refusal to allow transit of Indian goods through its territory. This comes at a time when the Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan has been pushed to the wall by Taliban and assorted Islamic State (IS) fighters are making their way into the country from their shrinking bases in Syria and Iraq. To compound the already volatile situation, Pakistan-Afghanistan ties are at their lowest ebb and China is likely to step in as peacemaker.

The freight corridor, first discussed in 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ghani, is a way for India to remain relevant in an increasingly uncertain political situation in Afghanistan. The corridor is more symbolic than pragmatic as air cargo is not the cheapest form of delivery to rake up the scales in trade. The idea is to send a message to Pakistan, that the India-Afghanistan bond remains strong and that despite the advantages of geography that Pakistan enjoys, the two countries will find a way out to enhance trade.

Ghani himself flagged off the New Delhi flight, while foreign minister Sushma Swaraj was on hand to greet the first cargo plane from Afghanistan. What's more, Ghani was quoted by the local media as saying that those creating problems for Afghanistan should know that Afghans can turn the situation around to their advantage. This was an obvious reference to Pakistan. A day earlier, an Indian cargo plane had landed in Kabul.

A Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) press release announcing the freight corridor said: "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.''

The question that remains, however, is what happened to Chabahar  the Iranian port from where goods were to be sent to Afghanistan through rail and road links. The idea of getting involved in Chabahar was taken by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government for precisely the same reason  to get around Pakistan's decision to not allow Indian trucks to transit through its territory. Why Chabahar continues to be in the doldrums is anybody's guess.

If the current government in Kabul cannot hold out against Taliban and the scattered Islamic State fighters making their way into Afghanistan, it will once more become a safe haven for these elements. An unstable Afghanistan is the worst nightmare for South Asia. With Kashmir already on the boil, these elements could give a fresh impetuous to militancy in the Valley.

But India is not the only country worried about Afghanistan. China and Russia are equally disturbed at Ghani's tenuous hold on his far-flung country. The fear of Islamic fundamentalism is very real for both these nations. China is concerned about its Muslim-majority Xinjiang region, while Russia worries about Chechnya.

One of the reasons why Russia is talking to Taliban and engaging with Pakistan is a desperate attempt to stabilise Afghanistan. China is working towards getting Pakistan and Afghanistan to shed their animosity. In fact, foreign minister Wang Yi is scheduled to visit Kabul shortly, though the dates have not been announced.

There is speculation that the Chinese minister may try to broker peace between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Afghan press quoted Ghani as saying: "It is the first time that China wants to be a mediator in Afghanistan's peace process and soon the Chinese foreign minister will visit Kabul. Peace with Pakistan was our demand and this must be solved between government and government." He was speaking to a group of Afghan women activists, according to the reports.

Both Kabul and Islamabad have been trading charges against each other, following recent terror attacks. The breakdown of relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan has escalated tensions in an already volatile region. If China can play a role as mediator between Kabul and Islamabad and bring down temperatures, perhaps chances of a political solution would brighten.

But, as of now, the talks with Taliban have broken down following the death of Mullah Mohammed Omar's successor in a drone attack by United States forces. The four-nation talks between Pakistan, United States, China and Afghanistan, which was convened to stop the civil war and reach a political settlement to stabilise the war-torn nation, can hardly be revived if Kabul and Islamabad relations continue to deteriorate.

China, as the all weather friend of Pakistan, is in the best position to be broker peace between the neighbours. With China sinking so much money into the one belt one road (OBOR) initiative of President Xi Jinping, a stable Afghanistan has become a major focus for Beijing.

China also has its eyes on the mineral wealth of Afghanistan, but none of this can be utilised in the absence of peace and security. China, which had in the past avoided getting involved in peacemaking efforts is now gradually changing its former reticence, perhaps to go with its new-found economic and diplomatic clout.
New Delhi: The third International Yoga Day was celebrated in Pakistan too but on a muted scale. The organisers said a much bigger event will follow after Ramadan ends.

Pakistani yoga guru Shamshad Haider, who runs over 50 clubs across the country, said in a telephonic interview from Islamabad: "Due to Ramdan and people preparing for Eid, we could not organise a big event this year."

"We have routine sessions in all our clubs today but after Eid we are preparing for a much larger event in Rawalpindi," Haider, 48, told IANS. He said his team expected more than 1,000 people to take part.

The Indian High Commission also organised a yoga camp in Islamabad on Sunday, attended by India's envoy Gautam Bambawale and other diplomats.

Asked about the Pakistan government not celebrating the yoga day, Haider, founder of Yoga Pakistan and Way of Nature, says his clubs have people from all religions.

"It (government) never stopped us from doing yoga. It has granted us permission to hold yoga camps on its land and has also allowed us to promote yoga."

Yogi Haider  as he is widely known  said he doesn't want any help from the government or the Indian High Commission to hold events.

Born in Pakistani Punjab, Haider, unlike many Muslims, is emphatic that yoga has nothing to do with Hindu religion.

"Yoga helps to gain mental stability, peace, balanced living. It teaches us discipline which is vital in Islam and all religions."

Last year, on the second International Day of Yoga, Haider did yogic asanas along with 20,000 yoga students across Pakistan  but minus media publicity.

Haider and his 100 trainers have quietly succeeded in attracting tens of thousands of Pakistanis to yoga, achieving a feat that once seemed near impossible.

"Yoga belongs to humanity in the form of a pure science and is not the sole entity of India," he said.

Among the over 50 yoga clubs in Pakistan, Haider oversees the major ones in Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Even some Islamic clerics come to him to learn and practise yoga and meditation.

Haider says his inspiration and role model was SN Goenka, the Myanmar-born master of Vipassana meditation.

"He taught me meditation when I travelled to India. That changed my life. After that I started yoga sessions in Pakistan. He was my hero."

The International Yoga Day debuted in 2015 after the UN backed an India-sponsored initiative that was supported by over 170 member states.
BEIRUT Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered weekend missile strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, Revolutionary Guards said, contradicting a previous report that they were authorised by the country's security council.The Guards fired six mid-range surface to surface missiles from western Iran into Syria's Deir al Zour province on Sunday night, the first attack of its kind carried out by the Islamic Republic in years.The Guards statement, published on Wednesday by Sepah News, ran counter to a statement by President Hassan Rouhani who said earlier that the strikes were authorised by the Supreme National Security Council, which includes the heads of the three branches of government as well as the head of the Guards and other ministers.

Senior Guard commanders said on Monday that the missile strikes were intended to send a message to "terrorists" who carried out attacks in Tehran two weeks ago as well as their regional and international supporters, a reference to Saudi Arabia and the United States.Khamenei's personal directive for the missile strikes, as reported by the Guards, highlighted their symbolic importance.

The complex attacks in Tehran included shootings and at least one suicide bombing at the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, south of the capital. Eighteen people were killed.Islamic State claimed responsibility for these attacks but senior Iranian officials pointed a finger at Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic's biggest regional rival.

Tensions between mostly Shi'ite Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is predominantly Sunni, have ramped up in recent months as both countries compete for power and influence across the region. The two countries support opposite sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Field operatives from the Quds Force, the branch of the Guards responsible for operations outside Iran's borders, gathered intelligence on the targets inside Syria before the strike, the Guards' statement said.More than 170 "terrorists" including some commanders were killed in the missile strike, their statement said. Reuters could not independently verify the claim. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Marius Bosch

| MOSUL, Iraq

MOSUL, Iraq U.S.-backed Iraqi forces on Wednesday began a push towards the mosque in Mosul where Islamic State declared a self-styled caliphate three years ago, military officials said.The forces had encircled the jihadist group's stronghold in the Old City of Mosul, where the medieval Grand al-Nuri Mosque is located, on Tuesday, they said. The Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) were 200-300 metres (yards) away from the mosque, an Iraqi military statement said, a view supported by a senior commander of the international coalition fighting Islamic State.The U.S.-led coalition is providing air and ground support to the Mosul offensive that started on Oct. 17.The militants' leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaimed himself caliph from the pulpit of the mosque after the insurgents overran parts of Iraq and Syria. His black flag has been flying over its famous leaning minaret since June 2014. Iraqi officials have privately expressed the hope that the mosque could be captured in time for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month. The first day of the Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.The battle for the Old City is becoming the deadliest in the eight-month-old offensive to capture Mosul, Islamic State's de facto capital in Iraq.More than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, are trapped in its old fragile houses with little food, water, medicine, no electricity and limited access to clinics.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday sick and wounded civilians escaping through Islamic State lines were dying in "high numbers". "We are trying to keep families inside their houses and, after we secure their block, we will evacuate them through safe routes," Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior CTS commander in Mosul, told Iraqi state TV.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 sheets of cloth to obstruct air surveillance, making it difficult for the advancing troops to hit them without a risk to civilians.

"We are attacking simultaneously from different fronts to break them into smaller groups which are easier to fight," said an officer from the Federal Police, another force taking part in the assault on the Old City. 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.The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate" even though Islamic State would continue to control territory west and south of the city, the largest they came to control in both Iraq and Syria.Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding in the border area between Iraq and Syria, according to U.S. and Iraqi military sources. There was no confirmation of Russian reports that he was killed in Syria.

"If you were a Daesh fighter (..) I dont sense you would feel as though you are being led by Baghdadi," Major General Rupert Jones, British deputy commander of the international coalition, said during a visit to eastern Mosul."I suspect you feel isolated. I suspect you feel deserted and you know this is only going to end one way," he added.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 Mosul, have fled, seeking refuge with relatives or in camps, according to aid groups.Jones said Iraqi forces had overcome the distrust that marked their relations with the population of Mosul, which facilitated Islamic State's takeover of the city in 2014. "There was a huge amount of distrust," he said. "There seems to be a genuine mutual trust between the security forces and the local population born out of mutual respect, and I have heard it multiple times today. That is fantastic." (Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad, writing by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Angus MacSwan and Richard Balmforth)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Marius Bosch and Maher Chmaytelli

| MOSUL/ERBIL, Iraq

MOSUL/ERBIL, Iraq Islamic State militants on Wednesday blew up the Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its famous leaning minaret, an Iraqi military statement said, as Iraqi forces seeking to expel the group from the city closed in on the site.It was from this medieval mosque three years ago that the militants' leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled "caliphate" spanning parts of Syria and Iraq. Islamic State's Amaq news agency accused American aircraft of destroying the mosque, a claim swiftly denied by the U.S.-led international coalition fighting the hardline Sunni group."We did not strike in that area," coalition spokesman U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian told Reuters by phone. "The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS," said a statement from the commander of the coalition's ground component, U.S. Army Major General Joseph Martin, using an acronym for Islamic State. The Iraqi military's media office distributed a picture taken from the air that appeared to show the mosque and minaret flattened in the middle of the small houses of the Old City, the historic district where the militants are besieged. "The Daesh (Islamic State) terror gangs committed another historical crime by blowing up the al-Nuri mosque and its historical al-Hadba minaret," the Iraqi military statement said.The Iraqis lovingly call the minaret Al-Hadba, or "the hunchback."A video seen on social media showed the minaret collapsing vertically in a vast billow of sand and dust, as a woman lamented in the background, saying "the minaret, the minaret, the minaret."

The explosions happened as Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service units, which have been battling their way through Mosul's Old City, got to within 50 meters (164 feet) of the mosque, the Iraqi military statement said.An Iraqi military spokesman gave the timing of the explosion as 9:35 p.m (1835 GMT)."This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, and is an example of why this brutal organization must be annihilated," said U.S. Major General Martin.Iraqi forces said earlier on Wednesday they had started a push towards the mosque.The forces on Tuesday had encircled the jihadist group's stronghold in the Old City, the last district under Islamic State control in Mosul.

Al-Baghdadi proclaimed himself "caliph" - or ruler of all Muslims - from the mosque's pulpit on July 4, 2014, after the insurgents overran vast swathes of Iraq and Syria. His black flag had been flying over its 150-foot (45-metre)leaning minaret since June 2014.Baghdadi's speech from the mosque was also the first time he revealed himself to the world, and the footage broadcast then is to this day the only video recording of him as "caliph."MINARET WAS VULNERABLE

Iraqi officials had privately expressed the hope that the mosque could be captured in time for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month. The first day of the Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.

"The battle for the liberation of Mosul is not yet complete, and we remain focused on supporting the Iraqi Security Forces with that objective in mind," said Martin. The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate" even though Islamic State would continue to control territory west and south of the city, the largest they held sway over in both Iraq and Syria.Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding in the border area between Iraq and Syria, according to U.S. and Iraqi military sources.The mosque is named after Nuruddin alZanki, a noble who fought the early crusaders from a fiefdom that covered territory in modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The mosque was built in 1172-73, shortly before his death, and housed an Islamic school.By the time renowned medieval traveller Ibn Battuta visited two centuries later, the minaret was already leaning. Its tilt gave the landmark its popular name: the hunchback.It was built with seven bands of decorative brickwork in complex geometric patterns ascending in levels towards the top in designs also found in Persia and Central Asia.Nabeel Nouriddin, a historian and archaeologist specialising in Mosul and its Nineveh region, said the minaret has not been renovated since 1970, making it particularly vulnerable to blasts even if it was not directly hit.The Mosque's destruction occurred during the holiest period of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, its final 10 days. The night of Laylat al-Qadr falls during this period, marking when Muslims believe the Quran was revealed to prophet Mohammed. (additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Phil Stewart in Washington; writing by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Toby Chopra and Jonathan Oatis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Jerusalem: President Donald Trump's son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, is headed to the region with ambitious hopes of laying the groundwork for a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.

Trump has a number of advantages that could help him succeed where a string of predecessors have failed. But the deep divisions between the sides remain, clouding the chances of any significant breakthrough.

Here is a look at what lies ahead:

This month marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war  a seminal event in which Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. The Palestinians claim these areas for a future independent state.

After two decades of failed U.S.-led peace efforts, Palestinian statehood seems distant. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes a return to anything close to Israel's pre-1967 lines, and Israel has settled over 600,000 of its citizens in the West Bank and east Jerusalem to complicate any partition of the land. Netanyahu's government is also dominated by religious and nationalist hardliners who oppose Palestinian statehood and will fight any major concessions.

Few Israelis can contemplate dividing Jerusalem, and almost none would entertain Palestinian demands for allowing refugees and their descendants, who now number in the millions, the right to live in Israel.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, have rejected Netanyahu's demands to recognize Israel's Jewish identity. They will also hear Israeli complaints about alleged anti-Israeli incitement in speeches, textbooks and social media, and demands that they halt welfare payments to the families of Palestinians involved in violence against Israelis.

Lurking in the background is the Islamic militant group Hamas' continued control of the Gaza Strip. Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies, and Abbas' failure to regain control of Gaza, a decade after Hamas overran his forces there, would be another complicating factor in enforcing any deal.

___

WHY BOTHER?

For decades, Republican and Democratic presidents have repeatedly failed at reaching what Trump calls "the ultimate deal." And prospects look dim for Kushner and his envoy, Jason Greenblatt.

But the Trump administration enjoys some advantages that could help. In his few months in office, Trump has forged a good working relationship with both the Israelis and Palestinians, highlighted by a successful visit to the region last month. Trump also received a warm welcome in Saudi Arabia, a potentially key player for Trump's goal of pursuing a region-wide deal.

There is also the fear factor. The president's volatile and unpredictable personality could make it harder for either side to reject proposed concessions or goodwill gestures.

___

MAN OF MYSTERY

Trump has yet to lay out a clear vision for a peace agreement. He has not even been clear about whether he supports a two-state solution  the cornerstone of international diplomatic efforts for the past two decades.

But he has given hints of what he has in mind. He has publicly asked Netanyahu to show restraint in settlement construction, and he has pressured the Palestinians on the issues of incitement and welfare payments to militants' families.

Although no major breakthroughs are expected on this visit, a clearer picture of Trump's strategy could soon emerge.

Palestinian officials say the U.S. is preparing for a 12- to 18-month negotiating period. They say the U.S. is promising to be actively involved and may even present a declaration of principles as a guide for talks.

But the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a confidential diplomatic matter, stressed the situation is fluid.

___

DOOMED TO FAIL?

Even if Kushner succeeds in restarting peace talks, he will soon run into the same problems that have doomed his predecessors: Each side's maximum offers fall short of the other's minimum demands.

Success would require creativity and likely a system of incentives and disincentives to push the sides toward compromise.

One approach that Palestinian officials say has come up in preliminary talks is an interim deal for an independent Palestinian state in temporary borders. Stickier issues, like the fate of Jerusalem and its holy sites, claims of Palestinian refugees and final borders, would be tackled later on.

The Palestinians reject such an approach, fearing that a temporary deal that falls short of their dreams will ultimately become permanent.

It is also not clear whether such a scaled-back deal would succeed in bringing Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries to normalize relations with Israel, as is the hope.

Also, looming over everything is the probe into Trump administration officials' ties to Russia. While not posing an immediate threat, it could turn into a major distraction for the president and his son in law.
Paris: France's justice minister Francois Bayrou, a key ally of President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that he was quitting the government, as his party battles a funding scandal.

The small centrist MoDem party, founded by Bayrou, is in an alliance with Macron's 14-month-old Republic on the Move (REM) movement, and Bayrou was one of two Modem ministers in the cabinet.

Macron has been carrying out a partial reshuffle of his month-old government following parliamentary elections that handed him and his MoDem allies a commanding majority.

"I have taken a decision not to be part of the next government," Bayrou said, adding that he would hold a press conference at 5:00 pm (1500 GMT).

MoDem is facing allegations it used European parliamentary funds to pay assistants actually based in France.

The other MoDem minister, former defence minister Sylvie Goulard, also announced her resignation yesterday.

Bayrou was a key backer of Macron's movement during the presidential campaign, and his support was crucial in winning centrist votes for the new president.

He has dismissed the allegations of fake jobs in his party.
London: The death toll from the horrific tower block blaze in London may never be known because some of the apartments in the building may have been irregularly sublet, according to a lawyer.

At least 79 people lost their lives due to the blaze that destroyed the 24-story tower block in the Kensington district of the city last week, according to the London Metropolitan Police.

The police said the death toll was expected to rise, Xinhua news agency reported.

However, Victoria Vasey, director of the North Kensington Law Centre, told the media that because of the irregular property tenancies in the building, it was impossible to accurately know how many people were in the building at the time of the blaze.

"A lot of people were irregular in their tenancies and some were subletting. Some of them were illegal sub-tenancies," Vasey said.

The apartments in the building were rented to families and people nominated by local authority the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) as part of its legal obligations to provide housing.

The rents of the tenancies were below market levels. Some tenants may have sublet their tenancies illegally to make money.

The weekly Tuesday meeting of the government cabinet discussed the continued response to the fire and aid for survivors.

The MP for the area, Emma Dent-Coad, told the media that survivors of the blaze had been sleeping in cars and in parks because they don't know where to go and they aren't being looked after.

The response in the wake of the fire has been strongly criticized by politicians and the media. The British government has replaced the area Council with a panel formed by charities and other municipal bodies in London.
Saudi Arabia's hard-charging Mohammed bin Salman, named crown prince on Wednesday, holds unusual power for a man of just 31, so much so that diplomats nickname him "Mr Everything". The son of King Salman has risen to become Saudi Arabia's most influential and prominent figure since being named second-in-line to the throne in early 2015.

He symbolises the hopes of a youthful local population, more than half of which is under 25. Prince Mohammed is the main proponent of a wide-ranging plan, dubbed Vision 2030, to bring social and economic change to the oil-dependent economy of a country where women's rights are among the most restricted in the world.

He also holds the post of defence minister more than two years into a Saudi-led military intervention in neighbouring Yemen.

Born on 31 August, 1985, the prince amassed "extraordinary power and influence very quickly" after his father ascended the throne in January 2015, said Frederic Wehrey of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

"He's clearly very bright, very intelligent, very on top of all his briefs" and has significant influence on the 81-year-old monarch, one Western diplomat said.

Among his most prominent positions is chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, which coordinates economic policy. Mohammed also chairs a body overseeing state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

As defence minister, the prince supervises the Saudi-led coalition's operations in support of the Yemeni government against Shiite rebels who control the capital Sanaa.

'One of the citizens'

In a profile last year, Bloomberg Businessweek said the prince works 16-hour days and draws inspiration from the writings of wartime British prime minister Winston Churchill and Sun Tzu's "The Art of War".

It was one of many interviews in which the prince has spoken at length about his economic plans for the kingdom, where officials are traditionally tight-lipped.

In a rare press briefing in April last year, he seemed relaxed as he took questions from the domestic and international press for about 50 minutes.

Wearing typical Saudi attire  sandals, a crisp white thobe and headdress  he leaned on a white podium and sometimes rubbed his eyes, replying in Arabic to questions posed in English.

A law graduate from Riyadh's King Saud University, the dark-bearded prince with a receding hairline is the father of two boys and two girls and  unlike other members of the royal family  has married only once.

He told Bloomberg that although Islam allows for multiple marriages, modern life does not leave the time. Mohammed spent years working for his father when he was governor of Riyadh and when he was crown prince from 2013 to 2015.

"He has a reputation for being aggressive and ambitious," Bruce Riedel, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who directs the Brookings Intelligence Project in Washington, has said. Observers had pointed to an emerging power struggle between Mohammed bin Salman and his cousin crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, 56, whom he replaced as heir to the throne and interior minister on Wednesday.

At his 2016 press conference, Mohamed was self-effacing about a comment that his name would be "remembered in the future".

"I am one of the Saudi citizens, and the Saudi citizens too will be remembered in the future," he said.
Three days to go before Air Force One flies into Washington DC and politicians, think-tanks, policymakers and media are already engaged in feverish speculation on the outcome of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first meeting with US president Donald Trump.

Will it be bromance at first sight? A When Harry Met Sally moment perhaps? Or maybe a clumsy first date? Will both leaders settle for a handshake or a hug? Part of the intrigue lies in the fact that the unpredictable Trump has little patience for protocols and procedures, and a major part of the fascination is incumbent on the current drift in India-US relationship.

The commentariat consensus is that it is time for the world's largest democracy to show some strategic patience with an America grappling with a nativist at the helm, bent on questioning every known strategic assumption and undermining each bedrock of US foreign policy.

Modi's first trip to a Trumpified United States is therefore being billed as an occasion for the Indian prime minister to show qualities of an elder statesman  though Trump is older than Modi  cut out flamboyance, stick to the straight and narrow and gently persuade the insecure teenager trapped within the body of a septuagenarian demagogue that a stable relationship with India is necessary to Make America Great Again. Tough task. But Modi wasn't elected to do anything less.

As Brookings India fellow Dhruv Jaishankar holds, "New Delhi must attempt to convince Washington that India's rise is in American interest. This idea provided the underlying logic behind the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations' engagement with India, but it will be more difficult to sustain given the United States' new political realities and impulses."

The challenges are many. Trump is beset by problems at home, hounded by an adversarial media and put in check by the judiciary. Republican candidate Karen Handel's reasonably comfortable win Tuesday in the Georgia special election is expected to provide some relief but the inquiry and testimonies into the Russian interference in 2016 election and possible collusion by the Trump team is gathering steam and has the potential to damage his presidency. His approval ratings continue to go south.

Right at this moment, therefore, the India-US bilateral relationship is not among the top priorities of a myopic president who cussedly refuses to see the link between his immediate and strategic concerns. Less than six months in the Oval Office, Trump has shown rank incompetence on grasping even the basic tenets of foreign policy, displayed a poor understanding of realpolitik and has made himself vulnerable to machinations from Machiavellian powers.

What is of immediate and grave concern for India is the Trump administration's relationship with China. As the revanchist Middle Kingdom rises to prominence, India has moved closer to the US, hedging against an imbalance of power in South Asia. Trump's dalliance with China, however, has spooked Indian policymakers.

In his signature style, President Trump has thrown all rhetoric of candidate Trump out the window. Instead of a Republican government shaking off Obama administration's ennui and actively countering China's manipulative trade practices and revisionism in Asia Pacific, Trump has ended up handing Chinese president Xi Jinping a carte blanche that the wily leader has wasted no time in exploiting. His profuse praise of Xi has not had the desired effect, however, as North Korea has gone on to test fire one ballistic missile after another.

On Tuesday, Trump appeared to have revised his China strategy again, posting on Twitter that Chinese attempts to control the rogue regime have "failed".

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

No one knows (not even Trump, presumably) the direction of China-US relationship: the most crucial of this century. But this poses a policy problem for the rest of the world. How to deal with the world's most powerful president who decides on bilateral relationships based on which side of the bed he wakes up?

It could be worthwhile for India to adopt a 'Trump policy', quite distinct from the US policy that is the result of a sustained decadal effort between two nations who enjoy wide areas of convergence arising out of strong people-to-people links, trade relations, technological cooperation, military logistical support, soft power and mutual strategic interest.

While Modi and his team of policymakers need to take a long-term view of bilateral ties that will outlast the Trump era, foreign policy cannot remain immune to domestic churnings. In fact, they are shaped by it. Modi's Trump policy must necessarily be built on two basic tenets.

1. Striking a personal bond.

2. Not looking down on a transactional, deal-based relationship.

Striking a rapport with Trump should not be difficult for Modi. In fact, the groundwork for it has already been quietly laid.

Despite some unfavourable and provocative rhetoric on India emanating from Trump on the H1B visa programme and Paris Agreement, Modi has been careful not to criticise the Trump administration.

His ministers have rejected Trump's assertion that India is a sponge for US dollars but he has hastened to add, as Sushma Swaraj did, that "since the Trump administrations assumption of office, ties have not flagged but have progressed with same pace as under the (previous) Obama administration."

The H1B visa issue might be trickier, but Modi would do well not to bring it up in the first meeting. In any case, as Ashok Malik has argued in The Economic Times, India must wrap its head around the fact that the time for a liberal visa regime is over and there is not a lot to be gained being obstinate about it.

In fact, Malik goes on to reason that "Modi is unlikely to raise H1B visas, and neither should he allow himself to be influenced by media and Opposition alarmism on this score The liberal H1B regime is past its sell-by date. The most ruthless cut in the visa cap, from 195,000 down to 80,000, came in December 2004, at the height of President George W Bushs honeymoon with the Manmohan Singh government."

In an interesting development, Trump appeared to be softening his hard stance on immigration and H1B visa programme during a meeting with top honchos of Silicon Valley. As Chidanand Rajghatta reports from Washington in The Times of India, the US president called the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook or Microsoft boss Satya Nadella "special people who are at the 'absolute cutting edge of innovation," and "pledged to work 'very diligently with everybody, including Congress, on immigration so that you can get the people you want in your companies'."

In the end, the businessman in Trump might see the reason of a mutually beneficial deal in which he gains, not loses, in letting highly skilled Indians work in the United States.

On Pakistan, the other vexatious issue that has prevented India from fully committing to US sphere of influence, the Trump administration's stance has been ambivalent at best and profoundly confusing at worst.

The latest reports indicate that Trump is fast losing patience with Pakistan's double dealing in Afghanistan and may clamp down on Islamabad by either cutting down on aid or downgrading Pakistan's status as a major 'non-NATO ally'. But we have become used to these empty rhetorical bombardments.

The US is not in a position to take tough action against Pakistan because if anything, it restricts its options in Afghanistan even more. And Washington wouldn't want its strategically important 'non-NATO ally' to fall closer in Chinese embrace.

India would do well, therefore, not to pay heed to these distractions and focus on making Trump see the benefits of broader strategic logic through a 'transactional' bilateral tie.

Modi has his work cut out for him.
How do you get your favourite band to tour your hometown?

Just put together a band with about a 1000 members and have them cover the bands songs. Simple, right?

Thats exactly what Fabio Zaffagnini did, when he wanted the band Foo Fighters to play in his hometown  Cesena, Italy.

Zaffagnini gathered local musicians to cover Learn to Fly. The musicians would meet at the park the idea was conceived in, to rehearse the song. Soon, artists from all over Italy, and other European nations joined the group. One thousand musicians and probably the biggest Foo Fighters fans rehearsed for 365 days.

In 2015, they uploaded their cover on YouTube and got over a million views in less than 24 hours. The video concluded with Zaffagnini and the musicians begging the band to play a gig in their town.

Dave Grohl, the founder of Foo Fighters, responded immediately through a video on their Facebook page thanking the band. And in November, 2015, the Foo Fighters landed in Cesena to perform for the Rockin 1,000 and opened with Learn to Fly. Later, they invited Zaffagnini on stage and dedicated the song My Hero to him.

Zaffagnini, however, doesnt consider himself the biggest Foo Fighters fan. Probably there are many other fans that are as big as I am (sic), but probably they didnt make such a big scene  to have the Foo Fighters in their hometown.

Zaffagnini told Firstpost that he thinks of the project as an everyday job. Rockin 1000 became since the very beginning a sort of obsession for me. So I started to wake up in the morning, and the first thought I had was just how to make it work. And so, I had the right partners, of course I didnt do this all by myself; I had to involve and recruit some professionals. We had a very tough team working hard for one year. And this probably was the best thing I ever did.

The band went on to do a show Thats Live, in 2016, where musicians ranging from ages 7 to 86 covered various rock classics such as Smells like teen spirit, Seven nation army, Bittersweet symphony, and many more. The concert was attended by over 14,000 people and the band released an album titled Thats Live, later that year.

Now, the number of band members has gone up to 1,200. Theyre holding a summer camp in July, inviting musicians from all over the world to play with them and join the group as well.

This summer, we are organising something else up in the mountains here in Italy, and I really cant wait to see another show of the 1000. This time there are many musicians coming from all over the world. And I guess there are a couple of people from India as well, said Zaffagnini.
What did North Korea do to Otto Warmbier? How come the 22 year old American student returned to the US with no visible signs of trauma but completely unresponsive? Was he medicated to death? Was it pneumonia that spread to the brain? Or some other sophisticated form of torture which kills without an imprint by shutting off blood flow to the brain for long periods?

Does the White House know?

We would not share them (details) at this point, White House said but did not confirm or deny that North Korea tortured Warmbier or whether they know something that we dont.

Otto Warmbier, 22, was medically evacuated from his 17-month detention in North Korea last week. He came back in a coma with severe brain damage, could not speak or move voluntarily and died on Monday in his hometown Ohio.

Warmbiers family objected to an autopsy, leaving the unthinkable in the realm of mystery for now.

As pressure mounts for a tough US response, president Trump has condemned North Korea for its brutality, but did not announce fresh sanctions. At least we got him home, Trump said, taking credit for Warmbiers return to the US, claiming that more could have been done had Warmbier come back earlier, yet another low blow against former President Obama and promised that well be able to handle the North Korean regime.

With news of Warmbiers death gripping the US, North Korea will get top priority when the A-list of US and Chinese diplomats and defense chiefs meet in Washington on Wednesday for high powered engagements on security, foreign policy and economy.

The US and others have long turned to economic sanctions as a form of punishment. The threat of add-on sanctions against Chinese companies operating in Pyongyang is the talk ahead of Ottos funeral which will fan existing outrage and emotion to a higher level.

Almost every question posed to the White House on Warmbier comes back with a China angle: Obviously, China can play, has played and can continue to play a greater role in helping to resolve this situation, and we will continue to hopefully build on the relationship and the dialogue that weve had with China. I think there have been some positive steps that theyve taken, both at the UN and economically, to help strengthen the case against North Korea.

There seems to be a general attitude of not using physical violence against Americans, although they dont appear unwilling to use psychological tactics and that sort thing, Robert R King, a former State Department special envoy for North Korea who handled Warmbiers case until January 2017, told the New York Times.

Doctors at Johns Hopkins are saying that the kind of brain damage in Ottos case is unlikely without "external intervention"  euphemism for torture of some sort.

North Korea has detained 16 Americans since 1996 and Warmbiers death has driven a new wedge in relations between Washington and Pnongyang while three other Americans are still imprisoned in North Korea.

Trump is counting on Chinas leverage with Kim Jong Un's regime which has long been threatening that its nuclear-tipped missile can strike the US mainland.

Despite the White House silence on the cause of Warmbiers death, politicians on both sides of the aisle have called it murder  Otto is dead because of Kim Jong Uns repressive, murderous regime.

On examining Warmbier, doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said they found no visible signs of trauma or fractures and the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of his brain was consistent with cardiopulmonary arrest although nothing in his previous medical history suggests he could die of this at 22.

So far, these responses below are all the White House is willing to say about Warmers death and the message is clear from Trump's  Obama has Warmbier's blood on his hands, the Trump administration deserves applause for at least bringing Otto back.

The President was pleased that he was able to work with the state department and get Otto home as soon as he could. But I think when you realize what happened, the President believes that had it happened sooner or quicker, potentially there might have been additional medical resources that could have been provided. He was just obviously saddened by this entire situation and just would have hoped that it could have been resolved earlier.

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. 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. We've had, I think, positive movement on China over the past five months of this administration, 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.

We have been very forceful in our political and economic pressure that has been applied in North Korea. I think well continue to apply that. And as I mentioned earlier, obviously, China can play, has played and can continue to play a greater role in helping to resolve this situation, and we will continue to hopefully build on the relationship and the dialogue that weve had with China. I think there have been some positive steps that theyve taken, both at the UN and economically, to help strengthen the case against North Korea.

Otto Warmbiers funeral is scheduled for Thursday at his alma mater Wyoming High School in Ohio.
Islamabad: An Iranian drone allegedly on a spying mission was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force fighter jet in restive Balochistan province.

Pakistan Air Force's indigenously built JF-17 Thunder fighter was used to destroy the Iranian drone in Balochistan's Panjgur area, officials said.

It was not clear when the drone was shot down but officials confirmed the debris was found on Monday.

Pakistan has a long border with Iran, which in recent months, has expressed concern over militants operating along the Pakistani border.
Washington: In a damning report, the Pentagon has said Afghan-oriented militant groups, including the Taliban and Haqqani Network, benefit from "support" from elements of the Pakistan government.

"Pakistan views the outcome of Afghanistan to be in its vital national interest and thus remains driven by its India-centric regional policy objectives," the Pentagon said in its latest Afghan report, the first under the Trump administration.

Running into nearly 100 pages, the report identifies Pakistan as the most influential external actor affecting Afghanistan's stability and the outcome of the missions in this war-torn country. "Afghan-oriented militant groups, including the Taliban and Haqqani Network, retain freedom of action inside Pakistani territory and benefit from support from elements of the Pakistani government," the report said.

"Although Pakistani military operations have disrupted some militant sanctuaries, certain extremist groups such as the Taliban and the Haqqani Network were able to relocate and continue to operate in and from Pakistan," the report said.

The US continues to convey to Pakistan at all levels the importance of taking action against all terrorist and extremist groups, it said.

The Afghanistan-Pakistan border region remains a sanctuary for various groups, including al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), the Haqqani Network, Lashkar- e-Taiba, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Islamic State, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, it said.

"Sanctuary on the Pakistan side and presence on the Afghan side remain a security challenge for both countries and pose a threat to regional security and stability," it noted.

Interestingly, the Pentagon report comes days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden meeting with US president Donald Trump during which the issue of terrorism will be one of the topics of discussion.

Noting that Afghanistan faces a continuing threat from an externally-enabled insurgency with as many as 20 total terrorist organisations operating in the country, the highest concentration of terrorist groups in the world, the report said these pervasive insurgent terrorist and criminal networks constitute a threat to Afghanistan's stability.

Increased collaboration between Afghanistan and Pakistan is critical to maintaining pressure on militant and terrorist groups and for meeting the enduring security requirements on both sides of the shared border, the Pentagon said.

The trust deficit resulting from Pakistan's support of and inaction against Afghan-oriented extremists hampers the bilateral military collaboration required to achieve enduring security, the Pentagon acknowledged.

Since the beginning of President Ashraf Ghani's tenure, leaders from both countries have made several attempts to improve relations and to address mutual security interests more effectively, such as the threat from various extremist groups that reside in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, it said.

"These efforts have largely ceased following major high-profile terrorist attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and public statements by each government disparaging one another. Each country publicly claims that the other provides sanctuary to certain militant groups and lacks the will to combat them," the Pentagon said.
London: Prince Philip, the 96-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has been admitted to hospital as a "precautionary measure" for treatment of an infection, Buckingham Palace said Wednesday.

The infection arose from "a pre-existing condition," the palace said. The Duke of Edinburgh, who is to retire from public duties later this year, was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London on Tuesday night.

Prince Philip was due to accompany the monarch to the state opening of Parliament on Wednesday as well as the Royal Ascot horse races. Their eldest son Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, accompanied Queen Elizabeth to the Houses of Parliament in his place.

"Prince Philip is in good spirits and is disappointed to be missing the state opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot," a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

"Her Majesty is being kept informed and will attend Royal Ascot as planned."

Prince Philip was by Queen Elizabeth's side on Saturday for Trooping the Colour, her official birthday military parade in London.

Prince Philip traditionally holds his wife's hand at the state opening of Parliament as they process through the Palace of Westminster to the throne, where he sits at her side as she reads out her government's programme of legislation.

The prince has been the queen's loyal husband for 70 years and announced his forthcoming retirement in May. He is the longest-serving consort in British history, and is still in good health for a man of 96.

But the royal family's patriarch, who conducted 219 royal engagements last year, has been gradually reducing his workload in his nineties.

The former naval officer's irascible, no-nonsense approach, combined with his infamous and sometimes politically incorrect off-the-cuff remarks, has not made it easy for people to warm to his style.

But his forthright manner and unwavering devotion to duty and the queen has endeared him to the nation.

And observers say his quips put people at ease  while also providing a welcome contrast to the queen's seriousness.

Trial and error

Philip met the then Princess Elizabeth just before the outbreak of World War II, and they exchanged letters while he served with the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean and the Pacific.

After their marriage in 1947, they spent time in Malta, where he was posted  only for their lives to be changed overnight by the premature death of her father, King George VI, in 1952.

He once admitted the curtailment of his promising naval career was "disappointing", but said that "being married to the queen, it seemed to me that my first duty was to serve her in the best way I could".

Although he had a reputation for coldness towards his children, many observers consider Philip the glue that held the royal family together as their offspring went through a series of divorces in the 1990s.

In a rare interview to mark his 90th birthday in 2011, the prince said he carved out his role by "trial and error".

Done my bit

Philip was born on a kitchen table on the Greek island of Corfu on 10 June, 1921, the only son of prince Andrew of Greece  the younger brother of Greece's king Constantine I  and princess Alice of Battenberg.

Aged just 18 months, his family was evacuated on a British navy ship from politically unstable Greece. They settled in Paris, and at seven years of age Philip was sent away to school in England.

He became a Royal Navy cadet following the outbreak of war in 1939. By 1945, he was a first lieutenant and was in Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender.

When he married, he gave up his titles as a prince of Greece and Denmark  and became a naturalised British subject.

In 2011, he said: "I reckon I've done my bit so I want to enjoy myself a bit now.

"It's better to get out before you reach the sell-by date."
Islamabad: Adviser to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Wednesday told Parliament that former army chief General Raheel Shariff had taken command of the 41-nation Saudi-led military coalition in his personal capacity and cannot be recalled.

The adviser was briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on the on-going diplomatic rift in the Middle East that began after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Yemen and the Maldives severed their ties with Qatar, Dawn news.

During the committee's session, Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Kareem Khawaja voiced his dissatisfaction with Pakistan's role in the Gulf crisis and added that the former army chief should be asked to return to the country voluntarily.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf Senator Shibli Faraz pointed out that if Sharif was asked to return, relations with Saudi Arabia would be negatively affected.

Aziz told the committee that General Sharif was not sent by the government to lead the alliance and, therefore, cannot be asked to return.

Aziz added that Pakistan Parliament's resolution on the Yemen conflict will serve as the foundation for the role Pakistan will adopt in the current Gulf crisis.

He was referring to Parliament's unanimous resolution in 2015 when Saudi Arabia launched a military operation against Yemen.

The resolution proposed that Pakistan "should maintain neutrality in the conflict so as to be able to play a proactive diplomatic role to end the crisis".

The government had decided at the time to continue with its pursuit of a diplomatic solution to the war in Yemen.

Aziz on Wednesday told the committee that Pakistan will maintain that position of neutrality in the deepening Gulf crisis and will refrain from interfering in the affairs of other countries.
Riyadh: Saudi King Salman named his 31-year-old son, Mohammed bin Salman, next in line to take over the oil-rich kingdom with a royal decree on Wednesday in a dramatic upending of the royal succession.

Here's a look at major royal members in the history of the ultraconservative Sunni kingdom that's a longtime US ally and top oil producer, and key figures in the latest reshuffle.

KING ABDUL-AZIZ AL SAUD

King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, backed by the British against the Ottomans during World War I, became king of Hejaz in 1926 and later changed the name of the kingdom to Saudi Arabia. The kingdom stretched across much of the Arabian Peninsula, ahead of oil being discovered there in 1938. The king, also known as Ibn Saud in the West, granted oil concession to American companies, launching the close relationship the kingdom enjoys with the United States now. He also set the kingdom on the path of following an ultraconservative form of Islam known as Wahhabism. Ibn Saud died in 1953 at the age of 78 and to this day his descendants and relatives make up the sprawling Saudi royal family.

KING FAISAL

King Faisal came to power in 1964, after his campaign to unseat his elder brother, King Saud who succeeded Ibn Saud. Upon assuming office, Faisal pushed for modernizing the kingdom, including introducing television to the anger of Wahhabi clerics. He famously halted Saudi oil exports to the US over its support of Israel during the 1973 Mideast war, sparking an energy crisis in America. Faisal was assassinated in 1975 by his nephew. King Faisal's sons still hold powerful positions within the royal family and include the governor of Mecca, a former intelligence chief and a late foreign minister.

KING SALMAN

King Salman, 81, is the current ruler of Saudi Arabia. He took power in January 2015, after the death of King Abdullah, who fought against Al-Qaeda and sought to modernize the kingdom, including by nudging open greater opportunities for women. Salman was Abdullah's crown prince and had taken on some of the ailing king's responsibilities before his death. The king previously served as a governor of Riyadh and as a defense minister, during which he oversaw ending Saudi troops into Bahrain to put down its 2011 Arab Spring protests. As king, he launched Saudi Arabia's war on Shiite rebels in Yemen, in which the kingdom has been criticized for its airstrikes killing civilians. He also empowered the rapid ascent of his son, Mohammed bin Salman.

PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN NAYEF

Until Wednesday, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef looked poised to become Saudi Arabia's next king. The 57-year-old nephew of King Salman has led the kingdom's crackdown on Islamic militants and has worked closely with Western security and intelligence agencies. He has survived several assassination attempts, including one in 2009 by al-Qaida. He received a medal from the CIA in February for his counter terrorism work, a sign of how much American intelligence valued his cooperation even as Mohammed bin Salman's ascension began. On Wednesday, he met Mohammed bin Salman and told him, "I will rest now and God help you."

CROWN PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN

Mohammed bin Salman, 31, now finds himself on track to possibly become Saudi Arabia's youngest-ever king. King Salman named his son as his replacement as defense minister, hours after taking the throne. As minister, Mohammed bin Salman has spearheaded the Saudi-led war in Yemen. By April 2015, King Salman recast the line of succession, putting his son as the deputy crown prince, third in line to the throne. By April 2016, Mohammed bin Salman was leading an effort called Vision 2030 with the ambitious goal of weaning the Saudi economy off oil production and offering shares of the state oil company to foreign investors. He became crown prince on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Wednesday appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, replacing his nephew Mohammed bin Nayef as first in line to the throne. He was previously the second-in-line to the throne as deputy crown prince and royal watchers had rightly suspected his rise to power under his father's reign might also accelerate his ascension to the throne. He already oversees a vast portfolio as defence minister and head of an economic council tasked with overhauling the countrys economy.

The official reason for this change in succession line was given via the royal decree, which stated that "a majority" of senior royal members from the so-called Allegiance Council supported the recasting of the line of succession. The Allegiance Council is a body made up of the sons and prominent grandsons of the founder of the Saudi state, the late King Abdul-Aziz, who vote to pick the king and crown prince from among themselves.

Mohammed bin Nayef has been stripped of his longstanding powers overseeing criminal investigations. He was not believed to have played a significant role in Saudi efforts to isolate Qatar. On the other hand, Prince Salman is a key figure in the current stand-off with Qatar. He also worked closely with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. They worked in tandem to isolate Qatar, according to The New York Times.

Prince Salman embarked on major overseas visits including a trip to the White House to meet President Donald Trump in March. That visit to Washington helped lay the foundation for Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in May. The warm ties forged between Riyadh and Washington under the Trump administration may have helped accelerate his ascension as crown prince.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Prince Salman said he was "very optimistic" about Trump. He described Trump as "a president who will bring America back to the right track" after Barack Obama, whom Saudi officials mistrusted. Prince Nayef was considered close to the previous US administration. However, Prince Salman has successfully represented the Kingdom in the US and managed to gain Trump's trust. He might be able to lead the overhaul in US-Saudi ties, which have started to move in a positive direction under the Trump administration.

The Qatar isolation, that Prince Salman spearheaded, might have triggered the decision to promote him as the crown prince.

Prince Salman was also believed to have been close to Russia. "The main objective is not to have Russia place all its cards in the region behind Iran," he had said. He framed the tensions with Iran in sectarian terms, and said it is Iran's goal "to control the Islamic world" and to spread its Shiite doctrine. He also vowed to take "the battle" to Iran and dismissed the possibility of a dialogue with Tehran.

Like his father, Prince Salman visited Russia, France, Egypt, Jordan, the United States and even NATO to represent the Kingdom. Nayef, as Brookings pointed out, has always been a private man like his father. He became famous in the Kingdom for surviving multiple al-Qaeda assassination attempts, not for grand standing. His low profile might not have appealed to King Salman, who preferred a crown prince who is as vocal as he was.

When King Salman was the crown prince, he also traveled extensively to represent the Kingdom.

After assuming the throne in 2015, King Salman announced his first major reshuffle within a few months and appointed Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince and Prince Mohammed bin Salman as deputy crown prince. The move has also been seen as imminent by some experts. Colin Foreman wrote for Middle East Business Intelligence that the events in Saudi Arabia in the last two years confirmed his view. Prince Salman has led many of Saudi Arabias key policies  as defence minister, he led the campaign in Yemen and as deputy crown prince, he led Vision 2030

However, the recent promotion is being seen as a sign that things are changing, according to this BBC article. The king's decision might also be aimed at setting the line of succession clearly to avoid a power struggle between his son and Mohammed bin Nayef, Reuters quoted Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton as saying.

The change might also empower Mohammed bin Salman to move faster with his plan to reduce the kingdom's reliance on oil, which includes the partial privatisation of state oil company Aramco. Last year, he had announced sweeping changes as part of his campaign to tackle systemic challenges that the kingdom has previously failed to address.

The rise of Prince Salman under King Salman had shattered decades of tradition in the royal family, where respect for seniority and power-sharing among branches are time-honored traditions. Never before in Saudi history has so much power been wielded by the deputy crown prince, who is second in line to the throne, as The New York Times reported. It has long been suspected that he would shove aside Prince Nayef to become the next king.

With inputs from agencies
Colombo: Sri Lanka prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has called for a "remedial action" to help the kin of the people who disappeared during the two-and-a-half-decade-long civil war.

Wickremesinghe also announced that the Office of Missing Persons will lead the Truth Commission to probe the matter.

The prime minister said the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) would not institute any legal action in persecution but would deliver justice to the relatives of the missing people.

"We must have a closure to this issue. A closure is multi-faceted.

The closure requires we address many issues, and take remedial action for a finish," he told the parliament.

A government-appointed panel probing the missing people in 2013 said that around 19,000 people have disappeared during the conflict, including some 5,000 government troops.

The OMP is not a law enforcement or judicial agency but a truth-seeking investigative agency, Wickremesinghe added.

He moved to repeal paragraph one of Section 11 in the original bill approved by the Parliament last year.

The amendment seeks to repeal the general powers of the OMP to enter into such agreements, where necessary, with any person or organisation whether incorporated or otherwise, and whether domestic or foreign, including agreements securing assistance in obtaining information.

The OMP is expected to benefit the relatives of the missing people who will be issued a 'Certificate of Absence' that will enable them to address practical problems as the status of missing persons is not recognised.

Without this legal recognition, the next of the kin also faces issues in accessing frozen assets and property deeds or being eligible for compensation and social welfare benefits, the government said last year.
Brussels: Belgian troops shot 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.

The suspect in the attack is dead, Belgian prosecutors told AFP early Wednesday. "He is dead," federal prosecutor's office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt said, hours after the terror suspect was shot by soldiers after a small, but intense explosion in the Belgian capital's Gare Centrale.

Van Der Sypt told reporters some three hours after the incident that a small blast was being treated as a "terrorist" attack. He declined to comment on witness accounts that he had shouted Islamist slogans, including "Allah hu Akbar"  God is greater, in Arabic  before detonating a device on a luggage trolley in an underground concourse of the rail station.

Police had quickly evacuated the station and surrounding areas of historic downtown Brussels after the incident around 8.30 pm (1830 GMT). 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 "Allah hu 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 'Allah hu Akbar'...

"I would put him at about 35 years old," Prosecutor Van Der Sypt said, "At about 8.30 pm there was an explosion in the Central Station, relatively small in size. The suspected perpetrator was neutralised by the soldiers present. There were no further victims. We consider this a terrorist attack."

With inputs from agencies
Washington: The "terrible" Paris climate deal would have given a virtual "free pass" to India and China and cost the US economy more than 6.5 million jobs, Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday.

"This President put America first not long ago when President (Donald) Trump made the decision to withdraw the United States of America from the Paris Climate Accord," Pence said in his remarks to the National Association of Manufacturers 2017 Manufacturing Summit.

Trump earlier this month announced the withdrawal of the US from the Paris agreement on climate change, saying the "draconian" deal unfairly punished America and benefited countries like India and China.

Pence defended Trump's decision and said by withdrawing America from "this terrible deal", President Trump put America first.

"You know, one independent study found that the Paris Accord would have actually cost the US economy more than 6.5 million manufacturing jobs in the next 25 years while giving countries like China and India virtually a free pass," Pence said.

"He left the door opening to renegotiating the deal or coming up with a different agreement. But he put America first, and I promise the manufacturers in this room that President Donald Trump always will," Pence said.

He said Trump has put a renewed emphasis on American energy.

"He approved the Keystone and Dakota Pipelines early in this administration, and the Dakota Pipeline is already rolling and Keystone is being built as we speak," Pence said.

"President Trump is fighting every day to make sure that American manufacturers have affordable, abundant, and reliable energy that you need to power your factories and power our future," Pence said amidst applause from the audience.
Beirut: The US-led coalition said on Tuesday that it had killed the Islamic State group's self-proclaimed top cleric in an air strike in May on a Syrian town near the Iraqi border.

"Coalition forces killed Turki Binali, the self-proclaimed 'Grand Mufti' or chief cleric of Islamic State in an air strike on 31 May in Mayadeen, Syria", the coalition said in a statement, using an acronym for the jihadist group.

Rumours of Binali's death had circulated after the strike, but there was no official confirmation until the statement.

It described Binali as "a close confidant" of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and said he "had a central role in recruiting foreign terrorist fighters and provoking terrorist attacks around the world".

A 2016 US Treasury Department counter-terrorism designation identified Binali as a citizen of Bahrain born in the country in 1984.

He was also listed under UN sanctions, which described him as having been chosen as Islamic State's "chief religious advisor" in 2014.

He served as head of Islamic State's religious compliance police, a recruiter of foreign fighters and on a team of advisors to Baghdadi, according to the UN listing.

He was killed in a strike that came days after another US-led coalition air raid on Mayadeen that reportedly killed the founder of Islamic State's notorious Amaq propaganda agency.

The 29 May strike killed Rayan Mashaal, also known as Baraa Kadek, according to local Syrian activists, though the coalition has not yet confirmed that.

The Islamic State 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 03,20,000 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.
By Steve Holland and Joel Schectman

| WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump met with Ukraine's president on Tuesday and expressed support for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine but said nothing about Russia's role, while the U.S. government added to sanctions over Moscow's actions.Trump sat down in the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for talks on the same day the U.S. Treasury Department added two Russian officials and 36 other individuals and entities to its list of those facing sanctions over Moscow's activities in Ukraine.Trump's meeting with Poroshenko was officially called a "drop-by" visit after the Ukrainian leader's separate session with Vice President Mike Pence. With TV cameras rolling, Trump said "a lot of progress has been made" between the two countries and that the pair had "very, very good discussions."The sanctions target Ukrainian and Russian officials and companies that U.S. authorities accuse of helping Russia tighten its grip on the Crimean peninsula, a part of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014 in a move Western leaders denounced as illegal.Poroshenko called Trump, whose first five months in office have been dogged by a controversy over whether his presidential campaign team last year colluded with Russia, "one of the most reliable supporters" and "strategic partners" for Ukraine.In a statement issued after Trump's meeting, the White House said the discussion centred on "support for the peaceful resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine and President Poroshenko's reform agenda and anti-corruption efforts."A separate White House statement issued after Pence met with Poroshenko said the vice president highlighted continuing U.S. support for implementing the Minsk agreement, the 2015 accord aimed at ending Russian support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. Last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States could back away from that agreement to avoid being "handcuffed" by the policy. Trump did not mention the accord.Before Trump's meeting with Poroshenko, the Treasury Department made its announcement about sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine that were being taken to keep pressure on Moscow to reach a diplomatic solution in Ukraine. A Treasury Department statement said, "U.S. sanctions related to Crimea will not be lifted until Russia ends its occupation of the peninsula."

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement "there should be no sanctions relief until Russia meets its obligations under the Minsk agreements."LAVROV CITES U.S. 'RUSSOPHOBIA'

Speaking at a joint news briefing in Moscow with his French counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the new sanctions "regrettable" and said that "Russophobia" in the United States was raging "beyond all bounds."On Monday, Russia threatened to shoot down U.S. warplanes over Syria after a U.S. Navy fighter shot down a Syrian warplane.

Poroshenko, speaking to reporters after his session with Trump, said he came away pleased with what he called a "full, detailed meeting." He also held talks with Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis."We received strong support from the U.S. side, support in terms of sovereignty, territorial integrity and the independence of our state," Poroshenko said.At the Pentagon, Mattis noted the "severe casualties" Ukraine has suffered in its conflict with Russian-backed separatists."The United States stands with you. We support you in the face of threats to sovereignty, to international law or to the international order," Mattis said.

Poroshenko expressed hope for expanded U.S.-Ukrainian cooperation but did not directly answer a question about whether it was time for the United States to start providing lethal arms to Ukraine.The somewhat neutral body language between Trump and Poroshenko contrasted with chummy photos that emerged from the U.S. president's meeting last month at the White House with Lavrov and the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak.Trump has said he wants better relations with Russia, but his goal has been complicated by tensions between the two countries over Syria and by opposition among many of his fellow Republicans in Congress to warmer ties with Moscow.The U.S. Senate passed legislation last week that would impose new measures against Russia and limit Trump's ability to roll back sanctions against that country in the future.In a little more than two weeks, Trump is due to hold his first meeting as president with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.Trump has found himself on the defensive politically over investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. His former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, previously worked on behalf of the political party of Viktor Yanukovich, the former Kremlin-backed leader of Ukraine. (Additional reporting Phil Stewart in Washington, Alessandra Prentice in Kiev and Maria Kiselyova in Moscow; Editing by Caren Bohan and Will Dunham)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Chinese efforts to persuade North Korea to rein in its nuclear program have failed, ratcheting up the rhetoric over the death of an American student who had been detained by Pyongyang.

Trump has held high hopes for greater cooperation from China to exert influence over North Korea, leaning heavily on Chinese President Xi Jinping for his assistance. The two leaders had a high-profile summit in Florida in April and Trump has frequently praised Xi while resisting criticising Chinese trade practices.

"While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi and China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

It was unclear whether his remark represented a significant shift in his thinking in the US struggle to stop North Korea's nuclear program and its test launching of missiles or a change in US policy toward China.

"I think the president is signalling some frustration," Christopher Hill, a former US ambassador to South Korea told MSNBC. "He's signalling to others that he understands this isn't working, and he's trying to defend himself, or justify himself, by saying that at least they tried as opposed to others who didn't even try."

On Tuesday, a US official, who did not want to be identified, said US spy satellites had detected movements recently at North Korea's nuclear test site near a tunnel entrance, but it was unclear if these were preparations for a new nuclear test - perhaps to coincide with high-level talks between the United States and China in Washington on Wednesday.

Officials and experts have been saying for months that North Korea could conduct a sixth nuclear test at any time, and satellite images periodically show such movements.

North Korea last tested a nuclear bomb in September, but it has conducted repeated missile test since and vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the US mainland, putting it at the forefront of Trump's security worries.

US-China Dialogue

The Trump statement about China was likely to increase pressure on Beijing ahead of Wednesday's Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, which will pair US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis with China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and General Fang Fenghui, chief of joint staff 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 programs, but also cover such areas as counter-terrorism and territorial rivalries in the strategic South China Sea.

The US side is expected to press China to cooperate on a further toughening of international sanctions on North Korea. The United States and its allies would like to see an oil embargo and ban on the North Korean airline and guest workers among other moves, steps diplomats say have been resisted by China and Russia.

In a sign that US-Chinese relations remain stable, a White House aide said Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, were invited by the Chinese government to visit the country later this year.

Trump has hardened his rhetoric against North Korea following the death of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who died on Monday in the United States after returning from captivity in North Korea in a coma.

"A Disgrace"

In a White House meeting with visiting Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, Trump criticised the way Warmbier's case was handled in the year since his arrest, appearing to assail both North Korea and his predecessor, President Barack Obama.

"What happened to Otto is a disgrace. And I spoke with his family. His family is incredible ... but he should have been brought home a long time ago," Trump said.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States holds North Korea accountable for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment" and urged Pyongyang to release three other Americans who are detained.

Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times, published by the official People's Daily, said Chinese officials must be wary that Warmbier's death might push Washington to put greater pressure on Beijing.

"China has made the utmost efforts to help break the stalemate in the North Korean nuclear issue. But by no means will China, nor will Chinese society permit it to, act as a 'US ally' in pressuring North Korea," the Global Times said in an editorial.

If Washington imposes sanctions on Chinese enterprises, it would lead to "grave friction" between the two countries, said the paper, which does not represent Chinese government policy.

Trump's tweet about China took some advisers by surprise. A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had limited options to rein in North Korea without Chinese assistance.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said a meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is less likely following Warmbier's death.

Spicer said Trump would be willing to meet Kim under the right conditions, but "clearly we're moving further away, not closer to those conditions."
By Andy Sullivan

| ROSWELL, Ga.

ROSWELL, Ga. 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.Voting concluded at 7 p.m. (2300 GMT), but results were not expected for several hours. Opinion 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 Georgia secretary of state, enlisted many of the state's top elected officials to keep Georgia's Sixth District in Republican hands. She avoided talk of Trump, instead focusing on her track record."The people of the Sixth District are going to be looking for someone who's 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."

Handel's decision to not mention the president did not stop 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 said 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 country's 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 avoided taking on the president as he tried to win over centrist voters. He emphasized local concerns and enlisted few prominent Democrats to campaign on his behalf. "There's a lot of national interest, but it's 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 won the district by just 1 percentage point in last year's 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 and Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Yara Bayoumy

| WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON 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 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, in which more than 11,000 U.S. 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.

"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.

The dispute has opened a rift among some of the main U.S. allies in the Middle East. Since the dispute erupted, U.S. 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 U.S. ability to plan for long-term operations in the region. The Al Udeid base is where command for the anti-Islamic State air campaign takes place. (Additional reporting by David Alexander in Washington and Tom Finn in Doha; Editing by James Dalgleish and Lisa Shumaker)

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United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday appealed for the protection of Syrian civilians in Raqa as US-backed forces moved to encircle the city in an offensive to take the Islamic State stronghold.

"I make an urgent appeal to all those conducting military operations in Syria to do everything in their power to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, as fighting continues in Raqa and elsewhere," Guterres said in a statement.

The UN chief said he was "deeply alarmed" by the human suffering across Syria but that civilians in Raqa faced a particularly desperate situation.

"I am particularly concerned about the perilous situation for civilians in Raqa who are trapped and face threats from every direction," he said.

Guterres appealed to the warring parties to allow access for humanitarian aid convoys to reach Syrians in urgent need of life-saving food and medicine.

Tensions are runnning high between US forces and the Syrian regime in Syria, where the US-led coalition is supporting an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters battling to oust IS from Raqa.

The Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) now control four neighborhoods in the city, and on Tuesday also advanced along its southern outskirts, moving closer to completely encircling Raqa.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria has expressed alarm over the "staggering" number of civilian deaths in the US-backed battle to seize Raqa.

Guterres on Tuesday expressed concern after a US warplane shot down an Iranian-made drone in southern Syria and another US fighter jet downed a Syrian government warplane south of Raqa.

Russia, a key ally of the Syrian government, accused the US-led coalition of "complicity with terrorism" after the drone was downed early Tuesday.

Guterres said the recent downings were "very dangerous" and could lead to an escalation of the six-year war that has killed over 320,000 people
New York: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Trump administration on Tuesday that if the United States disengages from many issues confronting the international community it will be replaced  and that won't be good for America or for the world.

Talking to the reporters at his first press conference since taking the reins of the United Nations in January, Guterres said that proposed cuts in US funding for the UN would be disastrous and create "an unsolvable problem to the management of the UN".

But the UN chief stressed that he is not afraid to stand up to President Donald Trump, citing his vocal opposition to the US leader's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. He said the mobilization of US business and civil society in support or the climate deal is "a signal of hope that we very much encourage."

Looking at the array of global crises, Guterres expressed concern that there could be a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia over Syria and urged a de-escalation of the dispute between Washington and Moscow over the US downing of a Syrian jet.

This is very important, he said, "because these kind 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".

"So, 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 said.

The UN chief said he has been actively involved in trying to promote "effective mediation" in a large number of global conflicts including South Sudan, Congo, Central African Republic, Syria, Libya and more recently Afghanistan and Cyprus.

"That doesn't mean that problems are easy to be solved", he said. "In a world where power relations are unclear and where impunity and unpredictability tend to prevail, what we see is that the capacity of prevention and conflict resolution of the international community as a whole, but also of the U.N. in particular, are today severely limited".

Nonetheless, Guterres said: "I intend to go on very actively engaged in these kind of contacts".

He reiterated, however, that he thought the most likely successful mediation of the dispute between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries should be regional like the current effort led by Kuwait.

But he said if the United States gets involved in mediation, "that, of course, will be welcome if they are able to do so in an effective way".

He also said the UN has not taken any initiative in mediation of the North Korean nuclear dispute, leaving the effort at the moment to the Security Council.

"We know that there are important talks taking place by different countries that have leverage and influence in relation to the countries in the region", Guterres said.

The secretary-general, who served as UN high commissioner for refugees for 10 years, chose World Refugee Day for the press conference and appealed to all UN member states not to refuse entry to those seeking asylum and deserving protection.

He also urged rich countries to do much more to support the 80 percent of the world's refugees living in the developing world  and to increase the number of refugees they will give new homes to.

The United States is "by far the largest resettlement country in the world" with a "very generous and positive policy", Guterres said.

But Trump is moving to significantly reduce the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States, even as his bid to temporarily suspend admissions is stalled in the courts. His budget proposal calls for a 25 percent cut in funds for resettling refugees on American soil.

Guterres said he has strongly encouraged the United States "to come back to the levels of resettlement that we witnessed until two or three years ago".
An Ohio coroner, abiding by family wishes, has performed an external examination instead of a full autopsy on the body of the US student who was held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months and sent home in a coma, the agency said on Tuesday.

The Hamilton County Coroner's Office was still conferring on Tuesday with doctors at a Cincinnati hospital who were treating Otto Warmbier, 22, before reaching any conclusions about his death a day earlier, investigator Daryl Zornes said.

Investigators also were continuing to review radiological images and awaiting additional medical records requested by the coroner, Zornes told Reuters.

He declined to estimate how long it would take for the coroner's office to complete its inquiry. Preliminary autopsy findings had been expected later on Tuesday or on Wednesday.

There was no immediate word from the family about why relatives declined an autopsy, which may have shed more light on the cause of the neurological injuries that left him in a coma.

Warmbier's death came just days after he was released by the North Korean government and returned to the United States suffering from what US doctors described as extensive brain damage.

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 labour 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. The United States has demanded North Korea release three other US citizens it holds in detention: missionary Kim Dong Chul and academics Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song.

Warmbier's death has only heightened US-North Korean tensions aggravated by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since last year in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. The North Korean government has vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

Warmbier's family has not specified how he slipped from a comatose state to death, but said in a statement on Monday that the "awful torturous mistreatment" he endured while in captivity meant "no other outcome was possible."

Relatives have said they were told by U.S. envoys that North Korean officials claimed Warmbier contracted botulism after his trial and lapsed into a coma after taking a sleeping pill. Fred Warmbier, the student's father, has said he disbelieves this account.

North Korea's government said it released Warmbier last week on "humanitarian grounds."

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had spoken with Warmbier's family and praised them as "incredible."

"It's a total disgrace what happened to Otto," Trump told reporters in the White House, where he was meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. "And frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the results would have been a lot different."

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the administration would "continue to apply economic and political pressure" on North Korea, in conjunction with US allies and China, "to change this behaviour and this regime."

Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday he appreciated efforts by Chinese President Xi Jinping "to help with North Korea," adding "It has not worked out. At least I know China tried!"

The government of China, North Korea's main ally, said Warmbier's death was a tragedy.
LR: Mr Babs Fagade (MD, Oceans Outdoor), Mr Tayo Osikoya (Deputy MD Nimbus Media Limited), Mojisola Fagade (Editor Nigeria Shopping Mall Guide), Prince Adesegun Ajibola (SAN) Chairman Nimbus Media and Mr. Olawale Adegoke (Managing Director Nimbus Media Limited)

Premier destination advertising company, Nimbus Media Limited has recorded a significant, first in the history of Nigerias retail industry with the launch of the countrys first full-fledged shopping mall guide  the Nigeria Shopping Mall Guide. The quarterly digital publication, primed to be the authoritative guide into Nigerias blooming retail landscape will offer shoppers, brands, tourists, investors, media managers and retailers, rich and useful insights on trends, happenings and attractions in shopping malls and retail spaces all across the country, as well as comprehensive information on opportunities and developments in the retail sector.



LR: Mr Olawale Adegoke (Managing Director Nimbus Media Limited), Mr Babs Fagade (MD, Oceans Outdoor) and Mr Tayo Osikoya (Deputy MD Nimbus Media Limited)

Nimbus Managing Director and Co-founder, Olawale Adegoke said, The growth of Nigerias retail industry in the last decade and the continued emergence of mega and mid-sized shopping malls across the retail landscape, has necessitated a journal that tracks, analyses, documents and reports this exciting developments. The Nigeria Shopping Mall Guide bridges an obvious information gap by placing valuable shopping mall information at the fingertips of shoppers while also providing critical consumer insights for retailers, marketers and media planners in a highly competitive, data-driven marketplace.

Nimbuss Board Chairman, Prince Adesegun Ajibola (SAN), called the Nigeria Shopping Mall Guide a result of intellectual and professional excellence and the product of a painstaking collection and curation of vital data and insights relevant for all stakeholders across the retail value chain in Nigeria and the rest of the world.

LR: Mr Olawale Adegoke (Managing Director Nimbus Media Limited), Prince Adesegun Ajibola (SAN) Chairman Nimbus Media and Mr Tayo Osikoya (Deputy MD Nimbus Media Limited)

The maiden edition of the digital guide which can be downloaded at shoppingmallguide.com.ng, features an exclusive interview with Eniola Ositelu, the Marketing Manager of Nigerias busiest mall, the Ikeja City Mall, as it commemorates its fifth year of operations. Printed versions of the guide are also on display in stores at selected malls across the country. The periodical boasts a rich editorial menu comprising industry news and analyses, global retail industry trends, and a comprehensive list of all the major malls in Nigeria.

Mojisola Fagade, Editor of the guide said, The Nigeria Shopping Mall Guide is poised to be a Shoppers Companion. It is envisioned to be a rich resource with a tremendous breadth of subject matter that includes interviews with industry experts, exhaustive analysis and data on footfall traffic at shopping malls, profiles of brands and retail stores at these malls, trends from both the local and global retail industries, upcoming events and attractions, and much more. Its magnetic; it leaves you glued and longing for more.

Nimbus has always pushed the boundary in digital out-of-home advertising, establishing itself as Nigerias foremost in-store digital advertising solution providers. The Nigeria Shopping Mall Guide represents yet another trailblazing feat that positions them as a warehouse for first-hand data on all the shopping malls we have in Nigeria and their potentials in terms of the footfall and traffic achievable in these malls, thus providing useful insights for consumers, retailers and the media, said Yinka Adetayo, Deputy Manager, Buying at top media agency, MediaReach OMD.

Temitayo Osikoya, Nimbus Deputy Managing Director and Co-founder noted that the yearnings of industry professionals and advertising brands for well-curated and accurate data on Nigerias shopping malls can now be satisfied with the guides well-researched and assiduously compiled content. Beyond updating shoppers with latest developments in retail, the Nigeria Shopping Mall Guide will furnish retailers and advertisers at the other end of the spectrum with credible insights on consumer traffic, thought patterns and attitudes, purchasing power, buying patterns and a range of useful consumer information, Osikoya noted.

Written by Regina Whenu

Mobile: 234(0) 706 098 3213

E-mail: rwhenu@brooksandblake.com


The State Department has opened a formal inquiry into whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aides mishandled classified information while she was the nations top diplomat, Fox News has learned. Despite being under investigation, Clinton and her staffers still have security clearances to access sensitive government information.



The departments investigation aims to determine whether Clinton and her closest aides violated government protocols by using her private server to receive, hold and transmit classified and top-secret government documents. The department declined to say when its inquiry began, but it follows the conclusion of the FBIs probe into the matter, which did not result in any actions being taken against Clinton or any of her aides.



Depending on the outcome of the current State Department inquiry, Clinton and her aides could have their access to sensitive government documents terminated.



Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, confirmed to Fox News the departments formal inquiry.



Meanwhile, Grassleys committee launched its own inquiry into Clintons handling of emails, an inquiry that began in March. Grassley cited among his concerns the July 5 statement of former FBI Director James Comey that the agency found Clinton and her staff members were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. Grassley also contended there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information...



During the FBIs investigation of Clintons use of top-secret and classified information on her private server, Comey said there were seven email chains on Clintons computer that were classified at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level. Another 2,000 emails on her private server were found to have contained information deemed classified now, though not marked classified when sent. In addition, the server also contained 22 top-secret emails deemed too damaging to national security to be released.



Clintons spokesperson, Nick Merrill, told Fox News that the investigation into Clintons mishandling of classified information is done.



Nothing's been more thoroughly dissected. It's over. Case closed. Literally, said Merrill.



That's not a universally held view.



Chris Farrell, of Judicial Watch, a conservative Washington-based government watchdog that has filed a number of lawsuits related to the Clinton email scandal, said he believes Clinton and her circle of national security criminals should not have access to any classified information for any reason.



Their conduct has cost them that privileged position of special trust and confidence, Farrell said.



Any other government employee would have been prosecuted under 18 USC Sec. 793(f) (Mishandling National Defense Information) and be subject to a long prison sentence and large fines, Farrell added.



This flagrant double standard for the gang that exposed Top Secret Codeword material to the Russians, Chinese and others is both offensive and deeply corrosive to the intelligence community, Farrell said. There is no better evidence that when it comes to Hillary Clinton and her coterie  laws are for the little people.




NEW YORK (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.

MSCIs 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 Chinas 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 countrys 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 Chinas 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.

(This version of the story corrects paragraph nine to show 222 Chinese shares added at 0.73 percent, not 169 at 0.5 percent).

(Reporting by Dion Rabouin and Richard Leong in New York, Additional reporting by Michelle Price in Hong Kong; Editing by Dan Grebler)
A United Nations economist has been arrested in New York on fraud charges related to his hiring of a domestic worker.

Hamidur Rashid was charged Tuesday in federal court.

Authorities say the 50-year-old employee in the United Nations Secretariat underpaid and overworked a domestic worker at his Manhattan residence.

He's charged with visa fraud, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft and fraud in foreign labor contracting. His lawyer has declined to comment.

Prosecutors say Rashid paid the worker well below what he reported to the Department of State and the U.N.

They say he set up a sham bank account to spend for himself the wages he claimed to be paying the Bangladeshi woman and obtained a visa for the domestic worker by lying about what she would be paid.
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.

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.
The nations largest health insurance company, Anthem (NYSE:ANTM), said Wednesday it would largely reduce its exchange participation in Indiana and Wisconsin next year.

Today, planning and pricing for ACA-compliant health plans has become increasingly difficult due to a shrinking and deteriorating individual market, as well as continual changes and uncertainty in federal operations, rules and guidance, including cost sharing reduction subsidies and the restoration of taxes on fully insured coverage, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Moving forward, Anthem will offer one off-exchange medical plan in five counties across Indiana and only one county in Wisconsin. The changes will not affect Medicare Advantage, Medicaid or employer-based plans.

Anthem currently operates across 14 states and the company has not made specific decisions on whether it will continue to offer plans in all of those regions yet.

In those states where Anthem has not yet made a final participation decision, we continue to work with regulators and remain actively engaged in dialogue, the company said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Anthem made the decision to extract itself from the exchange marketplace in Ohio, citing volatility and uncertainty over the future of the health care landscape. The company has been open about uncertainty over its future participation in the ObamaCare exchanges overall, citing specific concerns about funding of cost-sharing reduction subsidies (CSRs), or care provided at a discount to low-income individuals. The Trump administration put off a federal court ruling on the ObamaCare subsidies last month, however it will continue to fund them until a final decision is reached. Aetna (NYSE:AET) and Humana (NYSE:HUM) both announced already this year that they will not be offering coverage for customers on the marketplace in 2018, citing instability in the marketplace and the damaging costs of exchange participation.
Take a black-market business that relies on cash. Move the business out of the shadows by giving it government oversight. Hire new regulators to keep watch on the business, all without any experience regulating a brand-new industry.

The result can be a recipe for government corruption.

Recent cases in Colorado and Washington are the first known instances of current or former pot regulators being accused of having improper dealings with the industry. The two recreational marijuana states are the nation's oldest, approving legal weed in defiance of federal law in 2012.

A pair of cases several years into the legal-weed experiment might not seem like much, but they give a black eye to all marijuana regulators and fuel old fears about the criminal element's influence.

In a case that has caught the U.S. Justice Department's attention, former Colorado marijuana enforcement officer Renee Rayton is accused of helping pot growers raise plants for illegal out-of-state sales.

State investigators say the marijuana warehouse inspector quit her job last year and immediately went to work for the illegal pot ring, taking an $8,000-a-month job.

A June 7 indictment says Rayton told the pot growers she could help them "get legal" through her contacts at the Colorado agency that oversees the marijuana industry. The indictment says Rayton had "vast knowledge" of marijuana regulations and "must have been aware" that other defendants in the case were growing pot illegally.

She is charged with conspiracy to illegally grow pot. Rayton's attorney told The Associated Press she is innocent.

In Washington, the state agency that regulates pot recently fired an employee who leased land to a prospective pot grower.

Marijuana licensing specialist Grant Bulski was leasing 25 acres to a marijuana entrepreneur for $2,834 a month, The Spokesman-Review reported . That violated Washington rules prohibiting state pot regulators from having a financial stake in the business. Bulski was not charged with a crime.

Messages left at numbers for a Grant Bulski in Olympia weren't returned.

Pot isn't the first product in the U.S. to go from illegal to legit. Alcohol and gambling made similar transitions last century.

But since recreational pot remains off-limits in most states and in the U.S. government's eyes, a massive black market remains.

"Marijuana is unique because it's so front and center in the public eye," said Lewis Koski, who became Colorado's top marijuana enforcement officer after regulating the gambling and alcohol industries.

Now a government consultant who teaches public policy at the University of Colorado-Denver, Koski said government employees who regulate any business face tension. Regulators know the industry they're monitoring well. And in the case of the marijuana business, those regulators have no guidance from federal authorities and little precedent to rely on.

And because the federal government considers all pot business illegal, making it difficult for those businesses to access banking products as basic as checking accounts, the pot industry remains cash-heavy.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited the Colorado case last month when he asked Congress not to renew a spending provision that prevents the Justice Department from spending tax money to interfere with state marijuana laws and businesses.

"It would be unwise for Congress to restrict the discretion of the Department to fund particular prosecutions," Sessions wrote in the letter first obtained by cannabis social network Massroots.com.

The Colorado and Washington cases were uncovered by state officials, not federal drug authorities. They highlight how critical it is for states to tightly regulate a business still coming out of the black market, Koski said.

"Both sides  government agencies and the industry  are working hard to establish credibility," Koski said. "So it makes it more concerning when you have people going back and forth."

Ethics watchdogs say the Colorado and Washington cases should spur pot states to beef up ethics commissions charged with monitoring conflicts of interest by government employees. Michigan, a medical-marijuana state, passed a 2016 law banning even relatives of its pot oversight board members from having any financial stake in the weed industry.

Poorly staffed ethics offices in some marijuana states aren't prepared to stop regulators leaving to work for the industries they once monitored, said Aaron Scherb, national legislative director for the government watchdog group Common Cause.

"It's like trying to keep water out of a sinking boat  you can do it for a while, but it's only a matter of time," he said.

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Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt
The governor of the Czech Republic's central bank says the country is generally ready to adopt the euro, the common European currency.

Jiri Rusnok says his country "would certainly succeed" in adopting the euro. But in an interview with the local CTK news agency Wednesday, Rusnok said it would be first necessary to lower the differences in prices and wages between his country and the eurozone.

The country is officially committed to joining the euro but no target date has been set.

The possible next prime minister, Andrej Babis, whose centrist ANO movement is favored to win October's parliamentary election, recently said he is opposed to setting a date.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka of the leftist Social Democrats recently said the election is the right time to debate the euro adoption.
Diageo PLC has agreed to buy George Clooney's high-end tequila brand Casamigos in a deal that values it at up to $1 billion, as the world's largest spirits company seeks to boost its presence in a high-growth market.

Diageo said on Wednesday it will pay $700 million initially for the brand, co-founded by the American actor, with a further potential $300 million to be paid, based on a performance linked earn-out over 10 years.

The maker of Smirnoff vodka and Guinness beer said the deal will be neutral to earnings for the first three years and add to earnings thereafter.

The deal is expected to close in second half of the year. (Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
Benton Countys unemployment rate stayed the same at 2.8 percent in May  the lowest mark in the state, as usual, thanks in large part to the presence of Oregon State University.

Meanwhile, across the Willamette River, Linn Countys unemployment rate dipped to 4.1 percent in May, according to state data released on Tuesday.

For the fifth straight month, Linn County either tied or set another record-low unemployment figure.

The job market is rolling along for the mid-Willamette Valley, as well as the state of Oregon, which saw its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate drop to 3.6 percent in May, the lowest figure since the state began tracking comparable data in 1976.

We kind of keep following the state trend, said Patrick OConnor, regional economist with the Oregon Employment Department. Essentially, were staying at a very low level.

Typically, Oregons rate is almost always higher than the national rate, but that was 4.3 percent for May.

Linn County being below the national unemployment rate, that rarely ever happens, OConnor said.

Benton County

Benton Countys rate of 2.8 percent is extremely low, but its far from crazy HP 1990s standards, OConnor said.

When Hewlett-Packards ink jet printing business was booming in 1995, Benton County set its record low unemployment rate of 2.2 percent.

Corvallis, Philomath and surrounding areas added 910 jobs over the past year, for a 2.1 percent increase.

Benton Countys private sector added 500 jobs over the past year, for 1.8 percent growth. The public sector added 410 jobs and was up 2.7 percent.

The fastest growing private-sector industries for Benton County over the past year were professional and business services, up 300 jobs or 7 percent, mining, logging and construction, up 40 jobs or 3.3 percent, and education and health services, up 160 jobs, or 2.4 percent.

Other services, a hodgepodge category that includes marijuana dispensaries, tattoo parlors, churches, social clubs, auto repair shops and more, was up 50 jobs, or 3.7 percent. Thanks to its wide range, however, the "other services' category is a good indicator of the economy, OConnor said.

Benton Countys employment level is 3,850 workers, or 9.9 percent, above its prerecession employment peak in November 2007.

Linn County

Linn Countys seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped from a revised April rate of 4.2 percent.

The 4.1 percent for May is the lowest local mark since the state began tracking county-by-county data in 1990.

Linn County has added 1,370 workers in the last year, for 3.1 percent job growth.

Thats faster that both the state, which saw 2.5 percent employment growth, and the nation, which saw 1.5 percent job growth.

The private sector in Linn County grew by 3.2 percent, and the public sector jumped 2.2 percent in the past year.

The fastest growing private-sector industries for Linn County included construction, up 240 jobs or 9.3 percent, information, up 20 jobs or 5.6 percent, and manufacturing, up 410 jobs or 5.4 percent.

Linn County now has about 1,370 more jobs than it did at its prerecession employment peak in February 2008.
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Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) is preparing to make an offer to acquire Ducati, the Italian motorcycle rival owned by Volkswagen (OTC:VLKAY), according to a Reuters report published Wednesday.

The iconic American bike maker joins Indias Bajaj Auto and multiple buyout funds in the race to buy Ducati, Reuters said. The deal could be worth up to $1.67 billion.

A Harley-Davidson spokesperson told FOX Business that the company doesnt comment on market rumors.

Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson, which recently announced plans for a new factory in Thailand, has accelerated its global ambitions as motorcycle brands face a shrinking U.S. market. Harley has also contended with fiercer competition and heavier discounting from Indian Motorcycle, a Polaris (NYSE:PII)-owned brand, and Honda (NYSE:HMC).

Acquiring Ducati would instantly give Harley a well-known brand in Europe that has a long history in racing. Ducatis speedsters could also complement Harleys famous touring bikes.

Tentative bids should arrive in July, Reuters said. Ducati, which is controlled by Volkswagens Audi division, has reportedly attracted interest from private equity funds KKR (NYSE:KKR), Bain Capital and Permira, in addition to Harley-Davidson.

Shares of Harley-Davidson climbed 1.6% to $56.39 in recent trading.
A bill that would repeal and replace the recreational marijuana law approved by the state's voters in November cleared the House late Wednesday. Critics who lashed out at the proposal accused lawmakers of ignoring the will of the electorate and taking a hostile approach to the legal cannabis industry.

The Senate was poised to take up its own version of the bill, one calling for more modest revisions in the current law, on Thursday, setting the stage for negotiations between the chambers over a final version lawmakers hope to send to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker by July 1.

The House bill, approved on a 126-28 vote, would raise the tax on retail marijuana sales from 12 percent to 28 percent.

Other provisions include stringent background checks and fingerprinting for all people who own or work in licensed marijuana-related businesses. The bill would create two new enforcement agencies, one within the Cannabis Control Commission, a five-member board that will regulate recreational and medical marijuana, and another within the state attorney general's office. It also would establish standards for the testing, packaging and labeling of marijuana products, including edible ones, to assure those products are safe.

The bill would keep intact many elements of the current law such as those allowing adults to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow up to 12 pot plants per household. Retail marijuana stores could begin opening in cities and towns in the second half of 2018, but local governing bodies could move to ban or limit pot shops without first asking voters.

Rep. Mark Cusack, the House chairman of the Marijuana Policy Committee, argued at the outset of Wednesday's session the bill makes "sensible and practical" improvements to the ballot question.

"What is popular is not always right, and what is right is not always popular," said Cusack, a Braintree Democrat. "This legislation gets it right. Right for the consumer, right for the industry and, above all, it gets it right for the people of (Massachusetts)."

The Senate proposal would keep the marijuana tax at 12 percent and maintain the current requirement of a vote by residents of a community before marijuana stores can be barred.

Hours before the House debated, several dozen pro-marijuana activists gathered outside the Statehouse to urge defeat of the bill.

"The message it sends is, 'The will of the people be damned,'" said Will Luzier, who headed the November ballot question campaign.

Andy Gaus, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, said under the House bill anyone working for a marijuana business is "presumed to be a criminal and will be treated that way."

House leaders maneuvered behind the scenes during the day to avoid a contentious debate and win over wavering members.

An amendment was added to address concerns of black and Latino lawmakers who argued the bill weakened provisions designed to help minority-owned businesses gain a foothold in the cannabis industry. The amendment requires regulators to develop "diversity licensing goals," and programs to recruit and train minorities and women to own or work in marijuana-related businesses.

Another amendment boosted from $30 million to $50 million the amount of marijuana tax revenues that would be directed toward substance abuse treatment programs.

Many lawmakers had argued the ballot question was written with the interests of the multibillion-dollar cannabis industry foremost in mind and paid too little attention to broader public safety and consumer-related issues.

Supporters of a higher marijuana tax say the revenue is needed to pay for regulating marijuana and enforcing the law.

Those advocating a lower tax say it would encourage consumers to buy the drug legally and hasten the demise of the underground market.

A 28 percent tax rate, Cusack said, would put Massachusetts in about the "middle of the pack" among the eight states that have legalized recreational marijuana and below what is paid by consumers in Washington and much of Colorado.
The Latest on the new U.S. sanctions against Russia (all times local):

8:20 p.m.

The United States says it regrets Russia's decision to "turn away" from a chance to discuss obstacles in the U.S.-Russia relationship.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert says the U.S. remains open to discussions with Russia despite its decision to cancel talks between Russia's deputy foreign minister and the No. 3 U.S. diplomat. Russia said it was canceling the talks scheduled for Friday in response to a new round of U.S. sanctions against Russia that were announced Tuesday.

Nauert says those sanctions "didn't come out of nowhere." She says Russia knows what it needs to do to get the sanctions lifted. She says the sanctions will remain until Russia honors its agreements related to Ukraine and stops occupying Crimea.

Nauert says the latest round of sanctions was designed to "counter attempts to circumvent our sanctions."

___

5:35 p.m.

Russia's deputy foreign minister says he has cancelled upcoming talks with the U.S. undersecretary of state over a new round of U.S. sanctions against Russia.

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and firms over Russia's activities in Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday quoted Deputy Minister Sergey Ryabkov as saying that "the situation is not conducive to holding a round of this dialogue" that was scheduled for Friday and criticized the U.S. for "not having offered and not offering anything specific" to discuss.

Russia-U.S. relations have remained tense even as the White House considers scheduling President Donald Trump's meeting with Putin on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 meeting.

___

3:30 p.m.

The Kremlin has voiced regret about the new U.S. sanctions against Russia and warned of possible retaliation.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that the U.S. move wasn't constructive, adding that "various options are being considered on expert level."

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and firms over Russian activities in Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the penalties are designed to "maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution."

Russia-U.S. relations have remained tense even as the White House considers scheduling President Donald Trump's meeting with Putin on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 meeting.

Peskov reaffirmed the possibility of such a meeting, but said that no preparations had been made yet.
Insurance companies are still speculating about the future of the health care market as they face a deadline Wednesday to file preliminary rate requests for participation in the ObamaCare marketplace next year.

As Republicans move forward with an effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, insurers are faced with mounting uncertainty over the health care landscape; for some, instability and damaging costs have deterred participation, while others see opportunity.

On Wednesday, despite amassing an annual loss of more than $200 million on plans in 2016, Oscar Health announced it would expand coverage next year in Ohio, Texas, New Jersey, Tennessee and California. It also filed to continue selling insurance to individuals, families and businesses in New York.

We're confident that when the dust settles, the market for health insurance will stabilize in time for 2018. For all of the political noise, there are simply too many lives at stake for representatives in Washington, D.C. not to do what's right for the people, Oscar CEO Mario Schlosser said in a statement posted on the companys site Wednesday. Oscar Health could help provide coverage to some of the 44 counties and more than 31,000 enrollees who had no Affordable Care Act options for 2018 as of Tuesday, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Centene (NYSE:CNC) said last week it too would expand service in six of its existing markets: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Texas and Washington. It will also enter three new state markets: Kansas, Missouri and Nevada.

On Monday, the last remaining statewide insurer in Iowa  Medica  said it intends to remain on the ObamaCare exchanges next year, but asked for a premium increase of 43.5 percent. The company said the exorbitant rate increase is necessary to remain in a market where all other insurers have fled.

The nation's largest insurer, Anthem (NYSE:ANTM), said Wednesday it would largely reduce its offerings in two more states, Indiana and Wisconsin. Anthem already said it would extract itself from the Ohio exchange next year and the companys CEO has been clear about the uncertainty of continued overall participation.

Were in deep dialogue with all of the state regulators ... and we're trying to get a sense of what our engagement [on the exchanges] might look like; staying in, part or in whole, or even extricating ourselves, as I said surgically extracting ourselves  all of those questions are still a work in process by the states, Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish said during a conference last month.

Aetna (NYSE:AET) and Humana (NYSE:HUM) announced they would not offer any coverage for customers on the marketplace in 2018, citing instability and the damaging costs of exchange participation.

Wednesdays deadline does not represent a permanent commitment on behalf of insurers who have until later this year to finalize contracts.

One key question for insurers is the continuation of funding for cost-sharing reduction subsidies (CSRs), or care provided at a discount to low income individuals. The Trump administration put off a court decision on the legality of the ObamaCare subsidies last month, though it will continue to fund them until a final decision is made.

Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that Trump administration officials are hopeful they will have a health care bill finalized by the end of the summer. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier this week the chamber will have a discussion draft of its version of a bill ready Thursday that will be scored by the Congressional Budget Office by next week.
Oil prices ended down more than 2 percent on Wednesday after hitting a 10-month low in volatile trade, as growing U.S. production and reduced Chinese refinery activity fed mounting concern over the stubborn global crude glut.

U.S. crude futures settled at $42.53, down 98 cents or 2.3 percent, after touching a low of $42.13, the lowest intraday level since August 2016. Since peaking in late February, crude has dropped more than 20 percent, with only brief rallies.

More than 1 million front-month crude contracts changed hands on Wednesday, far exceeding the daily average of 560,000 contracts.

Brent crude futures settled down $1.20 or 2.61 percent at $44.82 a barrel.

"The market wants proof that OPEC cuts are shifting petroleum balances, and it's not getting it. Crude prices are now on the hunt to find the stress point for the U.S. producers and we're not there yet," said Anthony Headrick, energy market analyst at CHS Hedging LLC in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.

Oil prices rose in late 2016 and early 2017 in response to the OPEC agreement, but weeks of surprisingly high inventory figures shifted sentiment among speculators who are shedding long positions as the crude glut persists.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude inventories declined by 2.7 million barrels last week, exceeding expectations for a 2.1 million-barrel drop. The data briefly supported prices, but "updated inventory balances don't represent a game changer," said Headrick.

The EIA also reported that U.S. crude production rose to 9.35 million bpd, nearing levels of top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia. U.S. producers have added rigs for 22 weeks straight.

Oil has slid 20 percent in the first half of 2017, a period when prices have tended to rise. It was the biggest first half slide for Brent since 1997; the contract has risen in the first half of all but six years over that period.

An agreement late last year from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day from January was supposed to reduce the global glut. Yet production is rising in Nigeria and Libya, countries exempt from the deal, offsetting cuts by other OPEC members.

Nigeria's crude exports are set to surpass 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, the highest in 17 months.

Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said OPEC members were considering deeper output cuts, but not immediately.

Investors were discouraged by data showing oil refineries in China, the world's top crude importer, cutting operations during the peak demand summer season.

The December 2017 U.S. crude contract is at its biggest discount to December 2018 futures since July, a signal that traders expect the glut to persist even longer. Options activity picked up on Wednesday as well, as investors bought protection against further declines.

"Now everyone seems to be negative," said Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg.

In the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, oil facilities braced for Tropical Storm Cindy. About 17 percent of oil production in the Gulf was shut in and 40 platforms, or about 5 percent, were evacuated. Prolonged outages at refineries could drive up gasoline prices.

(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London, Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; Editing by David Gregorio)
He is known as MBS and his rise through Saudi Arabia's corridors of power has been shockingly swift.

At age 31, Mohammed bin Salman already controlled the kingdom's defense policy and was overseeing a massive internal economic overhaul with the backing of his father, King Salman. His sudden appointment Wednesday to the position of crown prince places him as first in line to the throne, cementing his position as the driving force behind Saudi Arabia's major moves and seemingly charting Saudi policy for the coming decades. He is regarded as a bold and ambitious risk taker.

Even before the royal decree was issued by the king, MBS's plans have resulted in a dramatic shake up of a once predictable and slow-moving country that for decades lagged behind its Gulf Arab neighbors, like Dubai with its glistening skyscrapers and tourist attractions.

In the two-and-a-half years since his father was crowned king, MBS has managed to sweep aside any competition from princes who are older and more experienced than him, most notably his cousin Prince Mohammed bin Nayef who had been in line to inherit the throne.

Khaled Batarfi, a Saudi columnist and professor at King Faisal University, is among those who support MBS' ascension.

"The current situation requires a lot of effort and quick decision-making and courage," he said. "The past generation may not be as quick rhythmically or have the speed that's needed to carry out a transformation."

"The country needs new blood and a new generation because the changes needed are big," Batarfi said.

A snapshot of the crown prince's many titles reveals just how vast his portfolio is. He is also defense minister; deputy prime minister; chair of the Supreme Economic Council; head of a council overseeing the state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco; head of the Public Investment Fund; and a top member of the Council of Political and Security Affairs.

A little more than two years ago, MBS was a little-known figure in Saudi Arabia.

He served as the head of his father's royal court when Salman was still crown prince. Unlike his many siblings, he never studied abroad or pursued a master's degree, choosing instead to remain close to his father and study law at the King Saud University in Riyadh.

Within hours of Salman's ascension to the throne, the monarch named his favorite son, MBS, defense minister. Two months later, they led Saudi forces into war in Yemen, becoming the face of a conflict framed in Saudi media as a battle against Shiite-led Iran's ambitions for regional dominance. The war whipped up nationalist fervor around the new king and his son. He would also be in charge of inking multi-billion dollar arms deals with Washington.

Domestically, MBS expanded his reach by turning to outside consulting firms to launch a plan to overhaul the kingdom's economy. His goal is to drastically reduce the country's dependence on oil exports after a plunge in prices nearly crippled Saudi Arabia's ability to spend on national projects and foreign efforts.

MBS vowed to end Saudi Arabia's "addiction" to oil, and pushed through politically-sensitive austerity measures that curbed spending on subsidies and the public sector  where the majority of Saudis are employed.

His Vision 2030 plan and its accompanying National Transformation Plan grabbed international headlines when he announced the country would publicly list a percentage of Saudi Aramco.

Social reforms, he's argued, are also needed in order to bring the deeply conservative nation into the 21st Century. MBS has promised amusement parks and more fun for his generation of millennials. For the first time in decades, Saudis can attend musical concerts in the kingdom and the powers of country's feared religious police have been curbed.

More than half of the population of Saudi Arabia is under 25-years-old and 70 percent are under 35, representing a large potential consumer market, but also a massive challenge for the government to keep up with job creation and affordable housing. The Vision 2030 plan outlines specific goals, such as reducing the unemployment rate from around 12 percent to 7 percent.

And unlike previous Saudi royals in top positions of power, MBS has granted several interviews to Western media outlets.

In his most recent television interview, aired in May on Saudi TV, MBS delivered a strong warning to Iran and ruled out any dialogue with officials there. Framing the tensions with Iran in sectarian terms, he said it is Iran's goal "to control the Islamic world" and to spread its Shiite doctrine

"We know we are a main target of Iran," Prince Mohammed said, warning that he "will work so that it becomes a battle for them in Iran and not in Saudi Arabia."

Madawi Al-Rasheed, an outspoken Saudi critic of the royal family and a professor at the London School of Economics, said MBS' stature as crown prince will mean "continuing repression of the domestic population and being erratic regionally."

She said it also further aligns Riyadh with Washington. King Salman dispatched MBS to Washington in March to meet President Donald Trump, a visit that helped lay the groundwork for Trump's historic first overseas visit to Saudi Arabia last month.

Al-Rasheed said MBS has effectively ingratiated himself with the new U.S. administration by presenting himself as "a younger version of Trump" by blurring the lines between statesman and businessman.

Iran's state TV described the appointment of MBS as a "soft coup in Saudi Arabia". The bitter rivals also back opposite sides of the war in Syria and opposing groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain.

Though few of Saud Arabia's allies have publicly critiqued MBS, a German intelligence analysis released by the BND spy agency has cited concern over the kingdom's future, noting that the cautious diplomatic stance of older leaders within the royal family has been replaced by "a new impulsive policy of intervention."

___

Aya Batrawy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ayaelb
Uber Technologies co-founder Travis Kalanick stepped down as chief executive of the ride-hailing service, following intense pressure from investors, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

Kalanick's resignation comes after a months-long investigation led former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who was hired by Uber to look into its culture and workplace practices after a female former employee publicly accused the company of what she described as brazen sexual harassment.

Five large investors, including venture capital firm Benchmark, demanded that the CEO resign immediately in a letter delivered to Kalanick while he was in Chicago, the New York Times reported citing people with knowledge of the situation.

In the letter, titled "Moving Uber Forward," the investors also said the company needed a change in leadership.

Kalanick discussed with at least one Uber board member and after hours of discussions with some of the investors, he agreed to step down, the report said. He will remain on Uber board.

"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," the paper quoted Kalanick as saying.

Kalanick told employees last week, he will take time away from Uber, part of the series of measures the ride-hailing company is taking to claw its way out from under a mountain of controversies.

(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru and Heather Somerville in San Francisco; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
A 23-year-old Lebanon man who admitted to sex crimes he'd committed when he was 15 will spend a little more than six years in prison after reaching a plea agreement Tuesday in Linn County Circuit Court.

Dylan James Joslin pleaded no contest to two of the six charges that stemmed from incidents in 2009, during which Joslin told prosecutors and detectives he was young at the time and was "experimenting" with two people associated with his family who were younger than 14 and 12 years old.

As a condition of the agreement, Joslin admitted to two counts of first-degree sex abuse, while the other charges, which ranged from sodomy to unlawful sexual penetration, were dismissed.

At his sentencing, a visibly frustrated Joslin protested the sentence, saying through his attorney that he'd understood the agreement to include 70, rather than 75, months in prison. Members of his immediate family were angry as well, asking why a person who committed such acts as a minor would be sentenced as if the crimes had taken place a week earlier.

But Prosecutor Richard Wijers said the criminal code simply doesn't allow for anything less. Specifically, the sentencing guidelines for Measure 11 crimes require a judge to impose the 75-month sentence. Joslin received 75 months for each crime, but those are concurrent, meaning both will be served at the same time.

"It's also very difficult to put a person who is now an adult into the juvenile system," Wijers said, citing another reason Joslin was sentenced as an adult.

Wijers allowed that "naturally we all step back and wonder why a person would be sentenced for bad acts committed as a child," but he argued that Joslin had agency over his choices when he was 15.

"He told officers, 'This is what occurred,'" Wijers said.

As another part of the agreement, Joslin will be required to register as a sex offender.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf poured cold water on leading ideas from Republican lawmakers Wednesday to patch up the state's deficit-wracked finances as they wrestle with the state's biggest cash shortfall since the recession.

Wolf's comments came as top Republican lawmakers try to assemble a budget plan without a tax increase and negotiate a spending plan in private that could require belt-tightening and cuts across state agencies and services.

Time is ticking down: The state government's new fiscal year starts July 1.

Speaking to reporters, Wolf avoided saying that he outright opposes two key Republican ideas: borrowing against future state revenue and legalizing gambling on slot machine-style games in thousands of bars, truck stops and other locations.

Rather, he suggested that such ideas concern him.

Wolf is counting on an extra $250 million in cash from new forms of gambling, but his own Department of Revenue has told lawmakers that allowing gambling in so many new locations would inflict losses on revenue the state gets from the Pennsylvania Lottery and licensed casinos. Just setting up regulatory systems for gambling in bars could take a year or more, the department told lawmakers.

"I want real revenue, and I want net revenue," Wolf told reporters after appearing at an unrelated public event in the Capitol. "I don't want anything that we do in gaming or gambling to interfere with the revenues that are already in place. If it just cannibalizes and takes from one bucket called gambling to another, the commonwealth isn't doing anything more than it has in the past."

Gambling in bars passed the House earlier this month with bipartisan support, and House Republican leaders have brought it to budget negotiations.

In any case, the Senate has not shown that it would support such a large gambling expansion. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, on Wednesday said such a move could be bigger than Pennsylvania's 2004 legalization of up to 14 commercial casinos, and he was "a little nervous about the size and scope" of it.

For their part, Senate Republicans are exploring the idea of borrowing against future state revenues, such as Pennsylvania's annual share of the 1998 multi-state settlement with major tobacco companies.

Borrowing could supply the lion's share of the $2.2 billion in new sources of money that Corman said is necessary to balance a $31.5 billion House Republican spending plan. House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, did not dismiss the borrowing concept on Wednesday, but also said he had not seen a proposal from the Senate GOP.

Asked about borrowing, Wolf pointed out that he had proposed a $1 billion tax package in February that he had touted as closing loopholes and making corporations pay their fair share. It included imposing a tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production.

"That's what I'm looking for, something that is recurring revenue, not another one-time fix, not another thing that just kicks the budget problem, the deficit problem down the road for another year or two," Wolf said.

Top Republican lawmakers have had nothing positive to say about Wolf's tax package, or his plan to charge municipalities for free state police coverage.

Wednesday was the last voting session of the week for the House and Senate, with lawmakers scheduled to return Monday. House and Senate Republican majority leaders said they planned to meet through the weekend.
National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons on Tuesday explained why tax reform is crucial to helping Americas manufacturing industry.

Comprehensive tax reform that lowers the tax rate, that recognizes that we have a global economy and that enables investment or incentivizes investment and job creation is absolutely critical because ultimately, if manufacturers have to make decisions about where to do business in the world, they have to make the decision to go to lower cost jurisdictions, he told FOX Business Gerri Willis.

Timmons explained that he was pleased with House Speaker Paul Ryans speech on tax reform at the organizations summit because his focus was on restoring confidence in America and in the countrys business community.

Additionally, he believes that a new tax reform plan will help restore Americans confidence in the new administration.

Tax reform, especially business tax reform, is designed to help those people who most need it, Timmons said. It is designed to create jobs, its designed to lift the quality of life for all Americans, especially those who feel like they were left behind and that responded so overwhelmingly in this last election.
The White House is considering banning U.S. citizens from traveling to North Korea in the wake of 22 year-old college student Otto Warmbieras death.

Warmbier died Monday, just days after he was released by North Korea. He was sent back to the United States in a coma after being detained on a school trip and held for more than a year and a half. Investigators are still not certain what caused his death.

aThis is a crime against humanity,a former Gov. Bill Richardson, who has successfully extricated Americans held in the communist country, told FOX Business Tuesday. aI donat think anyone should travel to North Korea ... I think the State Department should consider putting a restriction on.a

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.

aWeave got three Americans there and one Korean that are detained. If the North Koreans were smart they would release them all to atone for what they did with Otto [Warmbier], as a sign of contrition, a human rights gesture. But they probably wonat do it,a Richardson said.

While nearly all Americans who have gone to North Korea have left without incident, 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 a including China-based Young Pioneer Tours, which took Warmbier to Pyongyang a 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 North Korea. In the House, lawmakers lined up behind legislation ordering the Treasury Department 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 a called a "geographic travel restriction" a 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.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Sue Mi Terry, former CIA analyst specializing in North Korea, on Wednesday explained why a coup wont be possible in North Korea and how China is handling sanctions on the communist regime.

I dont think that a coup is a possibility right now. Hes been getting rid of everybody who can pose a threat. He got rid of his half-brother; he killed him in an international airport, she told FOX Business Neil Cavuto.

Terry also discussed why the Trump administration shouldnt expect China to enforce the sanctions they put on North Korea.

China has been stringing us along for yearsThis happened under Clinton, Obama administration also tried to get China to do more and Bush and everybody tried. This is a long running theme and China hasnt been playing ball. They are not enforcing sanctions on the ground, she said.

The former CIA analyst believes the only way China is going to be tougher on North Korea is if they feel there might be a military conflict with the United States.

Terry also discussed how the Trump administration should respond to Chinas lack of aggression towards North Korea.

I think what the Trump administration next is going to do is probably push the secondary sanctions against Chinese banks and entities that do illicit business with North Korea, she said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis will host Chinese leaders on the Wednesday to discuss the problem of North Korea.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said China is in agreement with the U.S. for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and called on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to abide by the United Nations Security Council resolution.

Most acute threat in the region today is posed by the DPRK. We both call for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and we call on the DPRK to halt its illegal nuclear weapons program and its ballistic missile test as stipulated in the U.N. Security Council resolutions, Tillerson said during a press conference at the State Department.

In an interview with FOX Business Liz Claman, former North Atlantic Trade Organization (NATO) Supreme Allied Commander Admiral James Stavridis said he is encouraged by the China-U.S. alliance to make North Korea walk away from its nuclear capabilities.

I think we make China walk the walk considering theyve already talked the talk, the Admiral said. So that means actually using the economic leverage they have to begin squeezing that North Korean economy.

Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis are hosting Chinas Foreign Policy Chief Yang Jiechi and the head of the Peoples Liberation Armys joint staff department, Gen. Fang Fenghui, in Washington to discuss North Koreas nuclear threats and aggression.

The White House on Wednesday pushed China to put pressure on companies doing business in North Korea in an effort to halt the latters nuclear missile program. Stavridis, however, said he doesnt foresee the U.S. imposing sanctions against China.

I think we have other cards to play in the diplomatic and the economic realm, he said. The two leaders [President Trump and President Xi] seem very simpatico on this. President Trump walking away from his discussions on putting big tariffs on Chinese goods. Weve got leverage here, we ought to play that before we get to so-called secondary sanctions on China.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton says the decision by Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdul Aziz to name his son, not his nephew, as successor to the throne presents major complications and challenges for U.S. interests in the region. "Things are very complicated in the region and thats potentially quite dangerous for the U.S., Bolton said in an interview Wednesday on the FOX Business Network.

The announcement that 31-year-old Mohammed bin Salman would succeed his father, not the King's nephew, Mohammad bin Nayef, who had been seen as next in line to lead the country, has raised complicated questions, Bolton says, about the royal family.

This is extremely disruptive in the context of Saudi Arabia, there is a very complex royal family, the inheritance of the throne, the distribution of other benefits has been extraordinarily complex for decades. Im not at all sure weve seen the end of this story, Bolton told the FOX Business Networks Stuart Varney.

The timing of the announcement adds to the existing uncertainty and tension in the region, Bolton said.

Especially as we see the Saudis leading not only a coalition to deal with the Iranian terrorist nuclear weapons threat but in a confrontation with Qatar right now over the funding of Islamic terrorists."
As U.S. tensions with North Korea intensify, the White House pushed China to put pressure on companies that do business in Pyongyang ahead of high-level security talks between Washington and Beijing Wednesday.

Trump has been counting on China to use its economic leverage with the government of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as American concern grows over the North's acceleration toward having a nuclear missile that can strike the U.S. mainland.

President Trump fired off a tweet that the White Houses efforts to rely on China for help with North Korea are not working.

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

China is North Koreas single most important trading partner. China accounts for an estimated 70% of Pyongyangs total trade, including essential goods and services like food and energy, according to 2016 data from the Congressional Research Service. In 2015 North Korea imported $2.95 billion worth of goods from China, and exported $2.83 billion there, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Nevertheless, Chinese President Xi Jinpings efforts to contain North Korea have delivered few results. North Korea hasn't conducted a nuclear test explosion as feared earlier this year but has kept up its rapid pace of missile launches.

Washington has one threat it can use with Beijing: The possibility of "secondary" sanctions that go after Chinese companies doing business in North Korea. Such a move risks fraying relations between the world's two biggest economies.

The Chinese state-run Global Times warned in an editorial that if Washington imposes sanctions against Chinese enterprises "it will lead to grave friction between China and the U.S."

The security discussions are occurring amid widespread public outrage over the death of 22-year-old college student Otto Warmbier Monday, who was released from North Korea in a coma just days before his passing. U.S. lawmakers are pushing for a tough response against Pyongyang over Warmbiers treatment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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.
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A Brooklyn nanny was busted after she withdrew thousands from actress Mary-Louise Parkers debit card for herself, law enforcement sources told the New York Daily News.

Amanda Hoston-St. Louis was supposed to use the 52-year-olds debit card and PIN number to go shopping for the stars children. However, the bank notified Parker about the recent massive withdrawal.

The publication added police arrested the 33-year-old on Monday and is charged with several counts of identity theft, grand larceny, and criminal possession of stolen property.

A criminal complaint accuses Hoston St. Louis of making two withdrawals since April, each totaling more than $3,000. However, sources insisted shes been linked to more than $30,000 in transactions dating back to 2015.

The Weeds actress, who is from South Carolina, lives in Brooklyn with her teenage son and a young daughter, whom she adopted from Ethiopia in 2007. She listed the nanny in the acknowledgements of her 2015 memoir, Dear Mr. You.

Hoston-St. Louis was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court Tuesday and released without bail.
Cameron Douglas, the felon son of actor Michael Douglas, violated the terms of his probation after being released from federal custody in March, The Post has learned.

Douglas  who had his five-year drug sentence extended in 2011 after he was caught with drugs in prison  was caught with marijuana in his system in April, court papers show. According to a recently released transcript of a Manhattan federal court hearing, Douglas probation officers told Manhattan federal Judge Richard Berman that Douglas reported to their office for random drug testing April 10 when a lab tech accused the son of Michael and Diandra Douglas of attempting to manipulate the results.

More testing was done and a third test came back positive for marijuana, the probation office said.

The probation officers were sympathetic with Douglas, however, telling the judge that relapse is part of the recovery process. They recommended he get a second chance to prove he can stay sober.

We would like to provide Mr. Douglas an opportunity to be in the community to see how he responds to setbacks, one of the officers said.

Douglas lawyer Ben Brafman also argued for leniency, telling Berman that his client is seeing a psychiatrist because he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to his seven-year stint in prison.

His period of imprisonment was horrific, Brafman said, adding that Douglas was subject to terrifying treatment by fellow prisoners because of his decision to testify against his suppliers.

Asked if Douglas has remained sober, Brafman added: He is fine and there is no issue.

In 2012, The Post reported that the heroin-addicted son of the Oscar-winning actor had suffered a broken leg and finger behind bars after a crime-family captain put a $100 bounty on him for being a rat.

Douglas also spoke at the May hearing, confirming to the judge that he has had a difficult time adjusting since being released last year. He was first released last summer into a halfway house and now lives in an apartment in New York City.

I have so much to live for. I have a lot of sort of goals and aspirations that I think that Im more than capable of achieving, Douglas told the judge.

I guess what I want to tell you is that since Ive come back, Ive worked really hard, and this hiccup is unfortunate, but I dont see it happening again.

Douglas, 38, is scheduled to appear back in court Wednesday for a status update.

Click here for more on this story from the New York Post.
Skipper Jake Anderson had another problem with a crewman on his ship The Saga after sending deck boss Sean Dunlop to alcohol rehab.

On last week's "Deadliest Catch," viewers saw Anderson emotionally say goodbye to Dunlop at the airport as he was going away for treatment. Dunlop's drinking had gotten so out of control that Anderson urged him to get help.

But on Tuesday's episode of the Discovery Channel show, the consequences of losing Dunlop were clear as things got chaotic on Anderson's boat.

With a big storm brewing, the captain had poor visibilityand then had to deal with insubordination.

Crewman Dean Gribble decided to control the crane to move the sorting table on the deck. Anderson shouted at him from the wheelhouse after seeing the dangerous maneuver done against his orders.

Frustrated Gribble gave Anderson the finger.

"Did you flip me off?" Anderson roared. "Get off my deck, Dean, or you're fired."

With Anderson counting down to zero, Gripple finally moved off the deck.

"I'm going to be top dog," Anderson told the cameras.

The skipper confined Gribble to his quarters and said he was forcing his worker to be humble. Unfortunately, it hurt his crab fishing operation. Anderson got a decent haul but his rookie crew was having a hard time without Gribble.

"We need Dean down here," another crewman shouted.

Anderson admitted his men weren't keeping up while experienced fisherman Gribble remained in the dog house.

To make amends, Gribble brought Anderson a sandwich -- and conceded to his captain he had "f***ed up on the crane" and got "grumpy at the time," when he flipped off the boss.

Anderson decided to forgive Gribble, telling him, "We're good. I like you."

Cameras showed the Saga captain noting, "I really care about the guys that I hire and I don't give up on them."

Gribble went back to work.

Meanwhile, the other "Deadliest Catch" skippers also dealt with severe storm conditions that promised 40-50 MPH winds.

Wild Bill Wichrowski was experimenting with using crab callers in his pots to see if it would result in bigger yields.

A recording in the callers emitted sounds replicating a food source, which was supposed to attract crab.

Wichrowski hoped it could eliminate having to use as much bait, but the test went bad when the electronic sensors in the callers got flooded with water, wrecking them.

"We're high tech rednecks, weird times," Wichrowski shrugged on his Summer Bay ship.

Keith Colburn said he was fishing "in a snow globe" as a blizzard battered his boat.

The Time Bandit's retiring captain Johnathan Hillstrand returned again to the Russian line and was rewarded with more pots loaded with opilio crab.

The episode ended with Colburn's boat being hit by a massive wave. He sighed, "It's only going to get worse."
George Clooney has a lot to celebrate this year.

Weeks after Clooney welcomed twins with his wife Amal, the actor announced he sold his tequila brand Casamigos for $1 billion.

"If you asked us four years ago if we had a billion dollar company, I dont think we would have said yes," Clooney said in a statement to Fox News.

Clooney, who started the brand with Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman, sold Casamigos to British beverage company Diageo.

"This reflects Diageos belief in our company and our belief in Diageo," Clooney's statement continued. "But were not going anywhere."

He added they plan on "still be[ing] very much a part of Casamigos" and will be enjoying "a shot tonight. Maybe two."

Casamigos launched in 2013.
Coca-Cola should probably think about putting up a map in its social media department.

After Pittsburgh was hit with warm weather over the weekend, Coca-Cola suggested on Twitter that residents should try cooling off with an ice-cold Coke  but the company mistakenly included a graphic featuring a map of Philadelphia instead of Pittsburgh.

COCA-COLA ROLLS OUT SODA WITH FIBER, BECAUSE WHY NOT

The GIF that Coca-Cola included in the tweet  which very clearly depicts a Coke flying over a map of Philadelphia  was accompanied by a caption reading, Todays forecast in Pittsburgh: Record heat, followed by an ice-cold wave of ahhhhhhhh.

Needless to say, Cokes gaffe didnt go unnoticed by residents of the Steel City. Soon after the tweet was posted on Sunday morning, Twitter users from both towns quickly pointed out Coca-Colas mistake, and later took turns making jokes at Cokes expense.

Later, the discussion momentarily turned its focus toward sports, with Twitter users from Pittsburg using the opportunity to knock Philly fans down a peg:

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

And, surprisingly, the mayoral offices of both cities replied to Cokes post, with Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto firing the first shot. Lauren Hitt, who works as the communications director for Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, followed up by referencing Cokes alleged attempts to fight the citys soda tax, which was instituted earlier this year.

Coca-Cola isnt completely aloof to the backlash this blunder is causing. The soft-drink giant recently reached out to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in an attempt to apologize.

We sincerely apologize to our loyal fans in Pittsburgh for using a Philly map in our recent tweet, said the spokesperson who spoke with the Post-Gazette. To our fans in both cities, we promise this error has been corrected.

This summer we are exploring innovative, adaptive technologies to serve up personalized content to our fans when the weather heats up, and remind them theres nothing better than sharing an ice-cold Coke. In this case, our map accidentally missed the mark  literally.

HERE'S THE REASON MCDONALD'S COKE TASTES DIFFERENT

As of Wednesday morning, Coca-Colas post no longer appears on its official Twitter timeline, but the company has refrained from deleting the inaccurate tweet from its account entirely.
Barry Cadden, co-founder of the New England Compounding Center (NECC), the now-defunct pharmaceutical company linked to a 2012 deadly meningitis outbreak, was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday for his role in the spread of the disease.

Cadden was cleared by a jury in March of second-degree murder charges  likely avoiding spending the rest of his life in prison  but was convicted of multiple counts of fraud, conspiracy and racketeering. Cadden, was once was the president and head pharmacist of the New England Compounding Center.

Read on to find out more about this case.

What happened in 2012?

As many as 13,000 people nationwide may have received injections with contaminated medicine from NECC of Framingham, Massachusetts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated.

At least 700 people were sickened by fungal meningitis and other infections in 2012, and 64 people died. Still others live with chronic pain from the tainted injections.

The outbreak affected people in 20 states with Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee being the hardest hit.

Why would Cadden be responsible?

Prosecutors accused Caddens company of using expired ingredients and falsifying logs in an attempt to show that rooms had been cleaned when they were, in fact, not.

Prosecutors said Cadden and his employees knowingly shipped tainted steroids  usually prescribed to patients with back pain  across the country.

EX-PHARMACY EXEC ACQUITTED OF MURDER IN MENINGITIS OUTBREAK

Following the outbreak, multiple instances of contamination  including standing water, mold and bacteria in the air and on workers gloved fingertips  were found.

Prosecutors also accused Cadden of running his pharmaceutical company in an extraordinarily dangerous way as he allegedly ignored sterility and cleanliness regulations in lieu of churning out product faster to make more money.

"It was preventable, but it happened because this man, Barry Cadden, decided to put profits before patients," Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan said during the trial.

In turn, Caddens lawyers argued that he was not directly responsible for the unclean rooms; instead, the lawyers argued, supervisory pharmacist Glenn Chin was responsible for the rooms where the drugs were made.

Chin pleaded not guilty to similar charges. He is expected to face trial in September.

As horrible as each of these stories is, there is nothing that shows that Mr. Cadden did something that the government can link to the death of that person, attorney Bruce Singal said.

So what is he actually guilty of?

Cadden was acquitted in March 2017 of causing the deaths of the people infected. But a jury did find him guilty of some racketeering and fraud charges.

GOVERNMENT SEIZES $18 MILLION FROM OWNERS OF PHARMACY TIED TO MENINGITIS OUTBREAK

Jurors convicted Cadden of sending out the contaminated drugs but would not say he was guilty of purposefully misleading customers by providing them with contaminated products, according to the Boston Globe. The jury also refused to convict Cadden of willingly and knowingly mislabeling drugs.

The jury also cleared Cadden of charges that he defrauded the US Food and Drug Administration by using NECC as a pharmacy instead of a manufacturing center, the Boston Globe reported.

What could happen to Cadden and his company?

NECC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2012. At the time, it said it wanted to establish a fund to compensate those affected by the deadly meningitis outbreak.

By 2015, the company had more than 3,400 claims filed against it  including more than 1,000 claims from those who were seriously injured during the outbreak or relatives of those who were deceased.

MENINGITIS OUTBREAK: MURDER OR PUBLIC HEALTH TRAGEDY?

A federal bankruptcy judge approved a $200 million settlement in 2015 that would compensate NECCs creditors  including the victims.

Each of Caddens fraud and racketeering convictions carry a potential sentencing of up to 20 years in prison, but multiple sentences can often be served at the same time, the Boston Globe reported.

Caddens sentencing will be based on the nature of the crime, his personal character and his lack of a criminal record, according to the Boston Globe.

But prosecutors are hoping for a harsher sentence from the judge due to a quirk in the trial verdict.

Instead of simply checking guilty or not guilty when filling out their verdict slip, prosecutors said jurors wrote the numbers of those who thought Cadden was guilty or not of the 25 counts of murder he faced, according to Reuters.

"While they failed to reach unanimity on these racketeering acts, the jury's verdict confirmed that the murder racketeering acts were proven by a preponderance of the evidence in this case, and can be properly considered at sentencing," prosecutors wrote in a motion filed after the verdict trial.

Is anyone else facing charges for the deadly outbreak?

Aside from Chin  who faces similar charges to Cadden  multiple other NECC employees may face consequences for the companys role in the deadly outbreak.

In all, 14 people were originally charged.

LAWYERS TRADE BLAME IN MENINGITIS OUTBREAK TRIAL

Carla Conigliaro, the majority owner of NECC, pleaded guilty in July to illegally transferring assets after the outbreak. Her husband did the same. The pair was sentenced. They also had to pay fines.

Robert Ronzio, who was the companys sales director, also pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Food and Drug Administration. Ronzio is expected to be sentenced in September, WBUR reported.

Two pharmacists, Kathy Chin and Michelle Thomas, were cleared of any criminal liability by a judge in October, according to WBUR. The judge said that while the pair checked and shipped orders, they did not dispense the drugs.

Alla Stephanets, another pharmacist, was also cleared of similar charges but still faces a fraud charge, according to WBUR.
A startling report on the nations harrowing opioid epidemic revealed emergency room visits and hospitalizations for opioid-related illnesses across the country totaled 1.27 million in a single year, with women now just as likely as men to be affected. The data, released Tuesday, reported a 99 percent increase in emergency room visits for opioid-related issues in 2014 compared to 2005, The Washington Post reported.

Our data tell us what is going on. They tell us what the facts are. But they dont give us the underlying reasons for what were seeing here, Anne Elizhauser, senior research scientist at Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which released the report, told The Washington Post.

The steepest increase in hospitalizations and ER visits were among people ages 25 to 44, but the data revealed women are now as likely to be admitted for opioid-related inpatient treatment as men. Hospitalizations involving opioids and heroin increased 75 percent for women between 2005 and 2014, outpacing the 55 percent increase for men.

VETERAN TAKES AILING SERVICE DOG ON CROSS-COUNTRY ROAD TRIP FOR LIFE-SAVING SURGERY

As the report makes clear, over the past decade, opioid abuse has affected both sexes and all age groups, Gobap Khanna, the AHRQ director, said in a press release. The crisis, however, looks different in different places.

For instance, the report found opioid hospitalization rates among women in 2014 were highest in West Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts. In those states, reported rates exceeded 350 hospitalizations per 100,000 people. For men, the rates of hospitalizations in 2014 were higher at 440 per 100,000, but were located in District of Columbia, New York and Maryland.

And while the numbers for states with the highest admittance rates were high, in Iowa, which is among the states with the lowest rate of hospitalizations for opioid-related issues, the rate was under 73 per 100,000 people, The Washington Post reported.

The data was released a day after researchers published a study in JAMA Pediatrics revealing that only 1 in 4 teens and young adults with opioid addiction receive recommended treatment medication, despite having good health insurance.

Young people may be dying because they are not getting the treatment they need, Brendan Sloan, an addiction researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who wrote an editorial alongside the study, told The Associated Press.

BLACKHAWKS STAR MARIAN HOSSA TO MISS NEXT SEASON DUE TO SKIN DISORDER

The study, which focused on 21,000 patients ages 13 to 25 who were insured by UnitedHealthcare, found females, blacks and Hispanics were even less likely to receive opioid treatment medications than males and whites, but the reasons for the findings were unclear.

The treatment gap is bad for everybody and even worse for certain subgroups, study author Dr. Scott Hadland of Boston Medical Center, told the Associated Press of his findings. Even though all the youth in our sample had access to high-quality health insurance, they may not have had equal access to high-quality addiction care.

In Maryland, where AHRQ reported that opioid-related dates had quadrupled since 2010, the citys health commissioner told The Washington Post that overdoses affect all ethnic groups. Leana Wen said the states surge in hospital visits was not surprising, but that treatment options for addiction are not always immediately available for patients.

We are not anywhere close to getting everyone treatment at the time that they are requesting for help, Wen told The Washington Post.
The Internet is outraged over a male romper printed with Kim Jong Uns mug.

Last week, online retailer GetOnFleek started selling this fashion statement emblazoned with a close-up of the North Korean leader for $79, reports NextShark.

But now some social media users have accused the Orlando, Fla.-based company of glorifying a dictator.

The hermit kingdom made headlines Monday after American college student Otto Warmbier died from injuries he sustained while imprisoned for supposedly stealing a propaganda poster.

But that hasnt stopped GetOnFleek from hawking its rompers. In fact, they say its one of their best-selling products.

Twitter users have spoken out.

I found the worst thing on the internet, tweeted ESPN anchor Cary Chow. A combination of so much awful.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post
Turns outmoney cant buy you love. Or a House seat in Georgias 6th District.

Democrats pulled out all stops in their effort to show that the #Resistance isnt just about marches and slogans and insulting the president, but also about flipping the House in 2018. They poured tens of millions of dollars into what became the most expensive House race ever, trying to elect 30-year-old nonentity Jon Ossoff to fill the seat of HHS head Tom Price. They cast the race as a referendum on Donald Trump, and a bellwether for 2018. Republicans will be elated with the outcome, and hopeful that both those claims are true.

What is undoubtedly true is this: despising Donald Trump is not much of a platform.

Ossoff, who received gobs of money from outside Georgia and doesnt even live in the 6th District, started his campaign by exhorting voters to Make Trump Furious. But more recently he backed off that attack line, and ran what even the New York Times called a milquetoast campaign. He portrayed himself as a centrist, with a platform about as thin as his resume. Apparently he came to realize that those activists sending contributions from LA and New York would not be showing up in the voting booth, and that he had to win the hearts and minds of Georgia Republicans.

Democrats eagerness to put Trump in the middle of the race may have been a misstep, but they were swayed by the presidents declining approval ratings and by his narrow victory in the district in November. He won the 6th by only 1.5 percentage points, while Mitt Romney had a 23 point margin four years earlier and Tom Price had been reelected by 24 points last year.

But it turned out that suburban Atlantas voters had other things on their minds, including possibly hoping for a candidate better able to serve their interests than the youthful former congressional aide and documentary filmmaker. Despite a torrent of ads casting the election as a way to vent their disapproval of President Trump, the largely Republican district came through for Karen Handel, who has worked her way up through state politics and was a reliable middle-of-the-road candidate.

A win was vital to Democrats, who need to rebuild their demoralized party. They have virtually no chance of retaking the Senate in 2018, given the seats that are in play. Thus, the focus is on reclaiming the House, for which they will need to win 24 seats. So far, they are batting zero. In the just-concluded South Carolina contest, the GOP candidate running to fill the seat of Budget Director Mick Mulvaney won, as expected.

Also, on April 11, Democrats lost the race for Kansas 4th District seat, called to replace Mike Pompeo who became head of the CIA. That election initially was written off by Democrats, since Trump had won the district by 27 percentage points. But the declining popularity of Governor Sam Brownback, as well as drooping approval ratings for the president, threw the district into play. The GOP candidate won by only 8,000 votes.

Stung by criticism that they missed an opportunity in Kansas, party gurus turned to the Georgia contest, which for many reasons looked more winnable. Like many southern suburban areas the 6th District has trended more diverse and more liberal since Newt Gingrich held the seat from 1979 to 1999. When Newt represented the northern Atlanta suburbs, the district was 90 percent white; now it is 70 percent white, with blacks and Hispanics each accounting for about 13 percent of the vote. Some 21 percent of the district is foreign-born.

Only five percent of the district lives below the poverty line, as compared to 17 percent state-wide, and 58 percent of voters are college graduates, double Georgias average. All those stats worked against President Trump; they favored Jon Ossoff. In the national election, Trump attracted millions of blue collar Democrat voters fed up with the status quo and concerned about the economy. He also won the vote of conservative Republicans opposed to Hillary Clinton. Establishment moderate Republicans were among his weakest constituents; those voters didnt give him a big win in Georgias 6th District but they turned out for Karen Handel.

The loss of the Georgia election is devastating for Democrats. There were plenty of reasons to think they might score an upset, and they went for broke. The race became not a referendum on President Trump, but on Democrats ability to convert their newfound energy and activism into wins at the ballot box. They failed, and many will wonder if the partys leadership has what it takes to get them back on track.

Some will question whether, in the aftermath of the 2016 drubbing, Democrats have yet found a message that appeals to voters. Some may also question whether President Trump is really as unpopular as the polls suggest.

The worst possible outcome of this loss will be that Democrats fault Ossoff for running as a centrist. They may decide that only hard left candidates can get the job done, and throw support to Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren acolytes in future races. That will be a mistake, virtually guaranteeing that traditional red districts and states stay in GOP hands. The base was engaged in this contest; turnout was high. It simply remains a GOP-heavy district.

And, voters are not yet ready to give up on the Trump agenda. So far, Democrats have offered nothing better.
Editors note: This article was originally published by Gatestone Institute.

My academic and political colleagues who insist that President Trump has obstructed justice point to his allegedly "corrupt motive" in firing former FBI Director James Comey after telling him that he "hoped" he would end his investigation of General Michael Flynn. They concede  as Comey himself did  that the President has the constitutional authority to fire the director and to order him to end (or start) any investigation, just as he has the authority to pardon anyone being investigated. But they argue that these constitutionally authorized innocent acts become criminal if the President was "corruptly motivated."

This is a dangerous argument that no civil libertarian should be pressing. Nor would they be pressing it if the shoe were on the other foot. If Hillary Clinton had been elected and Republicans were investigating her for asking the Attorney General to describe the investigation of her as a "matter" rather than a "case," my colleagues would be arguing against an expansive view of existing criminal statutes, as they did when Republicans were demanding that she be locked up for espionage. The same would be true if Bill Clinton or former Attorney General Loretta Lynch were being investigated for his visit to her when she was investigating his wife's misuse of email servers.

"Corrupt motive" is an extraordinarily vague and open-ended term that can be expanded or contracted at the whim of zealous or politically motivated prosecutors. It is bad enough when this accordionlike term is used in the context of economic corruption, but it is far worse  and more dangerous to liberty  when used in the context of political disagreements. In commercial cases where corrupt intent may be an element, the act itself is generally not constitutionally protected. It often involves a grey area financial transaction. But in political cases  especially those not involving money  the act itself is constitutionally protected, and the motive, which is often mixed, is placed on trial. It becomes the sole criteria for turning a constitutionally authorized political act into a felony.

Using the concept of "corrupt motive" to criminalize constitutionally authorized political actions is a dangerous double-edged sword that can be used against both Democrats and Republicans by politically motivated prosecutors.

What constitutes a corrupt motive will often depend on the political bias of the accuser. For some Democrats, the motives of all Republicans are suspect. The same is true for some Republicans. Corrupt motive is in the eye of the beholder, and the beholder's eyes are often more open to charges of corrupt motives on the part of their political enemies than their political allies.

I know because I am currently being accused of being corruptly motivated in making my argument against charging President Trump with obstruction of justice. My emails are filled with such charges. The following email is typical:

"I want to know how much the Trump administration is funnelling to you under the table, of course, to keep your support of him off the record? And if it's not money, what sort pay off is it? Favors, promises, bribes...what?? Why all the secrecy when indirectly advising his legal team via cable networks' panel discussions? I think your games, shenanigans and defense of this very disturbing man give the legal profession a black eye. Shame on you! Why not come out and openly defend Trump which you are obviously doing through innuendo?"

Others emails I have received include the following: "PLEASE BE TRUTHFUL. YOU ARE NOT A LIBERAL BUT RATHER A ZIONIST REPUBLICAN AUTHORITARIAN BIGOT," as well as "SELLING YOUR OPINION/SERVICES TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER!"

My motives have also been questioned by some of my academic and political colleagues. Am I being paid? Am I auditioning to be Trump's lawyer? Do I want to be appointed to a judgeship? Am I really a secret Republican? Did I really vote for Clinton? Do I expect favors in return for my arguments?

The point is that many of those who disagree with my arguments refuse to believe that I am making them out of principle. They assume a corrupt motive.

The same is true in the larger political context. Each side believes the other is corrupt to the core. They question each other's motives. That is why using the concept of "corrupt motive" to criminalize constitutionally authorized political actions is a dangerous double-edged sword that can be used against both Democrats and Republicans by politically motivated prosecutors.

Before the recent efforts to expand the obstruction statute to cover President Trump, many civil libertarians, political liberals, defense attorneys and even judges were rightly critical of the expansive use of "corrupt motive" both in the context of commercial and political cases. But now that they see an opportunity to use this overbroad concept to "get" President Trump, many of these same people have become enthusiastic supporters of expanding the openended law even further in a shortsighted effort to criminalize the constitutionally protected actions of a president they dislike.

Anglo-American law is based on precedent. What happens today can be used tomorrow. So beware of creating precedents that lie around like loaded weapons in the hands of overzealous or politically motivated prosecutors.
Thursday, right before Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced he'd acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, he tweeted a "request for ideas" for "philanthropy strategy." If you have suggestions re "helping people in the here and now... reply to this tweet."

Here's my reply: Don't do it, Jeff!

I understand why you asked.

Giving well isn't easy. Charities often squander donations.

Cancer Fund of America gave less than 5 percent of donations to charity. When I confronted its owner, James Reynolds, he blithely said, "True, if they give it to the telemarketer, they get 85-90 percent."

Charity-rating services try to separate good charities from bad, but they get conned, too. Measuring "charitable work" is hard. How should the CEO's first-class hotel expenses be classified?

Some charities perpetuate dependency -- rewarding passivity rather than effort.

Some perpetuate poverty -- destroying local businesses by forcing them to compete with "free."

Still, Jeff Bezos, you have $80 freakin' billion. Isn't it your moral duty to give more?

No.

I know, you've been called "stingy." A Slate article sneered that lemonade stands donate more.

Like much of what is in Slate, that wasn't true. You've given millions to various causes, including our alma mater. (Dumb -- Princeton doesn't need the money.) Still, you give less than .1 percent of your wealth.

Stingy as that sounds, I say that's good -- because you are not a normal person.

I give to charity. But I'm just a reporter. I don't create wealth like you do.

You employ more than 300,000 people. Amazon saves everyone time and money. You created that from nothing.

I bet soon you will find ways to improve food distribution, and your Blue Origin rockets will make space travel practical. Already, you are more efficient than NASA.

There's no doubt that you are a wealth creator.

So was Ted Turner. Nineteen years ago, the billionaire told me it was "appalling" how cheap rich people are. "I saw 'A Christmas Carol'," said Turner. "I assumed everybody with a lot of money gave it away, because they didn't want to be Scrooge! ... We should shame rich people into giving."

Shortly afterward, he announced that he would donate $1 billion to the U.N.

The press cheered.

But wait, the U.N. is famous for waste! It spends millions on bureaucracy, coddling dictators, sucking up to celebrity ambassadors, etc. I assume the U.N. squandered much of Turner's gift.

But Turner the entrepreneur created Turner Broadcasting, CNN and more. Today his companies employ thousands of people.

So I asked him, "Since the U.N. wastes money, while you have unique business skills, don't you and, say, Bill Gates, do more for the world by growing your companies?"

Turner didn't buy it. "What are you beating on me about? This is why people don't like newsmen ... I'm walking off the set."

And he did.

Today, Bill Gates spends his time giving money away. He's conscientious about it. He experiments, funding what works -- dropping what doesn't. He uses his business skills to save lives. Good for him.

But Gates was unusually skilled at bringing people better software. Had he continued at Microsoft, I bet he would have done even more for the world.

After the movie "The Social Network" portrayed Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg as selfish, Zuckerberg gave $100 million to Newark's schools.

But the problem with Newark's schools wasn't money -- Newark schools spend more per student than most private schools. The problem is unionization and government monopoly. Zuckerberg's money went down the drain.

By contrast, Zuckerberg is really good at using the internet to create wealth. He gave us new ways to keep in touch. That's a wonderful thing. He should do more of it.

I'm no entrepreneur. I'm not likely to create a zillion jobs. So I should give to charity, and I do. I donate to the Doe Fund, Central Park Conservancy and other charities I can watch, so I see if they spend my donations well.

But Bezos, Zuckerberg, Gates and all you entrepreneurs, stop feeling guilty. You, by pursuing profit honestly, do much more for the world than charities do.
The United States faces real and ongoing threats from terrorists, rogue regimes, nation-states, and others who wish to bring harm directly to our shores.

Americas adversaries share the common goals of challenging our interests, weakening our alliances and partnerships, and disrupting our way of life.

Regardless of which political party is in power, our rivals seek ways to diminish our global leadership, reduce our international influence, and undermine the liberal, rules based world order underwritten by the United States since the end of the Second World War.

Today, a desperate dictator in North Korea continues to defy the international community by advancing a nuclear weapons program, routinely firing ballistic missiles and brutalizing civilians, including Americans, he holds captive.

A tyrannical regime in Tehran remains the worlds number one state sponsor of terrorism and incites a brutal civil war in Syria.

Terrorists do not check our party affiliation. The people in power will change over time, but our commitment to keeping the country safe and secure must remain united and unshakeable. National security must run through the center of the aisle.

China is militarizing islands and bullying its neighbors in the South China Sea, and repressing the rights of its citizens.

Russia is steadily fomenting instability through cyberattacks, disinformation and other means, and cracking down on civil society, and ISIS and like-minded groups continue to inflict and inspire death and destruction.

As the 21st century progresses and the challenges we face become more interlinked and complex, the urgency behind working together becomes greater and greater.

If we are going to be successful in thwarting future attacks and protecting the American people, we must confront the most pressing issues with policies that transcend partisan lines.

Terrorists do not check our party affiliation. The people in power will change over time, but our commitment to keeping the country safe and secure must remain united and unshakeable. National security must run through the center of the aisle.

Thursday morning bipartisan lawmakers from the House and Senate will come together and host the very first Capitol Hill National Security Forum, a series of speakers and panel discussions for the purpose of reestablishing the importance of bipartisan thinking in Washington when it comes to national security and foreign policy.

This forum will be an opportunity to hear directly from Trump administration officials, including current Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, as well as a bipartisan mix of policymakers from past administrations like former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Secretaries of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and Jeh Johnson, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, and former CIA Director John Brennan on how to defeat threats and minimize dangers facing our country.

Our forum will not just be focused on direct threats to our homeland. We will also exchange ideas and debate the strength of our military, cybersecurity, the role of NATO and the renewal of our trans-Atlantic alliances, international trade, the state of U.S. intelligence, and the promotion and protection of democracy and human rights. These issues are important topics and will help refine the best ways to project American strength on the world stage.

This gathering will also give us a chance to discuss how new administrations can learn from past presidencies and how the executive and legislative branches of government can best work in unison to carry out a coherent national security strategy.

We can all stand by our respective political parties, but partisanship needs to stop at our waters edge.

We are Americans first. Lets work together for the safety and security of American families and the protection of our universal values.

Thursdays forum will allow us to have that conversation and achieve that goal.
America is at a turning point, with forces now forming an alliance to try and remove President Trump from office. It's that serious.

Here are the five dangers faced by President Trump, and indeed all Americans:

The alt-left, destroy-Trump, propaganda media that has been lying to America for 11 months nonstop. They push their Trump-Russia collusion theory, despite no evidence whatsoever.

The so-called deep state, entrenched liberal bureaucrats and Obama loyalists who selectively leak information to damage the president and anyone associated with him.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, which mission creep has transformed into an out-of-control, political witch hunt.

The cumulative effect of all this manufactured turmoil. It is putting President Trump's agenda in jeopardy, which ends up directly impacting all of us.

An all-out effort to override the will of the American people and change the results of a presidential election. This is now creating a national security crisis.

All five factors rely heavily on the media relentlessly peddling one of the biggest lies in American history, that the president colluded with the Russians during the 2016 election. These so-called journalists are little more than left-wing ideologues with media megaphones. Remember, they're the ones that colluded with Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, a fact exposed by WikiLeaks.

The destroy-Trump media are not the only ones whose collusion narrative has completely crumbled. Here are some recent quotes from key Democrats admitting theres no there there.

The allegation, of course, is that the Russians and the hacking and dumping of documents in the election had essentially relationships with Trump campaign people but I'm not prepared to say that there's proof you could take to a jury, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told ABCs George Stephanopoulos.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., made a similar comment: You know, we haven't seen any of that whatsoever, George. We've been looking and showing everything that they possibly have, he said. That has not led to that.

The next threat, and perhaps the most dangerous, is the deep state. That is the unelected fourth branch of government, consisting of a lot of Obama holdovers, anti-Trump bureaucrats who now are routinely targeting the president, his administration with selective leaking. This deep state works closely with the destroy-Trump media to disseminate false information about the president and his administration. And what's even more dangerous, more sinister about the deep state is that they're willing to break the law by leaking classified information. Just ask Gen. Michael Flynn, who was spied on, unmasked and ruined by the deep state.

The most dangerous denizen of the deep state may be fired FBI Director James Comey. He admitted under oath he had his memo leaked to The New York Times. His goal? He wanted the appointment of a special counsel. The deep state obliged, once it got Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself out of their way.

Mueller's investigation is quickly spiraling out of control. President Trump was right when he called it the greatest political witch hunt in American history. Mueller's sole purpose was to investigate so-called Trump-Russia collusion, but now he is digging into finances, Jared Kushner and obstruction of justice. And he's not going to stop there. Why? Because there is no Trump-Russia collusion. He has to move on to other things to justify his job.

Mueller has massive conflicts of interest conflicts of interest should recuse himself. He's incapable of carrying out a fair and impartial investigation for several reasons, not the least of which is he's best friends with James Comey. And then there's the fact that members of Mueller's investigative team, lawyers who donated big, big bucks to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. One of the lawyers Mueller has hired was Clinton's attorney at the Clinton Foundation!

The longer these attacks continue, the longer it will take for you, the American people, to benefit from what from what you voted for, the president's policies and agenda. All of this is now creating a very clear, present danger to the country. The left is suffering well beyond Trump derangement syndrome. It's completely unhinged.

This is now reaching a point of no return. It's beyond serious. If these forces are successful, this country will not survive. If they continue with lies, propaganda, misinformation and outright conspiracy theories, where do the people go to get their country back?

Adapted from Sean Hannity's monologue on "Hannity," June 20, 2017
Since the June 7 terrorist attacks in Tehran, the Iranian government has made dozens of arrests and highlighted the fact that ISIS claimed responsibility. The countrys leaders have driven the narrative that Iran is yet another victim of this global terrorist network  even going so far as to launch missiles targeting ISIS operations in Syria. But it is increasingly apparent that, while outside terrorists may have played a role, the governments focus on their involvement hides a more complex truth, with significant implications for U.S. policy.

Through recent news reports weve learned that those rounded-up as part of the attacks are all members of the Kurdish and Baluch ethnic minorities. The conflict with Irans Kurdish and Baluch minorities is not new: Tehran has been battling for close to a decade a much larger insurgency with both groups, without any evidence of direct links to ISIS. Most recently, on the eve of the Tehran attacks, a Kurdish nationalist group  with no global terrorist connections  killed two Iranian border guards near the city of Urmiya.

Despite this, the U.S. and other western countries appear to be taking Iran at its word that the attacks in Tehran were exclusively the work of ISIS and part of the groups global campaign. But in doing so, they risk adopting a skewed view of Irans foreign relations and domestic stability.

Tehrans focus on ISIS as the driving force behind recent terror attacks is right out of the countrys playbook for dealing with ethnic conflict.

While Iran is commonly referred to as Persia, it actually has a multi-ethnic population. Close to half its citizens are non-Persian minorities, including Azerbaijanis, Turkmen, Arabs, Baluch and Kurds  the latter make up about 10 percent of the population. These ethnic minorities are located primarily in the countrys border regions and share ties with co-ethnics in neighboring states: Turkey, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Pakistan. This geographic proximity has significant bearing on Tehrans regional foreign policy and individual relations with most of its neighbors.

Irans multi-ethnic composition also affects domestic stability. For close to a decade, Iranian security forces have been engaged in domestic armed conflict with Kurdish and Baluch groups. A disproportionate number of Iranian Kurds, including minors, are executed each year. While the offenders are often charged with drug and smuggling crimes, many observers believe the high number of executions is the result of ethnic politics rather than community crime. This was even more evident in spring 2016, when a large number of Iranian Kurds were executed for charges of enmity to God for membership in Kurdish political organizations. While most of Irans Kurds and Baluch are Sunni, the basis of their dissent seems mostly ethno-nationalist and not sectarian.

Iranian government representatives rarely acknowledge dissent or grievances among the countrys ethnic minorities. But when the conflicts spill into the political realm or the public eye, we get a better understanding of the concern they cause. For example, during the recent presidential campaign the leading candidates, Hassan Rouhani and Ebrahim Raisi, both appealed to Irans ethnic minorities and promised to allow greater use of minority languages in an attempt to gain their votes. In addition, Leader Khamenei also warned foreigners against stirring up ethnic minorities in efforts to interfere in Irans election process.

And the impact of internal dissent goes well beyond political rhetoric  in February, when members of Irans Arab community held massive demonstrations, they successfully paralyzed the city of Ahvaz for days, which is the center of Irans oil production.

Despite political promises, Irans leaders rarely take steps to address domestic grievances. Instead, they typically blame outsiders for the activities of the ethnic minorities, often depicting them as tools of foreign governments, primarily Saudi Arabia, the U.S., Britain or Israel. And while Iran claims to be an Islamic Republic that does not differentiate between Muslims on ethnic basis, its leaders refuse to allow use of non-Persian languages in the official sphere and the Iranian media tends to belittle non-Persian groups.

Tehrans focus on ISIS as the driving force behind recent terror attacks is right out of the countrys playbook for dealing with ethnic conflict. Even if the Kurdish attackers cooperated with ISIS, their motivations and goals are very different than other affiliates. And even while dozens of Kurds and Baluch have now been jailed, this conflict is not going away anytime soon. Kurdish, Baluch and other domestic ethnic groups in Iran have extensive grievances and there continues to be fallout from the regular executions of activists from these communities.

Tehrans official statements and ISIS finger-pointing would have us dismiss domestic ethnic tensions as insignificant. But Irans modern history makes it clear that, during periods of greater political turbulence, these tensions impact the country and its wider political developments, such as during the Islamic Revolution. As Western leaders assess developments in Iran, its essential that they account for its multi-ethnic composition and domestic base of terrorism, and the major role these play in the countrys stability and foreign policy.
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.
Businesswoman Karen Handel won Georgia's special House election in its 6th district on Tuesday, according to AP projections.

Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff in Georgias special House election to take the seat vacated when Tom Price was appointed Health and Human Services Secretary.

Keeping the 6th

Handel, 55, fought a close race against Ossoff in order to keep Georgias 6th district in the hands of the GOP. The seat has been held by Republicans since Newt Gingrich won it in 1978  but multiple polls initially showed Ossoff with a narrow lead.

Handel ran as an anti-abortion candidate who wants to repeal and replace ObamaCare and strengthen the countrys borders, according to her campaign website.

The special election was seen in part as a testament to President Donald Trumps influence. Trump has attacked Ossoff on Twitter. He also attended a fundraiser on Handel's behalf in April.

Youd better win, Trump reportedly told her at a closed-door event in April.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GEORGIAS SPECIAL ELECTION

But Trump was notably missing from Handels campaign websites list of endorsements, which included a bevy of Republican lawmakers.

"Vote now for Karen H," Trump tweeted on Monday.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., also campaigned with Handel in May.

Handel beat out the other 10 GOP hopefuls who vied for the partys nomination in the special election  and beat them in fundraising, as well, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last month that the congressional race between Handel and Ossoff was the most expensive U.S. House race in the nations history, with Democrats outspending Republicans.

Political career

Aside from her three-year tenure as Georgias secretary of state, Handel launched unsuccessful campaigns for U.S. Senate in 2014 and Georgias governor in 2010.

KAREN HANDEL ON SUPPORT FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP

She chaired the Fulton County Board of Commissioners for three years beginning in 2003. As the chair, Handel turned the board's $100 million deficit into a balanced budget, her campaign website boasted.

Komen controversy

Handel also briefly served in a leadership role at the breast cancer research charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure, beginning in January 2011.

Handel was vice president for public policy for the organization when it decided to strip its funding for Planned Parenthood, a move that Handel told the Washington Post in 2012 that she supported.

But just a few days after announcing its split from Planned Parenthood in February 2012, Komen announced it would reverse its decision as the organization was distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood.

GEORGIA RACE: GOP VOWS TO UNITE, BEAT OSSOFF AFTER FORCING RUNOFF WITH TRUMPS HELP

Handel resigned amid the controversy and reportedly turned down a severance package.

HuffPost reported at the time that Handel was a driving force behind the nonprofits decision to strip funding from Planned Parenthood. Handel has denied being the sole authority of the decision.

Handels campaign website specifically noted that she has been a strong proponent of womens health for her entire adult life.

The Susan G. Komen Board, not Karen Handel, made the decision to implement new grant criteria that impacted Planned Parenthood, it states.

Personal life

Handel has lived in Georgia's 6th district with her husband, Steve, for almost 25 years, according to her campaign website. She grew up around Washington, D.C., in a Maryland suburb.

She attended both Prince Georges Community College and the University College at the University of Maryland.

She is a fan of the Indianapolis Colts, the New York Times reported.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., criticized congressional Democrats Tuesday for making what he called "reckless, baseless allegations" about President Trump's involvement in Russian activities during the 2016 election campaign.

"There are members of both the House and the Senate who [say] 'Ive seen evidence that is more than circumstantial, but not direct,'" Gowdy told Fox News. "There is no way it can be more than circumstantial but not direct."

Gowdy, who serves on the House intelligence committee investigating possible connections between Russian officials and members of the Trump campaign, said a member of the panel "said this week that he has seen evidence [but] he cant tell us what it is [and] its not beyond a reasonable doubt.

"Theres no way to defend yourself against those kinds of baseless, reckless accusations."

Gowdy was likely referring to the committee's ranking member, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who told ABC's "This Week" that "I think there is evidence" of Trump colluding with Moscow.

"I cant go into the particulars of our closed investigation," Schiff said, "but I also think there is evidence of obstruction [of justice]. But in both cases, I would say, whether there is some evidence doesnt mean there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Gowdy also told host Tucker Carlson that he hoped the House intelligence committee's investigation would be wrapped up by Labor Day "in a perfect world."
Republican Ralph Norman held off Democrat Archie Parnell in a closer-than-expected race Tuesday to fill the House seat vacated by Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney.

With 99 percent of the precincts in South Carolina's 5th District reporting, Norman led Parnell by 51 percent to 48 percent  a margin of just over 2,900 votes out of more than 86,000 ballots cast.

The South Carolina race garnered far less national attention than Tuesday's other special election  Georgia's 6th District, the most expensive U.S. House contest to date. However, national surrogates found time to stump for both candidates, as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint campaigned with Norman. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez made the rounds for Parnell, a former Goldman Sachs tax adviser.

As they have in other special election contests across the country this year, Democrats recruited a field of candidates to make a play for the GOP-held seat. But the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee plunked only $275,000 into the South Carolina race, compared with a $5 million investment in the Georgia special election.



Norman, a millionaire real estate developer and state lawmaker, ran a campaign aligning himself with President Donald Trump, who won the district by more than 18 percentage points this past November. He emerged as the top vote-getter from a seven-way GOP primary and defeated state lawmaker Tommy Pope by just more than 200 votes in a runoff.

"Trump is still very popular in our area," Norman said during a recent candidate forum. "His first big decision in putting Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court excited the people we're coming into contact with. He proved his mettle."

The 5th District, which stretches north from Columbia toward the suburbs of Charlotte, N.C., had been in Democratic hands for more than 100 years until Mulvaney defeated longtime incumbent John Spratt in 2010. He'd held the seat until February, when he resigned to join Trump's administration.

David L. O'Neal, a retired Army officer and paratrooper from Tega Cay, backed Norman in the primary and said the Republican earned his general election vote in part because of his stance on veterans' issues.



"As a retired military officer, I feel Ralph is strongest on military issues, wanting a strong defense," O'Neal said Tuesday. "And I know he is 100 percent with the veterans on their issues."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) said Wednesday that its members had voted to reject an invitation to meet with President Trump, claiming that the administration's policies are causing "legitimate alarm" among African-American lawmakers and their constituents.

CBC Chairman Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., wrote in a letter to Trump that proposals in the president's budget would "not only devastate the communities that we represent, but also many of the communities that supported your candidacy."

Richmond specifically cited proposed cuts to Pell Grants for low-income college students and eliminate the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps seniors and others on fixed incomes heat their homes. He claimed those cutbacks would "destroy minority communities, all while your Administration and Congressional Republicans consider proposals to provide tax cuts for the richest Americans."

The chairman also criticized the Republican effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare, claiming the Affordable Health Care Act passed by the House last month would "strip millions of black people of their health care."

Richmond said the caucus had expressed its concern several times, including in eight letters and a document, but the administration has failed to respond. Trump and top members of the caucus met in March, but Richmond said there has been no follow-through on promises like helping black lawmakers meet with Trump's Cabinet.



"The CBC, and the millions of people we represent, have a lot to lose under your administration," Richmond wrote. "I fail to see how a social gathering would benefit the policies we advocate for."

"We want to talk and deal with issues that are of concern to the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and we've not gotten any response," Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., told the Associated Press. "My opinion and the opinion of most of just about all of the members of the CBC is that the board met (with Trump). They gave him substantive issues which we wanted to deal with and they have not been dealt with."



Meeks added, "Until we can deal with substance and issues, what's the benefit of a meeting?"

The Congressional Black Caucus has 49 members, all but one of whom are Democrats.

Richmond's letter was in response to a June 9 invitation from White House aide Omarosa Manigault, who won fame as a contestant on "The Apprentice," Trump's long-running reality show.

Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Democrats acknowledged Wednesday that their anti-Trump campaign message has failed to connect with voters this year in the wake of two more party losses in House special elections.

Voters "want us to focus on jobs and the economy, Illinois Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos told Fox News Happening Now on Wednesday. I get almost no questions about Russia. I get no recommendations that I [should] support impeachment.  All of the other sideshows are not what people want us to focus on.

The moment of reflection comes after Republican Karen Handel defeated Jon Ossoff in Georgias closely watched House runoff, despite millions in out-of-state donations pouring into his campaign amid Democratic hopes that an Ossoff win would deliver a rebuke to President Trump.

Instead, Republicans cited Handels win as a rebuke to Democratic obstruction.

Democrats had entered the 2017 special elections expecting to ride the wave of opposition to Trump  hoping his low approval ratings, popular-vote loss and now-persistent allegations his campaign team colluded with Russians to influence the election would translate to Democratic support at the polls.

However, Democrats have lost all four House races so far this year where they sought to flip a Republican-held seat.

Georgias race marked their highest-profile defeat, in what became the costliest-ever House election.

The campaigns and outside groups combined to spend over $50 million. In terms of individual donations, Ossoff vastly outpaced Handel, with nearly $24 million to her $4.5 million -- though Handel was boosted by outside groups.

Democrats on Tuesday also lost a special election for the House seat held by Mick Mulvaney, now the White House budget director.

The other two races this year where Democrats failed to turn a seat from red to blue were in Kansas and Montana -- with their last chance coming Aug. 15 for the Utah seat of outgoing Rep. Jason Chaffetz.

Bustos was not the only Democrat to lament the conditions of the party in the wake of Tuesdays losses.

As the final returns in Georgias 6th Congressional District were tallied, Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton tweeted the loss better be a wakeup call for Democrats.

Business as usual isn't working. Time to stop rehashing 2016 and talk about the future, he continued in a series of tweets that within minutes became post-election news. "We need a genuinely new message, a serious jobs plan that reaches all Americans and a bigger tent, not a smaller one. Focus on the future."

At the House Democrats weekly meeting the next morning on Capitol Hill, caucus Chairman Joe Crowley addressed Moultons frustration.

The New York lawmaker said he also was disappointed and the party would evaluate the results of all 2017 races and have a healthy debate in which members will have an opportunity to express their concerns.

To the question of whether Democrats had focused too much on Trump and national issues, Crowley said the partys 2018 strategy to win control of the House by taking 24 GOP-held seats would include a mix of national and local issues.

We can walk and chew gum at the same time, he said.

Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, who unsuccessfully challenged Nancy Pelosi for her leadership post, was quoted in The New York Times saying, Our brand is worse than Trump.

Pelosi, meanwhile, remained upbeat  telling colleagues in a letter Wednesday, The House was in play before the Georgia race. The House remains in play now. She said Democrats will have to put forth their message.

While Democrats tried to tie Handel to Trump, Republicans linked Ossoff to House Minority Leader Pelosi -- with TV ads and mailers featuring images of her and reminders about Ossoffs campaign getting millions from wealthy East and West coast liberals like her.

Crowley suggested that tying a candidate to party leader is standard campaign practice, a line repeated hours later by Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell.

There are always questions about leadership.  Thats a reality of elections. Its all of our responsibility, she told Fox News Americas News HQ, amid renewed questions about Washington Democrats having failed to connect with working Americans.

David Payne, a Republican strategist and president of digital communications firm Codavate, said Wednesday that the parties were equally guilty of invoking Trump and Pelosi and that local politics still reigns supreme.

They wanted to nationalize the race, Payne said. They wanted to turn it into something like a beat down.

He pointed out that Ossoff eventually dumped the Make Trump Furious motto and made fiscally conservative promises like tax cuts for businesses in a district held by Republicans for nearly four decades.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who once held the Georgia seat in question, wrote on FoxNews.com, For the Left this race had been portrayed as a referendum on Trump. After Trumps tweets and robocalls, there was a verdict. Trump won.
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."
President Trump and his allies cheered Republican Karen Handel's victory Tuesday in the closely watched Georgia runoff as a clear endorsement of the administration's agenda -- and cast Democrats' special election losing streak as a rebuke of the party's "obstruction" tactics.

Democrats would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on Health Care, Tax Cuts, Security. Obstruction doesnt work! Trump tweeted.

Handels handy victory over Democrat Jon Ossoff follows GOP special election wins in Kansas, Montana and South Carolina.

Democrats did hold on to a seat in California earlier this month. But Republicans are now boasting a "5-0" record in special elections for seats Democrats sought to flip -- counting Georgia twice, as Ossoff was unable to lock down an outright win in the initial contest and lost to Handel in the runoff.

The Georgia race effectively had become a national battle, with Democrats pumping millions behind Ossoff and eager to cast a victory as a referendum on Trump. They didn't get it. Now the White House is claiming a referendum on congressional Democrats.

"Republicans are going to get tired of winning if the Democrats dont get an agenda," White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on "Fox & Friends."

Despite having the White House and both houses of Congress in Republican hands, Trumps ambitious plans have been largely stalled by Democratic opposition  though judicial reprimands and Republican infighting have also dealt Trump blows as he tries to overhaul health care, cut taxes and implement a contentious travel ban and "extreme vetting."

As hes faced pushback from more conservative members within his own party on some legislation  particularly health care  Trump has begun to court Democratic votes, which, to this point, have been elusive.

With a "resist" message, Democrats sought to make the recent special elections a referendum on Trump's unpopular first several months in office -- but that strategy appears to have backfired.

Tonight, the people of Georgias 6th District overwhelmingly voted not only for Karen, but also for President Trumps agenda of replacing our broken health care system, reforming an outdated tax code, and prioritizing infrastructure investment," Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. "For the fourth time since November, voters have rejected the Democrats agenda of obstruction and made it clear its time get to work for the American people and join President Trump's administration in Making America Great Again.

Trump also gloated about the win.

"Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and 0!" Trump tweeted late Tuesday. "All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0."

White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway also basked in the Republican winning streak, and dealt a cutting jab to those who predicted an Ossoff victory and accompanying voter rebuke of Trump -- both of which failed to emerge.

"Thanks to everyone who breathlessly and snarkily proclaimed #GA06 as a 'referendum on POTUS @realDonaldTrump'. You were right. #winning," Conway wrote in one tweet.

She added: "Laughing my #Ossoff."
Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson testified Wednesday that the Democratic National Committee last year turned down his agency's offer to help protect its network despite being warned about a hack.

He also confirmed that while Russia, at the direction of President Vladimir Putin, orchestrated cyberattacks on the United States to influence the 2016 presidential election, Moscow was unable to actually alter ballots.

To my current knowledge, the Russian government did not through any cyber intrusion alter ballots, ballot counts or reporting of election results, Johnson said during his opening statement before the House Intelligence Committee.

Johnson, who served in the Obama administration from December 2013 to January 2017, said his concerns about a cyberattack against the U.S. election systems intensified last summer. He added that he and his counterparts sounded the alarm but that the press and voters were focused on a lot of other things during the election season.

In August, he said he floated the idea of designating the countrys election infrastructure as critical  which would allow election officials to get cybersecurity help. Johnson testified that multiple secretaries of states turned down his offer and viewed any aid as the federal government trying to Big Brother the election.

Johnson also confirmed he went to the Democratic National Committee about a hack in their system but was told that the DNC did not feel it needed DHS assistance.

Sometime in 2016, I became aware of a hack into systems of the Democratic National Committee, Johnson said.  I pressed my staff to know whether DHS was sufficiently proactive, and on the scene helping the DNC identify the intruders and patch vulnerabilities. The answer, to the best of my recollection, was not reassuring: the FBI and the DNC had been in contact with each other months before about the intrusion, and the DNC did not feel it needed DHSs assistance at that time.

The FBI reportedly faced a similar rejection.

Emails from then-DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz ultimately were leaked ahead of the partys national convention in Philadelphia. Those emails seemed to show party officials conspiring to sabotage Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign. The incident led to Schultzs resignation.

During his testimony, Johnson also described steps he took once he learned about the Russian-backed hacking of the Democratic National Committee, his fears about an attack on the election itself as well as his rationale for designating U.S. election systems, including polling places and voter registration databases, as critical infrastructure in early January before President Trumps inauguration.

Johnson testified that 33 states and 36 cities and counties used his departments tools to scan for potential vulnerabilities. Johnson said he personally reached out to Gary Pruitt, CEO of The Associated Press, which counts votes.

Prior to Election Day, I personally reviewed with the CEO of The Associated Press its long-standing election-day reporting process, including the redundancies and safeguards in its systems, Johnson said.

On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Intelligence Committee heard Wednesday from federal officials as well as state election representatives about Russia cyber-meddling.

Connie Lawson, president-elect of the National Association of Secretaries of States, pointedly suggested Johnsons DHS held back information last year. She testified it was gravely concerning that state election officials only recently learned about the threat to voting systems, after DHS repeatedly told them no credible threat existed last fall.

Secretaries of state took part in three calls where ... Johnson was asked whether any documented threats existed, Lawson said, adding the calls took place Aug. 15, Sept. 8, and Oct. 12. Each time, Secretary Johnson was directly asked about specific, credible threats and each time he confirmed that none existed.

She also expressed concerns about DHS designating election systems as critical infrastructure without clear parameters.

In the same hearing, Acting Director of Undersecretary of National Protection and Programs Directorate at DHS Jeanette Manfra told lawmakers that 21 states were targeted in the presidential election.

But no votes were changed, Manfra said.

Ranking Member Mark Warner, D-Va., pressed Manfra on whether election officials were aware of the interference. All of the system owners are aware of the targeting, Manfra responded.

Fox News' Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
One day after President Trump appeared to give up on China as an effective mediator in the Wests long-running disputes with North Korea, two of the presidents most senior cabinet officials signaled that the administration has not altogether abandoned the use of China as an intermediary.

China understands that the United States regards North Korea as our top security threat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters Wednesday. We reiterated to China that they have a diplomatic responsibility to exert much great economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime if they want to prevent further escalation in the region.

Tillersons comments came after he and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis concluded the first session of a new ministerial-level forum for bilateral exchanges with China that was established by the Trump administration. Senior U.S. officials said they hope the Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, a channel similar to those employed by previous administrations, will be useful for increasing mutual trust between the U.S. and Beijing.

The already tense dynamic with North Korea intensified after Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old Ohio native held captive in North Korea for 17 months on spurious charges of subversion, was returned home last week in a near-comatose state. He died on Monday.

In public remarks, President Trump has appeared visibly moved by the incident, and on Tuesday, he tweeted in frustration: 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!

The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded early Wednesday with a spirited defense of its mediation efforts.

The crux and focal point of the nuclear issue does not lie with China, said ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang. We have been playing an important and constructive role in this regardand our efforts are indispensable.

Chinese officials said they had stepped up amid recent instability on the Korean peninsula and called on all parties to demonstrate collective wisdom.

Tillerson and Mattis met privately with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of the Peoples Liberation Armys Joint Staff Department. The Chinese delegation said nothing during a photo opportunity with reporters.

Later, during a brief news conference featuring only the American officials, Mattis spoke bluntly about the Warmbier case  but without him or Tillerson offering any indication as to how they intend to hold North Korea accountable for the students death, as numerous U.S. officials have vowed to do.

We see a young man go over there healthy and -- with a minor act of mischief -- come home dead basically, die shortly -- immediately after he gets here, Mattis said. There's no way that we can look at a situation like this with any kind of understanding. This goes beyond any kind of understanding of law and order, of humanity, of responsibility towards any human being.
Sen. Rob Portman met with the North Korean delegation to the United Nations in December seeking the release of Otto Warmbier, months before the American college student was returned to the U.S. in a coma and died, the senator's office revealed Wednesday.

Aides for Portman, R-Ohio, told Fox News that the senator provided the North Koreans with photos of Warmbier, who was from the Cincinnati-area, to emphasize that he was a college kid. The meeting was held in New York.

This was an innocent college kid who should have never been detained, Portman told reporters on Wednesday, while separately calling his attempts to deal with the North Koreans "futile."

Warmbier, 22, died on Monday, after returning to the United States last week in a coma. He had originally traveled to North Korea as part of a tour group when he was detained at Pyongyangs airport in January 2016.

Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor after being convicted of attempting to steal a propaganda banner. President Trump, after Warmbier's death, described his treatment as a "disgrace" -- the president has since suggested efforts to win China's help curbing North Korea's behavior will be shelved.

The December meeting, according to Portman's office, was carefully coordinated with the State Department.

A Portman aide said the senator and his staff stayed in close touch with the family throughout Warmbiers imprisonment, while pressing both the Obama and Trump administrations to pursue his release. The aide said Portman specifically urged North Koreas government to allow the Swedish ambassador to the country  the main U.S. conduit to Pyongyang  to meet with the American student.

All these requests were either ignored or denied, the aide said.

The State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

Portman also had requested consular access to Warmbier so that the United States, or an ally, could see how Warmbier was doing.

We didnt know for 15, 16 months what kind of condition Otto was in, Portman told reporters on Wednesday.

At a coffee with constituents on Wednesday morning, Portman said he visited Warmbier in the hospital on Sunday. But he said he did not succeed in getting Warmbier home safely and called his efforts after the initial meeting with the North Korean delegation futile.

Fox News' Mike Emanuel and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
The fate of Saudi Arabia's former crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, may have been sealed in March after his rival met with President Trump at the White House for a formal lunch.

President Trump met with Mohammad bin Salman, the 31-year-old son of Saudi Arabias King Salman. It was considered an unusual move and the media speculated on its significance.

King Salman, who is 81, is reportedly in declining health and there was a power struggle between the two princes. Politico, in an article titled, Trump Drawn into Saudi Game of Thrones, wondered, at the time, if Trump crossed some political line during the meeting.

I dont think that was necessarily his intention, Joseph W. Westphal, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President Obama, told the magazine. He is new at all of this, and I think he was probably trying to signal a warm welcome, but it was unusual and it could definitely signal to people back in Saudi Arabia that there is an effort being made there.

Whether there was a effort or not, Saudi Arabias King Salmans announced Wednesday that his son will be his heir-apparent. He stripped his son's former rival of his position of counter-terrorism chief.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the decision, but analysts see the royal family attempting to forge a solid relationship with Trump after rocky years with the Obama administration.

Saudi Arabia and the Obama administration did not see eye-to-eye on some major issues. The Iran nuclear deal was widely criticized in Riyadh.

Trump and Prince Mohammad bin Salman, during the meeting in March, reportedly touched on a series of topics and agreed that Iran is a major threat. After the meeting, a senior adviser to the prince said in a statement that the meeting was a turning point in relations between both countries.

The Associated Press reported that the warm ties forged between Riyadh and the Trump administration may have helped accelerate Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ascension as crown prince. The visit also helped lay the foundation for Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in May, which marked the president's first overseas visit.

Simon Henderson, the director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at the Washington Institute, told The New York Times that Trump and his team see Saudi Arabia as a crucial part of the Middle East and an important country to have a positive relationship with, even if there are irritants. This is at odds with the Obama administration, so they want to make that clear distinction.

The all-but-certain takeover of the throne by Prince Mohammed bin Salman awards near absolute powers to a prince who has ruled out dialogue with rival Iran, has moved to isolate neighboring Qatar for its support of Islamist groups and who has led a devastating war in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman raised eyebrows in the past when he framed the tensions with Iran in sectarian terms, saying it is Iran's goal "to control the Islamic world" and to spread its Shiite doctrine.

One of Prince Mohammed bin Salman's key jobs will be an economic one: to lessen The Kingdom's reliance on oil.

Faisal J. Abbas, the editor of Arab News, wrote in March, The new Saudi spirit, embodied in the deputy crown prince, is one that means business, and has made reform and progression its main mandate (compared to Tehran, which has only used the money from the nuclear deal to further spread chaos and terror in the region).

The Associated Press contributed to this report
President Donald Trump returned to Iowa Wednesday for a campaign-style event.

In his first trip to the state since he took office, Trump was expected to tour a local community college and tout his administrations commitment to improving internet access in rural areas as part of the White Houses technology week.

The Trump administration has hosted tech innovators and leaders as part of its technology-focused effort in the White House Office of American Innovation.

Heres what you should know about the event.

What should we expect from Trumps event?

Trump is expected to highlight his administrations efforts to increase internet connectivity to rural and agricultural areas nationwide, Ray Starling, a special assistant to the president for agriculture, told reporters.

While in Iowa, Trump will visit Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, a college the White House says is known for its innovation in the agriculture industry, according to the Washington Examiner. On its website, Kirkwood bills itself as the "largest two-year agriculture program in the nation."

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross are expected to join Trump on the tour of the college.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is not expected to attend. The senior lawmaker said on Twitter that he did not want to miss any Senate votes.

How can you watch this if youre not in Iowa?

The rally will air live on Fox News at 8 p.m. ET. FoxNews.com will also be live-blogging the event and will feature a live stream.

Where will the rally take place?

The event will take place at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids at 7 p.m. CDT. Doors open at 4 p.m.

Trumps rally was initially supposed to take place on June 1 but was postponed due to a change in the presidents schedule.

IOWA CONSERVATIVES WANTING TRUMP TO DELIVER MORE

This will be the first time Trump has visited the state since he took office. He last visited Iowa in December when he held an event in Des Moines as part of his Thank You tour following his election victory.

Where can you find tickets to the event?

People can register for tickets through Trumps website.

Homemade signs, banners, professional cameras with certain equipment, selfie sticks and backpacks are prohibited from the venue, according to the Des Moines Register.

What has been the reaction to the rally?

Many out-of-state supporters got to Iowa early enough to camp out overnight to see the president, according to Buzzfeed.

But The Gazette, the local newspaper, encouraged Trump to stop campaigning and meet personally with struggling Iowans in an open letter published on Tuesday.

Mr. President, the campaign is over. You won. Now is not the time to rally. Now is the time to sell your policies, listen to Americans with a stake in those efforts and govern, the editorial board wrote.

Many Iowa independents who voted for Trump in the November election are not happy with his presidency thus far, KCCI-TV reported. Those voters reportedly hoped Trump would be more graceful once in office and are frustrated by what they perceive as his distraction with the Russia investigation instead of being focused on health care and tax reform, according to KCCI.

Trump defeated Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton in Iowa in the general election, taking 51.8% of the vote to Clinton's 42.2%.
Sean Spicer, the White house press secretary, said Tuesday that he expects an announcement this week on whether there are taped phone conversations between President Trump and his former FBI director, James Comey.

So far Trump has, at best, been coy about his possession of such tapes.

In May, Trump fired a loud warning shot, tweeting, James Comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!

The president last month told reporters that "I'll tell you about that maybe sometime in the near future" but offered no hints as to whether the tapes exists, except saying that some journalists would "be very disappointed" to find out the answer.

The House intelligence committee has asked White House counsel Don McGahn to provide an answer to the question about tapes by Friday. Under a post-Watergate law, the Presidential Records Act, recordings made by presidents belong to the people and can eventually be made public. Destroying them would be a crime.

Comey testified before the Senate that Trump asked for his loyalty and asked for him to drop the probe into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Some have raised the possibility that Trump's request constituted obstruction of justice, but the president has yet to produce the tapes that could theoretically clear his name.

The investigation was originally launched to look into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. Trump has at times cast doubt on that conclusion, and Spicer said Tuesday that he has yet to discuss with the president whether he believes that Moscow was behind the election interference.

"I have not sat down and talked to him about that specific thing," Spicer said.

America's top intelligence officials have concluded that Russia undoubtedly interfered in America's 2016 presidential campaign. Characterizing it as the "high-confidence judgment of the entire intelligence community," Comey testified that there is no doubt that the Russians meddled "with "purpose," "sophistication" and technology. Trump, meanwhile, has dismissed investigations into the meddling and potential collusion with his campaign associates as a "witch hunt."

Robert Mueller, the special counsel now overseeing the investigation, is slated to meet with top members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. He will talk with the chairman of the committee, GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and the top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. He'll also meet with GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

Part of the reason for the meeting is to ensure there is no conflict between Mueller's probe and the work of the congressional committees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
Think losing a toe in ancient Egypt meant you'd be forever without one? Not so, at least in one case. Egyptologists from Switzerland's University of Basel have since 2015 been studying what a press release calls an "ancient Egyptian elite cemetery" near Luxor, and one of its finds was small but big: one of the oldest prosthetic devices ever found, which served to replace the right foot's big toe and was made with incredible skill.

The 3,000-year-old prosthesis was discovered in the upper-class tomb of a priest's daughter at plundered burial site Sheikh 'Abd el-Qurna and has now been re-examined. Not only is it attractive and functional, but "the mobility of the prosthetic extension and the robust structure of the belt strap" show it was made by an artisan who was "very familiar" with the human form.

At the Conversation, Jane Draycott of the University of Glasgow notes prostheses have also been found in ancient Greece, and advancements in this field likely followed war as soldiers with missing extremities returned home.

It isn't clear what happened to the priest's daughter, but researchers believe her toe was amputated and a pricey prosthetic fitted in its place. Using microscopy and X-rays, they determined the wooden toe was actually refitted at least three times, per UPI.

It shows "she had a certain living standard," researcher Andrea Loprieno-Gnirs tells Swiss Info. Ancient Egyptians "often wore sandals, so you can imagine that a well-formed foot was important," she adds, calling the prosthetic an "extraordinary" and "sensational find." (These mummy legs might belong to a royal.)

This article originally appeared on Newser: Egyptologists Examine 'Sensational' Discovery
A fungus worthy of its own horror film is on the loose, taking over the bodies of goldenrod soldier beetles and turning them into contagious zombies that can infect their beetle brethren, a new study finds.

The fungus has a creepy but foolproof modus operandi: About two weeks after it infects the goldenrod soldier beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus), it orders the beetle to climb up a plant and clamp its mandibles around a flower.

Then, the beetle dies, swinging like a scarecrow from the flower and giving the fungus ample opportunity to infect nearby beetles, said study lead investigator Donald Steinkraus, a professor of entomology at the University of Arkansas. [ See Photos of the Zombie Beetles Hanging from Flowers ]

Steinkraus first spotted these bizarre, zombie-like beetles on a research farm in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He remembers seeing hundreds of yellow-and-black soldier beetles on a patch of blooming wild asters. The beetles were eating pollen and mating  "the flowers were sort of like a dating site that also offered food," Steinkraus told Live Science in an email.

But the bucolic scene took a startling turn when Steinkraus took a closer look.

"On the flowers, I noticed that many beetles were dead, hanging onto the flowers just by their mandibles," Steinkraus said. "Their wings [were] dramatically opened and their abdomens [were] distended with what I recognized as an insect pathogenic fungus."

Zombie beetle

Adult C. pensylvanicus may look like wasps or bees, but they're actually harmless beetles and key pollinators that have a life span of a year, Steinkraus said. Their larvae are voracious, eating other insects and possibly even ticks, he added.

When Steinkraus realized that a fungus (Eryniopsis lampyridarum) was turning these "pretty" beetles into zombies, he gathered close to 500 living and dead specimens to study them, he said.

His experiments revealed that a beetle can get infected when fungal spores from a dead beetle attach to its body. There, the spores germinate and break through the beetle's exoskeleton and begin growing inside its body. Later, the fungus directs the beetle to climb up the plant and clamp down on it before dying on "the same flowers that healthy beetles are visiting to eat pollen and mate," Steinkraus said. He added that although it's not clear how the fungus directs the zombie beetles, it likely involves chemical signals.

"It hangs there all day, and the following night, at about 2 a.m., the fungus begins to grow out of the dead beetle's abdomen," he said. "At this time, the dead beetle opens its closed wings, expanding them as if in flight. This exposes the fungal spores and may also serve as an attractant for living healthy beetles."

It's "spooky" that the fungus can make the dead beetle open its wings, Steinkraus said.

"I compare this to human zombies dead bodies that can move," he said. "It would be like a dead human suddenly standing up and opening its arms."

There is no way to protect the beetles from the fungus, which can kill up to 20 percent of a population of soldier beetles every year, Steinkraus said. But, though unnerving, the fungus isn't that unique, he said.

"Microorganisms that cause disease in animals evolve strategies to maximize their chances of surviving by infecting more hosts," Steinkraus said. "Similar things occur even in humans, where a pathogenic (disease-causing) microorganism can affect the human host to aid in the pathogen's spread and survival."

The study was published in the September issue of the Journal of Invertebrate Pathology.

Original article on Live Science.
Mulling a career change? Finding job opportunities is about to get a lot easier, thanks to Google.

The Web giant on Tuesday launched a new job search experience for desktops and mobile devices, though its only available in English at this time. No more having to visit five different sites to look for job listings: You can now just type "jobs near me," "teaching jobs," or a similar query into Google to see what's available in your area.

"We're working with a number of organizations from across the industry to bring you the most comprehensive listing of jobsincluding LinkedIn, Monster, WayUp, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor and Facebook," Google Product Manager Nick Zakrasek wrote in a blog post. "This means you'll see job postings from these sites and many others from across the web as soon as they're posted."

You can sort jobs by category (like customer service, management, admin & office, healthcare, education, accounting & finance, computer & IT, and more), title (software engineer, analyst, registered nurse, product manager, physical therapist, maintenance worker), the date they were posted, the type of job (full-time, part-time, contractor, or internship), and more. Zakrasek said Google will add additional filters in the future to help you narrow the search.

If you're signed into Google, some job listings will even show the approximate commute from your house, so you don't have to map it. Many will also show reviews and ratings of the employer alongside the job description. You can also turn on alerts for your search to get emails about new postings you might be interested in.

"Whether you're a young adult looking for your first job, a veteran hoping to leverage your leadership experience in civilian life, or a parent looking for a job with better pay to support a growing family, we hope this new experience on Google will help make the job search simpler and more effective," Zakrasek wrote.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
LEBANON  Patty Frieze has been a Certified Nursing Assistant for 10 years, the last two years at the Edward C. Allworth Veterans Home.

On Wednesday morning, she was cooking sausage, scrambled eggs and making toast for one of the residents, something she never did at any other assisted living facility.

Just as the states newest veterans home operates differently than most others across the nation, so too its employees deliver care in a more personalized and resident-centered fashion.

Technically, Friezes job title is universal worker, a philosophy that encompasses the CNA jobs at the 154-bed home that opened in October 2014.

I love it, Frieze, the Albany resident, said. I love seeing how happy the residents are. They are happy to be living here and we are happy to help them.

Frieze said that in other facilities, residents' lives are scheduled as to when they get up, eat and go to bed.

Not at the veterans home.

Residents get up and go to bed when they want. While there is a daily meal schedule and menu of main entrees residents can choose to have something prepared off the menu, even if its a cheeseburger for breakfast or ice cream sundae at 10 p.m.

The kitchen is open 24 hours a day, Frieze said. If someone wants to eat at 9 p.m., well make something for them.

Frieze said the work and lifestyle is rewarding for employees, but also for the residents. In addition to cooking, staff members help residents with bathing, do their laundry and make sure they can get around the home, whether that is assisting them walking or in a wheelchair.

I leave here each day feeling satisfied, Frieze said. I know that Ive made a difference. Ive become a friend to some of the residents. They know we care about them. Some dont get many visitors.

CNS Katie Marshall of Lebanon has worked at the veterans home since before it opened officially for residents.

It doesnt compare to other settings, she said. We get to spend much more time with the residents. It feels like home here.

In fact, the homes operation is known as the small homes model. Residents have individual rooms and en suite bathrooms and share common areas such as the kitchen, meeting rooms and fireplace gathering spot.

Marshall says her cooking skills leave much to be desired, so she spends as much as time as possible working with residents on the floor or in their rooms.

I really love patient care, she said. We have several women in this home and it is fun to help them with their hair, nails and make-up.

Marshall said its easy to become attached to the residents.

We get close to the residents and their family members, so its really hard when we lose them, she said.

Last week, the veterans home was celebrating CNA week and each day was filled with fun events. Wednesday, Marshall was wearing a colorful umbrella hat and traded it for a florally decorated hat worn by resident Anna Elfering.

Judy Gott is the assistant director of nursing at the home, and Abe Andrade is the assistant administrator. He started his career as a CNA.

They said there are 178 CNAs on staff, along with 50 nurses. In all, the home has 300 employees.

Gott said it takes about six weeks to become a CNA and most go through a training program at Linn-Benton Community College. Students spend four weeks in class and two weeks on-site.

The course costs about $500, but if the CNA is hired by the veterans home, they will be reimbursed over three months.

CNAs must be at least 17 years of age and because they prepare meals for residents, must also obtain their food handlers certification.

Hourly pay starts at $13.20 and goes up to $19.50 plus benefits including medical and dental insurance, plus a child care stipend.

Employees can also develop their own work schedules.

Gott said it was difficult for some CNAs who came to the facility from other jobs to grasp the new style of resident care.

It was a struggle in the beginning. They were used to getting everyone up at the same time, getting them ready, taking them to breakfast and always being on a schedule, she said. Here, the schedule is patient-driven in all things.

Gott added, It was tough, but we made it. We want everyone to be self-motivated and the guiding principal is what can we do to honor these veterans. Staff has to be self-driven and customer-focused.

She said the home has a good mix of older and younger CNAs who each bring something valuable to the table each day.

Andrade said the home has a much lower staff-to-resident ratio than other state and private facilities, one to 4.5 residents during the day and one to seven residents at night.

At other facilities, the nighttime staffing could be one to as many as 17 residents.

There are currently five open CNA slots and Gott said it is common for CNAs to go on to become Registered Nurses, so she is anticipating more openings in the fall when college classes begin.

We encourage anyone interested in becoming a CNA to drop by and talk with me and take a tour of our facility, she said.

The Edward C. Allworth Veterans Home is at 600 North Fifth St., Lebanon, OR 97355.
Carnival Cruise Line was forced to redirect three of its ships in order to avoid rough seas caused by Tropical Storms Bret and Cindy.

The three liners  which had set sail from Miami; Galveston, Texas; and New Orleans, La.,  were all forced to change their itineraries and avoid scheduled ports because of the storms, reports The Miami Herald.

HOW SAFE ARE SWIMMING POOLS ON MEGA CRUISE SHIPS?

The Carnival Vista, which departed from Miami on Saturday, was rerouted due to Tropical Storm Bret and will now miss a stop in Curacao scheduled for Wednesday.

Bret, which crossed through the seas just northeast of South America, had been downgraded to a tropical wave by Tuesday afternoon, but Carnival didn't want the Vista to run any risks by continuing on with its itinerary.

Tropical Storm Cindy, meanwhile, was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, Carnival decided it would be in the best interest of passengers and crew if they diverted the Valor and Triumph liners away from the area.

The Valor, which left from Florida and was headed toward Mexico, and the Triumph, which left from New Orleans but was also headed toward Mexico, were both diverted from stops in Cozumel, on the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula, and instead dock in Progreso, on the northeastern side.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

The Triumph, however, has plans to sail around the peninsula to Cozumel on Thursday, the Herald reports.

A spokesman for Carnival told The Miami Herald that the cruise line is "closely monitoring" the storms and will reroute the ships again if necessary.
Colorados prudent Parks and Wildlife department has already warned residents against celebrating Nude Hiking Day, but that hasnt kept the states most freewheelin wilderness buffs from stripping down and heading out for a hike.

While not an officially recognized holiday by any country or municipality, Nude Hiking Day  or Hike Naked Day, as its also known  is reportedly observed by hikers across the world as a way to celebrate the summer solstice.

WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS PATH REOPENING TO HIKERS

But Colorado, in particular, is so wary of underdressed outdoorsmen that the state's Parks and Wilderness organization felt the need to deter local residents by threatening to ticket hikers for indecent exposure, reports Denver7 News.

"We would ask them to leave or put on clothing," added Lauren Truitt of Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPAW), which oversees 42 state parks and 300 state wildlife areas.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), on the other hand, claims it will deal with nude hikers on a case-by-case basis, and punishment would depend on how much of a nuisance each nudist is being, according to Denver7. Still, "anyone participating should remember that state and county law apply on public lands, as well," warned a BLM public affairs specialist.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Despite warnings from the CPAW and BLM, Instagram evidence shows that the nations most confident backpackers are still suiting up (figuratively) and hitting the trails in Colorado and elsewhere:

Denver7 further points out that a quick Google search for nude hiking groups results in dozen of results in the Colorado area.

Bring bug spray.
Rip currents in North Carolina have left four people dead in the past ten days.

Those who died in the rip currents include two teenage boys, a 56-year-old man who tried to rescue two teenage girls and a 21-year-old who was trying to help his friends.

Justin Eakes, 21, had almost made it out of the water at Atlantic Beach on Sunday when he went to help his friends, according to CBS News. Eakes died on Monday morning.

RIP CURRENTS LEAVE 1 DEAD, 2 MISSING AT JERSEY SHORE

Tyreese Worsley, 16, and Elijah Hinnant, 17, were swept away in a rip current in Emerald Isle almost two weeks ago. Worsley died on Monday after receiving treatment at a hospital, according to WNCT. Hinnants body was recovered one week ago after crews responded to an unidentified object in the water.

The 56-year-old rip current victim reportedly went into cardiac arrest and drowned after trying to save two teenage girls in the ocean.

To avoid getting stuck in a rip current, swimmers should only be in the water when lifeguards are present. They should also monitor water conditions before getting in by checking the local beach forecast and consulting with lifeguards, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
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.
Employees at the Omega Restaurant, located near 27th and Morgan on Milwaukee's south side, came to the rescue after the business was robbed by a man with a knife on Tuesday.

Police said a man entered the restaurant shortly before 5:00 a.m., took out a knife, and demanded money from an employee at the register.

"He grabbed the waitress that was standing there around her neck, held a knife up to her throat and she kind of screamed and was startled, obviously, and he pushed her," said Angela Hernandez, Omega manager.

Surveillance video shows the suspect then point his knife at another employee. Hernandez said the suspect instructed him to open the cash register.

"And as he grabbed the money, the guys from the back came out to help. So he took off running. The guys followed him. They tackled him in the parking lot," said Hernandez.

Two cooks, a dishwasher and a bus boy held the armed thief down and turned him over to police once officers arrived. The stolen money was returned to the restaurant.

"We're like one big family. We all watch out for each other," said Hernandez.

Read more from FOX 6 Milwaukee.
The mother of Ethan Couch, the Texas teen who used an affluenza defense after he killed four people in a 2013 drunken-driving crash, may have violated her bond -- by drinking alcohol last week, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Tonya Couch has been free pending trial on charges of hindering apprehension of a felon and money laundering. She and her son Ethan escaped to Mexico in 2015 after a video surfaced that apparently showed him at a party and drinking alcohol, a violation of his probation. Both were arrested at the resort town of Puerto Vallarta and sent back to the U.S.

BATMAN CAME TO RESCUE, LITERALLY, AT A TEXAS WALMART

Prosecutors filed a motion in court on Tuesday alleging that on June 16, Tonya Couch drank alcohol, which is a violation of her bond, Fox 4 reported. The prosecutors asked for Couch to be put in custody until her Oct. 2 trial, according to the Star-Telegram.

TEXAS ALLIGATOR LASSOED AFTER TRESPASSING ON CATTLE RANCH

Couch tends a bar at Honky Tonk Woman in suburban Fort Worth, Texas. Her bond stated that she cannot consume alcohol but is allowed to possess it.

The Couchs made headlines in 2013 after a psychologist hired by the defense blamed affluenza  acting irresponsibly due to his wealth, was the cause of Ethan Couchs actions. Hes serving two years in jail as a condition of his 10 years probation.

Click for more from Fox 4.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A military pilot at Houstons Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base was injured Wednesday after ejecting from an F-16 that caught fire on the ground, the Houston Fire Department said in a pair of tweets.

The pilot was transported to a hospital with minor injuries, officials said.

Fire crews were en route to Ellington to assist with the downed plane, which reportedly caught on fire just before takeoff around 10:45 a.m. local time.

The field was closed and placed under an evacuation order covering a 4,000 square-foot radius after the incident. Authorities said there was no threat to any nearby residents.
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.
Lawyers for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl are seeking to limit the severity of punishments he could face through new arguments attacking the structure of the case against him.

One motion slated for argument at a hearing Wednesday contends the most serious charge against Bergdahl, who's from Idaho, should be dismissed because his actions didn't rise to the level of criminality required to trigger the rare offense.

Another motion argues that his capture by the Taliban prevented him from returning to his comrades during the period when he's accused of the separate charge of desertion.

A legal scholar not involved in the case, Eric Carpenter, said defense attorneys could have a tough time convincing the judge of those arguments, but a favorable ruling on either could help steer the case away from harsher punishments.
Linn Countys unemployment rate dipped to 4.1 percent in May, according to state data released on Tuesday.

For the fifth straight month, the county either tied or set another record-low unemployment figure.

Meanwhile, across the Willamette River, Benton Countys unemployment rate stayed the same at 2.8 percent  the lowest mark in the state, as usual, thanks in large part to the presence of Oregon State University.

The economy is rolling along for the mid-Willamette Valley, as well as the state of Oregon, which saw its seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate drop to 3.6 percent in May, the lowest figure since the state began tracking comparable data in 1976.

We kind of keep following the state trend, said Patrick OConnor, regional economist with the Oregon Employment Department. Essentially, were staying at a very low level.

Typically, Oregons rate is almost always higher than the national rate, but that was 4.3 percent for May.

Linn County being below the national unemployment rate, that rarely ever happens, OConnor said.

More good news could be on the way for the next round of statistics, as WinCo, soon to open, hopes to have 170 workers when the doors open.

Im not sure how full-staffed they are going to be. Its a tough time to be hiring so many folks, OConnor said.

But thats certainly good news that we know we have a significant employer coming online in the area that is looking to hire the few unemployed people who are out there, he added.

Linn County

Linn Countys seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped from a revised April rate of 4.2 percent.

The 4.1 percent for May is the lowest local mark since the state began tracking county-by-county data in 1990.

Linn County has added 1,370 workers in the last year, for 3.1 percent job growth.

Thats faster that both the state, which saw 2.5 percent employment growth, and the nation, which saw 1.5 percent job growth.

The private sector in Linn County grew by 3.2 percent, and the public sector jumped 2.2 percent in the past year.

The fastest growing private-sector industries for Linn County included construction, up 240 jobs or 9.3 percent, information, up 20 jobs or 5.6 percent, and manufacturing, up 410 jobs or 5.4 percent.

Manufacturing gaining 400 jobs in the past year, that is certainly big growth in that industry. Thats one of the reasons were doing so well in terms of our unemployment rate and our overall economy, OConnor said.

Linn County now has about 1,370 more jobs than it did at its prerecession employment peak in February 2008.

Benton County

Corvallis, Philomath and surrounding areas added 910 jobs over the past year, for a 2.1 percent increase.

Benton Countys private sector added 500 jobs over the past year, for 1.8 percent growth. The public sector added 410 jobs and was up 2.7 percent.

The fastest growing private-sector industries for Benton County over the past year were professional and business services, up 300 jobs or 7 percent, mining, logging and construction, up 40 jobs or 3.3 percent, and education and health services, up 160 jobs, or 2.4 percent.

Benton Countys employment level is 3,850, or 9.9 percent, above its prerecession employment peak in November 2007.
Border Patrol agents in southern New Mexico arrested a 33-year-old woman who was allegedly smuggling a Mexican man in the trunk of her car.

The smuggling attempt prompted agents to warn border residents about the dangers of smuggling in extreme weather conditions, particularly the heat. This week, temperatures in the area have been well over 100 degrees, and forecasted to top out at 111 on Friday.

Agent Oscar Cervantes said the weather is a factor when its hot or cold. In the heat, he said, smuggled migrants could suffer dehydration, heat stroke and suffocate from a lack of oxygen.

There are different things that can go wrong being locked up in the trunk of a car, said Cervantes.

Some smugglers also walk migrants for long distances in remote desert areas, swim across irrigation canals and cram immigrants into other vehicle compartments. But agents said new technology and deception-detection skills help catch people smuggling both humans and contraband.

The woman in Mondays smuggling attempt was identified as Kristal De Jesus Guzman. She was also arrested on May 11 for attempting to smuggle an undocumented immigrant into Laredo, Texas.

The incident happened when agents at the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-10 outside Las Cruces were conducting immigration inspections. They noticed a vehicle traveling on a county road.

Nobody takes those county roads. It parallels the checkpoint. It basically goes around the checkpoint and the regular public doesnt really have access to it, said Cervantes.

Cervantes said it gave agents reasonable suspicion to stop the driver. When police officers ran her name through a database, they learned Guzman was arrested in May for smuggling.

A canine was used, which alerted the agents to the trunk of the car. Agents found a 25-year-old Mexican national hidden behind boxes and blankets. The man was in good health and did not need medical attention.
Thousands of people have braved daunting temperatures and the treacherous and rugged terrain of northern New Mexicos mountains in search of a $2 million treasure buried in a publicity stunt that has claimed at least one life.

Now, officials are asking adventurous tourists to rethink their pursuit of the windfall  which may not even exist.

The treasure chest  buried by author Forrest Fenn, a self-described risk-taker  is reportedly deep in the mountains and filled with gold and precious gems.

Fenn dared people to find it.

A Colorado man who took the challenge died last year searching for Fenns treasure. This month, the stunt may have claimed another victim, prompting authorities to ask Fenn to end the hunt.

Fenn says hes considering it.

NEW MEXICO POLICE URGE AUTHOR WHO SAYS HE HID TREASURE TO END HUNT

That is an option, but I have not made a decision yet," Fenn told Fox News on Tuesday. Today I have received over 200 emails urging me to not call off the hunt, and two that think I should.

Colorado pastor Paris Wallace, 52, has been missing for more than a week and on Monday police said a body had been found near the Rio Grande River not far from where Wallaces vehicle was. The body has yet to be identified. Wallace, of Grand Junction, Colo., told his family he wanted to find the hidden treasure.

Whether the treasure exists or not and regardless of what Mr. Fenn's motivation was for announcing this treasure hunt, said Lt. Elizabeth Armijo, a spokeswoman for the New Mexico State Police, the pursuit of the treasure is not worth risking ones life or the lives of dedicated [search-and-rescue] and law enforcement personnel.

PASTOR'S DISAPPEARANCE REIGNITES DEBATE OVER TREASURE HUNT

Wallace, who was a lead pastor, was last seen June 12 north of Santa Fe. After missing a meeting last Wednesday, police were notified. Investigators found his 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe in the small hamlet of Pilar, in Taos County. Nearby, they found what is believed to be his backpackand personal belongings on Saturday.

The next day, a mans body was found in the Rio Grande Gorge, some 7 miles from where the vehicle was found. Police had not definitively confirmed the identity of the body, but evidence seems to suggest that it belongs to Wallace.

Fenn expressed his sorrow and regret at the possibility that Wallace died searching for his treasure. But his death would not be the first one attributed to the treasure hunt.

In January 2016, Randy Bilyeu, 54, disappeared along the Rio Grande River in northern New Mexico also in search of the elusive and miniscule bronze treasure chest that is said to measure only 10 inches by 10 inches and weighs 40 pounds. It allegedly contains 265 gold coins, gems, rubies and hundreds of gold nuggets, two of which are the size of eggs.

Bilyeu, like the more than 60,000 estimated treasure hunters who have scoured the wilds of New Mexico and even Yellowstone Park, was unsuccessful. But he paid for the venture with his life. On July 14, his remains were located outside of Santa Fe.

TREASURE HUNTER VANISHES SEARCHING FOR $2 MILLION IN GOLD

At the time, Bilyeus ex-wife expressed her anger at Fenn.

I think that Fenn should man up and provide some concrete evidence that the chest is real, Linda Bilyeu told Fox News then.

The New Mexico Tourism Department has even exploited the craze as a tool to attract tourists.

The New Mexico Tourism Department released a video promoting the search. Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Latham has said the excitement generated by the chance of unearthing $2 million worth of gold and gems is a gift that keeps on giving.

In the wake of one and likely two deaths associated with the search, Fox News reached out to the New Mexico Tourism Department for a comment. The agency said no officials were available. New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas told the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper that Fenn should call off the search and, "stop this nonsense."

The odyssey began nearly seven years ago when Fenn self-published a swashbuckling daring-do memoir called The Thrill of the Chase. Fenn himself is a self-described adventurer. As a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, he was shot down twice and safely rescued both times. In his self-published memoir, Fenn essentially dares readers to look for the treasure by giving them nine clues.

HIDDEN TREASURE LURED MISSING PASTOR TO NEW MEXICO WILDERNESS

There must be a few Indiana Jones types out there, like me, ready to throw a bedroll in a pickup and start searching with a reasonable chance of discovering a treasure chest containing more than 20 troy pounds of gold, he wrote. I knew exactly where to hide the chest so it would be difficult to find, but not impossible. Its in the mountains somewhere north of Santa Fe.

Fenn continued to harken the romanticism of the southwest in his sequel, Too Far to Walk, which may have a tinge of irony attached given recent tragedies. That book was published in 2013 and contains one clue and a rough rendition of a treasure map.

The treasure hunt has even become an obsession on social media.

Some contend the treasure hunt is a marketing ploy to encourage people to purchase Fenns extremely costly books.

Bilyeus ex-wife believes its all a hoax.

Theres no treasure, she told the Albuquerque Journal after her ex-husbands remains were found. Its not real. He lost his life for a hoax.

But Wallaces wife of 30 years, Mitzi Wallace, believes there is a treasure and said she would continue searching for it with her 19-year-old son  including the area where police believe her husband died. She said it would be a mistake for Fenn to end the hunt.

She told the Associated Press that her husband sometimes risked his life for wild adventures.

I know without a shadow of a doubt, she told the AP, that it was God's way of taking him."
More than a dozen Colorado teachers received training on how to fire back at active shooters in schools, in a program that gun-rights advocates call essential.

Laura Carno, the founder of Coloradoans for Civil Liberties, described its program in a nutshell as training for teachers and other school staff who are armed first responders in their school.

Carno described the training as necessary for rural school districts, who have law enforcement that is 30-45 minutes away according to KUSA. They are their own first responders, says Carno.

CONGRESSIONAL BASEBALL PRACTICE SHOOTING SPARKS GUN DEBATE

One of the teachers participating, Ronnie Wilson, says he hopes to open a K-12 charter school in Colorado Springs. He said he gets questions in equal numbers about school safety and academics from parents. Im looking for every possible venue and avenue to ensure the safety of students.

The kind of training that I have personally received is something beyond what I could have received through the sheriffs office, just for my conceal-carry permit, Wilson told Fox 31.

Wilson is the only one of the 17 teachers and staff who was willing to share his identity. Carno described the importance of hidden identities of armed teachers. Theres a confidentiality aspect to all of this, as well. Each participating school district can decide how public  or private  it wants to be when it comes to having staff members at this training exercise, and who will be armed at school," said Carno.

By protecting teacher's schools and identities, the rest of the school is kept safer as well. Carno said, its also for the staff members protection because no one wants a potential armed shooter to know in advance, which staff member will be armed at any given time.

In Colorado, law permits school staff members to carry concealed weapons, contingent on a permit and a designation as a safety officer. Although some teachers already carry weapons, not everyone is on board with the training.

Tom Mauser is a member of Colorado Ceasefire. His son, Daniel, was killed in the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School. Mauser says these teachers are not going to get the level of training that law enforcement or really high trained security guards are going to have.

MY DAUGHTER WAS KILLED AT COLUMBINE BUT HER LIFE STILL INSPIRES STUDENTS EVERYWHERE

While Mauser supports security guards, he sees the program as problematic. Mauser argues that if a teacher is returning the cross fire, law enforcement coming on the scene not knowing who the good guy and bad guy is could amplify the situation.

Ken Toltz, founder and co-chair of Safe Campus Colorado, shares the same sentiments as Mauser. In a statement provided to KUSA, Toltz said the dangers of adding guns to a school environment are dramatically increased by allowing loaded weapons into a school environment on a daily basis.

According to Carno, there are 20 people on the waiting list for the next session.

Click for more from Fox 39 Denver.
The stabbing of a police officer at a Michigan airport Wednesday by a Canadian citizen who yelled "Allahu Akbar" and referenced people being killed in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan is being investigated by the FBI as an act of terrorism, officials said.

FBI Special Agent in Charge David P. Gelios said at a news conference Amor Ftouhi, a 49-year-old Canadian citizen, entered Bishop International Airport in Flint around 9:45 a.m. and went to a restroom before dropping both of his bags, coming out with a knife and yelling "Allahu Akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great," before stabbing Officer Jeff Neville in the neck.

Ftouhi said something similar to "you have killed people in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die" as he was being arrested, according to Gelios. He also used a 12-inch knife with an 8-inch serrated blade, he added.

The Canadian citizen was motivated to come to the airport and conduct this act of violence out of a "hatred of the United States," according to Gelios. He legally entered the U.S. at Lake Champlain in New York on June 16, and then made his way to Flint, according to Gelios.

Police in Canada were searching a Montreal apartment late Wednesday. Montreal police spokesman Benoit Boiselle told the Associated Press officers with their department were assisting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the search on behalf of an FBI request.

A number of police stood guard outside the apartment building in the east end of Montreal located in St-Michel borough. Canadian TV footage showed police escorting at least one person from the building where Ftouhi is believed to have lived.

Boiselle said three people staying at the residence had been taken in for questioning.



Luciano Piazza, the building landlord, said Ftouhi was not a difficult tenant and that he is married with children.



"I never had any problems with him," Piazza said. "I'm really surprised. I would see him at least once a month, when he paid his rent."

Federal prosecutors have charged Ftouhi with committing violence at an airport. The entire attack took place outside of the TSA screening area at the airport.

Flint Airport Director of Public Safety Christopher Miller said Neville is in "satisfactory condition," and "doing fine." Miller said Neville "fought him till the end" until the suspect was able to be handcuffed.

The FBI added in the criminal complaint that Ftouhi asked an officer who subdued him why he didn't kill him.

The FBI said this is believed to be an isolated incident and that there was "nothing to suggest a wider plot."

A White House official confirmed to Fox News that President Trump has been briefed on the stabbing.

"I want to assure all our law enforcement across the nation, any attack on someone who serves and protects our citizens will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. "I am proud of the swift response from the FBI and our federal prosecutors and their partnership with local police and the Canadian authorities. Our prayers are with the officer and his family for a full recovery."

Law enforcement agencies in Canada are in touch with their U.S. counterparts and are assisting in every way possible, Canadian Embassy spokesperson Christine Constantin told Fox News. Constantin said Canada condemns this "heinous and cowardly act," and that "our thoughts and sympathies are with the officer and his loved ones."

Ken Brown told The Flint Journal he was dropping off his daughter at the airport and saw the officer bleeding from his neck. He says he saw a man detained by police and a knife on the ground.

"The cop was on his hands and knees bleeding from his neck," Brown said. "I said they need to get him a towel."

Cherie Carpenter, who was awaiting a flight to Texas to see her new grandchild, tells Flint TV station WJRT she saw the attacker being led away in handcuffs. She described the man in custody as appearing "blank, just totally blank."

Genesee County Commissioner Mark Young, a friend of Neville, called him "an honorable man" whom he worked with at the county Sheriff's Department, according to MLive.

Neville was a lieutenant with the airport's police department, said Young, who met with the victim's family and at the hospital today.

"As expected, they are shook up. They are concerned," he told MLive.

The FBI is the lead agency on the scene. State police troopers, along with ATF agents, are also at the airport investigating.

The airport was closed for several hours as a result of the stabbing. The airport posted Wednesday on Facebook that passengers were safe and were being told to check for flight delays or cancellations.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder asked state residents to "keep the attacked officer in your thoughts and prayers" on Twitter.

The stabbing is the second evacuation at Bishop International Airport this month. In the previous incident, the airport terminal was evacuated June 8 after officers noticed a suspicious bag. The bag turned out to contain nothing dangerous.

Genesee County Commissioner Mark Young, a friend of Neville's who retired from the Genesee County sheriff's office in 1997, said Neville left that department two years after him. He said Neville served in various capacities with the sheriff's office including in the jail, on road patrol and as a court officer. Neville retired from that department as a lieutenant.

Young said he headed to the airport when he learned about the stabbing Wednesday. He said once he got there, he "tried to assess and work with emergency management and emergency response teams from the sheriff's department, kind of trying to see what was going on."

"Things were chaotic, but very well organized and under control -- how the sheriff's department was handling things and how Bishop International was handling things," he said.

A few miles away, officials stationed police officers at Flint City Hall after the incident. Mayor Karen Weaver said in a release the situation was "under control" but that officials sought to take "extra precautions."

Fox News' Jake Gibson, Catherine Herridge, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Georgia pastor on Friday was sentenced to 28 months in prison after stealing more than $200,000 in donations from his former church, Second African Baptist Church.

Corey Megill Brown, 47, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to mail fraud in December, WCTV reported. The fraud case led authorities to the embezzlement, which occurred between 2008 and 2014, the U.S. Attorneys Office for Georgias Southern District said.

MISSISSIPPI NURSE ARRESTED FOR ALLEGED OPIOID EMBEZZLEMENT

Authorities said that Brown deposited the stolen funds in an account labeled Romans 12 Ministries over a 10-year period that he used for personal expenses: buying lingerie and making mortgage payments, Savannah Now reported.

In addition to his prison sentence, Brown also was ordered to pay Second African Baptist Church more than $178,000.

Brown previously was a chaplain for the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Harvards decision to rescind admissions over social media violates free speech, professor says

For many, it's a dream come true. Acceptance into the oldest institution of higher education in the United States, Harvard.

But for at least 10 incoming freshmen, the dream was dashed after they were caught participating in an exchange of images, or 'memes', in a private Facebook messaging group.



Many of the posts were described as racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic. Some mocked sexual assault or violence.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY REPORTEDLY PULLS 10 STUDENT OFFERS OVER ONLINE COMMENTS

The prestigious school rescinded admission, a move Harvard's own professor of law, Alan Dershowitz, described as over-punishment and draconian.



"Harvard is a private university, technically not bound by the First Amendment, but since I got to Harvard 53 years ago, Harvard has committed itself to following the First Amendment and I think this violates the spirit and the letter of the First Amendment," said Dershowitz.

Harvard officials declined Fox News request for an interview, stating: "We do not comment publicly on the admissions status of individual applicants."

However, the school reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission for many reasons, including student behavior that "brings into question their honesty, maturity, or moral character."

THINK BEFORE YOU POST: ADMISSIONS EXPERTS' SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS

Rachel Blankstein, the co-founder of Spark Admissions, a Massachusetts-based consulting business that helps students gain admission to top U.S. colleges and universities, said Harvard's move did not shock her.



"They also have a highly selective admissions process in which they're looking for students with strong moral character," said Blankstein. "It's really not about free speech, it's about character."



Blankstein noted that all elite institutions have a code of conduct, adding "I would not be surprised if other schools would have made the same decision."

Harvard's call may well serve as a cautionary tale for hopeful college applicants and those who have already gained admittance.

"My first day teaching students both at Harvard College and Harvard Law School, I warn them about the social media, Dershowitz said. I warn them about putting things on Facebook that will come back to haunt them  and they just don't seem to get it."


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.

MORE: GOP BOASTS DEMOCRATS ARE '0-5' IN SPECIAL HOUSE RACES

VIDEO: CHAD PERGRAM ON LESSONS LEARNED 2018 RAMAFICATIONS?

CHANGES IN SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Wednesday appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, placing him first-in-line to the throne and removing the country's counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington from the line of succession.

Mohammed bin Salman met with President Trump in Washington in March for a formal lunch, which raised the eyebrows of some experts.

UBER CEO RESIGNS

Uber Technologies co-founder Travis Kalanick stepped down as chief executive of the ride-hailing service, following intense pressure from investors, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

FOX BUSINESS: UBER TO ALLOW TIPS FOR DRIVERS

FOX BUSINESS: UBER DRIVER FINED FOR VIOLATING ENGLISH-SPEAKING RULE

PRO-ISIS MILTANTS STORM PHILIPPINES SCHOOL

About 300 pro-ISIS militants on Wednesday stormed a school in the southern Philippines and are holding students hostage, Reuters reported.

Philippine officials say Muslim rebels are engaging troops in a gunbattle in Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato in an attack that may be an attempt to divert the military's focus away from the militants who have laid siege on southern Marawi city.

COMING UP ON FOX NEWS CHANNEL

2 PM ET: HHS Secretary Tom Price hosts a listening session on Healthcare at the White House. Watch live on FoxNews.com

7: 25 AM ET: President Trump makes short remarks on agriculture technology. Watch live on FoxNews.com

8 PM ET: President Trump participates in a 'Make America Great Again' rally. U.S. Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids. Watch live on FoxNews.com

COMING UP ON FOX BUSINESS

7 AM ET: Grover Norquist, Americans For Tax Reform president, will appear on 'Mornings with Maria'

8 AM ET: Rep. Pete King , R-NY, will be a guest on 'Mornings with Maria'

9:45 AM ET - Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., will be on 'Varney & Company'

9:50 AM ET: Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., will be a guest on 'Varney & Company'
New Mexico's 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 Fenn's treasure.

Colorado pastor Paris Wallace disappeared last week while searching for the bounty in a rugged area along the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico. His family reported him missing, triggering an extensive search.

State Police believe a body recovered Sunday is Wallace's. Medical investigators were working Tuesday to make a positive identification.

Kassetas told reporters that Fenn should retrieve the treasure from wherever he hid it and stop what he called nonsense and insanity.

"He's putting lives at risk," the chief said, noting that he planned to contact Fenn personally to ask him to call off the hunt.

Fenn did not respond to emails from The Associated Press asking about Wallace's disappearance and the calls to end the search for the cache of gold coins, jewels and other artifacts he claims to have hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

Fenn 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 Wallace's disappearance tragic.

The 52-year-old pastor traveled to the Espanola area last week. His wife reported him missing Wednesday after he didn't return home and hotel staff informed her that his belongings were still in his room.

Police and wildlife officials searched forest and county roads and popular hiking trails.

After looking at Wallace's laptop, authorities learned of other locations where he might have gone. They eventually found his vehicle along the Rio Grande.

At the edge of the water, officers saw two red ropes tied together and to a large rock. Receipts in Wallace's vehicle indicated the ropes belonged to him.

Rescuers spent two days searching the river until rafters spotted a body downstream  about 7 miles from where Wallace was last believed to have been.

Authorities say the search effort required extensive resources, including air support, the state police dive team, numerous officers, canine teams and volunteers.

Mitzi Wallace, Wallace's fellow treasure hunter and wife of 30 years, said it would be a mistake for Fenn to end the hunt, and she would continue to search for the treasure with her 19-year-old son, including in the area where authorities believe her husband died.

"Our treasure is that time we spend together," she told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

She added without elaborating that her husband put himself in a dangerous situation that cost him his life. But "I know without a shadow of a doubt that it was God's way of taking him."

Efforts to find wayward treasure hunters have put the lives of law enforcement officers and search and rescue volunteers at risk while straining state resources, Kassetas said.

New Mexico's search and rescue team launched a survey Tuesday on whether Fenn should call off the search.

"Over the years, as people have searched for this treasure, some have ended up getting into trouble and needing help from search and rescue. At least two have lost their lives looking for the treasure chest," the survey says.

Last year, searchers spent weeks looking for Randy Bilyeu, another Colorado man who disappeared in the New Mexico backcountry while looking for the loot.

Volunteers led by Bilyeu's ex-wife eventually picked up where the official search left off, and Bilyeu's remains were found several months later.
A man accused of breaking into a home in Carolina beach reportedly ended up getting into a fight with the resident.

Scott Hettinger with the Carolina Beach Police Department tells WECT-TV they found the suspect, John Alexander Bracken, laying in the front yard of the home after being called out on a breaking and entering.

Officers determined that Bracken had kicked in the front door of the home, only to find the resident inside. That's when the resident started beating the suspect to protect his property, according to WWAY-TV.

The resident was not injured.

Bracken was taken to the New Hanover County Jail under $7.500 bond. He faces charges of burglary, injury to real property and injury to personal property.

Click for more from Fox 46.


It's a trial balloon that presidents float from time to time: Let's sell off the transmission assets of the Bonneville Power Administration.

The idea was kicked around in both the Reagan and Clinton administrations. The proposals in both cases drew heavy regional opposition and eventually were scuttled.

There's a relatively simple explanation why the proposal hasn't gotten much traction: It's a bad idea.

It's still a bad idea. And that's why this proposal from the Trump administration is almost certain to run out of juice well before the federal budget is approved.

The basic reasoning behind the proposal, part of the Trump administration's 2018 budget plan, is the same as it was during the Reagan and Clinton administrations. "Ownership of transmission assets is best carried out by the private sector where there are appropriate market and regulatory incentives," according to the documents outlining the proposal. Selling Bonneville's transmission assets, the document said, "would encourage a more efficient allocation of economic resources and mitigate risk to taxpayers."

And that might be true, in theory at least. But as The Oregonian's Ted Sickinger explained in a recent story examining the proposal, it likely would play out quite differently in the real world.

A bit of background will come in handy: The Bonneville Power Administration markets wholesale electrical power from 31 federally owned hydroelectric projects in the Northwest, along with a handful of other facilities. BPA provides about 28 percent of the electric power used in the Northwest. Bonneville also operates and maintains about three-quarters of the high-voltage transmission in its service territory, which mostly includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho and western Montana. It sells that power at cost, which is part of the reason why electrical power tends to cost less in the Northwest than in other parts of the country.

The Trump proposal aims to put the BPA's transmission grid on the market for $4.9 billion; the money presumably would pay off some of the agency's federal debt. But a number of experts consulted by The Oregonian were scratching their heads over that $4.9 billion number: It's much less than the $9.1 billion cost of the assets and also less than the $6.1 billion depreciated number on Bonneville's balance sheet.

To put it bluntly: At $4.9 billion, it would be a steal for a company that had the necessary resources to write the check.

And such a sale likely would be bad news for BPA's customers: The Oregonian quoted a Portland-based energy economist who estimated that a sale at that price would raise transmission rates by 26 to 44 percent, as a private company added a regulated profit margin and income taxes into the equation. Guess who would pay that additional cost?

Such a deal would hammer industrial customers in the Northwest that rely on relatively low-priced Bonneville power to keep their doors open. It could toss a sizable wrench into Oregon's economic recovery. And residential customers would feel the pinch as well.

Bonneville itself would take a hit: The Oregonian quoted industry analysts who noted that the sale of the transmission services would shrink the agency's most reliable source of revenue. The agency's credit rating likely would suffer as a result.

No wonder that the proposal drew immediate opposition from a bipartisan group of lawmakers. Our hunch is that the sale of Bonneville's transmission services won't even get close to the final budget document, especially considering that budgeting is the province of Congress.

As far as we can see, the only winners in this BPA proposal would be those well-heeled companies who already are counting on enriching themselves during the Trump administration. The rest of us would lose out. This seems to be emerging as a regular theme in this administration. (mm)
A North Carolina man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly kidnapping a family and forcing them to take him shopping at Target.

Rollin Anthony Owens Jr., 29, came to the Durham home about 7 a.m. and demanded the family hand over money, WTVD reported. The family -- a man, woman and two children -- gave him cash, but he then held them at gunpoint and forced them to drive him around, police said.

PARKING LOT ATTACK: VIDEO RELEASED OF MAN TARGETING TEEN OUTSIDE NEW HAMPSHIRE GYM

They stopped at an ATM to withdraw money, then headed to the convenience store before stopping at Target, according to police. Owens had the family shop for him inside the store, purchasing several bags of clothes and gift cards, WTVD reported.

One of the family members eventually alerted a Target employee, who called 911. The employee told police a "man with a gun" was holding people outside in the parking lot, the report said.

Officers arrested Owens and charged him with second-degree kidnapping and robbery with a dangerous weapon, according to WTVD.

Authorities also discovered Owens was a suspect in a string of other robberies. He faces additional charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon, second-degree kidnapping and assault by pointing a gun.

Owens is being held in jail on a $41 million bond.
A New York State Supreme Court judge was scammed out of more than $1 million after she was duped while trying to sell her apartment and buying another.

Lori Sattler, an acting State Supreme Court justice, was trying to sell her Upper East Side apartment when she received an email she thought was sent to her by her real estate lawyer, the NY Daily News reported.

PASTOR, WIFE ARRESTED FOR BRINGING INFANT TO BAR, PARTYING AND BREASTFEEDING WHILE DRUNK

The person claiming to be her lawyer told her in the June 7 email to wire $1,057,500 to a specific account. The money was forwarded to Commerce Bank of China, she told police.

Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the Office of Court Administration, declined to comment to the Daily News.

It is correct that the judge was the victim of a crime  and as it is a pending criminal matter we cant comment any further, Chalfen said.

MEXICAN-AMERICAN YOUTUBE STAR LEGALLY CHANGES NAME TO TRUMP

Sattler has not publicly commented.

The 51-year-old judge, who is assigned to Manhattan criminal courts, rose to prominence in 2013 for her controversial decision in the case of Lisa Mehos and her ex-husband Manuel Mehos, in which she allowed evidence about the womans post-divorce abortion in a custody trial.
The family of Otto Warmbier has declined an autopsy, leaving the cause of the American college student's death a mystery.

Warmbier, 22, died on Monday, less than a week after he was released from North Korea in a coma. Officials at University of Cincinnati Medial Center, who treated the student upon his return, labeled his condition as a "state of unresponsive wakefulness," suggesting that he had lost blood supply to his brain for a period of time.

The office of Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco reported Tuesday that only an external examination was performed on Warmbier's body, per his family's request. The office reviewed medical records and talked extensively with physicians who treated him.

OTTO WARMBIER'S DEATH PROMPTS US TO WEIGH OPTIONS VS. NORTH KOREA

Fred and Cindy Warmbier announced their son's death in a 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 [Monday] at 2:20 p.m.," the Warmbiers announced.

"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 statement read.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier thanked the medical team at the hospital, but added "the awful torturous mistreatment" their son received ensured that there was "no other outcome possible."

OTTO WARMBIER'S ARREST WAS A BIG JOKE FOR SOME ON THE LEFT - ARE THEY LAUGHING NOW?

The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propoganda banner when he visited North Korea with a tour group last year. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

The North Korean regime told U.S. officials that Warmbier had botulism, a strong neurotoxin produced by bacterium, and slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill about a month into his sentence. Doctors, however, found no evidence of botulism.

OTTO WARMBIER HAS EXTENSIVE BRAIN DAMAGE, DOCTOR SAYS

"He has spontaneous eye opening and blinking," Dr. Daniel Kanter, director of the hospital's neurocritical care program, said last week. "However, he shows no signs of understanding language, responding to verbal commands or awareness to his surroundings."

Kanter added that scans showed no evidence of a "traumatic brain injury," and that Warmbier's state was likely a result of a cardio or pulmonary arrest.

Fox News' Shira Bush contributed to this report.
A former Ball State University student accused of threatening shoppers at a Muncie Goodwill store unless they converted to Islam has been deported.

The (Muncie) Star Press reports Wednesday that 24-year-old Khalid Sulaiman Bilal was sent back to his native country, Saudi Arabia.

Delaware County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman filed a court motion this week to dismiss battery, resisting law enforcement and other charges against Bilal because he was deported.

The newspaper reports that police reports and documents filed by Homeland Security say people inside the store were threatened March 25 by a man who "forcefully" tried to convert them to Islam. A store clerk also was choked and threatened with death if she didn't convert.

Bilal told a judge in April that he wasn't a U.S. citizen.

___

Information from: The Star Press, http://www.thestarpress.com
Prosecutors are expected to argue this week that injuries suffered in Afghanistan by a soldier and a Navy SEAL trying to find Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who left his outpost in June 2009, should be admitted as evidence in his desertion trial.

The search for Bergdahl, now 31, resulted in two U.S. servicemen being wounded: Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Mark Allen was shot in the head, and a Navy SEAL, Senior Chief Petty Officer Jimmy Hatch, was shot in the leg. Shortly after Bergdahl left his base the Taliban captured him, and in May 2014 the U.S. swapped him for five Taliban fighters.

This weeks pretrial hearing will consider whether jurors in Bergdahls court martial, set for October, would be unduly influenced if they learn of injuries to those who risked their lives trying to find Bergdahl, according to Military.com.

Military prosecutors say the serious injuries are relevant to the case because Bergdahls irresponsible actions  which in this case brought criminal charges that carry up to a life sentence -- put the servicemen in harms way and were a direct cause of their injuries.

The judge who is scheduled to hear military prosecutors arguments during the Fort Bragg, N.C., proceeding Wednesday and Thursday has already ruled once against mentioning the injuries in the trial. Prosecutors will ask the judge to reverse that decision, while Bergdahls lawyers will argue that the judge should let his decision stand.

"All of the injuries occurred on missions that would not have happened were it not for the manufactured and unnecessary crisis," Army Maj. Justin C. Oshana, a prosecutor, wrote in a court briefing. "Their injuries are directly relating to and resulted from the accused's misconduct, and, as such, the evidence is admissible at sentencing."

Bergdahl is accused of "misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place" and "desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty.

He has not pled to the charges and works at a military facility in San Antonio.

Court documents show that Hatch may testify this week. Bergdahls attorneys said they were not ready to question Hatch. The defense attorneys say they are researching the mission that involved Hatch and are waiting for evidence. That evidence would include a television interview Hatch gave regarding the mission, as well as a book he is writing about it.

Bergdahls defense team is also fighting the inclusion of remarks Bergdahl gave to an Army investigator after he was back in U.S. custody to the effect that he intentionally created a stir by disappearing so that he could bring high-level attention to concerns he had about his unit.
The Valley of the Sun lived up to its name Tuesday, hitting a record 118 degrees just hours before the first day of summer.

"It's really important, especially how hot it is here in Arizona, that people continue to drink water and stay hydrated, said Becky Hulett, a Phoenix recreation supervisor.

The crippling heat wave drove residents, animals even air conditioners to the breaking point.

NORTHEAST BRACES FOR SEVERE STORMS AS SOUTHWEST TO BE HIT WITH HEAT WAVE

Now people are like desperate  they do and pay anything to get them fixed, said Alan Schwandt of Alans Air.

Several southwest cities are hitting record highs  Las Vegas hit 117 degrees, Phoenix hit 119 degrees, Palm Springs hit 121 degrees  and that put first responders like the Border Patrol on high alert.

"It's physically impossible for those individuals to carry enough water, said Border Patrol Agent Vicente Paco, patrolling near the Mexican border in the Sonora Desert south of Tucson. "It should not be a death sentence to come across the border illegally, and yet smugglers put immigrants in those situations."

Several utilities warned of blackouts, Phoenix aid workers checked on the vulnerable, fire crews battled wildfires in Utah and California, while in Arizona it was literally too hot to fly.

"The plane can literally not take off, if that's the legitimate reason, then of course, we don't want to be on it, said passenger Mary Booth.

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHTS IN PHOENIX CANCELED AS TEMPERATURES SOAR

American Airlines cancelled 45 flights Tuesday, specifically the small, regional Bombardier jets that cant take off in the hot, thin air. Bigger Boeing and Airbus jets were unaffected.

"Each make and model aircraft have performance criteria and if any variable exceeds that, it essentially grounds the airplane, said Marc O'Brien, aviation program chair at Arizona State University.

While its true you can fry an egg and bake cookies in this heat, where a cars interior can reach 158 degrees in 30 minutes, officials biggest concern is health.

Were looking for people who may still be out in the sun or unable to find a cool place, said Amy McMullen of Phoenix Allies for Community Health.

Last year, about 2,000 Arizonians visited emergency rooms for heat exhaustion and 130 died in heat-related fatalities. In about half the cases, according to the state Department of Health, it was because victims lacked air conditioning.

"Last summer, and the summer before, I would average anywhere from 15 to 18 jobs a day, said Jayme Martens of Smiley Crane SERVICE. "It's usually right at 110 [degrees] when all the units usually start failing if they're on their last leg."

And that hold true for people as well, as doctors say the bodys cooling system begins to overheat around 108 degrees. Todays heat wave is expected to break by Sunday, when the valley of the sun returns to a normal 105 degrees.
A New Jersey high school student is taking a jab at her school's dress code with a quote in her senior yearbook.

West Milford High School student Tori DiPaolo's quote reads "I'm sorry, did my shoulders distract you from reading this quote?"

She tells NorthJersey.com she was referencing a portion of the school dress code that prohibits exposing shoulders.

DiPaolo says the formal robes she wore in the graduation photo technically violate the dress code, which she found ironic and inspired the quote.

The senior student says she doesn't mind the attention her photo has received since she posted it to her Twitter account last week, but she wants everyone to know it was meant as a joke.

___

Information from: The Record (Woodland Park, N.J.), http://www.northjersey.com
Tropical Storm Cindy is threatening areas from the Florida Panhandle to eastern Texas Wednesday, and is responsible for at least one death in Alabama.

#GOES16 captured this brilliant loop of Tropical Storm Cindy (formerly PTC3) in the Gulf this afternoon! Forecast @ https://t.co/LFPB6b4IJu pic.twitter.com/lwjwSnOWfO  NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) June 20, 2017

A 10-year-old boy died in Fort Morgan, Ala. Wednesday after being struck by a log washed in by a storm surge. He died of injuries he sustained from the debris hitting him, according to the Weather Channel.



The National Weather Service said early Wednesday that flash flood watches covered parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia as the slow-moving storm trudged closer to the U.S. mainland. The heavy rains are said to be on its east side, meaning the major rain threat stretched from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.

TROPICAL STORM CINDY MAY BRING LIFE-THREATENING FLOODING ACROSS GULF COAST

Intermediate Advisory #6A issued on Tropical Storm Cindy. Primary hazard continues to be Life-threatening flash flooding. pic.twitter.com/7ojXoQpOkc  NHC Atlantic Ops (@NHC_Atlantic) June 21, 2017

Cindy, the years third tropical storm, has maximum sustained winds near 50 mph Wednesday, slightly weakening from 60 mph recorded earlier Wednesday morning. The storm is located about 165 miles south-southwest of Morgan City, La. as of Wednesday.

By Wednesday morning, the storm had dumped from 2 to 7 inches of rain on parts of southern Louisiana. In coastal Mississippi, some areas received 6 to 9 inches.

We could see this thing park on the west side of the state and dump rain until Saturday, Lee Smithson, Mississippis Emergency Management Agency Executive Director, said on Tuesday.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the State Operations Center on Tuesday to raise its readiness level from level four/normal conditions to level three/increased readiness.

NORTH CAROLINA RIP CURRENTS LEAVE FOUR PEOPLE DEAD

Heavy rains from the storm are creating flooding in low-lying areas along the Alabama coast, officials said. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency Tuesday.

Police said streets are flooded in village of Bayou La Batre in Mobile County, Ala. and the barrier island of Dauphin Island, where officials closed the beaches there due to the dangerously rough surf.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency in the state on Wednesday. Louisiana was slammed with major flooding last summer from an unnamed storm that heavily damaged the Baton Rouge and Lafayette regions.

"All arms of the state's emergency preparedness and response apparatus are taking Tropical Storm Cindy seriously, and we are calling on all Louisianans throughout the state to do so as well," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement early Wednesday.

Workers on Grand Isle, Louisiana's 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.

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.

Much of Floridas Panhandle is under a tornado watch and officials in Santa Rosa County, which is just east of Pensacola, tweeted that some roads were under water early Wednesday. Local news outlets also reported several roads in Escambia County have been closed due to flooding.

The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings in Saucier, Howison and Hancock County in Mississippi.

A tropical storm warning was in effect from San Luis Pass, Texas, to the Alabama-Florida border.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump has called Saudi Arabia's new crown prince to congratulate him on his elevation.

The White House said Wednesday that Trump called Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to express their shared commitment to "cutting off all support for terrorists and extremists, as well as how to resolve the ongoing dispute with Qatar."

Several members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, recently cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of funding extremism.

Trump and Salman also discussed efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Trump has been working to thaw the U.S.-Saudi relationship, which had setbacks under the Obama administration over its nuclear deal with Iran.

The Saudi monarch elevated Salman to crown prince earlier Wednesday.
So far I have gotten two text messages and and an email from candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court asking me for campaign contributions. Can we just c...

12 hours ago
University of Missouri System President Mun Choi wants the university to rescind an honorary degree given to Bill Cosby nearly 20 years ago.

The system's Board of Curators will vote Friday on Choi's recommendation. A university staff memo sent to the curators says sexual assault allegations against Cosby are "incompatible" with the honorary doctorate in humane letters given to him in 1999.

The Columbia Missourian reports the university's faculty council recommended in 2015 that the curators revoke the degree.

The staff memo says 20 to 25 other universities have already rescinded honorary degrees for Cosby. A Pennsylvania jury deadlocked last week on charges based on allegations by an employee of Temple University that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2004. The prosecution says it will retry the case.

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Information from: Columbia Missourian, http://www.columbiamissourian.com
Police in Idaho are searching nationwide for a man they say should be considered "armed and dangerous" in connection with the shooting deaths of three women in Idaho.

Canyon County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Marv Dashiell says 60-year-old Gerald "Mike" Bullinger, formerly of Ogden, Utah, is considered a person of interest in the murders discovered Monday at a home in Caldwell. He has been charged with failing to report the deaths.

A sheriff's deputy found the bodies hidden in a shed after out-of-state family members called to ask that someone check on Bullinger and other relatives who had recently moved to the farmhouse.

The bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition.

Dashiell says an autopsy completed Tuesday revealed that each had a single gunshot wound. The bodies have not been identified.
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 get-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, was never prosecuted.

If he's enjoyed a loose, informal immunity for years, it is now being tested as authorities in the U.S. and abroad probe 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. U.S. law enforcement began looking into the deal because Iranians involved 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 envisioning mass protests in Kuwait forcing out its government, apparently on behalf of a disgruntled member of the ruling family.

An Associated Press examination into his past, drawing upon interviews, court filings and a recently obtained trove of his hacked emails, reveals a man whose web of international business interests helped him make millions from federal contracts. A former comptroller for one of his firms also described his company's work with the CIA.

Through a spokesman, Azima declined to answer written questions from the AP or to be interviewed. He acknowledged his secretive work to his local newspaper last year, while sidestepping questions about his 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."

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 investigation into 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.

But the investigation of Azima was stymied by higher-ups, who offered no clear reason why.

"It became apparent that we were not able to pursue prosecution of Azima," Lloyd Monroe, a retired prosecutor with the Justice Department's organized-crime task force in Kansas City, told the AP. "It was a source of real tension."

Now Azima is 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.

Now 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. Azima denies the allegations, saying Ras al-Khaimah knew details of the hotel deal.

Meanwhile, investigators this year considered 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 conversations were not to be made public.

It is not known what the investigators decided 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 hack of his emails.

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.

The firm devised a scheme, apparently on behalf of a Kuwaiti ruling family member, to install "new, bolder, more energetic leadership" in the Gulf nation.

"The stakes are very, very high ($30+ billion) and are easily worth killing over," it reads.

It was unclear whether Denx's plans were ever put into action. Both Modell and Berntsen told the AP that they knew nothing of the Kuwait plan, though an email address identified as Berntsen's in other correspondence sent Azima the PowerPoint slide deck 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 the overall Denx venture, which is now defunct. He said that Modell and another participant in Denx dropped out shortly after its creation. He also said that he would not have taken part in an effort to undermine a U.S. ally.

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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.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jongambrellAP. His work can be found at http://apne.ws/2galNpz.
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.
Britain's Prince Philip was taken to the hospital Tuesday night for treatment of an infection, Buckingham Palace said.

The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to a hospital in London as a "precautionary measure." The infection was caused by a pre-existing condition, Buckingham Palace said in a statement. He suffered heart ailments in the past.

The statement added that Philip was "in good spirits."

Philip, who is Queen Elizabeth II's husband, missed the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday.

Philip, 96, announced he will be stepping down from attending public events last month.

The queen outlined the country's legislative agenda that was dominated by preparation for Britain's departure from the European Union. In her brief speech, she announced a new commission for countering extremism.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The man who attempted to detonate a nail bomb at a Brussels train station and shouted Allahu akbar on Tuesday has been identified by Belgian authorities as a 36-year-old Moroccan national.

Eric Van der Sypt, Belgiums federal magistrate, said the suspect, Oussama Z., and often identified by his initials O.Z., was not known to investigators for being involved in terror activities but police were aware of him, the New York Times reported.

BRUSSELS TRAIN STATION EXPLOSION BEING TREATED AS TERROR ATTACK, SUSPECT DEAD, OFFICIALS SAY

The suspect charged soldiers at Brussels Central Station on Tuesday after his suitcase, containing nails and gas canisters, failed to fully explode, Van der Sypt said.

The alleged attacker then shouted Allahu akbar, Arabic for God is great, before soldiers shot him dead, the magistrate said. Nobody else was injured in the incident which is being treated as a terror attack.

"It was clear he wanted to cause much more damage than what happened," Van der Sypt said. "The bag exploded twice but it could have been a lot worse."

Officials said O.Z. likely made the bomb in his residence in Molenbeek, an area known as a hotbed of Islamism. There were also indications O.Z. had "sympathies for" ISIS, according to a press release by the federal prosecutor's office, but authorities didn't specify how they knew that or if O.Z. pledged allegiance to the terror group.

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon suggested to state media that a second, larger device at the scene did not go off.

The big blast did not happen, Jambon said. He did not elaborate on further details.

It is not clear if the suspect had ties to any extremist groups of the Islamic State.

Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people at the Brussels airport and a subway station on March 22, 2016. The country increased security measures around the country following Tuesdays incident.

HISTORIC BREXIT DIVORCE NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN IN BRUSSELS

Security remained high around rail facilities and preparations were underway to beef up security for a Coldplay concert at the 50,000-seat King Baudouin Stadium later Wednesday.

"In three years we have been confronted with several attacks or attempts and we say the zero risk does not exist," Prime Minister Charles Michel said after a specially-convened security meeting.

The station reopened on Wednesday and a mobile police command unit and several officers were still at the station, according to The Associated Press.

Belgium's Crisis Center said Wednesday that it sees no need to raise the national security alert level, which has been on its second-highest rung for more than a year. It said that no public events would be canceled but that additional police and troops have been mobilized.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The abuse North Korea inflicted on Otto Warmbier, the American student who died this week after returning home to the U.S. following more than a year of imprisonment, is something up to 120,000 North Koreans  and three Americans -- regularly experience in the countrys concentration camps, according to defectors and analysts.



Jun Heo, who was just a teenager when he was sent to one of the countrys concentration camps, said to Fox News that being beaten black and blue and tortured within an inch of your life was routine. There were about 20 people stuffed into each small cell, he said. The men and women were separated, unless a woman had a baby son. Everyone over the age of 17 was forced to work hard labor in farms from 6:30 a.m. until at least 8 p.m. Cries and screams became the soundtrack of life, but it was after nightfall when the most excruciating howls could be heard, Heo said.

Hapless prisoners, trying to sleep, would wail in pain as their bony bodies broke down from starvation, while at midnight the secret police came to take women to be raped.

We could hear them screaming, Heo said. What you can only imagine as the cruelest of things is normal in there.

His crime? He had fled to China for a chance at a better life. It was November 2005 and Heo -- plus 12 other defectors -- crossed into China and was staying in a brokers house in Beijing. The broker ordered the North Koreans to not leave the house, citing safety reasons. But on Dec. 6, the day before he turned 14, a barrage of Chinese policemen -- armed with guns and electric batons -- knocked down the door and rounded up the terrified defectors.

The broker also had a gun and an electric bat. He was a spy, Heo remembered. I was two days in a Chinese jail and then sent back to the Sinuiju concentration camp in North Korea.

After several months, he was let go. But in 2008, at the age of 17, a determined Heo defected again  this time for good. Now a 26-year-old political science major at Seoul National University and studying English at the Teach North Korean Refugees center, he wakes up every day with a self-inflicted pinch.

It is like heaven, Heo said. I dont believe I live here.

For the vast majority of the 25 million North Koreans, life outside a concentration camp is far from heaven, even if slightly better than what Heo experienced.

From forced abortion and extermination to enslavement, to the sudden disappearance of people in what is termed the forcible transfer of populations, life is grim. These forcible transfers can happen to anyone at any time. Soldiers have been known to enter homes and extract entire families, who are never heard from again.

Food is scarce. The United Nations reports that 70 percent of the population -- around 18 million -- goes hungry, with the stunting of childrens growth a rampant phenomenon due to the lack of nutrition. Almost 9 million have no health care, and more than 5 million live in squalor because they lack clean running water.

While food may be scarce, distrust is not. From childhood, North Koreans are instructed to report anyone being even mildly nonconformist or speaking of their leadership without over-the-top praise, even in private conversation. Tom Fowdy, founder of the analysis group Young DPRK Watchers, noted that compulsory community meetings are held for singing songs about their leaders and to goad each other into confessing minor crimes.

There are no decisions people can make by themselves. From the moment you are born, everything about your life is determined, Heo said. Every scene, every speech, even the songs of the birds around you, are controlled.

NORTH KOREA TRAVEL RULE BOOK: HOW TO BE AN OBEDIENT TOURIST IN THE HOSTILE NATION

OTTO WARMBIER'S DEATH PROMPTS US TO WEIGH OPTIONS VS. NORTH KOREA

A caste system means North Koreans often remain in the social rank into which they were born, something determined by a familys reputation. Sometimes a citizen can move up the ladder to a more privileged caste, depending on ones perceived support of the leadership, or move down the ladder, depending on ones links to criminals, defectors or South Koreans.

Those with a poor songbun (caste ranking) will have poor prospects. But those with good songbun, and especially from families with excellent political and military connections, can expect access to far more privilege and opportunity, said Chad OCarroll, managing director of Korea Risk Group, which produces analyses on North Korea. But regardless of ones background, most young North Koreans should never expect to leave their country, officially consume foreign-produced information unapproved by the government or show respect to anyone beyond a leader to the Kim family tree.

A North Korean is required to hang in their homes portraits of Kim il Sung and Kim Jong-il, the grandfather and father, respectively, of the current leader. There are routine checks by authorities to ensure these are kept immaculately clean. It is mostly prohibited for one to communicate with others in the world outside. The haircuts are state sanctioned. Pirated modern movies and music occasionally make their way into homes but, if caught, violators can be punished with death.

When it comes to education, the most important subjects are the Revolutionary History of Kim Il Sung, the Revolutionary History of Kim Jong Il and the Revolutionary History of Kim Jong Un.

From a young age, North Koreans are indoctrinated that America is the cruel enemy that interrupted North and South Korean unification.
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.
Beer-soaked "booze cruises" down North Korea's Taedong River. Scuba diving trips off the country's eastern coast. Saint Patrick's Day pub crawls in Pyongyang featuring drinking games with cheery locals.

Since 2008, the Young Pioneer Tours agency built up a business attracting young travelers with a competitively priced catalog of exotic-sounding, hard-partying adventures in one of the world's most isolated countries.

But the death on Monday of 22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier, who was arrested during a Young Pioneer tour to North Korea in late 2015 and fell into a coma while in detention, has renewed questions about whether the company was adequately prepared for its trips into the hard-line communist state.

Although many details of Warmbier's fateful trip are unknown, interviews with past Young Pioneer customers or those who have crossed paths with the tour operator describe a company with lapses in organization, a gung-ho drinking culture and a cavalier attitude that has long troubled industry peers and North Korea watchers.

Founded in 2008 by Briton Gareth Johnson in the central Chinese city of Xi'an, Young Pioneer's fun and casual style was seen precisely as its calling card, a counterpoint to North Korea's reputation as a draconian hermit kingdom. "Budget tours to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from," its website touts, while describing North Korea as one of the safest places on Earth.

But the agency also known as YPT has been associated with a string of cautionary tales, including of the tourist who performed a handstand outside the most politically sensitive mausoleum in Pyongyang where two generations of the Kim family are buried, resulting in a North Korean guide losing her job.

In a July 2016 interview on the travel podcast Counting Countries, Johnson boasted of gaining notoriety after once stepping off a moving North Korean train while drunk on soju. That stunt resulted in Johnson breaking his ankle, leading to a stay at a Pyongyang hospital and visits from the British Embassy and United Nations doctors, who told Johnson he risked losing his foot within a week.

"I didn't make (the jump), but I became a legend," he said.

In the podcast, Johnson described himself as a 36-year old university dropout from London who traveled through Eastern Europe and lived in the Cayman Islands before arriving in North Korea for the first time a decade ago. He was immediately hooked.

"The first time you go to North Korea, it's just an amazing experience, like nothing you've ever seen," Johnson said. "After that first trip I knew I wanted to take people to North Korea."

Adam Pitt, a 33-year old British expatriate who formerly lived in Beijing and went on a 2013 trip, described to the AP a party atmosphere led by Johnson, who was often heavily inebriated and "almost unable to stand and barely understandable when he did speak" at a tense border crossing where he needed to hand wads of cash to officials as bribes.

While it's expected for tourists to relax and enjoy a few drinks while traveling, tour operators and tourists say YPT has long stood out for its party-hearty tour groups. In respective interviews with Fairfax Media and the Independent newspaper, Nick Calder, a New Zealander, and Darragh O Tuathail, an Irish tourist, both recalled the New Year's Party tour group Warmbier traveled with in Pyongyang in late December 2015 carousing until early morning. O Tuathail declined to discuss his recollections of the trip with the AP, saying he wanted to let Warmbier's family grieve in peace.

On the return leg from that YPT trip, a YPT guide pulled a prank on a customer taking the train back to Beijing by helping hide her husband's passport from border agents. That resulted in a scramble to find the passport and a confrontation with irked North Korean soldiers who briefly held the husband.

In an emotional news conference last week after Warmbier was medically evacuated from North Korea, his father, Fred Warmbier, lashed out at tour agencies that "advertise slick ads on the internet proclaiming, 'No American ever gets detained on our tours' and 'This is a safe place to go.'"

After Warmbier's death in an Ohio hospital, YPT issued a statement saying it would no longer accept American customers because "the assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high."

Pitt, who is Mormon and does not drink, said the company's statement appeared to shift blame onto tourists rather than examining its own laissez-faire culture.

"It's not about who goes, it's about how their groups behave that causes problems," said Pitt.

In response to multiple requests for comment, Johnson sent two brief emails discussing only his experiences outside of North Korea.

YPT co-owner Rowan Beard said most reviewers have attested to the company's professionalism and preparation.

"Frankly everyone has different perceptions on things like drinking and what concerns it raises," Beard wrote in an email. "With the recent tragedy it's human nature for some people to over-emphasize certain aspects of their experience."

Beard noted that the mausoleum incident did not involve alcohol and that YPT had warned all customers about the political sensitivities of the site.

He added that YPT has taken over 8,000 tourists to North Korea with only one incident, and boasts a 5-star rating and certificate of excellence on the TripAdvisor review website. Beard said Johnson was in North Korea on business when Warmbier was detained but was not part of his tour.

John Delury, a North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul, said tour groups barely existed 10 years ago, and any sliver of "responsible engagement" between the U.S. and North Korea is valuable. But he worried about tours that do not educate customers on the nuances and political realities of what they're seeing.

"Hipster adventure tourism, where it's like going to a zoo and staring at North Koreans, is problematic," said Delury, who is familiar with several of the companies running tours into North Korea. "It seems like the framing of Warmbier's trip was 'go party and have a good time in Pyongyang.' That is obviously not how responsible tour companies would frame what they're about."

YPT has in recent years expanded its North Korea tours and boasts of other so-called "dark tourism" offerings, ranging from trips to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in Ukraine to jaunts through Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region.

In another instance Johnson described on the June 2016 podcast, he led a YPT tour group into the Eastern European breakaway state of Trans-Dniester, where a confrontation with authorities escalated into a policeman pulling out a gun. Johnson talked his way out of the situation because "luckily I had my vodka overcoat on at that point, so I wasn't that scared," he said, referring to his drunken state.

"I really shouldn't have as many stories about being arrested or robbed, but I've got quite a lot," Johnson said in the interview.

Christopher Barbara, a legal consultant who splits his time between Montreal and Shanghai, said he joined a YPT trip to North Korea in 2009 headed by Johnson.

"It was so laid back that it was hard to take seriously," Barbara said. "The way Young Pioneers managed the trip made it feel like the priority was having fun, not staying safe."

One morning after they arrived, Barbara told the group's North Korean minders who were looking for Johnson that he was ill, when he was in fact hungover and asleep after a long night.

"I was worried that Gareth's behavior was going to get us in trouble," Barbara said.

Johnson has since stepped back from leading YPT tours to found another business called GN Tours  which used to be short for Gross Negligence Tours, according to cached Facebook and Google pages. Johnson said GN Tours is not associated with YPT.

GN Tours advertises itself as the leading planner of bachelor parties in Southeast Asia featuring: "Beaches, babes, bullets and booze (all cheap)."

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Follow Gerry Shih on Twitter at twitter.com/gerryshih

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This story has been corrected to show Warmbier died Monday, not last week.
Hanna Bohman was working in motorcycle sales after a brief stint in modeling when she sought a higher purpose in life: fighting ISIS in Syria as part of an all-female group of Kurdish soldiers.

Bohman, a 48-year-old Canadian, joined the YPJ  the female brigade of the Kurdish People's Protection Units  after getting smuggled into Syria in 2015, learning how to use an AK-47 in a four-hour training session before being thrust onto the front lines.

"I just felt like I had to do something greater with my life," Bohman told Fox News. "I spent my life not doing what I wanted to do, but what I was expected to do. I wanted something different."

"It was inspiring to fight alongside other women," she said.

Bohman served two tours with the YPJ, the first in a defensive unit -- keeping watch over open terrain and looking for suicide bombers. In her second tour, Bohman was her units only sniper on the frontlines of the conflict.

"My first gun -- an AK-47 -- was 40 years old," said Bohman, who recounted a near-death gun battle with two ISIS snipers in the northern Syrian border town of Til Abyad.

"Im so much taller than most of the Kurdish girls and I was always getting shot at by snipers," said Bohman, who is 5 feet 8 inches tall. "On this one day, the bullet was so close I actually felt it part my hair."

Bohman is no longer with the YPJ, but remains committed to eradicating ISIS on the ground in Iraq and Syria and is considering joining the Yazidis after the group invited her into their unit, she said.

Bohman described the terrorist network as "on their way out" in Syria but said radicalization through online propaganda is a difficult fight to win.

"Physically we could wipe them out of Iraq and Syria," she said. "Theyre definitely on their way to getting wiped out but ideologically -- that's different."

"You dont need to travel here to become ISIS," said Bohman, noting the terror group's online recruitment of young jihadis.

"You can't get rid of that part. All you can do is treat the circumstances that lead people to commit acts of terror and try to prevent them from happening at home," she said.

For Bohman, a Canadian citizen with no ties to Syria, the opportunity to serve with an all-female brigade "fighting for women's rights" in the Middle East was liberating and life-changing, she said.

"Were being the change we want to see in the world," she said. "It sounds cliche, but its true."

"When we die, our obituaries dont say how much many we have in our bank account or how big our house is," said Bohman. "Ultimately those things are not important."

Cristina Corbin is a Fox News reporter based in New York. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaCorbin.
The Sourdough Saloon -- a Canadian bar that likes to put its best foot forward -- has lost one if its toe-ken attractions.

Terry Lee, the toe master at the Downtown Hotels Sourdough Saloon in Dawson City, Canada, uses mummified human toes in the bars signature Sourtoe Cocktail" -- a shot of alcohol with a toe mixed in. The drink, Lee said, comes with one particular rule: You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips have gotta touch the toe.

But this past weekend, Lee said one of the bars toes disappeared, according to Alaska Dispatch News. It was specifically a second toe, the one next to the big toe.

A customer walked into the Saloon Saturday night around midnight and ordered the signature drink, after the designated time between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., which is when the bar allows bar-goers to order the Sourtoe Cocktail. The man left the bar, with the toe, when the bartender turned her back, according to Lee.

The Royal Canadian Mountain Police confirmed Tuesday that officers were investigating the toe theft.

We have a name. We have two witnesses, Lee told the Alaska Dispatch. This guy is in deep trouble.

The hotel posted a missing toe flier on its Facebook page  and is offering a reward.

EGYPTOLOGISTS EXAMINE 'SENSATIONAL' DISCOVERY: A FAKE TOE

The missing toe isnt the bars only one, according to Lee. The Sourdough Saloon has reportedly received a number of toes through anonymous donations. Theres a $2,500 fine from the bar to those who steal the toe -- or swallow it.

As for the history of the signature cocktail, the Sourtoe, which the bartender said brings in about $80,000 in gross revenue each year, was founded in 1973.

Lee recalled two different occasions during the 1990s when Sourtoe Cocktail toes went missing, but both times the missing digit was returned.
Law enforcement officials around the world are on high alert this week as ISIS calls for a surge of civilian attacks during Islams Night of Power, the holiest day on the Islamic calendar, which this year begins Wednesday evening.

Known in Arabic as Laylat al-Qadr, it marks the night during the holy month of Ramadan that Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad received the first revelations of the Quran.

While the vast majority of Muslims consider the occasion as the best time in the year to pray for blessings and forgiveness, jihadist groups such as ISIS exploit the date to urge brutal acts of violence.

Last year, when the Night of Power fell on July 2, a widely shared message pushing for calamity everywhere for the nonbelievers, was delivered by ISIS. And that night there was a surge of deadly terror attacks.

ISIS operatives plunged into a foreigner-frequented restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and hacked 20 people to death when they were not able to recite verses from the Quran. On the same day, ISIS fighters detonated a massive truck bomb in a popular Baghdad shopping district, killing at least 200.

Pro-ISIS messages are said to be circling on encrypted apps such as Telegram this week, calling on Muslims to wake up, the war is starting, especially in the wake of Sundays mosque attack in London.

The pattern of jihadists using the Night of Power to attack has caused Western interests to take security precautions. Starting in 2013, many U.S. embassies across the Middle East started closing for the occasion and encouraging staff to remain indoors.

ISIS and other Islamists preach that the obligation of jihad is multiplied during Ramadan, as is the reward if you die carrying it out, Ryan Mauro, national security analyst at the Clarion Project, told Fox News.

So far during Ramadan this year, which will end Saturday, there have been a dozen Muslim terror attacks  including at least 31 dead in a Baghdad ice-cream parlor bombing, a truck explosion in Kabul that killed 150, an attack on Irans Parliament and Ayatollah Khomeinis shrine in Tehran that left 12 dead and a further eight lives lost in a London Bridge rampage.

ISIS USED MOSUL CHURCH TO ABUSE YAZIDI GIRLS, WOMEN, IRAQI ARMY OFFICER SAYS

ISRAEL GOODWILL RAMADAN EFFORTS CUT AFTER PALESTINIAN ATTACK

Robert Nicholson, executive director of The Philos Project, which focuses on religious engagement in the Middle East, cautioned that it is a mistake to associate this night with terrorism, but that there is always a chance that a malicious few will use it to amplify their terrorist acts.

It makes sense to elevate security precautions, but it is excessive and unhelpful to talk about it as a catalyst for terror. For the vast majority of Muslims, its just not, Nicholson told Fox News.

Nevertheless, as ISIS gets edged out of its Iraqi and Syrian hubs, its calls for violence abroad are getting louder.

Theyre under siege and getting desperate. That causes them to lash out where they can around the world, to hit their enemies on their own turf, Nicholson added. But it also inspires unaffiliated sympathizers living in foreign countries to act out their own acts of terror without any real direction from [the ISIS capital of] Raqqa. We may be able to take Raqqa and defeat ISIS, but the idea of ISIS  the establishment of a caliphate and the restoration of Islam to its rightful place in the world  will live on.
The Latest on the Queen's Speech outlining UK government program (all times local):

11:55 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth II did not mention the planned state visit of President Donald Trump in her speech outlining her government's legislative agenda. But she did say the government is looking forward to a planned state visit by the Spanish royal couple set for July.

The British government has invited Trump for a state visit, and the U.S. president has accepted, but the date has not been set.

There has been public opposition to Trump's visit because of his policies on immigration, climate change, NATO and other issues.

Officials have repeatedly said planning for the visit will go forward.

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11:50 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth II has outlined legislative agenda dominated by preparation for Britain's departure from the European Union.

The speech was brief  a reflection of Prime Minister Theresa May's diminished power following a disastrous snap election in which she lost her majority

The queen is carrying on with royal duties despite the announcement that her husband, Prince Philip, has been hospitalized. Prince Charles accompanied her for the speech.

Buckingham Palace said that Philip, 96, was admitted a hospital as a precaution for treatment of an infection.

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11:00 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth II will outline the government's legislative program with far less pageantry than usual Wednesday in a speech expected to be dominated by a discussion of Britain's plans for leaving the European Union.

The speech comes after May lost her majority in a snap election earlier this month, leaving her to head a minority government with no deal so far to insure that the government can deliver on its agenda. Normally this speech repeats key legislative promises made during the election campaign, but May is expected to omit the most controversial items of her election manifesto because they were rejected by a majority of voters.

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9:00 a.m.

Queen Elizabeth II will outline the government's legislative program with far less pageantry than usual Wednesday in a speech expected to be dominated by a discussion of Britain's plans for leaving the European Union.

The program set out in the so-called Queen's Speech at the state opening of Parliament will include "a number of bills" intended to make Brexit successful, according to Prime Minister Theresa May's office. While the Queen reads the speech to lawmakers, it is written by the prime minister and her staff. May is promising a government "that consults and listens."

"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," May said in a statement. "We will work hard every day to gain the trust and confidence of the British people, making their priorities our priorities."
The Latest on Saudi Arabia's King Salman appointing his son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince (all times local):

6:15 p.m.

Oman's sultan has congratulated Saudi Arabia's new crown prince.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said sent a message Wednesday to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The state-run Oman News Agency said the message expressed the sultan's "sincere congratulations and best wishes of good health and happiness to Prince Mohammed, praying to Allah the Almighty to grant him success to achieve further aspirations of progress and welfare for the brotherly (Saudi) people."

Oman has strained ties with Saudi Arabia over serving as a diplomatic channel for the West to Iran. Oman also has maintained communication with Shiite rebels in Yemen that a Saudi-led coalition has been fighting since March 2015.

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3:35 p.m.

Bahrain's king and other royal family members have congratulated Saudi Arabia's new crown prince.

The tiny island off the coast of Saudi Arabia sent several messages on Wednesday welcoming the ascension of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman. Chief among them was Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, relies on the aid of Saudi Arabia. Saudi and Emirati troops helped put down its 2011 Arab Spring protests, launched by Bahrain's Shiite majority and others seeking more political freedoms from its Sunni rulers.

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3:30 p.m.

The Saudi stock market has closed up over 5.5 percent after news that King Salman appointed his 31-year-old son as next in line to the throne.

The Saudi Tadawul index, the largest in the Middle East, also was boosted by news on Wednesday that some benefits for civil servants were being restored.

The Tadawul also cleared a major hurdle from the global stock benchmark provider MSCI to be included among its emerging markets. That's something closely followed by fund managers and could mean a lot more foreign investment coming into the kingdom.

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3 p.m.

The United Arab Emirates' most-powerful leaders have welcomed Saudi Arabia's new crown prince.

A statement Wednesday afternoon on the state-run WAM news agency said UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan all offered their congratulations.

The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms bordering Saudi Arabia, has been a major point of Saudi investment, especially in Dubai. The Emirates is also fighting alongside Saudi Arabia in the war in Yemen, which new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been leading.

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2 p.m.

Iran's state TV says the Saudi Arabian monarch's decision to promote his high-profile son to crown prince amounts to a "soft coup."

Saudi Arabia's King Salman appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince early Wednesday, removing the country's counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington from the royal line of succession.

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran are bitter rivals that back opposing sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen.

Crown Prince Mohammed has adopted a hard line against Iran, ruling out any dialogue. He also played a central role in the decision to isolate Qatar, in part because of its ties to Iran, and in escalating the Saudi-led war against Yemeni rebels supported by Tehran.

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1 p.m.

Iran has called on Saudi Arabia to immediately release three detained Iranians that it says were fishermen but that Saudi authorities say were trying to carry out an attack.

Iran's Interior Ministry said Wednesday that the Saudi government should "compensate" the detainees and "punish the agents of this irresponsible action."

Saudi Arabia says the three were Revolutionary Guard members. It says their boat was loaded with explosives and they were heading toward the Marjan offshore oil field in the Persian Gulf when they were apprehended on Friday.

Iran has denied the allegations, saying they were fishermen whose boat was carried off course.

The two countries are bitter regional rivals, and severed diplomatic ties last year.

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12:35 p.m.

Saudi Arabia's top clerical council has endorsed King Salman's decision to put his 31-year-old son next in line to the throne.

The Council of Senior Scholars issued the statement Wednesday via the state-run Saudi Press Agency about the ascension of Mohammed bin Salman to the role of crown prince.

The council is the highest religious body in the ultraconservative Sunni kingdom. Its members are appointed by the king and paid by the government.

King Salman issued a series of royal decrees early Wednesday stripping Prince Mohammed bin Nayef from his title as crown prince and from his post as the country's powerful interior minister overseeing security.

The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed, who also serves as defense minister and oversees a vast economic portfolio, had previously been second in line to the throne.

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11:50 a.m.

The Saudi stock market is up over 4 percent after news that King Salman has placed his 31-year-old son next in line to the throne.

The Saudi Tadawul index, the largest in the Middle East, also was boosted by news that some benefits for civil servants were being restored.

The Tadawul also cleared a major hurdle from the global stock benchmark provider MSCI to be included among its emerging markets. That's something closely followed by fund managers and could mean a lot more foreign investment coming into the kingdom.

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11:35 a.m.

Kuwait's ruling emir has welcomed Saudi Arabia's new crown prince.

Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah sent a cable of congratulations Wednesday to King Salman over his elevation of his son, 31-year-old Mohammed bin Salman.

That's according to a statement carried by Kuwait's state-run KUNA news agency.

King Salman issued a series of royal decrees early Wednesday stripping Prince Mohammed bin Nayef from his title as crown prince and from his post as the country's powerful interior minister overseeing security.

The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed, who also serves as defense minister and oversees a vast economic portfolio, had previously been second in line to the throne.

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8:55 a.m.

Saudi state media says the kingdom's former crown prince has pledged his allegiance to King Salman's son, 31-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, whom he appointed in his place.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency said Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who once was first in line to the throne, met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at a royal palace in Mecca on Wednesday morning.

Saudi state television aired footage of the two meeting, with the new crown prince kissing Prince Mohammed bin Nayef's hand, then kneeling down in front of him.

The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed, who also serves as defense minister and oversees a vast economic portfolio, had previously been second in line to the throne.

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8:40 a.m.

An analyst who studies the Gulf says the appointment of Saudi King Salman's son as crown prince could have a big effect on the kingdom.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Seattle-based research fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, says the appointment of Mohammed bin Salman could set Saudi policy for decades just due to his young age.

Ulrichsen tells The Associated Press that Mohammed bin Salman's appointment also removes the challenge of having an increasingly elderly set of royals rule the kingdom.

However, the analyst says the speed at which the new crown prince has pushed his assertive policies, including the war in Yemen and an effort to privatize part of the kingdom's state-run oil company, has unnerved some within the royal family.

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7:35 a.m.

Saudi King Salman has issued an order for high-ranking royals to pledge their allegiance to his son, 31-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, at a ceremony in Mecca.

The order, carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, said the meeting would take place after a special prayer Wednesday night amid the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Mecca is home to Islam's holiest site, the cube-shaped Kaaba.

The order comes immediately after King Salman issued a series of royal decrees stripped Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was first in line to the throne, from his title as crown prince and from his post as the country's powerful interior minister overseeing security.

The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed, who also serves as defense minister and oversees a vast economic portfolio, had previously been second in line to the throne.

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7:20 a.m.

Saudi state television says 31 of 34 royals supported Saudi Arabia's King Salman appointing his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince.

State television flashed the news across its broadcasts early Wednesday morning.

That came after a series of royal decrees stripped Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was first in line to the throne, from his title as crown prince and from his post as the country's powerful interior minister overseeing security.

The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed, who also serves as defense minister and oversees a vast economic portfolio, had previously been second in line to the throne.

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6:55 a.m.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman has appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, removing the country's counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington from the royal line of succession.

In a series of royal decrees issued Wednesday and carried on the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the monarch stripped Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was first in line to the throne, from his title as crown prince and from his post as the country's powerful interior minister overseeing security.

The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who also serves as defense minister and oversees a vast economic portfolio, had previously been second in line to the throne, though royal watchers had long suspected his quick rise to power might accelerate his inheriting of the throne.
Scientists in New Zealand say they have discovered the Eighth Wonder of the World. But there is a caveat.

Its buried under hundreds of pounds of volcanic ash.

Using the forgotten 1859 New Zealand diaries of 19th century geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter and maps he made during that time period, forensic cartographers Rex Bunn and Sascha Nolden were able to pinpoint the exact location of the famed and elusive pink and white terraces of Lake Rotomahana on New Zealands North Island.

Forensic cartography is described as part science and part art, the researchers wrote in the introduction to their academic paper.

The terraces, which were the largest deposits on silica on earth, were for years a global attraction  drawing tourists from around the world in the mid-19th century to gawk at the famed pools and bathe in the heated waters of their springs. But in 1886, before the exact location of the springs was properly described and mapped, the nearby Mount Tarawera volcano erupted and buried the terraces under 50 feet of ash and mud.

They [the terraces] became the greatest tourist attraction in the southern hemisphere and the British Empire, and shiploads of tourists made the dangerous visit down from the U.K., Europe and America to see them, Bunn told the Guardian last week. But they were never surveyed by the government of the time, so there was no record of their latitude or longitude.

The volcanic eruption also vastly altered the surrounding landscape and made it all but impossible for the exact location of the terraces to be marked.

Using von Hochstetters field notes  the German-Austrian geologist was the only person to have surveyed the landscape before the 1886 eruption  the Kiwi researchers, however, were able to determine the precise location of the buried terraces.

Our research relied on the only survey ever made of that part of New Zealand and therefore we are confident the cartography is sound, Bunn said. Hochstetter was a very competent cartographer.

Bunn is now in the process of getting funding to excavate the site of the terraces, which he believes may have only suffered minimal damage from the volcanic ash and could potentially be brought back to their former glory.

We want to undertake this work in the public interest. And I have been closely liaising with the ancestral owners of the land, the Tuhourangi Tribal Authority, and they are supportive and delighted with the work, he said.
Turkey bolstered its ground forces in northern Syria in a possible lead-up to renewed battles between the Turkish military and local Kurdish forces, a monitoring group and a Syrian opposition commander said Wednesday.

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the civil war through a network of activists on the ground, Ankara deployed a column of armored vehicles to the Syrian towns of Azaz and Marea.

The towns, held by Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters, are on the front lines with rival, U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces.

Turkey, which first sent ground forces into Syria last year, perceives the Syrian Kurdish fighters as an extension of its Kurdish insurgents who have waged a three decade-long insurgency against Ankara. Syrian opposition forces, for their part, accuse the Syrian Kurdish fighters of colluding with pro-government forces to defeat them.

The Observatory said preparations were underway for a joint Turkish-Syrian opposition campaign to seize towns from Kurdish control in the area.

A commander in a Turkey-backed opposition faction said that an unusually large contingent of Turkish forces had entered northern Syria on Tuesday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said Wednesday that a convoy of trucks carrying howitzers and other ordinance reached the border town of Kilis, on the Turkish side, to "reinforce" units stationed at the border.

Northern Syria is awash with rival forces and state powers competing for influence over territory captured from the retreating Islamic State group.

The U.S.-backed Kurdish forces have clashed repeatedly with the Turkish-backed opposition forces, prompting at various instances Russia, the United States and Damascus to come between the sides to maintain peace.

But in a major escalation, the U.S. shot down a Syrian fighter jet it said was targeting its Kurdish allies on Sunday. That same day, Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards fired six ballistic missile strikes against Islamic State-held territory in eastern Syria, hitting the city of Deir el-Zour.

The airstrike was in retaliation for an IS attack earlier in June on Iran's parliament and a shrine in Tehran that killed 18 people and wounded more than 50.

There have been few details of what the strikes achieved. The Guard claimed on Wednesday that the missiles had killed more than 170 IS militants, including several commanders. The claim could not be independently verified.

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Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
The European Union is in discussions with South Korea and China about taking a potential role as a broker for negotiations with North Korea on ending its nuclear program, according to EU officials involved in the effort.

The discussions reflect concern in Brussels, Seoul and Beijing that sanctions alone wont persuade Pyongyang to halt its nuclear program and that negotiations are needed to avoid military conflict.

The death this week of Otto Warmbier, the American college student imprisoned in North Korea for more than a year before returning home with a severe brain injury, has added to pressure in Washington for more strenuous action against Pyongyang.

A series of meetings in recent weeks in Brussels and Beijing have focused on ways that participants believe the EU could facilitate negotiations with North Korea, drawing on its members diplomatic ties with Pyongyang and on its experience in helping to negotiate the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the officials said.

EU officials have discussed the matter with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Brussels this month, and with South Koreas special envoy, Cho Yoon-je, in May.

Any role for Brussels would need backing from Washington and EU member states, neither of which is assured.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the U.S. has held secret talks with North Korea for more than a year, hoping to free U.S. prisoners and establish a diplomatic channel for efforts to constrain Pyongyangs nuclear and missile programs.

EU officials said they wouldnt do anything to undermine U.S. moves to tighten economic sanctions on Pyongyang.

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
North Korea is continuing to mass resources at a known weapons testing site inside the country, a defense source told Fox News on Wednesday, prompting worries Pyongyang could be plotting to greenlight another provocative nuclear bomb test amid heightened tensions following the death this week of an American student who had been imprisoned by Kim Jong Uns rogue regime.

There are more people and more cars but nobody knows what that means, a defense source said about surveillance of the nuke test site. The source added the buildup had been occurring for months.

North Korea is relentlessly pursuing its goal of building a nuclear bomb that can be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile. Pyongyang has already conducted five nuclear tests and recently launched an advanced missile that suggests a functioning ICBM may be within reach.

Seeking to deter North Korea, the Trump administration has so-far leaned on China, one of the few countries able to exert significant economic influence over Pyongyang. China told North Korea not to conduct a sixth nuclear test or risk sanctions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Special Report in April.

Were asking a lot of the Chinese, Tillerson said. We are going to test Chinas willingness to help address this serious threat.

But any hope of de-escalating the North Korea menace was dealt a serious blow on Monday when Otto Warmbier died.

Warmbier, a college student who had been part of a tour group visiting North Korea, was detained by the regime for 17 months, during which he was subject to a show trial and unknown cruelties before he was suddenly returned to the U.S. last week  in a comatose state. Doctors werent able to find evidence of fractures, meaning it was unlikely Warmbier was severely beaten; however, the cause of his coma couldnt immediately be deduced and President Trump said Warmbier suffered awful torturous mistreatmentat the hands of the North Koreans. North Korea claims Warmbier slipped into the vegetative state after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill.

Trump appeared significantly moved by Warmbiers death, tweeting Tuesday that the U.S. once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim before signaling that Chinas chance to resolve the crisis via diplomatic means may have come and gone.

Even as intelligence indicated North Korea was continuing to move materials to the nuke test site, Trump tweeted: 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!

Earlier, Trump cryptically said the U.S. would be able to handle it.

North Korea will likely be a major topic when U.S. and Chinese diplomats meet in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday for the first Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, a summit that arose from the meeting between Trump and Xi in April. Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis are set to represent the U.S.
Conservationists have launched what they call one of Africa's biggest wildlife relocations  the transfer of 7,500 animals over three years to a Mozambican park whose wildlife was nearly wiped out by civil war.

The South Africa-based Peace Parks Foundation said Wednesday that Zinave National Park will receive 500 animals from Gorongosa, another Mozambican park recovering since the war ended in 1992, and about 6,000 from the Sango wildlife area in neighboring Zimbabwe. Other animals are being moved from South Africa.

Peace Parks says Zinave will get species including buffalo, giraffe, wildebeest, zebra and elephants.

Zinave administrator Antonio Bacar says the training of park rangers will increase to prevent poaching.

The hope is that tourists visiting the popular coastal area around Vilanculos will take a safari once Zinave is restocked.
The first of five Western-made jet aircraft acquired by Poland to transport Polish government officials arrived in the country on Wednesday.

A U.S.-made Gulfstream G550 capable of carrying 19 people landed at the military section part of Warsaw's Frederic Chopin Airport to an official welcome and a Catholic blessing.

For over two decades, consecutive governments postponed the costly purchase of VIP planes while the Soviet-made fleet inherited from the communist era was aging and developing technical problems.

In 1999, a government plane carrying the Senate speaker made an emergency landing in the Saudi Arabian desert. There were other incidents.

The current government decided to buy two Gulfstream G550 and three Boeing 737 jets.

The ruling party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, is sensitive to air travel safety because his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski was killed in a 2010 plane crash. The crash in Russia was not blamed on any technical issues.

Since the crash, state officials travelled by chartering regular flights of the Polish LOT airline or on military helicopters and transport planes.
Pro-ISIS rebels continued to hold several hostages in a southern Philippine school on Wednesday despite earlier reports that the insurgents have retreated from the building, military officials said.

About 200 to 300 gunmen from Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters retreated to the Malagakit grade school building after seeking retreat from government forces, local army spokesman Capt. Arvin Encinas. The gunmen seized villagers in North Cotabato province Wednesday evening while trying to dodge gunfire from government forces.

Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla initially reported the rebels withdrew from the school after reinforcement troops arrived. He later said the troops reported that the rebels were still held up at the building, with other insurgents returning to the area.

Rebel spokesman Abu Misry Mamah acknowledged in a radio interview that his group staged the attack, but said they only took hold of some villagers to protect them from the government forces.

Padilla said the rebels may have launched the attack on the village in order to diverge focus on an ongoing military offensive against a separate group of IS-aligned militants who laid siege May 23 in Marawi in Lanao del Sur province, also in the country's south.

The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, mostly encamped in the marshy heartland of the country's southern region, broke off from the largest Muslim rebel group several years ago partly to protest peace talks with the government. The breakaway rebels, however, have been weakened by battle setbacks and some of its commanders have tried to align themselves with the Islamic State group in the hope of securing funding from the Middle East-based group, according to the military.

Last month, about 500 militants seized Marawi, a mosque-dotted center of the Islamic faith in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. The attack followed an army and police raid on a hideout that failed to capture a top militant suspect. Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery, have been fighting street battles to wrest back control of the city's business district.

At least 258 militants, 65 soldiers and police and 26 civilians have been killed and more than 300,000 villagers have fled from Marawi and outlying towns.

The U.S. military in recent weeks deployed a P3 Orion aircraft to provide surveillance and intelligence to troops battling more than 100 gunmen holding an unspecified number of hostages in Marawi. President Rodrigo Duterte, despite having an antagonistic stance toward Washington, has acknowledged the U.S. assistance is helping save lives.

Duterte declared martial law in the entire Mindanao region to deal with the Marawi crisis.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Muslim rebels withdrew from a southern Philippine village Wednesday after security forces moved rapidly to prevent another crisis amid a monthlong militant siege in nearby Marawi city, officials said.

About 300 gunmen stormed the village of Malagakit in North Cotabato province at dawn Wednesday and engaged government forces in a firefight. There've been no reports of casualties and hundreds of villages fled to safety, but military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said the gunmen took an unspecified number of civilians to cover their retreat.

Police said the attackers belonged to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, one of several Muslim rebel groups active in the south. Militant spokesman Abu Misry Mamah acknowledged in a radio interview that his group staged the attack but said they did not intend to take hostages.

The gunmen occupied a grade school building as they clashed with government forces, said Chief Inspector Realan Mamon, the police chief of Pigcawayan township, where Malagakit is located. The school was closed at the time of the attack.

"They've withdrawn from the area, they're no longer there. The school area is safe," Padilla told a news conference in Manila, adding troops were pursuing the attackers.

The rebels, hiding in the marshy heartland of the country's southern region, broke off from the largest Muslim rebel group several years ago partly to protest peace talks with the government. The breakaway rebels, however, have been weakened by battle setbacks and some of its commanders have tried to align themselves with the Islamic State group in the hope of securing funding from the Middle East-based group, according to the military.

Padilla said it was possible the attack was intended to disrupt an ongoing military offensive against a separate group of IS-aligned militants who laid siege May 23 in Marawi city in Lanao del Sur province, about 55 kilometers (35 mile) away.

"If this is a diversionary move, it's not the first by these BIFF gunmen," Padilla said. "They have tried to attack more than once and all have been thwarted."

Last month, about 500 militants seized Marawi, a mosque-dotted center of the Islamic faith in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. The attack followed an army and police raid on a hideout that failed to capture a top militant suspect. Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery, have been fighting street battles to wrest back control of the city's business district.

At least 258 militants, 65 soldiers and police and 26 civilians have been killed and more than 300,000 villagers have fled from Marawi and outlying towns.

The U.S. military in recent weeks deployed a P3 Orion aircraft to provide surveillance and intelligence to troops battling more than 100 gunmen holding an unspecified number of hostages in Marawi. President Rodrigo Duterte, despite having an antagonistic stance toward Washington, has acknowledged the U.S. assistance is helping save lives.

Duterte has said politicians, including some linked to the illegal drug trade, may have covertly backed the militants, who stockpiled arms and supplies before launching their audacious plot in Marawi. The attack has sparked fears that the Islamic State group, while losing territory in Syria and Iraq, may be gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia by supporting local militants with money, training and weapons.

Duterte declared martial law in the entire Mindanao region to deal with the Marawi crisis.
Queen Elizabeth II outlined the government's legislative program in a speech to Parliament on Wednesday after the prime minister slimmed down her plans and promised "humility" in negotiating Britain's exit from the European Union following a disastrous election that cost the ruling Conservative Party its majority.

The 91-year-old monarch carried on with her royal duties at the ceremonial opening of the new Parliament despite the announcement that her husband, Prince Philip, had been hospitalized. Buckingham Palace said Philip, 96, has been hospitalized as a precaution for treatment of an infection.

BRITAIN'S PRINCE PHILIP IN HOSPITAL WITH INFECTION

His rare absence from the State Opening of Parliament added to the solemnity of an occasion cherished by the British people and replete with tradition. While the queen reads the Queen's Speech to lawmakers, it is written by the prime minister and her staff and offers a broad brush of goals for the future.

The nine-minute speech reflected May's weakened position  a loss of stature that has emboldened those within her own party who want a "softer" Brexit which makes a less-sharp break with the EU.

Eight of 27 bills outlined in the speech deal with the complex process of Brexit. May omitted several policies touted in the Conservative election campaign, including plans to change funding for the care of older people, which opponents dubbed the "dementia tax." Also missing was ending free school lunches and limiting winter fuel payments to low-income elderly.

Nor was there a mention of President Donald Trump's a state visit. May's invitation, extended with days of Trump taking office, had been sharply criticized by all parties.

May's Downing Street office said nothing had changed: an invitation had been extended and accepted. It was not mentioned in the speech was because no date had been set, May's office said.

QUEEN ELIZABETH DRIVES JAGUAR FROM CHURCH: SEE PHOTO

Tempted a big lead over the opposition Labour party in opinion polls, May had called the snap election expecting an overwhelming victory that would silence dissenters and give her a mandate to push ahead with plans to leave the European Customs Union and drastically limit immigration as Britain leaves the EU. Instead, she lost seats and still hasn't secured a deal with another party to insure Parliament will back the government's agenda.

"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," May said in a statement. "We will work hard every day to gain the trust and confidence of the British people, making their priorities our priorities."

Signaling the importance of Brexit negotiations with the EU, set to continue until the spring of 2019, the speech set out the government's program for two years, rather than one.

The prime minister, who had campaigned with the slogan "Brexit means Brexit," softened her tone in comments released ahead of the speech.

"First, we need to get Brexit right," she said. "That means getting a deal which delivers the result of last year's referendum and does so in a way that commands maximum public support."

Even before news of Prince Philip's illness, the government had announced that the speech would be delivered with less pageantry than normal a result of the timing of the snap election. For instance, the queen arrived at Parliament in a car, rather than a horse-drawn carriage, and delivered the speech in everyday dress, instead of the traditional royal robes.

The primary issue was scheduling. The state opening took place only days after another huge annual event, Trooping the Color, a celebration of the queen's birthday. Both ceremonies take weeks of preparation and planning, and it was deemed too difficult to prepare for two such events so close together.
A Fredericksburg couple lost a few purses and a wallet, along with a Mercedes, over the weekend after a burglar broke into their home on Hawke Street while they slept.

The burglar apparently slipped into the home through a small unlocked window Saturday morning, according to the Fredericksburg Police Department.

A doorbell video, sent to The Free LanceStar by the victims, captured the burlgar, who was wearing a green hoodie, leaving the scene through the front door while carrying the purses. One of the homeowners said a wallet was also stolen.

The burglar drove off in the couples brand new 2017 Mercedes S550, which was later found in Stafford County, in the 100 block of Magnes Place.

A male was seen leaving the car, according to police. He was described as either Hispanic or AfricanAmerican and in his early 20s, standing 5-feet-8 to 6-feet tall and weighing 155175 pounds.

Aside from the possessions they lost, the couple also lost some of the small-town feel as a result of the break-in.

Lived in the Burg now more than 20 years & sad about the reality that weve experienced big city crime, one of the homeowners wrote in an email. We will now be living defensively like I did when I lived in DC & Boston. I care nothing about material itemsjust thanking God no one was hurt. Im not afraid of these criminalsjust angry.
RICHMONDWhen a college student commits suicide, it can shake the campus to its core, as other students struggle with grief, perhaps guilt and a range of emotions.

Beginning next school year, public colleges and universities in Virginia will have to offer counseling and other services to students after such tragedies. The requirement is the result of a bill sponsored by state Sen. Bryce Reeves, RSpotsylvania, that was unanimously passed by the General Assembly this year.

The board of visitors of each baccalaureate public institution of higher education shall develop and implement policies that ensure that after a student suicide, affected students have access to reasonable medical and behavioral health services, including postvention services, the bill states.

It defines postvention services as services designed to facilitate the grieving or adjustment process, stabilize the environment, reduce the risk of negative behaviors, and prevent suicide contagion.

SB 1430 was signed into law by Gov. Terry McAuliffe in March. It will take effect July 1.

Vice president for student affairs at the University of Mary Washington Juliette Landphair said, the death of a student is devastating to the community. Unfortunately, like other colleges and universities, UMW has faced such tragedies, and when it does, the Talley Center for Counseling Services is involved in the response from the moment the university gets the information.

She said UMW already has a protocol in place that is compliant with the new law. Known as death of student protocol.

The Talley Center provides post-crisis response services after a student death. Following a death, the director of the Talley Center will contact appropriate counseling staff and will respond to the scene, as well as coordinate psychological counseling and emotional support for those affected.

Services include meeting with students, faculty, and staff in order to process their emotions and reactions. The Talley Center also has walk-in crisis response, which is available at all times, but is used more frequently after a traumatic event.

Existing law requires colleges to have procedures to identify and help students who may be suicidal. The new law goes a step further by mandating what schools should do to help other students after a suicide.

Virginia Commonwealth University also offers postvention services after a student death. Last fall, for example, two VCU students died after falling from the Towers on Franklin apartment building. Jordan Bowman, 18, died in September, and Emma Pascal, 19, in October.

Authorities have not ruled the deaths suicides. However, some news outlets initially reported that the students had jumped to their deaths, implying self-infliction. Experts say that such gossip can lead to suicide contagion or copycat suicides.

This phenomenon is also known as the Werther effect, after Johann Wolfgang von Goethes 18th-century novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. David Phillips, a sociologist at the University of California at San Diego, coined the term in 1974. In his research, he found that suicides seemed to rise after a well-publicized suicide.

Hearing about suicide seems to make those who are vulnerable feel they have the permission to do it, Phillips said.

An associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, Dr. E. David Klonsky, said that when a suicide happens nearby, it can make other people see suicide as an option.

Learning that someone from ones community has died by suicide, especially when the person is a peer or colleague, can make suicide seem more realistic and attainable, especially if the method of suicide has been publicized and is available to others, Klonsky said.

Emma Pascals mother, Cindy Pascal, who is a mental health counselor, said she supported Reeves bill.

Even if it is a death that is questionable, there should be counseling provided to kids because the adolescent brain is amazing and brilliant but it also very fragile, Pascal said.

Dr. Jihad Aziz, the director of Student Counseling Services at VCU, said the bill wont affect the university greatly because it already provides postvention services.

If the death of a student is on campus or near campus, we go to the site for support, and its part of our postvention and intervention services, Aziz said. We will also go to the classrooms and faculty. Students who are grieving come in without having to fill out paperwork, and they always have access to our crisis line.

Aziz said VCU has a range of suicide prevention services and activities. For instance, every year, the university holds an Out of Darkness Walk, aimed at raising suicide awareness. Also, resident assistants and other dormitory staff members receive question, persuade, refer training to recognize when a student is showing signs of distress.
Well over a dozen members of the community attended a Stafford County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday afternoon to share their thoughts and concerns regarding a proposed tax incentive boost for the developer trying to bring a Harris Teeter grocery store to Aquia Town Center.

Under a 2015 agreement between the board and Mosaic Aquia Capital LLC, a portion of the taxes paid by Mosaic will be returned to the developer to go toward construction of commercial space at the center.

Mosaic has requested that the board increase the future incremental tax revenue it will receive from up to $6.25 million to $18.25 million over a 30-year period.

Eron Sodie of Mosaic attended Tuesdays meeting to let the community know that the tax incentive bump isnt going into the developers pockets. It is needed to bring Harris Teeter to the center and move forward with the plans to turn a blighted area into a revenue-generating tool for the county.

We have an opportunity at our fingertips to turn this into a vibrant center, Sodie said. Harris Teeter had pulled the plug, so we are trying to hold it together.

Sodies comments resonated with Stafford resident Jo Knight, who noted that when county officials entered the initial agreement with Mosaic it was a different economic climate. She encouraged the board to work with the developer to breathe life back into a property that has been dormant for years.

This has been a blight and eyesore, Knight said. We really need this improvement, and badly.

Steve Aycock of Stafford expressed his opposition to the request for increased tax incentives. He questioned the prudence of local government jumping in to help a developer that cant make a deal work in an area that should be easily attracting new businesses.

I am not sure why we need to use government money to support free market, Aycock said.

Stafford resident Jennifer Morgan brought up similar concerns. She explained that the construction of new hotels on U.S. 1 demonstrates that the area is attracting consumers and businesses.

Harris Teeter should be attracted to this area, Morgan said. Could the problem be there are already six major grocery stores in area?

Supervisor Jack Cavalier said the full build-out of Aquia Town Center is expected to generate approximately $71 million in revenue over the next 30 years, and this additional revenue will benefit the entire countyespecially schools.

We dont need to raise taxes to fund schoolswe can do this on the backs of businesses, Cavalier said.

County Administrator Tom Foley added that the new agreement with Mosaic would not conflict with the countys policy that all meals tax revenue be given to schools.

Supervisor Wendy Maurer said board members and county staff will have several matters to discuss as they consider moving forward with the agreement, including whether there will be leakage of revenue from existing businesses to new businesses and if the significant size of the total payout is the right course of action.

The board is scheduled to vote to approve or deny the request at its July 5 meeting.
Richmond native James F. Kauffmann was ordained a priest by Bishop Walter F. Sullivan on July 18, 1975, at Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Virginia Beach.

In July 2016, parishioners, priests and nuns gathered at St. Benedicts Catholic Church in Richmond, his home church, where he was pastor from 1999 until 2014, to celebrate his 40th anniversary in the priesthood.

Friends and colleagues soon will be celebrating a Mass of Christian burial in his honor.

Father Kauffman, who had served for the past year at St. Bede Catholic Church in Williamsburg, died Monday at age 67.

Arrangements were incomplete Monday night.

During a Times-Dispatch interview at last years celebration, St. Benedict parishioner Althea Premaza recounted how Father Kauffmann changed my life completely from just going through the motions at church to feeling a spiritual connection with God. He began engaging church members beyond the typical Sunday sermon by starting Bible studies and rosaries.

The church was like dying almost, and he came and rejuvenated everything. I just cant say enough about him, Premaza said at the time.

Congregants called him a dynamic preacher who was able to help them understand Scripture and deep doctrine and a man who expressed himself joyfully and touched peoples lives.

After graduating from Star of the Sea Elementary School in Virginia Beach and Norfolk Catholic High School in Norfolk, Father Kauffmann earned a bachelors degree in economics from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg in 1971.

After his 1976 ordination to the priesthood, he served at:

St. Augustine Catholic Church in Richmond from 1977 to 1980;

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Waynesboro from 1980 to 1987;

St. Mary of the Annunciation in Ladysmith from 1990 to 1999;

St. Benedicts Catholic Church in Richmond from 1999 to 2014;

Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Norfolk from 2014 to 2015; and

St. Bede Catholic Church in Williamsburg from 2016 to 2017.

Father Kauffman had served on his denominations Richmond Tribunal as Defender of the Bond since September 1979. He was a chaplain at the former Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond from 1978 to 1980.

He did postgraduate studies at Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he graduated in 1990 with a licentiate in sacred scripture. In 1996, he earned a degree in early Christian studies at Catholic University of America in Washington.

Survivors include two brothers, Richard Kauffmann of Atlanta and Vincent Kauffmann of Roswell, Ga.
FOR BETTER or for worse, cellphones have become an indispensable part of most Americans everyday lives.

In recent polls, about half the country said they couldnt imagine living without their phones. In one pocket-size package, phones have become our navigators, photo albums, video cameras, music libraries, organizers, and the way we stay connected to our friends and loved ones.

For most, our cellphones are an indispensable part of our businesses and private lives. They are also not a small investment for consumers, who now often pay as much for a phone as they would for a laptop computer.

Because cellphones are such important consumer products, it is important that consumers are not being taken advantage of by the shrinking number of companies who supply us with these critical devices. And when I look at the recent reports of actions taken by Applethe company that is profiting the most from these devicesthere is a strong case to be made that consumers are being harmed.

As a former New York attorney general, I appreciate fully the powerful investigative tools that state attorneys general have to address consumer harm.

Cliche or not, knowledge is power, especially when it comes to the purchase of high-tech devices where a consumer is making a selection of one brand over another, or has emotional allegiances to a favorite brand.

Consumers are harmed if information about these brands is deceptive or misleading. That is especially so when purchasing one brand or another locks consumers into a platform that is not easily changed.

It is against this backdrop that Qualcomm, a supplier of chips and technology for the iPhone 7, has sued Apple in a California case claiming that Apple chose not to use the full capabilities of the chips supplied by Qualcomm. According to this lawsuit, Apple did so in order to create artificial parity between the faster Qualcomm chip and slower chips produced by another company that Apple also wanted to use in the iPhone.

It is alleged that Apple secretly took these steps and then threatened Qualcomm not to disclose what Apple had done. Apple may decide to sell consumers phones that are not as fast as they could be. But what Apple doesnt have the right to do is to mislead consumers about the performance of its products.

The problem arises because, even slowed, iPhones with the Qualcomm chip still perform faster than other iPhones, and as claimed in the lawsuit, Apple assured consumers that there was no discernible difference in the performance of iPhones with Qualcomm chips and iPhones with the other chips.

In fact, third-party studies show that the Qualcomm chips have downloading capacity fully one-third faster than the other chips, up to 600 megabits per second as opposed to the competitor chips slower speed of up to 450 megabits per second.

That means, contrary to Apples assurance, that there is a disparity in performance between the two classes of iPhone 7 in consumers hands today. And consumers have figured this out, as evidenced by a thriving resale market over the internet in which sellers actively advertise their used iPhones as having the faster Qualcomm chip.

So, as a former attorney general, I think AGs across the country should have questions about Apples marketing practices and the information it provides to consumers.

If information is kept from consumers, how are they expected to make an informed choice between an iPhone 7 and an Android phone? For those consumers who would choose iPhones every time, how on earth would they be expected to know whether they purchased the faster iPhone 7 or the slower one? And, if armed with that knowledge, what iPhone 7 consumer in her right mind would pick the slower iPhone 7 at the same high price point?

I will leave it to the two major companies and their armies of lawyers involved in the case to duke it out in court, but I have have an important question: Who is looking out for the consumer here?

The answer thus far is nobody! Most, if not all, states have significant numbers of consumers who have purchased the iPhone 7 without knowing whether they were buying the faster or slower iPhone 7. Every state has consumer protection laws to ensure that the consumer is not being misled or deceived. The allegations surrounding this issue seem compelling enough to warrant a full inquiry by attorneys general in each of those states.

Dennis C. Vacco is a former attorney general of New York. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
Gun owners must be more responsible

The June 12 Free LanceStars Spotsylvania Crime Solvers reported that two Glocks, a Colt .34 and a Ruger .45 were stolen from unlocked vehicles.

Responsible gun ownership is the mantra from Second Amendment hawks.

But the gun owners in these instances are not victims, they are perpetrators. It would be fair to revoke their concealed-carry permits for life, impose a 10-day jail sentence and accessory charges for future crimes traceable to these guns.

And how about an ordnance?

These four guns are in the wind! Some person who snatches cellphones and laptops from parked cars is now armed. At some point, he will be caught, in a jam, get scared, and will shoot. Or possibly, these guns will be sold into the black market stream of weapons being exported from Virginia.

The term responsible gun ownership must have meaning.

Floyd Roberson

Fredericksburg
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not wait to try to get him back into Congress. He's exactly what they want in a candidate. I dont know anything about the other Democrat in the race, Kara Eastman, but she couldnt possibly be as bad as Ashford. The Omaha World-Herald pointed out that Ashford was one of the House members most likely to cross the aisle on major votes [which] bolstered his credentials as a moderate but routinely prompted sharply worded denunciations from rank-and-file Nebraska Democrats on social media. They got two things wrong: 1- he was the member most likely to cross the aisle and 2- that bolstered his credentials as a conservative, not as a moderate. Yesterday Randy Bryce, the woke iron worker, union and veterans activist, former Bernie delegate (and Hillary elector) announced his candidacy for the seat Paul Ryan holds in southeast Wisconsin. We dedicated the whole day to it ; its that important. We were unable to comment on two other new candidates though-- one, literally the worst possible Nebraska Democrat you could ever conjure up and the other, a great first time candidate is New Jersey. The first is an old reject , conservative former Republican legislator, Brad Ashford, who joined the Blue Dogs, served one term in Congress, supported the GOP agenda-- he was even worse than Kyrsten Sinema-- and then lost his reelection when progressives refused to turn out for him at the polls. Ashford is the only member of Congress Ive ever referred to as a piece of shit. He voted more frequently against progressive goals in the House than any other Democrat, if you want to call him a Democrat. The DCCC, which does want to call him a Democrat, just couldwait to try to get him back into Congress. He's exactly what they want in a candidate. I dont know anything about the other Democrat in the race, Kara Eastman, but she couldnt possibly be as bad as Ashford. The Omahapointed out that Ashford was one of the House members most likely to cross the aisle on major votes [which] bolstered his credentials as a moderate but routinely prompted sharply worded denunciations from rank-and-file Nebraska Democrats on social media. They got two things wrong: 1- he wasmember most likely to cross the aisle and 2- that bolstered his credentials as a, not as a moderate.





The other race that was announced Monday, the one were more interested in, is for the South Jersey seat occupied by one of the devious architects of TrumpCare 2.0, reactionary multimillionaire Tom MacArthur. The Democrat running is Andy Kim, a former Obama White House national security official who coordinated the fight against ISIS inside the National Security Council, after working at the Pentagon, the State Department and in Afghanistan as a strategic adviser to General David Petraeus. Andy was a Rhodes Scholar and received a Doctorate in International Relations from Oxford after going to the University of Chicago. Andy, his wife, Kammy Lai and their 21 month old son, Austin, live in Marlton, just down the road from the school where Andy attended kindergarten.





In a statement, he told NJ-03 voters that hes been traveling around the 2 counties-- Ocean and Burlington-- that make up the divergent district and speaking with people from the suburbs Northeast of Philly, through Shamong, Lacey and Stafford townships and up to Toms River and Brick, and that he sees a groundswell of energy Ive never seen before. People want change. They want leaders to take the time to listen, and build a system that puts people first. People in the Jersey Third have told me that they are scared about their futures. They worry about getting good paying jobs, having affordable healthcare, and ensuring their familys safety. He continued that hes running for Congress because we can no longer take democracy for granted, the people's voice needs to be heard. I am stepping up because no one can assume that someone else will fight on our behalf. I have spent my life serving my country. I will be honored to serve as the next Congressman from the Jersey Third.

Last month, I watched Representative Tom MacArthur rush a vote on a dire healthcare bill without letting the American people understand the consequences. Under Trumpcare, tens of thousands of people in our congressional district will lose their healthcare.



Nobody voted to send a representative to Congress to gut healthcare. Im running for Congress to work on solutions, and fix problems, not on gutting healthcare to win a political fight.



I grew up in South Jersey. Its where I hit my first home run, earned my first paycheck, and received an incredible public education that opened up a world of opportunity.



My wife, Kammy, and I have a 21-month-old boy and another baby on the way. As parents, we have to think not only about our future, but the future of our children, and the world they are going to live in, even beyond our own lifetimes.



I never thought I would run for Congress. I am doing this because I believe it is the right thing to do. I believe we need a new generation of leaders in Congress that are focused on representing the people and finding solutions. We need leaders who want to serve the people, represent their neighbors, and work together to build a stronger nation.
Last year the most winnable Republican-held seat in Michigan was the 11th district, cut out of Oakland and Wayne counties northwest of Detroit and Dearborn. It carefully skirts Pontiac but stretches awkwardly from Troy and Birmingham in the east to Novi and Livonia to the west. Trump didnt do as well as Romney did but he narrowly beat Hillary, 49.7% to 45.3% in the district. Although the incompetent and corrupt DCCC chose to waste millions of dollars in other districts, promoting Blue Dog conservatives with no chance to win, they steered clear of MI-11 where a progressive, Anil Kumar, did better against David Trott than any of the DCCC did against their opponents. Kumar held Trott to a 52.9% win and the district looks like to flip-- unless the DCCC sabotages the Democratic candidate again-- in 2018.





The most prominent candidate to emerge so far is Haley Stevens, who was born and raised in Rochester Hills. That she lived in DC while working as chief of staff for the Obama administrations auto bailout, has caused Trotts desperate campaign to try to label her a carpetbagger. No ones buying it, especially not from the out-of-touch former foreclosure king. Her expertise in manufacturing is sorely lacking inside the halls of Congress and shes an excellent fit for the district. We asked her to introduce herself by explaining a little about what she is offering folks in MI-11 that Trott isn't providing. Her guest post is below and you can visit her website here and if youd like, contribute to her campaign as well.

















In Michigan, I See the Future of America

-by Haley Stevens





The great innovation, export and import engine epitomizing 20th century economic might rises today to tell a new story.





Today, Michigan boasts 75% of the countrys autonomous vehicle research and development. In 2006, Googles first office outside of Silicon Valley moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. And our freshwater lakes still remain the envy of the world.





Michigan innovation, and occasionally our natural resources, are just as connected to Silicon Valley as they are to us; and Silicon Valley needs Michigan a great deal.





Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, in his Harvard graduation address declared, We should have a society that measures progress not just by economic metrics like GDP, but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful.





As a policy maker, I invite this conversation and opportunity to shine a light on the true spirit of human capabilities and our future economy.





Many people live to work and are lucky enough to find community and passion in their work. The men and women I have met in manufacturing offices and on shop floors over the past decade stand proud of their daily output. At the same time, the United States maintains a skills gap as defined by hundreds of thousands of open manufacturing positions that go unfilled each year. There is an overwhelming demand from companies of all sizes for welders, computer numerical controls operators, and technicians, but there are just not enough qualified people to fill these jobs.





Many emerging and mid-sized companies driving the maker economy are fighting for technology and manufacturing talent just to stay afloat. We are in a newfound competitive skills environment where computer and coding skills meet traditional manufacturing work.





Coding and computer science must make their way into school curricula from an early age, whereas we can make skills obtainment in these fields universal and affordable. We can lower the barrier to entry and even the playing field so everyone competes fairly for jobs and available work.





During my years spent running a multi-million-dollar future of work agenda funded by the Department of Defense, I frequently cited the importance of analog skills meeting digital requirements. Ill tip my hat to Mark Zuckerberg on this point, who also said last month, as technology keeps changing, we need to focus more on continuous education throughout our lives.





Overnight global technology advances more rapidly than policymakers can put their pens to paper, and as a result we find ourselves going into the quarter 21st century mark with profound questions looming.





What is the role and value of human work? Now more than ever we can encourage, foster, and place value on the bounty of human work and human driven experiences.





These questions centralize on the critical role policy makers play working in tandem with industry leaders to determine outcomes, catalyze growth and ultimately the value of our work.





Im prepared to be one policy maker leading the charge. Alongside the Michigan innovation story, my central motivations to run for Congress in Michigans-11th district comprising metro-Detroit are to promote a true progressive agenda that holds current and reckless leadership accountable. As a lifelong Democrat running for Congress my message for the party and to voters is: The value of work matters, each individual life matters, and that is why we do what we do; because your health, our environment and the richness of our economy for everyone matters.





While the economy has been growing in Michigan since coming out of the Great Recession, it has only been growing for a few. Incomes have remained stagnant.





We feel it: we could all be a little better off and our childrens future could appear brighter, student loan debt not as burdensome or non-existent if we choose to address this looming problem vis-a-vis collaborative, industry driven solutions before debt is even incurred.





By coming together with industry leaders, chambers, universities, and associations for pro-growth, inclusive solutions; government leaders are in a poignant position to address the challenges that have left so many hard-working people behind. And to top it off, government can find a way to remove itself as necessary and promote efficiency. Identifying where the government can come in as a strategic partner is where leading policy makers can make a proven difference.





By seeking an office in the nations capital and asking everyone I know to support me in any way they can, I am also making a bet on the future and declaring it exists right here in southeastern Michigan with our world class workforce, technology hubs, and our overwhelming ability to innovate. Something my opponent, two term Republican incumbent Dave Trott who has profited off his peculiar and disappointing foreclosure business does not know much about.





Detroit hustles harder is the saying that emerged in the throes of the Great Recession, and today that note continues to ring throughout our region. And thats because in Michigan we know the value and meaning of hard-work, it is in our blood and we dont stop.
Defra secretary Michael Gove has pledged open and frank dialogue with farmers as the government develops its post-Brexit agricultural policy.

Mr Gove was speaking to farm leaders and fellow parliamentarians during an NFU reception at the House of Commons, London, on Tuesday (20 June).

It is vital the industry and government work together honestly and effectively as new policies and support systems are devised for the agricultural sector, he said.

One thing will be critical  and that will be open and frank dialogue, said Mr Gove.

See also: Michael Gove accused of U-turn on cheap food

I have never known a farmer who has been reluctant or shy in coming forward with suggestions about how politicians might do their jobs better.

Tell it as it is

That is how I like it  I want to make sure that over the course of the next two years we have an open debate and you tell it as it is.

Mr Gove added: It is important that you explain to me exactly what it is that government has got wrong in the past, may get wrong in the future and needs to alter.

This included overly burdensome bureaucracy, delays to support payments, problems that could be quickly resolved and detrimental policies that may take longer to change.

Pledge to champion British farmers

Pledging to be an energetic champion for British farmers and producers, Mr Gove said Brexit was a historic opportunity to reset UK agricultural policy.

For more than 40 years, the EU has dictated exactly how agriculture and fisheries in this country are governed, supported and shaped, he said.

British farmers deliver the highest-quality produce in the world. It deserves to be enjoyed by an expanding global market, as well as by domestic consumers, he said.

The beauty of our countryside and the health of our agricultural sector depends on the committed hard work and unseeking dedication of those who are Britains farmers.

In turn, said Mr Gove, this depended on people in government having an understanding of the opportunities and challenges faced by farmers.

Tremendous opportunity

Mr Gove said he wanted to ensure the tremendous opportunity as the government took back control of farming policy was exercised in the interests of British farmers.

We have an opportunity to get rid of bureaucracy, but at the same time enhance our environment, he told listeners.

We have an opportunity to move away from an inefficient form of subsidy to providing the right sort of support for farmers.

We also have a fantastic opportunity to make sure that the world-beating record weve got  of high-quality produce and environmental standards  is recognised globally.

NFU president Meurig Raymond said the role of parliamentarians in the future of British agriculture as the UK left the European Union could not be overstated.

This will be the first Westminster parliament to legislate on agricultural issues for more than 40 years, Mr Raymond told MPs and peers.

The reception was also attended by Defra ministers George Eustice, Therese Coffey and Lord Gardiner of Kimble.

Turning to Mr Gove, Mr Raymond said: The challenges ahead of us are great, but so are the opportunities. The NFU looks forward to working with you all to back British farming.
Story Highlights 62% identify as upper-middle or middle class, similar to 2008

Just 2% of Americans identify as upper class

Older adults much more likely than young adults to identify as middle class

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The breakdown of social class identification in the U.S. has returned to pre-recession levels, with 2% saying they belong to the upper class, 62% to the upper-middle or middle classes, and 36% to the working or lower classes.

Americans' identification as upper-middle or middle class was lower in 2012 and 2015, but rose across three surveys taken last fall, and has edged up slightly more in Gallup's June 7-11 poll.

Gallup's class identification question asks Americans to put themselves in one of five categories: upper, upper-middle, middle, working or lower class. This subjective classification differs from objective calculations of social class based on quantifiable measures like income, education, net worth, location of residence, family background or other variables.

Middle class is the most common label, used by 44% of Americans, followed by working class at 28% and upper-middle class at 18%. Relatively few consider themselves to be lower class or upper class, at 8% and 2%, respectively.

Gallup did not ask this social class question between 2009 and 2011, and therefore it is possible the 2012-2015 dip in middle-class identification was evident earlier, following the 2008 financial meltdown and its aftermath. Overall, the three 2016 surveys and the current June 7-11 survey demonstrate that subjective social class identification has stabilized close to the prevailing pattern observed before 2009.

Previous Gallup research shows that the decline of middle-class identifiers in the 2012 and 2015 surveys compared with 2008, plus the subsequent rebound in 2016 (which has continued in 2017), was evident across all income levels but was more pronounced among those without a college degree.

Age is related to subjective social class, with about half of young Americans in the most recent study identifying as working or lower class, significantly more than among those who are older. Americans 65 and older are in turn significantly more likely to identify as middle class than those who are younger.

These differences could reflect a tendency for older people to avoid the term "working class" because many are no longer employed. Younger Americans may be less likely to identify as middle class because they are more likely to be in school, are less likely to own a home and have lower incomes -- with the last of these highly related to social class identity.

Social Class Identification, by Age 18 to 29 30 to 49 50 to 64 65+ % % % % Upper class 1 3 1 3 Upper-middle and middle class 50 59 66 77 Working and lower class 49 38 33 19 Gallup, June 7-11, 2017

Upper-middle- and middle-class identification among the youngest age group has remained much more stable than among those who are older, and the drop in 2012 and 2015 was evident in all age groups except those 18 to 29. Subsequently, upper-middle- and middle-class identification jumped between 11 and 17 percentage points among age groups 30 and older from the 2012-2015 low point to the current survey; among 18- to 29-year-olds, by contrast, middle-class identification is up only three points.

Implications

Despite evidence of rising income inequality in recent years, Americans are no more likely now than in the past to identify themselves at the high or low ends of the social class hierarchy. Furthermore, few Americans call themselves upper class, and the percentage who choose the upper-middle-class label is not materially higher than it was from 2000 through 2008.

Similarly, the percentage of Americans who place themselves in the lower- or working-class categories is about the same today as it was in the years 2008 and before. Thus, the evidence here doesn't suggest that a sharp decline in the middle class, or a rise in the working class, was related to Donald Trump's election success last year.

Overall, "middle class" is the label Americans use more than any other to describe their social class, providing a useful catchphrase for politicians interested in appealing to the broadest swath of the public.

Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics.
A Pinch of Salt: The election is over, I think, so what now?
Community Outreach Inc. announced Tuesday that it will be closing its emergency shelter services on July 1.

The Corvallis-based nonprofit will continue to operate longer-term transitional housing for families, but will no longer offer shorter-term emergency shelter to men, women and families. Community Outreach said in a press release that last year, it provided emergency shelter for 11 men, 36 women, and 79 families consisting of 114 adults with 116 children.

Kari Whitacre, Community Outreach's executive director, said the closure of the emergency shelter service is just one of the cuts the organization is facing after having its funding from the city of Corvallis cut from $127,000 last year to $101,000 this year. She said the organization also faces cuts to contracted services from the state and federal government  $80,000 from Oregon Department of Human Services and $26,000 from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Whitacre said Community Outreach will be facing additional program cuts because of these declines in revenue. Her priority is to keep the transitional housing program operating because she said it has a bigger impact on improving peoples lives. That program has a capacity of 70.

Whitacre said she disagreed with the citys decision to reduce funding for Community Outreach, while at the same time setting aside money to help re-establish a mens cold weather shelter. A shelter operated by Corvallis Housing First at 530 SW Fourth St. permanently closed this spring as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed against Housing First by a neighbor.

It feels like they are robbing Peter to pay Paul, she said of the city. They took from us to give to them.

Whitacre added that even if Community Outreach got back the money the city had cut, she would not reopen the emergency shelter immediately; she would instead use the money to shore up the transitional housing program.

That has to be our priority right now, she said.

Whitacre said Community Outreach hopes to reopen the emergency shelter in November.

Ben Danley, the organization's development director, said the room Community Outreach used for its emergency shelter is basically a conference room, and the cost savings primarily come from not having to staff the space.

This is not an easy decision to make, he said, especially given the closure of the mens shelter. It was not taken lightly by any means.

Corvallis Mayor Biff Traber discussed the mens cold weather shelter situation during mayors reports at Monday nights meeting of the City Council.

Essentially there is no update, Traber said.

Traber said the city-county funded Housing Opportunities Action Council has been searching both for a shelter site and a group to operate it. Officials have been considering using modular units, geodesic domes and even military surplus tents.

If by the next meeting (July 17) we have not made any progress, I would say we would be at a crisis point, Traber said.
Three weeks ago one intrepid reporter stood up in front of a crowd of well-heeled property managers, flanked by a head table of giants of the waste management industry and powerful city officials.

They really mean to stop me this time, the reporter thought.

Flash forward to Tuesday, when the reporter, in the guise of the Couch Patrol, rode again, fueled by the stimulation of the Great Sofa Challenge. The Corvallis Rental Property Managers Group, Republic Services and city of Corvallis housing and code enforcement officials issued the challenge at that May 30 meeting, promising to be out on the streets in force on Monday, looking for abandoned couches and other debris associated with Oregon State University students moving out for the summer.

OSU community relations officials, meanwhile, held the Great Move-Out event Thursday and Friday, reeling in tons of donated stuff in a well-organized drive in the parking lot of the Grace Lutheran Church.

The Couch Patrol chose Tuesday deliberately, wanting to see how thorough the scrubbing was.

It was pretty thorough, actually.

As the photographer kept saying:

I must say its looking a lot better. Jim, you may have worked your way out of a job here.

Or:

This looks all very civilized  you might have to find another windmill for next year.

But were getting ahead of ourselves a bit.

At 1:22 p.m. the Couch Patrol left its secret base, traveling in Bessie, a hatchback with 300,000-plus miles, that blends in well in near-campus neighborhoods. The weather was a bit muggy, with decent cloud cover.

Our first sighting was a battered couch/lounger next to a dumpster in an alleyway between Northwest 19th and Northwest 18th. Stuffing was beginning to leak out of its arm. The photographer expressed concerns over whether an alleyway meets the Couch Patrol criteria. We huddled briefly and decided to count it.

A few blocks away on 13th just north of Harrison was a desk and a jar of what looked like protein powder. A sign on the desk says Free S--- and thus could not be photographed.

On Jackson near 15th we found an overflowing dumpster with some sort of combination futon/convertible couch stacked behind it. We also find two red potatoes  couch potatoes ... inevitably.

Heading up 15th we spotted a bit of a debris field. Kind of a strange one. There was a shelf with some pots and pans. A wastebasket full of small area rugs. A scenic beach photo. A plastic tub of what looked like firewood. And some burned debris of some kind. Almost seemed like the beginning of a novel.

Heading back to Bessie we spotted two perfectly good Dr. Scholls flip-flops  abandoned in the parking strip. No footprints were leading anywhere that we could see.

We also were spotted by a student loading pieces of bedding foam into a pickup truck. She called us the garbage patrol and told us there used to be a couch over there. Garbage patrol. Ouch!

Finally, at 18th and Harrison we spotted our first real abandoned couch, a blue, green and red three-cushion number sitting under a shade tree on the sidewalk. Residents inside were talking and laughing, oblivious as we shot photos and examined the unit. While we are there a Republic Services truck rumbles past.

One block over, we looked south down 17th toward the campus  and all we see are clustered, orderly sets of trash carts. Which led to the this all looks very civilized comment from the photographer.

We decided to redeploy to the south side for further reconnaissance, dissecting along the way the awe-inspiring 13-pitch walk drawn by Beavers slugger K.J. Harrison during OSUs comeback Saturday against Cal State Fullerton. Seems like OSU, the landlords, Republic and the city are exhibiting the same brand of strong execution.

Our tour of the south side yielded more streets of orderly trash carts. We saw one tenant loading a mattress into an SUV and a couple of card tables next to a dumpster.

This is pristine compared to years past, said the photographer, who lives in the neighborhood.

On our way back to base we swung west across Kings Boulevard toward the Chintimini Park area. Zilch. Null set. Squat. Sometimes less is more. Sometimes if enough people chip in, things can change. It could happen. It DID happen.
This log includes incidents in which there might have been a public disturbance or a risk to the public. Information comes from the Corvallis Police Department and the Benton County Sheriffs Office. It does not include all calls for service. The status of incidents might change after further investigation. Locations are approximate. People arrested or suspected in crimes are considered innocent until proven otherwise.

Corvallis Police Department

SUNDAY, JUNE 18

DUII: 12:44 a.m., Northwest Highway 99 West and Northwest Circle Boulevard, Corvallis. A police officer responded to a report of a traffic crash. The officer determined Hector Ramos Casillas had rear-ended another car. The officer arrested Casillas for driving under the influence of intoxicants. The other driver went to the hospital to be treated for her injuries. Casillas refused to do a breathalyzer test, so the officer requested a search warrant for a blood test. Casillas was booked into the Benton County Jail and later released.

TUESDAY, JUNE 20

THEFT: 12:05 a.m., Northwest Highway 20 and Northwest North Albany Road, Albany. Corvallis police officers assisted Benton County sheriff deputies with a report of a theft of a Samsung washing machine from Sears. A deputy stopped Nathaniel Dean Taylor and found in Taylors Dodge Caravan a new Samsung washing machine, which Taylor claimed he found near rue21. A police officer transported the washing machine to the Law Enforcement Center. The deputy arrested Taylor for theft of lost, mislaid property. Taylor was booked into the Benton County Jail and later released.
Pool weather : Rush to the sunloungers at the Ennertbad in Beuel

Beuel For many people the Ennertbad in Beuel is a holiday substitute. The 28 sun loungers there are much sought-after. Mobile phone photography is monitored.

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Paula is enjoying the first summer of her life: Only born last winter, the smallie is now crawling from the soft blanket onto the lawn and tries to pull out a few blades of grass. Come here, well see how you like splashing around in the water, says her mother Nicole and picks up her daughter. You love the bath tub at home, what about this here? she says and walks towards the baby pool.

Milo, just two years old, is an old-stager by comparison. I can barely get him out of the water, says Gitta Landwehr. Only the prospect of a biscuit makes Milo leave the paddling pool eventually. For my three sons there is nothing better during the summer than visiting the Ennertbad. Even though we moved to Eidorf last year. While the older siblings are still in school this morning, the mother and the youngest child are enjoying a little time out from the daily routine.

Pool manager Jurgen Stoll likes hearing so much praise. At the moment the working day still starts quite quiet for himself and his employees. It only gets really busy when the school holidays start. Now we even have the time to swim a few lengths ourselves, every now and again, he says. Before we open the doors in the morning, I enjoy that.

These days, there is a tight community gathering at the edge of the pool. As soon as the turnstile starts swinging around, the first early swimmers and regulars are swarming in.

While some want to swim a few lengths before work, others are securing the best spots for the day, says Stoll, who is in the know. Then, the rush to the 28 sunloungers, placed around the water area, begins. Within the shortest time, they all get occupied. Like in some holiday places. The towels get spread over the sunloungers to block the best spots.

Seasonal tickets are particularly popular this year. With those you can get in and out again several times a day, says Stoll. Daniel Krug has purchased one. Together with my friends, we want to do a pool tour through Bonn this summer, he explains. I dont need to go to Spain, since we have beautiful outdoor pools here. And there even is a summer holiday atmosphere in the Ennertbad anyway: With the straw parasols it even looks like a beach in Mallorca.

Stoll has no reason to complain about this season. We had no incidents, everything is calm and civilized, he says, pleased. Just a few slaphappy teenagers needed to be sorted out the other day, he laughs.

Mobile phone photography is not becoming a major issue either. We are keeping an eye on it not becoming a big deal. But nobody complained so far.

Its rarely this relaxed though: On a good day, the pool in Beuel sees 4,000 guests. The biggest day day so far was Corpus Christi last Thursday. That day, 1,100 people passed through the entrance within an hour. That was a record day, says Jurgen Stoll.

As far as he is concerned, the summer might as well continue like this. The weather is ideal, he says. If it would only rain properly during the nights every now and again, then it would be perfect. Nature needs water. And we wouldnt have to water the plants and grass after closing time.

At 8pm, the bathing fun is over. But that doesnt mean calling it a day for the pool team. Until we have cleaned up, which takes one or two hours. None of us goes home before 9.30pm.

The early swimmers are supposed to arrive to a perfect pool area again the next day.
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.
bayonel3 at 21-06-2017 12:24 PM (5 years ago) (m)

Etisalat United Arab Emirate (otherwise called Etisalat Group), the parent company of Etisalat Nigeria, on Tuesday, notified the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange that it has pulled out of Nigeria. Recall that earlier on Tuesday, a consortium of banks led by Access Bank Plc and other Nigerian and foreign banks, announced that they had taken over the management of Etisalat Nigeria, putting a final seal on the protracted negotiations between the firm and its creditors.

Etisalat United Arab Emirate (otherwise called Etisalat Group), the parent company of Etisalat Nigeria, on Tuesday, notified the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange that it has pulled out of Nigeria. Recall that earlier on Tuesday, a consortium of banks led by Access Bank Plc and other Nigerian and foreign banks, announced that they had taken over the management of Etisalat Nigeria, putting a final seal on the protracted negotiations between the firm and its creditors. In the notification letter, Etisalat UAE informed the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange of its decision to transfer its shares in Etisalat Nigeria to the appointed security trustee of the consortium of banks led by Access Bank Plc.

Confirming the decision of Etisalat UAE to divest its shares, Chief Executive officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Matthew Willsher, in a press statement made available to The Daily Times said: In the notification letter, Etisalat UAE informed the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange of its decision to transfer its shares in Etisalat Nigeria to the appointed security trustee of the consortium of banks led by Access Bank Plc.Confirming the decision of Etisalat UAE to divest its shares, Chief Executive officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Matthew Willsher, in a press statement made available to The Daily Times said: Quote Our renegotiation with the banks are not yet over, but our shareholding structure is evolving. This morning, Etisalat UAE notified the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange of the forthcoming transfer of their shares to the appointed security trustee of the banks. The exact nature and timing of the transfer is still under discussion, but we expect the final transfer to be done in a coordinated manner. Discussions are also ongoing to address the different management, technical and IP-related implications of the move, including continued use of the Etisalat brand name to trade in Nigeria.This was always one of many possible outcomes. The business will of course continue to operate, because any planned exit will be carried out in coordination with the banks, regulators and shareholders.

Our immediate priority though is to ensure that there is no disruptions to day-to-day operations of the business. In spite of the changes that lie ahead, we aim to maintain continuity through our focus, capabilities, and values.

So, we will continue to focus on the customer. Our commitment to delivering results through innovation, operational excellence and quality of service will endure. And we will also be guided by our core value of passion for excellence, integrity, One Term- One Mission, Growing our people and Empowering our people.

The business outlook remains challenging, but our re-negotiations so far allow us to refocus our energies on the financial, operational and strategic priorities that will help

However, the Federal Government on Tuesday waded into the controversy surrounding the takeover of Etisalat Nigeria, by a consortium of banks, led by Access Bank.

The Federal Government, in an unequivocal statement, declared that lender banks cannot take over Etisalat Nigeria, the number four mobile phone provider in the country, without regulatory approval. The government, through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecommunications industry regulator, said that they have a few regulatory hurdles to cross.

Although NCC did not explain what the regulatory hurdles were, the consortium, led by Access Bank, and some foreign banks had insisted that they have taken over the management of the telecoms provider.

Tony Ojobo, Director, Public Affairs, NCC, said on Tuesday that the lender banks must take note of relevant provisions of the Nigerian Communications Commission Act (NCA) 2003, as well as, the relevant provisions of the laws guiding the transfer of licences issued operators by the telecoms regulator. Ojobo drew the attention of the lender banks to Section 38 and Sub section 1 of the NCA, which spells out that,

The grant of a licence shall be personal to the licensee, and the licence shall not be operated by, assigned, sub-licensed or transferred to another party unless the prior written approval of the commission has been granted.

According to the Nigerian telecoms regulator, Sub Section 2 of the same provision equally states that, A licencee shall, at all times, comply by the terms and condition of the licence and the provision of this act and its subsidiary legislation.

The NCC wishes to assure the over 21 million Etisalat subscribers that it will do all within its regulatory power to ensure that Etisalat subscribers continue to enjoy the services provided by the operator, the Commission said.

According to Ojobo, the Commission has taken proactive steps to cushion the impact of the takeover, adding, This is without prejudice to the ongoing effort between Etisalat and the banks towards negotiated settlement. Although the NCC spokesman did not give further details of the measures that have been taken to cushion the impact on Etisalat Nigeria subscribers, but he gave a ray of assurance.

Whilst the banks and Etisalat are working at resolving the issues, the Commission wishes to assure subscribers that they will continue to enjoy the services provided by Etisalat, Ojobo added. According to him, In view of the 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.

Earlier on Tuesday, a consortium of banks, led by Access Bank Plc and other Nigerian and foreign banks, announced that they have taken over the management of Etisalat Nigeria, one of the telecommunications providers in the country, putting a final seal on the protracted negotiations between the firm and its creditors, which has, since June 15, led Etisalat to relinquish its ownership and control over the company.

Consequently, following the collapse of talks to reach agreement with the banks on debt restructuring plan in the protracted $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) debt impasse, the firms creditors ran out of patience and resolved to take possession of the company.

The takeover is coming on the heels of the failed effort by Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services, EMTS, promoted by-one time Chairman, United Bank for Africa, UBA, Hakeem Bello-Osagie, to reach agreement with the banks on debt restructuring plan.

However, EMTS Holding BV, established in the Netherlands, has up to June 23 to complete the transfer of 100 per cent of the companys shares in Etisalat to the United Capital Trustees Limited, the legal representative of the consortium of banks.

The notification letter, with reference number, Ho/GCFO/152/85, and dated, June 20, 2017, signed by Etisalat Group Chief Financial Officer, Serkan Okandan, said efforts by EMTS to restructure the repayment of the syndicated loan by a consortium of banks to Etisalat Nigeria had collapsed.



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 per cent and 25 per cent 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 per cent 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, the filing said.

Etisalat has been under pressure since 2016, following the demand notice for the recovery 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.

Due to its inability to meet its debt servicing obligations agreed since 2016, the consortium, prodded by their foreign partners, threatened to take over the company and its assets across the country. But, the intervention of the telecom sector regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and its financial sector counterpart, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, persuaded the banks to rethink their threat and give Etisalat a chance to renegotiate the loans repayment schedule. Meanwhile, Engr. Lanre Ajayi, CEO Pinet Informatics and Immediate Past President of Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), in a telephone interview with The Daily Times, said that the purported takeover of Etisalat by the banks is not a healthy development for the telecom industry in Nigeria, as he expected the company

and the banks to resolve the issue amicably. He said: Again, it shows the state of our economy and the environment that the telcos operates. The impression people and government have about the telcos before now is that they are making money in the country.

This development has gone to show that they are not making money based on the recession and the operating environment. If the Company was really making money, then they could have been able to repay the debt, or come to amiable settlement. We need to come up with appropriate policy to ensure that this situation does not occur again.

However, according to the Nigerian telecoms regulator, Sub Section 2 of the same provision equally states that, A licensee shall, at all times, comply by the terms and condition of the licence and the provision of this act and its subsidiary legislation.



However, the Federal Government on Tuesday waded into the controversy surrounding the takeover of Etisalat Nigeria, by a consortium of banks, led by Access Bank.The Federal Government, in an unequivocal statement, declared that lender banks cannot take over Etisalat Nigeria, the number four mobile phone provider in the country, without regulatory approval. The government, through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecommunications industry regulator, said that they have a few regulatory hurdles to cross.Although NCC did not explain what the regulatory hurdles were, the consortium, led by Access Bank, and some foreign banks had insisted that they have taken over the management of the telecoms provider.Tony Ojobo, Director, Public Affairs, NCC, said on Tuesday that the lender banks must take note of relevant provisions of the Nigerian Communications Commission Act (NCA) 2003, as well as, the relevant provisions of the laws guiding the transfer of licences issued operators by the telecoms regulator. Ojobo drew the attention of the lender banks to Section 38 and Sub section 1 of the NCA, which spells out that,According to the Nigerian telecoms regulator, Sub Section 2 of the same provision equally states that, A licencee shall, at all times, comply by the terms and condition of the licence and the provision of this act and its subsidiary legislation.the Commission said.According to Ojobo,Although the NCC spokesman did not give further details of the measures that have been taken to cushion the impact on Etisalat Nigeria subscribers, but he gave a ray of assurance.Ojobo added. According to him, In view of the 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.Earlier on Tuesday, a consortium of banks, led by Access Bank Plc and other Nigerian and foreign banks, announced that they have taken over the management of Etisalat Nigeria, one of the telecommunications providers in the country, putting a final seal on the protracted negotiations between the firm and its creditors, which has, since June 15, led Etisalat to relinquish its ownership and control over the company.Consequently, following the collapse of talks to reach agreement with the banks on debt restructuring plan in the protracted $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) debt impasse, the firms creditors ran out of patience and resolved to take possession of the company.The takeover is coming on the heels of the failed effort by Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services, EMTS, promoted by-one time Chairman, United Bank for Africa, UBA, Hakeem Bello-Osagie, to reach agreement with the banks on debt restructuring plan.However, EMTS Holding BV, established in the Netherlands, has up to June 23 to complete the transfer of 100 per cent of the companys shares in Etisalat to the United Capital Trustees Limited, the legal representative of the consortium of banks.The notification letter, with reference number, Ho/GCFO/152/85, and dated, June 20, 2017, signed by Etisalat Group Chief Financial Officer, Serkan Okandan, said efforts by EMTS to restructure the repayment of the syndicated loan by a consortium of banks to Etisalat Nigeria had collapsed.he filing said.Etisalat has been under pressure since 2016, following the demand notice for the recovery 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.Due to its inability to meet its debt servicing obligations agreed since 2016, the consortium, prodded by their foreign partners, threatened to take over the company and its assets across the country. But, the intervention of the telecom sector regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and its financial sector counterpart, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, persuaded the banks to rethink their threat and give Etisalat a chance to renegotiate the loans repayment schedule. Meanwhile, Engr. Lanre Ajayi, CEO Pinet Informatics and Immediate Past President of Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), in a telephone interview with The Daily Times, said that the purported takeover of Etisalat by the banks is not a healthy development for the telecom industry in Nigeria, as he expected the companyand the banks to resolve the issue amicably. He said:However, according to the Nigerian telecoms regulator, Sub Section 2 of the same provision equally states that, 

Post Reply I scour the world wide web to bring you interesting stories from around the globe. [email protected] Posted: at 21-06-2017 12:24 PM (5 years ago) | Hero
Nokia launches smart weighing scale and wireless blood pressure monitor News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Nokia digital health products have been launched.

Nokia acquired Withings, a French company last year. Withings is known for its activity trackers that have stunning aesthetics.

Having been acquired by Nokia, the company operates under the Nokia Technologies' Digital Health division. If you haven't forgotten, Nokia had announced previously that it will launch its own portfolio of digital health products in Summer 2017. Now, the Nokia-branded digital health products are official.

The new Nokia digital health products including the Nokia trackers, vital health devices, scales and home products can be bought online via health.nokia.com. These products will also be available via the leading retailers across the world including Amazon and Best Buy. The portfolio will be up for sale via other retailers such as Target, Apple, etc. soon.

Nokia has added new products to the digital health products portfolio. These new products include Nokia Body BMI Wi-Fi connected scale and BPM+ soft-cuff blood pressure monitor. Even the Nokia Health Mate app has been updated with the 360-degree view of health. Watch the video posted by Nokia showing a 360-degree video captured by the Nokia OZO VR camera below.

The Nokia digital health product lineup is claimed to deliver actionable insights, providing users with results equivalent to daily check-ups.

Nokia BMI Wi-Fi connected scale

This scale is priced at $59.95 (approx. Rs. 3,800) and offers smart weight management for the whole family. It offers high accuracy measurements using the patented Position Control technology. There is a weight trend graph showing your progress during each weigh-in and offers instant access to BMI trend and data analysis with the Health Mate app.

Nokia BPM+

This blood pressure monitor is priced at $129.95 (approx. 8,400) lets you measure your blood pressure at home or on the go. It measures the systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as heart rate and the results will be displayed on the Health Mate app.

Nokia Health Mate app

The Health Mate app has been updated with support to 360-degree view of health. Also, it has received five new programs such as Sleep Smarter, Better Body, Pregnancy Tracker, Healthier Heart and the Leaderboard. This app is compatible with both Android and iOS and is available for free.

Best Mobiles in India

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Lenovo shows concept of laptop with foldable display News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Lenovo showcases foldable laptop concept.

At the Lenovo Transform event that was held in New York on Tuesday, the company has showcased the concept of a foldable laptop. The laptop seems to feature a foldable display that will bend at the middle.

The foldable laptop concept that was shown by the company seems to have three major highlights. These highlights are new screen technologies, voice control and advanced materials. The keyboard of this laptop seems to feature the company's iconic red track pointer. The image of the foldable laptop concept was posted by Lenovo on Twitter.

A foldable PC? Maybe someday. Just a concept for now. #LenovoTransform pic.twitter.com/UIq1qpaSwj  Lenovo (@lenovo) June 20, 2017

The concept foldable laptop appears to have a large screen that will cover the upper part and also extend further into the lower part of the device. The keyboard begins immediately below the display and there seems to be no space between the display and keyboard.

The keyboard does not have a visible trackpad and the right and left buttons are positioned at the bottom. This points out that the voice command will be included in order to perform the functions.

There seems to be a stylus in the form of a huge pencil and the same is believed to enable users to draw on the laptop. From the image, it looks like the laptop will resemble the shape of a physical file folder if it is closed.

Apart from revealing the concept of the alleged foldable laptop, Lenovo did not divulge any specific details about the device. It remains to be known what sort of advanced materials might be used to make this foldable laptop. One thing that has to be made clear is this is just a concept and the prototype of the same is yet to be made available.

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Apple just held an internal seminar to stop leaks News oi -Chandrika The discussion was led by a trio of employees from the company's General Security Division.

Apple is known to stay extremely secretive about its products before they get launched officially. Despite all the preventive measures taken by the company, we still get to see a lot of leaks about the Apple devices.

For example, lately, the rumor mill has been quite active with the upcoming iPhone 8. we know that the device is expected to come with almost bezel-less display and rear dual cameras. Since the iPhone 8 is going to be the 10th anniversary model of the iPhone, it is really important for Apple that it stays behind the curtain. So with an aim to put an end to all the leaks, the Cupertino-giant recently held an hour long internal meeting.

Ironically, it has been leaked as well. A publication named TheOutline has posted a recording of the seminar, which was called "Stopping Leakers - Keeping Confidential at Apple." The discussion was led by a trio of employees from the company's General Security Division.

The seminar saw faces like the director of Global Security, David Rice, Lee Freedman, Apple's director of worldwide investigations, and Jenny Hubbert from the Global Security communications and training team.

The seminar focused on how the company plans to stop the flow of information to competitors, counterfeiters and the press. According to the Apple CEO Tim Cook, these leaked information affects their sales to a great extent. He says that some of the potential buyers of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are not opting for the current models after hearing about the exciting specs line up of the upcoming iPhone 8.

While Apple is taking actions to reduce the leaks, we don't expect the leaks to stop immediately.

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Samsung unknowingly confirms the Galaxy S8 Active News oi -Chandrika The device is certified by IP68, which means it can be submerged in water as deep as nearly 5-feet for about half an hour.

We all know that Samsung is going to launch an Active variant of its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8. This variant is expected to sport a rugged look and it will provide better protection against unintentional drops.

Up until now, we didn't receive any official confirmation from Samsung. Now, the company has kind of confirmed the existence of the device as it has been listed on one of Samsung's official websites. As per the website called Samsung Knox, the Galaxy S8 Active carries the model number G892A. It is also shown running on Android Nougat OS. Apart from that, you can see the list of apps that will be supported by the smartphone.

Some of the apps are AT&T specific as the rugged Samsung Galaxy S8 is expected to be an AT&T exclusive.

The Galaxy S8 Active has already made multiple appearances through leaks. Going by an image that surfaced last month, the phone doesn't have curved edges like the Galaxy S8. This makes sense since usually, active variants have some differences in design to have the rugged nature. Additionally, the rugged version also comes without the infinity bezel-less display.

The Galaxy S8 Active is expected to withstand floor drops and falls. Moreover, the device is certified by IP68, which means it can be submerged in water as deep as nearly 5-feet for about half an hour.

Speaking of specifications, the handset will have the same features as the Samsung Galaxy S8. However, the rugged version is likely to pack a larger battery inside.

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'Now is not the time to give up' on two-state solution, UN Middle East envoy tells Security Council

20 June 2017  Achieving a negotiated two-state outcome is the only way to lay the foundations for enduring peace that is based on Israeli security needs and the Palestinian right to sovereignty and statehood, the United Nations envoy on Middle East peace told the Security Council today.

"Now is not the time to give up on this goal. Now is the time to create the conditions for a return to negotiations to resolve all final status issues on the basis of relevant UN resolutions, mutual agreements and international law," Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Council via videoconference from Jerusalem.

Noting that today's meeting coincided with the 50-year anniversary of the Arab-Israeli war, which resulted in Israel's occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Syrian Golan, Mr. Mladenov said he would devote the bulk of his briefing to the implementation of Council resolution 2334 (2016), which called on Israel to "cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem."

Yet, despite the resolution's call, there has been "substantial" increase, "with plans for nearly 4,000 housing units moving forward and 2,000 tenders issued."

"The policy of continued illegal settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territory contravenes resolution 2334. The large number of settlement-related activities documented during this period undermines the chances for the establishment of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution," he stressed.

Continuing terror attacks, violence and incitement remain a very serious concern. While, the security situation had remained free of rocket fire and airstrikes, Mr. Mladenov updated the Council with a list of killings on both sides.

Calling the problem of violence "a hallmark of the conflict," he reminded the Council that "leaders have a responsibility to implement measures demonstrating their commitment to combatting violence and any acts of provocation and inflammatory rhetoric."

The Special Coordinator reiterated the call by the diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East peace process for both parties to take steps "to reverse negative trends on the ground that are imperilling the two-state solution."

le Mr. Mladenov called Israel-approved measures to advance the Palestinian economy "positive steps forward," he noted that "it remains to be seen whether this will significantly increase Palestinian civil authority, in line with Quartet recommendations and prior commitments between the parties."

As electricity supplies wane, Gaza Strip remains a 'tinderbox'

On another pressing issue, the UN envoy stressed the urgency of addressing the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza, calling it a "tinderbox," which "if and when it explodes," will have "devastating consequences for the population and derail all efforts at advancing peace."

"Two million Palestinians in Gaza can no longer be held hostage by divisions," underscored the UN envoy. "Perpetuating this situation breeds radicalism and extremism," he said, adding: "We have a collective responsibility to prevent this. We have a duty to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe."

While acknowledging the significant budget constraints the Palestinian Authority and the need to support the Government in addressing them, he noted that all decisions must be taken with due consideration of their humanitarian impact, calling "on Palestinian leaders to urgently reach the necessary compromises that will return Gaza to the control of the legitimate authorities."

"The crisis is leading toward another conflict. A conflict that no one wants. I urge all parties to act before it is too late," he emphasized.

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15th MEU, America ARG certified, ready for 17-2 Western Pacific Deployment

US Marine Corps News

By 2nd Lt. Maria Arnone and Gunnery Sgt. Theresa Seng | June 21, 2017

Marines and Sailors from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and America Amphibious Ready Group boarded their three respective ships, May 30, 2017, for their final at-sea exercise of their pre-deployment training period, Certification Exercise. CERTEX is the culmination of the rigorous six-month workup cycle the 15th MEU completed to build proficiency in skill sets, cohesion with their Navy counterparts, and the ability to conduct a set of mission essential tasks that give them the green light to deploy.

In addition to this being an evaluation of the 15th MEU's developed aptitude, it is also an opportunity to demonstrate its capabilities in support of fleet and combatant commanders around the world across the full range of military operations.

"How will your team do it?"

This is the question the I Marine Expeditionary Force's Deputy Commanding General, Maj. Gen. David Coffman, posed to the members of the blue-green team who sat before him, preparing to start their first iteration of pre-deployment training, the Rapid Response Planning Process, back in Jan. 20, 2017.

"Assume complex, contested five-domain environments, and make sure you can operate in all five," stated Coffman. "This brings you a lot of risk and great opportunities. You are going to figure out how to thrive in chaos."

CERTEX delivered just the right blend of chaos, and the blue-green team delivered. The exercise began at a simulated embassy, where the MEU-ARG was tasked with conducting a series of missions to support the Department of State during a time of unrest. The 15th MEU was able to demonstrate the ability to reinforce an embassy, assist nongovernment organizations in providing humanitarian assistance and provide the capabilities to evacuate American citizens from a deteriorating security situation. The execution of this particular mission set is especially relevant as the preceding 11th MEU was tasked to support the embassy in Juba, South Sudan, during OPERATION OAKEN STEEL.

Quickly transitioning to the next set of missions, a series of more offensive operations were conducted, to include Visit, Board, Search and Seizures of a hostile vessel, long-range raids composed of multiple infantry companies and air assets, airfield seizures and amphibious assaults.

"There is no benign environment in the maritime domain," said Capt. Rome Ruiz the commodore of the America ARG, as he was addressing the blue-green team during the final CERTEX debrief. "We've got to be really good, we can't be lucky. We've turned over every rock we could have to learn the things we are strong at and the things we can keep improving on," he added.

The Blue-Green team has practiced various mission sets since the beginning of the workup cycle, but they have grown in complexity and size. Pushing its capabilities to the limit is what will prepare this MEU for operations similar to what its counterparts have seen during their deployments, such as the 11th and 24th MEU's support to the Raqqa Offensive in Syria.

The MEU approaches its exercise cycle with a crawl-walk-run method and began ashore nearly six months ago with the Marine Expeditionary Unit Exercise and Realistic Urban Training. MEUEX was the first large-scale exercise conducted where the Command Element flexed its command-and-control muscles and the first time the 15th MEU operated as a composite unit aboard Camp Pendleton, Calif. Realistic Urban Training allowed the MEU to deploy to Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., and begin conducting long-range ground and aviation missions from an forward operating base in austere environment.

From there, the MEU embarked aboard the three vessels that comprise the America Amphibious Ready, USS America, USS San Diego, and USS Pearl Harbor to conduct Amphibious Squadron-Marine Expeditionary Unit Integration, which was the first time the MEU conducted missions while embarked aboard naval vessels moving battalions of Marines and their equipment from ship to shore.

During Composite Training Unit Exercise the MEU to developed additional proficiency in kinetic operations as well as practiced repetitions of humanitarian assistance, embassy reinforcement and non-combatant evacuations while integrating with DoS and NGO staff members.

Pre-deployment training evolutions enabled the MEU to conduct complex operations from sea to shore under the full range of military operations expected of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force at an impressive proficiency level for its upcoming 17-2 Western Pacific Deployment.

As the 17-2 deployment quickly approaches, the Marines and Sailors of the 15th MEU and America ARG, are tried, tested, and proven, and look forward to the next chapter where they will be poised for any mission in any clime or any place.

"This team is ready to deploy," said Col. Joseph Clearfield, the 15th MEU commanding officer. "We've been safe and executed our missions well during a dynamic pre-deployment work up cycle. We are ready if our Nation or Allies need us for a crisis or contingency and I am confident we'll make people proud."

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Death toll from fresh clashes hits 100 in Central African Republic

Iran Press TV

Wed Jun 21, 2017 4:25PM

The death toll from a day of fierce clashes between rival factions has increased to around 100 in violence-wracked Central African Republic(CAR).

Security sources and NGOs said some 40 people had been killed with dozens more wounded after shooting erupted early on Tuesday in the central town of Bria, the capital of the northeastern prefecture of Haute-Kotto.

The town's mayor, Maurice Belikoussou, said, "The death toll will certainly rise. For now it's an estimate and it could be up to 100 dead."

"There are still dead lying in the neighborhoods, in the road and in the bush."

Local lawmaker Arsene Kongbo said, "The warring parties burned villages and neighborhoods of Bria, forcing more of the population out with many fleeing into the bush."

A local Red Cross official said that calm had returned to the town.

The fierce fighting began just hours after Bangui reached a deal with rebel groups on an immediate ceasefire in an agreement brokered by a Catholic group in Rome on Monday

The latest clashes dashed hopes that a ceasefire signed between more than a dozen militias in Rome could succeed in ending a conflict.

Since mid-May, Bria and several other towns such as Bangassou, Alindao and Mobaye have been engulfed by violence.

The UN's humanitarian organisation (OCHA) and the government said the fighting had already killed 300 people, wounded 200 and displaced 100,000 others by the end of the month,

The OCHA figures show that the violence has forced more than 40,000 people out of their homes in Bria alone.

Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the UN's special representative in Central Africa, has called for an immediate halt to the violence.

"It is vital that the cease-fire agreed upon by the parties comes into force immediately to free the populations and the many regions of the country that are still suffering from armed violence," Onanga-Anyanga said on Wednesday.

"This violence has also forced more than 100,000 people to flee inside the country and more than 20,000 others to seek refuge in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Anyanga added, referring to the overall effect of unrest across CAR since mid-May. "The total number of internally displaced persons has therefore surpassed the 500,000 mark."

Some 13,000 peacekeepers have been deployed to the country by the United Nations as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in CAR (MINUSCA). Civilians say the mission has failed to protect them against armed groups.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday released a report highlighting the plight of people with disabilities in CAR, saying they had faced violent attacks and were especially vulnerable while trying to flee.

One of the world's poorest nations, the Central African Republic has been struggling to recover from a civil war that started in 2013.

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'Russian jet chases NATO plane away from defense minister's aircraft over Baltic Sea'

Iran Press TV

Wed Jun 21, 2017 6:45AM

A Russian fighter jet has reportedly chased away a NATO plane that was trying to approach an aircraft carrying Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu over the Baltic Sea.

A NATO F-16 fighter jet was trying to approach Shoigu's plane on Wednesday, but a Russian Su-27 chased it away, the TASS news agency reported.

The NATO jet had to change direction and retreat.

It was not clear why the NATO plane was approaching the plane carrying Shoigu.

In a separate incident, Russian and US aircraft were engaged in a dangerous encounter over the Baltic Sea. The Russian Defense Ministry said its fighter jets have intercepted two US spy planes in separate incidents on a single day.

The ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that a Baltic Fleet Su-27 jet was scrambled on Monday to intercept a US RC-135 spy plane that was flying toward the Russian border.

"While being escorted, the RC-135 attempted to move closer towards the Russian interceptor, making a provocative turn towards the Su-27," read the statement.

It said the pilot of the Russian jet "reacted to the RC-135 maneuver" and continued to escort it until the spy plane turned away from the Russian border.

The intercept occurred 40 kilometers from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

The ministry said that "in just 10 minutes [after the incident] another RC-135 entered the same zone and it was intercepted by a Russian Su-27 as well."

The Pentagon had on Tuesday accused Russia of carrying out an "unsafe" intercept of a US jet over the Baltic Sea a day earlier. Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis accused the Russian pilot of flying too fast and having "poor control" over his jet. He claimed that the US aircraft "did nothing to provoke this behavior."

Earlier on Tuesday, Fox New had reported that the Russian Su-27 jet, which had air-to-air missiles under its wings, approached the US plane "rapidly" and flew "erratically" within 1.5 meters of it.

US officials claimed that the American jet was on a "routine" mission over the Baltic Sea in international airspace.

The Russian Defense Ministry, however, said that, "All flights of Russian interceptors over international waters of the Baltic Sea are carried out strictly in accordance with international rules."

Tensions in Syrian skies and elsewhere

The ministry said that, during the past week, US and NATO jets had carried out more than a dozen flights over the sea "for reconnaissance purposes in close proximity to the Russian border."

There have been more than 30 interactions between US and Russian jets and ships in the Baltic Sea since the beginning of this month, CNN reported.

The recent encounter occurred only a day after a US warplane shot down a Syrian fighter jet over the Syrian province of Raqqah. Russia has been conducting an aerial bombardment campaign in Syria on a request by Damascus. But the US forces in Syria are there without any permission from the Syrian government or a United Nations (UN) mandate.

Reacting to the downing of the Syrian jet, Russia said it was "a cynical violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic" and "military aggression." Russia also threatened to treat coalition aircraft potentially flying in areas west of the Euphrates River in Syria "as air targets."

The Pentagon responded, "We will not hesitate to defend ourselves or our partners if threatened."

Later, early on Tuesday, a US warplane also shot down what US forces said was an Iranian-made drone operated by pro-government forces in Syria.

Russia accused the US-led coalition of "complicity with terrorism" after the drone was downed in southern Syria.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned that the incidents in Syria could be "very dangerous" and lead to an escalation of the war.

Russia and the US have been supporting opposite sides in the six-year conflict in Syria. Washington has been backing some of the militant groups opposed to the Syrian government.

The US has also been leading dozens of its allies in a coalition purportedly targeting the positions of Daesh terrorists in Syria.

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Afghan Forces Recapture Tora Bora Hideout From IS

June 21, 2017

Afghan security forces have recaptured Tora Bora, a former fortress of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, from Islamic State (IS) militants, officials confirmed.

IS had taken the tunnel and cave complex in Nangarhar Province from the Taliban five days ago. The two militant groups are enemies.

The legendary complex of tunnels and caves once served as a hideout for Bin Laden, who escaped from the mountains into Pakistan after U.S. bombings and subsequent operations in 2001 failed to kill or capture him.

The "Tora Bora area of Pachiragam district is completely Daesh free," the Nangarhar governor's office said on June 20, using an Arabic acronym for IS. The recapture was confirmed by officials in Kabul, who said at least 22 militants were killed in the clearing operation.

Afghan security forces are now advancing toward the villages of Alif Khel and Meerkhany to push IS further back, the governor's office said.

U.S. and Afghan forces have been battling IS in Nangarhar Province since its emergence there in January 2015.

In April, the U.S. dropped a massive bomb on an IS complex in Nangarhar, which the Afghan Defense Ministry said killed more than 90 militants.

Based on reporting by AP, dpa, and RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/afghan-forces-recapture- tora-bora-al-qaeda-bin-laden-hideout- from-islamic-state/28570092.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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U.S. Shoots Down Armed, Iranian-Made Drone Over Syria Amid Russian Protests

RFE/RL June 21, 2017

The U.S. military says it has shot down an armed, Iranian-made drone that was bearing down on its forces near a garrison in Syria's southeast.

The Pentagon said a U.S. F-15 aircraft flying over Syrian territory fired on the Shaheed 129 drone after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces on June 20.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said it was Iranian-made and had "dirty wings," meaning it was armed.

The incident came as Russia once again protested against repeated U.S. actions against forces allied with Syria and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the incidents could be "very dangerous" and cause an escalation of the war.

The latest incident occurred in a part of Syria seen as strategically important for the Syrian government and Iran as Tehran seeks to secure a land corridor between forces it backs in Syria and Iraq.

The U.S.-led coalition said the location was close to where another "pro-regime" drone, which intelligence sources had also identified as Iranian, was shot down on June 8 after dropping bombs near coalition forces.

Syrian and Iranian-backed ground forces also have been gathering in the desert region.

The incident follows the U.S. downing of a piloted Syrian Army jet near Raqqa after it dropped bombs near U.S.-backed forces over the weekend, an incident that prompted a warning from Syria ally Russia.

While Russia has demanded an accounting of the weekend incident, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov asserted on June 20 that the presence of U.S. forces in Syria was "absolutely illegal."

"There has been neither a [UN] Security Council decision, nor a request from the official authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic as a sovereign state" for such forces, he told Russia's Interfax news agency.

But the Pentagon appeared to view Russia's protests as mostly bluster.

"Public statements aside, we have not seen the Russians do any actions that cause us concern. We continue to operate, making some adjustments for prudent measures," Davis said on June 20.

The U.S. military has repeatedly warned forces fighting on Assad's side to stay away from a "deconfliction zone," agreed with Russia, near a garrison used by U.S. Special Forces and U.S.-backed militia around Al-Tanf, near the border with Jordan.

The U.S.-allied forces are using the base to train for battle and stage attacks against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

On several occasions in recent weeks, warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition have also struck pro-government forces to prevent them from advancing in the region. The Pentagon also described those strikes as self-defense.

The competition between the Syrian forces and U.S.-backed rebels has increased in the desert region since IS extremists abandoned large swathes of the territory as they moved to defend Raqqa and Deir Zor.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Interfax, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-shoots-down -armed-iranian-made-drone-syria-amid -russian-protests/28570203.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, U.S. Aircraft Fly Dangerously Close Over Baltic

RFE/RL June 21, 2017

A Russian fighter jet and a U.S. reconnaissance plane flew dangerously close to one another over the Baltic Sea this week.

The encounter, which occurred 40 kilometers from Kaliningrad Oblast, was deemed "unsafe" due to the Russian pilot's "high rate of closure speed and poor control of the aircraft," the U.S. military said on June 20.

The Russian jet intercepted the RC-135 spy plane on June 19 as it flew in international airspace, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

The U.S. plane did nothing to provoke the Russian behavior, she added.

The spokeswoman did not confirm U.S. media reports that the two aircraft came within 1.5 meters of each other.

Russia's Defense Ministry disputed the U.S. account, saying the U.S. plane made a "provocative" move toward the Russian Su-27 fighter jet.

Meanwhile, Russian media reported that an aircraft carrying Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was buzzed by a NATO jet over the Baltic Sea.

A Russian Su-27 plane chased away the F-16 fighter jet, according to TASS news agency.

It reported that Shoigu was en route to Kaliningrad, over international waters.

There have been a series of incidents involving NATO and Russian aircraft in recent months, as relations between Moscow and the alliance sank to lows unseen since the Cold War amid rancor over Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, its backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine, and other issues.

The latest incidents come amid renewed tensions between the United States and Russia sparked by the downing of a Syrian jet by the United States after it targeted U.S.-allied rebels.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and BBC

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-us-fighter- buzzes-spy-plane-over-baltic/28570696.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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Afghan Security Forces Killed 20, Injured 12 Daesh Militants in Past Two Days

Sputnik News

17:08 21.06.2017

Afghan security forces killed at least 20 Daesh militants, after the Daesh terrorists attempted to attack security check points in the Darzab district of Afghanistan's northern Jowzjan province, according to local media.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  At least 20 militants of the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh, terrorist group, outlawed in Russia) were killed, and 12 more were injured by security forces in Afghanistan's northern Jowzjan province over the past 48 hours, local media reported Wednesday, citing police chief of the province Rahmatullah Turkmestani.

According to the TOLOnews broadcaster, the Daesh terrorists attempted to attack security check points in the Darzab district of the province on Monday night and the clash continued until midnight on Tuesday.

Six security force members were also killed and three others were wounded, the provincial police chief specified.

Afghanistan has long been suffering from unstable political, social and security situation due to the simmering militant insurgency. On May 31, a powerful blast occurred in the city of Kabul, leaving up to 150 people dead and over 300 injured. The Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.

 Sputnik

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Russia Says NATO Jet Buzzed Defense Minister's Plane

By VOA News June 21, 2017

Russian news agencies are reporting a NATO fighter jet buzzed a plane carrying Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday as it flew over the Baltic Sea, but was escorted away by a Russian escort jet.

The NATO jet approached the defense minister's jet while flying over neutral waters. The Russian jet flew in between Shoigu's plane and the NATO jet and tilted from side-to-side to show it was armed. The NATO jet then left the area and the Russian jet got back in formation, the Russian agencies reported.

NATO says the encounter was "standard procedure."

A Senior NATO military representative told VOA there had been an unusually high number of Russian military aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea last week and it is standard practice for NATO air forces to monitor unknown aircraft approaching NATO airspace.

"Generally, when NATO aircraft intercept a plane they identify it visually, maintaining a safe distance at all times. Once complete, NATO jets break away. This is standard procedure. All our pilots behave in a safe and responsible way," the official said.

Shoigu was en route to the western Russian city of Kaliningrad for a meeting with other members of Russia's defense ministry.

The incident comes just a day after an armed Russian fighter jet came within just a few meters of a U.S. military plane flying over the Baltic Sea Tuesday.

The Pentagon said the American plane, an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, was unprofessionally "intercepted" in international airspace on Monday by a Russian SU-27 Flanker fighter jet.

"Due to the high rate of closure speed and poor control of the aircraft during the intercept, this interaction was determined to be unsafe," Defense Department spokeswoman Army Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza told VOA Tuesday.

Baldanza stressed that the American reconnaissance plane "did nothing to provoke" the Russian jet's behavior.

Close encounters take place on a regular basis among military aircraft operating in international areas. The vast majority of encounters with American military planes are conducted in a safe manner, officials said.

Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report

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US demands liberation of three Americans held in North Korea

Iran Press TV

Wed Jun 21, 2017 1:56AM

The United States has called on North Korea to release "as soon as possible," three Americans who are still detained by Pyongyang, following the death of the college student, Otto Warmbier.

"We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment," US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said at a news briefing on Tuesday. "We want to see three other Americans who were unjustly detained brought home as soon as possible."

Two of the detainees were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third was a Korean-American pastor accused of espionage for the South.

Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student, attends a news conference in Pyongyang, North Korea, on February 29, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Warmbier was released on June 13 in a state of coma after Joseph Yun, the State Department's special envoy on North Korea, paid a visit to Pyongyang and demanded his release.

North Korean media, however, said the 22-year-old student's release had been based on a court decision and "on humanitarian grounds."

While suffering from severe brain damage, Warmbier, died at a Cincinnati Medical Center on Monday. The American college student had spent 17 months in detention, acknowledging that he had tried to steal a banner containing a political slogan from the hotel where he had been staying.

'A disgrace for US'

US President Donald Trump has, meanwhile, called Warmbier's death a "total disgrace," adding that the college student might have been alive if he had been brought home sooner.

"It's a disgrace what happened to Otto. 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... He should have been brought home that same day. The result would have been a lot different."

Trump also issued a statement offering his "deepest condolences" to the Warmbier family and further denounced "the brutality of the North Korean regime."

Warmbier's death unfortunate: China

China, North Korea's main ally, expressed sorrow over the death of the US student and called on Washington and Pyongyang to resolve tensions through dialogue.

"I think this is an unfortunate thing," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular news briefing. "We hope that North Korea and the US can handle it appropriately."

Trump also thanked China for trying to resolve tensions with North Korea but declared that Beijing's "efforts" had failed.

"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!" the US president said.

North Korea accuses the US of plotting with regional allies to topple its government.

Over the past weeks, Washington and Pyongyang have traded a barrage of military threats. The US says it is concerned by North Korea's nuclear and missile tests.

Pyongyang has defied sanctions and international pressure, saying it will continue to strengthen its military capability to protect itself from the threat posed by the presence of US forces in the region.

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U.S.-China Talks On North Korea Start In Washington

RFE/RL June 21, 2017

The threat posed by North Korea's nuclear weapons program and its ballistic missiles was at the top of the agenda as high-ranking U.S. and Chinese officials began a day of talks in Washington on June 21..

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis were hosting Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, the chief of joint staff of the People's Liberation Army.

The talks come a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said Chinese efforts to convince North Korea to curb its weapons programs had failed. Washington has also increased its criticism of North Korea after the death of a U.S. student who had been detained by Pyongyang.

Tillerson and Mattis are looking to advance cooperation with China on finding a peaceful resolution to the North Korean threat, U.S. officials said.

Susan Thornton, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said the issue of North Korea would receive "top billing" at the meeting.

Thornton said that the U.S. and Chinese positions were similar: both support denuclearization and UN Security Council resolutions to try to increase pressure on the North Korean regime to get it to change its attitude.

"I think we've seen some notable cooperation from China in this effort to create this kind of global echo chamber for getting the North Koreans to change their mind," she said.

On June 20, a U.S. official said U.S. spy satellites had detected movements at North Korea's nuclear test site near a tunnel entrance.

But the official said it was unclear if North Korea was preparing for a new nuclear test to coincide with the June 21 talks in Washington with Chinese officials.

North Korea last tested a nuclear bomb in September. It has repeatedly conducted missiles tests since then and has vowed to develop a nuclear missile capable of striking the U.S. mainland.

The State Department also has said that the June 21 talks would cover issues such as counterterrorism and territorial rivalries in the South China Sea.

Trump, who has been counting on China to use its economic leverage with Kim Jong Un's totalitarian government, said on Twitter on June 20 that while he appreciated China's efforts to help with North Korea, "it has not worked out."

That tweet came a day after U.S. university student Otto Warmbier died in Ohio shortly after being freed from North Korea.

Warmbier arrived home last week in a coma following more than 17 months in North Korean captivity. The circumstances of his coma and death remain unclear.

The U.S. State Department said on June 20 that Washington holds Pyongyang accountable for its treatment of Warmbier, and urged North Korea to free three other U.S. citizens who are currently in detention in the country.

Trump called Warmbier's death a "total disgrace."

Warmbier was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years in prison with hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel.

Pyongyang said Warmbier contracted botulism, a rare illness that causes paralysis, after his trial, and had been in a coma since he was given a sleeping pill.

However, U.S. doctors said he had suffered a "severe neurological injury" of unknown cause.

Warmbier's family have declined a post-mortem examination.

With reporting by Reuters, AP and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/us-china-meeting- pressure-north-korea/28570914.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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India, Russia to Discuss S-400 Triumf Air Defense Missile Systems' Deal

Sputnik News

15:59 21.06.2017(updated 16:02 21.06.2017)

Nearly three weeks after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the upgrade of Indo-Russia defense ties, India's Defense Minister Arun Jaitley is reaching Russia with a delegation to co-chair two meetings with the Russian Government.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  Jaitley will co-chair the first meeting of the India-Russia High-Level Committee on Science and Technology with the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on June 21. On June 23, the Defense Minister will co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) 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," Indian defense ministry said in a statement.

Jaitley is expected to discuss and give final shape to the much-needed deals that include S-400 Triumf air defense missile systems, four Krivak class stealth frigates and Kamov 226T helicopters. Earlier this month, the finance ministry led by Jaitley approved a special arrangement made out to make Indo-Russia defense projects immune from western sanctions. Under the arrangement, Indian finance ministry waived banking guarantee clause mandatory for securing defense contracts in India. Instead of the bank guarantee, the Indian government accepted a sovereign guarantee from Russia.

Jaitley's visit will witness the first meeting of newly established India-Russia High-Level Committee on Science and Technology to discuss cooperation in high technologies.

In March this year, Jaitley invited Russian companies to share some critical technologies with Indian companies and produce defense equipment in India. In April, Jaitley said both the countries had started serious discussions with Russia for setting up another defense manufacturing unit under 'Make in India' program. India and Russia also identified a total number of 485 lines for Transfer of Technology (ToT) to support Su-30 MKI fleet. A total of 20 Indian vendors has been introduced to Russian OEMs to find out the feasibility of ToT in the fields desired by Indian vendors.

 Sputnik

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Khamenei Warns Iraq Against Relying On U.S., Weakening Shi'ite Militia

RFE/RL June 21, 2017

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned Iraq's leader against weakening Shi'ite paramilitary groups and relying on the United States in the battle against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group..

At a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi in Tehran, Khamenei said the Shi'ite militias were the main forces pushing back against the Sunni extremist group in Iraq, and Baghdad should not trust the United States, Iranian state media reported.

The Shi'ite militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, helped Baghdad defend the country against IS 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 been engaged in the battle to recapture swathes of northern and western Iraq from IS.

But Sunnis in areas freed from IS control have accused the Shi'ite militias of looting, abductions, and murder.

Some Arab leaders in northern Iraq have asked Baghdad to dissolve the Shi'ite militias or expel them from their Sunni-majority provinces -- moves that drew objections from Iran's leader.

"Daesh is retreating from Iraq and that is thanks to the government's trust in these young devoted forces," Khamenei said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

"The Americans are against Popular Forces because they want Iraq to lose its main source of strength," he said.

Khamenei accused the United States and its ally Saudi Arabia of creating IS and said he opposed the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq.

"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.

Iranian President Hassan Rohani, who also met with Abadi on June 20, joined Khamenei in claiming credit for recent gains by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces in recapturing IS's northern stronghold of Mosul.

"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," Rohani said.

The Iranian leaders' comments highlight the balancing act faced by Abadi as he strives to hold together a coalition of forces fighting IS in Iraq, including the Iraqi government's own soldiers, the Shi'ite militias as well as Sunni tribal forces and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, all backed by U.S. trainers and special forces.

While Iran said its forces deserved credit for gains made against IS, the United States and its anti-IS coalition of Western forces have also claimed credit for helping Iraqi ground forces recapture Ramadi and other cities liberated from IS in the past two years, as well as for the recent gains in Mosul.

Abadi faces a balancing act not only at home but in the broader Persian Gulf region. His meeting with Iran's leaders came one day after a visit to Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional rival, in what he said was a tour aimed at promoting reconciliation between the region's Sunnis and Shi'a.

Iraq lies on the fault-line between Shi'ite Iran and the mostly Sunni Arab world.

Abadi belongs to the Dawa party, a Shi'ite group with close ties to Iran. But analysts say he has managed relations with Iraq's Sunni minority better than his predecessor, Nuri al-Maliki, and also improved Baghdad's ties with Saudi Arabia.

Khamenei told Abadi that Iran was opposed to the referendum on independence scheduled by leaders of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region for September, saying such a separatist move threatens Baghdad's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Iran has its own Kurdish minority in the west of the country.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/khamenei-warns-iraq-prime-minister-abadi- against-relying-us-weakening-shiite-militia-fighting- islamic-state-/28570085.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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Officials: Pakistan Air Force Shoots Down Iranian Drone

June 21, 2017

Pakistani officials say an air force jet has shot down an unmanned Iranian drone that was "deep inside the Pakistani airspace."

Pakistani media quoted two unnamed officials on June 20 as saying the unmanned aircraft was shot down in the Panjgur district of southwestern Balochistan Province over the weekend.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Iran in recent months has expressed concern over militants operating along the Pakistani border.

In May, Iran's army chief warned that Tehran was willing to strike militant bases inside Pakistan if Islamabad did not confront Sunni insurgents who carry out cross-border attacks. The remarks drew a strong protest from Islamabad.

Based on reporting by AP and Dawnnews.com

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-air-forces- shoots-down-iranian-drone/28570089.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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Saudi Power Struggle Ends With King Promoting His Son to Be Heir

Sputnik News

14:14 21.06.2017(updated 17:10 21.06.2017)

Saudi Arabia's King Salman has dramatically decided to change the line of succession. His original heir, his nephew, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has also been fired from his job as interior minister.

The king decreed on Wednesday (June 21) that his own son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, would ascend the throne when he dies.

Most monarchies in the western world choose heirs by primogeniture, whereby the eldest son becomes the next in line to succession, followed by their eldest son or their brothers.

In 2015, Britain went even further and changed the rules of succession so that in future eldest daughters would become monarchs ahead of their uncles or younger brothers.

But in Saudi Arabia the choice of heir is often passed down through a more opaque and complex system and kings have usually been in their 60s, 70s and 80s.

If something were to happen to King Salman  who is 81 and not in good health  and Prince Mohammed bin Salman were to become monarch he would be the youngest king in the history of Saudi Arabia.

He would also find himself with an inbox full to the brim with problems.

Saudi Arabia is currently embroiled in a diplomatic crisis with its neighbor Qatar, after it imposed an embargo on the country and expelled Qatari nationals.

The Saudis  along with Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates  made the move earlier this month, claiming Qatar was supporting terrorism.

Saudi Arabia is currently involved in a wider regional power struggle with Iran.

The power struggle within the ruling House of Saud has been known going on since 2015.

"The Saudi family may witness some disparity, but in the end they become very homogeneous when the throne is threatened. I don't expect deep division and now Mohammad bin Salman is already in charge of Saudi Arabia," Hassan Nafaa, professor of political science at Cairo University, told Sputnik.

Saudi specialist Stephane Lacroix said two years ago that although Nayef's seniority made him next in line, King Salman's son had been "acting as if he was the heir apparent, so this obviously creates tensions."

Prince Mohammed bin Salman will continue in his role as defense minister, despite the controversy surrounding Saudi Arabia's involvement in the civil war in neighboring Yemen.

King Salman may have acted in an attempt to defuse the tensions which were building up within the House of Saud.

In the past they have been known to end in violence and usurpation.

In November 1964, King Saud, whose father Ibn Saud had founded Saudi Arabia, was deposed by his brother, Prince Faisal and forced to go into exile in Switzerland.

Eleven years later King Faisal himself was assassinated by his nephew, Faisal bin Musad, possibly at the behest of the United States.

Faisal bin Musad had reportedly blamed his uncle for the death of his own brother, Khalid, who had been shot during a protest against the introduction of television into the kingdom.

The Saudi news agency SPA has reported that Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has pledged allegiance to the new crown prince and that King Salman had ordered public pledges of allegiance.

King Salman himself has only been on the throne since January 2015, when he succeeded his half-brother Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman has made a meteoric rise and is said to be popular with young Saudis, who believe he will reform the country and bring much-needed changes.

Despite being defense minister he has received little blame for Saudi Arabia's ineffective military campaign in Yemen, partly because of a heavily censored Saudi press. Professor Nafaa told Sputnik:

"The war in Yemen is not presented to the Saudi public as a failure. It is generally perceived as a defensive war because there was a direct threat to the Saudis by the infiltration of Iranians in Yemen's domestic affairs. He [Mohammed bin Salman] is not perceived as someone who has committed a great mistake. He might be able to find a political solution to that war. Once he becomes a king, he will no more need to make tough decisions and might be willing to find a political solution. The same with the Qatar crisis."

Commenting on bin Salman's position towards Iran, Professor Nafaa told Sputnik:

"I think he will continue to be very tough with Tehran. Iran is generally perceived as the main threat in the region. As far as the Arab-Israeli conflict is concerned, maybe Saudi Arabia will be more willing to cooperate with Israel against the Iranian threat. So with Iran, he will be tough and even tougher, while with Israel, he might be much more moderate."

Mohammed bin Salman has cleared out a lot of the dead wood from Saudi officialdom and brought in technocrats with new ideas.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman was also the author of Vision 2030, which envisioned a country diversifying from oil and it was he who decided to sell off part of the state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco.

Prince Mohammed bin Nayef was well liked by the US and Britain for his tough stance on Saudi-based jihadists.

It remains to be seen whether his departure from the interior ministry will alter Saudi Arabia's counterterror strategy.

 Sputnik

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Analysts: Appointment of New Saudi Crown Prince Is No Surprise

By Edward Yeranian June 21, 2017

The appointment of Saudi King Salman's son, Mohammed bin Salman, to be the new crown prince, replacing his cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, had long been rumored, but may have been precipitated by acute regional tensions, including the war in Yemen, the intensifying regional struggle with Iran, and the recent crisis with Qatar.

As the torch-bearer for a new generation, the new crown prince is reputed to have a more modern, less traditional outlook on governing the kingdom.

Saudi media showed newly appointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman receiving a pledge of loyalty from his predecessor Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, his older cousin, early Wednesday morning.

The fealty ceremony, which is symbolic in a traditionally tribal society, took place at the Safa Palace in Mecca.

Powerful insider

The new crown prince already wielded enormous power as the country's defense minister and as his father's right-hand man. Mohammed bin Salman is also heavily involved in economic policy and launched an ambitious plan earlier this year to transform the kingdom's economy, called "Horizon 2030." He was also thought to be instrumental in the partial privatization of the country's flagship national oil company, Aramco.

Perhaps Mohammed bin Salman's most significant enterprise, however, has been the kingdom's war effort in Yemen. Riyadh has been attempting to dislodge the Iranian-backed Houthi militia from the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, and to restore the internationally recognized president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. That effort has proven to be extremely costly and drawn some degree of cross-border retaliation.

No foreign policy change expected

Riad Kahwaji, who heads the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), tells VOA that observers in the Gulf are expecting Mohammed bin Salman to continue most of the same Saudi foreign policy goals that he has been responsible for pursuing.

"The recent changes internally and with respect to Saudi foreign policy have largely had Mohammed bin Salman's influence in it, and therefore I don't expect to see any real changes with respect to Saudi foreign policy," he said.

He argues that analysts in the Gulf believe Saudi Arabia will "continue to take a hard line stance on Iran's [aggressive posture] in the region, especially in meddling in Arab affairs ... in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere."

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, calls the naming of Mohammed bin Salman to be Crown Prince a "palace coup," stressing that it marks not just the continuation of the status quo, but "an escalation in Saudi regional policies.

Khashan argues that the ouster of "Mohammed bin Nayef had long been expected," but that it might have been precipitated by regional developments.

"We were expecting the ouster of Mohammed bin Nayef since last April, after the sweeping changes in the Saudi administration, [but] the fact that the transition happened officially [now] means that Saudi Arabia is facing a very tough regional situation and the crisis with Qatar is very demanding and very difficult and is not easy to win," said Khashan.

Succession concerns

Khashan also points out that King Salman, who has been on the throne since his half-brother, King Abdallah, died in early 2015, is 82 years old and not in extremely good health. "I would imagine," he says, "that [King Salman's] health will not get any better and it is just a matter of time before transition [to the new generation] takes place."

The founder of the Saudi dynasty, King Abdel Aziz al-Saud, said before he died that his successors should come from his immediate descendants, or sons. King Salman, who is one of King Abdel Aziz al-Saud's last surviving sons, has now made the move, with the approval of an "Allegiance Council" set up in 2006, to pass on the reins of power to a new generation made up of King Abdel Aziz' grandsons.

Well known Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek tells VOA that King Salman may have been worried about "dying suddenly" and leaving behind a "power struggle." He suspects that the king may also have been concerned about ousted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef's relations with Qatar.

"I think the king wanted to rush this [new] arrangement for many reasons. I think one of them is that the deposed crown prince Nayef was close to Qatar and he was not really happy about the siege of Qatar [by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies], and maybe Qatar also favored him over [his own son] Mohammed bin Salman," said Sadek.

He said it was important that the transition to the new crown prince happen quickly, while King Salman is still in power. "If you wait," he adds,"and something changes, it will not be easy to guarantee the regional and local arrangements and that [could create] a power struggle."

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Contact Group on Ukraine Agrees on Donbass Ceasefire From June 24

Sputnik News

19:17 21.06.2017(updated 19:33 21.06.2017)

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine supported the idea of the so-called 'grain ceasefire' - a ceasefire regime for harvesting, starting from 00-00 on June 24 in Donbass, according to the press service of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic's plenipotentiary representative at the Minsk talks Denis Pushilin.

DONETSK (Sputnik)  The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine agreed on a ceasefire from 00-00 June 24, the truce should last until August 31, the press service of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic's plenipotentiary representative at the Minsk talks Denis Pushilin said Wednesday.

"Participants of the Contact Group supported the idea of the so-called 'grain ceasefire'  a ceasefire regime for harvesting, starting from 00-00 on June 24. According to the proposal, the truce should last until August 31. However, the negotiators expressed the hope that the silence will last longer," Pushilin's spokeswoman Viktoria Talakina wrote on Facebook.

Ukrainian envoy Leonid Kuchma's spokeswoman Daria Olifer wrote on Facebook following the Contact Group's meeting in Minsk that Kiev confirmed the agreement to cease fire in Donbas from June 24.

 Sputnik

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English Danish

Aarhus, Denmark, 2017-06-21 16:17 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

In connection with OOO Fortum Energy being awarded a series of onshore wind power projects in the recently concluded Russian auction of renewable energy projects, the Fortum-RUSNANO wind investment fund has chosen Vestas as supplier for wind power projects.

As a part of the discussions between the parties, Vestas is planning to establish manufacturing facilities in the Russian Federation to comply with the local content requirements.

Vestas will disclose another company announcement if and when the respective agreements are finalised.

Contact details

Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Denmark

Hans Martin Smith, Senior Vice President, Group Treasury and Investor Relations

Tel: +45 9730 8209
CHATHAM  The suspect of an April homicide in Blairs had his case certified by a Pittsylvania County grand jury Monday morning.

Phillip Michael Giles, 18, of Blairs, is charged with first-degree murder in the April 5 killing of Demetrius Lee Brown, 18.

Brown was found dead in the street outside of his Kadesh Court home by his father and stepmother on the evening of April 5, according to Pittsylvania County Circuit Court documents.

According to a report by the Medical Examiners Office in Roanoke, the cause of Browns death was a gunshot wound to the head.

The bullet entered at the right cheek adjacent to the nose, the report stated.

Browns father provided video footage from a home surveillance system, which showed a white Cadillac driving down Kadesh Court then turning around and stopping, according to court records.

Pittsylvania County Sheriffs Office investigators used Browns cellphone to find out who he communicated with before he was killed.

A phone number registered to Giles was shown to have texted him prior to the shooting, asking Brown for his address.

Authorities went to Giles Lawless Creek Road residence and spoke with his mother, according to court records.

Giles mother told investigators her son had a white 1996 Cadillac he was driving, but she hadnt seen him for a while that evening.

Using Giles phone number to track his movement, police found that Giles used his phone in the early hours of April 6, court records stated.

Giles location was in Colleton County, South Carolina. Police found Giles and detained him.

Police stated in court records that a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson was found when arresting Giles.

Giles was taken from the Colleton County Detention Center in Walterboro, South Carolina, to the W.W. Moore Detention Center on April 19.

Giles was 17 at the time of the offense, so the case was heard in Pittsylvania County Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court for the majority of the time, according to court records.

A preliminary hearing was held on May 25 in that court, where Giles case was certified to the June grand jury.

The Pittsylvania County Commonwealths Attorneys Office and Giles defense attorney, Gregory Casker, could not be reached for comment on the open case.

Livingston reports for the Danville Register & Bee.
A Franklin County judge ruled in favor of Appalachian Power Co. Friday in a dock-building dispute pitting landowners property rights against the utility companys regulatory power over the Smith Mountain Lake shoreline.

The decision was a setback in an ongoing court battle that has been watched closely by many shoreline property owners, including those in Pittsylvania County. Nearly 100 residents were in the Franklin County courtroom to hear Circuit Judge James Reynolds decision.

The dispute began in 2014 when Bill and Lora Nissen began construction of a dock on their property in the Windmere neighborhood without obtaining a permit from Appalachian Power, which operates a federally licensed hydroelectric project from dams at Smith Mountain and Leesville lakes. Shortly after work began, Appalachian Power filed an injunction to halt the construction.

The case was originally to be tried in federal court until December, when the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it should be heard in state court. The ruling stated that the federal court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because the dispute concerned state property law rather than any federal issue.

Since the Nissens never obtained a permit to construct a dock, Fridays case dealt with the flowage easement that is a part of every property owners deed along the lakes shoreline. Attorney Matthew Pritts, representing Appalachian Power, argued that the flowage easement gave Appalachian the authority to remove anything built without permission below the shoreline, often referred to as the 800-foot contour line.

What he builds above the 800-foot contour line is not the concern of Appalachian Power, Pritts said.

Pritts claimed that since construction of the dock began after the implementation of the lakes shoreline management plan, it should meet those standards. He called the dock a behemoth  its 2,000 square feet larger than the 1,500 square feet allowed for the property.

Its a huge dock, Pritts said, adding rhetorically, Why do you need a dock that big?

Replying to Pritts, Reynolds said, His contention is it is his property and he can build whatever he wants. That response earned applause from those in attendance, but Reynolds threatened to clear the courtroom if there were more outbursts.

Representing the Nissens, attorney Frederick Watson argued that the flowage easement in the deed does not give Appalachian Power absolute authority over everything below the shoreline. The flowage easement also does not deny property owners the right to construct a dock, he said.

There is nothing in there that says they cannot build a dock, Watson said.

Reynolds challenged that by quoting a line from the flowage easement, which states at Appalachians discretion the company has the right to cut, burn and/or remove therefrom any and all buildings, structures, improvements, trees, brushes; driftwood and other objects and debris ... below the contour elevation of which is 800 feet.

Watson said that the word discretion was a key part of the flowage easement, and that the discretion by Appalachian Power should be reasonable. The judge suggested that the shoreline management plan was a reasonable discretion.

Appalachian Powers shoreline management plan was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which licenses hydroelectric projects.

Watson countered that the plan was a backdoor way for Appalachian to force extra regulation on shoreline property owners that limited what they could do along the shoreline. It goes well beyond docks, he said.

Pritts responded that this is not the case to rewrite the shoreline management plan. He said years of work went into the plan and any concerns could be brought up at its next review.

In the end, Reynolds ruled against the Nissens and granted the motion for summary judgment to Appalachian Power.

They [Appalachian Power] absolutely have the right to destroy the Nissens dock for whatever reason they want. It is stupid, but people can make foolish contracts, Reynolds said of the language of the flowage easement that was created when the lake first reached full pond in 1966.

Reynolds added that no one questioned the flowage easement for the first 30 years of the lakes existence.

Times change, situations change and Appalachian Power has been pushed into limiting things, Reynolds said, adding he could see no other interpretation of the flowage easement than giving Appalachian Power the right to regulate anything below the shoreline.
/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES./

VANCOUVER, June 20, 2017 /CNW/ - Eros Resources Corp. (TSX.V: ERC) ("Eros" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") for aggregate gross proceeds of $1,037,880. At the closing yesterday, a total of 6,486,750 units were issued, each at a subscription price of $0.16 per unit, with each unit consisting of one common share of the Company and one-half common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one common share at a price of $0.25 per common share for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance or at a price of $0.30 per common share for an additional 12-month period. Certain directors, officers and insiders of the Company have participated in the Private Placement and collectively have acquired 2,575,000 common shares under the Private Placement.

Proceeds from the Private Placement will be used for general corporate purposes. The Private Placement is subject to TSX Venture Exchange final acceptance. All of the common shares and warrants issued in connection with this financing are subject to a four-month hold period expiring October 20, 2017, in accordance with applicable securities laws.

In addition, Eros is pleased to advise that its partner and project operator, Westcore Energy Ltd. ("Westcore") announced on Friday, June 16, 2017 that it had completed the initial drilling operations on its three well program at Flaxcombe, Saskatchewan. The three well program commenced on June 1, 2017 and drilling was completed on June 14, 2017. The program was designed based on the re-interpretation of a 3D seismic survey that Westcore acquired with the property.

Eros holds a 90% beneficial working interest in the wells until it recovers its initial capital investment totalling $1.6 million and a 50% interest thereafter. Additionally, Eros has the right to participate in the next two programs under the same terms.

Westcore reported that all three wells successfully encountered the Lower Manville Success Sand Formation, with multiple oil bearing sands in each well bore. The Upper Success Sand Formation, which is the primary target, shows total oil bearing formation thicknesses of 5 meters, 9 meters and 11 meters respectively. The Lower Success sand formation, which is a secondary target, shows a total oil bearing formation thickness of 8 meters in each well. Westcore will be reviewing the results with its completions team, with a view to bringing the wells on production in the most efficient manner possible.

We seek Safe Harbour

About Eros

Eros Resources Corp. is a well-financed Canadian public company focused on the exploration and development of resource projects in North America. Eros also holds an investment portfolio which includes 48 million shares of Skeena Resources Ltd., 4.0 million shares of Westcore Energy Ltd. 6.75 million shares of Bullfrog Gold Corp. and a number of other equity positions in junior exploration companies.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of

Eros Resources Corp.,

Ron Stewart

President & CEO

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements



Certain statements made and information contained herein may constitute "forward looking information" and "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation, including, among other things, this press release includes references to discovered and undiscovered oil and natural gas resources and Westcore's future drill program. There is no certainty that any portion of the resources will be discovered. If discovered, there is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of the resource. There is no certainty the drill program will be fully or partially completed. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including the availability of adequate and secure sources of funding to complete, equip and bring the new wells on-stream, prevailing commodity prices, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks and the performance of Westcore personnel. While the Company considers its assumptions to be reasonable as of the date hereof, forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue importance on such statements as actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or information except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Eros Resources Corp.
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - June 21, 2017) - Wolf Wiese CEO of Golden Dawn Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: GOM) (FRANKFURT: 3G8A) (OTC PINK: GDMRF) (the "Company" or "Golden Dawn ") announces that permits for operating the Lexington-Grenoble mine and Greenwood Process Plant were received from the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines on June 16.

The Mine Permits are for Golden Dawn's 100% owned subsidiary company, 1086359 BC Ltd. to operate the Lexington mine and Greenwood Process Plant. The permits outline several conditions that are routinely required for operations.

Receipt of these permits puts Golden Dawn, through its operating company 1086359 BC Ltd., in the driver's seat towards production. As a result of the receipt of these pivotal permits, the Company is in a position to commence to dewater and re-activate the Lexington mine, (Ministry of Environment dewatering permit in place) and to operate the Greenwood Process Plant. Mine production from the Lexington-Grenoble and Golden Crown deposits will be planned as outlined in an updated Preliminary Economic Analysis report (as announced June 19th, 2017).

The May Mac mine is also being prepared to supply feed to the Greenwood Process Plant. A permit application for underground drifting and drilling is currently under review by the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines, and an updated bulk sample permit application is being finalized. A surface diamond drilling program is currently underway. The initial underground drilling program has been successfully completed.

A surface diamond drill permit for the Golden Crown property is also being reviewed by the Ministry. Surface drilling is planned for 2017 to increase the confidence level in the current indicated resource estimate and to test for extensions to resource blocks.

The Company would like to clarify that its decision to proceed to extract mineralized material from the Lexington, Golden Crown and May Mac mines for processing at its facility located at the Greenwood Precious Metals Project is not based on a feasibility study. The Company cautions that, in such cases, there is increased uncertainty and higher economic and technical risks of failure.

Technical disclosure in this news release has been approved by Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and Chief Operating Officer of the Company.

On behalf of the Board of Directors:

GOLDEN DAWN MINERALS INC.

        "Wolf Wiese"

Wolf Wiese

Chief Executive Officer

THIS PRESS RELEASE WAS PREPARED BY MANAGEMENT WHO TAKES FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS CONTENTS. NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CERTAIN FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS WHICH INVOLVE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN RISKS, DELAYS, AND UNCERTAINTIES NOT UNDER THE COMPANY'S CONTROL WHICH MAY CAUSE ACTUAL RESULTS, PERFORMANCE OR ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE COMPANY TO BE MATERIALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE RESULTS, PERFORMANCE, OR ACHIEVEMENTS IMPLIED BY THESE FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS. WE SEEK SAFE HARBOR.
SUDBURY, ON, June 21, 2017 /CNW/ - Transition Metals Corp. (XTM  TSX.V) ("Transition", "the Company") is pleased to announce the signing of a Definitive Option Agreement with North American Palladium ('NAP') on the Sunday Lake Project. The property is currently held by Joint Venture Partners, Transition Metals Corp. within its wholly-owned subsidiary, HTX Minerals Corp. and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (Implats). Under the terms of the agreement, North American Palladium has the right to acquire a 75% ownership in the Sunday Lake Project by completing work commitments totaling $4.5M and making cash payments of $3.5M over a five year period.

The property occurs within the emerging Mid-Continental Rift (MCR) base and precious metal camp. Recent discoveries in the district include Panoramic Resources', Thunder Bay North Project (Indicated Resources 8.46Mt @ 2.09g/t Pt+Pd+Au or PGM1) in Ontario, Lundin Mining's, Eagle Mine (Reserves 3.72Mt @ 2.50% Ni, 2.20% Cu2) in Michigan and Rio Tinto's Tamarack Deposit (Indicated Resource 3.75Mt @ 1.81% Ni, 1.00% Cu, 0.85g/t PGM; Inferred Resource 3.38Mt @ 1.63% Ni, 0.94% Cu, 0.67g/t PGM3) in Minnesota. The Sunday Lake Project is geologically similar to these important deposits for which XTM has a 25% free carried interest until the completion of Feasibility Study.

Commenting on the agreement, company CEO and President Scott McLean stated "We are very pleased with the signing of a Definitive Option Agreement with NAP on our Sunday Lake Project. We continue to view the Sunday Lake Project as a key, high-quality project and we are excited to have NAP as a partner. NAP will focus on defining mineral resources at Sunday Lake which is 90 km trucking distance from their Lac des Ilse Mine/Mill Complex."

Option Agreement Terms

The Option agreement provides NAP with the exclusive right to acquire a 75% ownership in the Sunday Lake Project by completing the following exploration stages (see North American Palladium Press Release dated June 20, 2017 for details):

Stage 1: NAP may acquire a 51% controlling interest in the property by completing $1.5M of exploration expenditures and making cash payments of $75,000 to XTM and $675,000 to Implats within a two year period.

Stage 2: NAP may increase its interest from 51% to 65% by completing an additional $2.5M of exploration expenditures and making further cash payments of $125,000 to XTM and $1.125M to Implats within a two year period.

Stage 3: NAP may further increase its interest from 65% to 75% by completing an additional $0.5M of exploration expenditures and making final cash payments of $150,000 to XTM and $1.35M to Implats within a one year period.

About the Sunday Lake Property

The Sunday Lake PGM-Cu-Ni Project is located 25 km north of Thunder Bay in Jacques Township and approximately 95 km south of NAP's producing Lac Des Iles Mine (Figure 1) that has reported reserves (Proven and Probable) of 38.5Mt @ 2.25g/t Pd4 as well as a fully integrated mill complex capable of processing 15,000 tonnes per day. The Sunday Lake Property covers a 3.5 km diameter circular reversely-polarized magnetic anomaly associated with a large buried mafic-ultramafic intrusion interpreted to be Proterozoic in age and related to the MCR. In November of 2015 the company reported the best intersection to date on the property from SL-15-013 that intersected 42.9m grading 3.43g/t combined PGMs (Pt+Pd+Au) including 10.10m grading 5.61g/t PGM5 (interpreted to be close to true width).

 Resource reported by Panoramic Resources, Thunder Bay North deposit: 2011 JORC compliant mineral resources estimate prepared by AMEC Americas Ltd.

 Lundin Mining  Reserves and Resources June 30, 2016. http://www.lundinmining.com/s/Reserves.asp

3 Resource reported by Talon Resources, Tamarack North Technical Report: 2014 NI 43-101mineral resource estimate prepared by Golder Associates Ltd. www.sedar.com

4 North American Palladium Press Release dated May 29, 2017

5 Transition Metals Corp. press release dated November 16, 2015

Qualified Person

The technical elements of this press release have been approved by Mr. Grant Mourre, P.Geo. (APGO), a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.

About Transition Metals Corp

Transition Metals Corp. (XTM -TSX.V) is a Canadian-based, multi-commodity project generator that specializes in converting new exploration ideas into Canadian discoveries. The award-winning team of geoscientists has extensive exploration experience in established, emerging and historic mining camps and actively develops and tests new ideas for discovering mineralization in places that others have not looked, which often allows the company to acquire properties inexpensively. The team is rigorous in its fieldwork and combines traditional techniques with newer ones to help unearth compelling prospects and drill targets. Transition uses the project generator business model to acquire and advance multiple exploration projects simultaneously, thereby maximizing shareholder exposure to discovery and capital gain. Joint venture partners earn an interest in the projects by funding a portion of higher-risk drilling and exploration, allowing Transition to conserve capital and minimize shareholder's equity dilution. The Company has an expanding portfolio that currently includes more than 25 gold, copper, nickel and platinum projects primarily in Ontario, Nunavut, British Columbia, Minnesota and Saskatchewan.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Information

Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information in this news release constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities law. Such forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "plans", "proposes", "estimates", "intends", "expects", "believes", "may", "will" and include without limitation, statements regarding estimated capital and operating costs, expected production timeline, benefits of updated development plans, foreign exchange assumptions and regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, metal prices, competition, risks inherent in the mining industry, and regulatory risks. Most of these factors are outside the control of the Company. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulation, the Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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.

SOURCE Transition Metals Corp.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jun 21, 2017) - Senator Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SNR)(OTC PINK:SNRAF)(FRANKFURT:T1KA) ("Senator" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on upcoming activities this summer. The Company has applied for permits to complete an initial phase of its proposed work program on the Patterson North East (PNE) Uranium Project, located in the western Athabasca basin, Saskatchewan. The Company anticipates commencing work on the project on July 15, 2017.

Due diligence on the Company's proposed acquisition of an interest in the Carter Lake Uranium Project, also located in the Athabasca basin, remains ongoing. As part of due diligence the Company intends to conduct an aerial survey on the project in July.

While exploration work is ongoing, the Company is continuing with its offering of common shares at a price of $1.00 per share on a private placement basis. The Company anticipates completing the placement shortly, and will provide further information as soon as it is available.

Senator is a junior mineral explorer focused on uranium exploration in northern Saskatchewan. Senator has entered into an agreement with an arm's-length vendor to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in the Patterson North East (PNE) Uranium Project, located on the east side of the Athabasca basin in Northern Saskatchewan, the most productive uranium-producing region in the world.

Tim Fernback, President and Chief Executive Officer

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.

Statements in this release that are forward-looking information are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here. Information provided in this document is necessarily summarized and may not contain all available material information. All such forward-looking information and statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. These statements, however, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information or statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recently filed MD&A. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or revise the forward-looking information contained in this news release, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements.
White Rock, British Columbia (FSCwire) - Renaissance Gold Inc. (TSX.V: REN) (RenGold or the Company) is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Kinetic Gold (US) Inc. has signed a Binding Terms Sheet with Ramelius Resources Ltd. (ASX: RMS) (Ramelius) for an exploration earn-in agreement on its 100% owned Jupiter Project, a Carlin-type target located in Nye County, Nevada.

The Agreement

The Binding Terms Sheet stipulates the terms of a definitive agreement to be prepared within 90 days. The agreed terms grant Ramelius the right to earn a 75% interest in the property by spending US$3,000,000 over a 5-year period. Ramelius paid the Company a one-time payment of US$25,000 upon signing the Binding Terms Sheet, must spend US$250,000 in the first year (firm commitment) before it may withdraw from the agreement, and must spend a minimum of US$100,000 in subsequent years to maintain the agreement.

Following completion of the earn-in, Ramelius will carry the Companys share of joint venture expenditures up to Ramelius making a Decision to Mine. Upon making a Decision to Mine, the Company must either contribute to ongoing joint venture expenditures in proportion to its ownership interest, dilute to a royalty interest, or allow Ramelius to provide project financing for the Company, whereby Ramelius increases its project interest to 80%.

Jupiter Project

The Jupiter Project is located approximately 60 miles southeast of Tonopah, Nevada and 110 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada. The project lies in the historic Queen City (Blackhawk) mining district at the southern end of the Quinn Canyon Range. Historic mercury and base metals workings occur in several locations within and adjacent to the property. Widespread hydrothermal alteration occurs over a 4 x 3 mile area and is characterized by abundant anomalous gold mineralization, with silicification  jarosite alteration. Surface rock chip sampling has yielded abundant and widespread anomalous results, ranging from detection limit up to 3.10 g Au/t, with strongly associated Carlin-suite volatile trace elements arsenic, antimony and mercury. At least one and possibly two phases of intrusive have been identified on the property, which may act as potential heat engines driving the hydrothermal activity. The large alteration system and associated mineralization affects both the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and the overlying Tertiary volcanic rocks, and the Companys exploration focus has been on developing Carlin-type targets in the Paleozoic carbonates.

Exploration and target development activities by the Company have included geologic mapping, rock chip sampling and biostratigraphic dating, and have been successful in identifying three new target areas that are prospective for significant gold mineralization in a very similar geologic setting to Newmonts Long Canyon gold mine. Most importantly, the newly developed targets have never been drill tested. This work has redefined the stratigraphic and structural relationships in this area and have identified a previously unrecognized thrust fault, placing upper Cambrian over Ordovician rocks. This relationship indicates that prior drilling in this carbonate package occurred below the potentially highly productive Cambrian-Ordovician unconformity, which is a major host at Long Canyon. The targets consist of drilling to test the Cambrian-Ordovician unconformity in several areas; on strike with known mineralization under interpreted shallow alluvial or volcanic cover, and beneath significant surface leakage gold mineralization in overlying Ordovician rocks.

The Jupiter property comprises 120 claims held directly by Kinetic Gold (US) Inc. and is subject to a 1% net smelter returns royalty to Altius Royalty Corporation.

Ronald Parratt, CEO and Executive Chairman states This new agreement for a Kinetic Gold property with a company such as Ramelius validates the earlier belief held by RenGold that the Kinetic portfolio would be of great value in the improving gold market. Were optimistic that the portfolio will continue to attract other partners.

Robert Felder, President states, We are very pleased to bring in such a strong partner as Ramelius to explore our Jupiter project and look forward to collaborating with the Ramelius team going forward.

Qualified Person



All technical data disclosed in this press release has been verified by RenGolds Qualified Person, Robert Felder, M.Sc. and Certified Professional Geologist as recognized by the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG)

About Renaissance Gold Inc.

Renaissance Gold Inc. is a gold/silver exploration company that has a large portfolio of exploration projects in Nevada and Utah. On May 29, 2017, the Company acquired Kinetic Gold Corp. and its subsidiaries which hold various exploration properties all located in Nevada. RenGolds objective is to place all of its projects into exploration agreements with industry partners who provide exploration funding. RenGold applies the extensive exploration experience and high-end technical skills of its founders and team members to search for and acquire new precious metal exploration projects that are then offered for joint venture.

About Ramelius Resources Ltd.

Ramelius Resources Ltd. is an ASX listed (ASX: RMS), successful Australian gold mining and exploration company. Ramelius owns 100% of the Mt. Magnet gold mine, located 600 km north of Perth, Western Australia and the associated 1.7 Mtpa Checker Processing Plant. Ramelius is mining from both open pit and underground deposits at Mt. Magnet as well as mining underground at the high-grade Vivien gold mine near Leinster, located 300 km east of Mt Magnet. The Vivien ore is also trucked to Mt. Magnet for processing. Visit www.rameliusresources.com.au for details.

By: Robert Felder, President and Director

For further information, contact:

Robert Felder, 775-337-1545 or bfelder@rengold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words expects, plans, anticipates, believes, intends, estimates, projects, potential and similar expressions, or that events or conditions will, would, may, could or should occur. Although Renaissance Gold Inc. 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 may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of Renaissance Gold Inc.s management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, Renaissance Gold Inc. undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that managements beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/RenaissanceGold06212017.pdfSource: Renaissance Gold Inc. (TSX Venture:REN)

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The movement to ban the box is often touted as a way to help ex-convicts find employment after incarceration. If employers, or states, get rid of the box on a job application where they ask about previous criminal history, that history wont prevent people who have served their time from reintegrating into society, the argument goes.Louisiana's governor signed the state's own ban-the-box law earlier on Friday, this time prohibiting state higher-education institutions from inquiring about a potential students criminal history during the application process.The law makes exceptions so that colleges can ask about sexual violence or stalking convictions, according to a local Fox affiliate, though there is also an appeals process for students denied under those questions. Additionally, colleges can ask about criminal history after a student has been admitted, including for the consideration of financial aid and campus housing.
comply

In the face of a politically and financially uncertain fiscal 2018, states are hunkering down, pulling back on spending increases and beefing up rainy day funds.General fund revenues for fiscal 2017 are coming in below forecasts in 33 states, according to a new survey by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO). Thats the highest number since the recession, and it also marks the second straight year that more states have failed to meet projected revenues than exceeded them. As a result, its increasingly likely that more states will be forced to make spending cuts (23 have already reported doing so).The survey also finds that thanks to states thin margins, spending for fiscal 2018 will tick up by a mere 1 percent -- the lowest growth rate since 2010, when states were in the midst of dealing with the recession. Most of those spending increases will be targeted toward education, where many states are still trying to make up for cuts following the recession, and Medicaid.Despite slow revenue growth -- or perhaps because of it -- governors and legislatures in many places are prioritizing saving money for the next economic downturn. After a slight dip in 2017, rainy day fund balances are expected to hit the highest total ever at more than $53 billion across 48 states. (Georgia and Oklahoma were not able to provide data.)Were seeing legislatures also tout being ready in some cases for whatever might be the next recession, says NASBOs Executive Director John Hicks. Theyre talking with more emphasis about structural balance in budgets, having more reserves in place and being mindful of using one-time funds.On a state-by-state level, the budgeting data is varied. Governors in 15 states propose outright general fund spending decreases in 2018. In most states, the declines amount to a less than 3 percent budget cut. North Dakota, however, is cutting its 2018 budget by roughly 23 percent. The state, which is suffering from lower oil revenues, is cutting nearly $367 million from its budget -- roughly one-third of that from education.Meanwhile, governors in seven states (Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington) are proposing spending increases of at least 5 percent. North Carolina is increasing its general fund spending by nearly 6 percent, directing most of that increase into K-12. And Washington is putting more than half of its $1 billion increase into Medicaid to helpwith a court-mandated expansion in coverage for hepatitis C patients.Uncertainty at the federal level has also forced states to be more fiscally conservative. When asked about their top concerns, NASBO survey respondents said they were worried about potential federal legislation that would repeal and replace the [Affordable Care Act] affecting both the Medicaid expansion and capping federal funds to the Medicaid program. Medicaid now represents $1 out of every $5 states spend.Another major concern is the threat of federal tax reform, which some argue has already impacted state revenues. A number of states saw sharp year-over-year declines in their income tax revenue collections this April, which is typically the biggest month for the tax. According to Fitch Ratings, Connecticut posted the steepest decline of nearly 14 percent while Massachusetts reported a more than 6 percent drop off. Its not clear whether the declines are real or whether taxpayers in these high-tax states are shuffling income into fiscal 2018 in anticipation of more favorable rates under federal tax reform.
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.
'Hacktivism' common

A hacker, angry that the police officer charged with killing Philando Castile was found not guilty, reportedly broke into state of Minnesota databases, stealing e-mails and passwords.Minnesota IT Services confirmed the attack and said it's investigating, according to a sparsely worded written statement. "Minnesota IT Services' security forensics team will share any relevant information with law enforcement for review for potential criminal activity."The hacker, known as "Vigilance," tweeted on Sunday: "Justice for #PhilandoCastile MN.gov and mnstate.edu Hacked An innocent man is dead, while a guilty man is free."On Friday, a Ramsey County jury found St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez not guilty of manslaughter in the shooting of Castile during a traffic stop last summer. The case drew worldwide attention after Castile's girlfriend livestreamed the aftermath.In an exchange of Twitter direct messages between the Star Tribune and Vigilance, he said the hack involved 23 state of Minnesota databases -- "so quite a lot of information," the hacker wrote. It includes about 1,400 e-mails and passwords from state employees and private citizens, although "many of the e-mails don't have passwords," he said.The passwords have a "weak encryption" so they can be decrypted easily, he said.Vigilance said he published the information, which can be used by others to access people's accounts, including e-mail and social media.The hacker also said he broke into databases at Minnesota State University Moorhead but didn't retrieve any sensitive data.University spokesman David Wahlberg said IT security officials discovered June 5 that files had been hacked. No passwords, Social Security numbers or financial information were stolen, he said. As a precaution, university officials recommended that 8,000 students and 800 employees change their passwords.The hacker said he breached the university files on June 5, the day testimony began in the Yanez trial. "I dump data from valuable servers in anticipation I will need it in the future," he explained. He broke into the state of Minnesota databases the day the verdict was reached, he said."Hacktivism" is fairly common, said cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs. "It's just feeling disempowered or feeling that some wrong has to be corrected in some way," he said.Although he hasn't seen the stolen information, Krebs said criminals could use stolen passwords to access bank and e-commerce websites. "Knowing that people will use the same password on numerous sites, they'll probably have some luck," he said."If they get access to an e-mail inbox, they get access to every single account that e-mail address was used to sign up," he said. "How do you reset your password? They send you a link. ... They can reset any password."The hacker, who declined to give his name but said he doesn't live in Minnesota, said hacking has been "my platform" for six years with a goal of speaking for "those who's voices have fallen on deaf ears.""I chose the Philando case because I was so fed up with all the injustices in the news about cops killing innocent men, women and children then walking free," he told the Star Tribune. "When I saw the verdict, I knew I had to take action."
Kansas City's struggle with increasing violent crime is ringing alarms all the way to the top of the U.S. Justice Department.Federal authorities on Tuesday named Kansas City as one of 12 cities that will receive federal help and services as part of a national effort to combat violent crime.The cities chosen have been suffering levels of violence far exceeding the national average, Department of Justice spokesman Devin O'Malley said.This year has been particularly brutal in Kansas City, with 66 homicides through June 20. That pace would lead to 140 for the year, which would be the most in the city since the number of murders eclipsed 150 in the early 1990s.The assistance is part of the newly formed National Public Safety Partnership. The announcement was made during the opening session of a national summit organized by the U.S. attorney general's task force on crime reduction and public safety.Details on how and in what areas the federal government would help Kansas City were not specified.The 12 cities were chosen for their high rates of crime, but also for demonstrating a commitment to reducing violent crime and readiness to receive the special training and assistance, O'Malley said.Kansas City is thankful for the aid and eager to collaborate, said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker."We were asked a few months ago to share information about (the Kansas City No Violence Alliance), as well as any concerns about decreasing violence in our city," Baker said in a written statement. "We are hopeful (the federal assistance) will benefit our city and make it a safer and better place."Kansas City police announced Monday they plan to reassign officers from various units to patrol and target high crime areas in four small, geographic locations throughout the city. The effort is designed to combat an increase in homicides, gun violence and other street crime.Not just homicides are plaguing Kansas City. Non-fatal shootings have increased 64 percent from 2014 to 2016, and drive-by shootings are up 51 percent from last year.The additional officers will patrol neighborhoods that have seen an increase in drive-by shootings, traffic fatalities and crimes.The help from the federal programming is welcomed but needs to be creative in the attempt to help communities heal, said Damon Daniel, president of the AdHoc Group Against Crime."If it is just investing in policing...we can't arrest our way out of what we're dealing with," Daniel said.The city needs help confronting poverty, he said, supporting livable wages, ending food deserts and creating pathways for young people to quality education and jobs, he said."We've got to really get upstream and deal with the root cause of what's happening here," he said.The other cities that will receive federal funding are Birmingham, Ala.; Indianapolis; Memphis, Tenn.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Baton Rouge, La.; Houston; Jackson, Tenn.; Lansing, Mich.; Springfield, Ill.; and Toledo and Cincinnati in Ohio.Chicago and Baltimore, which have been hit hard by gun violence and homicides this year, were not on the list, but the Justice Department said more cities could eventually be added.The Justice Department this year created a federal partnership and task force in response to a presidential executive order signed in February tasking the department with leading a national effort to reduce violent crime."Turning back the recent troubling increase in violent crime in our country is a top priority of the Department of Justice and the Trump Administration, as we work to fulfill the President's promise to make America safe again," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a written statement announcing the funding for the 12 cities. "The Department of Justice will work with American cities suffering from serious violent crime problems. There is no doubt that there are many strategies that are proven to reduce crime.""Our new National Public Safety Partnership program will help these communities build up their own capacity to fight crime, by making use of data-driven, evidence-based strategies tailored to specific local concerns, and by drawing upon the expertise and resources of our Department," Sessions said.
A federal judge on Tuesday approved a secret civil settlement of the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the parents of Michael Brown over his 2014 fatal shooting.The settlement amount is not mentioned in U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber's order approving it. Webber writes only that the gross amount is "fair and reasonable compensation for this wrongful death claim and is in the best interests of each Plaintiff."He said the split of the amount between Michael Brown Sr. and Lezley McSpadden "is fair and reasonable," and the agreement "provides for a reasonable amount" for attorney fees and expenses.Settlements involving public entities are generally open records under Missouri law, but Webber ordered the agreement sealed and said that it should be considered a closed record under the state's Sunshine Law "due to the adverse impact to Plaintiffs should it be disclosed. Disclosure of the terms of the settlement agreement could jeopardize the safety of individuals involved in this matter, whether as witnesses, parties, or investigators. The public policy to consider records open is outweighed by the adverse impact to Plaintiffs," he wrote.State law does require that the settlement amount be released, however.The Post-Dispatch reported on Monday that the settlement was near, and that it would be less than $3 million.Brown Sr. and McSpadden sued the city of Ferguson, former Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and former police Officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown, in 2015.Their lawsuit says that a police culture of pervasive hostility toward African-Americans led to the death of Brown, 18, on Aug. 9, 2014. Wilson used excessive and unreasonable force, the suit says.Ferguson, Jackson and Wilson denied the claims in court documents. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department declined to prosecute him, saying evidence and "credible" witnesses supported Wilson's claims that Brown attacked him.
Binti, which makes software and Web portals to help adoption agencies sign up foster families. Binti got its start in the San Francisco Startup in Residence program and generated some rapid growth soon afterward by targeting California counties.

MissionMark, which is building a platform to help government contractors bid for federal projects.

GovInvest, which offers software to help government manage its pension funds and debt.

MeWe, which has created a restaurant inspection application called CoInspect.

Smarking, which has developed a data analytics solution for city parking.

With little fanfare, the early stage venture capital firm Govtech Fund has doubled the number of companies in its portfolio The firm has invested in seven new companies, one of which it is still keeping secret. One of the companies, Neighborly, announced an investment from the fund as part of its Series A round in May.The five previously unannounced Govtech Fund companies are:At the TiECon investment conference in Santa Clara, Calif. in May, Govtech Fund Managing Partner Ron Bouganim said the fund had reached 13 investments  only 12 are currently listed on the funds website. Bouganim did not respond to requests for more information.Ted Price, CEO of GovInvest, confirmed by email that the Govtech Fund led a $2.17 million seed investment round for the company.Felicia Curcuru, CEO of Binti, wrote in an email that the Govtech Fund made an investment in her company independent of an actual fundraising round.At TiECon, Bouganim said the companies he invests in are meeting aggressive growth metrics.Our 13 companies today are connected to about 20,000 agencies, were adding about 10 a day as a group and our average sales cycle is something like 76 days, he said.
New York City is working to make its 911 system fully digital, which in practical terms means that residents will be able to interact with emergency responders through text messages, photos, videos, social media and other state-of-the-art methods of communication.

The citys Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications has released a nearly 300-page RFP looking for vendors to help build the underlying infrastructure necessary for the coming upgrades  specifically the IP-based 911 system. The upgrade effort has been dubbed Next Generation 911, and while it is being developed and implemented, the city will also launch an interim system called Text-to-911 in early 2018. This system is exactly what it sounds like  a way to use text messages to contact 911 the way one would with a traditional phone call.

This type of 911 system is becoming increasingly common throughout the country, from New Jersey to Kansas City to Indiana , and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has estimated that the tech has been adapted by about 650 dispatch centers nationwide, which constitutes roughly 10 percent of American emergency responders. The Next Generation 911 project seeks to provide greater functionality than these text-based systems.

We have the nations largest, busiest and most complex 911 system, which is why we need to be on the leading edge of emergency communications technology  and thats exactly where Next Generation 911 will take us, said Anne Roest, commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Early next year, New Yorkers will be able to text 911, with much more to come down the road. Ultimately, our system will do more than give New Yorkers new ways to communicate  it will make it easier for the city to continually upgrade and improve 911 as technology evolves in the coming years, and for generations to come.

The advantages of text-based communications with 911 services are especially relevant for members of the deaf community, as well as for those who are speech-impaired or hard of hearing. This system is also designed to aid crime victims caught in situations where speaking might put them in danger.

Victor Calise, commissioner of the Mayors Office for People with Disabilities, praised the addition of this tech in a release, saying that equity is a key part of Mayor Bill de Blasios administration. This project marks the most recent enhancement to New York Citys 911 functionality undertaken by Mayor de Blasio. The administration also recently built a backup answering center, one that is fully redundant and able to provide service in full if there is a failure or problem at the citys existing response center.

Proposals are due Aug. 8, and work is targeted to begin in December. Officials hope the Next Generation 911 project will be ready to launch for public use in early 2022. The request for proposals can be downloaded at http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doitt/business/next-gen-911-emergency-services.page

Kate Blumm, assistant commissioner for Communications and External Affairs within the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, stressed the importance of this project in the wake of rapid advancements in the ways citizens use technology.

Our 911 network needs to accommodate this national revolution in the way people are using personal technology, Blumm said, and thats a big part of what this project is all about.
(TNS) -- It's time to match your opinion of Bakersfield, Calif.'s road conditions to the city's.The Bakersfield Public Works Department has unveiled its city street conditions data online at the request of Ward 4 City Councilman Bob Smith.Go to the interactive map and a colorful array of green, yellow, orange and red lines wiggle across your computer screen, telling you in how good or bad of shape experts think individual roads are. You can type in a street name to zero in on its condition."I thought it should be public information," Smith said.The data came from a special vehicle that took pictures and calculated city streets' Pavement Condition Index, or PCI, about a year ago.The city received an overall PCI of 69  one step below "Good"  which means the road needs preventative maintenance. This is several points better than Kern County's overall PCI of 63. Shafter and Ridgecrest's ratings were among the poorest in the county.Bakersfield Public Works Director Nick Fidler said city officials use the program to prioritize roads in terms of need for repair, maintenance and "full-blown construction.""You try to capture it in yellow, or it's going to be more costly," Fidler said.He also said the map, which will be updated by city staff as road work is completed, will be useful to track where the city spends the SB1 transportation tax money it expects to receive in November.A future example will be California Avenue's condition, which will be updated after its reconstruction this summer.Then the road condition program will estimate a street's deterioration as it ages after work's completed. However, the city will do another review of its streets and not just rely on the computer's estimates, which don't take into account wear from harsh weather conditions."This is a more scientific way to measure (road conditions)," Smith said.The city has a 24-hour hotline for reporting potholes, 326-ROAD (7623), or they can be reported online via the city app or www.bakersfieldcity.us under the Public Works Department. There's another number, 326-3111, to call 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday for reporting potholes.The interactive map can be found at www.bakersfieldcity.us/gov/depts/public_works/streets/default.htm by clinking on the hyperlink titled "Pavement Condition Map."
(TNS) -- 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.
(TNS) - It was at first mistaken for an explosion or a truck colliding with a building, but there was no apparent major damage from a minor earthquake that rattled Augusta, Ga., on Tuesday morning,The magnitude 3.2 earthquake hit at 11:14 a.m. and was originally reported by the U.S. Geological Survey as a 3.0 but upgraded soon after. According to the USGS, it struck six kilometers southwest of Augusta and had a depth of 12.9 kilometers. The USGS showed it began in the vicinity of Killebrew and Woodward avenues in south Augusta.The Richmond County Sheriffs Office received multiple calls but the Augusta-Richmond County Emergency Management Agency said it had received no reports of any damage, according to spokeswoman Dee Griffin.No one has reported anything, she said.The USGS web site showed the quake was felt as far away as Washington, Ga., and across the Savannah River in Aiken and Columbia .I thought it was a large explosion. I felt like I was moving backwards, said Ennis Koonce, who lives on Woodward Avenue near the quakes epicenter. My lady friend said it was an earthquake, but I said No, Ive been in an earthquake before, this sounds like an explosion. It was real loud. I didnt even see any birds around. I figured the birds would give me a sign that somethings going on.Cathy Nelson, who also lives on Woodward Avenue, said the tremblor felt like it lasted for a long time. She said she was in a back room doing some cleaning when everything started shaking.I just came flying out the door, I thought maybe somebody had hit something or something had blown up, Nelson said. I was walking all around the house looking crazy.[I was thinking] Who ran into something? Who hit something? What exploded?I ran out, I was looking around, I went to the back and thought alright I dont see anything.A resident on Killebrew Avenue said the earthquake was something shed never experienced and doesnt want to again, calling it scary.My daughter was in the bathroom, I thought she fell in the tub or something. I went to see if she was alright. We ran to see if a tree fell, I thought the floor had fallen in or something, said Earnestine Brown. I was in my bedroom, and everything just went boom and I was scared to move for a minute. We all started pacing through the house, and we thought maybe a tree had fallen or something. Everything was alright with the floors and stuff.Were all right though. It shook me up for a minute.. No damage or anything. Except for me. I still have to get myself together. Its the first I ever experienced, and Im hoping it doesnt come again. I thank God that were alright, that everythings alright.Augusta was trending soon after on Twitter with many local users bewildered or just reporting the event had happened while users in more earthquake-prone areas mocked their startled reactions. Twitter user Nova Marie compared the Augusta earthquake to rain in Los Angeles - infrequent, short, harmless but so unheard of, the locals lose their minds.Griffin said in a news release the shaking triggered alarms on homes and businesses. She said a scientist with the USGS cautioned about the possibility of aftershocks.Scientists cautioned that this may have been a foreshock which could be the prelude to an earthquake, she stated in the press release, adding that there is no indication there will be additional tremblors in the Augusta area.Georgia Power spokesman Craig Bell said in a statement the earthquake had no impact on the nuclear power plant in Burke County.While the earthquake would be considered a minor quake by most standards, it was reported as a 5 in intensity by many in Augusta and Hephzibah, which is described on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale as a felt by nearly everyone; many awakened. Some dishes, windows broken. Unstable objects overturned. Pendulum clocks may stop. Almost 500 people had reported they felt the quake to the USGS web site within a half hour of it hitting and more than 1,900 had responded by the afternoon.It brought to mind for many the Valentines Day 2014 earthquake centered 12 kilometers west-northwest of Edgefield, with a preliminary magnitude of 4.1, that shook an Augusta area still in the midst of a major ice storm.According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the largest quake felt in the area was a recorded 4.5 that took place March 5, 1916. Located 30 miles southwest of Atlanta, it was felt across an area of 5,000 miles.The largest recent quake in the lake area occurred in Lincoln County on Aug. 2, 1974, and registered 4.2, according to Augusta Chronicle archives.2017 The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Ga.)Visit The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Ga.) at chronicle.augusta.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) - Tropical Storm Cindy is churning in the Gulf of Mexico and has parts of Texas in its sights. .The third tropical storm of the year, Cindy is expected to make landfall Thursday over western Louisiana and eastern Texas, before swinging farther northeast.Based on its current track, heavy rain from the storm is expected to stay well east of Dallas-Fort Worth, closer to Toledo Bend, along the Sabine River, and Shreveport, said meteorologist Jason Godwin of the National Weather Service.Other Texas cities farther southeast, including Houston, could see some rain as well.Unrelated to the tropical storm, the Dallas area could see some showers over the weekend, thanks to a cold front that's expected to move down from Oklahoma, Godwin said.There's a chance of about a quarter-inch of rain on Saturday and Sunday, with up to an inch possible in some places.The storm could also drop temperatures to highs in the mid-80s on Sunday, he said.The tropical storm 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.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.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 a foot. At worst, the storm could flood neighborhoods outside the city's levee system and cause flash flooding even in protected areas.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. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency because of the threat of torrential rains and other severe weather.2017 The Dallas Morning NewsVisit The Dallas Morning News at www.dallasnews.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) -- 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, which 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.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 its uses its chip business as leverage to extract higher patent fees.The company points out that smartphone makers pay the same royalty rate even it they buy modems from Qualcomms chips rivals such as Intel, MediaTek or others.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.
(TNS) -- Kansas City police brass say their plan to equip hundreds of officers with body cameras as a new estimate puts initial costs at roughly $6 million.That $6 million price tag is expected to cover the initial start-up costs, equipment upgrades, storage expenses and hiring additional workers to manage the effort and to respond open records request for the video recordings."It will cost millions of dollars to provide the storage, infrastructure and manpower to implement body cameras at KCPD," Interim Police Chief David Zimmerman said. "If money were no object, they would have been implemented months ago. Moving forward, we must have discussions internally and with city officials about where body cameras fall among other funding priorities."Officials have not identified a sustainable funding source and said it could take three years before officers can begin wearing the recording devices. The police board must approve the use of body cameras."Our department was one of the early adopters of in-car camera systems, and every patrol car today has one," Zimmerman said. "We're moving toward body cameras for the same reasons we did in-car cameras: to ensure accountability, to identify any issues that could require training and to provide indisputable accounts of incidents."Police departments across the country are learning that body cameras, however useful in providing transparency, are not cheap.Detroit decided to spend $5.2 million for a 1,500 body camera program.The cameras themselves are not prohibitive. Depending on their sophistication, they can be purchased for a few hundred dollars to as much as $2,000.If Kansas City purchased a midrange model for each of its 1,360 officers, the cost could reach about $1.4 million. A $400 model could cost roughly $550,000.The department estimates it would spend $2.1 million for the initial startup equipment costs.But those cameras generate a lot of digital information -- and the digital storage costs add up.On-site storage would cost the Kansas City police about $3.2 million for a five-year contract, police estimate, in addition to costs for information technology staff.According to Time, larger police departments may create more than 10,000 hours of video every week. The Michigan State Police could generate 5,000 to 7,000 terabytes of information over three years if all officers wore body cameras, according to the Detroit Free Press.All that data have to be stored somewhere. And policy decisions must be made about how long to store it. Neither Missouri nor Kansas has laws on video data storage times, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.San Diego purchased body cameras that cost between $300 and $500 but anticipates spending nearly $1,500 for data storage for each one, according to Reuters.A Police Executive Research Forum survey indicated that 39 percent of police departments that do not use body cameras cited cost as a primary reason."In addition to the initial purchasing cost, agencies must devote funding and staffing resources toward storing recorded data, managing videos, disclosing copies of videos to the public, providing training to officers and administering the program," according to a Research Forum report.Several area law enforcement agencies, including the Clay County Sheriff's Office, Gladstone and Lenexa police, already have equipped their patrol and field officers with body cameras.Kansas City experimented with the body cameras last summer when 50 patrol, tactical response, bike patrol and motorcycles officers participated in a 12-week study.The effort helped police officials determine how they would store footage from the cameras and to gauge anticipated equipment needs, said Deputy Chief Bob Kuehl, who is overseeing the effort."The use of video, including body-worn cameras, enhances accountability and transparency for everyone," Kuehl said.Kansas City police have used dashboard cameras since 1999. The department has 337 in-car camera systems in use.Kuehl said the department would use dashboard cameras to complement officers who wear body cameras."We philosophically support body cameras to complement our in-car cameras," said Kuehl, who leads the department's professional development and research bureau. "If it wasn't for issues regarding money, manpower and materials, we would have loved to roll this out six months ago."Kuehl said determining how to store hours of video footage will pose a huge challenge.During Kansas City's pilot program, the department had an average of 147 video recordings that used roughly 82,000 megabytes of data recorded each day, according to a blog entry Zimmerman posted Friday. When the pilot period ended, about 9,300 videos and 5.1 million megabytes of data were collected.Police officials are weighing two options that include using a cloud-based system or storing the footage in house. Both cost about the same.Using an on-site storage system appears to be the best option, because a cloud-based system could pose security risks, Kuehl said.The department estimates it would spend $2.2 million on annual costs for staffing and other expenses. The annual equipment maintenance cost would be around $56,000.The department would have to create a new unit to handle open records requests, which would redact certain recordings and ensure quality assurance before the recordings are released, Kuehl said.Expanding the information technology division would cost the department $173,000 a year to hire two additional network administrators to manage the warehoused data.The department will look to share an expansive fiber-optic network system that will be part of the One-IT collaborative effort within Kansas City departments. It is currently under development and expected to launch within a year.The body camera expense would come as Kansas City's annual spending on the Police Department already tops a quarter of a billion dollars.The police budget for the fiscal year that began May 1 is $250.8 million and does not include money for a large body-camera program. The 2017-18 budget reflects a sizable increase from the $242.5 million budget for the fiscal year that ended April 30. Much of this year's increase was intended to cover police raises and other personnel costs.Kansas City will look for federal grants and other funding sources to pay for the body cameras, technology upgrades and other related expenses.Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 99 said the use of body cameras is a way to build public trust and promote transparency, but there are more pressing needs."At this point, the cost is the concern when we are down police officers on the streets," said Brad Lemon, lodge president. "The city has a finite amount of money, and it's important to balance the needs to address the serious issue of increasing violent crime and body-worn cameras."Lemon said the Police Department is down 130 officers over the last 10 years at a time when homicides are on the rise."We believe in the philosophy of a body-worn camera system, but justifying the system versus hiring police officers is a difficult balancing act," he said. "We have several concerns including retention, usage and individual officers' and citizens' right to privacy."Kuehl said police are studying other agencies that are using body cameras to determine the best fit for Kansas City -- and to learn from the mistakes of early adopters."We don't want leading edge," he said. "Cutting edge is nice but leading edge is dangerous, and a lot of them are on the leading edge right now."
(TNS) -- SAN JOSE, Calif.  YouTube is stepping up its fight against online terror and abuse, laying out four new steps its taking amid recent terrorism-related incidents around the world.The moves also come a couple of months after advertisers began pulling their ads from YouTube and other Google properties after learning they were appearing beside extremist content.Kent Walker, general counsel for Google, wrote in a blog post and an op-ed that appeared in the Financial Times over the weekend that thousands of the companys employees review and counter abuse of our platforms, but that the company is trying to do even more.That includes making videos that dont violate company policies but that contain inflammatory religious or supremacist content harder to find. Creators of such videos wont be able to monetize them, and the videos wont have comments and endorsements enabled.We think this strikes the right balance between free expression and access to information without promoting extremely offensive viewpoints, Walker wrote.In addition, Google says its devoting more engineering resources and advanced machine-learning research to try to help quicker identification and removal of extremist and terrorism-related content.Also, the company says it will rely on even more humans.Because technology alone is not a silver bullet, we will greatly increase the number of independent experts in YouTubes Trusted Flagger program, Walker said in the blog post. Human experts still play a role in nuanced decisions about the line between violent propaganda and religious or newsworthy speech. The boost will include adding 50 new NGOs to the program, which already had 63 organizations involved.The fourth step involves an expanded role in anti-radicalization efforts that include advertising aimed at potential ISIS recruits that redirects them to anti-terrorist videos. Google also said its working with Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter to tackle terrorism-related concerns.The big internet companies are facing increased pressure from governments, politicians and others who lay some of the blame on online platforms for spreading extremist messages. YouTube has long dealt with such concerns  its platform has hosted user-generated video since before Facebook and Twitter began to focus on video. But this year, the company faced a massive backlash in the form of lost advertising.Although at least one report pegged the loss of YouTube and other Google advertising over this issue in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Google would not confirm that. Rather, the company told The Mercury News in March that it had begun an extensive review and was looking to make changes after brands in the U.K., then elsewhere, halted advertising from Google platforms.
F1 legend Alain Prost has welcomed rumours suggesting an eleventh team could be on the grid in 2018.

The quadruple world champion, now an advisor for the Renault works team, told Germany's Auto Bild the conditions to enter F1 are now better than when his own team went bust in 2001.

Prost's comments follow reports a group with Chinese backing has enquired about signing staff from existing F1 teams for a new project.

"We used to be racing teams, but now everything is much more like business," the Frenchman said.

"That is one reason we lose fans -- they don't quite understand how a drinks maker like Red Bull can defeat automobile companies.

"But I can say that whoever wants to start a private team today has it easier than in my time. That was probably the worst time ever," Prost said.

"We never received more than $10 million (from F1), but we paid $28 million in the first year for engines, 30 in the second -- how is that supposed to work?

"Today, every team gets at least $40 million in prize money," he said.

(GMM)
Monisha Kaltenborn has played down the impact the potential McLaren-Honda split might have on Sauber.

Currently, McLaren is Honda's works team, while Ferrari-powered Sauber is set to become the Japanese marque's first customer in 2018.

But now, it seems possible Sauber could actually be the only Honda-powered team next year, particularly with Williams denying it could take over from McLaren in the event of a divorce.

"They (McLaren and Sauber) are two separate projects. We are two customers," Sauber boss Kaltenborn told the Swiss news agency Schweizerische Depeschenagentur.

"There will be no synergies."

However, earlier it appeared likely that - because Sauber does not produce its own gearbox - the Hinwil based team would use McLaren's transmission next year.

"I cannot say anything at this time," Kaltenborn now insists.

But admitting that Sauber's new owners are "not happy" with Sauber's current performance, some are saying that moving from a year-old Ferrari engine to Honda may not be a forwards step for the team.

"It is not working at the moment at McLaren," said Kaltenborn, "and of course that is not good.

"But I am not able to draw any conclusions about how it will be next year. This is all speculation and I have no reason to doubt," she added.

What Kaltenborn is happy about is F1's new owners, having complained bitterly in the past about the current revenue distribution model within the sport.

"In the past, the owners did not take the trouble to come to us," she said. "But Sean Bratches has made himself very available to us.

"They maintain very open contact, and in things like marketing they are much more open," Kaltenborn said.

(GMM)
Honda is no longer ruling out accepting help as it looks to finally get up to speed in F1.

Until now, the Japanese marque has usually been reluctant to look outside its own company during its three-year struggle so far in collaboration with McLaren.

But amid strong rumours of a McLaren-Honda split, the rhetoric is now changing.

Recently, F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn reportedly said the sport itself could help Honda.

"He said he would be happy to help Honda on request," Honda F1 chief Yusuke Hasegawa is quoted by Spain's AS.

"We'll have to ask. I greatly appreciate the offer. We'll keep talking," he added.

(GMM)
Toto Wolff says Mercedes will "take our time" in deciding whether to keep Valtteri Bottas for 2018.

The Finn, currently on just a one year deal following Nico Rosberg's shock retirement, said this week his goal is to secure a multi-year deal.

"Of course there is pressure on him," team boss Wolff is quoted by Spain's Marca.

"For me, Valtteri has performed well so far. He got the call to join our team very late, and is driving against one of the best F1 drivers in his fifth season at Mercedes.

"Overall his performance and the way he has integrated into the team has been very positive," Wolff added.

However, on paper at least, big names like Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are available for 2018, and so for now Wolff is biding his time.

"When we made our offer to Valtteri, we knew we would take our time because the driver market is more open in 2018," he said.

"We will not be in a hurry to make a decision. But in general, the team's view is that he has done a good job."

(GMM)
June 21, 1964

Civil rights workers Michael H. Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James E. Chaney were killed in Philadelphia, Miss. Their bodies were found six weeks later buried in an earthen dam. And it was 41 years later, on this date in 2005, that Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, was found guilty of manslaughter in that case. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Columnist Gene Owens retold the story in the News & Record: On June 16, 1964, a band of Ku Klux Klan members surrounded a small black church  Mount Zion United Methodist  about 12 miles outside Philadelphia. They beat up 10 of its members and burned the building to the ground. They were looking for Michael Schwerner, a Jewish civil rights worker from New York, and James Chaney, a black Mississippi civil rights activist. Five days later, Neshoba County Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, spotted Chaney and Schwerner along with Andrew Goodman, a New York college student who had joined their cause. He arrested them on a dubious charge, then released them under $20 bond. As they left town, they were abducted and shot, then buried in an earthen dam.
Updated at 12:41 p.m.

A North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper pulled over a carload of Virginia teens in Bladen County Saturday for speeding, but that turned out to be the least of their troubles.

The teens were headed to Myrtle Beach  with 3.3 ounces of marijuana, 2.6 grams of cocaine, 18 liters of liquor, 50 liters of beer, drug paraphernalia and $3,600 in cash, according to Sheriff James A. McVicker of the Bladen County Sheriffs Office.

They were arrested and charged with an array of drug and alcohol crimes, including transporting liquor across state lines.

Their 2006 Trailblazer was pulled over at 11:30 p.m. Saturday by Trooper Ronnie Walker, for going 76 mph in 55 mph stretch of NC 87 near Tar Heel. Walker said he smelled marijuana and called for assistance from the Bladen County Sheriffs office, resulting in the discovery of drugs, alcohol and cash in the vehicle.

A press release said the officials discovered the three teenagers had just graduated from high school Friday night in Manassas, Virginia, and were going to meet a group of their friends for the trip in Myrtle Beach. The release said 10 teenagers planned the trip a year ago and pooled their money together.

The teens were identified those arrested as: Michal Joan Berrios, 18, Lorenzo Dominic Cota, 18, and Cristhianna Ismael Ortez Flores, 18. All three were from Manassas, Va., and were each charged with violations that included underage possession of a alcohol, illegal transport of alcoholic beverages; possession with intent to manufacture sell and deliver marijuana and cocaine and felony possession of marijuana and cocaine

Berrios was placed under a $28,300 bond, Cota received a $43,000 bond and Ortez Flores was placed under a $27,000 bond.

I am pleased we have such a good working relationship with other state and local agencies, said McVicker in a statement. This is a good example of teamwork and commitment. I am sure no one expected a simple stop for speeding to turn out like this.

2017 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

From high school graduation caps to handcuffs.

Three Manassas, Va., teenagers on the way to Myrtle Beach, S.C., were arrested in Bladen County after authorities discovered drugs, liquor and cash in their SUV.

According to the Fayetteville Observer, the teens were stopped for speeding by an N.C. Highway trooper. After the trooper smelled marijuana coming from the 2006 Trailblazer, authorities searched the SUV and found:

 3.3 ounces of marijuana,

 2.6 grams of cocaine,

 18 liters of liquor,

 50 liters of beer,

 $3,500 in cash and

 drug paraphernalia.

According to the report, the teens were meeting friends in the South Carolina resort city. Ten teenagers planned the trip a year ago and pooled their money together.
GREENSBORO  If you build it, they will come.

And if they keep coming, you might just have to build an addition.

City leaders announced plans Tuesday to add a second building that would house a fourth pool at the Greensboro Aquatic Center to accommodate increased demands on this popular, six-year-old facility.

Renderings show the new building would be attached to the existing GAC by a breezeway corridor. It would have an L-shaped pool with five 50-meter lanes and 10 lanes adaptable to 25 meters or 25 yards.

The cost of the project, paid for a hundred percent by hotel tax revenue, is estimated at $7 million, said Matt Brown, the managing director of the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, home to the aquatics center.

We are literally at maximum occupancy, Brown said. You name the program, and we dont have enough lane-line times available. Whether its a team practice, whether its a college meet, whether its local school swim teams, whether its therapeutic time, whether its a learn-to-swim program. 

Theres not enough time in the day to accommodate the usage now.

The original aquatics center, a 78,323-square-foot natatorium on Gate City Boulevard, cost $19 million and opened in 2011.

It has drawn national NCAA, YMCA, USA Swimming, U.S. Masters Swimming and regional swim meets ever since.

It has also served as a community pool. The GAC hosts open swimming, swimming lessons, swim clubs, high schools, water polo leagues and water therapy.

Sometimes, all those events clash. Hence, the proposal for a fourth pool.

It meets our needs, Brown said. We want to keep our everyday programming going on while these economic-engine meets are coming to our community. We dont want to sacrifice local users to have a national meet. We want to accomplish both.

If the project moves forward according to plan, the new building and pool could open in January 2019.

We have already given preliminary approval to go ahead, Mayor Nancy Vaughan said. We will have to sign off on the final bids that come in. But City Council has already said this is a direction we want to move.

Expanding the center will also keep Greensboro ahead of the curve in attracting big swim meets, Vaughan said.

I dont know if its because its right here on our street that maybe we take it for granted, but this is something we really, really need to be proud of, she said. Im looking forward to continued success. And I cant wait to see the expansion. I think that your City Council is going to support it. 

We can go up against other world-class facilities and win. These additional lanes are really going to help keep us relevant for many years to come.

The increased demand is something GAC manager Susan Braman has coped with over the past few years. Most of the demand is local.

The primary need comes from all the teams and clubs that train with us year-round, Braman said. They just all turned in their requests for the fall short-course season. We cannot nearly accommodate all the requests. We told them, Ask for what you need, but recognize were going to have to make choices. Its a puzzle trying to fit as much in as we can. And it gets worse when we get to high school season.

The biggest national meets  such as YMCA, ACC and NCAA events  likely will still want exclusive use of the aquatics center and probably will use a fourth pool as a practice area.

But those events cover only a handful of weeks each year.

Its the other 85 percent of the meets, the other 50 events we do each year, Braman said. We can easily still have public lanes and swimming lessons and teams practicing in (the addition) while those meets are going on.
Ruth Bell Graham died 10 years ago this month. But her influence lives on.

Its there in the ways scholars are re-telling the story of her famous evangelist husband, Billy Graham, now 98. In new books, they credit her with key contributions to the success of a worldwide ministry that spanned nearly 60 years.

Her continuing impact is also evident in the ways their son Franklin Graham, also a preacher, keeps making headlines: with his prayer rallies, with his humanitarian work and with conservative Facebook posts that often echo his mothers criticism of an American culture she felt was in the throes of moral decay.

Franklin followed his father into the pulpit and succeeded him as head of the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. But Franklins temperament and tone  more uncompromising than Billys in his prime and later years  are closer to his mothers.

She took a harder line on things while Billy was more diplomatic and less willing to offend, William Martin wrote in A Prophet with Honor, his biography of Billy Graham.

Franklin, the second youngest of five Graham children raised by their mother in Montreat while Billy was away for six to eight months at a time headlining his crusades, appeared to acknowledge Ruths influence when he once described the difference between himself and his father:

We preach the same Gospel, he said, but Daddy hates to say no. I can say no.

Franklin also appears to have inherited a compassionate streak from Ruth, who grew up the daughter of medical missionaries in China and, later in life, quietly ministered to prison inmates and people struggling with substance abuse.

Ruths parents played a big role, too, in helping shape the theological attitudes  strictly conservative but big-hearted toward the needy  of not only their daughter but also Franklin and his siblings: Before they retired to Montreat and became active grandparents, Nelson Bell, a surgeon, and Virginia, a nurse, ran the biggest Presbyterian hospital in China.

Franklin has made his humanitarian mark with Boone-based Samaritans Purse, a Christian relief agency that he also heads. It is often the first group on the ground ready to help when natural disasters strike anywhere in the world. Its Operation Christmas Child delivers gifts to millions of poor children every year. And Samaritans Purse has operated hospitals or medical units in, among other places, Haiti, Liberia and Iraq.

Anne Blue Wills, a Davidson College professor of religious studies who is writing a biography of Ruth Graham, said this smart, contemplative woman who wrote poetry, studied the Bible daily and loved to play tricks, had a greater impact on Billy and Franklin than many realized.

A close look at how (Billy and Ruth) worked out the practical and theological give-and-take of their commitment and forged a life together reveals more about Billy and Ruth than most people have known, Wills wrote in an article for Christian History magazine. Their marriage reflected their mutual love, but also their working relationship.

In addition, Wills wrote, Ruth proved to be a generational link: she infused Billys work with her fathers influence and molded their elder son (Franklins) vision in a way that may permanently reshape the Graham legacy.

Spoke her mind

While Billy was off evangelizing millions around the globe, Ruth usually stayed behind, tending to their mountaintop home and raising Franklin and their four other children.

But Billy Graham scholars have come to agree with the Charlotte-born evangelist himself, who called Ruth his top adviser and someone who knew the Bible and its nuances better than he did.

Besides supplying Billy with anecdotes and Scripture passages for his sermons, they say, Ruth played a key role in helping shape his public image and style.

In the late 40s and early 50s, Billy fell into histrionics. She scolded him for that. Just preach, she told him, said Grant Wacker, author of Americas Pastor: Billy Graham and the Shaping of a Nation, which was published in 2014. Ruth had a sense of what Billy should be doing and what people wanted to hear.

She saw that Billys flock didnt want the kind of eloquence that called attention to itself, Wacker said. Instead, when Billy delivered simple sermons, they heard a messenger who touched their lives in a deep and intimate way.

Billy became a radio and then a TV star with his series, Hour of Decision  a name Ruth came up with since, she said, Billy was asking his audience to make a decision for Christ.

Wills said Ruth, who gave up her own ambition to be an evangelist in Tibet in order to support her husbands calling, also helped create in Billy the image of a strong American Christian man. To men in the 1950s, he became a model of the church-going family man: a good husband and father with a beautiful wife who was a good mother.

If Im (a man in the 1950s) and Im afraid to be a Christian because it may impugn my manliness, heres Billy Graham, Wills said. Heres this head of a Christian household.

And yet, behind the scenes, Ruth sometimes challenged and questioned her husband when his staff would not. And she kept Billy humble and focused on his core mission of winning souls when others  Hollywood producers and politicians  resorted to flattery and special access to try to enlist him in their more earthbound projects.

She was a great deflater of pomposity. And she helped keep him grounded, said Wills, who, along with Wacker and Andrew Finstuen, edited Billy Graham: American Pilgrim, a new book of essays that was published this month.

In 1964, when then-President Lyndon Johnson asked Billy for advice on whom he should pick for a running mate, Ruth kicked Billy under the table. Her message: Avoid politics and stick to offering spiritual counsel.

It was advice he later ignored at his peril during the Nixon administration. Billys allegiance to that president deep into the Watergate scandal hurt his reputation.

Ruth also used her piercing wit to keep Billy from getting too big for his britches.

When rumors began circulating in 1964 that Graham himself was considering a run for president, my wife called me, the evangelist reported years later, and said, If you run, I dont think the country will elect a divorced president. 

Billys sister Jean Ford, who lives in Charlotte, called Ruths contributions to Billys ministry immeasurable.

She supplied him with ideas and materials all her life, Ford said. And she could step on toes (when necessary). She spoke her mind pretty much. Not in an offensive way, but she said what she thought.

Ruth also kept things light when needed by teasing Billy and teasing the people who worked for him.

She was the only one (around Billy) to do that, Ford said. Everybody else was standoffish.

While others, including presidents and world leaders, called her husband Billy, he was always Bill to Ruth.

Her explanation was typically direct: How in the world can you call a grown man who is 6-foot-2 Billy?

Over the years, Ruth wrote or co-wrote 14 books, many of them works of poetry. And Wills suspects Ruth was also more responsible than Billy for some of the books attributed to him alone.

Her natural groove was to be solitary and ruminate, said Wills. Then she wrote those ruminations down.

Wacker agreed: She was a more capacious thinker than Billy  wider, broader, deeper, he said. And you could write a whole book about the funny things she said.

When Wacker, a professor emeritus of Christian history at Duke University, was writing his book on Billy, a Graham associate asked him what he going to write about Ruth.

He hadnt planned on writing that much about her, but discovered, he said, that their stories are interwoven. To understand Billy, you have to understand Ruth. ... They contrasted in personality, but were complementary.

In 1996, a Congressional Gold Medal was jointly awarded to the couple for their outstanding and lasting contributions to morality, racial equality, family, philanthropy and religion.

Morally serious people

She was born Ruth McCue Bell on June 10, 1920, in the Jiangsu province of China. It was a time of civil war there, and Ruth later recalled nodding off to sleep at night to the sound of gunfire.

Nelson and Virginia Bell had fun with their children and others  they never missed a birthday  but they were strict Southern Presbyterians, Wills said.

They were morally serious people, with very clear boundaries of what was right and wrong and a strong sense of Gods presence, Wills said. They didnt allow a lot of coloring outside the lines.

And by all accounts, Ruth was a pious child who took a special interest in helping animals and people in need.

At Ruths funeral service in Montreat in 2007, older sister Rosa recalled that Ruth once prayed to God to let her become a martyr within the year.

I got under the covers and prayed, Lord, dont listen to her, shes just a little girl,  Rosa told the mourners, producing howls of laughter.

Ruths spiritual sense deepened during her high school years in Korea and at Wheaton College, an evangelical Christian school outside Chicago.

Her parents, who frowned on dancing, card-playing and movies on Sunday, approved of Wheaton and its clean-cut students  including a young Billy Graham, whod grown up on a dairy farm in Charlotte.

Billy and Ruths first date: a Sunday afternoon performance of Handels Messiah.

Billy fell for Ruth right away. She was taken with him, too, but struggled with her feelings.

Could she give up her own dream  becoming a missionary in Tibet  and be the supportive wife of an ambitious young preacher who had set his sights on evangelizing America?

A very private person

On Aug. 13, 1943, they were married before 250 guests at Montreat Presbyterian Church, in the town where Billy and Ruth would eventually build their home. Ruths parents had moved there, too, and Dr. Bell  Lao E to his grandkids  was nearby as a father figure while Billy was away.

In his memoir, Rebel With a Cause: Finally Comfortable Being a Graham, Franklin included a family portrait of his mother, himself, older sisters Bunny, Anne and Gigi, and baby brother Ned. The caption: Growing up, Daddy was gone most of the time, it seemed. This was a typical family picture  no Daddy.

Wills working title for her biography of Ruth is An Odd Kind of Cross to Bear, based on a statement Ruth herself once made. To her, the cross was that she and Billy were apart so much and, when she did travel with him, they were in the glare of the spotlight.

She was a very private person, said Wills. When the spotlight found her, she was uncomfortable.

Back in Montreat, Ruth could be adventurous  she once broke her arm hang-gliding  but she treasured her quiet moments, often with a Bible in hand. She would leave several around the house, all opened to different passages.

She taught Sunday school, baked casseroles and blueberry pies when someone in town fell sick, and sent her workers to clear new snow from steep driveways. In 1966, she also helped establish the Ruth and Billy Graham Childrens Health Center in Asheville.

But most of her life in Montreat was filled by raising her children  including Franklin, who proved to be a rebellious handful. Patricia Cornwells 1982 biography of Ruth tells the story of how she locked a misbehaving Franklin in the trunk of their car during a stop at a fast-food restaurant. She opened the trunk to get his order.

Franklins guardian angel, she joked years later, has always had to work overtime.

Unusually driven

But Franklin righted course, and eventually joined the family business, touring America and the world to preach at festivals  his version of Billys crusades.

And in recent years, as Billy faded from the spotlight, Franklin has stepped up.

He emerged in a very different environment from the one that greeted Billy Graham in the early 1950s. Then the United States was undergoing a post-World War II religious revival. Protestantism was still dominant in the culture and the clear enemy was atheistic Communism.

Franklin has preached in an America that is much more religiously diverse, where gays and lesbians are out and legally marrying, and where evangelical Christians are a force for traditionalism and conservative social values in the Republican Party.

Franklins harsh rhetoric about Islam  a very evil and wicked religion, he said  is reminiscent of the strident anti-Communism favored by Billy in his early years.

But Billy changed as he got older, softening his message, reaching out to a broader audience, even angering some supporters by going to Moscow to preach in the 1980s.

He saw no reason to foreclose any conversions by alienating people, said Wacker. And, with rare exceptions, he avoided publicly saying anything controversial.

Instead of changing with age, Franklin, now 64, has dug in. He has said and done a lot thats proven controversial, including questioning President Barack Obamas Christianity and pulling his ministrys money out of Wells Fargo when the bank ran commercials featuring a lesbian couple.

Like his mother, Franklin is unusually driven, Wacker said. Driven by ideas and also by a sense that its his job to promulgate his views and save the culture.

Added Wills: If temperaments can be inherited, then I think this (tendency) to see stark differences, right and wrong, us and them, came from the Bell side of the family.

Spokesmen for Franklin Graham did not respond to an Observer request for an interview with him about how his mother shaped him and his faith.

Franklins older sister, Anne Graham Lotz, also became an evangelist. Now based in Raleigh, she shares a conservative streak with her brother: Earlier this year, for example, she criticized the Womens March protesting President Donald Trump.

A shared stubbornness

Ruth was never as outspoken as her son Franklin has become, but Wills said they shared a stubbornness  especially when it came to sticking to their principles. And in her 1984 rewrite of Peace with God, a book first published in 1953 with Billy as the author, Ruth did offer what Wills called sharp criticisms of the nations moral decay, as epitomized by the blasphemous words of punk rock. 

Mother and son could also, years apart, get incensed by the same kind of public behavior.

Last month, in a Facebook post, Franklin responded angrily to reports that graduates at the University Notre of Dame had protested Vice President Mike Pences commencement speech by walking out.

Just rip them up! Maybe thats what the president of (Notre Dame) should have done to the diplomas of the students who so rudely got up and walked out, he wrote. To get up and walk out on the vice president of the United States of America, who was gracious enough to come speak at their graduation, thats just insolent! Maybe they need to take another class before they graduate  one on civility and respect.

In 1975, Ruth made headlines when, at a rally for then-President Gerald Ford in Charlotte, she got up, grabbed a protesters sign away from him and returned to her seat. He swore out a warrant against her. When her lawyer told her she could face a $50 fine or 30 days in jail, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution later reported, she said shed take the jail sentence.

The charge against her was dropped. She said at the time she'd have treated one of her sons the same way if he'd behaved that way  except Id have given him a resounding whack on the bottom.
A second state Senate committee has recommended a bipartisan House bill that is focused on tightening opioid regulations.

House Bill 243, known as the STOP Act, is sponsored by Republican lawmakers and Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein. It passed the full House 114-0 on April 10.

The Senate committee on Rules and Operations approved the recommendation Tuesday, following the approval Thursday by the Senate Health committee.

The bill now heads to the full Senate.

The bill would put new restrictions on medical providers who prescribe and dispense opioid drugs, such as OxyContin and morphine, and require electronic prescription filing. The bill would limit the public supply of opioids, as well as clarify funding for syringe exchange programs.

The full House would have to approve on a change made by the Senate House committee, which added an amendment addressing access and dispersal of opioids by veterinarians, citing concerns that addicts were harming animals in order to access drugs.

The bill includes $20 million over two years for local substance abuse treatment and recovery services.

Treatment involves a detoxification period of about four days, ideally followed by a longer stay in a residential rehabilitation program. Stein said just 10 percent of addicts in North Carolina get opioid-addiction treatment.

On May 21, North Carolina received a two-year, $31 million federal grant for opioid prevention, treatment and recovery initiatives, according to the governors office.

The grant to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services comes from the 21st Century Cures Act as part of state-targeted responses. Eighty percent must target outreach, engagement, treatment and recovery services.

The goal is serving 1,460 individuals in the first year and 1,520 in the second  representing an 18 percent increase in the number of patients being served in the 54 private and publicly funded opioid treatment programs. DHHS would purchase 6,500 naloxone kits.

The opioid crisis does not pick Democrats or Republicans as victims, Gov. Roy Cooper said. Our solutions should not be that way, either.
It would be very surprising if North Carolina Democrats didnt make significant gains in the next election for General Assembly  whenever that may be.

Normally, wed be talking in the summer of 2017 about legislative elections to be held in the fall of 2018. That remains the most likely scenario.

However, because the U.S. Supreme Court has now upheld a lower-court ruling that Republican lawmakers used the race of voters to an impermissible degree to draw 28 House and Senate districts, Gov. Roy Cooper and other state Democrats are pressing for an immediate redrawing of legislative maps and a special election to be held either this fall or in early 2018, followed by another round of legislative elections in late 2018.

Having three legislative elections in the space of as many years would be extraordinary. Practical considerations may well convince the U.S. Supreme Court not to agree to such an order. But leaving that aside for now, whats the likely effect on the composition of the General Assembly?

Weve already been through something similar with North Carolinas congressional districts. Plaintiffs successfully made the same argument as in the legislative redistricting case  that the Republicans concentrated black voters too much, depriving the latter of a sufficient ability to influence the outcome of elections in neighboring congressional districts.

As a result, the state legislature redrew the congressional map. The new districts, used for the first time in 2016, are much more compact than the previous ones, and dont appear to run afoul of the new Goldilocks standard that federal judges have endorsed, the one that forbids state lawmakers from using race too little or too much in drawing districts.

Nevertheless, the new congressional map didnt produce a change in partisan balance. There were 10 Republicans and three Democrats in North Carolinas delegation before the 2016 election.

There are 10 Republicans and three Democrats in the delegation under the new districts.

You can expect GOP lawmakers to use a similar approach when redrawing legislative districts. Theyll attempt to comply with the Goldilocks standard (its subjectivity will always be a problem) and otherwise seek to maximize Republican victories. Because there are far more seats in play  several dozen in the House and Senate, including both the 28 Voting Rights Act districts and neighboring ones  there will probably be more competitive races under the new maps, although Democrats ought not to assume the political cartography will shift dramatically in their direction.

Whats arguably more important for Democratic prospects in the next wave of legislative elections is the overall political environment. Even if the maps werent being redrawn, Democratic gains would be likely.

History is certainly on their side. In the modern era, the party not in the White House has almost always gained seats in the North Carolina legislature in midterm elections. By my count, that average gain since 1950 has been 11 seats. The largest anti-White House party wave was in 1974, when Republicans lost 40 seats in the General Assembly in the midst of the Watergate scandal. The other two massive midterm losses were by North Carolina Democrats  39 seats in 1994 and 26 seats in 2010.

As we speak, history appears to align with the present. Republican President Donald Trump is unpopular. Generic ballot tests for Congress and legislature favor Democrats by significant margins, including a double-digit Democratic edge in the latest Civitas Institute poll.

But what about cases in which one party controls the presidency and the other controls the governorship? There have been five such instances, including two when Dwight Eisenhower was president, one under Richard Nixon, one under Ronald Reagan, and one under Barack Obama. In four of those cases, it was a Republican president and a Democratic governor. The average Democratic gain across those four cycles was nine seats.

Its too early to hazard a specific prediction here. If Democrats net nine to 11 seats, theyll be disappointed. If they match the 39- to 40-seat gains of some past cycles, theyll jump for joy.
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Two men who run a monthly LGBT party in New York City plan to create a bar and performance space in downtown Norwalk, which would be the first newcomer in southwestern Connecticut owned and operated by LGBT community members since the 2012 closure of a Danbury venue.

As of Wednesday morning, Casey Fitzpatrick and Nicholas Ruiz had raised $8,300 from 80 backers on the Kickstarter crowdfunding website, with just over two weeks to go to hit their goal of $10,429 for their proposed Troupe429 bar.

Fitzpatrick and Ruiz have chosen 3-5 Wall St. in Norwalk as the location for Troupe429, with the bar taking its name from the alphanumeric telephone keys that spell the word gay. Since the start of 2016 under the Troupe429 name, the entrepreneurs have been running monthly parties at an Italian restaurant just off Times Square in New York City, while hosting events throughout the city including a rooftop gathering that drew more than 1,000 people.

Southwestern Connecticuts nexus of LGBT community awareness is just around the corner on West Avenue at the Triangle Community Center, which offers services like the Circle Care health center and organizes events, including earlier in June the Pride in the Park festival at Mathews Park in Norwalk that drew thousands of people and prominent local and national sponsors like FactSet, Indeed, Pepperidge Farm and Prudential.

Communities nationally marshaled support for LGBT groups and members, following a massacre at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub, with Fitzpatrick and Ruiz promising on their Kickstarter page to make Troupe429 a safe environment. Fitzpatrick told Hearst Connecticut Media the Orlando tragedy coalesced their determination to open an establishment that would have a broader appeal, with he and Ruiz engaged to be married themselves.

Living as a member of the LGBTQ community, its all about working together and coming together as one, Fitzpatrick said. The support has been overwhelmingly positive  which is an amazing feeling. This space is for everyone  its for the LGBTQ community but also for our straight allies who want to show support.

Fitzpatrick said Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling stopped by their Pride in the Park booth to express his support for their venture; Rilling could not be reached immediately Wednesday.

Wall Street and West Avenue are undergoing a renaissance with the addition of the Head of the Harbor apartments and Peaches Southern Pub & Juke Joint, with Troupe429s location sandwiched in between; the Wall Street Theater, which opened in May even as it wrestles with a series of liens placed on the property; and the Waypointe development, which is adding hundreds of apartments and multiple new dining and drinking establishments.

Fitzpatrick said the Kickstarter funding will be used to underwrite the costs of a performance stage, dance floor and projection screen, with he and Ruiz funding the remaining costs themselves.

 Kaitlyn Krasselt contributed to this report.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; www.twitter.com/casoulman
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GREENWICH  The Bruce Museums executive director updated some 150 interested residents on plans to expand the museum that is a cornerstone of town arts offerings.

Speaking before the Retired Mens Association of Greenwich Wednesday, Peter Sutton outlined the ambitious plans to add a three-story expansion to the current museum that will include permanent gallery space for the museums collection, an auditorium, classroom space, a cafe, a gift shop and expanded storage that will almost double the size of building.

Larger space will also be devoted to rotating exhibitions that come through the museum each year.

I think this will be a great asset, Sutton said. It is a gateway to Greenwich and it will make this a more desirable town.

Planning for the expansion has taken more than 10 years, Sutton said. The endeavor is being privately funded with fundraising about 45 percent complete. He put the projected construction costs at $32 million and an additional $6 million for non-structural costs including setting up an endowment for the museum. Additional staff will be hired to help with the expected surge in attendance.

This is going to change this institution, Sutton said. It is going to be a destination point.

The addition is planned for the bottom of the hill southeast of the existing building, which will be retained. The new space will be adjacent to the current space.

The museum has no gallery space to store its permanent collection. He said the renovation will allow for more arts and artifacts to be seen by the public and allow for better storage capability.

Were going to be working on the western end of Bruce Park, our end, as part of this, Sutton said. Its been neglected quite badly over the last few years. I think you will find that this is all going to be very exciting.

A construction start date is pending final town land use approvals. The museums final site plan is before the towns Planning and Zoning Commission after receiving several key approvals.

Sutton said the museum would likely need to close for six to eight months in 2019 for new gallery installation, but parts of the museum would be open during much of construction. There was no estimate on how long the project would take.

Calling the museum a very busy place, Sutton said the Bruce typically presents 14 to 16 exhibitions and entertains 25,000 school children through 600 educational programs each year.

The additional classroom space the expansion will provide  the museum has one classroom  will allow for art and science shows simultaneously, he said.

Sutton said about 90,000 people have visited the museum during the year, the highest number in about five years, attributed in part to the increase in school programs and those who visited the museum to view the Alfred Sisley exhibit.

For much of Wednesdays discussion, which was part of the weekly speaker series for the RMA, Sutton focused on current exhibits at the museum, including the recently concluded show of the work of impressionist master Sisley. The Bruce curated the show and held the only American display of the artists work included in the exhibit.

The exhibit is now in France for its only European display. Sutton, who attended the shows opening in Aix-en-Provence last week, said it is anticipated 300,000 visitors will visit to the show while it is there. The museum had no final numbers for visitors to the exhibit while it was in Greenwich.

Sending shows like these abroad helps raise the museums profile, Sutton said. It helps Greenwich and helps our cultural assets in town. Were very proud of our international profile.

Currently the museum is displaying its iCreate exhibition, which features 42 works by high school students, and a show of Andy Warhols work that displays the artists more human side.

This show is not about the abstract side of Warhol that was so detached and impersonal, Sutton said.

The museum is slated to exhibit the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec later in the year; in 2018, the museum plans exhibitions as diverse as the Cold War Soviet space exploration and World War I era posters to wild bees.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
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GREENWICH  For some students, preparation for the trip began when they were 18 months old and they started murmuring their first words in Spanish with Whitby School nursery teachers.

Earlier this month, 39 Whitby seventh- and eighth-graders traveled to the Dominican Republic for a one-week service trip, the culmination of their Spanish-learning experience at the school.

Students volunteered at the Mariposa Foundation in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. The nonprofit focuses on supporting the women of the poverty-stricken nation with academic enrichment, scholarships and medical care.

From June 1 to 8, Whitby students played sports, Spanish-English games, made crafts, swam and read with Dominican girls ages 8 and older who participate in the Mariposa before- or after-school enrichment programs.

They also learned about the economy of the region and walked the neighborhoods surrounding the foundation property to get a feel for community life.

Our kids know that they are privileged and they know they dont want for much, but it really hits home when they meet kids who dont have nearly as much but who also are happy and also have so many gifts that they obviously offer and can share, said Head of Upper School Jonathan Chein. That shared humanity is at the core of our mission at Whitby.

While Whitby students have done service trips to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico for the past five years, this year was the first with a heightened emphasis on interacting with locals, as opposed to building facilities or completing other tasks for local residents, organizers said.

They were able to use their Spanish more, said Luis Rivera, an upper school Spanish teacher. It definitely raised confidence... Some of my kids from phase one, lower level, said Wow, I actually know a lot more than I thought I did.

Students who went on the trip spent much of the school year studying the history and culture of the Dominican Republic. They learned the significance of la mariposa  butterfly in Spanish  a symbol of freedom and peace in the country.

Las Mariposas was the code name given to the four Mirabal sisters, national Dominican heroines who led revolts against the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the 1950s.

The Mariposa Foundation tries to teach girls the same spirit of activism and independence.

The little girls were partners in helping us, just as we were partners in helping them, said Chein. It was overt that way, and it wasnt charity at all.

At Whitby School, students begin to learn Spanish at 18 months old. Four times a week, Spanish classes begin in first grade and by middle school, Whitby offers four levels of Spanish, including a Spanish literature course, in each grade.

The school also debuted a dual immersion program for Spanish and English for a mixed-age prekindergarten/kindergarten class this year. One teacher spoke exclusively Spanish to the students, while two others spoke only English.

emunson@greenwichtime.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
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Haiti - Education : Nearly 500,000 children excluded from the Haitian school system





Tuesday, Pierre Josue Agenor Cadet, Minister of National Education, opened a two-day workshop on the results of a UNICEF study on children outside the Haitian education system and a code of conduct addressed to the administrative and educational staff of the schools of the country.



According to the 2011-2015 study, more than 320,000 children between the ages of 6 and 14 are not in school, about 160,000 children aged 15 to 11 are not attending school. A total of almost 500,000 children aged 5-18 are completely excluded from the school system in Haiti and about one million children are at risk of leaving school without completing their studies.



For Minister Cadet, who welcomed UNICEF's contribution to the study and the Code of Conduct in schools, these studies are essential for a better understanding of the problems affecting the education system and the search for the necessary solutions for the renewal of the Haitian school "We can not talk or engage in genuine reforms without clear and relevant information on every level of the education system", stressing "The Ministry must continue to work to allow all children outside of the system to have their place in a classroom."



For Marc Vincent, UNICEF Resident Representative in Haiti, this workshop is one of the many initiatives of the Ministry that contribute "to stimulate reflection and to take concrete steps towards improving the learning environment and reinforcing the quality of education as a strategy for the retention of children in classrooms."



HL/ S/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - UN : Appointment of a new Special Envoy for Haiti





Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Ms. Josette Sheeran as Special Envoy for Haiti.



The appointment builds on Ms. Sheerans extensive experience in the United Nations and her humanitarian work with Haiti. As Special Envoy, Ms. Sheeran will guide full implementation of the United Nations new approach to reduce the impact of cholera in Haiti and support national efforts to implement Haitis 2030 sustainable growth and implementation plan.



Let's recall that the new approach on cholera involves two tracks; the first to intensify efforts to reduce and ultimately end the transmission of cholera, improve access to care and treatment and address the longer-term issues of water, sanitation and health systems in Haiti. Track two involves developing a package of material assistance and support for those Haitians most directly affected by cholera.



Learn more about Josette Sheeran :

Ms. Sheeran's humanitarian work with Haiti includes serving as United States Under Secretary of State in 2006, visiting Haiti to promote economic growth and to assess United Nations effectiveness in her role as a member of the United Nations high-level panel on humanitarian and development assistance reform; in 2008 to assess the impact on the victims of the mudslides in the city of Gonaives; in 2010, as Head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), to work with the Haitian Department of Civil Protection on hurricane preparedness, and in January 2010, to the earthquake zone to help guide WFPs $279 million relief operation to reach 2 million Haitians with life-saving food; and in May 2010 to assess WFPs food and cash for work programmes.



Ms. Sheeran is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of the Asia Society. Prior to this position she was Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum (2012-2013) and Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (2006-2012). She has held several senior positions in the United States Government, among them, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs and Deputy United States Trade Representative.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Politics : Vietnam an example of reforms for Haiti, according to Youri Latortue





Tuesday in Hanoi, on the occasion of his official visit to Vietnam https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21261-haiti-news-zapping.html rhe President of the Senate of Haiti, Senator Youri Latortue was received by the Secretary General of the Vietnamese Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong.



During this meeting, Youri Latortue, expressed his admiration for the reforms carried out in Vietnam which he considers as an example of economic reforms for Haiti, he thanked Vietnam for cooperation and assistance to Haiti and also briefed him on the situation in his country.



Senator Latortue explained that Haiti wishes to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam in various fields such as agriculture, transport, telecommunications and exchanges of high-level delegations to learn from mutual experience in leadership and management of countries.



Secretary-General Trong, while congratulating Haiti on its reform and national development efforts, described the visit to Vietnam of the Haitian parliamentary delegation as a landmark in friendship and cooperation between States, parliaments and the peoples of both countries.



He reiterated Vietnam's political will to intensify and broaden friendship and cooperation with Haiti by hoping that the two countries will continue to promote linkages in all aspects, particularly in potential areas such as agriculture, telecommunications and industrial production, thus contributing substantially to the development of their respective countries.



The leader of the Communist Party is convinced that the Haitian people will face all the challenges to obtain even greater gains in the construction of a prosperous and happy Nation.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21291-haiti-politics-youri-latortue-speaks-with-the-president-of-vietnam.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21284-haiti-vietnam-youri-latortue-talks-with-his-vietnamese-counterpart.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21261-haiti-news-zapping.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Environment: Presentation of the Management Plan of the Three Bays National Park





On June 20, the Caribbean Marine Biodiversity Program (CMBP) held a public meeting in Port au Prince to present the first management plan for Three Bays National Park to the Haitian government. The purpose of the plan is to conserve the marine and coastal environment along the Three Bays Protected Area and to support sustainable livelihoods for the surrounding coastal communities. It was developed by The Nature Conservancy, FoProBiM, a local non-government organization, and a contractor through a highly collaborative process that involved the National Protected Areas Agency of the Ministry of Environment (ANAP), local community organizations and businesses.



Participants at the event included senior officials from environmental and fisheries agencies within the Governments of Haiti; a USAID delegation led by Mr. Jene Thomas (Mission Director in Haiti); representatives from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), of TNC, and other governments and national institutions, partners, Universities, Civil Society, and the local scientific community.



"USAID is proud of this important achievement and looks forward to continuing our support for biodiversity conservation in Haiti and the greater Caribbean Region. We are particularly pleased with the effective collaboration with the government and local communities," said (Jene Thomas, USAID Mission Director in Haiti).



Jeantel Joseph (Director of ANAP of the Haiti Ministry of Environment) who attended the meeting, noted that "this MPA management plan -the very first one for Haiti- is a major step and an important tool for effective management at Three Bays National Park and a model for the country. The Government of Haiti stands ready to provide the necessary support to this process- recognizing the need to work in close collaboration with the local communities for the success of this plan. ANAP has learned so much during this process of development of this management plan and we are very thankful to TNC and USAID for their support".



Jean Robert Badio (Director of the Haiti Fisheries and Aquaculture Directorate) added "Local fishers and other community members at Three Bays National Park depend on a healthy marine and coastal environment in this area for their livelihoods and income. To effectively manage the Park will require collaboration between ANAP, the fisheries department, and local fishing communities. If properly implemented, the proposed zoning and the Fisheries Sector Action Plan will become a model for all the marine protected areas of Haiti -with the potential to regenerate the fish population along the coasts".



Maxene Atis (Haiti Program coordinator for TNC), who also attended the workshop, said "In our role as lead implementer of the Caribbean Marine Biodiversity Program, TNC is pleased to provide scientific, technical and other support needed to develop effective actions to sustain a healthy marine and coastal environment in Haiti's northeast coast."



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Promises of Moise will await the next budget

"The realization of the campaign promises of the President of the Republic will be made through the budget for the financial year 2017-2018. It is the vision of the Head of State that will determine the breakdown of the next budget, which will be tabled in Parliament on June 30," indicated Lucien Jura, Spokesman for the Head of State.



The Mayor of Port-au-Prince in Quebec

At its second day of participation in the General Meetings of the AIMF and Metropolis who stand in Montreal, the Mayor of Port-au-Prince, Ralph Youri Chevry, met separately with Alexandre Cusson, Vice Mayor of Drummondville and Vice-President of the Union of Quebec Municipalities, Suzanne Roy, Mayor of Sainte Julie, Christine Saint-Pierre, Quebec's Minister of International Relations and John Tory, Mayor of Toronto. Mayor Chevry discussed with these personalities different subjects relating to the problem of waste, the environment and urban infrastructures of Port-au-Prince.



Generous businessman in Port-de-Paix

Saturday, the Municipal Council of Port-de-Paix launched the first phase of the Project of Identification of the streets of the commune. This initiative was financed by the CEO of Pere Eternel & Lotto and ex-presidential candidate Eric Jean Baptiste to the tune of 7 million gourdes. 3 arteries have been selected: Avenue des Trois Rivieres in Rond Point; Rond Point to Rue Dumarsais Estime (block Place Cathedral) and Rue Du Quai to Rue Defilee. In addition, the businessman donated materials (shovels, wheelbarrows, rakes) to the Department of Roads.



Education : Ministry staff union on tour

The Staff Union of the Ministry of National Education (SPEMENFP, founded in 2014) was on tour in the Departmental Directorates of Education and School Districts (Grand'Anse, North and Northeast) to check the working conditions of employees but also set up the departmental trade union coordination processes. The Northwest and the Central Plateau are the union's next two steps.



Summer safety, 3 priority axes

Concerning the strengthening of the summer security, Ronsard Saint-Cyr the Secretary of State for Public Security, said Monday that in addition to the other places, 3 axes were particularly concerned. These are Petion-Ville, Delmas and the airport road https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21282-haiti-security-preventive-security-measures-for-the-summer-period.html



Working session with the World Bank

On Tuesday, as part of a mission to Haiti from the World Bank (20-23 June), a working session was held between Ministry officials and representatives of the World Bank at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The agenda dealt with the formulation of a budget support project for public finance reform.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2017/06/20 | Source

Entertainer Amy who was deported to America apparently tried to kill herself.

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She tried to commit suicide in her house in LA and was taken to a nearby hospital.

According to sources, rumors that Amy borrowed 200,000 won from a reporter and that she asked a reporter she met in prison to edit her pictures may have shocked her and led her to make such a drastic decision.

Amy posted about her struggles on SNS. She said, "I am tired now. I have nowhere else to fall on. I wish to go somewhere where there's no sadness".

Meanwhile, Amy was a celebrity in Korea as an overseas Korean but news of her using profopol got out in 2012 and she was sentenced to 8 months imprisonment and 2 years probation.

Residing in Korea was allowed as long as she didn't commit the same crime again but she was charged with the use of zolpidem in 2014 and was slapped with a 5 million won fine as well as deportation.

Amy protested and appealed to court but she was denied.
Published on 2017/06/21 | Source

Added episode 9 captures for the Korean drama "Fight For My Way" (2017)

Advertisement

Directed by Kim Dong-hwi, Lee Na-jeong

Written by Lim Sang-choon

Network : KBS

With Park Seo-joon, Kim Ji-won, Ahn Jae-hong, Song Ha-yoon, Son Byung-ho, Kim Ye-ryung,...

20 episodes - Mon, Tue 22:00

Synopsis

A drama about a man and a woman who live a life with nothing to show for.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2017/05/22

More
Published on 2017/06/20 | Source

Park Seo-joon and Kim Ji-won are friends no more.

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Ko Dong-man (Park Seo-joon) and Choi Ae-ra (Kim Ji-won) had feelings for each other.

Ko Dong-man told Choi Ae-ra's father that nothing happened at the island and said, "To me, Ae-ra is nothing more than a monkey".

Ae-ra was upset by what he said and asked if that was true.

Ko Dong-man said, "You better thank god that I was drunk. Why? Do you want to go to a deserted island with me again?" and cupped her face.

Ae-ra asked, "So we're not friends anymore?" and he thought she was cute.
In an attempt to boost security, the Perth Mint is considering a ban on all clothing containing metal, such as underwire bras.



However, one union has labelled the proposal a disgrace and an attack on women's rights and an attack on women.



The proposal comes after a recent review found a need for metal-free clothing for staff and contractors who access high-security zones.



The review identified a number of issues, including a case where a staff member allegedly stole a gold bar worth $50,000.



Perth Mints General Manager Human Resources, Jane King, said that so far employee feedback had been overwhelmingly positive.



The feedback from our 240-strong workforce to this proposal has been strongly supportive, King told The Western Australian.



The proposal to introduce metal-free clothing was driven by our desire to improve security at Perth Mint, and will not threaten the integrity or privacy of staff.



As always, we will incorporate staff feedback into our final decision making and continue to keep the workforce in the loop.



King said the Perth Mint were considering two options.



The first involved employees wearing metal-free uniforms, including non-wired bras and pull on pants, which would be worn all the time.



The second option would involve staff changing into a non-metal clothing such as tracksuits when leaving security checkpoints, which was normally set off by underwire bras, zips and metal buttons.



This option would involve a scanner checking their clothes for precious metals.



Workers would change back into their own clothing after clearing the checkpoint.



According to the Perth Mint, visitors wont be affected by the proposed ban.



However, Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union state secretary Steve McCartney said the union met with the company last week to raise concerns that the rule unfairly targeted women.



"We think it's a disgrace," said McCartney.



"It's without any real science behind it and without any real discussion.



"I'm pretty sure they could find the technology that excludes women from having to go through this embarrassment.



"We think it's an attack on women's rights and an attack on women."




I find it regrettable that the employees have decided to resort to such measures. The measures will damage the reputation of Neste and have a detrimental effect on the share value of the [state-owned] company, he laments in a press release .

Mika Lintila (Centre), the cabinet member responsible for ownership steering, has voiced his disapproval with the protest announced by the employees of Neste on Tuesday.

Nestes employees announced yesterday they will suspend the distribution of fuels at the refineries in Porvoo and Naantali between 26 June and 2 July, 2017, in protest of an amendment introduced to the ownership steering law earlier this year that allows the government to decrease its stake in the state-owned oil refiner and supplier from 50.1 to 33.4 per cent.

The amendment was approved by the Finnish Parliament at the beginning of 2017. The government is confident that the blocking minority of 33.4 per cent is sufficient to protect its interests in Neste.

The protest is not expected to have an impact on the output of the two refineries, according to the state-owned company. Nestes spokesperson was not prepared to estimate the effects of the interruption in fuel distribution on Tuesday.

Lintila reminds that the work stoppage would be political in nature as the legislative amendment had an impact on neither the status of the employees nor the operations of Neste. The companys management and employees, he adds, will hopefully find a solution to prevent the interruption in their negotiations, which are scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

Nestes employees have pointed out that the oil refiner and supplier has performed extremely well under state ownership regardless of whether it is compared to its rivals or to other major companies in Finland.

The balance sheet has been put to work: Nestes return on invested capital before taxes is over 20 per cent. Neste set an example with its investments also during the years of recession that are beginning to be behind us, the employees argue in a press release.

Neste has according to them established itself as a forerunner in renewable fuels due to the long-term commitment of the state owner to developing the company. The strategy, they add, has also proven profitable for the state owner, which received over 300 million euros in dividends in 2016.

The expertise and innovation possessed by state-owned companies must not be sold off to investors in pursuit of short-term profits, they stress.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Markku Ulander  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
The hashtag Me Valitamme, which is Finnish for We Care, illuminates the ideal that Amnesty International and a number of other attendees wish to broadcast.

The Finnish Parliament Annex is filling up with people  human rights activists and politicians alike  who have come to attend an event organised by Amnesty International Finland in honour of the World Refugee Day on Tuesday 20 June.

This is an image of Finland as a compassionate nation with regards to refugees and asylum seekers. On a more practical level, Me Valitamme is the name of a current petition by Amnesty International to pressure Interior Minister Paula Risikko (National Coalition Party) to demand a higher refugee quota for the year of 2018

While the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) determines who is eligible for resettlement under the refugee quota, members of parliament decide the numbers. Said numbers for Finland have largely remained unchanged for the past sixteen years  capped at a quota of 750 refugees per annum. The conflict in Syria led to a temporary exception to the rule, and the quota was raised to 1,050 for the years of 2014 and 2015. Since then, the quota has been lowered back to the original figure.

Risikko is not deaf to suggestions of raising the quota, as she herself has proposed to raise it back to its 2015 levels. Yet several of the speakers, among them Eva Biaudet (Swedish Peoples Party), advocate for a manifold increase in numbers, far beyond that suggested by Risikko.

While Biaudet acknowledges that integration can be challenging, and emphasises the need for building trust among all parties, she maintains that larger refugee quotas would not intensify these challenges if properly planned.

By creating a system of quota refugees, we are able to plan in advance, Eva Biaudet explains. Refugees do not have to move several times in their countries of destination as the municipalities are able to plan ahead, and the people in the refugee camps are able to prepare through learning about the place that they are going.

Thomas Bergman, representing UNHCR, agrees that current resettlement quotas do not cover present needs, as there are an estimated 1.2 million refugees in need of resettlement and only 37 resettling countries.

While Finland cannot take in all refugees currently in need of resettlement, Paavo Arhinmaki (Left Alliance) argues that Prime Minister Juha Sipila now has the perfect opportunity to raise the refugee quota as the True Finns are no longer part of the three-party coalition government. Indeed, Ville Tapio (Finns Party) is the only speaker present that is outright opposed to raising quotas. Instead, Tapio advocates for the redirection of resources from the current resettlement programme into humanitarian aid for refugees in countries within close proximity to conflict. Both Biaudet and Bergman view this as an unsustainable solution, as life in refugee camps is supposed to be temporary.

Despite disagreements, most participants can agree that the roots of forced displacement need to be addressed. Bergman rightly points out that war and conflict are the problem, while displacement is a consequence of them. Arhinmaki argues that helping countries in conflict is not enough, but resources need to be directed towards conflict prevention.

Bergman praises Finnish efforts to maintain relatively high levels of humanitarian aid  largely directed at protecting disabled refugees. However, other development aid has been cut, and as Nasima Razmyar (Social Democratic Party) maintains, widespread hunger and a lack of education can easily lead to a humanitarian crisis. Debating numbers back and forth is quite arbitrary if the roots of conflict are not properly addressed.

According to statistics gathered by the Finnish Immigration Service, Finlands refugee quotas have increasingly encompassed refugees of Syrian nationality since Syrians were first included in 2014. Last year, of all the refugees resettled in Finland through the quota system, all but one were Syrians.

Beyond resettlement quotas, Finland has received a total of 40,205 applications for international protection since January 2015. Out of said applications, roughly one quarter have been granted. Applications for asylum have decreased substantially in recent years, from a peak of around 32,500 in 2015 to only 5,700 last year. This could be due to the EU-Turkey deal of 2016, although a direct casual link is hard to prove. Iraqi citizens make up for the largest share of applicants, while Syrian citizens seem to be among the most likely to have been granted asylum upon application.

While the refugee quotas remain subject to disagreement, all participants present in the Parliament Annex on Tuesday could agree on one thing; that multifaceted problems should be approached with multifaceted solutions. While discussions about quotas are important, other deliberations should not be neglected for the purpose of simplifying debate.

Nicole Berglund

Helsinki Times

Photo: Lehtikuva / Heikki Saukkomaa
A group of pigeon racing enthusiasts heard shouts of "Hitman!" and saw a man disguised as a woman pull a submachine gun from a handbag and start shooting, a jury has heard.

Christopher McDonald (34) was wearing make-up, a long black wig, sunglasses, black gloves, black leggings and a black cardigan when he all- egedly shot and killed Keith Walker (34).

Mr Walker was standing in a car park outside Blanchardstown Racing Pigeon Club talking to other members when he was shot.

The Central Criminal Court heard he was struck by 18 bullets and died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body.

Witnesses described hearing someone shout "Hitman!" before shots were fired and they "hit the floor".

Lunged

Mr McDonald, from the East Wall area of Dublin 1, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Walker at Blanchardstown Racing Pigeon Club in Clonsilla on June 12, 2015.

Yesterday, a friend of the victim, Jason O'Connor, lunged for the accused as he walked towards the witness box.

A woman sitting in the courtroom shouted "Please Jay, don't!" as four prison officers held him.

Mr O'Connor and the dead man were friends, and the jury earlier heard that Mr Walker had driven Mr O'Connor's partner's car to the club.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy asked Mr O'Connor if he was prepared to behave in a civilised manner, and he said: "Yeah, he's the one on trial, not me."

The judge warned him he had powers to deal with people who did not behave.

The jury of six men and six women was led away from the courtroom for a period.

When they returned, Judge McCarthy said they had to decide the case on the evidence in a "rational and calm manner" and that 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 members when he heard someone shout "Hitman!".

They all looked around, and Mr Kane saw what looked like a woman pull out a gun and start shooting. They all just "hit the floor", he said.

He said the shooter was wearing a black wig, black sunglasses and a long black dress "or something like that".

He said he did not know Mr Walker personally but had seen him the previous week with Mr O'Connor.

Another club member, Terry Sutcliffe, also said he heard someone shout "Hitman!".

He turned, saw "someone pull something out" and he jumped behind a parked van.

Mr Sutcliffe said he heard noises that sounded like "a load of firecrackers".

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 and saw he was dead.

Wounded

Mr Sutcliffe said he rang Mr O'Connor, whose car Mr Walker had been driving, and told him his friend had been shot.

In his opening speech, lawyer Denis Vaughan Buckley said it was the prosecution case that 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.

He said Prof Marie Cassidy conducted a post-mortem. He said she will give evidence that Mr Walker died due to multiple gunshot wounds.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said Prof Cassidy will tell the court that 18 bullets struck Mr Walker's body.

The jury was also told it will be shown CCTV footage of the killing. The trial continues.
An events promoter has avoided the threat of being jailed over a 250,000 debt to comedian Mario Rosenstock after being declared bankrupt.

Dublin District Court heard that concert and events promoter Darryl Downey owed the money to Blue Elf Inc Ltd, a company owned by mimic Rosenstock.

However, he was unable to keep up with a repayments schedule ordered by the court.

Rosenstock's firm had tried to have Downey jailed as a result of the arrears and a judge had previously warned the promoter he had a draft warrant for arrest and committal on file.

Yesterday, however, his barrister Tessa White told Judge Michael Coghlan that, since the case was last before the court in March, Downey has been declared bankrupt and his creditors have been notified.

Judge Coghlan said for that reason he could make no order in relation to the matter.

The debt related to a number of live shows going back to 2012, as a result of which about 750,000 was owed to Blue Elf.

Some 500,000 was paid, but Downey said he did not have the funds to pay the rest.

Failed

At a previous hearing, in December, Judge Coghlan said Downey was a "failed promoter" and he adjourned the case "to enable him to get a job, any job", which pays a "normal weekly wage".

On March 14, Judge Coghlan had again warned Downey that he has a duty to enforce the matter.

Ms White explained that he had been applying for jobs and had found part-time work earning 250 a week.

Rosenstock, who rose to fame with his Gift Grub sketches on Today FM and now has a successful show on RTE, was not present when the case resumed this week.

The court heard Downey had been a self-employed concert and events promoter since 2003.

His company, Jarash Ltd, had about 28,000 but his counsel explained those funds were needed to get shows off the ground, the court heard earlier.

Yesterday, the judge was told Downey has resigned as its director.

Downey has also claimed that he was led to believe by his accountant that he was due to receive a 200,000 VAT refund, but that did not materialise.
A teenager caught driving an uninsured car in which a kitchen knife was found told gardai he had just bought the vehicle for 50 and was taking it home.

Daniel Lynch said the knife was in the car when he bought it and he "panicked" and tried to hide it when stopped by gardai

He was given a two-month suspended sentence by Dublin District Court.

Lynch (19), of Longdale Terrace, Ballymun, pleaded guilty to driving without insurance and a licence and to unlawful possession of a knife.

Gda Ciara Lowry said she saw the accused driving a Fiat Punto on Shangan Road, Ballymun, at 6.10pm on April 3. She followed him on to Longdale Terrace where a number of men got out of the car and fled.

Climbed

Lynch climbed out of the driver's seat and into the passenger's seat.

While speaking to him, Gda Lowry noticed a kitchen knife in the footwell. Asked who owned the car, Lynch said he had bought it earlier that day.

When arrested and charged, he told gardai: "The knife's not mine."

The knife had been in a side compartment when Lynch bought the car, said Matthew De Courcy, defending.

When he became aware of it and saw the gardai he "panicked and tried to hide it."

It had been a very short drive, he was stopped near his home and he had intended to do the car up, said Mr De Courcy.

Lynch was unemployed and in receipt of social welfare.

He had previous convictions as a juvenile.

On the no insurance charge he was fined 300 and banned from driving for two years.
Garda at the scene of the shooting of Noel Kirwan in Ronanstown.

A senior member of the Kinahan cartel wanted over the feud murder of Noel 'Duck Egg' Kirwan is believed to have fled to Spain, the Herald can reveal.

Detectives are attempting to track down the gangster as they want to question him over the fatal shooting last December which is linked to the Hutch/Kinahan feud.

The individual was a personal friend of David Byrne, who was gunned down in the Regency Hotel in February of last year.

He also has close ties to Liam Byrne as well as cartel leader Daniel Kinahan and is one of the mob's main Irish members.

Target

Gardai believe the criminal, aged in his early 30s, had a role in the dad-of-four's murder and want to question him on his whereabouts on the night of the fatal shooting.

He is not suspected of being the trigger man.

Kirwan (62) was shot dead in front of his partner at their west Dublin home on December 22 last.

He was not involved in the ongoing Hutch/Kinahan feud and was considered a soft target.

The man wanted in relation to his murder is believed to have fled Ireland in recent weeks and gardai suspect that he is currently living under the radar in Spain.

Investigating detectives from Lucan Garda Station are also understood to have alerted their colleagues across Dublin in relation to this individual.

"Gardai from other districts have been told to arrest this individual if he is sighted but he hasn't been seen in Ireland in several weeks," a source told the Herald.

"The likelihood is that he has fled to meet up with his other associates in Spain."

The man gardai want to question has previously survived an attempt on his life by the Hutch faction and has been involved in managing the organised crime gang's finances.

The senior cartel member is also a target of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) and his house has been raided on a number of occasions by gardai investigating the cartel's proceeds of crime.

Murder victim Kirwan was shot as he sat in a car outside his home in St Ronan's Drive, Clondalkin.

Escaped

His partner, who was also in the vehicle at the time of the shooting, escaped unharmed.

Several shots were fired at the victim, including to his head, before the assailant ran to a waiting van, which had another man in the driver's seat.

A white Peugeot Partner van was found burnt out a short distance away at the Neilstown Shopping Centre.

Gardai have been investigating whether he was shot dead after attempting to mediate in a dispute between the Kinahan cartel and its own gangland banker.

Kirwan attempted to prevent the cartel from carrying out an attack on the banker - who also works for the Hutch mob.

Kirwan was a childhood friend of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch and was a prominent anti-drugs campaigner in Dublin's north inner city during the 1990s.
BRISTOL, Va.  A still divided Bristol Virginia City Council completed the first of two readings on its fiscal 2017-18 spending plan Tuesday, but not before slashing funds to the Birthplace of Country Music.

Council voted 4-1, with Mayor Bill Hartley casting the dissenting vote over changes proposed by Councilman Kevin Mumpower, including no funding for the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. The $51.5 million budget originally included $100,000 for the BCM, but that was later reduced to $50,000 for funds pledged by a previous council.

There was no discussion about imposing staffing reductions at the city Fire Department, which has been a central issue for months.

Final reading of the proposed budget is scheduled for the councils June 27 meeting.

To get this much consensus, I expect it to pass [next week] as presented tonight, Hartley said after the meeting. There is a lot of good in the budget. There is some good and some bad. Overall, Im glad were finally drawing this to a close and it looks like we will have the budget in place by the end of this fiscal year.

The new fiscal year starts July 1.

Vice Mayor Archie Hubbard said there were portions of this budget he agreed with and others he didnt, but he voted in favor to move things along.

Hartley said he more than likely will vote against the spending plan next week.

I would like to see more funding for tourism because I feel like that generates revenue, particularly the Birthplace of Country Music, Hartley said. I feel that is an obligation that we need to live up to.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau is to receive $100,000 in this budget, down from the $175,000 written into the original draft version. It is to be distributed in $10,000 increments to the CVB and any greater amount must be approved by the council, under a plan proposed by Mumpower.

Tourism funding has remained a hot button issue for months.

During public comment, three speakers urged the council to fully fund the tourism entities.

Dollars spent by tourists generate tax revenues that help the city fund education, public safety, parks and rec and other critical entities in Bristol, Virginia, said John Rainero, who currently serves as vice chairman of the CVB board of directors. The CVB doesnt save lives and it doesnt educate the kids, but it is the sales and marketing customer service arm of Bristol, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee.

Mumpower offered amendments to the budget that were subsequently withdrawn, but will be part of separate action at next weeks meeting. They include a hiring freeze and establishing a committee to review vacancies as they occur, as a potential way to save money.

After extensive discussion, City Attorney Randall Eads said that issue should be separate from the budget and he plans to draft a resolution for the council to consider next week.

Mumpower also urged establishing an internal control that would require the council to review any expenditure greater than $10,000. The city charter requires that any such change be in the form of an ordinance, which would require two council votes, Eads said.

That is also expected to be discussed and voted on next week.

Mumpower told the audience he received a large number of phone calls in recent days and that applying political pressure isnt the way to get things done with this council because all members have the best interest of the city at heart.

The $51.5 million general fund total is down from $56.9 million for the current year. The plan also includes $5.8 million for solid waste operations  down from $7.5 million and a $9.9 million capital projects fund that primarily includes state highway project dollars. It also includes about $28 million for the school systems general fund and other operating funds.

In other action, council met in closed session for about an hour and 20 minutes prior to the budget meeting. Hartley said council members had no comment about their discussions which  based on statements Monday  involved the citys stance on the BVU Authoritys pending sale of its OptiNet division and what, if any, proceeds might be derived for the city.
Nearly 80 PA people have been charged for Jan. 6 riot. Three are dead.

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As Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads out to the United States to meet President Donald Trump for talks next Monday, the key question being asked is whether he will address the new US administrations belief and charge that Indian IT companies are using H-1B visas to displace American workers.

A top Indian trade official has said H-1B will be on the table when the two leaders meet, as it must be. But what will it be? What will he ask Trump, another Indian official, who is arguing for Modi to skip the vexatious issue, said recently, that he should reverse his executive order?

It wont work. Support for reforming the H-1B non-immigrant visa system that allows US companies to hire highly skilled foreigners abroad and here from among those enrolled in advanced studies  subject to an annual cap of 85,000  runs deep and wide in the White House and on Capitol Hill.

I cant imagine Trump standing in the way, said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at Wilson Center, a think tank. He said he believes  as many in the Indian government agree and argue  Modi will want this to be as positive a meeting as possible  I imagine hell avoid bringing up points that could lead to awkward silences

But letting this administrations deep suspicion of Indian IT companies  the White House has left no doubts about who it has in its crosshairs and has has called out Infosys, Tata and Cognizant  fester, and take root could inflict lasting damage on a major pillar of Indias $150 billion technology sector.

That cannot be an option either, even if it meant pressing a highly predictable man on a particularly thorny issue, and one he had railed about on campaign trail. India could present a a slightly different narrative, wrapped in numbers.

The Prime Minister could stress that the movement of people between the US and India is a hallmark of the bilateral relationship and that this redounds to the benefit of both countries, said Milan Vaishnav, a South Asia expert with Carnegie.

And that predictability in any visa regime is important and future changes should not come as a surprise to Indian companies or Indian citizens. Thats a sounder approach, and possibly the only one available to India, and one that could appeal to the businessman in Trump.

And, numbers. Modi could remind Trump of recent announcements by Infosys  of a tech hub in Indianapolis employing around 2,000 people; and by all the other tech giants such as Wipro, TCS and Cognizant ramping up local hirings.

President Trump ordered a review of the H-1B visa programme in April to prevent its abuse and to ensure only the most-skilled and highest-paid applicants were processed successfully.

His administration has also tweaked existing rules to slow down the process and raise the bar for qualifying for speciality occupations and threatened against fraud and abuse and invited any feeling discriminated against to complain to hotline numbers announced by the US department of justice.

The Indian IT sector, which will be following the H-1B part of the talks more closely than others, would like to see its concerns conveyed to the president but is also prepared for a complete miss as well, in the long-term interest of the relationship. This will be their first meet ever. I am not hearing that there will be any big deals/agreements announced, an officials with a a mjor IT firm said on background, Bringing up thorny issues in the absence of other more positive news  could set the relationship off on the wrong foot.

These are long term issues and we have to think toward building long term productive relationships, he added.
While most Muslims object to practising yoga on the ground that it is anti-Islamic, a group of youth from the community in Bhopal is doing the asanas, saying it is wrong to see everything through the religious prism.

For these youngsters, yoga is just an exercise to become strong, shlokas are just sayings in Sanskrit and the word Om is just an official term.

16-year-old Gulnaz (name changed) feels that neither is her religion Islam so insecure that it could be affected by just a morning exercise called yoga nor is Hinduism so small that it can be taught during a 15-minute yoga.

When people called practising yoga un-Islamic, I felt pity for them. These people dont know the strength of our religion, she said.

Gulnaz said she did not understand why teachers asked her to take permission from her parents for yoga classes which was started a few years ago.

But now I do. It is because some misguided people have created a controversy where none exists. In any case, my parents had no objection to my practicing yoga, she said.

For Sahista Bano (21), a student of MLB College, Bhopal, who has been practising yoga for three years, it is the best way to keep her mind fresh.

I love my religion but I dont connect everything in my day-to-day activities with my religion. I practice yoga as it is a good exercise for me, she says, recalling how she learnt yoga during an NCC camp.

I chant om because the vibration generated from the om relaxes my mind. We listen to music without thinking about which religion it belongs to. Similarly, I chant om. This is just a term for me, she said, adding that she has taught yoga to her family too.

Engineering student Zaidul Haq, who hails from Sheopur district, is another yoga enthusiast who has no problems chanting shlokas starting with Om.

I chant the shloka Sarve Bhantu Sukhina without any hesitation because, to me, it is just a prayer that asks for happiness for mankind in Sanskrit language. It is not related to any religion, Haq says.

All these students performed yoga on International Yoga day in Bhopal.

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A lot has been said about the calming powers of yoga. Well, it seemed to have calmed Madhya Pradesh agriculture minister Gaurishankar Bisen so much that he wound up sleeping through a significant part of the third International Yoga Day (IYD) function held in Chhindwara on Wednesday.

Maverick politician Bisen has often found himself making headlines for all the wrong reasons, much to the embarrassment of the ruling BJP government.

The event started off well, with Bisen performing asanas in the company of 2,000 students and other members of the public. However, barely 10 minutes passed before the minister decided that he had had enough of sitting on the ground. So he shuffled over to a sofa placed nearby, and soon fell asleep.

I wasnt feeling well, Bisen told mediapersons after the event.

Meanwhile, school education minister Vijay Shah was found phubbing during another IYD function held in Khandwa district. He sat on the stage while other participants performed yoga, but did not bend a knee himself. Later, he spoke to the media on the benefits of yoga.

When the irony of the situation was pointed out to him, Shah also cited medical issues. I was discharged from a hospital recently, and the doctor forbade me from performing yoga. And I was not fiddling with my mobile phone. I was using it to watch Prime Minister Narendra Modis programme, he explained.

The IYD was observed in all the 50 districts of Madhya Pradesh. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan participated in its Bhopal leg at Lal Parade ground.

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Ranbir Kapoor says that Katrina Kaif was not serious when she recently said, at a press event for their upcoming film Jagga Jasoos, that she wouldnt want to work with him again. He explained that her words were taken out of context.

In an interview to NDTV, Ranbir said that it was all a part of a joke. The honest truth behind it is that we were in a Facebook chat. I cracked a joke on her and she cracked it back on me. And shes saying Its really fair that the media has taken just my joke and made this out to be like something that I just said. I wouldnt say that. So yeah, its not true, he said.

Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif during the promotion of film Jagga Jasoos at Mehboob Studio, in Mumbai on June 13, 2017. (IANS)

At a recent press event, Katrina had said she found working with Ranbir to be difficult. Its very difficult. People now have proof that he is a very trying and testing person. Ranbir has also gestured (to me) to not work on a film together. It will never happen again, she had said.

When Ranbir was asked to comment on the same, he refused to say anything and cited time constraints.

Now, in the same interview with NDTV, Ranbir praised Katrina for bringing out the best in him. Katrina and I have an amazing creative partnership. I love working with her. Shes really allowed me to shine whenever I work with her and shes very gracefully done that for me. Shes increased my stardom when she was a much bigger star, he said.

A post shared by Katrina Kaif (@katrinakaif) on Jun 13, 2017 at 12:09am PDT

The couple ended their relationship of five years in January 2016. Following this, there were reports of the two not getting along on the sets of the film and this was also speculated to be the reason behind the films delay.

After the shoot for Jagga Jasoos was complete, reports also did the rounds that both Katrina and Ranbir wont be promoting the film together.

As for their future projects, Katrina is shooting for Tiger Zinda Hai alongside Salman Khan, while Ranbir is busy with actor Sanjay Dutts biopic, that is being helmed by Rajkumar Hirani.

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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. Authors say Indian publishers are more open to experimentation with content, which makes getting published in India a lot 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, says Sabyn Javeri.

Javeris first book Nobody Killed Her was published in India by HarperCollins in March. Its a thriller based on the assassination of a political leader in Pakistan. She says Indian publishers stick to their commitment and seldom flip flop on a decision regarding a manuscript. Her book, she explains, was first acquired by a major international publisher but was later dropped. She said shes glad that editors in India did not stop backing it till it took its final shape  a full-fledged book. Javeri says 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 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 Pakistans Religious Minorities (Westland) too first found acceptance in India, and he has published two more books in this country since.

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, says Khalid.

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 says.

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 notes, is also a strong reason behind Indian publishing houses attracting more and more Pakistani authors.

Javeri says 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 maintains.

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.

Sri Lanka-based author Chhimi Tenduf-La explains, 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.

Chhimis first book The Amazing Racist was published by Hachette India in 2015. His latest book Loyal Stalkers, published by Pan MacMillan, was released earlier this year. I felt that an Indian audience may understand my stories, set in Sri Lanka, without me having to hold their hands, Chhimi says. He says he didnt 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 dont offer advances to authors as we cant afford them. Our books are mostly found in local bookshops as well as in countries like Australia, Singapore and the UK, says Sam Perera, 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 says.

Thats true for other countries in the region as well.

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Banks and post offices that have not managed to deposit old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 until now will be given another window of a month.

These banks and post offices can now deposit these with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after furnishing reasons for the delay.

This will come in handy for district cooperative banks that were barred from depositing old notes after reports of money laundering and that many used them to turn black money into legitimate cash. But they will be allowed to deposit old notes that were deposited with them between November 10 and 14.

A senior RBI official told HT that this window is not open for citizens.

The government had pulled out Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, 2016, in an effort to fight a parallel black economy. People were allowed to deposit the notes in banks till December 30 and thereafter at select RBI counters till March 31.
Earlier this week, the Bangladesh government made a curious announcement. The minister for liberation war affairs told parliament that the government would build a hate statue. This statue would express hatred towards Razakars, Al-Badrs, Al-Shams and other collaborators of the Pakistan army [during the Liberation War of 1971]. This would certainly be a first in the commemoration of mass atrocities anywhere in the world. And it is indicative of the political corner in which the government finds itself.

A few weeks ago, the Sheikh Hasina government was caught in a controversy over another statue. Hefazat-i-Islam, a fundamentalist network of madrasas, had protested the installation in the Supreme Court of a statue of a blindfolded lady holding a sword in one hand and the scales of justice in the other. Hefazat claimed that this was tantamount to idolatry and sought the removal of the statue. When the government caved in, a large group of students quickly mobilised in protest. Although it cracked down on the protestors, the government also ordered the reinstallation of the statue in the Supreme Courts premises  now tucked in a discrete corner.

The governments original decision to remove the statue was aimed at currying favour with conservative Muslims ahead of the next general elections. Hasina called the statue ridiculous  whether on aesthetic or political grounds was left unsaid. The reinstallation of the statue was an attempt to burnish its credentials with the liberals. The proposed hate statue seems yet another attempt to assuage the concerns of the Awami Leagues core constituency about the governments commitment to the countrys founding vision of nationalism.

Hasina has resorted to such balancing acts earlier  most notably on the question of secularism in Bangladeshs constitution. The original constitution of Bangladesh, which came into existence in 1972, was a remarkable document for its time. It proclaimed four guiding principles for the new state: Democracy, nationalism, socialism and secularism.

The notion that the State should be secular met with the approval of various sections of the polity. The tiny Islamist minority that believed otherwise had been discredited by its role in opposing the countrys independence. So their views carried no weight in the making of the constitution.

Things began to change with the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 and the following period of military rule. The 5th Amendment was moved in 1979, during the reign of General Zia-ur Rahman. It sought to impart constitutional legitimacy to the military dictatorships that followed Mujibs assassination. Among other things, Zia expunged secularism from the principles of state policy enumerated in the constitution, and deleted Article 12 which proscribed religious parties. The removal of this article paved the way for the entry of the Jamaat-i-Islami into the political arena. It is not surprising that Zias Bangladesh Nationalist Party  now led by his wife  embraced the Jamaat in 2001.

In August 2005, the Bangladesh high court ruled that the 5th Amendment was unconstitutional. The BNP and the Jamaat challenged this verdict. On July 28, 2010, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh dismissed their petitions and upheld the high courts ruling. What is more, it explicitly criticised the omission of secularism under the 5th Amendment as a step that destroyed one of the basis of our struggle for freedom and also changed the basic character of the Republic.

The government took years to give effect to the Supreme Courts ruling. Eventually, the 15th Amendment passed in 2015 made Bangladesh a secular country with Islam as the state religion. This muddled compromise was Sheikh Hasinas way of striking a balance between the religious sentiments of Bangladeshs Muslim majority and the historic mantle of the liberation war claimed by the Awami League.

But there have been escalating demands from the conservative Islamist critics of the government. The Hefazat wanted the government to prove its Muslim credentials by removing poems from school textbooks that were pronounced as atheist. The Hasina government quietly complied. It has also declared that degrees issued by the madrasas will be deemed equivalent to a masters degree from a state university.

More worrying is the governments reluctance to uphold the rule of law, especially over freedom of expression. This has certainly emboldened Islamist outfits  an ironic outcome given Hasinas desire to crush the Jamaat. Still more problematic is the governments attempt to silence the political Opposition by using every trick in the book. In so doing it has struck a blow to democracy. Building hate statues to stoke chauvinism will deepen the damage already done.

Srinath Raghavan is senior fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi

The views expressed are personal

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Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Monday led yoga enthusiasts during the International Yoga Day festival at Doons Parade Ground where rains failed to dampen mood of the participants.

Rawat said yoga was Maharishi Pantanjalis rare gift to mankind. The great sage invented a number of yoga exercises which, if regularly practiced, help us stay fit and healthy, he said adding that it also gives us inner peace while helping us to experience spiritual bliss.

Yoga acts a bridge between atman (soul) and permatman (God).

He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for popularising Yoga across the country. It is owing to his efforts that the United Nations recognised June 21 as the International Yoga Day. As a result, as many as 200 countries across the globe are participating in the yoga festival, Rawat said.

The chief minister thanked Patanjali Yoga, Art of Living and other organisations for facilitating the International Yoga Day programmes. I also thank all those came all those who spared time to participate in the yoga day celebrations.

Rawat, some of his ministerial colleagues and BJP legislators participated in yoga exercises across the state. Governor KK Paul participated along with the entire Raj Bhawan staff and their kin in a programme held inside its premises.

The International Yoga day was observed in the Kumaon region with great enthusiasm.

BJP state president Ajay Bhatt took part in the yoga camp at Womens College in Haldwani. The Haldwani Police held a massive yoga camp at Forestry Training Institute which was attended by more than 1000 participants. The Patanjali Yoga Samit conducted yoga at Vatika Banquet Hall in Haldwani.

Yoga camps were also held at Mallital in Nainital as well as Kumaon Regimental Centre in Ranikhet. The Dev Singh Ground of Pithoragarh also hosted a camp which was conducted by Vedas International Group. Yoga camps were held in Bageshwar and other districts.
Traffic violators in Delhi will no longer be able to take advantage of high volume of traffic to escape prosecution. A fleet of 11 high-tech interceptor vehicles, equipped to capture the registration number plates of most vehicles passing by it, pressed into service on Tuesday.

To increase their effectiveness, the Delhi Traffic Police plan to frequently change the location of these vehicles and spring surprises on violators. Generally they will be placed along high-speed corridors and violation-prone areas. But we will keep changing their locations and even deploy them in residential colonies at times, said Ajay Kashyap, special CP (traffic), at the launch programme at India Gate on Tuesday.

According to the officer, these interceptor vehicles are equipped with the latest technologies available in this segment. They can capture videos and images of vehicles between 25 metres and one kilometre away. Unlike the previous fleet of vehicles which had limitations, these vehicles can capture number plates of vehicles travelling at a speed of even 250 km/hr, said Kashyap.

They will also be recording the GPS location, speed and other details which will help with quick prosecution. Each vehicle will have a printer. So, we can issue a challan within two seconds, said the officer.

The laser-based cameras in these vehicles are capable of capturing the registration number plates of multiple vehicles passing by. Until now, the traffic policemen deployed on roads were able to challan just one or two violators at once, allowing others to get away. But the new equipments will allow police to challan multiple violators at each point these vehicles are deployed.

These vehicles will also be able to detect a speeding vehicle in a lane full of vehicles. The cameras are capable of capturing number plates in all lighting conditions, said the officer. Though each of these 11 vehicles is currently equipped with just one camera, there is provision for adding more, such as one on the rooftop and another back-facing.

Apart from prosecuting speeding vehicles, the traffic police intend to use the new addition also for challaning bikers indulging in triple riding, riding without helmets and other offences.
Performing stunts on his new KTM Duke bike claimed life of a 15-year-old boy and left his 19-year-old neighbour critically injured in northeast Delhis Shastri Park on Sunday evening.

Police said eyewitnesses told them that the teenager was performing stunts when he lost control and the two fell off. They were taken to a nearby hospital where the rider succumbed to his injuries during treatment on Monday evening.

A police officer said that the boys parents had purchased the bike only a fortnight ago. His neighbours told police that a youth in the boys neighbourhood had purchased a KTM bike a couple of months, which costs more than Rs 1.5 lakh in India. The boy liked the motorcycle and wanted to get one for himself. He had been requesting his family members to get him a similar racing bike too. And because of his persistence his family got it for him as a gift, said police.

The victim was identified as Mohammad Umar Sheikh. Mohammad Anas, 19, who was seriously injured in the accident is undergoing treatment at the private hospital.

The officer said that Sheikh and Anas left on the motorcycle for a ride on Sunday at around 7.30pm, and they went towards Kashmere Gate side. They were returning home when Sheikh began performing stunts on the bike that he was driving at a high speed. He lost control and they fell off the bike and suffered serious injuries, said the officer, adding that an eyewitness informed the police control room about the accident.

Police said Sheikh lived with his family in Chauhan Bangar locality near Seelampur in northeast Delhi. He was a Class 8 student at a private school in northeast Delhi. Sheikh is survived by his parents and three siblings  two brothers and a sister.

Speeding Maruti Swift hits bike

In another accident involving a KTM bike, two youth were critically injured when the bike was hit by a speeding Maruti Swift car in outer Delhis Mangolpuri on Tuesday night. Locals alleged that the car belonged to a Delhi Police staff and its driver was driving under the influence of alcohol. A police cap and some files with Delhi Police written on them were found inside the car besides an empty alcohol bottle.

A police officer said the driver fled the spot after the accident. Enraged locals vandalised the car and tried to set it on fire. However, a timely action by the local police averted it. A case was registered against the errant car driver and the two vehicles were confiscated.

The injured, identified as Johnny, 25, and Amit, 17, were headed towards their homes in Mangolouri from Shakurpur when the accident took place. The two are undergoing treatment at Safdarjung hospital where they were referred from Bhagwan Mahavir hospital.
No birds in the scorching sky. If it gets very hot, I feel tempted to have an orange bar, he says, But I need to sell these ice creams, not eat them.

Bimal, 30, is one of the thousands of ice-cream vendors who take over the streets of Delhi in the summer. We meet him in KK Birla Lane, a tree-lined avenue off Max Mueller Marg. At 11am, Bimal parks his cart opposite the Alliance Francaise de Delhi. At 6pm, he pedals the cart to the bus stop on Max Mueller Marg where he stays till 11 at night.

My wife Suman lives with my parents at our village in UP, he says. I cannot support her in Delhi.

Bimals cart is painted yellow. It has posters advertising various ice creams. I was a construction labourer in Punjab where I earned 200 a day. Suman lived with me. Six months ago, I left for Delhi. She returned to the village.

Bimals locket bears the image of goddess Durga and a clay idol of lord Shiva is tied to his cart. I earn less in Delhi, he says. He gets 14 per cent of the sales and has to sleep in a depot along with 30 other reri-wallas.

Three girls come out of Alliance Francaise. Talking loudly in English, they stand under the shade of a tree. Resting both arms on his cart, Bimal says, Sometimes I earn so little that I am unable to send money home.

Hot wind blows dust into our eyes. My son will soon turn one and I have no money, he says. Nothing is in my control.
After approving undergraduate and post-graduate yoga courses at universities, the University Grants Commission (UGC) now plans to establish an Inter-University Centre for Yogic Sciences in the country.

Sources said a proposal submitted in this regard is being examined by the commission.

The UGC had also asked all universities and colleges to prioritise the celebration of the International Yoga Day (IYD), and submit proof of activities undertaken by students and faculty members for review. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the country in celebrating the third IYD edition on Wednesday.

Earlier, the commission constituted a panel under the chairmanship of Dr HR Nagendra, chancellor of the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana University in Bengaluru, to assess the feasibility of establishing an Inter-University Centre for Yogic Sciences. A report has been submitted to the government.

The proposed centre will cater to all yogic requirements of universities and colleges under a single roof. It can be used as a place to train the faculty through experts, and ensure that they are familiar with every nuance of the discipline. It will also be used to conduct collaborative research inside and outside India, said an official.

The government will soon take a final decision on the centre.

The commission has shortlisted 54 universities for setting up yoga departments, besides three universities and two institutions for national-level yoga centres. Six central universities will get yoga departments. The commission has granted Rs 10 crore to each of the six central universities, said another UGC official.

Last year, the UGC had approved BSc (yoga), MSc (yoga), PhD (yoga), PG diploma (yoga) and PG diploma (yoga therapy) courses in various institutions. Through the Central Board of Secondary Education, it also turned yoga into a subject in the National Eligibility Test. As many as 7,279 candidates appeared for it on January 22 this year.

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Carla Fendi, one of five sisters who transformed the family leather goods business into a luxury fashion house of global renown, has died in Rome following a long illness. She was 79.

Fendi died on Monday and the Rome-based fashion house confirmed her death in a statement on Tuesday, expressing pain for the loss and gratitude for her continued contributions.

She was for all of us a source of inspiration and an example of dedication, culture of work and sensitivity to beauty, the company said.

Carlas 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 the next generation that surged it to prominence.

We honor 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 shared by Fendi (@fendi) on Jun 20, 2017 at 4:17am PDT

A year later they hired a young designer named 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.

Under Lagerfelds direction, Fendi arguably became the most famous furriers in the world. The brand also helped revolutionise leather handbags in the 1990s, making them softer and less rigid. 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, 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 their 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.

Carla Fendi at the Venice film festival in 2009. (AFP File Photo)

Each sister had her role, and Carla Fendi, as Fendi president, was long the family business public face, becoming known as the signora della moda, or lady of fashion. They sold to the French luxury group LVMH in a deal that was completed in 2001, and Carla maintained her role as president until 2008. She was honorary president until her death.

Even as Milan became the centre of Italian ready-to-wear, the Fendis maintained their ties to their beloved, native Rome, maintaining their headquarters in the Italian capital and sponsoring the renovation of famed landmarks, like the Trevi Fountain.

Lagerfeld remains the brands womenswear designer, along with his other fashion pursuits at Chanel and his own brand, while Silvia Venturini Fendi, daughter of Anna, is the brands creative director. Her latest menswear collection, for spring/summer 2018, dispalyed on Monday, hours before her aunts death, hewed to the brands tradition of lightness, with transparent looks, and even included a short summer fur.

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, Carla 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 on Tuesday. Culture Minister Dario Franchescini remembered her as a cultivated and sensible woman who was a major patron of the arts.

Fendi was long married to Candido Speroni. People close to the designer say her health faltered after he died three years ago. Fendis funeral will be held on Thursday at the Chiesa degli Artisti in Piazza del Popolo in Rome.

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Declared an international day by the United Nations in 2014 after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a global celebration of yoga, the International Day of Yoga (June 21) aims to raise further awareness of the many health benefits of this mental, physical and spiritual practice and promote a holistic approach to wellbeing.

If you arent into it already, the occasion could be the perfect time to try the 5,000-year-old practice for the first time, or change your routine with a new class.

Heres a round-up of some yoga trends that have made it big so far this year, and which may inspire you to get on the mat.

Yoga Nidra

For those who enjoy the mental health benefits of yoga and not just the physical results, yoga nidra is the perfect exercise. Sometimes referred to as yogic sleep, yoga nidra is defined by yoga master Anandmurti Gurumaa as a kind of deep sleep in which you dont lose consciousness.

The practice is best done in savasana, also known as corpse pose, to help aid relaxation, with some classes also including asanas (poses), pranayama (breathing), chanting and meditation.

Practicing yoga nidra helps relieve stress, insomnia as well as muscular, emotional and mental tensions. (microgen/Istock.com)

Yoga nidra is said to allow the body to enter a more restorative and healing state and help the mind enter a state of tranquility as it changes from activity to meditation. Practicing yoga nidra helps relieve stress, frustration and insomnia as well as muscular, emotional and mental tensions.

Yin Yoga

Yin yoga is a gentler and slower form of yoga designed to help reduce stress and counterbalance our fast-paced lifestyles. Invented only 20 years ago, yin yoga is a more meditative practice with a focus on deep breathing, rather than the aesthetics of a pose, muscular strength or perfect alignment.

Yin yoga helps reduce stress and improve sleep. (AFP)

Unlike more energetic forms such as vinyasa or ashtanga, yin yogas poses must be held on the floor between 3 and 5 minutes, requiring concentration but also aiding relaxation.

The stretches are intense, making it good for the physical body and boosting energy levels, but yin yoga is also known for its mental health benefits, helping to reduce stress and improve sleep.

Alien Yoga

Dubbed alien yoga on Instagram due to the stomachs strange contractions during the movement, this latest yoga craze might look and sound intimidating, but if mastered it helps to both cleanse internal organs and strengthen the abdominal area.

I don't have much rhythm, but I think I caught the beat there for a second  #aloyoga #beagoddess #nauli A post shared by aubry wiltcher (@aubrymarie) on Apr 3, 2017 at 1:13pm PDT

Traditionally known as nauli, the movement is a yogic cleansing exercise, or kriya, which involves rolling the abdominal muscles from side-to-side in a wave-like movement. Although it seems difficult, it can be practiced by most yogis and by any age group. However, as an advanced movement the website nauli.org recommends learning the technique from an experienced teacher.

Goat Yoga

Goat Yoga is perhaps one of most unusual but potentially fun forms of yoga, as you practice your asanas surrounded by cute and tiny Nigerian Dwarf goats.

Practising yoga with a goat provides an experience similar to cuddling a pet, which has already been clinically proven to help relieve stress. (www.goatyoga.net)

Yogis are currently lining up across the US to join the classes, which take place not in a studio but in the more rural setting of a countryside farm.

Fans of the latest fitness craze report that being outdoors in nature makes the yoga class even more relaxing, with the goats themselves also helping to relieve tension thanks to their giggle-inducing antics and furry friendliness, which provides an experience similar to cuddling a pet, already clinically proven to help relieve stress and improve well-being.

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Today, June 21, is celebrated as International Yoga Day. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), on 11 December 2014 announced this day to celebrate yoga, as per the suggestion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Yoga is touted as a multifarious discipline that helps keep the mind and body healthy.

And, our Bollywood celebrities also vouch for it. To show off their love for yoga, actors like Bipasha Basu Singh Grover, Malaika Arora and Shilpa Shetty Kundra, took the social media route. Here are some posts that will inspire you.

Inhale positivity n exhale negativity . Happy international yoga day ...with my fav yogini @anshukayoga #IDYwithReebok A post shared by Malaika Arora Khan (@malaikaarorakhanofficial) on Jun 20, 2017 at 10:50pm PDT

Inhale Love ... Exhale Hate! #loveyourself #yogimonkey #internationalyogaday A post shared by bipashabasusinghgrover (@bipashabasu) on Jun 20, 2017 at 10:02pm PDT

Bakasana, It's taken a lot of practice and so happy it's finally happened..Yippie , Happy World Yoga day all. The harder the struggle the more glorious the triumph Never give up #WorldYogaDay #swastrahomastraho #TheArtOfBalance A post shared by Shilpa Shetty Kundra (@theshilpashetty) on Jun 20, 2017 at 8:26pm PDT

The yoga way of life...#internationalyogaday #moonchild #themoonmademedoit #findyourstrong #findyourbalance A post shared by Aditi Rao Hydari (@aditiraohydari) on Jun 20, 2017 at 10:18pm PDT

Happy #internationalyogaday  A post shared by Mannara (@memannara) on Jun 20, 2017 at 11:37pm PDT

Most memorable moment in my Life is when I took the decision to teach Yoga. I come from a family of doctors and engineers. It was a brave decision on my side to go for yoga but It has totally changed my life and is responsible for everything now  Happy #InternationalYogaDay A post shared by Anushka Shetty (@anushkashettyofficial) on Jun 20, 2017 at 8:11pm PDT

Celebrating #InternationalYogaDay by pulling of a semi padmasan   @ayushdas  @moochwala A post shared by Nakuul Mehta (@nakuulmehta) on Jun 20, 2017 at 10:25pm PDT

Get the inside right ...the outside will fall into place  #internationalyogaday #worldyogaday A post shared by Adah Sharma (@adah_ki_adah) on Jun 21, 2017 at 12:08am PDT

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The Mall Mile on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road (MG road) is not safe for women at night, claimed those staying and working on and around the busy stretch.

Two students, one of them a Young India fellow, had complained to the police on Monday that they were groped and presumed to be call girls on Friday night.

Every night, once clubbing starts, the area becomes unsafe. Sex workers are seen roaming the area. Anybody who is seen here at night is looked down upon, a woman guard at the Grand Mall said.

A shopkeeper near the JMD mall said, It is not that the police are not present. There are PCR vans doing the rounds at night, but with not enough personnel, he said.

Unless one is accompanied by family members, it is presumed that one is there for illegal activities, he claimed.

Security supervisor at Sahara Mall, Dilip Singh Rathod, said he has several cases of drunken brawls and women often get caught up in it.All kinds of people are seen on MG road. Everybody knows about the problems here, he said.

Ruchika (name changed), a resident of a MG Road condominuim, said, We cant step out of the house once its dark. Drunken brawls are common here and the environment is dangerous.

She said the police was trying to do their job but how many personnel do they deploy?.

Sumit Kuhar, DCP (crime), said the police had received some complaints about the area.We will increase the presence of police in the area, he said.

A few days earlier, a video had surfaced in which some women was seen beating up an alleged molester on MG road. No police complaint was filed in the incident.
The Gurgaon police remained tight-lipped on Wednesday regarding the investigation in the case of the woman who was allegedly abducted from MG Road on Monday around 8.30pm, gang raped and dumped in Greater Noida. Crime branch officials, however, confirmed the arrest of an auto driver who is believed to have accompanied the victim from Sohna.

The Gurgaon police is helping its counterparts in Noida investigate the case in detail. CCTV footage and all other information was shared with them and will be done in the future as well. An auto driver believed to be known to the victim was arrested by Noida officials on Tuesday evening and is being questioned there, said a senior official.

Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar also maintained that they will work in tandem with the Noida police to help nab the culprits.

Sources in the police, meanwhile, said that the Gurgaon crime branch is actively helping the investigations and was instrumental in identifying and tracking the auto driver who was last seen with the victim. It has also been revealed that the statements of the woman and the auto driver differ with each other regarding the sequence of the events and the car being used in the crime.

Police suspect that the auto driver knew the accused men, who were speaking a local Haryanvi dialect and also spoke in English intermittently. The auto driver is from Mewat and the victim hails from Rajasthan.

She had alleged that three persons in a car abducted her on Monday evening from MG Road and dumped her in Greater Noida in the early hours of Tuesday.

Sumit Kuhar, DCP, crime, Gurgaon, had on Tuesday said there was no case of abduction or kidnapping in Gurgaon and that is why a case of rape was registered in Noida.

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When the Patanjali group, founded and run by Baba Ramdev, issued an ad in leading English daily citing the scientific benefits of Yoga saying that diseases like diabetes, thyroid, asthma and even cancer can not only just be controlled but even be cured by Yoga there wasnt enough actual science backing the claim.

Addressing reporters on the eve of International Yoga Day, director of AIIMS, Randeep Guleria, unpacked the message: Yoga is good.

To say Yoga karo is not good enough, Dr Guleria explained. Yoga is now increasingly recognised as a way to prevent and manage diseases not cure diseases, he said.

Today Baba Ramdev has taught India how to do yoga, but Prime Minister Modi has spread the message of doing yoga across the world, Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan, who also handles the environment ministry portfolio, said when he launched an app Celebrating Yoga, a platform to keep track of yoga events happening across the world.

The message spread by Modi and the likes of Baba Ramdev has to be refined, according to experts.

The science and technology ministry is supporting research on the benefits of yoga through the Science and Technology of Yoga and Meditation (SATYAM) programme launched in 2015. The initiative supported 26 projects in 2016-17 at institutes across India including AIIMS.

As the focus has shifted from communicable to non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cancers, the recognition of the role of Yoga is the management of chronic conditions has also grown. Lifestyle and physical activity play a role in the control of many of these diseases and thats where Yoga can be helpful.

A group in AIIMs is doing research on how Yoga can help to manage migraines. The study which has 144 participants was launched three months ago is likely to be completed by next year. Only when the benefits are proven through the study will doctors start prescribing it to all patients.

Dr Rohit Bhatia who is heading the study asserted that even for the research the participants would continue to receive their regular medication and Yoga was only seen as an addition to their regime. Studying if yoga alone can help to manage the diseases is the next step.

In fact, doctors point out that relying on yoga alone can have an opposite effect than what is intended. We get several cases of people who stop their regular medication and switch to Yoga, and end up back in the hospital in a worse condition, Dr Guleria said.

What regular practice of yoga can do is help patients reach a stage where their requirement of medicines decreases. Yoga regimes also need to be customised to deal with particular diseases. We need to develop protocols that will help in the management of specific diseases, Dr Guleria said.

Research on the benefits of yoga started as far back as 1957 in India when doctors tested claims made by Yogis like the fact that they could stop their hearts. These turned out to be untrue There has not been as much acceptance because a robust and systematic body of medical evidence to support claims has not existed. The challenge is to show proper evidence based on scientific data Dr Guleria said, and to explain the mechanism through which Yoga helps.

Beneficial Effects of Pranayama (control of breath)

For Hypertension:

Slow breathing is beneficial for managing hypertension because it reduces heart rate and blood pressure

Anulom-Vilom (alternate nostril breathing) can reduce blood pressure

For Brain Functions:

It is useful for improving memory, concentration and problem solving

Alleviating anxiety and for depression

(Source: AIIMS release)

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Underlining the idea that a shift to clean energy makes economic sense as well, a new report found that India can add over 3 lakh jobs in the clean energy sector with rooftop solar emerging as a major employer.

Clean energy expansion is generating thousands of new jobs while meeting Indias climate and economic goals, Nehmat Kaur, Consultant and Development Economist, at Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the co-publisher of the report said. With this tremendous opportunity, India is stepping up as a global leader in demonstrating how a growing economy can scale up renewables, generate employment and provide access in the face of rising energy demands.

The report titled Greening Indias Workforce: Gearing Up For Expansion of Solar and Wind Power in India, was published by NRDC and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).

If India meets its ambitious goal of installing 160 gigawatts of renewable power by 2022, over 1 million employment opportunities could be created. The biggest job creators would be rooftop solar (238,000), followed by utility solar (58,600) and wind power (34,600).

The category of jobs in the renewable energy sector include solar installers, maintenance workers, engineers, technicians, and performance data monitors. 80% of the new clean energy workforce will be employed during the construction phase, Neeraj Kuldeep, Programme Associate, CEEW, said. However, despite these being contractual jobs, the large pipeline of renewable energy projects creates enough opportunities for workers to stay employed.

Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh will be the leading job creators in the solar sector, while the wind sector will see job creation in a few states which have the most potential to generate wind power.

In 2016-17, Indias renewable energy sector added 21,000 jobs and an additional 25,000 people are likely to be employed in the coming year. Since most of these jobs are in the rooftop solar PV segment, central and state governments must provide greater policy support to the rooftop sector, Kuldeep said.

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Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the most acclaimed performers of his generation, has announced he is retiring.

In a statement the 60-year-old stars spokeswoman, Leslee Dart, said he will no longer be working as an actor, trade magazine Variety reported.

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 ever won three best actor Oscars.

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 the lead role in Steven Spielbergs Lincoln (2013).

He also earned Oscar nods for Gangs of New York and In the Name of the Father.

Away from the limelight

His last film is slated to hit theaters in December. The movie -- which saw the actor reunite with There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson -- is about 1950s London, with Day-Lewis playing a fashion designer.

This file photo taken on January 16, 2013 shows Daniel Day-Lewis during a photocall prior to the screening US film director Steven Spielberg's movie Lincoln in Madrid. (AFP)

Born in London, Day-Lewis is the son of British poet Cecil Day-Lewis and actor 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, when he landed his first adult role.

His strong on-screen presence and remarkable range quickly set him apart, earning him praise from critics and audiences alike.

He was said to be so deeply invested in his roles that he would stay in character even when not shooting -- as was the case with Gangs of New York, when he kept the New York accent and would be seen sharpening his knives at lunch.

He also reportedly listened to rapper Eminem to get into an angry mood for the role.

Apart from his Oscar performances, some of his most memorable other roles were in My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), A Room With a View (1985), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) and The Last of the Mohicans (1992).

But despite his stardom the actor shied away from the limelight, remaining throughout his career notoriously reclusive. He took long stretches of time away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to be with his family in Ireland and to learn rural skills.

(File) Daniel Day Lewis accepts the Oscar for best actor for his role in Lincoln at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, February 24, 2013. (REUTERS)

During one such period in the late 1990s, while learning to be a cobbler in Florence, Italy, he was reportedly lured back to the US by producer Harvey Weinstein, director Martin Scorcese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio to take on the lead role in Gangs of New York.

I was very happily out of the world of filmmaking, Day-Lewis said at the time. I was just happily working away at other things.

In a sign that acting would not be his lifelong passion, he told a magazine in 2005: In every actors life, there is a moment when they ask themselves, Is it really seemly for me to still be doing this?

The actor is married to Rebecca Miller -- the daughter of playwright Arthur Miller -- a US actor and writer with whom he has two children.

From 1989 to 1994 he had a tumultuous relationship with French actor Isabelle Adjani, with whom he has one son.

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Theres been a disturbance in the force and the young Han Solo film is suddenly without a director. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said Tuesday that the Star Wars spinoff is parting ways with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller due to different creative visions on the film.

Kennedy said a new director would be announced soon.

Lord and Miller had been filming the untitled project in London since January 2017 with stars Alden Ehrenreich as the young Han Solo and Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. The supporting cast includes Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Thandie Newton.

(File)- In this Jan 5, 2015, Christopher Miller (left) and Phil Lord pose for a photo at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards at TAO Downtown, in New York. (Scott Roth/Invision/AP)

Unfortunately, our vision and process werent aligned with our partners on this project. We normally arent fans of the phrase creative differences but for once this cliche is true, the directors said in a joint statement Tuesday. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew.

Lord and Miller have developed a stellar reputation in Hollywood for their smart and profitable adaptations of creaky or impossible properties like The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street and its sequel. Anticipation was high for what they would do with the Han Solo film, which was written by Star Wars vet Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon Kasdan.

Over the past six months the directors have been widely engaged on social media, drumming up interest in the project -- the second Star Wars anthology film after Rogue One. The anthology films are considered separate from the main trilogy, which includes The Force Awakens and the upcoming The Last Jedi.

Lucasfilm has had issues with directors before. In 2015 the company parted ways with director Josh Trank, who had been working on another Star Wars anthology film. They have yet to slate a replacement director.

The untitled Han Solo film is still slated for a May 2018 release.

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Nine people from the powerloom town of Bhiwandi were booked for cheating after they misused the funds granted to them to build toilets under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, police said on Wednesday.

According Thane Police PRO, Sukhada Narkar an offence under sections 420 and 406 of the IPC has been registered against the accused with Narpoli police station under Bhiwandi division.

Quoting a complaint by a Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation official, police said that nine people had applied for benefits under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan subsidy in 2015 following which an site inspection was carried out and each of the accused were granted funds of Rs 6,000, totalling Rs 54,000 to build toilets.

According to the complaint, the toilets were never constructed. Further inspection revealed that the nine had cheated the corporation of Rs 54,000 and the money given to them was used for personal purposes.

Police gave the name of the accused as Rajit Bhimarti, 24, Sudharshan Jakanni, 48, Anjana Dayavat, 67, Jyoti Chavan, 27, Srikrishna Jha, 43, Balayya Gundu, 70, Accalal Kanojia, 38, Rajendra Ghavane, 48, and Nanhelal Gupta, 37, all residents of different localities in Bhiwandi.

Each of the accused was entitled to a subsidy upto Rs 17,000 and had been already granted the first instalment of Rs 6,000 each which they utilised for their own purposes and cheated the government by not constructing toilets.
With chief minister Mamata Banerjee in The Netherlands, all opposition parties in West Bengal have decided to stay away from Thursdays all-party meet to discuss the Darjeeling crisis.

Though the meeting was announced by Banerjee before she left for Netherlands on an official tour, many parties, including the BJP, said they did not receive any invitation from the government.

The CPI(M) was more blunt, saying that Banerjees absence would reduce the meeting to a meaningless exercise.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front was the first to decide to skip the meeting. Left Front convener in Darjeeling district, Jibesh Sarkar, said it would serve no purpose.

The meeting is crucial considering the situation in Darjeeling. But the chief minister called the meeting on a day when she would be out of the country. A couple of ministers and some bureaucrats would not be able to take any call, Sarkar said.

State Congress president and MP, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, said the meeting would be a farce in the absence of the chief minister.

Read more: Darjeeling crisis: GJM offers 12-hour window to schools to evacuate students

This meeting should have been a state- level meeting and not a district-level meeting considering the gravity of the situation. Secondly, by convening the meeting in the absence of the chief minister, the government has proved that it is not really serious. We find no reason to attend, Chowdhury said.

The BJP, which has three MLAs in Bengal assembly, will also boycott the meeting. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said the state government did not send any official communication.

SUCI (Communist) spokesman, Shoumen Basu also said the government did not send any invitation. Probably we are untouchables, Basu said.

Darjeeling has been rocked by violence following an agitation by supporters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) to press for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

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The Delhi Police had received intelligence inputs about some terror outfits planning a London-style attack during the International Yoga Day celebrations at Connaught Place in New Delhi.

In view of the alert warning of the attack similar to the one in London recently in which a man had ploughed a van into people, the police had barricaded with buses the entry points of roads leading to Connaught Place, sources said.

The police had only left some space for pedestrians to pass through, the sources said. This had been done to ensure that even if a vehicle tried to enter the area, it would end up ramming into these empty buses, they added.

A three-tier security layer was thrown around the area to enhance the vigil, a senior police officer said, adding, that snipers were also stationed on certain buildings to keep a hawk eye vigil.

Police had received a specific input about a London-style attack being planned to disrupt the event that was being attended by various dignitaries, including NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

As many as 10,000 people joined the dignitaries early this morning at the famed British-era market in the common Yoga performance.

A man had recently ploughed a van into Muslims leaving prayers at a mosque injuring 11 people near Finsbury Park mosque, north London.

In April, a hijacked beer truck rammed into pedestrians at a central Stockholm department store, killing four people, wounding 15 others and sending screaming shoppers fleeing in panic.
Finding Bimal Gurung, chief of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), is fast looking like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Gurung, spearheading the Gorkhaland protests in the Darjeeling hills, went into hiding hours after police raided his office last week. Since then, violence has gripped the hills as three people have died and scores have been injured. The army is out on the streets as local residents fear a long spell of instability with talks failing and hill parties pressing on their demand for a separate state.

Police say they are doing all they can to find Gurung but privately express fear that arresting him would turn him into a hero and fan further violence. The state government doesnt want to take chances to arrest him, a senior intelligence official said.

Since internet services were snapped, Gurung has changed locations several times, say police. He is protected and safe wherever he is. All hell will break out if he is arrested, a GJM leader added. In the mayhem, the GJM chief is missing, and only two video messages of his recorded before the raids is doing the rounds. I will fight for Gorkhaland until the last drop of my blood, he says in one.

But his absence has catapulted him to a larger-than-life figure and police say he can find shelter at any persons house in the hills.

Darjeeling police have conducted a series of raids at possible hideouts but Gurung remains untraced. He is said to be incommunicado, even to his confidantes. Only a select trusted confidantes are aware of his whereabouts, a GJM leader said.

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ELKO  A lightning-sparked fire near the remote community of Jiggs spread smoke into Elko and Spring Creek on Tuesday afternoon.

The Red Springs fire 5 miles northwest of Jiggs started in a wilderness study area and spread to private land. Size was estimated to be 4,680 acres Wednesday morning.

More than a dozen engines, seven ground crews and a helicopter were fighting the lightning-caused blaze, according to incident commander Dylan Rader.

No structures were threatened.

Expect fire to burn north into Twin Bridges area, said a fire incident report filed late Tuesday night. Expect additional spread west through Red Spring Wilderness Study Area.

Loretta Reed of Jiggs photographed the fire as it spread through a Te-Moak allotment.

As of sunset today (Tuesday) the fire died out some since the wind abated, she said.

The WSA (wilderness study area) waivers for chainsaws, engines, and retardant have been made. If needed, dozers can be used, but only if necessary, Rader said.

Containment was estimated at 15 percent by mid-morning Wednesday.

It was the closest fire to Elko but not the largest in Nevada. South of Pyramid Lake, a fire that was started by lightning on Monday had burned 4,500 acres by Tuesday night. The Hollywood Fire is burning north of Fernley, approximately five miles southeast of Nixon.

A fire near Dunphy was extinguished Tuesday after burning more than 50 acres. Nevada Division of Forestry and resources from Battle Mountain, Carlin, Wells and Elko all responded to the incident.

Thunderstorms moved through the region Tuesday evening after the high reached 99 degrees in Elko. A brief rain shower dropped .04 of an inch of precipitation in Elko.

Bureau of Land Management Public Affairs Officer Greg Deimel cautioned that wildland fires can grow rapidly.

By the time you start digging perimeters and everything else the fire is still moving, he said.

More than 100 firefighters are currently on the scene and the fire is 15 percent contained. No structures are currently being threatened, but sage grouse habitat may have been affected.

Deimel said two wilderness study areas have been hit by the fire.

There are two wilderness study areas down there and in that wilderness study area we have primary and general sage grouse habitat, he said.

The fire slowed down over the night but weather conditions did not help matters. The weather system that brought rain to the Elko area brought high winds to the area of the fire.

Deimel said firefighters may not get help from the weather Wednesday afternoon either.

It didnt burn as much overnight but the weather yesterday was a mess, he said. The forecast for today is dry lightning and afternoon thunderstorms again.
The Congress Mumbai unit on Wednesday asked actor Amitabh Bachchan to refrain from acting as the brand ambassador for the upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) being rolled out from July 1.

Both Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley) know that the government is not ready nor does it have the infrastructure to roll out GST. Thats why it is using a legend like Amitabh Bachchan so that he becomes the fall guy and has to face the brickbats, Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam said in a statement.

Nirupam noted that he had the utmost respect for the superstar and hence wanted to caution him against being used by government on the issue of GST.

The idea was One Country, One Tax, but what is being rolled out is one country and at least four taxes. Why are Indians being fooled? And why use an icon and his credibility to fool them? he asked demanded.

According to some reports, the megastar has responded on social media, saying he was asked to do it and so he did it.

Amitabh appears in a 40-second video released by the government on GST where he explains the various benefits of the new tax regime coming up next month.

Besides GST, the Bollywood legend is the Brand Ambassador for various other government initiatives like Swachch Bharat Abhiyans latest campaign, Darwaza Band (Door Shut), and also for Gujarat Tourism.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has said 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 and two times the Prime Minister of India, Guterres said with a laughter, responding to a question during a press briefing here whether he is engaged in bringing about dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

For someone accused of doing nothing, it is quite a number of meetings, the Secretary General said, referring to criticism that he has been shying away and is reluctant to act to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue.

Guterres, addressing reporters at his first press conference at the world bodys headquarters since assuming office in January, was asked about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control and the ceasefire violations since he assumed office.

Guterres did not elaborate further but through his response he did not make any indication that he will act as a mediator between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Modi and Guterres had met in St Petersburg earlier in June 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.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the UN chief had 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 (SCO) summit.

Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked at press briefings about the Secretary Generals response to the situation in Kashmir, has repeatedly said that Guterres is following the situation in the region closely.

The UN Chief has not made any direct intervention to resolve the issue, reiterating his call for India and Pakistan to find a peaceful solution through engagement and dialogue.

Pakistan continuously raises the Kashmir issue at the UN seeking the world bodys intervention in the dispute with India. But New Delhi has always maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue with Islamabad.
SASARAM More than 15 years after the shocking incident, a special court in Sasaram (western Bihar), constituted for trial of cases under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), on Wednesday, pronounced five Maoists guilty of the 2002 murder of divisional forest officer (DFO) Sanjay Kumar Singh.

Delivering the verdict, district and session judge Prabhunath Singh said the quantum of punishment in the case would be fixed on July 5.

The court pronounced former CPI-Maoist zonal commander Nirala Yadav and his assocates, Ram Bachan Yadav, Nitish Yadav and Lalan Singh Kharwar, guilty under sections 302/149, 148 and 353/149 of Indian Penal Code, section 27 of Arms Act and 3(2) (1) and 22 (5) of POTA.

As such, court sources said they will be eligible for life imprisonment or even capital punishment.

Another member of CPI-Maoist, Sudama Ydav was found guilty under section 20 of POTA, for being a member and supporter of a terrorist organization. This section attracts a maximum punishment of 10 years, according to sources.

DFO Singh was shot dead by a Maoist zonal squad in Rehal forests near a forest department guest house under Nauhatta police station area of Rohtas district. of western Bihar, on February 15, 2002. The place is situated in the dense forests on Kaimur hills, about 300 km south-west of state capital Patna.

As per the police charge-sheet, zonal commander Nirala was leading the Maoist squad and had a hot exchange of words with the DFO before the Maoists pumped nine bullets into his body, resulting in his on the spot death.

Thereafter, case no. 04/2002 against 25-30 unknown Maoists was registered at the Nauhatta PS, based on the statement of the then range officer, Kumar Narendra, who was accompanying Singh on the fateful day. The case was handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on directions of the Supreme Court on March 22, 2002.

The CBI later registered case no. RC 4(S)/2002 and submitted separate charge sheets in the special court under the above mentioned sections of IPC, Arms Act and POTA Act against 23 accused. The agency had mentioned 93 witnesses in the charge sheet.

The special court framed charges against the five accused on October 12, 2009 and nine out of total 93 witnesses were examined before the court during the trial lasting eight years.

The witnesses were MS Kalani, secretary, home, government of India, CBI SPs Vijay Kumar and Syed JN Gilani, CBI investigating officer, PL Meena, Dr Kanhai Mahato, the medical officer who conducted the post mortem examination, informant ranger Kumar Narendra, forester Prithvi Nath Singh, forest guard Ram Jiwan Pandit and and driver Mahboob Alam.

While special prosecutor, CBI, Deep Narayan Singh, conducted the prosecution.case, senior advocate Bal Mukund Prasad pleaded the case of zonal commander Nirala Yadav.

Out of the 23 persons accused in the case, Vinod Rajwar and Roopdev Yadav, were awarded life imprisonment by the special court in 2004 and their conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Two others, Maoist area commander Abhay Yadav, and Sudarshan Bhuiyan, are facing separate trial in the same POTA court. Besides, two accused girls, who were minors at the time of murder, are facing trial before the Juvenile Justice Board, Sasaram.

Of the remaining 12 accused, some were killed in different encounters with the security forces or are absconding, special prosecutor Deep Narayan Singh said.

STRAP

VERDICT The quantum of punishment in the DFO murder case would be fixed on July 5

BLURB

As per police charge-sheet, zonal commander Nirala, leading the Maoist squad, had hot exchange of words with DFO Singh before Maoists pumped nine bullets into his body
The newly established Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Bhagalpur, 109 kms southeast of Patna, will start functioning from August. It will be inaugurated by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Union human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar.

Director of Science and technology department, Bihar, Atul Sinha, said the IIIT, first in the state, would function from its temporary campus on the premises of Bhagalpur College of Engineering (BCE). The permanent campus would come up in the next two to three years, he said, adding that 50 acres of land on BCE premises had been transferred to the IIIT for the purpose.

The institute would be mentored by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, he said.

Admission for first session would be taken against 120 seats, 60 each in computer science and engineering (CSE) and electronics and communication engineering (ECE), he said. Sinha said the student intake would be subsequently increased to 300. Teaching in more disciplines would also be introduced in the due course, Sinha added.

The central government had borne 50% of the establishment cost while the state government had provided 35%.The remaining 15% had been shared by the industry partner, Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Beltron), Sinha added.

The seat details of IIIT had been already made available to the joint seat allocation authority (JoSSA) for selection of candidates, Sinha said, adding that the appointment of faculty for IIIT would be made by the mentor institution.

Officials from the Union HRD ministry and the science and technology department of Bihar government were at Bhagalpur on Tuesday to review the arrangements being made for starting teaching in the institution. The team, led by Rakesh Ranjan, joint secretary in the Union HRD ministry, saw the building from where IIIT would function and also inspected the infrastructure created for the institution.

Pinakeswar Mahanta, head of mechanical engineering department at IIT, Guwahati, has been appointed director of IIIT. He was present during the visit by the officials.

Mahanta later said the IIIT would later introduce courses in some other disciplines, like information technology, robotics and bioinformatics.

The infrastructure at the temporary campus was sufficient to start of teaching at the IIIT, he said, adding that the institution would initially have 10 faculty members, who would be appointed through open advertisement.

BCE principal Nirmal Kumar said the IIIT would function temporarily from the computer science departments building of the college. While male students of the IIIT would be provided accommodation in one of the boys hostel, the girls would be lodged in the alumni hostel, he added.

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Hori Lal is worried. At 70, he is old and frail. He speaks, but is not easy to always comprehend. He walks slowly. But it is not just about himself that he is anxious. He is more concerned about the well-being of his family comprising three sons, their wives and 10 grand children.

If one person falls sick, we are in trouble. There is no money, says Lal, a farmer in Barabankis Tindwani village. Though just 20 kilometres from Lucknow, if you go by the lack of infrastructure and housing, the state of roads and power, the village could be anywhere in the remote interiors of UP.

Lal has a loan of Rs 70,000, taken in 2015, and displays his Kisan Credit Card. He is also a potential beneficiary of the UP governments loan waiver. Even as he waits to see whether his loan will indeed get written off as assured by Yogi Adityanath, the states new chief minister, he is already thinking of the next loan that he will likely be forced to take.

The fact that he may have to take another loan underlines the limitations of a loan waiver: it at best can be a temporary relief and is not a solution to the problem of low income farmers plagued by recurrent losses.

The economics of investment

Lal, for example, has 6 bighas, an acre and a half, of land. The single-most important challenge for him, every season, is finding the resources to invest.

Take the economics of potato farming.

For an acre of land, Lal - like other potato farmers in Tindwani and elsewhere - has to first buy 20 sacks of seeds, with each sack containing 50 kg. Each kg costs around Rs 24. And so the total cost for seeds is Rs 24,000.

He then has to buy fertilisers of different kinds - a 5 kilo pack of zinc sulphate for Rs 300, two packs of urea for Rs 330 each, and five sacks of DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) for Rs 1150 each. The total cost of fertilisers comes to Rs 6710.

Lal then has to till and level the land, for which he hires a tractor for Rs 500 per hour. Ten times, for two hours each, the tractor works on preparing the soil and land. Lal shells out another Rs 10,000 for it.

He then sows the seeds, for which he has to hire the tractor again, which costs him Rs 2000.

The farmers of Tindwani depend on pumps, run on diesel, for irrigation. Engines (which includes diesel rates) can be rented at  150 per hour; every acre requires at least four hours of irrigation; and it has to be irrigated seven times. The total cost for Lal on this head works out to Rs 4200.

The next step is the use of pesticides. Along with labour, which can be hired at Rs 250 per day, the costs of this would come to Rs 1500.

Watch | Why are Indias farmers seething with anger?

The final step in the cycle is harvesting. A tractor is hired, at Rs 2000 per acre. Ten labourers are hired for the day, which costs Rs 2500. And 250 sacks have to be bought, at Rs 20 each. Together, the entire harvesting exercise costs about Rs 9500.

But the cycle is not yet complete, for the farmers have to now transport and store their produce. Each sack is now packed in with 50 kgs of potato. The total produce from an acre, if all goes well, for Lal is about 125 quintals. The total cost of transporting and storing is close to Rs 30,000.

And so what constitutes for Lal his basic investment, in one crop cycle, for an acre of land, from the stage of seeds to storing the produce, is approximately Rs 87,910. With miscellaneous costs, this would go up to around Rs 90,000.

Potato farmer Kishan at his field in Bandi ka Purva village in Barabanki. (Deepak Gupta/HT Photo)

The lose-lose venture

And then how much does Lal - or any other farmer of his kind - earn?

Till Yogi government came to power in March in UP, there was no Minimum Support Price for potato. In the last season, prices had fluctuated. Local Tindwani farmers told HT that it varied between Rs 120 per sack of 50 kgs to Rs 750 per sack. On an average, this would mean about Rs 4.85 per kg of potato. At 125 quintals, this would mean a return of Rs 60, 625 for an acre of potato produce.

But it was erratic. Sometimes, we just left our produce at the storage because it cost more to pay them storage fees than what we would have recovered. So we got no money, says Lal.

To offset this problem of wild fluctuation in prices, the Yogi government has introduced an MSP of Rs 487 per quintal. But even if all his produce was acquired at this rate, it would give a farmer like Lal for an acre of his produce Rs 60,875.

But remember his investment. It is close to Rs 90,000. And so every acre of potato he cultivates, Lal is actually losing Rs 30,000.



The vicious cycle

It is because of this gross mismatch between investment and income that farmers such as Lal end up taking loans. They do not have money for the seeds, the fertilisers, the irrigation, the pesticides, the sowing, the harvesting, the transport and storage because they have actually lost money.

Weddings in the family and emergencies like illnesses force them to sell part of their land holdings. Novembers demonetisation did not help. It left even lesser money for investment and so the crop produce for some of the potato farmers of Tindwani went down.

The Yogi governments decision to waive off loans up to Rs 1 lakh, for small and marginal farmers with less than a hectare of land, may benefit Lal. But it wont solve his problem.

Where would he get the money to make a fresh investment? I will take a loan again. What else can I do?

Why did he then cultivate potatoes in the first place?

Lal says he has no other option. What else can we do? This is what my family has always done. This is all we know. At least, it gets us some vegetables for the home. Lal says sending his sons out to work is not a solution: they were unskilled and would get Rs 250 as labour charges for a day, which they could get in the village too. At least we are together.

It is this underlying driver of despair - limited cash reservoir to make investments, losses on produce because of low price, and thus a further push into deprivation - which is causing despair. The UP governments decision to waive off loans has triggered a nation-wide demand for the same, but Lal knows it is only a matter of time before he is back, standing in the queue for another loan.

This is Part 3 of our series, #BeingAFarmerNow. Part 1 focused on the new age farmers of Madhya Pradesh while Part 2 examined how big-ticket projects cheat farmers out of their land.

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India is Afghanistans most reliable regional partner, the Pentagon has said in its latest Afghan report, the first under the Trump administration.

India is providing significant training opportunities for Afghan officers and enlisted personnel. Approximately 130 Afghans travel to India each year to attend various military academy and commissioning programs, it said in the six- monthly report to the US Congress.

India is Afghanistans most reliable regional partner and the largest contributor of development assistance in the region, including civil development projects such as the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam and the Afghan parliament building, the Pentagon added.

According to the report which covers the period of December 2016 to May 2017, India has donated limited security assistance, most notably four Mi-35 aircraft.

In May 2016, India, Iran and Afghanistan signed the Chabahar Port agreement opening a trade route into Central Asia and Europe and allowing for the bypass of Pakistan, the Pentagon said.

India enjoys close relations with Afghanistan, and both accuse common neighbour Pakistan of not doing enough to stop Islamist militants operating on its territory.

India provided development aid of Rs 221 crore to Afghanistan between April 1, 2016 and March 27, 2017, according to official figures.
Indias population could surpass that of Chinas around 2024, two years later than previously estimated, and is projected to touch 1.5 billion in 2030, according to a UN forecast.

The World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that currently China with 1.41 billion inhabitants and India with 1.34 billion remain the two most populous countries, comprising 19 and 18% of the total global population.

In roughly seven years, or around 2024, the population of India is expected to surpass that of China, the report said.

The 2017 Revision of World Population Prospects is the 25th round of official UN population estimates and projections.

In its 24th round of estimates released in 2015, it was projected that the population of India will surpass that of Chinas by 2022.

The new estimates released here today said that in 2024, India and China are expected to have roughly a population of 1.44 billion each. After that, Indias population is projected to continue growing for several decades to around 1.5 billion in 2030 and approaching 1.66 billion in 2050, while the population of China is projected to remain stable until the 2030s, after which it may begin a slow decline.

Indias population may eventually see a decline in the half century after 2050 to 1.51 billion by 2100 but it will still be the most populous country in the world.

In India, life expectancy at birth will be 71 years in 2025-2030, growing to 74.2 years in 2045-2050. The under-five mortality rate will decline from 32.3 deaths under age five per 1,000 live births in 2025-2030 to 18.6 in 2045-2050.

The report said the current world population of 7.6 billion is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100.

With roughly 83 million people being added to the worlds population every year, the upward trend in population size is expected to continue, even assuming that fertility levels will continue to decline, it said.

Ten countries are expected to account collectively for more than half of the worlds projected population increase over the period 2017-2050: India, Nigeria, Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the United States, Uganda, Indonesia and Egypt.

Among the ten largest countries worldwide, Nigeria is growing the most rapidly. Consequently, the population of Nigeria, currently the worlds 7th largest, is projected to surpass that of the US and become the third largest country in the world shortly before 2050.

Further, large and persistent economic and demographic asymmetries between countries are likely to remain key drivers of international migration for the foreseeable future. Between 2015 and 2050, the top net receivers of international migrants (more than 100,000 annually) are projected to be the US, Germany, Canada, UK, Australia and Russia.

The countries projected to be net senders of more than 100,000 migrants annually include India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Indonesia.

The report said that in 2010-2015, around 46% of the worlds population lived in intermediate-fertility countries, where women have on average between 2.1 and 5 births over a lifetime.

Intermediate-fertility countries are found in many regions, with the largest being India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico and the Philippines.

In 2045-2050, it is expected that slightly less than a third of the worlds population will live in countries with fertility in this range. By that time, most of the worlds population will be living in countries with relatively low levels of fertility, where women bear fewer than 2.1 children on average.

The report highlights that a reduction in the fertility level results not only in a slower pace of population growth but also in an older population. Compared to 2017, the number of persons aged 60 or above is expected to more than double by 2050 and to more than triple by 2100, rising from 962 million globally in 2017 to 2.1 billion in 2050 and 3.1 billion in 2100.

Population ageing is projected to have a profound effect on societies, underscoring the fiscal and political pressures that the health care, old-age pension and social protection systems of many countries are likely to face in the coming decades, it said.

Substantial improvements in life expectancy have occurred in recent years. Globally, life expectancy at birth has risen from 65 years for men and 69 years for women in 2000-2005 to 69 years for men and 73 years for women in 2010-2015.
Showcasing policy initiatives for defence production in India, defence minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday invited Russian firms to join hands with Indian companies in developing high-end military platforms and weapons systems.

In an address at a leading forum for technological development, Jaitley said Russian defence majors which already have a long experience of working in India are well placed to take advantage of the policy changes effected to encourage tie-ups between Indian and foreign companies.

Jaitley, here on a three-day visit, asked Russian companies to come forward with proposals for technology transfer to Indian companies and facilitate manufacturing of advanced military platforms.

We have initiated a series of policy and procedural changes to facilitate tie-ups, including joint ventures and technology partnerships between Indian and foreign companies.

Russian companies, which already have a long experience of working in India and working with India are well placed to take a leading role in this process, he said.

In a major step towards defence indigenisation, India last month unveiled a strategic partnership model under which select private firms will be engaged along with foreign entities to build military platforms like fighter jets, submarines and battle tanks.

In the days to come, we hope to fully harness the energies, entrepreneurial spirit and enterprise of the private sector in the area of defence manufacturing.

Here again, Russia as Indias largest, oldest and most trusted partner in defence hardware and equipment, would have a comparative advantage in partnering with Indian companies for realising Make in India potential in defence production, Jaitley said in his address at the plenary of TECHNOPROM 2017.

The defence minister said Indian companies are already gearing up by developing capabilities for design and development of military systems.

I invite Russian companies to come forward with proposals for technology transfer to Indian companies and facilitate manufacturing of more advanced components/parts and sub-systems. This can start with platforms of Russian origin where the requirement is in large numbers and is recurring in nature, he said.

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.

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.
Air India and Jet Airways will operate additional flights to Qatar to meet higher demand from Indians wishing to travel home for the holiday season after several Gulf countries snapped air links, officials said on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia and its allies have closed their airspace to flights to and from Qatar, which they have accused of backing terrorism and causing instability in the region.

The additional flights, sources in New Delhi and Doha said, should not be seen as a move to evacuate Indians working in Qatar.

These flights are absolutely not for an evacuation. They are only to help address the increased demand during the Eid holiday season as a result of the cancellation of many flights via the United Arab Emirates, a source told Hindustan Times.

The decision on starting the additional flights from June 22 was made after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj spoke to civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju to make arrangements for the travel of Indian expatriates, especially those from Kerala.

Qatar is home to more than 650,000 Indian nationals, many of them Kerala.

We'll operate addl. flights b/w Doha & Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin and Mumbai for our citizens not able to get tickets at Doha @SushmaSwaraj  Ashok Gajapathi Raju (@Ashok_Gajapathi) June 21, 2017

All steps necessary for timely movement of our citizens from Doha will be ensured. I and @SushmaSwaraj ji are in touch on this issue.  Ashok Gajapathi Raju (@Ashok_Gajapathi) June 21, 2017

Well operate addl. flights b/w Doha & Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin and Mumbai for our citizens not able to get tickets at Doha, Raju said in a tweet.

All steps necessary for timely movement of our citizens from Doha will be ensured, he said in another tweet, adding he and Swaraj are in touch on this issue.

Air India Express will operate flights on the Trivandrum-Doha-Cochin-Trivandrum route from June 25 to July 8. Jet Airways will fly the Mumbai-Doha-Mumbai route from June 22.

Three Indian airlines  Jet Airways, IndiGo and Air India Express  currently fly from several destinations in India to Doha. Qatar Airways operates flights from Doha to Indian cities.

India has been closely monitoring the situation in Qatar after Saudi Arabia and its allies snapped diplomatic ties and closed air, sea and road links.

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A farm crisis sweeping several states left its mark on the International Yoga Day celebrations on Wednesday as several politicians used the occasion to send a message about the agricultural distress.

Farmers and Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders performed Shavasana (a corpse pose) in different programmes to protest against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, whom they hold responsible for the death of five farmers in police firing in Mandsaur two weeks ago.

Madhya Pradesh state congress president Arun Yadav along with party workers perform the shavasana to protest against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Bhopal on Wednesday. (Mujeeb Faruqui/HT)

In Bhopal, a group of farmers under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh headed by Shivkumar Sharma Kakkaji performed Shavasana.

In Uttar Pradesh where chief minister Yogi Adityanath approved a loan waiver two months ago, hundreds of farmers blocked roads and highways to perform shavasana.

The members of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) and their supporters demanded immediate compensation for the families of farmers killed in Madhya Pradesh.

 We selected shavasana because we wanted to show the government that farmers are reduced merely into a dead body if they are not treated well. Farmer dont deserve bullets if they demand good rates or loan waiver , said Bhartiya Kisan Unions Alok Varma.

A group of farmers with BKU blocked the traffic on the Delhi- Dehradun highway in Daurala area on Wednesday by. Dharmendra Malik, the Unions spokesperson said that the farmers also performed Yoga on Delhi- Saharanpur- Hardwar highway at Chutmalpur in district Saharanpur, Mansoorpur, Rampur Tiraha, Lalukheri and Budhana in district Muzaffarnagar, Hapur chungi in Hapur and many other locations on different highways.

There was another group that blocked the Delhi- Pauri highway in Mawana town. Nawab Singh Ahlawat and Sanjay Dauralia were among the BKU leaders that led the protests in Daurala.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis performs yoga with 600 farmers children. (HT photo)

In Mumbai, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis performed yoga with 600 farmers children. Yoga, which is integral part of India culture, not only helps with physical fitness but also boosts efficiently and confidence. I appeal to make Yoga an inseparable part of your life, the CM tweeted after the 30-minute session. This came in the backdrop of farmers demanding a full loan waiver from the Maharashtra government to offset a price crash following a bumper crop.
ELKO  Lightning may have sparked wildland fire season in northeastern Nevada with two blazes this week.

The Rock Creek Fire was reported Monday night. The fire was originally reported to be five acres but grew to 30, and eventually 56.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday. Nevada Division of Forestry and resources from Battle Mountain, Carlin, Wells and Elko all responded to the incident.

Another wildland fire, named Red Spring, was reported at 2:05 p.m. Tuesday in the Huntington Creek area northwest of Jiggs.

By 5 p.m. the blaze had burned about 10 acres, according to the Interagency Dispatch Center website.

Bureau of Land Management Public Affairs Officer Greg Deimel said fires like this can grow rapidly.

By the time you start digging perimeters and everything else the fire is still moving, he said. They had quite a few resources on the (Rock Creek) fire and they have requested some air drops as well.

Deimel also pointed out that Rock Creek was the first fire this year caused by lightning as a weather system that produced lightning but little rain passed through the area Monday evening.

The Red Springs Fire was still burning late Tuesday evening and blew clouds of smoke thick enough to block the view of the Ruby Mountains in some areas of Spring Creek. Spring Creek is about 25 miles away from the area where the fire was located.

The district and the BLM sent two engines to the fire.

The cause has not yet been determined but lightning is a possibility.

Firefighters were still attempting to contain the Red Springs Fire heading into Tuesday evening.

Deimel said he hopes weather patterns that produce lightning will also bring rain this summer.

In north Elko there was very little rain but tons of wind and quite a bit of lightning, he said. Thats not good. Whats better is lots of rain if you have lightning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a gathering of over 50,000 yoga enthusiasts at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan on Wednesday on the third edition of International Yoga Day. UP governor Ram Naik and chief minister Yogi Adityanath and cabinet ministers were also be present at the event.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion, the Prime Minister said yogas immense popularity outside India is high and has connected the world with India. I am glad to see several yoga institutes take shape over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing, he said at the event.

Thousands of people joined ministers and political leaders across the world to perform yoga. Mammoth gathering at the United Nations marked the exponential growth in their awareness of yoga, said Indias permanent representative at the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin.

Here are the highlights:

9.00am: Activist Anna Hazare and Union minister Ananth Kumar perform Yoga in Bengaluru.

8.55am:

#WATCH Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Amit Shah and Baba Ramdev participate in a Yoga camp in Ahmedabad #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/JzBKTEq9cN  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

8.30am: Congress workers in Bhopal perform the Shavaasana to protest against farmers killed in police firing in Mandsaur.

Bhopal: Congress workers do the 'Shavaasana' on #InternationalYogaDay to protest against farmers killed in police firing in Mandsaur,MP pic.twitter.com/hOMMnnAgY6  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

8.15am: Yoga guru Ramdev and Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani participate in a yoga camp here. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah also graces the event.

8.10am: Indias permanent representative at the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin, says mammoth gathering at the United Nations marks the exponential growth in their awareness of yoga.

8.06am: Thousands of people of different nationalities took part in various events organised in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the eve of the International Yoga Day.

8.05am: People practise yoga at CyberHub in Gurgaon.

7.58am: Union minister of state for women and children welfare (independent charge), Krishna Raj, participates in a yoga event at Eklavya stadium in Agra.

7.55am: Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan performs yoga in Bhubaneswar. Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu participates in the International Yoga Day programme at the A Convention Centre.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan does Yoga in Bhubaneswar #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/Nr4VUDVN7T  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

7.47am: Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik, chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya perform yoga in Lucknow

7.42am: Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh performs yoga in Raipur.

7.40am: Yoga being performed at Aligarh Muslim University, at backdrop of Taj Mahal on other side of Yamuna and Mehtab Bagh in Agra.

7.36am: In many places, Samajwadi Party leaders are seen taking out bicycle rallies.

7.35am: Yoga being performed at the USA embassy in Delhi.

7.34am: Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Acharya Balkrishna perform yoga in Guwahati.

7.32am: Some participants run away with yoga mats when PM Modis yoga session is still on

7.30am: BJPs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind joins yoga event in New Delhi.

7.24am: Delhi Police practice yoga: Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame, the Delhi Police tweets.

'Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.' pic.twitter.com/kDnCl0tr6l  Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) June 21, 2017

7.21am: Rain plays spoilsport at Eklavya sports ground in Agra.

7.20am: Before performing yoga, MP chief minister Chouhan addresses the participants. Yoga is necessary for students to keep themselves mentally and physically fit, says Chouhan.

Participants perform yoga at Lal Parade Ground in Bhopal. (Mujeeb Faruqui/HT Photo)

7.19am: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is performing yoga with 5,000 people at Lal Parade Ground in Bhopal.

7.14am: Uttarakhand is fully decked up to celebrate the third International Yoga Day. Hectic preparations were going on for the past three days to convert Uttarakhands most happening sporting field Parade ground into a huge yoga venue.

7.11am: Some yoga enthusiasts joined PM Modis yoga session while others prefer to remain in shade as its raining heavily.

7.09am: Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, BJP leader Vijay Goel, Delhi L-G Anil Baijal are present at the NDMC International Yoga Day at Connaught Place.

7.08am: Big screens relaying PM Modis speech from Lucknow to Allahabads Parade ground.

7.06am: The Prime Minister says yoga is about health assurance. It is not even expensive to practice, he adds..

7.05am: Apart from fitness, wellness is important. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness, says PM Modi at Lucknow celebrations.

7.04am: Indian Naval Cadets perform yoga on the deck of INS Virat on the eve of International Yoga Day in Mumbai.

7.00am: Prime Minister Modi says: I am glad to see several Yoga institutes take shape over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing.

6.59am: Yogas immense popularity outside India is high and has connected the world with India: PM Modi.

6.58am: Yoga has been a part of every Indian household, says PM Narendra Modi.

6.55am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses gathering at the International Yoga Day celebration ground, conveys my greetings to all those joining the Yoga Day 2017 celebrations all over India.

6.51am: I welcome the Prime Minister to Lucknow and am happy he is joining the Yoga Day celebrations here with us, says UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

6.50am: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath speaks at the venue, thanks volunteers for waiting patiently despite rainfall.

6.47am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Lucknows Ramabai Ambedkar maidan for International Yoga Day celebrations.

6.46am:School students practise yoga at Parade ground near banks of Sangam, the holy confluence of Gangs and Yamuna performing yoga in Allahabad.

6.45am: Continuous rainfall in Lucknow spoils Yoga Day preparations at Ramabai Ambedkar ground, venue of PM Narendra Modis third international Yoga Day event.

(With inputs from Pawan Dixit, Hemendra Chaturvedi, Oliver Fredrick, K Sandeep Kumar from Uttar Pradesh, Prithviraj Singh from Dehradun, Shruti Tomar from Bhopal, Srinivasa Rao Apparasu from Hyderabad)
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday broke ranks with the opposition to support the NDAs presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, virtually paving the way for the BJP to sail through in the presidential polls.

National spokesperson of the JD(U) K C Tyagi made a formal announcement in the evening about the JD(U)s decision support Kovind.

We had discussions with party MLAs and it was decided to support Kovind. The MLAs were of the opinion that Kovind is a good man and had a non-controversial stint as Governor of Bihar, he said.

Tyagi also said his party would continue to work for opposition unity even though he refused to comment on whether the opposition parties had suffered a big jolt due to JD(U)s decision to support the NDA nominee. The partys decision to support NDA nominee should be seen in isolation. We will continue to work for opposition unity in coming days, he said.

Earlier in the day, the partys MLA from Sonebarsa in Saharsa district Ratnesh Sada told reporters that Nitish Kumar had expressed his intent to support Kovind as he is a good man with Bihar connection and has proved to be non-controversial during his stint at Raj Bhawan till recently.

Several non-allies of the BJP like BJD, TDP and factions of AIIDMK have also backed Kovinds candidature which has tilted the scales in the BJPs favour.

With 71 MLA and two MPs, the JD(U) has substantial vote in terms of first preference votes on which a president is elected.

This is the second time when JD(U) has thrown a surprise in presidential polls by going against its allies. In 2012, it had supported Congress led UPAs presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee defying the then coalition partner BJPs pick P A Sangma for the post of ceremonial head of the country.

This time, JD(U)s decision to go with BJP-led NDAs pick for president has come as a setback to the Congress and Left parties which are keen to put up a strong fight in the presidential contest due to ideological differences with the BJP.

Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar is considered as one of the top candidates of the opposition for presidents post although a final decision is likely to made on Thursday when Congress chief Sonia Gandhi along with other opposition parties meet in New Delhi.

Tyagi said the JD(U) would not be attending the meeting.

JD(U)s senior partner in grand alliance, RJD adopted a guarded stance on Nitish Kumars decision to support Kovind stating that it would not have any impact on the health of the grand alliance government in Bihar. The RJD said there was past precedence of parties voting independently in presidential polls.

Even Shiv Sena being an ally of BJP had supported UPA candidate Pratibha Devi Singh Patil in 2007 presidential polls, RJDs national spokesperson Manoj Jha said.

But a senior RJD MLA Bhai Virendra said the JD(U)s decision to support NDAs presidential nominee was unfortunate.

The JD(U) stand to side with NDA in the presidential poll has once again brought to fore fissures within the grand alliance and a lack of unity in the opposition ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In the past few months, Nitish kumar has raised eyebrows and evoked strong reaction from allies including RJD for having supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his demonetisation drive, surgical strike and also attending Modis lunch with Mauritius Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth and skipping the lunch hosted by Sonia Gandhi to discuss an opposition unity for presidential polls.

The political element of the Kumars decision to support Kovind cannot be ignored.

Sources said the JD(U)s support to Kovind was an astute move by the JD(U) strongman to consolidate his dalit and maha-dalit vote base in Bihar given the fact the 71-year-old NDA pick for president hails from scheduled caste in Uttar Pradesh. Kovind belongs to the Koli caste, one of weakest sections among scheduled caste similar to caste groups defined in maha-Dalit community in Bihar.

Kovind has an impeccable track record as an administrator and kept a rather neutral stand as Governor instead of making Raj Bhawan a hub of BJP leaders as like previous picks of BJP like Ram Naik and Kesri Nath Tripathi. Kovind also has a Bihar connection and belongs to the maha-Dalit community. So, we thought it prudent to support him, said a senior JD(U) MP, seeking anonymity.

Kumars decision to support Kovind was discussed at the partys core committee meeting attended by 50-60 MLAs, MPs and senior leaders including K C Tyagi at the CMs official bungalow.

Meanwhile, reports said JD(U) veteran Sharad Yadav who was seen till recently as a probable opposition candidate, went straight to state guest house instead of meeting chief minister Nitish Kumar at his residence soon after arriving from New Delhi. It set off speculations that Yadav was personally not happy with JD(U)s decision to support Kovind.

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Karnataka will waive cooperative bank loans to farmers, becoming on Wednesday the latest state to offer a write-off amid growing farm unrest in the country.

Loans worth Rs 8165 crores will be waived, benefitting 22,27,506 farmers across state, tweeted chief minister Siddaramaiah.

Loans up to Rs 50,000 taken till this June 20 will be waived.

The partial waiver is expected to bring relief to farmers in a state reeling under three consecutive years of drought. Sowing in the previous year was down by about 40%, according to the Karnataka Agricultural Prices Commission.

GC Byyareddy, a member of the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha, a farmer organisation, welcomed the move but said the decision was taken because the government was under pressure after write-offs announced by other states.

According to us, loans from cooperative banks forms only about a fourth of formal credit. So, the major relief will only come if loans from nationalised banks are waived, he said.

The states Congress government said the major proportion of crop loans were from nationalized banks and the chief minister wants the Union government to waive such debts.

Siddaramaiah said in the assembly that Karnataka farmers owed around Rs 42,000 crore and Rs 10,736 to nationalised banks and cooperative banks.

I now challenge the BJP state unit to convince the central government to waive the remaining debts, he said.

The BJP countered that the loan waiver was the result of pressure exerted by the party but the amount fell short of expectations.

We were demanding a waiver of loans up to Rs 1 lakh, state BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa said.

The move follows Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab announcing loan waivers and a violent rural strike demanding debt relief in Madhya Pradesh, which left five farmers dead in police firing in Mandsaur.

In Maharashtra, ruled by the BJP, farmers are clamoring for a bailout after two years of drought and falling commodity prices. In Punjab, known as Indias grain bowl, the Congress won last months election partly on the promise of a farm loan waiver.

In southern Tamil Nadu, reeling from dry weather, a court asked the state government to write off loans to all farmers. Farmers from the southern state recently protested in New Delhi, showing the skulls of neighbours who had committed suicide to press their demand for drought relief and loan write-offs.

The outburst of discontent poses a challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has promised to double farmers incomes over the next five years.

Two-thirds of Indias population of 1.3 billion depends on farming for their livelihood, but the sector accounts for just 14% of gross domestic product, reflecting a growing divide between the countryside and increasingly well-off cities.

Devika Kher, a policy analyst at Bengaluru-based think-tank Takshashila Institution, said it was a question of utilising revenue more productively.

In the long term, the state government will have to think of a way of increasing revenue from agriculture.

(with inputs from agencies)

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Arrested former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan was taken to a state-run hospital on Wednesday evening when he complained of chest pain after he was brought from Chennai and sent to the Presidency correctional home (jail) here.

Karnan complained of chest pain at the airport itself. He was checked by our doctors there and then brought to the Presidency correctional home where he complained that his chest pain had aggravated, a senior official at the Presidency correctional home (jail) here told PTI.

It was learnt that the 62-year-old Karnans blood pressure was found to be quite high and doctors at the Presidency correctional home prescribed him to be taken to the state-run SSKM hospital for further check-up.

Asked whether Karnan was likely to be admitted to the hospital, the officer said it depended on the doctors who were conducting the medical check-up of the former judge.

He is old and seems to be unwell too. We do not want to take any chance. An ECG was done on him, he said.

Earlier, a team of state CID officers brought him by an Air India flight, a senior police officer said.

Karnan, dressed in white shirt and trouser, came out of the airport escorted by policemen in civil dress. He was whisked away by the police when the reporters tried to approach him.

Tight security arrangements were made at the airport where senior police officers, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, were present.

Karnan had been evading arrest since the May 9 Supreme Court order awarding him a six-month jail term and was arrested last night by a team of West Bengal CID from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km from Coimbatore, where he was allegedly hiding for the past few days.

The former high court judge was brought to Chennai from Coimbatore by a private airline past midnight yesterday and later accommodated in the retiring room in the airport complex amid tight security.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping in Coimbatore who traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls. Tamil Nadu police provided the technical support to trace his whereabouts, a senior local police officer had said.

Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, had retired from service on June 12 as a fugitive.

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, had sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.
President Pranab Mukherjee urged all Indians on Wednesday to turn yoga into a habit in order to lead a healthy life.

Kicking off the third edition of the International Yoga Day celebrations at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mukherjee said the ancient Indian practice was useful for curing physical as well as mental disorders.

In ancient India, all disciplines were integrated to appear as one in the form of yoga. I advise you to continue practising yoga throughout the year, Mukherjee told a gathering of enthusiastic children, youths and elderly people.

Regular practice of yoga will not only help you have a fit body and a sound mind, but it will also take care of all disorders -- mental and otherwise, he added.

The President wished everyone a healthy life and credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking the initiative to propose celebration of the International Yoga Day on June 21, which was later accepted by the UN.
A white SUV carrying a special prisoner sped past a battery of journalists outside Presidency Correctional Home at 3.15pm on Wednesday.

The waiting media could hardly get a glimpse of retired Calcutta high court judge CS Karnan, who was sentenced to six months in jail by the Supreme Court after a long judicial standoff.

Once a judge, he will now be within the British-era Presidency jails high walls that hold about 2,000 undertrial prisoners and convicts.

But the 62-year-old Karnan was not treated like common prisoners. People in custody are generally sandwiched between policemen. He was allotted the right window seat in the vehicles mid-section.

He is this centurys most high-profile prisoner in Presidency jail, which has seen crucial moments from Indias struggle for Independence.

It was here dangerous revolutionary Aurobindo Ghoshs attained divine enlightenment and transformed into Rishi Aurobindo, and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose held his famous hunger strike during the early 1940s.

It was at a solitary cell called Six Degree, renamed Aurobindo Cell, that Ghosh wrote The Life Divine. Another cell on the first floor of European Block is now called Subhas Cell.

Other prominent prisoners were Sarat Chandra Bose, revolutionary poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and Barindra Kumar Ghosh.

Freedom struggle heroes Kanailal Dutta, Satyendra Nath Bose, Charu Charan Bose, Birendra Nath Dutta Gupta and Gopi Mohan Saha were hanged here.

Karnan is Indias first high court judge to land in jail for contempt of court. He retired on June 12.

Earlier in the morning, a Supreme Court vacation bench of justices DY Chandrachud and SK Kaul rejected Karnans bail plea and refused to suspend the sentence.

He was absconding for almost a month and was arrested by a West Bengal police team from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. He was flown to Kolkata on Wednesday from Chennai.

His medical, a mandatory procedure before anyone is interned, was conducted at the NSC Bose international airport compound.

At the airport, he mumbled something to journalists. But none could catch his words.

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A police team searching for Calcutta high courts former judge CS Karnan knew about his hiding place in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu for three days before moving in to arrest him, the West Bengal police chief said on Wednesday.

We knew about his (Karnans) whereabouts three days back. We were tracking phone calls of people close to him and we also have our own sources, director general of police Raj Kanojia told IANS in Chennai.

Kanojia spoke at the Chennai airport before boarding a flight to Kolkata.

According to him, this was a unique case he handled in his entire service and maybe no other police officer will be handling such a case in a long time to come. Tracking Karnan was difficult. It was a difficult case, Kanojia said.

Karnan, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt but was untraceable, was arrested on Tuesday near Coimbatore, around 500 km from Chennai.

Karnan was eluding arrest for more than a month.
The AIADMK (Amma), led by chief minister K Palaniswami, announced its support to NDAs presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday.

The announcement came two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up Palaniswami to seek his partys support for the National Democratic Alliance nominee.

A press release issued by the AIADMK headquarters here recalled the Prime Minister calling up palaniswami, who is also party headquarters Secretary, seeking support for Kovind and said the matter was discussed on Wednesday by the high command.

Based on the deliberations, it was decided to unanimously extend support to Kovind, the release said.

On Tuesday, party leader TTV Dinakaran had said in Bengaluru after meeting his aunt VK Sasikala in a jail there that AIADMK (Amma)s stand on backing the NDA presidential nominee would be decided by her.

He had told reporters that, It (the partys stand on presidential poll) will be decided by partys general secretary Sasikala.

Asked whether the party would support Kovind, he had said That also will be decided by (party) general secretary.
A German lady has approached the Delhi police alleging that she was raped by her Punjab-based husband and father-in-law.

According to the victim, she got married to the Punjab-based man in Germany. The couple returned to India and started staying with the mans family in Punjab.

She has alleged that her father-in-law and husband sexually assaulted her, police said.

The woman said her husband left her at a hotel in Paharganj in the city, they said.

A complaint was received by the Paharganj police station in this regard. However, no FIR has been registered in the matter.

Police said they were examining the complaint.
Ten days after a minor girl, raped allegedly by a cop, went missing, the Katihar police have not registered a formal complaint, leaving her beleaguered father running from pillar to post.

While the victims father believed that his daughter had been kidnapped, the police said the girl had eloped with her lover.

The girl, a student of class 10, was raped allegedly by a police constable at Balram village in Katihar district, 300 kms east of Patna, in February. Though the police lodged a case in connection with the minors rape, naming a cop as an accused, it was yet to apprehend him. The victims father suspected that the accused could have kidnapped his daughter when she went to attend to natures call on June 10.

He alleged that the cops were not helping his cause in recovering the girl, as they had not lodged a formal complaint as yet about the girl going missing from June 10.

Asked why the police had not registered the villagers complaint, station house officer (SHO), Amdabad, Ajeet Kumar, said: The complainant did not write the application properly. I have asked him to write it afresh.

Kumar accepted that the rape accused had not been arrested as yet, but said the case was under investigation. He, however, hastened to add that the girl had eloped with her lover and the police were trying to locate them.

Efforts by the victims father to meet the Katihar superintendent of police (SP) proved futile on Tuesday. SP sahebs wasnt there when I visited his office today. His staff asked me to come on Thursday, said the villager on Wednesday.

I am very poor... I still want to educate all my four children, including my daughter, who despite being raped, wrote her Class 10 exams. We are now awaiting her results (on June 22), he said between sobs.

He also alleged that the accused cop had threatened his daughter that she and her father would be killed if they did not withdraw the case against him.

The police have registered an FIR, naming constable Khushi Lal Mandal of Balrampur village as an accused.

Katihar SP SM Jain could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. The staff on duty who last answered HTs call on his cellphone said, SP saheb is busy in a meeting.
Differences within the Samajwadi Party over the choice of presidential candidate came to the fore with the partys patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav taking a divergent view on the issue.

Akhilesh said his party would take a call on the matter after discussing it with other like-minded parties, including Congress, at a meeting in Delhi on June 22.

Differing with his son, Mulayam has endorsed BJP-led NDAs presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, saying its a good choice.

The BJP has given a good candidate. I have a very old relation with him, Mulayam was quoted as saying by the ANI.

In another ANI tweet, he was quoted as saying: BJP has a majority, if 1% or say 5% (of votes) is required then BJP can manage it. Cant say what opposition will decide: Mulayam Singh.

Senior Yadav was also seen sitting next to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a dinner UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath hosted in Lucknow on Tuesday night.

Akhilesh skipped the dinner.

After a bitter family feud, Akhilesh in January staged a coup by getting elected the party chief, ousting his father.

Though Mulayam is no longer the Samajwadi Party national president and does not hold any constitutional post in the party, he is the leader of the SP in Lok Sabha. The party has five MPs, including Mulayam.

Akhilesh, meanwhile, also flayed the attempt to project Kovind as BJPs Dalit outreach, saying, The Presidents post should be above caste and religion and caste and religion of a president (or a presidential candidate) should not be a matter of discussion.

On a lighter note, Akhilesh said in Sitapur UP Governor Ram Naik would have been the right choice for the BJP for the coveted post for he had worked very hard to help the party win the assembly elections in the state.

The BJP government in UP is the outcome of his (Naiks) hard work, the SP national president quipped.

Akhilesh was in Sitapur to console a family whose three members were killed by armed robbers on June 6.

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The Samajwadi Party celebrated the International Day of Yoga day on Wednesday by undertaking cycle yatras across Uttar Pradesh.

Directives were issued to partymen by SP National President Akhilesh Yadav to take out cycle yatra at all district headquarter from 6 am and later perform yoga as per their convenience at their homes.

The partys move has been seen as a counter to BJPs yoga day programme in Lucknow in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Watch: Is yoga being politicised?

On directions of SP National President Akhilesh Yadav cycle yatras were taken out in the district headquarters by respective presidents and party office bearers on International Day of Yoga to give a message of environment conservation and health awareness, SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury said.

Cycle is the election symbol of the Samajwadi Party.

Though Akhilesh has been extended an invitation by the Yogi government for the event in the city, he did not turn up at the venue.

When the SP was in power, it had shunned official celebrations on this day.
This is a conspiracy against usa sedition charge will ruin our lives, rues Yusuf Tadvi, a resident of Madhya Pradeshs Burhanpur district.

Hours ago, police arrested his two nephews on charges of sedition for allegedly celebrating Pakistans victory against India in the finals of the Champions Trophy. The two minor boys were among 15 people from the Muslim-dominated village of Mohad picked up on the charges.

The police say the arrests followed complaints from a local resident that Muslim youth were marching in the village and shouting pro-Pakistan slogans. So when a resident (Subhash Laxman Koli) complained about it, we took action against the accused, adds district superintendent (SP) RRS Parihar.

But the families say they werent celebrating at all, and that the arrests were a conspiracy to target the Muslims as they didnt vote for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Around 1.30 am, cops barged into our house, started searching and picked up my son Mehmud and took him away, while thrashing him all along. We didnt celebrate Pakistani victory at all, says Rafiq Imam, whose 25-year-old son is among the 15 arrested.

They want to polarise the village as it has substantial population from both communities, he alleges. All arrested have been sent to judicial custody.

A person convicted for sedition --- a law introduced by the British --- can be in jail for life.

Rashid says the police action has struck terror in the village and most Muslim families have sent their young children to other places to hide, as they fear police might arrest them too.

On the claims of the Muslim families that they were being targeted because they are from minority community and dont support or vote for BJP, Superintendent of Police (SP) Burhanpur RRS Parihar rubbished the allegations .

But police rubbish these charges. We took action because they were raising pro-Pakistan slogans and bursting crackers while marching in the area, doing it at main roads and crossings, says Parihar.

The families allege that the bursting of crackers was a conspiracy hatched by outsides  a charge the police say they are looking into. HT reached out to the complainant but he said he was too scared to speak.

But the families arent convinced. Gulshaer Gulzar says his younger brother Idwar Gulzar, who is in his mid-20s, was picked up on Sunday evening while he had gone out after dinner. It is a conspiracy against us, he adds.

Masood Ahmed Khan, secretary of a local Muslim advocacy group, fears such police action encourages radicalism. Over the years we have seen authorities harassing our youth in Muslim dominated areas of districts like Burhanpur, Khandwa and so on. Slapping such serious charges on our people on flimsy grounds sends a very wrong signal to the community, he says.

This isnt the first time people have been booked for sedition in the state.

In July 2016 a case of sedition was registered against the management of a private school in Shahdol districts Budhar town for allegedly marking Jammu and Kashmir incorrectly on Indias map in the school diary. In December 2015, six people were booked under sedition charges by the police for allegedly insulting Chatrapati Shivaji, Hindu-Maratha communities during a procession in Dhar locality.

In another incident, 22-year-old Mehbood Ali was booked in Sheopur district for a Facebook post in which he praised Pakistans bowling attack and spoke about celebrating their victory.

Team India faced defeat due to the terrific bowling of Pakistan team. India will not be able to forget the defeat. There is an Eid like celebration in Pakistan and I am also going to eat Kheer and mutton. Now, the supporters of Indian team are sitting in their homes and venting their anger on Facebook, the message read.

Sheopur Kotwali town inspector Sunil Khemariya said, Ali has been arrested for posting controversial statement which hurts the sentiments of people and can also lead to tension in the area.
Over 300 students gathered in a silent candle rally at the campus of Jadavpur University (JU) to support the demand for Gorkhaland on Tuesday night. Dozens of Gorkhas from outside the university also attended.

The protesters carried signs reading We support #Gorkhaland, Gorkhaland is a just demand, Withdraw armed forces from Darjeeling and Bengali travel enthusiasts cannot decide the fate of Darjeeling people.

The crowd of students were mostly Gorkhas, but included around 50 Bengalis from leftwing organisations. The rally was organised by two small political groups: the Gorkha Solidarity Forum and the Peoples Collective.

One protester, an economics undergraduate who asked not to be identified, said he had spent four days in the hills filming the demonstrations there, which had provoked an FIR being filed against him by the Kurseong police. This is the height of repression by a state, he said.

This is just the beginning, said Bimal Sherpa, another JU student, of the protest. Given the rise in atrocities against the hill people, well need to organise a series of similar events in Kolkata.

Participants said that there are more than 400 Nepali-speaking students in JU. Pratik, a PhD candidate in the economics department and a resident of Darjeeling, said that the rally would have been even bigger had it not occurred during summer break.

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A Supreme Court bench refused on Wednesday to give bail or suspend the jail term handed to former high court justice CS Karnan, who now will need to be in prison till at least July 3 when the Constitution bench that convicted him returns from vacation.

Karnan was captured in Coimbatore on Tuesday after being on the run since May 9 when the Supreme Court handed an unprecedented six-month jail sentence to him for contempt of court.

We cannot override the earlier order of the seven judge bench, neither do we intend to, said a Supreme Court vacation bench of justices YV Chandrachud and SK Kaul while rejecting Karnans bail plea.

The bench asked Karnans advocate, M Nedumpara, to approach the Constitution bench, which will sit only after the summer vacation period ends on July 3.

You have to mention the matter before the Chief Justice of India.

The court also dismissed Karnans plea to suspend the jail term till the bail matter was heard by a bench of 7 judges.

Karnan retired on June 12, the first senior judge to do so as a fugitive.

Supreme Court had last month directed West Bengal police to arrest him, but he went absconding soon after.

His 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 saga began with Karnan writing to the Prime Minister and President accusing judges of the supreme court and the high court of corruption.

In response, the Supreme Court issued a suo motu contempt case against him and summoned him to appear before a seven-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Justice JS Khehar.

The top court also ordered Calcutta high court, where he was transferred from the Madras HC, to not assign any case to Karnan. No judicial body was to recognise his orders, it said.

What followed was unprecedented. For every order issued by Supreme Court, Karnan passed a counter order, even, at one point, ordering arrest of the top court judges.

He has repeatedly claimed he has being victimised because he was a Dalit.

The top court had barred the media from reporting anything on Karnan or quoting him.
Senior White House official Kenneth Juster will be the next US ambassador to India, ending a months-long search that saw several Indian-Americans in the mix. An announcement, however, is not expected in time for Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the US starting later this week.

Ken Justers move to Indian Ambassador is because he is extremely qualified for the position, White House deputy spokesperson Lindsay E Walters told PTI about a report carried earlier on Wednesday by The Washington Post.

Ken has a strong and positive relationship with everyone in the White House, including the president, Walters added.

When asked if the Washington Post story was confirmed, another White House official, Michael Short, told Hindustan Times: No, we have no announcements to make at this time.

While the Post report also said India had endorsed the appointment, sources in New Delhi pushed back, saying the formal stage of agremont, a diplomatic process in which the host countrys assent is sought before announcing the nomination of the envoy, had not been reached yet.

Juster is currently serving as a deputy assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs and deputy director of the National Economic Council in the White House. He had been a regular on the meeting list of senior Indian officials in DC for their first meetings with the Trump administration.

Juster, a lawyer from Harvard, is an experienced India hand. As deputy secretary of commerce in President George W Bushs administration  a position roughly the equivalent of minister of state in India  he had launched the High Technology Cooperation Group to promote trade in sensitive dual-use goods and technology.

Others in the race had included Shalli Kumar, an Indian American businessman from Chicago who had emerged as one of major donors to the Trump campaign and who had been instrumental in the Republican nominees unprecedented outreach to the Indian American community.

Another Indian American, Ashley Tellis, who had played a crucial role in the finalisation of the landmark India-US civil nuclear cooperation deal as a member of the Bush administration, had also figured in the speculation.

He fully endorsed Justers reported selection, telling Hindustan Times: He is an excellent choice.
Two militants were killed in a gun battle with security forces in north Kashmirs Baramulla district on Wednesday morning, police said.

Both the militants  identified as Basit and Gulzar  were local and members of the Hizbul Mujahedeen, sources said.

The encounter took place at Pazalpora area of Sopore where the two militants were holed up inside a house.

Following intelligence inputs, a joint team of the army, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police launched a cordon and search operation on Tuesday night.

The search operation was halted for the night and resumed in the morning when the gunfight started.

Two weapons were recovered from the slain militants after the encounter.
Union urban development secretary Rajiv Gauba will be the next home secretary of the country.

The appointments committee of the Union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday cleared his appointment.

Gauba, a 1982-batch Jharkhand cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, will take over on August 30 when the current home secretary, Rajiv Mehrishi, superannuates after a fixed tenure of two years.

The order said till then Gauba will work as officer on special duty in the home ministry.

This will be second recent stint of Gauba in the home ministry. In his earlier stint as the additional secretary, Gauba looked after the Left Wing Extremism division of the ministry. Following that Gauba was appointed as the chief secretary in his parent cadre of Jharkhand.

Besides Gauba, the government cleared 16 other secretary-level appointments.

NK Sinha, a 1980-batch Bihar cadre IAS officer, will be the next secretary in the ministry of information and broadcasting. Ajay Mittal, a Himachal Pradesh cadre 1982 batch IAS officer and the current secretary in the ministry of information and broadcasting, will move to the department of personnel and training.

Durga Shanker Mishra, a 1984 batch lAS officer and presently an additional secretary in the ministry of urban development will be the next urban development secretary.

Aruna Sundararajan, who is working as the secretary in the ministry of electronics and information technology, will be the next secretary in the department of telecommunications.

Avinash K Srivastava, an lAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre and presently the secretary in the ministry of food processing industries will be the next secretary in the department of consumer affairs.

Yudhvir Singh Malik, a 1983 batch Haryana cadre lAS officer and the chairman of the National Highways Authority of India has been appointed as secretary in the ministry of road transport.

The cabinet committee also cleared the name of Subash C Garg, an lAS of Rajasthan cadre as the next secretary in the department of economic affairs. Garg was working as the Executive Director in the World Bank.

Ravi Kant, a 1984 batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, will be next shipping secretary.

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Finding Bimal Gurung, the chief of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, is fast looking like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Gurung, who is spearheading the Gorkhaland protests in West Bengals Darjeeling hills, went into hiding hours after police raided his office last week.

Since then, violence has gripped the hills as three people have died and scores have been injured. The army is out on the streets as local residents fear a long spell of instability with talks failing and hill parties pressing on their demand for a separate state.

Police say they are doing all they can to find Gurung but privately express fear that arresting him would turn him into a hero and fan further violence in the hills. The state government doesnt want to take chances to arrest him, a senior intelligence official said.

Since internet services were snapped, Gurung has changed locations several times to evade arrest, say police. He is protected and safe wherever he is. All hell will break out if he is arrested, the GJM leader added.

In the middle of the mayhem, the GJM chief is missing, and only two video messages of his recorded before the raids is doing the rounds. I will fight for Gorkhaland until the last drop of my blood, he says in one. He hasnt surfaced since nor spoken to the media.

But his absence has catapulted him to a larger-than-life figure and police say he can find shelter at any persons house in the hills. Darjeeling police have conducted a series of raids at possible hideouts but Gurung remains untraced. He is said to be incommunicado, even to his confidantes. Only a select few and trusted confidantes are aware of his whereabouts, a senior GJM leader said but refused to be quoted.

The crisis might not be resolved soon as the hill parties  including the GJM  have pulled out of the autonomous hill administration and agreed to fight on for a separate state. Police say cases have been registered against Gurung and a number of GJM leaders. I cannot divulge the details of the case or raids the police is doing but the process is on, said Darjeeling superintendent of police Akhilesh Chaturvedi.

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When Bimal Gurung, the chief executive officer of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) pulled out from the semi-autonomous power-centre in the hills of West Bengal, the battle-cry for a separate Gorkhaland state got shriller.

But what was lost in the din of the ongoing agitation led by Gurungs Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) is the concern of an estimated 5,000 employees in the 40 departments under the GTA.

What will happen to them? Who will pay their salaries? And will they have their jobs at all?

GJMs Darjeeling legislator Amar Singh Rai said the party withdrawing from the GTA will not affect its functioning.

For the time being, the GTA will be run by the principal secretary or an administrator appointed by the state government.

Many feel that scrapping of the GTA, formed in 2012 to replace the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, is only a matter of time.

Once the GTA is scrapped, it will be the state governments responsibility too rehabilitate the employees, said Neeraj Zimba, spokesperson of the Gorkha National Liberation Front, which once led a violent statehood movement under its mercurial leader Subash Ghising. Ghising passed away in 2015

The GNLF is one of the constituents of a 14-outfit alliance pressing for statehood.

A government officer who had previously served at the GTA told HT that all development projects under it will be stalled and there will be chaos.

Instead of setting up development boards for different ethnic communities among the Nepali-speaking people of the hills, the state government should have transferred all the departments as per the tripartite agreement, the officer said, referring to a pact signed in July, 2011, between the Centre, state government and GJM for creation of the GTA.

GTA has become an ineffective body with rampant corruption and too much interference by the state government, which is unfortunate, he added.

Others say the GTA has failed to serve its purpose.

GTA was the biggest mistake of the GJM and we hope that they do not repeat the same mistake by accepting any other institution similar to GTA. The people of Darjeeling are ready to go for the hardship, as the present movement in not for development but a political one, Zimba said.

It is now up to the Centre to find a solution.

Harka Bhadur Chhetri, chief of Jan Andolan Party (JAP), said that the GTA has failed to fulfill the aspirations of the hill people.

It was a failure and GJM did not learn from the mistakes of the Subash Ghising-led GNLF in settling for yet another autonomous body instead of a full-fledged state, Chhetri said.

Chhetri, who was a GJM legislator from Kalimpong and later broke away to form his own outfit, said his partys representative at the all party meeting spoke for the one-point agenda of Gorkhaland.

If not Gorkhaland, nothing, he said.

For Bimal Gurung, withdrawing from the GTA was a political necessity, experts say

It is, many believe, a last-ditch effort to maintain his political hegemony over the Nepali-speaking people in the hills and vast tracts of neighbouring Dooars.

With an adamant state government unwilling to sit for a dialogue and the pro-Gorkhaland parties reluctant to accept anything less than statehood, the people of the hills are bracing for a long hauled turmoil.

Pro-Gorkhaland parties that had been marginalised by GJM have jumped on with the all-party bandwagon to reassert their presence in the hills.

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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.

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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."
NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday joined the International Yoga Day celebrations in the national capital as he performed asanas at central Delhis Connaught Place and urged people to take up the traditional practice.

Donning a white yoga-themed t-shirt, he joined dignitaries and other enthusiasts at the iconic venue and performed routines for about 45 minutes. We are all here to do yoga. Everyone should do yoga, Kovind told reporters after arriving at the venue.

The 71-year-old low-profile Dalit leader and a two-term BJP Rajya Sabha member, resigned as Bihar Governor on Tuesday.

NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind (C), Union minister Vijay Goel and Member of Parliament Meenakshi Lekhi during International Day of Yoga celebrations at Connaught Place, in New Delhi, on Wednesday, June 21, 2017. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

The presidential nominee, who arrived in Delhi on June 19, hours after his name was announced by the BJP, has been accorded a Z+ cover of NSG commandos.

Mediapersons sought to ask questions, but were fended off by NSG commandos.

The election of Kovind 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.

The event at Connuaght Place was also attended by Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Vijay Goel, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, besides senior BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi.
As residents across the world set early morning alarms and prepare for the third International Yoga Day on Wednesday, the fervour completely eludes Saidalipur village in Haryanathe native village of yoga guru Ramdev.

During a visit to Ramdevs native village in Mahendragarh to take stock of preparations for the grand event, Hindustan Times found that villagers were not even aware of the day commemorated for yoga in 2014. Yahan koi yog nai kartashayad 20-30 log karte hongeapne apne ghar par (Here, no one practices yoga. May be 20-30 people are doing it at their home). The internal politics of this village is so complicated that people have managed to sabotage all initiatives of Ramdev, says Ramdevs classmate and Saidalipur village sarpanch Deshpal Nambardar.

Ramdev, born as Ramkrishna Yadav in 1965, did his education from the village school before proceeding for a gurukul in Khanpur, Deshpal recalls. While most of his family shifted to Haridwar, his elder brother Devdutt continues to live in the village with his wife Dhanmaya, who are presently constructing a new house near their 15-acre agriculture land.

Haryana is set to observe International Yoga Day in all districts on Wednesday in association with Ramdevs Patanjali Yogpeeth. In Mahendragarh, the main event will be marked in Narnaul, while smaller events will be organised at block levels at three places, including Nangal Chaudhary block, where Saidalipur falls. However, sarpanch Deshpal says no one from the village is willing to attend.

While most of Ramdevs family has shifted to Haridwar, his elder brother Devdutt continues to live in the village with his wife Dhanmaya. (Manoj Dhaka/HT)

Even Ramdevs sister-in-law says she will not attend the event. I practice yoga only when I am unwell. Otherwise, I dont have time to do it in my daily schedule, she says. She adds that she has high respect for Ramdev and claims that the villagers do not support him because they envy his success. Ghar ka jogi jogna, bahar ka jogi sidh (They (villagers) did not value what was available to them). Now, he has stopped trying, she says.

He had offered to set up his trusts initiative Acharyakulam  residential schools on patterns of gurukuls  on panchayat land at his native village to promote yoga, but villagers refused to give him land, she adds.

Speaking to HT, however, villagers deny her claim. He insisted that 10-acre panchayat land be given to his trust for free for Acharyakulam. Why couldnt he set up the project without demanding transfer of property? says Saroj, a resident of village.

Another lady, claiming to be an extended family member of Ramdev and requesting anonymity, says, We dont trust him since he doesnt even visit his village despite being in the district. Many people from the village had approached him for help to seek employment. But he didnt help anyone.

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With the Uttar Pradesh government set to organise a grand International Yoga Day function in Lucknow on Wednesday, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati alleged the event was a misuse of funds, resources and time.

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, Mayawati said in a press release here.

Joining issues with farmers organisations who have opposed the Yoga Day celebrations, 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 would now hold peaceful dharna at the Niti Ayog and Jantar Mantar in Delhi from next month to draw governments 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 had adopted lax attitude and are 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.
Tour the jail, get a glimpse of life behind 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.

DM Ravindra Kumar hit upon the novel idea during his two visits to Fatehgarh Central Jail in Farrukhabad district, where he came across 88 government employees and officials facing various charges, mostly corruption related.

He then sent 576 government employees to the jail to interact with inmates, including government officials, who are living in confines of the prison. His intention was to expose them to the life they could have in case they indulge in graft.

I was getting complaints everywhere that the employees werent addressing their problems; the allegations were about bribes, Kumar told HT.

The decision to send them (government employees) for a jail tour was arranged with the help of jail authorities. It has had a positive impact overall, Kumar said.

Some employees were critical of the move but it would take some time to sensitise them for the common good, he explained.

Kumar, in his short stint in Farrukhabad, suspended seven government officials for allegedly being involved in the corrupt practices. The entire process of taking action is long-drawn, an inquiry officer is appointed and he takes his own time to finish things. Normally the complexities involved not only allow the one who is charged to go unscathed, but increases the possibility of corruption again, Kumar said.

So Kumar thought it prudent to send government employees on a jail tour to have a glimpse of life there and learn a lesson from it.

Everyone has a different priority in life, ours as government officials should be public welfare and problem alleviation. A sensitive and responsible employee or official would not go for corrupt practices, he said.

About his concept of sending government officials on a jail tour, Kumar said there were 88 government employees  15 teachers, 14 policemen -- lodged in the central jail. The jail tour should act as a deterrent for corrupt officials, he said.

Among those who toured the jail included lekhpals (revenue officers) dealing in land-related matters, ration shop owners and panchayat officers, who deal with implementation of various government schemes at village level.

Heads of some departments also visited the jail.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed displeasure over rising corruption and kept it on the governments priority to rid the state from graft.

Yogi has also raised questions on the functioning of the anti-corruption organisation (ACO) in the state, 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 rank employees of other state government.
Leader of the Samajwadi Party in Lok Sabha Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday said it was a foregone conclusion that the NDAs candidate Ram Nath Kovind would be the next President of India.

A news agency tweeted its talk with Mulayam in which he was quoted as saying, The BJP has given a good candidate. I have a very old relation with him.

BJP has the majority. If 1% or say 5% is required, BJP can manage it. I cant say what the opposition will decide, he said.

Read more| Presidential poll: Nitish Kumar to back BJP pick Ram Nath Kovind, says JD(U) MLA

Though Mulayam is no longer the national president of the Samajwadi Party and does not hold any constitutional position following the Yadav family feud, he is the leader of the party in Lok Sabha. The party has five MPs including Mulayam.

Earlier, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik extended full support to NDAs presidential nominee, Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, saying that the decision to elect President is above political considerations.

Read more: Shiv Sena to back NDA candidate, Ram Nath Kovind, for president

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 governments decision.

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The designated Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act  TADA  court on Wednesday fined Firoz Khan, a convict in 1993 Mumbai blasts case, Rs2,000 for wasting the courts time.

Khan, convicted on Friday of playing a key role in the serial blasts, faces the death penalty. The TADA court on Friday held him guilty along with Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa, Tahir Merchant, Karimullah Khan and Riyaz Siddique, and acquitted Abdul Qayyum Shaikh.

Khan sought to examine two of his fellow inmates at Taloja Central Prison to prove that there were mitigating circumstances against awarding him capital punishment.

The court recorded Khans deposition on Tuesday and called the two inmates to depose on Wednesday. After the prosecution cross-examined Khan, the court called on defence lawyer Wahab Khan to examine the two.

Wahab, however, refused to do so, which irked special TADA judge GA Sanap and the prosecution. Wahab sought that the witnesses be discharged without being examined. The prosecution objected, saying the court should fine the accused for wasting the court and the states time.

To bring the two accused, who were his co-inmates, the state had to waste lot of machinery, which comes at some cost. The defense should not be allowed to get away with this. Heavy cost should be imposed on the defense, special public prosecutor Deepak Salvi argued. Judge G A Sanap agreed and fined Firoz.

Meanwhile, at the hearings conclusion, prosecution lawyers said they would open sentencing arguments on Thursday. They said they would seek the maximum possible punishment for the convicts, which would be the death penalty for Dossa, Khan, Tahir and Karimullah, and life in jail for Salem and Siddique.

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Around 3.31 lakh students enrolled for University of Mumbai degree courses in the online registration process, which ended on Wednesday. They filed 9.9 lakh applications. Students can submit multiple applications this year.

Only students who submit their online registration number with admission forms will be eligible for admissions.

The university extended its student registration deadline for undergraduate admissions by a few days this year.

June 16 was supposed to be the last date for this process but since students were still struggling to register, MU officials decided to extend it till 5pm on June 21.

While BCom has always managed to attract more students every year, even BSc has shown a growing demand over the past few years. The

admissions race keeps getting tougher with every passing year and cut-offs are bound to go up, said Kiran Mangaokar, principal of GN Khalsa College, Matunga.

While three rounds of admissions by MU will continue till July 3, colleges will be allowed to sell admission forms once again after July 4 for any leftover seats.

This round of admissions will be handled by colleges so students will have to contact them directly, said a circular released by MU.

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A passenger on a Delhi-Mumbai flight was arrested on Monday morning for repeatedly groping a woman seated next to him.

He allegedly continued touching the woman even after she complained to the air hostess, and when she got her seat changed, he allegedly asked her: You do not like to be touched?

The Sahar police said the woman is a lawyer and was on her way back to Mumbai from Delhi on a Monday morning flight. The man, Mohit Kanvar, is a Gurgaon resident.

The woman said that around 8.30am, mid-flight, the accused touched her with his left hand and left leg.

The woman said when she turned to tell him to sit properly, she saw he had kept his eyes closed. She said she then pulled down the arm rest to distance herself from him.

The woman said Kanvar then folded his right arm towards her and groped her again. This time, she alerted the air hostess, who advised the man to sit properly. He abused her for the rebuke.

The woman said she spoke to the pilot about the incident and she allowed to change her seat. When she was doing so, the accused said, You do not like to be touched?

Once the plane landed at the CST International Airport, the pilot alerted the Sahar police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

The CISF handed him over to the Sahar police. The man was booked under section 354 (molestation) of the Indian Penal Code.
A recent announcement by the Council of Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) to introduce board-level exams in Class 5 and 8 has upset Mumbai schools. They have objected to the proposal saying that it will add to the students academic burden and leave them with no time to enjoy their childhood.

Currently, board-level exams are conducted in Class 10 and 12. Schools said students find them stressful as these are projected as milestones that will determine the course of their future. So adding board exams in classes 5 and 8 will put immense pressure on students, argued educators and child development specialists.

Maharashtra will be affected more because students here are already taking competency tests three times a year. If the council implements its proposal, it will mean three major exams  competency tests, school exams and board exams  in a year for Maharashtras ICSE students.

Schools like Cathedral and John Connon School, Fort, which have scrapped exams in classes 5 and 6 , called the councils initiative regressive. If we keep assessing children constantly, when will they be free to enjoy childhood? said Meera Isaacs, principal of the school. She added that making Sanskrit compulsory till Class 8 will also add to students stress as they would have to study four languages.

According to Isaacs, Finland and Signapore have the best education models in the world and they are based on the principle of minimal formal testing and keeping the curriculum light. Instead of looking up to them, we are moving backwards, said Isaacs, adding that she plans to approach the group of Mumbais 229-odd ICSE schools to write to the council objecting to the initiative.

While the council argues that their tests will not require any prior preparation, principals said any kind of testing inadvertently creates panic among students and parents. The moment you use the word evaluation there is pressure. It will come from schools, parents, everyone, said Zeenat Bhojabhoy, principal of the Jamnbai Narsee School, Juhu.

Others suggested different ways of assessing students without adding to their pressures. The board can use the information already collected by schools through their internal assessments and there will be no need for extra tests, said Father Francis Swamy, principal, St Marys School (ICSE), Mazgaon and joint-secretary of the Archdiocesan Board of Education, which runs 150-odd schools in Mumbai.

The tests will be less stressful if the results are not published anywhere, suggested Sunita George, principal, Bombay Scottish School, Mahim. The marks of these exams should not reflect in students report cards or profile. The board or institute should keep it with them to see if the new curriculum is benefiting students and if they need to alter teaching, said George.

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The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Wednesday seized drugs worth 6 crore from a Kenyan national at Ahmedabad railway station. According to officials, the drugs were to be smuggled into Mumbai and from there, to New Zealand.

Officials from the NCB arrested John William Best, 33, from the Sarai Rohila  Bandra Garib Rath Express. He was found in possession of 587g of cocaine and 700g of amphetamine. The contraband was cleverly concealed in footwear, tie boxes and headphone boxes, said Hari Om Gandhi, zonal director of Ahmedabad unit of the NCB.

According to investigations, a supplier had given Best the drugs in Delhi from where it was to be smuggled into Mumbai and then to New Zealand through a courier, officials said. The bureau said they are trying to understand the modus operandi of the drug network.

Best offered to be a drug carrier for $100,  said Gandhi.

The agency is also investigating if Best knew Peter Chineda, a Nigerian who, on June 10, was caught from Vadodara with 747g of amphetamine and 243g of cocaine in a Delhi-Goa train.

The recent arrests of foreign nationals have led authorities to believe a cocaine-smuggling racket is thriving in the country and metro cities are being used as landing points.

On June 8, the NCB in Mumbai arrested a Bolivian national with cocaine worth 21 crore and three days later, arrested a Colombian national with cocaine worth 36 crore.

Sources said there are networks of people involved. The carriers are, most of the time, communicating with a person, who himself does not know the real drug lord.

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Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) caught a businessman with demonetised notes and foreign currency worth Rs8.26 lakh on Tuesday.

Officials said they intercepted the businessman before he left for Dubai. We searched the passengers personal bag and his checked-in baggage and recovered 5,000 pounds, 20,000 Saudi Riyals, 300 USD, 1,700 AED and 4,4000 INR. He was also carrying demonetised notes worth Rs21,500, said a senior AIU officer.

The businessman is from Ajmer in Rajasthan. He buys fabrics in Mumbai and sells them in Dubai, said officials.

The accused and his seized currency were handed over to the Sahar police, who registered a case under the Customs Act, 1962.

Demonetisation came into effect from November 8. The move was aimed at curbing corruption, black money and counterfeit notes. Police are investigating why the passenger was carrying banned notes.

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The Bombay high court recently held that only a destitute woman can seek maintenance from her husband under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) if she is unable to maintain herself. While the online process for undergraduate admissions at Mumbai University ends today, Mumbai Police, on the occasion of International Yoga Day, launched a witty road safety awareness campaign on Twitter. Not convinced with the revised norms issued by the Maharashtra government for loan waivers, farmers outfits continue to oppose the cap of Rs1 lakh proposed by the state. Also, Central Railways abruptly stopped its free WiFi service on Tejas Express on Wednesday  a month after it was launched.

Here are todays top five picks:

1. Only a destitute woman can can seek maintenance from husband: Bombay high court

Only a destitute woman can seek maintenance from her husband under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) only if she is unable to maintain herself, the Bombay high court has held. Justice KK Tated struck down an October 2014 order of a Judicial Magistrate at Sawantwadi granting monthly maintenance of Rs1,500 to a divorced woman, although she was earning Rs 8,000 per month by working as nurse in a government scheme.

2. Farmers outfits unhappy with revised norms for loan waiver, to take a final call after July 25

Not convinced with the revised norms issued by the Maharashtra government for loan waivers, farmers outfits continue to oppose the cap of Rs1 lakh proposed by state the government. They have also demanded a new set of norms for the final loan waiver. For now, they have decided to wait till the July 25 deadline for the government to meet all the demands they put up.

3. International Yoga Day: Mumbai police get witty on Twitter, promote road safety

Mumbai police have capitalised on the trending topic of the day, International Yoga Day, by posting witty tweets about road safety on Twitter with that hashtag. Addressing issues such as road rage, excessive honking and signal jumping, the Twitter handle of Mumbai police has been tweeting #TrafficAnushAasan to start a conversation about road rules. Going by the flurry of responses by citizens, the initiative seems to be a success.

4. Online registration for Mumbai University undergraduate admissions ends today

The process of pre-admission enrollment through online registration for students interested in undergraduate admission to University of Mumbai (MU) will end at 5pm today. Only those students who submit their online registration number along with admission forms to respective colleges will be eligible for admission and the first round of seat allotment will be declared on June 21.

5. Want to use FB, Insta on Mumbai-Goa Tejas Express? Too bad, train wont have free Wi-Fi now

If you planned on using the free WiFi on-board the Tejas Express to access social media or watch movies, tough luck. The Central Railway abruptly stopped its service on Wednesday  a month after it was launched. Passengers had complained of poor WiFi connectivity on the much-hyped train than runs between Mumbai and Goa. However, the decision to stop the service completely has left them fuming, said sources.
After shutting the first year junior college (FYJC) admissions website for maintenance on Wednesday, the states school education department has decided to extend the application deadline if students encounter any problems on Thursday. The site will be opened at 10 am.

Education minister Vinod Tawde had declared that the site was shut for a day after it repeatedly crashed over the weekend, unable to handle the load. The officials later said it had been repaired and students would be able to access it on Thursday. We were told by Nysa Asia, which looks after the site, that it has been repaired, said BB Chavan, deputy director of education, Mumbai region. The capacity of the servers to prevent it from crashing again.

According to the department, more than 30,000 aspirants are yet to register for online admissions, which are scheduled to close on June 27. Form filling had started from June 16. However, the last day for admissions would be extended, said officers, depending on the sites performance on Thursday.

We will give three to four days extra time to students to fill their forms if the admission portal doesnt work properly even on Thursday, said Chavan.

Guidance centres set up across the city received calls from students and parents worried about filling the forms. Some students were unaware that the site is closed for technical problems. We were flooded with calls from panicked students,who were worried what would happen to their forms, said Suvarna Sawant, guidance officer at Narayan Guru College of Commerce, Chembur.

Tawdes said on Wednesday that applications saved on the website would stay intact. Students will be able to access them and complete them once the site is repaired.

Pralahad Waghmare, guidance officer at KE Societys VK High School and Junior College, Panvel, said, There is more panic this year as online admissions are compulsory for everyone. So if any one misses out on applying, they will be left out.
Mumbai police have capitalised on the trending topic of the day, International Yoga Day, by posting witty tweets about road safety on Twitter with that hashtag.

With #YogaDay round the corner, we recommend #TrafficAnushAasan for a healthy driving experience pic.twitter.com/hJrNb3sQ2k  Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) June 20, 2017

Addressing issues such as road rage, excessive honking and signal jumping, the Twitter handle of Mumbai police has been tweeting #TrafficAnushAasan to start a conversation about road rules. Going by the flurry of responses by citizens, the initiative seems to be a success.

Innovative Ad! I liked it, more so as it is from law-enforcement agency of Maharashtra Govt (sic), said Dr S N Ojha, replying to a tweet asking motorists to opt for yoga over honking as a stress-buster.

This isnt the only occasion the department has capitalised on. At the onset of monsoon, police used the hashtag #MonsoonRelationshipGoals to advise motorists to drive carefully. The campaign was aimed at asking motorists to refrain from speeding, signal jumping and honking.

Some clicks in the first time, are for keeps for a lifetime #MonsoonRelationshipGoals pic.twitter.com/C97CThgWv6  Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) June 15, 2017

According to figures released by the Mumbai traffic police, 13,067 cases of honking were registered in 2016 and 816 penalties were levied for pressure, musical or reverse horns. In 2015, 7,326 cases of honking were registered.

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The Thane Municipal Corporation had invited around 100 Class 10 toppers of all civic schools for felicitation but made them wait outside the general body hall for more than four hours on Tuesday. The students and their parents were not allowed to sit in the public gallery and were not even offered water or snacks.

When the enraged parents decided to leave, the mayor called the students and felicitated them.

Most civic students scored well in Class 10 despite their underprivileged backgrounds and the corporation had invited 100 such students to recognise their achievement.

A parent said, We were called at 10am as the general body meeting was scheduled for noon. It began more than an hour late around 1pm and was again adjourned for another hour. All this time we were standing outside the hall, with no teacher or civic official offering us water. When some of us asked to be allowed to sit in the public gallery, they didnt let us.

Another parent added, This is not the way to treat students. All these students are busy applying for college admissions, filling forms to be shortlisted for colleges. They could have called us at noon instead.

Ex-mayor Ashok Vaity, who saw these students, said, We spend over Rs2.5 lakh in a day over any delegate visiting the corporation, can we at least provide water to these students?

Mayor Meenakshi Shinde defended the civic body and said, We called the students at noon and we will find out if their teachers had asked them to come at 10am. We will ensure that the situation is not repeated.

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Only a destitute woman can seek maintenance from her husband under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) only if she is unable to maintain herself, the Bombay high court has held.

Justice KK Tated struck down an October 2014 order of a Judicial Magistrate at Sawantwadi granting monthly maintenance of Rs1,500 to a divorced woman, although she was earning Rs 8,000 per month by working as nurse in a government scheme.

Bare reading of Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure shows that the court can award maintenance to the wife in case she is unable to maintain herself, said Justice Tated. Thus, only a destitute woman who is unable to maintain herself can take recourse to the section.

The couple had tied the knot in the last week of June 2007 and barely a fortnight later, the wife had packed her belongings and left the matrimonial home. Subsequently, the husband a filed divorce petition and in January 2010 got an ex-parte decree, as no one appeared on behalf of the wife. In August 2010, the husband got married for the second time.

In June 2012, the wife approached the magistrate court at Sindhudurg, seeking monthly maintenance under section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and acting on her application, in October 2014, the magistrate court ordered the husband to pay her monthly maintenance of Rs 1,500.

The husband approached the high court challenging the magistrate court order after his appeal against it came to be dismissed by Sindhudurg sessions court. The husbands lawyer, advocate Sara Hakim, argued that since the wife was gainfully employed and was earning Rs8,000 per month, she was not entitled to seek recourse to section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which applies only to destitute women.

The court found substance in the argument. It noted that evidence on record of the case clearly showed that the wife was earning Rs8000 per month, whereas her husband being an LIC agent did not have any permanent income. Justice Tated struck down the lower court orders as these facts were not considered by both the courts below.
In separate incidents this week, the police arrested four people for possessing fake identity documents.

The police arrested two men, one of whom had an Aadhaar card and a Nepali passport on him, from a hotel in Sakinaka on Tuesday.

The hotel owner had informed them about two suspicious men who had not stepped out of their room for two days.

During investigation, the police recovered 25 Indian passports from them, all belonging to clients who needed fake documents for tourist visas.

According to Sakinaka police, Suraj Shreshta, 35 is a resident of Delhi and Bijaykumar Pradhan, 47, is from Kolkata. Shreshta showed his Aadhaar card on being asked to produce an ID proof but the police found a Nepali passport which showed him to be from Chitwan.

The police also found a laptop, printers, fake bank statements and cover letters in the name of reputed companies.

The two made fake documents for their clients to get tourist visas for Japan, Poland and Slovenia among other countries. They have been remanded to police custody by a magistrate court on Wednesday for further probe. The passports belong to people from Hariyana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

In another incident two days back, the DN Nagar police arrested a Bangladeshi national for trying to get an Indian passport with fake documents.

Abdul Karim Shaikh has been living in India for 19 years with these fake documents, which show that he is Indian. He was caught when his documents were being verified for the passport.

The DN Nagar police said that an official from the special branch had registered an FIR with them against the Shaikh, 47, and his wife Nargis, 39. Both entered India 19 years ago and lived in Janta Colony in Gilbert Hill Road.

Officers from the special branch verified his birth certificate with the BMC found that it had never issued such a certificate. Shaikh confessed that he got his forged for Rs2,000.

Shaikh used it to get a ration card and PAN card. The couple has been arrested for cheating, forgery and illegally entering India. The couple has a 15-year-old son and three daughters aged 17, 13 and 8 years.
In a move that aims to ease the states distressed farm sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed district central cooperative banks (DCCBs) to deposit demonetised currency worth Rs2,772 crore with it by July 20.

The Opposition has, however, questioned the timing of this move. Former finance minister P Chidambaram tweeted Was the midnight notification perfectly timed with garnering support for Presidential candidate?

Hours before the notification, the Shiv Sena endorsed the candidature of NDA nominee for president Ram Nath Kovind.

The state has also asked private and nationalised banks to disburse an interim loan of Rs10,000 each to the farmers ahead of sowing season.

The DCCBs play a significant role in providing credit to the farm sector. But many of the DCCBs have been facing a liquidity crisis because the RBI had refused to exchange the demonetised currency they had accepted from their account holders  a majority of whom are farmers.

The DCCBs were allowed to accept the banned notes only till November 14, although commercial banks and post offices were allowed to accept the junked currency from the public until December 30. Demonetisation was announced on November 8.

The RBI had barred the DCCB from depositing the junked notes claiming the notes had no legitimate trail to prove. The DCCBs had moved Supreme Court for the exchange claiming the notes collected by them were legitimate. With the stacks of old notes lying with them, the DCCBs had written to the state government about their inability to disburse the interim loan of Rs10,000 crore to the farmers, which is part of farm loan waiver that will be announced in October.

The state government, which drew flak from the farmers for the delay in the disbursement of the loan, intervened and held a meeting with DCCBs, private and nationalised banks. The banks have been given a guarantee for the interim loan they disburse. The Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) [the states apex bank] will help them extend the loan, while the RBI will issue a notification that the state will repay interim loans disbursed by nationalised banks, Deepak Kesarkar, minister of state for finance said after governments meeting with state level bankers committee on Tuesday. Of the 31 DCCBs, about 16 are financially weak and will need propping from the MSCB.

The banks have been directed to begin distributing the loan within two days. The banks are likely to give out the loan by opening new accounts to reap the benefit of interest-free loan up to Rs1 lakh. The banks should disburse the interim loan to all the crop loan account holders with immediate effect, without looking into the parameters set by the government. The banks have to just take a self declaration from the farmers. The government will repay the amount of the interim loan, with interest, to the banks immediately after they have been claimed by them, Fadnavis assured the bankers during the meeting.

In Maharashtra, 31 DCCBs have a stock of Rs2,772 crore. The Pune DCCB has the highest stock of junked notes worth Rs574 crore, followed by Nashik at Rs 341 crore, Sangli at Rs 316 crore and Kolhapur at Rs 280 core.

The banks were facing financial burden of the junked notes and also had to pay interest to the account holders for the past seven months.

Besides CM Fadnavis, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had asked Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to allow DCCBs to deposit the junked notes. Fadnavis welcomed the RBI decision and said it will help them to give fresh loans to the farmers.

Pramod Karnad, managing director of the MSCB, said, The decision of allowing DCCBs to exchange the notes will help them in improving the cash flow and disburse loans to the farmers. DCCBs will disburse Rs1,350 crore as farm loans.

Hasan Mushrif, who heads the Kolhapur DCCB, said, Nabard has checked the legitimacy of the deposit of the banned notes after we moved Supreme Court. The government should also shoulder the responsibility of paying us the interest we have been paying to account holders. The daily burden of interest on the banned notes with us Rs15 lakh.
Nine Bhiwandi residents were booked for cheating the government of Rs54,000, which they were given in 2015 to build toilets as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan initiative.

The accused, Rajita Bhimarthi,24, Sudarshan Jakkani, 48, Anjana Dayawat, 68, Jyoti Chavan, 27, Shrikrishna Jha, 43, Ballya Gundu, 70, Achelal Kanojiya,27, Rajendra Gawhane, 43, and Nannehalal Gupta, 37, will soon be arrested, said police.

Police said the state gave each of the accused Rs6,000 after they said they needed to money to build toilets in their homes. However, they spent the money on household expenses instead.

The scam came to light a week ago, when Bhiwandi Municipal Corporation officials went to the houses of everyone who had applied for funds under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. They discovered that the accused had not even started construction work. Officials then lodged a complaint against the nine residents.

Sources said anyone who applies for funds under this scheme gets Rs6,000. Once work starts, the central government gives them more funds.

These men have cheated the government. We booked them under section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code, said Suresh Jadhav, senior inspector from Narpoli police station.

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Your journey from Goa to Mumbai by Tejas Express will be faster from June 22. The Konkan Railway (KR) has revised the departure time of the train from Karmali.

The train will depart at 9am from Karmali from Thursday instead of 7.30am.

However, it will continue to arrive in Mumbai at 7.45pm.

The revised time is valid only during the monsoon, when the train runs at restricted speed while crossing difficult terrain in Konkan.

After passengers said they were inconvenienced by the early departure time of the train, KR decided to postpone the departure time.

We have found the path available for the train so train could reach Mumbai without any change in arrival timing, said LK Verma, chief spokesperson of KR.

Flagged off by railway minister Suresh Prabhu, the train takes around eight-and-a-half hours to cover 630-odd km between Mumbai and Goa. But the travel time increased to 12 hours and 15 minutes from June 11 owing to the monsoon.

The change in the monsoon timings came after railway officials said that the first high-speed luxury premium train would be run on a new powerful diesel engine from Monday.

The engine, specially facelifted for the train, can run at a speed of 160kmph, faster than the current engine. It will also make the train journey safer. The Konkan route is not entirely electrified.

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Nevada is a fiercely independent state. Rural Nevadans set the bar for that independent spirit. We march to the beat of our own drum, making sure we do what is best for our communities and our families. That is why I am committed to helping Nevadas federal delegation support the fastest growing industry in our region: renewable energy.

So, we need to let our leaders know how we feel. President Trump has proposed cutting federal funding that encourages investment in renewable energy opportunities. Part of that formula includes a nearly one-third cut to budgets assuring our clean air and clean water, the basic components of the outdoor lifestyles we enjoy in rural Nevada. Budgets reflect priorities, and its evident some of ours are low on the list of this administration.

Why do budgets that protect clean air and water matter? They matter because they are directly related to investment in renewable energy.

Discouraging investment in renewable energy jeopardizes new American jobs in rural Nevada.

We are an energy producing state, and renewable energy is one of our regions most rapidly growing industries. It is gaining ground on a large share of the labor market of Nevada and bringing well-paying jobs to the I-80 Corridor. Sure, much of the growth is currently to our west, but we sit on an enormous source of geothermal energy, we have an abundance of sunshine, and a topography we already know is conducive to the development of wind energy. However, the presidents budget discourages this growth  and in doing so targets new American job opportunities for rural Nevadans.

Rural Nevada stands to gain from renewable energy development. Nevada has already attracted more than $6 billion in renewable energy investment, and continued investment could bring in more than $5 billion in wages and create an additional 92,000 construction jobs.

In 2016, solar employment grew by 25 percent, and the industrys broader labor impact including direct, indirect, and induced jobs exceeded 788,000 American jobs, producing $154 billion in total economic activity for the United States. In Nevada, we have more than 8,000 solar jobs. Importantly, American war veterans hold more than one in 10 of those jobs.

In rural Nevada, we have seen how Great Basin College is fine-tuned to respond to workforce development opportunities  it has shown it can turn on a dime to respond to industry needs. We have the educational training infrastructure in place that can be tooled to support renewable energy projects; another one of the unique advantages we have to help make rural Nevada an economic leader in renewable energy.

Senator Heller has recently commented on President Trumps budget. He criticized it as being anti-Nevada for its inclusion of $120 million in funding for the Department of Energy to restart licensing activities for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. I applaud Senator Heller for his position. However, I wish he would go further. The Presidents budget also makes cuts that discourage investment in renewable energy, and I know Senator Heller supports that sort of development on public lands in Nevada. We need his leadership to help craft a budget that will encourage development of renewable energy in rural Nevada.

I hope youll join me in reaching out to Senator Heller to thank him for his leadership and to tell him how you support a federal budget that encourages the economic opportunities renewable energy provides to rural Nevada. For the nearly quarter of a century I have lived and worked in Elko, there has always been a conversation regarding the diversification of our economy. Renewable energy is one of the best opportunities I have seen, and I think we need to make it a priority.

Join me in helping Senator Heller help rural Nevada produce new American jobs in renewable energy. Contact Senator Heller and encourage him to support a budget that inspires renewable energy investment in rural Nevada.
Homebuyers in Grand Omaxe housing complex in Sector 93B threatened to go to court over unresolved issues after builder Rohtash Goel failed to turn up for the tripartite meeting at the Indira Gandhi Kala Kendra in Sector 6 on Wednesday.

This is the second time that Goel has failed to turn up for the meeting. Buyers boycotted the previous meeting after he had failed to show up. The authoritys additional chief executive officer AK Shrivastava had also asked Goel to attend the meeting.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had directed the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities to take effective steps to resolve stuck projects. Following the CMs instructions, the Noida authority started holding meetings with buyers and builders from April 10.

Around 5,000 homebuyers in Omaxe project have been affected as the builder has failed to deliver promised facilities. Another issue that is affecting around 300 buyers is that the realtor has failed to clear land dues of Rs206 crore. The Grand Omaxe project, which consists of 1,320 flats in 22 towers, was launched in 2008. Residents shifted into the housing complex from 2011.

Miffed homebuyers said that Goels absence shows that the builder does not respect them, the authority or the commitments, which he made to them at the time of selling flats.

The builder sent a junior level person to attend the meeting despite the fact that the authority had, well in advance, asked him to be present at the meeting through a notice. We had boycotted the last meeting on the same ground. The builder does not want to pay Rs206 crore land due to the authority, which will pave the way for registration of the flats. Also, he does not want to pay us Rs12 crore, which he has pocketed in the name of interest-free maintenance security (IFMS), said PVS Prakash, secretary, Apartment Owners Association (AOA), Grand Omaxe.

We will have to go to court for justice if our problems are not resolved after this meeting, said Prakash.

Homebuyers alleged that the authority officials did not impose a penalty against the builder for not taking the meeting seriously.

The authority should impose a penalty on the builder because he has violated previous orders of the officials. The builder is fooling us but the authority is not taking any action, said Manish Gupta, a buyer.

Buyers said that the maintenance of the society is yet to be handed over despite court orders. The builder has not yet handed over the maintenance legally despite the Allahabad high courts order. The authority must act effectively now as we have been suffering for a long time, said Umong Sethi, president, AOA.

A spokesperson for Grand Omaxe said, We will hand over the maintenance to AOA soon. We are arranging funds from to clear the Rs206 crore due so that buyers can get their flats registered.

We have directed the realtor to submit a written reply to the issues raised by homebuyers in the next week. If we find that the builder is violating his commitments, we will take necessary action, Noida authority ACEO said.

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United States President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord has been met with angst from Western allies, the media and the foreign policy establishment, who have framed the move as his abandonment of US global leadership in pursuit of his nationalistic America First foreign policy.

The unfortunate truth, however, is that the US has never been a leader on the issue of climate change, nor the wider question of sustainability.

After former US president Jimmy Carter worried that too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption, Ronald Reagan criticised the whole idea that constrained resources could impact the economy. He said that there were no such things as limits to growth, and it was not whats inside the Earth that counts, but whats inside our minds and hearts.

Despite the efforts of Bill Clinton and his vice-president Al Gore on the Kyoto protocol, George W Bush abandoned the treaty once he took office. Barack Obama did what he could with climate negotiations in Copenhagen and Paris, and it was only in his second term that he made the deliberate decision to pursue a less stringent agreement to avoid passing a treaty through a polarised and obstructionist Congress. Trumps action on climate change is thus not a break from the past, but a continuation of it.

At the 1992 Earth Summit, George HW Bush stated that the American way of life is non-negotiable: A statement that holds true today. Few Americans today realise that a serious effort to tackle climate change requires Americans to change how they live. Even supporters look to technological innovation and new industries as the mechanism to tackle carbon emissions. The political narrative supports this denial: Even arguments that support tackling climate change are wrapped in promises of green jobs and energy independence.

What we need is an eco-civilisational revolution led by the developing world where the majority of people live. While it is disappointing that the US  the worlds second-largest emitter and largest per capita emitter among industrialised countries  will not contribute, the world should not be held to ransom because the domestic political processes of five per cent of the worlds population cannot treat the problem seriously.

China is now seen, perhaps begrudgingly, as the leader of the global effort to combat climate change. Beijing pledged to work with the EU to control carbon emissions, and California governor Jerry Brown, insistent on an environmental agenda despite Trump, travelled to China almost immediately after the decision.

Chinas motivations may be geopolitical (an attempt to seize global leadership from the US), economic (a way to invest in the renewable and green industries of the future), or entirely sincere (in that it understands the potential impact of rampant climate change and environmental catastrophe). But there is also a cultural argument. China is a much older civilisation and culture than the US, and predates todays consumerist, resource-intensive and materialist cultures.

And even as China embraced it to help lift people from poverty, it now seems to understand its limits. Deng Xiaoping first used the term moderate prosperity in 1979, connecting the idea to Confucian principles, and was echoed by later Chinese leaders. In 2013, President Xi Jinping called for ecological civilisation reforms to account for the environmental repercussions of Chinas development.

India too has expressed its support for tackling climate change after Trumps decision. Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that exploitation of nature is not acceptable to us. Modi too referred to Indias long history, when he stated that for the last 5,000 years, even when I was not born, it has been the tradition in India to protect the environment.

Many will dismiss this statement, given Indias current struggles with environmental protection. But theres something to this reference to Indias culture and experience  its vegetarianism, fasting and traditions of frugality. Like China, India has a long history steeped in wisdom and knowledge that predates todays industrial economies.

In contrast, the US has known little else but modern-style capitalism. To admit that its lifestyle may need to be managed in a resource-constrained future is to reject the American Dream, something that has guided the country for most of its history.

(This article first appeared in the Financial Times)

Chandran Nair is founder & CEO, Global Institute For Tomorrow

The views expressed are personal
Last week, both the President and the Prime Minister inaugurated metro lines: Pranab Mukherjee came to Bengaluru and Narendra Modi went to Kochi. Some people criticised the prime minister for not sharing the stage with E Sreedharan, the railway stalwart who led the Kochi metro project.

The criticism misses the point.

The real question we ought to ask is just why do we need the head of the Indian state and head of the Union government to inaugurate what are essentially municipal projects. The fact that they did inaugurate them reveals just how disempowered our city governments are, and why we have such terrible, unliveable cities.

Like water supply, garbage collection and street lighting, urban transport is a municipal matter. Where buses should stop, where auto-rickshaws should wait, where pedestrians should cross the road, are best decided by the municipality. If anyone argues that the bus routes and bus stops in Bengaluru, Kochi or Coimbatore should be decided by a civil servant or political leader in New Delhi, we are likely to ask that person to get his head examined. So why is the metro any different?

Oh, it involves spending a lot more money than bus routes, which is automatically seen as the reason why the Union government must get involved in municipal matters. That begs a question: Why cant Indian city governments raise the money required to spend on their own essential infrastructure?

When the constitution was written, the Railways were put under the Union list, because it was an inter-state matter. However, metro rail is not Railways, but is more like the old tramways that existed in some of our cities. Despite attempts by some states to use the old tramway acts to run metros, the Union government used safety certification and other instruments to insinuate itself into this municipal subject. In fact, metro rail shouldnt even be a matter for the state government: it is and should be a municipal subject.

Why is it not? Well, because the framers of the Constitution paid insufficient attention to municipal governanceironic, considering Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad and Vallabhbhai Patel cut their political teeth in municipal councilsand the 74th amendment that is the current basis of urban local bodies is very imperfect. Mayors of Indian cities serve largely decorative purposes and have little real power. Municipalities depend on the state and Union governments for funds and political direction.

Contrast this with US cities, where mayors have powers over everything that concerns the city. There they are directly elected by citizens. Even in China, where nobody is directlyor even elected, city officials have both authority and public accountability on urban governance issues. Thats because sensible people understand that urban leaders should be empowered to deal with urban issues. Nothing prevents them from collaborating with state and national governments where necessary, but it is the city that makes decisions.

In India, political disempowerment of our municipalities is accompanied by their fiscal disempowerment. While Union Finance Commissions have consistently done well to devolve funds to states, very few states have professionally-led and effective finance commissions. This leaves municipal (and rural) governments at the mercy of the chief minister for funding. Cities are both cash cows and orphans: the taxes that they generate go off to New Delhi and to state capitals, and disproportionately little comes back to them. They are orphans because they do not have enough assembly or parliament seats that will give them a stronger voice.

Municipalities are unable to effectively collect revenue due to them. Bengaluru could easily double its revenues if it were to introduce paid parking on a fraction of its roads. Yet it is content to seek more grants from the state government than mobilise its own resources. New Delhi and Pune are contemplating paid parking  but it does not absolve municipalities from failing to hold up their end.

Nehru, Patel and Prasad started in municipalities and went to New Delhi. Thats the right direction. Thats why getting Mr Mukherjee and Mr Modi from New Delhi to Bengaluru and Kochi is movement in the wrong direction.

Nitin Pai is director of the Takshashila Institution, a centre for research and education in public policy

The views expressed are personal
Even as chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on the budget eve announced free education for girls from nursery to the doctorate level in government institutes of Punjab, the populist measure found no mention in finance minister Manpreet Singh Badals speech on Tuesday.

Amarinder, while speaking on the conclusion of the governors address in the Vidhan Sabha on Monday evening, made several announcements that the legislators were expecting to hear on the budget day. Leaving aside the figures, which Amarinder said Manpreet would be divulging later, the speech gave a fair idea about the governments plan for the year.

However, even as the budget presented on Tuesday revealed allocations to various other announcements made by Amarinder, including free textbooks to school students, it made no mention to free education for girls.

Rs 36 crore to ensure furniture, green boards and computers in every primary school, Rs 15 crore for setting up new colleges in backward areas, Rs 10 crore to revive old colleges in the state  the budget mainly emphasised on creating and upgrading basic infrastructure in government educational institutes.

Watch: Key points from Punjab budget :

HIGHER EDUCATION

The government has decided to set up five new degree colleges in educationally backward areas with a provision of spending Rs 15 crore in the budget.

The budget also allocates Rs 10 crore to the oldest government colleges in Punjab, including those in Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Hoshiapuar, Amritsar and Patiala. The aim is to create infrastructure in these institutes and revive their old glory.

Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal also announced provision of free internet in all 48 government colleges.

The government has also increased the grant to Panjab University, Chandigarh, from the existing Rs 26 crore to Rs 33 crore for 2017-18.

HIGHLIGHTS Rs 30 crore: Free books to students in Classes 9-12 Rs 26 crore: Furniture, green boards in every primary school Rs 15 crore: Five new degree colleges Rs 10 crore: Computer in every primary school Rs 5 crore: E-library at Patiala Rs 3 crore: Urdu academy at Malerkotla

PRIMARY EDUCATION

Apart from hinting at the announcement of a new education policy soon, the government has allocated Rs 21 crore to ensure every government primary school in the state has furniture.

Rs 10 crore have been earmarked to provide at least one computer in primary schools, while Rs 5.25 crore will be spent on installing green boards.

The government also announced a new scheme to encourage competition among schools. Manpreet Badal said school adjudged best in middle, higher and secondary categories will get special financial assistance. An outlay of Rs 9.27 crore has been made for this.

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Manpreet announced an outlay of Rs 1 crore for setting up a skill development university in the state. Even as he did not reveal its intended location, technical education minister Charanjit Singh Channi said it would come up at Chamkaur Sabhi, the assembly segment represented by him.

A regional vocational training institute for girls and a regional directorate of apprenticeship will also be established at Saneta village in SAS Nagar.

PROMOTING PUNJABI

The Captain government will set up a Central Institute of Promotion and Development of Punjabi Language at Talwandi Sabo. The institute will undertake activities like digitisation and standardisation of the language besides research and translation of significant Punjabi works.

An Urdu academy will also come up at Malerkotla. Rs 3 crore have been allocated for it.

The government has also proposed an e-library at the Central State Library in Patiala. With Rs 5 crore earmarked for it, it will be connected with all major libraries across the globe.

Access to this library will be for free.

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Nine months after Panjab University vice-chancellor Arun Kumar Grover expressed apprehension that the varsity may close down by January 1, 2017, for lack of funds, finally there have been movement towards a permanent solution. The Punjab government has decided to enhance its annual grant to PU to Rs 33 crore from Rs 26 crore. The Union ministry of human resources development has offered to give an additional Rs 10 crore for 2017-18, with its total grant to be at Rs 207.8 crore for 2017-18.

Till now, there have only been piecemeal release of funds to the varsity with it having to approach court or plead before the UGC for release of salary or even for money to conduct exams. From time to time, the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana high court have been ordering the MHRD and the UGC to bail out the varsity.

For Punjab, Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal made announcement of the enhanced grant on the floor of the Punjab assembly as part of the budget. The new grant includes grant for constituent colleges too, which stands at Rs 6 crore. Effectively, the grant has been increased from Rs 20 crore to Rs 27 crore.

PU expected Rs 33 crore

The varsity had requested the Punjab government to take actual budget allocation of Rs 20 crore in 2013-14 as base and enhance it by 12.5% a year. This translated to a grant of Rs 32 this fiscal. The rate of increase was fixed as 12.5% as this is the rate at which PUs costs increase.

PU may still be short of money this fiscal, but revised estimates are being prepared. The varsity is also in touch with the Haryana government for affiliation of colleges which would also bring some money in form of grants and examination fee. The final details of the grants need approval from court as well, so there is still scope of negotiation.

According to budget projections for 2017-18, PU had a deficit of Rs 244 crore. With the Punjab governments contribution of Rs 27 crore, it will reduce to Rs 217.29 crore. With the Centres enhanced grant of 207.8 crore, it will still be in the red by Rs 10 crore.

WHY IS PU SHORT OF MONEY

Panjab University (PU) is the only university in the country which has the unique status of inter-state corporate body. But for such a long time, the institute of such high standard is gasping for funds to keep itself afloat. Why has such crippling fund crunch come in the varsitys way of function? What is the way forward for the institute to tackle the problem?

Centre, Punjab fund shortfall in 60:40 ratio

After Haryana and Himachal Pradesh withdrew support to PU, a consultative committee of central government fixed the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and Punjab government for funding the deficit of PU. Later, the Punjab government froze the contribution at Rs 20 crore. The central government also followed and put a ceiling at 176 crore in 2014-15. This was not sufficient to meet its expenses.

Why are Centre, PU not on the same page

UGC wants PU to cut down on manpower and bring ratio of teaching to non-teaching staff to 10: 11, but the latter says it is not feasible. It got conducted manpower audit whereby the number of teaching posts has been reduced to 1,378 from 1,510. The overall target is to reduce staff strength by 1,019. The UGC wants PU to keep deficit the same, but the varsity says that salaries increase every year.

The way forward

The varsity has increased the examination and tuition fee to raise funds. Meanwhile, the demand for central status for PU has also been raised for a permanent solution. A committee is looking into all aspects.

Crisis has stalled teacher recruitment

In the last two years, no new teachers were recruited. UGC wants to put a ban on recruitment of even guest faculty. The non-teaching staff will now have to be reduced. Fewer teachers and little funding has led to a drop in PU rankings among central universities.
The Sector 17 Plaza in Chandigarh was the main venue for the event of 3rd International Yoga Day on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion, union health minister JP Nadda said, In present time, Yoga is the best way to gain higher level of health and happiness. We are happy that today, Yoga is celebrated as an international day.

UT administrator VP Singh Badnore , who was the chief guest said, Yoga not only leads to the physical exercise of body like to twist, turn, stretch, and breathe in the most complex ways, it also leads the body to healthy development of mind and soul by mastering certain yoga postures or asanas with breathing techniques.

MP Kirron Kher, Ut advisor Parimal Rai, UT home secretary Anurag Aggarwal, Chandigarh BJP chief Sanjay Tandon and other senior officers of UT administration were also present on the venue. JP Nadda, VP Singh Badnore and Sanjay Tandon also performed yoga asans with the participants.

Participants during the International Yoga Day, 2017 at Sector 17 Plaza in Chandigarh on Wednesday. (Keshav Singh/HT)

A turnout of 3000 participants was expected during the event , however only around 1500 participants made it to the event Wednesday morning.

Among the participants were various collaborating organizations from the city such as Patanjali, Art of living, Govt. College for Yoga Education and Health Sector-23, Brahmrishi Yoga Training College Sector-19, Brahm Kumaris, Yoga Federation of India, Chandigarh, International Naturopathy organization, Chandigarh Yoga Sabha, Bihar School of Yoga for Physical and Mental Health, Red Cross, Chandigarh Yoga Association, Himalayan Yoga, Sachitta Yoga and Chandigarh Police.
Good news for all Dhanush fans! The much-awaited trailer and audio of Velai Illa Pattadhari 2 aka VIP 2 will be released on June 25.

Filmmaker Soundarya Rajnikanth announced the date on Twitter and wrote, Tamil, Telugu & Hindi audio - Tamil & Telugu trailer will be released on #June25 #Vip2 #RaghuvaranIsBack @theVcreations @RSeanRoldan.

The director also gave a glimpse of behind the scene action of the flick.

VIP 2 is the sequel to the 2014 film of the same name; a Tamil comedy-drama. It also stars Bollywood actor Kajol. During an exclusive conversation with ANI, Kajol had shared her experience of working in the film and said, I am very excited about VIP 2. I was little apprehensive about speaking Tamil, I was not sure whether I could do it or not and I have to say that Dhanush and Soundarya Rajinikanth were absolutely wonderful with me, around me and reassured me constantly that its working.

When asked about her experience of working with South superstar Dhanush, the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai actor said, Its been great working with Dhanush. He has been a fabulous co-star to be with. He is a wonderful actor and I think we really worked out all the scenes.

VIP 2 will release simultaneously in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi on July 28.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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Honble Commerce and Industry Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, launched the Startup India Virtual Hub, on June 20, 2017, at New Delhi. The hub is an online platform for all stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India to discover, connect and engage with each other. It will host startups, investors, funds, mentors, academia, incubators, accelerators, corporates, government bodies and more. The hub attempts to solve the problem of information asymmetry and lack of access to knowledge, tools, and experts, especially in the nascent ecosystems across Tier II and III towns.

The virtual hub is a dynamic and interactive platform that will facilitate learning and development, networking, mentorship, and funding for startups. The basic principle behind developing this platform is to aggregate different offerings of the ecosystem and enable discovery by the right audience. Startup India Hub has partnered with various organizations to get entrepreneurs and investors on board, as well as build knowledge modules. To ensure accessibility across various platforms, dedicated apps are also available on both Android and iOS.

Nirmala Sitharaman at the launch of the Startup India Hub (DIPP)

Speaking about the need to bring the entire ecosystem together on one platform, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned that Startup India Virtual Hub is an effort to create a marketplace where all the stakeholders can interact, exchange knowledge, and enable each other to grow. It will streamline the lifecycle of existing and potential startups, helping them access the right resources at the right time. She encouraged all entrepreneurs in India to utilize this portal and all enabling stakeholders to contribute to the platform as much as possible. The Minister also announced a new initiative, wherein a startup exchange program amongst the SAARC nations would be organized.

India is the third largest startup ecosystem around the globe, with 3-4 startups commencing every day. The Hub will act as a nodal platform and will enable users to connect with ecosystem stakeholders, access free learning resources, tools and templates on legal, HR, and accounting and regulatory issues and discussion forums. The Hub has also aggregated over 50 relevant Govt schemes/programs. In the next phase, the platform will also aggregate schemes available across various state governments. To provide a better user experience, the platform has been enabled to build smart intelligence along with chatbots to automatically collate, update information, and respond to queries.

The Startup India hub is an online platform for all stakeholders of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India (DIPP)

The launch event was kick-started by a panel discussion on Navigating the Startup Landscape with a representative each from the startup, investor, incubator, accelerator, and mentor communities. The discussion was followed by an address by Shri Ramesh Abhishek, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion who made a presentation on various initiatives taken up under the Startup India Initiative.

In his closing remarks, Joint Secretary Shri Rajiv Aggarwal requested all the members of the ecosystem to register on the Hub.
The Trump administration is considering banning travel by US 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 Warmbiers death, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal diplomatic discussions.

Even as Warmbiers family prepared to mourn him at a public funeral service Thursday in Ohio, the circumstances behind his death remained unclear. The coroners office in Hamilton County, Ohio, said it had accepted Warmbiers 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.

This file photo taken on February 29, 2016 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 1, 2016 shows US student Otto Frederick Warmbier (R) speaking at a press conference in Pyongyang. (AFP)

Its 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. Obamas 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 US response, even as US diplomats sought to protect others Americans from facing a similar fate. Three other US citizens, including Kim, are still being held in North Korea.

Barring Americans from stepping foot in North Korea would mark the latest US step to isolate the furtive, nuclear-armed nation, and protect US citizens who may be allured by the prospect of travelling 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 offences.

The US government strongly warns Americans against travelling to North Korea, but doesnt prohibit it, despite other sanctions targeting the country. Its 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 theyre considering a similar restriction.

The US and North Korea have no diplomatic relations. The US 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 US license. No licenses would be issued for tourism.

The Trump administration doesnt need an act of Congress to bar Americans from travelling 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 Warmbiers death.

The US doesnt currently prohibit its passports from being used to travel to any countries, even though financial restrictions limit US 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 wont hold the U.S. government responsible for what happens. He said the form would require Americans to affirm theyre aware of whats transpired to other US 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.
China said Wednesday it has made unremitting efforts to ease tensions with North Korea after US President Donald Trump tweeted that Beijing had not succeeded in helping.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China was not the focus and the crux of the issue on the Korean peninsula and it has stepped up efforts to promote peace talks.

In order to resolve the Korean peninsula nuclear issue, China has been making unremitting efforts and we have been playing an important and constructive role, Geng said.

To sum up, our contributions are recognised by all and our efforts are indispensable.

Trump wrote on Twitter that while he appreciated the efforts of President Xi Jinping and China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!

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

The tweet came a day after the death of Otto Warmbier -- a US student who returned in a coma from a prison in North Korea -- and on the eve of a US-China strategic security dialogue.

Since coming to office Trump has tried to get Beijing to put pressure on its ally Pyongyang to curb its nuclear and missile programmes.

It was unclear if the tweet was a signal that those efforts are perceived to have failed. That conclusion could be seen as a warning of unilateral US action to follow.

Geng said China has played a positive constructive role regarding North Korea because it is a responsible member of the international community, and not because of any pressure from other countries.
Not long ago I wrote that the danger President Trump faces from the various investigations into the Trump-Russia matter had changed dramatically in recent weeks. Now, in just the last few days, the situation has changed even more. In five ways:

1. The Mueller office: Investigative arm of the House

The Washington Post reported recently that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the president for possible obstruction of justice. The possibility of Trump facing legal jeopardy raises the question that has been part of every big Washington scandal involving the White House: Can a sitting president be indicted? The generally agreed-upon answer is no; impeachment is the constitutional remedy when presidential misconduct rises above a certain level. That is what would happen with Trump, if it came to that.

So what is Mueller doing, as far as the president himself is concerned? The special counsel is known to be investigating a number of figures around Trump for possible charges not related to the 2016 election. Those figures could certainly be indicted if the evidence warrants. But as far as the investigation into alleged Trump obstruction is concerned, Mueller's work will end up not in an indictment, but in the House of Representatives. The House is constitutionally charged with originating articles of impeachment. But it does not have the investigative powers of the Justice Department and, if impeachment is on the table, will rely on the evidence Mueller gathers. Which makes Mueller's office, for the purposes of Donald Trump specifically, not a prosecutor's office but the investigative arm of the House.

2. Mueller's team of killers vs. Trump's amateurs?

Recently a Republican lawyer who supports the president and has experience in government emailed an article he had read about the team of prosecutors Mueller is assembling. "This ain't good," he headlined the email, which went on to discuss the legal stars Mueller has hired.

Contrast that, he said in a later conversation, to the Trump team, led by Trump personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz and including partner Michael Bowe and Washington legal veteran Jay Sekulow. "I look at this team and think this is a joke!" the lawyer said.

The reaction is not unusual. As far as experience in criminal prosecutions is concerned -- the kind of experience that specifically relates to the issues in the Trump-Russia case -- the Mueller team has a huge advantage over the Trump team. In that sense, the coming legal fight could be asymmetrical warfare.

3. Clinton-style attacks on the prosecutor?

Some Trump supporters, most notably Newt Gingrich, have begun to attack Mueller. Still, at this early date it's clear that, when it comes to attacking prosecutors, TrumpWorld has much to learn from the last president who found himself in deep legal and political trouble, Bill Clinton.

Clinton and his supporters made an art out of attacking federal prosecutors. The president's surrogates accused independent counsel Kenneth Starr and the prosecutors who worked for him of misconduct, of leaking, of bias, of all sorts of unprofessional behavior. Clinton's lead defense attorney, David Kendall -- the kind of deeply experienced Washington fighter Trump could use now -- took Starr to court over leaks, while the president's other surrogates slammed the prosecutors every day on television.

In other words, when things got serious, Clinton and his team went to the mattresses against federal law enforcement. And it worked. It is in no way clear that Trump could pull off the same thing -- Clinton had a much more favorable media environment, with some in the press happy to join in the attacks on Starr -- but a war on the prosecutor may be his only option.

4. An ever-expanding investigation

Just what Trump-related subjects is Mueller investigating? A better question right now might be what Mueller is not investigating. There has been talk of looking at allegations of money laundering in the Trump circle. And looking at the president's conversations with a wide variety of people -- not just members of his administration, but friends and whoever Trump might have talked to in his nighttime call sessions. And looking at Michael Flynn's business arrangements with Turkey, Russia and other places. And Paul Manafort's business and finances. And perhaps even the Holy Grail of NeverTrumpism: the president's tax returns. And, oh, the allegation that used to be at the core of the case, that Trump or his associates colluded with Russians to try to influence the 2016 election. The point is, Mueller can determine the scope of the investigation, and if Washington history is any guide, investigations tend to expand, not contract.

5. The Comey 'what if'

A key lesson emerged from the recent testimony of Attorney General Jeff Sessions before the Senate Intelligence Committee: Without the president's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, the Trump-Russia investigation would be on a downward trajectory. The collusion charge would be fading for lack of evidence. Investigators would be going down side roads involving Flynn and Manafort in which the public would have little interest. And congressional investigators might even devote most of their attention to the Russian interference itself, which is the serious issue at the bottom of this whole thing. The political radioactivity of the issue would be ticking down, not up.

But not after Comey. At the Sessions hearing, Democrats had nothing new on collusion. They barely seemed interested. Instead, they focused to a great extent on trying to get Sessions to reveal what the president did or did not say in private discussions -- about Comey. On the Democratic side of the hearing -- and much of the Republican side, as well -- the issue was Comey, Comey, Comey. In the end, it could be that the president's impatience to get rid of Comey in order to shorten an investigation that he believed to be going nowhere resulted in a new investigation that could last the rest of Trump's time in office.
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.
Belgian security forces on Wednesday identified the man who set off an explosion at one of Brussels busiest railway stations before soldiers shot him dead, in the latest attack to hit Europe.

Prime Minister Charles Michel said a terrorist attack has been prevented and that extra security measures would be put in place after the foiled attack on Tuesday.

The incident Tuesday evening at Brussels Central Station could have been much worse because the big explosion did not happen, Interior Minister Jan Jambon said, adding that more details about the device would be released shortly.

The terrorists identity is known. We have been able to identify him, Jambon told RTBF radio and television, without giving his name.

Belgian media said the assailant was a 37-year-old man from the largely immigrant Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek, home to jihadists linked to previous attacks, and that police were carrying out raids there.

Belgian soldiers patrol inside Brussels central railway station after a suicide bomber was shot dead by troops in Brussels, Belgium, June 21. (Reuters Photo)

Witnesses said the suspect shouted Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) before setting off the device, triggering a small but intense fireball in the stations underground hall.

Soldiers at the station then gunned him down.

Crying rail passengers fled the station after the explosion, with memories still fresh of last years metro and airport suicide bombings in the city which hosts the EU and NATO headquarters.

There were no other casualties apart from the suspect, who was confirmed dead by prosecutors hours after the attack.

Jambon indicated that police had carried out searches once the attackers identity was known. Belgian media said a bomb disposal squad van was present at the site of one of the raids.

Alert level unchanged

Belgium would keep its terror alert level at three on a scale of four, Michel said after chairing a meeting with his national security council.

Events in Brussels including a concert by rock band Coldplay were set to continue, although authorities said there would be extra security and warned people not to bring backpacks.

The busy Central Station in the heart of Brussels, which sits just beside the Grand Place, one of the citys main tourist attractions, reopened around 8:00 am (0600 GMT) Wednesday, railway authorities said.

The blast came a day after a man mowed down Muslims near a mosque in London, and a suspected 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 Zavantem Airport and the Maalbeek metro station near the EU quarter in March 2016, killing 32 people and injuring hundreds more.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were carried out by the same Brussels-based cell behind the November 2015 suicide bombings and shootings in Paris which left 130 people dead.

A police official guides a member of the public as others stand behind a taped off area on a street outside Gare Centrale in Brussels on June 20. (AFP Photo)

People crying, shouting

Initial reports said Tuesdays blast at Central Station could have come from an explosive belt but subsequent accounts suggested it may have been a suitcase on a trolley.

This is considered as a terrorist attack, federal prosecutors office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt said at a news conference outside the station late Tuesday.

Belgian rail company spokeswoman Elisa Roux said there were people crying, there were people shouting after the explosion.

Witness Nicolas Van Herrewegen, a railway employee, said he had gone down to the stations mezzanine level after hearing somebody shouting.

Then he yelled Allahu Akbar, and he blew up a wheeled suitcase, Van Herrewegen 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 didnt see him.

It wasnt 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.

Soldiers have been deployed at railway stations and landmark buildings in Belgium since the Paris terror attacks, when a link to Brussels was first established.

The countrys law enforcement agencies and intelligence services came under intense scrutiny amid claims that a series of leads were missed after the Paris attacks that could have led to the Brussels bombers.
US President Donald Trumps planned state visit to Britain later this year got no mention in Queen Elizabeth IIs speech to parliament on Wednesday, raising doubts about whether it will go ahead.

The omission follows media reports that Trump no longer wants to come because of British public opposition to the visit, after a petition to cancel it received more than 1.8 million signatures.

It is customary for the monarch to list state visits in the annual speech, and Elizabeth did mention one such visit coming up next month by Spains King Felipe and Queen Letizia.

But the speech glided over the invitation to Trump, which was widely criticised in Britain as an attempt by Prime Minister Theresa May to curry favour with the president during his first year in office.

British press reports after the speech said the visit was clearly now in jeopardy, but a spokesman for May insisted the invitation had not been revoked.

The visit wasnt mentioned in the Queens Speech because a date hasnt been fixed yet, the spokesman said.
Belgian soldiers shot and killed a suspected terrorist bomber after an explosion rocked a central Brussels train station Tuesday in the latest attack to hit Europe.

Witnesses said the suspect shouted Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) before setting off the blast, which triggered a small but intense ball of flames in the station hall.

There were no other casualties apart from the suspect, who was confirmed dead by prosecutors hours after the attack.

Crying rail passengers fled the station after the explosion, with memories still fresh of last years metro and airport suicide attacks in the city that hosts the EUs headquarters.

This is considered as a terrorist attack, federal prosecutors office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told a news conference outside the station.

Map of Brussels locating the central train station, where soldiers shot dead a suspected bomber who set off an explosion on Tuesday. (AFP)

The blast in Belgium came a day after a man mowed down Muslims near a mosque in London, and a suspected 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 Zavantem Airport and Maalbeek metro station near the EU headquarters 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 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

Initial reports said the blast at Central Station could have come from an explosive belt, but subsequent accounts pointed to the blast coming from a suitcase.

Van Der Sypt said that at about 1830 GMT there 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, he said.

The incident happened well after rush hour, but hundreds of passengers were still evacuated from one of Belgiums busiest stations. The nearby Grand Place, a major tourist destination, was also cleared.

There were people crying, there were people shouting, said Elisa Roux, a spokeswoman for the Belgian rail company SNCB. There was a movement of panic.

Hours after the incident the suspects body remained at the scene of confrontation as bomb squads searched the area. An AFP journalist reported that a controlled explosion was heard several hours after the attack.

Ball of fire

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 yelled 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 didnt see him.

Van Herrewegen added: It wasnt exactly a big explosion but the impact was pretty big. People were running away.

Fire is seen at Brussels central station in Brussels, Belgium June 20, 2017. (Twitter/@remybonnaffe/via REUTERS)

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.

Under control

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 countrys 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 on Wednesday morning.

A police official (R) guides a member of the public on a street outside Gare Centrale in Brussels on June 20, 2017, after an explosion in the Belgian capital. (AFP)

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 shot by soldiers 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 another 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 countrys law enforcement agencies and intelligence services came under intense scrutiny for apparently missing a series of leads after the Paris attacks that could have led to the Brussels bombers.
Iranian state media on Wednesday called the appointment of Mohammed Bin Salman to the position of crown prince and successor to Saudi Arabias King Salman as a soft coup.

Soft coup in Saudi Arabia/Son becomes the succesor of the father, read the headline on the Iranian state TV website.

The move is likely to rattle Irans leadership, which has been critical of comments by Prince Mohammed last month that the battle should be taken into Iran.

Iran, which is predominantly Shiite Muslim, and Saudi Arabia, which is mostly Sunni, compete for power and influence across the region. The two countries support opposite sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Islamic State carried out attacks on the Iranian parliament in Tehran and the shrine of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, two weeks ago that left at least 17 dead. Iranian officials pointed a finger at Saudi Arabia, which denied any involvement.

Tension between the two countries increased last month when US President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia and took a bellicose stance against Iran in an official speech, repeatedly accusing the Islamic Republic of supporting terrorism.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei labeled the Saudi leadership idiots in a speech last month.
US-backed Iraqi forces on Wednesday began a push towards the mosque in Mosul where Islamic State declared a self-styled caliphate three years ago, military officials said.

The forces had encircled the jihadist groups stronghold in the Old City of Mosul, where the mosque is located, on Tuesday, they said.

The Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) are 200 to 300 were metres (yards) away from the medieval Grand al-Nuri Mosque, an Iraqi military statement said.

Major General Rupert Jones, the British deputy commander of the international coalition fighting Islamic State, told Reuters the Iraqi forces were about 300 metres from the mosque.

The US-led coalition is providing air and ground support to the Mosul offensive that started on Oct. 17.

The militants leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaimed himself caliph from its pulpit after the insurgents overran parts of Iraq and Syria. His black flag has been flying over its famous leaning minaret since June 2014.

Iraqi officials have privately expressed the hope that the mosque could be captured by Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month. The first day of the Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.

The battle for the Old City is becoming the deadliest in the eight-month-old offensive to capture Mosul, Islamic States de facto capital in Iraq.

More than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, are trapped in its old fragile houses with little food, water, medicine, no electricity and limited access to clinics.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday sick and wounded civilians escaping through Islamic State lines were dying in high numbers.

We are trying to keep families inside their houses and, after we secure their block, we will evacuate them through safe routes, Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior CTS commander in Mosul, told Iraqi state TV.

The militants are moving stealthily in the Old Citys 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 sheets of cloth to obstruct air surveillance, making it difficult for the advancing troops to hit them without a risk to civilians.

We are attacking simultaneously from different fronts to fraction them into smaller groups easier to fight, said an officer from the Federal Police, another force taking part in the assault on the Old City,

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.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the caliphate even though Islamic State would continue to control territory west and south of the city, the largest they came to control in both 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 US-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 Mosul, have fled, seeking refuge with relatives or in camps, according to aid groups.
A hostage drama that unfolded at a primary school in the southern Philippines on Wednesday has been resolved, a military spokesman said, and the Islamist militants who had held people captive had withdrawn with no reports of casualties.

Its already resolved, Brigadier General Restituto Padilla told reporters. Theyve withdrawn, they are no longer there. The school area is again safe.

A police report said about 300 armed men, among them members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), stormed a school in Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato province on Mindanao island and were holding some students captive.

Members of the BIFF were engaged in a gunbattle with the military, chief inspector Realan Mamon, the police chief at Pigcawayan, said in a radio interview.

We can confirm that they occupied a school and there were civilians trapped. We are in the process of determining how many were trapped and their identities, Mamon said.

Pigcawayan is 190 km (120 miles) south of Marawi City, where BIFF militants, along with fighters from other groups allied to Islamic State, have been holed up and fighting the Philippines military since May 23.

Eliseo Garcesa, mayor of Pigcawayan town, told Philippine radio he was still seeking information about possible casualties.

Philippine aircraft and troops launched a renewed push against the militants in Marawi City on Tuesday and a military spokesman said the aim was to clear the area by the weekend Eid festival, although there was no deadline.
Israel would use all its strength from the start in any new war with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, the Israeli air force chief said on Wednesday, sending a firm warning a decade after their last conflict.

At the annual Herzliya security conference near Tel Aviv, Maj Gen Amir Eshel said qualitative and quantitative improvements in the air force since the 2006 Lebanon war meant it could carry out in just two or three days the same number of bombings it mounted in those 34 days of fighting.

If war breaks out in the north, we have to open with all our strength from the start, he said, pointing to the likelihood of international pressure for a quick ceasefire before Israel can achieve all its strategic goals.

Israeli politicians and generals have spoken often of an intention to hit hard in Lebanon if war breaks out, in an apparent bid to deter Hezbollah. Eshel said in 2014 that another conflict could see Israeli attacks 15 times more devastating for Lebanon than in 2006.

But at the conference, Eshel noted that many elements busy achieving their goals in Syrias civil war were interested in preventing any fresh hostilities in Lebanon, where Israel says Hezbollah has built up an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets.

Since early in the six-year-old Syria war, Hezbollahs energies have been focused on propping up President Bashar al-Assad in alliance with Iran and Russia, throwing thousands of its fighters into battle against Syrian rebels.

But the Shia group has not altered its view of Israel as its foremost enemy, and Israels military has said it regards Hezbollah in the same way.

Crowded skies

Although Israel has kept to the sidelines of the war in Syria, Israeli aircraft have targeted suspected Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah, operations complicated by Russian and US air activity in the region.

The skies of the Middle East are a lot more crowded than before, with lots of players, Eshel said, pointing to the need for the air force to operate surgically to avoid mistakes.

On the other hand, such strikes, he said, also act as a deterrent to Hezbollah, whose missile capabilities could mean that the air force and the rest of the Israeli military will fight any future Lebanon war with their own bases under attack.

Eshel cautioned residents in southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, to leave their homes if a new conflict erupts, saying the Iranian-backed group uses civilian homes as launching bases for missiles and rockets.

About 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them troops fighting Hezbollah, were killed in the 2006 war, which displaced a million people in Lebanon and up to 500,000 in Israel.
Senior White House official Kenneth Juster is likely to be the next US ambassador to India, ending a months-long search that had several Indian-Americans in the mix as well.

But an announcement is not expected in time for Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the US starting later this week.

The Washington Post, which first reported the development on Wednesday morning, said Juster was described by administration officials as a consensus pick that places a top notch India expert in a crucial diplomatic post and he was undergoing a new round of clearances.

While the report also said India had endorsed the appointment, sources in New Delhi pushed back, saying the formal stage of agrement, a diplomatic process in which the host countrys assent is sought before announcing the envoys nomination, had not been reached yet.

Juster is currently serving as deputy assistant to the president for international economic affairs and deputy director of the National Economic Council in the White House. He has been a regular on the meeting list of senior Indian officials in Washington for their first meetings with the Trump administration.

There was no response from the White House to a request for comment on The Washington Post article.

Juster, a lawyer from Harvard, is an experienced India hand. As deputy secretary of commerce in President George W Bushs administration  a position roughly the equivalent of minister of state in India  he had launched the High Technology Cooperation Group to promote trade in sensitive dual-use goods and technology.

The ambassadorship fell vacant after Rich Verma, a Barack Obama appointee, left as it happens during a change of administrations. Others in the race had included Shalli Kumar, an Indian American businessman from Chicago who had emerged as one of major donors to the Trump campaign and who had been instrumental in the Republican nominee's unprecedented outreach to the Indian American community.

Another Indian American, Ashley Tellis, who played a crucial role in finalising the landmark India-US civil nuclear cooperation deal as a member of the Bush administration, had also figured in speculation.

Tellis fully endorsed Juster's reported selection, telling Hindustan Times, He is an excellent choice.
A NATO military plane on Wednesday approached the plane of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu above the Baltic Sea, Russian news agencies reported, the third such encounter in three days.

A NATO fighter jet tried to approach Shoigus plane but a Russian escort plane intervened to defend it, Interfax news agency reported, citing journalists accompanying the minister.

The escort plane, a Sukhoi SU-27, demonstrated it was armed by rocking its wings, after which the NATO plane flew off, Interfax reported.

Russian state television aired defence ministry footage of the incident, reporting that it took place over neutral waters.

Shoigu was flying to Kaliningrad, a highly militarised Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, to take part in a meeting with defence officials there.

At the meeting, he warned that the situation near Russias western borders is tending to get worse, TASS news agency reported.

This is tied with the upsurge of military activity of the NATO countries in Europe, Shoigu added.

The meeting came after NATO held military exercises at the weekend in Poland on the Lithuanian border close to Kaliningrad.

On Monday a Russian jet fighter identified two American spy planes over the Baltic, one of which made a provocative manoeuvre, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

NATO is deploying four international battalions in Poland and each of the former Soviet Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Moscow sees the NATO build-up in the region as demonstrating a desire to contain Russia.

On Wednesday, Sweden summoned Russias ambassador after a Russian Sukhoi fighter jet flew unusually close to a Swedish reconnaissance plane above the Baltic Sea.

The Russian behaviour is unacceptable and had increased the risk of a serious incident, Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told the TT news agency.

That incident, in international airspace, happened on Monday, a Swedish army statement said.

On the same day, a Russian fighter conducted an unsafe intercept of a US reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea, the US military reported Tuesday.

Russian fighter jets routinely approach and identify aircraft in the skies over the Baltic and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, but most of these actions stay within safe limits.

Both Washington and Stockholm said these latest incidents went beyond those limits.

The protests come at a time of heightened tension between Russia and the United States over Syria, where they are backing different sides in the conflict.
Only a couple of hours after Congressman Steve Scalise and three other people, including a Capitol police officer, had been shot by a would-be mass killer, perennially anti-gun Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told a press briefing in Alexandria that  we lose 93 million Americans every day to guns.

McAuliffes ridiculous comment is part and parcel of a popular meme among gun prohibitionists that there is a gun violence epidemic sweeping the nation. But it is nonsense, the kind of stuff intelligent people call fake news.

Attempting to exploit the shooting by turning it into a talking point to advance his gun control agenda, McAuliffe declared, There are too many guns on the street. He repeated the 93 million claim until someone quietly corrected him.

McAuliffes gaffe underscores the tendency of gun control extremists to make dramatic statements about firearms in order to garner public support for an effort that has been a dismal failure. From background checks to so-called gun free zones, violent felons and mentally unstable people routinely ignore the laws while honest citizens are penalized for crimes they did not commit, and imagined crimes that have yet to be committed.

In an email blast later on the day of the attack on Scalise, which now appears to have been motivated by political hate, Shannon Watts, founder of the Michael Bloomberg-supported Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, also claimed that 93 Americans are shot and killed daily.

Watts is playing fast and loose with facts. Approximately two-thirds of all firearms fatalities in any given year are suicides and she knows it. Watts carefully-worded remark combines suicide and homicide fatalities, and accidents to make it appear there is a criminal bloodbath unfolding across the landscape.

Anti-gunners constantly repeat such fake news to fool Americans about violent crime. A check of the FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that actual criminal firearms-related fatalities have been declining for several years. A close examination of that data reveals that more people are beaten, stabbed, strangled and bludgeoned to death in any given year than are killed with rifles and shotguns, including so-called assault weapons.

For several years, anti-gunners including Bloombergs Everytown for Gun Safety and former President Barack Obama asserted that 40 percent of all gun transactions in this country are conducted without background checks. The Washington Post Fact Checker declared that claim to be bogus in 2013. Still, many of those in the gun prohibition movement continue to make this claim, and the media unquestioningly repeats it.

Ironically, while anti-gunners use suicide figures to bolster their arguments, a genuine suicide prevention effort has been underway in Washington State for two years. It is championed by gun rights advocates. Working with suicide prevention experts at the University of Washington and advocates in that states Legislature, the Safe Homes suicide prevention task force is now a reality, with a pilot program in the works.

America deserves better than fake news from the gun prohibition lobby. But facts have never mattered to the gun control crowd.
Nepal's Department of Drug Administration on Wednesday asked Baba Ramdevs Patanjali Ayurveda to immediately recall six medical products as they were found to be of substandard quality.

In a public notice, the administration said the six products, made by Divya Pharmacy in Uttarakhand state, were found to be substandard during inspections at various outlets and tests on specimens. All six medicines had failed microbial tests, officials said.

The authorities asked the Patanjali Ayurveda unit in Nepal to inform them about steps being taken to recall the products in line with local medicine laws. The department urged the stakeholders not to sell or prescribe the use of these six medicines with immediate effect.

Another Indian medicine, Bactoclav, produced by Micro Lab Limited of Bengaluru, also failed to meet official standards and the department ordered its recall from the Nepalese market.

According to the public notice, Patanjalis Amla Churna of batch no AMC067, Divya Gashar Churna of batch no A-GHCI31, Bahuchi Churna of batch no BKC 011, Triphala Churna of batch no A-TPC151, Aswangandha of batch no AGC 081 and Adviya Churna of batch no DYC 059 had failed microbial tests.

There was no response from Patanjali Ayurveda Kendra in Kathmandu, the sole distributor of the products in Nepal.

A recent Right to Information (RTI) reply in India had revealed that nearly 40% of Ayurveda products, including items from Patanjali, were found to be of substandard quality by Haridwars Ayurveda and Unani Office.

Of the 82 samples collected between 2013 and 2016, 32 failed the quality test. Patanjalis Divya Amla Juice and Shivlingi Beej were among the products that failed to meet quality standards.

Patanjali products are quite popular in Nepal and it is estimated millions of households use them.

During a recent visit to Nepal, Ramdev had announced he would invest billions of rupees over a decade to set up new facilities and to create some 20,000 jobs.
Islamist rebels freed dozens of hostages while other captives escaped on Wednesday from a school as army troops faced another security crisis in the southern Philippines, military officials said.

Gunmen from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters maneuvered to attack troop and militiamen outposts but were repelled by government forces today, prompting them to seize villagers as human shields in Malagakit village in North Cotabato province, military officials said.

At least four rebels were killed and two government militiamen were wounded in the fighting, which caused nearly 1,000 villagers in Malagakit and two nearby villages to flee to safety, the officials said.

The retreating gunmen, estimated by the military and police to number from 200 to 300, later occupied a Malagakit grade school building, where they sporadically traded shots with troops up to nightfall, said local army spokesman Capt Arvin Encinas.

During a lull in the gunbattle, 31 people, including a dozen children, were either allowed to dash to freedom or escaped from the school. Six other villagers remained in rebel custody, army brigade spokesman Capt. Nap Alcarioto said.

Theyre the ones who ran and got trapped in the gunbattle and then were taken, Alcarioto said, adding that they were being held in two classrooms.

More than 20 other residents who were trapped in their houses were taken to safety by troops, officials said.

Many of the gunmen managed to escape from the school after freeing the hostages, Encinas said.

Troops were holding their fire because of the remaining hostages. The fleeing gunmen reportedly rigged some areas of the school with homemade bombs, Alcarioto said, citing statements by some of the freed captives.

The rebels may have taken advantage of a massive military offensive against militants aligned with the Islamic State group who have laid siege to the southern city of Marawi, and plotted to attack military targets elsewhere, military spokesman Brig Gen Restituto Padilla said at a news conference.

They were taking advantage of the situation that we have a very lightly defended outpost and that they think our forces are elsewhere in the province, Padilla said. But that is not the case, our forces are spread all over. We may be facing many fronts ... but weve properly assigned our forces.

Rebel spokesman Abu Misry Mamah acknowledged in a radio interview that his group staged the attack, but said they only took hold of some villagers to protect them during the gunbattle.

The rebels broke off from the largest Muslim rebel group several years ago to protest peace talks with the government. Weakened by battle setbacks, some commanders have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group in the hope of securing funding from the Middle East-based group, according to the military.

Last month, about 500 militants seized Marawi, a mosque- dotted center of the Islamic faith in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. The attack followed an army and police raid on a hideout that failed to capture a top militant suspect. Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes, have been fighting street battles to wrest back control of four areas in the citys business district.

At least 258 militants, 65 soldiers and police and 26 civilians have been killed and more than 300,000 villagers have fled from Marawi and outlying towns.
Russia has cancelled a meeting with senior US diplomats in the wake of Washingtons decision to reinforce sanctions imposed over its occupation of Crimea, US officials said Wednesday.

US Under Secretary of State Tom Shannon had been due in St Petersburg later this week to meet and mend diplomatic fences with Russias Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

Relations between Moscow and Washington are at a low even by the standards of a rivalry that goes back to the Cold War.

Shannon had hoped to address irritants in the relationship, like tension over Moscows intimidation of US diplomats and the US seizure of Russian diplomatic compounds.

Read more | Russia considering retaliatory sanctions against US: Kremlin

But even this minor first step towards finding enough common ground to begin to address more fundamental issues -- such as Russias intervention in Ukraine -- has now fallen apart.

We regret that Russia has decided to turn away from an opportunity to discuss bilateral obstacles that hinder US-Russia relations, spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

On Tuesday, the United States added 38 individuals and entities to its sanctions list targeting the Russians and pro-Russian rebels it blames for the fighting in Ukraine.

This appears to have been what triggered Moscows decision to cancel the meeting, although US President Donald Trump also met Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko on the same day.

But the State Department insisted that the sanctions were not being expanded, merely maintained, by adding new targets as Moscow finds ways around the previous embargo.

And Washington insisted the sanctions would stay in place until Russia honors the Minsk agreement to disengage from eastern Ukraine and returns the annexed Crimea region.

We have regularly updated these sanctions twice a year since they were first imposed, Nauert explained. Lets remember that these sanctions didnt just come out of nowhere.

Read more | Russia says US downing of Syria warplane act of aggression

Our targeted sanctions were imposed in response to Russias ongoing violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its neighbor, Ukraine, she said.

Russias foreign ministry said that, given the new sanctions, it was not the moment to hold the Shannon-Ryabkov talks, which Washington had announced on Tuesday.

And, asked whether the meeting could be rescheduled, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: I have no confirmation that these consultations will take place.
Moscow is considering a range of retaliatory measures in response to a planned new round of US sanctions to be imposed on Moscow over its role in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

It goes without saying that the main principle of reacting to sanctions is reciprocity, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters.

At our experts level, naturally, different variants (of Russian) sanctions are now being formulated and proposed.

Peskov also said the Kremlin was not ruling out a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of a G-20 summit in Germany next month but nothing concrete has so far been agreed.
Saudi Arabias King Salman on Wednesday appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, placing him firmly as first-in-line to the throne and removing the countrys counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington from the royal line of succession.

In a series of royal decrees carried on the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the monarch stripped Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who had been positioned to inherit the throne, from his title as crown prince and from his powerful position as the countrys interior minister overseeing security.

The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman already oversees a vast portfolio as defense minister and head of an economic council tasked with overhauling the countrys economy. He had previously been the second-in-line to the throne as deputy crown prince, though royal watchers had long suspected his rise to power under his fathers reign might also accelerate his ascension to the throne.

The young prince was little known to Saudis and outsiders before Salman became king in January 2015. He had previously been in charge of his fathers royal court when Salman was the crown prince.

The Saudi monarch, who holds near absolute powers, quickly awarded his son expansive powers to the surprise of many within the royal family who are more senior and more experienced than Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS.
South Sudan no longer has areas in famine, but almost 2 million people are on the brink of starvation and an estimated 6 million people  half the population  will face extreme food insecurity between June and July, according to reports by the government and the UN released Wednesday.

The situation remains critical, according to reports by South Sudans National Bureau of Statistics and the UNs updated food and security analysis.

People are in a catastrophic situation, said Serge Tissot, of the Food and Agricultural Organization.

In February, South Sudan declared two counties in Unity State to be in famine. Although those areas are still in critical condition, early detection and a rapid collective response succeeded in pulling them out of famine, a Phase 5 classification, said the World Food Program.

The UN warns that South Sudans crisis is worsening and just because the label of famine has been removed, doesnt mean the situation has actually improved.

Even though weve taken it (famine) off the table, we have more people in Phase 4 than ever before, said Joyce Luma, WFPs country director. If we dont assist this population, 1.7 million people will soon be in famine.

An estimated 45,000 people still face starvation in Leer, Koch and Mayendit counties with additional areas across the country having deteriorated as well.

South Sudanese refugees rest in the shade of a tree at Al-Nimir refugee camp in Sudan's east Dafur on June 20, 2017. (AFP Photo)

In former Jonglei State, an area that previously had one of the lowest levels of acute malnutrition, roughly 20,000 people are experiencing catastrophic food insecurity.

At a recent food distribution in the town of Old Fangak in Greater Jonglei, 10,000 people came to register for a WFP food drop and 30,000 more are expected to come within the week.

All I eat are vegetables and leaves, said Nyatang Toy, as she waited in line to receive her ration cards last week.

The skinny, 7-year-old walked for three hours from her village in order to collect food for her parents and five siblings who were too weak to come with her, she said.

How can we be at this stage where people are starving and were dropping bags of food from the air? Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canadas Minister of International Development, told the Associated Press during a trip last week to the area.
US President Donald Trump appears to have given up on his expectations that China will, at his urging, rein in its fully dependent ally North Korea after an American student released by Pyongyang recently died of injuries possibly suffered in captivity there.

Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old college student who had gone to North Korea as part of a tour, returned home last week with severe head injuries  extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain, according to doctors. He died on Monday, triggering outrage against the Asian nation.

The American president had first condemned the brutality of the North Korean regime, and then followed it up with a more policy-oriented response in a 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!

In an interview several months ago, Trump had said he would like China to use its tremendous clout on Pyongyang, a client state of sorts, to rein it in and its leader Kim Jong-un, who has been threatening to launch a nuclear attack on the US.

And in a tweet days after his meeting with President Xi Jinping in April, Trump had said, I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the US will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem.

But Trump had also said in his earlier interview that he was prepared for the United States to act alone if Beijing came up short.

It has now, according to him. He did not say what his plans are for North Korea now. His options include military action, travel restrictions, secondary sanctions and talks, which he has said he was prepared for if the conditions were right. But probably not now.

Clearly, were moving further away, not closer, to those conditions being enacted, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on Tuesday. I would not suggest that were moving any closer.

State department spokesperson Heather Nauert has said travel restrictions are on the table but a decision had not been taken yet.

Other administration officials have said they are considering secondary sanctions targeting Chinese banks and companies with ties to North Korea.

Defense secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are expected to raise Warmbiers death and the related issues the US has with Pyongyang at their meeting with their Chinese counterparts in town for the annual diplomatic and security dialogue on Wednesday.
Uber Technologies Inc co-founder Travis Kalanick stepped down as chief executive of the ride-hailing service, following intense pressure from investors, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

Kalanicks resignation comes after a months-long investigation led former US Attorney General Eric Holder, who was hired by Uber to look into its culture and workplace practices after a female former employee publicly accused the company of what she described as brazen sexual harassment.

Five large investors, including venture capital firm Benchmark, demanded that the CEO resign immediately in a letter delivered to Kalanick while he was in Chicago, the New York Times reported citing people with knowledge of the situation.

In the letter, titled Moving Uber Forward, the investors also said the company needed a change in leadership.

Kalanick discussed with at least one Uber board member and after hours of discussions with some of the investors, he agreed to step down, the report said. He will remain on Uber board.

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, the paper quoted Kalanick as saying.

Kalanick told employees last week, he will take time away from Uber, part of the series of measures the ride-hailing company is taking to claw its way out from under a mountain of controversies.
Senior US officials will meet their Chinese counterparts Wednesday to seek a tougher line on North Koreas nuclear ambitions -- despite President Donald Trump implying this is already a lost cause.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are to meet top Beijing diplomat State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of Chinese army staff, at the State Department.

US officials said the first and main item on the agenda would be persuading China to lean on Kim Jong-Uns North Korea regime, in order to halt its provocative missile and nuclear plans.

But, just hours before the talks began, Trump sent a tweet implying that Chinas President Xi Jinping had already tried and failed to rein in Pyongyang.

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.

Trump did not elaborate on what might happen next, and US diplomats insisted the talks would go ahead as planned, and with the same agenda.

In April, Trump hosted Xi at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, glossing over his harsh campaign comments against Beijing and -- after apparently successful talks -- hailing the dawn of a very, very great relationship.

Last month Beijing and Washington signed a limited deal to open new markets for each others exports, and a long-standing friend of the Chinese leadership, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, was confirmed as ambassador.

But tensions remain -- particularly over Chinas building of artificial islands in disputed South China Sea waters, and Washingtons strong desire to get Beijing to rein in Kim Jong-Uns isolated North Korean regime.

Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said that the first meeting of the new US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue on Wednesday would focus on North Korea.

We continue to urge China to exert its unique leverage as North Koreas largest trading partner, including by fully implementing all UN Security Council sanctions, she said.

Despite international condemnation and sanctions, North Korea has a small nuclear arsenal and is developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that threaten Japan and South Korea -- and one-day could even hit some US cities.

Washington has some 28,000 troops deployed in South Korea and a naval armada in the region.

Prisoner in a coma

Last week, the release of a detained US tourist in what initially seemed a gesture of goodwill by Pyongyang turned sour when it was revealed that 22-year-old Otto Warmbier had been in a coma for some time.

Warmbier died on Monday after returning to his hometown in Ohio, triggering outrage in the United States.

Trumps White House has made halting the nuclear threat its number one foreign policy priority, putting aside concerns over trade and currency manipulation to seek Beijings help in facing down Kim.

China has tightened controls on trade in North Korean coal, but many doubt that Beijing will truly enforce any sanctions that might threaten the stability of its unpredictable neighbor.

Isolate Kim

Were 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 dont expect that well resolve that problem on Wednesday.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, agrees 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.

He said Monday 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.
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 Flynns business activities. That includes payments by three Russian companies and a Netherlands-based company, Inovo, controlled by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin, they said.

The FBIs 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 Flynns company operated.

A person recently interviewed by the FBI in connection with the Flynn investigation said agents from the bureaus 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.

Flynns 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 Flynns 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 Trumps 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.

Filed 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 Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulens activities in the United States, which he suspected were poisoning relations between the United States and Turkey. Like Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Alptekin blamed a failed coup in Turkey last July on followers of Gulen.

Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied involvement in the attempted 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 September 19, Kian and Flynn met in New York with Turkeys foreign minister and energy minister, who is Erdogans 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 Groups 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 Alptekins 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.
Republicans and Democrats in Nevada responded to Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perrys comments about storing the nations nuclear waste at the Nevada National Security Site.

Perry made the statement during Tuesdays House Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee hearing.

Gov. Brian Sandoval

During the hearing, Secretary Perry doubled-down on his desire to make Nevada the nations nuclear dumping ground by suggesting he would like to consider interim storage of high-level nuclear waste at the Nevada National Security Site in the short term.

Todays comments by Secretary Perry suggesting he would consider storage of high-level nuclear waste at the Nevada National Security Site come as a complete blindside and I view this as a total disregard and failure to honor the historical process. The idea of storing high-level nuclear waste at the National Security Site is ill-conceived, irresponsible, and likely illegal. This is a prime example of federal overreach and Nevada will pursue every legal option at our disposal. Today, Ive asked the Nevada Attorney General to review this misguided proposal and identify legal avenues to stop it. This is further than even the most fervent pro-Yucca advocates have gone and like Yucca Mountain, this idea is a non-starter. Let me be clear, no part of Nevada will be home to the worlds most toxic waste and we will fight every effort that puts our citizens at risk.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-NV

Secretary Perrys comments today are irresponsible, reckless, and show a blatant disregard for the state of Nevada. As I have repeatedly told the Secretary, Nevada will not serve as our nations nuclear waste dump. The only viable solution to our countrys nuclear waste problem is one that is rooted in consent, and Nevada has said no. I stand with Nevada in staunch opposition to Secretary Perrys comments regarding the Test Site and any attempt to revive Yucca Mountain. Secretary Perry today referred to a moral and national security obligation, and I believe that fighting for Nevada against Yucca Mountain is mine.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-NV

Secretary Perrys moral obligation to restart the Yucca Mountain project and build interim nuclear waste facilities in Nevada is diametrically opposed to the moral obligation Nevadans have to protect our families, communities and way of life. I urge the Secretary to heed the advice of scientists who have deemed Yucca Mountain unviable and dangerous for nuclear waste storage, particularly due to its close proximity to Nevadas communities. Until then, I am prepared to do whatever I can to stop ill-conceived proposals from advancing.

Rep. Ruben J. Kihuen, D-Clark

Secretary Perrys comments are the height of irresponsibility. The federal government has tried for years to force Nevada to serve as the dumping ground for the rest of the countrys nuclear waste without success. This is another poor attempt by an Administration hell-bent on ignoring one simple fact  Nevadans do not support the dumping of nuclear waste in our state. Suggesting that the Department of Energy should double down on a flawed plan by storing waste on a short-term basis at the Nevada National Security Site is truly shortsighted and offensive. I will continue to fight tooth and nail to prevent the dumping of nuclear waste in our state and ensure that the Yucca Mountain remains dead.
A New Jersey high school student is taking a jab at her schools dress code with a quote in her senior yearbook.

West Milford High School student Tori DiPaolos quote reads Im sorry, did my shoulders distract you from reading this quote?

She tells NorthJersey.com she was referencing a portion of the school dress code that prohibits exposing shoulders.

DiPaolo says the formal robes she wore in the graduation photo technically violate the dress code, which she found ironic and inspired the quote.

The senior student says she doesnt mind the attention her photo has received since she posted it to her Twitter account last week, but she wants everyone to know it was meant as a joke.
Iowa independents who helped Donald Trump win the presidency see last years tough-talking candidate as a thin-skinned chief executive and wish hed show more grace.

Unaffiliated voters make up the largest percentage of the electorate in the Midwest state that backed Trump in 2016, after lifting Democrat Barack Obama to the White House in party caucuses and two straight elections. Ahead of Trumps visit to Iowa on Wednesday  his first since the election  several independents who voted for Trump expressed frustration with the president.

Its not just his famous tweetstorms. Its what they represent: a president distracted by investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and a court battle over his executive order barring refugees from majority-Muslim countries at the expense of tangible health care legislation and new tax policy.

Hes so sidetracked, said Chris Hungerford, a 47-year-old home-business owner from Marshalltown. He gets off track on things he should just let go.

And when he does spout off, he appears to lack constraint, said Scott Scherer, a 48-year-old chiropractor from Guttenberg, in northeast Iowa.

Engage your brain before you engage your mouth, Scherer advised, especially on matters pertaining to investigations. Shut up. Just shut up, and let the investigation run its course.

Scherer said he would vote again for Trump, but pauses a long time before declining to answer when asked if he approves of the job the president is doing.

Cody Marsh isnt sure about voting for Trump a second time. The 32-year-old power-line technician from Tabor, in western Iowa, says, Its 50-50.

People dont take him seriously, he said.

Unaffiliated, or no party voters as they are known in Iowa, make up 36% of the electorate, compared with 33 percent who register Republican and 31 percent registered Democrat. Self-identified independents in Iowa voted for Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton by a 13-percentage-point margin last year, according to exit polls conducted for the Associated Press and television networks

They helped him capture 51.8 percent of the overall vote against Clinton.

Nationally, exit polls showed independents tilted toward Trump over Clinton by about a 4-percentage-point margin in November, but an AP-NORC poll conducted in June found that about two-thirds of them disapprove of how hes handling his job as president.

In North Carolina, Republican pollster Paul Shumaker says he has seen internal polling that has warning signs for his state, where Trump prevailed last year. Independent voters are becoming frustrated with Trump, especially for failing so far to deliver on long-promised household economic issues such as health care, said Shumaker, an adviser to Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

Inaction on health care and any notable decline in the economy will hurt Trumps ability to improve his numbers with independents, with broad implications for the midterm elections next year, Shumaker said. At stake in 2018 will be majority control of the House. A favorable map and more Democrats up for re-election make the GOP more likely to add to its numbers in the Senate.

How the president and members of Congress move forward and address the kitchen-table issues facing the American voters will determine the outcome of the 2018 elections, he said.

In Iowa on Wednesday, Trump will be rallying his Republican base in Cedar Rapids. Its his first visit to the state since a Nov. 6 stop in Sioux City, two days before the election.

Earlier this month, Vice President Mike Pence attended Republican Sen. Joni Ernsts annual fundraiser, where he talked about job growth and low unemployment since the start of the year, although economists see much of it as a continuation of Obama policies.

Trump has only been in office five months.

Its a message the Republican establishment is clinging to, especially those looking ahead to 2018.

Gov. Kim Reynolds, installed last month to succeed new U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad, said last week of Iowa voters: I think they are confident that President Trump and this administration are doing the job that they said that they would do, going out there and making America great again.

But Trump has to worry about people like Richard Sternberg, a 68-year-old retired high school guidance counselor from Roland, in central Iowa, who voted for Trump. But is Sternberg satisfied? Not completely.

He is bothered by Trumps proposed cut to vocational education, an economic lift for some in rural areas.

We, especially in Iowa, need those two-year technically trained people, Sternberg said.

More broadly, Trump needs to act more presidential, he said.

Trump speaks before he thinks, Sternberg said. He doesnt seem to realize what the president says in the form of direct communication or Twitter carries great weight and can be misconstrued if not carefully crafted.
A US missionary who spent two years in a North Korean jail said Wednesday he had never imagined that a valuable American prisoner like student Otto Warmbier could die after being taken into Pyongyangs custody.

Kenneth Bae, who was arrested in 2012, sentenced to 15 years hard labour, then freed after a secret mission to Pyongyang led by then-US intelligence chief James Clapper, said he was reasonably well treated in prison as he was a diplomatic bargaining chip.

Everything depended on the US governments attitude, Korean-American Bae told South Korean broadcaster YTN in an interview broadcast live.

He said he had always thought it was unimaginable that a US citizen could die in a North Korean prison, and that he himself was never beaten or otherwise severely maltreated by the regime.

Bae said he had had to work long days in the fields doing manual labour, including planting beans and moving coal, a strenuous regime that caused him to lose 27 kilograms (60 pounds) during his period of detention.

But top Pyongyang officials, including a prosecutor, always made it clear they were going to trade him for diplomatic benefits, asking him why the US government was so quiet on his case and had not tried to free him immediately.

The prosecutor told me the US had moved much quicker to secure the release of female journalists in 2009, Bae said, referring to Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were released after a short period in North Korean detention following a visit from former US president Bill Clinton.

The prosecutor even said that he thought I would be there until his retirement, Bae, whose two-year stint in detention is the longest period a US citizen has spent in a North Korean prison in recent years.

Warning from Pyongyang

The 48-year-old published an account of his imprisonment and spoke with various media outlets after his 2014 release but said he stopped speaking out after Pyongyang warned his jabbering was imperilling the release of two American detainees -- including Warmbier.

Since last year, I refrained from public activities out of concern that it could harm American and Canadian detainees in the North, Bae said in the interview.

But Warmbiers death had forced him to reconsider his position, he added.

I came here today so that the death of the young man will not be futile but raise awareness about those detained in North Korea, he said.

Sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel while in the country as a tourist, 22-year-old Warmbier was medically evacuated from Pyongyang in a coma last week but died in the US Monday.

In the past North Korea has used the detention of US citizens to obtain high-profile visits from the likes of former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Clinton to secure their release.

Three 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.

North Korea is also holding Korean Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo-Lim who was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour on sedition charges in December 2015.
Mohammed bin Salman, named Saudi crown prince on Wednesday at the age of 31, inherits a historically conservative nation facing challenges at home and turmoil abroad.

Here are three key areas to watch as the prince becomes first in line to the most powerful throne in the Middle East.

- Yemen -

Prince Mohammed retains his position as defence minister, a post he held when Riyadh joined the war in neighbouring Yemen in 2015.

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia heads a regional military alliance fighting Shia Huthi rebels, accused of ties to Iran, for control of the impoverished country.

In May 2017, faced with international criticism over the Saudi-led alliances role in Yemens humanitarian crisis, the prince said his country had no choice but to intervene in the war to support the Saudi-allied, UN-recognised government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

These militias posed a threat to international shipping in the Red Sea, Mohammed said in a televised interview.

If we had waited, the threats would grown more complicated, and there would have been a threat to Saudi Arabia.

Mohammed defended Saudi Arabias decision to fight a long war in Yemen as the sole means to protect civilians in the fight against the Huthis and their allies, former troops loyal to ex-Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Read more | Iran state media calls promotion of Mohammed bin Salman as Saudi crown prince a soft coup

We could eliminate the Huthis and Saleh in a few days ... but as a result thousands of our troops and Yemeni civilians would be the victims, he said.

International rights groups have criticised both sides in the war for human rights violations, accusing the Saudi-led alliance of attacking civilian targets including hospitals and schools.

Human Rights Watch in January said some of those attacks may amount to war crimes.

Amnesty International in March said Saudi arms purchases from the US and Britain were used to commit gross violations and helped to precipitate a humanitarian catastrophe.

- Saudi economy -

Prince Mohammed is the chief architect of an ambitious plan to transform the Saudi economy by 2030 to reduce its dependence on oil and develop the private sector.

Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest exporter of oil, was dealt a serious blow when oil prices plummeted in 2014.

Under the Vision 2030 plan, unveiled in April 2016, Saudi Arabia will sell nearly five percent of state-owned Aramco -- the worlds largest oil company reportedly worth between $2 trillion and $2.5 trillion.

The sale would mark the first move towards Aramcos privatisation.

The plan aims to create a sovereign wealth fund worth $2 trillion, which would make it the largest state-owned investment fund in the world.

It targets an increase in non-oil government revenue sixfold from $43.5 billion to $267 billion.

It aims to raise non-oil exports and boost the contribution of the private sector to gross domestic product (GDP) from 40 percent to 65 percent.

The economic plans are also aimed at bringing about tentative societal change by expanding local industry and slashing unemployment.

Women, who face some of the worlds harshest restrictions in Saudi Arabia, are expected to constitute 30 percent of the workforce by 2030, up from 22 percent now.

- Qatar crisis -

Prince Mohammed is one of the prime movers behind Saudi Arabias decision earlier this month to isolate Qatar, accusing the gas-rich emirate of ties to Shiite rival Iran and of facilitating the financing, and function, of extremist groups.

As crown prince, and deputy prime minister, he will oversee the aftermath of what Qatar has called a blockade by Saudi Arabia and its allies the UAE and Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia has sealed off Qatars only land border to the outside world and the three Gulf states have banned all flights to and from Doha.

Qatar has demanded the lifting of the economic blockade before agreeing to dialogue with its neighbours, but Saudi Arabia has remained unresponsive.
G oodluck Hope, a new Docklands neighbourhood, is unveiled this week, one of the last elements of an ambitious regeneration programme at Leamouth Peninsula, formed by a bend in the River Lea before it drops into the Thames just east of Canary Wharf.

In this booming part of east London, a community with 800 homes and a riverside cultural centre is being created. A riverbus pier is being built to connect this new address to the City and central London, adding a traditional mode of transport to the areas fast-improving rail links.

Architecturally the design of the development is back to the future, with brick-clad warehouse-style buildings rather than shiny glass-and-steel. The name Goodluck Hope is taken from medieval shipping maps of London.

Surrounded by water on three sides, the site borders historic Trinity Buoy Wharf, where a live-work artists colony exists, with recording studios and an office campus created from disused shipping containers alongside the capitals only remaining Victorian lighthouse.

Affordable workspace: Trinity Buoy Wharf is near Goodluck Hope / Getty Images

AUTHENTIC DOCKLANDS

In its 19th-century heyday, the shipyard was one of the British Empires workshops of the world, bustling with tradesmen, a heritage that developer Ballymore seeks to revive by creating an environment where creative individuals and companies come together to meet, work and share ideas.

There is already a vigour about this district. It has a certain local vibe, an authenticity that much of the Docklands of the Eighties lacks, being a working section of the river, with tug boats and commercial vessels as well as having a primary school. Here, too, incongruously perhaps, is The Royal Drawing School, founded in 2000 by the Prince of Wales.

A central street lined on one side by townhouses with atelier spaces for homeworkers will cut through the scheme, while a listed dry dock, with its structure re-formed to the outline of a great cruise liner, is to become a social amenity.

Dry Dock: the listed re-formed dry dock is a reminder of the area's industrial past

Another dockside block, at the end of a new promenade, will house a spa and swimming pool, cafe and restaurants, a microbrewery, cinema and wifi-enabled work zone. Between the buildings will be small parks and passageways, while views across and along the river are spectacular.

INDUSTRIAL CHIC

Interior design is inspired by industrial lofts, in open-plan apartments with factory-like floor-to-ceiling

Crittall windows. Prices start at 335,000 for one-bedroom flats. Call 020 7637 0800. Completion is due in 2020.

Ballymore expects to benefit from nearby London City Island, an ambitious award-winning project, formerly a margarine works, proving a hit with home buyers and high-profile arts organisations. English National Ballet and London Film School have relocated to dazzling new headquarters there. Bond Street is only 20 minutes away on the Jubilee line.

For finance workers, Canary Wharf is only a four-minute ride on the Tube. Yet artists, writers and animators are among the 650 people who have already moved into the 1,700-home complex, says communications director Hayleigh OFarrell. Whats really surprised us is that people have moved here from Battersea, Chelsea, Hackney and Southwark. They see it as an attractive place to be.
A fter every major tower block fire in recent history, guidance has been issued.

Following the fire in 14-storey Lakanal House in Camberwell in July 2009, in which six people died and more than 20 were injured, the expert coroner suggested a string of changes to the regulations covering residential towers that included installing sprinkler systems.

She criticised the continued use of flammable materials and the advice that, in the event of fire tower block residents should stay put in their flats until they could be rescued by firefighters. But almost nothing happened. If the coroners advice had been followed, if regulations had been changed, would the fire in Grenfell Tower have been so devastating?

The 24-storey North Kensington tower could have housed as many as 500 residents. It was built in 1974. The regulations that cover old and new buildings differ and there is no defined time period in the UK for updating them. Grenfell was both old and newly refurbished.

A report by the London Assembly housing and planning committee in 2010 stated that 527,000 Londoners live in tall buildings, many of which are included in refurbishment programmes. Ironically, it argued that major building refurbishment can often increase the risk of fires spreading in completed buildings.

In the Seventies there were a number of fires in towers similar to Grenfell Tower but they were generally contained within the flat where they started because the concrete structure contained the fire and the exteriors were not combustible.

Unforeseen dangers in refurbished blocks

The cosmetic improvement of many London towers in recent years has new and unforeseen dangers. There is still no requirement for the core of the panels that are used to reclad buildings be fire-resistant.

According to forensic architect Christopher Miers at Probyn Miers, who specialises in assessing the causes of fires, specific fire-safety regulations do not have to be followed to the letter as long as you meet the overall requirement.

The use of sprinklers is a source of debate. Authorities are concerned about sprinklers in public spaces, such as corridors, because they are a target for vandalism, but they could be effective in a flat which is the source of a fire. Today there are new technologies such as water mist suppression systems that can stop fires at their source, and which do much less damage to homes than a conventional sprinkler.

Issues with maintenance and budget cuts

Maintenance is a real issue in local authority buildings, particularly in the face of cuts to budgets.

Experts and residents regularly complain of flats without fire doors that will protect from fire for between 30 and 60 minutes, long enough for the rescue services to arrive; they complain that fire doors are often left wedged open, that smoke seals have rotted around the doorways, or that piles of rubbish are left on fire escape stairs.

Looking at the way the Grenfell Tower fire spread through the interior of the building, the investigators will need to look long and hard at how well these key elements of protection were working, and consider how often such buildings are inspected.

Did they have signs in many languages with clear instructions of what to do in event of a fire?

Fire regulations not fit for purpose

When you look at the speed with which the fire spread, it is clear the current fire regulations are no longer fit for purpose.

There has been talk of a review for some years; its over a decade since the last update, in spite of the Lakanal findings.

This may be partly down to the fact that fire safety was not seen as a major issue because fatalities in England dropped by a third between 2002 and 2012. Buildings are safer, appliances more reliable, we have fewer open fires, and furniture foam is non-combustible. The idea of anything on the scale of Grenfell Tower was unthinkable.

The lack of action may also be due to the fact that we have had no fewer than 15 housing ministers in the last 20 years. As soon as they understand something about their job they get moved on.

The government inquiry into the tragedy of Grenfell Tower must not only ascertain the causes of the fire and propose remedies, it must also ensure mechanisms are in place to remind us that we can never take fire safety for granted.

Like Ronan Point, Fairfield House, Summerland and Kings Cross, Grenfell Tower will be etched in the annals of building regulation, as it is in the hearts of Londoners. It must herald a major change in the way we build, procure and manage buildings. We owe it to the victims of Grenfell.

We are a city of towers. We owe it to Londoners to offer regulations that protect them. A tragedy such as this should never happen again.
Travis Scott is currently on the international leg of his Birds Eye View Tour right now, which saw him taking the stage in Johannesburg, South Africa a couple nights ago. Heading to Germany this weekend for this years Wireless Festival, Travis apparently had a few days off before leaving the country, and decided to pay a visit to the locals & kids in Africa. Of course, they were mad hyped to see him, but there was just one minor hilarious stipulation, they thought he was Chief Keef.

On Tuesday, footage surfaced online of Travis taking photos & saying hi to the local kids, and they were jumping in joy, while screams of Chief Keef could clearly be heard in the background. Its hysterical and all in good fun, but they definitely didnt know he was Travis Scott. However, Travis played it off like it was nothing.

Check out the hilarious clip (below).

Travis Scott
The American rock band will land in Dublin this October.

Following a sell-out show last night at the Olympia, Alter Bridge have today announced that they'll be back in the venue in few short months.

Formed in 2004, Florida-based band Alter Bridge have released four albums since former Creed members Scott Phillips and Mark Tremonti decided to create a group of their own. Now a four piece, also consisting of bassist Brian Marshall and vocalist Myles Kennedy, Alter Bridge have gone from strength to strength since the release of their debut album, One Day Remains.

2013's critically acclaimed Fortress album saw a resurgence of attention for Alter Bridge, as they entering a new period of creative fertility. They've been on form ever since.

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Tickets from 35.95 includes booking fee  on sale this Friday at 10am
I'm in my mid-fifties now, looking back on a time that was, in many ways, fiercely lonely yet enriching. I wrote for Hot Press for 18 years, in my thirties, stretching (perhaps a little too long) into my forties; it was a different life, Im a different person now. It was a life lived to the full in some ways, a life scraping the bottom of the barrel in many others. And I am bemused I had the gall, the bare-faced cheek, to document my exploits, my sadness, my excitements and pleasures.

I have no regrets, and subscribe to the rocknroll philosophy so well described by William Blake: the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. I was sex-obsessed, no doubt about it. The title of the column, Bootboy, was taken from the small ads that appeared in the back of Hot Press; there was frequent ad in particular that went somewhat along the lines of:

Bootboy, 24, seeks Master. Let me lick your boots, Sir.
The longest day of the year is also the hottest, with temperatures skyrocketing up to 37C degrees in Paris, 38C in Madrid, and 34C in London. Even Ireland is expected to get toasty with a predicted 28C high.

While Dubliners might be taking advantage of the excuse for some 99 ice creams, others have taken to twitter to share their complaints with the rest of the (overheating) world.

BAN CLOTHES AND WORK. #heatwaveuk pic.twitter.com/AuxeMMMqCE
The Donegal duo will be playing in the Dublin venue on October 11. With thier debut album in the works, fans could be treated to some new material that they've never heard before. Tickets are 16.35 and go on sale this Friday at 9am.

The Little Hours, made up of Ryan McCloskey and John Doherty are a busy pair lately. This weekend they will be taking to the stage in their home county for Bundoran's Sea Sessions festival, and they are providing support for Rodrigo y Gabriela on their 10th anniversary UK tour next week.

They have been making serious inroads into the UK, including an appearance at Brighton's Great Escape festival, and have booked a headline gig in London for October as well.

They recently released a new single 'How Could I Love You?', with which they will attempt t recreate the success of the radio smash hit song 'Water'.
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WASHINGTON - Exxon Mobil Corp. and other large oil companies are backing a carbon tax proposal put forward earlier this year by a group of former Republican leaders including James A. Baker III, the former secretary of state and a Houston attorney.

The Climate Leadership Coalition, a group that includes Baker, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, and former Secretary of State George Shultz, announced a list of "founding members" Tuesday that includes Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell, Total, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson.

"We support @TheCLCouncil as a founding member and are working to support its policy development process," Exxon Mobil tweeted Tuesday from its corporate account.

The coalition is urging President Donald Trump to adopt a tax on carbon emissions, revenue from which would be distributed among taxpayers to offset increases in energy prices.

Such a policy has been championed by liberal and some conservative economists for years as the most effective way to fight climate change by providing incentives to use cleaner-burning fuels and emissions-free energy technology. Exxon Mobil, under former CEO Rex Tillerson, now the secretary of state, has long offered that same analysis.

But whether the Irving-based oil giant will actively lobby Congress to pass a proposal that stands to raise prices on oil and natural gas in the United States remains unclear.

After Tuesday's announcement, many observers in Washington maintain that the Republican-controlled Congress is unlikely to act on a carbon tax.

"There is a rough road ahead of any carbon tax proposal, no matter how enthusiastic its initial supporters may be," said Scott Segal, an energy attorney with the law firm Bracewell. "There are a number of political and policy problems that have yet to be resolved."

Muddying any potential deal between Republicans and Democrats is a proposal from the coalition that a carbon tax should protect fossil fuel companies from litigation over their role in climate change.

"Exxon Mobil will try to dress this up as climate activism, but its key agenda is protecting executives from legal accountability for climate pollution and fraud," Greenpeace USA Senior Climate Campaigner Naomi Ages said.
The Sad Hill cemetery , which was created 50 years ago in northern Spain to provide the backdrop for the climax of Clint Eastwoods most famous Spaghetti Western, has people from all over the world prepared to pay to have their name on one of the headstones, according to the Spain-based Sad Hill Cultural Association, which has spent the last couple of years restoring the graveyard to its former glory.

A group of movie fans enjoy a beer at Sad Hill cemetery. Guillermo Fernandez de Oliveira

Soon to be declared an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC, to use its Spanish acronym), Sad Hill was allowed to fall into a state of disrepair after Sergio Leones The Good, The Bad And The Ugly wrapped in 1966. But, in a labor of love, volunteers have resurrected 1,500 of the 5,000 headstones that were carried there by the military during the Franco era and are now selling inscriptions for 15 a piece.

There have even been American fans who have asked if we could scatter their ashes there when they die, says David Alba, spokesman for the association. If a blessing is needed from the Church, we can speak to Domingo Contreras, a priest from around here who appeared in the film when he was a kid!

Ten days ago, we put up the last 100 headstones, and now we have 40 more on a waiting list David Alba, Sad Hill Cemetery Association

While the Tabernas desert in Almeria  which has provided the backdrop to westerns since the 1950s  is a designated Landscape of Cultural Interest and Natural Bird Sanctuary, Sad Hill, located close to Santo Domingo de Silos, about 30 kilometers southeast of the city of Burgos, in the region of Castilla y Leon, will be protected purely for its links to the movie world.

The regional government is due to trigger the process for the site to become a BIC, making it the first place in Spain to do so on purely cinematic grounds. It also has the distinction of being the only place to apply with only half a century of history behind it. This, according to Montse Moneo, a member of the association, is because cinema is a relatively new art.

The location was chosen during the unbearably hot summer of 1966, when director Sergio Leone moved the shooting of the third installment of his Dollars Trilogy to the rugged terrain of the Demanda mountains and the Arlanza valley in the plateau region near Burgos.

The movie was shot at four key locations in the vicinity: the San Pedro de Arlanza monastery, which became the San Antonio mission hospital; the River Pisuerga in Hortiguela which, in the film, is the site of the American Civil War battlefield; the suburbs of Carazo, which were transformed into the extensive prison camp of Betterville; and Santo Domingo de Silos, which was turned into Sad Hill Cemetery.

Thanks to the headstone scheme, the restoration is an ongoing project. Ten days ago, we put up the last 100 headstones, and now we have 40 more on a waiting list, all applied for in June, says Alba.

Sad Hill cemetery in 1966.

The association, which waits for 100 applications before embarking on the work needed to erect the headstones, believes that the sudden interest is linked to the fall release of Spanish director Guillermo de Oliveiras new film, Sad Hill Unearthed.

The project began as a modest documentary about the revamping of the mocked-up cemetery, but it has turned into a more robust production featuring Clint Eastwood himself as well as the soundtracks composer, Ennio Morricone, and several members of the epics production team. It also features fans such as Alex de la Iglesia and Metallica frontman James Hetfield, who explains why all his concerts begin with music from the movies final scene.

The film shows the associations volunteers starting work on the restoration of the cemetery with the idea there would be nothing left. But though locals had helped themselves to the headstones to build walls and crosses to reinforce roofs, the volunteers unearthed the cobbled square of around 40 meters in diameter that Sergio Leone used to organize the headstones  marked by no more than a line of knolls.

The shape of the graves was achieved by covering boxes with earth and the volunteers found these boxes, stitched to the ground by scrubs and weeds. Thanks to their efforts, Sad Hill is now more alive than ever with visitors making their way up the dirt track every weekend in homage to the cinema classic.

English version by Heather Galloway.
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Ellington Airport was shut down Wednesday morning after a fighter jet went up in flames.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Master Sgt. Sean Cowher, public affairs superintendent for the 147th Attack Wing, said the pilot on board the flight was doing well and in stable condition. He did not know if he had been released from the hospital.

Houston police, firefighters, and the Houston airport system all helped assist with the crash.

"Their quick action mitigated further damage, protected our military members and protected our community from harm," said Colonel Matthew Barker, Vice Wing Commander for the 147th Attack Wing.

Very few details of what happened were disclosed at the afternoon press conference, even as investigators were beginning the task of determining the cause of the crash.

An F-16 fighter jet was taking off when it caught on fire about 10:30 a.m., according to a press release from the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

The plane that crashed did not appear to have ever been fully airborne, according to Andrew Scott, spokesman for the continental region of U.S. NORAD.

The F-16 was stationed at Ellington Airport from a detachment of the 138th Fighter Wing in Tulsa, Okla., according to the release.

The pilot, who was conducting a training flight, ejected himself and was taken to an area hospital where he is being evaluated, according to the press release. His name will not be released due to the pending investigation, Barker said.

Details surrounding the accident remain unclear. Cowher said it could be days before the aircraft is removed from Ellington as the investigation process continues.

He said an Interim Safety board will convene to track pieces of the jet from the crash and investigate what caused the incident.

"The safety of our airmen is always our top priority, so I ask for your patience while we conduct a thorough investigation" said Barker.

It was under the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, an bi-national organization between the United States and Canada that is responsible for securing the North American airspace.

Houston police closed Beltway 8 between Crenshaw and Galveston due to the crash.

The burning F-16 was on the ground at the airport by 11 a.m., according to HFD.

The airport was evacuated following the crash.

Larry Satterwhite, an assistant chief at the Houston Police Department, said the downed plane had "military ordnance" on board, but said he could not specify what kind.

"The plane is still there," Satterwhite said. "They are still trying to mitigate that situation, we have a perimeter around it to ensure the public is safe."

Satterwhite said he did not know if the pilot intended to down the plane. He said, "We just know the pilot is safe and that the plane is down."

About 17 miles southeast of downtown Houston, Ellington Airport is used by the United States military, NASA and general aviation tenants, with the exception of commercial airlines.

The airport also hosts Houston Spaceport, the 10th commercial spaceport in the United States.

The city of Houston bought Ellington Airport in 1984.

Check back for updates on this developing story.
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Here's a look at some of the stories that made news in Houston 30 years ago this month.

* Hiring a singing stripper to perform in class for your high school teacher is usually never a good idea.

That's what Kingwood High School valedictorian Michael Woosley Jr., did as the school year came to a close. For that, Woosley was stripped of his valedictorian honors and suspended for six days. As such he wouldn't be giving a speech at commencement.

From Cathy Gordon's article on July 11, 1987.

"Their aim was not to suspend me for hiring the singing stripper, but to keep me and my speech away from graduation," Michael Woosley Jr., 18, who was barred from his June 2 graduation, said Friday.

But Humble Independent School District officials labeled Woosley's claims "total nonsense."

Woosley, stripped of valedictorian honors, said the speech stressed individuality - "not the usual you-are-the-future valedictory banter."

* When the fire chief doesn't think Houston City Hall is safe, you might want to pay attention.

That concern was made clear when a fire broke out in the building's 11th floor. No one was injured and damage was minimal.

Reporter Kim Cobb pointed out the lessons learned a year after the blaze.

But the small fire pointed out how disastrous a larger blaze could be for the building with a single stairwell, dead-end corridors and a design that would encourage the rapid spread of fire and smoke between floors.

Fire Marshall Eddie Corral finally had an audience who would listen when he said the building did not meet the current building code for fire safety.

It still doesn't.

"The bottom line is they're better off than they were a year ago," said Fire Chief Robert Clayton, who last year said he couldn't think of a downtown building more dangerous than City Hall. While waiting for corrections to the building itself, his firefighters have become very familiar with the layout through repeated training sessions.

And since the building's "stair-stepped" exterior makes reaching the upper floors nearly impossible from street level, the fire department is installing 50-foot ladders on the jutting roof of the building's fifth floor to be used to reach those upper floors.

"They're going to stay there, and certain truck companies will go up there and raise the ladders," in the event of a fire, Clayton said.

"Still, you haven't solved the main problem - that stairwell."

The single stairwell means only one exit in case of fire. Many city employees used the elevators to escape last year's fire, and they were already growing hot as the workers rode them down.

It's worth nothing that renovations in the 1990s corrected these issues.

* It might not have been the wedding of the century, but on June 20, 1987, Lake Jackson was the place to be for this matrimonial event. Actually, the Albertsons grocery store in Lake Jackson was the place to be.

Here's how reporter Vivienne Heines described it for the Chronicle:

She didn't really get jittery until she was standing in the frozen foods aisle, between the tubs of Blue Bell ice cream and the Nabisco cones and cups.

Gwyn Foyt, 20, wearing a lacy, low-cut white bridal gown, glanced at the customers peering around their partially filled grocery carts to get a better look at her, and she began to tremble. Foyt was about to marry 27-year-old Steve Glidden in the middle of Albertsons supermarket in Lake Jackson. She was about to say her wedding vows smack dab in the floral section of a large, temperature-regulated, well-lighted grocery store - in front of family, friends and a crowd of curious shoppers.

Store manager Dale Ramsey, looking like a proud papa about to give away the bride, smiled reassuringly at the anxious Foyt. The father of the bride, Syl D. Foyt, walked up to greet his daughter, kissed her lightly and lowered her veil.

The organ music - slightly muffled by the nearby potato bin - swelled. Foyt took a deep breath and, holding her father's arm, began her walk to the altar.

She proceeded with slow dignity past the Cokes, coffee, condiments and crackers, passing under dangling poster-size enlargements of the couple's engagement photo. She turned at the dairy section, bypassed the cheeses, yogurts and sour cream, and headed for the white trellis and blooming flowers under the "Plants and Flowers" sign.

She joined her husband-to-be and turned to face the minister, her brother, James Ross. Bridesmaids, clad in rose-colored, off-the- shoulder dresses, and the groomsmen, wearing black tuxedos with rose-colored cummerbunds and bow ties, took their places. The ceremony began.

Rose intoned solemnly, "When two devoted hearts are bound by the enchanted ties of matrimony..."

Grocery store sounds - the clatter of carts, the chatter of shoppers, the crying of a baby - drowned out much of the ceremony. One woman and her young daughter, craning their heads to better see and hear the action, rebuked two latecomers who tried to elbow their way to the front of the produce section.

"Move back, girls, we've been waiting here since 12 o'clock," she said sharply, guarding her front-row position jealously.

It might seem a long and strange journey for a young woman from Danbury and her Brazoria sweetheart to end up joining their lives in the midst of a big grocery store. The explanation is less tantalizing than the question, however.

The Albertsons wedding was the product of manager Ramsey's fertile imagination and love of publicity. He decided, he says, that June is a time for weddings - so why not have a wedding in his store?

"From my standpoint, it's a way to call attention to my store and, from her standpoint, it's a way of getting a very unique wedding," Ramsey said.
A Katy man has been charged with impersonating a peace officer after he was accused of posing as an FBI agent to rummage through the lost and found of a Houston motel.

Wearing professional clothes and a pair of handcuffs on his waist, 42-year-old Travis N. Jordan flashed a fake credential on his smart phone as he tried to convince a clerk in a motel near the Sam Houston Parkway that he was looking for evidence, according to prosecutors.
Submitted photo

Hope For Three, Autism Advocates, has announced a partnership with a children's bookstore that is distinct from others.

Poppy's Place Book Store is tailored to children including those with unique abilities like autism. It will feature a range of children's books, games and toys.
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 on Tuesday proposed adding LGBTQ studies to the district's existing U.S. history curriculum.

Speaking 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 in the country's seventh-largest school district a broader picture of America's past.

Carranza stressed that conversations about including LGBTQ issues within history curriculum are just beginning and no decisions on such curriculum changes have been made. It could take months or years to implement such proposed changes.

"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 it's 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."

Elsewhere, California schools are required to include the contributions of gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and queer people as part of social studies curriculum, thanks to a 2011 law and a 2016 California Board of Education decision. Carranza was deputy superintendent and superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District from 2009 until last year, when he came to Houston, and he oversaw some schools that rolled out anLGBTQ curriculum.

Texas, however, mandates that education materials "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."

Texas Education Agency spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said those statutes only apply to curriculum developed by the Texas Department of Health, which districts can opt to use or not use. She said the law does not require districts to teach a certain curriculum and that districts have local control when it comes to deciding what will be taught in regards to human sexuality.

'This is Texas'

But Rev. Dave Welch, executive director of the Houston Area Pastor Council that has led local efforts to defeat pro-LGBTQ ordinances, said the proposal is about indoctrination, not education.

"Carranza is an import from San Francisco where this kind of propaganda that attempts to equate sexual lifestyles, gender confusion and hostility toward the traditional family has become the norm," Welch said in a statement. "The HISD Board of Trustees needs to remind Dr. Carranza that this is Texas, where the people of all ethnicities still believe that our children are to be protected, nurtured and educated, not used as a social experiment of a radical political agenda."

Neither Equality Texas nor GLSEN, two groups that advocate for gay and transgender rights, commented on the proposal by Tuesday evening.

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.

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 in the Legislature 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.

City efforts mixed

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.

Houston's reactions to transgender and gay issues has been mixed. Although the school district passed sweeping anti-discrimination policies in 2011 that include protections for gay and transgender students, more than 60 percent of voters within the city of Houston rejected a similar proposal in 2015 that would have made it illegal to discriminate against someone based on sex, race, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity, among other characteristics.

Welch with the Houston Area Pastor Council said the defeat of the city's anti-discrimination ordinance should show school leaders that residents don't want LGBTQ issues discussed in local classrooms

Carranza said Houston is incredibly diverse and its curriculum should reflect that diversity.

"Those conversations are just starting, but we're not excluding any topic that is germane to what is America's story," Carranza said.
Peer pressure can lead college students to drink heavily.

But a new study by a University of Kansas researcher shows that social cues can also be an effective way to get college students to stop binge drinking, too.



Colleges have long struggled to implement effective alcohol policies to moderate student drinking, which is especially risky in the first months of the fall semester.



Margaret Kelley, an American studies professor at the University of Kansas, found that the prospect of embarrassment and shame among peers may be the most effective way to keep students from drinking dangerously.



Kelley's study, published in the Journal of Drug Issues, surveyed 508 students at a large public university in the southwest U.S.



That university had recently established a dry policy on campus. Fear of punishment didn't deter drinking, as students said they would drink in places where they likely wouldn't be discovered.

Students who worried that their peers would think less positively of them said they would be less likely to violate the policy, the study found. Women were more swayed by perceptions of their peers' reactions.



Friendships and casual relationships "are more important from the standpoint of moderating drinking behavior than the threat of formal punishment, or even being kicked out of school," Kelley said in a press release. "The ideas of day-to-day embarrassment or feeling basic social shame were more of a deterrent."



An effective orientation program to curb student drinking may be a positive social event in which students can befriend each other. Computer information sessions on alcohol policies may be less effective, Kelley wrote.
One of 15 Harris County judges challenging a federal order altering the cash bail system for low-income misdemeanor defendants has dropped out of the group that hired a pricey D.C. law firm to appeal the lawsuit.

Criminal Court-at-Law Judge Mike Fields, a Republican who has been on the bench since 1998, opted out of the appeal prepared by Cooper & Kirk, whose $550-an-hour top lawyer, Charles "Chuck" Cooper, was just retained as private counsel for Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Fields said Wednesday he still supports the appeal, but prefers to use Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan's office for his legal representation. Ryan's office put Assistant County Attorney Bruce S. Powers on record with the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as Fields' lawyer.

Fields said he doesn't want the county to spend more money on his behalf. The county's legal bills have already reached $3.5 million in the case.

"I know the average Harris County taxpayer makes $20 an hour -- $550 an hour is a huge jump from there," Fields said.

The bail suit was brought on behalf of Maranda ODonnell, a young mother who was held in the Harris County jail because she couldn't afford to post $2,500 bail after being arrested for driving with a suspended license. Similar lawsuits filed on behalf of two other people were merged into the case in August.

On April 28, Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal ruled that a "wealth-based" bail system for misdemeanor defendants was unconstitutional. Her order went into effect earlier this month.

The suit has already cost Harris County about $3.5 million in legal fees.

Fields, 52, said he cannot justify spending more money for the appeal, especially after the district, circuit and U.S. Supreme Court all denied the county's request for a temporary halt to Rosenthal's order. He said he supports the idea of a settlement, as do several of his colleagues.

"All county officials involved would like to settle this lawsuit in a way that balances the rights of the arrestees with the safety of the public," said First Assistant Harris County Attorney Robert Soard. "We have been unable to reach an agreement with the plaintiffs on how to handle arrestees charged with serious misdemeanors, such as domestic violence or driving while intoxicated, or those who may consistently fail to appear in court."

The suit names all 16 criminal court at law judges as defendants, and one, Judge Darrell Jordan, previously opted to not to participate in the fight. Jordan, who is a Democrat, is the only other African-American jurist on the Harris County criminal courts at law.

Neal Manne, a Houston attorney who joined with two civil rights group in filing the lawsuit on behalf of indigent defendants, said Fields' decision about legal representation evokes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"The arc of the moral universe is long," he said, "but it bends toward justice."
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Scores of residents urged City Council on Tuesday to challenge the state's "sanctuary cities" ban, speaking during more than five hours of public testimony on the eve of council's vote onwhether to join litigation.

Council chambers overflowed with residents waiting to testify on Senate Bill 4, which allows police to ask people their immigration status if detained.

Mayor Sylvester Turner has asked council to vote Wednesday on joining lawsuits already filed by several Texas cities and advocacy groups.

Democratic state lawmakers kicked off what became at times a heated discussion about the law, which goes into effect Sept. 1.

"This bill is sanctioned hate, and for us to sanction that regime of hate - I think it's unconscionable," state Rep. Armando Walle told City Council. "I do not want to have to carry my passport just to show somebody, any law enforcement agency, that I'm a U.S. citizen, just based on the color of my skin."

Walle was among 14 Houston-area Democratic lawmakers who wrote council members last week urging them to support litigation, something a Chronicle survey earlier this month suggests they are likely to do.

Funding concerns

Those who spoke in favor of a lawsuit Tuesday argued SB4 is an unconstitutional, unnecessary and immoral law that would harm public safety, adding that Houston ought to demonstrate leadership on the issue.

"Houston has always prided itself in being a welcoming city, known for our diversity and our rich culture, and our immigrant population is a critical part of our vibrant identity," said Jane Meyer, a nun with the Dominican Sisters of Houston.

Those against suing spoke to the need to enforce federal immigration law, said Houston should not spend money on joining a legal fight already underway and worried the city could lose state and federal funding by following through with a lawsuit.

President Donald Trump's administration wants to withhold federal grants from so-called sanctuary cities that do not fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities - a move that temporarily has been blocked in court.

"We should not be spending money on this kind of issue when our budget is already stressed," Spring Branch-area resident Bob Hall said.

He also cited a May poll of Harris County voters from the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs, in which 52 percent of respondents said they oppose so-called sanctuary cities, defined as municipalities where local authorities do not automatically turn people over to federal immigration enforcement after learning they are in the country illegally.

There is no widely accepted definition for sanctuary cities, however, and Houston, which makes up roughly half of Harris County's population, has neither identified as a sanctuary city nor been singled out as one.

Residents in favor of a lawsuit over SB4 were, at times, critical of those who spoke against such a move.

A young man held up a notebook with "RACIST" scrawled in marker while a speaker urged council not to sue; someone else hissed "time" as the speaker's clock ran out; a woman held up her phone and said "picture of the racist."

Turner interjected, reminding speakers to respect each other.

Chambers also erupted early in the afternoon after a testy exchange between Councilman Greg Travis and state Rep. Gene Wu, who testified for a lawsuit.

Travis said the rhetoric "needs to be toned down" after Wu called SB4 "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.

'Hateful' rhetoric

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."

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.

Councilman Robert Gallegos reminded Travis that Trump has used some of the language Wu cited to describe immigrants.

The city attorney's office has recommended Houston sue, saying SB4 authorizes unconstitutional searches, seizures and detentions, violates officials' First Amendment rights, unlawfully limits local authority and is unconstitutionally vague.

Under the law, sheriffs and police chiefs who refuse federal requests to hold immigrants detained for other alleged crimes could face jail time and fines.

A preliminary hearing in the consolidated case that Houston would join is scheduled for next Monday.
Three people suspected of jihadist activity have been arrested in Madrid, the Spanish Interior Ministry said in a release on Wednesday. One of those detained is considered a very dangerous and highly radicalized individual with ties to the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) and who had collected a large amount of material including manuals on how to perpetrate terrorist attacks.

One of the Madrid suspects is taken into custody. EFE

The other two shared an apartment with the former, who was training them to join ISIS, said the ministry in its release.

The raid took place in the early hours of Wednesday, just two days before the Spanish capital is due to play host to World Pride 2017. Madrid has boosted security measures to deal with an event that is expected to attract around two million people to the Spanish capital between June 23 and July 2.

The main suspects profile is said to coincide with the background of terrorists recently involved in the attacks in Britain and France

The raid also comes just hours after soldiers in Brussels shot and killed a suspect who had detonated a small explosive device at the citys Central Station.

The main suspect held in Madrid is a 32-year-old Moroccan national accused of having links to ISIS.

His profile is said to coincide with the background of terrorists recently involved in the attacks in Britain and France. He is being considered a clear threat to security in Spain, according to the ministry release.

He was allegedly training his roommates, two Moroccan nationals aged 33 and 38, to carry out violent acts in Spain.

The Interior Ministry said that the seized material included handbooks on how to become a suicide bomber and another one on how to wage jihad online. Spains National Police force is currently analyzing these documents, whose contents range from the most radical kind of ideological prepping to acts of martyrdom.

Spain has been on a threat level 4 (level 5 is the highest) for the terrorist threat since June 26, 2015 when attacks were carried out in countries including France, Tunisia and Kuwait, among others. Since then, law enforcement agencies have arrested 172 jihadists in Spain and abroad.

English version by Susana Urra.
Mayor Sylvester Turner stressed his desire Wednesday to reach a deal with the firefighters union after City Council delayed a vote on less favorable employment terms that would take effect if the firefighters' contract lapses next week.

The city was preparing to play hardball with the firefighters union ahead of mediation talks set to begin Thursday, more than a month after the union declared an impasse in contract negotiations.

Those less generous modifications will come up for a vote next week and, if passed, govern firefighter employment until a deal is reached.

"The bottom line, just like on pensions and everything else, I think both sides have to be very careful that you don't overplay your hand," Turner said.

Firefighters have been operating under "evergreen" employment terms since their last contract expired three years ago - an arrangement that expires June 30.

Turner said the fire union rejected a city offer to extend those terms until the parties agree to a new contract.

Asked why he did not ask council to codify those existing terms in city ordinance, which governs firefighter employment in the absence of a contract, Turner said, "That's not the way to negotiate."

"I've been a lawyer for 37 years," he added. "I'm not in the business of negotiating against myself."

Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton disputed Turner's version of events, saying the city never offered to extend the evergreen terms.

"I don't even begin to say where that comes from," Lancton said. "It's shocking to me."

Fire Chief Samuel Pena said he hopes to reach an agreement that balances both parties' interests.

The fire union has asked for annual raises of 6 percent, 6 percent and 8 percent in a three-year deal, and the city has offered 2 percent annually over two years.

"I'm hoping that we do reach  a successor agreement that really acknowledges the value that the firefighters bring to this community, and there's also respect for the taxpayer," Pena said.

The mediation process could continue indefinitely.

In the meantime, the modifications before City Council would impose less favorable overtime and holiday pay rules, cease city payments into a union medical fund and end a program that effectively allows employees to transition into retirement while retaining some employment benefits.

They would leave several policies - such as minimum staffing requirements and the assurance that the fire union president's position will remain paid - to management discretion.
If ships could talk, the 103-year-old Battleship Texas would say that she's tired. She'd say that she's fought the good fight and that she's ready to give in to the rust that is eating away her life. She'd radio: SOS! Emergency!

Texans are making the same pleas on the ship's behalf. Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus need to listen and allocate funds in the upcoming special session to save this historic treasure. Texas must stop spending taxpayer dollars on patch jobs and water pumps for this battleship, the last of its kind that operated in two world wars. It's past time to move this naval museum and piece of our heritage onto land.

The Battleship Texas Foundation has voted unanimously to pursue the dry berth option but lacks the funds to do so. Ultimate responsibility for the battleship lies with the state of Texas, and that responsibility comes with a price.

Except for two years in Galveston in the late 1990s, the USS Texas has been moored at the San Jacinto Battlefield since 1948. So far, a combination of public and private funds have kept the ship afloat through stop-gap measures like patching leaks and pumping water out of the hull. The ship is not only leaking continually, but the leaks are sprouting up more frequently now. Patch-and-pump is not a viable long-term strategy.

If the state of Texas fails to act, the ship could roll on its side. And the funding troubles still wouldn't go away. The state would then need to pay the costs of cutting up the ship and hauling her away. In a salvage situation, the state would also need to cover the costs of storage and figure out an alternate display for the thousands of artifacts associated with the vessel.

By failing to act promptly, the state is risking a priceless piece of our national heritage. About 250,000 people visit the vessel each year. The ship inspires thousands of people of all ages from around the state and the world and reminds them of the sacrifices that so many have made and are making to keep our nation free.

With fewer than 1 percent of the nation serving as active military personnel, the symbolic value of this battleship increases every day, along with the cost of deferred maintenance. Every time the ship lists significantly to its side, the cost of dry docking increases. Delay adds zeroes to the invoice owed by the state and ultimately the taxpayer for preservation or dismantling.

If ships could talk, the Battleship Texas could regale us with stories about her service in Normandy, North Africa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Fortunately, 36 veterans, ages 84-102, who returned in 2014 with their families to celebrate the ship's centennial were able to recount her stories for her. One told of an Air Force pilot dropping cold beer onto the hull of the battleship for a celebration on D-Day.

As conveyed by Bruce Bramlett, executive director of the foundation, another remembered getting chewed out by his commander for failing to write his mother for six months. The sailor promptly complied, writing, "Dear mom, whatever you do, don't write the captain again."

All confirmed their pride in serving on this 10-gun ship, in her day, the biggest and baddest battleship around.

"She's a testament to our ingenuity and our engineering," says Stephanie Croatt, curator of the battleship. Surely, with billions in its rainy day fund, the state of Texas has the ingenuity to figure out a way to save this historic vessel and to preserve this piece of naval history for future generations.
Cruel discipline

Regarding "'Welcome to hell': Lawsuit seeks relief from prison heat" (Page A1, Monday), as the author of a recent book dealing with ex-cons who kill, I can tell you that incarceration is tough enough in general without the added punishment of roasting cells in the heat of a Texas summer.

We still call prisons "penitentiaries" because when they began in this country more than two centuries ago, the purpose was to render the offenders "penitent" or sorry for their crimes. Before the establishment of American prisons, punishments consisted of public executions, maiming, banning, branding, whipping or time in the public stocks.

Just imagine the state of mind of a Texas prisoner today or tomorrow after being released from a 20 or 25-year sentence, including as many summers of life in a veritable furnace. Sorry or angry?

Confinement without air conditioning is cruel and unusual punishment, a guarantee that the recidivism rate will rise rather than decrease.

Jerome Loving, Bryan

Deal with it

As far as I know, regulations of the Texas Department of Corrections make no guarantee that prisoners will be kept comfortable during the time they are incarcerated.

Nor I do not believe our Texas temperatures are hotter now than they were 75 years ago, despite all the arguments about global warming. My father worked swing shifts at Todd Shipyard during War World II. He would come home where he tried to sleep during the hottest hours of the day without air-conditioning or even a fan.

I cannot understand why there is now all the weeping and wailing about prisoners not having air-conditioning. There are scores of people right now who are working and living in non-air conditioned facilities.

If more criminals are made aware of the adverse conditions in prison, am I being naive to hope they will make a renewed effort to straighten up and fly right?

Carol J. Rhodes, Houston
Rejoin Paris coalition

Regarding "U.S. right to pull out of Paris plan" (Page A15, Saturday), as an atmospheric scientist, I strongly disagree with Congressman Pete Olson's embrace of President Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement.

Climate change poses serious risks that require a global response. Under the Paris agreement, each country sets its own path toward curbing planet-warming emissions.

Olson justifies Trump's decision by claiming China and India are doing too little. In fact, both countries are aggressively pursuing renewable energy and electric vehicles while canceling some plans for coal power plants.

Reneging on our commitments cedes any leverage to ask others to do more, isolating the U.S. alone with Syria and Nicaragua (which sought stiffer action) outside the Paris coalition. Rejoining that coalition will better position the U.S. to prosper from the clean energy technologies that are emerging to address climate change.

Daniel Cohan, Houston

The trouble with banks

Regarding "Choice Act holds Big Banks accountable," by U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Page A11, Tuesday), if he really felt that way about big banks, he should repeal the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act that created them. In 1999, both Democrats and Republicans created the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, so no single political party is responsible for its creation.

Looking objectively at the 18-year-track-record of the law, most Americans would see that the law was a failure and should be repealed, and the Glass-Steagall Act that separated commercial and investment banking be re-instituted. In addition to the benefits to our financial system, repealing this law would create thousands of new jobs. Many of these jobs were lost when the green light was given to big banks to merge banking, insurance and brokerage into one big pot, increasing their stock price and profits of big banks.

If Gramm-Leach-Bliley was repealed, then Hensarling could meet the proposed bill's objectives and he wouldn't have to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Curt Anderson, The Woodlands

Deportation plans

Regarding "A father's gift: Lessons in strength" (Page A1, Monday), the impending deportation of Juan Rodriguez as described in the Chronicle would be a tragedy. Here is a man who has worked hard, raised a fine family and no doubt was escaping from dismal conditions in El Salvador.

Sure, we cannot accept everyone who would like to come to the USA and we are obviously not going to with the stricter controls now in force. What does our country gain by tearing this successful family apart?

My father who emigrated to this country before there were any quotas, coincidentally, was also an automobile mechanic, having learned the trade in the U.S. Army in World War I.

Merv Rosenbaum, Houston
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.

Most of the fleet in Air Koryo, North Koreas state-run airlines, is made up of decades-old Russian jets that have received little or no upgrading since being put into service.

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.

Its unsafe, Corker said, adding that the trumped up charges like those Warmbier was accused of can continue to happen.

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Argentinean police on the hunt for smuggled Chinese artwork have have made the largest ever discovery of Nazi memorabilia in the country: a collection of 75 objects belonging to the regimes top brass, including everything from a bust of Adolf Hitler to a magnifying glass believed to have been used by the Fuhrer himself.

Several of the pieces discovered by Federal Police. David Fernandez (EFE)

More information Hallado un tesoro nazi en una habitacion secreta en Argentina

The collection of perfectly preserved pieces was discovered in a secret room in the home of an antiques collector and dealer in the upscale Buenos Aires neighborhood of Beccar, and also contains objects including toys, pistols, knives and an hourglass, all embossed with swastikas. Among the more macabre items is a medical device used to measure peoples skulls to determine if they belonged to the Aryan race.

The police discovery of the items destined for sale on the black market is further proof of the significant presence of Nazis in Argentina after the war, with high-profile figures including Auschwitz physician Josef Mengele taking advantage of the protection offered by former president Juan Domingo Peron, who served his first term from 1946 to 1955.

Among the objects discovered were medical devices used to measure bones and skull size to determine if people were from the Aryan race. Natacha Pisarenko (AP)

But the country also took in thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis, with that community present in all spheres of Argentinean society: the current environment minister, Sergio Bergman, for example, is a rabbi. It is Jewish groups that have done the most to rid Argentina of its Nazi past, and that have also applauded most loudly at news of this latest discovery of memorabilia.

The salesman in possession of the objects has not been arrested because it is not currently possible to accuse him of any crime. According to police he is not linked to groups with Nazi sympathies, but he is being investigated by federal courts.

This is irrefutable proof that Argentina opened the door to high-ranking Nazis after the Second World War Ariel Cohen Sabban, President of Delegation of Argentinean Jewish Organizations

His collection was found by chance while police were searching for smuggled objects of Chinese art listed as protected by UNESCO. After officers unearthed a store of Chinese, Japanese and Egyptian work at a gallery and in a storeroom, they followed the trail back to the house of the collector. An officer noticed something off about a bookcase and decided to move it. And there was the secret door, Gustavo Roncaglia, federal police chief, told EL PAIS.

Everything suggests [the collector] was a dealer, not an activist, he added.

Police believe the objects were brought to Argentina by high-ranking Nazi officers after the Second World War, and may even have belonged to Mengele.

The place where he was hiding was less than 15 blocks from the house [where the objects were found]. We cant say anything for certain but there are many medical devices among the 75 pieces found  for measuring bones and the dimension of skulls, said Roncaglia.

A statue of the Imperial Eagle was part of the find. Click on photo for full gallery (Spanish captions). Natacha Pisarenko (AP)

We are shocked: these Nazi objects  emblems of a tragic era in our history  make up a very impressive find, said Patricia Bullrich, security minister in a country where vestiges of the Nazi past continue to stir up the occasional controversy. Recently, youngsters dressed up as Nazis faced off with students of a Jewish college in Bariloche, an area of Patagonia reminiscent of Switzerland where several figures of the Hitler regime sought refuge.

There are still people who preach this ideology or make money out of it. It is part of our history we have to stamp out, the minister said.

The chief find in the collection is the magnifying glass that could have belonged to Hitler: investigators have turned up a negative of a photo showing the Nazi leader holding an item identical to that found in Buenos Aires. A historian we have consulted says it is original. We are in contact with the German Embassy and will speak to international historians to confirm this, said the federal police chief.

This is irrefutable proof that [Argentina] opened the door to high-ranking Nazis after the Second World War, said Ariel Cohen Sabban, president of DAIA, the countrys federation of Jewish organizations.

English version by George Mills.
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Spanish anti-austerity party Podemos on Monday excluded several news organizations  including EL PAIS  from a press briefing at party headquarters in Madrid. The leftist political group issued invitations to reporters who regularly cover the party to attend an off-the-record breakfast event held to introduce the groups new spokespersons.

Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias surrounded by the press. LUIS SEVILLANO

But organizers failed to invite EL PAIS, the Cadena SER radio network (both owned by Grupo PRISA), El Periodico de Catalunya and three other online media outlets. Their argument for doing so was that Podemos was trying to create a space of trust.

The Madrid Press Association (APM) issued a press release on Tuesday deploring the decision. The Association of Information Media (AMI) joined the criticism, noting that the right to information is protected by Article 20 of the [Spanish] Constitution.

An El Mundo reporter declined to attend in protest over the selective veto

Freedom of information should always be respected; it is proof that democracy is functioning well, said the AMI in a statement. Only an informed citizen can be a free citizen.

The invitation contained the following message: Hi! Next Monday, June 19 at 10am, were preparing an off-the-record breakfast on the seventh floor of 2 Princesa street to introduce you to the new state-level spokesmen and women and to tell you about the roles they play in Podemos. The idea is for you to get to know them a little better while we share a cup of coffee.

The invitation was received by news agencies (EFE, Europa Press and Servimedia), print media (Abc, El Mundo, La Razon and La Vanguardia), radio stations (RNE and COPE), and by numerous online dailies such as ElConfidencial.com, Eldiario.es, Publico, El Espanol, Diario Critico and Libertad Digital.

Losing democracy MIKEL ORMAZABAL EL PAIS editor-in-chief Antonio Cano warned on Tuesday about the risk of seeing good journalism disappear and being engulfed by the rising tide of post-truths and fact denial. "Traditionally, this has been known as manipulation," he said during a lecture he delivered in the Basque city of San Sebastian, at the inauguration of the Basque Country University Summer Courses. Speaking in front of regional premier Inigo Urkullu, Cano stated that if we lose journalism, we lose democracy.

But it was not sent to EL PAIS, Cadena SER, El Periodico de Catalunya or the online outlets El Independiente, Voz Populi or Ok diario.

More than 15 journalists attended the event, and when some of them expressed dissatisfaction at seeing their colleagues excluded, they were told that the invitation had been selective in order to create spaces of trust. The reporter from El Mundo declined to attend in protest over the selective veto.

Queried by EL PAIS regarding the reasons behind the decision, a party spokesman declined to provide any explanations.

Three months ago, Podemos had another run-in with the press after the APM received a complaint by a group of reporters who claimed that Podemos was harassing them on social media.

There is no precedent in Spain for media events  even informal ones  to leave out specific outlets. Not even in 2007, when the Popular Party (PP) decided to boycott the PRISA group over statements made by then-chairman Jesus de Polanco, did EL PAIS or Cadena SER get left out of meetings with the media.

The move was reminiscent of the White Houses decision to block CNN, The New York Times and other major outlets from an off-camera press conference in February.

English version by Susana Urra.
t 26% of workers in Singapore believe their organisations leadership is committed to bridging the digital skills gap in the workplace, according to a recently published study by Microsoft. This comes amidst Singapores efforts to have its workforce adapt to rapid advancements in technology.As Asia primes itself to become the most connected market with more than half of all mobile connections originating from the region by 2021, organisations need to rethink how they empower their workforce with the right culture, policy, infrastructure and tools to maximise their potential. This means enabling collaboration from anywhere, on any device, said Kevin Wo, managing director, Microsoft Singapore.The tech giants Asia Workplace 2020 Study found that 62% of Singapore respondents consider themselves as mobile workers and spend a fifth of their time working outside their offices. But just 37% feel empowered by their organisations culture and managers to be able to work together productively and collaboratively.Less than a quarter (23%) agreed that their organisation has invested in culture development through training and development led by HR. Results come from a poll of nearly 4,200 professionals in 14 Asia Pacific markets, 307 respondents from Singapore.As the nature of work changes, how employees collaborate and work together will be impacted as well. It is critical for business and HR leaders to seek ways to better empower individuals and remove barriers to collaborate for the digital age, especially when the Study clearly identifies gaps that can be minimized with technology. However, it is also important for businesses to also bridge the leadership and employee gap with more focus on people and culture, said Wo.Late last month, Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say stressed that adaptability will be the key skill for workers in the future, as rapid transformation in the workplace is expected to heighten the level of job-skill mismatch.More workers will have to re-skill repeatedly just to remain employable in the same profession, or pursue new and different professions. The most important skill of the future is therefore the ability to re-skill, he said in a speech at the G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting in Germany.Lim cited Singapores SkillsFuture movement, which aims to assist workers in adapting to future jobs through re-skilling. The government has also expanded several schemes under its Adapt and Grow initiative, which helps workers looking to take on new jobs.We should not allow technology and innovation to divide our workforce. Instead, we should use them to improve the employment and enhance the employability of all workers, said Lim.
It may not feel like it just yet, but summer is right around the corner and that means beach time can't be far behind. Now, Canada may not be thought of as a beach destination for some travellers right now but locals will tell you otherwise.

The water may not be clear blue and the clouds may interrupt your sunbathing but with the incredibly high temperatures and unbearable humidity levels experienced in July and August, the beach really is the place to be. While it's no secret where to find Canada's best beaches, this list has a slightly different focus.

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This list is for those of you who enjoy a beach experience with head-to-toe tanning and complete avoidance of tan lines. For those who haven't caught on yet, this list is all about nude beaches. When it comes to the legality of nude beaches, according to Canadian law it is unlawful to be nude in a public place, or dressed in a way to offend public decency. This law also applies to private places, such as your own backyard, where you may be exposed to public view.

That being said, this law is not aimed towards the activity of being nude on a secluded beach and authorities have accepted the use of certain clothing-optional public beaches. In other cases, established naturist groups have taken the responsibility for maintaining and operating these clothing-optional beaches and are also accountable for the behaviour of the patrons using these beaches.

There are dozens of nude beaches across the country, though only a handful of them are legally recognized as clothing-optional beaches. Many others are unofficially recognized as clothing-optional beaches where authorities do not arrest nude sunbathers.

So, now that you know that you won't be getting arrested for public indecency... here's where you'll want to go.

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Canada's Best Nude Beaches. Slideshow test follows for mobile readers.

Canada's Best Nude Beaches See Gallery

Crystal Crescent Beach, Nova Scotia

Known as Halifax's formal nude ocean beach, Crystal Crescent is located in the aptly-named Crystal Crescent Beach Provincial Park which is close to Sambro, Nova Scotia. The beach offers great scenery and can get quite busy on weekends with up to 300 visitors.

Oka Park, Quebec

Referred to locally as Okapulco, this beach is one the shore of the Lac des Deux Montagnes, and is on of the best known nude beaches in Quebec. The beach offers a pleasant and peaceful atmosphere naturists have frequented the area for over 20 years.

Hanlan's Point Beach, Ontario

Located on the Toronto Island, the southern portion of Hanlan's Beach has been officially designated as a sandy, clothing-optional beach for 14 years. The beach is maintained by the City of Toronto's Parks Department and rules are enforced so that only a designated beach portion is clothing-optional and clothes must be worn everywhere else.

Beaconia Beach, Manitoba

On the southeastern shore of Lake Winnipeg, you will find Beaconia Beach. The beach is often visited by clothed families, so it is recommended that naturists walk about 15 minutes south of the parking lot prior to undressing.

Patricia Beach, Manitoba

This beach is located within a provincial park, and is recognized as a clothing optional beach on both weekdays and weekends. That being said, tourists are recommended to walk further north on weekends to avoid commotion with local residents or the RCMP.

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Paradise Beach, Saskatchewan

Located on the Saskatchewan River, Paradise Beach is a well recognized clothing-optional beach despite does not have an association to advocate for naturalists. Also worth noting is the beach is patrolled by local police to maintain the family-friendly atmosphere.

Wreck Beach, British Columbia

As the second largest clothing-optional beach in North America, Wreck Beach receives over 100,000 annual visitors. The beach is located in Pacific Spirit Regional Park on the shore of the Georgia Strait and the north arm of the Fraser River.
TOLGA AKMEN via Getty Images

As I awoke on Monday morning to yet more terrible news, this time the terrorist attack in North London, my immediate thought was that I couldn't remember a more depressing time in our country. Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge, Grenfell Tower and now another tragedy to add to the seemingly relentless stream of disasters where innocent people are dying and being seriously injured in major incidents.

As I scrolled through my newsfeed, I couldn't help feel as though there were some double standards in the tone of press coverage and the language being used when compared to other terrorist attacks. Many headlines were framing the incident in far less graphic terms than is usual after a terrorist attack. For example, terms like 'collision','crash' and 'van hits pedestrians' were were being favoured, phrases which are morally neutral and carry no connotations of deliberate violence, let alone terrorism. In some cases headlines were so ambiguous that it even made it sound like it could have been an accident.

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As I watched a reporter interviewing eye-witnesses on the TV, I was perplexed as to why the reporter asked many times over if they thought the driver had meant to hit pedestrians, despite the witnesses repeatedly saying the attacker had said he wanted to 'kill all Muslims'.

The most obvious reason for this strange diversion from the usual media response to a terrorist attack would be that in this case, unlike previous attacks, the perpetrator was white and the victims were Muslim. This wasn't 'Islamic' terrorism, and so not a 'proper' terrorist attack. While I am by no means Theresa May fan, I have to commend her and Sadiq Khan for immediately responding and denouncing the incident as terrorism. It begs the question though, that if the PM and London Mayor could do this, why was it that many reports were still putting the word 'potential' before 'terrorist attack', and persisting to keep the quotation marks till very late in the day?

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There is yet more evidence of double standards, not just from the media but the police too. While it is of course admirable that the police arrived on the scene in good time, it is nevertheless a salient point that the suspected terrorist, Darren Osborne, was taken to hospital and underwent a mental health assessment. Personally, I have long thought that all those arrested in connection with terrorist activities should have their mental health assessed, but I do wonder just how many Muslims in police custody on terror-related charges have had this same privilege. It just reinforces the impression that if a white person kills and maims, he must be 'mentally vulnerable' or a 'lone wolf'. However, when it's a Muslim there is seldom any consideration given to their possible history of mental illness, which I am convinced must also play a part in their radicalisation. Instead, connections to a wider 'cultural' problem are immediately made, entire communities are demonised and there is no room for nuanced, intelligent debate.

Victim blaming by the usual suspects

Later that morning, I tuned into a live call-in show on the radio which was addressing the incident. But instead of the usual public responses of sympathy and solidarity, I was appalled to hear that the debate had turned to the hate-preacher Abu Hamza who used to address the congregation several years ago at Finsbury Park mosque (which is a different mosque to the one outside which innocent bystanders were mown down, although in the same area). An angry caller was suggesting that there may have been some justification for the attack due to that mosque's connection to the now-deported extremist. I later read that The Sun dubbed the attack as a suspected 'revenge' attack, and the Daily Fail wasted no time in planting an entirely disingenuous association between Abu Hamza and the mosque by running a headline to that effect. They later changed the headline, after it came under strong criticism, not least for being entirely incorrect.

It worried me how quickly the narrative had been so skillfully hijacked by the tabloid press and its supporters on social media, who were trying to link the innocent victims to extremism. Not only are these insinuations insensitive and unfair, but they also reinforce the perception of Muslim identity in the public imagination as being so tightly bound to terrorism, that they are not even allowed the dignity of just being innocent victims.

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Terrorism has two faces

Theresa May has unambiguously linked the incident to 'extremism', 'hatred' and 'evil' and Sadiq Khan has said that 'terrorism is terrorism' no matter what inspires it. Many are now wondering if those people who incite far-right-wing extremist 'hatred and evil', such as that which presumably inspired this attack, will be held to account in the same way as those responsible for promoting hate of the 'Islamist' variety have been. Tommy Robinson and those sympathetic to his ideology have been very active on social media, implying that the attack was justifiable revenge, with some even tweeting that it was 'long overdue' or that Muslims 'been warned' that they would be targeted. In my opinion it is hypocrisy of the highest order that hate-preachers like Tommy Robinson and his kind are allowed to peddle their extremist ideology publicly and without restraint whilst there is an ever-increasing crackdown on Muslims who do so from the opposite end of the fanatical spectrum.

JK Rowling, in a twitter spat with Katie Hopkins, suggested that the latter's offensive vitriol might have played a part in radicalising the Finsbury Park attacker. Katie Hopkins has been widely criticised for seeming to call for genocide against Muslims in her tweet referencing a 'final solution', and other inflammatory remarks.

Others have suggested that Douglas Murray could have influenced the attacker's beliefs. His rants in print and on air urging the British public only two weeks ago that we need to have 'less Islam' could be taken quite literally to those inclined to pay attention to his dangerous rhetoric. Britain First, the EDL and other far-right groups should all be in the spotlight now; just as extremist Islamic groups are not tolerated for disseminating hateful ideologies, so should we be just as watchful against these groups which are radicalising white men and contributing to an atmosphere where Muslims are 'fair game'.

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The first-ever United Nations Summit on Oceans, which took place in New York on 5-9 June, has reached a global agreement to reverse the decline of the ocean's health, with more than 1,300 pledged actions for protecting the ocean and the adoption of a 14-point Call for Action to conserve and sustainably use oceans, seas and marine resources.

A blog I wrote on 26 April, "S.O.S. The World of Blue", was a pleading in favor of global awareness on the oceans problem. As the President of the UN General Assembly, Peter Thomson, remarked during the conference: "When it comes to the ocean, it's the common heritage of humankind. There's no North-South, East-West when it comes to the ocean. If the ocean is dying, it's dying on all of us".

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These words are equally true when it comes to "the green gold" of the Blue Planet: forests. Oceans mitigate climate change by capturing one third of the carbon dioxide released by human activities; forests are another huge bank for the carbon released into the atmosphere, as they tied up 45% of the carbon stored on land. Half of the oxygen we breathe comes from oceans; the other half is produced on land by forests, which are the "lungs" of our Earth. The Amazonian forests alone produce 20% of the oxygen that keeps us alive.

Similar to oceans which provide food security to over three billion humans, forests provide food, income and source of energy to 1.6 billion people. And like oceans, forests are an essential part of our spiritual heritage and cultural identity. In a nutshell, what oceans represent for 37% of the world population who lives in coastal communities, forests represent for another 25% of the Earth's population.

As a child, I learnt from my grandparents who lived in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains that "the forest is Romanian's brother". This metaphor comes from the remote Middle Age and encapsulates perfectly the essence of our history. As inhabitants of a country whose social, cultural and economic fabric was closely linked to forests, and whose defense when outnumbered by foreign invaders consisted in retreats into the huge wild Carpathian forests, followed by deadly counter-attacks against the enemy - a strategy that kept my ancestors always free - Romanians are genetically connected to mountains and forests.

Similar to oceans which humans have put at risk of irreversible damage, we are losing now the greatest biological treasure represented by forests. Rainforests once covered 14% of the Earth's land surface, while today they cover a mere 6%. If not protected, the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years.

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Half of the world's 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in forests. Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to deforestation. As the forest species disappear, so do many possible cures for diseases. The U.S. National Cancer Institute has identified 3000 plants that are active against cancer cells. 70% of them are found in the rainforests.

Therefore, like for oceans, rising awareness about the fatal consequences of deforestation is crucial to our future. On 27 April 2017, the UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030, which includes 6 global forest goals and 26 associated targets aimed at halting deforestation and forest degradation. To boost implementation of these goals and targets, on 1-5 May 2017 the UN organized in New York the United Nations Forum on Forests.

Forests cover 30% of the planet land, or almost four billion ha. Seven million ha are in Romania, which represents 29% of the national territory; 60% of our forests are located in the Carpathian Mountains. According to World Wide Fund for Nature, out of the 320,000 ha of virgin forests still existing in Europe, 250,000 ha are located in Romania. The new Romanian Forest Code stipulates that virgin and quasi-virgin forests shall be strictly protected.

Most of our 30 national parks are located in forest land, with 2.6 million hectares of forests (11% of the Romanian territory) being included in the European Union Natura 2000 Network. In 2015, eleven European countries started the project Beech Forests - Joint Natural Heritage of Europe, for the inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List of the "Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe". 39% of the forest area in this project is located in my country.

The beauty, majesty, and timelessness of nature in its pure form in these parts of Romania are indescribable. An enthusiastic British team succeeded to present a glimpse of them in a documentary film called Wild Carpathia, and on 27 June I will have the privilege to host, at the United Nations in New York, the screening of its fourth episode: "Seasons of Change".

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Before being appointed to the United Nations, I was the ambassador of Romania to the United Kingdom and I have witnessed the making over the series of this documentary film. I remember the message HRH The Prince of Wales has sent at the launching of Wild Carpathia - Wild Forever, in 2013: "Romania is one of the last places in Europe where wild expanses on a meaningful scale still exist. In fact, the Romanian Carpathians contain the largest remaining area of virgin forest in Central and Southern Europe. These forests are a feast of biodiversity, exceptionally rich in fauna and flora. This makes the Romanian Carpathians a priceless natural treasure in a continent that has long since destroyed most of its wildernesses. What you still possess in Romania has become extremely rare. Many European countries have little or no primary forest left".

His Royal Highness' passionate commitment and determination in preserving, for the generations to come, of the nature, traditions and fabulous heritage of my country brought him unconditional admiration and gratitude. A video message from The Prince of Wales in 2016, at the launching of Wild Carpathia - Seasons of Change, will precede the film screening at the UN.

Wild Carpathia is an exquisite documentary about the wilderness of the Carpathian Mountains, amazing landscapes, raw history and simple life. Above all, it gives a unique insight into the beauty and rich culture of Romania through the changing seasons and tells us that is a time for change in our behaviour in relation to Mother Earth. Wild Carpathia is also a portal to paradise. It captures the majesty of a unique eco-system and shows why it deserves to be preserved in all its glory for the benefit of future generations.
Chris J Ratcliffe via Getty Images

Over the last year have you felt certain that you were in the majority only to find out that you, unfortunately, were among the minority?

I was within the 48% of Britons who desperately wanted to stay in the EU and if I had been able to vote in the US election I would have been in the 47% who passionately wanted Hillary Clinton to be the first female president of the USA.

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The night before both the EU Referendum and the US presidential election, I was convinced I was on the winning side. Everyone across all my social media platforms - bar the odd one or two - was expressing the same opinions as me. I must have been in the majority, surely?

No, both times I was in the minority. Both times I woke up to discover that the worst possible outcome - for me and those in my social media circles - had become a reality.

So when Theresa May called the snap election I felt tentatively positive about the outcome because, again, although there was the odd Conservative supporter across my social media platforms, they were drowned out by the sheer number that implored you to use your voice to support 'the many not the few'.

It all began with the Twitter hashtag #BloggersWhoVote - created by Laura Jane Williams - who advised members of the blogging community to use their platforms to encourage their young audience to register to vote. This is, after all, an audience which predominately falls into the group least likely to vote; women aged 18 to 24.

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Are you a blogger? Well then, it's time to step up & make voting sexy, using #BloggersWhoVote to encourage your communities to register.  Laura Jane Williams (@superlativelyLJ) April 18, 2017

It's worth mentioning here that not once did Theresa May herself, or her party, tweet a link to encourage people to register. In fact they didn't do anything to appeal to young people and even alienated their key voters - as one Tory MP said of their disastrous manifesto, it only missed out "compulsory euthanasia for the over 70s".

Did you know that about 120,000 Leave voters died in the 6 months following the EU Referendum? It goes some way to showing you the age split between the Leave and Remain voters.

Similarly, according to YouGov, for every ten years older a person is, the likelihood of them voting Conservative increases by 8 points and the likelihood of them voting Labour decreases by 6 points.

What Labour needed to do was appeal to young people and where are they? On social media. I think the fact Corbyn has 1.28m Twitter followers to May's moderate 360k, speaks volumes.

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Social media evokes the feeling of togetherness which Labour used to its advantage, binding people together with a vision of positivity and unity.

The Tories instead offered a strategy that resembled playground antics as they merely picked apart the opposition. This approach was so adverse that a song was released by Captain Ska called "Liar Liar", which quickly shot up the charts and captured the public mood perfectly.

The young already felt disillusioned by politics and that no politician really spoke for them. So, while the Conservatives put more effort in to smearing Corbyn than promoting their own manifesto, he was chatting to Grime artist JME about why 'the youth' weren't voting

 RT @i_D: @JmeBBK & Labour don @jeremycorbyn talk about the importance of a high youth turnout in this election pic.twitter.com/rTBXaXRgaw  Jme (@JmeBBK) May 18, 2017

Once registration closed it was over to the Grime artists, and 'Grime4Corbyn' was born. He was also brought out on stage by the Libertines to his name being chanted and appeared on the front cover of Kerrang magazine. Finally, here was a man the youth felt spoke both with and for them.

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Influencers - from Zoella to Stormzy - continued using their status and platform to encourage their following to vote. Some didn't state a preference and just urged their audience to use their voice, while others openly argued their case for Corbyn's Labour.

While our right-wing national newspapers were providing a biased account, social media allowed people to explore differing views and voice their opinions.

But, I thought, unfortunately, these opinions will just be of those like-minded people within the social media bubble that I live in.

This time, however, it appears the bubble may have been burst - or, at least Labour had a good go at bursting it. Although the party didn't win, despite the attempts by many national newspapers and opposing parties to belittle Corbyn as a 'terrorist sympathiser' he actually increased his support and massively outperformed expectations. Meanwhile Theresa May, who held the election to increase her majority, actually lost it and is now in talks with the DUP to form a government with a slim majority.

Britons voted in their highest numbers for 25 years, with the turnout of 18-25 year olds expected to be more than 20% higher than in 2015. Labour, meanwhile, received its highest share of the vote for 20 years.

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Perhaps after such a close Brexit vote, those who hadn't voted last year or regretted their vote realised their voice really could make a difference. Maybe it was a rejection of a hard Brexit and of Theresa May - who was so confident she would win she often didn't even bother to turn up to argue or debate her manifesto - and probably, in part, it was down to the power of social media.

While the Conservatives spent 1.2 million on anti-Corbyn social media adverts, the man himself was offering the masses what they wanted and needed to hear - hope.

When, in an interview following the election, Andrew Marr asked him if he was in it for the long-run, Corbyn replied: "Look at me, I've got youth on my side."
Neil Hall / Reuters

So what do we know about the Finsbury Park terrorist attack? We know that the suspect in custody is named Darren Osborne. We know that he had come to London from Cardiff and had expressed previously statements that were anti-Muslim in nature, according to people who knew him. The father of four was also, it seems, someone who was prone to lose control and who was capable of "flipping his lid".

Just 48 hours before he was allegedly involved in mowing down worshippers who had come out from late night Taraweeh prayers and after a long day of fasting, my colleagues and I from Tell MAMA had been at the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park, telling congregants that they needed to report in anti-Muslim hatred and to be aware of their surroundings at a street level. Many in the congregation were people who had little and who opened their fast in the mosque. They came from North and West African countries, looked tired and may well do the hard-manual jobs that keep London going as a City. It was such people that the attacker attempted to kill as they waited outside the junction of Seven Sisters and Fonthill Road a few days ago.

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The location of the attack may have opportunistic in nature, though there is a niggling doubt that this location may have been chosen. Obviously, investigations are still ongoing though let us not set aside the constant narrative which far right extremists and Muslim haters put out on social media, that the Finsbury Park mosque is 'Jihadi central', a 'mosque of hate' and the 'Abu Hamza mosque'. Colleagues in Tell MAMA regularly are sent such material from members of the public alarmed at what is out there in cyberspace and how the material describes the mosque. These members of the public genuinely fear for staff at the mosque because of the online material they come across.

Forget the fact that Abu Hamza physically intimidated trustees of the mosque when he took it over for his rhetoric of Islamist extremism, or that nearly a decade has passed since he was associated with the mosque. To Muslim haters and far right ideologues, the mosque still remains in a static medium of extremism, which is so very far from the truth.

Under the leadership of Mohammed Kozbar, the mosque is open to anyone, holds interfaith meetings and is instrumental in being a point where the poor can get some food and access to peace and solace in a world that seems to have left them behind. That is what the mosque has become, the complete opposite of what Muslim haters want you to believe. Yet, in the minds of those reading hate blogs, social media posts and texts which promote a fear of 'Muslims taking over', Finsbury Park has become synonymous with Islam, Muslims, extremism and Abu Hamza and after the terrorist attack, it is now imperative that these false epithets are actively challenged. We need to challenge these links since they may well cost lives and that is the last thing that we need after four terrorist attacks this year alone.

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Let us also not forget that even after the worshippers were deliberately run over, the Daily Mail ran a headline linking the mosque to Abu Hamza. Readers would have had images of extremism conjured up on the basis of a click-bait headline where it seems Abu Hamza was inserted as an afterthought in order to generate more readers. It is these casual but deeply damaging associations that add to a climate of mistrust between communities, smear law abiding Muslims and which some papers have become adept at rehashing.

So what can we do? Firstly, we need to challenge inflammatory headlines and assumptions that are made and casually inserted into statements where Muslims are involved and which have nothing to do with the story in question.

Secondly, we have to call out and hold to account social media companies, who for far too long, have done little if anything in shutting down anti-Muslim extremist accounts. I know, since for four years, I was targeted by such an individual and when I reported material into Twitter, they failed to act responsibly.

Additionally, when accounts repeatedly have been reported to Twitter and other social media companies by Tell MAMA staff, there has been little or no action. Switch over and when Islamist extremist accounts have been reported in on occasion and as part of our civic duty, the reactions from social media companies have been quick and effective. It has been as though one form of extremism gets them to act whilst the other falls into a space of inaction. We therefore need to continue to hold the Government to its pledge of fining social media companies if they fail to remove illegal hate material when they have been notified by organisations.

Thirdly, the Government runs the Extremism Analysis Unit which looks at extremist groups in the online and offline world. This unit is well resourced and has the capability to look at emerging threat and risks in real time. This unit also needs to come into its own and start to really engage with and be pro-active in learning from community and voluntary organisations, many of whom are at the front-line of receiving material from members of the public who may flag up individuals who are a public risk. After four terrorist attacks in a year, we need to get far more assertive on anti-Muslim hatred, something that I have been saying for many years now.

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Simply put, my colleagues and I knew two things. We knew that a possible attack against Muslim communities may well happen within the bounds of a mosque, given the data of what we were seeing from cases reported in. Additionally, since May 2013 to September 2016, Tell MAMA staff recorded over 100 anti-Muslim hate incidents against mosques.
The analogy of Brexit being like a divorce has helped many commentators explain the complex and multi-faceted negotiations that the UK will soon be undertaking.

The political predicament generated by the June General Election on the eve of the start of Brexit negotiations provides another analogy often experienced by a divorce lawyer: what happens when one side is ready to start the negotiation and the other isn't?

Divorce, like grief, takes time to be emotionally processed. The cycle of emotions leading from shock and anger, to negotiation and acceptance, can be unpredictable and often a separated couple will take very different timescales to come to terms with what has happened.

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Generally speaking, the person who has chosen to end the relationship will start emotionally processing the consequences of that decision long before they have even discussed it with their spouse meaning that there can be a mismatch in emotional preparations and readiness to start negotiating the exit from the emotional and financial ties that are inherent in a marriage.

In my experience, it is critical that both parties are given the time to reach a level of emotional acceptance before a financial negotiation starts. That is not always possible, particularly where urgent financial protections are required, but where we can, we always try to give people the space and time they need to come to terms with what is happening before asking them to start contemplating a new and often unforeseen future.

A divorce negotiation that starts without proper preparation and focus will inevitably become more protracted and challenging for a couple. Equally, they will soon discover that the financial negotiation will not help them heal or process their emotions - revenge and punishment rarely fill the void of pain generated by a relationship breakdown.

Separating out the emotions and the legal negotiations, and taking appropriate advice and professional support for both if required, will put people in the best place to have a successful negotiation with the shared objective of achieving a fair resolution meeting the needs of everyone.

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Toby Melville / Reuters

The right-wing backlash against the righteous anger and, yes, rage over the mass incineration of human beings inside Grenfell Tower in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea has begun. Demonising those who dare do anything other than wave a few placards and sing hymns in solidarity with the victims and survivors is being characterise as tantamount to calling for revolution by apologists for a status quo of rampant inequality, social and economic injustice, and in light of Grenfell corporate manslaughter. They are the real class warriors in Britain. The only difference is that instead of just talking about class war the Tories and their media acolytes wage it - and with venom - on a daily basis. Indeed what is austerity if not an economic and political assault on the poor?

Tory austerity has been and continues as a mass experiment in human despair, wherein people's worth is categorised solely on the basis of their economic status. Poverty is not a crime, yet the clear inference from a benefits sanctioning regime that is beyond cruel, delivering thousands of people into the arms of destitution and the indignity of having to rely on foodbanks in order to feed themselves and their children, is that the Tories view it as a badge of moral deficiency. Purifying the working class, poor and unemployed with pain has been the prescribed medicine, accompanied by a campaign of demonisation of some of society's most vulnerable in the pages of a feral, right wing Tory-supporting press, which in a civilised country would qualify as hate speech.

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But not only must austerity be rejected on moral and human rounds, but also on economic grounds. The economic crisis caused the deficit, the deficit did not cause the economic crisis. Here the Tories have proved eminently successful in turning a recession caused by individual greed and recklessness on the part of the banks and private sector into one caused by profligate public spending. The result has been the structural adjustment of the state, an ideologically driven project attacking and dismantling the last frontiers of collectivism and collectivist ideas in society, ideas embodied in the ethos that underpins the NHS and welfare state.

Sucking aggregate demand out of the economy by driving down average incomes in the midst of a recession has proved an exercise in self harm, creating a greater gulf between the haves and have nots than at any time since records began. It has ensured that we are yet to fully emerge from the economic tsunami that swept through the world in 2007/08, a tsunami as mentioned that traces its causes to an under-regulated global banking system. It exposed the fatal weaknesses of a sector that had been left more or less to its own devices, akin to leaving a drug addict alone in a house with a cupboard full of crack, existing outside effective political and regulatory oversight.

Instead of punishing those responsible for the economic chaos of 2007/08 the Tories' vengeance has been levelled against those who were not responsible, and with brutal consequences. How they managed to get away with what has amounted to unleashing a class war will undoubtedly baffle social historians in decades to come. It was almost as if they were inviting an eruption of social unrest, pushing an entire demographic to the brink and in the process confirming that this government was comprised of rich, privately educated sociopaths.

There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come, and Grenfell leaves no doubt that British society is a utopia for the few and a dystopia for far too many. The victims of this tragedy/disaster/crime died on the altar of a free market that is anything but free. If the mass incineration of people because they are poor is not enough to produce an upsurge of rage then nothing is, and as a society we are lost. That we are in dire need of a radical change in political priorities, replacing a culture of greed and callous cruelty with one of solidarity and compassion, could not be more evident.

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How dare they rail against people protesting the atrocity of Grenfell with a 'Day of Rage'? The real problem they have, in truth, is the way this crime has woken working class and poor people up, not just in London but all over the country, as to who the real enemy is. It is not Muslims, migrants, or any of the other minority groups the Tory press has extended itself in demonising in recent years. No, the enemy of justice and decency in Britain is a Tory establishment who's own 'Day of Rage' is unleashed against the poor each and every day, with the consequences all around for those who choose to see them.
Statement by the Spokesperson on the conflict resolution and reconciliation efforts

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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

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I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments
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Fresh from his appearance on Good Morning Britain yesterday, perhaps Stephen Lennon - or as he likes to style himself, 'Tommy Robinson' - the convicted mortgage fraudster and serial far-right activist, should take a long hard look in the mirror.

Lennon takes great pleasure in angry confrontations, and seems to thrive on the publicity which is only too happily fed to him.

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With his angry pieces to camera (for far-right alternative news outfit, Rebel Media) at Westminster Bridge and outside a mosque in Didsbury after the Manchester attacks, Lennon never seems far away from controversy, mouthing off on social media platform after social media platform about Islam and Muslims.

Since he ran the thuggish street movement, the English Defence League, costing police (and us, the taxpayers) in excess of 10million, bringing misery to town centres across the UK, and then more recently descending with 2,000 yobs onto a grieving Manchester, is there anything he has done which has actually helped our country?

Lennon likes to present himself as the authentic voice of the working man, and others (a vast array of mainstream opinion) as deluded liberals. Having seen the hope that came with the massive Great Get Together weekend with thousands of events across the UK celebrating the legacy of murdered MP Jo Cox, which we supported and promoted among our thousands of supporters, and the recent wave of public support for Grenfell Tower residents and firefighters, one wonders where is the hope that comes from 'Tommy'?

It wasn't Stephen Lennon that caused the attack in Finsbury Park. That blame lies with the attacker. But it was those like Lennon, alongside other far-right and some right-wing commentators who actively spread falsehoods, day in and out, about Muslims, blaming a religion and entire group of people for the actions of terrorists. And that raises, not calms, the temperature.

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As founder of the EDL, as leader of the anti-Muslim Pegida UK, as a 'correspondent' (we use that term loosely) for the far-right alternative media outlet Rebel Media (reporting for which he has turned up to rant about Muslims at Westminster Bridge, Didsbury and doorstepped political opponents and journalists) it is 'Tommy' who day in and out promotes a clash of civilisation narrative that places him firmly within the 'counter-jihadist' fringe, holding that Muslims are taking over and that their religion inherently makes them violent, incompatible with life here in the West.

This Muslim 'block' is usually characterised by its most extreme and unsavoury elements: "Islam is fascist and it's violent and we've had enough!" according to Lennon.

In addition to extrapolating out the actions of a minority, he also demands collective responsibility for those actions.

In east London in 2011 he seemed to suggest he and the English Defence League would retaliate indiscriminately should there be another terrorist attack:

"Every single Muslim watching this... on 7/7 you got away with killing and maiming British citizens... you had better understand that we have built a network from one end of the country to the other end... and the Islamic community will feel the full force of the English Defence League if we see any of our British citizens killed, maimed, or hurt on British soil ever again."

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He attacks the liberal, progressive societal consensus and those on a supposedly homogenous "left" who advance it. He articulates conspiracy theories about the mainstream media, vaults bastardised images of historical figures and roots his politics in a mythical history; his sleeve of patriotic tattoos includes a crusader knight, a poppy, the Magna Carta and a quote from Winston Churchill.

"I'd personally send every adult male Muslim that has come into the EU over the past 12 months back tomorrow if I could. Fake refugees," he tweeted in early 2016.

Unlike Lennon, we have opposed both Islamist extremism AND far-right fanatics, producing exposes into both.

At one point, it seemed as if Lennon was a reformed man. In October 2013, he quit the EDL at a highly-publicised press conference alongside Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation.

At the time Nawaz declared that: "As well as being a very positive change for the United Kingdom, this is a very proud moment for Quilliam".

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It has since emerged that Yaxley-Lennon was paid by Quilliam in what HuffPost called "a deal the anti-extremism think-tank coordinated so they could take 'credit' for his resignation."

After a brief period of contrived penance and moderation and a failed bid to launch a UK version of the German anti-Muslim street movement Pegida, Lennon is back to his very worst, engaging in controversial anti-Muslim activity not seen from him since his days leading the EDL.

As Lennon said in a recent Facebook Live video: "In the next five years it's all going to come to a head."
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As always when a terrible tragedy occurs, we feel compelled to urgently seek out the causes. And all too often, in the emotionally charged moment, we do not effectively trace them to their root and chances to effect real change are missed.

In order to seek out the deep underlying causes of the Grenfell fire, we must track back nearly forty years, to the election of the first Thatcher government in 1979. Thatcher came to power with the ambition put profit before people, reversing the post-war consensus focused upon human needs, which sought to ensure the social provision of services to meet the health, education and housing needs of its population. Two years into her premiership, Thatcher openly outlined this strategy in an interview with the Sunday Times in which she commented that she was 'after the heart and soul of the nation...economics is the method'.

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The generation born in the late nineteenth century told stories of dangerous accommodation, exploitative rents and unscrupulous landlords, of unaffordable health care and of Dickensian education practices. This was ancient history for children such as myself in the swinging London of the 1960s; bad old days which would never come again. But slowly, surely, under the new order that the Thatcherists gradually introduced, and which was never repealed by Blair's New Labour government, history began to repeat itself.

One of the first strategies underlying Thatcher's so-called economic miracle was the selling off of state-owned social housing to property developers, particularly in London, where the greatest profits were to be made. Through so doing, Conservative Local Authorities reaped enormous sums of money, as did the companies who then renovated the properties as cheaply as possible, and offered them to tenants at vastly inflated, privatised rents.

Londoners from non-privileged backgrounds were the first to be priced out of their local housing market. In the mid 1980s, I joined one of the first waves of what Matthew Engel refers to as the 'cockney diaspora', moving out of London in order to find housing that was adequate to house a growing family. The housing scandal we left behind continued to grow, and was most recently publicly showcased by the BBC documentary The Estate We're In. The response of the Cameron/ May government was to further exacerbate the situation by the imposition of the bedroom tax, continuing to follow the Thatcherist principle of 'profit before people'.

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Westminster. London Bridge. Finsbury Park. Three terrorist attacks in four months. A week after London woke to the terrible tragedy of the Grenfell Tower, we woke to the news that terrorism had struck once more in this city.

A van driver mowed down worshippers exiting the Finsbury Park mosque at 12:20am. The Metropolitan Police were quick to label the attack in Finsbury Park as a terrorist attack, although you would suspect parts of the media might be slower to. The van driver was shouting "I want to kill all Muslims" as he mowed down people, only then to be detained by the very people he was seeking to kill, all the while the Imam was shouting "don't touch him."

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There is a clear pattern here: a terrorist attack is followed by a spike in anti-Muslim hate crime. Women in hijabs, easily identifiable as Muslim, are often assaulted. Abuse follows Muslims where they walk, as happened after the London Bridge attack where the Metropolitan Police recorded 20 anti-Muslim hate crime reports on one particular day, a sharp rise from the average of 3.5% last year.

London's diversity and inclusiveness is like the Tube map: different colours but connected all the while. Yet our tolerance shouldn't blind us to the festering extremism that has recently tried to rip the city apart. Extremists on both sides are desperately trying to stoke a war between Muslims and non-Muslims. The attacks on Westminster and London Bridge were not paybacks for foreign wars but attempts by ISIS to make the west inhospitable for Muslims.

The attack last night followed a similar mould, of creating conflict in a time of tense peace. Religious leaders have condemned the attack and preached solidarity but one suspects that this plays heavily into the hands of ISIS. What better evidence for the west being an alien world for Muslims than this? At the same time across the Atlantic, a young woman was kidnapped and murdered as she came out of a mosque in Virginia in a country where the white supremacists are in power.

The far-right and the Muslim extremists fuel each other with their messages of hate and intolerance and their actions. And it is up to each of us to disempower these people lurking within our communities. Liberal, progressive Muslims such as Sara Khan and others have become increasingly outspoken lately, determined to root out the extremists within our community. We understand that extremist ideology lurks on the fringes but grows because of passive indifference from the majority of the community. We recognise that foreign policy plays a part in the radicalisation of Muslim youth but on its own leaves an incomplete story as to how extremists prosper.

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Yet fighting extremism is a battle on two fronts and right now the extremism whipped up by white supremacists like Britain First, English Defence League and tabloids like the Daily Mail, Sun and Express, has to be called out better. Islamophobia drives extremism on both sides, stripping Muslims of humanity and empathy and painting us as all illiberal monsters, whilst at the same time reinforcing the message of ISIS to the disenfranchised within our community. The power of racism cannot be understated because it doesn't just affect the disillusioned Muslim. A liberal, well-integrated Muslim like myself will see the looks on the Tube and immediately feel like an alien even though London has been my only home.

So just as Muslims condemn terrorist attacks, and progressive Muslims actively fight Islamist narratives, we need non-Muslims to actively challenge the stereotypes perpetuated by anti-Muslim bigots. The hatred generated by Britain First and Daily Express create a toxic and unbearable atmosphere for all involved. We actively need to hold account those who play a part in Islamophobia; and that includes the newspapers that spread smears and lies about Muslims. For every bad Muslim there are another twenty good ones, who do their bit for society and are good law-abiding citizens. Lies printed across front pages work to demonise the entire Muslim community and paint us all as the inside enemy, erasing the pluralism existing within the community, ignoring that often the first victims of Islamists are other Muslims.

In the days to come, if the media either use the "lone wolf" excuse or explain the killer as a mentally troubled individual, we should not forget the hatred of Muslims that drove his attack. And what should trouble us is the sea of anti-Muslim sources for him to drawn upon. We cannot anymore let hatred go unchecked and unchallenged on either side.
So, the latest cat is out of the latest bag - in this case huge funding cuts to 10 large London resulting, according to the leaked memo, in longer waiting times, a reduced range of treatments, closure of some A&E and Maternity units and "poorer health care".

The financial gap is around 180m. A large sum in some respects, but actually small beer compared to the total heath budget (for 2018) of 147 bn. So much more misery caused by around one-tenth of one percent of the larger figure.

It just doesn't make financial sense. Think about the lost productivity resulting from "poorer health care". Think too about the costs added to social care, emergency services.

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There is a strong argument for saying the restrictions on funding are a false economy. It is more sensible to invest than cut.

And it seems that is a message that is gaining ground. Labour's relative success in the General Election was borne out of an anti-austerity message. That in turn tapped into a growing acceptance of targeted tax increases to provide the necessary cash.

You Gov found that not only would people support an increase in National insurance to support health care (as has been done before, don't forget), but that increasingly there was recognition that the current tax regime was unsustainable.

Perhaps this in part explains why Labour was able to run a campaign that explicitly included tax increases with such success. There would seem to have been little detriment to a policy that was presented as no tax increases for 95% of the population - and tied the higher rates for the better off to a credible thresh-hold (80 k income per annum) and rates that had been controversially withdrawn and reduced by a previous Conservative-led administration.

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Conservative attempts to undermine Labour on this floundered, but the usually reliable Institute for Fiscal Studies questioned whether Labour's plans had indeed been fully costed (whilst always remembering that the Conservative alternative was not costed at all!)

So three things come out of all this.

First, as Bill Clinton so successfully demonstrated "It's the economy, stupid" - the primacy of economic issues has been reinforced again today by shadow Chancellor John McDonnell prioritising austerity issues in Labour's repose to the Queen's Speech.

Second, the mood has changed. There is an appetite for and acceptance of targeted selective increases in tax, especially for healthcare, from those able to contribute.

But third, and most importantly for what happens next, the process of detoxifying the debate on tax is a long way from complete. There still seems to be disconnect between the public services we believe we should have, and willingness, collectively, to pay for them.
Bloomberg via Getty Images

We need to talk about democracy. To be more specific, we need to talk about what is and isn't democracy. Democracy is voting, yes. But democracy is also protesting. Democracy is also anger. And democracy is also finding a way to defeat your opponents in the House of Commons.

A lot has been made about democracy lately, chiefly by right-wing pundits and activists who contend that people protesting Theresa May's deal with the DUP - or demanding her resignation following her shameful response to the Grenfell Tower fire - are somehow undermining the will of the people so soon after the election. Never mind that the Tories only won 42% of the vote share and don't even have a majority. No, an election is over and so everyone should just shut up.

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These same people said this after the 2015 general election, when people took to the streets to express their anger at Tory austerity. They said it after the EU referendum, when "remoaners" were told to shut up and accept "the will of the people." And now, the Telegraph is alleging that Labour, the Lib Dems, and the SNP are seeking to undermine May's as-yet-to-be-agreed deal with the DUP by adding amendments to today's Queen's Speech.

Literally all of this is a feature, not a glitch, of democracy.

In a healthy democracy, the electorate does not participate solely on election day. They remain engaged, active participants throughout the life of the parliament. This means that, even the day after the country has voted, they are registering their anger, their frustration, and their discontent at the governing party's policies. After all, the right to petition your government, to demonstrate your opposition to its policies, are cornerstones of democracy - and frankly, the surest way to change them.

Protests aren't meant to make you comfortable. They're not meant to be polite. They are, by their very nature, disruptive. But this is democracy at its purest - noisy, brazen, and organic. Even "paid protestors" - right-wing jargon for community organisers - are part and parcel of a thriving democratic system. The Chartists didn't sit down after the 1847 general election. The suffragettes didn't stop demanding the vote because consecutive governments were elected opposing their rights. Gay and lesbian people didn't stop demanding equality because John Major won in 1992.

Similarly, opposition parties shouldn't stop trying to form a government - or defeat the government - just because they don't have as many seats in parliament. Britain isn't an America-style presidential system. The party that wins the most seats doesn't automatically get to govern. They have a shot, which is what today's Queen's Speech is, but unless they command an outright majority other parties have a chance to try to enact their own agenda. They are under no obligation to support the majority's agenda without compromise.

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Leaving aside the constitutionality of it all, though, it makes sense from a numbers perspective. The Tories won 42.4% of the vote. Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP, and the Greens won exactly 52% of the total votes cast. That's enough to take Britain out of the European Union, but not enough for many right-wingers to accept an attempt to tank a Queen's Speech.

The majority of the country didn't vote for Theresa May's manifesto or the Conservative Party. Yet because of the nature of British democracy, she as first go at forming a government. This is right and fair because these are the rules - by convention and consensus - we have agreed to live under. But it is equally fair that other parties, though not in government, have a right to propose amendments. If, because of that, too few MPs vote in favour of the government's agenda, whelp - that's democracy.

Theresa May assumed she had a right to be in Number 10. The country told her otherwise. Now she's scrambling to find a way to maintain her grip on power. There's nothing wrong with that; British democracy grants her that privilege. But for the Tories, after a bruising electoral rebuke (if not outright defeat), to pretend they are uniquely qualified to govern is disingenuous, at best, and undemocratic, at worst.

The truth is that British democracy is a weird thing. You can lose the popular vote yet still win the election. You can form a government yet be unable to govern because your opposition outvotes you. And you can triumph at the polls whilst losing in the court of public opinion. Some people will elect you; more yet may protest you.

Whatever happens today, it is democracy in action. People will protest one way or the other. A government will form one way or the other. We will keep calm(ish) and carry on one way or the other.

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Turkey spends $2.6 Million to Hire Two New Lobbying and PR Firms

By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com Last week, I wrote about a dozen public relations and lobbying companies the Turkish government had already hired. In recent weeks, the Republic of Turkey added two new such firms: Ballard Partners and Burson-Marsteller. Turkish officials dont seem to realize that having more than a dozen lobbying firms not only is a waste of money due to unnecessary duplication, it is also a waste of the valuable time of several Turkish Embassy officials in Washington, D.C., spending a lot of their time on a daily basis to give detailed instructions to these lobbying firms, read their reports, comment on them, meet with them, forward their reports to the Foreign Ministry with lengthy explanations, and take corrective action based on Ankara's reaction. Unless such an intense and elaborate effort is made in working with so many lobbying firms, Turkish officials are simply wasting their countrys money! I am happy that the Turkish government has decided to waste more of its money by agreeing to pay Brian Ballards firm, Ballard Partners, $1.5 million from May 15, 2017 to May 14, 2018. According to Ballards registration with the Justice Department, the firm will provide the Turkish government with advocacy services relative to US-Turkey bilateral relations. The lobbying activities include advising, counseling, and assisting [Turkey] in communications with US Government officials. Maintaining US relations with this important NATO partner. Brian Ballard is the longtime lobbyist for Pres. Donald Trump as the representative of the Trump Organization in Tallahassee, Florida. He raised $16 million for Trumps presidential campaign while serving as his state finance chairman and later as vice chairman of the Presidents inaugural committee. Ballard issued a statement asserting that he still speaks to Trump on occasion. Susie Wiles, who was introduced by Ballard to Trump during the campaign, served as Trumps Florida campaign manager. She is now working for Ballard Partners. Ballard also hired former Congressman Robert Wexler (Democrat-Florida) to be in charge of the Turkish lobbying account. As co-chair of the Congressional Turkey Caucus, Cong. Wexler actively lobbied and voted against a proposed House Armenian Genocide resolution on Oct. 10, 2007. His new job is his reward for staunchly supporting Turkey in Congress for years! According to the Tampa Bay Times, Ballards first interaction with Trump occurred several years ago when he wrote a letter to Trump after reading his book, Art of the Deal, and Trump answered. Ballard wrote back stating: if you ever have any issues in Florida, please dont hesitate to call." Trump called him after purchasing Mar-a-Largo in 1985, and paid Ballard at least $460,000 from 2013 to 2015 for lobbying work. Trump personally called Ballard asking for his help when he launched his presidential campaign. Ballard is now organizing a fundraising banquet for Trump on June 28. The cost is $35,000 per person and $100,000 to join the host committee. Ballard makes no secret of his special connections with Pres. Trump. I would imagine if Hillary Clinton were elected I wouldnt be here, he told the Tampa Bay Times. Ballard said he doesnt discuss how he works or his contacts with the president. Hes been spotted at the White House, however, and Trump maintains phone relationships with allies. In addition, the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C., signed a contract with Burson-Marsteller for $1.1 million for the period May 1-Dec. 31, 2017. Ironically, from 2012 to 2015, Burson-Marsteller was doing lobbying work for the Alliance for Shared Values, a group tied to the Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen whom Erdogan opposes and seeks his extradition from the US to Turkey. The Turkish government reportedly threatened Burson-Marstellers operations in Turkey if the firm continued to lobby for Gulen. Burson-Marsteller is supposed to provide integrated public relations services to support the [Turkish] Embassys communications objectives in the United States. Activities include media outreach, monitoring and analysis; event support; stakeholder engagement; social media counsel; and support for Turkish consulates in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and New York." It is noteworthy that despite the millions of dollars spent by Turkey on more than a dozen high-powered lobbying and public relations firms, they could not counter the large number of news articles and TV coverage critical of the Turkish government for the attack on peaceful protesters by Pres. Erdogans bodyguards in front of the Turkish Ambassadors residence in Washington, D.C., on May 16. This fact reinforces my firm belief that Turkey is wasting millions of dollars annually trying to cleanse its image in the U.S., which is further tarnished by the Turkish government's brutal policies both at home and abroad!
Funeral Services Slated for Rep. Cariddi

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Services for state Rep. Gailanne Marie Cariddi begin Wednesday evening, June 21, with a wake from 4 to 8 p.m. at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church.

Her funeral will take place on Thursday, June 22, beginning at 11 a.m. at St. Elizabeth's.

Cariddi died Saturday morning at the age of 63 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The North Adams native was in her fourth term as representative of the 1st Berkshire District, which encompasses North County.

This is what we know so far regarding funeral plans, which may be subject to change:

MARSHALL STREET between the St. Anthony Drive and River Street will be closed a half hour prior to the wake and to the funeral, and remain closed until both are completed.

A number of dignitaries, including colleagues from the House of Representatives and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, are expected to attend the funeral service.

The U.S. flag and the flag of Massachusetts have been ordered at half-staff by Gov. Charlie Baker at state buildings from Monday until sunset on Thursday. The flag has also been lowered at City Hall and North Adams Public Schools have been granted permission to do so as well.

The city clerk's office will be closed Thursday between 10:30 and 2 to allow staff to attend the funeral.

A state police detail will stand at the service and ladder trucks from North Adams and Adams will fly a large American flag across from the church.

Following Thursday's service, the funeral procession will travel down American Legion Drive, where firefighters will stand in honor of the representative, and then continue down Ashland and Church streets to Hodges Cross Road and south on Route 8 to Adams. Burial will be at Bellevue Cemetery so motorists should be aware that the procession will be traveling through North Adams and Adams between noon and 1 p.m.

A reception will be held following the services at Greylock Works on State Road, the former Cariddi Mill.
Ciccolo Case Heads Back to Court in July

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.  It will be at least mid-July before attorneys are back in federal court in the case of an Adams man accused of terrorism.

Back in February , U.S. Magistrate Judge Katherine Robertson scheduled June 20 for the next status conference in the case of the United States vs. Alexander Ciccolo.

But according to documents on file in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Ciccolo's attorney requested a continuance until "July 11, 12, or 13," stemming from a confusion on a procedural matter in the discovery process.

According to a motion filed May 23 by Northampton attorney David Hoose, Ciccolo's counsel was "initially confused as to whether a Motion to Compel needed to be filed given the Government's filing of a [Classified Information Procedures Act] pleading."

The confusion led to a delay that saw Ciccolo's team file the motion to compel on May 23, and the U.S. Attorney's Office subequently asked for time to respond to the motion.

The government did not oppose Hoose' motion asking for the change from the June 20 date.

Robertson responded with a May 25 memo announcing that a hearing on the defendant's discovery motion will be held on July 14, and she further extended the time period excluded from the federal Speedy Trial Act to Aug. 11.

"[S]uch a date representing a reasonably prompt disposition of the pending motion," Robertson wrote.

Ciccolo was arrested July 4, 2015, on a federal weapons charge. It became apparent at his arraignment that the FBI was looking at him as a suspected terrorist.

In June 2016, nearly a year after his arrest, the indictment against him was amended to include a charge that Ciccolo, also known as Ali Al Amriki, "did knowingly attempt to use a weapon of mass destruction."
John Williams leads the Boston Pops in concert on June 1. A new CD of his classics has been released. (Courtesy BSO.)

The Classical Beat: Summer 2017 Music Festival Begins

The summer concert season is virtually upon us, and how lucky are we music lovers to be living right here, in the Berkshires, at what can only be described as "Music Central"?

With programs in Lenox and in Manchester, Vt., concertgoers will have a wide selection of music in a multiplicity of styles to enjoy in venues large and small: from solo jazz piano to the stellar Chris Botti with the Boston Pops, followed by a celebration of beloved show tunes by Rodgers and Hammerstein at Tanglewood. Added to this, Taconic Music offers a feast of chamber music by Strauss and Ravel, and a master class with the distinguished classical cellist/mentor Sharon Robinson.

Scanning the upcoming offerings of the many venues in the region, it looks to be an especially exciting and brilliant summer season. One example: Classical mavens will soon relish the upcoming month of programs at Marlboro Music, the ne plus ultra of chamber music in the region  indeed the world.

Tanglewood



Joey Alexander

 Friday, June 23, 8:00 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: 13-year-old Grammy-nominated jazz piano prodigy Joey Alexander makes his Tanglewood debut.

This astounding talent has to be heard (and seen) to be believed. Concertizing since the age of 10 (!) his musical gifts have earned him appearances at the Grammy Awards, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and an interview on CBS-TVs Sunday evening weekly interview/news show 60 Minutes.

 Saturday, June 24, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: the stellar trumpeter Chris Botti joins forces with the Boston Pops, led by maestro Lawrence Loh.

 Sunday, June 25, 2:30 in the Shed: Host Ted Sperling, in a program entitled Something Wonderful! will conduct the Boston Pops featuring the classic show tunes of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

For tickets, call 888 266-1200, or go online. Music lovers can follow Tanglewood via its new social media accounts on Facebook, on Twitter @TanglewoodMA, and on Instagram @TanglewoodMusicFestival. The Boston Symphony is on Facebook, on Twitter @bostonsymphony, and on Instagram @bostonsymphony. The Boston Pops is on Facebook, on Twitter@thebostonpops, and on Instagram @thebostonpops.

Boston Pops/Keith Lockhart release John Williams CD

As part of Tanglewood Music Festivals celebration of six decades of composer John Williams unparalleled career, and in honor of his 85th birthday, the Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart have released a compilation album of the great composers film music, "Lights, CameraMusic!"

Recorded at Symphony Hall in Boston - the home of the Boston Symphony  the album features excerpts from Williams' great, classic movie scores spanning six decades from some of the composer's most familiar works: Heidi (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Towering Inferno (1974), Midway (1976), Dracula (1979), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Sabrina (1995), Sleepers (1996), The Patriot (2000), The Terminal (2004) and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015).

To purchase "Lights, CameraMusic!" (BSO Classics 1704), contact the Boston Symphony online or call 888-266-1200.

Taconic Music

Based in Manchester, Vt., this new and exciting music festival makes its debut this week. Co-founders Ariel Rudiakov and Joana Genova-Rudiakov have hit the ground running with varied and extensive offerings. Here are two special events:

 Sunday, June 25, 4 p.m., opening concert: Richard Strauss, Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 13; Schoenfield, Cafe Music for Piano Trio; Ravel, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales. Featured performers are Joana Genova, violin; Ariel Rudiakov, viola; Caroline Stinson and Thomas Landschoot, celli, and special guest artist Jon Klibonoff, piano. The concert will be held at the Riley Center for the Arts at Burr and Burton Academy, 57 Seminary Avenue, Manchester, Vt. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for students and children.

 Tuesday, June 27, 2 p.m.: Consummate cellist Sharon Robinson and students from Taconics "Chamber Music Intensive" will present a master class at the Birchbrook House on the campus of Burr and Burton Academy, 70 Williams Street, Manchester, Vt. The cost is $10 at the door.

Marlboro Music: Chamber music heaven in July and August

Just a little over an hour from North Adams is Marlboro Music, this year celebrating their 67th season. Located near Brattleboro, Vt., Marlboro is too important a musical destination to ignore; the venue presents the finest in chamber music in the region, and is a necessary stop along the via musica for classical music pilgrims.

Located on the campus of tiny Marlboro College, the Music Festival and School offers weekend programs from mid-July to mid-August. Students are young professional concert artists, symphony orchestra members, chamber music artists, and exceptionally gifted conservatory or university students, and are taught by internationally renowned chamber musicians. Programs are only announced a day or two before each concert, but this is incidental to Marlboro aficionados; they come to revel in the music, whatever is offered - its that good.

Weekend concerts run from July 15-Aug. 13 and on Friday evenings, July 28 and Aug. 11. Tickets are $15 to $37.50 All programs and open rehearsals take place at Persons Auditorium on the campus of Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vt. For more information and to order tickets, go online or call 215- 569-4690.
Comedic opera comes to Great Barrington this weekend. Photo by Kathy Wittman)

Comedic Opera Comes to Great Barrington

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.  The Boston Early Music Festival will return to the Berkshires this summer with a double bill of Neapolitan comic opera by Pergolesi.



Winner of the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording, BEMF will present encore performances of its 2014 production of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's "La Serva Padrona" and "Livietta e Tracollo" at Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 24, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 25. Tickets range from $25 to $85 are available online.



Originally written as interludes to be performed between acts of a more somber production, Pergolesis light-hearted comedies quickly enchanted audiences with their farcical humor and engaging romance. Eventually, these comic operas would be performed on their own to adoring audiences throughout Europe, with Pergolesi acknowledged as an especially significant early composer in this opera buffa style.



"La Serva Padrona," which had its premiere in Naples in 1773, tells the tale of a haughty yet cunning maid who conspires to wed her testy employer. "Livietta e Tracollo" debuted a year later as part of festivities for a royal birthday, and features the con-artist, Tracollo, who meets his match in a peasant girl, Livietta, out to avenge her wronged brother. For this production  in a nod to the original presentations of these operas  Stage Director Gilbert Blin will alternate between scenes of the two works.



Founded in 1981, BEMF offers diverse programs and activities, including one Grammy Award-winning and four Grammy Award-nominated opera recordings, an annual concert series that brings early music's brightest stars to the Boston and New York concert stages, and a biennial week-long Festival and Exhibition recognized as the "world's leading festival of early music."




iciHaiti - Diplomacy : Two new Ambassadors accredited in Haiti





Tuesday at the National Palace, President Jovenel Moise received the credentials of two new ambassadors accredited to Haiti : Hiroyuki Makiuchi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan and Mrs. Ingrid Mollestad, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Norway.



These two new ambassadors took the opportunity to renew the commitment of their respective countries to strengthen the ties of friendship and cooperation between their countries and Haiti.



The Head of State, for his part, reassured these Ambassadors on the will of the Haitian authorities to work in common to the harmonious development of relations between Haiti and these two friendly countries.



Afterwards, Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant met with the new Ambassador of Japan to strengthen cooperation and friendship ties between the two countries.



IH/ iciHaiti


















Statement by the Spokesperson on the conflict resolution and reconciliation efforts

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

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

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

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I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments
Gevorg Kostanyan: Who says the EU was critical of Armenian authorities? (video)

The head of the European Union mission in Armenia, Piotr Switalski, did not say anything new when speaking about electoral processes in Armenia, says Naira Zohrabyan, a lawmaker from the Tsarukyan alliance. They are trying to be more catholic than the Pope and do not give a sober assessment of the situation. I do not understand the ambassadors objective concerns and his clear assessments. It is not a secret that electoral fraud and irregularities have reached disgusting sizes in our country, she said. Piotr Switalski recently criticized the conduct of the 2017 parliamentary elections in Armenia. Naira Zohrabyan does not think that the European Union is afraid that the Armenian government may refuse to sign the Association Agreement at the last moment under the pressure of Russia. As far as I know, all issues have been agreed upon with a third party to avoid further contradictions, she said. Gevorg Kostanyan, a member of Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), is not inclined to consider Switalskis sharp criticism as a rebuke to Armenian authorities. Who says that Switalski was critical [of our authorities], he simply expressed an opinion. Some describe it as a rebuke, others get angry. This is simply exchange of opinions, Mr Kostanyan said. The EU envoy argued that proper conduct of elections is among political reforms which the Armenian authorities undertook to implement in return for financial assistance provided by the EU. At the same time, he reminded that the EU had provided the Armenian authorities with more than $7 million for the purchase of special electronic equipment to be used during the parliamentary elections. However, the elections turned out to be a failure in the end. Head of the HHK faction Vahram Baghdasaryan says no one can interfere in the internal affairs of our country. Providing financial assistance does not mean that they should manipulate that help and interfere in internal affairs of our country, he said. The Republican lawmaker is surprised that Switalski has not noticed the rapid growth and democratization of elections in Armenia. The MP did not like the Ambassador's style, either. One can express his concerns, but one cannot voice harsh criticism of the functions of Central Election Commission (CEC).




This Isnt Our Last Love Letter



Dear Don Don,

Way back in 92



I walked into the room and knew



Never felt this way before



I shook your hand while gazing into your eyes



And the feeling grew



As I took a seat I knew



A love that would have my heart



Forever



I knew



Way back in 92





They say love at first sight doesnt always last or isnt true



We were the exception to that rule



Our love had no where to hide



A spark set fire



As if this is how the universe started





I never doubted our love or what we could do



Together we grew



Forming a bond everlasting



That became our glue



My euphoria was YOU



Im eternally grateful for the love and life we shared



For how fortunate we were :



to have and to hold

through sickness and in health

Til death do us part



Until we are together again



This isnt our last love letter



I love you with all my heart and soul



Yours forever,



Deirdre (Mrs. Hank Snow)





Im fortunate to have fallen in love with, marry and make a life with the sharpest, coolest, funniest, most rare, bad ass, tender loving, loyal man on the planet, my husband Don Imus.









A True American Hero

I dont know why it has been so hard for me to write about my dear friend Don Imus.



I certainly know what he meant to me, my family, my charity, my hospital and the millions of fans that listened and loved him for so many years.



I keep reading all the beautiful condolences that people are writing about how much a part of their lives were effected by listening to him over the years.

But what most people dont talk enough about is what he did for all of us.

In every sense of the word, he was an American Hero. His work with children with so many different illnesses and his dedication to their future was unmatched by anyone I have ever known or heard about.



Besides raising over $100,000,000 for so many causes, he took care of young people for over 20 years in a state where he could not breathe. Along with his incredible wife Deirdre, he created a world where children were not defined by their disease. That was a miracle! He was a miracle.

I will miss him ever day for the rest of my life.

I was blessed to be a part of his and Deirdes life.

No one will ever do what he did.

I love you Don Imus - A TRUE AMERICAN HERO





David Jurist

IMUS IN THE MORNING

FIRST DAY BACK!
Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

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The debate over Netflixs worth on the cinematic marketplace is destined to rage on like the Hundred Years War. Theres a nuance, a debate to be found in this argument, yes, but one thing must at least be admitted: Netflix brought us the new Bong Joon-ho where theatrical distribution had previously failed.

Despite an all-star cast (Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton) and a catchy premise (society microcosmed on a train), Bongs Snowpiercer has never been released on UK shores; its left fans, particularly of his 2006 monster flick The Host, feeling particularly aghast with cinematic FOMO.

For good reason, since Bong is a director of the truly unmissable variety: a creator utterly unique in his approach, who can spin tone with the deftness of a spider nurturing its web. A Bong Joon-ho film has the ability to be harrowing and hilarious, sweet and nihilistic. His gaze unveils a world that is cruel and ruthless to its core, but which never leaves us without hope  even if its to be found in the most minute of places.

All true of Okja, which, if anything, actually allows the South Korean filmmaker to grow even more ambitious in his scope. The titular creature is a super-pig bred by the Mirando Corporation as a futuristic food source thats cheaper to produce and has less of an impact on the environment. Plus, as CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) notes, they taste fucking good.

In a swish marketing move, several of these super-pigs are sent around the world to be raised through traditional, local methods; one, Okja, ends up on a remote farm in South Korea, where a little girl named Mija lives. And so, Okja and Mija grow up together, becoming the very best of friends in the process.

This, at its very centre, is a tale of the purity of friendship found in childhood pets. In a similar vein to last years Petes Dragon, Okja relies on the conjuring of a CGI creature that blends just enough dog-like traits into its fantastical features as to be utterly irresistible to audiences. The blind loyalty, the effusive affection, a touch of goofy clumsiness; for anyone whose childhood was accompanied by a beloved pup, it's hard not to feel the sweeping touch of sweet nostalgia here.

 Okja - trailer

Unlike Petes Dragon, however, Okja sees Bong Joon-ho deploy that sentimental attachment in service of a quite brutal, and devastating, statement about our attitude towards meat consumption. Yes, this is the kind of film that turns people vegan.

In the film, Okja is taken from Mija to be sent to New York City and put on display at a super-pig festival, and were swiftly reminded of the gulf between Mijas perception of her best friend and the Mirando Corporations treatment of animal life as industrial material, painted in the most vivid and unflinching means possible.

That said, as much as Okja has its sobering moments, its just as filled with Bong Joon-hos characteristically surreal approach to humour, much of which is derived from seeing a string of highly-acclaimed actors let loose like theyre guest starring on an episode Yo Gabba Gabba!.

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Films to get excited about in 2017 Show all 13 1 /13 Films to get excited about in 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Director: Rian Johnson Rian Johnson Cast: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Lupita Nyong'o Plot: No details yet, but it will continue directly on from Rey coming face-to-face with Luke at the end of The Force Awakens. Release Date: 15 December 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Thor: Ragnarok Director: Taika Waititi Taika Waititi Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum, Karl Urban, and Mark Ruffalo Plot: Story details are minimal as of now, but Thor's third return to screen has already been teased to feature a loose adaptation of the famous 'Planet Hulk' storyline. Release Date: 27 October 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 You Were Never Really Here Director: Lynne Ramsay Lynne Ramsay Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Alessandro Nivola Plot: A war veteran's attempt to save a young girl from a sex trafficking ring goes horribly wrong. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Annihilation Director: Alex Garland Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, and Oscar Isaac Plot: A biologist's husband disappears. She thus puts her name forward for an expedition into an environmental disaster zone, but does not quite find what she's expecting. The expedition team is made up of the biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Wonderstruck (image from Far From Heaven) Director: Todd Haynes Cast: Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Amy Hargreaves Plot: The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Mother (image of Darren Aronofsky) Director: Darren Aronofsky Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, and Ed Harris Plot: A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 The Killing of a Sacred Deer (image from The Lobster) Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Cast: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Alicia Silverstone Plot: A surgeon forms a familial bond with a sinister teenage boy, with disastrous results. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Blade Runner 2049 Director: Denis Villeneuve Denis Villeneuve Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, and Jared Leto Plot: Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years. Release Date: 6 October 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Lady Bird (image of director Greta Gerwig) Director: Greta Gerwig Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, and Lucas Hedges Plot: The adventures of a young woman living in Northern California for a year. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara (image of director Steven Spielberg and star Mark Rylance) Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Mark Rylance, Oscar Isaac Plot: The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara recounts the story of a young Jewish boy in Bologna, Italy in 1858 who, having been secretly baptized, is forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents' struggle to free their son becomes part of a larger political battle that pits the Papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 How to Talk to Girls at Parties Director: John Cameron Mitchell John Cameron Mitchell Cast: Elle Fanning, Ruth Wilson, and Nicole Kidman Plot: An alien touring the galaxy breaks away from her group and meets two young inhabitants of the most dangerous place in the universe: the London suburb of Croydon. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 The Dark Tower Director: Nikolaj Arcel Nikolaj Arcel Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Taylor Plot: Gunslinger Roland Deschain roams an Old West-like landscape in search of the dark tower, in the hopes that reaching it will preserve his dying world. Release Date: 28 July 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Suburbicon Director: George Clooney George Clooney Cast: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Josh Brolin, and Oscar Isaac Plot: A crime mystery set in the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, where the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and betrayal. Release Date: 24 November

Swintons Lucy is the wildly upbeat, deeply insincere face of environmentally conscious capitalism; Jake Gyllenhaal plays a washed up celebrity zoologist who's a sweating, hysterical mess in shorts and knee-high socks; Paul Dano gets to beat somebody up for perhaps the first time in his entire cinematic career. Everyone here treads beautifully the line between complex, engaging characters and wild pantomime.

Whether or not the Netflix controversy surrounding Okja and its Cannes premiere has improved or worsened its chances upon release matters little, in the end. This is a film that deserves to stand proudly on its own as one of this year's cinematic gems, and another stellar entry into Bong Joon-ho's unique catalogue of work.

Okja hits Netflix on 28 June, after screening at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival on 25 June.
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The past few years have seen many mainstream make-up brands create a wider amount of foundation shades to suit different skin tones and ethnicities. But, there is still a long way to go in beautys big names offering foundation shades to appeal to every user.

For many Asian women, choosing and using a foundation thats their perfect match is so much more than just finding the right formula. Many suffer with pigmentation problems and find that their forehead and cheeks differ in shade.

Bobbi Brown pro artist Zara Findlay  who is of Indian descent  says that one of the most important aspects in finding the perfect foundation is understanding your skins undertone.

What is difficult to find is the right undertone and someone that has the knowledge behind Asian womens skin. Being half Indian myself, I have areas on my face like my forehead and chin that are naturally darker than the rest of my face. I also have a very yellow and golden undertone.

Zaras advice for a starting point is to swatch shades on different parts of the face and establish if you have a yellow, pink, olive, cool or neutral undertone.

Using the wrong shade can result in Asian womens skin appearing grey or ashy instead of the bright complexions seen on many of those whose tones are easier to colour match.

Many beauty brands offer the chance to match skin shades online to provide for a more seamless foundation purchasing experience. And more are exploring bigger and more inclusive shade ranges and this has given Asian women a chance to finally have their skin tones represented.

When testing and choosing the perfect foundation shade matching was our top priority, but we were also interested in something that kept the face feeling fresh, provided a glow and lasted all day without feeling heavy.

You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

KVD Vegan Beauty lock-it foundation When KVD Vegan Beauty was launched by tattoo artist and model Kat Von D in 2008 the brand comprised of a handful of red lipsticks and not much else. Fast forward 12 years and the line is now so proud of itsvegan and cruelty-free status that a quick rebrand made sure this was at the forefront. The lock-it foundation comes in 44 shades and promises transfer-proof, full-coverage that lasts all day. In terms of inclusivity there is a big range of shades to choose from and with a choice for each undertone its definitely one for those who struggle to find their perfect hue. With that in mind we were extremely impressed by the colour match and application of this. Not only does it come in an uber-cool bottle but the formula is creamy with one pump being more than enough for full cover. There is plenty said about this foundation being perfect for covering up tattoos and it really does provide a flawless base while lasting pretty much all-day without touch ups passing the wear test with flying colours. Buy now 29 Boots {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Anastasia Beverly Hills luminous foundation Hollywoods eyebrow queen Anstasia Soare turned her hands to make-up in recent years and created a cult line that is loved by millions around the globe. Towards the end of last year the beauty mogul launched luminous skin foundation, a foundation promising  among other things  that it is vegan, gluten-free, non-comedogenic, long-wearing and ophthalmologist tested. On first impression, we were surprised that the glass bottle had the word foundation emblazoned across it, but a little research explained that Anastasias daughter Norvina (who is also president of ABH) said this is so makeup artists and those in a rush can find the bottle quickly amongst other products. The product itself is medium coverage and provides a subtle glow, however those with mre pronounced lines would need to ensure their skin is primed and hydrated, as there is a tendency for this to sink into creases. The foundation comes in 50 shades, broken down into five categories of fair, light, medium, tan and deep. This is perfect for those who struggle to find a colour match  and we totally recommend it for darker tones as the colour shows up a little deeper than initially matched. Buy now 43 Anastasia Beverly Hills {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Charlotte Tilbury airbrush flawless foundation When Charlotte Tilbury switched her attention from applying make-up to creating it, beauty-obsessed fans went wild for her luxurious products in sleek packaging.

The product promises a whole host of benefits including a natural matte finish, weightless, full coverage and 24-hours of moisture. We were extremely impressed with the 44 shades, each coming in a cool, neutral or warm hue. After a thorough shade match we were stunned at how true-to-tone the colour was for a yellow undertone. One pump of this is more than enough for full-coverage. After an eight-hour wear we were amazed that the product still looked fresh and had retained its matte look. No oil had broken free and the colour was still as intact as it was when applied, however for those who are sensitive to smell this foundation does have a distinct floral scent. Despite being a little on the pricey side, this would be a perfect fit for those who struggle to shade match and who want something which provides full coverage while feeling lightweight. Buy now 34 Cult Beauty {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Shiseido synchro self-refreshing foundation SPF30 Shiseido promise its foundation shades are inspired by skin and thus users are promised a perfect colour match  and it's not wrong. We were thoroughly impressed with the uncanny shade range that comprises of 30 colours from light to deep. This foundation infuses all of the Japanese beauty wisdom typical of Shiseido. We tested this for eight hours and from first application to removal the foundation hadnt budged. It kept the skin looking supple and hydrated while also providing medium coverage. Those who have drier skin may want to make sure they adequately moisturised beforehand as it can cling to drier areas. For those with normal to oily skin types this foundation is great. While we cant comment on the promise of a 24-hour wear, it lasted extremely well after eight. Buy now 39 Escentual {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Too Faced born this way foundation Too Faceds Born This Way collection is all about I woke up like this perfection and their foundation promises this with undetectable, natural, medium-to-full coverage. The oil free formula is infused with coconut water and hyaluronic acid for a smooth yet hydrated finish. But, what really caught our eye was the fact that this foundation comes in 35 shades. To make matters even better for those who struggle to find colour matches, this foundation is broken down into fair, light, medium, tan and deep tones. This foundation was put to the test in warm weather and after initially being impressed at how perfect the colour match was, we were awed by the long wear and natural yet full coverage. The foundation has the shade range and finish of a high-end product without a hefty price tag in common. Buy now 29 Boots {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Huda Beauty #faux filter foundation Instagram beauty queen Huda Kattan says her olive complexion and gold undertones have made foundation hunting hard work in the past, so she's made sure her own line is all-inclusive. The result is a 30-strong line with names like butter pecan, milkshake and toasted coconut celebrating the fairest of tones to the deepest. The foundation itself promises a filter-like, airbrushed complexion thanks to a high percentage of pigments that claim to cover blemishes, scars and even out skin texture. With all of these claims we had high hopes  and were not disappointed. It goes on like a dream, is a perfect colour match and a little goes a long way. The coverage is buildable but one pump is more than enough to stay put all day giving a weightless yet flawless finish. Buy now 32 Boots {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Morphe fluidity foundation Comes in an amazing 60 shades, which is broken down in levels from one to five, each correlating a different undertone, Morphe promises wearers an oil-free, sweat-proof full coverage that lasts all day. We were impressed with the consistency of this foundation as its definitely full coverage without that heavy feel, which is similar to others in this range. However, full coverage means there are plenty of pigments so overusing the wrong shade will add an unwanted colour to the face. That being said, we recommend this foundation as it is wallet friendly, has a pretty much unrivalled shade range and is full coverage that lasted us eight hours without top up. Buy now 16 Morphe {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

bareMinerals BAREPRO performance wear liquid foundation SPF20 This liquid foundation from bareMinerals promises a full, natural matte finish and a selection of 30 true-to-you shades as well as a heat, humidity, sweat and water-resistant formula. First of all, we noticed how thin the formula was compared to full-coverage ones. It is definitely more of a medium coverage and is best suited for those with oilier complexions looking for subtle coverage.

After a few hours wear we noticed dry patches peeking out and despite the claim from bareMinerals of 24-hour breathable full coverage found that this didnt last more than a couple before looking patchy. Buy now 26.35 Escentual {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Oxygenetix oxygenating foundation This 15-shade foundation range was designed for post-procedure use on the face to cover up redness. While wearing make-up after intensive treatment may be seen as counter-productive, the ingredient list explains more. There is aloe vera and in a nod to the brands name this foundation contains ceravitae complex, an ingredient to that increase the skins oxygen uptake, which in turn helps to speed up the healing process of post-procedure scars by encouraging collagen regeneration and connective tissue growth. On first use we were surprised at how perfect the colour match was for deeper skin tones especially as the shade range is limited. The foundation has a gel-like consistency and is buildable to full coverage while keeping the skin looking and feeling hydrated all day. Buy now 45 Skin City {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Bobbi Brown skin foundation stick In the past few years the beauty industry has seen a rise in the number of brands creating foundation sticks. Bobbi Browns version is a versatile product that can be used across the whole face, for touch ups and is created for all skin types  no mean feat in itself. The foundation stick comes in 43 shades, making it a great fit for those wanting to move away from heavier liquid foundations. It comes in sleek packaging and is perfect for carrying in a handbag for touch ups throughout the day. Thanks to the shade range, finding a match was easy with the foundation going on like a dream and can be built up in areas that require a little more coverage. We would say this is more on the medium side than full coverage so those who have more to cover up may want to try a concealer as well. Buy now 32 Bobbi Brown {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}

Givenchy teint couture city balm SPF25 This foundation is available in just 14 shades and for those who struggle to match their skin tone this could be a harder one to get right. We pumped this onto our hand and were surprised at how pigmented it was for a medium coverage foundation. However, the shade was too dark on the face and the finish was more orange than intended. One thing that stood out was just how well the foundation stayed put though, so for those who are after a light to medium coverage foundation thats sweat-proof for the warmer months then this may be for you  even if its on the pricier side. Buy now 43 Escentual {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}}
Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

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19-year-old Halima Aden has become the first ever hijab-wearing model to grace the cover of American womens beauty magazine, Allure.

No stranger to the limelight, Aden first achieved groundbreaking status back in November 2016 when she became the first Miss Minnesota to compete in a hijab and burkini.

Since then, shes gone on to walk in the Yeezy season five show at New York Fashion Week and made history as the first hijab-wearing woman on the cover of Vogue.

Sporting Nikes new performance hijab on the cover of Allures July issue, Adens image is accompanied by the words, This is American Beauty - a defiant slogan that champions the young models desire to defy beauty boundaries in fashion once and for all.

Born in a refugee camp in Kenya, Aden moved to the U.S. with her mum at age seven and told Allure that shes been wearing the hijab ever since.

Speaking to the magazine, she also talked about how her hijab protects her from body shamers.

Society puts so much pressure on girls to look a certain way, she said.

I have much more to offer than my physical appearance, and a hijab protects me against, Youre too skinny, Youre too thick, Look at her hips, Look at her thigh gap. I dont have to worry about that.

Following her successes, Aden has received innumerable praise for the role she has played in changing the face of beauty in fashion particularly for Muslim women.

The people that are doing bad things, they dont represent an entire group, she previously told ABC 7.

I feel like Im here to bust those misconceptions and stereotypes of Muslim women.
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People could soon travel from London to Edinburgh in eight minutes, claims Hyper Chariot, a company that has announced its intention to build an extremely ambitious new transport system.

It would be capable of reaching speeds of 4,000mph, and could also be emission-free and 100 per cent solar-powered, thanks to the use of solar panels mounted on the outside of the tunnels, according to the company.

It says it wants the network to be fully operational by 2040, and plans to unveil a working proof of concept demonstrator, called The Velocitator, in 2021.

The train-like technology sounds similar to Hyperloop, the brain-child of Elon Musk.

However, rather than large, bus-like vehicles, it would carry smaller pods capable of interchanging like cars on a motorway, with passengers able to choose their destination.

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty

Each pod would be driverless and carry a maximum of six people, who would have to be seated in F1 car-like positions.

The Hyper Chariot uses roller coaster-type technology to catapult car-sized capsules through airless concrete tubes at five times the speed of sound, says the company.

The entire transport system will be energy self-sufficient thanks to the use of solar panels mounted on the outside of the tunnels, and an ingenious method of recapturing the energy used to accelerate the pods through linear regenerative braking.

The pods would apparently travel through 5ft-wide airless tubes made of 1.3cm-thick reinforced concrete, and float above rails using a new type of magnetic levitation , or maglev, with cryogenically-chilled superconductors that create what is known as quantum levitation, which uses no energy or movement of the vehicle to maintain the suspension gap.

Furthermore, Hyper Chariot claims fares from London to Edinburgh would cost a mere 100, but warns that there will be no toilets on board.

Recommended Winning MIT design for Hyperloop passenger pod revealed by Elon Musk

I met with Elon Musk prior to the announcement of Hyperloop Alpha in 2013, and we both share the same vision of electrifying the earth, said Hyper Chariot founder and CEO, Nick Garzilli.

But with Hyper Chariot leading the field, we can do it in a much more elegant and efficient way.

Hyper Chariots network will provide the personalised mobility of a car without the headaches of traffic and parking. Also youll no longer have to wait with large groups of people for a bus, train or plane.

Hyper Chariot can be integrated into the existing road infrastructure at much less cost and disruption to existing services while providing more value to users.
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On the back of bumper profits, posh housebuilder Berkeley Group isnt the first place youd expect to find evidence of serious problems with what's going on, or rather what's not going on, at Westminster.

But if you take a look at its results, youll find it.

While Berkeley is doing very nicely thank you, it has highlighted a sharp drop in the number of new homes being built across the capital.

Now, the most pressing need in London is clearly for more social housing, as opposed to the posh apartments that Berkeley builds, which are too often bought by overseas investors.

But that 30 per cent figure covers the entire market, and when set against a backdrop of a rising population and a severe housing shortage, such a slowdown represents a serious problem.

So why is it happening? Berkeley highlights a range of issues, some of which have also been raised by its peers, and at least some of which it raises through self -nterest.

They include high levels of stamp duty, and taxes generally, difficulties with mortgages, planning regulations (and under resourced planning departments) and of course, the elephant in the room (and the reason that were only getting one Queens Speech at Westminster for the next two years): uncertainties created by Brexit.

The Conservative Partys ruinous obsession with that  in fact, its ruinous obsession with Europe generally  is what has brought us to this juncture, and it will likely mean that the issues raised by Berkeley, some of which warrant consideration, won't get it.

That is because Brexit will utterly dominate the business of government for the next two years, and probably beyond that, with the situation exacerbated by the weak, divided and incompetent administration that will take control of the process.

Londons stalled market for desperately needed new builds will just have to wait. As for all those promises to oversee the building tens of thousands of new homes made by that Government? They'll also have to wait along with many other issues besides.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Don't worry about Berkeley. It will manage just fine. It made 812.4m, up 53 per cent, and has a nice land bank. Booted out of the FTSE 100 last year after shareholders panicked about the London property market, its shares have since made a roaring recovery and no wonder.

Assuming it can still find builders (half of its London staff are from the EU) it will continue to to build and it will continue to hit its forecasts. Having been responsible for 10 per cent of the limited number of new social housing being put up in London  in addition to all those posh flats  thats to be welcomed.

But the wider problem will remain. And dont forget, the shortage of social housing, and housing generally, is not unique to London. It extends throughout Britain. You know who to blame when it gets worse.
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Finland has been giving 2,000 of its citizens an unconditional income for the last five months and some are already seeing the benefits, reporting decreased stress, greater incentives to find work and more time to pursue business ideas.

The scheme is the first of its kind in Europe and sees participants receive 560 (473) every month for two years.

Recipients do not have to demonstrate that they are seeking employment and they are not required to regularly report to authorities to prove they still need the payment, as is the case with standard unemployment benefits. They can spend the money however they like.

Recommended Universal basic income scheme set for trials in three European cities

Under the pilot, if a participant finds work, they will continue to receive the stipend, removing one of the limitations of current welfare systems - the disincentive to find work.

The trial is one measure introduced by the centre-right government to tackle Finland's unemployment problem.

Juha Jarvinen, an unemployed young father in a village near Jurva, western Finland, was picked at random to receive the payment, starting in January this year. He told the Economist that, unlike when he was receiving standard unemployment payments, he is now actively seeking work.

He had previously been offered a few part-time positions but taking them would make no sense, since it would jeopardise his welfare payments. It is crazy, so no one will take a bit of work, he said.

He said he is also in the process of starting a business, is much less stressed and no longer has to go through the silly show of filling out forms or attending regular interviews with employment agency officials.

Im an artist and entrepreneur. Sometimes Im too active, I dont have time to stop, he said.

Not everyone is impressed by the pilot scheme, however. In February, Finlands biggest union said the experiment was unaffordable and would encourage some people to work less while driving up wages in undesirable professions.

We think it takes social policy in the wrong direction, Ilkka Kaukoranta, chief economist of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), told Bloomberg.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

The union, which represents almost 1 million members, or a fifth of the Finnish population, said the model being tested is, impossibly expensive, since it would increase the government deficit by about 5 per cent of gross domestic product.

In March, Ontario, Canada's largest province, announced it was trialling a similar universal basic income scheme.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said the scheme was needed to address new challenges presented by the modern economy.
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Starbucks will hire 2,500 refugees across Europe by 2022 as part of a wider plan that sparked a social media backlash when it was announced in January.

The world's largest coffee chain said on Tuesday that it had already started the hiring the refugees, which it said would represent around 8 per cent of its current European workforce of 30,000.

Starbucks' commitment was made to coincide with World Refugee Day and proves that businesses like ours can use its scale to make a positive impact in people's lives," said Martin Brok, president of Starbucks for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

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The company will roll out the initiative in Britain, France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands.

The 2,500 European jobs are part of a global plan to take on 10,000 refugees in 75 countries that Seattle-based Starbucks announced in January. That move came in response to US President Donald Trump's executive order suspending Americas refugee programme as well as temporarily banning the entry of citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations to America.

The company faced fierce criticism from some people using the #BoycottStarbucks hashtag on social media. So far, only a handful of people on Twitter appear to have expressed disapproval of the latest announcement regarding European hires.

Europes refugee crisis shows no signs of abating. Around 360,000 refugees and migrants arrived on the Europes shores last year, many from war-torn Syria and Iraq as well as African countries including Guinea and Mali, according to the UN refugee agency.

The UN recently put this years death toll from those making the perilous Mediterranean crossing at 1,843.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

Last week, the European Commission launched legal proceedings against three European Union member states who have refused to take in refugees.

Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are accused of not fulfilling their obligations outlined in a 2015 plan to relocate migrants from Italy and Greece, to help share the burden. The three Eastern European countries have taken in a total of just 12 people since the agreement started.

The wave of refugees and migrants in recent years is widely thought to have contributed to the rise of populist nationalist movements in several European countries.


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Uber founder Travis Kalanick has resigned as the ride-sharing apps chief executive officer in the face of shareholder outrage over company culture.

Mr Kalanick, who helped establish Uber around eight years ago and was instrumental in growing it into a transportation behemoth, announced last week that he would be taking a leave of absence for an unspecified period of time.

He said that he needed time off to grieve for his mother, who had died in a May boating accident, while also admitting that he was responsible for Ubers current situation and needs to become a better leader.

On Wednesday the company confirmed that he would not be returning as CEO.

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That announcement came after former US Attorney Eric Holder released a list of recommendations to improve Ubers culture, which included relieving Mr Kalanick of some of his leadership responsibilities.

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Citing people familiar with the situation, The New York Times reported that Mr Kalanick had agreed to resign following hours of drama with some of the companys biggest investors, including venture capital firm Benchmark. One of the partners at Benchmark, Bill Gurley, sits on Ubers board.

In a letter delivered to the CEO in Chicago and signed by Benchmark and four other major investors, they reportedly demanded he quit.

A spokesperson for Uber told The Independent: Travis has always put Uber first. This is a bold decision and a sign of his devotion and love for Uber. By stepping away, hes taking the time to heal from his personal tragedy while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Ubers history.

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In a statement cited by The New York Times, Mr Kalanick said: 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.

In recent months, the ride-sharing company has frequently been pointed to as an example of what has culturally gone wrong with Silicon Valleys booming startup scene.

A former engineer at Uber, Susan Fowler, posted a blog online in February that detailed sexual harassment during the year she spent at the firm, sparking global outrage.

Ms Fowler wrote that she was propositioned by her manager. She said that she reported him to human resources, but was told that he would not be punished because he was a high performer.

That incident prompted Mr Holders investigation, during which more than 200 interviews were conducted with former and current employees.

Uber has since also made changes to its HR operations and launched a 24-hour hotline for employees. Earlier in June it sacked 20 people, including some managers. It is understood to be searching for new executives to professionalise its workplace.

Last week Uber director David Bonderman resigned after being accused of having made a sexist remark at a meeting to discuss how the group can transform its culture amid that probe into harassment and discrimination.

During the meeting, fellow board member Arianna Huffington reportedly spoke to employees about the importance of adding more women to the board of directors.

Theres a lot of data that shows when theres one woman on the board, its much more likely that there will be a second woman on the board, Ms Huffington said, according to Reuters.

In response, David Bonderman reportedly quipped: Actually, what it shows is that its much more likely to be more talking.

The worlds most valuable brands Show all 10 1 /10 The worlds most valuable brands The worlds most valuable brands 1st - Google Google replaced Apple as the worlds most valuable brand, with a brand value of $109.5bn, according to Brand Finance The worlds most valuable brands 2nd - Apple Apples brand value declined from $145.9bn to $107.1bn in 2016 The worlds most valuable brands 3rd - Amazon Amazon's brand value rose from $69.6bn to $106.4bn in 2016 Amazon The worlds most valuable brands 4th - At&t Of the 40 telecoms brands in the ranking, AT&T in 2016 overtook Verizon as the most valuable brand rising to $87bn from $59.9bn the year before The worlds most valuable brands 5th - Microsoft Microsoft's brand value rose marginally from $67.3bn to $76.3bn in 2016 The worlds most valuable brands 6th - Samsung Amazon's brand value rose from $58.6bn to $66.2bn The worlds most valuable brands 7th - Verizon Verizon's brand value inched up from $63.1bn to $65.9bn The worlds most valuable brands 8th - Walmart Walmart's brand value rose from $53.6bn to $62.5bn The worlds most valuable brands 9th - Facebook Facebook's brand value increased sharply from $34bn to just shy of $62bn The worlds most valuable brands 10th - ICBC ICBC saw its brand value rise to $47.8bn from $36.3bn. It was the most valuabe financial brand in the world in 2016 replacing Wells Fargo

Uber is one of the most highly valued private companies in the world.

It has reportedly raised more than $11bn (8.7bn) from investors since its founding in 2009.

According to The New York Times, other major investors in Uber include TPG Capital, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, mutual fund giants like BlackRock and wealthy clients of Wall Street heavyweights like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
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Already buffeted by political chaos at home and abroad, the UK gas market must now operate without its biggest stabilising force: the giant Rough gas storage facility under the North Sea.

The planned permanent shutdown of the Centrica site, able to meet 10 per cent of peak demand in winter, means Britain is becoming even more reliant on imports of liquefied natural gas or pipeline fuel from Russia and Norway. That sets up the possibility that traders would have to outbid Japan, the worlds biggest Liquefied natural gas buyer, and others to keep millions of homes warm.

Political uncertainty is making the supply game even riskier, with rules for international gas pipelines clouded in mystery as the UK negotiates an exit from the European Union. And the diplomatic crisis this month involving Qatar, the nations largest LNG supplier, caused gas prices in Britain to jump the most since January as two tankers were diverted.

It takes two weeks for a cargo of LNG to arrive from Qatar, which is not a politically stable place right now, said Graham Freedman, principal analyst for European gas and power at Wood Mackenzie in London. That does raise the political implications quite a lot, along with Brexit. So its a perfect storm in terms of security of supply for the UK.

Last winter as much as 94 per cent of the countrys gas came from sources other than storage. More than half of that was imports, mainly through pipelines from Norway. Statoil ASA, Norways state-owned producer, has repeatedly said it doesnt plan to significantly boost exports, but can divert more fuel to Britain if needed.

The UKs LNG imports may increase by 39 per cent next year as new plants will come online, according to market-watcher Energy Aspects. Its May forecast already took into account the expectation that Rough wouldnt return to service.

Yet predictions of a wave of LNG coming to Europe have previously proven to be premature. Supply was expected to build up last year but demand in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America raised prices in those areas and diverted cargoes.

Japan paid more than 12 per million British thermal units for LNG in 2012 through 2014, a premium of more than 60 per cent to UK prices. The share of LNG as a percentage of total winter gas supply in the UK actually fell more than 50 per cent in the past two winters, to 4 per cent of the total, according to National Grid data.

To gain a sliver of the supply, the UK would have to start competing on price, according to Deepa Venkateswaran, a senior analyst at Sanford C Bernstein.

LNG cargoes also take time to arrive, which can hurt during severe cold snaps. Earlier this month, two cargoes to the UK were suddenly diverted to a longer route around Africa, nearly doubling the journey time. Qatar Petroleum said its business as usual.

If all imports were to suddenly stop, the UK would only have access to 10 days worth of natural gas, compared with 24 days when the Rough was operating. By comparison, Germany and France each have more than 100 days of fuel stored, according to Wood Mackenzie.

This leaves the UK pretty exposed, said Freedman.

UK domestic production accounted for nearly 40 per cent of winter gas supply in Britain last winter, according to the National Grid. Output has been falling since 2000 because fields in the continental shelf are being depleted, also increasing the need for foreign supply.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

In previous years, the UK has also relied on Europes largest gas field, Groningen, located in the Netherlands to meet shortages. Output from that field has been slashed because production has earthquakes that are endangering nearby residents.

Russian gas will likely play a role to fill in any gaps, with the country already meeting a third of Europes consumption of the fuel. While the UK doesnt import gas from Russia directly but via pipelines from the continent, Moscow-based Gazprom PJSC said its supplies to Britain soared 61 per cent last year.

That fuel can travel to the UK through interconnecting pipelines from Belgium and the Netherlands. Its unclear whether any rules around energy trade between the UK and those countries will change due to Brexit negotiations.

While we are still in the EU, others have an obligation to share available supply with us in the event of a crisis, said Jonathan Stern of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Longer term, post-Brexit  who knows?

Bloomberg
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Mothers who breastfeed may reduce their risk of having a heart attack or stroke later in life, a new study has found.

Previous research has shown that breastfeeding can reduce a mothers risk of breast and ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, and obesity  and scientists hope their new findings will encourage more women to choose breast over bottle.

Researchers from the UK and China examined health data from more than 280,000 Chinese women, nearly all of whom were mothers.

After adjusting the results for other risk factors, including smoking, high blood pressure and physical activity, they found mothers who breastfed their babies had a 9 per cent lower risk of heart disease and 8 per cent lower risk of stroke than mothers who never breastfed.

The longer each woman breastfed her baby, the more their risk of cardiovascular disease appeared to reduce.

Each additional six months of breastfeeding per baby was linked to a four per cent lower risk of heart disease and a three per cent lower risk of stroke.

And among mothers who breastfed their babies for two years or more, heart disease risk was 18 per cent lower and stroke risk was 17 per cent lower than among mothers who never breastfed.

 Woman kicked out of court for breastfeeding

Sanne Peters, a research fellow at the University of Oxford, where the study was carried out with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking University, said the health benefits of breastfeeding could be explained by changes to the metabolism after a baby is born.

Although we cannot establish the causal effects, the health benefits to the mother from breastfeeding may be explained by a faster reset of the mother's metabolism after pregnancy, she said.

Pregnancy changes a woman's metabolism dramatically as she stores fat to provide the energy necessary for her baby's growth and for breastfeeding once the baby is born.

Breastfeeding could eliminate the stored fat faster and more completely.

More than 73 per cent of mothers breastfeed their babies, according to the NHS.

Breast milk can help protect newborns against infections and diseases, and is recommended for the first six months of a babys life.

Breastfeeding in public controversies Show all 11 1 /11 Breastfeeding in public controversies Breastfeeding in public controversies A woman has sparked a heated debate among parents after she revealed that she breastfeeds both her and her friend's son. Jessica Colletti, from Pennsylvania, said nursing Charlie Interrante's son seemed like the natural thing to do because she was already breastfeeding her son. Colletti told the Mama Bean parenting blog that she asked permission to nurse Interrantes son when she began looking after him, after they met at a photoshoot for new mothers. Interrante agreed as her son had not taken to formula milk Breastfeeding in public controversies New Hampshire State Rep. Josh Moore said on Facebook that men should be allowed to grab the nipples of breastfeeding mothers if the law banning women exposing their breasts did not pass Breastfeeding in public controversies When Gemma Colley's photo of her son with fake tan on his fake after she breastfeed him went viral, she also saw that no parent is alone when they make a silly mistake. Over 100,000 people liked and 40,000 people shared Ms Colleys photo of her sons sleepy face with fake tan encircling his mouth and nose, after she posted it to the Unmumsy Mum Facebook page Breastfeeding in public controversies A candid image of a mother breastfeeding her young child while using the toilet has divided parents online, as some argue its an honest depiction of parenthood, while others have labelled it disgusting Breastfeeding in public controversies The exclusive Claridges hotel has been widely criticised for asking a woman to cover herself with a ridiculous shroud while breastfeeding her three-month-old daughter. Lousie Burns said she burst into tears when staff members at the five-star venue asked her to cover herself and her baby with an oversized napkin in order to avoid causing offence to other guests Breastfeeding in public controversies An Australian cafe has been praised for sticking up for a breastfeeding mother after a customer told her to cover up. Jessica-Anne Allen, owner of Cheese and Biscuits Cafe in Queensland, Australia, has described how she was approached by a male customer in the cafe to complain that he was upset by a woman in the coffee shop breastfeeding her child nearby. The customer asked the cafe owner, 29, to tell the mother to cover up. When Mrs Allen refused to do so, he took matters into his own hands and challenged the woman himself. Staff at the cafe then asked the man to leave Breastfeeding in public controversies A woman who claimed a Primark security guard had forcibly removed her child while she was breastfeeding has admitted to perverting the course of justice. Caroline Starmer sparked a series of headlines after claiming on Facebook that a store guard had taken her nine-month-old daughter Paige away from her. The mother from Leicester then repeated her claims in a number of interviews, before Primark denied the incident and handed CCTV over to the police to show there was no evidence to support the allegations. Appearing in Leicester Crown Court, she admitted the charge of perverting the course of justice by not telling the truth Breastfeeding in public controversies Pope Francis has become an unlikely advocate for public breastfeeding, by encouraging mothers to feed their babies in the Sistine Chapel. During a ceremony in Vatican City on Sunday, the Pope baptised 32 babies and told their mothers: If they are hungry, mothers, feed them, without thinking twice, because they are the most important people here Breastfeeding in public controversies Facebook has changed its community guidelines to allow users to post photos of breastfeeding. The change comes as the wide-ranging #FreeTheNipple online campaign has built pace in its attack against guidelines used by social media websites to regulate nudity  from photos of breastfeeding to topless photos post by singer Rihannas on her now defunct Instagram account. Facebooks Community Standards, which outline what users are allowed to post, never included a outright ban on photos of breastfeeding Breastfeeding in public controversies The manager of a public swimming pool at the Lux Park centre in Liskeardhas been forced to apologise after he told a mother to stop breastfeeding her son by the waterside. 23-year-old Rebecaa Hough of Torpoint, Cornwall, was feeding 10-month-old Max a few steps from the main pool, when the manager told her to carry on in the changing rooms in case the infant was sick into the water. She was also told that she should not to return for half an hour to ensure the milk was fully digested Breastfeeding in public controversies A Conservative MP has claimed allowing women to breastfeed in the House of Commons chamber would expose politicians to tabloid ridicule. Sir Simon Burns, a former transport minister, spoke on what he called a controversial subject in a debate in making Westminster more family-friendly

The findings should encourage more widespread breastfeeding for the benefit of the mother as well as the child, said Oxford professor Zhengming Chen, the studys senior author.

None of the 289,573 Chinese women whose data was used in the study had cardiovascular disease when they enrolled in the research, but after eight years, 16,671 had coronary heart disease, which includes heart attacks, and 23,983 had suffered a stroke.
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Secret cost-cutting plans described as a death knell for the NHS will result in longer waiting times, rationing of care, job losses and ward closures at hospitals in London, a new leak has revealed.

Details of the proposals, part of a national savings drive designed to cap NHS spending, have been called shocking restrictions on care quality and access for patients by politicians.

North Central London is one of 14 regions across the country in which senior NHS managers have been told to make difficult choices to curb overspending.

A document leaked to The Guardian sets out how care at 10 hospital trusts in Camden, Islington, Haringey, Barnet and Enfield  including the Royal Free and Great Ormond Street childrens hospital  could be cut back.

These include job losses to reduce admin costs, increasing waiting times past the current 18-week limit, and the closure or downgrading of services, likely to put smaller hospitals such as North Middlesex Hospital in Enfield at risk, reported the newspaper.

The document is said to outline plans to plug a 183.1 deficit at the London trusts  singled out by health bodies NHS England and NHS Improvement as one of the most severe in the country.

But Jonathan Ashworth, Labours shadow health secretary, said the proposals, known as the capped expenditure process, would result in a postcode lottery where healthcare varies depending on where you live.

He said Theresa Mays weak and unstable Government has huge questions to answer about this new NHS capped expenditure process, which is in reality a Tory NHS hit-list drawn up in secrecy during the election campaign..

 John Major: The NHS is about as safe with Tory Brexiteers as a hamster is with a phython

Its an absolute scandal that, whilst Parliament and the public were concentrating on the election campaign, this was being rushed through in secret, ready for immediate approval by ministers in the expectation of a Tory victory at the general election, said Mr Ashworth.

Now we learn detailed proposals for North London involve shocking restrictions on care quality and access for patients.

Other ideas under consideration as part of the programme, which aims to ensure NHS spending meets budget targets for this year, include limiting the number of operations carried out by non-NHS providers to make sure funding stays within the health service, which could limit patients choice of providers.

NHS funding could also be withdrawn for new and recently-approved treatments and those considered low value  adding to the list of prescription items such as cough medicine and gluten-free food that patients were made to pay for earlier this year.

Doctors said the "sweeping cuts" would result in patients being denied treatment and increasing wait times that are already unacceptable. This is "far from safe and will only lead to poorer care in the future," said Dr Mark Porter, Council Chair of the British Medical Association (BMA).

The government must step up and finally act in the best interests of the NHS and its patients, rather than continuing to starve the health service of resource and patients of care, he said.

Louise Irvine, a GP who stood against Jeremy Hunt in his South West Surrey constituency at the general election, coming second with 20 per cent of the vote, previously told The Independent the truly shocking scale of the proposed cuts and closures represent a death knell for the founding values of the NHS.

Campaign group Keep Our NHS Public said there were "no surprises" in the revelations, but "plenty of horrors".

Their twisted plans - hatched largely in secret - are set to hurt people all over London, Jeremy Corbyns constituents included. How long are people going to put up with this double dose of secrecy and cuts? Is this what they voted for?

The North and Central London consortium of NHS bodies said: Health organisations across North London are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement to ensure we deliver safe and effective patient care within budget. This process is underway but has not reached any conclusions to date.

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Show all 6 1 /6 Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves The elderly We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population, Theresa May has said. Waits of over 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to figures from NHS Digital. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Patients going to A&E instead of seeing their GPs Jeremy Hunt has called for a honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments, saying that around a third of A&E patients were in hospital unnecessarily. Mr Hunt told Radio 4s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called very serious problems at some hospitals by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to A&Es when they should not. He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm. But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunts plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Simon Stevens, head of NHS England Reports that key members of Ms Mays team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street. Mr Stevens had allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required. Getty Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Previous health policy, not funding In an interview with Sky Newss Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been ducked by government over the years. She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a humanitarian crisis and said health funding was at record levels. We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need, said the Prime Minister. They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in. But doctors accused Ms May of being in denial about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves Target to treat all A&E patients within four hours Mr Hunt was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all A&E patients within four hours. The Health Secretary told MPs the promise  introduced by Tony Blairs government in 2000  should only be for those who actually need it. Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had less stringent rules. But Ms May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for A&E, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame. Getty Images Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis  except themselves No one Mr Hunt was accused of hiding from the public eye following news of the Red Crosss comments and didnt make an official statement for two days. He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour A&E waiting time target. Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying the public will want to know, Mr Hunt. Sorry Beth, Ive answered questions about this already, replied Mr Hunt. But you didnt answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didnt want to water it down. Is that what youre saying? said Ms Rigby. Its very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then wont answer the question, Mr Hunt. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in. Getty

London doctors have had to react quickly to a series of tragedies in the capital, including a devastating fire at a Grenfell Tower in west London and terror attacks in Finbury Park, London Bridge and in Westminster in March.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan praised the NHS's response to London Bridge attack, tweeting: Thank you to our amazing NHS staff for your world-class treatment of those injured in Saturday's horrific attack.

All 48 people injured in the incident survived after three terrorists ploughed a hire van into pedestrians on London Bridge before crashing the vehicle and stabbing random victims around Borough Market on 3 June. Eight people died in the atrocity.
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Jared Kushner, Donald Trumps son-in-law and top White House adviser, has met Israeli and Palestinian leaders with the aim of reviving a US effort for a peace deal.

A former real estate developer with little experience in international diplomacy, Mr Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before travelling to Ramallah, located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, for a late-night meeting with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr Netanyahu warmly greeted Mr Kushner with a smile and hug. This is an opportunity to pursue our common goals of security, prosperity and peace, Mr Netanyahu said. The President sends his best regards and it's an honour to be here with you, Mr Kushner replied.

Mr Kushners trip follows the Presidents visit to the region last month, when Mr Trump also had discussions with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Appearing at a press conference with Mr Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Mr Trump declared that the Palestinians are ready to reach for peace.

Mr Kushner played a key part in planning Mr Trumps stops in Israel, Saudi Arabia and Rome during the President's tour abroad. The 36-year-old also appears to be taking on a more public role in his father-in-laws administration, giving his first public remarks as a White House adviser this week.

The President has tasked Mr Kushner with the ambitious goal of laying the groundwork for what he calls the ultimate deal, but significant obstacles remain.

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

This month marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war  a seminal event in which Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians have claimed these territories for their future independent state. Mr Netanyahu opposes a return to the 1967 lines and also rejects any division of Jerusalem. The eastern part of the city, which the Palestinians claim as their capital, is home to sensitive Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites.

The White House appeared to play down expectations for a breakthrough ahead of the visit, saying that forging a historic peace agreement will take time and that Mr Kushner and envoy Jason Greenblatt will likely make many visits to the region.

For now, the US is expected to pressure each side to make goodwill gestures in hopes of improving the overall climate.

Mr Greenblatt landed in Israel on Monday for preliminary talks in both Jerusalem and Ramallah, and will also remain for follow-up discussions after Mr Kushner has left.

Part of it is to figure out how to make incremental change that results in a lasting peace, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said on Monday. Part of this is really to utilise the trust that has been built up, and not have these negotiations out in public. But I think that they had a very successful visit when the President was over there, and theyre going to continue to build on that.

For more than 20 years, the US has pushed for a two-state solution, meaning an independent Palestinian state living side-by-side and at peace with Israel.

But during a February meeting with Mr Netanyahu in Washington DC, Mr Trump declared that he was not fixed on two states saying, I'm looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like.

Discussions over a peace deal will mean putting pressure on Israel to restrain its construction of settlements on occupied lands sought by the Palestinians. It also could mean working with Israel to take new steps to help improve the struggling Palestinian economy, such as easing restrictions to allow more development of West Bank lands.

However, hours before Mr Kushner's arrival in Israel for his 20-hour vist, Mr Netanyahu announced the beginning of construction on a new Jewish settlement in the West Bank, despite the White Houses position that further unrestrained settlement activity does not help advance peace. In the past, the Palestinians have called for a stop to settlement building before any peace negotiations can occur.

This is the way Mr Netanyahu is meeting Trump's envoys, said Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian official told Reuters. The real question here is will the administration of Trump tell Israel that it is enough and they have to stop immediately all settlement activities, or they will accept this Israeli provocation?

Mr Netanyahu had vowed to compensate the residents of Amona with a new settlement, after their previous illegally built outpost was dismantled in February under orders from the Supreme Court.

As for the Palestinians, they are under pressure to halt what Israel sees as incitement to violence in their official media, speeches and social media.

Israel has also demanded that the Palestinians stop making welfare payments to families of militants who are either imprisoned or were killed while committing attacks on Israelis. Israel says the so-called Martyrs' Fund provides an incentive for Palestinian violence.

After arriving early on Wednesday, Mr Kushner paid a condolence visit to the grieving family of a young female Israeli police officer who was killed by Palestinian attackers last weekend in Jerusalem. Mr Kushner said Mr Trump asked him to personally convey the condolences of the American people.

Reuters contributed to this report
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Motor neurone disease can render a person paralysed  locked in a body where they can feel every itch they cannot scratch. The speed of the condition causes costs to rocket, especially when patients become unable to work. Families either spend vast quantities of money or simply go without.

Zeb Nassar, 48, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2016. Her financial struggle with the disease began when she fell down the stairs on her way out of her flat in Barking, London, and was unable to convince the council to provide her with a stairlift. She was unable to leave her flat for eight weeks, for fear of falling.

I rang everyone at the council, saying please, Ive got to get to work, she says. Im not the type of person who stays home. I said, Whats the solution? Youve got to get me out. They said that there was nothing they could do.

As time progressed, Zeb began to suffer from depression, and was offered over-the-phone counselling to treat it. She says simply: I sat on this chair all day long. I just lost interest.

After lobbying Laila Butt, councillor for Barking and Dagenham, Zeb was nominated for her new wheelchair-accessible flat. The next challenge was the move to the new property  she still had no way to get down the stairs to leave her home for the last time.

Zeb explains: When I left my old property and I was moving into this flat, I rang everybody to help me get down the stairs. Nobody offered. St John Ambulance would bring me down from this property for 348.

I took two steps and I just couldnt do it, I was feeling weak on my legs. I sat on my bum  I went down twenty steps on my bum. I put the pressure on my arms  the next day I could not move. I was so upset it was such a horrible way to leave. I told the council that all I needed was two strong men from anywhere, anybody.

Issues with diagnosing MND are common. Ammar Al-Chalabi is a professor of neurology at Kings College London, and explains the difficulties that doctors have when faced with the symptoms. Motor neuron disease takes about a year to be diagnosed on average. This seems to be the same everywhere in the world, regardless of health system, and there are several reasons for it.

Zeb Nassars financial struggle with the disease began when she fell down the stairs on her way out of her flat (MND Association) (MNS Association)

First, although MND will kill one in every 300 people, the average GP sees just one person with it in their working lifetime, and so, very reasonably, they exclude other similar conditions first. Second, there is no diagnostic test, so the doctor has to go through a process of elimination, which takes time. Third, because it is a devastating diagnosis to receive, a doctor will wait until they are very certain before the possibility is mentioned.

Keith Moore died in May from MND, which he had suffered with for five years. Keith, a former police officer, became aware of having a condition after a fall, but he was initially diagnosed with drop foot before doctors eventually realised that he had the degenerative disease.

Keith lived in Worcester with his wife, and received a full-time care package, which his daughter Karen described as fantastic.

Despite the family having care around the clock, the care company would cancel shifts last minute  leaving them scrabbling to change their plans, as they did not have the funds to pay for a private carer.

Karen and her sisters love their father, but were unable to drop everything to look after him when carers did not show up for shifts.

Karen explains that they could not relax. The agency that we were with are using another agency to get their staff in, but they didnt know my dad, or understand his complex needs, so somebody would come in and my sisters would have to shadow them because of his complex care. It wasnt difficult to look after him, but they have to know the equipment that he uses. He was reliant on somebody keeping him alive.

After a long period of battling with their care company, the family made the difficult decision to put Keith in respite care. However, the decision was anything but simple  in the days leading to his move, they struggled to find anyone who would transport him.

Karen recalls the struggles they faced when trying to move her father: The system is just ridiculous  I dont think anyone has thought it out properly  We spent a lot of time on Google and phones, and nobody seems to know.

In the end, the family used a community bus, a favour which Karens sister is waiting to repay back to the community.

When Keith was first in need of a wheelchair, he was provided with a womens chair, despite being a large man. The family were unable to pay for additional costs, and Karen was frustrated as they would have paid for everything if they could. We were hoping to build a little wet room, but its tiny, you could get his chair in and one carer. It wasnt suitable but we couldnt afford anything else.

Their district nurse works three half days, they just couldnt get hold of her. We hadnt seen her for months and months. Shes got an impossible task, and has been in touch because she heard about what was going on with the care, but it was too late  wed dealt with it.

Weve done a lot of fundraising for MND, and now I just think, if wed have done that fundraising just for my dad Its not just about research, its about the care.

The delay in diagnosis for Bonita Sheehans mother Florrie meant she struggled to access the necessary care.

Bonita recalls the difficulties they faced when her mother needed more help around the home, but had not received a formal diagnosis of motor neurone disease. Unfortunately they were unable to pay for the care themselves, and had to make do. It was as if they thought she was making it up. She did actually get admitted to the hospital in Southampton. She said to me, They think Im making it up, they really think Im making it up. If I do die, please make sure you get a post-mortem done because there is something wrong with me.

Florrie was a very determined person, and kept trying to live her life as normally as possible. Unfortunately, she kept having falls when she walked, and tried to take her own life twice.

According to research published today by think tank Demos  commissioned by the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the average patient and their family spend almost 12,000 a year on their condition. The findings point to three areas where a person could incur costs: one-off purchases (such as home adaptations), regular expenses (such as care, or additional help around the home) and enhanced costs (such as increased energy bills or travel insurance).

Of the respondents, 82 per cent stated that MND had moderately negatively impacted or very negatively impacted their finances. Meanwhile, 45 per cent said that the financial support they receive is not adequate. Even at their maximum amount, disability allowances reach 7,337.20 a year  which is a fraction of the average additional cost.

Susie Rabin, head of policy and campaigns at MND Association, explains that there was a huge discrepancy in spending between high and low income families. We did come across people who had spent high levels of money, and we found people who were struggling to put another 10 on the meter to keep the house heated  who really were going without.

But we also came across people who had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds adapting their home. Living in a six-bedroom, three-storey house is going to have more significant adaptation costs.

Theres a lot of money that people can spend  and are having to spend  to be able to live comfortably and safely. I think people want to be able to provide quality of life for them, and be able to enjoy the limited time that they have left.

Complications with bills can cause huge amounts of stress for families who are already under financial strain. Paul Carrison, 71, was diagnosed with MND two years ago. The disease has since progressed  he is now unable to stand, and is losing strength in his arms. His wife Tina is his carer, but she recently needed to go into hospital for a mastectomy, and was unable to care for Paul due to her stitches.

The couple had made arrangements for Paul to receive six weeks emergency care, which the council said they would pay for. Following this, the couple were billed for the emergency care (this eventually voided) and four weeks additional help which they never received.

Paul says, We can do without this. At the moment we are hoping to get continuing healthcare as we are really struggling.

I was diagnosed two years ago and now cannot walk or stand, and am losing strength in my arms. We have a ceiling hoist in the lounge and bedroom, plus a hospital bed for me. We moved last year to a wheelchair-friendly bungalow, which we had to renovate. We were refused a grant for a wet room and had to fund it ourselves with 20 per cent coming from MND Association.

This cruel disease impacts on the whole family especially my wife who has become my carer, having to wash, dress, undress me and take me to the toilet. Also, shes now having to flush and turn my peg. I am 71 and my wife is almost 70, at this age the only benefit available is Attendance Allowance. We even had to buy an automatic vehicle and have it adapted to a hand control to enable me to carry on driving, which I now have had to give up.

Fortunately we have a good support team in our area. Without them and the volunteers I dont know what we would do.

Companies seeking to help those struggling with the costs of the condition are popping up across the country. Communication equipment is an area on which family members can spend large sums of money. Patients who rush into buying equipment (perhaps due to delays in receiving NHS equipment, issues with clinical commissioning group funding, or simply wanting to buy the best technology), can be disappointed when the devices do not work for them.

9 health and wellness apps to download Show all 9 1 /9 9 health and wellness apps to download 9 health and wellness apps to download Bupa Boost (free  use code forliving2017) A unique app to improve health and wellbeing. It sets nutrition, mindfulness, fitness and relaxation goals. Compete with others and try team challenges. bupaboost.com 9 health and wellness apps to download Freeletics Nutrition Coach (free) This is a hassle-free healthy eating app with recipes designed to meet your goals, from losing weight to building muscle. It also offers customised meal plans. freeletics.com 9 health and wellness apps to download Runkeeper (free) Whether walking or running, this app offers everything from tracking routes and setting challenges for you, to comparing pace and session times. It will sync with your music library as well. runkeeper.com 9 health and wellness apps to download SleepBot (free) A smart alarm clock app which uses soothing soundtracks to wake you from your lightest sleep phase, after working out your personal sleep patterns by recording your movements during the night. mysleepbot.com 9 health and wellness apps to download Hydro Coach (free) Not only will this app remind you to top up your daily water intake, it also enables you to keep track of how much youve sipped already  and suggests how much you may need. hydracoach.co.uk 9 health and wellness apps to download Sleep Cycle (free) Using the iPhone motion monitor, this app records movement during the night from underneath your pillow to chart your patterns of shallow and deep sleep, and calculate slumber quality. sleepcycle.com 9 health and wellness apps to download Daily Yoga (free) Work your way through more than 500 yoga poses with clear instructions or choose one of the 100-plus classes complete with background music. Duration and intensity can be tailored to suit. dailyyoga.com 9 health and wellness apps to download MyFitnessPal (free) An online calorie counter to help you lose weight. The database of items allows you to build a food diary, and you can input exercise to help calculate the calories youre consuming and burning. myfitnesspal.com 9 health and wellness apps to download Buddhify (4.99) With more than 80 guided meditation exercises for all levels, this is designed to help calm your mood and improve mindfulness all day. It has tracks for on-the-go listening, working and travelling. buddhify.com

MND Associations communication aids coordinator, Matthew Hollis, stresses the importance of having an assessment to see which device is best. Ultimately, nobody should be having to purchase their own communication aid  if the NHS cant provide it, MND Association will support them if we can.

Matthew believes that NHS England is providing much more funding for communication devices, but there remains room for improvement. There are still a lot of people who need support from us as a charity, which may be in the form of financial support or lower tech communication devices.

Susan Graham started her non-profit organisation, Jaspals Voice, in memory of her sister, who died after a 10-year struggle with the disease.

Susans goal is to tackle issues with communication devices for patients who cannot speak anymore. On her organisations website, it explains the issue: The NHS provides expensive equipment that cannot be supplied to everyone with the disease. It is left to charities and donors to meet the shortfall. It takes several months before patients are assessed and receive any equipment. Some patients pass away before being supplied with any equipment which is tragic.

After watching Jaspal lose her voice only a year after diagnosis, Susan was struck by the devastating consequences for someone so sociable. As Jaspal lost the ability to speak, she came up with new and innovative ways to communicate  she could complete a Rubiks Cube, and would dictate how she wanted family and friends to shift the cube by wiggling her nose from left to right, and her eyes up and down.

Eventually, Jaspal could communicate only by using a large key pad, where she would use predictive text to communicate. Heartbreakingly, on the night she died she sent a simple text reading goodbye hours before she passed away.

Jaspals use of predictive text inspired Susan to create an inexpensive app to suit other patients with MND needs. MediVoice is an app that has a large numeric keypad, which allows for easy predictive texting for those with limited hand movement, but also stores all of the patients details to make unexpected trips to the hospital easier.

For example, vital information such as the patients most recent blood-pressure readings are stored, alongside more simple  but still hugely necessary  information, such as their likes and dislikes. The app is designed for ease and efficiency, but is also vital when a patient is incapable of speaking for themselves.

MediVoice allows for easy predictive texting for those with limited hand movement

In Europe, healthcare for patients with motor neurone disease seems to be better than it is in the UK. Rob Johnson was diagnosed with MND in 2008, after he and his wife Mandy had moved from Warwickshire to France with their five children.

Mandy explains that the system in France is different in that patients are not means tested for expenses such as home adaptations. For example, when the family wanted to renovate their extension to make it accessible for Rob, they were offered an amount that would pay for the basics  if they decided to make the extension more luxurious, they would pay the additional costs themselves.

Rob, pictured before MND took hold, now communicates using a whiteboard (Mandy Johnson)

According to Mandy, the health needs of Robs condition are covered 100 per cent by the French government. He has fortnightly visits from his GP at his home, so that he doesnt go through the stresses of being transported unnecessarily. The British familys high praise for the European system begs the question: does a similar strategy need to be adopted in the UK?

Rob only has movement in his eyes  meaning that he communicates using a whiteboard with letters written on it. Due to this, he requires around-the-clock care and Mandy is his primary carer, a role she is devoted to. She sleeps on the sofa next to his hospital bed each night, listening to his ventilation device to ensure he is not choking. Mandy champions Rob, ensures he is comfortable when others are treating him, and is his communicator with the rest of the world.

However, despite the benefits of the French system, there are still smaller costs that the family faces. Despite Robs healthcare being covered, certain drugs which are not considered as applicable for patients with MND are not paid for by the French health system. In order to prevent Rob from choking on his own saliva, he takes a drug called hyoscine hydrobromide, which comes in patches and inhibits saliva production.

Hyoscine hydrobromide is a drug prescribed for travel sickness, so it is not included in Robs treatment package. Therefore, the family shells out 43 (38) a month on these patches, a cost that can take its toll when neither Rob nor Mandy are able to work.

Another expense is Robs bedsheets. They need to be extra strong, so that he can be moved easily between beds, but they are replaced often as they become dirty.

Despite these costs, Mandy refuses to criticise the care that they receive. We dont expect to have every single thing paid for. We understand that there is only a certain amount of money to go around for everything.

Were getting a lot already, and as lovely as it would be to have everything, and for everybody to have everything, and for every child in school not to be in a class of however many, theres only so much that they can do.

With the UK facing an ageing-population crisis, coupled with the expensive and rapid progression of motor neurone disease and constrained resources, the problem does not seem to be disappearing anytime soon.

Chris James, director of external affairs at MND Association, warned that without changes being made, the care made available for patients will become centred around costs, rather than what the patient wants.

He says: I think that theyll be doing assessments not based on need, theyll be setting criteria based mostly on costs, and for someone with MND that may mean if its cheaper for them to be cared for in a care home  and it might be  they will be moved out of their home.

That decision wont be assessed on their need, it wont look at them as a person. It wont be person-centred care, it will be financial-centred care.

June is Motor Neurone Disease Awareness Month. To find out more about the campaign and the disease see www.mndassociation.org
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The renowned physicist Stephen Hawking is working on a spacecraft that can travel at a fifth of the speed of light  meaning it could reach the nearest star and send back images of a suspected Second Earth within 25 years  in a bid to save humanity.

In a speech at the Starmus Festival, Professor Hawking warned humans must soon colonise another planet if we are to survive.

One explanation for why Earth has not been contacted by an advanced civilisations from another part of the Universe is that every time intelligent life evolves it annihilates itself with war, disease and weapons of mass destruction, he said.

And in addition to the chance that we will meet this fate, Professor Hawking said the planet had become too small for our burgeoning population with its physical resources  being drained at an alarming rate. Climate change, an asteroid strike or some other kind of cataclysmic cosmic event also pose significant threats.

The proposed spacecraft, called a Star Chip, would be just a few centimetres in size with a lightsail weighing a few grams. It would be powered by an array of lasers based on Earth that would drive the tiny probe on a beam of light at about 100 million miles an hour, a fifth of light speed.

Such a system could reach Mars in less than an hour, reach Pluto in days, pass Voyager [the space probe launched in 1977] in under a week, and reach Alpha Centauri in just over 20 years, Professor Hawking said.

Once there, the nano craft could image any planets discovered in the system, test for magnetic fields and organic molecules, and send the data back to Earth in another laser beam.

This tiny signal would be received by the same array of dishes that were used to transit the launch beam, and return is estimated to take about four light years.

Importantly, the Star Chips trajectories may include a fly-by of Proxima b, the Earth-sized planet that is in the habitable zone of  Alpha Centauri.

The project, called Breakthrough Star Shot, was a real opportunity for man to make early forays into outer space, with a view to probing and weighing the possibilities of colonisation, he said.

And he admitted: Of course, this would not be human interstellar travel, even if it could be scaled up to a crewed vessel. It would be unable to stop.

But it would be the moment when human culture goes interstellar, when we finally reach out into the galaxy. And if Breakthrough Star Shot should send back images of a habitable planet orbiting our closest neighbour, it could be of immense importance to the future of humanity.

Because it is travelling so fast any pictures taken by a camera on the Space Chip would be slightly distorted due to the effects of special relativity, as first described by Albert Einstein. This would be the first time anything has travelled fast enough to see such effects.

Nasa unveils space tourism posters Show all 6 1 /6 Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters Nasa's canny decision to commission sumptuous vintage-inspired posters by Seattle design firm Invisible Creature has firmly placed space travel back where it belongs: in the imagination of travellers Nasa Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters It is particularly fitting that the Nasa commission went to Don and Ryan Clark, who have been running Invisible Creature since 2006, undertaking projects for the likes of Nike and Target Nasa Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters "We were ecstatic, just because our grandfather was an illustrator at Nasa for 30 years," says Clark Nasa Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters The artwork harks back to the Jet Age-era posters commissioned by Howard Hughes' Trans World Airlines and its rival United in the 1950s and 1960s, when the work of David Klein (for TWA) and Stan Galli (for United) glamorised and essentially branded this new age of air travel Nasa Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters It doesn't matter that Nasa has no plans for a "Grand Tour" of Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus Nasa Nasa unveils space tourism posters Nasa space tourism posters If global travel is for daydreamers, going beyond the atmosphere is for true space cadets Nasa

We are standing at the threshold of a new era. Human colonisation on other planets is no longer science fiction. It can be science fact, Professor Hawking said.

He warned the need to find a new home to colonise was being driven by threats that were too big and too numerous to be positive about the future.

The moon and Mars were possible locations but both had limitations, the Cambridge University academic said. The moon is small, has no atmosphere or a magnetic field to deflect solar radiation. Mars has also lost its magnetic field and much of its atmosphere.

He said humans should create a base on the moon by 2020 and send people to Mars by 2025. Interstellar travel for humans might be accomplished in the next 200 to 500 years, Professor Hawking added.

In the speech, he showed flashes of his sense of humour.

Considering the prospect of a Star Chip discovering life, he said If there are beings alive on Alpha Centauri [the solar system] today, they remain blissfully ignorant of the rise of Donald Trump.

On the failure of an advanced alien species to contact humans, he said he preferred the explanation that while primitive life was common, intelligent life was rare. He then added: Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth.

Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427  more commonly known as WR 124  and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead  sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later  having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region

And extolling the virtues of the human attribution  out most powerful attribute  he said: With this, we can roam anywhere in space and time. And I do.

We can witness natures most exotic phenomena while in a car, snoozing in bed, or pretending to listen to someone boring at a party. And I do.


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A victim of Finsbury Park terror attack has said he no longer feels safe in London and will never forget what he saw.

Yassin Hersi was one of 11 people injured when a van ploughed into a group of Muslims leaving the mosque in North London.

"I feel lucky now, when I see the situation," he told ITV News. "The guy who was under the van was shouting 'help, help, help'. I didn't realise at the time he was trapped under the van."

Mr Hersi was one of a number of people that had stopped to help Markram Ali, who had collapsed at the scene.

He was giving CPR to the 51-year-old when the attack happened.

Mr Ali was pronounced dead at the scene and an investigation is currently underway to determine whether he died from injuries sustained when he was hit.

Darren Osborne, 47 from Cardiff, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. The following day he was arrested on suspicion of additional terrorism offences along with murder and attempted murder.

Mr Hersi, who suffered broken legs in the incident said that heard a victim shouting for help from underneath the van within seconds of the attack.

"Yesterday we were in the same hospital with that guy and he had a long operation. The doctors think he's going to have a four-hour operation or something like that... but last I heard it was six hours."

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

He said he did not know for certain that he had died as a result of the attack but said he had been responding well to the CPR before the van struck.

I believe he died of panic. He was responding well [before the van hit]... he was talking, responding, saying I'm okay..., he said We thought he had a heart problem but it's not serious. I believe the van contributed [to his death].

Mr Hersi said he was proud of how the community responded to the attack but no longer felt safe in London.

To be honest with you, whether you're in a car, or you cross the road, or if you're in an apartment... no one is safe, he added.
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Hundreds of Airbnb hosts in the London area are offering accommodation for free to British Cross relief workers volunteering from across the UK on the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

"We are heartbroken by the Grenfell Tower fire and our thoughts are with everyone affected by this awful tragedy." Airbnb said in a blog post.

"Since last week, Airbnb has been working closely with local agencies managing the response, including the British Red Cross, to understand how the Airbnb community can best help those in need.

"The British Red Cross has identified an urgent accommodation need for volunteers from across the UK who are supporting relief efforts in London.

"Red Cross emergency teams have been providing practical and emotional support since Wednesday morning after the fire broke out. They are now helping to coordinate the response at the community assistance centre and are helping support those affected.

"To help, Airbnb is looking for London hosts who are willing to open their homes for free to Red Cross staff and volunteers, who are working around the clock to support those affected by the fire.

Using the site's Disaster Response Tool, registered hosts have been eliminating their fees, there currently being 25 pages worth of free listings.

Airbnb is waiving all fees associated with these bookings. Hosts are still fully protected by the Trust and Safety programs in place for regular bookings.
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Express your anger, said the speaker, as the first marchers assembled on Shepherds Bush Green in west London. Dont tone it down. Because this is how we win!!!

But of course, everyone wanted to hear from members of the community around Grenfell Tower, that charred, tragic monument to Tory austerity.

So the megaphone was handed to Wade Bayliss. He too lived in a tower block, one just a few hundred metres from Grenfell, one also subject to the control of the now notorious Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation.

The TMO are utter c***s, said Mr Bayliss, 50, a film maker.

So far, so angry. This was, after all, the Day of Rage march on Parliament, called by the Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary (MFJ): A day we shut down London, a declaration that there will be no peace until this rotten government is brought down.

But after the applause for his swearing, Mr Bayliss went off-script.

What the community doesnt want, he told the protesters, Is rage.

They want the chance for justice to work, he added. Dont f*** that up for them! We appreciate your support, but dont f**k it up for the people in the neighbourhood.

Peace and love.

He wasnt the only community member to have expressed such sentiments.

The day before, in a much-reported tweet, the Clement James Centre charity, which has provided shelter for Grenfell residents, declared: "There has been a 'Day of Rage' announced.

 Grenfell Tower fire: What do Kensington residents think of rehousing victims in luxury block?

"We cannot emphasise enough how many of the affected residents we've spoken to are against this and they do not want their grief hijacked for any violent or destructive means."

Away from the crowd, Mr Bayliss did his best to express the emotions swirling around a community in the throes of raw grief.

However much some newspapers might have wanted him to, he wasnt unequivocally condemning the march:

We appreciate the support. We appreciate the love. Its really nice.

But yes, he was worried. He feared that the cause of the people of the Grenfell Tower was being hijacked:

There are people pushing their agendas ahead of those guys, a community that is grieving, where people have lost their lives.

We dont need a circus, he added. Everyone in the community is about holding it down, not firing it up. Its going to be a hot summer

And if rage did turn to violence, all might be lost:

Lets not give them - lets not give Theresa May - the chance to shut us down, to start a reverse campaign.

He gazed at the crowd.

I cant see many community faces here

Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street Show all 10 1 /10 Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street Inside a flat at 375 Kensington High Street - Located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea berkeleygroup.co.uk Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street The 68 flats are being acquired by the City of London Corporation as part of the response to the tragedy berkeleygroup.co.uk Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street The luxury flats are located just a couple of miles from Grenfell Tower berkeleygroup.co.uk Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street The families will be offered permanent homes in the building berkeleygroup.co.uk Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street Penthouses in the block can go for up to 13m berkeleygroup.co.uk Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street A spokesman for the Berkeley Group confirmed they were finalising plans berkeleygroup.co.uk Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street The property boasts a gym, swimming pool and 24-hour concierge service harrodsestates.com Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street The families will live in the award winning 2bn development berkeleygroup.co.uk Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street Families whose lives were devastated by the fire at Grenfell Tower are to be housed in a luxury development berkeleygroup.co.uk Grenfell Tower survivors to be housed in 375 Kensington High Street 68 families are to be rehomed in the block berkeleygroup.co.uk

In fact, he was standing beside a banner adorned with the Scottish Saltire, and many signatures.

Louise Robertson, 67, was indeed from Dumbarton, not west London.

But there was no questioning the retired charity workers sincerity. Nor that of her 13-year-old granddaughter Molly who had made the banner. Or the 174 Dumbarton locals who had signed the banner in solidarity with the people of Grenfell Tower.

Grenfell Tower, said Ms Robertson, Symbolises everything that is wrong: the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, and not just getting poorer, getting less and less respect. Their lives dont seem to matter.

So Ms Robertson wanted an end to Theresa Mays government. And yes she was happy with the idea of a Day of Rage.

But she was also a veteran peace protester. For her, rage was all the more powerful when channelled into non-violent protest.

Used in a positive way, she said, Rage can be a very positive energy.

They set off towards Parliament as a mixture of Justice for Grenfell T-shirts and F*** The System tops, of home-made cardboard signs and MFJs more-professional-looking Bring Down the Government placards.

If you wanted, you could focus on the usual suspects distributing anarchist newspapers, or on the demo waiting to merge with the MFJ march in Parliament Square - organised by the Socialist Party, formerly known by the 1980s hard-left, fear-inducing name of Militant.

Or you could look at the sincerity of Ms Robertson, and many others.

Clive Beckford, 37, a personal trainer living in a tower block in Stonebridge, Brent, about two miles from Grenfell, had never been on a demo before. But he felt he had to be on this one:

Absolutely every single thing in this country, he said, Is governed by business, by an ethos that has nothing to do with humans.

You could also note that among those talking to the marchers were some who said they had lost loved ones in the Grenfell Fire  albeit that they did not want to talk to the Press.

Rage, it seems, is rarely entirely focussed. And for all those shouts of We are one, has there ever actually been a demo where everyone is singing from exactly the same hymn sheet?

(Talking about singing, the chants of Justice for Grenfell far outnumbered those of Oh Jeremy Corbyn.)

When they arrived outside Downing Street, the rage was expressed in different, possibly revealing ways.

The first scuffle was between demonstrators, with the Police left bemused bystanders. It seemed that someone had tried to do something inappropriate, and was restrained by a crowd of other protesters.

The men with masks pushed themselves in front of the police cordon, but there werent many of them. Flares were let off, but there were only two and not near the police lines.

There was some hostility to the coppers. One was told to F*** off when he asked to borrow a megaphone to tell the marchers to move on to Parliament Square.

But the first arrest was actually of a man accused by the crowd of shouting something racist at them.

Towards close of play, The Independent made it a 3-3 score draw: three protesters led away by police for obstructing the road, or nicking the hat of a cameraman from a hard-right internet news channel; two police "chats" with people allegedly saying something abusive to the crowd, plus a hard-right news presenter led away for reasons that might have included her own safety.

The ambiguity about where the rage line should be drawn came into its own in Parliament Square.

The Police wanted to clear the road of protesters.

Do not comply with authority, shouted a blonde woman with a megaphone. Dont listen to the Police. Stay here. Justice for Grenfell!

The chant started up: What do we want? Justice!

How are we going to get it? came a lone cry from the crowd, receiving the enthusiastic answer Fight for it!

Maybe they were talking metaphorically, because all this came moments after the demonstrators had been told: Anyone throws a punch, we all lose. Because thats what gets the headlines.

The warning had come from John Seward, 44, from Oxford. Working in the construction business, he had been so ashamed by the process at Grenfell, it made me sick.

The 29-year-old blonde with the megaphone, sort of an anarchist  no, a feminist, and distrustful of the media to the point of withholding her name, had also been deeply affected by the Grenfell story.

She, like Mr Seward, knew that violence didnt work. But she didnt think peaceful really worked either.

The Grenfell residents, she said, Had been asking nicely for fire safety for years, and they never got it. I feel conflicted in a way

Who knew what the night would bring, but by early evening it seemed we had been treated to a modicum of argy bargy, with one arrest providing a moderately entertaining rolling maul in the direction of Whitehall.

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 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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. 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

But it was all very much rugby match, not riot.

And, of course, Theresa May was still Prime Minister. Although given how she was getting on across the road in Parliament, its possible she doesnt need the help of any protesters to bring down the government.

No matter.

Karen Doyle, 40, from south London, one of the MFJ organisers, considered the march a good start.

She insisted to The Independent that there had been no hijacking of the Grenfell communitys agenda, or its grief.

We never claimed to speak for the survivors, she said. We absolutely respect their grief and their need for time to recover. We deliberately avoided starting the march in the community.

People there have been telling us Thank you for doing this. But we are not pretending to speak for the families.

Yes, she said, there was deep anger, about the abuse and neglect that people have suffered for generations.

But it was focussed: This Government has to go, and we have to build a movement to achieve that.

As the bulk of the crowd started to disperse, peacefully, she told them: I just want to say how f***ing proud I am of everyone who marched today.

She delivered her thanks leaning against a sound system adorned with stickers, one of them reading: Space Invaders against Law and Order.
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Prince Philip was taken to hospital on Tuesday night as a "precautionary measure".

It related to an infection from a pre-existing condition, Buckingham Palace said.

The news came shortly before the Queen's Speech at the state opening of Parliament on Wednesday.

Philip was supposed to be accompanying the Queen to the State Opening of parliament on Wednesday but his place has been taken by the Prince of Wales.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London last night, as a precautionary measure, for treatment of an infection arising from a pre-existing condition.

"Prince Philip is in good spirits and is disappointed to be missing the state opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot.

"The Prince of Wales will accompany the Queen to the state opening.

"Her Majesty is being kept informed and will attend Royal Ascot as planned this afternoon."

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 year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA

In May it was announced the Duke of Edinburgh would step down from public engagements in the autumn.

"The Duke will not be accepting new invitations for visits and engagements, although he may still choose to attend certain public events from time to time," the Palace said at the time.

Additional reporting by agencies
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The son of the vehicle-hire firm boss whose van was used in a terrorist attack in Finsbury Park has been arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred.

Richard Gear Evans was taken into custody after allegedly writing in a Facebook post: Its my dads company, I dont get involved. Its a shame they dont hire out a steam rollers or tanks, could have done a good job then [sic].

South Wales Police said he had subsequently been released without charge following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Evans was responding to messages of support following the attack on pedestrians leaving midnight prayers during Ramadan. The comments and account profile appear to have since been deleted.

 London residents bring flowers in solidarity with Finsbury Park Mosque after attack

Mr Evans claims to be a freight movements director for logistics company Eddie Stobart.

Police said a 37-year-old man was held on suspicion of displaying threatening, abusive, insulting written material with intent that is likely to stir up racial hatred.

Lee Evans, the father of Richard Evans, who runs Pontyclun Van Hire in the Rhondda Valley said: 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 anyone else in the family.

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."

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

One man died and 11 people were injured when a white van was driven into a crowd of worshippers in north London at around 12.30 on Monday morning.

Police arrested 47-year-old Darren Osborne at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder and alleged terror offences.

The Mets counter terrorism unit has been given an extension until Saturday to question Mr Osborne.

A spokesperson for Eddie Stobart Logistics said: 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."
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The first funeral for one of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire took place in a packed ceremony attended by his family who had flown in from Syria and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Prayers were said for Syrian Refugee Mohammad Alhajali - the first fatality of the disaster to be formally identified by police - who was described as a "loving and caring person".

The 23-year-old, who was studying civil engineering at the University of West London, lived on the 14th floor of the block.

His brother Omar, 25, managed to escape from the fire after becoming separated from Mohammad, who was unable to get to safety.

Their parents, two sisters and several other relatives were able to secure visas allowing them to travel from Syria to attend the ceremony, called a Janazat, was held at the East London Mosque.

Mr Alhajalis mother, father and siblings were at the front row of the mosques main prayer room, joined at their side by Mr Khan.

In a statement from the family read by friend Muzna Alnaib, they said Mr Alhajali "loved London and loved the people he met here".

It added: "He was a loving and caring person, always showing support and solidarity for friends and family stuck back in Syria," the statement read outside the mosque said.

"His very last words to us were how much he missed us. Ever since he moved away from us, we tried to be united with him and his brothers, and now, instead, we have been united by his body."

The family said they hope no one endures the pain they have in the past few days, and thanked everyone who has been so kind and helpful.

The coffin of Mohammad Alhajali, a victim of the deadly Grenfell Tower blaze, is taken from the east London Mosque in Whitechapel, for his burial. (John Stillwell/PA Wire/PA Images)

They also thanked more than 92,000 people signed a petition calling for his parents to be granted visas for the UK so they could attend his funeral.

Mr Alhajali fled war-torn Syria three years ago with his brother Omar, 25, who managed to escape the lethal blaze and was treated in Kings Cross hospital but was able to attend the funeral. The brothers came to the UK to seek safety and a better life.

But the 23-year-old is said to have been trapped on his floor for two hours while hundreds of firefighters sought to rescue residents, but failed to reach above the 13th floor.

The chairman of East London Mosque, Muhammad Habibur Rahman, told the congregation: "You will know that Mohammad Alhajali lost his life in the terrible incident in the Grenfell Tower fire that took place recently.

The coffin of Mohammad Alhajali, a victim of the deadly Grenfell Tower blaze, is taken from the east London Mosque in Whitechapel, for his burial. (John Stillwell/PA Wire/PA Images)

"We will pray for everybody who lost their lives in the fire and we ask Allah to have mercy on all of them and our condolences go to the families of all those who lost their lives."

Speaking after the service, Mr Khan said all people who were caught up in the fire and are uncertain about their immigration status should be allowed to stay in the country.

"My message to anybody who is nervous coming forward to report anything to the authorities because of their immigration status is this: the government has committed not to take any action against anybody whose immigration status is uncertain.

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

"Im calling on the government to, on compassionate grounds, allow those inside Grenfell Tower who havent got right to remain to give them right to remain.

"Its also crucial that we get to the truth and we get justice for all those struggling to cope in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.

"Its important that the public enquiry commences as soon as possible, its important that all of the families, local community and civic groups have legal representation paid for by the government.
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Theresa May has apologised for a failure of the state over the Grenfell Fire disaster that killed at least 79 people.

Speaking in the House of Commons as MPs debate the Queen's Speech, the Prime Minister said there had been failures local and national in the hours immediately after the fire.

Let me be absolutely clear: the support for the families on the ground in the initial hours was not good enough , she said. People were left without belongings,without roofs over their heads, without even basic information about what had happened, what they should do and where they should go to seek help.

Recommended Corbyn demands funding for sprinklers after Grenfell Tower fire

That was a failure of the state, local and national, to help people when they needed it most. As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure. As Prime Minister I have taken responsibility for doing what we can to put things right. That is why each family whose home was destroyed is receiving a down payment from the emergency fund so they can buy food, clothes and other essentials. And all those who have lose their homes will be rehoused within three weeks.

Ms May said the whole country was heartbroken by the utter devastation caused by the fire and re-iterated that there will be an independent enquiry led by a judge to determine what happened and who was responsible. Those affected by the fire will have their legal costs paid, she added.

Grenfell tower fire Show all 42 1 /42 Grenfell tower fire Grenfell tower fire Local residents watch as Grenfell Tower is engulfed by fire Getty Images Grenfell tower fire London Fire Brigade said there has been a number of fatalities from the blaze Rex Features Grenfell tower fire The fire was first reported in the early hours of Wednesday and continued into the morning Rex Features Grenfell tower fire A local resident sees the fire over the rooftops @Ebajgora Grenfell tower fire A firefighter reacts at the scene of the blaze Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Residents watch as the blaze continues Getty Images Grenfell tower fire More than 200 firefighters have been fighting the blaze PA Grenfell tower fire London Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared the fire a major incident Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Police and fire services attempted to evacuate the concrete block of flats Getty Images Grenfell tower fire A woman runs to assist paramedics working at the fire at the Grenfell Tower Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Smoke rises from the building after a huge fire engulfed the 24 story Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, West London in the early hours of Wednesday morning Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Fire fighters tackle the 24-storey building in West London Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Ambulances are stationed nearby Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Paramedics arrive with oxygen Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Emergency services believe it will take some time to establish the cause of the fire Grenfell tower fire Tens of people have been taken to five different hospitals across London Getty Images Grenfell tower fire A man comforts a boy after the tower block was severely damaged Reuters Grenfell tower fire Firefighters stand amid debris in a childrens playground nearby Reuters Grenfell tower fire Firefighters are stationed at the building Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Smoke engulfs Grenfell tower Rex Features Grenfell tower fire Lots of people donating water, food and clothing to St Clement's church for the residents of Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Samuel Osborne Grenfell tower fire A man speaks to a fire fighter after a huge fire engulfed the 24 story Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images Grenfell tower fire According to the London Fire Brigade (LFB), 40 fire engines and 200 firefighters are working to put out the blaze. Residents in the tower were evacuated and a number of people were treated for a range of injuries EPA Grenfell tower fire A resident of Grenfell Tower is trapped as smoke billows from the window after a fire engulfed the building Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Members of the emergency services work at the scene of a huge blaze which engulfed Grenfell Tower, a residential tower block in Latimer Road Getty Images Grenfell tower fire According to the London Fire Brigade (LFB), 40 fire engines and 200 firefighters are working to put out the blaze EPA Grenfell tower fire Fire fighters tackle the building after a huge fire engulfed the 24 story Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images Grenfell tower fire The burnt facade of Grenfell Tower, the night after the fire in Latimer Road, West London REUTERS/Neil Hall Grenfell tower fire Local residents gather at a community centre near Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road REUTERS/Toby Melville Grenfell tower fire A resident in a nearby building watches smoke rise from Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road, West London AP Grenfell tower fire Police and rescue services operate near the fire at Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey apartment block in Latimer Road EPA Grenfell tower fire A man stands amid debris on the A40 after a serious fire in a tower block at Latimer Road in West London REUTERS/Toby Melville Grenfell tower fire A view of the empty A40 highway after it was closed in both directions, due to the proximity of the fire at Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road EPA Grenfell tower fire Smoke rises from the building after a huge fire engulfed the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Bodies are removed from the scene after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London Rick Findler/PA Wire Grenfell tower fire Bodies are removed from the scene after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London Rick Findler/PA Wire Grenfell tower fire Provisions on tables at the Westway Sports Centre close to the scene after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London Jack Hardy/PA Grenfell tower fire Beds are laid out in the Westway Sports Centre close to the scene after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London Jack Hardy/PA Wire Grenfell tower fire A pile of donated clothes, sleeping bags and water lie next to a police cordon near the burning the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Signs asking for donations are seen outside the Notting Hill methodist Chruch Getty Images Grenfell tower fire Smoke rises from the building after a huge fire engulfed the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images Grenfell tower fire A man is rescued by fire fighters after a huge fire engulfed the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty

The Government used the Queens Speech to announce the creation of a new Independent Public Advocate who will work with and support the families of people affected by public tragedies such as the fire at Grenfell Tower.

Ms May has faced a barrage of criticism over her initial handling of the disaster. She visited the tower the day after the fire but did not meet directly with residents affected. When she returned the next day she was loudly heckled and forced to leave under a heavy police presence.

Questions have also been asked as to why successive housing ministers did not act to bring forward an investigation into safety conditions in tower blocks.

Residents of Grenfell Tower are reported to have warned repeatedly that their building was not safe. Despite a 10.3m renovation project being completed last year, no new safety measures were introduced. Some reports suggest that the cladding that was added to the outside of the building as part of the refurbishment was highly flammable and allowed the fire to rapidly spread upwards from the fourth floor flat where it is thought to have broken out.

The Government announced on Wednesday that many of the families who lost their homes in the fire will be housed in luxury apartments in Kensington Row that are worth upwards of 1.6m. The homes, which is about 1.5 miles from Grenfell Tower, have been purchased by the Corporation of London and will be used as social housing.

It comes after Jeremy Corbyn called for Grenfell residents to be housed in empty homes in Kensington.

The ward where this fire took place is, I think, the poorest ward in the whole country and properties must be found  requisitioned if necessary  to make sure those residents do get rehoused locally, he said last week.
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Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised for failing to bow to the Queen at the state opening of Parliament, but it appears the Labour leader was actually upholding tradition.

The MP for Islington North entered the Lord's Chamber with Theresa May but was seen standing resolutely upright as those around him bowed in respect to the monarch.

However it has emerged that it may in fact be the Prime Minister who breached convention.

According to political pundit Damian McBride, leaders on both sides did not bow at the opening of Parliament in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015 or 2016.

Mr Corbyn later gave wink to an unseen observer, which some suggested was linked in some way to his refusal to bow.

The Labour leader is known for his republican beliefs but has consistently denied he would abolish the monarchy if he was elected to lead the country.

When questioned on his views on the monarchy, Mr Corbyn said last month: "I believe in a democracy and we live in a democracy. We have a titular head of state as the monarch but without political power."

It comes after Conservative sources told The Independent the speech could well be Theresa May's first and last as Prime Minister as she struggles to cobble together a parliamentary majority.

There was no mention of many of the Tories key manifesto pledges in the address and plans to axe universal free school meals, scrap the triple lock on pensions and lift the ban on new grammar schools now all seem likely to be ditched.

The Queen delivered 2017's speech alongside Prince Charles, after Prince Philip was admitted to hospital.

MPs then returned to the House of Commons where Ms May and Mr Corbyn will both give responses to the address.
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The Chief Inspector of Prisons has expressed fury and disappointment after the Government's commitment to prison reform, which was given high prominence in 2016, was omitted from the Queens Speech.

In a highly unusual intervention, Peter Clarke said the omission constituted a missed opportunity following several years of soaring prisoner suicides, staff shortage crises and endemic drug use and violence among inmates.

Campaigners expressed immense disappointment at the failure to mention the Prison and Courts Bill, which received broad cross-party support prior to the election, warning that the decision would put even more pressure on the new justice secretary, David Lidington, to ease the chronic overuse of prisons in the UK.

The bill was introduced earlier this year to underpin wider efforts to improve standards across the crisis-hit estate in England and Wales, with a focus on reform and rehabilitation of offenders.

But after the General Election was called, the legislation was ditched and the proposals relating to prisons have not been resurrected.

The omission comes as a U-turn on last years Queen's Speech, when planned prison reforms were billed as a priority, with the Queen announcing the bill as the biggest prison shake-up since Victorian times.

Responding to this year's speech, Mr Clarke said: I am very disappointed that prison reform has not found a place in the Queens Speech. The Prisons and Courts Reform bill, introduced last year, enjoyed broad parliamentary support and had made real progress through parliament until it was lost when the general election was called.

This is a missed opportunity to forge ahead with prison reform. The law would have required the government to respond to our findings. We will continue to report the harsh reality of what we find in our prisons  all too many of which are dangerous for prisoners and staff alike and are failing in their duty to rehabilitate and reform prisoners.

Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, meanwhile said: It is immensely disappointing that the government has dropped its commitment to a prison reform bill.

"There was cross-party support for this long overdue legislation. The decision puts even more pressure on the new justice secretary to find ways to stop our chronic overuse of prison so that this hardest pressed of public services can start to repair the damage his predecessors have inflicted upon it.

He should start by spending the money earmarked for new prisons on measures that would make them unnecessary. That means supporting people in their communities and helping the people who really do need to be in prison to get out on time and stay out for good.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA

Campaigners warned that the abandonment of the Bill would lead to a further rise in levels of riots, violence, drugs and deaths in prisons. Alex Cavendish, a prison academic and former prisoner, tweeted: It's clear from the Queen's Speech that prison reform under the Tories is effectively dead. Expect more riots, violence, drugs and deaths."

Following the Queen's Speech, Justice Secretary David Lidington said in a statement: "The work to make our prisons true places of reform and rehabilitation is already under way  and it will continue unabated."

Mr Clarke's assessments in the past few years have repeatedly raised concerns over high levels of violence, self-harm and suicides behind bars, as well as highlighting drug usage as a major problem in jails.

Last week, a report detailed how inmates were seen openly smoking cannabis during an inspection of HMP Brixton, while earlier this year it emerged that young offenders had suffered inhuman and degrading treatment after being locked up for nearly 24 hours at a time.
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Thousands of protesters are expected to march on Downing Street in a so-called day of rage to oppose Theresa May's government.

The demonstration, organised by Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary (MFJ), will see protesters march along Whitehall at 1pm on Wednesday in an effort to bring down the Government.

It comes on the day Prime Minister Theresa May sets out her legislative programme for the next two years in a Queen's Speech expected to be dominated by Brexit.

Referencing the Grenfell Tower fire and brutal austerity, cuts and anti-immigrant attacks, the description on the MFJ event page reads: Politicians and many community and religious leaders will be looking to divert our rage and fury into inquiries, investigations, reports, court hearings, and parliamentary processes.

We will not accept those brush-offs and diversions, we will not settle for less than the destruction of May's coalition of austerity and bigotry. We must bring down this government.

Organisers are seeking the permanent right to remain in the UK for all Grenfell Tower residents, and for survivors to take over unoccupied flats in Kensington and Chelsea. But one group helping residents of the tower said they do not want their grief hijacked.

Attendees have been urged to keep their activities peaceful, amid concerns the disaster may be appropriated for violent means.

The Clement James Centre, which has been helping Grenfell residents, said: There has been a 'Day of Rage' announced for Wednesday, trying to bring London to a standstill.

We cannot emphasise enough how against this many of the affected residents we've spoken to are and they do not want their grief hijacked for any violent or destructive means.

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

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: To everyone planning on demonstrating against Theresa May's Government over the next few weeks, it is vital that these protests are peaceful.

He told Sky News: You can be angry. I'm angry about what's going on in my constituency. ... But you can't translate that into violence.

Any protest has got to be peaceful, otherwise, to be frank, what you do is you're not just stretching the emergency services but also you undermine your own cause.

Stand Up To Racism has organised a demo for 6pm called: Protest the Queen's speech - no to May/DUP racism & bigotry!

London Socialist Party is hosting a Facebook event called May Must Go! Protest the Queen's Speech which is scheduled for 4pm.

MFJ was criticised on social media for urging people in a leaflet to walk out of school, take the day off, call in sick, strike... in order to attend.

An alternative hashtag, #DayofWork, circulated on Twitter as users also mocked the planned protest by using its original tag in mundane or comical messages.

One said: #DayOfRage Buzzing for Day of Rage is it on PS4 hoping it's as good as the Mega Drive original Streets of Rage. Another said: Enough of this unrelenting heat. Someone organise a protest march outside the Met Office at 2pm. #SummerSolstice #DayofRage.

Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith  re-elected this month by just 45 votes after standing, unsuccessfully, as an independent in a byelection and failing in his bid for the London mayoralty  tweeted: #DayOfRage - just what our emergency services need right now.

The term day of rage was used to refer to large protests during the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011. It has also been used by the Islamist group Hamas when it calls for demonstrations, which have resulted in violence in the past.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Thousands of people descended on the prehistoric site of Stonehenge in the early hours of Wednesday morning to witness the dawn of the summer solstice and bring in the first day of summer.

An estimated 13,000 sun-worshippers attended the Neolithic monument in Wiltshire in time for the 4:52am sunrise, an increase of around 1,000 people on last years solstice event.

The ancient monument is believed to have been used as an important religious site by early Britons around 4,000 years ago, and it has become a popular place for pagan celebrations since the start of the 20th century.

Recommended How and why the summer solstice is celebrated

Each year people arrive in their droves to see the sunrise, many of whom are dressed in modern druid robes, costumes or wearing flower garlands.

Stonehenge is widely believed to be a prehistoric temple built to mark the movements of the sun. The heel stone and slaughter stones at the site are aligned with the sunrise on the summer solstice.

Armed police were deployed to the site as part of an increase in security at major events and festivals following the London and Manchester terror attacks.

A reveller spins glow sticks as people gather to celebrate the pagan festival of Summer Solstice at Stonehenge (AFP/Getty Images)

The sun rises over Stonehenge on Wednesday morning (AFP/Getty Images)

People clasp their hands together as the sun comes up on the Summer Solstice (REUTERS)

Those clothed in druid costume watch the sun rise on the Stonehenge monument (REUTERS)

Revellers touch the Heel stone as people watch the sun rise (AFP/Getty Images)

Others wore flower garlands as the sun rose on the late-Neolithic monument (REUTERS)

Wiltshire Police made seven arrests that were mostly drug related, while people who brought pets, sleeping bags, duvets, barbecues or camping equipment were not allowed to access the site. Remote-controlled aircraft and drones were also banned.

The summer solstice is marked with a number of festivals, feasts and rituals across different faiths, and is strongly associated with fertility, growth and light.

This year Google also marked the solstice with a doodle animation showing a mouse reading in an underground home. A bird lands on the ground above the mouse hole and pecks the floor until a shaft of light shines through to the mouse, which then dons a pair of sunglasses.

Additional reporting by PA
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A hobbled Theresa May has been told her Brexit plans face failure unless she rows back from the most extreme parts of her proposals.

MPs in her own and other parties warned they would oppose a move to hard Brexit after she laid out laws needed in the Queens Speech, without having yet secured a Commons majority.

In the House of Lords where the Tories also have no majority, rivals signalled they would use all powers in their arsenal to stop any hard-Brexit drive damaging the country.

Scottish nationalists also threatened to derail the Governments main piece of Brexit legislation if the Prime Minister failed to obtain their explicit consent.

It comes as she fights a rearguard action in her own Cabinet, under pressure from Chancellor Philip Hammond who is pushing for a jobs-focused Brexit, at odds with the immigration-centred approach adopted by Ms May.

The Prime Ministers rivals had already warned before the election they would bog her down in a legislative swamp as she tried to push her hard-Brexit through.

But as she set out the complex array of required laws on Wednesday, and with her botched election campaign leaving her in an even weaker position, they now signalled that the tables had turned.

One senior Conservative MP told The Independent: She needs to go on in a far more consensual manner if she is going to get anything through.

The DUP are not even locked in yet. No one knows if she has the numbers to win all the votes that will be needed. Some people have realised that, others havent. Soon everyone will.

Liberal Democrat chief whip Alastair Carmichael said his party would table an amendment to refocus Brexit on jobs and the economy and vowed to work with a 34-strong group of Labour rebels to that end.

 Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn share exchange after Queen's Speech

He said: Nobody has a majority. In those circumstances there is an opportunity that Parliament can control the Government, instead of the Government controlling Parliament.

There is now a weakness in the Government, and they are weak, because of the way she approaches things. Lets see how that changes.

To tear Britain out of the EU, Ms May revealed she must pass one of the most complex legislative agendas faced by a British administration in modern history - including seven Brexit Bills on everything from immigration and trade to fisheries and farming.

There is then also the gargantuan Repeal Bill, which will absorb all EU legislation affecting the UK on to the British statute book and will lead to the Government having to sort through up to 5,000 smaller pieces of secondary legislation.

She must now do this while having to rely on 10 Northern Irish DUP MPs who have already indicated they are willing to embarrass Ms May and push her plans to the brink of failure, to extract concessions.

Ex-Conservative chancellor Ken Clarke suggested channels are already open to the Liberals, the Labour Party and the Scottish nationalists to find a better way forward on Brexit.

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 year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 Florence Kasumba, Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta and Lupita Nyongo attend the European Premiere of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in London Getty UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of 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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. 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

He said: "We don't really know quite what it is the basis from which we're negotiating this Brexit at the moment.

I think it's going to have to be carried by what I think is an extremely sensible cross-party majority that this House could easily command.

Meanwhile, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve warned trouble lies ahead if the Government cannot deliver on its promises on Brexit  something he suggested would be unlikely.

He told MPs: I have to say, personally, after nearly 12 months since Brexit was voted on, I myself have no greater confidence, I'm afraid, that we will achieve such a satisfactory outcome than I had at the time the referendum took place.

He said the Commons would then have to decide if it ditched current successful trading arrangements with its closest partner.

In the Lords, which flexed its muscles as Ms May attempted to trigger Article 50 earlier this year, Labour said it would seek to shape legislation for the good of the country.

A source said: We will do our work in terms of scrutinising, amending and sending stuff back to the Commons if we feel what has come to us is damaging or flawed legislation.

Both Lib Dems and Labour individuals questioned Brexiteers claims that parliamentary convention mean the Lords should acquiesce to Government plans.

There are individuals who have a particular reading of the conventions who feel less bound by them now that there is not a Conservative majority in the Commons, one said.

Ms May admitted that her officials are still looking at whether they need legislative consent from the Scottish Parliament.

The SNPs Brexit minister Mike Russell said the UK Government should not seek to avoid the need to gain Holyroods permission to push ahead with the Repeal Bill, which they argued would affect the rights of people in Scotland.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell confirmed in January that Holyrood's approval was likely to be sought for the legislation.

Meanwhile, Theresa May has been warned that the DUP expects to see more money spent on health and education as the Prime Minister seeks their support to get her legislation through.

Nigel Dodds, the partys leader in Westminster, said: The electorate sent a very clear message to politicians about austerity at the election, and I think that it's very clear since that election that people have to listen to what the people said.
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Jeremy Corbyn has demanded emergency funding for sprinklers in all tower blocks to prevent a repeat of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Mocking the thin gruel of the Queens Speech, the Labour leader also focused on the tragedy in West London, calling on ministers to give local authorities the cash to act.

Remembering the terrifying scenes, Mr Corbyn noted that Labour-run Croydon Council had pledged to install sprinklers in all its tower blocks of 10 storeys or above, but other town halls have been silent.

Such minimal fire safety standards cannot be left to a postcode lottery, he told the Prime Minister, sitting opposite.

Will the Government make available emergency funds for councils, to both check cladding and to install sprinklers?

Mr Corbyn also tore into Kensington and Chelsea Councils failure to protect people living in Grenfell Tower, saying: When they were raising their desperate concerns they were ignored by a Conservative local authority.

And he repeated his campaign demand for the Government to end the punishing one per cent public sector pay cap, which is due to run until the end of the decade.

Its not good enough to be grateful to our public service workers only at a moment of disaster, he told the Prime Minister. They deserve dignity.

Turning to the Queens Speech, Mr Corbyn ridiculed the severely weakened Prime Minister for dumping most of her election manifesto after losing her Commons majority

He pointed to six promised measures which had bitten the dust, including the means-testing of winter fuel payments and ending the triple lock on pension increases  to the relief of pensioners.

New grammar schools and the pledge to end universal school meals in infant schools, replacing them with cut-price breakfasts, were also missing, Mr Corbyn noted.

A threadbare legislative programme from a Government that has lost its majority and apparently run out of ideas altogether,  he said.

This would be a thin legislative programme even if it was for one year but for two years it is woefully inadequate.

Noting that the Prime Minister was also backing away from bringing back the barbaric practice of fox hunting, Mr Corbyn added: The good news may even extend to our furry friends.

Mr Corbyn also mocked the Prime Ministers warning, at the beginning of the election campaign, that if I lose just six seats I will lose this election.

When it came to it, she lost more than four times that many seats to Labour, he pointed out.

From Cardiff to Canterbury, from Stockton to Kensington, people chose hope over fear. And they sent an unequivocal message: that austerity must be brought to an end.

Mr Corbyn added: We are a government in waiting with a policy programme that enthused and engaged millions of people.
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Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has said that Labour will exploit Theresa Mays weak mandate in the Commons to seek to reverse Conservative cuts to public services.

Mr McDonnell told the BBC Today programme that the Conservatives had no right to govern and over the course of the two-year parliament Labour would focus its efforts on curtailing austerity.

Mr McDonnell said: We believe there are majorities in parliament to reverse proposals on austerity, particularly proposals in the last budget.

Most of the austerity that is rolling forward is rolling forward from the Budget. We will start drafting amendments looking at investment in health, education, policing and fire services.

That would give us an indication that we can reverse some of the most dangerous cuts that this government has brought forward.

The shadow Chancellor has been instrumental in the organisation of a planned Day of Rage protest for today, having called for a million people to take to the streets in protest against a government he said is not legitimate.

But Mr McDonnell told those planning to take part in the Day of Rage to follow the lead of Gandhi. Mr McDonnell said: They dont have the right to be violent. Theyve got to be peaceful. Follow the lead of Gandhi not others.

Mr McDonnell admitted that Labour had lost the election but said the Conservatives had not won it either. He said:"They haven't got an overall majority. So, yes, they have got the right to bring forward their own programme, but I don't believe, actually, that they are legitimate in the sense that they have got a mandate that they asked for.

"We are now in a situation where I don't think they have got the right to govern. However, they are now bringing forward their programme. We'll 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."

The Government released its legislative programme for the next parliament in the Queens Speech this morning, with a deal with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party not complete, meaning there is a slim chance the speech could be voted down in the House of Commons next week, effectively bringing the Government to an end.
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A Democratic Unionist MP has caused controversy by declining to advocate for the removal of flags celebrating terrorist organisations currently being flown in her constituency.

Flags promoting the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) have been raised in shared housing developments that are part of the Together Building United Communities programme.

The UVF killed hundreds of people after its formation in 1966 and is classified as a terrorist organisation by the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and United States.

However Emma Little Pengelly, who became MP for the area little over a month ago, said that when she spoke to residents she found no widespread demand for their removal.

She reported she had received a mixed reaction to them when she visited around 100 homes in the areas where the flags are being flown, finding the majority of those she spoke to "didn't want a public fuss around this matter".

 Mark Steel: Wondering what the Tory-DUP deal will actually look like? I've got a pretty good idea

Political opponents of the MP condemned her comments, saying she should campaign against the UVF signs.

Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw said it was "almost beyond belief Ms Little Pengelly believed there was no widespread demand for removal of flags.

"A shared community should be welcoming to all and intimidating to none," she said.

Recommended DUP politician celebrates deal with photo of terror flag outside No 10

The DUP has itself condemned paramilitary groups on previous occasions.

Following her comments, Ms Little Pengelly tweeted: "Let me also be v clear I have also stated categorically that I oppose all paramilitaries in our society, that includes paramilitary flags.

A DUP spokesperson said earlier flags supporting paramilitary groups had no place in communities and should all be all removed.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 7 November 2022 Handout photo issued by Just Stop Oil of a protester who has climbed a gantry on the M25 between junctions six and seven in Surrey, leading to the closure of the motorway PA UK news in pictures 6 November 2022 A grey seal with its pup, at the Donna Nook National Nature Reserve in north Lincolnshire, where they come every year in late October, November and December to give birth to their pups near the sand dunes, the wildlife spectacle attracts visitors from across the UK PA UK news in pictures 5 November 2022 Demonstrators with placards calling for a General Election march near the Houses of Parliament AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters

"Paramilitaries are a plague on society, the spokesperson told the BBC's Nolan Show. "The DUP condemns all those who cling to criminality and violence.

The police service in Northern Ireland said removing flags was not its responsibility, and officers would only remove flags where there were risks to public safety.

We will work with local communities and respond to any issues where there is a concern for public safety or where it is believed a criminal offence has occurred, the force said in a statement.
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It has long been known that the endurance of constitutional monarchy at the head of the British legislative system rests on the sacred principle of never, ever, ever pissing about with Royal Ascot and and never before has it been more gravely tested.

Not once in the broad sweep of sixty-five long years of British history has Her Majesty the Queen come close to compromising the fundamental constitutional tenet of political neutrality of the monarchy, but tell her she might not make it in time for the Jersey Stakes at half two and do not, frankly, be surprised if the response you get is: Whatever you say, but one will not be wearing ones crown on ones head, one will be wearing a massive EU flag-hat instead.

Was it an accident, this nakedly pro-Brussels bonnet? One suspects we will never know the truth, but given one commenter on the Daily Mail website was sufficiently enraged to describe the Queen herself as a left liberal luvvie traitor!!! we probably do not need to.

How peculiar it must have been, for that peculiar band of around nine individuals across the entire country, who voted to leave the European Union over grave concerns over sovereignty, to see the return on their democratic investment, there on their television screens, in the form of the sovereign herself, wearing not the sovereign crown but a whacking great big blue hat decked out with a full circumference of bright yellow buttons.

It was the palace, after all, that had insisted on a dress-down low-key state opening, placing severe restrictions on the numbers of Maltravers Herald Extraordinaries and Rouge Dragon Pursuivants who usually accompany the big hat made of diamonds on its customary journey from one palace to another, or its wearer on her customary journey from a third palace to the second.

 Jeremy Corbyn appears to not nod to the Queen and instead wink

That there were large number of empty seats in the Upper Chamber was unfortunate, given the House of Lords has approximately six times as many members as actual seats, but the Queen wasnt the only one with a diary clash. We can only assume, on the hottest June day since 1976, not to mention the #DayofRage protests, a number of noble lords decided they had more enjoyable things to do, be it repose at their leisure at their country seats, or more likely, don their V for Vendetta masks and smash up the local HSBC.

Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Show all 62 1 /62 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II on a walk-about in Portsmouth during her Silver Jubilee tour of Great Britain, 1977 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The future Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (R) pictured with her younger sister Princess Margaret (L) in 1933 AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The 9-year-old Elizabeth attends an aristocratic wedding with her mother and younger sister. Later in that year with the death of her Grandfather and the Abdication of her Uncle Edward VIII she became first in line to the throne, 1936 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The coronation of King George VI in 1937, Elizabeth aged 10 became the heir apparent to the throne Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth and her sister arrive at Waterloo station to say goodbye to their parents as they leave to tour Canada. Elizabeth was thought too young to escort her parents on the tour and was described as "tearful" as they departed. She and her parents made the first ever transatlantic telephone call during their time away, 1939 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The 13-year-old Elizabeth and her sister Margret address children who have been evacuated from the cities on BBC's 'The Chilrens Hour' She said "We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our share of the danger and sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well", 1940 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Just before the end of the war Elizabeth took part in training to become an ATS officer. She is pictured learning to change a tire, 1945 AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The official announcement of Princess Elizabeth and Phillip Mountbatten's engagement. The pairing was incredibly controversial as Prince Phillip had no financial standing and he was foreign born, the prince of Denmark and Greece (though he served Britain in the war and was given British Citizenship), 1947 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II (in coach) and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh are cheered by the crowd after their wedding ceremony, on 20 November 1947, on their road to Buckingham Palace, London Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth smiles at her first child, a month old Prince Charles. Charles was born on 14 November 1948 Corbis Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The couples second child Princess Anne was born in 1950 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Arriving back in England upon hearing the death of her father King George VI. The Kings health had been in decline for a number of years and Elizabeth had been filling in for him on an official visit to Australia by way of Kenya. As his heir Elizabeth became Queen aged 26 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth's coronation took place on 2 June 1953. It was the first ever coronation to be aired live on television, being one of the most watched events in history with millions gathering around their TV sets to see the new monarch Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II standing next to her daughter Princess Anne, 1960 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II President Eisenhower (centre) with the British Royal family (L-R) Prince Philip, Princess Anne, HM Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Captain John Eisenhower, at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, 1959 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II as she turns to smile and talk to an unidentified officer, during the Trooping of the Colour by the First Battalion of the Jamaica Regiment at Up-Park Camp, Kingston, Jamaica, 1966 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II walking cross country at the North of Scotland Gun Dog Association Open Stake Retreiver Trials in the grounds of Balmoral Castle in 1967 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the Chelsea Flower Show in London, a regular fixture in the royal calendar, 1971 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh during their traditional summer break at Balmoral Castle. The highland retreat is one of the Queen's favourite places, each year, she heads off to Scotland for the summer. "It is rather nice to hibernate for a bit when one leads such a moveable life," she once said, 1976 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II during a walkabout in Muscat while visiting Oman, 1979 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II with some of her corgis walking the Cross Country course during the second day of the Windsor Horse Trials. The monarch is responsible for introducing a new breed of dog known as the "dorgi" when her corgi Tiny was mated with a dachshund "sausage dog" called Pipkin which belonged to Princess Margaret, 1980 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II (L-R) the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William, Prince Harry and the Prince and Princess of Wales after the christening ceremony of Prince Harry, 1984 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II taking the salute of the Household Guards regiments during the Trooping of the Colour ceremony in London, 1985 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Diana, Princess of Wales and Queen Elizabeth II as they smile to well-wishers outside Clarence House in London, 1987 AP Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II, with Chief Instructor, Small Arms Corp LT Col George Harvey, firing the last shot on a standard SA 80 rifle when she attended the centenary of the Army Rifle Association at Bisley, 1993 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II South Africa's President Nelson Mandela greets Queen Elizabeth II as she steps from the royal yacht Britannia in Cape Town at the 1995's official start of the her first visit to the country since 1947 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II smiles as she visits Bowring Park in St. John's, Newfoundland, on the third day of a 10-day official visit to Canada, 1997 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh make their way into St. George's Chapel at Windsor for the annual Garter ceremony, 1999 AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and Pope John Paul II as they meet at the Vatican, 2000 AP Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother leaving church by horse drawn carriage on the Sandringham Estate, Norfolk, 2000 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth rides her horse in the grounds of Windsor Castle, 2002 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth arrives for the world premiere of James Bond movie "Casino Royale" at the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square in London, 2006 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth boards a scheduled train at Kings Cross station in London, 2009 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II planting a tree at Newmarket Animal Health Trust, during a royal visit which marked her 50th year as the charity's patron, 2009 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II talking with Pope Benedict XVI during an audience in the Morning Drawing Room at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh during a four day visit by the Pope to the UK, 2010 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II visiting the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2010 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II receives flowers from the crowd during her visit to Federation Square in downtown Melbourne, 2011 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth watches a preview of her Christmas message wearing a pair of 3D glasses, studded with Swarovski crystals in the form of a "Q", at Buckingham Palace in central London, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Members of Britain's royal family (front L to R) Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles cheer as competitors participate in a sack race at the Braemar Gathering in Braemar, Scotland, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Britain's Prince Charles kisses the hand of his mother Queen Elizabeth at the end of her Diamond Jubilee concert in front of Buckingham Palace in London, 2012 Reuters Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge laughs as Queen Elizabeth gestures during a visit to Vernon Park in Nottingham, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attend a service for the Order of the British Empire at St Paul's Cathedral in London, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II meets young people during an official visit to The Shard building in central London, 2013 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Actress Angelina Jolie is presented with the Insignia of an Honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George by Queen Elizabeth II in the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace, London, 2014 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red evolving art installation at the Tower of London, 2014 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the State Opening of Parliament, 2015 AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II (L-R) Britain's Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge holding his son Prince George of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry (back), Prince Andrew, Duke of York (back), James, Viscount Severn (front), Princess Beatrice of York (back), Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Eugenie of York (back) stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace waiting to view the fly-past during the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour,' in London, 2015 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The Trooping of the Colour is an annual celebration marking the Queen's birthday, 2015 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Britain's Queen Elizabeth II stands with Kate the Duchess of Cambridge whilst pushing Princess Charlotte in a pram as they leave after attending the Christening of Britain's Princess Charlotte at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, 2015 AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II arrives at the Broadway Theatre in Barking, 2015 Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II greets wellwishers during a 'walkabout' on her 90th birthday in Windsor in 2016 AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Members of the Royal Family during trooping of the colour in 2017 AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The Queen waves at Prince Harry and Meghan after their wedding in 2018 POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex gesture during their visit to the Storyhouse in Chester, Cheshire in 2018 AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Prince Charles reacts as he sits with his mother Britain's Queen Elizabeth II during an event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, in Portsmouth in 2019 AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are joined by her mother, Doria Ragland, as they show their new son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, to the Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle Chris Allerton/Sussex Royal/PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II reacts as she visits the Haig Housing Trust in Morden in 2019 POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II takes her seat on the The Sovereign's Throne in the House of Lords next to Prince Charles, before reading the Queen's Speech during the State Opening of Parliament in 2019 POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II looks at the coffin of Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh during his funeral service at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales pose alongside the tree which they planted to mark the start of the official planting season for the Queen's Green Canopy (QGC) at the Balmoral Cricket Pavilion, Balmoral Estate in Scotland POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Britain's Queen Elizabeth II cuts a cake to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee during a reception in the Ballroom of Sandringham House, the Queen's Norfolk residence on February 5, 2022. - Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday will became the first British monarch to reign for seven decades, in a bittersweet landmark as she also marked the 70th anniversary of her father's death AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II arrives in Westminster Abbey accompanied by Prince Andrew, Duke of York for the Service Of Thanksgiving For The Duke Of Edinburgh on March 29, 2022 in London Getty

One such chap who had no such luck was Prince Charles. Not only was it dress down day but bring your child to work day, with the nations favourite perma-heir enlisted to replace his unwell father, and looking never more like an angry nine year old, dragged into daddys accountancy firm for the day while everyone else is out in the sunshine playing Pokemon Go.

It is customary, on such occasions, for the members of Her Majestys press corps to look down upon the Upper House from the gallery, searching for the old familiar faces, then divert to Wikipedia to reacquaint oneself with the weird and wonderful tales of venality, greed, corruption and criminality that have propelled so many of its members to their elevated realm at the head of British society, but there was simply no time this time.

Her Majesty was over and done in scarcely five minutes. The dementia tax gone, the return of grammar schools gone, the free vote on fox hunting vanished, the free school meals axe left unwielded. All that remained was the vague outline of a Brexit that, in the blazing heat, had gone from hard to decidedly mushy.

The Queen was out the door in a flash, and off putting the Royal into Royal Ascot with a full half an hour to spare before the first race, the EU blue hat exchanged for another in EU yellow.

The history books offer no precedent for an ageing, powerless leader, deciding finally to send out coded messages to the people via daring headwear choices, but it is 2017, the single worst thing to happen since 2016  so anything is possible. We can only hope there is more to come.
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Donald Trumps state visit to the UK appears to have been axed after officials failed to mention it in the Queens Speech on Wednesday.

Theresa May invited the US President after they were pictured holding hands together on the White House lawn earlier this year, but the visit was threatening to spark large-scale demonstrations.

Both Downing Street and the White House have brushed aside claims the trip is in doubt, but the invitation to Mr Trump has faced a wall of criticism amid the Presidents outlandish behaviour.

The monarchs address to Parliament usually mentions all planned state visits, but that delivered by Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday only contained a reference to welcoming King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain in July.

When Ms May visited Washington in January she sought to closely associate herself with Mr Trump, who supports Brexit and had signalled he was willing to seal an early trade deal with the UK after it leaves the EU.

But the Prime Ministers judgement was questioned after she extended an early invitation to the President just a week after his inauguration, with previous leaders having come only in their second term.

With petitions and a debate in the Commons against his arrival, the trip appeared to become increasingly contentious and was threatening to spark major demonstrations.

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

There was further criticism after Mr Trump attacked London Mayor Sadiq Khan over his response to the terror attack at London Bridge.

Mr Khan's office said he had simply been saying people should not be alarmed by the additional police presence on the streets, but Mr Trump accused him of making pathetic excuses, prompting the Mayor to call for the visit to be dropped.

The White House has denied reports that Mr Trump told the Prime Minister he does not want to go ahead with the trip if it is going to lead to large-scale protests.

 Sadiq Khan says Trump's state visit should be scrapped

His comments were reportedly made in a telephone call in recent weeks, but a White House spokeswoman said the state visit never came up on the call.

Downing Street refused to comment, saying only that the invitation, which was given by Ms May on behalf of the Queen, remained unchanged.
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Theresa May was urged to formally kill off the Government's target to bring net migration below 100,000 a year after it was not mentioned in the Queens Speech.

Conservative backbenchers said the controversial goal appeared to be withering on the vine amid growing pressure from cabinet ministers for a flexible stance on EU migration after Brexit to help British business.

Downing Street insisted that it remained absolutely committed to the target. Ms Mays official spokesman conceded that hitting it would take time but said the Immigration Bill included in the speech would enable the Government to work towards it.

However, the briefing papers accompanying the speech made no reference to the goal  unlike the documents for the 2010 speech when David Cameron made the aim government policy.

After a string of Ms May's ministers called for EU migration to continue in the areas for which they have responsibility, Whitehall sources say there is no sign of a concerted drive to ensure the target is met.

The Independent and the Open Britain group, which urges a soft Brexit, are running a Drop the Target campaign calling for it to be abandoned.

Ben Bradshaw, a Labour MP and leading supporter of Open Britain, said: The Governments refusal to commit to the tens of thousands target in its proposed Immigration Bill is welcome, if it means that ministers are going cold on this damaging idea. Forcing such deep cuts in immigration would leave our public services and our economy suffering from crippling skills shortages.

 David Davis suggests immigration target won't happen during next parliament

He added: But simply not mentioning the policy in public is not good enough. The Government should come out and say once and for all that they are dropping the target. Instead, they should put forward a post-Brexit immigration policy that supports our economy, rather than smothering it.

Business groups joined the call for a more flexible approach to EU migration. Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI, said: If the UK is to be able to meet changing labour needs, a blunt cap is the wrong approach.

"Business and the Government should work together to build a model thats fit for purpose.

She added: A growing, global Britain needs to have access to the best talent from around the world, while continuing to build the UKs domestic skills base.

The Government can both control migration and support economic growth. Employers now urgently need clarity on what a new system will look like  such as the inclusion of a preferential route for EU migrants  as it will affect their willingness to invest in the UK.

The British Chambers of Commerce, which also wants the target to be scrapped, called for the needs of the economy to be at the heart of the forthcoming once-in-a-generation overhaul of immigration.

Dr Adam Marshall, its director general, said: While businesses accept the need for controls over migration flows, they want clear assurances that they will be able to recruit from overseas to fill vacancies when they are unable to find or train suitable candidates here at home.

After Brexit, they will also want to see a flexible system for the movement of labour and skills between the UK and the EU that enjoys clear public support. This is also a major opportunity to simplify the Home Offices bureaucratic processes, which impose heavy costs and great uncertainty on businesses and individuals alike.
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The Democratic Unionist Party is believed to be demanding 2bn as its price for propping up Theresa May in power, plunging the talks into fresh jeopardy.

The party wants 1bn pumped into the health service in Northern Ireland and a similar figure for infrastructure projects, the BBC was told.

The huge sums appear to be the roadblock to an agreement, which the Prime Minister desperately needs to guarantee her a Commons majority on key votes.

 Damian Green: DUP coalition is only a 'possibility'

The Treasury is also horrified by the DUPs demand for air passenger duty to be scrapped, at the cost of many tens of millions of pounds a year.

The obstacles make it highly unlikely that an agreement will be struck tomorrow, as No 10 hoped  or, perhaps, ever.

Although the DUP may still vote for the Queens Speech next week, the Prime Minister would lack a guaranteed majority to pass any of the Bills in her shrunken legislative programme.

Earlier today, Damian Green, the effective deputy Prime Minister, said the deal was only a possibility and warned: All talks of this kind take a long time.

The DUPs 2bn demand for health and infrastructure emerged in briefings to the BBC in Northern Ireland, which said the party was also seeking cuts to corporation tax.

City deals to give local councils in Northern Ireland greater economic powers and contracts for the provinces firms to benefit from higher defence spending have also been raised.

As well as the cost of higher spending in Northern Ireland, the Treasury is also likely to be concerned about anger in other parts of the UK still facing austerity.

Last week, Sir John Major warned an agreement that lavished extra funds on Northern Ireland would be seen as paying cash for votes in Parliament.

How is that going to be received in Wales, or in Scotland or amongst the just-about-managings everywhere across the UK? the former Prime Minister asked.

The long-running talks soured yesterday  ten days after the Prime Minister claimed a deal was done - when the DUP warned her it can't be taken for granted.

DUP sources also took aim at the lack of negotiating experience on the Conservative side  a devastating criticism, as the separate Brexit talks also got underway.

In a clear reference to Brexit, the BBC source asked, if Ms May could not negotiate a deal with the DUP, what does that mean for bigger negotiations she is involved in?

As the State Opening of Parliament was taking place in London, the Conservatives insisted the negotiations were proceeding as planned.

But a former DUP special adviser, Richard Bullick, said it was pretty extraordinary that a deal had not yet been agreed.

In the past, one would have thought this could have been done in a matter of hours or a few days, but clearly that hasn't been possible, he said.
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Officials are investigating the stabbing of a police officer at Bishop International Airport as a potential terror attack.

Travellers were evacuated immediately after the attack, and facilities in Flint, Michigan, were placed under "heightened" security. A suspect was detained, and law enforcement officials said that he is a Canadian national.

Reports indicate that the officer was stabbed in the neck, and that his condition was elevated to "stable" from "critical".

The FBI is leading the investigation into the attack.

"The FBI, with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners, is jointly investigating this incident to determine the nature and motive for the attack. We are aware of reports that the attacker made statements immediately prior to or while attacking the officer, but it is too early to determine the nature of these alleged statements or whether or not this was an act of terrorism", the FBI said in a statement. "Based on the information that we have at this time, we believe this to be an isolated incident. We currently have no specific, credible information that there is a threat to the Flint community".

The airport wrote in an announcement on Facebook that all passengers were safe, and instructed people to check with their airlines for any potential cancellations or delays.

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. 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Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. 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A witness told MLive that they had seen the police officer bleeding from the neck with a knife laying nearby before the terminal was evacuated. That witness also said that he saw a man being detained by police.

"The cop was on his hands and knees bleeding from his neck", Ken Brown, who was dropping his daughter off at the airport for a flight, told the news outlet. "I said they need to get him a towel".

The officer was later identified as Jeff Neville.

The attack reportedly occurred at 9:40 am local time.
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Medicinal cannabis has been made legal in Mexico.

The President, Enrique Pena Nieto, has officially published a bill allowing its use for health and scientific purposes.

The bill was passed in April, with an overwhelming 371 members of the Lower House of Congress voting in favour, with only 19 politicians voting against or abstaining.

It also received popular support from the Mexican Senate in December, with 98 senators voting to pass the bill and seven voting against.

 Cannabis fans in London celebrate 420 at Hyde Park gathering

The law authorises the Ministry of Health to create new regulations for medical marijuana use, as well as "how to regulate the research and national production of them."

It also establishes that industrial products with concentrations of one percent THC or less would be legal to buy, sell, import and export.

Recreational use of marijuana remains broadly prohibited in Mexico.

But President Nieto  once staunchly anti-drugs  has called for a global rethink towards narcotics.

He said they should be viewed through a public health lens which doesnt criminalise users.

Where cannabis is and isn't legal Show all 10 1 /10 Where cannabis is and isn't legal Where cannabis is and isn't legal UK Having been reclassified in 2009 from a Class C to a Class B drug, cannabis is now the most used illegal drug within the United Kingdom. The UK is also, however, the only country where Sativex  a prescribed drug that helps to combat muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis and contains some ingredients that are also found in cannabis - is licensed as a treatment Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal North Korea Although many people believe the consumption of cannabis in North Korea to be legal, the official law regarding the drug has never been made entirely clear whilst under Kim Jong Uns regime. However, it is said that the North Korean leader himself has openly said that he does not consider cannabis to be a drug and his regime doesnt take any issue with the consumption or sale of the drug MARCEL VAN HOORN/AFP/Getty Images Where cannabis is and isn't legal Netherlands In the Netherlands smoking cannabis is legal, given that it is smoked within the designated smoking areas and you dont possess more than 5 grams for personal use. It is also legal to sell the substance, but only in specified coffee shops Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal USA Although in some states of America cannabis has now been legalised, prior to the legalisation, police in the U.S. could make a marijuana-related arrest every 42 seconds, according to US News and World Report. The country also used to spend around $3.6 billion a year enforcing marijuana law, the American Civil Liberties Union notes AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Where cannabis is and isn't legal Spain Despite cannabis being officially illegal in Spain, the European hotspot has recently started to be branded, the new Amsterdam. This is because across Spain there are over 700 Cannabis Clubs  these are considered legal venues to consume cannabis in because the consumption of the drug is in private, and not in public. These figures have risen dramatically in the last three years  in 2010 there were just 40 Cannabis Clubs in the whole of Spain. Recent figures also show that in Catalonia alone there are 165,000 registered members of cannabis clubs  this amounts to over 5 million euros (4 million) in revenue each month Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal Uruguay In December 2013, the House of Representatives and Senate passed a bill legalizing and regulating the production and sale of the drug. But the president has since postponed the legalization of cannabis until to 2015 and when it is made legal, it will be the authorities who will grow the cannabis that can be sold legally. Buyers must be 18 or older, residents of Uruguay, and must register with the authorities Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal Pakistan Despite the fact that laws prohibiting the sale and misuse of cannabis exist and is considered a habit only entertained by lower-income groups, it is very rarely enforced. The occasional use of cannabis in community gatherings is broadly tolerated as a centuries old custom. The open use of cannabis by Sufis and Hindus as a means to induce euphoria has never been challenged by the state. Further, large tracts of cannabis grow unchecked in the wild Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal Portugal In 2001, Portugal became the first country in the world to decriminalize the use of all drugs, and started treating drug users as sick people, instead of criminals. However, you can still be arrested or assigned mandatory rehab if you are caught several times in possession of drugs Getty Where cannabis is and isn't legal Puerto Rico Although the use of cannabis is currently illegal, it is said that Puerto Rico are in the process of decriminalising it RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images Where cannabis is and isn't legal China Cannabis is grown in the wild and has been used to treat conditions such as gout and malaria. But, officially the substance is illegal to consume, possess and sell Getty

Mexico has been particularly hard hit by drug violence. An ongoing drugs war has killed around 80,000 people since 2006.

It now joins a small number of countries, including Canada and Portugal, which have legalised the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

Steve Rolles, a senior policy analyst on drug policy with the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, told The Independent: "Its outrageous that for decades now, drug war politics have prevented doctors from making licensed cannabis products available even when it is their clinical judgement that they are the best option for their patients.

"Access to medicines is a fundamental element of the right to health and it is, of course, great to see Mexico joining many other countries in changing its law to finally allow access to those in need.

"It does, however, highlight the continuing injustice faced by both doctors and patients in the UK who seek access to licensed cannabis-based medicines, but are still denied this basic right."
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The murder of a Muslim teenager has revolutionised and inspired an entire community, according to a chaplain at the mosque where she was travelling on the night she was killed.

Nabra Hassanen was abducted and murdered by a passing motorist on her way to the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Center in Fairfax County, Virginia, police said.

The 17-year-old's killer allegedly kidnapped the teenager after engaging her group of friends in an argument and following them into a McDonald's carpark.

The group had just finished their last meal of the day before fasting for Ramadan.

The suspect, 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres, is currently being held without bail.

While Hassanens death stoked fear in Virginia Muslim community, ADAMS Center chaplain Chaplain Joshua Salaam says it has also inspired her peers to lead more thoughtful lives.

These youth have vowed to take her advice, because she always gave good advice, Mr Salaam said, adding that Hassanen encouraged her friends to give to people who are in need, even if its your last dollar, and befriend people who other people dont like.

When you knew her you might possibly begin to understand why this is so hard for this community: because an angel was taken, he said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Hassanens father  speaking through ADAMS Imam Mohamed Magid  said little, besides that he hopes his community will express love always to one another regardless of religion or race.

Mr Hassanen has said he believes 100 per cent that his daughter was targeted because of her religion.

"In the McDonalds theres a lot of kids, a lot of people; why did he run behind this girl especially? For what?" he asked.

Fairfax County Police are not investigating Hassanens death as a hate crime. In a press release, the said they believe the murder was a road rage incident".

It appears the suspect became so enraged over this traffic argument that it escalated into deadly violence, spokeswoman Julie Parker said.

Mr Salaam said he trusts the police will fully investigate the motives for Hassanens death.

They can only move as fast as the facts come in, he said.

Asked if he believed the young womans death was a hate crime, he replied, Thats not for us to decide.

Police are also investigating whether the teenager was sexually assaulted before her death.
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Children aged 16 and younger will no longer be able to marry in New York state, thanks to a law signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Under a previous, nearly 80-year-old state law, children as young as 14 were allowed to marry if they obtained permission from both their parents and the court. Now, marriage under the age of 17 will be banned, and children aged 17 to 18 will need parental and court approval.

"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, Mr Cuomo said in a statement.

Recommended New Jersey refuses to ban child marriage outright

Officials estimate that more than 3,800 minors were married in New York in the decade between 2000 and 2010. More than 167,000 were married across the United States in the same time period, according to the nonprofit Unchained at Last.

Laws in almost every state allow children under age 18 to marry with parental and court consent or in the case of pregnancy, according to the Tahirih Justice Centre. In more than half of all states, there is no minimum age for marriage.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie refused to sign a law banning child marriage in his state just last month.

Research shows child marriages are associated with higher rates of unwanted pregnancies, spousal abuse, and divorce. Women who marry as teens are also more likely to develop psychiatric disorders and have decreased access to education and work opportunities.

The New York Times Nicholas Kristoff recently highlighted the plight of one woman, Sherry Johnson, who says she was forced to marry at age 11. Ms Johnson, who had given birth to at least one child by age 10, described her married life as terrible.

You cant get a job, you cant get a car, you cant get a license, you cant sign a lease, she said, so why allow someone to marry when theyre still so young?

Make forced marriages illegal say survivors Show all 2 1 /2 Make forced marriages illegal say survivors Make forced marriages illegal say survivors 620270.bin Susannah Ireland Make forced marriages illegal say survivors 620211.bin Susannah Ireland

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, who sponsored a similar bill in the New York State Senate, said that allowing child marriage amounts to discrimination against women.

Victims of child marriage are forced and condemned to a life that they did not choose with no means of escape, resulting in physical and mental health problems, loss of education and economic opportunities, and an increased likelihood of experiencing violence, she said.

She added: Today, we bring an end to forced child marriage in New York State and set a precedent that the rest of the states should follow."
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Jon Ossoffs longshot dream of flipping an historically Republican congressional district has ended in failure - despite a massive effort by Democrats to send a humiliating message to Donald Trump.

For many voters and supporters of Mr Ossoff, the contest for the Georgia 6th congressional district turned into a referendum on the presidency of Mr Trump, and both sides spent a total of around $56m, making it the costliest race of its kind in US history.

But for all Mr Ossoffs fresh-faced enthusiasm and talk of change, it was Republican Karen Handel who has apparently emerged victorious. By 10pm local time, CNN, NBC, the Associated Press and others were among those who had called the race the 55-year social conservative.

 Republican candidate Karen Handel: 'I do not support a living wage'

Soon afterwards, Mr Ossoff appeared to speak to his supporters in the ballroom of the Westin Perimeter Hotel in Atlanta. He thanked them for their hard work and endeavour.

"This small community in Georgia has become the epicenter of politics for months now, and it has nothing to do with me - it's about you," he said, to cheers.

"The fight goes on. The fight is still alive."

The mood was considerably more upbeat a few miles away at Ms Handel's victory party. Indeed, by the time all the votes had been counted, Ms Handel won 51.9 per cent, compared to 48.1 per cent for her opponent.

Mr Ossoff was joined by his finance, Alisha Kramer (Reuters)

A special thanks to the president of the United States of America, she said, as her supporters chanted Donald Trumps name. Its that fighting spirit, that perseverance and tenacity that I will take to Washington.

Throughout the campaign Ms Handel he had stressed her local roots, and mocked the fact that Mr Ossoff, who grew up in the district, no longer lived there and was therefore not even able to vote for himself. She also pointed to the millions of dollars that had poured into Mr Ossoffs campaign from outside of the state, something that could also have been said of her operation.

Voters said they had been attracted by her proven experience and her ability to get the job done.

"She has the credentials, a proven record," said Marilyn Watts, a real estate agent, who attended the Handel campaign rally.

Mr Trump was among the first to send his best wishes to a candidate he had campaigned with and whom had saved him from receiving the bloody nose that Democrats had hoped to land.

Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you, he said.

It was indeed a good day for Mr Trump and the Republicans. In addition to bagging the battle for the Georgia 6th, the party also won a special election in South Carolina for a seat made vacant by Mick Mulvaney, who joined the cabinet to become Mr Trumps director of the Office of Management and Budget

Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Show all 33 1 /33 Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's first 100 days in office were marred by a string of scandals, many of which caught the eye of the Independent's cartoonists Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Trump's first 100 days have seen him aggressively ramp up tensions with his nuclear rivals in North Korea Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Mr Trump has warned of a "major, major conflict" with the pariah nation lead by Kim Jong Un Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Mr Trump dropped the "mother of all bombs" on alleged ISIS-linked militants in Afghanistan, amid an escalation of US military intervention around the globe Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Mr Trump has been accused of falling short of the standards set by his predecessors in the Oval Office, including Franklin D Roosevelt Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons The tycoon's ascension to the White House came at a time when the balance of power is shifting away from Western nations like those in the G7 group Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Western politicians, including the British Conservative party, have been accused of falling in line behind Mr Trump's proposals Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Brexit is seen to have weakened Britain, reducing still further any political will to resist American leadership Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Mr Trump's leadership has been marked by sudden and unexpected shifts in global policy Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Trump's controversial missile strike on Syria, which killed several citizens, was seen by some analysts as an attempt to distract from his policy elsewhere Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons The President has also spent a large majority of his weekends golfing, rather than attending to matters of state Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Though free of gaffes, a visit from Chinese president Xi Jinping spotlighted trade tensions between the two states Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons One major and unexpected setback came when Mr Trump's Healthcare Bill was struck down by members of his own party Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Mr Trump has been a figure of fun in the media, with his approval at record lows Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons A string of revelations about Mr Trump's financial indiscretions did not mar his surge to the White House Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Outgoing President Barack Obama was accused of wiretapping Trump Tower by his successor in America's highest office Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons The alleged involvement of Russian intelligence operatives in securing Mr Trump the presidency prompted harsh criticism Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons The explosive resignation of Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who lied about his links to the Russian ambassador, was just one scandal to hit the President Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Many scandals, such as the accusation Barack Obama was implicated in phone-hacking, first broke on Mr Trump's Twitter feed Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's election provoked mass protests in the UK, with millions signing a petition to ban him from the country Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump cited a non-existent terror attack in Sweden during a campaign rally Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump stands accused of stoking regional tensions in Eastern Asia Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons North Korea has launched a number of failed nuclear tests since Mr Trump took power Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Theresa May formally rejected the petition calling for Mr Trump to be banned from the UK Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons When Mr Trump's initial so-called Muslim ban was struck down by a federal justice, the President mocked the 69-year-old as a "ridiculous", "so-called judge" Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons A week after his inauguration, Theresa May met with Mr Trump at the White House Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's first days in office were marked by a hasty attempt to follow through on many of his campaign promises, including the so-called Muslim ban Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's decision to ban citizens of many majority-Muslim countries from the US sparked mass protests Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Revelations about Donald Trump's sexual improprieties were not enough to keep him from being elected President Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons British PM Theresa May was criticised by many in the press for cosying up to the new President Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons One of Mr Trump's top aides, Kelly Anne Conway, was mocked for describing mistruths as "alternative facts" Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons British PM Theresa May was quick to demonstrate that her political aims did not hugely differ from Mr Trump's Donald Trump's first 100 days: in cartoons Donald Trump's inauguration, on 20 January 2017, sparked protests both at home and abroad

On the eve of election day, a final poll suggested the race between Mr Ossoff and Ms Handel was too close to call.

The seat had been held by Republicans since 1979 and for many years was the district of House Speaker Newt Gingrich. It became vacant after Republican incumbent Tom Price was asked to join Mr Trumps cabinet.
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Donald Trump has rubbed salt in the wounds of the Democrats  even as the shuddering defeat in Georgia sparked fresh soul-searching within the party about how best to appeal to voters ahead of the 2018 midterms.

Democrats, desperate for a victory after Mr Trump secured the presidency last November, had poured millions of dollars and national support into Jon Ossoffs campaign. But for all his enthusiasm and energy, the 30 year-old came up short, losing 52-48 to Republican Karen Handel, an experienced local politician.

The defeat in Georgia, the costliest congressional race in history with a bill that topped $56m, was quickly seized on by Mr Trump, whose name and deeds had had hung over the contest. All the fake news, all the money spent = 0, he said on Twitter. Democrats would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on Healthcare, tax cuts, security. Obstruction doesnt work.

But Democrats needed no prodding from the White House to engage in fresh debate about how to respond after what they had hoped would be a victory that would trigger enough momentum for them to retake the House of Representatives in 18 months. Rather, the loss in Georgia followed defeats in special elections in Kansas and Montana, and came on the same day as a loss in a congressional district in South Carolina.

Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio, who has been a critic of his partys political strategy, said Democrats needed to recognise they were toxic in many parts of the country.

Our brand is worse than Trump, Mr Ryan told the New York Times. We cant just run against Trump.

Indeed, the defeat has already reopened many of the debates that emerged during the partys 2016 primary; should it pursue a progressive agenda as espoused by senator Bernie Sanders, or take the centrist route that Hillary Clinton adopted.

 Jon Ossoff answers questions on eve of polling day for Georgia congressional election

Mr Ossoff certainly went for the latter. Aware that that he was trying to win a seat held by Republicans since 1979, he avoided attacking Mr Trump and sought to portray himself as a moderate, approachable candidate who was mainly interested in local issues. Mr Sanders took an awful long time to endorse him.

Many had hoped that the 30-year-old would adopt a more progressive stance and taken the attack to Mr Trump and his controversial presidency. In this well-heeled, highly educated district north of Atlanta, the New York tycoon only beat Ms Clinton by less than two points in the presidential election, and many believed there were plenty of Republicans who disliked the brash New Yorker enough to be won over.

At the same time, Ms Handels campaign was effective in portraying Mr Ossoff as a man whose funding had come from outside of the state and who would become a liberal puppet of House minority leader, Nandy Pelosi.

Defeating Republicans in districts that they have traditionally held requires doing something drastically different than establishment Democrats have done before  specifically, running on a bold progressive vision and investing heavily in direct voter contact, said Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America, told the Associated Press.

Ms Handel had stressed local issues throughout the campaign (AP)

Mr Ossoff tried his best to rally his supporters, in a humble concession speech late on Tuesday night.

This small community in Georgia has become the epicentre of politics for months now, and it has nothing to do with me  its about you, he said. The fight goes on. The fight is still alive.

Yet his words will do little to assuage Democrats who cannot understand why they are unable to land an electoral blow against the Republicans, at a time when the Presidents approval rating is less than 40 per cent.

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

Reports suggest that Democrats met on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lick their wounds, and that one congressman, Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, circulated a memo outlining the partys plan for 2018.

Christina Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University, said the Democrats needed to think about their approach for 2018. Yet she said the defeat in Georgia may not have been as bad as it appeared.

This was a heavily Republican area. The numbers really were not there for them, she told The Independent. So if they look at the strategies they used for getting people out and tweak them over the coming year, they can still win.

Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusettsm said on Twitter that the result in Georgia, better be a wake-up call for Democrats - business as usual isnt working. He added: Time to stop rehashing 2016 and talk about the future.

The Democrats have to be hyper-focused on an economic message that tells people that the Republican Party is all about economic growth for millionaires and billionaires, and the Democratic Party is about economic growth for everybody, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut told MSNBC.

Dan Pfeiffer, who worked as senior advisor to Barack Obama, said the party needed to both reach out to disenchanted Republicans, and fire up those Democrats who failed to turn out in sufficient numbers for Ms Clinton in November.

To win back a gerrymandered House we have to a) fire up Dems b) convince some number of indys or Obama Trump voters to back a Dem, he said on Twitter.

And I dont think those things are in conflict, because a progressive populist candidate focused on the economy and [the Republicans healthcare act] can do both.
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The United Nations has appointed veteran Russian diplomat Vladimir Voronkov to head a newly-established counter-terrorism division, despite growing tensions between the US and Russia.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq announced the appointment made by Secretary General Antonio Guterres, one week after the General Assembly voted to create the new coordinating body.

It will oversee the counter-terrorism efforts of 36 UN-funded programmes currently housed under a variety of UN agencies, 12 inter-agency working groups, as well as Interpol, and the World Customs Organisation.

The existing Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force is under the political affairs division. There are also two related offices under the Security Council, which will remain in place.

If the appointment of a Russian official seems controversial at this time, Richard Gowan a UN expert with the European Council of Foreign Affairs previously told The Independent that it is a pretty open secret that the deal was actually made in 2016 when Mr Guterres was campaigning for his position.

For its part, Russia had agreed to give up its regional turn to lead the world body so that the Portuguese Guterres could have a chance.

It is not pretty, but that is how UN politics works, said Mr Gowan. Mr Guterres also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month at an economic forum in St. Petersburg.

A senior western diplomat told Reuters that it is fair to say that the Russians are under-represented at the UN at the most senior levels as well.

Mr Voronkov will have the rank of Under Secretary-General. He's spent more than 30 years in Russia's foreign service, serving in Vienna as an ambassador to UN organisations since 2011.

One of the world bodys entities housed in Vienna includes the Office on Drugs and Crime, which often deals with counter-terrorism issues.

Former Ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan John Herbst, now Director of Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council, told The Independent that the appointment of Mr Voronkov "makes sense" in terms of the UN having a senior official in a coordinating capacity because as a global body, the UN "needs to be able to address" the matter more effectively.

He also noted that "counter-terrorism is a much easier issue to discuss" with Russian officials than Ukraine, for example.

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. 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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. 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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

Moving the direction of these agency programmes and efforts under a separate, distinct umbrella will serve to coordinate efforts better and serve to fully address the underlying global counter-terror policy of the UN, a document that is reviewed every two years by member states.

It also raises the profile of the UNs efforts to fight terrorism, placing it on the same level in the internal structure as global development, poverty eradication, and gender equality.

The budget for the new initiative does not include any new money, but shifts existing contributions from member countries to the tune of roughly $20 million a year.

The bulk of that money is coming from Saudi Arabia, which has contributed $110 million to be spread over the next five years. There are also 20 other states contributing, but the budget is small compared to other UN bodies.

Saudi Arabia and five other neighbouring nations recently cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, citing the small Gulf kingdoms alleged financing of terror groups.

Critics have pointed out that several of the terrorists involved in the September 11th attacks were Saudi nationals.

Mr Herbst said one of the major issues is if Moscow is as interested in counter-terror measures more broadly - as they would have to be at the UN - as they are in terrorism directed towards their own country. The US has proven that it is, he said.

Per UN rules, the Security Council - and the US, in turn - did not have the power to approve or reject the person appointed.

Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the UN, said to Fox News that the appointment of a Russian official to the lead the division would not [be] something we cheer for, but Mr Herbst said it may not be a slight to the US.

In fact, he said the vote on the creation of the division "may partly [be in] reaction to Donald Trump and his vocal criticism of the UN, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), and other countries for not combating terror strongly enough.

"They want to make sure their most important member is happy...it is also helpful to maintain the relationship," he said.

"Given the peculiar inclinations of the President [towards Russia], maybe it's not a negative".

There is also the reality of the day-to-day bureaucracy of the UN to take into account.

The idea for a separate coordinating division was presented - by Saudi Arabia - as far back as 2005 but took this long to come to vote due to political motivations, lack of funds, and other priorities that rose in the wake of growing conflicts.

It was also likely due to paperwork and requiring the consensus of a number of members to bring an issue to vote.

It's not like the new Under Secretary General will be carrying out covert killings. The job will involve a lot of bureaucracy and budget meetings, said Mr Gowan.

Mr Voronkov will also have to contend with increasing tensions between the US and Russia as simultaneous investigations in the FBI, Senate, and House are being conducted regarding alleged ties between Moscow and the Trump campaign team.

In January, just weeks before Mr Trump took office, seventeen separate intelligence agencies issued a joint report confirming that Russia hacked into the emails of Republican and Democratic party officials as well as played a part in the dissemination of fake news through online news outlets and social media.

There is also the matter of a recent cancelled meeting in St. Petersburg.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the US remains open to discussions with Russia despite Moscows decision to cancel talks later this week between Russias deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov and and Thomas Shannon Jr., the Under Secretary of State for political affairs.

A bill also recently passed the Senate with an overwhelming majority that would place new sanctions on Russian entities, specifically targeting high-priority energy projects.

The sanctions were actually included in an amendment to a bill on Iran sanctions and is currently sitting in the House, awaiting a vote.

The US and Russia have also butted heads recently in Syria. Russia has consistently backed the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the UN and in a military capacity in Syria. The US recently shot down a Syrian war plane and drone, without using a communication channel the US and Russia have established to protect troops.

Russia declared that any US planes west of the Euphrates River will be considered "targets," according to the Russian defence ministry.
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Michael Bloomberg has called Donald Trumps denial of climate change embarrassing.

The former New York City Mayor and billionaire philanthropist told CNN that though he did not want to criticise the President, virtually every scientist - with peer review - says the same thing about global warming and climate change.

Mr Bloomberg admitted that some issues within climate science are still up for debate, such as when the world will cross the point of no return in terms of cooling the planet through reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

However, "no reputable person or scientist doubts that we are creating an environmental and a climate change problem with not regulating the reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Mr Bloomberg said.

Mr Trump also recently pulled the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change, which nearly 200 countries signed in an effort to help poor countries adjust to an already-changing climate as well as make wealthier countries more green.

"Is it helpful that America pulls out and the president says these things? No, it is not helpful. Is it a disaster for the world? No, it just makes us look foolish, he commented.

Mr Trump thinks the Paris accord puts the US - particular the coal industry - at an economic disadvantage.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke  filled with the carbon that is driving climate change  drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

He and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt spoke about exporting US coal to other countries in an effort to boost the industry and create jobs.

In reality, approximately 70,000 Americans work in the coal sector.

As Mr Bloomberg said, more people work at [fast food chain] Arbys that work in the coal business.

We have to help them, he noted, adding that the Presidents proposed federal budget actually takes money away from job re-training government programmes for miners that would help prepare them for new careers.

There is nothing that is going to save coal miners jobs, they will continue to decline as technology gets better, said Mr Bloomberg.

Mr Trump has been repeatedly promising coal miners a resurgence in their job market since the beginning of his presidential campaign, but without providing specifics or taking into account that the industry has been in steady decline since the 1970s.

Bloomberg Philanthropies has been donating funds to such programmes in an effort to help.

The UN Special Envoy on Climate Change and Cities also announced earlier this month that they would give $15 million to UN to make up for the US withdrawal from the Paris deal.
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Several more scientists advising the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been notified their contracts will not be renewed.

In an email forwarded to The Independent, Acting Assistant Director Dr. Robert Kavlock told members of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) that EPA administrators feel the need to reconstitute the committee and thus none of their contracts will be renewed.

BOSC and subcommittee members are nominated by peers if they have significant scientific experience and have done research in the environmental field; they are not political appointees. They serve as external advisors to EPA staff and provide guidance from their academia, industry, non-profit sector positions to help direct resources.

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Once approved, they normally serve two three-year terms, with a maximum of six years. That means all of the current advisors were appointed during one of the previous Obama administrations.

Dr Robert Richardson, a professor at Michigan State and former BOSC subcommittee chair, told The Independent that the EPA's latest actions have "made it political" due to the Trump administration's policies on climate change and the environment.

On several occasions, Donald Trump has called climate a "hoax" perpetrated by the Chinese and has withdrawn the US from the global Paris Agreement on climate change.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke  filled with the carbon that is driving climate change  drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

The US is one of the world's top emitters of carbon dioxide, but Mr Trump and EPA chief Scott Pruitt have continued the rhetoric on exporting American coal, steel, and manufacturing innovation and technology.

Mr Pruitt and Energy Secretary Rick Perry have both commented that though they have been convinced human activity contributes to climate change, neither feels that government policy and regulation will do anything to help combat climate-related issues despite hundreds of scientific studies, some conducted by both of their federal agencies.

They want to "wipe the slate clean...start anew," he said.

It is "another example of the erosion of the role of science in federal government," Mr Richardson said.

On 5 May Mr Richardson took to Twitter with an announcement. He had been trumped from his position. Dr Courtney Flint, a professor at Utah State University also received notice that day that her term on BOSC would not be renewed.

An EPA spokesperson said they would be replaced by those in industry "who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community".

Also in May, Dr Carlos Martin, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, and Dr Peter Meyer, President and Chief Economist of The EP Systems Group, both resigned citing political differences with Donald Trump's administration.

Mr Meyer and Mr Martin were members of the Sustainable and Healthy Communities subcommittee of BOSC, of which Mr Richardson was the Chair.

In the letter, they detail the reasons for their immediate resignation, prompted by non-renewal of their colleagues' contracts. Mr Martin posted their joint resignation letter on Twitter, and in it the pair said they felt the EPA was watering down credible science by putting politics where it did not belong.

Mr Meyer previously told The Independent that non-renewal is just a polite way of saying fired.

In the contract notice email, Mr Kavlock also wrote that none of the five advisory subcommittees within the BOSC would be holding meetings for the rest of the year, but was hopeful these would resume in 2018.

Mr Richardson said that not having external advisors meeting and on-hand could hamper staff "in terms of EPA getting feedback... [and] making progress on its research action strategy - the EPA staff has told us its valuable to them".

The work the subcommittee members do helps EPA "direct resources to the appropriate places...and stay cutting edge and relevant," said Mr Richardson.

Mr Kavlock said the EPA encourage[s] you to reapply for membership to the committee members and provided a link to do so. It is unclear how many members will take him up on the opportunity.

The due date for nominations is in just a few weeks and Mr Richardson indicated that weeding through applications, vetting, and ethics and compliance training took months when he was first appointed.
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Leaders of the biggest tech companies in the world have met with Donald Trump to talk about modernising the government but three CEOs facial expressions during the meeting caught the attention of social media - as they seemingly looked less than impressed.

The President met with Tim Cook of Apple, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Gini Rometty of IBM, Brian Krzanich of Intel, Mr Nadella and others of the American Technology Council to discuss improving the outdated technology infrastructure used by the US federal government.

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Mr Trump said the leaders were "special people" who employ "hundreds of thousands" of Americans. Not only are these tech companies regulated, in part, by the federal government but it also is one their largest customers in many cases.

There have not been kind words between the tech industry and Mr Trump, however, which likely contributed to the looks on the faces of Mr Nadella, Cook, and Bezos.

The criticism of the Trump administration began with the president's travel ban on people from certain Muslim-majority countries entering the US, reports and leaked copies of another immigration executive order that would have major impact on a category of visa holders prevalent in the tech industry - particularly those from Asia, and most recently Mr Trump's withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Mr Cook in particular, Axios reported, was likely to bring up controversial issues during the meeting, however he said recently in an interview with Bloomberg that: "I care deeply about America. I want America to do well. America's more important than bloody politics from my point of view."

Facebook was the only one of the top five tech companies that didn't attend and said it was due to a scheduling conflict. Many criticised the social media giant for playing a part in spreading "fake news" during the 2016 US election.

Naturally, Twitter users honed in on the facial expressions and came up with :
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Americas declining world role under Donald Trumps leadership is the greatest menace facing the global community, a former head of the Secret Intelligence Service says.

The biggest threat the world faces is how we all adjust to the progressive withdrawal of responsible American leadership and the network of alliances that America maintained with Europe, with Asian countries and the pattern of alliances and partnerships they had across this region, John Sawers told an Israeli security conference according to Agence France Presse.

It's going to have a major disruptive effect and no one is yet adjusting to it, Mr Sawers added.

Recommended Jared Kushner arrives in Israel to help broker Middle East peace

He also noted that some of the affects have already been felt on the international stage.

It is now having a major impact in the security world, and I think it's how we adjust to that  the behaviours of other countries trying to take advantage of it  which poses the biggest threat in the world, he said.

Mr Trump has taken a series of actions since becoming president that have pulled the US away from international leadership. That includes lukewarm pledges to assist in ensuring the security of NATO allies, and withdrawing the US from the 2015 Paris climate change accords.

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

Mr Sawers says that the populist uprising in the US has led to a massive change in politics on a global scale.

I've got serious reservations about Donald Trump as president of the United States, he said. But I see him not as the cause of these problems, but as a consequence of the changes in American society and America's willingness to uphold the burdens of the world as it has for the past 70 years or so.

There may be several contributing factors, he said. That includes a recovery from the world financial crash that has still left average workers in distress, as well as a lack of success in the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to rush a shameful bill meant to repeal and replace Obamacare through the Senate in the dark of the night without allowing enough time for debate or to make changes.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer slammed Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for not allowing Democrats more than 10 hours of debate on a bill that affects one-sixth of the American economy.

I think well have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill, Mr McConnell had said the previous day.

Will it be more than 10 hours? Mr Schumer responded.

I think well have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill, Mr McConnell repeated.

Since Republicans are using a process known as reconciliation to try to pass their healthcare measure, meaning they only need 51 votes in support of the legislation instead of the normal 60, a maximum of 20 hours of debate is allowed  10 for each political party.

Each hour represents 2.3 million Americans losing their insurance each year over the next 10 years, Mr Schumer said, referring to the Congressional Budget Offices estimate that the House of Representatives healthcare bill, which narrowly passed in the lower chamber of Congress in May, would kick 23 million people off their insurance plans by 2026.

Meanwhile, Republicans have called Obamacare  officially known as the Affordable Care Act  unsustainable, citing skyrocketing premiums and the unstable health insurance marketplaces created by the law.

Mr Schumer pointed out on Tuesday that the majority leader has not yet clarified whether the Democrats' 10 hours for debate would be on the Houses healthcare bill or on the Senates version.

While Republican senators arent voicing objections to the process as fiercely as Democrats, some, including Senator Marco Rubio, have said that the bill should eventually be subject to an open debate.

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

If it's an effort to rush it from a small group of people straight to the floor on an up or down vote, it'll be a problem, Mr Rubio told CNN.

Mr McConnell has made clear that he wants to have a vote on the legislation before senators leave Washington DC for the Fourth of July. A draft of the measure is expected to be completed this week.

With a majority of 52 senators, Mr McConnell can only afford to lose two Republican votes on the bill. This may be difficult in the upper chamber, where different members of the party are divided on whether Medicaid  a healthcare programme for the poor  should be protected or trimmed down. In the event of a 50-50 tie, Vice President Mike Pence would be the deciding vote.

What we know right now is that the final timeline will simply be when we get 50 votes plus having the vice president in town, Republican senator Mike Rounds told reporters. So thatll be the final decision, I think. I know theres a real desire on the part of leadership to have the vote before the Fourth of July. I think its a good goal to have, but were going to wait and see what it looks like.

Along with expressing concerns about the possibility of limited debate, Democrats have also blasted Republicans for drafting their healthcare measure behind closed doors, arguing that the passage of President Barack Obamas signature healthcare law was preceded by more than a year of public hearings in the Senate.

In 2010, even though no Republicans voted for it, at least they had input, Democratic senator Joe Manchin said. My take is let us be involved so we can work together.

Lets have hearings. Lets have openness, he added, saying that he hopes the Republicans bill is unsuccessful. If it fails, I think some good moderate Republicans will sit down with some good moderate Democrats and try to find a pathway forward to fix it.

During a White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Mr Schumer made it clear that Democrats did not want to part of a process to repeal and replace Obamacare.

They were happy with Obamacare. We believe Obamacare is failing, Mr Spicer said. We want a better system for the American people, a patient-centric healthcare system that brings down costs and gives more accessibility to people. That's it. They chose not to  made it very clear that they didnt want to engage in this process. So to turn around now and to second-guess  that's something they should take up with their own leader.
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Around 300 Isis-linked militants stormed a primary school in the Philippines, taking civilians as human shields as they engaged government troops in a gunbattle.

The pro-Isis militants, among them members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), stormed the school in Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato province on Mindanao island.

They took five civilians as shields during their retreat, the military said.

There were no casualties and no students were taken hostage, Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said, discounting earlier reports some children were being held by the fighters.

However, he said the military was investigating whether the five civilians were still with the militants.

 Martial law declared in South Philippines as government battles Isis-linked militants

"It's already resolved," Mr Padilla said in a regular briefing. "They've withdrawn, they are no longer there. The school area is again safe. The troops are in pursuit mode."

Witnesses around a kilometre from the school said they could hear gunfire. Troops were preventing anyone from getting closer.

Abu Misry Mama, a spokesman for the BIFF, told Reuters the militants had taken civilians to a place safe from the crossfire, and did not intend to hold them hostage.

Asked if they would be freed, Mama said: "Yes. We're not kidnappers."

On another part of Mindanao, fighting between government troops and pro-Isis militants for control of Marawi City has entered its fifth week.

Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery, remain involved in the offensive to wrest back control of villages and the business district.

The US military in recent weeks deployed a P3 Orion aircraft to provide surveillance and intelligence to troops battling more than 100 gunmen holding an unspecified number of hostages in four remaining Marawi villages. Pigcawayan is 190 km (120 miles) south of Marawi City.

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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Mr Padilla said the incident at Pigcawayan was not related to the fighting in Marawi.

"This has come from a group that has long committed harassments," he said.

The seizure of Marawi and the dogged fight to regain control of it has alarmed Southeast Asian nations which fear Isis - on a backfoot in Iraq and Syria - is trying to set up a stronghold in the Muslim south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines that could threaten the whole region.

President Rodrigo Duterte visited a school where people who fled from Marawi are being housed and apologised for their plight, especially since it was Ramadan.

"I will help you, I will rehabilitate Marawi, it will be a beautiful city again," he said at the school in Iligan City, about 40km (25 miles) from the battle zone.

A joint group of police and military forces on foot patrol conduct a house to house search as part of clearing operations in different sections of Marawi city, Philippines (Reuters)

Mr Padilla said the military aimed to prevent the conflict from escalating after Ramadan ends. "We are closely watching certain groups and we hope they will not join the fight," he said.

Some Muslim residents of Marawi said other groups could join the fighting after Ramadan.

"As devout Muslims, we are forbidden to fight during Ramadan so afterwards, there may be new groups coming in," said Faisal Amir, who has stayed on in the city despite the battle.

At least 258 militants, 65 soldiers and policemen and 26 civilians have been killed.

Additional reporting by agencies
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An Isis sympathiser who attempted to bomb Belgiums busiest railway station packed the device with nails and gas canisters, prosecutors have said.

The 36-year-old Moroccan national, identified as Oussama Zariouh, was shot dead at Brussels Central Station after the bomb ignited but failed to properly detonate.

Eric Van der Sypt, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor, said Zariouh entered the station at 8.39pm local time (7.39pm BST) on Tuesday, passing the ticket hall before approaching a group of passengers below the main concourse.

Recommended Suspected suicide bomber gunned down by Belgian soldiers

After retiring a bit, he returned in the middle of this group at 8.44pm, said Mr Van der Sypt.

He grabbed his suitcase, while shouting and causing a partial explosion. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

The suitcase immediately burst into flames but did not explode, at which point the attempted attacker abandoned the burning luggage and moved towards a platform in pursuit of a station master.

Meanwhile, the bag exploded a second time more violently, Mr Van der Sypt said.

 Brussels train station evacuated after explosion-like noises heard

The man then returned to the hall where he rushed to a soldier shouting Allahu Akbar.

The soldier immediately opened fire and hit the individual several times. The latter died on the spot as a result of his injuries.

The spokesman said that despite the double explosion, the incident could have been far worse and it was clear he wanted to cause much more damage than what happened.

Prosecutors said the man was not wearing a suicide vest or belt during the attempted terror attack, contradicting initial witness reports.

They are treating the incident as attempted terrorist murder and have appointed a specialist judge to the case.

Officials described the device as containing nails and gas cannisters, adding that Zariouh was not known for terrorism.

His home was being searched in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek, which was home to several members of the Isis cell that launched the Paris attacks and previous bombings in Brussels.

Searches uncovered chemical substances and bomb-making materials indicating that Zariouh most probably made the explosive device in the property, prosecutors said.

Police stand guard outside Brussels Central Station last night (Getty)

There are also indications that the suspect had sympathies for the terrorist organisation Isis, a statement added.

Francoise Schepmans, the mayor of Molenbeek, said the attacker was known to authorities over drugs offences in 2016 but had not been flagged for extremism.

After convening an emergency meeting of Belgiums national security council, the prime minister Charles Michel said a terror attack had been averted thanks to the rapid intervention by security forces.

Praising the professionalism of the SNCB and STIB forces in the face of an extremely dangerous situation, Mr Michel said the national threat level would remain on a level three out of a maximum four, adding: In three years we have been confronted with several attacks or attempts and we say the zero risk does not exist.

We have avoided an attack that could have been a great deal worse, the prime minister said.

We will not let ourselves be intimidated. We will go on living our lives as normal.

Bruno Struys, a Belgian author who writes on Islamist fighters, said that Zariouh had lived in Belgium since 2002, was married between 2004 and 2007 and moved to Molenbeek in 2013.

His Facebook page, which had not been updated since May last year, showed a man believed to be Zariouh in a series of selfies taken at the wheel of a car.

A photo believed to show Oussama Zariouh, the man who attempted to bomb Brussels Central Station on 20 June 2017 (Facebook)

It lists him as hailing from the coastal Moroccan city of Nador and a former student of the Mohamed I University in Oujda, where he graduated in 2002.

The page includes shared posts on Islamic doctrine, religious charities, civilian deaths in Syria and the alleged abuse of Muslims around the world.

A meme posted in the wake of the massacre at Charlie Hebdos offices in 2015 appears to reject the slogan je suis Charlie, which was used to express solidarity with the victims.

Along with Arab musicians, he posted a like for Canadian pop star Celine Dion.

Isis has not claimed responsibility for the attempted terror attack, which bore similarities to several attacks carried out in its name and followed the groups call for global atrocities during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The bomb used by an Isis supporter to kill 22 people at Manchester Arena was also packed with nails, while suitcase bombs were used in Isiss previous attacks at Brussels Airport and Maalbeck metro station in March 2016.

Zariouh lived in the surburb of Molenbeek, which was home to terrorists including the perpetrators of the 2004 Madrid bombing, 2014 Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting, 2015 Thalys train attack and four members of the Isis cell behind the Paris and Brussels attacks.

Local reports said Zariouh was previously known for drug dealing, as were Paris attackers and Molenbeek bar owners Brahim and Salah Abdeslam, Manchester bomber Salman Abedi and Berlin attacker Anis Amri.

Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Show all 9 1 /9 Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Policemen outside Rouen's cathedral during the funeral of Jacques Hamel, the priest who was killed in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy on 26 July during a hostage-taking claimed by Islamic State group Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Two jihadists, both 19, slit Hamel's throat while he was celebrating mass in an attack that shocked France as well as the Catholic Church Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Muslims place flowers and hold a minute of silence in front of the church if Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, western France, where French priest Jacques Hamel was killed on 26 July Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Two people hold each other by the new makeshift memorial in Nice, in tribute to the victims of the deadly Bastille Day attack at the Promenade des Anglais Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the truck attack that killed 84 people in Nice on France's national holiday. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, 31, smashed a 19-tonne truck into a packed crowd of people in the Riviera city celebrating Bastille Day Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Police work at a site where a Syrian migrant set off an explosive device in Ansbach, southern Germany, on 25 July, killing himself and wounding a dozen others Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis A Syrian migrant set off an explosion at a bar in southern Germany that killed himself and wounded a dozen others in the third attack to hit Bavaria in a week. The 27-year-old, who had spent a stint in a psychiatric facility, had intended to target a music festival in the city of Ansbach but was turned away because he did not have a ticket Friebe/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Police officers walk along train tracks in Wuerzburg southern Germany on 19 July, a day after a man attacked train passengers with an axe. German authorities said they had found a hand-painted IS flag among the belongings of the man, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who seriously injured four members of a family of tourists from Hong Kong in his rampage Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis German police killed a teenage assailant after he attacked passengers on a train in Wuerzburg, southerg Germany with an axe and a knife on 18 July, seriously wounding three people Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/AFP/Getty Images

Analysts have warned of a growing crime-terror nexus after a report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) found that more than half of known European jihadis had criminal histories, making them easy fodder for Isis recruiters offering redemption in the name of jihad.

Research by the Combating Terrorism Centre additionally found the majority of Isis recruits had not always been observant Muslims, were unemployed or students, and had an immigrant background.

Like Zariouh, numerous terrorists in Europe have had a Moroccan background, including all of the 2016 Brussels attackers, six of the Paris attackers, and an Isis supporter who killed a French police officer and his wife.

Several other terrorists behind recent atrocities in Europe have been of North African descent, including Algerian, Tunisian and Libyan.

The continent remains on high alert following Tuesdays attempted attack in Brussels, the recent attacks in London and attempts in Paris.

Security was high around Belgian railway stations amid preparations for a Coldplay concert at the 50,000-seat King Baudouin Stadium.

Brussels Central Station reopened for Wednesday mornings rush hour, with police and soldiers patrolling as burn marks remained on the floor.

The prime minister said extra measures were being taken to secure stations, public places and major events in Belgium, which is due to host a summit of European Union leaders on Thursday and Friday.

Additional reporting by Reuters
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More than 2,000 migrants have died attempting treacherous boat crossings to Europe so far this year, following three more shipwrecks announced on World Refugee Day.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said 129 asylum seekers were missing and presumed dead after a dinghy launched by smugglers in Libya started taking on water and sank, leaving only four survivors from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Two rescued Sudanese men told the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) the boat had been at sea for several hours when a group of Libyans described as pirates approached in a speedboat and stole their motor.

Passing Libyan fishermen rescued the pair along with two Nigerian men who were the only other survivors, and put them on another migrant boat.

They were in shock, traumatised by what had happened, and exhausted, said IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo, adding that motor thefts had caused several recent disasters.

Another boat was carrying at least 85 people from Syria and North Africa, including families with children, when it broke in two and sank on Monday.

Migrants rescued by the Vos Hestia ship off Libya coast on Saturday (Reuters)

A third shipwreck is feared to have left at least seven people dead, with survivors including a pregnant woman taken to Sicily.

The UNHCR said the disasters were a reminder of the grave dangers facing people forced to flee their countries by war and persecution.

Of almost 83,000 migrants who have arrived by sea in Europe so far in 2017, the vast majority have crossed the central Mediterranean between Libya and Italy  now the deadliest sea passage in the world.

It has claimed more than 2,000 lives since January, according to UNHCR figures, sparking fresh appeals for enhanced rescue operations and the introduction of safe and legal alternatives for a record 65.6 million displaced people around the world.

More efforts are needed to address the root causes behind these movements of people to Libya, including by solving conflicts and reducing poverty, said a spokesperson for the agency.

The UN and humanitarian groups have been raising concerns over increased EU support for the fragile Libyan Government of National Accord.

The UK is among countries training its coastguard, while boats, equipment and millions of euros have been handed over in efforts to slow crossings.

Migrants rescued by Save the Children in the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday (Reuters)

But as the Libyan civil war continues to rage six years after the UK supported the removal of Muammar Gaddafi, smugglers have set up a ruthless trade with migrants routinely kidnapped, ransomed, forced into labour, raped, tortured and sold at slave markets.

A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Libyan coastguard was engaging in reckless conduct during operations to force migrant boats back to land  in violation of international laws against refoulement.

It highlighted incidents reported by The Independent in May where the coastguard opened fire while blocking rescues by NGO ships in international waters.

Recent incidents show how wrong it is for EU countries to entrust the lives of those in need of rescue to Libyan coast guard forces when there are safer alternatives, said Judith Sunderland, associate Europe and Central Asia director at HRW, calling for Italian authorities who currently coordinate rescues not to hand over command.

The call was repeated by a group of rescue organisations including Sea-Watch, Jugend Rettet and Proactiva Open Arms, who said European plans to outsource control of the refugee crisis to Libyan authorities was not practical or legal.

An open letter to mark World Refugee Day on Tuesday called on European naval forces to conduct rescues, stop boats being illegally pushed back to Libya, develop an impartial monitoring system and support and decriminalise NGOs rather than demonising them.

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

Charities and aid agencies operating refugee rescue ships have been accused of aiding and even directly colluding with Libyan smugglers in the increasingly toxic debate, despite research finding no evidence to support the allegations.

Italy, which is housing more than 190,000 asylum seekers in state-funded accommodation, has criticised other European countries for failing to resettle asylum seekers and help rescue efforts.

Im sorry that not everyone, including in Europe, has shown the same willingness to take people in [as Italy has], Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said in a message marking World Refugee Day.

The refugee issue crosses national borders and involves the entire EU and is, in the end, a global phenomenon.

The Italian navy and coastguard picked up 41 per cent of migrants rescued at sea last year, NGO ships 26 per cent, and ships from the EU-wide Operation Sophia 25 per cent.

But during the first four months of 2017, the proportion of rescues conducted by NGOs has increased to 35 per cent, with Italian authorities carrying out a third and Operation Sophia carrying out just 16 per cent.

EU leaders will meet in Brussels to discuss migration policy on Thursday, after arrivals to Italy jumped by a quarter year-on-year.

Last week, the European Commission opened a legal case against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for refusing to take in asylum seekers under a 2015 plan to relocate migrants from Italy and Greece.
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Isis fighters have blown up the historic Grand al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul, the Iraqi military has said, with the venerated site destroyed as government forces battled jihadi fighters nearby.

Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service had advanced to within 50 metres of the mosque during a push to take over the spot where the so-called caliphate was declared by Isis's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in summer 2014 following the jihadi group's capture of large swathes of Iraqi territory.

Isis "terror gangs committed another historical crime by blowing up the al-Nuri mosque and its historical al-Habda minaret", the Iraqi military said in a statement.

The mosque was named after a noble who fought the early crusades and was built in 1172-73, The minarets tilt gave the landmark its popular name - al-Hadba, or the hunchback.

A statement posted on the Amaq news service run by Isis clamed that US planes were responsible for the destruction of the mosque. Images that showing the mosque area and aerial photographs provided by the US military depicted scenes of widespread damage, with its renowned leaning minaret no longer standing and the compound largely in ruins.

A spokesman for the US led coalition denies striking the area of Mosul where the mosque was standing, saying it was not carrying out air strikes in the area.

The US-led coalition has been providing air and ground support for the Mosul offensive since October, when efforts began in earnest to retake the city.

As our Iraqi security force [ISF] partners closed in on the al-Nouri mosque, Isis destroyed one of Mosul and Iraqs great treasures, said Major General Joseph Martin, commanding general of the US-led coalition fighting Isis.

This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, and is an example of why this brutal organisation must be annihilated, said Major General Martin.

The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of Isis, and we continue to support our Iraqi partners as they bring these terrorists to justice. However, the battle for the liberation of Mosul is not yet complete, and we remain focused on supporting the ISF with that objective in mind, he added.

Isis has destroyed countless monuments and historical treasures in the territory it has held across Iraq and Syria.

In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Isis' weapons factories In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A mortar round fin manufactured by Isis in Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis rocket components discovered in Gogjali, Mosul, Iraq in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis mortars discovered near Karamlais, Iraq, in November 2016 CAR In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis rocket launch frame in Qaraqosh, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A memo from Isis' COSQC on quality control at a manufacturing facility in Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Electrically-operated initiators manufactured by Isis in forces Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis mortar tubes at a manufacturing facility in Karamlais, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis mortar production facility discovered in Gogjali, Mosul, in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis weapons manufacturing facilities near Mosul in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Stocks of French-manufactured Sorbitol, Latvian potassium nitrate and Lebanese sugar at an Isis weapons factory in Iraq Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A destroyed Isis weapons facility in Qaraqosh, Iraq, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research

The black flag of the terror group had flown from atop the famous minaret in Mosul since 2014 and the Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi has claimed that the group have "conceded defeat" in destroying the mosque. However, given the significance of the area to Isis, the jihadis were always likely to either blow up or set traps within the mosque so that Iraqi forces could not declare victory in the same place their caliphate was founded.

Iraqi officials had privately said that they would have liked to capture the mosque in time for Eid al-Fitr, a festival that takes place at the end of Ramadan, the month in which Muslims fast. That festival begins this year in Iraq on June 25 or 26.

In Mosul, Isis has fought using a mix of urban guerrilla tactics that has withstood Iraqi government forces for months, holding the periphery of the city lightly and concentrating its fighters in the centre.

The Iraqi government announced the "liberation" of eastern Mosul in January, but the west of the city - with its winding, narrow streets - has proven more difficult. Isis tries to avoid its positions being identified from the air and destroyed, by using a mixture of mobile sniper teams, swiftly changing their positions by means of holes cut in the walls of houses, along with suicide bombers in vehicles, mines, booby traps and mortars. This has succeeded in slowing down and inflicting heavy casualties on the advancing Iraqi security forces.

Some streets in the Old City, the last district Isis holds, are obstructed with cloth to disrupt air surveillance, which has made the situation even more dangerous for civilians.

Even so, the Iraqi army estimates that there are just 300 Isis fighters left in the city, down from the estimated 6,000 who were there when the fighting began.

The situation in the Old City is reportedly very grim for civilians. There are more than 100,000 residents trapped in the fragile homes of the area with little or no food, water, medicine, and electricity, according to the UN. Their access to medical clinics is also very limited.

The International Committee of the Red cross says that sick and wounded civilians who escape through Isis lines have been dying in "high numbers". Coalition forces say they have established ways to ensure that people in areas of the city that are taken fro Isis can get help.

"We are trying to keep families inside their houses and, after we secure their block, we will evacuate them through safe routes", Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, the senior commander for the Counter Terrorism Service in Mosul, told Iraqi state television.

Should coalition forces retake the city, it would effectively be the end of the Iraq portion of the caliphate, even though Isis fighters would still control territories to the west and south of Mosul as well as areas of Syria, including the Isis de facto capital in Raqqa.

Baghdadi is unlikely to be found in Mosul, as he has reportedly left the fighting there to local commanders. The Isis leader is suspected to be hiding in the border area between Iraq and Syria, US and Iraqi military sources say.
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Isis grand mufti has reportedly been killed in an air strike on a Syrian town near the border with Iraq, the US coalition against the militants has confirmed.

Coalition forces killed Turki Binali, the self-proclaimed Grand Mufti or chief cleric of Isis in an air strike May 31 in Mayadeen, Syria, said a statement from Central Command, which coordinates US military action across Syria and Iraq.

Rumours that Binali had been killed had circulated for weeks before the statement on Tuesday.

 Used as a human shield by Isis: "My family was blown pieces in the street"

The 32-year-old from Bahrain attended various religious schools and universities before travelling to Yemen, where he met with al-Qaeda members, as well as Libya and Syria.

He was appointed as Isis most senior preacher in November 2014, after the group blitzed across the border to seize one third of Iraq that summer.

The US Treasury in a sanctions note described Binali as a close confidant of Isis leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and active recruiter of foreign fighters, penning jihadi literature and fatwas used for propaganda purposes and at training camps. The cleric actively provoked terrorist attacks around the world, the document continued.

In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Isis' weapons factories In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A mortar round fin manufactured by Isis in Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis rocket components discovered in Gogjali, Mosul, Iraq in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis mortars discovered near Karamlais, Iraq, in November 2016 CAR In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis rocket launch frame in Qaraqosh, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A memo from Isis' COSQC on quality control at a manufacturing facility in Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Electrically-operated initiators manufactured by Isis in forces Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis mortar tubes at a manufacturing facility in Karamlais, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis mortar production facility discovered in Gogjali, Mosul, in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis weapons manufacturing facilities near Mosul in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Stocks of French-manufactured Sorbitol, Latvian potassium nitrate and Lebanese sugar at an Isis weapons factory in Iraq Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A destroyed Isis weapons facility in Qaraqosh, Iraq, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research

Binalis reported killing occurred just two days after another US-led air stirke on Mayadeen that allegedly killed Rayan Mashaal, the founder of Isis notorious propaganda media wing Amaq.

While local opposition activists have widely reported his death, Central Command has not confirmed Mashaal has been killed.

Russia - which carries out air strikes on the jihadis at the request of the Syrian government - claimed last week that it may have killed Baghdadi himself in a night raid last month. A spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry later backtracked, admitting on Tuesday there was little proof the leader had been killed.

The supposed deaths of some of Isis most feared leaders come as the group struggles to maintain control of its territory in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Fewer than 300 militants are now surrounded by Iraqi coalition forces in the Old City of Mosul, a city that was once the jewel in its so-called caliphate.

Across the border in Syria, the militants de facto capital of Raqqa is under attack on several fronts by US-backed local Kurdish forces, which have already seized four neighbourhoods after two weeks of fighting.

The loss of both cities will effectively spell the end of Isis' so-called caliphate, although it is unlikely the militants will go quietly in their final battle.

Observers expect the jihadi organisation to mount a full-scale insurgency in both Syria and Iraq after it ceases to be a land-holding force in the two countries, and to step up terror attacks around the world.
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Israels former Prime Minister has warned that the country could face a slippery slope toward apartheid under Benjamin Netanyahus government.

Ehud Barak, who retired from politics in 2013, said Israel faces a choice.

If we keep controlling the whole area from the Mediterranean to the River Jordan where some 13 million people are living  eight million Israelis and five million Palestinians if only one entity reigns over this whole area, named Israel, it will become inevitably either non-Jewish or non-democratic, he told Deutsche Welle.

Mr Barak claimed a one-state solution where Palestinians in the West Bank would be given given autonomy, rights and the ability to vote for the Knesset would create a binational state with an Arab majority and permanent civil war.

The 74-year-old claimed the current path taken by the government, which he has accused of using Jewish settlements to make a two-state solution untenable, could bring the country on a slippery slope toward apartheid.

So we have to change it, Mr Barak said, calling on the Israeli government to change direction to protect the Zionist dream with two states.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the then defence minister Ehud Barak on November 14 2012 in Kirya, Israel (Getty Images)

Britain and other countries have sounded warnings over continued construction of Jewish settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which are illegal under international law.

Settlers can vote in elections for the Knesset, but Palestinian citizens living in the West Bank  including in areas wholly administered by Israel  cannot.

The disparity along with measures including the West Bank barrier, ID system, settlement infrastructure, legal rights and the division of resources has sparked long-running comparisons to South Africas treatment of non-whites in the apartheid era.

Others have dismissed the comparison, pointing out that Israeli law does not support racial segregation as South Africas did, but distinguishes by citizenship.

Politicians, analysts and human rights groups making the comparison have been accused of fostering anti-Semitism by delegitimising Israel.

Mr Barak has used the term since leaving government, claiming it has since been taken over by fanatical and radical groups that are undermining democracy and alienating foreign allies.

He told Deutsche Welle: When I was Prime Minister we enjoyed the support of the whole world for our policy because it was clear that, on one hand, we are still building within the settlement blocs, but we are genuinely ready to make a deal with the Palestinians and give up the isolated settlements.

Labourers work at a construction site in the settlement of Kiryat Arba, near the West Bank city of Hebron (Reuters)

Mr Barak served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2001 and was the leader of Israels Labor Party until 2011, holding the posts of defence minister and deputy Prime Minister in Mr Netanyahus second government.

As Israels jointly most decorated soldier, he served as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of General Staff and led Israeli operations in the 2008/9 Gaza War.

Known as Operation Cast Lead, the three-week conflict saw 13 Israelis and more than 1,000 Palestinians killed in three weeks of battles and bombardment targeting Hamas rocket sites and weapons in the Gaza Strip.

Asked about the scale of civilian deaths, including hundreds of children and resulting in a UN report accusing the IDF of war crimes, Mr Barak said he was not happy with any human life lost.

I am very sorry for it but I cannot tell you that I will not repeat it if the life and security of our own people is at stake, he added.

I care about morality but I care more about our very survival in life.

The former Prime Minister has publicly criticised Mr Netanyahus current government on several occasions, having served under his successor as his deputy and defence minister.

In June last year, Mr Barak repeated warnings of Israel becoming an apartheid state and accused the government of mounting a covert agenda to thwart a future Palestinian state.

The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Show all 10 1 /10 The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Medics evacuate a wounded man from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a bus stop then got out and started stabbing people before he was shot dead AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Israeli ZAKA emergency response members carry the body of an Israeli at the scene of a shooting attack in Jerusalem. A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks that escalated a month long wave of violence AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Getty Images The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians throw molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank. Recent days have seen a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have wounded several Israelis AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Women cry during the funeral of Palestinian teenager Ahmad Sharaka, 13, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah, at the family house in the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Ramallah AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A wounded Palestinian boy and his father hold hands at a hospital after their house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians look on after a protester is shot by Israelis soldiers during clashes at the Howara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus EPA The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A lawyer wearing his official robes kicks a tear gas canister back toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration by scores of Palestinian lawyers called for by the Palestinian Bar Association in solidarity with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, near Ramallah, West Bank AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Undercover Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian in Ramallah Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinian youth burn tyres during clashes with Israeli soldiers close to the Jewish settlement of Bet El, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Israel barred Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child

Mr Netanyahu dismissed that criticism and accused Mr Barak of attacking him once a month in a bid to stay relevant.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli government to the interview broadcast on Wednesday, as Donald Trumps Middle East adviser made a visit to the country.

Jared Kushner, who is also the Presidents son-in-law, met Mr Netanyahu alongside the US ambassador to Israel.

He is also due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after being tasked with making what Mr Trump called the ultimate deal in floundering peace talks.

A month marking the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War, when Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, has seen continued violence.

Three Palestinian attackers armed with a gun and knives assaulted police near Jerusalems Old City on Friday, killing a female officer.

It was the latest incident in a wave of Palestinian attacks that began in September 2015, killing 43 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British student.

Around 250 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces during the same period, mostly after being identified as attackers by Israel or in protests and clashes.
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The king of Saudi Arabia has appointed his son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, making him first in line to the throne at the expense of his nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef, a well known counterterrorism figure.

Prince bin Salman, 31, is currently deputy crown prince. The young royal  who has built his reputation as a bold economic reformer and for his hawkish foreign policy  will continue in his position as defence minister as well as become deputy prime minister in the new role.

He replaces his cousin Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, 27 years his senior, who was dismissed by King Salman by royal decree on Wednesday. The young prince is now by some stretch the second most powerful person in the kingdom  and if his ailing 81-year-old father dies, he will be the youngest king the modern state has ever seen.

 What happened when US officials were asked why they criticised Iran but not Saudi Arabia

To celebrate the appointment, King Salman ordered the reinstatement of all benefits and allowances for government employees that have been curbed by austerity measures, and granted additional days off for the upcoming Eid holiday at the end of Ramadan.

The appointment of such a young royal as the immediate heir to the throne efectively sets the tone for Saudi policy for decades; Saudi Arabias stock market was up by more than 3.5 per cent in mid-day trading on Wednesday.

Prince bin Salmans rise has followed that of his father: King Salman ascended to the throne in January 2015 after the death of his half-brother Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. Mohammed, previously in charge of his fathers royal court, has been rapidly promoted since then to various cabinet posts at the expense of those older or more experienced.

The young prince is widely seen as the face of modern Saudi Arabia. Unlike older generations of the Saudi royal family, he has embraced media attention, his image constantly on billboards and televisions. He is the driving force behind Vision 2030, the kingdoms long term economic plan to wean itself off dependence on oil, and is popular for his reforms to the countrys ineffective state bureaucracy.

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

In his role as defence minister he has attracted criticism from older Saudis and internationally for his role in Saudi Arabias bloody intervention in the Yemeni civil war, as well as his aggressive stance on Iran. The prince is also regarded as one of the primary decision makers behind the recent Gulf states cutting of ties with Qatar.

But to younger generations, used to elderly kings and princes, the socially liberal Prince bin Salmans rise is a sign that things in the conservative kingdom are changing.

Mohammed's younger brother Khaled, a former jet fighter pilot believed to be in his 20s, was also promoted to the prestigious role of US ambassador earlier this year. On Wednesday, another young prince, Abdulaziz bin Saud, 33, was named the new interior minister tasked with counterterrorism efforts and domestic security, replacing the former crown prince bin Nayef in the role.

58-year-old Prince bin Nayef  who headed domestic security for many years  is known for his tough stance on jihadi militancy and maintained good relations with the kingdoms western allies, but has recently been seen less and less in the public eye.

Notably, Prince bin Salman accompanied a royal delegation on a March visit to Washington DC to meet President Donald Trumps administration, while Prince bin Nayef did not.

The Saudis hailed the DC trip as a historic turning point in which the two countries discussed their common foe of Iran and cooperation in the fight against Isis. It also laid the groundwork for Mr Trumps first trip abroad to Riyadh, where he reiterated his support for the US Saudi allies against their regional rival.

The new Crown Prince doubled down on the combative stance in comments made to state television in May, when he framed the tensions with Tehran in sectarian terms and vowed to take the battle to Iran.

Riyadh and Tehran are engaged in a number of proxy wars across the Middle East, backing opposing sides in the Syrian and Yemeni conflicts as well as political and religious rivals in Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon.
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At least 12,000 Qatari-owned camels and sheep have been ordered out of Saudi Arabia as both sides in the Gulf diplomatic crisis refuse to back down.

Temporary shelters, water and food have been set up for 7,000 camels and 5,000 sheep forced to trek back to the kingdom across the desert border, Qatari newspaper The Peninsula reported on Tuesday, while website al-Raya put the figure at 25,000.

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment said that more permanent accommodation was being prepared.

 Trump says Qatar has 'historically been funding terrorism at a very high level'

Qatar is home to around 22,000 camels, which are raised for racing as well as for meat and milk, but many herdsmen in the tiny kingdom rent pastures in much larger neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

The latest move from Riyadh has triggered angry reactions among Qatari farmers.

We just want to live out our days, to go to Saudi Arabia and take care of our camels and go back and take care of our family, Ali Magareh, 40, told Reuters.

We dont want to be involved in these political things. We are not happy, he added.

A woman and boy walk past a Qatar Airways branch in the Saudi capital of Riyadh (AFP/Getty)

The farmers are the latest victims in the escalating spat, which began 5 June when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut all diplomatic ties and suspended air and sea links with Doha, accusing it of supporting terrorism and controversial political groups. The decision has since been adopted by several other Muslim nations.

Qatar vehemently denies the charges. Tentative reconciliation efforts led by delegations from Kuwait, as well as encouragement from Turkey, the US State Department and UN, have so far come to nothing.

Qatari citizens were given two weeks to leave the affected countries, turning the lives of thousands of families upside down, and almost all Qatar Airways flights are now facing lengthy diversions.

Inside the country, which imports 80 per cent of its food, panic over food and fuel shortages have led to empty supermarket shelves and stockpiling.

Iran, a secondary target of the diplomatic stand-off, began cargo flights of up to 100 tons of fruit and vegetables a day to Doha on Sunday.

The crisis, which shows no signs of abating, could have manifold economic and political effects for the Middle East  as well as alter the course of the regions many conflicts.
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An American firm is promising the return of supersonic passenger aviation, with transatlantic airfares about the same price as todays business class tickets.

Boom, based in Denver, says London-New York will cost 2,000 one-way and take just 3 hours 15 minutes. With a planned cruising speed of 1,451mph, the plane is almost 100mph faster than Concorde.

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Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier 70 years ago, and Concorde first flew in 1969. But British Airways last flew faster than the speed of sound in 2003, with the supersonic fleet dispersed to museums.

The firm is building an aircraft called XB-1, a one-third scale realization of the Boom passenger airliner. It is claimed to be the first independently developed supersonic jet and history's fastest civil aircraft.

It is under construction now and will fly next year, says Boom, with scheduled supersonic services on a 55-seat plane by 2023.

Subsonic flight tests will be conducted in Colorado, with supersonic flight proving taking place near Edwards Air Force Base in California. Virgin Galactic, Sir Richard Bransons space venture, will be involved in the tests.

Concorde was fitted with noisy and thirsty military engines. The 1960s technology used for the Anglo-French project was extremely challenging, with the aluminium airframe extending by about 15 inches due to the heat of supersonic flight. Boom will use carbon composites, which are lighter and expand much less with heat. The testbed aircraft uses three General Electric J85-21 turbojet engines.

The firm is inviting American executives to Leave New York at 6am, make afternoon and dinner meetings in London, and be home to tuck your kids into bed.

The 11-hour flight time from San Francisco to Tokyo will be halved, again making day-trips possible. And the 7,500-mile Los Angeles-Sydney run will take under seven hours: Leave LA at 7am, enjoy an operetta in Sydney, and be back before midnight. promises the company.

The small print reveals that the maximum range is 5,180 miles (4,500 nautical miles), less than London to Mexico City or Buenos Aires.

The firm says: Routes over 4,500nmi include a brief tech stop, included in listed flight times. Passengers do not need to deplane or exit their seats.

It is telling airlines: The breakthrough Boom airliner allows you to offer Mach 2.2 flights profitably at the same fares as subsonic business class.

A major problem with Concorde is that it had more seats than could be filled at the required prices. The Boom aircraft has 55 seats, similar to the premium cabin in a typical widebody aircraft.

Since the demise of Concorde  hit by high oil prices, low demand and concerns about safety following the 2000 crash in Paris  plans for high-speed civil aircraft have foundered.

The price of the Boom passenger jet is set at $200m (160m).
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The solo female traveller market is an increasingly powerful sector in the travel industry. But while solo travel is usually rewarding, safe, and eye-opening, women who take to the road alone usually have more issues to take into account than men. A minority of horror stories of dodgy Airbnb and Couchsurfing hosts can see women flocking to the nearest female-only floor in a hotel.

But now one peer-to-peer accommodation site has decided to do something about that, by launching a sub-group dedicated to female hosts and guests.

Overnight  a site and app similar to Airbnb, which allows you to book accommodation with local residents  has teamed up with Girls Love Travel, a women-only online community, to launch Groups, which will allow home-sharing through trusted networks.

The feature will connect travellers and hosts who share friends or social networking groups in common. With 350,000 members of Girls Love Travel located around the world, its a promising start. Other networks are in the works to collaborate, too.

Overnight said in a statement: While cost is a key issue for travellers, trust is perhaps even more important  both for travellers and home-sharing hosts. This is especially true for female travellers.

Girls Love Travel founder Haley Woods told The Independent:

Within the Girls LOVE Travel community, we empower women to go out, travel, and explore the world. The problem is that, when choosing to house-swap or couch-share with a stranger, safety can be a real concern for many of our members. Alternatives such as hotels or hostels can often be pricey, and may delay trips due to budget.

Building this partnership between Girls LOVE Travel and Overnight presents members with a peer-to-peer network platform to help answer those concerns by providing members a cost-effective opportunity to stay with ladies they have met within our online community. Overnight provides our members the added benefit of moving beyond the computer with other female travellers, and creating lasting relationships.

The Groups feature also allows hosts to use tiered pricing, offering lower rates to travellers from their own networks. Overnight says that it discovered hosts were willing to drop prices for guests they have a connection to.

Current featured picks on the website include a private room in West Hollywood for $60, and an apartment in Chicago for $100.
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David Davis made his way to Brussels this week to begin the negotiations for our Brexit package. He will have soft Brexit intentions in mind after his party failed to gain a mandate for its brutal hard Brexit plans.

Thus, the final deal may now not result in the doom and gloom that a lot of the Brexit-sceptics (myself included) had previously predicted. There is an alternative.

It doesnt have to be as hard-nosed a divorce that some of our media companions and politicians are suggesting. Adjusting to the European Free Trade Association measures (if reachable) should be something that Britain seeks.

If four other nations can do significant business with the European Union and not be a member then there's no question that Britain may well also be able to achieve similar.

In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions European commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations with Britain, French Michel Barnier listens at the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Getty Images In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, delivers his speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg EPA In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, President of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), addresses the European Parliament during a debate on Brexit priorities and the upcomming talks on the UK's withdrawal from the EU Reuters In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Michel Barnier, European Chief Negotiator for Brexit reacts during a meeting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg EPA In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Member of the European Parliament and former leader of the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage wears socks with Union Jack flag at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Getty Images In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Nigel Farage, United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) member and MEP, addresses the European Parliament during a debate on Brexit priorities and the upcoming talks on the UK's withdrawal from the EU Reuters In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions European commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations with Britain, French Michel Barnier gestures during speeches at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Getty In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker (L) speaks with European commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations with Britain, French Michel Barnier at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Getty In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, President of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), addresses the European Parliament during a debate on Brexit priorities and the upcomming talks on the UK's withdrawal from the EU Reuters In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions Getty In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier delivers a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg Getty In pictures: European parliament Brexit discussions The European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France Getty Images

It was in 1959 when Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan helped to found EFTA. He wanted to form a free trade community that would counter the Benelux movement. Britain was being left out in the cold.

The EFTA has since taken a different direction since its early formulation. Lichtenstein, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland are the current members  all of whom benefit significantly from their own special arrangements with the European Union. There is no reason why Britain cannot follow suit.

An EFTA deal would shrink the differences between both Brexit and Remain camps. The protectionist strong independent nation thinkers would be slightly comfier, equally so Europhiles would be gladdened by solidified free trade arrangements  comparable to the ones already in place.

The Government would also have more free reign to drum up international trade deals under an EFTA/EEA arrangement.

Through a referendum Britain voted to leave the European Union  but it should be equally noted that Britain did not vote to leave the single market. An EFTA agreement would best compensate for this conundrum.

By agreeing to an EFTA Norwegian style deal, of sorts, we would be remaining in the single market, therefore accepting the four freedoms; goods, people, services and capital. We would also guarantee UK citizens freedom of movement at home and abroad with continuing European citizenship.

There are still downsides though; access to the single market is partial in a sense that fisheries and agricultural are excluded. As an EFTA country, we would be sat outside of the EU Custom Union; leaving us subject to European Court of Justice laws and still subject to bureaucratic custom checks.

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However, freedom of movement is the biggest spanner in the Brexit break off deal due to immigration being the main driving force for Brexit. This could be an issue for ardent Brexiteers.

For those seeking complete sovereignty (which would be an economically destructive hard-Brexit with complete judicial control), while EEA/EFTA states are not members of the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein do not have formal access to the EU decision-making process.

Switzerland has not joined the EEA but has a series of bilateral agreements with the EU which allows it also to participate in the internal market.

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EFTA members do, nevertheless, give input during the preparatory phase, when the Commission draws up proposals for new legislation that is to be incorporated into the EEA agreement, but this would be significantly less say than that of an EU member state with 78 MEPs.

EFTA could be something that is sought longer term, or, if needs be, something we can do on a temporary basis, if departure from the single market is ultimately sought.

As a nation, if we are to meet each other in the middle then soft Brexit  in this case re-joining EFTA or attaining something else similar which is innovative and new, like Switzerland  would be a logical step in a fresh approach to UK trade and a symbolic move indicating that Britain wants to further internationalism and remain competitive on the global economic trading stage.

We must be pragmatic and aim for the best solution possible. It would be far-fetched and disastrous for the British Government to cut its nose off to spite its face in pursuit of a reckless final deal  there must be a compromise.
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Dalia, 7, bursts into singing her ABCs whenever I arrive at her apartment. How are you, Dalia? I ask her in the midst of her rendition. Good! she responds confidently.

Hows school? I continue.

Good, she repeats. But shes done with conversation. She grabs my hand and pulls me into her small bedroom, saying: Come! Come!

Her two younger brothers follow us. Chaos ensues. We play catch and monkey-in-the-middle. Then she pulls me to the floor to play with her dolls. None of the kids can speak much more English, but it doesnt really matter. Through giggles, wild hand gestures and some quirky facial expressions, we get by.

Its different with her parents. When Ahmad and Sanaa arrived in Toronto just two months ago from Syria, they didnt know a word of English. Through weekly publicly-funded language classes, theyre learning slowly, and showing tremendous progress. But it can still be hard to get a conversation going without reaching for the Google Translate app. Or resorting to miming. And quirky facial expressions.

 Justin Trudeau moved to tears when reunited with refugee family he welcomed last year

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared two years ago that Canada would take in 25,000 government-funded refugees, and encouraged private sponsors to bring in more, many Canadians were elated.

Individuals, community groups, libraries, medical facilities and schools across the country began preparing to resettle thousands of newcomers. Not since 1979, when 60,000 refugees fleeing Vietnam were settled in Canada within a two-year period, have we witnessed anything like the current mobilisation of public and private resources in response to a global crisis. Research has shown that citizen-sponsored refugees tend to settle more quickly than other refugees, and that they make a positive impact on the economy.

So my familys decision to sponsor a family from Syria - along with nine other families we knew  wasnt a difficult one. Ahmad, Sanaa, Dalia, Taha and Nadir essentially became our responsibility. We found and furnished an apartment for them, close to other Syrian newcomers, that was within walking distance of a school, a grocery store, a park, a community centre and public transport.

We taught them how to set up bank accounts and medical appointments, how to register their kids in schools and coordinate English classes. We heeded the advice from the resettlement coordinators at the Mennonite Central Committee, the relief agency we worked with to bring the family over: You basically are responsible for taking care of them, they told us. You are their social safety net and their community for the first 12 months theyre in Canada.

Ill never forget the first time Sanaa walked home on her own after an English language class. I had accompanied her to the first two, but couldnt make it in time to walk her to the third class. In our last garbled conversation, I had told her how to take a short-cut back to her apartment. But I couldnt be certain shed understood. I raced to her class after it ended, arriving a few minutes late. She wasnt anywhere in sight.

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I was frantic. What if she was lost? She didnt have a phone and couldnt speak English. How would she find her way back? How would I ever reach her? I drove back uneasily to her apartment via the short-cut Id instructed her to take. It was pouring rain and there was no sign of her.

Then, just as I was about give up all hope, I saw a petite woman in a headscarf and long brown coat turning the corner, clutching a blue umbrella. I dont remember the last time I felt more relieved, overjoyed  and so damn proud. I pulled over and called to her through the window: Sanaa! Come in! She looked up in surprise and her expression mirrored mine. Pure, uninhibited jubilation. And relief. So she had felt anxious too.

Sanaa and Ahmad are amazing in that even though they have gone through terrible horror back in their hometown of Idlib  Sanaa had to identify her fathers battered body after he was hit by an air strike from Bashar al-Assad's forces and their home and village have been completely destroyed  they carry on without an ounce of defeatism.

They have been proactive in trying to find employment in their respective professions; Ahmad as an electrician and Sanaa as a seamstress. And they consistently express nothing but gratitude. At one point, when Ahmad and I were discussing how the conflict in Syria has become a proxy war for Saudi Arabia and Iran, and a battleground for competing terrorist factions, I asked: But arent you angry?

His response blew me away.

He raised his hands and looked to the sky, saying, Alhumdulillah (Thanks be to God). Alhumdulillah is a phrase typically used by Muslims to express gratitude.

Refugee dinners in Berlin - In pictures Show all 5 1 /5 Refugee dinners in Berlin - In pictures Refugee dinners in Berlin - In pictures Refugee dinners in Berlin - In pictures Refugee dinners in Berlin - In pictures Refugee dinners in Berlin - In pictures Refugee dinners in Berlin - In pictures

I know theyre not alone among refugees in possessing a fierce sense of resilience. Another spirited Yazidi family from Iraq I met last week had nothing to say when I asked what challenges theyve faced since arriving. Its not that they havent. Language, loneliness and post-traumatic stress disorder are often identified by resettlement workers as common problems refugees experience in their first year.They just didn't want to talk about it.

But when I asked how they had felt when learning they would be moving to Canada, their faces lit up and everyone had a story to share about the precise moment they found out. The two teenage sons excitedly shared their career ambitions: They wanted to become high-ranking police officers, so that they could give back to this country and protect people the way they deserved to be protected.

Theres a misconception out there that supporting a refugee  whether its through sponsorship or donating your time or money to a charity  is solely an act of kindness that goes a long way towards giving people a chance to start new in life. I would argue that its mutually beneficial.

Not only has Ahmads family taught me the depth of human resilience in the face of deep trauma and difficulty, but I have no doubt that they are going to make this country a better place.
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Im not a politician. Im barely a pundit. Im a taxpayer. Im a dad. Im an immigrant. Im someone who lives in the UK, in the British countryside, and commutes into an area recently targeted in a terror attack. Im writing this post because a baffled and frustrated Facebook status update I published piqued the interest of the comment editor, and so here we are.

With that said, Im wondering if others share my bafflement by some of the appointments made to the cabinet following the election.

We now have a health secretary who is hated by (and seems to want to privatise) the health service, an environment secretary who once tried to remove climate change from the curriculum, a Brexit secretary who hates Europe, a home secretary who is indifferent to civil liberties, and a prime minister who dislikes human contact, and will seemingly sign a deal with literally anyone to preserve her tenuous hold on power.

 Jeremy Corbyn appears to partially ignore Theresa May's attempts to engage him in banter

Because to me it seems that the Government has put in place a string of people who will pay for their present power with our future, and well suffer greatly for it. I dont even think the 1 per cent will benefit  its that bad. But let me explain what I mean  and why Theresa Mays poor judgment in appointing these ministers might further hit her chances of political survival.

Boris Johnson and David Davis

The appointment of BoJo as foreign secretary, and the sweaty chief negotiator, David Davis, to Brexit, was little surprise. However, personally, I wouldnt trust those two to represent my best interests at the PTA, much less at the most important juncture in international diplomacy in 50 years.

Bojo was famously put in his place by the Italian economic minister after he challenged the prospects for prosecco  "And I said 'Yeah, maybe we're going to lose some prosecco. You're going to lose some fish and chips exports. The difference is I'm going to lose to one country  you to 27."

My key hope with Johnson and Davis at the helm is that the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels manage to stop us doing any more self-harm than necessary.

Jeremy Hunt

Moving to Britain from Malaysia 25 years ago, I was in awe of the NHS. Not because it existed  there is a degree of national health provision in Malaysia; after all, its government was modelled on ours  but rather that it was effective. That people trusted it. That it operated on the scale it did.

And Jeremy Hunt  as youll understand if you read the letter from NHS doctor Louise Irvine, who opposed him in his constituency in the last election, is systematically dismantling one of the most remarkable healthcare institutions in the world.

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In doing so he is alienating one of the most important resources we have, our medical skills base, already suffering under the spectre of a hard Brexit as EU nurses quit our shores. My medical friends all loathe him, and some seem to be considering a move Down Under, depressingly, where both the profession and the weather are in generally more consistently good, erm, health.

Michael Gove

Michael Gove has systematically voted against environmental policies for pretty much the whole time hes been in Government  even if hes not technically a full-on climate change denier, he must be a sceptic to have consistently voted against pretty much all legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Hes been called a fox in the hen house in his appointment as environment secretary (by the former energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey, no less). A more transparent example of someone striving for short-term gain without care for the long-term implications would be hard to find.

Im minded of the Dr Seuss environmental fable, The Lorax  Gove is a conscience-less Once-ler, and will have all our Truffala trees chopped down with nary a thought for the generations to come. He tells us hell listen to the science, which to my mind is a little like a wolf considering veganism  even if its true, will it make any difference?

Amber Rudd

If youre unclear on what the European Convention on Human Rights has done for us in Britain, this video is worth a watch. Theresa May and Amber Rudd, if they manage to assemble an effective British Bill of Rights to replace our Human Rights Act  something that looks increasingly unlikely in the short term  will almost certainly structure it to allow the dismantling of any right we have to our privacy, if her speeches following the latest terror attacks are anything to go by.

 Independent candidate claims Amber Rudd shut down his speech about arms sales to Saudi Arabia

After years as Home Secretary, she still didnt manage to protect us from rising terrorism. And Amber Rudd is following in her footsteps. If anything, theres a case being made that the style of rhetoric used in the anti-immigrant tide is actually driving people to extremism more effectively than any ISIS propaganda.

As a side note, Rudds draconian position on surveillance and internet privacy is almost entirely inconsistent with the opaqueness with which May is running the Government  after all, we have a two-year term without a Queens speech (to help Brexit) and no one is in the loop of our Brexit strategy. One rule for them and another for us, it seems.

David Lidington

The tolerance of British society as a whole has been inspiring to me. Despite being non-white, and while admittedly having lived in a relatively rarefied bubble of British society, Ive rarely  if ever  witnessed the narrow-mindedness of hate speech. Im aware it exists in pockets in our society and I find it loathsome, whether directed at racial or other minorities.

The appointment of David Lidington as justice secretary  a man with a strong anti-gay voting record, who was one of just 47 MPs to vote against the Civil Partnerships Bill in 2004  undermines the tolerance that has been the hallmark of my experience of British society.

 David Lidington gives statement to House of Commons after security incident

Perhaps next Theresa May can invite her hand-holding partner Donald Trump to come over and join in with the Women and Equalities Committee. Oh no, wait  we already have Philip Davies for that.

Theresa May

Theresa Mays inability to engage with people, particularly in the wake of recent disasters like the Grenfell Tower fire, is a problem. It seems a critical quality for a national leader, to convey empathy in the face of disaster. Her way of dealing with those challenging situations does not inspire confidence, either in her or in the strength and stability of her government.

 Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have contrasting receptions at Finsbury Park mosque visits

Im worried that all the above will further polarise our society, damage our environment, hurt our economy, erode our values, and diminish our role on the global stage. As a father, Im worried that this Government is going to rob my children of their future. When we break it, it wont be straightforward to get the NHS back, we wont get the environment back either, and if we uncork a tide of social unrest and terror, where exactly will that lead us?

Let us protest, let us oppose, let us communicate our dissatisfaction in this wholly unacceptable Government  simply because we cant afford not to. Everything depends on holding back these wolves in sheeps clothing.
Noirin O'Sullivan is again facing calls for her resignation

Leo Varadkar has warned of his unhappiness at the speed of reforms in the scandal-struck Garda.

But the Taoiseach voiced confidence in the force's beleaguered chief Noirin O'Sullivan - saying she is fighting many battles on many fronts.

Ms O'Sullivan is again facing calls for her resignation over the latest in a long line of controversies shaking public trust in the Garda.

Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald accused the Garda Commissioner of having "misled" the taxpayer watchdog - the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) - over financial irregularities at the Garda training college.

Ms O'Sullivan wrote to the C&AG on July 31 2015, reassuring him everything was well with Garda finances, Ms McDonald said.

"But the commissioner knew this was not true," she added.

The Garda Commissioner has told a parliamentary committee that she was told about financial concerns at the Garda college on July 27 that year, four days beforehand.

Ms McDonald told the Dail that public confidence in the Garda chief was "in tatters" amid a "virtual conveyor belt of crises that continue to envelop" the force.

Furthermore, the Garda commissioner could not or would not express confidence in her senior management team before the Public Accounts Committee, she said.

"How can anyone have confidence in the head of police, if she cannot express confidence in her own team," the Sinn Fein TD said.

"The Garda Commissioner has to go, her position is absolutely untenable."

But Mr Varadkar said both he and his government have confidence in Ms O'Sullivan.

There are a number of investigations into ongoing controversies - including a Garda Ombudsman probe into suspected fraud at the Garda College and the Charleton Tribunal into an alleged smear campaign against whistleblowers - which needed to run their course, he said.

"The problems that are besetting gardai are long-standing," Mr Varadkar added.

"Many if not all predate (Ms O'Sullivan) becoming Garda Commissioner and I believe that she is someone fighting many battles on many fronts in an effort to put things right."

However the Taoiseach added: "We also need to accelerate the pace of reform in the Gardai. I am not happy with the pace at which reform is occurring in the Gardai."

A bank account in Cabra, north Dublin - not far from Garda headquarters in Phoenix Park - is at the centre of a newly-launched investigation by the Garda Ombudsman in to suspected fraud at the force's training college in Templemore, Co Tipperary.

It was an official Garda account, rather than a personal account, opened in 1999 and closed in 2010.

Ms O'Sullivan has refused to identify the signatories to the account, but said a retired senior officer was one, whose rank would identify the person if disclosed.

The money in the account, in excess of 90,000 euro at times, was from European Union funding.

Olaf, the European anti-fraud agency which investigates fraud against the EU budget, corruption and serious misconduct within European institutions, has been notified about the disclosures.
Patients may be less inclined to travel to mainland Europe due to longer journeys and language difficulties. Stock photo: PA

Hundreds of patients in the Republic, who are availing of an EU scheme which allows them to have surgery or other treatments in Northern Ireland or in Britain, will have to travel to non-English speaking countries after Brexit.

The Cross Border Directive, which is growing in popularity, allows the patient to pay upfront for the treatment - but they can reclaim the cost from the HSE, said Dr Trevor Duffy of the Irish Medical Organisation's international affairs committee.

He said doctors who refer patients under the scheme normally generally know the specialists in the North or the UK .

Figures obtained by the Irish Independent reveal 774 patients from the Republic, many of them on waiting lists, have used the scheme this year at a cost of over 1m - mainly travelling to the UK, including Northern Ireland.

Patients may be less inclined to travel to mainland Europe due to longer journeys and language difficulties.

Dr Duffy, a specialist in Connolly Hospital, Dublin, said: "Given that economics will dominate the Brexit agenda, health is in danger of falling down the priority list."

He said Brexit could have wide-ranging implications and put hugely beneficial, shared health services for patients who live near the Border in jeopardy.

"Traditionally a Border community can suffer poor health outcomes," Dr Duffy said.

"However, they are currently benefiting from arrangements such as shared ear, nose and throat service for instance between Monaghan, Cavan and Enniskillen hospitals.

Relocate

"This has been supported by the EU-funded Co-operation and Working Together Programme. In Donegal, cardiac patients in need of primary angioplasty have been treated in Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry," he added. "Cancer patients in Donegal also receive radiotherapy there."

An all-island cardiac surgery service in Our Lady's Hospital Crumlin in Dublin treated scores of young children with congenital heart disease from the North in recent years.

Meanwhile, a consultant anaesthetist who lives and works in Newry, but also works in the Republic, has warned that a hard Border could force him to leave the NHS and relocate to the Republic.

Dr Peter Maguire said: "I am one of a number of Northern Ireland doctors who regularly travels south of the Border to care for patients."

There are also fears about co-operation in the response to major emergencies and public health risks.

However, health services in the Republic, particularly hospitals facing staffing shortages, could potentially benefit if there is a fall in doctors and nurses opting to work in the UK post-Brexit.

There has been a drop of around 90pc in new registration of nurses in the UK since last year's referendum.

There are no signs yet that Irish hospitals are benefiting in any substantial way.

Figures from the Irish Nursing and Midwifery Board show that 381 nurses from Ireland sought permits to work in the UK last year, compared to 454 in 2015.

However, this is against a big rise in the numbers seeking permits to work in Australia, which has overtaken the UK as the top nurses' destination.

Some 421 permits were granted for Australia last year compared to 289 in 2015.
The reason the UK attracts so much EU funding is the reputation of many of its universities; if they lose out, so could Ireland. Stock photo: PA

Ireland's higher education system could enjoy a positive spin-off from Brexit, although it also presents huge dangers.

On the plus side, Ireland may become a magnet for talented academics and researchers - and the research funding they bring - as well as international students, who want to work or study in what will then be one of just two English speaking countries in the EU (the other being Malta).

Among the negatives could be the effective closing off of a route to college in the UK, which is taken by thousands of Irish students every year.

For academics and researchers, language may not be Ireland's only attraction - there is a very large pot of funding disbursed from Brussels to member states for research.

The UK is a major net beneficiary of this funding, and, in its absence, the theory is there would be more for everyone else, including, importantly, English-speaking Ireland.

But it's not that simple. According to a Brexit discussion paper from the Higher Education Authority (HEA), some 72pc of grants to Ireland under a recent EU research programme involved a UK partner.

The reason the UK attracts so much EU funding is the reputation of many of its universities; if they lose out, so could Ireland.

Brexit holds the potential to drive a large number of international students who either want an English language third-level education, or to learn English in Ireland, into a lucrative "industry" the Government is trying to develop.

On the other hand, there are 2,000 or so students from the Republic who attend college in Northern Ireland each year, and about 12,000 others in England, Scotland and Wales - many because they could not gain access to a course in Ireland.

In 2019, will a student from Dundalk in Queen's University Belfast,be treated as an "international" and be liable for double-digit fees? Will the many Irish school leavers and graduates of post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses who study medicine/health sciences in the UK because the points system does not allow them to do so at home face a similar fate?

The impact of Brexit, particularly on the daily movements of staff and students who live on one side of the Border and work or study on the other, is a major issue. A recent paper by the Royal Irish Academy highlighted concern among academics about the importance of maintaining an open Border to allow free travel.
China will allow beef imports from the United States starting from June 20, China's food quality watchdog said in a statement on Tuesday.

Boneless and bone-in beef from cattle under 30 months of age will be eligible for imports, according to the statement published on the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Beef destined for China must be from cattle that can be traced to its birth farm, according to the statement.

Chinese meat importers are racing to get their hands on the first shipments of beef from the United States in 14 years, as strong demand for premium steaks continues to grow in the $2.6 billion beef import market.

China and the United States last week settled the conditions for American beef exports after the two sides agreed in May to resume the trade. Pent-up demand for U.S. meat could erode sales of Australian beef, China's current top supplier of premium steaks.

"We have ordered 56 to 58 tonnes of whole carcasses, which are expected to arrive by the end of July," said Chen Fugang, owner of Aoyang International, a Shanghai-based trading company.

Chen said he expects the product to be a hit in the Chinese market, where total beef sales grew around 4 percent last year to reach 5.9 million tonnes, according to Euromonitor.

"We're especially interested in several barbecue products, like rib eye and fillet steak, which we believe Chinese customers would like," added Chen.

American beef is known for its quality in China, but was banned in 2003 after a mad cow disease scare. Since then, other beef imports have surged, as domestic production has struggled to keep up with demand from the expanding middle class.

Total beef arrivals rose 22 percent to 579,836 tonnes last year and foreign suppliers will meet about 20 percent of demand by 2020, forecasts Rabobank.

"The number of enquiries to our exporters number in the hundreds, if not low thousands, since the announcement of the agreement," said Joel Haggard, senior vice president for the U.S. Meat Export Federation in Asia-Pacific.

Increased competition for the lucrative premium market will stir concerns in Australia, where a drought has cut the herd size.

Similar quality cuts of U.S. beef are expected to be cheaper than Australian meat because of low U.S. grain prices, a large component of the cost of raising cattle.

Chen, who sells Australian and New Zealand beef to five-star hotels and high-end restaurants, declined to reveal the price for his U.S. cargoes, adding that customs and handling fees still needed to be factored in.

But the product would be cheaper than Australian beef, he added.

"Price is a key (selling) point, as U.S. beef is cheaper than Australian beef of the same quality," he said.

Despite the high interest, strict Chinese import conditions will limit shipments of American beef initially. And U.S. prices are also high currently, warned the Meat Export Federation's Haggard.

"This isn't going to be a wave of product coming in. It's going to roll in slowly," he said.

Australian beef will still see strong demand, said Michael Finucan, general manager of international markets at industry body Meat & Livestock Australia.

Australia's grass-fed beef is seen as "more green" than American in some markets, he said. And, unlike the U.S., the country can export refrigerated beef to China, tapping into demand from high-end retailers.

However, for some, U.S. beef has the edge.

"I have been in this industry for a long time. In my view, U.S. beef tastes more tender," said Aoyang's Chen.
There will be an increase in the outsourcing of seasonal tasks on dairy farms, a Teagasc financial specialist has predicted.

As concerns over farm labour shortages continue to spiral, Teagasc's Kevin Connolly, says it's time for dairy farmers to explore supports outside the farm gate.

"There will be more outsourcing of basic jobs on the farm, fertiliser spreading, AI, silage, spraying - a lot of that is going to take off in Ireland.

"You'll see guys specialising in services for a dozen or 20 dairy farmers in their area on a regular basis. They will buy the machinery and they'll be running their own little business," he said.

Although Mr Connolly says farmers have traditionally avoided looking for outside help because of costs, he believes this attitude will have to change.

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"They think they are saving money but they are actually spending more time on jobs that they could easily outsource.

"Farmers are under stress, dairy farmers in particular, and they are putting a lot of that stress on themselves to drive on while milking 50pc or 80pc more cows. That is not sustainable.

"They are just chasing their tails by trying to do all the work they've done in the past and they feel a little bit of failure if they are seen to take on any extra help from outside.

There is a little bit of 'keeping up with the Joneses' attitude there too," he said.

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Mr Connolly was speaking at a Teagasc conference on 'Employing People on Farms' in Thurles last week.

Teagasc, in collaboration with the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), launched a manual which addresses all issues that an employer must take into consideration in advance of employing.

Teagasc director Professor Gerry Boyle said dairy farmers are facing an "unparalleled situation" in terms of labour and the challenges ahead.

"The number of dairy herds with over 100 cows has risen to nearly 50pc. That's up from 13pc in 2005.

"Close to 3,000 extra jobs will be needed over the next decade on dairy farms and that clearly is going to create issues of where that labour is going to come from and also the training of that labour," he said.

Although Prof Boyle highlighted the positive side of job creation in the sector, he says the issue of managing farm labour has been neglected for "far too long".

He believes dairy farmers can learn a lot from the labour example set by the pig sector.

"Our record of managing labour on farms in latter generations hasn't been a good one and we have to change that because labour is going to be scarce.

"We're going to need good people that we can trust and we're not going to get them unless we pay a reasonable wage with terms and conditions that will support the farm business," he said.

Farmers facing 'unparalleled' challenge on labour issues warns Teagasc director
Irish aircraft lessors, airlines and investors have announced deals at the Paris Air Show to buy aircraft with a combined list value of almost $30bn (26.9bn).

Irish aircraft lessors, airlines and investors have announced deals at the Paris Air Show to buy aircraft with a combined list value of almost $30bn (26.9bn).

And John Higgins, the chief commercial officer of the world's third-biggest lessor, Dublin-based Avolon, has insisted there's no "doomsday scenario" looming for the global airline industry.

Avolon, whose chief executive is Domhnal Slattery, placed an order for 75 single-aisle Boeing Max 8 aircraft yesterday, with a list price of $8.4bn (7.5bn), and an option to acquire an additional 50.

Big aircraft orders typically attract chunky discounts and Mr Higgins told the Irish Independent that Avolon had secured "attractive terms and conditions" for its order having made "substantial progress" relative to pricing on previous transactions.

Mr Higgins said that while the Avolon order is for 75 Max 8 jets, he added that the lessor "could well" convert some of the orders to Boeing's new Max 10, which it unveiled in Paris this week. Avolon has taken an option over 50 Max jets. The latest firm order will boost the number of aircraft that Avolon either owns, manages or has on order to 925 jets. Of those, 360 are on order.

"We have complete flexibility to move up and down the variants in the Max family," said Mr Higgins. "We fully expect that when these planes deliver between 2021 and 2024 that there will be a mix of other Max variants in the actual delivery."

Avolon, acquired last year by Bohai Leasing, a unit of China's HNA conglomerate, has grown fourfold in the past 17 months, said Mr Higgins. Earlier this year, Avolon completed the $10.4bn acquisition of the CIT aircraft leasing business. But rivals Gecas and Aercap - both based in Ireland - still lead Avolon, being number one and two respectively in terms of fleet size.

"We have an extraordinarily supportive shareholder," said Mr Higgins. "It has been commented in the past that we would like to be number one. Size, or being number one for the sake of being the biggest, is not a metric that we're interested in.

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"Where we see an opportunity to grow, where it's financially accretive, where it's strategically accretive, we have a shareholder and a management team that has the ambition and the wherewithal to support that. I think our business is going to continue to grow."

He pointed to strong global passenger growth since the start of the year that bodes well for the airline industry and lessors.

"Airlines are much better managed now than they were five or 10 years ago," he said. "They're much better at managing their cost base and their revenue lines, and more people are flying. We don't see a backdrop that suggests there's about to be a major market correction.

"When I look at the demand that we have both for used and new airplanes in our portfolio, and I look at the availability of capital to finance the deliveries we've made and are making, I don't see a doomsday scenario."

Dublin-based lessor AerCap, headed by Aengus Kelly, placed an order this week for 30 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, with an $8.1bn list price. The order makes AerCap the largest customer for the hi-tech jet. AerCap has already taken delivery of 55 Dreamliners and now has a total of 67 in its backlog.

Also at Paris, Gecas placed an order for 100 single-aisle Airbus A320neo jets, with a total list price of about $10.8bn (9.6bn) It brings the total number of A320 aircraft types ordered by Gecas to about 600.

Latin America's Viva Air, founded and backed by Declan Ryan's Irelandia Aviation, placed an order yesterday for 50 Airbus aircraft.

The order has a list price of about $5.3bn. The aircraft will be used by Viva Colombia and Viva Peru. Irelandia Aviation senior partner John Goode said the order reflects Viva Air's aim to expand its business across Latin America.

Ryanair said it will buy another 10 Boeing 737 Max 200 jets, with a $1.1bn list price.
Shannon Group's International Aviation Services Centre (IASC) and DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurs has teamed up with Boeing and Irish software firm Datalex to launch a start-up incubator at Shannon.

The Propeller Shannon partnership was unveiled at the Paris Airshow by IASC managing director Patrick Edmond.

He said that he hopes the new facility will make Shannon home to a "new generation of aviation entrepreneurs".

The initiative will be formally launched in the coming weeks.

Boeing's HorizonX venture capital division is backing the new facility.

"At Boeing HorizonX, we believe in encouraging entrepreneurs and start-up companies who can help us identify innovations that can be brought to market and bring disruptive value to our customers," said Steve Nordlund, leader of Boeing HorizonX.

"We are thrilled to be part of a partnership that will draw out the best of Irish aerospace technology innovation and help new companies carve a path to success."

Clyde Hutchinson, Propeller Programme Lead at the DCU Ryan Academy said the incubator will be a "unique opportunity".
Irish poultry giant Moy Park is back on the market just two years after it was bought by its current Brazilian owner.

Northern Ireland headquartered Moy Park was bought in 2015 for $1.5bn (1.3bn).

Based in Craigavon, the business employs 6,300 people in Northern Ireland and a total of 12,000, including at operations in the Republic and elsewhere in Europe.

The business is reckoned to be the biggest private-sector employer in the North and a huge buyer of poultry on both sides of the Border.

Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS said yesterday that it planned to raise around 6bn reals (1.6bn) with a divestment plan to help cut debt.

JBS - whose controlling shareholder recently agreed to pay the world's largest 'leniency fine' to settle its role in a Brazilian corruption scandal - said the plan presented to its board includes stakes in dairy company Vigor Alimentos, Moy Park and US-focused Five Rivers Cattle Feeding.

Moy Park recorded pre-tax profits of 35.7m in 2015.

"Moy Park is a successful and growing food business with a solid financial standing," said Moy Park CEO Janet McCollum.

"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," she added.

JBS is selling off different parts of its huge global business, including the shareholding stakes in Moy Park.

Just last month, Ms McCollum received the Lifetime Achievement Award in the 'Belfast Telegraph' Business Awards in partnership with Ulster Bank.

She was honoured for her 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 major expansion including growth in the convenience food sector, which has helped drive profits.
While birds and small animals can sometimes become unfortunate victims on our roads, they also pose a potential safety risk for the driver - and the same dangers apply on the airfield.

In an effort to address the challenges of wildlife activity on the airfield at Dublin Airport, a tender competition has been launched to help find an adequate solution.

Dublin Airport and Enterprise Ireland - through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) open tender initiative - are encouraging firms to research and develop smart, low cost and innovative technology that further reduces the risk.

"The aviation business is dynamic and constantly evolving and we are continually seeking solutions that are specific to our industry challenges," Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison said.

"Like other international airports, Dublin Airport already has robust systems in place that continuously monitor wildlife activity around our airfield."

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Dublin Airport has had a comprehensive Wildlife and Habitat Management Plan in place for decades, using a number of methods such as implementing a dedicated grasslands management plan, daily patrols on the airfield and employing a consultant ornithologist for expert advice on bird activity.

Minister of State for Skills, Training, Innovation, Research & Development John Halligan said the SBIR tender process is about enabling public sector bodies to connect with innovative ideas and technologies.

"I am pleased that the SBIR is particularly suited to small and medium sized businesses and I welcome the further opportunities this initiative may open up for this sector," he said.

The invitation to tender document is available on eTenders website, www.etenders.gov.ie, and an information day to outline details of the project will be held at the airport on July 4.
Pre-tax profits at the Berkeley Group was reported at 812m, well ahead of the company estimate of 766m.

London's largest publicly traded homebuilder released its results on Wednesday morning for the 12 months to April 2017.

In the full year, the company completed 3,905 homes with an average selling price of homes was 675,000 - 32pc above last years level.

In spite of the uncertainty around Brexit, the company reiterated both its three-year pre-tax profit guidance (2bn in the three years to April 2018) and five-year pre-tax profit guidance (3bn in the five years to April 2021).

According to the firm, net cash of 286m is slightly ahead of forecasts.

Overall, Berkeley has seen the London market stabilise in the second half of the financial year.

In March, Berkeley said the Brexit vote caused reservations to decline; and for the full year, the value of reservations was 25pc lower than last year

However, the firm maintained that the trend later in the year has seen reservations return to previous levels.
Barclays and four former executives have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud during the bank's 2008 capital-raising from Qatar as it sought to avoid a bailout amid one of the most turbulent periods in financial history.

The Serious Fraud Office said former CEO John Varley, former chairman of investment banking for the Middle East Roger Jenkins, ex-wealth chief Thomas Kalaris, and Richard Boath, the former European head of the bank's financial institutions group, face charges along with Barclays.

The four men are the most senior UK banking executives charged since the financial crisis, which sent banks across the globe scrambling to raise funds to cover billions in losses.

The case relates to the nature of 322m (289m) in fees Barclays paid to the Qatar Investment Authority and a $3bn loan facility it made available to the nation as part of side deals to the 12bn fundraising from Qatari and other investors.

The five-year investigation is one of a number of lingering probes over the bank's behaviour dating back nearly a decade. Barclays has faced issues ranging from the rigging of key benchmark rates to more recent scandals related to how executives dealt with whistle-blowers.

The London-based bank said it is "considering its position" in relation to the allegations. Barclays said that one of its main subsidiaries may face additional charges in the case.

Mr Varley and Mr Jenkins face three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and unlawful financial assistance. Mr Boath and Mr Kalaris each face one fraud count. A London court hearing is scheduled for July 3.

The charges relate to Barclays's capital arrangements with Qatar Holding LLC, a subsidiary of the emirate's QIA sovereign wealth fund, and Challenger Universal Ltd, an investment vehicle of the country's then prime minister.

The SFO, which Prime Minister Theresa May has threatened to fold into another crime agency, has delayed the charging decision at least twice since missing a March deadline.

In addition to the SFO, the Qatar deals are being reviewed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which re-opened its probe earlier this year after more documents came to light. The regulator had previously fined the bank 50m in relation to how it disclosed the fees paid to the Qataris. The FCA said that it was working closely with the SFO.

A lawyer for 61-year-old Jenkins said his client will "vigorously defend 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 each and every subject mentioned in the accusations levelled by the SFO," said Brad Kaufman, Jenkins's US-based lawyer at Greenberg Traurig.

A lawyer for Mr Varley declined to comment, while a lawyer for Mr Kalaris didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Mr Boath said in a statement he "was not a decision-maker and had no control over what the bank did in 2008".

"The SFO's decision to charge me is based on a false understanding of my role and the facts," Mr Boath said. "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."

Mr Varley, 61, was appointed CEO in 2004 after starting his career at the bank in the 1980s. He presided over the lender during the 2008 financial crisis before handing the reigns to Bob Diamond in 2011. (Bloomberg)
Only 3.1pc of Hong Kong youths identify themselves as "Chinese" or "broadly Chinese" - a historic low, as the former British colony prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule.

The Asian financial hub, has been rocked by youth-led protests demanding democracy in recent years.

It is governed under a "one country, two systems" agreement that guaranteed a high degree of autonomy after Britain handed sovereignty back to China on July 1, 1997.

A new survey for Hong Kong University polled 120 youths between the ages of 18 and 29.

When the regular half-yearly survey started in 1997, 31pc of youths identified themselves as "Chinese in a broad sense", and 16pc said they were "Chinese".

The latest results showed that 93.7pc of youths see themselves broadly as a "Hong Kongers", compared to 68pc in 1997.

In a wider survey of more than 1,000 people of all age groups, found that about 63pc of respondents said they were broadly "Hong Kongers" while about 35pc said they were broadly Chinese.

Those numbers are similar to the 1997 results.

Many Chinese government officials have in recent months expressed concern over Hong Kong youths' reluctance to embrace a Chinese identity.

Among them, China's third-most senior official, Zhang Dejiang, who also oversees Hong Kong affairs, stressed the need for strengthening what was described as "national education".

Media reports yesterday said the incoming head of Hong Kong's governing authority Carrie Lam has said she will tackle pro-independence moves in Hong Kong and do more to foster Chinese identity among toddlers.

Previously, she dismissed claims that pro-independence views in Hong Kong are widespread.

"I believe most people in Hong Kong never consider independence to be feasible. The next SAR (government) will strictly carry out its duties according to the law, because all pro-independence behaviour violates local laws.

"We must strictly enforce the law," she said yesterday in an interview with CCTV, a state broadcaster.

Meanwhile, rapid economic growth in mainland China since the Hong Kong handover has closed a once gaping income gap. The ranks of mainland China's wealthy will again grow by double-digits this year but industry expansion will cool as economic growth slows and government oversight of financial products increases, a report said on Tuesday.

The 2017 China Private Wealth Report, by Bain Consulting and China Merchants Bank, put the number of high net worth individuals (HNWI)- with at least 10 million yuan (1.3m) of investable assets - at 1.6 million yuan in 2016, nearly nine times the number a decade earlier.

The report, issued every two years, forecasts a slower growth pace for the wealth business this year, but still sees substantial gains.

It projects an 18pc increase in HNWIs to 1.87 million yuan by the end of 2017, and a 14pc increase in China's private wealth market to 188 trillion yuan from 165 trillion yuan. In 2014-2016, the market grew 21pc annually, the survey said.

According to the report, around 120,000 HNWIs had at least 100 million yuan worth of investable assets, compared with fewer than 10,000 people in 2006. (Reuters)
COMEDIAN Jason Byrne has appeared in court accused of driving without a driving licence.

Mr Byrne (45) was allegedly stopped by traffic gardai near his home at Oldtown, Co Dublin last week.

The accused appeared before Swords District Court this morning charged with driving without a driving licence at the R122 Oldtown on June 13 last.

Judge Conal Gibbons adjourned the case to a date in September.

A garda witness gave evidence that he arrested Mr Byrne at 3.10pm on June 13 last. He was taken to Swords Garda Station where he was charged at 4.03pm. The accused was handed a true copy of the charge sheet and he made no reply to the charge after caution.

The court heard that Mr Byrne is facing the possibility of further charges.

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Defence lawyer Patrick Jackson said he was instructed by solicitor Laura Shannon.

Mr Jackson said there was consent to a date in September.

Judge Gibbons adjourned the case to September 12.

"That's perfect", said Mr Jackson.

Wearing a black t-shirt and wine bomber jacket, a bearded Mr Byrne did not address the court during the short hearing.

Mr Byrne has not yet indicated how he is pleading to the charge.

The funnyman, with an address in Oldtown, Co Dublin, is due to play a series of gigs next month in Howth, Bray, Waterford, Cork and Dundalk.

Later this year, Byrne brings his Man With Three Brains tour to venues across England and Scotland. He will play 39 dates across the UK during October, November and December, including three nights at the Leicester Square Theatre in London.
An Estonian man charged with conspiracy to murder a friend of the Hutch family has been further remanded in custody.

Gardai from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau supported by members of the Special Crime Task Force, Emergency Response Unit and Armed Support Unit raided a premises in west Dublin on the morning of April 4. Three men were arrested as part of an investigation into the Hutch-Kinahan feud.

Imre Arakas (58) with an address at Sopruse, Tallinn, Estonia, was charged on April 6 last and then remanded in custody.

He is accused of conspiring with others not before the courts to murder James Gately in Northern Ireland between April 3 and April 4. The offence is under Section 71 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.

He faced his seventh hearing on Wednesday when he appeared at Cloverhill District Court.

Judge Victor Blake further remanded him in custody to appear again July 5 on next. At his first hearing, on April 6, a court was told he made no reply to the charge and due to the nature of the charge a bail application could only be made in the High Court.

He has not yet indicated how he will plead to the charge.

Legal aid was granted following submissions that he was unemployed and unable to pay for a lawyer.

The other two other men arrested in connection with this investigation have been released from Garda custody without charge. A file is being prepared for the DPP.
The trial of six men accused of falsely imprisoning the former Tanaiste Joan Burton has heard that the root cause of an escalation in the protest had to be laid firmly at the door of gardai.

Solidarity TD Paul Murphy (34) and five other men have pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to falsely imprisoning Ms Burton and her adviser Karen OConnell by restricting their personal liberty without consent at Fortunestown Road, Jobstown, Tallaght on November 15, 2014.

In his closing arguments to the jury Raymond Comyn SC, defending Councillor Michael Murphy, questioned why gardai had failed to try engage and negotiate with the politicians and protestors earlier in order to diffuse matters, before the anger of the crowd increased rapidly.

Why was it left until everything had blown up? After that, the whole temperature increased exponentially, Aughrim was lost, any attempt to diffuse matters was lost, he said.

Mr Comyn quoted an inspector at the scene who said he was waiting for reinforcements to arrive before making tactical decisions; he also described how gardai ran in the wrong direction because they didn't know where they were needed.

The gardai were not briefed. What class of an operation is that? he said. He said every decision made by gardai on the day was unwise and inappropriate, comparing gardai who attended the protest to the Keystone Cops.

Mr Comyn claimed there was something rotten at the core of this investigation because evidence given by gardai was proved demonstrably wrong in court by video footage. He said he was very critical of gardai for not finding crucial YouTube footage uncovered by Cllr Murphy,

The video in question showed Cllr Murphy speaking through a loud hailer, proposing to move the protest on and warning against argy-bargy, saying this isnt what we came here for.

A woman in the video, who told the crowd through the megaphone that she was from Killinarden in Tallaght, advocated keeping Ms Burton and her advisor there.

The final irony..is that a man who promoted a solution to the problem is now before the court, while the lady who was promoting the problem hasnt even been identified or tracked down by gardai, said Mr Comyn.

Mr Comyn pointed out that Cllr Murphy had actually taken steps to restrain people from acting violently and had pulled some protesters back from the jeep.

He said his client had also asked a man who was hogging the megaphone and chanting Shove your water meters up your a** to desist.

And, he said that although Cllr Murphy did bang on the garda jeep, he was doing so at a time when the jeep was moving as a warning to the driver who could not see the people sitting down in front of it.

Mr Comyn endorsed a comment made by his client when interviewed by gardai: the videos speak for themselves, telling the jury that were it not for the footage, this would be an utterly different case.

Counsel for another of the accused, Cllr Kieran Mahon, also criticised what he described as a series of misjudgements and tactical mistakes by gardai on the day.

Kerida Naidoo SC said his client didnt say boo to a goose all day at the protest. He said he was a political representative and a political activist, he could not be described as a criminal and was never accused of violent disorder.

He didn't use force or threaten to use force on Ms Burton, her advisor, or any member of the gardai; he didn't use vile or threatening language; he didn't push or shove gardai.

He didn't throw an egg, a balloon or any other missile, he didn't have a water metre hidden down his trousers, said Mr Naidoo.

Mr Naidoo said that there were eleven other people still facing trial and that nine of those were charged with both false imprisonment and violent disorder.

It was the violent disorder that put the two women in fear, and it was because of the fear that they didn't get out of the car. And he (Cllr Mahon) is not responsible for that, he said.

Mr Naidoo played a number of video segments to the jury, including one showing Cllr Mahon walking away from the crowd that was beginning to gather around the garda car containing Ms Burton and Ms O'Connell.

Further videos showed Cllr Mahon at the periphery of the crowd, moving in the opposite direction of the crowd, and sitting down for about five minutes until gardai pulled him up.

Paul Murphy of Kingswood Heights, Tallaght; Kieran Mahon of Bolbrook Grove, Tallaght; Michael Murphy of Whitechurch Way, Ballyboden, Dublin; Frank Donaghy (71) of Alpine Rise, Tallaght; Michael Banks (46) of Brookview Green, Tallaght and Scott Masterson (34) of Carrigmore Drive, Tallaght have all denied the charges.

The trial continues before Judge Melanie Greally.
Christina Mulhall (58) of Lower Sean McDermott Street, Dublin pictured leaving the Four Courts yesterday(Wed) after she appeared before the Dublin District Court in relation to social welfare fraud offences. Photo: Collins Courts

A grandmother, who used a bogus PPS number and ID to unlawfully get 60,000 in benefits, has been spared a jail sentence.

Care assistant and mother-of-six, Christina Mulhall (58) from Lower Sean McDermott Street, Dublin 1, was ordered by Judge John Brennan to carry out 200 hours community service in lieu of a six-month jail sentence.

She was prosecuted following an investigation by the Department of Social Protection.

The health care worker had pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to charges under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act for unlawfully obtaining benefits in two separate frauds going back to 2007.

Earlier, Judge Brennan had said it is very hard to see how a custodial sentence will not be imposed and when the case resumed today he noted the offences took place over a lengthy period. There was substantial level of mala fides involved in the falsifying of a PPS number, he added.

He also noted, however, that a positive probation report on her suitability for a community service order was furnished to the court. It also stated the woman was deemed to be at a low risk of re-offending and she has a strong family network.

A dole fraud offence at district court level can also result in a fine of up to 2,500 and a possible six-month sentence per charge in addition to having to repay the social welfare authorities. They can also continue to recoup money owed after criminal proceedings have concluded.

Prosecution solicitor Joseph Maguire told the court that Mulhall carried out two frauds relating to disability benefits and the one parent family payment.

Each involved misuse of a fake PPS number and ID to facilitate and aggravate both frauds, he said.

The one parent family payment fraud, from July 2007 until July 2009 netted 29,775 and the disability claim, from April 2010 until January 2013, resulted in her getting 28,676.

The total fraud was 58,451 and the court also heard she is repaying it at a rate of 15 a week. So far she has given back about 900, Judge Brennan had been told at an earlier hearing in February.

Her barrister asked the court to note there were peculiar personal circumstances; Mulhall's marriage ended 13 years ago but the mother-of-six got no maintenance payments.

She had a zero hour contract job as a care assistant in Dublin but her wages varied between 200 and 400 a week. She works with disabled children and with and elderly patients who have Alzheimers disease, the barrister said.

A letter from a patient was handed in to court during defence pleas for leniency. Counsel defending said Mulhall was worried the outcome of the case could affect her ability to retain her position and to pay back what is owed.

Pleading for her to be spared a jail term, the barrister also said that the woman is making a contribution to her community and takes care of a son and a grandchild.
A "manipulative" woman who posed as a Swedish model to entrap a man into taking part in her bid to murder police officers has been jailed.

Christine Connor (31) smiled and waved at family at Belfast Crown Court as she was sentenced to 16 years and four months for terrorist offences.

The court heard how Connor - whose address cannot be published for legal reasons - used the identity of model Sanne Andersson to lure a "rather pathetic, troubled and vulnerable" man she met online to assist her in the preparation of terrorists acts.

Stuart Downes, from Shrewsbury, England, was also charged on a number of terrorist offences linked to two separate pipe bomb incidents in north Belfast in May 2013.

Connors used a fake name and fake profile picture after befriending Downes, who later bought the components for the pipe bombs which he posted to Connor in Belfast. He also called UTV after one pipe bomb attack, claiming responsibility on behalf of the Irish Republican Movement.

The 31-year-old was on bail, but took his own life last June. Both pipe bomb attacks occurred in May 2013.

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On May 16, an explosive device was placed at Ligoniel Road, while in the second incident a pipe bomb was thrown from an alleyway at an officer responding to a 999 call on the upper Crumlin Road.

In the early hours of May 28, police received a call from a woman claiming she was being attacked by her boyfriend.

The hoax call was made by Connor, and when officers responded, a pipe bomb was thrown at a constable.

The officer did not sustain serious injuries but was left with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Following the second pipe bomb attack, Connor was forensically linked to the alleyway where the device was thrown at police. She was arrested and quizzed by detectives but refused to answer any questions.

During her seventh interview, she handed police a pre-prepared statement saying she had been in the Crumlin Road area in the early hours of May 28 as she was a member of WeightWatchers and was out exercising.

In May of this year, Connor entered guilty pleas to six offences arising from the two bomb blasts, including a charge of attempting to murder a police officer, as well as possessing explosives with intent to endanger life.

The court heard Connor's criminality was "motivated by terrorism", and that during the second incident "her intended victims were police officers carrying out a public service".

It was also told that a wealth of evidence linked Connor and Downes, which included communication via Facebook, laptops and on mobile phones.

Prosecuting barrister Ciaran Murphy QC said that Connor was "effectively caught red-handed".

Passing sentence, Judge David McFarland said that while elements of the case were "bizarre", Connor's offending was "sinister" and she "remained a danger to the public".

Connor will have to go before the Parole Commission after serving half of her sentence to determine if she is eligible for release.
A man disguised as a woman pulled a submachine gun from a handbag and shot dead a racing pigeon enthusiast 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 Mr Walker was struck by 18 bullets, and died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body.

Witnesses described hearing someone shout "hitman" before shots were fired and they "hit the floor".

Mr McDonald, from the East Wall area in 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.

Yesterday, a witness, Jason O'Connor, lunged for the murder accused as he walked towards the witness box.

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A woman sitting in the courtroom shouted "please Jay, don't" as four prison officers held him.

He and the dead man were friends and the jury heard Mr Walker had driven Mr O'Connor's partner's car to the club.

The jury was led away and when they returned Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said the behaviour witnessed by them was "quite disrespectful to the accused", who enjoys the presumption of innocence.

In his evidence, Stuart Kane said he was standing outside the club talking when he heard someone shout "hitman". He looked around, saw a woman pull a gun out and start shooting. Everyone "hit the floor", he said.

Mr Kane said the shooter was wearing a black wig, black sunglasses and a long black dress.

He said he saw Mr Walker fall to the ground, and the shooter run backwards towards the entrance gate.

Another pigeon club member, Terry Sutcliffe, also said he heard someone shout "hitman". He turned, saw "someone pull something out" and he jumped behind a van.

Mr Sutcliffe said he heard noises which sounded like "a load of fire crackers".

When he came out from behind the van Mr Sutcliffe saw Mr Walker lying on the ground. He went over and saw he was dead.

Mr Sutcliffe rang Mr O'Connor, whose car Mr Walker had been driving, and told him his friend had been shot.

In his opening speech, lawyer Denis Vaughan Buckley said it is the prosecution case that 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 trial continues.
The trial of a man charged with impeding a homicide investigation has heard that the victim died from head injuries consistent with being struck by the blunt end of a hand axe.

Chief State Pathologist, Professor Marie Cassidy, today gave evidence in the Central Criminal Court trial of Aivars Sondors.

Mr Sondors (55) is charged with three counts of assisting an offender on September 9 or 10 2013 by impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Marius Gaizutis, knowing or believing him to have unlawfully killed Audrius Butkus (44).

The particulars include moving the body from a house on Marsh Road in Drogheda and placing it in the sea at Mornington Beach; cleaning up the scene at Marsh Road; and disposing of carpet, clothing, a nail brush, bin bag, bottles and tins from the scene at Burke House, Mathews Lane, Drogheda.

Mr Sondors of Sycamore Close, Termon Abbey in Drogheda, but originally from Latvia, has admitted the three allegations against him, but has pleaded not guilty to all three counts. His barrister has indicated that the issue for the jury of eight men and four women to decide would be whether there had been duress.

The jury has previously heard that Mr Gaizutis was convicted of the murder of Mr Butkus on May 1, 2015.

Dr Cassidy told the court that she carried out a post-mortem examination on Mr Butkuss body on September 10, which had been discovered face down in the sand on Mornington beach with obvious Injuries to his head.

The witness testified that the upper part of the victim's body was naked and he was wearing jeans and underpants which were down around his ankles. She said his clothing was wet, dirty and sandy.

Dr Cassidy said Mr Butkus had multiple injuries to his face, the left hand-side of his head and the top of his skull which were consistent with being struck by a rectangular object. She said he could have received up to nine blows to his head.

An internal examination showed there was extensive damage to the left side of his skull and his brain was swollen.

In addition to this there were rectangular and triangular wounds on his shoulder area, she said.

Dr Cassidy said death would not have been immediate but he could have been rendered unconscious by the first blow.

There were drag marks on the back of the victim's body which gave the appearance that he had been dragged over something rough, she said.

Mr Butkus had an enlarged liver which indicated chronic alcohol use and he was considerably intoxicated at the time of his death, she said.

There was no evidence of any defensive type injuries nor any suggestion that he had drowned.

In conclusion, Dr Cassidy said that Mr Butkuss death was due to blunt force trauma to the head which caused brain injury and inhalation of blood.

The witness was shown a hand axe and she agreed with the prosecution that Mr Butkus's injuries could have been caused by the blunt end of this axe.

Under cross examination by Colman Fitzgerald SC, defending, Dr Cassidy agreed that Mr Butkus was the victim of a ferocious attack and was in no position to defend himself.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Coffey.
A widow who sued over the care given to her husband at Cork University Hospital (CUH) has settled her High Court action for 295,000.

Father-of-two, Remmy Ajayi (33), originally from Nigeria, suffered total organ failure and died on November 21, 2008, the court heard.

The issue in the case related to the nature and extent of treatment of Mr Ajayi's serious eye infection including with steroids, counsel for the widow told the court.

Phumla Joana Ajayi, Tuairin Glas, Greenfields, Ballincollig, Co Cork, sued the HSE over the care given to her husband at CUH where he had gone on September 16, 2008, complaining of a one week history of redness or infection in his left eye.

His condition was diagnosed as a serious eye infection, toxoplasmosis uveitis. A treatment regime was put in place.

It was further claimed on November 18, 2008, when Mr Ajayi was extremely unwell, he was taken back to CUH by ambulance in circumstances where he was unresponsive.

He was admitted to the hospital but developed complications, including acute renal failure, and was in a diabetic coma.

He further developed pancreatitis which resulted in his death from total organ failure three days later.

It was claimed there was an alleged failure to provide Mr Ajayi with a an appropriate treatment regime as of November 18 and a failure to take in to account the risk factors of him developing complications.

It was also claimed there was an alleged failure to limit the use of steroids in the earlier treatment of Mr Ajayi.

His wife and two children, and other members of his extended family, have been grossly distressed as a result of his untimely death, it was claimed.

The claims were denied. The HSE contended that all necessary and adequate precautions for the safety of Mr Ajayi had been taken and that a proper treatment regime had been put in place.

It was further contended that Mr Ajayi was reviewed in an adequate manner and had ongoing review appointments at the ophthalmology clinic.

It was also argued, the defence, he was treated in a responsible, reasonable and professional manner and that he was suffering from a serious infective condition which may result in blindness if untreated.

He had been treated appropriately and with all due diligence and his unfortunate death was not reasonably foreseeable in the circumstances, it was also claimed.

John O'Mahony SC, for the widow, said it was a very sad case.

Mr Ajayi was at that time retraining and hoping to study a degree in science, he said.

His wife was pregnant with their second child at the time.

Counsel said it was his side's contention the September steroid treatment regime should have been discontinued or tapered off sooner.

Approving the settlement, Mr Justice Kevin Cross sympathised with the family.
Students who are to be forced to leave their accommodation at a premise in Dublin over fire safety concerns have said they have no idea if they will be forced to leave the property within the next month.

12 international students are currently living in the four bedroom basement of 24 Mountjoy Square in Dublin city centre, a building which has been deemed a potential fire safety danger.

The High Court heard yesterday in a dispute between the propertys owner, Christopher Singh, and the propertys receiver, Anne ODwyer of Duff & Phelps, that it would be agreed that the students would leave the property when their term ends in the middle of July.

It was also agreed that a family of eight would also leave their residence in the top floor of the building as soon as possible.

However, one student has told Independent.ie that none of the 12 students have yet been made that they may be forced to leave the property within the next month.

When asked about how they felt about having to leave by the end of term, one student said that it was the first any of the 12 residents had heard about it.

Cassio, originally from Brazil, has been staying in the Mountjoy Square basement for two months and said that they have been in minimal contact with any fire wardens or inspectors, and have not been made aware of anything that has been discussed in the High Court concerning their residence.

Were not sure about anything yet, Cassio said. We have had problems with the fire alarms but no one has given us notice yet.

Were just waiting for someone to answer us. I dont know whats going to happen here.

Independent.ie was told that inspections have been carried out in the basement of 24 Mountjoy Square yesterday, one as recent as last week.

However, the students have not been told of any potential fire safety risks, or if the premise is currently safe to live in.

We just discovered that something was happening when the first inspection happened last week, Cassio said.

I dont know if its dangerous. Ive never been in the situation so I dont know whats dangerous or not dangerous.

We didnt speak with the inspectors too much. They just asked us questions. Only the landlord answers us.

Cassio plans to stay in Dublin until at least November when his visa expires. While he believes he may be able to secure alternative accommodation, he is concerned that his housemates may have trouble doing so.

I have a friend which welcomed me in Dublin when I arrived here, but the rest of the people here Im not sure. I dont know whats going to happen there

Dublin City Council had previously issued a fire safety notice in respect of the property in August of last year.

As part of the arrangement between the propertys owner and receiver, fire wardens have been put in place to monitor the building 24 hours a day.

It was also agreed that the receiver would be making an undisclosed lump sum available to put towards the cost of the family living on the top floor securing new accommodation.

Residents of the buildings top floor refused to comment.
A couple whose four-year-old son has a life-threatening and extremely rare genetic condition have appealed for help in raising funds for treatment.

Alan and Michelle Finglas's son Dylan is battling with Multiple Sulfatase Deficiency (MSD). He is just one of 45 known cases in the world and the only one in Ireland.

Doctors have told his parents that without treatment, Dylan won't live past 10. For the past week, Alan (37) and Michelle (36) have been based in Temple Street Hospital while Dylan was fitted with a feeding peg.

Ms Finglas said that if they cannot get treatment for their little boy "he will go through a lot of pain and suffering". He will lose his sight, hearing and the ability to sit and stand on his own, as well as the ability to swallow.

"Dylan will have to be fed through a tube and all his bodily functions will start to shut down. He will eventually die," she said.

The couple need 2m to fund research - they have managed to raise 638,710 so far. The Telethon Institute of Genetics & Medicine in Italy has successfully stopped MSD in lab tests. But the research needs more funding.

"We need help - money is the biggest obstacle to giving Dylan a chance of life," Mr Finglas said. "Sadly, Dylan's condition is progressing but we still have huge hope and continue to pray."

Mr Finglas has organised the first international conference on Multiple Sulfatase Deficiency in Dublin next month, bringing together 20 international experts.

The couple have also set up a website, Saving Dylan, to raise funds.
The family of a woman who went missing from her home 13 weeks ago say they are deeply concerned for her welfare.

Tina Satchwell (45) was last seen in Youghal, Co Cork on March 24. Ms Satchwell, who is originally from Fermoy, left her home that Friday evening and has not made contact with family or friends since.

A trawl of CCTV, phone records and the missing woman's bank accounts has also failed to turn up any results.

Speaking to TV3 News, cousin Sarah Howard explained that Ms Satchwell "seemed happy" the last time they met.

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"I didn't suspect that this was going to happen. We just talked and everything was normal so this is unexpected."

She told reporter Paul Byrne:

Somebody out there has to know where she is. Somebody has to know some bit of information. Somebody just doesn't disappear like that.

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Tina's half sister Lorraine Howard said they know that Tina sent her husband Richard away on the day to get her something in the shop.

"And in that hour, from the time he went to the shop until he came home, she was missing. There were two bags packed, documents gone and just disappeared off the face of the earth from there."

Aunt Margaret Maher issued a plea directly to Tina begging her to just make contact.

"We are really worried. Three months is a long time without any contact. We have nothing at all."

Lorraine suggested that Tina "take a photograph of herself with a copy of today's newspaper".

Garda forensics experts have carried out a trawl of the missing woman's home but the results of this have not been released for operational reasons

Margaret said: "After three months you're thinking if she don't contact us about this we are thinking the worst."

Lorraine added that Tina and husband were "always together so it was extremely unusual for her to be away from him for this long.

Ms Satchwell nee Dingivan is described as being 56 in height, of medium build with blue eyes and blonde shoulder length hair.

The disappearance is said by her family to be totally out of character and they are now deeply concerned for her welfare.

Anybody with information is being asked to contact Midleton Garda Station on (021) 4621550 or the Garda Confidential line 1800 666 111.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in jovial spirits as he unveils his new Junior Cabinet at Government Buildings. Photo: Steve Humphreys

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stands, with a big grin and his arms outstretched, in the front page photograph of the Irish Independent today. Its the day after he chose his junior ministers at Government Buildings, and the new suited and booted team surround their new leader.

The new Cabinet has been described by one peeved Fine Gael politician as a bunch of men in suits. Do you know what? Theyre right.

Catherine Byrne (61) and Helen McEntee (28) are the only two females that made the cut for Varadkars junior ministerial team yesterday.

People are not impressed that Varadkars full Cabinet now features a measly seven women, out of a potential 34 positions.

I firmly believe the best person should be picked for any job, be it a man or a woman. So did this debatable mantra leave us with a male-heavy Dail after promises of new politics? Does this mean that the women weve elected and who are available for the jobs just arent up to scratch?

Of course it doesnt. Because Varadkar didnt actually pick the best people for the job.

The new Taoiseach told colleagues he was picking and choosing based on 'TAT' (thats 'talent, ability, trust' to those who love a good acronym). But the truth is, he didnt even do that. Because, if his considerations were based on just talent and ability alone, there would be a lot more women in the front rows.

No, Varadkar just kicked his promise of 'new politics' to the kerb, made it like the old guard and plucked for the jobs based on trust (and a bit of geography), thus leaving him with a bunch of men in suits.

Fine Gael TDs Maria Bailey, Kate OConnell, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy and Hildegarde Naughton are just four names of accomplished, efficient and intelligent women that spring to the minds of those walking the halls of Leinster House on a daily basis.

But, alas, their talents and abilities were shunned because they backed Simon Coveney in the leadership contest. Why bring talent to the table in the name of new politics when you can give the jobs to the 'choir boys'? Why try and achieve the most successful Cabinet in history when you can instead protect your own back?

There are women there who are the right people for Cabinet jobs  some of them are sitting in the Dail waiting, some are starting out in their political careers in villages across the country, others are storming the world in their own careers and dont even know theyre destined for the world of politics yet.

They are the kind of people we want on our Governments front line.

Weve struggled with encouraging these women to go into male-heavy world of politics for so long and weve hosted the gender quota debate so many times in the interest of women, what kind of vote of confidence is it to the future females of the Dail if their talents and abilities are not considered when it comes to the crunch? Where is the 'new politics'?

"What a let down," one journalist wrote on Twitter in reaction to the appointments.

"Its reigning men," reads another tweet.

"Varadkar wants to portray himself as a Trudeau liberal Trudeaus cabinet is 15 men, and 15 women," another person wrote.

One bad PhotoShop job shows Varadkar sitting at a table, with one female junior minister serving him tea. The speech bubble coming from the Taoiseachs mouth reads; "The women are totes amazing for serving the beer and the tea."

Meanwhile, the satire account Mallow News shared a photograph of a woman with a virtual reality headset on, and captioned it; "REVEALED: The best way for women to participate in Leo Varadkars cabinet."

Fine Gael released a statement today in response to the uproar and wrote; "Fine Gael in Government has done more than any other party before it in terms of gender equality in politics.

"An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has maintained the highest number of female Cabinet Ministers in the history of the State - first achieved in July 2014. Currently, there are four female full Cabinet Ministers, including the Tanaiste, and in addition, a female Super Junior Minister who sits at Cabinet.

"Of the 11 Fine Gael female TDs, six are either Ministers or Junior Ministers, including the Super Junior Minister, meaning 55pc of Fine Gael female TDs occupy senior Government positions. Of the five Fine Gael female TDs who are not Ministers, four are first time TDs."

It continued; "Fine Gael has more women elected to the Dail than any other party.

"However there is no room for complacency and we continue to work to encourage more women into politics Fine Gael is completely committed to increasing the number of women actively participating in politics and will continue to seek to boost the number of women at all levels of the party."

They may have been kicked to the kerb due to Varadkar's failure to appoint jobs according to his acronym 'TAT', but theres a group of women in the Dail right now that are still determined to accomplish and succeed.

Dun Laoghaire TD Maria Bailey summed it up when she spoke to the Irish Independent after the junior minister reveal and said; It wont stop women from making a difference in public life from the backbenches.

Weve had barriers put in front of us before and we always rise above them.
Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has attacked Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin's alleged attempt to "denigrate the character and calibre" of the former Attorney General Marie Whelan.

Ms Fitzgerald referred to comments by Mr Martin in which he suggested Ms Whelan was not of the same standard as other Judges.

"The comments suggested that she is somehow of inferior character and ability when compared to others who have been appointed to positions in the Superior Courts while the party opposite was in Government," the Tanaiste said.

"The comments impact on the constitutional separation of powers which exist in this State," she added.

Ms Fitzgerald also defended the decision to appoint a person to the Court of Appeal who was not a judge.

"It is also in accordance with the law and the Constitution for the Government to nominate for appointment an eligible and qualified person who is not already a judge, even if there are existing judges who have expressed interest in the appointment," she said

"These are the Constitutional prerogatives set down for the Government. If the Deputies across favour a change in the constitution in this area they should outline the alternative they favour," she added.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar with, from left, Brendan Griffin, Kevin Boxer Moran, Michael DArcy, Ciaran Cannon, Jim Daly and John Paul Phelan. Photo: Steve Humphreys

Michael D'Arcy (47) - Minister of State for Financial Services and Insurance

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 Varadkar's leadership bid. He is one of the Taoiseach's so-called 'choir boys' - a label given to him and his colleagues by Dublin Bay South TD Kate O'Connell.

His father Michael served as a junior minister in the 1980s.

John Paul Phelan (38) -Minister of State for Local Government

Another so-called 'choir boy', the Carlow/Kilkenny TD is one of Mr Varadkar's closest confidantes. Despite being in the Oireachtas as a TD and senator for 15 years, Mr Phelan has never held a ministerial post. While a low-key contributor to Dail debates, Mr Phelan's profile grew as a member of the Banking Inquiry.

Brendan Griffin (34) - Minister of State for Tourism and Sport

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

A keen cyclist, the Galway East TD has returned to the ministerial benches having previously been dropped by Mr Kenny.

Mr Cannon joined Fine Gael in 2009 after previously serving with the Progressive Democrats (PDs). The father of one served as the fourth and final leader of the party.

Jim Daly (45) - Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People

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 Clonakilty, Co 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 Mr Varadkar's leadership campaign.

Other Ministers of State

Helen McEntee Minister for European Affairs

Patrick O'Donovan Minister of State for Public Procurement, Open Government and eGovernment

Catherine Byrne Minister of State for Drugs and Health Promotion

Pat Breen Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection

Sean Kyne Minister of State for Natural Resources, Community Affairs and Digital Development

John Halligan Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development

Andrew Doyle Minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture

Damien English Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development

Kevin 'Boxer' Moran Minister of State for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief

David Stanton Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration
Gardai were called to rescue a toddler from a hot car after the child's mother accidentally locked her keys inside the car.

The incident happened on Sunday evening at the Square in Tallaght where temperatures reached 26 degrees.

According to the Irish Daily Star, on-site security officers and a garda member were called to rescue the child.

It's believed the child's mother was putting shopping into her car boot when she locked the keys inside the car.

The garda member used a small mallet to break the glass window and the child was safely taken from the car.
A distraught mother is recovering after police mistakenly said her son had collapsed at Belsonic festival and was on the verge of death.

Sam Jones from Co Down was "devastated" when officers phoned to say her boy was on a life support machine at Belfast's Royal Hospital after being treated by emergency workers at the four-day music event.

As the shock sunk in, police called again to tell her the young boy on life support was not her son.

Instead, it was a different child - thought to be under the legal drinking age of 18 - who had been using Ms Jones' son's stolen driving licence as false identification at Belsonic.

It is thought he is now stable and his parents are at his side. Ms Jones yesterday posted on Facebook about her distress: "I have just received the most devastating call that my son is on life support in Royal Hospital on life support!

"Followed by a second call that it's not him  his ID was stolen last year."

The Bangor woman went on to say the boy in hospital was 'under age' and, urging people to share her message on Facebook, claimed "nobody knows who his parents are".

Police later said the boy in hospital had been identified using "other items in his possession".

Ms Jones added in another Facebook post that she and her partner Michael's "thoughts and prayers" were with the parents whose son was in hospital.

She wrote on the social media network: "What was first heartbreaking news given to Michael and myself that it was our son is now another set of parents' worst nightmare and our hearts go out to them this evening.

"We are both still very shaken and shocked by this mistaken identity.

"Our original post was aiming to find the other parents as fast as possible. And yes, there are unanswered questions for as to this mistaken identity causing us a great deal of stress. We are just so thankful this young man is stable."

A PSNI spokesman said officers were first contacted at 8.15pm on Monday by a hospital worker following the admission of a male who had collapsed at Belsonic, held in Belfast's Ormeau Park.

Chief Inspector Gavin Kirkpatrick added: "The hospital first identified this young man by the driving licence in his possession. Staff asked police to make contact with the family, as per the address on the licence.

"Given the young man's condition at that time, police prioritised the call and went immediately to that address. Although no-one was home at the time, officers were able to make contact with the family. However, it transpired that the young man was actually carrying false identification and so the wrong family was initially given the terrible news that their 'son' was in hospital.

"The young man was then correctly identified by hospital staff, using other items in his possession."

Police added they arrested six youths aged between 14 and 19 at Belsonic yesterday, the festival's final day. Those arrested were held for drugs, indecency and public order offences.

Chief Inspector Kirkpatrick added: "That number should be viewed in the context of the 15,000 people who were there to enjoy the music."

Belsonic was headlined by Arcade Fire who opened the festival last Tuesday. The series of open-air gigs also feature concerts by The 1975, Jess Glynne, Cream Classical and Martin Garrix.
Emma Doyle and her Australian partner Paul feature on RTE One's Missing You

The emotional experience of a Kilkenny woman who emigrated to Australia in 2014 will be highlighted in Wednesday's episode of RTE's Missing You.

The programme, which focuses on the communication between expatriates and their loved ones at home, will feature the story of new mum Emma Doyle (26), whose Australian partner Paul Hobbs is battling an aggressive form of cancer.

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Emma emigrated to Perth in 2014 and recently welcomed her first child, Klay, with her partner, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of skin cancer earlier this year.

Paul is currently undergoing treatment for the disease, which has also spread to parts of his brain, but the couple wait in limbo to until tests can reveal whether his treatment is working.

The emotional segment documents Emma's heartbreaking conversations with her parents Joe and Johanne in Kilkenny, as her family faces an agonising wait to see if Paul's treatment is working.

Speaking on the programme, Emma expresses her fears that she may lose her partner and explains how difficult it is to be abroad during such a difficult time.

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"When he got the letters a few months back it said if the treatment doesn't work it gives him a life expectancy of 12 months or less.

"But I don't know this is six months in now. I wish you were over closer," says Emma in an upsetting conversation with her dad Joe.

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However, despite the thousands of miles, the encouraging words of her parents seem to lift Emma as they urge her to be positive.

Speaking to her daughter, Emma's mum Johanne offers comfort: "He's after coming this far, everything is after going in his favour, do you hear me? This will be the same. Be positive you old softie," she says.

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Catch Missing You on RTE One on Wednesdays at 8.30PM
Misbehaving tourists in Magaluf could be fined up to 3,000 if they fall foul of an extensive set of rules unveiled by the local council this week.

A long list of banned activities in the Mallorca resort best known for alcohol-fuelled debauchery includes the obvious (urinating, spitting, and being naked on the streets), as well as the more unusual (climbing trees and using soap in public showers, to name but a couple).

The measures, which were initially approved last year by the town hall of Calvia (the region of the island that includes Magaluf and Palmanova), are the latest attempt to crack down on bad behaviour among tourists and clean up the image of Magaluf.

There has even been talk of transforming it into an upmarket, family-friendly destination.

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The fines range from 100 to 599 for minor offences, including throwing cigarette butts or shining a laser beam on the streets, to more serious misdemeanours, for which the fine is 600 to 1,499 and very serious violations, including serving alcoholic drinks to those under the age of 18, where which will incur fines ranging from 1,500 to 3,000.

Local bars and cafes can also face fines for serving alcohol to those who are already drunk, or serving drinks or food to be consumed on the street, while owners must ensure good order and event organisers must guarantee peoples safety.

The 64 new rules for Magaluf

No arguing or fighting in public places No abusive language Respect others Don't damage street furniture Co-operate with the police or officials Respect tourist facilities Don't cause any interference to public events Must not give false information about your identity Can't carry any sort of prohibited weapon Must not disrespect police officers No shining of laser beams Respect any physical barriers put in place by the police Event organisers to guarantee people's safety Bar and cafe owners have to ensure good order They mustn't serve anyone already drunk And not serve alcohol to anyone under 18 Never serve drink or food to consume on the street Stop customers going out in the street with glasses or bottles Don't damage litter bins, statues, parks, gardens and so on It's forbidden to rip off branches from trees Also to carve names or initials into the bark Don't climb trees Don't throw litter into the road Do not damage flowers in parks Don't cause discomfort to others with skateboards or balls No defecating, urinating or spitting in public places Don't throw chewing gum, cigarette butts, cans, papers, etc Do not interfere with street lighting Ban on any type of graffiti No scratching surfaces Public event organisers must ensure proper conduct of guests Adhere to safety rules on the beaches Don't swim when red flag flying Or bathe anywhere it is prohibited Do not wash garments under the beach showers Do not leave jars, buckets or containers under them Don't drink directly from the showers it is absolutely forbidden to have sexual relations in a public place or anywhere visible from public places No begging No collecting money for sand castles unless council approves structures Any activity which might cause obstruction on public highway or interfere with other people's mobility is forbidden No begging in the street No authorised services in the public space, such as tarot, clairvoyance, massages or tattoos. No tipping off anyone about the presence of the police Comply with noise limits- i.e. with music on the beach Don't drink alcoholic beverages in public spaces when it may cause discomfort to people who use the public space and in living locally (unless at a previously authorised event). Don't drink alcohol if it is going to harm the peacefulness of an area or lead to drunkenness. Or if drinking alcohol is done in a demeaning way which would upset other people Or if there are children around. Behave at organised events or it is the duty of the organiser to call the police. Put drink containers into bins Don't throw down bottles or cans etc on the street Bottle parties in the street in public places are banned Respect the right of people to rest, especially between 8pm and 8am No taking away drinks, whatever containers they are in, to have in the street. Owners should have warning signs in various languages, including English Commercial establishments can't sell you alcohol between midnight and 8am It's illegal to take drugs or other substances in public places It's forbidden to go naked or semi-naked in the street Must wear tops - i.e. no bare chests in public places away from the beach Forbidden to use any glass vessel or glass in the sand and adjacent areas Can't use soap or gel under the public showers Balconing (jumping from a balcony into a swimming pool) Coercing others to do balconing Gambling in the street

Many of the new restrictions were reportedly proposed as a response to nearly 15,000 complaints made annually by locals to the council and police.

The latest ruling forms part of a five-year, multi-million regeneration programme first introduced in 2015, for which British police were sent to Magaluf to help keep tourists in check.

The initiative was in part a response to a film of an 18-year-old woman performing sex acts on 24 men during a pub crawl on the Punta Ballena strip that went viral.

Last month, a new regulation that limits music noise in establishments to less than 60 decibels was introduced in the area, with 65 decibels  equivalent to laughter or a hair dryer  triggering a sound limiter that automatically mutes the volume.

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Some of the new laws have already been enforced. This month 19 British tourists were fined for running naked through the streets of Palmanova and two drunk British men at Palma airport were charged for attacking police officers, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin.

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Qatar Airways, which recently launched its first services from Dublin, has been named world 'Airline of the Year' for 2017.

The airline topped the poll in the 2017 Skytrax World Airline Awards, described as the 'Oscars' of the aviation industry.

Qatar launched direct flights between Dublin and Doha this month.

Emirates, last year's winner, has dropped to fourth place, with Singapore Airlines placing second and Japan's ANA All Nippon rounding out the Top Three.

Top 10 World Airlines 2017

Qatar Airways Singapore Airlines ANA All Nippon Airways Emirates Cathay Pacific EVA Air Lufthansa Etihad Airways Hainan Airlines Garuda Indonesia

320 airlines were surveyed, though just the Top 100 are listed.

Aer Lingus ranked as the world's 38th-best airline, up 11 places from 49th last year. Ryanair also made the Top 100, placing 76th after last year ranking 108th.

Other awards saw Aegean voted Europe's best regional airline, Air Canada win best North American airline, and Qatar Airways named world's best business class.

Norwegian, which launches transatlantic flights from Ireland this week, was voted the world's best long-haul low-cost carrier, as well as Europe's best long-haul airline.

Skytrax (worldairlineawards.com) is a London-based air transport rating organisation that undertakes product, service and passenger audits and research studies for airlines, airports and related businesses.

Its World Airline Awards, running since 1999, are compiled using what the consultancy says is the world's largest airline passenger satisfaction survey.

The awards were announced at this week's Paris Air Show.

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John Downing Opinion New British prime minister Rishi Sunaks succession proves an important milestone in British political inclusivity

There is an old saying in British politics that goes: The right looks for converts while the left seeks out traitors. It comes to mind when one reflects upon the election of Rishi Sunak as the UKs first non-white prime minister in a party traditionally seen as most opposed to mass immigration and the dilution of national identity via multiculturalism.
Amanda Knox has built up a reputation for privacy since her conviction for murder was overturned and she returned to the US.

The American was accused of killing Brit and fellow exchange student Meredith Kercher in 2007, and spent four years imprisoned in Italy.

But following her 2016 Netflix documentary series, Knox has taken another step into the public  this time by unlocking her formerly private Instagram account.

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The account reveals a love of travel and her boyfriend, and particularly cats.

Essentially, this could be any 20-somethings Instagram.

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Knox and her then Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of killing and sexually assaulting Kercher in 2009, having spent two years in prison after the first accusations in 2007.

They were both acquitted in 2011, had their convictions upheld in 2014 (by which time Knox was back in America), and had the convictions definitively acquitted in 2015 by the supreme court.

The case drew a lot of attention around the world, leading to the popular documentary released by Netflix in 2016.

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Since her release the 29-year-old, who was 20 at the time Kercher was killed, has campaigned for wrongly incarcerated prisoners and the welfare of inmates.

The Seattle residents Instagram shows Knox in locations around the world, from Canada to Germany and beyond, and a particular fondness for cats.

Knoxs first post is from 2015, and shes a frequent poster  sharing a lot of her life on the social media site.

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The account also shows Knox getting a tattoo.

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Since returning to the US, Knox has released a book and is a freelance journalist.

The only person to be convicted for the murder of Kercher is Rudy Guede, a petty criminal from Perugia who is serving a 16-year prison sentence.
Its the Duke of Cambridges 35th birthday, so heres a look back at his life in pictures.

From his school days at Eton, to those of an undergraduate bachelor at St Andrews University where he met his future wife, Kate Middleton, the photographs show William in his journey towards being a full-time public servant.

The Duke has come a long way from his younger days. He has:

Completed a gap year in Chile

William also worked on dairy farms, visited Africa and taught South American children as part of his year abroad.

Graduated from university

The young prince graduated from the University of St Andrews with an upper second class honours degree in geography.

He also met Kate Middleton, the future Duchess of Cambridge, while studying in the venerated Scottish institution.

Trained as an Army officer

After university, William enrolled in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and spent a year in training, before being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Blues and Royals.

Got married

The royal wedding was watched by millions across the world, with many drawn to scenes of the prince driving his bride down Londons Mall in his fathers Aston Martin.

Worked as an air ambulance pilot

William worked for the East Anglian Air Ambulance service, having completed extra training for his civilian helicopter pilots licence.

Had children

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Who could forget the addition of Prince George and Princess Charlotte?

Heres to many more happy years!
The FBI is looking at terrorism as a possible motive after an officer was stabbed at an airport in the US.

Here is what we know so far:

What happened?

A police officer was stabbed on Wednesday at an airport in Flint, Michigan, prompting an evacuation and closure of the site and increased security throughout the city.

Witnesses reported hearing the suspect saying Allah akbar, the Arabic phrase for God is great. Michigan State Police say they believe nobody else was involved and are investigating these claims.

One witness told The Flint Journal that he saw the victim on his hands and knees and bleeding from the neck.

Were any arrests made?

One man was arrested and was described by onlookers as having a blank expression as he was led away in handcuffs.

What about the police officer?

The victim was identified as Lt Jeff Neville, a member of the Bishop International Airport police.

He is now stable after being in a critical condition.

What happens next?

Police said no other threats were identified, while the Mayor of the city, Karen Weaver, stated that the situation was under control.

The FBI is leading an investigation into the incident and considering terrorism as a motive for the attack, among other options.

First Lieutenant Mike Shaw from Michigan State Police has stressed that everything is on the table.
Woodland Trust Scotland has welcomed the birth of two osprey chicks in the Loch Arkaig Forest.

The cute little critters were filmed hatching on a webcam in the heart of the Caledonian pinewood, which was recently purchased by Woodland Trust Scotland alongside local community group Arkaig Community Forest.

The proud parents of the newborns, Louis and Alia, seem to have been settling into their roles as parents comfortably well  bringing fish and nurturing their young in their most vulnerable early days.

The Woodland Trust now plans to regenerate the ancient Loch Arkaig forest, by planting more native trees with the aid of a multimillion donation package to boost conservation efforts in the area.

Ospreys, otherwise known as Fish Eagles or River Hawks, are known for their remarkable ability to swoop down on to rivers and catch fish using their powerful talons. They can even close their nostrils to stop water getting up their noses.
Belgium has tightened security even more to counter fears that lone attackers could strike anywhere and at any time, a day after a failed bombing by a man shouting "Allahu akbar" at a Brussels train station put the nation on edge.

A soldier killed the attacker, who had tried to set off a powerful nail bomb that could have led to fatalities among the two dozen or so travellers checking train times on a public display board at Brussels Central Station on Tuesday, officials said.

Similar attacks by lone assailants causing maximum mayhem but few victims have also happened in London and Paris in the past few days, putting European capitals on alert on the eve of the busy summer tourist season.

The Brussels attacker was a Moroccan national not known to authorities for being involved in terror activities, federal magistrate Eric Van der Sypt told reporters.

His office said that the attacker sympathised with Islamic State and added that police who raided his home found "chemicals and material that can be used to make explosives".

The statement from the federal prosecutor's office also said that the 36-year-old "likely made the bomb" at his home in the Molenbeek neighbourhood.

Molenbeek was the home and transit point for many of the suspects linked to attacks in Brussels and in Paris in November 2015.

The man charged soldiers at Brussels Central Station after his suitcase, containing nails and gas canisters, failed to fully explode, Mr Van der Sypt said.

The man then shouted "Allahu akbar", Arabic for "God is great", before a soldier shot him dead, the magistrate said.

Nobody else was injured.

"It was clear he wanted to cause much more damage than what happened," Mr Van der Sypt said.

"The bag exploded twice but it could have been a lot worse."

Witness Remy Bonnaffe had just walked away from the timetable board when he heard a loud bang and saw a flame while he was on his phone.

Still unsure whether it was an attack, he took a photo but dashed off when he heard a second blast and shots.

"There must have been some 20, 30 people spread around the screens there," Mr Bonnaffe said, painting an image of the scope of carnage that could have happened.

Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people at the Brussels airport and a subway station on March 22 2016.

Security remained high around rail facilities and preparations were under way to beef up security for a Coldplay concert at the 50,000-seat King Baudouin Stadium.

"In three years we have been confronted with several attacks or attempts and we say the zero risk does not exist," Prime Minister Charles Michel said after a specially convened security meeting.

Central Station reopened on Wednesday morning.

A mobile police command unit and several officers were still at the station, an Associated Press photographer said.

Burn marks remained on the floor at the scene as workers continued to clean up and paint the area.

Belgium's Crisis Centre said it sees no need to raise the national security alert level, which has been on its second-highest rung for more than a year.

It said that no public events would be cancelled but that additional police and troops have been mobilised.

AP
The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Arlene Foster, and the Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds, stand on the steps of 10 Downing Street before talks with Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, in central London, Britain. Photo: REUTERS/Phil Noble

British Prime Minister Theresa May's hopes of a deal with the DUP 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 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".

Last night there was speculation that the Conservatives could even open talks with the Liberal Democrats' 12 MPs about supporting the Tory Government if the DUP talks fail.

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 that an agreement before state opening of parliament could not be entirely ruled out, if there was movement in the talks between the parties.

The DUP is urging the British 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 reports that a deal could be reached as early as tomorrow.

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, Mrs May 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.

She made clear she was not offering a full coalition with ministerial jobs for DUP MPs, but was seeking a "confidence and supply" arrangement.

But 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.

Meanwhile, European Commissioner Phil Hogan has said the DUP should represent its voters by advocating for a soft Brexit and pushing to stay in the customs union.

"If the people in Northern Ireland are to be properly represented by the DUP... they should insist, as part of the negotiations for confidence and supply arrangement, in staying in the customs union," Mr Hogan said.

He argued Sinn Fein's seven MPs in the North should take their seats in Westminster, claiming it would provide the party with political leverage and also "not leave the field completely to the Democratic Unionist Party". "I think that their negotiating position would be strongly enhanced on behalf of the people that they represent if they were to take their seats," he said.

But Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson said people should respect the voters of the North, as Sinn Fein ran on an abstentionist platform.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has said that Britain will leave the EU's single market and the bloc's customs union but must avoid the "cliff edge".

The chancellor undermined the British prime minister's mantra that "no deal is better than a bad deal" on the eve of Britain's Brexit talks, after he suggested that "no deal would be a very, very bad outcome for Britain".

Theresa May has said the offer of an unfavourable trade deal with the EU would prompt her to quit talks.

Speaking to the BBC's 'Andrew Marr show', Mr Hammond said: "No deal would be a very, very bad outcome for Britain, but there is a possible worse outcome and that is a deal that is deliberately structured to suck the lifeblood out of our economy over a period of time."

He said Brexit meant the UK would definitely be leaving the single market.

"What we put in place may not be a single arrangement that endures forever, it may be an arrangement which lasts for a couple of years as a temporary measure before we get to the long-term agreed status quo," he added.

Mr Hammond emphasised that leaving the EU meant the country would leave the single market and the customs union.

"The question is not whether we are leaving the customs union," he said.

"The question is what do we put in its place in order to deliver the objectives the prime minister set out in her Lancaster House speech of having no hard land Border in Ireland and enabling British goods to flow freely backwards and forwards across the border with the European Union?

"It's a statement of common sense that if we are going to radically change the way we work together, we need to get there via a slope, not a cliff edge," he added.

The UK needs a seamless Brexit transition to support jobs and investment by ensuring a new customs arrangement with the European Union that avoids bureaucratic delays to trade, he said.

The UK chancellor said he would not agree to a deal that would "destroy" Britain just hours before the official Brexit negotiations begin.

Meanwhile, Britain's Brexit Secretary David Davis has told EU leaders they should be in "no doubt" that Britain is heading for the exit door as formal Brexit talks finally begin today.

In a statement, Mr Davis promised the "historic referendum result" will be "delivered" by Mrs May's (pictured) government.

The comments are designed as a direct rebuttal to Emmanuel Macron, the French president, who said that the "door remains open" for Britain to stay in the EU.
Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales during the State Opening of Parliament by Queen Elizabeth II, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May has torn up much of the Conservative manifesto to deliver a legislative timetable for the next two years dominated by preparations for Brexit.

Of 27 Bills and draft bills unveiled in her first Queen's Speech, eight are devoted to the complex process of withdrawal from the EU, including a Repeal Bill to overturn the 1972 Act which took Britain into the European Economic Community and separate Bills on customs, trade, immigration, fisheries, agriculture, nuclear safeguards and the international sanctions regime.

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire and a string of terror attacks, the Prime Minister also announced plans for a civil disaster taskforce and a new commission for countering extremism, as well as a review of counter-terror strategy and the creation of an independent public advocate to act on behalf of bereaved families.

But flagship manifesto policies which find no place in the Government agenda included the scrapping of universal free school lunches, means-testing of the winter fuel payment and the reform of social care funding which opponents branded a "dementia tax". Meanwhile, there was no mention of the promised free vote on fox hunting.

Speculation that Donald Trump's state visit to the UK may be ditched was fuelled by its absence from the Queen's nine-minute address. But Downing Street confirmed that the invitation to Mr Trump stands and said it did not feature because a date is yet to be fixed.

Also unveiled were Bills to extend the HS2 high-speed rail link to Crewe, permit the development of driverless cars, spaceports and commercial satellites, cut whiplash insurance claims, protect victims of domestic abuse and ban letting fees for private rented homes.

Although the tally of bills is typical for a Queen's Speech, critics said that aside from Brexit it presented only a lightweight agenda to cover two years, rather than the usual one.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "This slimmed down Queen's Speech shows a Government on the edge.

"Having dropped everything from the dementia tax to fox hunting, I assume the only reason they have proposed a Space Bill is so they can shoot their manifesto into space and pretend it never existed."

Following her failure to reach agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party on a deal to shore up her minority administration, Mrs May is the first PM in decades to be faced by doubts over whether she can get her legislative programme through Parliament.

Conservative sources said talks with the DUP were "ongoing" after the Northern Irish party warned its support cannot be "taken for granted". But First Secretary of State Damian Green acknowledged that it may not be possible to reach a deal in time for the Commons vote on the Queen's Speech package on June 29.

Following the negative response to plans in the Tory manifesto to make pensioners pay for social care by selling their homes after they died, the speech promised only a consultation on proposals which will be brought forward to improve social care.

Plans to extend grammar schools are reined in, with a promise only to work with Parliament to bring forward proposals for school improvement "that can command a majority".

There is no bill to impose the energy price cap promised in the manifesto, but ministers will "consider the best way" to protect gas and electricity consumers on the worst-value tariffs, whether by legislation or action by regulators.

The State Opening of Parliament, delayed by two days because of confusion caused by the inconclusive result of the June 8 election, took place without some of the traditional ceremony, with the Queen arriving by car rather than carriage and wearing a blue dress and hat rather than her robes and state crown.

Centrepiece of Mrs May's programme was the Repeal Bill which will transfer relevant EU laws on to the UK statute book at the moment of Brexit in March 2019, with the aim of delivering "a smooth and orderly transition" and avoiding uncertainty for businesses and individuals.

The Bill creates powers for Parliament to use secondary legislation to make what are expected to be a huge number of technical amendments to EU rules and regulations to ensure they continue to operate appropriately within UK law. It will pave the way for Parliament eventually to repeal or amend unwanted EU laws after Brexit.

In an apparent sign of recognition that she must seek a broad consensus for any Brexit deal, Mrs May said getting EU withdrawal right will mean securing "a deal which delivers the result of last year's referendum and does so in a way that commands maximum public support".

The speech confirmed plans for a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

A new strategy for resilience in major disasters could include a Civil Disaster Reaction Taskforce to help at times of emergency, and an independent advocate will support those affected and help them at inquests.

Warning of an "unprecedented" threat from terrorism in the wake of attacks at Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge, Mrs May announced a review of counter-terrorism strategy to make sure police and security services have "all the powers they need to protect our country".

The new Commission for Countering Extremism will be given the task of supporting the Government in "stamping out extremist ideology in all its forms".
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.
A flag of Islamic State militants is seen on top of Mosul's Al-Hadba minaret at the Grand Mosque, where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his caliphate back in 2014, during clashes between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, March 24, 2017. Picture taken March 24, 2017. REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Mosul's Al-Hadba minaret at the Grand Mosque, where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his caliphate back in 2014, is seen during clashes between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, March 24, 2017. Picture taken March 24, 2017. REUTERS/Khalid al Mousily/File Photo

A still image taken from video shows the destroyed Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul in Iraq, June 21, 2017. Iraqi Military Handout/via Reuters

A still image taken from video shows a close up of the the destroyed Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul in Iraq, June 21, 2017. Iraqi Military Handout/via Reuters

Islamic State militants on Wednesday blew up the Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its famous leaning minaret, Iraq's military said in a statement, as Iraqi forces seeking to expel the group from the city closed in on the site.

It was from this medieval mosque three years ago that the militants' leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled "caliphate" spanning parts of Syria and Iraq.

''Blowing up the al-Hadba minaret and the al-Nuri mosque amounts to an official acknowledgement of defeat,'' Iraqi Prime Minister said in a brief comment on his website.

The Iraqis called the 150-foot (45-metre) leaning minaret Al-Hadba, or "the hunchback." Baghdadi's black flag had flown over it since June 2014.

Islamic State's Amaq news agency accused American aircraft of destroying the mosque, a claim swiftly denied by the US ed coalition fighting the militant group.

"We did not strike in that area," coalition spokesman US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian told Reuters by telephone.

"The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS," US Army Major General Joseph Martin, commander of the coalition's ground component, said in a statement, using an acronym for Islamic State.

The media office for Iraq's military distributed a picture taken from the air that appeared to show the mosque and minaret largely flattened and reduced to rubble among the small houses of the Old City, the historic district where the militants are under siege.

A video seen on social media showed the minaret collapsing vertically in a belch of sand and dust, as a woman lamented in the background, "The minaret, the minaret, the minaret."

The mosque was destroyed as Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) units, which have been battling their way through Mosul's Old City, got within 50 meters (164 feet) of it, according to an Iraqi military statement.

An Iraqi military spokesman gave the timing of the explosion as 9:35 p.m (1835 GMT).

"This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, and is an example of why this brutal organization must be annihilated," said US Major General Martin.

Iraqi forces said earlier on Wednesday that they had started a push toward the mosque.

''This will not prevent us from removing them, no, killing them not removing them, inside the Old City,'' Lieutenant General Abdul Ghani al-Assadi, senior CTS commander in Mosul, said in a video posted over a messaging app.

The forces on Tuesday had encircled the jihadist group's stronghold in the Old City, the last district under Islamic State control in Mosul.

Baghdadi proclaimed himself "caliph," or ruler of all Muslims, from the mosque's pulpit on July 4, 2014, after the insurgents overran vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi's speech from the mosque was the first time he revealed himself to the world, and the footage broadcast then is to this day the only video recording of him as "caliph."

Iraqi officials had privately expressed hope that the mosque could be retaken in time for Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. The first day of the Eid falls this year on June 25 or 26 in Iraq.

"The battle for the liberation of Mosul is not yet complete, and we remain focused on supporting the Iraqi Security Forces with that objective in mind," said Martin.

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate," even though Islamic State would still control territory west and south of the city, the largest over which they held sway in both Iraq and Syria.

Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and is believed to be hiding in the border area between Iraq and Syria, according to U.S. and Iraqi military sources.

The mosque was named after Nuruddin al-Zanki, a noble who fought the early crusaders from a fiefdom that covered territory in modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq. It was built in 1172-73, shortly before his death, and housed an Islamic school.

By the time renowned medieval traveler and scholar Ibn Battuta visited two centuries later, the minaret was leaning. The tilt gave the landmark its popular name: the hunchback.

It was built with seven bands of decorative brickwork in complex geometric patterns also found in Persia and Central Asia.

Nabeel Nouriddin, a historian and archaeologist specialising in Mosul and its Nineveh region, said the minaret had not been renovated since 1970, making it particularly vulnerable to blasts even if it was not directly hit.

The Mosque's destruction occurred during the holiest period of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, its final 10 days. The night of Laylat al-Qadr falls during this period, marking when Muslims believe the Quran was revealed to prophet Mohammed. Islamic State fighters have destroyed many Muslim religious sites, churches and shrines, as well as ancient Assyrian and Roman-era sites in Iraq and in Syria. The group posted videos online in 2015 showing the destruction of artifacts in the Mosul museum, some of which dated from the 7th century BC. It is also suspected of selling artifacts.
Federal investigators probing the lobbying work of ousted US national security adviser Michael Flynn are focused in part on the role of Bijan Kian, Mr Flynn's former business partner, according to a person quizzed by the FBI.

Investigators are also looking at whether payments from foreign clients to Mr Flynn and his company, the now-inactive Flynn Intel Group, were lawful, according to two separate sources with knowledge of the inquiry. 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 Mr Kian has not been previously reported. Mr 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 Mr Kian is a target of the criminal investigation or whether investigators are trying to build a fuller understanding of how Mr 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 Mr Kian and his work on the project with Mr Alptekin as they had about Mr Flynn.

Mr Kian did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

Mr Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr Alptekin declined to comment for this story but last month denied any wrongdoing.

The FBI has been investigating whether Mr Flynn's consulting firm lobbied on behalf of Turkey - after being paid $530,000 by Inovo - without making the proper disclosure.

The federal investigation is being run by special counsel Robert Mueller, who has a mandate to investigate contacts between Russia and Mr Trump's 2016 election campaign team and any related matters. Mr Flynn was fired by the Trump administration in February after officials said he mischaracterised a series of phone calls with Russia's ambassador last December.

The top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has separately been looking into whether Mr Flynn made false statements in applying for security clearance, said he was also scrutinising Mr 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.

Mr Kelner has sought immunity for Mr Flynn in exchange for his testimony, saying his client "certainly has a story to tell".

In private conversations with potential clients, Mr Kian portrayed himself as a rainmaker for Mr Flynn, tapping into connections cultivated during a five-year tenure as a director at the US Export-Import Bank, according to one person who worked with the firm.

Mr Alptekin said in May that his firm hired Flynn Intel Group to research Gulen activities in the US, which he suspected were "poisoning" relations between the US and Turkey.
American student Otto Warmbier, pictured being escorted at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photo: AP

US President Donald Trump said the North Korean regime has no respect for the rule of law or basic human decency and said Mr Warmbiers death has deepened his administrations resolve

The coroner's office in Cincinnati is investigating the death of the American college student who died less than a week after his return from North Korea, where he was detained for nearly a year-and-a-half.

A spokesman for the Hamilton County coroner said Dr Lakshmi Sammaraco's office has accepted the case of Otto Warmbier, who died on Monday in a Cincinnati hospital.

US President Donald Trump has called North Korea a "brutal regime" after the death of the student who had been jailed there for more than 15 months.

North Korea returned Mr Warmbier (22) to the US last week, saying he had been in a coma for a year and that it was acting on humanitarian grounds.

His parents said he had been subjected to "awful, torturous mistreatment".

Mr Warmbier, who was jailed for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel, did not regain consciousness.

Mr Trump said that a "lot of bad things happened" to Mr Warmbier, but added: "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."

Mr 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."

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in told CBS News it was "quite clear" that North Korea had "a heavy responsibility in the process that led to Mr Warmbier's death".

Mr Warmbier's parents, from Ohio, did not cite 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.

Read more: US has warned its patience with 'rogue nation' is spent

A tour agency that took Mr Warmbier into North Korea before he was detained for 18 months has said it will stop taking Americans into the reclusive state.

Young Pioneer Tours, an agency operated largely by expats in the north Chinese city of Xi'an, had previously described North Korea as "probably one of the safest places on Earth to visit".

However, it said in a statement on its website yesterday that Mr Warmbier's death had "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," the statement continued.

"Now, the assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high."

The death came amid growing tension between Washington and Pyongyang.

Mr Trump's administration has appeared confrontational towards North Korea, and has declared an end to a period of "strategic patience" from Washington.

However, Kim Jong-un's regime has carried out a series of provocative missile tests.

Last week Mr Warmbier's family said they had been told their son was given a sleeping pill following his trial in March 2016 and had never woken up.

Fred Warmbier, Otto's father, also heavily criticised Young Pioneer Tours, accusing it of "luring young Americans" for the North Koreans. It remains unclear what caused the University of Virginia student's severe health problems when he was in North Korea.

But John McCain, a Republican senator, accused North Korea of murdering and torturing Mr Warmbier in a Twitter post.
Officials have evacuated an airport in Flint, Michigan, where a witness said he saw a police officer bleeding from his neck and a knife on the ground nearby.

Michigan State Police said the officer is in a critical condition and the FBI is leading the investigation.

A law enforcement official says the FBI is looking at terrorism as a possible motive in the stabbing of an officer at Flint airport.

Bishop International Airport posted on Facebook that passengers were safe and were being told to check for flight delays or cancellations.

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Ken Brown told The Flint Journal he was dropping off his daughter at the airport and saw the officer bleeding from his neck.

He said he saw a man detained by police and a knife on the ground.

"The cop was on his hands and knees bleeding from his neck," Mr Brown said. "I said they need to get him a towel."

Cherie Carpenter, who was awaiting a flight to Texas to see her new grandchild, told Flint TV station WJRT she saw a man being led away in handcuffs.

She described the man in custody as appearing "blank, just totally blank".

Flint is about 50 miles north-west of Detroit.

The airport released a statement confirming the incident.

"All passengers are safe and are being evacuated at this time. Please check with your airline for potential cancellations or delays."
A US judge has approved a settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager whose shooting by a white police officer nearly three years ago set off months of protests.

Financial terms of the settlement approved by US District Judge E Richard Webber were not disclosed. Anthony Gray, the lawyer for Mr Brown's parents, declined to comment as did Ferguson mayor James Knowles III.

Michael Brown Sr and Lezley McSpadden sued the city, former police chief Tom Jackson and former police officer Darren Wilson in 2015.

They argued that the death of their 18-year-old son deprived them of financial support through his future potential wages.

The lawsuit also described the police culture in Ferguson, Missouri, as hostile to black residents, and said Mr Wilson used excessive and unreasonable force in shooting Brown during a confrontation on a street on August 9 2014.

Ferguson, Mr Jackson and Mr Wilson denied the allegations.

Mr Wilson was cleared of wrongdoing but the shooting led to violent unrest in Ferguson, a St Louis suburb.

He resigned from the police force in November 2014 soon after a St Louis County grand jury announced he would not be indicted. The US Department of Justice also found no grounds to prosecute him.

But the investigation led to a Justice Department lawsuit over racially biased police and court practices. A settlement called for significant changes in operations, including sensitivity training for officers, adoption of community policing techniques, court reforms and other measures.

The process is expected to cost more than 2 million dollars (1.5 million) and could take years.

Judge Webber's three-page ruling discloses nothing about the settlement amount, but said it is "fair and reasonable compensation for this wrongful death claim and is in the best interests of each plaintiff", with the money to be split between Michael Brown Sr and Ms McSpadden.

The judge also wrote that the agreement "shall remain sealed by this court and shall be considered a closed record" because disclosure of the information "could jeopardise the safety of individuals involved in this matter, whether as witnesses, parties, or investigators".

Settlements involving public money and public entities such as cities are typically open under Missouri law, but Judge Webber wrote that the value of opening the record "is outweighed by the adverse impact to plaintiffs".

AP
It's a bright, sunny afternoon and as the Dublin traffic trundles its way outside, Dr Ahmed Osman sips coffee in a cosy corner of the North Star Hotel. It's a far cry from the torture houses of Sudan where, on April 23, 2009, he was almost beaten to death.

A qualified obstetrician/gynaecologist who has been a human rights and opposition party activist since his student days, he became a marked man while working with Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Darfur where he highlighted the systematic rape of women by soldiers of the Sudanese army.

"They kill the men and rape the women," says the 42-year-old. "They use rape as a fear tactic to ensure people don't oppose the government. I knew it was going on - I just hadn't realised the scale of it until I started working with MSF."

His findings were used to help MSF compile a report on rape in Darfur, and it was this, he claims, that brought him to the attention of the Sudanese security forces.

Expand Close Case: Judge Maureen Harding Clark criticised the rejection of Dr Osmans asylum application / Facebook

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"A relative in the army heard that I was to be terminated," he says. "I left Darfur and went to North Sudan, where I set up a private clinic."

On March 4, 2009, the International Criminal Court ordered the arrest of Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, rape, torture, pillage and displacement of large numbers of civilians in Darfur. The Sudanese government responded by expelling all Western aid agencies from Sudan, including MSF.

"That very day, members of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) went to my clinic, but I wasn't there," says Dr Osman. "They then called to my house. My housemate answered the door and warned me that security men were waiting for me outside. I ran out the back, jumped over the fence, and fled to Khartoum.

"I was on the run for two weeks when they finally tracked me down. Four of them took me to a ghost house in the middle of the night. They whipped me, and kicked me in the head and in the testicles. Then they injected some kind of acid into my urethra."

He recalls the pain of the acid was so terrible that even being kicked was preferable.

"Pain exploded in me," he says. "It was excruciating, the worst agony imaginable. I begged them, 'Please kick me again. Stop this.'

"The last I remember was being kicked in the head and I lost consciousness. They must have continued to torture me, because up to then they hadn't whipped my belly, but later I discovered lash marks there too. They finally threw me on the street near my house."

Dr Osman says his torturers left him for dead to give the impression he had been randomly murdered and so provide the pretext for a false homicide investigation. But somehow he survived.

"People passed me by, because they feared for their own safety. After many hours I managed to half-stand, half-crawl to my house. My phone was there. I never carried it with me. If the authorities found it, they would go after all my contacts. I retrieved it and called a friend.

"She persuaded me to file a complaint with the police, which I did, but once the NISS realised I was still alive, they came after me again and I had to go into hiding.

"Whatever they had put into my urethra, I couldn't pass water for four days. I knew I was about to go into renal failure. I had no access to surgical equipment, so without anaesthesia or sterilisation, I stuck a cannula through my belly and into the bladder to release the urine. It was incredibly painful, but it was that or die."

Through his human rights contacts, Amnesty International arranged a passport for Dr Osman and flew him to Cairo, where a psychiatrist treated him for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

From there, the Irish charity Front Line helped get him to Ireland. He was treated for PTSD as an outpatient at St Patrick's Hospital, and was directed to Spirasi, an agency that helps torture survivors here. They arranged sessions for him with a psychotherapist.

"That helped me so much," he says. "For some time I avoided talking about the torture, because I had such terrible flashbacks. I thought about ending my life. But the psychotherapist didn't put me under pressure; she let me speak about other things, and gave me breathing exercises to do, and after a few months, I started to feel better."

Dr Osman applied for asylum, a process that took five years.

Having had his initial application rejected by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, an appeal to the Refugee Appeal Tribunal (RAT) was also denied. He then turned to the High Court, where Judge Maureen Harding Clark issued a harsh criticism of the RAT ruling, which she described as "unfair, irrational and full of errors". She said it appeared to be based on the fact that the tribunal member who refused the application did not like the applicant, as he had met all the criteria to be classed as a refugee.

Throughout this time, Dr Osman lived in a direct provision centre in Mosney, Co Meath. Like other asylum seekers, he was given basic food, bed and board, and 19 a week to live on. He describes his experience of direct provision as being in an "open prison".

"You have to pass security on entering and leaving. You have no right to have a friend over and you are forbidden to work. If you leave the place for more than three days, you lose your weekly allowance and your medical card. At least in prison, you know when you will be released. I spent five years in limbo. It was emotional torture."

But there were happy moments. Through the reunification programme, his partner Tagwa, came to Ireland, and they married in 2011. A qualified engineer, Tagwa got a job in Scotland - she flies back to see her husband every two weeks - and they have a 10-month-old son, Vasili.

Registered with the Irish Medical Council, Dr Osman became an Irish citizen in January 2015 and is starting to pick up part-time work in hospitals around the country. He spent a month in Wexford General Hospital and two weeks in Tallaght Hospital as a HSO. He'd like something more long-term, but as he says: "My CV was interrupted for a long time. I will never forget what Ireland has done for me, and I want to give back what I can. I want to help people here, and from time to time, do humanitarian work abroad.

"I'm lucky to have so many good people around me. But people are being tortured every day and nobody is speaking up for them. They need a voice. That's why International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is so important. It helps to raise consciousness about what's going on, and puts pressure on governments to help reduce the incidence of abuse. Mostly, I hope it brings home the message that in the face of evil, we have to stand together as human beings."

Today is World Refugee Day, and June 26 is International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Spirasi provides support, education and rehabilitation programmes to help survivors of torture integrate into Irish society. For further information, visit spirasi.ie
The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop last year fired a volley of bullets within seconds of learning the driver was armed, according to a video recording released publicly Tuesday.

When the traffic stop began, the two men interacted calmly. Officer Jeronimo Yanez, a police officer in the Twin Cities suburbs, greeted Castile and examined his insurance card.

"Sir, I have to tell you that I do have a firearm on me," Castile said 30 seconds after they began speaking.

"Okay," Yanez interrupted, his voice remaining steady as he shifted his right hand onto the holster of his gun.

Yanez told Castile not to reach for the gun or pull it out. Castile said he was not, which was echoed by Diamond Reynolds, his girlfriend, sitting in the Oldsmobile's passenger seat.

"I'm not pulling it out," Castile responded. Yanez again yelled: "Don't pull it out!" He then unholstered his gun and pushed it into the car.

"Don't pull it out!" Yanez yelled. "I'm not!" Castile said as Yanez, seven seconds after being informed of the gun, began firing into the car.

The moments after quickly made their way around the world, as Reynolds began streaming live on Facebook, pleading with Castile to "stay with me" while blood soaked into his T-shirt. Castile died not long after. Spurred by Reynolds's video, that fatal shooting in July 2016 became part of the country's roiling debate about how police officers use deadly force.

A jury acquitted Yanez of manslaughter last week, a decision that set off protests in the St. Paul area. The same day, St. Anthony officials said Yanez would not be returning to their police department. Yanez also was acquitted on two felony charges of endangering Reynolds - who was sitting in the passenger seat - and her 4-year-old daughter, who was sitting behind her in a car seat.

Castile was among 963 people fatally shot by police officers last year, according to a Washington Post database tracking such shootings. While Reynolds's footage pushed the encounter into the headlines, making it one of the most widely known police shootings in recent years, it was not the only recording captured that night.

A police dashboard camera was also filming, and that recording was played during Yanez's trial but was not publicly released until Tuesday afternoon. Details from the recording were revealed in court documents and during the trial, but they were not publicly visible in the same way as Reynolds's viral Facebook footage. The dash-cam video does not clearly show Castile's movements inside the car.

Yanez told investigators he feared for his life, and he said the same thing during his testimony earlier this month. According to the officer, he thought Castile was grabbing a gun, which Reynolds had disputed.

"I know he had an object and it was dark," Yanez told investigators, according to the criminal complaint filed by prosecutors last year. "And he was pulling it out with his right hand. And as he was pulling it out I, a million things started going through my head. And I thought I was gonna die."

The police car dash-cam video was part of evidence released Tuesday afternoon by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. The collection included documents and other recordings that were part of the state's investigation into the shooting. The documents and recordings were being made "available to the public, as they were presented in court, but without the context that we were able to provide at trial," according to a spokesman for Ramsey County Attorney John J. Choi, who prosecuted the case.

An attorney representing Yanez did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Experts caution that video footage of police shootings can remain incomplete and, even if capturing an entire incident, might not definitively answer what an officer saw at that moment.

"The officer's judged by what he or she reasonably sees or perceives," said David J. MacMain, a former Pennsylvania state trooper and attorney who represents law enforcement officers in civil cases.

MacMain also said that when videos are released publicly, the encounters are dissected in a different way than officers perceive them while they unfold.

"We all get to look at it 20 times over and replay and zoom in and zoom out," MacMain said. "Officers have to make split-second decisions, and we all get to critique it over the next four, five, six, seven months."

Recordings are inevitably incomplete, said David Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert in police uses of force.

"Video doesn't always capture the whole sequence of events," Harris said. "This case was an example of that. We have a situation in which the Facebook Live stream only begins after the shooting itself. And it's horrible. I don't know how anybody could see that and not be affected by it. But it doesn't show the actual shooting."

Harris said that even if a recording showed Castile grabbing his wallet or grabbing a gearshift, that might not necessarily have swayed the trial's outcome.

"Even if you had that on video, the question is could the officer have seen that," Harris said, noting that the standard remains: "What could a reasonable officer have seen from his or her point of view?"
By Vasundhara Rastogi

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will come into effect from July 1, 2017.

Under the new indirect tax system, every business and professional entity in India with an annual turnover exceeding US$31,054 (Rs 20 lakh), and US$15,527 (Rs 10 lakh) in the north-eastern states of India, will be required to obtain GST registration.

RELATED: Tax Compliance Advisory

Once registered, businesses will receive a 15-digit GST identification number (GSTIN) based on a State-wise code and their Permanent Account Number (PAN). The format is shown below:

Under the GST system, businesses will levy GST on their sales and deposit the same with the tax authority every month. Subsequently, a monthly summary of all sales transactions will have to be submitted online to the tax department. This process is known as return filing and the form in which the return is to be filed is called a GST return.

GST return filing is a mandatory compliance even if there are no sales and purchases carried out by a business during the return period. Such tax payers will have to file a nil return. Failure to file returns in time may attract penalty, and in case of non-compliance, a notice from the tax authorities.

However, due to confusion over the GST implementation and non-preparedness of small businesses, the government has relaxed the time-lines for filing returns for the first two months, following the GST roll-out. As a result, no business or company will be charged late fee or penalties for filing late returns until September 2017.

RELATED: Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India: Key Terms and Concepts

The period for filing GST returns and types of returns vary among different categories of tax payers.

Below we provide a brief overview of the types of returns to be filed under the GST.

Registered tax payers

Every registered tax payer is required to file three monthly returns and one annual return. These include:

GSTR-1 (monthly return)

GSTR-1 provides all the details of the outward supplies or sales made by the tax payer. The return must be filed within 10 days from the end of the tax period, that is, the transaction month.

This is an important form, and provides the basis for all future flow and match of input and output credit settlements. The form contains 13 different heads, including:

Basic details like business name along with the GSTIN and the period for which the return is being filed;

Details of invoices issued in the previous month and the corresponding taxes paid;

Details of advances received against a supply that has to be made in future, and;

Details of revision made to outward sales invoices in the previous tax periods.

With respect to the last point, tax payers must note that unlike the current regime, the GST does not provide a provision for revised returns. In other words, tax payers will have to file a fresh return for any correction, addition, or deletion in a previous return submitted by them.

GSTR-2 (monthly return)

GSTR-2 provides a summary of all the purchase transactions made by the tax payer.

The tax information on purchase transactions is automatically filled in the GSTR-2 of the tax payer as the same information is provided by the vendors or suppliers to the tax payer in their respective GSTR-1 forms. The tax payer just has to validate the pre-filled information provided by the vendor, and make modifications if any.

GSTR-2 return must be submitted within 15 days from the end of the tax period.

GSTR-3 (monthly return)

GSTR-3 is an automatically generated return form that includes details on sales and purchases as furnished in GSTR-1 and GSTR-2 by the tax payer. The portal auto-calculates the tax liability after considering the input tax credit from GSTR-2.

The due date for filing GSTR-3 is within 20 days from the end of the tax period.

GSTR-9 (annual return)

GSTR-9 is a detailed return form that provides information on all the income and expenditure of the tax payer and regroups them in accordance with the monthly returns. It provides tax payers with an opportunity to correct for short reporting of sales, if any.

Every tax payer with an annual turnover exceeding US$155,568 (Rs 1 crore) is required to furnish a copy of the audited annual accounts and a reconciliation statement along with GSTR-9.

A reconciliation statement includes the value of supplies declared in the return filed for the financial year with the audited annual financial statement.

The due date for filing GSTR-9 is December 31, following the end of the financial year for which it is filed.

RELATED: Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India: What it Means for Businesses

Composition suppliers

GSTR-4 (quarterly return)

Small businesses, including startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which do not have the requisite resources and expertise to comply with the new tax regime, have a provision to opt for the Composition Scheme under GST.

Such tax payers are called compounding tax payers and are required to file summarized returns only on a quarterly basis through GSTR-4, instead of filing three monthly returns.

The scheme can be availed by businesses dealing only in goods (service providers have been kept outside the purview of this scheme), and whose annual turnover is less than US$77,634 (Rs 50 lakh).

Moreover, a compounding tax payer is not allowed to avail input tax credit of GST paid to their supplier.

To file a GSTR-4, a compounding tax payer must provide:

 The total value of supply made during the period of return;

 Details of payment of tax in the return, and;

 Declare invoice-level purchase information.

The due date to file the GSTR-4 is the 18th of the month following the quarter for which the return is being filed.

Non-resident taxable persons

GSTR-5

Non-resident foreign businessmen or suppliers who make supplies in India for a short period without having any formal business establishment in the country are required to file returns under GSTR-5 for the period of registration.

Foreign businesses must file their GSTR-5 returns monthly, within 20 days from the end of the tax period; or within seven days after the date of expiry of their registration.

RELATED: International Tax Planning Advisory

Other types of GST returns

GSTR-6

Every input service distributor is required to file returns under GSTR-6, and the due date for furnishing details is the 13th day of the month following the tax period.

GSTR-7

Authorities deducting tax at source are required to file returns using the GSTR-7 form within 10 days from the end of the tax period.

GSTR-8

E-commerce operators are required to provide details of supplies, and the amount of tax collected at source in the GSTR-8 form. GSTR-8 must be filed within 10 days from the end of tax period.

GSTR-10

Every taxable person whose registration has been surrendered or cancelled must file their final returns in the GSTR-10 form. The final returns need to be furnished within three months of the date of cancellation or date of cancellation order, whichever is later.

GSTR-11

Details of purchases made by a person having a Unique Identification Number (UIN) and claiming refund is to be furnished in GSTR-11. A UIN is a special classification made for foreign diplomatic missions and embassies that are not liable to taxes in the Indian territory.

The due date for filing GSTR-11 is 28th of the month following the month for which the statement is filed (tax period).

RELATED: Impact of GST on Imports and Exports in India

Goods and Services Tax Network

All returns have to be filed electronically, through a common portal to be provided by the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN). GSTN is a not-for-profit, private limited company, promoted by the government with the specific mandate to provide information technology support and the digital services required for implementing the GST.

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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.
Yami Gautam is a self declared fan of the Super hero character Wonder Woman, which is clearly visible on her social media as she posted a picture wearing Wonder woman shoes.

While the world is gushing over the Jordanian beauty Gal Gadot as she brings to life the DC Comic character Wonder Woman on celluloid, our own Yami Gautam also expresses her love for the fictional character.

Yami Gautam flaunted her admiration for the superhero flick as she turned up for the film in shoes with the signature Wonder woman outfit colors.

Featured Video

The actress smitten by the DC Comic character, took to her social media to express her love for the same as she posted a picture of her Wonder woman shoes with the caption, "In #WonderWoman shoes going to watch her do wonders on screen with popcorn in my hands!! #BigFan @gal_gadot"

The actress was currently seen enjoying a family vacation in Maldives.
New York, June 21(Just Earth News): United Nations Secretary-General AntAnio Guterres on Tuesday announced the appointment of senior officials as his envoys, respectively, for promoting universal accessibility, on the rights of young people, and to guide the implementation of the Organization's new approach to tackle cholera in Haiti.

The senior appointments include Josette Sheeran of the United States, who shall serve as the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Haiti and will guide full implementation of the Organization's new approach to reduce the impact of cholera in the country and support national efforts on sustainable development.

The new UN approach on cholera involves two tracks: the first to intensify efforts to reduce and ultimately end the transmission of the disease, improve access to care and treatment, and address the longer-term issues of water, sanitation and health syste

Track 2 involves developing a package of material assistance and support for those Haitians most directly affected by cholera.

Sheeran, currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Asia Society, previously served as the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) from 2007 to 2012, where she also lead the agency's response in the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck the island nation in 2010.

She has also held senior positions at the World Economic Forum as well as in the US Government, including the Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs and Deputy US Trade Representative.

Similarly, Maria Soledad Cisternas Reyes of Chile has been appointed the UN chief's Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility, a role in which she will promote the rights of persons with disabilities, with a particular emphasis on accessibility for all.

Cisternas most recently served as the President of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She is also the recipient of the National Prize of Human Rights (2014) and Director of the Legal Programme on Disability, Faculty of Law, Diego Portales University.

She previously served as an expert on the Ad-hoc Committee that developed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), for which she was also the Rapporteur for individual complaints. She has also authored various publications.

Also on Tuesday, the UN chief appointed 27-year-old Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka  who played a key role in transforming the youth development sector at the national level  as his Envoy on Youth.

Wickramanayake is also credited with having established the 'Hashtag Generation,' a large civic and political engagement movement of young people. She has also represented and motivated global youth development at the international level since the age of 21, including at the UN, such as in the declaration of World Youth Skills Day.

Presently working as an officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, Wickramanayake previously served as Secretary to the Secretary General of the Parliament of Sri Lanka (2016-2017) as well as a Senator at the Sri Lankan Youth Parliament (2013-2015).

In the statements, Guterres expressed that he was grateful to the outgoing senior leaders.

UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Ottawa, June 21 (IBNS) Canadaas Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau on World Refugee Day on Wednesday appealed to all Canadians to stand with people seeking shelter from enormous hardship and violence across the world.

"On World Refugee Day, we honour the strength and resilience of the millions of people around the world fleeing conflict, insecurity, and persecution...Today, over 65 million people are displaced around the world, and more than 22 million of them are refugeesCanadians are fortunate to live in a country shaped, over the centuries, by the dreams and hard work of millions of immigrants and refugees," he said.

"Today, we recognize their dignity and potential. Despite the hardships they face, these individuals make many contributions to shape the diverse, strong, and prosperous country Canada is todayToday, I call on Canadians and people around the world to stand with people seeking shelter from enormous hardship and violence," he said.

"Refugees are forced to leave home, but they carry with them dreams for their children and the hope of creating a better world. Let us show compassion for their plight, recognize their dignity, and continue to see ourselves in each other, he added.

Ahmed Hussen, Federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship; Chrystia Freeland, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs; Marie-Claude Bibeau, Federal Minister of International Development and la Francophonie; and The Honourable Melanie Joly, Federal Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Multiculturalism also issued a statement on World Refugee Day:

Canada is deeply concerned by the unprecedented numbers of children, women and men fleeing conflict and persecution around the worldAs we mark World Refugee Day, we are reminded that we must all do what we can to help the most vulnerable... Over the years, our country has received thousands of refugeesWe are committed to maintaining this humanitarian tradition.." it said.

"As we celebrate Canada 150, we must take the opportunity to reflect on our past. There is no doubt that Canadas strong humanitarian tradition has helped shape this country. Canada is a country that values compassion, openness and diversity. These are the principles that we honour on this World Refugee Day.

Laura Albanese, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, was at Paramount Fine Foods Restaurant in Mississauga on Wednesday to mark World Refugee Day and announced new provincial support to help refugees and other newcomers succeed.

She said Ontario has taken a leadership role in Canada's humanitarian efforts to help refugees and save lives, with Communities across the province welcoming more than 28,000 refugees from across the world resettling in Ontario last year.

These newcomers are already giving back and contributing to their communities.

Ontario has a long tradition of welcoming those fleeing war and oppression and our government is continuing to play a leading role in supporting the settlement and integration of the growing number of refugees and newcomers settling in the province.I encourage both service providers and employers to leverage the talents, skills and experiences of these newcomers and provide them with the opportunity to grow and thrive in our province, said Laura Albanese

The province is investing, as part of the 2017 budget, $17.5 million in new funding over two years to enhance services for refugees and vulnerable newcomers.

In 2016, Ontario received over 110,000 immigrants and welcomed over 28,000 refugees as permanent residents.

In 2017-18, Ontario is investing over $110 million in newcomer and refugee support programs including language training, settlement and employment programs.

These investments by the Provincial Government will contribute to the successful integration of refugees and vulnerable newcomers. The additional resources will support targeted interventions that help newcomers achieve their full potential, said Mario Calla, Executive Director, COSTI

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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From being called the most eligible bachelor in the tinsel town to people talking about if he is a virgin or not, Salman Khan has been a topic of dinner table discussions for a very long time, but his marriage remains to be the million dollar question even now.

Whats more, his alleged affairs keep doing the rounds every now and then, puzzling people if he is dating, and if yes, then, who exactly.

AFP

But looks like the mystery has been solved finally! His alleged girlfriend Iulia Vantur has admitted while in conversation with Bollywood Life that he is in a relationship.

TOI

Yes, Salman Khan is always in a relationship, the website quoted his rumoured Romanian love as saying.

So, now that it has been almost confirmed that he is dating. We are wondering who is the lucky one? Is it Iulia? Or is it Katrina? The gossip mills have left us confused.

amazonaws.com

For the uninitiated, Iulia Vantur is a popular TV host and actress in Romania, who Salman met while he was filming for Ek Tha Tiger. Since then, they have become good friends. So much so, the lady came in India soon after and rumours suggest that she has been living in an apartment gifted to her by the superstar. Also, a lot of times she has been spotted on dinner dates with the Khan family and even papz have caught her glimpses standing on the balcony of his apartment.

And that now, he is dating, when is he planning to get married? We want to see Bhai ki shaadi happening, after all.
It's been almost two weeks and the news from the hills in West Bengal is not good. People are in the streets, tourists are stranded, basic amenities are absent as thousands of protesters are not giving up their demands for a separate Gorkhaland in West Bengal. Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee-led state government has been trying to muzzle the voices of the people. Now the protesters have chosen to come all the way to Delhi to make their voices heard.

The fresh protests were triggered by the state government's order making Bengali the core language in schools. However, there is a distinct bipartisan diversity in the state, where there isnt a homogeneity in the way people look, the language they speak, the food they eat and the culture they wear.

afp

People once more are asserting their demand for a separate state  Gorkhaland. This time, it doesnt seem they will back down from their 110-year-old demand easily.

Culturally and ethnically different place

Anmol Gurung, a filmmaker who lives in Kalimpong, says he does understand where Mamata was coming from  she wanted to extend the influence of Bengali in the state, which is the predominant language. Having said that, he doesnt agree with it.

"The very reason we are looking for Gorkhaland is that we are very different people  culturally and ethnically, said the 29-year-old.

This century old sentiment was triggered by the CMs desire to impose a language on a people that are so different from Bengali people, Anmol added. What escalated the issue further, he said, was the arrival of CRPF jawans, as they instigated violence. A peaceful march was given overtones of violence.

afp

He said: Gorkhas are a simple people who believe in their right to a land that is theirs.

We also believe in Indian sovereignty and that is why this is not a separatists movement. Gorkhas want a state within the country.

Anmol told Indiatimes that this particular movement is unique because unlike previous movements, this one is not led by a political party. It is instead entirely about the masses this time.

Bengali is already an optional language, unlike Nepali

Saket Suman, a journalist, who lived in Darjeeling for more than 12 years, feels that the Chief Minister announced that Bengali be made a core language in schools without doing her homework properly.

afp

Bengali is already an optional second or third language in schools across the numerous boarding schools in Darjeeling. English is the core language, with the option of choosing Hindi, Bengali or Nepali as the optional second or third language. But, Nepali is not an optional second or third language in schools in Calcutta.

By trying to make Bengali a mandatory language in schools, Mamata Banerjee tried to impose her culture on a people who are not Bengali speaking and played with the emotions of the people, the 26-year-old told Indiatimes.

Constitution allows making such demands

ap

Rajen Chetri, who is a Delhi Police Northeast Representative, also said that what Gorkhas want is a century-old demand that is within the periphery of the constitution.

Article three of the Indian constitution allows for the formation of new states. The 29-year-old also reiterated that this demand is not for an independent state  only a separate state. The fact that historically Darjeeling used to be a part of Sikkim is proof that Gorkhas are culturally and ethnically different from the rest of Bengal.

This is a fight to preserve the identity of Gorkha people, Rajen told Indiatimes.

Is a separate state the answer?

Aradhana, a 24-year-old from Kalimpong, said that larger consensus is that people have started to dissent because the government has deflected their demands for years and years. According to her though, demanded a separate state is not necessary. Some amount of autonomy should be enough to allay peoples demands, otherwise at this rate India will be chopped up into many tiny states.

ap

Finally, a political analyst with New Delhi-based WISCOM, Nidhi Bhatnagar, who was born and brought up in Darjeeling, also believes that the masses demand for Gorkhaland is legitimate. She also pointed towards history and their deviation of the rest of West Bengals culture. But, she believes that transcending from emotions will be more constructive in getting their demands fulfilled.
In another case of marital rape, a woman from Germany has approached the Delhi police alleging that she was raped by her Punjab-based husband and father-in-law. The victim got married to the Punjab-based man in Germany. The couple returned to India and started staying with the man's family in Punjab.

Representational Image

She said that her husband and father-in-law have sexually assaulted her. The woman said her husband left her at a hotel in Paharganj in the city, they said.

A complaint was received by the Paharganj police station in this regard. However, no FIR has been registered in the matter.

Police said they were examining the complaint.
Sadhvi Jayshree Giri, a self-styled godwoman who escaped police custody last week has been nabbed by Gujarat police from Udaipur in Rajasthan.

File Image

"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.

She was granted a 10-day interim parole on medical grounds and gave police a slip on the day she was supposed to surrender.

The former head of Mukteshwar Mahadev Math in Banaskantha district had escaped police last wednesday after the cops accompanying her to a private hospital and then to Himalaya Mall went to watch "Baahubali-2.

The woman police constable and five others were arrested for allegedly helping the sadhvi flee.

Sadhvi Jayshree was arrested by police in January on cheating complaint filed by a jeweller. During a raid at one of her premises, police recovered Rs 1.25 crore in Rs 2,000 denomination and 2.4 kg of gold.

Later police also learned that the sadhvi was facing murder charges for her alleged involvement in the killing of her 'guru' Sanjay Giri Maharaj in 2008 for taking control of the math.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined thousands of yoga enthusiasts at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan in Lucknow on Wednesday to mark the third International Yoga day.

PIB

Donning a white t-shirt and loose trousers, Modi also performed asanas along with other yoga enthusiasts braving early morning drizzles. Speaking at the occasion the Indian Prime Minister urged everyone to make Yoga a part of their lives and said that it has played a big role in connecting the world with India.

PIB

"Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, or culture, are now connecting to India through Yoga. The practice, which connects body, mind and soul, has played a big role in binding the world too."

PIB

"Earlier, Yoga was only restricted to saints and seers in the Himalayan mountains. Now, it has become part of every person's life," he said in his address.

He also asserted that attaining "wellness" through yoga was more important than simply being physically fit.

PIB

"It is not important to perform yoga for 24 hours. 50 or 60 minutes (is fine) because it lends harmony to the body, mind and intellect. If 1.25 billion Indians and people around the world can attain this state of well-being, then humankind can also tide over problems born out of human thoughts," he said.

He also explained the importance of Yoga using an analogy of salt.

"Just as the importance of salt is not only to lend taste to food, but also ensure well-being of the body, similarly Yoga can have the same importance as salt has in life," he said.

He said yoga is like free health assurance. "It is not even expensive to practice."

BCCL

"I urge everyone to make yoga a part of their lives," he said, adding that he was glad to see several yoga institutes take shape over the last three years.

Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik and chief minister Yogi Adityanath joined the Prime Minister in performing yoga at the sprawling venue.
As the world marked the International Yoga Day today, a gathering of 3 lakh people in India created a world record by performing Yoga together.

BCCL

Led By Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, BJP president Amit Shah, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, former chief minister Anandiben Patel, several other political leaders, IPS and IAS officers, high court judges and dignitaries were also present at the turned up at GMDC ground in Ahmedabad.

The third edition of the International Yoga Day was held under the guidance of Ramdev, who made the participants stretch their muscles in various yogic postures amid the early morning drizzle at the ground.

Religious leaders of different faiths were specially invited by the state government as well as Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth to watch the mega-event.

BCCL

After the one-and-a-half hour long session, Ramdev claimed that the event has made it to the Guinness World Records book with nearly 3 lakh people performing yoga at one place.

The previous record was made in Delhi on June 21, 2015, when 35,985 people did yoga at Rajpath with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Today is the most important day for me, as more than 3 lakh people performed yoga at one place to set a new world record. We have broken the previous world record, which was set in the presence of our PM, by a huge margin," Ramdev told reporters after the event.

BCCL

He said that officials of the Guinness World Records book were also present at the event.

Ramdev said the officials will declare the final figure of the participants after tabulating the data based on the bar code tag given to each person at the entry gates.

While guiding the participants during the event, Ramdev invited Shah and Rupani to join him on the dais and follow his yogic postures.

In his address after the event, Shah thanked Modi for making yoga popular across the globe.

BCCL

"Though India was trying hard to make yoga popular across the globe since 2011, we got success after the United Nations accepted Modiji's proposal in 2014 and declared June 21 as the World Yoga Day. Since then, the popularity of yoga is increasing across the world rapidly," Shah said.

Apart from the GMDC ground, yoga day was celebrated at all the district headquarters by the Gujarat government.

In Rajkot, as many as 792 women took part in an 'aqua yoga' event, wherein they performed asanas in different swimming pools, an official of the city civic body said.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has landed in a soup after a tribal woman from Assam filed a case against him for sharing her bare photograph on his social media page 10 years ago, taken during a stir in Guwahati ten years ago. Assam Lok Sabha MP Ram Prasad Sarma is also one of the accused.

Laxmi Orang filed the complaint in the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate court under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.

The post claims that the Hindu woman was stripped by Congress workers for allegedly raising slogans in support of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

screengrab

The photograph of the woman stripped naked, being chased across the street, was shared on Yogis fan-page on Facebook which has over 95,000 followers.

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 (AASAA) at Beltola in Guwahati on November 24, 2007 without blurring.

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.

BCCL

"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.
The world's celebrating the third edition of International Yoga Day and India is practically leading the way.

Left arm over the wicket pic.twitter.com/aVhTuLxjx5  SAGAR (@sagarcasm) June 21, 2017

From PM Narendra Modi to India's Armed Forces, everyone is leading by example. But those who aren't, have busied themselves with trolling the likes of politicians and the general public. Read more

1. As Protests Over Gorkhaland Reach Delhi, Here's What The People From The Hills Are Demanding

AFP

It's been almost two weeks and the news from the hills in West Bengal is not good. People are in the streets, tourists are stranded, basic amenities are absent as thousands of protesters are not giving up their demands for a separate Gorkhaland in West Bengal. Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee-led state government has been trying to muzzle the voices of the people. Now the protesters have chosen to come all the way to Delhi to make their voices heard.

The fresh protests were triggered by the state government's order making Bengali the core language in schools. However, there is a distinct bipartisan diversity in the state, where there isnt a homogeneity in the way people look, the language they speak, the food they eat and the culture they wear. Read more

2. ISRO Set To Launch 31 Satellites, 29 Of Them Foreign, On June 23 Which Weigh Almost 1000 Kgs Together

On June 23, ISRO will launch its earth observation satellite Cartosat-2 series weighing 712kg and 30 co-passenger satellites (29 foreign, one Indian) with its rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

bccl

According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the PSLV rocket's XL variant is expected to lift off on Friday morning at 9.29am from the Sriharikota rocket port. Read more

3. Swachh Bharat: Nine People Held For Spending Rs 54K That Was Meant to Build Toilets

Nine people have been arrested from Power Loom town of Bhiwandi for cheating after they misused the funds granted to them to build toilets under the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan.

A case under various sections of the IPC has been registered against the accused persons with Narpoli police station under Bhiwandi division, said police. Read more

4. Here Is How A Number Of Indian Companies Are Becoming Increasingly Transgender-Friendly

During a training session for its first set of transgender recruits, officials from the new metro rail company in Kochi asked them if they had any concerns.

afp/representational image

They had just one: bathroom access. Read more

Its official, Travis Kalanick has stepped down as CEO of Uber. The announcement follows closely in the wake of what was supposed to be Kalanicks temporary leave of absence from the company.

reuters

Uber has had a rough time of late, with a string of scandals and controversies threatening to drown the ride-hailing service. The company has been accused of ignoring complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, illegally obtaining medical records of a woman raped by an Uber driver, and causing major salary discrepancies between employees through its hiring and processes. Read more
World's oldest Yoga teacher Tao Porchon-Lynch and India's oldest Yoga guru Amma Nannamal came together to demonstrate various yoga asanas in Bengaluru at Kanteerava Outdoor Stadium today on the occasion of the third International Yoga Day.

dinakaran

Both, Tao Porchon-Lynch and Amma Nannamal are 98-year-old. The trainers performed asanas with 500 yoga enthusiasts at the venue.

linkedin

Porchon-Lynch, of Indian-French descent, said she had participated in the Indian freedom struggle. Nanammal hails from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the International Yoga Day celebrations in Lucknow. The entire world has been equally thrilled and pumped up to observe the occasion, taking a pledging to keep their body, mind and soul fit.

The age-old Indian practice has brought people from different culture and countries together and this could be clearly seen from the zeal and enthusiasm with which the people across the globe are practicing yoga.
What's the perfect way to usher the International Yoga Day?

Take inspiration from this Florida woman who, after getting stuck in a traffic jam, rolled out her mat in the middle of a highway to perform the postures. Bang in the middle of the highway! Can't stress on this fact enough!

@kristinbjornsen/twitter

She wrote on Twitter: "Clearing the traffic in my mind." Kristin Bjornsen posted a picture of herself doing the bhujang asana or the cobra pose.

She asked a fellow passenger to click her photo as she did yoga to calm her mind in a very stressful situation.

In a blog that she wrote for the Miami New Times, she wrote,

"The truth is I didn't really do much yoga on the highway - I was just trying to make a point about traffic in Miami and how we handle it.

"Part of me feels guilty that people actually think I was Zen-ing out on the highway. But in a way, I was. Because I was laughing at an uncontrollable situation, aghast that so few people got out of their cars, and making the best of what I hope only happens to me once in this lifetime."

Namastacy Yoga

Forget switching lanes the next time you find yourself stuck in a traffic jam. Just carry a yoga mat along.
For most people living in todays cities and towns, night sky is only about dust and pollution. There is literally no trace of a twinkle on the sky, all thanks to the atrocious levels air pollution.

Astroport Sarika

But for people who love to stargaze, here's some good news. Located in Rajasthan, Astroport Sariska near the Sariska National Park, is THE place to be for stargazing. The newly opened resort is just a five-hour drive from Delhi and is the second most dark place in India.

This gives on a chance to see the entire Milky Way streaking through the night sky and the view is nothing less than fantabulous.

Apart from just stargazing, the resort has brilliant camping facilities and many other activities like rock climbing, nature walk, jungle safari, village tours, track n sign, camel safari, horse riding, pottery, organic farm tour, yoga and aerobics.

Astroport Sarika

Astroport in its larger view aims at providing employment or creating entrepreneurs in the field of astronomy. Astroports are fully equipped to execute these trainings and provide certifications that can be used later to earn a livelihood, reads the information on their website.

The resort currently offers two types of accommodations, Galaxia which houses two king-size beds takes up to six people at a time. The total cost with meals amounts to approximately INR 13,000.

Astroport Sarika

The second accommodation is the Nebula which has 8 queen-size beds and can accommodate anywhere up to ten people at a time. It is priced at INR 22,000, including meals.

If you are planning the next vacation and are waiting for that perfect Instagram story. this is where you should head!
Its official, Travis Kalanick has stepped down as CEO of Uber. The announcement follows closely in the wake of what was supposed to be Kalanicks temporary leave of absence from the company.

Reuters

Uber has had a rough time of late, with a string of scandals and controversies threatening to drown the ride-hailing service. The company has been accused of ignoring complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, illegally obtaining medical records of a woman raped by an Uber driver, and causing major salary discrepancies between employees through its hiring and processes.

Just last week, Ubers board of directors met before an investor briefing, to discuss what was to happen to Kalanick, under whose watch the company has suffered. Hes seen as brash and combative both within and without the company, and is viewed among Uber drivers as an unsympathetic boss. The board of directors was reportedly at the time considering forcing Kalanick to step away from the company for a time, in order for it to find his feet.

According to the New York Times, Kalanick was at the Uber investor meet this Tuesday, where a few major investors demanded he step down immediately. Kalanick reportedly agreed to comply after hours of discussions, but will stay on Ubers board of directors and retain his majority voting shares.

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, Kalanick told NYT.

Travis has always put Uber first, the board of directors said in a statement. This is a bold decision and a sign of his devotion and love for Uber. By stepping away, hes taking the time to heal from his personal tragedy while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Ubers history. We look forward to continuing to serve with him on the board. (Kalanick had recently taken a leave of absence from the company following the death of his mother).

When Kalanick co-founded Uber in 2009, it quickly shot to the top of the ride-hailing industry, but at a cost. Ubers own apparently callous and aggressive business policies have been seen as a reflection of Kalanick himself, one thats let it speedily grow to a giant in the industry, but has also seen it struggle to retain even half of the new drivers it brings on. Indeed, Twitter isn't exactly surprised, or even sad to see Kalanick go.

Wow, looks like Travis Kalanick has big plans for the future: pic.twitter.com/PXvneGem5Q  Pixelated Boat (@pixelatedboat) June 21, 2017

TRAVIS KALANICK THE MORALLY BANKRUPT CEO OF UBER

WHO TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS DISGUSTING DRIVERS #deleteuber pic.twitter.com/F2GNPeLFXF  FRANK BULLITT (@FrankBullitt39) June 21, 2017

Kalanick is a child. Huffington is nothing more than an overpaid nanny whose only experience in livery is screaming at chauffeurs.  Brian Riccio (@Trumpwatching1) June 20, 2017

Travis Kalanick resignations is just code for rebranding b/c the investors realized he was becoming a liability as the face of the company.  Jaye Hubbs (@jayehubbs) June 21, 2017

Now with Kalanick out of the picture, its up to his successor to turn the company around, and thats not going to be easy task. Uber's policies need to be reworked, and the new CEO has to be able to charm the pants off a disillusioned company workforce. But hey, at least its a start.
Home US Setting Up Military Base In Syrian Province Of Raqqah By South Front June 20, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - According to local sources, US-led coalition forces have begun setting up a new military base in Tabqah town in the province of Raqqah. The new base will be located in the military housing area, the Mohammed Fares school as well as the military and security buildings in the third district of the town. US forces reportedly intend to build a command center and residential buildings for its troops. According to opposition sources, USA wants to adopt the new base in Tabqah town as a long-term base in Syria. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports from Kurdish sources appeared arguing that a new agreement between the USA and YPG was made. The agreement will allegedly allow the US military to stay in the YPG-held areas for 10 years. In turn, the US will continue providing military aid to YPG. However, no official sources have reported about this. The Turkish News Agency Anadolu announced that Washington has supplied YPG and YPJ Kurdish forces in Syria with modern weapons within the last ten days. On June 16 , 50 trucks loaded with weapons arrived through Kurdistan Region border crossings. On June 5, 60 trucks loaded with arms arrived to the SDF-held areas. 20 more trucks arrived on June 12, according to the agency. According to the Anadolu report, the Kurds received: 12,000 rifles, 6,000 machine guns, 3,500 machine guns, 3,000 RPG-7 bombers and 1,000 grenade launchers of the AT-4 type produced by the United States and LNG grenades, besides near 235 mortar rounds, 100 sniper rifles and 450 7PV night vision sights. This article was first published by South Front - No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Daily Newsletter State Senator Calls US Base in Syria a Violation of International Law By Sputnik June 20, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The US base in Syrias At Tanf area is a clear violation of international law, State Senator from Virginia Richard Black told Sputnik. "Weve even set up a base at Al Tanf in the southern part, its an American base within the country of Syria," Black said. "You cant get a more obvious violation of international law than to actually move in and set up a military base in a sovereign country that has never taken any offensive action towards our country." The United States last week transferred two high mobility multiple-launch rocket systems from Jordan to the US special operations forces base at At Tanf. US President Donald Trump, Black added, has unfortunately given authority to people "who are not well-intentioned and they are using that military authority in Syria." The senator also noted that Russia, Syria, and its allies are "definitely on the move. " "Theres no doubt that the terrorists are being thrown back on every front and I think thats very encouraging," he stated. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that the Russian military is analyzing the US deployment of artillery where terrorist formations are said to be virtually absent. The US-led coalition against Daesh terror group (outlawed in Russia) has twice struck Syrian-government aligned forces in the At Tanf area, and Trump launched a missile strike against a Syrian air base in April. This article was first published by Sputnik - The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load. What's your response? - Scroll down to add / read comments Please read our Comment Policy before posting - It is unacceptable to slander, smear or engage in personal attacks on authors of articles posted on ICH. Those engaging in that behavior will be banned from the comment section. Click here to comment on our Facebook page
Mass Incarceration, Prison Labor in the United States





By John Stanton

June 20, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - The Federal Prison Industries (FPI) under the brand UNICORE operates approximately 52 factories (prisons) across the United States. Prisoners manufacture or assemble a number of products for the US military, homeland security, and federal agencies according to the UNICORE/FPI website . They produce furniture, clothing and circuit boards in addition to providing computer aided design services and call center support for private companies.

UNICORE/FPI makes its pitch for employing call center support personnel to firms thinking about offshoring their call center functions. The logic is that, hey!, they may be prisoners, but its keeping the jobs in the USA that matters. Fair enough. That approach cuts out the middleman though, those Americans desperate for any kind of work but, through no fault of their own, are not behind prison bars and employable by UNICORE/FPI.

Sure, it seems a heartless statement and there are any number of angles to take on why the USA is the worlds number one incarcerator: Capitalism, racism, social and political injustice, a pay-as-you-go legal system, bone-headed policy makers, prison lobbyists, the death penalty, employment/unemployment, drugs, gangs, costs/prices and a host of behavioral, psychological and environmental issues that I have missed.

Inevitably the black hole that is money eventually sucks in and corrupts everyone from those in local communities desperate for the work a prison facility provides to those investors who profit from the prison industry. They earn their livelihoods and take their profits from the misery and labor squeezed from their human propertythose prisoners who self-destructed and others who are serving terms way too long for the crime committed.

For the Love of Money

From October 2016 through March 2017, UNICORE/FPI sold $252,414,987 million worth of goods and services.

The prison labor industry is very keen on promoting its role in assembling the US militarys widely used Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS). In January defense contractor Harris Corp. was awarded a $403 million contract by the US Defense Logistics Agency for spare parts supporting tactical radio systems, which includes SINCGARS .

UNICOR/FPI is a major supplier of SINCGARS radios, mounts, antennas, and installation and repair kits and when hard-mounted, our SINCGARS equipment meets rigorous military standards for shock and vibration in aircraft and tactical vehicles, such as Bradleys and Humvees. Through our nationwide network of factories and trained technicians, we have successfully met aggressive production and distribution needs for this crucial communication equipment in Middle East military operations.

Some of the purchases by the US Department of Defense include $14.8 million for electronic components, $887 thousand for communications equipment, $26.7 million for office furniture, $27.1 million for special purpose clothing and $7.5 million for body armor. The Department of Homeland security spent $372,255 on administrative support. The Executive Office of the US President spent $389 for signs and identification plates.

Fight Fire with Inmates

According to a Mother Jones article in 2015 somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of Californias forest firefighters are state prison inmates with some 4,000 working at any one time on fire lines. So dependent on the inmates was California that prison reforms that would see the release of some of the incarcerated firefighters were put on hold for fear of losing the manpower to fight California blazes. Then California attorney general Kamala Harris, now a US Senator, was behind the effort to keep the cheap firefighters behind bars,

Prison reform advocates have raised concerns that the state is so reliant on the cheap labor of inmate firefighters that policymakers may be slow to adopt prison reforms as a result. The concern was magnified last fall, when lawyers for state Attorney General Kamala Harris argued that extending an early prison-release program to all minimum custody inmates at this time would severely impact fire camp participationa dangerous outcome while California is in the middle of a difficult fire season and severe drought. Harris has since said she was troubled by the argument, and the state has ruled that minimum custody inmates, including firefighters, are eligible for the program so long as it proves not to deplete the numbers of inmate firefighters.

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US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains women, men, children, and LGBTQI individuals in over 200 county jails and for-profit prisons, according to the grassroots group CIVIC . Some of these individuals include legal permanent residents with longstanding family and community ties, asylum-seekers, and victims of human trafficking.

It was former President Bill Clinton (Democrat) who started to load up detention centers and jails with immigrants, CIVIC noted. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which doubled the number of people in immigration detention from 8,500 each day in 1996 to 16,000 in 1998. Today, the detention population has increased fourfold to approximately 34,000 individuals each day, due in part to a congressionally mandated lock-up quota

President Donald Trumps (Republican) animosity to immigrants is well known. He and his aptly named attorney general Jefferson Beauregard Sessions will make sure detention centers and prisons are overfilled with men, women and children from Mexico, Central and South America. Trump and Sessions maniacal quest wage war on crime, drugs and terrorism will likely ensure that many thousands more will find themselves locked away and working for UNICORE/FPI or lining the pockets of private prison company owners.

Immigrants Too

The non-profit group Towards Justice reported that a lawsuit is moving forward pitting private prison corporation against immigrants who were forced into labor while in detention.

For the first time in history, a federal court allowed a class of immigrant detainees to jointly proceed with forced labor claims against the countrys second-largest private prison provider. Judge Kane in the District of Colorado certified a class of between 50,000 and 60,000 current and former immigrant detainees held at GEOs Aurora, Colorado detention facility since 2004. These individuals, some of whom were found to legally reside in this country after months in detention, allege that they were forced to clean the detention center without pay and under threat of solitary confinement. This practice allowed GEO to reduce labor costs at the Aurora facility, where it employs just one custodian to maintain a detention center that houses up to 1,500 people at a time.

Everyone Has Their Hands in the Pie

In January 2017, the Prison Policy Initiative (prisonpolicy.org) worked up a study titled Following the Money of Mass Incarceration. It shines the light on some of the unsettling reasons why the USA will never be able to reduce its reliance on mass incarceration. Those who depend on money that the prison industry provides will never give it up. Its not just private companies but local communities, bondsmen, unions all the way up to the US Department of Defense who collect fees or purchase UNICORE/FPI products and services at dirt cheap prices.

Bail bond companies that collect $1.4 billion in nonrefundable fees from defendants and their families actively work to block reforms that threaten its profits, even if reforms could prevent people from being detained in jail because of their poverty. Specialized phone companies win monopoly contracts and charge families up to $24.95 for a 15-minute phone call. Commissary vendors that sell goods to incarcerated people  who rely largely on money sent by loved ones  is an even larger industry that brings in $1.6 billion a year. 38 towns and cities in the U.S., more than 10% of all revenue is collected from court fines and fees. In St. Louis County, five towns generated more than 40% of their annual revenue from court fines and fees in 2013.

The over-incarceration of Americans is just one more vexing issue, piled on manyAfghanistan, Syria, education, Trump, Clintons, health care, taxesin which US citizens find themselves trapped and unable to reach across the pro/con divide and cause change.

John Stanton is a Virginia based writer. Reach him at captainkong22@gmail.com
More Evidence of US Support for ISIS

By Stephen Lendman

June 20, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Straightaway after Trumps January 20 swearing in ceremony, a White House statement said defeating ISIS and other terrorist groups is the administrations highest priority, adding:

To defeat and destroy these groups, we will pursue aggressive joint and coalition military operations when necessary. In addition, the Trump Administration will work with international partners to cut off funding for terrorist groups, to expand intelligence sharing, and to engage in cyberwarfare to disrupt and disable propaganda and recruiting.

Instead of defeat(ing) and destroy(ing) these groups, the Trump administration actively supports them.

Photographic evidence shows ISIS firing US-made TOW-guided anti-tank missiles against government forces.

In last years battle for Aleppo, al-Nusra terrorists used these weapons, according to Russian General Sergei Rudskoi  supplied by the Obama administration.

ISIS was earlier supplied with shoulder-launched, man-portable, easy to operate, surface-to-air missiles (SAMS), able to down helicopters and low-flying aircraft.

These weapons are still likely being supplied to the group and other anti-government forces. Washington and its rogue allies covertly support the scourge they claim to oppose.

Numerous times Bashar al-Assad accused Western and regional countries of supporting ISIS and other terrorist groups combating government forces.

On Saturday, his political and media advisor Bouthiana Shaaban accused Washington of arming and financing ISIS, flagrantly violating Security Council Resolution 2253 (December 2015)  sponsored by Russia and America, unanimously adopted.

It covers an asset freeze, travel ban, arms embargo and lists criteria for designating ISIS, al-Qaeda, and associated individuals, groups, undertaking and entities as terrorist groups.

It states parties responsible for committing, organizing or supporting terrorist acts must be held accountable. It called on member states to cooperate fully in investigating incidents involving these groups.

It stressed the obligation of member states to prevent their nationals or persons in their countries from aiding them economically and/or militarily.

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Russia and Iran scrupulously observe its principles. America and its rogue allies repeatedly violate them.

Separately, according to Libyas Al-Manar TV, Iraqi forces regained control of the strategically important al-Waleed checkpoint on the Syria border  located near the al-Tanf border crossing, along the important Syrian/Iraqi/Jordanian triangle.

Last week, Syrian Defense Ministry officials held talks with their Iraqi counterparts in Baghdad on coordinating border security and combating a common enemy, which is the terrorist Daesh (ISIS) organization, adding:

We discussed holding Syria-Iraq borders to maintain pressure on the terrorist enemy and establishing a joint operations center through which both sides can coordinate.

On Saturday, Syrian General Mohammad Issa said

(s)ending US missiles to al-Tanf is (part of a) US (plan) to create a small ISIL state along the Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian borders to separate Syria from Iraq and Iran, and turn it into a marginalized country which doesnt play any role in the region.

A similar scheme is planned for northern Syria to separate it from Damascus control  part of a diabolical US plot to destroy the countrys sovereignty.
Israel's Dirty Little Secret



How it drives US policies exploiting a spineless Congress and White House



By Philip Giraldi

June 20, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - At a recent panel discussion in Washington, screenwriter, film director and producer Oliver Stone briefly addressed the issue of alleged Russian interference in the recent national election, observing that Israel interfered in the U.S. election far more than Russia and nobody is investigating them. A few days later, in an interview with Stephen Colbert on the Late Show, Stone returned to the theme, responding to an aggressive claim that Russia had interfered in the election by challenging Colbert with Israel had far more involvement in the U.S. election than Russia. Why dont you ask me about that?

Dont look for the exchange with Colbert on YouTube. CBS deleted it from its broadcast and website, demonstrating once again that the I word cannot be disparaged on national television. Stone was, of course, referring to the fact that the Israel Lobby, most notably acting through its American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is undeniably a foreign lobby, no less so than anyone representing the presumed interests of Russia or China. It operates with complete impunity on Capitol Hill and also at state and local levels and no one dares to require it to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, which would permit scrutiny of its finances and also end its tax-exempt educational status. Nor does Congress or the media see fit to inquire into AIPACs empowerment of candidates based on their fidelity to Israel, not to mention the direct interference in the American electoral process which surfaced most visibly in its support of candidate Mitt Romney in 2012.

The last president that sought to compel the predecessor organization of AIPAC to register was John F. Kennedy, who also was about to take steps to rein in Israels secret nuclear weapons program when he was assassinated, which was a lucky break for Israel, particularly as Kennedy was replaced by the passionate Zionist Lyndon Baines Johnson. Funny how things sometimes work out. The Warren Commission looked deeply into a possible Cuban connection in the shooting and came up with nothing but one has to wonder if they also investigated the possible roles of other countries. Likewise, the 9/11 Commission Report failed to examine the possible involvement of Israel in the terrorist attack in spite of a considerable body of evidence suggesting that there were a number of Israeli-sourced covert operations running in the U.S. at that time.

Looking back from the perspective of his more than 40 years of military service, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas Moorer described the consequences of Jewish power vis-a-vis U.S. policy towards Israel, stating that Ive never seen a president  I dont care who he is  stand up to them [the Israelis]. It just boggles your mind. They always get what they want. The Israelis know what is going on all the time. I got to the point where I wasnt writing anything down. If the American people understood what a grip those people have got on our government, they would rise up in arms. Our citizens dont have any idea what goes on.

He also addressed the 1967 Israeli assault on the USS Liberty, saying Israel attempted to prevent the Libertys radio operators from sending a call for help by jamming American emergency radio channels. [And that] Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned lifeboats at close range that had been lowered to rescue the most-seriously wounded. He concluded with our government put Israels interests ahead of our own? If so, Why? Does our government continue to subordinate American interests to Israeli interests?

It is a question that might well be asked today, as the subservience to Israeli interests is, if anything, more pervasive in 2017 Washington than it was in 2002 when Moorer spoke up. And, as in Moorers day, much of the partiality towards Israel makes its way through congress with little or no media coverage lest anyone begin to wonder whose tail is wagging which dog. To put it succinctly, there is an Israeli hand in much of what the United States does internationally, and the involvement is not intended to do anything good for the American people.

During the past several weeks alone there has been a flurry of legislation backed by Israel and its Lobby. One bill might actually have been written by AIPAC. It is called Senate 722, Countering Irans Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017. The bill has 63 co-sponsors, most of whom are the usual suspects, but it also included an astonishingly large number of Democrats who describe themselves as progressive, including Corey Booker and Kamila Harris, both of whom are apparently terrified lest they say no to Israel. With 63 co-sponsors out of 100 senators the bill was certain to pass overwhelmingly, and it was indeed approved 98 to 2, with only Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders voting no.

And theres more to S.722 than Iran  its subtitle is An act to provide congressional review and to counter Iranian and Russian governments aggression. Much of it is designed to increase sanctions on both Iran and Russia while also limiting the White Houses ability to relieve any sanctions without approval by congress. Regarding Iran, the bill mandates that Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Director of National Intelligence shall jointly develop and submit to the appropriate congressional committees a strategy for deterring conventional and asymmetric Iranian activities and threats that directly threaten the United States and key allies in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond.

The premise is of course nonsensical as Irans ability to threaten anyone, least of all the United States, is limited. It is far outgunned by its neighbors and even more so by the U.S., but it has become the enemy of choice for congress as well as for the former generals who serve as White House advisers. The animus against Iran comes directly from Israel and from the Saudi Arabians, who have managed to sell their version of developments in their part of the world through a completely acquiescent and heavily Jewish influenced western media.

And theres more. A bill has surfaced in the House of Representatives that will require the United States to consult with Israel regarding any prospective arms sales to Arab countries in the Middle East. In other words, Israel will have a say, backed up undoubtedly by Congress and the media, over what the United States does in terms of its weapons sales abroad. The sponsors of the bill, one Brad Schneider of Illinois, and Claudia Tenney of New York, want closer scrutiny of future military arms sales to maintain the qualitative military edge that Israel currently enjoys.

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Schneider is, of course, Jewish and a life member of AIPAC, so it is hardly as if he is a disinterested party. Tenny runs for office in New York State, so it is hardly as if she is disinterested either, but the net result of all this is that American jobs and U.S. international security arrangements through weapons sales will be at least in part subject to Israeli veto. And you know that is precisely what will happen as Israel could give a damn what happens to the struggling American entity that it so successfully feeds off of.

And theres still more. Bill HR 672 Combating European Anti-Semitism Act of 2017 was passed unanimously by the House of Representatives on June 14th. Yes, I said unanimously. The bill requires the State Department to monitor what European nations and their police forces are doing about anti-Semitism and encourages them to adopt a uniform definition of anti-Semitism. That means that criticism of Israel must be considered anti-Semitism and will therefore be a hate crime and prosecutable, a status that is already de facto true in Britain and France. If the Europeans dont play ball, there is the possibility of repercussions in trade negotiations. The bill was co-sponsored by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from Florida and Nita Lowey of New York, both of whom are Jewish.

There is also a Senate companion bill on offer in the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act of 2017. The bill will make the Anti-Semitism Envoy a full American Ambassador and will empower him or her with a full staff and a budget permitting meddling worldwide. The bill is sponsored by Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Marco Rubio of Florida. Gillibrand is unlikely to miss co-sponsoring anything relating to Israel due to her own self-interest and Rubio wants to be president real bad so he is following the money.

And finally, the U.S. Senate has also approved a resolution celebrating the 50th anniversary of Israels conquest of East Jerusalem. Again, the vote was unanimous. The resolution was co-sponsored by Senators Charles Schumer and Mitch McConnell, two reptiles who give snakes a bad name and about whom the less said the better. Schumer is Jewish and has described himself as the shomer or guardian of Israel in the Senate. That the resolution opposes long established U.S. government policy that the occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank by Israel is in contravention of international law and is an impediment to any peace process with the Palestinians apparently bothered not even one Senator.

I might note in passing that there has been no Senate resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of the bravery exhibited by the officers and crew of the USS Liberty as they were being slaughtered by the Israelis at the same time as Jerusalem was being liberated. There is probably even more to say, to include secret agreements with the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, but I will stop at this point with one final observation. President Donald Trump traveled to the Middle East claiming to be desirous of starting serious negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, but it was all a sham. Benjamin Netanyahu took him aside and came out with the usual Israeli bullshit about the Palestinians inciting violence and hatred of Jews and Trump bought into it. He then went to see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and shouted at him for being a liar and opposed to peace based on what Netanyahu had told him. That is what passes for even-handed in the U.S. government, no matter who is president. A few days later the Israelis announced the building of the largest bloc of illegal new settlements on the West Bank since 1992, an action that they claim is being coordinated with Washington.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon once boasted about owning the United States. I guess he was right.
Americas Oligarchs Will Control 70% Of National Wealth By 2021





A new study by the Boston Consulting Group has found that while wealth inequality is growing on a global scale, it has kicked into overdrive in the United States  where Americas 1% are expected to control 70 percent of the nations private wealth by the year 2021.



By Whitney Webb

June 20, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Americas rich just wont quit getting richer, according to a new study released in mid-June by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) , a global management consulting firm. The study, which seeks to analyze the global wealth management industry, as well as the evolution of private wealth, uncovered some startling statistics that suggest that global financial inequality will grow significantly by the year 2021.

The firm found that the already massive gap between the worlds wealthy elite  the approximately 18 million households that hold at least than $1 million in assets  and everyone else is continuing to widen at a remarkable rate. The estimated 70 million people who make up these households were found to control 45 percent of the worlds $166.5 trillion in wealth. And in just four more years, it is estimated that they will control more than half of the worlds wealth, despite representing less than 1 percent of the worlds current population.

However, while rising inequality is a global phenomenon, it is especially pronounced in the United States. While wealth inequality in the U.S. is by no means an unknown phenomenon, the U.S. is significantly more unequal than most other countries, with the nations elite currently holding 63 percent of the private wealth. The U.S. elites share of national wealth is also growing much faster than the global average, with millionaires and billionaires expected to control an estimated 70 percent of the nations wealth by 2021.

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The U.S. high wealth inequality largely owes to post-World War II government policies that have seen almost a quarter of all national income go to its wealthiest residents. Meanwhile, wages for the majority of Americans have remained stagnant for decades  in contrast to the richest Americans, their future economic outlook is incredibly bleak by comparison.

The U.S. is also home to more billionaires and millionaires than anywhere else in the world, which partly explains how U.S. policy has come to favor them over the years. According to Bloomberg , two out of five millionaires and billionaires live in the United States  and their ranks are growing.

While the worlds richest citizens may be pleased by the results of BCGs recent study, there is plenty for them to be worried about if history is any indicator. Indeed, history shows that societies with drastic wealth inequality are much more unstable and more likely to experience drastic economic failure or outright societal collapse.

For instance, a 2014 study conducted by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center noted that over-consumption and wealth inequality have occurred in the collapse of every civilization over the last 5,000 years. That same study also warned that rising inequality could easily lead to an unsustainable use of resources and the irreversible collapse of global industrial civilization.

This warning seems particularly prescient, given that wealth inequality in the U.S. is well above that of past civilizations that eventually collapsed as a result of these factors. For example, at the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire, the top 1 percent of the Roman elite controlled just 16 percent of the societys wealth, a measly figure compared to the percentage commanded by the 1-percenters of the U.S.

While the BCG study paints a rosy picture for the worlds millionaires and billionaires, particularly in the United States, they should be gravely concerned that their growing accumulation of wealth could have drastic consequences  not just for those poorer than them, but for everyone.

Whitney Webb is a MintPress contributor who has written for several news organizations in both English and Spanish; her stories have been featured on ZeroHedge, the Anti-Media, 21st Century Wire, and True Activist among others - she currently resides in Southern Chile.
Syria's Sarajevo Moment





By Pepe Escobar

June 20, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Russia has given the US a Sarajevo warning, according to one of my top Middle East intel sources.

Referring to the downing of a Syrian fighter jet by the Pentagon, he says, the United States did not use the deconflict line which has infuriated the Russians. This has to be interpreted as a premeditated provocation of Russia to start a war, and the Russians have answered.



The Pentagon seems to have gotten the message  and decided to back off, at least for now.



The source adds; In the meantime, the United States Senate by a nearly unanimous vote have decided to declare war on Russia (sanctions are war) and Germany has threatened retaliation against the United States if it initiates sanctions. Germany accused the United States of trying to stop the Nordstream 2 pipeline of Russia to the EU so that the US can export their liquid natural gas to the EU making the EU dependent on the United States.

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The new sanctions against Russia basically amount to telling the EU to buy expensive US gas instead of cheap Russian gas. The Germans and the Austrians basically told the Americans to buzz off.



The source; That spells out the end of NATO if a trade war between the EU and the United States takes place. The premeditated shooting down of this Syrian plane can be viewed as a form of distraction to get Germany in line by having a war break out in the Middle East.



The Pentagon is not foolish enough  well, who knows, the Dr. Strangelove syndrome is alive and well  to start a war with Russia by not using the deconfliction line in Syria set up to avoid exactly what has just happened.



Is Moscow worried? Doesnt seem so. At his recent live annual phone-in on TV Rossiya 1, Putin did give away an extra  ultra-practical - reason to be involved in Syria:



We can say that the experience of using our Armed Forces in combat while employing modern weapons is absolutely priceless, I am saying this without any exaggeration. You know, our forces have even gained an absolutely different quality Combat experience also gave a chance to military engineers to test and tune the weapons on site.



Bring it on, Pentagon.
Another Step Toward Devastating War

By Paul Craig Roberts

June 20, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - An idiot American pilot shot down a Syrian fighter that was attacking ISIS, thus confirming that Washington is not fighting ISIS, as Washington claims, but is protecting ISIS, its agent sent to Syria by Obama and Hillary to overthrow the Syrian government. General Michael Flynn revealed on a TV interview that Obama and Hillary had, over his objection as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, made the willful decision to send ISIS to Syria.

Washingtons pretense that Washington is fighting ISIS, rather than supporting it, is the excuse for Washingtons illegal presence in the Syrian conflict. Russia and Iran are in Syria legally, invited there by an elected government. The Americans are there uninvited as war criminals. Under international law established by the Americans themselves, it is a war crime to initiate aggression against a country that has not raised a fist against you.

So, to be in Syria, Washington has to pretend to be fighting terrorism rather than supporting it. The lie has been given to this claim many times, but now that an American pilot has proven that the US is in Syria to support its agent, ISIS, not even a Megyn Kelly presstitute can honestly claim to believe that Washington is fighting ISIS.

The Russians, Syrians, and Iranians have known this from the beginning. However, these official sources are all suspect in the presstitute Western media. So with the presstitutes complicity, Washingtons lie has stood until the idiot American pilot blew the lie out of the sky along with the Syrian fighter and its pilot.

Washington, of course, will lie through its teeth. It is the only thing Washington knows how to do. Washington will claim that it was a coalition fighter, that is, some one else was flying the US F-18. It wasnt us. Or they will claim that the Syrian fighter was attacking women and children, or a transgendered compound or a maternity ward for women raped by Assads brutal troops. Washington will spin it in some way to make an aggressive war crime into an heroic defense of a victim group.

One question is: Did the idiot US pilot do this on his own, a hot shot playing Top Gun, or was this a planned provocation of the military/security complex outside of channels to begin a conflict between the US and Russia that would prevent any possibility of President Trump reviving his goal of defusing the high level of tensions with Russia? A $1 trillion, 100 billion annual military/secuity budget paid by American taxpayers is at stake.

We dont know if the pilot acted on his own or on orders.

What we do know is that it did not go down well with the Russians. The Russian Defense Ministry said today that it regards the decision by the US command as an intentional violation of US obligations in the framework of the memo on avoiding incidents and the safety of aviation flights during operations in Syria signed on October 20, 2015.

Surprise! Surprise! The Americans broke yet another agreement Washington signed with Russia.

How many agreements with Russia does Washington have to break before the Russians finally understand that a signed agreement with Washington is meaningless? Will the Russians ever learn? The American Indians never did. There is a famous American T-shirt: Sure you can trust the government: Just ask an Indian.

Perhaps the Russians finally have learned that any agreement with Washington is worthless at best and a death warrant at worst. The Russian Defense Ministry announced today that Russia is halting all interactions with the US within the framework on the memorandum of incident prevention in Syrian skies. Additionally, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that Russian missile defense will intercept any aircraft in the area of operations of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria and: In areas where Russian aviation is conducting combat missions in the Syrian skies, any flying ojects, 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.

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In other words, in Russias understated way, Russia has declared a no-fly zone over all areas of Syria in which Syrian and Russian forces are operating. Any intruder into that area will be blown out of the sky. American, Israeli, whoever, they are dead meat.

As it is Russia, not Washington, who has air superiority in Syria, all that is required is one more dumbshit American pilot, who will get his stupid ass blown out of the sky, and the utter morons in Washington will have to back off or make a mistake. As stupid as Washington is and as full of hubris, the morons will make a mistake.

There is no intelligence in Washington. Only arrogance and hubris. The quarter century I spent there was with the most utterly stupid people on the face of the earth.

I expect Russia to win this, because Russia has intelligent leadership, and Washington does not.

Nevertheless, perhaps mistakenly, as no one can know everything, I blame Russia for letting the Syrian crisis develop. Russia and Syria would have won the war long ago, except Russia kept declaring premature victory, pulling out, having to go back, always hoping to reach an agreement with Washington. Indeed, reaching an agreement with Washington was more important to the Russian government than winning the war or anything else.

Regardless of the evidence, the Russian governments hope simply could not die that Russia and Washington could reach an agreement to fight terrorism together. What utter nonsense. The terrorism in the Russian province of Chechnya was instigated by Washington. The Russian government does not seem to understand that there are no independent terrorists. Terrorism is a Washington weapon. So how can the Russian government make a pact against terrorism with the country that is using terrorism as a weapon against Russia?

What does Russia think the neoconservatives plan to conquer Syria and Iran is about if not to bring more terrorism to Russia.

Vladimir Putin is a knowledgeable, strong, and able leader of a country. Perhaps he is the only one outside of China. Clearly there are none in the West, a wasteland of leadership.

Little doubt that Putin is a moral leader who is opposed to war and wants the best for all countries. However, by sacrificing the advantage every time he gains it to the nonsensical idea of making an agreement with Washington simply conveys to Washington weakness. Washington thinks Putin is just another person who Washington can walk over. This is a miscalculation, and it will result in war. It would be much better if Putin layed down the gauntlet and made it completely clear that if you want war, it will be there in 30 minutes. Suddenly, Russia would be taken seriously.

I admire Putin. But he is playing the wrong game. Instead of parrying Washingtons aggression, he should be aggressive and force Europe and Washington to come to him for a solution.

Putin, the leader of the free world, should not be on the defensive from a bankrupt, two-bit punk, washed up government in Washington that wallows in evil.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are

The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West

,

How America Was Lost

, and

The Neoconservative Threat to World Order

.
A policeman and his two siblings have been shot dead by some suspected robbers along a road in Benin, Edo State.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the victims were taking their deceased uncle to Benin, the state capital, for burial on Sunday when the robbers attacked them.

The cop, who was reportedly armed, was said to have engaged the gunmen, during which he and his siblings were killed.

A cousin of the victims, Alex, who shared the story on Twitter along with the picture of the policeman, said the uncle had died a few days earlier.

The relative, with the Twitter handle, @ALEX_SMARTT, wrote, Last week, I lost my uncle. Upon bringing his remains home, they were attacked and three of my cousins were shot to death by robbers.

The guy in uniform (was) one of my cousins who were attacked and shot to death while bringing home the corpse of my uncle.

Alex, in another tweet, lamented the loss, saying, within a week, I lost four young and healthy people.

However, Alex had yet to reply to a message sent to him by our correspondent, requesting further details on the incident.

Another Twitter user, @I_am_AbdulAxis, also shared the story, urging Alex to take solace in God.

The young police officer was killed with two of his siblings by some armed robbers along Benin road. The mobile police officer and his two siblings were taking their uncles remains for burial when the robbers killed them during a gun battle, he tweeted.

The Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Nkombe, promised to get back to our correspondent with comment, but he had yet to do so as of press time.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Some parents of the pupils of the Lagos State Model College, Igbonla, have decided to keep their children at home after the abduction of the six students.

The Parents explained that the action was to protest against the abduction and non-rescue of six pupils of the college.

The parents decried the long stay of the victims in kidnappers den, insisting that their children would not go back to the college until the pupils were freed.

The school had resumed for academic activities since Monday, June 5.

Some gunmen had stormed the school premises at about 6am on Thursday, May 25, picked 10 Senior Secondary School pupils and led them to a waterside where their boat was anchored.

After profiling their family background, four pupils were released, while the assailants left with 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. They collected N10m from the parents and demanded additional N40m for their release.

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.

Despite repeated assurances from the Lagos State Government and the police to rescue the children, the parents said they were hoping for divine intervention.

To beef up security, the state government built a watchtower, installed Closed Circuit Television cameras around the school and promised 24 hours surveillance.

But some parents, who spoke with PUNCH Metro on Tuesday on condition of anonymity, said the measures were not enough to make them bring their children back to school.

They said they would continue to keep their children at home until the abducted pupils regained their freedom.

A parent, whose child is in Junior Secondary School 2, said, My son is still at home. Even though the government said some security measures had been put in place, I am not satisfied, especially when those children have yet to be released.

He will go back to the school, but not until his fellow pupils in captivity are freed. The government knows what to do to free them. Some parents have agreed to do this.

A woman, whose daughter is in Senior Secondary School 1, said she was worried that the victims had not regained their freedom 26 days (Tuesday) after the abduction.

I cant just send my child back to the school when the ones kidnapped have not been released. It is not only my daughter that is at home, some parents and guardians have also agreed to wait till the pupils are released, she added.

Another parent urged the government to consider several options in liberating the children, saying their safe return should take precedence.

She said, I dont see any reason why my son should resume in this circumstance. It is 26 days (Tuesday) since these children were abducted and we have not heard any good news.

I think it is not enough to limit the rescue efforts to security agencies. Any ideal avenue to free these children should be considered because we dont want to lose any of them.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
An 80-year-old farmer in Eastern Ghana who has 12 wives and over one hundred children, almost committed incest with his own daughter after proposing to her.

The octogenarian, who is still exploring to have more wives, has given birth to over 100 children with 12 women over half his life.

On the occasion of 2017 Fathers Day, the children and the wives, all of who are married to him in a polygamous marriage, marched to Asilenus residence on Sunday.

If I get a lady today, I will marry her and have more children. As for men, even in old age we can still father children. Im not impotent, Asilenu told TV3s Portia Gabor who spent some time with the family on Fathers Day.

Unfortunately, Asilenu has lost track of his family- Hes unable to mention the name of all his children.

When Portia Gabor asked him to do a roll call, he got stuck along the line in mentioning their names. And it was thus not surprising that he proposed marriage to one of her daughters who he met in town.

But for the awareness of his daughter, Asilenu would have committed incest by having amorous relationship with her own daughter, unknowingly though.

One of his sons narrated how his father proposed to one of his sisters and the interesting excuse Mr Asilenu gave when it emerged that he is the father of the lady he had expressed love to.

He [Asilenu] met the lady and said he loved her..and later on, the lady said she was his daughter, she told Portia Gabor, adding he [Asilenu] said his eyes were worrying him, that was why he didnt notice it was her own daughter and we laughed over it.

The son also suspects they are more than 100 children: In fact were plenty, were almost 100 and something he told Portia.

Just like their father, some of the children do not know their numerical placement in the family.

Portia Gabor asked one of his daughters, Mary Asilenun, where she place in the family numerically and she simply laughed and responded, I cant remember.

Asilenu, his wives and children reportedly get along with each other and have been living happily as one united family..
A 50-year-old fake Medical Doctor, Umaru Usman, who allegedly indulge in sucking sperm of patients in Minna, Niger State, was arrested by the police yesterday.

According to NewTelegraph, He was at the Out Patient Department of the Minna General Hospital after parading himself as a medical doctor for over two years without being detected.

It was learnt that the suspect, who was originally a hospital attendant, usually directs male patients away from the doctors into a room where he would massage their private parts until the patient discharges sperm into his palms.

Thereafter, he would lick the sperm and allow the victim to go without prescribing any drug for him.

It was learnt that Usman had allegedly sucked and licked the sperm of about 10 victims before he was exposed.

Deputy Chief Medical Director of the Minna General Hospital, Dr. Hussaini Yabagi, confirmed the story and said that investigation had commenced into the incident.

He said:

The management will follow the case to its logical conclusion so that it will serve as deterrent to others.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Bala Elkana, also confirmed the incident.

According to witness, his last victim was a 40-year-old Sani Baitachi, who slapped the suspect after he could not discharge on time.

This led to an argument which led to Usmans arrest and it was at this stage the hospital management was brought into the matter.

The suspect was then handed over to the police.

Source: Yabaleftonline
A Zimbabwean man is currently in police net after he poured petrol on his girlfriend and set her on fire over alleged infidelity.

Shepherd Muringani(Pictured ) who was arrested yesterday night, was said to have ensued in a verbal dispute with his girlfriend, Priscilla Munyanyi whom he accused of cheating on him, dating other men and going out to beer parlours against his wish.

During the heated argument, Shepherd brought petrol and allegedly poured it on his girlfriend before setting her on fire.
As a result of the crisis ravaging South Sudan, head of the Catholic church, Pope Francis has donated $550,000 to the country.

The Vatican has announced that it is donating about $515,000 towards aid projects in South Sudan, AFP news agency reports.

The move comes after Pope Francis dropped plans to visit South Sudan because of security fears in a country hit by myriad conflicts since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011.

The $515,000 would be spent on two hospitals run by nuns, a teacher training programme and a project to buy seeds and tools for some 2,500 farming families.

Speaking at a press conference at the Vatican, Ghanas Bishop Peter Turkson said the aid was a concrete sign of the pontiffs closeness to the people of South Sudan.
As written by the concerned fan.

Them don start again oooo 

I dont know if I should say Small pikin dey worry Una. For crying out loud, the names, Davido and Wizkid are names that are always addressed with much respect all over Africa and even the world over.

The ongoing fresh beef between the duo started up at a point when we all think both artistes have burried the hatchet and embrace peace. But my question for you guys is,

What joy do you derive in rubbishing yourselves in the fore front of your fans and loved ones worldwide?

It saddens my heart that artistes of Davido and Wizkids caliber are the ones still nursing what I will describe as the longest beef in the Nigerian music industry. But then, I am still finding it hard to figure out why the hell you guys should be in loggerheads against each other. Wetin be Una problem?

Talking about money, you guys are among stinkingly rich artistes in Africa with 99.9% of your wealth acquired from the music business. In terms of fame, your stars have shined across national boundaries and about to take over the world.

So, instead of you both to unite together on this common ground and in the spirit of brotherhood to cook up legendary ideas and collaborations that will further expand African sound across the globe. All you do is to ridicule yourselves with rants and brags about superiority, wealth, international recognitions and ambitions on social media.

I am just afraid Wizkid and Davido are trailing the path of Pasuma and Saheed Osupa whose dreaded beef rendered fuji music toothless today compared what it was many years ago.

Please, you guys should not kill Hip Hop like Fuji!!

Like seriously, you guys need to grow up. At least consider the fact that you have kids and younger ones who are looking up to you both as role models, What legacies are you laying down for them?

If two of una no get sense, you can go and borrow sense from Lilkesh and Reekado Banks who still hail each other and maintain peace after an attempt by headies organizers to turn their back against each other in January 2016.

Yoruba will say Ija O do Ola. Beefs will not add anything to your awards, recognitions and wealth, it will only make you become star nuisance in the music industry. Wizkid and Davido should just apply sense and let the beef end now!

God Bless you!
Microsofts new continuous-delivery model, with Windows releases every six months or so, makes sense for the desktop. But does it work for Windows Server? Certainly, Microsoft didnt think so at first. Windows Server 2016 comes from the Long-Term Servicing Build (LTSB) of Windows, with only the microservices- and container-focused Nano Server scheduled for regular releases.

More Windows Server, more often

That initial plan appears to be in flux, with Windows Server joining desktop Windows in the Insider program later this summer. Microsoft is also talking about a series of feature releases that will support the GUI-less Windows Server Core and quite possibly the awkwardly named Windows Server with Desktop Experience.

Its a shift that makes sense. With the RS1 and RS2 releases of Windows, the desktop OS has added developer-centric features at a fast pace. Tools like the Windows System for Linux (WSL) have made it an attractive platform for cloud development, with features that work well with Azure.

Although cloud services have begun to eclipse on-premises servers, on-premises Windows Server is still an important part of any business infrastructure, and a key on-ramp for applications and services into the cloud. Thats why you cant leave those servers as is for another two or three years, waiting for the next LTSB release, sometime in 2019.
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 : 19.58 (+0.88%) SGG : 61.01 (+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 : 87.26 (+1.02%) CTH23 : 85.65 (+1.29%) CTK23 : 85.55 (+1.88%)

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 : 809-4 (+0.75%) ZWH23 : 831-4 (+0.70%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.3619 (-0.41%) KEZ22 : 933-0 (+0.84%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.8355 (-0.51%) MWZ22 : 936-2 (+0.51%)
LONDON, Ont.  June 21, 2017  A mechanical failure haunted Matt Pritikos effort for a second podium finish with the APC United Late Model Series last Saturday at Peterborough Speedway. Pritiko raced as high as second and was in contention for a victory in the latter half of the race when the MSD coil on the car failed.

We were in second for 60 laps and the coil broke on the MSD box and the car totally quit, Pritiko explained. It sucks. We actually ran well with a stock 604 motor. We literally pulled it out of the crate and bolted it in. All things considered, it was good while it lasted.

After afternoon showers delayed and reduced practice and qualifying, Pritiko times in second quickest in Group Time Trials.

We ran 12th for a while in qualifying and then I just barreled it into turns three and four and drove out really hard and it shot me up to second, Pritiko said.

Following the redraw, Pritiko started third for the main event, which put him in the preferred bottom groove. The track position was enough to allow him to make an early move forward.

I made my way to second on the third or fourth lap, Pritiko said. From there on out I ran in second-place. I just didnt really have enough for the leader. With the car handling the way it was, it would have been a solid second-place finish.

The end result, however, did not produce a top-five finish as Pritiko expected. The failure with 40 laps to go simply ended his night.

Going into corner one, the MSD just quit on us, Pritiko said. Theres absolutely nothing you can do about it. Were kind of in a string of bad luck right now.

Pritiko still has a second-place finish and a top-10 to his credit this year. Now, he hopes to turn his luck around when he returns to his home track at Delaware Speedway for round four of the APC United Late Model Series season on Canada Day, July 1.

The speed and the openness of the track is nice, Pritiko said of Delaware. The first three races have all been tight and hard to pass, so its going to be nice to go to a big track where theres room to pass and we can put on a show. Were looking forward to going back to our home track.

Pritiko is excited to welcome supporters from Global Warranty to Delaware for the Canada Day show with a hospitality tent.

Theres going to be a tent for Global Warranty again, so were looking forward to seeing them again, Pritiko said. Hopefully we can turn our luck around and get a win.

For additional information on the APC United Late Model Series Canada Day event at Delaware Speedway, visit www.delawarespeedway.com and www.apcracingseries.com.

2017 SEASON STATS

Matt Pritiko  3 Starts: 0 Wins, 1 Top-5, 2 Top-10s

MATT PRITIKO MEDIA

Website: www.mattpritiko.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/MattPritiko

Twitter: @MattPritiko

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PRITIKOS PARTNERS

Matt Pritiko is proud to partner with several dedicated marketing partners for the 2017 race season, including Global Warranty, NAPA Certfied Bodyshops, Burwell Autobody Ltd., Cadillac Industrial Cleaning, Glencoe Auto Recyclers, SellToWin.com, Aquahydrate and Palasad of London.
Halifax, NS  (June 21, 2017) The 23rd edition of the Shriners Classic for the Affordable Fuels & Metro Home Heating Sportsman is set for Friday night at Scotia Speedworld. In addition to the 50 lap Sportsman feature fans will also see racing action from the Hydraulics Plus Bandoleros, Toursec Thunder and Strictly Hydraulics Legends. Racing action will get underway at 7:00 PM.

The 23rd Annual Shriners Classic is one of the biggest Late Model Sportsman races in Eastern Canada and is expected to draw big names to Scotia Speedworld to run for the coveted trophy. Russell Smith Jr (Lakeside) is a two-time and the defending champion of the event and on Friday will look to become only the third driver in event history to win three or more Shriners Classic races.

NASCAR Pintys Series and Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour competitor Josh Collins (Placentia, NL) will run his first Affordable Fuels Sportsman race at Scotia Speedworld on Friday night in the 23rd Annual Shriners Classic. Collins will also be in the field for Saturdays Nova Truck Centres Make A Wish 150. Jeff Dillman is also expected to be in the field on Friday evening driving Matt Moores Sportsman car. Dillman is a four-time winner of the event.

This race carries the most prestige of any Sportsman race we run all year at this track, said Jordan Veinotte, driver of the #11 Veinottes Truck and Auto Ford in the Affordable Fuels Sportsman division. To be listed alongside the late Terry Roma and a number of other champions like Craig Slaunwhite that have moved on to race on the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour would be a top highlight for any Sportsman driver. The pressure is certainly on to put our names on the trophy this Friday night.

Pulse Heavy Duty Truck driver Megan Parrott (Beaver Bank) will join Tim Terry as co-host for the 23rd Annual Shriners Classic. Parrott is a two-time feature winner in the division, a graduate of the Hydraulics Plus Bandolero division and is a fan favorite within the CARSTAR Weekly Racing Series.

Parrott and her peers in the Pulse Heavy Duty Truck division will race Saturday on the undercard to the Nova Truck Centres Make A Wish 150 for the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour. They will also be joined by the Toursec Lightning division from the CARSTAR Weekly Racing Series to round out the second day of the double header weekend.

Shriners Classic Past Winners

1995  Gordie Ryan (#65)

1996  Troy Slaunwhite (#80)

1997  Terry Roma (#38)

1998  Ron Tibert (#64)

1999  Mel Tibert (#01)

2000  Harry Ross White (#18)

2001  Tony Leonard (#74)

2002  James Graves (#27)

2003  Craig Slaunwhite (#99)

2004  Terry Roma (#38)

2005  Terry Roma (#38)

2006  Sheldon Pemberton (#62)

2007  Craig Slaunwhite (#99)

2008  Harry Ross White (#18)

2009  Jeff Dillman (#08)

2010  Colby Smith (#77)

2011  Jeff Dillman (#08)

2012 Jeff Dillman (#0)

2013  Darren Wallage (#3)

2014  Jeff Dillman (#0)

2015  Russell Smith Jr (#44)

2016  Russell Smith Jr (#44)

Scotia Speedworld and the Dartmouth Shrine Club have raised over $341,000 since 1988, with proceeds going to the Shriners Burn Hospital and the IWK Remedial Seating Program. Be sure to pick up your 50/50 tickets at the track on Friday night and support these two worthy childrens charities.

Admission for the Shriners Classic is just $15.00 for Adults; Youth (8-15) are $5.00 and children 7 and under are freeall summer long! Tickets are available at the gate on race day (cash only).

About Scotia Speedworld:

Scotia Speedworld (SSW) is a 3/10-mile asphalt oval racing facility. SSW is the only track in Nova Scotia to host a weekly racing series, which runs May through September and features six different classes of racecars. SSW also hosts special events, including Monster Jam, Nitro Circus and the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour. SSW is located at Exit 6 on Highway 102, across from the Halifax Stanfield International Airport. For more information please click on www.ScotiaSpeedworld.ca or call our Event Hotline at (902) 873-2277 or our office at (902) 481-2514. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sswracing and follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/sswracing
One Canada Square  the centerpiece of Londons redeveloped dockyards  made Canary Wharf into an ultra-tight commercial real estate market, one its owners look to capitalize on.

In 1981 the U.K. government found itself saddled with a dilapidated spread of dockyards in the East End of London  the husks of a long-gone shipping hub.

Commercial activity at the West India Docks  once the busiest in the world  had dwindled to almost nothing by 1980, and the government seized the land in hopes of revitalization.

Within a decade, skyscraper One Canada Square began rising on site, a global icon now synonymous with Canary Wharf.

Land no one wanted has become a precious commodity.

Qatar Investment Authority and Canadian investment group Brookfield Property Partners acquired the majority of the financial district in 2015 for 2.6 billion (then $3.9 billion), buying out shareholders in management company Canary Wharf Group (CWG). The estate has thrived in recent years due to a shortage of nearby commercial real estate, and that tight supply looks set to continue. Canary Wharf has only one building under construction, according to a report by estate agents Knight Frank. And 1 Bank Street  which will add 700,000 square feet of prime office space  will not be completed until 2019.

Other sites could be built upon, the report said, but CWGs management team is reluctant without a tenant agreed to in advance. CWG did not respond to a request for comment.

Those looking to snap up a piece of the Wharf had an opportunity in March, when part-owner Brookfield asked property agents Jones Lang LaSalle to sell 20 Canada Square. Oil giant BP and media group McGraw Hill occupy the 556,000-square-foot office block. It produces a 5.25 percent net investment yield, according to Knight Frank, for a capital value of 720 per square foot. Not bad for a former ward of the state.
The California pension fund voted in favor of possible raises for as many as 14 executive employees.

A raise may soon be in the cards for top executives at the California Public Employees Retirement System, the largest pension plan in the U.S. with about $325 billion of assets.

The pension funds Performance, Compensation and Talent Management Committee voted Tuesday afternoon to put in place a new framework that will allow salary increases for as many as 14 executives by four percent. The new pay structure will take effect July 1.

The board supported raising pay for employees at its investment office because it lags peers and morale has been low, according to committee members at the meeting Tuesday. The committee, which voted whether to increase salaries for as many as 14 employees or just 4, based its decision in part on a biennial salary survey by consulting firm McLagan that was completed in September 2015.

Our chief investment officer talked about the wrath that the investment staff takes, whether it is from the media or from individuals, committee member Henry Jones said during the meeting. He added that CalPERS CIO Ted Eliopoulos recognizes the demoralization of our staff.

Still, executive salary will remain on the low end of the industry averages provided by McLagan, a unit of professional services firm Aon, according to the pensions executive compensation consultant firm Grant Thornton.

Assuming the salary increases are implemented, total compensation will still lag industry peers significantly, particularly due to common long-term incentive plan practices and increases in variable compensation payouts over the last two years, Eric Gonzaga of Grant Thornton wrote this month in an opinion letter to Michael Bilbrey, the Chair of the Performance, Compensation and Talent Management Committee.

Its disheartening to see us in the lowest quartile, said Richard Costigan, vice chair of the committee, during the meeting.

Costigan noted that the investment office saved CalPERS $199 million last year, which is why he pushed for these raises.

Unfortunately, what the report shows is we dont pay enough, he said. We arent setting aside the resources.

At the meeting, the CalPERS board also voted to approve pay structures for its chief executive officer and chief investment officer for fiscal year 2017-2018.

The largest single portion of CEO Marcie Frosts incentive plan, or 25 percent, will be based on organizational leadership, followed by 20 percent for enterprise operation effectiveness, according to documents created for the meeting. Fund performance, stakeholder engagement, and customer service will each represent 15 percent of her plan, with 10 percent based on an investment office benchmark.

Frosts current salary falls in the range of $224,000 to $352,000, a CalPERS document shows. Her pay for the past fiscal year was not specified as she started working for the pension plan in June 2016.

The incentive plan for CIO Ted Eliopoulos is 40 percent tied to fund performance. Fifteen percent will be based on an investment office benchmark, with another 15 percent tied to stakeholder engagement. Enterprise operational effectiveness, deliverables and leadership each represent 10 percent of his incentive plan.

Eliopoulos was paid a base salary of $543,780 for fiscal year 2015-2016 and awarded a $248,026 bonus. CalPERS has a base range salary for its CIOs of $408,000 and $612,000 annually.

The previous incentive plan for Eliopouloss salary was 70 percent tied to investment performance, 20 percent linked to enterprise business plan, and 10 percent based on leadership.
The popularity of the authorised representative (AR) model continues to grow in Australia.

AR networks are more significant now than, say, 10 years ago, says Shaun Standfield, managing director of Insurance Advisernet

And that growth is likely to continue for a long time to come.

Travis Kemp, executive director of Marsh Advantage Insurance, says the AR model provides insurance professionals with an opportunity to earn an income based on their client relationships.

This drives high service standards and competition in the marketplace and, ultimately, customers are the biggest winners, Kemp says.

The growing popularity of the AR model in recent years owes partly, he says, to the regulatory challenges associated with operating an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), which makes the model more appealing to insurance brokers.

Of course, as Standfield reminds us, while ARs are authorised to transact business by the licence of another, theyre held to the same standards in their provision of advice.

ARs, like brokers, are subject to the same AFSL regimes, including all compliance, ongoing educational learning and reporting. The same rules apply, because the principal licence holder needs to manage and protect their licence in exactly the same fashion as a broker does.

Correcting the record

Over the years, some unfavourable perceptions of ARs have persisted. Kemp says the biggest misconception people have with respect to the model is that ARs lack professionalism.

It is contrary to the experience we have had across the Marsh Advantage Insurance network, he says.

Cynics will say that any model that drives personal revenue based on how much a client spends is unhealthy. However, for many ARs, their business model is based on building strong client relationships, which are paramount to their success. As such, they provide not only a high level of service, but are also attuned to the commercial impact failing these clients would have on their business.

According to Brent Campbell, a director of Oracle Group Insurance Brokers, when acting professionally, the only divide between licensed brokers and ARs should be ownership of the licence itself.

An authorised representative still holds the responsibility to manage their corporate entity and act as a qualified, compliant professional, he says.

We shouldnt hold a division between ourselves, rather work together to build a better image for the industry.

Standfield speaks highly of his own IA network of ARs.

I would 100% back every one of our advisers, he says.

The culture across the IA network is unique and whilst we have individual adviser businesses, we team well where it counts. The diverse professional experience of our advisers is on show every day, as they work together to solve clients issues.

Standfield emphasises that becoming an AR with IA is not automatic.

We cherish our AFSL and it is not for rent. We have a stringent on-boarding process that includes potential new ARs meeting existing advisers to ensure they understand our culture, and to allow one of our existing advisers to gauge how the potential new AR will fit into our IA culture.

The state of play

Standfield thinks perceptions of AR networks today are strong.

I say this by the number of new AR models that have developed over the last few years, the fact that large insurers are now owning their own AR networks, and from the quality of professional brokers who are becoming ARs, he says.

From an Insurance Advisernet position, the perception of what we offer in terms of professional advisers, geographically diverse distribution, [and] advisers who are equipped with technology to enhance their strong client relationships, were key features in our recent collaboration with the Commonwealth Bank. The CBA saw the potential in our network to assist their business bankers to provide broadened financial peace of mind to their clients.

On the importance of the AR model in todays broking community, Standfield says you cant beat local business people dealing with local businesses.

ARs have the passion because, ultimately, their success is based on how well they manage and service their clients. If theyre not attentive, in simple terms, their business suffers and so does their financial position, he says.

ARs arent guaranteed a salary each fortnight. They need to build their book, network well and, most of all, be there when the client needs them. My observation is that the vast majority of IAs advisers are growing their businesses and IAs client count is increasing also.

So, as a team, we are getting a lot right!

The pluses

Discussing precisely what the AR model can offer, Campbell says he believes the real benefits are flexibility and freedom.

You may be an individual entering the later stages of an accomplished career, simply looking to achieve a better work-life balance Others are seeking to concentrate on building a solid portfolio whilst meeting their compliance obligations yet avoid costly overheads including IT, licence fees and PI premiums, he says.

Kemp opines that while many people cite good work-life balance as the main benefit of being an AR, hes not sure how true that rings in reality.

The most successful ARs I encounter work harder and more diligently than most, and their success is no accident, he says.

The real benefit of becoming an AR is that the model provides ARs with the opportunity to back their ability to cultivate a client portfolio and be remunerated in correlation with their performance.

Standfield says one of the key benefits of becoming an adviser with IA is getting the opportunity to build an asset for yourself and your family.

Whilst the thought of running your own business can be daunting, the comradery and willingness of others within the IA group to assist you in becoming successful is also a great benefit, often not felt until you join. If you are willing to invest in continuing your professional development, using the support services we offer, I havent seen any new advisers fail yet, he says.

There are many great brokers out there who would make great advisers; however, many brokers are now caught up on the corporate treadmill and are spending less and less time with clients, and more time on corporate projects and other non-value adding activities.

Standing out

ARs today advise in a space thats increasingly competitive. So, how do individual ARs stand out from their competitors?

The environment is no more competitive for ARs than it is for brokers, Kemp says.

It comes down to quality of advice and value being provided to clients based on a foundation of trust and relationship.

Talking specifically about his IA advisers, Standfield says they dont talk about price.

We seek to understand the business and then we can work through the areas where insurance can provide some risk mitigation, he says.

The 5 star Benchmark Survey has been invaluable in pointing out how underinsurance can be a real issue, and hence many clients who have had a survey completed for them have increased their property sums insured.

He also talks about other tools with which IA advisers are equipped to provide key client support.

Whether that be our IA App, early warning weather alert service or our IA emergency claims response service  We can provide these services for all clients due to our buying power and the cloud technology we employ right across the network. We have technology infrastructure that is flexible enough to provide our advisers and clients with timely information.

Our advisers also have access on their mobile devices to business intelligence reports that show how they are tracking in terms of GWP written, income, client numbers and other benchmark activity to assist them in making the right decisions for their own business.

Standfield also mentions IAs rebranding and its work to increase its reach via several digital and social marketing campaigns.

These initiatives have increased the number of leads going to our advisers. The importance of a nationally recognised brand to supplement our advisers strong personal brand is now paying dividends for our team, he says.

And just how important is specialisation for ARs?

Specialisation is important to the extent it displays professionalism and knowledge, therefore value and trust, to clients and prospective clients, Kemp says.

Standfield says its a personal decision, based on which direction an AR wants to grow their business.

We have many advisers who are specialists in certain industry groups, schemes or occupations. Those advisers who specialise, in my observation, are very willing to share their knowledge across the IA network, he says.

But he adds that the essential point is that, at IA, culture drives outcomes for advisers and clients.

Culture cant be taught, he says.



It is derived by having a united sense of purpose and aligned values in the way we strive [to] provide advice you can trust. This cant be replicated and, in my opinion, acts like a magnet to professional brokers who wish to build their own business with the support of a professional network of likeminded advisers, and systems and processes to allow them to spend quality time with new and existing customers, in the knowledge that all the back-office functions are delivered in such a way to reduce their time spent on non-value-adding activities.


McLagan, part of re/insurance brokerage Aon plc, has welcomed a new man-in-charge of its global operations.Raymond Everett, head of the McLagan executive committee and member of Aons Talent, Rewards & Performance executive committee, has been appointed global president of the performance and rewards benchmarking consulting firm.As McLagan global president, Everett will be in charge of leading a team of experts in providing compensation, performance, and talent intelligence to companies in the financial services and insurance industries.Ray is well known in the financial services industry and in Asia and the Middle East and recognized for the impact he has had partnering with banks, asset managers and PE firms to drive business results by focusing on their people, said Michael Burke, CEO of Talent, Rewards and Performance at Aon. He will lead the McLagan team as they broaden the scope and reach of work with clients across the globe.Everett joined McLagan in 1998. Prior to that, he held a number of leadership roles in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and North America, including as Aon Hewitts CEO for Middle East and Africa, where he was nominated to the Forbes Top 50 executives in the Middle East.McLagan operates in major financial centres including New York, London, Dubai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney.
A recommended federal class-action lawsuit against Allstate has been approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.The class-action is in relation to Allstates policy that mandates claimants undergo medical exams by a doctor of the carriers preference before they can receive benefits.Last month, U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo of the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled in Sayles v. Allstate Insurance that Allstates policy provision opposed the state Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law, and predicted that the state Supreme Court would find the provision unenforceable.The court reads the plain language of Section 1796 [of the law] to prohibit precisely what Allstate allegedly did in this case, Judge Caputo said, as reported in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.Because it appears that Allstates examination requirement permits the insurer to require its insureds to submit to an [independent medical exam] without first filing a petition demonstrating good cause, and because the examination requirement transfers control over the statutory safeguards from the province of an impartial court to the discretion of an interested insurer, the court predicts that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would find the examination requirement, as alleged, in conflict with Section 1796 and thus violative of Pennsylvania public policy.Judge Caputo dismissed all other claims raised, despite the ruling green-lighting claims that the policy clashes with the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility.Charles Kannebecker, Weinstein Schneider Kannebecker & Lokuta, said that the ruling must present tremendous clarity on the issue.Now independent judges will determine who the examining physician will be, so the insurance company cant use their hand-picked doctors, Kannebecker said.Kannebecker said he has seen similar provisions in different cases concerning various insurance carriers, and plans to file additional cases.The initial case came about when a December 2015 car accident injured Sayles. Allstate subsequently asked that she undergo an independent medical exam by a doctor that the carrier picked before she could claim any benefits. Allstate never appealed to the court to force the physical exam.Sayles challenged the policy as she argued it violated the state law that requires carriers to acquire a court order based on good cause before refusing to pay a benefit.
The Citizens Property Insurance Board of Governors, pointing at out of control water damage claims, has unanimously supported proposed rate increases that will hit South Florida policyholders next year.

The changes, should state regulators approve, will boost personal-lines policies on average by 5.3% and commercial lines by 8.4%. Homeowners, condominium-unit owners and renters are some of the personal-lines policyholders affected.

In addition, the state-backed insurer is also moving forward with a stopgap approach to water damage claims that do not come from hurricanes, floods and other weather-related events. Coverage for water-damage repairs not connected to weather will be capped at $10,000 for policyholders who do not participate in a managed repair program that involves contractors approved by Citizens.

Were not sitting back and saying, Hey well wait until next year, and maybe we can get something done from a legislative standpoint next year. We cant wait. It doesnt make any sense and we dont know - particularly with the current structure of the Legislature - we dont know if well be any more successful next year, Barry Gilway, President and CEO, Citizens, said in an article published in the Orlando Sentinel.

Citizens and other insurers contest that the Legislature should make changes connected to assignment of benefits, a known insurance practice that involves homeowners signing over benefits to contractors, who ultimately pursue payments from insurance companies.

Insurers are critical that fraud and litigation has riddled the practice, especially water-damage claims, while legislation about the issue failed to pass during the spring session.

We have to go under the assumption that were not going to get any legislative relief. Were just going to have to come up with a defensive game plan to do the best we can to mitigate it because Im not convinced were going to get any relief next year, the year after, who knows, Don Glisson, Vice Chairman, Citizens, said.

While the insurance industry criticizes the assignment-of-benefits process, plaintiffs attorneys and contractors argue, in part, that the practice aids homeowners in hiring contractors quickly to fix the damage and also can help force insurers to pay claims properly.

However, Citizens officials contest that litigated water-damage claims connected to the assignment of benefits are spiking homeowners rates, and the issue has been Southeast Floridas most prominent topic.

These proposed rate increases and product changes are critical for Citizens efforts to bring some relief to a market that is being made increasingly expensive by unnecessary litigation and out-of-control water loss claims. Unfortunately, we are making it more expensive for many of our customers to own a home, Chris Gardner, Chairman, Citizens, said in a prepared statement.



Still, the state Office of Insurance Regulation must approve the 2018 rate proposal.
Image from Heisenberg Media , flickr

Travis Kalanick, founder and chief executive of Uber, the ride-sharing company that has been at the centre of a host of insurance disputes internationally, has stepped down from his position following a shareholder revolt.Kalanick helped found the company back in 2009. Today, the company operates in 570 cities worldwide and is considered one of the pioneers of the sharing economy model.According to two people close to the matter, Kalanicks resignation came after hours of tension between the executive and Ubers investors. On Tuesday, five of Ubers major investors demanded that Kalanick resign immediately. One of the investors calling for the founders resignation is the venture capital firm Benchmark, which has one of its partners on Ubers board.The two sources told The New York Times that the investors made their demand for Kalanick to step down in a letter delivered to him while he was in Chicago.Entitled Moving Uber Forward, the letter advised Kalanick to immediately leave because the company needed a change in leadership.Following the letters delivery, Kalanick consulted with a board member on the matter. He finally agreed to step down after long discussions with a number of the investors. He will still remain on Ubers board of directors.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, Kalanick said in a statement.The companys board issued a statement of its own, saying that Kalanick had always put Uber first and that his stepping down would give the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Ubers history.Just last week, Kalanick said he would take an indefinite leave of absence from Uber to allow himself time to grieve for his mother, who died last month in a boating accident. He said then that the companys administration would fall to a committee of over 10 executives in his absence.
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.

Aliyah Davis, of East Windsor, Conn., was sentenced to 30 months by a federal judge in New Haven. Davis pleaded guilty to several charges in December including wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

On Dec. 17, 2014, Davis, who was then known as Theresa Sutherland, was sentenced in federal court to more than four years in prison for defrauding Mass Mutual. Authorities said she engaged in a fraud and identity theft scheme at the insurance company where she was employed.

Davis, 36, was granted postponements of when she would report to prison by lying that she had terminal cancer in January 2015, prosecutors said. Davis had submitted letters from various medical professionals detailing her claimed medical conditions, but forged the signatures.

She changed her name to Aliyah Davis a few months later and committed unemployment compensation fraud, prosecutors said.

Davis lawyer said in court documents that she survived a troubled childhood to become successful, but needs counseling and substance abuse treatment.

The judge ordered Davis to begin serving her sentence after she completes her previous one.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Fraud Connecticut
The warming Atlantic Ocean has raised the risk of another Hurricane Sandy. And still, trillions of dollars of real estate and infrastructure near the shores of New York City and northern New Jersey remain vulnerable to devastation.

A storm-surge barrier similar to those in Louisiana and parts of Europe might protect the area, but politicians have questioned its $30 billion cost, effectiveness and environmental impact. A group of scientists, planners and property owners is urging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to accelerate its study of the project. It may take another hurricane to speed up the process.

The danger is increasing as the sea level rises, said Malcolm Bowman, an oceanographer at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, who is among the group. It wont take a monster storm like Sandy to devastate the region.

Bowman warned of a catastrophic storm as far back as 2005, in a New York Times Op-Ed article. Seven years later, Sandy struck the region, flooding airports and tunnels and ravaging shore communities from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Bridgeport, Connecticut. It caused $68.9 billion in damage, making it the second-costliest storm in U.S. history after Katrina, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Water Wars

Bowmans group is pushing for an evaluation of a 5-mile (8-kilometer) retractable storm-surge barrier at the mouth of New York Harbor from the Rockaways to New Jerseys Sandy Hook. That, and another smaller structure at the western edge of Long Island Sound, could protect about 800 miles of shoreline from Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, to the Bronx, Bowman says.

As Bowman describes it, before a major storm, barriers would rise from the seabed or close in a gate-like structure to deflect the force of a wind-blown surge, as occurred with Sandy.

You have to allow for marine traffic and the daily flow of the tides to flush out the harbor, Bowman said, But when a storm is forecast with enough wind at high tide to create a surge, you close the gates or raise it from the seabed so water that wants to flow into the harbor cant.

Studying Studies

Weeks after Sandy, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said his administration planned to talk with city and federal officials about the possibility of installing storm-surge barriers. Corps engineers, in discussions with New York and New Jersey since last August, are still studying what protection strategies merit further study.

At this point, it is premature to say whether broad-scale solutions such as that advocated by this group, or other more regional or localized potential solutions will fare best, said Corps spokesman Hector Mosley.

Piecemeal Jobs

In the meantime, the state has moved ahead with a $616 million plan for Staten Island that includes a boardwalk promenade that would double as a storm-surge bulwark. The Corps has that project scheduled for completion in 2022, paid mostly by the federal government.

Billions more in federal, state and city funds are being spent along shore areas, enhancing dunes and berms on beaches, cultivating wetlands, building walls and awarding subsidies for waterproofing homes and office buildings. City officials also envision a mostly-U.S. funded $816 million horseshoe-shaped elevated park wrapped along the southern half of Manhattan, dubbed The Big U, to keep out the Hudson and East Rivers.

Such localized approaches may work as well or better than a mega-project, said Jainey Bavishi, Mayor Bill de Blasios director of the Office of Recovery and Resiliency. Her concerns about a storm barrier include cost and construction time; possible environmental impact; and whether it would leave densely populated areas of Long Island and New Jersey vulnerable, and perhaps even more exposed to flooding from displaced water.

A harbor barrier is not the silver bullet, Bavishi said.

Sea Life

Many of these issues have been solved with barriers that protect low-lying populations around the world, said Robert Yaro, former president of New Yorks Regional Plan Association. Its retractable feature would allow for marine traffic and tidal flow, minimizing impact to sea life and water quality, he said. The technology holds the promise of protecting the region for catastrophic floods for the next 150 years, Yaro said.

The Dutch have used this engineering for decades and barriers currently protect New Orleans, Stamford, Providence, London and St. Petersburg, Russia, Yaro said. We in New York are far behind and among the cities on Earth we have the most to lose.

Yaro and Bowman were among several advocates promoting the idea last month at an all-day conference in lower Manhattan attended by 250 municipal bond investors, real estate developers, business owners, insurance companies, and planners.

Lessons Learned

They heard Andrew Kopplin, former director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, describe how in New Orleans after Katrina, a bipartisan coalition of elected officials and business leaders persuaded Congress to approve a $14.5 billion system of levees and a storm-surge barrier. The barrier, a 1.8-mile array of gates, protected the city from Hurricane Isaacs landfall in 2012, said Kopplin, now president and chief executive officer of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, a non-profit charitable civic group.

It was simply a matter of political will, he said.

Officials in the Cuomo and de Blasio administrations say they await the Corps findings.

We clearly want to see the New York Harbor barrier studied, said James Tierney, Cuomos deputy environmental commissioner for water resources. The process requires a full-blown feasibility study. The Army Corps process is what we have to live with.

Next Storm

Marco Pasanella, 54, who lives above his gourmet wine shop on lower Manhattans South Street that got flooded when Sandy hit, says the pace and scope of government response has been disappointing.

He says hes seen no measures that would protect his neighborhood if another storm hit. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted as many as 17 tropical storms, about five more than average, may hit the Atlantic coast this year.

The decisions have Balkanized the neighborhoods with a piecemeal approach, just a series of uneven, irregular blockades that will not stop the water from finding its way ashore, Pasanella said.

Across Manhattan at Chelsea Piers, a recreational facility situated over the Hudson, Michael Braito, the propertys chief engineer, said neighborhood protections wont be enough to stop storm-surge water coursing through his building.

These piecemeal fixes buy little more than peace of mind, Braito said. Its like a boat with 100 holes and weve patched half of them and were going to sink. They need to think bigger.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Flood New York Pollution New Jersey
Allianz SE, the German insurer that stemmed outflows at U.S. asset manager PIMCO, is now trying to bulk up on the other side of the world.

Asia is still a relatively small part of the overall global portfolio but it holds a very big promise, George Sartorel, chief executive officer of the Asia-Pacific business, said in an interview. We have kept quiet in Asia for a long time, but our goal is to accelerate growth in the region. We see it really as the growth engine for Allianz.

While it managed to turn around Pacific Investment Management Co., Allianz has lost ground in recent years to other European insurers in Asia Pacific, where a growing middle-class is driving demand for insurance. The region generates only about 4 percent of its premiums, versus about 36 percent for London-based Prudential Plc and about 10 percent for AXA SA of Paris.

In terms of premiums and earnings, Asia is almost negligible at Allianz at the moment and compares poorly to AXA and even more so to Prudential, said Nick Holmes, an analyst at Societe Generale SA who covers all three companies. Both AXA and Prudential have stronger historic ties to the region.

Allianz joined with Standard Chartered Plc earlier this year to sell general insurance in the region through the banks branches and digital platforms. In China, the Munich-based company is awaiting a license to sell online insurance nationwide in partnership with Chinese search engine Baidu Inc. and asset manager Hillhouse Capital Management.

While we got positive signals from the regulator, I think we need to be patient, Sartorel said. If we pull that off, that is something transformational for us in China, giving us access to 800 million potential customers.

Allianz teamed up with Baidu and Hillhouse, which oversees about $20 billion of investments, in November 2015. Hillhouse, led by former Yale University endowment employee Zhang Lei, has also joined with Aviva Plc and Tencent Holdings Ltd. to develop a Hong Kong company focused on digital insurance.

It remains to be seen how profitable the partnership with Chinas biggest search engine could be for Allianz, SocGens Holmes said.

Banking partnerships are no bargain either for insurers. Allianz paid Standard Chartered about $200 million upfront to sell its general insurance products in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and China. And the lender expects to receive at least $1 billion in payments over the 15-year life of the bancassurance agreement, including profit-sharing, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.

Good Value

It was still good value, according to Sartorel, 59, who oversaw Italy and Turkey at Allianz before taking on the Asian role in 2014. He declined to comment on the price Allianz paid for the Standard Chartered partnership.

Were confident because penetration is quite low and Standard Chartered is committed to the digital business model that we are planning to deploy across the geography, said Sartorel, who is responsible for markets including China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and the Philippines  but not for India, Australia or New Zealand.

Allianz is also in talks with a number of potential partners to expand its life-insurance business in China, he said. The company already operates a fully-owned non-life insurer in three provinces and a life business thats present in eight of 34 provincial-level administrative regions in China. Sartorel ruled out a tie-up with a mainland bank because of low margins for the insurance industry there.

About two thirds of Allianzs insurance products in Asia are sold through agents and the remainder through partnerships with banks including HSBC Holdings Plc. Likewise, AXA has joined with Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. to sell life insurance in China. It offers non-life products through a joint venture with Tian Ping Auto Insurance Company Ltd.

We will in the future do more digital partnerships, Sartorel said, referring to the Standard Chartered agreement. How do I compete with Ping An Insurance, which has a million agents on the street in China? Forget it.

Related:

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics China AXA XL Allianz
Aviva, Britains biggest life insurer, is selling about 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) worth of bonds and shares it holds in tobacco companies, joining a global campaign to divest from the industry.

The move by insurance companies to sell holdings in tobacco firms forms part of a drive to pressure governments and companies to do more to limit the damage tobacco can cause to public health.

Aviva decided to sell its own holdings in tobacco companies in November and has been divesting since then though it is not selling tobacco investments made on behalf of third-party clients.

We have decided to stop investing in the tobacco sector and will divest over time, an Aviva spokeswoman said. We consider tobacco as harmful when used as intended, and have been reviewing our investment position for some time now.

The review began in early 2016, she said.

Aviva joins French rival AXA and reinsurer SCOR , both of which have pledged to divest over the last year, with AXA calling tobacco, the biggest threat to public health in the world today.

Other tobacco-free insurers include Frances Covea and Dutch rival Achmea, though many others have yet to follow suit.

Aviva said most of its tobacco-related sales were either complete or underway though it was not possible to give a firm date for when the program would be completed.

Most of the remaining assets were fixed-income securities that would either be sold or in some cases held until they matured, the spokeswoman said.

At the end of 2016, about 0.25 percent of Avivas 450 billion pounds of managed assets, which included third-party investments, was in tobacco assets, the spokeswoman said.

It was not clear how much money would remain invested in tobacco companies on behalf of third parties.

The anti-tobacco campaign has prompted some big name firms to sell their investments, but its overall impact on the share prices of tobacco companies has been limited.

In May, 50 leading finance firms representing $3.5 trillion in assets announced their public support for efforts to reduce tobacco use, which the World Health Organization says costs the world economy $1 trillion a year.

Among other high-profile supporters are Norways sovereign wealth fund, the biggest in the world with nearly $1 trillion in assets, the $300 billion California Public Employees Retirement System and the Irish Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Many investors remain reluctant to sell out, however, given the strong returns from the leading tobacco companies, including attractive dividends at a time of low bond yields, as well as the prospect for gains from consolidation in the sector.

($1 = 0.7817 pounds) (Additional reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by David Clarke)
Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA), a network of over 100 independent insurance agencies in Missouri and Illinois, has hired Rikki McGee as an administrative specialist.

In this position, McGee will maintain, expand and service the alliances accounts by providing administrative and clerical support. She will assist with policy processing and handle ongoing correspondence among clients, carriers, vendors, and associates. McGee will work directly with new and existing members to maintain all records and transactions.

Prior to joining VIAA, McGee served as an office executive at a local insurance agency. She also has worked at several companies in managerial positions.

Founded in 2006, VIAA is the regional founding member in Missouri and Southern Illinois for the Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance (SIAA). VIAA is headquartered in Clayton, Mo.

Source: Valley Insurance Agency Alliance (VIAA)

Topics Missouri
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to Chevron Corp. by preventing Ecuadorean villagers and their American lawyer from trying to collect on an $8.65 billion pollution judgment issued against the oil company by a court in Ecuador.

The justices turned away an appeal by New York-based lawyer Steven Donziger, who has spent more than two decades trying to hold Chevron responsible for pollution in the Ecuadorean rain forest, of lower court rulings blocking enforcement in the United States of the 2011 judgment.

While not disputing that pollution occurred, San Ramon, California-based Chevron has said it is not liable and that Donziger and his associates orchestrated the writing of a key environmental report and bribed the presiding judge in Ecuador.

Todays decision is an important step toward bringing this illegal scheme to a final conclusion, said R. Hewitt Pate, Chevrons vice president and general counsel.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan barred enforcement of the judgment in 2014, citing the corruption used to obtain it. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year upheld Kaplans decision, citing a parade of corrupt actions by Donziger and his associates, including coercion and fraud, culminating in the bribe offer.

The 2nd Circuit found that Chevrons $8.646 billion judgment debt was clearly traceable to corrupt conduct by the legal team representing villagers from the area affected by the pollution.

The lengthy legal battle with Chevron has been waged in several countries and was documented in Crude, a 2009 documentary film. The plaintiffs have said they plan to continue efforts to enforce the judgment in other countries, including Canada, regardless of the outcome in the United States.

The Supreme Courts decision closes a chapter and will allow the global public to properly focus on the true substance of the case, which is an international judgment enforcement process  in which U.S. courts have no role  and the devastating environmental and human tragedy that both Chevron and the global community need to address, Donziger said in a statement.

The saga has drawn extensive media attention over the years, with a succession of reporters given tours by both sides of the affected sites on the edge of the Amazonian jungle near the town of Lago Agrio. The plaintiffs also touted the backing of several celebrities including actors Mia Farrow and Danny Glover.

Donziger and representatives of residents of the Lago Agrio region have sought to force Chevron to pay for water and soil contamination caused from 1964 to 1992 by Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001. Chevron has said a 1998 agreement between Texaco and Ecuador absolved it of further liability.

Donzigers crusade began to unravel when Chevron noticed a scene in the Crude documentary, released in 2009, showing Donziger working with supposedly neutral experts in preparing a report for the Ecuadorean court.

Chevron was then able to get access to out-takes and other material related to the documentary via court order. Chevron cited this evidence when it filed its lawsuit in 2011 seeking to block enforcement of the judgment, saying Donzigers actions violated U.S. anti-racketeering law.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)

Related:

Topics USA Pollution
Brock Long was cleared by the Senate to become President Donald Trumps emergency-management director Tuesday after gaining the support of one unlikely constituency: environmentalists.

While climate advocates panned Trumps selections to head the Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department, they expressed optimism that Long, Alabamas former emergency manager, would seek to protect Americans from the increased risks of hurricanes, flood and heat waves linked to global warming.

Long was confirmed by a 95-4 vote.

He is a rare Trump appointee who is a well-known professional in the field in which he was appointed, said Eli Lehrer, president of The R Street Institute, a Washington research group that promotes market-based solutions to climate change. Every part of his reputation suggests hell take a careful, deliberate, technocratic approach to the job.

Environmentalists view of Longs nomination stands in contrast to their response to other Trump appointees. In March, as the vote on Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA was headed to the Senate, environmental groups sent senators a letter arguing his confirmation would be a disaster for every person in the United States who drinks water or breathes air. The pick of Rick Perry as Energy secretary was mocked because he had campaigned in the 2012 presidential race on the idea of eliminating the Energy Department and argued in his 2010 book Fed Up! that the Earth was in a cooling trend.

While Pruitt and Perry pledged to reverse Obama-era climate and clean-energy efforts, Long has signaled more continuity for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

Mitigation Efforts

Preparing for storms, floods and other extreme weather is the cornerstone of emergency management, Long testified June 7. If we ultimately want to reduce costs in the future for disasters, we have to do more mitigation.

Environmentalists cite two reasons for their optimism that Long will take climate risks seriously. First, they point to Longs previous experience in Alabama, one of the states most exposed to hurricanes, floods and other types of extreme weather.

Second, Longs testimony during his Senate confirmation hearing this month suggested he will continue efforts started under President Barack Obama to better prepare for floods and storms before they happen. Long told senators that hell work to make the country more resilient and hinted that he will push back on Trumps proposed cuts to flood mapping and other programs intended to reduce communities vulnerability to disasters.

He spoke to the importance of trying to reduce risk on the front end, said Shana Udvardy, a climate-preparedness expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He could be a good advocate when it comes to the presidents budget.

Others noted that despite his experience, the emergency management job will be challenging. Trump has called climate change a hoax, pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and rolled back rules that reduce emissions.

Long will have to persuade his colleagues in the administration that preparing for worsening storms should nonetheless remain a priority. During his confirmation hearing, he avoided mentioning climate change, even as he said preparations for storms and floods must improve.

That could put him in a tough spot, said Rob Moore, senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

(Editors Note: More background on the new FEMA administrator:

Long served as director of Alabamas Emergency Management Agency (EMA) under Governor Bob Riley. Most recently he was with Hagerty Consulting, an emergency management consulting firm that helps clients prepare for and recover from disasters. He has more than 16 years of experience with local, state, and federal governments and emergency management and public health preparedness programs. As the director of Alabamas EMA, he served as the state coordinating officer for 14 disasters. He developed Alabamas response to the H1N1 influenza and served on-scene as state incident commander during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. His past experience also includes working as a FEMA regional hurricane planner, a FEMA response team leader, and a statewide school safety coordinator. As Hagerty Consultings executive vice president, he has served as executive for more than 50 projects in all parts of the United States ranging from active threat scenario exercises with universities to designing complex multi-jurisdictional, all-hazard evacuation plans for major Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) designated jurisdictions. He serves as private sector chairman for the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA).

Long replaces Obama-appointee Craig Fugate who has resigned in January.)

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Flood Climate Change Pollution Alabama Politics
Oklahomas attorney general has sent a letter to Californias insurance commissioner threatening legal action if that state continues with its policy of requiring insurance companies to publicly disclose investments in fossil fuels.

Oklahomas Attorney General Mike Hunter maintains that California Insurance Commissioner David Jones Climate Risk Carbon Initiative policies will harm the energy industry.

Last year, Jones announced plans to initiate a data call that requires insurance companies to annually disclose their carbon-based investments, which includes investments in oil, gas and coal. The data call is targeted to companies selling in the California market that have at least $100 million in premiums nationally.

And in late January 2017, Jones asked all insurance companies doing business in California to voluntarily divest from investments in thermal coal in an effort to reduce carbon emissions and battle climate change.

Hunter is urging Jones to stop requiring insurance companies to publicly disclose investments in fossil fuels. He also wants California to stop calling on insurers to pledge divestiture from the coal industry.

Hunters letter was signed by 11 other state attorneys general and one governor.

According to the media release issued by the Oklahoma AGs office, the fossil fuel investment disclosures, as well as whether an insurer has signed a pledge not to invest in coal are posted on the California Insurance Departments website.

Hunter maintains that because one in four Oklahomans works in the energy industry, the threats posed by the California commissioners Climate Risk Carbon Initiative will harm families, businesses and insurance carriers in Oklahoma.

This misguided policy is negligent, politically driven, unrelated to insurance regulation and is risking a certain lawsuit, Hunter said in the statement released by his office.

In the letter to Jones, Hunter wrote that the required disclosures are largely immaterial to a well-functioning insurance market, and that the disclosures would harm consumers rather than help them.

This is because immaterial disclosures only serve to dilute important information required by other disclosures.  They also confuse consumers and insert political disagreements over environmental policy into the domain of insurance carrier investments, he said.

Hunter also wrote that if Jones continues to call for divestment and require discriminatory disclosures of fossil fuel investments, we will be forced to consider the legal avenues of relief available to protect our insurance carriers, energy producers, and consumers.

Jones says he undeterred. Climate change poses a potential financial risk to insurance company investments in coal, oil, gas, and utilities that rely on carbon to generate electricity, he said in a statement responding to Hunters letter.

Along with Hunter, the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming, and the governor of Kentucky, signed the letter.

Related:

Topics Carriers California Energy Oil Gas Climate Change Oklahoma
Homeowners in South Florida, as well as in many other parts of the state, should expect additional rate increases next year from the state-run insurer of last resort.

Citizens Board of Governors approved recommended rates and policy changes for 2018 that the company said reflect rising nonweather water losses, abuse of a policyholder right referred to as assignment of benefits (AOB) and out-of-control litigation that, left unchecked, will force rate hikes for years to come.

By unanimous vote, board members recommended a 5.3 percent statewide increase for personal lines policyholders  homeowners, condominium unit owners and renters  with most increases concentrated in three South Florida counties where, according to Citizens data, water losses, AOB abuse and litigation are disproportionately severe.

Board members also approved a series of policy changes that the insurer hopes to implement to reduce claims costs for nonweather water losses that it says have been pushing rates higher for South Florida customers over the last few years. If approved by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR), the changes would take effect in February 2018.

Among the major policy changes is a $10,000 cap on water loss repairs for customers who decide not to participate in the Citizens Managed Repair Program, which links customers with a network of vetted contractors. The voluntary managed repair program, coupled with a free emergency water removal service, will become available to new Citizens policyholders after July 1, 2017, and for existing customers when their policies renew.

Other policy changes include expanding obligations to third parties that accept an assignment of benefits. Currently, contractors who accept an assignment are not bound by the same obligations, including allowing Citizens adjusters to inspect a claim in a timely manner or providing proof that a loss has occurred.

These proposed rate increases and product changes are critical for Citizens efforts to bring some relief to a market that is being made increasingly expensive by unnecessary litigation and out-of-control water loss claims, said Chris Gardner, chairman of the Citizens Board of Governors. Unfortunately, we are making it more expensive for many of our customers to own a home.

The 2017 legislative session concluded in May without making significant changes to state law regarding assignment of benefits and the one-way attorney fee statute that many stakeholders agree are driving up costs that must be paid through higher premiums. Citizens joined other insurers, business and consumer groups pushing for reform.

Its ironic that our rates for wind coverage are coming down, but Citizens policyholders in South Florida still must brace themselves for continued rate increases, Gardner said. We dont want to raise premiums, but Citizens is obligated by statute to set actuarially sound rates.

The 2018 rate proposal continues a recent trend in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Homeowners with multiperil coverage in Miami Dade County, for example, will see an average increase of 10.5 percent, or $359, from 2017 premiums. Broward and Palm Beach county homeowners will see rates increase by 10.4 percent and 9.3 percent respectively.

Outside of the Tricounty area, many policyholders will see rates decrease or remain flat. Citizens homeowners policyholders in 56 of 67 counties will see average rates decrease under the set of proposed rates.

Proposed rates and policy changes must be approved by OIR, which oversees all Florida property insurers. Both the new rates and policy changes would take effect in February 2018.

We were hoping for legislative change and a surgical solution, said Barry Gilway, Citizens president/CEO and executive director. Given that this did not occur in 2017, we cannot wait for the trends to worsen and take no corrective action.

The full rate kit can be viewed on Citizens website.

Source: Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Related:

Topics Trends Florida Pricing Trends Homeowners
The Kentucky Supreme Court in Hollaway v. Direct General Ins. Co. Mississippi Inc., 497 S.W. 3d 733 (Ky. 2016), recently affirmed summary judgment that was granted in favor of the insurance company, finding that the plaintiff did not present a viable bad faith claim under Kentuckys Unfair Claim Settlement Practices Act.

There are three elements to a third party bad faith claim under Kentuckys Unfair Settlement Practices Act: first, the claimant must establish that the insurance company was obligated to pay the claim under its policy; second, the plaintiff must establish that the insurer lacked a reasonable basis in law or fact for denying the claims; and third, the plaintiff must establish that the insurer either knew there was no reasonable basis for denying the claim or that the insurer acted with reckless disregard for whether such a claim existed.

This case involved a low speed automobile accident in a private parking lot. The plaintiff was riding as a passenger in a vehicle that she owned. There were conflicting accounts regarding the cause of the accident. The accident was minor, as evidenced by the fact that no airbag deployment occurred in the collision and the plaintiffs vehicle sustained only $463.62 in property damage to a fender.

Both vehicles were drivable and the parties never called the police to investigate the accident or the scene. Plaintiff alleged that she injured her back and hip in the accident, which forced her to seek extensive physical therapy. Plaintiff also claimed that she lost her job because she could not perform her job responsibilities due to her injury.

The driver of the other vehicle was insured by Direct General, with minimum liability limits of $25,000 per person. Direct General investigated and settled the property damage claim involving the vehicles. Plaintiff also demanded $125,000 in compensation for her bodily injuries.

After providing documentation of her medical records and lost wages, Direct General offered $5,000 to settle, which was rejected. Thereafter, plaintiff filed suit against the other driver alleging negligence, sought underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits from her own insurer, and brought a third party bad faith claim against Direct General under Kentuckys Unfair Claims Settlement Practice Act (KUCSPA). Plaintiffs theory against Direct General was that Direct General failed to reasonably evaluate, investigate and negotiate a settlement of her bodily injury claim.

The trial Court granted summary judgement in favor of Direct General. The trial Court found that a legitimate dispute existed regarding who was liable for the accident and the nature and extent of the injuries that were caused by the accident. The Court held that Direct General could not have acted in bad faith as a matter of law because liability and causation were legitimately disputed by Direct General. The trial Courts ruling was affirmed by the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

The Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment. The Court found that the third element in the cause of action for third party bad faith required evidence that the insurance companys conduct was outrageous, or was because of its reckless indifference to the rights of others. Plaintiff had failed to show that type of malevolent intent on the insurers part. Plaintiff offered no proof of intentional misconduct, but rather merely suggested that the process was a matter of interpretation, which was better suited for determination by a jury than on summary prejudgment.

Theres nothing novel about the Kentucky Supreme Courts findings in Hollaway except that it demonstrates that occasionally plaintiffs are actually required to meet their burden of proof at the summary judgment stage in bad faith cases, and failure to do so results in dismissal. All too often trial judges are reluctant to grant summary judgment in bad faith cases and are more likely to agree with the approach advocated by the plaintiff that a jury should make the determination regarding the facts and the circumstances surrounding the claim disposition.

Topics Lawsuits Carriers Auto Kentucky
Californias surplus lines industry is trying to clear up the haze over a proposed regulation that would require medical marijuana businesses to purchase insurance only from admitted carriers.

The regulation is one of several regulations under consideration at a series of public hearings conducted by the Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation, which held its final hearing on the matter in Sacramento today. The medical cannabis regulations can be viewed at the states new Cannabis Web Portal.

The BMCR anticipates the regulations will be finalized by Jan. 1, 2018.

Among the proposals that will help govern the states budding medical marijuana business  some projections peg the new industrys value at $7 billion, with an estimated $1 billion in taxes generated  is wording that limits businesses to getting coverage only from authorized insurers.

The Surplus Line Association of California was one of the first groups that lined up to weed out that part of the regulations.

Benjamin McKay, executive director of group, has testified at public hearings that the proposed regulation would make it difficult, if not impossible, for those in the marijuana business to procure insurance.

Section 5108, Subsection C of the proposed regulations would require licensees to obtain insurance policies from companies authorized to conduct business in California.

This language is at odds with both market realities and the California Insurance Code, McKay argues.

The lions share of businesses selling or involved in marijuana are insured in surplus lines market, he said.

McKay has explained to the BMCR that there are many cases when it is necessary for California insurance consumers to shop outside the state for coverage, such as when the risk being covered is considered distressed, unique, high-capacity, or too new for standard insurers to price.

McKay urged the bureau to reconsider the language limiting coverage to authorized insurers to ensure that businesses involved in the legal marijuana industry can get insurance.

A spokesman for the bureau was working to obtain an official response to answer McKays concerns, but as of press time but no response was made available.

Add the California Department of Insurance to the list of those who do not want the regulations preventing marijuana-related businesses to go to the nonadmitted market greenlighted.

The CDI in formal comments submitted a week ago expressed its concerns about the proposal, which would have the consequence of allowing only licensed insurers to write coverage.

The CDI has proposed language as a fix (deletions are stricken):

(c) A distributor licensee shall maintain the insurance required in subsection (b) from an insurance company authorized to do business in California by the Secretary of State that is:

(i) a nonadmitted insurer, that meets the requirements of Insurance Code section 1765.1 or 1765.2, and the insurance is placed pursuant to Insurance Code section 1763 and through a surplus line broker licensed under Insurance Code section 1765; or

(ii) an insurer qualified to do business in California by the Secretary of State and authorized by the Insurance Commissioner to write the liability and property classes of insurance as defined by Insurance Code sections 102, 103, 107, 114, 108 and 120; or

(iii) a registered risk retention group compliant with the California Risk Retention Act of 1991. See California Insurance Code sections 125  140.

(d) A distributor licensee shall notify the bureau in writing within 10 calendar days of a lapse in insurance. Admitted insurers and risk retention groups must show proof of capitalization in the amount of at least $10,000,000.

(e) A distributor licensee shall notify the bureau in writing within 10 calendar days of a lapse in insurance.

One reason the CDI and others may support doing away with the proposed exclusion of surplus lines insurers is that there are few if any admitted insurers in the marijuana market.

We dont know of any admitted products, McKay said.

He pointed to some impediments that prevent most admitted carriers from entering the marijuana business, specifically federal law views marijuana as an illegal substance.

A look at a list of marijuana insurance providers in California compiled by Marijuana Business Daily indicates that most insurers are non-admitted, and often non-traditional, with names like Cannabis Insurance Pros, Green Rock, InsureBud, MarijuanaInsurance.net, SOS Cannabis USA and www.MarijuanaBusinessInsuranceBroker.com.

James River, Scottsdale and Lloyds are among the numerous well-known insurers who entered the states marijuana insurance business.

McKay said the lines of coverage he believes are needed for the for the marijuana business are extensive: general liability; clinical testing; all-risk commercial property; errors and omissions; crop insurance; garage liability; excess liability, errors and omissions, directors and officers.

Its all the typical business covers that you would expect, McKay added. There are a lot of companies in and around this space.

Topics Carriers California Legislation Excess Surplus Cannabis
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones responded to challenges to his calls for insurers to disclose their investments in fossil fuels.

Oklahomas attorney general has sent a letter to Jones threatening legal action if that state continues with its policy of requiring insurance companies to publicly disclose investments in fossil fuels.

Jones under his Climate Risk Carbon Initiative has sought to make public insurer investments in coal. In a further step, in late January he asked all insurance companies doing business in California to voluntarily divest from their investments in thermal coal and become part of a nationwide drive to reduce carbon emissions and battle climate change.

To comply with this request would mean making no new investments, not renewing existing investments and selling or withdrawing from existing investments in thermal coal, according to the California Department of Insurance.

Jones divestment request is voluntary, and specifically requests a divestment from any entity that either extracts or burns thermal coal or that derives 30 percent or more of its revenues from thermal coal.

The data call initiative that Jones announced last year requires insurance companies to annually disclose their carbon-based investments, which includes investments in oil, gas and coal. The data call is targeted to companies selling in the California market that have at least $100 million in premiums nationally.

Oklahomas Attorney General Mike Hunter said Jones Climate Risk Carbon Initiative policies will harm the energy industry. Hunter also wants California to stop calling on insurers to pledge divestiture from the coal industry. Hunters letter was signed by 11 other state attorneys general and one governor.

This didnt sit well with Jones.

While politicians in coal, gas, and oil states continue to deny the existence of climate change, California has concluded based on overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is real, Jones wrote in statement responding to Hunters call. The threats of lawsuits by 12 red state attorneys general and one governor are not going to stop me from doing my job as insurance commissioner to make sure that insurance companies are recognizing potential financial risks associated with climate change.

Jones said it is his job to make sure insurance companies address potential risks to their investment portfolio.

Climate change poses a potential financial risk to insurance company investments in coal, oil, gas, and utilities that rely on carbon to generate electricity, Jones wrote.

He said the shift away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy, as well as regulatory and policy changes at local, state, national, and international levels, make investments in oil, gas, and coal, and utilities that rely on oil, gas, and coal, a risk for insurer to have stranded assets on their books with significantly reduced or no value.

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, he wrote.

Related:

Topics Carriers California Energy Oil Gas Climate Change
A contractor has been fined nearly $200,000 for violations discovered after two workers were injured in a mishap on Portland, Ore.s Ross Island Bridge.

Oregon OSHA announced the penalty Monday, following an investigation that found nine safety violations.

One of the men fell 37 feet from scaffolding while painting the bridge Feb. 8. He landed on a co-worker, and both suffered multiple injuries.

OSHA says the employee who fell was not protected by a fall-protection system. Moreover, the contractor, Minnesota-based Abhe & Svoboda, failed to provide proper access to work areas or install a scaffolding system that met bracing requirements.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Contractors Oregon
San Diego, CA, June 21, 2017- Investigation Solutions, Inc. (ISI) worked alongside the California Department of Insurance in a $32 million workers compensation fraud case that resulted in an arrest earlier this month.

Detectives at the DOI arrested Gina Marie Gregori of Lafayette on charges of underreporting payroll and defrauding multiple carriers including a client of ISIs to the tune of $32 million. Charged with 19 felony counts, Gregori is being held on $5.2 million bail at the San Francisco County Jail. Owner of three companies (GMG Janitorial, GMG Billing Services Plus and Apex Janitorial Solutions), Gregori allegedly underreported payroll and falsified documents to their workers compensation carrier.

We see a lot of employer fraud in workers compensation, said Tim Cloney, vice president of ISI. Whether the employer is paying cash under the table, underreporting payroll or misclassifying employees, all in hopes of saving themselves some money, most of them leave a trail of some kind that is eventually uncovered.

The carrier requested ISIs help when they were alerted by the DOI of suspicions of fraud on the part of one of their insureds, Billing Services Plus, Inc. ISI Senior Investigator Marcella Graham ran a series of background checks into the three companies and their owners, and provided proof to the DOI that the three companies actually are one company.

Knowing that Billing Services Plus was due an audit because their policy was expiring, Mrs. Graham also alerted the auditor of the potential fraud. With the false documentation provided by the employer, the companys payroll was shown to be only $259,000. The fraudulent data showed 10 full-time employees and 10 part-time employees, when the actual employee count was more than 200 with a possible $600 million in payroll; the exact dollar amount is still under investigation.

By going the extra step in the investigation, Marcella provided key data to the DOIs employer fraud task force, Cloney explained. In alerting the auditor to the possibility of fraud and working with the auditor to gather evidence, they helped strengthen the DOIs case against the employer.

Criminal charges were filed shortly after ISI handed information to DOI. The active criminal case is currently being prosecuted by the San Francisco County District Attorneys Office.

About Investigation Solutions, Inc.

Investigation Solutions, Inc. is a multi-line claims investigation company providing nationwide field investigation, surveillance and SIU services to the insurance, legal and self-insured communities. For more information, please visit Investigation-Solutions.com.

Media Contact

Tim Cloney

760.827.4948

TCloney@investigation-solutions.com

Topics Workers' Compensation Fraud Commercial Lines Business Insurance
How much money you need to be financially comfortable during retirement varies widely depending on the individual, and while it can be difficult to forecast exactly what youll need during retirement, there are benchmarks to aim for.

The ideal savings rate varies by expert or study because making plans for the future depends on many unknown variables, such as not knowing how long youll be working, how well your investments will do, or how long you will live, among other factors. Any calculation for retirement is usually an educated guess. However, it is possible to follow some key rules, starting with the assumption you will have a steady income stream until age 65.

Key Takeaways There are many unknown variables that make it difficult to accurately forecast retirement needs.

There are benchmarks based on historical data that provide ballpark figures.

Research says to save roughly 15% of your annual income, but those waiting until later in life to start saving will need to contribute more.

Its best to start saving early and take advantage of matching contributions in 401(k)s if offered.

Starting a college fund for your children is a good way to avoid having to raid your retirement accounts to pay for their higher education.

How Much Should You Save?

Academic retirement saving studies use the term replacement rate. This is the percentage of your salary that youll receive as income during retirement from your retirement accounts. For example, if you made $100,000 a year when you were employed but receive $38,000 a year in retirement payments, your replacement rate is 38%. The variables included in a replacement rate include savings, taxes, and spending needs, and this rate may go up and down during the course of your retirement depending on a variety of factors such as market fluctuations, and your tax bracket, which could be subject to change.

Replacement Rate

When you plan for retirement, your pre-retirement income typically sets the basis for your estimated spending during your retirement. For example, if you earn $100,000 a year, you would need to replace a percentage of your annual salary. Depending on your expenses, you could use a 75% replacement rate, a typical rate used by financial planners, to spend when you stop working. Your preretirement income replacement rate is based on your estimated spending in retirement.

Of course, 75% of your annual salary may be too high if you haven't saved enough for retirement, and how much you use in retirement depends on the type of retirement saving vehicle used, like a Roth versus a traditional IRA, or a 401(k).

Estimating Your Replacement Rate

So, if your annual salary is $100,000, and you use the 75% replacement rate as a starting point, you will need to earn $75,000 from various retirement resources such as 401k accounts, part-time work, and social security. To be extra careful when planning your retirement replacement rate, you may want to leave out social security to be able to estimate a savings level to use when planning your retirement.

The good news? Most people, especially couples, need less income, not more, during retirement for various reasons, including lower taxes and simply spending less money. In addition, it may be better to estimate more money than less money for retirement. You can always continue to invest in certain types of accounts, and if your money remains in the market, it will grow if you take the required minimum distributions.



Most retirement accounts are pretax dollars, meaning you will be responsible for paying taxes on your withdrawals, which is something to take into account.

The Family Factor

These studies calculate savings for individuals, but what about families? Parents with young children may choose to save for their collegeone rule is at least $2,000 times your child's age each year to see if you are on track to help cover the cost of university.

Costs associated with children can make saving for retirement even more daunting, but if you have a college account for your kids, you are less likely to dip into your retirement to pay for school. In addition, needed retirement savings for a couple may not be twice as much as an individual because couples usually share many significant expensesa home, for example.

If you are married, you will need to consider what kind of lifestyle you want to have when you retire as a couple. Also, you can consider if one or both spouses will retire simultaneously. Some experts recommend saving 10 times your annual income by age 67, but not all couples will have that much in retirement.

The Matching Contribution Bonus

For people who start saving early and take advantage of employer-sponsored plans, such as 401(k)s, hitting savings goals isnt as daunting as it may sound. Employer matching contributions could significantly reduce what you need to save per month. These contributions are made pre-tax and it's the equivalent of "free money."

Say you save 3% of your income during a year and your company matches that 3% in your 401(k), "you will make a 100% return on the amount you saved that year," said Kirk Chisholm, wealth manager at Innovative Advisory Group in Lexington, Mass.

How Much Should I Save for Retirement? It is a good idea to save a percentage of your paycheck each month. If you can afford it, 15% of your annual salary, is recommended. But saving any amount, especially if your employer will match it, is worthwhile too.

What Percent of My Salary Do I Need in Retirement? Most financial retirement advisors suggest your annual retirement income should be around 75% to 80% of your pre-retirement income, in the year prior to your retirement.

Should I Open a 401(k)? If your employer offers you access to a 401(k) plan at work, you should take advantage of it, no matter how little you can afford to put into it each paycheck. Even a small amount can grow over the years due to compounding interest. And if your company matches your contributions, it is essentially "free" money going into your account. You can start with smaller contributions if you are, say, paying down student loans, and then as you progress in your career, vamp up your contributions.

The Bottom Line

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to how much you for retirement, but academic studies based on historical data can give you a ballpark figure. Aim to save around 15% of your annual salary if youre early in your career. This alone might seem like a tough task, but take advantage of employer matching and find new ways to reduce expenses. If you wait until later in life to start saving, you'll need to put away more of your salary, or risk running out of money during retirement.
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Marc, you are the best man I have ever known. Thank you for loving me unconditionally. My #rideordie #bonnieandclyde A post shared by Kenya Moore (@thekenyamoore) on Jun 19, 2017 at 4:15pm PDT

As previously reported, Kenya Moore secretly tied the knot last week in an intimate beach wedding in St. Lucia.star married Marc Daly, who is a businessman, but who exactly is Marc Daly? Find out below!Moore married Daly, who is the owner of the Brooklyn eatery SoCo.Former SoCo owner Malissa Browne, who has worked with Daly said: I parted ways with SoCo, but Marc is the owner now. The wedding took us all by surprise. They are definitely married, she toldWhen asked if Moore married a good man, Browne responded, I dont want to say anything on what kind of guy he is. Lets just say, no comment.'Moore and Daly first met a year ago and began dating a few months later  however, Moore's husband is choosing to stay out of the spotlight for now.Marc, you are the best man I have ever known. Thank you for loving me unconditionally, Moore captioned one of her wedding pictures that showed her and Marc fist-bumping under a flower arch.Moore shared more moments from the wedding on Instagram over the weekend.Im just ecstatic, Moore told. This man is the love of my life and Im so happy to begin our lives together as husband and wife.To my husband, Happy Fathers Day to you and all the great Dads. We met a year ago but didnt speak again until December. Since we reconnected you have been my everything, my one and only, my heart I love you, the former Miss USA posted on Sunday.Photo Credit: Instagram
The foster care system in Ireland is "besieged" according to a child welfare expert.

The head of TUSLA, the agency responsible for the service, will appear before the Oireachtas later.

Fred McBride is expected to answer questions over high-profile failings, including the 'Grace' case which saw a vulnerable women left in an abusive home.

Child welfare expert Kieran Mc Grath is worried that money is being wasted.

"The whole care system is under tremendous pressure and TUSLA is under tremendous pressure in terms of it's quite a besieged agency at the moment," he said.

"One of the issues that'll probably come up at the committee is the whole question of private foster care.

"The reason private foster care exists is because statutory provision wasn't able to keep pace with the demands - the costs are three times as much and the question would be: 'Is it three times better?'."
Detectives hope to speak soon to an Irish J1 student who was beaten and left for dead in a San Diego alley, writes Eoin English.

Hopes were expressed last night that Evan Whites condition will improve enough for him to be interviewed by police in the next 48 hours.

His parents, who flew to the US at the weekend, are maintaining a vigil at Scripps Memorial Hospital where he has been in an induced coma since the attack.

The young UCC business student, who lives near Farran Woods in Cork, had travelled to the US recently with friends under the J1 student visa programme.

They were out celebrating his 21st in San Diegos Pacific Beach quarter when it is understood he became separated from the group.

He was found by police early last Friday morning unconscious and in critical condition lying in an alley off Law St, just a few metres from one of the citys most popular beaches.

He had severe head and facial injuries.

There were reports that his injuries were so severe, he was unrecognisable. One friend said he had been beaten to a pulp.

A spokesman for the San Diego Police Department told the Irish Examiner last night it is not known yet what caused the injuries because there were no witnesses, and Evan was unconscious.

However, they are treating it as suspected assault pending a formal interview with him.

One theory is that Evan may have become lost in the Pacific Beach areas vast maze of parallel streets and lanes, and was attacked as he walked alone.

He was rushed by paramedics to Scripps trauma centre where his condition has been described as critical, but not life threatening.

Evan played soccer with local clubs and GAA with Eire Og in Ovens. Pat Malone, the chairman of Eire Og, where Evan played junior and U21 football, said the shock of what has happened is only beginning to hit the community.

Evan was involved with us at under-age level and played junior football and was on the under-21 football panel, he said.

He was part and parcel of what we are. He was always there for us. He was a quiet young lad, and he comes from a quiet family.

Club officials were due to meet last night to discuss what supports the club might offer the White family.

All of our thoughts and prayers are with Evan and his family at this difficult time, Mr Malone said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance.

This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner website.
Last week a price range of 3.90 to 4.90 per share was placed on the shares as the Government published the prospectus ahead of the flotation of 25% of its near total holding in AIB.

The formal starting price is set to be unveiled on Friday when conditional trading in the shares commences. However, the price range was revised with a higher floor price, yesterday, to between 4.20 and 4.60. It is believed that demand will see the formal price set at the upper end of that range; somewhere between 4.40 and 4.60.
Isolde Goggin was speaking at the Oireachtas finance committee as options for the Irish mortgage market were discussed. She said there was a need for a national vision as to what was needed from a mortgage market.

We think increasing competition is also extremely important. More new entrants would in turn increase competition. Rebuilding our international reputation is central to this, getting the message out there that we are working through the problems and we are an attractive option for reputable new entrants, she added.

The Danish model had worked very well and should be examined as a pilot by the Central Bank, she said.

This model is characterised by match-funding. There is a direct match between the loan and the bonds which a mortgage bank issues to fund the loan, she added.

The CCPC had put forward 14 recommendations to improve the market, with mistrust prevailing among customers at a high level, she said.

That mistrust led to consumers being reluctant to switch providers or enter long-term agreements, added Ms Goggin.

In the course of our research with consumers it also became apparent that there is a real sense of vulnerability which manifests itself in a number of ways, including a reluctance to consider switching mortgage providers or lock into long term mortgage rates...what consumers said that they primarily wanted from the market was to be able to get a mortgage, to have certainty around what they were paying for their mortgage and a clear, fair process if they to find themselves in arrears, she said.

A National Housing Co-Operative would help alleviate the crisis in mortgage arrears, members of the Right2Homes organisation told TDs and Senators. Right2Homes produced its proposed legislation for the housing co-op.

The bill was praised by Sinn Feins Pearse Doherty, who described the proposed co-op as a Nama for the wee guy.

Right2Homes co-founder Brian Reilly said: Some of us have literally put our own lives on hold to get this proposed legislation to this point and I doubt there is anybody who isnt already acutely aware of the nightmare currently being faced by so many Irish families, still residing in their family homes, or indeed in buy-to-lets, all of whom live in daily fear of the banks, afraid to open their hall doors, or even their post, defenceless in the absence of effective legislation to protect themselves, and their families, from the threat of repossessions.

Right2Homes said under its proposal, the National Housing Co-Operative would purchase properties in distress and the related debt from the lending bodies. It would then restructure new mortgage contracts over 30 years with repossession only in extreme can pay but wont pay cases.

It said the capital required would be raised by the issue of a 20-year property bond, secured by the properties acquired by the co-op and underpinned by a guarantee issued by the European Investment Fund.
The contract with Gas Networks Ireland will provide a secure source of reliable fuel for the planned 233m Center Parcs Longford Forest resort being constructed at Newcastle Wood in Ballymahon.

Center Parcs chief executive Martin Dalby described the gas mains as a fundamental requirement for the project.

The significant investment Center Parcs has made in this critical piece of infrastructure will result in a mains gas supply being brought into Co Longford for the first time, he explained.

I have stated from the very outset of this project that Center Parcs would have a transformative effect on both Co Longford and the wider Midlands region and it is now up to all the relevant authorities to make sure that the region makes the most of the huge economic benefits that this pipeline and the Center Parcs development will bring, Mr Dalby added.

Managing director of Gas Networks Ireland, Liam OSullivan, acknowledged the decisive role of Center Parcs in facilitating the decision to bring natural gas to Longford.

Design work is now under way, and construction of the network extension will commence early next year, with the extension expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

Gas Networks Ireland will consult extensively with communities and landowners along the route as the project is being developed, said Mr OSullivan.

Longford County Council chief executive Paddy Mahon described the deal as a major milestone in Longfords economic development.

The extension of the natural gas network to this holiday village will further enhance the Center Parcs project and ensure its longevity in the Longford region, he said.

Center Parcs Longford Forest is due to open in 2019. Once open and operational, the 233m forest holiday village will employ approximately 1,000 people and will have capacity for up to 2,500 guests.

Center Parcs estimates that, when operational, the new holiday village would add approximately 32m to Irish GDP per annum.
In a recommendation paper on Irish energy policy, the economic think-tank said diversification opportunities should be studied by government and industry stakeholders and costs and benefits should be clearly identified. It added while Ireland has access to gas from the Corrib field, the Moffat gas interconnector, linking the UK to Ireland, will likely be the dominant source of gas supply to Ireland by as early as next year.

ESRI research officer Muireann Lynch said policymakers should exercise caution in determining new energy priorities.
Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan told the Dail Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that, at its height, the account had 90,000-plus in it.

The money was transferred into this account  held in Cabra, north Dublin  from a bank account in the Garda College Templemore into which EU police training funds were sent.

Ms OSullivan said she received a report from internal auditor Niall Kelly last Monday in which he said he had sufficient suspicion that fraud may have been carried out involving the account, which opened in 1999 and closed in 2010.

She refused to answer repeated questions as to the identities of the account signatories. She told Fianna Fails Marc MacSharry she was not aware of all the signatories. She said it was not appropriate or fair to name any individual and said they were entitled to due process.

She told PAC vice-chair Alan Kelly an account signatory was a retired senior officer. She told Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy she understood the account was a garda account and not a personal account.

TDs said it was convenient for the commissioner that she had referred the matter to GSOC before yesterdays hearing. Ms OSullivan said under no circumstances did she take this action to stop PAC.

Also at the PAC:

The commissioner said legal advice was sought and a process was underway after the former head of the audit committee Michael Howard wrote to her last April requesting that comments in a letter from finance boss Michael Culhane to Niall Kelly should be either unconditionally withdrawn or unambiguously overruled by a superior authority

She said the comments made by Mr Culhane were very strong and not appropriate  but was criticised by members for earlier describing his letter as a submission to Mr Kelly;

Members criticised her for describing as interpersonal issues the differences between Mr Culhane and HR boss John Barrett;

She said she never considered Mr Culhanes suggestion that Mr Barrett be investigated under the Official Secrets Act;

She rejected assertions that she knew about financial issues at Templemore before July 27, 2015;

Mr Barrett wrote to the commissioner and copied it to PAC, in which he said this position was not correct;

She took grave exception at being likened to a hostile witness by Sinn Feins David Cullinane;

22 of 272 senior officers had not indicated yet to Garda HQ if they were compliant with public office declaration requirements.

Mr Kelly said that despite her assertions the department would be involved in the working group set up in July 2015, that they were not informed until October 1. Ms OSullivan said she understood former chief administrative officer Cyril Dunne would have done so.

Mr Kelly questioned her at length did she have confidence in each of her garda management team, to which she eventually said she had confidence in the collective ability of the team.
Christine Connor, aged 31, was jailed for 16 years and four months at Belfast Crown Court yesterday 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.

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.

The PSNI said the region was a safer place with Connor behind bars.

Det Supt Richard Campbell, from the PSNIs Serious Crime Branch, described her as 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.

Co-accused Stuart Downes, aged 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 her. Mr Downes took his own life before he was due to stand trial in June last year.

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.

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.

Connor was sentenced to 16 years and four months in prison for a number of terror offences, including the attempted murder of a police officer.
As revealed by the Irish Examiner, more than 80 detectives in the Cork City Garda Division have informed Garda management that as of July 1 they will not provide 24/7 armed cover because in their view continuing to do so breeches the working time directive and health and safety legislation.

The issue was raised at a county council meeting by Cllr Frank OFlynn, who is chairman of the Cork County (JPC).

He said he was seriously concerned about the threat to withdraw cover by the detectives, who are members of the Garda Representative Association (GRA). They say all they want is the same training and equipment as members of the Special Detective Unit in Dublin.

Cllr OFlynn said he agreed, especially as there were now more illegal firearms on the streets than ever and because of the rise in international terrorism.

Detectives from Cork City have provided cover for serious incidents in other parts of the county and also in Tipperary and Kerry.

We want the best equipment and training given to our local gardai as they get in Dublin. I dont see why theres any difference, Cllr OFlynn told a meeting of the councils Northern Division.

He received immediate support from colleagues.

Cllr Tim Collins, vice chairman of the JPC, agreed that a communique be sent immediately to the commissioner and added that it should also be raised with local Garda management at the forthcoming Cork County JPC meeting.

If 24/7 armed cover is withdrawn it will be a major issue, Cllr Collins said.

The GRA call for additional firearms training and the provision of bullet-proof shields in Cork came was made two years ago following an incident in the Minane Bridge area.

Uniformed Garda John ONeill, who is based in Bandon, risked his life to save three children by taking off his bullet-proof jacket and using it to shield them from a man who was shooting at him and his colleagues.

He managed to whisk the three children, all aged under seven, to safety.

The GRA believe if they had bullet-proof shields, which offer full body protection, there would be significantly less risk to their members and the public.
Forensic engineer Donal Terry told a judge the physical effect of the impact would be similar to what passengers would experience in a vehicle rounding a bend or driving over a speed bump.

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.

Mr ODonnell, aged 19, of Shancastle Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin, and Mr Lawrence, aged 46, of Loughnamona Close, Leixlip, Co Kildare, 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.

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, fishing.

Mr Martin 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.

The judge dismissing both 60,000 claims and awarding Ms Dunphy her legal costs against the claimants, said Mr ODonnell had indicated he intended taking two further claims on behalf of his two young under-age sons.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) ordered two Irish-based Pakistani doctors, Mr and Mrs Tahir Nazir to pay the money to Sultana Anwar arising from her unfair dismissal action.

Ms Anwar said she arrived to work in Ireland as a domestic worker for the Nazirs in March 2009 and she expected to get a three-and-a -half-year visa and to be paid 100 per week.

She worked for the Nazirs until August 10, 2011. She told the tribunal she started work at 7am each day and sometimes did not finish until 11 or 12 in the evening.

Ms Anwar said the only time off she got was when she was eating. She further alleged that she worked seven days a week and never got a day off. She also alleged that she had no permission to leave the house and also had no access to a phone.

Ms Anwar was looking after three children and was also doing the cooking, cleaning and ironing.

It was alleged at the tribunal that on two occasions when she was sick, the Nazirs gave her medicine but no rest.

Ms Anwar said she was paid 150 on the 17th day of each month and she sent it to her family.

Ms Anwars version of events was flatly contradicted by the Nazirs who claimed that she did not work at all during her time with them.

Dr Nazir said that Ms Anwar is his second cousin and never worked for them.

He said Ms Anwar asked him over the phone if she could visit, he said OK and signed the papers so she could get a visa to visit.

He said they already had a childminder and did their own cooking and washing and that Ms Anwar was a visitor but she had her own mobile phone and had access to their phone.

Dr Nazir said that, after a few months, Ms Anwar went out to local shops looking for work.

Dr Nazir heard this from the man in the grocery shop and Dr Nazir explained to Ms Anwar that she could not work on a visitors visa.

In his evidence, Dr Nazir said Ms Anwars brothers phoned to say they were arranging a marriage for her and she left without telling him. Dr Nazir said that when he phoned her brother he was told that she was with her in-laws.

He said that after six or seven weeks Ms Anwar came back. By that time Dr Nazir was working reduced hours and he took the children to school and he and his wife cared for them.

In its determination, the three-member EAT said that there was a major conflict of evidence in the case. It said that while accepting that there are difficulties with both versions of events, the tribunal preferred the evidence of Ms Anwar and found that she had been the Nazirs domestic worker and that she was in effect constructively dismissed.

The tribunal accepted Ms Anwar worked a very large number of hours per week. The tribunal awarded her 64,771 for her constructive dismissal under the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1,349 under the Terms of Employment (Information) Acts, and 674 under the Payment of Wages Act.
Anthony Hynes was arraigned on the charge at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

The charge stated that, on July 24, 2010, at Fosters Haven, Cobh, Co Cork, Hynes knowingly had child pornography in his possession, namely 20 images of child exposure where Japanese-style hentai cartoon images depicted children under the age of 17, and 187 hentai cartoon images which depicted children under the age of 17 engaged in sexual activity with an adult or other children.

Hynes, who is in his forties, pleaded guilty to that single count on the indictment.

Defence barrister Donal OSullivan said the accused was ready to be sentenced yesterday.

However, prosecution barrister Siobhan Lankford said that the prosecution was not in a position to proceed yesterday.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain adjourned the case until Monday for sentencing.

No details of the background to the case were revealed in yesterdays court proceedings. This will be given by the investigating officer on June 26.
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin is also facing internal party criticism after launching a personalised attack on Maire Whelan, who has been appointed to the top court.

It also emerged, during a turbulent first few days for Mr Varadkar, that the new Taoiseach has now ordered a fatwa  as one minister described it  against government business leaking to the media.

Opposition TDs are incensed by the manner in which Ms Whelan was promoted and want answers as to what ministers knew about other judges interested in the role and whether a deal was agreed to allow the lawyer, without interview or scrutiny, to simply secure the 180,000 a year job.

Mr Martin said that the process was an insider appointment that stinks to high heaven.

Ms Whelan was formerly appointed on Monday after her approval was agreed by President Higgins. This was in advance of yesterdays Dail row and Mr Martin said the new Taoiseach arranged this to pre-empt any debate.

However, Mr Varadkar rejected this suggestion, insisting: I want to refute absolutely any suggestion that I instructed the President to do anything of the sort.

However, Mr Martin went on to question the experience of Ms Whelan for the court, dismissing comparisons of her with previous senior legal figures who were promoted as judges.

Maire Whelan is no Frank Clarke, is no Adrian Hardiman, and is no Donal ODonnell, he said.

Mr Martin warned his frontbench earlier in the day about ramping up his criticism of the appointment but members were shocked by the personalised attack.

Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar has faced a mixed reaction to his junior ministerial reshuffle in which he increased the number of posts by one to 19. While loyal Fine Gael TDs were rewarded, he faces a backlash over the number of women appointed overall  just seven of the 34 senior and junior roles  as well as several deeply disappointed senior TDs who have been denied promotion.
Hopes were expressed last night that Evan Whites condition will improve enough for him to be interviewed by police in the next 48 hours.

His parents, who flew to the US at the weekend, are maintaining a vigil at Scripps Memorial Hospital where he has been in an induced coma since the attack.

The young UCC business student, who lives near Farran Woods in Cork, had travelled to the US recently with friends under the J1 student visa programme.

They were out celebrating his 21st in San Diegos Pacific Beach quarter when it is understood he became separated from the group.

He was found by police early last Friday morning unconscious and in critical condition lying in an alley off Law St, just a few metres from one of the citys most popular beaches.

He had severe head and facial injuries.

There were reports that his injuries were so severe, he was unrecognisable. One friend said he had been beaten to a pulp.

A spokesman for the San Diego Police Department told the Irish Examiner last night it is not known yet what caused the injuries because there were no witnesses, and Evan was unconscious.

However, they are treating it as suspected assault pending a formal interview with him.

One theory is that Evan may have become lost in the Pacific Beach areas vast maze of parallel streets and lanes, and was attacked as he walked alone.

He was rushed by paramedics to Scripps trauma centre where his condition has been described as critical, but not life threatening.

Evan played soccer with local clubs and GAA with Eire Og in Ovens. Pat Malone, the chairman of Eire Og, where Evan played junior and U21 football, said the shock of what has happened is only beginning to hit the community.

Evan was involved with us at under-age level and played junior football and was on the under-21 football panel, he said.

He was part and parcel of what we are. He was always there for us. He was a quiet young lad, and he comes from a quiet family.

Club officials were due to meet last night to discuss what supports the club might offer the White family.

All of our thoughts and prayers are with Evan and his family at this difficult time, Mr Malone said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance.
The managing director of Irish Life Health, Jim Dowdall, said the 600 increase in the cost of health insurance would result from an annual 4% increase in claims.

The extra 1bn in the cost of claims would be spread over more than 2.2m people who have private health insurance.

Mr Dowdall told a Private Hospitals Association conference the increase in claims costs was unavoidable because of the countrys ageing population.

Unless we change the system, that is going to be the cost that people (with health insurance) are going to be picking up, he said.

Mr Dowdall said he was examining some areas to save money, such as reducing the amount paid into the public system for no value.

That will help put a break on the level of increases that we see coming through, he said.

Health insurers are paying around 650m a year into the public system. While much of the money being spent was delivering value, 200m paid over in recent years was for a public service that people were already entitled to.

Mr Dowdall said that, if they were able to stop public hospitals double charging people with private health insurance, they would be able to slow down the rate of price increases.

He said the 2013 Review of Measures to Reduce Costs in the Private Health Insurance Market, commissioned by the Department of Health, should be looked at again.

We need to blow the dust off that report and get serious about finding those opportunities to take costs out of the system, but we are not doing that, he said.

Mr Dowdall said some private hospitals in the same geographical area were using similar surgical systems and diagnostic equipment. Maybe there was a need for more collaboration to reduce costs, he said,

He also believed that private hospitals which did not come up to standard should be excluded by insurers. We have to be able to measure outcomes, he said.

Insurers needed to make sure there were meaningful contracts in place with hospitals that were in the best interests of customers.

Health Minister Simon Harris, who addressed the conference, said draft legislation allowing the Health Information and Quality Authority to license private hospitals would be brought to Government in the autumn.

The Private Hospitals Association has welcomed the licensing proposals.
Mr Power, 40, had presented to University Hospital Waterford (UHW) with a pain in his chest on Sunday but was sent to Cork because the cath lab was not open in his home county.

The UHW cath lab, where cardiac tests and procedures take place, only operates Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.

He died 20 minutes into the journey.

Locals have gathered more than 5,000 signatures in less than 24 hours to lobby the Taoiseach to open round-the-clock cardiac care in Waterford.

Several protests have taken place calling for this service to operate 24/7 and more than 110 hospital consultants have previously called on the Minister for Health Simon Harris to open a second cath lab in UHW. If a person is suffering a heart attack in the South-East outside of office hours they are transferred to Cork.

It shouldnt have happened to that poor chap. Its a national disgrace, said Willie Doyle, whose daughter Jennifer Pheasey, 41, had a heart attack at 4.30pm on a Friday two years ago.

We were told that if it had happened an hour later she wouldnt have survived. Id be less a daughter, her children would be less a mother, and her husband would be less a wife, he told the Irish Examiner.

Mr Doyle set up the group 24/7 Cardiac Cover for the South-East after his familys experience with cardiac care in UHW.

Theres a joke down here that goes: How are you fixed after 5 oclock? There are parts of Wexford that havent a snowballs chance of getting to Cork or Dublin within the 90 minutes, he said.

Mr Harris was asked about extending cardiac care in UHW in light of the recent incident. He said he is following the report written by consultant cardiologist Niall Herity, who found that UHW did not need a cath lab open 24/7, but said that if the evidence changed, he would change his view.

Professor Herity looked at distances, looked at times and Professor Herity as an independent person, eminently qualified, arrived at this conclusion, said Mr Harris.

If the evidence changed Id change my position, but the evidence so far in the Herity report which is independent is very clear.

Meanwhile, several locals TDs have again called for 24/7 cardiac care in UHW, following the death of Mr Power.

The recommendations from the Herity Report  that a second catheterisation laboratory was unnecessary at UHW and that UHWs acute heart attack cases be brought to Cork  are deeply flawed, said Independent TD for Waterford John Halligan. Patient safety is being compromised while cardiac services in Waterford and the South-East are under-resourced.

As reported in this paper, a second mobile facility is due to open in September, but only on a 9am-5pm basis and Monday to Friday.

Sinn Fein TD for Waterford David Cullinane said the HSE was playing with peoples lives in a cath lab numbers game.
LITTLE has been written about what happened to the Auxiliaries after they left Ireland in 1922. One of those men did hit the headlines abroad over a torrid love affair that he began with an older, married Irish woman, while he was based in Tralee, in 1921.

She abandoned her husband and three children to live with him in Australia.

They travelled about, living in a tent, while he was on the sheep-shearing circuit. But it was not happily ever after.

She became disillusioned after a couple of years and was persuaded by her sister to return to her family in Ireland.

Her jilted lover retaliated by murdering her.

Hori Morse was born in Wanganui, New Zealand, on March 2, 1897. During World War One, Morse went to flying school in Christchurch, and qualified as a pilot in May, 1918.

He was promptly commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal New Zealand Air Corps, and was sent to Britain in August, 1918. But he didnt fight, because the war had eneded.

After being demobbed in July, 1919, he enrolled in University College London for a two-year course in engineering, but soon quit in search of adventure in Ireland.

Morse joined the newly formed Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary. He was stationed with H Company, when it was sent to Tralee in November, 1920.

Tralee was probably the most troubled spot in Ireland at the time. The Black and Tans had been imposing a reign of terror on the town, in retaliation for the seizure of two colleagues on the night of October 31, 1920.

The two men had been killed and buried, and their bodies were never found.

The Tans burned out the county hall, as well as a number of homes and business premises. They refused to allow any businesses, or even schools, to open in Tralee for the first nine days of November. This terror made international news in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and even in Japan.

Details of the siege of Tralee were reported on the front pages of daily newspapers from Boston to California.

These included eminent newspapers like the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Montreal Gazette, and the Oakland Tribune, as well as more remote dailies, like the Chattanooga News, El Paso Herald, Tulsa World, Arizona Republican, Manitoba Free Press, and Medicine Hat News.

Newspapers in at least eighteen different American states carried front-page news of the events in Tralee.

Forty-nine Australian newspapers had similar front-page reports.

New Zealand newspapers did not carry Tralee news on their front pages, but the town was mentioned in 170 separate reports on inside pages during the relevant two weeks.

Even in Tokyo, the English language Japan Advertiser carried front-page reports about Tralee in the first ten days of November. Questions were also asked about Tralee in the House of Commons, in the UK, on seven days during the siege, which was finally lifted on November 9, 1920.

The following week, Tralee was back in the international news, with reports that the Auxiliaries were ambushed at Ballymacelligott, while escorting a Pathe News film crew.

The cameramen reportedly filmed the incident, and this was released to great fanfare, as the first ambush ever filmed live.

The clip was quickly exposed as a fraud, however, because the filming was obviously staged on Vico Road, near Dalkey, County Dublin.

Moreover, as the clip was ending, a supposedly dead rebel in the background could be seen rising and dusting himself off.

As a result of that fake news, some historians made the mistake of thinking the reports about Tralee the previous week had also been false. But the siege had been very real.

Tralee was a traumatised town in mid-November, when Morse arrived with H Company of the Auxiliaries. He did not write about the war in Kerry, other than to say that he was issued with a Smith & Wesson revolver that he used to extricate himself from trouble.

Thereafter, he always called that gun my friend.

After the truce was agreed in July, 1921, Morse went for a three-week break to Llandudno, in Wales, where he met Hilda Emily Hunter, who was to become the early love of his life. Five years older than him, she was married with three young children, in Coleraine, but the meeting with Morse was love at first sight for both of them.

They went out together that night and went bathing together the next morning.

She invited him to the house where she and her sister, Doris Halden, were holidaying.

I practically spent the next three weeks in Mrs Hunters company, Morse later testified.

She told me she had no use for her husband.

I received a letter from her, when I returned to Ireland, he added.

I replied, and we continued corresponding.

She came to Tralee, as my cousin, and stayed two weeks, Morse noted. I met her, by arrangement, in Dublin, six weeks after her visit to Tralee, and we stayed a couple of days.

We stayed at the Shelbourne Hotel together, as Mr and Mrs Morse, he added.

I gave her a wedding ring there, and we each swore a solemn oath, on the Bible, to be true to each other as man and wife.

At Christmas, 1921, as the Auxiliaries were packing to leave Tralee, Morse went to Coleraine, and stayed with Hilda, her husband, and three children for a fortnight.

A few weeks later, while supposedly visiting her sister, Doris Haldane, in Stockport, near Manchester, Hilda travelled to Dublin to be with Morse.

They spent ten days, posing as husband and wife in Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire).

Mrs Hunter and I arranged to meet on the Barrabool, which was sailing for South Africa, and we left England in May, 1922, he added. Hilda was supposedly heading for Australia to look for land that her wealthy husband might purchase.

She was accompanied by her sister and by friends on the first leg of the journey to Cape Town, South Africa.

After a brief stay there, Hilda sailed on to Sydney, and her friends then returned to Britain. Morse then took the next boat to Sydney, where Hilda met him.

They stayed there for a week or two, pretending to be cousins, before Morse headed to Kallara, sheep-shearing. She joined him as his wife and they travelled around, living in a tent.

We were very happy, he said. We went to different places during the shearing season, with the rest of the gang, and returned to Sydney just before Christmas, 1922.

Upon their return, they told people they got married in Bourke.

They lived together in Sydney, for the next year, until December 21, 1923, when she suddenly left him.

With the help of local police, he traced her to nearby Manly, where she was working as a nurse maid with a wealthy family. She had been joined by her sister, Doris Halden.

Morse met up with Hilda several times in the following few weeks, until one day, when he received a telegram stating that she had gone to Tasmania, and would let him know her plans when she settled there.

He suspected her sister had persuaded her to return to her husband and family in Ireland. The sisters sailed from Sydney on the White Star liner, SS Medic, which was due to call at Tasmania and then at Adelaide, before going on to South Africa. Morse took a train to Adelaide, hired a car there, and met the ship, when it docked at the Outer Harbour on February 24, 1924.

He boarded the ship and quickly found Hilda and persuaded her to go into Adelaide for a meal. He promised to have her back before the ship sailed, that afternoon.

On leaving the ship, Morse pleaded with her to stay with him, but she declined. As they talked, he said she asked what he had in his pocket.

 My friend, he replied. I was in the act of taking my revolver from my right pocket to show her.

When I take my revolver from my pocket, it is my practice to draw the hammer back with my thumb to prevent it catching in my pocket, he said.

I suppose I did so on this occasion. Just as I seemed to have the revolver from my pocket, it went off. I did not fire it intentionally.

Oh, Digger! she said.

I threw out my left arm and caught her, he said. I could see she was hurt.

I determined to get her to the car and seek medical assistance as soon as possible, he added. I carried her across the railway lines and laid her down on a heap of cinders and ran for the car.

Some men gave chase. Its quite all right, he told them. My wife is very ill, and I want to take her to the hospital in this car.

He drove back to where he left her. Good God, shes dead, he said, looking at the body. She had been shot in the heart.

I bent over and kissed her, he later testified. I would rather the bullet had struck me than her. I realised that I had killed the woman I loved.

I felt I could not live, and determined to end my life, he added. I again drew my revolver from my right-hand pocket and fired to shoot myself, but missed. I fired again, holding the gun against my body.

He apparently tried to shoot himself in the heart, but the bullet went through his left lung, exiting through his back and embedding in a door behind him.

He was taken to hospital, where he survived. He was then charged with Hildas murder, and his trial was over in less than a week. He claimed the killing was accidental, but the jury convicted him of murder, and he was sentenced to hang on July 5, 1924.

Morses story was front-page news throughout Australia.

A petition with 22,000 signatures was promptly presented, calling for clemency. The death sentence was duly commuted on July 2, to life in prison at the Yatala Stockade, where he became a model prisoner.

Morse had previously begun taking a course at Sydney Technical College, and he wrote to the college seeking to resume the course by correspondence.

He asked to be permitted to avail of a 50% reduction in fees, accorded to those not earning a journeymans wages.

Three of his lecturers agreed to pay his fees, but he would not hear of this. He insisted on paying, even though he only received 4 per annum in prison.

On hearing the story, the prison superintendent paid Morse an advance.

Morse studied architecture in prison and earned honours in his examinations, thereby further enhancing his image with the press. When Morse is released, he will leave South Australias famous prison, perhaps the most amazing character ever to be housed within its grim walls, or the walls of any penitentiary in the Commonwealth, the Brisbane Truth observed in a front-page feature article.

Here is a man compelled to spend his life behind prison bars, studying within the grim shadow of gaol walls, succeeding in an almost incredible fashion against students enjoying glorious liberty and with few worries.

In August, 1934, Morse was duly released for good behaviour, after serving ten years.

He returned to his native New Zealand, and settled in the Wigram area of Christchurch.

He got married on January 14, 1941, and fathered two sons. Morse died on April 10, 1983, at the age of 86. Morse Road, in Wigram, was named after him in 2001.

Ryle Dwyer is author of Tans, Terror and Troubles: Kerry Real Fighting Story 1913-1923.

Reaction to execution saw constables killed

THE siege of Tralee was sparked by an IRA order from Dublin to mark the forthcoming execution of Kevin Barry on Monday, November 1, 1920, by killing as many of the crown forces as possible over the weekend. At least 18 men were wounded throughout the brigade area eight of those fatally.

Two constables  James J. Coughlan and William Muir  were seized in Ballylongford and mistreated horrifically for a few days, before their release was ordered. Muir apparently never overcame his ordeal, because he committed suicide the following month.

The four IRA companies in Tralee were mobilised on Saturday night to take up ambush positions. Paddy Paul Fitzgerald was placed behind the RIC barracks with seven men. A young scout informed him that two Tans were trying to chat up two young women nearby.

Patrick OConnor and I approached the two Tans with revolvers drawn, Fitzgerald recalled. I called on them to put up their hands; they complied at once.

They were Constable Ernest Bright, 34, a Londoner, and Patrick Waters, 24, a four-year RIC veteran from Loughanbeg, near Spiddal, County Galway. Thus, he was not a Black and Tan.

We took them prisoners and handed them over to a section of our men located near the Dingle-Tralee railway tracks, Fitzgerald continued. Brigadier Paddy Cahill ordered that the two prisoners be killed.

Two other men were wounded in ambushes elsewhere in Tralee that night  Bert Woodward, a naval radio officer, was shot in the chest, while Constable Daniel McCarthy of the RIC was shot in the knee.

The Tans reacted with fury, burning down the County Hall in Tralee that night. Brigadier Cahill actually ran a cinema in the building.

When there was no sign of Waters or Bright by next day, the Tans assumed were being held hostage. They implemented a reign of terror in Tralee for the next nine days in an effort to secure the release of the two constables.

Their determination could only have been strengthened by word of the savage mistreatment of the Ballylongford constables.

Neither Bright nor Waters were ever found. They are the only police from the conflict in Kerry still missing.

Fitzgerald, who first took them prisoner, believed they were buried near the canal in Blennerville. The area was carefully searched without success.

William OSullivan, one of the men to whom the two constables were handed over, happened to live beside the canal, where he was the lock keeper. He told his grandson that the two men were buried in his family crypt in Clogherbrien graveyard on the outskirts of Tralee.
JUSTICE should be seen to be done, as well as done. This is the principle of open justice.

But a challenge for lawmakers and judges is how much openness should be allowed in court. Traditionally, open justice meant leaving the door of the court open. The public could enter and see what was going on.

But the public has little time or inclination to sit in court. In the digital age, should open justice be something more?

In England and Wales, there have been changes. There is an increase in openness in the courts and more information coming out of the courts. Images  such as CCTV footage  shown to juries in the criminal courts are now disclosed to the media on the same day. The images are then broadcast on television or published in newspapers.

The change is due to The Protocol for Working Together: Chief Police Officers, Chief Crown Prosecutors and the Media, agreed between prosecution authorities, police, and the media.

Before the protocol, it was rare for the media to be given footage shown in court. The lack of images meant that court reporting followed a formulaic pattern of stock shots showing the scales of justice or the court building, the reporter standing outside the court saying what they had heard inside, shots of the arrival of the van holding the defendant, and court sketches made outside court of what the artist saw in court. Nothing in the court was shown.

The protocols underlying principle is that material shown in court can be released by the prosecution and police to the media. This includes police videos of the scene of a crime or property seized, transcripts of interviews, videos, or photographs showing reconstructions of the crime, or police interviews and CCTV footage of the defendant.

Victims are consulted in appropriate cases. More often than not, victims or their families have no objection to images being released, so the public know the truth of what happened.

The protocol has brought about the biggest change in court reporting in modern times and has increased the amount of court reporting. There have been other initiatives.

Reporters are allowed to tweet from the court  they do not have to seek permission from the judge, following a practice direction from the UKs lord chief justice, in 2011. Normal court-reporting laws, such as contempt of court, apply to tweeting from court as much as to writing for a newspaper. Same principles and laws, just a different format.

The use of in cameras in court has also increased. The British Supreme Court is seen on television and is livestreamed on its website. The British Court of Appeal now allows cameras to film its proceedings. This year, a pilot study was allowed to film judges sentencing remarks in the criminal courts. Legislation is likely, in due course, to this end.

The CPS Media Protocol has now been running for over 10 years. Cameras have filmed the UKs supreme court since 2009. The most important thing with all these initiatives is that the sky has not fallen down. Trials have not been affected; there have been no real problems. The changes swiftly became part of the system.

But the real change is that the public is given more information about court cases and the legal system. It leads to greater understanding and engagement with the legal process.

For those involved in the system  judges, lawyers, prosecutions, authorities  it has meant greater public understanding of what they actually do. Thats a good thing.

For the media, it means were better equipped to do our job and to inform the public.

The adoption of modern methods of communication by the courts is vital not only for the general public, but also for the legal system. It is important that our justice system does not become a backwater, understood by few and with little engagement with the public. In the digital age, the notion that open justice only goes as far as leaving the door of the court open is not sustainable.

John Battle is a leading media lawyer in the UK and head of compliance at ITN, which produces television news, and current affairs programmes for ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5. He has been involved in many UK media law developments, such as cameras in court, disclosure of prosecution evidence to the media, and greater access to sports footage to news organisations. He will be speaking at NewsBrands Irelands Open Justice conference in Dublin this evening. For details, please contact NewsBrands Ireland.
Wednesday, June 21st, 2017 (11:52 am) - Score 2,004

The annual State Opening of Parliament, in which the Government enlists the Queen to promote their policy plans for the forthcoming year, has today revealed that the new minority Conservative administration intend to push forward with tough new rules for controlling Internet content.

The Queens Speech is historically more of a ceremonial affair, which often only serves to feed the media with a tiny sliver of new information on forthcoming Government policy and precious little in the way of detail. On the other hand you do sometimes get a few surprises and as usual we keep an eye out for anything to do with broadband connectivity, internet and telecoms.

In that respect last years event was all about the 2016-17 Digital Economy Bill (10Mbps broadband USO, automatic compensation etc.) and the Investigatory Powers Bill (e.g. Internet snooping), both of which have since become law (Acts of Parliament) and as such do not feature in todays event.

This year the digital connectivity side seems to be all about imposing tough new regulations on Internet content, as well as anything linked to Brexit. We should also point out that this years speech also covers the next two years of government, which could be down to Brexit negotiations or political tactics (possibly a bit of both), depending upon your perspective.

The Queen said: A new law will ensure that the united Kingdom retains its world-class regime protecting personal data, and proposals for a new digital charter will be brought forward to ensure that the United Kingdom is the safest place to be online. A commission for countering extremism will be established to support the government in stamping out extremist ideology in all its forms, both across society and on the internet, so it is denied a safe space to spread.

The 2017 Conservative Party Manifesto has already hinted at controversial new measures to tackle things like online bullying and horrific or extremist internet content, which always sounds fair on the surface but often ends up overlooking the realities of how the internet and ISPs actually work, not to mention human behaviour. The definition of extreme is also tricky to pin down and differs depending on context.

Furthermore its been suggested that, using this approach, Internet firms that fail to remove unacceptable content could be held legally liable for what their users post, which could create a lot of complicated problems (commercial firms are terrible at policing such things) unless its strictly targeted; queue chilling impact on freedom of speech and more automated filtering (i.e. broad censorship without considering context). Weve recently explored this dilemma in more detail (here).

Some background notes on todays speech have also been published, although they dont offer a lot of extra detail but do say this: We strongly support a free and open internet. But, as in the offline world, freedoms online must be balanced with protections to ensure citizens are protected from the potential harms of the digital world. We will not shy away from tackling harmful behaviours and harmful content online  be that extremist, abusive or harmful to children. And we will make sure that technology companies do more to protect their users and improve safety online.

As usual the language used is very generalised and well need to see some more detail before being able to judge the policy. Meanwhile there are questions about how much time can even be allocated to any major new policy changes, not least because Brexit is expected to dominate the next two years worth of proceedings.

Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, said: To push on with these extreme proposals for Internet clampdowns would appear to be a distraction from the current political situation and from effective measures against terror. The Government already has extensive surveillance powers. Conservative proposals for automated censorship of the Internet would see decisions about what British citizens can see online being placed in the hands of computer algorithms, with judgements ultimately made by private companies rather than courts. Home Office plans to force companies to weaken the security of their communications products could put all of us at a greater risk of crime. Both of these proposals could result in terrorists and extremists switching to platforms and services that are more difficult for our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to monitor. Given that the priority for all MPs is how the UK will negotiate Brexit, it will be especially hard to give the time and thought necessary to scrutinise these proposals. It could be tempting to push ahead in order to restore some of Theresa Mays image as a tough leader. This should be resisted. With such a fragile majority, greater consensus will be needed to pass new laws. We hope that this will mean our parliamentarians will reject reactionary policy-making and look for long-term, effective solutions that directly address the complex causes of terrorism.

MPs are now expected to spend the next week debating the proposals before putting them to a vote on the 28th and 29th June 2017, although this is usually more of a ceremonial process, not least because the full details and related debates on each bill often dont begin until a later date.

However on this occasion the Conservative government, which has so far failed to sign a deal with the DUP to command a majority, is effectively presiding over a hung parliament where no party has a proper majority. In that situation it might just be possible for the opposition and rebellious Conservative MPs to unite and vote down the speech, which would make Theresa Mays position as Prime Minister almost untenable.

In reality wed expect the Government to survive this first test, albeit only by an uncomfortably narrow margin and that will make passing future laws very difficult without lots of horse trading.
Wednesday, June 21st, 2017 (10:00 am) - Score 560

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has today published a new report, which claims that faster and more reliable broadband and mobile connectivity are two of several key factors that could help to deliver a 25 billion boost to the Scottish economy by 2024.

The analysis found that the most productive local authority areas (LA) in Scotland (i.e. Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire) are 50% more productive than the least productive (Shetland Islands). CBI Scotland then calculated what the economic impact would be by 2024 if each local area were to improve at the same rate as the top performer, before explaining how this could actually be achieved.

CBI Scotlands baseline scenario (i.e. productivity for each LA continues to grow at roughly the same pace as it did between 2004 to 2014) results in Scotlands nominal gross value added (GVA) rising 32% to 163.62bn by 2024. However if each LA grew at the same pace as the top performers then the nominal GVA of the Scottish economy would climb 53% to 188.55bn by 2024.

Sadly this is a very simplistic analysis and it fails to quantify precisely how much of that growth could come from improving digital connectivity beyond existing levels, which is a very difficult thing to get right. Nevertheless the report proceeds to recommend improvements in broadband and mobile connectivity.

CBI Report Extract  Broadband Digital connectivity is part of our critical national infrastructure and ensuring that Scotlands digital infrastructure meets business needs of tomorrow will be crucial to lifting productivity. Previous CBI research shows 91% of firms rank digital networks as a key factor in investment decisions. CBI Scotland welcomes the Scottish governments commitment to ensure that every business and residential premise in Scotland is able to access superfast broadband by 2021. Achieving this ambitious target will require continued public and private partnership. However, reliability, as well as speed, of connection is vital to businesses across the country, many of whom often need to connect with others internationally. This came out as a key concern in our consultation with members, with a number of businesses having experienced reliability issues at busy times of the day. Businesses are also increasingly reliant on the ability to work on the move. However, mobile coverage on many roads in Scotland is poor, falling below the UK average. Increasing the availability and improving the reliability of broadband coverage on public transport would help to reduce productivity loss during travel. CBI Scotland continues to call for digital connectivity to be integrated into all future infrastructure planning and development decisions.

At present the 428m Digital Scotland project with BT (Openreach) has already ensured that superfast broadband (30Mbps+) are able to cover more than 90% of the country and the existing contract expects to push this high speed fibre broadband (FTTC/P) network out to cover 95% of premises by the end of March 2018, which drops to 86% by the end of 2017 if you only look at the rural Highland and Islands region (here).

However the SNP dominated Scottish Government are currently working to develop a plan that will extend superfast broadband coverage to 100% of premises by 2021 (here) and todays report welcomes that move, while also proposing a series of recommendations for harnessing digital connectivity in order to improve growth.

Recommendations For the Scottish government  Prioritise the completion of existing transport infrastructure commitments on time and continue to improve connectivity between Scotlands City Deal Regions and with our key markets across the UK.  Ensure decisions on future infrastructure investment are influenced by the potential economic impact of reducing journey times within local areas, which can lift productivity by giving businesses access to a greater pool of skills and talent.  Pursue the reduction and eventual abolition of Scottish Air Passenger Duty to give Scotland an edge in the global marketplace for investment, tourism and trade.  Ensure digital connectivity is integrated into all future infrastructure planning and development decisions.  Work with the private sector and provide the funding necessary to deliver its commitment of ensuring that every business in Scotland is able to access superfast broadband by 2021.  Increase the availability and improve the reliability of broadband coverage on public transport to help reduce productivity loss during travel. For business  Engage early with the Scottish government to help identify the next generation of priority infrastructure projects that would deliver maximum benefit to the economy.

Heres a map of how each LA would fair if the performance of each was to match the top performing regions over the next decade.
One of the feel-good stories (both literately and figuratively) of the modern telecom age is telemedicine. Its a win all around: Patients in rural areas get better care and the dislocation of an elderly or sick person traveling to a hospital and staying away from home is reduced. Facilities free up space and manpower and lower costs.

That all sounds great. What kind of traction and reaction are these services receiving, however? The Advisory Broad Company has conducted a Virtual Visits Consumer Choice Survey to find out.

The results, according to the Healthcare Informatics Institute, should please advocates of telehealth. The survey found that 77 percent of consumers would use virtual access to health care, and 19 percent of respondents already have.

The survey of 5,000 people captured attitudes about 21 primary and secondary care scenarios. The top type of virtual visits  prescription questions or refills, pre- and some post-surgery meetings and others  were supported by more than 70 percent of respondents. A majority of respondents were open to virtual visits in all of the 21 categories.

The survey found that the top concern of patients was quality of the care (21 percent) and the likelihood that a diagnosis would be impossible and a physical visit would be necessary anyway (19 percent).

The biggest drag on use, the survey revealed, is physician resistance. Indeed, the reality of something as ambitious as telehealth is that some feathers will be ruffled. Today, mHealth Intelligence reported that legislators in New Jersey are battling over a provision in Assembly Bill 1464. The amendment stipulates that after a three-year grace period, physicians would be required to physically meet with new patients. The provision is leading to a loss of support for the bill, according to a lobbyist quoted in the story.

The issue points to the bigger point: Telehealth changes the doctor/patient relationship in ways that are significant  and perhaps not liked by all:

The doctor-patient relationship is a tricky issue in telemedicine, with some physicians and physicians groups arguing that a doctor should meet in person with a new patient before switching to telehealth. The debate clogged efforts by the American Medical Association to draft ethical rules for telemedicine until last year, until the organization OKd a document thats favorable to telehealth.

The issue seems to be that there are good reasons for a personal meeting. But when do those good reasons become a shield for local providers protecting their turf?

HPPR posted a story that begins with a nice vignette of a telehealth consultation (a woman had symptoms that suggested a small stroke but will be okay). The Kansas House Health and Human Services Committee is considering a bill to encourage telehealth. It has powerful foes, however: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas and other insurers. They say that the approach makes it hard to price care accurately and may lead to higher premiums. Cases in which a physical follow-up is necessary may lead to two charges to the insurance company.

In the past, there have been liability questions as well. If, for instance, a patient is in Kansas and the telehealth firm with which she is dealing is in Nebraska, what laws are used if a legal issue emerges? Even more basically: Does a doctor in one state have the right to prescribe drugs in another?

Clearly, the promise of telehealth is profound. It is just as obvious, however, that lots of issues must be overcome.

Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at [email protected] and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk.
An Uber driver was forced to pay $250 as fine for not speaking English. Over at Miami Dade County, there exists a memorandum that requires anyone who picks up people at the airport to be proficient in the English language. This particular Spanish-speaking driver for the ride-sharing service was cited for violating that rule.

Carmen Echavarria was at the Miami International Airport Sunday morning to drop off her passenger when an airport personnel asked her to move her car. The Uber driver had some difficulty understanding what was being asked of her. Echavarria asked her passenger to help translate what the security agent was saying but she apparently sided with the airport worker and asked her why she didn't speak English if she was an Uber driver.

During the exchange, the airport employee then told her, "I don't know what you're doing working for Uber if you do not understand English." Afterward, a landside inspector approached her to inform her of her violation and to levy the fine.

Echavarria managed to record the conversation with the inspector on her smartphone. She can be heard asking, "isn't that called discrimination?" before the inspector answered her that she can go to court to dispute the violation.

Miami-Dade County issued the memorandum a year ago, as reported by the New York Post. County official Karla Damian explained that the code required the driver of a ride-sharing app to "have some knowledge of the English language to communicate with a passenger." Damian also stressed that such knowledge will be useful in case of an emergency aside from understanding basic instructions from passengers.

A spokesperson for Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said that the officer should have issued a warning first before the citation, according to FOX News. Uber contacted the city to complain about the incident after which the city reversed the fine.

Echavarria said she had been making a living as an Uber driver for the past couple of years yet she never had any problems with regards to her lack of ability to speak English. The Miami-Dade County spokesperson said that Echavarria seems capable of communicating in English which makes it unfortunate that the fine was issued.
Lenovo is not one to shy away from the weird stuff. In fact, it has recently revealed a mind-bending new laptop concept at a New York event on June 20.

Lenovo unveiled a laptop design which it dubbed as the future of personalized computing. The concept features a laptop with a flexible display that can be bent or folded like one would with a yoga mat. There will be no hinge to talk of as the screen itself will be flexible enough to fold and close the laptop.

Lenovo envisions the bendable laptop to be made of "advanced materials" and "new screen technologies" though the company did not specify what particular materials those would be. The flexible laptop will have a built-in keyboard complete with Lenovo's signature ThinkPad "pointing stick or mouse nub" as The Verge described it.

Since the bendable laptop is still a concept, there is no guarantee that it will actually be made. In fact, Engadget believes there are a few reasons why one should be skeptical of the idea of a flexible laptop. The website cited the fact that most concept utilizing flexible screens have not made it past the development stage. It did recognize that flexible screens are "a reality."

Furthermore, the fact that Lenovo mentioned that the flexible laptop will employ "advanced materials" and "new screen technologies" prove that there is no assurance that the concept will become reality. Simply put, Lenovo needs to wait for such materials and technology to become reality before it can turn the flexible laptop concept into reality as well.

For now, there are signs that the tech industry will someday reach that stage where flexible devices are common. Samsung, for instance, is working on what will possibly be the first foldable smartphone. Scientists have also developed a flexible memory made of Graphene. The flexible flash storage is one step closer to building devices such as Lenovo's flexible laptop concept.
IT leaders often point to their unique vantage point across the entire enterprise to position themselves for higher roles. And in the digital era, their boards and CEOs may well be taking more notice.

In the process, CIOs might blaze a path toward higher officeperhaps to the COO role, which many see as the next logical step for IT leaders, although it has proven rather elusive to date.

One longtime CIO recently made that very leap. Earlier this month, Steve Bandrowczak was named COO and CIO of Alight Solutions, a new company formed after Aon sold its outsourcing and benefits administration businesses to Blackstone Group for $4.3 billion.

[ Get an inside look at how one CEOs IT background positioned him for the top job, and find out how great CIOs push their careers to new heights. | Get weekly career tips by signing up for our CIO Leader newsletter. ]

Shortly after the announcement, Bandrowczak attributed his rise to his track record of driving different forms of value to previous employers, including Nortel, Avaya and HP, where he took on leadership roles outside of IT.

While his CIO pedigree put him in position to move into other functional roles, it was his experience in those other rolesand his own preparation to take them onthat positioned him for the new role.

Alight Solutions Alight Solutions COO and CIO Steve Bandrowczak

Its not the technology bent, Bandrowczak said. Its the understanding of what the functional leaders are looking for, speaking their language, and then bringing them the technology and transformation capabilities underneath it.

Bandrowczaks prioritiesand the accompanying challengesat Alight are instructive for IT leaders seeking to drive digital success. Likewise, his reflections of his transition to new executive roles offers a blueprint for how IT leaders can reach new levels in their careers.

Driving transformation, reinvention

Many CIOs aspire to move up in the corporate world, and while many have achieved such heightseven becoming board directorsthey still face challenges in rising above their technological roots and prowess.

[ Get more advice for climbing the executive ladder with these 10 tips for CIOs looking for a seat on the board ]

Still, despite prognostications that the COO role was the next evolution of the CIO, few have actually assumed that perch.

One of the first notable examples was Kevin Turner, the Walmart CIO who became head of Sams Club before being appointed COO of Microsoft. Greg Carmichael rose from CIO to COOand then to CEOat Fifth Third Bank. And Mike Capone, previously CIO and head of product development at ADP, now serves as COO of Medidata Solutions, one of the largest New York-based startups.

5 critical steps for making the jump Steve Bandrowczaks career as an IT and business executive is unique, but also offers key lessons for CIOs aspiring to move beyond IT leadership roles: Seek opportunities outside of IT If CIOs want to take on additional responsibilities, they first need to let it be known, Bandrowczak said. Too few go beyond claiming they have an aspirationbut today, with technology playing a more critical role than ever, effective CIOs could see ripe opportunities to expand their portfolios. Take advantages of M&A activities Just as Bandrowczak did, CIOs can sharpen their understanding of operations by making the most of activities around mergers, acquisitions and corporate spinouts. Study different functions In our book, Confessions of a Successful CIO (in which Bandrowczak is featured), Dan Roberts and I wrote about the importance of answering the call from business leaders. Equally important is preparing to get the callin this case, by taking the time to learn and understand what is needed to lead different units. Flex your transformational muscle CIOs who harness ITs potential to drive dramatic change at their companiesfrom getting critical buy-in to demonstrating strategic valuewill get noticed by their boards and C-suite colleagues, particularly in a time when technology is driving new competitive advantages and differentiation. Speak the language of business Weve all heard this for years, but it goes beyond understanding financial termsit means being able to speak fluently about different functional units and operations, and showing a clear understanding of their goals, challenges and opportunities. My colleague Peter High, President of Metis Strategy, has interviewed dozens of CIOs who have taken on additional functional responsibilities or risen beyond the CIO role. Check out those interviews to learn how other elite IT leaders have reached new heights in their careers. Brian P. Watson

Perhaps the big difference for Bandrowczak is his general management experience. In addition to serving as CIO at companies including Avnet, DHL, Lenovo and, most recently, HP, he has also taken on executive leadership roles outside of IT. At Nortel, for example, Bandrowczak ran sales. At Avaya he oversaw R&D, marketing and channel organizations. And at HP he went from a CIO role to run the companys global business-process outsourcing business, as well as its internal shared services organization.

Now, at Alight, he oversees both technology and operations; his portfolio includes shared services, enterprise risk management, procurement, real estate and supply chain, not to mention leading the organizations overall transformation.

And with his wide purview comes a number of key priorities. One of the most intriguing involves Alights Workday practice. The company has done more than 300 Workday implementations, Bandrowczak said, and currently handles one in every three implementations globally.

As Alight continues to bolster its practicewhich includes 1,000 certified Workday professionalsBandrowczak and his team are moving all of their HR and financial systems to the vendor. Their aim: To eventually demonstrate their own experience to show clients the best-case, best scenario in what great looks like.

Bandrowczak and his teams are also focused on how technology can help deliver better customer experience. Mind you, while Alight is a brand-new company, the operations have existed for 20 years. Bandrowczak said they are looking at a variety of new and emerging technologies to bolster a strong existing back-end function with better communication and customer problem-solving across multiple channels.

Internally, his organizations will focus on boosting automation through better use of analytics, artificial intelligence and robotics. At HP, Bandrowczak led an effort to reduce back-office functions by 30 percent; at Alight, he expects that a combination of analytics, artificial intelligence and robotics can help automate up to 50 percent.

Those initiatives are some of the critical steps the new company is taking as it looks to build on its legacy reputation and market strength by driving a culture more focused on innovation and operational excellencewhich will lay the building blocks for an expansion into the B2C market, Bandrowczak said.

This is an incredibly successful business with an incredibly successful history, he said. How do you reinvent yourself while youre being successful? Great companies have the ability to do that.

Building a COO resume

Great CIOs, too, can shift to becoming great COOs, but not without some reinvention.

For Bandrowczak, that reinvention started early in his career and has been in progress up until his appointment at Alight.

For one, Bandrowczak gained critical intelligence into business operations through frequent exposure to M&A activity.

During his decade-long tenure as CIO of Avnet, the electronic components and services company acquired 40 companies, which meant Bandrowczak and his team were averaging a new integration every quarter. As CIO of Lenovo, he oversaw the integration of IBMs PC unit.

Transaction activities like thoseand several others sincetook Bandrowczak into the bowels of how companies run. You get to see how businesses are wired and unwired, he said. With all of that M&A activity, you get a chance to really understand a companys processes at an incredibly in-depth level.

Then came the opportunities to step outside of IT for general management roles, as he did at Nortel, Avaya and HP. Some of those opportunities came about through serendipity, but others happened because Bandrowczak stepped forward to take on new challenges.

He didnt hesitate to do so because he had spent a considerable amount of time studying and learning about those rolesboth on his own, and through his other duties at the companiesand felt he had the right business-leadership qualities to fill those voids. Even though I hadnt run (those organizations) before, I certainly understood what the job was, what the capabilities needed were, what I needed to do, and how to be able to lead those groups right from day one, he said.

Bandrowczak believes business-leadership prowess will determine if CIOs get those upward opportunities. Today, as he sits with his C-suite colleagues, he can speak fluently in how to run a sales operation, how to run a services organization, and clearly explain how technology can impact those and other functionsand, most importantly, deliver competitive advantage.

That matters more today than ever before. In the digital erarife with new competitive threats and prospects to drive real changeBandrowczak said CIOs will have ample opportunities to demonstrate their true value. But first, they need to prove their mettle as true business leaders.

Whats really exciting in the IT community is that at the board level and CEO level, everyone is paranoid about what is happening with technology to disrupt their business, and how you deal with those disruptors, he added. That puts IT leadership in a great position, if they can elevate their game on the business side.
Last week, Microsoft declared changes to how it will deal out upgrades for Windows Server, a move prompted, one analyst said, by customers' calls for a set release schedule -- just as enterprises made the case for reliable Windows 10 and Office 365 release dates.

Microsoft, not surprisingly, couched it differently, with a manager calling the decision necessary so businesses can "innovat[e] quickly" by leveraging "new operating system capabilities at a faster pace."

Whatever the ultimate motive for the modifications, the result should be familiar to IT administrators dabbling in Windows 10 or on top of recent news about Office 365. That doesn't mean there aren't questions. And answers.

What's the schedule for Windows Server updates?? Spring and fall, annually, Microsoft said, implying that, like Windows 10 and Office 365 ProPlus, Windows Server would be refreshed each March and September.

Previously, Microsoft planned to update Windows Server 2016's Nano installation option two or three times a year under a Windows 10-esque "Current Branch for Business" (CBB) release tempo. Until recently, that was also the professed cadence for Windows 10.

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Why the shift? According to Microsoft, the decision was driven by "the accelerating pace of change."

Some customers, said Erin Chapple, a Windows Server general manager, in a post to a company blog, wanted a fast iteration to new features in the operating system. "IT leaders frequently ask me how Windows Server is evolving to meet this new reality and how they can take advantage of new innovations at the pace their business demands," Chapple wrote.

But that doesn't make much sense: Before the scheduling announcement, Microsoft was already delivering multiple upgrades annually to Server in the form of the Nano option.

So what's the real reason? Jim Gaynor, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, acknowledged that customers drove the decision. But he argued that they told Microsoft it needed to solidify release dates, for the same reason enterprises pushed the company to put Windows 10 on a regular, known-release schedule.

"They told Microsoft, 'We need a reliable cadence,'" Gaynor said, pointing out that the two-to-three-times-a-year updates were not nailed down. The helter-skelter schedule Microsoft hoped to use, with flexible release dates and builds shipped only when designated features were finished, was too iffy for corporate.

Those kinds of complaints triggered responses from Microsoft, which in turn had an interesting side effect: The company has been on a product release synchronization binge, with Windows 10 and then Office 365 ProPlus put on the same timetable. Now, add Windows Server to the mix.

"Starting this fall, we plan to deliver two feature updates per year, each spring and fall, aligning to the Windows and Office Semi-annual Channel release cycle," Chapple said.

What gets upgraded? More than before.

Along with firming up the schedule, Microsoft announced that it will issue twice-yearly upgrades for both Nano installations and those configured as Server Core. Previously, only Nano was upgraded on a rapid cadence.

"Server Core will now be included in the Semi-annual Channel," said Chapple. "Server Core is a 'headless' installation option of the operating system that includes all the roles and features needed to run datacenter servers and containerized traditional applications."

In his post, Chapple summarized the revised Windows Server release blueprint with a table. Computerworld's version is below.

Computerworld

What about support? Has that changed too? Yes and no.

When Nano was upgraded two to three times a year, Microsoft said it would support just two consecutive builds: The latest, or "N," and its predecessor, or "N-1." When N was replaced its by successor, "N+1," support for N-1 would dry up.

Under that regime and with a three-times-a-year upgrade pace, support could be as short as eight months. A twice-annual tempo might mean support lasts 12 months.

But like Windows 10 and Office 365 ProPlus, each Windows Server interim upgrade will be supported for 18 months, an increase of approximately 50%. That additional time, Chapple contended, will let enterprises "skip one of the semi-annual releases and wait to upgrade until the next release."

Figure 1 shows the start and end dates for this fall's upgrade.

Computerworld

Did Microsoft also change the labels it uses for Windows Server refreshes? Yes. In another move toward conformity, Microsoft revised the terminology for the Windows Server release "tracks."

The new naming is easiest to understand with a table, like so:

Computerworld

The twice-a-year updates will be named Semi-annual Channel, matching, more or less, the nomenclature of Windows 10 and Office 365 ProPlus.

The traditional release model, with a new edition of Windows Server shipped every two or three years, remains in place but gets a name tweak. Previously called "Long-term Servicing Branch" (LTSB) to mimic Windows 10's least-changing version, it's now been dubbed "Long-term Servicing Channel," or LTSC.

Windows Server 2016, which debuted last year, is the current LTSC. It will be supported using the standard 5+5 scheme, with five years of "Mainstream" support and another five years of "Extended" support. The former expires Jan. 11, 2022, while the latter is exhausted Jan. 11, 2027.

However, customers willing to pay for the privilege may receive support for six more years atop the usual decade, for a total of 16 years. The new licensing option, titled "Premium Assurance," debuted in December. Depending on when the customer buys into the deal, each additional year runs between 5% and 12% of the current licensing cost.

When will Microsoft release the Semi-annual Channel upgrade for Windows Server? The company said the updates will ship in the spring and fall, but also dropped clues that March and September would be the designated months by using examples such as 1709 and 1803 as labels. (In Microsoft's lexicon, releases for, among other products, Windows 10, are numbered as yymm. Those examples would correlate to September 2017 and March 2018, respectively.)

It's unclear whether Microsoft will issue upgrades on the same days in September and March that are the most likely release points for Windows 10 and Office 365 ProPlus: Each month's Patch Tuesday. If Windows Server follows suit, the first upgrade would appear Sept. 12, the next on March 13, 2018.

Figure 2 shows the first two releases and their support lifecycle lengths, and illustrates how support for the two overlaps for a 12-month stretch.
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong welcomes President of the Senate of Haiti Youri Latortue in Hanoi on June 20th (Photo: VNA)



Youri Latortue, who is on an official visit to Vietnam, expressed his admiration for the Doi moi (reform) achievements of the Southeast Asian nation.

He informed his host about the outcomes of his talks and meetings with the leaders of the State and the National Assembly of Vietnam. He also briefed about Haitis recent situation and thanked Vietnam for the cooperation with and assistance to Haiti.

Haiti wants to enhance cooperation with Vietnam in multiple spheres such as agriculture, transport, telecommunications, and people-to-people exchange, especially the exchange of high-ranking delegations to learn from each others experience in country leadership and management, he added.

Congratulating Haiti on its economic reform outcomes and national development, General Secretary Trong described the Vietnam visit by the Haiti parliamentary delegation as a landmark in the friendship and cooperation between the States, parliaments and peoples of the two countries.

He reiterated Vietnams consistent policy of intensifying and expanding the friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with Haiti.

He asked both sides to press on with promoting connections in all aspects, particularly in such potential areas as agriculture, telecommunications and industrial production, thereby substantially contributing to their respective countries development.

The Party leader said he believes that the Haitian people will weather all challenges to obtain even greater attainments in building a prosperous and happy nation./.




President Tran Dai Quang meets President of the Senate of Haiti Youri Latortue (Source: VNA)



During a reception in Hanoi on June 20th for President of the Senate of Haiti Youri Latortue, President Quang hailed the outcomes of his guests talks with National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan as well as working sessions with Vietnamese ministries and agencies.

Citing the success of military-run telecom provider Viettels joint-venture Natcom in Haiti as a model of Vietnam-Haiti partnership, the State leader said the two countries should continue to facilitate Natcoms operation as well as joint projects to tap their potential, particularly in telecommunications, agricultural-fisheries manufacturing and processing, infrastructure, agricultural machinery and consumer goods.

The President thanked Haiti for its support to Vietnam at international organisations and multilateral forums, and asked the Latin American country to support Vietnams bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure and Vietnams candidate for the post of UNESCO Director General for the 2017-2021 tenure.

He suggested further strengthening mutual liaison at the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation and Non-Aligned Movement.

Latortue, for his part, said his visit aims to strengthen bilateral ties and explore possibility of cooperation in new fields.

Haiti wants Vietnamese firms to extend business operations in the country, and hopes to receive technical assistance so that Haiti could become food sufficient as targeted./.
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Roshen's Lipetsk confectionery factory, warehouse for finished products and LLC Roshen trading housing have completely shut down their operations in Russia, the Ukrainian confectionery company said on its website.

All production lines at the Lipetsk factory were mothballed in April, refrigeration and heating systems were mothballed in May, and treatment facilities, boilers and water intake systems were mothballed in June, the company said.

Russia's Federal Tax Service has issued tax claims of 180 million rubles against the Lipetsk factory and 150 million rubles against LLC Roshen. The Basmanny District Court of Moscow has extended a freeze on the Lipetsk factory's assets until September 13.

Roshen Corporation includes confectionery factories in Kyiv, Kremenchuk and Vinnytsia, and the Vinnytsia Dairy Plant in Ukraine; as well as the Klaipeda Confectionery Factory in Lithuania and the BonbonettiChoco factory in Hungary. The Lipetsk factory in Russia stopped production on April 1, 2017.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a contract in January 2016 to put his 85% stake in Roshen in a blind trust managed by Rothschild Trust. The bank has a four-year power of attorney to negotiate the sale of assets. Roshen president Viacheslav Molskalevsky owns 13% of the company through investment fund Konditerinvest, and four senior executives own 0.5% each.
Supporters of a Winston-Salem woman want federal immigration officials to stop her deportation to Mexico, saying she doesnt deserve to be removed from the United States.

Minerva Garcia, who has lived in the city since 2000, appeared at a news conference Tuesday at Emmanuel Baptist Church to stand with about 20 people who support her efforts to stay in Winston-Salem. Officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency have ordered Garcia to travel to Charlotte on June 30 and face deportation to Mexico.

In May, ICE told Garcia that it would not extend her stay of removal for another year. Garcia and her immigration attorney, Helen Parsonage of Winston-Salem, want ICE to rescind its deportation order against Garcia and allow her to remain in the United States.

At the news conference, Parsonage said Garcia is a symbol with everything that is wrong with our immigration system. This year she has been singled out for deportation with no criminal record. We need an immigration system that is not broken. We need one with heart.

Parsonage said Garcia has widespread support in the city in her effort to remain here. Local elected officials, clergy people and city residents support Garcia. Six city residents asked the Winston-Salem City Council Monday night to support Garcias effort to remain in Winston-Salem.

People are fired up and indignant about whats happening to Minerva, Parsonage said. Im confident that ICE will have no choice to hear what is being said on Minervas behalf and change their minds.

Garcia left her home in San Nicolas in the Mexican state of Guerrero looking for better opportunities for her oldest son, Eduardo, who is blind and was 5 at that time. Eduardo, 21, has protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy begun by former President Obama and left in place by President Trump.

Garcias other two sons, Antonio, 6, and Mateo, 3, were born in the U.S. and are American citizens. Garcia, who works temporary jobs, has no criminal record and has paid taxes for 17 years.

During the news conference, Garcia thanked her supporters who have worked on her behalf. Afterward, Garcia said she appreciates that so many people care about her.

My heart feels warm, Garcia said. I hope we get something positive from this.

Garcia said she has mixed emotions about her situation and hopes that ICE will stop her deportation before the June 30 deadline.

Sometimes, I feel very secure, and sometimes I feel very down about it, she said. Today, I feel very positive that we are going to come out OK.

Kim Porter, who is advocating for Garcia on behalf of the Sanctuary City Coalition of Winston-Salem, said she started a petition on Change.org to prevent Garcias deportation. So far, the petition has 12,100 signatures, Porter said.

The community has joined today to support Minerva and her children and to help keep Minerva home, Porter said.

Bishop Todd Fulton, the chairman of the Social Justice Committee of the Ministers Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity, said his organization also supports Garcia.

We are standing in solidarity as a community to support Minervas stay in the country, to be with her family and to live a quality life that she has worked so hard to secure, Fulton said.

The Rev. Kelly Carpenter, the pastor at Green Street United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem, also said he supports Garcia. Carpenter said that immigration exploded in the United States in the past 20 years with 11 million unauthorized immigrants coming to the country.

While that has happened, politicians have failed to take action on any meaningful immigration reform, Carpenter said. They have failed to provide any kind of a line for people to get into so that they can become citizens. Minerva is the face of this problem in this country.

Council member Dan Besse, who also supported Garcia at the news conference, sent a letter to Sean Gallagher, ICEs field office director in Atlanta, asking Gallagher to stop Garcias deportation.

It seems to me that Ms. Garcias situation represents a textbook case for the application of administrative discretion to stay that deportation, Besse wrote.

Before the news conference, Bryan Cox, an ICE spokesman in Atlanta, declined to comment on Garcias situation because shes not in ICEs custody. A federal immigration judge has issued a deportation order for Garcia, Cox said.

However, Garcia can appeal that order to the federal Board of Immigration Appeals or the U.S. District Court in Greensboro, Cox said.

Parsonage declined to discuss her legal strategy for Garcia.

Right now, we are asking ICE to extend her stay, Parsonage said. We are leaving no stone unturned behind the scene.
GREENSBORO  With summer upon us, the police department is reminding residents about the dangers of leaving children in vehicles.

Leaving your child unattended in a vehicle is never a good idea, stated community resource officer Jamie Fulton in a news release. However, this practice can be fatal in the heat of the summer.

To reduce the potential for injuries or fatalities, police offer the following safety tips:

 Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle. Not even for a minute.

 If you see a child unattended in a hot vehicle, call 911.

 Be sure that all occupants leave the vehicle when unloading. Don't overlook sleeping babies.

Here are several tips to help you remember a child in a car:

 Keep a stuffed animal in the car seat and when the child is put in the seat place the animal in the front with the driver.

 Place your purse, briefcase, or one of the shoes you are wearing in the back seat as a reminder that you have your child in the car.

 Make beat the heat, check the backseat a routine whenever you get out of the car.

 Use an app designed to remind you that the child is in the backseat.

 Always lock your car and ensure children do not have access to keys or remote entry devices. If a child is missing, check the car, including the trunk. Teach your children that vehicles are never to be used as a play area.

 Have a plan that someone will call you if your child does not show up for day care, school, or a scheduled event.
WASHINGTON  President Trump now finds himself exactly where he doesnt 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 whats 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 NBCs Lester Holt that the real reason for the firing was Comeys 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 Muellers 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 Trumps 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 Trumps campaign to deep-six the investigation has been conducted openly, at full volume. I dont know whether the FBI and Muellers crack team of prosecutors have any solid evidence of collusion or shady financial deals. If they find none, Im 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?
Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms this morning, then mainly cloudy this afternoon with light rain possible. Potential for heavy rainfall. High 76F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Low 63F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
Kyiv City Council has decided to terminate the contract between Kyiv City Administration and energy supply company Kyivenergo on the implementation of the energy complex management and reformation project for Kyiv signed on September 27, 2001, preliminarily extending it for four month  until the end of the coming heating season  April 26, 2018.

"We are finally to start the implementation of the shaped plan to finalize the deal with Kyivenergo and return the property to the city community. More delays in making this decision are not to the good of Kyiv city and Kyiv community  then we would have additional technical and financial risks," Deputy Head of Kyiv City Administration Petro Panteleyev said.

He said that the decision foresees stocktaking of assets with their return to the community.

"This is not a simple return of the property to the community, but the return in the proper state. These are two large combined heat and power plants, over 3,000 heat supply substations, 2,600 km of networks, 200 boilers and Energiya incineration plant," Panteleyev said.

He said that the complex consists of 90,000 facilities that have various functions and technical state.

The decision was backed by 62 lawmakers with the required minimum of 61 supporting votes. The decision also instructs Kyiv City Administration to select a municipal enterprise and place the property that would be transferred from Kyivenergo to its management.
Britains Serious Fraud Office (SFO) [official website] charged [press release] Barclays [corporate website] and four of its former executives on Tuesday with conspiracy to commit fraud and violation of the Companies Act of 1985 by providing unlawful financial assistance. The case concerns agreements between Barclays and Qatari investors during the 2008 financial crisis. According to Reuters [report], Qatar Holding, part of the Qatar Investment Authority sovereign wealth fund, and Challenger, an investment vehicle of former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, invested around 5.3 billion pounds in Barclays. Barclays accepted the funds to avoid government bailouts during the economic decline. Authorities are investigating whether those funds were properly and honestly disclosed. Currently, Barclays is considering its position in relation to these developments, the bank stated in a press release [PDF]. The four individuals face a maximum sentence of 10 years for each charge of fraud and Barclays will be heavily fined. The men will appear before Westminster Magistrates Court on July 3. Qatar, a major UK investor, has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

This is not the first legal challenge Barclays has faced recently. In December the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] filed a civil suit [JURIST report] against Barclays Bank [official website] and two former executives for the fraudulent sales of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) from 2005 to 2007. Additionally, several other banks have been under scrutiny [JURIST backgrounder] since the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Late last year, Deutsche reached [JURIST report] a $7.2 billion deal with the Department of Justice. In September the US National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) [official website] said that the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) [official website] will pay $1.1 billion [JURIST report] after it allegedly solid toxic mortgaged-backed securities. In February, Morgan Stanley [official website] agreed to pay [JURIST report] $3.2 billion related to their mortgage-back securities. In July 2014 Citigroup, Inc. agreed to pay $7 billion to settle a federal inquiry [JURIST report] into mortgage-backed securities sold by the bank prior to the countrys financial crisis. In November 2013 the DOJ announced that a $13 billion civil settlement [JURIST report] with JPMorgan & Co. [official website] has been finalized, resolving federal and state claims arising from the banks risky mortgage practices which helped lead to the 2008 financial crisis.
Egypts Supreme Constitutional Court [official website] has temporarily halted decisions regarding a deal to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia until it can establish who has jurisdiction over them. The Egyptian government transferred the two islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia in April 2016, based on the belief that they had always belonged to Saudi Arabia. In June 2016 the transfer was invalidated [JURIST report] by a lower court in Cairo but that decision was overturned by a separate court. Last week Egypts parliament [official website] agreed [Reuters report] to go through with the plan despite public criticism. Both the Egyptian and Saudi governments say the islands, which have been under Egyptian protection since 1950, are Saudi territory. The Egyptian people, however, are eager for an economic revival after years of political upheaval and believe Egypts sovereignty over the islands was establish before Saudi Arabia was founded.

The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Egypt has been getting closer since President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi took power in Egypt. Saudi Arabia, an ally of Egypt, has provided Sisis government with billions of dollars in aid after he replaced President Mohamed Mursi [BBC profile] of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. El-Sisi has been viewed by many in the international community as a moderate leader compared to previous Egyptian presidents who were often embroiled in scandals and accusations of corruption. Former president Hosni Mubarak was released from prison [JURIST report] in March after six years in custody. Mubarak and other members of his administration have been consistently involved in judicial proceedings since the Egyptian Revolution [JURIST backgrounder]. In October 2015 another Egyptian court ordered [JURIST report] the release of Mubaraks sons, Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, after holding that they have completed their three-year prison sentences for embezzlement. Last November, Egypts Court of Cassation [official website, in Arabic] overturned the life sentences [JURIST report] of former president Mohamed Morsi and 16 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi had been convicted [Al Jazeera report] for conspiring with the Palestinian Hamas and other foreign militant groups. In 2015 Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement [JURIST report] to improve stability and safety in the region.
The European Court of Justice [official website] ruled [judgement, PDF] Wednesday that vaccines can be blamed for causing illnesses even if there is no scientific proof. In a press release [PDF], the court explained:

In todays judgment, the Court holds that evidentiary rules allowing the court, where there is not certain and irrefutable evidence, to conclude that there is a defect in a vaccine and a causal link between the defect and a disease on the basis of a set of evidence the seriousness, specificity and consistency of which allows it to consider, with a sufficiently high degree of probability, that such a conclusion corresponds to the reality of the situation, are compatible with the Directive. Such evidentiary rules do not bring about a reversal of the burden of proof which it is for the victim to discharge, since that system places the burden on the victim to prove the various elements of his case which, taken together, will provide the court hearing the case with a basis for its conclusion as to the existence of a defect in the vaccine and a causal link between that defect and the damage suffered.

The decision comes out of a case that was appealed from Frances Court of Cassation [official website] regarding a man who developed multiple sclerosis shortly after being inoculated against hepatitis B. The court reasoned that the temporal proximity between the administering of a vaccine and the mans onset of multiple sclerosis, the lack of familial history with the disease and the significant number of reported cases of the disease occurring following such vaccines being administered was enough to meet the victims burden of proof. The court also asserted that excluding any method of proof other than science-backed evidence would make it exceedingly difficult to establish liability and undermines the objectives of the court, which are to protect consumer health and safety and ensure a fair apportionment between the injured person and the producer of the risks inherent in modern technological production.

Vaccinations and their potential harm has been a topic of debate in the US in recent years. Much of the vaccination debate revolves around the alleged link between certain vaccines and autism. Two years ago the California State Assembly [official website] passed legislation [JURIST report] requiring schoolchildren to be vaccinated unless there is a medical reason not to do so. In January 2015 a federal appeals court upheld [JURIST report] a New York state rule barring unimmunized children from public schools. In May 2013 the US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] that even for an untimely petition filed under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, a petitioner may recover attorneys fees as long as the claim was filed in good faith and there is a reasonable basis. In February 2011 the US Supreme Court ruled that the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 provides blanket immunity [JURIST report] to vaccine manufacturers from all tort actions filed in state or federal court alleging design defects. The decision was consistent with 18 major scientific studies [JURIST op-ed] that have failed to show a link between vaccines and the widely-diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder. In August 2010 the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a decision finding insufficient evidence [JURIST report] to link childhood vaccines and autism in three cases.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile] called [statement] Tuesday for an independent investigation into the human rights situation in Kasai. Kasai province is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and has been the subject of UN scrutiny for three months. The High Commissioner condemned the establishment of an armed militia supported by the authorities and allegedly accompanied by state security forces and police. Zeid stated that serious abuses have been committed, including summary executions and rape. He said that mass graves have been discovered across the providence. The UN believes these mass graves were being investigated by two UN experts who were found murdered in March.

Violence in the Congo has plagued the nations for years. In May the President of the DRCs electoral commission warned [JURIST report] that the presidential election may be postponed due to sectarian violence. In April a spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency said [JURIST report] that more than 11,000 refugees from the Kasai province had escaped to Angola due to violence in their province. The top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) released a statement [JURIST report] in April alleging that recent acts of violence in the DRC could amount to war crimes. In March UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirmed [JURIST report] that the remains of two human rights investigators were found in the DRC.
A UN human rights expert warned [press release] Tuesday that the Central African Republic (CAR) [UN materials] must act now to protect its population and implement justice. According to Marie-Therese Keita Bocoum, the expert on human rights for the CAR, armed forces are spreading throughout the country at a worrying rate and a lack of response from the government to defend civilians has led to revenge attacks, public outrage, and cries of distress from citizens looking to the government for protection. The announcement from the UN comes on the heels of a peace accord [Reuters report] signed by the CAR and most of the armed groups, which is aimed at ending the ethnic and religious conflict that has killed thousands. The peace accord was mediated by the Roman Catholic SantEgidio peace group and was signed in Rome.

Violence has persisted in the CAR since the predominately Muslim-based Seleka rebels ousted former president Francois Bozize in March 2013. Last month a new report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights claimed that human rights violations within the CAR may amount to war crimes [JURIST report]. In January Amnesty International reported that perpetrators of war crimes have not been prosecuted [JURIST report] or investigated for their crimes. The rights organization urged that the countrys justice system needs to be reconstructed and a Special Criminal Court, tasked with trying suspected war criminals, and a witness protection program must be established. In November UNICEF called for aid to approximately 1.2 million children distressed by conflict [JURIST report] in the CAR.
UN Special Rapporteur Mutuma Ruteere called [press release] on member states Tuesday to do more to prevent racism, xenophobia and discrimination against migrants and Muslims. Ruteere stated that counterterrorism measures aid in influencing fear and discrimination against those of Middle Eastern ethnic origin. He also said that he has witnessed the proliferation of anti-Muslim rhetoric in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. At the same time, Ruteere said, pro-hate groups targeting migrants and Muslims pose barriers to human rights. Another factor the expert urged governments to be vigilant against is the tactics used by politicians to capitalize on fear of voters. Ruteere said that constituents are concerned that migrants will occupy jobs, participate in crime and endanger national identity. The expert asked members to recognize hateful sentiments for what they are and to act to prevent violence and discrimination against marginalized populations.

International agencies have recently warned against the growing trend of xenophobia. In June a US federal court ruled against [JURIST report] the majority of President Donald Trumps revised executive order limiting travel from six Muslim-majority countries. A surge in populist leaders in Europe and the US threatens human rights [JURIST report] while inviting autocratic abuse in other nations, according to the 2017 World Report released by Human Rights Watch in January. In September 2016 a report compiled by California State University, San Bernardino found an increase in hate crimes [JURIST report] in 2015, particularly among Muslims and Arab-Americans.
Nine more Ukrainian enterprises permitted to export dairy products to China

Ukraine's State Service for Food Safety and Consumers Protection has reported that nine more Ukrainian enterprises were permitted to supply dairy products to China.

"Earlier 18 companies had the right to export dairy products to the Chinese market. Our Chinese colleagues expanded this list by nine companies, to 27 Ukrainian enterprises," State Service for Food Safety and Consumers Protection Head Volodymyr Lapa said.

He said that the work to expand the list of exporters to China is underway.
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Dallas, 06/21/2017 /SubmitPressRelease123/

Funded by a $100 million investment from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Safety and Justice Challenge was created to reduce over-incarceration in the United States. The organization has published some startling statistics that show just how critical a problem the countrys incarceration rate has become.

Americans Prison Overpopulation Problem

The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country on earth. In total, the U.S. makes up just 5 percent of the worlds population, yet it is home to a staggering 25 percent of the worlds prison population. This means that for every 100,000 people in the country, 716 of them are in prison.

Furthermore, victimization rates  meaning the number of people who are victims of crimes  are the same in the United States as they are in the majority of European countries. Yet the U.S. imprisons a disproportionately high number of people compared to every other country in the world.

As the Washington Post reports, criminal justice experts say that the United States system of criminal justice fees is partly to blame for such high incarceration rates. Unlike most other industrialized nations, the U.S. has a for-profit criminal justice system that allows judges to issue arrest warrants for people who cant afford to pay their court fees. American courts also impose fines on defendants who fail to appear in court.

Safety and Justice Challenge Statistics

The dismal state of incarceration in the United States is further highlighted by compelling statistics from the Safety and Justice Challenge.

There are 12 millio n jail admissions each year in the U.S.

The number of annual jail admissions in the U.S. is equivalent to the populations of New York City and Los Angeles combined.

14.5 percent of men and 31 percent of women admitted to jail suffer from a serious mental illness.

The rate of mental illness among the U.S. prison population is four to six times higher that of the general population.

Nearly 75 percent of people convicted of crimes are nonviolent offenders imprisoned for traffic, property, or public order crimes.

African-Americans are jailed at four times the rate of white Americans.

Between 1982 and 2011, local spending on incarceration ballooned by 235 percent.

The United States spends $22.2 billion each year on incarceration.

Local jails in the U.S. hold an average of 731,000 people every day.

The Fight to Lower the U.S. Prison Population

Data shows that crime rates have dropped steadily over the past few decades and now sit at levels comparable to those in the 1970s. Despite the nation getting safer, prison population rates continue to climb. Advocates of lowering the incarceration rate say that one of the easiest ways to address the prison overcrowding problem is to change harsh sentencing laws that imprison people for nonviolent crimes.

Sources:

Broden & Mickelsen, LLP Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer

http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/

2600 State St Dallas, Texas 75204

Main Phone: (214) 720-9552

source: http://www.brodenmickelsen.com/blog/stats-from-the-safety-and-justice-challenge/

Social Media Tags:Americans Prison Overpopulation, Incarceration Rate, Safety and Justice Challenge, Safety and Justice Challenge Statistics, US Prison Population

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Ukraine hopes U.S. to help in allowing LNG tankers to pass Bosphorus strait

Ukraine is interested in an opportunity of supplying U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) to its market across the Black Sea. The project is being hindered by the unwillingness of Turkey to pass tankers with LNG through the Bosphorus strait, Naftogaz Ukrainy Board Chairman Andriy Kobolev has said.

Ukraine hopes that new diplomatic efforts of the United States would allow solving the problem, he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Kobolev confirmed that he discussed the possibility of these supplies during his visit to the United States as a member of the delegation headed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Naftogaz said that the traffic of more hazardous cargo across the Bosphorus strait is permitted.
Ukrainian Sea Port Authority to invest some UAH 5 bln in fleet upgrade in 2017-2021

State-owned enterprise Ukrainian Sea Port Authority plans to invest some UAH 5 billion in upgrading of fleet of its branches in the period from 2017 through 2021.

An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that Head of the Fleet Service at the authority Hennadiy Haras gave the information, presenting the program in the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine on Wednesday.

Today the authority's branches have 126 various ships. Delta-Pilot has the largest number of ships  31 and Skadovsk port  the smallest number  three.

The problems of the fleet are the following: long operating life of ships, not enough dredgers for dredging works, difficulties with fuel storage and bunkerage of ships in the Danube region, not enough tugboats for ice channeling.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will hold negotiations at the U.S. Department of Defense and will meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his ongoing working visit to Washington, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly said.

"We've had absolutely full-format half-hour negotiations with the president of the United States, and we've had negotiations with the vice president. Moreover, the process is continuing: following the interview, we are going to the Pentagon with the president. And a meeting with State Secretary Tillerson is also planned today. That is, this is an absolutely successful visit of the Ukrainian president, a timely and very substantive one," Chaly said on the 112.Ukraine television channel on Tuesday, following Poroshenko's meeting with Trump.

The ambassador said he could not make public all details of this meeting but said the two leaders had extensively discussed some issues important to the two countries.

"The conversation was very detailed, I can even say that the president presented some materials, maps, pictures, and so on," Chaly said. "This is a sign that President Trump focuses on this issue, the world, primarily on how to reinstate clear international order in Europe. In particular - and this is what counts most - support of our country in opposing Russia," Chaly said.
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis supports the preservation of sanctions against the Russian Federation.

"A very powerful meeting took place between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis. He expressed full support for Ukraine and the preservation of sanctions against the Russian Federation as an aggressor country," press secretary of the Ukrainian president Sviatoslav Tseholko wrote on his Twitter on Tuesday night.
The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine condemns the attack of militants on the observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Donbas.

"We strongly condemn any attacks on the members of the SMM by the Russian militants. Another violation of the Minsk agreements," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Mariana Betsa wrote on Twitter.

As reported, the OSCE SMM on Tuesday reported that the armed members of the so-called DPR attacked the observers.

"The armed members of the so-called DPR committed a brutal attack on unarmed civilian observers," the OSCE SMM said on its Twitter page on Tuesday.
Two men are facing federal charges, accused of breaking in to two area firearms stores and stealing several guns.

According to a criminal complaint, federal agents say John Gillespie and Jeremy Reynolds around 12:40 a.m. on June 16 broke into Midwest Shooting, 1490 Ketelsen Drive in Hiawatha. They say the two men match suspects seen in surveillance video filling bags with firearms. Agents say Gillespie and Reynolds also match suspects in surveillance video of a June 3 burglary at America's 2nd Amendment Firearms, 737 1st Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids.

Investigators said they found a backpack with gloves, a sweatshirt, and several handguns inside in a field next to Midwest Shooting that had received significant rain June 15 and 16. While at the scene, officers arrested Reynolds who they say was wet and muddy.

Later on June 16, officers stopped a vehicle Gillespie was riding in and found a duffle bag with several handguns and ammunition in it. Other vehicle occupants said the duffle bag belonged to Gillespie.
At least $5 billion is required to provide internally displaced persons (IDPs) with housing, Deputy Minister for Temporary Occupied Territories and IDPs Heorhiy Tuka has said.

"According to my calculations, at least $5 billion is required to provide them with houses Unfortunately, the budget does not have these funds, and this amount of aid does not come from external sources," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Tuka also said that the ministry is working with Germany's KfW (Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau).

"This bank would work in two directions. The first one is construction of socially important housing for IDPs, and the second is the provision of financial assistance to pay credits rates on the credits which IDPs will take to build own houses," he said.

Tuka said that the Cabinet of Ministers continues discussing the provision of housing for IDPs.

"I want to say that I have a feeling that by the end of the summer the decision would be made, and the funds will be provided from the national budget," he said.
HOLDREGE  A decision Thursday by the Little Blue Natural Resources District Board of Directors to impose an immediate temporary stay on the drilling of new high-capacity wells throughout that district was good news for irrigators in the adjacent Tri-Basin NRD.

It was a welcomed development, Tri-Basin General Manager John Thorburn said as he briefed his directors on the LBNRD vote at Tuesday nights Tri-Basin board meeting in Holdrege.

Thorburn told the Hub he didnt know the Little Blue NRD vote was coming, but he expects that discussion had at least something to do with ongoing groundwater management talks between the two districts.

The NRDs have a contract with JEO Engineering of Lincoln to help with work on individual, but compatible, integrated water management plans for the Little Blue Basin.

A big issue is that eastern Kearney County ag producers have said they are much more restricted in their irrigation water use and development under Tri-Basin rules than are Little Blue NRD irrigators in adjacent Adams County.

For example, Tri-Basin has a moratorium on net new irrigated acres, but the Little Blue does not. There also are similar differences between the LBNRD and adjacent Lower Republican NRD.

A Little Blue news release said last weeks vote was 9-8 to temporarily halt the drilling of wells pumping more than 50 gallons of water per minute.

The stay began with the June 15 vote and will end on Dec. 12.

LBNRD Manager Mike Onnen said the stay is being enforced to give the board time to complete revisions to the districts current groundwater rules and regulations without creating a spike in new well drilling.

Some on the board have concerns that when new rules are being discussed, producers may feel that the window of time to install new wells may close and they may be prevented from drilling a new well, Onnen said in the release. This was the case in the Lower Republican NRD several years ago, and the board wants to avoid that rush to drill and a potential overdraft on the water supply.

State law provides for a temporary 180-day stay while LBNRD officials consider permanent rules. The NRD must conduct a public hearing during the 180-day period to determine what action might be necessary on permits approved prior to the stay for wells not yet drilled.

Groundwater levels have continued a slow but steady decline across the district for many years, Onnen said. Our current triggers allow far too much aquifer depletion before implementation of controls which could preserve the resource.

In other business at Tuesdays Tri-Basin board meeting, the directors approved a request by Funk village officials for the NRD to temporarily manage water system operations for the community.

Thorburn told the Hub that city of Holdrege staff had provided those services, but the contract with Funk has been canceled.

He said he had proposed to his board more than a year ago that a Tri-Basin employee be trained to manage municipal water systems to assist with such situations. Although the Funk request for temporary assistance is the first received by the NRD, Thorburn said there are other small towns in the district that could face similar issues.

Also Tuesday, the board approved a request from the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture, working with Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, to help seek a Nebraska Water Sustainability Fund grant to improve turnouts and water delivery systems on public lands within the Rainwater Basin.

The application is due by July 31.

Thorburn said the improvements would allow delivery of excess water to more wetland areas, which would benefit groundwater recharge, and to release water more quickly to make room for more.

The $50,000 requested from the NRD to help match a grant would come from money already budgeted by Tri-Basin for high flow diversions, he said.
Establishment of illegal schemes to legalize amber and the involvement of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine deputies Maksym Poliakov and Boryslav Rozenblat represents the first joint operation of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), NABU chief Artem Sytnyk has said.

Sytnyk said the joint investigation began a year ago.

"This is the first case involving agent operations," Sytnyk said at a briefing in Kyiv with Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) chief Nazar Kholodynytsky on Tuesday.

"It is a pleasure for me to say that this is the first operation conducted jointly with the FBI, pursuant to the assistance memorandum signed by NABU and the FBI," Sytnyk said.
My friend and I drove around and around Red Cloud Sunday searching for the Cather Center, the new museum-archives-arts and cultural center dedicated to Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist Willa Cather. If only we hadnt gotten lost.

It began as a bright-as-a-sunflower afternoon. My friend, visiting from Denver, stared out the windows as I drove to Red Cloud past sprawling farmland that tickled the horizon in every direction. Im marveled, too. I returned to Kearney just four weeks ago from two years in Abiquiu, N.M.

At last, we reached Red Cloud, population 1,020. We passed a gas station, a Subway, a small supermarket, a hardware store, the city park, the swimming pool and the old opera house. Everything except the Cather Center.

I hunted like Daniel Boone for a new building and a big sign. The Willa Cather Foundation website talked of plans to build this center. Former First Lady Laura Bush dedicated it just two weeks earlier. On the main street, we saw Willa Cathers picture on tall storefront windows in handsome brick buildings, but no sign, and no main entrance. Finally, I stopped at a gas station and asked for directions. Down the street, they said.

Only then, creeping down that dozing street, did I see a speck of a white sign saying Cather Center high on a light pole in front of that brick building. This was no new building. It was a gorgeous restoration.

We had a delicious afternoon feasting on a video and picturesque displays, but as we savored these roses, thorns kept poking us. Unexpectedly, as I went through an EXIT door to the restroom (I had to ask to find that, too) I stumbled onto more displays. Had I not had to use the restroom, Id never have found all that.

Before we left, I asked for directions to the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie. Go five miles south, the woman said. If you get to Kansas, youve gone too far.

Off we went, but soon we crossed into Kansas. Grumbling, I turned around. I knew the Cather prairie was here; Id visited it five years ago. As I drove north, we saw a big sign for the prairie. Why is there no sign for southbound travelers, too?

At last, we lit on that beautiful prairie. It was a wonder. It swoops and rolls, captivating us as it did Cather when she arrived in Red Cloud from Virginia in 1883. We stared, felt the wind on our faces and gazed out at its enormity. At last, reluctantly, it was time to head back to Kearney.

Wed had a richly memorable afternoon, but all the way home, we kept asking why. Why wont places provide clear, abundant directions, both oral and written? Why do staff people mumble go here and turn there and skip street names, route numbers and addresses? Locals know Red Cloud, but out-of-towners do not, and were the ones the museum must attract if it is to succeed.

Also, the Cather Center needs a big sign out front, at windshield level, that says The Willa Cather Center. Signs are also needed at nearby intersections and the edge of town. And dont forget a southbound sign to the idyllic Willa Cather Prairie. As for The Willa Cather Foundation website, delete the plans to build phrase and replace it with restoration. Had Id been scouting for a restored building, Id have found it easily.

The armload of books my friend bought at the Cather Centers excellent gift shop will give her hours of happy reading. If only we hadnt had to send out a search party.
America is facing its worst drug crisis in history, medical experts declare. Opioid abuse has swept across the country, leaving many victims dead and others with shattered lives.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 33,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2015. That nearly equaled the number killed in car accidents and heroin deaths alone surpassed gun homicides.

Nebraskans may feel they have escaped the opioid scourge. However, local health officials told the Independent recently that isnt true. While reported deaths have been lower in Nebraska than other states, opioid abuse is still a major problem here, they said.

People throughout Nebraska should heed that warning and take what steps they can to fend off the epidemic.

Much of the abuse is the overuse of prescription painkillers. Physicians and pharmacists almost have to be detectives these days in determining whether pain complaints are legitimate. Many addicts fake symptoms to get the painkillers.

So first, physicians must be cautious in prescribing the often-abused medicines. Unfortunately, in many rural areas there are few if any doctors who specialize in pain management. So the physicians in these locations have few resources in which to turn.

Second, people must properly dispose of unused medications. Often addicts will steal prescription medicine from relatives and friends or by breaking into homes. So individuals should keep track of their medicines and make sure they dont fall into the wrong hands.

Another important measure is treatment. Communities need to have treatment options available. Intervention is often required. People taking legal pain medication may not even realize they have an addiction.

Grand Island Independent
In this photo taken May 30, 2009 and released by Christopher Barbara, Gareth Johnson poses for photos while wearing a traditional costume during a visit to the Pyongyang Film Studio in Pyongyang in North Korea. British expatriate Gareth Johnson founded the Young Pioneer Tours agency in 2008 and has built up a business attracting young travelers with a competitively priced catalog of exotic-sounding, hard-partying adventures into the world's most isolated country. (Christopher Barbara via AP)
FILE - In this April 4, 2017, file picture Saudi boys pose in front of a huge billboard showing in the center, King Salman, with his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman to the right, and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef to the left in Taif, Saudi Arabia. Salman appointed his son, who was until now the deputy crown prince and country's defense minister, as his successor and first in line to the throne. Salman stripped Mohammed bin Nayef of the title of crown prince and ousted him from his powerful position of interior minister. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Poroshenko awaited in Brussels after his visit to U.S.

The Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine reports that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is expected to pay a visit to Brussels after his trip to Washington, U.S.

Immediately after an ambitious visit to the U.S., we expect the president of Ukraine in Brussels, the EU Delegation to Ukraine said on its Facebook page on Tuesday.

As reported, on Tuesday, June 20, the Ukrainian president met with U.S. Vice President Michael Pence, after which he held talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. In addition, on the same day, the Ukrainian president held talks with Defense Minister James Mattis, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

He also had a meeting with media representatives in the U.S.
FILE - In this March 15, 2017, file photo, a sign marks a pick-up point for the Uber car service at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Travis Kalanick, the combative and embattled CEO of ride-hailing giant Uber, resigned under pressure from investors at a pivotal time for the company. Uber's board confirmed the move early Wednesday, June 21, saying in a statement that Kalanick is taking time to heal from the death of his mother in a boating accident "while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber's history." (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
A man suspected in the Friday abduction and sexual assault of a Milwaukee woman who was then dumped in Kenosha County has been arrested in Kentucky.

According to a statement from Milwaukee Police, Jose A. Arevalo-Viera, 28, was arrested near Louisville.

Police said law enforcement spotted the pickup truck believed to have been used in the abduction as it approached Louisville on Interstate 71 about 9 p.m. Tuesday. As officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the suspect fled on foot into a wooded area.

After a lengthy search, according to police, Arevalo-Viera, who was armed with a knife, was arrested. He is the suspect whose composite sketch was released after the abduction.

The Milwaukee County District Attorneys Office had issued a warrant for Arevalo-Vieras arrest, and is working to extradite him to Wisconsin.

Milwaukee police officers are in Kentucky working in collaboration with federal law enforcement.

Arevalo-Viera is suspected of abducting a woman in Milwaukee and sexually assaulting her.

According to earlier statements from police, two men were involved with the abduction, forcing the victim into the pickup after finding her near Clybourn and Van Buren streets in downtown Milwaukee, then bringing her to Kenosha County. She was left near I-94 and Highway 165 in Pleasant Prairie.

Kenosha Police were also alerted to an attempted abduction in the area of the 7100 block of 118th Avenue, when two women said two men in a pickup truck attempted to abduct them.

The descriptions of the men and the pickup truck involved were similar to that in the Milwaukee incident.
British officials are upset by the court decision ignoring information confirming the existence of a British passport belonging to suspended Ukrainian Fiscal Service Chief Roman Nasirov, National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine chief Artem Sytnyk has said.

"Our British colleagues presented materials confirming the existence of British passport belonging to Nasirov. NABU and the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) confirmed the materials. Nasirov, on the other hand, said all this was not true and that he did not receive this passport. The court declined to take our conclusions and these documents into consideration. To be honest, this upset our British colleagues," Sytnyk said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.

The NABU chief said the court ruling has not been appealed and is proof that Ukraine's judiciary can not effectively deal with cases like the Nasirov one and is the reason it is necessary to create a specialized anti-corruption court.

Kholodnytsky, in turn, said in international law the situation can be likened to "the absence in Ukraine of a rule of law when it concerns individuals who can flee abroad." He added that Nasirov said to him, "Sooner or later I will put you behind bars."

As reported, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine suspects Nasirov of committing crimes pursuant to Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (misuse of public office leading to serious consequences).

Kyiv's Solomiansky District Court on March 7 remanded Nasirov in custody for 60 days and set bail at UAH 100 million. Ukraine's Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), meanwhile, requested the court set bail at UAH two billion.

On March 16, SAPO said Nasirov and his wife had posted UAH 100 million bail.

On May 30, NABU turned down Nasirov's request to leave Ukraine for medical treatment.

On June 2 Kyiv's Solomiansky District Court turned down a request by Nasirov to change the terms of his pretrial detention.

NABU detectives and SAPO agents filed a motion to recover UAH 100 million bail from Nasirov because he did not turn in his British passport. The court rejected the motion and its decision cannot be appealed.

On June 8 Kyiv's Solomiansky District Court turned down NABU's and SAPO's request to confiscate UAH 100 million in bail posted by Nasirov because he did not turn over his British passport as agreed.
There are 34,000 military men of Ukraine's Armed Forces in ATO zone

Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said that today there are about 34,000 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) area in Donbas.

"About 34,000 our servicemen are fulfilling the task in the ATO area," he told journalists before the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in Kyiv on Wednesday.

According to the minister, other military men undergo various kinds of training, including in the framework of drills at the training grounds.
About 120 servicemen have been killed in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) area from the beginning of 2017, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry told Interfax-Ukraine.

"Since January 1, 2017 and up to now, the combat irreversible losses of ATO forces have amounted to at least 121 servicemen, 117 of which are servicemen of the Armed Forces of the country," the defense ministry said on Wednesday.

As reported, on May 24, 2017, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said that the total number of killed Ukrainian servicemen since the beginning of the year was about 100 people.
Rooted in Cheyenne is hosting a kickoff event from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 22 at the Cheyenne Urban Forestry Divisions office at 520 W. 8th Ave. Parking will be available behind the office and is accessible through Lions Park. Tree related activities for kids, free ice cream and popcorn, door prizes, Rooted in Cheyenne information and tree planting applications will be available.

Rooted in Cheyenne is an inaugural neighborhood tree planting program dedicated to planting trees along Cheyennes streets and partnering with homeowners, businesses and non-profits to support a more diverse and resilient forest canopy and cultivate greener, healthier, more livable neighborhoods.

Rooted in Cheyenne is supported through a generous donation from Historic Cheyenne Inc. and a grant from the Wyoming State Forestry Division.

The program provides homeowners with low cost trees to be planted in or adjacent to the public right-of-way. Tree planting, watering and care for one year is included with every tree purchased. Trees cost $50 and homeowners are allowed two trees per year. Program applications will soon be available online at rootedincheyenne.com. Until then, paper applications are available by calling Cheyenne Urban Forestry at 637-6428.

For more information, go to Rooted in Cheyennes Facebook page.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko will pay a working visit to Brussels on June 22, where he will meet with President of the European Council Donald Tusk, President of the European People's Party (EPP) Joseph Daul and other leaders of the EU member states.

Poroshenko will also take part in the enlarged European People's Party summit, the presidential press service of Ukraine said.

"The president will inform the talkers about the aggravation of the security situation in Donbas, the status of implementation and specific cases of violation by the Russian side of the Minsk agreements with a view to ensuring a positive decision of the European Council to extend sectoral sanctions against Russia," a message says.

In addition, the president of Ukraine plans to discuss issues related to preparations for the Ukraine-EU summit, which is scheduled in Kyiv for July 12-13, 2017.
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A man who impersonated a garda and stole money from a pensioner was sentence to ten months behind bars.

John OBrien of 11 Hillview Drive, Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick was convicted and sentenced to ten months imprisonment following the theft of 150 from a 79-year- old resident of Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny on January 14 by a person purporting to be a member of An Garda Siochana. OBrien was convicted of theft and of impersonating a member of An Garda Siochana.

Detectives at Thomastown Garda Station apprehended OBrien following an intensive investigation supported by the Divisional Scenes of Crime Unit and the Technical Bureau at Garda Headquarters.

Superintendent Derek Hughes of Thomastown Garda Station described the crime as despicable and said the conviction highlighted the depths to which criminals will stoop in targeting vulnerable members of the community but also the lengths to which An Garda Siochana will go to apprehend criminals.

The Superintendent added that any person who felt vulnerable to crime in South Kilkenny should contact Thomastown Garda Station for crime prevention advice and support

He also asked anyone with information about criminals targeting the vulnerable in communities in Kilkenny to exercise their civic duty and report the information it to the gardai.
SHANGHAI, June 21 (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Finance on Wednesday auctioned 40 billion yuan ($5.86 billion) of seven-year bonds at an average yield of 3.57 percent, traders said, above market expectations.

For the seven-year bonds, market forecasts had centred on 3.53 percent and ranged from 3.51 percent to 3.58 percent.

The auction yield also came in above Tuesday's benchmark secondary market yield of 3.5395 percent for seven-year government bonds .

For stories on Chinese debt issues, click on . ($1 = 6.8289 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
BEIJING, June 21 (Reuters) - China will launch a crackdown to curb illegal expansion of aluminium capacity in the world's top producer of the metal, the China Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Association said on Wednesday.

The National Energy Administration and state planner will inspect power stations owned by aluminium producers in the top six aluminium-producing regions of Xinjiang, Shandong, Gansu, Guangxi, Jiangsu and Shandong, the association said in a statement on its website.

Many aluminium producers in these regions have set up power stations to help cut electricity cost and increase aluminium capacity, the association said. It did not provide further details.

The Chinese government is serious about forcing aluminium producers in 28 cities to cut output during winter, potentially slashing production by 1-1.5 million tonnes, an official at China's top aluminium maker Chalco said last month. (Reporting by Meng Meng and Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.)
MILAN, June 21 (Reuters) - Shareholders in Italy's fourth biggest supermarket chain Esselunga have reached an agreement that envisages the future listing of the group, two sources close to the matter said on Wednesday.

Esselunga, founded by late entrepreneur Bernardo Caprotti, is 70 percent owned by Caprotti's second wife Giuliana and their daughter Marina.

The rest of the company is owned by Caprotti's two children from his first marriage, Giuseppe and Violetta, who have been locked in a legal dispute with the rest of the family over their father's estate.

The sources said both sides of the family had reached a deal to merge the supermarket chain with Villata Partecipazioni, the unit that owns its real estate assets, and then proceed with a market listing.

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi and Claudia Cristoferi; editing by Agnieszka Flak)
JAKARTA, June 21 (Reuters) - Thousands of mine workers at the Indonesian unit of Freeport-McMoRan Inc will extend their strike for another month to protest against layoffs, a union official said on Wednesday.

Up to 6,000 workers will remain on strike, Freeport Indonesia union industrial relations officer Tri Puspital told Reuters, putting Freeport's plan to ramp up output at risk.

Workers started a strike in May after Freeport laid off around 10 percent of its workforce, while the miner negotiates a new mining permit with the government. (Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Susan Thomas)
By Michelle Price

HONG KONG, June 21 (Reuters) - MSCI's decision to include domestic Chinese shares in its global Emerging Markets Index will have no bearing on FTSE Russell's own timeline for potential "A" share inclusion, the company's chief executive told Reuters.

U.S. index provider MSCI said on Tuesday U.S. time it would add a selection of mainland Chinese "A" shares to the benchmark, tracked by around $1.6 trillion, in a long-awaited landmark development for global investment.

All eyes are now on FTSE Russell, which compiles the other key global emerging markets benchmark, to see if it follows in MSCI's footsteps at its own classification review in September.

Mark Makepeace, CEO of FTSE Russell, which is owned by the London Stock Exchange Group, said the company had recently canvassed its client base on including China's "A" shares, noting that many investors continued to have reservations on the China market.

"There is not a major push at the moment among our clients for inclusion," Makepeace told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

"I am personally for inclusion, whether today or in two or three years' time, but we should be trying to build a consensus - and the obligations of China with respect to opening up to international investors in the event of inclusion need to be clear. There is no point in us trying to do something if we don't have the support of our clients."

FTSE Russell launched in 2015 two transitional indexes that include China "A" shares, allowing clients keen to allocate funds to domestic Chinese stocks to do so at their own pace. Vanguard Group, one of the world's largest passive investors, was the first manager to adopt the transitional benchmarks.

This year, FTSE Russell also launched an index tracking Chinese shares that can be traded through the Hong Kong-Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Connect programme.

These indices give FTSE Russell greater flexibility on its timeline for including "A" shares in its global benchmarks, Makepeace said.

(Reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Eric Meijer)
An armed man has attacked and fired at the observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) on the territory of Yasynuvata controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.

"On 20 June an SMM patrol (1) comprising two armored vehicles and six members was stationary at an observation post at 'DPR'-controlled Yasynuvata railway station (16km north-east of Donetsk), when it saw two men in military-style attire, one armed with an assault rifle (AK-type) walking in a western direction about 80m away. Another SMM patrol (2) comprising two armored vehicles and six members was positioned about 150m west of the other patrol and about 100m from the two men. At 11:06, both patrols heard one burst of small-arms fire assessed as coming from the area of the two men," the OSCE SMM said in its report.

Then, the two men, both with their faces covered - moved towards to the second SMM patrol and began to aggressively shout at the SMM. They then left, the mission said.

"At 11:10 both SMM patrols attempted to leave the area. As SMM patrol (2) began to leave, the armed man ran to the second vehicle, tried to open the door on the driver's side and attempted to break the driver's side window with his gunstock. Failing to do either, he then ran after the first vehicle from SMM patrol (2). Following this, the armed man turned and pointed his assault rifle at the driver and front-seat passenger of the second vehicle from SMM patrol (2). Both patrol members raised their hands in response. When the armed man moved to the side of the vehicle to try to open the front passenger-side door, the driver accelerated. As the SMM vehicle was driving away, the armed man hit the rear right-side window with his gunstock, causing minor damage. The SMM then saw him fire a burst of small-arms fire into the air, followed by three shots that the SMM assessed were fired at the patrol vehicle," the report reads.

According to the OSCE SMM, the patrol vehicle was not hit. At 11:21, as all SMM patrol vehicles were leaving the area the SMM observed the armed man pointing his assault rifle at the SMM.

The SMM returned safely to base in Donetsk.

The SMM informed the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination and asked it to follow up on the incident.
Goldcorp. Inc. (TSX: G; NYSE: GG) officials say the company has entered an agreement to sell its 100% interest in the Camino Rojo oxide project, located in Mexico, to Orla Mining Ltd. (TSXV: OLA.V). Goldcorp will receive 19.9% of the outstanding common shares of Orla; a 2% net-smelter-return royalty on revenues from all metal production from the project, with the exception of metals produced under a joint venture with Orla; an option to acquire up to a 70% interest in future sulphide projects; and the right to nominate a director to Orla's board for as long as Goldcorp's equity ownership position is greater than 10%. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the second half of 2017.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Superior Gold Receives Approval To Develop Hermes Project

Superior Gold Inc. (TSXV: SGI) has received approval from the Department of Mines and Petroleum of Western Australia for development and operation of the Hermes project, which is located approximately 65 kilometers southwest of the companys Plutonic Gold Mine. The final environmental approval for the Hermes project included the clearing permit, which is valid from July 1, thus ground clearing can begin then. Initial work will include construction of a haul road connecting the Hermes ore bodies to the mill at the Plutonic Mine, where it will be processed, Superior says. The Hermes deposit is expected to be mined as a conventional open pit. Ore from Hermes is expected to allow Superior Gold to reach its targeted annual production of 100,000 ounces of gold, the company says. We expect that the Hermes project will commence production in 2018, when it will become an important contributor to our current production profile, says Chris Bradbrook, president and chief executive officer. Additionally, we aim to commence drilling and exploration around Hermes to expand the overall mineral reserve and mineral resource and extend the mine life.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Pretium: First Gold Poured At Brucejack Mine

Pretium Resources Inc. (TSX: PVG; NYSE: PVG) reports the first gold pour at the Brucejack Mine in British Columbia. Also, the company says that the flotation and gravity circuits are now operational. In addition, gold-silver flotation concentrate is being produced and bagged, with initial shipments scheduled. Construction crews continue to be phased out as construction winds down and the operations team ramps up toward commercial production, Pretium reports.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Iamgold Completes Sale Of 30% Interest In Cote Gold Project

Iamgold Corp. (NYSE: IAG; TSX: IMG) announces completion of the previously announced sale of a 30% interest in the Cote gold project to a subsidiary of Japans Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. for $195 million. On closing, Iamgold received $100 million, with the remaining $95 million payable on the earlier of 18 months following closing, or the date of public filing of a feasibility study for the Cote gold project. Iamgold says its liquidity now exceeds $1 billion. Closing a transaction that has unlocked the hidden value of Cote gold is tremendously exciting, says Steve Letwin, president and chief executive officer. In Sumitomo, we have a partner with a common interest in both advancing the development of Cote and in potentially pursuing future opportunities. Iamgold and Sumitomo have entered into a joint venture for the Cote project, with Iamgold having 70% and Sumitomo 30% of the total interest.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Torex Delivers High-Grade Sub-Sill Ore To Processing Plant

Torex Gold Resources Inc. (TSX: TXG) announces that the sub-sill access ramp has entered into high-grade mineralization at the sub-sill underground deposit associated with its El Limon-Guajes Mine in southwest Mexico. The first 260 tonnes of ore from the sub-sill have been delivered to the processing plant, and a random sample from each truckload returned an average grade of 98 grams per tonne of gold. The quality of the asset speaks for itself, says Fred Stanford, president and chief executive officer. Infill and step-out exploration drilling programs for the sub-sill are ongoing. A mine plan is expected to be published after the infill drill program is completed, the resource estimate is updated, and a maiden sub-sill reserve is determined. This is all scheduled to occur by the end of the year.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

SantaCruz Silver Signs Option To Consolidate Properties

Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. (TSXV: SCZ) reports that it has signed an agreement, along certain private Mexican companies, in which it will receive an option from Contracuna to purchase a 100% interest in the Veta Grande and Minillas properties for $15.5 million. The company currently operates the properties on a 60%-40% profits basis under a 38-year agreement. "The Veta Grande and Minillas properties, together with our Zacatecas properties, represent one of the largest and most historically important land packages within the Zacatecas mining region, and we are very pleased to have this agreement in place, which gives us the opportunity to consolidate our mineral interests in the area," says Arturo Prestamo, president and chief executive officer of Santacruz.
MILAN/LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - Open Fiber, the Italian broadband infrastructure firm owned by utility Enel and state lender CDP, is set to get a 500 million euro ($557 million) bridge loan to help fund the fast internet network it is rolling out in Italy, three sources said on Wednesday.

The loan, which was expected to be approved in coming weeks, would be underwritten by UniCredit , Societe Generale (SocGen) and BNP Paribas , two of the sources said.

The company would then seek to put together a project finance package with banks worth about 3.5 billion euros, one of Europe's biggest in recent years, the sources added.

One of the sources said the aim was to get the project financing off the ground before the end of the year, but a second source said more time would be needed.

Enel and CDP declined to comment.

Open Fiber has previously said it would invest 6.5 billion euros to get superfast Internet into around 19 million Italian homes and companies by 2022.

($1 = 0.8973 euros)

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes and Stefano Berra from PFI in London; Editing by Edmund Blair)
* Saudi posts biggest single-day gain since August 2015

* Mohammed bin Salman's rise boosts confidence in economic reforms

* Banks, property developers are top gainers

* MSCI news lifts Almarai to all-time high

* Other bourses focus on Brent below $46 a barrel

By Celine Aswad and Andrew Torchia

DUBAI, June 21 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's stock market jumped over 5 percent on Wednesday after the architect of the kingdom's economic reforms was appointed crown prince and index compiler MSCI said it would consider upgrading Riyadh to emerging market status.

The stock index surged 5.5 percent, its largest single-day rise since August 2015, to 7,335 points, its highest level since December 2015. Trading volume was the largest this year.

Fund managers said the appointment of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, previously deputy crown prince, to be first in line for the throne was not unexpected, but came sooner than anticipated.

He has been the catalyst for radical reforms to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil exports, ranging from a plan to sell a stake in national oil giant Saudi Aramco and dozens of other institutions and reinvest the money in non-oil industries, to tough austerity plans to eliminate a huge budget deficit.

"For the first time in two years, investors will feel reassured that the economic reform plan Vision 2030 will not be scrapped," said Ayham Kamel, director of the Middle East and North Africa at consultancy Eurasia Group.

As defence minister Prince Mohammed has overseen the war in Yemen and taken a tough line towards Iran, so some analysts fear his promotion could raise geopolitical tensions.

But investors were not focusing on geopolitics on Wednesday. National Commercial Bank , the biggest listed lender which is expected to help arrange the privatisation programme and play a major role in funding some of the new non-oil industries, soared 10 percent.

Mining company Ma'den jumped 9.7 percent. Mining is a key sector in Prince Mohammed's plans to cut the kingdom's reliance on oil.

Real estate developers were also strong, especially those that are working with the government on projects. Emaar the Economic City , which is developing an industrial city near Jeddah, shot up 10.2 percent.

To mark Prince Mohammed's promotion, the government said it was restoring financial allowances to civil servants retroactively to last September. This did not appear to involve a lot of money - Mazen al-Sudairi, head of research at Al Rajhi Capital, estimated 8 or 9 billion riyals ($2.1 billion to $2.4 billion) - but it lifted investor sentiment. The market was also buoyed by news that index compiler MSCI would, as expected, start to consider whether to upgrade Saudi Arabia to emerging market status. An upgrade would probably take effect in 2019, eventually attracting tens of billions of dollars of fresh foreign money. Iyad Ghulam, senior equities analyst at NCB Capital, said the MSCI news might give the market support for the medium term.

"We expect the market to rise 20 to 30 percent from the day of the MSCI announcement on putting Saudi on the short list until the decision date in June 2018," Ghulam said.

Food maker Almarai jumped 9.1 percent to close at 90.00 riyals on Wednesday; it hit an all time intra-day high of 90.70 riyals.

EFG Hermes predicts Almarai would see up to $405 million of passive fund inflows from an MSCI upgrade, plus up to $183 million if FTSE decides this September to upgrade Saudi Arabia.

OIL

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Brent oil's fall to below $46 a barrel - to levels not seen since November, before global oil producers agreed to cut output to prop up prices - hurt stock markets.

While not disastrous for countries that have embarked on austerity programmes, it could mean governments have less room to boost spending this year than hoped.

Dubai's index lost 1.0 percent as Dubai Financial Market , the only listed exchange in the Gulf, fell 3.4 percent. The Abu Dhabi index closed near flat.

In Qatar, the index sank for a fourth consecutive day to its lowest close in 17 months. Petrochemical producer Industries Qatar fell 2.7 percent.

The index has shed 11.6 percent since June 5, when Saudi Arabia and three other Arab states cut diplomatic and trade links with Doha.

HIGHLIGHTS

SAUDI ARABIA

* The index surged 5.5 percent to 7,335 points.

DUBAI

* The index lost 1.0 percent to 3,418 points.

ABU DHABI

* The index edged up 0.1 percent to 4,459 points.

QATAR

* The index dropped 1.8 percent to 8,778 points.

EGYPT

* The index fell 0.3 percent to 13,376 points.

KUWAIT

* The index edged down 0.3 percent to 6,765 points.

BAHRAIN

* The index fell 0.4 percent to 1,313 points.

OMAN

* The index declined 1.4 percent to 5,121 points.

(Editing by Susan Thomas)
(Updates to close)

June 21 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell on Wednesday, as miners came under pressure from falling iron ore prices while negative sentiment in the market spurred selling in banks.

The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 1.6 percent, or 91.55 points, lower to end the session at 5,665.70.

The drop in Chinese steel futures on Tuesday after a four-day rise weighed on iron ore which dragged metals and mining stocks to their lowest in more than a month and a half. Miners BHP Billiton Ltd was down 3.8 percent, its lowest close in nearly nine months while Rio Tinto was down 2.9 percent.

Financial stocks posted a second session of losses with the country's "Big Four" lenders losing between 1.7 and 2.7 percent.

Energy stocks tumbled 2.6 percent following a decline in oil prices. Additionally, the stocks were also hurt by the Australian government's decision to delay proposed curb on exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from eastern Australia. Woodside Petroleum Ltd dropped 2.1 percent while Santos the operator of the Gladstone LNG plant in Queensland, the only LNG producer that has been taking gas out of the domestic market to meet its export contracts, hit a more than year low.

"The energy stocks are not being helped by the decision of the Australian government to put a limit on gas exports next year, which increases political risk in the sector," said Ric Spooner, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended 0.8 percent, or 59.42 points, lower to finish the session at 7,527.11

Consumer cyclicals lost the most with Fletcher Building Ltd falling 2.8 percent.

The next big event is the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's rate decision on Thursday, in which the central bank is expected to keep rates steady.

(Reporting by Sindhu Chandrasekaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
RABAT, June 21 (Reuters) - Morocco has pushed back its planned local sukuk issue to September so it can be in coordination with other Islamic finance measures, Finance Minister Mohammed Boussaid told Reuters on Wednesday. Boussaid did not comment further on the amount of the sukuk. Islamic banks and insurers are setting up in the North African kingdom after it adopted legislation allowing them into the domestic market.

(Reporting by Samia Errazzouki; writing by Patrick Markey)

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.
(Corrects misspelled word in headline) June 21 (Reuters) - Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker said the U.S. central bank could begin trimming its balance sheet in September and defer its next rate rise until December, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. "We need to get on with this," Harker told the FT in an interview, referring to the Fed's plan to reduce its $4.5 trillion balance sheet. Harker told the British paper he advocated a pause in rate hikes while the Fed starts reducing its balance sheet.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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.
(Fixes syntax in first sentence, no further changes to text)

By Lauren Hirsch and Liana B. Baker

June 21 (Reuters) - Altice USA Inc , the cable operator that Netherlands-based Altice NV formed by acquiring Cablevision and Suddenlink Communications, said on Wednesday it had raised $1.9 billion in an initial public offering.

Taking Altice USA public will give Altice's founder, French billionaire Patrick Drahi, traded shares in the company which he can then use as currency in new acquisitions in order to expand what is already the fourth-biggest U.S. cable provider.

Altice USA priced 63.9 million shares at $30, within its indicated price range of $27 to $31, making it this year's second largest U.S. IPO and giving the company a market capitalization of approximately $22 billion.

There has only been one IPO of a U.S. cable company in the last five years, WideOpenWest Inc , which last month raised about $310 million in an IPO, pricing below its expected range. Most sizeable cable companies are already public. Those that are not often seek scale by being acquired rather than going public. Last month, private equity firm TPG Global LLC said it would buy Wave Broadband for $2.37 billion, to combine it with its existing investments, RCN Telecom Services LLC and Grande Communications Networks. A wave of dealmaking has swept the U.S. cable sector over the past few years, as consumers have dropped cable-providers in favor of internet streaming, forcing many companies in the sector to slash prices as they compete for subscribers.

Some analysts have said that Altice USA could harbor ambitions to one day take on large acquisition targets such as Charter Communications Inc and privately held Cox Communications.

Altice USA, which operates in 21 states, had $9.2 billion in pro forma annual revenue in 2016. It has said it plans to use IPO proceeds to pay down some of its roughly $21 billion in debt.

Altice USA's parent is a European and Israeli telecoms and cable empire that Drahi has built through debt-heavy acquisitions. It will hold 70.3 percent of Altice USA's shares and 98.3 percent of the voting rights in the company thanks to a separate bundle of stock.

Private equity firm BC Partners Ltd and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, two pre-existing minority investors in Altice USA, will jointly own a minority stake in the company.

JPMorgan Chase & Co , Morgan Stanley , Citigroup Inc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc are joint bookrunners on the IPO.

Altice USA will list on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker 'ATUS'.

(Reporting by Lauren Hirsch in New York and Liana B. Baker in San Francisco; Editing by Chris Reese and Lisa Shumaker)
MOSCOW, June 21 (Reuters) - Urals crude oil exports from Russian Baltic Sea ports are set to fall by 0.3 million tonnes on July 1-12 compared to the same period of June, or to 2.1 million tonnes, the preliminary loading plan seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday.

On a daily basis exports will fall by 13 percent in the first 12 days of July compared to the current month.

Loadings from Primorsk will be unchanged to June at 1.2 million tonnes, according to the document, while Urals loadings from Ust-Luga are seen lower by 0.3 million tonnes compared to the current month, at 0.9 million tonnes.

Exports of Urals and Siberian Light from the Novorossiisk port on July 1-12 are also seen lower compared to the same period of June, or at 0.98 million tonnes versus 1.12 million tonnes this month.

(Reporting by Olga Yagova; editing by Katya Golubkova)
HANOI, June 21 (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 0747 GMT.

June 21 USD/VND mid-point 22,428 USD/VND interbank 22,724/22,727 USD/VND unofficial 22,720/22,735 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.13/36.35

Interbank offered rates Overnight 2.0-2.8

1 week 2.6-3.1

1 month 3.5-3.9

3 months 4.2-4.5

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; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
COLOMBO, June 21 (Reuters) - The Sri Lankan rupee traded steady on Wednesday as exporter dollar sales offset the demand for greenback.

The demand for dollars from importers however weighed on the spot currency, which traded for a third straight session after being inactive for six weeks.

The spot rupee started trading on Monday for the first time since May 5 when the central bank fixed the spot reference rate at 152.50.

The spot rupee was trading at 153.30/40 per dollar at 0657 GMT, steady from Tuesday's close.

"The demand is there but today there is some selling as well," said a currency dealer, requesting anonymity.

Dealers said they expect seasonal demand for dollars to pick up from August.

The central bank has set a target of $1.2 billion in direct market purchases of dollars to boost the island nation's reserves this year, mainly to achieve a target set by the International Monetary Fund in return for a three-year $1.5 billion loan. Foreign investors bought a net 7.93 billion rupees ($51.8 million) worth of government securities in the week ended June 14. They have sold a net 32.03 billion rupees worth of government bonds so far this year.

Sri Lankan shares were up 0.32 percent at 6,726.91, as of 0706 GMT. Turnover stood at 608.6 million rupees ($3.97 million). ($1 = 153.2500 Sri Lankan rupees)

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Vyas Mohan)
NATO stands ready to consider the possibility of a NATO-Russia Council meeting on the ministerial level in case there is a pressing agenda, NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said.

"I think that when there is an important topic that deserves ministerial consideration we should consider whether ministers participate or not, but I think there has to be an important reason for ministers to get together," Gottemoeller said via a video link from Brussels at a news briefing of the NATO Information Office in Moscow.

"It's not important for ministers just to meet in the NATO-Russia Council, it's important that there be very serious substance [...] and then all parties make a decision whether or not it's appropriate for meeting to take place at a different level," she said.
LISBON, June 21 (Reuters) - Portugal sold all 1.25 billion euros ($1.39 billion) total of three- and 11-month Treasury bills on offer in an auction on Wednesday, where borrowing costs fell further into negative territory following a recent drop in bond yields. Following are details from the Portuguese Institute for Public Credit Management (IGCP), compared with the previous auction of the closest maturity: 3-MONTH T-BILLS: Auction date 21/06/17 15/02/17 Maturity 22/09/17 19/05/17 Settlement date 23/06/17 17/02/17 Avg. yield (pct) -0.337 -0.219 Avg. price (pct) 100.085 100.055 Highest yield (pct) -0.329 -0.211 Lowest yield (pct) -0.365 -0.231 Tail 0.008 0.008 Total bids 1.14 bln 1.02 bln Allotment 250 mln 250 mln Bid-to-cover ratio 4.56 4.08 Outstanding after auction 3.464 bln 2.58 bln

11-MONTH T-BILLS: Auction date 21/06/17 17/05/17 Maturity 18/05/18 18/05/18 Settlement date 23/06/17 19/05/17 Avg. yield (pct) -0.264 -0.153 Avg. price (pct) 100.242 100.155 Highest yield (pct) -0.255 -0.148 Lowest yield (pct) -0.270 -0.161 Tail 0.009 0.005 Total bids 1.785 bln 1.620 bln Allotment 1.0 bln 1.0 bln Bid-to-cover ratio 1.79 1.62 Outstanding after auction 2.267 bln 1.00 bln For more information about the auction please click on ($1 = 0.8974 euros)

(Reporting By Andrei Khalip, editing by Axel Bugge)

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 details, quotes, context)

BERLIN, June 21 (Reuters) - Germany will likely need to make changes to its corporation tax system in coming years in response to growing tax competition from other countries, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday, adding that Germany had wiggle-room for cuts.

In a manifesto document ahead of Britain's June 8 election, Britain's ruling Conservatives - who emerged as the largest party but lost their parliamentary majority - said corporation tax would be cut to 17 percent by 2020. "I expect there will be a need to take action on corporation tax in coming years because in some countries, from the U.S. to Britain, but also on other continents, there are many considerations where we can't simply say we'll ignore them," Schaeuble told a real estate conference.

He said that if Germany continued to pursue a modest fiscal policy in the coming years and remained competitive, the government would probably have wiggle room of around 15 billion euros (dollars) per year.

Schaeuble also promised that his and Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives would also act to boost home ownership levels in Germany if re-elected in September.

While more than 70 percent of European households own a flat or house on average, only around 45 percent of Germans do, he said, and added while this was related to Germany's history of war and division, Germans should gradually catch up.

Turning to the European Central Bank), Schaeuble said that while the ECB's ultra-loose monetary policy had helped to tackle the financial crisis in recent years, the longer that policy was applied, the greater the risk of "unwanted side effects".

He also warned that investors' risk appetite could "grow excessively" given low capital market yields, while there could be negative effects for the stability of financial markets or delays in carrying out urgently-needed structural reforms due to a lack of disciplinary pressure from the markets.

"I'm one of those who would welcome it if we could lay the groundwork for exiting ultraloose monetary policy," Schaeuble said, adding that the recovery in the euro zone made this more feasible while the danger of deflation has been "indisputably banished".

Despite rising housing prices, Schaeuble said he did not think the German real estate market was overheating, saying there was no credit-financed real estate market bubble.

He said not all inflated prices on the housing market endangered overall financial market stability and added that would only happen if rising real estate prices, excessive lending and loosening lending standards all came together.

But he warned that a slight loosening in bank lending standards for the first time since 2010 could be "an initial warning sign".

Schaeuble said the rescue of Spain's Banco Popular, which was wound down by European authorities, showed that the EU's resolution fund, restructuring fund and restructuring authority were working as it happened "without any contagion risks for Spanish and other EU bank and financial institutions". ($1 = 0.8973 euros)

(Reporting By Thomas Escritt; Writing by Michelle Martin; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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BERLIN, June 21 (Reuters) - The German parliament's budget committee on Wednesday postponed a decision on a 1-billion-euro ($1.11 billion) funding package for the military, including a deal to lease Israeli-made armed drones, sources told Reuters.

The committee, however, approved equipment packages for the army totalling 11 billion euros and that will include the purchase of five corvette warships for some two billion euros.

The Defence Ministry had warned against delays, saying the acquisition requests were urgently needed to modernise an army weakened by years of spending cuts.

A defence ministry spokesman told a regular government news conference before the approval: "It would be regrettable if a decision is not made during this legislative period as considerable projects to modernise the equipment of soldiers depend on this and they would be delayed."

Christine Lambrecht, a lawmaker from the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), had earlier said that the budget committee would delay a decision on the whole funding package as her party needed more time for consultations.

Lambrecht's comments were later contradicted by her colleagues from the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) who said a decision would be made on most of the military procurement deals.

"Of the 30 defence funding requests only seven will be postponed until next week's session," said CDU lawmaker Eckhardt Rehberg. "Ms. Lambrecht is clearly badly informed."

The SPD are junior coalition partners of Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU and their Bavaria-based sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

The Defence Ministry is eager to get the requests approved before a general election on Sept. 24 as more delays could further hobble a military trying to rebuild after years of post-Cold War cuts and prepare for added responsibilities.

The army is also facing a probe into right-wing radicalism in its ranks.

Some SPD lawmakers have reservations about leasing Heron TP drones from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) which can be armed and used to protect soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Mali.

The higher court in Duesseldorf in May dismissed a legal challenge by U.S. weapons maker General Atomics to Germany's plans to lease the drones from rival IAI. But the court this month said it had put the deal on hold again as it considers a complaint by General Atomics against its decision.

Some SPD lawmakers want the budget committee to delay a decision on the deal until a final court decision.

Germany already has three earlier versions of the Heron reconnaissance drone which are deployed in Afghanistan. They are maintained by Airbus and cannot be armed.

Germany is supposed to be taking on added responsibilities within NATO and the European Union.

($1 = 0.8977 euros)

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Joseph Nasr, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
(New throughout, adds more comments from officials and background on Volcker rule)

WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) - U.S. financial regulators could ease rules that keep taxpayer-backed banks out of some risky investments, according to testimony released on Wednesday ahead of a Senate hearing.

Officials from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said they were looking at ways to simplify the Volcker rule, which prevents banks from making speculative bets with their own money. The possible steps included exempting small banks from having to comply with it.

"In our view, there is room for eliminating or relaxing aspects of the implementing regulation," Fed Governor Jerome Powell said in testimony to be given before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

"The Volcker Rule provides a practical example of how conflicting messages and inconsistent interpretation can exacerbate (the) regulatory burden," said Keith Noreika, the acting Comptroller of the Currency, a leading regulator for national banks.

The Fed and the comptroller's office are among five bank regulators that must agree to any reform of the Volcker Rule, part of the Dodd-Frank law that passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The Volcker rule also limits relationships between covered banks and hedge funds or private equity funds.

Wall Street and some regulators have said the standard is too constricting, leaving banks vainly trying to separate accounts that may not actually take risky bets and sapping liquidity in some markets because bank dealers are put off from participating.

Backers of the rule say it guards against speculation that could lead to another costly government bank bailout.

The Federal Reserve wrote much of the regulatory language spelling out the Volcker Rule, and the central bank now thinks there is a way to improve the standard, Fed Governor Jerome Powell said.

Noreika and Powell are among a handful of national regulators due to testify about regulatory reform on the banking panel. They said they could envision smaller banks being exempted from the Volcker Rule, named after former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker who led the central bank in the 1980s.

President Donald Trump has favored less restrictive banking rules to boost lending and spur economic growth. But Martin Gruenberg, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures bank assets, warned it could be risky to loosen the rules too much.

"It is important to preserve the gains that have been achieved in restoring financial stability," Gruenberg was due to tell the banking panel.

Gruenberg's term ends in November. Trump has said he intends to nominate James Clinger, a Republican Congressional staffer, to replace Gruenberg.

(Reporting By Patrick Rucker and Jason Lange; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)
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By Amanda Ferguson

LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - A deal to prop up British Prime Minister Theresa May's minority government is not likely this week though talks with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to support her government are continuing, a DUP source told Reuters.

After May lost her majority in parliament with a botched gamble on a snap June 8 election, she is trying to secure the backing of the DUP's 10 lawmakers, though talks have dragged on for nearly two weeks.

While the details are still to be thrashed out, a deal is considered likely.

The DUP knows a deal with May is its best chance to secure extra cash for Northern Ireland while the Conservatives know that the DUP do not want risk a Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn, who has appeared beside Sinn Fein leaders in the past.

When asked whether a deal would be finalised this week, the DUP source said: "It does not look likely."

"Talks are continuing," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

DUP sources said on Tuesday that May's party needed to give greater focus to discussions and added that the DUP could not be taken for granted. While the two parties are largely aligned on domestic issues and Brexit, the talks have snagged on the extent of financial support that Northern Ireland will get as part of any deal, according to sources.

One issue that has caused friction in talks is air passenger duty - an excise duty on passengers flying from airports in the United Kingdom - which the DUP want to be scrapped so that Belfast can compete with Dublin's airport.

In its manifesto, the DUP said it would pursue the abolition of air passenger duty and cut value added tax for tourism businesses.

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson; writing by Costas Pitas; editing by Kate Holton and Guy Faulconbridge)
(Recasts, adds details, quote, reaction)

LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to give her government the powers to intervene in the takeover of any critical infrastructure by a foreign buyer to enable it to protect national security.

The world's fifth-largest economy has attracted more foreign investment than any other country in Europe but May has said her government should have the power to scrutinise significant foreign investment and intervene when it concerns critical assets such as nuclear power.

The proposal was included in the government's two-year policy plan set out on Wednesday, one of the few planned changes to British business that was mentioned in the 82-page document known as the Queen's Speech.

"This will ensure that foreign ownership of companies controlling important infrastructure does not undermine British security or essential services, it said.

"It is important that we protect national security, while remaining an open and liberal international trading partner and a global champion of free trade and investment."

May, who became prime minister after Britain voted to leave the EU last June, faced one of her first major challenges when she gave the go-ahead for a $24 billion plan for a Chinese-backed nuclear power plant in southwest England.

She ultimately approved the deal but said her government would take a more cautious approach over similar foreign investments in the future.

Before a botched gamble on a snap election cost her party its majority in parliament, May had set out a raft of proposals for corporate Britain, including curbing soaring levels of executive pay and giving workers a greater say on strategy.

A spokesman for the prime minister said the government remained committed to improving corporate governance, after the proposal was not listed in the policy document.

The government could try to introduce changes to corporate pay by seeking to get companies to support their plans without bringing in primary legislation, or by changing the rules within existing legal frameworks without the need to pass fresh laws though parliament.

The government is expected to publish its plans for corporate governance in a green paper in the coming months.

"We were expecting a stripped-back Queen's Speech and that's what we got, but business leaders will actually be pleased to see the tighter focus on the most immediate challenges," said Stephen Martin, Director General of the Institute of Directors.

"The scale of the task ahead is significant and business confidence, in light of our present political limbo, is low."

(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Paul Sandle and Susan Thomas)
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Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said that he sent to parliament a request for the criminal prosecution of current independent MP, ex-secretary of Kyiv City Council, Oles Dovhy.

"I have submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a request asking the parliament's consent to prosecute MP Dovhy, whose actions display signs of abuse of official duties committed in complicity [with other offenders] with the aim of unlawful seizure of ten land plots of the natural reserve fund - Zhukov Island wildlife sanctuary, with a total area of 44.25 hectares," Lutsenko wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

Earlier, member of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction Mustafa Nayyem sent a query to Lutsenko and Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) Nazar Kholodnytsky asking them to confirm the existence of the bill on removing the immunity from Dovhy.

He recalled that Dovhy is a suspect in a criminal case on the illegal allocation of land in the Zhukov Island wildlife sanctuary on the southern outskirts of Kyiv and may be prosecuted under Article 364 of the Criminal Code (abuse of power and office).

"In August 2007, Kyiv City Council issued a ruling to liquidate the Zhukov Island wildlife sanctuary, reducing its area to 196 hectares from 1,630 hectares. Later, the land left outside the sanctuary was distributed for housing construction, including to businesses close to [the then president of Ukraine] Viktor Yanukovych and his partner, MP Yuriy Ivaniuschenko," Nayyem added.

On June 20, Kholodnytsky said that he signed a submission to strip parliamentary immunity from Dovhy in the criminal proceeding on illegal allocation of land plots in Kyiv in 2007-2009 and has already sent it to the prosecutor general.
Requests for removal of parliamentary immunity from prosecution from five lawmakers were submitted to the Verkhovna Rada on Wednesday, Parliamentary Chairman Andriy Parubiy sent them to the relevant committee.

"The Verkhovna Rada has received five requests concerning lawmakers. The parliament speaker sent them to the regulations committee," a spokesman for the Rada chairman, Andriy Kovaliov, told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, lawmakers have been asked to strip Andriy Lozovoy (the Radical Party faction), Oles Dovhy (the People's Will group), Yevhen Deidei and Maksym Poliakov (both of the People's Front faction) and Boryslav Rozenblat (the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction) of their immunity from prosecution.
Poster of PyeongChang Music Festival & School / Courtesy of the festival





By Yun Suh-young

The 14th annual PyeongChang Music Festival & School, July 18 to Aug. 8, will focus on Russian music as the festival's fifth and last in the series of geographically oriented themes. The summer festival will be the last music festival to be held before the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February, as the International Olympic Committee suspended the winter music festival in preparation for the Olympics.

So far, the music festival has covered various regions for their themed performance series such as northern Europe, southern Europe (Italy and Spain), France, Germany and Austria.

Dubbed the "Great Russian Masters _ Song of the Volga River," this year's summer music festival will feature music by legendary Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich.

"This year we will be spotlighting music from Russia which has produced some of the world's greatest musicians over the past 150 years," artistic director Chung Myung-wha said during a press conference in Seoul, Tuesday.

The highlight of the festival, however, will be Sergei Prokofiev's opera, "The Love for Three Oranges." This is the first performance of the opera in Korea.

"It will be a concert version of the opera to fit our stage in PyeongChang," Chung said.

"It won't be the same as the original. The conductor for the opera, Zaurbek Gugkaev, is the nephew of world-renowned conductor Valery Gergiev. Gergiev will be performing at the Tongyeong International Music Festival so he won't be able to join."







From left, artistic director Chung Kyung-wha and Chung Myung-wha, and Chairman Kim Sung-hwan of Gangwon Art & Culture Foundation, speak during a press conference at the Grand Ambassador Seoul, Tuesday.



Conductor Gugkaev will be performing with the Mariinsky Orchestra and the National Chorus of Korea on July 29 at the Alpensia Music Tent. The Mariinsky Orchestra will also perform Tchaikovsky's "Moscow Cantata" on July 30. The Borodin Quartet, Russia's representative string quartet, will participate in the festival for the first time and perform on July 27 and 29 and Aug. 3.

Artistic director Chung Kyung-wha, sister of Myung-wha, said, "When we think of Russian music, the first word that comes to mind is masters. There will be music from the great masters and it's especially more exciting to have The Love for Three Oranges in its Korean premiere."

Artistic director Chung Myung-wha recommended pianist Stephen Kovacevich's performance with violinist Chung Kyung-wha on July 28 performing Brahms' Violin Sonata No.1 in G Major, op. 78.

"Pianist Stephen Kovacevich will be performing for the first time in Korea. This pianist, I'm sure, will touch many people's hearts," she said.

Some "premieres" include the Korean premiere of Shostakovich's (arr. Victor Derevianko) Symphony No. 15 in A Major, op. 141 on Aug. 5, the world premiere of Jean-Paul Penin's "Cafe Pushkin" and the joint world premiere of William Bolcom's "Sextet" on Aug. 6 with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Chamber Music Northwest.

"Although the PyeongChang Music Festival & School began as an effort to promote the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, it has grown to become a major national music festival," said Chairman Kim Sung-hwan of Gangwon Art & Culture Foundation.

"Because the budget for the festival is allocated by Gangwon Province, we need to continue discussing the matter with the provincial government. But we're doing our best to keep the festival going because it has become an international festival recognized overseas. I feel it's important for the media to keep promoting the need for the continuation of the festival."

It is still unclear whether the festival will continue after the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games.

Artistic director Chung Myung-wha added, "I'm delighted to hear from artists overseas when they say they want to participate. In the beginning, foreign artists kept canceling. Now the festival is so well-known overseas, they voluntarily request to be here. I hope the government could keep supporting the festival through wind and rain so it can continue for decades to come. I have confidence it will become one of world's best festivals."

The festival will be held at the PyeongChang Alpensia Resort and in regions of Gangwon Province. Visit gmmfs.com for more information.
Harim, Hanwha, Pizza Hut, builders may have to flinch



By Nam Hyun-woo





Harim Chairman Kim Hong-kuk Pizza Hut Korea CEO Steven Lee

Large companies may have sweated after Kim Sang-jo, a hard-line antagonist of the chaebol governance, took charge of the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) this month. They may be in panic mode now seeing Kim probe Booyoung Group, a domestic builder.



Observers speculate who would be the next targets. On their lips are Harim, Hanwha, Pizza Hut and some construction companies.



The antitrust watchdog said Sunday it asked the prosecution to investigate Booyoung on charges the builder did not properly report its related companies between 2002 and last year. Its Chairman Lee Joong-keun is also accused of having had shares of Booyoung units on borrowed-name accounts.



The crackdown on Korea's 16th-largest group by assets was the FTC's first move against conglomerates after the inauguration of Kim, who repeatedly vowed not to be "tolerant or hesitant" in reforming conglomerates.



Market watchers say Harim Group, which focuses on the business of supplying chickens, could be on the FTC's radar screen.



Harim has already drawn attention over an allegation that its Chairman Kim Hong-kuk transferred the company's managerial control to his son in improper ways.



Harim is under holding company Jeil Holdings, whose largest shareholder is Chairman Kim with 41.8 percent. The second-largest shareholder is Korea Thumb Vet with 37.14 percent followed by Orpum with 7.46 percent.



Orpum owns a 100 percent stake in Korea Thumb Vet, and its largest shareholder is Chairman Kim's son, Jun-young. This means the 25-year-old, whose stake is larger than that of his father, is the largest shareholder of the group with assets around 10 trillion won.



However, the junior Kim paid just 10 billion won in inheritance taxes. And Harim's unlisted unit secured the funds through issuing new shares.



Harim is denying all allegations that the process violates any laws.



Hanwha Group is alleged to unfairly give work to its subsidiary, Hanwha S&C controlled by the owner family. Hite-Jinro, a liquor group, is also facing similar allegations over its favors to Seo Young E&T, a company making beverage coolers, which Hite-Jinro's owner family controls.



It seems Pizza Hut Korea is not free from the FTC's watch. The Korean branch of the U.S. pizza chain is in a legal battle with store owners over an allegation it has illegally collected franchise fees totaling 6.8 billion won since 2003 for providing administrative support.



This January, Pizza Hut Korea was fined 526 million won for such practices, while a lower court ruled the company should return the fees.



In a high court ruling this month, judges were also against the pizza company.



Pizza Hut Korea said it has no plan over a further appeal or other legal measures regarding the issue.



Although the FTC cannot punish Pizza Hut Korea again over the same issue, market watchers expect the watchdog can enhance its pressure on the company through investigations.



Construction companies may also have to flinch as Kim took issue with their subcontracting practices, a thorny issue here as subcontractors cry foul at bigger companies.



In a Monday press conference, Kim pledged the FTC will "launch investigations in the sectors where abuses of subcontractors can take place."
Deputy Prime Minister and Strategy and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, center, presidential chief of staff for policy Jang Ha-sung, left, and the Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo hold trilateral talks in Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap



Finance minister, presidential secretary, FTC chief meet for 1st time

By Yoon Ja-young

The top economic policymakers of the President Moon Jae-in administration agreed that they should have a unified voice, setting consistent economic policies for the market and businesses.

Deputy Prime Minister and Strategy and Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon had a meeting with Jang Ha-sung, presidential chief of staff for policy, and the Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo Wednesday.

At the first trilateral meeting, they discussed the economic policies of the new government and financing plans, as well as examined risk factors such as real estate and household debt.

In the former President Park Geun-hye administration, top policymakers held unofficial meetings at a separate building in Cheong Wa Dae. Those meetings, however, stopped after the controversy that the decisions made at the secretive gatherings to support Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering incurred trillions of won in losses to taxpayers.

"The economic policy team will share analyses of the economic situation with Cheong Wa Dae and discuss major issues," finance minister said.

"While diverse macroeconomic indices are showing signs of improvement, public perception of the economy is still negative and the job market is still tight. The economic team should continue with meetings to discuss measures for economic development," he said.

He also said other economic-related ministers will join the meeting when the Cabinet is formed.

FTC chairman Kim also stressed that they should have "one voice."

"Economic policies should be consistent with the market and with businesses. As you know, I will meet representatives from the top four conglomerates Friday. Above all, the chaebol reform should be cautious, rational, consistent and predictable," he said.

Nicknamed chaebol sniper for his dedication to reform the chaebol, the FTC chief is expected to focus on rooting out conglomerates' irregular practices such as dubious internal transactions among subsidiaries or unfair trade with subcontractors.

"I will focus on discussion and cooperation so that the anti-trust regulator's corporate policies are in harmony with macroeconomic or industrial policies," Kim added.

Jang said reform should be carried out in the beginning of the administration.

"Past experiences show that reform tends to end up in failure unless it is done in the early days of the new administration. The deputy prime minister should establish a foundation for major issues," Jang said. "The FTC will be the center of chaebol reform design while the deputy prime minister will lead the economic vision and plan. Cheong Wa Dae and I are here to help you."

Jang stressed once again that the deputy prime minister will be the control tower.

"There will be opportunities to give detailed explanations on economic policy plans of the new administration. For every economic policy, there should be concession, negotiation, solidarity and care from the economic players," he added.

According to the finance ministry, they agreed that job creation is an urgent issue. They will concentrate on passage of the supplementary budget plan at the National Assembly which aims at job creation.

They also agreed to support businesses that stick to principles and engage in innovation, investment and aim at win-win agreements with subcontractors, while penalizing those breaching fair market practices.

After the meeting, the trio moved to Cheong Wa Dae, to attend the first job commission meeting presided over by President Moon.
By Yoon Ja-young

There are nearly 1 million foreigners working in Korea and their wages are rising.

According to the 2016 foreign employment survey released by Statistics Korea, Thursday, there are 1.43 million foreigners aged 15 or over residing in Korea, up 3.7 percent from a year ago.

Among them, 962,000 have jobs. The employment rate of foreigners recorded 67.6 percent, while 4.2 percent were jobless. When considering that the number of the employed totaled 26.5 million, three or four out of 100 workers in Korea are foreigners. The ratio has been rising each year for the past few years.

Economically active foreigners, which combine both the employed and the jobless, surpassed 1 million for the first time.

When asked about salaries, 48.7 percent said they were paid between 1 and 2 million won a month, while 37.9 percent earned between 2 and 3 million won. Those who earn over 3 million won took 8.9 percent. Those earning less than 2 million won totaled 53 percent, down from 58 percent last year. Those earning over 2 million won, meanwhile, rose to 47 percent from 42 percent.












The chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee has called for a ban on tourist travel to North Korea after American student Otto Warmbier died just days after his release from the North in a coma.



"Travel propaganda lures far too many people to North Korea. This is a regime that regularly kidnaps foreign citizens and keeps 120,000 North Koreans in barbaric gulags. The United States should ban tourist travel to North Korea," Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) said in a statement released Monday.



Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, died Monday, six days after he returned to his Ohio home in a coma after 17 months of detention in the North for taking down a political propaganda sign from a hotel.



North Korean officials claimed Warmbier fell into a coma in March last year due to botulism and a sleeping pill. Doctors in the U.S. said Warmbier had severe brain damage and was in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness."



His family blamed the "awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans."



"My thoughts and prayers are with the Warmbier family. Over these past 18 months they've endured incredible pain and suffering, all because their son allegedly took a poster off a hotel wall in Pyongyang. I hope, someday soon, they can look beyond this senseless killing and find peace," Royce said.



Last month, a bipartisan group of congressmen, led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), introduced the North Korea Travel Control Act (H.R.2732) that would prohibit travel to North Korea by Americans without permission from the government.



Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN) said the Senate is looking at such a ban.



"Should there be a travel ban for U.S. citizens going there relative to this. That's something we're looking at," Corker said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."



"Americans end up being there. We got three there today that have charges, trumped-up charges against them, and we have got to figure out whether it's best to allow people to do that and then end up in a situation where we're doing everything we can as a nation to get them out," he said.



Corker also said Warmbier's death "just stirs up this anger towards North Korea."



"Look, I assume there's going to be an autopsy and we'll know more about what actually led to what caused him to pass away. It's obviously incredibly sad," he said.



Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that any "stupid" Americans still wanting to travel to North Korea after Warmbier's death should be made to renounce their right to government protection of their lives.



"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 said.



"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," he said. (Yonhap)




Travel agencies specializing in North Korea tours are saying they will no longer take U.S. citizens to the North after an American university student released by North Korea last week in a coma died, Radio Free Asia reported Wednesday.



An official at New Korea Tours, a North Korea tour operator, told the Washington-based RFA in an email that it has decided not to receive applications for North Korea tours from U.S. citizens due to the recent tragic incident, referring to the death of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student.



Warmbier died Monday, six days after he returned to his Ohio home in a coma after 17 months of detention in the North for taking down a political propaganda sign from a hotel.



The New Korea Tours official was quoted as saying the travel operator will not sell North Korea tour products to U.S. citizens until further notice.



The decision came after Young Pioneer Tours, the travel agency that organized Warmbier's trip to the North, said on its Facebook page that due to "this tragic outcome we will no longer be organizing tours for U.S. citizens to North Korea."



Other travel agencies including Koryo Tours and Uri Tours have said they were reviewing their North Korea operations for American citizens.



North Korea tour operators' decision to suspend trips for some clients is interpreted as taking measures toward increasing security concerns about North Korea tours prompted by Warmbier's death.



The U.S. government has been mulling a travel ban on North Korea. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on June 14, one day after Warmbier was brought home from Pyongyang, that the State Department is considering a possible restriction against U.S. nationals traveling to the North. (Yonhap)




John F. Kennedy International Airport



By Ko Dong-hwan

Three North Korean men claiming to be diplomatic couriers said security officers "mugged" them at John F. Kennedy International Airport last week.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers and airport police took a package from the men that contained a valid diplomatic courier certificate, Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Sunday.

The report said U.S. authorities "literally mugged" the delegates and behaved like "gangsters." It called the incident "an illegal and heinous act of provocation," according to CNN.

Homeland Security said the North Koreans were not accredited members of North Korea's Mission to the United Nations and had no entitlement to diplomatic immunity. It said the package had no diplomatic protection.

"The Homeland Security officers seized multiple media items and packages from the individuals, at which time the North Koreans attempted to physically retrieve the items but were prevented from doing so by the American officers," the department said. "The reported aggression was initiated by the North Koreans."

The 1961 Vienna Convention states that diplomatic couriers "shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention" and the diplomatic bags they carry may not be opened or detained. It also states that any person claiming courier status must carry accreditation and any courier bags must be marked as such.

The North Koreans were stopped from boarding their flight out of JFK, according to Homeland Security. They were in New York for a three-day U.N. conference on the rights of people with disabilities, which ended Thursday.

The incident comes only days after North Korea released American Otto Warmbier after 17 months in detention. Warmbier was in a coma and died on Monday at a hospital in Ohio. He was sentenced in January last year to 15 years' hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda banner from his hotel in Pyongyang.
The U.S. Senate has scheduled a hearing that is expected to focus on the death of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was detained in North Korea for more than a year, its website showed Wednesday.

Warmbier, 22, died Monday, days after returning home in a coma following 17 months of captivity in the North for stealing a political propaganda poster from a hotel in Pyongyang.

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will hold a closed session at 11 a.m. Thursday (Washington time) to be briefed by Joseph Yun, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy, on "recent developments" related to the communist regime, according to its website.

Yun visited Pyongyang earlier this month to bring Warmbier home after he was reportedly informed of the University of Virginia student's condition during talks with North Korean officials in New York.

Three other Americans remain detained in the North. (Yonhap)


By Lee Han-soo

Following Otto Warmbier's death, Americans are boiling with anger over what they described as the North Korean regime's "brutality" to foreigners held captive there. The U.S. government faces increasing pressure to take a tougher stance on the reclusive state, while chances of settling issues through dialogue are dimming.

Some people have proposed a military strike, but most are demanding the government take non-violent measures first and iron out the trouble through a diplomatic solution.

The Korea Times has compiled the quotes of influential people in U.S. politics and the media to see the trend of opinions that could affect U.S. policy toward North Korea.





U.S. President Donald Trump (White House 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."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (U.S. State Department statement):

"We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained.

"We have been evaluating whether we should put some type of travel visa restriction on North Korea."

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (Interview with MSNBC):

"Should there be a travel ban for U.S. citizens going there relative to this? That's something we're looking at."












The Vietnam Pieta sculpture placed on Jeju Island, created by the artist couple Kim Un-sung and Kim Seo-kyung. / Courtesy of Kim Un-sung



By Choi Ha-young





Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Un-sung

The "comfort women" statue, created by sculptor couple Kim Un-sung and Kim Seo-kyung, has been at the center of the diplomatic row between Korea and Japan. A symbol of the wartime sex slavery during World War II, several comfort women statues have been erected, including one near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in 2011 and another in front of the Japanese Consulate in Busan last year.

The couple is now planning to make yet another historical symbol of the Korean soldiers' alleged massacres of civilians during the Vietnam War. They made the decision after being disappointed by President Moon Jae-in's Memorial Day speech, in which he lauded Korean veterans who fought in Vietnam as an ally of the United States.

"If Koreans hope for the Japanese government's sincere apology, we should do the same for the Vietnamese. I hope President Moon becomes the South Korean Willy Brandt, who fell to his knees for Holocaust victims," Kim Un-sung said.

"This would be our declaration to uphold peace and human rights. The Korean government's public apology would empower our voice in international society, while bewildering the Japanese government."

For the symbolic motion, the vocal artist proposed President Moon to install a "Vietnam Pieta" at the Korean Embassy in Vietnam, as South Korean peace activists have been doing so all over the world. The sculpture that embodies a mother holding a baby symbolizes the civilians killed by Korean soldiers.

"Japan has showered its victims with financial support without recognizing its past wrongdoings. On the other hand, the chancellor of Germany took a faithful gesture," he said.

At the same time, Kim Un-sung hopes the South Korea veterans regain their honor. The Koreans, mobilized to the war, have been branded as murderers. However, those who've suffered long-term effects from exposure to defoliants and trauma are also victims, he said.

"The decision to join hands for the unjustified war was made by ex-President Park Chung-hee. This explains why the government, not the soldiers, should be accused of the atrocities."

The pieta sculpture is now placed on Jeju Island. The artists tried to donate it to Vietnam last year, but were restrained by ex-President Park Geun-hye, Park Chung-hee's daughter.

President Moon, a former human rights lawyer, is scheduled to visit the Vietnamese city Danang in November to take part in an APEC meeting. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, a veteran U.N. official who has emphasized human rights diplomacy, is likely to accompany him.

"South Korea's proactive apology will raise our place in the international community. Ultimately, I hope the consecutive apologies lead to a Japanese Willy Brandt as well," he said.
By Choi Ha-young



The Japanese government is going all out to prevent the placement of a "comfort women statue," the symbol of Japan's wartime sex slavery, by Korean civic groups in Atlanta, Georgia, activists said Wednesday.



The unveiling ceremony for the statue is scheduled for June 30 in Brookhaven, a suburb of Atlanta. This represents efforts by local Korean Americans to publicize Tokyo's wartime sex slavery. It will be the third comfort women statue to be erected in the U.S. following statues in California and Michigan.



In response to the motion to memorialize the victims, Japanese far-right groups allegedly have attempted to put the brakes on it. According to Korean-owned media NewsAndPost based in Atlanta, Japanese Consulate General Takashi Shinozuka requested a meeting with Brookhaven Mayor John Ernest and city council members to protest the campaign.



Further, malicious internet comments and protesting emails are pouring in to the council members, allegedly backed by some far-right Japanese communities in the U.S. A law firm which provided a meeting place for the Korean task force to create the landmark also got protest calls.



So far, the Mayor and council members remain firm on the initiative, but they are bewildered by such fierce resistance, NewsAndPost reported.



"For last two years, the systematic opposition to our campaign has been palpable. Some Japanese businessmen, linked with community leaders in the region, also put pressure on decision-makers, by saying they will withdraw investment from the city," Phyllis Kim, executive director at the Korean American Forum of California, told The Korea Times.



"We think this is the influence of the Japanese government's $500 million budget that was executed in early 2015, which is dedicated to enhance the nation's image and correct historical facts," Kim added.



On May 23, Brookhaven city council unanimously voted to allow the sculpture. "We are raising awareness of the ongoing problems of sexual and human trafficking taking place in metro Atlanta and the world today," the mayor said in the council meeting. "We encourage other cities to join us in a strong, public stand against human trafficking."



Participants at the unveiling ceremony will include 88-year-old sex slavery survivor Kang Il-chul along with sculptors Kim Un-sung and Kim Seo-kyung. The mayor will host the ceremony, NewsAndPost said.




President Moon Jae-in holds an interview with Norah O'Donnell, a co-host of the U.S. broadcaster CBS' news program "This Morning," at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae



By Kim Rahn





Does South Korean President Moon Jae-in need prior "approval" from U.S. President Donald Trump before having talks with North Korea over the nuclear weapons issue? An influential U.S. broadcaster seems to think so.

Although Cheong Wa Dae said South Korea does not require any U.S. approval for its North Korea policy, it is concerned that the globally broadcast interview by the influential CBS may give the wrong impression that the South Korean President will visit the U.S. to seek approval from Washington.

In an interview with Moon, Tuesday, 10 days before his summit with Trump, CBS's "This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell said his idea of engaging in dialogue with Pyongyang before its denuclearization was at odds with Trump's policy; but Moon replied it was not.

Then she said, "But it's not clear that, even under President Trump, that he will agree to allow you to negotiate with the North Koreans without any preconditions."
By Yi Whan-woo



President Moon Jae-in will participate in Russia's Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in September, according to a ruling Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker, Wednesday.



Rep. Song Young-gil, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in May as Moon's special envoy, said the President will attend the annual forum aimed at bolstering international investment to Russia. Cheong Wa Dae, however, refused to confirm this.



The meeting will take place from Sept. 6 to 8 in Vladivostok, with more than 3,000 participants expected to attend.



"We will need to discuss the size of the delegation and other details sometime next month," Song said.



He said that Moon and Putin may talk about the EEF on the sidelines of their meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, in July.



Putin launched the forum in 2015 for the development of energy, infrastructure and other businesses in Russia's Fast East.



During his meeting with Song, Putin invited Moon to the forum.



In 2016, some 2,500 participants from 32 countries, including South Korea, China, Japan and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attended the forum.



Among them were then-President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.












Two Filipina-Korean couples release doves after their wedding ceremony, Sunday, at Hyehwa Catholic Church in Jongno, central Seoul. / Courtesy of Multiculture Museum



By You Soo-sun

Two Filipina-Korean couples swore their oaths, Sunday, in a wedding ceremony at a Catholic church in Jongno, central Seoul. The brides, both from the Philippines, have been legally married to their Korean spouses, but had waited over a decade for a wedding ceremony, deemed a must in their home country.

For the past six years, the Multiculture Museum of Korea has annually arranged weddings for such couples to commemorate interracial marriage.

The hall was packed with both Korean and Filipino guests, some who flew from the Philippines. Even the back of the hall teemed with people who stood throughout the ceremony to watch the two couples take their vows. The crowd sang along to the hymns, with lyrics shown in Tagalog on a screen at the front of the church.

"Many of our programs are designed to help foreigners adjust to Korean culture," said Kim Yun-tae, director at the Multiculture Museum. "We realized, however, that an understanding of the minority should come first."

"Through the ceremony, the Korean spouse and family may learn to appreciate and embrace the culture of the bride."

The foreign population in Korea has grown rapidly over the last decade. From 2006 to 2015, the percentage of foreigners tripled, from 1.1 percent to 3.4 percent of the total population, according to the Ministry of the Interior. In 2015, a quarter of the 1.7 million foreigners residing in Korea reportedly came for marriage. But despite the population spike, it is still typical for the foreign spouse to assimilate to the Korean way of life.





Multiculture Museum director Kim Yun-tae (top, center), former lawmaker Jasmine Lee (to Kim's left) and Philippine Ambassador Raul Hernandez (to Kim's right) / Courtesy of Multiculture Museum



"Most of these wedding ceremonies are held in Korean. So even when family members come to visit from a different country, they are not able to understand," said former lawmaker Jasmine Lee who attended the wedding. "I think this wedding shows Korea is on its way to better embracing other cultures." Lee was the first non-ethnic Korean to serve as a member of the National Assembly in Korea.

Philippine Ambassador Raul Hernandez also welcomed the event. "I'm very happy the event was organized to highlight our traditional Catholic wedding ceremony," Hernandez said at the wedding. "Even though the two couples have been legally married, the ceremony is important in our culture as a way of solidifying the marriage."
The following is a refutation of The Korea Times' May 26 article titled "Foreign teachers accuse school of illegal wage skimming."  ED.



Joo Soo-yong has disputed an article in The Korea Times that appeared on May 26, titled "Foreign teachers accuse school of illegal wage skimming."



While Joo acknowledged that he is an agent representing the foreign teachers at the school, and he holds an honorary position as adviser to Kyonggi Elementary School, he strongly denied any illegal acts related to wage skimming.



Joo expressed his regret regarding the previous article, which decisively claimed that Joo was an offender and falsely stated his acts had already "turned out to be illegal." The article also erroneously determined that the foreign teachers were "victims" without elaborating any counter arguments from Joo, making his wage skimming a fait accompli.



The management agreement signed by Joo and the foreign teachers stipulates that the hourly wage of the teacher includes a small portion intended for Joo as compensation for providing management, general consulting, administration, recruiting, developing curriculum and providing necessary feedback.



Thus, the teachers have been paying management fees directly from their wages in return for Joo's assistance in their job performance. In addition, the agreement specifies that the teachers should remit the above mentioned portion to the manager, Joo, within three working days from payday. All the contents in the agreement were mutually agreed upon and signed by each party on his/her free will.



Legal action is being taken to settle the misunderstanding between the parties involved and stop these groundless rumors from continuing to surface. Joo urged that the articles should not contain any inaccuracies or prejudice toward any individuals involved.




By Kim Hyo-jin



With little clue of exactly what happened in the current case of Otto Warmbier, his death is shedding light on the brutality of North Korea's penal system.



Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for trying to steal a political poster and only set free after his health seriously deteriorated. His parents blamed "torturous mistreatment" by the North Korea for their son falling into a coma.



U.S. citizens who have been kept in custody in North Korea have testified their experience was extremely painful with hard labor and stress from isolation.



Kenneth Bae, a missionary who was also sentenced to 15 year hard labor and later released after two years of captivity, said he had to work for 10 hours daily, six days a week during imprisonment.



In his memoir, titled "Not Forgotten: The True Story of My Imprisonment in North Korea," Bae wrote he was interrogated from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. every day for the first four weeks. Interrogators demanded he write hundreds of pages of confessions.



Later, he toiled on a farm in a labor camp. From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for six days a week, he performed hard labor, carrying rocks and shoveling coal. He lost 27 kilograms during his imprisonment.



What he faced was not just the physical burden. Bae recalled one interrogator kept saying, "No-one remembers you. You have been forgotten by people, your government. You're not going home anytime soon. You'll be here for 15 years. You'll be 60 before you go home."



"I felt like an insect, tangled in a spider web. Every time I moved it got messier, with no way out," the onetime detainee wrote with layers of helplessness in his tone.



Laura Ling, an American journalist detained in 2009, also testified about the harsh conditions of her captivity, which was compounded by a feeling of isolation.



"It was a 5-by-6-foot cell, and there were a couple of slats on the doors," she said in a magazine interview after her release. "There were no bars, so you couldn't see out, and if they closed those slats, it just went completely dark. There was no way to communicate with the outside world."



While Bae declined to comment on his experience of torture or being beaten, Robert Park, another Christian missionary who was caught in 2009, claimed he was subjected to torture.



He said several North Korean women beat his genitals with a club during an earlier interview with Yonhap. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and attempted suicide after his return.



The cause of Warmbier's death has not been figured out. The Ohio Coroner's office said it cannot be determined after an external examination. His parents asked not to conduct an autopsy.



North Korea claimed that Warmbier fell into a coma after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill.



Meanwhile, The New York Times quoted a senior U.S. official as saying Washington received intelligence reports that Warmbier had been repeatedly beaten in custody.




By Jun Ji-hye



President Moon Jae-in presided over the first official meeting of a newly-created presidential committee on job creation, Wednesday.



The committee was set up on Moon's instruction on his inaugural day, May 10.



The committee will follow up on Moon's campaign pledge to create up to 810,000 new jobs, mostly in the public sector.



Moon is the chairman of the committee with Lee Yong-sup, a former lawmaker, serving as vice chairman.



At the first meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae, Moon awarded letters of appointment to committee members, including heads of the Federation of Korea Trade Unions and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.



Those from women's groups, venture company associations and youth groups also joined the committee.



The government officials including the finance and industry ministers as well as the President's chief secretary for job creation are ex officio members.



Cheong Wa Dae said the committee will have a regular meeting once a month and can meet at any time if necessary.




By Ranjit Kumar Dhawan





North Korea has often been depicted as an isolated country and a threat to global peace. The probable reason for this perception is that it has been involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). There are also allegations that the North Korean regime violates the human rights of its people, abducts foreign nationals and is involved in the narcotics trade and money laundering.

As a result, there have been several international sanctions imposed on this reclusive state and in the recent months North Korea has been losing the support of its close partners. Relations between the "Hermit Kingdom" and its closest ally  China  have plunged to a historic low. Also, after the killing of Kim Jong-nam  the elder brother of Kim Jong-un in Kuala Lumpur  North Korea lost a key ally in Southeast Asia as relations with Malaysia have become severely strained.

In this series, another loss of a friend to the Kim dynasty is that of India. India established consulate level relations with North Korea in 1962 and had maintained ambassadorial level relations with it since 1973. Despite Pyongyang's involvement in anti-India activities during the Cold War period and its role in the proliferation of WMD with Pakistan, New Delhi did not break diplomatic relations with North Korea.

India provided tons of food assistance, medical aid and educational support to the North Korean people and abstained from voting against the North Korean human rights situation at the United Nations. Both India and North Korea had been partners in the Non-Aligned Movement and share similar views on several international issues including disarmament.

India had also been one of the biggest trading partners for North Korea. However, the lack of foreign exchange, reliable banking, insurance and a logistics system in the North had been a big hurdle for the development of bilateral trade. In April 2015 the foreign minister of the North visited New Delhi, which was the first ever visit by any North Korean foreign minister to this South Asian country. Indian leaders have repeatedly urged the Kim dynasty to dismantle its WMD program and focus on economic development.

However, it seems that India has also lost its "strategic patience" with regards to the North Korean nuclear and missile issues. This is evident from the fact that in April 2017 the Indian foreign ministry came up with an official notification to severely punish the North Korean regime for the development of WMD. This is the first time in the history of bilateral relations between the two countries that New Delhi has put forth such comprehensive sanctions.

Although India also has nuclear weapons, it did not sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty because New Delhi regards it as discriminatory. But India has always supported the United Nations Security Council resolutions against the North Korean nuclear and missile programs. Nevertheless, India's latest notification against the North Korean WMD program is in contrast to India's position on the Israeli WMD program. In fact, India has emerged as one of the biggest buyers of Israeli weapons and Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to make the first ever visit by any Indian prime minister to Israel in July this year.

The Kim dynasty needs to understand that international relations are not determined by ethics but realism. The world has changed and North Korea also needs to change, otherwise it will keep on losing partners. Therefore, instead of further isolating itself, North Korea should make economic development its top priority and build partnerships with other countries.





The author is assistant professor at the Department of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Delhi, India. His e-mail address is rkdhawan13@hotmail.com
By Bae Eun-joo





As the number of single households in Korea is increasing, people's interest in pets or companion animals also seems to be growing too.

Recent data shows that Korea's pet population has surpassed 10 million and is expected to double by 2020. The pet industry amounted to 3.5 trillion won in 2015. That figure is expected to reach 6 trillion won over the next three years, which means the pet industry will see a fourfold increase by 2020, compared to 2010.

Various financial packages and extravagant pet businesses are being introduced for the benefit of pets and their owners, which include medical insurance, pet accessories, pet mating services, beauty parlors and pet cafes.

Pets certainly seem to be heading into their golden age as some local governments have come up with pet owner-friendly ideas, capitalizing on these promising blue ocean strategies.

The North Chungcheong provincial government unveiled a plan to build a resort area in Chungju, a city famous for the Suanbo hot springs. The ambitious 4.3 billion won plan outlines a hotel equipped with a camping site, a water park and walking trails where visitors can freely enjoy their vacation time with their pets. Beauty parlors, a health care center and an academy customized for both the visitors and their pets are also included in the facilities.

Yeoju City in Gyeonggi Province proposed a 35.8 billion won plan to build a pet adoption center and a training school for pet whisperers. A private corporation will invest an additional 35 billion won to create a theme park, hotel and a shopping mall exclusively designed for pets in Yeoju.

Ulsan City is also planning to open a culture center for pets next year, which will house a play school, a therapy center and a concert hall.

A series of conventions and festivals for pets are held throughout the nation.

A Jindo dog festival was held in Jindo South Jeolla Province, the origin of the native Korean breed, which featured a racing competition, rescue dog demonstrations and beauty contests.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs estimates that over 20 percent of the nation's households, or 4.5 million households, are raising pets.

Experts cite that there are many benefits of being a pet owner.

The biggest benefit of having a dog in the house is that it exposes children to more germs and can make children less likely to develop allergies over the course of their lives.

Dog owners are less likely to suffer from depression than people who don't have pets, as interaction with their pets and the love receive from them can help people stay more positive. Pet owners not only benefit mentally but also physically by walking and playing with their dogs several times a day. Studies find that dog owners get to exercise 30 minutes more than non-pet owners every day. Polls also show that people trust others who have dogs more than just random people walking on the street and are more likely to approach them. Having a dog has the same emotional benefit as having a human friend.

Amid the increasing pet population and people's growing love for their animal companions, concerns are rising about safety and regulations.

A recent incident involving a loose dog raised alarm about the proper handling of pets.

Earlier this month, a seven-month old pit bull terrier attacked a small puppy while they were both being taken on walks by their owners.

Korea's Animal Protection Law mandates dogs of ferocious breeds, such as pit bull terriers or French bulldogs, to wear a mouth mask when walking outdoors. This pit bull terrier involved in the accident was not wearing a protective cap. In the midst of the dog fight, the owners were bitten by the animals and had to be medically treated.

In January, a shepherd dog on the loose rampaged through the subway platforms in Seoul and attacked commuters in fear. This incident happened only a year after a two-year old baby was bitten and killed by a pitbull terrier in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province.

The number of accidents caused by pet dogs increased to 1,400 in 2016 from 700 in 2014. This is more than quadruple the 245 dog attack-related accidents in 2011.

A more serious problem seems to be the increasing number of abandoned dogs. The Animal and Pets Quarantine Agency says that 82,082 animals were abandoned in 2015, an increase from 81,147 in 2014.

The Animal Protection Law requires all owners register their pets with their local government. This can help the community respond more effectively to dogs wandering around at large, dog attacks, and the control of dangerous, menacing and restricted breeds of dogs and maintain a safe environment for all citizens.

The law also states that owners who fail to register their pets or who let their dogs wander on the streets are subject to a one-million won fine. Also, those who harm or capture loose dogs will be fined a 10-million won penalty.

However, many pet owners in Korea are unaware of the animal registration regulation that has been effective since 2013 and data shows that less than 50 percent of pet owners have registered their animals.

Owning a pet can certainly be a privilege and a pleasure. But pet owners need to remember that the benefits of pet ownership come with responsibilities and a lifetime commitment and lifelong care of their pet.
Now is time to act for detainees in North Korea



The tragic death of an American college student, Otto Warmbier, six days after one-and-a-half years detention in North Korea, should be taken as an unavoidable call to prevent the same fate from befalling 10 remaining hostages in that gulag nation.



U.S. President Donald Trump was right to be indignant about Warmbier's death.



President Moon Jae-in deplored the hostage takers' inhumane actions after Warmbier never regained consciousness after being transferred home in a comatose state. But, compared with the effort made by Washington to release their citizens taken hostage by Pyongyang, the Seoul government has paid shamefully scant attention to their nationals in distress.



Out of 10 remaining in detention in the North, six are Koreans, three Korean Americans and one Canadian. The six are three missionaries _ Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chun-gil _ and Ko Hyon-cheol and two other North Korean defectors who are South Korean.



The same as President Moon, the Foreign Ministry called for the release of the six; but this looked like a footnote to the official lamentation about the Warmbier death, also being short of an outright condemnation.



There is little evidence to back the government's claim of making ceaseless effort to secure the release of the six. Above all, it doesn't know whether they are still alive or not. It had raised the issue over the hostages four times during inter-Korean official contacts and proposed a meeting but nothing has materialized so far. A related request was made during a U.S. delegation's visit to Seoul in February with little result.



If the hostages are still alive, they must be under extreme duress. Kim Jung-wook, the longest detainee, was taken in October 2013 for espionage and sentenced to life imprisonment. In March 2015, he and the two missionaries were forced to make public admissions to concocted charges as part of the North's propaganda campaign. Ko, the defector, was arrested for what Pyongyang claimed was involvement in child abduction.



The life of detainees is horrific to say the least. Kenneth Bae, a Korean American who was released in 2014 after two years in detention, said that for six days a week, 10 hours a day, he was forced to do hard labor. He lost 20 kilograms and was hospitalized when he got ill. Robert Park, another Korean American, suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and was sent to hospital after being detained for 43 days. Laura Ling talked about her confinement in a cell 150cm wide and 180 cm long during her five months in detention.



Considering reports that Americans are often treated better than other nationals for negotiating value with the U.S., the other hostages must be in indescribable plight.



If Warmbier's death could be put to a better use, it would need a joint effort by all involved nations and the international community to get the North to reveal their condition and release them immediately. If the Moon government wants to shift to dialogue with the North, solving the issue of detainees would be the best way to persuade pessimistic detractors.








By Jun Ji-hye

President Moon Jae-in's special adviser, Moon Chung-in, said Wednesday it was hard to understand why his remarks made in Washington caused such a huge stir.





Moon Chung-in

He said this to reporters who were waiting for him at Incheon International Airport to ask about the controversy over his recent proposal to reduce the scale of the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises if North Korea suspends its nuclear and missile programs. He also suggested a willingness to reduce dispatches of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula.

The suggestions were controversial as they could be seen as undermining the allies' joint efforts to curb the North's nuclear and missile threats.

He claimed he made the remarks just as a scholar during an academic conference, even losing his temper with the reporters.

As he said, the suggestions were made during a Wilson Center seminar in Washington, Friday.

But he was wrong when he said he made the suggestions as a scholar.

Currently, he is not merely a Yonsei University professor who has been famous for several outspoken remarks, as he also serves as the special presidential adviser for unification, security and foreign affairs.

This means his comments on all occasions could be understood as carrying political meaning and reflecting the position of the government.












By Kyung Moon Hwang





Some controversy has arisen since President Moon Jae-in publicly encouraged greater study of the ancient civilization of Gaya and nominated a particular National Assemblyman for a cabinet position. President Moon vowed to do things differently from his disgraced predecessor, but both of these steps seem mostly to have continued a disturbing pattern.

That pattern has been government intervention in historical scholarship, or more generally the politicization of history. State sponsorship of historical study is not always a bad thing: When, in the previous decade, the government established a commission to document the hidden atrocities of the Korean War, for example, it overturned a longstanding cover-up from the dictatorship period. Several years earlier, another government decision, to let competing private publishers write history textbooks instead of authorizing only a single official version, further enhanced the spirit of openness following democratization.

This explains why President Park Geun-hye's interventions were so distressing. First, she tried to re-nationalize high school history textbooks, over the outcry from almost all professional historians, in a transparent effort to resuscitate the historical reputation of her father, Park Chung-Hee, the former president and dictator. This was one of several moves by her administration, including the rushed agreement with the Japanese government regarding the comfort women issue, that aimed to break down what was considered a heavy-handed, leftist historical orthodoxy.

But regardless of whether historical understanding is dominated by progressives, both left and right views, at least among the general public, are undeniably nationalistic. Politicians and other non-historians readily turn to ethnic appeals over history, especially in order to mobilize supporters in defense of historical claims against Japan and/or China.

Thus President Moon's nomination, and now appointment, of Do Jong-hwan as his Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism is troubling. As a legislator Do fought against the re-nationalization of textbooks, but he also called for rejecting major research projects that he deemed insufficiently one-sided, as if somehow he, once a famed poet, knew better than groups of trained historians. And throughout, his intervention came in defense of nationalist fantasies about ancient history that betrayed not only ignorance but an appeal, once again, to tribalism.

Speaking of tribes, that's what Gaya was, a confederation of tribes, and probably little more than that, at least in terms of political character or identity. It was neither "Korean" nor "Japanese," as it was absorbed by neighboring Silla before there was a Korea or Japan. So to engage in this back-and-forth with Japanese historical distortions from the early 20th century, which by now are nothing more than a convenient bogeyman, is frankly silly.

But equally absurd is the widespread acceptance of the legend, spread by the education system including even universities, that Korean history originated nearly 5,000 years ago, and through a supernatural event at that. The Japanese and Chinese have promoted similar national myths. The claim that Gaya was actually the ancient Japanese colony of Mimana, for example, served to legitimate Japan's colonial rule over Korea in the early 20th century.

And so it's easy to see how this situation can produce ongoing tensions over who, in terms of the modern nation states of Korea or Japan or China, ruled whom and controlled which territory thousands of years ago. This sensitivity flared up again last month when apparently the Chinese president told his American counterpart that Korea was once a part of China.

When will this stop? Even opinion pages for sensible press outlets like The Korea Times have promoted this nationalistic fervor, accusing Do's critics of being "pro-Japanese." More sober observers, including professional historians, had hoped that the new South Korean president would be more reasonably dispassionate. But he seems to have escalated the situation.

It is not as if there is a lack of scholarly or popular interest in Gaya already. There is in fact a major Gaya museum in Goryeong, a university museum in Daegu, and a national museum and Gaya Theme Park in Gimhae, the supposed capital of historical Gaya.

Gimhae, though, is also the home town of former president Roh Moo-hyun, a close friend of President Moon, who is from neighboring Busan. So despite Moon's publicly avowed intent of only encouraging more research and attention for the sake of greater harmony between provincial regions, this seems more like a political move, sadly.

Furthermore, given that the historical figure most attached to Gaya, Gim Yusin, played the leading role in Silla's conquest of other kingdoms on the peninsula back in the seventh century, the glorification of Gaya has the potential of actually worsening regional rivalries.

Such unintended consequences are always a danger when politicians and officials try to politicize historical understanding. If Koreans can use Gaya to make a territorial claim based in the ancient era, for example, they should be prepared to accept Chinese claims over the Pyongyang area.

The other major problem is that such politicization of history tends to ignore or manipulate the work of trained professionals, about which I have written before in this column. My expression of concern is not merely one of self-defense, but also a voice of alarm at the disregard for verifiable facts and grounded expertise in order to pursue tribal politics, a component of the runaway nationalism that we see around the world today.





Kyung Moon Hwang is a professor at the Department of History, University of Southern California. He is the author of "A History of Korea  An Episodic Narrative" (Second edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).
By Kang Seung-woo



Samsung Electronics is set to finally release the English-language version of the Bixby voice assistant later this month.



Samsung announced on its U.S. website Friday (local time) that a select number of Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus owners in the United States can test Bixby's voice commands in English in advance. Those who want to get a sneak peek at the forthcoming service need to sign up for the preview test.



Samsung hopes Bixby will be the answer to Apple's Siri, Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa. Thanks to its deep-learning technology, Bixby will learn users' speaking habits as well as other information to provide them with accurate voice assistance, according to Samsung. In addition, the premium phone has a dedicated button that provides access to Bixby.



The announcement hints that Samsung is close to solving a language barrier for Bixby.



The tech giant unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S8, in March, and its first artificial intelligence (AI) service was the biggest draw among the device's headline features. However, it has offered support only in Korean thus far.



The world's largest smartphone maker initially planned to offer the English version of the intelligent interface by the end of last month, according to reports. But it was pushed back by one month due to Bixby's failure to comprehend English syntax and grammar.



When Samsung successfully released an English variant of Bixby, Korean users could also enjoy the service after changing their language settings into English.



According to Samsung, it plans to continue updating Bixby, including support for additional languages, features, third-party apps and devices.



"The upcoming Bixby update will give you a new way to interact with the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, enabling you to navigate through your phone's apps, services and settings with a mix of voice commands and touch," Samsung said.



Soaring sales



As of May 27 -- a little more than a month after its official release on April 21 -- Samsung sold more than 1 million Galaxy S8 phones and its larger sibling S8 Plus in Korea, faster than the 74 days taken for its predecessor, the Galaxy S7, to reach the mark.



Plus, its annual sales are estimated to be between 50 million and 60 million phones, according to industry watchers.



The brisk sales of the latest smartphone prompt watchers to come up with positive outlooks for Samsung's second-quarter performances. The firm also enjoys increasing profitability in chips thanks to the booming market.



Many analysts expect that the tech giant would chalk up an operating profit over 13 trillion won ($11.5 billion) in the second quarter, which would be higher than its archrival Apple.








By Lee Min-hyung



A consortium including SK hynix has been selected as the preferred bidder for Toshiba Corp.'s memory chip unit.



Toshiba's board of directors decided Wednesday to pick the consortium led by Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) as it offered the best price and other contract terms, the Tokyo-based company said.



"Toshiba's intention is to reach a mutually satisfactory definitive agreement with the consortium by the date of its annual ordinary general meeting of shareholders, scheduled for June 28, and to close the transaction by March 2018," it said.



The consortium, which includes INCJ, Bain Capital of the United States and the Development Bank of Japan, had competed against another one consisting of Broadcom, a chipmaker based in the U.S. and the world's largest contract electronics supplier Foxconn.



The INCJ-led consortium is known to have offered 20 trillion won ($17.48 billion), according to reports.



Toshiba explained the decision came in respect to not just valuation, but certainty of closing, retention of employees and the retention of sensitive technology within Japan.



The deal, if completed, is expected to make SK hynix the world's second-largest NAND flash chipmaker.



As of the first quarter this year, the Korean semiconductor giant was ranked fourth in the global NAND market with an 11.4 percent market share, with Toshiba coming in second with 17.2 percent, according to market researcher IHS.



SK hynix declined to comment on the details.



"We have joined the consortium as a lender, due to possibly ensuing antitrust disputes," an SK hynix spokesman said. "The consortium is still in internal talks to decide the details after the deal is closed."



In February, debt-ridden Toshiba planned to sell a 19.9 percent stake in its memory chip unit, as part of measures to make up for growing losses from its unprofitable nuclear power plant project in the U.S.



The company, however, revised the sales stake up to 100 percent, as the bidding failed to draw enough capital.



Samsung Electronics, the dominant market leader, did not join the race for the Toshiba acquisition over antitrust concerns, as the company led the chip market with a 36.7 percent share from January to March.



In a bid to win the deal, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won visited Japan last month to have a series of meetings with officials from Toshiba and the consortium.



On Wednesday, SK hynix shares closed at 64,800 won, up 1.25 percent or 800 won from the day before, on the Seoul bourse amid expectations for the Toshiba deal.




A light rail train makes a trial run to Uijeongbu City Hall Station in June 2012. The service was launched the same month. / Korea Times file



By Ko Dong-hwan

Suwon is pressing ahead with an eco-friendly battery-run tram service, which would be the nation's first. But the bid has raised concerns over past examples of failure.

The third phase of the service's business evaluation begins in July and will continue in the first half of next year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Tuesday.

The ministry discussed traffic laws for the service with the National Police Agency and checked on the city's system capability and the environmental effects in the first and second evaluation stages, an official said.

"Jeonju, Ulsan and Changwon all dropped their own tram projects while Suwon has solely pulled off the project up to this point," a Suwon city official said, according to news wire Newsis. "It is a core of the city's eco-friendly traffic policies. It will be launched in 2020."

A city traffic department official told The Korea Times: "We expect about 40,000 people will use the tram every day. It will run between Suwon Station and Jangan-gu Office over a six-kilometer rail. A one-kilometer section of the rail will be used for national research and development purposes."

The project will cost the central government 23 billion won ($20 million). The ministry, working with the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement, has approved the funding.

But the failure of a light rail business in Uijeongbu has put a cloud over the project's rosy prospects.

The Uijeongbu business was declared bankrupt on Monday. After four years and 10 months, it had accumulated a deficit of about 50 billion won. Following the Seoul Bankruptcy Court declaration, the city north of Seoul may have to pay 200 billion won to the business operators over allegations demand for the service was exaggerated during planning.

The city had estimated some 79,000 people would use the service daily, but actual use ranged from 12,000 to 24,000. A civic auditors group and an industry management engineering professor from Kyung Hee University alleged, according to TV broadcaster KBS, that the political interests of city officials and the greed of the project's subcontractors were responsible for the exaggerated estimation.

"Even when investigating the problem, the city said they did not have the raw data about how the estimation was calculated, statistics used in the calculation and other related information," an expert told KBS.

Concerns have also grown over a tram project in Incheon. The project, estimated to cost at least 100 billion won, will renovate old railway lines into four tram rails. But local civic groups said the project will be another failure like Uijeongbu unless its marketing research and funding preparation are right.

There are 10 planned tram projects nationwide that aim to connect greater city zones. They include Seoul, Hwaseong, Suwon and Jeju Island.

Residents have been pushing for the projects, which are likely to increase the value of their properties.

But objective views, based on estimated demand and the projects' ecological effects, appear to have taken a back seat.

"Although such a project (in Uijeongbu) was employed and later shut down, the damage does not reach civilians but only becomes a responsibility for politicians," the Kyung Hee professor said. "That's why people become irresponsible and root for the service. But the biggest culprits are municipal heads, who promise the projects for their political interests."
Timothy Yeo, center, former member of the U.K. Parliament representing South Suffolk and chairman of New Nuclear Watch Europe, speaks at a press conference during the 2017 ATOMEXPO held at the Gostiny Dvor exhibition center in Moscow, Russia, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Jhoo Dong-chan



Concerns rise on higher electricity prices

By Jhoo Dong-chan

MOSCOW, Russia  World-renowned energy experts question Korean President Moon Jae-in's stance on a nuclear-free energy policy, claiming the policy would deal a heavy burden to the Korean people and economy.

During this year's 2017 ATOMEXPO held at the Gostiny Dvor exhibition center in Moscow, Russia, participants said that the recent Korean government's move to phase out nuclear reactors is an outdated policy. They advised Seoul to be more cautious.

Timothy Yeo, former member of the U.K. Parliament representing South Suffolk and chairman of New Nuclear Watch Europe, said that there is fear and anxiety among Koreans since the 2011 East Japan Earthquake, but nuclear power is a completely safe energy source.

"The Fukushima incident was an industrial disaster caused not by nuclear power itself but by its vulnerable construction structure against a tsunami. There are no nuclear power plants in the world built like the Fukushima plants now. They are all strictly constructed under the International Atomic Energy Agency post-Fukushima requirements," Yeo said during an interview with The Korea Times.

"If Korea reduces its dependence on nuclear power without sincere consideration on how to fill the power gap with its nuclear power plants gone, the Korean people and their industries should take the burden of higher electricity fees and production costs, and that would be a mistake. I believe the level of Korea's energy technology is good enough to prevent such nuclear-related accidents from happening."












Energy experts discuss nuclear issues during the 2017 ATOMEXPO held at the Gostiny Dvor exhibition center in Moscow, Russia, Monday. More than 6,500 participants representing over 600 firms from 65 countries took part in the three-day event. / Korea Times photo by Jhoo Dong-chan

By Jhoo Dong-chan

MOSCOW, Russia  Global energy experts said that nuclear power is one of the key future green energy sources during the 2017 ATOMEXPO held at the Gostiny Dvor exhibition center in Moscow, Russia.

It is in stark contrast to the Moon Jae-in administration's stance for a nuclear-free energy policy, which President Moon has called for since his election campaign.

Participants in the three-day exhibition event agreed the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement can only be met by increasing the global share of nuclear power generation, which accounts for about 11 percent of the total power supply worldwide.

"Nuclear power has a smaller impact on the environment, and is the most effective way to generate power," said Sergey Kirienko, first deputy head of the administration of the president of the Russian Federation and chairman of the supervisory board of ROSATOM State Corp.

Russian publicly-owned ROSATOM is the country's largest electricity generating company, which produced 196.37 billion kilowatts of electricity last year. It also generated 18.3 percent of Russia's total power.

"In order to reduce carbon emissions as we promise in the Paris Agreement, nuclear is an inevitable energy source to fill the power gap with conventional fossil-fueled power plants gone."

Under the Paris Agreement, the world aims to hold the growth in the global average temperature below 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

A total of 195 countries signed the agreement while most of the signatory countries have already ratified it.












Charlotte Cho, co-founder of the U.S.-based retailer Soko Glam / Courtesy of Soko Glam



By Kim Ji-soo



Charlotte Cho, the co-founder and chief curator of the U.S.-based retailer Soko Glam, has carved out a big niche for Korean cosmetics and beauty products in the U.S. market.

Cho, 31, co-founded Soko Glam with her husband David Cho in 2012, turning a favorite pursuit, K-beauty, into a spurring business.

"I loved Korean beauty products, and the timing was right," she said.

Starting out as an online retail site, Soko Glam just recently opened an offline shop, Soko Glam mini store at Bloomingdale's in Soho, Manhattan. The company's The Klog, its Korean beauty and skincare content site, is well-loved for providing information about Korean beauty products.

Last week, the cofounder, author and aesthetician was in Seoul with two American editors to show them the Korean beauty and medical tourism scene.

Usually, she travels to Korea six to seven times a year, scouring for innovative Korean products she will curate. Cho said K-beauty is regarded as truly innovative in the United States, where it is actively benchmarked by big cosmetics leaders.

"The beauty industry is trending toward K-beauty, and even in the United States, (people ask), how do you make this an experience?' Everything is going online; if you're going to have a retail space, how are you going to make it an experience?" Cho said. "Korean brands are doing this well."

Brands like Skin Food and Etude House, which are carried by Soko Glam, lead in this "experience-providing" retail space, which is predominant in Garosu-gil in southern Seoul. Soko Glam recently introduced Etude House products, whose concept store Color Factory in Seoul allows consumers to really experience the brand.

"For example, Skin Food has a concept store in Garosu-gil, which looks like a farmer's market. It makes you feel like the ingredients are fresh, like 'yuza' in my skincare. On the second floor is a cafe where they have yuza tea," she said.

She said more and more customers are not merely looking to buy products on the shelves but also asking questions, such as "What is the brand about?" "How does this make me feel?" "How is it customized and personalized for me?"

Such whole experience is becoming important to retail, and U.S. companies are seeing that, she said. She sees K-beauty is thriving in the U.S. market, where she forecasts demand for Korean makeup and skincare products.

"Social media has greatly helped Korean companies become noticed," she said.

"In the mindset of U.S. consumers, they are convinced Korean cosmetics are higher quality. They have better formulation, and they think outside the box."

She, however, pointed out the telling the brand story through discounting policy by some K-beauty companies may "drive their brands to the ground" instead of conveying what the products are capable of.

As the pressure for K-beauty companies to diversify into markets other than China builds, the author sees her book, "The Little Book of Skin Care," sell well in such countries as in Spain, Poland and Vietnam, which attests to how those markets are primed for K-beauty.

Cho, who was born in the United States, said K-beauty is regarded for the first time as a "leading" rather than "leapfrogging" industry. "But if you think about it, Koreans are entrepreneurial, like my parents, who emigrated to the U.S. and who own a liquor store," she said.

In Cho's case, K-beauty was a discovery, a favorite pursuit found while working at Samsung Engineering from 2008 to 2012. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine, in just three years, because she wanted to get out of the suburbs.

She said she loves the hustle and bustle of the city. Soko Glam is based in New York and has an office in Seoul.

Cho and her husband, David, who is the company's cofounder and CEO, has seen their company rise to 25 employees, doubling from the previous year. They are looking to re-double the number by the end of this year. The company did not disclose its sales, but since stabilizing in mid-2013, they have seen profits grow threefold in recent years.

What about the rise of beauty products made with natural ingredients? Can K-beauty products remain competitive?

"There is a realistic side to K-beauty (that consumers appreciate)," she said. More importantly, Cho said consumers should think about what penetrates their skin better and what is actually formulated better for their skin.

What do she and her husband look for in recruiting team members?

"They have to have passion for K-beauty, passion for startup culture, have a can-do attitude and be able to wear many hats," she said.

During her years leading the company, Cho realized business leadership requires flexibility and open-mindedness.

"I see it is all about flexibility, empathy and understanding people and where they come from," she said. Cho said she shares the values of another female business leader, Kwon Keum-joo, CEO of Etude House, who has turned around the three top brands of Innisfree, La Neige and Etude House.

As for the future, there are so many possibilities, perhaps like her own beauty and cosmetics line. She has collaborated with Korean companies on vitamin C serums with COSRX, cleansing sticks with Neogen and a facial mask.

"There is so much to accomplish that it is hard to look ahead," she said.

"But we want to make sure that through content and education, we build a strong community where women can feel there are only good skin days ahead. That is a confidence booster," she said.

"Everything moving forward is about having a genuine relationship with consumers."
Kim Min Jae has just been a part of "Happy Together 3" which just aired last June 8. In one of the interviews, he tells the people how he has become speechless when it comes to the physical look of Gong Yoo.

The actor says that when he was still in "Goblin," his role was a killer who was tasked of murdering Gong Yoo. Surprisingly, the next statements he revealed were surprising. Kim Min Jae says that instead of him needing to feel the anger and jealousy against Gong Yoo, what he felt instead was an empty feeling. This is primarily due to the fact that he sees Gong Yoo be very handsome.

According to All K-pop, what Kim Min Jae did was that he only stared at Gong Yoo's face. The actor then further states that it doesn't matter if he is a man and if he finds Gong Yoo attractive because he is really that handsome.

He then went on saying that it was really hard for him to play the role of a killer and try to kill Gong Yoo. He implies that Gong Yoo is just too handsome to kill. Yoo Jae Suk then took the chance to ask another question to Kim Min Jae. This time, he asks the actor how he feels now that he have seen them.

Here is where the interesting thing happen because Kim Min Jae then turns to Cha Tae Hyun and says that it isn't really that hard to kill the people he's seeing now. The reason behind this is that probably they're not that handsome when compared to Gong Yoo.

According to Korea Portal, Gong Yoo is included in the list of Korean stars that have the brightest smiles. This proves that he is indeed one good-looking man that even his peers can't help but fall prey of. With all of these being said, one can clearly say that Gong Yoo might really be that handsome especially when you've seen him in personal. Well, that's why Kim Min Jae thinks of Gong Yoo.
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 exploration of 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, who are all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and also 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.

The military and civilian integration must be based on the situation of the country, Xi said, noting the integration process must bear distinctive Chinese characteristics.

"The ideas, decisions and plans of military and civilian integration must be fully implemented in all fields of national economic and defense construction and in the whole processes," Xi said.

The integration should value national socialist advantage of pooling resources to solve major problems and raising working efficiency, Xi said.

The integration must combine state guidance with the market's role, and comprehensively employ institutional innovation, policy support and legal guarantee to give full play to military and civilian integration, he said.

Xi also noted that the ultimate approach to deepening military and civilian integration lies in reform and innovation, calling for pilot schemes and exemplary models to explore new ways, and expand new space for military and civilian integration.

He also highlighted the proper use of the law in guiding and protecting the integrating procedure and called for improvement in market entry to encourage a larger number of competent enterprises, staff, technology and capital to play a role.

On deepening integrated military and civilian development, Xi called for focusing on key areas such as infrastructure, national defense-related sci-tech industry, weapon and equipment procurement, talent cultivation, socialization of the support system for the military, as well as the mobilization for national defense.

Ideas and requirements of integrated military and civilian development should be implemented in the fields of sea, outer space, cyber space, biology and new energy, Xi said.
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.
Three of six people charged for an ambush killing in Webster County last year pleaded guilty to drugs and weapons crimes on Monday and Tuesday in federal court. Prosecutors agreed to drop some of the charges against each of them in exchange for their guilty pleas, which could net them prison sentences between 10 years and life.

Investigators said five members of the group were part of a drug trafficking conspiracy. A federal grand jury indicted those five last July. The sixth charged person is only charged in state court with murder.

Five of the six suspects are from southwest Missouri and the other is from Mexico. Investigators said they were involved in a meth-distribution conspiracy that led to the killing of Oscar Adan Martinez-Gaxiola, 24, in April 2016. The suspects are Nathaniel Lee, 19, of Nixa; Brooke Beckley, 20, of Nixa; Jourdan McGinnis, 28, of Nixa; Anthony Donovan, 20, of Springfield; Yovanny Aroldo Mendivil-Balderrama, 23, a Mexican citizen; and Joshua Applegate, 18, of Fordland.

Investigators said the group from southwest Missouri sold meth in Christian, Dallas, Greene, and Webster counties from April 28, 2015, to April 26, 2016. Investigators said Beckley worked out an agreement with Mendivil-Balderrama that, if she killed Martinez-Gaxiola, she would get more time to pay a debt for drugs that she bought from Mendivil-Balderrama. Investigators say Lee and Applegate agreed to help Donovan and Beckley with the ambush murder.

Lee pleaded guilty on Monday and Beckley pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two crimes each: conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, resulting in murder. Prosecutors agreed in each case to drop charges of narcotics possession and possession of a firearm for furtherance of a drug crime.

McGinnis pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Prosecutors agreed to drop three other charges against him, including discharge of a firearm . . . resulting in murder.

Donovan has a change of plea hearing scheduled for July 5. Mendivil-Balderrama has a pretrial conference scheduled for Thursday, and a plea agreement may be in the works for his case also.

As part of the accepted plea agreements, prosecutors agreed to ask the judge to lower the severity level of some of the crimes, which could mean sentences shorter than life in prison.

The Webster County prosecuting attorney initially filed murder charges in state court but agreed to dismiss them against five of the suspects when the U.S. Attorneys Office said it would prosecute the group. Applegate is charged with second-degree murder in state court because he was 17 years old when Martinez-Gaxiola was killed. His trial is scheduled to start on Oct. 30 in Dallas County, where the case was moved from Webster County to try to ensure a fair outcome.

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More information from news release from U.S. Attorneys Office for Western Missouri:

McGinnis admitted he and Beckley possessed, on April 8, 2016, at least 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine in a hotel room, which they intended to distribute to another person.

In addition to the drug-trafficking conspiracy, Beckley and Lee each pleaded guilty to using a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, resulting in murder. They admitted the murder of Martinez-Gaxiola on April 25, 2016, in Webster County was willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated. Conspirators carried a Stoeger .40-caliber pistol and discharged a Glock .40-caliber handgun, a Taurus 9mm handgun and an unknown make and model .380-caliber handgun in the act of aiding and abetting each other and others to commit the murder.

Under federal statutes, Beckley, Lee and McGinnis are each subject to sentences of life in federal prison without parole for these crimes. The maximum statutory sentences are prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Missouri State Highway Patrol; the sheriffs departments of Christian, Greene, Lawrence and Webster counties; and the police departments of Seymour, Rogersville, and Springfield; and the Combined Ozarks Multijurisdictional Enforcement Team (COMET) all investigated this case.
La Jolla Cove beach received a D grade from Heal the Bays annual report card issued last week, and made it to the No. 5 spot on its Top 10 List of Bummer Beaches (those with the worst water quality in the State of California).

In a press release on the report, Heal the Bay writes: A new addition to the Bummer List, this San Diego beach sits in an enclosed area with limited water circulation. Its also home to growing  sea lion populations. The failing grades indicate a significant health risk to the tens of thousands of year-round ocean users in Southern California, who can contract a respiratory or gastrointestinal illness from one morning swim or surf session in polluted waters.

In 2016, La Jolla Cove beach-goers were often warned by the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health to swim at your own risk due to high concentrations of bacteria in the water. The first bacteria advisory sign from went up April 28, 2016, and the last advisory was issued late in 2016.

However, La Jolla Cove Swim Club President Dan Simonelli told La Jolla Light the number of sea lions has decreased since last year. Id say, there are probably less than a quarter of what the (sea lion) numbers were in 2016, he observed.

Swim Club: Its a huge black eye for the City of San Diego 

La Jolla Lifeguard Sgt. Ed Harris said he couldnt confirm whether the sea lion numbers are down because lifeguards havent done a count, but he said, Theres diminished amount of them that are landing on the sand, and rather staying on the rocks (where theres more wave action).

Commenting on the timeframe of the Beach Bummer list, which uses data from last summer, La Jolla Parks & Beaches board member Bill Robbins told the Light, The (sea lions) are still there, but they are around the corner at Boomer Beach. I believe we have had 10 weeks of good water tests now, which makes me wonder how Heal The Bay got all those figures.

The connection between the presence of sea lions and the high level of fecal indicator bacteria at The Cove is a hard one to make, since no specific studies have been done. But for Swim Club members, some of whom have been swimming at The Cove for more than 40 years, the correlation is obvious: Last year, with a larger sea lion population, they saw bacteria levels go up and this season, with dwindling numbers of sea lions at The Cove, no bacteria advisories have been issued since December.

The nearby Childrens Pool, with a year-round population of harbor seals, has a chronic advisory for bacteria levels that may exceed health standards since September 1997.

Due to the health advisories, events held at The Cove  such as the La Jolla Rough Water Swim, the 10-Mile Relay Swim and the Challenged Athletes Foundation Triathlon Challenge  had to be relocated in 2016 to other swimming spots in the vicinity.

The La Jolla Cove Swim Club-organized Pier-to-Cove Swim will start on the northern side of Scripps Pier at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 24, but according to Simonelli, participation is down to a third of what it was last year.

Ive gotten about 10 e-mails asking how the water condition is nowadays, so I think thats an indication that people worry about Cove water quality, he said.

The La Jolla Cove 10-Mile Relay swim is scheduled for Sept. 24 this year, but organizers of the Challenged Athletes Foundations Triathlon Challenge and the La Jolla Rough Water Swim (also in September) havent disclosed their intentions for this years events.

For Simonelli, the appearance of La Jolla Cove in Heal the Bays Beach Bummer list is a huge black eye for the City of San Diego.

Coastal Management Plan

Ann Dynes, La Jolla Parks & Beaches advisory board chair consulted the recently released City of San Diegos Marine Coastal Management Plan, prepared by Hanan & Associates, to find what the document proposed for decreased water quality at local beaches. But as I reviewed the report, it really does not look at pollution in The Cove or swimability, she commented.

District 1 City Council member Barbara Brys communications director, Hilary Nemchik, wrote in an e-mail to the Light, The Marine Coastal Management Plan was commissioned by the Mayor and City staff, and the Mayors Office has the authority to enforce the recommendations outlined in this report. Although Council member Bry was pleased with the increase in enzyme spraying that started last fall, the talk of a docent program and the possibility of additional rangers, she is well aware that the Mayors plan does not address the issues that swimmers at La Jolla Cove are facing.

Upon taking office, Bry proposed a six-point plan regarding the sea lions, including coming up with a plan to implement legal measures to shoo the sea lions off the beach and keep them off the stairs to make sure the beach is accessible to people and swimmers, as previously reported in the Light.

At her first meeting with the Mayor, Council member Bry recommended that City staff research and pursue viable options to improve water quality at The Cove and explore partnerships with the County and State to address the issue, Nemchik continued, Council member Bry has advocated for this approach in subsequent meetings with the Mayor and will continue to do so.

How its calculated

La Jolla Cove is the only beach in San Diego County to make Heal the Bays Beach Bummer list. With D grades for both summer days and wet weather measurements in the 2016-2017 season, this is the first time the world-renowned beach enters such a list. Past measurements of water quality indicate that La Jolla Cove was awarded A+ and A in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons. The 2015-2016 measurements show B grades for summer and winter dry weather, and an A+ for wet weather.

When composing the Beach Bummer list, Heal the Bays data analyst Karen Vu told the Light, only summer measurements are taken into consideration, which is when the beaches are most used.

Even if the sea lions arent there, Vu said, La Jolla Cove, as I take it, is more of an enclosed beach, not having a lot of waves that help dissipate (the bacteria).

Heal the Bay vice-president Sarah Sikich supported this idea, Other beaches that are enclosed or cove-shaped like Marina del Rey beach often received poor grades because theres no water circulation.

The non-profit uses data provided by County Department of Environmental Health (DEH) officials who analyze water samples from beaches once a week during the summer season. Sikich explained, We take the data and depending on the concentration of the three types of fecal indicator bacteria, we grade the beaches on an A to F scale. Its like a report card for academics.

Heal the Bay didnt offer a grade for dry winter water quality at The Cove. Vu explained when less than 75 percent of weeks in a season are sampled for fecal indicator bacteria, the non-profit doesnt offer a grade as it may not be representative of water quality.

San Diego County Land Use and Environment Group program manager Alex Bell wrote in an e-mail to the Light, The DEH samples  a select number of beaches identified as potentially higher risk during the winter. As a result of the various sampling schedules and the frequency, duration and timing of rain advisories, some beaches may not meet the 75 percent criteria set by Heal the Bay.

However, Heal the Bay granted a D grade for wet weather water quality at La Jolla Cove. Vu disclosed that of the five samples that had been taken at The Cove after a rain event, a couple of samples were over the (health standard) threshold.

DEH does not collect routine samples during rain or for a minimum of 72 hours after rain stops as general studies have shown that beach contamination is likely during this period, Bell explained. While no focused sampling has been conducted following rain advisories at La Jolla Cove, looking back at rain advisories and bacterial exceedance advisories at La Jolla Cove suggests there is not a relationship between the two, she added.

However, for Simonelli it makes sense that water quality at The Cove will be affected by rain. What happens in the wet weather, theres still contamination there, because the sand gets contaminated (by sea lion feces). For Childrens Pool, the City was obligated to drench the sand there. Obviously the same thing is happening in La Jolla Cove.

Reporters Note: The Wet Lab, a San Diego organization bridging the gap between science and citizens, is working on a La Jolla Cove Microbial Diversity Project, an effort to explore the microbial ecology at local beaches. Project leader Callen Hyland told the Light, It might give us clues as to the source of the contamination (at The Cove). The group has a fundraising campaign open to fund the study at bit.ly/CoveMicrobial
La Jolla Village Merchants Association (LJVMA) vice-president Brett Murphy provided the board with the latest news on the Burgers & Brews event proposed for Oct. 28 at Scripps Park, during its June 14 meeting at Riford Library.

Burgers & Brews is to serve as a kickoff to the Breeders Cup thoroughbred horse races at the Del Mar track, Nov. 3-4. Pointing out that he hopes the food event will attract about 4,000 people, Murphy said, Theyre going to come in in droves; theyll come out that Saturday and (attendees) wont have their cars, so theyll walk around the Village.

The demographics of the event are, he said, a clientele we dont usually capture. There would be local burger and brewery places featured, which we really love ... a little ambiance music, nothing crazy.

He added that half of Scripps Park would be occupied for the festival, and organizers will request that five parking spots be reserved for the event at the next La Jolla Traffic & Transportation (T&T) advisory board meeting. The La Jolla Parks & Beaches board heard the project at their last meeting, but conditioned their approval on getting a thumbs-up from Traffic & Transportation.

When we gave our initial presentation it was a mixed-room, and Im not sure why they wouldnt be a part of it, Murphy related. Maybe they think theyre at capacity as to how many events are happening at Scripps Park.

Proceeeds from the Burgers & Brews festival would be donated to the University City-based BraveCort Foundation in support of childhood cancer research.

In other Merchants news:

BizX: Owners gave a presentation to introduce their company. BizX offers business owners a community where members can use a special currency to pay for services with a 7.5 percent fee. Vice-president Daniel Kosh said the company, originally from Seattle, has 5,000 members who transacted $100 million last year.

Now were here, and La Jolla, which may or may not be paradise, has become our adopted home. He said the value in becoming a member is the access to a community of engaged business owners looking for goods and services.

Looking ahead: With the creation of the Maintenance Assessment District (MAD) in The Village, and the formation of Enhance La Jolla to manage the funds for landscaping, street power-washing, trash collection and graffiti removal, LJVMA executive director Sheila Fortune told the board, We need to go back and redesign our (concept). We have Sparkle & Shine (a trash pick-up program), whose funds have run out. We just need to reconvene and look at where were at and see where we continue on, for at least six to eight months, to keep what we have together.

Election: In preparation for its next election, LJVMA trustees voted to have an in-person format where members come in and input their votes, during a full- or half-day timeframe. Last year, we did mail-in and we got approximately 67 returns. My suggestion is we do an in-person vote this year, thats been the highest return, Fortune said.

 La Jolla Village Merchants Association meets 3 p.m. second Wednesdays at La Jolla Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave. lajollabythesea.com
Hemlock Society of San Diego board member Bill Simmons said he first got involved with end-of-life issues in 2009.

I felt everybody needed to have a written advance directive stating their wishes for end of life, he told La Jolla Light.

He started volunteering with hospice, And in the process of working with them and going out and seeing patients, I came to the conclusion that (family) conversations are more important than the advance directive.

Simmons will discuss The End of Life Option Act: Physician aid in dying for the terminally ill, alongside Hemlock Society president Faye Girsh, 10-11 a.m. Monday, July 10 at La Jolla Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave.

An advance health care directive is the legal document where a person describes the kind of decisions they wish to make when they no longer can speak for themselves because of illness or incapacity. In California, the document is typically composed by a lawyer, then signed by two qualified witnesses or acknowledged before a public notary.

Simmons, a La Jolla resident since 1998, believes family conversations are more important than the advance directives because first, the fact is that in an emergency situation, doctors dont have time to go find your advance directive, it may be in your records somewhere. Secondly, they tend to naturally talk to the people, the family thats standing by.

As a lawyer, this is really hard to take, he continued. Im trained to put everything in writing. Is a mantra in law school, Get it in writing! 

To illustrate his point, he gave an example. A person may have survived the 12 first hours (after a health event), some family members are there and theyre discussing the next steps. One family member says, I know my mother under this circumstances wanted no further treatment. And a sibling says, Oh we cant do that. We need to do everything we can to save her. And the doctors are often caught in a family conflict, where they dont know who to listen to. The advance directive can help with that, but family conversation is the way to deal with that.

He elaborated, I want my whole family to know what my wishes are.

Asked about ways to get the conversation started, Simmons said, Lets say, Im sitting down with my elderly parent and the younger person says, I see in the newspaper that Bob Hope died yesterday of this and that. (You may use) someone that they know. If you were in his circumstances, how would you want to end your life? So you can use events out of the news to kick it off. And thats the easiest way. Another one is, they come back from a medical appointment, Did the doctor discuss what would happen if something happens to you and so on? You can find wedges to start the conversation. Its the wedge youre looking for, because the conversation will flow typically pretty well once you get it started.

In June 1, The New England Journal of Medicine published the article Delegalizing Advance Directives: Facilitating Advance Care Planning by Joshua Rolnick, M.D., David Asch, M.D. and Scott Halpern, M.D., that agrees with Simmons notion. Clinicians will rarely provide end-of-life care that conflicts with the stated preferences of family members, even when a formally executed advance directive is available, the article reads.

The POLST (Physicians Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment), Simmons continued, often says, Do not resuscitate me if you find me on the floor passed out, because Im having my third heart attack and I dont want to deal with that anymore, let me die. Thats extreme, and that doesnt have to be notarized, doesnt have to be witnessed. Why does the advance directive need to be witnessed?

Simmons said he is a member of the Hemlock society because, Medicine has advanced so far in the past 50 years that we no longer die of pneumonia in four or five days, we start to decline in a number of years, and then the incline gets steeper and steeper, so death is prolonged, when it didnt use to be. My parents didnt have to face this kind of dilemma, prolonged dying.

My goal is to let people know that theres a choice, and what that choice is completely up to you. But I dont want anyone telling me how I need to die.

Hemlock Society of San Diego

A non-profit providing education about end-of-life choices in San Diego

Mission: Choice, dignity and control at the end of life

Monthly meetings with speakers, movies and discussion

All-volunteer organization

To attend a board meeting call (619) 233-4418 or e-mail hemlocksandiego@gmail.com

Source: hemlocksocietysandiego.org
A tusk-like, 3- to 5-foot-long mollusk is the theme of a research paper published earlier this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, authored among others, by former Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientist Margo Haygood, now research professor in medicinal chemistry at the University of Utah (and the daughter of La Jollans Ken and Noreen Haygood).

The animal belongs to the shipworm family and has been known to exist for centuries, but only recently have scientists had the opportunity to study it  and its surprising bacteria ecosystem. We were able to examine the animal other than just looking at its shell, which comes to the shell collectors market pretty often, Haygood said.

Shipworms are a group of saltwater clams whove adapted to living in rotting wood, thanks to the bacteria within them that transforms that wood into food. The giant shipworm, named Kuphus, went one step further and lived in a muddy, high-sulfur environment, which would be toxic for many other lifeforms, 80- to 100-million years ago. Weve been able to study the evolution of the family, and this animal falls in the middle of that family, so its ancestor was a wood-eating shipworm, and it switched its bacteria and its metabolism. Its really absolutely wild, Haygood said.

Kuphus also uses bacteria to obtain nourishment, but unlike its shipworm cousins, Kuphus relies on beneficial bacteria living in its gills that use hydrogen sulfide as energy to produce organic carbon to feed the shipworm. As a consequence, its digestive system has been reduced in size and importance.

The long, black, slimy body of the giant shipworm reminds Haygood of an alien. She marveled at the fact that here we are in the 21st century and we can have a first encounter with a strange organism from our own world.

The encounter was serendipitous, Haygood said. One is one of the younger scientists in our group saw a documentary telling about these animals (in the Philippines). We were able to make contact with the local authorities to get to these animals, and the thrill was being able to bring one of them to the university in Manila.

The animals shell, produced by secretions like any other mollusks, has a tube form. Its capped on one side and on the other side are two openings that Haygood explained are used to pump water in and out. Like you would see in a clam; one pumps water in and the other one shuts water out, she said. The water is filtered through gills, and the bacteria come into action to transform sulfur into food inside the Kuphus.

Haygood said she studies shipworms for their potential for discovering new antibiotics. We dont think this animal is going to be useful in that, because it doesnt eat wood. Its importance is more that it sets all the other shipworms in context and provides a contrast, supporting ideas about the importance of antimicrobial compounds. Its also a very surprising evolutionary discovery, she added.

The research Discovery of chemoautotrophic symbiosis in the giant shipworm Kuphus polythalamia (Bivalvia: Teredinidae) extends wooden-steps theory published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was authored by Daniel L. Distel Marvin A. Altamia, Zhenjian Lin, J. Reuben Shipway, Andrew Han, Imelda Forteza, Rowena Antemano, Ma. Gwen J. Penaflor Limbaco, Alison G. Tebo, Rande Dechavez, Julie Albano, Gary Rosenberg, Gisela P. Concepcion, Eric W. Schmidt and Margo G. Haygood.
A resolution setting public participation procedures during the citys review of its comprehensive plan was approved by the Lake Geneva Plan Commission on Monday.

The city council is expected to adopt the public participation plan during its June 26 meeting.

According to information from city documents and postings, by state law, the city must review and consider amendments to its comprehensive plan map at least once every 10 years.

Lake Genevas comprehensive plan, which governs where uses from light industry to residential neighborhoods will be located in the city, was first approved Dec. 14, 2009.

However, Lake Geneva receives requests for plan amendments annually, so the city uses an annual plan review and amendment cycle to keep changes and amendments current.

Since May 23 and through June 30, the city clerks office will accept applications for plan amendments.

Applications for plan amendments will be reviewed by the plan commission at its July and August meetings.

The council will set the public hearing on the proposed map changes on Aug. 28.

Public review

A public review period will be set aside from Sept. 6 to Oct. 15.

Copies of the proposed comprehensive plan will be available at city hall and the Lake Geneva Public Library.

Written comments on the plan amendments may be delivered, faxed, mailed or emailed to the city clerk.

Overall, the city goes through a five-month process of review and amendment for the comprehensive map.

A key part is the adoption of the public participation resolution which promises to allow residents ample opportunity to provide written and oral responses to the proposed amendments.

The law requires at least one formal public hearing on the proposed comprehensive plan amendments before they are formally adopted as part of the comprehensive plan.

A joint city council and plan commission meeting is planned for Oct. 16 in which the council will conduct the public hearing and the plan commission will adopt the resolution recommending the plan amendments.

The council is scheduled to then approve the amended comprehensive plan on Oct. 23.

A municipal guide

According to the state Department of Administration website, the comprehensive plan is a municipalitys guide to community physical, social and economic development. Comprehensive plans are to provide a rational basis for local land use decisions with a 20-year outlook for planning.

The Wisconsin Comprehensive Planning Law does not mandate how a local community should grow, but it requires public participation at the local level in deciding a vision for the communitys future. The uniqueness of individual comprehensive plans reflects community-specific and locally driven planning processes.

Since Jan. 1, 2010, if a town, village, city or county enacts or amends an official mapping, subdivision or zoning ordinance, the enactment or amendment ordinance must be consistent with that communitys comprehensive plan.
Its hard to go against family history.

The Derrick family has a total of 154 years of service in Lake Geneva over three generations.

And Lake Geneva Fire Capt. Ryan Derrick is a part of that legacy.

Derrick, who was officially promoted to captain in May, started his career with the Lake Geneva Fire Department in July 2000.

He was the employee in the spotlight in the June monthly fire department report put out by Fire Chief John Peters.

When he joined the fire department, Derrick was following in the footsteps of his grandfather, the late Fire Chief Thomas Derrick, who served for 51 years, his father, Deputy Chief Dan Derrick, a 48-year veteran, and his uncle, Steve Derrick, who has been a firefighter for 38 years.

Also serving the community is Ryans brother, Daniel Derrick, a sergeant on the Lake Geneva Police Department.

Derrick didnt rely on family name or legacy to rise through the ranks. According to Peters, since Derrick joined the department, hes earned certifications as a firefighter 1 and 2, is an Advanced EMT, and is certified as a safety officer and fire officer.

With his current promotion, Derrick is now in charge of training for the fire department.

He was promoted to fill the position vacated when Peters was promoted to chief.

Loves variety

Derrick said he loves the variety in fire service.

No two fire calls are the same, he said in a recent interview. You meet people who are grateful and you meet people who arent grateful.

More often, though, theyre grateful.

He said the department is in good hands with Peters as chief. He said this group of firefighters work well together.

Its a good group of guys, he said.

Asked whether he has any further plans for his career with the fire department, Derrick said he has ambitions that rise a bit higher.

When I went through the captains interview, I said Id like to wear the same color helmet as my dad, Ryan said.

Firefighters wear black helmets, lieutenants red. Captains helmets are red with a large white shield on the front.

The chiefs, Peters, Deputy Chief Derrick and Assistant Chief Pat Heindl all wear white helmets.

When not working at the fire station, Derrick works with his parents at the family business, Derrick Funeral Home, which has been in business since 1912.

In addition to being a third generation firefighter, Derrick is also a fourth-generation funeral director.

I love both my careers, Derrick said.

Ryan Derrick said the fire department has been his life. He grew up in the fire station. When it was still allowed, he went with his grandfather and father when they fought fires.

What joining the fire department in 2000 meant was that he was allowed to run after them into burning buildings, he said.

Meanwhile, his mother, Sandy Derrick, was the driving force in creating a Lake Geneva branch of the Fire Bells, which provides water and food to firefighters while they are on call.

Even before the Fire Bells came to Lake Geneva, Ryan Derrick said, his mother would take water and sandwiches to the firefighters fighting fires. And young Ryan would go along.

If there are any regrets, he said, it was that he didnt join the fire department sooner.

Still, for the first two years on the Lake Geneva department, Derrick had the privilege of serving under his grandfather and with his father and uncle.

Derrick said he wasnt aware of any earlier Derricks being involved in the fire service.

The cornerstone

Grandpa Tom was the cornerstone, he said.

Like many funeral homes from the 1940s through the 1970s, the Derrick Funeral Home ran an ambulance service for Lake Geneva.

The family ran the ambulance service until the late 1970s, when an ambulance company moved into the city.

Derrick has been married to his wife, Becky, since July 2005.

Becky has been a teacher at Lake Geneva Middle School for 20 years, he said.

They have two children, Emma, 9, and Billy, 5.

Billy wants to be a firefighter and a funeral director, Derrick said. Emma wants to be a teacher.

Meanwhile, in the parking lot behind the funeral home, there is a solid reminder of the Derricks devotion to firefighting.

The Derricks own an old Pirsch fire truck, built in Kenosha and bought new by Lake Geneva in 1947.

I remember playing on it as a kid, said Derrick.

He said his grandfather and father both drove the pumper truck to fire calls.

The fire truck served Lake Geneva until sometime between 1994 and 1996.

After retirement, it was too old to be sold as surplus. So it bounced around several local owners being used as a conversation piece and at one point, was home to a squatter, Derrick said.

About seven years ago, the Derricks finally got an opportunity to buy the old pumper and, in a sense, bring it home.

Derrick said his goal is to spruce up the old truck so it looks as grand in gold and red as it did when it was a frontline pumper with the Lake Geneva Fire Department.

In the meantime, it makes appearances in the Lake Geneva Electric Christmas Parade and sometimes, said Derrick, he even takes it grocery shopping.

Its a workhorse, Derrick said with a smile.
WILLIAMS BAY  Though there was no shortage of ideas, the Bay ended a lengthy discussion with no clear solution on how to address the safety concerns on Theatre Road.

The street, which is near the new elementary school, has been a point of contention for the village board during past meetings, with some trustees expressing frustration over the continued discussion.

Despite Trustee Gregory Trushs assertion that pedestrian safety needs to be explored further, Trustees George Vlach and Marsha Engquist both insisted that the street is intended as a roadway and was never intended for pedestrian use.

Last month, however, Trush conducted a follow up to the pedestrian survey he completed last September.

The results, as well as possible solutions to the safety concerns, were discussed during a packed meeting as concerned parents and residents gathered to give their input.

A process

Trustee Jim DAlessandro, who is also the chairman of the streets and highways committee, set the tone for the discussion by reminding everyone that decisions concerning Theatre Road were going to be a process.

Trush then kicked off the process by sharing the results of the second pedestrian survey.

He explained that he, along with some parent volunteers, tallied the number of adult and child pedestrians as well the amount of cars turning onto the access road leading into the elementary school on May 23 and May 27 during different points of the school day for the elementary and high school.

The surveyors also obtained information for May 11, which was an early release day, as well as Saturday, May 27 and June 7 through June 12, which was after school was closed for the summer.

Trush said that most of the pedestrians the group tallied were adults, roughly 17 each day, and they did not encounter any children walking to school.

Many of these pedestrians took advantage of the crosswalk that was installed last year.

He added that only about 12 of these pedestrians were high school students.

However, many parents told the board during the meeting that the low number of children walking was because they felt uncomfortable letting their children walk on such a dangerous road even though they would like to let their kids walk to school.

Trush also said that the school access route had a large influx of traffic, especially during the beginning and end of the school day.

For example, Trush said he counted 108 cars using the access route to the elementary school before the start of school on May 23.

Trush said that the results brought two issues to mind for him  a concern over the 35 mph speed limit and the need for sidewalks near the LakeView Trails subdivision.

However, these issues, which were then discussed in depth by both the board and citizens alike, proved to be difficult to assess.

Speed limits and

sidewalks

Many citizens spoke up to agree with Trushs stance that the speed limit on Theatre Road should be reduced.

At first, they suggested that the area could become a school zone.

However, Engquist pointed out that in order to be labeled a school area, the elementary school would have to be contiguous to Theatre Road, which it is not.

So the crowd changed its request.

Jim and Jen McMannamy, who live in a subdivision off of Theatre Road, argued that regardless of whether the area could be labeled a school zone, the village could still voluntarily lower the speed limit to 25 mph.

Dr. Wayne Anderson, the superintendent of the Williams Bay School District, also asked the board to consider lowering the speed limit, saying that it would make a difference if it even encourages one person to drive slower.

Its better to be proactive than retroactive, he said. I dont want to have to talk to a parent about an accident.

However, Chief Laura Washer said she did not believe this was necessary.

When her officers were patrolling the area, only 15 percent of the cars they witnessed were speeding and most of those cars were law enforcement vehicles responding to an emergency, she said.

Washer argued that reducing the speed limit may even lull drivers into a false sense of security, making them think the area is safe for faster travel.

She was also not in favor of the idea of putting out a sign warning drivers that there is a school in the area, saying that this causes people to become sight blind while driving.

Despite these concerns, many people were still in favor of lowering the speed limit.

Theres no downside to doing this except for the cost, Jen McMannamy stressed. But we could get a grant to cover that.

She said there are safety grants available that would help cover the cost of something such as sidewalks.

McMannamy also added that she had sat in on a board meeting in the town of Delavan, the municipality that has jurisdiction over part of Theatre Road, and said that Delavan had agreed to do whatever Williams Bay believes is best for the area.

Sidewalks, though a good idea in theory, may also not be a great solution, Engquist said in response to a possible use of grant money.

She said that in order to put in sidewalks, the village would have to build them to the lot line of each residence, which would mean taking out the trees bordering the road as well as determining finances and future maintenance.

Still, many citizens remained adamant about making some sort of change, with some expressing frustration at how the trustees were responding to their request.

One accident and youll be more willing to make a change, Pam Dyders chided as other members of the audience applauded.

Next steps

After hearing everyones comments, DAlessandro said that he believed it would be beneficial to create a committee to look into a grant for the road.

However, Trustee Jim Killian brought up an important point.

What are you writing the grant for? he asked, adding that grants need to be very specific.

DAlessandro said that was still unclear.

The committee would have to decide that, he said.

However, during the regular board meeting on Monday night, some residents spoke out against the idea of the committee and against the idea of doing more work on Theatre Road in general.

Diane Buckel said that she believed Anderson, who does not live in the Bay, should not be on the committee about a road within the Bay.

Furthermore, she said she felt that building something like a new firehouse is more important than installing sidewalks, especially since many areas of the village do not have sidewalks and it is unclear who would pay for and maintain the sidewalks.

Vlach echoed her comments, saying that the village needed to spend more time talking about what could apply to the entirety of the Bay rather than a single area.

Tax payers on the other side of the village shouldnt have to pay for sidewalks on Theatre Road, he said.

DAlessandro still pressed for a committee, however, saying that the Bay has a history of successfully using citizen-based committees.

Trustee Don Parker and Killian both disagreed, saying that work would get done faster and the results would be more realistic if the board did it themselves.

Parker suggested sending the various pieces of the Theatre Road puzzle to the committees they would fall under to prioritize the work.

For example, the issue of traffic control on Theatre Road would be sent to the protective services committee.

The board did not come to a decision that night on how to proceed.

Village President William Duncan said the discussion would continue at a later time and referencing an Einstein quote about finding opportunities within hardships.

We have some opportunities before us, he said.
BLOOMFIELD  At least the taverns on Pell Lakes north side like Power Boat Days.

The annual boat racing event usually sparks a love/hate reaction, and recently, the village president called for more scrutiny over the claim that Power Boat Days generates revenue for local businesses.

But as far as owners and employees of three North Lake Shore Drive taverns are concerned, the claim is true.

We like it, said Vince Belletini, owner of Pell Lake Inn. Its a lot of work for the weekend, but you know, they dont do anything in this town for us.

He said the weekend of May 19-21, this years Power Boat Days, was very lucrative.

Inn manager Annie Pellegrini said they sold 35 breakfasts this year, but Belletini said they sold out on breakfasts last year, during both race days.

Pellegrini said cold, rainy weather may have kept people away this year, but she still thinks Power Boat Days draws people in from other areas that dont have such events.

Its just, economically, I think its good for everybody, she said. Everyone, I think, gets a piece of it. They all share the wealth.

Chris Domaille, owner of Chriss Steel Horse Saloon, said she had a phenomenal weekend.

She sponsors the event each year because she believes it brings people into the area.

It brings families to this town, Domaille said. It makes the lake alive again.

She wants to see Power Boat Days come back each year because shes made friends during the event, and the only time she sees them is when they return for Power Boat Days.

Kathy Burkoth, manager at Friends Tavern, also said more people came in than usual this year, including those associated with the boat races.

A lot of people enjoy them, she said.

Elsewhere on the lake

Power Boat Days is typically centralized near Lakeside Beach, which is across the street from Friends, a short walk from Chriss Steel Horse Saloon, and Pell Lake Inn is further down North Lake Shore Drive, near Clover Road.

On the southeast corner of the lake, business was about the same during the event as it was any other weekend for Josh Spooner, who owns Spoondoggers, formerly The Big House Bar and Grill, Lake Shore Drive.

The weather didnt help, he said, but Power Boat Days participants still patronized his business, mostly on the night of May 20, when they held an awards presentation there.

Spooner thinks the event should continue because its an activity that doesnt usually occur in Pell Lake.

There is revenue that comes with people, he said. Maybe not as much as everyone would like, but extra.

He also suggested that the village look into charging each boat driver to use the lake.

As for other area businesses, attempts to obtain comments from Pell Lake Mobil, Lakeside Country Store and Upper Crust Pizzeria and Pub were unsuccessful by press time.

Pub N Grub refused to participate in an interview.

Sponsor fees

Village President Gary Grolle also asked what it costs to sponsor the event.

In a June 10 email, event organizer Kip Trumpulis said each sponsor gives what they can, but Pellegrini and Spooner said it cost a minimum of $250.

Domaille said she gives $500 every year to sponsor Power Boat Days, and she usually doubles or at least makes that amount back each event weekend, regardless of the weather.

Burkoth said Friends Tavern usually sponsors the event, but no one asked them to this year.

Spooner said he was asked to sponsor, but he declined because his business is new in town.

People can express their views on the event in an online survey at bloomfield-wi.us/survey.html.

It is a non-binding survey, one which Bloomfield Clerk-Treasurer Cindy Howard posted online after a recent discussion by the Bloomfield Parks, Lake, Recreation and Community Affairs Committee.

See article in last weeks Regional News for more about the survey and the views of some village officials on Power Boat Days.
WALWORTH  Longtime village clerk and treasurer Donna Schut will soon bid a bittersweet farewell to her position after 14 years.

Schut will retire Sept. 2.

As the clerk/treasurer, she organizes village documents, prepares agendas and minutes, processes financial records and pays bills.

Which is what drew her to the position 14 years ago.

I was also a clerk/treasurer in a town in Rock County, Schut said. So I had some familiarity as a clerk/treasurer previously.

The job duties have always interested her, she added.

I think one of the most intriguing parts about the job in general is the variety of things that need to be done, Schut said.

And although her job requires a diverse skill set, Schut said elections tend to be the most challenging.

Since Ive been here they have developed the new statewide software system that everyone has to use to set up elections and enter information about elections and enter absentee ballots and registration information, she said.

Schut was planning to retire earlier, but decided to help with this past years election.

In 2015 I was planning to retire in 2016, until I got to the beginning of 2016 and realized a year for elections was not a good year to retire, Schut said, laughing. You are always starting one (election) or finishing one.

Throughout her years of service, Schut said shes made many memories, but perhaps her favorite is meeting other treasurers and clerks.My fondest memory (is) getting to know so many clerks around the state at conferences, Schut said. They understand the challenges a clerk faces, are always ready to help with samples and suggestions and have a great sense of humor.

Following her retirement, Schut plans to travel and spend more time with family.

We have three daughters out in California and Florida so we will be visiting them much more now that I will be retired, she said.

She said she is grateful for the chance to serve Walworth for nearly 15 years.

Again I wanted to thank the village for the opportunity to serve as its clerk treasurer, Schut said in her retirement letter. I have learned so much and found the position to be both challenging and rewarding.

Village President Tom Connelly said the board wishes Schut well in the future.

On behalf of the village board, we want to thank her for her nearly 15 years of service to the village, Connelly said. We wish her the best with her retirement.
A president from our recent past once offered up the following legislative agenda: a guaranteed minimum annual income for all Americans, a government-run national day care program and a universal health care plan nearly identical to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed in 2010. He came very close to seeing all of these initiatives become law, which would have remade American life into a social democracy, modeled after those of Western Europe.

This same President also advocated for two major constitutional reforms: reducing the voting age from 21 to 18 and the passage by Congress of the Equal Rights Amendment, intended to ban discrimination on the basis of sex. He also created the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and signed both the Clean Air and Endangered Species Acts into law.

Who was this man? Some New Deal liberal democrat, like Franklin Delano Roosevelt or his successor, Harry Truman? No. His name was Richard Milhous Nixon. A very well-known Republican.

Another presidential aspirant worthy of note for his vision and farsighted policies was the first to understand the wide ranging effects of the industrial revolution and its burdensome impact on those who toiled and struggled in its factories. He began to see that the same technology that was transforming society also posed an overwhelming danger to the health and well being of the average-working family.

This candidate, running for a third term, called for the adoption of a national insurance plan, saying The supreme duty of a nation is the conservation of human resources through an enlightened measure of social and industrial justice. And for what purpose? The protection of home life against the hazards of sickness, irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance adapted to American use.

Was this yet another thoughtless, free-spending Democrat  perhaps one bent on destroying individual initiative and capitalism? No. It was Theodore Roosevelt, running on the Progressive Party platform in 1912. A man whom the judgment of many have come to view as the greatest sitting president of the 20th century. A remarkable personage who earned his high regard as a member of the GOP.

She was the fourth appointee to head up the Environmental Protection Agency and its first female administrator. Her stay there was both brief and contentious. According to an article that appeared in the Washington Post, Her short, tumultuous tenure was marked by sharp budget cuts, rifts with career EPA employees, a steep decline in cases filed against polluters and a scandal over the mismanagement of the Superfund cleanup program that ultimately led to her resignation

She was an ardent disciple of the theory that the federal government was too big, much too powerful and had recklessly engaged in issuing regulations that, from her point of view, imposed crippling restrictions on business. She not only hired people to staff the EPA from the very industries the agency was mandated by law to oversee, she was also investigated for the wrongful use of agency funds.

And just who was this disgraced administrator? Her name was Anne Burford. A Ronald Reagan appointee. At the time of her dismissal from the EPA in 1983, she was the mother of then 13 year old, Neil. She would remarry and take the name Gorsuch.

History speaks, but only if we listen.

Ammon, a longtime lakes area resident, has written a book entitled State of the Union: Observations on American Life.
Historic ties of north Meck span throughout region Though the north Mecklenburg area didnt see significant population growth until a few decades ago, its rich history dates back to the Revolutionary War. That was the basis of...

An easier-than-expected first mammogram experience HUNTERSVILLE  Scheduling a cancer screening probably ranks somewhere on your to-do list between "clean out the garage" and "donate those clothes that don't fit." Sure, you'll get to it at...
Honoring Cesar Chavez

Op Ed by Ruben Martinez, Ph.D.

Cesar Chavez died near his hometown of Yuma, AZ on April 22, 1993 at the age of 66. Chavez was in San Luis, AZ to assist UFW attorneys defend the union against a lawsuit brought by Bruce Church Inc. (BCI), a giant California-based lettuce and vegetable producer.

Eastern Michigan University's 12th annual Cesar Chavez celebration

YPSILANTI: Eastern Michigan University is the most diverse university in Michigan, which it holds as a defining and singular strength. As part of that, EMU is proud to host various events throughout the year that celebrate all races, cultures and ethnicities.

Por: Isabel Flores, corresponsal La Prensa

DETROIT, MI: La Comision Nacional de Libros de Textos Gratuitos (Conaliteg) cuenta en su portal de internet con el acervo digital de todos los libros de texto gratuitos para el ciclo escolar 2019 - 2020. El catalogo puede consultarse en la direccion: http:/libros.conaliteg.gob.mx De esta manera, los ninos podran mantenerse entretenidos con informacion en su propio idioma y estar al dia con sus materias, mientras se encuentran en casa por la contingencia.

Census 2020: Todos Debemos ser Contados
PRESS RELEASE

Sicily Trade Unions Announce Mobilization in Favor of the New Silk Road

June 20, 2017 (EIRNS)The leaders of the three major Italian trade unions, CGIL, CISL, and UIL, in Syracuse, Sicily, have announced a mobilization and called on Sicilian representatives in the Parliament to act in order to include Sicily and Southern Italy in plans for the New Silk Road. In a joint statement published by local media, Roberto Alosi (CGIL), Paolo Sanzaro (CISL), and Stefano Munafo (UIL) wrote that Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni "committed the umpteenth outrage against Sicily, if not against the entire Mezzogiorno. During his visit to China, Gentiloni suggested to his Chinese interlocutors a Silk Road connection between China, Northern Europe, and Trieste, totally bypassing Sicily."

The port of Augusta, a deep sea port in Sicily,

"had been seen by various world economic and productive forces as [an] ideal route for trade coming from the Suez canal, due to its geographic centrality,"

wrote the trade union leaders, referring to 2010-2011, when "a powerful Chinese group" was interested in developing the Augusta port, including the railway connection across the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the southern Italian mainland. However, the group gave up "after having repeatedly run into a block, not to mention continual obstacles, by the bureaucracy and the institutions of our land."

But the match is not yet lost: "Given that at the moment the indication of Genoa, Venice and Trieste" as terminals for the Maritime Silk Road "is just a suggestion, our representatives in the national Parliament still have time to act and make sure that Sicily, and Augusta in particular, are recognized [for] a central role in international trade and in particular in the exchanges between Northern Europe, Atlantic and East."

The three union leaders also call on mayors to become active and announce a mobilization, "using every form of civil protest in order to block this latest theft. Our land deserves to have, at last, the right recognition."
(Photo/Chinanews.com)

BRUSSELS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A small explosion that occurred Tuesday evening within the Central Station of Brussels, the capital of Belgium, was considered a terrorist attack, a spokesperson of the Belgian federal prosecutor's office told reporters.

Eric Van Der Sypt, the spokesperson, confirmed at a press briefing on late Tuesday that the man who caused the explosion was "neutralized" by soldiers, but did not reveal whether the man is dead or alive.

The identity of the man remains unknown.

The explosion did not cause any injuries, as the explosives used were of "relatively low intensity," said the spokesman.

The explosives disposal unit of the Belgian security service is carrying out a checkout at the station, the Belgian crisis center announced on its Twitter account around 23:20 local time (2120 GMT), but stressed that the situation is under control.

The explosion occurred shortly before 21:00 local time (1900 GMT).

Local media quoted some witnesses as saying that the explosion was caused by a man with an explosive belt.

Unconfirmed sources say that the man was shot.

A witness told local media that the man was seen lying on the floor inside the station, with wires coming out of his clothes.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel and Interior Minister Jan Jambon are following the situation "very closely" from the crisis center, said the prime minister's spokesperson Frederic Cauderlier.

The incoming mayor of Brussels Philippe Close went to the site.

Soon after the explosion, the Central Station, the busiest railway station in Brussels, was evacuated Tuesday evening. And the nearby Grand Place, a popular tourist destination, was also evacuated, local authorities confirmed.

The metro lines 1 and 5, which pass through the station, were closed following police orders.

A large number of police and soldiers are deployed around these two sites in the heart of Brussels.

The security threat alert level in Belgium currently stands at 3, the second highest.

As the capital of the European Union (EU), Brussels hosts the major political institutions of the EU. It has been on high alert after suicide attacks hit the city's airport and metro systems on March 22, 2016, which left 32 people dead and many more injured.

The Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
PRESS RELEASE

U.S. Military Repositions Its Aircraft over Syria, But Still Claims Right of Self Defense

June 20, 2017 (EIRNS)If Russian air defense radars are now going to be lighting American aircraft that fly on the wrong side of the Euphrates River in Syria, as the Russian Defense Ministry warned yesterday, then this is going to be a problem for American pilots. The Pentagon said as much, yesterday.

"As a result of recent encounters involving pro-Syrian Regime [sic] and Russian forces, 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,"

Lieutenant Colonel Damien Pickart, a spokesman at U.S. Air Forces Central Command, told Reuters.

The Australians, who have six F-18F Super Hornets flying strike missions as part of the U.S.-led coalition out of the UAE, have also decided that this is a problem and have suspended their participation in air strikes altogether. 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."

White House spokesman Sean Spicer maintained that the American shooting down of the Syrian fighter jet over Syrian national territory, was just another act of American self- defense. He also said that the U,S, would work to keep the lines of communication open with Russia.

"ISIS represents a threat to all nations," he said. "We have to do what we can to work with partners." This effort to work with partners, however, doesnt mean that the U.S. wont down Syrian aircraft if necessary. Spicer said the United States has the right to defend its coalition partners.
The Gathering of Latina Writers converged on Saturday morning at the Plaza de La Raza Cultural Center in Lincoln Park, where an occasional train horn interrupted proceedings  but not for long. The train represents the patriarchy, joked Angela Aguirre of the Latina feminist poetry collective Chingona Fire before carrying on with her performance.

Throughout the day, groups of women gathered before an outdoor stage under the shade of umbrellas, attended panels in the black box theater and perused speakers books in the plaza beside pink bougainvillea, papel picado (paper cut-outs) and a flowering magnolia tree. The event seemed to fill a need. The poet Jen Hofer remarked on the incredible diversity of latinidad in attendance, and Comptons poet Claudia Rodriguez asked, Why has it taken so long for something like this to be organized?

The free event was the first iteration of what will be a larger gathering planned for 2018. Both are organized by writers Jessica Ceballos y Campbell and Iris de Anda, as well as Rebecca Nevarez and Tomas Benitez of the Latino Arts Network of California.

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In all, the gathering was remarkable not only because it felt like the start of something, but because its programming went deep. Theres a lot of lip service paid to creating safe spaces for community and discussion, but rarely are those discussions executed with genuine rigor and sensitivity.

Unpacking LatinO/A/X & Identity panel at the Gathering of Latina Writers. (Agatha French / Los Angeles Times)

During multiple panels, discussions of identity were particularly nuanced. Ceballos y Campbell asked of the festival itself  the gathering of Latina writers  who are we leaving out when we say that? Panelists unpacked identifying as Latino/a/x and/or Chicano/a/x  never a Hispanic, as read liz gonzalezs introductory bio, a line that led her fellow panelist Claudia Rodriguez to quip theres the panel right there. When asked how a complex identity informed her work, Wendy C. Ortiz replied, I dont know how it doesnt inform my work. Vickie Vertiz echoed her sentiment  of intersecting identities she said, there is no way to separate them. Ceballos y Campbell contextualized the days gathering in place: Latina writers are such a huge part of the history of Southern California.

A panel on publishing, moderated by Iris de Anda, was the most widely attended with roughly 50 people in the audience, but the question of publishing came up in nearly every discussion. Desiree Zamorano referred to it as a great white world, and a number of panelists offered from their own experience the benefits of self-publishing in an industry struggling  or perhaps not struggling enough  to be diverse. Zine-maker Jess Castillo explained, I wanted to get work out and I didnt want to wait to do it. Hofer, in reference to her own experience with Libros Antena Books, agreed.

Books for sale at the Gathering of Latina Writers. (Agatha French/ Los Angeles Times)

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, poet and founding member of Women Who Submit, a group that supports women sharing their writing, described how publishing with mainstream and even indie presses begs a thorny set of questions that writers benefiting from white, straight, male or other privilege may not have considered. Am I being fetishized? Am I being a token? Am I only speaking to white people? She ultimately chose to publish her debut poetry collection with Sundress Press because of its feminism and diversity. I want to be in conversation with other Latinas, she said. Literature presents a window into worlds unlike our own, but it can also provide a necessary mirror. Yesika Salgado of Chingona Fire put it this way: Im just here to remind you of your story, with my story, she said.

Ceballos y Campbells hope for future events is that she and her fellow organizers continue facilitating spaces in an equitable way and promoting cross-cultural community, but she did ask her final panel if Latina-only spaces were also important. Trini Rodriguez of Tia Chucha Centro de Cultural responded simply: As long as theres a question of access denied, then those spaces are necessary. The Latina Writers Conference will span two days, Feb. 23-24. We want to highlight these communities of writers, said Ceballos y Campbell, and the work that theyre doing.

Attendees, including former L.A. Poet Laureate Luis Rodriguez, break for lunch in the courtyard between sessions. (Agatha French / Los Angeles Times)

agatha.french@latimes.com

@agathafrenchy
You can say one thing for Californias initiatives aimed at stemming fossil-fuel-driven climate change: They have the ability to drive conservative politicians from oil, gas and coal states batty.

Theres no other explanation for the overheated and borderline hysterical letter issued this week by attorneys general (and one governor) from 13 such states, threatening to sue California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones over his Climate Risk Carbon Initiative. The initiative, which requires insurance companies doing business in California to disclose their investments in fossil fuels, yielded a searchable public database that went online earlier this year.

Jones rationale is that investments in these industries are destined to be losers as the nation moves toward renewable fuels. Therefore it makes sense for investors, policyholders, regulators and the general public can know the extent to which insurance companies are invested in the carbon economy. Jones also requested, but didnt require, that insurers divest from the thermal coal industry. This, he said, would help reduce coal combustion, the single largest contributor to global climate change in the United States. His initiative applies to insurance companies that do business in California and raised $100 million or more in premiums nationwide.

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If you continue to call for divestment ... of fossil fuel investments, we will be forced to consider the legal areas of relief available.  Oklahoma Atty. Gen. Mike Hunter and 12 other red-state politicians to California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones

To the letter-writers, the disclosure requirement is tantamount to an attempt to regulate the nations energy industry. Jones request for divestment, they told the commissioner, is the equivalent of a pledge of loyalty to your commitment to refrain from future coal investments. They accuse Jones of being driven by politics unrelated to insurance regulation and of using your office to promote social causes.

Its true that Jones has announced his candidacy for California attorney general in 2018, and one supposes that might look scandalous to the elected officials of 13 fossil fuel states who would never stoop so low as to engage in politics or to take stances on social issues, whether they involve climate change, reproductive health, abortion or any other issues that have crossed the desks of not a few of the red-state signatories.

The letter was spearheaded by Oklahoma Atty. Gen. Mike Hunter, the successor to Scott Pruitt, now the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, who made his name suing the EPA on behalf of fossil fuel companies. Hunter obtained signatures from the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming, as well as Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky. Their missive closed with an almost Trumpian threat to sue: If you continue to call for divestment and require discriminatory disclosures of fossil fuel investments, they wrote, we will be forced to consider the legal areas of relief available.

These are politicians from coal, gas and oil states whose leaders continue to deny the very existence of climate change, Jones told me. In California, weve concluded based on the science that its real.

This is fundamentally a transparency initiative, he added. As for the threat of litigation, bring it on. Indeed, one would like to see even more disclosure of portfolio holdings by insurers, not less.

Do these states have a leg to stand on? Its doubtful, since Jones doesnt have and doesnt assert jurisdiction over energy companies. Moreover, Jones told me that although the insurance industry groused about the initiative, no insurers challenged it in court. They werent happy to be asked these questions, he said, but they complied pretty much universally. Thats why their data are now available from Jones departmental website.

Its true, as Hunter and his fellow writers observe, that insurance companies typically pursue conservative investment policies, and arent likely to be blindsided by the dismal prospects of fossil fuel companies. Coal companies, which received particular attention from Jones, have fallen especially sharply, however; the industry lost more than 92% of its value between April 2011 and March 2016.

Its also true that some companies had been moving to divest fossil fuel investments even before Jones initiative. Allstate, which has a portfolio of about $65 billion, has pared its fossil investments by about 3% in recent years, according to the database, bringing them down to less than 14% of total assets. Investments in fossil fuel companies, including coal- and oil-fueled utilities, came to about $528 billion among the insurers subject to Jones oversight. Thats about 7% of their total assets of $1.7 trillion.

One mystery posed by the red states letter is: why now? Jones announced his initiative in January 2016  the statements quoted above were issued on Jan. 25 last year. The database went live in January this year.

Although the attorneys general assert in their letter that theyre concerned about protecting their insurance markets (It is our responsibility to protect the interests of those insurance companies harmed by your new initiative, they declare), their intention really is to shield energy companies that have a significant presence in our states from what they call an attempt at public shaming.

As a subtext, they take a swipe at climate change activism characteristic of the know-nothing wing of the Republican Party and conservative movement, which is based on either claiming that climate change is a myth or that nothing that can be done by any state or national government can have much of an effect on it, or both.

They identify the primary bases for your pessimistic prognostications about the future of fossil fuel industries as The Paris Agreement and the previous administrations Clean Power Plan, for which they have no more use than President Trump does.

Jones initiative dovetails with a movement away from fossil fuel investments  especially coal  by public or publicly sensitive institutions. In 2015, California mandated by law that its two major public employee pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, divest from the coal industry. The University of California already had done so, as had Stanford University. In all these cases, the dividing line was not clear-cut between divestment as social expression and divestment as mandated by the economics of the disfavored industry.

Thats true of Jones assertion that fossil fuel holdings are uniquely perilous. Coal and petroleum may not have a bright future, but theyre not alone in facing the ravages of time and tide. But theyre in particularly bad odor among the public just now, thanks to their complicity in climate change. Jones initiative may fall into the category of kicking an industry when its down. But so what? Insurance company investors and customers alike are justified in wanting to know just how vulnerable their stocks, bonds and policies are. The fact that the fossil fuel industry needs a clutch of whining politicians to fight its battles hints that it may be in bigger trouble than we thought.

Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.

Return to Michael Hiltziks blog.

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Walt Disney Co. is being sued by a child development expert who alleges that the 2015 Pixar movie Inside Out used her original idea for an animated program that would have explored childrens emotions through a host of characters representing different moods.

In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles, Denise Daniels claims that she pitched her idea for The Moodsters to Disney-owned Pixar a number of times between 2005 and 2009, with the understanding that she and her team would be compensated if Disney used her idea.

The complaint states she had an implied-in-fact contract, a nonverbal agreement, that obligated Disney to compensate and credit her if the studio used her idea.

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The suit follows a similar case brought in March against Burbank-based Disney over 2016s Zootopia. In that lawsuit, a screenwriter claimed that the studio stole his original idea and copied his designs for the movies animal characters.

Disney is denying Daniels allegations.

 Inside Out was an original Pixar creation, and we look forward to vigorously defending against this lawsuit in court, a Disney spokesman said in a statement.

Daniels, a Minnesota resident, argues that The Moodsters would have featured five color-coded, anthropomorphic characters, each representing a single emotion: happiness, sadness, anger, love and fear. The characters would reside in an abstract world within a child.

The suit states that Daniels hired a creative team that included a producer and illustrator to further develop the idea.

Inside Out features five characters based on the emotions joy, sadness, anger, fear and disgust. The characters reside in the mind of a young girl named Riley who must learn to adjust to a new life when her family moves to San Francisco.

The movie, directed by Pete Docter, received near-universal acclaim when it was released in 2015 and was a box-office hit, grossing more than $356 million domestically. It won the Oscar for animated feature and was nominated for its original screenplay.

In the complaint, Daniels claims that she called Docter to discuss The Moodsters and that they spoke for an extended period of time. She also said she shared material about the project with several Disney executives.

Daniels has worked in the field of childrens social and emotional development for more than four decades, according to the complaint.

When asked why Daniels waited two years after the movies release to file the suit, her attorney said the time gap was not unusual in such cases.

You dont file these cases lightly, said Ronald Schutz of the firm Robins Kaplan.

The firm previously battled with Disney in a 2004 case over profits for ABCs Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. That case resulted in a $320-million verdict against Disney in favor of the British company Celador International, which licensed the rights to the show to Disney.

Daniels suit is seeking unspecified damages to be determined at trial.

david.ng@latimes.com

@DavidNgLAT

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Californias website for business records and requests just got a lot simpler.

As of Wednesday, businesses no longer have to submit physical LLC Statements of Information, as the records may now be submitted via the California secretary of states website. An LLC Statement of Information includes records such as the companys name, location and type of business, as well as the addresses of chief executives and managers.

Were streamlining the process so that entrepreneurs can focus less on red tape and more on growing their business, said California Secretary of State Alex Padilla.

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Padillas office said it processes about 375,000 of the forms a year.

Sam Mahood, Padillas press secretary, said that business owners often accidentally miss a step with paper records, and the office rejects the form and makes the business resubmit. With the process going online, Mahood said the step-by-step directions should help users avoid the pitfalls of manually filling out forms.

Its an ongoing time-saving measure, since business owners have to file new Statements of Information every two years, Mahood said.

The penalty for a business failing to file the statements by the deadline is $250, so the digitization should help business owners avoid the costly penalty. Those who want to submit the forms on paper can still do so.

To form an LLC for the first time, Articles of Organization must still be filed in person or by mail, but Padilla hopes to digitize that process by December.

The change in policy comes with the offices Wednesday launch of Bizfile California, a one-stop online portal for users to submit, search and access business filings.

The portal joins the California Business Search, which the office revamped in December, as part of Padillas ongoing push to modernize the office.

Since December, Padillas office has posted more than 10 million free, downloadable records related to corporations, companies and partnerships. These include files on Statements of Information, registrations, amendments and terminations for businesses in California.

Previously, these documents cost $1 for the first page and 50 cents for every additional page, and usually took five business days to process.

jack.flemming@latimes.com

@jflem94
Former Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick is a controversial figure, even among drivers for the ride-hailing company.

Though the San Francisco firm has put money in the wallets of the drivers who offer rides on its platform, many drivers opposed Kalanicks decisions and Ubers leadership under his watch.

Some drivers have fought in court to be treated as employees rather than independent contractors, a classification that they say deprives them of benefits to which they are legally entitled. Some have complained of being shortchanged by the technology start-up with the worlds highest private market valuation. Some have protested the companys refusal to allow tipping on its app (Uber relented on this front on Tuesday, offering passengers for the first time the ability to tip.)

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Issues like these did not make Kalanick a popular figure among drivers  especially after a video emerged in which the Uber co-founder berated a driver who blamed Kalanick and the company for his financial woes.

Heres how a sample of Uber drivers in Los Angeles are reacting to Kalanicks departure:

It was time for him to go.  Moses, Uber driver

Moses, an Uber driver for two years who declined to give his last name, sees Kalanicks resignation as a step in the right direction.

It was time for him to go. The guy theyll replace him with will probably have just as many problems as he did, the driver said. But regardless of whether things will get better for drivers, Kalanick needed to go.

The drivers should just be happy Uber exists.  Joseph Kessler, Uber driver

Joseph Kessler, whos been driving with Uber for three months, sees Kalanicks resignation at a public relations move more than a real shift in company policy.

Whatever little things theyre doing, its not going to make a difference, said Kessler. Theyre adding tips now, but the only people who will use it are the people who were already tipping.

But he finds fault with drivers, too, especially those complaining about Kalanicks leadership.

When you see people complaining, theyre weak. The drivers should just be happy Uber exists.

Whoevers in charge wont affect my life in any major way.  Gregor Torosian, Uber driver

Gregor Torosian doesnt feel enough of a connection with Ubers corporate arm to believe Kalanicks resignation will affect him.

Last week, a phone number showed up on the app for us to call and give feedback, but before that, I had no contact with them, Torosian said.

Despite the companys efforts to be more communicative, Torosian said he feels disconnected from corporate moves.

Whoevers in charge wont affect my life in any major way. Its all inside the kitchen, Torosian said.

When youre making that much money, you gotta say and do the right things.  Gregory Branch, Uber driver

Gregory Branch, who has driven for Uber for more than a year, saw the writing on the wall for Kalanick.

He was too arrogant in the way he went about things, Branch said. You cant get in arguments with drivers off the cuff and expect to get away with it. When youre making that much money, you gotta say and do the right things.

Branchs PSA for other start-up founders: Keep your mouth shut and collect your paycheck.

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Board member makes a joke about women at a meeting on sexism, then resigns
One of Warner Centers one-story rambling office parks is poised to go vertical as a new era of urbanization unfolds in the Woodland Hills neighborhood.

The proposed $1-billion development by Adler Realty Investments Inc. is one of many big real estate plans coming together in Warner Center, where Los Angeles city planners are working to create another densely occupied urban hub with the appeal of a bustling city neighborhood.

And theres a lot space to work with in the asphalt plains of what is still mostly a suburban office district. Health insurer Anthem Inc., for example, is trying to sell its 26-acre parking lot to a developer interested in building a new community there.

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The planned building boom may help Warner Center finally achieve its original purpose. In the early 1970s, planners decided that the west Valley land, once the site of movie mogul Harry Warners horse ranch, should be turned into a downtown for the San Fernando Valley.

As it developed, however, Warner Center bore only passing resemblance to the densely built urban districts people associate with that word.

Today, the neighborhood is a mix of office towers that pierce a sea of cookie-cutter, low-slung office buildings served by acres of surface parking lots. Apartments and stores are mostly isolated in discreet blocks, and the whole expanse is ringed and cleaved by wide, fast-moving streets that flow to freeways.

It needs the edge that downtown L.A., Marina del Rey and NoHo have, said Dean Zander, an executive at real estate advisory firm Berkadia. To attract millennials, it should have more of an urban feel with bars, gathering places and social centers.

That vision is at the core of a plan adopted by the city in 2013 intended to make Warner Center feel more like a city.

Officials approved zoning that allows for up to 30 million square feet of commercial space, double what currently exists. The plan also removed building height caps in most of the 1.5-square-mile district bounded by the 101 Freeway, Vanowen Street, DeSoto Avenue and Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

Longtime valley landlord Michael Adler of Adler Realty recently unveiled plans to turn his decidedly suburban-looking Warner Center Corporate Park office campus into a 2.6-million-square-foot development where people could live and work.

Developer Michael Adler at his Warner Center Corporate Park in Woodland Hills. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Adler and financial partner LLJ Ventures plan to demolish his 350,000-square-foot office park, composed mostly of islands of low-slung concrete and black-glass buildings separated by parking lots.

He has applied for approval to replace the 1980s-era development with more than 1 million square feet of offices, 80,000 square feet of stores and restaurants, 1,000 residential units, 68 live-work units and a 228-room hotel. There would also be parks and pedestrian-oriented open space.

Other developers have projects planned for vacant sites, but Adler plans to remake an active property. His existing complex is almost fully leased to such tenants as Allstate Insurance and U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

He plans to build out the development over 15 years or more as leases expire but hopes to start on the apartments in about 18 months.

People who work in the area need more housing to keep up with demand, he said.

Zander, who rode his bicycle through the empty streets of Warner Center as a boy in the 1970s, estimates that 9,100 apartments and condominiums are in the development pipeline now and thousands more are being considered.

The influx of residents along with mixed-use projects like Adlers should help connect Warner Centers isolated pockets of offices, malls and apartments into a city-like neighborhood, Zander said.

There are enough new properties pending that are going to bring that sophistication to the area and hopefully straddle the lines and making it more of an urban center, he said.

Westfield, whose Warner Center retail properties draw 20 million shoppers annually, is already underway on a massive $1.5-billion project to demolish its obsolete Promenade shopping mall. Dating from 1972, it will be replaced with an expansive mixed-use complex with nearly 1,500 residences, two hotels and a concert venue.

We feel this part of Los Angeles continues to get better and better, said Larry Green, senior vice president of development for Westfield, who grew up in Van Nuys. It has become a more desirable place to live.

Renderings of a proposed 2.6-million-square-foot development that would turn the Warner Center Corporate Park into a dense collection of residences, stores, a hotel and new offices. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The Promenade development on Topanga Canyon Boulevard would be an extension of Westfields $350-million Village at Topanga lifestyle center that opened across the street last year.

In addition to housing, plans for a new Promenade include shops, offices, hotels and a 15,000-seat arena for concerts and sports. Also envisioned are 7 acres of open space, including a 1-acre park, known as Promenade Square, that could host outdoor movie nights.

The Promenade development could get underway by 2020 and could take 15 years to complete in phases.

Scheduled to start next year and be completed far sooner is Westfields $300-million project to convert the former Sears store between Westfield Topganga and the Village shopping centers to a movie complex, along with restaurants and a flagship store for a prominent retail brand, Green said,

Another major Warner Center project is underway at the old Rocketdyne plant on Canoga Avenue. The 47-acre site called Uptown at Warner Center will give way to a high-rise urban neighborhood with 4 million square feet of residences, 1.1 million square feet of offices, hotels and stores. It is to have a central park, performance spaces and pedestrian paths.

In addition, the Woodland Hills-Warner Center Neighborhood Council recently approved a seven-story, 170-room hotel proposed for 5957 Variel Ave. at Oxnard Street that would replace a small office building built in 1979.

The Warner Center 2035 plan is designed to unify these projects and others.

It divides the area into eight districts with names such as Downtown, Uptown and Commerce, each with its own development guidelines. The plan calls for the long city blocks to be broken up with new pedestrian pathways, new streets and more crosswalks. Developers will pay fees to fund many of the changes.

The citys green light for dense development in Warner Center has made land more valuable, and some owners are hoping to cash in by selling their property to developers.

The Anthem parking lot in Warner Center recently went on sale for future development. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Anthem Inc., which occupies a 14-story office tower at 21555 Oxnard St., recently put the surrounding 26-acre parking lot on the market, telling potential buyers that the citys 2035 plan would allow them to build more than 5.5 million square feet of offices, residences, stores and hotel rooms.

Anthem is typical of tenants in the Warner Center office market. The district has historically has been known as a back office location for big companies that need inexpensive space for scores of employees, said real estate broker Mike Longo of CBRE.

Its also been a weak office market in the past but has improved significantly in recent years.

Overall vacancy is about 11%, he said, down from as high as 20% in 2010. Average rents for Class A space are about $2.70 per square foot per month, compared with as much as $7 in Santa Monica and $3.50 in Encino. Thats an attraction for the developers who are planning mixed-use projects that will eventually include still more offices.

The 2035 plan amounts to a welcome mat for any builder who may have a hard time finding space elsewhere in the region.

Warner Center is very favorable for developers coming in, given the lack of supply of available land in L.A., Longo said. Its a really attractive place to develop.

roger.vincent@latimes.com

Twitter: @rogervincent
With $6.5 billion in annual sales and 12,000 employees around the world, Uber Technologies hardly resembles a blank slate.

But thats the pitch  long-awaited in some of its investors and employees eyes  that Uber can now make with this weeks resignation of Chief Executive Travis Kalanick.

Under Kalanick, the 8-year-old San Francisco start-up allegedly became a place where complaints of sexual harassment went uninvestigated, stolen trade secrets were put to use, executives were allowed to mishandle medical records and a program was developed to circumvent inquiries from public officials.

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Now, Uber board members and executives are launching a search for a new chief who they view as having a broad canvas to craft a fresh narrative and inspire an improved culture. To them, Kalanicks departure and the companys moves in recent weeks to oust 20 problematic employees should give job candidates confidence about the commitment to moving past months of scandal.

But management experts fear that Kalanicks continuing presence on the board and significant stake in the company may still be major detriments, sparking speculation he could make a comeback someday as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs did after he resigned.

Despite a wide array of executive-level job openings, Ubers new CEO also may not get to pick each lieutenant, and theres no certainty that the company can find someone with both the rigor and vision to drive Uber into its next generation.

Theyre going to need a strong leader with experience building disruptive businesses, and not every CEO can do this, said Bill Simon, a senior executive at Los Angeles-based Korn Ferry International, an executive recruiting organization. The board has to develop a very strong point of view about the kind of leader they want, not just in terms of experience and skills, but in values and philosophy.

Kalanicks resignation was met with significant division among employees and shareholders of Uber, which through private fundraising has been valued at near $70 billion. Some fear that without a co-founder as CEO, a role which Kalanick assumed about a year in, that the company will struggle to generate the crucial two-moves-ahead insights needed to ward off competition.

Whether its autonomous vehicles, trucking, flying cars  thats the stuff that I think you really need Travis for, said venture capitalist Bradley Tusk, an early Uber investor and advisor.

He worries investors who wanted Kalanick gone are prioritizing short-term gains that could undermine Ubers ambitions. Its about the long term. If they replace him with a safe bet, it probably gets them to an IPO faster, said Tusk.

Investors who supported the resignation are betting that a new hires increased expertise in finance and organization will offset the loss of Kalanicks intimate knowledge of the company and industry.

Uber brought in-house its long-time external consultant, Harvard business professor Frances Frei, to help set the foundation. Shes working closely with 14 executives across departments who are collectively running Uber until a new chief is tapped. The management council is working in tandem with board of director subcommittees  each tasked with vetting candidates for different positions  to fill vacancies created by executives fleeing in the last year.

Its unclear how far along they are in their searches, but its possible some high-level hires could happen before a CEO is named.

If the board doesnt act quickly and decisively, this executive merry-go-round can lead to a crisis of confidence, said Joseph Daniel McCool, principal of the McCool Group, which advises companies on recruitment and succession planning.

This is a new-economy company that is learning some old-school lessons about leadership, succession and aligning leaders with the culture, added McCool, co-author of Board Games: Straight Talk for New Directors and Good Governance.

Despite months of scandal, the chief executive position of the worlds most highly valued start-up is expected to be coveted. The company could well define the next generation of transportation as it races to develop self-driving vehicles and create software to connect people with transit faster and cheaper.

The search could draw auto, airline, logistics and tech leaders, including former CEOs Alan Mulally of Ford, David Cush of Virgin America, D. Scott Davis of UPS and Marissa Mayer of Yahoo.

And experts expect an outsider to be chosen.

Given that some of these issues are self-inflicted cultural issues  the board would be looking heavily externally for someone to come in with a fresh perspective, said Jason Schloetzer, professor at Georgetowns McDonough School of Business.

Candidates will have to get past Kalanicks ongoing role as a board member. Creative visionaries have clashed with replacement leaders, including this year when Ralph Laurens CEO left because of strategy disagreements with the apparel makers namesake founder and chairman.

People close to the company, including those favoring and opposing the ouster, say Kalanick will be just one voice at a table of nine in the boardroom. Its chairman remains Uber co-founder Garrett Camp.

Change is healthy, and needed, Camp, long seen as a Kalanick ally, said Wednesday afternoon on Twitter.

Kalanicks outsized voting power can give him significant sway over decisions, such as when to go public and what companies to buy. And theres no way to rule out Kalanicks potential return to an operational role should Uber suffer further turmoil in the coming years, as happened to Jobs at Apple and more recently Jack Dorsey at Twitter.

Kalanicks resignation was viewed as a strong signal by other shareholders that he doesnt want to do anything to slow down the companys move to its next chapter, sources said. When company-hired investigators published recommendations on how to rebound from troubling management and employee exodus, chief among them was a lesser role for Kalanick. The change now enacted, more people may be more willing to at least hear out Ubers offers  whether theyre drivers, passengers or job candidates.

Page has been turned, who picks up this valuable ball and moves towards its great potential? Brent Granado, a general partner at Uber shareholder Sway Ventures, posted Tuesday on Twitter.

Steve Vassallo, Foundation Capital general partner, said Uber has to focus on turning its nearly $3 billion annual loss, which excludes items such as stock-based pay, into profits. Kalanick may have been good for wild, intoxicating growth. But slow and steady may win out now.

Its not always the troops that storm the beaches that are the right ones to set up the government, Vassallo said. Thats the case here.

Finding a qualified executive could be difficult for a company in the midst of a crisis. Searching for executives can be an arduous process even for long-established, successful firms with relatively stable management, such as Walt Disney Co., which has struggled to identify a successor to its chief.

Simon expects the Uber board will want to make a decision within 60 days.

This is an opportunity for the leadership and board of directors to reestablish Uber as a leader in its space and be a successful enterprise commercially, he said. Its an opportunity, and its an urgent opportunity.

Times staff writer Tracey Lien contributed to this report.

paresh.dave@latimes.com / PGP

Twitter: @peard33
Travis Kalanick never ran away from a fight. When cities challenged the legality of his ride-hailing service, he ordered drivers to continue picking up passengers. When competitors complained about his tactics, he lowered prices and tried to poach their drivers. He even got into a spat  caught on video  with one of his own drivers who dared to question the companys fares.

But when it came to the ultimate fight to remain at the helm of the firm he built from a start-up to an industry behemoth that has upended the very way people get around, the brash co-founder and chief executive of Uber Technologies Inc. did the unthinkable: He backed down.

In a stunning reversal for one of worlds most closely watched executives, Kalanick resigned as head of Uber on Tuesday, just a week into a leave of absence meant to quell concerns about his management style amid a torrent of scandals at the company.

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His ouster was orchestrated by investors, led by the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Benchmark. They feared that Kalanick wouldnt evolve as a leader quickly enough  and that as long as he and his negative image was around, Uber would struggle to recruit strong candidates for a long list of high-ranking openings, people familiar with the discussions said. In effect, they lacked confidence in his ability to realize the full potential of a company hed led to a valuation of almost $70 billion. Benchmark declined to comment Wednesday.

Its long overdue, Steve Vassallo, general partner at Uber investor Foundation Capital, told CNBC on Wednesday. Theres a strong gravitational pull in the Valley to support founders as long as you possibly can. But the one thing you cant overcome is when youve lost the team. And I think it was clear Travis lost the team. If you have a culture that doesnt attract half the population of talent, its hard to overcome.

Enough investors had signed on to the campaign to oust Kalanick by this week that they carried nearly 40% of the private firms voting power. Ubers board of directors collectively had no intention of asking Kalanick to resign from his post, but the investor group went directly to the embattled CEO. Within hours, Kalanick told the board he would step down.

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, Kalanick said in a statement sent to employees early Wednesday.

Kalanicks departure clouds the future of a company that had come to embody both the immense promise and hubris of the tech industrys biggest names.

Kalanick took on the entrenched taxi industry, local governments and rival start-ups to get his mobile app-driven service into as many cities across the globe as he could. But the win-at-all-costs ethos that fueled Kalanicks meteoric rise also spelled his ignominious fall.

The San Francisco start-up has been rocked this year by allegations of a corrosive culture that allowed bad behavior and sexual harassment to go unchecked for years.

Last week, the company announced that Kalanick, 40, would take an indefinite leave of absence  in part to grieve after the sudden death of his mother in a recent boating accident. But that apparently was unsatisfactory for investors, whose concerns prompted the resignation.

In a statement, the board of directors praised Kalanicks decision and noted he would remain on the panel  joining other former CEOs such as Starbucks Howard Schultz who have kept a role on the boards of the companies they ran.

Travis has always put Uber first. This is a bold decision and a sign of his devotion and love for Uber, the board said. By stepping away, hes taking the time to heal from his personal tragedy while giving the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Ubers history.

The company, which first launched its service in San Francisco in July 2010, now has more than 12,000 employees and serves more than 600 cities worldwide. Uber generated $6.5 billion in sales last year; its adjusted loss was nearly $3 billion. Because of its soaring valuation and growth, Kalanick was long seen by insiders and outsiders alike as being untouchable.

Its rare for investors to turn their backs on entrepreneurs who has pledged to work on their leadership approach, but Uber is an exceptional case because it could produce once-in-a-lifetime returns for some investment firms. For many, their stakes in Uber could be as legacy-defining as Sequoias and Kleiner Perkins early ownership stakes in Google.

Kalanick sought to delay an initial public offering of Uber stock as long as possible, but many investors wanted to lock in the gains of their early investments through an IPO sooner rather than later. Kalanicks viewpoint and the concerns swirling around him could have damaged the companys prospects of a successful stock market debut.

Sometimes great leadership means empowering others to lead the task at hand, and that is what he has done here to help important and necessary changes at the company happen so Uber can reach its full potential, said Shawn Carolan, managing partner at Menlo Ventures.

Menlo Ventures was one of the five investors that had sought Kalanicks resignation. Others included Ubers first two institutional investors: Shark Tank judge Chris Saccas Lowercase Capital and the San Francisco firm First Round Capital. The mutual fund giant Fidelity also signed on to the demand.

Bill Gurley, an Uber board member and a partner of Benchmark, tweeted Tuesday evening that there will be many pages in the history books devoted to Kalanick.

Others on the long list of Uber investors include Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos personal investment fund, actor Ashton Kutchers investment fund, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Alphabets investment arm GV and Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund.

Mutual funds holding Uber shares include Vanguards U.S. Growth Portfolio, Fidelitys Blue Chip Growth and BlackRocks U.S. Opportunities Portfolio.

Until now, Kalanick had been able to weather controversies  such as when he publicly referred to Uber as Boob-er because he believed running the company made him more desirable to women. He also rebounded from revelations that he and other Uber executives used a feature called God View to track the trips of individual passengers.

But Kalanicks reputation took another hit when video surfaced of him berating an Uber driver. That was compounded by allegations from a former employee that the company ignored or tried to cover up complaints of sexual harassment, and claims that Kalanick and other Uber executives mishandled a womans medical files after she was raped by an Uber driver in India.

The company is also embroiled in a lawsuit filed by Googles self-driving car subsidiary, Waymo, alleging that a former employee who later joined Uber stole trade secrets.

One of the final public blows was the release of a report prepared by former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., who was hired by Ubers board to investigate the companys culture. The report, following a months-long inquiry, did not detail the problems it found, but the top recommendation was to reassess Kalanicks role. A concurrent investigation into complaints about sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying also resulted in the firing of 20 employees.

The scandals posed a threat to Ubers reputation among passengers and drivers  an opening that the firms chief rival, Lyft, appears eager to pounce upon, welcoming drivers who believe Ubers smaller competitor is a kinder and more lucrative firm to work for.

Kalanicks resignation drew swift and mixed reaction across Silicon Valley. Mary Lou Jepsen, who led divisions at Google and Facebook, posted on Facebook that it was about time and that she hopes the move wakes up other companies in Silicon Valley and beyond.

But Bradley Tusk, an early investor in Uber and founder and chief executive of Tusk Ventures, said it wouldnt be difficult to hire a general counsel to implement Holders recommendations or other executives to facilitate an initial public offering. But finding someone who can innovate the way Travis can is much, much harder.

Kalanicks departure will spark whats expected to be a high-profile search for a new chief executive  one of many C-level positions open at the firm.

Its going to be very hard for them to find someone, said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias. They are having so many legal difficulties, from trade secret thefts to sexual harassment claims to fighting with state and local governments. Theres a lot of clean-up, and its a daunting task.

Its also an endeavor that arguably could have been prevented had the board reined in the founders behavior. Of course, thats easier said than done  or as Kalanick noted in his now infamous argument with Uber driver Fawzi Kamel caught on video: Some people dont like to take responsibility for their own problems, using a vulgarity.

tracey.lien@latimes.com

Twitter: @traceylien

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UPDATES:

3:05 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with new reporting, including comment from Shawn Carolan, managing partner at Menlo Ventures.

9:15 a.m.: This article was updated with comment from investor Bradley Tusk and University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias.

June 22, 7 a.m.: This article was updated with information about Ubers search for a new chief executive and its chief competitor, Lyft.

11:55 p.m.: This article was updated with reaction from Uber board member and investor Bill Gurley and others in Silicon Valley.

11:35 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from Ubers board of directors.

11:26 p.m.: This article was updated with additional context.

10:55 p.m.: This article was updated with confirmation of Kalanicks resignation and additional details and background.

This article was originally published at 10:45 p.m., June 21.
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.
The notion of artist as provocateur has sparked considerable heat lately, what with Kathy Griffins incendiary representation of President Trump and the Public Theater in New Yorks allusion to Trump in its new production of Shakespeares Julius Caesar.

The reaction to public, governmental and corporate outcry over of such controversial depictions from Roger Waters, long one of rock musics most outspoken voices?



For the record: An earlier edition of this post stated that Roger Waters supports Palestinians rights but incorrectly referred to tensions between Israel and Palestine. It should have referenced tensions between the Israeli government and Palestinians.

Bring it on.

Roger Waters performs the first of three nights at Staples Center on Tuesday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Review: Roger Waters high-tech Us + Them spectacle soothes and galvanizes 

Every human being, he said, has a responsibility to throw their hat into the ring and to use as much of the energy as they have to, hopefully, advance the human race as a race, in ways that promote the general happiness of all, rather than the great wealth of the very few.

That concept is in the spotlight with his latest tour, Us + Them, which tackles the extreme polarization of discourse in this nation and around the world, a situation he still firmly believes can be overcome by one thing.

Love, Waters said simply, shortly after shooting a video for one of the songs from his new album, Is This the Life We Really Want? at the home recording studio of his friend L.A. musician Johnathan Wilson.

Weve done 11 gigs so far, were just in the beginning of it, but we have succeeded to this point that at the end of the show there is a palpable feeling of an attachment to love and to these ideas. Its in the room and you can feel it, he said.

But for anyone remotely familiar with Waters body of work, as a solo artist and as one of the guiding forces of English art-rock band Pink Floyd, it wont come as a surprise that the path to his climactic invocation of love isnt all rainbows and unicorns.

There are [usually] a few disgusted people who say, How dare you criticize our president, because there is a whack at Trump in a couple of the songs.  Roger Waters

There are [usually] a few disgusted people who say, How dare you criticize our president, because there is a whack at Trump in a couple of the songs, he said.

Indeed, Waters takes direct shots not only at Trump, but more broadly at the rich and powerful.

Its a characteristically grand-scale production, physically, musically and conceptually, bathing listeners in Waters atmospheric, often foreboding themes.

On the new album, he delves deep into the frustration and despair manifesting around the world in seemingly increasing incidents of violence. Yet he strives to hold on to a shred of hope with the idea that an underlying common thread of humanity will supersede political, social and economic differences that are often at the heart of conflicts.

The new albums opening track, Deja Vu, is one of four new songs hes folding into his stage production. That song, he said, was the catalyst, the one that motivated me to actually go and do it  it being his first solo album in 25 years.

In that song, the self-described agnostic imagines how the world might be different if he were pulling the strings.

If I had been god, with my staff and my rod/ If I had been given the nod/ I believe I could have done a better job, he sings. For all its apparent hubris, the song is not without a sense of humor: If I had been god, I would have rearranged the veins in the face/ To make them more resistant to alcohol/ And less prone to aging.

At 73, Waters is among rocks senior statesmen, his status reinforced by his presence last fall at the summit meeting of heavyweights for the Desert Trip festival in Indio, where he performed along with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, the Who and Neil Young.

On Monday, Waters was wearing a black T-shirt, well-broken-in denim jeans and, in the aftermath of the video shoot, no shoes. His shoulder-length hair is becoming more salt than pepper, but he looks trim and fit for the rigors of the physically demanding show.

Waters current and recent sets, as usual, featured an appearance by the notorious flying pig. At Desert Trip, it was emblazoned with a vulgar epithet directed at then-candidate Trump. The helium porcine  with messages on this tour once again taking aim at the president  has been a staple of his concerts for four decades since it first floated out among fans during Pink Floyds original Animals trek.

Waters lets the chief executive off comparatively easily in one new song in which he couples Every time a young girls life is casually spent with Every time a nincompoop becomes the president. Discussing the song, he quickly notes that nincompoop is derived from the Latin phrase non compos mentis meaning not of sound mind.

The difference, in his mind, between his Desert Trip show and Us + Them?

This ones more political, he said with a straight face from his chair at the mixing board in the ground floor of Wilsons studio.

Roger Waters sends a message about then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump as he performs at Desert Trip at the Empire Polo Club grounds in Indio, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2016. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Waters regularly targets corporate greed, political chicanery, eroding civil liberties, warmongering and other hot-button topics, and he doesnt shy from taking a stand, even when it has put his career on the line, as has been the case with his support of Palestinian rights in ongoing tensions between Israel and Palestine.

That stance reportedly cost him $4 million in tour underwriting from American Express, according to the New York Post. To Waters, its an issue of equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis.

Its the same as the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, and the people who were on the side of that movement were on the right side of history, he said.

Waters has lobbied other musicians to boycott Israel to pressure the government to change its stance toward Palestinians  in keeping with Palestinian-backed BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions) Movement  but many of those artists hes singled out have ignored his efforts and performed as scheduled.

I am in no way an anti-Semite, which is obvious, he said. He has been branded anti-Semitic, a tactic he likens to larger campaigns that utilize propaganda techniques to advance various political agendas.

There [are] people who believe Trump to be a benevolent dictator who can protect them. But he doesnt care about them. He cares about nothing but Donald Trump.  Roger Waters

There were three books I insisted that my own children read growing up: One was 84, (referring to George Orwells 1984, one was [Aldous Huxleys] Brave New World and the other was The Time Machine  H.G. Wells, which was also very prescient. The Eloi are living their happy lives, or so they think, but then they discover they are food for the Morlocks, these underground creatures who prey on them.

He draws a parallel to those he calls modern-day robber barons, personified by the art of the deal philosophy espoused by Trump.

The problem is there is a group of people who believe Donald Trump to be a benevolent dictator who can protect them and protect the Chinese and the Mexicans and make everything right again, he said. But he doesnt care about them. He clearly cares about nothing but Donald Trump.

For all the dark forces that Waters rails against on Is This the Life We Really Want?, he nevertheless considers it a labor of love. Thats exactly what it is, a labor of love.

The world of greed and commerce and pragmatism has rather passed us all by, in a depressing way, he continued. I believe in the transcendental power of love. Here we are in a kind of hippie enclave, and I dont mind sounding a bit hippie: I think its something we need a bit more of.

randy.lewis@latimes.com

Follow @RandyLewis2 on Twitter.com

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Faced with mounting costs and declining enrollment, the Los Angeles Unified School District board approved a $7.5-billion budget Tuesday that will increase spending and lay off more than 100 library aides, clerks and other support staff next school year.

The layoffs represent a growing acknowledgement by district officials that the nations second-largest school district has to downsize, adjusting to the reality of population loss caused by falling birth rates, gentrification and competition from charter schools. Supt. Michelle Kings budget plan, the second of her tenure, forecasts that L.A. Unified will continue to shrink. It assumes that enrollment, which stands at about 514,000 students, will decline by nearly 34,000 students, or about 2% a year, over the next three years.

Such a drop probably would worsen the districts financial problems because state funding is tied to enrollment and accounts for most of the districts revenue.

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Five of the seven board members voted to support Kings plan, but they did so grudgingly, with little enthusiasm for the prospect of difficult years ahead. Several called on lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown to provide more state funding for K-12 schools. Board member Richard Vladovic voted against the proposal, though he declined to state his reasons publicly, and board member George McKenna abstained, saying he was lost and not happy with the plan.

While nodding to the harsh realities of the districts fiscal situation, King defended her plan as doing the least amount of harm to schools.

Yes, we have challenges, but this budget does prioritize the school site. It does, she said. We were going to do everything we could to keep disruption and cuts away from the school, and this is what this budget does.

The budget, King said, puts more money into early learning, such as transitional kindergarten, and restorative justice, which seeks to end suspensions and expulsions through counseling. Arts education also retains its funding levels, she said.

Although overall revenue is trending down, L.A. Unifieds costs are growing, particularly in areas that are difficult to control.

Paying for employees pensions and healthcare after they retire is eating up more of the budget  next year, its expected to account for 8% of general fund expenditures. Salaries and benefits, already the districts largest cost, are increasing as L.A. Unifieds 60,000 employees age. And spending on students receiving special education services has jumped and is expected to keep climbing.

Adding pressure to this already grim fiscal outlook is the possibility that the school district could be penalized for having too many administrators on its payroll. California requires unified school districts to keep their administrator-to-teacher ratios below a certain threshold: eight administrative employees for every 100 full-time teachers.

Districts that exceed this limit  which L.A. Unified recently has  are forced to give up some of their state funding. If L.A. Unified doesnt cut some of its administrative positions, it could forgo as much as $24 million annually, said Deputy Chief Financial Officer John Walsh.

Kings spending plan begins to address that problem by reducing the number of central office administrators, coordinators and managers by about 150 next year, part of a 30% cut to the districts bureaucracy run out of its Beaudry headquarters. Many of these employees have tenure as school administrators or teachers and could return to these positions at reduced salaries.

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 library cuts especially bothered board member Monica Ratliff, who did not seek reelection and is leaving the board at the end of the month.

The reality is that libraries are going to be shut just like they were before, she said, referring to the budget cuts during the Great Recession. I think this is a really serious issue that the district has to come to terms with publicly.

Next years budget is balanced, thanks to a combination of one-time funding from the state and realignment steps  which include 121 layoffs  by the district. But L.A. Unified is two years away from a $422-million shortfall, according to Kings spending plan.

Proposals to close that gap are vague, and school board members are far from agreement on how to bring the districts costs in line with its revenues.

One suggestion would have the district stop paying into a trust fund it set aside to cover retirees healthcare, kicking that long-term expense further into the future. Currently, the district needs about $13.6 billion more to pay for the lifetime health benefits it promised to long-term employees.

Another proposal would raise class sizes by four students in grades four through 12, which would cut school staff by about 1,000 full-time employees.

A third policy proposal could provide the most savings, according to the districts projections. Under this plan, L.A. Unified would be allowed to seize money from individual schools rainy day funds, collecting whatever principals had saved. But similar plans embraced by other financially strapped school districts have proved unpopular, and district officials have said they hope to avoid going this route.

Although Kings plan calls for a 6.7% increase in spending over last year, school board members have received an earful of requests for new spending as well as spending that is allocated differently.

At the center of the controversy is $1 billion in annual state funding that the district is required to use to provide extra help to students from low-income families, students learning to speak English and those in foster care..

In 2015, a coalition of advocates and local groups sued L.A. Unified, accusing it of spending this money illegally. They said the school system had misused hundreds of millions of dollars, using the funding to pay for operations across the entire school system rather than services for the specific students it was intended to help. The district contends it used the money appropriately.

School board members are also at odds over how to spend federal funding for schools with large concentrations of poor students.

Known as Title I money, this funding is a vital revenue stream in a district where about 3 in 4 students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The districts budget assumes that this funding will be cut by about 16% next year, anticipating that the Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress might provide fewer dollars.

Board President Steve Zimmer and several speakers challenged this assumption and the resulting cuts that are to be suffered by schools. Zimmer said that his recent trip to Washington indicates that Congress would not support the level of cuts first proposed by Trump.

If the funding comes through, it can be added to school budgets in February, King said.

Although Kings plan calls for a 6.7% increase in spending over last year, school board members have received an earful of requests for new and different spending. (Christian K. Lee/ Los Angeles Times)

To read the article in Spanish, click here

howard.blume@latimes.com

@howardblume
Lawyers for a father detained by immigration officials after dropping off his daughter at school in Los Angeles settled the two decades-old misdemeanor convictions that prompted his arrest.

Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, 49, instead pleaded guilty to lesser vehicle code violations.

ICE officials had cited a deportation order based on the former misdemeanor convictions as the reason for picking him up. His lawyers hope that with the changes, ICE will grant his release and cancel his deportation order.

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Avelica-Gonzalez, a Mexican citizen who has lived in the United States for 25 years, has remained in immigration detention for nearly four months. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled him over and detained him in Highland Park, six blocks from the Lincoln Heights school where he had dropped off his 12-year-old daughter minutes before. Another daughter in the car with him, now 14, sobbed as she recorded cellphone video of the encounter.

Some criminal convictions can place immigrants in line for deportation proceedings. But a new state law that went into effect in January allows immigrants to have their convictions vacated if they werent adequately advised of those consequences at the time of their guilty or no contest pleas.

Avelica-Gonzalezs original misdemeanor convictions were for receiving stolen property in 1998 and for DUI in 2008.

In the first case, Avelica-Gonzalez said that because immigrants in California illegally were ineligible at the time for drivers licenses, and therefore unable to register a vehicle, he obtained an auto registration tag not issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles from a friend.

Steve Escovar, one of Avelica-Gonzalezs attorneys, said that conviction was vacated Friday then settled as a registration violation. The DUI case, which a judge had vacated last month, was settled as a speed exhibition. Both are violations of the state vehicle code.

Escovar called it a wonderful result.

Reasonable efforts by prosecutors can accommodate the needs of law enforcement, while still striving to keep families intact  and not inadvertently disintegrated  as a result of poorly understood immigration consequences of criminal convictions, he said.

In a 77-page brief last month, City Atty. Mike Feuer said there was no legal basis or evidence to support Avelica-Gonzalezs request to vacate his receipt of stolen property conviction. But Rob Wilcox, Feuers spokesman, said Tuesday that the judge last week focused on facts that hadnt been presented earlier to the court.

The judge concluded, and our office agreed, that the waiver form was not fully consistent with wording required by state law, he said.

On Wednesday, Avelica-Gonzalez attorneys moved for the Board of Immigration Appeals to consider reopening his immigration case as a result of the decision. They are also asking ICE to stay his deportation and release Avelica-Gonzalez in the meantime.

andrea.castillo@latimes.com

@andreamcastillo
Los Angeles County sheriffs homicide detectives are investigating a deadly shooting in El Monte, where a driver stepped out of his car at a stoplight and opened fire on another vehicle Tuesday night, officials said.

The shooting occurred at the intersection of Garvey and Durfee avenues about 11 p.m., officials said.

As the victims car waited for the light to change, another vehicle pulled up alongside and a verbal interaction occurred between the occupants of both vehicles, the Sheriffs Department said in a media release.

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During the exchange, a man exited the second vehicle, approached the passengers side rear window of the first car and began shooting, fatally striking the victim and wounding the male juvenile next to him, authorities said. The juvenile was a teenager, according to CBS2.

The victim, who was only described as being in his 20s, was sitting in the back seat, beside the teen. Two women sat in the front seats.

The driver of the victims car rushed to the hospital, where the man was pronounced dead. The juvenile was listed in stable condition.

The shooter from the second vehicle got away, authorities said.

Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at (323) 890-5500.

The killing marks the seventh homicide in El Monte in the last 12 months, according to the Homicide Report database.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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The Los Angeles Fire Department could soon seek federal permission to fly drones, a tool that officials say could help them track down missing hikers, gauge the risks in burning buildings and search confined spaces.

A Los Angeles City Council committee voted Tuesday to allow the department to start seeking Federal Aviation Administration authorization to use unmanned aerial systems, despite objections from groups concerned about privacy rights. That decision now heads to the entire council for approval.

I think theres a tremendous opportunity to save lives, said Councilman Mitch Englander, who has championed the idea.

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Fire officials say no drones will be launched, however, until the Board of Fire Commissioners and the City Council approve a policy outlining how they can be used. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has already raised concerns about draft guidelines, saying they do not go far enough to address serious privacy concerns.

Fire Department officials say the drones will not be used for police surveillance, but to assess hazards on the spot.

At the Tuesday committee meeting, LAFD battalion Chief Richard Fields said that the department too often has had to rely on simple radio communications to figure out where to put its firefighters and equipment rescue people or snuff out fires.

Fields rattled off several situations that might call for drones, including evaluating the dangers in buildings at risk of collapse. Englander said the drones could also be equipped to communicate with stranded hikers, allowing rescuers to ask, What do you need? Whats hurting? How are you doing?

The Fire Department also said the technology could be used for training. We wouldnt want to squander the possibilities of drone technology, said Councilman Mitch OFarrell, one of four lawmakers who backed the plan Tuesday.

The growing use of drones, however, has also alarmed groups concerned about warrantless surveillance.

Hamid Khan, founder of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, argued that allowing the Fire Department to use drones would end up providing a backdoor way to share information with police. The group protested when the Los Angeles Police Department got a pair of drones, which have been locked up since then, and has also opposed drone use by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department.

We are deeply concerned about this development, Khan said.

The ACLU of Southern California warned that although the Fire Department has pledged not to use the drones for surveillance, the draft set of rules did not spell out what purposes would be allowed.

We cant protect against mission creep because we dont know what the mission is to start with, staff attorney Melanie Ochoa said.

The ACLU also recommended that the Fire Department hammer out rules for retaining and sharing footage from drones, include oversight and accountability measures such as an independent monitor to track drone use, and require that any future changes to the policy be vetted by the Board of Fire Commissioners and the City Council.

Fire Department officials say that they are undertaking a careful process to address those concerns. In a report, the department said it planned to turn in quarterly reports on drone use, give the public a way to weigh in, and alert Angelenos in advance where a drone was being deployed.

The Fire Department will engage in regular dialogue with the public safety committee to make sure theres proper oversight, said department spokesman Jeremy Oberstein, adding that the drones would operate under tight guidelines.

At the Tuesday meeting, Fire Department officials added that they could lose federal authorization if they used drones for unapproved purposes. However, an FAA spokesman said it does not specify what agencies can or cannot do with drones except from a safety perspective.

Department officials estimate that it will cost $40,000 to buy a first set of six drones with cameras, infrared detection and supporting equipment, using money donated by the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.

emily.alpert@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesEmily
Explosions were heard as flames overcame a Woodland Hills home Tuesday evening, forcing residents to evacuate as an uncontrolled gas line fueled the blaze, authorities said.

The fire was reported about 7:40 p.m. in the 4900 block of Marmol Drive, according to Amy Bastman, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Crews from the gas company and a construction company were on the scene and assisting fire officials.

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Images from KTLA-TV Channel 5 showed the two-story home with windows and doors blown out and smoke coming from the roof.

The homes foundation also appeared cracked, and Bastman said the home was structurally compromised.

Because of the homes instability, firefighters were battling the blaze from outside the structure.

The fire was among several that broke out Tuesday evening across Los Angeles, which has seen sweltering temperatures amid a regional heat wave.

In Montecito Heights, a fire erupted in one room of a two-story home, drawing more than 40 firefighters to control the blaze. Firefighters doused the flames in 38 minutes. A 21-year-old man was suspected of igniting the fire, Bastman said.

In North Hollywood, a one-story home caught fire in the 11000 block of West Emelita Street. Dozens of firefighters controlled the fire in about 20 minutes, Bastman said. No injuries were reported.

matt.hamilton@latimes.com

Twitter: @MattHjourno
Authorities are investigating a robbery in Hesperia during which as many as four men broke into a house, tied up the occupants and stole a car and other property.

San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department deputies from the Hesperia station responded to a call at 3:40 a.m. Wednesday in the 15300 block of Sycamore Street, according to a news release from the department.

California Highway Patrol officers found the stolen car in front of a house in the West Covina area just after 5 a.m., and detained one man. Several men near the car ran away when they saw the officers, according to the news release.

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Anyone with information should call the San Bernardino Sheriffs Hesperia station at (760) 947-1500.

Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.
A 26-year-old man was arrested Sunday after a Mexican woman he picked up near the border died while hiding in his truck, authorities said.

Efren Jimenez was taken into custody late Sunday when a father and son saw him dragging the womans body off a remote canyon road in San Juan Capistrano, according to an affidavit filed this week in U.S. District Court.

Jimenez has been charged with transporting or moving a person who has illegally entered the U.S., according to federal authorities.

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Authorities are still seeking to notify the womans family of her death, said Lt. Lane Lagaret, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriffs Department. The 33-year-old womans name has not been released.

An autopsy was performed, but the cause of her death has not been determined, Lagaret said. Authorities are awaiting toxicology test results.

Jimenezs trip to the border Sunday was prompted by a phone call from a smuggler called Chorizo, according to court documents.

Jimenez told federal authorities that the smuggler called him and offered to pay him $380 to transport a man and woman to Los Angeles, Monica Abend, a special agent with U.S. Department of Homeland Security, wrote in the affidavit.

The smuggler instructed Jimenez to pick up the man and woman Sunday afternoon near Viejas Casino in Alpine, according to the agent. He told Jimenez the woman was slow, Abend wrote.

At 5:30 p.m., Jimenez met the man and the woman, who was limping, in Campo. They got in Jimenezs Nissan Titan pickup truck. She laid down on the back seat floor and the man laid flat on the back seat, according to the affidavit.

Jimenez said he gave them water, and then the male passenger told him the woman had asthma.

Before hitting the road, Jimenez met a friend at a gas station near Campo to pick up cash to buy gas. After refueling, he got onto the northbound 5 Freeway.

It was near Carlsbad when things took a turn for the worse, Jimenez told the agent.

The woman started shaking, Jimenez said. The male passenger told Jimenez she was dying, according to the affidavit.

Not long after, the woman was dead, Jimenez told authorities.

Jimenez said he called the smuggler, who instructed him to give her CPR, the agent wrote. He got off the freeway and shook the woman, Abend said.

Jimenez felt her skin and thought that she felt cool, the agent wrote.

He got back onto the 5 Freeway and called his brother to arrange a meeting at a Carls Jr. restaurant in San Juan Capistrano. On his way there, he stopped again to refuel. Jimenez later dropped off the male passenger at the fast food restaurant, according to the affidavit.

He called the smuggler again, Abend said.

Chorizo directed Jimenez to drop off the body behind a 7-11 store and call 911, she wrote.

He instead drove off the road at La Novia Avenue and Forster Canyon Road and removed the womans body, according to the affidavit.

Thats when the father and son saw him dragging the woman. They went over and tried to feel for the womans pulse, Abend wrote.

When they walked over to Jimenezs truck to call 911, he motioned at them to leave, according to court documents.

In response, the father took Jimenez to the ground and detained him while they called 911.

As the father and son waited for authorities, they allowed Jimenez to call his girlfriend in Tijuana.

They heard some of Jimenezs conservation, including the phrases went bad, got messed up and I love you.

Sheriffs detectives are investigating and could seek charges if they determine a crime was committed, authorities said.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA
A court-appointed California investigator has blamed Oaklands mayor and the citys former police chief for mishandling and downplaying a sexual misconduct scandal in the citys police department.

Investigator Ed Swanson in documents filed in court Wednesday put much of the blame on former Police Chief Sean Whent but also singled out Mayor Libby Schaaf for failing to monitor the case after she vowed dramatic reforms.

Swansons report faulted police for failing to launch a serious investigation into a teenagers claims she had sex with as many as two dozen officers starting when she was 16.

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The city paid the victim almost $1 million to settle her legal claims. Seven current and former officers face criminal charges.

Schaafs spokesman, Michael Hunt, did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment on the report Wednesday.
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.
Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford has been charged with illegally receiving nearly $500,000 from local consultants and failing to publicly disclose the income on economic statements, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Ledford, 63, has been charged with conspiracy and conflict of interest and three counts of perjury, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney. The two consultants, Kimberly Anne Shaw, 61, of Yorba Linda, and Susan Miller, 68, each face charges of conspiracy, embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds.

Prosecutors allege that as part of the scheme, Palmdale paid Shaw millions of dollars and then she  through a nonprofit organization and another consultant  funneled money to the mayor.

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Between Aug. 1, 2009, and May 3, 2017, Ledford received about $5,200 a month through a series of shell companies, according to the criminal complaint. The mayor received more than $483,000 during that period, authorities say.

Shaw has been a consultant for the city of Palmdale for the last 20 years and has run much of its development and aerospace operations. Shaw and Miller operate the AERO Institute, which receives more than $2 million annually from NASA.

Miller also operated a Nevada company known as Complex Culture Change Consulting and hired Ledford in 2009. Over a four-year period, AERO Institute paid the consulting firm more than $13,000 every month and in turn, Complex Consulting allegedly paid Ledford the $5,200 per month, according to court documents and records.

Prosecutors allege Ledford did not perform any substantive work for AERO Institute during his contract.

At the same time, Ledford helped Shaw receive a lucrative contract increase. In January 2012, the Palmdale City Council voted to boost Shaws consultant contract to an amount not to exceed $3.9 million over seven years. Prosecutors allege Ledford failed to reveal that he was indirectly receiving income from AERO Institute.

In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Ledford is accused of not reporting the income he received from AERO Institute on economic disclosure statements.

Ledford could face up to four years and eight months in state prison, and Shaw and Miller could get four years in prison if they are convicted.

The longtime mayor appeared in court Wednesday, and after some wrangling between prosecutors and his attorney, bail was set by L.A. Superior Court Judge Mark Hanasono at $75,000.

Through his attorney, Anthony Falangetti, Ledford delayed entering a plea, and he will be arraigned July 26.

After the hearing, Falangetti said these right now are accusations that have yet to be tested in a court of law.

He added that the payments to Ledford were completely appropriate, saying, [Ledford] got paid to do some work, and he declared who paid him.

The city is going very well under his leadership, the attorney said.

A district attorneys spokesman said prosecutors are arranging the surrender of Miller and Shaw.

The investigation began in 2013, and the charges come a month after members of the district attorneys Bureau of Investigations descended on six locations, including the mayors office at Palmdale City Hall.

In the aftermath, local leaders called on the mayor to take a leave from City Hall.

Ledford has served as the citys mayor since 1992 and worked as a planning commissioner and councilman before that. In all, he has been involved in city government for more than 30 years.

A 2013 deposition of Ledford over a voter rights lawsuit exposed the financial ties.

In the 250-page deposition, Ledford was grilled by Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, a longtime rival who was serving as an attorney for the plaintiffs. In the contentious, hours-long exchange, Parris strays from the voting rights case to repeatedly ask Ledford about his income and the nature of a job he had taken with Complex Consulting. Ledfords attorneys objected to nearly every question Parris asked about the job and often advised the mayor not to respond.

Asked to summarize his duties for Complex Consulting, Ledford said he conducted educational research that included trips to Portland, Ore., and Mountain View, Calif., where he visited a NASA research center. But Ledford often struggled to describe any work he did or reports he produced, or provide a timeline of hours he worked for the firm, according to the deposition.

My job has been to research educational conferences, Ledford said.

Parris then asked Ledford if he had written or dictated any research memorandums, or submitted any emails to his employer about the conferences he researched. The Palmdale mayor answered no to each question, according to the deposition. Ledford eventually said he typed a 20-page summary of his observations during a trip to the NASA research center in Mountain View.

Last month, Miller said she spoke with officials from the district attorneys office once, about four years ago. She declined to say what they discussed. It was privileged information, she said. They told me to keep my mouth shut.

She said she was not at liberty to discuss the purpose of Complex Consulting or what Ledford was paid to do, and declined to answer additional questions.

Dont be surprised when I hang up on you, said Miller, who moved to Las Vegas in 2014, before ending a phone interview.

Parris on Wednesday declared the charges the end of Ledfords reign over Palmdale. People should work for the well-being of the community, not themselves, the Lancaster mayor said. The area has suffered for 20 years.

richard.winton@latimes.com | @lacrimes

benjamin.oreskes@latimes.com | @boreskes

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UPDATES:

4:00 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Ledfords attorney.

3:25 p.m.: This article was updated with Ledfords court appearance and bail amount.

This article was originally published at 2:10 p.m.
Dozens of animals had to be rescued after a fire broke out in the middle of the night in a South L.A. pet shop on Wednesday, fire officials said.

Video from the scene in the 4700 block of South Broadway showed dozens of firefighters moving quickly in and out of the burning building carrying bird cages and glass containers with mice, rats and other rodents.

The blaze was reported on the first floor of the two-story building about 1:35 a.m., said LAFD spokeswoman Amy Bastman.

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The building contained a pet store on the first floor and apartments on the second.

Nearly 40 firefighters fought the blaze for about a half-hour and no injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.
A punishing heat wave that brought record temperatures to California this week may be easing, but the risk of wildfire was expected to grow Thursday as a result of continued warmth, increased winds and lush ground cover, according to the National Weather Service.

On Wednesday, the weather service issued a red flag warning for parts of Northern California through Thursday afternoon. The warning includes the northern Sacramento Valley, where triple-digit heat, strong winds and low relative humidity have created a potent mix for fire.



For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that a 93-year-old heat record at Fresno Yosemite International Airport was broken Tuesday when the thermometer hit 110. The previous record was set 97 years ago.

In Southern California, conditions have yet to meet the threshold for a red flag warning, but the weather service did say the region should prepare for the increased risk of fire.

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While winds have been relatively light so far this week, onshore flow is expected to strengthen on Thursday, read a statement from the Oxnard office of the NWS. With this expected wind increase, continuing hot and dry conditions, and drying fuels/vegetation, the risk of extreme fire behavior will be on the rise.

Officials said a fire weather watch will be in place through Thursday for the Antelope Valley and interior mountains  where the benefits of a coastal breeze are muted.

This new forecast for Sacramento today has just been released. As you can see, it will be significantly hotter! Stay hydrated, be safe!  pic.twitter.com/NeJW7gzYkT  Sacramento Fire (@SacFirePIO) June 21, 2017

On Wednesday, state fire officials warned that heavy rains over the winter and spring did not remove the risk of summer wildfires.

We are asking that residents not be lulled into a false sense of security on the heels of an exceptionally wet winter, said Ken Pimlott, chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in a statement Wednesday. The abundant dead grass will only serve as a fuse to the heavier vegetation still suffering lasting effects of five years of extreme drought.

In the Sacramento Valley, temperatures could reach as high as 112 degrees through Saturday, while wind gusts could hit 30 mph in the foothills. The foothills are also an area where heavy rains have enriched layers of now-drying brush and vegetation  ready fuel for flames.

#DailyFire [Update] Firefighters making progress fire is 1/2 acre. pic.twitter.com/Sswy7f2ToQ  CAL FIRE Butte Unit/Butte County Fire Department (@CALFIRE_ButteCo) June 17, 2017

The situation is just as dire to the south. In the San Joaquin Valley, a 97-year-old heat record at Fresno Yosemite International Airport was broken Tuesday when the thermometer hit 110.

Los Padres National Forest issued a burn restriction the same day for open fires, smoking and operating engines in open vegetation. Last year, the Soberanes fire tore through 206 square miles of chaparral, grass and timber on its way to destroying 57 homes and killing one person. Burn restrictions were also issued this week for Lassen, Modoc and Plumas counties, Calfire said.

In Southern California, firefighters entered their third day of work against a growing blaze in the San Bernardino Mountains, where the Holcomb fire has spread across 1,200 acres and was 10% contained Wednesday. The fire prompted a partial closure of Highway 18 near Big Bear Lake and briefly forced some residents near Baldwin Lake to evacuate.

Higher temperatures and lower humidities are making it a big challenge because the fuels are drying out so fast, said Lyn Sieliet, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Forest Service. We had a really wet winter but it helped all the grasses grow and its created all these fine flashy fuels that go up really fast and spread really quickly.

#HolcombFire Increased fire activity due to rising temperatures and low humidity - Photo courtesy of https://t.co/ocdsPDxE6o @SoCalMtns pic.twitter.com/UVN4vyplEp  San Bernardino National Forest (@SanBernardinoNF) June 20, 2017

The Holcomb fire started Monday afternoon but its cause has not been determined. Sieliet said firefighters have no illusions about what the winter did for the fire season.

Despite a green landscape, the drought and a devastating Sierra Nevada bark beetle infestation thats killed more than 100 million trees means the threat of a wildfire hasnt really diminished, she said.

Itll help the smaller bushes and shrubs  but when the trees are already suffering then it definitely increases problems, she said.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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Firefighters battling a growing blaze in the San Bernardino Mountains can expect a third day of sweltering heat and low wind Wednesday as crews struggled to contain the blaze.

The wildfire in the Holcomb Valley north of Big Bear Lake has scorched 1,200 acres and was 10% contained as of Tuesday night. More than 1,000 firefighters are battling the blaze, according to the U.S. Forest Service. .

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The wildfire started Monday amid a regional heat wave, and firefighters can expect the hot weather to continue through the rest of the week, said National Weather Service forecaster Miguel Miller.

Theyre in a mountain valley tucked away from desert slopes so the wind is not blowing hard where the fire is, Miller said. Its going to be hot but it cools down at night. That area is a very efficient cooling machine. Its clear, its dry and its calm.

Wind gusts were clocked at 20 mph Tuesday as the fire crawled north toward Highway 18. 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.

Loading up to make a water drop on the #HolcombFire pic.twitter.com/ORTL8MzenG  Big Bear Sheriff (@BigBearSheriff) June 20, 2017

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.

The hot weather, coupled with very low [relative humidity] will make it difficult to extinguish any wildfires that develop in wind-prone areas for the next few days, the National Weather Service warned Wednesday morning. Of greatest concern will be the ridges and north slope of the San Bernardino Mountains.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.
Top Trump administration officials held high-level meetings Wednesday with their Chinese counterparts as the White House struggles to find new ways to put pressure on North Korea to throttle back its nuclear arms program.

We hope China will do their part, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters after he and Secretary of Defense James Mattis met at the State Department with Chinas State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Peoples Liberation Army Chief of Joint Staff Gen. Fang Fenghui.

Unable to persuade or coerce North Korea to rein in its nuclear arms and ballistic missile programs, the White House had publicly appealed to China to help ease the threat  and then appeared to blame Beijing when that strategy failed.

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Tillerson said China should apply more economic and political pressure on Pyongyang, including refusing to do business with North Korean entities that have been blacklisted by the United Nations.

The meeting occurred a day after President Trump acknowledged that his attempts to convince Chinese President Xi Jinping to do more had not paid off. The two met in early April at Trumps beachfront estate in Florida, Mar-a-Lago.

While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out, Trump said via Twitter on Tuesday. At least I know China tried!

That followed the death Monday of former University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, who was released last week from 17 months detention in North Korea on charges of stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel. He was flown home in a coma and never recovered.

Asked if Trumps tweet represented frustration with China, Mattis said the frustration lay with North Korea because of its mistreatment of the 22-year-old American.

There is no way that we can look at a situation like this with any kind of understanding, he said. This goes beyond any kind of understanding of law and order, of humanity, of responsibility towards any human being. So what youre seeing, I think, is the American peoples frustration with a regime that provokes, and provokes, and provokes, and basically plays outside the rules, plays fast and loose with the truth, that sort of thing.

Three other Americans are held in North Korean jails, according to the State Department. It routinely warns against traveling to North Korea but about 1,000 Americans visit the rigidly ruled Communist nation each year.

U.S. officials said the focus of Wednesdays meeting was the urgent threat posed by North Korea and the U.S. attempts to seek Chinas help.

Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of State for east Asian and Pacific affairs, said Washington would hold North Korea accountable for its flagrant and repeated disregard for U.N. resolutions that bar its ballistic missile and nuclear tests.

She said the goal was to create a global echo chamber so the international community would speak with one voice in condemning North Korea.

The United States and the United Nations have imposed numerous trade and travel sanctions on North Koreas leadership, military and companies over the last two decades. But leader Kim Jong Un has circumvented many of the restrictions, often with the help of Chinese companies or individuals.

How hard China has tried to stop them, or to moderate North Korean behavior, is a matter of debate.

China has imposed a ban on North Koreas coal exports, which account for 40% of its total exports to China, for the rest of 2017. But some U.S. officials say China also should block the countrys oil imports, which would hurt its economy far more.

Other countries have denied the North Korean airline landing and refueling rights, have expelled diplomats or lowered diplomatic ties, and frozen some assets. China, which is wary of creating too much instability in its nuclear-armed neighbor, has not.

U.S. relations with China have hit several rough spots recently. Washington and Beijing are still far apart on the territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea, for example.

Over the last few years, China has built up several shoals and reefs into airstrips and military sites, and the Pentagon has responded by sending warships and aircraft into the area to assert freedom of navigation.

Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and several other countries accuse Beijing of trying to militarize the resource-rich area, and have challenged Chinas claims of sovereignty over the islands.

China and the Trump administration also have clashed over the U.S. deployment in South Korea of a sophisticated antiballistic missile system known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD.

Beijing claims the systems sophisticated radars could be used to peer deep into China, negating its military deterrent. Washington insists the system would only be used to track and knock down North Korean ballistic missiles in event of an attack.

A Pentagon spokesman, Cmdr. Gary Ross, said the antimissile system is absolutely critical to defend South Korea and U.S. forces stationed there.

Times staff writer W.J. Hennigan contributed to this article.

.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter
When the Kind Clinic began offering free or low-cost hormone therapy for transgender people in March, word spread quickly here. Within days, the service was booked up until the end of June. Now the next available appointment is in December.

For the patients flocking to the clinic north of downtown  the first of its kind in central Texas  its a chance to begin a transition many thought they could not afford. But for the doctors, the rush is a chance to start addressing another major health problem facing the transgender community: the staggering rates of HIV.

By offering hormone therapy, the clinic aims to earn the trust of a population that often feels alienated by mainstream medicine and persuade those at high risk of exposure to the virus to start on a drug regimen that can prevent infection.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a regimen marketed as Truvada for use as a pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV in 2012, but it is not widely prescribed.

Dr. Cynthia Brinson, medical director at the Kind Clinic, consults with a transgender patient, Peter Haley. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

Is that just available to anyone? Peter Haley, a 27-year-old transgender patient, asked a Kind Clinic doctor when she told him about Truvada.

The doctor, Cynthia Brinson, explained that the clinic would first want to provide counseling about the medicine and do a series of tests to rule out a preexisting HIV infection and other potential complications. But if everything checked out, she said, the clinic would provide a prescription and help filling it at little or no cost.

Haley had come to the clinic because he was no longer covered by his mothers insurance and couldnt afford the $100-a-month prescription for testosterone injections or routine visits to the doctor.

Recently married, he didnt think he was in any immediate danger from HIV. But he left the clinic with a stack of leaflets about pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.

I have a lot of friends who probably should know about it, he told the doctor.

A 2013 review of the limited research estimated that as many as 22% of transgender women in the U.S. were living with the AIDS-causing virus  a rate 27 times higher than for the general population of reproductive age (15 to 49). More than half of African American transgender women could be infected, according to one study. The risk to transgender men is believed to be lower, although there is even less data about them.

The population is so vulnerable because the stigmatized place that transgender people occupy in society translates into extremely high rates of poverty, substance abuse, mental health difficulties, homelessness and incarceration  all of which increase the odds of having sex without condoms or sharing needles, the two most common ways that HIV is spread in the U.S.

Finding a job can be especially difficult for some transgender women, so they may turn to sex work, which puts them in even greater danger. Many clients dont want to use condoms, they say, and assaults are common.

Kelly Kline, one of the Kind Clinics first transgender patients, takes a pill once a day to protect herself from HIV. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

Many of those living with HIV refuse to get tested or treated because of bad experiences at mainstream medical facilities.

A survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality in 2015 found that 23% of the nearly 28,000 respondents hadnt seen a doctor when they needed one in the last year, because they were afraid of being mistreated. A third couldnt afford to see one.

Of those who had consulted a healthcare provider, a third reported being refused treatment, verbally harassed, assaulted or subjected to some other mistreatment.

You go to the doctor to seek help, but they act like theyre disgusted by you sometimes, said Kelly Kline, 42, one of the Kind Clinics first transgender patients.

She recalled the New Years Eve that she came down with pneumonia and had to go to the emergency room.

Everyone was so nice, until they asked for my ID, she said. Then the receptionist, in front of everybody, asked, So, youre a man?!

The doctor did a double take when he saw her and checked her chart.

Im so sorry, she recalled him saying. They told me there was supposed to be a man on my table.

Kline, a community activist who hosts a popular drag show at an Austin nightclub, said she has lost count of the number of friends who have died of AIDS-related complications  so many people. Some refuse to get tested because they cant face the possibility of an HIV diagnosis. But others are afraid of how they will be received.

Because transgender people feel so unwelcome at many medical facilities, opportunities for preventing the spread of HIV  the best hope for containing the virus short of a cure or a vaccine  are being missed.

The Austin clinic began in 2015 with the aim of making Truvada more easily available to those at high risk of contracting the virus. That includes anyone who is in a relationship with an HIV-positive person, gay and bisexual men who do not regularly use condoms with partners whose HIV status they dont know, and anyone who sometimes shares equipment to inject drugs or hormones.

Taken daily, the medicine has been shown to reduce the risk of infection by more than 90%.

Though public health officials in Texas and across the nation have made it a component of their strategies against the virus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that many primary care doctors and nurses remain unaware of it.

The medicine has also faced opposition from some doctors and AIDS activists who argue that offering people another way to block HIV transmission would undermine long-standing efforts to promote the use of condoms, a method that is also effective against other sexually transmitted infections. The CDC issued guidelines in 2013 stipulating that PrEP should be used with condoms.

Some doctors in Texas  which sees 4,000 new infections each year  also object to the medicine on moral grounds, arguing it encourages promiscuity and intravenous drug use.

Brinson, who in addition to being the clinics medical director provides care at the county jail, recalled having to break the news to an inmate that he was HIV-positive. The man was stunned because he had tested negative just three months prior.

Well, did they offer you PrEP? she asked him. No, he had never heard of the regimen.

Just having people continually come in to be tested but not offering them a prevention seemed ludicrous, she said.

Most of the people who work at the clinic are volunteers, and the care is free, thanks to a combination of public and private funding. The clinic can also help patients cover the prescription costs for Truvada, which run over $1,600 a month without insurance.

By the end of last year, the clinic was providing the medicine to 800 patients, most of them gay or bisexual men, who account for the majority of new HIV infections in the U.S.

But the doctors worried about how few transgender people were coming in. So they reached out to community representatives, who pointed out that for many transgender people, HIV is a secondary concern to obtaining the hormones they need to transition. The observation was borne out by recent studies that recommend combining HIV and gender care services for these patients.

And so the clinic began offering hormone therapy.

Our strategy is around getting to zero [new infections], and you cant do that without addressing the needs of the transgender community in a way that makes sense to them, said Joe McAdams, the Kind Clinics executive director.

At first, the clinic offered gender care appointments one evening each week. To meet the growing demand, it recently added weekend hours and is planning to move to larger premises in August.

More than a quarter of the transgender patients decide to try Truvada, said McAdams, who has been living with HIV himself for 30 years.

One of them is Kline. She now takes a blue pill every morning with her allergy medicine.

She loves coming to the clinic. On her first visit, she was offered a questionnaire that asked about her gender identity, the sex she was assigned at birth and what pronouns she prefers.

Other doctors have never, ever asked about it, she said.

alexandra.zavis@latimes.com

Twitter: @alexzavis
As they look back on the bloody scene that unfolded Wednesday at the airport in Flint, Mich., witnesses say there was no warning of what was to come.

The man the FBI would later identify as Amor Ftouhi had wandered around the public parts of Bishop International Airport, just outside the Transportation Security Administration screening area. He was carrying bags, and went inside a restroom. He came out without the bags and went up to police Lt. Jeff Neville of the airports Public Safety Department.

The chief of the department, Chris Miller, who was nearby, said Ftouhi did not engage with Neville.

He just started stabbing, he said.

The only warning, such as it was, came, authorities said, when Ftouhi yelled, Allahu akbar  God is great in Arabic. David Gelios, the FBI special agent in charge, said witnesses reported that the attacker also shouted words to the effect of, You killed people in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and we are all going to die.

The struggle that ensued over the next minute, which is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism, left Neville bloodied, Ftouhi under arrest and the citys Muslim community on edge and fearful of retaliatory attacks against their community.

Authorities said Ftouhi, 50, of Canada, was armed with a 12-inch knife  4 inches of handle, 8 of blade. He stabbed Neville in the neck.

I was 10, 15 feet away when I witnessed the attack, Nevilles friend Lt. Dan Owen of the airport Fire Department said. It was very terrifying to see something that quick, and luckily we were at a very close distance to respond.

Neville fought back against his attacker. Owen rushed in to help. So did Miller.

Lt. Neville never stopped fighting, Miller said.

Neville fought him right till the end, right until I was able to handcuff this person, he said.

Neville underwent surgery and was reported to be in satisfactory condition. He is a 16-year veteran of the department, according to his LinkedIn profile.

So far, it appears that Ftouhi acted alone and did not have specialized training, but the investigation is continuing, Gelios said. Gelios, in a televised news conference, added that Ftouhi entered the United States legally on June 16 at Lake Champlain, N.Y.

The airport was shut down for several hours as investigators combed the crime scene.

Justin Marshall, 36, was flying on Delta Air Lines from Atlanta to Bishop International Airport when the flight attendant told passengers that an incident had occurred and they wouldnt be allowed to land right away. We circled the airport for 20 minutes, he said in a phone interview.

They didnt tell us right away what happened, said Marshall, who lives about an hour north of Flint. He said the attendant then said the plane would still have to circle for an additional 15 minutes.

The attendant later said that an individual had forced their way to a secure area of the airport, he said. We didnt know a police officer had been stabbed until other passengers managed to go online.

Marshall, who is vice president of advancement and alumni relations at Northwood University in Midland, Mich., said that after the flight landed, he and his fellow passengers had to wait about 45 minutes until they deplaned and were escorted by police officers and TSA agents.

He said about 20 police officers and TSA agents had lined the gate where the passengers waited to get their checked baggage.

Everyone was calm and orderly and understanding of the situation, he said. We were mostly concerned about the officer.

Expressions of support for Neville came from all over.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of our law enforcement officers who work to service and protect us each and every day, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said. I want the public to know that several agencies are involved and working to ensure the situation is under control.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said on Twitter: As we wait to learn more about the incident at Bishop Airport, please keep the attacked officer in your thoughts & prayers.

There is a relatively large Muslim population in Flint, and many residents describe their relationship with the greater community and law enforcement as generally positive. But with anti-Muslim incidents on the rise in the U.S.  and recent terrorist attacks overseas  some local residents worry about possible backlash against Muslims.

Muna Jondy, a spokeswoman for the Flint Islamic Center, estimated that there are as many as 3,000 Muslims in Flint. She said some are concerned that the attack on Neville will prompt retaliatory violence, especially as Muslims gather for late-night activities at mosques as the holy month of Ramadan winds down this weekend.

Police chiefs here called Islamic centers in Flint asking how we are doing and offered to provide extra security for evening prayers, Jondy said.

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a leading Muslim civil rights organization, said acts of violence are often perceived differently depending on the perpetrators background or religion. Such a double standard exists, he said, particularly when the suspect is a Muslim or a person of color.

If the attacker is white, its presumed as a lone man who has mental problems, but that doubt is not given to an alleged attacker who is Muslim, he said. There is a collective guilt assigned, as if the Muslim community must apologize for the action that we had nothing to do with.

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UPDATES:

6:55 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional details and for clarity.

3:20 p.m.: This article was updated with details about the attack and the arrest of Amor Ftouhi.

1 p.m.: This article was updated to report the attacker shouted God is great in Arabic, according to a law enforcement source.

11:20 a.m.: This article was updated with a comment from the FBI.

10:35 a.m.: This article was updated to identify of the injured officer as Jeff Neville.

10 a.m.: This article was updated to report the officers condition and to include a tweet from Gov. Rick Snyder.

8:55 a.m.: This article has been updated with a tweet from Michigan State Police and accounts from witnesses

This article was originally published at 7:55 a.m.
The Trump administration is urgently lobbying Congress to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the National Security Agency to collect the electronic communications of foreigners living abroad. Before he was fired, FBI Director James B. Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that losing Section 702 would be disastrous.

But Congress should not simply rubber-stamp the law as it exists. Rather, Section 702 should be fine-tuned to afford greater privacy protections for Americans.



For the record: The recommendation that the FBI be required to obtain judicial approval before searching a database of communications was made by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Boards chairman, David Medine.

Yes, Americans. Because even though residents of this country arent the targets of Section 702s elaborate electronic dragnet, their emails, phone calls and Internet chats can be caught up in it incidentally  for example, when a foreign target is emailing or talking on the phone to an American living in the U.S.

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Section 702 is the direct descendant of the warrantless electronic surveillance program instituted by the George W. Bush administration after Sept. 11, 2001, that caused a sensation when its existence was exposed by the New York Times in 2005. Unlike that shadowy program, Section 702 was duly enacted by Congress and is overseen fairly rigorously by a federal court, albeit one that meets in secret.

Americans shouldnt have to face the possibility of prosecution based on information gathered  without a warrant  for foreign intelligence purposes.

Under Section 702, the government does not need to obtain individual warrants authorizing the surveillance of each person who is targeted. Instead, at the request of the attorney general and the director of national intelligence, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court certifies categories of foreigners who may be appropriately targeted. The court also approves procedures for minimizing (protecting the privacy) of information about U.S. citizens collected as part of the surveillance.

Comeys view of the value of Section 702 is widely shared. Sen. Dianne Feinstein says it has been a valuable part of our counter-terrorism effort. In a report published in 2014, after Edward Snowdens revelations, the presidents Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board concluded that intelligence collected under Section 702 has enabled the discovery of previously unknown terrorist operatives as well as the locations and movements of suspects already known to the government.

But civil liberties groups argue that the program does not sufficiently protect Americans privacy, although they concede that there is no evidence of egregious abuses.

One persuasive complaint about Section 702 is that the intelligence community hasnt quantified the number of Americans whose conversations have been captured by surveillance under the program, making it difficult to assess whether it is sufficiently circumscribed. Trumps director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, told the Senate that it remains infeasible to generate an exact, accurate, meaningful and responsive methodology that can count how often a U.S. persons communications may be collected. That strikes us as defeatist. Congress should insist the intelligence community make a good-faith effort to keep track of how many Americans are caught in the Section 702 net.

And while the acquisition of intelligence under the law is supposed to be consistent with the 4th Amendment, information about Americans (which, remember, is gathered without an individualized warrant) can be retained and turned over to law enforcement if it shows evidence of criminal activity. The chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has recommended that the FBI be required to obtain approval from the FISA court before searching a database of communications gathered under the program in connection with criminal matters so that the Section 702 database doesnt become a repository for fishing expeditions.

That recommendation might seem less urgent given statistics from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence showing that the FBI searched the Section 702 database only once in 2016 in connection with criminal matters unrelated to national security. Still, Americans shouldnt have to face the possibility of prosecution based on information gathered  without a warrant  for foreign intelligence purposes. That contravenes the guarantee of the 4th Amendment that searches must be reasonable and the long-standing practice of requiring warrants based on probable cause.

Another way to protect Americans privacy would be for Congress to codify a recent decision by the NSA to no longer collect communications in which the email address of a foreign target appeared in the text of a message between Americans. The NSA stopped collecting such about messages because it apparently felt it couldnt do so without inadvertently violating safeguards of Americans privacy.

Finally, unlike the Trump administration and some Republicans in Congress, we believe that this law  even in an improved version  should be authorized for no more than five years, as the current version was in 2012. A program that collects so much personal information about Americans, and that was enacted in response to a terrorist threat that we all hope is temporary, should be subject to periodic review.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in January, 2007, before an adoring congregation, in his signature Sermon on the Mount style. On June 29, it became available to the public. Ten years later, the phone has spread like Christianity. There are 1 billion iPhones in use, and the device represents the pinnacle product of all capitalism, as Brian Merchant argues in his new book, The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone. Merchant calls the adoption of the iPhone  and its adoption of us  a rapid, civilization-scale transformation.

Happy birthday, iPhone. Time for a return to its origins.

In the stage show that introduces the phone, Jobs has no doubt hes making history. The Apple logo is rendered, tall as a man, in what looks like onyx ganache. Jobs stands on the dais, haloed in the logos glow. He explains the novelty of touch-screen scrolling. He flashes the album art from Green Days American Idiot. He plays a good-luck voicemail from Al Gore. He speaks of magic, of revolution.

And, then, at length, he talks smack about the horrible, warty Blackberry buttons, which he intends to make obsolete with the glabrous minimalism of the iPhone.

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Hairless and oil-free, the iPhone holds human biology in contempt.

Yes, glabrous: having a surface without hairs or projections. Merchant doesnt use the word in his book, which chronicles his search for what he calls the soul of the iPhone. But glabrous may be the perfect way to describe the pinnacle fetish of capitalism. I heard it first from Marina Warner, the British mythographer, in a lecture she gave that likened the iPhone to Venus de Milo and depilated porn actors. Those idealized female forms, she said, look and feel alien, the way the iPhone does, and all three suggest that terrestrial humans  in our stubborn hairiness  chronically fall short.

The iPhone is also oleophobic: It fears oil. Hairless and oil-free, the iPhone holds human biology in contempt. We have designed something wonderful for your hand, said Jobs on that first day. But the iPhone is to human hands like cold chrome is to warm, yielding fruit.

Sigh. We fell in love with hardware that was our opposite.

I watched the Jobs keynote introducing the iPhone, and  like many others  I was charmed by the devices sleekness and aspirational price tag. But I put off buying one. For all the Green Day it could play, it also seemed aloof. Meanwhile, my beloved Blackberry worked better than ever. The keyboard worked so well that by 2007 I could write long emails on it in mixed cases and full paragraphs. I didnt use SMS or its goofy shorthand in those days. Designed for lawyers seeking roving billable hours, the Blackberry made it possible to actually work and write while on the go.

But suddenly, when the iPhone appeared, every phone but Apples started to look like a fidget spinner for the dandruff club. I couldnt shake the idea that there was something unsightly and uncool about a raised non-dynamic keyboard, so when my T-Mobile plan elapsed, I switched to iPhone-friendly AT&T, and took home my first iPhone.

For months I thought of it as the Greta Garbo of my personal effects. It wouldnt mix with my warm leather wallet or battered Filofax. It seemed to leap from my hands as if it would be alone or get cracked trying. No more writing long emails on the vanishing keypad; with my new clumsiness I became less literate, and found text abbreviations and emoji easier. I started taking thousands of rolls of pointless photographs for which I evidently needed yottabytes of space in the iCloud. I blamed myself when its battery drained too fast.

Over these 10 years, two moments in Jobs iPhone baptism have stuck with me. The first is when he compares the iPhone to all other smartphones, saying, Its way smarter and super easy to use. The primary Apple promise: We are smarter so you can be dumber. Thats been true for me. I used to regularly open my Blackberry and even had some sense of how it worked; now I have to trust Geniuses for my iPhones simplest repairs.

The other line I think of is a Jobs throwaway. Hes deep into rhapsodizing about the phones features, and mentions the sensor that keeps your phone from hanging up if you brush against it. You dont get spurious input from your face! he fairly shouts. The word spurious  bogus  stood out. That stuff your face says, those inputs, are not true inputs, in Jobs world. Whats true are only the inputs the phone has been programmed to recognize. For the iPhone, everything else human skin, faces, emotions, warmth, long paragraphs of real prose  cannot be said to exist. Its all spurious.

And thats how in a single decade nearly a billion of us came to own the iPhone, and the iPhone came to own us.

Virginia Heffernan co-hosts the Trumpcast podcast and is the author of Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art. She is filling in for Doyle McManus.

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As a sociologist and legal scholar, I struggle to explain the boundaries of free speech to undergraduates. Despite the 1st AmendmentI tell my studentslocal, state, and federal laws limit all kinds of speech. We regulate advertising, obscenity, slander, libel, and inciting lawless action to name just a few. My students nod along until we get to racist and sexist speech. Some cant grasp why, if we restrict so many forms of speech, we dont also restrict hate speech. Why, for example, did the Supreme Court on Monday rule that the trademark office cannot reject disparaging applicationslike a request from an Oregon band to trademark the Slants as in Asian slant eyes.

The typical answer is that judges must balance benefits and harms. If judges are asked to compare the harm of restricting speech  a cherished core constitutional value  to the harm of hurt feelings, judges will rightly choose to protect free expression. But perhaps its nonsense to characterize the nature of the harm as nothing more than an emotional scratch; thats a reflection of the deep inequalities in our society, and one that demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of how hate speech affects its targets.

Legally, we tell members of traditionally disadvantaged groups that they must live with hate speech except under very limited circumstances. The KKK can parade down Main Street. People cant falsely yell fire in a theater but can yell the N-word at a person of color. College women are told that a crowd of frat boys chanting no means yes and yes means anal is something they must tolerate in the name of (someone elses) freedom.

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Because we are free to be hateful, members of traditionally marginalized groups suffer.

At the same time, our regime of free speech protects the powerful and popular. Many city governments, for instance, have banned panhandling at the behest of their business communities. The legal justification is that the targets of begging (commuters, tourists, and consumers) have important and legitimate purposes for being in public: to get to work or to go shopping. The law therefore protects them from aggressive requests for money.

Consider also the protections afforded to soldiers families in the case of Westboro Baptist anti-gay demonstrations. When the Supreme Court in 2011 upheld that churchs right to stage offensive protetsts at veterans funerals, Congress passed the Honoring Americas Veterans Act, which prohibits any protests 300 to 500 feet around such funerals. (The statute made no mention of protecting LGBTQ funeral attendees from hate speech, just soldiers families).

So soldiers families, shoppers and workers are protected from troubling speech. People of color, women walking down public streets or just living in their dorm on a college campus are not. The only way to justify this disparity is to argue that commuters asked for money on the way to work experience a tangible harm, while women catcalled and worse on the way to work do not  as if being the target of a request for change is worse than being racially disparaged by a stranger.

In fact, empirical data suggest that frequent verbal harassment can lead to various negative consequences. Racist hate speech has been linked to cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and requires complex coping strategies. Exposure to racial slurs also diminishes academic performance. Women subjected to sexualized speech may develop a phenomenon of self-objectification, which is associated with eating disorders.

These negative physical and mental health outcomes  which embody the historical roots of race and gender oppression  mean that hate speech is not just speech. Hate speech is doing something. It results in tangible harms that are serious in and of themselves and that collectively amount to the harm of subordination. The harm of perpetuating discrimination. The harm of creating inequality.

Instead of characterizing racist and sexist hate speech as just speech, courts and legislatures need to account for this research and, perhaps, allow the restriction of hate speech as do all of the other economically advanced democracies in the world.

Many readers will find this line of thinking repellent. They will insist that protecting hate speech is consistent with and even central to our founding principles. They will argue that regulating hate speech would amount to a serious break from our tradition. They will trivialize the harms that social science research undeniably associates with being the target of hate speech, and call people seeking recognition of these affronts snowflakes.

But these free-speech absolutists must at least acknowledge two facts. First, the right to speak already is far from absolute. Second, they are asking disadvantaged members of our society to shoulder a heavy burden with serious consequences. Because we are free to be hateful, members of traditionally marginalized groups suffer.

Laura Beth Nielsen is director of the legal studies program and professor of sociology at Northwestern University and research professor at the American Bar Foundation. She is the author of License to Harass: Law, Hierarchy, and Offensive Public Speech.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

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To the editor: The retribution for the death of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier days after he returned to the U.S. from a North Korean prison must be swift and sure. (Otto Warmbiers death is another reminder of the depravity of North Korea, Opinion, June 19)

This horrible tragedy resulted from Warmbiers alleged removal of a propaganda poster, no more than a college prank. I can only imagine the suffering endured by his family and was brought to tears by their description of the peace that had come over his face, even in a coma, as he realized that he was home.

As a nation, we really need to put the screws on North Korea with every imaginable sanction worthy of the psychotic despots who head that government. In the meantime, I send my prayers and deepest condolences to Warmbiers grieving family.

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Stephen Fox, Santa Fe, N.M.

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To the editor: It is sad to hear about Warmbiers death. I feel bad for his family.

Still, I do not understand why anyone in his right mind (except for journalists and other professionals) would even go to North Korea. I think Americans wrongly believe they will be safe wherever they go.

Rosemary Watson, Los Angeles

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To the editor: James Kirchick dismisses the steady drip of leaks regarding Hillary Clinton, especially during the final months of the presidential campaign, as some cockamamie Russian plot to steal the American presidency. (If Trump were really in league with Russia, that would be reassuring for Americas civic sanity, Opinion, June 18)

It was well known in 2016 that Russian President Vladimir Putin detested Clinton. It is also a fact that the Russian government quite clearly interfered with the campaign. What we do not yet know is whether President Trump or anyone in his campaign worked with Russia, or if anyone on the campaign made representations to any Russian officials regarding the lifting of sanctions. This is all for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to find out.

What we do know is that Trump cheered on the Russian interference.

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If Kirchick calls Putins success cockamamie, he is being either foolish or naive. We should all be concerned about this so we can prevent Russia from replicating its efforts with greater energy in our 2018 and 2020 elections.

Frances Hayward, Laguna Niguel

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To the editor: Kirchick notes that Trump probably did not collude with the Russians and is only guilty of being unpatriotic and an unscrupulous jerk. On the adjoining page Dr. Prudence Gourguechon, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, summarizes important characteristics of leaders found the Army Field Manual, including trust, discipline, self-control, critical thinking and empathy.

Most Americans thought Trump lacked the qualifications to be president, resulting in a popular vote that was decisively against him. Trump has proved himself unqualified, and the Republicans who continue to support him are responsible for the pervasive animosity over his presidency.

Ive voted for Democrats most of my life, and although I often disagreed with the policies of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and the two Bushes, I never thought of referring to any of them as unpatriotic jerks. I cannot say the same for Trump.

Brian A. Federici, Riverside

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To the editor: I take exception to Kirchicks blanket assertion of an apathetic populace. This statement ignores the fact that hundreds of thousands of us are protesting in both big and small ways.

An estimated 500,000 people in Washington alone protested on Jan. 21; worldwide, up to 5 million people demonstrated that day. Just because there arent hundreds of thousands protesting weekly does not mean we are apathetic. We are conducting small, local protests, increasing the numbers in our national and local political groups, and inundating our representatives with letters and phone calls.

We are organizing and educating. We are voicing our beliefs and concerns to our friends, family and acquaintances through community forums and social media.

Its not we who are letting Trump get by with his demagoguery, it is the Republican-controlled Congress. Shame on Kirchik for blaming the people.

Maryanne Rose, Laguna Niguel

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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
Democrats came up short Tuesday night in their costly bid to wrest control of a longtime GOP congressional seat in the suburbs north of Atlanta, losing a race the party had hoped would showcase deep Republican vulnerability in the Trump era.

Republican Karen Handel, the former secretary of state of Georgia, defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff, 52% to 48%. The contest had turned into the costliest House race in history, as Democratic activists nationwide sent a surge of donations to political newcomer Ossoff in an attempt to turn blue a district Republicans have controlled since the Carter administration.

The seat was last held by Tom Price , who vacated it to become President Trumps Health and Human Services secretary. While the close election result is sobering for the Republican Party in a conservative district it customarily wins by double digits, the victory helps the party avert  for now  potentially much more damaging fallout for the White House and Republicans in Congress.

Its a huge disappointment for Democrats, who really did put all their eggs in this one basket, feeling as though it was the kind of district  upscale, higher education, higher income voters that went only narrowly for Trump  that if theres any movement nationally, it should show up, said Stuart Rothenberg, a veteran nonpartisan elections analyst.

Top of the Ticket: After four special-election losses, Democrats need more than moral victories 

Democrats may also be regretting that they invested so heavily in the Georgia district but paid little attention to the other congressional special election that took place Tuesday, in the South Carolina district vacated by White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney.

Republicans prevailed there  but by a substantially slimmer margin than had been anticipated. In a district Democratic leaders had largely written off as unwinnable, Republican Ralph Norman, a former state representative, edged out his Democratic rival, Archie Parnell, just 51% to 48%.

But it was the race in Georgia where most of the attention had been focused Tuesday. Among the most concerned about the outcome was Trump himself, who had been attacking Ossoff on Twitter since Monday. Had the seat slipped away from Republicans, Trump was threatened with losing his grip on anxious GOP lawmakers in Congress.

Donald Trump can breathe a lot easier tomorrow with the knowledge that they came after Republicans hard, with millions of dollars, and Republicans still won, said Kerwin Swint, a professor of political science at Kennesaw State University in Georgia.

Trump congratulated Handel over Twitter, but before he did, he tweeted a thank you to Fox News for declaring the special election was a huge win for him and the GOP.

Handels victory suggests that despite an erosion of support precipitated by the tumult in Washington, Republicans are not seeing a mass defection of their base. Vulnerable GOP candidates in moderate districts who may be contemplating distancing themselves from the president were probably reassured somewhat by the results Tuesday.

It was a tough night for Democrats. They are desperate for a win, and despite making every effort to keep the expectations of activists measured, failure to notch this victory after all the effort and money poured into the race is likely to lead to a fresh round of soul-searching and a renewed debate over the path the party needs to take to start winning again.

The Democrats ability to recruit top-tier candidates for competitive  and even long-shot  congressional seats is undermined by the loss.

Balloting Tuesday was complicated by torrential rain in the area, creating additional worries for the candidates as they scrambled to get out the vote. Strategists pondered how the weather might hurt one side or the other, but it was impossible to gauge in this off-season special election with unprecedented spending, in which all the usual turnout assumptions did not necessarily apply.

Democrats saw an opening in the region after Trump won the district by less than 2 percentage points. They were hoping the effort would chart a path for Democrats nationwide to rebuild their power base in onetime GOP strongholds such as Orange County.

Some $60 million was spent in the Georgia election by the candidates and an assortment of ideological and political outside groups. Ossoff was an unknown even in his district a few months ago, but he surged to national recognition after an endorsement from civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta moved progressives to activate a wildly successful digital fundraising effort on his behalf.

Handel is a former executive at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity for breast cancer. She played a major role in that organizations decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood  and became a favorite of the right along the way.

In April, the cash infusion for Ossoff, the eagerness of Democrats to consolidate around him and widespread voter anxiety in the district over Trump contributed to a surprisingly strong showing in an open primary. Ossoff won 48% of the vote, just 2 points shy of winning the race outright. Handel split the conservative vote with a few other well-funded Republicans, winning 18%.

But some analysts say that all the money that flooded into the district may have ultimately annoyed voters and played to Handels favor.

If Democrats put this much energy into the district, some Republicans are going to be so turned off that they decide to turn out, even if they hadnt in the first round, said David Wasserman, an elections analyst with the Cook Political Report.

Particularly invested in the race had been Californians. More Californians contributed to it than donors from any other state, including Georgia. References to San Francisco played front and center in GOP campaign attacks. Liberal Hollywood celebrities lent their star power.

Handel repeatedly made an issue out of Ossoffs California money. The Democrat raised nearly $5 for every $1 Handel raised, pushing her to rely heavily on millions of dollars in spending from outside conservative groups, which poured money into the race at more than double the rate of outside liberal groups.

But Ossoff also helped drive the narrative that he was an outsider by choosing to live outside the district. Though he grew up in the district, he is now a resident of Atlanta, where his girlfriend is finishing medical school. Trump has been attacking the candidate as an outsider.

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 Tuesday. He did much the same on Monday.

After her victory, Handel struck a conciliatory note to Democrats. We may have some different beliefs, but we are part of one community. I will work  hard to win your confidence," she said.

Ossoff said Democrats had put up an impressive fight. We showed the world that in places where no one thought it was even possible to fight, we could fight, he said. This is not the outcome any of us would hope for. But this is the beginning of something much bigger than us."

GOP operatives in Orange Country watched the race nervously. The demographics in that longtime Republican bastion of Southern California in many ways resemble those of the Georgia district. Democrats have even more momentum in Orange County, which voted for Hillary Clinton in November. The four House Republicans representing the county are among the lawmakers most aggressively targeted for defeat in 2018 by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The committee has moved its West Coast command center, long located in Washington, D.C., out to Irvine.

Political strategists are loath to read too much into the results of special elections, which take place in the off-season and tend to get wrapped up in local issues that dont necessarily apply to the broader electorate.

Right now were grasping at every straw, every special election, every poll that comes out, said Rothenberg. That doesnt mean a year from now the situation will be identical in this district or anywhere else.

But amid all the national attention the race received, there is no denying the loss was a dispiriting blow to Democrats.

Halper and Barabak reported from Washington D.C.; Jarvie reported from Sandy Springs, Ga.

evan.halper@latimes.com

Follow me: @evanhalper

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Why California is so interested in today's nail-biter House race in Georgia

Opinion: Even with a win in Georgia Tuesday, Democrats lose  they could have had two seats for the price of one

In Georgia race for Senate seat, a battle over who can vote

UPDATES:

8:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reaction and statements from the candidates.

7:20 p.m.: This article was updated after the race was called for Handel.

6:35 p.m.: This article was updated with results from a separate race in South Carolina.

5:25 p.m.: This article was updated with early returns.

4:10 p.m.: This article was updated after polls closed.

2:35 p.m.: This article was updated with information about how the weather is affecting voting.

This article was originally published at 8:55 a.m.
As battered Democrats assess their loss in Tuesdays Georgia House race, they are finding that the path back to power, which they hoped had been opened up by voter discontent with President Trump, is full of tricky obstacles.

The loss in Georgia was bitter, after Democrats, in the most expensive House race ever, invested tens of millions of dollars in a political newcomer and millennial, Jon Ossoff.

Finger-pointing was immediate. Blame fell on House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on the cautious neophyte candidate. The complaints about muddled strategy by the party were exacerbated by the results from the special election in South Carolina on the same day, a race that Washington had all but ignored. The Democrat there came closer to victory than Ossoff.

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But even as Trump crowed about the failure of Democrats to win a single special election in a GOP district since he was elected, nonpartisan analysts said the returns in all those races, including the one in Georgia, should trouble him. The excitement and fervor is not on his side. In districts where Republicans have long been all but guaranteed victory, they have lost considerable ground. Their advantage at the polls in districts in Georgia, Kansas, Montana and South Carolina has shrunk in several cases by more than 20 points compared with races before Trump was elected.

And special elections can mislead. Republicans lost seven such races in a row after President Obama was elected in 2008, including a costly battle for what seemed a vulnerable Pennsylvania House seat for which the GOP mobilized much as Democrats did in Georgia. After defeat in that race, the Republicans looked lost  until they rode tea party momentum just months later to pick up 63 seats and take control of the House in the 2010 midterm election.

Some Republicans who were involved then are warning their colleagues not to take too much comfort now.

One big challenge for Democrats is that all the enthusiasm on their side sparked a counterreaction among Georgia voters. The residents of heavily Republican suburbs north of Atlanta who went to the polls this week are not wild about Trump  he carried their district by less than 2 points  but enough of them clearly resented the move by national Democrats to make an example out of the region.

If that trend continues, Democrats will have trouble picking up seats. When Democrats had a wave of pickups in 2006, it was due in large part to their voters being motivated and Republicans staying home. The opposite happened in 2010, when the GOP took control of the House in part because Democrats didnt show up to vote.

The party is straining to hit on a message that motivates voters without irritating disaffected Republicans to the point where they come to the polls just to vote against the Democrat running.

The Georgia race did nothing to solve the internal debate raging among Democrats about how hard to go after Trump in their campaigns. Ossoff avoided attacking him.

He tried to run as an independent, as a neutral, almost nonpartisan candidate, to de-emphasize the party label, said Kerwin Swint, a professor of political science at Kennesaw State University. But in doing so, Swint said, youre going to turn off a lot of your base. Thats the problem. You have to do it on a district-by-district basis. Theres no magic blueprint or anything. What works for this district may be of limited help next year.

Jon Ossoff delivers a concession speech during his election night party. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

A stronger candidate than Ossoff might have been better positioned to thread that needle. Ossoffs resume was thin. He had no political accomplishments. He grew up in the area but spent much of his short career on Capitol Hill. He came off more Georgetown than Georgia. He did not even live in the district, opting to keep the apartment he and his girlfriend shared in Atlanta.

All that made it easy for Republicans and outside conservative groups to convince voters the candidate was a creation of Pelosi, who is reviled by voters in the district. This, after all, is the district that elected Trumps Health and Human Services secretary, Tom Price, and, before him, GOP firebrand Newt Gingrich.

Democrats bold claims to compete for GOP-held suburban seats blew up in their faces in Georgia, said Jack Pandol, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee who vowed Democrats will have just as hard a time in 2018 in the GOP-held districts Trump lost in Orange County, Calif., as they did in Georgia. Running cookie-cutter, nationalized campaigns  wont cut it.

But in next years midterm election, Democrats will be fielding candidates in many districts who have much deeper experience and impressive resumes. Many have already started to step forward to run in districts, including those in Orange County and other suburban areas around the country, where the erosion of GOP support has been more intense than in the Atlanta suburbs.

There are 70 seats currently held by Republicans where the makeup of the electorate is more favorable to Democrats than it was for Ossoff, Democratic analyst Steve Schale pointed out in a blog post. The loss in Georgia highlighted how Democrats need to redouble their efforts to find top-tier candidates for them, he said.

It is a point not lost on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In a postmortem memo Wednesday, the committees chair, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, stressed a recruitment push, vowing to take the time to find people who fit their districts.

Many of those candidates will be battle-tested in a way Ossoff wasnt, as they will probably have to endure an extended primary campaign. In Ossoffs case, the field was all but cleared for him by the establishment.

Still, the results in Georgia give Democrats much to worry about.

Despite Trumps dismal favorability ratings overall, the Georgia election reinforced that the president remains popular with Republicans. His approval rating within his party is staying steady in the mid-80s in most polls, although a few recent surveys have shown a steeper decline.Prospects for Democrats winning back the House probably will be strongly influenced by whether Trumps support within his party begins to wane, as was true for President George W. Bush at the time of the last Democratic wave election a decade ago.

Lujan suggested that Trump is headed in the same direction, noting in his DCCC memo that the presidents approval rating is particularly poor in the battlefield districts targeted by Democrats and that the party of first-term presidents loses 28 seats on average in the midterm election  four more than Democrats need to take the House.

But it is all cold comfort to Democrats this week. We have our work cut out for us, Lujan admitted.

evan.halper@latimes.com

david.lauter@latimes.com

ALSO

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Trump revels after Republicans eke out victories in Georgia and South Carolina House races

Trump has advice for Democrats after GOPs special election victories
Intelligence officials have found it hard to keep President Trumps attention when they are describing complex geopolitical conflicts during his daily briefings. Yet Trump has regularly zeroed in on the status of individual Americans imprisoned overseas.

Such was the case with Otto Warmbier.

What are we doing for that kid in North Korea? he repeatedly asked his briefers, according to a U.S. official familiar with the Oval Office meetings.

Multiple times Trump sought to talk with the parents of the captive university student, who was arrested as a tourist last year, but the Warmbiers declined. Two U.S. officials described internal discussions surrounding the Warmbier case on the condition of anonymity. When U.S. officials learned this month that Warmbier was in a coma, Trump personally approved a risky operation to send a diplomat and two doctors to Pyongyang to demand the 22-year-old mans release. Warmbier died Monday in a hospital, days after being reunited with his family.

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The presidents intervention in such individual cases, when Americans are involved, stands in contrast to his resistance to promoting human rights more broadly. Trump has proposed slashing U.S. programs that promote democratic values in other countries and rarely raises human rights concerns in public or private; his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has said such advocacy creates obstacles to advancing other American interests in foreign countries.

Yet the president has been willing to lean on countries when it comes to the treatment of Americans held in jails overseas. Even then, however, White House officials say such requests are better made quietly and in private.

The previous administration spent a lot of time beating people up, one administration official said. Trump has taken a different approach, advocating in private in the hope of developing closer relationships with world leaders that can get us more leverage at the table, the official said.

Trump aides point to Egypts release of Aya Hijazi, an Egyptian-American aid worker who had been jailed in Cairo for three years, as an example of the efficacy of Trumps willingness to make a personal appeal for the release of an American.

That example, however, underscores the contrast with Trumps approach to human rights collectively. When he welcomed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi in early April, Trump stayed silent on Sisis crackdown on dissent and freedom of expression in his country, where tens of thousands of Egyptians have been detained. But during meetings about improving counter-terrorism cooperation between the U.S. and Egypt, Trump privately asked Sisi to release Hijazi.

Hijazi, who was raised in Falls Church, Va., and graduated from George Mason University, was released several days later, and soon after her return to the U.S. she met with Trump in the Oval Office.

Trump also intervened privately with Chinese officials to convince them to release Phan Phan-Gillis, an American businesswoman who had been imprisoned in China on espionage charges for more than two years. Phan-Gillis was deported to the U.S. in late April, about two weeks after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

When its not about abstract notions of human rights and when American citizens are involved, Ive never seen him wimp out, a White House official said of Trump.

In the America first foreign policy, theres no hesitation about doing the right thing for Americans whose rights have been denied them, the official added.

Critics counter that such a narrow focus on specific cases of American citizens wrongly ignores the broader problem of how authoritarian governments like China and Egypt treat their own citizens and, by extension, any American unlucky enough in the future to be caught up in a repressive legal system.

One of the unintended consequences of the White Houses focus on Americans overseas, as officials acknowledge, is that it increases their value as hostages for a rogue regime like North Korea. Indeed, while Trump maneuvered for Warmbiers release, two other Americans were arrested there in April and May, when the North Koreans realized we were paying attention, the U.S. official said.

We had not had dialogue with the North Koreans and suddenly we wanted to talk about the hostages, the official said. A fourth American, arrested months before Warmbier, also remains in North Koreas custody.

Trump was in another country that is often criticized for its human rights record, Saudi Arabia, when he laid out his policy for withholding judgment of other governments, during his first foreign trip in May.

We must seek partners, not perfection, Trump told a gathering of Arab leaders, calling his approach principled realism.

We will make decisions based on real-world outcomes  not inflexible ideology, he said.

Aides say it is simply easier to get Trump to act on a case with a face and a name, a senior U.S. official said.

As Trump prepared to take the oath of office in January, intelligence briefers outlined in stark detail the ways North Korea was speeding up its effort to place a nuclear bomb on a ballistic missile that could reach U.S. cities.

Trump was alarmed, but he was fixated on the fact that the pariah state held two Americans when he took office: Warmbier, a University of Virginia student arrested in January 2016 while on a tour, and Kim Dong-chul, a Korean American who owned a business inside North Koreas special economic zone.

In April and May, North Korea detained two additional American citizens, Kim Hak-song and Tony Kim, who were both affiliated with Pyonyang University of Science and Technology. Administration officials saw that as a play for negotiating leverage at a time when Trump was pressing China to force its ally Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program.

Trump was furious. He instructed Tillerson to take all appropriate measures to secure the Americans release, an administration official said. That effort picked up on June 6, when U.S. officials learned Warmbier was in a coma. Trump put their feet to the fire, the official said.

Warmbiers father, Fred, said last week that, at Trumps direction, State Department officials aggressively pursued a resolution.

The Obama administration had told Warmbiers family to take a low profile as it worked to bring him home  to refrain from hanging ribbons on trees or doing media interviews to bring attention to the case. After Trump took office, Warmbier said, he and his wife decided the time for strategic patience was over  using the term for President Obamas policy toward the rogue government in Pyongyang.

Trump went further on Tuesday, implicitly blaming Obama for Warmbiers death, calling the mans treatment a total disgrace and suggesting he might not have died had he been retrieved sooner.

Frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the results would have been a lot different, Trump told reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office.

The three other Americans remain in North Korea.

Twitter: @ByBrianBennett

brian.bennett@latimes.com
How can you begin this day in politics  given Tuesdays momentous test for the road ahead in the era of President Trump  without quoting the song made famous by the late, great Ray Charles?

Georgia, Georgia. No peace I find. Just an old sweet song keeps Georgia on my mind.

Good morning from the state capital. Im Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers and there may indeed be no political peace after Georgias special election and the victory by Karen Handel in the states 6th Congressional District.

REPUBLICANS RALLY, DEMOCRATS DEFLATED

As the sun rises, there wont be much agreement on exactly what Handels victory over Democrat Jon Ossoff means in todays snake pit of American politics. But its undeniably a sigh of relief for Republicans.

The four-point win by Handel puts to an end the most expensive congressional race in history  a proxy war over either Trump himself or his impact on the nations politics.

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No doubt Wednesday arrives with a bitter pill to swallow for Democrats.

Its a huge disappointment for Democrats, who really did put all their eggs in this one basket, feeling as though it was the kind of district  upscale, higher education, higher-income voters that went only narrowly for Trump  that if theres any movement nationally, it should show up in this district, said Stuart Rothenberg, a veteran nonpartisan elections analyst.

And as Evan Halper reported, it was a race closely watched here in California. There were more individual donations from the Golden State than any state, including Georgia. And no doubt, some will question whether all of the money for Ossoff helped fuel the narrative of liberal activists trying to buy the seat  often short-handed by GOP critics who would name check House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Still, a number of voters rejected the idea that what happened on Tuesday was a referendum on anything other than the future of the suburbs of Atlanta  that includes any assertion that the special election was all about Trump.

(And lest we forget, a Republican also won in a South Carolina special election on Tuesday. Ralph Norman, a former state legislator, defeated Democrat Archie Parnell to fill the seat vacated by the presidents budget director, Mick Mulvaney.)

ON THE OBAMACARE REPEAL, THESE ARE THE ONES TO WATCH

In Washington, attention will now turn from the newest House member to whats about to happen in the Senate. Yes, its going to be about healthcare. But good luck figuring out anything more than that.

At least until Thursday, when details are expected to be unveiled. Lisa Mascaro has a rundown of the Republican senators that are a must-watch, the ones that will either make or break the GOP promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Its a big test, too, for Democrats as they prepare to slow down the work of the Senate in protest over the secrecy surrounding the healthcare proposal being written by Republicans.

AND THAT TAX REFORM PLAN

Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced on Tuesday his big effort to overhaul the nations tax code  dubbed the crown jewel of the Republican agenda.

We are going to get this done in 2017, Ryan boldly promised.

And yet, theres still no actual legislation to ponder and things like a potential border tax continue to divide crucial GOP support.

(MORE) CASH IN CALIFORNIA FOR LAWMAKERS

Back here in Sacramento, the citizens commission created by voters in 1990 approved pay raises for Gov. Jerry Brown, other statewide elected officials and members of the Legislature.

The raises become effective in December. The bottom line: Brown will become the nations highest paid governor at $195,803 a year. But as Patrick McGreevy lays out, its much more lucrative to serve as a locally elected official in Los Angeles.

TOM STEYERS BIG DECISION

For months, billionaire Democratic donor and environmental activist Tom Steyer has been acting like a candidate running for governor  hobnobbing with party loyalists, putting out a position paper on income inequality and continuing his campaign to combat climate change. Steyer says hes still considering jumping into the race.

But as Phil Willon found out, he may have something else in mind  pushing for the impeachment of Trump.

BECKS ON BOARD FOR A SANCTUARY STATE

Backers of legislation in Sacramento to make California a sanctuary state in the battle over illegal immigration won an important new ally on Monday: Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck.

Beck had remained on the sidelines over Senate Bill 54, but said during an L.A. event that this is not a soft-on-crime bill. The bill, which would ban local and state law enforcement from carrying out federal immigration laws, is now pending in the state Assembly. Law enforcement groups still oppose the plan, but Becks imprimatur could carry some weight.

THE JURORS AND GERRYMANDERING

The news this week that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a closely watched challenge to the partisan political maps drawn in Wisconsin means something monumental is on the horizon.

Mark Z. Barabak takes a look at the white-hot politics that have erupted nationally over redistricting and reapportionment, once thought to be too arcane to ever really matter to average voters.

TODAYS ESSENTIALS

-- The president turns the death of an American who was held captive in North Korea into a critique of his predecessor.

-- A Republican voter data firm probably exposed your personal information, but theres not much you can do about it.

-- A new state audit says some California agencies sidestepped competitive bidding rules on contracts.

-- Members of the state Board of Equalization said Tuesday 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 Legislature.

-- Privacy advocates and consumer groups are hailing an Assembly Democrats bill to revive broadband privacy rules that were killed on the federal level and implement them in California.

-- Former Bay Area 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 in 2018.

-- MSNBC has hired Maya Harris, the sister of Sen. Kamala Harris, as a political analyst.

-- With 105,000 Californians now on the state registry of sex offenders, some criminal justice leaders, including Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, are looking to overhaul the system.

-- With Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez soon headed to Congress, Democratic women legislators have been working to ensure his replacement in the Assembly will be a woman. The Democratic arm of the womens legislative caucus has endorsed Wendy Carrillo for the seat.

-- Sean Spicers camera time is being cut (even though he did hold a televised press conference on Tuesday).

-- Wisconsin, get ready for IronStache 2018.

LOGISTICS

Essential Politics is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics?

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Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.

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john.myers@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter at @johnmyers and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast
Gov. Jerry Brown , state legislators and other state elected officials were granted 3% raises by a state panel this week that noted the increases are slightly less than the salary increase recently given to rank-and-file state workers.

The raises, which take effect in December, follow a 4% raise for elected officials last year, and a total of 10% in raises spread out over the previous three years.

Californias legislators will see their salaries increase to $107,238 from $104,115. They also get $183 per day in tax-free per diem payments to cover expenses for each day they are in session in Sacramento.

Browns pay will jump to $195,803 from $190,100, which makes him the highest-paid governor in the country. The second-highest salary will be the $193,304 designated for the governor of Pennsylvania, though Gov. Tom Wolf does not accept the salary.

Anthony Barkett, a member of the state Citizens Compensation Commission, the panel that approved the raises, said the increase was reasonable given his concern about the states unfunded liabilities for pensions and the potential for catastrophic budget effects if the Affordable Care Act is repealed.

Im for a moderate increase again, Barkett told the panel, adding, "Our legislators need to address these bigger problems.

The commission, which is appointed by the governor, also gave 3% raises to 11 other constitutional officers, including the attorney general, lieutenant governor and treasurer.

Commission Chairman Thomas Dalzell said California officials salaries are still lagging behind the pay received by comparable managers in big cities and counties in California.

The action raises salaries for California officials that mostly were already higher than the pay of their counterparts in other states.

Our data shows our legislators and constitutional officers salaries are greater than they are in most states, Dalzell said.

Even without the raise, California lawmakers receive the highest base salary in the country. The second-highest is the $86,479 that goes to lawmakers in Pennsylvania.

The timing of the raises for lawmakers, coming two months after legislators voted to raise gas taxes and vehicle fees by $5.2 billion annually, was questioned by Lew Uhler, head of the California-based National Tax Limitation Committee.

They raised our taxes and spent our money and they seek a reward for that? Come on, said a skeptical Uhler.

The Legislature and governor recently granted 4% raises, effective July 1, to employees represented by the largest union of state rank-and-file workers.
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
(File photo)

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.
A Burbank bicycle shop was the target of a brazen theft early Monday morning after someone broke through the stores window and walked away with a pair of bikes.

Surveillance footage captured an unknown person walking up to H & S Bicycles on 509 N. Victory Blvd. around 2:17 a.m. and throwing an object at the stores large front window before breaking it down with his or her arm. The person then grabbed a bike and briefly rode away from the store before returning and grabbing a second one.

Robert Stotts, who owns the store, said each of the bikes cost roughly $4,000. One is described as a navy and yellow Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt while the other is a turquoise and burgundy Rocky Mountain Altitude.

According to Stotts, whose family has owned the business for nearly 18 years, the Altitude isnt widely available in Southern California.

Its probably one of out of five bikes here in Southern California right now because theyre just so new, he said. So that model is particular very rare right now.

Its not the first time the store has been targeted either. Stotts said the latest incident is probably the third in the last six months.

On June 5 a man was caught on tape grabbing one of several bikes, still in their boxes, being delivered to the store.

Its very unusual, he said. We do have some theft but within a six month period  thats a lot for us.

Sgt. Derek Green, a spokesman with the Burbank Police Department, said the investigation into the theft is ongoing. Green said residents should keep a lookout for the bikes around town and in the event they appear for sale online.

Oftentimes stolen bikes will be put up for sale on sites like Craigslist for a price much lower than what they really cost, he said.

These bikes are unique in frame color and style, theyre high-end  so were asking the public to keep their eyes open, Green said.

As for the store, Stotts said new glass is being installed that will be tougher to break as well as a metal scissor gate to help lock up the storefront.

He said the store is offering a $300 reward for anyone to provide information that leads to an arrest.

Anyone with information about thefts can contact the Burbank Police Department at (818) 238-3000.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc
For the first time in Burbank schools, there are more English learners who speak Armenian than there are those who speak Spanish.

Burbank school officials discussed the districts effort to help English learners develop their skills during last weeks school board meeting, when Jennifer Goldenberg, a teacher on special assignment, reported the uptick of students whose familys first language is Armenian.

Of the more than 1,700 students learning English in Burbank schools this year, 38% speak Armenian while 37% speak Spanish

Another 7% speak Arabic, 4% speak Russian, and 3% speak Tagalog, according to a language census officials executed last October.

One percent of English learners in Burbank schools speak Korean, while another 10% speak other languages.

Of the roughly 15,000 students across Burbank schools, 61% of students speak only English at home, Goldenberg said.

We have a diverse city  its really awesome, she told the school board.

In all, there are about 500 fewer English learners in Burbank schools than there were a decade ago.

Across the state, districts that have more than 50 English learners must form a District English Learner Advisory Committee, or DELAC.

The committee advises the school board and administration about programs that support English learners.

In Burbank, the committee is adamant about keeping parents in the loop about programming decisions  and when and why students can or cannot be reclassified from an English learner to proficient.

I like that were elevating our DELAC parents and making sure theyre as heard as can be, said Steve Ferguson, board president. Empowering them in a real way is so profound.

Goldenberg said one popular program teaches educators how to apply strategies for helping English learners understand their studies as they relate to history, science or other subjects  not just focusing on language development.

School officials implemented the program this past year to assist students who are in kindergarten through fifth grade, with hopes to expand it for students in secondary school.

Burbank school officials also work with parents whose children may have arrived in Burbank from another country and are in the 11th or 12th grade.

Those students may be able to graduate from Burbank or John Burroughs high school if the district authorizes a fifth-year of high school. Parents often agree to that approach, Goldenberg said.

School board member Armond Aghakhanian, who said he was an English learner when he moved to the U.S. years ago, told Goldenberg hes heard the impact the district has made with English learners.

Im hearing nothing but positive feedback from members of the community, he said.

To read the article in Spanish, click here

kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
For once Sleepy Hollow in Laguna Beach is living up to its name.

The narrow, forsaken wedge of land just south of downtown has become everything that Washington Irving described nearly 200 years ago. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, he called it a listless repose and sequestered glen that is clearly bewitched.

A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere, he wrote.

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Now, the Laguna incarnation is feeling the full impacts of its troubled location.

More than a half dozen highly visible businesses are shuttered between Legion and Cleo streets with no new tenants in sight.

True to form, Sleepy Hollow has become Lagunas business ghetto.

There is an increase in homeless malingering, blight and graffiti, especially at the long-closed Mosun building.

Recent owners who left all point to the obvious: no parking, no foot traffic and no real community support.

The Buy Hand owners, for example, moved south to the HIP District as soon as an attractive spot opened by the Sandpiper Lounge. They said they love the new location  vibrant with multiple parking options.

Spirit Qin, the T-shirt shop owner of Personalitees, struggled for years before finally pulling stakes in February and abandoning the retail business entirely.

Kent Kelley of Cherry Moon moved his shop a few spots north but still worries about his long-term viability.

If it wasnt for Taco Loco, this would be a dead block, he said. The building owners say they are going to remodel, but then it will be all dressed up and nowhere to go.

The shops at 660, 662, 670A and 670B S. Coast Hwy. are all closed, along with the old Tippecanoes, Mosun and the real estate office near the north corner. In addition, the storefront at the 14 West boutique hotel, 688 S. Coast, now is a barren office but used to be a separate business.

For Mosuns part, the new owners are still trying to remodel the large site and create a high-end Chinese restaurant called Red Dragon. Architect Jim Conrad said Monday that theyre moving forward with the city to make the necessary improvements, including a plan to have delivery trucks utilize the Ralphs lot instead of the residential road behind the restaurant.

He hopes to finalize the details and start the remodeling in the next couple months. If everything comes together, perhaps the restaurant could open by the end of 2018, he said.

Assuming Red Dragon opens and is successful, perhaps it can turn around an area that right now has little life and even less parking.

Conrad admitted that parking is a huge challenge for businesses throughout the city.

It really does need to be looked at, he said.

The question is who is going to look at it?

The city? The business owners? The parking gods?

No one wants to address parking in Laguna Beach.

What makes Sleepy Hollow even more problematic is the beach side of the street doesnt really care what happens on the other side. The hotels and swanky beachside restaurants all have their valets and ample shared parking agreements.

But on the non-beach side of Coast Hwy., there are only 18 street parking spaces for the entire block. Unlike other areas of town, there is no real parking available for Sleepy Hollow. The hotels have their own spots, and the old Mosun site is grandfathered from the mid-1950s.

If you do happen to find street parking, youre more likely to get a broken car mirror than a ticket because even the parking police dont like this narrow, dangerous stretch of no-mans land.

In addition to the parking problem, theres little foot traffic for the open businesses. Rarely do shoppers walk down the hill past Legion Street and into the dark bowels of Sleepy Hollow.

It remains to be seen if the new pedestrian wayfinding signs will help. With nothing to entice them, its doubtful shoppers will make the hike. The best case is they go to Taco Loco then spend some extra time in the shops.

Its obvious that Sleepy Hollow is a victim of its languid past when zoning, parking and business plans were not high on everyones priority list.

The same could be said for other areas of town, but thats best left for another story, another scary book filled with headless horsemen.

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at hansen.dave@gmail.com.
A Westside Costa Mesa sober-living home can remain open after City Council members voted Tuesday night to grant its operator a needed permit.

The council voted 3-2, with members Allan Mansoor and Jim Righeimer opposed, to approve a special use permit allowing a sober-living home to operate with six or fewer residents at 2152 Raleigh Ave.

Owner Gregg Ohlhaver has operated the property for more than a decade under the name Keystone Sober Living.

The council vote, which came near the end of a meeting that lasted more than seven hours, was greeted with applause and cheers from the homes supporters.

Tuesday was the first time the council had heard an appeal regarding a permit for a sober-living home. Such facilities typically house recovering alcohol and drug addicts who are considered disabled under state and federal law.

In November, the city Planning Commission denied Ohlhavers permit application, saying his property runs afoul of a city ordinance requiring that sober-living homes with six or fewer occupants in single-family neighborhoods be at least 650 feet apart.

Two state-licensed alcohol- and drug-abuse treatment facilities on Governor Street are within 650 feet of Ohlhavers property, according to city staff.

However, on hearing Ohlhavers appeal Tuesday, council members said he appears to be a good operator and noted that Keystone has been around much longer than the other facilities, which were licensed in 2015.

I think under these very unique circumstances  and I think they probably are unique  it would be profoundly unfair to take away a business thats been in the community in good standing since 2004, well before the recent boom of sober-living homes, said Councilman John Stephens, who participated in the council meeting via teleconference from Chicago.

Mansoor, however, replied that it would be profoundly unfair to the [neighboring] residents to allow group homes within 650 feet.

We all know people, whether family or friends, someone whos going through drug addiction, and I empathize with that, I really do, he said. Its not an easy decision up here.

Righeimer said he fundamentally opposes allowing a smaller separation between sober-living homes.

You go down this slippery slope ... when you start deciding what a good operator is and a bad operator is, he said.

Ohlhaver said most of the residents who go through Keystone are local and stay for long periods of time  months or even years.

The residents are required to work, he added, and pay rent of $180 a week.

Im just wondering why Im even here, he told the council. I operate a place so that we dont have problems and we have good success there.

Several former residents testified to that Tuesday, saying Keystone provided them with resources and the foundation to combat their addictions and become productive citizens.

Some people who live near the property, however, said theyre concerned about how the operation will affect their quality of life.

As part of a set of new rules adopted last month applying to operators of local group and sober-living homes, council members specified that they and the Planning Commission can deviate from the citys 650-foot buffer requirement as long as doing so doesnt create an over-concentration of similar facilities in a specific area.

Mayor Katrina Foley said she thinks Ohlhavers property is a unique situation and said shes more concerned with proliferation of state-licensed facilities on Governor Street.

Earlier in Tuesdays meeting, the council approved a $163.2-million city budget that includes funding for a state employee who will operate out of City Hall as a group-home inspector.

I do think that the state inspector being housed in Costa Mesa will help us prevent what has happened on Governor Street from continuing, because basically theyre just rubber-stamping applications  not looking at context, not looking at proximity or how some of these licensed facilities are overtaking a neighborhood, Foley said.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney
An ecclesiastical panel deliberating the fate of an Episcopal bishop has admonished him to not attempt another sale of the St. James the Great Church in Newport Beach.

Hearing panel President Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith IV said in a statement that he was emailed allegations earlier this month that Bishop J. Jon Bruno of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles had entered into a contract to the sell the Lido Isle-area property  an alleged repeat of the action that brought Bruno before the panel in March.

The panel contacted Brunos lawyers, who raised several objections, but did not address the substance of the Complainants allegation that there is a pending sale, or furnish any documentation, Hollerith wrote.

The statement did not say that Bruno had, in fact, entered a sales contract. Nor has it issued a verdict on the March hearing.

If [Bruno] has entered into a contract to sell, or sold, the St. James property before the Hearing Panel has decided the case, that conduct is disruptive, dilatory and otherwise contrary to the integrity of this proceeding, Hollerith wrote.

The panel barred Bruno from selling or conveying or contracting to sell or convey the St. James property.

In 2015, Bruno committed to selling the St. James site for $15 million to developers that wanted to raze the campus and build luxury townhomes. He changed the locks on the church that summer. The deal fizzled after the developers investment partner dropped out, but the church remains locked.

The congregation filed an ecclesiastical complaint not long after its eviction. Members alleged that Bruno was deceptive and unbecoming of a clergyman when he tried to sell the church site and that he didnt have permission of the diocesan government to do so.

A diocese spokesman said the diocese had no comment.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD
The Crescenta Valley Sheriffs Station is one of three in Los Angeles County to be selected for a pilot program that will arm deputies with a nasal spray to treat people suffering from an opioid overdose, officials announced last week.

In a news conference last Thursday, Sheriff Jim McDonnell explained more than 1,200 doses of Narcan, one brand of the anti-opioid spray naloxone, would be distributed to sheriffs deputies assigned to the Crescenta Valley, Santa Clarita and East L.A. sheriffs stations, as well as members of the departments Community Colleges and Parks bureaus.

Crescenta Valley Station Capt. Chris Blasnek, who attended the conference, said Monday sheriffs deputies are often the first responders to a scene and, as such, stand to benefit greatly from having naloxone on hand.

Right now, deputies out there have nothing. Were not able to combat the effects of the overdose, Blasnek said. So having this out there right away could really help us.

At a news conference, L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, left, announces the issuance of the anti-opioid nasal spray product Narcan to field deputies, while Crescenta Valley Station Capt. Chris Blasnek, center, looks on. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

While naloxone has the power to interrupt an overdose, he added, it is not found to be harmful if administered to someone who is not having one.

A two-pack of the spray kits cost $75, according to the Los Angeles Times. Blasnek said he hopes to provide at least one dispenser to every deputy at the Crescenta Valley station.

With help from the California Department of Public Health, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department received a grant for an additional 5,000 doses of Narcan. McDonnell said those doses would likely be distributed across a wider field in the coming months.

The use of Narcan on a patient may not cure the addiction epidemic in this country, but using Narcan to reverse an overdose gives that person another opportunity to make a choice, the sheriff said in a June 15 statement. Without Narcan, there is often no choice, just the tragic aftermath of family, friends and loved ones mourning an unnecessary death.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated 33,000 people nationwide died in 2015 from opioid and heroin overdoses. Roughly half of all such deaths involve prescription opioids, the agency reports.

Blasnek said Monday he hasnt seen a serious opioid addiction problem in La Canada and La Crescenta, but was still grateful to be part of the pilot program, which asks stations to track the number of dispensers issued and used.

Im going to be watching it carefully, because Im very interested in this, the captain said of the program.

sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine
When the Ramadan fast ended for the day around 9:30 p.m., Muslim men packed into Cafe Salaam on Rock Street to eat.

A group of Algerians hung outside chatting in Arabic, sipping coffee and exchanging animated stories about what went down the night before.

A man had driven a rental van into a crowd of worshipers near a mosque in Londons Finsbury Park neighborhood early Monday, injuring 11 people and leaving one man dead, perhaps from natural causes. A suspect, identified by British media as Darren Osborne of Cardiff, Wales, was handed over to police, who charged him with attempted murder and other crimes.

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While the driver appears to have deliberately targeted Muslims, the men at the cafe said this was not a place, or a city, where they felt unsafe or targeted. And the response from the wider community has lifted their spirits.

A man holds a sign with a message of solidarity outside Finsbury Park mosque in North London on June 20, 2017. (Tolga Akmen / AFP/Getty Images)

I feel that people were with us today, they feel sorry, theyre trying to help, said Adam Ayman, 30. We have been fasting and people were bringing us water and asking if we need something. When you see that, thats the moment you see the community you live in. It feels very good and I appreciated each person. I hope I can do the same to them.

Reports of Islamophobic attacks have surged in Britain in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena and London Bridge attacks in the last two months, which killed 22 and eight people respectively, and injured dozens more. The militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for both.

But as the police barricade was lifted on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, streams of people carrying roses walked to the Muslim Welfare House, the mosque and community center near the site of the attack. Several hundred people  different ages, races, religions  stood in the street at a vigil organized by the mosque to honor the victims.

Some held signs reading Love Will Win and United Against All Terror.

Were in a situation in the U.K. where youve got a concatenation of violence ... and [a] very febrile social and political situation that could lead to more violence, said Raffaello Pantucci, the director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute. I think the majority of people in the U.K. dont want to see the social tensions that groups in the extreme right or Islamists want to tear our society apart.

The choice of Finsbury Park for the attack, widely thought to have been in retaliation for recent attacks in London carried out in the name of Islam, has perhaps not surprised locals who are aware of the areas notorious past.

It was where the radical preacher Abu Hamza, with his distinctive hook for a right hand, once made a name for himself, seizing control over the Finsbury Park mosque in the late 1990s and delivering inflammatory sermons  initially in the building, and later on the sidewalk outside when authorities raided and shut down the mosque in 2003.

The mosque was a prominent place in Europe for all jihadis, where you could go and rest and recuperate, said Pantucci. Look back at the Guantanamo documents and see people referring to it as a place they knew about. It was always known as a place that was a source of problems, and everyone knew about it.

The Egyptian-born Abu Hamza was eventually arrested and found guilty of inciting violence by a British court in 2006 and sentenced to seven years in prison. In 2014, he was extradited to the United States to face terrorism charges, for which he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

That troubled legacy is now in the past as the result of a massive collaborative effort between a diverse partnership: the new mosques trustees; the Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is the local member of Parliament; other faith leaders; and a unit within the Metropolitan Polices counter-terrorism unit.

Daily prayers are back at capacity, with up to 2,000 worshipers at a time.

The chairman of the mosque, Mohammed Kozbar, said the biggest challenge was rebuilding trust, both among Muslims who had abandoned the place and with the larger community.

This was a big challenge for us and we worked hard, he said. We can see now we have the trust of the community and people can see that the mosque is completely different than it was before.... This gives us the strength to keep going to do things right and make sure our community are looked after by us.

Unity messages are displayed on June 20, 2017, near the scene of a van attack in the Finsbury Park area of North London. (Matt Dunham / Associated Press)

As a result of these efforts, it did not take long for both this North London neighborhood, and the wider city, to reject the narrative that the attack was somehow different from other recent incidents on London Bridge and Westminster Bridge and in Manchester.

To them it was simply terrorism. Any other description shows a lack of understanding of what Finsbury Park is today, residents say.

Outside the mosque, a sign was placed against the wall on behalf of locals. It read: We stand by you. We are shocked and saddened with you. We wont let this hatred divide us. We need you in Finsbury Park.

Like much of London, Finsbury Park is a rapidly gentrifying area. Kebab houses and Arabian cafes sit alongside artisan coffee shops and boutiques.

But those who live here tell of street parties, communal barbecues and recipe swapping with residents of all religions and backgrounds.

This is not a neighborhood fraught with tensions. Nor is it a melting pot, some residents say.

That tends to suggest that the ingredients are all thrown in together and arent mixing well, said Simon Sampson, 46, who lives a few doors from Finsbury Park mosque. We choose to be here. We havent been chucked in the pot by some other force.

Sampson said he came close to tears Monday when he stepped outside his door and saw the vigil.

This is a tight-knit community, he said. Since we have been here, we couldnt ask for better neighbors. Its very diverse, very cohesive. Its really live and let live and everyone respects each other.

When Phabian Adams heard the sirens and a police helicopter hovering low overhead in the early hours of Monday, her first thought was that a thief was on the loose.

Terrorism did not cross her mind.

Sitting on her stoop beside her two children the next day, Adams marveled at the scene down the road, where the worlds media had gathered along with countless police, spectators and others.

But her overriding feeling was one of anger that the community she has lived in for most of her 35 years was targeted.

I was quite aggrieved, she said. We have worked so hard to be a community. We have street parties and everyone comes out with food, to talk and celebrate. Our communities are integrated.

Once the camera crews have left and life returns to normal, Adams predicts, the solidarity will continue.

A bad thing has happened like in Manchester and London Bridge, but life is going to continue, she said.  I dont think this attack is going to stop me from saying, Lets have a barbecue.

Boyle is a special correspondent.

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Muslim rebels are still holding several hostages in a school that has been surrounded by army troops in the southern Philippines, military officials said Wednesday after reporting that the gunmen have withdrawn from the area as government forces converged to crush the attack.

Gunmen from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters maneuvered to attack separate outposts of army troops and government militiamen but were repelled by government forces at dawn Wednesday, prompting them to seize villagers to dodge military gunfire in Malagakit village in North Cotabato province, military officials said.

The retreating gunmen, variously estimated by the military and police to number from 200 to 300, later occupied a Malagakit grade school building, where they sporadically traded shots with troops up to nightfall, said local army spokesman Capt. Arvin Encinas.

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The rebels may have taken advantage of the massive military offensive against militants aligned with the Islamic State group who laid siege in the southern city of Marawi and plotted to attack military targets elsewhere, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said at a news conference.

They were taking advantage of the situation that we have a very lightly defended outpost and that they think our forces are elsewhere in the province, Padilla said. But that is not the case, our forces are spread all over. We may be facing many fronts ... but weve properly assigned our forces.

Padilla earlier reported that the rebels have withdrawn from the school after reinforcement troops arrived in Malagakit, but later said troops reported that rebels were still holed up in the low-slung building and that other withdrawing insurgents returned after being blocked by troops nearby.

Rebel spokesman Abu Misry Mamah acknowledged in a radio interview that his group staged the attack, but said they only took hold of some villagers to protect them amid the gun battle.

The rebels, mostly encamped in the marshy heartland of the countrys southern region, broke off from the largest Muslim rebel group several years ago partly to protest peace talks with the government. The breakaway rebels, however, have been weakened by battle setbacks and some of its commanders have tried to align themselves with the Islamic State group in the hope of securing funding from the Middle East-based group, according to the military.

Padilla said it was possible the attack was intended to disrupt an ongoing military offensive against a separate group of Islamic State-aligned militants who laid siege May 23 in Marawi in Lanao del Sur province, also in the countrys south.

If this is a diversionary move, its not the first by these BIFF gunmen, Padilla said. They have tried to attack more than once and all have been thwarted.

Last month, about 500 militants seized Marawi, a mosque-dotted center of the Islamic faith in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. The attack followed an army and police raid on a hideout that failed to capture a top militant suspect. Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery, have been fighting street battles to wrest back control of the citys business district.

At least 258 militants, 65 soldiers and police and 26 civilians have been killed and more than 300,000 villagers have fled from Marawi and outlying towns.

The U.S. military in recent weeks deployed a P3 Orion aircraft to provide surveillance and intelligence to troops battling more than 100 gunmen holding an unspecified number of hostages in Marawi. President Rodrigo Duterte, despite having an antagonistic stance toward Washington, has acknowledged that the U.S. assistance is helping save lives.

Duterte has said politicians, including some linked to the illegal drug trade, may have covertly backed the militants, who stockpiled arms and supplies before launching their audacious plot in Marawi. The attack has sparked fears that the Islamic State group, while losing territory in Syria and Iraq, may be gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia by supporting local militants with money, training and weapons.

Duterte declared martial law in the entire Mindanao region to deal with the Marawi crisis.
They were ancient monuments that would be more remembered for their modern history: the site where Islamic States leader, Abu Bakr Baghdadi, declared himself caliph three years ago. And their capture by government forces was to be a symbol of Islamic States defeat in what was once its Iraqi capital.

Instead, Mosuls most famous landmarks, the Great Nuri Mosque and the leaning minaret known as the Hadba or hunchback, were destroyed by the militant group on Wednesday, government officials said.

In their battle to retake the city, commandos from Iraqs elite Counter-Terrorism Service had fought their way to within 50 yards of the landmarks when militant fighters blew them up, the government said.

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The 900-year-old mosque was named after Nur Al-Din Zenki, the Zengid leader who wanted to unite all Muslims to fight the Crusaders.

Since Islamic States blitz through territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014, the mosque was widely known as the place where Baghdadi gave his first speech as self-declared caliph.

A photo from a drone flying over the the mosque and the minaret, released by the local news outlet Sumariya, shows only a small dome in the middle of the site still standing.

A video released later Wednesday shows the minaret at the moment of its destruction. The camera lingers on the minaret before rings of dust burst from its 148-foot length. The detonation rips through the rest of the structure before it collapses to dust.

The terrorist gangs of Daesh committed another history crime, the blowing up of the Nuri Mosque and the historic Hadba minaret, Iraqi staff Lt. Gen. Abdulamir Yarallah, the overall commander of the Mosul offensive, said in a statement. He referred to Islamic State by its Arabic acronym. It is also known as ISIS.

A government offensive to retake the city was launched in October. This month, Iraqi forces breached the militant groups last bastion in Mosul, the Old City quarter.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, spokesman of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, said in a phone interview Wednesday that destruction of the historic structures would not stop Iraqi forces from ousting terrorists from our land.

Islamic State blamed a U.S. airstrike for the destruction of the site.

But Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria, said in a phone interview, The coalition did not conduct a strike at the time when the mosque was destroyed.

Religious buildings, such as churches and mosques, are not normally allowed as targets for U.S. military airstrikes. The buildings can be targeted only with the approval of senior military officers, if commanders believed they have been overtaken by enemy forces.

That was not the case with the mosque, said Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, U.S. commander of coalition ground forces.

As our Iraqi Security Force partners closed in on the al-Nuri mosque, ISIS destroyed one of Mosul and Iraqs great treasures, he said in a statement. This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, and is an example of why this brutal organization must be annihilated. The responsibility of this devastation is laid firmly at the doorstep of ISIS.

Iraqi forces had for weeks stalled at more than 300 yards from the mosque before fierce resistance by the jihadis. Wednesdays thrust was the closest they had reached to capturing a prize that was synonymous with what was once Iraqs second-largest city.

Baghdadi took to the pulpit of the Nuri Mosque in his only appearance in an Islamic State video in July 2014, where he told his followers he was their wali, or governor.

God gave your mujahideen brothers victory after long years of jihad and patience ... so they declared the caliphate and placed the caliph in charge, he said then.

The mosque was built around 1172. The nearby Hadba, locals would say, had gotten its tilt bowing to the prophet Muhammad as he rose up to heaven. Experts had for years tried to stabilize the minaret. When it stood, it leaned more than nine feet off the perpendicular axis.

Despite its decrepit state, it was the citys primary icon and was often a substitute for Mosuls name.

It was a surprise that the landmarks had stood so long under Islamic States reign. The group, which espouses a harsh form of sharia law, views monuments as pagan.

Less than two months after Islamic State snatched Mosul, it quickly destroyed important sites like the Prophet Yunus Shrine. It later released a video showing militants gleefully taking drills and sledgehammers to statues in the Mosul museum.

That the sites were blown up on Laylat al-Qadr , or the Night of Power, is especially bitter for many in Iraq. It is the holiest night of the Muslim calendar and commemorates when the verses of the Koran were first revealed to Muhammad.

It comes late in the month of Ramadan and is thought to be a time when sins are forgiven and supplications are accepted.

Twitter: @nabihbulos

Special correspondent Bulos reported from Beirut and Times staff writer Hennigan from Washington. Time staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Beirut and special correspondent Wael Resol in Suleimaniya, Iraq, contributed to this report.

ALSO

Muslims fast in Ramadan to practice compassion and self-restraint. Terrorists see it as a time to step up violence

Russia says it might have killed Islamic State leader in airstrike

Government forces begin storming Mosuls Old City as Islamic State makes a last stand in its Iraqi capital

UPDATES:

4:10 p.m.: The article was updated with additional background and details.

2:30 p.m.: This article was updated with statements by U.S. officials and more details.

This article was originally published at 1:45 p.m.
Tropical storm Cindy continues to move through the Gulf of Mexico, hovering south of Louisiana and bringing potentially flooding rain late this week. Dangerous hide tides and rip currents are expected.

The Louisiana National Guard dispatched high water vehicles and helicopters into the targeted areas and the state said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was moving 125,000 meals and 200,000 liters of water into Louisiana, according to AP.

Several public beaches at the Gulf shores have warned visitors to stay away.

Tropical Storm #Cindy continues to move northwest toward the Gulf Coast, bringing very heavy rainfall and potential flash flooding. pic.twitter.com/5VitFwgdka  NWS Eastern Region (@NWSEastern) June 21, 2017

The warning has been issued from San Luis Pass, Texas, to the Mississippi river, including Houston, Galvenston, Lake Charles, Louisiana and Lafayette.

A tornado watch is also in effect for southwest Alabama, Southeast Louisiana, Southern Mississippi and west Florida until 7pm today due to increase tropical moisture.

Louisiana will see the greatest risk of isolated tornadoes. The risk will persist into Thursday.

#GOES16 captured this brilliant loop of Tropical Storm Cindy (formerly PTC3) in the Gulf this afternoon! Forecast @ https://t.co/LFPB6b4IJu pic.twitter.com/lwjwSnOWfO  NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) June 20, 2017
Actor and human rights activist George Clooney has sold his one-third stake in his Casamigos tequila company for a reported $1 billion.

Diageo Plc agreed to acquire fast-growing tequila brand, co-founded four years ago by Clooney and business partners Michael Meldman and Rande Gerber. The creation of the brand wasn't a calculated move and only came about when the men were constructing summer houses in Cabo San Lucas.

"As you do when you're in Mexico, you drink a lot of tequila," Gerber told CNBC. "After a couple of months trying a lot of different tequilas, George turned to me and said, 'Why don't we just make our own? One that's perfect for us to drink?'"

Casa in Cannes. #repost @maisonvalentino #GeorgeClooney #cannes #TBT A post shared by Casamigos Tequila (@casamigos) on May 18, 2017 at 1:00pm PDT

After talking with distillers in the Jalisco area, the trio began making their own tequila for private sharing amongst their family and friends until their personal demand for over 1,000 bottles a year prompted a conversation about taking the company public in 2013. "It immediately took off," continued Gerber. "Right now, we're the fastest growing ultra-premium tequila in the country."



The sale to Diageo expands the London-based distillers lineup in a rapidly expanding category, where it already owns numerous world renowned alcohol brands.

Clooney has been smart with his money in the past, parlaying his profits from Nescafe ads into funding a spy satellite dedicated to uncovering human rights abuses. He'll need the extra diaper money, after recently becoming a father to twins with his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.
The recent London blaze that took 58 peoples lives has once again raised public concern over the efficiency of fire rescue protocol, a global problem that could potentially be solved by innovative Chinese designers.

China Construction Third Engineering Bureau (CCTB) announced on June 20 that it has successfully tested a high-rise escape magnetic descent device in Wuhan, Hubei province. The device proved capable of evacuating an 80-kilogram adult from a 40-meter-high building in just 26 seconds during a test.

The escape device consists of a magnetic manned unit and a non-ferromagnetic track attached to the outer wall of a building. The device does not need electricity and can be deployed on any building. Professional training is not necessary to use it, and the devices descent speed can be controlled, Liu Zhimao, vice director of the CCTB, told Changjiang Daily in an interview.

According to CCTB, as long as there is enough space, the device can even be used on a 600-meter-tall building. Currently, the device can transport adults weighing up to 120 kilograms, and the cost of the device is only a few thousand RMB.

CCTB is not the only organization in China to attempt the design of a better fire rescue device. Fan Shizhong, a student at Hunan University, has created a prototype of a rescue vehicle featuring a folded and telescopic rescue slide that can be adjusted for height and angle. Fans design allows evacuees to safely slide down from high-rise buildings, as the device effectively slows the rate of decline. Fan's design won the 2017 Core77 Design Awards, an international award for industrial design.
Jun 21, 2017, 2:43am ET

Tesla could announce Chinese factory this week

Tesla wants to establish a foothold in the world\'s largest new car market.

Tesla will announce plans to build a factory in China in the coming days, according to anonymous sources familiar with the deal.

The California-based electric car maker has come to an agreement with the city of Shanghai, Bloomberg reports. Tesla's first car manufacturing facility outside of the United States will be located in the Lingang industrial park, which is south of the city center and strategically located next to one of the world's biggest and busiest ports.

It's too early to tell which vehicle(s) Tesla will build in China. Details are still being finalized, and company officials have opted not comment on the deal.

Currently, Tesla's Model X and Model S are exceptionally expensive in China because the government slaps a 25-percent tariff on all imported vehicles in order to prop up local manufacturers. Building cars locally will boost the brand's sales by making both EVs -- and the upcoming Model 3 -- more affordable, but the deal comes with strings attached.

Notably, Tesla needs to set up a joint-venture with at least one local auto-maker before it can begin building cars in China. Which brand the company will pick is up in the air at this point, according to Bloomberg.

If the report is accurate and the deal goes through, we'll learn more about Tesla's next factory by the end of the week.
Jockey Johnny Murtagh was on hand today to announce the Curragh Racecourses latest commercial partnership, with Qatar Airways.

The airlines first Dublin-Doha flight took place on June 12.

The formation of the partnership was enabled by Qatarai businessman Mubarak Al Naemi, owner of Kilfrush Stud in County Limerick

The sponsorship includes the Group 2 Qatar Airways Sapphire Stakes on Saturday, July 15, and the historic Qatar Airways Royal Whip Stakes (Group 3) taking place on Sunday, August 20, as part of a Qatar themed race day which also features the inaugural running of the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club Curragh Stakes.

PHOTO GALLERY: The launch of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh Racecourse

Commenting on the announcement, Senior Vice President of Qatar Airways Europe, Jonathan Harding said: As such an established and world renowned horse racing venue, there is great opportunity to connect the Irish and Qatari communities.

Evan Arkwright, Commercial Manager of The Curragh said the Curragh was delighted with the partnership.

I would like to thank Mr Al Naemi for helping to facilitate this initiative which will further strengthen and enhance the important links we have with the Gulf region.

Qatar Airways was also recently announced official airline partner of the 2017 Dublin Horse Show, further establishing strong relations with the Irish equestrian industry and business networks.
Kildare native and NCAD graduate Kate McGowan has scooped first prize at the Kildare Village Racing Colours competition.

She won the award for her design of the iconic international racing colours jacket.

The winning entry

I was thrilled to be chosen as the winner of the Racing Colours competition. The prize is amazing and such a great opportunity for me as a recent graduate. I am so grateful to Kildare Village and to all the judges  its great to see support for students and graduated. Im really looking forward to my internship with Richard. His work is so exciting and innovative, and its brilliant to see an Irish Designer doing so well internationally, said the Clane girl.

This exciting national design competition tasked degree-level fashion students from NCAD, LSAD, Griffith College and Ulster University with creating a contemporary interpretation of the International Racing Colours jacket, an iconic element of the Jockey Silks attire worn during racing event.

READ MORE: Kildare Village jobs boost

The Racing Colours competition marks a new collaboration between Kildare Village and The Curragh to launch the 2017 Summer Racing Season.

Kate has been awarded a sum of 2,000 as well as a prestigious internship with celebrated womenswear designer and judge of Racing Colours competition, Richard Malone, in his London studio.

The Kildare designer drew inspiration for her creation from the photography of Spencer Murphy and his portraits of Katie Walsh, AP McCoy and Ruby Walsh, which illustrated the reality of a post-race scene.

CHECK OUT PHOTO GALLERY: The launch of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh Racecourse

Old diagrams showing how to dress wounds and apply bandages inspired knotted sampling which formed the silhouette.

Lengths of fabric were twisted and sewn together, wrapping the wearer in a protective garment. Kates winning piece also included a delicate silk underlay, a nod to the venerable side caught by Murphy's portraits.
We Liberal Democrats are supposed to be the Party of the empowered individual; how can we help people to become that, to build a sense of security and community? And are we doing it?

My view is that we could start by articulating the simple liberal ideas behind our campaigns, policies and positions. We must bring change, but we must use this to illustrate what liberalism is about too.

In todays public debate theres often seems little attempt to challenge assertions, or argue with points; merely to deny the right of alternative viewpoints to exist, to campaign, or to argue. Motives are questioned, the (wo)man is played, not the ball.

On the first or second Saturday after the referendum, a man screamed Whos the f***ing Fascist!? at me because he objected to our petition on unilateral protection of EU nationals rights. As he shouted this, my then 6 month old son was strapped to me and I was holding a clipboard and pen. I did indeed wonder who the Fascist was.

The reaction to last weeks horrific events has been depressing. Theres a lot of justifiable anger  but the political prism this is seen through seems to be one of fundamental division:

Lily Allen accuses government of being dishonest over number of victims who died in Grenfell Tower blaze, The Sun, 17 June 2017

MOB OF LEFTIES SLAMMED Hard-left activists blasted for hijacking the genuine outrage over the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy, The Sun, 16 June 2017

We seem to be living in an age of virtue signalling. But could cognitive dissonance drive people to support liberals and liberalism?

A 2013 study by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that someone in a state of uncertainty may show more political open-mindedness if they also perceive themselves to be out of harms way. However  when people sense a threat on top of that uncertainty, the opposite reaction occurs: Subjects in the study tended to close ranks and become rigidly intolerant to other political views. So we must help people to control and shape their communities, which will also open them to our message. People need to come first in our society, we should be saying that, and showing it.

But communities have come together to provide support for the Grenfell tenants and their families, there are now opportunities to address not only housing inequalities (including our approach to health and safety standards, and the medium-term impacts of austerity), but also our democracy, where accountability and responsibility for local decisions is opaque at best.

This should be a moment for radical liberal democracy to show the solutions  not to politicise the disaster, but to support our people in organising to help: details of groups on the ground to support, model questions to ask our local authorities, simple statements from our MPs and Lords, appropriate and useful social media posts to adapt and share. To be the Party of the empowered individual: we have over 100, 000 members, lets empower them first.

* Anthony Fairclough is Vice Chair, Merton Borough Lib Dems and is writing in a personal capacity
London is widely regarded as a liberal city. It is not, however, a Liberal Democrat city.

The party now controls just one council and has only 6% of the councillors, as well as 2 London Assembly members. And yet, at least anecdotally, London should be our city. Its diverse and often cosmopolitan.

One of the most striking aspects of the 2014 British Social Attitudes survey was that over half of Londoners welcomed immigration as good for the economy  almost double the number of people who did so in the rest of the UK. In Merton, a losing UKIP councillor blamed the more media-savvy and educated Londoners for her partys lack of success. Although she was widely mocked for this statement, the results would suggest that large parts of London are not natural UKIP territory.

So why do we do so badly in London given the potential (does this analysis of the demographic inclined to vote Green sound like anywhere you recognise)? Partly, I think, for the same reason that we are not doing so well in large parts of the country. Our partys reaction to coalition difficulties has often been to fall back onto the hard work of our councillors over the years. But the truth is that any good councillor from any party would work hard. And how many people will vote just on the basis of whos good at getting casework sorted? If were honest, probably not enough people to win many elections. And is this really liberalism? The Liberal Democrats is a political party not a loose collection of residents association councillors. Most people join political parties to change the world, not to report grot spots to the council  no matter how creditable that is.

July saw the centenary of the death of the man who ensured that Birmingham was parked, paved, assized, marketed, gas-and-watered and improved  radical, municipal liberalism under Joseph Chamberlain was the launchpad for so-called new Liberal thinking that revitalised the Liberal Party in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The agenda of devolving powers to cities and regions (especially following the Scottish referendum) gives us a new opportunity to re-establish urban liberalism as a force within the party.

2016 will see the fifth elections for the Greater London Authority  the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

We have previously fought these elections on the basis that its easier to get those who vote for us in local elections to turn out for us in regional elections  and so we have concentrated on target wards.

Frankly, this has not worked. So we need to do something differently this time.

Liberal Reform is launching a commission into radical ideas for London, to put together a publication for late 2015. We need simple, liberal ideas. Exciting ideas that inspire people. Ideas that show people what were about as a party and as liberals; so that when they cast their vote, they at least have a conception of what were about. An openness to new ideas will hopefully attract thinkers and idealists to the party  as well as spark debate as to the kind of London we want to live in.

Well be publishing the results next year, but were looking for the best ideas and potential contributors now  email me on [email protected]. Well also be beginning the debate on Twitter and Facebook, using #LRLdnIdeas.

I agree with blogger Matthew Green that there is a basic human need to understand the world in terms of simple stories. We need to start telling Londoners what were about.

* Anthony Fairclough is Vice Chair, Merton Borough Lib Dems and is writing in a personal capacity
Two party organisations have commented on the resignation of Tim Farron.

LGBT+ Lib Dems highlight Tim Farrons record as a friend of LGBT rights but note that his failure to adequately answer the questions on gay sex cast a shadow on the campaign.

Nonetheless, LGBT+ Lib Dems were at the forefront of the efforts to defend Tim based on his proven track record of friendship and support for our rights. During Tims time as leader, the Liberal Democrats passed the most far reaching policy any party has ever had in favour of trans equality. In addition, he has been vocal on ending the Blood Ban on some people giving blood based on prejudices about their sexual behavior, and was the first party leader to speak out against human rights abuses against gay men in Chechnya. We recognise that many of our LGBT+ members are also people of faith, and firmly believe that the Liberal Democrats should be a place open and tolerant for people of all faiths and none, just as much as it should be a place for people of all sexualities and genders. These are values that Tim has always stood for, and we would like to place on record our thanks to him, and to wish him all the best for the future. We look forward to continuing our work with our new leader, once they are elected, promoting PrEP for all that want it, X gender markers on passports, and extending civil partnerships to all couples, amongst many other issues.

In the same statement, they also pay tribute to Brian Paddick for his work as Shadow Home Secretary and say that they dont believe that he was part of an organised plot to oust Tim.

They conclude:

We very much hope and intend there to be space for all of us in the Liberal tradition when commenting on the matter, and as an organisation we will continue to offer our support to both Brian and Tim.

Humanist and Secularist Lib Dems praise Tim Farrons record and say that it is his actions rather than personal beliefs that matter:

We were very sorry to learn of Tim Farrons resignation as leader of the party on Wednesday. Tim has had remarkable success in building the party locally, and doubling the partys membership in just two years. The General Election result not only boosted our strength at Westminster but also re-established us as the third party in UK politics (with the increased radio and TV exposure that this will bring). We believe Tim could have achieved considerably more, given time. It is deeply unfortunate that his resignation has been driven by issues relating to his religious beliefs. Tim has maintained throughout that what matters is not his personal religious beliefs but his actions, as demonstrated by his consistent support on LGBT+ issues in particular. We absolutely endorse this position. We believe that Tims record should not have given any liberal secularist cause for concern. His voting record on LGBT+ issues has been strong and positive; and as party leader he has gone well beyond this, regularly and vocally highlighting our partys proud record on LGBT+ rights. We should like to thank him Tim for his all-too-brief leadership, and we hope that he will remain a major contributor to our partys future success.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Of all the things I regret about my time in Parliament being so short, one thing I really dont mind is that I never got to hear a Queens Speech. Cornerstone of our democracy it may be, but its really just a festival of flummery that I can do without. I cant imagine how it must have been in todays 34 degree heat, dressed in ones best, squashed into the Lords to hear Her Majesty read out the Governments plans for legislation. Hats off to my former Parliamentary colleagues, and those who have recently joined them, for enduring it.

But at least it was short. Just nine minutes to sum up not one, but two years-worth of Bills. And, for Liberal Democrats, there was much to be pleased about. Not only has Mrs May ditched her plans to scrap the triple-lock on pensions and free school meals, shes also backtracked on the dementia tax, promising instead to consult.

Liberal Democrats will also be pleased that a key provision of our own Renters Rights Bill, outlawing letting agents fees to renters, will make it into law.

The speech focuses instead on the Governments plans for Brexit, providing details of the Great Repeal Bill (apparently already being dubbed GeRBil in some quarters, which should please those Liberal Democrats who never miss an opportunity to post a picture of a fluffy animal), and various enabling legislations to set up our own regulations post-Brexit. The key message here is that hard, soft, clean, red, white, blue, grey, whatever, Brexit will happen and the main Parliamentary activity for the next two years will be getting ready to implement it.

Whats infuriating about this Queens Speech are all the issues that it fails to address. Speaking to residents in Richmond Park over the last six to seven months, I know that their key issues are funding for public services, particularly schools and the NHS, policing and security, immigration and housing. It may be an untypically wealthy and well-educated area, but I very much doubt that were different from the majority of the country in these concerns. There is nothing in the Queens Speech about any of this. The appalling Grenfell House fire last week has surely concentrated attention like nothing else on the failure of housing policy over the last few decades, and urgent action is required. Not only has the Government got nothing to say, it tells us that it wont have anything to say for at least two years.

What I find at least as infuriating is the way that the Conservatives continue to play fast and loose with democracy to suit their own ends. They set out their manifesto and won the most seats (if not an overall majority) off the back of it, enabling them to form the Government. Surely the main policies from that manifesto should therefore be in the Queens Speech? I know Im being paradoxical, because I dont want to see the return of grammar schools or fox-hunting, but shouldnt the people get what they voted for?

No, because Theresa May knows that a Queens Speech containing any of the key themes from the Conservative manifesto wont make it through the House. And if the Speech fails, then the Tories cant form a government. So once again, we see democracy being subverted, and the people short-changed, to suit the interests of the Conservative party.

Obviously, I have something of a vested interest in another General Election, so my comments should be viewed in that light. But, if the Conservatives fail to form a government, then we should be pleased, at least, that they arent rewarded for their lack of integrity.

* Sarah Olney is the MP for Richmond Park. She joined the Liberal Democrats in 2015 and won a spectacular victory in the Richmond Park by-election in December 2016. She lost the seat by a heartbreaking 45 votes in the 2017 General Election, but then regained it resoundingly at the 2019 General Election.
Many congratulations to Jo Swinson on being elected as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat (UK) Parliamentary Party, sometimes referred to as the Deputy Leader.

Well, perhaps that sometimes should be virtually always.

The only reference I can find to creating a Deputy Leader in our constitution is here:

16.1 The Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons shall consist of all Members of that House in receipt of the Partys whip. Its Leader shall be the Leader of the Party elected as provided in Article 17. It shall be entitled to make such regulations (not being inconsistent with this Constitution) as it thinks fit for the conduct of its own proceedings. In particular, these regulations shall make provision for a Chief Whip and, if thought fit, a Deputy Leader of such Parliamentary Party.

Its clear that we have a Deputy Leader of the (UK) Parliamentary Party, when elected, who is referred to as Deputy Leader elsewhere in the document. (And please put me right below if I have missed something).

Yes, Im quibbling. But, to me, if we are to have someone referred to as Deputy Leader of the Party here, there and everywhere (as in all the publicity and media releases last night following Jos election), then it is not rocket science to expect that that person is elected by the Party as a whole  all 100,000+ of them, rather than just by 110 of them in the (UK) parliamentary party.

But I realise that I am a fairly lone voice in the wilderness on this. Its a bit like when I point out the difference between percentage increase and percentage point increase. Peoples eyes glaze over and you can see that it is very clear that they think I am very strange indeed.

* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
Shortly before 00:20 n Monday 19th June a van mounted a pavement and drove into people near Muslim Welfare House and Finsbury Park Mosque. The police have confirmed that all the victims were Muslims and the suspect has been arrested.

Nine people were taken to hospital after the attack. Makram Ali, 51, died around the time of the attack, but whether it is directly related is unclear at the time of writing.

Thankfully, all of those who were taken to hospital with injuries are now out of critical care, but that doesnt mean the effects wont last with the victims for a lifetime.

The Muslim Council of Great Britain has called for increased security outside Mosques as a matter of urgency, considering we are approaching the end of Ramadan and the celebration of Eid. They also call for transformative action to be taken to tackle attacks on Muslims and Islamophobia.

Tim Farron, made a statement on the same day of the attack:

The Finsbury Park attack is senseless barbarism. Yet again we are rocked by a horrific incident for which there is no rhyme or reason. People who commit these heinous acts want to divide us, force us to turn in on ourselves and fight each other. We cannot and must not let them win. Our values matter, we must stand together. My deepest sympathies are with the victims and their families. I would like to pay tribute to the bravery and dedication of the emergency services, who, yet again, have gone above and beyond to help those in need. In these moments while others run in the opposite direction, our emergency services run towards danger.

The perpetrator needs appropriate punishment, but the networks that promote violence and hatred of Muslims need to be targeted too. No comment inciting hatred to anyone should go unchallenged.

Please add your comments below on how we can tackle this scourge.

* Eddie Sammon is a member of the Lib Dems in France and a regular reader of and commenter on Liberal Democrat Voice.
As the Queen heads to Westminster and delivers a speech which will go something like My Government is doing, well, not that much actually. Now that it has ditched the bonkers policy nobody liked in its manifesto, theres just Brexit really. Oh, and lots of money to Northern Ireland.

So, as the events in Westminster unfold, what would be your big idea for the Queens Speech. What one piece of legislation would you bring in?

I guess the obvious Lib Dem ones are PR and the Standardisation of Letterboxes. Id like to see putting the International Code on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes into law as well as serious efforts to help women who want to breastfeed their babies to do so. That would be a massive contributor to the future health of the nation and would reduce future health inequalities as I have written before.

So what would your big idea be? Think as far out of the box as you like and dont allow yourself to be constrained by current parliamentary arithmetic.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
The 12 Best Sources of Fiber on the Keto Diet

These foods in your meal plan will help you avoid some of the pitfalls of the diet, like constipation.
INFORMATION is being sought after two teenagers were punched in the face while walking on the northside of the city.

According to gardai, the boys were assaulted while walking from Moyross to Caherdavin at around 8.40pm last Friday  June 16.

The assault took place at Cratloe Court on the Old Cratloe Road. One teenager was punched in the face and when his friend intervened he too was punched, said a garda spokesperson.

According to gardai, both teens sustained bruising to the face during the incident.

Gardai at Mayorstone station are investigating the incident and any witnesses or anyone with information is asked to contact them at (061) 456980.

In a separate incident a number of hours later, a man in his late 20s was punched and kicked by another man at Denmark Street.

As his attacker struck the victim from behind, gardai are not in a position to release a description of the culprit.

Gardai at Henry Street are appealing for witnesses or information in relation to the incident and can be contacted on 061-212400.
METROPOLITAN district councillors have given the green light to a housing development for the elderly and disabled.

At this months meeting, members were asked to vote through plans for seven new residential units at Kilmurry Court in Garryowen.

The development will be in a mix of two two storey and five single storey units. These will be in a mix of one, two and three bedrooms.

There will also be landscaping including a shared surface area, adjustments to existing footpaths and installation of street lighting and street furniture.

New trees will also be planted on site.

But Fianna Fail councillor Jerry ODea, who represents the local area at City Hall, has called for closed-circuit television (CCTV) to be added.

In the current climate, all housing is good housing, and we need to build as many units as we can. But the general feeling from residents is if it is step-down housing for the elderly and disabled, why would we need three bedroom houses, he said.

Calling for CCTV, the former metropolitan mayor said this is needed to protect the residents.

He is also seeking a control on the tenants who move into the properties.

Cllr ODea said: Garryowen was a model estate over the years and recently, people have expressed concerns that the balance of housing is disproportionate. My main concern is if there is any new housing in there, then it should be complementary to helping Garryowen maintain its character.

It was agreed an application would be made to the Department of Housing and Planning for CCTV.

Councillor Seighin O Ceallaigh, also in City East, voted against the proposals, due to concerns about the use of land behind the development, and whether the Alzheimers Society would be able to access these so its clients can use the area.

He says he has been seeking answers on this for a year to no avail, adding: I didnt vote against the development of the houses, but the way in which it was brought up. This motion was added at the last minute. I wasnt contacted, and I feel I have been completely fobbed off by the council.

Labour member Joe Leddin, who proposed the passing of the motion, said he is genuinely baffled by the Sinn Fein mans opposition.

The council has a good record in terms of these developments. We are in the midst of a housing crisis. Any scheme or proposal which comes before the council we should welcome with open arms, he said.

Cllr Elena Secas seconded the passing of the plan.
SEVENTEEN scholarships have been offered to asylum seekers and refugees by the University of Limerick.

UL has now been designated a University of Sanctuary in recognition of its initiatives welcoming those in direct provision into its university community.

Dr Mairead Moriarty, chair of the University of Limericks Sanctuary steering committee, said that the current refugee crisis tests the inner strength of our educational culture.

At the University of Limerick we firmly believe that a university education should be a possibility for all. We have been committed to providing access to our university for people from all backgrounds and we are delighted to extend this to people currently living in direct provision, said Dr Moriarty.

President of UL, Dr Des Fitzgerald made the announcement as the campus hosted the first citizenship ceremony, where 355 people from around the world received their Certificates of Naturalisation, officially becoming Irish citizens.

Dr Fitzgerald outlined that UL has committed to a three-year action plan to promote access and to integrate those from a refugee and asylum background into third level education.

The scholarships are being offered to those aged over 22 and the majority will begin the Mature Student Access Certificate in September for the academic year 2017/2018.

Scholarships comprise a fee waiver and a contribution towards travel, on-campus subsistence, stationery, printing and IT requirements.

This certificate is a one year full-time pre-degree course designed for mature students who wish to develop or refresh key learning skills, and to undertake some foundation level academic studies, before applying directly for a degree programme.

City of Sanctuary is a movement committed to building a culture of hospitality and welcome, especially for refugees seeking sanctuary from war and persecution. Dublin City University was earlier designated a university of sanctuary.
CHARGES of sexual assault brought against a student relating to an incident in the city last year have been withdrawn by the State.

The 21-year-old, who has an address in County Cork, first appeared before Limerick District Court last August after he was charged with sexually assaulting the woman at a house in Castletroy.

The offence was alleged to have happened on March 2, 2016  sparking a garda investigation.

Having considered the garda file relating to the matter, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) directed the case should proceed on indictment before Limerick Circuit Court.

A book of evidence was completed and served on the man  who is a student at a university outside of Limerick  and the matter sent forward for trial.

The case was due to be listed at the callover early next month but mentioning the matter last week, John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, said a Nolle Prosequi was being entered by the State.

This is the legal term indicating the case is being withdrawn.

No reason was given in court as to why the DPP has decided to discontinue the proceedings and there was no objection to the application by the young mans legal representatives.

Following the State application, Brian McInerney BL asked that his client be formally discharged from his bail conditions which were put in place when he first appeared in court.

The man had been ordered to live at his home address and to sign on at his local garda station as a condition of his bail.

Judge Tom ODonnell granted the various applications before him.
A group of international students traveled to Confucius's hometown of Qufu, Shandong province to experience traditional Chinese culture. On the trip, they donned hanfu, the traditional Han silk clothing, learned Chinese calligraphy and tried traditional pastimes including archery. (Meng Guangxin/People's Daily Online)
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Horrific pictures of sheep riddled with maggots have been released after a farmer in Lincolnshire was taken to court for leaving them in a terrible state.

Philip Wilson of Whitsend Farm, Brigsley Road in Waltham was summoned to Lincoln Magistrates Court on Monday, February 27, after failing to look after his sheep at Middle Rasen properly.

The 45-year-old, who did not turn up, was convicted of four charges which included, caring for sheep when he was not familiar with the Code of Recommendation for the Welfare of Sheep.

He was also found guilty of keeping sheep without ensuring that they were cared for by staff with the appropriate ability, knowledge and professional competence as well as failing to provide 30 sheep relief from pain, suffering and disease under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Wilson was also convicted for causing unnecessary suffering to two of the sheep.

The case was brought to the courts following an investigation by Lincolnshire Trading Standards.

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGE

He was sentenced to 26 weeks imprisonment suspended for 24 months and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of 115 and prosecution costs of 4,318.31.

Wilson was also banned from owning, keeping, dealing in or transporting sheep indefinitely.

Stephen Beard, the chair of the bench in court, stated that they were some of the worst photographs of animal cruelty that all three magistrates had ever seen.

Alan Griffin, Trading Standards officer said: "We were made aware of the poor condition of Mr Wilson's sheep after local residents had complained to the RSPCA.

We investigated and found several sheep in a poor physical condition.

We made several attempts to meet Mr Wilson, but he failed to attend pre-arranged meetings, and did not comply with vets' advice that he needed to provide medical treatment for his sheep.

"Through failing to provide basic care, the sheep suffered terribly from fly strike which then resulted in maggots eating into the sheeps' flesh.

We found on a visit on 14 July that one ewe had died through lack of treatment.

We take animal welfare very seriously and recommended a prosecution due to the extreme suffering caused to these sheep.

"We support the indefinite ban on Mr Wilson keeping sheep and note that Mr Wilson has 28 days to dispose of the 100 sheep he keeps on his farm in North East Lincolnshire, either by selling to another farmer, or arranging for a more suitable person to look after them.
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An Audi A4 has collided with railings at a former school.

Police were called to the crash at the former Conway School in Red Lion Street in Boston, at about 9.11am on Wednesday, June 21.

A police spokesman said no injuries had occurred and that the owner had arranged recovery of the vehicle. There was no mention of any structural damage on the log, the spokesman said.

Eyewitnesses looked on in horror after seeing the car embed in the railings.

Kelly Mintel said she didnt see the collision happen but had seen the car in the railings.

She said: I am pleased to see nobody hurt. The car looked like it had veered off the left side and into the railings. Its market day and theres a lot of people around so it was very lucky that nobody was knocked down and killed.
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RAF Reaper operators live in a high pressure world where a single button press is the difference between life and death.

Based at RAF Waddington and in the US, they watch their targets for weeks, following their every move and observing their family life as they prepare to pull the trigger.

They spy on them as they visit their local shop and as they play with their children knowing their ultimate goal is to kill them.

But despite snooping on extremists from more than 3,000 miles away, the emotional impact these bombings have on the countys military forces cannot be overestimated.

The stark reality of their horrifying work has been laid bare in an eye-opening paper written by University of Portsmouth professor, Peter Lee, who gained exclusive access to serving team members.

'We see the reactions of the wife and kids'

One pilot told him: We may watch Target A for weeks, building up a pattern of life for the individual, know exactly what time he eats his meals, drives to the Mosque.

What we also see is the individual interacting with his family  playing with his kids and helping his wife around the compound.

When the strike goes in we stay on station and see the reactions of the wife and kids when the body is brought to them.

You see someone fall to the floor and sob so hard their body is convulsing.

Operations can have an enormous impact on the three-person teams in charge of each drone, with some going on to experience mental trauma including, post-traumatic stress disorder.

Crew members have even withdrawn themselves from active operations; specifically, the firing of weapons and killing after harrowing first-hand experiences.

A relative newcomer to the Reaper team said: I found during the days following the strikes I had issues, I felt depressed, nervous, anxious and slightly withdrawn.

He added: I found it hard to sleep for a couple of weeks with the IR [infra-red] images of the strikes being extremely vivid when closing my eyes.

However, it doesnt affect everyone in the same way.

One sensor operator described Islamic State as the easiest enemy I will ever fight against after watching jihadists commit acts of terrorism on the ground overseas.

The relentless nature of the job can be draining, with serving team members working six 10 to 12 hour days before being given a three-day reprieve.

While some have become hardened after years of strikes, effectively compartmentalising the gruesome acts they witness, others struggle to come to terms with the job.

Its no surprise that the role can have a negative impact on family life.

One partner said: They dont re-adapt when they come home. They put on their home face.

'Leave the Reaper behind'

Another said: He will need to get his head straight and leave it behind; leave the Reaper behind and move on. I think he will struggle with that.

Some pilots choose to discuss their work with family members but many decide to keep it to themselves or mentally edit what they tell their partners to protect them.

However, a recurring theme discussed by Reaper personnel is how their work is perceived and represented in society.

Many feel a sense of frustration and are unhappy with how their job is covered in the media.

It is compounded because they cant respond to their critics and are not officially recognised via medals for their work.

One operator said: It also frustrates me that when the Ministry of Defence speaks the truth that we dont kill civilians, it is immediately assumed to be a lie by those whose mantra is unable to accept the paradigm shift that we genuinely dont kill non-combatants.

The reaper team has been operating above and beyond normal military protocol since 2011 when civilians were killed in a strike in Afghanistan, only conducting strikes when there is zero chance of killing people.

The principle is deeply embedded within the team, according to the report.

One current crew member said they believed the reaper crew would lose personnel for mental health issues if people were put in situations where they were forced to accept civilian casualties.

They noted several occasions where they have been forced to abort or shift cold  when a missile has already been launched and dragged into a pre-designated safe blast zone  to avoid causalities.

The preliminary findings have been released by Dr Lee who has now been contracted to turn his research and data into a book.

The academic, who served as a RAF chaplain in the past, said it is a demanding job that not many people understand.

'Seriously misunderstood'

He said: I think my overall impression, having conducted so much research is just how all-encompassing, how crucial, how engaging the human aspect of the operation is.

When drones were first introduced people thought of them as computer games, that there would be a disconnect and what I have found is that is totally immersive.

It takes a great amount of commitment and it has a big impact on them.

It has been seriously misunderstood.

Despite still being at the early stage of his research, Dr Lee has made a number of suggestions to the RAF ISTAR Force Commander in a bid to help improve the welfare of people on the Reaper team.

The professor would like to see mandatory psychological support for crew members, medals, workload and sustainability assessments and an ethics induction for remote operations.
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It's official. Lincoln Castle is the most popular castle in the UK, according to a poll by TripAdvisor offshoot Holiday Lettings.

Lincoln Castle received 5,166 votes, a 43 per cent share of the total votes cast for the 12 castles in the contest.

Second place went to Bamburgh Castle with, 2,007 votes, and Durham Castle, also in the north-east, was third with 1,323 votes.

But Edinburgh Castle polled just 786 votes and came fourth, with Windsor Castle in 11th place with just 96 votes.

Lydia Rusling, head of Visit Lincoln said: "Were absolutely thrilled to have received this accolade. We are especially pleased as it is awarded by an independent institution and a national campaign.

Its come at the perfect time following the refurbishment in 2015 and 2017 being such a positive and exciting year for the castle with the Doomsday Book and the Battle of the Dynasties exhibition.

"Its a really pivotal point for us and its not just about the castle its about the whole experience you can have here in Lincoln.

We want to be one of the top 10 city breaks in the UK and this award really puts Lincoln on the map and we are so proud of everyone involved in helping to achieve this.

The competition page at Holiday Lettings had this to say about our castle: "William the Conquerors castle at Lincoln dates from 1068 and has recently undergone a 22m restoration.

"Visitors to Lincoln Castle can now complete a full circuit walk of the medieval walls, which give spectacular views of the cathedral and city.

"A new vault contains Lincolns original 1215 Magna Carta and 1217 Charter of the Forest. And, for this summer only, they will be joined by Domesday Book from 1086 in a never-to-be-repeated gathering of Englands most iconic medieval documents."

Kimberley Vickers, site manager at Lincoln Castle, said: "From me and all the staff here at Lincoln Castle, a big thank you to everyone who voted to make us the UK's most popular castle.

"Our top priority is making sure our visitors have the best day out possible and experience all the beauty, stories and history that the castle has to offer.

"This award means a lot because it's voted for by the public and we're really happy to have support from our local, national and international visitors."

Saskia Welman, spokesman for HolidayLettings.co.uk, said: The competition to find the UKs Most Popular Castle was carried out to celebrate these historic buildings, and create awareness with our readers so they can embrace these spectacular and remarkable structures.

The competition received thousands of views and votes over the last three weeks. Lincoln Castle was always in the top three right from the start and we are delighted that it has won this accolade, however it did receive stiff competition from Bamburgh and Durham castles.

We received more than 12,000 votes during this competition, which shows how much castles are loved in our country and its fantastic to see the local community support their local castles so vigorously. Congratulations to Lincoln Castle for winning this competition.
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The mum of two Retford boys who both suffer from a ruthlessly degenerative disease has joined a national battle for access to a vital drug.

Daniel and Joseph Barnes from Bothamsall have cystic fibrosis - meaning their lungs and other organs are covered in a thick mucus which leaves them fighting a range of symptoms.

Their mum Lorraine has spent years raising awareness of the incurable illness - including raising 50,000 for CF Trust - and has lent her voice to a national campaign demanding the drug Orkambi is made available to the 11,000 sufferers of the condition in the UK.

"We are still waiting to get our hands on Orkambi," she said.

"Every step towards getting it approved seems excruciatingly slow for families like mine desperate to grab hold of something which might make a massive difference to the lives of our children. Time is ticking away and cystic fibrosis being degenerative by nature means it's not waiting for anyone."

"Both of my sons have seen their health deteriorate considerably and it's very scary to think of a future for either of them."

Joseph, 14, has had surgery last year and since then his life has just become an endless round of treatments and even more complications.

"He can no longer be sick, but he can retch when he feels sick, and he does it a lot," said Lorraine.

"He suffers from terrible wind problems now and eats very little. He has feelings of fullness when he's eaten barely a mouth full of food and meal times are a real battle to encourage him to eat just the tiniest amounts of food - most days he eats nothing at all and the overnight feed is what is keeping him going.

"His weight gain since surgery has been non-existent - we take one tiny step forward and then ten steps backwards as soon as he picks up a bug like a cold.

"His lung function now averages 43 - 49 per cent. Imagine living a life aged just 14 years old with half lung capacity. He gets breathless often just by walking up stairs on really bad days - he has poor quality of life for a child his age who should be out enjoying himself on his bike, walking, running and eating properly.

"He never complains - but I know he hates cystic fibrosis and all it entails - he just wants to live a normal, happy, pain-free life."

Daniel, aged 22, has been undergoing treatment for mycobacterium infection since September 2016. It began with three weeks of intensive IV antibiotics followed by 18 months of three different oral antibiotics a day along with various vitamins.

He has just finished another three-week course of IV antibiotics after picking up a cold a few months ago that settled on his chest.

"He lost 10 per cent of his lung function, which dropped to 66 per cent, which is unusual for him as his lung function has always been mid 70s since transferring to adult care when he was 16. This worrying slide in health is concerning," said Lorraine.

"Both my sons are handsome, intelligent and popular young men. As their mother, I want them to live a long, happy and healthy life.

"I fear for their futures so much now - the older they get, the more care they need, the more medication they need, the bigger the worry."

Lorraine says Orkambi could be vital for her boys' future.

"Orkambi to us would mean less worry, less stress, a better securer future - better health would mean so much," she said.

"I know Orkambi doesn't work for everyone, but quite frankly when your children are as ill as mine now are, I'm happy to grab hold of even the tiniest glimmer of improvement - we just get deterioration these days.

"I'd like to personally challenge any of the decision-makers for approval for funding for Orkambi to come and live with me and my family for one whole week.

"Experience what it's like to juggle all the medication my sons need daily - and their prescription lists are vast now. Try drawing up IV antibiotics for three weeks and administering them three times a day knowing how sick they are going to feel, try listening out for the overnight feed pump alarming all night long, try watching your 14-year-old retching because he can't be sick, try cleaning up blood after a serious coughing fit after a lung bleed.

"Think how you'd feel watching your sons suffer every single day knowing you can't do anything to stop the decline no matter how many drugs you pump into them, how many hours of treatments you do with them. Cystic fibrosis makes you feel useless."

Lorraine is joining the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in London on June 26 to protest for Orkambi.

"It's time to do battle and to fight for the right to have access to these drugs - my sons' lives are priceless to me and I'd gladly give my life for them both if it meant them having a long, happy life - to see 50 and beyond," she said.

"Do support the Orkambi Protest if you can on June 26, either by attending one of the marches in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh or Belfast, or supporting on-line during the day."

Orkambi is the second precision medicine to be licensed for use in the UK by people with cystic fibrosis, although it is not currently provided by the NHS except in rare cases on compassionate grounds.

It works on the root cause of cystic fibrosis instead of just treating the severity of the symptoms and treats the F508del mutation, which around 40 per cent of people with cystic fibrosis in the UK have.

You can find out more about the protests and how you can help spread the word here.
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A leading supermarket giant is interested in a multi-million pound take-over a Lincolnshire-based company.

Sainsburys are understood to have entered negotiations with an eye to completing a 130million buy-out of convenience brand, Nisa  whose head office is based in Scunthorpe.

The chain which is owned by 1400 members currently supply nine stores that are dotted across the county - albeit they do not trade under their name.

It is estimated that over 1000 people in the region are currently employed by the wholesaler, but it is not clear how their jobs will be affected if a deal is agreed.

Just two years ago, Nisa posted a pre-tax loss of 2.8million, but following the appointment of Nick Read as chief executive the business recorded a profit of 7.3million.

The chain are expected to announce that their profit margin has increased to 8.5million when they release their figures later this year.

Recently, Sainsburys rivals Tesco struck a similar deal with another wholesaler, Booker.

Nisa declined an approach for comment.

Sainsburys was unavailable for comment.
Apr 28, 2021, 10 AM

Great Britains Royal Mails Windmills and Watermills stamps were issued June 20 in vertical se-tenant pairs. The stamps show Nutley Windmill, East Sussex; New Abbey Corn Mill, Dumfries and Galloway; Ballycopeland Windmill, County Down; Cheddleton Flint M

By Denise McCarty

A new set of six stamps from Great Britains Royal Mail pictures windmills and watermills.

The stamps were issued June 20 in three vertical se-tenant (side-by-side) pairs. The top stamp in each pair shows a windmill, and the bottom stamp shows a watermill.

The pair of nondenominated first-class stamps depicts the Nutley Windmill in East Sussex, England, and the New Abbey Corn Mill in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

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The Uckfield and District Preservation Society was founded in 1968 to protect and preserve the Nutley Windmill, the last operational open-trestle post mill in England.

Parts of this mill date back to around 1550, but it is believed to have been built elsewhere and brought to its current location around 1820.

The New Abbey Corn Mill, which dates back to the 18th century, also is in working order. In summer, visitors can watch demonstrations of oatmeal being made.

A third working mill, the Ballycopeland Windmill on Ards Peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland, is featured on the top 1.40 stamp. The bottom stamp depicts the Cheddleton Flint Mill in Staffordshire, England.

A stone tower windmill, Ballycopeland was built around the turn of the 19th century and was in use until World War I. Restoration work began around 1950.

The Cheddleton Flint Mill includes two waterwheels, one of which might date back to around 1250. This mill originally was used to grind grain, but was converted to grind flint for pottery in the late 18th century.

Shown on the 1.57 stamps are Woodchurch Windmill near Ashford, Kent, England; and the Felin Cochwillan Mill at Gwynedd, Wales.

The Woodchurch Windmill is a smock mill, which means that only the cap of the windmill turns to meet the wind, as opposed to the entire post turning.

Originally, two windmills, known as the twins, stood together overlooking the village of Ashford, according to the mills website.

Build about 200 years ago, Felin Cochwillan Mill, Gwynedd, is privately owned. It originally served as a fuling (a process used in making cloth) and was later converted to grind grains, according to the website.

The firm Atelier Works designed the stamps, using photographs by Philip Sayer.

International Security Printers produced them by offset in sheets of 60 (sold in panes of 30 at most postal outlets).

The stamps measure 35 millimeters by 37mm and are perforated gauge 14.5 by 14.

The 1.40 stamps pay the rate for international letters up to 20 grams, and the 1.57 stamps meet the rate for letters to Europe up to 100 grams. The first class-rate is 65 pence.

Royal Mails other products for the Windmills and Watermills set include first-day covers, six postcards reproducing the designs of the stamps, and a presentation pack with mint examples of the stamps and text by Martin Watts, an expert on mills.

Ordering information is available from Royal Mail, Tallents House, 21 S. Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9PB, Scotland.

Royal Mails two agencies in the United States are Interpost, Box 420, Hewlett, NY 11557; and the British Stamp Service in North America, 1 Unicover Center, Cheyenne, WY 82008.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

Trend:

A reconnaissance and sabotage group of the Armenian Armed Forces tried to cross the line of defense of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on the contact line between the two countries troops June 20 evening, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement June 21.

As a result of the timely measures taken by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, the reconnaissance and sabotage group of the Armenian Armed Forces suffered losses and had to retreat, according to the statement.

One member of the reconnaissance and sabotage group of the Armenian Armed Forces was captured by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, the statement said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

Trend:

A Japanese citizen, independent blogger Natsumi Daizen addressed an official letter to the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Japan, in which she asked to remove her name from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys list of people declared personae non gratae, said the Foreign Ministry.

In her letter, the blogger reaffirmed her full respect to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders.

Natsumi Daizen also stated that she visited the occupied Azerbaijani territories as she was uninformed about the illegality of such a visit.

In her letter, Natsumi Daizen apologized to the people of Azerbaijan and noted that her visit in no way served for the promotion of the illegal regime created in the occupied Azerbaijani lands.

The bloggers appeal was considered and it was decided to exclude her from the Foreign Ministrys list of people declared personae non gratae.

Visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other Armenian-occupied regions of Azerbaijan, uncoordinated with the Azerbaijani side, are deemed illegal and the names of the visitors are included in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys list of people declared personae non gratae.

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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva  Trend:

A high-ranking Cypriot diplomat has refuted the lies of Armenians concerning the Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides statements, a diplomatic source told Trend June 21.

Earlier, the Armenian Defense Ministry distributed a press release stating that Kasoulides allegedly called Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region, occupied by Armenians, as the historical territory of Armenians. According to News Armenia, Kasoulides made that statement in a meeting with Armenian Defense Minister Vigen Sargsyan.

However, the high-ranking Cypriot diplomat said on the sidelines of an international organization, where representatives of Azerbaijan, Cyprus and other countries work, that Kasoulides has never said anything that could be interpreted by the Armenian side as support for the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia.

Moreover, Kasoulides has not stated that the Nagorno-Karabakh region is the historical territory of Armenians, the high-ranking Cypriot diplomat added.

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.
Details added (first version posted at 16:07)

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

Trend:

Azerbaijans Defense Ministry released the footage showing the captured member of an Armenian sabotage group, where he admits that the sabotage group had an objective to attack the Azerbaijani Armed Forces positions, and kill the soldiers there.

I, Zaver Karapetyan, was born in the Dovekh village of the Noyemberyan district on Nov. 16, 1974. I am currently living in the Dovekh village of the Noyemberyan district, the Armenian saboteur said in his testimony. I am a villager. I am involved in combat duty for a fee. Taking advantage of adverse weather conditions, that is in the rain, fog and in the dark we moved towards military positions of the Azerbaijani army. Our goal was to attack the position where units of the Azerbaijan Armed Forces were stationed, and to kill the soldiers there.

Two people from our group were wounded, while other group members ran towards the Armenian positions, taking the wounded. I could not escape and decided to hide. Then I was captured by soldiers of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, he added.

On the evening of June 20, a reconnaissance and sabotage group of the Armenian Armed Forces tried to cross the line of defense of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. As a result of the timely measures taken by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, the reconnaissance and sabotage group of the Armenian Armed Forces suffered losses and had to retreat, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry earlier said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

Trend:

The United States is deeply concerned over the recent violations of the ceasefire, which have resulted in multiple casualties on the Line of Contact between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops over the last week, the US Department of State has said in a message.

We urge the sides to avoid escalation and encourage immediate consideration of measures to reduce tensions along the Line of Contact and the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In their statement released June 19, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs called upon the parties to re-engage in negotiations on substance, in good faith, and with political will. The Co-Chairs further underscored that such negotiations are the only way to bring a lasting peace to the people of the region, who expect and deserve progress toward settlement of the conflict, said the Department of State, adding, The United States continues to engage intensely with the sides.

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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today attended the opening of a new administrative building of the Narimanov District Court.

The head of state first viewed the stands reflecting the old building of the Narimanov District Court, as well as the projects of modern court buildings and complexes, which were co-financed by the Government of Azerbaijan together with the World Bank and developed within the framework of the project "Progressive Justice and Modern Judicial Infrastructure", implemented by the Ministry of Justice.

President Ilham Aliyev cut the ribbon symbolizing the opening of the building. Minister of Justice Fikrat Mammadov informed the head of state about the conditions created in the building.
The last of four suspects sought in the March brutal beating of a Lyft driver on Highway 101 in San Francisco has been arrested, officials said Wednesday.

Quintrell Anderson, 22, of San Francisco was arrested Monday and booked into the San Francisco County Jail about 8:10 p.m. on suspicion of assault, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy, battery and vandalism, according to the California Highway Patrol.

His bail was set at $175,000. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday at 9 a.m., according to county records.

During the March 8 assault, more than a dozen bikers surrounded the car of Lyft driver Alex Quintana of Modesto near the Cesar Chavez Street exit and hit the mirrors and windows, officials said. When Quintana, who was headed to the airport to pick up a passenger, got out of his car, several bikers pummeled him and ran over his leg, breaking it, officials said.

Three other suspects  33-year-old Derwayne A. Johnson, 25-year-old Gabriel Rodriguez and 19-year-old Jarrell E. Williams Jr., all of San Francisco  were arrested during simultaneous raids on their homes on June 14, according to the CHP. All have since entered not-guilty pleas, according to court records.

Were thankful to law enforcement for their work to apprehend these suspects, Lyft spokesman Scott Coriell said in a statement after Johnson, Rodriguez and Williams Jr. were arrested.

The four suspects were identified as those in videos of people assaulting Quintana, CHP Officer Vu Williams said.

A home where Anderson is believed to live was also raided on June 14, but he was not found until Monday, Williams said.

Filipa Ioannou is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: fioannou@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @obioannoukenobi
Pixar/Associated Press

Child development expert Denise Daniels filed a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Co. Monday, claiming the companys Pixar studio stole her idea to make the 2015 animated film Inside Out. The suit states that every year between 2005 and 2009, Daniels and her team pitched an animated television program, The Moodsters, to Disney. The show featured five anthropomorphized emotions that live within every child  similar to the characters of Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness and Disgust in Inside Out.

According to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Daniels and her team pitched and disclosed the idea underlying The Moodsters to Disney-Pixar with the understanding ... that Daniels would be compensated if Disney-Pixar used the idea.
Record oil stored in tankers. Market distortion by money managers. Surging production in Libya and Nigeria and a backlog of untapped oil wells in West Texas.

The oil market's bulls and bears both have a lot to chew on these days, as various forecasters offer dueling narratives about what's going on with falling crude prices.

Over the next few weeks and months, both sides of the debate  should oil prices bounce back up or plunge further?  may prove to have valid points, but at the moment, traders are focused on a flurry of signs that oil supply and demand are still out of synch, despite OPEC's hard-won attempt to reduce the oil glut by cutting output.

Related: Falling prices, equipment and labor constraints could slow U.S. drilling surge

On one side, Ed Morse, global head of commodities research at Citigroup, believes the price has become distorted by financial flows into the oil market, and that oil prices could rise toward $60 a barrel by the end of the year as evidence of OPEC's oil-production cuts translate into declines in worldwide crude stockpiles.

He said the net length of managed money  a measure of bets that crude will rise  climbed to a record 920 million barrels in early March, up from 400 million barrels last summer. Now, that figure has dropped toward low levels last seen in 2011, and bets against crude have surged as a more bearish tone dominates the market.

Traders, he said, were tipped off a few months ago by apparent disputes overheard at an IHS CERAWeek meeting a few months ago between Saudi and Russian officials on compliance with oil-production cuts, as well as by defiant U.S. oil producers who told oil ministers at the meeting they'd hit record levels of production growth over the next year or two.

"But the market remains skeptical," Morse said. "They remain skeptical be-cause they want to still see whether there's going to be compliance (with OPEC's oil-production cuts). They remain skeptical because Libya and Nigeria have raised output."

"But underneath that, market fundamentals are incredibly strong," he added, pointing to global demand growth of 1.3 million barrels a day and increasingly optimistic forecasts of worldwide economic growth.

Over the summer, Morse expects oil inventories to shrink by 2 million barrels a day, after the market's realignment of supply and demand was delayed in the first half of the year by a 1.5 million barrel a day increase in production by core OPEC countries and Russia in the last few months of 2016. "I think the market skepticism will be reduced."

The International Energy Agency, a Paris group that consults energy importers, believes oil demand will overtake global production by 500,000 barrels a day in the second quarter, entering the largest market deficit since early 2014.

"If OPEC were to continue to maintain the same production discipline it has demonstrated so far, we can expect stock draws to accelerate as 2017 progresses," said Neil Atkinson, head of the oil markets division at the IEA. So far, though, stocks in developed countries continued to increase in April, Atkinson acknowledged.

On the other side of the debate, analysts say oil prices have fallen into a bear market that will push the commodity into the $30-a-barrel range. U.S. oil prices have plunged 20.6 percent from its 2017 peak of $54.45 a barrel on February 23 to $43.23 a barrel on Tuesday, its lowest settlement this year and the cheapest since Sept. 19.

Related: Oil prices fall to 9-month low amid fears a prolonged dive could set back Houston's economic growth

"Oil is on a downtrend and risks trending into the $30's," said Paul Ciana, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in a note to clients on Tuesday.

One big warning sign came earlier this week when Kpler, a French company that tracks tankers, said floating oil storage climbed to a record 111.9 million barrels in June, according to Bloomberg.

That was the last thing traders want-ed to hear: because floating oil storage is typically more expensive than other containers, they should be the last stocks to increase and the first to shrink, said Jamie Webster, senior director at Boston Consulting Group's Center for Energy Impact in Washington D.C.

"The fact they're growing shows the nightmare in oil prices isn't over," Webster said. "OPEC hasn't cut enough to solve this problem. It's good OPEC has cut but they're not the only game in town anymore."

Libya and Nigeria, two OPEC producers except from the deal to cut output, have raised production in recent months. And even though the prospect of sharply lower oil prices could slow the drilling surge in the United States, shale drillers still have a large backlog of untapped wells they could continue to bring online this year, said Eric Otto, managing director and head of research at the consultancy Rapidan Group in New York.

The number of drilled but uncompleted wells has reached record levels, at 5,946 across the nation and 2,163 in the prolific Permian Basin in West Texas, according to the Energy Department, Otto said despite labor constraints in West Texas, drillers will likely put many of those wells into production in the second half of the year.

"That's where they're resilient," Otto said. "For 2017, the die is largely cast. The questions will be for 2018."
UT Health San Antonio has received more than $2.3 million from the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund to study treatments for cancer and heart disease.

Five UT Health researchers were chosen to receive the local funds Young Investigator Award. Each will be awarded $450,000 over the next three years.

UT Health also received $75,000 for a pilot study on the molecular mechanisms of anti-cancer drugs. The Voelcker Fund has now given UT Health San Antonio more than $21 million since 2007, UT Health San Antonio president William L. Henrich said in a statement.

The application process for the Voelcker Fund is often the first grant-writing experience for young researchers, Andrea Giuffrida, the vice president for research at UT Health San Antonio, said in a phone interview.

If you look back at some of the previous awardees, most of them now have secured large grants from NIH (National Institute of Health), from CPRIT (Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas), from federal agencies. So the program works, Giuffrida said.

The Voelcker Fund provides funding for research on several diseases, including cancer, arthritis and heart disease, according to its website. The award was first reported by the San Antonio Business Journal.

UT Health San Antonio researchers are studying cancer and other diseases for which there are few answers, Banks Smith, Voelcker Fund trustee, said in a statement. We want to see these quality research programs flourish and provide the answers society needs.

Four of the researchers  Ann Griffith, Zhijie Jason Liu, Gandadhara Sareddy and Alexei Tumanov  are focusing on cancer research, while Andrew Pickering is looking at heart disease. All the recipients are from the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio.

UT Health San Antonio also received three of the four Young Investigator Awards in 2016. Preference is given to scientists who completed their doctoral degree in the past 15 years, according to application information on the funds website.

The research focus areas of the Voelcker Fund align with the medical schools strengths, Giuffrida said. He said UT Health had 23 submissions for the awards.

They see this program as a way to promote and facilitate a path to an independent career as an investigator, Giuffrida said.

The other trustees for the fund are David Berndt and Forrester M. Smith, III, according to the funds website.

jpound@express-news.net

@jesserpound
The San Francisco police officer once known as the Hot Cop of the Castro was ordered to stand trial Wednesday in connection with a North Beach crash that left two men with serious injuries.

Christopher Kohrs, 39, faces two felony counts of hit and run for his alleged role in the Nov. 29, 2015 incident. He was originally charged with two counts of hit and run causing injury, but Superior Court Judge Robert Foley elevated one of the charges to hit and run causing serious permanent injury.
The 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath have been dramatized in such surprisingly effective films as "The Big Short" (2015) and "Hell or High Water" (2016). In his documentary "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail," filmmaker Steve James ("Hoop Dreams," "Life Itself") looks at one of the real-life dramas behind the scandal. It's a story of family, immigrant communities and scapegoating - as well as a rare case in which you end up rooting for the bank.

Thomas Sung, whose family came from China to the United States in 1951, was frustrated by financial institutions that were reluctant to lend money to immigrants in New York's Chinatown, so in 1984 he founded Abacus Federal Savings to serve that community. But in 2010, Abacus became the only American bank to be indicted on charges of fraud in the wake of the subprime mortgage scandal.

James depicts Sung as a small-town banker in the mold of George Bailey, Jimmy Stewart's beloved character in "It's a Wonderful Life." In fact, the movie opens with Sung and his wife watching that Christmas perennial, which makes for an apt parallel: Like Bailey, Sung loaned money to benefit neighborhood businesses, not just to make a profit.

With his tall, lean frame and unassuming demeanor, Sung even bears a passing resemblance to Stewart. So from the start, "Abacus" stacks the deck in favor of its subject. Just look at this guy, the film seems to say. How can you convict George Bailey?

Notwithstanding the merits of the case and the film's manipulative framing, James presents a convincing narrative of a bank staff tainted by one bad apple, who operated without the knowledge of upper management (including Sung's daughters Jill, the bank's president, and Vera, its director). In fact, when they discovered something awry about a loan application, the Sung daughters themselves brought it to the attention of the regulating agency. But they soon became the target of an investigation led by New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.

The film is persuasive in suggesting that Abacus was - in contrast with major banks that escaped prosecution because they were "too big to fail" - an easy target to be made an example of (hence, its subtitle). Sung and his family fought the charges during a trial that lasted for months. Using drawings and courtroom testimony, James manages to create a tense courtroom drama out of seemingly dry material. Much of the film's appeal comes from the quiet determination of the patriarch Sung, unflappable under the massive stress, and the family and community that rallies around him.

By comparing the case to an almost universally admired movie, however, the film seems to argue that justice is best served by sympathy. "Abacus" tells an endearing tale of a family that fought the government. But the question of justice may be another matter.

In the end, it becomes clear that Sung's customers operate under a different cultural standard than that of larger banks, bringing to mind a line from another, more cynical film: "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."

---

Three stars. Unrated. Contains strong language. In English, Cantonese and Mandarin with subtitles. 88 minutes.

Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time.

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The Holocaust Museum Houston unveiled plans Tuesday for a $33.8 million expansion that will nearly triple its size.

A $15 million gift from longtime patrons Lester and Sue Smith, the largest in the museum's history, will ensure that the expansion project breaks ground as planned in October.

On Caroline Street, roughly three blocks east of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Holocaust Museum's current building is a sculptural, brooding presence, a dark-gray cylinder that sits atop a wedge.

The renovation will increase the building's size to 57,000 square feet, and alter its architecture. A new roof opening atop the cylinder will let in daylight and emit white light at night  so that a building once notable for its darkness will become a light-filled beacon.

The new facilities will allow the museum to significantly broaden its scope and community outreach. Keeping the Holocaust relevant in relation to human rights and genocide issues today is "a ribbon that will run throughout, so you feel empowered when you leave, and hopeful," said Kelly J. Zuniga, the museum's CEO. She cites the museum's mantra: "Hope is better than hate."

The Smiths' commitment provides a matching grant for the museum's $49.4 million capital campaign. In their honor, the institution at 5401 Caroline St. will be renamed the Holocaust Museum Houston, Lester and Sue Smith Campus.

Lester Smith, a Wharton native, said one of his grandfathers emigrated to Texas from Russia in 1903, and he has always believed strongly in the museum's mission to teach the lessons civilization has learned from the Holocaust.

Mary Lee Webeck, the museum's director of education, thinks the museum and its lessons have never been more important than they are right now, here in Houston.

"The rising presence of hate in our world, in our country, is unprecedented," she said. "And the city that we live in, demographically, is 10 to 15 years ahead of the rest of the country. We have a chance to be a model for the rest of the country  to show that people can live together peacefully, can talk with each other."

The addition was designed by the Houston firm Mucasey & Associates, with exhibition and media de-sign by the world-renowned Ralph Appelbaum Associates.

Among the planned improvements:

 The museum's current one-story east wing will be razed and replaced with a light-filled, three-story building that will house much larger exhibition spaces, more classrooms, a larger library and more administrative offices.

 The size of the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Auditorium, creating a 200-seat theater that can accommodate professional performances. Zuniga expects an increase in collaborations with organizations such as Houston Grand Opera and the Houston Symphony.

 "Bearing Witness," a permanent exhibit with testimony and artifacts donated by Houston-area Holocaust survivors, will nearly double in size. The museum's signature exhibits, a Danish rescue boat and German World War II railcar, will be brought inside the museum where they will be more interactive.

Berths will be dug into the foundation so that visitors can observe the deck of the boat at eye-level, allowing them to see secret compartments where Danish citizens hid Jews to carry them to safety in Sweden during an amazing three-week episode of World War II history.

In the new space visitors will also be able to walk through the railcar, which once carried Jewish prisoners to concentration camps.

 The Mincberg Gallery will also nearly double in size, permitting the museum to present more traveling shows and create more diverse exhibits.

 The Boniuk Library, one of the largest sources of data in the U.S. for communities destroyed during the Holocaust, will be enlarged. It holds more than 10,000 volumes and resources for in-house research and education.

 A permanent exhibit about Anne Frank and other young diarists will be part of the new Rhona and Bruce Caress Anne Frank and Young Writers' Voices room, the only resource of its kind.

 The new Moral Choices Hall and Butterfly Loft at the heart of the building will contain a commissioned artwork, still to be awarded, as a memorial to the 1.5 million children killed during the Holocaust.

 The new Boniuk Center for the Future of Holocaust, Human Rights and Genocide Studies will provide a research and scholarly forum devoted to teaching today's citizens about the history and memories of the Holocaust, in light of ongoing genocides and issues of human rights.

The museum will temporarily move most of its permanent exhibits, classrooms and offices during the construction. The current facility closes July 24, with the temporary operations opening Sept. 5 at 9220 Kirby Drive, just south of Loop 610.

After the expansion, Houston will have the nation's fourth largest Holocaust museum, behind the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Louisiana's Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance and the Illinois Holocaust Museum.

Lisa Gray contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON - The Washington National Opera announced Wednesday that the contract of its music director, Philippe Auguin, will not be renewed beyond the 2017-2018 season. He will become music director emeritus.

"Philippe has done wonderful things for the orchestra and for the company," said Michael Mael, WNO's outgoing executive director, who steps down July 1, in a telephone conversation on Monday morning. "I think we are ready to look for something else."

The company said that the normally voluble Auguin, who is in Paris, was not available for comment.

Auguin, 56, will have completed eight seasons with WNO by the time he steps down from his post. Having made his company debut in 2009 as an 11th-hour replacement for his ailing predecessor, Heinz Fricke, in a concert version of Wagner's "Twilight of the Gods," he has particularly excelled in Wagner, leading "Tristan and Isolde" in 2013 and Francesca Zambello's "Ring" cycle in 2016, which counts as one of the company's great triumphs.

"After conducting a somewhat low-voltage Rheingold, WNO music director Philippe Auguin made magic of the subsequent orchestral music," wrote Scott Cantrell in the Dallas Morning News.

He has not been equally comfortable in everything he conducted here - for instance, "Cosi fan tutte" in 2012. But he has been in peak form this spring, conducting a second production of "Madame Butterfly" here, as well as "Justice at the Opera," featuring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and the Opera Ball.

"I think he served the company very well," Zambello, WNO's artistic director, said by phone on Monday. "Eight years is a good tenure to have." She also said, "I think he is evolving toward a different aspect of his career, and we are evolving toward different needs from a music director."

The company is focusing, she said, more on American work and projects such as the American Opera Initiative, which involves 20-minute and hour-long new operas. The big Wagnerian repertoire, she said, "is not really in our financial ranges right now." But Auguin "will stay part of our music family. He's back this season, and in future seasons." He will conduct Verdi's "Don Carlo" - the final opera of his official tenure - at WNO in March.

Zambello's current contract also runs through 2018; she had no comment about its extension. Both Zambello and Auguin reported to Mael, whose replacement has yet to be named.

Though there had been rumors about his contract for some time, Auguin had recently said in conversation that he hoped to stay on in Washington. With regard to the current announcement, his only official statement was made in WNO's news release.

"The artists of the WNO Orchestra and I can look back at the eight most extraordinary years," he said. "My close connection to them, as well as to the chorus members and the members of the music staff, from the very first day, never ended. I thank them all for this and for all the triumphs we celebrated together - bringing the magic of our art to the music lovers."
Dan Molad's album "Chimney," a record he's releasing this week under the band name Chimney, is a masterpiece in miniature.

Not that the album is small in scale or ambition, far from it. But like a Wes Anderson film, its many little components feel lovingly crafted and placed meticulously within a larger frame.

Every so often, a record passes my way that wields a tractor-beam-like pull on my attention. "Chimney" doesn't scream for your attention, but Molad clearly poured himself into its construction. The skittery percussion reveals one of his primary jobs, as drummer for the successful band Lucius. Molad is also an in-demand producer, including Lucius and other bands like San Fermin. And he shows great depth as a lyricist and a melodic ease as a songwriter.

"Chimney" reminds me of other self-contained and wondrously detailed albums with a strong guiding vision, like Harry Nilsson's "Pandemonium Shadow Show," the Beatles' White Album and Todd Rundgren's "Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren."

More Information Republishing the past Twelve years ago, Michael Corcoran wrote "All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music," a smart and history-packed anthology of profiles on some of the state's musical greats, like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Ernest Tubb, Selena and Sly Stone. The book fell out of print, but fortunately, this month the University of North Texas Press is bringing it back. Even better, they're doing so in an expanded edition with new chapters and artists. The new edition includes an additional 15 profiles that span the state's rich and varied musical history. Different folks will find different treasures in different chapters. My favorite was the enlightening piece on Rebert Harris. A Trinity native, Harris' high tenor voice helped define the sound of the legendary gospel ensemble the Soul Stirrers, which rose from Houston and advanced gospel music with an innovative approach that used two lead vocalists. Corcoran makes a case for Harris as one of the most influential and important vocalists in American music. History, though, would work against him. The Soul Stirrers would relocate to Chicago and Harris would leave the group. His replacement - a young Sam Cooke - would go on to some renown with the Stirrers and then as a successful solo artist. Corcoran will talk about and sign copies of his book at 4 p.m. Saturday at Cactus Music, 2110 Portsmouth. See More Collapse

I particularly like how Molad sees familiar things a little differently. There's a sweet, melancholy feel throughout the record, which made me think his choice of band name, Chimney, was a reference to a vessel for projecting exhaust.

Not so.

"I liked the word, and I liked the idea of something short," says Molad. "And, also, I liked the pairing of an H and M and N and Y. I just saw all the shapes embedded within those capital letters: The squares in the H, and the right triangles in the N, the triangles in the M and Y. But I see your point, too. It's funny how that makes a lot of sense. Ultimately, this is an outlet for me, something I needed to do. I'm constantly enabling other people, and I love that. Being their translator and helping them communicate ideas that might be lodged far within themselves. But I also wanted to do that for myself with this album."

And like Anderson, Molad reveals some of his influences to be iconic imagination guys, like Lewis Carroll and Roald Dahl. His lyrical references to rabbit holes, looking glasses and chocolate factory visitors align Molad with creative types who strike a balance - the blue skies of a childlike sense of wonder with the gray clouds of adulthood. Sometimes he applies that light/dark approach to songs about creative process, like "Walk Don't Run" and "Fuel Us All."

"I do love that idea, that feeling of always wanting something, and then you get it and it's like, 'Oh, so this is what it is,' " he says.

Those two songs capture the two-side nature of a blank page: On one hand it offers the wonder of endless possibility, and on the other such possibility can induce anxiety to produce something.

When Moland sings the phrase "fuel us all," it reminds of Ray Davies' occasional coy mumble. It almost sounds like "fuel a song."

Molad recently pulled up the stakes in New York and relocated to Los Angeles. But he is a Houston native who tells people he is a High School for the Performing and Visual Arts alum, which isn't quite true. He spent two years at Westbury High School, but all his artist and dancer friends were at HSPVA, so he transferred with plans to work in theater tech.

"Instead, I spent a year skipping class and hanging out in the jazz classrooms," he says. "At the end of the year, the teachers asked, 'Do you want to be here?' And I told them not in theater tech. So we parted ways."

Among his HSPVA's theater friends was Harris Wittels, the comedian and writer/producer for TV's "Parks and Recreation." Wittels died in 2015, and his passing colors the album - most specifically on "Little One," with its wrenching observation, "I couldn't erase you from my phone."

"He was just a funny and talented and beautiful person," Molad says.

Molad doesn't have any grand plans for "Chimney" just yet. Lucius' Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig are singing in arenas in Roger Waters' band, so Lucius isn't likely to come back to Houston anytime soon. And Molad sounds a little wary about touring behind the record. Lucius' success has allowed him to enjoy touring comfortably in a bus.

"I'm 35, so I'm not really interested in hustling through the club ranks, showing up in a room where no one gives a (expletive)," he says. "That doesn't interest me. I don't mean to sound jaded. But I'm finally in a place where I can do what I love and make a living doing it. I don't want to feel too much like I'm backpedaling."

But after a Los Angeles show for the album's release, he'd like to try to do something in his hometown.

"I'd like to be able to put on a show that I envision a certain way," he says. "And I don't want to sell the album short, because I did work hard on it. But I do think a Houston show would be in order."
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

Trend:

There is no radicalism or fundamentalism in Azerbaijan and there is no internal source of threat, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said at an Iftar ceremony on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.

Ilham Aliyev noted that the Azerbaijani state rests on very strong national values.

Islamic values are an integral part of our national values. So we have very strong foundations. These are our national values, which stand above all for us. We try to make sure that the younger generation grows up and is brought up in national spirit. National values should always be our top priority, the president said.

Along with this, Azerbaijan is a secular and modern state open to the world, according to President Ilham Aliyev.

The president went on to add that the reason behind non-existence of radicalism and fundamentalism in Azerbaijan is the atmosphere in Azerbaijani society.

Where do radicalism and terrorism come to life? In countries where there is no literacy, where social justice is disrupted, and where there is pervasive injustice and poverty. Therefore, the best guarantee against radicalism is social justice, material well-being, literacy and correct policies. Where there are such factors, there is no basis for radicalism, he said.

True, there can be interference from the outside. However, Azerbaijan is a quite strong state taking measures against such interference and ensuring a peaceful life of the Azerbaijani people.

This is what today's Azerbaijan is like, President Aliyev noted.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

Trend:

Azerbaijan will, in a short period of time, restore all the territories to be liberated from occupation, said President Ilham Aliyev at an Iftar ceremony held on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.

A very significant event has occurred in the history of our people and state recently, said President Aliyev.

A new settlement was opened in the village of Jojug Marjanli, which was liberated from occupation. The 50 houses, a school, a road and the entire infrastructure built there in a matter of two months demonstrate both our strength and policy. Life will return to these territories and the Azerbaijani flag will be raised there  just as life returns to the lands liberated from occupation in Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Aghdara districts today, the Azerbaijani flag flies on these lands and constructive work is under way.

Jojug Marjanli is a testament to Armenian fascism, said the Azerbaijani president.

This village was under occupation for only three to four months. There was not a single building left there. Armenian vandals destroyed all houses. We have restored this village in two months and the issue of building another 100 houses will be resolved in the near future, noted the president. A mosque, which is an analogue of the Shusha mosque, has been constructed in Jojug Marjanli. This is also of great historical significance. Jojug Marjanli and other territories are our ancestral lands. We are creating a new life in these lands.

This shows that no one can ever break the will of Azerbaijani people. We have restored the Armenian church in Baku and are protecting it. The Armenians have destroyed our mosques in the occupied lands. The Govharaga Mosque, the analogue of which has been built in Jojug Marjanli, lies in ruins. A building can be destroyed, but the enemy must know that the destroyed mosques live in our hearts. We have built these mosques in our hearts, said President Aliyev.

Immediately after the liberation of these lands from occupation, within two months, a beautiful mosque was built there. This is of immense historical significance. I am sure that we will return to all the occupied lands, Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity and such wonderful Iftar ceremonies will be held on these lands as well, Inshallah, added the Azerbaijani president.
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Former Webb County Court at Law I Judge Alvin James Ben Morales died Monday at the age of 67.

Morales began his career as an attorney before he became judge in 1991. He served as judge for more than 20 years.

Local attorneys, including Javier Montemayor, expressed their sadness over Morales death.

He was an outstanding man, an outstanding judge, and just an outstanding individual, said Montemayor.

Montemayor, who considered Morales a friend as well as a colleague, extended his prayers to the Morales family.

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Webb County Commissioner Rosaura Wawi Tijerina described Morales as a highly respected member of the bar and judiciary who earned the respect of the legal community.

He was an individual who held office for such a long time and everybody respected him, Tijerina said.

Morales, along with former County Court at Law II Judge Jesus Chuy Garza, launched the countys first-ever juvenile drug court program in December 2013.

According to Tijerina, Morales always made himself accessible to attorneys and tried to make the right decisions for everyone involved. She extended her thoughts and prayers to his family.

Attorney Joe Rubio said Morales possessed the ability to make decisions based on the law and on the evidence but also with his heart, and he knew how to balance both.

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According to his obituary, Morales was born in Taylor, Texas.

After graduating from Taylor High School, he served in the Army and was honorably discharged in 1973.

He graduated from Southwest Texas State University in 1976 with a degree in political science.

After marrying his wife Liz Gamez on June 19, 1976, Morales moved to Houston to pursue his law degree. He graduated from Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 1979.

Upon passing the bar, Morales and his family moved to Laredo. He and his wife retired to Pflugerville in 2014 to be closer to their daughters, Marisa Morales and Raquel Leal, extended family and friends.

Memorial services will be held June 24 at Providence Funeral Home in Taylor, Texas at 10 a.m.
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Albany

Their voices are easy on the ears.

As they spoke, their lilting inflections from Jamaica, Barbados, Haiti and Nevis crested and fell like waves on a shore.

But beneath the sunny and melodic sounds, a theme of the disorientation of diaspora emerged.

More Information Caribbean barbecue What: Second annual barbecue of the Capital District of New York Caribbean American Cultural Association When: noon to 5 p.m. Saturday Where: Six Mile Waterworks Park, 138 Fuller Road, Albany. Open to the public. Contact: Marcia789@aol.com for more information. Contact Paul Grondahl at grondahlpaul@gmail.com See More Collapse

"For some of us, we call it living at the hyphen," said Wilma Waithe of Albany, a native of Barbados who retired from the state Health Department. "It can be difficult straddling cultures. That's why we like to come together for socializing because it's a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere."

"People from the Caribbean have a much different perspective because of their colonial histories," said Annette Johnson, a state worker born in Canada, whose grandmother was Haitian.

A dozen members of the Capital District of New York Caribbean American Cultural Association sat in a circle at the Albany Public Library at a recent meeting. They spoke about their efforts to build an organization that will forge a sense of community among a group of disparate islanders who sometimes feel disconnected.

The organization was formed two years ago by University at Albany faculty members Marcia Sutherland, associate professor of Africana Studies, and Glyne Griffith, associate professor and chair of English. Both are from Jamaica. They met at the Latham home of Sutherland, the group's president, and now have about 20 members, who range in age from their early 30s to late 60s.

They talked about growing up under the long shadow cast by British colonial rule a century after the abolition of slavery in the Caribbean, and the ongoing exploitation by sugar cane plantation owners.

"Resistance to colonialism is a central part of the Caribbean psychology," said Sutherland, who presented a research paper on Jamaica's black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Members often present talks on political and cultural heroes from their island nations.

Assimilation can be a challenge even after decades, they said, because they don't feel fully connected either to the American black experience or the culture of those who grew up on the African continent.

"I've gradually gotten used to the dual identity," said Patrick Romain, of Colonie, a native of Haiti, who is a counselor with the Educational Opportunity Program, or EOP, at UAlbany. "I go to Haiti and they see me as an American, but people here see me as a Haitian. Since I lived in the U.S. since I was young, I didn't learn much about my Haitian culture until I became an adult."

On Saturday, they will hold their second annual barbecue at Six Mile Waterworks Park in Albany, off Fuller Road. It coincides with Caribbean American Heritage Month. Their goal is to create a welcoming organization that appeals to the several thousand people of Caribbean heritage across the region.

They invite anyone interested in Caribbean culture to join them for a barbecue featuring spicy Jamaican jerk chicken and macaroni and cheese, which is called macaroni pie on Barbados. They'll brew batches of sorrel, made from boiling the dried sorrel flower into a tea. They add grated ginger, pimento berries, spices, sugar, lemon juice and rum. The drink varies among the islands. Some blend the spices with red wine, similar to sangria. There will be dancing to calypso, reggae and other popular Caribbean musical styles.

Getting together is an opportunity to share elements of their cultures, which vary widely from island to island. Growing up in Jamaica, Jacqueline Rowe of Niskayuna, a registered nurse and real estate agent, recalled that she used to boil dried hibiscus flowers in a tea and used it to lighten and color her hair.

"Hey, I need to try that," said Dalmain Duncan, who is from Jamaica, lives in Albany and works for the city water department. He also happens to be bald. Everyone laughed.

Members are beginning a fundraising drive to be able to provide a college scholarship to a high school senior of Caribbean heritage. The group also solicits donations for food baskets that are distributed at Thanksgiving to the less fortunate.

"Being part of this group gives me an opportunity to make a difference and to show young people a sense of cultural pride, no matter which island they come from," said Ainsley Thomas, who grew up in Jamaica and lives in Albany. He is chief diversity officer at Hudson Valley Community College.

Visiting family and friends back in the Caribbean is an eye-opener regarding standards of living. "They truly believe the streets here are paved with gold and you should be able to scoop up millions and bring it home," said Celia Rouse of Albany, a native of Barbados who is a Ph.D. candidate at UAlbany and works there as a STEM instructor.

"We like to socialize together, but we also focus on cultural identity and the history of the Caribbean diaspora. We learn from each other," said Etwin Bowman, of Albany, a native of Barbados who works as a UAlbany administrator and emigrated in 1985. "The hardest part was getting used to how huge America is. We refer to Barbados as just a big rock in the sea."

They take pride in celebrating notable Caribbean natives, such as reggae star Bob Marley and Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, both Jamaicans, and the late Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott of St. Lucia.

The smash Broadway musical "Hamilton" highlighted the fact that Founding Father Alexander Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis. That thrilled Carol Tyrell, of Albany, who grew up in Nevis and now works for the state Health Department. "It's a very small island in the Leeward Islands. I always call it my paradise. And we have the best mangoes."

Paul Grondahl is the director of the New York State Writers Institute and a former Times Union reporter. He can be reached at grondahlpaul@gmail.com
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Laredo City Council voted unanimously on Monday to create an ordinance that would establish a public animal neglect registry, similar to a sex offender registry.

This will be the first registry of its kind in Texas, according to Councilman Alberto Torres, who has been working with the Animal Care Facility and Animal Care Services Advisory Committee on authoring this ordinance.

He got the idea from a few states that have created laws such as this. The City of Laredo already keeps lists of people that use the most water, are delinquent in paying property taxes and write hot checks.

"I thought, if we do this for all these types of other violations, why can't we do it to protect our animals?" Torres said.

READ MORE: Ben Morales, former Webb County judge, dies at 67

The animal neglect registry will consist only of people convicted in the municipal court of a misdemeanor animal neglect charge. People convicted of the more serious charge of animal abuse would not be placed on this registry.

The intention is to prevent people from going on to commit more serious crimes against animals, Animal Care Facility Director Pedro Lopez said. Under current law, people convicted of animal neglect are punished only by being ordered to pay a fine.

"You can be cited time after time. The city is just making money on citations and no animal owner is being deterred to stop that neglect," Torres said.

Animal neglect is defined by city ordinance as failing to provide an animal "with humane care and treatment including, but not limited to, access to an adequate supply of fresh air, species specific food, fresh water, exercise, adequate shelter and with appropriate veterinary care, promote a healthy animal and when needed to prevent suffering."

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Owners who expose their animal to poison or tether them on a leash without access to shelter, food and water are also subject to be cited with animal neglect.

Torres foresees that this ordinance will take effect sometime around September; it needs to be heard publicly twice and ratified by council before it becomes official.

Once in effect, the animal neglect registry will be available for public viewing on the city's website, and shelters and pet retailers will be mandated to check that registry before they sell an animal to someone.

Coincidentally, Torres adopted a dog about a month ago from a Cocker Spaniel rescue service out of San Antonio and Austin. They found that the dog had been beaten, he said.

"It felt like a calling," Torres said. "I just so happened to be working on this (ordinance)."
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There she is, Miss Texas High School America - working in a barn before dawn?

"My animals get fed at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m.," explains Jessica Hall, 16, an Alvin High School senior and a beauty queen who raises livestock.

"She goes from the show ring to the pageant stage, from knee-deep in mud, shavings and poop to being all glammed up in platform heels and a fancy dress," said her mother, Lily Hall.

Jessica Hall won the title of Miss Texas High School America in February at a pageant held at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. She will represent Texas at the 2017 Miss High School America national pageant, scheduled for June 26 to July 1 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

In March, Hall was back in jeans and boots as she showed her three pigs at rodeos: Charlie Choplin in San Antonio, Dwayne "Duroc" Johnson in Houston and Hamlet in Austin.

She is raising a new pig, Napoleon Dynamite.

The beauty queen was reflective about her animals being auctioned off.

"Their meat goes to a good cause. It will be served at food kitchens for the poor."

Hall also serves as chaplain of the Future Farmers of America chapter at Alvin High, where she's a varsity cheerleader.

Fitting in wasn't always easy for her, she said, recounting times she felt bullied.

"Some people think that bullying is what goes on between siblings; that's what your brother does," said Hall, who frequently speaks to youth groups about the subject.

"I tell kids that if it's just verbal, then stand up to them," Hall said. "If it escalates into something physical, then tell an adult."

Hall, whose ancestry includes Hispanic, said she feels that she was bullied "because I didn't look like the other girls. I forgave them. I overcame."

"The school counselor and principals got involved and took care of the situation," said her mother.

Hall drew upon personal experience in developing her platform of bullying and youth improvement.

At the national pageant, state contestants will be judges on "fun fashion" and evening gown modeling, as well as interview, the category that Hall won at her state preliminary.

Among the prizes that Miss High School America 2017 will win is a $10,000 cash scholarship to be paid to the university/school of her choice.

After graduating from Alvin High next year, Hall plans to major in biology at Texas A&M University, then go to medical school to become a medical examiner.

"One of the things that raising livestock teaches you is how to care for the lives of others," she said.

Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be reached at donmaines@att.net
JERUSALEM -- President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner arrived here Wednesday evening with an audacious mission: to see if it is possible to restart peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Few voices in Jerusalem or Ramallah sound very hopeful as the untested Kushner came for two days of preliminary talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

This is a right place for skeptics. But they are hedging their bets. Mostly because Trump is so out-of-the-ordinary, so grandiose and mercurial, that the players here wonder whether he just might make progress - or, alternatively, make things worse by raising expectations, then abandoning the project in a tweet storm of frustration and finger-pointing.

Past efforts to broker peace are strewn with failure, overseen by veteran American diplomats with years of experience in the region, who were all sent packing.

Perhaps as a sign of the stakes, Kushner's first meeting after arriving was to offer condolences to the family of an Israeli Border Police officer, Staff Sgt. Maj. Hadas Malka, 23, who was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday.

No time is the right time for negotiations in a region in turmoil. But now is an especially challenging moment for Trump's inexperienced 36-year-old envoy to give it a try.

The Palestinian leadership is weak and fractured. And Israel's coalition government is among the most right wing in its history, whose members not only oppose a Palestinian state but want to annex wide swaths of the West Bank for Jewish settlers.

Yet Trump surprised Arabs and Jews with his improbable insistence that "the deal of the century" can be struck.

The president won plaudits from all sides during his whirlwind tour of Saudi Arabia, Israel and the West Bank last month.

"President Trump is at his point of maximum leverage," former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said in an interview. "He has gained respect in the region. He is seen as serious. Add to that, his known streak for being unpredictable. This might make it very difficult to say no to him or to a member of his family."

Shapiro cautioned, "This creates an opening. Not more than an opening. One shouldn't be irrationally exuberant. But the opening is real."

As point man, Kushner's inexperience in the Middle East are duly noted but maybe not fatal. He is joined on his mission by Trump's Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, formerly Trump's real estate attorney.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing to have two people with no experience. Others who have had a lot of experience haven't done so well either. They all failed," said Nathan Thrall, author of new book "The Only Language they Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine."

Thrall, a Jerusalem-based analyst for the Crisis Group, warned that the advantages of fresh eyes has its limits.

"Both the Israelis and Palestinians are pros at wearing down envoys with endless details," he said. "They've done it to the most experienced negotiators."

Thrall and others said they thought the new effort posed more risks for Netanyahu than Abbas.

When Trump was first elected, Netanyahu and his right flank, especially in the settler movement, were overjoyed.

Relations with the Obama White House had sunk to new lows. They were expecting more of the same from Hillary Clinton. But Trump spoke a language Israelis loved, gushing with praise for the Jewish state and downplaying long-held U.S. positions that branded settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as "illegitimate" and "obstacles to peace."

Little by little Trump has sown doubt on the Israeli right. He surprised his new Israeli fans by warning Netanyahu to slow down on new settlement construction - with unproven results.

Construction began this week on a new settlement deep in the West Bank, on land the Palestinians want for a contiguous state, for Jewish settlers evicted from their homes after it was shown they built on private Palestinian property.

Construction began this week on a new settlement deep in the West Bank, on land the Palestinians want for a contiguous state, for Jewish settlers evicted from their homes after it was shown they built on private Palestinian property.

"After 20 years I have the privilege of being the first prime minister to build a new settlement in Judea and Samaria," Netanyahu wrote on Facebook on Monday, using the biblical terms for the West Bank.

"There never was nor will there be a better government for settlement than our government," he boasted.

Palestinians have remained publicly supportive of Trump's efforts, even though they say they realize Greenblatt and Kushner are unlikely allies. Both men are Orthodox Jews from New York and committed Zionists with histories of supporting Israel.

In the meeting, Kushner and Greenblatt have asked both sides to tell them what they want and where they want to go.

The Palestinians say they are ready to present in detail their vision. Standing beside Trump during their meeting in Bethlehem last month, Abbas was specific: He wants a sovereign state created along pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Aides to Abbas said that during his meeting with Trump, the two leaders even examined maps.

"But we are not sure that Netanyahu can or will give the Trump team a bottom line. Can Netanyahu utter the words 'two states?' That is the question," said a Palestinian official preparing for the Kushner trip, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The White House issued a statement before the trip asserting that Trump "strongly believes that peace is possible" and was sending "his most trusted advisers" to spearhead the effort.

The White House cautioned that forging a historic peace agreement will take time.

Sallai Meridor, former Israeli ambassador to the United States, said that Trump's approach of bringing Arab leaders from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan into the mix offered renewed incentives.

Meridor said he was hopeful that the Palestinians would engage with seriousness intent and that it was in Israel's best interests to seek a deal.

Most Israelis, including Meridor, assume that if Netanyahu begins to engage deeply in talks and makes confidence-building gestures, his governing coalition will break apart and that new partners, most likely from the Labor party, will have to be brought into the government.

As for the White House, "I think the desire is positive. I hope they are coming with elements of seriousness. They will need hope, patience and perseverance," Meridor said. "It will take a lot of time and a willingness to invest plenty, even when result could be less than what one might expect."
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Samir Ali  Trend:

The state of health of blogger Alexander Lapshin, who is under arrest in Azerbaijan, is under constant control, Faig Gurbanov, the head of Department of Human Rights and Public Relations of the countrys Ministry of Justice, told reporters in Baku June 21.

He said that state of health and detention conditions of each prisoner in Azerbaijans penitentiary institutions are in the spotlight.

The Main Medical Department of Azerbaijans Ministry of Justice monitores this, and if anyone has health problems, a team of doctors is invited and measures are taken to fix problems, Gurbanov added.

Alexander Lapshin is a citizen of several countries and has had a criminal conspiracy with Armenians in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. He also illegally visited these territories.

Lapshin is accused of violating Azerbaijani laws on state border in April 2011 and October 2012. On Jan. 17, Alexei Stuk, deputy prosecutor general of Belarus, issued a ruling on Lapshins extradition to Azerbaijan. Lapshin was brought to Azerbaijan on Feb. 7.
For many Iraqi Kurds, the time has come. Earlier this month, Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, said a nonbinding referendum on independence will be held Sept. 25. Officials say they want those living within the area administered by the KRG, people in long-disputed (and oil-rich) territories now occupied by Kurdish fighters, and even members of the far-flung Kurdish diaspora to all cast ballots on the question of whether there should be an independent Kurdistan.

For Barzani and his allies, it's the culmination of decades of both political struggle and accommodation. For the central government in Baghdad, it's an unwelcome move that could further undermine their already fragile state. And for Iraq's neighbors and the United States, it only adds to their geopolitical headaches in a part of the world brimming with messy conflicts.

But leadership in Irbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, is adamant that their independence aspirations have to be recognized. In a meeting with a group of Washington-based journalists, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the KRG's special representative to the United States, framed the Kurdish cause in grand historic terms.

"There are changes that are sweeping the Middle East," she said, referring to the ongoing havoc of the Syrian war, the flaring of Sunni-Shiite tensions and the regional struggle against the Islamic State. She pointed out that after World War I, amid political upheaval and the redrawing of the Middle Eastern map, Kurds were left stateless. "Changes happened also about 100 years ago, and the Kurds were bystanders. We are not going to be bystanders again."

There are almost 30 million ethnic Kurds living in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Only in Iraq are their dreams of statehood buttressed by real political power - as well as a groundswell of sympathy, if not clear support, from overseas. The United States and other Western powers have had longstanding security ties with the KRG; its "peshmerga" units have been vital allies in the ground war against the Islamic State.

Abdul Rahman was quick to caution that the referendum would have no bearing on the status of Kurdish independence movements elsewhere.

The Kurdish leadership in Iraq didn't force the issue of independence after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. They signed onto the new Iraqi constitution in 2005, which declared Iraq a federal, democratic republic in which its mixed ethnic and religious communities would find equal footing in governance. But the crises of the intervening years have dashed whatever faith Kurds had in the Iraqi federal project, Abdul Rahman said.

Nevertheless, even after the pro-independence camp wins the referendum - as is widely expected - she said Irbil isn't "planning to declare independence the day after." Instead, they want to enter negotiations with Baghdad armed with an electoral mandate.

"The ultimate aim is to have a negotiated settlement with the government of Iraq," Abdul Rahman said.

That government, led by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, is not keen on entertaining the notion. Abadi insists the timing of the vote is wrong. He has said attempts to apply the referendum to disputed territories like the city of Kirkuk would be illegal - and he's not alone. The second-biggest political party in Iraqi Kurdistan has so far opposed the referendum, a stance that's part of a wider internal political crisis in the region.

The Kurds' usual allies aren't thrilled, either. The European Union cautioned against Irbil taking "unilateral steps," while the United Nations distanced itself from having any role in the referendum. The State Department said that it supported a "united, federal, stable and democratic Iraq" and warned that the referendum would distract from the "more urgent priorities" of fighting the Islamic State.

"This is what we expected. We'd hoped, of course, for a more positive response," Abdul Rahman said. "But the pattern of independence movements elsewhere has shown that that's the pattern. Nobody wants borders to change; nobody wants anything to change."

But change, she and her colleagues argue, is inevitable. As it is, the power of the Iraqi government does not extend much farther north beyond Mosul, the city where a bloody government offensive against the Islamic State is still ongoing, backed by the peshmerga.

The KRG, blessed with oil wealth and many foreign friends, has a stronger hand than independence movements elsewhere. And it has a beguiling story to tell: that of an independent state that is a close partner to Baghdad, a Middle Eastern proxy for NATO and a pillar of stability in an unstable land. Abdul Rahman said it would also embrace its own form of ethnic pluralism.

"You can be Kurdistani and be Assyrian or Turkman or even Arab in places like Kirkuk," Abdul Rahman said. "Not everyone in Kurdistan is Kurdish."

She also believes the time is now to push for independence. Iraq will likely hold elections next year, and Abdul Rahman points to the threat of an intolerant Shiite majority government once more taking hold in Baghdad. She also raised concerns over the predominance of Iran-backed Shiite militias in parts of northern Iraq that are contested by the Kurds.

"We recognize that having a referendum is not risk free," she said. "But not having a referendum also has risks."

The Middle East may not be about to get its newest nation, but Abdul Rahman suggests the chaos of the moment is an opportunity to break away. "We're not talking about Quebec. We're not talking about Scotland," she said, referring to defeated secessionist movements in stable Western nations. "We're talking about Iraq."
LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May pledged Wednesday to build a widespread "consensus" on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union even as her election-weakened government was locked in talks to keep its hold on power.

"My government's priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union," said a statement from May's government that was read by Queen Elizabeth II as she formally opened a new session of Parliament.

The government, May wrote in the statement, is committed to working with lawmakers, regional officials and others "to build the widest possible consensus" on Brexit after the difficult divorce talks with the European Union opened Monday in Brussels.

The opening of Parliament - known as the Queen's Speech - was delayed for nearly a week amid the political turmoil set in motion by national elections June 8 called by May.

She had hoped to consolidate power ahead of high-wire Brexit negotiations expected to last two years. But the gamble backfired spectacularly. Her Conservative Party lost its majority and is now forced to negotiate with a small, right-wing North Irish party to ensure the government has majority support in the House of Commons on key issues.

The Queen's Speech was dominated by Brexit-related legislation and covered a two-year period instead of the usual one, highlighting the significance of Brexit.

But there was also much absent. Following a bungled election, May watered down pledges outlined in her party's election manifesto relating to schools, social care and energy.

There also was no mention of President Donald Trump's planned state visit to Britain later this year, even though the address typically mentions upcoming state visits.

But Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it wasn't included in the speech because a date for the visit has not been fixed.

"The visit will go ahead, believe you me," Johnson told Sky News.

Shortly before the event, Buckingham Palace announced that the queen's husband, Prince Philip, 96, was admitted to hospital on Tuesday evening as a "precautionary measure."

The Duke of Edinburgh would normally have been expected to be at her side during the occasion, but a palace spokeswoman insisted he was in "good spirits" and was "up and about."

May's Conservative Party, which has 317 seats in the 650-seat Parliament, is trying to strike a deal with Northern Ireland's far-right Democratic Unionist Party. They need the support of the DUP's 10 members to pass key legislation through Parliament.

The Queen's Speech will be debated over the next few days before it's put to a vote, expected next Thursday.

After a string of tragedies in Britain - four terrorist attacks in three months, and a devastating fire in west London - protesters took to the streets of London for a "Day of Rage."

"The more I think about it, the more I get upset," Nafissa Boucetta, 20, said referring to the Grenfell fire disaster that claimed the lives of at least 79 people. Holding aloft a placard that said "Justice for Grenfell," she added: "I think the government has been lying to us about the number of people who died. I think it's a whole big coverup."

In remarks on Wednesday, May said that the initial support on the ground following last week's massive blaze was "not good enough."

"As prime minister, I apologize for that failure," she said.

Despite the botched election and calls for her resignation, May has stayed on as prime minister, although many commentators don't think she will last the full parliamentary term.

"The election result was not the one I hoped for," May said ahead of the Queen's Speech. "But this government will respond with humility and resolve to the message the electorate sent."

As she left Downing Street on her way to Westminster, a reporter yelled out to her: "Your first and last Queen's Speech, prime minister?"

This year's state opening of Parliament was unusually low-key because the snap election meant there wasn't time to prepare for a major event.

It's normally the height of pomp and pageantry, but this year there was no gold carriage, no royal procession, no ceremonial robes.

Instead, the queen wore a blue dress and hat with flowers that had a yellow center. Some commentators on social media said her hat bore a striking resemblance to the flag of the European Union.

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, tweeted a picture of the queen delivering the address. "Clearly the EU still inspires some in the UK," he wrote.
An abaya-wearing Muslim teenager on her way home from a mosque was beaten to death with a metal bat before her body was found dumped in a pond. Her Sunday morning killing is being investigated as an extreme case of road rage - but not as a hate crime.

A day earlier, three teenagers in Boston were accused of beating a street musician who dressed in a bear costume and played a keytar. They removed the black man's mask, slammed his face into the ground while yelling racial slurs, then ran off with his money. After the boys were arrested, the district attorney's office said it is investigating whether they should face hate crime charges.

The legal system's differing reactions to the attacks on Nabra Hassanen and the unidentified performer near Faneuil Hall spotlight the sometimes fuzzy line between what is a hate crime and what is not.

In general, federal and state hate crime statutes punish people who commit crimes based on a victim's race, ethnicity, religion or other specified categories.

From there, the laws across the nation can be varied and murky.

For some clarity, The Washington Post spoke with Jack Levin, co-director of Northeastern University's Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict, and a sociology and criminology professor who's published several books on hate crimes.

His answers have been edited for brevity.

Q: What determines whether something is prosecuted as a hate crime?

A: We have very stringent guidelines about defining what is a hate crime. We have to get into the head of the perpetrator and get at his intentions. And so the evidence in most hate crimes consists of what a defendant says at the crime scene or the graffiti that he may leave there.

So if he voices a racial slur, then it's much more likely that the offense will be tried as a hate crime regardless of what that offense may be.

Q: Does that legal standard make it harder to prosecute?

A: Not all hate mongers are stupid. Many of them do leave evidence at the crime scene, but many others don't - and so they're never charged with a hate offense.

There are also plenty of victims who simply will not report hate crimes. They may be immigrants, maybe illegal immigrants who may fear being deported. They may come from some country where the police are part of some tyrannical regime. Or they may be African Americans who historically have had a bad relationship with police going back decades.

Q: What happens to someone who is arrested for a hate crime?

A: Very few hate crimes are ever prosecuted. (The number of hate crimes committed) is vastly underestimated. But even when someone is arrested, the chances are very slim that it will go to court and that when it does, there will be a conviction based on the hate crime statute.

. . . For (convicted) adults, it's almost always an enhancement penalty - tacking on some time in prison during the sentencing phases. But for first offenders, it could be probation with teeth. It could be probation with community service or victim restitution.

Q: Why do states and the federal government have hate crime laws on the books?

A: Hate crimes send a message from the perpetrator about the victim and the victim's group. It's not just against the primary victim, it's against everybody in that victim's group.

. . . And that's why hate crimes are important - whether they deter a particular offense or not. It says that Americans do care about the people in that group and welcome them into the community.

Q: Historically, what has precipitated increases in hate crimes in the United States?

A: The number of hate crimes escalates as a result of a perceived threat being made by some outside group. A threat to income, culture, religion or even survival.

After 9/11, there was an incredible, dramatic increase in hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs. . . . And then in 2003 and 2004, hate crimes against gays and lesbians rose as a result of Massachusetts passing the first gay marriage law. Then after a few months, the number of hate crimes subsided.

And then when Obama was elected the first time, in 2008, hate crimes against African Americans skyrocketed. There were some horrific crimes that were committed by white supremacists across the country.

Every time there's a threatening incident, it happens. In 2010, hate crimes against Latinos rose. So did the number of immigrants in the country at a time when the unemployment rate was really high.

Q: Critics claim that President Trump's rhetoric, especially against immigrants, has resulted in an uptick in hate crimes. Can the president have an impact?

A: The rhetoric has become a triggering event. It's socially acceptable now. We used to talk about political correctness in a positive way. Now politically incorrect speech is just being nasty to people. We have a First Amendment and it makes it lawful to be nasty. But there's a limit.

It's a shame that more Americans don't have a grasp of the history. They talk about immigrants who don't speak English, who live on government handouts. But they forget the same (discrimination) was evident in the 1920s, when Italians and Jews came over. It's unfortunate that the same people whose ancestors were the victims of hate attacks in other generations now do the same thing.
The 3rd International Day of Yoga (21 June) is being celebrated in Azerbaijan with a series of public yoga sessions and other events in many cities, including Baku, Sumgait, Ganja and Gobustan with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Indian Embassy in Baku said in a message.

The Yoga week in Azerbaijan was launched with an open-air yoga session in Gobustan on18 June with the participation of more than 150 yoga enthusiasts from local Yoga schools, namely, Yoga Shahi, Art of living Azerbaijan and Sivananda Yoga centre, and the Indian Association in Azerbaijan.

Ambassador of India Sanjay Rana informed that Yoga is a combination of physical exercises and breathing techniques which enhances physical, mental and spiritual health of the practitioner. It consists of simple techniques which could be followed easily by persons of all ages.

Ambassador Rana also informed that during the Yoga Week in Azerbaijan, several public events are planned, including at Icherisheher (21 June), Ganja (23 June) New Sumgayit Seaside Boulevard (24 June) and Ateshgah, Surakhani (25 June). These events are open for public and there are no charges for participation. All Yoga lovers and fitness enthusiasts; beginners as well as regular practitioners could join in these sessions.

The Yoga has been growing popularity all over the world. In December 2014 the Member States of the United Nations adopted a resolution proclaiming 21 June as International Yoga Day. Since then millions of people across the world celebrate the International Day of Yoga on 21 June with much fanfare.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

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Students of School of Project Management (SPM) set up at Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) passed course exams and received certificates of successful completion of the first training module. Presenting the certificates, BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov expressed his congratulations to each student individually and wished all of them every in the further studies. Speaking about the Higher School latest events, successes and developments, he emphasized BHOS management is committed to improvement of the students skills and knowledge. With this view, we pay close attention to their professional development and provide them with all necessary support.

The group of SPM trainees consists of staff members of various companies and organizations including SOCAR, BP, Atlantic Waste Solutions, PASA Hyat Sgorta ASC and Pasha Holding.

The SPM is a joint public-private partnership initiative implemented with financial support from BP and its partners, organizational support from BHOS and technical support from Twenty Eighty Strategy Execution, leading international company providing education in the field of project management. The academic program is taught to professionals in various fields and is comprised of seven training modules. Upon successful completion of the study, the trainees will be awarded master certificate from the George Washington University.
The approach of Tropical Storm Cindy has Houston officials and residents at the ready.

Though the area is not expected to take the brunt of Cindys hit, authorities are preparing drains and making sure flood control efforts are in place, while residents hit area stores in search of water and other supplies.

Stores across Houston are seeing an uptick in purchases of essential storm-ready items such as bottled water, canned goods, flashlights and batteries, with some stores nearly out of stock.

Shelves normally filled with bottled water were almost barren Wednesday morning at the Aldine Westfield Walmart after the store saw a Tuesday afternoon surge in purchases.

FORECAST: Here's where the potential rain from Cindy will hit, forecasters say

Story continues below...

The store was nearly out of stock, said assistant store manager Sien Lee on Wednesday afternoon, though they are expecting to restock later Wednesday.

Chris Smith, store manager for the Walmart on Rice Avenue, said his team has been watching the Weather Channel over the past couple of weeks to gauge when they needed to begin stocking up on storm supplies.

State and local officials have also been glued to weather reports over the past few days, while making sure most culverts and drains are cleared.

On Wednesday, crews started fanning out to probable locations where they would be needed, though Houston, Harris County and the Texas Department of Transportation were monitoring more than moving.

SHUTTING DOWN: Padre Island National Seashore closes beaches ahead of tropical storm

A TxDOT crew is on Texas 87 along Bolivar, which runs along the Gulf, "to remove debris and place barricades if and where necessary," TxDOT spokeswoman Raquelle Lewis said. "Likewise, we have staff ready to do the same throughout the district if we have flooding."

Businesses around the region were also taking precautions.

VICTIM: Alabama child dies from Cindy's storm surge

"We spend pretty much the whole day picking up debris," said Mike Dishberger, past president of the Greater Houston Home Builders Association and owner of Sandcastle Homes. "Work slows down to a crawl. And the day the storm is coming, most people are not going to show up for work."

He said the biggest concern was picking up scattered debris that would "act like missiles" in the tropical storm-force winds. Work crews also empty area dumpsters and try their best to tack plywood onto house frames. Work sites also stop deliveries in the days before a storm.

Offshore, oil companies had already encountered the storm, taking precautions but not halting operations at most locations. Operators reported pulling workers off 40 oil and gas production platforms, or about 5 percent of the more than 700 manned platforms in the Gulf and one drilling rig, or about 7 percent of the 15 there, according to the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

OFFSHORE: Oil companies evacuate Gulf production platforms as Cindy arrives

BP evacuated non-essential personnel from its Mad Dog and Atlantis platforms, with the storm passing over with rain and minor ocean swells. The company does not anticipate the storm is severe enough to warrant total evacuation; workers who monitor and run production will remain, for now, on site.

"Our top priority is the safety of all personnel and protecting the environment," BP said. "We remain prepared to respond as conditions warrant."

Workers, as they evacuate, close safety valves under the ocean floor to prevent the release of oil or gas should the storm damage well piping. The bureau estimated on Wednesday companies shut in about 17 percent of oil production in the Gulf and less than one percent of gas.

Houston's Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said it stopped production at its Marlin, Holstein and Heidelberg platforms on Tuesday after pipelines run by other companies stopped shipping product. But by Wednesday morning, the Heidelberg was partially back on line.

Other companies were following suit, with Cindy not leading to a cut in production.

Reporters David Hunn, Ryan Maye Handy and Collin Eaton contributed to this story.
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12 of Texas' most wanted sex offenders captured in 2016
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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

The management of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) expects positive results from the implementation of the restructuring plan, Chairman of the banks Board Khalid Ahadov told reporters in Baku June 21.

He recalled that the voting of foreign creditors will end July 18, and technical meetings will start after this.

Ahadov also touched upon the issue of Kazakhstans Pension Fund, noting that the restructuring of its debt will be held under the same conditions as for other creditors.

Our foreign creditors act under the US and the UK legislation, according to which the same conditions are provided for all creditors, he added. There can be no double standards.

Ahadov noted that the IBAs restructuring plan includes the transfer of toxic assets to the Agrarkredit non-bank credit organization, the removal of foreign liabilities from the balance sheet and the return of investments to the banks capital.

Both our subsidiary banks [IBA-Moscow and IBA-Georgia] have been cleared of toxic assets, they are fairly stable and comply with the regulations of the central banks of the countries they operate in, he said. However, the parent bank (IBA) is important for us now. We continue the optimization in the bank.

The IBAs financial recovery, operational improvement and preparation for privatization are the main priorities for us now, he added. We attracted reputable companies for all this work.
Houston City Council backed Mayor Sylvester Turner's recommendation Wednesday to sue the state of Texas over its so-called "sanctuary cities" law, a departure from Turner's months of diplomatic tact on that and other hot-button political issues in Austin and Washington.

Granted, those months of tact passed in tandem with Turner's delicate efforts to shepherd his landmark pension reform plan through City Council and the Legislature. Having succeeded at that task and secured Gov. Greg Abbott's signature May 31, Turner may feel a bit freer to speak his mind.

He has done so in the debate over Senate Bill 4, saying the immigration-targeted law is "governmental overreach." 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.

Turner also has leveled the "governmental overreach" accusation at Abbott's call for a special legislative session that will start next month. The governor has asked lawmakers to reconvene to debate, among other issues, a texting-and-driving ban that would preempt local government regulations, limiting cities' annexation powers, banning local governments from spending money on abortion providers, and even reigning in city regulations in such areas as construction and permitting.

"How they intend to control that from Austin I do not know," Turner said of the development rules, in remarks earlier this month.

The Legislature already removed municipalities' ability to regulate ride-hailing apps companies like Uber and Lyft, Turner noted, saying it is odd that state officials who advocate for smaller government would be so intent on "expanding the reach of government."

"I haven't said very much up to this point in time, but it seems as though the governmental overreach in Austin is continuing to grow and grow and there comes a point when you have to say enough is enough," Turner said. "It just seems as though the state's reach is getting bigger and bigger, and there's an assault on local government.

"I think people need to respect the will of people in different cities to vote on their mayors to vote on their City Council," he continued, "and allow the mayors and city council members to do their jobs as it relates to their respective cities."
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

The activity of the International Leasing Company, a subsidiary of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) is unsatisfactory, Chairman of the IBA Management Board Khalid Ahadov told reporters in Baku June 21.

According to him, the company is currently engaged in premiums, it has very few assets and it has ceased to undertake new obligations, he noted.

Touching upon the activity of the banks subsidiaries in general, Ahadov said that according to the banks restructuring plan, they will be sold.

As you know, the balance is divided into three parts  assets, liabilities and capital, where payments are specifically provided to subsidiaries. They must be transformed into cash. Thus, according to the restructuring plan, they will be sold before the bank is privatized, added the chairman.

The International Leasing Company (formerly Joint Leasing) was created in 1999. The company completed the rebranding process in 2016 and changed its name to the International Leasing Company.

This is the biggest leasing company in Azerbaijan. The companys mission is to provide medium-term financing of assets in all spheres of the Azerbaijani economy.
Though he could have gone into private practice after retiring from the Army in 1981, Dr. Richard Dick Ritter instead decided to become a professor at what was then the University of Texas Health Science Center while also working at Audie Murphy VA Hospital as chief of anesthesia and operative service.

Teaching had always been his true love, even in the military, his son Richard Rick Ritter said. He stayed in the teaching profession, stayed in the operating room teaching the next generation.

Teaching thousands of residents over the years, Ritter left his knowledge to so many people who have then gone out to take care of other people, his son Eric Ritter said. Thats probably his biggest legacy.

Dr. Ritter died June 13 at 85.

More Information Richard "Dick" Ritter Born: March 1, 1932, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Died: June 13, 2017, San Antonio Preceded by: Parents Elizabeth Simpson and Joseph Ritter; a brother; a sister Survived by: Wife Bonnie Ritter; sons Richard Ritter and daughter-in-law Christina, Mark Ritter and daughter-in-law Teresa, and Eric Ritter and daughter-in-law Kristina; five grandchildren; a brother Services: Visitation at 1 p.m. and Mass at 2 p.m. Friday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 20523 Huebner Road, followed by a reception See More Collapse

One of four children born to parents educated at Carnegie Mellon University  his father was a university professor and his mother a librarian  Dr. Ritter received a Catholic education in his hometown of Pittsburgh.

They lived in a duplex and shared one car, said his wife, Bonnie Ritter. They worked very hard.

Following in his older brothers footsteps, Dr. Ritter went to medical school at the University of Pittsburgh, enlisting in the Army while there.

Graduating in 1958, Dr. Ritter started active duty in Hawaii, where he did his internship and also fell in love with what was then just a U.S. territory.

He was there when it became a state, his wife said. It was basically a paradise.

The state later became a favorite travel destination for the Ritter family.

Dr. Ritter met his future wife, an Army nurse, in 1963 while doing his anesthesiology residency at what was then the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., marrying later the same year.

After an assignment in Germany, the family moved to San Francisco, where Dr. Ritter cared for soldiers who were injured while serving during the Vietnam War.

He felt it was an honor to take care of those soldiers, his wife said.

After serving another assignment at Walter Reed, this time as chief of anesthesiology, Ritter was sent to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio as the consultant to the surgeon general in anesthesia. He retired from the Army in 1981, starting at UTHSC in 1982.

After retiring again in the early 2000s, Ritter enjoyed his time at the familys home on Lake LBJ and with his grandchildren.

He had failing health in his later years; but when the grandkids were around, he would perk up, Eric Ritter said. He lived for his grandchildren.

mheidbrink@express-news.net
Six years ago, then-President Barack Obama visited Puerto Rico, the first sitting U.S. president to do so since John F. Kennedys visit in 1961. At the time of Obamas visit, around half of the islands citizens favored statehood. Now, just a few days ago, Puerto Ricans have overwhelmingly voted for U.S. statehood.

Puerto Rico has been part of the United States since 1898, and since 1917 people born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens. Because the island is not a state, Puerto Ricans may vote in U.S. presidential primaries but are not permitted to vote in presidential elections nor have official representation in the U.S. House or Senate. If Puerto Rico becomes a state, how might this change?

If statehood happens, obviously its people would gain the vote in presidential elections and have congressional representation. Statehood would also bring parity with the other 50 states regarding economic aid, which may be a contributing factor to the recent overwhelmingly positive vote for statehood. Puerto Rico today is in a deep recession, facing more than $120 billion in debt, including public-sector bills and money owed to pension funds.

The recently elected governor of the island, Ricardo Rosello, campaigned for statehood in an attempt to remedy Puerto Ricos debt crisis.

But here is the big question: If Puerto Rico does indeed become the 51st state, what kind of changes are likely to occur in the U.S. House?

At present, the U.S. House has 435 seats. Puerto Rican statehood is unlikely to increase the number of House seats. When Alaska and Hawaii became states in the late 1950s, the number of House seats was temporarily increased to 438 but reverted to 435 after the 1960 census.

Once again, it is most probable that if Puerto Rico is admitted as a state, the number of House seats would remain unaltered.

Heres how House seats are apportioned:

First, every state automatically receives one seat. Subsequently, the remaining 385 seats are distributed among the states on the basis of their population. Data from the 2010 census were used in 2011 to determine the current distribution of the 385 House seats among the 50 states (the District of Columbia does not receive a seat).

What will happen to the distribution of seats if Puerto Rico becomes a state?

We used the 2010 census data but added Puerto Rico as the 51st state. We recalculated the apportionment distribution using the 2010 population data but included Puerto Rico. In 2010, Puerto Rico had just less than 4 million people, although the population declined to almost 3.8 million in 2015.

Here is what will happen if the population distribution numbers across the states in 2020 are similar to what they were in 2010. According to the 2010 populations of the now 51 states, Puerto Rico would be allocated an additional four seats beyond its automatic first seat, for a total of five.

If Puerto Rico gets five seats, which states will lose seats?

Under the allocation scenario examined, Texas, Florida, Washington, California and Minnesota will each lose one seat in the House.

Congress has the final authority regarding the admission of a new state. While some assume that the House and the Senate will pass a resolution authorizing statehood for Puerto Rico, others believe this will be difficult. The Republican-led Congress will likely be reticent to admit such a Democratic-leaning electorate as Puerto Rico.

Also, states that stand to lose a House seat may oppose admitting Puerto Rico. Moreover, there could be huge economic costs if the new state of Puerto Rico seeks assistance in remedying its major debt crisis.

Regardless of what happens in Congress, Puerto Ricans have spoken, and they want statehood.

Dudley L. Poston Jr. is a professor of sociology and the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Professor of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University in College Station. D. Nicole Farris is an assistant professor of sociology at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
A parked vehicle is no place for unattended children or pets. Even in 70 degree temperatures, relatively cool by our standards, the interior of a vehicle can heat up to 110 degrees.

The deaths of two toddlers in Kerr County this month is a reminder of just how vulnerable children are when left unattended in a car.

The Kerr County case, which is still under investigation, is unusual in that law enforcement officials allege the mother of the 1- and 2-year-old girls were intentionally left unattended in a parked car overnight by their teenage mother.

They died at University Hospital hours after they were transferred from a Hill Country hospital where the mother had sought medical attention for the girls.

More Information So far this year, 11 children in the United States have died of heatstroke after being left in cars, according to Jan Null, a meteorologist at San Jose State University in California who tracks such deaths on noheatstroke.org. There were 39 such deaths last year, according to the site. Heatstroke Deaths of Children in Vehicles711 children left in cars have died of heatstroke since 1998. All of these deaths could have been prevented. Updated June 9, 2017 Total number of U.S. heatstroke deaths of children left in cars, 2017 11 Total number of U.S. heatstroke deaths of children left in cars, 2016: 39 An examination of media reports about the 700 child vehicular heatstroke deaths for a 19-year period (1998 through October 2016) shows the following circumstances: 54% - child "forgotten" by caregiver (376 Children) 28% - child playing in unattended vehicle (198) 17% - child intentionally left in vehicle by adult (120) 1% - circumstances unknown (6) Average number of U.S. child heatstroke fatalities per year since 1998: 37 See More Collapse

This year, 11 children have died in the United States as a result of heatstroke, according to Jan Null, a meteorologist at San Jose State University in California. Last year, 39 children lost their lives as a result of heatstroke. Since 1998, there have been 711 heatstroke deaths of children left in cars in the United States.

These type of deaths are preventable. Just more than half of the deaths were the result of a child being forgotten in the car by a caregiver. Another 28 percent of the deaths occurred when a child was playing in an unattended vehicle, and 17 percent of the deaths were the result of a child intentionally left in a vehicle by an adult.

In Texas, it is against the law to leave children younger than 7 in a car for longer than five minutes if there is not someone at least 14 years old in the vehicle to watch them. The violation is a Class C misdemeanor and considered a form of neglect that could prompt investigation by Child Protective Services.

Texas has no law against leaving pets in parked vehicles, but pet owners can be charged under animal cruelty laws for leaving them for prolonged periods in a hot vehicle.

Attempts by state Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, to increase the punishment for leaving very young children unattended in a vehicle  and to include domesticated animals in the statute  did not get far during the recent legislative session.

Villalbas bill would have raised the maximum penalty for leaving a child unattended in a vehicle from a Class C to a Class A misdemeanor, allowing jail time to be assessed as part of the punishment.

But another bill did make it to the governors desk. It reduces the liability of those seeking to help a child in distress.

Gov. Greg Abbott this month signed legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, that will provide civil immunity for individuals who act in good faith to rescue a vulnerable individual that is trapped in a vehicle and in imminent danger.

Good Samaritans deserve the protection.
Bill Dana, a comedian and comedy writer whose most famous character, the bumbling, English-mangling Jose Jimenez, provoked anger as well as laughter, died Thursday at his home in Nashville. He was 92.

His death was confirmed by his friend Jenni Matz, who is working on a documentary about him.

Mr. Dana had been writing for television for several years and performing in nightclubs for nearly a decade when, in 1959, he created Jose, who appeared for the first time in a sketch on The Steve Allen Show. The conceit of the sketch was that Jose, whose first language clearly was not English, worked as an instructor of department store Santa Clauses. (Ho ho ho was written on his blackboard as Jo jo jo.) The sketch introduced his signature line, My name Jose Jimenez, which Mr. Dana delivered with such a heavy accent that it came out My naing o-ZAY ee-MAY-nez.

The character became an immediate hit, and during the next decade Mr. Dana invented a variety of preposterous professions for Jose, including deep-sea diver, wild animal trainer and, most famously, astronaut. He recorded several hit comedy albums as Jose (often rendered without accents) and appeared as his alternative self on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Hollywood Palace and even, in a cameo role, Batman. A series of his own, The Bill Dana Show, on which he played Jose as a hotel bellhop, aired on NBC from 1963 to 1965.

Mr. Dana always claimed that Jose, whose nationality was never specified, was a fond portrait of a decent, striving immigrant, and that the comedy was rooted not in ethnic disparagement but in the difficulty of assimilation.

Ive always detested a certain type of dialect thats an unkind caricature, he said in a 1964 interview with the New York Post. Jose is not a caricature. Hes the closest representation of a real human being that I can create. On another occasion, he explained that Jose was not a Latin character but a universal character.

Nonetheless, many people saw Jose as a reinforcement of negative stereotypes, and over the course of the 1960s the character became the target of protests.

By 1970, Mr. Dana had stopped performing as Jose  he even read the characters obituary at an event in Los Angeles sponsored by the Congress of Mexican-American Unity  though he insisted that he made that decision not because of mounting anger about the character but because some people were misinterpreting his intentions.

He decided to drop the character, he told the Los Angeles Times, because of people who would tell me, Boy I shore love it when you play that dumb Mexican.

Mr. Dana continued his career in television after that, devoting more of his energies to writing. Among his credits was the script for the 1972 episode of All in the Family in which Sammy Davis Jr. ends up in Archie Bunkers living room, which TV Guide in 1997 ranked 13th on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

He also appeared on numerous TV series, occasionally in dramatic roles, although comedy remained his specialty.

The biggest laugh he ever got, he once said, was in a 1991 episode of The Golden Girls, when, as a recurring character known as Uncle Angelo, he presumed incorrectly that hed be taking Blanche, the randy woman-of-a-certain-age played by Rue McClanahan, to bed. Discovering his error, Uncle Angelo asked, Are you telling me I shaved my shoulders for nothing?

In 2005, Mr. Dana and the philanthropist Ted Cutler founded the American Comedy Archives at Emerson College in Boston, Mr. Danas alma mater. The archives centerpiece is a collection of videotaped interviews with more than 60 comedians, writers and other comedy professionals, conducted by Mr. Dana and Matz.

Bill Dana was born William Szathmary in Quincy, Mass., on Oct. 5, 1924, the youngest of six children. His father, Joseph, a real estate developer, was an immigrant from Hungary; his mother worked in a millinery shop. Her name was Dena, and when Bill Szathmary changed his name early in his show business career, he chose a near homonym to honor her.

Mr. Dana served in the infantry in Europe during World War II, and when he returned he graduated from Emerson with a degree in speech and drama. He worked as a page at NBC in Manhattan and formed a comedy team with a college friend, Gene Wood, who later became a successful television announcer. He also wrote material for comics, including a young contemporary, Don Adams, for whom Dana invented the joke formula that began, Would you believe? and that would later become part of Adams shtick as the secret agent Maxwell Smart in the sitcom Get Smart.

Mr. Dana is survived by his wife of 36 years, the former Evelyn Shular.

In todays more sensitive times, the popularity of Jose Jimenez may be hard to fathom. But Mr. Dana performed the character at, among other places, an inaugural-eve gala for President John F. Kennedy.

He came out before the crowd that night dressed in a spacesuit with a full military escort. With him was Milton Berle, who asked: What is this called? A crash helmet?  to which Jose replied, Oh, I hope not! Asked how he would spend his time in space, he said, I plan to cry a lot.

In fact, Jose was a favorite character of the seven actual astronauts in the Mercury space program. On May 5, 1961, when Alan Shepard lifted off to become the first American in space, his fellow astronaut Deke Slayton spoke to him from the ground.

OK, Jose, youre on your way, Slayton said.

Bruce Weber is a New York Times writer.
Is it us, or did it just get really hot in here? As Texas settles in to a summer that routinely flirts with 100-degree days, Total Wine & More is looking for cocktails to keep us cool  and maybe let us be just a little bit lazy in the heat.

Thats why we love iced-tea cocktails in the summertime. Icy cold, eye-opening and super simple to mix up, theyre great, easy drinks for hot weekend afternoons and evenings. Here are a few to keep you cool.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

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About 10 Azerbaijani banks dont meet the capital requirements of the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FIMSA), Zakir Nuriyev, head of the Azerbaijan Banks Association (ABA), told reporters in Baku June 21.

Nuriyev noted that this conclusion was reached following an international audit of local banks.

An audit in Azerbaijani banks revealed that under international standards about 10 banks dont meet the FIMSAs capital requirements, he said, adding that meanwhile, according to national standards of assessment, the number of such banks is less.

As for the four banks which are under the FIMSA supervision, Nuriyev noted that this situation remains unchanged.

Earlier, Chairman of FIMSA Board of Directors Rufat Aslanli told reporters that FIMSA has taken under control five more banks due to capital deficiency. One of those banks was AtaBank OJSC, the authorized capital of which reached 142.7 million manats, assets  607.3 million manats, and loan portfolio  546.1 million manats after its merger with the Caspian Development Bank.

The other four banks are small enough  their assets make about 5 percent of the total assets of the entire banking sector of Azerbaijan.

Thirty-one banks, including two state-owned ones, operate in Azerbaijan.
Details added (first version posted on 13:12)

Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

The Azerbaijani Central Banks discount rate may be reduced to 12 percent, Zakir Nuriyev, head of the Azerbaijan Banks Association (ABA), told reporters in Baku June 21.

Of course, the monetary situation in Azerbaijan is not unambiguous, Nuriyev said. However, I believe the positive trends that have emerged create all the conditions for lowering the discount rate. I will once again note that everything depends on the decision of the monetary authorities.

Earlier, Elman Rustamov, the head of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), told reporters in Baku that revision of the discount rate will be discussed in June at a regular meeting of the CBA Board.

Currently, the CBA discount rate is 15 percent. The CBA last revised its discount rate in September 2016 and increased it to 15 percent.
The Taliban took control of a district center in the northern Afghan province of Jawzjan over the past 24 hours. The governor of Darzab, the district that fell to the Taliban, confirmed that Taliban fighters overran the district just one day after Islamic State fighters attacked the administrative complex.

According to a statement on Voice of Jihad, the Taliban launched coordinated attacks on Darzab district center and surrounding outposts in the early morning.

The Taliban claimed that five defensive checkposts close to the district center surrendered, handing over all their weapons, equipment and vehicles whereas the district headquarters fell around late afternoon hours, resulting in more weapons and equipment being seized.

Official reports of casualties during the fighting have not been disclosed. The Taliban said that 17 police and local militia fighters and three Taliban fighters were killed.

The Taliban were currently in control of the district centers building, police headquarters, and many other areas west of the district centre, Pajhwok Afghan News reported, based on statements by Baz Mohammad, the acting district governor.

The Taliban attack took place less than a day after fighters loyal to the Islamic State attempted to seize Darzabs district center. Afghan officials claimed that 20 Islamic State fighters and six security personnel were killed while repelling the attack, TOLONews reported.

The Taliban has conducted an effective insurgency in Jawzjan despite the fact that the province is far from its traditional strongholds in the south and east. Its presence in the province has forced the Afghan government to commit military resources that are needed in other provinces. In late March, the Taliban claimed that it contested seven of Jawzjans 11 districts.

Darzab is the latest district to fall to the Taliban. In late May, the Taliban took control of Waghaz in Ghazni, and openly paraded its fighters without fear of reprisal from Afghan or Coalition aircraft.

Afghan forces have ceded control of some rural districts to the Taliban, excusing the districts as strategically unimportant. The Taliban has instead used these districts as bases to attack Afghan forces in more populous districts. The US military estimates that the Taliban now controls or contests 40 percent of Afghanistans districts, while the Taliban claims the number is closer to 50 percent.

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.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

The issue of creating a joint Azerbaijan-Qatar investment fund will be solved until mid-July 2017, Azerbaijans Deputy Economy Minister Sahil Babayev told Trend June 21.

He noted that Azerbaijan has sent proposals on the issue and currently, it is being viewed by the Qatari side.

The creation of a joint investment fund between Azerbaijan and Qatar was proposed at a meeting with a delegation led by chairman and managing director of Qatars Barwa Bank, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani, in Baku.

Azerbaijan and Qatar have established successful economic cooperation, joint business forums, business meetings are held.

In February 2017, as part of the export mission of Azerbaijani businessmen to Qatar, a number of agreements were reached, particularly, on the supply of street and garden furniture. The two countries trade turnover showed a serious growth in January-April 2017.

According to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee, export operations rose by 78.5 times and import  by 97.7 percent in four months of 2017, as compared to the same period of 2016.

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.
Cars

If youre looking for a marina in Thailand for your yacht, Port Takola, located near Ao Nang in Krabi will keep your boat safely sheltered from the upcoming Southwest monsoon from May to October with affordable berthing rates

Jun 21, 2017 | By Yacht Style

Located near the popular tourist towns of Ao Nang, Krabi and Krabi International Airport, Port Takola is a new yacht marina and boatyard in Krabi, Thailand. Thanks to its proximity to attractions and modern amenities, the marina has grown to become a choice stopover destination for international cruisers and charter yachts since its phase one opening in February. It is also a convenient base for exploring Krabi as well as sailing the Thai Andaman Sea.

With the upcoming Southwest monsoon season from May to October, leaving a boat at anchor comes at a heavy risk of being prone to natural disasters. This is a period when the Thai Andaman Coast becomes dangerous for sailing and anchoring as winds reach up to 60 knots during a storm. To address this, Port Takola has introduced 20 moorings to provide an affordable berthing option for keeping ones boat safely sheltered.

Available for boats ranging from 12-18m, the moorings are protected by the marinas year-round shelter habour whilst also enjoying the comfort of onshore facilities and conveniently located amenities. Strong bow and stern securing will be provided, along with regular check-ups conducted by the marina team while owners are away.

All moorings are serviced on a monthly, semi-annual or annual basis and charges start from just 7,000 THB a month.

For more information, visit www.porttakola.com.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

The new tender for privatization of Greek DESFA gas grid operator is expected to be announced before June 23, Greek media reported.

The new tender for DESFA will be carried out in three phases. The first phase envisages expression of interest by companies; in the second phase, which is scheduled for mid-July, interested companies will submit non-binding offers, while in the third phase, which is due in late autumn, the bidders will submit binding offers.

The bids will be reviewed in November and the privatization of DESFA will be completed by end of 2017.

To date, the following companies have expressed interest in participation in the tender: Belgian Fluxys, Italian Snam, Dutch Gasunie, Spanish Enagas, Romanian Transgaz, as well as new players like the French GRTgas, SFPI and Marguerite funds.

In the new tender will be able to take part investors from third countries, but in partnership with the European Gas Transmission System Operator.

The new tender to be conducted by Greece's privatization agency HRADF envisages sale of 66 percent of the gas grid operator.

Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR won a tender in 2013 on the purchase of a 66-percent stake in DESFA for 400 million euros.



The Azerbaijani company intended to obtain a 31-percent stake from the Greek government and to buy a 35-percent stake in Hellenic Petroleum.



It was expected that the deal will be closed only after the purchase of at least a 17-percent stake out of SOCARs 66-percent by Italys Snam.



SOCAR, Snam and Greek government have been holding intensive talks against the background of changes in legislation that affected DESFAs financial position and market value.



However, the parties were unable to reach an understanding and consequently, the deal was terminated Nov. 30.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
All the cool kids are doing it these days: theyre building Hackintoshes. Since Apple isnt updating their desktop Macs as often as people want, some Mac users have gone the home-build route, making their own Macs using off-the-shelf parts and hobbyist software.

I have an old Mac mini that could do with a refresh, so I decided to try this out and build a Hackintosh mini. Heres how it went.

Why build a Hackintosh?

I own a late 2011 Mac mini that I use as a media server to host and stream my Plex video library, and for Time Machine backups. It runs macOS Server, and uses its caching server feature to cache app updates. Its not connected to a display, and I control it using Screen Sharing. Its not a workhorse by any means, just an appliance that I use to manage files.

But at more than five years old, I felt it was time for a replacement. One thing this computer is lacking is USB 3; it was released before Apple adopted that protocol. My Plex library is on an external drive and file copies are slow. Streaming high-quality ripped Blu-rays can be problematic because the Mac mini cant always read data fast enough to keep up.

Given the lack of updates to the Mac mini and the relatively high cost of a new model, I thought it was time to explore building a Hackintosh mini. My requirements for this computer are limited:

Processor: I just want a basic processor; I dont use the computer for anything other than serving and streaming media and files, so I dont need speed. I also dont need much RAM for this type of computer.

I just want a basic processor; I dont use the computer for anything other than serving and streaming media and files, so I dont need speed. I also dont need much RAM for this type of computer. Graphics: I dont need anything other than onboard graphics; I only connect it to a display if I absolutely need to, for the occasional software installation. Otherwise I manage it via Screen Sharing.

I dont need anything other than onboard graphics; I only connect it to a display if I absolutely need to, for the occasional software installation. Otherwise I manage it via Screen Sharing. Storage: I dont need a large startup disk, so I chose a 120GB SSD. I only have macOS and a few apps on the startup disk. All my media files and backups are on another drive.

I dont need a large startup disk, so I chose a 120GB SSD. I only have macOS and a few apps on the startup disk. All my media files and backups are on another drive. Size: It doesnt have to be as small as a Mac mini, and I want to be able to add one or two internal hard drives in the future.

It doesnt have to be as small as a Mac mini, and I want to be able to add one or two internal hard drives in the future. Connectivity: I want several USB 3 ports, but I dont need Thunderbolt.

Naturally, if you build a Hackintosh for daily use, your priorities will be different. You may want a faster processor, more RAM, a better graphics card (though the onboard graphics on even the low-end Intel processors can handle 4K video at 60 fps), a larger SSD, and perhaps more internal storage. And you may want a larger case to have more expansion options. But aside from that, there arent too many variables to consider when designing a home-built system.

Here are the parts I selected.

Kirk McElhearn/IDG Here are all my parts, ready to be assembled.

Motherboard

This is the heart of the computer, and the recommendations all point toward the Gigabyte H170N-WI-FI motherboard (the model number of this motherboard may be different in the U.S.). It has lots of connectorsUSB 3, ethernet, HDMI, audio, and even has a USB-C plugand is well-supported for Hackintoshes.

Processor

Its pretty hard to compare processors between Apples offers and what you can buy as a component. The Mac mini offers three processor options: a dual-core Intel Core i5 at 1.4GHz, 2.6GHz, or 2.8GHz. (You can also get a Core i7 processor as a build-to-order option.)

Recommendations for a low-end processor for the Hackintosh mini started with an Intel Core i3 6100 Skylake Dual-Core 3.7GHz Processor ($114 on Amazon). Thats nearly three times as fast in gigahertz as Apples base model, which is fine for my needs.

If I wanted more power, I could go to the Core i5-6600K 3.5 to 3.9GHz CPU. At more than twice the price ($239 on Amazon), its much more powerful than any of the Mac minis standard options, but its overkill for this type of computer.

Memory

I chose to use 8MB of RAM, and thats probably more than I need. Since its easy to add RAM to a home-built computer, theres no need to plan ahead. And theres no savings when buying more RAM: 16GB costs twice as much as 8GB.

Networking

I decided to use the motherboards on-board ethernet for networking, via a powerline adapter, rather than buy a specific card that would have allowed me to use Wi-Fi and to get Handoff and Continuity to work. Since I dont really need those options on this Mac, the extra expense (about $60) didnt seem to be justified. But if theres room in the case, you can add this card later.

The total cost of this computer for me was around $464, less than Apples entry-level Mac mini, ($499) and less than half the cost of their top-of-the-line model, which is inferior to my build ($999).

Building the Hackintosh

Building a computer isnt for everyone. It requires patience and perseverance. Its not as hard as you may think, but if youre not comfortable taking apart and putting back together electronic devices, its probably not for you.

Start by checking out tonymacx86s Guide to Building a Hackintosh to get an idea of what youll need to do. Then choose your parts, and settle down with some tools. (Ive posted a detailed part list for my Hackintosh mini on my website.)

There actually arent that many parts. You start with the case, then add the motherboard. Next you put the processor on the motherboard, and add a CPU cooler, either one that came with the processor, or a separate one. (My processor came with a heat sink and a fan. Some processors dont include a cooler.)

Next you slot the RAM into the motherboard, and then connect a number of small cables from the case to the motherboard. These cables are for things like the USB plugs on the front, the cases LED, and more. These cables are small, and you need to check the motherboards documentation to make sure you get them connected correctly. But be careful; these cables connect to tiny pins, and if you break any, your computer may not work correctly.

After this, you add one or more disks, and then the power supply. And thats where things got complicated. I screwed the SSD on one side of the case, and was planning to put a second drive (a standard 3.5-inch hard drive) on a metal plate that goes on the top of the case. But my power supply had all sorts of cables that I didnt need, and they took up a lot of space inside the case, making it impossible to fit the second drive easily. I discovered that I could have bought a modular power supply, one that has a couple of cables permanently connect to the power supply, and others that you can connect if needed. I packed up the one I bought and ordered a different one.

The power supply connects to two points on the motherboard, and you use another cable or two to connect to disks, video cards, etc. I only needed one cable for my two disks, since each of these cables has two connectors.

At this point, the main build was finished. As you can see below, even this small case is pretty full; it makes you appreciate how well the Mac mini is designed to be able to fit all these items in such a small enclosure. Of course, Apple makes sure the cables are just exactly right, without any extra wires to waste space, but still; its an impressive feat of design.

Kirk McElhearn/IDG Everythings in the case. Next comes the software.

Installing macOS

Once youve gotten all your parts together, connect the computer to a display, and plug in a keyboard and mouse (you may be able to use Bluetooth peripherals later, depending on your hardware). Power up your computer, and, if all goes well, youll see something on your monitor, showing the name of your motherboard, and instructing you to select a boot drive, or to configure the computers BIOS (thats the startup firmware thats on the motherboard).

At this point, its time to prepare for your macOS Sierra installation. tonymacx86 has a step-by-step tutorial, showing which software you need, and how to prepare a bootable USB thumb drive. Note that these instructions contain a fair amount of shorthand; I had to look up a lot of things just to start the installation (Which series was my motherboard? Does it use UEFI or BIOS? Which graphics driver should I use?) You may spend a fair amount of time on this sites forums, or searching with Google, to figure everything out, but youll eventually find what you need.

This is the point where you may question your decision to build your own Mac. None of this is plug-and-play simple, but if you follow the recommendations for hardware on the tonymacx86 website, theres a good chance that all will work out well.

Once youve set up your USB thumb drive, if all goes well, you can boot your computer from that drive and install macOS Sierra.

After this, you use software called MultiBeast that installs drivers on your computer: software to enable networking, disk management, USB support, and especially so the computer can boot from your drive. As above, there are lots of options, and youll be searching the forums to find exactly what you need to install. In my case, there was a detailed explanation of everything needed for my motherboard, but it was for El Capitan. So I started there, and then did more research to find exactly what I needed to change.

Kirk McElhearn/IDG MultiBeast installs drivers your computer needs to function.

When all this is done, your Mac may just work as you expect. Or not. I had to reinstall macOS several times, because the drivers I had selected didnt work correctly. One thing to bear in mind is that when you install macOS, the software you use adds a number of files, including drivers, to the EFI partition of your disk. If you install the incorrect drivers, youll need to start over. You cannot simply erase that disk, because Disk Utility wont erase the entire volume. One way to remedy this is to remove the disk and reformat it in another computer, or in a disk dock. In my case, I installed macOS on my second disk, then reformatted the first disk using that.

I also found that my Hackintosh broke several times. Since you cannot easily uninstall the drivers you add with MultiBeast, its a good idea to start with the minimum, keep records of your choices, then add one driver at a time, until youre sure everything works. I had problems with networking, but finally sorted out what I needed.

Summing up

When I started this project, I had little idea what I was getting into. To start with, just buying the computer was a learning experience, and I realized that some of my assumptions were wrong. If I had to do this again, Id get a much bigger case: theres more room, its easier to work with, and its more expandable.

When you get to the software you need to turn this home-build into a Mac, you can find everything you need, but understanding some of the options can be a bit confusing. You may have a Mac that starts up right away, or you may need to research some settings, download drivers, and more. I cant recommend strongly enough that you follow the hardware suggestions on tonymacx86s website. If not, youll spend a lot more time configuring your computer for your hardware than you probably want to.

Oh, and try to find a friend who has done this before. My friend Rob Griffiths was in the process of building his own Hackintosh, so he helped me resolve some of the stickiest problems, because he had already seen many of them.

Remember that youll have no support for this computer, aside from that on Hackintosh forums. I wouldnt entrust my business to a home-built computer; I need to make sure my Mac works all the time. For this server, which isnt an essential device, Im willing to take the risk, but I wouldnt commit the time nor money to buy, say, a Hackintosh Pro.

Is this worth all the trouble? If youre comfortable with this sort of thing, and have time to spare researching drivers and posting questions on forums, then, yes, it certainly is. But time is money; I spent about a dozen hours building and troubleshooting my Hackintosh mini, and Im not entirely sure that it will continue to work as I apply updates to macOS, and install other software. If you factor in the amount of time you spend building a computer like this, that $700 mid-range Mac mini doesnt look so expensive any more.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Oil exports from Iraq in April fell by 25,000 barrels per day month-on-month, to a 5-month-low of 3.754 million barrels per day, according to the report of the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI).

This is while the country exported 3.779 million barrels of oil per day in March 2017.

Moreover, Iraqs crude output stood at 4.531 million barrels per day in April, as compared to 4.568 million barrels per day in March.

Iraq has undertaken the second largest cut in oil output after Saudi Arabia among the participants of the OPEC deal signed last year in Vienna.

However, the country has achieved a compliance rate of only 55 percent so far this year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

On May 25, OPEC member countries and non-OPEC parties, Azerbaijan, Kingdom of Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, Republic of Sudan, and the Republic of South Sudan agreed to extend the production adjustments for a further period of nine months, with effect from July 1, 2017.

The reductions will be on the same terms as those agreed in November.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

A number of states are interested in the revival of the South Stream project, which envisages the supply of Russian gas to southeastern Europe, but the reasons that forced Russia to abandon its implementation in late 2014 still remain, Deputy Executive Director for Energy Studies at Russian Institute for Energy and Finance Alexei Belogoryev told Trend June 21.

Last week, Austrian media reported that Russias Gazprom and Austrias OMV secretly discuss the possibility of revival of the South Stream project. OMV declined to comment on the issue and Gazprom said that this is not true.

Rumors about the revival of South Stream are spreading from Europe. They are based on real initiatives of countries that previously participated in it  primarily, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia  and initially were against the rejection of this project, Belogoryev told Trend.

According to him, Bulgaria, which was largely responsible for the disruption of this project earlier, also shows interest towards South Stream through its Energy Ministry.

Over the past two years, these countries have constantly reminded that there is interest in this project, and they suffered because Russia unilaterally discarded it, he noted.

Meanwhile, Belogoryev added, there are no clear signals from Russia about the resumption of South Stream, although, for Gazprom it would be economically much more interesting than the current Turkish Stream for gas supply to northern Italy and Central Europe.

In this sense, if there was a chance of its resumption, I think Gazprom would not refuse it, said the expert.

However, Russia will be ready to resume this project only when it is provided with exemptions from the EU Third Energy Package, said Belogoryev.

The European Commissions refusal to grant these exemptions was the reason forcing Gazprom to abandon the South Streams implementation. The Third Energy Package norms, particularly, envisage that one supplier can use no more than 50 percent of pipeline capacity, and the rest should be auctioned.

Belogoryev said it is unlikely that this demand of the Russian side will be fulfilled at present, since the attitude towards South Stream hasnt changed over the past two years in Europe, and the weight of its supporters  Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria  is not so great in the European Union.

The main stumbling block is Germany, which is categorically against the project. This is related not to economic reasons, but to the fact that Russia initially positioned South Stream as a project based on which political and economic relations with the Balkan countries will develop, and Germany absolutely doesnt want to see Russias strengthening in these countries, added the expert.

Given the current realities in the EU, especially after Brexit, the implementation of South Stream will be impossible without Germanys approval, said Belogoryev.

Moreover, Germany supports the Nord Stream 2, which to some extent can be considered as an alternative project for the supply of Russian gas to the countries of Central Europe, including Austria and Hungary.

According to him, Russian gas is already being supplied to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and even in small volumes to Hungary via the Nord Stream 1. Thus, after the commissioning of Nord Stream 2, the only market remaining unreached by Gazprom will be the Italian market, concluded Belogoryev.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
MARTINSVILLE-Officials at the Virginia Museum of Natural History say last weekend's Dragon Festival was a success, one that could pave the way for more unique projects in the future.

In an interview with the Martinsville Bulletin, VMNH Marketing and Public Relations Manager Zach Ryder said that the June 17 festival drew 841 visitors. Of that number, he said, about 49 percent were from the Martinsville/Henry County and Danville/Pittsylvania County areas. Another 37 percent were from elsewhere in Virginia, principally the Roanoke Valley area. Finally, 12 percent came from North Carolina, mainly from the counties of Rockingham, Guilford, Forsyth and Stokes.

I think it pretty much met our hopes and expectations for attendance, Ryder said. This was the first Dragon Festival we had ever hosted. It was a bit different than the kind of festivals we would usually host. Were a science-based museum, so the ability to combine science with myth and folklore to create a really fun atmosphere was a great opportunity for us. Focusing a festival around dragons allowed us to reach an audience we might not have otherwise been able to reach.

In the coming days, Ryder said, museum staff will consider whether the Dragon Festival should be offered again next year, or even whether it might be an event offered every other year. It could also pave the way for other museum festivals that approach natural history from non-traditional angles.

Were definitely keeping our eyes open for opportunities to reach new audiences in unique ways, he said. [The] Dragon Festival is a perfect example of that.

In the more immediate future, Ryder said, the museums Dino Festival is slated for next month. In the past, the event has been called Dino Day and has taken place on a Saturday. In order to reach more people, Ryder said, this years event will span two days: Friday, July 21from 3-8 p.m. and Saturday, July 22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Museum visitors have mentioned in the past that they wanted to attend a museum festival but had to work on a Saturday, Ryder said, so expanding the Dino Festival to two days will offer options to better fit peoples schedules.

Were really excited about this Dino Festival, Ryder said. We have confidence that anyone with any curiosity about dinosaurs is not going to leave this festival disappointed. Were going to have a plethora of fossils, life-size cast skeletons, presentations by renowned paleontologists and were even going to have a panel discussion featuring the curators and researchers from the museum as well as others that participated in the most recent Wyoming dinosaur dig last summer. Well have a lot of the different fossils and bones that they collected out there to display. It will give visitors real first-hand knowledge of what its like to be a paleontologist and what they actually do out in the field.

The event will also feature the debut of a stegosaurus skeleton gifted to VMNH by the Smithsonian Institution.

This is the same stegosaurus that was the focal point of the National Museum of Natural Historys dinosaur collection for pretty much a century, Ryder said. The Smithsonian recently recast the specimen to better indicate a more lifelike pose and they were extremely generous in gifting this specimen to our museum. Its now going to be part of our permanent collection, and its going to make its debut at Dino Festival.

For more information on VMNH and its upcoming events, visit vmnh.net.
COLLINSVILLE  A Spencer man pleaded guilty Tuesday to soliciting a child less than 15 years old online.

Judge David V. Williams sentenced Arthur James Rowe Jr., 21, to 10 years in prison, with one year and eight months to serve and eight years and four months suspended on conditions including indefinite probation and 20 years of good behavior. Williams ordered Rowe to have no contact with the victim during the period of good behavior, as well as to register as a sex offender in Virginia.

According to the prosecution, the case involved a 13-year-old girl who lived in the Bassett area. Rowe talked with her through Facebooks Messenger application over a period of several months. Saved messages between the two show that the girl told Rowe her age and he shared his as well. Over the period of several months, those conversations turned to talk of wanting to see each other and eventually about loving each other.

At some point, the girls guardian became aware of the conversations, found them to be inappropriate and confiscated all the girls electronic devices. Then on Nov. 12, 2016, the guardian got on the device while at his residence in Bassett and had a conversation with Rowe, pretending to be the girl. During that conversation, Rowe sent a sexually explicit photo through Messenger and engaged in what was deemed as inappropriate conversation.

After receiving the sexually explicit photo from Rowe, the guardian called 911 and reported it. Rowe was then arrested on Nov. 15, 2016 and asked to speak to an officer. According to police, he said he was completely in the wrong for doing what he did and he knew it was wrong from the beginning.

MARTINSVILLE CIRCUIT COURT

Drug, credit card forgery and larceny cases were among those heard Tuesday in Martinsville Circuit Court.

Travis Dontae Hairston of Martinsville pleaded guilty to distributing cocaine-second offense. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with three years active and seven years suspended on conditions including three years of supervised probation. The charge stems from an incident Oct. 9, 2013.

The prosecution dropped but could reinstate two charges against Hairston, including distributing cocaine-second offense and distribute oxycodone-second offense.

In another case, Marvin Nathaniel Redd of Martinsville pleaded guilty to distributing cocaine. A judge ordered a presentence report and set sentencing for Sept. 14. The charge stems from an incident June 15, 2016.

Ayshly Eloise Martin of Fieldale pleaded guilty to three counts of credit card forgery. A judge took the cases under advisement (meaning put off final judgment) and set a court hearing for June 7, 2018. The offenses allegedly happened on Oct. 14, 2016.

Jammy Dee Miller of Martinsville, who was charged with grand larceny (a felony), pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of petit larceny (a misdemeanor). He was sentenced to 12 months in jail, all suspended on conditions including payment of $113 restitution. The offense allegedly happened on Nov. 21, 2016.

Graylin E. Claybrooks of Martinsville, who was charged with assault and battery of a family or household member--third or subsequent offense (a felony), pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of misdemeanor assault and battery of a family or household member. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail. The offense allegedly happened on Dec. 18, 2016.

Andre Harrison Philpott of Martinsville pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender. Sentencing was set for July 20. The offense allegedly happened on Aug. 18, 2016.

Andrea Nicole Oakes of Martinsville pleaded guilty to obtaining prescription by fraud. A judge put off entering a final judgment and set a court hearing for June 7, 2018. The offense allegedly happened on Jan. 2, 2016.

PATRICK COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

Jacob Edward Montgomery of Patrick Springs pleaded guilty to three counts of distributing schedule 1 or 2 controlled substance. A judge ordered a presentence report and set sentencing for Sept. 27. The offenses allegedly happened on June 30, Oct. 28 and Nov. 3, 2015.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR, along with other interested companies, signed a memorandum of understanding on implementation of the Eurasia project, which envisages development of the Caspian Depression in Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Energy Ministry said June 21.

The memorandum was also signed by KMG Eurasia LLP, Agip Caspian Sea B.V., RN-Exploration LLC, CNPC International Ltd., and NEOS GeoSolutions. From the Kazakh side, the memorandum was signed by the Energy Ministry and the Committee of Geology and Subsoil Use of the Kazakh Ministry for Investments and Development.

Talks will be held on key commercial, technical and contract conditions of the Eurasia project for signing a contract for geological exploration of the Caspian Depression in line with the legislation of Kazakhstan.

The Caspian Depression is a low-lying flatland region encompassing the northern part of the Caspian Sea, the largest enclosed body of water on Earth. Probable reserves in the Caspian Depression are estimated at 60 billion tons of oil. The projects implementation is expected to provide the oil and gas industry of Kazakhstan with a stable source, letting avoid the decline in production, which may occur in 15-20 years, and it will also become the foundation of the country's energy security.

The Eurasia project is supposed to consist of three stages. The estimated cost of the three stages is about $500 million.
LUDLOW -- Iron Duke Brewing will continue booking food trucks and live music at its brewery in the Ludlow Mills Complex for the foreseeable future under a preliminary injunction issued this week.

Hampden Superior Court Judge Edward J. McDonough cited an ambiguously worded lease, more than two-years of incident-free operation and Iron Duke's support from the community in an 11-page ruling issued Tuesday in Springfield.

The order stays in place until the case goes to trial or is settled. A trial date could be a year from now or later, according to Iron Duke co-owner Nicholas Morin.

Iron Duke is known for putting jokey on its beers like Bad Hombres Mexican Lager, Baby-Maker Irish Porter and, in a nod to its legal dispute with landlord Westmass, Eviction Notice Black IPA.

Westmass Area Development Corp., the nonprofit economic development agency that owns and is redeveloping the Ludlow Mills complex, had argued that the food trucks and live music violated Iron Duke's lease. That lease, signed in 2014, allowed for the space to be used as a microbrewery with a tasting room.

Westmass president and CEO Eric Nelson had no comment Wednesday

Westmass has "No Comment " .

But in the past it has argued that Iron Duke's tasting room evolved into a tap room. With the addition of food and music, the brewery was generating more traffic and taking up more space and parking capacity in the complex than the lease allowed.

McDonough was unswayed saying that the food trucks and performances are part of a microbrewery.

"It is not unheard-of that food and live music go quite well with beer," he wrote.

He added that he thinks a jury is likely to side with Iron Duke and that the harm it would face in lost business without the food trucks and music outweighs the potential harm Westmass might face now that they are allowed on the property. That's the standard for issuing a preliminary injunction

Westmass argued that Iron Duke creates what could be a dangerous situation by attracting cars to the parking lot filling more than its allotted 20 space and by restricting movement with the placement of food trucks. The developer also fears the impact of excessive alcohol consumption.

McDonough wrote that it appears to him that Iron Duke hosted the music and food until late 2016 with Westmass' knowledge. He also couldn't find evidence of complaints from fellow tenants, the public or from a public safety official.

"There is no evidence before me that these worries have or will likely materialize in the future," the judge wrote.

Westmass bought the 170-acre Ludlow Mills complex six years ago for $6 million.

In the last six years, Westmass has brought in more than $135 million in public and private investment to the site, including plans for a $60 million project of 100 to 136 market-rate apartments announced last year by WinnDevelopment. WinnDevelopment also has a $24.5 million senior housing project on the property, and there is a new $26 million HealthSouth rehabilitation hospital.

Iron Duke's disagreement with Westmass and the possibility that Iron Duke could have been evicted went public in January when a group of fans started an online petition in support of Iron Duke. That petition gained more than 3,600 signatures.

Then the story quieted down as both sides tried to work it out. Morin said Wednesday that Iron Duke has had limited food an music fo rthe last few months while it tried to work things out.

Both sides were in court Tuesday for a hearing.

"We have a long road ahead for our business but this is a step in the right direction," Morin said.

Morin and fellow co-owner Mike Marcoux opened Iron Duke in the Ludlow Mills complex in November 2014 and invested between $500,000 and $600,000 in the brewery and tasting room. They still have more than two years left on the lease.

The brewery is open four days a week: Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. it's beers are also available at area bars and restaurants and from package stores. A full list is online here.
WEST SPRINGFIELD -- The state's Economic Assistance Coordinating Council on Wednesday approved tax incentives that will help Agri-Mark with its multimillion-dollar expansion plan in West Springfield.

The deal for the farmer-owned cooperative was approved through the Economic Development Incentive Program, which also announced tax incentives to help grow 15 other commonwealth companies. Collectively, the projects are expected to create 644 jobs and retain 2,196 existing jobs, leveraging around $359 million in private investment.

In West Springfield, the Agri-Mark project was initially billed as a roughly $12 million investment that would create about a dozen jobs at the facility at the corner of Riverdale Street and Morgan Road.

City officials recently approved a five-year tax break for Agri-Mark that was expected to save the company around $240,000 over the lifespan of the TIF, or tax increment financing agreement.

On Wednesday, however, state officials said the Agri-Mark project represents a roughly $17 million investment that's expected to create 16 new jobs and retain 115 current positions.

The expansion is expected to produce around $160,000 in new annual tax revenue for West Side, according to Mayor Will Reichelt, who pushed for the TIF. The Town Council unanimously approved the tax deal in May.

"They're willing to make this investment if we're willing to give them back a portion of their tax dollars over the first five years," Reichelt said of the TIF agreement with Agri-Mark.

Agri-Mark markets about $3.2 billion gallons of milk and dairy products, including Cabot cheese, for 1,075 dairy farms across New England and New York.

The state's Economic Development Incentive Program is the state's investment tax credit program for businesses. EDIP tax credits and other incentives are available to companies that make qualifying investments in new facilities and create new jobs.

Gov. Charlie Baker praised Agri-Mark and the other firms for their "commitment to expanding and investing in their local communities and providing careers for those looking for work."
Jennifer A. Dorgan, owner of Piece of My Art Studio in Westfield, was looking for a way to give back through art and share that experience with some of her teenage students. "It's important for artists to know that their gift can really impact anyone in need, and it's a therapeutic release for them to use their hard- earned skills to make someone else feel good who needs a boost," she said.

That's why she got involved with The Memory Project, a nonprofit organization that invites art teachers and their students to create and donate portraits to youth throughout the world who have faced substantial challenges such as neglect, abuse, loss of parents, violence and extreme poverty.

Dorgan chose five of her best portrait artists - ages 15 and 16 - to work on portraits of underprivileged children from Tanzania.

The purpose of the portraits is to help the recipients feel valued and important, to know that people care about their wellbeing and to act as meaningful pieces of personal history in the future.

"I can only hope that in receiving their portraits that these Tanzanian kids, who live very different lives than many American kids, will feel important, valued, beautiful, respected and admired," Dorgan said.

For the art students, this was an opportunity to creatively practice kindness and global awareness.

"I thought it was a good idea to help unfortunate people in the world," said 16-year-old Elizabeth L. Baker, of Westfield, a sophomore at Westfield High School who has been a student at the studio for about five years.

Her portrait was of an 11-year-old girl with "extremely white teeth" and a pretty smile, Elizabeth described. "I hope it made her feel like other people around the world care about her."

Elizabeth has art class for two hours a week and worked on the portrait for about three weeks. Now she is working on an acrylic painting of a scene from the movie "Song and the Sea."

Art, she said, "makes me relaxed and happy," and she is thinking about becoming an art therapist.

Her preferred media is watercolors, but she acknowledges she is better with acrylics.

The portrait of the Tanzanian girl was not her first portrait; she likes doing them and began with portraits of favorite celebrities.

For The Memory Project, representatives of global charities that operate residential homes, schools and care centers throughout the world submit photos of children and teens; participating art teachers receive full-page color prints and digital copies along with plastic sleeves to protect the finished portraits. The art teachers work with their students to create the portraits, and The Memory Project representatives deliver them to the children and teens.

The Piece of My Art Studio group began the project in April and completed seven 9-inch-by-12-inch portraits of different children; each student completed one, and Dorgan did two.

All chose to use graphite on paper with an acrylic or colored-pencil background.

"This really boosted their self esteem and gave them a sense of accomplishment in something they can do to help out in the world," Dorgan said.

Since 2004 the project has generated more than 100,000 portraits for children in 43 countries.

Dorgan has 75 students, children and adults.

She plans to repeat the portrait project at the end of summer and to do it two or three times a year indefinitely. "This is a win/win for my students and the recipients," she said. "My students get excellent portrait practice and a good feeling of purpose in using their art to inspire happiness in someone else."
NEW YORK -- MGM Resorts International has lost another round in a court fight aimed at giving it leverage against Native American tribes in Connecticut as they compete over casino customers.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan agreed Wednesday that a Connecticut judge was right to dismiss MGM's lawsuit against the state. MGM claimed it was placed at a competitive disadvantage. It says Connecticut created a special registration pathway for the state's two federally recognized tribes to build casinos on non-tribal land.

The appeals court called MGM's fears speculative. It noted that the developer of casinos and other commercial gaming enterprises has no specific plans to develop a casino in Connecticut.

"A purely abstract competition, based only on MGM's expression of 'interest' and some preliminary studies, without any concrete steps toward a bid for a Connecticut casino, is insufficient," the ruling reads.

In a statement, Uri Clinton, senior vice president and legal counsel for MGM Resorts, said the company remains "undeterred in our goal of having the opportunity to compete in Connecticut."

Clinton cited a footnote in the ruling to argue that the company might still have grounds to challenge Connecticut's new casino statute, which has passed in the legislature but is awaiting Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's signature.

"Our conclusion does not rule out the possibility that MGM's alleged harm may at some future point become sufficiently imminent," the court's ruling reads. "That possibility, though, is at this time only hypothetical and we therefore need not address it."

Clinton said if the bill becomes law, "the 'hypothetical' immediately becomes reality."

The casino company's MGM Springfield project is slated to open next year.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Nine-year-old Alex Munoz received an invitation reserved for mostly high-networking businessmen. On Tuesday the Weston third-grader became a CFO for a day, as well as the youngest shareholder in KIND snacks, after a penning a letter to the company's CEO and Founder Daniel Lubetzky.

According to CNBC, the letter was the result of a car-ride conversation between Munoz and his mother about investing. Munoz decided he wanted to invest $500 into KIND bars, which his family purchases, but soon realized he did not have the chance because it was a privately held company.

The letter Munoz wrote is as follows:

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

I received this adorable letter from 9 yo Alex Munoz. We'll be welcoming him to the @KINDSnacks HQ today & appointing him "CFO For A Day." pic.twitter.com/kcLLvLpp7G  Daniel Lubetzky (@DanielLubetzky) June 19, 2017

Lubetzky was so impressed that he decided to invite Munoz and his mom and sister to the snack bar company's New York City headquarters. The CEO offered Munoz 10 shares of the company, making him as the youngest shareholder the company has ever had "by a long shot."
Bakcell, the First Mobile Operator and Leading Mobile Internet provider in Azerbaijan, supported the launch of the second stage of Youth Career and Development Center project, implemented by the SOS Childrens Villages Azerbaijan Association Public Union.

During the first phase of project, implemented last year, 15 young people from SOS Childrens Villages joined Start and improve your business training sessions. 6 of them have developed complete business plans. During the next stage the experts from Bakcell, SOS Childrens Villages Azerbaijan Association and the International Labor Organization (ILO) will evaluate the presented business plans. Bakcell will financially support three business projects with best results during the evaluation process.

It should be mentioned, that the Youth Career and Development Center project is implemented in Baku by the SOS Childrens Villages Azerbaijan Association Public Union with the financial support of Bakcell as of January 2016. Throughout these years the project involved tens of young participants in the trainings on interview skills, CV composition, career development, accounting, the main skills for becoming an active member of the trade market and professional orientation and etc., held at the center supplied with all the necessary equipment. During the training sessions, the young participants have gained initial knowledge and skills related to career planning, finding vacancies and establishing relations with the employers, and basic IT skills needed for exploring job opportunities. Start and improve your business trainings, organized by the International Labor Organization (ILO) under this project is delivered by the international Master trainers and experts of the ILO.

Start and improve your business program is being applied in Azerbaijan on the state level by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, within the frames of execution of the nationwide self-employment program, in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev On additional measures aimed at ensuring self-employment of the population, dated 07 April 2016.

It should be noted that starting from 2009, within the frame of cooperation with the SOS Childrens Villages Azerbaijan Association, Bakcell has been providing its support to children and teenagers deprived from parental care and children from economically disadvantaged families.
For the truly callous, its a story that should be sarcastically accompanied by a song on the world's smallest violin.

On June 10, a $40,000 violin was reported missing after a woman set it down somewhere in South Station, as she boarded the T, MBTA police wrote in a statement. For 10 days, the priceless instrument was missing.

Transit Police Superintendent Richard Sullivan told The Boston Globe that the woman must have set the instrument down and forgotten about it when she boarded the train. She hadn't realized what happened until after the train made a couple of stops.

Sullivan said its not rare for people to leave things behind at the station.

On Tuesday night, police published a photo of an unknown individual in possession of what appeared to be the violin case. The MBTA urged the public to come forward with any information on the person.

"Information relative to the identity of the woman depicted is requested in an attempt to locate the violin and return it to the owner," MBTA police wrote.

However, later in the night, the MBTA police said the woman depicted in the photos was no longer a person of interest and "is assisting with the ongoing investigation."

Police then updated the statement to say the violin was located.

Its currently unclear if the woman in the photos returned the violin, although police said she definitely took possession of it.
Azercell Telecom LLC is launching a new campaign for its clients starting from June 20, 2017. All B2B subscribers that are legal entities can benefit from this favorable campaign named New Company. B2B subscribers joining the campaign may obtain Lenovo A2016 smartphone under Minimalist package or General Mobile 4G smartphone under Optimist package, for free.

Minimalist and Optimist packages offer a range of advantages for subscribers. Thus, apart from getting Lenovo A2016 for only AZN 19 per month under Minimalist package, the subscribers can also enjoy free corporate calls. In addition, the package provides 1000 minutes of on-net calls, 100 minutes of off-net calls and 100 SMS, plus 1GB internet.

The subscribers under Optimist tariff package get General Mobile 4G for only AZN 29 per month. Moreover, they obtain 3000 minutes of on-net calls, 300 minutes of off-net calls, 300 SMS, plus 30 minutes of international calls for free. In addition, the subscribers can enjoy free corporate calls and 3GB internet.

It should be noted that the campaign has been designed only for new post-paid subscribers. Individuals joining the tariff pack are not eligible for the campaign.

Subscribers may call 6050 for further information.

The leader of the mobile communication industry of Azerbaijan and the biggest investor in the non-oil sector Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 48% share of Azerbaijans mobile market Azercells network covers 80% of the territory and 99,8% of population of the country. Currently, 4,5 million subscribers choose Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, 24/7 Customer Care, online customer services, GPRS/EDGE, M2M, MobilBank, one-stop- shop service offices Azercell Express, mobile e-service ASAN signature, etc. Azercell deployed first 4G  LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012. According to the results of mobile network quality surveys of Global Wireless Solutions company and international systems specialized in wireless coverage mapping such as Opensignal and Testmy.net, Azercells network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 21

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

UN representatives are monitoring social indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Turkmenistan, the countrys government said in a message.

The expert mission is headed by Gereltuya Altankhuyag, according to the message.

Consultations are being held with the government of Turkmenistan and the UN country group on the processes to achieve SDGs integrated into socio-economic programs, which are being implemented in the country.

The meeting participants have highlighted the need to take a comprehensive approach to collective actions at all levels.

This envisages designing a system for measuring progress towards achieving the SDGs at ministries and agencies in Turkmenistan.

The meeting participants discussed the outcomes of the work done to analyze the existing statistical data, mechanisms for intersectoral interaction and ways of improving the system of national institutions responsible for achieving the SDGs adapted to Turkmenistans conditions and integrated into the countrys state policy.

Representatives of the State Committee on Statistics of Turkmenistan, a number of ministries of the country, including the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economy and Development, the State Committee for Environmental Protection and Land Resources took part in the meeting.
Montana Hydraulics Adds 3 Jobs and Local Option for Precision-cut Metal Parts

Montana Hydraulics has expanded its manufacturing capacity into custom metal laser cutting with the purchase of a Mazak Optiplex 3015 Fiber II.

This laser cutter offers superior edge quality, more stable cut performance and greater throughput for applications utilizing stainless steel, mild steel, copper, brass, aluminum and other exotic metals up to 1 inch thick. This machine enhances Montana Hydraulics? current machining and fabrication capabilities to provide highly-accurate products within shorter timeframes. With computer aided design, Montana Hydraulics can produce short-run specialty items, signs, prototypes and mass-produced precision parts for local and regional manufacturers.

"This machine will give us the capability to meet local and statewide demand for precision metal cutting with fast turnarounds and much tighter tolerances and higher precision." Aaron Kellum, Operations Manager

The new machinery has created 3 new jobs and will operate on two 8-hour shifts. It was installed in May and is scheduled for full productivity by mid-June.

Montana Hydraulics, LLC is a multifaceted industrial manufacturing company offering custom machining, fabrication and hydraulic services. Our large, technologically advanced, machine shop and fabrication capabilities enable us to manufacture equipment for extreme conditions and requirements.

Established in 1998, Montana Hydraulics LLC, has grown from exclusively manufacturing cylinders and hydraulics to a diverse customer base including mining, construction, underground utilities, railroads, timber processing machinery, waste management and aerospace tooling.

Full Story http://www.montanahydraulics.com/custom-laser-cutting/
In Darla Goeres lab on the third floor of Barnard Hall at Montana State University, the beer on tap is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. But when it comes out of the keg with a frosty head, its not for drinking.

Instead, Goeres and her collaborators at the Standard Biofilm Methods Laboratory in MSUs Center for Biofilm Engineering use the brew to study how to improve the taste of beer everywhere, by finding ways to better remove taste-altering biofilms from the plastic lines that carry beer from keg to tap.

"When you get a beer and have a sip and think that doesnt taste right, its probably because of biofilm," said Goeres, an associate research professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in MSUs College of Engineering.

By Marshall Swearingen, MSU News Service

Full Story: http://www.montana.edu/news/17001/msu-biofilm-researchers-study-ways-to-improve-taste-of-beer
People are responsible for their individual actions. But what about the company as an entity? In a new book titled The Moral Responsibility of Firms, authors Eric Orts and Craig Smith and contributor Amy Sepinwall argue that companies are indeed morally culpable.

Orts is a professor of legal studies and business ethics at Wharton and director of the schools Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership; Smith is a professor of ethics and social responsibility at INSEAD, and Sepinwall is a professor of legal studies and business ethics at Wharton.

Full Story: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/can-corporations-held-morally-responsible/
The Montana Department of Commerce works with statewide and local partners, private industry and small businesses to enhance and sustain economic prosperity in Montana. - Montana Is On The Move
Biomedical engineers have created an artificial, lab-grown tissue that mirrors natural cartilage.

The tissue, grown under tension but without a supporting scaffold, shows similar mechanical and biochemical properties to natural cartilage.

Articular cartilage provides a smooth surface for our joints to move, but it can be damaged by trauma, disease, or overuse. Once damaged, it does not regrow and is difficult to replace.

Posted by Andy Fell

Full Story: http://www.futurity.org/lab-made-cartilage-1464412/?utm_source=Futurity+Today&utm_campaign=9d9e709d1e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_06_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e34e8ee443-9d9e709d1e-203916893
"The thought I will plant in your heads is to think about the future of Montana," he said. "Would it be better or worse to have one Google appear in the next five years or have 50,000 citizens make an extra thousand bucks on the side? I think the latter would create more jobs, anyway."

Singh will be in Missoula for the Montana Tech Tour from June 27-29, an event hosted by local businesses to put a spotlight on the entrepreneurial ecosystem here.

DAVID ERICKSON [email protected]

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/local/tech-investor-discusses-challenges-opportunities-at-missoula-chamber-event/article_c30514ea-dc93-5f5e-a4c4-810c19ac4c9c.html

***

Join Global Tech Investor Paul Singh In Missoula For Montana Tech Tour June 27-29

http://www.matr.net/article-77626.html
Since Hilton announced its Big Five commitment to drive sustainable travel and tourism in Africa less than a year ago, the company has allocated $626,000 towards community partnerships and projects.

These drive impact and deepen positive social and environmental change in five key areas  Youth Opportunity, Water Stewardship, Anti-Human Trafficking, Local Sourcing, and Wildlife Protection.

Investments include hotel-level project funding as well as contributions through the newly founded Hilton Effect Foundation and Hiltons global partnerships with the World Wildlife Fund, International Youth Foundation, and Vital Voices.

Rudi Jagersbacher, President, MEA&T, Hilton said: Hilton is fully committed to Africa and the sustainable development of its travel and tourism sector. Our teams across the continent are empowered to invest in and scale up initiatives that build skills among young people, mitigate risks in human trafficking, engage local entrepreneurs across our supply chain, improve water efficiencies and promote responsible wildlife-based tourism.

Examples of Hiltons collaboration with local organizations in support of its Big Five commitment include:

Youth Opportunity  Hilton Transcorp Abuja, Nigeria partners with ACE Charity on its Business Empowerment Program for Women (BEPW) to provide skills and training opportunities for young women. Their latest project will see the BEPW participants trained in repurposing linen to create hotel uniforms and guest amenity bags saving around 50% on sourcing costs.

Water Stewardship  Hilton Garden Inn Lusaka, Zambia is tackling water access needs in the community by building a water pipe and pump with Village Water Zambia. This will specifically support local school children who are the most at risk from water-related illnesses.

Anti-Human Trafficking  Hilton Yaounde, Cameroon extends its partnership with the Womens Guild for Empowerment and Development to create integration programs and work experiences for women who have been victims of human trafficking.

Local Sourcing  Hilton Northolme, Seychelles will invest in a local hydroponic farm and its sustainable farming practices, in order to promote farm-to-table experiences for guests, and reduce the hotels reliance on imported vegetables and herbs by 40% and 100%.

Wildlife Protection  Hilton Nairobi, Kenya continues to sponsor six elephants in a local elephant sanctuary which cares for orphaned elephants and supports their reintegration into the wild. This commitment has been sustained now for more than five years.

Hilton has been operating continuously in Africa since 1959 and is committed to long-term sustainable growth across the continent. It currently operates a total of 47 hotels in Africa and has an active pipeline with a further 52 properties under development.

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Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 21

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

Turkmenistan is acting as a transcontinental economic bridge of interaction among the European, Asia-Pacific and South-Asian economic systems, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said.

He made the remarks at a meeting of the Turkmen State Security Council, the countrys State News Agency reported.

Turkmenistan has a strategic location for developing its own transport communications and increasing freight traffic along the International Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA), Berdimuhamedov said.

It was noted that Turkmenistan is turning into an international logistics center, and this is facilitated by the implementation of projects for the radical modernization and development of transport infrastructure.

Considering the growth of cargo flows passing through Turkmenistan, the work is underway to ensure compliance with the countrys customs legislation, as well as control over the transportation of goods across the border, implementation of freight and other operations, Turkmenistan State News Agency reported.

Berdimuhamedov noted that Turkmenistans integration into the world economic space requires respecting the priority of national interests and ensuring mutually beneficial partnership in the foreign market.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, June 21

By Demir Azizov Trend:

New appointments have taken place in Uzbek state structures in accordance with the decree of the countrys President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Inom Majidov has been appointed minister of higher and secondary special education of Uzbekistan, according to the presidential decree.

Majidov earlier served as acting first deputy minister of higher and secondary special education of Uzbekistan.

Rustam Kasimov, who previously served as minister of higher and secondary special education of Uzbekistan, has been appointed first deputy state advisor to the Uzbek president.

Adkham Ikramov, who earlier held this post, has been appointed head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

The trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan has increased greatly in the past two years.

This was announced at an intergovernmental meeting in Dushanbe June 21, headed by Tajik First Deputy Prime Minister Davlatali Said and Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Ulugbek Rosikulov, Asia-Plus News Agency reports.

In 2016, the trade turnover between the two countries hit $69 million, which is almost 6 times more than in 2015. In January-May 2017, the trade between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan exceeded $70 million.

The intergovernmental meeting was attended by businessmen of the two countries, who urged the two governments to cancel or simplify visa regime introduced in 2000. They noted that this will favor development of bilateral trade and economic relations.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19

Dalga Khatinoglu, Trend:

Trains of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan use Iran railroads without problem despite track width difference, Hossein Ashoori, Member of Board and Head of International Transportation at Iranian Railways told Trend June 19.

According to him, the width of Irans railroads is 1,435mm, but those of post-Soviet Union countries are 1,520mm.

Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan connected their railroads together to link Central Asia to Bandar Abbas port in Persian Gulf in 2015.

Currently the transit capacity of the project is 3 million tons per year, or a third of final capacity. The project would become full operational after the trains are electrified and some other work carried out in northern mountainous regions.

Ashoori said that Central Asian trains travels directly through Iran after bogie exchange operations at the border stations, Sarakhs, Lotfabad and Injeburun. Bogie exchange is a system for operating railway wagons on two or more gauges to overcome difference in the track gauge.

Ashoori said that last year, three million tons of cargoes transited from Iran to Turkmenistan (and Kazakhstan) or from Central Asia to Iran via railroad. The volume includes trade turnover.

He added that Iran has given 35-45 percent discount in transit fees in Central Asia- Pakistan route in 2017. For Central Asia-Turkey route, the discount was even 50 percent.

He said that the discount in transit fee is expected to encourage Iranian, Pakistani, Turkish and Central Asian businessmen to use Iranian railroads more often.
This week, a group of young people from the First Baptist Church of Marion will embark on a tour of Germany, Switzerland and England as part of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

And during the regular Sunday service, the congregation of First Baptist gave these young missionaries their commission and prayed for their safe travels.

Several months ago, the church announced the youth would embark on a mission trip to Europe during the summer of 2017. The focus of this mission trip would be music and it would take place during the 500th anniversary celebration of the Protestant Reformation. They would travel to Germany, Switzerland and England and see the places where this historic movement began.

The trip starts on Thursday and will last until Tuesday, July 4.

The mission is faith formation, said the Rev. Scott Hagaman, pastor of First Baptist. The group will celebrate the beginnings of the Reformation 500 years ago through the lives of Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin and others. The mission is engagement. The group will worship and fellowship with contemporary Lutherans, Baptists and Anglicans as we travel the cities of modern Europe. The mission is learning. The group will experience the culture and history of other lands and peoples. The mission is communion. The group will grow closer to God and one another as we share this tremendous journey together.

During this trip, the group will share Gods love through sacred music in worship at the American Church in Berlin, Germany. They will also sing in the town square and at a public vespers service in Wittenberg, Germany. It was in Wittenberg 500 years ago this year that Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses that challenged the Catholic Churchs sale of indulgences and sparked the Protestant Reformation. This religious movement profoundly changed Europe and consequently the rest of the world. The Reformation eventually led to the creation of the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and other Protestant denominations.

The group will also sing at the Baptist Church in Erfurt, Germany and at The Kings Cross Baptist Church in London, England. They will learn about the history of the Reformation, visit historic sites and connect with the contemporary church.

During Sundays service, the 36 members (24 youth and 12 adults) of the team were commissioned by the congregation.

The members of First Baptist pledged to pray for the team and their work. Both the youth and adults pledged to do their best as they seek to be Christs hands and feet along each step of the journey, reads a statement from the churchs Facebook page.

May God bless and protect them; may God allow this trip to strengthen their faith and dedication to God; may God use them to make a difference for Christ in the lives of individuals they come in contact with, reads the statement.

The 22 middle and high school students in the team are: Grace Anderson, Molly Anderson, Olivia Bell, Christopher Boyette, Kyle Boyette, Darcy Dean, Zoey Dean, Ben Hagaman, Tori Hensley, Savannah Jordan, Meredith Kearson, Zachary Kearson, Charlotte Moore, Markham Orange, Tyler Price, Ella Pyatt, Shelby Pyatt, Bethany Schmidt, Hunter Shook, Courtney Taylor, Morgan Whittemore and Avery Wilkerson. They are seventh grade through high school graduation; nine are recent high school graduatess and will be college freshmen in the fall.

The two college students are Emily Clark and Taylor Smith.

The 12 adults who will accompany them are Heather Anderson, Deb Ayers, Glynda Dean, Rev. Scott Hagaman, Jennifer Kearson, Lee Kearson, Natalie Morgan, Melanie Orange, Emily Roberts, Matt Roberts, Dan Smith and Ruth Wakefield.

Hagaman said various partners such as Baptist churches and denominational leaders in each country have helped make arrangements for this trip. Terra Lu Travel will be their guide in Germany and Switzerland.

They specialize in Reformation/Luther historical tours and are heavily involved in the Reformation 500th Anniversary Jubilee in Germany, said Hagaman.

Ruth Wakefield will lead the music preparations and direction. Matt Roberts will provide the faith formation leadership with the group, especially the youth.

I am the primarily leader for scheduling, logistics, general travel planning, and contact with local officials, said Hagaman.

He added the Alpha and Omega Youth Choir from First Baptist Church of Marion has been ministering through song for more than 40 years now through generations of young people.

Every other year, the choir travels to various locales throughout the United States, singing about Gods love in churches, hospitals, nursing homes and other venues, said the pastor. Summer 2017, the group is excited to tour Europe learning the history of the Protestant Reformation while also engaging the contemporary churches along the way.

He added the First Baptist Church's last choir tour of Europe was back in the mid-1980s.
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...
Tehran, Iran, June 21

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

31,549 tons of polymer was sold at Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) on June 20, IRIB news agency reported.

Also, 805 tons of heavy slack wax and 865 tons of bitumen were sold on the IME on the day.

The June 20 sale on the market also included 98 tons of rebar basket and 3,659 tons of steel bloom.

In the agricultural sector, 7,168 tons of barley, 150 tons of maize, 100 tons of oil, 400 tons of soy meal, 850 tons of white sugar, and 500 tons of wheat were sold.

The IME was founded in 2007. It trades in agricultural, industrial and petrochemical products in the spot and futures markets.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Germany has no alternative for the Incirlik Air Base, Hasan Terzi, editor-in-chief at the Turkish newspaper Son Talimat, told Trend.

The air base is a "door" to Russia, the South Caucasus, the Balkans and the Central Asia, Terzi said, adding, Germany will lose this opportunity by stationing its air force in Jordan.

Speaking of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans visit to Germany, where the sides are expected to mull the Incirlik base issue, Terzi noted that one should not expect any achievement during the visit.

Such important issues are not discussed during short-term visits. Typically, they are mulled by diplomats, he added.

The Turkish presidents visit to Germany is scheduled for July 7-8.

Earlier, the German authorities stated that Berlin temporarily suspends its participation in military operations against IS while withdrawing its forces from the Incirlik Air Base, and the responsibility for this lies with Ankara.

As a response, Turkeys National Defense Minister Fikri Isik noted that Ankara will not allow anyone accusing Turkey of harming the fight against the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) terrorist group. At the same time, he said Ankara does not intend to spoil relations with Germany.

Commenting on this, Terzi noted that relations between the countries are based primarily on national interests and not on emotions.

Terzi said millions of Turks living in Germany are a real power, and the allegations that Turkey may have an impact on Germany are not baseless.

However, despite the influence of the Turkish community living in Germany, Ankara will not risk the future, economic and social status of these German citizens, he added.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel visited Turkey on June 5 to discuss the presence of the German Air Force at the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.

Previously, Turkey blocked a group of German lawmakers from visiting the servicemen at the Incirlik Air Base prompting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to suggest that Berlin may consider moving 250 troops stationed at the air base to one of the neighboring countries.

In turn, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a possible withdrawal of the German Air Force contingent from the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey poses no problem for Ankara.

Germany, after withdrawing forces from the Incirlik Air Base, will station them in Jordan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Elmira Tariverdiyeva  Trend:

The entire world politics is experiencing turbulence, which, of course, affects everyone, Sergey Markov, Russian presidents confidant, told reporters in Baku June 21.

"Today, Russia continues to strengthen relations with Turkey, Markov, who is also member of the Russian Civic Chamber, said. In this regard, the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project, as part of which Russia is practically creating the Turkish nuclear industry, is interesting."

Markov added that Baku and Moscow continue to strengthen relations in various spheres beginning from military sphere and ending with tourism and agriculture.

"We are pleased with the development of tourism in Azerbaijan, he said. Tourists not only from Russia but also from Arab countries visit Azerbaijan to appreciate the brilliant tourist infrastructure created in the country."

Markov said that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is also important in the bilateral agenda.

Russia is quite active as a mediator in this process [the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement], he said. Kremlin has no contradictions with other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

"Today, the essence of the mediators' work is to help Azerbaijan and Armenia to start substantive negotiations for the sake of result, rather than for the negotiations, Markov said.

In my opinion, these negotiations are based on the Kazan formula, which envisages the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," the expert said.

He said that if the negotiations are not resumed at the end of the tourist season, it is possible to expect an aggravation of the situation on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

The OSCE Minsk Group tries to clarify the positions of Armenia and Azerbaijan today, bring both countries to the negotiating table and finally, bring the sides to reach a big peace treaty, the expert said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Speaking about the Russian military base in the Armenian city of Gyumri, Markov said that the base has more symbolic political significance than military one and Armenia needs it more than Russia.

Regarding the situation around the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress, Markov said that both sides of the dispute show restraint, however, the solution to this issue is the consensus of Baku and Moscow.

Taking into account high confidence between the Azerbaijani and Russian authorities, it can play a positive role in this process, he said. At the same time, the Russian side must show respect to the Azerbaijani side.
What goes through your mind in the moment before you walk into the room to see your next patient? A flurry of thoughts about all the patients youve already seen and the mountain of admin tasks you need to finish later today? Share on Pinterest Mindfulness techniques help some doctors to deal with the demands of the medical profession. But what if you paused  for just 3 seconds  as you touch the door handle, took a breath to be present, and let go of all that has gone before and all that is ahead of you? Everyone has time to do this, Ronald M. Epstein, M.D.  a professor of medicine at the University of Rochester in New York, a family and palliative care physician, and author of Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity  told Medical News Today. He uses the doorknob example in the many international lectures he gives each year on mindfulness, but readily admits that he is as skeptical as the next doctor. I dont like this touchy feely stuff. I am not a new age kind of person. I am very skeptical, Dr. Epstein explained. Some people say I cant stop my thoughts. Well, its not about stopping your thoughts  its about paying attention to them, he noted. For Dr. Epstein, mindfulness is a powerful tool for medical professionals in dealing with personal stress, being more compassionate, and reducing clinical errors. Anyone whose work involves immense human suffering needs to be aware of their inner life. The nature of the work that physicians do makes [them] more vulnerable to negative emotions or making errors, he added. With roots in Buddhism and yoga, mindfulness was brought to the West by University of Massachusetts emeritus professor of medicine, Jon Kabat-Zinn, M.D. Some of the medical advocates of mindfulness came to it through personal experience and have gone on to teach it to their fellow doctors. Dr. Gwen Adshead, a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist who has worked with distressed doctors in both the United States and the United Kingdom, is one of the founders of Mindfulness for Doctors. Dr. Adshead discovered mindfulness in 2008 while taking antidepressants for postnatal depression. I have not had a relapse since, she told MNT. It significantly improved my mood regulation. It gives me a much better sense of when thoughts and feelings come to my mind. I stop ruminating. But she, like most of its proponents, says that mindfulness is not a panacea, and, for those who are unwell, it needs to be part of a wider treatment plan.

Six mindfulness techniques to try today Are you looking for a way to focus and destress? Try these six mindfulness techniques today and see how other physicians have benefited from incorporating mindfulness into their daily lives. 1. Pause and breathe This is similar to Dr. Epsteins doorknob example and combines a number of other approaches. Pause, breathe, and notice, for example, your feet on the ground. Mindfulness Training Institute Australasia co-director Maura Kenny, who runs 6-week mindfulness courses for doctors, said, A surgeon who took the course told me that at tricky moments during operations, this has helped him stay calm and clear so he is better able to respond precisely as needed to the problem at hand. 2. Mindful meditation Using this meditation on the natural breath, be aware of the touch of the breath and the different sensations as you breathe. Exercise compassion by not being hard on yourself when the mind wanders, and gently return your attention to the breath. This Buddhist-derived practice is generally done seated  on the floor or sitting in a chair  but can be done on the move. Mark Williams, retired director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre in the U.K., suggests that you can do this for as little as 1 minute while sitting on a chair, all the while being aware of the spine, as well as the feet on the floor. 3. Awareness of feelings and thoughts Watch your thoughts come and go. You can also name individual thoughts  for example, this is anger. Some practices involve asking How do I feel? and naming the emotion. In his bestselling book Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World, Williams and co-author Danny Penman suggest viewing thoughts as clouds moving across a sky  with some dark and some light, some big and some small. They also advise noting the emotional charge that the thoughts bring, and letting them be. 4. Find your feet This is as simple as it sounds: when seated or standing, become aware of where your feet are, their position on the floor, the balance of weight between the two feet, and any sensations in them. This technique is also used in public speaking training. 5. Make ordinary tasks extraordinary Make tasks less of a routine by experiencing them as if for the first time, and with the inquisitive nature of a child. Dr. Epstein asks participants at his workshops to eat their lunch using their non-dominant hand. Similarly, this can be done when brushing your teeth or washing the dishes. The aim is to notice the activity itself. The same can be done when, for instance, walking in nature  take in the surroundings, sound, vision, and feel. Take yourself off autopilot when on a usual route or routine. 6. Body scan Lying down, bring awareness to different parts of the body, notice the bodys position in space, and take note of any sensations  both pleasant and unpleasant  while acting as a non-judgmental witness to the experience. The aim is to cultivate awareness and be present with whatever is happening. However, people also use it for sleep issues. Dr. Adshead said that she started with this practice, brought to prominence by Dr. Kabat-Zinn, and turns to it if shes having difficulty sleeping.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

The South Stream project, even if implemented, will not become a rival for the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), said Deputy Executive Director for Energy Studies at the Russian Institute for Energy and Finance Alexei Belogoryev.

The Southern Gas Corridor with its current parameters reaches Greece and Italy. It does not intersect and does not in any way compete with the South Stream, which, as expected, had to pass far to the north, he told Trend.

The South Stream could compete with the unimplemented Nabucco pipeline, which was supposed to run from Central Asia to the EU, according to Belogoryev.

Out of the ongoing projects, the second phase of Russias Turkish Stream project may to a certain extent compete with the Southern Gas Corridor, which will supply Azerbaijani gas to the EU, as it runs along the same route and to the same market, Italy, he noted.

On the other hand, the volume of gas offered to Europe by Azerbaijan as part of the Southern Gas Corridor project, and by Russia as part of the Turkish Stream project, is not so large for them not to be able to fit into the European market, he said.

The Azerbaijani and Russian gas deliveries are more likely to compete in Southern Italy with North African and Middle Eastern gas deliveries as well as LNG cargos in terms of price, than with each other, according to Belogoryev.

He also noted that any Russian pipeline project to supply gas to Southern and Southeast Europe will not be able to create problems for the Southern Gas Corridor, as this project was initiated earlier and is at a much more advanced implementation stage.

In addition, due to political reasons, the Azerbaijani gas will always be more preferable for European countries, at least in Southeast Europe and Italy, than the Russian gas, the dependence on which is perceived with certain strain, Belogoryev said.

Gazprom abandoned South Stream in late 2014 because the European Commission did not grant exemptions from 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, the project was replaced by Turkish Stream, which will pass through Turkey. Gazprom started construction of the offshore section of Turkish Stream in May 2017.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries 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.

As part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2, the 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.
Life is full of emotional highs and lows, ranging from enjoying an activity with a loved one and savoring a delicious meal to feeling hurt by a negative interaction with a co-worker or that recent scuffle with a family member. But when we let emotions from one event carry on to the next, such spillover can color our impressions and behavior in those new situations - sometimes for the worse.

Researchers at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are discovering what happens in the brain when such emotional spillover occurs and, for the first time, are able to pinpoint areas directly responsible. Their findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), a technique that produces a magnetic field that can temporarily "knock out" or inhibit activity in specific parts of the brain, the team discovered that when the lateral prefrontal area of the brain (a region known for executive function) was inhibited by the stimulation, participants showed more emotional spillover. In the experiment, they measured this by collecting people's ratings and first impressions of neutral faces they saw immediately after faces that were smiling (prompting positive emotions) or fearful (prompting negative emotions).

The findings, supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, are part of larger efforts to understand the complexity of the brain and what types of mental training or activities can best improve emotional reactions known to promote higher levels of well-being. TMS therapy is approved for depression by the FDA, and this work may shed light on why stimulating parts of the prefrontal cortex is successful in improving the ability to regulate negative emotions.

"It was interesting because participants saw the emotional faces very briefly," says Regina Lapate, Center for Healthy Minds collaborator and current postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the work. "And when asked afterward, they didn't think that they had been influenced by it in their ratings. Having their prefrontal cortex disrupted generated spillover onto their unrelated events that followed. Emotional spillover can happen without us being aware of it."

The team discovered that when the lateral prefrontal cortex was intact (when the brain was not inhibited by TMS), the person did not show spillover when viewing subsequent neutral faces. And when the opposite occurred - when the lateral prefrontal cortex was inhibited by TMS, emotional spillover occurred more frequently and with greater intensity. Three days later outside of the laboratory, participants still showed that emotional bias when asked to rate the same neutral faces, suggesting that the negative emotional spillover they first showed in the laboratory produced long-lasting, biased first impressions.

"If your first impression of someone is formed when you're experiencing emotional spillover from a previous context, that negative impression may stick," Lapate adds.

In addition, research on mindfulness meditation has been suggested to improve emotion regulation and connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and more emotion-centered areas of the brain such as the amygdala. If scientists know that there's a causal relationship between these areas of the brain, they can more accurately tailor interventions to target these areas and improve well-being.

"We are excited about this experiment because it demonstrates the causal role of the prefrontal cortex in regulating emotional behavior," says Richard Davidson, William and James Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry who worked on the study and directs the Center for Healthy Minds. "It invites the possibility that strategies that promote prefrontal engagement may have beneficial consequences for emotion regulation."

Next on Lapate's agenda is to test whether the reverse works - can TMS stimulation that increases neural firing in the prefrontal cortex lead to a decrease in negative emotional spillover? At the University of California, Berkeley, she'll continue exploring that question as well as how the lateral prefrontal cortex as a whole changes the neural coding for positive and negative information.

Meanwhile, the team at UW-Madison will further examine how contemplative practices may change emotional spillover and target these areas as measured by neural activity recorded in a brain scanner.

This study was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grants R01-MH43454 (to R. J. Davidson), P50-MH069315 (to R. J. Davidson), F32-MH113347 (to R. C. Lapate), and MH095984 (to B. R. Postle).

Article: Inhibition of Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Produces Emotionally Biased First Impressions: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Electroencephalography Study, Regina C. Lapate, Jason Samaha, Bas Rokers, Hamdi Hamzah, Bradley R. Postle, Richard J. Davidson, Psychological Science, doi: 10.1177/0956797617699837, published 14 June 2017.
Ophthalmologists urge practitioners to stop overprescribing antibiotics for a common eye infection that typically clears up without medication.

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.

Article: Antibiotic Prescription Fills for Acute Conjunctivitis among Enrollees in a Large United States Managed Care Network, Nakul S. Shekhawat, MD, MPH, Roni M. Shtein, MD, Taylor S. Blachley, MS, Joshua D. Stein, MD, MS, Ophthalmology, doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2017.04.034, published online 14 June 2017.
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 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 persistence - the 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."

This work was supported by the European Research Council and the ISF.
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 phenomenon - known as post-operative ileus or bowel paralysis - is 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 tissue - they 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."

Article: CCR2-dependent monocyte-derived macrophages resolve inflammation and restore gut motility in postoperative ileus, Guy E Boeckxstaens, Gianluca Matteoli et al., GUT, doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2016-313144, published online 14 June 2017.
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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 applied -- 3 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.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, Columbia University Medical Center assistant professor of Pediatrics 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."Source: Eurekalert
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Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram, Thiruvananthapuram - This one is more for beginners, for it starts with the basic understanding of meditation, focusing on both practice and theory. A typical course is for six days with a class of 90 minutes for each day. Apart from the basic meditation practices, the chanting of mantras to ease focus while meditating is one of the main features of this place.Phool Chatti Ashram, Rishikesh - Nestled deep in the Shivaliks at Rishikesh, this one offer beginners and intermediate courses in yoga. Usually running for seven days, there are two sessions of the same; one for spring and one for autumn. The courses here include yoga asanas (postures), meditation, breathing (pranayama), cleansing, chanting, yoga principles, mauna (silence), pooja (worship), kirtan (sacred singing) and more, while letting you experience the life of an ashram.Ananda in the Himalayas, Narendranagar - One of the most sought after spas in the country, Ananda is also known for its yoga retreats. A group of yoga experts will guide you through the revolutionary practices of hatha yoga and Satyananda Yoga. The focus of the programmes here is to aid you in attaining a work life balance. The various forms of meditation that you can practice at Ananda are Psychic Sleep, Chakra Cleansing, Inner Silence, Chidaksha Meditation and more.Yoga Vidya Spiritual Retreats, Kochi - This one started as an initiative by a group of yoga teachers to bring the benefits of yoga to the masses, while also allowing them the rich experience of Ashram life. While trained yoga performers help you bring in your sync your body and soul, you can pick from a number of programmes designed for beginners as well as experts, depending on your proficiency of the practices.Ayurveda Yoga Meditation Resort, Coonoor - Ayurveda, yoga, reflexology, acupressure, or just strolling around amidst natural bounty, this one offers it all. Add to it the panchakarma detoxification programme, weight loss programme, advanced therapies to deal with depression, and you've a perfect getaway from the din of cities. There are some five packages to choose from, while you get to stay amidst tea plantations.Tushita Meditation Centre, McLeodganj - Apart from guided meditation and spiritual discourses, you can also opt for sessions on Buddhism. Located in McLeodganj, Tushita Meditation Centre exile of the Dalai Lama in India, there's the added treat that comes as "movie days" and more, when you can join the other followers for interactive sessions. You can choose from personal and group retreats. Giving you company here are the usually snow laden Dhauladhars.Osho Meditation Resort, Pune - Situated at Koregaon in Pune, Osho Meditation Resort is a hub of meditation. There are a number of workshops, courses, massage options and the much followed Daily Meditation Program. Spread over an area of 28 acres, it's a perfect retreat for the people of nearby Mumbai. If not meditation, you can simply stay here or go for a swim in the campus pool. There are people from more than a 1000 countries coming in for meditation here.Dhamma Giri, Igatpuri - If Vipassana is what you are aiming to indulge in, Dhamma Giri is just the place for you. The course is for a minimum of ten days, presided by SN Goenka, one of the pioneers in the field of Vipassana. Considered to be one of the best meditation forms for self awareness, Vipassana is one of the toughest forms too. The meals served here are strictly vegetarian, while you can choose dormitories, single occupancy rooms and double occupancy rooms to stay here.Source: ANI
Buddha wasn't in a meditation hall; he was in the forest. Reasons for mentioning thisyou can't expect to be one with nature' when you're in the confines of your air-conditioned room practising your yogasana. You can't make the best of a Surya Namaskara if you're sitting within four walls of a room. Yoga is about connecting with your mind and soul, as well as nature. It's about transcendence in the physical as well as mental realm. It's holistic and in order to reap the full benefits, Yoga should be practised in the outdoors, as much as possible. It's about getting a constant supply of fresh air and surrounding yourself with the roots of this world, literally.

 Natasha Noel at JW Marriott Mussoorie

Well known Yogini and TED Talk speaker, Natasha Noel has been one to propagate outdoor yoga and its benefits. Yoga in itself is beneficial. But doing it outdoors puts the cherry on the cake, she says. While I say, yoga' I don't only mean asanas' or postures' but also pranayama or yogic breathing and Dhyana' or meditation. Natasha has performed and done yoga in almost every outdoor locale she has set foot on; her most recent being at the JW Marriott Mussoorie Walnut Grove Resort & Spa. She describes yoga as an inward journey for bettering oneself emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. As adults, we don't always give ourselves permission to move our bodies and play outdoors, to put our hands on the ground, to just stare up at the sky. When we do, it's invigorating!

 Instagram

One look at her Instagram feed and you'll feel inspired by the way Natasha transforms just about any outdoor area into her own yoga mat. From her postures to her flexibilityshe makes you want to stop everything you're doing, get off your chair and switch to Yoga right away. This International Yoga Day, she takes some time out of her day, to list out the reasons why she switched to outdoor yoga and why everyone should embrace the practice, too, for a healthier lifestyle and more positive state of mind.

1. You awaken your senses

You smell the flowers or wet earth, you feel the grass under your feet, you listen to the birds chirping or the bees buzzing, the vibrant colors of the luscious green and sky blues are healing for the eyes. Your senses become heightened. Hence natural scenery can heighten ones awareness.

2. You start listening

When your outdoors there are no cars honking or busy people running around, where one can get lost in their hectic life and chaos of their own mind. But when you are with nature, one automatically calms down and you start listening to your thoughts. You start understanding what you need because you have finally started listening to yourself.

3. Improve your balance

Depending on your mindset, it can be difficult to find the perfect place to practice yoga and meditation outdoors. By accepting nature as it is with all the lumpy bumps under your mat, you will improve your physical balance immensely. While I wouldn't recommend practicing everyday on an uneven surface, the benefits do include increased strength of the leg and core muscles you may not normally tap into for stabilization. Also, practicing yoga outdoors can offer an opportunity to balance one's emotional need for control and perfection. By embracing life without trying to modify it, you devote more energy to allowing, accepting and enjoying the perfect imperfections.

4. Gain energy

Did you know that spending time outside actually gives you more energy? Studies show that being outside triggers signals to our brains that the body is in its natural environment and triggers the senses to stay alert, therefore giving you more energy! If you do an outdoor practice after a long day, it's sure to give you a second wind.

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5. Alleviates stress

Doing yoga alone takes away one's stress but when one does it in nature, it is even more cathartic. Studies have shown that people who are exposed to a forested environment more often have far less stress than those who are only in urban environments. The practice, called Shinrin Yoku, a Japanese term, which means taking in the forest atmosphere or forest bathing, has been proven to have various positive physiological effects on the body, according to a study conducted by the National Centre For Biotechnology Information, US.

6. Improves respiration

Because one breathes in fresh air, it naturally makes ones respiration stronger as cleaner oxygen is going in to the lungs making one more alert and improving their depleted energy.

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7. Vitamin D

We are creatures of nature, always have been, always will be. So take advantage of your natural connection with nature and get outside with your practice!

8. Allow yourself to open up to something greater

Being outside in contact with mother earth and father sky connects you to your ancestors who made it possible for you to be on the mat today and at the same time breath out your legacy for all those that come after you. Your breath will be bigger, your gazing point (drishti) will feel more limitless by looking up at the sky, and you can easily be moved towards a more inward place. Don't be surprised as you move into the koshas, layers of yourself, that you cry, laugh, and feel the largeness of you when outdoors.

9. Practising outdoors aligns you with nature

It is just amazing for your skin, your inner glow, and connecting to the greatest of living things, our planet. There are bugs, annoying noises, messes, rain, and some changing temperatures to add to our practice. But this is our planet. All of those aspects are part of the living entity that is Earth. In balance we have some of the most amazing sunsets, gorgeous views of turquoise, greens, blues and whites blending into each other, and the fresh feeling of being in Paradise. I encourage any serious yogi to develop a meditation and asana practice outside to balance your inner, controlled practice. It is not only a benefit to ourselves, but a means of loving and appreciating our planet. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali explain that perfection in our practice is achieved when we are unaffected by the dualities. That is our goal, on the mat, and off. Then we can become true yogis full of compassion and presence.
Less than a month is left for the premiere of Game of Thrones Season 7 and the channel is teasing us with teasers now and then, making us restless.

It definitely looks like the latest season will finally show the tension between the Lannisters and Targaryens over the Iron Throne.

A new footage was shown at a special Madrid exhibit and all the GOT fans were given a glimpse of what might happen in this new season. Well none of us can actually travel all the way to Spain but luckily for us HBO has shared a footage giving us a sneak peak as well.

Wondering what does the clip offers? Finally, there will be a battle for Casterly Rock. Daenerys army is shown charging a Lannister gate, now this definitely is something we can't wait to see. The clip also introduces us to a new character and shows us John Snow's declaration as well.

Here's what all is expected to happen. You blink once and you will miss out on a lot!

Who Is The New Maester Of Citadel?

 GameOfThrones_HBO

Well, who is this new person? Wearing robes of a maester and with ancient books all around him, it looks like he is the Citadel at Oldtown. One can assume that this place will play a very important part now that Jon Snow's most trusted confidant Samwell Tarly is there. Jim Broadbent might be playing this character.

And The Dragons Are Here

 GameOfThrones_HBO

The latest footage gives us a sneak peak into various battles between Daenerys' Unsullied, Lannisters and Dothraki. In fact, we can bet that there will be one war between Lannisters and Dany's army. Maybe this is the time when Daenerys; Mother of Dragons will use them to roast some Lannister soldiers.

John Snow At North Of The Walls?

 GameOfThrones_HBO

Looking at Jon's attire many fans are claiming that he is at North of The Walls to fight the White Walkers. Well, that is going to be one hell of a fight.

What Is Daenerys Up To This Time?

 GameOfThrones_HBO

Daenerys is all set in this season to take the Iron Throne. No one can stop here and who stops her will have a tough time fighting her dragons.

John Snow Taking Charge

 GameOfThrones_HBO

The preview video has a new dialogue that captures everyone's attention where John is seen telling the nobles, "yesterday's wars don't matter; the North needs to band together."

Jamie Back In Action!

Jamie Lannister is back taking charge of the force. Are they getting ready for the war with Daenery's Unsullied? We just can't wait to see that happening!

Game of Thrones' Season 7 premieres on July 16 on Star World in India.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

Trend:

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday appointed Vladimir Voronkov, Russia's Ambassador to International Organizations in Vienna, to head a newly created UN Counterterrorism Office, Reuters reports.

The 193-member UN General Assembly approved the creation of a UN Counterterrorism Office last week, which will help states implement a global counterterrorism strategy adopted by the General Assembly in 2006.

The strategy, which has been reviewed every two years, aims to address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism, measures to prevent and combat terrorism, build states' capacity to do so, and ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law as the basis for the fight.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd know we are ruining our planet. Global warming is already beginning to cause ripples across the world. The permafrost layer at the poles is melting and threatening to introduce long-gone diseases and pathogens in the world. The modern way of life is generating too much of carbon emissions and unrecyclable trash.

Celebrated theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has spelled out doom for the earth, and he's minced no words. Hawking has given humanity 100 years to pack its bags and move to another planet. He says the earth has over a 100 years more till we ruin it with climate change, epidemics and overburdening of resources.

 Reuters

Hawking's stern warning came before the release of Expedition New Earth, his new BBC documentary. It is interesting to note that last year, he had predicted a 1000 years for us to survive on Earth. Too much damage in a single year, we guess.

 Reuters

Hawking also criticised US president Donald Trump for his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. Unlike Donald Trump, who may just have taken the most serious and wrong decision on climate this world has seen, I am arguing for the future of humanity and a long-term strategy to achieve this, he said.

 Wikimedia Commons

Considering the fact that NASA discovered about 10 more habitable planets like earth in the Milky Way recently, Hawking's suggestion doesn't seem too bizarre. Scientists have already been eyeing Mars as a potential colony as it's the closest to earth and water has been found on it. But of course, the actual colonization of Mars is but a distant dream.

The earth is dying under the weight of our careless lifestyle. Think about it before you toss that plastic cup into the bin after a single use.
It is the day to mark the importance of Yoga and we tried finding some inspiration in rejuvenating literature which enlightened us about the benign practice of Yoga. However, no amount of videos or text helped us pick up the mat until we came across these beautiful women on Instagram who definitely give hot yoga' a whole new meaning.

Did my first handstand today post-knee surgery, and it felt so good to be upside down! Does anyone else get an instant dose of happiness from being inverted? ? A post shared by Liz Arch (@lizarch) on May 29, 2017 at 7:42pm PDT

"If we own the story, then we can write the ending." -Brene Brown . ?@robertsturman A post shared by Liz Arch (@lizarch) on May 10, 2017 at 12:50am PDT

The energy is flowing in every direction!

This gorgeous lady has the flexibility of a rubber band or what!

Late post from Saturday. Did this when I was hungry and tired and after several times of failures so I have to post this to show respect to my own hard work ? #spinner #spinnerchallenge Leggings from @minne.id ??? A post shared by Yenny Christine (@yennychristine) on Jun 4, 2017 at 5:16pm PDT

Stretching with Mr. Piano Stool ? A post shared by Yenny Christine (@yennychristine) on May 9, 2017 at 11:18pm PDT

What is better than one hot lady doing yoga? Two beautiful women stretching out in the sun. That's what!

Bend in bliss ? upcoming backbend workshops: Ft Lauderdale FL Clovis CA Arlington VA Wooster OH Teacher trainings & retreats! All info : www.fitqueenirene.com - link in my bio! Photo by @dtufino_photo with the incredible @luminikki A post shared by Irene Pappas (@fitqueenirene) on Mar 8, 2017 at 6:31pm PST

I love to see my students making progress in physical asana, but for me that is secondary to progress of the soul. @eleonorazampatti you are a gift in my life, I'm grateful to call you my student but even more grateful to call you my friend. ? @brookemichellej A post shared by Irene Pappas (@fitqueenirene) on Apr 25, 2017 at 9:42am PDT

Deepika Mehta is the stuff that Yoga dreams are made of. Hot woman, tapping some positive vibes.

It's time you enrol yourself in a class now.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Iraq will not allow holding any referendum that could lead to a split in the country, Iraqi media cited Salim Abdullah al-Jabouri, speaker of the Iraqi parliament, as saying June 21.

He stressed that at present, the fight against the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) terrorist group must be the priority for everybody.

Iraqs Kurdish Autonomous Region is firmly determined to hold the independence referendum, Masoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, said earlier.

Barzani stressed that everything has been prepared for holding the referendum.

"Iraqs Kurdish Autonomous Region does not intend to postpone the independence referendum each time," Barzani said.

Barzani noted that the referendum is scheduled for September 25.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that those in Iraqs Kurdish Autonomous Region should understand that they are not alone in the region and there are also Arabs and Turkomans living there.

Iraq's territorial integrity is a priority for Turkey, Erdogan said.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 21

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Qatar has an alternative plan with Turkey if a number of Arab countries continue to isolate Doha politically and economically, Qatars media cited the countrys Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani as saying June 21.

Qatars foreign minister stressed that it is too early to disclose the details of the plan, however Oman also supports the existing plan.

He added that Qatar will not allow anyone to interfere in its internal affairs.

"The activity of Al Jazeera TV channel and the relations between Qatar and neighboring countries are the internal affairs of Doha, therefore no country is entitled to interfere in Qatar's internal affairs," al-Thani said.

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, the authorities of Libya, Yemen, as well as the Maldives and Mauritius also announced about severing diplomatic relations with Qatar.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
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Brands sometimes develop in unexpected ways. And its sometimes all the more unexpected when the brand itself is not your usual watch company. This is the case of Lebeau-Courally  a manufacturer of prestigious collectors hunting rifles, possible the most prestigious in the world, turned watchmaker, and subsequently watch manufacture (with the incorporation of IMH in Le Locle)  all in the space of barely five years!



The companys dual Belgo-Swiss DNA is expressed in two collections: the Heritage and the Manufacture. The historic pieces of the former reflect the companys firearms heritage, while the latter comprises 100% original manufacture creations, of which there are currently two  the Phase de Lune and the Micro II, the in-house micro-rotor unveiled at the most recent Baselworld. But it is in an intermediate sector that the brand has recorded its strongest growth recently: event-specific limited editions. Its a two-pronged approach intended to win new clients.





Micro II  Lebeau-Courally

The first events took place on Lebeau-Courallys home soil, in Belgium. We began by focusing on two prestigious local events, Jumping Antwerp and the Zoute Grand Prix, in the coastal resort of Knokke-le-Zoute, explains Laurens Peeters, Managing Director of watchmaking for Lebeau-Courally. In each case, we produced limited editions of a few dozen pieces based on our Le Baron model. They flew off the shelves in record time and are now sold out.The status of these events was clearly commensurate with that of Lebeau-Courally: they are elitist and prestigious. The companys gunsmithing arm produces around twenty rifles per year, of unrivalled quality. They are all handmade, engraved in Liege and 100% unique. Some of them require up to two years work. Lebeau-Courallys watchmaking division had no choice but to align itself with these standards. Jumping Antwerp is a 5-star equestrian event  the highest level  and the Zoute GP is one of Europes most prestigious motor racing events.The next logical step for Lebeau-Courallys was therefore to replicate this success beyond its borders. When the Zoute GP organisers mentioned a similar event in Sotogrande, in Spain, we signed up, continues Laurens Peeters. That also introduced us to the Iberian market, which was unknown to us, with a guarantee of the same level of quality. The manufacturer developed another limited series to take along, of which just a few pieces remain  a record for an event of this standing, on its very first edition.





Sotogrande Grand Prix  Lebeau-Courally

Sotogrande Grand Prix Limited Edition  Lebeau-Courally

Is this an expansion strategy worth pursuing? Lebeau-Courally seems to want to take a breather. We are entering a period of strong development, and other markets are beckoning, particularly China and Japan, explains Laurens Peeters. We put a great deal into the limited editions, but with a single aim: to promote our Manufacture collections. An event-related approach has proven profitable in this respect.



Now, the focus has turned to delivery of the new Phase de Lune and Micro II watches. The new models will be in shops this autumn. But WorldTempus is delighted to announced that Lebeau-Courally has scheduled one last event-specific launch: a limited edition with star DJs Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike. When and where can you buy them? This summer, in Ibiza. Where else?
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,...
The migration/refugee issue should be handled through fundamental principles of solidarity, respect for common decisions and international law, Alternate Foreign Minister G. Katrougalos stressed, speaking at today's meeting of the EU General Affairs Council, in Luxembourg. In this context, he considered it an omission not to include a reference to the European Convention on Human Rights and the relevant case law of the Strasbourg Court in the draft Conclusions of the European Council.

Mr. Katrougalos underscored the need for a holistic, and not fragmented, regulation of this major issue. As an example, he stated that it does not suffice for us to agree on the new asylum policies, which countries are considered "safe" with regard to the granting of asylum. We also need to ensure that there will be effective readmission agreements and procedures, so that reception countries do not become "black boxes" trapping people.

The Alternate Foreign Minister stressed the need to strengthen the autonomy of the Common Security and Defence Policy for the protection of European Citizens from external threats and fear, and to strengthen the Union's global role.

In the discussion on the relocation of European Organizations based in the UK, Mr. Katrougalos argued for the need to show flexibility and seek consensual solutions regarding the criteria to be implemented.

Earlier, Mr. Katrougalos participated in a meeting of Social Democrat European Affairs Ministers with the Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, on the subject of the need to strengthen rule of law in the European Union and restore the balance between the social and economic dimensions of European integration.
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The event began with a cocktail on the Rooftop of the Terrazza Gallia, the citys place to be, and continued with a unique culinary experience at the famous Cerea brothers three Michelin-star restaurant in Milans Excelsior Gallia Hotel. Building on the success of its launch at the start of the year, the Laureato is pursuing its epic journey and proved a great hit with the Italian press.

The Laureato now represents a complete family incorporated within the current Girard-Perregaux collection. Four sizes, four calibres, four materials: the Laureato range has been enriched and will continue to evolve while welcoming further horological complications.

The Laureato Skeleton

Haute couture touches, exquisite finishing: representing the latest addition to the Laureato collection, this watch with its metal bracelet is an exercise in watchmaking architecture. In creating this exceptional model, Girard-Perregaux has drawn on the origins of the Laureato, on the noblest inspirations, as well as on its own horological expertise.

Antonio Calce, CEO Girard-Perregaux : "We simply had to come to Italy. For me it feels entirely natural to be here in Milan, in the country where our iconic Laureato was born, because it was indeed an Italian who created it! I am also delighted to present our new Laureato Skeleton model. The Laureato collection is very promising for our brand.
Egypt condemned on Tuesday an attack in Mali that killed at least five people and injured eight others Sunday at a luxury resort popular with Western expats just outside the capital Bamako.

In an official statement, the foreign ministry expressed its condolences to the families of the victims, adding that it supports the government and people of Mali in their fight against terrorism.

On Sunday afternoon, gunmen stormed the hotel, opening fire on guests and battling with French and Malian special forces deployed to free people trapped inside by the attack.

Four of those killed were guests and one was a local soldier who died in the firefight. Around 60 hotel residents were rescued in two groups by secuirty forces aided by French and UN troops.

The list of people who were rescued included 13 French citizens and several children.

On Monday, a new alliance of Islamist militant groups linked to Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack.

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In April, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled that the country's High Administrative Court had no jurisdiction over the matter of Tiran and Sanafir

The SCC is expected to rule on jurisdiction disputes between administrative courts and urgent matters courts next month.

Following a series of hearings last week, the Egyptian parliament approved a maritime border demarcation deal that places the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, currently under Egyptian control, in Saudi Arabia's territorial waters.

The deal signed between the Egyptian and Saudi governments in April 2016 sparked a year long legal dispute between the state and opponents.

In January 2017, Egypts High Administrative Court upheld an earlier decision by an administrative court that voided the deal and affirmed Egyptian sovereignty over Tiran and Sanafir.

In April, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled that the country's High Administrative Court had no jurisdiction over the matter.

At the end of December 2016, the Egyptian cabinet referred the Egyptian-Saudi agreement to parliament, which voted in favour of approving the deal on 14 June.

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UPPER THUMB  As a non-profit organization, the Bluewater Thumb Chapter of Youth For Christ relies on donations and fund raisers to continue offering their services to the community. Youth For Christ (YFC) is an international organization that works with local churches, businesses, and organizations to bring a Christian ministry to young people.

We are one of 120 chapters across the United States, said Todd Cramer, executive director of Bluewater Thumb Youth For Christ. We are in Huron and Tuscola counties, and we currently have one ministry site in Sanilac County.

Not sponsored by any individual religious denomination, YFC offers programs for kids that help them understand what it means to be a Christian. As missionaries, the people involved in YFC go to places where they feel they can do the most good.

We talk to students about the basics of faith that all denominations would agree upon, Cramer said. We are domestic, or local, missionaries not supported by a particular church or denomination. We are supported by individuals from our communities, as well as businesses and organizations. Our ministry focus is junior high and high school students. We go where the students are. The way our counties are  where our ministries exist  there isnt a lot to affiliate with outside the schools. We find our ministry is best conducted with school groups.

Most of the programs offered through the YFC take place off campus, and all are conducted either before or after school hours.

We cant do our programs during the school day, Cramer said. That could be seen as a violation of church and state.

They work with school administrators to schedule program times and locations that wont interfere with normal school functions. Bluewater Thumb Youth For Christ also works closely with local churches and community organizations to provide programs for area youngsters.

Our desire is to go in anywhere we can have a collaborative community strategy, Cramer said. We take each situation individually and see if theres a way we can work together.

In order to produce the results theyre looking for, sharing the Gospel of Christ with area youth, they need to raise money. One way they do that is through auctions.

We have three auctions each year, Cramer said, two small, regional auctions, and then our large chapter-wide auction.

The first auction this year is at the Cass City Recreation Park, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. It is a rain-or-shine event that takes place under a large tent. People come from all over to bid on a variety of items the YFC staff has collected.

This auction supports our regional programs in Tuscola County, Cramer said. We try to get items for our auctions that are unique. The key thing with an auction is the hope that two people will want an item. Then you can raise some money.

A second regional auction takes place at the Bad Axe Middle School in November.

The larger, chapter-wide auction, takes place at the Pigeon Recreation Park, from 8:30 a.m. until the last item is spoken for (which is usually around 2 p.m.) on July 15.

It supports all the ministries in our chapter, Cramer said. Donations come from individuals and businesses  its the easiest way for a business to support YFC.

Another method of gathering auction items is to purchase things at a discount that they believe can be auctioned off at a profit.

At a flea market, we have the opportunity to purchase things at a reasonable cost, Cramer said. We have relationships with some of the vendors there  they sell to us at their cost. Its their way to support the ministry.

Each auction has two parts, a live auction and a silent auction.

A lot of the items we get at flea markets help to round out our silent auctions, Cramer said, because theyre typically smaller items that are reasonable priced. The cool thing about the silent auction is that it gives people a chance to come and participate in the auction that may not have the resources to bid on higher end items. You can get a silent auction item for as little as $5. On the other end, this year well sell a trip to the Grand Hotel on Macinac Island.

In the past, more distinctive, one-of-a-kind items have proven to bring high bids.

Some of our best money makers are dinners, Cramer said. For instance, in Pigeon, well sell a fish dinner for 12 people. A local fisherman catches the fish and puts on a fish fry. Twelve people will buy a plate at well over $100 a plate, because of the way he prepares the fish.

Another unique item at the Pigeon auction is a dinner/concert.

Each year, a local musical group has a dinner for us, Cramer said. They sell tickets for the dinner, and then do a concert. The theme this year is a tribute to the Beatles. The dinners are such a blessing. They are put on by community residents who have a heart for the ministry. Some of them are excellent cooks. Its just a fun event. The people donate the material and the food, all we have to do is sell it.

The dinners arent limited to the Pigeon auction. In Cass City, they have a Valentines Day dinner for 10 and a Christmas dinner. At each auction, progressive dinners are offered whereby different portions of the meal take place at different homes  appetizers may be offered at one home, and then the people hop in their cars and go to another home for the main course. That is followed by a trip to another location for dessert.

Its a good experience, Cramer said. Its good food for a good cause. Throughout the evening, we get a chance to share some stories about the ministry  about how their support is showing up in the lives of kids.

The auctions are not only a great experience, but a fun way to support a good cause. Bluewater Thumb Youth For Christ relies on these auctions to bring their message to the community. And the kids are the beneficiaries.

For further information on the Bluewater Thumb Youth For Christ or their annual auctions, call 989-453-3239 or visit http://bluewaterthumbyfc.org.
Related Egyptian parliament approves Red Sea island deal with majority vote Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi commented on the border demarcation deal with Saudi Arabia, after the Egyptian parliament approved an agreement which hands the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, currently administered by Egypt, to Saudi Arabia.

The president's statements came in a speech during the Egyptian Family Iftar that was aired on Tuesday night, in which he spoke about the economic situation and challenges facing the Egyptian nation.

"Every citizen has the right to express his opinion on this matter or even to reject the deal, but I reassure everyone that nations are not bought or sold," El-Sisi said.

"Some advisors suggested that we delay going through with the whole matter {the deal} until after the election, and here I asked them if the rights of people should be a subject of personal interests," the president added.

"States are run by laws and facts and not by personal interests or desires, and we want to deal with all matters according to this principle without doubting each other or making accusations of betrayal," El-Sisi said, referencing the ongoing political row between supporters and opponents of the deal.

The Egyptian president also said that he is ready discuss the matter again at the next youth conference, affirming that Egypt "has nothing to hide" and that the rights of nations should be returned to them without wars or fights, with honour and honesty."

The deal signed between Cairo and Riyadh in April 2016 sparked a year long legal process between the Egyptian government and the opponents of the deal. By the end of December 2016, the Egyptian cabinet referred the Egyptian-Saudi agreement to parliament, which voted in favour of approving the deal on 16 June.

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Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Tuesday kept up his tradition of giving a hard time to nominees for the post of deputy defense secretary.

The latest to feel McCain's wrath was Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan, known as "Mr. Fixit" around the boardroom, who has been recommended by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and nominated by President Donald Trump to replace Bob Work in the No. 2 position at the Pentagon.

In February 2014, McCain charged that Work was not up-to-date on problems with the Littoral Combat Ship program and put a temporary hold on his nomination. The hold was later lifted.

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, McCain, the committee's chairman, threatened to do the same to Shanahan. He charged that nominee gave evasive and uninformed answers on policy questions about Ukraine.

McCain noted that, in responses to written questions from the committee, Shanahan had dodged on whether he favored providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine to fend off Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Shanahan said in his written response, "I would have to know more about the issue."

"Your response to that question was frankly very disappointing," McCain told Shanahan. "It's not good enough."

When asked if he would like to be more definitive, Shanahan quickly said that he would support defensive weaponry for Ukraine. That sent McCain off on a three-minute lecture.

"I'm glad to hear you've changed your answer, but it's still disturbing to me after all these years that you would say that you have to look at the issue," the senator said. "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?

"I've got to tell you it's very disturbing. Not a good beginning. Not a good beginning," McCain said. "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 said that McCain had been "very clear."

Work, a retired Marine artillery colonel, is a holdover from the Obama administration who was asked by Mattis to stay on in the top management post as deputy defense secretary until a replacement could be found.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
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...
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi reiterated in a speech on Wednesday his position that reforming religious discourse is a key element in defeating terrorism.

The president said during an Al-Azhar ceremony celebrating Ramadan's Laylat Al-Qadr that four things need to be achieved defeat terrorism; renewing religious discourse, dealing with all terrorist groups equally, rebuilding regional states and their apparatuses, and cutting off funding to terrorist groups.

El-Sisi added that standing up to countries that support terrorism is essential to defeating the phenomenon.

The president also spoke of efforts undertaken by Egypt to defeat terrorism including pushing for peaceful resolutions to regional conflicts, which create an environment that breeds terrorism.

El-Sisi condemned countries in the region that support and fund terrorism and give terrorist groups access to media outlets.

"I say to such countries; enough, and let us agree to unite and cooperate for the interests of our nations," he added.

El-Sisi's statements come amid a severing by Egypt and several Gulf countries of diplomatic ties with Qatar over what they say is the countrys support of terrorist groups, which Doha denies.

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Top Pentagon officials now support a proposal that would allow military families to temporarily remain in on-base housing or change housing allowance rates based on where the family lives -- not on where the service member is assigned.

Military families frequently choose to split their military moves, but doing so can be expensive because they must pay all temporary lodging expenses out of pocket.

Families can also be forced to move out of on-base housing if their service member no longer has orders to the location they are living. And, if the permanent change of station is to a location with a lower Basic Allowance for Housing rate, a family who stays behind could end up with big costs for remaining at their previous assignment.

Designed to make the timing of military moves easier on families, the proposal -- The Military Family Stability Act -- would alleviate the housing burden on qualifying families.

Those families would have a 180-day window both before and after the service member's report date to stay behind under their current Basic Allowance Housing rate or move in advance and secure housing under the rate at their receiving duty station.

If available, the service member would be permitted interim lodging in the barracks or other single-troop government or contractor housing, according to the legislation.

"At a time when ... the economy is improving and it's difficult to recruit and retain high-quality people, initiatives like this are going to send a very powerful message that we actually do care about them," Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators during a June 15 hearing. "I hope [to] encourage them to stay despite some of the challenges associated with family life in the military."

To use the program, families must fit into at least one of five categories. Employed spouses or those enrolled in an education program; families in the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP); those with children in school or those caring for a sick family member would all qualify, the legislation says.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that he supports the measure if it is cost neutral.

"Initially, I was told it could not be cost neutral. I said, 'That's not good enough. Go back and find a way to make a cost neutral.' With personnel costs continuing to rise, we've got to keep them under control," he said. "I think we've got a way forward on it."

A previous version of the bill proposed in 2015 was ultimately discarded when defense officials believed implementing it would be too expensive. That version gave additional benefits not in the current proposal, including the allowance of two separate household goods shipments and an additional housing stipend for the service member if government quarters are unavailable.

"If anybody would understand the challenges of moving and timing and how much difference flexibility would make, you certainly would as well," Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican who co-sponsored the legislation, said to Dunford and Mattis during the hearing.

A similar bill has been proposed by House lawmakers. The measures likely will be rolled into the annual National Defense Authorization Act.

A Pentagon spokesman did not respond to further requests for comment. The Defense Department typically does not comment on proposed legislation.

-- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com.

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SALON DU BOURGET, France -- There are now 220 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in service around the world, but there has never been a public aerial demonstration of the aircraft's maneuver capabilities. At least, not until now.

An F-35A from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, made history Monday here at the Paris Air Show with a series of maneuvers that Air Force and industry personnel say demonstrate its ability to square off in agility against any fourth-generation aircraft.

The F-35 has been featured prominently at the show, with a static display requiring 24-hour armed security in addition to a daily six-minute aerial demonstration.

Officials confirmed the two F-35As would participate in the show after it was reported this spring that the aircraft had not been invited. A final decision to send the Air Force aircraft to Paris was made in May, just a month before the show.

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But the demonstration, designed by test pilots with manufacturer Lockheed Martin, has been in planning for more than a year, every move designed to highlight the advanced capabilities of the aircraft, the pilot flying the aircraft said Tuesday.

The approved demonstration includes, among other features: a square loop, a slow-speed pass at less than 115 miles per hour followed by a steep vertical climb, and a 360-degree minimum radius turn.

"Why do we bring a fifth-generation airplane whose dominance and sensor fusion have nothing to do with an air show? It's because seeing is believing and, for 10 years, no one quite understood. And we have struggled so often to explain the quantum leap of what fifth-gen dominance is all about," Lockheed test pilot Billie Flynn told reporters ahead of his second demonstration flight.

"And frankly, you've got to see it face-to-face, you've got to listen to the noise before you come to believe it," he said. "So we take simple, yet orchestrated, maneuvers to unleash the beast that is the F-35 to help make everyone understand, because it's visceral to see what this airplane does."

The aerial demonstration comes two years after a leaked test pilot brief revealed internal doubts about the F-35's ability to dogfight, or participate in close combat with another aircraft.

War is Boring reported in 2015 that a test involving the F-35A and the F-16 Fighting Falcon showed the 5th-generation aircraft "at an energy disadvantage": unable to climb or turn at the speeds necessary to face off against another aircraft or evade enemy fire.

But Lockheed's chief F-35 test pilot, Alan Norman, crowed that this week's demonstrations erase all doubts about speed and maneuver. "I have thousands and thousands of hours in the F-16. I just can't do some of this stuff in an F-16," he said.

One such maneuver, Norman said, is a high-altitude pedal turn featured in the demonstration that highlights the pilot's ability to point the nose of the aircraft precisely and maintain total control, even while battling gravity in descent.

"The only aircraft I've ever done that in is an F-22," he said. "I think what we're trying to really get across that you haven't been able to see, that we've known all along, is the fantastic handling qualities and maneuvering of this airplane."

Moves such as the pedal turn and the slow pass highlight the F-35's ability to stay on an enemy's tail or lose a hostile aircraft with rapid deceleration in a "Top Gun"-style maneuver. The square loop shows how the plane can turn on a dime at high and low speeds as it continues the fight.

The F-35 is still flying with a limited envelope: Since the two aircraft that went to the show are equipped with 3I software, instead of the 3F version, they are restricted to pulling 7 Gs or fewer. The total envelope, with the final software version, will go up to 9 Gs, Norman said.

While fourth-generation aircraft with impressive and precise maneuvering capability abound around the world, Norman said the F-35 is unlike some competitors in that it completed the demo in its combat configuration.

"Most likely that [Russian-made] Su-35 you see performing at an air show has been cleaned off; it is in an air show profile," Norman said. "So probably doesn't have any pylons, doesn't have any weapons, it is in a configuration that will not fight in combat. The F-35 in its configuration is how it will fight in combat. It carries weapons internally; it would fly just the way it was flying in this demo if it was out there fighting an SU-35."

Unlike the F-22, the Air Force's other fifth-generation fighter, however, the F-35 wasn't designed for close combat. It specializes in close-air support and ordnance missions and has been hailed for its ability to destroy fourth-generation fighters before they even become aware of its presence, thanks to its stealth profile.

Flynn said the aircraft's true strengths can't be seen in an air show.

"If you see it up there, if that airplane impresses you, just imagine the real special part of an F-35 is what you'll never ever see out there," he said. "It's like fighting Mr. Invisible."

-- Editor's Note: The location of Hill Air Force Base has been corrected in the second paragraph.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

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One of the 7 sailors who died aboard the USS Fitzgerald saved more than a dozen of his fellow shipmates before he ultimately lost his own life, The Daily Beast reported.

The USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippine-flagged merchant vessel about 56 miles off the coast of Japan on Saturday.

Seven sailors were later found dead in flooded compartments on the ship.

When the Fitzgerald collided with the merchant ship, 37-year-old Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., "leapt into action," according to The Daily Beast.

The Fitzgerald was struck below the waterline, and Rehm Jr.'s family was told by the Navy that he went under and saved at least 20 sailors, according to WBNS-10TV in Columbus, Ohio.

But when he went back down to get the other six sailors, the ship began to take on too much water, and the hatch was closed, WBNS-10TV said.

"That was Gary to a T," Rehm Jr.'s friend Christopher Garguilo, told NBC4i in Columbus, Ohio. "He never thought about himself."

"He called [the sailors on the ship] his kids," his uncle, Stanley Rehm Jr., told The Daily Beast. "He said, 'If my kids die, I'm going to die.'"

Rehm Jr. was known to invite "his kids" over to his house in Virginia when their ship was docked in the US, his uncle said. "He was always ready to help anybody who needed it. He was just that kind of guy."

"Gary was one of those guys that always had a smile on his face," Daniel Kahle, who had served with Rehm Jr. on the USS Ponce, told The Chronicle-Telegram. "(Gary was) such a great guy and (it's) such a great loss. He needs to be remembered for the person we all knew him to be."

Rehm Jr.'s uncle told The Daily Beast that he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather by joining the Navy straight out of high school.

Rehm Jr. was considering retiring soon but also hoped to make captain one day, his uncle told The Daily Beast.

The Fitzgerald is named after another sailor, Navy Lt. William Fitzgerald, who, like his father, also joined the Navy right out of high school.

In August 1967, he was advising South Vietnamese forces at a compound near the Tra Khuc River delta when they came under heavy Vietcong fire.

Fitzgerald ordered the South Vietnamese forces and civilians to escape into the river on small boats, but he was killed while covering their escape with small-arms fire.

Rehm Jr. was raised in Elyria, Ohio, and is survived by his wife, Erin.

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The Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday will unveil to a select group of veteran and military support organizations changes to a highly scrutinized program that pays family members to provide at-home care to severely injured troops after a review of the system was ordered in mid-April.

The Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers currently pays a monthly stipend of up to $2,500 to caregivers of qualifying post-9/11 veterans, depending on the veteran's needs and location.

But critics of the caregiver program, as it's popularly known, say decisions on who to keep or drop and who to accept are inconsistent, at best. Some caregivers reported being removed from the program even though their veterans' conditions had gotten worse. Others said they were rejected despite meeting all of the criteria.

VA Secretary Dr. David J. Shulkin ordered, and then later extended to late this month, the initial three-week review to "evaluate consistency of revocations in the program and standardize communication with veterans and caregivers nationwide," he said in an April 18 statement.

Now advocates hope the proposed changes, which will be previewed at a meeting with VA officials Wednesday, will address some of those issues.

"We believe super strongly that there has to be a consistent basis of criteria used. Right now, we know that's very loose and inconsistent," said Steve Schwab, executive director of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, which advocates for caregiver support. "Evaluations absolutely have to be consistent, and right now they're not. We think and hope that's one of the things we'll see in the directive tomorrow."

Shulkin ordered that no veterans and caregivers be dropped during the program review. Sources said they anticipate new program guidelines to be released publicly as early as next week. A VA spokesman said the review is ongoing and declined to confirm the upcoming meeting or plans to release recommendations from the review.

Officials with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), which long has worked with the VA on caregiver issues, said they are hopeful the review has produced a directive standardizing how the program is operated. A key issue, they said, is cutting down on what is seen by caregivers as "arbitrary" decisions about who and who does not qualify.

"We had asked for this directive for such a long time, and we think they are very close to issuing it," said Adrian Atizado, DAV's deputy national legislative director. "We have come up with a number of recommendations that we wanted them to consider from DAV's perspective that would help them address the arbitrariness in the program."

Such a directive, Atizado noted, can be made within the VA without congressional approval, drastically cutting down the time it would take to implement changes.

Over the course of the review, the VA has held town hall-style meetings both in person and over the phone with veteran and military service organizations, as well as interested caregivers, Schwab said. Officials also have reached out to the veteran and military service organizations for input and help, Atizado said.

Meanwhile, a coalition of 30 veteran and military organizations, including the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and the DAV, are actively lobbying for Congress to expand the caregiver program to include veterans of all eras, a move deemed too expensive in the past. But officials with those organizations say paying at-home caregivers is far less expensive than providing long-term institutional medical care.

The group submitted a letter to members of Congress last week urging them to pass legislation for the change.

"Correcting the existing inequity for pre-9/11 veterans and their caregivers would not only be the morally right thing to do, it would also be the financially responsible course of action," the letter states.

A new DAV report released June 19 found that paying a family caregiver would cost $37,000 a year, compared to a $333,000 annual cost per-patient at a VA nursing home and $88,000 at a community nursing home.

Expanding the benefit could cost between $3 billion and $4 billion over the first five years, according to some estimates. The VA calculates as many as 80,000 pre-9/11 veterans would qualify for the expanded program.

The current program has a budget of $735 million this year and covers about 36,000 users.

-- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com.
The Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) decision on Wednesday to suspend the execution of two contradicting judicial rulings on an Egyptian-Saudi deal that places two Red Sea islands in Saudi territorial waters was hailed by MPs on Wednesday.

Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal told MPs that the SCC ruling shows that administrative courts have no jurisdiction over these kinds of foreign deals.

"This ruling clearly goes in line with Article 151 of the constitution, which states that the president has the exclusive power to sign foreign deals and parliament has the sole prerogative of discussing and voting on them," said Abdel-Aal, adding that "this is a victory for parliament and for the principle of separation of powers."

On 14 June, parliament approved the April 2016 border demarcation deal in a majority vote after heated discussions over four sessions.

The opposition 25/30 bloc opposed a vote on the deal by parliament, arguing that the legislature should abide by the January 2017 ruling by the High Administrative Court that voided the deal.

The adminstrative court's decision on the deal was met with a decision by the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters in April 2017 stating that administrative courts have no jurisdiction over issues relating to executive decisions on national borders.

The SCC is set to hear arguments over court jurisdiction on the deal on 30 July.

Abdel-Aal also argued that the SCC ruling sends a message to administrative courts not to infringe on parliament's authorities.

Abdel-Aal added that that the performance of all state authorities, including parliament, should be governed by the constitution, and it is only the SCC that has the power to supervise this performance and give a final say on it.

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Omar Marawan also praised the SCC ruling, saying it has set a precedent that administrative courts have no power to issue rulings on foreign agreements.

"The president has the sovereign power of signing these agreements, and this is not an administrative matter that could be supervised by the courts," said Marawan.

Mohamed El-Sewedi, the head of parliaments majority bloc Support Egypt, also said the SCC ruling is a victory for parliament and MPs.

"This ruling vindicates MPs who voted in favour of the deal and who faced a hostile press campaign accusing them of treason," said El-Sewedi, who has insisted that the two islands of Tiran and Sanafir are Saudi.

El-Sewedi also dismissed the idea that the deal would help Israel dig a canal connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea that might compete with the Suez Canal.

Bahaaeddin Abu Shoka, the head of parliament's constitutional and legislative affairs committee, argued that SCC's ruling means court rulings on foreign deals should be considered null and void, and all authorities should respect the principle of the separation of powers.

MP Noureddin Abdel-Razek told MPs that the Egyptian Social Democratic Party has dismissed him from the party's ranks because he voted in favour of the deal.

"Thank God that the SCC ruling was issued today to prove that I was right and the party was wrong," said Abdel-Razek.

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ANN ARBOR, MI - Ann Arbor and some Detroit-area residents can now have groceries delivered to their doorstep with an expansion of Meijer's home delivery service.

Meijer is partnering with Shipt to offer home delivery starting Thursday, June 22 to Ann Arbor residents and the following Detroit-area suburbs: Allen Park, Belleville, Brighton, Flat Rock, Hartland, Howell, Lincoln Park, Monroe, Oxford, Southgate, Taylor and Woodhaven.

The home delivery program first launched in Grand Rapids in March and has since expanded to Detroit with more than 100,000 orders placed in southeast Michigan to date.

The Ann Arbor and Detroit expansion means another 500,000 households can request home delivery through a phone or computer and have personal shoppers gather their items and deliver orders within a certain timeframe.

Memberships cost $99 per year; new members can receive $25 off their first order for a limited time. Delivery is free for orders of more than $35; otherwise, there is a flat fee of $7 for deliveries.

Meijer plans to continue expanding Shipt services in the Midwest throughout 2017. It is currently offering the program to around 2 million households in Michigan, and is rolling out home delivery to Toledo, Ohio.

The service is already available in Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton.

Meijer's estimated revenues topped $16 billion in 2016, according to calculations by Forbes, a publication that ranks the Walker-headquartered family-owned retailer as the 19th largest private business in the U.S.

The Walker-based company is also looking to hire more personal shoppers. Those interested can apply online on the Shipt website.
Paula Gardner | PaulaGardner@mlive.com

Jobs remain a top issue in Michigan and in the U.S.

Despite a low unemployment rate, the changing nature of work - thanks to technology, globalization and changing consumer patterns - keeps concerns about jobs at the forefront of many elected and business leaders.

But, according to many people I've talked to over the past month, it also needs to be an issue for the average person. That's true no matter age, education or how distant retirement may seem.

These conversations convinced me not to underestimate how much disruption (the word of the decade) is heading for our workplaces. That, in turn, means many of us may find ourselves more vulnerable that we thought possible.

This report pulls many of the observations and advice that I've found among leaders around our state.

- Paula Gardner, Michigan business & automotive reporter for MLive.com

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Job disruption is an issue for a group from Congress.

Four Democratic U.S. representatives are holding public roundtables in their states around the Future of Work, Wages & Labor." Among them are Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, who led a discussion Monday, June 19, at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Many Americans are actively questioning what changes are coming and how it will affect them, the leaders said they're finding.

Theres great concern, said U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross from New Jersey. Not only do they care about the future of work, they care about whats going on today.

The effort - which includes Reps. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin and Mark DeSaulnier of California - should result in an action plan that will be released near Labor Day. That, Dingell said, should contain proposed legislation capable of drawing bipartisan support.

This was an in-depth, intense, nitty-gritty discussion of all the issues, Dingell said.

People are worried about their jobs, theyre worried about the economy, theyre worried about their income, Dingell said.

The ultimate jobs questions facing Congress, she added:

How do we create jobs? How do we protect jobs? Dingell said.

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MLive Media Group

It's also a concern for Michigan officials.

"I think we're getting to a critical juncture," said Roger Curtis, the state's director of Talent and Economic Development, earlier this month at the Mackinac Policy Conference.

With nearly 100,000 posted openings in Michigan and a statewide unemployment level that shows full employment in many areas, employers are wondering whether expansion here will pay off. Yet we need more jobs to counter-balance the jobs that will be lost due to automation and other advances, so that Michigan's economy continues to grow - and its residents find decent-paying opportunities.

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Signs of how jobs are changing are all around us.

Here are some that Michigan residents need to recognize so they and their children can make decisions about their futures:

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Heather Khalifa

1. 'A wave of technology is washing over manufacturing.'

That is what Tom Kelly, CEO of Automation Alley in Southeast Michigan, says as he urges business leaders to consider their next investments.

"Most people in Michigan aren't aware of how fast and hard this technology change is coming," he said.

Pick one form - 3D printing, artificial intelligence, robotics, "big data," advanced materials - and you'll likely touch another. "They're all coming into manufacturing at once," Kelly said.

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About 14 percent of Michigan's employees are in manufacturing.

So that means that this state's factories - and the jobs within them - will be adapting to those changes.

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Jacob Hamilton

2. Kids really do need math skills.

If the future involves more technology in manufacturing, where will those workers come from?

That's an issue that many people are trying to deal with.

But today's jobs also are going unfilled. And many of them are the types of manufacturing jobs that require some skills: Moderate math backgrounds, understanding of basic engineering principles, enough technology background to operate new equipment.

Yes, most of us are familiar with calculators and cell phone apps that may not make math seem critical. However, that's not the case for jobs that will pay well and will be needed in the future. And that doesn't just mean manufacturing: Skilled trades apprentices need it, too. Consider carpenters and geometry.

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3. 'The only way you grow is to automate.'

Automation Alley's Kelly also asserts this. Why? Because, particularly in a state with a flat population growth like Michigan, that's how growth takes place.

Employers know this, and they're pursuing it. So some lower-level or repetitive-task jobs will be replaced, forcing potential employees to move up the skills ladder to remain workforce-relevant.

Not all jobs will disappear. But consider what we already see, and whether there is job security in, say, being a parking attendant or cashier. Yet, on the other hand, being a technologist who can service the equipment that replaces humans in those roles might have potential.

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4. Watch for schools to get more active in career planning.

Schools in Michigan need to show multiple pathways to jobs, said Curtis. That means education and training, but maybe not college.

The vocational tech programs that seemed to be in every high school decades ago have not been standard for years - and 47 percent of Michigan kids live in a county with no Career and Technical Education millage, Curtis said.

That's created a void of skilled trades employees, while many people who may have chosen that route instead are now underemployed. Yet openings for welders,bricklayers, electricians and other positions exist.

Michigan is taking steps to boost training in the skilled trades. And the federal government touted that this month, too, when President Trump visited Wisconsin.

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Katy Kildee | kkildee@mlive.com

5. Who knows what the automotive jobs will be called?

We'll start by using the term "mobility technology." But as connected and automated vehicles take off, the careers associated with making them and keeping them functional will continue to evolve.

"There's a need for ... all types of transportation technicians," said Rose Bellanca, president of Washtenaw Community College.

WCC just announced that it would operate an advanced transportation training center at the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti Township, providing training for employers who want to upgrade skills for their workers.

Bellanca said some of those techs can earn up to $80,000 per year.

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6. Some 'jobs of the future' do have names.

John Maddox of the American Center for Mobility is in charge of developing the core of mobility testing and education for Michigan - and, as a side effect, cultivating what it will end up meaning to the workplace.

He offers three examples of careers that don't exist today, but make sense for the future:

1. Automated vehicle forensics engineer: Someone who figured out what went wrong in a crash or near-miss. "They can interrogate data from the vehicle," Maddox said. That person will need to know how the vehicle works and how its sensing works.

2. Ground traffic controller: Think air traffic controller, but on our highways. Connected and automated vehicles will need someone to monitor conditions and set controls.

3. Fleet maintenance: This isn't new, just coming with new skills to align with the new technology, "making sure they're operating at the peak of their capability," Maddox said.

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7. Think 'stackable credentials.'

If pursuing a single job seemed like a recipe for success in the past, the opposite is true today.

One job may lead to something related - or it may become obsolete, prompting another change.

Either way, workers will need to consider how their experience and training lets them fit multiple scenarios, Bellanca said.

"People aren't training anymore for one job," she said. "They're going to have to have a group of skill sets, or a toolkit, to be successful today."

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J. Scott Park

8. The clock is ticking for more than just the obvious jobs.

Self-checkouts tell in-store shoppers that stores don't need as many cashiers.

But changes in mobility will affect other jobs, too.

"If you drive a truck, if you drive a cab, if you do delivery," said Maddox, your job is vulnerable.

That won't happen tomorrow. But all of those "futuristic" news clips of self-driving trucks and drones are moving the world in that direction.

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9. Want to make yourself indispensible at work?

Experts at KPMG have identified the most difficult to find skills across all job families. They include, ranked in order:

Critical and analytical thinking

Problem-solving and decision-making

Adaptability and flexibility

Accountability

Customer focus

Initiative

Dependability and reliability

Attention to detail and organization

Multi-tasking

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10. People might be worrying about your future.

The dean of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business thinks about two groups when he considers who job disruption could most impact.

"One group that I worry a lot about is the late 40s to early 60s (ages)," said Scott Derue.

People are working longer, he said, and this age group is most likely to find that globalization or technology are changing jobs they've had for 20-30 years - no matter where they stand on the social and education ladders.

"They may not have the means or ability in their life to reinvest in themselves," Derue said.

At the same time, they may have pensions that are threatened or low retirement savings. "So what does their retirement look like" Derue added.

The other group: Much younger people preparing to enter the far less-stable workforce.

"I tell students: Not only will you have multiple jobs, but you will have multiple careers in your life," Derue said.

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11. Some jobs won't go overseas or become automated.

But the list is shrinking. Forecasters say artificial intelligence is likely to trim - over time - the ranks of lawyers, teachers, middle managers, even journalists.

Today, many health care fields are not on that list. Childcare and senior care are two areas that U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell mentioned at the Dearborn roundtable as less vulnerable - and a benefit for our society if we invest in the fields.

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SPARTA, MI -- ChoiceOne Bank announced it has hired Chelsea-based 2188 Studios to produce a series of videos to promote its mortgage products.

The short videos were directed by actor Jeff Daniels, with actors from the Purple Rose Theatre Company, also in Chelsea, and ChoiceOne's Mortgage Officer Carmen Villahermosa de Cox. 2188 Studios is owned by Daniels' sons, Lucas and Ben.

"We are excited to have Jeff Daniels in our bank as the director for our mortgage videos," said Kelly Potes, CEO of ChoiceOne Bank in a news release.

The videos describe applying for a mortgage, first-time homeownership, and getting pre-approved for a mortgage.

ChoiceOne Bank plans to post them on the bank's Facebook page and use them in series of educational blog articles written by ChoiceOne Bank staff.

"When a bank is 120 years old, it's exciting to use new technology that meets our customers' needs," said Potes.

"Using videos as an entertaining, yet informative way to help our customers move into home ownership in today's competitive marketplace is very helpful. An added bonus is working with Jeff Daniels and his sons who understand how humor can educate."

Daniels, 62, is a veteran actor, musician and playwright who is best known for his role opposite Jim Carrey in the movie comedy, Dumb and Dumber. He has been nominated for Emmy, Golden Globe Awards and Tony awards for more serious roles.

"As a small business ourselves, it was great to partner with another small Michigan business like 2188 Studios for these videos," said Potes. "The combination of our videos and blog posts gives our customers important information in a format that meets today's needs."

Based in Sparta with total assets of $543 million, ChoiceOne Bank operates 12 branch offices in Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon and Newaygo counties.
SALEM TOWNSHIP, MI - One person is dead and another is injured after a head-on, rollover crash on the morning of Wednesday, June 21 in Salem Township.

John Avey, 62, of Ypsilanti, was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital following the crash about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday at Pontiac Trial, between Five Mile and Six Mile roads, according to a release from Michigan State Police.

Police believe Avey was driving a 2004 Ford Escape northbound on Pontiac Trail when he crossed the centerline and struck a southbound 2002 Ford Focus driven by a 17-year-old South Lyon man, according to the release.

Authorities arrived to find two heavily damaged vehicles in ditches on opposing sides of the road, Salem Township Fire Chief Jim Rachwal said.

One vehicle was overturned and the drivers - the only individuals in each vehicle - both required the jaws of life for extrication from their vehicles, police said. Fire departments from Ann Arbor Township and Northfield Township assisted at the scene.

Avey went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital, police said. The 17-year-old was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

The incident remains under investigation.
ANN ARBOR, MI - Cheryl Saam believes exposing people to all the Huron River has to offer in a fun environment will make them better stewards of it.

The 37th annual Huron River Day will once again aim to do just that. This year's event is set for noon to 4 p.m. on July 9 at Gallup Park, 3000 Fuller Road in Ann Arbor, where residents will have the opportunity to participate in a number of free family-friendly river activities.

This year's Huron River Day includes $5 canoe and kayak rentals, stand-up paddle boarding, live music and a performance by the Aviary Circus, in addition to providing food from six local vendors.

The event also focuses on education, with a number of river-themed exhibits and children's activities, said Saam, the recreation supervisor for the City of Ann Arbor's Canoe Liveries.

"If people can go out on the river and enjoy it, they'll also become good stewards of it," Saam said. "We can educate children on what types of critters there are, so that they can keep the waterways clean."

Children can learn about how streams work with the University of Michigan Natural History Museum, a river-themed art exhibit, fishing, dipping for river-critters with the Huron River Watershed Council, live animals from the Leslie Science & Nature Center, a butterfly house from the Michigan Native Butterfly Farm and the annual Enviro-Challenge with prizes for youth.

Parking is available, but patrons who ride their bikes to Gallup Park can receive a free boat rental, Saam noted.

"We do have offsite parking at Huron High School and the park, but we're encouraging you to ride your bike," Saam said. "It's also another way to use the Border-to-Border Trail."

The Huron River Day is sponsored by the DTE Energy Foundation. The event draws approximately 2,500 people from the Ann Arbor community each year to celebrate all the river has to offer.
ANN ARBOR, MI - Dennis Dahlmann paid $5.25 million to buy a city-owned parking lot in downtown Ann Arbor in April 2014 with stated intentions to build new apartments and commercial space.



But the redevelopment of the Y Lot -- the former site of a YMCA next to the Blake Transit Center -- never happened, and now Dahlmann is trying to get his money back, blaming the city for the project's failure, and seeking more than $400,000 in damages.



Dahlmann, who owns and manages several properties in Ann Arbor, sent a letter to Mayor Christopher Taylor and other City Council members on June 13, attaching a seven-page letter from attorney Tom Wieder. Wieder's letter, addressed to City Attorney Stephen Postema, makes arguments for voiding the 2014 sale and expresses hope of doing so without resorting to litigation.



"There are a number of serious legal problems which warrant the complete unwinding of that transaction and returning the parties to their original positions," Wieder wrote in the letter.



"Because of serious flaws in the execution of relevant documents, and the absence of approval by City Council, no valid and legally binding contract was ever formed," Wieder alleges. "Specifically, Mr. Dahlmann did not sign the commercial purchase agreement which purports to be the basic agreement between the parties."

Dennis Dahlmann at an event in downtown Ann Arbor in September 2016.

Wieder went on to argue: "The documents on file with the city clerk include a revised 'rider' to the 'agreement' which was never submitted to council, so it was never approved by a vote of eight of its members, as required by the City Charter."



Reached by phone on Wednesday, June 21, Postema said he's not going to comment on the letter at this time.



"I've received the letter," he said. "I will provide a response to Mr. Wieder in due course after I review it. But other than that, I have no comment on it. As far as the status, there's an agreement in place and that's what's governing us."



Postema said everybody, including Dahlmann, is aware that there's an agreement in place regarding his purchase of the Y Lot, which is the empty lot along the north side of William Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues, just south of the downtown transit center.



According to terms of the agreement, Dahlmann, who competed against other developers to win approval to buy and develop the lot, was to redevelop the site within four years and build a new mixed-use building rising at least five stories, with ground-floor retail/restaurant space, and office space and apartments above.



If the agreed-upon development doesn't happen by April 2018, the city can buy the lot back for either the appraised value or $4.2 million, whichever is lower, according to the agreement.



Dahlmann owned the Bell Tower and Campus Inn hotels downtown at the time he made his $5.25 million offer in the fall of 2013, and it was viewed by many as an attempt to block proposals for a new downtown hotel that could compete with his hotels. Some assumed he would sit on the property and never develop it.



Dahlmann has since sold the Campus Inn, which has been renovated and rebranded as the Graduate Ann Arbor under new ownership.



Another new hotel -- a 110-room Resident Inn built by First Martin Corp. -- opened downtown in 2015, and at least two more hotels are planned for other sites in and around downtown now.



Dahlmann has said he would have liked to develop the Y Lot, but he encountered hurdles in trying to make it work.



He complained about the number of Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority buses idling at the curb around the site.



For a development to proceed, Dahlmann argued the AAATA needed to relocate some of the bus stops that surround the Y Lot.



Wieder states in his letter that Dahlmann is seeking "rescission of any purported agreement between him and the city with regard to the Y Lot," as well as reimbursement of his expenses, including more than $400,000 he reports spending on architectural, engineering and environmental services, as well as taxes and other expenses.



"It is our sincere hope that this matter can be resolved amicably, and litigation can be avoided," Wieder wrote.



City Council Member Jack Eaton, who counts Dahlmann among his political campaign supporters and financial backers, said if the narrative offered by Wieder is correct, it raises concerns about the city's conduct of the negotiations for the sale of the Y Lot.



"I have asked the city attorney to provide advice to council and I am eager to receive that advice," he said.



Dahlmann tried selling the Y Lot to another developer last year, but the deal didn't work out for various reasons, including the fact that the new developer tried asking for new terms regarding what could be built and the city asked for more in the way of affordable housing and energy efficiency in return. The developer, The Habitat Company LLC in Chicago, canceled its plans and walked away.



After broker fees and closing costs, the city netted $4,929,450 from the $5.25 million sale of the property to Dahlmann in 2014.



From that, $1,422,736 went toward affordable housing efforts and $3,506,714 paid off debt the city owed on the property.



With it becoming apparent Dahlmann isn't going to redevelop the property, city officials have been discussing exercising the city's right to buy back the property for $4.2 million next spring, using part of the proceeds from the sale of the city-owned Library Lot across the street.



That would be a roughly $1 million loss for Dahlmann, and it would allow the city to put the Y Lot to another use or flip it to another developer, which council members have discussed.



The address for the property is 350 S. Fifth Ave. City records show Dahlmann completed his purchase for the agreed-upon price on April 2, 2014, through an entity called Fifth Fourth LLC.



City records show his company paid more than $75,000 in property taxes for the site in 2015 and nearly $77,000 in 2016.



The land value for the 0.8-acre site is listed at $2.4 million on the city assessor's website.



In his June 13 letter, Wieder notes a provision of the rider to the purchase agreement between Dahlmann and the city is a requirement that access to underground parking for any new development on the site be effected by an "existing" underground connection to the city's Library Lane underground parking garage across the street.



"The described interconnection does not exist and has never existed," Wieder wrote. "This appears to be either a misrepresentation by the city or, at best, a mutual mistake of fact."



In either case, Wieder argues, it warrants voiding or rescinding "any purported contract."



City and Downtown Development Authority officials have said the extension of the Library Lane underground garage under Fifth Avenue to William Street, allowing a connection with the adjacent Y Lot, was approved in 2009 but deferred, so it can still happen.



Former City Administrator Steve Powers assured Dahlmann in a letter in September 2015 that the city and DDA could move forward quickly on construction drawings to meet his needs in terms of the underground parking connection when ready to proceed.



Assuming the existence of a valid contract, Wieder argues in his letter, the city's failure to provide the interconnection is a breach of contract, entitling Dahlmann to damages and relief.



"The absence of the interconnection makes it impossible for Mr. Dahlmann to fulfill the purported agreement," Wieder wrote.



"The purported agreement requires Mr. Dahlmann to complete and obtain a certificate of occupancy for a project by a specific deadline. Failure to do so results in reversion of the property to the city. Mr. Dahlmann cannot obtain a certificate of occupancy, because he cannot provide the required on-site parking in accordance with city requirements, as the purported agreement requires him to use an underground interconnection which does not exist."



According to the law, Wieder argues, those circumstances entitle Dahlmann to "rescission of the purported agreement."



Wieder also argues in his letter that there has been a material change in the circumstances regarding the development and use of the property, with an increase in the use of streets surrounding the Y Lot as bus stops, bus parking and bus staging.



"The property is now, essentially, in the middle of a busy bus depot on all four sides," he wrote, arguing the city and its transit authority have caused a "degradation of the conditions around the property."
FOWLERVILLE, MI - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, June 19 declined to hear the case of a former Fowlerville police officer sued for wrongful death in a 2011 police chase.

The former officer, Frederick Miller, and the Village of Fowlerville asked the court to review a ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that affirmed a denial of summary judgement based on immunity in the May 17, 2011, death of 20-year-old Carl Albert Stamm IV.

Stamm was recorded as going more than 100 mph when the chase began and died when his motorcycle struck Miller's police vehicle, which was going about 45 mph and slowing down seconds before the crash, court records indicate.

Whether Miller intended to block Stamm during the pursuit and whether Stamm posed an immediate threat to others will need to be determined, according to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion.

A jury trial in the matter is set for Sept. 11.

Fowlerville is located about 20 miles east of Lansing.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday appealed for the protection of Syrian civilians in Raqqa as US-backed forces moved to encircle the city in an offensive to take the Islamic State group stronghold.

"I make an urgent appeal to all those conducting military operations in Syria to do everything in their power to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, as fighting continues in Raqqa and elsewhere," Guterres said in a statement.

The UN chief said he was "deeply alarmed" by the human suffering across Syria but that civilians in Raqqa faced a particularly desperate situation.

"I am particularly concerned about the perilous situation for civilians in Raqqa who are trapped and face threats from every direction," he said.

Guterres appealed to the warring parties to allow access for humanitarian aid convoys to reach Syrians in urgent need of life-saving food and medicine.

Tensions are runnning high between US forces and the Syrian regime in Syria, where the US-led coalition is supporting an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters battling to oust IS from Raqa.

The Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) now control four neighborhoods in the city, and on Tuesday also advanced along its southern outskirts, moving closer to completely encircling Raqqa.

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria has expressed alarm over the "staggering" number of civilian deaths in the US-backed battle to seize Raqqa.

Guterres on Tuesday expressed concern after a US warplane shot down an Iranian-made drone in southern Syria and another US fighter jet downed a Syrian government warplane south of Raqqa.

Russia, a key ally of the Syrian government, accused the US-led coalition of "complicity with terrorism" after the drone was downed early Tuesday.

Guterres said the recent downings were "very dangerous" and could lead to an escalation of the six-year war that has killed over 320,000 people.

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John W. Black

BAY CITY, MI -- A jury has exonerated a Bay City man accused of having molested a teenage girl several years ago.

At 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 21, Bay County Circuit Judge Harry P. Gill read aloud the jury's verdicts in the trial of 34-year-old John W. Black -- not guilty of five counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a relation. Had Black been convicted, he would have faced up to 15 years in prison.

The teen who made the allegations against Black was not in the courtroom when the verdicts were delivered.

The seven-woman, five-man jury began deliberating at about 10:45 a.m.

When the trial began Tuesday, a now-17-year-old girl testified she had moved from Illinois to Bay City in September 2014 to live with Black. From December 2014 to September 2015, Black had touched the teen's privates on several occasions, the teen testified. The accusations came to light when the girl told a teacher Black had been touching her.

Black took to the witness stand Wednesday morning and emphatically denied the girl's allegations. The defense argued the teen fabricated the allegations so she could leave Bay City and return to her mother's home in Illinois.

In attorneys' closing arguments, defense counsel Andrea J. LaBean described the case as "a classic he said, she said" situation, adding that Black had confronted the girl about a disciplinary issue the day before she told a teacher about the abuse.

"Based on the evidence you have, you have to come back with a not-guilty verdict," LaBean had told the jurors.

Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Bernard J. Coppolino balked at this, telling jurors the teen had been truthful and had no reason to lie. He added Black, who has a criminal record including a conviction of identity theft, has a history of lying.

"He's lied in the past when it suits him," Coppolino said. "He's lying to you now."

Coppolino added that he wished he had corroborating witnesses, but such luxuries are uncommon in sexual crimes.

"These crimes don't happen in light of day," he said. "These crimes happen behind closed doors."

LaBean, though, was steadfast there simply was not enough evidence to warrant a conviction and that the teen always had a history of dishonesty.

"If your fate was in (her) hands, would you feel comfortable?" she had asked the jury. "Would any of you feel comfortable? Would you trust her?"
PINCONNING, MI -- For the second consecutive month, the Pinconning City Council voted to table the contract approval of the city's police department at its meeting Tuesday, June 20.

The Pinconning Police Department, which costs the city about $110,000 to operate each year, is comprised of Chief Thomas Tober, Sgt. Terry Spencer and an officer, Donald Lusty. Only Spencer works full-time.

The current staff is under contract until June 30. The council decided to extend the current contract so it can vote at its July meeting or at a special meeting yet to be scheduled.

The new proposed contract is slated to run from July 1 until June 30, 2020.

Only a handful of people attended Tuesday's meeting, including Tober. Dozens attended the council's assembly on May 16.

Contract negotiations led to a three-year deal with no wage increase. City Manager Bill Jasura and the city's attorney have negotiated with the Police Officers Association of Michigan (POAM) and Spencer.

"Everybody's satisfied with it," Jasura said.

However, Councilman Brian Saha expressed concerns. He said the city attorney said some items in the contract needed to be updated.

"It really needs to be cleaned up because it hasn't been cleaned up in a while," Saha said.

Tober has been with the Pinconning Police Department for 19 years. He said when contracts come up, items usually do not change and the language remains the same.

Council members decided to table the contract approval until some language is cleared up. Corrections such as typos have already been made, Jasura said.

Tober said if an officer is convicted of a felony, it is a state law that the person is removed from his position. However, Saha pointed out it conflicts with a section in the current contract. There is also a section where it is unclear of the amount the city contributes to health care.

Saha and Mayor Jason Brazeau both stated they were in favor of a one-year contract before making decisions for next year. Jasura said a one-year contract wouldn't help. He added the city attorney said to move along with a three-year contract.

Councilwoman Ann LaPorte said it is the best interest for the city to extend talks about approval. Fellow Councilwoman Sheri Boettcher agreed, saying the contract is "not financial, but legal."

Brazeau told those in attendance the city is in favor of keeping its police department but it is just about "dotting our i's and crossing our t's."

Tober said the contract is good financially and benefits the city.

"As soon as (these issues are) spelled out, it should go," Tober said.

Last month, the council elected to push the vote on the police contract to June. The city's Finance and Personnel Committee needed to review the contract -- leading to the delay.

Councilwoman Jennifer DeLorge said last month that contracting with the Michigan State Police was not an option. However, she added that switching to the Bay County Sheriff's Department should be explored. A joint venture with Pinconning Township was also discussed last month.

Standish dissolved its police department to contract with the Arenac County Sheriff's Department. Standish, however, is a county seat -- meaning the sheriff's department is in the city.

Tober said last month the police department handled 28,364 runs over the last decade. Of that, 14,550 were officer-initiated, or about 51 percent. Police have also made 4,047 traffic stops and 1,514 hours in training over the past decade.

Pinconning's officers recently assisted at the CheeseTown Festival and Races last weekend.
John W. Black

UPDATE: Jury acquits Bay City man of molesting teen girl

BAY CITY, MI -- Her alleged abuser sitting feet from her, a teenage girl testified she was repeatedly sexually assaulted within her Bay City home a few years ago.

The girl, now 17 and living in Illinois with her mother, gave her testimony in a Bay County court Tuesday, June 20, during the trial of 34-year-old John W. Black. A seven-woman, seven-man jury had been seated earlier in the day.

Black since January 2016 has been charged with five counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a relation. The charge is limited to touching rather than penetration and is a 15-year felony.

She testified that when she was 14 in September 2014, she moved from Illinois to Black's home in the 400 block of South Van Buren Street in Bay City. She said she had not seen Black for about five years prior to moving in with him.

Also living in Black's house was his girlfriend and her children, the teen testified.

One night in December 2014, the teen asked Black for a wi-fi password so she could access the Internet on a tablet. She then returned to her bedroom.

A short while later, Black entered her room and sat down next to her on her bed, she said. After a few minutes, Black put his hand down her pants, she said.

"What were you thinking?" Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Bernard J. Coppolino asked her.

"I just froze," she replied, adding Black had not done anything like this before. "And then he went lower and started touching me on my vagina. This lasted a few seconds until I asked him, 'What're you doing?'"

Without speaking, Black withdrew his hand and left the room, she said. She was left feeling scared and confused.

Black returned a few minutes later and again touched the girl's vaginal area, she said.

"I told him to stop," she said. Black did as she said and left the room again.

On another occasion, she was under a blanket on a living room couch when Black entered, prompting her to pretend she was asleep. Another girl was nearby, watching TV under a separate blanket.

"I had a feeling he would do the same thing he would do to me that night," she said. "I thought if I pretended I was sleeping, he wouldn't do it."

Black proceeded to remove the girl's pants and touch her, all while she pretended to be asleep, she said.

Coppolino asked her why she didn't tell anyone what was happening.

"I was afraid no one would believe me," she said.

"It would just be your word versus his, right?" Coppolino asked.

"Yes."

As she testified, the teen spoke in declarative sentences in response to Coppolino's questions, confident while controlling her nervousness. Her voice would occasionally tremble a bit with emotion, but she did not waver or require breaks. She avoided looking in Black's direction.

Black touched her genitals in a similar way in the summer of 2015, she said. She told him to stop and he eventually did.

"He said, 'I know I messed up; I'm sorry,'" the teen testified.

Another incident occurred in the hallway of Black's home in September 2015 as she was getting ready for school. Black hugged her, grabbing her buttock in the process.

That same day, the teen told teacher Susan Elder what was going on. She was later interviewed at the Nathan Weidner Children's Advocacy Center.

The teen testified she and her mother had to ride a Greyhound bus from St. Louis, Missouri, to Bay City for her to testify both in the trial and in an August preliminary examination.

Cross-examined by defense attorney Andrea J. LaBean, the girl said she wanted to leave Black's home and move back in with her mom about two weeks after she first arrived in Bay City. She said she told this to Black before he began molesting her.

LaBean asked the teen if she recalled an incident involving her getting in trouble at school in Bay City that led to her having to write a letter. The teen said she recalled this, but did not remember the summary of the letter itself.

LaBean reminded the girl that during the prior preliminary examination, she had testified the letter stated she was getting into trouble at school because she no longer wanted to live with Black.

On another occasion, Black found pornography on the teen's cellphone, she said in response to LaBean's questioning.

Questioned again by Coppolino, the teen said she did not claim Black had touched her inappropriately so she could move back to Illinois.

After the teen stepped down, her mother testified she had allowed her daughter to move in with Black after they had reconnected online. On one occasion thereafter, Black called the teen's mother to say he had found porn on her phone, something he was upset about, the mother testified.

The prosecution rested after the mother's brief time on the stand. Wednesday morning, Black himself took the stand.

LaBean asked him a series of direct questions on if he touched the teen's vagina, buttocks, breasts, or any other place for sexual gratification. He replied with an emphatic "No" to each query.

LaBean then asked Black if he could have accidentally touched the girl's privates.

"No, no way possible," Black said.

Black said he eventually learned the teen no longer wanted to live with him and later discovered porn on her cellphone. This upset him "because of the type of porn she was looking it," he said.

"I asked her why she was looking at that and she said because her aunt had molested her," Black said, adding the aunt in question was on the teen's mother's side.

Black called the teen's mother to tell her of this, he said. The mother testified Tuesday that Black had not told her of the girl's molestation allegations.

Black went on to say the teen later told him she had fabricated the claim of her aunt molesting her.

"She said if she said that, she thought it would get her out of trouble, which it did," Black said.

Black confronted her on a disciplinary issue and the very next day, she went to school and told a teacher he was molesting her, he said. He did not discipline the teen the night he confronted her.

"I had just got home from work and I was tired," he said. "I told her I would deal with her later."

"Did you ever touch her in a sexual manner?" LaBean asked.

"No," Black replied.

During cross-examination, Coppolino asked Black if, since he was upset over his daughter alleging she had been molested by her aunt, he had called police. Black replied that he had not called police.

Coppolino asked Black if he has lied for his own benefit in the past. Though Black said he has not, Coppolino pressed further by citing his criminal record, which includes a conviction of identity theft.

LaBean then asked her client why he did not call police regarding the girl's molestation claims. He replied he did not call authorities because of the girl's history of dishonesty, he said.

After Black testified, the prosecution rested.

Bay County Circuit Judge Harry P. Gill is to read the jury its instructions and the attorneys will deliver their closing arguments before deliberations begin.
Demetrius Montgomery, photo provided by Detroit police

DETROIT, MI -- Detroit police are looking for a man they believe fatally stabbed a 30-year-old woman in Detroit.

The victim's body was found in an abandoned red Ford Flex owned by Demetrius Montgomery, 37, on the 6400 block of Colfax in Detroit about 11 p.m. on June 18.

Police say it's believed Montgomery fled in a black 2007 GMC Yukon with Michigan license plate "DRR6262."

"The suspect may be en route to the state of Alabama," Detroit police said in a statement. "Do not approach this suspect; call 911 immediately."

Anyone with information is asked to call Detroit police, 313-596-2260 or 313-596-1616. Tipsters may remain anonymous by leaving a tip on the DPD Connect or calling Crime Stoppers, 800-SPEAK-UP.
DETROIT - Two of the worst cities to live in are located in Michigan, according to a data crunch by 24/7 Wall Street.

The Delaware-based financial news and opinion company has created reports published by USA Today, MSN Money, Yahoo! Finance, MarketWatch, Time.com and The Huffington Post.

In the study released on Wednesday, Detroit and Flint are ranked No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in the list titled "50 Worst American Cities to live in."

To compile the information, 24/7 Wall St. considered roughly 550 cities that the U.S. Census Bureau reported as having populations of more than 65,000 residents in 2015

Only the top performing city in each county was considered in the ranking. Data was collected in nine major categories including crime, demography, economy, education, environment, health, housing, infrastructure, and leisure.

Detroit, while it has improved considerably in recent years, still fails to measure up in several key categories. It has a poverty rate of 39.8 percent, its median home value is just $42,600 and just 14.2 percent of its population has at least a bachelor's degree.

"Once the fourth largest city by population and wealthiest by income per capita, Detroit's economic decline over the past several decades may be the largest of any U.S. city," reporters Michael B. Sauter, Samuel Stebbins and Evan Comen note. "...Crime and overall urban decay have depressed real estate prices in the city to a fraction of their former value."

Flint's poverty rate is even higher than Detroit's at 40.8 percent, the highest in the nation. The median home value is $25,900 and just 11.9 percent of its population has at least a bachelor's degree.

The city's water crisis has been well documented and remains a real issue, 24/7 Wall Street points out, but Flint had issues long before that became national news.

"Like many other rust belt cities, Flint's downward spiral is closely tied to the decline of the American manufacturing industry," the trio of reporters write. "General Motors once provided some 30,000 at its Flint-based Buick manufacturing plant, all of which are now gone."

The rest of the top (or bottom) 10 include:

10. Wilmington, Delaware

9. Merced, California

8. Hartford, Connecticut

7. Albany, Georgia

6. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

5. Memphis, Tennessee

4. St. Louis, Missouri

2. Birmingham, Alabama
Two Oakland County women were indicted in connection with a widening female genital mutilation case out of the Detroit area Wednesday.

Farida Arif and Fatema Dahodwala were charged with female genital mutilation and conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation. Dahodwala is also charged with conspiracy to obstruct an officials proceeding by making false statements to investigators.

Federal prosecutors believe Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, 44, a former Henry Ford Medical Center surgeon from Northville, performed the illegal female circumcisions after hours at the since-closed Livonia clinic owned by Dr. Fakhruddin Attar. Fakhruddin Attar's wife, Farida Attar, 50, and Tahera Shafiq, are believed to have assisted during the procedures.

The government identified four possible victims in the case who are alleged to have underwent female genital mutilation procedures between May 30, 2015 and Feb. 3, 2017.

Initial charges against the Attars and Nagarwala were in connection with two procedures involving 7-year-old girls who traveled to Metro Detroit from Minnesota.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Woodward previously said in court it's possible the defendants performed nearly 100 procedures over the 12-year period between 2005 and 2017. Some of the victims the government has identified are from Michigan.

The procedure, intended to reduce female sexual pleasure, involves removal of all or portions of the clitoris and/or labia as part of a religious rite of passage within a Muslim sect that originated in India and is known as the Dawoodi Bohra. It's usually performed by women on girls once they reach age 7.

Several of the defendants are believed to be members of Anjuman-e-Najmi Detroit, a Farmington Hills mosque that caters to members of the Dawoodi Bohra.

Child Protective Services is attempting to terminate Nagarwala's custody her two children and the Attar's custody of their daughter.

At a child custody hearing for Nagarwala last week, it was alleged that Anjuman-e-Najmi Detroit compensated the doctor for performing religious procedures on young girls within the sect; however, the mosque is adamant that is incorrect.

Nagarwala is jailed in lieu of a bond. The Attars were granted conditions for bond, including house arrest and GPS monitoring, but remained in custody last week.

Shafiq was arraigned and released on bond last week.
FLINT, MI - Canadian police are investigating an apartment believed to be associated with the suspect accused of the stabbing attack at Flint's Bishop Airport, according to a report.

Radio-Canada reports police descended on a home in the St-Michel neighborhood in Montreal in connection to the Wednesday, June 21, attack on a police officer.

Investigators have identified the man they say attacked a police officer at Bishop Airport as Amor M. Ftouhi, a 50-year-old Canadian citizen.

Canadian police say they interviewed three people at the Montreal scene, but the apartment was not searched.

Additional information on what investigators discovered at the Canadian apartment was not immediately available.

Federal prosecutors filed an affidavit Wednesday, June 21, supporting a criminal complaint of violence at an international airport in U.S. District Court in Flint.

The affidavit from FBI Special Agent Thomas M. Sondgeroth says an officer who observed the attack on police officer Jeff Neville told him Ftouhi used a large knife to stab the victim.
FLINT, MI -- Investigators have identified the man they say attacked a police officer at Bishop Airport as Amor M. Ftouhi, a 50-year-old Canadian citizen.

Federal prosecutors filed an affidavit Wednesday, June 21, supporting a criminal complaint of violence at an international airport in U.S. District Court in Flint.

The affidavit from FBI Special Agent Thomas M. Sondgeroth says an officer who observed the attack on police officer Jeff Neville told him Ftouhi used a large knife to stab the victim.

Ftouhi yelled "Allahu Akbar" -- "Allah is the greatest" -- before making the attack, according to the affidavit.

After stabbing the officer in the neck, Ftouhi continued to yell, "Allah," several times, Sondgeroth's statement says.

"He further exclaimed something similar to, 'you have killed people in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die.' "

Ftouhi entered the first-floor lobby at Bishop at approximately 8:52 a.m. Wednesday, carrying a red duffle and dark satchel bag, traveling up an escalator before attacking Neville.

Sondgeroth's affidavit says the knife Ftouhi used had a green handle and a black serrated blade and was marked Amazon Jungle Survival Knife.

He has not yet been arraigned.

Check back with Mlive.com as more becomes available.

Flint airport stabbing criminal complaint by Gary C Ridley on Scribd
FLINT, MI -- Those who know the police officer attacked by a man wielding a knife at Bishop Airport Wednesday, June 21, call him a true professional and honorable public servant with deep ties to Genesee County.

Jeff Neville, a lieutenant with the police department at Bishop, was hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday after the knife attack, the FBI said in a statement.

Jeff Neville(Mlive.com file photo)

A witness told MLive-The Flint Journal that he saw Neville bleeding from the neck in the airport terminal building and saw a man detained by police after the incident.

Investigators have yet to announce a possible motive for the attack, saying it is too early to know whether it constitutes an act of terrorism.

Flint attorney Frank J. Manley called Neville a "very professional, outstanding police officer."

"(He) gets along with everybody ... His family's been around Genesee County for a long time...," Manley said of Neville, who once ran for a seat on the county Board of Commissioners and participated in competitive eating contests, according to Flint Journal files.

His father was longtime Flint bail bondsman Don Neville, according to Genesee County Commissioner Mark Young, a Democrat who called Jeff Neville, a Republican, his best friend.

Young and Neville worked at the Genesee County Sheriff's Office before retiring.

"He's a very good, honorable man, working on his second career," Young said. "As expected, (his family is) in shock. They are concerned."

Neither Bishop Airport nor the Federal Bureau of Investigation have released specific information about Neville other than his health status after Wednesday's attack.

Flint Journal files show he rose to the level of lieutenant before retiring from the county and ran for a county commission seat as a Republican in 1998.

Neville lost his primary election to David Robertson, who went on to represent the Grand Blanc area in the Michigan Senate as well, but Neville was praised in the process.

Robertson said after the race that he appreciated the "sincerity with which" Neville and another opponent ran their campaigns, and former UAW political titan Danny Sain, who was considering running as Democrat for the same seat, called Neville a "good Republican."

As a police officer in 1996, Neville coordinated a sting operation aimed at rounding up parents wanted on arrest warrants for failing to have paid child support.

"We want to send a message that this is important," Neville said at the time. "Parents need to support their children."

Flint Journal files also show Neville has been an occasional competitive eater, participating in a 2005 contest sponsored by the International Federation of Competitive Eating and later that year a police officers' doughnut-eating competition.

After eating more than six frosted pastries in 3 minutes in the Chicago doughnut contest, Neville said he had a full steak dinner that same evening, "but then we got to the desert and I realized that I'd had enough," he told The Journal at the time.
FLINT, MI -- A police officer stabbed this morning at Bishop Airport has improved to stable condition following the attack and a suspect is in custody.

Michigan State Police confirmed the condition of the on-duty officer and identified him as Jeff Neville, who was initially reported in critical condition after the assault.

Jeff Neville

MSP said in a Twitter post that the FBI is leading an investigation, and an FBI spokesman said officials were planning a news conference later today.

Although there have been reports that the attack was being investigated as an act of terrorism, the FBI called that speculation premature.

At least one report identified the attacker as Canadian, and the government of Canada issued a statement saying it was aware of the attack.

"Canada condemns this heinous and cowardly act," the statement says. "Our thoughts and sympathies are with the officer and his loved ones." "Our government and law enforcement agencies are engaged and are cooperating fully with our American counterparts and assisting them in every way possible."

Bishop announced on its Facebook page that the airport, which has been turned into a massive crime scene, is closed until further notice

Every entrance to the airfield was blocked by police from Flint and surrounding areas, and a Salvation Army truck was set up as a command center.

Police ran dogs throughout the parking lot in the aftermath of the incident.

Flint Airport Press Conference FBI and police officials share information about police officer at Flint's Bishop International Airport: Posted by MLive.com on Wednesday, June 21, 2017

A witness told MLive he saw a man near a knife on the floor of the airport terminal and saw an officer on his knees and bleeding from the neck while at the airport this morning.

"The cop was on his hands and knees bleeding from his neck," said Ken Brown, who was dropping his daughter off at the airport. "I said they need to get him a towel."

Bishop's Facebook page says no passengers have been injured.

In response to the stabbing, Flint police were stationed around the City Hall but the building remained open for business.

The Associated Press reported President Donald Trump has been briefed on the stabbing.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer told the AP that Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert briefed Trump on Wednesday regarding the stabbing, which resulted in the second evacuation at Bishop this month.

The airport terminal was also evacuated June 8 after officers noticed a suspicious bag.

Police said at the time that there was nothing dangerous in the bag after taking the precaution.

Genesee County Commissioner Mark Young, a close friend of Neville, called him "an honorable man" whom he worked with at the Genesee County Sheriff's Office.

Neville was a lieutenant with the airport's police department, said Young, who met with the victim's family at the hospital today.

"As expected, they are shook up. They are concerned," he said.

In a Twitter message, Gov. Rick Snyder asked state resident to "keep the attacked officer in your thoughts and prayers."
Thousands of mourners have walked more than a mile after traffic overflowed in northern Virginia, where people have gathered at a mosque to pay respects to a 17-year-old girl Muslim girl who was fatally beaten this weekend.

Rizwan Jaka, spokesman for the ADAMS Center in Sterling, said he expected anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 people to attend the funeral services for Nabra Hassanen.

Hassanen was killed early Sunday morning as she too walked with a group of friends for more than a mile, returning from a pre-dawn meal to Ramadan prayers.

Police have charged 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres of Sterling with murder, which they said appeared to be motivated by road rage.

Lamia Sarver of McLean does not usually attend the ADAMS mosque, but said she wants to support the Hassanen family.

She said the tragedy hits home because she has a daughter Nabra's age.

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered weekend missile strikes on IS group targets in Syria, Revolutionary Guards said, contradicting a previous report that they were authorised by the country's security council.

The Guards fired six mid-range surface to surface missiles from western Iran into Syria's Deir al Zour province on Sunday night, the first attack of its kind carried out by the Islamic Republic in years.

The Guards statement, published on Wednesday by Sepah News, ran counter to a statement by President Hassan Rouhani who said earlier that the strikes were authorised by the Supreme National Security Council, which includes the heads of the three branches of government as well as the head of the Guards and other ministers.

Senior Guard commanders said on Monday that the missile strikes were intended to send a message to "terrorists" who carried out attacks in Tehran two weeks ago as well as their regional and international supporters, a reference to Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Khamenei's personal directive for the missile strikes, as reported by the Guards, highlighted their symbolic importance.

The complex attacks in Tehran included shootings and at least one suicide bombing at the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, south of the capital. Eighteen people were killed.

IS group claimed responsibility for these attacks but senior Iranian officials pointed a finger at Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic's biggest regional rival.

Tensions between mostly Shi'ite Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is predominantly Sunni, have ramped up in recent months as both countries compete for power and influence across the region. The two countries support opposite sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Field operatives from the Quds Force, the branch of the Guards responsible for operations outside Iran's borders, gathered intelligence on the targets inside Syria before the strike, the Guards' statement said.

More than 170 "terrorists" including some commanders were killed in the missile strike, their statement said. Reuters could not independently verify the claim.

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Belgian counter-terrorism police are investigating the motives of a suspected suicide bomber shot dead by troops guarding a Brussels railway station after he set off explosives that failed to injure anyone.

"We consider this a terrorist attack," prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said, 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.

Several media outlets ran unsourced reports saying the dead man was 37 and came from Molenbeek, the inner city borough with a big Moroccan population which was home to some of the figures in Islamic State attacks on Paris and Brussels in 2015 and 2016.

Police were searching homes in the neighborhood, media said.

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 center 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 organized 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 radicalized 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 center.

"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.

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Pope Francis is offering 460,000 euros (more than $500,000) in aid for South Sudan to help finance two hospitals, a school and farm equipment.

Francis had hoped to visit South Sudan in October to draw attention to the plight of its people faced with starvation and civil war, but called off the trip because the conditions wouldn't permit it.

"Since the Holy Father was unable to go to South Sudan in person, he wanted to concretely show the church's presence and closeness with the suffering people," Cardinal Peter Turkson, Francis' point-man for peace and refugee issues, told a news conference Wednesday.

The money will go to help fund two hospitals run by the Combonian missionary sisters, a primary school run by a humanitarian group "Solidarity with South Sudan" and an agricultural project run by the Vatican's Caritas foundation.

Combonian Sister Laura Gemignani, who works in one of the hospitals, said that aside from the tangible effects of new financial aid, the pope's assistance helped alleviate the sense felt by many in South Sudan that theirs is in many ways a forgotten conflict.

"This gesture makes us feel part of the family, with the Holy Father as our father," she said.

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Related Macron party wins massive majority in French parliament

France's main conservative party splintered and ministers from a centrist grouping quit the government on Wednesday, as aftershocks from a seismic shift engineered by President Emmanuel Macron rippled across the political landscape.

With Macron due to announce a cabinet reshuffle later in the day, MoDem leader Francois Bayrou quit as justice minister, a day after the party's defence minister said she was resigning too.

Bayrou - a Macron ally since backing his presidential bid in February - was quickly followed out of the exit door by MoDem's third minister.

The centre-right party is embroiled in a judicial probe into claims it misused EU parliamentary funds and its importance as a Macron ally waned after his Republic on the Move (LREM) party won an absolute majority in Sunday's parliamentary election.

"It simplifies things," government spokesman Christophe Castaner said on Europe 1 radio. "We have a majority after Sunday's big win and we have the wherewithal to govern. So now it's time to get to work."

But MoDem's departure may complicate the reshuffle.

After winning the presidential election in May, Macron crafted a first government that comprised ministers of the left, right and centre, breaking with convention as he extended his support base.

The flurry of departures means he may have to replace MoDem ministers with conservative politicians, which could give ammunition to leftist opponents who call him a rightwinger in disguise.

In a further sign of how Macron has dismantled France's traditional left-right divide, a lawmaker from the main conservative Republicans party said he was forming a splinter group that would back the president on some reforms.

"We're working on the creation of ... a new force in parliament," Thierry Solere told reporters, adding the roughly 40-strong group would include Republicans and legislators from the Union of Democrats and Independents.

RAISING STANDARDS?

Macron's LREM won 308 seats in the 577-strong National Assembly on Sunday, while MoDem gained 42.

The prime minister's office confirmed Bayrou's departure and sources told Reuters Junior European affairs minister Marielle de Sarnez, another MoDem official, was also leaving government. That followed the resignation on Tuesday of MoDem defence minister Sylvie Goulard.

While Bayrou and de Sarnez have not commented, Goulard on Tuesday said she was leaving because of the investigation, into whether MoDem used EU parliament funds to finance jobs carried out by party officials in France.

Macron's choice of Goulard, a European expert well known in Brussels and Berlin, had emphasised his pro-EU push and desire to work towards greater defence integration.

"No other French politician knew how to talk to the Germans in quite the same way. With her goes the hope of more integration in the defence sector. At least for now," said Britain-based think-tank Eurointelligence.

The resignations add to signs that French voters are becoming less tolerant of allegations of misuse of public funds by politicians.

On Monday, the government announced that Richard Ferrand, a minister for territorial planning - another close Macron ally - was leaving the cabinet to chair the LREM party's group in parliament. He is the target of a separate judicial probe.

"This evening's reshuffle will bring in new names from various backgrounds: some will be from the Left like me and others will be from the Right like (prime minister) Edouard Philippe," Castaner said.

"But some others will be appointed to extremely sensitive posts on the basis of their professional expertise, such as the post of armed forces minister."

Being a target of a preliminary investigation in France is not an indication of guilt. Prosecutors can decide to either drop the probe or proceed to a full-fledged investigation.

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Air India will start additional flights to Doha from this week to meet higher demand after some Gulf countries led by Saudi Arabia cut ties with Qatar, a government source said on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt last week severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing it of support for Islamist militants and Iran.
mployees walk along a corridor in the Infosys campus in Bangalore (Image: Reuters)

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Poaching and hiring each others employees is not new among the IT companies. However, in the wake of increased protectionism by Trump administration, the practice has become fierce.

Leading the poaching war is the Bengaluru-based Infosys which has hired more than half of its 150 top-paid executives from rival companies camps in the fiscal year ended in March.

The Indian IT giant poached 13 executives from Capgemini, 12 from Cognizant, eight executives each from Wipro, Accenture and IBM, and five from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Rest of the executives were from HCL Technologies, Zensar, Tech Mahindra and ITC Infotech, according to a report in the Economic Times.

Infosys is planning to hire 10,000 employees in the US over the next two years as the Trump administration is serious about clamping down on H1B visa, the staple visa type used by IT companies for immigration.

Companies are also hiring from campuses in the US. The report quoted Debashis Chatterjee, president, digital systems and technology, at Cognizant, as saying that the company is hiring technology and management from dozens of US campuses in addition to the talent acquisition from rivals and their customer organisation. Cognizant had hired 4,000 employees in the US in 2016.

An executive from TCS, however, declined that there was any big move underway to bring in talent from rivals.
Mitessh Thakkar of miteshthacker.com told CNBC-TV18, "Reliance Industries is one stock I have been extremely bullish upon and recommended it time and again. I think we are now very close to the earlier levels of Rs 1440 which is where the stock had peaked around on daily closing basis. However after taking a few days of consolidation around these levels I suspect this leg of upmove itself should see Reliance head towards Rs 1550-1600 levels. So, extremely bullish on RIL."

"Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has been sideways for about 2 and half months since mid-April. I think the stock is doing a range of about Rs 1800 to roughly about Rs 1700. I dont see much change happening over here. The stock indicators are very flat. So, I would believe that this range will continue. Ideal way to trade would be to try and buy towards lower end of the range around Rs 1720-1715, keep a stop loss below Rs 1695 and look for a bounce back to about Rs 1780-1800 to exit," he said.

: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd
Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com told CNBC-TV18, "Balrampur Chini is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 144 and target of Rs 156. Kaveri Seed Company is also a buy with a stop loss of Rs 630 and target of Rs 660."

"Canara Bank is a buy with a stop loss of Rs 354 and target of Rs 372," he added.

"Every bull market creates its own bluechips. These are historical bluechips, Infosys Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M). If you see the last one year, they have done nothing. Todays bluechips are housing finance companies. If you have to be in tractor, maybe move into VST Tillers or Escorts . If you have to be in cars, move into Maruti Suzuki. However, Mahindra & Mahindra is neither here nor there, it is total underperformer and the best way to deal with an underperformer is to sell," he said.
Amit Gupta of ICICIdirect told CNBC-TV18, "For this particular expiry, we are buying the Call options of Tata Global Beverage and Tata Steel. In Tata Global, if you see the delivery buying which has happened after the recent correction from Rs 160 plus levels to Rs 156, in the last to last session we saw very good delivery pickup in the stock. Since the second half of November, there was a very stiff resistance near Rs 155 levels for Tata Global and now we had already seen that the last month there was a correction from Rs 160 to Rs 140, almost 13-14 percent of correction we have seen in Tata Global and then this recovery has started with good delivery pickup. Almost 30 million shares have been rolled so far which was majorly in the short side. So, my sense is if Nifty remains above 9,600 or 9,620 levels because after this reversal from 9,570 above 9,600 there has been good short closer in 9,600 Call option. So, there is a possibility for this expiry despite this MSCI news that Nifty can remain above 9,600 and in that such kind of stocks where the shorts are very high like Tata Global, they can see more short coverings."

"So, we are buying 160 Call option which is available near Rs 1.8-1.9 and it is possible it can see more surge from here."

"The other one is Tata Steel because the metal pack has been little bit buzzing. Whatever profit booking is coming in the metal pack, it is immediately getting erased, particularly Tata Steel. More than 10 percent of correction had been seen in the month of April and then the move above Rs 500 has come on the back of the life high volumes, almost life high volumes near Rs 500 levels. Now if you see the 500 Call writers which were also very active with the future traders, now those positions are getting closed. From Rs 500 these positions have been rolled to Rs 550 levels. So my sense is eventually Rs 550 maybe hit in Tata Steel. So, with this consolidation in the market I think these two stocks can be looked at possibly for this expiry perspective," he said.

"I think Castrol India can be looked at because since January 2017 whenever it has come down to Rs 400 levels, we have seen good jump in the stock prices and now because crude is also coming down, this is one of the beneficiaries of crude. So, from that perspective also if you look at the last two or three session volumes, that has been quite encouraging. When I look at 420 Call option, the premiums are not coming down despite the stock coming down from Rs 416 to Rs 411. I did not see that premium coming down, so, possibly some accumulation is there and it is possible the stock can move towards Rs 430 levels in the coming sessions. So, this is one stock which we are recommending at the lower band," he added.
A robot displays a photograph it took of attendees at the Oberthur Technologies stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Paul Hanna - RTS110I2

With the threat of automation looming over the job market, many employees are looking to upskill themselves in order to avoid getting pink slips. As bots start doing humans' work and skill sets get redundant, online certification and courses can help employees stay up to date with technology.

Started in 2010, Intellipaat is a platform that provides online e-learning courses on big data, business intelligence, data science, cloud and business courses like Hadoop, building recommendation engine, python and many more.

Sharing his e-learning experience, ISS Softech employee Nitesh Kumar Dash, said, I had applied for a combination of courses including Big Data and Hadoop, which helped me get a Big Data job at my firm. Usually, people with a lot of experience are hired for such jobs but I got the opportunity with 2.5 years experience due to the online course.

Looking at the positive side of automation, Dinesh Goel, CEO & Co-Founder of Aasaanjobs says, Automation has been revolutionary for the tech industry and its not just taking away jobs but generating new ones. Only way this opportunity can be grabbed, should the employees decide to upskill themselves in the technologies they work in.

He added that automation has caused the collaboration of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data and has started to give machines more human-like abilities to reason and to solve many new types of problems.

Big data is an area, which is going to boom in the coming years and employees who are prepared will reap the benefits, he added.

According to a KPMG report, Indias online education market is set to grow to USD 1.96 billion and around 9.6 million users by 2021 from USD 247 million and around 1.6 million users in 2016.

The report adds that reskilling and online certification courses currently account for a significant part of the online education market in the country with a share of 38 percent. This is largely driven by a healthy adoption rate amongst the significant population of IT professionals in India.

Apart from e-learning, education technology firms are also providing placements. Dash, who found out about Intellipaat through Quora said the platform also provides job support.

These edtech companies rope in industry veterans to impart knowledge about the new technology. Intellipaat has more than 600 trainers on board who are freelancers and have been working in the industry for a long time.

Reiterating the automation threat, Goel says it had a tremendous impact on the IT sector with Cognizant Chennai laying off 6000-10,000 odd and Wipro and Infosys laying off about 56,000 employees in this fiscal year.

Hiring process for 2017 is likely to be slow with IT majors expected to cut by 40 percent of the engineering graduates they had planned to hire, he added.

Due to the fear of losing jobs, more and more people are opting for e-learning courses. Online reskilling continues to be in demand as employees see them as a ticket to retention and professional growth.

Talking to Moneycontrol, Intellipaat founder Diwakar Chittora said that the company saw 15-20 percent jump in the last 1-2 months in people asking to upskill. From 600 learners in 2013, the company now has about 4 lakh people on board who are opting for e-learning courses.

Chittora added that corporates are also focusing on upskilling their workforce. In the initial days of our operations, we had received a call from telecommunications equipment company Ericsson asking to provide training to 60 people.

Moving ahead, the edtech firm added companies like Genpact, Sony, CISCO, TCS, Wipro, and Tata Communications among others in its kitty.

To keep pace with technological transformations, employees are investing in learning these new-age skills. On Intellipaats platform, the cost of these courses range from Rs 5,000, which goes up to Rs 25,000.

Goel says that as technology evolved, IT firms' clients have transitioned to areas such as clould-based servers etc.
Pakistan's foreign ministry has confirmed the country's air force shot down an unmanned Iranian drone in southwestern Baluchistan province.

The Pakistani Air Force initially declined comment, after reports emerged on Tuesday that one of its jets shot down the drone. But on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesman, Nafees Zakaria, released a statement on the matter.

He says the drone was downed on Monday as it flew up to 4 kilometers, or 2.5 miles, inside Pakistani territory, in the Panjgur sector close to the Pakistani-Iranian border.

Zakaria says Pakistani authorities have shared the information with Iran about striking down the drone.

Iran has expressed concern over militants operating along the Pakistani border and warned that the country was willing to strike militants inside Pakistan  remarks that drew strong protests from Islamabad.



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Seven months after the popular Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were banned, cash logistics firms engaged in recalibration and replenishment of ATMs are still to be paid their dues.

At the peak of demonetisation, when supply of replacement currency at ATMs was running low, an army of 50,000 people in 9,800 odd vans had worked around the clock to recalibrate and fill up the depleting cash machines. Sources tell Moneycontrol that the logistics companies are owed a sum of Rs 93 crore by banks, only some of whom have paid up.

"We have dues of about Rs 93 crore which are yet to come from most banks. Only five banks  ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank and Bank of India have made the payments so far," sources said.

NSG Rao, Secretary General, Cash Logistics Association (CLA) has called for a meeting of all 10 member companies on July 13 to raise the issue of unpaid bills and take it up at the right level.

After over six months, most banks are yet to settle the dues for the services provided by the cash logistics companies. Some banks have refused to pay and there is no reason given. Our boys have worked day and night for several days during demonetisation but now that the job is over, Rao said.

After the sudden announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 last year, the RBI and government had directed banks to make the required compensation. The cash logistics firms claim they were supposed to get Rs 4000 per ATM. About 1.50 lakh ATMs were recalibrated and filled up.

Cash logistics firms typically ferry their security vans from banks to ATMs along with two armed security guards to protect the money. During demonetisation, they had to make multiple visits and work for about 12-18 hours daily.

However, banks have refused to accept the claims saying they do not have any contract with those firms but deal with managed service providers (MSPs) which act as middlemen between banks and cash logistic firms.

State Bank of India (SBI), which was heading a task force on this issue, said they have made their payments to the MSPs.

We have no contractual obligation with the cash logistic firms. The bills raised by the MSPs have been paid forbut no other invoices have come to us which we have not settled,Neeraj Vyas, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of SBI told Moneycontrol.

Till 2000, the firms dealt with banks directly and then MSPs came in to act as middlemen and banks started dealing with MSPs, who are typically ATM operators.

Rao, however, said the cash logistics firms have submitted all invoices pertaining to services provided by them during demonetisation to the MSPs.

Moneycontrol spoke to one of MSPs, NCR Corporation. Its Managing Director Nazroz Dastur said, We have not got any bills from the cash logistics firms. The deal was with the banks and cash logistic firms. No payments are due from our side.

However, amidst the compensation fight, ATMs are still facing cash crunch and Rao said banks are only fulfilling about 40-50 percent of the indent demand and hence some ATMs are still running dry in select regions of metros and many smaller cities.

RBI claims to have remonetised nearly 83 percent of the currency till June first week and has denied any shortage of cash in the system.
Upon its rollout in July, the goods and services tax (GST) may spell trouble for a lot of non-government organisations (NGOs) and non-profit clubs, which hold fundraisers or charity events as the new tax regime will increase the cost to hold such events by 20 percent, reports Economic Times.

Clubs and NGOs holding meetings or fundraising events, which receive sales tax credit under the current tax system will not receive such credit once GST is rolled out. To rub salt into the wound, clubs and NGOs will also stop receiving input credit on GST paid on any fees paid by the members.

Many leading clubs such as the Lions Club or the Rotary Club also fear GST may in fact also result in double taxation for them.

Clubs typically operate by collecting fees from their members regularly, which in turn they use to pay an annual fee to their respective parent organisation. The ultimate motive of such clubs and NGOs are to raise funds through various fundraisers events and functions which are normally held at hotels.

Under the GST regime, ordinary hotel rates will attract a tax rate of 18 percent, whereas a five-star hotel or an expensive hotel will set the clubs back with a higher tax rate of 28 percent.

We used to get an input credit for service tax of about 10.15 percent to 14.5 percent for both food and beverages cost as well as subscription paid by members, which is not available under GST. For us, it would be double taxation as not only are we incurring GST at the rate of 18% on subscription, we would get no input tax credit when that money is spent on food and beverages during an event, Ashok Mehra, a chartered accountant who helps many clubs with their taxes was quoted by the ET as saying.

The drawback these clubs and NGOs cite with GST is that the new regime denies any credit of expenses incurred for activities, which cannot be directly attributable as business expense such as food, beverages, etc.

Some say this may result in clubs creating new structures to allow them circumvent GST regulations.

The rules would force many clubs to limit number of partners and fees collected from them to stay out of GST net, said a senior official with a Mumbai-based club. We dont mind paying GST on the subscription fees but not allow input credit for food and beverage expenses incurred during meetings or events is a huge expense for us, he added.
narendra_Modi_PM_prime_Minister_Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the roll-out of the Goods and Services (GST) tax from July 1 will be "historic" and the world will witness how political parties of different ideological hues came together to usher in this major reform.

He also strongly favoured making the country self-reliant in defence and technology sectors.

Addressing a gathering at the APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) here after inaugurating its new building, Modi said, "The roll out of the GST from July 1 will be historic. It will set an example for the world."

The prime minister said 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 subscribing to different ideologies united for the implementation of the GST," he said.

The biggest tax reform since Independence, GST will re- shape India's business landscape by making the country an easier place to do business in and would bring down barriers between states.

It is all set to be launched at a grand function in the Central Hall of Parliament on the midnight of June 30.

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 would unify the USD 2 trillion Indian economy and 1.3 billion people into a single market.

In his speech here, Modi also strongly favoured making the country self-reliant in defence sector.

"We are moving forward with the dream of how to make India self-dependent in the field of defence and security," he said.

Presently India imports upto 65 percent of its defence requirements, it is estimated.

Can we not make India self-reliant in defence sector?, the prime minister asked here.

"We are marching ahead with this dream and for this we have made policy changes and allowed 100 per cent FDI in defence sector," Modi said.

His impassioned plea to make the country self-reliant in defence sector came against the backdrop of the government recently finalising a policy under which private sector companies will be roped-in to manufacture hi-tech defence equipment like submarines and fighter jets in India in partnership with foreign entities.

Modi also lauded the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) saying that "the world took notice when India launched 104 satellites. We have such potential and have to take it forward."

He said that India "reached Mars in a budget less than that of a Bollywood movie due to the technological advancement. Our expense to reach Mars was Rs 7 per kilometer."

Lauding scientists, Modi called them "modern rishis".

"Scientists are facing a challenge to produce cheap but effective drugs for the poor and needy. They are devoted to the objective of ridding the humanity of pain. Science is universal, but technology is local. We have to defeat diseases with science," he said.

Speaking here, Modi also appreciated the efforts of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in taking the state forward.

"Everyone is watching the developments in UP. They are curious about what is happening here. The Yogi government has intitiated steps to check the diseases and various hindrances prevalent in UP for years. I congratulate Yogi and his team for this," he said.

Earlier Modi also visited the premier CSIR-Central Drugs Research Institute (CDRI) here and evinced a keen interest in the research work conducted by the state-run institute.

Soon after arriving here on a two-day visit, the prime minister flew in a chopper from the Amausi airport to the CDRI complex.

During his 40-minute stay at the institute, he took a round of the two laboratories.

The prime minister even used a microscope to follow the experiments and also had a brief interaction with senior scientists.

CDRI officials briefed him about certain new drugs being developed by the institute for treatment of diseases like osteoporosis and malaria.

Modi as prime minister is the president of CSIR and this was his first visit to one of its labs.

He also planted a sapling of a medicinal plant in the CDRI premises, flanked by Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

On the first day of his visit to Lucknow, Modi also distributed sanction letters for houses under the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana and inaugurated a 400 KV power line.

Hours before he landed in the state capital, UP police detained 22 persons were detained over apprehensions that there may be an attempt to block his convoy or create some other kind of disturbance.

"We have detained 22 persons apprehending that they might breach security during today's VVIP visit," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Deepak Kumar said.

Those detained included some youth leaders belonging to the Samajwadi Party.
Honda Cliq

The Cliq is Hondas answer to the huge market of cheap, entry-level 100-110cc motorcycles, which though on a declining graph, is still a sizeable segment that is too good to ignore.

Developed over a period of one year the Cliq is not technically an entirely new product. It uses the platform on which the crossover Navi is built. It also uses the same 110cc engine that is seen on the blockbuster Activa; switches and other components, too, are borrowed from Honda models.

Honda believes that the Cliq is that precise model which will appeal to the rural customer who stayed away from scooters only because the price was unappealing. At Rs 42,500 (ex-showroom, Delhi) the Cliq is the most affordable gearless scooter in the country in its class.

At first look the Cliq does not resemble any of the two-wheelers presently on sale in India. But then if one looks at the styling DNA of Honda it has in the past refrained from getting inspired from other models.

The vehicle does not have the over-friendly demeanor of the Activa and neither does it have the outrageousness of the Dio. Yes, it does have the love-me-or-hate-me zing going for it but certainly it does not have the please-all looks.

But thats where it stands out and that will be the defining factor for buyers. Remember the target audience is also anyone who wishes to use it as a utility two-wheeler.

Engineers at Honda achieved a height reduction of 25mm on the Cliq compared to the Activa. This was done to give greater convenience to women riders who often complained an inability to rest their foot on the ground without getting off the seat.

First ride

The handle bar grip-to-rider seat equation is unmistakably a Honda trait. It doesn't matter if the rider is a five-footer or six the Cliq carries forward the same comfortable essence as far as riding posture is concerned.

Firing up the engine using a button on the right the Cliq comes alive and settles to the accustomed rumble that is so frequently heard on city streets thanks to the ubiquitous Activa. While throttle response is slightly better than the Activa, the noise vibration and harshness (NVH) levels were delightfully lower.

The Cliq does not disappoint on acceleration either. A simple twist of the throttle and the response is instant. It can do a top whack of 83km/hr as per Honda disclosures.

At 102kg the Cliq is a full kilogram lighter than the Activa. In addition the smaller fuel tank of 3.5 litre (which Honda executives said is good enough for 200 kms) also leads to lower fuel weight compared to the Activa which has a tank capacity of 5.3 litre.

Ride is a bit bumpy on uneven surfaces as suspension seemed to be tuned to the stiffer level. However, the surface grip presented by the block pattern tubeless tyres makes sure that the vehicle is rooted to the ground at all times.

Honda decided to go for this kind of tyre because of the underdeveloped road network in the rural areas. Due to the rapid pace of development there are many villages which will have a mixture of paved, muddy or rocky roads. The block pattern tyres are suited for all road conditions.

One of the things that stand out on the Cliq is the combi brake system (CBS) with equalizer. Though the Cliq does not feature a disc brake, the rider will seldom feel its absence. CBS, which distributes braking force proportionately between the front and rear wheels simultaneously, generates that precise confidence for accelerating or cutting sharp corners.

Maneuverability is an ease on the Cliq thanks the wider end-to-end handle lock, thereby reducing the need to reversing the vehicle. This will greatly help urban rider dealing with traffic in congested city riding conditions.

On the utility front, the Cliq offers a wide floor foot board that can easily accommodate a medium-size suitcase. It also offers a material carrying stand fixed behind the pillion rider. The under-seat storage is good enough for only a small half face helmet. There is a provision for mobile phone charging through a socket built in the under seat storage area.

The vehicle comes with a maintenance-free battery, tubeless tyres and viscous air filter. For customization, Honda has provided optional parts that include front wind screens, floor cover, box center, cap cover and rear grip. The vehicle will be available in four colours  red with white, black, Moroccan blue with white and Orcus grey  in standard and graphic variants.
Showcasing policy initiatives for defence production in India, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley today invited Russian firms to join hands with Indian companies in developing high-end military platforms and weapons systems.

In an address at a leading forum for technological development, Jaitley said Russian defence majors which already have a long experience of working in India are well placed to take advantage of the policy changes effected to encourage tie-ups between Indian and foreign companies.

Jaitley, here on a three-day visit beginning today, asked Russian companies to come forward with proposals for technology transfer to Indian companies and facilitate manufacturing of advanced military platforms.

"We have initiated a series of policy and procedural changes to facilitate tie-ups, including joint ventures and technology partnerships between Indian and foreign companies.

"Russian companies, which already have a long experience of working in India and working with India are well placed to take a leading role in this process," he said.

In a major step towards defence indigenisation, the Indian government last month unveiled a "strategic partnership" model under which select private firms will be engaged along with foreign entities to build military platforms like fighter jets, submarines and battle tanks.

"In the days to come, we hope to fully harness the energies, entrepreneurial spirit and enterprise of the private sector in the area of defence manufacturing.

"Here again, Russia as India's largest, oldest and most trusted partner in defence hardware and equipment, would have a comparative advantage in partnering with Indian companies for realising 'Make in India' potential in defence production," Jaitley said in his address at the plenary of TECHNOPROM 2017.

The defence minister said Indian companies are already gearing up by developing capabilities for design and development of military systems.

"I invite Russian companies to come forward with proposals for technology transfer to Indian companies and facilitate manufacturing of more advanced components/parts and sub-systems. This can start with platforms of Russian origin where the requirement is in large numbers and is recurring in nature," he said.

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.

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.
IPO

State-run Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) may go for an IPO to raise about Rs 200 crore by diluting 20 per cent stake before the end of this current financial year, a top official of the company said today.

The company is also planning to invest Rs 6,000 crore as capex comprising Rs 1,200 crore equity and Rs 4,800 crore debt during the current year, EESL's Managing Director Saurabh Kumar said.

Kumar said the debt of Rs 4800 crore would be raised through various methods, including USD 100 million green/masala bonds from the UK market.

"Out of Rs 6,000 crore, Rs 1,200 crore will be our equity. Rs 4,800 crore is what we have to raise as debt. We have paid up capital of Rs 460 crore. Another Rs 530 crore will be raised from the promoters," Kumar told PTI.

"Another Rs 200 crore we are looking at perhaps, and IPO towards the end of the financial year. We will dilute around 20 per cent stake. We expect some premium also. We are going to select a banker or a financial agency for the IPO in the next one month or so," he said.

EESL is a joint venture of NTPC Ltd, Power Finance Corp, Rural Electrification Corp and PowerGrid. It was set up under the Ministry of Power to facilitate implementation of energy efficiency projects.

He further said that the company is awaiting the current rating AA to be upgraded to AAA before launching the overseas bonds.

Replying to a query, Kumar said the company clocked Rs 1,200 crore revenues last year and expects to touch Rs 2,500 crore during the current financial year.

On the current ongoing projects in Telangana, he said they tied up with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) wherein about 4.5 lakh street lamps in the city will be replaced with LED bulbs by EESL in six months without charging a penny from the civic body.

GHMC, in return, will pay the amount in seven years without any initial investment.

"We will be spending about Rs 270 crore on the project. GHMC will not invest anything in the project. They will make the payment out of the power bills they save after using LED bulbs. We will offer free service also during the period of contract," he explained.

Kumar said as much as 53 per cent power with the use of an LED bulb, against a conventional one.
The other IPO which also received huge responses were Happiest Minds Technologies and Chemcon Speciality Chemicals, which was subscribed 150.98 times and 149.3 times respectively. Interestingly, both these stocks have seen bumper listing gained over 100 percent. Let's see how the IPO subscription and listing happened in 2020 so far, considered only IPOs issue size over Rs 100 crore.

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Cable TV and broadband services provider GTPL Hathway has opened its Rs 485-crore public issue for subscription on Wednesday, with a price band of Rs 167-170 per share.

It already raised more than Rs 145 crore from six anchor investors (including DB International Asia, Government Pension Fund Global, Acacia Banyan Partners, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund) on Tuesday, by alloting 85,55,294 equity shares at a price of Rs 170 per share.

The issue comprised of fresh issue of shares worth Rs 240 crore and the offer for sale of 1.44 crore shares. Fresh issue proceeds will be utilised towards repayment of loan and general corporate purposes. The issue will close on June 23.

GTPL is the number 1 multi system operator in Gujarat with a market share of 67 percent of cable television subscribers in 2015, accounting for approximately 3.7 million of 5.6 million cable television households in Gujarat, according to MPA report.

Aniruddhasinhji Jadeja, Managing Director of GTPL told CNBC-TV18 that the debt worth Rs 230 crore will be repaid through IPO proceeds and hence, the net debt will almost become nil post IPO.

"The company is developing the G-PON technology that will keep the operational expenditure low," he said.

The management looked confident about future growth with use of latest technology that will drive earnings but analysts have negative views on company's public issue, citing expensive valuations compared to listed peers and risk attached to likely auction of spectrum of frequencies in the wireless 700 MHz band.

Hem Securities

At price band of Rs 167-170, the company is bringing the issue at P/E multi-ple of around 78 on FY17 EPS of Rs 2.19 per share. Company's valuation looks expensive at current level; hence avoid the issue.

On concerns, it said TRAI may soon auction all available spectrum of frequencies in the wireless 700 MHz band for use in the telecommunication sector. Telecommunication companies to which such spectrum is allocated will carry out wireless transmission in those frequencies, which may lead to interference of signals in the coaxial pockets of company's networks and limit its transmission to the spectrum of up to the 700 MHz frequency or require company to adopt technological systems to stop such interference.

This may adversely affect company's business, results of operation and financial condition, it feels.

Choice Broking

Based on FY16 EPS, it feels that the demand high valuation is not justified.

"Based on quick estimate for FY18, we estimate a FY18 earnings of Rs 3.5 per share and book value per share of Rs 62.4, which translates into a FY18 forward P/BVPS multiple of 2.7x, which is in-line to the peer average, thereby having little room for appreciation," it explained.

Thus it recommended an avoid rating for the public issue.

Operationally, the sector is characterised with high competition. And with the entry of big player like Reliance Jio in the broadband business, it will negatively impact the business of the companies like GTPL, it feels.

Earnings of the company are not consistent. In its three years of historical performance, in one year it reported loss, while in other two years, its earnings were very volatile.

It is operating in an industry, where most of its peers are generating loss at the PAT level. Three out of four peers are making loss and thus the research house feels that investors should stay away from the sector.

Centrum Wealth Research

Cable television and broadband services industry in India is highly competitive and requires constant technology up gradation, which makes the business capital intensive. It also faces risk from other distribution channels of digital broadcasting like over the top (OTT) and direct to home (DTH). This has led to broadcasting companies reporting losses in the past.

Given GTPL's weak fundamental performance, competitive intensity and high valuation, the research house recommended investors to avoid the IPO.

"Over FY14-16, GTPL's revenue registered a CAGR of 18 percent and EBITDA CAGR of 22 percent largely supported by reduction in cost of raw materials. However, adjusted net profit for the company looks patchy on account of high interest cost and depreciation due to capital intensive nature of the business. Return profile for the company is weak (return on equity of 5.6/1.5 percent and return on capital employed of 10.4/7.9 percent in FY15/16 respectively) and debt/equity is around 1.2x on 9MFY17 basis," it explained.

Angel Broking

In terms of valuation, GTPL's price-to-book value multiple annualised 9MFY2017 at 3.1x, as compared to peers i.e. Den Networks 1.8x, Hathway Cable & Datacom 0.7x, Ortel Communication 1.4x and Siti Networks 4.8x. The cable industry is already undergoing a period of weak performance and with disruptive pricing of new entrants, there is a high probability that the performance may weaken further.

Hence, the research house recommended neutral rating on the issue.

ICICIdirect.com

Though the company remains one of the very few profit making multi system operator, the research house remained wary of cable industry structure wherein local cable operators hold the key for

effective monetisation pass through. There is also a risk of disruption in the broadband business from Jio's foray into FTTH.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.

Brokerage houses highlighted risk factors:-

1> Concentration risk (Gujarat and Kolkata together accounts for 88 percent of revenue);

2> Competitive risk;

3> Technology obsolescence risk.

4> None of the players in the cable industry within peer group (Den Networks, Hathway Cable & Datacom, Ortel Communication & Siti Cable Networks) have reported profits in last 3-5 years;

5> Presence of the Hathway in the same geography may cannibalize the potential subscribers;

6> GTPL has low asset turnover ratio and in order to remain competitive it will need to continuously upgrade technology

7> Any inability to seed set-top-boxes in Phase IV markets and acquire new subscribers may impact the future growth prospects of the company;

8> The new tariff order, when implemented, could impact future average revenue per user, pay TV economics, operational flexibility, etc. Restrictions on subscription charges may adversely affect subscription income
Representative image

The US index provider, MSCI's decision to include China A-Shares in its global emerging market index could have some impact on emerging markets like India where experts see outflows of little above USD 200 million and up to USD 1 billion and a dilution of up to 10 bps weight in the index.

According to Moneycontrol Research, India could see passive fund outflows of up to USD 1 billion after inclusion of mainland China shares in MSCI.

MSCI plans to add 222 Chinese shares to its Emerging Markets Index, with an initial weighting of 0.73 percent, and in the MSCI ACWI Index. The first inclusion step would coincide with the May 2018 Semi-Annual Index Review.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index captures large and midcap representation across 23 Emerging Markets (EM) countries. With 830 constituents, the index covers approximately 85 percent of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country

A total 222 stocks from China A shares will be included in the index, which is higher than the earlier proposed inclusion of 169 companies. As per media reports, Indias weight in MSCI EM could fall to 8.85 percent from 8.92 percent.

But, not all experts see outflows to be as steep as USD 1 billion, but definitely a little over USD 200 million which should not bother D-Street too much.

The inclusion of A-Shares will not have any major impact on the Indian market, given modest outflows of around USD 215 million, though the event could have a sentimentally negative impact in near term in some of MSCI heavy stocks, Sharekhan said in a note.

The full inclusion of domestic Chinese stocks in the widely tracked MSCI Emerging Markets Index could pull more than USD 400 billion of funds from asset managers, pension funds and insurers into mainland China's equity markets over the next decade, said a Reuters report.

Goldman Sachs in a report said that the move was widely anticipated. Further, it added that the move could trigger an inflow of around USD 210 billion into Chinas markets over five years.

Indian markets started off on a muted note on Wednesday as some experts turn this as sentiment negative, probably just for the short-term. Amar Ambani, IIFL Private Wealth said that MSCIs addition of Chinas domestic stocks to its emerging-markets index and this could dampen sentiment for India.

Pramod Gubbi, Head of Equities at Ambit Capital in an interview with CNBC-TV18, said that it looks to me pretty watered down exercise because compared to what we were looking at 1 year ago.

We were looking at 4-5 percent weight increase for China but that has now come down to almost 40-50 bps, so the net impact on Indias weight at best be 10 bps which could eventually lead to USD 200 million of outflows, said Gubbi.

This is not that much, considering the fact that we had USD 50 million of outflows yesterday. To that extent, it does not really impact holding of foreigners in India, he explains.
Axis Securities

The world is waking up to benefits of Yoga with larger participation every year. This year on the International Yoga Day on June 21, 180 countries will take part and will open the door to a world of physical, mental and social well-being. While most people relate Yoga to asanas but there is more to yoga than this.

Asanas are but one of eight limbs of Ashtang Yoga's laid out by the Indian Maharishi Patanjali, author of The Yogasutra. They are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.

So yes, asanas play a part in yoga, but they are certainly not the whole. Yoga not only helps you attain both a healthy mind and a healthy body, but you can also follow the very principles defined by our Maharishis thousands of years back to create wealth.

You may be wondering how Yoga is related to financial well-being? Its overwhelming to know the vastness of the Yogic principles, its philosophy and its literature. Yoga Chitta Vritti Niruddah is Patanjali's definition of Yoga - It refers to stilling the mind in order to experience Ultimate Reality.

When our thoughts are calm and our mind in its natural state of tranquillity, we can take better decisions in life including financial decisions.

As a finance professional and certified Yoga trainer, I am intrigued by the connection between Yogic principles and investor psychology.

For instance, Yoga tells us that Bhavas lead to the path of ultimate reality. Literally, the word 'Bhava' stands for feeling or attitude. Regular and repeated practice of Yoga techniques slowly enhances the accompanying 'Bhava' in one's personality.

Lets have a look at the Bhavas and how it can be applied to investing, for wealth creation.

DHARMA - Duty & Right Conduct

It is said that one, who is always on the path of Dharma, is saved from all sorts of pains and sufferings. In investing too, its important to do your duty before you invest. Research well and invest basis your goals, investment horizon and risk profile.

Does this mean it is your dharma to know about fundamental & technical analysis before investing? The answer is NO.

However, it is your duty to identify the right expert so that your hard earned money grows. Make sure you check the success ratio before acting on expert advice.

JNANA - Knowledge and Understanding

In whatever you do, go into depths, understand and analyse it. A lot of times, people rely on hearsay and invest their hard earned money based on tips from friends/relatives expecting it to grow overnight.

When you typically make a buying decision  you read the features, compare prices, check out the product, seek various reviews and then finally make a purchase. But when it comes to investing, we invest impulsively without a thorough background check. For successful investing, you should either research well in the stock or rely on expert advice.

VAIRAGYA - Objectivity and Detachment

This is a state of detachment and egolessness. The elements of Vairagya Bhava are humility and 'let-go' attitude. For e.g. people tend to overreact to the news in stock markets that are only temporary in nature.

Its important to detach yourself from the noise and consider it as buying opportunity if the underlying structural or fundamental story of the stock is intact.

AISHWARYA - Will-power and Self-reliance

This is the culmination of all the above three Bhavas. With the practice of Dharma, Jnana & Vairagya; Aishwarya is obtained. The individual becomes clearer in his life, developing strength, will power and self-reliance.

Therefore, when you do your Dharma/duty to select the right financial advisor, invest using the power of Jnana/knowledge and detach yourself from noise with Vairagya, youre sure to achieve Aishwarya or a beautiful life with wealth and happiness.

On the eve of International Yoga Day, I would urge the investors that with efforts, all these Bhavas can be achieved & these simple yet powerful principles of Yogic Investing can help to plan your future optimally and create wealth.

The author is MD & CEO, Axis Securities. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
3:30 pm Market Closing: Equity benchmarks closed lower after a rangebound trade due to lack of cues at global as well as domestic level.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 13.89 points at 31,283.64 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 19.90 points to 9,633.60.

Tata Motors, ONGC, Lupin, TCS, Adani Ports, Hindalco, Bosch and GAIL were down 1.5-2.7 percent whereas HUL, Wipro, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki and Sun Pharma were gainers.

3:05 pm IPO: The initial public offering of Central Depository Services (CDSL) has received tremendous response from all type of investors, with getting more than Rs 31,000 crore worth of bids against issue size of Rs 369.9 crore (excluding anchor investors' portion).

The Rs 524-crore issue has oversubscribed 84.29 times on final day, as per data available with exchange at 14:45 hours IST.

It has received bids for more than 209 crore equity shares against issue size of 2.48 crore shares.

2:45 pm Buzzing: Motilal Oswal has maintained its sell rating on Voltas with a target price of Rs 400 (implying 16 percent downside), citing likely impact of GST on its room AC segment growth in Q1FY18. The stock fell more than a percent intraday, in addition to 0.7 percent loss in previous session.

"Cautious view is driven by threat to margins from intensifying competition in the room AC segment; industry convergence toward inverter ACs, where Voltas has a weak share; and inventory destocking prior to likely GST implementation in July 2017 and rating change in January 2018," the research house reasoned.

2:26 pm Market Check: Momentum in the market turned positive after witnessing a sluggish day, with the Nifty firmly holding 9639.25.

The Sensex was up 10.16 points at 31307.69, while the Nifty was down 14.25 points at 9639.25. The market breadth was negative 1,202 shares advanced against a decline of 1,345 shares, while 174 shares were unchanged.

ONGC, Tata Motors and Hindalco lost the most on both indices, while Hindustan Unilever and Larsen & Toubro gained the most.

2:09 pm Fundraising: Tata group retail arm Trent has raised Rs 100 crore from the market by issuing commercial papers to refinance its upcoming repayments.

"The company has issued and alloted commercial paper of Rs 100 crore," said Trent in a regulatory filing.

The proceeds will be primarily used to refinance the upcoming repayments, it added.

According to the company, Credit Analysis and Research Ltd (CARE Ratings) has assigned 'CARE A1' to the commercial papers. The rating signifies very strong degree of safety with respect to timely payment of financial obligations.

1:55 pm BPCL seeks petrol: India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd is seeking gasoline in a rare move, due to a scheduled, month-long shutdown of a crude unit and a continuous catalytic reformer (CCR), sources said on Wednesday.

BPCL will shut a 100,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) crude unit for a month from July 29 and the CCR from August 6 at its 190,000-bpd Kochi refinery in Southern India, sources with knowledge of the plan said.

The state-owned refiner is seeking 70,000 tonnes of 91.5-octane gasoline with a maximum 0.004 percent sulphur content in two equal lots for Aug. 8-10 and Aug. 20-22 arrival at Kochi, a tender document showed.

1:35 pm Management Speak: We will submit final bids for Rs 25,000 cr LPD project this week, says JD Patil, Wholetime Director & Sr VP-Defence, Larsen and Toubro. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 he also says the order for the LPD or the landing platform dock, which is an amphibious warfare ship may come in by March 2018 or a quarter after that.

The company is also looking at three major other naval vessel programmes and one of them is ahead of LPD. There are also diving support vessels and large hydrography survey vessels for navy. All these are utility ships and together we could be looking at Rs 45000-50000 crore of naval orders over next one year.

1:15 pm Europe update: European bourses moved lower as investors prepared for news out of the UK while keeping a close eye on the oil market for any sharp price moves.

France's CAC, Germany's DAX and Britain's FTSE were down 0.3-1.2 percent.

12:55 pm Pharma agreement: Drug maker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said it has entered into an agreement with Bostonbased biopharmaceutical firm APC Therapeutics to in-license the latters novel immune-oncology molecule.

The financial details of the details were not disclosed.

However, under the terms of the agreement, Glenmark will in-license the product from APC Therapeutics, and manage all clinical development including regulatory filings and commercialisation worldwide.

Glenmark will have exclusive rights on the drug.

APC Therapeutics will receive development milestones and sales royalty payments.

12:45 pm Buzzing Stock: Shares of GMR Infrastructure touched 52-week high of Rs 20.75, gains 3.7 percent intraday Wednesday as it is going to bid for airport in Jamaica and Serbia.

"Bengaluru-based diversified GMR group plans to bid for airport projects in Serbia and Jamaica as it seeks to expand its airports business to more overseas countries," as per PTI report.

12.22 pm Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to consolidate with a negative bias in afternoon trade Wednesday due to lack of global and domestic cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 53.49 points at 31,244.04 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 30.10 points to 9,623.40 but the broader markets outperformed despite balanced breadth.

The BSE Midcap index gained 0.2 percent and Smallcap was up 0.4 percent. About 1,190 shares advanced against 1,174 declining shares on the exchange.

11:50 am Buzzing: Shares of Alembic Pharmaceuticals surged 4.2 percent intraday as it has received USFDA nod for Candesartan Cilexetil Tablets.

The company has received approval from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for Candesartan Cilexetil Tablets 32mg.

The approved equivalent to the reference listed drug product Atacand tablets, 32 mg of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP.

Candesartan Cilexetil tablets are indicated for treatment of hypertension in adult and children and treatment of heart failure.

11:32 am Aviation stocks rise: Shares of aviation companies took off on Wednesday as investors cheered the fall in crude prices.

Stocks in this sector usually gain due to a decline in crude oil prices as profitability prospects improve for such companies due to reduced input costs.

Jet Airways, SpiceJet and InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of IndiGo, gained between 2 and 4 percent intraday on the back of this development.

Oil prices held around multi-month lows in early Asian trading on Wednesday as investors discounted evidence of strong compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers with a deal to cut global output.

11:15 am Market Check: Benchmark indices extended their losses from the morning session, with the Nifty threatening to breach 9600-mark.

The Sensex was down 79.61 points at 31217.92, while the Nifty was down 38.70 points at 9614.80. The market breadth as negative as 1,077 shares advanced against a decline of 1,084 shares, while 146 shares were unchanged.

ONGC and Cipla were the top losers on both indices, while Larsen & Toubro, Reliance and Bank of Baroda gained the most.

10:40 am CLSA on TCS: CLSA has maintained its buy rating on Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) but lowered earnings estimates for FY18-20 due to likely rupee strength and wage hikes.

TCS reiterated its 26-28 percent EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin targets on a constant currency basis. However, acknowledging a sharper Q1 headwind from forex, wage hikes and visa makes it harder, the research house said and cut margin estimate by 50bps to 25.5 percent from forex weakness. It also lowered FY18 marging estimate by 100bps (8.1 percent).

It took FY18 USD-INR assumption to spot, keeping FY19/20 at 68 against the US dollar. This drives 8/1/1 percent cuts to FY18-20 earnings, it said.

Meanwhile, the brokerage house believes TCS should be the prime beneficiary of a BFS (banking, financial, services) spend recovery and digital implementation shift and outpace peers in FY18 organic growth and capital returns.

10.11 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks continued to reel under selling pressure, with the Nifty struggling below 9650 level on correction in banking & financials, auto and metal stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 57.71 points at 31,239.82 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 30.15 points to 9,623.35.

L&T gained over a percent after sources told CNBC-TV18 that the government sold its stake in the company for Rs 4,000 crore.

Reliance Industries continued to support the market, up 0.64 percent while HDFC, Tata Motors, ONGC, Lupin, TCS, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were under pressure.

9:54 am IPO: The initial public offer of Eris Lifesciences was oversubscribed 3.29 times on the last day.

The IPO, looking to raise Rs 1,741 crore, received bids for 5,25,02,424 shares against the total issue size of 1,59,48,750 shares, data available with the NSE till 1930 hours showed.

The portion set aside for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was oversubscribed 4.68 times, non institutional investors 45 per cent and retail investors 3.50 times, sources said.

Eris Lifesciences is into manufacturing of branded pharmaceutical products in select therapeutic areas.

9:45 am Technical outlook: Way2Wealth Research reiterated its views that traders should stick to stock specific trading opportunity.

For the day, 9676 will continue to act as an immediate hurdle above which the next resistance comes near 9709. Lower side, 9637 / 9615 are the intraday support, it feels.

Overall markets are stuck in broad range of 9580-9700 levels and breakout from this range will further set the direction for broader indices in short to medium term. Below 9580 selling pressure is expected that may drag Nifty towards 9520-9480 levels whereas move above 9720 can take Nifty towards 9800 levels.

9:30 am Housing credit growth: Total housing credit growth moderated to 16 percent in the financial year 2016-17 due to lack of new project launches as investors deferred their home purchase decisions, according to rating agency ICRA.

In the financial year ending March 2016, the housing credit had grown by 19 percent.

Overall housing credit stood at Rs 14.4 trillion as on March 31, 2017 as against Rs 12.4 trillion in the previous year.

"The growth in the sector (in FY17) was impacted by a slowdown in new project launches with buyers and investors deferring their home purchase decisions in expectation of a decline in real estate prices," Icra said in a report here today.

Also read - Buy, Sell, Hold: 4 stocks and 1 event are on analysts radar today

9:15 am Market Check: Equity benchmarks opened moderately lower on Wednesday, with the Nifty breaking 9650 level on weak Asian cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 45.77 points at 31,251.76 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 22.05 points to 9,631.45.

HDFC, Tata Motors, Infosys, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and ONGC were under pressure while L&T, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints and HUL were gainers.

Amtek Auto and Castex Technologies and Metalyst Forgings rallied 6-13 percent after a media report indicated that 21 investors are in fray for Amtek Auto sale.

Berger Paints, Jet Airways, Monnet Ispat, Bhushan Steel, Jaypee Infra, Jaiprakash Associates and VST Tiller gained 1-4 percent.

The Indian rupee also declined in early trade. It has opened lower by 13 paise at 64.63 per dollar versus 64.50 Tuesday.

Asian bourses traded mostly lower following MSCI's decision to add mainland Chinese stocks to its emerging markets index gradually and as oil prices slipped around 2 percent overnight. The Nikkei 225 declined 0.44 percent and the Kospi fell 0.6 percent.
Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Travis Kalanick, co-founder of one of the most influential technology companies of its generation, resigned on Tuesday under mounting pressure from investors over his leadership.

Kalanick's departure caps a tumultuous period for the world's largest ride-services company, which upended the taxi industry and transportation regulations globally with Kalanick at the helm.

"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," Kalanick said in a statement first reported by the New York Times and verified by an Uber spokesman.

Kalanick, 40, has faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks following an investigation into the culture and workplace practices at a company he helped start in 2009 and is now the world's most highly valued startup.

But it was a chorus of demands for changes at the top from some of Uber's biggest investors that ultimately forced Kalanick out, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Venture capital firm Benchmark, whose partner Bill Gurley is one of Uber's largest shareholders and sits on its board, as well as investors First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, Menlo Ventures and Fidelity Investments, all pressed Kalanick to quit.

They delivered a letter to Kalanick while he was in Chicago, the New York Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation. The newspaper, which was first to report Kalanick's resignation, said he would remain on Uber's board. (nyti.ms/2soTB79)

Kalanick's decision "was a surprise to everyone", a second Uber spokesman said.

Kalanick's departure comes after a lengthy investigation led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Uber hired Holder to look into its culture and workplace practices after a female former employee publicly accused the company of what she described as brazen sexual harassment.

Privately held Uber has been valued at $68 billion, shattering the norms for Silicon Valley startups, and the company embodied many of Kalanick's aggressive and pugnacious personality traits.

Following the release of recommendations stemming from the Holder investigation, which called for increased controls and oversight at the company, Kalanick said last week he would take a leave of absence for an undetermined period.

He said he needed space to grieve the death of his mother, who died recently in a boating accident in which his father was also seriously injured, and to work on his leadership skills.

Gurley, one of Kalanick's closest confidants, praised the CEO on Twitter, after calling for his resignation.

"There will be many pages in the history books devoted to @travisk - very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world," Gurley wrote.

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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said on Wednesday that it will appoint a forensic auditor in the National Stock Exchange co-location case to determine the profits made by stock brokers, clients and software providers.

NSE is being subjected to another forensic audit as the regulator feels that Deloitte did not investigate in detail the collusion between employees and brokers, SEBI Chairman Ajay Tyagi told reporters after a board meeting on Wednesday.

"Deloitte did not go in-depth on the connivance issue," said Tyagi. "We are examining if unfair gains were made by brokers. It needs to be done comprehensively. We are personally engaging a forensic auditor and are in the process of appointing (the auditor)."

For the previous audit, SEBI had asked the NSE board to make the appointment on its own.

Moneycontrol was the first to report that SEBI is in the process of appointing a forensic auditor in the case.

Sources had told Moneycontrol that the regulator has initiated comprehensive investigation of NSE employees, brokers and any other entities seen to be involved in the case that relates to giving preferential access to some of the exchanges clients.

The forensic auditor will also investigate brokers who were named in report of the technical advisory committee and in Deloittes report.

The regulator has already captured data and e-mail records of these brokers, and is analysing these records, dating from a period of 2010 to 2015. SEBI is also investigating software providers and clients of these brokers.

In a letter to the SEBI Chairman, MP Kirit Somaiya had claimed that one of the brokers made a Rs 1600 crore profit due to this preferential access in co-location.

The Managing Director of an arbitrage firm based in a Mumbai suburb told Moneycontrol: "Two dozen brokers made a profit of at least Rs 2 crore a day profit owing to preferential access." He added that an independent forensic audit is needed in the matter.

He wrote several letters to the regulator in 2014, but did not receive a response.

SEBI is currently examining the replies of NSE and 14 key management personnel at the exchange.

After the full investigation is completed, SEBI will decide on allowing consent mechanism in this case.

A former SEBI official said: This is a severe case. This new forensic audit under the regulator purview will take out the exact picture. The terms of reference were made out to Deloitte during the tenure of the former SEBI chairman."
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) today said that it would ease the takeover process for banks under the recently-introduced bankruptcy code from its strict share pricing rules, adding that such transactions will be governed only by RBI regulations.

Share price during stake sale under NCLT will be not bound by SEBI rules, SEBI chairman Ajay Tyagi said at a press conference after conclusion of the regulator's board meeting.

The decision was put forth initially by bankers to cut losses, said Rajnish Kumar, MD of SBI. It will be applicable when any debt has to be converted to equity for sale.

As per current rules, equity pricing formula for open offers is the average of the six-month share price high and low.

"Whatever is the book value of shares, bankers won't be required to pay more than that," Kumar said, adding that public offer exemption has been given in sale of stressed assets.

P-note norms

The market regulator also tightened norms on P-notes and said it would levy fees on investments via P-notes.

A regulatory fee will be charged on P-notes issued by overseas derivative instruments (ODIs). "The regulator is not in favor of completely banning the P-notes," Tyagi said.

Last month, the regulator had proposed to levy regulatory fee of USD 1,000 for each P-note issued by foreign investors.

The board will allow category III alternate investment funds (AIFs) participation in commodity derivatives.

Category III AIFs are those with diverse or complex trading strategies and may employ leverage including through investment in listed or unlisted derivatives. Funds like hedge funds, PIPE funds are registered under this category.

'Showcause sent in NSE case'

On the NSE co-location case, Tyagi said that a showcause notice has been

issued to NSE and 14 key management personnel. SEBI has started investigation into unfair gains made by brokers and possible collusion that happened between NSE employees and brokers, he added.

The market regulator has also floated a consultation paper for equity derivatives market department. The government will form a committee for spot and derivative market soon.

On the issue of corporate governance, Tyagi said that the Uday Kotak Committee will look at making standards more robust. Changes will be made to the Companies Act to mandate resolution for removal of independent directors, he said.
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Kshitij Anand

India Inc. is already feeling the heat of goods & services tax (GST) which will come into effect on July 1. The countdown has already started for the One Nation One Tax reform to transition on the midnight of June 30 to July 1.

After the launch of GST, the next big trigger which will be tracked by market participants will be June quarter results from India Inc. which most experts think could be muted especially for FMCG and auto stocks amid implementation of GST.

The GST Council had last month fixed the rates for over 1,200 goods and 500 services -- at the slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent.

GST rates have come out and we expect automobiles, FMCG and Building material products like Laminates manufacturers are set to gain in long run, A.K.Prabhakar, Head -Research at IDBI Capital told Moneycontrol.

However, due to lower tax rate we expect these companies are expected to see a negative impact on earnings as no tax benefits on its existing inventories which may dent its earnings in the current quarter, he said.

Prabhakar further added that companies like Maruti, Bajaj Auto, Hero Moto Corp, Colgate-Palmolive and Greenlam may face a tough time in near term but expect to have a positive impact on the long run.

Even though GST will be a disrupter in the short term because of lack of clarity about the procedure, but experts think that any disruptions could be an opportunity to get into quality stocks.

Speaking at a Press Conference, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that over the medium and the long term, GST will usher in a more efficient system as it will check evasion, revenues will grow and the spending capacity of governments will increase.

To further ease the procedure, the GST Council on Sunday extended the deadline for filing the first set of returns, a move that will likely soothe frayed nerves of millions of traders ahead of the new indirect tax systems rollout from July 1.

GST implementation will provide a fresh entry point into the market as there will lot of chaos after the implementation. Some sectors like real estate where there is no clarity on the actual impact of GST will see a slowdown in activity, Naveen Kulkarni, Co-Head Research at PhillipCapital India Pvt. Ltd told Moneycontrol.

We have collated a list of companies which could report muted Q1 amid implementation of GST:

Analyst: D K Aggarwal, Chairman, and MD, SMC Investments and Advisors Ltd

Bajaj Corp:

During Q4, it has reported weak financials due to gross margin pressure and lack of volume. According to the management of the company, GST could be short term hurdle but performance would improve in half year FY2018.

Arvind:

It has reported weak financials due to demonization and increase in cotton prices and after GST, man-made apparel above Rs 1,000 will attract a 12 percent levy, higher than the existing 7 percent, which would clearly impact the profitability of the company.

Analyst: Abnish Kumar Sudhanshu, Director & Research Head, Amarapali Aadya Trading & Investments

Voltas:

As per the GST, prices of televisions, refrigerators and air-conditioners are likely to go up by 4-5 percent from July as GST counsel has proposed 28 percent GST on consumer electronics and durables as compared to the current tax rate which is around 23 percent.

Currently, most of the companies are clearing their inventories at the low prices, taking the pressure on their margins and realisations. Hence, we expect Voltas to feel the pinch in the June quarter.

Indian Hotel:

Earlier pre-GST rates for Hotel were ranging from 18 percent to 25 percent, but in the GST panel has decided to classify rates into four buckets based on tariff bands and taxed at 5 percent, 12 percent, 18 percent and 28 percent.

As we know, premium and luxury hotels, where room tariffs exceed Rs 5,000 per day would now be slapped with a 28 percent GST. Hence, Indian Hotel being the largest Hotel chain in India is likely to be impacted in the June quarter.

Havells India:

GST Panel has decided to put GST rates on cable on the higher side than expected i.e. 28 percent from the earlier 18 percent. And the company does not have any plans to pass on the rate hike to mitigate the price increase.

Hence, we expect sales growth would come at the cost of margin, so the company could witness some pressure in the month of June quarter results.

Titan:

Though, companys stock price has rallied significantly on the back of lower tax of 3 percent as against the expectation of 5 percent tax in GST. But, the panel has also put the taxes on making charges, which were earlier not there present in the making.

Currently, gold jewellers pay one per cent excise and 1.2 percent value-added tax (VAT) over and above the 10 percent customs duty on bullion, which effectively works out to 12.43 percent.

However, after the introduction of GST at 3 percent for gold and 18 percent for making charges, and keeping customs at 10 percent, the effective rate comes to 15.67 percent.

So, the effective price escalation on gold jewellery comes to 3.24 percent. Hence, we believe the initially, company to bear the margin pressure which could be reflected in the June quarter results.

Marico:

This has recently acquired male grooming brand Beardo that sells hair and face care products including waxes and creams, which will also be taxed at 28 percent in GST. Hence, we believe the company to reported muted earnings in the coming quarters.

Analyst: Naveen Kulkarni, Co-Head Research at PhillipCapital India Pvt. Ltd.

Kajaria Ceramics, V-Guard, and Finolex:

Post GST implementation many sectors will provide opportunities to build fresh positions as the impact will only be transitory. Stocks which will get impacted include companies because of de-stocking and discounts offered include names like Kajaria Ceramics, V-Guard, and Finolex.

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.
As the third International Yoga Day celebrations kicked off in Lucknow today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking every citizen to make Yoga a part of their lives, the real estate fraternity, currently trying to come to terms with the new regulatory environment, said all challenges such as GST or RERA can be overcome through Yoga.

CREDAI congratulates all of you on the occasion of International Yoga Day. I recommend Yoga to everybody. If you want to convert your difficulty to opportunity, Yoga is the only way to overcome that difficulty  whether it is in business, society or in personal life. If you want to change your outlook towards life, without any expense, Yoga is the only way  whether it is RERA, GST etc, said Jaxay Shah, president-national, CREDAI.

Parveen Jain, President of National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) - the apex body of the real estate sector, also said that to remain mentally and physically fit  yoga is very essential. Everybody should perform Yoga both for physical fitness and mental peace.

As many as 200 employees of Gaursons India Pvt Ltd participated in the Yoga Day celebrations held at the companys office in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh this morning. This is the third year in a row that we are celebrating International Yoga Day. The idea is to keep our employees mentally and physically fit, said a company spokesperson.

Prime Minister Modi also said in Lucknow that "it is not important to perform yoga for 24 hours. 50 or 60 minutes (is fine) because it lends harmony to the body, mind and intellect. If 1.25 billion Indians and people around the world can attain this state of well-being, then humankind can also tide over problems born out of human thoughts."
Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, listens to speeches during a visit in Paris, France, January 17, 2017, at a start-up companies gathering at Paris' Station F site as the company tries to head off tougher regulation by Germany. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer - RTSVV2S

Cab aggregator Uber is keen on signing up Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg as its new CEO, according to a source-based report in New York Post.

The development comes after Travis Kalanick on Wednesday resigned as Uber CEO as shareholders demanded a change in leadership.

According to the media report, Uber board member Arianna Huffington is pushing for Sandberg's appointment. Disney's chief operating officer Tom Staggs is also under consideration.

The report also claims that Staggs had interviewed for the job even before Kalanick called it quits.

Neither Sandberg nor Uber commented on the media speculation.

Uber is also considering Marissa Mayer - who recently stepped down as Yahoo's chief executive - for the position. Another name in the list is CVS's Helena Foulkes. Other potential candidates are Turner CEO John Martin and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.

Uber has been in midst of various scandals recently. A rape victim has filed a case against the company alleging that an executive shared her personal medical record with the top board without her consent.

Last week, Uber released an internal investigation report by law firm Covington & Burling LLP that recommends some dramatic changes in its work ethics, company values, policies around harassment and employee diversity.

The report authored by lawyers Eric Holder and Tammy Albarran, goes on to recommend that the responsibilities of CEO Travis Kalanick should be "reviewed and reallocated".
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick speaks to students during an interaction at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus in Mumbai, India, January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Picture

Founder and chief executive officer of ride-hailing company Uber Travis Kalanick resigned on Tuesday after shareholders demanded a change in leadership, in order to tackle the negative air around the companys image.

Kalanick will continue to be on Ubers board of directors. Last week, Kalanick had announced that he will go on an indefinite leave of absence, in order to mourn for his mother.

Kalanicks resignation as CEO of Uber comes close on the heels of a report that was released last week, which recommended some drastic changes in the company regarding work ethics, sexual harassment, and diversity.

The Board should evaluate the extent to which some of the responsibilities that Mr. Kalanick has historically possessed should be shared or given outright to other members of senior management, the report stated. The company is currently in search of a COO to share the responsibilities of a CEO, as recommended by the report. Now that Kalanick has resigned, Uber may have to double up the hunt and scout for a new leadership too.

Must read: Never thought I would be writing my own resignation, says Uber CEO

The report was a result of an internal investigation the company had initiated after a former employee Susan Fowler alleged sexual harassment by her immediate supervisor in a blog post. She had accused the company of gender bias also and had said the company did not take any action after repeated complaints.

The exit of Kalanick follows a joint letter titled Moving Uber Forward sent to him on Tuesday by Uber's major investors including Benchmark Capital, Fidelity and Menlo Ventures, tech blog Recode reported.

Thats not the end of Ubers troubles. The company has been embroiled in several other sticky situations. In another incidence, Uber was pulled up after a news report surfaced claiming that a top company executive had obtained the medical records of a customer who was raped by an Uber driver in India, to establish whether it was a conspiracy by Ola. Eric Alexander, the Uber employee behind this accusation, has now quit the company.

Ubers co-founder Garrett Camp, who now has a limited role in the company, also came out and spoke openly about problems at the company, in a blog post. Over the years we have neglected parts of our culture as we have focused on growth. We have failed to build some of the systems that every company needs to scale successfully, he writes.

A friend recently asked me, What went wrong? and the answer is that we had not listened well enough to those who got us here our team and especially our drivers, he goes on to say.



There will be many pages in the history books devoted to @travisk - very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world.

 Bill Gurley (@bgurley) June 21, 2017

The incidences have resulted in many more exits. Amit Singhal, former senior vice president of engineering, was also forced to quit after he failed to disclose allegations of sexual harassment at his last workplace. President Jeff Jones left the company, saying his beliefs were "inconsistent" with what he saw at Uber. Anthony Levandowski, accused of stealing Alphabet's trade secrets, was fired. Emil Michael, Ubers former SVP of business also stepped down from his position.

Uber has now hired a chief brand officer to mend the companys negative reputation, while a noted Harvard academic Frances Frei has been roped in to help restructure the company.
With 160 deals, IT and ITES was the busiest sector followed by manufacturing and healthcare (47). The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) space was third, recording 41 deals. Let's take a look at the biggest mergers and acquisitions in India this year. (Representative image)

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French defence firm Thales and Reliance Defence Limited today sealed a deal for setting up a joint venture (JV) with a shareholding of 49 per cent and 51 per cent respectively.

The JV is being set up to develop Indian capabilities to integrate and maintain radars and manufacture high performance airborne electronics, leveraging Thales' offset commitment as part of the deal for the supply of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft to Indian Air Force.

Thales is a leading supplier of radars, electronic warfare solutions and software to Dassault Aviation that manufactures Rafale jets.

"We are delighted to seal this strategic collaboration with Reliance Defence Limited. This JV resonates with our strategy to strengthen our industrial footprint in the country by building collaborations with the Indian industry," said Patrice Caine, chairman and CEO of Thales, after finalising the deal in Paris.

Anil Ambani, chairman of the Reliance Group, called the "strategic partnership" with Thales yet another milestone for his company.

"The strategic partnership with global leader Thales is another major milestone in our march towards best in the class manufacturing at support facilities for military hardware in India," he said.

Reliance, he added, was committed to the government's Make in India and 'Skill India' initiatives and would continue to remain in the forefront, partnering with leading companies in the world. The JV would develop skills and activity in the Special Economic Zone of Mihan-Nagpur together with an Indian supply chain for the manufacturing of microwave technologies and high performance airborne electronics, the two companies said in a joint statement. Thales is a leading company in the aerospace domain. It currently has over 300 employees working with its wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, Thales India Pvt Ltd.

India in September last year had inked a Euro 7.87 billion (approx Rs 59,000 crore) deal with France for the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear weapons and equipped with latest missiles.

The Rafale combat aircraft to be manufactured by French aviation company Dassault will come with various India- specific modifications.
The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has declared Bihar Board BSEB 10th Result 2017 (Matric) on official website biharboard.ac.in. Results are also available on partner website Indiaresults.com.

The results which were earlier expected to be announced around 11 am today were postponed likely due to the swearing-in of Keshari Nath Tripathi as caretaker Governor of Bihar.

Also read: Bihar Board 10th Result 2017 to be declared: How to beat results blues and cope with stress

Bihar Board Result 2017 has been delayed by a few weeks as some of the toppers failed to appear before the BSEB board for a physical verification, according to an HT report. The board called around 40 students in the top 10 list for physical verification and review of their copies. Last year, the result was declared on May 29.

There are also reports the Bihar Board plans to grant 8 grace marks to students to improve the overall pass percentage to 50-60 percent. It has already received consent from the government for the grant of 8 marks to students who fail in one subject and four in each subject for those who fail in two subjects.

This year, the BSEB Class 10 exam was held from March 1 to March 8.

Heres a three-step guide to checking it out on the official website:

> Log on to the websites biharboard.ac.in or Indiaresults

> Once you see the results notification, click on it, enter important information such as roll number and date of birth

> Your Bihar Board Class 10 Result will be displayed on the screen. Dont forget to download and take a print.

Results can also be accessed via SMS by sending BIHAR10 <space> ROLL NUMBER and ROLL CODE to 56263.

Last year the pass percentage was at 75.15 with almost 25 percent failures, according to Examresults.net. The pass percentage for boys who appeared in BSEB Matric Exam was 72.88 percent while for girls it was 76.08 percent

Results for BSEB Class 12th Intermediate examinations were also declared on May 30. Over 13 lakh students appeared for the Class 12th Inter examination, which was held between February 14 and February 25.

A lot of results this year have been delayed due to various reasons. The confusion over moderation policy had delayed CBSE board results earlier. Even CBSE NEET Result 2017 have been delayed following complaints of lack of uniformity in question paper.
In a bid to fulfill one of its major poll promises, Captain Amarinder Singh-led government in Punjab has announced free education for girls in all public institutions from nursery to PhD, in spite of the financial crunch currently being faced by the state.

The education sector got a huge boost in the state budget this year with Rs 21 crore earmarked for reforming the infrastructure of primary schools.

In addition to free education, the government has proposed to start pre-primary classes (nursery and LKG) in government schools from the next academic session, provide free WiFi across 13,000 primary schools, colleges and 48 government colleges and introduce free textbooks for government school students.

The chief minister said that the government will give top priority to education, highlighting the fact that his government has had to take on the responsibility of a weak education system and one where there was a constantly growing divide between the haves and the have-nots.

Quite strangely, the measure found no mention in Manpreet Singh Badals speech on Tuesday while presenting the state budget.

Singh also announced the governments plan to enhance budget allocated to the education sector and open 5 new colleges in the state in the current fiscal.

The state government also has a plan to pay extra attention to teaching in English, by starting a pilot project in two primary, middle, high and senior secondary schools.

Among its other pro-women schemes, the state has already seen an increase in reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies from 33 percent to 50 percent thus giving women increased chances of being elected as members of gram panchayats, zila parishads and other similar bodies.

Schemes by other states promoting girl child education

The Jharkhand School Education and Literacy Department had last year decided to give free textbooks, uniforms and notebooks to all girl students studying in classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 in Jharkhand schools, from the academic session 2016.

The district administrator of Gurgaon had last year decided to give free education to girls from classes 9 to 12 under the 'Meri Lado Kare Padhai' initiative. Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act of the Indian constitution, all girls are entitled to get free education up to class 8.

The Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education scheme was announced in 2006-07 and encourages girls to continue pursuing education after class VIII by depositing a sum of Rs 3,000 in her name which she is entitled to withdraw on after 18 years of age.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on 12 June this year announced the launch of free education from KG to Post-graduate across 169 residential schools opened in the state for the SC/ST/OBC minorities.
The launch of FDN2, india's first indigenously developed floating dock, has more to it than meets the eye.

Launched on Tuesday from Larsen & Toubro's greenfield shipyard at Kattupalli, Chennai, the dock is the second of its kind to be commissioned by the Indian Navy. Commissioned after a gap of 30 years, the new dock will join its predecessor at the naval base at Port Blair.

Commissioned by the Defence Ministry in 2015, the 8,000 tonnes FDN2 will be used for the repair of all naval assets other than aircraft carriers. Apart from oil tankers and aircraft carriers, floating dockyards are the biggest ships on the planet.

The significance of the commissioning of the vessel is the strategic role Port Blair will play in the new geo-political situation. With China beefing up its naval power in the Indian Ocean, there is a growing requirement for higher attention towards the eastern coastline which is the door to India's far east trade.

This calls for improved facilities at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. But given that the area is prone to earthquakes ,it is quite impractical to build a dry dock there. It is in this context that the navy's setting up of an additional dockyard in Port Blair gains significance.

Thus, the commissioning is not just an example for India's rising naval power, but seems to be a clear message of the country's commitment to take up any challenge in the eastern waterways.
Fendi was the public face of the company famous for its line of colorful "baguette" bags that cost thousands of dollars.

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 colorful "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 recognized 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 neighborhood 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.

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The Uttar Pradesh government and the Banaras Hindu Campus have come together to organise an "International Literary Festival" to promote native literature but reaching out to a global audience.

The fest is designed to connect the audience with part of the country's literary heritage that has gathered dust. India is a land of more than 700 languages enriched with literature and culture, but the native literary works have, for long, been ignored. The fest seeks to revive the waning interest.

The three-day Varanasi LitFest, slated to be held in October this year on the BHU (Banaras Hindu University) campus, is expected to see participation of more than 500 people every day.

A similar LitFest in Jaipur is known to celebrate literary stalwarts from India and the world alike. For instance, this year gave enthusiasts the opportunity to interact with Mei Fong, the author of "One Child: The Past and Future of Chinas Most Radical Experiment."

Hindu Literary Festival is another such celebrated event in India. This festival showcases the literary works of journalists all over the world.

So far, however, no literary fest celebrated only Indian literary works.

It would be a break from events focusing on western writers like the Jaipur Litfest, a senior UP government official told the Economic Times.

The government plans to make the Varanasi LitFest permanent in the literary calendar, and in addition to book readings and talks, it plans to hold themed panoramas and portray the writers' literary journeys along with cultural shows.
Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday warned that boards of directors of district central cooperative (DCC) banks would face action if they denied interim loan of Rs 10,000 to farmers.

He was speaking at a meeting of State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC).

The CM assured bankers that the government will guarantee this interim loan and reimburse it with interest once banks produced documents.

Farm Crisis: Why Bumper Harvests Are Becoming Painful For Indian Farmers

"Financial position of the state is sound and banks do not need to worry about their loans," an official quoted Fadnavis as saying.

A senior minister from BJP claimed that DCC banks were not cooperating in disbursal of Rs 10,000 loan to distressed farmers.

Fadnavis stated that if these banks didn't cooperate, the government might even dissolve their boards, said the official.
Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers Q1 | Profit at Rs 1.01 crore versus Rs 6.35 crore, revenue at Rs 63.8 crore versus Rs 92.1 crore YoY. (Image: Reuters)

The Congress 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.

Farm Crisis: Why Bumper Harvests Are Becoming Painful For Indian Farmers

"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 official use of Hindi has once again caused a stir in Bengaluru as protests broke out on social media over use of Hindi signboards in the metro.

The Twiteratti protested using the hashtag NammaMetroHindiBeda (no Hindi in our metro) after state authorities put up signboards and instructions in Hindi in Bengaluru metro. The Hindi instructions replaced English in many places, earning the ire of Kannadigas.

An online campaign has been launched urging the Karnataka government to do away with all Hindi signboards from the metro. The campaign is launched by Banavasi, a group focused on preserving the Kannada language.

Bengaluru metro currently has signboards in three languages - Kannada, English and Hindi.

Countering the often cited argument of lack of a common language to justify the use of Hindi, couple of Twitter users asked if there would be signboards in Kannada in the national capital.

This use of Hindi signage in a state where majority is Kannada speaking was unnecessary and it should be limited, Congress spokesperson Dinesh Gundurao told CNN-News18. The popular demand has been to stick to the two language policy consisting of Kannada and English.

The Twitter account of PLE Indiaa group promoting linguistic equalityhas assumed a significant role in the protests by constantly raising questions on the issue and asking people to organise joint actions to pressurize the government to withdraw Hindi.

The debate started addressing the larger issue of regional languages being ignored as people native to Odissa and other places lent solidarity to the Kannada cause against Hindi. They have been rallying against the use of Hindi signboards, instructions, and official postage in Karnataka, especially when the regional language is not used simultaneously.



#NammaMetroHindiBeda

Why is Hindi being promoted in non Hindi speaking states?Things ought to be written in the regional language & English.  Donna Radhakrishnan (@donna_rk_) June 20, 2017

In 2015, Karnataka had another social media protest with the hashtag StopHindiImposition as Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a whole speech in Hindi on Independence Day.

With Bangalore becoming one of the top IT hubs of India, people from the North and the East are settling in the city. This has forced authorities to resort to Hindi as common language for communication.

This led to alienation of local kannadigas majority who do not speak Hindi.

Although, India, with its multi-lingual, diverse identity, does not have a national language, there are many instances, like the current one, where Hindi has been used like a national language.

Earlier this year, President Pranab Mukherjee  who himself is not very comfortable in Hindi  recommended that all central and state government ministers capable of speaking in Hindi should deliver speeches only in that language.

Previously, the Centre drew strong reactions and agitations from Tamil Nadu after trying to replace English with Hindi on highway milestones. The anti-Hindi sentiments swelled in Tamil Nadu quickly as it has a long history of resisting imposition of that language.
As the third International Yoga Day celebrations kicked off in Lucknow today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking every citizen to make Yoga a part of their lives, the real estate fraternity, currently trying to come to terms with the new regulatory environment, said all challenges such as GST or RERA can be overcome through Yoga.



Thanks to PM Modi, Yoga is now an international art; it's neither political nor religious. It brings peace, good health & unity #Yogaday2017 pic.twitter.com/wa0ZBcMg36

 M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) June 21, 2017

Minister of Urban Development (MoUD) Venkaiah Naidu celebrated International Yoga Day at an event organized by New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). He tweeted "Celebrating #InternationalYogaDay with the people of New Delhi, at an event organised by NDMC. Yoga is our tradition, it's our culture."

Jaxay Shah, CREDAI President-national also shared his thoughts. He said CREDAI congratulates all of you on the occasion of International Yoga Day. I recommend Yoga to everybody. If you want to convert your difficulty to opportunity, Yoga is the only way to overcome that difficulty  whether it is in business, society or in personal life. If you want to change your outlook towards life, without any expense, Yoga is the only way  whether it is RERA, GST etc.

Parveen Jain, President of National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) - apex body of the real estate sector said to remain mentally and physically fit  yoga is very essential. Everybody should perform Yoga both for physical fitness and mental peace.

As many as 200 employees of Gaursons India participated in the Yoga Day celebrations held at the companys office in UP's Ghaziabad this morning. This is the third year in a row that we are celebrating International Yoga Day. The idea is to keep our employees mentally and physically fit, said a company spokesperson.

Prime Minister Modi also said in Lucknow that "it is not important to perform yoga for 24 hours. 50 or 60 minutes (is fine) because it lends harmony to the body, mind and intellect. If 1.25 billion Indians and people around the world can attain this state of well-being, then humankind can also tide over problems born out of human thoughts."
The fee hike is set to be implemented from October 2, 2020

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 U.S 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 U.S, 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 U.S 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 support the 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.
India Economy

India is Afghanistan's most reliable regional partner, the Pentagon has said in its latest Afghan report, the first under the Trump administration.

"India is providing significant training opportunities for Afghan officers and enlisted personnel. Approximately 130 Afghans travel to India each year to attend various military academy and commissioning programs," it said in the six- monthly report to the US Congress.

"India is Afghanistans most reliable regional partner and the largest contributor of development assistance in the region, including civil development projects such as the Afghanistan-India Friendship Dam and the Afghan parliament building," the Pentagon added.

According to the report which covers the period of December 2016 to May 2017, India has donated limited security assistance, most notably four Mi-35 aircraft.

In May 2016, India, Iran and Afghanistan signed the Chabahar Port agreement opening a trade route into Central Asia and Europe and allowing for the bypass of Pakistan, the Pentagon said.

India enjoys close relations with Afghanistan, and both accuse common neighbour Pakistan of not doing enough to stop Islamist militants operating on its territory.

India provided development aid of INR 221 crore to Afghanistan between April 1, 2016 and March 27, 2017, according to official figures.
Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi participates in a mass yoga event at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan on the occasion of the 3rd International Day of Yoga - 2017, in Lucknow on Wednesday. PTI Photo/PIB(PTI6_21_2017_000021B)



PM Narendra Modi leads #InternationalYogaDay celebrations in Lucknow pic.twitter.com/JCzAGfwNQf

 ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 21, 2017

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath marked the celebration of International Yoga Day with over 50, 000 followers at Ramabai Ambedkar Ground in Lucknow.

Modi has been promoting yoga from the past three years across the country. In International Yoga Day 2015, India made two Guinness World Records--for the most individuals ( 35,985 participants), and individuals from the largest number of nationalities (84) in performing the exercises at a single venue.

Yoga is an ancient Indian practice and all ancient scriptures including the Vedas have accepted the importance of yoga. Yoga is a way of life and helps to unite people, Adityanath said on the occasion of the third International Yoga Day.

This years celebrations seems to challenge India's previous records.

Here are a few updates from the venue:



LG Anil Baijal, CM Arvind Kejriwal and Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu perform yoga in Delhi #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/P9Ycy4iMuW  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017





NDA Presidential nominee #RamNathKovind ,Sports Minister Vijay Goel,BJP MPs Meenakshi Lekhi & Bhupendra Yadav do Yoga in Delhi pic.twitter.com/DvtGXeUgIu

 ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Amit Shah and Baba Ramdev participate in a Yoga camp in Ahmedabad. Ramdev shared benefits of yoga on International Yoga Day.

Jawans in Ladakh were also caught performing yoga at 18,000 feet.

#WATCH ITBP jawans doing Yoga at nearly 18000 feet in Ladakh in -25 degrees #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/YvSGqpQnxF ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Aircraft carrier also joined the yoga celebrations on board INS Jalashwas and INS Kirch in the Bay of Bengal.



Yoga onboard INS Jalashwa & INS Kirch in the Bay of Bengal#InternationalYogaDay

Live updates https://t.co/pLcXraAV8f pic.twitter.com/XNpxJHWCIW  Times of India (@timesofindia) June 21, 2017





Youth and myriad colours come together as 3000 NCC Cadets participate in Bengaluru during #IDY2017. @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/CnV2nSCrEB

 DPR (@SpokespersonMoD) June 21, 2017

Apart from the major crowd in Lucknow, which is lead by Modi, citizens across the country seems to show enthusiastic participation.



#InternationalYogaDay celebration in different parts of the nation pic.twitter.com/66brKb2of0  Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) June 21, 2017



As we march forward on the path of devpt,it is imp to have healthy citizen,healthy society&healthy Nation.

Yoga is the key to Healthy World!

8000 students form the longest yoga chain in an attempt to enter the Guinness World record at the #MysorePalace, on #InternationalYogaDay! pic.twitter.com/3u30ONr08w

#Goa: CM @manoharparrikar performs #Yoga at #InternationalYogaDay event in Bambolim. AIRPics: Saikat pic.twitter.com/6gEfZks0sR  All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) June 21, 2017





As we march forward on the path of devpt,it is imp to have healthy citizen,healthy society&healthy Nation.

Yoga is the key to Healthy World!  Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) June 21, 2017

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also tweeted on the occasion.

Yoga celebrations is on in several parts of the world. Here is a glimpse of celebrations held in other countries:



Ahead of D-day, UN Headquarter adopts yoga posture https://t.co/qlvM8rDJrP via @timesofindia  India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) June 20, 2017



Great Wall of Yoga - 3 Young Yoga Ambassadors from India mesmerize Chinese #Yoga lovers on #IDY2017 #YogaDay in Beijing. pic.twitter.com/4mkGUzmJMM  India in China (@EOIBeijing) June 20, 2017

In Patagonia, South America (Chile & Argentina) participants braved temperatures of -10C for #IDYwithArtofLiving. #InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/Aji5nlCbZA Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) June 21, 2017
India Pakistan

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.
The young Syrian Kurd, who fled to Greece a year ago, showcased his cooking talent alongside a Greek chef in a packed Athens restaurant to mark World Refugee Day

Barshank Haj Younes may not have much to celebrate, but the young Syrian is cooking up a feast.

His menu features hummus and moutabal - a smoky eggplant salad - and lamb and chicken dishes typically offered to guests at home, about 2,000 km away in war-torn Syria.

For one night this week, the young Syrian Kurd, who fled to Greece a year ago, showcased his cooking talent alongside a Greek chef in a packed Athens restaurant to mark World Refugee Day on June 20.

Beyond giving diners in 13 European cities a taste of Middle Eastern and African cuisine, the French-born Refugee Food Festival, backed by the United Nations refugee agency, is hoping to promote integration.

In sweltering conditions, Younes and Greek head chef Fotis Fotinoglou barely have any room to move around as they frantically prepare a menu of 14 Greek and Syrian dishes in the cramped 1 meter x 2 meters kitchen.

The menu includes dakos - a Greek barley rusk salad - tomato and zucchini fritters, Syrian freekeh - roasted durum wheat - as well as slow-cooked lamb shank and bulgur with chicken marinated in tahini, yoghurt, spices, and cumin.

"There's cumin in everything!" Fotinoglou says.

"You want garlic? Or onion? You want water?" he asks Younes, a gawky 25-year-old with slicked back hair who stared at him blankly.

They end up communicating with elaborate hand gestures to get by.

Beyond offering a brief respite from the daily grind of refugee life in Greece, Younes hopes the food will draw attention to the plight of the tens of thousands of refugees and migrants stranded in Greece.

"(I want to) remind them that there are refugees here, there are still Syrians here," Younes said. "And I want them to remember that there are Syrians everywhere who are in need."

Younes, who studied computer engineering, began experimenting in the kitchen five years ago, driven by necessity rather than a passion for food.

In the early years of Syria's civil war, he fled the mainly Kurdish northeastern town of Amuda for Iraq, where he hoped to make enough money to pay for his journey to Europe. In hotels he worked first as a waiter, then as a cook.

He arrived by boat from Turkey in March last year, a week after the European Union and Ankara enforced a deal to stem the refugee flight to Europe, cutting short his plans to travel north to Switzerland or the Netherlands.

"At times I don't want to leave, because I really like the people here, they are very kind," he said. "At other times I want to."

Whatever the future may bring, the message Fotinoglou wants to bring home is clear.

"The circumstances which forced (the refugees) to leave behind their homeland, their home, their families, their birthplace -- it could happen to any one of us," Fotinoglou said.

"We're here today to say that in cooking, in the kitchen, there are no differences. We're all the same, we're all human," he said.

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By CNBCTV18.COM

Bin Salman, 31, has been his country's defense minister and deputy crown prince, and was recently credited with a "huge success" for President Donald Trump's recent decision to stop in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has relieved Muhammad bin Nayef from his role as crown prince, replacing him with Mohammad bin Salman, according to a royal decree published by state news agency SPA.

Bin Salman, 31, has been his country's defense minister and deputy crown prince, and was recently credited with a "huge success" for President Donald Trump's recent decision to stop in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman called for a public pledging of allegiance in Mecca on Wednesday to the new crown prince, Saudi-owned channel al-Arabiya said on Wednesday.

The young prince has taken a central role in Saudi Arabia's efforts to build its economy beyond the oil industry. He holds primary responsibility for the kingdom's military and energy sector.

In March, Bin Salman met Trump in the White House, and agreed that Iran represents a regional security threat.

In May, the then-deputy crown prince said his radical economic reforms were succeeding in protecting the kingdom against low oil prices, and he promised massive investments in coming years to help diversify the economy beyond oil.

Experts have said that Bin Salman is different than other Saudi leaders in that he had been educated in the kingdom  he wears traditional dress and is popular with young Saudis.

"They see in Mohammad bin Salman someone of their own generation moving up the ladder very quickly. He has a certain degree of popularity. He's also grated a lot of people in the family who see him as abrasive, inexperienced, undisciplined, impulsive," Bruce Riedel, director of the intelligence project at Brookings and former CIA national intelligence officer for the Middle East, told CNBC in 2016.
By CNBCTV18.COM

An annual cost of living survey from human resources firm Mercer takes a look at which cities are the most expensive for the expat community and just how far your money will get you.

Ever wondered how much bang you would get for your buck if you upped sticks and moved to the other side of the world?

An annual cost of living survey from human resources firm Mercer takes a look at which cities are the most expensive for the expat community and just how far your money will get you.

1. Luanda, Angola

Luanda, Angola's port capital situated on the west coast of southern Africa, usurped Hong Kong's leading position this year to become the world's most expensive city. But it is often cited as one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Having battled through a long civil war, which destroyed much of the country's infrastructure, Angola only gained independence relatively recently, in 2002, and has since struggled to reestablish its position as a major exporter.

As a result, around half the country live in poverty while the more affluent citizens pay inflated prices for imported goods and security. Expats can expect to be set back $6,065.67 per month to rent a two bedroom unfurnished apartment of international standards.

2. Hong Kong

Hong Kong regularly emerges as the most expensive city in Asia - and indeed the world - though it was pipped to the top spot this year.

Its currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar, which continues to drive up the cost of housing and amenities. Expect to pay around $7.88 for a cup of coffee.

3. Tokyo, Japan

Japan's capital rose from fifth to third place this year as the value of the yen has continued to appreciate.

4. Zurich, Switzerland

Zurich, a global center for banking and finance, is the most-costly city in Europe and fourth most pricey in the world.

5. Singapore

Prices in Singapore appear to have fallen slightly this year relative to other countries. It drops down from fourth place in 2016 to fifth in 2017.

6. Seoul, South Korea

Seoul, South Korea's capital, has raced through the ranks this year to become the sixth most expensive city for expats. In 2016, it was in just 15th place.

7. Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva is the second most expensive Swiss city and one of the world's 10 most expensive.

8. Shanghai, China

Shanghai, along with other Chinese cities, slipped in the rankings this year as the yuan weakened against the U.S. dollar.

9. New York City, U.S.

New York is the U.S.'s most expensive city and, this year, one of the 10 most expensive in the world. Expect to pay $5,058 per month to rent an unfurnished two bedroom flat.

10. Bern, Switzerland

Emerging as one of the world's 10 most expensive cities this year is Switzerland's Bern.

11. Beijing, China

China's capital Beijing slipped from 10th place this year, though you can still expect to pay $6.62 for a coffee.

12. Tianjin, China

Tianjin, a major port city in northeastern China, has grown significantly over the past year and so too have living costs. In 2016, it ranked in 30th place.

13. Shenzhen, China

Shenzen, situated next to the border of Hong Kong, has held fairly steady as one of China's priciest cities, though it dropped down one space this year to be replaced by Tianjin.

14. Moscow, Russia

Moscow, renowned for its elaborate architecture, is Russia's most expensive city. Here, a two bedroom unfurnished apartment will cost you $4,4249, though 1 kilogram of white sliced toast is among the cheapest in the ranking, at $3.38.

15. Victoria, Seychelles

Victoria, the Seychelles' capital, has remained consistently expensive over recent years, rising just two places since 2016.

16. N'Djamena, Chad

Life in N'Dhjamena, Chad, is expensive for expats, where average incomes are low and access to Western goods are limited and expensive.

17. Tel Aviv, Israel

Israel's Tel Aviv is the Middle East's most expensive country for expats, having jumped two spots since last year.

18. Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Life in the politically troubled Democratic Republic of the Congo is hard. For expats wanting to move there, it is costly too, with security a considerable expense.

19. Guangzhou, China

Guangzhou, a port city in the northwest of Hong Kong is the cheapest of five major cities in China - though it remains within the world's 20 most expensive.

20. Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dubai, renowned for its modern architecture and brilliant beaches, is a top destination for expats looking to combine business opportunities with varied attractions.

21. Osaka, Japan

Osaka is one of Japan's thriving commercial centers and continues to offer an appealing - if expensive - home for expats.

22. San Francisco, US

Life in San Francisco is expensive. With its proximity to the coast and California's wine regions, it unsurprisingly ranks among the top 10 percent of the 200+ countries studied in Mercer's annual list.

23. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi has undergone serious growth and investment over recent years and, as such, there is a price tag to match as expats look to enjoy its glamorous attractions.

24. Los Angeles, US

The third most expensive U.S. city to appear in this year's list, life in L.A. requires a pay packet of almost celebrity proportions. Rental of a two bedroom unfurnished flat could set you back $4,040.

25. Sydney, Australia

Sydney often ranks among the most expensive cities in the world, coming in at 25th out of a total of 209. Beating both Melbourne and Brisbane, you can expect to pay $100.68 for a pair of jeans.
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,
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Chris Morris says his parents encouraged him to invest. They opened an ISA for me when I was 18. But, quite sensibly, they didnt tell me about it at the time. Over the next few years they continued to contribute to a range of funds, that performed well, giving Morris a small nest egg by the time he reached his mid-20s.

He started investing himself into the ISA at the age of 25. He says: I invest on a regular basis, putting aside a little each month. Ive tried to expand the number of funds I invest in, though looking at the performance over the past three years, the fund picked by my parents have performed a bit better.

As these are long-term investments Morris  and his parents  have invested in higher risk sectors. Morris says he has tried to be a bit more adventurous than his parents, but this gamble has not always paid off.

He still has investments in some of the funds chosen by his parents. These include First State Greater China Growth, First State India Subcontinent and Marlborough Special Situations.

These First State funds both have coveted Gold Medal Ratings from Morningstar analysts, reflecting analysts confidence that they will continue to outperform, and five-star ratings, reflecting their strong performance in recent years against peers.

Outstanding Returns from First State Funds

Germaine Share, a fund analyst for Morningstar says: First State Greater China Growth remains one of our best ideas for equity exposure to the region. Top-notch portfolio manager Martin Lau has 21 years of investment experience. She points out that he is supported by an experienced team. The trademarks of the teams process are its absolute return focus, low portfolio turnover and a benchmark-agnostic mentality. Since the funds inception in 2003 it has gained 16.49%, beating the MSCI Gold Dragon Index by 576 basis points.

Morningstar analysts are as enthusiastic about First State Indian Subcontinent, which they say deserves to be viewed as best in class, continuing: There is much to like here, not least Vinay Agarwal who has been lead manager since August 2012. His depth of analysis is impressive, not only when looking at the major macro issues that drive the Indian economy, but especially when getting down to the nitty gritty at the stock level.

Marlborough Special Situation has a four-star rating  reflecting its strong recent performance compared to peers. The fund invests in UK smaller cap companies.

Funds That have Not Fared So Well

But while these funds have been strong performers, Morris says his more recent investments have not fared so well. He says: I kid myself its a good time to buy, but I seem to have a knack of buying just before share prices fall.

He says this was the case with his recent investment into Axa Framlington Biotech. After several years of outstanding growth  between 2013 and 2015  valuations fell in 2016. Morris says: Looking back I clearly bought at the wrong point. Shortly after I invested prices fell by around 50%. However, while still volatile, valuations have been heading upwards over the past year. The fund has a three-star rating from Morningstar.

Russia Shares Continued to Slide

Morris says this wasnt his only mis-timed investment. He had similar problems with Neptune Russia & Greater Russia. Morris explains: I bought after several years of relatively poor returns for this fund. I thought I was probably getting in at the bottom. Unfortunately, this was not the case and valuations continued to slide.

This fund has a Bronze Rating from Morningstar. Analyst Lena Tsymbaluk says: The fund benefits from a seasoned investor in Robin Geffen, who has 20 years experience in Russian equities. However, the analyst team has seen high turnover in the past few years. This combined with the funds risk profile mean our conviction for future outperformance has waned.

She pointed out that the funds unconstrained approach can result in high levels of active risk, which may mean a lumpy performance profile. She adds: For example, the manager tends to have significant underweighting in energy, relative to the index. Although the managers rationale for avoiding the big energy companies such as Gazprom is clear (corporate governance issues) this is a huge relative call to take in the country, which is dominated by the oil and gas sector.

Morris says returns have also been volatile with BlackRock Gold & General. However, this fund has a coveted Gold Rating from Morningstar, with analyst Fatima Khizou saying this fund continues to be a strong choice for investors seeking mainstream gold and precious metals equity exposure in a risk-controlled manner.

Why Im Sticking With High Risk Sectors

Despite more mixed returns from his these more recent investment, Morris says he is sticking with them for the time being. These all look like good solid funds, run by experienced managers. The markets that they are in may not be doing so well at present. But by investing monthly at least I am buying at a lower price and will hopefully benefit as and when these sectors recover. I think these are all areas that have potential to deliver good long term returns.

Morris says he is not investing for any particular long-term goal. Hopefully I am building up a nest egg for the future, so the money is there if I need it. He says he has cashed in small profits to help pay for holidays.

Morris lives in North London and works as in the VCT-sector. He says: I think VCTs are brilliant investments, but not quite right for me at present. Most need a minimum investment of 5,000 and you have to be prepared to tie your money up for at least five years. Although I am invested for the long term I like the flexibility ISAs offer, because I know I can get my money if I need to.
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The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has accused three men  and the two mortgage investment firms they controlled  of fraud, after they supposedly used investors money for other purposes in violation of the Securities Act.



BCSC Executive Director Peter Brady filed a notice of hearing last week against Donald Wilson, David Wright, Patrick Prinster, DominionGrand II Mortgage Investment, and DominionGrand Investment Fund.



Wilson was the president, secretary, and a director of DG Mortgage; Wright was a director of DG Mortgage and DG Fund; and Prinster was a director, agent, or both of DG Mortgage and DG Fund. Both firms were dissolved in 2015.



According to the notice, the firms allegedly raised about $1.1m from 40 investors, mostly from B.C., between June 2011 and August 2013. They represented to investors that their money would be invested in mortgages secured by real estate but they did not do that.



Instead, most of the money went to companies related to the Respondents. Those companies did not invest in mortgages, Bradys notice added. Funds were also supposedly spent on commissions to finders, and business expenses.



The notice said Wilson, Wright, and Prinster permitted, authorized, or acquiesced in the companies contraventions of the Securities Act. A hearing has been set for 11 July.





Related stories:

Home Capital arrives at mortgage fraud settlements with OSC, investors

Securities panel fines real estate developer $125,000 for fraud
Mount Pleasant, SC (29464)

Today

A few showers early then thundershowers this afternoon. High 76F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 64F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph.
RE/MAXs recently launched mortgage division, Motto Mortgage, has been franchised in the Pacific Northwest, according to a news release.Located in Astoria, Ore., the franchise was opened by banking and finance industry veteran Lance Allbritton and David Hoggard, broker and owner of RE/MAX River & Sea.There is tremendous growth in the demand for housing in North Oregon, Allbritton said. As property values and rental prices continue to rise, many renters in North Oregon are transitioning into potential buyers before home prices are out of their reach. Theyre looking for more lending options so that they can achieve homeownership. We want to help them succeed, and opening a Motto Mortgage franchise will allow us to do that.RE/MAX announced the launch of Motto Mortgage in October last year.Our franchise owners believe in our mission, principles and value proposition, said Motto Mortgage President Ward Morrison. Motto Mortgage continues to sell franchises from coast to coast and were thrilled that Lance and David are committed to bringing better service and more lending choices to North Oregon.
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Tyler-based Mewbourne Oil Co. is celebrating the completion of its new regional headquarters in Hobbs, New Mexico.

The new $6 million facility represents a long-term commitment by the company to the people of this area, Ken Waits, Mewbourne president and chief executive officer, said in a phone interview Wednesday as he prepared for the opening festivities.

There are tremendous opportunities in the Permian Basin, and New Mexico, where were active, is a great place, he said.

I think this investment, and others, show New Mexico is a great place for oil and gas activity, Robert McEntyre, director of communications for the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association, said in a phone interview.

Companies from across the region and across the country are taking an interest in both the West Texas and New Mexico portions of the Permian Basin, he said.

There are a lot of opportunities in New Mexico. Over the past several months, weve seen $13 billion in new investment across New Mexico, mostly in the Permian Basin, McEntyre said. Its a positive indicator oil and gas companies think New Mexico is a great place to work, and they can take advantage of the great resources and great regulatory environment here.

He said his association expects more (investment)... in the coming months.

About 135 employees work at the 32,000-square-foot regional headquarters. Waits said the company plans to continue to expand operations, despite the recent slump in crude prices. Being privately owned allows the company to act more cautiously and take a longer-term view, he said.

McEntyre praised the resilience of the industry amid low oil prices.

Its been a tough two years, he said. There has been a softening in oil prices, but were still optimistic about the long-term outlook for the industry.

Already among New Mexicos most active drillers and top producers, Mewbourne is expected to add employees as it increases activity in the Hobbs region.

Were looking forward to hiring more good people in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas, Waits said.

Mewbourne Oil was founded by Curtis Mewbourne, who was inducted last month into the Petroleum Hall of Fame and was named a Top Hand by the Permian Basin Petroleum Association. The company has been around 52 years, Waits said.

We look forward to being around another 50 years, hopefully larger and more successful, he said.

The company was able to expand because we have such good people in Midland and in Hobbs, Waits said.
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On Tuesday, the Sugar Land Police Department announced it had arrested 13 men whom they said attempted to have sex with children they met online.

Dubbed "Operation Broken Heart," the two-month operation, which took place in April and May, was conducted in concert with several other Houston-area police departments and federal law enforcement agencies.

"Task force officers engage in communication with suspects using social media websites accessible to adults and children," detailed a news release by the city of Sugar Land. "Through online communication, officers were able to direct suspects attempting to engage in sexual contact with children to another location where the online predators were arrested."

JAILED AGAIN: Fort Worth man arrested in second prostitution sting by same undercover cop

In total, 13 men ranging between the ages of 19 and 66 were arrested and charged with online solicitation of a minor and attempted sexual assault of a child. Three of the accused men were also arrested on charges relating to the possession, promotion or distribution of child pornography.

"It is a very serious offense and is something our entire community and Houston Metro region should be coordinated against," said Sugar Land Police Chief Doug Brinkley at a press conference Wednesday. "Especially against our children, who are most helpless more than anything else."

According to authorities, online solicitation of a minor is a second-degree felony and may be punished by two to 20 years in prison while attempted sexual assault of a child is a third-degree felony and is punishable by two to 10 years in prison.

ROAD RAGE: Central Texas Prius driver, 76, charged with shooting at couple who made 'obscene gesture'

"Operation Broken Heart" was a nationwide effort involving more than 4,500 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and resulted in over 1,000 arrests, according to Sgt. Matt Levan with the Sugar Land Police Department.

In the Houston area, the task force conducted 151 investigations, made 105 arrests, received 569 cyber tips, identified five child victims, issued 153 subpoenas and served 58 search warrants, Levan said.

The Sugar Land PD teamed up with the Fort Bend County District Attorney, Rosenberg Police Department, Katy ISD Police Department, the Houston Police Department, the Harris County Constable Precinct 1 office, Katy Police Department, the Chambers County Sheriff's Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security to make the arrests.

Levan said law enforcement on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force are working every day on similar cases.

"The work never stops," he said. Levan encouraged parents to be vigilant in monitoring their children's use of the Internet and social media.

Click through to view the mugshots and names of the accused online predators.
The city of Midland is installing new water meters that will help customers track usage and help the city make up for the millions of dollars in adjustments made to water bills annually.

Finance Director Pam Simecka, who also oversees customer service at City Hall, said it will cost $12 million to replace or install meters and the Neptune service for 43,000-plus customers inside the city. This years budget allows for the city to install around 1,500 meters, Simecka said. The project could take 13 years to complete.

The new meters will help the city as 75 percent of meters are currently read by hand. Most by city workers who check meters on foot and by lifting meter lids; others are done using drive-by meter checkers. The installation of meters, other equipment and software will enable the data to be sent electronically. The information will then be in a portal for customers to see their usage. Customers can see hour by hour when water is being used, Simecka said. The system also will allow the city to contact customers if consumption increases dramatically.

We hope we will get to the point where we see leaks faster and wont lose as much water, Simecka said.

Another benefit of the new system is the new meters will show more accurate usage. Simecka said last year the city lost $2 million to $3 million in bill adjustments. Adjustments are usually made after customers protest a higher level of usage, especially by those whose usage reaches the highest tier (usage of 50,000 gallons or more), she said,

City officials told the Reporter-Telegram that water loss -- water the city meters but doesnt charge for -- dropped from 10 percent last year to less than 5 percent. They credited this to newer meters that already have been installed. Simecka said new meters are installed in new construction as well as at homes where meters are replaced.

Simecka told the Midland City Council during its recent retreat that a new system could potentially pay for itself in five to seven years after the project is completed.

Water is a precious resource, said Simecka and Laura Wilson, director of utilities. The new system will -- little by little -- help the city extend its resources. And as temperatures rise into the 100s, usage inside the city does increase.

Wilson said that 24.7 million gallons of water was delivered to Midland on Tuesday from the Colorado River Municipal Water District, Paul Davis well fields and T-Bar Ranch field -- an increase of nearly 2 million gallons from two weeks earlier.
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Police using batons at a Berkeley City Council meeting Tuesday night arrested two people and struck protesters, including a 73-year-old man, after a demonstration erupted during a vote over whether to continue the Police Departments participation in a law enforcement training program called Urban Shield.

The meeting at Longfellow Middle School in south Berkeley turned chaotic when community members unfurled a banner and began chanting, Stop Urban Shield, as some mounted the stage where council members were seated. Council members were quickly ushered out of the room.

Officers ordered people off the stage, and two who refused were arrested, said Sgt. Andrew Frankel of the Berkeley Police Department.

Virginia Cooke, 34, of Oakland and Samir Shrestha, 31, of El Cerrito were booked on suspicion of disrupting a City Council meeting and resisting arrest, Frankel said. They were later released.

When the meeting ended, people chanted outside, Let them go, referring to the two arrests, said Mohamed Shehk, a spokesman for Critical Resistance, one of the groups opposing Urban Shield.

The demonstration escalated when residents tried to intervene as officers led Cooke and Shrestha to patrol cars, Frankel said.

Shehk said officers hit demonstrators with batons and threatened them with a tear gas launcher, but it was never deployed.

Frankel did not dispute that police used batons on protesters.

It would not surprise me if batons were used, Frankel said. Yes, one of our launchers did come out of one of the vehicles. No gas was ever deployed.

Lewis Williams, a 73-year-old Berkeley resident, followed the demonstrators outside, where he said police began pushing really violently against us.

As Williams stood in the crowd, he said, someone knocked off his glasses and when he bent down to pick them up, a baton struck him on the head.

I felt this blow on top of my head and then blood came streaming out, Williams said. It seems totally gratuitous that they would hit me like that. I didnt see it coming.

The City Council eventually voted 7-2 to continue the citys participation in Urban Shield for one more year while forming a subcommittee to review the programs training, meet with the police commission and work with the citys police and fire departments to identify alternatives.

Urban Shield, funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security, trains law enforcement officers for disasters, terrorist attacks and crisis interventions. The event was held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton in September and drew over 500 protesters, with 20 detained after blocking fairground entrances.

The protesters believe Urban Shield militarizes police departments and pits them against communities of color. Frankel countered that the program has helped train Berkeley officers in such situations as serving warrants and responding to medical emergencies.

Mayor Jesse Arreguin voted to continue police involvement in the program for another year but said Wednesday he hoped the city would end its participation after that.

I think it would be irresponsible for the City Council to pull out immediately. I cannot put our officers and residents in harms way, Arreguin said.

He agreed with protesters concerns that Urban Shield hyper-militarizes police forces, but said alternative training programs still need to be identified before pulling out completely.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
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., San Francisco. For information: (415) 516-9625 or jlcowan@mindspring.com.

Climate change: Hosted by the Older Womens League of California, a discussion and session for postcard-writing to elected representatives to push for climate change action. 10 a.m.-noon at the Northern Police Station Community Room, 1125 Fillmore St. in San Francisco. For information:info@owlsf.org.

Diplomacy talk: A panel with foreign affairs experts, U.S., Iran, Saudi Arabia: A New Diplomatic Calculus? The discussion is from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. at the World Affairs Auditorium, 312 Sutter St., Suite 200 in San Francisco. Tickets cost $20. For information: http://bit.ly/2rRlx4H.

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.

Where money should go: A discussion on how to invest public and private dollars, and what questions are most pressing for policy-makers, investors and organization leaders. The event begins at 12:30 p.m. at the SPUR Urban Center, 654 Mission St., San Francisco. For information: http://bit.ly/2sVj0pM.
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Construction work will come to a halt in Houston on Wednesday as builders and contractors literally tie down lose ends and send workers home ahead of the possible overnight arrival of Tropical Storm Cindy.

Although forecasts call for the worst of the storm to strike far from Houston, the local construction industry remains vigilant to dodge the damage incurred during infamous episodes of inclement weather.

"We learned a lot from Rita and Ike," said Kim Mason, director of safety services at the Associated General Contractors of Houston. "We learned to never underestimate how high the water will get. We lost a lot of computers, a lot of electronics. We had a lot of equipment float away, including trailers."

RELATED: Wrath of Ike finally fading as Bolivar rebuilds, renews

That's why, Mason said, every contractor and builder in Houston has a checklist of storm preparation protocols that should be fully checked off by the end of Wednesday.

Mike Dishberger, owner of Sandcastle Homes and a former president of the Greater Houston Builders Association, said he held a staff meeting Monday to run through the steps to battening down the hatches at work sites.

"Work slows down to a crawl," he said. "We pretty much spend the day picking up debris. That's pretty much what we're doing today"

Crews scour the ground for any small object that could "act like missiles" in tropical storm-force winds, he said, then they empty dumpsters and tack plywood onto any home frames that might need structural support in the storm.

On the day of the storm, most workers won't show up for work, he said.

At larger commercial construction sites, preparations can be more complex.

Crews strap down the trailer offices where plans are housed so they don't float away. They relocate computers and heavy equipment and fuel tanks, then hand plywood on the project where necessary.

Nonessential personnel are dismissed to weather the storm. In extreme cases, Mason said, generator trucks may be sent to the homes of essential personnel so they can do essential computer work during the storm.

In other cases, Mason said, the biggest local builders may fly in out-of-state work crews that can tend to the work site while the local laborers are at home with their families during the storm.
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Saudi Arabia has a new crown prince, but for the oil world, much remains the same: The price for a barrel of oil is still wobbling at 10-month lows, and the production cuts put into place by OPEC late last year are likely to continue for now.

King Salman of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday removed the previous crown prince, 57-year-old Mohammed bin Nayef, and named his son, Mohammed bin Salman, 31, as crown prince and successor.

The move answers the question of who will succeed Salman, who is 81, when he dies or steps aside as leader of a world oil behemoth and key American ally. It upends the decades-long brother-to-brother succession path in Saudi Arabia, but in many ways, the change helps stabilize the economic vision and domestic government in Saudi Arabia, experts said.

Omar Al-Ubaydli, an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a senior fellow at the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies, said the appointment erases uncertainty people had about the direction Saudi Arabia will take as it modernizes and looks to take a slice of its government-controlled oil company public.

The previous crown prince, never spoke about anything. Nobody really knew what exactly his visions for the economy were, what his own opinions were on economic issues, Al-Ubaydli said. There was always that spectre of uncertainty. Thats all eliminated. That gives clarity to investors and citizens and markets.

Mohammed bin Salmans is the architect of the countrys Vision 2030, which hopes to end the countrys dependence on oil revenue. Hes known as a reformer and is popular with the countrys younger residents  half of which are under the age of 25  but he already holds a lot of power. Hes the countrys defense minister, chairs a body overseeing state oil giant Saudi Aramco and oversees economic policy. Gulf News reports that hes got so much power, diplomats have nicknamed him Mr. Everything.

He visited President Trump in the White House in March and was one of the first foreign dignitaries to do so.

Ann-Louise Hittle, a principal analyst at consulting firm Wood Mackenzie in Houston, echoed the stability sentiment.

This is confirmation of support for Vision 2030, Hittle said. We expect to see continued support of OPECs goals of reducing inventories and re-balancing of market.

Al-Ubaydli said Saudi oil policy is unlikely to change course for the next 6 to 12 months. Saudi Arabia orchestrated a production cut late last year by OPEC and Russia, trimming output by 1.8 million barrels a day. That cut was extended through March 2018, and while it hasnt caused oil prices to rise, it was keeping them stable around the $50-per-barrel mark until recently. Oil closed at $42.53 on Wednesday.

To read the full story on Mohammed bin Salman, click here in the ExpressNews.com or turn to Thursdays business section.

jhiller@express-news.net

Twitter: @Jennifer_Hiller
WASHINGTON - Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Wednesday he was "disappointed" by his successor Rick Perry's recent comments that mankind was not the primary cause of climate change.

"It flies in the face of science," he said. "But I had been encouraged by Secretary Perry's strong enthusiasm for the national labs and the innovation agenda. However there, the problem is the disconnect to the budget prepared by the administration."

The comments came while Moniz was in Washington to announce the launch of a new nonprofit that he will lead. The Energy Futures Initiative will provide technical expertise and analysis on reducing carbon dioxide emissions to fight climate change.

Moniz said the launch was "not in response to recent events," but he was critical of President Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement on climate and said he hoped to work with states, cities and other U.S. institutions still working towards the goals of the accord.

"Filling the international leadership roles will have to be based on solid data and clear analysis," he said. " You can't sustain leadership if it's based on good ideas you had in the shower. That's off the record, I think."

Perry is on Capitol Hill this week, defending the president's plan to slash research funding at the Department of Energy. Asked by members how he would sustain the nation's national labs, Perry said he hoped to avoid large-scale layoffs through better budget management.

Asked about Perry's testimony during a press conference Wednesday, Moniz offered a long smile before responding.

"If Secretary Perry has a magic formula, well, that would be wonderful," he said. " But I've never seen anyone make something out of nothing."
WASHINGTON - Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Wednesday he was "disappointed" by his successor Rick Perry's recent comments that mankind was not the primary cause of climate change.

"It flies in the face of science," he said. "But I had been encouraged by Secretary Perry's strong enthusiasm for the national labs and the innovation agenda. However there, the problem is the disconnect to the budget prepared by the administration."

The comments came while Moniz was in Washington to announce the launch of a new nonprofit that he will lead. The Energy Futures Initiative will provide technical expertise and analysis on reducing carbon dioxide emissions to fight climate change.

Moniz said the launch was "not in response to recent events," but he was critical of President Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement on climate and said he hoped to work with states, cities and other U.S. institutions still working towards the goals of the accord.

"Filling the international leadership roles will have to be based on solid data and clear analysis," he said. " You can't sustain leadership if it's based on good ideas you had in the shower. That's off the record, I think."

Perry is on Capitol Hill this week, defending the president's plan to slash research funding at the Department of Energy. Asked by members how he would sustain the nation's national labs, Perry said he hoped to avoid large-scale layoffs through better budget management.

Asked about Perry's testimony during a press conference Wednesday, Moniz offered a long smile before responding.

"If Secretary Perry has a magic formula, well,that would be wonderful," he said. " But I've never seen anyone make something out of nothing."
Ron Cortes /Contributor

Chase Bank is looking for Spanish speakers to fill about 100 positions in the companys San Antonio corporate center in Stone Oak.

Opportunities are available for people who have at least one year of experience in phone or face-to-face customer service. Specialty call center jobs are available in customer service, fraud, claims and other departments.
Billy Calzada /San Antonio Express-News

San Antonios Southwest Research Institute has received a $13.1 million contract from the United States Air Force for engineering work on electronic attack pods for aircraft, the institute announced Wednesday.

The attack pods are countermeasure devices that are used to jam radar signals and change the flight paths of incoming missiles, according to a news release. The contract is a follow-on to work the institute has already done.
Detectives and top brass of the Oakland Police Department conducted a careless and hasty investigation into allegations that officers had sex with a minor, and kept the mayor, city administrator, district attorney and others in the dark, according to a report released Wednesday about the sexual exploitation scandal that rocked the city last year.

The report, produced by court-appointed investigators, also faulted top leaders at City Hall  Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Administrator Sabrina Landreth  for failing to adequately review the Police Departments handling of the case after questionable practices were brought to their attention.

The allegations of sexual misconduct first came to light in September 2015, when Oakland Officer Brendan OBrien killed himself and left behind a note detailing his and other officers contact with the teenage daughter of a police dispatcher  a copy of which was reviewed by then-Police Chief Sean Whent, an assistant police chief, a deputy chief, the criminal investigations commander and the homicide division lieutenant, according to the report.

From the outset, Whent sent an unmistakable signal that this case was not a priority, and did nothing to ensure the allegations were being investigated appropriately, the court-appointed investigators, Edward Swanson and Audrey Barron, wrote in their report.

The tone permeated down to the investigative level. Two probes opened into the matter  one by detectives to determine any criminal wrongdoing, and another by internal affairs investigators  were both wholly inadequate, the report said.

The criminal investigation was closed after one week and one interview with the teenager, who called herself Celeste Guap and now goes by Jasmine. The internal affairs probe, meanwhile, downgraded officers from subjects of the investigation to witnesses and concluded that just one of them should be disciplined.

Its shocking  some of the details of the lack of aggressive investigation by the department and the internal affairs section, said John Burris, the civil rights attorney who represented the teen and helped her win a nearly $1 million settlement from the city. We had the impression that victims who went to internal affairs would be treated fairly and equally, and clearly that wasnt the case.

The investigations were deficient in part because of bias against the victim ... who initiated contact with the officers in question, who was involved in prostitution, and who used drugs and dealt with mental health issues, Swanson and Barron said.

Whent later blamed drinking and rookie recruitment for the department culture in a conversation with City Attorney Barbara Parker, according to the report. He also pressured an internal affairs commander to end the investigation.

The internal affairs investigator in charge of the sexual misconduct case worked with almost no supervision, spoke to the teen just once by phone, gathered no electronic evidence, ignored leads and brushed aside the advice of a deputy city attorney, Swanson and Barron said.

During an interview with the young woman, investigators leading the criminal probe did not stop her from deleting conversations she had with at least six officers on her phone  messages that may have included evidence of illegal acts, the report said.

In the presence of investigators, she began deleting her messages with officers, covering the names of the individuals but stating they worked for OPD. After one investigator asked her to stop, she continued to delete the messages, counting out the officers one by one as she deleted her messages with each. ... Finally, the second investigator changed the subject, and (the teen) turned her focus away from her phone.

One investigator called the teenager a whore while questioning an officer suspected of having sex with her. And one witness recalled that Whent called the case bull, according to the report.

Schaaf and Landreth found out about the sexual misconduct allegations six months after the investigations were opened.

Whent abruptly resigned last June and was succeeded by a merry-go-round of department leaders over the following two weeks. Landreth oversaw the agency for eight months without a chief before Anne Kirkpatrick was sworn in as top cop in February.

The federal judge who has overseen the Police Department and its court-ordered reforms for more than a decade tapped Swanson and Barron to step in after an outside investigator hired by Schaaf to review the case failed to interview any witnesses or issue any findings or reports, even though she and her assistants were paid by the city for their work.

Despite the fact that the investigation stalled, the City Administrator and the Mayor did not press the investigator to find out whether OPDs investigation was conducted appropriately, nor did they inquire as to the status of the attorneys investigation, the report said.

The report suggests that federal oversight of the Police Department  which has cost the city more than $13 million in the wake of a landmark civil rights settlement stemming from the Riders police-abuse scandal  is not likely to end anytime soon.

It was only after the departments court-appointed monitor began to hear rumors and stepped in that any meaningful investigation was done  six months after OBriens suicide. Ultimately, 12 officers were disciplined and four were charged by Alameda County prosecutors.

The fact that Court intervention was required to ensure OPD conducted a thorough investigation and to alert the DA to the allegations also casts doubt on whether OPDs reforms are sustainable in the absence of court supervision, Swanson and Barron said.

At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Schaaf, Landreth, Kirkpatrick and Parker said they were still reviewing the report and planned to implement its recommendations, but they largely defended their own actions.

The police chief insisted she had full confidence in her command staff, despite the involvement of some in the investigative failures highlighted in the report.

Parker said she wasnt familiar with a rule requiring police officials to notify the district attorneys office as soon as officer misconduct is suspected. One of her deputy city attorneys was advising the internal affairs investigator beginning in October 2015  months before prosecutors learned of the case.

Schaaf and Landreth said they didnt follow up on the outside investigation because they were focused on the aftermath of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire and didnt want to infringe on officers due process rights.

Did things move a little bit more slowly than we wanted them to? We agree, Landreth said. But we didnt want to do anything that was going to compromise our ability to hold these police officers accountable.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
Heres a look at the books were talking about this week, including a literary detour from John Grisham.

Megaselling author Grisham returns with something a little different from his usual ripped-from-the-headlines legal thrillers. Camino Island (Doubleday, $28.95) is a caper book, a literary caper book, about a group of thieves who steal five priceless handwritten manuscripts that comprise the entire literary opus of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Full of twists and surprises. Read the full review.
From 1832 to 1837, George Catlin spent the summer months sketching the American Indian tribes of the Great Plains.

The Pennsylvania-born painter and writers goal was to capture the essence of American Indian life before it vanished. Ultimately, Catlin produced more than 500 oil paintings of tribes including the Mandan, Lakota, Blackfeet and Crow based on the drawings and field notes he collected.

In addition to paintings, Catlin made lithographs to sell to wealthy customers. A rare set of "Catlin's North American Indian Portfolio will be on display at the Briscoe Western Art Museum starting Friday. Issued by London-based publishers Chatto & Windus in 1875, the deluxe edition of 31 color plates is one of only three known sets still in existence.

(Catlin) used some terminology like noble savage, for example, that wouldnt play very well today, but in general his goal and his desire was to be documentary and to really capture what people looked like and the activities they participated in before the era was gone forever, said Michael Duchemin, president and CEO of the Briscoe. Historically, Catlin is thought to be someone who re-created those images faithfully.

In addition to publishing the portfolio, Catlin also toured the United States and Europe, exhibiting his work with examples of American Indian arts and crafts. Catlin was accompanied by representative members of Indian tribes who enacted dances and other scenes. The show was kind of a precursor to Buffalo Bills Wild West (show) which travels in the late 19th century, Duchemin said

Unfortunately, Catlin was not as good a businessman as he was an artist. He eventually lost his collection. In his later years, the artist traveled to South and Central America to document the indigenous people of those regions.

The lithographs in the collection on view at the Briscoe include portraits and scenes of activities such as hunting and dancing. One of Catlins best known works is his depiction of the Assiniboine chief Wi-jun-jon going to Washington and returning home. In the split image, the American Indian leader is shown in traditional dress, then  newly assimilated into white culture  wearing a top hat and blue suit with golden epaulets on his shoulders, a sword in a scabbard at his waist and a shade umbrella in one white gloved hand and a souvenir folding hand fan in the other.

Catlin knew it was only a matter of time before the populations of the United States kind of carried forward across the continent, and when that happened the lifeways of the people who lived in the western states were going to be lost forever, Duchemin said. So he dedicated himself to documenting that scene before the end was near. Terms like vanishing race and that type of terminology from that era is really attributed back to Catlins work.

Catlins North American Indian Portfolio will be on view from Friday through Sept. 4 at the Briscoe Western Art Museum, 210 W. Market St., 210-229-4499, briscoemuseum.org. Free with museum admission.

lsilva@express-news.net
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One of the most powerful, and, yes, shocking episodes of "Fear the Walking Dead" aired on AMC Sunday and starred none other than San Antonio's Jesse Borrego.

In fact, Borrego is getting rave reviews for his portrayal of an intriguing homeless vagabond with a warm, generous heart.

Fortunately, a repeat will run at 7 p.m. Sunday on AMC before the new episode. So if you missed Borrego's beautifully raw performance, you have another chance to see it.

It's fairly stand-alone, so even if you haven't kept up with the series, you likely will have no problem understanding the story.

RELATED: 'Blood In, Blood Out' star Jesse Borrego quotes movie, poses with Spurs fans at AT&T Center

It's also groundbreaking for English-language TV, as it's almost entirely in Spanish (with subtitles).

"100," the fourth episode of season three of the zombie apocalypse drama, catches up with a regular character who has been missing for a while: Daniel Salazar (Ruben Blades). Last season, viewers were left wondering if he'd died back in a fire at a crazy woman's estate.

As we discover, he was severely burned, and very nearly eaten by zombies, but is still alive.

Hobbling through the streets of Tijuana, he skillfully avoids the zombies, referred to as the Infected here, who fill the area. When one of the Infected notices him, he flees and hides under a car.

After passing out, he's awakened and pulled out from under the car by a new character, Efrain Morales, played with humor and sensitivity by Harlandale High graduate Borrego ("Blood In, Blood Out").

RELATED: Here's why actor Don Cheadle was in San Antonio at UIW's graduation

Efrain sees Daniel's charred legs and warns him he'll die if he doesn't get help -- and water.

Efrain leads Daniel to a shed with a dry water fountain. Daniel is skeptical that the water will come, but at exactly 5 p.m., water begins to flow. Daniel laps it up thirstily, and Efrain fills his jugs while explaining that water miraculously flows from the fountain at 5 p.m. every Tuesday.

Incredulous, Daniel wonders who this man in front of him really is. Efrain, revealing his penchant for humor, provides a little comic relief: "I'm the fifth Beatle, and you?"

Efrain then loads Daniel into a rickshaw and peddles through the zombie-filled town, expertly dodging the Infected along the way. Efrain delivers some water to a family. They scoot out of sight as a vehicle of armed men -- whom we later learn are ruled by a cruel big shot named Dante, who controls the water supply in this godforsaken place.

Daniel fades in and out of consciousness as Efrain and his friend Lola debate how to treat Daniel's infected leg.

RELATED: Guy Fieri films around S.A., visits multiple restaurants, catches Pitbull show

When he awakens, Lola is pulling out a knife. He screams in pain as she scrapes off the charred skin with a blade.

Eventually, he feels good enough to bond with Efrain and share some whiskey with his new friend. A trained barber, he gifts the homeless man with a needed haircut.

These scenes are gloriously human, made warmer by the cold world that surrounds them. It's not long before Daniel confides in Efrain about all the terrible things he's done in his life; while a soldier in El Salvador, for instance, he was responsible for nearly 100 deaths.

Mostly plaguing his conscience is the fact that he can't find his daughter Ofelia. He believes he was responsible for the fire that likely claimed her life.

What he's really after is forgiveness, which his new friend is too tired to give him.

RELATED: Fan photos show Metallica at St. Anthony Hotel, downtown San Antonio ahead of show

That sends Daniel into a suicidal state, borne of guilt and shame -- and he flees from his newfound companion.

Events that come next, all the way to the shocking and wonderfully satisfying conclusion, will make even those who haven't been too enthused about the horror series fall in love with it.

For me, it also was a re-introduction to the talents of hometown actor Borrego, who has had too many roles to count -- as a serial killer in HBO's 'Dexter,' a terrorist in "24" and his breakout performance as a young dancer in the '80s NBC drama "Fame."

This one in "Fear the Walking Dead" is among his most memorable.

Borrego breathes so much humanity, quirkiness and love into Efrain that you'll be thinking about this odd and charming character for days.

jjakle@express-news.net
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.

I'm not sure what to do. I've 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 can't afford therapy right now but I'm tired of crying and being afraid of everything.

-- Stressed and Afraid

I'm 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 it's almost shocking -- you can feel muscles start to unclench.

Certainly it's 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: You're 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 you're covered by an Employee Assistance Plan. If not, then find out whether your local hospital or a nearby medical school offers a clinic. You can also check with the American Psychological Association (www.apa.org) to see if there are providers locally who offer reduced-cost treatment. A support group might be a viable low-cost or no-cost option as well. NAMI (www.nami.org) can help you find one.

To get more information on anxiety, NAMI also has a Helpline, 1-800-950-NAMI, and its site includes general information on various mental health conditions. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America -- https://www.adaa.org/finding-help -- does too, and provides a list of recommended reading material, as you requested.

Navigating all this is a tall order while you're 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 doesn't 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 what's really bothering you, and therefore to a calmer state of your mind's 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.
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BRIDGEWATER - An elderly woman trapped in her burning home was rescued late Tuesday night by her son and daughter.

When Alison Wells, 87, was awakened by the sound of smoke alarms, the house on Christian Street was already engulfed in flames, barring access to the front door, fire officials said.

Daughter Alden Wells hurried her mother out onto the back deck of the ranch-style home, where son Leigh Wells, who lives in the basement, had raised a ladder, granddaughter Erin Scalera said.

Keith Wells, another of Alison Wells adult sons, visited what remained of his childhood home Wednesday.

Leigh went up there with a ladder and saved his mother, like anyone would have done, he said holding back tears. Hes not a hero, but he saved my mom. God bless him.

All three family members escaped injury but were taken to a hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation. Leigh and Alden Wells were released Wednesday afternoon, while Alison Wells was reported in stable condition.

Firefighters from seven departments fought the blaze into Wednesdays early hours, but couldnt save the home. The rubble was still smoldering Wednesday afternoon.

The homes remote location, some 2,000 feet up a winding dirt driveway, posed a problem for firefighters, who found it difficult to negotiate the driveway with large water tankers, officials said. Instead, firefighters set up a portable pool near the base of the driveway and strung hoses from it up to the house.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

The Wells have lived in the home since it was built in the late 1960s. All that remained after the all-night firefight was the freestanding garage.

Its a total loss, Scalera said. Were just happy everyone survived.

The familys two cats have not been accounted for.

The late Stanleigh Wells, Alisons husband of 59 years, designed the home back in 1968. He died June 21, 2012  five years to the day his family home was lost.

I come home this morning, and my mothers house is gone, Keith Wells said. Im glad theyre all alive, but its all gone. Everything I made for my mother  gone.

It was a nice place for a kid to grow up, he said.

dperrefort@newstimes.com and blytton@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3411; @bglytton
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This story ran May 29, 1985, three months before Texas repealed the blue law that prevented many merchants from staying open on both Saturdays and Sundays to sell clothing, furniture, major appliances and other items. Stores were typically closed on Sundays. But many retailers clamored to relax the rule, and several local businesses decided to take matters into their own hands.

Most major Houston-area department stores plan to open this Sunday, rather than wait for September when the Texas blue law officially dies.

Macy's, Joske's and Montgomery Ward plan to open this Sunday, and more smaller shops at the regional malls are expected to follow.

Foley's and J.C. Penney opened last Sunday for the first time in Texas. The controversial blue law banned the sale of 42 types of merchandise on consecutive Saturdays and Sundays.

Gov. Mark White has said he plans to sign legislation to repeal the blue law, but last week he said merchants should wait until the change goes into effect Sept. 1.

Foley's, one of the staunchest supporters of the blue law, was the first conventional merchant to announce Sunday openings, even if it technically wasn't legal, noting that the formal repeal was a foregone conclusion.

Retailers that were open this past Sunday reported a productive day, pointing out that a lot of sales were packed into a short five- or six-hour selling day. Tom Putman, district sales promotion manager for J.C. Penney, said sales per hour were about as good as on a Saturday, when the store is open for 11  hours.

"On Saturday, the peak is between noon and 3 p.m. On Sunday, the whole time is peak," he said.

Other merchants fear a drain of sales from weekdays.

Macy's, which has department stores at the Willowbrook and Deerbrook malls, plans to be open on Sunday between noon and six. A spokeswoman noted that the retailer's stores are open in other cities on Sundays, and that families value it as a day to shop together.

A spokesman for Montgomery Ward said the retailer would be open "in reaction to competition."

Carol Kirchhoff, marketing manager for the Willowbrook Mall at FM 1960 and FM 149, said Tuesday that four of the five department stores that anchor the mall - Foley's, Macy's, Joske's and Montgomery Ward - are scheduled to be open. Sears is the fifth department, and its plans are not known.

Between half and three-quarters of the 155 merchants at Willowbrook will have Sunday hours beginning this weekend, she estimated.

Town & Country Center on the Katy Freeway at West Belt also plans to be open since it received word that Joske's, as well as Penney, would be open Sunday. An executive there expects about 50 percent of the merchants to open.

Some malls, such as Sharpstown Center on the Southwest Freeway at Fondren and Northwest Mall at Loop 610 and U.S. 290, that are anchored by Foley's and Penney were open this past weekend. Sharpstown is encouraging its merchants to open, a mall executive said.

Weiner's, a moderate-price apparel retailer, plans to open on Sunday in the Houston area on June 9. It will open on weekdays a half hour later, at 9:30 a.m.

Palais Royal, the apparel chain, has said it will start Sunday hours on June 23.

Not all retailers have announced plans to open, although executives call it a fluid situation.

"People are getting crazy," said one store operations executive. "I'd like to wait until Sept. 1, but if the competitive situation calls for us to open, we'll have to."

K mart and Target, which worked actively for the repeal of the blue law, still don't plan to open on Sunday until fall.

George Hite, vice president of public and consumer affairs for Target, maintains that since the Legislature has reversed the blue law, there's no reason to jump the gun on the effective date of the repeal.

A spokeswoman at Zale Corp. in Dallas, which also worked for the repeal, said the jewelry chain, "still plans to obey the law, even though it hurts."

After test cases by Academy, the sporting goods chain, and Handy Dan, the home center, retailers at newly opened off-price malls began defying the blue law last fall. Later in the Christmas shopping season, they were joined by large discount stores such as K mart and Target.

Many retailers who opened on Sundays in December, returned to six-day weeks in early 1985.

Store executives said they expect to staff the stores on Sunday by juggling the schedules of current employees, possibly cutting back weekday hours.

Some retailers are paying overtime or offering other incentives to Sunday workers. Executives at Foley's and Penney said they had no shortage of volunteers to work last Sunday.
College of the Mainland is expanding its programs in the Bay Area through plans to lease a second facility in League City.

The college recently announced an agreement with Odyssey Academy to lease part of a building at 102 E. Walker St. to offer classes.

While COM has had a presence in League City over the past several years at a learning center at 200 Parker Court, the planned facility is expected to further increase opportunities for local students who choose to stay close to home after high school, Mayor Pat Hallisey said.

"We're happy because there are an awful lot of people in League City who have been enrolled at College of the Mainland over the years, and it's a great opportunity for our folks to have access to a college environment very close," Hallisey said. "We'd love to have (COM) here in a bigger presence, but I understand they have to inch their way in."

The agreement will allow COM to lease the approximately 6,000 square feet in the Odyssey Academy building. The facility will be named College of the Mainland Learning Center-League City East and will accommodate more than 1,000 dual-credit students.

COM serves students from school districts including Clear Creek, Friendswood, Texas City, Dickinson, Santa Fe and Hitchcock and from Bay Area Christian School.

The planned COM campus will offer evening classes in history, sociology, sign language and German during the 2017 fall semester.

"A community college provides quality education that supports the economic well-being of a community in many ways," said Scott Livingston, director of economic development for League City. "It provides convenient and affordable vocational training and college education that strengthens local business employment, makes the community more competitive in attracting new, quality primary employers, and supports citizens who are entering the workforce for the first time, re-entering the workforce, and/or changing professions."

The facility will serve dual-credit students from Clear Falls High School in the morning and COM credit students in the evening and afternoon.

"Dual credit is growing everywhere in COM's district, especially in the north county - Clear Springs, Clear Falls, Clear Creek and Bay Area Christian," said Theresa Jones, COM dual-credit coordinator.

COM offers dual-credit students an opportunity to enroll in academic or workforce classes to earn certificates in various fields, including welding, medical assistant, cosmetology, pharmacy technician, graphic design, drafting computer programming and criminal justice.

Also nearby is San Jacinto College South on Beamer.

"I think students are going to be happy to have those opportunities so close," Hallisey said.

For more information, visit www.com.edu.
AccessHealth

AccessHealth's Heart of Fort Bend committee is planning an event honoring community pillars Carole and Bob Brown. Funds raised will provide comprehensive health care for low-income, uninsured and underinsured families in Fort Bend County.

The 2017 Heart of Fort Bend will be Thursday, Oct. 19, from 6-9 p.m. in the Texas Ballroom at Safari Texas Ranch.
The officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop last year told investigators that the smell of "burnt marijuana" in Castile's car made him believe his life was in danger.

"I thought, I was gonna die," Officer Jeronimo Yanez told investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension fifteen hours after the shooting. "And I thought if he's, if he has the, the guts and the audacity to smoke marijuana in front of the five-year-old girl and risk her lungs and risk her life by giving her secondhand smoke and the front seat passenger doing the same thing then what, what care does he give about me. And, I let off the rounds and then after the rounds were off, the little girls was screaming."

This isn't the first time a police officer has cited the alleged danger posed by pot to justify a confrontation that turned deadly. Last year North Carolina police officers decided to confront Keith Lamont Scott in his car after observing him smoking marijuana in it.

Like Castile, Scott was a black man. And like Castile, police were aware that Scott had a firearm. "Due to the combination of illegal drugs and the gun Mr. Scott had in his possession, officers decided to take enforcement action for public safety concerns," the police department said in an incident summary.

But officers' claims of safety concerns about marijuana are difficult to reconcile with what researchers know about the effects of marijuana use. Numerous studies have demonstrated that marijuana tends to decrease aggression in people under its effects. Both drug policy experts and the general public rate marijuana use as less harmful to individuals and society than the use of most other drugs, particularly alcohol.

Yanez' own statement is somewhat puzzling, conflating secondhand smoke exposure with a clear and present danger to an officer's life.

Regardless, Yanez' defense sought to make Castile's marijuana use a central issue in Yanez' manslaughter trial. Castile had THC (the main psychoactive compound in marijuana) in his system at the time of the stop. But because of the way the chemical is absorbed by the body, blood THC levels are a poor indicator of current intoxication. It's unclear whether Castile was actually impaired at the time.

Yanez' attorneys nevertheless attempted to convince a judge that the manslaughter case should be thrown out because Castile was "stoned" and hence partially culpable in his own death.

"The status of being stoned (in an acute and chronic sense) explains why Mr. Castille: 1) did not follow the repeated directions of Officer Yanez; 2) stared straight ahead and avoided eye-contact; 3) never mentioned that he had a carry permit, but instead said he had a gun; and (4) he did not show his hands," the lawyers wrote in a motion to dismiss the charges against Castille.

That motion failed, but Yanez' lawyers pressed the issue throughout the trial. According to a recap of the case's closing arguments in the Pioneer Press, "Had it not been for Castile's decision to 'get stoned' on marijuana before operating a vehicle while armed with a gun, and further his decision to 'ignore' Yanez's commands not to reach for his firearm, 'none of this would have happened, [defense attorney Earl] Gray told jurors."

Yanez was ultimately acquitted.
NORWALK  Sue Brown Gordon is no stranger to Norwalks art scene.

She grew up in the city, taking full advantage of the many art programs and celebrations, and credits that culture with her own success as an artist.

It makes Norwalk really vibrant, Gordon said. The culture here is so different than anywhere else in Fairfield County. Now that I have a chance to give back to the town that made me a full time artist, Im really happy to reach out to young people and inspire them to do the same.

Gordon runs Gordon Fine Arts with her husband, and is the director of the Norwalk Arts Festival. The event celebrates its fifth anniversary this weekend, officially marking the start of summer and festival season in Norwalk.

It started as a rather modest takeoff of the fine art festival that we run at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich and it grew very quickly, Gordon said. Its a great opportunity to showcase the arts that are situated in Mathews park, and its a really nice way to share the arts that are thriving in Norwalk.

More than 100 artists from across the country will gather at Mathews Park to show their works including ceramics, wearable art, paintings, jewelry, handcrafted furniture, photography, metalwork, glassblowing and more. The Norwalk Art Festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine. All of the artists will be in attendance to discuss their work, and all works exhibited are available for purchase.

Hands-on craft activities for all ages are available at no additional charge in the Childrens Art Area, and the newly remodeled galleries of the Center for Contemporary Printmaking will be open to feature the Mini Print Show and Sale. New this year, Gordon said a Poets Corner stage has been added, featuring improv poetry  including a work about Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling  by a variety of Connecticut poets.

Admission to the Norwalk Art Festival is free and includes all festival activities. Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum will offer a mini tour for $5 during festival hours.

A Summer of Art

The Norwalk Art Festival is the first arts festival of the summer in Norwalk, to be followed by the Norwalk International Cultural Exchange Festival in July, the return of the defunct SoNo Arts Celebration in August and the Oyster Festival in September.

After a year without it, Gordon is reviving the SoNo Arts Celebration, a 40-year tradition which was canceled last year when leadership within the nonprofit tasked with organizing the festival became overwhelmed. Cancellation of the summer favorite led to substantial community backlash, and the revival of a different defunct arts festival as a temporary replacement.

I think that people really missed the event last year in August and it was really great to see how many people expressed their support and enthusiasm in having it continue," Gordon said. We are really happy to announce that the same organization that is putting on (the Norwalk Arts) Festival will be helping to create a SoNo Arts Festival."

Gordon said the new festival will take place the first weekend of August, just as the traditional SoNo Celebration did, but will take on a new personality. It will also differ from the Norwalk Arts Festival by providing a more urban arts experience.

When the SoNo Celebration was canceled last year, Jackie Lighfield and her arts organization, Norwalk 2.0, quickly put together the defunct Inside/Our festival as a replacement. Lightfield said Inside/Out will not return this year thanks to the revival of the SoNo Celebration.

I think its great that theres interest and passion by people to bring (the SoNo Arts Celebration) back, Lightfield said. I think it was a shame that it didnt happen last year. Im thrilled that theyre pulling something together. SoNo is undergoing a lot of changes right now, so keeping the arts alive is really important.

Susan Wallerstein, chair of the Norwalk Arts Commission, which participates in all of the festivals in some way, said she was excited to learn about the return of the SoNo festival.

I think its almost one of those things you dont realize how important it is until it doesnt happen one year," Wallerstein said. "It was amazing how many people spoke out on social media and other places about missing that. Its been a long standing tradition. We really appreciate Sue Brown Gordon and her organization. Im glad shes willing with her organization to bring it back."

kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt
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Trenton Crow, a senior in Lamar University's School of Nursing, said that as a child he frequently saw doctors for his asthma.

Crow, who originally wanted to be a game warden, said the experience exposed him to registered nurses so often that he decided to become one.

He chose the female-dominated field because of the wealth of opportunities, which has only increased since. And it was better than going through "12 years of medical school" to become a

doctor, he said.

"I wanted to be on the ground floor working with patients," said Crow, 22, who thought some male patients would have an easier time relating to him.

He appears to be one of the few men with that mindset.

Crow is 1 of only 8 men among the 68 students enrolled in Lamar University's highly regarded nursing program this summer, a number that reflects an industry-wide trend with roots in sociology rather than medical science.

Despite rapid expansion in the health care field and statistics showing that men likely will make financial and career leaps over their female colleagues, many men are still reluctant to pursue careers in nursing, unable to ignore the real or imagined societal stigma of being a man in what has long been a woman's world.

Fighting stereotypes

Although significantly more men have entered nursing since 1970, when the field was nearly 98 percent female, according to U.S. Census data, they are still vastly underrepresented in today's hospitals, clinics and assisted living facilities.

In 2016, nearly 9 of 10 registered nurses were female, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The gender breakdown is nearly identical for nursing, psychiatric and home health aides.

In Jefferson, Orange and Hardin counties, the health care and social assistance field is expected to grow nearly 24 percent and add more than 4,800 jobs by 2024, according to Workforce Solutions of Southeast Texas.

Nearly 600 of those new jobs are predicted to be for registered nurses.

In explaining the gender gap, experts point to the age-old stigma of men fearful of appearing weaker or more feminine for taking a job in a predominantly female sector.

"Men are sometimes leery to go into a female-orientated job because it's considered a caring job, which is more feminine," said Deborah Harris, a sociology professor at Texas State University.

Harris said men will shy away from female-dominated jobs like nursing because they're seen as a "lower status" than other medical professions.

The nursing profession historically has been female-driven, even going to lengths to keep it that way for a while.

Some nursing programs refused to admit men until the U.S. Supreme Court declared the practice unconstitutional in 1981.

Cindy Stinson, chair of the Department of Nursing at Lamar University, graduated with the university's first nursing class in 1975. She said the class had one man - a retired engineer.

"He said that he always wanted to be a nurse, but his parents would be so disappointed if he became a nurse," she said.

More than four decades later, male enrollment in Lamar University's nursing program is 18 percent, and two of the program's 32 professors are male.

Stinson said the university actively tries to recruit men to its nursing program, featuring male enrollees in advertising and encouraging male students to talk to friends about the profession.

She said the industry needs more men for the same reason it needs more racial diversity - so patients can have nurses they can relate to.

Men appreciate a male nurse when dealing with medical conditions like testicular or prostate cancers, she said.

"I get so excited when we see men" enrolling in the program, Stinson said.

Male nurse advantages

Christian Brent, a senior in Lamar's nursing program, believes the profession is seeking men partly for their "physicality."

Male nurses have an easier time lifting patients and heavy equipment, said Brent, 22.

Brent's classmate, Hunter Bergeron, said the nursing students "support each other," but he thinks his female classmates believe men have some advantages.

"They think we have it easier in the profession because we're the minority, and they need males in the profession. We climb ranks in the hospital faster," said Bergerson, 22.

TSU's Harris called this phenomenon the "glass escalator."

She said research has demonstrated that when men move into certain female-dominated fields like nursing or education, they move up quickly, without encountering the kinds of obstacles women do when they move into male-dominated professions.

A 2013 census report said male nurses make an average of $60,700 per year, compared to $51,100 for women.

Part of that can be explained by pay disparities between nursing specialities.

Men tend to pursue higher-paying nursing specialties like nurse anesthetist or nurse practitioner, which require master's degrees, Stinson said.

About 40 percent of nurse anesthetists, the highest-paying job in nursing, are male, according to Census data.

They earn on average $160,000 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nurse practitioners earn an average of $101,000 a year.

Stinson said men sometimes will pursue higher-earning nursing positions because they have the "breadwinner" mentality that they need to earn more to provide for a family.

A 2015 analysis by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that after factoring out specialization and experience, male nurses make $5,100 more on average than female nurses.

Male nurse anesthetists were paid just over $17,000 more per year than their female counterparts, according to the analysis.

Optimistic future

Stinson is optimistic that the field will attract more men as gender lines blur in all occupations.

"I think people are accepting more that people can do what they want," she said.

She said her nephew recently went into nursing to find a stable job and talked three of his friends into enrolling in program.

Thomas Pham, a registered nurse at Christus St. Elizabeth hospital in Beaumont, said when he graduated from Lamar in 2014, more than a third of the 60 students in his nursing class were male.

Pham, 25, has worked in the intensive care unit for two years. He said almost all the nurses he works with are male.

Most people don't question having a male nurse, he said, but he will occasionally get confused comments from patients.

"They look at me like, 'Are you in high school? Do you want to be a doctor?' I'm like. 'No, I'm your nurse today," he said.

nkrebs@beaumontenterprise.comtwitter.com/natalie_krebs
With water rushing around them, sailors aboard the beleaguered USS Fitzgerald faced an agonizing decision.

They had made several rescue attempts into the flooded portions of the 505-foot destroyer, which had collided off the coast of Japan with a much heavier container ship early morning Saturday. But they didn't know how many of their fellow shipmates were still trapped inside or even alive, and time was running out.

The sailors either had to close off the flooded areas of the ship, or they feared the entire destroyer might go down, according to three active or former members of the Navy familiar with the incident.

They decided to seal the doors.

By Sunday, the toll of the accident became clear. The bodies of seven drowned sailors were pulled from the areas of the ship that had been cut off. It is not yet clear whether the sailors had already died by the time their shipmates decided to contain the flooding - and it may never be known.

"They were in a situation where they had to make tough choices," said one member of the Navy with knowledge of the crisis, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

The worst Navy accident in recent memory is now the subject of multiple investigations by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, as well as the Japanese Coast Guard and Transportation Board. Investigators are probing how an agile U.S. warship, capable of speeds of more than 30 mph, loaded with nearly 300 crew members and equipped with some of the most advanced sensors in the world, managed to collide with a lumbering container ship.

In the coming days, the Navy will download data from the Fitzgerald's Aegis Weapons Systems to help investigators with the reconstruction of the incident, according to Navy documents provided to The Washington Post. The crew from both ships will be interviewed, while the "black box" of the container ship will likely be examined.

Capt. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said he would not comment on details of the incident while it is under investigation.

Retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, who was once the captain of the Fitzgerald's sister ship, the USS Barry, said in an email that as a general rule, a watertight door to a flooded area would never be sealed without "knowing that all of your shipmates had escaped." However, he said there are specific exceptions.

"In an extremis situation in which the safety of the ship is threatened, and thus the lives of all are endangered, the damage control teams would make those decisions in real time," Stavridis said.

The command to close those doors, Stavridis said, would be given by the damage control assistant, who would be in communication with either the captain or the acting officer in charge of ship.

A "tremendous" amount of water flooded into the ship, said Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, the commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet during a news conference this week. "They had to fight this ship to keep it above the surface. It was traumatic."

Sixteen hours after the accident, the Fitzgerald limped back to her home port in Yokosuka, Japan, and the remains of the seven sailors were pulled from below decks by Navy divers. They had been trapped in the forward berthing areas - home to more than 100 sailors - after the bulging, bulbous bow of the container ship, named MV ACX Crystal, gored a 12-foot hole below the Fitzgerald's waterline.

The ship's captain, Cmdr. Bryce Benson, also was in his quarters when the Crystal slammed into the right, or starboard, side of the Fitzgerald. The impact almost entirely flattened his room, according to the Navy member.

Benson was eventually helped to the bridge, but a decision was made afterward to put the executive officer of the ship in charge and medically evacuate Benson to Japan, according a Navy member. Two other sailors were also taken off the ship, and have since been released from the hospital.

The Navy member familiar with the incident said that in retrospect, there was little chance that the Fitzgerald was going to sink because the damage. But he credited the quick actions by the crew with stopping the crisis from getting worse and ensured that ship was able to return to port under her own power. He added that the Navy will review the actions of the sailors involved - including those who drowned - for potential valor awards.

Those who died hailed from all parts of America. They included Gunner's Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19; Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25; Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoc T. Truong Huynh, 25; Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez, 26; Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23; Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin, 24; and Firecontrolman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., 37.

The remains of the fallen sailors were flown home from Japan on Tuesday. Navy Adm. John Richardson, the Navy's top officer, and Master Chief Petty Officer Steven S. Giordano, its top enlisted sailor, were there to receive them, according to Navy officials.

Fuel and ammunition are slated to be offloaded from the Fitzgerald in preparation for more extensive repairs, according to the documents, and U.S. shipyards are already lobbying to fix the vessel. Navy officials are also considering putting the Fitzgerald on a gigantic lift ship to bring it back to the United States, much like it did with the USS Cole after it was targeted by a suicide bomber in 2000.

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VIDEO:

With the USS FItzgerald badly damaged, sailors had to decide whether to continue searching for their fellow shipmates or seal off the flooding areas. (Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Dan Lamothe, Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

--http://wapo.st/2rDWSfH

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NORWALK  Main Library patrons would park for free, and others would pay to use an enlarged and revamped Mott Avenue parking lot leased to the city and managed by the Norwalk Parking Authority.

The parking has to be free for library patrons even if they have to find a method to charge other, non-library users for the parking benefit, said former Mayor Alex Knopp, chairman of the librarys board of directors. Were very pleased that this validation system will allow any library user to easily have a parking ticket validated similar to the way that the movie theaters validate parking and some restaurants do as well.

Knopp, Norwalk Public Library Director Chris Bradley and Corporation Counsel Mario F. Coppola thanked the Parking Authority Tuesday evening for pre-emptively accepting the privately owned lot at 11 Belden Ave. into its inventory and, with help from city engineers, quickly putting forward three reconfiguration options.

Under the recommended configuration, the 28-space lot owned by 587 CT AVE, LLC would be combined with the librarys 14-space lot. The center island between the two would largely remain; however, one-way traffic flow would be created with motorists entering and exiting onto Mott Avenue.

Gates and machines would be added to accept validated parking stubs from library users, or cash or credit card payment from non-library users. The latter would pay the prevailing rate of 50 cents per hour to park between 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and a $1 flat fee after 6 p.m., according to the parking authority.

Creating and paving the lot, and installing curbs, new light poles and revenue-collection equipment would run $191,000 under the recommended reconfiguration, according to city engineers.

It gains you 39 regular (size) spaces, said Kathryn Hebert, the citys administrative services manager. The fire lane stays there. We do not have to remove the center island, which would help us with putting the conduits because theres no electricity or internet.

Additionally, the parking authority would be able to landscape and beautify the island, she said.

A second option would create 43 spaces but cost $234,000, and 17 of the spaces would be limited to compact vehicles. A third option would yield 53 spaces, but cost $240,000 and require moving the library fire lane onto Mott Avenue. That would eliminate trees and five on-street parking spaces, Hebert said.

Knopp and Coppola noted the creation of the new parking lot is contingent upon the Common Council approving an option agreement between the city, Norwalk Public Library Board and 587 CT AVE, LLC. Coppola is hopeful the council will take up the matter July 11. The Planning Commission reviewed the proposal later Tuesday evening. The Board of Estimate and Taxation also must weigh in on the related expenditure.

The option agreement, we have until August to close the deal, Coppola told the parking authority. But we made a commitment to the property owner that we would try to close it in July.

Under the agreement, the city would pay 587 CT AVE $460,000 for exclusive use of the 28-space lot and have six years to determine whether to buy the entire property at 11 Belden Ave.  also home to Peoples Bank and other businesses  for $4.8 million.

With the signing of the agreement in state Superior Court in Stamford last month, the Norwalk Public Library Foundation agreed to withdraw its appeal of the Zoning Commissions approval of a 69-apartment development for the parking lot. Upon receipt of the $460,000, 587 CT AVE Principal Jason Milligan would withdraw and void the plan and agree not to submit another development project for the lot without the permission of the city for six years.

This is an opportunity with some timing constraints to it, said Dick Brescia, parking authority chairman. Its an opportunity that we need to take advantage of.

Knopp, while describing a lack of parking as the bane of the Norwalk Library for many years, added the option agreement isnt only about parking. The deal also creates an opportunity for the Belden Avenue library  Connecticuts first Carnegie Library  to expand for the first time since 1982.

Its also about the opportunity for expansion and modernization of the library, Knopp said.
MANILA - When investigators from the Philippine Commission on Human Rights first arrived at Police Station No. 1, nothing seemed amiss.

They were working a tip about people being plucked from the slums by police, held captive and ransomed for money at the station. But as they surveyed the office of the local anti-drug unit, things looked normal: desks, two sofas, a bookshelf.

Officers kept glancing at the bookshelf.

With news cameras rolling and police looking on, an investigator knocked on it. Someone knocked back. When the false door was finally opened, they found a dozen people packed in a small, concrete cell, one bloodied, one with a swollen jaw.

"How much did they want for you?" an investigator called to them.

"Forty thousand pesos for two."

About $800.

Ransom.

A year after Rodrigo Duterte won the presidency on a promise to kill all the country's drug users and dealers, an estimated 9,000 people are dead, either shot in police raids with high death tolls and few witnesses, or murdered by assassins on motorbikes, often after being named by police.

President Donald Trump recently praised the campaign, but several investigations have found that police routinely fabricate reports to justify extrajudicial killings.

Less well-documented is how Philippine police are capitalizing on the chaos. The raid on Police Station No. 1, reconstructed based on previously unreleased footage from the scene, provides the closest look yet at how officers allegedly use illegal detention and violence to extort cash - and how tough it is to stop them.

With pictures of the prisoners splashed across television screens, Duterte, in a rare admission of potential police wrongdoing, was forced to call for an investigation. But more than a month on, no officer has been charged. Nor, for that matter, are the detainees free.

In a twist that shows the inability of Philippine institutions to protect people from drug war abuses, the men and women whose rescue was filmed and broadcast were never rescued at all.

Instead, they were handed straight back to the police.

Abuses by Philippine cops did not start with Duterte, but the president's vow to protect law enforcement from prosecution has created a climate ripe for abuse. Police officers act without fear of consequence, said Philippine Sen. Leila de Lima, a longtime Duterte critic who is now in jail on dubious drug charges.

"This is definitely the height of impunity," she wrote from her jail cell.

"It's the total breakdown of discipline within the ranks," said Sen. Antonio Trillanes, who recently filed a complaint against Duterte at the International Criminal Court.

For months, reporters and rights activists in Manila had heard stories of families being asked to pay to get their loved ones out of detention, or to stop them from being put on a drug list, or to keep them alive. For the most part, terrified witnesses did not want those stories shared.

It took the murder of a South Korean executive at national police headquarters - and a subsequent attempt to extort his wife - to garner a government response; Duterte promised to suspend anti-drug operations to clean up a force that was, as he put it, "rotten to the core."

An agency that was set up to investigate rights abuses in the Philippines is the Commission on Human Rights, an independent office mandated by the country's 1987 constitution.

When CHR investigators arrived that day to inspect the Station No. 1's anti-drug office, they found people waiting outside with food. The likely conclusion was that they had brought it for family members held prisoner inside. But the station commander, Robert Domingo, said there was nobody there.

After the bookshelf was opened, the video shows, Gilbert Boiser, an investigator for the Commission on Human Rights, asked Domingo to explain the presence of people in the hidden cell. Domingo said it was to spare them from the overcrowded, on-the-books cell.

"We don't have the budget to build up to international standards," he said. "We are just maximizing our budget."

Emerging from the narrow, concrete enclosure, detainees said they had been picked off the street and held for up to a week without charge.

They said that they had been beaten and given electric shocks. That their families were told to raise between 20,000 and 200,000 pesos, or $400 to $4,000, or else they could face drug charges - or worse.

"They were forcing us to admit to things we know nothing about," said a prisoner who gave his name as Robert Muro.

"They beat my foot with a piece of wood."

"That's why you cannot walk? an investigator asked.

"Yes. And on the chest too. They hit me here five times. Five times. And twice on the knees. And at the back. And they hit me with a .38 caliber gun," he continued. "They threatened to kill us. That no one would ever know."

After prying open the bookshelf and lambasting police officers on camera, Boiser and his CHR colleagues got ready to leave. They had a gala dinner to get to, one said in earshot of the cameras.

Prisoners begged for the investigators to stay, saying they feared more torture. "If you leave us, we will be in danger," one said.

Journalists asked the investigators what would happen to the prisoners. They didn't seem to know.

The prisoners, who had been held without charge, now face charges and are in regular cells. Several of their family members declined interview requests, saying it was too dangerous to speak.

In the aftermath of the raid, the national and municipal police chiefs defended what happened, saying the police were simply making do with limited space, that the media had turned a normal situation into a show.

Domingo, the station commander, was relieved from duty and sent to Manila police headquarters, as were other officers. They have yet to be charged.

Two weeks after the raid, Police Station No. 1 had a new commander, Ruben dela Rama Ramos, a 15-year veteran of the police force in Davao, the city Duterte ran for more than 20 years.

In an interview in his new office, Ramos said the secret cell incident was a story manufactured by journalists to destroy the reputation of Philippine police.

"We don't call it a secret jail, but holding center," he said. "It's just the media that sells this."

Asked why there would be a holding center behind a bookshelf, Ramos and his colleagues said it was a normal alternative to a door. Pressed further, they said a door cost too much.

Outside, under a blazing Manila sun, Police Station No. 1 got a fresh coat of white paint.

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Kimberly dela Cruz reported from Manila.
"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 can't take that step forward here, we seriously impair our ability to go forward as an organization."

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.

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.

Venezuela's political crisis loomed over the Organization of American States' General Assembly meeting Tuesday, as heavy as the rain soaking this resort city.

 'A Swift Response'

Venezuelas foreign minister, Delcy Rodriguez, accused the United States of seeking intervention to benefit from her country's 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 Venezuela's 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 country's internal affairs.

Anti-government street protests have roiled Venezuela almost daily since April 1, just after the country's Supreme Court tried to strip the National Assembly of its legislative powers. Maduro's 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 Venezuela's 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."

Venezuela's political crisis has overshadowed an OAS assembly agenda that includes regional challenges such as drug trafficking, illegal migration and limited leadership opportunities for women.
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Genene Jones, a former San Antonio nurse convicted in 1984 of killing a child and labeled the Angel of Death for suspicions she killed dozens of other infants and children, now faces a second new murder charge.

Jones, who is in state prison serving a 99-year-term for murder, was indicted Wednesday by a Bexar County grand jury in connection with the the September 1981 death of Rosemary Vega, a 2-year-old girl.

The same grand jury had issued a murder indictment in late May, accusing her of killing 11-month-old Joshua Sawyer in December 1981. Bail was set at $1 million for each new murder charge.

In a case dating back more than three decades, the latest indictment alleges that Jones injected Vega with a substance unknown.

Vegas mother told journalist Peter Elkind that she recalled watching Jones push a drug into her daughters IV line shortly before she went into cardiac arrest, according to an article this week published by Texas Monthly and ProPublica.

Now 66, Jones was suspected of killing dozens of infants in the pediatric intensive care unit at what was then called Medical Center Hospital in San Antonio, now University Hospital, in 1981 and 1982.

The 34 babies who died while she was on duty in that time caused the hospitals infant death rate to increase 178 percent, the New England Journal of Medicine noted in 1985.

Suspicions about Jones had been so widespread that other nurses had begun calling her hours on duty the Death Shift, but after a secret internal probe, the hospital replaced Jones and six other licensed vocational nurses in the ICU with registered nurses in 1982 as a pretext for removing her  but gave Jones a good letter of recommendation, Elkind wrote.

After she was convicted for killing a child in Kerrville and given the 99-year term, it was widely thought Jones would never leave prison, but a Texas law designed to reduce prison overcrowding, in effect for only about a decade, entitled Jones to be released on March 1, 2018.

When this became known to Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood, he vowed to develop new charges to keep Jones in prison, calling her pure evil, according to a news release issued by his office when the May indictment was handed down.

Justice warrants that she be held accountable for the crimes she committed. Our Office will attempt to account for every child whose life was stolen by the actions of Jones, he said according to the release.

At a news conference Wednesday, LaHood said his offices investigation was continuing, with the goal of securing more indictments. A member of his staff directed a San Antonio Express-News reporter to wait in a side room and did not allow him to attend the conference or ask questions. Jennifer Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for LaHood, also did not return calls.

Jones has always maintained her innocence, but has not spoken on the record about any specific baby deaths. She has not yet received a court-appointed lawyer.

bselcraig@express-news.net
He has one more movie in the works -- "Phantom Thread," which is set in London's 1950s fashion world and is due to be released in December.

Day-Lewis, 60, the only man to have won three best actor Oscars, gave no reason for his decision, calling it private. "Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor," his publicist, Leslee Dart, said in a statement. "He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years." The statement said there would be no further comment.

Three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is retiring from acting, his spokeswoman said on Tuesday, ending a storied movie career that includes performances in "Lincoln" and "Gangs of New York."

Day-Lewis, who was born in Britain and holds dual Anglo-Irish citizenship, won his third best actor Oscar in 2013 for playing U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in "Lincoln."

His win made him the first man to be awarded three best actor Oscars in the history of the Academy Awards. He previously won Academy Awards for his roles as a paraplegic Irish writer in "My Left Foot" (1989) and a greedy early 20th-century oil baron in "There Will Be Blood" (2007).

The tall, intellectual actor keeps a low-key profile and is known for choosing his roles carefully and taking long breaks between films. In the late 1990s, he took time off from acting to work as an apprentice shoe-maker in Italy. After his 2013 Oscar win for "Lincoln," London's Sunday Times reported that he planned to take a sabbatical at his farm in Ireland.

Day-Lewis is known for his meticulous preparation. For "Lincoln," he spent months researching Lincoln's political and personal life and before shooting began he was texting his screen wife, Sally Field, in 19th century vernacular.

"For My Left Foot," he spent weeks living in a wheelchair, and while shooting "Gangs of New York" he was known for sharpening knives between takes to capture the menace of his character Bill "The Butcher" Cutting.

Day-Lewis has three children and is married to writer and director Rebecca Miller.
A former employee of BBVA Compass Bank in San Antonio has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $125,000 from customers accounts.

An investigation by the bank, and later by a U.S. Secret Service task force, revealed Gabriel Collazo, 33, began his scheme in January 2014 and continued through May 2016, according to his plea deal, filed Tuesday as he entered his guilty plea.

By January 2016, the bank had initiated its probe after receiving notice from managers at the Buffalo Speedway branch and the Medical Center branch that there were unauthorized transactions on the accounts of two customers, the plea documents said.

By then, Collazo, who had been hired in May 2012, was the manager of Compass Banks branch on North Main Avenue downtown.

As investigators pried, the list of compromised customer accounts grew to at least 14. The trail led back to Collazo with transfers done by himself, or done by other employees at his direction, the plea documents said. The employees told investigators Collazo had instructed them to conduct withdrawal transactions for customers who were not present, and that they complied because he was their manager, according to the plea documents.

On May 18, 2016, bank corporate investigators and human resources interviewed Collazo.

Collazo explained two of the transactions were mistakes and he denied embezzling any funds from members, the plea documents state. Collazo abruptly ended the interview by walking out.

He was fired, but before federal law enforcement could find him to arrest him, his mother told him he had hired a lawyer and would not talk to agents. Then he disappeared, according to a criminal complaint affidavit.

Agents interviewed a close friend, who told them that Collazo admitted that he would take money from accounts with a lot of money in them, invest the money and replace it with money from other customer accounts. Collazo also admitted he would cash out customers certificates of deposit, or CDs. The friend also told investigators that Collazo said he had fled to Puerto Rico after he was fired, but returned to San Antonio after his plans on the island fell through, according to the affidavit.

Collazo was not arrested until April. He faces up to 30 years in prison when U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia sentences him later this year.

gcontreras@express-news.net

Twitter: @gmaninfedland
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Community members passionately called for the preservation of the Ella Austin Community Center on Tuesday night, after being told the city might renew the East Side organizations lease for only another year.

The meeting was organized by Ella Austin board members after rumors started flying that the center might be closed  but city officials have said that is not happening.

The organizations five-year lease with the city of San Antonio expired May 31.

Now, Ella Austin is on a month-to-month lease with the city until a longer lease can be worked out, said Melody Woosley, director of the citys Department of Human Services.

Were currently working with the Ella Austin board and executive director on the lease renewal, Woosley said. She added, Well provide opportunity for community input before anything is finalized.

Woosley said the city has considered a three-year lease, with two one-year renewals, and also a one-year lease, with two one-year renewals. She said theres never been a discussion of a one-year lease with no extension options.

But at Tuesdays meeting, Ella Austin board President Beverly Watts Davis said the organization leaders had been offered a one-year lease. She said that option isnt viable because a one-year lease is long enough for us to just move out.

City Council ultimately would have to approve the lease.

District 2 Councilman-elect William Cruz Shaw attended Tuesdays meeting and said he still hasnt been briefed on the issue but pledged to bring any options to the community.

Im not letting anything happen to Ella Austin, said Shaw, who defeated incumbent Alan Warrick. Warrick had said he was open to relocating Ella Austin.

Ella Austin provides services for seniors, after-school programs and emergency assistance to low-income families.

Woosley, with the city, emphasized there are no plans to move Ella Austin or tear down the building, as some community members feared.

We fully anticipate entering into another lease with Ella Austin, she said.

The city leases the property to Ella Austin for $1 a year. Ella Austin is primarily responsible for the propertys maintenance, though the city has provided funding from various sources over the years.

Last year, Ella Austin requested emergency funding from the city to deal with plumbing issues; the city gave it the money but many council members raised concerns about the buildings ongoing maintenance problems.

The buildings long-term maintenance needs are at least $11 million, said Executive Director Tony Hargrove, although higher figures were also thrown around at the meeting.

Hargrove requested that $11 million for Ella Austin be included in the citys 2017 municipal bond. Later, he submitted a smaller request, for $5.6 million, but Ella Austin ultimately was not included in the $850 million bond package and so the organization did not receive that funding.

Many speakers at Tuesdays meeting described their personal experiences with the community center, expressed outrage it hadnt received a longer lease or offered to help the nonprofit.

Several argued the real issue was gentrification: Ella Austin is located in the rapidly redeveloping Dignowity Hill neighborhood just east of downtown. There is a great deal of speculation in the community that the city ultimately wants to see the property developed.

During the meeting, Hargrove asked attendees to sign a petition asking the city for a three- to five-year lease and for more money to help the building.

Watts Davis wanted the crowd to go further. Scratch out three to five years, she directed them, and write a minimum of 10 years.

vdavila@express-news.net

Twitter: @viannadavila
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Four San Antonio men were arrested Tuesday on charges of sexual assault of a child in connection with four separate cases of abuse.

Omar Roman Salas, 25; Johnny Gonzales, Jr., 30; Brandon May, 30; and Kenneth Perez, 36, are the accused suspects in the cases.

All four men were booked into the Bexar County Jail on Tuesday evening. Salas and Gonzales are being held on $50,000 bail each, May and Perez on $75,000 bail each.

RELATED: After adopted parents' arrest, S.A. woman shares horrific story of 15+ years of sexual abuse

Salas, a youth minister at a local church, is accused of fondling and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy that goes to the same church. The first incident allegedly occurred sometime in April, when the victim spent the night at Salas' home.

The second incident occurred around May 5 or 6, again while the victim was spending the night at Salas' house. The victim told Salas he was uncomfortable with what happened the first time and didn't want it to happen again, according to police records. Salas allegedly assaulted the boy anyway.

The victim told his counselor at school, who told his mother, who then notified the church's pastor. The pastor addressed the accusations with Salas, who allegedly confessed to the crimes, according to his affidavit.

Gonzales, a maintenance technician at an apartment complex in the 13000 block of Jones Maltsberger Road, allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old girl in a maintenance room and an empty apartment at the complex he worked at.

The young girl, who told him she was 17, was running away from an unknown male Friday night-Saturday morning. Gonzales allegedly helped her hide in a maintenance room. She eventually took off some of her clothes, stated she was horny and told Gonzales to get on the ground, according to his arrest affidavit.

RELATED: Boerne man charged with 'super aggravated sexual assault of a child' for multiple alleged incidents

The two allegedly had sex in the room before moving to an empty apartment because the temperature in the maintenance room was too hot.

The two also exchanged text messages after the encounter, the affidavit said. The girl's mother and the police ultimately learned of the text messages and confronted Gonzales about the alleged crime.

Brandon May and Kenneth Perez were both indicted on charges of sexual assault of a child, and details of the allegations against them are slim.

Perez allegedly sexually assaulted a girl younger than 17-years-old on two separate occasions: Dec. 5, 2015, and August 5, 2015. On both dates, Perez allegedly had sex with the victim.

Perez was previously convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on Dec. 4, 2003.

May is accused of sexually assaulting a girl under 17-years-old on June 27, 2015. No other details regarding the allegations against May were available on Wednesday.

RELATED: 'Any chance he got, he did it': S.A. man allegedly raped, used sex toys on 11-year-old relative

The four men are the latest to be arrested this month on charges of sexual assault of a child.

Gerald Mohrmann, a 49-year-old Boerne man, was jailed Saturday on accusations that he sexually assaulted three children on June 28, 2016. He faces a charge of super aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Stephanie Carmona, a 34-year-old former secretary at McNair Middle School, allegedly had sex with an 8th grader she was mentoring at school. She faces a charge of sexual assault of a child.

Silas Wirth, 38, was arrested June 13 on accusations that he raped, used sex toys on and showered with an 11-year-old relative. Wirth allegedly confessed to the accusations. He currently faces a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a young child.

Jose Luis Guerra, 47, was arrested June 6 after he was caught masturbating in the kitchen while his 7-year-old relative was making a sandwich. He is also accused of touching the victim inappropriately on several occasions. He faces a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

On June 1, a juvenile girl not yet in her teens was raped in the woods behind Northeast Side middle school, police said. The girl was standing at the bus stop, when an armed suspect approached her and told her to walk to the woods. It is unclear if anyone has been arrested in connection with the assault.

Also on June 1, Laura Ann Castillo, 36, was transported to the Bexar County Jail on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child. She and her husband, Eusebio Castillo, are accused of having threesomes with their adopted daughter, Abigail Alvarado. Alvarado eventually had three children from the continuous sexual abuse.

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cdowns@mysa.com

Twitter: @calebjdowns

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Twitter: @tylerlwhite
A 58-year-old San Antonio woman was arrested Monday after she allegedly drove a man home from a North Side bar with a friend and then stole jewelry from inside his Hill Country Village home.

Evelyn Kay Garretson now faces a charge of theft of an amount between $2,500 and $30,000. She remains in the Bexar County Jail.

RELATED: SAPD: Woman with self-inflicted cuts on arm purposefully drove into police squad car on NE side

According to her arrest affidavit, Garretson and another woman drove a man from The Hollow Bar in the 14500 block of Brookhollow to his home in Hill Country Village on June 4.

Once at the man's house, the women asked if they could use the restroom inside. Garretson then pretended to use his restroom, but instead began snooping through his belongings and allegedly stole some of his jewelry. As she did this, the other woman kept the man occupied with conversation in another room.

The following day the man discovered he was missing several pieces of jewelry. He checked his security cameras and saw Garretson placing his jewelry in her bra before leaving.

RELATED: SAPD details weapons found in apartment of accused Medical Center serial rapist

Police say the man later discovered Garretson had been one of the women participating in the theft through a friend.

Officers checked pawn shop records near the area and discovered a gold necklace that the victim identified as his own. The pawn broker allegedly confirmed Garretson had been the woman who sold it to him.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

cdowns@mysa.com

Twitter: @calebjdowns
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SAN ANTONIO  Months after her mysterious North Side death made headlines, friends and family members continue to memorialize a 22-year-old woman whose mother never stopped seeking justice.

"Allie Marie" Holloway died in March at her residence in San Antonio, and the circumstances around what transpired before her death were initially unclear.

The incident occurred at about 2:20 a.m. on March 14 in the 11300 block of Bel Air Drive.

RELATED: Police investigating sudden death of 22-year-old woman on North Side

Holloway's then boyfriend Orlando Valdez, 27, said he had gotten into an argument with Holloway and that she collapsed and went unresponsive. He then told police he called his mother, who arrived about 30-45 minutes later. Emergency personnel then were called, according to a preliminary police report.

"I cant believe he just left her dead body lying there," said Aletta Holloway, Allie Holloway's mother, who expressed disdain at his failure to call the police himself.

Aletta Holloway said she suspected foul play in her daughter's death, and a month later her suspicions were confirmed.

On April 24, the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office ruled Holloways death a homicide. An office representative said Allie Holloway died by asphyxia by strangulation with significant blunt force injuries to the head contributing to her death.

RELATED: Police: Mercedes was speeding down North Side road before fatal crash

On May 16 murder charges were filed in Bexar County against Valdez in Allie Holloway's death.

The Hays County District Attorney and the San Antonio Police Department confirmed Valdez is currently being held on a $650,000 bond for numerous charges, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, attempted aggravated sexual assault and harassment of a public servant in Hays County.

Aletta Holloway said Valdez was a "very handsome" and "intelligent" man, but had previous issues.

"I guess she thought she could fix him," Aletta Holloway said.

RELATED: Police arrest 15-year-old in Saturday shooting death of New Braunfels teen

She said her daughter was a talented, self-taught pianist who had dreams of writing musical scores for movies.

Allie Holloway's Facebook profile has been transformed into a memorial for the young woman, with friends expressing their condolences and thoughts about her in a means of coping with her loss.

"Thinking about you. I miss getting tagged in thousands of memes a day. Lol always gave me a good laugh," a Facebook user posted.

On Valdez' Facebook page, which is still active, a Jan. 29 post proclaims his love for Allie Holloway: "In case I didn't tell you enough today, I love you. Thank you for being my rock. You make me so happy and I can't wait to see you!"

If convicted of the murder charge, Valdez faces five to 99 years or life in prison.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

twhite@mysa.com

Twitter: @tylerlwhite
A man arrested in a North Texas traffic stop last weekend is accused of transporting numerous drugs and guns, according to the Titus County Sheriffs Office.

Jonathon Paul Cockrell, 24, of Mesquite, faces numerous charges, including Arkansas warrants for possession of drugs and firearms, as well as charges of manufacturing or delivering of control substance, unlawful carry of a weapon, possession of a dangerous drug, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
President Moon Jae-in on Monday said he wants to bring North Korea to the negotiating table this 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," he told CBS News at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday.

Asked whether talks with the North would be tantamount to caving in to its demands at a time when Pyongyang is refusing to make any concessions, Moon said, "I have never mentioned a dialogue with no preconditions whatsoever."

"I believe that first we must vie for a freeze of North Korea's nuke and missile programs. And then, as a second phase, try to achieve the complete dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program," he added.


CarGurus, a leading consumer automotive car shopping website, recently announced it has named North Park Lexus at Dominion a 2017 CarGurus Top Rated Dealer.

The annual CarGurus Top Rated Dealer awards are presented to a select group of car dealerships that have received the highest average ratings from shoppers who have submitted dealership reviews on the CarGurus platform. CarGurus uses shoppers dealership ratings as well as comprehensive valuation analytics to help shoppers search their local marketplace and find great car deals from top-rated dealers.

We are thrilled to recognize North Park Lexus at Dominion as a Top Rated Dealer, said Sam Zales, President of Dealer Operations. Based on CarGurus shoppers ratings, it is clear that the team at North Park Lexus at Dominion is delivering a superior car shopping experience for their customers, and we applaud their high standards for excellence.

Providing exceptional customer service is a priority for us, and we are proud to be recognized as a Top Rated Dealer, said Jesus Rodriguez, General Manager. Our unique, resort-style Lexus dealership offers outstanding customer amenities and owner benefits but it is our team at Lexus Dominion that provides the ultimate experience for all of our guests. Our entire team has proven their dedication to offering all of our customers an exceptional experience that is unlike any other.

CarGurus invites shoppers to review and rate dealerships with whom they have interacted during their car-shopping experience. Dealer ratings and reviews are visible to the public on the site, and they are also factored in the algorithm that CarGurus uses to rank search results for shoppers. According to recent CarGurus poll, 78 percent of shoppers say they will not buy a car from a dealership without first seeking out reviews of that dealer from other shoppers.

About North Park Lexus at Dominion Since opening its doors late 2014, North Park Lexus at Dominion's goal has been to provide its customers a home away from home. An Elite of Lexus dealership and a member of the prestigious Kahlig Auto Group, North Park Lexus at Dominion has earned the Elite of Lexus designation for every year they have been open for business.

The Lexus Dominion resort-style showroom is one-of-a-kind, as it provides customers a relaxing dealership environment and a host of exclusive perks. The South Texas Lexus dealership combines a vast selection of the finest new and pre-owned Lexus models as well as a top-notch service center.

Find Lexus at Dominion at www.lexusdominion.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NorthParkLexusatDominion. You can also call their sales team at (210) 816-6000 or visit the dealership at 21531 Interstate 10 Frontage Road in San Antonio.

About CarGurus Founded in 2006 by Langley Steinert, co-founder of TripAdvisor, CarGurus is a leading online automotive shopping destination focused on bringing transparency and efficiency to the car research and shopping experience. The site uses technology and market data analysis to help millions of automotive shoppers search for cars and quickly identify great deals from top-rated dealers in their local area.  Sponsored content from North Park Lexus Dominion

Editors Note: This content is made possible by North Park Lexus Dominion. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com.
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WILTON  Rooney placed his two paws in front of him and slowly slumped onto the striped carpet of Wilton Librarys floor.

The black-and-white Australian Border Collie rested his head on his paws, patiently waiting for someone to stop by the corner next to the librarys Maker Space.

He was there Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. to help students like freshmen Claire Meany and Caroline Hess relax during high school finals week.

They stopped by to meet Rooney after several hours of studying for their biology final.

Its nice to be able to take a break, Hess said.

And to take your mind off of the stress, Meany added.

Having the therapy dogs from Ridgefield of Operation for Animal Rescue (ROAR) at the library from 12-3 p.m. Tuesday had the same effect on Kennedy Synder, a junior in high school.

It brightened up my day a little, Snyder said. Theyre really cute so I like seeing them while Im studying, which is something that I dont like.

These small moments of joy are like little victories, said Mary Jo Duff, Rooneys owner and training coordinator of ROARs therapy dog program.

You know that theyre taking five minutes to clear their heads and youre making a small difference, said Duffy, who has been a dog trainer for 22 years. And its very rewarding.

Duffy leads a team of more than 20 owners and their dogs that visit seniors in elder care facilities, children in one-on-one reading programs and students with special needs, among other programs and events. Every dog goes through an initial screening and several weeks of training before becoming a certified therapy dog. And each session lasts for only an hour, so that the dog doesnt get overwhelmed, Duffy explained.

Thus, at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Rooney finished his shift and was replaced by Bailey, a small, white Shitzu that caught the attention of one student who followed him inside the library, from the front entrance, just to pet him.

This is a typical response Bailey receives when people see him, said his owner, Mae Preston, of Ridgefield.

The last time, I think we were here at like 12 and so everyone was coming in and we actually had a little traffic jam, Preston laughed.

Therapy dogs from ROAR have been coming to the library during finals week for several years now and have also come for childrens one-on-one reading programs, according to Jennifer Walker, the librarys teens services assistant.

Walker said having the dogs at the library on Tuesday was one more way of helping students get through a stressful week. The library also extended its hours until 9 p.m. and provided additional study rooms on the second floor Tuesday through Thursday for students.

They are able to come in and see a friendly face, Walker said. It may not seem to be a big impact on them, but I think it is.

skim@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2568; @stephaniehnkim
The U.S. has sent two B-1B strategic bombers to Korean skies for joint exercises with the South Korean Air Force on Tuesday, a Defense Ministry spokesman here told reporters.

A military source here said Gen. Vincent Brooks, the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, gave unprecedented instructions to publicize the bombers' arrival. The USFK asked South Korea the previous day to assist with aerial photography.

Pictures of the bombers taking off from Guam and training in the sky over the Korean Peninsula were posted on the USFK and Pacific Air Forces Command Facebook pages.

Two Korean F-15Ks joined the drill, which took some three hours.
President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday sent a message of condolence to the family of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died on Monday, six days after he returned home in in a coma from detention in North Korea.

"It was deplorable that North Korea does not respect human rights, which are the universal norms and values of humankind," Moon's message read in part.

Warmbier arrived in North Korea on an organized trip in January last year and was arrested for trying to steal a propaganda poster from a Pyongyang hotel and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

The regime claimed that he came down with botulism, a rare bacterial condition, after he stood trial in March last year, and fell into a coma after being given a sleeping pill. But on return he showed signs of severe brain injuries, presumably sustained at the hands of his brutal captors.

Of 16 Americans that have been detained by the North since 1996, Warmbier was the only one to die after his release.


It was in a sack. Residents said the baby was found by someone who was collecting bottles for recycling. The man wanted to use the sack...
By Gaius Publius, a professional writer living on the West Coast of the United States and frequent contributor to DownWithTyranny, digby, Truthout, and Naked Capitalism. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius, Tumblr and Facebook. GP article archive here. Originally published at DownWithTyranny

The 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 hes studying it?)

I wont 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.

Ive begun to think differently though. Ive begun to think that elites who are driving us over the cliff are not at all irrational. Someone whos had that same thought as well is climate scientist Ugo Bardi, who offers a lay persons view of much of his current work at The Seneca Effect.

Bardis goal is to study, in his words, why complex systems fail, and further, why they often fail rapidly. For more about Bardis 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.

The Maldive Islands and Climate Change

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 heres what the rulers of the Maldives plan to do  stimulate development:



Full Guardian article here. Boggles the mind, doesnt it?

Actually it doesnt. Dr. Bardi:

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 whats happening. Imagine that you are part of the elite of the Maldives. And imagine that you are smart enough to understand whats going on with the Earths 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.

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. When the elites of the Maldives will have left for higher grounds, the poor will be stuck there. For them, the Seneca Cliff ends underwater.

This is a developers 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 havent figured out what then leave means for them, stay tuned.
Yves here. This post is apparently so threatening that the version on Helmers regular site was down as of this writing due to a DDoS attack. You can also view it on his backup site here.

And the point is not that Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freelands grandfather, Michael Chomiak, was a loyal, well-rewarded, and very influential Nazi propagandist. Many blameless people have unsavory relatives. The issue is that Freeland flagrantly misrepresented her family history, repeatedly telling a totally fabricated story that they fled Nazi persecution as opposed to benefitted from perpetrating it.

By John Helmer, the longest continuously serving foreign correspondent in Russia, and the only western journalist to direct his own bureau independent of single national or commercial ties. Helmer has also been a professor of political science, and an advisor to government heads in Greece, the United States, and Asia. He is the first and only member of a US presidential administration (Jimmy Carter) to establish himself in Russia. Originally published at Dances with Bears

German military records have been found in a Polish government archive in Warsaw revealing that Michael Chomiak (lead image, left), maternal grandfather of Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland (right), volunteered to serve in the German invasion of Poland long before the German Army attacked the Soviet Union and invaded Ukraine.

Chomiaks records show he was trained in Vienna for German espionage and propaganda operations, then promoted to run the German press machine for the Galician region of Ukraine and Poland during the 4-year occupation. So high-ranking and active in the Nazi cause was Chomiak that the Polish intelligence services were actively hunting for Chomiak until the 1980s  without knowing he had fled for safety to an Alberta farm in Canada.

The newly disclosed documents expose Freelands repeated lying that Chomiak had been a victim of World War II; an unwilling journalist overpowered by German military force; compelled to write propaganda extolling the German Armys successes, and advocating the destruction of the Jews, Poles and Russians. As for Freelands claim that Chomiak had secretly aided the Ukrainian resistance, sources in Warsaw believe Chomiak was trained by the Germans as a double-agent,penetrating Ukrainian groups and spying on them.

The Polish records also point to the likelihood that US Army, US intelligence and Canadian immigration records on Chomiak  concealed until now  can confirm in greater detail what Chomiak did during the war, as well as for years afterward, which made him a target for the Polish police until not long before his death in 1984.



Chomiak (rear, 3rd from left) at a party in Cracow hosted by Emil Gassner (front, extreme right), chief spokesman for the German administration of occupied Poland and Ukraine known as the Generalgouvernement (German) and Generalne Gubernatorstwo. Source: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Canadian-Foreign-Minister-Scapegoats-Russian-Hackers-for-Exposing-Nazi-Grandfather-20170309-0015.html



Chomiak (rear, left) with a German officer and a different group of officials of the Generalgouvernement in Cracow. The source for the photographs is Ukrainian-Canadian researcher Alex Boykowich, who has reported his findings from the Chomiak archive here.

Following her promotion to foreign minister in January of this year, Freeland repeated the lies after historians and reporters opened Chomiaks personal papers at the Alberta province archives. The Chomiak papers can be found at accession number 85.191. Click to open.

The papers reveal Chomiaks enthusiastic writing in wartime media in Cracow and Chelm, as the German concentration camps nearby at Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor and Auschwitz destroyed the populations of the Polish cities, of Jewish Lvov (Lviv), and of the Galician region which Chomiak sought to cleanse for his vision of Ukrainian independence, backed by German arms. For details of the story, and of the Canadian and Ukrainian evidence published so far, read this.

GALICIA ON THE MAP  A GALICIAN SS DIVISION RECRUITMENT POSTER



The 14th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division was formed by Heinrich Himmler in mid-1943 from 80,000 Ukrainian applicants. Just 13,000 were selected and the rest used to form police units and guards for the concentration camps. The destruction of the German armies around Stalingrad by early 1943 left the German forces on the eastern front severely undermanned; Chomiaks job included helping to raise the new force and ensure its recruits would remain loyal to the Nazis. For background, read this.

As controversy has intensified in Canada over Freelands coverup for Chomiak, she arranged in the parliament lobby for a reporter to ask the question Freelands staff had planted: Recently, there has been a series of articles about you and your maternal grandparents making accusations that he was a Nazi collaborator in pro-Russian websites. Id like to get your view on do you see this as a disinformation campaign by the Russians to try to smear you and discredit you? Which they have to have a tendency to have done. In answer Freeland avoided the Chomiak evidence. Instead, she blamed Russian efforts to destabilize the US and Canadian political systems. I am confident, Freeland declared on March 6, in our countrys democracy, and I am confident that we can stand up to and see through those efforts. For the full story, click.

On March 9 Freeland was reported in the Washington Post as saying: Russia should stop calling my grandfather a Nazi.

In Warsaw, a file on Chomiak has been discovered at the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN is the Polish acronym), which is part of the states Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation. There are four items in the file, which have been photographed, and are published here for the first time. The IPN has tagged the Chomiak file No. Kr 010/5606.

THE IPN FILE NOTE FOR THE CHOMIAK FILE IN WARSAW

The three original documents in the file comprise Chomiaks identity card of 1941, issued by the German authorities; and two later documents in Polish, indicating a Polish intelligence and police search for Chomiak.

CHOMIAKS GERMAN IDENTITY CARD OF SEPTEMBER 20, 1941

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

The document shows that Chomiak, then 36 years old, was in Vienna at the time the German authorities issued his identification. He was no longer a reporter or journalist, but titled Hauptschriftleiter  Editor in Chief. The card also confirms that although a Ukrainian by nationality, and a native of Lemberg (the German name for Lvov), Chomiak had been living and working for some time in Cracow, then occupied Poland. Cracow was the administrative capital of the Generalgouvernment, whose governor-general was a German, Hans Frank. Gassner, whom Chomiaks own papers identify as his boss, was Franks spokesman and head of press operations for the Galician region.

Polish analyst Stanislas Balcerac points out that before Chomiak was granted his new Kennkarte (identity card) No. II 189941 for living and working in Cracow, the Germans had already granted him a Personal Ausweis (ID card), dated July 1, 1941. That had been issued by the Presse chef der Regierung (Government Head of Press)  that was Gassner (below, right).



Hans Frank (centre) and Emil Gassner (right) at the opening of the German Press Centre in Cracow, March 1942. Frank was convicted at Nuremberg for war crimes and executed in October 1946; Gassner testified at the trial on Franks behalf. By that time Chomiak was working for US Army Intelligence in Bavaria.

The German administration of Galicia commenced in Cracow in November 1939. The invasion of the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941, and one week later, on June 29, 1941, German forces captured Lvov (Lviv). The entire Galician region north and east of Lvov was then incorporated into Franks governorate. By that time Chomiak was at work in Cracow for Gassner. He hadnt fled the Ukraine from the Germans, as Freeland, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the Canadian press claim. Chomiak fled to the Germans, slipping across the Ukraine border, running from the Soviet government of the Ukraine towards German rank, power, and money, including an apartment and furniture taken from Jews who had been sent to their deaths at Belzec.

When exactly Chomiak arrived in Cracow, and how long he spent in training in Vienna arent revealed in the Polish file. The ID card suggests that Chomiak was in Vienna between July and September of 1941, before he was ordered back to Cracow, reporting there to Gassner. This document destroys the narrative of the Chomiak apologists that he was just an administrative functionary and didnt write much, comments Stanislas Balcerac from Warsaw. The card is very important evidence. Editor in Chief Chomiak was no mere small fish, caught in the tidal wave of the war. The Germans placed high value on him. Three months after the invasion [of the USSR] he was sent from Vienna to Cracow. With the title of Editor in Chief, I believe he was trained in Vienna; perhaps Vienna is the hidden part of his war record, with Cracow used initially as a cover for him during the first years of the German occupation of Poland, 1939-41.

The papers Chomiak left behind at his death in Canada do not reveal what he was doing with the Germans in the 2-year interval. Polish sources suspect Chomiak arrived in Cracow soon after Frank became governor, offering himself as an agent of influence to inform the Germans on what fellow Ukrainians and anti-Russian nationalists then active in and around Lviv were thinking and planning. His work as a journalist was a cover for espionage on behalf of the Germans, Polish sources suspect.

There is no corroboration for this in the Polish files discovered to date. Two other documents in the IPN dossier, dating well after the German defeat and the end of the war, indicate that whatever Chomiak had been doing for the Germans became a fresh issue of interest to the Polish authorities in the mid-1960s.

WARSAW POLICE FILES ON CHOMIAK, APRIL 1966-MARCH 1980

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

The first document (left) is dated April 23, 1966. It confirms that Chomiak was a target of interest and search, and that part of his German war record had been recovered for a Polish review. His last known address was given as an apartment in Cracow. The search notice was signed by the head of Department C; thats the intelligence branch of the Polish police; C stands for identification and archives. There is no mention of the purpose for which the information on Chomiak was being gathered, or what triggered the police interest in Chomiak in Warsaw in the spring of 1966.

The second document, originally dated May 12, 1966, reveals the search for Chomiak led initially to a case of mistaken identity. Another Michael Chomiak was found, but he turned out to have been born the day before the target, and was a peasant, not the professional editor in chief and administrator. The second note reveals also an official date stamp at the bottom for February 11, 1980; as well as a notation along the left side dated March 3, 1980.

By then Chomiak was in retirement in Canada; he had just four years left to live. The Polish police appear not to have been able to follow the German Army records which moved westward in 1945, along with Gassner and Chomiak, when the Soviets advanced on them. Nor until recently has the Polish Government realized that Chomiak ended up in Canada, and that the principal heir to his wartime Galician operations has become foreign minister in Ottawa.

According to the Canadian journalist Colby Cosh, somehow Michael Chomiak reached far northern Alberta and lived out his days as a gentleman farmer. I am comfortable with that. Very few Western Canadians have anything like complete knowledge of their own family background: I suspect we would be astonished to learn how many have had surprises like Freelands, or at least received unnerving hints of them.

Balcerac replies for Polish journalists investigating past and present Ukrainian threats to Polish sovereignty in the Galician region. This Canadian statement is discreditable, not only for its ignorance of the surprises in the Polish and German records of World War II. Its also a declaration of comfortable complacency in not investigating how much Freeland aims to revive the takeover of Polish Galicia, with Canadian money and arms, which her grandfather tried with German money and arms.
Yves here. Another sighting on the sorry state of Eurozone banks. Keep in mind that the Eurozone banking system is a prescription for bank runs, although they have mainly been the slow motion kind. First, the deposit guarantee schemes are national, not Eurozone-wide, and are typically very much underfunded. Second, even before the January 2016 effective date of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive, the Eurozone had made clear its fondness for bail-ins via the ones it forces on the two biggest banks in Cyprus in 2013, as well as encouraging banks to issue co-co bonds, as in bonds that were convertible into equity in a crisis. Their performance when Deutsche Bank looked wobbly in late 2016 confirmed what a bad idea they were.

Moreover, the predilection of bank regulators in Europe is to keep visibly sick banks functioning, which also encourages deposit flight. The extreme example was Greek banks, which were clearly bust but the ECB continued to deem solvent so as to provide support under Target2. That meant the authorities could put the banks under at any time by yanking the drip feed. Not a place anyone who feels exposed and has options would like to be in.

By Michael J. Schussele, a Registered Investment Advisor, MA, and CPA whose website is mjscpaplan.com. Originally published at his website, The Pursuit of Financial Happiness

I have been researching Eurozone banks excess reserves and repo availability for a few weeks trying to work my way through muddled commentary and sort the reality from the assumptions and found myself questioning what I know. In doing so, I have misstated to others what I am thinking and even the data, facts, and issues about which I am concerned. Sometimes it is best to just stand back and look for the string that pulls the material together.

I have yet to write that article which will address whether Eurozone banking rules to promote solvency of banks is creating a liquidity problem, because the Eurozone banking resolution authorities seem to have so badly mismanaged the Banco Popular resolution to the point of intensifying a bank run despite monitoring bank liquidity on a daily and hourly basis.

Banco Popular was Spains 6th largest bank having been in existence since the early 20thCentury and one of the more profitable banks until about 2016. In February 2017, it announced it had a 3 billion loss on asset writedowns and Non Performing Loan sales while maintaining it still had more than sufficient quality assets on its balance sheet.

By the end of May and first days of June reports were circulating that Banco Popular had received only 3.5 billion on 40 billion collateral rather than the 9.5 billion it had expected one month previously and had applied to the Bank of Spain for liquidity support receiving only 10% of the collateral it pledged drawing 2 billion and 1.6 billion which it managed to burn through in just a few days. Banco Popular had been down rated by all foud major credit rating agencies between April and the 19th of May causing institutional clients with minimum credit requirements for banking to start withdrawing deposits during as period when the bank was trying to receive bids to privately resolve though a sale of the bank. But on May31st, an anonymous EU official leaked to Reuters that an early warning had been issued. This was followed by an immediate denial by the Single Resolution Board, which would have been the entity issuing such an early warning. As a consequence, it experienced 20% daily drops in stock value on June1, 5, and 6 and by 6th June had supposedly endured (never publicly verified yet) 18 billion deposit outflows. While this may have been, according to EuroIntelligence, someone going to the press because the Single Resolution Board had communicated to the Single Supervisory Authority it was going to initiate early intervention measures, the communication to Reuters was the early warning had been issued, although, according to FROB (Spains resolution authority), the Single Resolution Board had notified them on June 3 of their intention to act.

This had caused some people to postulate that the Eurozone bank resolution mechanism actually encourages bank runs.

Additionally, the valuation of Banco Popular subsequently commissioned by the Single Resolution Board found a negative 2 billion to a negative 8 billion in a stressed scenario. Banco Popular was considered solvent immediately prior to this meeting its minimum regulatory capital requirements and a positive value of 11 billion, which would a 20 billion difference in value. This has caused many people, including Bank of Spain supervisors, to question and demand to know how those figures with such a huge range were determined adding to the controversy over whether this was an actual solvency crisis or rather a liquidity crisis caused by the valuation of its collateral by the bank of Spain and the ECB and the refusal of the Spanish government to defy Eurozone authorities and aid a private resolution.

Banco Popular was sold for 1 to Santander further consolidating banking in the Eurozone, which raises the issue of the Eurozone bank resolution process creating large, systemically dangerous banks in the Eurozone.

For several years I have communicated privately that I believe any Euro crisis will start in Spain and spread to Italy, which would be the keystone. I have come to believe it will not happen quickly but accumulate momentum over time. The ECB worked very hard a few years ago to strengthen the asset quality of Spanish banks and stabilize the Spanish banking system, while Italy had reorganized its small state banks prior to the Great Financial Crisis (Spain had not).

Consequently, let us look at Italy and the problems with Banco Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca  as the problems with Monte dei Paschi di Siena (the oldest bank in Europe) are well known.

The Italian government has been actively seeking to resolve the two banks through a precautionary recapitalization based on the December 2016 legislative decree used to enable a precautionary recapitalization and liquidity support to Monte dei Paschi.and official statements. The Italian authorities have talked with several large Italian banks, although it appears to be devolving down to Intesa Sanpaolo. Veneto Banca will have a 85 million payment on a subordinated bond due on 21 June 2017 delayed until mid-September as a result of the legislative decree, because both banks need a total of 6.4 billion in capital while they try to sale bad debts and because the Italian government and the European Commission have been been debating for months the European Commissions demand that private investors put 1.25 billion in both banks before any taxpayer money can be used. This European Commission demand has held the precautionary recapitalization from proceeding. It appears that a consortium of banks and private investors have rejected the European Commission demand and the Italian government is no looking for a good bank.bad bank split and sale of the good bank for 1 as no willing buyer wants to take on the non performing loans.

Under Eurozone bank resolution you have the choices of private recapitalization, private sale resolution, good bank/bad bank, or liquidation. If the European Commission is going to continue to insist on the 1.25 billion private investment in the two banks to permit Italy to use taxpayer money, the possibility of creating a bad bank becomes much more difficult. The only way I see it happening is if the Italian authorities either arrange the private investment to happen or if the Italian authorities defy the European Commission and act consistent with the 23 December legislative decree.

If this fails, it will only feed the anti-eEuro political climate in Italy, which is already looking at elections next year and the possibility of a more right wing government coalition of Berlusconi and Renzi. Then what happens in the Eurozone? And with Eurozone banks?
Common silver water treatments could damage DNA (Nanowerk News) Scientists are warning that a water treatment widely used in developing countries could be damaging the DNA of those drinking it.

Despite poor evidence of their effectiveness as a water disinfectant, colloidal silver and silver nanoparticles are increasingly being promoted for treating potentially contaminated drinking water in low income countries.

A study (Environmental Health, "A re-assessment of the safety of silver in household water treatment: rapid systematic review of mammalian in vivo genotoxicity studies") led by the University of East Anglia has concluded that there is a risk these treatments could in fact cause genotoxicity, which is damage to DNA, and affect reproduction and future generations.

Prof Paul Hunter from UEAs Norwich Medical School, said the study brings together existing research to highlight the potential risks. Colloidal silver as a water treatment is sold across Africa and in countries like Haiti, despite the fact it doesnt treat water very effectively. The World Health Organization (WHO) advises against its use as a primary water treatment. If it isnt doing any good, we wanted to investigate if in fact it could be causing harm.

The research looked at previous studies where the effects of silver, silver nitrate and silver nanoparticles have been measured in vivo  on living animals.

They found that, although results varied, more studies than they expected showed some evidence of genotoxicity, reporting effects including chromosomal aberrations, DNA fragmentation and damage to sperm.

Prof Hunter said: We already know that there is little evidence that silver in water has any benefit. But this study brings together a body of work which shows it is potentially damaging DNA, and harming reproductive success.

Colloidal silver is also widely marketed as an alternative health substance which can treat everything from skin complaints to bacterial and viral infections, cancer and AIDS. Again, little research exists to show any beneficial effects, but there are known side effects. One of the more obvious signs of over-exposure to silver is argyria, where the skin and hair turns a blue-grey colour.

WHO guidelines for drinking water quality dont currently include a value for silver in water, but indicate that a concentration of 0.1 milligrams per litre could be tolerated without risk to health. However, this was determined as a level unlikely to cause argyria, and didnt take into account potential damage to DNA.

Prof Hunter said: While none of the previous studies alone are definitive, and we cant use them to determine a safe level of consumption from this review, we consider that the balance of evidence suggests there is the chance of damage to DNA.
Extremely colorful, incredibly bright and highly multiplexed (Nanowerk News) Biomedical researchers are understanding the functions of molecules within the body's cells in ever greater detail by increasing the resolution of their microscopes. However, what's lagging behind is their ability to simultaneously visualize the many different molecules that mediate complex molecular processes in a single snap-shot.

Now, a team from Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, the LMU Munich, and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany, has engineered highly versatile metafluorophores by integrating commonly used small fluorescent probes into self-folding DNA structures where their colors and brightness can be digitally programmed.

This nanotechnological approach offers a palette of 124 virtual colors for microscopic imaging or other analytical methods that can be adapted in the future to visualize multiple molecular players at the same time with ultra-high definition. The method is reported in Science Advances ("Sub100-nm metafluorophores with digitally tunable optical properties self-assembled from DNA").

These fluorescence images show a matrix representing 124 distinct metafluorophores, that are generated by combining three fluorescent dyes with varying intensity levels. In the future, the metafluorophore's unique and identifiable color patterns can be used to analyze the molecular components of complex samples. (Image: Wyss Institute at Harvard University) (click on image to enlarge)

With their new method, the researchers address the problem that thus far only a limited number of molecular species can be visualized simultaneously with fluorescence microscopy in a biological or clinical sample. By introducing fluorescent DNA nanostructures called metafluorophores -- versatile fluorescent dyes whose colors are determined by how their individual components are arranged in 3-dimensional structures -- they overcome this bottleneck.

"We use DNA nanostructures as molecular pegboards: by functionalizing specific component strands at defined positions of the DNA nanostructure with one of three different fluorescent dyes, we achieve a broad spectrum of up to 124 fluorescent signals with unique color compositions and intensities," said Yin, who is a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute and Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. "Our study provides a framework that allows researchers to construct a large collection of metafluorophores with digitally programmable optical properties that they can use to visualize multiple targets in the samples they are interested in."

The DNA nanostructure-based approach can be used like a barcoding system to visually profile the presence of many specific DNA or RNA sequences in samples in what is called multiplexing.

To enable the visualization of multiple molecular structures in tissue samples whose thickness can limit the movement of larger DNA nanostructures and make it difficult for them to find their targets, and to reduce the possibility that they attach themselves to non-specific targets producing false fluorescence signals, the team took additional engineering steps.

"We developed a triggered version of our metafluorophore that dynamically self-assembles from small component strands that take on their prescribed shape only when they bind their target," said Ralf Jungmann, Ph.D., who is faculty at the LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and co-conducted the study together with Yin. "These in situ assembled metafluorophores can not only be introduced into complex samples with similar combinatorial possibilities as the prefabricated ones to visualize DNA, but they could also be leveraged to label antibodies as widely used detection reagents for proteins and other biomolecules."
Our expanding universe: Delving into dark energy

(Nanowerk News) The universe is growing a little bigger, a little faster, every day.

And scientists don't know why.

If this continues, almost all other galaxies will be so far away from us that one day, we won't be able to spot them with even the most sophisticated equipment. In fact, we'll only be able to spot a few cosmic objects outside of the Milky Way. Fortunately, this won't happen for billions of years.

But it's not supposed to be this way  at least according to theory. Based on the fact that gravity pulls galaxies together, Albert Einstein's theory predicted that the universe should be expanding more slowly over time. But in 1998, astrophysicists were quite surprised when their observations showed that the universe was expanding ever faster. Astrophysicists call this phenomenon "cosmic acceleration."

"Whatever is driving cosmic acceleration is likely to dominate the future evolution of the universe," said Josh Frieman, a researcher at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Fermilab and director of the Dark Energy Survey.

While astrophysicists know little about it, they often use "dark energy" as shorthand for the cause of this expansion. Based on its effects, they estimate dark energy could make up 70 percent of the combined mass and energy of the universe. Something unknown that both lies outside our current understanding of the laws of physics and is the major influence on the growth of the universe adds up to one of the biggest mysteries in physics. DOE's Office of Science is supporting a number of projects to investigate dark energy to better understand this phenomenon.

This diagram shows the timeline of the universe, from its beginnings in the Big Bang to today. (Image: NASA/WMAP Science Team)

The Start of the Universe

Before scientists can understand what is causing the universe to expand now, they need to know what happened in the past. The energy from the Big Bang drove the universe's early expansion. Since then, gravity and dark energy have engaged in a cosmic tug of war. Gravity pulls galaxies closer together; dark energy pushes them apart. Whether the universe is expanding or contracting depends on which force dominates, gravity or dark energy.

Just after the Big Bang, the universe was much smaller and composed of an extremely high-energy plasma. This plasma was vastly different from anything today. It was so dense that it trapped all energy, including light. Unlike the current universe, which has expanses of "empty" space dotted by dense galaxies of stars, this plasma was nearly evenly distributed across that ancient universe.

As the universe expanded and became less dense, it cooled. In a blip in cosmic time, protons and electrons combined to form neutral hydrogen atoms. When that happened, light was able to stream out into the universe to form what is now known as the "cosmic microwave background." Today's instruments that detect the cosmic microwave background provide scientists with a view of that early universe.

Back then, gravity was the major force that influenced the structure of the universe. It slowed the rate of expansion and made it possible for matter to coalesce. Eventually, the first stars appeared about 400 million years after the Big Bang. Over the next several billion years, larger and larger structures formed: galaxies and galaxy clusters, containing billions to quadrillions (a million billion) of stars. While these cosmic objects formed, the space between galaxies continued to expand, but at an ever slower rate thanks to gravitational attraction.

But somewhere between 3 and 7 billion years after the Big Bang, something happened: instead of the expansion slowing down, it sped up. Dark energy started to have a bigger influence than gravity. The expansion has been accelerating ever since.

Scientists used three different types of evidence to work out this history of the universe. The original evidence in 1998 came from observations of a specific type of supernova. Two other types of evidence in the early 2000s provided further support.

"It was this sudden avalanche of results through cosmology," said Eric Linder, a LBNL researcher and Office of Science Cosmic Frontier program manager.

Now, scientists estimate that galaxies are getting 0.007 percent further away from each other every million years. But they still don't know why.

What is Dark Energy?

"Cosmic acceleration really points to something fundamentally different about how the forces of the universe work," said Daniel Eisenstein, a Harvard University researcher and former director of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. "We know of four major forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and the weak and strong forces. And none of those forces can explain cosmic acceleration."

So far, the evidence has spurred two competing theories.

The leading theory is that dark energy is the "cosmological constant," a concept Albert Einstein created in 1917 to balance his equations to describe a universe in equilibrium. Without this cosmological constant to offset gravity, a finite universe would collapse into itself.

Today, scientists think the constant may represent the energy of the vacuum of space. Instead of being "empty," this would mean space is actually exerting pressure on cosmic objects. If this idea is correct, the distribution of dark energy should be the same everywhere.

All of the observations fit this idea - so far. But there's a major issue. The theoretical equations and the physical measurements don't match. When researchers calculate the cosmological constant using standard physics, they end up with a number that is off by a huge amount: 1 X 10 120 (1 with 120 zeroes following it).

"It's hard to make a math error that big," joked Frieman.

That major difference between observation and theory suggests that astrophysicists do not yet fully understand the origin of the cosmological constant, even if it is the cause of cosmic acceleration.

The other possibility is that "dark energy" is the wrong label altogether. A competing theory posits that the universe is expanding ever more rapidly because gravity acts differently at very large scales from what Einstein's theory predicts. While there's less evidence for this theory than that for the cosmological constant, it's still a possibility.

The Biggest Maps of the Universe

To collect evidence that can prove or disprove these theories, scientists are creating a visual history of the universe's expansion. These maps will allow astrophysicists to see dark energy's effects over time. Finding that the structure of the universe changed in a way that's consistent with the cosmological constant's influence would provide strong evidence for that theory.

There are two types of surveys: imaging and spectroscopic. The Dark Energy Survey and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) are imaging surveys, while the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey), eBOSS, and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument are spectroscopic.

Imaging surveys use giant cameras  some the size of cars  to take photos of the night sky. The farther away the object, the longer the light has taken to reach us. Taking pictures of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and supernovae at various distances shows how the distribution of matter has changed over time. The Dark Energy Survey, which started collecting data in 2013, has already photographed more than 300 million galaxies. By the time it finishes in 2018, it will have taken pictures of about one-eighth of the entire night sky. The LSST will further expand what we know. When it starts in 2022, the LSST will use the world's largest digital camera to take pictures of 20 billion galaxies.

"That is an amazing number. It could be 10% of all of the galaxies in the observable universe," said Steve Kahn, a professor of physics at Stanford and LSST project director.

However, these imaging surveys miss a key data point  how fast the Milky Way and other galaxies are moving away from each other. But spectroscopic surveys that capture light outside the visual spectrum can provide that information. They can also more accurately estimate how far away galaxies are. Put together, this information allows astrophysicists to look back in time.

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), part of the larger Sloan Digital Sky Survey, was one of the biggest projects to take, as the name implies, a spectroscopic approach. It mapped more than 1.2 million galaxies and quasars.

However, there's a major gap in BOSS's data. It could measure what was going on 5 billion years ago using bright galaxies and 10 billion years ago using bright quasars. But it had nothing about what was going on in-between. Unfortunately, this time period is most likely when dark energy started dominating.

"Seven billion years ago, dark energy starts to really dominate and push the universe apart more rapidly. So we're making these maps now that span that whole distance. We start in the backyard of the Milky Way, our own galaxy, and we go out to 7 billion light years," said David Schlegel, a LBNL researcher who is the BOSS principal investigator. That 7 billion light years spans the time from when the light was originally emitted to it reaching our telescopes today.

Two new projects are filling that gap: the eBOSS survey and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). eBOSS will target the missing time span from 5 to 7 billion years ago. DESI will go back even further  11 billion light years. Even though the dark energy was weaker then relative to gravity, surveying a larger volume of space will allow scientists to make even more precise measurements. DESI will also collect 10 times more data than BOSS. When it starts taking observations in 2019, it will measure light from 35 million galaxies and quasars.
About 20 percent of medical costs in Korea are being incurred from unnecessary hospitalizations, treatments, surgeries and visits to the emergency room, an OECD health expert said Tuesday.

Francesca Colombo, head of the OECD Health Division, made the claim during a symposium in Seoul to mark the 40th anniversary of the Korean national health insurance system this year.

She stressed that Korea needs to secure resources for sustainable health insurance by cutting down on unnecessary medical costs.

The average period of hospitalization for patients in Korea is 16.5 days, which is more than double the OECD average of 8.1 days. For every 100,000 people, 310.7 diabetic patients get hospitalized, which is also more than double the OECD average.

Colombo pointed out that Korea needs to reduce such waste to secure resources to increase the accessibility and coverage of health care.

In order to prepare for a rapidly ageing society, the country needs to make efforts to diversify finances for public health and medicine, and change the public health paradigm towards encouraging prevention of illnesses and highlighting the importance of self care, she added.
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.
Tipperary councillors are angry at an email they've received from Irish Water over the high number of complaints about water and sewerage problems the utility has received from them on behalf of constituents.

Councillors brought the email letter to the attention of Co. Council management at the local authority's monthly meeting in Clonmel last week.

They complained it inferred they were making too many representations on behalf of constituents and they should leave it to individual customers to contact Irish Water.

The email from Louise Hegarty of Irish Water's Local Representative Support Desk stated they had received a large volume of representations on behalf of its Tipperary customers in recent months and was looking at ways to improve its dedicated service for local representatives.

"We have examined the issues that had been raised and note that many of these items relate to blocked sewers, visible leaks and non-domestric billing queries," she outlined.

"In many cases there is a need for a number of communications back and forth with local representatives to identify the customer's address of obtain contact details which can lead to unnecessary delays."

She reminded councillors "complaints of this nature received directly from our customers are regularly and effectively dealt with through out Customer Contact Centre that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1850 278 278".

Ms Hegarty then suggested councillors first ask constituents if they have raised their complaints directly with Irish Water.

She Irish Water would welcome any representation received on behalf of their customers if they are dissatisfied with the service they receive.

She pointed out that: "Irish Water guarantees to respond to customer complaints within 5 working days with a resolution or a plan for the steps required to achieve a resolution under normal conditions."

And if a customer was dissatisfied after completing the first step in the complaints process, there was "an agreed process to escalate to a more senior level where appropriate."

Carrick-on-Suir SF Cllr David Dunne said he felt the email basically told councillors not to make complaints on behalf of constituents and to leave it to individual Irish Water customers to contact Irish Water if they had an issue.

He was incensed at this as it was their job as public representatives to bring these issues to people's attention.

He denounced Irish Water as a disaster and highlighted a recent problem residents of Clairin in Carrick-on-Suir encountered dealing with the utility in trying to resolve a sewerage blockage on their estate.

FG councillor Michael Murphy supported Cllr Dunne's comments and he and Cllr Sean Ryan from Littleton said the email should never have been sent.

"I was very surprised to get this email. There is an inference from the email that we (Irish Water) are hearing from them (councillors) far too often and to get the constituents to contact Irish Water," said Cllr Murphy.

The Clonmel councillor pointed out that if he were to tell his constituents this he doubted he would be re-elected in the next local elections.

"I make no apology for contacting Irish Water on behalf of constituents; that is my job," he declared.

Cllr Murphy also took issue with the email's claim that Irish Water endeavoured to respond to issues within five working days.

"What good is that when you have a water leak or outage," he argued.

However, Fianna Fail Cllr Michael Anglim said it was very easy for councillors to "crack the whip down on Irish Water" and pointed out his dealings with the utility had been okay.

He acknowledged that issues with combined sewers in housing estates had to be resolved but felt councillors shouldn't always be coming down on Irish Water like a "ton of bricks".

The Council's Director of Water Services Sean Keating said he hadn't been aware Irish Water issued a letter to councillors regarding the amount of representations.

However, Irish Water did inform him there were a high number of representations from Tipperary councillors that were outstanding.

Mr Keating told The Nationalist that when the Co. Council looked into this, it found that many of the cases listed as "outstanding" had been resolved.
Sinn Fein party officials are to meet with both sides in the bitter internal party dispute in Co. Tipperary that reached boiling point this week with the revelation that a vote was passed at a party grassroots meeting last week to expel Cllr Seamus Morris from the local party organisation.

The Nenagh councillor, who was Sinn Fein's Tipperary general election candidate in last year's election, has condemned the motion passed at the Sinn Fein Comhairle Ceantair meeting last Wednesday, June 14 as "illegal" and claims it is the work of a "rogue element" within the party in Tipperary.

A statement from Sinn Fein headquarters in Dublin said it was aware of difficulties in the party's organisation in Co. Tipperary and had received notification of the motion passed at the Comhairle Ceantair meeting.

"In the coming days party officials will be meeting with members of the party on both sides of this dispute in an effort to bring this matter to a resolution," the statement said.

A Sinn Fein spokesman confirmed the Tipperay Comhairle Ceantair, which comprises representatives of individual cumainn, hadn't the power to expel a member from the Tipperary party organisation or the party.

The internal party strife went public on Monday night a statement was issued by Tipperary Sinn Fein stating the membership of the Comhairle Ceantair had passed the following motion addressed to Cllr Morris:

Comhairle Ceantair Sinn Fein, Tiobraid Arann, after nine months of trying to resolve our difficulties with Cllr 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 statement outlined that the contents of a similar motion were previously conveyed informally to Cllr Morris but the motion was now being conveyed formally to him after a vote of the Comhairle Ceantair membership on June 14 as he had not responded to their concerns.

Cllr Morris said the motion had no standing. He described it as an attempt to "bully" a councillor who had served the party for many years and declared that he wasn't going to stand for it.

"I will be dealing with this through the party's structures and will be looking for the party to take on these people," he said.

Tipperary Sinn Fein's Youth Officer Kevin Brunnick said the motion was passed because the Comhairle Ceantair had unsuccessfully tried to engage with Cllr Morris for months.

"We are open to talk to him anytime," said the Cahir based SF activist.
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 NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will meet the Prime Minister of Libya, H.E. Mr. Fayez al-Sarraj, at NATO Headquarters on Thursday, 22 June 2017.

Media Advisory

09:45 NATO Secretary General and the Prime Minister will jointly meet the press  Main entrance

The press point will be streamed live on the NATO website and available on satellite on demand via Eurovision Geneva.

Still and video imagery of the meeting will be available after the event on the NATO website.

Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @jensstoltenberg).
(Natural News) A self-proclaimed liberal professor has come out in condemnation of what took place at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, last month when an angry student mob swarmed the campus and imposed anarchy for several days over delusions of institutional racism and inequality.

Professor Ben Weinstein became a victim of the protest after students aggressively targeted him simply for his refusal to leave the campus for anti-white day. Because his skin color is white, Weinstein had his classroom surrounded by the racist mass of student terrorists, which began shouting and chanting at him in an attempt to bully him into succumbing to their demands.

During a recent interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, Weinstein described the experience in all of its horrid details. He told of how he was instantly dubbed a racist for not kowtowing to the angry mob, which in many ways has changed his views on liberalism. Even though he would describe himself as a liberal, Weinstein admits that what took place on his campus represents something entirely different than what he believes.

We are watching a kind of group insanity, he stated to Rogan during the interview, describing the event as a manifestation of collective psychosis. (RELATED: More news on the insanity of political correctness and where its taking society can be accessed at PoliticalCorrectness.news)

You can listen to the full segment of The Joe Rogan Experience featuring Professor Weinstein on YouTube.

Even liberalism is parting ways with social justice warrior insanity

While The Evergreen State College claims to be a progressive liberal arts school that prides itself on being open-minded and diverse, a growing segment of its student population seems to only approve of people who are non-white and female. There also appears to be an expectation that if a given minority group makes a demand about something  even if its completely unreasonable  that everyone, including faculty, must comply otherwise theyre racist, sexist, and intolerant.

This was true when Weinstein refused to leave campus for anti-white day at the school and was subsequently subjected to extreme bullying  not to mention that the incident resulted in classes being canceled for several days. Rather than defend him, many of his fellow faculty members actually sided with the extremist students who had essentially hijacked the campus and halted classes.

In another related incident, Weinstein was falsely accused of being racist. When he tried to defend himself in this instance, he was told that doing so was in and of itself racist. Weinstein was actually told by a female colleague when he tried to defend himself that he should not expect there to be a venue in which to defend himself, and that he should just get used to these accusations. Colleagues apparently insisted that Weinstein had some sort of obligation to accept his accusers false accusations, which just goes to show how completely detached from reality todays so-called liberals have become.

If this isnt bad enough, Weinstein actually had another female faculty member target him by filing a public request to obtain copies of his private emails. Simply for defending himself and attempting to maintain dignity in the face of persecution, Weinstein was blatantly mistreated and victimized by several of his fellow colleagues.

The intensity and the out-of-touch nature of the discussion inside the college simply reinforces the impression that something is desperately off, Weinstein told Rogan during the segment. What we really have is a filter bubble that is so strong that even when the world sends very clear evidence that youve missed something somewhere and its time to rethink what youve been doing, theyre not waking up.

Sources:

DailyCaller.com

DailyCaller.com

HotAir.com
In July 2015, Stephanie and Fraser Januchowski-Hartley left their home in Totnes, UK, and headed for the International Congress for Conservation Biology in Montpellier, France. Instead of catching a flight, they boarded a boat and then made their way across France by bicycle and train, pedalling more than 600 kilometres over 5 days. After the conference, they took a train home. Emissions from air travel constitute a large proportion of many scientists' individual carbon footprints. Credit: Yaorusheng/Getty

By eschewing air travel, the pair prevented carbon dioxide emissions of roughly one-half of a metric tonne, and received the Swarovski Optik Green Travel Award from the Society for Conservation Biology, which hosted the meeting. The European branch of the organization is encouraging scientists to shrink their carbon footprints, and Stephanie, now a postdoc studying freshwater conservation at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France, took the challenge to heart. I feel contradictory if I'm not making some effort in my own life, she says.

She is not alone. Although most researchers say that tackling climate change will require large-scale action from nations and corporations, many individuals are trying to do their own parts. I think it's important for me as a global citizen, says Erich Osterberg, a climatologist at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. He and his family have taken personal steps such as reducing meat consumption and upgrading to high-efficiency appliances at home. He notes that such actions also help climate scientists such as him to ward off accusations of hypocrisy  that researchers talk the talk but don't walk the walk.

Shahzeen Attari, who studies cognitive science and sustainability at Indiana University Bloomington, has found that scientists' personal behaviour matters to the public. In a 2016 study1, she and her colleagues found that audiences perceived carbon-conscious climate scientists as more credible than those with big carbon footprints and, consequently, reported a greater willingness to consider taking climate action in their own lives after hearing those scientists discuss ways to reduce energy use.

Although data are scarce, evidence also suggests that researchers may have larger-than-average carbon footprints. For example, 13 conservation scientists who evaluated their own greenhouse-gas emissions found that they were more than 10 times the global average, despite the researchers' efforts to lead low-carbon lives2. The greatest source of those emissions was work-related flying.

For many scientists, the high environmental costs of doing science can feel at odds with their values. So, some of them are trying to reduce the carbon footprint of their work by cutting back on air travel, finding creative ways to do fieldwork and 'greening up' their labs. The results often benefit not just the environment, but the science, the budget and even researchers' morale, says Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta. It's about that engagement  that daily reminder that I care.

Air time

Flying is a routine part of doing science. The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, a consortium in Norwich, UK, surveyed 79 of its researchers in 2012 and found that they flew an average of 2.3 times per year3. Often, these flights were to attend conferences and plan meetings  but each had a substantial climate impact. Another study found that presenting a single conference paper results, on average, in about 800 kilograms of CO 2 emissions4. The researchers also calculated average emissions for conference-paper presentations in popular but non-central locations such as Hawaii (1,290 kg per paper), as well as for scientists travelling from the Southern Hemisphere (between 1,400 and 1,900 kg per paper). One team notes that a trans-Atlantic flight produces emissions roughly equivalent to a year of commuting 25 kilometres round trip each day by car5, an estimate that aligns well with US Environmental Protection Agency data.

Researchers make up a small proportion of air travellers, and aviation emissions account for only 2% of carbon dioxide from human sources. But those emissions have been steadily growing, and flying often constitutes the biggest chunk of an individual's carbon footprint  two-thirds, for the conservation scientists2. Flying less thus offers the biggest opportunity for reducing personal climate impacts (see 'Flight emissions').

Cutting back on conference travel or choosing low-carbon alternatives to flying are good places to start, says Parke Wilde, a food economist at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. It would not be possible to preserve what's important in our academic life without some flying, he says. The question is about how much. Wilde runs a blog called 'Flying Less' and in 2015 he launched a petition aimed at persuading universities and professional societies to set reduction targets for air travel.

Wilde does not fly, but he doesn't expect everyone to follow his lead. Instead, he encourages researchers to strive to cut their flying in half. He advises them to prioritize the most important conferences, to make time to meet visiting colleagues and to reach out to local scientists while travelling. He recommends caution if buying carbon offsets  scientists should scrutinize programmes to verify them and ensure that they actually prevent emissions. Credit: Source: International Civil Aviation Organization

Scientific organizations that host major meetings could also take steps to reduce carbon footprints. In a 2011 study6, Alexandra Ponette-Gonzalez, a geographer at the University of North Texas in Denton, and her colleagues considered what would happen if organizations alternated large national or international meetings with regional ones every other year. They found that this could reduce conference-related carbon emissions by up to 73%, and that choosing central meeting locations could save further.

Ponette-Gonzalez has cut back on her own conference travel. She recently attended a nearby meeting to establish more local connections and learn about science in her own backyard. However, she acknowledges that tenured professors such as herself have the luxury of choosing conferences and turning down speaking invitations. She does not recommend that early-career scientists skip opportunities to show off their work. Researchers in isolated locations also benefit from networking opportunities, she says, and may have a harder time accessing alternative forms of transportation.

One obvious solution to this trade-off is virtual meetings, but they have been slow to catch on. Many scientists say that although webinar technology has come a long way, it still can't provide opportunities for the casual one-on-one interactions that make conferences so valuable.

People such as Chris Welch are trying to change that. When Welch ran the technology-innovation group of health-care giant Merck, based in Kenilworth, New Jersey, he hired web designers to build a virtual conference, and hosted a meeting there. Using avatars and microphones, participants moved between posters, entering multiparticipant conversations inside a blue circle surrounding the presenter, or sitting in virtual chairs to chat in the 'conversation zone'.

The lack of virtual halls available to rent for web-based conferences may have prevented them from gaining popularity, Welch suspects. However, Linden Lab in San Francisco, California, which previously developed a virtual conferencing service called Second Life, is preparing to launch a beta version of a platform called Sansar. Users will be able to create custom virtual-reality experiences, including meetings.

As technology improves, Welch says, the benefits of virtual meetings will outweigh the downsides. A follow-up survey found that people enjoyed his virtual meeting and were more likely to approach senior executives at it than in real life7. Virtual meetings also take up less time and are cheaper to attend, which makes them more accessible to early-career scientists and those in far-flung locations or with tight budgets. The more equitable participation is a really valid point for today's science, Welch says.

Tread lightly

Many scientists also fly to do fieldwork, and Wilde says that he would never encourage people to give up important research that requires them to travel. However, a growing number of scientists are finding low-impact ways to do that work. For example, Osterberg wanted to cut his environmental impact when drilling ice cores. He was delighted when, in 2012, he got permission to drill inside Alaska's Denali National Park  but he wanted to avoid using a petrol-powered generator. So he asked engineers who design drills for US coring operations to develop a low-impact rig. They delivered. In 2013, Osterberg's team successfully drilled two 200-plus-metre cores by drawing power from only a few solar panels, a wind turbine and a bank of batteries.

PhD student Elly Knight, an ecologist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, opted for leg power to do her work. Last summer, she travelled by bicycle to set up recording devices to monitor common nighthawks (Chordeiles minor) in Alberta's boreal forest. A raging wildfire had led to a ban on four-wheeled vehicles, so she arrived at the idea of using fat-wheeled bikes to negotiate the rough, sandy landscape. Her university's sustainability office helped her to draft a letter to local bike shops, which lent her the bicycles for free.

Jason Box, a climatologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen, has used skis instead of helicopters for his work studying the Greenland ice sheet. Box also directs a crowd-funded research initiative called Dark Snow, which is helping to support a six-week expedition on the ice, now under way, in which scientists traverse the ice sheet on a zero-emissions vehicle called the WindSled. The vehicle was modelled on Inuit dog sledges, and is pulled by a massive kite. Raising freezer temperatures lowers energy use. Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

The WindSled has made several successful trips across Greenland and Antarctica and has supported one previous scientific expedition, says Box. The current trip will offer a prime opportunity to further demonstrate the vehicle's capacity to serve as a low-carbon scientific platform. Researchers will collect shallow cores as they travel 1,200 kilometres across the ice sheet. Box says that using the WindSled instead of a ski plane saves 100 barrels of fuel.

Teams are also looking for ways to shrink the carbon footprints of their labs. At Georgia Tech, Cobb is part of an initiative to draw attention to fume cupboards, which account for much of lab energy use. Variable-air-volume models, however, automatically decrease airflow when the sash is fully closed, reducing the energy consumed by ventilation. In a pilot study8 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a team found that shutting fume cupboards in the chemistry department saved as much as US$250,000 a year and prevented emissions of 300 tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Cobb learnt about the Harvard study from a student project in a class that she teaches. She saw that helping people remember to close fume cupboards could offer major benefits for minimal effort, and so she tasked her lab manager with leading an initiative in her building this summer. She says that another effort, focused on undergraduate chemistry labs, will start in late August. She hopes that the idea will soon spread to the school's thousands of fume cupboards and beyond.

Low-impact labs

Green-lab experts such as Kathy Ramirez-Aguilar, who runs the Green Lab programme at the University of Colorado Boulder, recommend that scientists buy or upgrade to energy-efficient equipment whenever possible. Sustainability offices such as hers, she says, can help scientists to research options and secure funding to subsidize the costs.

Researchers can also share equipment, she says. Ultra-low-temperature freezers, for instance, consume huge amounts of energy, but many teams don't need a full unit. Her university launched a programme in which scientists can rent space for their samples, starting at $0.25 per month for a 5-centimetre-tall freezer box. (Scientists with their own freezers can reduce their impact by setting them at 70 C instead of 80 C, which may be just as safe for many samples, and keeping the filter and coils clean and removing built-up frost, defrosting if necessary.)

It's a personal level of being consistent with why they are a scientist in the first place.

Energy reductions also come from sharing lab space  a green perk of efforts aimed at encouraging collaboration and innovation. Ramirez-Aguilar points to the cell-culture lab at her university as a flourishing example. It has 70 active users from 16 lab groups and is staffed by full-time technicians, which, Ramirez-Aguilar says, is key. It places upkeep, repairs, training responsibility on an equipment manager, rather than on the researchers, she says. But the biggest benefit is that it makes efficient use of space in lab buildings, which are three to five times more energy intensive than office buildings, according to the US Department of Energy.

Labs at the University of California, Davis, take up one-third of the university's floor space, but account for two-thirds of its energy use, says Allen Doyle, the university's sustainability manager. He advises researchers to work with the limitations of their buildings or campaign to have them upgraded. Depending on the building, that might mean situating high-heat-output instruments away from thermostats or putting energy-intensive machines in a room with extra cooling capacity.

Doyle's office helps teams with questions such as these, and conducts sustainability audits to certify their labs as a Green Lab. Those audits include questions such as whether teams turn off equipment when not in use, and whether they measure their energy consumption. Such certification programmes exist at many universities. Scientists can also contact My Green Lab, a non-profit organization in Los Gatos, California; join the online Green Labs Planning Group; or attend workshops on lab sustainability, through groups such as S-Lab in the United Kingdom.
Most of the scientists worldwide have agreed that human activities, especially carbon dioxide emissions, are the main primary driver of climate change. However, another top official of the Trump administration has once again contradicted the majority of world's scientists, denying the notion that man-made carbon dioxide emission is the main driver of climate change.

In an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box," Energy Secretary Rick Perry noted that ocean waters and the environment are the main forcea behind climate change.

"Most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in," said Sec. Perry during the interview. "The fact is this shouldn't be a debate about, 'Is the climate changing, is man having an effect on it?' Yeah, we are. The question should be just how much, and what are the policy changes that we need to make to effect that?"

Perry's stance on the primary cause of climate change did not defer to the beliefs of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. In his interview in the same program last March, the EPA administrator said he does not believe carbon dioxide is the primary contributor of climate change.

According to a report from the Washington Post, the statements of Perry and Pruitt contradict the stance of other US agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In the recent years, even the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted that the rate the climate is changing can't be explained by natural causes alone. Due to this, it is extremely likely that human activities have been the dominant cause of climate change.

The Trump administration has taken a serious u-turn when it comes to facing climate change and conserving the environment. Despite being not clear on his stance on climate change, US President Donald Trump has recently decided to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Additionally, proposed budget cuts in the energy department results in the shutting down of the Office of International Climate and Technology, which is responsible for developing clean energy technology with other countries.


The Segwick County Zoo in Miami recently welcomed two endangered silverback gorillas.

The silverback gorillas are brothers. The elder male, 28, is called "Shango" while his younger brother "Barney" is 23. They arrived at the Sedgwick County Zoo on May 20.

Being endangered species, it took a lot of effort before they were transferred to their new permanent home. The silverback gorillas, Barney and Shango, were quarantined before they were sent to the zoo. During their time in isolation, the Segwick County Zoo management made sure that their home and the exhibit venue were modified.

The two silverback gorillas will be residents at the gorilla exhibit inside the zoo. They will be seen along with the newly renovated exhibit.

Barney and Shango are silverback gorillas originally from the dense forest of Congo Basin, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, and Gabon. They are considered to be lowland gorillas.

"These two guys are just very handsome gorillas," Ron Magill, a spokesman for Zoo Miami said in a statement.

The lowland silverback gorillas are physically huge. They can grow over 5 feet tall with over 400 pounds of weight. While females weigh an average of 150 to 200 pounds. They may look frightening at first sight but silverback gorillas are vegetarians and are far less aggressive than other huge animals like bears. They even earned the name "gentle giants." But despite being harmless, they are now considered as endangered species.

Shango and Barney were transferred to the Miami zoo for the Species Survival Plan. However, they still need female silverback gorillas in order to breed. The goal is to find them silverback gorilla brides to procreate in the one-acre enclosure inside the zoo. The area was fitted with climbing platforms and ropes.

"We want this to be a love castle for the gorillas," Magill added. "It's paradise here for them."
Pangolins are considered critically endangered. However, their scales are very popular in the black market. Recently, a shipment with $1.2 million worth of pangolin scales was seized in Malaysia.

This is the second seized shipment in Malaysia last week. Customs officials discovered 16 boxes of smuggled pangolin scales, with a combined weight of 400 kilograms (880 pounds), at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Last June 16, the local government also seized about 300 kilograms of pangolin scales. Based on the investigations, both shipments originated from Ghana and were sent via Turkish Airlines.

Pangolins are known for having thick armor and are also known as "scaly anteaters. They are indigenous to Southeast Asia and in Africa. Every part them are sellable, which make the animal a popular black market commodity. Pangolin meat is a Chinese delicacy. The scales are dried and used in some traditional oriental medicines but they are also used in the production of some prohibited drugs like crystal methamphetamine.

The coveted scales are made up of keratin which resembles the composition of human nails. Pangolin scales are sturdy and used as protection against other predators. In 2015, pangolin scales can cost up to $3,000 per kilogram. In 2015, Pangolins were dubbed as the "most hunted" animal because of their meat and scales.

According to reports, there are almost one million pangolins killed in Asia and Africa in the last decade. Now more than ever, conservationists lobby for the protection of the remaining low number of the species.

"But there is also a need for intelligence-led cross-border investigations to nab the big players who are driving the trade," Elizabeth John, senior communications officer of the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (Traffic).

Malaysia seized a total of $2 million Pangolin scales last month. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, live pangolins and scales were also seized. The amount of the latest seized shipment is estimated to be worth $190,000.




Sales at duty-free shops showed signs of recovery after the drop of Chinese travelers followed by China's unofficial boycott over the stationing of a U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery here.

According to the Korea Duty-Free Shops Association, duty-free shops saw an increase in sales from foreign travelers, reaching US$656 million in May, up 11 percent from the previous month.

The number of foreign shoppers also slightly increased to 1.02 million from 998,000.

Duty-free stores had seen a steady rise in sales until February with their monthly total sales reaching $883 million, but sales dwindled drastically in March and April amid the THAAD spat.

"Despite some recovery in sales it will take two or three more months to fully recover to the previous level, meaning that the slowdown may continue until the end of this year," a market insider said.


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.
Berkeley city leaders on Tuesday voted in favor of extending the Police Departments participation in Urban Shield  and their decision was an unwelcome one.

Attendees told NBC Bay Area that police officers, several of whom were present at the meeting, got rough with community members, when they expressed their displeasure with the controversial training program. Social media posts indicate that officers beat people and even made two arrests.

Urban Shield is a four-day training program for local law enforcement officials in the fall. It focuses on first-responder training and shows agencies how to work together to respond to threats in high-density urban areas. Opponents, however, say its a form of police militarization.

A statement issued by Oakland-based nonprofit, Critical Resistance, accused the police officers of a violent crackdown.

A large crowd, including former Berkeley Mayor Gus Newport, packed the council meeting to urge the City Council to withdraw from Urban Shield. They shared "hours of community testimony about the harms, racism, and dangers of the program," the statement said.

Critical Resistance leaders accused current Mayor Jesse Arreguin of rushing a vote, prompting attendees to chant and hold up banners at the heated meeting.

[BAY RM] Berkeley Distraught Over Decision to Stay With Urban Shield

A 73-year-old man claimed that he was amongst the group of protestors who police allegedly pushed back. The man alleged that a police officer hit him in the head with a baton as he was reaching for his glasses that fell to the ground. He sustained cuts on his head and blood was seen on his shirt.

Several people spoke out at a Wednesday morning news conference discussing the brush-up.

It was kind of ironic because here we had been talking all night about the dangers of police militarization and the mindset of the police that treats community members as the problem, said Ellen Brotsky, the wife of the man who was reportedly hit by Berkeley police.

Her husband is OK and showed no signs of having a concussion, but the Brotsky family plans to file a complaint against the Berkeley Police Department in connection with the explosive meeting, she said.

To that, Sagnictahe Salazar, who also opposes Urban Shield, added: Can you guys imagine what happens in our homes? When we are in our communities? When we are not in front of cameras or hundreds of people? What happens to our folks? We know what happens.

Speaking on behalf of the Berkeley Police Department, Sgt. Andrew Frankel said, I can tell you first hand that the crowd was unwilling to let the officers allow those arrests to occur. Our officers tried to move the crowd out of the way and its hard to say what happened after that. He added that he hadnt the chance to review the level of force used.

Urban Shield protesters claiming beating from the police. Pete Suratos reports.

Arreguin told NBC Bay Area that he shares concerns about the militarization of local police departments, but stressed that the choice to stay with Urban Shield  temporarily  was born from a desire to ensure the safety of Berkeley's residents and police officers.

"I believe we ultimately need to pull out of Urban Shield because of the hyper-militarized training it provides, but we cannot do it overnight," he said. "Cities throughout the Bay Area have chosen not to participate in this training and instead provide their police with other SWAT, emergency and disaster preparedness training.

"It would be irresponsible for the Berkeley City Council to pull out immediately from Urban Shield without providing our police the training they need to keep our community safe."

The council may have voted to participate in this year's Urban Shield exercises, Arreguin said, but it also created a subcomittee to work with residents as well as the police and fire departments to explore alternate sources of training for Berkeley's law enforcement agencies.

"My goal is in six months, we will move towards leaving Urban Shield permanently," he said.

Acknowledging reports of police brutality across the United States, Arreguin agreed that "there is a great deal of fear and mistrust between police and communities of color and we need to improve the relationship between our police and our community."

He continued: "The Berkeley City Council is committed to ensuring that our police engage in a way that reflects our communitys values."
Braving the sweltering heat, dozens of Bay Area police officers took part in a relay race on Tuesday to raise awareness and funds for the Northern California Special Olympics.

Officers traded their uniforms for T-shirts and jogging shorts to partake in the relay race. Officially dubbed the Law Enforcement Torch Run, the race has been a tradition since the early 1980s.

The summer games of the Northern California Special Olympics will take place at University of California, Davis this year, kicking off on June 23.

Officers from the Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville police departments all ran Tuesday, as did officers from the University of California Police Department, running at least 10 miles combined. In each group, an officer was tasked with escorting the Flame of Hope, the official symbol of the Special Olympics. It is meant to give light and, of course, hope to those who have none, according to organizers.

Officers who ran said that participating allowed them to give back to their communities. Law enforcement agencies in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties ran earlier this month.

"The running of the torch, the symbolic flame, it's really an honor for me as a law enforcement officer, and for our agency, to be out here and participate," said UCPD Sgt. Sabrina Reich, who held the torch for her team on Tuesday.

Emeryville police Chief Jennifer Tejada made the event a family affair, bringing her son along for the trip. Visibly drained after running 2.5 miles to hand off the torch at San Pablo Avenue and Burnett Street in Berkeley, the pair said the noble cause behind the run made it easier to complete.

"It was hot, it was grueling, but when you're doing it for a good cause ..." Tejada said, trailing off.

"You just keep it moving," her son finished.
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.
A routine lawn mower maintenance appointment turned into a month-long battle for Berlin resident, Alicia Tucholski.

Her technician installed the wrong drain plug on her Craftsman riding mower, leaving Tucholski with a growing lawn and a reel mower.

Every weekend, when it approached the weekend, I was such a mess thinking, 'Oh my gosh, the lawns got to be cut again', said Tucholski.

What usually takes her sister 90 minutes on the riding mower, took two of them four and a half hours, she said.

The sisters noticed a problem the day after the service appointment. The drain plug was too long, so when her sister turned the wheel, the oil spilled out of its tank and onto the grass and driveway.

Tucholski told NBC Connecticut Responds she called Sears immediately. A second technician came out the following week, but didnt have the correct, shorter drain plug. They placed an order, which took another week.

Meanwhile, the lawn wasnt going to mow itself, so Tucholski asked Sears for a loaner.

I was sick to my stomach, said Tucholski. In tears. Stressed out to the max, and I was told someone would call you, someone would call you.

Nobody responded.

After cutting the grass the old fashioned way, she reached out to someone who would.

Ive seen (NBC Connecticut Responds) pieces on the news and I know that you respond to every call. I didnt know if it was something worth looking into, but I thought Id give it a shot. Why not, said Tucholski.

Tucholski wanted Sears to reimburse her the original $295 service call, plus the $644 worth of damage caused by the oil spill and the $150 push mower she bought when the reel mower became too strenuous.

Sears, and its claim processing company, Sedgwick, agreed to cover everything except the push mower. In a statement to NBC Connecticut Responds, a spokesperson for Sears said:

At Sears, our top priority is the satisfaction of our members. Our member services team further looked into Ms. Tucholskis situation and has repaired her tractor, as well as providing her with a refund for the service call. In addition, Sedgwick, our third-party claims administrator, is compensating her for further cleanup of the area where they performed the work. We hope she remains a loyal Sears customer and Shop Your Way member.
A Canton man was killed when he was struck by a pickup while riding a bicycle in New Hartford Tuesday evening.

Connecticut state police said 42-year-old Gordon Keller was riding his bike on Route 44 around 7:30 p.m. when he was struck by a pickup trying to turn left onto Route 219.

Keller was taken to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

State police are investigating the crash. Anyone with information is asked to contact Trooper Figueiral at Troop B at 860-626-1820.
China on Tuesday called on South Korea to send back a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. that Beijing finds too assertive of American military might on its doorstep.

Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam met with his Chinese counterpart Zhang Yesui in Beijing to discuss THAAD, the North Korean nuclear threat and a summit between the leaders of the two countries during the G20 meeting in Germany next month.

Zhang in his opening comments said a "major obstacle" remains despite President Moon Jae-in talking to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the phone and sending a special envoy to Beijing. Lim said Moon wants to "develop Korea-China relations into a strategic partnership."
Cities and towns in Connecticut are on the airwaves for the first time in several years in an effort to sway lawmakers to allow them to assess local sales taxes.

Currently, the sales tax is only assessed by the state, and those funds make their way back to municipalities in the form of municipal aid through the state budget.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) has made a television ad-buy to drive the point home, showing Connecticut residents and hearing from them in their struggle with property taxes.

Matthew Galligan is a former president of CCM and has been pushing for some kind of local taxing authority for decades. He said if there ever was a time to provide more autonomy for cities and towns to raise cash, free from the state, then its now.

We can do a lot of that regionally, Galligan explains. In New York a lot of communities are able to do local sales tax, cities, they share it with other towns and it is a way to try to keep us in line with the revenue structure and make sure we have a steady revenue force instead of waiting for the state legislature to pass a budget.

Most cities and towns already have their budgets in place for the next fiscal year, even though the General Assembly hasnt yet approved a budget to send to Gov. Dannel Malloy.

Some Democrats have said they want to see cities and towns be on the same schedule with the state budget so they all know for sure how much municipal aid will be distributed. Galligan said thats not impossible, but it could be a difficult ask.

In the cities it may be OK, and towns with a town manager form of government where the town council approves a budget you can get away with it, but in some of the smaller communities where they vote on their budgets, it could be very difficult.

The states fiscal year ends June 30.
The city of Norwich is opening its arms a little wider to new visitors, thanks to a Norwich businessman.

Swaranjit Singh Khalsa created two signs that spell out welcome in seven languages. Khalsa paid for the signs, and Norwich Public Works crews installed them at two of the citys entrances.

This is not just a sign for me. For me its more like representing the community that lives here, said Khalsa.

Welcome is not the word Khalsa would use to describe how he felt the first time he stepped on US soil.

People used to stare at me like who is this guy, whats this turban, recalled Khalsa.

He immigrated to New Jersey for graduate school in 2007 and moved to Norwich in 2010. He now operates the citys Shell gas station and also works in real estate flipping houses. He lives in Norwich with his wife, who moved here from India when she was three years old, and his 17-month-old daughter.

When I first moved here me and my wife thought that theres a lack of diversity, said Khalsa.

A trip to Vancouver two years ago inspired Khalsa to create the signs, which are written in English, Punjabi, Khalsas native language, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Italian, and German.

We have a very diverse population in Norwich. Its nice to put a sign up that everybody can read, said Norwich resident Gerard Gagnon.

A local pastor, Nancy Forsstrom, said many of her parishioners children and grandchildren go to Norwich Free Academy.

I know theres a lot of different languages that are spoken there, I think theyre very attractive and a great idea to have different languages there, said Forsstrom.

Khalsa said hes making sure others who come to this country feel like theyre part of the community.

With this sign we are not just catering to one or two people, we are catering to a huge amount of people globally, he explained.

He hopes this is just the beginning. He plans to makes to make for signs for the city and put one right in front of City Hall with 25 different languages.

These are the small things that make people welcome. That they are part of the city, Khalsa said.

His mission to spread awareness about his own religion, Sikh, have gained both local and national attention. He was recognized by the FBI for his work training police in Connecticut to recognize the differences between Arabs, Muslims, and Sikhs.

Hes terrific. If every community had a person like him they can really get a lot of things done, said Norwich City Manager John Salomone.

Khalsa believes efforts to embrace his citys diversity could reach beyond a nice gesture.

If you feel connected to your city you will do investments here, you will feel safer here, and this is what we want, we want everybody to say thats their home, said Khalsa.
As the state legislature continues to struggle with a projected $5 billion budget deficit, one teachers organization is calling on Connecticut lawmakers to examine how they fund public schools.

The Connecticut Coalition for Public Education wants the governor and state lawmakers to create a new commission to oversee state education funding.

The group is made up of seven separate associations including the Connecticut Parent Teacher Association, the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education and the American Federation of Teachers-Connecticut.

The Connecticut Achievement and Resource Equity of Schools Commission, called CARES for short, would examine disparities between school districts, develop a formula for school funding, and identify a specific reliable funding source for the states education budget.

The group will share more details at a press conference scheduled at the Capitol building for 10 a.m. Wednesday.
A San Diego woman wounded in a shark attack nearly two months ago is improving by the day, growing stronger with each step as she works toward being discharged from the hospital, her trauma surgeon said Tuesday.

She is, physically, very strong, said Gail Tominaga, M.D., the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla trauma surgeon who admitted Leeanne Ericson on April 29 after she was attacked by a shark off San Onofre State Beach near Camp Pendleton.

Getting update on condition of shark attack victim from her trauma surgeon. Leanne has been able to move and takes steps. #NBC7 pic.twitter.com/V1mnI4vnka  Megan Tevrizian (@megantevrizian) June 20, 2017

Shes actually very amazing, for everything shes been through, the surgeon added.

Tominaga is among the two dozen specialists who have been caring for Ericson since the shark attack. The team includes four surgeons, numerous physician assistants, nurses and others.

On Tuesday, Tominaga shared the final update on behalf of Scripps on Ericsons recovery.

The surgeon said her patient  who suffered significant injuries to her right thigh and buttocks and tremendous blood loss  has gone through multiple extensive surgeries and is now undergoing physical therapy.

Ericson can get up and take steps with both legs, Tominaga said  a long way from where she was on the day she was admitted to the trauma center.

Update: First responders may have saved Leanne's life. Her wound was extensive & she lost a lot of blood. #NBC7  Megan Tevrizian (@megantevrizian) June 20, 2017

We did not know if she was going to survive, said Tominaga, recalling that in the first 24 to 48 hours of Ericsons hospitalization, she was unstable and bleeding heavily.

Tominaga said Ericson underwent emergency blood transfusions in those first few days. She was at risk of contracting atypical infections due to her wounds being exposed to the ocean water and the sharks mouth, the surgeon said. Antibiotics and numerous surgeries were needed.

On May 19, Tominaga said Ericson underwent a skin grafting operation to close her wounds.

During the surgeries, they put a biologic matrix called 'ACell' on the wound to help the growth of the tissue over the area of the nerve and of the area of missing tissue, the trauma surgeon explained.

She said one of the biggest challenges for Ericson is the substantial loss of soft tissue to her leg, which left her leg very weak. She also suffered a sciatic nerve injury that left her with no sensation to her foot.

Tominaga said Ericsons leg would never be 100 percent functional, will but she will be able to walk and go up and down stairs.

Once Ericson is discharged  a date the patient wishes to keep private  Tominaga said physical therapists would advise whether Ericson can go home or whether its best for her to transition to a rehabilitation facility.

While Ericsons road to recovery will be long, Tominaga said the survivor is staying focused and upbeat thanks to her supportive family, friends, and community.

Shes been amazing; she works very hard; shes been very optimistic, Tominaga added.

The surgeon went on to read a statement from Ericson in which she thanked her doctors, first responders, and the community.

Earlier this month, Ericson wrote about her recovery on an online fundraising page established by her family to help cover her medical expenses. She talked about wanting to get better so she could be reunited with her children.

My kids have visited me a few times and cant wait for their mommy to be back home. For now, I need to focus on healing so I can get back to my family as soon as possible, her message read.

A few days before that, Ericson's mother, Christine McKnerney-Leidle, said in an online update that her daughter had started walking, taking 40 steps in the hospital.

A woman seriously injured in a shark attack is still in critical condition but is able to nod her head in response, a doctor said. NBC 7's Artie Ojeda has more on the story.

We hope she will be in rehab soon and then home after that, McKnerney-Leidle's post read. She is staying strong, and positive she wants to thank all of you for your support and prayers. God bless you all.

On April 29, Ericson was airlifted to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla after being attacked by a shark in the waters off San Onofre State Beach, near Camp Pendleton, in San Diego's North County.

The shark attack took place at San Onofre State Beach, located off Interstate 5 at Basilone Road, about 3 miles south of San Clemente, California, and 58 miles north of downtown San Diego.

A trauma surgeon with Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla gives an update on the recovery of Leeanne Ericson, a woman attacked by a shark at San Onofre State Beach last weekend.

The beach was closed to the public for several days following the shark attack. It reopened, but throughout May authorities issued warnings at the beach after reported shark sightings near the same area where Ericson had been attacked.

According to investigators, Ericson was camping with her boyfriend when the couple decided to go in the water. Ericson swam while her boyfriend surfed next to her at a favorite spot at the beach.

The victims mother said the couple saw a seal in the water and Ericsons boyfriend turned to swim out to a wave. Just then, Ericson disappeared from the waters surface.

San Onofre State Beach -- where a woman was attacked by a shark over the weekend -- will reopen to the public on Wednesday. In the early morning, there were already cars lining up to park at the beach and surfers itching to get back into the water. NBC 7's Gaby Rodriguez reports.

The woman was attacked by a shark approximately 10 feet in length who ripped through the back of Ericsons leg, tearing out all the muscle from her knee to her hip. The shark just missed the victims major arteries, McKnerney-Leidle said on Facebook.

As Ericson was dragged into the water, her lungs filled with foam and debris. She was airlifted to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla just before 6:30 p.m. that evening.

Ericson survived the shark attack, but her road to a full recovery will be painful and lengthy.

In early May, Tominaga gave an update on the woman's condition, saying she was awake and able to answer questions by nodding or shaking her head. At that point, Ericson was still on a breathing tube. Doctors had also started the process of reconstructing the victims leg.

Ericson works for a local credit union, Pacific Marine Credit Union. The company has opened an account to collect donations to help the victim in her recovery. Donations can be made at any Pacific Marine Credit Union branch, or by mail. Checks can be made payable to:

Support Leeanne

C/O Pacific Marine Credit Union

1278 Rocky Point Drive

Oceanside, CA 92056

Her family also continues to run this GoFundMe page, which as of Tuesday, had raised more than $90,000.

Last year, there were an estimated 59 shark attacks across the U.S., according to data collected by scientists at the University of Florida.
Students at a Southern California high school got a lesson in political corruption after it was revealed that a faculty adviser rigged the election for class president and two other races.

In an email last week to parents, the principal of Vista Murrieta High said the company that handled ballot counting confirmed fraudulent votes made online changed the outcome of elections for 2019 president, 2019 secretary and 2018 president.

"This is a very unfortunate and disappointing situation, and I regret the impact it has had on the students involved and the student body as a whole," Principal Mick Wager wrote.

District officials would not identify the adviser who took responsibility for manipulating the votes at the school located near Temecula. The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported Tuesday that "the person had held the job for about a year."

The adviser has stepped down from the position of Associated Student Body Director, but officials did not say whether the person was fired or placed on leave.

The motive is unknown. No students or other staff members were involved.

"Students who had earlier been announced as the winners of the three races will still be allowed to participate" in the school's student government program  "which has been honored on the state and national level in recent years  in different roles," reported the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

Officials said new policies are in place to prevent a repeat of the tampering.

The newspaper reported that a parent "helped uncover the vote discrepancies after getting information showing voting results that included the time the vote was cast and the IP address used to access the voting companys website."

Many of the votes, parent Wade Sine said, "were made at 10:30 p.m. or later, in 40-second increments, by someone who appeared to be going down a list alphabetically and voting for certain candidates," the newspaper reported. "Sine said the school should redo this years election in case there were other fake votes that werent caught during the audit."
WHERE CAN YOU SEE A BEAR... in California? If you answered "the state flag," well, high fives and gold stars to you, for you are completely correct. If you said "on a hike, from a distance, in the Sierra Nevada," that's sometimes the case, as many outdoors fans can attest to, with anecdotes. And if you claimed that you've seen a bear at Storytellers Cafe, at Disney's Grand Californian Resort, dancing and clapping his hands, you'd be right again, for Kenai of the film "Brother Bear" is a frequent visitor to the restaurant's popular Character Breakfast. In fact, a lot of Disney's Grand Californian Resort is mighty bear-a-riffic, thanks to its woodsy, Craftsman theme, so it makes sense that there are a few watering holes nearby. Of course, these special watering holes don't host any bears, clapping or otherwise, but they are made for human-style swimming and frolicking. And if you've longed to frolic in this woodsiest of Disneyland Resort hotels, like a bear might, here comes the dance-worthy news:

THE POOL DECK... at the elegant Anaheim resort just underwent a big refresh, complete with "...natural stones and brick to create a warm and welcoming environment..." Master stone masons were behind the placement of the stones, and the look dovetails, or beartails, if you prefer, with the grander theme of the grand hotel: outdoors, trees, and the woods. There's a new fountain shaped like an urn in the Fountain Pool, and cabanas like the chilled-out Mariposa Pool (and, yep, there's a curved, 90-foot-slide at the Redwood Pool). Are these renovations part of the large-scale, multi-month refurbishments happening around the sizable property? You bet: The Grand Californian is getting some TLC, "...the most extensive refurbishment since the hotel's 2001 opening." It's rather bigger than a bear's den, so the touch-ups take time, but you can already see the fruits of the renovation over at the hotel's swimming holes.
A man was killed and a boy was wounded in a shooting in El Monte, authorities said Wednesday.

The shooting was reported at 11:14 p.m. Tuesday in the area of Garvey and Durfee avenues, said Deputy Trina Schrader of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which is assisting El Monte police with the investigation.

The victims were traveling as rear passengers in a vehicle with two females. They were stopped at a red light on Durfee Avenue when a gray compact sedan pulled alongside them and words were exchanged between the occupants of the two vehicles, Schrader said.

During the altercation, the driver of the gray sedan exited and fired multiple rounds into the rear of the victims' vehicle before re-entering his vehicle and fleeing the scene, Schrader said.

The man and boy were struck by the gunfire but the females were unharmed and were being interviewed by investigators, Schrader said.

The female driver drove the victims to an area hospital where the man was pronounced dead and the boy was in stable condition, she said.

The relationship between the victims was not immediately clear. The man is believed to be in his 20s and the boy is 13 years old, according to reports from the scene.
Although Proposition 64 says it is legal for Californians to smoke and grow a limited amount of cannabis plants in their homes, some renters face an additional set of restrictions that can prohibit them from partaking at home.

Under Prop 64, "owners may forbid the possession or use of marijuana on their property subject to normal tenant law for renters," which means apartment owners and landlords can restrict renters from lighting up, according to the LA County Department of Public Health.

Renters should check their leases to see if their landlord prohibits the "consumption or cultivation of marijuana" in units, advised Los Angeles County's new Office of Cannabis Management.

Owners will evict tenants if they refuse to abide by a no smoking prohibition, which typically applies to both tobacco and marijuana, said Debra Carlton, a spokeswoman for the California Apartment Association.

Voters approved Prop. 64 in November, but Carlton says the association's stance on weed has not changed. She does not expect apartment owners will shift their policies either.

"We believe that rental property owners have the right to prohibit use of marijuana on their property," Carlton said. "The challenge they face are neighboring tenants who complain about the nuisance and being exposed to secondhand smoke -- themselves and their children."

But in most cases, renters with a medical marijuana prescription should be able to consume cannabis in edible form by using edibles or oils.

Carlton said she's never heard of owners who have concerns about those products, since they do not cause a nuisance to neighbors. She does not believe recreational edibles are a concern to most owners either.
A 20-year-old Florida woman was charged after authorities say she let a 12-year-old drive a car and the pre-teen got into a three-vehicle wreck.

Brittney Ashley Powell was given a misdemeanor criminal traffic citation after Tuesday's crash in Port St. Lucie, police said.

Police said Powell told the girl to drive from a home to a gas station, where they stopped for beverages. The crash happened a short time later, as two other girls, ages 7 and 11, were in the back seat.

The 12-year-old was trying to make a turn at an intersection when she crashed into another car, which sent that car barreling into another vehicle, police said. Powell and the 12-year-old weren't wearing seat belts at the time of the crash, police said.

Powell, the 12-year-old and the two girls in the back seat were taken to a local hospital, along with the woman who was driving the second car and her two children, police said. All of the injuries were non-life threatening.

The crash remains under investigation and more charges could be filed, authorities said.
A Florida woman has been sentenced to life in prison for killing her longtime boyfriend and dumping his body in a swampy area behind his home.

The Lakeland Ledger reports that 59-year-old Victoria Collins was sentenced Monday after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and three counts of petty theft.

Authorities say Collins killed Gary Greenfield in June 2015 and dumped his body in a swampy area littered with garbage behind a mobile home he was renting from Collins. Around the same time, Greenfield's friends and family members received emails and texts saying he would be out of touch for some time. His body was found about six weeks later.
Samsung plans to unveil its new Galaxy Note 8 in New York in late August to steal a march on Apple's next iPhone, which will probably be launched in September.

Samsung originally intended to unveil the Note 8 at the IFA electronics trade show in Berlin in September. But an industry insider said, "Samsung is trying to gain a lead by unveiling its product ahead of the iPhone, as it did last year with the Galaxy Note 7."

The Note 7 was an expensive debacle as the phone proved combustible and Samsung had to recall the entire stock and stop production.

The electronics giant hopes to improve on that fatal flaw but stick to the curved-edge screen achieved by getting rid of the home button usually located below the display.

The Note 8's screen is expected to measure 6.3 inches, putting it halfway between a phone and a tablet like its predecessors, and feature fingerprint, iris and facial-recognition functions of the Galaxy S8. It will also include a stylus that distinguishes the phone from other "phablets."

First featured in the Note 7, the stylus is expected to improve video-editing and activation functions. A Samsung staffer said, "The main strength of the Note series is the capability available through the stylus. We expect huge demand for it."


As cities across the country have begun to remove statues and other items honoring Confederate generals from the Civil War area, protesters want one South Florida city to do the same.

Several groups are asking for three streets signs in the city of Hollywood  Lee, Hood and Forest Streets  to be renamed. All three are named for those who fought for the states that seceded from the U.S. during the 1860s.

Members of those groups wanting the change  including Take Down Slavery Symbols Hollywood and the Black Lives Matter Alliance Broward, gathered for a protest at city hall Wednesday before attending the city commission meeting at 1:30 p.m. and speaking during the public comment period at 5 p.m.

Demonstrators chanted "Hey hey, ho ho, these racist street signs have got to go," and "No Forrest, No Lee, no street signs named for slavery."

Various efforts have been made in the past to change the names, honoring Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood and Nathan Bedford Forrest  who was also the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

Those who support the current street names were also on hand to counter protest. Five people were arrested for disrupting the commission meeting Wednesday.

Several cities, including Orlando and New Orleans, have taken down statues in recent weeks commemorating the Confederacy after heated debate from both sides of the issue.
A Long Island man who received the gift of lifea heart transplanthad the opportunity to meet his donors father in Manhattan.

Months ago, Christian Siems, of Greenlawn, was seriously ill. He was told he would die without a new heart.

It was hard, it was really hard, especially as a mom to watch, Michelle Martines said of her sons two-year wait.

It would ultimately be another familys tragedy that would answer the Siems familys prayers.

Nicholas Brown, a Marine, was registered as an organ donor before he died from a heroin overdose at 27 years old.

The Marines heart would go on to save Christians life.

After his recovery, Christian and his family shared an emotional meeting with Nicholas father, Patrick Brown.

Its good to be able to meet and say thank you, Christian told Patrick. The two reminisced about Nicholas life.

Nicks life was unfortunately short but his legacy is going to go on, his father said.

Christian Siems is now that legacy, and he urges New Yorkers to sign up for organ donation.

Right now, New York has a 29 percent donor enrollment ratethe lowest in the country. By comparison, Pennsylvanias donor enrollment falls at 46 percent, and New Jerseys at 31 percent, according to NJ.com. The tri-state areas rate remains low compared to states like Alaska, where 86 percent of people are enrolled.

Some 10,000 New Yorkersand 123,000 Americansare waiting for an organ donation of some kind, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

There are so many people really waiting who will die if they do not get organs, said Dr. Amy Friedman, an executive at LiveOnNY, the nonprofit where people can register to donate.

And many of those stories wont have the happy ending that Christians did.

Karen Hua contributed to this report.


A teenager died after falling through a roof and plunging down an elevator shaft at a shuttered New York hospital, authorities say.

Police say they were called to the abandoned United Hospital on Boston Post Road in Port Chester around 8:30 Tuesday night and found several teenagers on the roof.

Officers walked to the back of the building, where the group frantically told them their friend, a 14-year-old boy, had fallen through a hole in the roof, officials said.

Port Chester police made their way into the building and guided the teens to safety while other officers attempted to find the boy who had fallen. Police found the boy at the bottom of an elevator shaft nearly two hours later.

"It was a service elevator, we believe, so couldn't be accessed on every floor. They were finally able to gain access from a fourth floor," Police Chief Richard Conway said Wednesday. "The whole problem was getting access to the elevator shaft to a position where they could get to him."

Officials rescued him and took the boy was taken to an area hospital, where he died, authorities said.

The teenager was a ninth-grader in the Port Chester school district, according to the superintendent. Crisis counselors have met with the boy's friends who witnessed the fall, who were also students in the district.



United Hospital closed down more than 10 years ago. There have been calls over the years to have the abandoned buildings demolished.

Some of the buildings on the complex are 12-stories high.



Sandra Deans, who works nearby, said, "I was just telling somebody about this building. It's abandoned so long."

"Why do they have it just sitting there?" she said.

Starwood Capital Group, the Connecticut-based investment group that's owned the site since 2006, had been planning to rebuild the site and turn it into a neighborhood with a mix of residential, commercial and office uses. It only received the necessary zoning change to move ahead with its proposal this past spring.

The company offered its condolences the boys' family's and friends.

"We are fully cooperating with the village's public safety authorities and the mayor's office to provide whatever assistance we can regarding this tragic event," the company said in a statement.

The investigation is ongoing.
Trinity College in Hartford will reopen today, the day after it was closed because of threats to campus that appear to have stemmed from an article posted on a professor's personal social media pages, according to a statement put out by the college.

A sociology professor, Johnny Williams, who has been with Trinity College since 1996, shared a June 16 article from Medium.com on his personal Facebook and Twitter pages, Trinity's president and professor of neuroscience, Joanne Berger-Sweeney, said in a statement.

The writer goes by the name "Son of Baldwin," Berger-Sweeney said, and the piece "cited another writers perspective on the shooting that occurred at the Congressional baseball practice in Virginia last week."

"The Medium piece went on to explore broader issues concerning race and the relationship between 'victims of bigotry' and 'bigots.' The piece culminated with a call to show indifference to the lives of bigots. That call was reprehensible, and any such suggestion is abhorrent and wholly contrary to Trinitys values," Berger-Sweeney said.

Berger-Sweeney noted that Williams, who teaches about race and racism, did not write the article; however, he did share it on his personal social media accounts using the hashtag connected "directly to the inflammatory conclusion in the article."

"In my opinion, (Williams') use of the hashtag was reprehensible and, at the very least, in poor judgment," Berger-Sweeney said.

The school is reviewing the incident with the school's dean of faculty on whether college procedures or policies were broken, according to Trinity College's statement.

Williams provided a statement to NBC Connecticut that said he has received, via email and telephone, a number of threatening messages. The professor said he was not calling for the death of any group of people but he wanted to spark a debate on the very subject he teaches.

"It is evident to anyone who carefully reads my posts on Facebook and Twitter that I did not call for the death of all self-identified whites. I merely attached the hashtag to my post derived from a blog article written by Son of Baldwin entitled 'Let Them All ------- Die.' This was an admittedly provocative move to get readers to pay attention to my reasoned, reasonable, and yes angry argument," Williams wrote.

"I posted my comments on social media to draw the attention of the readers to the current dire state of white supremacy in the nation," he said.

The school spoke to Williams before releasing the statement on Wednesday afternoon.

"No matter its intent, it goes against our fundamental values as an institution, and I believe its effect is to close minds rather than open them," the college's president said.

The sociology professor's post resulted in a public rebuke across the country.

Earlier on Wednesday, an initial alert from the school said all campus buildings could only be accessed by identification card. About 30 minutes later, the college sent out a notice that the school would be closed until further notice.

The campus is expected to reopen normal operations today.



"Given the threats to campus and upon consultation with the President's Cabinet, the decision has been made to close the College until further notice. All employees and guests are to leave campus for the day and stay tuned for updates," a statement posted on the school website Wednesday said.

Police said Trinity officials reached out to the Hartford police detective bureau and authorities are vetting non-specific, non-credible threats from across the country related to potential comments by a staff member.



They added that Hartford police are assisting the college in investigating and there will be an ongoing enhanced security presence on campus.

The school was closed amid the first summer session, which is underway until July 13, and the post on the school site said the dean of students and residential life worked with students who are residing on campus.

Soon after the message was posted, the college's website went down.

State Representative Themis Klarides, an alumni of Trinity College, is calling for the professor to be removed, saying in part, that the professors' "opinions are simply outrageous and racist in and of themselves. We would urge you to consider this request as in the best interests of not only 'members of the greater Trinity College community,' but of society at large."

Professor Johnny Williams' full statement can be found below:

"For the entirety of my adult life I have worked to inform my students, colleagues, and the public about the dire and destructive character of oppression and worked to push all of us towards making the world a more just, equitable and humane place.

"The recent displays of hate and explicit death threats I have received via email and telephone in response to my recent posts are par for the course in the work that I do but this attack is at a level of vitriol and hatred in excess of what I have ever experienced.

"This response seems to be a concerted campaign to attack not just what *they think* I said in my post but to attack my integrity, scholarship, teaching, department, and college. The publicity it is receiving also seems to be an organized warning to all others who want to speak out. This seems to be a national drive of intimidation of professors which all colleges and universities should be concerned about.

"It is evident to anyone who carefully reads my posts on Facebook and Twitter that I did not call for the death of all self-identified whites. I merely attached the hashtag to my post derived from a blog article written by Son of Baldwin entitled Let Them All ------- Die. This was an admittedly provocative move to get readers to pay attention to my reasoned, reasonable, and yes angry argument.

"I posted my comments on social media to draw the attention of the readers to the current dire state of white supremacy in the nation.

"We can debate whether social media has expanded, contracted, or perverted the public sphere. We all know that its anonymity and lack of face to face accountability makes meanness and ad hominem attacks easy to do.

"I did not and do not use it in that way. My detractors have."
President Donald Trump called Saudi Arabia's new crown prince Wednesday as the U.S. stepped up efforts to mediate a crisis between Qatar and America's closest regional allies.

The president called Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after Saudi Arabia's King Salman appointed his 31-year-old son as crown prince. The elevation places Mohammed bin Salman as first-in-line to the throne and removed the country's counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington from the line of succession.

The White House said in a statement that the two leaders expressed their shared commitment to "cutting off all support for terrorists and extremists, as well as how to resolve the ongoing dispute with Qatar."

Several members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, recently cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of funding extremism. Trump injected the U.S. into the volatile crisis among America's Mideast allies, siding with Saudi Arabia and other countries against Qatar.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain have prepared a list of demands to submit to Qatar in an effort to defuse ongoing tensions.

"We hope the list of demands will soon be presented to Qatar and will be reasonable and actionable," Tillerson said in a statement. "We support the Kuwaiti mediation effort and look forward to this matter moving toward a resolution."

The dispute threatens to disrupt efforts to defeat the Islamic State group and counter Iran.

Earlier this month, Trump appeared to endorse the accusation that the small, gas-rich emirate funds terrorist groups, a serious allegation against a strategic U.S. partner that hosts a base with some 10,000 American troops.

He tweeted that he'd told the kings, presidents and prime ministers he met in Saudi Arabia that funding "Radical Ideology" can't be tolerated, and "Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!"

Trump also sought to cast the anti-Qatar action led by the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates as the result of his trip last month to Riyadh, where he pressed leaders from dozens of Arab and Muslim governments, including Qatar's emir, to combat extremism.

Trump and Salman also discussed efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Trump's son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, was in Israel Wednesday for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in his attempt to revive long-dormant peace talks.

Trump has been working to thaw the U.S.-Saudi relationship, which had setbacks under the Obama administration over its nuclear deal with Iran, something Trump has staunchly condemned.

The kingdom was the first stop on Trump's maiden overseas trip as president, making him the first U.S. president to make a Muslim country the destination of his first official trip.

Mohammed bin Salman and Trump have already established a working rapport, the two men meeting in Washington earlier this year, and then again during Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia last month.
The judge who presided over Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial on Wednesday ordered the public release of the identities of the jurors who deadlocked in the case.



Judge Steve O'Neill granted a request by by a dozen media organizations, including NBC News, to release the juror's name under the condition that they would not publicly divulge what other jurors said during deliberations.

O'Neill cited the media's First Amendment rights and Supreme Court precedent in ordering the release of the names. But he forbade jurors from talking about what other members of the jury said in the deliberating room or from revealing any votes cast in the case.

"Any disclosure of what was said and done during deliberations in this case would give a chilling effect upon the future jurors in this case and their ability to deliberate freely," he wrote. "Further, future jurors will be reluctant to speak up or to say what they think when deliberating if they fear that what they say during deliberations will not be kept secret."

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 O'Neill's 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."

O'Neill, who has already had the case for nearly two years, sounded skeptical. He plans to retry the case within four months.

The jurors named in O'Neill's release are Joseph Bayer, Clarence Davis, Robert Dugan, Kathy Griffin, Daniel Main, Michael Marchetti, Michael Mccloskey, Jennifer Miller, Christine Moto, Clifton Omeis, Melanie Prior, Anthony Rabinovitz, Jonathan Tennyson, Jamayia Thomas, Alexander Truzzi, Nicholas Ward, Kristen Williams and Vincent Wood. No further information was provided in the release.

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 defense lawyers opposed the media's request. Like the judge, they worry about finding 18 unbiased jurors for the retrial of the case, given the worldwide coverage of the comedian's first trial. Hundreds of journalists descended on the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown for the trial.

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 couldn't 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 Constand's 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.

O'Neill advised jurors when the trial ended Saturday that they didn't 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," O'Neill 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.
New Jersey police say the victim of a deadly shooting in the parking lot behind a popular restaurant and brewery Wednesday morning was the intended target and not a casualty of a "random incident," prosecutors said.

Burlington County police officers responded to Iron Hill Brewery along Kings Highway in Maple Shade around 8:25 a.m. and found 26-year-old Devon Young, of Willingboro, in the parking lot suffering from gunshot wounds. He was later pronounced dead.

SkyForce10 captured Maple Shade police responding to a shooting behind the Iron Hill Brewery along Kings Highway Wednesday morning.

"It is believed that the victim was the intended target of this shooting and that this was not a random incident," county prosecutors said.

Young worked at Albo Appliance & Mattress, which is located next to Iron Hill. An employee said co-workers were on lockdown after the shooting.



A spokesman for Iron Hill said no one from the brewery or restaurant was injured or involved in the incident. The brewery is cooperating with police, Iron Hill spokesman Michael Gregor said in a new release.

No charges have been filed and the case remains under investigation, Burlington County Prosecutor's Office said.
A German cidery made its United States debut in Philadelphia, brought to the city by the same New York-based company that also introduced a cohort of five German craft breweries to our region.

The Philadelphia area's reputation as a destination known for its craft breweries, distilleries and cideries is growing  so much so that a Brooklyn-based company has been debuting German brands to the U.S. market in the city.

In December 2016, Liquid Projects launched Reinheits Boten, a five-member group of German craft breweries, in Philadelphia  marking the breweries' first forays into the United States. They include Zoller-Hoff, Friedenfelser and Braukunst Keller.

Owner and founder Lars Dahlhaus works independently, with support from importer and distributor MHW.

Liquid Projects  which helps international breweries, distilleries and cideries break into and grow their brands in the United States  has now brought a Germany cidery into the fold, though separate from Reinheits Boten.

Dahlhaus first began selling beer in the Philadelphia market in 2006, working with the local wholesaler now known as 31st & Wharton.

To read the full story, click here.

For more business news, visit Philadelphia Business Journal
New home sales drop for 3rd week

From:Shanghai Daily | 2017-06-20 10:12

NEW home sales fell for the third straight week last week, while medium to low-end projects were the most popular.



The area of new residential properties sold, excluding government-funded affordable housing, dropped 5.2 percent to 119,000 square meters in the seven days through Sunday, Shanghai Centaline Property Consultants Co said in a report yesterday.

Weekly sales registered at any single housing project failed to reach the 100-unit threshold for the second consecutive week, a sign of extremely sluggish momentum, said Lu Wenxi, senior manager of research at Shanghai Centaline. Qingpu was the only district that managed to sell over 20,000 square meters of new houses.

Outlying districts such as Jiading and Songjiang recorded weekly sales of about 14,000 square meters and 12,000 square meters, respectively  a drop of 20-30 percent.

New houses sold for about 47,114 yuan (US$6,911) per square meter, a week-on-week decline of 2.4 percent.

A residential project in Fengxian District sold 70 apartments last week at an average price of 30,943 yuan per square meter, making it the weeks most sought-after development.
A Pennsylvania high school valedictorian had his microphone silenced when his commencement speech went off script and criticized the district's administrators.

Wyoming Area High School grad Peter Buteras speech started innocently enough Friday as he praised his family, teachers and the schools new principal. Only a few minutes later however, he veered off the advanced copy he had sent school officials.

Despite some of the outstanding people in our school, the lack of a real student government, combined with the authoritative attitude that a few teachers, administrators and board members have, prevent students from truly developing as leaders, Butera, 18, said. Hopefully this will change.

Before Butera could say another word, the mic was cut off and he was taken off stage. Butera, who has been accepted to Villanova University, said the incident only further proved his point.

The administration being authoritarian at times, he said.

Butera's main complaint was that student government has no real voice in how the school and district are run. He believes that will hold back graduates when they enter the real world.

Wyoming Area School District Superintendent Janet Serino said commencement speeches are vetted and students can't deviate from remarks they submit. She told NBC10 Butera had the right to free speech but not to break the rules by going off script.

The administrators are put in the position because they must keep a semblance of order, Serino said.

Serino also said however that student input is important and she scheduled a meeting with Butera about how things might improve in the district.

Butera had the chance to finish his speech during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live Tuesday night.

Hopefully for the sake of future students, more people of power within our school who do not do so already, will begin to prioritize education itself as well as the empowering of students, he said. Because at the end of the day, it is not what we have done as Wyoming Area students or athletes that will define our own lives but what we will go on to do as Wyoming area alumni. And I hope that every one of my classmates here today as well as myself will go on to do great things in this world and achieve true happiness and success.

The crowd cheered immediately after. Buteras parents, meanwhile, say they are proud of their sons speech.


Credit cards, health insurance and warehouse club memberships have not-so-obvious deals you may not know about that can help you save money.

They seem to do a pretty good job about letting you know about these benefits when they are trying to get you as a customer, and then once you're a customer, they seem to care a little bit less about letting you know about all of these benefits, Washington Consumers Checkbook Managing Editor Kevin Brasler said.

Here are three perks from credit card companies:

Free museum passes. Bank of America and Merrill Lynch cardholders can visit a long list of museums for free on the first weekend of each month including the Newseum in D.C. as well as museums in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Extended warranties and travel insurance. Consumers' Checkbook does not recommend paying for these services but says they're worth taking advantage of if they're free. Roadside assistance. A lot of cards provide free towing, tire changes, jump starts and rescues from lockouts.

Credit cards aren't the only way to save:

Many health insurance companies offer free or discounted gym memberships.

Costco members can save big by having their inkjet cartridges refilled. It's not for free, but theyll do it for pretty low cost and way less expensive than buying new cartridges, Brasler said.

AAA customers can borrow car seats for free -- a great option when traveling with children or when out-of-town guests with kids visit.

Amazon Prime members have a long list of benefits, including discounted diapers. Sign up for Amazon Family to get 20 percent off diapers, formula and other family-centric goods. You have to sign up for automatic deliveries, but you can easily turn off or change the frequency if needed.

Credit unions and college alumni groups also offer free perks.

CORRECTION (June 28, 2017, 1:20 p.m.): An early version of this story said Capital One Quicksilver cardholders who used their cards for Uber trips received every 10th ride free, but Capital One no longer offers that deal.


On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a rock band  and its ruling could help legally settle the fight over the name Redskins.

An Asian group calling itself The Slants had sought for years to trademark its name and by doing so, directly attack the derogatory use of the word as an insult.

Federal licensing officials refused to issue that trademark, saying the name was disparaging and violated trademark regulations that date back to the 1940s.

A unanimous Supreme Court ruled The Slants had a First Amendment right to call themselves essentially whatever they want, and it ruled the 1940s trademark limitation unconstitutional.

Justice Samuel Alito said in the court ruling that the federal restriction offends a bedrock First Amendment principle: Speech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend.

Band founder Simon Tam said the band name was an attempt to neutralize the word.

The notion of having slanted eyes was always considered a negative thing, Tam said in January when oral arguments were heard in the case, according to National Public Radio. Kids would pull their eyes back in a slant-eyed gesture to make fun of us. ... I wanted to change it to something that was powerful, something that was considered beautiful or a point of pride instead.

Now after this ruling from a court of law, only the court of public opinion will decide whether The Slants will succeed.

The Washington Redskins team has fought an increasingly loud battle over the team name and its meaning. While team owner Dan Snyder and supporters say the team proudly honors the fighting spirit and determination of American Indians, opponents say the name is a historic slur and refers to the discrimination and even scalping of American Indians for profit.

The federal Patent and Trademark office canceled the Redskins trademark in 2014 after decades of its use. The team has fought back in court in a case thats now pending in federal court in Richmond. Expert court watchers say theres little chance the team will lose given the sweeping opinion from Mondays Supreme Court ruling.

Team owner Dan Snyder declined an NBC News interview request on Monday, but issued a simple statement: Im THRILLED. Hail to the Redskins.

The public relations battle over the name took an earlier hit last year when The Washington Post published a survey that said nine out of 10 Native Americans were not offended by the Redskins name. The survey in May 2016 covered 504 people in every state and in the District. It was similar to a poll done in 2004 and was broadly consistent across age, income, education, political party and proximity to reservations, The Post reported.

So, now what?

The legal ruling may help clear some of the opposition to the team returning to the District and the team paying for a new $1 billion stadium on the site of the old RFK. The teams lease in Prince Georges County expires in 2027. It will take several years to gain federal approval and local permits and years more to build a new stadium.

The team is also looking in Virginia and another site in Prince Georges, but no site matches the history and drama associated with RFK Memorial Stadium. Intense opposition from neighborhoods around RFK could be a hurdle unless any new plan guarantees the family recreation and retail opportunities the neighbors want.

Ward 2 D.C. Council member Jack Evans  a longtime advocate for the team returning to Washington  says the District can provide extensive amenities to the adjacent neighborhoods and that the team could anchor development that benefits the whole city.

The name should not be a sticking point in getting the team here, Evans told NBC4 on Monday. Whether the name stays the Redskins or gets changed is up to the owner of the team.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who opposes the team name, did not rule out negotiating a team return, but told NBC4, whether the team name is constitutional or not doesnt change whether its appropriate.

 Folklife Festival returns. Pack the sunscreen and grab a bottle of water or two. The popular event returns for two long weekends: June 29 through July 4 and July 6 through 9.

Its the 50th anniversary of the festival, which this year will highlight circus arts, migrations of people across and around America, and iconic items that tell the story of 50 years of Folklife gatherings.

And more good news: The National Mall grass has been reseeded. The festival will return to its spot from 7th to 12th streets. Enjoy. Its one of your Notebooks favorite events.

 A final word. Well have more to say in future Notebooks, but we join others in mourning the death last week of former Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham. He was best known on the council for supporting the homeless, the struggling tenants in a growing city and the need to keep Metrobus fares affordable for hardworking families.

Prior to joining the council, Graham for nearly 17 years ran the Whitman-Walker Health clinic that was an early leader in the care and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Although Graham late in his career was reprimanded for mishandling government contracts involved with Metro development, his long career reflected far more good than bad. Our condolences are offered to his wide array of friends and to those who only knew him by his work.

Tom Sherwood, a Southwest resident, is a political reporter for News 4.
The Virginia mother of two who became the face of an immigration reform battle was deported to El Salvador, immigration officials said Tuesday.

Liliana Cruz Mendez, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, was placed into deportation proceedings after she went to a regular check-in with immigration officials last month. She was deported Wednesday and arrived in El Salvador Thursday, said Maria Fernanda Durand, communications manager for CASA, a Latino and immigrant organization.

We are heartbroken at the way Liliana Cruz Mendez has been ripped from her family, a statement from CASA said.

Cruz Mendez, a Falls Church resident, was fleeing violence in El Salvador when she entered the U.S. illegally. She skipped an appearance in immigration court shortly after arriving in the U.S., which triggered an in absentia deportation order against her, said her attorney, Nick Katz.

She was stopped by police in 2013 for a broken taillight and was convicted in 2014 for driving without a license, CASA officials said. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe pardoned the traffic offense last month in hopes it would prevent her deportation.

Her case triggered a protest at the White House last month.

She has two U.S.-born children, an 11-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter, who are still in the U.S. She was employed at a restaurant with a federal work permit, CASA said.

Breaking up this Northern Virginia family will not make anyone safer, said U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, who represents Falls Church in Congress, in a statement Tuesday.
The Republican drive to roll back Barack Obama's health care law is on a collision course with a national opioid epidemic that's not letting up.

Medicaid cuts resulting from the GOP legislation 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 House health care bill would phase out 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.

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 overdose epidemic, which claimed more than 52,000 lives nationwide 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.

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 lives out. "If you go back into an environment where people are using, that sets you up with a risk that's nearly insurmountable," Plouck said.

In Youngstown, Ohio, 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 and has been drug-free now 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 only afford to lose 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 extending 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 greater than two years ago, $811 million versus $245 million, Price said. That reflects increases approved by Congress beyond what Medicaid spends.

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 the 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.

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 says "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, Becky Bohrer, Randall Chase, David Eggert, Morgan Lee, Ben Nuckols, Wilson Ring, Michelle R. Smith, Michael Virtanen and Brian Witte contributed to this report.
Dozens of people were arrested Tuesday morning during drug raids in Brockton, Massachusetts, police confirm.

Brockton Police say a gun and over 100 grams of cocaine were seized when that department and other local, state and federal agencies executed 40 arrest warrants and three search warrants.

Police named 27 people who were arrested. They were allegedly wanted for "various narcotic and violent offenses." Twenty-two of them had outstanding arrest warrants.

More than 100 law enforcement officials were involved in the response. The Massachusetts State Police Special Tactical Operations Team searched 369 Crescent St. just before 5 a.m.

About 20 minutes later, the Brockton Police Special Reaction Team searched 145 North Warren Ave. and seized the cocaine, the gun and ammunition. Authorities were looking for 38-year-old Douglas Arthur Norris, who was found around 7:30 a.m. at the intersection of Prospect Street and Augusta Avenue. He was arrested on drug trafficking and firearm charges.

Around 5:40 a.m., Brockton Police executed another search warrant at 15 Abbot Place.

The suspects were booked at the Brockton Police Department and were taken to Brockton District Court for arraignment.

Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter says the operation targeted drug dealers and violent offenders. With the officials start of summer around the corner and crime traditionally expected to rise during the hotter months, Carpenter says he's trying to send a message.

"We aggressively go after anyone who commits a violent crime or distributes drugs," Carpenter said.
An estimated half a billion dollars worth of cocaine bound for the United States was recently intercepted in the eastern Pacific Ocean and seized before ever hitting our borders. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard-based crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Campbell had a hand in the successful mission.

These drugs are destined for the streets in America, from the border all the way up here into Maine, explained U.S Coast Guard Commander Mark McDonnell.

He and his crew of 100 launched April 15 to join seven other cutters on a counter drug patrol off the coast of Central and South America.

We stop them down as far away from the border as possible, explained McDonnell.

The Campbells crew identified targets and successfully disrupted three smuggling ventures.

We must assume they are dangerous, when we approach they wont have any lights on dark at high speeds, said McDonnell.

His cutter alone seized more than 5,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of more than $68 million.

The crew is so impressive with the way theyve carried out the mission safely, maintaining a nearly 30-year-old ship, didnt miss an operational day, McDonnell said.

While the crew considers this mission accomplished, they say their work is never done.

The transnational organized crime networks are vying for control of these smuggling routes and thats increased violence in Central America, said McDonnell. To be a part of stopping that violence and securing our own borders is very special for us.

During the deployment, Campbells crew traveled almost 13,000 nautical miles and even crossed the equator - its a special maritime tradition that not every coast guard member will achieve.
Drivers in Massachusetts are being warned about severe delays after a tractor trailer rolled over on a ramp from Interstate 90 to Interstate 495.



State police say the tractor trailer rollover happened in Hopkinton on the I-90 eastbound ramp to I-495 northbound.

No injuries were reported. However, crews are cleaning up a fuel spill.

Traffic is getting by, but state police warn that it is heavy due to the curiosity factor.
A Massachusetts congressman is speaking out after the Democratic Party lost a tight congressional special election race in Georgia Tuesday night.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton said on Twitter that the closely-watched race between Republican winner Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossof needs to "be a wake up call for Democrats" and that the party needs to move on from its bitter 2016 loss.

"We need a genuinely new message, a serious jobs plan that reaches all Americans, and a bigger tent not a smaller one," he said. "Focus on the future."

Moulton, whose name has been kicked around by political analysts as a potential 2020 presidential candidate, has previously said that he's not seeking a higher office.

We need a genuinely new message, a serious jobs plan that reaches all Americans, and a bigger tent not a smaller one. Focus on the future.  Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) June 21, 2017

However, experts say Moulton, who graduated from Harvard University and did four military tours in Iraq, would be an interesting contender.
The economic and financial relationship between the US and China is an integral part of the global economy and the two countries are currently experiencing a critical period. Under such circumstances, China and the US should reduce political barriers in order to promote business cooperation, said Ryan M. Lance, chairman and chief executive officer of ConocoPhillips during the 9th round of dialogue between Chinese and US business leaders and former senior officials.

Premier Li responded that increasing business communication will further advance our mutual political trust.

Although with occasional friction and differences, the scale of bilateral cooperation in the economic and financial fields has largely increased between China and the US, the Premier said.

He added that the two countries can minimize the differences and set off positive signals for bilateral cooperation in the economic and financial fields. And both countries should attach great importance to the two factors  expectation and confidence  under the market economy.

Premier Li agreed with some US entrepreneurs that China-US relations are now at a crucial stage.

However, I believe that the bilateral relations will keep moving forward despite twists and turns. And I am always optimistic about this, the Premier said.

Premier Li noted that the total economy of China and the US accounts for 40 percent of the worlds economy. Free trade and fair trade have played important roles in preventing conflicts and maintaining global peace and stability. Economic and trade cooperation has always been an important cornerstone for China-US relations, Premier Li said.

The two countries economies are highly complementary, exchanges in all sectors are close, and common interests far outweigh differences, Premier Li responded when some American entrepreneurs expressed doubts about Sino-American trade.

Compared with the exports in the period before Chinas entry to the WTO, the growth of United States exports to China surpassed 500 percent, while its global exports only grew more than 90 percent, which indicates how huge Chinas market is, Premier Li said.

Most of Chinas imports from the United States are high-tech and high value products. In addition, product brand and sales channels are in the hands of US companies, which means most of the profits go to US companies, while Chinese companies and workers can only earn a small portion of it, according to the Premier.

The Premier confirmed Chinas trade surplus to the United States but said the surplus is decreasing.

But in the service and trade sector, China has a complete deficit with the United States and all developed countries, he added.

Even so, China is still willing to gradually open up its service industry, make Chinese service companies grow with competition, and provide consumers with more choices, the Premier said.

We hope that the US side will not focus on the trade deficit between China and the United States, which will affect our expansion in service marketing, he said.

He further pointed out, Chinas service industry is developing very rapidly, which is an inevitable trend of Chinas economic transformation. We will further lower the threshold of foreign capital entry and expand opening-up. We welcome all overseas enterprises, including those from the US, to continue to invest in China and promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation, achieving mutual benefits and a win-win result.
Legislative leaders and Vermont's governor cheered a plan Wednesday they said will avoid a state government shutdown.

The move came during a veto session when the Vermont Legislature reconvened to tackle unfinished business -- namely, the passage of a state budget.

Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vermont, recently vetoed a funding bill, demanding lawmakers do more to provide relief to taxpayers.

"I'm really proud we all stepped up and found a way to avoid a state government shutdown after the veto put us in that position," said Rep. Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, the Vermont House Speaker.

Scott, Johnson, and Sen. Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden County, announced the morning before the veto session began that a new deal would find savings by calling on school districts statewide to rein in $1 -million in costs over the next two years.

"This agreement will achieve something monumental," said Gov. Scott. "For the first time in recent memory, we have constructed and expect to pass a state budget that does not raise taxes and fees."

But just as lawmakers got to work finalizing the budget details, there was a surprise: the Vermont Statehouse lost power.

With the lights out, there was a scramble to set up a temporary sound system and to throw open shutters, letting natural light into the historic building.

Outside, crews from Green Mountain Power raced to remove an old tree that had fallen on power lines.

A member of the Montpelier Fire Department said two people were stuck in an elevator during the brief outage.

When the lights returned, prospects were still dim for a reworked proposal to get around another of Gov. Scott's vetoes: on legalizing the possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana for people 21-and-up.

The bill Scott vetoed also would have allowed for users to grow a few marijuana plants at home.

When Scott vetoed that bill, he said he was looking for reassurances for public health and safety before he could sign off.

House Republicans indicated they wanted to wait on the marijuana discussion until January, when the legislature returns for next year's session.

"What's the hurry?" asked Rep. Don Turner, R-Milton. "I don't think anyone has an illusion that it wont eventually pass. When they do hurry things, people are left out."

The Vermont Police Chiefs Association has expressed a number of concerns over marijuana legalization, primarily saying the state is unprepared for potential impacts to highway safety and for the possibility of greater youth access to the drug.

"We need to have some meaningful conversations about what public safety looks like, before we let the horse out of the barn," cautioned Chief Jennifer Morrison of the Colchester Police Department.

Legalization advocates had wanted more progress, but aren't feeling defeated.

Laura Subin of the Vermont Coalition to Regulate Marijuana told necn she welcomed progress in the Vermont Senate to discuss the governor's public safety concerns, and said incremental work is encouraging.

"The effective date for legalization was always going to be July 2018, and I still feel quite optimistic that we will have legalization by July 2018," Subin said.

The legislature's veto session could stretch into Thursday.
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
Lenovo is taking on Dell EMC and HPE with its biggest portfolio refresh since it acquired IBM's x86 server business three years ago, offering a lineup of servers, switches, SAN arrays and converged systems intended to show that it's a serious contender in the data center and software-defined infrastructure market.

The product launch, staged in New York yesterday, was the first major event for Lenovo's Data Center Group, in business since April. Lenovo wants to be a global player not only for the enterprise data center but also in hyperscale computing.

Lenovo is tied for third in server market share with Cisco and IBM, well behind HPE and Dell EMC, according to IDC, and has a particularly steep uphill battle ahead in North America.

The company unveiled 14 new servers, seven storage devices and five new networking fabric products at its Transform event.

"This is the broadest portfolio announcement in the history of Lenovo," said Kamran Amini, executive director for the company's server and storage lines.

The ThinkServer and System x server lines will continue to be supported, but going forward the new servers, storage and networking products will carry the ThinkSystem brand, complementing the ThinkAgile converged-system product family.

"I believe Lenovo's new branding schema is actually a pretty big deal," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "That's partly because the company has fully put the acquisition of IBM's System x group in the past, but is also stepping forward with a comprehensive portfolio that reflects its vision of the current server market."

The company has also revamped its global channel strategy, noted Kirk Skaugen, president of the Data Center Group and up until last year general manager of Intel's Client Computing Group. "We took some stutter steps" after the IBM server business acquisition, Skaugen said.

For example, over the past few years, Lenovo stopped offering some certifications for channel partners, Skaugen said. That move may have slowed down Lenovo's momentum in the market, since resellers who put in the time to get certified as official channel partners are typically offered incentives such as better sales margins. "Without those incentives (a reseller) may just wait for the phone to ring rather than getting out there and proactively driving sales," Skaugen said.

The idea is that a more coherent global channel strategy, coupled with the new business unit structure, will allow Lenovo to more efficiently sell end-to-end solutions globally. "We're bringing everything under one roof," Skaugen noted, "and that is going to allow us to be more agile and move faster."

It's not unusual for a company to take a while to come up with an optimal sales and product strategy following a big acquisition, and Lenovo has been through the process before.

"Similar to the market dynamics following the company's acquisition of IBM's PC group a decade ago, it took some time for Lenovo's own personality and vision of the server market to come clear and solidify," King said. "I'd say these new and updated systems go a long way to accomplishing that."

ThinkSystem Servers

Lenovo says that its rack and tower servers will help customers implement software-defined and hyper-converged systems. They're designed to run in-memory databases, large transactional databases, batch and real-time analytics, ERP and CRM applications and virtualized server workloads.

The new servers include the ThinkSystem SR950, which scales from two to eight processors in a 4U form factor. Front and rear access to all major subsystems allow it to be serviced without requiring removal from the rack.

Among the newly designed ThinkSystem blades are the SN550 and SN850, which can be plugged into the Lenovo Flex System chassis, designed to let users install different, multiple processors and standard Ethernet as well as Fibre Channel switches. The SN550 and SN850 blades will support the upcoming Intel Xeon Scalable Family processor based on the company's Skylake architecture, as well SAS, SATA and NVMe disk drives.

The SD530 with the ThinkSystem D2 chassis is the new ThinkSystem entry into the 2U4N form factor, offering the option of having different I/O modules to match workload needs.

The servers will be available in the third quarter and more specs, as well as pricing, will be unveiled after Intel's Skylake launch in July.

SAN Arrays

The new line of storage area network (SAN) arrays includes the ThinkSystem DS2200, aimed at small and medium-size businesses (SMBs). It can hold up to 12 3.5-inch or 24 2.5-inch hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs) internally, and supports up to 96 drives total, using three expansion units.

On the high end of the line, the DS6200 offers 12Gbs SAS, up to 16Gbs Fibre Channel, or up to 10Gbs iSCSI throughput. It can hold up to 24 2.5-inch HDDs and SSDs internally, and supports up to 240 drives total. Pricing for the SAN arrays, available in the third quarter, starts at $7,000 for the DS2200 and goes up to the mid-$20,000 level for all-flash storage with the DS6200.

Switches

New switches include the ThinkSystem NE1072T, which offers 48 10GBase-T and six 40Gbps QSFP (Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable) uplink ports. Other switches in the product family include the 32-port, 10GbE (10Gbps Ethernet) NE1032 RackSwitch; the 24-port 10GBase-T ToR (top-of-rack) NE1032T data center cloud switch; the NE2572 25 Gbs/100Gbs Ethernet aggregation leaf switch, designed to aggregate traffic from server nodes and connet to the network core; and the NE10032,100Gbs Ethernet spine switch. Prices for the switches, to be released next quarter, were unavailable at launch.

The servers, switches and SAN arrays join Lenovo's ThinkAgile converged systems. The ThinkAgile brand was first introduced last year with the launch of the HX series of hyperconverged appliances.

Working with companies like Microsoft, Nutanix and VMWare, Lenovo is positioning its ThinkAgile systems provide a beachhead on the world of software-defined infrastructure. The idea is to integrate hardware and software into systems that allow users to deploy computing, networking and storage resources through software commands rather than, for example, swapping in purpose-built hardware when they want to make changes.

The ThinkAgile family will include the Lenovo ThinkAgile SX for Microsoft Azure Stack, announced earlier this year and set to be released in the third quarter, for hybrid and private cloud deployments.

The weakest link

Though Lenovo offers the XClarity systems management tool, software is the weakest link in its software-defined infrastructure portfolio. "Lenovo has I would say for the most part a partner-led strategy for software-defined (technology)," said Ashish Nadkarni, an IDC analyst. "In that space it's mostly a partnership with some other ISV or some other company that is willing to provide the software to run on Lenovo's hardware -- they do the engineering and deliver it as a single SKU."

Though the strategy allows Lenovo to say they offer best-of breed software, it has risks, Nadkarni said. In fact, Lenovo has worked with hypercoverged storage vendors Simplivity and Nimble, only to see them acquired by rival HPE earlier this year.

As Lenovo readies the release of its ThinkSystems and ThinkAgile products, plans for its next big move likely involve an acquisition.

On the sidelines of the Transform event, Lenovo's Skaugen acknowledged that software is a missing piece in the company's software-defined infrastructure story. When asked if the company will look to make software acquisitions, Skaugen simply replied "yes" though declined to say whether enterprise cloud software vendor and current partner Nutanix is in the company's sights.
In July of last year, I believe that I became the first to publicly suggest that Avaya should divest of the companys data networking business. The one-year anniversary of my Cajun redux? post is approaching and in a coincidence, around this same time Avaya will complete the sale of that part of the company to Extreme Networks. With this confluence of milestones, this post will ask, does this signify a new day for Avaya or will, at some point down the road, we again be struck with that strange feeling of deja vu?

Lets not go there again

I dont wish to again arouse the emotions caused by the original publication of Cajun redux. Living through that once was enough.

As I have said many times since, I never meant to cast aspersions on the technology or the product lines marketplace potential. I simply traced the history of several attempts by the company that is today Avaya to succeed as a player in the data networking markets. From that history and a look at where the company makes its money, I made the case that data networking has never been core to Avayas reason for being.

Avaya today

The best of companies today need laser-like focus. Given Avayas struggles, my only point was that the data networking business has never been core to Avayas success. Although I had hoped with my suggestion to see the assets divested under better circumstances, divesting remains the right decision for Avaya. This is not only true as a positive step in the companys efforts to emerge from current difficulties. It is also true for the reasons I previously pointed out. The question is, whats next?

Will Avaya truly embrace the reasons for which the companys most loyal and important customers value the role that Avayas solutions play in their business? Will Avaya adopt an unwavering, maniacal focus on what they do best? There are many positive signs.

As I have written in other Network World posts, much is at stake not only for Avaya and the many people, companies and other entities influenced by the companys gravity.

Collective amnesia

One of the more puzzling things about Avayas recent history is how company personnel feel they need to proselytize about a transformation to becoming a software and solutions business. To many of us who have an imitate understanding of the Avaya catalog, this effort has seemed a quizzical waste of energy.

Since the retirement of mechanical telecommunications switching, more than half a century ago, Avaya has been on a solid trajectory as a software and services company. Beginning with the Lucent Technologies Definity private branch exchange (PBX) which over two decades has evolved into todays the Avaya Aura Platform, the contribution of software as opposed to hardware in Avayas solutions consistently skewed towards software.

Whats this hardware of which you speak

Today there remain few, if any, hardware dependencies. At some point in the companys recent history, this fact seems to have been lost from Avayas collective memory.

Other products such as the Avaya Aura Experience Portal, came to define the concept of a platform long before the idea captured industry imaginations. For more than two decades, Experience Portal and that products antecedent incarnations including the Lucent/Avaya Voice Portal, boasted a robust community of developers who created entire industries based upon writing applications for and creating solutions with the platform.

Before those of you who may get upset by these words lash out, please chill. I am not saying that the Avaya developer community does not exist today. It most certainly does. I am just saying that compared to the ecosystem for developers that once existed coding solutions on the Experience Portal, there are far fewer today than there once were. Buy me a beer some time, and we can debate why I think that this is true.

Lest I digress

On the broader topic, Avaya seems to have suffered from a collective amnesia about the role that the company has always played in the industries in which it competes. With the data networking excursions, Avaya has been like some version of a tech industry Don Quixote, tilting at windmills in non-adjacent industry follies.

Today, with new platforms including Breeze and Zang, and like another famous cinematic figure, I hope the company has rediscovered something industry veterans and customers know that it has had all along.

No competitive analogs

Part of the challenge for Avaya is that the company is different from most every other vendor that has been traditionally been compared to it as an analog/peer. Many I am sure will disagree, but come on. If we are honest with ourselves, the closest comparison was Nortel Enterprise Solutions which Avaya acquired in 2009.

Today there are no other companies that can compare to what Avaya delivers on all the levels for which the company is most valued. Like no other, Avaya provides advanced communications applications that are interwoven and deeply engrained in the value chains of the worlds most iconic brand names. Supported by one of the most successful professional and customer service operations in any industry, Avaya really has no peer.

And Toto, too

So, Avaya, welcome back to Kansas. Stable your faithful steed Rocinante. Never again leave your observers and the ecosystems of companies and individuals that depend upon your success with that strange feeling so aptly described by Monty Python.
By Express News Service

MUMBAI: Amid intense speculation and pressure, the Cabinet will now decide if it favours an outright sale or partial divestment of the loss-making Air India.

The inter-ministerial consultations have been submitted to the Cabinet, which will now decide the way forward, said Union Minister Jayant Sinha on Tuesday. "We are going through the analysis. Those (inter-ministerial) recommendations are with the Cabinet right now and it will take the process forward," he said.

The national carrier has over Rs 52,000 crore debt, Rs 50,000 crore accumulated losses and is surviving on a Rs 30,000-crore bailout package extended by the previous UPA government in 2012.

Recently, the government think-tank Niti Aayog recommended a complete privatisation of the airline. But senior Air India officials and the aviation ministry believe the airline has enough assets to back its debt. It suggested that the government should not opt for a 'distress' sale or hand over the airline to a private player on a platter.

Speaking to media on the sidelines of an event here, Sinha said there have been a number of discussions for many months now, without disclosing specifics. "All appropriate action and in fact concerns have been discussed at the inter ministerial level and they are being summarised and presented to the Cabinet, which will take into account when it goes through that discussion process," he added.

The Cabinet note prepared by the Committee of Secretaries includes both the Niti Aayogs recommendations and the aviation ministrys proposal to reduce debt by sale of assets.

As per reports, the ministry estimated that at least Rs 30,000 crore worth working capital loans can be reduced through asset sale. This could lower the annual interest outgo of approximately Rs 4,500 crore or 21 per cent of its turnover. On privatisation, Sinha didn't rule out privatization but said all options were on the table.

Meanwhile, seven employee unions have written to the government opposing the arbitrary and unilateral recommendations of privatization. They have raised concerns over job losses and even hinted that they would agitate leading to industrial unrest and disharmony, in a letter. There are a total 21,137 employees of Air India, including its subsidiaries.

MUMBAI: Amid intense speculation and pressure, the Cabinet will now decide if it favours an outright sale or partial divestment of the loss-making Air India. The inter-ministerial consultations have been submitted to the Cabinet, which will now decide the way forward, said Union Minister Jayant Sinha on Tuesday. "We are going through the analysis. Those (inter-ministerial) recommendations are with the Cabinet right now and it will take the process forward," he said. The national carrier has over Rs 52,000 crore debt, Rs 50,000 crore accumulated losses and is surviving on a Rs 30,000-crore bailout package extended by the previous UPA government in 2012. Recently, the government think-tank Niti Aayog recommended a complete privatisation of the airline. But senior Air India officials and the aviation ministry believe the airline has enough assets to back its debt. It suggested that the government should not opt for a 'distress' sale or hand over the airline to a private player on a platter. Speaking to media on the sidelines of an event here, Sinha said there have been a number of discussions for many months now, without disclosing specifics. "All appropriate action and in fact concerns have been discussed at the inter ministerial level and they are being summarised and presented to the Cabinet, which will take into account when it goes through that discussion process," he added. The Cabinet note prepared by the Committee of Secretaries includes both the Niti Aayogs recommendations and the aviation ministrys proposal to reduce debt by sale of assets. As per reports, the ministry estimated that at least Rs 30,000 crore worth working capital loans can be reduced through asset sale. This could lower the annual interest outgo of approximately Rs 4,500 crore or 21 per cent of its turnover. On privatisation, Sinha didn't rule out privatization but said all options were on the table. Meanwhile, seven employee unions have written to the government opposing the arbitrary and unilateral recommendations of privatization. They have raised concerns over job losses and even hinted that they would agitate leading to industrial unrest and disharmony, in a letter. There are a total 21,137 employees of Air India, including its subsidiaries.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: In a bid to boost Indias shipments, leading exporters and industry associations have sought incentives such as credit at affordable rates and demanded clarity on Goods and Services Tax (GST), Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said on Tuesday. The issue was raised and discussed during the meeting of Board of Trade (BoT) chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The objective of the meeting was to take suggestions and inputs for the review of the foreign trade policy (2015-20), which is expected to be released by this month-end.

Several comments and inputs were focused on exports, which has started showing positive growth, but they (exporters) would need support in order to continue to grow over the next few years, she told reporters after the meeting. Discussions were also held on issues like e-commerce trade, market access, market development, EXIM credit, insurance to exporters and lower cost of credit to facilitate exports, said Teaotia.

Meanwhile, Teaotia said the US has started a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ranked ninth on that list.

On whether India would raise the H1B visa issue during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the US (June 25-26), she said, This is one of the issues on the table. (But) it is not the only issue. If the issue comes up, it would certainly be taken up, Teaotia added.

NEW DELHI: In a bid to boost Indias shipments, leading exporters and industry associations have sought incentives such as credit at affordable rates and demanded clarity on Goods and Services Tax (GST), Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said on Tuesday. The issue was raised and discussed during the meeting of Board of Trade (BoT) chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The objective of the meeting was to take suggestions and inputs for the review of the foreign trade policy (2015-20), which is expected to be released by this month-end. Several comments and inputs were focused on exports, which has started showing positive growth, but they (exporters) would need support in order to continue to grow over the next few years, she told reporters after the meeting. Discussions were also held on issues like e-commerce trade, market access, market development, EXIM credit, insurance to exporters and lower cost of credit to facilitate exports, said Teaotia. Meanwhile, Teaotia said the US has started a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ranked ninth on that list. On whether India would raise the H1B visa issue during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the US (June 25-26), she said, This is one of the issues on the table. (But) it is not the only issue. If the issue comes up, it would certainly be taken up, Teaotia added.
Reshma Ravishanker By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Lucrative jobs werent alluring enough for them. Instead, they chose to pursue an overpowering passion -- Yoga. Bengaluru has witnessed scores of youngsters giving up their professions and wanting to pursue a career in Yoga.

M V Sandeep, a B Tech graduate from Hyderabad, has studied computer sciences. However, he is now drawn to Yoga full time. I started with Ramakrishna Mutt. I developed an interest for philosophy and Yoga. Since I hope to pursue a career in Yoga, I am here for an advanced course, he said.

Vishal Ade, a graduate in MA Telugu, worked at a call centre for a few years. Since a year, he has developed a passion for Yoga. Since childhood, I was drawn towards Yoga. My brother, who lives in Vietnam, told me that there is so much scope for Yoga across the world and hence I thought I could switch streams, he said.

Value addition

For some, the Yoga instructor course at Swami Vivekananda Anusandhana Samsthana (S-Vyasa) is a value addition to their degree. For some others, it is an additional factor to help bag jobs abroad.

Dr S N Archana, an Ayurveda doctor said Yoga is a booster for her career. I hope to work abroad. When I enquire for job opportunities, they say they are looking for graduates with Panchakarma as a specialisation. What is more important is that they have a Yoga background also, she added. Dr Archana is pursuing a Yoga instructor course currently.

Many other BAMS students like her pursue the course as it helps them bag better jobs. For London-based Dr Nishi Bhatt, it is about integrating Yoga with Allopathy to provide relief for her patients. Myself and my husband work on people with neuro-degenerative diseases. He is a naturopath. We hope to integrate Yoga with medication for best results, she said. The husband-wife duo have started a holistic treatment centre at Dehradhun. She explains, We could see the change in just five weeks. Patients began responding better to treatment. Bhatt has completed her degree and is pursuing MSc in Yoga now.

Discovering Oneself

While a few hope to make a career after learning Yoga, some others believe that Yoga will help them discover their abilities.

Thrishina Dadlani from Singapore is also among those pursuing Yoga in Bengaluru. I come from a business background. I did not see myself doing well there. I wanted to discover a greater purpose in life. I am myself now, she said. Dadlani came to Bengaluru after her Yoga teacher in Singapore told her that Yoga was not just about asanas but there was more to discover.

BENGALURU: Lucrative jobs werent alluring enough for them. Instead, they chose to pursue an overpowering passion -- Yoga. Bengaluru has witnessed scores of youngsters giving up their professions and wanting to pursue a career in Yoga. M V Sandeep, a B Tech graduate from Hyderabad, has studied computer sciences. However, he is now drawn to Yoga full time. I started with Ramakrishna Mutt. I developed an interest for philosophy and Yoga. Since I hope to pursue a career in Yoga, I am here for an advanced course, he said. Vishal Ade, a graduate in MA Telugu, worked at a call centre for a few years. Since a year, he has developed a passion for Yoga. Since childhood, I was drawn towards Yoga. My brother, who lives in Vietnam, told me that there is so much scope for Yoga across the world and hence I thought I could switch streams, he said. Value addition For some, the Yoga instructor course at Swami Vivekananda Anusandhana Samsthana (S-Vyasa) is a value addition to their degree. For some others, it is an additional factor to help bag jobs abroad. Dr S N Archana, an Ayurveda doctor said Yoga is a booster for her career. I hope to work abroad. When I enquire for job opportunities, they say they are looking for graduates with Panchakarma as a specialisation. What is more important is that they have a Yoga background also, she added. Dr Archana is pursuing a Yoga instructor course currently. Many other BAMS students like her pursue the course as it helps them bag better jobs. For London-based Dr Nishi Bhatt, it is about integrating Yoga with Allopathy to provide relief for her patients. Myself and my husband work on people with neuro-degenerative diseases. He is a naturopath. We hope to integrate Yoga with medication for best results, she said. The husband-wife duo have started a holistic treatment centre at Dehradhun. She explains, We could see the change in just five weeks. Patients began responding better to treatment. Bhatt has completed her degree and is pursuing MSc in Yoga now. Discovering Oneself While a few hope to make a career after learning Yoga, some others believe that Yoga will help them discover their abilities. Thrishina Dadlani from Singapore is also among those pursuing Yoga in Bengaluru. I come from a business background. I did not see myself doing well there. I wanted to discover a greater purpose in life. I am myself now, she said. Dadlani came to Bengaluru after her Yoga teacher in Singapore told her that Yoga was not just about asanas but there was more to discover.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Nobodys information is secure in an era of big data. Americans learnt it the hard way on Monday after a marketing company working for the Republican National Committee compromised sensitive personal information of more than half the countrys population.



According to a report carried by tech news website Gizmodo, sensitive details of almost 62 per cent of the US population was accidentally left exposed by a marketing company. This is reportedly the largest breach of electoral data in the US so far.

The compromise of data in the US - whose tech prowess has been a source of inspiration for aspiring Indians - comes at a time when protests have spiked back home against the governments unique identification scheme, a.k.a the Aadhaar card.

Express had earlier reported how several State and Union government websites, including the Swachh Bharat Mission, leaked data of citizens who have subscribed to the Aadhaar. Details leaked included the Aadhaar number, address and in some cases, even the LPG connection numbers and phone numbers.

Back in the US, the details of citizens compromised by the company include addresses, birthdates, phone numbers, political views, opinions on gun control, stem cell research and abortion. The data was publicly available on Amazon cloud server and could be accessed by anyone who had a link.

We take full responsibility for this situation, said Alex Lundry, founder of Deep Root, the company that compromised the data. Based on the information we have gathered, our systems have not been compromised. The data was reportedly updated last in January, when Donald Trump took over as President. It is uncertain how long the data could be accessed.



The US episode is a lesson for India where the government is pushing forward with the Aadhaar programme, making it mandatory for transactions with almost every government department and select private services.

CHENNAI: Nobodys information is secure in an era of big data. Americans learnt it the hard way on Monday after a marketing company working for the Republican National Committee compromised sensitive personal information of more than half the countrys population. According to a report carried by tech news website Gizmodo, sensitive details of almost 62 per cent of the US population was accidentally left exposed by a marketing company. This is reportedly the largest breach of electoral data in the US so far. The compromise of data in the US - whose tech prowess has been a source of inspiration for aspiring Indians - comes at a time when protests have spiked back home against the governments unique identification scheme, a.k.a the Aadhaar card. Express had earlier reported how several State and Union government websites, including the Swachh Bharat Mission, leaked data of citizens who have subscribed to the Aadhaar. Details leaked included the Aadhaar number, address and in some cases, even the LPG connection numbers and phone numbers. Back in the US, the details of citizens compromised by the company include addresses, birthdates, phone numbers, political views, opinions on gun control, stem cell research and abortion. The data was publicly available on Amazon cloud server and could be accessed by anyone who had a link. We take full responsibility for this situation, said Alex Lundry, founder of Deep Root, the company that compromised the data. Based on the information we have gathered, our systems have not been compromised. The data was reportedly updated last in January, when Donald Trump took over as President. It is uncertain how long the data could be accessed. The US episode is a lesson for India where the government is pushing forward with the Aadhaar programme, making it mandatory for transactions with almost every government department and select private services.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Lay offs in the Information Technology sector do not seem to affect the recruitment by IT companies at the Hyderabad based Indian School of Business.

ISB said it witnessed a 39 percent rise in number of recruiters participating in current placements season providing an average salary of `22 lakh per annum.

Consulting and IT/ITES sectors continued to be largest recruiting sectors constituting 20 pc and 21 pc respectively of the total number of job offers made at ISB this placement season, followed by Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), Healthcare and Pharmaceutical sectors.

ISB said that over 400 domestic and international companies made 1,113 offers to students of this years post-graduate programme in management.

HYDERABAD: Lay offs in the Information Technology sector do not seem to affect the recruitment by IT companies at the Hyderabad based Indian School of Business. ISB said it witnessed a 39 percent rise in number of recruiters participating in current placements season providing an average salary of `22 lakh per annum. Consulting and IT/ITES sectors continued to be largest recruiting sectors constituting 20 pc and 21 pc respectively of the total number of job offers made at ISB this placement season, followed by Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), Healthcare and Pharmaceutical sectors. ISB said that over 400 domestic and international companies made 1,113 offers to students of this years post-graduate programme in management.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The state government is considering integration of cool roofs as a part of TS heat wave action plan. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is working towards taking steps on actively promoting cool roofs before next summer starts.

MAUD convened the Technical Committee meeting for implementation of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) and cool roofs. The meeting was chaired by GHMC commissioner B Janardhan Reddy. The members identified cool roofs as an effective low-cost solution to minimise impact of heat and save energy at the same time.

Recently, the project was implemented at Devarakonda Basti in Banjara Hills by ASCI, IIIT Hyderabad and Natural Resources Defense Council on a pilot basis. The project has shown promising results in bringing down the indoor temperatures by up to 3 degrees in the households installed with cool roofs. Similar results were noted in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation initiative on cool roofs.

Corporates are being encouraged to support cool roofs initiative for vulnerable communities and low income houses through their CSR activities. Also, as a part of the states Energy Conservation Action Plan, the state designated agency TS Renewable Energy Development Corporation will integrate cool roofs as one of their strategic goals.

HYDERABAD: The state government is considering integration of cool roofs as a part of TS heat wave action plan. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is working towards taking steps on actively promoting cool roofs before next summer starts. MAUD convened the Technical Committee meeting for implementation of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) and cool roofs. The meeting was chaired by GHMC commissioner B Janardhan Reddy. The members identified cool roofs as an effective low-cost solution to minimise impact of heat and save energy at the same time. Recently, the project was implemented at Devarakonda Basti in Banjara Hills by ASCI, IIIT Hyderabad and Natural Resources Defense Council on a pilot basis. The project has shown promising results in bringing down the indoor temperatures by up to 3 degrees in the households installed with cool roofs. Similar results were noted in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation initiative on cool roofs. Corporates are being encouraged to support cool roofs initiative for vulnerable communities and low income houses through their CSR activities. Also, as a part of the states Energy Conservation Action Plan, the state designated agency TS Renewable Energy Development Corporation will integrate cool roofs as one of their strategic goals.
Sadaf Aman By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Over 35,000 people including school children will be attending Yoga session, to be organised by the state Ayush department, at Gachibowli on Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of International Yoga Day. Several government and private schools will also be holding similar sessions on their campus.

Though the department said that the session wont include chanting Om or performing Surya Namaskar asanas, it doesnt appear that much has been done  in terms of spreading awareness, especially among minority communities  to decontextualise the various asanas from its religious identity. Consequently, many Old City residents believe that the session will still require their children to fold hands and chant mantras during the sessions if they allow them to attend the programme. Many such families and Islamic scholars believe that folding of hands and performing Surya Namaskar does not concur with Islamic laws. And so, many such families have decided to let their children skip the school tomorrow and have them marked absent instead of raising alarm for fear of being branded as anti-national.

Irfan Khan, a resident of Azampura, has no knowledge of such a day being celebrated in his childrens school, a Muslim Minority school in the Old City.

Generally if there is any celebration, the school intimates us. But if Yoga is being performed, then I will not send my children to school. A lot of things that is integral to Yoga clashes with our religious sentiments. No one should be forced to participate in such activities, he said.

Meanwhile, all CBSE schools, as mandated by the Board, are conducting Yoga-related events on their campus. At DPS Nacharam, for instance, all students will perform Yoga for half an hour in the morning. Yoga is a compulsory subject under CBSE. From the current academic year, ICSE too has made it mandatory in its affiliated schools.

Schools, however, claim that no parents have raised objections to the regular Yoga classes or the mega event being conducted tomorrow. No student from the school has sought an exemption, said Vasudha Rani, principal of Panineeya Mahavidyalaya.

Shehla Anwar another parent has made her daughter opt for National Cadet Corps instead of Yoga. She said though there is nothing wrong in introducing Yoga since its benefits are known, forcing it down the throats of students is what make many uncomfortable. A lot of parents like me do not want to take this up with school administration as it might unnecessarily elicit unwanted comments from them against our belief, she said.

Sunitha Rao, principal of DPS said since participation in Yoga Day is not compulsory, if any student does not want to participate she would be exempted.

Speaking to Express, Dr Rajendra Reddy, commissioner of Ayush in Telangana clarified that Yoga has nothing to with a particular religion. Yoga is related to health and religion. People think performing Surya Mamaskar is praying to sun, but thats not true. It is an asana that cures aches and contributes to overall well-being, he said. Officials stated that chanting of Om is not mandatory and Surya Namaskar is not part of asanas to be performed.

HYDERABAD: Over 35,000 people including school children will be attending Yoga session, to be organised by the state Ayush department, at Gachibowli on Wednesday to mark the third anniversary of International Yoga Day. Several government and private schools will also be holding similar sessions on their campus. Though the department said that the session wont include chanting Om or performing Surya Namaskar asanas, it doesnt appear that much has been done  in terms of spreading awareness, especially among minority communities  to decontextualise the various asanas from its religious identity. Consequently, many Old City residents believe that the session will still require their children to fold hands and chant mantras during the sessions if they allow them to attend the programme. Many such families and Islamic scholars believe that folding of hands and performing Surya Namaskar does not concur with Islamic laws. And so, many such families have decided to let their children skip the school tomorrow and have them marked absent instead of raising alarm for fear of being branded as anti-national. Irfan Khan, a resident of Azampura, has no knowledge of such a day being celebrated in his childrens school, a Muslim Minority school in the Old City. Generally if there is any celebration, the school intimates us. But if Yoga is being performed, then I will not send my children to school. A lot of things that is integral to Yoga clashes with our religious sentiments. No one should be forced to participate in such activities, he said. Meanwhile, all CBSE schools, as mandated by the Board, are conducting Yoga-related events on their campus. At DPS Nacharam, for instance, all students will perform Yoga for half an hour in the morning. Yoga is a compulsory subject under CBSE. From the current academic year, ICSE too has made it mandatory in its affiliated schools. Schools, however, claim that no parents have raised objections to the regular Yoga classes or the mega event being conducted tomorrow. No student from the school has sought an exemption, said Vasudha Rani, principal of Panineeya Mahavidyalaya. Shehla Anwar another parent has made her daughter opt for National Cadet Corps instead of Yoga. She said though there is nothing wrong in introducing Yoga since its benefits are known, forcing it down the throats of students is what make many uncomfortable. A lot of parents like me do not want to take this up with school administration as it might unnecessarily elicit unwanted comments from them against our belief, she said. Sunitha Rao, principal of DPS said since participation in Yoga Day is not compulsory, if any student does not want to participate she would be exempted. Speaking to Express, Dr Rajendra Reddy, commissioner of Ayush in Telangana clarified that Yoga has nothing to with a particular religion. Yoga is related to health and religion. People think performing Surya Mamaskar is praying to sun, but thats not true. It is an asana that cures aches and contributes to overall well-being, he said. Officials stated that chanting of Om is not mandatory and Surya Namaskar is not part of asanas to be performed.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: In yet another back-to-back seizure in less than a week, Air Intelligence Unit officers confiscated crude gold wires weighing 1.166 kg from a passenger arriving from Dubai on Wednesday.

As many as seven pieces of crude wires, cleverly concealed as silver-coloured beadings inside the central frame of a trolley bag, were seized from a certain Mujeeb Parambattu of Kozhikode. He arrived on an Indigo flight early morning, said Additional Commissioner S Anilkumar. He was trying to exit without declaring the contraband valued at Rs 34 lakh in the open market. Assistant Commissioners K P Sivadas, E V Sivaraman and Romy N Pynadan and Superintendents R Latha, T K Sreesh, G N Lakshminarayanan, K P Majeed, K Sreekumar and others took part in the raid.

On Sunday, Customs officers at CIAL had foiled an attempt to smuggle 1.172 kg gold. It had been converted into crude granules and concealed in the upper portion of 10 perfume bottles in the check-in baggage, said an officer.

KOCHI: In yet another back-to-back seizure in less than a week, Air Intelligence Unit officers confiscated crude gold wires weighing 1.166 kg from a passenger arriving from Dubai on Wednesday. As many as seven pieces of crude wires, cleverly concealed as silver-coloured beadings inside the central frame of a trolley bag, were seized from a certain Mujeeb Parambattu of Kozhikode. He arrived on an Indigo flight early morning, said Additional Commissioner S Anilkumar. He was trying to exit without declaring the contraband valued at Rs 34 lakh in the open market. Assistant Commissioners K P Sivadas, E V Sivaraman and Romy N Pynadan and Superintendents R Latha, T K Sreesh, G N Lakshminarayanan, K P Majeed, K Sreekumar and others took part in the raid. On Sunday, Customs officers at CIAL had foiled an attempt to smuggle 1.172 kg gold. It had been converted into crude granules and concealed in the upper portion of 10 perfume bottles in the check-in baggage, said an officer.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: In the wake of the recent surge in militant violence in Kashmir Valley, the authorities have decided to deploy 129 companies of CRPF for the security of Amarnath-bound pilgrims.

As many as 79 CRPF companies would arrive from outside the state for yatra security and over 50 CRPF companies stationed in Valley would also be deployed, the CRPF spokesman in Srinagar, Rajesh Yadav, told The New Indian Express.

The 40-day annual yatra will commence from either routes  the traditional Pahalgam route (28.2 km long) in south Kashmirs Anantnag district and the Batal route (9.2 km)in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir from June 29. The yatra will end on August 7.

However, we are concerned about stone pelting incidents during the yatra. We are also aware that the militants may attempt to carry out IED blasts targeting the secuirty forces or the yatris, Inspector General (IG) of CRPF Ravideep Singh Sahi said. He added that random firing could also be a possibility.

The Road Opening Parties (ROPs) will be strengthened. The law and order component wil be intensified in the vulnerable and flashpoint areas. Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) will be deployed at sensitive and strategic places to deal with any situation, he said. In addition, each vehicle will be provided with a security escort and CCTV cameras are beng installed to monitor the movement of people and vehicles. Regarding the threat of attacks on vehicles carrying Amarnath pilgrims, he said, We have identified the flash points, based on past experiences. We will deploy CRPF men in vulnerable areas. The chief executive officer of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, Umang Narula, said 24 rescue teams will be deployed during the yatra.

He said these teams will be drawn from the J&K Armed Police, State Disaster Response Force and the National Disaster Relief Force and will be equipped with all rescue equipment. He added that 35 dog squads will be deployed to carry out anti-sabotage checks and other security measures.

SRINAGAR: In the wake of the recent surge in militant violence in Kashmir Valley, the authorities have decided to deploy 129 companies of CRPF for the security of Amarnath-bound pilgrims. As many as 79 CRPF companies would arrive from outside the state for yatra security and over 50 CRPF companies stationed in Valley would also be deployed, the CRPF spokesman in Srinagar, Rajesh Yadav, told The New Indian Express. The 40-day annual yatra will commence from either routes  the traditional Pahalgam route (28.2 km long) in south Kashmirs Anantnag district and the Batal route (9.2 km)in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir from June 29. The yatra will end on August 7. However, we are concerned about stone pelting incidents during the yatra. We are also aware that the militants may attempt to carry out IED blasts targeting the secuirty forces or the yatris, Inspector General (IG) of CRPF Ravideep Singh Sahi said. He added that random firing could also be a possibility. The Road Opening Parties (ROPs) will be strengthened. The law and order component wil be intensified in the vulnerable and flashpoint areas. Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) will be deployed at sensitive and strategic places to deal with any situation, he said. In addition, each vehicle will be provided with a security escort and CCTV cameras are beng installed to monitor the movement of people and vehicles. Regarding the threat of attacks on vehicles carrying Amarnath pilgrims, he said, We have identified the flash points, based on past experiences. We will deploy CRPF men in vulnerable areas. The chief executive officer of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, Umang Narula, said 24 rescue teams will be deployed during the yatra. He said these teams will be drawn from the J&K Armed Police, State Disaster Response Force and the National Disaster Relief Force and will be equipped with all rescue equipment. He added that 35 dog squads will be deployed to carry out anti-sabotage checks and other security measures.
Ejaz Kaiser By

Express News Service

RAIPUR: Two women cadres of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) were gunned down in an encounter with security forces at Abujmaad area in Narayanpur district in Bastar about 350 km south of Raipur on Wednesday.

On a tip-off about the presence of Maoists, a combined team of special task force (STF) and specially-trained district reserve guard (DRG) carried out a search operation. The rebels opened fire near Hasnar, about 15 km from Orcha police station, leading to a gunfight. In the retaliatory attack, two women Maoists were killed by the forces. A temporary Maoist camp in the area was also destroyed, the Narayanpur superintendent of police Santosh Singh told the New Indian Express.

There was no report of any injury sustained by the forces, the SP said. Some ammunition, rifles, items of daily use, a sewing machine and literature were recovered from the site. It was the second successive successful operation following specific intelligence inputs. A day before, in a joint operation, a Naxal deputy platoon commander was killed at Kamteda village about 140 km from Kanker. Today, the troopers recovered eight improvised explosive devices (IEDs) packed in a heavy trunk that were destroyed on the spot. The remaining Maoists fled to the nearby jungle, Kanker deputy inspector general of police Ratan Lal Dangi told the New Indian Express.

On Sunday, the forces killed three Maoists including two women (a local area committee secretary and LOS member) in a gunfight at Aundhi in the Maoist-affected Rajnandgaon district.

In a separate incident, a deputy commander of Maoist was arrested by the police in the strife-torn Bijapur district on Wednesday. Bijapur district police chief KL Dhruv said that the commander, identified as Rakesh Sodhi, was carrying explosives and was taken into custody during the area domination operation carried out by the security forces near Avapalli.

The rebels killed a former janpad panchayat member and a Congress leader Channuram Mandavi (55) suspecting him to be a police informer in Dantewada on Monday late night. Maoists are present in at least 16 out of 27 districts of Chhattisgarh, but are the most active in south Chhattisgarhs Bastar. Narayanpur, Bijapur and Dantewada are among the seven districts of Bastar zone worst affected by Maoist violence.



RAIPUR: Two women cadres of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) were gunned down in an encounter with security forces at Abujmaad area in Narayanpur district in Bastar about 350 km south of Raipur on Wednesday. On a tip-off about the presence of Maoists, a combined team of special task force (STF) and specially-trained district reserve guard (DRG) carried out a search operation. The rebels opened fire near Hasnar, about 15 km from Orcha police station, leading to a gunfight. In the retaliatory attack, two women Maoists were killed by the forces. A temporary Maoist camp in the area was also destroyed, the Narayanpur superintendent of police Santosh Singh told the New Indian Express. There was no report of any injury sustained by the forces, the SP said. Some ammunition, rifles, items of daily use, a sewing machine and literature were recovered from the site. It was the second successive successful operation following specific intelligence inputs. A day before, in a joint operation, a Naxal deputy platoon commander was killed at Kamteda village about 140 km from Kanker. Today, the troopers recovered eight improvised explosive devices (IEDs) packed in a heavy trunk that were destroyed on the spot. The remaining Maoists fled to the nearby jungle, Kanker deputy inspector general of police Ratan Lal Dangi told the New Indian Express. On Sunday, the forces killed three Maoists including two women (a local area committee secretary and LOS member) in a gunfight at Aundhi in the Maoist-affected Rajnandgaon district. In a separate incident, a deputy commander of Maoist was arrested by the police in the strife-torn Bijapur district on Wednesday. Bijapur district police chief KL Dhruv said that the commander, identified as Rakesh Sodhi, was carrying explosives and was taken into custody during the area domination operation carried out by the security forces near Avapalli. The rebels killed a former janpad panchayat member and a Congress leader Channuram Mandavi (55) suspecting him to be a police informer in Dantewada on Monday late night. Maoists are present in at least 16 out of 27 districts of Chhattisgarh, but are the most active in south Chhattisgarhs Bastar. Narayanpur, Bijapur and Dantewada are among the seven districts of Bastar zone worst affected by Maoist violence.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: With Jammu and Kashmir being the only State not to clear Goods and Services Tax (GST), the ruling BJP on Wednesday said the new tax regime should be rolled out in the State from July 1 as is the case with rest of the country saying if it is not implemented then States economy would fall part.

BJP is of the opinion that the GST should be implemented in the State from July 1 as is the case with rest of the country. If it is not rolled out in the State from July 1, then States economy would be badly hit. It would be very bad for the state, J&K BJPs chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi told New Indian Express.

He said BJP leaders have told the Mehbooba Mufti-led government that the GST should be implemented in the State from July 1.

He said nobody including PDP is against the implementation of GST but they are only concerned about the fiscal autonomy of the State.

Our view is that fiscal autonomy has been taken care of by the constitutional amendment and this amendment is coming to J&K through Article 370, so there is no question of fiscal autonomy being compromised, Sethi said.

The opposition and business community in Valley have objected to GSTs extension to the state in its current form saying the law infringes on J&Ks residual political autonomy and its special powers to legislate on financial matters.

According to opposition National Conference, the extension of the 101st Amendment of the Constitution of India to implement GST cant be extended to J&K.

However, Sethi said the implementation of GST is not going to affect J&Ks fiscal autonomy.

It would rather cement the autonomy as it is coming through Article 370 only, he said

Sethi said it was wrong on part of the government to convene special session of Assembly on GST for general consensus.

The GST has to be cleared by the cabinet. It is job of the cabinet to pass the constitutional amendment and there was no requirement to discuss it in Assembly, he said.

He said constitutional amendment has to be applied to State through cabinet decision. After the cabinet concurrence, there would be presidential order and only after constitutional amendment applies in the State, it could be passed by the State legislature. You have to take state act to the legislature and not the amendment. There is no need for it.

The government convened All Party Meeting and then special Assembly session on GST. However, the special session was adjourned sine die without members discussing GST implementation.

The government has decided to form All Party Panel (APP) to look into the apprehensions raised by various stakeholders on implementation of GST in the State. It has asserted that it will not push for GST implementation in the State till there is complete consensus on the issue.

The traders body -- Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) today said it would not allow the implementation of GST in the State in its present form as it compromises the financial autonomy and special status of the State.

The chamber has asked the State government to put in public domain the proposed draft GST bill for public opinion. It has also asked government to spell out alternate measures to be taken by it from July 1 when GST will be rolled out in other states.

The BJP chief spokesperson said traders have not been informed about implications if GST is the not implemented in the State.

Traders of the State will be paying new GST, VAT, entry tax and octoroi, etc if the GST is not implemented. The traders will face losses as they will have to pay triple taxation, he said

According to Sethi, the prices of commodities in J&K would be very high compared to other states.

He said it is easy to convince the traders on implementation of GST but unfortunately no serious efforts are being made by concerned people to convince the traders and clear the misgivings.

The State cabinet, Sethi said, should give concurrence to the new tax regime before June 30 . If it is not implemented, State would have to bear irreparable loss. The States economy will fall apart.

If GST is not implemented in the State, it is going to create financial problem in the State after July 1. The government has to do something to implement it before June 30, he said.

SRINAGAR: With Jammu and Kashmir being the only State not to clear Goods and Services Tax (GST), the ruling BJP on Wednesday said the new tax regime should be rolled out in the State from July 1 as is the case with rest of the country saying if it is not implemented then States economy would fall part. BJP is of the opinion that the GST should be implemented in the State from July 1 as is the case with rest of the country. If it is not rolled out in the State from July 1, then States economy would be badly hit. It would be very bad for the state, J&K BJPs chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi told New Indian Express. He said BJP leaders have told the Mehbooba Mufti-led government that the GST should be implemented in the State from July 1. He said nobody including PDP is against the implementation of GST but they are only concerned about the fiscal autonomy of the State. Our view is that fiscal autonomy has been taken care of by the constitutional amendment and this amendment is coming to J&K through Article 370, so there is no question of fiscal autonomy being compromised, Sethi said. The opposition and business community in Valley have objected to GSTs extension to the state in its current form saying the law infringes on J&Ks residual political autonomy and its special powers to legislate on financial matters. According to opposition National Conference, the extension of the 101st Amendment of the Constitution of India to implement GST cant be extended to J&K. However, Sethi said the implementation of GST is not going to affect J&Ks fiscal autonomy. It would rather cement the autonomy as it is coming through Article 370 only, he said Sethi said it was wrong on part of the government to convene special session of Assembly on GST for general consensus. The GST has to be cleared by the cabinet. It is job of the cabinet to pass the constitutional amendment and there was no requirement to discuss it in Assembly, he said. He said constitutional amendment has to be applied to State through cabinet decision. After the cabinet concurrence, there would be presidential order and only after constitutional amendment applies in the State, it could be passed by the State legislature. You have to take state act to the legislature and not the amendment. There is no need for it. The government convened All Party Meeting and then special Assembly session on GST. However, the special session was adjourned sine die without members discussing GST implementation. The government has decided to form All Party Panel (APP) to look into the apprehensions raised by various stakeholders on implementation of GST in the State. It has asserted that it will not push for GST implementation in the State till there is complete consensus on the issue. The traders body -- Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) today said it would not allow the implementation of GST in the State in its present form as it compromises the financial autonomy and special status of the State. The chamber has asked the State government to put in public domain the proposed draft GST bill for public opinion. It has also asked government to spell out alternate measures to be taken by it from July 1 when GST will be rolled out in other states. The BJP chief spokesperson said traders have not been informed about implications if GST is the not implemented in the State. Traders of the State will be paying new GST, VAT, entry tax and octoroi, etc if the GST is not implemented. The traders will face losses as they will have to pay triple taxation, he said According to Sethi, the prices of commodities in J&K would be very high compared to other states. He said it is easy to convince the traders on implementation of GST but unfortunately no serious efforts are being made by concerned people to convince the traders and clear the misgivings. The State cabinet, Sethi said, should give concurrence to the new tax regime before June 30 . If it is not implemented, State would have to bear irreparable loss. The States economy will fall apart. If GST is not implemented in the State, it is going to create financial problem in the State after July 1. The government has to do something to implement it before June 30, he said.
By PTI

RAIPUR: A Maoist deputy commander carrying a reward of Rs 3 lakh on his head was arrested on Wednesday along with explosives in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bijapur district, police claimed.

Bijapur superintendent of police K L Dhruv said Rakesh Sodhi (20) was arrested from the Awapalli police station area in the district when a joint team of security personnel set out on an area-domination operation.

The team comprising members from the Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPF) 229th battalion and the district police, cordoned off a road between Kottaguda and Kanwarguda villages soon after it spotted Sodhi who made a run for his life, he said.

The suspect was apprehended after a short chase. A bomb placed in a tiffin box, two detonators and an electric wire were seized from his bag, the SP said.

During interrogation, it was revealed that he was an active member of the local guerrilla squad (LGS) and a deputy commander of CPI (Maoist) in the Madded area, he said.

He was wanted in two naxal-related offences, the SP said, adding, he carried a reward of Rs 3 lakh on his head.

RAIPUR: A Maoist deputy commander carrying a reward of Rs 3 lakh on his head was arrested on Wednesday along with explosives in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bijapur district, police claimed. Bijapur superintendent of police K L Dhruv said Rakesh Sodhi (20) was arrested from the Awapalli police station area in the district when a joint team of security personnel set out on an area-domination operation. The team comprising members from the Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPF) 229th battalion and the district police, cordoned off a road between Kottaguda and Kanwarguda villages soon after it spotted Sodhi who made a run for his life, he said. The suspect was apprehended after a short chase. A bomb placed in a tiffin box, two detonators and an electric wire were seized from his bag, the SP said. During interrogation, it was revealed that he was an active member of the local guerrilla squad (LGS) and a deputy commander of CPI (Maoist) in the Madded area, he said. He was wanted in two naxal-related offences, the SP said, adding, he carried a reward of Rs 3 lakh on his head.
By PTI

BHOPAL: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today started recording the statements of some jailed SIMI suspects, days after their relatives moved it alleging that the undertrials were being tortured and forced to chant "anti-Islamic" slogans.

"A team of the NHRC landed in Bhopal yesterday and recorded the statements of the relatives of the undertrials allegedly having links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)," Parvez Alam, advocate of one of the jailed men, told PTI today.

"The panel is recording the statements of my clients today to corroborate what their family members have told it a day earlier. Myself along with Syed Sajid Ali, Mohammed Farooq, Deepchand Yadav, Varsha Lohare, advocates of other SIMI suspects, have met the rights' team," he added.

"We have told the rights' panel headed by NHRC Senior Superintendent of Police Pupul Dutta Prasad comprising two others that our clients are not getting water and meals properly in jail," Alam said.

They are being beaten up and wrongly confined to the cells despite the fact that they were not convicts, he said.

According to the jail manual, undertrials cannot be confined to cells, he said.

The SIMI suspects have not even taken baths for the last two months and are wearing dirty clothes.

"We are not being allowed to meet our clients in the jail," he further alleged.

"We have told the NHRC delegation all these things," he added.

Alam said that 21 SIMI suspects, who are being tried were lodged in the Central Jail. Besides, nine SIMI men have been brought to the prison here from Indore recently.

Jail Superintendent Dinesh Nargava, however, denied that ill-treatment was being meted out to the SIMI suspects.

"We have provided the documents and evidences against the allegations to NHRC's delegation," he added.

Asked for how long the rights' panel would be in Bhopal, he said it is likely to stay until June 23.

On May 24, wives and other relatives of 21 SIMI suspects had met NHRC member Justice (retired) D Murugesan in New Delhi and complained that the undertrials were being brutally beaten and threatened with death by jail authorities.

Farzana, wife of SIMI suspect Mohammed Adil had told media after meeting the rights panel in the national capital that her husband is being tortured and forced to chant antiIslamic slogans.

The kin of the jailed undertrials had said the illtreatment had intensified after the alleged encounter killing of 8 SIMI suspects hours after they broke out of the Bhopal jail in Madhya Pradesh on October 31 last year.

BHOPAL: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today started recording the statements of some jailed SIMI suspects, days after their relatives moved it alleging that the undertrials were being tortured and forced to chant "anti-Islamic" slogans. "A team of the NHRC landed in Bhopal yesterday and recorded the statements of the relatives of the undertrials allegedly having links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)," Parvez Alam, advocate of one of the jailed men, told PTI today. "The panel is recording the statements of my clients today to corroborate what their family members have told it a day earlier. Myself along with Syed Sajid Ali, Mohammed Farooq, Deepchand Yadav, Varsha Lohare, advocates of other SIMI suspects, have met the rights' team," he added. "We have told the rights' panel headed by NHRC Senior Superintendent of Police Pupul Dutta Prasad comprising two others that our clients are not getting water and meals properly in jail," Alam said. They are being beaten up and wrongly confined to the cells despite the fact that they were not convicts, he said. According to the jail manual, undertrials cannot be confined to cells, he said. The SIMI suspects have not even taken baths for the last two months and are wearing dirty clothes. "We are not being allowed to meet our clients in the jail," he further alleged. "We have told the NHRC delegation all these things," he added. Alam said that 21 SIMI suspects, who are being tried were lodged in the Central Jail. Besides, nine SIMI men have been brought to the prison here from Indore recently. Jail Superintendent Dinesh Nargava, however, denied that ill-treatment was being meted out to the SIMI suspects. "We have provided the documents and evidences against the allegations to NHRC's delegation," he added. Asked for how long the rights' panel would be in Bhopal, he said it is likely to stay until June 23. On May 24, wives and other relatives of 21 SIMI suspects had met NHRC member Justice (retired) D Murugesan in New Delhi and complained that the undertrials were being brutally beaten and threatened with death by jail authorities. Farzana, wife of SIMI suspect Mohammed Adil had told media after meeting the rights panel in the national capital that her husband is being tortured and forced to chant antiIslamic slogans. The kin of the jailed undertrials had said the illtreatment had intensified after the alleged encounter killing of 8 SIMI suspects hours after they broke out of the Bhopal jail in Madhya Pradesh on October 31 last year.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The day broke as early as 2 am in Lucknow as people of all ages and walks of life were drawn to Ramabai Maidan to join PM Narendra Modis yoga camp on the occasion of International Yoga Day on Wednesday.

A drizzle that turned into a downpour delayed the programme by half an hour.

Wearing an Assamese gamochha around his neck, Modi led the celebration, the third edition of International Yoga Day, joined by over 50,000 people who kept him company through an 80-minute Yoga session.

Despite the driving rain, Modi performed aasanas along with UP governor Ram Naik,, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy CMs Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and the entire UP cabinet.

There were an assortment seers and sadhu types in the camp. People had started thronging the venue since 5 in the morning. However, the programme, which was scheduled to commence at 6 am, started half an hour late due to heavy showers in the state capital.

IN PICS | Top political leaders stretching a limb or two with the public on International Yoga Day

Addressing the huge gathering, PM Narendra Modi said, Yoga has connected India with the world as it is immensely popular outside the country. People across the globe are realising the utility of yoga and resorting to it to bring about wellness in their lives."

WATCH | Mysuru attempts two Guinness records on International Yoga Day

Expressing happiness over the growing number of yoga institutes that have cropped up during the last three years, PM Modi said the demand for Yoga teachers was increasing across the world.

Massive security arrangements were in place in the state capital in view of the Prime Minister's visit. A huge contingent of police officers and 25 companies of PAC were deployed in and around the camp venue.

LUCKNOW: The day broke as early as 2 am in Lucknow as people of all ages and walks of life were drawn to Ramabai Maidan to join PM Narendra Modis yoga camp on the occasion of International Yoga Day on Wednesday. A drizzle that turned into a downpour delayed the programme by half an hour. Wearing an Assamese gamochha around his neck, Modi led the celebration, the third edition of International Yoga Day, joined by over 50,000 people who kept him company through an 80-minute Yoga session. Despite the driving rain, Modi performed aasanas along with UP governor Ram Naik,, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy CMs Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and the entire UP cabinet. There were an assortment seers and sadhu types in the camp. People had started thronging the venue since 5 in the morning. However, the programme, which was scheduled to commence at 6 am, started half an hour late due to heavy showers in the state capital. IN PICS | Top political leaders stretching a limb or two with the public on International Yoga Day Addressing the huge gathering, PM Narendra Modi said, Yoga has connected India with the world as it is immensely popular outside the country. People across the globe are realising the utility of yoga and resorting to it to bring about wellness in their lives." WATCH | Mysuru attempts two Guinness records on International Yoga Day Expressing happiness over the growing number of yoga institutes that have cropped up during the last three years, PM Modi said the demand for Yoga teachers was increasing across the world. Massive security arrangements were in place in the state capital in view of the Prime Minister's visit. A huge contingent of police officers and 25 companies of PAC were deployed in and around the camp venue.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Expressing his gratitude to the nation including the entire Opposition, legislature, state assemblies, state governments and people of India for making GST a reality, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the support which he got over the new tax regime from every quarter proved that the country was much above party politics.

Speaking while inaugurating the new campus of APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) in Lucknow, the PM, who is on two-day visit to the state capital, greeted UP CM Yogi Adityanath and his team for trying hard to setthe things right in the state with dedication and diligence.

He said the country was watching CM Yogis governance and his initiatives for development. The CM and his team is going step-by-step to achieve the development agenda of the government and he needs to be appreciated for it, said the PM, hoping that a new picture of a changed and developed UP would emerge soon under the new dispensation.

He also named a number of departments which used to discriminate in doling out sops and imparting VIP treatment to certain districts during the previous regime, especially in case of power supply. The PM said that the present BJP government had been successful in bringing sanity in governance and parity among all the 75 districts of the state. Congratulating the scientists of the country for their efforts in taking the country forward, the PM said scientists were modern saints.

Modi mentioned former president APJ Abdul Kalam as the biggest and the ultimateinspiration to the scientific community. He hailed Indian scientists for Mars Mission and exhorted the youth to come forward and contribute to nations growth by availing facilities imparted through schemes like Make in India, Start-up India, Stand-up India, etc.

Youth is the real strength of our country. They can do wonders if given enough opportunities at the right time, observed the PM. PM Modi even praised UP governor Ram Naik for his relentless efforts to improve and regularise the higher education scenario of UP as the chancellor of a number of universities in the state.

As the PM was speaking after a visit to Central Drug research Institute, he discussed issues plaguing the medicine sector.By the time the researchers come out with one drug after toiling for years, some new disease is reported, he stated.

Earlier, the PM dedicated the new campus of APJ Abdul Kalam univeristy to the nation in the presence of CM Yogi Adityanath, Governor Ram Naik, and Deputy CMs Keshav Maurya and Dr Dinesh Sharma.

LUCKNOW: Expressing his gratitude to the nation including the entire Opposition, legislature, state assemblies, state governments and people of India for making GST a reality, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that the support which he got over the new tax regime from every quarter proved that the country was much above party politics. Speaking while inaugurating the new campus of APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) in Lucknow, the PM, who is on two-day visit to the state capital, greeted UP CM Yogi Adityanath and his team for trying hard to setthe things right in the state with dedication and diligence. He said the country was watching CM Yogis governance and his initiatives for development. The CM and his team is going step-by-step to achieve the development agenda of the government and he needs to be appreciated for it, said the PM, hoping that a new picture of a changed and developed UP would emerge soon under the new dispensation. He also named a number of departments which used to discriminate in doling out sops and imparting VIP treatment to certain districts during the previous regime, especially in case of power supply. The PM said that the present BJP government had been successful in bringing sanity in governance and parity among all the 75 districts of the state. Congratulating the scientists of the country for their efforts in taking the country forward, the PM said scientists were modern saints. Modi mentioned former president APJ Abdul Kalam as the biggest and the ultimateinspiration to the scientific community. He hailed Indian scientists for Mars Mission and exhorted the youth to come forward and contribute to nations growth by availing facilities imparted through schemes like Make in India, Start-up India, Stand-up India, etc. Youth is the real strength of our country. They can do wonders if given enough opportunities at the right time, observed the PM. PM Modi even praised UP governor Ram Naik for his relentless efforts to improve and regularise the higher education scenario of UP as the chancellor of a number of universities in the state. As the PM was speaking after a visit to Central Drug research Institute, he discussed issues plaguing the medicine sector.By the time the researchers come out with one drug after toiling for years, some new disease is reported, he stated. Earlier, the PM dedicated the new campus of APJ Abdul Kalam univeristy to the nation in the presence of CM Yogi Adityanath, Governor Ram Naik, and Deputy CMs Keshav Maurya and Dr Dinesh Sharma.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: A day after the arrest of former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan, the Supreme Court today refused to entertain his plea for interim bail and suspension of the six-month sentence awarded to him for contempt of court.

The apex court said it was duty-bound by the sevenjudge bench's order in the case and "cannot override it".

"The matter has been heard by a seven-judge bench and order has been passed. The order is binding on us. We in vacation cannot override it. It is nothing we can do," a vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul said.

Appearing for the retired judge, who was arrested in Coimbatore yesterday after being on the run for more than a month, advocate Mathews J Nedumpara said equity demands that he be granted bail till the court reopened.

However, the bench said, "All equity is subject to law and judicial discipline. You mention the matter before the bench of chief justice."

Nedumpara contended that the bench had all the power to pass an order granting bail and suspension of the six months sentence, as the detailed judgement in the case was yet to be passed by the seven-judge bench.

The submissions did not impress the bench which declined to entertain his plea.

Karnan, 62, who retired on June 12 as Calcutta High Court judge, was arrested last evening by the West Bengal CID. He had been in Coimbatore since May 9 when the apex court held him guilty for contempt of court and sentenced him for six months.

Karnan has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court and also the first 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 seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, had on May 9 directed the West Bengal director general of police to take the then serving judge into custody immediately.

Despite several attempts, Karnan has failed to get any relief from the apex court's vacation benches which has refused to hear his plea seeking a stay of its jail term order.

His lawyers also claimed to have approached President Pranab Mukherjee for exercising his power to stay the apex court's order, but there has been no relief for the ex-judge.

After being sentenced, 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 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.

Earlier, the apex court had issued a bailable warrant against him to secure his presence in the contempt case.

He 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 reappearance, but the plea was rejected.

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 later suspended by the Supreme Court.

NEW DELHI: A day after the arrest of former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan, the Supreme Court today refused to entertain his plea for interim bail and suspension of the six-month sentence awarded to him for contempt of court. The apex court said it was duty-bound by the sevenjudge bench's order in the case and "cannot override it". "The matter has been heard by a seven-judge bench and order has been passed. The order is binding on us. We in vacation cannot override it. It is nothing we can do," a vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul said. Appearing for the retired judge, who was arrested in Coimbatore yesterday after being on the run for more than a month, advocate Mathews J Nedumpara said equity demands that he be granted bail till the court reopened. However, the bench said, "All equity is subject to law and judicial discipline. You mention the matter before the bench of chief justice." Nedumpara contended that the bench had all the power to pass an order granting bail and suspension of the six months sentence, as the detailed judgement in the case was yet to be passed by the seven-judge bench. The submissions did not impress the bench which declined to entertain his plea. Karnan, 62, who retired on June 12 as Calcutta High Court judge, was arrested last evening by the West Bengal CID. He had been in Coimbatore since May 9 when the apex court held him guilty for contempt of court and sentenced him for six months. Karnan has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court and also the first 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 seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, had on May 9 directed the West Bengal director general of police to take the then serving judge into custody immediately. Despite several attempts, Karnan has failed to get any relief from the apex court's vacation benches which has refused to hear his plea seeking a stay of its jail term order. His lawyers also claimed to have approached President Pranab Mukherjee for exercising his power to stay the apex court's order, but there has been no relief for the ex-judge. After being sentenced, 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 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. Earlier, the apex court had issued a bailable warrant against him to secure his presence in the contempt case. He 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 reappearance, but the plea was rejected. 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 later suspended by the Supreme Court.
By PTI

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government today said it will not spare anyone found "guilty" in the Amritsar food-grain distribution scam in which disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against 22 officials.

The state government will not tolerate misappropriation of food articles meant for distribution among the poor under the Atta Dal scheme, he said in the Punjab Assembly.

The minister informed the House that action was being taken against all the 22 officers found "guilty" in the finding report of the inquiry officer.

The Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies department has been reverted to the rank of District Controller, he said.

The assurance was given by Mohindra, who was speaking on behalf of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, on a call attention notice raised by MLA Bikram Singh Pahara.

An inquiry was ordered following a complaint about diversion in wheat distribution under the Atta Dal scheme in different centres of Amritsar, he said.

Reiterating the government's zero tolerance towards corruption, the minister said four assistant food supply officers and 14 inspectors have been suspended for their alleged role in diverting 45,000 quintiles of wheat worth Rs 10 crore.

The chief minister has given a clear directive to ensure total transparency in all government schemes so that benefits reach the deserving people, he added.

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government today said it will not spare anyone found "guilty" in the Amritsar food-grain distribution scam in which disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against 22 officials. The state government will not tolerate misappropriation of food articles meant for distribution among the poor under the Atta Dal scheme, he said in the Punjab Assembly. The minister informed the House that action was being taken against all the 22 officers found "guilty" in the finding report of the inquiry officer. The Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies department has been reverted to the rank of District Controller, he said. The assurance was given by Mohindra, who was speaking on behalf of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, on a call attention notice raised by MLA Bikram Singh Pahara. An inquiry was ordered following a complaint about diversion in wheat distribution under the Atta Dal scheme in different centres of Amritsar, he said. Reiterating the government's zero tolerance towards corruption, the minister said four assistant food supply officers and 14 inspectors have been suspended for their alleged role in diverting 45,000 quintiles of wheat worth Rs 10 crore. The chief minister has given a clear directive to ensure total transparency in all government schemes so that benefits reach the deserving people, he added.
By PTI

KOLKATA: Arrested former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan was taken to hospital today after he complained of chest pain and was returned to Presidency correctional home (jail) when doctors found nothing "alarming".

Earlier in the day, Karnan was flown in from Chennai after he was found hiding in Coimbatore by a team of West Bengal CID who arrested him. "He was taken to the state-run SSKM hospital from Presidency correctional, where he was lodged, after he complained of chest pain in the evening. He underwent several round of ECG and other tests to ascertain whether he was having any problem," a CID police officer said.

"Nothing unusual was found in his medical tests and therefore he was sent to back to the correctional home," the officer said. Karnan had been evading arrest since the May 9 Supreme Court order awarding him a six-month jail term for contempt of court.

Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, had retired from service on June 12 as a fugitive.

KOLKATA: Arrested former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan was taken to hospital today after he complained of chest pain and was returned to Presidency correctional home (jail) when doctors found nothing "alarming". Earlier in the day, Karnan was flown in from Chennai after he was found hiding in Coimbatore by a team of West Bengal CID who arrested him. "He was taken to the state-run SSKM hospital from Presidency correctional, where he was lodged, after he complained of chest pain in the evening. He underwent several round of ECG and other tests to ascertain whether he was having any problem," a CID police officer said. "Nothing unusual was found in his medical tests and therefore he was sent to back to the correctional home," the officer said. Karnan had been evading arrest since the May 9 Supreme Court order awarding him a six-month jail term for contempt of court. Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, had retired from service on June 12 as a fugitive.
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: Two weeks after five farmers were killed in police firing in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh, the state government on Wednesday suspended three civil servants  one IAS officer and two IPS officers  for failing to maintain law and order in the violence-hit district on June 6 and 7.

Swatantra Kumar Singh, who was the Mandsaur district collector at that time, and OP Tripathi, who was the district police superintendent, were suspended along with Sai Krishna S Thota who was the city SP.

Earlier, Kumar Singh was shifted as a deputy secretary to Mantralaya while Tripathi was moved to the police headquarters in Bhopal. Sai Krishna S Thota was appointed as assistant commandant of the 8th Special Armed Force (SAF) Battalion of the state police. However, all the three officers were suspended on Wednesday evening.

The state government had already instituted a judicial probe into the death of the five farmers during the farmers' protest. The one-member judicial commission constituted by a retired High Court judge JK Jain has been given three months to submit the findings of the probe to the state government.

The farmers' deaths had sparked a massive violence across Mandsaur and other parts of the state on June 7.

In a related development, Mandsaur police on Tuesday arrested the state president of the Association of Panchayat Secretaries Dinesh Sharma for allegedly inciting violence during the farmers stir. Videos of Sharma leading a procession on the streets of Mandsaur had gone viral on social media, earlier this month.

Police sources said that Sharma has also been accused of sexually assaulting a policewoman.

BHOPAL: Two weeks after five farmers were killed in police firing in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh, the state government on Wednesday suspended three civil servants  one IAS officer and two IPS officers  for failing to maintain law and order in the violence-hit district on June 6 and 7. Swatantra Kumar Singh, who was the Mandsaur district collector at that time, and OP Tripathi, who was the district police superintendent, were suspended along with Sai Krishna S Thota who was the city SP. Earlier, Kumar Singh was shifted as a deputy secretary to Mantralaya while Tripathi was moved to the police headquarters in Bhopal. Sai Krishna S Thota was appointed as assistant commandant of the 8th Special Armed Force (SAF) Battalion of the state police. However, all the three officers were suspended on Wednesday evening. The state government had already instituted a judicial probe into the death of the five farmers during the farmers' protest. The one-member judicial commission constituted by a retired High Court judge JK Jain has been given three months to submit the findings of the probe to the state government. The farmers' deaths had sparked a massive violence across Mandsaur and other parts of the state on June 7. In a related development, Mandsaur police on Tuesday arrested the state president of the Association of Panchayat Secretaries Dinesh Sharma for allegedly inciting violence during the farmers stir. Videos of Sharma leading a procession on the streets of Mandsaur had gone viral on social media, earlier this month. Police sources said that Sharma has also been accused of sexually assaulting a policewoman.
Karamatullah K Ghori By

There couldnt be a worse moment for Pakistans beleaguered Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the spat between Qatar and some of its Arab neighbours to engulf the Islamic world.

Nawaz is, literally, up to his eyeballs in trouble at home. The countrys apex court has set up a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of a number of key agencies of the state to probe myriad charges and allegations of money laundering against him and his children.

The financial antics and shenanigans of three generations of the Sharif clan are under microscopic scrutiny. Nawazs oldest son, Hussain, has already been grilled on four separate days by the JIT. In a historic first for Pakistan, the sitting prime minister of the day, Nawaz, was summoned to appear before the JIT on June 15. There was no way for him to duck; the apex court mandated it that he could be summoned if needed.

The JIT felt that he ought to be probed and questioned too, just like his progeny.

A key card in Nawazs defence before the top court was the letter from Qatar which his defence team produced to undercut the charge of money laundering by him and his family. The surprise letter, supposedly written by a prince of the Qatari ruling family, contended that the princes father had owed a lot of money to Nawaz father; the grandpas grand kids, i.e. children of Nawaz, were compensated by the prince through the transfer of ownership of four luxury apartments in Londons tony Park Lane.

The apex court asked the JIT to summon the Qatari prince to appear before it. The prince begged off. That led to his magical letter being trashed by the JIT. Non-appearance of the prince was evidence that his letter was phony and deserved to be gutted. Nawaz wouldnt know where to run for cover; his Qatari card had backfired on him.

But then the roof fell on Qatar itself, with the surprise action of June 5 by its Arab brotherly states not only cutting off diplomatic ties with it but, adding insult to injury, also shutting out Qatar from their land, sea and air corridors.

The unprecedented and blatant assault against the tiny state of Qatarwhich, incidentally, happened to be the richest country in the world in terms of per capita income of its citizensled by Saudi Arabia also arrayed UAE, Bahrain and Egypt on the Saudi side.

The Gulf crisis spawned on the spur by the Saudis has Donald Trumps foot-prints all over it. He settled on none other than his Saudi royal friends to play host to him on his first venture abroad as the new occupant of the White House. The Saudis greeted him with weapons and arms purchases worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

He, in return, gave them a free hand to rein in Iran, their rival for regional supremacy, by singling it out as the font of all troubles and terrorism in the Middle East and the world.

The Saudis have chosen to make a horrible example of Qatar because of its closeness to Irannot only in terms of joint exploitation of vast resources of natural gasin terms of an ideological affinity. Qatar shares the Iranian perception that the Palestinians are freedom fighters. The Qataris also dont frown upon Egypts Muslim Brotherhoodbanned in Egypt by its Saudi-friendly military dictatorshipand refuse to declare Hamas, fighting for Palestinian rights, as a terrorist outfit. To the Saudi royals, now fully in bed with Israel, both the Brotherhood and Hamas are anathema.

While the Arabs, past-masters in triggering crises but hopelessly at bay in resolving any, may choose to wage their whimsical and stupid battles the way they choose, it raises a dilemma for a key Muslim state such as Pakistan.

More than any other man in Pakistan, the internecine Arab feud places Nawaz between the rock and a hard place.

He is personally beholden to the Saudis for saving his skin when his neck was in imminent danger of being chopped off by General Musharraf.

But the Saudis are the rogues in this crisis. Nawazs political opponents and law makers in the parliament are up in arms against his obsequious kowtowing to the Saudis who have triggered this crisis because of their incontinent urge to give the Iranians a bloody nose. The Iranian parliament building in Tehran was targeted by terrorists carrying Saudi imprints all over them the day after the Qataris had been declared pariahs by the Saudis.

The Pakistani parliamentarians have already demanded that Pakistan pull out of the Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance (IMA) and its Chief, General Raheel Sharif of Pakistan called back.

There have been umpteen reservations in Pakistan about IMA from the moment of its conception. There were doubts aplenty about the Saudi designs from the word go. The IMA, the Saudis pretended, was all about combating terrorism plaguing the Islamic world. However, the Pakistani intelligentsia knew otherwise: It was all about Iran and the Saudis congenital hatred of Shiite Iran. The worst fears of the Pakistanis have come true. The Saudi royals have said it in so many words that they regard Iran as their enemy number one.

Pakistan, its thinking class argues, has no axe to grind and no bones to pick with Iran. The Pakistanis, to be honest, have much more in common with the Iranians than Saudis.

The Pakistani intelligentsia argues, rightly, that Pakistan doesnt have to take sides in an intra-Arab crisis or in an inter-Muslims spat. Pakistan should seek to defuse any fires and play the role of an honest referee. Is Nawaz listening? Does he have the guts to stand up to his Saudi mentors is the million dollar question.

Karamatullah K Ghori

Former Pakistani diplomat

Email: K_K_ghori@hotmail.com

There couldnt be a worse moment for Pakistans beleaguered Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the spat between Qatar and some of its Arab neighbours to engulf the Islamic world. Nawaz is, literally, up to his eyeballs in trouble at home. The countrys apex court has set up a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of a number of key agencies of the state to probe myriad charges and allegations of money laundering against him and his children. The financial antics and shenanigans of three generations of the Sharif clan are under microscopic scrutiny. Nawazs oldest son, Hussain, has already been grilled on four separate days by the JIT. In a historic first for Pakistan, the sitting prime minister of the day, Nawaz, was summoned to appear before the JIT on June 15. There was no way for him to duck; the apex court mandated it that he could be summoned if needed. The JIT felt that he ought to be probed and questioned too, just like his progeny. A key card in Nawazs defence before the top court was the letter from Qatar which his defence team produced to undercut the charge of money laundering by him and his family. The surprise letter, supposedly written by a prince of the Qatari ruling family, contended that the princes father had owed a lot of money to Nawaz father; the grandpas grand kids, i.e. children of Nawaz, were compensated by the prince through the transfer of ownership of four luxury apartments in Londons tony Park Lane. The apex court asked the JIT to summon the Qatari prince to appear before it. The prince begged off. That led to his magical letter being trashed by the JIT. Non-appearance of the prince was evidence that his letter was phony and deserved to be gutted. Nawaz wouldnt know where to run for cover; his Qatari card had backfired on him. But then the roof fell on Qatar itself, with the surprise action of June 5 by its Arab brotherly states not only cutting off diplomatic ties with it but, adding insult to injury, also shutting out Qatar from their land, sea and air corridors. The unprecedented and blatant assault against the tiny state of Qatarwhich, incidentally, happened to be the richest country in the world in terms of per capita income of its citizensled by Saudi Arabia also arrayed UAE, Bahrain and Egypt on the Saudi side. The Gulf crisis spawned on the spur by the Saudis has Donald Trumps foot-prints all over it. He settled on none other than his Saudi royal friends to play host to him on his first venture abroad as the new occupant of the White House. The Saudis greeted him with weapons and arms purchases worth hundreds of billions of dollars. He, in return, gave them a free hand to rein in Iran, their rival for regional supremacy, by singling it out as the font of all troubles and terrorism in the Middle East and the world. The Saudis have chosen to make a horrible example of Qatar because of its closeness to Irannot only in terms of joint exploitation of vast resources of natural gasin terms of an ideological affinity. Qatar shares the Iranian perception that the Palestinians are freedom fighters. The Qataris also dont frown upon Egypts Muslim Brotherhoodbanned in Egypt by its Saudi-friendly military dictatorshipand refuse to declare Hamas, fighting for Palestinian rights, as a terrorist outfit. To the Saudi royals, now fully in bed with Israel, both the Brotherhood and Hamas are anathema. While the Arabs, past-masters in triggering crises but hopelessly at bay in resolving any, may choose to wage their whimsical and stupid battles the way they choose, it raises a dilemma for a key Muslim state such as Pakistan. More than any other man in Pakistan, the internecine Arab feud places Nawaz between the rock and a hard place. He is personally beholden to the Saudis for saving his skin when his neck was in imminent danger of being chopped off by General Musharraf. But the Saudis are the rogues in this crisis. Nawazs political opponents and law makers in the parliament are up in arms against his obsequious kowtowing to the Saudis who have triggered this crisis because of their incontinent urge to give the Iranians a bloody nose. The Iranian parliament building in Tehran was targeted by terrorists carrying Saudi imprints all over them the day after the Qataris had been declared pariahs by the Saudis. The Pakistani parliamentarians have already demanded that Pakistan pull out of the Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance (IMA) and its Chief, General Raheel Sharif of Pakistan called back. There have been umpteen reservations in Pakistan about IMA from the moment of its conception. There were doubts aplenty about the Saudi designs from the word go. The IMA, the Saudis pretended, was all about combating terrorism plaguing the Islamic world. However, the Pakistani intelligentsia knew otherwise: It was all about Iran and the Saudis congenital hatred of Shiite Iran. The worst fears of the Pakistanis have come true. The Saudi royals have said it in so many words that they regard Iran as their enemy number one. Pakistan, its thinking class argues, has no axe to grind and no bones to pick with Iran. The Pakistanis, to be honest, have much more in common with the Iranians than Saudis. The Pakistani intelligentsia argues, rightly, that Pakistan doesnt have to take sides in an intra-Arab crisis or in an inter-Muslims spat. Pakistan should seek to defuse any fires and play the role of an honest referee. Is Nawaz listening? Does he have the guts to stand up to his Saudi mentors is the million dollar question. Karamatullah K Ghori Former Pakistani diplomat Email: K_K_ghori@hotmail.com
By Express News Service

MYSURU: A crowd of 45,000 people, mainly school and college students, on Wednesday partook in a record breaking yoga demonstration on International Yoga Day here in a bid to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.



The city surpassed the previous 35,900 record held by Delhi but it is unclear whether the people of Mysuru will be able to secure that Guinness record. They face stiff competition from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh where over 50,000 people braved the rains and celebrated the occasion, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

WATCH VIDEO HERE: Mysuru attempts two Guinness records on International Yoga Day

Deputy commissioner D Randeep said it was unclear whether Lucknow had attempted a Guinness Record, but if they had, Mysuru may have missed its chance. Event organisers said that in some cases, the attempt to enter the record is kept a secret and not disclosed to the public in advance.



Randeep said they had made arrangements to accommodate around 60,000 people. "However, we expected around 40,000 going by the feedback we got on Tuesday evening," he said.

IN PICS | International Yoga Day: Bringing people closer to their leaders

It was an impressive turnout as all roads from across the city led to the Mysore Race Course. Every participant was given a ticket with a barcode before entering, and received a participation certificate while leaving.



Hannah Kempt, a German who is in the city to learn yoga said she was overwhelmed to be part of such a big and historic occasion. Shailaja, a second PU student of Marimallappa student said that the event has inspired her to practice yoga daily.



Kumar Pal chief auditor for the nearly four hour event took the count in the beginning and end. He was assisted by witnesses, former IFS officer AC Lakshman and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and senior official Thakur Desai.

MYSURU: A crowd of 45,000 people, mainly school and college students, on Wednesday partook in a record breaking yoga demonstration on International Yoga Day here in a bid to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. The city surpassed the previous 35,900 record held by Delhi but it is unclear whether the people of Mysuru will be able to secure that Guinness record. They face stiff competition from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh where over 50,000 people braved the rains and celebrated the occasion, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath. WATCH VIDEO HERE: Mysuru attempts two Guinness records on International Yoga Day Deputy commissioner D Randeep said it was unclear whether Lucknow had attempted a Guinness Record, but if they had, Mysuru may have missed its chance. Event organisers said that in some cases, the attempt to enter the record is kept a secret and not disclosed to the public in advance. Randeep said they had made arrangements to accommodate around 60,000 people. "However, we expected around 40,000 going by the feedback we got on Tuesday evening," he said. IN PICS | International Yoga Day: Bringing people closer to their leaders It was an impressive turnout as all roads from across the city led to the Mysore Race Course. Every participant was given a ticket with a barcode before entering, and received a participation certificate while leaving. Hannah Kempt, a German who is in the city to learn yoga said she was overwhelmed to be part of such a big and historic occasion. Shailaja, a second PU student of Marimallappa student said that the event has inspired her to practice yoga daily. Kumar Pal chief auditor for the nearly four hour event took the count in the beginning and end. He was assisted by witnesses, former IFS officer AC Lakshman and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and senior official Thakur Desai.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: State police chief DGP T P Senkumar on Tuesday cited terror threat during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Kochi to launch metro service as the reason behind the police action on June 16 against the Puthuvype IOC LPG terminal protesters.



Senkumar also said extremist elements worked behind the agitation. Outsiders have been involved in the protest and the presence of extremist elements cannot be ruled out, said Senkumar. There was a terror threat during PM Modis visit to the city. The agitators tried to create problem on the PMs route forcing the police to take action against them, he said.

Without divulging details about the terror module, the DGP said: There was no intimation of any such protests. The PMs motorcade was scheduled to pass through the route within the next 24 hours. Moreover, the VVIP visit was carried out under the cloud of a terror threat, which could not have been disclosed at that time. DCP Yathish Chandras action should be viewed in the backdrop of these developments. Senkumar gave a clean chit to Chandra in the incident related to lathi charge on protestors at the High Court Junction on June 16. The DCP was not a part of the police team which had clashed with the protesters at Puthuvype. The police have a clear mandate to give adequate security to the proposed project, he said.

The DGP also met top police officers to discuss the Puthuvype issue on Tuesday. Senkumar examined video footage of clashes between the police and the protesters and sought explanations from Chandra and Rural SP A V George on his remarks. Kochi Range I G P Vijayan has sought a report from the City Police Commissioner and Rural SP on the allegations of outside intervention in the Puthuvype protests and attempts to sabotage the IOC project.

Puthuvype stir leaves IOC in a fix

Kochi: The Indian Oil Corporation thats making a major backward integration investment in Kerala, perhaps its biggest till now, is perplexed as to what it should do next to get moving in the state. The C2,200 crore LPG Import Terminal project which has been planned to take off is hanging fire as protesters have taken to the streets. Ahead of the talks convened by CM Pinarayi Vijayan with the stakeholders on Wednesday in Thiruvanthapuram, IOC said it has been investing significantly to improve the public infrastructure at Puthuvype. We have built school classrooms at Puthuvype spending C25 lakh from our CSR fund. Last year, we spent Rs 2.5 crore in Kerala for CSR activities. For this fiscal, we have decided to spend Rs 4.5 crore for CSR activities and to take the people of Puthuvype into confidence, we are ready to invest a significant portion of that amount in the island, an IOC officer told Express.

KOCHI: State police chief DGP T P Senkumar on Tuesday cited terror threat during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Kochi to launch metro service as the reason behind the police action on June 16 against the Puthuvype IOC LPG terminal protesters. Senkumar also said extremist elements worked behind the agitation. Outsiders have been involved in the protest and the presence of extremist elements cannot be ruled out, said Senkumar. There was a terror threat during PM Modis visit to the city. The agitators tried to create problem on the PMs route forcing the police to take action against them, he said. Without divulging details about the terror module, the DGP said: There was no intimation of any such protests. The PMs motorcade was scheduled to pass through the route within the next 24 hours. Moreover, the VVIP visit was carried out under the cloud of a terror threat, which could not have been disclosed at that time. DCP Yathish Chandras action should be viewed in the backdrop of these developments. Senkumar gave a clean chit to Chandra in the incident related to lathi charge on protestors at the High Court Junction on June 16. The DCP was not a part of the police team which had clashed with the protesters at Puthuvype. The police have a clear mandate to give adequate security to the proposed project, he said. The DGP also met top police officers to discuss the Puthuvype issue on Tuesday. Senkumar examined video footage of clashes between the police and the protesters and sought explanations from Chandra and Rural SP A V George on his remarks. Kochi Range I G P Vijayan has sought a report from the City Police Commissioner and Rural SP on the allegations of outside intervention in the Puthuvype protests and attempts to sabotage the IOC project. Puthuvype stir leaves IOC in a fix Kochi: The Indian Oil Corporation thats making a major backward integration investment in Kerala, perhaps its biggest till now, is perplexed as to what it should do next to get moving in the state. The C2,200 crore LPG Import Terminal project which has been planned to take off is hanging fire as protesters have taken to the streets. Ahead of the talks convened by CM Pinarayi Vijayan with the stakeholders on Wednesday in Thiruvanthapuram, IOC said it has been investing significantly to improve the public infrastructure at Puthuvype. We have built school classrooms at Puthuvype spending C25 lakh from our CSR fund. Last year, we spent Rs 2.5 crore in Kerala for CSR activities. For this fiscal, we have decided to spend Rs 4.5 crore for CSR activities and to take the people of Puthuvype into confidence, we are ready to invest a significant portion of that amount in the island, an IOC officer told Express.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: A day after announcing Biju Janata Dals (BJD) support for NDAs candidate for Presidential poll, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday said the regional partys fight against Central negligence towards Odisha will continue.

BJDs support for NDAs presidential candidate Ramnath Kovind has come in for strong criticism from the Opposition Congress. Besides, BJDs decision has also been questioned in an editorial in an Odia daily owned and edited by party MP Tathagat Satpathy.

The CMs response on the Presidential candidate came while replying to questions from mediapersons on the editorial. Even though the BJD has extended support to NDAs Presidential candidate, our fight against Central negligence will continue, he said.

The editorial said BJDs support for all decisions taken by the BJP is likely to weaken the regional outfits position as the latter is the main opposition party in the State.

Rejecting the Opposition criticism over BJDs support, Naveen said, The NDA candidate is a distinguished Scheduled Caste person. This apart, BJP had supported our (BJD) candidate PA Sangma in the last Presidential election.

Meanwhile, the Congress questioned BJDs policy of equi-distance from opposition political parties after the CM announced the regional outfits support for the NDA Presidential candidate.

The CM has no guts to turn down the Prime Ministers direction. As soon as Modi called him, he (Naveen) agreed to support the NDA candidate. Where is the BJDs equi-distance policy? asked Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra.

Mishra also wanted to know what Naveen will do if another Dalit candidate is fielded for the Presidential election. The regional outfit, after its break up with BJP ahead of 2009 general elections, had announced that BJD will maintain equi-distance from both BJP and Congress.

Naveen had described the BJP as communal and Congress as corrupt while announcing his partys stance vis-a-vis the two national parties.

BHUBANESWAR: A day after announcing Biju Janata Dals (BJD) support for NDAs candidate for Presidential poll, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday said the regional partys fight against Central negligence towards Odisha will continue. BJDs support for NDAs presidential candidate Ramnath Kovind has come in for strong criticism from the Opposition Congress. Besides, BJDs decision has also been questioned in an editorial in an Odia daily owned and edited by party MP Tathagat Satpathy. The CMs response on the Presidential candidate came while replying to questions from mediapersons on the editorial. Even though the BJD has extended support to NDAs Presidential candidate, our fight against Central negligence will continue, he said. The editorial said BJDs support for all decisions taken by the BJP is likely to weaken the regional outfits position as the latter is the main opposition party in the State. Rejecting the Opposition criticism over BJDs support, Naveen said, The NDA candidate is a distinguished Scheduled Caste person. This apart, BJP had supported our (BJD) candidate PA Sangma in the last Presidential election. Meanwhile, the Congress questioned BJDs policy of equi-distance from opposition political parties after the CM announced the regional outfits support for the NDA Presidential candidate. The CM has no guts to turn down the Prime Ministers direction. As soon as Modi called him, he (Naveen) agreed to support the NDA candidate. Where is the BJDs equi-distance policy? asked Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra. Mishra also wanted to know what Naveen will do if another Dalit candidate is fielded for the Presidential election. The regional outfit, after its break up with BJP ahead of 2009 general elections, had announced that BJD will maintain equi-distance from both BJP and Congress. Naveen had described the BJP as communal and Congress as corrupt while announcing his partys stance vis-a-vis the two national parties.
By AFP

BRUSSELS: Belgium said today a Moroccan man carried out a foiled terrorist attack with a nail bomb at a busy Brussels train station, the latest in a wave of attacks to hit Europe.

The 36-year-old man, identified only as O Z, shouted "Allahu Akbar" and tried to detonate a suitcase in a group of passengers at Brussels Central station before a soldier shot him dead yesterday.

The suspect, from the largely immigrant Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek which has been linked to a number of previous attacks, was not known to police for terrorism offences.

"It could have been much worse," Belgian federal prosecutor's spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told a news conference. "It is clear that he wanted to cause more damage than he did."

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said a "terrorist attack has been prevented" in the city that hosts the EU and NATO headquarters.

But he said that while security would be stepped up, the country's terror alert level would be kept stable.

"We are not allowing ourselves to be intimidated by terrorists," he added.

The blast came a day after a man mowed down Muslims near a mosque in London, and a suspected 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 Zavantem Airport and the Maalbeek metro station near the EU quarter 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 2015 suicide bombings and shootings in Paris which left 130 people dead.

In yesterday's incident, the man failed to cause any casualties.

He entered the station and twice approached a group of around 10 passengers, the second time standing in the middle of them, prosecutors said.

"He grabbed his suitcase while shouting and causing a partial explosion. Fortunately nobody was hurt," Van Der Sypt said.

"The suitcase immediately caught fire. The man then left his luggage burning and went down to the platform in pursuit of a station master. Meanwhile the bag exploded a second time more violently. This bag contained nails and gas bottles," he added.

"The man then returned to the hall where he rushed to a soldier shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest). The soldier immediately opened fire and hit the individual several times."

The man, who died instantly, was not wearing a suicide belt, contrary to some Belgian media reports, he said.

"He was not known to the authorities for any terrorism connection," Van Der Sypt said, declining to give the man's full name while the investigation continues.

Interior Minister Jan Jambon underlined what a close call passengers had when he said the "big explosion did not happen."

Police later raided the man's home in Molenbeek, home to some of the jihadists involved in the Paris and Brussels attacks.

Belgium would keep its terror alert level at three on a scale of four, Michel said after chairing a meeting with his national security council.

BRUSSELS: Belgium said today a Moroccan man carried out a foiled terrorist attack with a nail bomb at a busy Brussels train station, the latest in a wave of attacks to hit Europe. The 36-year-old man, identified only as O Z, shouted "Allahu Akbar" and tried to detonate a suitcase in a group of passengers at Brussels Central station before a soldier shot him dead yesterday. The suspect, from the largely immigrant Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek which has been linked to a number of previous attacks, was not known to police for terrorism offences. "It could have been much worse," Belgian federal prosecutor's spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told a news conference. "It is clear that he wanted to cause more damage than he did." Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said a "terrorist attack has been prevented" in the city that hosts the EU and NATO headquarters. But he said that while security would be stepped up, the country's terror alert level would be kept stable. "We are not allowing ourselves to be intimidated by terrorists," he added. The blast came a day after a man mowed down Muslims near a mosque in London, and a suspected 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 Zavantem Airport and the Maalbeek metro station near the EU quarter 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 2015 suicide bombings and shootings in Paris which left 130 people dead. In yesterday's incident, the man failed to cause any casualties. He entered the station and twice approached a group of around 10 passengers, the second time standing in the middle of them, prosecutors said. "He grabbed his suitcase while shouting and causing a partial explosion. Fortunately nobody was hurt," Van Der Sypt said. "The suitcase immediately caught fire. The man then left his luggage burning and went down to the platform in pursuit of a station master. Meanwhile the bag exploded a second time more violently. This bag contained nails and gas bottles," he added. "The man then returned to the hall where he rushed to a soldier shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest). The soldier immediately opened fire and hit the individual several times." The man, who died instantly, was not wearing a suicide belt, contrary to some Belgian media reports, he said. "He was not known to the authorities for any terrorism connection," Van Der Sypt said, declining to give the man's full name while the investigation continues. Interior Minister Jan Jambon underlined what a close call passengers had when he said the "big explosion did not happen." Police later raided the man's home in Molenbeek, home to some of the jihadists involved in the Paris and Brussels attacks. Belgium would keep its terror alert level at three on a scale of four, Michel said after chairing a meeting with his national security council.
By AFP

BANGUI: The death toll from clashes in the Central African Republic has surged to around 100, local officials said Wednesday of violence that erupted hours after the government signed a truce with rebel groups.

The bloodshed, which left dozens more injured, dashed hopes of an end to the simmering sectarian violence which has blighted the country since 2013, pitting Christian anti-Balaka militias against mainly Muslim ex-Seleka rebels.

Shooting erupted early on Tuesday in the central town of Bria and by midnight (2300 GMT) security sources and NGOs said some 40 people had been killed with another 43 wounded.

But by Wednesday morning, the death toll had risen to around 100, according to the town's mayor Maurice Belikoussou and its parish priest Gbenai.

The fighting began just hours after Bangui reached a deal with rebel groups on an immediate ceasefire in an agreement brokered by a Catholic group in Rome.

Since mid-May, Bria and several other southeastern towns -- Bangassou, Alindao and Mobaye -- have been engulfed by violence.

By the end of the month, the fighting had already killed 300 people, wounded 200 and displaced 100,000 others, the UN's humanitarian organisation (OCHA) and the government said.

In Bria alone, the violence has forced more than 40,000 people out of their homes, OCHA figures show, with more forced to flee in Tuesday's fighting.

"The warring parties burned villages and neighbourhoods of Bria, forcing more of the population out with many fleeing into the bush," local MP Arsene Kongbo told AFP on Wednesday.

- 'Defending ourselves' -

Monday's short-lived agreement, which was announced after five days of talks in Rome, had been hailed as a precious chance to stabilise one of the world's most volatile and poorest countries.

Under the deal, which was signed by 13 of the 14 rebel factions in CAR, armed groups were to be granted political representation in exchange for an end to attacks and blockades.

But just hours later, intense shooting began with dozens taken to hospital with bullet wounds, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) representative in Bria said.

"We signed the agreement, but we have to defend ourselves," said Djamil Babanani, spokesman for the FPRC (Popular Front for the Renaissance of Central Africa), a Seleka faction which signed the ceasefire deal.

"We can't allow an attack to happen without reacting."

Sporadic fighting had erupted in the town on Saturday after one of the FPRC's leaders, Hamad Issa, was killed, prompting clashes with the anti-Balaka militia, several sources said.

Ceasefire now

The bloodshed prompted urgent calls from the UN for an immediate halt to the violence.

"It is vital that the cease-fire agreed upon by the parties comes into force immediately to free the populations and the many regions of the country that are still suffering from armed violence," said Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the UN's special representative in Central Africa.

"This violence has also forced more than 100,000 people to flee inside the country and more than 20,000 others to seek refuge in the Democratic Republic of Congo," he said, referring to the overall effect of unrest across CAR since mid-May.

"The total number of internally displaced persons has, therefore, surpassed the 500,000 mark."

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch on Wednesday released a report highlighting the plight of people with disabilities in CAR, saying they had faced violent attacks and were especially vulnerable while trying to flee.

One of the world's poorest nations, CAR has been struggling to recover from a civil war between Muslim and Christian militias that started in 2013 when President Francois Bozize was overthrown by a coalition of Muslim-majority rebel groups called the Seleka.

Christians, who account for about 80 percent of the population, then sought revenge by organising vigilante units dubbed "anti-balaka", in reference to the machetes used by the rebels.

In 2014, the Seleka were ousted by a military intervention led by former colonial ruler France, triggering the bloodiest sectarian violence in the country's history.

BANGUI: The death toll from clashes in the Central African Republic has surged to around 100, local officials said Wednesday of violence that erupted hours after the government signed a truce with rebel groups. The bloodshed, which left dozens more injured, dashed hopes of an end to the simmering sectarian violence which has blighted the country since 2013, pitting Christian anti-Balaka militias against mainly Muslim ex-Seleka rebels. Shooting erupted early on Tuesday in the central town of Bria and by midnight (2300 GMT) security sources and NGOs said some 40 people had been killed with another 43 wounded. But by Wednesday morning, the death toll had risen to around 100, according to the town's mayor Maurice Belikoussou and its parish priest Gbenai. The fighting began just hours after Bangui reached a deal with rebel groups on an immediate ceasefire in an agreement brokered by a Catholic group in Rome. Since mid-May, Bria and several other southeastern towns -- Bangassou, Alindao and Mobaye -- have been engulfed by violence. By the end of the month, the fighting had already killed 300 people, wounded 200 and displaced 100,000 others, the UN's humanitarian organisation (OCHA) and the government said. In Bria alone, the violence has forced more than 40,000 people out of their homes, OCHA figures show, with more forced to flee in Tuesday's fighting. "The warring parties burned villages and neighbourhoods of Bria, forcing more of the population out with many fleeing into the bush," local MP Arsene Kongbo told AFP on Wednesday. - 'Defending ourselves' - Monday's short-lived agreement, which was announced after five days of talks in Rome, had been hailed as a precious chance to stabilise one of the world's most volatile and poorest countries. Under the deal, which was signed by 13 of the 14 rebel factions in CAR, armed groups were to be granted political representation in exchange for an end to attacks and blockades. But just hours later, intense shooting began with dozens taken to hospital with bullet wounds, a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) representative in Bria said. "We signed the agreement, but we have to defend ourselves," said Djamil Babanani, spokesman for the FPRC (Popular Front for the Renaissance of Central Africa), a Seleka faction which signed the ceasefire deal. "We can't allow an attack to happen without reacting." Sporadic fighting had erupted in the town on Saturday after one of the FPRC's leaders, Hamad Issa, was killed, prompting clashes with the anti-Balaka militia, several sources said. Ceasefire now The bloodshed prompted urgent calls from the UN for an immediate halt to the violence. "It is vital that the cease-fire agreed upon by the parties comes into force immediately to free the populations and the many regions of the country that are still suffering from armed violence," said Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the UN's special representative in Central Africa. "This violence has also forced more than 100,000 people to flee inside the country and more than 20,000 others to seek refuge in the Democratic Republic of Congo," he said, referring to the overall effect of unrest across CAR since mid-May. "The total number of internally displaced persons has, therefore, surpassed the 500,000 mark." Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch on Wednesday released a report highlighting the plight of people with disabilities in CAR, saying they had faced violent attacks and were especially vulnerable while trying to flee. One of the world's poorest nations, CAR has been struggling to recover from a civil war between Muslim and Christian militias that started in 2013 when President Francois Bozize was overthrown by a coalition of Muslim-majority rebel groups called the Seleka. Christians, who account for about 80 percent of the population, then sought revenge by organising vigilante units dubbed "anti-balaka", in reference to the machetes used by the rebels. In 2014, the Seleka were ousted by a military intervention led by former colonial ruler France, triggering the bloodiest sectarian violence in the country's history.
By AFP

JERUSALEM: The head of Israel's air force said Wednesday that in any future conflict with Lebanon the Jewish state will have "unimaginable" military power at its disposal.

Major General Amir Eshel told a security conference that Israel's armed forces now have far more punch than they did in the 2006 war against Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

"What the air force was able to do quantitatively in the... Lebanon war over the course of 34 days we can do today in 48-60 hours," he told the conference at Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.

"This is potential power unimaginable in its scope, much different to what we have seen in the past and far greater than people estimate."

Israeli troops poured into southern Lebanon after the Shiite militia seized two soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid on July 12, 2006 in a war that killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets from neighbouring Lebanon during the conflict, with one million Israelis in the north of the country coming under heavy fire for more than a month.

Since then Israel has built up a sophisticated defence system, including the Iron Dome short-range interceptor which has successfully brought down rockets fired from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt's lawless Sinai region and the Gaza Strip.

It also has the medium-range David's Sling and the Arrow missile defence system, designed to counter more distant threats.

The army said that an Arrow was deployed in March to destroy a Syrian rocket which posed a "ballistic threat" during Israeli air strikes which drew retaliatory missile fire.

The Israeli air force has also started taking delivery of 50 advanced F-35 warplanes from the United States.

Eshel did not draw a scenario for a future war with Lebanon or Syria, saying only that Israel must strike hard and fast in case of conflict.

"If war breaks out in the north, we have to open with all our strength from the start," he said.

"Threats to Israel air force aircraft in the Lebanese arena will not stop the air force. They may disrupt operations here and there but that will not stop us."

He went on to warn Lebanese civilians of the danger to them posed by Hezbollah military installations in residential areas.

"There is a very potential for collateral damage, for harming people who are not involved, people who we have no wish to harm," he said.

"If before the eruption of hostilities, or right when they begin, Lebanese residents were to leave, those places they will not be hit."

JERUSALEM: The head of Israel's air force said Wednesday that in any future conflict with Lebanon the Jewish state will have "unimaginable" military power at its disposal. Major General Amir Eshel told a security conference that Israel's armed forces now have far more punch than they did in the 2006 war against Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. "What the air force was able to do quantitatively in the... Lebanon war over the course of 34 days we can do today in 48-60 hours," he told the conference at Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. "This is potential power unimaginable in its scope, much different to what we have seen in the past and far greater than people estimate." Israeli troops poured into southern Lebanon after the Shiite militia seized two soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid on July 12, 2006 in a war that killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets from neighbouring Lebanon during the conflict, with one million Israelis in the north of the country coming under heavy fire for more than a month. Since then Israel has built up a sophisticated defence system, including the Iron Dome short-range interceptor which has successfully brought down rockets fired from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt's lawless Sinai region and the Gaza Strip. It also has the medium-range David's Sling and the Arrow missile defence system, designed to counter more distant threats. The army said that an Arrow was deployed in March to destroy a Syrian rocket which posed a "ballistic threat" during Israeli air strikes which drew retaliatory missile fire. The Israeli air force has also started taking delivery of 50 advanced F-35 warplanes from the United States. Eshel did not draw a scenario for a future war with Lebanon or Syria, saying only that Israel must strike hard and fast in case of conflict. "If war breaks out in the north, we have to open with all our strength from the start," he said. "Threats to Israel air force aircraft in the Lebanese arena will not stop the air force. They may disrupt operations here and there but that will not stop us." He went on to warn Lebanese civilians of the danger to them posed by Hezbollah military installations in residential areas. "There is a very potential for collateral damage, for harming people who are not involved, people who we have no wish to harm," he said. "If before the eruption of hostilities, or right when they begin, Lebanese residents were to leave, those places they will not be hit."
By Associated Press

JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump's son- in-law and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, arrived today for a daylong visit aimed at restarting long-dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Kushner was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Trump has tasked Kushner with the ambitious goal of laying the groundwork for what he calls the "ultimate deal."

Deep divisions remain, however, clouding the chances of a significant breakthrough.

This month marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war - a seminal event in which Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians claim these areas for a future independent state.

After two decades of failed US-led peace efforts, Palestinian statehood seems distant. Envoy Jason Greenblatt has already made several visits.

Upon his arrival, Kushner immediately paid a condolence visit to the family of a young female police officer who was killed by Palestinians attackers over the weekend near Jerusalem's Old City. Kushner said Trump asked him to personally convey the condolences of the American people.

Three Palestinian attackers armed with an automatic weapon and knives assaulted officers on duty near the Old City in two locations Friday evening.

Police said Staff Sgt Maj Hadas Malka, 23, was rushing to respond to the initial attack nearby when a Palestinian assaulted her with a knife. Malka wrestled with the man for several seconds as he stabbed her multiple times before other officers saw what was happening and opened fire, killing him, police said. She later died of her wounds in hospital.

Thousands attended her funeral Saturday night. Netanyahu visited her grieving family on Sunday and called Malka "everybody's daughter and everybody's hero." He also criticised Abbas for not condemning the attack.

It was the latest incident in a wave of Palestinian attacks that began in September 2015. Since then, Palestinian assailants have killed 43 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British student, mainly in stabbing attacks. Some 250 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire during the same period, most identified as attackers by Israel.

JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump's son- in-law and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, arrived today for a daylong visit aimed at restarting long-dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Kushner was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Trump has tasked Kushner with the ambitious goal of laying the groundwork for what he calls the "ultimate deal." Deep divisions remain, however, clouding the chances of a significant breakthrough. This month marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war - a seminal event in which Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians claim these areas for a future independent state. After two decades of failed US-led peace efforts, Palestinian statehood seems distant. Envoy Jason Greenblatt has already made several visits. Upon his arrival, Kushner immediately paid a condolence visit to the family of a young female police officer who was killed by Palestinians attackers over the weekend near Jerusalem's Old City. Kushner said Trump asked him to personally convey the condolences of the American people. Three Palestinian attackers armed with an automatic weapon and knives assaulted officers on duty near the Old City in two locations Friday evening. Police said Staff Sgt Maj Hadas Malka, 23, was rushing to respond to the initial attack nearby when a Palestinian assaulted her with a knife. Malka wrestled with the man for several seconds as he stabbed her multiple times before other officers saw what was happening and opened fire, killing him, police said. She later died of her wounds in hospital. Thousands attended her funeral Saturday night. Netanyahu visited her grieving family on Sunday and called Malka "everybody's daughter and everybody's hero." He also criticised Abbas for not condemning the attack. It was the latest incident in a wave of Palestinian attacks that began in September 2015. Since then, Palestinian assailants have killed 43 Israelis, two visiting Americans and a British student, mainly in stabbing attacks. Some 250 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire during the same period, most identified as attackers by Israel.
By AFP

NEW YORK: 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.

NEW YORK: 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.
By Reuters

OSLO: Norway offered a record number of blocks for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic Barents Sea on Wednesday, brushing off concerns about the risks of drilling in the remote, icy environment.

The oil ministry proposed 102 blocks, comprising 93 in the Barents Sea and nine in the Norwegian Sea, despite calls from the Norway's Environment Agency to remove about 20 blocks near Bear Island, an important nesting site for Arctic birds.

The application deadline for Norway's 24th Arctic licensing round is Nov. 30 and the aim is to announce awards during the first half of 2018, the ministry said.

The 93 blocks proposed in the Barents Sea beat the previous record of 72 blocks offered in Norway's 22nd round

The country's Petroleum Directorate (NPD), which regulates the industry, said drilling in the Barents Sea was Norway's best chance of making new oil and gas discoveries.

"Therefore it's important to facilitate acreage for exploration in this area," the NPD said in a statement. "There's great interest, which also reflects the fact that 2017 is set to become a record year for exploration in the Barents Sea."

The latest offer drew sharp criticism from environmentalists, who said Western Europe's top oil and gas producer was ignoring the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

"This is an attack on the environment," Truls Gulowsen, head of Greenpeace Norway, told Reuters. "It's a confirmation that the Norwegian government doesn't take their own climate commitments from Paris seriously."

The Paris Agreement sets a goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), ideally 1.5 (2.7F), above pre-industrial levels. Temperatures have already risen about 1 degree (1.8F).

Norway's petroleum sector contributes about 28 of the country's total emissions, which have to be limited according to the Paris Agreement.

Greenpeace is already taking the government to court over its previous licensing round, saying the expansion of exploration would raise emissions, violating the country's climate commitments.

The Norwegian Environment Agency had proposed expanding a non-drilling zone around Bear Island to 100 km from 65 km but about 20 blocks offered in the latest round fall within the new suggested exclusion zone.

The agency was not immediately available to comment.

OSLO: Norway offered a record number of blocks for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic Barents Sea on Wednesday, brushing off concerns about the risks of drilling in the remote, icy environment. The oil ministry proposed 102 blocks, comprising 93 in the Barents Sea and nine in the Norwegian Sea, despite calls from the Norway's Environment Agency to remove about 20 blocks near Bear Island, an important nesting site for Arctic birds. The application deadline for Norway's 24th Arctic licensing round is Nov. 30 and the aim is to announce awards during the first half of 2018, the ministry said. The 93 blocks proposed in the Barents Sea beat the previous record of 72 blocks offered in Norway's 22nd round The country's Petroleum Directorate (NPD), which regulates the industry, said drilling in the Barents Sea was Norway's best chance of making new oil and gas discoveries. "Therefore it's important to facilitate acreage for exploration in this area," the NPD said in a statement. "There's great interest, which also reflects the fact that 2017 is set to become a record year for exploration in the Barents Sea." The latest offer drew sharp criticism from environmentalists, who said Western Europe's top oil and gas producer was ignoring the 2015 Paris climate agreement. "This is an attack on the environment," Truls Gulowsen, head of Greenpeace Norway, told Reuters. "It's a confirmation that the Norwegian government doesn't take their own climate commitments from Paris seriously." The Paris Agreement sets a goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), ideally 1.5 (2.7F), above pre-industrial levels. Temperatures have already risen about 1 degree (1.8F). Norway's petroleum sector contributes about 28 of the country's total emissions, which have to be limited according to the Paris Agreement. Greenpeace is already taking the government to court over its previous licensing round, saying the expansion of exploration would raise emissions, violating the country's climate commitments. The Norwegian Environment Agency had proposed expanding a non-drilling zone around Bear Island to 100 km from 65 km but about 20 blocks offered in the latest round fall within the new suggested exclusion zone. The agency was not immediately available to comment.
By AFP

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis is supporting a series of aid projects in South Sudan, the Vatican said Wednesday, sending money in his place after a trip to the war-torn country was ruled out.

The Vatican will donate 462,000 euros ($515,000), which will be divided among two hospitals run by nuns, a teacher training program and a project to purchase seeds and tools for 2,500 farming families.

The Argentine pontiff wanted to send "a concrete sign of his closeness" to those in the world's youngest nation, which was plunged into a civil war in 2013 and hit by a four-month famine this year, Bishop Peter Turkson told the press.

"The Holy Father does not forget the victims that no-one is listening to in this bloodthirsty and inhumane conflict," he said in a press conference at the tiny city state.

He called for an "end to weapons, rape, death."

Francis had repeatedly said he wanted to travel to South Sudan with his Anglican counterpart Justin Welby but the Vatican said at the end of May that at the moment such a trip would be too dangerous.

Missionary Laura Gemignani, who works at one of the two hospitals supported by the pope, said she had seen more horrors in two years in South Sudan than in 25 years in Ethiopia.

A famine that was declared in parts of South Sudan four months ago is over, UN aid agencies said Wednesday, but extreme hunger has increased to its highest levels ever across the war-torn country.

The famine, due to three years of conflict, has affected 100,000 people.

But while the famine has eased, the number of people struggling to find food each day has grown to six million from 4.9 million in February, in what the agencies said was the "highest level of food insecurity ever experienced in South Sudan."

And the number of people facing emergency levels of hunger -- one step below famine -- has increased to 1.7 million from one million in February.

South Sudan was plunged into civil war after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him.

The violence -- initially between ethnic Dinka supporters of Kiir and ethnic Nuer supporters of Machar -- has since spread to other parts of the country, engulfing other ethnic groups.

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis is supporting a series of aid projects in South Sudan, the Vatican said Wednesday, sending money in his place after a trip to the war-torn country was ruled out. The Vatican will donate 462,000 euros ($515,000), which will be divided among two hospitals run by nuns, a teacher training program and a project to purchase seeds and tools for 2,500 farming families. The Argentine pontiff wanted to send "a concrete sign of his closeness" to those in the world's youngest nation, which was plunged into a civil war in 2013 and hit by a four-month famine this year, Bishop Peter Turkson told the press. "The Holy Father does not forget the victims that no-one is listening to in this bloodthirsty and inhumane conflict," he said in a press conference at the tiny city state. He called for an "end to weapons, rape, death." Francis had repeatedly said he wanted to travel to South Sudan with his Anglican counterpart Justin Welby but the Vatican said at the end of May that at the moment such a trip would be too dangerous. Missionary Laura Gemignani, who works at one of the two hospitals supported by the pope, said she had seen more horrors in two years in South Sudan than in 25 years in Ethiopia. A famine that was declared in parts of South Sudan four months ago is over, UN aid agencies said Wednesday, but extreme hunger has increased to its highest levels ever across the war-torn country. The famine, due to three years of conflict, has affected 100,000 people. But while the famine has eased, the number of people struggling to find food each day has grown to six million from 4.9 million in February, in what the agencies said was the "highest level of food insecurity ever experienced in South Sudan." And the number of people facing emergency levels of hunger -- one step below famine -- has increased to 1.7 million from one million in February. South Sudan was plunged into civil war after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him. The violence -- initially between ethnic Dinka supporters of Kiir and ethnic Nuer supporters of Machar -- has since spread to other parts of the country, engulfing other ethnic groups.
By AFP

LONDON: US President Donald Trump's planned state visit to Britain later this year got no mention in Queen Elizabeth II's speech to parliament on Wednesday, raising doubts about whether it will go ahead.

The omission follows media reports that Trump no longer wants to come because of British public opposition to the visit, after a petition to cancel it received more than 1.8 million signatures.

It is customary for the monarch to list state visits in the annual speech, and Elizabeth did mention one such visit coming up next month by Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia.

But the speech glided over the invitation to Trump, which was widely criticised in Britain as an attempt by Prime Minister Theresa May to curry favour with the president during his first year in office.

British press reports after the speech said the visit was clearly now in jeopardy, but a spokesman for May insisted the invitation had not been revoked.

"The visit wasn't mentioned in the Queen's Speech because a date hasn't been fixed yet," the spokesman said.

LONDON: US President Donald Trump's planned state visit to Britain later this year got no mention in Queen Elizabeth II's speech to parliament on Wednesday, raising doubts about whether it will go ahead. The omission follows media reports that Trump no longer wants to come because of British public opposition to the visit, after a petition to cancel it received more than 1.8 million signatures. It is customary for the monarch to list state visits in the annual speech, and Elizabeth did mention one such visit coming up next month by Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia. But the speech glided over the invitation to Trump, which was widely criticised in Britain as an attempt by Prime Minister Theresa May to curry favour with the president during his first year in office. British press reports after the speech said the visit was clearly now in jeopardy, but a spokesman for May insisted the invitation had not been revoked. "The visit wasn't mentioned in the Queen's Speech because a date hasn't been fixed yet," the spokesman said.
By Associated Press

MOSCOW: The Kremlin has voiced regret about the new US sanctions against Russia and warned of possible retaliation.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that the US move wasn't constructive, adding that "various options are being considered on expert level."

The Trump administration announced yesterday that it has imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and firms over Russian activities in Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the penalties are designed to "maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution."

Russia-US relations have remained tense even as the White House considers scheduling President Donald Trump's meeting with Putin on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 meeting.

Peskov reaffirmed the possibility of such a meeting, but said that no preparations had been made yet.

MOSCOW: The Kremlin has voiced regret about the new US sanctions against Russia and warned of possible retaliation. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that the US move wasn't constructive, adding that "various options are being considered on expert level." The Trump administration announced yesterday that it has imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and firms over Russian activities in Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the penalties are designed to "maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution." Russia-US relations have remained tense even as the White House considers scheduling President Donald Trump's meeting with Putin on the sidelines of next month's Group of 20 meeting. Peskov reaffirmed the possibility of such a meeting, but said that no preparations had been made yet.
By Associated Press

KIDAPAWAN: Muslim rebels fled after freeing dozens of hostages from a school in a southern Philippine village on Wednesday and were being pursued by army troops, as a daylong crisis eased in the volatile region, officials said.

Gunmen from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters prepared to attack troop and militiamen outposts but were repelled by government forces early Wednesday, prompting them to seize villagers as human shields in Malagakit village in North Cotabato province, military officials said.

At least four rebels were killed and two government militiamen were wounded in the fighting, which caused nearly 1,000 villagers in Malagakit and two nearby villages to flee to safety, the officials said.

The retreating gunmen, estimated by the military and police to number from 200 to 300, later occupied a Malagakit grade school building, where they sporadically traded shots with troops up to nightfall, said local army spokesman Capt. Arvin Encinas.

During a lull in the gunbattle, 31 people, including a dozen children, were either allowed to dash to freedom or escaped from the school. Other captives in the school and more 20 other residents who were trapped in their houses later were taken to safety by troops, officials said.

The gunmen managed to escape from the school after freeing the hostages and the other captives were rescued, Encinas said.

"While our troops were slowly approaching, they fled and left behind the civilians that they held as hostages," he said.

The rebels may have taken advantage of a massive military offensive against militants aligned with the Islamic State group who have laid siege to the southern city of Marawi, and plotted to attack military targets elsewhere, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said at a news conference.

"They were taking advantage of the situation that we have a very lightly defended outpost and that they think our forces are elsewhere in the province," Padilla said. "But that is not the case, our forces are spread all over. We may be facing many fronts ... but we've properly assigned our forces."

Rebel spokesman Abu Misry Mamah acknowledged in a radio interview that his group staged the attack, but said they only took hold of some villagers to protect them during the gunbattle.

The rebels broke off from the largest Muslim rebel group several years ago to protest peace talks with the government. Weakened by battle setbacks, some commanders have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group in the hope of securing funding from the Middle East-based group, according to the military.

Last month, about 500 militants seized Marawi, a mosque-dotted center of the Islamic faith in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. The attack followed an army and police raid on a hideout that failed to capture a top militant suspect. Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes, have been fighting street battles to wrest back control of four areas in the city's business district.

At least 258 militants, 65 soldiers and police and 26 civilians have been killed and more than 300,000 villagers have fled from Marawi and outlying towns.

The U.S. military in recent weeks deployed a P3 Orion aircraft to provide surveillance for troops battling more than 100 gunmen holding an unspecified number of hostages in Marawi. President Rodrigo Duterte, despite having an antagonistic stance toward Washington, has acknowledged the U.S. assistance is helping save lives.

The attack has sparked fears that the Islamic State group, while losing territory in Syria and Iraq, may be gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia. Duterte declared martial law in the entire Mindanao region to deal with the Marawi crisis.

KIDAPAWAN: Muslim rebels fled after freeing dozens of hostages from a school in a southern Philippine village on Wednesday and were being pursued by army troops, as a daylong crisis eased in the volatile region, officials said. Gunmen from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters prepared to attack troop and militiamen outposts but were repelled by government forces early Wednesday, prompting them to seize villagers as human shields in Malagakit village in North Cotabato province, military officials said. At least four rebels were killed and two government militiamen were wounded in the fighting, which caused nearly 1,000 villagers in Malagakit and two nearby villages to flee to safety, the officials said. The retreating gunmen, estimated by the military and police to number from 200 to 300, later occupied a Malagakit grade school building, where they sporadically traded shots with troops up to nightfall, said local army spokesman Capt. Arvin Encinas. During a lull in the gunbattle, 31 people, including a dozen children, were either allowed to dash to freedom or escaped from the school. Other captives in the school and more 20 other residents who were trapped in their houses later were taken to safety by troops, officials said. The gunmen managed to escape from the school after freeing the hostages and the other captives were rescued, Encinas said. "While our troops were slowly approaching, they fled and left behind the civilians that they held as hostages," he said. The rebels may have taken advantage of a massive military offensive against militants aligned with the Islamic State group who have laid siege to the southern city of Marawi, and plotted to attack military targets elsewhere, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said at a news conference. "They were taking advantage of the situation that we have a very lightly defended outpost and that they think our forces are elsewhere in the province," Padilla said. "But that is not the case, our forces are spread all over. We may be facing many fronts ... but we've properly assigned our forces." Rebel spokesman Abu Misry Mamah acknowledged in a radio interview that his group staged the attack, but said they only took hold of some villagers to protect them during the gunbattle. The rebels broke off from the largest Muslim rebel group several years ago to protest peace talks with the government. Weakened by battle setbacks, some commanders have aligned themselves with the Islamic State group in the hope of securing funding from the Middle East-based group, according to the military. Last month, about 500 militants seized Marawi, a mosque-dotted center of the Islamic faith in the south of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation. The attack followed an army and police raid on a hideout that failed to capture a top militant suspect. Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes, have been fighting street battles to wrest back control of four areas in the city's business district. At least 258 militants, 65 soldiers and police and 26 civilians have been killed and more than 300,000 villagers have fled from Marawi and outlying towns. The U.S. military in recent weeks deployed a P3 Orion aircraft to provide surveillance for troops battling more than 100 gunmen holding an unspecified number of hostages in Marawi. President Rodrigo Duterte, despite having an antagonistic stance toward Washington, has acknowledged the U.S. assistance is helping save lives. The attack has sparked fears that the Islamic State group, while losing territory in Syria and Iraq, may be gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia. Duterte declared martial law in the entire Mindanao region to deal with the Marawi crisis.
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?
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. Morning high of 49F with temps falling to near 40. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 28F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph.
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.

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"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."
A new large scale study has focussed on faulty BRCA genes and their linkage to breast and ovarian cancer. The research could help doctors counsel and advise their patients in a more definitive way in terms of treatment as well as lifestyle changes that could minimize cancer risk.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are two known genes whose combination of genetic faults along with environmental factors can raise the risk of getting a cancer in a woman. Faults in these two genes have been particularly known to raise the risk many fold. The accurate estimates of getting breast and ovarian cancers among women with these two genetic mutations changes with age and is thus often difficult. If these estimates could be made, preventive strategies such as changing lifestyle behaviors, taking certain medications or undergoing certain surgeries could be advised. Screening for cancers can also be better streamlined if the risks are better defined.

Dividing breast cancer cell - Image Credit: royaltystockphoto.com / Shutterstock

Most studies on cancer risks for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are backwards i.e. they are looking at the mutations among women who have already developed the cancers. Thus accurate understanding was lacking. To overcome this, the new study has looked at a large number of healthy women who have not yet developed breast cancer, if they have the mutations and has followed them up over time. This study is published in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, conducted by an international team of researchers led by the University of Cambridge, UK.

Studys author, Dr Antonis Antoniou from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge said that this study could provide most precise estimates of age-specific risks to date. This would be very helpful in counseling the women with faults in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes as well as in their treatment.

The study recruited a group of 9856 women with the mutations. There were 6036 BRCA1 and 3820 BRCA2 female carriers. Of these, 5046 were unaffected by any cancer and 4810 had with breast or ovarian cancer or both at baseline or starting of the study. The study recruitment began in 1997-2011 through three major databases - International BRCA1/2 Carrier Cohort Study, the Breast Cancer Family Registry and the Kathleen Cuningham Foundation Consortium for Research into Familial Breast Cancer. The women recruited were part of other large studies in United Kingdom (EMBRACE), the Netherlands (HEBON), and France (GENEPSO). The participants were studied until December 2013 with an average of 5 years of follow up for each woman.

Within the 2,276 of the women with BRCA1 mutations and 1,610 BRCA2 mutation carriers, the researchers found 426 new breast cancer cases. Among those with BRCA1 mutations, breast cancer cases rose between ages 30 and 40 years. From the 2,905 women with BRCA1 mutations and 2,161 women with BRCA2 mutations, there were 109 new ovarian cancer cases.

Researchers estimated risks at:

Breast cancer risk up to 80 years of age was 72% for BRCA1 mutation carriers

Breast cancer risk up to 80 years of age was 69% for BRCA2 carriers

Opposite breast cancer risk 40% for BRCA1 mutation carriers

Opposite breast cancer risk 26% for BRCA2 carriers

Ovarian cancer risk up to 80 years is 44% for BRCA1 mutation carriers

Ovarian cancer risk up to 80 years is 17% for BRCA2 mutation carriers

The position of the gene fault and the history of cancers in the family altered the cancer risk say researchers. Mutations in genes occur if the codons in the DNA called A, C, G and T get changed to a different one. There are millions of such letters. A small change thus could mean a many fold increase in risk.

Nowadays there have been advances in screening technologies and thus all women could be screened for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations rather than only those women who have a first degree female relative who has these cancers. Earlier the estimates were not quantified. This study has provided the required numbers that could help doctors counsel their patients regarding screening.

The study was funded and supported by Cancer Research UK, the European Union and other funders.
In a Canadian first, a medical team has implanted a wireless device inside a heart failure patient, permitting clinicians to monitor the patient's cardiovascular status  virtually and in real-time  and proactively adjust treatment to prevent costly, potentially unnecessary hospitalization.

"Heart failure is an epidemic that commonly leads to hospitalization," says Dr. Heather Ross, scientific lead at the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research and cardiologist, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, University Health Network. "Hospitalization is often necessary when patients start to retain fluid, develop congestion and experience shortness of breath. This technology is a way to directly measure how much fluid is in a patient, allowing us to intervene before they develop symptoms of congestion, before they end up in hospital. This is a big game-changer."

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Funded by the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, the device called CardioMEMS HF System was successfully implanted by interventional cardiologists at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in March 2017. The system features a small butterfly-like sensor that then sits inside the pulmonary artery of a heart failure patient. When the patient lies on an accompanying antenna-equipped pillow device, the sensor provides important data  including the patient's lung pressure readings to clinicians  via a secure website.

"Never before have we had the ability to obtain a patient's accurate lung pressure data while they are outside the hospital," said Meredith Linghorne, nurse practitioner, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. "Traditionally we've relied on a patient describing symptoms, and by then they may have already progressed to the point of hospitalization. With this device, we can see warning signs days in advance, and adjust treatment accordingly."

The most rapidly rising cardiovascular disease in Canada, heart failure affects close to one million Canadians, and an estimated 26 million people globally. In Canada, heart failure patients stay an average of almost 10 days for each hospital admission, accounting for 1.4 million hospital stays a year. These patients live an average of 2.1 years after diagnosis and cost the Canadian health-care system more than $3 billion annually. About one-quarter of these patients return to hospital within three months, while approximately 50 per cent return to hospital within six months.

The CardioMEMS HF System is designed to monitor heart failure patients whose condition is serious but who are not so ill that the technology cannot improve their outcome. The first Canadian patient implanted with the heart monitor will be among 25 patients within the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre to be fitted with the device over the next nine months.
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."

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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.
There are two ingredients, triclosan and triclocarban, that are used in several cleaning products such as soaps, toothpastes, detergents, carpets, paints etc. They are mainly used to kill the microbes such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. These chemicals however persist in the environment and continue to pose a risk says a new study.

Triclosan and triclocarban are commonly used in products intended for washing [e.g., an estimated 96% of triclosan is used in products that are intentionally disposed of down the drain, such as soaps and detergents - Image Credit: Kurhan / Shutterstock

Researchers have said that their use may benefit but it is not worth the risk. The statement, The Florence Statement on Triclosan and Triclocarban, was released this week by more than 200 scientists and health professionals from 29 different countries and was published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal. The statement urges manufacturers and communities to limit the production as well as use of triclosan and triclocarban and also look closely at other antimicrobials. All products with these two chemicals need appropriate labeling says the statement along with adequate warnings.

According to the experts, these chemicals get accumulated in land, water and wildlife. They tend to come back to humans and cause harm. The risks far outweigh their benefits. Dr. Ted Schettler, science director of the Science and Environmental Health Network and one of the signatories of the statement said that this was an attempt to draw attention to the situation. These two chemicals are at the top of their hit list since they have been used for so long and exposures to them are so widespread.

These chemicals that kill microbes can come back into animals and humans the researchers add. They cause harmful effects on the animals hormone systems. This leads to problems with reproduction and developmental problems. These can be extrapolated to humans as well. These chemicals could be linked to decreased growth of the fetuses or unborn babies, low birth weight of babies, preterm births, smaller head circumference of male babies at birth and other problems. Triclosan has also been linked to allergies and worsening of asthma cases especially among children.

At present both these chemicals are being phased out in the daily use products. This year in February, the EU banned triclosan in hygiene products. United States too is removing triclosan from hand soaps in a systematic manner. The Food and Drug Administration, FDA banned it last year due to the linkages of this chemical and changes in the hormone systems. According to FDA, normal non-antibacterial soaps are just as good in removing harmful microbes and these chemicals are no really necessary at preventing illness. According to Avery Lindeman, deputy director of the Green Policy Institute and one of the signatories of the statement, these chemicals are more of a marketing ploy than of any real use.

However despite these bans, some cleaning products, cosmetics and Colgate Total toothpaste still contains triclosan. According to Lindeman, some manufacturers are removing this chemical and substituting it for another that may be just as harmful.

The spread of the chemical is alarming say researchers. For example in a 2008 study, United States residents were tested for presence of these chemicals in their bodies. It was seen that 75% of the participants had presence of triclosan in their urine samples. Researchers warn that these chemicals, once spread into the environment are difficult to get rid of. They tested water samples and found traces even in drinking water samples along with natural water samples. The U.S. Geological Survey tested and found triclosan in 60 percent of U.S. streams. This chemical being toxic to algae, crustaceans and fish is seriously damaging the ecosystems they add.
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.

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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."
A new study of children up to 2 years of age showed that those born late preterm (34-36 weeks) had a significantly greater risk of recurrent hospitalization due to respiratory illness compared to those who were born full term (>37 weeks). The repeat hospital visits also occurred at an earlier age in the late preterm birth group of children, according to an article in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology website.

Oded Breuer, MD and coauthors from Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel reported their results in the article entitled "Respiratory Hospitalizations and Rehospitalizations in Infants Born Late Preterm." The children required hospital treatment mainly for wheezing-related illness.

"Late preterm infants comprise the largest segment of premature infants and their numbers are growing. There have been few studies looking at the long-term outcomes of these children and the respiratory risks they face. The study by Breuer et al. is an important contribution highlighting the respiratory risks and morbidity in late preterm births beyond the first few months of life," says Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology Editor-in-Chief Mary Cataletto, MD, Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Stony Brook University School of Medicine.
The European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) announced today that its scientific congress will become an annual event from 2018.

Save the date: 18-20 March 2018 in Barcelona

"The yearly EHRA Congress will provide European and worldwide electrophysiologists with an impressive educational programme and new insights in the field of electrophysiology," said Professor Christophe Leclercq, Congress Scientific Programme Chair of EHRA 2018.

As a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), EHRA is the leading network for European cardiac rhythm management. EHRA's aim is to improve quality of life by reducing the impact of cardiac rhythm disturbances and reducing sudden cardiac death. The yearly congress will be an important activity towards meeting this aim.

As of 2018, EHRA Congress will be a yearly event that takes place in March instead of June. The 2018 edition will be held in Barcelona, Spain from 18 to 20 March.

The congress will emphasize educational and interactive sessions which include mobile application and digital voting, plus more live cases in electrophysiology. Summits will be held on cardiac mapping, ventricular tachycardia, and lead management.

Original science will be presented in the dedicated abstract sessions, while other sessions will focus on heart failure. Sessions of particular interest to young electrophysiologists will be highlighted as a special track.

Professor Helmut Puererfellner, EHRA scientific program vice-chairperson, said: "Delegates will enjoy a first class scientific program enriched by high quality training to cope with all sorts of arrhythmias in clinical practice. EHRA Congress 2018 promises to be a stimulating experience in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe."
Scientists at the Science Foundation Ireland-funded APC Microbiome Institute at University College Cork, Ireland, have shown that, at least in mice, gut bacteria play a key role in regulating abdominal pain and its associated changes in the brain and spinal cord.

Visceral pain is a global term used to describe pain originating from the internal organs of the body, which affects a significant proportion of the population and is a common feature of functional gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Currently, the treatment strategies for visceral pain are unsatisfactory, with the development of novel therapeutics hindered by a lack of detailed knowledge of the underlying mechanisms, although alterations of the Gut-Brain axis has been implicated.

The human gut is home to over 100 trillion bacteria and other microorganisms collectively known as the microbiota. The gut microbiota is involved in critical processes such as digestion, metabolism, immune responses and absorption of nutrients. Until recently, little was known about how the microbiota influences the nervous system; however, it is becoming increasingly clear that gut microorganisms can influence the brain and behavior.

Profs. John Cryan and Ted Dinan along with postdoctoral fellow Dr. Monica Tramullas and research scientist Pauline Luczynski, have unraveled a novel mechanism underlying how visceral pain can emerge. They have shown that mice that grow up without microbes (germ-free mice) were more sensitive to visceral pain stimuli. These animals also showed corresponding changes in genes in their spinal cord. In the brain, germ-free mice had changes in areas involved in the descending pain modulation and its emotional regulation.

Of great interest, colonization of germ-free mice with gut bacteria reversed these changes which suggest that there is potential to reverse the changes with microbiota-based interventions. Prof. Cryan, says "we are very excited about these data, although the microbiota has long been thought to play a key role in pain modulation, the current study proves it categorically and offers insights into some of the potential neurobiological mechanisms at play."

The data have implications for our understanding of IBS and supports the concept of targeting the microbiota to modulate pain symptoms in this and other gastrointestinal disorders.

Source: http://www.sfi.ie/news-resources/press-releases/understanding-how-pain-is-bugging-you%E2%80%A6-irish-scientists-uncover-critical-role-for-microbes-in-mediating-gut-pain.html
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.
Scientists studying a mystery link between the dangerous pregnancy complication pre-eclampsia and an increased risk of heart disease in later life for both mother and child have uncovered important new clues.

A study, led by researchers at the University of Nottingham, appears to suggest that the body's normal defense mechanism of flushing out damaging cholesterol from the blood may be disrupted by the illness.

The results of the study, published in the June edition of the Journal of Lipid Research, show that although the mother's body attempts to compensate and offset the effect of higher cholesterol levels, this damage limitation fails because the placenta has already been compromised by the disease.

It has prompted the researchers to undertake a further study monitoring mothers with pre-eclampsia after delivery to investigate whether their ability to effectively remove excess cholesterol from their cells in the weeks following birth continues to be disrupted.

If so, it could pave the way for tests which could identify those women most at risk of developing heart disease and who may benefit from receiving preventative advice and medication.

Dr Hiten Mistry, British Heart Foundation Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellow in the University's School of Medicine, led the study. He said: "This is a very interesting finding and illustrates the importance of having the correct balance of cholesterol during pregnancy. The ability of mothers to effectively remove excess cholesterol is essential and monitoring this after delivery in women who suffered from pre-eclampsia could prove to be a useful indicator to identify those individuals at high risk of early heart disease."

Pre-eclampsia is one of the leading causes of serious illness and death in pregnant women worldwide, affecting between two and eight per cent of pregnancies.

It usually affects women in the second half of pregnancy or soon after their baby is delivered. Early signs of pre-eclampsia include high blood pressure and protein in the urine. While many cases are mild, in more serious cases it can lead to complications for the mother including blood clotting disorders, organ failure and seizures, while babies can be smaller and born prematurely.

Both women who develop pre-eclampsia and their babies are at increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease in later life. Mothers affected are also eight times more likely to develop heart disease, while their babies are five times more likely to be affected.

During pregnancy, it is important for the fetus to receive some cholesterol from its mother to aid its growth and development and build basic fat reserves.

However, excessive amounts can be damaging and the body works to strip away surplus cholesterol by carrying it away in the blood to the liver where it is processed and recycled.

The placenta too plays a role - as well as providing the baby with oxygen and essential nutrients, it also helps to regulate the amount of cholesterol which is passed to the unborn child.

However, the study found that in pre-eclampsia, both the mother's system for removing the cholesterol from the body and the placental fail safe system were both compromised by the disease.
Hebrew University researchers have developed a test for efficiently classifying bacterial strains as tolerant, resistant, or persistent. If implemented in the hospital setting, this innovation could help to guide treatment decisions, and could ultimately reduce the ever-growing risk of bacterial resistance.

A growing number of pathogens are developing resistance to one or more antibiotics, threatening our ability to treat infectious diseases. Now, according to a study published 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 Prof. Nathalie Balaban, the Joseph and Sadie Danciger Professor of Physics at 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 at the Hebrew University's Racah Institute of Physics. "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."
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 skullwhich 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.
In the growing list of tastefully modified automobiles, including both cars and motorcycles, a new name has joined. This time its the Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350, customised by Navi Mumbai based modifier, Maratha Motorcycles. The customizer has modified the Thunderbird to give it a Bobber look and named it Rudra.While Royal Enfield is a favourite among customizers, its a rare sight to see a Thunderbird getting modified this tastefully. Maratha Motorcycles has used a lot of brass in the Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350 Rudra that adds a lot of character to the to the motorcycle.The extensive use of Brass can be seen on tank cap, handlebar riser, exhaust end cap and bar-end rear view mirrors. The dragster styled handlebar, custome foot pegs in matte black finish, 18-inch custom spoke wheels with high profile tyres, front and rear disc and the split seats in Tan shade makes the Rudra a work of art.The paint job is also a talking point here with a greyish tone to it, with a use of glossy black to enhance the looks. No changes to the negine are being made and it is still powered by the same 346 cc single cylinder mill capable of 19.8 bhp of maximum power and 28 Nm of peak torque. It is mated to a 5-speed gearbox.
New Delhi: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has entered into a tie-up with a US-based company for lighter seats that also offer more legroom on the aircraft.



The airline has awarded a seat programme for its first 50 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. A part of SpiceJet's existing Boeing 737 Next Gen fleet will also be retrofitted with the new seats.



The agreement with LIFT by EnCore is for a product line called Tourist Class Seating.



"Owing to its superior design, lighter weight and extra legroom, passenger-centric Tourist Class Seating has garnered tremendous popularity in the global aviation space. Once in place, it will elevate comfort and convenience of passengers and enhance customer experience," SpiceJet said in a statement.



Lighter seats also help airlines cut fuel costs as a drop in weight means less fuel is burnt to operate an aircraft. The airline has also inked an agreement with TCI to design and manufacture galleys for its 155 B737 MAX planes, deliveries of which start next year.



SpiceJet signed an initial pact with Boeing for 40 B737 Max-10 aircraft earlier this week, taking its total order of B 737 Max planes to 225.
The Tata group may buy a major stake in Air India, top sources told CNN-News18 on Wednesday, adding that the group is holding talks with officials from the Civil Aviation Ministry.Source from the industry said, "There were four conglomerates that were interested in buying the airline. Tata Group being one of them are very keen in buying a major stake in the airline if not for 100%. They are in talks with top ministers at the Centre on the process of buying. Tata Group feels that it's their airline and they want it back."The reference is obviously to the fact that AI was started by the Tata Group in 1932 as Tata Airlines. After Independence, the group joined hands with the government in 1948 to fly the airline which was fully nationalized five years later.Television channel ET Now reported that Tata Group chairman N Chandrasekaran has already held informal talks with the government and that the group may bring Singapore Airlines on board to buy a minority stake if the national carrier is fully privatised.Highly placed sources had earlier told CNN-News18 that the Finance ministry and Civil Aviation Ministry had drawn a road map to divest either a significant part or whole of Air India.A source said the government is keen to have a clear plan for privatization of Air India by September so that there is a window of six months to carry out the necessary processes before the end of the financial year. This decision was taken at the top level in the government. If all goes as per plan, by next financial year, Air India will be owned by a private player, the source said.The government-owned carrier has a debt of more than Rs 50,000 crore and has been running a loss due to high maintenance costs and lease rent. It barely made any operational profit in the past decade except in FY16, even when fuel prices fell drastically.With banks refusing to convert their debt into equity and a long wait for the success of 2012s turnaround plan (TAP), Air India is facing challenges to fly.Apart from considering the possibility of privatizing Air India, the civil aviation ministry had asked SBI Capital Markets to submit a report in three months reviewing TAP and airlines inability to reduce loss.Air India has a market share of 62 percent in international travel, which can be of some value. It also owns prime real estate in metro cities.
Pakistans High Commissioner Abdul Basit has hinted at a softening stance on Kulbhushan Jadhav by saying that there was a scope for rethinking in the case.In an interview to The Hindu , Basit claimed that Jadhav had some steps to go in an appeal process in Pakistan. The High Commissioner said he would be able to appeal for clemency first to Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa and President Mamnoon Husain if his appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeals. So there is room for a rethink there.Talking about the process in the International Court of Justice, Basit said, We would like this process to be over quickly, but until (it does), we are committed.Recently, Pakistan had issued a statement clarifying that Jadhav will not be executed till he exhausts all his mercy appeals and according to the law he has two appeals left, one with the Pakistani Army Chief and the other with the President of Pakistan.Speaking about the other trial, of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and convicted Mumbai 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeeds detention, Basit told The Hindu that the Pakistan government was trying its best to keep Saeed under (house) arrest and several organisations he represents were under observation for now.In April, a military court in Pakistan had sentenced Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav to death for alleged involvement in "spying" and "subversive activities".Jadhav was arrested reportedly from Balochistan after he entered from Iran.India moved the ICJ against the death sentence on May 8, describing the charges against Jadhav as "concocted" and his trial as "farcical".In a hearing of the case on May 18, a 10-member bench of the ICJ restrained Pakistan from executing 46-year-old retired Indian Navy officer.Recently, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) asked India to make its submission in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case by September 13, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday and debunked Pakistan's claim that its request seeking more time in case had been rejected.Pakistan had been asked by the court to complete its submission by December 13 this year, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.
New Delhi: As Darjeeling continues to be on the edge over the protests, demanding a separate Gorkhaland of the Nepali speaking people of the region, Assam Rifles have arrested two alleged terrorists belonging to the Gorkha Liberation Army (GLA), from the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.



In a joint operation with the Assam Police, the Jairampur Battalion of Assam Rifles arrested a self-styled Lieutenant Babu Konwar alias Babu Gogoi of GLA on Monday evening. According to Assam Rifles, after initial interrogation, Konwar admitted that he was responsible for extorting money from local people.



This is the second apprehension of a senior GLA cadre from this area within a week and is an indicator that the underground outfit is trying to increase its activity. The other nabbed terrorist was identified as self-styled Lieutenant Rajesh Lama alias Ganesh Rai of GLA. A 9mm pistol was recovered from his possession.



Kohima-based Defence PRO Chiranjeet Konwar said, Post spot interrogation, he admitted allegiance to GLA, divulging that he had undergone training in a NSCN Camps and had come here for collection of money & extortion and to increase influence of GLA in the region.



The arrests come at a time when Gorkhaland protest is at its peak in Darjeeling, while allegations and counter allegations are flying thick and fast on the issue.



The links between GLA and the other terrorist groups in North East came to fore in 2014 when an arrested operative revealed that 15 Gorkhaland Personnel (GLP, a voluntary force affiliated to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha) had undergone 14-day arms training in Nagaland in 2013 with the intention of launching an armed movement for separate Gorkhaland state under the banner of GLA.



GLA is suspected to be a breakaway faction of erstwhile United Gorkha Revolutionary Front.
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Dr B K Mishra, Director of IIT Goa, on charges of amassing disproportionate assets during his tenure as the Director of Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar, (Odisha).



It is alleged that Dr Mishra has amassed huge assets, both movable and immovable, during his tenure as the director. The preliminary probe by the investigative agency puts the amount to the tune of Rs. 1,14,89,691 which is around 49% more than his known sources of income, during the period 01/04/2006 to 31/08/2016.



When the investigative agency asked him to explain this exponential increase in income, Dr Mishra failed to give a satisfactory response.



CBI conducted raids on his premises in Bhubaneshwar and Goa on Wednesday. Sources say the searches led to the recovery of certain incriminating documents which could lead the agency to the alleged ill-gotten wealth.



Dr Barada Kanta Mishra joined IIT Goa as the Founding Director in March 2017. Earlier, he was a faculty at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, before joining CSIR  IMMT, Bhubaneswar.


: The use of Hindi in sign-boards of Bengaluru's Metro rail has sparked off strong protests by pro-Kannada campaigners, who have urged the State government to do away with the three-language policy and stick to two languages.The protests  mostly an online/ social media campaign under the hashtag #NammaMetroHindiBeda  have begun after the inauguration last week of the full phase 1 of the Metro rail, with the north-south corridor being made operational last Saturday.The social media activism soon drew over 10 lakh responses from across the city and the State, with many weighing in on what they felt was an imposition of Hindi in a local commuter transit system."For Kannadigas, there is Kannada signage. For others (migrants), it is in English. There are other community language people here too  like Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam speakers who are greater in number than Hindi-speakers. Why should Hindi be given special status? We are against that," said Arun Javagal, one of the campaigners.Reiterating that this is not an anti-Hindi protest  in that, the campaigners are neither against the Hindi language nor against Hindi-speakers  the campaigners said they questioned the special treatment being meted by Metro officials to Hindi specifically.An online campaign has been launched against the reported Hindi hegemony by Banavasi group. ("When we go to north Indian cities, we make the effort to learn Hindi. If there are migrants from other States who come to Karnataka, a large number of them have tried to assimilate here by learning the language. We welcome that. But the small chance that there is, that new migrants will make any effort to learn Kannada, will diminish if the convenience of Hindi is there," said Vallish Kumar, another activist.Metro officials refused to comment on the language debate, saying this is only an option offered to commuters  nowhere is Kannada neglected. Besides, if Hindi boards are to be shunned, should Hindi films also be banned, they asked, on condition of anonymity.But Kumar argued that the campaigners have nothing against private initiatives or institutions  only state government institutions that seem to willingly include Hindi where it is not mandated."Many Central government services that were earlier in Hindi, English and local languages are not available in the local Kannada language now. This could be postal services, railway tickets, bank documents like cheque books. Why has this slowly crept in? In the case of the Metro, neither the State government nor the Centre has insisted on Hindi signages  but this was a policy adapted by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Board members many years back," Kumar said.Karnataka is the second southern state seeing a backlash against what they see as forced Hindi imposition in services, after Tamil Nadu that saw protests by many, including political parties, against Hindi sign-boards along highways.Asked whether this is not language chauvinism that hits at the cosmopolitan nature of a city like Bengaluru, the campaigners said their campaign is only about a local commuter service restricted to a city  not the railways or the airport which are Central government institutions."There is fear that, over a period of time, languages would be extinct because very few use them  we have seen this Hindi hegemony bring down the extent of usage of languages like Bhojpuri or Maithili or Santhali," said Javagal.The campaign drew support from the State government and Opposition MLAs  with Congress spokesperson Dinesh Gundu Rao saying he is against the overuse of Hindi."I think Kannada should be given priority and Karnataka will give priority to Kannada. I think people should also learn Kannada. In that sense, I don't see why people need Hindi on signages. If people want to learn and read Hindi, that is up to them. But in signages and hoardings, it isnt required, we need to look at this seriously," said Rao.Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said he would hold consultations with Metro officials on what prompted this move."Bengaluru is a cosmopolitan city; Hindi, English and Kannada are used. Kannada is compulsory and English should be used, but the Centre cannot force Hindi on people. We will talk to the concerned officials about this," Reddy told News18.
But not only was the state unable to act against illegal tendu patta businesses, it watched helplessly as this years tendu patta stock was bundled, carted and sold, leaving the local cadre richer by at least Rs 80 crore  enough to meet their current years budgets.



The nexus between the tendu patta blackmarketeers and Maoist leadership has not been established yet. But we are getting increasingly more certain about it. We recently made an arrest in Gadchiroli and the person has been suggesting something like this, said a senior police official in Bastar.



The manager who was from Telangana said he was looking after tendu patta production in one unit. Each unit has about 20 to 25 villages, and there are about 20 units in this area, he said. Each unit under him, who got paid around Rs 25,000, said the manager yields at least Rs 1 crore worth of tendu patta.



Around 20 lakh sacks of tendu patta, each containing around 50,000 leaves, are collected from Bastar each year. This provides between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 to each tribal family. Maoists get contributions from lakhs of such tribal families and extort around Rs 200 per bag from each contractor. In all they make Rs 80 to Rs 100 crore a year from Bastar region alone.



To be honest, we cant do much about it because tendu patta business is a source of livelihood for many tribal families. If we start putting curbs on it, these tribals will revolt against us and their sympathy for Maoists will increase manifold. This is why we are letting them make money through this.



More than a month after the April 24 Burkapal incident, in which Maoists killed 25 CRPF soldiers, I was talking to a senior police officer in North Bastar about the things that had changed on ground.The police officer immediately started defining an acronym that he himself was unable to understand.Recently, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in a security review meeting held with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Chief Ministers of Naxal affected states, security advisors and senior policemen on ground, came up with a formula to fight Naxals. He called it SAMADHAN.See first our leadership has to be smart, so begin with S which stands for smart leadership. Then we need to be more aggressive in our approach, so A for aggressive strategy. Similarly M stands for motivation of our troops. And A for actionable intelligence, D for Dashboard based key performance indicators...Wait a minute. What are Dashboard based KPIs?Yes. On this we need a bit more clarity. Anyways, H stands for harnessing technology, A for action plan for each Naxal affected zone and N for no access to financing.Other officers I spoke to, in the state police force and paramilitary, confirmed the suspicion. Almost nothing had changed on ground. The only thing that the leaders of troops stationed in violent, Naxal affected territories, had gained after series of high level meetings at North Block in Delhi, was a dense acronym.But hidden perhaps in this dense cipher was an achievable target. The N that stood for no access to funding seemed like a goal that the state could actually work towards. If the sources of funding for Naxals were identified and choked, the organisation would weaken over time and become an easier target.What News 18 found through its visits to Bastar and its conversations with officers in the state police force, intelligence unit and CRPF, was that the source of funding for Naxals in Chhattisgarh had long ago been identified  tendu patta farming.But not only was the state unable to act against illegal tendu patta businesses, it watched helplessly as this years tendu patta stock was bundled, carted and sold, leaving the local cadre richer by at least Rs 80 crore  enough to meet their current years budgets.In fact the last stocks of tendu patta, which is used to make bidis, were carted away just a few days ago. Tendu patta season begins from usually the third week of April and ends in the last week of May.News18 visited several tendu patta depots located deep inside Naxal strongholds where no contractor, without the express permission of the ultras can do business.Around 140 km from Bijapur as one moves towards the jungles of Basaguda, tendu patta leaves were seen drying out in village after village. Chinabattum, Batiguda, Kondapalli, Oigudam, were some of the villages where tendu patta leaves were being dried and packed into sacks.In one of the villages workers were lined up at a spot, waiting for their wages. One of them, Yogesh, said that he, along with the rest of them, has been coming here for last three years. All of them come from nearby Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra. They work here for one-and-a-half months and are paid up to Rs 7,000.The manager who was from Telangana said he was looking after tendu patta production in one unit. Each unit has about 20 to 25 villages, and there are about 20 units in this area, he said. Each unit under him, who got paid around Rs 25,000, said the manager yields at least Rs 1 crore worth of tendu patta.There is a very rigid distribution of labour in this business. The ground workers are usually from Maharashtra or Odisha and the managers and business owners usually from Telangana. Interestingly, most of the senior members in CPI (Maoist) central committee, including the seniormost member Ganapathy, are also from Telangana. Could there be a link?The nexus between the tendu patta blackmarketeers and Maoist leadership has not been established yet. But we are getting increasingly more certain about it. We recently made an arrest in Gadchiroli and the person has been suggesting something like this, said a senior police official in Bastar.The official added that according to the information available with him, only a fraction of the total tendu patta business happens legally. Most of this stuff is unaccounted for. It goes to Telangana, Odisha and through forests of Gadchiroli, to Maharashtra. Naxals get their share from these businesses, from individual tribal families involved in this trade and from a bonus that the government usually shares with the tribals, a few months after the stocks are sold.The state police force in fact killed a very senior Maoist leader, Vilas nicknamed Aaytu, who had a Rs 16 lakh bounty on his head, in May. Vilas was the secretary in CPI (Maoist)s Barsur area committee, who had come to a tendu patta trader to extort money out of him.Detailed financial documents of revenues made by tendu patta tradesmen and the commission due to Naxals were recovered from Vilas, which provided police for the first time the scope of Naxal involvement in this business. He alone had come to recover Rs 23.4 lakh.Around 20 lakh sacks of tendu patta, each containing around 50,000 leaves, are collected from Bastar each year. This provides between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 to each tribal family. Maoists get contributions from lakhs of such tribal families and extort around Rs 200 per bag from each contractor. In all they make Rs 80 to Rs 100 crore a year from Bastar region alone.When asked, a Naxal leader from South Bastar division confirmed that the outfit does get financial support from tendu patta business but refused to share details. Thoda bohot kuch milta hai, he said.And if the Maoists are to be believed, demonetisation hasnt made them weaker either. Initially there were some hiccups because our people went to banks with a lot of money. Then we understood the caps on exchange that had been placed. We had lakhs of tribals supporting us. So, over time, we managed to exchange almost entire cash, a Naxal leader told News18.Given that the ultras also earn from levy they charge on factories set up in their area and private transport operators, and the fact that they have already carried out two big attacks against CRPF this year  in Bhejji and in Burkapal, the Bastar divisions of Maoists may already have bagged enough money to last the year.Whats alarming isnt that Maoists have already met their financial targets for this year. It is that they are going to continue minting money from tendu patta business for years to come.A senior state police officer posted in South Bastar told News18 the reasons why the state cannot put curbs on this trade. A tractor from Andhra filled with Tendu Patta sacks leaving a local depot (Photo: Suhas Munshi, News18)To be honest, we cant do much about it because tendu patta business is a source of livelihood for many tribal families. If we start putting curbs on it, these tribals will revolt against us and their sympathy for Maoists will increase manifold. This is why we are letting them make money through this. We are slowly trying to bring accountability into the system by making it online. But any progress in this case wont be made in haste, said another senior police official.According to P Sunder Raj, deputy inspector general (DIG), of Bastar range, We have to take a very judicious decision about this. Tendu patta business gives livelihood to so many tribals. But this is not to say that we arent keeping surveillance on all people involved in these transactions. We will file cases against them under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Chhattisgarh Jansuraksha Adhiniyam. Recoveries made from a senior Naxal leader Vilas nicknamed Aaytu, killed on May 14, showing details of tendu patta businesses and money he was extorting from them ( Photo: Suhas Munshi, News18)The police, he added, was open to other mechanisms also.While police looks for other mechanisms, the fact is that Maoists have got a distinct advantage over the state this year. They managed to kill 12 CRPF soldiers in Bhejji in March and 25 in April. They have made enough money to last them this year. And with monsoons the terrain has become hostile, pausing all search and kill operations, for at least four months.Lets go over the catchy acronym that the Home Minister had come up with  SAMADHAN again and see what we are left with. We could grant the forces S for smart leadership and A for aggressive strategy. A lot of time has passed since Burkapal, allowing security forces to work on both these things.But given that Naxals have achieved two big successes and the state forces none, its no secret that Motivation levels among troops in Bastar arent sky high at the moment. And because of the four months of rains now, there wont be much to be done with Actionable intelligence. Since no one has a clue what it means, so we will grant the force Dashboard-based KPIs. Four months of rains have hit Bastar, so there will be little use for Action plan. No access to financing? Really?What we are left with at the end are three letters  S A D.
New Delhi: As India looks forward to the landmark verdict in the triple talaq case from the constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar next month, one point of law that was repeatedly highlighted in front of the bench was how many Islamic nations had done away with the practice of instant divorce and one country which found prominent mention was Pakistan.



The former and 23rd Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, who was also the lone dissenting judge in the landmark verdict where he held military courts to be unconstitutional, spoke to News18 from Lahore and said that triple talaq was never a part of pure Islamic history and was not considered valid as per Islamic law.



Instant talaq or triple talaq has not been considered valid in Islam and it is not considered to be the best form of divorce under Islamic law. If you look at what jurists have opined in the 1000-year old history that it was never acceptable and it has never been the most accepted of talaq in any era of Islamic history, said the former Chief Justice of Pakistan.



The procedure of Talaq in Pakistan is governed by a statutory enactment under section 7 of the Muslim Family Law Ordinance, 1961, which states that husband pronounces talaq (orally or by way of Deed of Divorce) and sends written notice by registered post to the Union Council (UC), mentioning address of his wife.



Thereafter, the concerned UC sends a copy of the notice to wife by registered post and it constitutes arbitration Council within 30 days of receipt of notice. Once the iddat period (90 days from the date the UC receiving the talaq notice) is over, the UC issues a certificate of talaq.



Justice Khawaja said the three months gap worked as a cooling off period and the practice of instant divorce does not even have the sanction of the Islamic jurists.



Even traditional Islamic jurists had never considered or accepted the practice of instant triple talaq as a part of the pure Islamic law. In Pakistan we have a statutory enactment and the statute was based on what the Islamic jurists had spoken of and who had stated that this gap of three months was the best and also served as a cooling-off period between the couple, said Justice Khawaja.



Justice Khawaja was on the bench which decided the Sindh High Court Bar Association case, in which the Court declared the state of emergency imposed by President General Pervez Musharraf on 3 November 2007 to be unconstitutional and restored most of the judges who were forced to vacate office that day.




Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday announced that the state will waive off farm loans up to Rs 50,000 which were taken from co-operative banks till June 20, costing the state exchequer Rs 8,165 crore.Siddaramaiah made the surprise announcement in the Assembly, putting the Opposition on back foot, at least temporarily. The BJP, principal opposition party in the state, welcomed the move.With this, Karnataka has become fourth state to announce partial farm loan waiver after Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab.This waiver would benefit about 22 lakh farmers across Karnataka. Karnataka was under severe drought for the last three years and the burden of repayment of loans was becoming unbearable to the farmers.The BJP claimed that it was because of their constant campaign that the state government was pressurised to go for farm loan waiver. BS Yeddyurappa was planning to sit on a fast for three days in July, seeking a farm loan waiver.Kodihalli Chandrashekar, president of Raitha Sangha said, We welcome the move, but the CM should have waived another Rs 3000 crore which are under nationalised banks.While speaking on the floor of the House, Siddaramaiah challenged the BJP to convince the Central government to waive off the remaining loans in the nationalised banks.On Monday, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced a total waiver of 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.Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had also announced a farm loan waiver on June 4. He said the waiver will come into force by October 31, 2017, and will be restricted to small and marginal farmers with land holdings of five acres. Around 40 lakh farmers are estimated to benefit from the step.Earlier, the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh had also approved waiver of farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh, fulfilling a major election promise made by the BJP. According to state government, the decision will benefit 2.25 crore farmers and is likely to cost the state exchequer Rs 36,000 crore.However, the Centre has ruled out any waiver of farm loan and said it will adhere to fiscal targets. On Tuesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Centre is not considering any such plan.The government had in 2008 waived farm loan to the tune of Rs 74,000 crore.The Centre, he said, will adhere to all fiscal targets including fiscal deficit. He said he would not comment on the loan waivers by states and had already made his position clear last week.On June 12, Jaitley had said the Centre will not fund any of the loan waivers by states and they will have to find their own funds for doing so.
The top court had on May 18 ordered the release of Perarivalan, who had served over 30 years in jail.
Speaking to CNN News18 about his love for cinemas Siddaramaiah said, "in college I acted in plays. When I was doing LLB in Mysore I acted in plays. I used to enjoy acting". Commenting on playing the role of a chief minister in Kavitha's movie he said, "She requested me several times. Finally I had to relent. It is a small role".

"It will be a fun, Enid Blytonesque movie. It follows the adventures of five youngsters and will be made in both Kannada and English. I want to release it across the globe," said Kavitha.

: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is a donning a new role. Quite literally. He is acting in a movie. His role would be that of a chief minister. The name of the character would also be Siddaramaiah. Perhaps he is the first serving chief minister who is playing the role of a chief minister in a movie. Noted film maker Kavitha Lankesh has succeeded in persuading a reluctant Siddaramaiah to act in her bilingual movie 'Summer Holidays'. Speaking to, Kavitha said that Siddaramaiah had agreed to act in the movie as the chief minister of Karnataka on certain conditions.Filmmaker Kavitha Lankesh's young daughter Esha is making her debut in the same movie.She said, "We have got his confirmation today. He has put certain conditions that there should not be any violence or obscene scenes. We have explained him the storyline and he has finally agreed to face the camera for a movie. About 80% of the shooting is already over. The moment Chief Minister gives time, we will shoot his part and complete the movie shooting".According to Kavitha, Lankesh making a film for the children has been on her mind for a long time. She said, "when I was made a part of the selection committee for the Karnataka state film awards, I decided to make this movie 'Summer Holidays'. Her young daughter Esha is making debut in the same movie. Her nephew and filmmaker brother Indrajit Lankesh's son Samarjit is also acting in the same movie. The famous heroine of the late 1990s Suman Nagarkar has also acted in the movie. Suman who had stopped acting after her marriage and shifted to USA has acted after a long gap of almost 20 years.Filmmaker Kavitha Lankesh's daughter Esha.The daughter of noted Kannada writer, journalist and filmmaker P Lankesh has made several critically acclaimed movies in Kannada in the last twenty years.
New Delhi: A man was allegedly beaten to death by two men in Delhi's Ranhola area on the suspicion that he had stolen a horse. Police, after arresting the two men, said that the accused were in an inebriated state when they committed the crime.



The incident took place on June 18. The police received the information that a dead body was lying in Ranhola over the phone. Police tried to identify the body, but they couldn't.



The locals informed the police that the man was caught on the suspicion of stealing a horse after some people saw him in the stable. Locals thought he was stealing the horse and hence he was being taken to the police.



It was then the two men Vijay Lakra and Manjeetpal, both arrested now, came on a bike and took the accused on the pretext of taking him to the police station. Instead, they allegedly killed the boy with an iron rod on the way.



According to sources, the deceased was also in an inebriated state. No one saw the deceased stealing the horse, but assumed him to be a horse thief just because he was inside the stable, fiddling with the rope of the horse.


New Delhi: NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday joined the International Yoga Day celebrations in the national capital as he performed asanas at central Delhi's Connaught Place and urged people to take up the traditional practice.



Donning a white yoga-themed t-shirt, he joined dignitaries and other enthusiasts at the iconic venue and performed routines for about 45 minutes.



"We are all here to do yoga. Everyone should do yoga," Kovind told reporters after arriving at the venue. The 71-year-old low-profile Dalit leader and a two-term BJP Rajya Sabha member, on Tuesday resigned as Bihar Governor.



The presidential nominee, who arrived in Delhi on June 19, hours after his name was announced by the BJP, has been accorded a 'Z+' cover of NSG commandos.



Media persons sought to ask questions, but were fended off by NSG commandos.



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.



The event at Connaught Place was also attended by Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Vijay Goel, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, besides senior BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi.
New Delhi: Air Commodore J S Dhamoon, who was commanding the Pathankot air force base when it was attacked by heavily armed terrorists last year, has sought premature retirement from service.



IAF sources said Dhamoon has sought "premature separation" from service even as the process of Court of Inquiry into possible lapses in security at the base was going on.



They also rejected reports suggesting that Dhamoon was sacked after the CoI found holes in security at the frontline base which was attacked by Pakistan-based terrorists on January 2 last year.



Earlier, official IAF sources had said that Dhamoon has already taken premature retirement from service.



The IAF sources said the report of the CoI will go through various levels before its recommendations are accepted and action is taken based on them.



"The process of Court of Inquiry is still on," a source said.



Dhamoon, Air Officer Commanding (AOC), had taken over the charge of the Pathankot air base in July, 2014 and he was transferred from the base less than two months after the terror attack.



In the wake of the Pathankot terror attack, the IAF has been training selected people at its bases in Bhatinda in Punjab and Naliya in Gujarat on countering such strikes effectively.



A security audit of defence bases was carried out on the recommendation of a committee headed by Lt Gen Philip Campose which was set up after the terror attack. The committee was asked to recommend measures to beef up security at the military bases.



Following the security audit, revised standard operating procedures (SOPs) were sent to the commands of all three services to revamp their security management, including putting in place a multi-tier security structure.



A parliamentary panel had in March come down hard on the defence ministry for failing to take any concrete measures to beef up security at frontline military bases, and said the scenario is as "vulnerable" as has been "exposed" during the Uri and Pathankot terror attacks.



The Campose Committee had submitted its report to Defence Ministry last May.



The parliamentary panel had said security arrangements at military establishments were dynamic in nature and called for maintaining a robust and strong response mechanism to emerging threats.



The three services had sought Rs 2,000 crore from the government to plug the gaps in security at their bases in the wake of the Pathankot terror attack.
Chennai: One of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Robert Payas, a Sri Lankan national, on Wednesday petitioned the Tamil Nadu government seeking mercy killing.



In an emotionally charged letter to Chief Minister K Palaniswami, he said he should be killed on grounds of mercy and his body should be handed over to his family.



"Payas has petitioned the government through the Puzhal prison authorities," a top prison official told PTI.



Blaming the Centre--both the previous UPA government and the incumbent NDA--for opposing the release of seven Rajiv Gandhi case convicts, including him, when former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa took the initiative, he said, "We do not know why our release has been put on hold."



He said Jayalalitaa's decision to release the convicts was reflective of the aspiration of Tamils not only in Tamil Nadu, but across the world, to see them free.



He said the Centre has "decided that our lives must end in prison".



Stressing that the "silence of the governments (including Tamil Nadu) only tell us this (that their lives should end in jail)," he said he understood that the intention of the state and Centre was to confine them in prison.



"I have come to the conclusion that there is no use living when there is no scope for release," he said, adding that the very long prison sentence has punished not only him, but also his family.



On 11 June this year, he completed 26 years of incarceration and entered the 27th year, he said. The thought of seeking euthanasia has now become deeply entrenched, an idea which did not surface in the past, he said.



"Also, for the past many years since none of my family members or relatives have visited me I do not think that there is any meaning in my life."



Claiming that Supreme Court Judge Justice Wadhwa had held him to be "not guilty," in 1999, he said still he continued to

serve the prison sentence and it greatly anguished him.
Kolkata: Former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan, who was arrested by the West Bengal police on Tuesday evening on a Supreme Court order, touched down at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata around 2.30 pm on Wednesday. He was then taken straight to the State General Hospital in Bidhannagar.



After a preliminary health check-up, he will be taken to the Presidency Correctional Centre after the Supreme Court rejected his request to suspend a six-month sentence for contempt of court.



He will be lodged in the Presidency Jail where a bed and a blanket will be provided to him. A chair has also been kept and the old CCTV camera has been replaced by a new one. A team of three officers was formed to keep an eye on him to avoid any embarrassing situation.



He will have food cooked in jail. In the evening, he can have tea, and for dinner, we have dal, alu parval sabzi, egg curry and roti, a Presidency Jail official said.



On Tuesday, Karnan was arrested from a house in Coimbatore's Malumichampatti area in Tamil Nadu. He was in hiding since May 9 after a West Bengal police team, led by DGP (home guard) Raj Kanojia, launched a massive hunt for him.



Speaking to News18, Raj Kanojia said, After days of investigation, we finally tracked him down in Coimbatore. This was a unique case for us. I would like to thank all concerned police department for helping us in this case.



Earlier, in an unprecedented ruling, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar held sitting Calcutta High Court judge Justice CS Karnan guilty of contempt of grievous nature and sentenced him to six months in jail.



The bench stated that Justice Karnan has to be looked at like an ordinary citizen of the country and cannot be treated like a sitting judge in this case. Justice Karnan was also found guilty of abusing the judiciary and judicial indiscretion. Then, CJI Khehar noted that contempt is contempt.



Last year, Karnan was transferred to Kolkata from Chennai and wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee accusing senior judges of corruption.



On February 8, the seven-judge bench had stripped Karnan of all judicial and administrative powers pending the contempt case.



On May 1, the seven-judge bench directed the Director General of Police, West Bengal to constitute a team of police personnel and ensure that Karnan is medically examined on May 4 and a report is submitted by May 8.
Bengaluru: Alleging discrimination by a south Bengaluru school against students admitted under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, a group of parents on Wednesday went on a flash protest against the education institute.



Parents, whose children have taken admission under the RTE Act, held a vociferous demonstration outside the Brigade School in JP Nagar, asking teachers to stop putting their children in a separate class-room.



"Our children say they don't want to come to school at all. They say an ayah (attendant) takes classes for them. They are not involved in any of the extra-curricular activities like swimming, singing and dancing classes, nor are they given homework. Other children are attending regular classes, participate in activities," said Radha, one of the protesting mothers.



Raising slogans against the school, they demanded answers from authorities on why their children are even given different kinds of school furniture, as compared to children who are paying regular fees.



"Are they children only if they come from rich homes? If that's so, why admit our children and torture them like this?" Radha demanded to know.



Education department officials in charge of the block said they have sent a report about this to their seniors and a show cause notice will be issued to the school management on Thursday to seek an explanation.



"There seems to be some discrimination and violation of RTE rules. So we are taking action. But the claim that an attendant is teaching the children is false. The lady was an attendant five years back but has, since then, completed a Master's degree," an official told News18.



School officials, however, refuted the allegations, saying these children are being put through remediation classes as they are weaker in their academics and need additional support.



"We have not discriminated between RTE and other students from day one. They have always taken part in all activities  annual day, sport day etc. Here we have a procedure where weaker students get remediation. Not all are RTE students, some are students weaker in students from among regular students too. They (parents) have misunderstood us. Class I is the starting point and we must give remediation for three months even as per RTE rules," said Stella Parthasarathy, Principal of the school.



She said the school would take parents into confidence and try to resolve the issue as soon as possible.



"We will make the parents happy. Never in our school are parents and students targeted," she told reporters.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain former Calcutta HC Judge CS Karnans plea seeking bail and suspension of the six-month sentence awarded to him.A vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul said the court was duty-bound by the order of the seven-judge bench on the case and Karnan should mention the matter before a bench of the chief justice, PTI reported.The seven-judge bench had already passed an order and only the special bench could hear the plea, the judges said.Justice Karnan was on Tuesday arrested in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore. He was arrested by the West Bengal police.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.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.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.
Srinagar: Two terrorists were killed on Wednesday during an encounter with security forces in Rafiabad area of Kashmir's Baramulla district.



An Army official said the militants were holed up inside a house in Pazalpora village in Sopore.



According to the official two weapons were seized and operations were still on in the area.



The terrorist have been identified as Gulzar Ahmad of Brathkalan Sopore and Basit of Pattan Andergam.

They both belonged to the Hizbul Mujahideen outfit.



Following intelligence inputs about the presence of militants, security forces had launched a cordon and search operation on Tuesday.



A police official said the search operation was halted for the night but the forces maintained the cordon to stop the militants from escaping.



The operation was resumed this morning and the gunfight started after the trapped militants opened fire on the forces, he said.



(With PIT inputs)


Raipur: Two women Naxals were on Wednesday gunned down in a fierce encounter with police at a forest in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district, an official said.



The skirmish took place this morning in the forest near Hasnar village when a joint team of the Special Task Force (STF) and District Reserve Group (DRG) was out on an anti-Maoist operation, Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh told PTI.



"Two women Naxals were killed in the incident," he said.



The squad had earlier launched the operation in the restive Abhujmad area, considered as a Maoist den, located around 300 kms from here, he said.



When the patrolling team was cordoning off a forest patch near Hasnar, the security men spotted a Maoist camp and started encircling the area, he said.



On sensing the presence of the security personnel, the rebels started firing indiscriminately on them leading to the gunbattle, he said.



The encounter lasted for about one hour following which the ultras fled into the forest, the SP said.



Later during a search, the bodies of two women Maoists clad in 'uniform' were found at the spot.



The police also recovered two .315 bore guns, some explosives, Maoists uniforms, their literatures and several other items from the site, Singh said.



Further details are awaited as the operation is still underway in the region, he said.



Earlier, three Naxals, including two women, were killed in an encounter with police in Rajnandgaon district on June 18 while a Maoist deputy commander was gunned down on June 19 in Kanker district.
Banging into things while learning something new is always fun! #Kathak #NewBeginning #Aamad #FathersDay #ComingSoon @ishita.sharma.8 A post shared by Saqib Saleem (@saqibsaleem) on Jun 13, 2017 at 10:46pm PDT

Abhay returns home, hugs his weeping mother at the door and warmly asks, "Baba kaha hai?" only to find his father lying on the deathbed. His father, suffering from acute bradycardia, doesn't have much time on his clock. Abhay gently grasps his father's hand and asks him how he's doing. The father, briskly, takes his hand away. And that's when one learns there's a ghost of past haunting the two.While one wonders what might have happened in the past - a ton of other questions start clouding the mind. Will the father make it? Will the son, who now lives away from the family, make amends for the bygones? Will the two be able to reconcile the differences?Aamad, a short film directed by Neeraj Udhwani, reveals as much as it conceals. The film sheds light on the complicated and constrained relationship that a father and son share. It's perhaps the awkwardness, that tears them apart yet keeps them glued together.Saqib Saleem, who plays Abhay in the film, had more reasons than one to give a nod to this film."When I first read the script, I said okay - this is a very simple yet a very complex story about the unsaid thing - the unsaid apologies between a father and son. What attracted me to this film was its simplicity. It challenged me as an actor  I had to learn Kathak. I consider myself to be a pathetic dancer otherwise," he said while speaking to News18.com."And I did it for my father. Over the last 6-7 years, my relationship with him has become so much better. From a time when I'd hide things from him to a bond wherein there's no filter between us - we can talk about anything and everything in the world," he explained.When asked about the bond he shares with his father, Saqib said, "A father-son relationship is a very different kind - I don't know to explain this. If my dad answers the phone, the first thing I say is, acha mom ko phone do - that's how sons are with dads."Considering that Saqib and his sister, actress Huma Qureshi, decided to leave their homes to pursue acting, was his father wary of his decision? "My father has been very supportive in whatever capacity he could be. When both of us joined the industry  he was very apprehensive as this is a world he hasnt seen, it was an alien world for us - but he told me one thing that, "If you want to do it, youll do it and Ill support you but theres a fear.""This fear was coming from a very paternal instinct and I can completely imagine what he, as a father, must be going through. He was looking out for us and with whatever work weve done in life, he's only become nicer and easier about it. He doesnt stress about it now. So I think every relationship takes time to evolve like this," he added.Because both siblings decided to make a career in Bollywood and even featured in the film Dobaara: See Your Evil together, does it help Saqib to have a family connection in the film industry? "Everybody has to go through their own journey in life  my journey didnt help Huma, hers didnt help mine. But what helped was our stories and experiences that wed always share with each other and tell each other how our days were - about what mistakes I did that she shouldnt do, and the ones she did  I shouldnt do.""Huma was always into theatre, I was the buffoon in the family. I don't know how things happened. People wanted to work with me. I sat down and realised that's there's something I'm doing right  I dont want to know what that it is but I just want to continue doing that, he said.Saqib, who made his Bollywood debut with Mujhse Fraandship Karoge, has previously featured in the short 'Koi Dekh Lega', a part of 'Love Shots'. When asked if the web space offers more opportunities and whether he considers this to be a future, he quipped, "I enjoy digital because theres no censorship  we know that jo script mei likha gaya hai wahi hoga, koi uspe baithke kanchi nai maarega. (the content will be as it is written in the scripts and no one will censor what's there)."He further stated that "not everything can be made into a film" and that there are so many actors and directors who'll get to work with each other if not in films, then on the web.However, he had no qualms in accepting that with the good, comes the bad too. "I think this is the way of the universe to tell us that there are different avenues for the content waiting to be explored and digital platform is the future. But because of everybody wanting to make digital content  theres a lot of not so good stuff on the web too. Everybody wants to make something on it, but something good should come out of it."
#WATCH: A Hindu cannot be a terrorist, no term like 'Hindu terrorism' says Haryana Minister Anil Vij pic.twitter.com/Ff8ULbD3P3  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Unhone sahi farmaaya hai, Sanghi aatankwaad hota hai...Hindu aatankwaad kabhi nahin hota: Digvijaya Singh,Cong on Haryana Minister Anil Vij pic.twitter.com/6dQIG3ZtmU  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

: Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Wednesday launched into a tirade against the Congress party, accusing it of letting go "terrorists from Pakistan" but capturing Indian citizens and dubbing them as "Hindu terrorists".The Minister called it a "Congress game" to establish a political plot that there is something called "Hindu terrorism". Vij also alleged that Congress did all of this to derive "political mileage", also suggesting that there can never be a phrase like "Hindu terrorism"."A Hindu can never be a terrorist, and there can never be a terminology such as Hindu terrorism," he said, alleging that Congress propped up this terminology because, in most of the terrorist attacks, Muslims were involved. "Congress played this game."Reacting sharply to Vij's remarks, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh took a dig at him, saying Vij was right because it is called "Sanghi terrorism" and not "Hindu terrorism".The term "saffron terror" was first used by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram referring to terror attacks carried out by people bearing Hindu names and allegedly motivated by fringe right-wing organisations.In January 2013, the then Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had also accused the BJP and RSS of conducting terror camps and promoting what he called the "Hindu terrorism".Shinde spoke these words in the presence of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi. His sentiments were echoed by another senior party leader Digvijaya Singh.However, Congress had later distanced itself from its Ministers' remarks, saying it didn't support a "hardline view". Terrorism cannot be linked to any religion or religious ideology. Congress does not agree with words like Bhagva or Hindu terrorism. Terror is a terror," the party had said.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the leading outfit behind the campaign for Ram Temple in Ayodhya, has started collecting stones for the construction after a hiatus of two years under Samajwadi Party rule.With a sympathetic BJP government in power both in the state and the Centre, the VHP plans to generate fresh momentum for the construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site where Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992.Surendra Jain, international joint secretary of the VHP, told News18, You see, the stones are brought into Uttar Pradesh from other states. They have to cross the state border at some point. The state government has immense control over what crosses the border and what doesnt. The Akhilesh Yadav government did not want Ram Temple construction, for reasons best known to them. They used to stop the stones at the border.But with Yogi Adityanath at the helm of affairs, the VHP says its work has become easy. Jain said, The current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is a supporter of the Ram Mandir construction in Ayodhya. There shouldnt be any problem. That is why we decided to start bringing the Ram shilas (stones) again. As of now, the Shilas are only coming in from a few places in Rajasthan. They are being brought to our workshop in Ayodhya, where they are being painted on.
: The West Bengal Government on Wednesday decided to audit the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) to ascertain the actual cost of development projects executed under its chief Bimal Gurung.A government source said, "The auditors have reportedly found some gross misuse of funds. It was also found that a large number of construction, sanitation items were bought on higher prices  which could be avoided."He said, "In some cases fake bills were believed to be placed while in some areas bills were generated without any work. It is a gargantuan task and will take some time because apart from normal audit - now the 12 team of auditors were also engaged in physical audit," he added.Party insiders said, the government strategy is to look for some concrete evidence against key Gorkha Janshakti Morcha leaders including Gurung towards possible siphoning of GTA funds for personal benefits."We want to expose Bimal Gurung and other trouble makers on corruption charges. Preliminary GTA audit hinted towards a possible misuse of funds. Things will be clear soon," he said.Meanwhile, Congress and Left Front have decided to boycott Thursday's all-party meeting called by the state government to ensure peace in the Hills. Both the parties said that there is no point in attending the meeting in absence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.Speaking to News18, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said, "The state government is trying to suppress our demand for a separate Gorkhaland. They have barred Internet access in the Hills and also threatened local news channel not to telecast anything which could flare up the situation in Darjeeling. We want Centre to intervene for an immediate solution to the problem.""Communication is an essential service and not a luxury. We would appeal to all the mobile operators in Darjeeling and Kalimpong region to ensure uninterrupted Internet service and mobile Internet service immediately," he said.On June 5, Banerjee reached Darjeeling and announced GTA election will be held in July. Then, she alleged that GJM leaders are trying to hide their failure (misuse of funds) and therefore they are indulging in rioting and arson. Same day, she announced a special audit of the funds given to GTA and warned no one will be spared.On June 6, Gurung threatened to resign after Banerjee announced 'special audit' and warned to intensify movement in the hills. Sensing trouble, Banerjee announced that Bangla is not compulsory for the people living in the Hills.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumars tilt in Presidential election may decide the future of Mahagathbandhan in the state and Congress-led effort to forge anti-BJP alliance at the Centre.



Now, When Kumars party Janata Dal (United) has decided to support Ram Nath Kovind for the top constitutional post, a BJP nominee supported by other National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, it is anybodys guess that the ruling alliance will crumble early than was being stipulated by some political analysts.



The biggest alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is now in a fix with Kumar already distanced himself from the corruption charges against the RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family.



The JD (U) move has rendered the Opposition meeting scheduled for as meaningless. The AIADMK, YSR Congress, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and Shiv Sena have already pledged support for Ram Nath Kovind.



Senior journalist Surendra Kishore feels that now its only ideological compulsion for the Congress, Left and the RJD to not support Kovind. Any chance of putting up a fight is gone.



Nitish Kumar was being seen as a possible leader of the Opposition before the 2019 general elections. But Nitish was very clever to sense that it wont work as Congress will not back any other leader than Rahul Gandhi. So, he made it clear last month that he was not in the race for the post of Prime Minister, Kishore said.



Kishore believes that the BJP has pre-empted any possible opposition unity by projecting a Dalit leader.



By deciding to go with the BJP, Kumar has made it clear that he will continue to take decisions without taking care of Prasads RJD or the Congress. His growing bonhomie with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been the talk of the town in the state.



On the pretext of a busy schedule Kumar did not participate in the Opposition meeting called by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi but had a lunch meeting with the PM next afternoon.



Kumars party has been projecting him as a Sushasan Babu who treated anti-social elements with an iron fist during his first two terms as the Chief Minister of Bihar. In fact, he had waged the war against the Jungle Raj of Lalu with the help of BJP and came to power.



Nitish kept his promises, and with focus on developmental works he earned the image of a Vikash Purush. But the political equation took a U-turn in 2013 when the BJP announced Modi as prime ministerial candidate. JD (U) played the secular card and parted ways the BJP. After being drubbed in the 2014 general elections, it was Kumars compulsion to join hands with the old enemy Lalu and the Congress.



This grand alliance registered a thumping victory. It was considered a smooth going for the alliance during initial months but first strains were visible when the defiant supporters and leaders of the RJD allegedly started resorting to the old ways of threatening officials, recommending lists of transfers and postings and forced contractors to give commissions.



This was against the first two Avatars of Kumar  Sushasan Babu and Vikas Purush. In between the BJP gained heavily in many states. Its vote share zoomed in West Bengal and Kerala. This year Modi wave swept UP and the BJP came to power after two decades. It must have played on the mind of Kumar as on the other hand Lalu the leader of his alliance partner, was facing a series of corruption charges.



Recently, The Income Tax Department has seized 12 plots belonging to Lalus son and Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, his three daughters and a son-in-law. The BJP has demanded removal of Tejaswi as Deputy CM questioning Kumars much publicised zero-tolerance policy against corruption.



In between Kumar has been showering praise on Modi for every big decision taken by the Centre beginning surgical strike in Pakistan. He publicly lauded demonetisation and Bihar was among the first states who ratified Goods and Services Tax (GST). On the other hand, Modi also praised Kumar for enacting total prohibition law in the state when he was in the state capital Patna during 350th birth anniversary of Guru Govind Singh.



Seemingly, not to go after each other approach by the BJP and the JD (U) had sparked speculation that all was not well within the Mahagathbandhan.
Bhopal: On International Yoga Day, the Madhya Pradesh Congress did shavasana in order to protest against killing of farmers in Mandsaur.



The Congress leaders, led by state head Arun Yadav, reached Pradesh Congress Committee where a pavilion was erected for the protest yoga. The stage adjacent to the pavilion had pictures of six farmers killed during farmers protest and other pictures narrating the plight of the peasants.



By using posters and hoardings, the party took pot shots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.



We also performed yoga and paid tributes to the dead farmers, said Congress state president Arun Yadav.



Retaliating to the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party state head Nandkumar Singh Chauhan after performing yoga with party men at Lal Parade ground claimed that the Congress party has been in a coma for the last ten years.
Ahmedabad: "Amit Shah has shed his body weight by doing yoga, but has increased his political weight substantially, giving tension to many."



The politically-fraught comment on the BJP national president came from yoga guru Ramdev on the International Day of Yoga, which saw nearly three lakh people turning up to stretch, turn and twist their bodies.



Shah, along with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, was among the leaders who turned up at the GMDC ground here on the occasion.



"Amit bhai has lost significant weight in recent times. However, on the other side, his political weight has increased substantially. This must have given tension to many. I request them to do yoga to ease their stress," said Ramdev during a breather between two asanas.



Ramdev said the turnout in Ahmedabad is all set to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records, whose officials were also present at the event to tabulate the number of participants.
Ampati (Meghalaya): Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Wednesday slammed the Centre for not including sugar under the National Food Security Act, 2013 and said the state will provide one kg sugar to every household in the state.



"The Centre has failed to listen to us and discontinued the distribution of sugar from the programme (NFSA). But we have decided to work out the modalities from our own resources to continue providing sugar apart from rice," he said while addressing at a public meeting here.



"Though we will not be able to provide 3 kg per household, we will continue to give sugar at 1 kg per household from the states own resources", he said.



Meghalaya is the only state in the country to provide 3 kg packaged sugar under the National Food Security programme, but the distribution of sugar has been recently withdrawn by the Central Government.



The Chief Minister also distributed certificates of appreciation to wholesalers and fair price shop dealers here as a token of the state governments appreciation for their contribution in successfully implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.



"The state government has been able to address the challenges of implementation of the Act in terms of distribution through the active support and partnership of different stakeholders, particularly the wholesalers and fair price shop dealers," he said.



According to the Chief Minister, the programme is a mark of acknowledgement by the government for their hard work and all the hardship they have to undergo in lifting, handling and transporting the commodities to make them reach to the beneficiaries.



Terming the National Food Security Mission as the biggest Food Security Programme in the world, the Chief Minister said it is a commitment of the Government designed for the needy which has been mandated by a law which is binding on the authorities to take care of the citizens.



The Chief Minister also motivated the wholesalers and dealers telling them that they should consider the service as a social service and not as an enterprise but to learn from it and expand their horizon to building successful business models to enhance their livelihood.
We decided to extend support to NDA's presidential candidate #RamNathKovind as his tenure as Guv had been peaceful: KC Tyagi, JDU leader pic.twitter.com/tnphmzaBTQ  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Met Shri Ram Nath Kovind ji, NDA's Presidential nominee. pic.twitter.com/axf6wncsf4  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) June 19, 2017

We will support Shri Ramnath Kovind for President of India. PM @narendramodi spoke to me about his candidature and sought our support 1/2  Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) June 19, 2017

: It is egg on the face of the Opposition. Nitish Kumar's JD(U) has announced its support for NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind just a day before the Congress and other opposition parties were set to announce their candidate.It's an unkind cut especially since the Opposition was reportedly thinking of fielding former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar in a move to get Nitish to vote along with them. The sudden announcement by Nitish has apparently foreclosed that option and the Congress and friends will have the mortification of watching Nitish voting along with the BJP with less than two years to go for the 2019 general elections.The decision to support Kovind was taken at a meeting of JD(U) leaders. With this, the growing proximity between Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become even more apparent.Sources in the TMC and Congress confirm they will go ahead with their decision to contest the presidential polls. It's not about whether we will win, it's about the ideology, said a source.In every meeting with the government, Sonia, Mamata and the Left have made it clear there can be a consensus only when the candidate is secular and not from an RSS background. Now the challenge before the Opposition is to come up with a name which could force some parties to rethink. The names of Meira Kumar and former home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde have been suggested; more names could come up at the Opposition meeting on June 22.A TMC source told News18, "Whether we lose by 30% or 35% doesn't matter. Nitish has proved to be a backstabber and, yes, this is a setback but our fight is on". In private, Congress leaders too echoed the sentiment and called Nitish a traitor, forgetting that he remains their ally in Bihar.After putting up a candidate, Congress will officially appeal to all secular parties to vote according to their conscience. But it's aware that it has already lost out in the numbers game.With its numbers increasing every day, the BJP seems poised for a cakewalk. The JD(U) support came a day after the BJP's difficult ally Shiv Sena decided to support Kovind. Congress sources say they still hope to come up with a name that could break that support, which is the reason why Shinde's name  fitting both the Maharashtrian and a Dalit card  is in the reckoning.But, despite all this, the Opposition unity certainly looks truncated with BJD and TRS supporting the government's choice. There is a growing sense the Opposition did not gauge the situation well when it decided not to finalise a name till the NDA came out with theirs.If the Opposition had come out with a Dalit name first, it may have still scored a political point despite losing the presidential polls. Today, it not only looks weaker, but is also busy trying to play catch-up, instead of setting the pace.What's the Opposition's game plan now? Its first challenge is to ensure that there is no further erosion in its ranks. It knows this is not just not about presidential polls, and that a break in unity will create the perception it is just not strong enough to take on Modi in 2019.The name has to be good enough to ensure unity, and hopefully, even bring back some of the lost flock. As of now, in this political ping pong, the ball is clearly in the government's court.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, in a hurriedly called party meeting on Wednesday, announced his support for NDAs candidate Ram Nath Kovind in the Presidential polls.



The announcement comes a day before the Congress-led opposition was to name its candidate for the Presidential election and is seen as a big setback for the ruling Mahagathbandhan comprising Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress in Bihar.



Congress was even thinking of fielding former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar - who belongs to Bihar- in a bid to get Nitish to vote with them, but that option is apparently foreclosed now.



PM Modi had also praised Nitish Kumar for enacting total prohibition law in Bihar when he was in Patna for the 350th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Govind Singh.







The BJP-JD(U) camaraderie has sparked speculation that all is not well within the Mahagathbandhan. In fact the JD(U) distanced itself from its alliance partner RJD when a series of corruption charges were levelled against Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members. The JD(U) always maintained that it was for the embattled leader Lalu to respond to the charges.



Recently, the Income Tax Department seized 12 plots belonging to Lalus son and Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, his three daughters and a son-in-law. The BJP has demanded removal of Tejaswi as Deputy CM questioning Nitish Kumars much publicized zero-tolerance policy against corruption.
Bangaluru-based healthcare start-up Cardiotrack, which provides predictive diagnosis for cardiovascular diseases, on Wednesday said it has entered into an agreement with a Mexican state to set up operations and also invest in a unit to train people.A Letter of Intent (LOI) to this effect was signed with the Governor of Nuevo Leon, Jaime Heliodoro Rodriguez, Cardiotrack said in a statement here."Cardiotrack will set up operations in Nuevo Leon's capital Monterrey and also invest in a unit to train people. This collaboration will create close to 200 jobs in Nuevo Leon," the statement added.Cardiotrack is an innovative IoT (Internet of Things) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) healthcare diagnostics solution designed to fulfill the basic requirements of primary healthcare centres (PHC).Deployed at PHCs in emerging markets, including rural India, Cardiotrack, in the absence of a cardiologist, diagnoses and captures heart health data for their patients.The platform enables instantaneous cardiac monitoring and flow of information through Android-based smart devices between a physician and a cardiologist, thus providing primary healthcare physicians in non-urban areas a way to detect early signs of cardiovascular disease in their patients."We are pleased to have partnered with the Governor of Nuevo Leon for setting up operations in his state. Our focus is primary care and improving the quality of the diagnostics available at PHCs," said Ashim Roy, Co-founder, Cardiotrack.
Uber Technologies Inc Chief Executive Travis Kalanick, co-founder of one of the most influential technology companies of its generation, resigned on Tuesday under pressure from investors after a string of setbacks.Kalanick's departure caps a tumultuous period for the world's largest ride-services company that has revolutionised the taxi industry and challenged transportation regulations worldwide.The 40-year-old's pugnacious style largely defined Uber's approach and helped it become a transportation colossus valued at $68 billion, the largest private firm backed by venture capitalists in the world.But that brashness has also been blamed for scandals this year, from the unearthing of a culture of bullying and discrimination at Uber to a U.S. Department of Justice federal investigation and a high-stakes lawsuit filed by Alphabet Inc that threatens Uber's self-driving car ambitions."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," Kalanick said in an email to employees that was provided to Reuters.Kalanick's departure widens an already gaping hole at the top of Uber which has no chief operating officer, chief financial officer or general counsel at the moment. For now, 14 people who reported to Kalanick are running Uber.Kalanick faced increased scrutiny for a culture of sexism and rule-breaking at the company he helped start in 2009. After a video showing Kalanick berating an Uber driver who had complained about falling wages was released in February, the CEO made a public apology and promised to seek "leadership help".Ultimately, it was some of Uber's main investors who forced Kalanick out, according to a source familiar with the matter.Venture capital firm Benchmark, whose partner Bill Gurley is one of Uber's largest shareholders and sits on its board, plus investors First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, Menlo Ventures and Fidelity Investments, all pressed Kalanick to quit.A source close to Menlo Ventures, which led one of Uber's early financing rounds, told Reuters that the firm helped write a letter calling for Kalanick to step down.The investors delivered the letter to Kalanick while he was in Chicago, the New York Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation.Kalanick's decision "was a surprise to everyone", a second Uber spokesman said.In a statement provided to Reuters, the Uber board of directors called Kalanick's resignation "a bold decision" that "gives the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber's history". Kalanick will remain on the board.The CEO's departure comes after a lengthy investigation led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, which concluded that Kalanick's authority should be reduced and that board oversight and independence should increase.Uber hired Holder's firm Covington and Burling to look into its culture and workplace practices after a female former employee, Susan Fowler, publicly accused the company of sexual harassment.What followed was a mountain of scandals, including a criminal investigation into Uber's use of technology to evade regulators in certain cities and a trade secrets lawsuit filed by Alphabet's self-driving division, Waymo.Uber faces other lawsuits filed by drivers over their pay and treatment, and Uber fired 20 employees for incidents involving discrimination, sexual harassment and other bad behaviour earlier this month.Uber "is the very definition of a toxic leadership culture" and Kalanick "set the tone", said Jason Hanold, chief executive officer and managing partner at human resources executive recruitment firm Hanold Associates.Following the release of the damning Covington report, Kalanick said last week he would take a leave of absence to grieve for his mother, who died recently in a boating accident that also seriously injured his father, and to work on his leadership skills."Uber couldn't make a credible claim that it was committed to the changes it has to make if he was hovering in the wings, waiting to return as CEO," said Erik Gordon, a technology and entrepreneurship expert at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.Kalanick and other executives were also criticised for the handling of a crisis in India after an Uber driver was arrested for raping a passenger. Though the driver was convicted in 2015, Kalanick and other executives became convinced the crime was a set up by a local rival, former employees said.Eric Alexander, the head of Asian business for Uber, shared medical records internally, including with Kalanick. Alexander argued they showed the woman had been assaulted but not raped, people who spoke to him said. Alexander was fired earlier this month.Even some of Kalanick's staunchest allies have found fault with how Uber has been run. In a blog post on Medium published on Tuesday, Uber co-founder Garrett Camp, who has long aligned himself with Kalanick, called Uber's problems serious."Over the years we have neglected parts of our culture as we have focused on growth. We have failed to build some of the systems that every company needs to scale successfully," Camp wrote.Kalanick has enjoyed sweeping power at Uber, through his share ownership and voting power, as well as his commanding personality and micromanaging tendencies.His authority is not typical in Silicon Valley, where investors often give founders great autonomy, and Uber's board frequently voiced support of Kalanick despite mounting problems.In March, following the start of the Holder investigation, Uber director Arianna Huffington said on a call with reporters the board had full confidence in Kalanick.She repeated that position on Friday in an interview with Reuters by saying Kalanick's leave of absence was solely his decision.Gurley, one of Kalanick's closest confidants, praised the CEO on Twitter following his resignation."There will be many pages in the history books devoted to @travisk - very few entrepreneurs have had such a lasting impact on the world," Gurley wrote.
Uber Technologies Inc CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick resigned as the chief executive officer of Uber as per a New York Times report on Wednesday.As per the report, Travis Kalanick's resignation comes under pressure from the ride-hailing firm's investors. 5 major investors of Uber, in a letter to the CEO titled 'Moving Uber Forward', expressed their concerns in the current leadership of the company and asked Kalanick to resign from his post as CEO. After consultation with other Uber Board members and investors, Travis Kalanick decided to step down from his post. Kalanick will, however, stay in Uber's Board of Directors.The ride-hailing company has been suffering from a series of turmoil since the last one year which includes sexual harassment claims by employees of the firm and legal disputes with other firms like Alphabet Inc's Waymo, sparking valid concerns over the leadership of the company.
Jakarta: Members of an Indonesian Islamic sect have issued a complaint that their human rights were breached by a local government refusing to issue them state ID cards unless they renounce their belief, a rights group said on Wednesday.



The Ahmadiyah identify themselves as Muslims, but believe another prophet followed the Prophet Mohammed, who founded Islam. Many mainstream Muslims and hardline groups accuse the sect and other Muslim minorities of apostasy.



A mob of 1,000 people beat to death three Ahmadis in an unprovoked attack in a village in Banten province, west of Jakarta, in 2011 and activists say the group continues to face discrimination.



Indonesia's reputation for tolerance has come under renewed scrutiny since Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian, was sentenced last month to two years in prison for blasphemy in a trial that came after mass Islamist-led rallies and raised religious tensions to the highest in years.



Sixteen people from the village of Manislor in West Java, representing 1,400 members of the sect, told the ombudsman on Tuesday that their lives had been damaged by not having IDs for five years, said Syamsul Alam Agus, executive secretary of One Justice Foundation, a nonprofit organization.



Some were unable to register their marriages, Agus said, adding in one case an Ahmadi was refused treatment at a hospital because of a lack of ID.



According to Agus, in order to obtain ID documents, Ahmadis had to sign a form stating they were Muslims while reading the Shahada, an Islamic creed declaring belief in the oneness of God and Muhammad as God's prophet.



"Not giving an electronic ID card to Manislor's Ahmadiyah followers is not only a violation of human rights, but also breaking the law," Agus said.



Indonesia requires a person to state their religion on official ID cards.



The ombudsman felt there had been maladministration at the local Kuningan government where Manislor is located, but had not formally issued any recommendation, said Ahmad Su'adi, an ombudsman official, adding that "the state cannot force people" to denounce or join a religion.



The Kuningan government could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, but in a June 2016 post on its website, the head of the Kuningan regency, Acep Purnama, defended its refusal to hand out identity documents to followers of Ahmadiyah and an animist belief, Sunda Wiwitan.



"We are not discriminating or being intolerant... But this is an issue of principle that has to be resolved together and must be accepted by all Kuningan people. This isn't about majority or minority," he was quoted as saying.



Earlier this month, the government of Depok city near Jakarta sealed off a mosque frequently used by Ahmadis during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, according to media reports.



Muslims make up nearly 90 percent of Indonesia's 250 million people but there are sizeable communities of Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and people who adhere to traditional beliefs.
Pakistani media reported on Wednesday that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shot down an unmanned Iranian drone over the countrys Balochistan province. The incident reportedly took place near Parom in Balochistans Panjgur district, which shares a border with Iran. While media reports claim security forces seized the wreckage on Monday, there has been no official statement on when the incident took place.Dawn, a leading Pakistani daily, reported that the aircraft was shot down by a JF-17 Thunder fighter jet of the PAF deep inside Pakistani airspace. Pakistan Defence, a military analysis group, reported, Air Force JF-17 Thunder fighter intercepted an armed Government of Iran drone 49km inside Pakistan & shot it down for showing hostile intent.Citing sources, the Dawn report said security has been tightened in Panjgur district following the incident. The PAF has issued no statement so far.The aircraft was shot down by a JF-17 Thunder fighter jet of the PAF 'deep inside Pakistani airspace'In May, Iran had warned Islamabad that they would strike terrorist safe havens in Pakistan if terror attacks did not stop.Responding to a terrorist attack which killed at least eight Iranian border guards, Major General Mohammad Baqeri, the head of the Iranian armed forces, had said, We cannot accept the continuation of this situation. We expect the Pakistani officials to control the borders, arrest the terrorists and shut down their bases. If the terrorist attacks continue, we will hit their safe havens and cells, wherever they are.
Manila: Islamic militants occupied a primary school and took hostages in a southern Philippine village on Wednesday, a few hours drive from a city where other jihadists were fighting a month-long war, authorities said.



Hundreds of gunmen initially attacked a lightly guarded military outpost at dawn, with many withdrawing but about 30 then taking over the school and using civilians as human shields, the military said.



"As of now they are in the school holding the civilians. They are using them as human shields," Captain Arvin Encinas, spokesman for the army division with responsibility for the area, told AFP by phone.



He said the gunmen had planted improvised bombs around the school.



Encinas said he did not know how many hostages had been taken, or if they included children.



The unrest occurred in Pigkawayan, a farming town about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Marawi city where fighters linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been battling troops for a month in a conflict that has claimed hundreds of lives.



Armed forces spokesman Restituto Padilla earlier said the attackers on Wednesday belonged to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), one of four groups in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao that have pledged allegiance to IS.



Local police said the BIFF attack may have been intended to help the militants in Marawi by distracting the military.



Padilla said the gunmen attacked the outpost at daybreak, then exchanged fire with troops in the morning before retreating in a hit-and-run assault typical of BIFF fighters.



"It's already resolved. The enemy has withdrawn... they failed," Padilla said late on Wednesday morning.



However about six hours later Encinas reported the hostage crisis at the school. Padilla then appeared on television and confirmed militants were occupying the school.



Encinas and Padilla said there had also been skirmishes throughout the day outside of Pigkawayan, which is surrounded by marshlands, mountains and farmlands.



Pigkawayan mayor Eliseo Garsesa said about 200 gunmen were involved in the initial assault.



Hardline groups



Muslim rebels have been fighting for more than four decades for an independent or autonomous region in the south of the mainly Catholic nation, with the conflict claiming more than 120,000 lives.



The major rebel organisations have signed, or are pursuing, peace deals with the government, but small hardline groups such as the BIFF have vowed to continue fighting.



Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across Mindanao on May 23 immediately after fighters flying the IS flag rampaged through Marawi.



Their assault on Marawi ignited an unprecedented urban war that has claimed hundreds of lives and which Duterte has warned is part of an IS campaign to establish a base in Mindanao.



The fighting has left Marawi, the most important Muslim city in the Philippines, largely in ruins.



The militants involved in the Marawi fighting are mostly from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf organisations, which have united with the BIFF under the IS umbrella, according to the government.



The military has said foreign fighters, including those from Chechnya, Indonesia and Malaysia, have also joined the Marawi conflict.



IS has ambitions of setting up a caliphate in Southeast Asia -- home to largely Muslim nations like Indonesia and Malaysia -- as the group loses territory in Iraq and Syria.



The BIFF was blamed for attacking at least nine Mindanao towns in 2008, with the assaults claiming about 400 lives and forcing 600,000 people to flee their homes.
: Pakistan cannot recall former Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif from Riyadh as he has taken the command of the 41-nation Saudi-led military alliance against the Islamic State in his "personal capacity", the country's top diplomat said on Wednesday.Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan prime minister's adviser on foreign affairs, in a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here said that Gen Sharif was not sent by the government to lead the alliance and therefore, cannot be asked to return.However, news reports have previously said the 61-year-old former chief of Army staff was granted approval by the government to serve as head of the alliance for three years. Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had told Geo News in April that the government has given Gen Sharif a 'No Objection Certificate' to lead the military alliance. Gen Sharif, who remained the Army chief for three years until he retired in November, left for Riyadh in April.According to Saudi Arabia, the alliance is aimed at fighting the Islamic State (IS) and other militant outfits. But after the recent Gulf crisis began to unfold and a Saudi coalition boycotted Qatar for allegedly supporting terrorism, Pakistan found itself in a fix over which side to take. Aziz said Pakistan will not take any side in the Gulf crisis.He clarified that Pakistan has remained neutral during the Yemen conflict as mandated by the resolution passed by the parliament in 2015. The top diplomat was referring to the time when Saudi Arabia had launched a military operation against Yemen and Pakistan maintained a "neutral" role. He said the same resolution will serve as the foundation for the role Pakistan will take in the current Gulf crisis. "Pakistan doesn't want to interfere in other countries matters and will stick to its non-partisan policy on the Middle East issue."Committee chairperson Nazir Sadiq said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and has also spoken to Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on phone to reduce tension in the region. Pakistan has followed a thin line to maintain ties with the Gulf nations amid increasing bilateral rivalries.
ng a free pass to India and China, PTI reported.



This President put America first when he made the decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Accord, Pence said in his remarks at the National Association of Manufacturers 2017 summit.



You know, one independent study found that the Paris Accord would have actually cost the US economy more than 6.5 million manufacturing jobs in the next 25 years while giving countries like China and India virtually a free pass, Pence said.



He said Trump put America first by withdrawing from this terrible deal.



He left the door open to renegotiating the deal or coming up with a different agreement. But he put America first, and I promise the manufacturers in this room that President Donald Trump always will," Pence said.



He said Trump has put a renewed emphasis on American energy.



He approved the Keystone and Dakota Pipelines early in this administration, and the Dakota Pipeline is already rolling and Keystone is being built as we speak, Pence said.

US Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday said that President Donald Trump had put America first by pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord. He said the deal would have hurt the US economy by givi
Washington: Republican Karen Handel won a fierce, closely-watched special congressional election Tuesday in Georgia, US media projected, salvaging a seat in traditional conservative territory where Democrats had hoped to strike a blow against Donald Trump's presidency.



With about 83 percent of the vote counted, Handel was ahead 52.6 percent to 47.4 percent against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, prompting CNN and NBC News to call the race in Handel's favor.



The result no doubt comes as relief for Republicans who had grown concerned about whether their party -- buffeted by the scandals plaguing the Republican president -- could hold the seat in Georgia's sixth district. It 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 backed Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state.



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 from coast to coast threw everything they had at this race, and Karen would not be defeated," US House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement about the Georgia race.



"We dodged a bullet tonight," Georgia-based Republican strategist Chip Lake told AFP.



In conceding the race, Ossoff, a filmmaker and former political staffer, signalled 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."



But Democrats are now zero for 4 in converting special elections this year, following earlier losses in Republican-held districts in Kansas and Montana.
Moscow/Brussels: A NATO F-16 fighter jet buzzed a plane carrying Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as it flew over the Baltic Sea, but was seen off by a Russian Sukhoi-27 military jet, Russia said on Wednesday, an account partly disputed by NATO.



The Baltic Sea has become an area of rising tensions between Moscow and the Western military alliance. Earlier this month, Russia scrambled a fighter jet to intercept a nuclear-capable US B-52 strategic bomber it said was flying over the Baltic, in an incident that had echoes of the Cold War.



A video of Wednesday's incident broadcast on a TV channel run by the Russian Ministry of Defence showed an F-16 flying parallel with the minister's plane at a short distance. It was not clear which air force the F-16 belonged to.



A Russian Sukhoi-27 fighter jet was then seen inserting itself between the F-16 and the minister's plane before tilting its wings from side to side to show the missiles it is carrying. The F-16 was then seen leaving the area.



NATO said it had tracked three Russian aircraft over the Baltic on Wednesday, including two fighter jets which it said did not respond to air traffic control or requests to identify themselves.



"As is standard practice whenever unknown aircraft approach NATO air space, NATO and national air forces took to the sky to monitor these flights," a NATO official said.



"When NATO aircraft intercept a plane they identify it visually, maintaining a safe distance at all times. Once complete, NATO jets break away," the official said.



The alliance said it had no information about who was on board the planes.



Shoigu's plane had been en route to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad for a meeting to discuss how well Russia's western flank was defended. Footage of what happened was filmed by someone on Shoigu's plane.



The RIA news agency reported that NATO aircraft had also tracked Shoigu's plane when he returned after his meeting later on Wednesday, albeit at a greater distance.



The Kremlin referred questions about the incident to the defence ministry, which did not immediately comment. It has said in the past that all Russian flights over the Baltic are conducted in strict accordance with international law.



Russian politicians called the episode the latest in a string of "provocations," a day after the Russian defence ministry said an RC-135 U.S. reconnaissance plane had swerved dangerously near a Russian fighter jet over the Baltic and that another RC-135 had been intercepted.



The Pentagon disputed that, saying the U.S. aircraft "did nothing to provoke this behaviour" and that the Russian intercept had been unsafe.



In another episode, Sweden said on Wednesday it had called in Russia's ambassador for talks after a Russian fighter jet buzzed a Swedish military jet on an electronic intelligence gathering mission over the Baltic on Monday.



"The Russian plane's actions were out of the ordinary ... in terms of the distance between the planes which was at certain times very small," the Swedish military said in a statement.
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Wednesday appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, placing him firmly as first-in-line to the throne and removing the country's counterterrorism czar and a figure well-known to Washington from the royal line of succession.



In a series of royal decrees carried on the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the monarch stripped Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who had been positioned to inherit the throne, from his title as crown prince and from his powerful position as the country's interior minister overseeing security.



The newly announced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman already oversees a vast portfolio as defense minister and head

of an economic council tasked with overhauling the country's economy.



He had previously been the second-in-line to the throne as deputy crown prince, though royal watchers had long suspected his rise to power under his father's reign might also accelerate his ascension to the throne.



The young prince was little known to Saudis and outsiders before Salman became king in January 2015. He had previously been in charge of his father's royal court when Salman was the crown prince.



The Saudi monarch, who holds near absolute powers, quickly awarded his son expansive powers to the surprise of many within the royal family who are more senior and more experienced than Mohammed bin Salman, also known by his

initials MBS.



The royal decree issued today stated that "a majority" of senior royal members from the so-called Allegiance Council supported the recasting of the line of succession. Saudi Arabia's state TV said 31 out of 34 of the council's members voted in favor of the changes.



The Allegiance Council is a body made up of the sons and prominent grandsons of the founder of the Saudi state, the

late King Abdul-Aziz, who vote to pick the king and crown prince from among themselves.



Over the weekend, the king had issued a decree restructuring Saudi Arabia's system for prosecutions that stripped Mohammed bin Nayef of longstanding powers overseeing criminal investigations, and instead ordered that a newly-named Office of Public Prosecution and prosecutor report directly to the monarch.



Mohammed bin Nayef was not believed to have played a significant role in Saudi and Emirati-led efforts to isolate Qatar for its support of Islamist groups and ties with Iran.



The prince had appeared to be slipping from public eye as his nephew, Mohammed bin Salman, embarked on major overseas visits, including a trip to the White House to meet President Donald Trump in March.



That visit to Washington helped lay the foundation for Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in May, which marked the president's first overseas visit and which was promoted heavily by the kingdom as proof of its weight in the region and wider Muslim world.



Saudi-US relations had cooled under the Obama administration after Washington pursued a nuclear accord with Shiite-ruled Iran that the Sunni-ruled kingdom strongly opposed.



The warm ties forged between Riyadh and Washington under the Trump administration may have helped accelerate Mohammed bin Salman's ascension as crown prince.



Despite his ambitions, which include overhauling the kingdom's economy away from its reliance on oil, the prince

has faced failures and strong criticism for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which he oversees as defense minister.



The war, launched more than two years ago, has failed to dislodge Iranian-allied rebels known as Houthis from the

capital, Sanaa, and has had devastating effects on the impoverished country.



Rights groups say Saudi forces have killed scores of civilians and have called on the US, as well as the UK and France, to halt the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia that could be used in the Yemen war.



The US already is helping the Saudis with intelligence and logistical support for the bombing campaign in Yemen, and the Trump administration has signaled it could assist with greater intelligence support to counter Iranian influence there.
Amman/Washington: - The U.S. military said it had shot down an armed, Iranian-made drone that had been bearing down on its forces near a garrison in Syria's southeast on Tuesday, in the latest sign of increasingly frequent confrontation with Damascus and its allies.



The incident closely followed Sunday's U.S. downing of a piloted Syrian army jet in the southern Raqqa countryside after it dropped bombs near U.S.-backed forces.



That was a rarity in modern warfare, representing the first time the U.S. Air Force had downed a manned jet since 1999.



In the latest incident, the Pentagon said a U.S. F-15 aircraft flying over Syrian territory fired on the drone after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces.



Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said it had "dirty wings," meaning it was armed.



"I can tell you it was an Iranian-made drone," Davis said, declining to speculate on who specifically was operating it.



A Western intelligence source said it was "unquestionably Iranian".



"They are testing the limits," the source told Reuters without elaborating.



The area falls in a part of Syria that was recently identified as a military priority by Damascus, and is seen as strategically important for Iran as it seeks to secure a land corridor between forces it backs in Syria and Iraq.



The U.S.-led coalition said the location was close to where another "pro-regime" drone, which intelligence sources had also identified as Iranian, was shot down on June 8 after dropping bombs near coalition forces.



In an indirect reference to Iranian-backed forces that have been gathering in the eastern desert region, a U.S.-led coalition statement cited a recent escalation of tensions and said it would not "tolerate any hostile intent and action of pro-regime forces".



RUSSIAN WARNING



Russia, like Iran an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, issued a warning of its own to the United States in response to the downing of the Syrian jet, saying on Monday it would view as targets any planes flying west of the Euphrates River, though it stopped short of saying it would shoot any down.



Still, the Pentagon said it had not seen hostile action by Moscow.



"Public statements aside, we have not seen the Russians do any actions that cause us concern. We continue to operate, making some adjustments for prudent measures," Davis said.



Meanwhile, the U.S. and Russian militaries swapped accusations about an unsafe intercept involving a U.S. spy plane and a Russian fighter jet over the Baltic Sea.



In Syria's tangled conflict, Washington backs a coalition of rebel forces fighting both President Bashar al-Assad and Islamist militants, while Assad is backed by Russia, Iran and Shi'ite militia.



The U.S. military has repeatedly warned forces fighting on Assad's side to stay away from a "deconfliction zone", agreed with Russia, near a garrison used by U.S. special forces and U.S.-backed militia around Al Tanf.



On several occasions in recent weeks, warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition have also struck pro-government forces to prevent them advancing from the Al Tanf garrison in southeastern Syria at a spot where the country's borders join Iraq and Jordan.



Washington also described those strikes as self-defence.



The competition between the Syrian army and the militias and U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels has stepped up in the Badia desert that stretches to the Iraqi border after Islamic State abandoned large swathes of territory as it defends Raqqa and Deir Zor.



The Syrian army has been able to make rapid advances allowing them to reach the border for the first time in years.
Washington: 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.
A few hours before he sent a news release on how the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality intended to evaluate the risk that construction of two natural gas pipelines might pose to the states rivers, streams and wetlands, an agency spokesman asked a last-minute question to a pair of senior DEQ officials.

Just to make sure Im clear on this, DEQ spokesman Bill Hayden wrote to James Golden, DEQs director of operations, and Melanie Davenport, director of the water permitting division. Issuing individual 401 certifications would apply to each instance for both pipelines where a (Virginia Water Protection) permit is required, right? This does not mean one individual permit for each pipeline, right?

Hayden says he never got an answer to his 9:16 a.m. April 6 email, obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch through a Freedom of Information Act request aimed at discovering why the DEQ waited nearly seven weeks to correct what it later called an erroneous public perception of its intended process for handling the water-quality certifications for the pipelines.

The DEQ refused to turn over nine email chains that were part of The Times-Dispatchs request. Six of those were withheld under exemptions the agency claimed for attorney-client privilege or legal memoranda and other work product. Three email chains were withheld under the exemption in the FOIA law for working papers and correspondence of the Office of the Governor.

The DEQs April 6 announcement made a splash in a competitive Democratic gubernatorial primary contest that made the pipelines a red-hot issue.

And the news release and subsequent coverage triggered a wave of plaudits from environmental groups opposed to Dominion Energys Atlantic Coast Pipeline and EQT Midstream Partners smaller Mountain Valley Pipeline. The groups had been leaning on the agency and Gov. Terry McAuliffe, an early and enthusiastic backer of the pipelines, to get tougher in the permitting process.

Governor McAuliffe, unfortunately, is a huge supporter of these controversial pipelines, wrote Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, in an April 6 statement. And his DEQ  until today  has shown very little interest in doing anything but rubber-stamping the pipelines. But today, after enormous pressure from landowners, legal experts, environmental groups and others, the DEQ has relented.

Though the DEQ news release did not explicitly say so, Hayden told reporters in interviews and emails that the DEQs announcement meant that the agency would look at each individual spot where the pipelines crossed a waterway to determine specific requirements to protect streams, rivers and wetlands. That message turned out to be incorrect.

The DEQ now says it will rely on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for the water body crossings but develop additional requirements for upland areas along the route that could affect water quality.

There was no reply to my email from James or Melanie, as they were both busy at a conference, Hayden said this week. As I recall, it was several weeks before we discussed the issue again. ... Its hard to say whether a response to my question would have avoided the confusion. I do think its possible.

***

Though the emails provided by the DEQ do not show a response to Haydens critical question, they show Golden and Davenport were active on their emails that morning and in communication with Hayden.

Davenport sent Golden the news release at 9:29 a.m.; Golden forwarded it to Hayden at 10:09 a.m. with the message Final language. Thanks. At 10:13, Golden sent the release to Pam Faggert, Dominions chief environmental officer and senior vice president and a former DEQ employee.

This is the language that will be used to convey our decision regarding the requirement to obtain 401 for ACP, he wrote.

Thank you James, Faggert replied. We stand ready to work cooperatively with DEQ on the process you describe below to ensure public participation and provide an efficient and timely review of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project.

At 10:27 a.m., Golden told Hayden he may get a call from Mountain Valley Pipeline regarding the news release.

It is not uncommon for DEQ to communicate with companies to inform them of an action DEQ is going to take, Hayden said this week. It is strictly for their information, and they do not have any control over what DEQ says. We did not ask for their opinion of our announcement, we simply communicated it to them. DEQ does not consult with companies in cases like this. We merely pass information along.

***

Eleven days after the news release, Hayden himself expressed concern about the public perception of DEQs message, responding to an email headlined The DEQ has changed its story from the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition, which opposes the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and is now suing the DEQ over part of the permitting process.

Ive received a couple other comments like these from reporters. A very confused, inaccurate picture is being spread because of a serious lack of understanding of what DEQ has done, he said in an email to Ann Regn, another DEQ public information staff member, and Angela Jenkins, the DEQs director of policy. I dont know if James wants to respond to this, but I think we should be consistent with what Im telling the reporters.

Golden did not set the record straight until nearly seven weeks after the April 6 news release, and only when asked by reporters who had heard from environmental organizations that the DEQ was backing away from conducting reviews of individual water crossings.

Jenkins, though, in an email to a reporter on May 26, claimed that the extent of the misunderstanding among our public information staff became clear only within the last week as they were working with technical staff on information to be posted on a new webpage that describes this certification process and includes recent guidance and information requests that also provide further clarification about the nature of this process.

We did not intend to mislead anyone, she added.

***

Concern about the pipelines has centered in part on earth and rock material that could wind up in pristine mountain streams during construction, via blasting through rock in the streambeds themselves or through erosion triggered by tree removal and flattening of ridgetops along the pipelines paths.

If approved by the federal government, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will run 600 miles from West Virginia through the heart of Virginia and into North Carolina.

The Mountain Valley Pipeline will run about 300 miles from northwestern West Virginia to Southside Virginias Pittsylvania County.

The pipelines were a major issue separating former U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello and Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, the Democratic candidates vying for a shot to replace McAuliffe, in a contest Northam won last week. On the day of the DEQ news release and amid the ensuing coverage, Northams campaign circulated a letter he wrote to the DEQ in February calling for the projects to be held to the highest environmental standards. Perriello, who opposed the pipelines, said at the time that his people-powered campaign pushed state officials toward the more rigorous review process.

At issue was whether DEQ would rely on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12  which critics call a blanket or check-the-box permit that does not adequately protect water-quality standards or take into account individual characteristics for the hundreds of waterways and wetlands the pipelines will cross  or require individual water-quality certifications for the pipelines under the authority granted by Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.

The section requires applicants for federal permits on such projects as utility lines, which could result in a discharge to navigable waters, to get a certification from the state.

I recommend that DEQ strongly consider utilizing individual permits, Northam wrote.

And on a debate stage in Roanoke last month, Northam said he did what I could as lieutenant governor through the executive branch to make sure that we changed from blanket permitting to a site-specific permitting, which they followed my lead on.

At Northams victory party last week, anti-pipeline activists briefly stormed the stage with a banner that said No time to celebrate! No pipeline.

***

Nearly 2 months after DEQs April 6 announcement, exactly what the agency will require of the pipeline developers remains unclear.

In a June 9 email to DEQ staff members, Director David K. Paylor, citing recent news reports that have caused speculation on the agencys intentions on permitting for these projects, wrote that the DEQ is requiring additional information from both pipeline developers so the agency can adequately assess the potential water quality impacts of the projects through an additional certification process.

The bottom line is that the additional requirements will protect water quality across the range of pipeline construction, Paylor wrote. Specifically, DEQ will require Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline to provide details and site plans to assess whether construction activities in upland areas will adversely impact water quality.

Both pipeline developers got letters in late May requesting the information and have submitted responses that the agency has posted on its website.

Public hearings are expected in August, and Paylor told the State Water Control Board, which will ultimately decide the issue, that he expects to have a recommendation for it to vote on this fall.

These pipeline projects are gathering a significant amount of public attention. I want to reassure you that DEQ is thoroughly and diligently reviewing each of these projects, and we will take every possible step within our authority to protect public health and the environment, Paylor wrote.

But groups like the Southern Environmental Law Center remain unclear about what the DEQ will require.

It creates a sense of confusion, said Greg Buppert, an attorney with the SELC. Over the last few months, we havent been sure what type of review is going to take place.

He was also perplexed at why the DEQ would put out the April 6 news release with no clear criteria for issuing the certification and no timetable for public hearings or comment.

What organizations really want is transparency in the process and an opportunity to participate in a meaningful way, he said. Confusion makes that difficult, and it contributes to a sense of mistrust.

Hayden said the April 6 announcement was to let the public know what approach DEQ would be taking with the certifications.

We knew it would take some time to get those decisions made, he added.

Two Roanoke-area Republicans  Dels. Gregory D. Habeeb of Salem and Joseph R. Yost of Giles County  sent a letter to the DEQ last week asking the agency to hold public meetings for their constituents to help ameliorate the shock and disappointment of the mixed messages on water protection.

The last thing you want in a project like this where there are legitimate concerns is to create additional concerns through confusion, Habeeb said in an interview.

***

After the news release went out, Paylor, the DEQ director, asked his staff to make sure a copy was sent to state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, a Bath County Democrat whose district would be affected by the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

In an interview, Deeds said the DEQs release and subsequent explanations caused a lot of confusion, and did not line up with the review process as Paylor had already described it to him.

Deeds said he believes what the DEQ settled on will allow environmental regulators to do what they need to do to protect stream quality. The apparent miscommunication about the scope of the review, Deeds said, fueled suspicions that the agency is facing outside pressure.

I trust David Paylor, Deeds said. Ive talked to him very directly about that. He says theyre not. I believe him.
No water, electricity in Mayaro

Over 40 roofs were either partially or fully blown off as Bret rampaged across the island leaving downed power lines and toppled trees in its wake.

Mayaro MP Rushton Paray said the devastation was so widespread that councillors and aldermen of the Mayaro/ Rio Claro Regional Corporation had been asked to prioritise their projects as there was limited funding available.

The corporation is mobilising, we had over 40 roofs blown off, so that is the priority right now because we have some pending bad weather still based on the bands that are coming in - so the priority is to cover those houses, Paray said in an interview at the corporation yesterday.

The second item is to get some basic food supplies and water to families that are in dire need and the third would be addressing issues of flooding. He said electricity and water supplies were cut at 8.37 pm on Monday leaving the constituency in darkness.

When Newsday visited the communities yesterday, electricity and water had still not been restored while business places, including gas stations, fast food outlets and groceries were shut. Paray noted that the communications network had proved to be challenging as both mobile providers had limited service in the region. The communications network is down, Digicel is down, Bmobile has dropped their power in terms of reducing some of their mobile tower heights so communications with the councillors, with the people, with disaster management unit teams is proving to be a challenge this morning but we trying our best to make it work.

The priority right now is to cover the homes and get the families back into the homes.

Obviously as first responder, the disaster management unit is like a trauma surgeon, you manage the situation so by tomorrow social services are going to come in and they have another suite of support. He said there was severe flooding in several areas such as Enid Village, Navet Village, Mabalsingh and Crapaud Flats in Biche where several homes were still under water. Paray said Mayaro did not experience any flooding as the area was well drained with the emphasis placed on rivers and drains during the dry season.

For his part, Mayaro/ Guayaguayare councillor Kyron James said the devastation left by Bret was the worst he had ever seen as 12 families had lost their roofs in his electoral district. One such family was that of 53-year- Sookram Sonny, a disabled man whose entire roof had been blown off by the storm.

We were all home, my wife, my daughterin- law and her children when we hear a howling sound and then the whole roof went up, he said. It was real scary
No major damage in Diego Martin

One of the biggest problems we (the corporation) encountered during our efforts was that a lot of the roofs of homes were blown off and this was largely due to the fact that these homes were not properly constructed in the first place. This is not the first time that we have seen this and residents need to not only adhere to the codes on how to build their homes but also look at where they build their homes.

He said while landslides and flash flooding did not occur to any great extent, there were several fallen electricity poles which left several communities without power.

He also commended officials from the National Commission for Self Help for their quick response to residents whose homes were damaged by strong winds.
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Daniel Day-Lewis is retiring from acting, the Guardian reports. The 60-year-old actor's final role will be a fashion drama from director Paul Thomas Anderson scheduled for release in December. No reason was given for Day-Lewis' pending retirement, which was announced Tuesday. "He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years," spokesperson Leslee Dart tells Variety. "This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject." Day-Lewis' film resume includes My Left Foot, Last of the Mohicans, The Age of Innocence, There Will Be Blood, Gangs of New York, and Lincoln.

Day-Lewisknown for taking years between roles and his intense dedication, including staying in character off-screenis the only person to win three best actor Oscars. He was nominated for two more. This isn't the first time Day-Lewis has stepped away from acting. He quit to be a shoemaker's apprentice in Italy in the 1990s before Martin Scorsese got him to come back for Gangs of New York. The Hollywood Reporter notes he also quit stage acting mid-performance in 1989. Day-Lewis once said: "In every actor's life, there is a moment when they ask themselves, 'Is it really seemly for me still to be doing this?'" (Read more Daniel Day-Lewis stories.)
Soldiers shot a suspect in the heart of Brussels after a small explosion at a busy train station Tuesday night, the AP reports. A bomb squad performed a controlled explosion of a bomb belt the suspect had at the Central Station and established a wide perimeter near the city's famed Grand Place square while checking to see if there were more hazards. It appeared no one else was injured besides the suspect and the damage from the explosion was limited. It's unclear if the suspect survived. Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said authorities are treating the incident "as a terrorist attack" that was foiled when the suspect was "neutralized."

An employee for Belgium's national rail company said the male suspect was very agitated, yelling about jihadists and then "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great," before blowing up something on a baggage trolley. The government agency that owns Belgium's railways was warned by a train driver who saw people running across the rail lines inside the station, a spokesperson said. National newspaper La Libre Belgique quoted the prosecutor's office as saying the suspect was wearing a backpack and an explosive belt. Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people on the Brussels subway and at an airport in March 2016. (Read more Brussels stories.)
Forrest Fenn should retrieve the treasure he stashed in the wilderness before anybody else dies looking for it, New Mexico's top cop says. "I would implore that he stop this nonsense," New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas said after searchers found a body believed to be that of Colorado pastor Paris Wallace, who disappeared while hunting for the treasure last week. The body was found in New Mexico's Rio Grande river, around seven miles downstream from where searchers found the 52-year-old's abandoned vehicle, along with rope tied around a rock on a nearby riverbank, the BBC reports. Another Colorado man died last year seeking the $2 million haul of gold and jewels Fenn says he hid in 2010.

The search has not only cost lives, it has endangered law enforcement personnel looking for lost searchers, meaning Fenn "has an obligation to retrieve his treasure if it does exist," Kassetas tells the Santa Fe New Mexican. Fenn says the death of Wallace is a "terrible loss" and he is considering either calling off the search or making it safer. He tells the New Mexican, however, that the hundreds of emails he has received in recent days have been overwhelmingly against stopping the search. He reminded searchers last week that he was 80 years old when he hid the treasure, meaning they shouldn't "overextend" themselves in the hunt. (In 2015, he admitted that the hunt was "out of control.")
Otto Warmbier's funeral is on Thursday and the 22-year-old's family has decided against having an autopsy first, the Hamilton County, Ohio coroner says. The coroner's office says, contrary to earlier reports, that the family has requested there be no autopsy, though an "external examination" was carried out Tuesday and his medical records are being examined, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. "No conclusions about the cause and manner of Mr. Warmbiers death have been drawn at this time as there are additional medical records and imaging to review and people to interview," the office said in a statement. Warmbier died Monday, just days after he was returned from detention in North Korea in a coma.

Doctors in Cincinnati disputed Pyongyang's claim that botulism led to Warmbier's condition. But they found no fractures or other signs of trauma, and experts tell the Washington Post that any number of things, including torture or a drug overdose, could have caused the coma. They agree, however, that things would probably have been different with better treatment. The cause is "almost a moot point," says Duke University professor of neurology Daniel Laskowitz. "Whatever they did to himthey took a healthy kid, put him under horrible conditions, mental and physical anguish ... they left him at risk, didnt treat him properly, didnt tell anyone," he says. (Lawmakers including Sen. John McCain say Warmbier was murdered by Kim Jong Un's regime.)
A man in Algeria apparently picked a terrible way to get attention on social mediaand now he'll pay for it in prison. On Monday an Algerian court sentenced the unnamed man to two years after he posted to Facebook a photo of himself dangling a baby out of a 15th-story window in an attempt to get "likes," reports Al Arabiya English. The photo shows the baby being held by a single hand outside the apartment building in the capital city of Algiers over the caption "1000 likes or I will drop him." The BBC reports that other social media users quickly denounced the photo, and police charged the man with endangering the life of a child when they arrested him on Sunday.

The man, who is a cousin of the baby's, swears the whole thing was a misunderstanding. The Independent reports he told Algeria's Ennahar TV the photo was manipulated by Facebook users to make it look worse than it actually was, claiming the "protective barriers" that were present were digitally removed. The boy's father also said he believed the man was just being playful and asked the court for mercy. Last week another man was jailed over photos shared to Facebook. (Read more Algeria stories.)
Nearly three years after 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson, a settlement has been reached in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by his parents. A federal judge signed off on the civil settlement Tuesday but ordered most of the details to be kept secret, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which has been told by sources that the amount is less than $3 million. The parents, Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden, sued the city of Ferguson, former Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson, and Wilson, who was cleared of wrongdoing by federal investigators after shooting the unarmed black teenager.

In his ruling, US District Judge E. Richard Webber said the settlement, which will be split between the parents, was "fair and reasonable compensation." He ordered the agreement to remain sealed because making it public "could jeopardize the safety of individuals involved in this matter, whether as witnesses, parties, or investigators," the AP reports. The shooting led to protests across the country and to a blistering Department of Justice report on racial discrimination by the Ferguson police force. The Washington Post reports that Brown's parents quoted extensively from the 2015 DoJ report in their lawsuit, which accused police of using excessive force in a pattern of misconduct that led to the shooting of their son. (Read more Michael Brown stories.)
The key ingredient in one of the world's weirdest cocktails is missing and a saloon in Canada's Yukon Territory wants it back. The Downtown Hotel in Dawson City says the Mounties are investigating the theft of a pickled human toe served in its "Sourtoe Cocktail," the Guardian reports. Workers say a customer made off with the toe on Saturday after ordering the cocktail, which consists of a shot of whisky with the blackened toe inside. To be awarded a Sourtoe Certificate, "you can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips have gotta touch the toe," according to the rules of the saloon, which has been serving the drink since a riverboat captain found a preserved toe in an abandoned cabin in 1973.

The customer, who spoke with a Quebec accent, ordered the cocktail outside the designated "toe time" hours, and a new staff member served it "to be nice," says "Toe Captain" Terry Lee, per the Whitehorse Daily Star. "And this is how he pays her back. What a low-life." There are some backup toes available, but this was the hotel's only big toe, Lee says. A previous toe was swallowedapparently deliberatelyin 2013, and hotel manager Geri Coulbourne tells the CBC that the missing replacement toe is a "really good one" donated by a man who had it surgically removed. The hotel says police have the man's name because he left his Sourtoe Certificate behind. (The bar's fine for swallowing the toe was raised to $2,500 after the 2013 incident.)
Residents of the small town of Harlaa in eastern Ethiopia have long suspected that ancient coins and pottery fragments uncovered there represented a trail to undiscovered riches. They weren't far off, reports Quartz. After two years of digging in Harlaa, archaeologists have found ancient beads in almost every color of the rainbow, crafted of rock crystal, carnelian, and glass; cowry shells; and various pottery piecesevidence of an ancient city that traded with China, India, and the Maldives between the 10th and 15th centuries. "This discovery revolutionizes our understanding of trade in an archaeologically neglected part of Ethiopia," archaeologist Timothy Insoll says in a release. "What we have found shows this area was the center of trade in that region."

Researcherswho uncovered a jewelry workshop, per the Telegraphbelieve the center was known for its high-quality jewelry made with silver, bronze, glass, and semi-precious stones from as far away as India. The jewelry was traded with people "in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and possibly as far away as the Arabian Gulf," Insoll says. It isn't clear what residents received in return, though shells; pottery from Madagascar, the Maldives, Yemen, and China; and bronze and silver coins from 13th-century Egypt were found. A 12th-century mosque found also suggests the city was connected to Islamic communities in Africa, specifically in Tanzania and Somaliland, reports the BBC. Archaeologists next plan to examine remains in an ancient Harlaa cemetery. ("Sleeping Beauty" was found in Ethiopia.)
President Trump's critics had turned Georgia's congressional runoff into a referendum on him, and the president was happy to do a little gloating in the wake of victory. "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 Tuesday night. It comes after Karen Handel's win in Georgia and Ralph Norman's victory in South Carolina on Tuesday. Politico notes that both races were close in comfortably red districts, which doesn't necessarily bode well for the GOP's chances in the 2018 midterms, but Republicans were nonetheless in a celebratory mood.

"The Democrats threw the kitchen sink at this deal and theyve come up empty again," says Scott Reed of the US Chamber of Commerce, which spent more than $1 million on Handel ads. The Washington Post suggests that one immediate effect of her win might be to bolster GOP efforts in the Senate to repeal ObamaCare quickly. As for Trump, he offered Democrats some advice on Wednesday morning: They "would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on Healthcare,Tax Cuts,Security," he tweeted. "Obstruction doesn't work!" (Earlier, the GOP scored big congressional wins in Montana and Kansas.)
When Peter Butera got up to begin his valedictorian speech at his high school graduation ceremony in Exeter, Pa., on Friday, he probably never dreamed he'd be finishing it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! four days later. But on Tuesday night the 18-year-old class president appeared via Skype on the late-night talk show to recite the tail end of a speech that had been cut off by Wyoming Area Secondary Center administrators the week before. CBS Philly reports that administrators shut off Butera's microphone after he veered off his pre-approved script to condemn what he called the "authoritative attitude" of some of the school's faculty and staff, an attitude, he said, that "prevents students from developing as true leaders. Hopefully, this will change." At which point his mic went silent.

The Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice quotes a statement from principal Jon Pollard in which he explains he felt obligated to stop Butera's speech in order to "ensure the remainder of [it] was not demeaning or derogatory to his classmates, the underclassmen, faculty, staff or administration." The Washington Post talks to a friend of Butera's who says Butera was frustrated by having numerous ideas turned down by Pollard during his four years as class president. (Other off-script lines from Butera: "At our school, the title of class president can more accurately be class party planner. Student councils main obligation is to paint signs every week.") The Villanova-bound Butera doesnt think his speech could have gone any better: "I got my point across and them cutting the microphone proved my point to be true." (Valedictorians have had issues before.)
The two psychologists who were handsomely paid by the CIA to devise harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding say they had reservations about using them but were pressured by US security officials to keep going. "They kept telling me every day a nuclear bomb was going to be exploded in the United States and that because I had told them to stop, I had lost my nerve and it was going to be my fault if I didnt continue," John Bruce Jessen said in a deposition given in connection with a civil suit brought by former detainees against him and colleague James Mitchell. The New York Times obtained the men's video depositionsthe case is scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 5and has a lengthy account. Some samples:

"Jim and I didn't want to continue doing what we were doing," said Jessen. "We tried to get out several times and they needed us, and wewe kept going."

"I think the word that was actually used is that you guys are pussies," said Mitchell, recounting CIA pressure. "There was going to be another attack in America and the blood of dead civilians are going to be on your hands.

"I think any normal, conscionable man would have to consider carefully doing something like this," said Jessen. "I deliberated with great, soulful torment about this, and obviously I concluded that it could be done safely or I wouldnt have done it."

"It sucks, you know," Mitchell said of waterboarding. "I dont know that its painful. Im using the word 'distressing.'

"There is a tether anchored to the ceiling in the center of the detention cell," said Mitchell in describing their sleep-deprivation method. "The detainee has handcuffs and theyre attached to the tether in a way that they cant lie down or rest against a wall. Theyre monitored to make sure they dont get edema if they hang on the cuffs too much."

(Read more CIA stories.)
Just one week after defense chief James Mattis told a Senate panel the US is "not winning in Afghanistan," a new report reveals that the US wasted $28 million on the wrong kind of uniforms for Afghan army soldiers. In 2007, the Pentagon allowed the Afghan defense minister to pick expensive woodland-camouflage patterns from a private company rather than free camouflage schemes from the government, reports USA Today. This despite the fact that forest makes up only 2.1% of Afghanistan's land area. The revelation is in a newly released report from Afghan special inspector general John Sopko. This is just simply stupid on its face," he tells the newspaper. "If he thought pink or chartreuse was it, would we have done that?

A decade ago, US military consultants decided the Afghan army needed a more distinct uniform, in part to make it harder for the Taliban to stage attacks in counterfeit uniforms, reports the Military Times. The consultants showed then-Afghan defense chief Abdul Rahim Wardak pictures of "forest" uniforms they found on the internet, and he "liked what he saw," according to the report. The Pentagon bought more than 1.3 million of the uniforms and 88,000 extra pairs of pants without conducting any formal testing to determine the pattern's effectiveness for use in Afghanistan. The report comes at a sensitive time: Afghan troops are in the midst of a multi-front conflict with both the Taliban and an ISIS offshoot, and earlier this month President Trump gave Mattis the authority to increase troop levels. (Read more Afghanistan stories.)
They were labeled "satanic" daycare owners who murdered babies, held orgies involving children, took kids to Mexico to be raped by military officials, and forced others to drink blood. They each spent 21 years in prison based on those lies, reports the Intercept. But after 25 years, their names have finally been cleared. Texas couple Fran and Dan Keller were exonerated of the sexual assault of a child Tuesday after Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore filed a motion to dismiss their cases. While noting that some accusers don't agree with her decision, Moore said "no credible evidence exists that inculpates the defendants," who are "actually innocent" of the crime for which they were each sentenced to 48 years in 1992, per the Austin Chronicle.

The case began when a 3-year-old girl who visited their daycare said she'd been spanked by Dan, now 75. Questioned by her mother and a therapist, the girl went on to tell of rape and orgies. After more children came forward with increasingly outrageous claims, the Kellers were convicted based in part on an ER doctor's opinion that the girl suffered a vaginal injury that had possibly resulted from sexual abuse. They were only released from prison in 2013 after the doctor testified he'd made a mistake, having learned at a medical conference that genitalia with that appearance is normal. He says he tried to share his error with the Austin PD years prior but was dismissed; lawyer Keith Hampton worked on the case pro bono for six years to bring about the exoneration, which makes the Kellers each eligible to receive $1.7 million from the state. Read about another case with similar themes here. (Read more Texas stories.)
An adjunct professor in New Jersey says she was suspended by the administration because of an appearance on Fox News, the Star-Ledger reports. Lisa Durden was scheduled to teach courses on speech and popular culture at Essex County College in the fall but was informed June 8 she had been indefinitely suspended. "They did this to humiliate me,'' Durden says. "Essex County College publicly lynched me in front of my students.'' Two days earlier, she had appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to defend a Black Lives Matter event. According to Mediaite, it didn't go well, with Carlson calling Durden "demented" at one point.

Durden says officials told her she was suspended because she associated herself with the college during the appearance. But Inside Higher Ed reports that at no point did Durden mention her position at Essex and even specified she was "speaking for Lisa Durden." It wasn't her first appearance on Fox News, and Durden believes someone called the college to complain about her comments and the administration caved. On Tuesday, Carlson was supportive of the decision to suspend Durden, calling the idea of her teaching children "insane." Durden's colleagues are trying to get her reinstated, and an online petition has more than 1,000 signatures. "I find it shocking that an African-American woman would be so disrespected at her place of employment for merely exercising her First Amendment right to free speech,'' one Essex professor says. (Read more Tucker Carlson stories.)
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FAIRBANKS  The work and effort put into completing the Trans Alaska Pipeline System and its constant maintenance is an embodiment of Alaska 
New Delhi:

Uber founder Travis Kalanick quit as company CEO after five of the entities major investors demanded his resignation citing weak leadership.

According to the reports, Travis Kalanick resigned after much pressure from Ubers investors who insisted that he should resign as the company needed a change in leadership.

On Tuesday, five of Ubers major investors demanded the resignation of the chief executive. The investors made their demand in a letter Moving Uber Forward which was delivered to the chief executive while he was in Chicago. The investors included one of Ubers biggest shareholders, Benchmark.

In a statement, Kalanick said, 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.

In the letter, the investors asked Travis Kalanick to resign immediately as the company needs to move forward and needs a change in the leadership. As per the reports by the US media, Kalanick resigned after consulting with one Uber board member and some of the investors. He will, however, remain on Ubers board of directors.

Under the leadership of Travis Kalanick, the company was exposed as a company that is rife with sexual harassment and discrimination.

Recently, an engineer who worked with Uber alleged sexual harassment at the workplace opening the gates for more complaints and investigation. In addition, Uber has also been gripped with an intellectual property lawsuit from Waymo, and a federal inquiry into a software tool.

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New Delhi:

A German lady has approached the Delhi police alleging that she was raped by her Punjab-based husband and father-in-law. According to the victim, she got married to the Punjab-based man in Germany.

The couple returned to India and started staying with the man's family in Punjab. She has alleged that her father-in-law and husband sexually assaulted her, police said.

The woman said her husband left her at a hotel in Paharganj in the city, they said. A complaint was received by the Paharganj police station in this regard. However, no FIR has been registered in the matter. Police said they were examining the complaint.

Also Read: Delhi Shame! 25-year-old woman allegedly raped by man who befriended her on Facebook in Saket
Mumbai:

A 68-year-old man who went missing was reunited with his family as a result of efforts made by Mumbai police within two hours, after they posted his information on social media, a official said on Wednesday.

The elderly man, Samiulla Abdulla was found moving cluelessly at the Sakinaka junction in suburban Andheri on Tuesday by the cops during a regular patrol in the area.

As Samiulla failed to provide his personal details, he was brought to Sakinaka police station.

Duty officer sub-inspector Sanjay Chavan further quizzed him on his details, but he was able to only give his name, the police official said.

Read more: Man commits suicide over failed love during live streaming of video

Police also made attempts to locate his address and his relatives but were unsuccessful. We then decided to take the help of social media and posted his picture on Mumbai Police Twitter handle, whatsaap and facebook, he said.

Within two hours his daughter Mahejbeen Reheman, came to the police station after being informed by a relative, who had seen Samiullah's photo an whatsaap, the official said.

Mahejbeen told police that her father had gone missing on Monday night and was since then untraceable.

According to her, Samiullah is suffering from old age problems and often faces difficulty with remembering things.
New Delhi:

The Bihar School Examination Board is all set to release Bihar BSEB Class 10th Results 2017 on June 22 at its official website biharboard.ac.in, srsec.bsebbihar.com, www.biharboard.org.in and www.skillmissionbihar.org.

The confirmation about the result was announced at a press conference on Tuesday, BSEB chairman Anand Kishor said the board would also release a list of top ten scorers who would be rewarded.

The first, second and third toppers will get Rs 1 lakh, Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 each respectively along with a laptop, an e-book and stationeries. Those obtaining fourth to tenth positions will get Rs 10,000 and a laptop each, Kishor said.

This year Bihar Board BSEB Class 10 examinations were conducted by the board from march 1 to March 8 across the state and around 15 lakh stidents appeared for the same.

The Bihar School Examination Board has already postponed its class 10th results twice after the huge discripancies in its higher secondary examination result.

Steps to check Bihar BSEB Class 10th Results 2017:

1. Visit the official website of the board biharboard.ac.in

2. Click on results-You will be directed to a new page

3. Enter important data such as roll number, date of birth etc.

4. Your Bihar Board Class 10th results will be displayed on screen

5. Download your BSEB Class 10th Results

6. Take a print out of the same for future convenience

Last year around 75.15% students were declared qualified in the BSEB Class 10th examination. While 76.08 percent girls cleared the examination, the passing percentage for boys was 72.88 percent.

About Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB):

The Bihar School Examination Board is a statutory body under section 3 of Bihar School Examination Board Act - 1952 which is functioning under Government of Bihar devised to conduct examinations at secondary and senior secondary standard in both government and private schools belonging to state of Bihar on the basis of syllabus as prescribed by the Government of Bihar.
New Delhi:

Akshay Kumar, who recently won praises from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the trailer of his upcoming movie 'Toilet:Ek Prem Katha', is all set to create another sensation in B-town as the actor might get into the PM's shoes on the big screen. According to the media reports, Akshay Kumar will soon essay the role of PM Modi in one of his upcoming movies.



While not much details have been revealed about the movie, it is being reported that Kumar has bagged the role owing to his widespread appeal. Central Board of Film Certifications chairperson Pahlaj Nihlani was quoted saying to DNA that no one can be better at playing PM Modi's role on the silver screen other than Akshay Kumar.



I cant think of anyone better to play our Prime Minster than Akshay. He has a spotless image of an idealist and visionary. And look at the kind of work hes doing. Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Padman are the cinema of social reform that Guru Dutt and V Shantaram were associated with. Also, Akshay has risen from humble working class beginnings to become a national star, just like Modiji. We are certainly looking at a strong possibility of Akshay playing Modiji, Nahalani was quoted as saying.



On the other hand, a source source close to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reportedly told India Today and said "The kind of reach and impact that Akshay Kumar's presence will have in a story on Modi would be far-reaching and productive."



This was not all. Veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha too had lauded Akshay and claimed him to be the right choice to essay the role of PM Modi on the silver screen. He told the daily, "Akshay is the Mr Clean of India. His image goes well with the image of the New Shining India."



Interestingly, as per a report published in DNA Akshay has bagged the role after beating Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher and even Victor Banerjee.



Currently, Akshay is busy promoting 'Toilet:Ek Prem Katha' opposite Bhumi Pednekar. Helmed by Shree Narayan Singh, the movie will hit the screens on August 4.

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New Delhi:

The Delhi police on Wednesday informed that a German woman has alleged that her Indian husband, whom she had befriended on social networking website Facebook, raped her during the couples stay in Punjab.

A rape case against the accused has been registered at central Delhis Paharganj police station here on the complaint of the woman, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said.

In her complaint, the 44-year-old woman alleged that her husband, aged 24, raped her while her father-in-law molested her after she started residing with the family in Punjab after her wedding last year.

They were planning to move to Germany and had recently come to Delhi for undertaking visa formalities, police said.

They were staying at a hotel in Paharganj. Yesterday, the woman informed the police that she had lost her way in the Connaught Place. She also alleged that her husband had raped her and was ill-treating her after marriage, police sources said.

Also Read: Delhi Shame! 25-year-old woman allegedly raped by man who befriended her on Facebook in Saket

Considering the severity of the allegations, the police have registered a case against the husband here even though she alleged that the rape happened in Punjab. Her father-in-law has not been named in the FIR.

Police said that her statement in front of a magistrate is yet to be recorded. They are also verifying whether the couple is married.

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New Delhi:

In a tragic incident in Lucknow, a girl aged 9 years, was killed on Wednesday when an iron gate crashed on her in an under construction part of the Lok Bhawan building which houses the chief ministers office, the police said.

Kiran was playing when the gate fell on her, they said. The girl was rushed to a hospital where she died while undergoing treatment. The UP government has approved compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh to the girl's family members.

Construction work in the Lok Bhawan building started under the previous Samajwadi party regime, according to officials.

ALSO READ: UP: Car falls into canal in Makera area near Mathura, 10 pilgrims die

9-yr old girl dies after being crushed under a gate of Lok Bhavan (Chief Minister's office) in Lucknow during construction work. pic.twitter.com/eKOGf5Soj0  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 21, 2017

The building houses the chief ministers office where cabinet and other meetings are held. A portion of this building is under construction, officials said.

READ: Maharashtra: 9 killed in road accident in Beed

Pit was uncovered & always filled with water. The fencing & attempts to drain the pit was done only this morning.: Father of the child pic.twitter.com/VYZOJEJC28  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

With PTI inputs

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Mumbai:

Congress leader Ashok Chavan was asked by the Bombay High Court on Wednesday to respond to CBIs contention that the Governor cannot be impleaded as a respondent to a petition filed by him, thus challenging the sanction accorded by the gubernatorial office to prosecute him in the Adarsh housing society scam.

A division bench headed by Justice R V More was hearing a petition filed by the Congress MP against the decision of Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao granting sanction to the CBI to prosecute him in the scam. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for CBI, today told the court that the Governor cannot be impleaded personally as a party respondent in a petition.

The petitioner (Chavan) will have to delete the Governors name as respondent. The state government will have to be impleaded as respondent, Singh said. The court then directed Chavans counsel Amit Desai to reply to this argument by CBI and posted the petition for further hearing on July 3.

In February 2016, Governor Rao had granted sanction to CBI to prosecute Chavan for offences under IPC sections 120 (b)(criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating and under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

ALSO READ: Adarsh case: CBI gets Guv nod to prosecute Chavan

Chavans petition termed the Governors order as arbitrary, illegal and unjust and passed without proper application of mind and with malafide intentions.

CBI had accused Chavan of approving additional floor space index for Adarsh society in return for two flats for his relatives. He was also charged with illegally approving, as the then Revenue Minister, allotment of 40 per cent of the flats to civilians in the high rise in posh Colaba.

While the CBI named him as an accused in its FIR, in December 2013 the then Governor K Sankaranarayanan had refused permission to it to prosecute Chavan in the scam.

However, in March 2015, the high court dismissed a plea made by Chavan, who is the sitting Lok Sabha MP from Nanded, seeking deletion of his name from the case, as the Governor had refused to grant sanction. Following this, the CBI re-approached the Governor seeking sanction, which was granted in February 2016.

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New Delhi:

The government is planning to help people suffering from autism, mental illnesses, intellectual disability and victims of acid attacks. As a result, such people may soon get quotas in central government jobs and for promotions. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has proposed vacancies, promotion quotas and an age relaxation for those with disabilities in a draft policy.

The move may stoke controversy as reservation in promotion for persons with disabilities is before the Supreme Court of India.The vacancies earmarked will be for the posts of office assistants to Indian Administrative Service officers. In case of direct recruitment, four per cent of the total number of vacancies in the cadre strength in each group of the posts, i.e. A, B, C and D, shall be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities, the DoPT said.

Benchmark disabilities have been defined as blindness, low vision, deafness, hardness of hearing, locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, dwarfism, muscular dystrophy and cured leprosy. Besides, acid victims, those with autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability, mental illnesses and deafblindness (a combination of sight and hearing loss) will also be entitled to one per cent reservation.

ALSO READ: Maharashtra govt tells HC it may hike compensation for rape victims

Intellectual disability is a condition characterised by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem solving) and in adaptive behaviour which covers a range of everyday skills.

In case of promotions, four per cent of the total number of vacancies in the cadre strength in each group of posts, i.e in Groups D and C, will be reserved for persons with benchmark disabilities, the guidelines said. Only those with such disabilitieswith not less than 40 per cent of a specified disabilitywill be eligible for reservations in posts/services, the draft said.

The provisions have been made to ensure that reservation for people with disabilities is not adjusted against the posts meant for those from Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Classes. Reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs is called vertical reservation and the reservation for categories such as persons with benchmark disabilities and ex-servicemen is called horizontal reservation.

READ: Vivek Oberoi gifts new house to acid attack survivor on her wedding

Horizontal reservation cuts across vertical reservation (in what is called interlocking reservation) and persons selected against the quota for persons with benchmark disabilities have to be placed in the appropriate category viz SC/ST/OBC/General candidates depending upon the category to which they belong in the roster meant for reservation of SCs/STs/OBCs, it said.

The DoPT has sought suggestions on the draft policy from all central government departments within the next 15 days.

With PTI inputs

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New Delhi:

Cracks appeared in the opposition ahead of Thursdays crucial meeting on the presidential poll, with the JD-U deciding to stay out of the talks after extending its support to NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday.

The opposition camp is yet to name its candidate for the poll, but former speaker Meira Kumars meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence today, a day before the meeting, fuelled speculation that she had emerged as the front runner.

Sources said the JD(U)s announcement led to hectic deliberations through the day between senior leaders of the Congress and other non-NDA parties on how to keep the opposition together.

The Congress, which is coordinating the opposition meet, expressed the hope that leaders of all parties which attended the May 26 luncheon hosted by Gandhi would be present.

Sources said top Congress and other opposition leaders talked to several leaders to ensure the presence of all non-NDA parties at the meeting, which will decide on the oppositions presidential candidate.

No matter what happens, we will contest the election, a senior Left leader said.

Asked about the Congresss choice for the poll, AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari said it was a hypothetical question, adding that the opposition would decide on a joint strategy for the July 17 poll tomorrow.

Given that we are talking about the Highest Constitutional office in the country and there are opposition parleys which are undergoing, it would be inappropriate for me to second-guess this, he said about a possible Congress candidate.

Tiwari said, There will be a far clear, coherent and an articulate answer available after the meeting tomorrow.

A JD(U) leader said its move backing Kovind was a one-time, isolated case, maintaining that opposition unity was intact on other issues.

Samajwadi Partys Naresh Agrawal said opposition parties would jointly take a call on a candidate at the meeting.

However, some Left leaders pointed to SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadavs presence at a yoga day event, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Lucknow today.

Sources said sections of the opposition had decided they were going to put up a candidate against Kovind and turn the election into an ideological fight.

But they admitted that by putting up a dalit candidate, the NDA had left the opposition camp with fewer options.

The opposition may field a dalit against Kovind and among the names being discussed are those of B R Ambedkars grandson Prakash Ambedkar and former minister Sushilkumar Shinde, apart from Meira Kumars.

Left sources, however, said the Congress was yet to propose a name.

Senior Congress leaders spoke to left leaders over the telephone about tomorrows meeting. Though Kumar and Shindes names are doing the rounds, there was no formal or informal word from the Congress side, a senior Left leader said.

The sources said former ambassador and governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi was still among the probables.

They admitted that Kovinds nomination had dented opposition unity with the JD-U declaring its support to the NDA nominee.

But how far that nomination has affected our unity will be known only tomorrow and will be based on the number of leaders who will be there, the sources said.

JD-Us spokesperson K C Tyagi said the JD(U) would not attend the opposition meeting, saying that it was now irrelevant for his party after it had supported Kovind, a low profile dalit leader whose nomination by the BJP has drawn support from several non-NDA parties.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is the JD(U) president, praised Kovinds tenure as the governor of Bihar on Monday soon after BJP chief Amit Shah named him as the ruling groups presidential pick.

Congress leader and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar met Party President Sonia Gandhi, at her residence in #Delhi. pic.twitter.com/hapZmKnbP2  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Tyagi also insisted JD(U)s support on the presidential poll was an isolated incident and the party would continue to be with the opposition in its battle against the saffron party in the future.

This isolated incident will have no bearing on our efforts for the larger opposition unity, he said.

Also Read | Presidential poll 2017: Ram Nath Kovind is NDA's candidate; Congress lashes out at BJP, Opposition meet on June 22

Reacting to the JD(U)s decision to support Kovinds nomination, CPI national secretary D Raja said the Nitish Kumar-led party should have consulted other opposition parties before supporting Kovind.

He, however, maintained the JD(U)s move would not affect opposition unity.

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New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnans plea seeking interim bail and suspension of the six-month sentence awarded to him for contempt of court.



A vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul said the court was duty-bound by the order of the seven-judge bench on the case and Karnanarrested on Tuesday after being on the run for more than a monthshould mention the matter before a bench of the chief justice.



The seven-judge bench had already passed an order and only the special bench could hear the plea, the judges said.



Appearing for Karnan, advocate Mathew J Nedumpara said this court had all the powers and should grant the interim bail till the reopening of the court. To this, the vacation bench said it could not override the order of the seven-judge bench.

ALSO READ | Former Calcutta HC judge CS Karnan arrested by CID in Supreme Court contempt case



Karnan, 62, was arrested last night 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.

ALSO READ | Controversial Calcutta High Court judge Justice CS Karnan retires

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New Delhi:

Congress workers performed Shavaasana in Indore on third International Yoga Day to mark their protest against the deaths of five farmers in police firing in Mandsaur. Farmers too performed Shavaasana at Kisan Ghat in New Delhi to protest against the policies of the government.

The Congress workers in Madhya Pradesh gathered at an installation in Bhopal and decided to protest in a unique way on International Yoga Day.



Five persons lost their lives and several others were left injured in Madhya Pradeshs Mandsaur as farmers protest turned violent due to alleged firing by the police.

The farmers have accused the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government of not providing them enough support in the wake of drought situation in the state.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union workers also staged protest against killing of farmers in Mandsaur at NH-28 in Barabanki, Uttar Pradeshby performing 'shavaasana'.

ALSO READ | International Yoga Day Live: 'Yoga joins soul to body, it is now joining world together,' says PM Narendra Modi

Bhopal: Congress workers do the 'Shavaasana' on #InternationalYogaDay to protest against farmers killed in police firing in Mandsaur,MP pic.twitter.com/hOMMnnAgY6  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

Barabanki (UP): Bharatiya Kisan Union workers protest against killing of farmers in #Mandsaur at NH-28, perform 'shavaasana'. pic.twitter.com/OuhuuhlDL0  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 21, 2017

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New Delhi:

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday celebrated Yoga day with 600 children belonging to farmers families in the state.

Fadnavis said that yoga has the power to transmit the natures energies to human beings and that the traditional practice helps people in handling their problems.

Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff and social activist Shantilal Mutha were also present and they attended the hour-long yoga session organised in Worli.

Yoga is not only a form of exercise but a way of living life. Yoga has the power to transmit the natures energies to humans, the chief minister said after performing various asanas.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been successful in giving an international recognition to yoga, that has the quality to help people get over the biggest of problems. Everybody should imbibe the quality of practising yoga, the chief minister said.

Fadnavis wife Amruta, BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha and industrialist Vallabh Bhansali also participated in the session, organised by Divyaj Foundation.

The chief minister also participated in another yoga session organised by BJP MP Poonam Mahajan and party MLA Ashish Shelar in suburban Bandra.

It gives us immense satisfaction and happiness that 176 nations celebrated the yoga day today. The world has accepted the health benefits of yoga described by our prime minister. I believe that yoga will be the medium to provide good health to people, Fadnavis later told reporters.

Several government employees and officials also participated in a yoga session led by Minister of State for Agriculture Sadabhau Khot at the state secretariat.

(With PTI Inputs)

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed nation on the occasion of International Yoga Day at Lucknow. PM Modi performed yoga after addressing nation. PM Modi was accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at the venue.

Tight security cordoned around venue, all arterial roads were under strict CCTV vigil.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said yoga, akin to its capacity to unite the body, mind and soul, has played a big role in binding the world, cutting across linguistic and cultural barriers.

Addressing a huge gathering at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan on the occasion of the third International Yoga Day celebrations here, he also asserted that the traditional practice has now become part of every persons life.



Here are the top quotes from the speech of PM Modi:

# Yoga is about health assurance. It is not even expensive to practice

# I urge everyone to make Yoga a part of their lives

# I am glad to see several Yoga institutes take shape over the last three years. Demand for Yoga teachers is increasing

# Yoga's immense popularity outside India is high & has connected the world with India

# From Lucknow I convey my greetings to all those joining the Yoga Day 2017 celebrations all over India

# Yoga joins soul to body. It is now joining world together

# Yoga is becoming parts of houses and many countries have also adopted it

# Yoga is a part of our tradition and it integrates us# Yoga can have the same importance as salt has in life

# Wellness more important than simply physical fitness

# Yoga, which connects body, mind and soul, has played a big role in connecting the world too

Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, or culture, are now connecting to India through Yoga. The practice, which connects body, mind and soul, has played a big role in binding the world too, he said.

Donning a white t-shirt and loose trousers, Modi also performed asanas along with over 50,000 yoga enthusiasts braving early morning drizzles.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath joined the prime minister in performing yoga at the sprawling venue.In his address, Adityanath thanked Modi for enhancing Yogas reputation globally.

Intermittent rains since morning failed to deter thousands of yoga enthusiasts, who enjoyed performing asanas fully drenched.

Three years ago, Modi had persuaded the United Nations to declare June 21 as the International Yoga Day.

Since then, thousands of people hold yoga programmes across the world on this day.

With PTI inputs

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New Delhi:

Large number of people from all walks of life observed International Yoga Day in West Bengal in Wednesday and participated in various programmes. Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal participated in the morning yoga session at the Indian Research Institute for Integrated Medicine (IRIIM) at its Mourigram Campus in Howrah district.

Meghwal appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Ayush in familiarising the common yoga protocol among the people. Stating that India has earned reputation by popularising yoga worldwide, Meghwal lauded the Prime Minister for his efforts to initiate the observations of International Yoga Day all over the world.

Praising the enthusiasm of the kids to practice Yoga, the Minister lauded this glaring instance as the upcoming generation is the future citizen of the country.

ALSO READ: Ramdev says Amit Shah shed body weight, gained political weight

Dr Debashis Bakshi, the Secretary IRIIM, said that great enthusiasm was observed among common people as more than 600 people assembled at the campus to practice yoga which was performed in three consecutive sessions in the morning. Various organisations including NCC has observed the day with special morning Yoga session.

It was a great pleasure to perform #Yoga on 3rd #InternationalYogaDay with the enthusiastic people of #Howarh, West Bengal @moayush pic.twitter.com/DMWJAKoQ0R  Arjun Ram Meghwal (@arjunrammeghwal) June 21, 2017

As part of International Yoga Day 2017, personnel of Indian Coast Guard Regional Headquarters (NE) participated in mass yoga in another programme at the Coast Guard Regional Hq in Kolkata. Ladies and children of the Coast Guard fraternity were seen performing yoga asanas with zeal and elan.

"Yoga for Health", attended 3rd #InternationalYogaDay with the enthusitic people of howrah, West Bengal pic.twitter.com/dpD3h4jkmT  Arjun Ram Meghwal (@arjunrammeghwal) June 21, 2017

Inspector General Kuldip Singh Sheoran, the Regional Commander said Yoga is a must in todays stressful life andwe must all find time to practice yoga daily.

READ: Nearly 3 lakh perform yoga at one place, Ramdev claims world record

International Yoga Day, is celebrated annually on 21 June since its inception in 2015. The day was declared unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 11 December 2014.

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New Delhi:

Two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Rafiabad area of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, an Army official said.

The militants were holed up inside a house in Pazalpora village in Sopore township of the district. The Army official said two weapons were seized and operations were still on in the area.



Following intelligence inputs about the presence of militants, security forces had launched a cordon and search operation on Tuesday night. A police official said the search operation was halted for the night but the forces maintained the cordon to stop the militants from escaping.



The operation was resumed on Wednesday morning and the gunfight started after the trapped militants opened fire on the forces, he said.

Earlier, a civilian was injured after terrorists attacked an Indian Army patrol Party in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Monday. The terrorists opened fire on the Army jawans who were patrolling in the area.

With inputs from PTI.

ALSO READ: Jammu and Kashmir: Terrorists attack Army patrol party in Pulwama, civilian injured

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New Delhi:

Two terrorists were gunned down by security forces on Wednesday in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore village. The forces also recovered two weapons from those terrorists.





#UPDATE Sopore(J&K) encounter: Two terrorists gunned down by security forces, two weapons recovered. Operation underway pic.twitter.com/8hq2c0j0QP  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

In a separate incident on Wednesday, two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Rafiabad area of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, an Army official said.

ALSO READ | J&K: Encounter underway between security forces, militants in Baramulla district's Rafiabad town

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New Delhi:

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday decided to extend his support to NDAs Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind. The decision was taken in the party meeting which was called by him on Wednesday.

We have decided to support RamNath Kovind, said Ratnesh Sada, JDU MLA after JDU meeting in Bihar's Patna

Earlier, after the declaration to make Ram Nath as President candidate, Nitish Kumar met him in Bihar. 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 June 19, the BJP Parliamentary Board, the partys highest decision-making body, proposed the name of current Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as the NDA candidate for next Presidential elections due in July. The nomination papers are expected to be filed on June 23.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah attended the meet.

The 71-year-old low profile Dalit leader, a two-term BJP Rajya Sabha member, is seen as an astute choice by the saffron party, which has been

targeted by opposition parties over Dalit issues, and his election is almost a certainty as the ruling bloc with the support of some regional parties enjoys a majority in the electoral college.

"I am sure Ram Nath Kovind, a farmer's son, will make an exceptional president & continue to be voice for poor, downtrodden, said PM Narendra Modi after the annuncement of the name of BJP Governor as NDA's Presidential candidate.

BJP President Amit Shah made the announcement following over two-hour long meeting of the party's parliamentary board, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior party leaders.

Seeking support from opposition parties, Shah said Modi spoke to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought their support.

Also read: Opposition divided over Kovind's candidature for President post; Nitish, Mayawati give 'indication' on supporting him

Also read: President poll | PM Modi meets NDA's President pick Ram Nath Kovind in presence of BJP chief Amit Shah



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New Delhi:

The announcement of Ramnath Kovind as the NDA nominee for the post of countrys President surprised many political pundits and thrown the opposition into disarray.

The announcement was made by the Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah but it was nobodys guess that it bore the stamp of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

All at once, it laid to rest prospects of a range of BJP veterans including the party patriarch Lal Krishna Advani who, it was common knowledge, nurtured the thought of moving his address from Prithviraj Road to Raisina Hill to cap his political journey.

The closest the pundits came to guessing ruling BJPs presidential nominee from Dalit\tribal community was Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmus name, the tribal leader from Odisha. But next door Bihars Dalit governor Ramnath Kovind was on nobodys radar except Modis. Two-term Rajya Sabha MP Kovind was not just another Dalit in the BJP camp.

He was not just an ordinary Dalit leader with strong ties with RSS. His USP lay somewhere else. He was from Uttar Pradesh. He fitted well into Modis plan of an ideal Dalit candidate belonging to a non-jatav community from UP to occupy the august office.

The idea of fielding a Dalit candidate of Uttar Pradesh as presidential nominee couldnt have been more symbolic for a party and its leader working overtime to woo Dalits into the fold. It had the effect of killing two birds with a single stone.

With Modis overbearing personality and his personal charisma yielding terrific electoral results a party old-timer and a Sangh loyalist shall only be more than willing to play a rubber stamp. That is one. Secondly, BJP having pocketed crucial states is all set to don battle gear for the big 2019 Lok Sabha elections and therefore hoping to reap rich dividends by having a Dalit ensconced in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The partys appeal in the Dalit community had expanded with 40 Dalit MPs elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 general elections. BJP was not just the biggest party in the Lok Sabha but also the party with maximum Dalit MPs  another first in the partys electoral journey so far.

But no Dalit MP found his way to Modis first cabinet. He picked up two Dalit MPs 18 months and inducted them into his cabinet as state ministers.

So while the Modi government got itself busy planning to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar and lined up a string of events in memory of the great Dalit leader and the architect of Indian Constitution a Dalit student Rohith Vemula committed suicide at Hyderabad University following his battle with the University authorities who had allegedly stopped payment of his PhD fellowship.

Four Dalits were stripped, thrashed and flogged mercilessly by a mob of over 40 people in Gujarats Una on charges of carrying beef when, in fact, they had skinned a dead cow killed by a lion.

Also Read | A tale of two dalit presidents: From first dalit President K R Narayanan to Ram Nath Kovind

Incidentally, every single time Modi government coined a new slogan to set the new matrix of development into motion, someone, was beefily beaten by vigilante thugs masquerading as gau-rakshaks or terrorised into submission for not being nationalistic enough with Dalits and minorities bearing the major brunt.

The Modi governments Dalit game plan threatened to fall apart. Vidhan Sabha elections in four states, including Uttar Pradesh, were round the corner. This was one state BJP could ill-afford to lose having secured 71 out of 80 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The party had to work in the double shift to woo Dalits  accounting for 21 per cent of the states population - for the 2017 UP elections and the results not only exceeded BJPs expectations but blew in the face of opposition parties which counted on Dalit, minority and OBC votes to sail them through.

The BJP won 69 out of 85 reserved seats; its allies upped the seat count to 75 by winning six more seats. As Dalits gave thumbs up to BJP Modis politics of symbolism had won the day for him. If caste and identities did matter, Modi happened to be its biggest beneficiary. For Modis brand of politics, history had come full circle.

With UP comfortably in its kitty, BJP has already secured enough numbers that will sail through its presidential nominee if it boiled down to a contest. Modis Dalit card in Kovind has pushed the entire opposition against the wall.

Chinks are already showing in the hurriedly-cobbled opposition unity which threatens to fall apart more than it shows signs of coming together. JD(U) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has had his share of blow cold blow hot relationship with Modi, has openly thrown his weight behind BJP presidential nominee. Mulayam Singh Yadav, for whatever his standing and clout in his son Akhileshs Samajwadi Party, was more than forthcoming to announce his blind support for the BJP presidential nominee. Even former PM HD Deve Gowda's JD(S) and Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik's BJD have indicated their support for Kovind.

It is against this backdrop that the opposition shall sit on Thursday to decide upon its strategy of contesting the presidential elections. Despite Nitishs stand on the issue, there are few who shall oppose the idea of fielding a joint opposition candidate against Kovind. But, they will have to come up with an equally powerful candidate to give the presidential race a semblance of a contest in an otherwise one-sided battle.

The opposition strategy shall be to refrain from making this an upper caste versus Dalit issue or else they shall be a loser even before the contest. That leaves little room for the opposition to manoeuvre. So this presidential contest may well see one Dalit candidate pitted against another Dalit candidate. Sonia Gandhi has already taken the lead in forging an opposition unity on presidential elections and she might be able to persuade the disparate parties to accept a Congress candidate.

Also Read: When Kovind was denied entry to presidential retreat in Shimla

Even as the opposition takes a call on its presidential candidate, Modi shall be watching from Lok Kalyan Marg how much of a united fight does the decimated opposition has in store for him. As for now, Modis bandwagon rolls on without a hitch. If there ever was a leader who would play the politics of symbolism with consummate ease and to the desired effect after Indira Gandhi, your guess shall be as good as mine.





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New Delhi:

The Rajasthan governments insensitivity came into light when it declared several families poor by writing on the wall outside their homes. The officials also wrote that they take ration under National Food Security Act (NFSA).

In Dausa district of the state, several families living below poverty line (BPL) take wheat under NFSA.

The government officials, associated with wheat distribution, have declared them poor by writing on the wall of their residences that they are taking ration under NFSA as they are poor. The officials cited the reason behind the move to segregate unentitled people from the scheme.

Now, the state government is in the eye of a storm and the main opposition party Congress lashed out at the government, saying that it is ridiculing the poor of the state.

Also Read | Rajasthan: BJP MLA alleges transport minister 'has links with anti-nationals', asks CM Raje to sack him

Congress leader Manish Tiwari said that the state government is mocking the poor of the state.

Also Read | Rajnath Singh in Jaipur: 'PM Modi says our efforts will be on to double the farmers' income by 2022i'

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United Nations:

UN chief Antonio Guterres has said 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 and two times the Prime Minister of India, Guterres said with a laughter, responding to a question during a press briefing here whether he is engaged in bringing about dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.



For someone accused of doing nothing, it is quite a number of meetings, the Secretary General said, referring to criticism that he has been shying away and is reluctant to act to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue.



Guterres, addressing reporters at his first press conference at the world bodys headquarters since assuming office in January, was asked about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control and the ceasefire violations since he assumed office.



Guterres did not elaborate further but through his response he did not make any indication that he will act as a mediator between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.

ALSO READ | Putin didn't make any offer to mediate in resolving Indo-Pak issues: MEA



Modi and Guterres had met in St Petersburg earlier in June 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.



Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the UN chief had 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 (SCO) summit.



Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked at press briefings about the Secretary Generals response to the situation in Kashmir, has repeatedly said that Guterres is following the situation in the region closely.



The UN Chief has not made any direct intervention to resolve the issue, reiterating his call for India and Pakistan to find a peaceful solution through engagement and dialogue.

ALSO READ | China hints at blocking Indias move on JeM chief Masood Azhar in UN again



Pakistan continuously raises the Kashmir issue at the UN seeking the world bodys intervention in the dispute with India. But New Delhi has always maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue with Islamabad.

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Thiruvananthapuram:

The dearth of doctors in health service department has badly affected the disease control, prevention and treatment work across the state among increasing cases of fever. The existing doctors force is based on the staff pattern which was decided in 1966.



According to Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) preferably the health department should have 8,000 to 9,000 doctors taking into account the huge work load in 1,250 hospitals including district, taluk and general hospitals.



Increase in staff strength has been a major request of the KGMOA because of the shortage of doctors in all categories including assistant surgeons, specialists and specialist (admn) cadre. With the currently employed doctors taking extra pressure because of the fever related patient rush, the health care services in many hospitals have been badly hit.



Apart from this, many doctors are being forced to work for 12 to 15 hours at a stretch. Most regular doctors are also handling administrative duties of DMO, DHS, additional directors and as a result heads of disease control programmes and their services towards public health sector have been curtailed. Moreover, specialists and general medics have inadequate experience in operational and management related work issues.



Though the health department had raised a unique administrative unit for non-specialist doctors, none is trained in public health issues. Even health and sanitation staff, ASHA workers who are responsible for basic disease prevention activities are over loaded with various other responsibilities.



Meanwhile, health minister K. K. Shailaja admitted that shortage of doctors had harmed the fever control methods across the state. She said the services of doctors from the private sector would be requested for owing to the surge in fever cases.

ALSO READ | Rare surgery: Doctors successfully separate twin girls joined at the head at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia
London:

When we hear a warning about an asteroid hitting Earth, it becomes a matter of concern as it could end up in causing massive damage on the planet. Well now, a leading astrophysicist from Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland has warned that the world should get ready for an asteroid strike, which is just a matter of time.

Alan Fitzsimmons has warned that in this particular case, an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen. A global event Asteroid Day will take place on June 30 and Fitzsimmons was highlighting its threat.



On June 30, 1908, an asteroid caused destruction 800 square miles after it exploded over Tunguska in Siberia. Fitzsimmons warned that a similar unexpected strike in todays world could destroy a major city. He also said that a larger asteroid could be more dangerous.



"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," Fitzsimmons said in a statement released by Queen's University Belfast.



"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 added.



On June 30, other astronauts and experts will join Fitzsimmons for discussions and presentations to be be streamed live from Luxembourg.

ALSO READ | High risk of collision between Earth and giant asteroid, warn scientists courtesy of meteoroid stream

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New Delhi:

The renowned theoretical physicist, Professor Stephen Hawking has urged to send astronauts to Moon by 2020 and Mars by 2025 for the survival of the human race.

"It is crucial to establish colonies on Mars and the Moon, and take a Noah's Ark of plants, animals, fungi and insects, to start creating a new world", Hawking said at Starmus science festival in Trondheim, Norway.

According to Hawking there is no long-term future for our species staying on Earth. It would either hit by an asteroid again or eventually engulfed by our own Sun.

Read more: Are we heading to doomsday in next 100 years?

Prof Hawking said the Moon and Mars were the best sites to begin the first colonies, stating that a lunar base could be established within 30 years and a Martian outpost within 50. But he also suggested leaving the Solar System and venturing to our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, where scientists believe there exists a habitable planet known as Proxima B.

"Spreading out may be the only thing that saves us from ourselves", he added.

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Canberra:

Australia's defence chief on Wednesday said that Australian F/A-18F Super Hornets will soon resume airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria after operations were suspended as precaution because a US fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane earlier this week.



Australian Defense Force Chief Mark Binskin says the six Australian warplanes suspended operations in Syria while the Australians examined what was happening in what he had described as a "complex piece of airspace" over Syria.



He told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra: "It won't be long before you start to see the operations again." Binskin says the warplanes had been occupied recently supporting Iraqi security forces in retaking the city of Mosul.

ALSO READ: Australias military temporarily halts air missions over Syria after shooting down of jet by US

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Washington:

Chinas efforts to rein in North Koreas nuclear programme have not worked out, US President Donald Trump has said but appreciated Beijing for its attempts.

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 said in a tweet which came hours before the US and China were set to meet in Washington to talk about North Korea.

In a report, The New Yok Times said that the tweet is an extraordinary admission of failure in his strategy for dealing with the rogue regime of Kim Jong-un.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the Defence Secretary James Mattis met in Washington for their diplomatic and security dialogue.

White House press secretary Sean Spice said that the United States has been very forceful in its political and economic pressure that has been applied in North Korea.

I think well continue to apply that. Obviously, China has played and can continue to play a greater role in helping to resolve this situation, and we will continue to hopefully build on the relationship and the dialogue that weve had with China, Spicer said.

Also read: H1B visa one of the issues on table ahead of PM Modi's US visit, says Commerce Secretary

I think there have been some positive steps that theyve taken, both at the UN and economically, to help strengthen the case against North Korea. But Im not going to get ahead of where we may or may not go. And obviously, we hope that those discussions with China are productive and continue to move us forward, he said.

Trump had made clear earlier that his preference was to work with China on North Korea, but that he was willing to go after them alone.

I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the US, with its allies, will! U.S.A., he had tweeted in April.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Trump at the Presidents private Florida estate in April, a meeting that both leaders said warmed relations between the countries.

Also read: Donald Trump administration planning to crackdown with drone strikes on terror safe havens in Pakistan: Report

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London:

After Queen Elizabeth II did not make a reference to it in her traditional speech on Wednesday that marks the opening of the UK Parliament, US President Donald Trump's proposed state visit to the UK this year looks in doubt.

The state visit, which was expected around August/September and according to some reports even October this year, has been at the centre of a number of protests and controversy.

There had been speculation that the visit may be postponed this year to avoid Trump being greeted by protesters outside Downing Street.

The Queen's Speech only contained a reference towel coming King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain in July even though British Prime Minister Theresa May had extended an invitation for a state visit to the US President on behalf of the British monarch during her visit to Washington in January, which had been accepted.

Read more: Republican wins Georgia election, blow to anti-Trump effort: Report

"An invitation has been extended and accepted. The visit wasn't mentioned in the Queen's Speech because a date hasn't been fixed yet", a Downing Street statement said on Wednesay.

But given that the Queen's Speech usually mentions all state visits planned for the duration of the Parliament, indicates the visit may have been put off indefinitely.

White House, however, denied that the Queen's Speech indicated that the state visit had been cancelled.

"That is not what she said. She only talked about visits with confirmed dates and we do not yet have a confirmed date, a spokesperson said.

There has been considerable opposition in the UK over Trump being accorded all the pomp and pageantry associated with a state visit.

Read more: Chinas efforts to rein in N Koreas nuke programme not worked out: US

An online petition against such a visit had attracted over 100,000 signatures earlier this year and debated in the House of Commons as a result.

There have also been spats between Trump and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, most recently after in the aftermath of London terrorist attacks earlier this month.

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Washington:

White House told on Wednesday told Kenneth I Juster, who is the top aide of US President Donald Trump, will be America's new ambassador to India.



62-year-old Juster, who is the Deputy Assistant to the US president for International Economic Affairs and Deputy Director of his National Economic Council, would replace Richard Verma if nominated and confirmed by the Senate.



"Ken Juster's move to Indian Ambassador is because he is extremely qualified for the position," White House deputy spokesperson Lindsay E Walters confirmed to PTI about the news which was first reported by The Washington Post on Wednesday.



"Ken has a strong and positive relationship with everyone in the White House, including the president," Walters said.



The move has been welcomed by widely respected Ashley Telis, the top India expert in the US.



"Ken knows India well and actually was deeply involved in successful bilateral negotiations between the two countries.



The Indians will welcome him enthusiastically. He is a known quantity," Tellis told The Washington Post.



However, an official announcement has not been made yet.



The White House confirmation in this regard puts to rest all the speculations.



Verma, the first Indian-American to head this position, put in his papers when Trump replaced Barack Obama as the President of the US.

Also Read: Donald Trump's proposed state visit to UK in doubt

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Melbourne:

A 37-year-old Indian-origin taxi driver has been arrested and charged in Australia with dangerous driving for causing a fatal crash that left an elderly woman dead and 12 persons injured.



Shepparton Magistrate court charged Jatinder Panesar with one count causing death on Monday after he appeared in the court. Panesar was released on bail but forced to surrender his passport.



He will be facing court again on October 24 this year and is not allowed to drive or leave Victoria. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), police said the incident took place as the driver rammed his vehicle into a mini-bus which rolled at the intersection of Pyke and Turnbull roads at Ardmona in North Victoria.

ALSO READ: Indian-origin teenager in Malaysia beaten to death by bullies



The mini-bus was carrying 12 adult passengers while the taxi was carrying two passengers. The collision injured 12 persons while a woman from the bus died on the spot.



"The taxi driver stopped at the scene and is assisting police with inquiries," police said. Nine of the mini-bus passengers were residents at Mercy Place Shepparton, one was a staff member and two were volunteers.



Following the incident, Mercy Health group chief executive Stephen Cornelissen said in a memo to the staff that the group were returning from an outing to a local bakery.



"Tonight and tomorrow we focus our thoughts and prayers on the families of the deceased and those injured, and of course on our colleagues," the memo read.



"I ask you to think of them so they may feel our care and solidarity now and in the difficult days ahead," it said.

ALSO READ | US: Indian-American lawyer killed in train accident in California

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Washington :

Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump to send out a strong message against child labour and promote child education so that children can be prevented from entering the world of extremism.

They can definitely come with a strong statement for investing in children and development. That means education, health, and protection of children everywhere in the world. Not only in these two countries, Satyarthi, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, told PTI in an interview.

The founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, a grassroots movement dedicated to the protection of children and ensuring them education, said the two leaders - who are set to meet here on June 26 - can send a message to the rest of the world that these two largest democracies care for their children and their most marginalised people.

The 63-year-old activist, who is in America to meet child rights groups, said the US and India can send the message that we are holding your hands, my dear children, ... so you dont enter (the world of extremism).

That will help, not immediately, but in coming years it will help in protecting children if it comes again and again from these two countries or, maybe, many more. Its a matter of leadership.

Born in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, the son of a police officer, Satyarthi studied electrical engineering and went on to become the seventh Indian to win the Nobel prize.

In his more than 30 years as an activist, he has freed tens of thousands of children forced into slavery. He founded the Andolan in 1980 and began raiding factories where children were forced to work, in some cases by their parents who cannot afford to raise them.

According to the movements website, it has rescued over 83,500 victims of trafficking, slavery and child labour as on October 2014, and helped them re-establish trust in society.

The Nobel laureate said if India and the US showed the leadership, many others would follow. They can also give a call that we have to hold hands of young people across the world to prevent them from entering those evil forces, he said.

Also Read: Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi calls for 'child-friendly' India

Satyarthi said it was important that the US and India understand the growing problems in the world that includes terrorism, extremism as well as global economy crisis and unemployment.

They are government problems. Since we are among the most vibrant and most effective and the largest democracies, it becomes our collective responsibility to show the leadership to the rest of the world that we dont care only for ourselves but we care for the rest of the world, he said.

I hope that both the leaders will show the leadership again as we have been talking that these two countries are natural partners to preserve democracy in the world, he said.

Satyarthi said the US is not untouched by the grave issue of child labour and child marriage. This is a serious problem here in the US.

We have come across, and I met, and there were partner organisations have rescued children who were local. They were white Americans. Its a combination of all but definitely because of the West Coast situation most of them are Hispanics, he said.

We are getting more and more alarming news, and disgusting also, about the problem of early marriages, child marriages and teenage pregnancies in the United States. Except a few states, most states dont have a very clear well-defined minimum age of marriage, he said and urged the US government to make necessary changes in the law in this regard.

Satyarthi also urged Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw from the historic Paris Climate Change Accord.

Also Read | 'All borders should be open to children': Satyarthi to Trump on refugee ban

I would once again make an honest appeal to President Trump to reconsider his decision on Paris Accord. Climate change and global warming is creating devastating effects on children in most parts of the world, he said.

(The leaders) know how due to global warming, the traditional livelihood of the parents have been ruined and the children became vulnerable to traffickers... We have also seen an increase in unemployment among adults, the migration crisis, social tension and violence, and trafficking, and child labour. Children are unable to complete their schools, he said.

To stop illegal migration, a country can build a wall but no wall can stop hot winds or polluted air, Satyarthi concluded.

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New Delhi:

Militants on Wednesday stormed into a school in the southern Philippines and are holding several students hostage. The incident happened on the same island where fight between government troops and Islamists are going on. The fight has been going on in last five weeks.

About 300 armed men, among them members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), stormed a school in Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato province on Mindanao island and were holding some students captive, said in a police report to The Sydney Morning Herald.

As per the reports from Al Jazeera, suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) group were engaged in a gun battle with security forces at Malagakit, close to Pigcawayan town, Chief Inspector Realan Mamon said in a radio interview on Wednesday.

Also read: J&K: Civilian shot dead by militants in Pulwama, say police

Also read: J&K: Security forces kill two terrorists in Baramulla district's Rafiabad town



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Karachi:

A court in Pakistans southern Sindh province has ordered police to produce before it on Thursday a Hindu girl who, according to her family, was abducted, forcibly converted and married off to a Muslim man.

Satram Das Meghwar, through Advocate Bhagwandas, filed a case in the Sindh High Court against conversion and marriage of his 16-year-old daughter Ravita Meghwar.

Meghwar on Tuesday told the court that his daughter had been illegally married off to Syed Nawaz Ali Shah after having been kidnapped from her village near Nagarparkar Town on June 6. She was named Gulnaz after the conversion.

The same day she married 36-year-old Shah at the marriage registrar's office in union council Gulzar Khalil in Samaro of Umerkot district in the province.

The bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar ordered Mirpurkhas DIG and Tharpakr SSP to produce Ravita on June 22, the day of next hearing, Dawn reported.

Meghwar said his daughter was born on July 14, 2001.

His lawyer contended that the marriage under the age of 18 was a punishable offence under the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013.

He said the registrar had mentioned Shahs year of birth (1980) and the national identity card number on the marriage certificate.

Ravitas age was shown as about 18 years, but there was no mention of her NIC number.

Similarly, the lawyer said, the certificate of conversion to Islam also did not mention her date of birth and NIC number, but her age was shown as 18 years.

She was abducted from her house and forcibly married off to a man twice her age, said Meghwar, who had lodged an FIR against Ali Nawaz Shah, Madad Ali Shah, Umar Junejo and Sher Mohammad Junejo for kidnapping his daughter.

The FIR was registered at the Dano Dandhal police station in Nangarparkar taluka a week ago.

Earlier, Shah and Ravita had filed an application in the SHC seeking protection and accusing the girls parents of issuing death threat.

The court had fixed June 30 the date of hearing on the application.

Ravita has appealed to her parents to let her live with her husband happily as, according to her, she had taken the decision to embrace Islam to marry the person of her choice.

She requested the people of her community and members of civil society to stop raising the issue further.

I am very satisfied and happy after marrying Nawaz Ali Shah and now I cannot [live] without my husband, she said yesterday and made it clear that she was not kidnapped. I willingly went with Shah after falling in love with him.

Ravita expressed the hope that the court would do justice with her and allow her to live with her husband.

Meanwhile, Ravitas mother Haqu insisted that her daughter was kidnapped by the influential Syed community, forcibly converted and then married.

Activists of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) protesting against what they called forced conversion of Ravita and workers of various religious parties taking to the streets in favour of her Muslim husband came face-to-face outside the press club in Umerkot yesterday, turning the situation critical.

Bhagchand Meghwar and other activists of the PPP-SB held a demonstration outside the press club, demanding immediate arrest of accused Nawaz Shah.

Activists of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat, Ghousia Jamat and Jeelani Jamat also gathered outside the club to stop what they called the propaganda with blasphemous contents on social media in the wake of Ravitas conversion to Islam.

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STAMFORD  United States of America Inc. last year made its riskiest hire to date when its shareholders chose a new chief executive, according to a knowledgeable observer of the enterprise.

In the keynote speech Wednesday at the University of Connecticuts Risk Management Conference at the Crowne Plaza hotel, presidential historian and author Douglas Brinkley assessed the rise and prospects of President Donald Trump and compared the current commander in chiefs challenges to those of his predecessors.

Hes never run for anything before running for president; at best we say its a CEO mentality, but hes the boss, Brinkley, a professor at Rice University in Houston, told an audience of about 125. Hes a celebrity media hero boss, and our country decided to take a gamble on him. Its a very risky time to see what to do in America in 2017.

Trumps election marked the end of an era that lasted from Ronald Reagans election in 1980 until the end of Barack Obamas eight-year tenure, Brinkley argued.

Were no longer in the age of FDR or Reagan; you have now really entered the age of Trump, Brinkley said. The political alignment is very strange.

Trump has started his current job with the worst 100 days in presidential history, Brinkley said. He did not rule out a premature end to the current administration  a downfall stemming from potential obstruction-of -justice charges, for instance  which would pave the way for a Mike Pence presidency.

Trump could go down this year, he may be seen as an aberration in history, a weird, strange moment like Roswell, New Mexico, Brinkley said, to audience laughter.

At the same time, Trump is showing a kind of resilience in fatiguing everybody, which he argued could help drive him to a second term, Brinkley said.

The political rancor affecting the country does not make the current era unique, Brinkley said. He cited the 1800 birth of U.S. party politics.

You have the Democratic-Republicans of (Thomas) Jefferson versus the Federalists of (John) Adams, Brinkley said. The two key intellectuals of the American Revolution are ripping each other asunder, just calling them every name under the book in this new party system.

Nor is Trump the first president to face off against influential media. Brinkley described Theodore Roosevelt as a genius at co-opting the press.

His big trick was anytime he saw a reporter, he told them how great their recent article was, Brinkley said. What a great piece you wrote in todays Washington Post! It was hard on me, but, boy, you can write. He would do that over and over again.

Trump also does not rank as the first recent political figure to pillory free trade agreements. Ross Perot played up the same issue to take 19 percent of the vote as a third-party candidate in the 1992 election.

Donald Trump saw anti-NAFTA (sentiment) as low-hanging fruit in the Midwest and grabbed the Perot vote, Brinkley said.

Amid the political contention, Brinkley expressed his confidence in the humming U.S. economy. He still rates America as the best place to invest.

I travel all over, and Im very bullish on America, he said. Weve got young people, research and development. You look at whats going on with Wall Street I still think the U.S. is a safer investment than most of these hotspots in the world.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott
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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RIDGEFIELD - After a Hulda Lane homeowner called police late on the night of June 5 about the attempted theft of his Land Rover, he told them he had chased off the would-be thieves as they fled in their own car.

The next morning, the homeowner came to police headquarters to show them video from a camera mounted outside his house, court records show. The video showed the Land Rover car backing into a lamppost as the homeowner ran outside.

But later that afternoon, when police heard that a 15-year-old girl had shown up at a Waterbury hospital with a gunshot wound in the back, and that she had been in Ridgefield the night before, they went back to the house on Hulda Lane, this time with a search warrant.

According to the affidavit from the warrant, unsealed Tuesday in Danbury Superior Court, the search of the home found seven pounds of marijuana, wrapped in one-pound packets, $26,000 in cash stuffed into a plastic bucket, large numbers of pills and several guns.

The pills included several types of steroids. Also found were injectable steroids, five boxes of hypodermic needles and more than 200 unmarked yellow pills.

No charges have been filed against the homeowner, Mauro Tropeano, the owner of Stanziatos Wood Fired Pizza in Danbury and other businesses. A Ridgefield police spokesman said Tuesday that the matter is still under investigation.

In applying for the search warrant, police said they were looking for evidence relating to possible charges of first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and unlawful discharge of a firearm.

Tropeano's attorney, Eugene Riccio, declined to comment Tuesday.

Tropeanos call to police was not the only one that night. Neighbors on Hulda Lane, a small neighborhood off Route 35, called around 2:45 a.m. to report hearing three to five gunshots, records show. Tropeanos call came in about 10 minutes later.

Tropeano told police when they arrived at his home that he had heard a loud noise and looked outside, where he saw two people crossing the front yard toward his house.

When he ran outside, he saw his 2014 Land Rover backing into a lamppost, and then hitting a tree, the affidavit states. He told investigators that two people jumped out of the car and got into a Honda CRV that was waiting nearby. According to the affidavit, he did not say anything that night about guns or gunshots.

Ridgefield police later interviewed a female friend of the 15-year-old girl who had been shot. The friend told police the two of them had joined several other youths that evening as they traveled to Wilton, intending to steal cars. They eventually found their way to Hulda Lane, the friend said, and were trying to steal the Land Rover when she heard gunfire.

The group fled, stopping to pick up a car stolen earlier before driving the injured girl to Waterbury Hospital, court documents state.

The girl was later reported to be in good condition, but doctors told police they likely wouldnt be able to remove the bullet because it was lodged so close to her spine, according to the search warrant affidavit.

Investigators determined that Tropeano had a permit to carry a handgun and had several other registered guns, including a Luger .40-caliber handgun. They also found several spent shell casings from that type of handgun.

dperrefort@newstimes.com
OTTAWA, June 21, 2017 /CNW/ - Summertime in Canada is all about having fun and being adventurous in the great outdoors  and the opportunities to explore stunning landscapes are endless. In fact, Parks Canada is offering free admission to national parks all year to mark Canada's 150th anniversary, giving Canadians even more opportunity to soak in the country's natural beauty in all its glory.

While the Canadian wilderness is breathtaking, it is also home to a host of wildlife from bears, moose, wolves and cougars, to bugs like mosquitos and ticks. Whether strolling in the woods or backcountry camping, it's important to take the right precautions to avoid unwanted incidents.

Scouts know that the best way to stay safe is to always be prepared. Drawing on more than 100 years of experience providing youth with high quality adventures, Scouts Canada is offering 10 tips to avoid dangerous animal encounters when camping and adventuring outdoors.



1. Location, location, location

When choosing a site for your tent, avoid setting up near lampposts, pools of standing water or rotting logs. Insects, raccoons and other small animals love these areas and will certainly make themselves at home.

2. Feed yourself, not the wildlife

Food attracts a variety of woodland critters, so the best way to avoid any unwanted dinner guests is to maintain a clean campsite and to never feed wild animals. Avoid food with strong aromas and clean the dishes immediately after eating. Store food in odourless, airtight containers in the car. If you're deep in the woods, string food and food waste from a tree, well away from the campsite. Make sure to dispose of food garbage properly to leave no trace.

3. Be scent-free

Know the scents that attract and repel wild animals and insects. Bugs love anything with a fragrance like perfumes, colognes, shampoos, and deodorant. Opt for unscented products and cook and sleep in different clothes to avoid smelling like food.



4. Get loud

Let wild animals know you're out there so they can avoid you. Clap, sing or talk loudly, especially near streams or while proceeding through dense trails and vegetation.

5. Look for the signs

Keep an eye out for signs of wildlife nearby such as tracks, fresh droppings, scratches on tree trunks, or animal homes. Stay away from fresh carcasses as animals may return to eat. While baby animals are adorable, spotting one also means mom is nearby and will be aggressive to protect her young. Leave the area immediately and make sure you don't get between mom and her cubs.

6. Dress the part

Dress to protect against wildlife and insects. This can include wearing insect repellent, long pants and long-sleeved shirts, mosquito netting, boots or gloves. With tick populations on the rise, check clothing, skin and pets frequently for ticks, as they are potential carriers of Lyme Disease and Powassan Virus. If you find any ticks on your body, remove them immediately with tweezers, disinfect the bite area and watch for signs of infection. Put the tick in a clean container and contact public health.

7. Safety in numbers

Wild animals are less likely to approach large groups. The buddy system is also great in case of an emergency.

8. Keep pets leashed

Pets can attract aggressive behaviour from animals like bears and cougars. Consider leaving them at home when hiking in areas where these animals reside. If you bring your pets, keep them leashed and don't leave them unattended. Make sure pet food and bowls are also secured away in a vehicle or stored safely with your own food.

9. Lights on/off

Bugs typically like light, but aren't so fond of fire and smoke. Lighting a campfire will help encourage the insects and wildlife to leave you alone. Flashlights are also helpful to have at night to keep wild animals away  and to see  but keeping them on inside your tent is a beacon for those pesky bugs.

10. Animal encounters

Know what types of wildlife reside in the area and check for reports of recent sightings.

Learn the basics of how to react when encountering different wildlife. Should a bear wander across your path, for example, keep calm and don't run  the bear can outrun, out climb and outswim you. Back away slowly and move your group into the vehicle, not the tent. If you can't get to the car, leave the area immediately and find another route.

Always bring a first aid kit, quality insect repellent, bear spray and noisemakers to be prepared for any scenario. A good place to start preparing is at a local Scout Shop or scoutshop.ca, where staff can provide tips and advice for a safe and enjoyable adventure. Once armed with knowledge and supplies, you are prepared to get out there and explore the great outdoors!

Canadian youth can experience a world of adventure and learn some of these essential skills through Scouting. Those who register now for the new Scouting year, which begins September 1, 2017, can immediately join Scouting activities throughout the summer. For more information or to register, visit scouts.ca.

SOURCE Scouts Canada

For further information: Media Contact: Andrea McLoughlin, Holmes PR, [email protected], 416-628-5609

Related Links

http://scouts.ca


Multi-million dollar improvement to the lighting system for the Lachine Canal path

MONTREAL, June 20, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - Parks Canada is responsible for protecting and presenting nationally significant examples of Canada's natural and cultural heritage. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation, the Government of Canada invites Canadians to experience the outdoors and discover our rich and varied history.

The Government of Canada is investing more than $9 million over the next three years to rebuild the lighting system along the Lachine Canal path. Members of Parliament, Marc Miller (Ville-Marie  Le Sud-Ouest  Iles-des-Soeurs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities), David Lametti (LaSalle  Emard  Verdun and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development) and Anju Dhillon (Dorval  Lachine  LaSalle) made the announcement together on behalf of Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada.

This investment will guarantee a safe, high-quality experience for the more than one million yearly visitors to this remarkable urban park in the heart of Montreal. This project involves replacing the entire underground distribution system for lighting along the canal path that dates from 1978. More than 400 lampposts will also be replaced over the next three years to provide pleasant, secure and reliable lighting for visitors. The new LED lamp models will contribute to the sound environmental management of the Lachine Canal National Historic Site and a reduction in energy costs.

The rebuilding of the lighting system is in addition to numerous other infrastructure projects recently completed or planned over the next few years along the Lachine Canal, including the rehabilitation of footbridges and tunnels, the rebuilding of canal walls, and the rebuilding of Locks 1 and 2.

The Government is very pleased to offer free admission for all visitors to national parks, national historic sites, and national marine conservation areas operated by Parks Canada in 2017 to celebrate Canada 150. This also includes free lockage on the Lachine Canal National Historic Site. Just as admission fees give visitors access to the wonders of national parks, historic sites, and marine conservation areas, lockage fees give boaters access to Parks Canada's historic waterways.

Quotes

"The Government of Canada is committed to protecting and preserving our national parks, historic sites and marine conservation areas. In addition to supporting local economies and the tourism industry, infrastructure investments at Parks Canada places, support safe, enjoyable experiences for visitors. As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation, I invite Canadians to experience the history and beauty of the Lachine Canal National Historic Site in the heart of Montreal."

Marc Miller,

Member of Parliament for Ville-MarieLe Sud-OuestIle-des-Soeurs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities

"As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation, investments in the protection and conservation of Canada's treasured places take on an even more important meaning. Canada's national parks and historic sites enable Canadians to experience their rich history and heritage in a special way and will play a big part in Canada 150. I encourage all Canadians to take advantage of free admission and free lockage for boaters at Parks Canada places in Quebec in 2017, starting right here with the Lachine Canal National Historic Site."

David Lametti,

Member of Parliament for LaSalle  Emard  Verdun and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

"National parks and historic sites, like the Lachine Canal, represent the very best that Canada has to offer and tell stories of who we are as a people. Our government is investing in the revitalization of federal infrastructure assets at Parks Canada places to help create middle class jobs and sustained economic growth, while ensuring high-quality and meaningful visitor experiences for years to come."

Anju Dhillon,

Member of Parliament for Dorval  Lachine  LaSalle

Quick facts

As the government's gift to Canadians for Canada 150, admission to all national parks, historic sites and national marine conservation will be free in 2017. This includes free lockage at the historic canals and waterways administered by Parks Canada.

150, admission to all national parks, historic sites and national marine conservation will be free in 2017. This includes free lockage at the historic canals and waterways administered by Parks Canada. With more than one million visitors, the Lachine Canal is an important gathering place in Montreal and a major tourist attraction.

and a major tourist attraction. A link between the city and nature, the Lachine Canal is located in the southwest section of Montreal . Its 14.5-kilometre urban route runs between the Old Port and Lake Saint-Louis, a navigable waterway punctuated by five locks. Along its banks, a linear green urban park is lined with vestiges of the industrial era when the canal boomed. Throughout the year, a varied schedule of activities makes this historic site a great place to experience with family or friends.

. Its 14.5-kilometre urban route runs between the Old Port and Lake Saint-Louis, a navigable waterway punctuated by five locks. Along its banks, a linear green urban park is lined with vestiges of the industrial era when the canal boomed. Throughout the year, a varied schedule of activities makes this historic site a great place to experience with family or friends. Parks Canada is investing an unprecedented $3 billion dollars over five years to support infrastructure work to heritage, tourism, waterway and highway assets located within national historic sites, national parks, and national marine conservation areas across Canada . This investment will ensure these cherished places are protected and secured for the future.

is investing an unprecedented over five years to support infrastructure work to heritage, tourism, waterway and highway assets located within national historic sites, national parks, and national marine conservation areas across . This investment will ensure these cherished places are protected and secured for the future. From June 12 to July 1 , the public is invited to take part in the various consultation activities on the draft management plan for the Lachine Canal National Historic Site. For more information on the proposed vision and the consultation activities, and to complete the online questionnaire, visit www.consultationscanal.ca.

Associated documents

Backgrounder: Investment in the lighting system of the Lachine Canal National Historic Site

Backgrounder: Infrastructure projects completed along the Lachine Canal National Historic Site

Associated links

Parks Canada

Lachine Canal National Historic Site

Consultation on the draft management plan for the Lachine Canal

SOURCE Parks Canada Agency - Quebec Waterways

For further information: Marie-Pascale Desrosiers, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 613-462-5473, [email protected]; Media Relations, Parks Canada Agency, 855-862-1812, [email protected]

Related Links

www.parcscanada.gc.ca/canaux


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 21, 2017 /CNW/ -- Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. (CSE: LDS), (OTCQB: LDSYF), (Frankfurt: LD6, WKN: A14XHT) ("LDS" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has acquired ten acres in Adelanto, California for the development of a contract cultivation project.

The land parcel acquired by the Company for a total cash consideration of USD$500,000, is located in close proximity to the 22,000 square foot Adelanto facility currently being retrofitted by the Company for use in its planned business operations pursuant to the management agreements with NHMC, Inc. and CSPA Group, Inc.

The newly acquired ten acres is suitable for up to ten individual 20,000 square foot cultivation facilities. These facilities together could potentially produce as much as 25% of the total bio-mass necessary to supply LDS Scientific's projected annual manufacturing and production requirements to produce oil and distillate for CannaStrips. The Company intends to develop and own the facilities, which will be leased to permitted cultivation entities that hold Conditional Use Permits in Adelanto. The Company, through series of operating and management agreements, will have a right of first refusal to acquire the bio-mass produced in the new cultivation facilities. The integration of this project into the Company's supply chain will allow for a continuous supply of clean bio-mass for manufacturing the purest and safest products possible. The CEO of LDS, Brad Eckenweiler commented, "This project is an integral part of the Company's overall strategy to control its production and manufacturing capabilities at every level of the supply chain. From seed to sale we intend to control the quality, effectiveness and the cost to the patients." The Company intends to submit its development plans to the City of Adelanto in July 2017 for approval.

About Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

The Company's technology produces infused strips (similar to breath strips) that are not only a safer, healthier option to smoking, but also a new way to accurately meter the dosage and assure the purity of the product. In addition, with the entering into its management services agreements with NHMC, Inc. and CSPA Group, Inc., the Company has begun its foray into being directly involved in the growing of medicinal ingredients for, and the manufacturing of, its products. From seed to sale, the Company's products and ingredients will be tested for quality and composition throughout the formulation and production processes, resulting in a delivery system that is safe, consistent and effective.

On behalf of the board of directors of Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

Brad Eckenweiler

CEO & Director

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

[email protected]

1-866-347-5058

Cautionary Disclaimer Statement:

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

Related Links

https://lifestyledeliverysystem.com


There is hope for about 30,000 people from Otobo Gbame waterfront slum in Lagos who were unconstitutional removed from their homes after they won in court.



The government pressed ahead with demolitions despite opposition (Photo:AFP)

A High Court in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, has ruled that the eviction of up to 30,000 people from a waterfront slum is unconstitutional.

The community of Otodo Gbame was cleared between November 2016 and February this year by the Lagos State government. It said the area posed an environmental risk.

Crowds cheered outside a packed courtroom where many of the evicted residents had gathered for the ruling.

The judge ruled in their favour, saying the eviction violated their rights because there was no resettlement plan in place.

Lagos State previously denied that they demolished the slum and said it was destroyed by a fire after which they cleared the remains in February because it was unsanitary and was a fire risk.

But it seems that account did not hold sway in court. The judge ruled the state should pay compensation to residents and ordered the two sides to go into mediation.

The clearing of Otodo Gbame is seen as part of a statewide policy to clear up to 300,000 people from informal waterside settlements.

Lagos State officials have yet to respond to the verdict, though they have ignored rulings like this in past.

-BBC




The Ohanaeze Youths Council, Worldwide, OYC, on Wednesday lambasted the Arewa Youths for singling out the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu as one of the sponsors of Biafra agitation.The Arewa Youths had in their letter to the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo mentioned Ekweremadu as one of those behind the recent Biafra agitation led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.However, reacting to the claims, OYC National President, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro urged the Arewa Youths to face issues instead of attacking Igbo leaders.The statement read in full: The Ohaneze Youth Council finds the attempt by the Arewa Youth Coalition to blackmail the Deputy Senate President-Senator Ike Ekweremadu, CFR,Ph.D by alleging in their letter to the Acting President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo that he is backing IPOB as a new phase in an old war of ensuring that he is removed from office, by all means, so as to ensure that Ndigbo have no representation, whatseoever in the present political dispensation.Firstly, we wish to state thatcontrary to the mischievous claim by the Arewa youths that Senator Ekweremadu visited the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, it was Kanu who visited Ekweremadu and the South East Senate Caucus to thank them for their role in his release. The visit was in the public domain. He equally paid a similar visit Thank You to Chief Nnia, the Ohaneze President General at his Enugu residence, recently. Kanu equally visited non Igbos who vehemently clamoured for his release such as Femi Fani-Kayode.As such, singling out Senator Ekweremadu is an indication that these our Arewa brothers really intend harming Ndigbo, by tarnishing the good name of Ekweremadu, who they recognized in their letter as the most senior elected Igbo in this Government.Furthermore, Senator Ekweremadu and other members of the South East senate caucus deserve commendation by the Federal Government, for helping meet Nnamdi Kanus bail condition thereby diffusing a precarious security sitaution in the country, then. Noteworthy of mention is Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who personally volunteered to sign Kanus bail bond.We also note that the Arewa youths, their elite and north-controlled government and security agencies have not spoken up or taken decisive actions against the marauding Fulani herdsmen who plunder farms, rape, kill and maim innocent Nigerian citizens in their thousands including women and children and occupy their landsacross the Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria.Contrarily, Ekweremadu has been constant in preaching against any armed or violent engagement with the Nigerian State. Rather, he has been an unrepenttant apostle of Restructuring, so as to address what he refers to as Nigerias feeding bottle federalism, a euphemism for the countrys present self defeating and unworkable political structure. He has also consistently preached democratic and non-violent agitation for equity, fair treatment, and justice within the Nigerian state.Till date, the Arewa Youths are yet to name their brothers who are sponsoring Boko Haram. Even when a serving senator was charged to court by the DSS with alleged evidence of telephone conversations and other links between him and the terrorist group, these youths preferred to be silent.As Nigeria is currently passing through serious security and political challenges, we urge the Arewa Youths to kindly stick to issues rather than allow themselves to be used by politicians to dent the image of an innocent and peace loving man.Indeed, their clamour for a Referendum to determine the political future of Nigeria, in the face of the mounting agitation for Biafra is a welcome development. It is realistic and in line with international convention, as they rightly quoted. It is as well in conformity with present global trends in Spain (Catalonia) and UK (Scotland). We therefore reiterate our call on the Federal Government and the International Community not to ignore that since we are in agreement on that.
A menacing flood has forced Ibadan residents to climb rooftops and build makeshift bridges to escape danger.



A flooded area of Ibadan

According to a report by Punch Metro, the residents of Ibadan, Oyo State, have taken to rooftops and other escape routes in order to stay safe from rampaging floods that have sacked certain parts of the city.

Houses, worship houses and vehicles were submerged after a downpour caused flooding in many parts of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Tuesday.

The rain began in some areas on Monday evening and continued until early morning of Tuesday.

In other parts of the city, the rain began in the middle of the night and ceased around 9am on Tuesday.

Most of the affected areas are located close to river banks.

They included Orogun, Akinyele, Onipepeye on Old Ife road, Dandaru junction on Mokola/UCH road and Olodo.

According to Punch Metro, when the flooded areas were visited, it was observed that many residents were trapped in their homes because of the flooding.

While many of them erected makeshift elevated platforms in front of their homes, many residents took refuge on rooftops and higher floors of their houses.

In Orogun, a church building was submerged in the water and though the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps rescue team attempted to bring those trapped in the building to safety, they opted to wait on an elevated platform until the water subsides.

At Onipepeye area on Old Ife road, many houses were affected, while several cars swept away from where they were parked.

An unconfirmed report said a commercial motorcyclist was swept away early in the morning as he tried to ride across the flooding.

Some owners of affected houses blamed residents who dump refuse into the rivers and streams for teh floods.

They called on the Oyo State Government to enforce strict penalties on environmental offenders.

Victims also blamed the government for sacking private waste management companies without providing an alternative arrangement for proper waste management.

The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Adisa Isola, revealed that government made enough efforts to avert the incident; and blamed those who built houses and shops on water channels without adhering to setback rule.

It is not true that waste management failure was responsible for the flooding. As a matter of fact, more people are complying with environmental laws in the state now.





We started preparing for this in December 2016 through a World Bank-assisted project.





Fourteen rivers and streams were dredged and this year, we have dredged 36 streams and rivers.





This cannot be repeated every year because it is just a palliative measure. That is why we are working on three master plans for Ibadan that will take care of this issue.





The attitude of our people was responsible for this flooding. They have refused to obey the setback rules but instead, they built houses on river channels. It put pressure on the drainage systems.

Public Relations Officer of the Oyo State Command of the NSCDC, Oluwole Olusegun, revealed that a rescue team led by the state commandant, John Adewoye, rescued many people who were trapped in the flooding.

He said the incident was caused by some rivers that overflowed their boundaries.
A total of 379 Nigerians were arrested in Malaysia from 2015 till June this year for drug-related offences.

Federal narcotics crime investigation department director Commissioner Datuk Seri Mokhtar Mohd Shariff told reporters in a media conference at Bukit Aman police headquarters on Monday, June 19.

Meanwhile, eight Nigerians, aged 25 to 39 years and a Ugandan, 25, were nabbed on Friday, June 17, for distributing drugs worth RM100,000 in Wangsa Maju. Five of the Nigerian suspects were university students.

"Out of this total, 122 were students at local institutions of higher learning," Mokhtar told reporters while displaying the seized drugs." said Shariff.

A total of 142 suspects have been charged under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which provides the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

Mokhtar advised all colleges and universities to alert the police if there is any indication of possible students' involvement with drugs.

"Ensure the students come and study, and not to peddle drugs," he said.

Mokhtar was referring to the latest incident where police seized 1kg of syabu packed within cake boxes during an operation at four locations in the city on Friday.

It was a joint operation by Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) and the Special Tactical Intelligence Narcotics Group (Sting).

"Five of the suspects were students, three studying multimedia and two majoring in language courses. "Four other suspects had no documents on them, when police made the arrests during raids in Taman Danau, Setapak and along Jalan Pahang," he said.

He said statistics showed Nigerian students were the most prevalent among foreign students who were involved with drugs.

The seized drugs, said to be imported from China, were worth around RM100,000 and could satisfy 5,000 drug addicts.

The suspects have been remanded for seven days until June 23 and the case is being investigated under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which provides the mandatory death sentence and under Section 6(1) (c) of the Immigration Act 1959 PIN 2002.More photos below...
Constable Kelvin Kabasa, a police officer at Luanshya Central Headquarters, Kenya, shot dead his wife on Tuesday morning, June 20th.









Kabasa then turned the gun on himself but the bullet only pierced the side of his head. Both were police officers at Luanshya Heaquarters. Below is a statement by the Kenya police:

Today around 09:45 hours, Constable Kelvin Kabaso, 25, of House number 138 Levi Chito police camps in Luanshya, left his point of duty and went back home. "Apparently, Constable Kabaso has been having marital problems, so his wife had called her mother to come and settle the problems because she had wanted to divorce, Katanga narrated.

Both are police officers. So the woman and the mother were inside the house when Constable Kabaso came home. So the man came in and said I am going to shoot her and shoot myself. Outside the house, there was another police officer Sgt Lungu. So he tried to calm the situation, but this officer said (I will shoot you man). So as he was trying to move out, he shot the wife in the chest on the left side near the shoulder and she fell down.

Katanga narrated that Constable Kabaso attempted to kill himself but survived.

After that Kabaso went inside the house and also shot himself in the mouth, but he was only injured on the cheek. He did not die, so he was rushed to the hospital where he is being attended to. The deceased is Febby Chabamba, 23, of the same house number, she said. She regretted the incident and told News Diggers! that there was need for police officers to undergo stress and anger management training because it was not possible to stop them using guns on duty.

I think this gender based violence has had a toll on, not only the men and women in uniform, but the general members of the public out there. Its more about sensitisation and stress management, thats what I can say because it is very difficult for police officers to be prevented from using fire arms on duty. Its barely four days when we had a similar incident where, due to marital problems, when the woman wanted to back out of the marriage, the man felt offended and we lost three lives, said Katanga.

This death could have been avoided, and I feel there is more that can be done to end gender based violence. We need stress management and most importantly anger management. I think also apart from our normal duties, we need anger management, that is very important. Especially for our men and women in uniform, anger management for these people who hold lethal weapons is very important. They normally resort to that and only realise later that the life which has been lost could have been avoided.

More photos of the victim below...
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 my house and one of them started raping me. The other three stood guard. After that, she says, they asked me 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.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.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.
An Igbosere Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos yesterday freed a federal lawmaker, Aliyu Ahman Pategi, who was remanded last Friday for f...

An Igbosere Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos yesterday freed a federal lawmaker, Aliyu Ahman Pategi, who was remanded last Friday for failing to produce an ex-minister, Oloye Jumoke Akinjide, who he stood surety for.Chief Magistrate Afolashade Botoku struck out the charge against Pategi following Akinjides surrender yesterday afternoon to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at its Lagos office in Ikoyi.Pategi is the House of Representatives member representing Edu/Moro/Patigi Federal Constituency, Kwara State.Akinjide, a former Federal Capital Territory and Minister of State for Defence, was declared wanted by the EFCC for alleged conspiracy and laundering of N650 million.The agency said she collected the sum from former Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke in March 2015, as part of the $115million allegedly illegally disbursed by the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration to prosecute the 2015 general elections.According to a 16-paragraph affidavit filed by the commission, Diezani received the money as gratification from some oil marketers.EFCC counsel Rotimi Oyedepo told the court that Akinjide was granted bail by the agency last August 10, after Pategi stood as her surety on a N650 million bail bond.Pategi, Oyedepo said, promised to produce Akinjide whenever she was needed.He said a 24-count charge of money laundering and conspiracy was brought against her before Justice Ayo Emmanuel of the Federal High Court, Ibadan.Akinjide, Oyedepo added, failed to turn up in court after more than three proceedings, despite the service of the charge on her, prompting the Federal High Court to threaten to dismiss the charge.He said Akinjide was not seen since then and Pategi, despite repeated demands, failed to produce herHe brought an application that Pategi should show cause why the N650 million should not be forfeited to the Federal Government.Pategi was then remanded in EFCC custody.When the case came up yesterday, Oyedepo said Akinjide had reported herself to the EFCCs office.I just confirmed from the EFCC zonal office that Akinjide has turned herself in to EFCC custody.Since it was the inability of Pategi to produce Akinjide that triggered our application, we apply that this suit be struck out in view of the success of producing Akinjide.In the interest of justice, I seek to withdraw this suit, Oyedepo said.Defence counsel Olusegun Williams told the court that although the business of the day was for the defendants bail and preliminary objection to be heard, an arrangement out of court settlement talks were on going.He, thereafter, withdrew his applications and urged the court to suspend the suit until a settlement was reached.In a bench ruling, Magistrate Botoku struck out the suit.She said: Based on the application of the prosecutor, the suit is hereby struck out and the defendant released.
The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, can only ...

The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, can only find relevance under chaotic situations.Amaechi, the immediate Rivers governor, was also accused of using incitements as a strategy to win sympathy from Rivers people.Rivers PDP, yesterday in Port Harcourt, in an online statement by its Chairman, Chief Felix Obuah, claimed to be reacting to Amaechis comments on the security situation in the Niger Delta state.The ruling PDP in Rivers said: Amaechi has adopted as a strategy. The penchant to cause unnecessary stir whenever there is relative peace and stability in the state, aimed at deceiving impressionable minds into seeing him as a redeemer he has never been, is never and will never be.Unfortunately for him (Transportation Minister), the Rivers people are now wiser and have seen the difference between a stir-crazy politician of Amaechis stock and a natural/people-driven leadership of Chief (Barr.) Nyesom Wike, whose landmark achievements in only two years in office have dwarfed the entire Amaechis eight years in office as wasted.How can one who claims he has the interest of his people in mind and plans to direct the political future of the state, only finds joy in castigating people, including his superiors and causing disaffection, even among his own party members, each time he sneaks into the state.Rather than attract development projects or telling the people what programmes he has to move the state forward and empower our numerous young school leavers looking for jobs, Amaechi is only interested in inciting the people and boasting over whom he will endorse for one political office or another and those whom he will pull down at all costs, in an election two solid years away from now.This is the mark of a sadist and it is high time Amaechi knew that he has lost relevance in Rivers State and should honourably shut up.Rivers PDP also enjoined Rivers people to remain steadfast in their support for a caring and welfarist administration of Wike and discountenance the alleged babbling of drowning Amaechi.
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, Tuesday asked the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, to ensure that the federal government release all the disused and disputed assets to the state government.They are no longer in use for the purpose the apex government acquired it, Ambode said at the State House after receiving the report of the Special Committee on Federal Government Assets in Lagos State.The committee chaired by former Federal Commissioner for Works, Chief Femi Okunnu, comprised a human rights activist, Femi Falana, a Simmons Cooper partner, Mrs. Victoria Alonge and Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Lands Bureau, Olabode Agoro, among others.Ambode recalled that Fashola was a passionate advocate of the issue during his tenure as Governor, adding that now that he is a representative of Lagos State in the Federal Executive Council (FEC), he should use his office to return the assets.Ambode said the recovery of the federal assets was strategic to reflating the economy of the state and improving its GDP, saying it had become imperative that the state government pursues this particular project to a laudable conclusion.He explained that he constituted the committee to put an end to the jurisdictional disagreement between the federal and state governments over the disused lands, buildings and disputed quarters to which the former still laid claim within the territory of the latter.His words: The report of the committee has come at a time when the state government is in dire need of space for development projects that would improve the socio-economic wellbeing of its residents in line with the socio-economic realities of present times.We hope this initiative will end the long standing dispute between the federal and state governments over the disused lands, buildings and disputed quarters in various parts of the state.These assets are no longer in use for the purposes for which they were originally released to the federal government. We are hopeful this report will get favorable response from the federal government now that these assets are no longer in use for the purposes they were acquired.After submitting the report, Okunnu expressed sadness over the current status of the Federal Secretariat in Lagos and other abandoned assets of the federal government in the state, noting that the assets be returned to the state government for effective and proper usage.He said the assets are not only quarters, but the land on which these buildings are situated. We have tried to argue that the whole of Ikoyi with boundary at Lagos Canal standing between Ikoyi Island and Lagos Island.Okunnu added that title to the whole of the Islands is vested in the Government of Lagos State when Lagos became Crown Colony. Title to the whole of Ikoyi including Osborn Foreshore, Banana Island is vested in the government of Lagos State. We have other areas we have covered.The state-owned Festac Town. The title to the town is vested in the government of Lagos State. Federal Housing Authority (FHA) is the tenant of the Government of Lagos State indeed. Also, the title to the Trade Fair site is vested in Lagos State.The government of Lagos State acquired the Land of the Trade Fair site. But the federal government gave a promise to pay the state compensation which was to be paid to the original owners of the land. That compensation was not paid, Okunnu noted.He added that title to 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. The land on which the International Trade Fair Complex was situated was acquired for the purpose of the trade fair, but the place had been turned into market.Federal Secretariat gives me sadness because I built it when I was the Federal Commissioner for Works. The land upon which federal secretariat is situated is part of the Crown land, which is now state land.The title to the Crown land is vested in Lagos State. But Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson agreed to release that land to the federal government when they wanted to build federal secretariat.We hope that discussions between Lagos State Government and federal government on hand over of federal lands, state lands within Lagos and disuse or surplus lands which federal government, especially defence and prisons are still occupying in Lagos are resolved.Large parcels of the land are now surplus to what is required under the land. We hope that discussions between Lagos State and federal governments will be held to settle this palaver once and for all.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Wednesday received signatures from the electorates in Kogi West Senatorial District demanding the recall of lawmaker representing the zone, Dino Melaye from the Senate.The electorates submitted their signatures at the Commissions headquarters in Abuja in six bags.It had earlier been reported on Tuesday that INEC will today, Wednesday, receive petition to recall Melaye from the senate.A source in the Kogi Government had confirmed the development to newsmen.The source who pleaded anonymous, added that all that needed to be done had been completed and it is left to INEC to take the next course of action.
The Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, has attributed the arrest of Chukwujeme Onwamadike, the suspected kidnapper popularly known as Evans, to information sharing and intelligence cooperation among police services in West Africa.Information sharing is crucial to tackling the menace of trans-border crimes in West Africa; it is through such exchange that we were able to nab a Ghanaian/Nigerian kidnapper two weeks ago, after evading arrest for many years, Idris said on Wednesday.Idris spoke in Accra, Ghana in a paper titled: The role of Nigeria Police in national security and its contributions in West Africa, delivered at an ongoing West Africa international security conference.For several years, Evans terrorised Nigerians and nationals of many countries across West Africa. Efforts to apprehend him did not yield the desired results until we spread our search net wider, he said.The police chief, who solicited closer ties among security agencies in the sub-region, emphasises the need to improve the method of monitoring and surveillance, particularly among border and coastal police units.Idris called for improved communication capabilities among intelligence gathering outfits in West Africa and called for mutual support to plug loopholes usually exploited by criminals.He said that the Nigeria Police Force had 300,000 personnel in 127 area commands and 5303 divisions, adding that the force had consistently contributed to stability and peace in ECOWAS nations and under UN mandates.The Nigeria Police Force trained 250 Liberian Police personnel in 2005 and has consistently offered training slots to police officers from Gambia and Sierra Leone at the Police Staff College, Jos and the Police Academy, Wudil.We also trained 100 police officers from the Republic of Niger on mobile police combat in 1998. At the end of the training, Nigeria donated trucks, riot equipment and tear smoke to the Nigerien government, he said.Idris said that the Nigeria Police Force also helped to stabilise Guinea-Bissau in 2012 when the military intervened in its leadership and truncated democracy.Our police personnel remained there until democracy was restored in 2014, he stated.The IGP expressed Nigerias readiness to consistently cooperate with police formations in other countries to track down criminals, pointing out that such mutual cooperation had become even more necessary as technology had reduced the world to a small village.
Senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Shehu Sani, has admonished his State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai to shelve his presidential ambition because he has failed woefully.Sani, who gave the call in a statement he issued on Wednesday, also lambasted El-Rufai for allowing kidnapper take over the state, despite accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of running a failed government.The lawmaker maintained that some of those who claim to be loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari are opportunists.Sani also accused the diminutive governor of systemic nepotism, opacity and complete absence of transparency in the governance of Kaduna state.According to the lawmaker, He (El-Rufai) thinks President Muhammadu Buhari failed but he never invited PMB to even commission a completed toilet in his state. Under El-Rufai, Kaduna has become a hub of kidnappers and a sanctuary for herdsmen.The very governor who once condemned the National Assembly for lack of transparency has proven to be worse. El-Rufai wants to be seen as an apostle of Buharis change but he is actually the Judas of change.It is hypocritical to promise Nigerians change and end up only putting change in our pockets. Theres nothing progressive about many people who claim to be Buharists; they are reactionaries and career opportunists who can fit into any government in power.I call on El-Rufai to suspend his presidential or vice presidential ambitions and concentrate on proper governance of the state.Journalists in Kaduna State are under siege; blackmailed, arrested, pocketed or threatened with arrest and, as such, could not have written such a story. El-Rufai jails journalists like Pinochet or Stalin. El-Rufai is a man with a mouth for criticism but without a stomach for criticism. In his two years in office, he has jailed not less than seven journalists in Kaduna, of which many are in court.Kaduna State is run like a personal family and friends estate without any meaningful physical achievement other than sponsored media propaganda. El-Rufai has no money to pay traditional rulers he recently sacked but has money to dispense as contracts to family, friends and political cronies.El-Rufai has enough money to pay herdsmen but no money to pay district heads. Kaduna is today littered with abandoned drainages to the point that the rainy season has turned Kaduna into a coastal state with creeks. He is auctioning over 2,000 government houses he inherited but he has yet to build a hut.
Residents of Ekiti trooped out in large number on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti to join the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, in celebrating three years of his victory in the June 21, 2014, Governorship Election.Fayose defeated Dr Kayode Fayemi in all the 16 local government areas in the election.At the rally, the governor took a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing him of running a government of nepotism.Specifically, he stated that the 2017 budget did not capture the interests of all Nigerians, especially Ekiti State with no federal government appropriated for it.Fayose said the people of the state would revolt against the All Progressives Congress in the 2018 governorship poll due to its insensitivity to the plights of Ekiti.In a veiled reference to the Secretary to the Federal Government, Mr Babachir David Lawal, over an allegation of multimillion naira contract relating to the welfare of the Internally Displaced People of the Northeast, Fayose accused the federal government of sweeping under the carpet, the panel set up to try many of the APCs cronies.A government in nepotism cant stand the test of time. The economy of this country has shrunk under this government. I say they will go, they must go. Nigerians are hungry and angry.Im not one Nigerian that will chicken out to join a political party. We will remain here telling them truth, telling them the economy is not working, we stand them for the truth.The crowd comprising members of the PDP, artisans, transport unions and youths among others marched through Fajuyi Park to Ojumose and stopped at the popular Ijigbo roundabout in a show of strength and force to display their loyalty to Fayose.Fayose said, The policy of Buharis government is anti-Ekiti. If you check properly, nothing was budgeted as a project for Ekiti in 2017 budget. That is why Nigeria must be restructured so that a state can control its own resources.The APC-led federal government is fighting everybody, the judiciary and legislators, as well as the press, were not spared. They are running a lawless government and that was why they refused to release Col. Bello Dasuki and El-Zakky Zakky despite court orders. This is not the kind of Nigeria of our dream.The APC will be upset in 2018, we will crush them and that is why you have to be strong and firm. I am a leader in Nigeria and nobody can gag or cow me because this country belongs to all of us. Today, Nigerians are hungry and angry. There is so much nepotism and poverty in the land, so this government must go.Nigeria must be restructured. You cant get peace when there is no justice. You must do budget that will represent the interest of everybody; this country belongs to all of us. This is not the kind of Nigeria we craved for. There must be equity.They have no choice than to restructure this country for good. They have abandoned their manifesto. They are no longer talking about it.Fayose appealed to Ekiti electorate to register in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration so that they can have the opportunity to vote against the APC in 2018.This victory march is meant to thank the people of Ekiti State and to finally break down the wall of Jericho, because I know we shall triumph for I have the people behind me. After winning, I am going to Abuja to be President of Nigeria. I will take power from Buhari in 2019 and that shall come to pass.
An Islamic cleric, Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi has advised the Federal Government against allowing people of the South East to actualise Biafra Republic.Speaking in Kano on Tuesday, the cleric said rather than give Igbos Biafra, the federal government should sit down with leaders of the South East and other ethnic nationalities to chart ways of getting Nigeria out of its economic challenges.Bauchi also warned that those agitating for Biafra should desist because no one can tell what will be the gain if another civil war breaks out in a nation with over a 150 million people.According to the cleric, Nigerias prosperity will be possible when both parties sit on the same table of nation building with each party doing what suits his culture, tradition and religion.He said, Lets avoid the situation where people of different religion and cultural belief system eats from the same pot, as it will discriminate against another considering that each came from entirely different background and choices, saying such a practice was the bane of all the agitations.The cleric, who also called on Northern youths to withdraw their ultimatum to the Igbos counseled that, lets not resort to similar protest to that of the biafra agitators of hatred, inciting, humiliating and unguarded utterances.
The Lagos-Kano rail line and the Lagos-Port Harcourt standard gauge will start running before December, Minister of Transport Rotimi Ama...

The Lagos-Kano rail line and the Lagos-Port Harcourt standard gauge will start running before December, Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi said yesterday.Hesaid plans are underway to procure additional 20 locomotive trains for cargo services for the routes.Amaechi spoke in Kaduna when he inspected the newly built Kaduna Dry Port.The minister said the vision of President Muhammadu Buharis administration is to establish a safe and efficient transport system to boost economic activities across the country.Amaechi, who was with Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, explained that the Kaduna Inland Dry Port project was designed to decongest the seaports and bring shipping and port services closer to importers and exporters in the hinterlands.The port, which has the capacity to handle 29,000 containers per annum when commissioned, will serve as a port of origin and final destination  meaning it will have the status of international port, including customs, immigration, port health officials, as well as government security agencies.Headded that by the time the rail projects are completed, they will largely help importers and exporters of goods to transport them through the rail lines, thereby saving cost, time and guaranteeing safety of their goods.The minister said: We are doing everything possible to create jobs and whatever the Federal Government needs to do to get the port running will be done.The rail line 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.The ministerhailed the efforts and various contributions of Kaduna State government and solicited the governments contribution towards ensuring that roads are in perfect shape.El-Rufai said the project was inherited from the previous administration and assured that the state government would provide the necessary infrastructure needed for effective take-off of the port upon its inauguration.He said the government would fix the roads leading to the port and create more exits to avoid congestion usually experienced at the Apapa port.
The lawmaker representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Senator Shehu Sani, has asked Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, to shelve his presidential ambition, saying many of those who claim to be loyal to President Muhammadu Buhari are opportunists.Sani, in a statement on Wednesday, said while El-Rufai accused Buhari of running a failed government through a memo, the governor has failed also woefully.The lawmaker said, He (El-Rufai) thinks President Muhammadu Buhari failed but he never invited PMB to even commission a completed toilet in his state. Under El-Rufai, Kaduna has become a hub of kidnappers and a sanctuary for herdsmen.The very governor who once condemned the National Assembly for lack of transparency has proven to be worse. El-Rufai wants to be seen as an apostle of Buharis change but he is actually the Judas of change.It is hypocritical to promise Nigerians change and end up only putting change in our pockets. Theres nothing progressive about many people who claim to be Buharists; they are reactionaries and career opportunists who can fit into any government in power.I call on El-Rufai to suspend his presidential or vice presidential ambitions and concentrate on proper governance of the state.Sani recalled that an online news portal, SaharaReporters had reported about the alleged systemic nepotism, opacity and complete absence of transparency in the governance of Kaduna, saying that the report is factual about the reality of the situation in the state.He alleged, Journalists in Kaduna State are under siege; blackmailed, arrested, pocketed or threatened with arrest and, as such, could not have written such a story. El-Rufai jails journalists like Pinochet or Stalin. El-Rufai is a man with a mouth for criticism but without a stomach for criticism. In his two years in office, he has jailed not less than seven journalists in Kaduna, of which many are in court.Kaduna State is run like a personal family and friends estate without any meaningful physical achievement other than sponsored media propaganda. El-Rufai has no money to pay traditional rulers he recently sacked but has money to dispense as contracts to family, friends and political cronies.El-Rufai has enough money to pay herdsmen but no money to pay district heads. Kaduna is today littered with abandoned drainages to the point that the rainy season has turned Kaduna into a coastal state with creeks. He is auctioning over 2,000 government houses he inherited but he has yet to build a hut.
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has estimated that the country is losing about N140 billion weekly to traffic gridlocks on Apa...

President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has estimated that the country is losing about N140 billion weekly to traffic gridlocks on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Lagos, the access road to Nigerias main sea ports.Dangote who spoke to journalists in Lagos, yesterday, said: The economy loses more than N20 billion daily and N140 billion weekly. It affects businesses across the country. All our operations in the hinterland in Ilorin, in Kano are operating at 40 per cent maximum capacity. He lauded the decision of the Federal Government to reconstruct the failed Apapa Wharf road as its grim state is an embarrassment to the country.Lamenting the state of roads in the country, Dangote said: Today there is no linkage road going from South West to the North. You have to go all the way through Ajaokuta, Obajana, Lokoja and you have to go by that uncompleted road Obasanjo (ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo) started 13 years ago. Commenting on his resolve to personally get involved in the Apapa Wharf road reconstruction, he said: Because it is very embarrassing! We cant just sit and have a road like that where it is the heart of the trade of the country. More than 60 per cent of our countrys import and exports come through the port and we leave it un-attended.That is why we started on our own. Flour Mills said they will join us, but now government changed the design because they want all the cables and pipes underground and to have a more robust solution.To help in bringing the cost down, he explained that he forced his company to do it at zero profit. According to him, Both Dangote and Flour Mills are pumping in over N2.5billion for two kilometre double lane on each side making a total of four kilometres. He further explained that the biggest job is drainage because that is what is destroying the road. We will make sure this problem is sorted out once and for all. This thing should not be allowed to happen. Westarted discussion with the government over one year and we are happy that we have been given the opportunity to finally fix it. It would be recalled that the federal government last weekend handed over the bad road to Dangote Industries Limited and Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) for immediate reconstruction with concrete overlay. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the construction of the road was signed by the federal government, Dangote Industries Limited a; Nigerian Ports Authority and Flourmills of Nigeria.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, on Wednesday, debunked insinuations that he was not committed to the anti-corruption war.He said his total commitment to the war against corruption informed his decision to authorise the filing of an appeal against the judgment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal which acquitted the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, of all 18 charges of false asset declaration preferred against the former Kwara State Governor.The AGF, through a private prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), and a lawyer in the AGF office had on Tuesday filed 11 grounds notice of appeal against the acquittal, describing the CCTs judgment as unreasonable.The AGF spoke on Wednesday through a statement co-signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Salihu Isah and the Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution (AGF Office), Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla.The statement was reacting to a report by Sunday PUNCH in which a member of the Prof. Itse Sagay-led Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Femi Odekunle, had at an event on Saturday in Abuja, raised questions about the AGFs anti-corruption war.The programme, where both Sagay and Odekunle spoke, was organised by the National Association of Seadogs (the Pyrates Confraternity), the Chairman of the panel.Reacting, the AGF who highlighted a number of measures he had put in place to fight corruption as the demonstration of his commitment to the anti-graft war, expressed disappointment in Odekunles comment.The AGF maintained that despite some recent setbacks suffered by the anti-corruption war, the fight would continue to be fought resolutely, painstakingly, doggedly, purposefully and determinedly with all the constitutional and legal arsenals at the disposal of the Federal Government of Nigeria.He said to demonstrate that he was fully and completely committed, dedicated and supports the war against corruption, he authorised the filing of the appeal against Sarakis acquittal by the CCT.The statement read in part, The Honourable Attorney of the Federation wishes to assure Nigerians that despite some recent setbacks recorded in some of the cases involving politically exposed people; that the war against corruption is fully on course.It shall be fought resolutely, painstakingly, doggedly, purposefully and determinedly with all the constitutional and legal arsenals at the disposal of the Federal Government of Nigeria.The Federal Government is more than ever before committed towards the complete eradication of the scourge of corruption and graft in the country.In this regard, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation has directed that a Notice of Appeal be lodged against the ruling of the Code of Conduct Tribunal acquitting and discharging false assets declaration case preferred against the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.He reminded those in a hurry to condemn due to the temporary setbacks recorded lately that they should tarry awhile because a legal process is deemed not concluded until it terminates at the Supreme Court which is the highest court of arbitration in Nigeria.He said in the introductory part of the statement that he was saddened by Odekunles comment especially coming from a person who ought to know better.The statement said his attention was drawn to the PACAC members comment contained in a publication in the PUNCH Newspaper of 18 June 2017 titled, Buharis anti-corruption panel lambasts Presidency, Judiciarysays AGF, others not serious about graft war.The statement said, To say that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN frowns at the statement is an understatement. In fact, he is highly disappointed that such accusation and statement could be made by those who ought to know better.The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is saddened and flummoxed at the attempt to cast aspersion on his integrity, dedication and commitment to the war against corruption which undoubtedly is one of the major cornerstones of the present administration.There is no gainsaying that the incumbent Attorney General of the Federation has shown and demonstrated so much passion, drive, will and enthusiasm in prosecution of transgressors of the law ever seen in the annals of this country.The truth of the matter is that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is totally, fully and completely committed, dedicated and supports the war against corruption in all its form and ramification.He also highlighted measures put in place to show he remained dedicated to the war.The statement said, Towards this end, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation since his assumption of office has initiated numerous reforms and programs to drive the war against corruption including the recently launched National Anti-Corruption Strategy, 2017.The National Anti-Corruption Strategy plan is a five-year strategic plan to combat corruption and corrupt tendencies in the country to the barest minimum. It is the first of its plan in the history of the country.
HACKENSACK -- A phone call to a Hackensack man touched off an investigation three years ago that has led to at least 130 arrests of corrections officers and inmates in Georgia prisons, according to a report from northjersey.com.

Damien Owens received a voicemail on March 17, 2014 from a man who said he was a major with the "Bergen County Warrants Division," and left two callback numbers -- each with a 201 area code -- that were connected to cell phones inside Autry State Prison, the report says.

Owns, 64, called back and transferred money. He then realized he'd been scammed.

The Ireland native, who died two months after fielding that call, was one of many people who were duped by a prison ring that allowed some inmates to grow their commissary accounts from $200,000 to $300,000, the report says.

The inmates posed as law enforcement officials and made phone calls demanding money from many Bergen County residents, as well as residents in 11 other states, officials have said. Each time they claimed the victims owed money for missed court or jury duty appearances.

Detectives from the Bergen County Sheriff's Office went to Autry State Prison in Georgia and, using electronic detection equipment, discovered nearly 500 active cell phones within the prison cells before inmates began turning off the phones to hide them from the probe.

Prosecutors said Clarinda Carter, a 26-year-old corrections officer at Wheeler Correctional Facility, developed a relationship and committed the scam with 26-year-old inmate Covian J. Camp. Both were each charged in 2014 with two counts of theft by extortion and two counts of impersonating a law enforcement officer.

In January, Carter was released from jail after she was sentenced to time served on a money laundering charge, according to NorthJersey.com. Camp, who was serving a 30-year sentence for cocaine distribution, remains in a Georgia prison, officials said in 2014.

Federal authorities joined the investigation and confiscated 23,500 cell phones that corrections officers had smuggled to prisoners in 2014 and 2015. Significant corruption was found in 11 of Georgia's 35 state prisons.

Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
MAPLE SHADE TWP. -- A 26-year-old Willingboro man was shot to death outside his place of employment Wednesday morning was the shooter's intended target, authorities said.

The Burlington County prosecutor's office said in a statement Wednesday afternoon the shooting of Devon Young at 8:25 a.m. was "not random."

Young, whom a witness described as a man who worked at Albo Appliance, was shot in the parking lot outside the building at 124 North Kings Highway that houses the appliance store and Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant.

County Prosecutor Scott Coffina, who could not be reached for comment, told 6abc that investigators are pursuing leads, but the public was not believed to be in danger.

However, a man who said he witnessed the crime while working on a roof nearby said he saw two men wearing reflective vests take part in the shooting and then flee in the direction of Route 38. Witnesses described multiple shots, possibly as many as 15, being fired.

UPDATE: victim identified as 26 year old Devon Young of Willingboro. Shooting behind Iron Hill Brewery in Maple Shade. Heavy police presence, body lay under white sheet at back loading dock. Posted by Nora Muchanic on Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Workers at the complex in which the shooting took place were wary Wednesday afternoon. Many expressed relief the danger had seemed to pass, but still had concerns after a very violent morning.

Jennifer Presidente, a specialist in a uniform shop across the driveway from the shooting said she saw police vehicles zipping around the complex when she arrived shortly after 9 a.m.

"Wherever you work, you live, things happen," Presidente, 32, said. "You just have to be careful."

Therese Warger said she showed up for work at about 8:50 and authorities didn't allow her to enter a parking lot near the crime scene.

"There was a heavy cop presence when I got here," Warger, 53, said. She said she left the area and returned to work two hours later. While police activity had slowed, concern among many of her coworkers hadn't waned.

"It is disturbing," she said. "It's sad. I feel sorry for the person it happened to. The detective who came into office told us we can have the door open now. But you'd never expect that around here."

By day's end, signs of normalcy were starting to return. The Iron Hill Brewery, which shares a parking lot with Albo, released a statement about the incident.

"There were no Iron Hill employees or customers involved or injured in this incident," the statement said. "Iron Hill is supporting local law enforcement in their ongoing investigation."

The brewery and restaurant planned to reopen for dinner this evening.

(This story was changed from an early version to correctly reflect Coffina's comments to 6abc.)

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
At the end of the week, Mario Manago, 33, will be out of the Air Force after 12 years.

But he's not just out of a job -- he's now convicted of a federal crime.

His offense? Being six minutes late to a meeting.

Manago, of Willingboro, was convicted at court-martial March 9 of failing to go to his "appointed place of duty." He was late to a meeting he requested with his commander to discuss his concerns that he was being treated unfairly by his supervisors at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County, according to him and his attorney.

"When he said I was guilty, it didn't hit me until after I sat down and thought about it," Manago said earlier this month. He realized he was now convicted of a federal crime "for being six minutes late to a meeting I requested, that was about wrongdoing. Something is wrong."

Even before a judge could decide if he should be punished, Manago found out that he was out of the Air Force anyway because his commander had demoted him. The Air Force has a rule that caps the number of years someone can serve as a senior airman, and because Manago is now over that cap, he will be honorably discharged Saturday.

"I wanted to retire from the Air Force," he said. Now, he needs to find a new job -- one that is open to those with criminal records.

Manago said his career began to unravel in 2016 when he complained to his superiors about problems he perceived with a mission and the way he was treated. He believes that memos he wrote about his concerns so annoyed his superiors that they retaliated against him.

"It was not about punctuality. It was about this commander sending a message to Mario and punishing him for complaining," said Manago's attorney, Douglas Cody of Hammonton.

Manago's whistleblower complaint was dismissed by the base's Inspector General, Cody acknowledged, "but I think a fair observer looking from the outside can see the connection."

A retired Marine judge advocate, Cody said Manago's experience is an unfortunate reality of the military. "If the system or command decides they're against you, with the military being a hyper-regulated organization, it's easy to bring to bear against someone they don't like," he said.

Shaun Eagan, a spokesman for the the joint base, said Manago's claims that he was treated vindictively were fully investigated and found to be unsubstantiated. He confirmed that Manago's conviction was for being six minutes late to the meeting.

"The U.S. Air Force, out of mission necessity, expects discipline from our military members and for airmen to conduct themselves in accordance to Air Force standards and core values," Eagan said in a statement. "Accordingly, it is a commander's responsibility to hold the members of the unit accountable for misconduct."

Cody said that Manago's lateness to the meeting -- due to his inability to abandon his post elsewhere on the base -- is clearly not a serious offense.

"The idea that you can charge someone with a criminal offense for being six minutes late without any aggravating circumstance is very draconian," Cody said. Add to it that the point of the meeting was to discuss alleged mistreatment, and Cody said the charge seems "completely unreasonable."

"It's a reflection of leadership that doesn't care about the people it's supposed to take charge of and take care of," he said.

The end of a career

As he talked about the end of his military career, Manago held his son, Braylen, 2, on his lap, and got up every few minutes to retrieve a crawling nearly 1-year-old, MacKenzie. He and his wife, Lakenia, have four children, and he has two from a previous relationship.

In many ways, he doesn't fit the tough-guy stereotype of a serviceman and instead sees himself as an intellectual. He talked repeatedly of his duty and the importance of "the mission."

"He wants to do things by the book," Cody said of his client's personality. "He treated people fairly and he wanted to be treated fairly himself. And if he thought he wasn't, and that the rules weren't being followed, he was not just going to sit there and take it."

Cody acknowledged that his client had been written up by his superiors before, but said his problems really began when he switched to the 305th Aerial Port Squadron in February of 2016. He started at the base in 2011 after serving in Japan.

The attorney said that almost every time Manago wrote a memo about an issue he was having with others, he was subsequently written up for some offense he denied. Once, it was for how he operated a forklift.

He got a meeting with his commander, Lt. Col. Eric B. Quidley, to discuss his concerns that he was being targeted. But that morning, he was told he couldn't leave his post on the base because things were too busy. He called to reschedule the meeting, but was told he could not.

"Leaving to go to a personal meeting I requested would have been dereliction of duty," Manago said, so he stayed to finish the task.

Manago said that when he got to the meeting, Quidley told him he was "not impressed" with him, mocked his memos and made him read aloud from them.

Eagan said no comment was available from Quidley for this story.

Not long after the meeting, Manago was informed that he was going to be charged for being late to the meeting. He said he declined non-judicial punishment and opted for court-martial because the former would give his commander the ability to demote him.

Three more charges were then filed against him, Manago said, but as the Air Force confirmed, he was found not guilty of all but the single charge regarding the meeting.

Before the special court-martial in March, Manago learned he was demoted and so would be out of the Air Force.

Cody said that to protect the rights of the accused, misconduct should be handled through judicial channels, not through administrative demotion. But Eagan said it is an acceptable way to deal with misconduct.

"It is not a punitive action, it is an administrative action that a commander uses to ensure a service member's grade reflects behavior," he said.

Manago's appeal of his demotion is ongoing. His request for clemency regarding his conviction was not granted.

Cody said Manago's superiors testified that he was a dedicated airman, so they should have seen his potential and worked with him.

"Instead, they took the most draconian and Machiavellian methods to destroy this kid," he said.

Manago doesn't think his race played a big part, but he noted the results of a study released last week by the nonprofit Protect Our Defenders that said black people serving in the Air Force are 71 percent more likely to be face military charges.

While washing dishes at their home, his wife said the ordeal has "taken a toll" on the family, both emotionally and financially.

"He works hard. He deploys. At that point he was working 12 hours a day. He wouldn't leave until everything was done," she said. "You put that in and they can't even have the decency to give you the benefit of the doubt?"

They're hoping that potential employers will give him the benefit of the doubt -- and a chance to explain -- when he has to check the "Have you been convicted of a crime?" box on a job application.

"It's going to be weird, trying to explain it," he said. "They might think I'm joking."

(This story was corrected from an earlier version. While Manago was convicted of a federal crime, the military does not make a distinction between felonies and misdemeanors.)

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Thunderstorm chances are expected to return to the Council Bluffs-Omaha area by tonight, forecasters said, and the odds for precipitation will stick around through Saturday night.

There is no mention of precipitation in the forecast for today  just mostly sunny skies and high temperatures in the low to mid-90s.

The National Weather Service office in Valley, Nebraska, said tonight should begin four straight nights and three straight days of rain chances.

There is a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms tonight, a 20 percent chance Thursday, a 60 percent chance Thursday night and slight chances Friday through Saturday night, the weather service said.

Today, the metro area and locations north and west will be under a slight risk for severe weather.

Thursday, all of southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska 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 Districts website reported Tuesday morning that 3,400 customers remained without power following Friday nights severe storms, including 300 in Douglas, 2,000 in Sarpy and 950 in Cass Counties.

Here is this weeks forecast, according to the weather service:

Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 90. South wind around 8 mph.

Thursday night: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 1 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. South wind 5 to 8 mph becoming north northeast after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1 p.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 79.

Friday night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 58.

Saturday: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 1 p.m. Mostly sunny, with a high near 74.

Saturday night: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1 a.m. Partly cloudy, with a low around 54.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 74.

Sunday night: Mostly clear, with a low around 54.

Monday: Sunny, with a high near 78.

Monday night: Mostly clear, with a low around 59.

Tuesday: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 83.
The following editorial was published June 16 in the Quad-City Times.

Doug Ommens chances are slim. But one cant fault his last-ditch effort.

Iowas health commissioner is watching a slow motion car wreck as the states health insurance exchange crumbles. Its 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 Iowas insurance in 2018 or that theyre 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 predates the uncertainty now sowed by Republican dysfunction in Washington. That fact is a structural failure within President Barack Obamas hallmark domestic policy. But make no mistake, the recent announcements by the three insurance providers are directly tied to the GOPs breathless attempts to, somehow, do away with the Affordable Care Act.

Without Obamacare, the financial incentives for the carriers probably disappear. One cant 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, Ommens 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.

Its not even clear whether Ommens move would work. The reactions among the three providers ranged from full-throated support to non-committal dismissiveness. Its 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. Its 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, its up to Congress and the White House to keep all the many promises, which appears more impossible by the day. Its 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 Ommens request and let him respond to the burdens outside his control. The very well-being of thousands of Iowans depend on it.
Jazzilyn Martyszenko, 6, of North Platte saved her grandfather Jeff Van Curas life on May 12.

The young girl was presented with a Certificate of Excellence from the North Platte Fire Department at the City Council meeting Tuesday.

Mayor Dwight Livingston read a letter from Fire Chief Dennis Thompson who was unable to attend the meeting.

Mr. Van Cura was cutting wood with a power saw when a piece of wood kicked back, completely penetrating his forearm, Livingston read. This resulted in major bleeding, a broken ulna and other soft tissue injuries.

Van Cura called out to his granddaughter for help and despite being shook up by the injuries, she followed his directions.

She was hysterical, Van Cura said. I had called her and asked her to get me some paper towels. She finally found me a roll of paper towels and she helped me get it wrapped up.

Jazzilyn then got a blanket and helped her grandfather wrap it around his wound.

She dialed numbers to call my wife, Van Cura said with emotion in his voice. I told her how to do it and she did everything she was told to do. Shes just awesome, she saved my life.

Van Cura is in therapy for the injury because it required placement of rods to stabilize.

Jazzilyns ability to stay calm and follow her grandfathers instructions indeed played a vital role in caring for her grandfather while awaiting the arrival of an ambulance and transporting him to the hospital for surgical care, Livingston read. The North Platte Fire Department is proud to award this Certificate of Excellence to Jazzilyn Martyszenko.

Jazzilyn was reluctant to speak, but hung on to her mom Angel Martyszenko while nodding her head to questions about her brave act. She will be in the first grade next year at Buffalo School.

In other action, the council approved claims and authorized issuing warrants to Western Engineering Co. in the amount of $56,986 and to the Nebraska Department of Roads in the amount of $12,103 for various construction projects.

The next meeting of the council will be at 5:30 p.m. on July 5, which was moved from its regular date of July 4, which is the Fourth of July celebration.
Anonymous tipsters helped lead police to 22 pounds of marijuana and $20,000 in cash, police say.

According to a press release from the North Platte Police Department, information provided to Lincoln County Crime Stoppers prompted police to investigate Michael A. Perez, 34. Information gathered by the department led police to believe Perez was involved in dealing drugs and stolen firearms.

A search warrant was served Wednesday morning at his home in the 1100 block of West Sixth Street. Officers knocked on the door, announced themselves and went inside. They found Perez flushing marijuana down the toilet, according to the press release.

A search of the residence turned up about 22 pounds of marijuana and $20,000 cash. Police also found oxycodone, a narcotic, for which Perez didnt have a valid prescription.

Perez was arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, possession of oxycodone and tampering with evidence.

The North Platte Police Department was assisted in its investigation by members of the CODE Task Force, which is made up of numerous law enforcement agencies in west central Nebraska, including the Nebraska State Patrol and Lincoln County Sheriffs Office.
Schick Hydro Preview: Canberra Raiders v Brisbane Broncos

GIO Stadium

Saturday, 5:30pm

With their team sitting one win outside the top eight, Canberra fans are waiting to see signs of the Raiders outfit that fell just short of a grand final berth in 2016  but time is ticking on Ricky Stuart's men.

After having lost six games by six points or less in 2017, it is a question of what could have been for Canberra who have the roster on paper to be a serious premiership threat.

It is vital they start winning and there is no better opportunity than a match-up with the Brisbane Broncos during the State of Origin period.

Often a period where Wayne Bennett's men struggle, Brisbane have managed to so far stay afloat, sitting in the top four after a gritty six-point win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs in their last start.

But that came at a cost, with star five-eighth Anthony Milford suffering a shoulder injury that will rule him out for at least six weeks.

Benji Marshall will replace him in the No.6 jersey for this clash, with Ben Hunt being recalled to the bench after a brief stint in reserve grade.

The Raiders are at full strength, with Shannon Boyd returning at prop and Luke Bateman shifting to the bench.



Match Draw Widget

[2017] Telstra Premiership - Round 16: Raiders vs Broncos

Why the Raiders can win: It is advantage Canberra heading into this match, with the Raiders having only one player who will be forced to back-up after Origin. That man is Josh Papalii and if he continues with his season average of 150 run metres per game then he is sure to be a handful for Brisbane's defence. The Broncos have three stars that are set to play on Saturday after donning the maroon of Queensland, with Matt Gillett, Josh McGuire and Darius Boyd all expected to board the flight to Canberra. Brisbane's away record has been somewhat of an issue this season, winning only three matches from a possible seven. Canberra is a tough place to visit and the Raiders will be confident they can make this record even worse for the Broncos come Saturday night.

Why the Broncos can win: Newly promoted five-eighth Marshall brings more than just flashy footwork and superb passing to the position; he also has an almost perfect record against Canberra. The New Zealand international boasts 16 wins from 17 matches against the Raiders and he has been a part of history in the process. Marshall helped his former club St George Illawarra break a 14-year hoodoo at GIO Stadium in 2014, putting on a clinic to secure the Dragons' first victory at the venue since the year 2000. The 32-year-old has been solid in his first season at the Broncos, but he must lift to another gear in the absence of Milford. Marshall averages 123 run metres over his two recent 80-minute performances and Brisbane will need much of the same while Milford sits on the sidelines.



Player Comparison Widget

[2017] Telstra Premiership: Josh Hodgson vs Andrew McCullough

Try Assists, All Run Metres, Tackles, Tackle Breaks.



The history: Played 48; Raiders 19; Broncos 28; Drawn 1. Brisbane have won four straight against Canberra, with two of these victories taking place in the nation's capital. Matches between these two sides are normally low-scoring affairs, with nine of the past 12 clashes failing to break 40 points. Points were again at a premium when the teams met in Round 4. It took a Jordan Kahu field goal to separate the two sides, giving the Broncos a 13-12 win. Brisbane fullback Darius Boyd has four tries in two games against the Raiders.

What are the odds: Sportsbet reports three times the money on Canberra head-to-head, but punters are sticking to Raider 1-12 rather than 13+. Jordan Rapana is as popular as ever in the first try-scorer market, but Joey Leilua has also been well supported. Sixty per cent of the money in line betting is with the Broncos with the points start. Latest odds at sportsbet.com.au

Match officials: Referee: Henry Perenara; Assistant Referee: Dave Munro; Touch Judges: Dave Ryan & Russell Turner; Review Official: Jared Maxwell; Senior RO: Luke Patten.

Televised: Fox League  Live coverage from 5:00pm.

NRL.com predicts: Although Marshall's record cannot be ignored; a cold night in Canberra during the Origin period has us at NRL.com leaning towards the Raiders. It is sure to be a tight affair and points will be hard to come by, but Canberra should do enough to finally win a close one. Raiders by four.
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Decades ago, people had to get away from work and find time during bankers' hours to withdraw cash for groceries and other daily expenses.

There were far more tellers then and much longer lines at banks.

Then in June of 1967, Barclays installed the first Automated Teller Machine at a branch in the London suburb of Enfield. The self-service machines caught on quickly, largely because of the convenience of being able to access cash on demand. One New York bank touted the innovation with an ad that told customers, On Sept. 2, our banks will open at 9 a.m. and never close again," according to Smithsonian Magazine.

ATMs have spread all over the world, to the far reaches of Antarctica and the dizzying heights of the Himalayas. They're nearly ubiquitous, and available on land and at sea  on every cruise ship. Barclays estimates more than 80 percent of cash withdrawn from banks today is dispensed by ATMs. Despite shifts toward credit card transactions and e-commerce, a new ATM still goes online somewhere in the world every three minutes, according to the Automated Teller Machine Industry Association.

This month, the ATM celebrates its 50th anniversary. Bankers said the technology revolutionized banking and paved the way for future innovations that might replace it eventually, such as mobile banking and digital wallets like Venmo and Apple Pay.

The ATM has changed society by creating 24/7/365 access to cash and financial services for millions of cardholders around the world," ATM Industry Association CEO Mike Lee said.

"Having reached the milestone of over 3 million installed ATMs, the technology is currently on the threshold of reinvention for next generation ATMs, with an API ecosystem envisaged for operating ATM apps to align the customer experience of the future with the world of mobile internet and the coming internet of things.

Who dreamed up the ATM?

John Shepherd-Barron and a team at UK-based De La Rue Instruments Ltd. are widely credited with inventing the ATM, which originally just dispensed cash but later was updated during the 1970s to accept deposits and provide bank statements.

Adoption took a while, but community banks across the U.S. rushed to add ATMs during the 1970s because customers wanted the convenience, Centier Bank Senior Partner Robert Buhle said.

"I believe it was one of the first truly automated tools of the banking trade," Buhle said. "It was the first self-service where a banking customer could serve themselves. Someone who wanted cash from a paycheck didn't have to speak with a teller. The revolution was that all of a sudden you could bank 24/7."

ATMs paved the way for debit cards, point-of-sale transactions, online banking, voice-response mobile banking and payment methods like Apple Pay or Samsung Payment, Buhle said.

"Mobile banking is the new ATM," he said. "It has a robust feature set. You can do anything short of getting a cash withdrawal."

Half a century ago, the innovation of the ATM disrupted banking the way mobile apps are now.

"There's a lot less lobby traffic from back when they first started," said, Greg Engels, Porter Bank's electronics funds manager . "There was a big shift away from lobby traffic. It made it easy and quick to buy something, especially since many people don't get off work until 6 or 7 at night."

ATMs are starting to get older, but still see steady traffic, especially at Porter Bank branches near the Indiana Dunes, Engels said. And ATM operators see that fewer people are using cash to make transactions, so they're modernizing ATMs so they can print out postage stamps, tickets, lottery tickets, toll road payments, remittances and offer other product lines that could keep them in widespread use.

Consulting firm Accenture said ATMs already have started to print coupons, process license renewals and allow for payments of taxes and fines.

Customer service changing, not going away

Banks had to evolve after ATMs automated many routine transactions. Peoples Bank Chief Executive Officer Ben Bochnowski often jokes with his bankers that customers haven't had to talk to tellers for a half century to get access to their money, "so when a customer comes through the door, you know its important.

"ATMs changed the way people accessed money because a customer didnt have to walk in the bank anymore  and once ATMs became ubiquitous, a customer could go to any bank and access money, not just their bank," he said.

"Nowadays when people come in the bank, there is a reason beyond just needing cash. As bankers, we need to understand those reasons and respond to them."

Some banks have tried to replace tellers with ATMs to reduce overhead, but Peoples tries to use technology to give customers more choice instead of forcing them to use a single channel, Bochnowski said.

"As technology changes, customer expectations also change. Banks need to adapt to be able to meet those expectations. For Peoples Bank, our philosophy is that technology enhances the customer experience  it does not replace the customer experience," he said.

"Banks need to keep up with technological changes to remain competitive and relevant  not just with other banks, but other forms of payment that continue to emerge. Other non-bank businesses, especially recently, have set the bar high for the customer experience when it comes to blending in-person retail and online experiences."

People are using less cash, partly because they're engaging in more ecommerce, Bochnowski said.

"Paper currency used for everyday transactions may be going down, but more importantly, the way we pay for goods and services is changing," he said. "I dont think that cash or the ATM is going away, but it is changing."

Banks have tried to adapt by rolling out more ATM functions and even switching to Interactive Teller Machines, or ITM, which let customers video-conference with tellers at a back-office at a central bank and have caught on especially in rural areas.

And a need for cash persists. Paper money has survived in spite of checks and credit cards, Bochnowski said.

"Its generational as well; each generation adopts and uses these new payment forms more than the previous generation, be it checks, credit cards, electronic payments, peer-to-peer payments, NFC payments, or whatever comes next," he said.

"My grandparents used checks more than my great grandparents, and my parents use credit cards more than my grandparents did, and I use electronic payments more than my parents do. We all still use cash to some degree, however, and tend to make our decisions based on what is most convenient given the situation."
LANSING  The Village Board voted Tuesday to opt out of the Cook County minimum wage bump.

The Cook County Board approved a gradual minimum wage increase in October, raising the rate to $13 per hour by 2020. Annual increases based on the consumer price index will follow. The county ordinance also requires an hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked, up to a total of 40 hours. Workers can carry over 20 unused hours into the next year.

Those rules go into effect on July 1, but the ordinance allows individual municipalities to opt out before that date.

Trustees voted 5-0, with Trustee Mike Manno absent, to break from the county.

Village Administrator Dan Podgorski said at least 40 other municipalities also have done so.

Lansings ordinance reads the mayor and board of trustee of the village of Lansing find that the Cook County paid sick leave ordinance and Cook County minimum wage ordinance place an undue burden on employers within the village, given the current rights of employees under federal and state law.

Lansing businesses will be required to abide by state wage regulations, which include a minimum wage of $8.25.

Village President Patty Eidam at the June 6 board meeting said village business owners urged her to opt out.

Also Tuesday, the board approved payments for improvements to the historic Ford Hangar at Lansing Municipal Airport.

Van Der Weide Glass will replace the glass in broken and damaged windows for $18,555.

Trustee Tony DeLaurentis, who chairs the boards airport committee, said the glass is specially made to mimic the original material from the hangars construction in 1927.

Builders Ironworks of Crete also will make repairs for $18,195.

The work will be partially paid through a 2014 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The village would have lost the grant if it was unspent before the end of June.
A German manufacturer plans to invest $25 million in an expansion of its LaPorte factory, where it will hire 30 more workers.

American Renolit has made high-quality plastic films in LaPorte since it acquired its 220,000-square-foot facility at 1207 E. Lincolnway from the Solvay Group in 1999. It currently employs 175 people, and plans to boost its workforce to 205 by 2019 in order to keep up with demand from existing customers.

"This capacity extension confirms Renolits leadership in the calendered film market in the US, and I am proud that it demonstrates our drive to meet our customers' current and future needs, our strong commitment to the LaPorte community, and that it recognizes and rewards the dedication of our employees as a major contributor in the continued success of American Renolit Corporation," American Renolit President Renaat Demeulemeester said.

American Renolit, a subsidiary of the Renolit Group, makes films for the graphics, label, furniture and window profile industries. It's invested about $100 million in LaPorte, where workers produce calendered, flexible and rigid films. The company also is looking at new markets and applications.

"American Renolit has a nearly 20-year history of investing in Indiana, and we are appreciative of the company's continued commitment to the region and to the state," Indiana Economic Development Corp. President Elaine Bedel said.

The 70-year-old company employs 4,500 workers at more than 30 factories worldwide.

American Renolit has a long-standing history of success in LaPorte," Mayor Blair Milo said. "Their international presence and leadership within the high quality plastic film industry make them a perfect fit for our manufacturing sector and contribute to LaPortes reputation as a place where manufacturing thrives."

"I am excited to celebrate this expansion project with American Renolit, another spoke off the Hub of Awesome, and look forward to many more years of partnership with this great company," she said"

Construction starts this year, and the expansion should be finished by the end of next year.

For job opportunities, visit www.renolit.com/corporate/en/renolit/career/ or email Melissa.Gruber@Renolit.com.
Great Lakes steel production shot up to 660,000 tons, an increase of 4.76 percent.

Steel mills in the Great Lakes region cranked out 630,000 tons of metal the previous week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Most of the steel made in the Great Lakes region is produced in Lake and Porter counties in Northwest Indiana.

So far this year, U.S. steelmakers have produced 41.6 million tons of steel, about 2.5 percent more than they did during the same period in 2016. Steel mills have been running at a capacity of 74.4 percent so far this year, up from 72.6 percent through the same time last year.

Domestic steelmakers used about 74.6 percent of their steelmaking capacity in the week that ended June 17, up from 73.7 percent the previous week, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Some analysts say 90 percent would be considered healthy for the industry.

Steelmaking capacity utilization was 75.1 percent during the same time period in 2016.

Overall, U.S. national steel output rose by 21,000 tons last week to 1.739 million tons, a 1.22 percent increase, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Production in the Southern District, the country's second-largest steel-producing region, which spans mini-mills across the South, rose to 638,000 tons last week, up from 623,000 tons the previous week.
HAMMOND  A Gary man with a previous conviction for crack cocaine distribution was sentenced Tuesday to 63 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, court records show.

Upon his arrest in December, Deangelo D. Jones, of Gary, had also been hit with two other charges: crack cocaine possession with intent to distribute and crack cocaine distribution. He pleaded guilty in March to being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to U.S. District court records.

A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District court states the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Dec. 29 executed a search warrant of his residence in the 1000 block of Burr Street in Gary.

Upon walking out of the main floor bedroom, Jones, then 33, allegedly told law enforcement anything found in the home belonged to him, according to court records.

A search of a bedroom resulted in the recovery of three pistols and one revolver, a plastic bag filled with about 24 grams of suspected crack cocaine, a digital scale, a box of plastic sandwich bags, and about $4,000 cash. His wife, child and three step-children were living at the home, according to court documents.

Jones had returned to crack cocaine distribution less than two years after being released from probation on similar drug charges, according to a sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Indiana.

Jones was convicted on four counts of crack cocaine distribution and one count of possession with intent to distribute in May 2008.

In that case, Jones had sold crack cocaine on six separate occasions between Sep. 14, 2017, and Oct. 26, 2007, court records show. On Oct. 29, a search warrant of his home turned up four weapons, crack cocaine, digital scales with drug residue and drug packaging materials, court records show.

Jones must also serve six years on supervised released under the sentencing agreement, records show.
A Hobart couple are now facing felony charges for allegedly attempting a cover-up when their pit bull attacked 9-year-old Armondo Habhab earlier this month, court records show.

The couple's son told police he awoke to see his family's dog mauling his friend and began kicking the dog in an attempt to stop the attack, Lake Criminal Court records show. The dog ultimately ripped the victims ear off and caused skull and facial injuries.

After the June 13 attack, Geraldine Gibson took her son's injured friend home to his mother, instead of calling for police or medical services, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Gibson, 31, and her husband, Levi Roe, 30, each were charged Wednesday with felony obstruction of justice in connection with the attack. Gibson also was charged with misdemeanor counts of harboring a nonimmunized dog and false reporting.

Gibson and Roe were not in custody as of late Wednesday morning, Hobart police Lt. James Gonzales said. An attempt to reach Geraldine Gibson was not successful Wednesday afternoon. Neither had attorneys listed in online Lake Criminal Court records.

Hobart police met with the victim's mother at St. Mary Medical Center, where she reported the dog, named Joe, entered the room while her son was sleeping and began licking his face. When the boy awoke, the dog attacked him, police said. The attack happened within about two seconds, according to the affidavit.

Mother, son attacked in 2013

It's not the first time one of the couple's dogs has attacked a child, court records show.

During their investigation, Hobart police learned Gibson and her son had been bitten by another of the family's pit bulls  a 5-year-old named Ditch  in 2013. Gibson posted photos of her wounds from that attack on her Facebook page, the affidavit said.

Gibson's son, who was wounded in the 2013 attack, was the same boy to witness the June 13 mauling, court records show.

Cedar Lake police were dispatched Aug. 21, 2013, to the 12000 block of Hilltop Avenue in reference to a report of a dog bite, according to a police report. There, medics were treating Gibson and her son, who had been attacked by Ditch.

A neighbor who called police said they were alerted of the attack by Gibsons two sons. When they arrived at the house, they saw the dog attacking Gibson on the front porch, grabbed a bat, and hit the dog to force it back inside the house, the police report stated.

When police arrived, the dog had been placed behind a closed steel door with all windows closed, records show.

In 2013, Joe, the pit bull involved in June 13 attack, was about a year old, records show. Ditch was reportedly Joes father, documents show.

Roe* was charged in September 2013 with harboring non-immunized animals, one of which was Joe. He later entered into what is called a deferred prosecution agreement, according to court documents. Under the agreement, prosecutors dismissed the charges in March 2016, because Roe didnt commit any additional offenses during that period.

A family member of Roe advised police the family had four pit bulls, some which were caged or ran loose in the house, documents show.

Roe allegedly told police at the hospital that the dogs had rabies vaccinations. However, Roe and Gibson were later unable to provide documentation for the dog involved in the 2013 attack.

Roe also allegedly told police in 2013 that this was the first incident with the dog, a Cedar Lake police report shows. He stated the dog "has not shown aggression in the past and has never bitten."

Police records show the Indiana Department of Child Services was contacted in the 2013 case to investigate the safety of the children in the home. A DCS spokesman on Wednesday declined to comment, citing confidentiality laws. He noted, however, that if an allegation of abuse or neglect is reported, DCS can investigate.

A Hobart police spokesman said Wednesday they plan to forward case information to DCS.

Dog to be euthanized

In the latest attack, when Hobart police showed up at Gibson's home June 13, she told police her husband had taken the dog to the Hobart Humane Society to be euthanized, court records said.

Police learned Roe had dropped the dog off at the Humane Society, but told staff it was a stray he found near 61st Avenue and Liverpool Road, the affidavit said. Roe did not tell Humane Society staff the dog was aggressive or that it had attacked a child, court records said.

When police asked Roe why he lied to Human Society staff, he said, "Well, I took the dog there to get rid of him," the affidavit said.

Gibson, when confronted about what Roe told the Humane Society, "stated she has PTSD and didn't know what to do," the affidavit said.

"Geralidine was aware the dog was not taken to the Humane Society to be euthanized, but instead taken there as a stray dog and failed to tell (the police officer) the truth about the dog," the affidavit said.

Roe claimed she didn't know if the dog had received rabies shots, police said.

The dog was to be quarantined for a 10-day period and then euthanized, police said.

Mother: 9-year-old now recovering at home

Habhab's mother said last week that her son was not sleeping well and was waking up in the middle of the night crying because of the trauma and pain from the attack.

She said the boy had been to Roe and Gibson's home before, but she believes the dog was usually put away.

The boy's mother said he is now recovering at home after surgery and receiving treatment at Riley Hospital in Indianapolis.

A GoFundMe campaign launched by the family last week has raised $3,405 to offset medical expenses. The goal is $15,000.

The GoFundMe campaign is available at https://www.gofundme.com/moving-mountains-for-mondo.

*This story has been changed.
INDIANAPOLIS  Top-rated teachers at 10 Hammond schools and one Gary school will receive a share of $2 million in bonuses awarded statewide to Indiana educators who teach large numbers of students from low-income families.

The State Budget Committee recently approved the Excellence in Performance Grants recommended by the Indiana Department of Education following a competitive application process that relied on teacher evaluations and a measure of student career readiness.

"Funds provided under this grant are specifically awarded to highly effective teachers in Title I schools," said state Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, chairman of the State Budget Committee.

"These educators work in the states highest-need schools and are dedicated to being a positive influence on the students in their classrooms, regardless of their special needs or obstacles they may face."

Eligible teachers at the School City of Hammond will split a total of $491,567.74.

Another $16,927.34 will be distributed to highly effective teachers at Hosford Park New Tech Elementary School in Gary's Lake Ridge Schools.

"The recipients of this grant go above and beyond to prepare Hoosier children for their academic futures," said state Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

"They deserve recognition, and I am pleased this grant is able to honor their efforts."

All Hoosier educators separately will be eligible for $30 million in Teacher Appreciation Grants to be awarded later this year.
INDIANAPOLIS  An undetermined number of students at Hammond's Thomas Jefferson Elementary School will not receive a math score on their annual ISTEP standardized exam due to a test vendor error.

According to the Indiana Department of Education, students at the Hammond school and 19 others across the state likely were mistakenly told by Pearson, the testing company, that they could use a calculator to solve math problems on a non-calculator portion of the online test.

DOE spokeswoman Molly Deuberry said federal and state policies require scores for students who employed a forbidden calculator be invalidated.

As a result, parents will see an "undetermined" or "UND" marking for math on their child's ISTEP score sheet if he or she used a calculator.

Deuberry said the state education agency still is investigating how many students are affected at Jefferson, the only Northwest Indiana school where calculators apparently were used.

Telephone messages left for officials at the School City of Hammond seeking further information were not immediately returned Wednesday.

If a significant number of students have the math portion of their test results invalidated it could reduce the school's A-F quality rating, which primarily is based on ISTEP scores.

Deuberry said DOE does not yet know precisely how the testing issue will affect school grades, though it is keeping the State Board of Education, which assigns them, apprised of the situation.

State law allows schools to appeal their preliminary grade and permits the board to revise it if the board determines that a school's ISTEP results do not accurately reflect its academic performance.
CROWN POINT  Two veteran Lake County politicians are closing a chapter in their lives.

The Lake County Board of Elections announced Tuesday that David Pastrick and Mary Elgin are disbanding their political committees.

Although both have been politically inactive for years, they maintained their committees in existence, but failed to publicly update how much money they hold, receive and spend.

Pastrick, a son of the late former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick, was twice elected coroner and served in office from 2002 to 2009.

Pastrick said he has devoted himself to the family's funeral home business over the last eight years, but couldn't fold his campaign finance books until he resolved loans he and others had made to his committee some time ago. "The loans have finally been forgiven," he told the board Tuesday.

Elgin, who didn't appear before the board, disbanded her election committee last month, Michelle Fajman, the county elections director, said.

Elgin served as Calumet Township trustee between her first election in 2002 and her defeat in 2014.

She pleaded guilty May 8 to federal public corruption charges that she extorted campaign contributions and political work from her township employees. Her sentencing is set for September. A felony conviction makes her ineligible to run for public office in Indiana again.

The elections board didn't levy any fines against Pastrick, Elgin or Sheriff John Buncich, who has said he is unable to file a current campaign finance report because federal authorities seized many of his financial documents.

Buncich is awaiting trial in August on federal bribery charges that he solicited and accepted campaign contributions from towing firms that did business with the sheriff's department.
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Crown Point Christian Village (CCV) has purchased a new bus for their residents. The new bus was made possible by a grant from Crown Point Community Foundation and generous donors. This 24-passenger bus with wheelchair lift will provide residents the ability to actively engage in the community life of Crown Point and the surrounding areas.

For many years, residents who live at CCV worked, shopped and invested their resources in Crown Point and the surrounding communities. They still have a strong desire and need to be actively engaged. The ability to depend upon safe and comfortable transportation provides residents with a sense of independence, community and adventure.

A bus dedication was conducted on June 12, with words from Development Vice President Jeff Hills, Executive Director Amy Maurice and chaplain Frank Klobucar. Each speaker thanked the donors and the Crown Point Community Foundation, without each of their support the bus could not have been purchased. Klobucar prayed a blessing over the bus and those who would be riding in it. The group went on an inaugural Dairy Queen ride for some treats. This is actually tradition at CCV. The last time they purchased a new passenger bus, a group went to Dairy Queen for the first trip and these residents were excited to continue that tradition.

Our residents have truly been blessed by CPCF and donors supporting the purchase of the bus. Since it has resident-friendly features, more residents will be able to attend events and outings, Maurice said. Many residents commented on the smooth ride and the easy accessibility the new bus provides for all residents, including a wheelchair lift on the back. The resident who rode on it noted how easy it was for her to join in on future trips.

In August, the new bus will be trekking to the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky.
A 3-year-old boy was airlifted to a Chicago hospital after he was run over by a farm tractor Wednesday afternoon near Kingsbury, police said.

LaPorte County sheriff's officers responded at 1:42 p.m. to Bureks' Farm, 381 E. 400 South.

Initially, emergency responders blocked traffic on U.S. 35 at 400 South to provide a landing zone for the helicopter coming from South Bend. But, since the estimated time of arrival was close to a half hour, LaPorte County police Detective Jacob Koch said the injuries appeared serious enough to transport the boy by ambulance to LaPorte Hospital.

Memorial Med Flight arrived at LaPorte Hospital as the LaPorte County EMS ambulance arrived at the emergency room. The child was immediately airlifted to Comers Childrens Hospital in Chicago. LaPorte County sheriffs deputies, assisted by the Illinois State Police, transported family members to the hospital, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Office.

Koch said the early stages of the investigation indicate the child was on a bicycle when a man on the tractor, backing up on a gravel surface next to the home on the property, didn't see him.

No foul play is suspected.

The names of the child and man driving the tractor and what their relationship is have not been released. According to the Bureks' Farm Facebook page, the farm provides seasonal produce and has a gift shop.
VALPARAISO  There are a lot of choices this summer for families.

Tuesday, for the Autenrieth family of Chesterton, it was giving blood.

Dad, Richard "Butch" Autenrieth, a mechanic with the Porter County Sheriff's Department, told his daughter Alexis, 16, about the local Indiana Fallen Officer Blood Drive.

Alexis convinced dad and mom, Victoria, a part-time dispatcher with the Porter Police Department and Porter EMS employee, to join her and give a pint. Younger sister, Samantha, 14, even came out to give her family support.

"I have blood. I might as well give it to someone who needs it," said Alexis, adding this is the second time she has donated blood.

The drive Tuesday afternoon was part of the statewide Indiana Fallen Officer Blood Drive, which began in 2001 in honor of a Morgan County sheriff's deputy slain in the line of duty. In 2007 the effort spread across the state.

Last year, donors at the Porter County Sheriff's Department-sponsored event gave 67 pints of blood. This year they were hoping to collect 70 pints.

"They are all my brothers and sisters," said Detective Gene Hopkins, who donates his O positive blood on a regular basis. "Some day I might need the blood myself."

Daniel Bruss, of Valparaiso, is also a universal donor with O positive blood type. He "double donates," he said, meaning the technicians remove more than the standard pint of blood, extract the red blood cells and return the plasma to Bruss' veins.

"I like helping out people that need it and you never know when you might need it," Bruss said.

Sheriff Dave Reynolds donated a pint as well.

"I do it every couple of months. This one in particular because it is for the fallen officers," he said.

Tanya Gear, 45, the support services supervisor for the warrants and records department of the sheriff's department, said she has been donating blood since she was in the U.S. Navy when she was 18.

"I just know there's a shortage. It is the least I can do," Gear said.
VALPARAISO  The Lightning Bug Shiny Hiney 5 & 10K Run and 2K Family Walk features virtual eco-friendly swag bags at Sunset Hill Farm County Park, 755 Meridian Road. Sunset Hill offers a challenging course. The morning of July 2 will kick off with the 5K/10K competitive race at 8 a.m. sharp followed by the free family 2K walk shortly thereafter. Awards will be presented for the top three competitors in each division.

The Shiny Hiney isnt going to be your average run, its the start to a fun-filled family day at beautiful Sunset Hill. Whether youre a competitive runner or just looking to walk and enjoy the scenery, this event offers something for everyone in the family, said race director Ashley Hall. At the conclusion of the race event, the Lightning Bug Music Festival returns with amazing music and all-day fun for the entire family. If youre going to pick a race to do this summer, the Shiny Hiney would be the one to do."

Proceeds from both the Shiny Hiney race and the Lightning Bug Music Festival help improve the quality of life for kids and families in Northwest Indiana through the good works of two great local organizations. Dunes Learning Center provides hands-on experiences that foster an appreciation of the beautiful environment at the Indiana dunes. The Duneland Family Y has been serving the Duneland communities for more than 50 years focusing on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.

Cost of the 5K event is $25 per person with an event race shirt or $15 without one. The 10K race cost is $35 per person with shirt or $25 without. The 2K Family Walk is free unless you want an event shirt which costs $15. Registration is available online at www.runsignup.com and at www.dunelandymca.org or in person at the Duneland Y. For more information, contact Ashley Hall at 219-926-4204 or ahall@dunelandymca.org.
VALPARAISO  Valparaisos newest pathway, Vale Park West, received the 2017 Outstanding Trail Project Award at the Greenways Foundation of Indianas Annual Luncheon held June 13 in Carmel.

The Indiana Greenways Foundation awards are presented to individuals, organizations, communities, corporations and projects that have exhibited excellence in advancing greenways or multi-use trail development throughout Indiana.

The construction of Vale Park West was achieved through a partnership with Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, which assisted in securing a Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant to fund 80 percent of the $1.6 million cost of engineering, land acquisition and construction. Valparaiso contributed 20 percent of the cost through its Redevelopment Commission.

Vale Park West connects Campbell Street to 700 homes that previously were accessible only by car. Vale Park West is an addition to the existing Vale Park pathway, which runs from Calumet Avenue to Campbell Street and is part of Valparaisos 18.75-mile pathway system. The addition is a 10-foot wide off-surface trail and features a 12-foot wide bridge over Beauty Creek, making the pathway accessible to emergency vehicles and convenient for ADA users.
About 100 Hoosiers die from drug overdoses every month, many from opioids such as heroin and prescription painkillers. The widespread use of o
FORT WAYNE, Ind.  Andrea Daniels held her baby son as he drew his last breaths. She rocked him and sang, God has smiled on me ... He has set 
Drivers are suing rideshare companies Juno and Gett for securities fraud.

They say Juno promised high-rated drivers shares of the company if they left competitors Uber and Lyft and helped build the brand.

But when Gett bought out the company two months ago, the group of drivers says the equity arrangement was immediately discontinued, leaving them with nothing.

"Im very much disappointed about that," said driver Mohammed Islam. "And they break my dreams. Because I pay like $2,500 my rent, you know, how can I survive here? How can I pay my rent?"

"Juno's founders and investors got $200 million dollars," said Mohammed Gangat, a lawyer representing the drivers. "These drivers who built this company got nothing. Thats what this lawsuit is about.

As part of the class-action complaint, the drivers are also accusing the companies of contractual breach, intentional misrepresentations, and false advertising.

In a statement, Juno said the lawsuit has no merit.
A new face will represent residents in Auburns Ward 1 after a unanimous appointment from the Auburn City Council at its regular meeting Tuesday night.

Former Ward 1 Councilwoman Verlinda White will serve as a temporary replacement for Councilman Clemon Byrd, who announced at the previous council meeting that he would be deploying with the the Alabama Army National Guard.

Byrd expects to return in about a year and plans to run for a second term in in the fall 2018 election. Arthur Dowdell, Byrds predecessor as Ward 1 councilman, announced he will also run for the seat.

Byrd recommended the council select White as his replacement at the June 6 council meeting, per Alabama Code that states an elected city official may suggest who should fill in during their absence.

Municipal Judge James McLaughlin swore in White during the meeting. Tuesday held another meaning for White as the two-year anniversary of her mothers funeral, who was as a community leader and inspiration to White and Byrd.

That just kind of hit me today, White said. But then I remembered I know that she would say, Lin, go ahead. So I just had to kind of refocus a little bit today, but Im up for the challenge.

Whites first steps as Byrds stand-in will be to assess the state of projects ongoing in Ward 1, pick up and just see if we can keep it moving, she said Tuesday. She hopes to further progress made on the Northwest Auburn Neighborhood Plan, which White, in a previous interview, said needs to continue with increased communication.

Former councilman to run for seat

Dowdell announced his intent to run for city council during the citizens communications portion of the Tuesday meeting. Byrd defeated Dowdell for the seat in 2014.

Dowdell talked about the intrusion of student housing in Ward 1 and the need for sidewalks that he said have not been built that were slotted in the citys budget.

I really dont want to be on the city council, but Im going to run next year, Dowdell said. Verlinda White and I, we had our struggles and battles; were in the same family. I respect her. I thank God that shes on this council, and I hope she does the right thing on this council. But Im going to run for city council and beat Clemon Byrd because I know I can.

The council also discussed issues concerning more than two unrelated individuals living in homes in the Neighborhood Conservation District, which permits no more than two unrelated individuals in one home. Ward 5 Councilwoman Lynda Tremaine asked the council to consider an ordinance that would prohibit front yard parking in the district in hopes that it would solve issues of more than two unrelated students moving into the district.

The council also:

> approved an agreement with the Auburn City Board of Education for school resource officers, including two new part-time school resource officers to accommodate increased staffing at the new Auburn High School. The board will pay an additional $30,710 for the two part-time positions

> approved a $74,226 contract with Inline Electric Supply Company, Inc. for downtown streetlight poles, fixtures and a service panel for a median on South College Street between Magnolia and Thach avenues.

> approved a $35,000 contract with Hixson Consultants, Inc. for design services for roofing and waterproofing work for the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center, Dean Road Recreation Center and the Auburn Public Library.

> received a $10,000 sponsorship from Briggs & Stratton Corporation for the citys 2017 July 4 Celebration.
Capital growth in cooperatives is an important strategy for medium and long-term development. However, many cooperatives in Africa are devoid of realizing this.

Often times, the ones that make profits share dividends and equally provide for retained earnings, which is largely invested in short-term investments, placing the cooperative at a risk of undercapitalization.

This situation is attributed to factors such as limited investment opportunities and low risk appetite based on what the cooperatives know has worked in the past.

Amongst the least chosen options is commercial forestry and yet it could present a viable business opportunity for the cooperatives. The demand for timber has increased over the years because of the rise in the construction industry.

Moreover, timber is a key raw material for various industries, including among others, carpentry and joinery, construction, energy, paper manufacturing and fuel.

Timber supply is dwindling due to an upsurge in population growth rates, which pose a threat to global forest cover. According to the National Forestry Authority, forest cover in Uganda had reduced by approximately 1.3 million hectares in the last 15 years.With increasing demand for timber and unmatched supply, herein lies the business opportunity.

The initial investment cost in commercial forestry is very low. On average, a tree seedling costs Shs 300. Because many cooperatives already own agricultural land, this makes it an easy investment.

The maintenance costs on pesticides, fertilizers and labour are on the lower side. Yet the returns are profitable. Fully mature, a hectare of trees can yield approximately Shs 800 million.

Tree species like the Grevillea grow well with crops;in fact the Grevillea is known to be a soil improver. Grevillea yields good quality timber and its wood is suitable for pulping. Purchasing land for commercial forestry is a plus because timber is an asset and the value of land appreciates with timber on it.

Very importantly, the concern for community is a key principle for cooperatives. This means that cooperatives are social enterprises that should continually contribute to community growth and development.

In recent times, Uganda has experienced drought in many parts of the country, especially in the cattle corridor. The drought has culminated in the death of a large number of livestock, reduced crop yields, food shortage and famine.

Trees help in rainfall formation and therefore the decline in forest cover is partly to blame for the drought crisis. Increased forest cover will mitigate the adverse effects of desertification.

Timber takes between three and 20 years to mature, depending on the use it is intended for. This means that if a cooperator chose to invest in tree planting for the future education of his children, the trees would mature and be ready for high quality timber at a time when the rather expensive university education is approaching.

Your childrens university education can be guaranteed with selling timber from your tree farm.

Therefore, in considering long term investment options, diversification into commercial forestry provides a viable solution because it yields high returns while contributing to the conservation of our environment.



The author is the Chief Executive Officer, The Uhuru Institute for Social Development, a social business supporting cooperatives in Uganda. He is also a member of Nafasi Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Ltd.
Dr. Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji has recently been recognized by Guinness Book of Records for housing the most bird species under a single roof, 468. He is not a collector who takes pleasure in depriving exotic birds of their freedom, but simply a compassionate man who rescues endangered, injured and abandoned birds from around the world and offers sanctuary in his aviary.

Swamiji, the founder of Avadhoota Datta Peetham ashram, in Mysuru, India, has been passionate about birds for as long as he can remember. Growing up in Mekedattu woods, on the shores of the Cauvery river, he remembers spending much of his time watching many species of birds as they took shelter in the trees outside his house. But it was an accident in 2011 that made him understand his purpose in life  to save as many endangered and abandoned birds as possible  and build his 21-acre aviary in the forests of Mysuru.

Photo: SGS Birds/Facebook

Six years ago, the Hindu Swami was visiting Angel Falls, in Venezuela, when he lost his footing and took a 100-foot fall, losing consciousness. As he woke up, Sri Swamiji found himself surrounded by hundreds of Amazonian birds, and claims that as he admired their beauty, he had an epiphany about building a rehabilitation center for injured and endangered birds.

Photo: SGS Birds/Facebook

As soon as he returned to India, he made plans for an aviary on the grounds of his ashram, complete with a veterinary hospital, rehabilitation center and dozens of individual bird rooms. Designed with technical assistance from Singapores Jurong Bird Park, the Shuka Vana aviary opened in 2012, and quickly became a hot spot for bird experts and enthusiasts.

Photo: SGS Birds/Facebook

Today, Shuka Vana is home to over 1,500 birds from 468 bird species from all around the globe. Among them, are vibrantly colored parrots, macaws, and cockatoos, caiques, lorikeets and African lovebirds. Dr. Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji and a staff of over 50 people devote most of their time to the birds, feeding them, treating injuries and even training the birds to better interact with human visitors.

Photo: SGS Birds/Facebook

But apart from endangered bird species, Shka Vana is also a haven for abandoned and injured birds, nursing them back to health, or simply offering them a home if their owners no longer want them.

Photo: SGS Birds/Facebook

Sri Swamiji believes that birds are vital to human existence and often appeals for the halting of deforestation and a better treatment of birds.

Photo: SGS Birds/Facebook

When we see the smile of another individual we respond with a smile, recognizing and acknowledging the sameness of species, even if we do not share the same language, culture, or ethnicity, but we do not do the same with animals, birds, reptiles, or insects Dr. Sri says. A parrot, on the other hand, naturally identifies with and shares the expressions of all those whom it notices around it, regardless of species. It empathizes with everyone and everything that it comes in contact with, and blends its voice with theirs.

This amazing story reminds me of another Indian man dedicated to the welfare of birds  the Birdman of Chennai. The 63-year-old feeds over 4,000 parakeets, on the roof of his home, every single day.

Sources: Guinness Records, Eden Keeper, SGS Birds
ekoD Works, a Japanese fashion company that specializes in humorous art and design, has recently unveiled an optical illusion t-shirt that can give anyone a busty chest.

The Illusion Grid t-shirt uses distortion and clever shading to manipulate perspective and make anyone looking at it from the front believe that they are staring at two large, perky breasts fighting for space underneath. The design created by ekoD Works is so effective that even loose-fitting t-shirts create the exact same effect. In fact, even when nobody is wearing the garment, the large breasts illusion still works, as long as youre looking at the grid design from the front.

The shirt showcased in the photos released by ekoD Works isnt very form-fitting, neither does the model have particularly large breasts, but you only realize this when looking at her from the side.

Village Vanguard, one of the Japanese stores through which the deceiving garment will be sold, describes the Illusion Grid as a T-shirt that realizes a delusional world that people are envisioning secretly.

Looking at the designers portfolio you realize that the t-shirt isnt really meant as a solution for insecure women, but rather as a humorous tongue-in-cheek product, albeit a very clever one.

The Illusion Grid t-shirt is made of all-natural cotton and costs $3,888 yen ($38). It will go on sale later this month.

via AsiaOne
Agricultural News

OSU to Host Summer Forage Seminar with Information on the Latest Varieties and Management Practices

Agricultural producers looking to take advantage of the latest information about forage varieties, best management practices and related smartphone technology should RSVP now to attend Oklahoma State University's Summer Forages Field Day on July 18.







The free-of-charge field day will take place at the OSU South Central Research Station, located just east of Chickasha on 1105 E. Iowa St. On-site registration will begin at 8 a.m. with the program kicking off at 8:30 a.m. and finishing after lunch at about 1 p.m.







"If producers are to maximize forage production and livestock gain, it is vital they remain up to date about new forage options and best management practices available for pastures," said Alex Rocateli, OSU Cooperative Extension forage systems specialist. "Profit margins for most operations are tight. Nobody is in a position to waste available resources, including time, energy and effort. The field day can help producers focus in on what may pay off best for them."







Field day participants are asked to RSVP if possible by contacting Rocateli by email at alex.rocateli@okstate.edu or by phone at 405-744-9648.







"Although participants can register at the door, we ask everyone to pre-register as soon as possible because it greatly aids our planning and helps ensure that sufficient numbers of materials, refreshments and meals are on hand," said Michael Pettijohn, research station superintendent.





Lunch and refreshments are being provided free-of-charge to field day participants, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Farm Credit of Western Oklahoma.







Heath Sanders, OSU Cooperative Extension area agronomist, will provide the latest insights related to teff management. A fine grain that originated in Africa, teff has experienced significant public interest as a so-called "superfood" in recent years, thanks to it being gluten-free, high in iron and tasty. What about its application to livestock?







"We've gotten questions from Oklahoma producers who are interested in possibly growing teff for forage," Sanders said. "Teff requires less nitrogen to produce additional tonnage than most warm-season grasses. Growing teff won't be for everyone because of its particular management considerations, but it may be a viable option for some producers given their specific operation."







Rocateli will lead sessions about new bermudagrass varieties for Oklahoma, the GrazeOk app, forage sorghum-sudangrass varieties and pearl millet varieties.







The grazing potential and toxicity of popular cover crops will be the focus of a session led by Marty New, OSU Cooperative Extension area livestock specialist, and Kyle Horn, a graduate student in OSU's department of plant and soil sciences.







Misha Manuchechri, OSU Cooperative Extension weed specialist, will provide the latest tips and techniques to control johnsongrass in pastures.







Brian Arnall, OSU Cooperative Extension precision nutrient management specialist, will provide the latest research-based information about the effect of fertilization and cutting or grazing height on forage yield, quality and weeds.







Anyone seeking additional information about the July 18 field day should contact Rocateli by phone or email.







The South Central Research Station in Chickasha is part of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system, a state agency under the administration of the OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.







Source - Oklahoma State University















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Agricultural News

OK Wheat Commission Executive Director Mike Schulte Ready to Close the Books on this Year's Harvest

Much of Oklahoma's farmers are just about ready to close the book on this year's harvest, with really only the Panhandle region of the state left to combine. Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays caught up with Mike Schulte, executive director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, to get his take on this year's wheat crop. You can listen to their entire conversation, simply by clicking or tapping the LISTEN BAR, located at the bottom of this story.





"From the Oklahoma/Texas line to the Oklahoma/Kansas line, I would say really, harvest is complete in most regions," Schulte reported. "The majority of harvest is now taking place in the Panhandle region of the state. So, I'm calling the harvest, 88 to 90 percent complete right now."





If you recall, Oklahoma experienced much the same scenario in parts of the state in 2016 as what transpired this year during harvest.





"We were a week and a half earlier than normal," he said. "People began cutting on the 17th of May. Then right when they started cutting we got rain. It kept them out of the field for four to five days."





By Memorial Day, though, combines were rolling practically all across the state. However, with later plantings and more farmers involved with crop rotations this year, Schulte suggests that we really saw two separate crops come about in Oklahoma.





"It's been a month-long event for Oklahoma, but overall I think things have been very well for us," Schulte commented.





Schulte continued, offering a breakdown of the numbers for this year's harvest based on his observations from the field and compared them to the US Department of Agriculture's estimates. According to him, he is expecting the statewide average to reflect a 60 lb./bu. test weight, with a good kernel size and a 10.5 to 11.5 percent protein level, roughly a 36 bu./acre yield and he is optimistic that the state will harvest approximately 97 to 100 million bushels total.





"We're hopeful that the quality of this crop is going to be good," he said. "We're not as high as we would have liked to be on protein levels, but we're excited about these numbers."





Schulte will join Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays for his weekly In the Field segment on KWTV News9 in the Oklahoma City area on Saturday morning at 6:40 a.m.



















Listen to Schulte and Hays review this year's wheat harvest in Oklahoma, click the LISTEN bar below

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DES MOINES (AP)  The Iowa Supreme Court on Tuesday banned weapons in courthouses statewide, saying it had a duty to promote safety in the courts.

The order signed by Chief Justice Mark Cady does not apply to peace officers but it prohibits other visitors from carrying weapons into courthouses in all 99 counties.

Currently, 72 counties prohibit weapons in the courthouse by county ordinance or order of the chief judge in the judicial district. The court says 27 counties have no known courthouse prohibition on weapons. Ten counties have airport-like metal detectors at entrances.

Cady said current policies have failed to provide uniform protection across the state.

The order requires the chief judge in each judicial district to work with local officials to carry out the order but does not specify any one solution.

Bill Peterson, executive director of the Iowa State Association of Counties, said many counties ban weapons but have no formal inspection upon entering the courthouse. In most cases public notices are posted declaring the building off-limits for weapons and that violators could face charges if caught.

Sometimes emotions run high and emotions and weapons sometimes lead to consequences nobody ever thinks will happen but somehow do, he said.

Peterson said the courts action also may be in response to a bill signed into law by Gov. Terry Branstad in April that allows concealed weapons to be carried into and around the Iowa Capitol by anyone with a gun permit.
A new occupation tax  the first of its kind in Omaha  could be collected when a new major downtown development opens this summer.

But some City Council members expressed concern Tuesday at the possibility of enacting a new tax, even if its a tax the developer wants and is limited to a small area.

The council held a public hearing on a proposal to create an enhanced employment district on the site of the $250 million Capitol District, north of Capitol Avenue between 10th and 12th Streets. The council is scheduled to vote next Tuesday on whether to approve the proposal.

Developer Mike Moylan appeared before the council, asking it to approve the tax. The enhanced employment district is a part of the citys redevelopment agreement with Moylans Shamrock Development for the area, which will feature a Marriott hotel, apartments, shops and office space. Some pieces of the development, including the 333-room hotel, are scheduled to open next month.

Moylan told the council that he expects the tax to bring in about $250,000 per year. He said hed like to spend that money on promotional costs, though the city might require it to go toward public infrastructure improvements.

This is a self-imposed tax, said Larry Jobeun, attorney for the developer. People vote with their feet. If people dont want to pay the tax, they dont have to pay the tax because they dont have to go into the Capitol District.

The council passed an ordinance in April that allows for the creation of enhanced employment districts, which can enact a special occupation tax that funds public infrastructure or other improvements.

On Tuesday, council members had lots of questions about how that ordinance will be implemented.

Aimee Melton and Rich Pahls, both Republicans on a nonpartisan council, said they werent enthusiastic about the idea of allowing for a new tax.

People were upset when we did the restaurant tax, Pahls said.

Mayor Jean Stotherts deputy chief of staff for economic development, Cassie Paben, said the mayor supports the proposal.

If the council approves the ordinance, the following taxes would be charged:

 0.5 percent on retail purchases in the Capitol District and 0.3 percent on purchases from some nearby businesses to the south

 25 cents per square foot of office space

 $95 per year on each apartment

The new taxes would sunset after 20 years.

The State Legislature passed a law in 2007 enabling the creation of such districts. Paben estimated that since then a handful of other cities have adopted ordinances similar to Omahas. Lincolns Haymarket and SouthPointe Pavilions and Gretnas Nebraska Crossing Outlets have used the tax to help fund their development.

In Omaha, locations would need to generate at least 30 jobs and $3 million in investment to become an enhanced employment district. Blighted or substandard areas also qualify.

Melton asked whether much smaller developments will be approaching the city, asking for the same incentive.

I would say every single ones going to ask for it, she said.

But Paben said she doesnt expect all developers to want to impose a tax on their customers.

She said the administration would work with the council on developing guidelines for the use of the new districts. And Councilman Pete Festersen, chairman of the councils planning committee, said hed like that committee to be involved.

Councilman Chris Jerram said the incentive is appropriate for a project of this magnitude.

Im very happy for this investment, Jerram said.
The American Red Cross on Wednesday closed a Bellevue shelter at the First Baptist Church Community Center, 206 E. 23rd Ave. The center was opened Tuesday to anyone whose home was damaged or who remained without power.
DUNWOODY, Ga. (AP)  Republicans can enjoy some breathing room after winning a Georgia special congressional race that morphed from an afterthought in the usually conservative Atlanta suburbs into an expensive national proxy for Washington wars ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Democrats are left with the bitter hope of another tighter-than-usual margin, still searching for a contest where anti-Trump energy and flush campaign coffers actually add up to victory.

The latest GOP winner is Karen Handel, who won about 52 percent of the vote in Georgias 6th Congressional District to quell the upstart phenomenon of Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old Democrat who raised more than $23 million and became a symbol of opposition to President Donald Trump.

Handel, who left an abusive home as a teen, will be the first Republican woman to represent Georgia in Congress.

The former Georgia secretary of state was quick to embrace her partys leader after mostly avoiding him  at least publicly  during a protracted campaign.

A special thanks to the president of the United States of America, Handel said late Tuesday night as her supporters chanted, Trump! Trump! Trump!

It was Handels most explicit praise of a president whose tenuous standing put this previously safe Republican district in peril in the first place. Trump barely won the affluent, well-educated district in November, trailing the usual GOP benchmark here by double-digits.

Handels tough race, combined with closer-than-usual GOP House victories in Kansas, Montana and South Carolina, suggests Trump will dominate the coming election cycle, forcing Republicans to make peace with him, for better or worse.

Joe Webb, a Handel supporter from Marietta, wore a red Make America Great Again hat throughout Handels victory party.

She personally told me she was rock solid with the president, said Webb, 70. He added that 6th District Republicans united against a Democratic candidate many saw as a tool of his national party leaders.

Republicans immediately crowed over winning a seat Democrats spent at least $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 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.

Ossoff told his supporters: The fight goes on.

Handel is the latest in a line of Republicans who have represented the Georgia 6th since 1979, beginning with Newt Gingrich, who would become House speaker. Most recently, Tom Price resigned in February to join Trumps administration. Handel emphasized that pedigree often during her campaign and again during her victory speech.

She also noted throughout the campaign that shes 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 Districts southern border.

Handel commended Ossoff and pledged to work for his supporters. She noted last weeks shooting of Republican House 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.

Handel insisted for months that voters choice had little to do with Trump. She rarely mentioned the administration, despite holding a closed-door fundraiser with the president earlier this spring. She pointed voters instead to her proven conservative record as a state and local elected official.

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 Trumps April visit.

It was enough to help Handel raise more than $5 million, not a paltry sum in a congressional race, but only about a fifth of Ossoffs fundraising haul. The Republican campaign establishment, however, helped make up the difference. A super PAC backed by Ryan spent $7 million alone; the national GOPs House campaign arm added $4.5 million.

On policy, Handel mostly echoes the GOP line. She said she would have voted for the House Republican health care bill, though she sometimes misrepresented its provisions in debates with Ossoff.

She touts 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.

Copyright 2017, the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
MILWAUKEE (AP)  A Milwaukee jury on Wednesday acquitted a former police officer in the on-duty shooting of a black man last year that ignited riots on the city's north side.

Jurors found that Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, was not guilty of first-degree reckless homicide when he shot 23-year-old Sylville Smith after a brief foot chase following a traffic stop Aug. 13. Smith had a gun when he ran, but the case hinged on whether he was a threat when Heaggan-Brown fired the shot that killed him.

Body-camera video showed Heaggan-Brown shooting Smith once in the arm as he appeared to be throwing the gun over a fence. The video showed the second shot  1.69 seconds later  hit Smith in the chest as he lay on the ground.

Prosecutors argued Smith was defenseless at the time of the second shot because he had thrown the gun over the fence. Defense attorneys argued Heaggan-Brown had to act quickly to defend himself.

Smith's family members reacted angrily, swearing and storming immediately from the courtroom. Outside, one man shouted obscenities at a sheriff's deputy as he was held back by other family members.

"I don't agree with the decision, but I have to respect it," said Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, who made the decision to charge Heaggan-Brown. That put him at odds with Police Chief Edward Flynn, who had said the shooting was justified.

Heaggan-Brown's acquittal came less than a week after a Minnesota officer, Jeronimo Yanez, was acquitted in the shooting death of a black motorist seconds after the motorist informed him he had a gun. Yanez testified the driver, Philando Castile, disregarded his commands not to take out his gun and he feared for his life.

Heaggan-Brown was fired from the police force in October after being charged with sexual assault in an unrelated case. The sexual assault case was not mentioned during the trial because it is being handled separately and knowledge of it could prejudice the jury.

Smith's death brought to the surface long-simmering tensions between black Milwaukee residents and police, and demonstrators assembled near the site of the shooting in Sherman Park hours after it happened.

Two nights of riots followed, with protesters throwing rocks, bricks, and bottles at police officers. The protesters burned eight businesses and a police car and when it was over, 40 demonstrators had been arrested and a handful of officers hurt.

In the encounter with Smith, Heaggan-Brown and two other officers had approached Smith's rental car because it was parked more than a foot from the curb and they believed a drug deal was about to take place.

In Heaggan-Brown's bodycam video, he began chasing Smith immediately after stepping out of his patrol car.

Heaggan-Brown's camera shows him briefly pointing the gun at Smith as he begins the pursuit. He put his gun back in his holster as Smith turned into a path between two houses.

Smith slipped and fell near a fence, dropping his gun. He started reaching for it as he stood up, with his left hand holding the fence.

When the video is slowed frame-by-frame, Smith is seen holding the gun by the barrel to throw it over the fence. Prosecutors argued that Smith no longer posed a threat.

The two shots by Heaggan-Brown came in quick succession, striking Smith once in his right arm and then the fatal shot to the chest.

The 12-member jury included four African-Americans.

The Milwaukee acquittal also came as jurors in Ohio were in their third day of deliberations in the murder retrial of a white University of Cincinnati police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black motorist. Ray Tensing's first trial ended last November in a hung jury after some 25 hours of deliberations on the murder and voluntary manslaughter charges.
After 33 years as the president and CEO of Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, Ruth Henrichs will retire at the end of the year. A committee will be appointed this summer to search for Henrichs successor.

Henrichs joined Lutheran Family Services in 1976 as a social worker in the pregnancy counseling and adoption programs.

When she was named president and CEO eight years later, LFS had a staff of 25 people and a budget of $850,000.

Thirty-three years later, the organization employs 365 people and manages a budget of $25 million.

Lutheran Family Services offers behavioral health services and therapy, immigration and refugee services and several programs for families and children.

LFS would not be the organization it is today without Ruth Henrichs extraordinary leadership, vision and passion, said Susan Lewis, chair of the Lutheran Family Services board of directors. Ruth has built an organization that is respected across Nebraska and nationally.

Henrichs also served as the chair of the board of directors of Lutheran Services in America in Washington, D.C., and vice chair of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service in Baltimore.

Beverly Kracher, executive director of the Business Ethics Alliance, said Henrichs has brought courage, strategic thinking and savvy to the organizations work.

She has taken the measured risks that have elevated LFS abilities to serve more and more clients. ... Omaha and Nebraska are better because of her leadership.
WASHINGTON  Election officials in Durham County, North Carolina, consistently played down suspicions about the long lines at polling places on Election Day 2016 that led some discouraged voters in the heavily Democratic area to leave without casting a ballot.

Technical glitches had simply gummed things up, local officials said. Elections Board Chairman William Brian Jr. assured Durham residents that an extensive investigation showed there was nothing to worry about with the countys new polling software.

He was wrong.

What Brian and other election officials didnt know until the leak of a classified intelligence report June 5 is that Russian operatives hacked into the Florida headquarters of VR Systems Inc., the vendor that sold them digital products to manage voter registrations.

The hackers had sent emails using a VR Systems address to 122 state and local election officials across the country, inviting them to open an attachment wired with malicious software that spoofed legitimate elections-related services, the report said. The malware was designed to retrieve enough additional information to set the stage for serious mischief, said the National Security Agency report disclosed this month.

That wasnt the only type of attack.

The revelations about the Kremlins broad and sophisticated cyberoffensive targeting Democrat Hillary Clinton and aimed at seating Donald Trump in the Oval Office have set off a wave of worry about the security of the nations voting systems.

Testifying Wednesday on Capitol Hill, U.S. security officials confirmed that Russian hackers target voting systems in 21 states last year. Its not been made public which states they are.

Connie Lawson, president-elect of the National Association of Secretaries of State and secretary of state in Indiana, said none of her peers has been cleared to receive classified details of the Russian operation. She criticized the federal government for not sharing enough information about the hacking.

State election officials, facing questions as to whether they ignored oddities or red flags, have responded by accusing intelligence agencies of failing to alert them of the risks of hacking.

The truth is that a hodge-podge of electronic machinery that enables Americans to exercise their most sacred democratic right is weakly guarded by state and local agencies.

Those officials assure the voting public that their systems are secure, but they lack the resources and technical know-how to defend against cyber intrusions, or even to perform forensic examinations to ensure nothing happened.

Election officials in Illinois, another state that VR Systems lists as a customer, did not find out they were hacked by Russian operatives last summer until a week or two later. By then, the Russian operatives had downloaded about 90,000 voter registration records, leading to an investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, said Ken Menzel, general counsel of the Illinois Board of Elections.

Menzel confirmed a Bloomberg report that the Russians appeared to have made unsuccessful attempts to alter or delete some records.

In Georgia, Politico magazine reported that a U.S. hacker from a national laboratory seeking to expose vulnerabilities in election systems was able to easily download millions of voter records from Kennesaw State Universitys Center for Election Systems, which manages them. Election watchdog groups say subsequent warnings to the state about a hole in their system went unheeded for months.

David Jefferson, a computer scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California who has acted in his personal capacity in trying to safeguard election integrity, said he believes it is absolutely possible that the Russians affected last years election.

And we have done almost nothing to seriously examine that, he said.

The Russians really were engaged in a pattern of attacks against the machinery of the election, and not merely a pattern of propaganda or information warfare and selective leaking, said Alex Halderman, a University of Michigan computer science professor.

The question is, how far did they get in that pattern of attacks, and were they successful?

A senior DHS official, in an interview with McClatchy, said every website is constantly scanned by bad actors, just as burglars might case homes in a neighborhood. That doesnt equate to hacking, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The ability to manipulate the vote tally, thats quite complicated, the DHS official said. We didnt see an ability to really accomplish that even in an individual voting machine.

You have to have physical access to do that. Its not as easy as you think.

Some of the nations top experts in voting security disagree.

Lawrence Livermores Jefferson voiced frustration with the defensive refrain of denials from state and local election officials.

Election officials do not talk about vulnerabilities, Jefferson said, because that would give the advantage to the attacker. And they dont want to undermine public confidence in elections.

The Homeland Security official said the main concern for agency cyber specialists is not about vote-tampering; its the ability of intruders to sow confusion and chaos. That could entail schemes to foul voter registration data by, for example, removing the names of voters from the rolls so they are turned away at polling stations.

This scenario is what we witnessed on the ground in North Carolina on Election Day, said Susan Greenhalgh, a spokeswoman for the election watchdog group Verified Voting.

The chaos in Durham County led to 90-minute delays.

Some voters rang a voter protection hotline to complain that their names had disappeared from the registration system or that they were told they already had voted.

The county hired a contractor to investigate the foul-up, but the inquiry never examined whether the system was hacked.

The NSA report leaked on June 5 prompted the North Carolina Board of Elections to order a new investigation into whether someone tried to compromise electronic election records in Durham and 20 other counties.

Clinton ultimately garnered more votes in Durham County, and Trump won all of North Carolina, an important swing state.
Great Plains wildfires are becoming more common again, a trend that should spur officials at all levels of government to discuss how best to prevent and fight more fires.

They need to confront the challenge of fighting fires in rural areas that are served primarily by volunteer fire departments, which are in need of more volunteers and more equipment.

Local fire departments need to evaluate their staffing and agreements with other fire departments to make sure they can activate more often without losing volunteers.

State leaders might need to update disaster-response plans and press for more federal firefighting resources. Landowners can work with experts to clear brush and trees for effective fire breaks.

Large wildfires, those 1,000 acres or more in size, more than tripled in the Plains between 1985 and 2014, to an average of 117 a year, according to a University of Nebraska-Lincoln study published in Geophysical Research Letters. Acres consumed were up 400 percent in the region stretching from Montana through Texas.

For years, smart fire prevention and suppression efforts kept Great Plains wildfires to a minimum. Its time to plan for whats next.
40 down and counting: Forces on the verge of wiping out Pakistani terrorists in Valley

Mubin did it in Coimbatore: Why do Islamist terrorists shave their body before a suicide mission

2 terrorists gunned down in Sopore encounter, J&K

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Two terrorists have been killed in an encounter that took place at Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir early Wednesday morning. Security forces engaged the terrorists for nearly three hours before finally gunning them down.

#JKOps 2 terrorist killed in Sopore, 2 weapons recovered. Ops in progress @adgpi  NorthernComd.IA (@NorthernComd_IA) June 21, 2017

The encounter started in the wee hours of Wednesday morning after two terrorists opened fire at the security personnel in Sopore. The security personnel who gunned down the two terrorists have recovered both the weapons.

Two local militants from Zaingeer area had launched the attack. There were no casualties reported on the Indian side.

The incident took place just a few hours after terrorists hurled grenades and fired on the CRPF's 180 battalion in the Tral town of Pulwama district.

OneIndia News
HRA most crucial

During the meeting it was said that the issue relating to HRA was most crucial for the central government employees. Jaitley informed that the HRA alone accounts for 60 per cent of the total allowances bill. It was discussed that the HRA would be kept at 27 per cent.

Discussion on higher allowances

The PM was also told that the employees who were not entirely happy with the pay hike recommended by the 7th Pay Commission were expecting higher allowances. It was said that the employees would feel relieved if revised allowances were rolled out. However there should be no delay on the subject. Once the Cabinet meets on June 28 and the proposal is cleared, revised allowances would be rolled out from July 2017. The exact date would be July 18 2017.

Quantum of allowances

Finance Ministry officials said that the quantum of allowances may not vary from those proposed by the pay panel. The Empowered Committee of Secretaries had not suggested any hike. However during the meeting of the PM and FM it was said that the government is not bound by the E-CoS report. It only acts as a guide and an independent decision will be arrived at. Modi was also told that the employees had not been paid their revised salaries since July last year.

Slogan and pledge by employees

Meanwhile the central government employees have prepared a slogan and a pledge to urge the government to address their demands soon. In the pledge they say, "We , the Central Government Employees and Pensioners under the banner of our glorious organisation Confederation of Central Govt Employees & Workers express our strong protest and discontentment against the totally indifferent and negative attitude of the NDA Govt at the Centre towards the genuine and legitimate demands of thirty two lakhs Central Govt employees and thirty three lakhs Central Govt pensioners.

"We strongly condemn the betrayal of Hon'ble Home Minister and Finance Minister who during the negotiation with the staff side categorically assured increase in Minimum pay and also increase in fitment formula of the Central Govt employees and Pensioners."

It is shameful that the Cabinet Ministers failed to honour their assurance even after twelve months. We demand immediate increase in minimum pay and fitment formula.

Revised allowances including HRA and Transport allowance are still not granted to Central Govt employees. we demand immediate revision of allowances from January 2016.

One and the only favourable recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission:

Option -1 parity for the past pensioners was mercilessly rejected by the NDA Government. We demand implementation of Option -1 parity for pensioners.

We strongly oppose privatisation of social security and pension and we demand scrapping of contributory pension system. we want defined benefit pension for all

Inspite of historic judgement of the Supreme Court, equal pay for equal work is denied to thousands of casual and contract workers.

We the central Govt employees and pensioners jointly with other sections of the working class resolve with firm determination shall continue our uncompromising struggle against the anti-labour and anti-people policies pursued by the NDA Govt at the Centre.

We declare that we shall not surrender before aggressive policy offensives of the NDA Govt. We shall also not surrender our right to collective bargaining and strikeunder any circumstances.

We pledge that we shall not rest till the retrograde neo-liberal policy offensives of the Central Government are defeated and we shall fight and fight and fight till our legitimate demands are achieved.
'A Hindu can't be a terrorist, here is no Hindu terrorism', says Haryana Minister Anil Vij

India

oi-Anusha

Senior BJP leader and Haryana Minister for Health Anil Vij is of the belief that a Hindu cannot be a terrorist. In an interview to a television channel, the minister said that the concept of Hindu terrorism was a ploy by the Congress.

"There can't be a terminology like Hindu terrorism. A Hindu cannot be a terrorist. Had there been Hindu terrorism, no other terrorism would be present in this entire region. This (Hindu terrorism) was only a political ploy by the previous Congress government to counter certain acts of terrorism where Muslims were involved," Anil Vij said in a television interview.

He was speaking about the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case in which 68 people were killed. Refusing the angle of Hindu Terror being involved in the blast, Anil Vij said that investigations under the Congress government were improper. "It is very surprising why Narco Analysis test was not conducted on involved persons from Pakistan. Brain mapping and Narco analysis are done in all case of terror but in this, it wasn't because. Simply because they (Congress) wanted to coin the word 'Hindu terrorism'. The investigation was not done properly," he added.

The minister had landed in a controversy earlier this year when he had said that Narendra Modi had a better brand image than Mahatma Gandhi. After receiving flak, he had withdrawn his statement.

In the blast case, the NIA has filed a charge sheet against several right-wingers including Swami Aseemanand. He walked free in the Ajmer Dargah blast case earlier this year after prosecution witnesses turned hostile.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 13:19 [IST]
Bengal beats the ban: Flags replace red beacons

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The West Bengal government has found a unique way to beat the beacon ban on official vehicles. A new scheme has been notified wherein state officials can use different types of flags on their official vehicles.The centre had banned the use of beacons by VIPs and dignitaries from May 1.

The new flag scheme notified states that rectangular, swallow-tailed and triangular shaped flags can be used. This would depend on the rank. The new scheme also says that the flags would be placed on the bonnet and only used when the officer is on official duty.

The notification said the scheme is for officials of the Indian Administrative Service, who represent the government at various levels. The notification further states that,"In view of the significant rise in the level of interaction with various international- and national-level authorities, it is felt that a flag for use on vehicles being used by senior officials of the state government shall convey a greater sense of government's intent and enable smoother interactions without compromising protocol."

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 8:58 [IST]
Bengalureans say no to Hindi

Celebrities, writers and common citizens alike are taking to Twitter to express their displeasure over Hindi finding its way to Metro sign boards. Just two days after the Green Line became fully operational, Hindi words are being used to identify counters, routes and train timings, especially in the Purple line stations.

#NammaMetroHindiBeda

The #NammaMetroHindiBeda campaign is gaining steam on social media with prominent Bengalureans saying no to Hindi Imposition. The very name of Bengaluru Metro is 'Namma Metro; meaning Our Metro in Kannada. After the government's move to paint highway milestones in Hindi, the language is being used in Metro stations now.

Why no Kannada in Delhi then? Ask citizens

The primary argument of those opposing Hindi in Metro stations is how Delhi follows a to language policy of Hindi and English. In Chennai, most Metro stations display signs in Tamil and English. While the idea is to use one regional language and one connecting language, campaigners are questioning the need for Hindi.

#NammaMetroHindiBeda Being an Odia , I support my Kanadiga friends in this fight against Hindi Imposition . State languages come first .  Kumar Anand (@ACrazy_boy) June 20, 2017

BMRCL's promotion gimmick draws ire

The BMRCL was hoping to attract more commuters especially non-Kannadigas to Metros with the use of Hindi as a communicative language. This strategy has backfired with Begnalureans questioning the need to impose Hindi when English was already being used. It is not just Kannadigas who are part of the campaign but many Bengalureans who agree that Hindi imposition was not the way forward.
Bill to reserve 50 percent seats for Karnataka students in NLSIU passed in assembly

India

oi-Anusha

The Karnataka government is inching closer to reserve 50 percent seats in National Law School of India University in Bengaluru for students from the state. On Tuesday, the Karnataka legislative assembly unanimously passed a bill that seeks to reserve 50 percent of seats in the premiere Law Institute for local students.

The NLSIU in Bengaluru has 80 seats at the undergraduate level, 50 seats in the postgraduate law course and another 50 in the master's course for public policy. All students are required to take the Common Law Admission Test on the basis of which, seats are filled in the university. The Karnataka government's move is likely to shake up the dynamics of the institution.

In the absence of Law Minister T B Jayachandra, Higher Education Minister Basavraj Rayareddy piloted the bill that initially proposed to reserve 30 percent seats for local students. The opposition, especially the BJP, demanded that the reservation be increased to 50 percent. The government agreed to the opposition's demand.

Features of the bill

Propose to reserve 50 percent of the seats in NLSIU for domicile students.

Domicile is a student whose either parent has resided in Karnataka for at least 7 years before the qualifying examination

The student should have studied in a recognised educational institute in Karnataka for five years preceding the entrance exam

The bill initially proposed that domicile has to be 10 years, however, changed it to 7 years giving in to the opposition's demand.

OneIndia News
In UP 166 criminals killed in encounters in past five years: Yogi

Case against UP CM Yogi for sharing nude woman picture on social media

India

oi-PTI

Biswanath (Assam), June 20: A tribal woman from Assam has moved a court accusing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Assam Lok Sabha MP Ram Prasad Sarma of posting her nude photograph in social media, taken during a protest in Guwahati ten years ago.

Laxmi Orang filed the complaint 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 UP CM Adityanath for allegedly posting in his social media page on June 13, her nude picture, taken during an agitation by All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) at Beltola in Guwahati on November 24, 2007 without blurring.

The woman slapped another case against Sarma for allegedly sharing the post in his social media page. Sub-divisional judicial magistrate A Sattar recorded Orang's statement and the hearing of the same is 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 the UP CM 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," she added.

"When Prime Minister Narendra Modi s 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, BJP MP Sarma said, "The stripping incident is true. I shared it on the social media so that people know that a girl became a victim and no justice has been given to her."

Meanwhile, Additional Director General of Police (Special Branch-Assam) 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.

"We will take the help of the Uttar Pradesh police in investigation," he said.

AASAA president Pradeep Nag in a press release said, "UP CM Yogi Aditya's post is illegal and great injustice to the Adivasi community and AASAA."

PTI

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 10:25 [IST]
Darjeeling: Caught in indefinite bandh police help evacuate Hill boarding students

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Darjeeling: Police on Wednesday escorted out boarding students of a primary school in Darjeeling. Caught in an indefinite bandh it is sleepless nights for schools as to how to evacuate boarding students with vacations round the corner.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has clamped an indefinite bandh in the Hills since June 15. Hill boarding schools will be having their vacations from June 23. On Wednesday boarders of Bethany School were evacuated to Siliguri from where their parents collected them and took them home.

"We evacuated 40 odd boarders from Darjeeling with police escort" stated a Police Officer not wanting to be named. The Bethany School, established in 1957 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny is from Class Kindergarten to Class 4.

"We are coordinating with other schools and plan to evacuate all the students on June 23 together. We are coordination with the administration also. The parents who want to collect their wards will collect them from Siliguri. We have around 500 boarders from our school alone. They will be travelling together with boarders from St. Paul's and Mount Hermon " stated Father Shajumon, Rector, St. Joseph's, North Point Darjeeling.

Anxious parents have been calling up the school authorities regularly inquiring about the safety and well being of the students and how the school plans to evacuate the boarders. St Joseph's was founded by Jesuits in 1888 in Darjeeling.

Students from all over the country along with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Hong Kong and even children of NRIs study in these Hill schools. Similar evacuation drives are being planned in Kurseong and Kalimpong also. Along with school buses, State Transport buses will also be pressed into service.

"It is a major challenge for us to evacuate the boarding students to the plains safely,''stated a police top brass.

Meanwhile Binay Tamang, Assistant Secretary of the GJM stated that the party will provide a 12 hour window period for students to be evacuated on June 23 from 6am to 6pm, though the indefinite strike will continue on that day too.

"The schools will have to arrange for their own vehicles with "School Duty" signage. They can drop the boarders to Siliguri or Sikkim from 6am to 6pm on that day" Tamang sent a message from an undisclosed location.

Incidentally the bandh has been clamped on National Highway 55 from Darjeeling to Siliguri in the plains and National Highway 10 from Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim to the plains of Siliguri.
Decoding the life of an Indian spy, from communication to the grand escape

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The life of a spy is not easy at all. While it seems exciting as very James Bond like, the harsh reality is that, " when your cover is blow, you are on your own." OneIndia spoke with several officials in the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing to go deep into the life of a spy.

A disclaimer: Before we begin the article, I would like to put out a disclaimer, the methods and techniques keep changing the ones mentioned below give a broader picture on how a spy operates.

On your own when cover is blown:

The toughest aspect of a spy's life is when his or her cover is blown. During the briefing or even at the time of induction, it is said repeatedly, " when your cover is blow, you are on your own."

When the spy feels that his cover is about to be blown, then the first thing he would need to do is exit the country. Normally the same entry is route is used to exit. Spies have used the routes taken by smugglers. For instance, a spy in Pakistan would use the smuggler's boat which is heading to Gujarat.

Spies have however found it very difficult to exit out of countries such as Russia and China. Since border crossing in these countries are difficult, they pretend as illegal immigrants before entering India. The entry route to the US used in the earlier days is also interesting. The entry point would be Bangkok, then Mexico and from there into the US by foot. Spies would also hitchhike their way into UK from France before landing in Poland.

Communication:

Communication has advanced leaps these days. In the earlier days, spies would use invisible ink to communicate. The message written with invisible ink would be inserted into newspaper reports. The instructions would be written between the lines and would be visible under the UV light. Apart from this information would also be written in codes. The codes would vary from agent to agent.

Today spies use satellite phones with encryption. However this is both a boon as well as a bane. While the encryption keeps the message safe, it also is a bane when it comes to cracking down on terrorists who use similar methods with the highly encrypted WhatsApp and Telegram.

No honey traps:

Several officers said that India has not used honey trapping as a method to source information. The women in the spying agencies may be just at around 4 to 5 percent. While several other countries have used this method to source information, officials in India say that they have not relied on it.Honey trapping is heavily used by Pakistan. It was however the Eastern Block and Russia that used it the most.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 9:42 [IST]
Celebration of #InternationalYogaDay at the world heritage site of Machu Picchu in Peru pic.twitter.com/F3WrQUZvbH  ANI (@ANI_news) June 21, 2017

In Peru

Yoga day is being celebrated at the world heritage site of Machu Picchu in Peru.

Japanese Parliament

The Art of Living led the Yoga day celebrations at the Japanese Parliament.

On board Vikramaditya

Yoga was performed onboard INS Vikramaditya

Chinese officials claim that this is the 2nd most massive event of the Yoga in China, after India globally.#InternationalYogaDay pic.twitter.com/fFy8o2GdVp  asmakhan pathan (@PathanAsmakhan) June 20, 2017

At China

Chinese officials said that this is the largest event after India.

The @UN headquarters in New York lit with the word #Yoga to celebrate the 3rd International #YogaDay. Photo by @AkbaruddinIndia pic.twitter.com/7ZXfpSIPvt  United Nations India (@UNinIndia) June 19, 2017

UN lights up

The UN headquarters in New York lit with the word Yoga

CM @ChouhanShivraj will shortly join the #InternationalYogaDay celebrations with students & citizens @ Lal Parade ground in Bhopal. #YogaDay pic.twitter.com/I9kMkTqHRp  CMO Madhya Pradesh (@CMMadhyaPradesh) June 21, 2017

In MP

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is taking part in the Yoga event at the Lal Parade grounds.
History repeats itself as 1980s violent Gorkhaland protest rocks WBs hills in 2017

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Kolkata, June 21: It looks like as if time has stood still in the salubrious Himalayan hill region of Darjeeling, West Bengal. Almost three decades later since the first big movement for Gorkhaland rocked the hills of the state in the late 1980s; in 2017, Darjeeling is once again witnessing similar passion and determination of the indigenous Gorkhas to get their own homeland.

The faces of the agitation have definitely changed, but the core demand remains the same--a separate state called Gorkhaland to be carved out from Bengal. While in the late 1980s (1986-1988) the movement was led by the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), in 2017 the leaders of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) are spearheading the agitation.

The idea of Gorkhaland has its genesis in the ethno-linguistic-cultural sentiment of the Nepali-speaking people of the hills, who allege that in spite of being Indians they are treated as second-class citizens both within and outside Bengal.

The supporters of the Gorkhaland movement stress that successive central and state governments have long denied the natives their rights to have their own state to be governed by their own people for their own betterment.

The old-timers in Darjeeling vividly remember those days when the hills were turned into a "mini-war zone" in the late 1980s. The young and old came out on the streets to demand for their own homeland.

Today, they see a similar pattern as the indefinite bandh called by the GJM entered the 10th day on Wednesday. On Saturday, the violent protest took an ugly turn when three supporters of the GJM were allegedly killed in a police firing.

The 1986-88 movement of the GNLF under the stewardship of Subhash Ghisingh led to the establishment of a semi-autonomous body, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), in 1988, to govern certain areas of Darjeeling district.

However, in 2007, the GJM, then in its nascent stage, raised the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland once again.

In 2010-2011, the Gorkhaland agitation saw a new turn after local leaders fought among themselves and Madan Tamang, a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), was allegedly stabbed to death by GJM supporters on May 21, 2010, in Darjeeling.

Afterwards, on February 8, 2011, three GJM leaders were shot dead by the police when they tried to enter Jalpaiguri district. The violent episode further ignited the movement under the leadership of GJM chief Bimal Gurung which finally came to an end with the formation of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

The GJM on Tuesday, during an all-party meeting of the pro-Gorkhaland forces, announced its withdrawal from the GTA--a semi-autonomous administrative body for the Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills formed in 2011 in the state.

The irony is that the GJM has been heading the GTA since the first election took place in 2012. Now, the question is whether the entire GTA will be disbanded as nobody is there to control its affairs?

During the meeting, the supporters of Gorkhaland decided to continue with the indefinite protest till security forces are not withdrawn from the streets of Darjeeling. They also want an immediate restoration of the internet connection.

With each passing day, the support for Gorkhaland is increasing as former foes have turned into friends to fulfill their long pending demand. From the GJM, the GNLF (considered arch-rival of the GJM), Jan Andolan Party (JAP), All-Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Morcha (GRNM), Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh (BGP) to the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM), it looks like all political parties in the hills are united for the cause of Gorkhaland.

Even the local Trinamool Congress leaders have gone against their Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and are raising pro-Gorkhaland slogans. Similarly, the local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders too have joined the Gorkhaland brigade, in spite of their bosses in Delhi maintaining a 'wait and watch policy' over the violence and turmoil in the region.

From commoners to politicians, all stand united in their demand for a separate state in spite of CM Banerjee rubbishing the ongoing agitation as a "ploy by vested interest groups".

"Such unity among the people of the hills was last witnessed in the 1980s. Gorkhaland is a sentiment of the people of the hills, which you cannot afford to ignore. It can be suppressed for some time but can't be wiped out," JAP chief Harka Bahadur Chetri said.

"Gorkhaland is not a political rhetoric, but a sentiment and a passion which has grown stronger over the years," said another leader from a Darjeeling-based party.

As the "people's movement" shows no signs of ending, both CM Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have to soon take a call to break the deadlock and bring back normalcy in the hills.

OneIndia News
Morbi Bridge is not the only Incident - Quality of Bridges, roads and Highways in BJPs government!

Power cut in Chennai on Nov 10: These areas will be affected

Indian Navy's first indigenous-built floating dock launched in Chennai

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Chennai, June 20: India has achieved another milestone after the first indigenous-built floating dock for the Indian Navy was launched at shipyard in Chennai on Tuesday.

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.

IANS

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 14:53 [IST]
Modi braves drizzles, leads thousands on International Yoga Day 2017

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

International Yoga Day 2017: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister are leading thousands of yoga enthusiasts in Lucknow on account of International Yoga Day. PM Modi said that, Yoga can have the same importance as salt has in life.

Wellness is more important than simple physical fitness. I would like to urge everyone to make yoga a part of their lives, he also said.

Braving drizzles, Modi, Yogi and thousands of Yoga enthusiasts performed asanas. The third edition of the International Yoga Day is being held today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are performing yoga along with 51,000 participants in Lucknow, UP.

UP Governor Ram Naik is also at the event. "I welcome the Prime Minister to Lucknow and am happy he is joining the Yoga Day celebrations here with us," said Yogi Adityanath.

From Lucknow I convey my greetings to all those joining the Yoga Day 2017 celebrations all over India. Today, Yoga has become a part of so many lives. Yoga's popularity outside India is high and has connected the world with India, Modi said.

PM @narendramodi performs various Yogasana with the multitude pic.twitter.com/IjvQZPUiWF  Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) June 21, 2017

To mark the importance of Yoga, which began in India 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 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.

Meanwhile the West Bengal government has decided not to observe International Yoga Day 2017 today. The government has decided to hold a separate yoga competition among state schools at a later date. Schools affiliated with Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will observe celebrations.

Things you must not do before Yoga:

Do not drink coffee: It is not advisable to have coffee before Yoga. Caffeine triggers stress reaction in the body like an increased heart rate. This would make you unable to focus or meditate.

Do not eat: Eating before Yoga is not advisable. It would make you lethargic and doing Yoga in such a state will not give you any benefits and your efforts would remain incomplete.

Do not take a shower: Showering before or immediately after Yoga is not advised. It drains away essential energy. A hot shower draws blood from the glands and internal organs of your body to the surface of your skin. Having hold or cold water bath disrupts the body temperature.

OneIndia News
International Yoga day: Cyclic meditation is PM Modi's favourite

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

On this International Yoga Day, the Yoga Guru of Prime Minister Modi has some interesting things to share. The Yoga teacher Dr HR Nagendra who has started a new branch in Delhi's Jor Bagh area, is less than three kilometres away from his student Modi's Lok Kalyan Marg residence in Delhi.

"He knows very well what to do. His favourite is the cyclic meditation or Avartan Dhyana and if he needs anything, he can just call me,'' added Dr.Nagendra.

But, the motive is not to stay close to the PM and give him personalized lessons regularly. Because PM knows very well what to do, says Dr. Nagendra. He recalled that PM Modi first visited his yoga centre Prashanti in Bengaluru for yoga lessons 35 years ago, he told to a private TV channel.

"This year the PM's message was simple. He wanted us to tackle diabetes," said Dr Nagendra, adding that his team worked closely with the AYUSH ministry to deliver on that.

Dr Nagendra's team also trains personnel of the Indian Air Force in yoga.

Dr. Nagendra admits that he rose to fame due to his association with the PM. He said, his Yoga classes are now oversubscribed and since 2015 the enrollment has increased five times.

OneIndia News
Karnataka to survey all Arabic schools to check if on same page as state board

Karnataka government waives Rs 8,165 crore farmer loans, sets poll agenda

India

oi-Anusha

The Karnataka government on Wednesday announced its plans to waive off farmer loans worth Rs 8,165 crore. Chief Minister Siddaramiah told the assembly that the state was waiving off farmer loans in cooperative banks.

After announcing loan waiver that is expected to benefit 22,27,506 farmers, Siddaramaiah urged the Centre to waive off loans from commercial banks. The move comes as a masterstroke by the Congress government to attack the BJP at the centre which has refused to waive off loans. The loan waiver announcement from Karnataka Chief Minister comes a day after Union finance minister Arun Jaitley categorically stated that there were no plans of farm loan waiver.

On behalf of our farmers, I request @PMOIndia to consider the acute drought & waive farmer loans from commercial banks. #EmpoweringKtaka  CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) June 21, 2017

By waiving off loans partially from state-run cooperative banks, Siddaramaiah has put the ball in the centre's court. The BJP in Karnataka can no longer hold the Congress by the neck over loan waiver but the Congress can now attack the BJP with their newly acquired ammunition.

Rs 50,000 crore farm loan is key election agenda for Congress, JD(S) and BJP in Karnataka

Reacting to the government's decision, the state BJP said that it was mere election propaganda. "The government has waived off loans keeping elections in mind. Had the government announced this partial loan waiver earlier, many farmers lives could have been saved," said B S Yeddyurappa, President of Karnataka BJP.

Wednesday's announcement will be effective for all loans availed from cooperative societies with outstanding till June 20, 2017. While the waiver is going to cost the exchequer Rs 8,165 crore, it is expected to benefit more than 22 lakh farmers. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reiterated in the assembly that since the state government had waived off loans from cooperative society, the centre should waive loans from commercial banks.

OneIndia News
Fact Check: Before swearing in ceremony did Ram Nath Kovind and Draupadi Murmu perform verdict rituals

Next President of India: Kerala CM dubs Kovind as BJP's 'political candidate'

India

pti-PTI

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 21: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind is a 'political candidate' of the BJP and his candidature would be "faced" politically.

A decision on whether to put up a combined opposition candidate against Kovind would be taken at the national level, Vijayan said.

"The main consideration of the BJP in nominating Ram Nath Kovind to the post of president is that he is a leader of BJP," the chief minister told reporters .

"He is political, a candidate of the BJP and so naturally his candidature will be faced politically," he added.

Asked about his personal view on Kovind, the CPI-M leader said, "None of us know him."

The CPI-M and other opposition parties will be meeting in Delhi on June 22 to discuss next steps on the presidential elections.

The Janada Dal-United earlier on Wednesday decided to extend its support to NDA's Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind. This decision by the JD-U will put Congress on a sticky wicket as the united opposition's meeting on Kovind's candidature is scheduled for tomorrow.

PTI
Malayalam actress molestation case: Prime accused names film industry bigwigs

India

oi-Anusha

Pulsar Suni, the prime accused in the Malayalam actress molestation case is said to have confessed about industry bigwigs hiring him. Suni is said to have revealed details of the 'megastar' who hired him to assault the actress to his jailmate who will now be questioned in the case.

The new revelations have brought about twists in the high-profile case. Suni is said to have revealed details of who hired him to assault the actress to his jailmate Jinse. Jinse, a resident of Chalakudy in Thrissur district was jailed in a cheating case. Suni has allegedly named a prominent Malayalam actor and a director who facilitated the crime.

Pulsar Suni is said to have confessed that he was hired by a prominent actor to humiliate the actress while another director helped him access the survivor's travel schedule. The actress was assaulted by Suni and his accomplices on the night of February 17. The police are expected to record Jinse's statement before the judicial magistrate and issue notices to the two names Suni has mentioned.

Suni is also said to have told his jailmate that the actor who hired him wanted to humiliate the actress and was confident that she would not approach the police since she was engaged. The actor, according to Suni's confession, also asked for the entire act to be captured on camera.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 18:40 [IST]
Modi's life was under threat from extremists during Kerala visit

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

There was an extremist threat to the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent Kerala visit where he inaugurated the Kochi Metro. This was made known by DGP T P Senkumar who justified the police action against people at Puthuvypeen.

The top cop sought to justify his actions against the protesters in the backdrop of an extremist threat on the PM. There was no prior knowledge of any such protests and the PM's motorcade was slated to pass through the route within the next 24 hours. The VVIP visit was carried out under the cloud of a terror threat, which could not have disclosed at that time, Senkumar said. The action by the police must be viewed in this backdrop.

The DGP conformed the presence of a terror module, but refused to comment any further. A Kerala state Intelligence Bureau official also confirmed the presence of a terror module. He said that they had mingled with the protesters and were looking to strike.

The police were working on actionable alerts and inputs from the IB while cracking down on the protesters. The IB official however said that they are studying which module was behind this. It was a culmination of groups and like-minded extremists who were trying to send out a message during Modi's visit to Kerala last week, he also added.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 6:11 [IST]
SP and JD (U) looking for more electoral space beyond their pocket-borough

Upendra Kushwaha calls on RJD Leader Tejashwi Yadav after BJP agrees on 50-50 seat sharing formula

Its not a tough call for BJP to drop five sitting Lok Sabha MPs in Bihar after alliance

Nitish Kumar to convene JD(U) meet, amid speculations of rift with BJP

No division in party, Nitish decision acceptable to all: JD(U)

Sorry, not sorry: Lalan Singh unapologetic about his remarks on PM's caste

Next President of India: JD-U extends support to Kovind's candidature

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The Janata Dal-United on Wednesday decided to extend its support to NDA's Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called a meeting with senior Janata Dal (United) leaders today to decide the party's stance on the President's election for which NDA had chose Bihar's ex governor Ram Nath Kovind.

After NDA announced Ram Nath Kovind's name on Monday, Nitish Kumar met him and congratulated him on being chosen as the presidential candidate.

"He has done exemplary work as Governor of Bihar, worked with impartiality, maintained an ideal relationship with the state government," Nitish had earlier said.

According to reports, Kovind has a good rapport with Nitish Kumar.

[Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected]

This decision by the JD-U will put Congress on a sticky wicket as the united opposition's meeting on Kovind's candidature is scheduled for tomorrow. It needs to be noted that, Nitish is key member of the joint opposition.

OneIndia News
Bihar: Nitish Kumar swears in as CM for 8th time; Tejashwi Yadav to be Dy CM

Yet another setback for Nitish as 15 JDU Panchayat members join BJP in Daman & Diu

Next President of India: JD-U's Kerala unit not to back Kovind

India

ians-IANS

By Ians English

Thiruvananthapuram, June 21: With Janata Dal-United's national leadership lending its support to NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, the party's Kerala unit said on Wednesday that it will embrace a different path.

JD-U General Secretary Varghese George told the media here that under no circumstances would the Kerala unit support Kovind.

"We have made this very clear to the national leadership of our party... We will never support the BJP candidate," said George.

In Kerala, the JD-U is part of the Congress-led United Democratic Front. Although it has no representation in the Kerala assembly, state party chief M.P. Veerendra Kumar is a member of the Rajya Sabha and hence his vote will not go to Kovind.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar called a meeting of senior Janata Dal (United) leaders today to discuss their support for NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

[Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected]

After NDA announced Ram Nath Kovind's name on Monday, Nitish Kumar met him and congratulated him on being chosen as the presidential candidate.

This decision by the JD-U will put Congress on a sticky wicket as the united opposition's meeting on Kovind's candidature is scheduled for tomorrow. It needs to be noted that Nitish is key member of the joint opposition.

IANS
Next President of India: Kovind set for victory as opposition breaks

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Gaps have widened in the opposition as the date of the elections for the next President of India get closer. The NDA's Ram Nath Kovind is heading for a comfortable victory as several opposition leaders have indicated that they would back with.

With the Shiv Sena too coming on board and backing the BJP candidate, it appears as though the ruling party will successfully install its candidate at Rasina Hill.

Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that his party would not back Kovind. We would continue to work on a consensus candidate candidate he said. However for the problem for the Congress is that the opposition is not united. Mulayam Singh Yadav of the SP and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that they would endorse Kovind.

Meanwhile Kovind will embark on a country wide tour to see support from MPs and MLAs who form the electoral college. Kovind had stepped down as Bihar Governor on Tuesday.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 5:51 [IST]
Library as paradise

There are some of his speeches that one should re-visit to find out how articulate he is. For instance at a speech in Bihar, he had said, " I always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library, " while quoting Jorge Luis Borges. The speech was delivered while he was inaugurating a new building of the Khuda Baksh Oriental Public Library in Patna, Bihar.

Woman empowerment

In another speech he quotes Dr. B R Ambedkar on women empowerment. When woman formed half the population and were given voting rights they however had no claim to hereditary rights in ancestral property.

In Rajya Sabha

In this video shot in 2000, Kovind explains why he was supporting the Companies Amendment Bill.

Youth power

Young people not only know how to dream, but they also know how to realize their dream," he said to a thunderous cheer from the audience.
Rajiv Gandhi's killer seeks mercy killing, petitions Tamil Nadu government

India

oi-Anusha

Robert Pious, convicted for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has petitioned the Tamil Nadu government seeking mercy killing. In a three-page petition, Pious has asked the government to euthanize him instead of letting him spend the rest of his life in prison.

"In 2014, then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa had attempted to get us released but now I understand that the government would want me to spend the rest of my life in prison. This is not just affecting me but my family as well. I request you to allow mercy killing and euthanize me," Robert Pious said in his letter. He has sought mercy killing on earlier occasions.

As recently as February 2017, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar dismissed Tamil Nadu's petition to review the judgement in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The plea was dismissed on the ground of delay in filing the petition and also on merit. In 2014 the Supreme Court had stayed the release of four other convicts including Pious stating that there were procedural lapses on part of the state government.

Pious, a Sri Lankan Tamil arrived in India with his wife and others as part of a batch of LTTE commandos in September 1990 according to investigators. In his statement to the police, he had confessed that his child had died due to atrocities perpetrated by the IPKF sent to Sri Lanka by the Rajiv Gandhi government and that he wanted to seek revenge. Pious is also said to have allegedly confessed to being part of the key planners for the assassination and was convicted for his role in the conspiracy.

OneIndia News
Shavasana, protest yoga pose, steals the thunder from Modi govts Yoga Day

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

New Delhi, June 21: On Wednesday, the nation saw the fitness level of its politicians. Here we are not talking about political acumen, but physical agility of politicians as they tried various yoga asanas (poses) to mark the International Yoga Day.

Leading the team of politicians was none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi as leaders from various parties, in spite of most of them being really obese, tried to do some difficult yoga poses.

When PM Modi came to attend the yoga programme in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, it started pouring heavily. But PM Modi, who is a self-confessed yoga junkie, went ahead and practiced yoga with around 51,000 participants in the city.

The efforts of the politicians were appreciated by all to promote the cause of yoga. However, many feel, especially looking at pot-bellied netas, the Yoga Day has turned into a photo op for many.

While Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar refused to participate in the Yoga Day calling it a PR exercise, Mayawati said that the massive celebration was a wastage of public fund.

Since the time PM Modi took over the reins of the country in 2014, the Yoga Day has been celebrated in a grand manner across the country.

On the sidelines of the Yoga Day, in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, several Congress workers performed the shavasana, also known as the corpse pose, to protest against the killing of farmers by the police in Mandsaur recently.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan too participated in a yoga programme, but not in the same venue as attended by Congress workers and he definitely did not perform the corpse pose.

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh have been protesting since June 1 to demand farm loan waiver and better prices for their crops. The farmers in neighbouring Maharashtra decided to end their fast recently after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis agreed to give a total farm loan waiver.

Earlier, farmer unions announced that thousands of farmers across the country will be performing the corpse pose on the Yoga Day.

The reason for the protest was to bring to notice that farmers across the country are in their "death bed" because of rising debts, poor earning on their produce and crop loss, to name a few.

The farmer leaders say that it was a non-violent protest to raise their demands of loan waiver and better prices for their produce, to name a few.

"Our non-violent movement will continue. But, yes we want to tell people across the length and breadth of this country the pitiable condition of farmers. To this end, we plan to perform shavasana on the International Day of Yoga," Shiv Kumar, chief of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan was quoted as saying by Business Standard.

He also said that the unions are planning to come up with posters of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri with his rallying cry of 'jai jawan, jai kisan' (hail the soldier, hail the farmer) and posters of Atal Bihari Vajpayee with his cry of 'jai vigyan' (hail science).

In contrast, PM Modi's poster will be accompanied by the slogan: 'mar gaya kisan Modiji' (farmers are dying Modiji).

OneIndia News
RBI to soon launch e-rupee on pilot basis for specific use cases

RBI rate hikes to contain price rise; inflation to fall below 6 pc next year

Shiv Sena takes credit for RBI accepting junked notes from co-op banks

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Mumbai, June 21: The NDA ally Shiv Sena on Wednesday claimed credit for the central government granting permission to the RBI to accept the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes till July 20.

"This was Sena President Uddhav Thackeray's demand a few days ago and later our minister Diwakar Raote also raised it," said a party official.

Nearly eight months after demonetisation, just before midnight on Tuesday, the Centre issued orders to the RBI to accept the old scrapped Rs 500-Rs 1,000 currency notes lying with all the District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs).

Significantly, the development took place barely three hours after the Shiv Sena on Tuesday evening announced its support to presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind and its intention to vote with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for first time in 15 years.

As per the new orders, the DCCBs can deposit the demonetised notes collected during the five-day period post-demonetisation of November 8, 2016, with the RBI within the next 30 days.

The DCCBs had been barred from accepting the old notes from November 14 last year and according to Raote, around Rs 2,271 crore is lying with the cooperative banks in Maharashtra alone.

The government has also permitted the banks and post offices, which had collected the old notes prior to December 30, 2016, to deposit these with the RBI, under the Specified Bank Notes (Deposits by Banks, Post Offices and DCCBs) Rules, 2017.

The Sena official pointed out that after the DCCBs were barred from depositing the old notes, it became impossible for Maharashtra's 31 district cooperative banks with some 3,750 branches to provide fresh agricultural loans and facilitate other rural activities, and simultaneously, they had to pay interest to depositors.

The Pune District Cooperative Bank was the worst-hit holding in old notes Rs 811 crore, followed by Satara DCB at Rs 399 crore, Nashik DCB Rs 376 crore, Chandrapur DCB with Rs 356 crore and several others with more than Rs 100 crore-plus, said the official.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 17:51 [IST]
Next President of India : SP still a divided house

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The rift between Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav seemed to have deepened over NDA's decision to nominate former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as their candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.

The father and son appeared to have divergent views on Kovind's candidature with Mulayam welcoming the decision while Akhilesh saying that he would take a call after meeting like-minded parties, including Congress.

The Congress-led opposition's meeting on the matter is scheduled to be held in the national capital on June 22.

Mulayam had on Tuesday said he had 'long standing and great relations' with Kovind and described him as a 'wonderful choice for President'. He had also said the BJP had selected a strong candidate.

Akhilesh, on the other hand, said UP Governor Ram Naik would have been the right choice for the BJP to project as the candidate for the top post. Akhilesh also downplayed BJP's attempt to project Kovind to reach out to Dalits.

He reportedly said, "The President's post should be above caste and religion."

[Swamy welcomes Mulayam's support for Kovind, calls him a 'statesman']

In a dinner hosted by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for Narendra Modi, Mulayam was seen sitting next to the Prime Mnister while Akhilesh skipped the dinner.

It must be recalled that in January Akhilesh had staged a coup to get elected as party chief and oust his uncle Shivpal Yadav. He also overturned many of the decisions taken my Mulayam, including the list of candidates announced by the veteran leader to contest UP polls.

Akhilesh also went against Mulayam's advice to not ally with the Congress for the UP assembly elections.

OneIndia News
Sri Lankan Navy apprehends four Tamil Nadu fishermen

India

oi-Madhuri

The Sri Lankan navy apprehended four Tamil Nadu fishermen on a country boat near Delft island on Wednesday while they were allegedly fishing in the island nation's territorial waters.

They were arrested off Neduntheevu, fisheries department officials said. The fishermen from Pudukottai district were later taken to Kankensathurai and lodged in a prison there, they said.

On June 18, Five Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested and their boat impounded by the Sri Lankan navy for allegedly fishing in their territorial waters.

The fishermen from Mandapam had put out to sea in a boat early today and were fishing off Neduntheevu, when Lankan naval men surrounded them and took them to Kangesanthurai port there, state Fishermen Association president N Devadoss said.

OneIndia News
Swamy welcomes Mulayam's support for Kovind, calls him a 'statesman'

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

A day after Mulayam Singh Yadav termed NDA's Presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind as a 'wonderful choice', BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday lauded the Samajwadi Party patriach's stand and called him a 'statesman'.

Calling Mulayam as his 'old friend, Swamy said that the former had taken a practical stand, said reports.

Swamy also mocked at the Congress, saying they would be 'wasting their energy' by fileding a candidate for the upcoming Presidential polls as BJP's win is certain.

"Let Congress be isolated. If they go for election, the people will slam them," ANI quoted Swamy as saying.

Mulayam had on Tuesday said he had 'long standing and great relations' with Kovind and described him as a 'wonderful choice for President'. He had also said the BJP had selected a strong candidate.

Meanwhile, gaps have widened in the opposition as the date of the elections for the next President of India get closer. The NDA's Ram Nath Kovind is heading for a comfortable victory as several opposition leaders have indicated that they would back with.

[Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected]

With the Shiv Sena too coming on board and backing the BJP candidate, it appears as though the ruling party will successfully install its candidate at Rasina Hill.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that his party would not back Kovind. However for the problem for the Congress is that the opposition is not united. Mulayam Singh Yadav of the SP and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that they would endorse Kovind. Meanwhile Kovind will embark on a country wide tour to see support from MPs and MLAs who form the electoral college. Kovind had stepped down as Bihar Governor on Tuesday.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 8:47 [IST]
What does bhaijaan, I am eating fish mean in ISI language

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Using coded language in a spy operation is an age old trick. Codes such as hot, cold and air to describe the BSF, Army and Air Force are probably the most commonly used codes by ISI agents.

It would be interesting to take a look at the various codes that the ISI agents use while operating in India. It is a well known fact that codes are used to avoid detection by the Intelligence Bureau.

In a 2015 case investigated by the Intelligence Bureau, the codes were quite unique. The IB officer who listened into the conversation said, " at first I thought the guy had a serious medical condition." The conversation intercepted went on like this.

"Doctor ka paas gaya, taklif mein hun, surgeon ko mila, taklif mein hun, x-ray ho gaya." ( Went to doctor, I am in trouble, met the surgeon, took an x-ray). The officer explained, that it took quite a while to decode this conversation. The doctor meant army, taklif meant had trouble sending information, surgeon was BSF related information and x-ray meant information sent.

In the same conversation, the agent says that tell bhaijaan (brother) that I am eating fish or machli. The decoded conversation reads, tell the ISI officer that I have sent information on the warship.

The other interesting set of codes that were discovered by the IB was the one used in a recent Jaisalmer, Rajasthan operation by the ISI. The agent was tasked with sourcing information about the BSF, Army and the Air Force. The officer listening in would have felt that someone was speaking about the weather.

The agent would repeatedly say that there is rain or it is hot or cold. When this conversation was decoded, it was found that rain meant air force, cold, BSF and hot Army.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 8:27 [IST]
Yoga belongs not only to India but to whole world, says Sushma Swaraj

India

ians-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, June 21: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday addressed a gathering on the International Day of Yoga said that Yoga belongs not merely to India but to the whole world and added that it is a science to attain inner-peace.

"Yoga belongs not merely to India but to the whole world. Its inclusion as World Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO underlines its global significance, benefits for the entire humanity and growing reach," Swaraj said while addressing a gathering of diplomats at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra here on the occasion of 3rd International Day of Yoga.

"Yoga is not merely about physical well-being through asanas (postures) or pranayam (breath control), it is a science to attain inner-peace, it is the art to attain equanimity. It is a full system to arrive at harmony within ourselves, with nature and with the world," she added.

She said over the last two years, Indian missions and posts all over the world have "channelised great enthusiasm and interest" for yoga in their host countries.

"Special events at iconic global locations across the globe have taken place with the participation of hundreds of thousands of yoga enthusiasts at several places. Heads of states, heads of governments, senior dignitaries and celebrities have graced these events," the minister noted.

She thanked the international community for the "tremendous response" India received for its proposal of adopting June 21 as the International Day of Yoga at the United Nations and its inclusion as World Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, and also the "support our missions and posts are getting abroad in successful celebrations of International Day of Yoga every year by the host countries".

She asked the gathering to end the yoga session with prayers for the world peace by chanting 11 shlokas which end with "shanti, shanti, shanti", that is, peace for all.

IANS
In a case of bad karma Taliban outs Pakistan on what India had always said on Azhar

China to block Maulana Masood Azhar ban again at UN

International

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

India will once again have trouble getting the United Nations to ban Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar with China suggesting that it would block the same. China hinted that it would block a ban on the terrorist.

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 United Nations 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 a media briefing here.

Geng was responding to a question on whether there can be a forward movement over China's repeated technical holds to block India's move to get a United Nations 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."

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 6:19 [IST]
China's efforts on North Korea have not 'worked out': Trump

International

ians-IANS

By Ians English

Washington, June 21: China has not succeeded in getting North Korea to curb its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, admitted US President Donald Trump.

Trump's statement, delivered in an almost cavalier tweet on Tuesday, was an extraordinary admission of failure in his strategy for dealing with the North Korean regime of Kim Jong-un, New York Times said.

Given how ardently the US had sought the cooperation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump upended much of that work in 140 characters, tweeting that Chinese efforts have "not worked out".

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

The tweet, which came hours before the US and China were set to meet in Washington to talk about North Korea, caught multiple Trump administration officials off guard, leaving them scrambling as they tried to figure out what exactly the President meant, CNN reported.

For months, Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and top aides have staked any progress dealing with North Korea's burgeoning nuclear programme on China's involvement.

Hanging over the Tuesday's tweet -- and Wednesday's meeting -- was the death of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died on Monday after spending 17 months in detention in North Korea.

His family believes he was tortured into a vegetative state. Trump condemned the "brutal regime" and lamented the loss of a young man "in the prime of life".

Trump had made clear in the past that despite his preference to work with China on North Korea, he was willing to go after them alone, the media reports added.

"I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the US, with its allies, will!" he tweeted in April.

The Trump statement about China was likely to increase pressure on Beijing ahead of Wednesday's Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, which will pair U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis with China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and General Fang Fenghui, chief of joint staff of the People's Liberation Army.

IANS
Engaged in bringing about India-Pak dialogue, says UN chief

International

oi-PTI

United Nations, Jun 21 (PTI): The UN Secretary-General has met with Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan thrice to bring about a dialogue to resolve the Kashmir dispute, reports said.

"Why do you think I met three times the Prime Minister of Pakistan and two times the Prime Minister of India," UN chief Antonio Guterres said with a laughter, responding to a question during a press briefing here whether he is engaged in bringing about dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

"For someone accused of doing nothing, it is quite a number of meetings," the Secretary-General said, referring to criticism that he has been shying away and is reluctant to act to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir issue. Guterres, addressing reporters at his first press conference at the world bodys headquarters since assuming office in January, was asked about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control and the ceasefire violations since he assumed office.

Guterres did not elaborate further but through his response he did not make any indication that he will act as a mediator between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue. Modi and Guterres had met in St Petersburg earlier in June 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. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the UN chief had 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 (SCO) summit.

Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked at press briefings about the Secretary General's response to the situation in Kashmir, has repeatedly said that Guterres is following the situation in the region closely. The UN Chief has not made any direct intervention to resolve the issue, reiterating his call for India and Pakistan to find a peaceful solution through engagement and dialogue.

Time and again Pakistan has raised the Kashmir issue at the UN seeking the world body's intervention in the dispute with India, however, India always maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue with Pakistan.

PTI
Imran Khan discharged from hospital, to resume long march from same point where he was shot

This cop from Pakistan became a millionaire overnight: Here is how

Gen Sharif cant be recalled from Saudi Arabia: Sartaz Aziz

International

pti-PTI

Islamabad, Jun 21: Pakistan Prime minister's adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Wednesday that former military head Raheel Sharif accepted to lead Islamic military alliance in a personal capacity.

Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan prime minister's adviser on foreign affairs, in a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here said that Gen Sharif was not sent by the government to lead the alliance and therefore, cannot be asked to return. However, news reports have previously said the 61-year- old former chief of Army staff was granted approval by the government to serve as head of the alliance for three years.

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had told Geo News in April that the government has given Gen Sharif a 'No Objection Certificate' to lead the military alliance. Gen Sharif, who remained the Army chief for three years until he retired in November, left for Riyadh in April.

According to Saudi Arabia, the alliance is aimed at fighting the Islamic State and other militant outfits. But after the recent Gulf crisis began to unfold and a Saudi coalition boycotted Qatar for allegedly supporting terrorism, Pakistan found itself in a fix over which side to take.

Aziz said Pakistan will not take any side in the Gulf crisis. He clarified that Pakistan has remained neutral during the Yemen conflict as mandated by the resolution passed by the parliament in 2015.

The top diplomat was referring to the time when Saudi Arabia had launched a military operation against Yemen and Pakistan maintained a "neutral" role. He said the same resolution will serve as the foundation for the role Pakistan will take in the current Gulf crisis.

"Pakistan doesn't want to interfere in other countries matters and will stick to its non-partisan policy on the Middle East issue." Committee chairperson Nazir Sadiq said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and has also spoken to Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on phone to reduce tension in the region.

Pakistan has followed a thin line to maintain ties with the Gulf nations amid increasing bilateral rivalries.

PTI
Islamic extremists storm school, take students hostage in Phillipines

International

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Several militants, said to be pro-Islamic State, stormed a school in southern Philippines and held a number of students hostage on Wednesday.

Reports say that hundereds of members of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have entered the school in Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato province and are plenning to use them as human shields.

The school is located on Mindanao island where the fighting between government troops and Islamists has entered its fifth week.

Pigcawayan is some 90 kms from Marawi City where the fighting between islamic extremists and Philippines military is on since May 23, said reports.

The renewed attack by the Philippines military in Marawi on Tuesday may have pushed the extremists to resort to occupying a school where they can take shelter by using chidldren as sheilds.

Police chief of Pigcawayan, Realan Mamon, has confirmed that there is a hostage situation in the school, said reports.

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 9:15 [IST]
Md bin Salman new crown prince of Saudi Arabia

International

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Saudi king Salman on Wednesday named his son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince and previous prince Mohammed bin Nayef has been relieved of his post, according to royal decree, state news agency SPA reported.

Mohammed bin Salman is well known for taking a central role in Saudi Arabia's efforts to build its economy beyond the oil industry. Currently, he is Saudi Arabia's defense minister.

In 2015 he was named the chair of the newly established Council for Economic and Development Affairs. His concern is to reform Saudi's economy towards a more diversified and privatized structure. His reform blueprint, "Vision 2030," details goals and measures in various fields, from developing non-oil revenues and privatization of the economy to e-government and sustainable development.

The appointment comes amid diplomatic blocked imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.

According to defence report published in the UK media, western diplomats believe Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud is behind the surprise decision to subject Qatar to some of the most punitive sanctions seen in modern diplomacy.

(With agency inputs)
At UNSC, US calls on world to tell Russia to stop its nuclear threats

Paris deal would have cost 6.5 million jobs to US: VP Mike Pence

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Jun 21 (PTI) After the US withdrew from Paris climate deal, Vice President Mike Pence stated that the deal would have cost American economy more than 6.5 million jobs and given a virtual free pass to India and China.

"This President put America first not long ago when President Trump made the decision to withdraw the United States of America from the Paris Climate Accord,Pence said in his remarks to the National Association of Manufacturers 2017 Manufacturing Summit.

"You know, one independent study found that the Paris Accord would have actually cost the US economy more than 6.5 million manufacturing jobs in the next 25 years while giving countries like China and India virtually a free pass," Pence said.

He said by withdrawing America from "this terrible deal", President Trump put America first. "He left the door opening to renegotiating the deal or coming up with a different agreement. But he put America first, and I promise the manufacturers in this room that President Donald Trump always will," Pence said. He said Trump has put a renewed emphasis on American energy.

"He approved the Keystone and Dakota Pipelines early in this administration, and the Dakota Pipeline is already rolling and Keystone is being built as we speak," Pence said.

"President Trump is fighting every day to make sure that American manufacturers have affordable, abundant, and reliable energy that you need to power your factories and power our future," Pence said amidst applause from the audience.

In December 2015, 195 countries agreed to the world's most ambitious pact to limit carbon emissions. US joined Syria and Nicaragua as the only nations that did not agree to the pact. Even Palestine and North Korea signed it.

PTI

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 10:44 [IST]
Pope Francis backs pro-immigrant legislation

International

oi-PTI

Vatican City, Jun 21: As the issue of migrants has consumed national politics Pope Francis has supported proposed legislation aimed at better integrating migrants into Italian society and the workforce.

Francis noted today that he had met with some refugees this week as the UN marked world refugee day. The pope, who has prioritised the plight of refugees in his four-year papacy, said he wanted to voice his appreciation for a campaign backed by Italy's Radical Party to overhaul the country's restrictive migration policy and regularize those who are here illegally.

Currently, these children can apply for citizenship only at the age of 18. Pope stopped short, however, of backing a separate, government-backed proposal to give citizenship to children of migrants born or educated in Italy.

Italy has been put under increasing pressure as EU partners have refused to relocate large numbers of asylum seekers.

More than 175,000 asylum seekers live in Italian shelters. With sea arrivals at a record pace in 2017, the issue is hotly debated by politicians facing a general election within a year.

PTI

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 17:46 [IST]
Hindus in Britain are very well behaved, smart and rich

Prince Philip admitted to hospital as 'a precautionary measure'

International

pti-PTI

London, Jun 21: The 96-year-old Duke of Edinburgh has been admitted to a hospital with an infection, Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday.

Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital last night, as a precautionary measure, for treatment of an infection arising from a pre- existing condition, the palace said.

Prince Philip was supposed to be accompanying the Queen to the State Opening of parliament on Wednesday, but his place has been taken by the Prince of Wales.

Prince Philip is in good spirits and is disappointed to be missing the State Opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot, reports quoted a Buckingham Palace spokesman as saying.

News of the Duke's illness comes shortly after he announced he would stand down from official public duties from the autumn, reports said.

PTI
Students of Islamic seminary thrash Pak journos for 'drinking water' in Ramazan

International

oi-PTI

Islamabad, Jun 21: Students of an Islamic seminary thrashed a crew of a Pakistani TV channel on Tuesday evening for drinking water during the fasting period in Ramazan in Islamabad, reports said.

The madrasa management claims the journalists were drinking water during the day and that they were initially asked to stop and beaten when they continued to drink water, Dawn reported.

A reporter of the channel, Ali Usman, told the paper that he and five other team members were assigned to interview lawyer Salman Akram Raja who is representing Nawaz Sharif's son Hussain Nawaz in the Panamagate corruption scandal.

He said one of the cameramen, Rashid Azeem, went into the madrasa which is close to Raja's place and poured water over his head to cool off. Some students asked him why he was drinking water and left when they were told Azeem was pouring the water on his head.

According to Usman, they saw that the madrasa management was stealing electricity and one of the cameramen started recording. He said it instigated the students who started beating Azeem, breaking two of his teeth and snatching his camera. The team continued filming on another camera while students threw stones at the DSNG and took away cash and valuables from the team, he said.

A source in the madrasa said the team members were drinking water in the madrasa when they were allowed to come in as they said they wanted to offer prayers. He said the newsmen started filming later, saying the management was stealing electricity, which was not true. An FIR has been registered against the madrasa management with the Margalla police.

PTI

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Story first published: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 18:22 [IST]
Uber's co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick resigns

International

oi-Prabhpreet

By Prabhpreet

Travis Kalanick, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Uber has resigned from his post amid pressure from the investors according to reports in the US Media. The New York Times has reported that he will still continue on the board of the firm. He had reportedly taken an indefinite leave of absence last week.

The resignation comes amid controversy surrounding the company in relation to the allegations of an environment of sexism and sexual harassment being prevalent in the company, which were raised by a former employee in February this year.

This had led to the company ordering an investigation into such issues along with others, the report for which was submitted earlier this month. It had suggested reducing the responsibilities assigned to Kalanick, among other wide-ranging sets of changes that have been approved by Uber's Board of the Directors.

These included a thorough shake-up of the company behind one of the leading taxi aggregation services in the world.

Such a major revamp was decided upon following the submission of a report by the law firm, Covington & Burling, which was asked by the company to conduct an external investigation. The investigation was ordered following the allegations made by former engineer Susan Fowler.

The report had all but confirmed the allegations of an environment of sexism and sexual harassment prevalent in the company.

Earlier this year, Fowler had published a blog post in which she made detailed allegations that she had faced harassment, discrimination and retaliation, and how the policies and procedures in place at that time in the company were not effective enough to protect employees.

This led to the company hiring the law firm to look into the matter and issues raised by her as well as the issue of diversity and inclusion in the company on a broader level. The firm then submitted a report giving detailed steps that need to be initiated on a broad range of subjects, based on 200 interviews with current and former employees, not only in related to Fowler but also on the overall environment in the company.

And the change had to start at the top for Uber as the responsibilities of its CEO had been asked to be reduced on the firm's recommendations in the report which were adopted by the Board of Directors. This though not be necessary following Kalanick's resignation.

As on the issue of reviewing and reallocating his responsibilities, the report said, "some of the responsibilities that Mr. Kalanick has historically possessed should be shared or given outright to other members of senior management."

Though the report does not give any clear reasoning behind such a recommendation the fact that he was also entangled in a controversy related to a communication he sent to employees during a company celebration where he advised them about not to engage in sexual activity with colleagues, must have made matters worse for Uber. In the same mail, he even went as far as telling them what they should think about if they still chose to do so.

He wrote in the mail in 2013, "Do not have sex with another employee UNLESS a) you have asked that person for that privilege and they have responded with an emphatic "YES! I will have sex with you" AND b) the two (or more) of you do not work in the same chain of command. Yes, that means that Travis will be celibate on this trip."

Along with the issue of the CEO, other major changes recommended by the report are hiring a Chief Operating Officer, who would also take over some of the responsibilities of the CEO, holding performance reviews of senior management, enhance the independence of the Board by restructuring it to include independent members, and installing an independent chairman of the board etc.

These become even more important given that during the meeting where the current report was discussed and sexism in the company was the main issue, Board Member, David Bonderman, said that women talk too much. The comment was apparently targetted at another director Arianna Huffington. This episode eventually led to the Bonderman resigning from the company.

Along with the recommendation on the issues of sexism, the company had also been asked to move forward on the front of bringing in diversity into the company, by implementing steps such as establishing an Employee Diversity Advisory Board, regularly Publish Diversity Statistics, targeting diverse sources of talent including alternative and non-traditional sources of recruiting and Solicit Feedback from Employees on the issue among others.

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Who is Travis Kalanick? The man behind Uber

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oi-Prabhpreet

By Prabhpreet

Travis Kalanick, 40, is the kind of guy who's story people around the world picture when they think of the revered Silicon Valley in the US. A first generation billionaire who dropped out of college to help found a company and make it big in the world of technology.

The technology revolution that began in the 90's has been accompanied by stories of a number of young billionaires who have used the internet to provide products that have taken the world by storm. Kalanick is one of them.

He co-founded Uber, one of the leading taxi aggregation services in the world, and whose mobile application can be found on an increasing number of smartphones in 662 cities around the world. Along with being the co-founder, he was also in charge of the running the company worth 70 billion dollars, as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Though his most famous and successful company, Uber was not his first venture in the technology market. His first major venture was in the year 2001 when he started a new company called Red Swoosh which allowed users to transfer and trade large media files, including music files and videos. The company was sold for 19 million dollars in 2007.

A couple of years later he founded Uber with Garrett Camp in 2009. And the company has led him to achieve great success. In 2014, he entered the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans at position 190, with an estimated net worth of 6.3 billion dollars.

But such achievements notwithstanding, he has had to resign from his post following a spate of controversies that have not only surrounded him but also his company. The recent one which led to it had allegations of sexism and sexual harassment being prevalent in the company at the centre of it.

The report submitted after an investigation ordered by the company and the acceptance of the recommendations made in it such as reduced responsibilities for Kalanick, which were adopted by the board of the company, and the furore it created among the company's investors, led to him stepping down.

Surprisingly what could be seen as the reason behind his success can also be seen as the reason behind his fall and other controversies.

Mark Cuban, a famous investor and mentor told the New York Times, "Travis's biggest strength is that he will run through a wall to accomplish his goals,". He added, ""Travis's biggest weakness is that he will run through a wall to accomplish his goals. That's the best way to describe him."

Such an attitude of working along with what has been described as a "scrappy entrepreneur" by Uber's board member Arianna Huffington, led to a tone and tenor of behaviour which can often be described as not suitable for a head of muti-national company worth billions.

Though this might be considered a bit unfair for a young entrepreneur, an example of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg would show that it is not asking too much of someone who has the responsibility of running a major company and its employees, along with no longer only representing himself but also the company.

But when it came to be judged on such a scale, Kalanick has always fallen short of standards expected.

Reports about and complaints against him in the past have included incidents such as him being abusing an Uber driver in a row over the rates, which was caught on camera and circulated online leading to him apologising, to jokingly calling a service for women on demand "Boob-er," along with an email in which he advised employees about indulging in sexual activity during a company retreat in Miami in 2013, as he wrote, "Do not have sex with another employee UNLESS a) you have asked that person for that privilege and they have responded with an emphatic "YES! I will have sex with you" AND b) the two (or more) of you do not work in the same chain of command. Yes, that means that Travis will be celibate on this trip,"

Along with this, the company under him has also been accused of stealing trade secrets which the company has denied, to running into a spat with Apple about misusing its services and products.

And such brash behaviour seems to have seeped into the company's way of working and environment as well, which the latest controversy following allegations by a former employee Susan Fowler seems to have shown. Fowler in a blog post in February this year accused the company of having an environment where sexism and sexual harassment were prevalent.

This led to the company ordering an investigation by a law firm into such issues inside the company along with others, the report for which was submitted earlier this month.

The controversy was just the latest in a long list which has been associated with the Kalanick, the only difference being this one has led to his resignation a week after he had gone on an indefinite break.

Following all this, the story of the rise of a young man to become a billionaire after building his company now seems to have added a second part to it which would talk about his fall.

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According to reports, Italian authorities have arrested four Nigerian citizens accused of human trafficking and forcing underage migrant girls into prostitution, including through the use of esoteric rituals.

Four Nigerian citizens, of whom three are women, have been arrested in the province of Caserta as part of an investigation by the Catania anti-mafia police into the trafficking of Nigerians who were brought to Italy and forced into prostitution.

Those arrested were a 42-year-old woman and her 36-year-old brother, his 31-year-old wife and a 26-year-old woman.

They are accused of working with other unidentified suspects in Nigeria and Libya in human trafficking, an aggravated crime due to its cross-border nature; as well as causing harm to minors and exposing the injured parties to serious danger to their lives and their physical integrity.

The investigation began following statements made by a Nigerian minor named Onda (name changed to protect privacy, ed.), who disembarked in Catania in July 2016 from the Italian Coast Guard ship Luigi Dattilo together with 359 other migrants.

From her story, investigators learned that she had been recruited in Nigeria with the false promise of work in Italy, after having undergone an esoteric juju ritual, with which she agreed to repay the sum of about 20,000 euros. Once she arrived in Sicily, the young woman was taken from the reception centre where she was being hosted and was forced into prostitution.

Police were able to reconstruct the stories of other young Nigerian girls who, like Onda, were forced to prostitute themselves for a monthly payment of about 100 euros. They worked at outposts called ugbo, which means the land. These indicated the few meters of road assigned to each girl, and the police operation took this word for the name of the operation.

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Many people have been reportedly killed in Ekwulobia, Aguata local government area of Anambra State following a gun battle between security operatives and some unknown in the area.

According to an eyewitness who said her cousin was among those killed, no fewer than six persons were killed in the gun battle that lasted hours.

The source further said the gun battle between security operatives and the gunmen lasted for over one hour from around 6.30 to 7 pm on Sunday.

She said: It was like a war zone. In the process, about seven persons were killed, including about three Policemen

Anambra Police spokesman Ikenga Tochukwu confirmed there was a gun battle between security operatives and some hoodlums.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) computer server shows that Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the February 23 election with about 1.6 million votes to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari, the opposition candidate claims.

This is contained in the petition filed on Monday by the PDP and Mr Abubakar, to challenge the victory of Mr Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC).

The petition, which sought to rely on 50 sets of documents, was filed before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja against INEC, Mr Buhari and the APC respectively.

On February 27, INEC declared that Mr Buhari won the election with 15,191,847 votes to defeat Mr Atiku, whom it said polled 11,262,978 votes.

But the petitioners stated in their 139-page petition that from the data in the 1st respondents (INECs) serverthe true, actual and correct results from state to state computation showed that Mr Abubakar polled a total of 18,356,732 votes to defeat Mr Buhari whom they said scored 16,741,430 votes.

According to it, the results were the total votes scored by the candidates in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, as there was no report on server about the results from Rivers State as of February 25.

By this, Mr Abubakar claims to have defeated Mr Buhari with 1,615,302 votes.

One of the five grounds of the petition also tends to resuscitate the allegation that Mr Buhari was not qualified to run for the office of the president on the grounds that he did not possess the constitutional minimum qualification of a school certificate.

The five grounds of the petition read, The 2nd respondent (Buhari) was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast at the election.

The election of the 2nd respondent is invalid by reason of corrupt practices.

The election of the 2nd Respondent is invalid by reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).

The 2nd respondent was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the said election.

The 2nd respondent submitted to the 1st Respondent an affidavit containing false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election.

Arguing that Mr Buhari was not qualified to run for the office of the president, the petitioners argued in part, The petitioners state that the 2nd respondent (Buhari) does not possess the educational qualification to contest the election to the office of the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The petitioners state that by Section 31 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), every political party shall not later than 60 days before the date appointed for a general election submit to the Commission in the prescribed form the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor at the elections.

Further, by Section 31(2) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), the list or information submitted by each candidate shall be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the candidate at the Federal High Court, High Court of a State or Federal Capital Territory indicating that he has fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for election into that office.

The 2nd respondent filled and submitted Form CF001 to the 1st Respondent, which was declared before the Commissioner for Oaths at the Registry of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on the 8th day of October 2018. The said Form CF001 is accompanied by an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT indicating that the 1st Respondent received same.

The petitioners aver that the said Form CF001 filled by the 2nd Respondent and submitted to the 1st Respondent for the Office of President was also accompanied by the Curriculum Vitae of the 2nd Respondent as well as GENERAL FORM OF AFFIDAVIT duly sworn to by the 2nd respondent at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, along with copies of his Membership Card of the 3rd Respondent and Voter Card.

The information submitted to the 1st respondent (INEC) by the 2nd respondent (Buhari) is false and of a fundamental nature in aid of his education qualification, notwithstanding that he had declared in the said sworn affidavit as follows: I hereby declare that all the answers, facts and particulars I have given in this Form, are true and correct and I have to the best of my knowledge, fulfilled all the requirements for qualifications for the office I am seeking to be elected.

They stated that the educational institutions Buhari claimed to have attended and the certificates presented by him namely, Elementary School Daura and Mai Aduaa between 1948 and 1952, Middle School Katsina between 1953 and 1956 and Katsina Provincial College (now Government College, Katsina) between 1956 to 1961 and mentioned by the 2nd respondent in his curriculum vitae attached to Form CF 001, were not in existence as of those mentioned dates.

They added, The 2nd respondent in Form CF 001 filled and submitted by him to the 1st Respondent at Paragraph C, Column 2, Page 3, under SECONDARY, wrote WASC, thereby falsely claiming that qualification whereas there was no qualification known as WASC as of 1961.

The petitioners contend that the 2nd Respondent was, at the material time, not qualified to contest election for the exalted office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The petitioners further aver that all votes purportedly cast for the 2nd and 3rd Respondents on 23rd February 2019 during the Presidential Election and as subsequently declared by the 1st Respondent on February 27, are wasted votes in that the 2nd Respondent was not qualified to contest the said election in the first place or at all.

The petitioners named 21 Senior Advocates of Nigeria and 18 other lawyers to appear for them during the petition.

The legal team is led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Livy Uzoukwu.

They sought among their five main prayers, that the tribunal should determine that Mr Buhari was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast in the said election and therefore his declaration and return by INEC as the President of Nigeria is unlawful, undue, null, void and of no effect.

They also prayed that Mr Abubakar having been duly and validly elected ought to be returned as President of Nigeria, having polled the highest number of lawful votes cast at the election to the office of the President of Nigeria held on February 23 and having satisfied the constitutional requirements for the said election.

They sought an order directing the 1st respondent (INEC) to issue a Certificate of Return to the 1st petitioner (Atiku) as the duly elected President of Nigeria.

They also asked the tribunal to rule that Mr Buhari was at the time of the election not qualified to contest the said election, and that he submitted to the Commission affidavit containing false information of a fundamental nature in aid of his qualification for the said election.

However, they sought as their alternative prayer, that the election to the office of the president of Nigeria held on February 23, be nullified and a fresh election ordered.

The petitioners are relying on 50 sets of documents which they, in the petition, gave INEC the notice to produce the original copies of those in its custody.

Some of the documents are, INEC Nomination Form CF001 of the 2nd respondent (Buhari); all INEC result sheets;(Form EC8 Series), EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D and EC8E  Certificate of Return; PDP Party Membership Cards; INEC Voter Cards; all witnesses party membership cards; and all Witnesses Voter Cards.

The PDP and Mr Atiku in the petition also sought to rely on, the circulars/corrigenda/manuals issued by INEC for the conduct of the Presidential Election held on 23/2/2019; Polling Unit materials checklist; summary of total registered voters on units basis; summary of PVCs collected on units basis; Voter Registers and letters of complaints about irregularities and malpractices during the election addressed to the INEC/Police/other relevant agencies/institutions.

They also sought to rely on security reports relating to the election video/audio recordings/DVD/CD relating to the Election; Election Observers or Observers Reports; Newspaper/Television/ Radio reports and news; appointment letters and tags of PDP agents; expert reports and analysis; and photographs and GSM and other phone outputs.
Intelligent Pigging Services Market to Reach a CAGR of 6.3% during 20152025

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Future Market Insights (FMI), delivers key insights on the global intelligent pigging services market in its latest report titled, Intelligent Pigging Services Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015 - 2025. According to the report, the global intelligent pigging services market is expected to register a CAGR of 6.3% during the forecast period (20152025). Pipeline inspection gauges, also known as pigs, are devices used for inspection and maintenance operations of oil and gas pipelines. Intelligent pigs have an on-board electronic chip, which is used for recording the data about the condition of the pipeline. Intelligent pigs are widely used for corrosion and cracks detection.Assessing various factors driving market growth, FMI analyst said, Stringent government & industry regulations, expected economic revival and technological advancements in pigging services are surging demand for global intelligent pigging services market. The analyst added that increasing awareness among pipeline operators about the benefits of regular inspection and maintenance of pipelines is expected to further fuel market growth. This is also expected to prompt original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and vendors of intelligent pigs to introduce innovation in inspection technologies such as magnetic flux leakage (MFL) and ultrasonic test (UT) to improve efficiency of services.Request For Sample@The global intelligent pigging services market is segmented on the basis of technology into MFL and UT. Among these, demand for MFL is significant, accounting for 66.6% share of the global intelligent pigging segment market in 2014. As per FMI estimates, this segment is projected to register a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period.On the basis of end-use industry, the global intelligent pigging service market is segmented into gas industry and oil industry. The gas industry segment in the global intelligent pigging services accounted for 80.4% market share in 2014. FMI estimates the gas industry segment expected to register a CAGR of 6.2% between 2015 and 2025, to account for US$ 657.0 Mn by 2025. The oil industry segment is estimated to account for 19.8% share by the end of 2015 and is forecast to increase at a CAGR of 6.7% through 2025. Currently, the gas pipeline network is larger than that of oil, and this trend is expected to continue during the forecast period as well. Thus, the gas industry segment is projected to dominate the global intelligent pigging services market over the forecast period.Increasing consumption of petroleum products and natural gas is expected to fuel demand for intelligent pigging services globally. In addition, economic revival in regions such as Eastern Europe, Western Europe & North America and economic growth in regions such as APEJ and Latin America are expected to propel growth of the global intelligent pigging services market over the forecast period.Send An Enquiry@The global intelligent pigging services market is segmented on the basis of regions into North America, Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Western Europe, Latin America and Japan. North America accounted for 48.9% revenue share in the global intelligent pigging services market in 2014, and is expected to continue to dominate the global market over the forecast period. One of the smallest intelligent pigging services market, Latin America is expected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The APEJ market is projected to register a CAGR of 7.1% over the forecast periodKey players across the supply chain in the global intelligent pigging services market include OEMs/vendor of intelligent pigging services and oil & gas explorers and producers. The OEMs/vendors that we have analysed are LIN SCAN, T.D. Williamson, Inc., Baker Hughes Incorporated, GE Oil and Gas (PII Pipeline Solutions), NDT Global and Enduro Pipeline Services Inc. The oil & gas explorers and producers analysed in the report are Petrobras, OMV Group, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. Major OEMs/vendors operating in the global market are focused adopting advanced inspection technologies to enhance efficiency of services. Pipeline operators are entering into long-term supply contracts with OEMs/vendors to minimize effect of increasing costs of intelligent pigging services.In future, OEMs/vendors should continue investing in the North America and Eastern Europe market. At the same time, APEJ and Latin America are expected to generate significant demand for intelligent pigging services. OEMs/vendors should focus on improving combinational technologies, as these are more effective and advanced that individual technologies currently used for pigging services.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:
Orthopedic Splints and Casts Market  Global Industry Insights, Trends, Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Splints and casts are orthopedic devices used to protect and support fractured bones and joints. They help the injured limb to keep the bone in place unless it is fully heal. Casts and splints are often made from fiberglass or plaster, generally splints are made of acrylic, polyethylene foam, plaster of Paris, or aluminum, which can be easily molded to the shape of injured arm or leg. Splints are also known as half-casts which are easier and faster to use and they can be easily tighten or loosen as per the injured leg or arm. Readymade splints are available in many different shapes and sizes. In some cases splints are used immediately at the time of operating an injured leg or arm.Generally casts are external devices used for only certain types of fractures normally those that are simple, closed where there is no exposure of the bone through the skin surface and located below the elbow or knee basically casts are made of fiberglass resin. There are many types of splints and casts such as ulnar gutter, radial gutter, thumb spica, posterior knee, off-the-shelf immobilizer long arm posterior, double sugar-tong and single sugar-tong.The increase in fracture rate around the world is another supporting factor for the growth of orthopedic splints and casts market. As per the stats published by International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men suffers from any type of fracture annually which results in pain, loss of quality of life and debilitation. Furthermore, around 33% among all adults who suffer from a hip fracture become physically impaired and physically dependent. Also, as per Osteoporosis Canada, at least 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men will suffer from osteoporotic fracture during their lifespan whereas, osteoporosis causes around 70-90% of 30,000 hip fractures yearly in Canada.Request a sample copy of this report:Orthopedic splints and casts market by taxonomyOrthopedic Splints and Casts Market, by Product Type:CastsPlaster CastsCasting TapesCast CuttersCasting Tools and AccessoriesSplintsFiberglass SplintsPlaster SplintsOther Splints (Polyester, Neoprene, Plastic, Metal, etc.)Orthopedic splints and casts market, by GeographyNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle EastAfricaYou can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:Rise in aging and obese population expected to support the growth for orthopedic splints and casts marketThe North America is expected to contribute a major share followed by Europe in orthopedic splints and casts market due to rise in obese population among these regions. As per National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), in 2014, 78 million adults and 12 million children were obese in U.S. furthermore, it is expected that this number will increase at high rate in the near future due to unhealthy habits and lack of physical activity. According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), in 20112014, the prevalence of obese was around 36% in adults and17% in youth.Also, the high growth is expected from Asia Pacific region in forecast period supported by increase in number of obese population and number of fractures. World Health Organization (WHO) published stats in 2014, that in China around 6.9% adults were obese and in India 4.9% of adults were obese out of total population. This number is expected to grow at high rate supported by rapid economic development among emerging countries such as India and China.Aging is more liable to bone disorders such as arthritis, back pain and osteoporosis. The same is for the obese, wherein the accumulation of excess fat and cholesterol results the increase in body weight, causing pressure on the joints in the lower extremity. According to World Health Organization (WHO) worldwide obesity in 2014, was more than 1.9 billion in adults and the number will rise in the near future supported by increase in economic development and decline in physical activity among developed regions.Key players in orthopedic splints and casts market includes:BSN medical GmbHDJOLLCOrfit Industries n.v.Ossur hf.Prime Medical, Inc.Spencer Italia S.r.l.Stryker CorporationDeRoyal Industries, Inc.Click here to know more about this report: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.com
Cardiovascular Stents Market  Global Industry Insights, Trends, Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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When a coronary artery is narrowed by the accumulation of fatty acids, also known as plaque, the blood flow to heart is reduced which result in the chest pain and if the blockage increases the blood flow to the heart is further reduced and might lead to cardiac arrest. To reduce the chances of heart attack, a tiny wire mesh tube is inserted in the artery with a balloon catheter, called cardiovascular stents. The balloon inflates, stent expands and keeps the artery open, which helps in the proper flow of blood to the heart. The patients undergoing angioplasty and stents has a quick rate of recovery as the stents prevents the re-narrowing of the arteries compared with the patients who has cardiovascular artery bypass surgery.Request a sample copy of this report:Increasing cardiovascular surgeries leads to higher market value for cardiovascular stentsMany people are diagnosed by cardiovascular disease nowadays, it is important to develop new medical instruments and solutions which will help cure those diseases. Therefore the use of coronary or cardiovascular stents is adopted in clinical practices which should have the clinical evidence, improved outcomes and physicians experience. One of the drawback for the cardiovascular stent market is the increase prices of coronary stents. However, by using cost containment policies and appropriateness criteria they can reduce the cost and in future the price of cardiovascular stents will decrease. The increasing geriatric population in the countries will be one of the reason to enhance the growth of this market. China has more number of aged people so stents producers are more likely to tap this market. According to WHO report in 2015 people died from cardiovascular diseases, representing 31% of all global deaths. On the preventions measures for this the global cardiovascular stents market is expected to grow in the future.Drug Eluting Stents have much better angiographic and clinical results as compared to other type of segment in the cardiovascular stents MarketThe global cardiovascular stents market is segmented on the basis of product type:Drug Eluting stentsBare Metal StentsBio-absorbable stentsThe global cardiovascular stents market is segmented on the basis of material typeCarbonSilicon carbideTitanium Nitride OxideCobalt ChromiumPlatinum ChromiumOther stentsThe global cardiovascular stent market is segmented on the basis of end userHospitalsCardiac centersAmbulatory surgical centersYou can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:Drug eluting absorbable metal scaffold, a new class of absorbable metal scaffoldAccording to the technological trends of cardiovascular stents market, Bio -absorbable Polymer-coated drug Eluting Stents become available in the US market, which are the enfold type of DES. The Circulatory System Devices Panel of the FDAs Medical Devices Advisory Committee has approved application for the Absorb GT1 Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold System. The DREAMS (Drug-Eluting Absorbable Metal Scaffold) device is a fully bioresorbable scaffold made from a magnesium alloy covered with a polymer and sirolimus drug coating, this new class of absorbable metal scaffolds has the potential to become available in the United State market. The stent-on wire is also a new type of coronary stent available which is a Drug eluting coronary fixed wire systems. There are some other coronary stents newly developed which are Tryton Side Branch Stent, PK Papyrus Covered Stent.Major players to lead in the cardiovascular stents marketThe key players operating the cardiovascular stents market include Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, Boston scientific, and Edward Lifesciences, Abbott laboratories, Johnson &Johnson, Getinge, Terumo, W. L. Gore & Associates, and Lepu Medical Technology.Click here to know more about this report: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.com
Medical Robots Market  Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Robots manufactured for specialized medical applications are known as medical robots. These robots can perform various medical tasks such as surgery, medical test, and patient monitoring. Medical robots can carry out a surgery solely based on the pre-surgical planning by the surgeon. Medical robots allow for high accuracy in open surgery and minimally invasive surgery, just the same. Medical robots also reduces the time of surgery to a great extent. Medical robots can also be used for transporting patients from one location to another in a hospital.Advancements in technology have enabled surgeon to remotely operate robots and perform surgery. Surgeons can perform a surgical procedure in emergency situations through telesurgery, with the aid of an imaging device.Advancements in technology in the recent past have been directed towards reducing costs of products. This has led to increasing applications of these robots for various tasks. Robotic technique in healthcare was first used in 1985, though it was only in 2000 that da Vinci robot received FDA approval for carrying out surgical procedures. The da Vinci robot is widely known for its applications such as for cardiac surgery, head and neck surgery, urologic surgery. As per stats released by Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI), as of 2014, one in four hospitals in the U.S. deployed da Vinci robot. Furthermore, 570,000 procedures were performed in the U.S. by the robot in 2014, a phenomenal rise of 178% as compared to 2009.Request a sample copy of this report:Medical Robots Market Taxonomy:Global Market by ApplicationLaparoscopyNeurologyOrthopedicsGynecologyUrologyCardiologyOthersGlobal Market by Product TypeSystemInstrument and AccessoriesGlobal Market by End UserHospitalsClinicsAmbulatory Surgical CentersGlobal Market by GeographyNorth AmericaEuropeAPACLatin AmericaMiddle EastAfricaYou can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:Continuous advancement in medical robots is expected to fuel the growth of medical robots market in the near future:The innovation and product development in medical robotics is continuously increasing due to increased R&D in this field. For instance, in 2014 Intuitive Surgical Inc. launched its new da Vinci X robot and received FDA approval for it on May 30, 2017. The advanced da Vinci robot is equipped with four mechanical arms for better movement, reach and dexterity also helps to perform surgical procedure more precisely than before. Each of the arms can be controlled independently and can be assigned to do different tasks.As the medical robots are associated with high cost and thus, their adoption rate is high and mainly restricted to North America, followed by Europe. As per ECRI, out of all da Vinci installation around the globe, 67% installation are in the U.S. and out of all da Vinci surgical procedures, 79% are performed only in the U.S. Owing to their high costs, these robots are gaining slow adoption in cost sensitive economies of Asia Pacific. However, the scenario is expected to improve in the near future, buoyed by rampant economic growth in emerging economies of India and China and the rising investment on healthcare infrastructure development in these countries.The growth of medical robots market is supported by factors such as increase in awareness about their various highly beneficial properties and increase in the number of surgical procedures as a result of increasing incidence of chronic diseases such as cancer and lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Furthermore, increase in insurance coverage is expected to fuel the usage of medical robots industry. Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey are characterized by an acute dearth of healthcare professionals. As per Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Turkey had 1.7 doctors per 1,000 population in 2012. This makes the region a highly lucrative prospect for future penetration of the market.Click here to know more about this report:High purchase and maintenance cost of the equipment and lack of trained surgeons to perform robotic surgery are some of the major restraining factors for the global medical robots market.Some major players in medical robots market include Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Stryker Corporation, Mazor Robotics Ltd, Hansen Medical Inc., Hocoma AG, Omnicell, Inc., Kirby Lester LLC, Accuray Incorporated, Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc. and Engineering Services Inc.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.com
Pediatric Clinical Trials Market  Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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The clinical trials conducted on childrens for the research and development of drugs or formation of new drugs are called as pediatric clinical trials. Most of clinical trials are conducted on adults and in very rare clinical trials childrens are included. To raise the involvement of childrens into clinical trials the U.S. developed a regulatory and health strategy which focuses on overall market of drugs when pediatric clinical trials are included. According to the data of The World Bank Group, around 26% population out of the total worlds population includes pediatrics (childrens between the age group 0-14), instead of this the clinical trials conducted on adults are 10 times more than that of pediatrics because lack of infrastructure for pediatric clinical trials, ethical issues, also pediatric disease are relatively low than disease found in adults therefore the pharmaceutical companies focuses more on drug development for adults.However, in past few years the pediatric clinical trials have raised because the increasing need of pediatric medication also, due to increased understanding about the difference between the drugs for adults and for childrens. The awareness about the pediatrics drugs are already more in developed countries but in recent years it is increased massively in emerging nations also. Which created the broad consumer platform for pharmaceutical companies. As per the stats of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S.FDA), as of February, 2017 total 935 pediatric study request received out of that 505 request issued (This data is for the request received for all types of drug study).Request a sample copy of this report:Currently, infectious disease segment holding major market share of pediatric clinical trials market, also the pediatric oncology market segment have seen high growth in recent years. The U.S.FDA have updated legislations and regulations to improve safety and effectiveness of pediatric drugs, medical devices and biological products used for childrens. Which will support the growth of pediatric clinical trials. As per this updated Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, it is mandatory for pharmaceutical companies to conduct high quality research, also need to ensure about the formulations and forms of the drugs for childrens.Pediatric clinical trials market taxonomy:Global Market by Phase of Clinical TrialPre-ClinicalPhase IPhase IIPhase IIIGlobal Market by Study DesignSequential DesignAdaptive DesignBayesian DesignRandomized Withdrawal DesignRandomized Placebo-Phase Design (Rppd)ThreeStage Clinical Trial DesignGlobal Market by GeographyNorth AmericaEuropeAPACLatin AmericaMiddle EastAfricaIn pediatric clinical trials market, the North America is remained largest market share holding region followed by Europe and APAC. As per the study published by The Office of Pediatric Therapeutics (OPT), U.S. involved in around 86% pediatric clinical trials out of 346 clinical trials. While most of clinical trials are conducted in U.S. but the trend is changing now, like as per the data published by Future Medicine Ltd. in 2013, percentage of clinical pediatric studies conducted is highest in China followed by Russia and India.You can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:The driving factors of pediatric clinical trials market are legislative mandatory changes leading to the growth of pediatric clinical trials. As per the data of FDA, number of pediatric clinical trials conducted in last five years is more than the combined pediatric clinical trials conducted in last 30 years. Also, increased awareness about pediatrics drugs in emerging countries, more research and development in this area, increased disease rate in infants, increased burden of disease like diabetes in childrens and increasing involvement of contract research organizations (CROs) in pediatric clinical trials are the leading factors in the growth of pediatric clinical trials market.There are some challenges in this market are like finding and getting the adequate number of childrens for clinical trial. It is very hard to convince the parents to include their child in clinical trial. Also the lack of infrastructure in emerging nations for pediatric clinical trials, updated and stringent rules of FDA in pediatric clinical trials area. Before initiating the pediatric program by FDA only 20% drugs were labeled that they are for pediatric use, other drugs have not been approved by FDA and are called as off-label drugs. Due to necessity doctors prescribe them routinely. Now, due to improvement in Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act there is growth observed in labeled drug which mentions the drug is for pediatric use. Also the pediatric market is smaller than adults market which limits earning potential and due to high risk in pediatric clinical trials than adult clinical trials limiting the overall growth of pediatric clinical trials market.Click here to know more about this report:Some are the companies and research institutes involved in pediatric clinical trials are Genentech Inc., Childrens National Health System, INC Research etc.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.com
Polio Vaccines Market  Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Poliomyelitis is highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus. It is also known as polio or infantile paralysis. The virus belongs to genus Enterovirus which is a type of single-stranded RNA virus. There are three serotypes of poliovirus: P1, P2 and P3 and development of immunity to one serotype does not produce significant immunity to the other serotypes. The virus is transmitted primarily via the faecal-oral route, by ingesting contaminated food or water and less commonly through oral-oral route. Those who are infected may spread the disease for up to 6 weeks even if no symptoms are present. Poliovirus colonizes the gastrointestinal tract, specifically intestine and oropharynx and after about a week, it invades local lymphoid tissue and enters bloodstream, and then may infect cells of the central nervous system. Replication of poliovirus in motor neurons of the anterior horn and brain stem results in destruction of cell and thus causes the typical manifestations of poliomyelitis. This is projected to favour a significant growth for polio vaccines market over the forecast period.Request a sample copy of this report:Symptoms of Poliomyelitis:Polio mainly affects children under 5 years of age. Up to 70% of all the infections in children are without any symptoms and about 25-30% of infections in children causes nonspecific illness without clinical or laboratory evidence of central nervous system invasion. This has created a gesture for the organizations to focus on the vaccines options for making prophylactic approach towards the prevention of the disorder, which in turn is expected to fuel the polio vaccines market in the near future.Polio vaccines market relies on the fact that around 1% of polio cases can develop into paralytic polio which causes paralysis in the spinal cord (spinal polio), brainstem (bulbar polio), or both (bulbospinal polio).According to WHO, 1 in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized. The statistics regarding the prevalence of the disorder is expected to be one of the crucial factor that is to fuel the market of polio vaccines.In a report, WHO has reported that Polio cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases then, to 74 reported cases in 2015. The reduction is the result of the global effort to eradicate the disease. Of the 3 serotypes, P2 was eradicated in 1999 and number of cases of P3 has decreased significantly.Market scenario varies with change in continents and is expected to affect the polio vaccines market:There are two types of vaccine that protect against polio:Inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV): given as an injection.Oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV): given orallyOPV has not been used in the United States since 2000 but is still used in many parts of the world but, IPV is still available in US.Polio vaccines market is segmented on the basis of product and end user:Segmentation on the basis of product:IPVOPVSegmentation on the basis of end user:HospitalClinicsPublic ServicesOthersYou can also get exclusive discount on this CMI report by clicking on this link:America has been declared polio free in 1994. In 2004, polio was declared to be eliminated from Australia, China and other 37 Pacific countries. Since 2011, there has been no cases of wild polio infections in India. This factor is projected to hinder the polio vaccines market in the near future.There are only 3 countries left in which wild polio infections still persist; Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan, which are somehow the reason for significant growth in the polio vaccines market in the near future.Indigenous wild poliovirus type 2 has not been detected since 1999. In 2015, the World Health Assembly agreed that all Member States which currently use OPV should prepare for the global withdrawal of the type 2 component of OPV in April 2016. According to WHO, member countries are required to introduce at least 1 dose of the IPV into routine immunization schedule.Sanofi Pasteur and Bilthoven Biologicals/ Serum Institute of India are the 2 companies which was awarded in 2014 by UNICEF for the supply of IPV in 1, 5 and 10 dose vials, and long term supply agreements were established through to 2018.Since 2000, UNICEF OPV procurement has averaged 1.8 Bn doses annually. GPEI launched the End Game Strategic Plan 2013-2018 at the World Health Assembly in May 2013. This comprehensive strategy focuses on eliminating both wild and vaccine-derived polio incidence through routine immunisation programs thereby gradually replacing OPV use with IPV vaccine. This in turn is expected to favour the growth in polio vaccines industry in the near future.Click here to know more about this report:According to UNICEF report, Bio Farma (Indonesia), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (UK) and Sanofi Pasteur (France) are the only OPV bulk manufacturers. Novartis (Switzerland) has stopped their manufacture of OPV.Other players of polio vaccine market are: Merck & Co, Bibcol, Pfizer, Beijing Tiantan Biological, Bio-Med, Panacea Biotec Ltd, Adithya Vaccine Pharma, Sinovac Biotech Ltd, IPOLand Aventis Pasteur.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.com
Capnography Devices Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Capnography is the process of extensive measurement and display of concentrations or partial pressures of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the respiratory gases by using a capnograph. It accurately measure the levels of carbon dioxide released into the bloodstream. The readings are presented as a graph of expiratory CO2 plotted against time or expired volume called as capnogram. A capnogram is direct monitoring of inhaled and exhaled concentrations of CO2 and an indirect monitoring of CO2 in arterial blood. There is a very small difference in pressure between arterial blood and exhaled CO2 among healthy individuals. On the other hand, a large difference between arterial blood and exhaled gas, sometimes exceeding 1kPa, is observed in people suffering from various forms of lung diseases and some forms of congenital heart diseases.A sample of this report is available upon request:Capnography majorly depicts all the three components of respiration: metabolism, transport, and ventilation and therefore gives an excellent picture of the respiratory process. This is a major help for people who suffer from asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as it will help in proper patient monitoring and take further medications accordingly. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) endorses end-tidal capnography as a standard of care for general anesthesia, deep sedation and moderate sedation. Other specialties include critical care and emergency medicine.The conventional capnography devices have limitations in terms of power, size, weight and ease to use. This is addressed by the emergence of smaller capnography devices that facilitate portability and device performance. Also, among the latest devices launched is a microstream capnography, which has several advantages over the conventional capnography devices. For instance, these can be used on neonatal population and on individuals after a surgery.Capnography Devices Market taxonomy:On the basis of technology, the global market is classified into:CapnographsMainstream capnographsSidestream capnographsMicrostream capnographsDisposablesOn the basis of device type, the global market is classified into:HandheldStand-aloneOthersOn the basis of end user, the global market is classified into:HospitalsClinicsAmbulatory Surgical CentersRecent advancements in technology of medical monitoring has enhanced the development of the capnography devices market. Recurring revenue generated from disposables will be a key driver for capnography devices market growth, as users have to buy disposables frequently to use them along with capnographs to analyze CO2. A disposable only lasts for one or two days on an average. On the other hand, reusable consumables carry contamination risks also. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that approximately 1.7 million individuals in the U.S. get infected on the use of reusable consumables every year, of which about 99,000 individuals die. This resulted the rise in preference for disposable consumables over reusable consumables.Browse Global Strategic Business Report :Rising demand for effective monitoring of carbon dioxide levels was limited due to involvement of pulse oximetry, which takes 4-5 minutes to reflect respiratory status of the individual while capnographs provides the ventilation status of individuals in real time, thereby improving patient care. According to the American Thoracic Society, approximately 360,000 respiratory failure cases every year are observed in the U.S., and of this 36% of deaths occur during hospitalization, 30% of individuals die post-surgery and up to 7% of all Medicare individuals among them in 2014 were indicated with respiratory compromise--a state characterized by respiratory failures, insufficiency, respiratory arrest or death.Market in emerging economies is expected to augment on account of recommendations by global and government healthcare organizationsNorth America dominates the global capnography devices market due to rampant development of advanced products in the region. Latin America capnography devices industry is experiencing a significant growth majorly due to the recommendations to use capnography in routine hospital settings by esteemed organizations and government bodies. The World Health Organization (WHO) published a report on safe surgery in 2009 that recommended the use of capnography monitoring devices during endotracheal tube placement, hypoventilation and esophageal intubation for better possible outcomes in patients. The Uruguayan Society of Anesthesiologists and the American Society of Anesthesiologists also recommends the usage of capnography monitoring in routine-use during procedural sedation and anesthetics. These guidelines by the organizations substantiate the importance of capnography equipment in hospital use.Product innovation by market players contributing towards capnography devices market growthKey players in capnography devices market include Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA., Welch Allyn, Inc., Smiths Medical, Medtronic, Inc., Philips Healthcare, Masimo, Nonin Medical, Inc., Nihon Kohden Corporation, CareFusion Corporation and Dia Medica, Inc. Medtronic recently introduced a global study on opioid induced respiratory depression (OIRD), a preventable form of respiratory condition in 2017. It also claims that it is the first study to use capnography in patients undergoing opioid medication. Also Masimo announces the release of Early Warning Score (EWS) on the root patient monitoring and connectivity hub by launch of NomoLine. These strategies aims to help physicians to understand the true incidence of respiratory compromise and relate issues that has been ignored otherwise.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 @
Retail Report:Digital Notes Global Industry -key Vendors, Trends, Analysis, Segmentation, Forecast to 2017-2022

Digital Notes Industry

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Digital NotesWiseGuyReports.com adds Global Digital Notes Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its Database.Report ScenarioDigital note is a form of note taking using digital devices to connect to iPhone, iPad, or Android devices or computer to transfer anything written into a digital format. Digital note industry is vague as it is an application concept attempts either to save paper and make it easier for organizing all notes, or to skip the process converting the hand-writing notes into electronic copies. The approach of syncing the information is more tend to via wireless method instead of using cable. In this report, we have targeted two basic forms (digital notepad and smart pen) and concentrated mainly on the hardware side. Digital stylus, when combined with app in tablet, could act digital note function. However, digital stylus is not included in this study.Check Sample Report@Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Digital Notes in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversWacomKent displaysMoleskineLivescribeLuidiaNeo smartpenNoteSlateI.R.I.S.SonyACE CAD EnterpriseE-pensMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Spain and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)Latin America, Middle East and Africa (MEA)Market Segment by Type, coversDigital NotepadSmart PenMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoProfessional DesignBusinessEducationFor any Enquiry or special requirement related to Microfiber you can write us @There are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Digital Notes market.Chapter 1, to describe Digital Notes Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Digital Notes, with sales, revenue, and price of Digital Notes, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Digital Notes, for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 9 and 10, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 11, Digital Notes market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 12 and 13, to describe Digital Notes sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, appendix and data source.Table of Content1.1 Digital Notes Introduction 11.1.1 Definition of Digital Notes 11.1.2 Specifications of Digital Notes 11.2 Market Analysis by Type 41.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Digital Notes by Types in 2016 41.2.2 Digital Notepad 51.2.3 Smart Pen 51.3 Market Analysis by Applications 71.3.1 Global Production Market Share of Digital Notes by Applications in 2016 71.3.2 Professional Design 81.3.3 Business 81.3.4 Education 91.4 Market Analysis by Regions 91.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) 101.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Spain and Italy) 121.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) 151.4.4 Latin America, MEA 181.5 Market Dynamics 221.5.1 Market Opportunities 221.5.2 Market Risk 221.5.3 Market Driving Force 232 Manufacturers Profiles 242.1 Wacom 242.1.1 Company Profile 242.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications 242.1.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of Wacom 262.1.4 Contact Information 282.2 Kent displays 282.2.1 Company Profile 282.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications 292.2.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of Kent displays 312.2.4 Contact Information 322.3 Moleskine 322.3.1 Company Profile 322.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications 332.3.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of Moleskine 342.3.4 Contact Information 352.4 Livescribe 352.4.1 Company Profile 352.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications 362.4.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of Livescribe 372.4.4 Contact Information 392.5 Luidia 392.5.1 Company Profile 392.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications 402.5.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of Luidia 412.5.4 Contact Information 422.6 Neo smartpen 422.6.1 Company Profile 422.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications 432.6.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of Neo smartpen 442.6.4 Contact Information 452.7 NoteSlate 452.7.1 Company Profile 452.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications 462.7.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of NoteSlate 472.7.4 Contact Information 492.8 I.R.I.S. 492.8.1 Company Profile 492.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications 492.8.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of I.R.I.S. 502.8.4 Contact Information 522.9 Sony 522.9.1 Company Profile 522.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications 522.9.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of Sony 542.9.4 Contact Information 562.10 ACE CAD Enterprise 562.10.1 Company Profile 562.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications 572.10.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of ACE CAD Enterprise 592.10.4 Contact Information 602.11 E-pens 602.11.1 Company Profile 602.11.2 Product Picture and Specifications 622.11.3 Sales, ASP, Revenue, and Gross Margin Analysis of E-pens 642.11.4 Contact Information 663 Global Digital Notes Market Competition, by Manufacturer 673.1 Global Digital Notes Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer 673.2 Global Digital Notes Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer 693.3 Market Concentration Rate 723.3.1 Top 3 Digital Notes Manufacturer Market Share 723.3.2 Top 5 Digital Notes Manufacturer Market Share 733.4 Market Competition Trend 74Continued.For discount check @Subscribe Our 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Dual SIM Smartphone 2017 Global Key Players Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sony, HUAWEI, Xiaomi, OnePlus, OPPO, VIVO Group Market Analysis and Forecast to 2022

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Dual SIM SmartphoneReport Details:This report focused on global and regional market, major manufacturers, as well as the segment market details on different classifications and applications.Major Key PlayersSamsungLGMotorolaSonyHUAWEIXiaomiMEIZUOnePlusZTEOPPOVIVOHTCClick here for sample report @By types, the market can be split intoSingle NetDouble NetBy Application, the market can be split intoBusiness ManStudentOthersBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaSome Major Points from Table of content:Global Dual SIM Smartphone Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Dual SIM Smartphone1.1 Definition and Specifications of Dual SIM Smartphone1.1.1 Definition of Dual SIM Smartphone1.1.2 Specifications of Dual SIM Smartphone1.2 Classification of Dual SIM Smartphone1.2.1 Single Net1.2.2 Double Net1.3 Applications of Dual SIM Smartphone1.3.1 Business Man1.3.2 Student1.3.3 Others1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 IndiaFor Detailed Reading Please visit @8 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Dual SIM Smartphone8.1 Samsung8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.2.1 Product A8.1.2.2 Product B8.1.3 Samsung 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.1.4 Samsung 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.2 LG8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.2.1 Product A8.2.2.2 Product B8.2.3 LG 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.2.4 LG 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.3 Motorola8.3.1 Company Profile8.3.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.3.2.1 Product A8.3.2.2 Product B8.3.3 Motorola 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.3.4 Motorola 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.4 Sony8.4.1 Company Profile8.4.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.4.2.1 Product A8.4.2.2 Product B8.4.3 Sony 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.4.4 Sony 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.5 HUAWEI8.5.1 Company Profile8.5.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.5.2.1 Product A8.5.2.2 Product B8.5.3 HUAWEI 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.5.4 HUAWEI 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.6 Xiaomi8.6.1 Company Profile8.6.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.6.2.1 Product A8.6.2.2 Product B8.6.3 Xiaomi 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.6.4 Xiaomi 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.7 MEIZU8.7.1 Company Profile8.7.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.7.2.1 Product A8.7.2.2 Product B8.7.3 MEIZU 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.7.4 MEIZU 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.8 OnePlus8.8.1 Company Profile8.8.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.8.2.1 Product A8.8.2.2 Product B8.8.3 OnePlus 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.8.4 OnePlus 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.9 ZTE8.9.1 Company Profile8.9.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.9.2.1 Product A8.9.2.2 Product B8.9.3 ZTE 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.9.4 ZTE 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Business Region Distribution Analysis8.10 OPPO8.10.1 Company Profile8.10.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.10.2.1 Product A8.10.2.2 Product B8.10.3 OPPO 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin Analysis8.10.4 OPPO 2016 Dual SIM Smartphone Business Region Distribution Analysis...ContinuedBuy now @Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1- 646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042Mail :info@wiseguyreports.com
Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Industry Report 2017- Grades Analysis(M2, M3, M4),Research on magnetic Properties and Application

Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Industry

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Grain Oriented Electrical SteelWiseGuyReports.com adds Global Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its Database.Report ScenarioElectrical steel is an alloy that contains iron and silicon. It can be manufactured by modifying the magnetic properties of steel for efficient magnetism and electricity conversion. Also called silicon steel, lamination steel, relay steel or transformer steel, this type of steel is very often used to build the cores of transformers as well as the stators of generators and motors. An electrical steel sheet is a functional material used as an iron core material for electrical equipment. There are two types of electrical steel: grain oriented electrical steel and non-grain oriented electrical steel, and they are used for different applications. In this report we researched grain oriented electrical steel.Grain oriented electrical steels are iron-silicon magnetic alloys. These alloys are used to construct the cores of highly-efficient electric transformers due to their unique magnetic properties. Available in grades M-2, M-3, M-4, M-5 and M-6, with superior magnetic properties in the rolling direction, oriented steels are used in transformer cores. They are used in large generators and other apparatus when the design permits the directional magnetic characteristics to be used efficiently.Grain oriented electrical steel usually has a silicon level of 3%. It is processed in such a way that the optimal properties are developed in the rolling direction, due to a tight control (proposed by Norman P. Goss) of the crystal orientation relative to the sheet. Grain oriented electrical steels are usually applied in transformers, rectifiers and so on.Check Sample Report@Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Grain Oriented Electrical Steel 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 coversNSSMC, Posco, JFE Steel, NLMK Group, ThyssenKrupp, AK Steel, Cogent (Tata Steel), ArcelorMittal, Stalprodukt S.A., ATI, WISCO, Baosteel, Shougang, AnsteelMarket 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, Middle East and AfricaMarket Segment by Type, coversGeneralHigh magnetic strengthDomain refinementMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoTransformerPower GeneratorElectric motorOtherFor any Enquiry or special requirement related to Grain Oriented Electrical Steel you can write us @There are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Grain Oriented Electrical Steel market.Chapter 1, to describe Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Grain Oriented Electrical Steel, with sales, revenue, and price of Grain Oriented Electrical Steel, in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Grain Oriented Electrical Steel, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 9 and 10, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 11, Grain Oriented Electrical Steel market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 12 and 13, to describe Grain Oriented Electrical Steel sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, appendix and data source.Table of Content1.1 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Introduction 11.2 Market Analysis by Type 41.3 Market Analysis by Applications 61.3.1 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Applied in Generators 71.3.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Applied in Transformers 81.3.3 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Applied in Motors 81.4 Market Analysis by Regions 91.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) 91.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) 111.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) 141.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa 161.5 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion 192 Global Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis 222.1 NLMK Group 222.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 222.1.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 232.1.3 NLMK Group Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 242.2 AK Steel 242.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 252.2.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 262.2.3 AK Steel Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 272.3 NSSMC 272.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 272.3.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 292.3.3 NSSMC Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 292.4 ThyssenKrupp 302.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 302.4.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 312.4.3 ThyssenKrupp Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 312.5 Posco 322.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 322.5.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 332.5.3 Posco Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 332.6 JFE Steel 342.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 342.6.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 352.6.3 JFE Steel Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 362.7 ArcelorMittal 362.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 372.7.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 382.7.3 ArcelorMittal Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 382.8 Stalprodukt S.A. 382.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 392.8.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product 402.8.3 Stalprodukt S.A. Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 402.9 Cogent (Tata Steel) 402.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 412.9.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 412.9.3 Cogent (Tata Steel) Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 422.10 WISCO 422.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 432.10.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 442.10.3 WISCO Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 452.11 Baosteel 452.11.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 452.11.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 472.11.3 Baosteel Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 472.12 Ansteel 482.12.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 482.12.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 492.12.3 Ansteel Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 502.13 Shougang 502.13.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 502.13.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 512.13.3 Shougang Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 522.14 ATI 522.14.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors 522.14.2 Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Product Specification 542.14.3 ATI Grain Oriented Electrical Steel Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2015-2016) 54Continued.For discount check @Subscribe Our Youtube Channel @CONTACT US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)"Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. 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Global Employee Scheduling Software Market Size, Status and Revenue (Value) Research Report Explores Forecasts from 2017 to 2022

Employee Scheduling Software Market

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Global Employee Scheduling Software Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Employee Scheduling Software Market 2017 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2022reports to its database.WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On Executive Summary:-This report studies the global Employee Scheduling Software market, analyzes and researches the Employee Scheduling Software development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeHumanityHomebaseDeputyXimbleTrackSmartTimeForge SchedulingWhenToWorkTimeCurveWorkforcePlandayZip SchedulesUltimate SoftwareWorkplace MobileAcuity SchedulingKickservResource GuruAppointyTECSOL SoftwareKettle & KeyboardAmobius GroupShiftboardRequest a Sample Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, Employee Scheduling Software can be split intoWeb-based Employee Scheduling SoftwareOn-premise Employee Scheduling SoftwareCloud-based Employee Scheduling SoftwareMarket segment by Application, Employee Scheduling Software can be split intoSmall and Medium EnterpriseLarge EnterpriseIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Browse Full Report Details@Some Major Points from Table of Content:Table of Contents:Global Employee Scheduling Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Employee Scheduling Software1.1 Employee Scheduling Software Market Overview1.1.1 Employee Scheduling Software Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Employee Scheduling Software Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Employee Scheduling Software Market by Type1.3.1 Web-based Employee Scheduling Software1.3.2 On-premise Employee Scheduling Software1.3.3 Cloud-based Employee Scheduling Software1.4 Employee Scheduling Software Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Small and Medium Enterprise1.4.2 Large Enterprise2 Global Employee Scheduling Software Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Employee Scheduling Software 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 Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Humanity3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Employee Scheduling Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Homebase3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Employee Scheduling Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Deputy3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Employee Scheduling Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Ximble3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Employee Scheduling Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 TrackSmart3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Employee Scheduling Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 TimeForge Scheduling3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Employee Scheduling Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 WhenToWork3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Employee Scheduling Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 TimeCurve3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Employee Scheduling Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Workforce3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Employee Scheduling Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 Planday3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Employee Scheduling Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Zip Schedules3.12 Ultimate Software3.13 Workplace Mobile3.14 Acuity Scheduling3.15 Kickserv3.16 Resource Guru3.17 Appointy3.18 TECSOL Software3.19 Kettle & Keyboard3.20 Amobius Group3.21 Shiftboard......4 Global Employee Scheduling Software Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Employee Scheduling Software Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Employee Scheduling Software Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Employee Scheduling Software in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Employee Scheduling Software5 United States Employee Scheduling Software Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Employee Scheduling Software Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Employee Scheduling Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Employee Scheduling Software Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Employee Scheduling Software Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Employee Scheduling Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)CONTINUEDPurchase a Copy of This Report @More about WiseGuyReports:Contact Us:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune  411028Maharashtra, India
Global Next-generation Battery Market: Analysis By Industrial Applications, By End User Applications, By Region, By Country 2017-2021

Next-generation Battery

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Next-generation BatteryWiseguyreports.Com Adds Next-generation Battery Market -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2022 To Its Research Database.Try Sample Report @Covered In This Report:Notes:Production, means the output of Next-generation BatteryRevenue, means the sales value of Next-generation BatteryThis report studies Next-generation Battery in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2011 to 2015, and forecast to 2021.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringSion PowerSeeoOXIS EnergyFluidic EnergyGS Yuasa24MAmbriHitachiTESLASamsungPanasonicSakti3Primus PowerEnerSysAES Energy StorageAlevoBYDSamsung SDIBy types, the market can be split intoGraphene BatteryLithium Sulfur BatterySodium Carbon Dioxide BatteryLithium Air BatteryOthersBy Application, the market can be split intoTransportationGrid StorageConsumer ElectronicsBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaAccess Complete Report @Table of ContentsGlobal Next-generation Battery Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Next-generation Battery1.1 Definition and Specifications of Next-generation Battery1.1.1 Definition of Next-generation Battery1.1.2 Specifications of Next-generation Battery1.2 Classification of Next-generation Battery1.2.1 Graphene Battery1.2.2 Lithium Sulfur Battery1.2.3 Sodium Carbon Dioxide Battery1.2.4 Lithium Air Battery1.2.5 Others1.3 Applications of Next-generation Battery1.3.1 Transportation1.3.2 Grid Storage1.3.3 Consumer Electronics1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Next-generation Battery2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Next-generation Battery2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Next-generation Battery2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Next-generation Battery3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Next-generation Battery3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Next-generation Battery Major Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Next-generation Battery Major Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Next-generation Battery Major Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Next-generation Battery Major Manufacturers in 20154 Global Next-generation Battery Overall Market Overview4.1 2011-2016 Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2011-2016 Global Next-generation Battery Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2015 Next-generation Battery Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2011-2016 Global Next-generation Battery Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2015 Next-generation Battery Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2011-2016 Global Next-generation Battery Sales Price4.4.2 2015 Next-generation Battery Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)5 Next-generation Battery Regional Market Analysis5.1 North America Next-generation Battery Market Analysis5.1.1 North America Next-generation Battery Market Overview5.1.2 North America 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.1.3 North America 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Sales Price Analysis5.1.4 North America 2015 Next-generation Battery Market Share Analysis5.2 China Next-generation Battery Market Analysis5.2.1 China Next-generation Battery Market Overview5.2.2 China 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.2.3 China 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Sales Price Analysis5.2.4 China 2015 Next-generation Battery Market Share Analysis5.3 Europe Next-generation Battery Market Analysis5.3.1 Europe Next-generation Battery Market Overview5.3.2 Europe 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.3.3 Europe 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Sales Price Analysis5.3.4 Europe 2015 Next-generation Battery Market Share Analysis5.4 Southeast Asia Next-generation Battery Market Analysis5.4.1 Southeast Asia Next-generation Battery Market Overview5.4.2 Southeast Asia 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.4.3 Southeast Asia 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Sales Price Analysis5.4.4 Southeast Asia 2015 Next-generation Battery Market Share Analysis5.5 Japan Next-generation Battery Market Analysis5.5.1 Japan Next-generation Battery Market Overview5.5.2 Japan 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.5.3 Japan 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Sales Price Analysis5.5.4 Japan 2015 Next-generation Battery Market Share Analysis5.6 India Next-generation Battery Market Analysis5.6.1 India Next-generation Battery Market Overview5.6.2 India 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.6.3 India 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Sales Price Analysis5.6.4 India 2015 Next-generation Battery Market Share Analysis6 Global 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Segment Market Analysis (by Type)6.1 Global 2011-2016 Next-generation Battery Sales by Type6.2 Different Types of Next-generation Battery Product Interview Price Analysis6.3 Different Types of Next-generation Battery Product Driving Factors Analysis6.3.1 Graphene Battery of Next-generation Battery Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.2 Lithium Sulfur Battery of Next-generation Battery Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.3 Sodium Carbon Dioxide Battery of Next-generation Battery Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.4 Lithium Air Battery of Next-generation Battery Growth Driving Factor Analysis6.3.5 Others of Next-generation Battery Growth Driving Factor AnalysisContinued.........................Buy Now @Contact Us:Norah TrentPartner Relations & Marketing ManagerSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (Us)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (Uk)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Ovarian Cancer Drugs Market Forecast 2017 : Roche, Amgen, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, ABRAXANE

Ovarian Cancer Drugs market

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Ovarian Cancer Drugs Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Ovarian Cancer Drugs Market  examines the performance of the Ovarian Cancer Drugs market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Ovarian Cancer Drugs market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Ovarian Cancer Drugs market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Ovarian Cancer Drugs Market 2016-2017 report includes Ovarian Cancer Drugs market Revenue, market Share, Ovarian Cancer Drugs industry volume, market Trends, Ovarian Cancer Drugs Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Ovarian Cancer Drugs Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Ovarian Cancer Drugs Market 2017:1. Roche2. Boehringer Ingelheim3. Amgen4. AstraZeneca5. GlaxoSmithKline6. ABRAXANE7. Doxil8. Exelixis9. DelMar Pharmaceuticals Inc10. Bristol-Myers Squibb11. Celgene12. Alkeran13. Lynparza14. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp15. Clovis Oncology16. AlzaFirstly, the report covers the top Ovarian Cancer Drugs manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Ovarian Cancer Drugs report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Ovarian Cancer Drugs industry, Ovarian Cancer Drugs industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Ovarian Cancer Drugs Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Ovarian Cancer Drugs 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 Ovarian Cancer Drugs market revenue worldwide.Finally, Ovarian Cancer Drugs 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:
Sertraline Sales Market Forecast 2017 : Teva, Emcure, Novartis, Mylan, Squibb, Sandoz

Sertraline Sales market

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Sertraline Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Sertraline Sales Market  examines the performance of the Sertraline Sales market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Sertraline Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Sertraline Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Sertraline Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Sertraline Sales market Revenue, market Share, Sertraline Sales industry volume, market Trends, Sertraline Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Sertraline Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Sertraline Sales Market 2017:1. Pfizer2. Teva3. Emcure4. Novartis5. Mylan6. Squibb7. Sandoz8. Hikma Pharmaceuticals9. GSKFirstly, the report covers the top Sertraline Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Sertraline Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Sertraline Sales industry, Sertraline Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Sertraline Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Sertraline 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 Sertraline Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Sertraline 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:
Desipramine Sales Market Forecast 2017 : Pfizer, Teva, Emcure, Novartis, Mylan, Squibb, Sandoz

Desipramine Sales market

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Desipramine Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Desipramine Sales Market  examines the performance of the Desipramine Sales market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Desipramine Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Desipramine Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Desipramine Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Desipramine Sales market Revenue, market Share, Desipramine Sales industry volume, market Trends, Desipramine Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Desipramine Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Desipramine Sales Market 2017:1. Pfizer2. Teva3. Emcure4. Novartis5. Mylan6. Squibb7. Sandoz8. Hikma Pharmaceuticals9. GSKFirstly, the report covers the top Desipramine Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Desipramine Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Desipramine Sales industry, Desipramine Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Desipramine Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Desipramine 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 Desipramine Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Desipramine 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:
Fluvoxamine Sales Market Forecast 2017 : Solvay, Manus Aktteva Biopharma LLP, Reid-Rowell, Mylan N.V

Fluvoxamine Sales market

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Fluvoxamine Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Fluvoxamine Sales Market  examines the performance of the Fluvoxamine Sales market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Fluvoxamine Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Fluvoxamine Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Fluvoxamine Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Fluvoxamine Sales market Revenue, market Share, Fluvoxamine Sales industry volume, market Trends, Fluvoxamine Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Fluvoxamine Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Fluvoxamine Sales Market 2017:1. Solvay2. Manus Aktteva Biopharma LLP3. Abbott Laboratories4. Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories5. Reid-Rowell6. Mylan N.V7. Actavis Elizabeth8. Jazz PharmsFirstly, the report covers the top Fluvoxamine Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Fluvoxamine Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Fluvoxamine Sales industry, Fluvoxamine Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Fluvoxamine Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Fluvoxamine 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 Fluvoxamine Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Fluvoxamine 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:
Cephalosporin Sales Market Forecast 2017 : GSK, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Antibioticos, DSM

Cephalosporin Sales market

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Cephalosporin Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Cephalosporin Sales Market  examines the performance of the Cephalosporin Sales market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Cephalosporin Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Cephalosporin Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Cephalosporin Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Cephalosporin Sales market Revenue, market Share, Cephalosporin Sales industry volume, market Trends, Cephalosporin Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Cephalosporin Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Cephalosporin Sales Market 2017:1. GSK2. Bristol-Myers Squibb3. Antibioticos4. DSM5. Sandoz6. Aurobindo7. Astellas8. ACS Dobfar9. Fresenius Kabi10. Olon11. Kopran12. Orchid13. CJ CheilJedang14. Chong Kun Dang15. NCPC16. Joincare17. CSPC18. United Laboratories19. HPGC20. CNCM21. LKPC22. Fukang23. Dongfeng Pharmaceutical24. Hua Xing PharmaceuticalFirstly, the report covers the top Cephalosporin Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Cephalosporin Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Cephalosporin Sales industry, Cephalosporin Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Cephalosporin Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Cephalosporin 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 Cephalosporin Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Cephalosporin 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:
Medicinal Vaseline Market Forecast 2017 Manufacturing in United States, EU, Japan, and China

Medicinal Vaseline market

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Medicinal Vaseline Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Medicinal Vaseline Market  examines the performance of the Medicinal Vaseline market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Medicinal Vaseline market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Medicinal Vaseline market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Medicinal Vaseline Market 2016-2017 report includes Medicinal Vaseline market Revenue, market Share, Medicinal Vaseline industry volume, market Trends, Medicinal Vaseline Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Medicinal Vaseline Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Firstly, the report covers the top Medicinal Vaseline manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Medicinal Vaseline report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Medicinal Vaseline industry, Medicinal Vaseline industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Medicinal Vaseline Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Medicinal Vaseline 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 Medicinal Vaseline market revenue worldwide.Finally, Medicinal Vaseline 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:
Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales Market Forecast 2017 : 3M Pharmaceuticals, Acrux Limited, ALZA Corporation

Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales market

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Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales Market  examines the performance of the Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales market Revenue, market Share, Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales industry volume, market Trends, Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales Market 2017:1. 3M Pharmaceuticals2. Acrux Limited3. ALZA Corporation4. Antares Pharma, Inc.5. Apricus BioSciences, Inc6. Aveva Drug Delivery Systems7. Corium International, Inc8. DURECT Corporation9. Generex Biotechnology Corporation10. Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.11. Lohmann Therapy-Systems Corp (LTS Lohmann Therapie Systeme AG)12. MedPharm LTD13. Mylan, Inc.14. Nemaura Pharma Ltd15. Nitto Denko Corporation16. Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc.17. Pantec Biosolutions AG18. Tapemark19. Tesa Labtec GmbH20. TEVA Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.21. Zosano PharmaFirstly, the report covers the top Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales industry, Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Transmucosal Drug Delivery 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 Transmucosal Drug Delivery Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Transmucosal Drug Delivery 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: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:
Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales Market Forecast 2017 : Conatus Pharmaceuticals, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Galmed International

Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales market

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Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales Market  examines the performance of the Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales market Revenue, market Share, Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales industry volume, market Trends, Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales Market 2017:1. Conatus Pharmaceuticals2. Daewoong Pharmaceutical3. Galmed International4. Kyorin Pharmaceutical5. Metabolic Solutions Development6. Novartis AG7. Phenex Pharmaceuticals8. Raptor Pharmaceuticals9. TCM Biotech International10. Tobira Therapeutics11. Verva Pharmaceuticals12. ZafgenFirstly, the report covers the top Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales industry, Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease 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 Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease 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:
LONDON  Queen Elizabeth II outlined the government's legislative program in a speech to Parliament on Wednesday after the prime minister slimmed down her plans and promised "humility" in negotiating Britain's exit from the European Union following a disastrous election that cost the ruling Conservative Party its majority.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth sits next to Prince Charles during the State Opening of Parliament in central London, Britain June 21, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]



The 91-year-old monarch carried on with her royal duties at the ceremonial opening of the new Parliament despite the announcement that her husband, Prince Philip, had been hospitalized. Buckingham Palace said Philip, 96, has been hospitalized as a precaution for treatment of an infection.



His rare absence from the State Opening of Parliament added to the solemnity of an occasion cherished by the British people and replete with tradition. While the queen reads the Queen's Speech to lawmakers, it is written by the prime minister and her staff and offers a broad brush of goals for the future.



The nine-minute speech reflected May's weakened position  a loss of stature that has emboldened those within her own party who want a "softer" Brexit which makes a less-sharp break with the EU.



Eight of 27 bills outlined in the speech deal with the complex process of Brexit. May omitted several policies touted in the Conservative election campaign, including plans to change funding for the care of older people, which opponents dubbed the "dementia tax." Also missing was ending free school lunches and limiting winter fuel payments to low-income elderly.



Nor was there a mention of President Donald Trump's a state visit. May's invitation, extended with days of Trump taking office, had been sharply criticized by all parties.



May's Downing Street office said nothing had changed: an invitation had been extended and accepted. It was not mentioned in the speech was because no date had been set, May's office said.



Tempted a big lead over the opposition Labour party in opinion polls, May had called the snap election expecting an overwhelming victory that would silence dissenters and give her a mandate to push ahead with plans to leave the European Customs Union and drastically limit immigration as Britain leaves the EU. Instead, she lost seats and still hasn't secured a deal with another party to insure Parliament will back the government's agenda.



"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," May said in a statement. "We will work hard every day to gain the trust and confidence of the British people, making their priorities our priorities."Signaling the importance of Brexit negotiations with the EU, set to continue until the spring of 2019, the speech set out the government's program for two years, rather than one.



The prime minister, who had campaigned with the slogan "Brexit means Brexit," softened her tone in comments released ahead of the speech.



"First, we need to get Brexit right," she said. "That means getting a deal which delivers the result of last year's referendum and does so in a way that commands maximum public support."Even before news of Prince Philip's illness, the government had announced that the speech would be delivered with less pageantry than normal a result of the timing of the snap election. For instance, the queen arrived at Parliament in a car, rather than a horse-drawn carriage, and delivered the speech in everyday dress, instead of the traditional royal robes.



The primary issue was scheduling. The state opening took place only days after another huge annual event, Trooping the Color, a celebration of the queen's birthday. Both ceremonies take weeks of preparation and planning, and it was deemed too difficult to prepare for two such events so close together.

Agencies


Life Science Reagents Sales Market Forecast 2017 : Abbott Laboratories, Agilent Technologies, Beckman Coulter, BioMerieux

Life Science Reagents Sales market

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Life Science Reagents Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Life Science Reagents Sales Market  examines the performance of the Life Science Reagents Sales market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Life Science Reagents Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Life Science Reagents Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Life Science Reagents Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Life Science Reagents Sales market Revenue, market Share, Life Science Reagents Sales industry volume, market Trends, Life Science Reagents Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Life Science Reagents Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Life Science Reagents Sales Market 2017:1. Abbott Laboratories2. Agilent Technologies3. Becton, Dickinson and Company4. Beckman Coulter5. BioMerieux6. Bio-Rad Laboratories7. F. Hoffman-La Roche8. GE Healthcare9. Life Technologies10. Lonza Group11. Thermo Fisher Scientific12. Lonza Group13. Merck Millipore14. Meridian Life Science15. PerkinElmer16. Promega17. Siemens Healthcare18. Sysmex19. WatersFirstly, the report covers the top Life Science Reagents Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Life Science Reagents Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Life Science Reagents Sales industry, Life Science Reagents Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Life Science Reagents Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Life Science Reagents 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 Life Science Reagents Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Life Science Reagents 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:
Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales Market Forecast 2017 : Manufacturing in United States, EU, Japan, and China

Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales market

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Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales Market  examines the performance of the Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales market Revenue, market Share, Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales industry volume, market Trends, Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Firstly, the report covers the top Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales industry, Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Pipemidic Acid Tablets 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 Pipemidic Acid Tablets Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Pipemidic Acid Tablets 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:
Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales Market Forecast 2017 : Abott Medical Optics Inc, Akorn Inc, Johnson & Johnson

Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales market

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Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales Market  examines the performance of the Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales market Forecast 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales market Revenue, market Share, Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales industry volume, market Trends, Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales Market 2017:1. Abott Medical Optics Inc2. Akorn Inc3. Johnson & Johnson4. Bausch and Lomb5. Novartis International AG6. Allergan, Inc.7. Santen Pharmaceuticals8. Novagali Pharma S.A.Firstly, the report covers the top Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales industry, Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Ofloxacin Eye Drops 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 Ofloxacin Eye Drops Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Ofloxacin Eye Drops 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:
Express Delivery 2017 Europe Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 3.32 % and Forecast to 2019

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Express Delivery services SWOT Analysis And Forecast 2019About Express Delivery servicesExpress delivery services refer to delivery of parcels, documents, and letters. It is a time-bound delivery service where the shipment is delivered within two or three days depending on the requirement of the customer. The documents and parcels delivered by CEP vendors are non-palletized items and weigh less than 110 pounds. E-commerce retailers use express delivery vendors to ship goods to customers. In addition, express delivery vendors provide various value-added services to customers to further enhance the delivery process.Technavio's analysts forecast the express delivery market in Europe to grow at a CAGR of 3.32% percent over the period 2014-2019.Covered in this Report This report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the express delivery market in Europe for the period 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report covers the revenue generated by express delivery service providers. It also presents the vendor landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the top four vendors in the market. To provide a ranking of the leading vendors in the market, the report considers the revenue generated by the vendors in the express delivery market in Europe.In addition, it discusses the major drivers that influence the growth of the market, and summarizes the challenges faced by the vendors and the market at large, and the key trends that are emerging in the market. The report also provides data on different segments of the express delivery market in Europe.Segmentation of express delivery market in Europe by customer type: B2B B2C C2CCountry-wise segmentation of express delivery market in Europe: Germany France Italy Spain UKTechnavio's report, Express Delivery Market in Europe 2015-2019, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the express delivery market landscape in Europe and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Request For Sample Report @Key Vendors  Deutsche Post DHL FedEx TNT Express United Parcel ServiceOther Prominent Vendors Aramex BTA Transport Burns Express Cargo Express Delivery DPEX Europe Express Transport GeoPost GLS Hermes Group Interlink Express Manston Express Transport SDA Express Simpex Express Tuffnells Parcels ExpressMarket Driver  Growth of e-commerce For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket Challenge  Competitive pricing pressure For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket Trend Increase in mergers and acquisitions For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey Questions Answered in this Report  What will the market size be in 2019 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?Complete Report Details @Table Of Contents01. Executive Summary02. List of Abbreviations03. Scope of the Report03.1 Market Overview03.2 Service Offerings04. Market Research Methodology 04.1 Market Research Process04.2 Research Methodology05. Introduction06. Market Landscape06.1 Market Overview07. Express Delivery Market in Europe 07.1 Market Size and Forecast07.2 Five Forces Analysis08. Market Segmentation by Customer Type 08.1 Express Delivery Market in Europe: Customer Type09. Country-wise Segmentation09.1 Express Delivery Market in Europe: Segmentation by Country 201409.2 Express Delivery Market in Europe: Segmentation by Country 2014-201909.3 Express Delivery Market in Germany09.3.1 Market Size and Forecast09.4 Express Delivery Market in France09.4.1 Market Size and Forecast09.5 Express Delivery Market in UK09.5.1 Market Size and Forecast09.6 Express Delivery Market in Italy09.6.1 Market Size and Forecast09.7 Express Delivery Market in Spain09.7.1 Market Size and Forecast09.8 Express Delivery Market in Rest of Europe09.8.1 Market Size and Forecast10. Buying Criteria11. Market Growth Drivers12. Drivers and Their Impact13. Market Challenges14. Impact of Drivers and Challenges15. Market Trends16. Trends and Their Impact17. Vendor Landscape 17.1 Competitive Scenario17.2 Key Vendor Ranking 201417.3 Market Share Analysis 201417.4 Other Prominent Vendors18. Key Vendor Analysis18.1 Deutsche Post DHL18.1.1 Key Facts18.1.2 Business Overview18.1.3 Business Segmentation by Revenue 201318.1.4 Business Segmentation by Revenue 2012 and 201318.1.5 Geographical Segmentation by Revenue 201318.1.6 Recent Developments18.1.7 SWOT Analysis18.2 FedEx18.2.1 Key Facts18.2.2 Business Overview18.2.3 Business Segmentation by Revenue 201418.2.4 Business Segmentation by Revenue 2013 and 201418.2.5 Geographical Segmentation by Revenue 201418.2.6 Business Strategy18.2.7 Recent Developments18.2.8 SWOT Analysis18.3 TNT Express18.3.1 Key Facts18.3.2 Business Overview18.3.3 Geographical Segmentation by Revenue 201318.3.4 Business Strategy18.3.5 Recent Developments18.3.6 SWOT Analysis18.4 UPS 18.4.1 Key Facts18.4.2 Business Overview18.4.3 Business Segmentation by Revenue 201318.4.4 Business Segmentation by Revenue 2012 and 201318.4.5 Geographical Segmentation by Revenue 201318.4.6 Business Strategy18.4.7 Recent Developments18.4.8 SWOT Analysis19. Other Reports in this SeriesBuy This Report @CONTACT US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Address:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Global Saponin Market Growth 2017-2022 North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, ChinaMiddle East & Africa

Saponin Market

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http://www.spiremarketresearch.com/global-and-chinese-saponin-market-outlook-2017-2022/

The Saponin Market 2017 Report offers detailed analysis of the Saponin market over the last five years, and provides extensive market forecasts by region/country and sub sector. It covers the key technological and market trends in the Saponin market. It further lays out an analysis of the factors influencing the supply/demand for Saponin, and the opportunities/challenges faced by industry participants. It also acts as an essential tool to companies active across the value chain and to the new entrants by enabling them to capitalize the opportunities and develop business strategies.Ask For Sample Copy of Report :In particular, it provides an in-depth analysis of the following:Market overview: detailed analysis of the whole value chain (upstream & downstream), insights into technological developments, and an extensive analysis of costs analysis from the aspects of raw materials, labor costs and etc.Market size and driving factors: comprehensive analysis of the global Saponin market during the 2012-2022 period, including market volume & value, growth and development trends, demand drivers and stimulators for Saponin. It also provides an insight on the spending pattern and application pattern in different regions around the world.Competitive landscape analysis: exhaustive analysis of top players on the market performances (sales and market position), strengths & weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It also provides the current consolidation trends in the industry and the challenges faced by industry participants.Worldwide supply/demand pattern: analysis of the key markets in each region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, ChinaMiddle East & Africa), providing an analysis of the top segments of Saponin expected to be in demand.Browse full Report here:Tends forecast: analysis of regional demand and growth trends, all the numbers, both  sales & volume, at each level of the detail are estimated till 2022, to give a glimpse of the potential market size in terms of value in this market.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, USA
Nano Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) Market Expected to Reach $4,250 Million, by 2023

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/nano-programmable-logic-controller-PLC-market

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According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, Nano Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) Market by Component, Service, Type, and Industry Vertical: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2023, the nano programmable logic controller (PLC) market was valued at $2,585 million in 2016, and is projected to reach $4,250 million by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 7.0% from 2017 to 2023. The Processor segment held nearly half of the total market in 2016.Early buyers will receive 20% customization on this report.Nano programmable logic controller is used across numerous industries such as energy & power, automotive, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, and others. At present, rise in demand for automated electronic devices and increase in trend of artificial intelligence (AI) drive the market. Moreover, popularity of Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to provide lucrative opportunities to market players.Access Full Summary at:The processor segment is estimated to maintain its lead in the global nano programmable logic controller (PLC) market, as it is the most important part in the controller for operations. Moreover, input/output (I/O) segment is expected to grow, owing to its durability and easy replacement.The fixed nano PLC segment dominated the global market in 2016, accounting for more than half of the total market share. Requirement for compact automation solutions, enhanced efficiency, and increased need for high-voltage operating devices fuel the market growth. However, the modular nano PLC segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 6.3% during the forecast period, due to increase in demand for module rack system.Get PDF of this Report @Asia-Pacific was the major revenue contributor in 2016, and is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. This is attributed to the increase in number of automated devices and solutions. Moreover, developments in energy & power and automotive sectors are anticipated to boost the growth of the nano programmable logic controller (PLC) market, especially in the Asia-Pacific countries, such as China, Japan, South Korea, and India.Europe is anticipated to grow at highest CAGR of 8.4% during the analysis period, owing to increase in demand for automated devices and rise in the adoption of controllers in automotive and oil & gas sectors. Moreover, technological advancements to overcome complexity of the circuit are expected to offer lucrative opportunities for market players in the near future.Key Findings of the Nano Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) Market: In 2016, the processor segment dominated the global nano PLC market, in terms of revenue, and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period. The modular nano PLC segment is expected to exhibit the highest growth rate, owing to the flexibility and durability. The training segment dominated the global nano PLC market, accounting for nearly half of the total market share in 2016.The key players operating in the nano programmable logic controller (PLC) market have adopted new product launch as their preferred strategy to expand their market foothold. The major players profiled in this report include Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Rockwell Automation Inc., Schneider Electric SE, Siemens AG, ABB Ltd., Robert Bosch GmbH, Honeywell International, Hitachi Ltd., IDEC Corporation, and General Electric.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 Us5933 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
Automotive Fuel Delivery System Market is Expected to Grow at a CAGR of 5% by 2022

Automotive Fuel Delivery System Market

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Market Research Future published a half cooked research report on Global Automotive Fuel Delivery System Market. The Global Automotive Fuel Delivery System Market is expected to grow at 5% CAGR during the forecast period 2016 to 2022.Market Highlights:The increasing demand for automobile is expected to raise market revenues for the global automotive fuel delivery system market. The fuel delivery system is an essential component in any vehicle as it delivers the fuel from tank to the combustion chamber in the cylinder. Increased penetration of natural gas vehicles among many countries is also expected to positively impact the global automotive fuel delivery system market.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players of Automotive Fuel Delivery System Market: Continental AG Robert Bosch GmbH Delphi Automotive Plc Magneti Marelli Denso Corporation Infineon Technologies AG TI Automotive INC NGK Spark Plug Co. Ltd. UCAL Fuel System Toyoda GoseiMarket Research Analysis:The market is highly application based. Increasing life span of vehicles has increased the growth of automotive fuel delivery system after market. Based on vehicle, light weight and heavy commercial vehicles acquires the largest market share.Based on fuel, alternative fuels are preferred to conventional due to various emission norms by regulatory bodies across the globe.Based on region, asia-oceania acquires the largest market share owing to increased sales of light and heavy vehicles in the countries such as India and china. Where, china being the major contributor to the growth of the fuel delivery system market.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 Global Automotive Fuel Delivery Systems Market, By Component4.1 Introduction4.2 Fuel Pump4.3 Fuel Injector4.4 Fuel Pressure Regulator4.5 Fuel Filter4.6 Fuel Rail4.7 Air control valve4.8 Throttle Position Valve5 Global Automotive Fuel Delivery Systems Market, By Fuel5.1 Introduction5.2 Gasoline5.3 Diesel5.4 Alternative FuelContinueScope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global automotive fuel delivery system industry, tracking three market segment 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-Oceania, 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 automotive fuel delivery system market. Based on Component, it is bifurcated as Fuel pump, Injector, Pressure Regulator, Filter, Rail, Air control valve, Throttle position sensor. On the basis of Vehicle, it is segmented as LCV, HCV, Passenger vehicles and Hybrid. On the basis of Fuel type, it is segmented as Gasoline, Diesel and Alternative fuels. On the basis of Region, it is segmented as North America, Europe, Asia-Oceania and Rest of world.Access 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 AnandMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Latex Medical Disposables Market worth US$ 6.4 Billion in 2024

Latex Medical Disposables Market

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The latex medical disposables market is largely fragmented, with the top five companies accounting for just over 60.0% in 2015. Transparency Market Research has found that these companies, namely Top Glove Corporation, Ansell, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, C.R. Bard, and B. Braun Melsungen, have been capturing market share through technological advancements and offering a wide product range. Investing in R&D activities has also proven to be beneficial for companies competing in this market.While dominant players are competing by launching innovative products, regional vendors are striving to gain market share from existing players, the lead analyst states. Companies are also offering price discounts on bulk purchases, further boosting their position in the latex medical disposables market. Although the threat of new entrants is moderate, the threat of substitutes is considerably high.The opportunity in the global latex medical disposables market is expected to be worth US$6.4 bn by 2024, rising from US$4.1 bn in 2015 at a modest CAGR of 4.9% therein.This 163 page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Latex Medical Disposables Market. Browse through 24 data tables and 53 figures to unlock the hidden opportunities in this market:Latex gloves has been the major product segment of the latex medical disposables market, accounting for 60.4% in terms of revenue in 2015. The latex foley catheters segment is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.1% from 2016 to 2024, emerging as the most lucrative segment thus far. By end use, the hospitals segment is expected to account for the dominant share by 2024, followed by diagnostic centers. Hospitals are also anticipated to exhibit a high CAGR throughout the forecast period.The global latex medical disposables market is well developed in regions such as North America and Europe. However, regions such as Latin America and Asia Pacific exhibit immense potential for high growth. North America leads the global latex medical disposables market, with 33.0% share in 2016. The Asia Pacific market, on the other hand, is projected to expand at the fastest CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period.Players within the latex medical disposables market have been investing in the launch of novel technologies and products that are aimed at reducing risks and infections and offering a host of benefits to the patients, the author of the report finds.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Latex Medical Disposables Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market:For instance, the BARDEX I.C. infection control latex Foley catheter is clinically proven to minimize the risk of catheter-associated urinary tract infections. The catheters technologically-advanced formulation dramatically lessens bacterial adherence and reduces the formation of biofilm. Similarly, Medline Industries, Inc.s three-way Foley catheter offers continuous irrigation capabilities for use after urological surgeries. The growth of the latex medical disposables market rides on such developments.Latex allergy is one of the most prominent challenges faced by the global latex disposables market. As a result, many healthcare providers are opting for non-latex products, thereby inhibiting the growth of the market. Leading medical technology company Becton, Dickinson and Company has found that as many as 17 million people in the U.S. are allergic to latex.Competition is rather high in the medical disposables market, which often leads to diminishing prices of these products, including latex disposables. Shrinking or slowly increasing revenues are expected to hamper the growth of the global latex medical disposables market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.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:
Ventricular Assist Device Market Research Report Forecast to 2024

Ventricular Assist Device Market

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With a large number of well-established players, such as Berlin Heart, SynCardia Systems, Sunshine Heart, St. Jude Medical, Heart Ware International, and Abiomed, the market for ventricular assist devices (VADs) in North America demonstrates a fiercely competitive landscape, finds a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR).Most of the leading companies rely on innovation and technological advancements for business development. However, in the coming years, their focus is projected to shift towards strategic collaborations in order to curtail the competition within the market.According to TMR, the opportunity in the North America market for VADs, which stood at US$0.4 bn in 2015, is likely to expand at a healthy CAGR of 9.20% between 2016 and 2024 and increase to US$1.07 bn by the end of the forecast period. The destination therapy (DT) segment has been reporting a greater application of VADs than the other two indication segments. It is expected to remain the leader with its share rising to 66.7% in the overall market by 2024, states the report.This 100 page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Ventricular Assist Device Market. Browse through 7 data tables and 31 figures to unlock the hidden opportunities in this market:A geographical analysis of the North America VAD market has also been offered in this research report. As per the study, the U.S. and Canada are the prime domestic markets for ventricular assist devices in this region. Among the two, the U.S. has emerged as the leading contributor to the overall market, thanks to the rise in the awareness level among consumers regarding the benefits offered by VADs.Expanding at a CAGR of 9.70%, this domestic market is anticipated to remain leading throughout the forecast period. The significant increase in patient assistance and clinical research is likely to act as the key driving factor behind the growth of this market over the next few years, notes the research study.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Ventricular Assist Device Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market:Cardiovascular disorders have been a cause of concerns among people in North America since the last few years. As per the American Heart Association, nearly 70% of the geriatric population with diabetes die from heart disorders and almost 16% pass away from strokes in North America. Most of the advanced heart failures in humans are caused by left ventricular dysfunction, resulting in the increased application of LVADs, which eventually, is adding substantially to the overall demand for VADs in North America, says the author of this study.Other prominent factors, fueling the demand for VADs in North America are the limited number of heart donors and the growing awareness among consumers regarding the benefits of VADs, states the market report.While the North America market for ventricular assist devices looks thriving currently, the overall cost incurred in the treatment may create obstructions in the growth trajectory of this market over the forthcoming years. The increasing incidence of device malfunctioning and product recalls is also projected to restrict the progression of this market in the near future, notes the research study.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:
Uterine Fibroids Treatment Market worth US$ 273.6 Million in 2024

Uterine Fibroids Treatment Market

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The U.S. uterine fibroids market shows a strong presence of players. The top three players in the market are Boston Scientific Corporation, Smith & Nephew, and Hologic, Inc., who hold a share of nearly 50% in the overall market. The players are focused mergers and acquisitions to broaden their product portfolio and integration of knowledge base. To remain dominant players are anticipated to lay emphasis on product differentiation. The report published by Transparency Market Research states that the U.S. uterine fibroid treatment market was valued at US$211.6 mn in 2015 and is expected to be worth US$273.6 mn by the end of 2024. During the forecast years of 2016 and 2024, the overall market is anticipated to progress at a CAGR of 2.9%.This 102 page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Uterine Fibroids Treatment Market. Browse through 6 data tables and 24 figures to unlock the hidden opportunities in this market:Out of all the procedures, the hysterectomy segment is showing a promise of good growth rate in the near future. This segment is projected to account for a share of 79.6% by the end of 2016. The benefits of hysterectomy such as alleviation of pelvic pain, excessive menstrual bleeding, and physical morbidity are driving this segment. Furthermore, hospitals will emerge as the leading end users of uterine fibroid treatment options in the coming years. By the end of 2016, the hospitals segment is projected to account for a share of 67.1% in the U.S. uterine fibroids treatment market.The introduction of a minimally invasive surgeries to treat the excruciatingly painful uterine fibroids is expected boost the markets growth in the coming years. Advantages of such procedures such as minimal recovery time, reduced chances of infections, and shorter hospital stays are also encouraging patients and hospitals to choose these treatments, states the lead author of this research report. The market is also benefitting from the regulatory approvals being granted to newer types of treatment and surgeries. Thus, the introduction of newer technologies that offer efficient results is creating a positive influence on the U.S. uterine fibroids market. The remarkable changes in technology have also played their supportive part in the growth of the market over the past few years. For instance, Halt Medical, Inc. introduced Acessa Guidance System in 2016. This technology enhances the radiofrequency ablation and electromagnetic tracking technology to treat uterine myomas laparoscopically.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Uterine Fibroids Treatment Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market:The supportive reimbursement policies are also expected to augment the demand for uterine fibroids treatment in the near future. Favorable policies are helping the patients to cover their expenses in hospitals as well the ones incurred in ambulatory surgical centers. Statistics state that there are 20% to 40% chances of development of uterine fibroids in women around the age of 35. Thus, the high prevalence of uterine fibroids amongst women in the reproductive age bracket has become the very basis of the growth of this market. Furthermore, African American women are more likely to develop fibroids, which is also a key population base contributing to the steady rise in the revenue of the U.S. uterine fibroids market.The uterine fibroids treatment market is likely to be hampered by the announcement made by the FDA that power morcellators can lead to complications such as spreading metastatic leiomyosarcoma cancer tissue. Availability of wide range of alternative treatments is also anticipated to hinder the markets growth in the near future. The market is also being restrained by the possibility of urinary tract injury while performing minimally invasive procedures.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:
Luxury Furniture Market Set to Surge Significantly During 2016 - 2024

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/luxury-furniture-market.asp

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11614

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11614

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com

The global luxury market consist of nine segments including personal cars, personal luxury goods, luxury hospitality, luxury cruises, fine food, fine wine and spirits, luxury furniture, private jet and yachts. Out of these segments, luxury furniture has showcased boom all over the world. Luxury furniture enhances the artistic value of homes, offices, restaurants and hotels in addition to various outdoor and indoor spaces. Over the past few years, the significant growth in real estate industry fostered the growth of luxury furniture market.Get access to full summary @:Movement of people from rural to urban areas, globalization and inclination in the personal disposable income is strengthening the growth of the global luxury furniture market. Rising environmental consciousness among people will lead to rising demand for eco-friendly luxury furniture all over the world till 2025. Besides this, rising penetration of online retailing all across the world is expected to further stimulate the global luxury furniture market. Change in the lifestyle along with rising disposable income would provide substantial opportunities in the global luxury furniture market over the period 2016-2024.The global Luxury Furniture market is segmented on the basis of type of materials which include wood, metal, plastic, glass, leather and others. Wooden furniture segment contributed the highest share in the overall global luxury furniture market in 2014. Over the past few years, furniture manufacturers are introducing products including materials such as leather, metal, leather, glass in order to replace wood. The global luxury furniture market is also divided on the basis of end use which include commercial and domestic use. The commercial segment is further sub-segmented on the basis of hospitality, office and others. Whereas the domestic segment is sub-segmented by living and bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, lighting, outdoor and others. In 2014, the domestic luxury furniture segment contributed the highest share in the overall revenue of global luxury furniture market. Bedroom and living room segment marked substantial share in the global luxury furniture market in 2014. The global luxury furniture market is also segmented on the basis of unorganized and organized sector.Inclination in the online retailing and higher media penetration are some of the major factors driving the growth of global luxury furniture market. Apart from that, rising impact of globalization, organized retailing, and robust growth in real estate sector is anticipated to foster the growth of global luxury furniture market. Rising demand of eco-friendly luxury segment is also expected to bolster the growth of global luxury furniture market. Apart from this, rising trend of modular kitchen is also strengthening the demand for global luxury furniture market and will impel the market from the period 2016-2024.A sample of this report is available upon request @Geographically, the Global Luxury Furniture 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. Amongst all the regions, Europe captured the highest share in the global luxury furniture market in 2014. China is expected to be the biggest and rapidly growing furniture market in future which will drive the overall Asia luxury furniture market. Latin American region is also anticipated to showcase fast growth over the next few years till 2024. The requirement of luxury furniture especially in the hospitality sector in Middle East region and African region is expected to drive the market of this region in future.The major players identified across the value chain of global Luxury Furniture market include Muebles Pico, Valderamobili, Scavolini, Laura Ashley Folding Plc, Nella Vetrina, Henredon Furniture Industries Inc., and others. It has been noticed that furniture manufacturers are concerned about reduction in carbon footprints and initiated offering eco-friendly furniture. The global luxury furniture market is highly competitive with large number of players (both small and big) dominating the industry. In the next few years, various furniture manufacturers are anticipated to enter in this market.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, 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:
Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) Market : Facts, Figures and Analytical Insights, 2014 to 2020

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Polyvinylidene fluoride, also known as polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), is a specialty plastic material belonging to the fluoropolymer family. It is a pure thermoplastic and highly non-reactive fluoropolymer which is produced by the polymerization of vinylidene difluoride. PVDF is primarily used in applications which require high resistance, strength and purity to solvents, bases, acids and heat. It is also used as an important ingredient in high-end paints for metal roofing in commercial and residential applications. Membranes of PVDF are widely consumed for the purpose of immobilizing proteins owing to its resemblance to amino acids. PVDF is also used extensively in sheets, films, membranes and coatings in various end-user industries such as chemical processing, oil & gas, construction and energy.The global market for PVDF, along with its end products has been witnessing noticeable growth over the past few years. Increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries, coatings, and photovoltaic films are anticipated to be some of the major influencing factors for the growth of the market with increased emphasis on its various applications and their end-users. North America accounted as the largest consumer for PVDF, followed by Asia Pacific. Moreover, future market growth is expected to be from Asia Pacific on account of growing demand of PVDF in various applications such as oil & gas, and coatings for building & construction industries. The market for PVDF in Western Europe is also expected to grow significantly with certain PVDF expansion projects anticipated to stabilize the overall business in this region.Request For Report Sample@Other regions such as Eastern and Central Europe as well as Latin America are also expected to host future global events which would supplement the growth of PVDF in different applications. In addition, proposals for improvement in infrastructure, rising residential construction industry and increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries is also expected to fuel the demand for PVDF in these regions.High demand from different end-user industries such as coatings, photovoltaic films, oil & gas, and electrical are expected to be the major growth factors for the PVDF market. However, increasing use of substitutes to PVDF is expected to slow down the growth of the market. Research & development (R&D) has been one of the key factors in the PVDF market. Various associations, end-user manufacturers and PVDF manufacturing companies have planned significant investments for future advancements and technology innovations in PVDF to replace other metals and plastics. This factor is expected to provide new opportunities for the growth of the market. Large scale companies such as Arkema have made significant investments for the expansion of PVDF polymer capacity in emerging economies such as China to meet the rapidly-growing demand for PVDF resins in emerging application such as new energies and water filtration. Moreover, the company plans to expand its PVDF business portfolio in Brazil with the expansion of their coatings production capacity. The new investment would help the company offer diversified and more domestically-produced additives and waterborne emulsions which are substantially taxed as imports in Brazil.Request For TOC@Arkema, Daikin Industries Ltd., Dyneon GmbH, Shanghai Ofluorine Chemical Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai 3F New Materials Company Limited, Solvay S.A., Zhuzhou Hongda Polymer Materials Co. Ltd., Zhejiang Fotech International Co. Ltd., Kureha Corporation, Quadrant Engineering Plastics Products Inc. are some of the key manufacturers of PVDF dominating the market.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, 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:
Bio-Based Levulinic Acid Market : Value Chain, Dynamics and Key Players (2014 - 2020)

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New molecules developed by Segetis, in Minnesota based on esters of levulinic acid made from using bio based hydroxyl compounds and corn cobs are known as levulinic ketals. These can be used to produce a series of products such as plasticizers, polyols for polyurethane foams and solvents.Segetis are constructing a new toll manufacturing plant for their new ketals chemistry in the Midwest and the construction of which was expected to be completed by the end of 2011. Products entering the market would start with solvents. While polyols is expected to be the last to enter in the market because of significant functional testing required. At present China is the supplier of the levulinic acid from the company but later it may use residue of wood as a feedstock.Request For Report Sample@The potential outcome by the development of bio based levulinic acid could be the replacement of the phthalate plasticizers which is used to make Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which is the most widely produce plastic and other plastics flexible. The company is also working directly to replace the phthalate which concerns about exposure to children. The major advantages of ketal monomers are that they attach to the PVC molecule firmly and are of natural origins.Major opportunity for the market can be obtain from the manufacture of polyols which combines with iscoyanates to produce polyurethane. The polyols which are made from bio based levulinic acid will have rigidity which in turn will help to reduce the level of iscoyanates while obtaining polyurethane having similar properties and the monomers will play the role of the performer. The cost of polyols produce by the company will be same as made from petroleum resources. But it is expected that it will help to improve the economics for formulators due to less use of iscoyanates. The major advantage for the ketals chemistry is from its total cost.Request For TOC@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.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:
Increased Demand for Copper for Power Infrastructure Development to Drive Base Metal Mining Activities

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Base Metal Mining Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2015 - 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.This research study analyzes the market for base metal mining in terms of volume (million metric tonnes). The market has been segmented on the basis of type and region. The global base metal mining market has been segmented into five regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America. For the research, 2014 has been taken as the base year, while all forecasts have been given for the period from 2015 to 2023. Market data for all the metal types has been provided at the regional as well as country-specific level from 2015 to 2023. The report provides a broad competitive analysis of companies engaged in the base metal mining business. The report also includes the key market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities affecting the global base metal mining market. These market dynamics were analyzed in detail and are illustrated in the report with the help of supporting graphs and tables. The report also provides a comprehensive analysis of the global base metal mining market with the help of Porters Five Forces model. This analysis helps in understanding the five major forces that affect the market structure and market profitability. The forces analyzed are 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 @The high-level analysis in the report provides detailed insights into the base metal mining business globally. There are currently numerous drivers of the market. One of the most prominent drivers is the rise in infrastructure development. Market attractiveness analysis was carried out for the base metal mining market on the basis of geography. Market attractiveness was estimated on the basis of common parameters that directly impact the market in different regions.The base metal mining market was segmented on the basis of type into copper, nickel, zinc-lead, aluminum, and tin. Base metals vary according to physical properties and applications.Aluminum held the significant market share in 2014 on account of its wide applications in various areas such as packaging, transportation, construction, consumer durables, machinery equipment, electrical systems, etc. Zinc is another most widely consumed base metal in the world due to its various physical properties such as galvanizing properties and capability of bonding with various metals. Zinc has been growing due to its anti-corrosion property which helps prevent corrosion in metals. Corrosion is a major hindrance to the base metal applications. Lead is primarily used in portable batteries, which are used in vehicles and emergency systems. Expanding portable batteries market, is driving the demand for lead. Demand for copper is projected to grow with increase in population as it would require expanding power infrastructure which is copper-intensive. Copper market would be boosted by the increase in number of infrastructure facilities such as buildings and complexes.Nickel is used in highly-specialized sectors such as industrial, aerospace, and military. Nickel plating is one of the important industries, wherein the usage of nickel is essential; expanding nickel plating industry would boost the demand for nickel in the next few years. Utilization of tin-coated electronic components is increasing in motor vehicles, which in turn, is boosting the consumption of tin. Tin is being used as an alternative to other materials. It is also used in various industries, such as food and beverage and packaging.The base metal mining market was analyzed across five geographies: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America. Regional data has been provided for each sub-segment of the base metal mining market. Key players in the market include Alcoa Inc., Anglo American plc, Antofagasta plc, BHP Billiton Ltd., Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de Chile (CODELCO), First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Freeport-McMoRan Inc., Glencore plc, Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, Rio Tinto plc, Southern Copper Corporation, Teck Resources Limited, and Vale SA. The report provides an overview of these companies, followed by their financial details, business strategies, and recent developments.Base Metal Mining Market: By TypeCopperNickelLead-zincAluminumTinBase Metal Mining Market: By RegionNorth America- U.S.- Canada- MexicoEurope- Russia- Kazakhstan- Rest of EuropeAsia Pacific- China- India- Australia- Japan- Indonesia- Rest of Asia PacificMiddle East and Africa- South Africa- Rest of Middle East and AfricaSouth and Central America- Chile- Peru- Argentina- Rest of South and Central 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 Martial Arts Wear Market 2016 Industry, Analysis, Research, Share, Growth, Sales, Trends, Supply, Forecast to 2021

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Martial Arts Wear Market 2016 Industry, Analysis, Research, Share, Growth, Sales, Trends, Supply, Forecast to 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.This report presents a holistic market overview on the basis of the performance of this market in the recent times. It also focuses on the upcoming projects and ventures in this market to determine its future status. The historical data on revenue generated on this market has been provided in this study. The drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges impacting the demand of global Martial Arts Wear market have also been covered in this report. The report also discusses the marketing channels used on the global as well as local level. The report provides quantitative and qualitative analysis of the global Martial Arts Wear market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report further performs an in-depth analysis of the value chain to offer a comprehensive assessment of the global Martial Arts Wear market to the readers. An analysis of distribution channels has also been presented to the readers to help them understand the competitive landscape in the market. The demand for global Martial Arts Wear market varies in each geography due to the varying number of end users. The study segments market on the basis of different regions and current market scenario in those regions.In addition, the report profiles the leading market players supporting the growth of the global Martial Arts Wear market. Moreover, the report presents in-depth detail such as company profile, financial overview, strategies adopted by them, research methodologies, product/service specifications, overall market share, and latest developments incorporated. The report is consists of information generated and gathered from different trusted source with the help of different analytical tools. This report is a valuable source of guidance for the market players interested to expand their business and wants to increase their market share.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Martial Arts Wear1.1 Definition and Specifications of Martial Arts Wear1.1.1 Definition of Martial Arts Wear1.1.2 Specifications of Martial Arts Wear1.2 Classification of Martial Arts Wear1.3 Applications of Martial Arts Wear1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Martial Arts Wear1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Martial Arts Wear1.5.1 Industry Overview of Martial Arts Wear1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Martial Arts Wear1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Martial Arts Wear1.7 Industry News Analysis of Martial Arts Wear2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Martial Arts Wear2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Martial Arts Wear2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Martial Arts Wear2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Martial Arts Wear2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Martial Arts Wear2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Martial Arts Wear2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Martial Arts WearObtain Report Details @3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Martial Arts Wear3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Martial Arts Wear Major Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Martial Arts Wear Major Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Martial Arts Wear Major Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Martial Arts Wear Major Manufacturers in 20154 Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Martial Arts Wear by Regions, Types and Manufacturers4.1 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Martial Arts Wear by Regions 2011-20164.2 Global and Major Regions Capacity, Production, Revenue and Growth Rate of Martial Arts Wear 2011-20164.3 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Martial Arts Wear by Types 2011-20164.4 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Martial Arts Wear by Manufacturers 2011-20165 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Martial Arts Wear by Regions, Types and Manufacturers5.1 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Martial Arts Wear by Regions 2011-20165.2 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Martial Arts Wear by Types 2011-20165.3 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Martial Arts Wear by Manufacturers 2011-20166 Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Sale Price Analysis of Martial Arts Wear by Regions, Types and Applications6.1 Global Consumption Volume and Consumption Value of Martial Arts Wear by Regions 2011-20166.2 Global and Major Regions Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Growth Rate of Martial Arts Wear 2011-20166.3 Global Consumption Volume and Consumption Value of Martial Arts Wear by Types 2011-20166.4 Global Consumption Volume and Consumption Value of Martial Arts Wear by Applications 2011-20166.5 Sale Price of Martial Arts Wear by Regions 2011-20166.6 Sale Price of Martial Arts Wear by Types 2011-20166.7 Sale Price of Martial Arts Wear by Applications 2011-20166.8 Market Share Analysis of Martial Arts Wear by Different Sale Price Levels7 Supply, Import, Export and Consumption Analysis of Martial Arts Wear7.1 Supply, Consumption and Gap of Martial Arts Wear 2011-20167.2 Global Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Martial Arts Wear 2011-20167.3 United States Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Martial Arts Wear 2011-20167.4 EU Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Martial Arts Wear 2011-20167.5 China Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Martial Arts Wear 2011-20167.6 Japan Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Revenue, Supply, Import, Export and Consumption of Martial Arts Wear 2011-20168 Major Manufacturers Analysis of Martial Arts Wear8.1 Kingz8.1.1 Company Profile8.1.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.1.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue8.1.4 Contact Information8.2 Tatami Fightwear8.2.1 Company Profile8.2.2 Product Picture and Specifications8.2.3 Capacity, Production, Price, Cost, Gross and Revenue8.2.4 Contact InformationAbout 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
At A CAGR Of 24.57% Global Cloud Computing Market In Higher Education To Grow During The Period 2016-2020

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Cloud Computing Market in Higher Education 2016-2020" to its huge collection of research reports.Cloud computing is the use of computing resources where systems are connected by public or private networks to offer scalable infrastructure for applications and file storage. It offers a pool of resources that includes data storage, specified applications, and networks and computer processing power. Across regions, governments and private organizations are accelerating education digitization through various monetary and non-monetary initiatives.Technavios analysts forecast the global cloud computing market in higher education to grow at a CAGR of 24.57% during the period 2016-2020.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global cloud computing market in higher education for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from software as a service, infrastructure as a service, and platform as a service.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:APACNorth AmericaRest of EuropeROWWestern EuropeGlobal Cloud Computing Market in Higher Education 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 vendorsBlackboardCiscoEllucianInstructureOther prominent vendorsAdobe SystemsEMCNetAppSalesforceMarket driverGrowing engagement and productivityFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeDifficulty in choosing right solutionFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendChanging learning environmentFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey 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?Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
USA, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Waste-to-Energy Technologies Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "USA, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Waste-to-Energy Technologies Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.The market intelligence report provides an in-depth analysis of the global Waste-to-Energy Technologies market. The stakeholders for this report include market players involved in development, manufacturing, commercialization, and distribution and new companies planning to enter the global market for Waste-to-Energy Technologies. The executive summary of the report offers a snapshot of the market by summarizing the size of the market, volume, revenue, trends, and figures across different segments.Get sample report @The overview section provides insights into market dynamics, including drivers and restraints, and the extent to which they impact the growth of the market. The report also sheds light on opportunities in the global Waste-to-Energy Technologies market. Value chain analysis and import and export analysis are explained in detail to provide an immaculate overview of the market. The report performs market attractiveness analysis and Porters five force analysis to offer an understanding of the overall competition in the global Waste-to-Energy Technologies market. It also sheds light on the market shares to highlight competition among major players in the arena.For a coherent understanding, the report classifies the global market for Waste-to-Energy Technologies on the basis of various criteria, including applications, product type, and geography. Data for each segment has been presented in terms of volume and value. The report profiles key participants in the global Waste-to-Energy Technologies market. These companies are profiled based on several attributes such as business strategies, recent developments, and cost and revenue structure. The report includes a set of recommendations to aid new players in establishing their presence and existing companies in consolidating their presence in the global Waste-to-Energy Technologies market.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview 11.1 Waste-to-Energy Technologies Market Overview 11.1.1 Waste-to-Energy Technologies Product Scope 11.1.2 Market Status and Outlook 21.2 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Waste Treat and Analysis by Regions 31.2.1 North America 41.2.2 Europe 51.2.3 China 61.2.4 Japan 71.3 Waste-to-Energy Technologies Market by Type 72 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Competition Analysis by Players 92.1 Waste-to-Energy Technologies Market Size Analysis by Players 92.1.1 Waste-to-Energy Technologies Waste Treat by Players (2015-2016) 92.1.2 Waste-to-Energy Technologies Energy Generate by Players (2015-2016) 112.1.3 Waste-to-Energy Technologies Revenue by Players (2015-2016) 132.2 Competitive Status and Trend 162.2.1 Market Concentration Rate 162.2.2 Enter Barriers Analysis 162.2.3 System Factors of Waste-to-Energy Technologies 172.2.4 The Technology Analysis 183 Analysis of Waste-to-Energy Technologies Industry Key Manufacturers 203.1 Covanta 203.1.1 Company Profile 203.1.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 213.2 Suez 213.2.1 Company Profile 213.2.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 223.3 Wheelabrator 233.3.1 Company Profile 233.3.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 243.4 Veolia 243.4.1 Company Profile 243.4.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 253.5 China Everbright 263.5.1 Company Profile 263.5.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 273.6 A2A 273.6.1 Company Profile 273.6.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 283.7 EEW Efw 283.7.1 Company Profile 283.7.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 293.8 Clean Association of Tokyo 303.8.1 Company Profile 303.8.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 303.9 Attero 313.9.1 Company Profile 313.9.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 323.10 TIRU 323.10.1 Company Profile 323.10.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 333.11 MVV Energie 343.11.1 Company Profile 343.11.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 353.12 NEAS 353.12.1 Company Profile 353.12.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 363.13 Viridor 373.13.1 Company Profile 373.13.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 383.14 AEB Amsterdam 393.14.1 Company Profile 393.14.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 403.15 AVR 403.15.1 Company Profile 403.15.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 413.16 Tianjin Teda 423.16.1 Company Profile 423.16.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 433.17 City of Kobe 443.17.1 Company Profile 443.17.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 443.18 Shenzhen Energy 453.18.1 Company Profile 453.18.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 463.19 Grandblue 473.19.1 Company Profile 473.19.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 483.20 Osaka City Hall 483.20.1 Company Profile 483.20.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 493.21 MCC 493.21.1 Company Profile 493.21.2 Waste Treat, Energy Generate and Revenue 50Browse Complete Report with TOC @4 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Market Size by Classification (2011-2016) 514.1 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Market Size by Classification (2011-2016) 514.1.1 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Market Size by Classification (2011-2016) 514.1.2 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Market Size by Classification (2011-2016) 524.1.3 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Market Size by Classification (2011-2016) 544.2 Top Consumer / End Users of Waste-to-Energy Technologies 555 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Development Status and Outlook 565.1 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Waste Treat and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016) 565.2 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Energy Generate and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016) 585.3 Global Waste-to-Energy Technologies Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2011-2016) 60About 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
Connected Car Market : Expected Advancements & Global Industry Analysis 2017 - 2025

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Global Connected Car Market: OverviewToday, connected car is the big buzz word in the automotive and car industry. A connected car is equipped with Internet connectivity to share information between devices within the vehicle or to share information with devices outside the car such as in other cars, office, home, or other physical spaces.Connected cars receive information pertaining to traffic, collisions, and other safety alerts in a timely manner. Connected car features can be categorized into safety, infotainment, payments, navigation, and diagnostics/efficiency.Typically, connected cars that have been introduced after 2010 has a head-unit, in-dash system equipped with a screen for the driver to view or manage operations of the connections, and an infotainment unit.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Connected Car Market: Key TrendsThe top factor driving the global connected car market include regulatory mandates on connected car modules. Moreover, rising demand for smartphone features in cars and real-time connectivity with cars to obtain vehicle data updates for vehicular safety is driving the connected car market.However, factors such as network coverage limitation and risk of misuse of customer data by cybercriminals for unscrupulous activities is challenging the markets growth.The connected car market is expected to be benefitted as connected car is considered to be a stepping stone for autonomous vehicles, consumer electronics providers for connected cars can offer telematics and infotainment devices at a cheaper cost, and insurance rate for connected cars is dependent on usage.The connected car market faces challenges with respect to disparity of product design procedures between OEMs, in-built solutions of cars, and smartphones. Also, the connected car market will benefit with reduced cost of telematics and infotainment equipment and services. In this scenario, creating an ecosystem that functions through cross-industry collaborations between OEMs, technology companies, and mobile network operators is poised to be the winning imperative for the industry.Request TOC of the Report @Global Connected Car Market: Market PotentialAt the recent Seoul Motor Show 2017, Hyundai Motors announced a multitude of future-vehicle initiatives, which includes connected cars and electric vehicles. Developed by a team of in-house experts Hyundais new Connected Car Service platform will diminish the lines between mobility, living, and working spaces by means of voice control and allow vehicle owners to connect their vehicles with global appliance service providers.Global Connected Car Market: Regional OutlookNorth America is the leading regional market for connected cars. The U.S. is the leading contributor to the North America connected car market due to regulations in place for monitoring telematics applications.Furthermore, in the U.S., the transportation system is reaching its capacity thus alternatives need to be sought to address the increasing traffic congestion issues. The transportation network in the U.S. is nearing saturation and infrastructure expansion by means of traditional methods is not a viable solution. Connected cars equipped with telematics and navigation tools is an ideal solution to address this issue. Moreover, the U.S. being home to some of the worlds major automobile companies such as General Motors Company, Ford Motor Company, and Tesla Motors Inc., along with the presence of software giants such as Microsoft Corporation and IBM Corporation and telecom providers such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., and Sierra Wireless are favoring the growth of the connected car market in the region.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Global Connected Car Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the key players in the global connected car market include Audi AG, General Motors Company, Google Inc.,Delphi Automotive Plc, AT&T Inc.,Robert Bosch GmbH, Wirelesscar, BMW AG,Tesla Motors Inc.,Volvo Car Corporation, Vodafone Group Plc., Denso Corporation,and Airbiquity Inc.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
United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Fleet Management System Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021 - Trimble, Fleetmatics, Telenav, Teletrac

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Fleet Management System Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021" to its huge collection of research reports.The research report presents in-depth overview of the global Fleet Management System market, complete with thorough analysis of the key growth drivers, restraints, trends, and opportunities impacting the markets current and future growth. The exhaustive data compiled in the report in order to draw projections related to the markets future scenario has been studied and collated with the help of various research methods such as primary and secondary research methods. Information regarding major segments of the market, historical figures, and future forecast of the global Fleet Management System market has been presented in the report.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Fleet Management System market has been assessed on the basis of current trends that are bringing effective changes in the market function. It also presents insights into challenges that the market could face in the coming future. The impact of prevailing economic trends and regulatory policies on the overall market operations is also covered in the report. It offers insights into various critical parameters of the global Fleet Management System market including geographical dynamics, competitive landscape, technological advancements, and future scope.In order to study the prevailing competition, the report also profiles leading players operating in the global Fleet Management System market. The report keeps track of the threats and opportunities that these players expected to witness in the coming years. This information will help leading companies as well as new entrants to further their business and increase their share in the market. A detailed section on the eminent players has also been included, which shed light on their company overview, financial standing, product portfolio, and alliances.Table of ContentsUnited States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia Fleet Management System Market Size, Status and Forecast 20211 Industry Overview of Fleet Management System1.1 Fleet Management System Market Overview1.1.1 Fleet Management System Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Fleet Management System 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 Fleet Management System Market by Type1.3.1 Operational Fleet Monitoring and Management1.3.2 Vehicle Dispatch1.3.3 Driver Scheduling1.3.4 Asset Tracking1.3.5 Condition Based Maintenance1.3.6 Security and Safety Management1.4 Fleet Management System Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Logistics Fleet1.4.2 Transportation Truck1.4.3 Refrigerator Lorry1.4.4 Taxi1.4.5 Other2 Global Fleet Management System Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Fleet Management System Market Size (Value) by Players (2015-2016)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in FutureBrowse Complete Report with TOC @3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Omnitracs3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Fleet Management System Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Trimble3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Fleet Management System Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Fleetmatics3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Fleet Management System Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Telenav3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Fleet Management System Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Teletrac3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Fleet Management System Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 EMKAY3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Fleet Management System Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Gurtam3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Fleet Management System Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 FleetCor3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Fleet Management System Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Navman Wireless3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Fleet Management System Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 TomTom3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Fleet Management System Revenue (Value) (2011-2016)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 AssetWorks3.12 E6GPS3.13 Mike Albert3.14 Etrans3.15 Wiesless Matrix3.16 Scania Fleet3.17 Transics3.18 Fleetboard3.19 Tracker SA3.20 Dynafleet4 Global Fleet Management System Market Size by Type and Application (2011-2016)4.1 Global Fleet Management System Market Size by Type (2011-2016)4.2 Global Fleet Management System Market Size by Application (2011-2016)4.3 Potential Application of Fleet Management System in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Fleet Management System5 United States Fleet Management System Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Fleet Management System Market Size (2011-2016)5.2 United States Fleet Management System Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)6 EU Fleet Management System Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Fleet Management System Market Size (2011-2016)6.2 EU Fleet Management System Market Size and Market Share by Players (2015-2016)About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Android TV Box Sales Market Key Trends, Size, Growth, Shares And Forecast Report 2017

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Android TV Box Sales Market Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Android TV Box 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 global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Android TV Box for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Android TV Box market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Android TV Box sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingNvidiaAmazonSonyXiaomiMINIXQbox...On 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 into1080P4KOtherOn 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 Android TV Box for each application, includingHomeCommercialIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal Android TV Box Sales Market Report 20171 Android TV Box Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Android TV Box1.2 Classification of Android TV Box by Product Category1.2.1 Global Android TV Box Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Android TV Box Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 1080P1.2.4 4K1.2.5 Other1.3 Global Android TV Box Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Android TV Box Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Home1.3.3 Commercial1.4 Global Android TV Box Market by Region1.4.1 Global Android TV Box Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Android TV Box Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Android TV Box Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Android TV Box Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Android TV Box Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Android TV Box Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Android TV Box Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Android TV Box (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Android TV Box Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Android TV Box Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 Global Android TV Box Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Android TV Box Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Android TV Box Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Android TV Box Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Android TV Box (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Android TV Box Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Android TV Box Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Android TV Box (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Android TV Box Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Android TV Box Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Android TV Box (Volume) by Application3 United States Android TV Box (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Android TV Box Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Android TV Box Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Android TV Box Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Android TV Box Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Application4 China Android TV Box (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Android TV Box Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 China Android TV Box Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 China Android TV Box Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.3 China Android TV Box Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)4.2 China Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Players4.3 China Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Type4.4 China Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Application5 Europe Android TV Box (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Android TV Box Sales and Value (2012-2017)5.1.1 Europe Android TV Box Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.2 Europe Android TV Box Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.3 Europe Android TV Box Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)5.2 Europe Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Players5.3 Europe Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Application6 Japan Android TV Box (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan Android TV Box Sales and Value (2012-2017)6.1.1 Japan Android TV Box Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)6.1.2 Japan Android TV Box Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)6.1.3 Japan Android TV Box Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)6.2 Japan Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Players6.3 Japan Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Type6.4 Japan Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Application7 Southeast Asia Android TV Box (Volume, Value and Sales Price)7.1 Southeast Asia Android TV Box Sales and Value (2012-2017)7.1.1 Southeast Asia Android TV Box Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)7.1.2 Southeast Asia Android TV Box Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)7.1.3 Southeast Asia Android TV Box Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)7.2 Southeast Asia Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Players7.3 Southeast Asia Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Type7.4 Southeast Asia Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Application8 India Android TV Box (Volume, Value and Sales Price)8.1 India Android TV Box Sales and Value (2012-2017)8.1.1 India Android TV Box Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)8.1.2 India Android TV Box Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)8.1.3 India Android TV Box Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)8.2 India Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Players8.3 India Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Type8.4 India Android TV Box Sales Volume and Market Share by Application9 Global Android TV Box Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data9.1 Nvidia9.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.1.2 Android TV Box Product Category, Application and Specification9.1.2.1 Product A9.1.2.2 Product B9.1.3 Nvidia Android TV Box Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.2 Amazon9.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.2.2 Android TV Box Product Category, Application and Specification9.2.2.1 Product A9.2.2.2 Product B9.2.3 Amazon Android TV Box Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.3 Sony9.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.3.2 Android TV Box Product Category, Application and Specification9.3.2.1 Product A9.3.2.2 Product B9.3.3 Sony Android TV Box Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.4 Xiaomi9.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.4.2 Android TV Box Product Category, Application and Specification9.4.2.1 Product A9.4.2.2 Product B9.4.3 Xiaomi Android TV Box Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.5 MINIX9.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.5.2 Android TV Box Product Category, Application and Specification9.5.2.1 Product A9.5.2.2 Product B9.5.3 MINIX Android TV Box Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.6 Qbox9.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.6.2 Android TV Box Product Category, Application and Specification9.6.2.1 Product A9.6.2.2 Product B9.6.3 Qbox Android TV Box Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)9.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview...10 Android TV Box Maufacturing Cost Analysis10.1 Android TV Box Key Raw Materials Analysis10.1.1 Key Raw Materials10.1.2 Price Trend of Key Raw Materials10.1.3 Key Suppliers of Raw Materials10.1.4 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials10.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost Structure10.2.1 Raw Materials10.2.2 Labor Cost10.2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Android TV Box10.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Android TV Box11 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers11.1 Android TV Box Industrial Chain Analysis11.2 Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing11.3 Raw Materials Sources of Android TV Box Major Manufacturers in 201611.4 Downstream Buyers12 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders12.1 Marketing Channel12.1.1 Direct Marketing12.1.2 Indirect Marketing12.1.3 Marketing Channel Development Trend12.2 Market Positioning12.2.1 Pricing Strategy12.2.2 Brand Strategy12.2.3 Target Client12.3 Distributors/Traders List13 Market Effect Factors Analysis13.1 Technology Progress/Risk13.1.1 Substitutes Threat13.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry13.2 Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Change13.3 Economic/Political Environmental Change14 Global Android TV Box Market Forecast (2017-2022)14.1 Global Android TV Box Sales Volume, Revenue and Price Forecast (2017-2022)14.1.1 Global Android TV Box Sales Volume and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)14.1.2 Global Android TV Box Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)14.1.3 Global Android TV Box Price and Trend Forecast (2017-2022)14.2 Global Android TV Box Sales Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast by Region (2017-2022)14.2.1 Global Android TV Box Sales Volume and Growth Rate Forecast by Regions (2017-2022)14.2.2 Global Android TV Box Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast by Regions (2017-2022)14.2.3 United States Android TV Box Sales Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)14.2.4 China Android TV Box Sales Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)14.2.5 Europe Android TV Box Sales Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)14.2.6 Japan Android TV Box Sales Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)14.2.7 Southeast Asia Android TV Box Sales Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)14.2.8 India Android TV Box Sales Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)14.3 Global Android TV Box Sales Volume, Revenue and Price Forecast by Type (2017-2022)14.3.1 Global Android TV Box Sales Forecast by Type (2017-2022)14.3.2 Global Android TV Box Revenue Forecast by Type (2017-2022)14.3.3 Global Android TV Box Price Forecast by Type (2017-2022)14.4 Global Android TV Box Sales Volume Forecast by Application (2017-2022)15 Research Findings and Conclusion16 Appendix16.1 Methodology/Research Approach16.1.1 Research Programs/Design16.1.2 Market Size Estimation16.1.3 Market Breakdown and Data Triangulation16.2 Data Source16.2.1 Secondary Sources16.2.2 Primary Sources16.3 DisclaimerMake 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 @
Coronary Stent Market : Overview, Region-wise Outlook 2017 - 2025

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Global Coronary Stent Market: OverviewThe alarming rise in the number of cardiovascular diseases has become the primary growth driver for the global coronary stent market. Changing lifestyles that are characterized by high stress levels, alcohol consumption, smoking, and poor choice of food habits have collectively led to questionable heart health for the global market. The World Health Organization states that the cardiovascular diseases have become the leading cause of deaths across the globe. As this problem aggravates, the global coronary stent market is projected to see a terrific growth rate between the forecast period of 2017 and 2025.Global Coronary Stent Market: Key TrendsThe growing demand for better cardiovascular healthcare has been recognized as a key factor encouraging the growth of the global coronary stent market. The market is poised to witness a soaring success in the coming few years as high levels of scientific innovations brought into a range of coronary stents. At the same time, the market has also become more competitive due to an influx of products and establishment of several new players. Thus, the affordable pricing of coronary stents is also offering businesses in the global coronary stent market a new lease of life.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Besides competitive pricing, players are also offering products that promise utmost safety, efficacy, quality, and an effective outcome. As companies comply with set standards of quality, they are well-positioned to remain in power over the forecast period. The various products available in the global coronary stent market are drug-eluting stents, bio-absorbable stents, and bare-metal stents. Out of these, analysts predict that bio-absorbable stents are likely to gain significant momentum as they are known to improve abnormal endothelial function, restore normal vasomotion, and reduce the risk of inflammation and thrombosis.Global Coronary Stent Market: Market PotentialThe supportive stance of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accelerated the production of innovative coronary stents in the past few years. For instance, CeloNova Biosciences, Inc. recently received an approval from the U.S. FDA for its COBRA PzF NanoCoated Coronary Stent System, the first of its kind. The stent has a biocompatible proprietary nanothin polymer coating, which needs a month of dual antiplatelet therapy regimen post surgery. The new stent has been designed to better the coronary luminal diameter. It is expected to benefit patients suffering from symptomatic ischemic heart disease, which will also include diabetic patients with heart diseases. Thus, the efforts to launch effective products that better the quality of life along with support from regulatory authorities are expected to favor market growth in the near future.Request TOC of the Report @Global Coronary Stent Market: Regional OutlookIn terms of geography, the global coronary stent market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Of these, North America coronary stent market is expected to hold a dominant share in the overall market as the region has a well-established healthcare infrastructure. Increasing investments in research and development of medical devices and higher acceptance of latest technologies have collectively aided this regional markets lead in the global market.Analysts expect Asia Pacific to be instrumental to the rise of the global coronary stent market in the coming years. With a huge population base, Asia Pacific is likely to offer lucrative opportunities for the uptake of coronary stents in the near future. Furthermore, the budding medical tourism industry in the emerging economies of Asia Pacific are also expected to drive the coronary stent market in the region over the forecast period.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Key Players Mentioned in this Report are:Some of the leading players operating in the global coronary stent market are TERUMO CORPORATION, Medtronic plc, Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Boston Scientific Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, Biosensors International Group, Ltd., BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG, STENTYS SA, B. Braun Melsungen AG, MicroPort Scientific Corporation, Translumina GmbH, and Vascular Concepts.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
Automotive Wire Market Capacity, Generation, Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles report to 2017

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Global Automotive Wire Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 is the latest market intelligence on growth drivers, industry and regional trends, competitive landscape scenario as well as upstream and downstream sectors.Automotive Wire Market :Automotive wire is an important part of automotive electronic control system. It is bonded, twisted, or braided together to form a single assembly as the circuit in an automotive. Automotive wires are used to transmit electric power, data and other signals as voice in the vehicles. The working environment required the wire to have characteristics like high temperature resistant.Request a sample copy of Automotive Wire Market Research Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Automotive Wire 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 coversYazaki, Sumitomo Electric, Delphi, LEONI, Lear, Yura, Furukawa Electric, Coficab, PKC Group, Kyungshin, Beijing Force, Fujikura, Coroplast, General Cable, Shanghai Shenglong, Beijing S.P.LMarket 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, coversCooper Core, Aluminum Core, OthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoBody, Chassis, Engine, HVAC, Speed Sensors, OtherEnquire about Automotive Wire Market Research Report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Automotive Wire market.Chapter 1, to describe Automotive Wire Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force; Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Automotive Wire, with sales, revenue, and price of Automotive Wire, 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 Automotive Wire, 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, Automotive Wire market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022; Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Automotive Wire sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceFor more information About Automotive Wire Market Research Report Please Visit @Related Reports: -Global Automotive Wire Market Research Report 2017The major players in global Automotive Wire market include Yazaki Sumitomo Electric Delphi LEONI Lear Yura Furukawa Electric Coficab PKC Group Kyungshin Beijing Force Fujikura Coroplast...About Us:Centralize market research purchases across your entire organization in one place.Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News:
Global Multilayer Wood Flooring Industry Market Research Report 2017

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SummaryThe Global Multilayer Wood Flooring Industry 2017 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Multilayer Wood Flooring industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Multilayer Wood Flooring 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 Multilayer Wood Flooring 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):Power DekorYangzi FloorKENTIERASSUNGOOSIGNPARROTElegant LivingIlife FlooringHaotaitaiMapLe'sBaierFuren Flooring...Key Topics Covered:Chapter One Industry Overview of Multilayer Wood FlooringChapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Multilayer Wood FlooringChapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Multilayer Wood FlooringChapter Four Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Multilayer Wood Flooring by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Five Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Multilayer Wood Flooring by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Six Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Sale Price Analysis of Multilayer Wood Flooring by Regions, Types and ApplicationsChapter Seven Supply, Import, Export and Consumption Analysis of Multilayer Wood FlooringChapter Eight Major Manufacturers Analysis of Multilayer Wood FlooringChapter Nine Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Multilayer Wood FlooringChapter Ten Industry Chain Analysis of Multilayer Wood FlooringChapter Eleven Development Trend of Analysis of Multilayer Wood FlooringChapter Twelve New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Multilayer Wood FlooringChapter Thirteen Conclusion of the Global Multilayer Wood Flooring Industry 2017 Market Research ReportRelated Reports:US Multilayer Wood Flooring Industry Market Research Report 2017Europe Multilayer Wood Flooring Industry Market Research Report 2017India Multilayer Wood Flooring Industry Market Research Report 2017China Multilayer Wood Flooring Industry Market Research Report 2017Korea Multilayer Wood Flooring Industry Market Research Report 2017Japan Multilayer Wood Flooring 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)
Automotive Timing Belt Market SWOT Analytics of Top Key Players Forecast To 2022

Automotive Timing Belt Market

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The Automotive Timing Belt Research Report Forecast 2017-2022 is a valuable source of insightful data for business strategists. It provides the Automotive Timing Belt industry overview with growth analysis and historical & futuristic cost, revenue, demand and supply data (as applicable). The research analysts provide an elaborate description of the value chain and its distributor analysis.For this report, the Automotive Timing Belt market value is provided for 2016 in USD millions, an expected CAGR % as well as USD million worth of industry in 2022. Regionally, the globe is segmented into United States, China, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia and India to study their market size and local analysis. End user applications of Automotive Timing Belt market covering OEM and Aftermarket are studied in this research. Share of Automotive Timing Belt market is covered by applications as well supported with potential applications in the future.Buy the complete Automotive Timing Belt report with Comprehensive table of contents @The research methodology used to estimate and forecast the Automotive Timing Belt market involves a primary and a secondary research. A systematic procedure has been used to arrive at the global size of the Automotive Timing Belt market and present revenue of key players in the market. Accurate data has been collected by conducting extensive interviews with people holding key decision making positions in the industry such as CEOs, VPs, directors, and executives.Inquire for discount for this report @Industry chain analysis covering upstream raw materials and equipments of Automotive Timing Belt market, their suppliers' information as well as analysis of downstream major consumers for Automotive Timing Belt is provided to understand the complete industry chain structure. Overall market analyzed in this report is divided by regions, types and manufacturers/companies. The research estimates 2017-2022 Automotive Timing Belt market development trends covering capacity, production and revenue forecasts as well as regional supply consumption forecasts.Towards the end, this report includes a feasibility analysis of New Project Investment covering SWOT analysis of Automotive Timing Belt OR marketing strategy analysis and market effect factor analysis. Overall, the report provides factual insights collected and analyzed with detailed primary and secondary research on Automotive Timing Belt market.The research compiles profiles of small and big Automotive Timing Belt market companies covering their product details as well as important statistics on production, capacity, price and more. These active companies' numbers are supported with information on marketing traders and/or distributors of the Automotive Timing Belt industry along with their contact information. This data gives valuable industry insights and direction to individuals and/or companies that are new entrants, eyeing to enter or grow in the Automotive Timing Belt market. Some of the Key vendors profiled in this research include: ContiTech (Continental) Gates Corporation B&B MANUFACTURING The Carlstar Group ACDelco Bando USA Federal-Mogul Motorparts Corporation Dayco Goodyear SKF Tsubaki MAHLE J.K. Fenner (India) Limited Ningbo Beidi Synchronous Belt Ningbo Fulong Synchronous BeltPartial list of Tables and Figures for this report include:Table Global Automotive Timing Belt Capacity (K Units) of Key Manufacturers (2012-2017)Table Global Automotive Timing Belt Capacity Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2012-2017)Figure Global Automotive Timing Belt Capacity (K Units) of Key Manufacturers in 2016Figure Global Automotive Timing Belt Capacity (K Units) of Key Manufacturers in 2017Figure Global Automotive Timing Belt Major Players Product Production (K Units) (2012-2017)Table Global Automotive Timing Belt Production (K Units) of Key Manufacturers (2012-2017)Table Global Automotive Timing Belt Production Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)Figure 2016 Automotive Timing Belt Production Share by ManufacturersFigure 2017 Automotive Timing Belt Production Share by ManufacturersFigure Global Automotive Timing Belt Major Players Product Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)Table Global Automotive Timing Belt Revenue (Million USD) by Manufacturers (2012-2017)Table Global Automotive Timing Belt Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)Table 2016 Global Automotive Timing Belt Revenue Share by ManufacturersAbout Us:eMarketOrg.com aims to provide businesses and organizations market intelligence products and services that help in making smart, instant and crucial decisions. Our database offers access to insights from industry leaders, experts and influencers on global and regional sectors, market trends, user behaviour, for companies as well as products. With data and information from reputable and trusted private and public sources, our clients are never short of statistics and analysis that are up to date.Contact Details:Ronald Aldensales@emarketorg.cominfo@emarketorg.comeMarketOrg.com aims to provide businesses and organizations market intelligence products and services that help in making smart, instant and crucial decisions. Our database offers access to insights from industry leaders, experts and influencers on global and regional sectors, market trends, user behaviour, for companies as well as products. With data and information from reputable and trusted private and public sources, our clients are never short of statistics and analysis that are up to date.Starting with market research reports, eMarketOrg.com plans to add conferences, knowledge products, which can be periodically subscribed to, and more to its range of business offerings. Spread across the globe, our network of partners, in collaboration with our service specialists, ensure that our clients receive the right product, service and/or solution that meet their requirements in convenient timelines and within comfortable budgets that neither go underutilized nor dig a big hole into their monthly, quarterly and/or yearly spends.Get in touch with us to experience a new one-stop market intelligence and business service.F/3, 4A Bharat Pushpa Apt.,Subhash Nagar, Shukrawar Peth,Pune  411002
Latest DJI SDK and Extend Support for DJI Spark Drone To Build Economic Drone Solutions

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DJI has launched their latest Drone SDK recently and a very handy new drone called DJI Spark. Canopus Infosystems, a provider of the prominent technologies of the web and mobile applications, develops a tremendous number of Drone based Apps for different businesses. The company supports custom drone based solutions as well as DJI SDK-based solutions. Canopus is supporting the Drone solutions development by using the latest DJI Drone SDK. Canopus is supporting the latest DJI SDK capabilities and upgrades to its drone solutions.Unlike other Quadcopters, Spark is smaller in size and can be operated without a Controller and a Phone. However, like other DJI Drones, the Spark also returns automatically to its take-off point by sensing all the obstacles in the flight path.Read More:QuickShot, the new Flying Mode is the actual attraction of the Spark. It has four moves, namely: Rocket, Helix, Circle and Dronie. Quickshot provides an editing tool after video recording by which the video can be created and shared with music clips!Canopus Infosystems, an Indian Technology Company is one of the emerging names in the Mobile Application and Web Development Industry. They integrate their software and services with the DJIs framework to increase the accuracy and scalability of different platforms and sets a striking impact on Drone based App Development Industry.The company aims to create well-designed, productive and dominant applications for the different sectors that use Drones. Some of the notable business cases, they provide are:Monitoring At Construction SiteAgriculture Field MonitoringAerial PhotographyDelivering Products and PackagesLaw EnforcementCommercial aerial surveillanceJournalismSurveying & MonitoringEvent Monitoring and ManagementFilm MakingTraffic MonitoringGeological and Archeological R&DCanopus Infosystems is an expert in providing services in the trending technologies and concentrate on (Social, Mobility, Data Analytics, Cloud) stack. They have a highly capable team of Web and Mobile Developers who are specialists in implementing Drone Apps from scratch.Canopus Infosystems is an ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company that specializes in providing outsourced web & mobile development and testing services to clients worldwide. We are a full software services provider creating best in class web and mobile solutions for some of the most exciting startups and progressive enterprises303-304, Airen Heights, PU 3Scheme 54, A. B. Road, Opp. OrbitMall,Indore M.P.INDIA  452010Phone: +91 731-2551963Email: sales@canopusinfosystems.com
Human Microbiome Market : Estimated to Soar Higher by 2025

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Global Human Microbiome Market: OverviewThe trillions of microorganisms living in and on the human body are collectively referred to as human microbiome. These microorganisms include bacteria, protozoa, and fungi. They exhibit a mutualistic relationship and have, therefore, evolved with their human hosts. Through groundbreaking researches, scientists have been able to recognize the vital role of these microorganisms in maintaining the immune system, digestive system, neurological system, and vitamin synthesis. Owing to the rising awareness regarding their benefits, the global market for human microbiome is expected to gain tremendous traction over the coming years. Human microbiome-based therapies are available in the form of foods, prebiotics, diagnostic devices, probiotics, medical foods, drugs, and supplements.Global Human Microbiome Market: Key TrendsGlobally, there is an expanding base of patients suffering from lifestyle diseases, autoimmune disorders, and chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and cancer. The growing preference for human microbiome-based therapies in the treatment of these diseases is providing a fillip to the market. Moreover, these therapies are being increasingly used in early disease detection and diagnosis and drug development. Rapid advancements in the field of life science and increasing geriatric population are also augmenting the global human microbiome market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @On the other hand, the lack of comprehensive research and technical expertise is hampering the growth of the market. Furthermore, stringent government regulations pertaining to the approval of human microbiome-based therapies are creating a major impediment to the growth of the market.Global Human Microbiome Market: Market PotentialGrowing investments by governments in the development of human microbiome-based therapies are creating abundant growth opportunities for the global market for human microbiome. A case in point is the Microbiome Initiative taken by the U.S. government in May 2016. The U.S. government decided to invest US$121 mn into the program. It will be cosponsored by agencies such as the National Institute of Health, the US Department of Agriculture, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy. Additionally, more than 100 external organizations will pour funds into the initiative. Industrial experts estimate that if the political scenario remains favorable, the initiative will pave for breakthrough discoveries and innovations that will change the way various diseases were treated until now.Request TOC of the Report @Global Human Microbiome Market: Geographical SegmentationNorth America and Europe will command a large combined chunk of the revenue pie throughout the forecast period. The widening base of geriatric population and the growing prevalence of lifestyle diseases and autoimmune disorders are among the primary factors fuelling the growth of the regions. The presence of advanced biotechnological and microbiological research infrastructure is leveraging the uptake of prebiotics and probiotics. While in North America, the U.S. will be at the forefront of growth, in Europe, Spain, France, and Germany will be the major revenue contributors.Asia Pacific will be a promising contender in the market, owing to the increasing investments by governments and private organizations for research and development in the field of life science. The improving research infrastructure in emerging countries is providing a significant boost to the growth of the region. India and China will be the sights of high growth rate over the forthcoming years.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Global Human Microbiome Market: Competitive LandscapeResearch and development are the areas of key focus for companies operating in the global human microbiome market in order to stay ahead. Players are trying to expand their geographical outreach by acquiring regional players. Some of the key players in the market are Merck, Enterome Bioscience, DuPont, Yakult, MicroBiome Therapeutics LLC, ViThera Pharmaceuticals, Osel, Vedanta BioSciences, and Metabiomics Corporation.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 Quartz Industry Market Research Report 2017

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SummaryThe Global Quartz Industry 2017 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Quartz industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Quartz 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 Quartz 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):Cosentino GroupCaesarstoneCompacDupontHanwha L&CLG HausysCambriaSanta MargheritaZhongxunVicostoneQuartz MasterQuarellaSEIEFFESinostone...Key Topics Covered:Chapter One Industry Overview of QuartzChapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of QuartzChapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of QuartzChapter Four Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Quartz by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Five Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Quartz by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Six Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Sale Price Analysis of Quartz by Regions, Types and ApplicationsChapter Seven Supply, Import, Export and Consumption Analysis of QuartzChapter Eight Major Manufacturers Analysis of QuartzChapter Nine Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of QuartzChapter Ten Industry Chain Analysis of QuartzChapter Eleven Development Trend of Analysis of QuartzChapter Twelve New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of QuartzChapter Thirteen Conclusion of the Global Quartz Industry 2017 Market Research ReportRelated Reports:US Quartz Industry Market Research Report 2017Europe Quartz Industry Market Research Report 2017India Quartz Industry Market Research Report 2017China Quartz Industry Market Research Report 2017Korea Quartz Industry Market Research Report 2017Japan Quartz 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)
Blood Clot Retrieval Devices Market with Current Trends Analysis, 2016-2026

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A stroke is a sudden loss of blood circulation in an area of the brain which may result in loss of neurological functioning. Strokes are generally of three types Ischemic Stroke (caused due to blood clots), Hemorrhagic stroke (caused when there is a rupture in arteries) and lastly transient ischemic attack (caused when blood flow to the brain is blocked for a short time).In early 1980s the blood clot retrieval devices used for endovascular revascularization were based on intra-arterial and selective thrombolytic agents. Another methodology proposed was the use of a combination of intra-arterial thrombolytic and use of ultrasound to disrupt the clot. The clot retrieval process is performed within eight hours of the onset of stroke symptoms, the whole process of blood clot retrieval takes about two hours.Blood Clot retrieval devices were first developed to extract errant coils and foreign bodies which became immobilized in the cerebral circulation during endovascular procedures. Over a period these devices were used remove thromboembolic clots using guide catheters. The first treatment for clot retrieval was done using local micro-catheters as blood clot retrieval devices. These processes were mostly intravenous thrombolysis or endovascular revascularization. Blood clot retrieval devices of the first generation mainly targeted cerebral ischemia.Request For Report Sample@The first generation blood clot retrieval devices comprised of Mechanical Embolus Removal in Cerebral Ischemia (MERCI), MERCI blood clot retrieval devices was used in individuals who had moderate to severe stroke. The second blood clot retrieval device used for clot retrieval was Penumbra clot aspiration system. The Penumbra blood clot retrieval device uses a large lumen catheter attached to a vacuum pump. The second generation of blood clot retrieval devices uses of non-detachable neurovascular stents for removal of the clot. The primary objective of these blood clot retrieval devices was to assist the coiling during revascularization in individuals. Stent-based blood clot retrieval devices operate by firstly, by deploying the stent into the clot which immediately restores the blood flow and the mesh embedded on the stent retriever remove the clot. Over the past few years with the help of technological advancements in the development of blood clot retrieval devices tremendous progress has been made in the endovascular management of acute ischemic stroke.Blood Clot Retrieval Devices Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global market for blood clot retrieval devices is expected to be driven by the advancement in technology and increased the prevalence of stroke. Moreover, increased use of blood clot retrieval devices in elderly patients, improved patient selection using imaging and clinical results, use of an advance instrument for guiding catheter placement are some factors anticipated to fuel the growth of global portable ultrasound scanners market within the forecast period of 2016-2026.The restraining factor for the blood clot retrieval devices market is a lack of trained professionals, futile recanalization procedures which occur due to unfavorable result and device malfunctioning during blood clot retrieval.Blood Clot Retrieval Devices Market: SegmentationThe global blood clot retrieval market is classified on the basis of stroke type, device type, end user and geography.Based on stroke type, the global blood clot retrieval devices market is segmented into the following:Ischemic Stroke (blood clot)Hemorrhagic Stroke(rupturing of arteries)Transient Ischemic AttackBased on device type, the global blood clot retrieval devices market is segmented into the following:Mechanical EmbolusRemoval DevicesPenumbra Blood Clot Retrieval DevicesStent RetrieversUltrasound Assisted DevicesBased on end user, the global blood clot retrieval device market is segmented into the following:HospitalsDiagnostic centersClinicsAmbulatory Surgical CentersBlood Clot Retrieval Devices Market: OverviewCost-affectivity of blood clot retrieval devices and ongoing researches on improving the quality of care for continence would create an attractive growth opportunities for the Blood Clot Retrieval Devices market. The hospitals end user segment is expected to hold the highest market share in the global market for blood clot retrieval devices. Deaths occurring because of stroke is third highest in countries like United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan.According to American Heart Association, there are about 800,000 new strokes reported each year, out of which 80% are ischemic strokes rest are hemorrhagic strokes.Blood Clot Retrieval Devices Market: Regional OverviewRegion wise, the global Blood Clot Retrieval Devices market is classified into regions namely, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America dominated the global market for blood clot retrieval devices because of better reimbursement policies for diagnostic procedures. Increasing number of local players providing blood clot retrieval devices at lower cost in countries such as China is expected to boost the market growth in APEJ region.Visit For TOC@Blood Clot Retrieval Devices Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in global Blood Clot Retrieval Devices market include Bayer HealthCare LLC, Boston Scientific Corp., Argon Medical Devices Inc., Medtronic plc. Teleflex Incorporated, Penumbra Inc., AngioDynamics, Inc., Terumo Corporation, Johnson and Johnson, Inc., ECKOS Corporation and others. Most of the providers of blood clot retrieval devices are adopting the strategy of providing these products through e-commerce, so that buyers can browse the products according to their needs.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:
Wearable Injectors Market Forecast Research Reports Offers Key Insights

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Wearable injectors are drug delivery devices created for single-use wearable device technologies which are designed to deliver large volume drugs to the patients over long durations. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are witnessing a growing trend of a diversion of their investments towards the development of routes of administration of biologics and other drugs particularly for subcutaneous self-administration by patient populations. Commercialization of patient-centric biologics and their conversion from intravenous (IV) infusion to subcutaneous injection has opened up significant opportunities in terms of costs. Wearable injectors have a primary container that is a cartridge or a collapsible reservoir, drug contact materials such as glass, plastic, elastomers, silicone oil, etc., a sterile fluid path from primary container to needle insertion mechanism (NIM) which could be a rigid needle or a soft cannula or an integrated NIM, tethered insertion set, or removable NIM accessory. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are continuously identifying approved as well as pipeline molecules that can be used with wearable injectors. Wearable injectors is an emerging technology similar to insulin pumps, but with faster drug delivery times. Wearable injectors generally administer 2-10 mL dose volumes. The steps for wearable injector use are as follows: patient needs to prepare the wearable injector, apply it on the injection site, press start to activate and dispose it off after use.Wearable Injectors Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global wearable injectors market is majorly driven by its advantage over traditional devices which are administered in large dose volumes and require subcutaneous injection. Wearable injectors provide ease of customization as per patient needs, affluent commercialization to suit manufacturing criteria with minimal regulatory risk and comfortable experience of drug delivery to patients. The benefit of wearable injectors over other drug delivery devices such as prefilled syringe is that wearable injectors limit the number of subcutaneous injections given to patients and enables reduced dosing frequency with an acceptable pain which eventually results in improved patient compliance during the course of patient treatment.Request For Report Sample@Wearable Injectors Market: SegmentationThe global wearable injectors market is classified on the basis of wearable injector type, usage, mechanism of injection, end user, therapeutic area and geography.Based on wearable injector type, the global wearable injectors market is segmented into the following:On-body (adhesive patch)Off-body (belt clip)Hand-HeldBased on usage, the global wearable injectors market is segmented into the following:DisposableSemi-ReusableBased on mechanism of injection, the global wearable injectors market is segmented into the following:Spring-BasedMotor-DrivenRotary PumpExpanding BatteryPressurized GasCollapsible ReservoirBased on therapeutic area, the global wearable injectors market is segmented into the following:OncologyDiabetesAuto-Immune DisordersCardiovascularInfectious DiseasesOthers (Neurology, etc.)Based on end user, the global wearable injectors market is segmented into the following:HospitalsClinicsHome Care SettingsAmbulatory Surgery CentresOthers (Physician office, etc.)Wearable Injectors Market: OverviewPioneering customer-centric approach in injectable drug delivery systems has enabled the key players in the global wearable injectors market to deliver efficient customization of each product and address specific customer, drug and patient needs. Off-body & hand-held wearable injector types have gained acceptance among the patient population as compared to adhesive patches. Hence, the adhesive patch segment growth is expected to be limited by factors such as painful removal, induction of sensitivity on skin and irritation, adhesive fitting issues, etc. Home care settings end user segment is projected to register highest CAGR during 2016-2026 owing to the robust features of wearable injectors which are designed mainly on basis of the patient compliance towards drug delivery devices.Wearable Injectors Market: Regional OverviewRegion wise, the global Wearable Injectors market is classified into regions namely, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America is expected to dominate the market due to early availability of advanced technologies and higher penetration of health care services across U.S. Wearable injectors market in the U.S. & Japan is driven by increasing use of reusable technology and launch of technologically advanced drug delivery devices. Easy availability, better marketing, efficacy in long term dosage, and most prominently rising number of patients in Western & Eastern Europe are the major factors that are anticipated to drive demand of wearable injectors in these regions through 2026. In APEJ, Latin America & MEA, it is expected that the demand for reusable devices will increase at rapid pace owing to growing use of mobile applications during the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Wearable Injectors Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in global wearable injectors market include SteadyMed Therapeutics, Inc., Enable Injections, UNILIFE CORPORATION, Insulet Corporation, Sensile Medical AG, Becton, Dickinson and Company, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., Buhler Motor GmbH, Ypsomed, Amgen Inc., among others. Every biologic, small molecule and vaccine has specific formulation, patient and commercial requirements and hence, the pharmaceutical companies have appointed a device partner for drug delivery through wearable injector technology.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:
Microgrid Market to Expand with Significant by 2025

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Global Microgrid Market: OverviewA microgrid differentiates itself from traditional grid with its capability to work independently as a local energy grid during crisis times such as power outages and storms. Apart from providing a grid backup, microgrids can work to connect to unreliable or small-sized local resources, cut costs, and become more environment-friendly at times. Microgrids can operate indefinitely depending on the management of its fuel and other requirements. Renewable resources such as solar panels, batteries, and distributed generators can be employed to power microgrids.Global Microgrid Market: Key TrendsThe world microgrid market could expand at a double-digit CAGR during the forecast years as a result of a swelling demand from remote electrification projects undergoing expansions and economies concentrating on innovations. However, the world market is anticipated to experience a slowdown in growth on account of high initial cost of installation and the connection of multisite microgrids bordered by utility franchise rights. Nonetheless, market players can possibly make progress against the trials with opportunities birthed in various types of segmentation.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Remote or island microgrids are expected to grow in significance and vitally benefit the world microgrid market due to the decrease in power generation cost when compared to centralized power grids. Besides this, less generation of heat and smog and other environmental benefits coupled with a substantial drop in the prices of wind power and solar photovoltaic (PV) sources are predicted to help the remote or island microgrids market grow remarkably.The soaring acceptance witnessed in the global microgrid market for software across utilities, municipalities, commercial and industrial sites, and university campuses is prognosticated to decently benefit manufacturers. With the help of load and weather forecasting, software as a service (SaaS) can allow the dynamic control and management of distributed energy resources.Request TOC of the Report @Global Microgrid Market: Market PotentialNot-for-profit open standards enterprise, EMerge Alliance has received business from one of the largest solar trade shows in North America, i.e. Solar Power International (SPI), to expand its footprint. The business expansion will incorporate microgrid ecosystems and a complete smart building in its Smart Energy Microgrid Marketplace. The facility will exhibit an ultimate connection between smart energy products and solar power with a fully-functioning live microgrid and associated products such as electric vehicle charging, automation products, and energy management systems. The SPI 2017 Smart Energy Microgrid Marketplace to be held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas Nevada in September is also expected to showcase solar panel manufacturers and energy storage providers.Global Microgrid Market: Regional OutlookForeseen to rise at a higher CAGR, the Asia Pacific microgrid market could gain an upper hand in the industry as players as well as regional governments take several initiatives to magnify the adoption of microgrid solutions. Other geographies such as Rest of the World, Europe, and the Americas are foretold to emerge as key markets for players to capitalize on. Howbeit, it all depends on how the regional markets face the odds and leverage the opportunities made available by the driving factors taking precedence therein.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Global Microgrid Market: Competitive LandscapeExelon Corporation, Siemens AG, Eaton Corporation PLC, General Electric, and ABB Ltd. are some of the dominating companies making their presence known in the global microgrid market. For the purpose of enhancing their revenue base, market players are envisaged to consider strategic expansions and launch of novel products. An integrated solar diesel microgrid was commissioned to be installed in Johannesburg, South Africa by ABB at its Longmeadow facility of 96,000 m2 capacity. The solution is aimed at covering all planned and unplanned power outages by ensuring an uninterrupted power supply with the help of off-grid and fully grid-connected functionalities.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
Physical Security Market to Witness an Outstanding Growth by 2017  2025

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Global Physical Security Market: OverviewThe global market for physical security is likely to grow at a progressive rate in the next few years. The growing demand from a wide range of industries across the globe is estimated to benefit the key players operating in the global market. As a result, several new players are making notable efforts to expand their product horizon and enter the market in the coming years. Moreover, the increasing popularity of Internet of Things is expected to generate several growth opportunities for the market players.Global Physical Security Market: Key TrendsThe leading players in the global physical security market are focusing on technological developments and innovations, including video surveillance, which is estimated to contribute towards the development of the market. In addition, the current developments of smart cities and the increasing use of IP-based cameras is projected to supplement the growth of the global physical security market in the forecast period. Furthermore, the stringent rules and regulations and security compliances associated with physical security are likely to fuel the markets growth in the near future.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Physical Security Market: Market PotentialThe rising incidences of criminal activities and terror attacks are projected to fuel the growth of the global physical security market in the next few years. In addition, the rising need to protect employees, business assets, and consumers is considered as a major factor predicted to accelerate the growth of the market in the near future.On the contrary, the lack of synergy among security solutions and the reduced use of advanced technologies are estimated to restrict the development of the physical security market in the near future. Moreover, the key players in the market are expected to face several challenges, owing to the integration of physical and logical components of security. This is projected to hamper the growth of the market. Nonetheless, the rising use of Internet of Things is estimated to generate promising opportunities for key players in the global physical security market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Physical Security Market: Regional OutlookFrom a regional viewpoint, North America is anticipated to account for a massive share of the global physical security market in the next few years. The high growth of this region can be attributed to the growing need for security against illegal immigration, rising terrorist activities, and other criminal activities. In addition, several advancements in technology, including the introduction of video surveillance are projected to accelerate the growth of the North America market in the near future.On the flip side, Asia Pacific is likely to exhibit a considerable growth throughout the forecast period. The increasing investments by a large number of small and big organizations for physical security are anticipated to supplement the growth of the market in Asia Pacific in the next few years. In addition, the increasing contribution from Japan, India, China, and Australia is predicted to accelerate the growth of the market in the coming years.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Global Physical Security Market: Competitive AnalysisThe global physical security market is predicted to witness a high level of competition in the next few years. Some of the leading players operating in the physical security market across the globe are Bosch Security Systems, Inc., Pelco, Senstar Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Genetec Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., Stanley Security, Tyco International PLC, Anixter International Inc., and ADT Corporation.A tremendous rise in the number of criminal activities and terror attacks across the globe are anticipated to encourage the growth of the global physical security market in the coming few years. Technological advancements and the expansion of the product portfolio are projected to offer promising opportunities for key players operating in the physical security market across the globe.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 Frozen Potato Market Trend

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According to a new report Global Frozen Potato Market (2016-2022), published by KBV Research, the global Frozen Potato Market is expected to attain a market size of $65.3 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 4.4% during the forecast period.The Commercial market dominated the Global Frozen Potato Market by End User in 2015, and would continue to be a dominant market till 2022, and is expected to witness a CAGR of 3.7% during (2016  2022).The French Fries market dominated the Global Frozen Potato Market by Product Type in 2015, and would continue to be a dominant market till 2022, growing at a CAGR of 3.6 % during the forecast period. The Sweet Potatoes/Yam market is expected to witness a CAGR of 3.9% during (2016  2022). Additionally, The Topped/ Stuffed market is expected to witness highest CAGR of 7.8% during (2016  2022).The North America market dominated the Global Twice Baked Frozen Potato Market by Region in 2015, growing at a CAGR of 5.3 % during the forecast period. However, Asia-Pacific market would attain market value of $1,371.8 million by 2022. Additionally, The Europe market is expected to witness a CAGR of 5.2% during (2016  2022).The report has exhaustive quantitative insights providing a clear picture of the market potential in various segments across the globe with country wise analysis in each discussed region. The key influencing factors of the global Frozen Potatohave been discussed in the report along with the elaborated company profiles of McCain Foods Limited, J.R. Simplot Company, Lamb Weston, Agrarfrost Holding Gmbh& Co. KG, Agristo, Barts Potato Company, Himalya International, and KoninklijkCooperatieCosun U.A (Royal Cosun).Full report Global Frozen Potato SegmentationBy End-userCommercialResidentialBy Product TypeFrench FriesHash BrownShapesMashedSweet Potatoes/YamBattered/ CookedTwice BakedTopped/ StuffedOthersBy GeographyNorth America Frozen Potato MarketUS Frozen Potato MarketCanada Frozen Potato MarketMexico Frozen Potato MarketRest of North America Frozen Potato MarketEurope Frozen Potato MarketGermany Frozen Potato MarketUK. Frozen Potato MarketFrance Frozen Potato MarketRussia Frozen Potato MarketSpain Frozen Potato MarketItaly Frozen Potato MarketRest of Europe Frozen Potato MarketAsia-Pacific Frozen Potato MarketChina Frozen Potato MarketJapan Frozen Potato MarketIndia Frozen Potato MarketSouth Korea Frozen Potato MarketSingapore Frozen Potato MarketAustraliaFrozen Potato MarketRest of Asia-Pacific Frozen Potato MarketLAMEA Frozen Potato MarketBrazil Frozen Potato MarketArgentina Frozen Potato MarketUAE Frozen Potato MarketSaudi Arabia Frozen Potato MarketSouth Africa Frozen Potato MarketNigeria Frozen Potato MarketRest of LAMEA Frozen Potato MarketCompanies ProfiledMcCain Foods LimitedR. Simplot CompanyLamb WestonAgrarfrost Holding Gmbh& Co. KGAgristoBarts Potato CompanyHimalya InternationalKoninklijkCooperatieCosun U.A (Royal Cosun)Unique Offerings from KBV ResearchExhaustive coverage of Global Frozen Potato MarketHighest number of market tables and figuresUnique Market Research & Analytics Tool to provide instant comparative analysis within the reportSubscription based model availableFree of cost quarterly updatesGuaranteed best priceAssured post sales research support with 10% customization freeRelated ReportsNorth America Frozen Potato Market (2016-2022)Latin America, Middle East and Africa Frozen Potato Market (2016-2022)Europe Frozen Potato Market (2016-2022)Asia-Pacific Frozen Potato Market (2016-2022)Contact us:4F - CS - 27, Ansal PlazaSector - 1, Vaishali - 201010Delhi NCR, Ghaziabad, IndiaTel: 0120-4968631 / +91-9990696033Email : info@kbvresearch.comLike us:Tweet us:Pin us:Like:Knowledge Based Value Research is a global brand and consulting firm serving all kinds of business verticals, government and non-governmental organizations, and not-for-profit organizations.Our motto is to extend our services that will have a lasting impact on our clients who trust us with their business goals.Email : info@kbvresearch.com4F - CS - 27, Ansal PlazaSector - 1, Vaishali - 201010Delhi NCR, Ghaziabad, IndiaTel: 0120-4968631 / +91-9990696033Email : info@kbvresearch.com
Global Facial Paper Cutting Machine Industry Analysis and Opportunities Assessment during the Period of 2017  2021

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The discussion of facial paper cutting machine in the global market can be found in a recently added report titled as, Global Facial Paper Cutting Machine Industry 2017, Trends and Forecast Report. This study has been published to the vast archive of Market Research Hubs (MRH) research reports. This 167-page report inspects the overall performance of the facial paper cutting machine by considering the various factors like production volume, revenue, consumption and import/export during the period of 2012 to 2017. Besides, the report also assesses the growth rate of the market for the period until 2021.Request Free Sample Report:Firstly, the report starts with a market overview which includes application, definition and classification as well as industry chain mechanism. Present state of the key regions such as Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe, United States and countries such as Japan, United States, China, United Kingdom, Germany and South Korea are also analyzed in the study. The objective of this report is to provide an in-depth analysis of the facial paper cutting machine and its impact based on type, applications and geographic regions. The study is a helpful source of data to leading market players, new entrants, and potential investors to assess necessary steps to be taken to achieve their targets and gain competitive edge.Asia facial paper cutting machine market analysis is carried out, which includes product development history, competitive landscape analysis and market development trend. Then, the report studies Asia facial paper cutting machine productions supply sales demand market status and forecast. Import and export consumption and machine cost price production value gross margin. Furthermore, the study highlights the market segmentation and the overall market is divided by companies, by regions and by type & application for the competitive landscape analysis. In this subsequent section, the report presents key market participants information in detail. Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand and current market dynamics is also carried out.Make An Enquiry:The report displays the company profile, product specifications, production value, consumption, capacity and 2012-2017 market shares for each company. Also, this report is a complete guidance material which provides a step-by-step guide to the different decision makers placed at several levels of the facial paper cutting machine. In the last section, the report includes industry supply, chain structure analysis and consumption forecast analysis along with SWOT analysis for new projects.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:
Global Study On Fruit Concentrate Puree Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026

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The Exotic Fruit segment in the global fruit concentrate puree market is estimated to be valued at more than US$ 400 Mn in 2017, which is estimated to increase at a CAGR of 5.7% over the forecast period to reach more than US$ 700 Mn by the end of 2026. The Exotic Fruit concentrate puree market is anticipated to record absolute $ opportunity of US$ 274.34 Mn between 2016 and 2026. The Exotic Fruit segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.8% in terms of volume over the forecast period.Request For a Sample Report:Rising demand for baby products containing exotic fruits is likely to create robust growth in the Exotic Fruit segmentThe rise in demand for baby food is expected to drive the growth of the Exotic Fruit segment during the forecasted period. Sales of instant baby foods is on the rise due to the fast paced life of modern day parents. The people living in urban areas dont have enough time to prepare food at home and thus tend to buy instant baby food products to fulfil the basic requirements of their infants. As most of the baby food products consist of exotic fruits such as banana, apple, melon and mango, there is a significantly high demand in the global market. Baby food products containing the puree of exotic fruits have a better taste and are most preferred by children, which in turn multiplies the sale of exotic fruit purees in the global fruit concentrate puree market. Exotic fruits are relatively cheaper than orchard or berry fruits. Consequently, various manufacturers are focussed towards providing puree concentrate made of exotic fruits. This factor is expected to create a positive impact on the Exotic Fruit segment.Send An Enquiry:Fruit juices are commonly prepared from juice concentrate. However, several juice manufacturers have now started using puree concentrate in fruit juices to give a smooth blend and to increase the thickness. Many types of puree concentrate especially the purees made from exotic fruits like apple puree concentrate is used in almost all the juices. Moreover, a large proportion of fibrous matter is naturally found in exotic fruits, which leads to an increasing demand for and growth of the Exotic Fruit segment in the global fruit concentrate puree market.Many companies in North America and Europe are launching smoothies and juice products prepared from exotic fruit puree concentrate in powder form with added minerals and nutrients. These companies are selling their products directly to end-users/customers for direct consumption. Also, application across various food and beverage products is likely to increase the volume and value growth of the Exotic Fruit segment in the global fruit concentrate puree market. The rising use of puree concentrate made from exotic fruits as a sweetener in snacks and baby products is also creating robust growth in the Exotic Fruit segment.Browse Full Report With TOC:Performance of the Exotic Fruit segment across the different regional fruit concentrate puree marketsThe tomato puree concentrate segment is expected to remain the dominant segment in terms of both value and volume in the North America, Western Europe, and MEA fruit concentrate puree markets. In Latin America, the banana puree concentrate segment is expected to dominate in terms of both value and volume from 2015 to 2026. In Eastern Europe, the pineapple puree concentrate segment is anticipated to remain the dominant segment in terms of value from 2015 to 2026. While in the APEJ fruit concentrate puree market, the mango puree concentrate segment is expected to dominate in terms of value throughout the forecast period.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:
Trends in the Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market 2017-2027

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Diabetes has evolved as one of the primary healthcare epidemic characterized by high sugar levels and principle cause of mortality worldwide. In 2014, World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 8.5% of adults living with diabetes. A diabetic person cannot either synthesize enough insulin (type 1 diabetes) or either does not make enough insulin or cannot effectively use the insulin produced by the body (type 2 diabetes). Another type of diabetes that occur in women during her pregnancy is gestational diabetes. However, gestational diabetes is usually resolved after delivery but can precede towards type 2 diabetes later in a womens life. Most of the continuous glucose monitoring devices are invasive and involves use of needles leading to increased chance of infection. Furthermore, the invasive glucose monitoring device is considered to be discrete glucose measurement system which cannot be practically used for continuous monitoring of blood glucose. Certain evidences of hyperglycemia between measurements are however not recorded thus resulting in false or no representation of the blood glucose pattern. Noninvasive monitoring of glucose levels eliminates the need of painful pricking with increased risk of infection, and amount of damage caused to the finger tissue.Therefore, non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring devices are being widely investigated and studied over the past few years for their ability to monitor glucose continuously under highly controlled (e.g. in-clinic) conditions. Various techniques that involves measurement of blood glucose levels non-invasively includes, Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), Mid -Infrared Spectroscopy (Mid-IRS), Raman Spectroscopy, Photo-acoustic Spectroscopy (PA), Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and many more.Request Report Sample@Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring DevicesMarket: Drivers & RestraintsRising prevalence of diabetes globally is expected to result in greater use of noninvasive blood glucose monitoring devices among the prevalent population. Owing to the several disadvantages imposed by the use of invasive blood glucose monitors and growing need to develop noninvasive glucose monitoring diagnostic techniques, the market for non- invasive blood glucose monitoring devices is expected to rise at a greater pace during the forecast period. For instance, in June 2015, researchers in U.K. developed blood glucose device that utilizes low-powered lasers in order to measure the blood glucose levels on the skin surface. Also a bench-top version of the system is currently in clinical trials studies which might land in the market over the next few years. This includes, a finger-touch device similar to a computer mouse and a wearable version for continuous blood glucose monitoring. In addition, increasing efforts by several startup manufacturers, for example, Prediktor Medical- a Norway based manufacturer is developing a wearable device for estimation of blood glucose levels based on the combination of several principles determining the noninvasive glucose monitoring including, advanced multivariate analysis and dynamic models for insulin or glucose interaction. The device is expected to be in the form of a watch or bracelet communicating with the mobile phone or a tablet for data presentation. This would enable patients monitor their glucose levels continuously without the need for an implant. Currently available blood glucose measuring devices lacks specificity and sensitivity due to the substantial physical and chemical interference. Non-invasive glucose monitoring devices use multivariate regression analyses converting optical signal to glucose concentration. Hence the device should be designed in such a way that it leads to accurate detection of blood glucose levels imperative for optimum therapy and disease management.Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: SegmentationNon- invasive blood glucose monitoring devices marketis segmented by technology, modality end user and geography:By TechnologyMIR/NIR (Mid/Near Infrared Spectroscopy)Raman SpectroscopyOcclusion SpectroscopyOptical Coherence TomographyThermal Emission SpectroscopyPhotoacoustic SpectroscopyImpedance/Dielectric SpectroscopyElectromagneticPolarimetryFluorescenceBy ModalityWearable Blood Glucose Monitoring SystemsNon-wearable /Table top Blood Glucose Monitoring SystemsBy End UserHospitalsHome Care SettingsClinicsNon- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: OverviewRising prevalence of diabetes worldwide imposes significant economic consequences on the individuals life. Currently, there are 350 million people worldwide estimated to live with diabetes. Thus continuous monitoring of blood glucose levels is essential in order to manage the ever increasing prevalent population living with diabetes currently. For this reason manufacturers are focusing on developing diagnostic techniques that are highly reliable and monitors individuals blood glucose levels with greater accuracy with the capability to improve glycemic control and patient wellbeing. By integration of sensing elements, electronics along with a reliable power source in a single unit, noninvasive blood glucose monitors are offering immense opportunity for all the device manufacturers along with patients and various healthcare providers across the world. Accelerated regulatory approvals of blood glucose monitors is one of the another important factor leading to increased revenues of noninvasive blood glucose devices over the forecast period.Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Region-wise OutlookOn the basis of region presence, Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Asia pacific excluding japan, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Growing number of diabetic population in U.S. is the leading factor contributing towards higher adoption of noninvasive blood glucose monitoring systems. Center of Diseases Control and Prevention estimated 29.1 million of U.S. population with diabetes in the U.S. The data also estimated adult population with diabetes are at 50% higher risk of death. Furthermore, growing need of continuous non-invasive method of blood glucose diagnosis among patients is expected to create higher demand for noninvasive blood glucose monitoring systems worldwide. The incidence of diabetes is higher in regions such as Asia Pacific, North America and Western Europe. Presence of several pipeline blood glucose monitoring systems and their expected launch is expected to drive the market for noninvasive blood glucose devices over the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Non- Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in the non- invasive blood glucose monitoring devices market are, Abbott, Animas Technologies, Bayer Healthcare, Cercacor, Pendragon Medical, OrSense, and Bayer Healthcare.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Diabetic Gastroparesis Treatment Market Size will Grow at 4.1% CAGR by 2024

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According to the latest market report published by Persistence Market Research titled Diabetic Gastroparesis Treatment Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016  2024, revenue from the global diabetic gastroparesis treatment market is projected to register a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period (20162024). Diabetic gastroparesis is the symptom of delayed gastric emptying affecting patients suffering from Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes. The disease primarily has no cure but its symptoms are treatable via various types of drugs and devices. The global diabetic gastroparesis treatment market was valued at US$ 2,650 Mn in 2015, which is expected to increase to US$ 3,769.3 Mn by 2024. The report analyzes the global diabetic gastroparesis treatment market in terms of market value on the basis of product type, disease indication, and distribution channel; and provides information regarding regional market dynamics, regulations, current trends, market estimations, and forecast.Browse Complete Report @Rising prevalence of Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes with high unmet medical needs, growing demand for minimally invasive treatment for refractory gastroparesis, and availability of reimbursement for in-patient hospital stays are driving growth of the global diabetic gastroparesis treatment market. Increasing use of diabetic gastroparesis drugs to control symptoms such as nausea and vomiting is anticipated to fuel growth of the global diabetic gastroparesis treatment market over the forecast period. However, usage of non-prescription drugs to control the symptoms restricts diagnosis of stage 1 and stage 2 gastroparesis. Lack of clinical evidence on improvement offered by prescription drugs and termination of clinical trials are factors expected to hamper growth of the global diabetic gastroparesis treatment market over the forecast period.The global diabetic gastroparesis treatment market has been segmented on the basis of product type into drugs and surgical treatment products; on the basis of disease indication into compensated gastroparesis and gastric failure; and on the basis of distribution channel into hospital pharmacies, private clinics, drug stores, retail pharmacies, and e-commerce. Among product types, the drugs segment dominated the market with maximum revenue share of 66% in 2015 followed by the surgical treatment product segment with 34% share. Enhanced development of novel products such as the domperidone drug for the treatment of gastric motility disorder are expected to fuel the growth of the drugs segment over the forecast period. The hospital pharmacies segment is estimated to account for the highest market revenue share of 48.0% in the global diabetic gastroparesis treatment market by the end of 2016.Request to view table of content @The report covers the global diabetic gastroparesis treatment market across five key regions namely North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and Middle East & Africa (MEA). North America is expected to remain the dominant market throughout the forecast period, driven by rise in healthcare expenditure, increasing demand for metoclopramide agents in the management of diabetic gastroparesis disease, increasing research on antibodies and other innovative prokinetics drug delivery formats, and technological advancements. Revenue from the diabetic gastroparesis treatment market in North America is expected to register a CAGR of 4.4% over the forecast period. Asia Pacific is expected to remain the second-most lucrative market for diabetic gastroparesis treatment, with an estimated CAGR of 4.5% over the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Some of the top companies profiled in the report are Janssen Global Services, LLC, Salix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic, C. R. Bard, Inc., Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Evoke Pharma, and Alfa Wassermann SPA. Leading market players are continuously introducing novel products to enhance their product portfolio, increase market share, and expand customer base.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:
Analysis on Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy - Defibrillators (CRT-D) Medical Device Market with Clinical Trails Landscape in 2017

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Rising prevalence of cardiac disorders and rising incidences of heart failure are anticipated to boost the CRT market growth in the coming years. CRT devices are being primarily used to prevent the surgical cost and readmission rate in hospitals, thereby propelling its growth. To explore current scenario and evaluation of pipeline products, Market Research Hub (MRH) has recently announced the inclusion of a new study to its vast portfolio of research reports, which is titled as Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy- Defibrillators (CRT-D) - Medical Devices Pipeline Assessment, 2017. This pipeline study mainly aims to provide comprehensive information on the pipeline products with the comparative analysis of the products at various stages of development.Request Free Sample Report:At first, the reports starts be presenting the brief introduction of Cardiac resynchronization therapy along with, pipeline products analysis by stage of development, segment, territory, regulatory path and estimated approval date. Over the last 10 years, several large, well-designed clinical trials have firmly established the role of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) as a recommended treatment strategy for moderate-to-severe heart failure (HF).CRT is a clinically proven treatment option for some individuals with heart failure. These devices help in the proper synchronization of heart beats by directing small undetectable signals to lower chambers of the heart. This, in turn, enables the heart to pump blood and oxygen more efficiently. Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) may be part of a permanent pacemaker or cardio-defibrillator system that can help to improve heart pump function in people with an enlarged, weakened heart and symptoms of heart failure. The two major types of implantable heart devices are cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) pacemaker and a CRT pacemaker with defibrillation therapy. These devices improve blood flow and coordinate the hearts pumping action.Make An Enquiry:This study also provides information about clinical trials in progress, which includes trial phase, trial status, trial start and end dates, and, the number of trials for the key Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy - Defibrillators (CRT-D) pipeline products. The report offers key clinical trial data of ongoing trials specific to the given pipeline products. As of 2015, CRT-D is expected to dominate owing to their higher performance of pacing activity and ability to timely report adverse conditions, thereby limiting the death rate. However, key players are working toward further improvement.Later on, the study reviews leading players involved in the development of Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy - Defibrillators (CRT-D) along with their pipeline products and ongoing clinical trials overview. Currently, Boston Scientific Corp., John Hopkins University, IRadimed Corp, Mayo Clinic US, LivaNova PLC, Medtronic plc, Jude Medical, TransWorld Med Corp. and NewPace Ltd. are the leading players profiled in the study.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:
Surface Mount Technology Market to Reflect Impressive Growth Rate During 2017 - 2025

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Global Surface Mount Technology Market: OverviewDevelopment of surface mount technology (SMT) has been nothing short of revolution as far as electronic circuits are concerned, taking it past the limitations of traditional thru-hole soldering methods and significantly helping in the miniaturization of electronic devices. Via surface mount technology, electronic circuit components can be placed directly over the surface of the printed circuit boards (PCBs) and currently, nearly all electronic hardware that are produced utilize SMT. As per the requirement, surface mount technology works on advanced principles and employs different soldering equipment, which in turn offers more electrical conductivity and improves reliability of the electronic devices in comparison to thru-hole soldering technology. With ubiquity of electronic devices such as smartphones, laptops, television, and tablets, the demand in the global surface mount technology is expected to expand at a robust rate during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025.Global Surface Mount Technology Market: Key TrendsIncrementing demand for smart gadgets is the primary driver of this market as it is essential for printed circuit boards, besides the recent increase in the number of contract manufacturers for the production of large batches of various components of electronic devices. The trend of miniature and portable devices that are light weight as well as efficient is another important factor driving the demand in the global surface mount technology. The escalating demand for of LCD/LED televisions, LED and CFL lighting, and 3G telecom network are also expected to positively reflect on the market. Conversely, high cost of SMT system and their lack of ability to withstand high power of high voltage is hindering the growth rate of the market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Surface Mount Technology Market: Market PotentialThe demand for SMT is expected to gain new opportunities from the increasing use of X-ray inspection equipment for disease diagnostics and automatic optical inspection (AOI). In addition to that, application of electronics in the defense, healthcare, aerospace, and automotive industries is also opening new revenue avenues for the players in the surface mount technology market. Additionally, SMT vendors are aggressively investing on the research and development of new products to meet the end users demands, which also promises well for this market. For instance, ASMPT, a prominent company in the global SMT market, has decides to invest nearly 10% of its revenue for the development of customized SMT solutions.Global Surface Mount Technology Market: Regional OutlookWith vast population base and increasing disposable income among the urban population, Asia Pacific is currently the most lucrative region for the players in this market and is expected to remain the leading region throughout the forecast period. India, China, South Korea, and Japan are some of the key country-wide markets for surface mount technology in Asia Pacific. On the other hand, North America and Europe are also expected to extend the demand in the near future, although at a significantly lower growth rate as compared to Asia Pacific. The Middle East and Africa as well as rest of the world are also expanding the demand in the global SMT market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Surface Mount Technology Market: Competitive LandscapeDue to minimal difference between the products, the competition between various vendors in the global surface mount technology is intense, and escalating with reduced prices. Acquisition of smaller companies in order to add to enhance product portfolio and other modes of business consolidation are common strategies adopted by the key players to stay of the competition. Some of the leading companies in the global SMT market are CyberOptics Corporation, Mycronic AB, ASM Assembly Systems GmbH & Co. KG, Electro Scientific Industries Inc., Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, Fuji Machine Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Juki Corporation, Nordson Corporation, Viscom AG, and Orbotech Ltd.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@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
Growlers Market Dynamics, Segments and Supply Demand 2017-2027

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Packaging solutions are necessary in that they protect and preserve a product from any type of harm such as leakage, contamination, damage, etc. during the course of transit, consumption, and storage. Over the last few years, packaging solutions have grown in terms of appearance, features, colors and convenience. A growler is a type of vessel or container that is used to transport beer while also protecting it from degradation. These growlers are also described as simply air-tight jugs. They are becoming increasingly popular and are being widely used to bring the craft beer experience home. The sudden increase in demand for craft beer over the past years has brought many changes to society. The amendments made in state laws created the brewpub culture, which in turn, made growlers an essential accessory for craft beer lovers. These growlers are available in different colors, materials, and features.Growlers Market  Market Segmentation:The global growlers market is segmented on the basis of material type, opening type, capacity type, and sales channel type. On the basis of material type, the global growlers market is segmented into stainless steel, glass, polymer, and ceramic, wherein the glass is further segmented into clear glass and amber glass. Stainless steel growlers have gained traction as these are quite durable and also keep beer cold for longer periods. The ceramic based global growlers market is expected to account for less market value and volume share due to its high cost and very low availability. On the basis of opening type, the global growlers market is segmented into the twist-up cap, flip top cap, and others. On the basis of capacity type, global growlers market can be segmented into 32oz, 64oz, 128oz, and others. The 64oz based growlers have a huge demand in the global growlers market. On the basis of sales channel, the global growlers market is segmented into online sales, supermarket / hypermarket, independent stores, and beer breweries. Beer breweries are expected to account for a significant market volume share. Online sales are expected to gain a higher market value share due to the growth of e-tailing which has enabled wider availability of growlers in terms features and design.Request Report Sample@Growlers Market  Market Dynamics:One of the significant factors that will contribute towards the growth of the global growlers market is the growing demand for craft beer consumption. Since growlers are primarily made for craft beer consumption, this particular trend will impact the demand positively. Another important factor that will contribute to the growth of the global growlers market is that beer can now be easily transported and with the same freshness and taste as the original with the help of air tight jugs. Moreover, these jugs provide drinkers with the facility of adjusting the quantity of beer poured. Yet another reason that will add to the growth of the global growlers market is that some states have now created laws that allow growler filling facilities at places other than bars and breweries. Adding to this is the environmental sustainability aspect -- the reusable nature of growlers is expected to drive the growth of the global growlers market. However, the large consumption of packaged beer in bottles and cans is expected to hamper the growth of the global growlers market. Moreover, the demand for bottles and cans is expected to grow due to growing brand consciousness amongst people and brand loyal beer drinkers who end up purchasing the same beer. Furthermore, the low availability of growler filling stations is still expected to hinder the growth of the global growlers market as these growler filling stations require long term huge investments.Growlers Market  Regional Outlook:Geographically, the global growlers market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). The growth of the global growlers market is expected to witness a healthy CAGR over the forecast period of 2016-2024. Given the high consumption of beer, North America and Europe are expected to be the biggest contributors to the global growlers market in terms of value and volume. Moreover, the availability of breweries and bars along with filling stations in places such as supermarkets, restaurants, etc. will also be a contributing factor for the North American and European region. Furthermore, India and China are expected to account for a significant market volume share in the Asia-Pacific region. This trend of increasing beer consumption is gaining huge traction among these lucrative economies and is expected to drive the growth of the global growlers market.Visit For TOC@Growlers Market- Major Players:Some of the major players identified across the globe in the growlers market are Michigan Beer Growler Company, DrinkTanks, Beer City Glass, PORTLAND GROWLER CO., Glass and Growlers, Goose Creek Growler Company, GrowlerWerks, Inc., Tote Glass, Inc., The Cary Company, and DISTRIMATICS, USA.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Pet Care Market: Southeast Asia Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020

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The SEA (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, and Vietnam) Pet Care Market is expected to witness significant growth, by registering a robust growth of nearly 6.8% by 2020. Increasing concern towards pets health and demand for luxury products is an equivalent contributor to the total Southeast Asia Pet Care Market growth. Dog food, Cat food, product variants at affordable prices are among the prominent factors driving the demand for pet care market across Southeast Asia. Also, an influx of new products in veterinary services specifically for dogs and cats by key players such as Merck Animal Health is expected to bolster the market growth thereby increasing competitiveness in the market. Geographically, Thailand represents a huge market potential followed by Malaysia wherein Philippines and Vietnam have vast potential for pet care market growth and development.Request for Sample Report:In this study, we analyze the Southeast Asia Pet Care Market during 2014-2020. We focus on:Market Value Forecast, 2013-2020Distribution Channel as a key focus due to increasing product penetrationKey drivers and developments in Pet CareKey Trends and Developments of Pet Food, Pet Care Products and othersKey Drivers and developments in particular countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and VietnamKey Geographies/ Countries CoveredThailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and VietnamOther Key TopicsHypermarkets & Supermarkets, Pet Shop, Veterinary Clinic, Economy products, Mid-Price Product and Premium ProductsBrowse Full Report with TOC:Zoetis, Merck Animal Health, Mars Pet care., Affinity Pet Care S.A., Nestle Purina Pet Care, Qian Hu Corporation, Central ProteinaprimaTbk PT, Hills Pet Nutrition Inc., Thai Union Frozen Products PCL, Universal Robina CorporationAbout 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-
Vertical Farming Market - Size, Trend, Share, Opportunity Analysis & Forecast, 2014-2025

Vertical Farming Market

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Visit:Vertical farming is a revolutionary approach to produce food in vertically stacked layers, such as in a skyscraper, used warehouse, or shipping container.It facilitates huge quantity of nutritious and quality fresh food, without relying on favorable weather, high water usage, skilled labor, and high soil fertility.Also, it enables reliable harvest and consistency along with climate control, as well as complete removal of external environment factors such as disease, pest or predator attacks.Vertical Farming Market By Component Hydroponic Lighting Sensing Climate Control OthersThe global Vertical Farming Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 31.6% from 2017 to 2025.Inquire about Report for Vertical Farming industry:Vertical Farming Market Drivers: Increasing adoption of technology driven agriculture. Escalating demand for food due to growing population. Technological advancements.Vertical Farming Market By Growth Mechanism Hydroponics Aeroponics OthersVertical Farming Market Restraints: Lack of awareness about the benefits of the technology. Affordability of the technology.Vertical Farming Market Players:The top players in the global vertical farming market include Aerofarms, Farmedhere, Illumitex, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V, Sky Green, Everlight Electronics, Green Sense Farms, American Hydroponics, Hort Americas, and Agrilution.Request Sample Report for Vertical Farming industry:Vertical Farming Market By Geography North Americao U.S.o Canadao Mexico Europeo UKo Germanyo Franceo Rest of Europe Asia-Pacifico Chinao Indiao Japano Taiwano South Koreao Rest of Asia-Pacific LAMEAo Brazilo Saudi Arabiao South Africao Rest of LAMEATable of Content for Vertical Farming industry1. Executive summary1.1. Key Findings1.2. Market Attractiveness and Trend analysis1.3. Competitive Landscape and recent industry development analysis2. Introduction2.1. Report Description2.2. Scope and Definitions2.3. Research Methodology3. Market landscape3.1. Growth Drivers3.1.1. Impact Analysis3.2. Restrains and Challenges3.2.1. Impact Analysis3.3. Porters Analysis3.3.1. Bargaining power of buyers3.3.2. Bargaining power of suppliers3.3.3. Threat of substitutes3.3.4. Industry rivalry3.3.5. Threat of new entrants3.4. Global Vertical Farming Market Shares Analysis, 2014-2025Continue to Full Table of Content for Vertical Farming industry:List of Tables for Vertical Farming industryContain 33 TablesList of Figures for Vertical Farming industryContain 42 FiguresDiscount on Full Report for Vertical Farming industry:About UsProgressive Markets is the answer to every possible business query. It is a market research and business consulting firm, headquartered in U.S. that aims to deliver conversant executive support to foster overall growth of an organization in its domain.Reach Us5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220,United States.Int'l: +1-971-202-1575Toll Free: ++ 1-800-910-6452Fax: +1-800-792-5285help@progressivemarkets.com
Pipeline Assessment on Viscosupplementation Devices with Analysis of Ongoing Trails Review in 2017

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A latest pipeline analysis, focusing on the viscosupplementation market has been broadcasted to the wide database of Market Research Hub (MRH), with the title of Viscosupplementation Devices - Medical Devices Pipeline Assessment, 2017. This study provides comprehensive information on the pipeline products with comparative analysis of the products at various stages of development. The coverage of pipeline products based on the several stages of development ranging from Early Development to Approved or Issued stage. This study has been built using proprietary databases along with latest updates and featured news & press releases from various university sites and industry-specific third party sources.Request Free Sample Report:Viscosupplementation is a fairly new medical treatment with a therapeutic goal to restore rheological homeostasis in pathological structures such as the osteoarthritic joints. Other joints include hip, shoulder, ankle, elbow, wrist, hand and foot. Viscosupplementation is a procedure in which a thick fluid called hyaluronate is injected into the knee joint. At present, growing prevalence of osteoarthritis, strong healthcare infrastructure and well-established reimbursements are soaring the demand for viscosupplementation market. Also, high patient awareness about new drugs and devices for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rising obese population globally are the prime factors.This report begins by defining various viscosupplementation product types and top brands in the market. The primary objective of the report is to offer comprehensions on viscosupplementation products such as single injection viscosupplementation, three injection viscosupplementation and five injections Viscosupplementation. Additionally, the report also covers product pipeline analysis to understand market dynamics and patients preference for various product types. In this subsequent section, details of foremost pipeline products which includes, product description, licensing and collaboration details and other developmental activities are also mentioned.Make An Enquiry:This report is prepared using data sourced from in-house databases, secondary and primary research by Market Research Hub's team of industry experts. The buyer can also gain benefits and develop tactical initiatives by understanding the focus areas of leading companies. In fact, they can also design in-licensing and out-licensing policies by identifying future partners with attractive projects to expand business potential.Companies covered in this viscosupplementation market pipeline report along with their pipeline products and ongoing clinical trials overview include Ampio Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cocoon Biotech, Inc., Anika Therapeutics Inc., Bioventus LLC, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., BioTime Inc., Carticept Medical, Inc. Kalvista Pharmaceuticals Inc., University of Kansas, Chi2Gel Ltd., Flex Biomedical Inc., Shanghai Haohai Biological Technology Co. Ltd., Moebius Medical Ltd., OPKO Health Inc., Spring Therapeutics and Synolyne Pharma.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:
Brain Ischemia Market is expected to Reach $2.23 billion, Globally by 2023

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Market HighlightsBrain ischemia is a medical condition in which there is lack of oxygen supply to the brain. This is due to narrowing of blood vesicles which is caused due to blood clot or other factors like cholesterol. Since last few years global brain ischemia market has been growing swiftly and is expected to grow at CAGR of 6.5 % from 2017 to2023. Due to increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and other diseases which are affecting cardiovascular system which is major factor that causes brain ischemia. Beside this adoption of sedentary lifestyle by the people across the globe has provided fuel for the growth of this market.Geographically, global ischemia market is segmented into four major regions, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific plus Middle East and Africa. The worth of this market in 2016 was 1.43 billion and is expected to reach $2.23 billion by the end of 2023 by growing continuously at the CAGR of 6.5 %. North America contribute the highest share in the brain ischemic market. Due to increasing number of diabetic, obese and aging population in North America are major driving factor for the growth of this market. Among all regions, ischemias market in Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market. Due to a huge population and increasing prevalence of diseases like sickle cell anemia and diabetes in this region all these together has served to a platform for the growth of the market here.Key Players for Global Brain Ischemia Market Bayer AG (Germany), H. Lundbeck A/S (Denmark), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (US), Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (Germany), ThromboGenics NV (Belgium), Vernalis Plc (UK), Neurotec Pharma SL (Spain), Johnson and Johnson (US), Covidien Plc (Ireland), Stryker Corporation (US), Abbott Laboratories (US), Penumbra, Inc. (US), Philips Healthcare (Netherland), Hitachi Ltd. (Japan), GE Healthcare (UK) Siemens Healthcare (US).Request a Free Sample Copy @Segmentation:Global brain ischemia market is segmentedOn the basis of diagnosis which includes MRI, CT, ultrasound, angiography and other. The market is also segmentedOn the basis of treatment which includes angioplasty, drug treatment and other. Drug treatment is sub segmented into anticoagulation therapy, antiplatelet and other. Anticoagulation therapy is further sub segmented into heparin and warfarin. Antiplatelet therapy is further sub segmented as aspirin and other.On the basis of end user the market is segmented as hospital, clinics and other.Bristol-Myers Squibb International which is headquartered in US; it s working on the trials of CV006-004, Acute Viprinex which are used for the treatment of brain ischemia.H. Lundbeck A/S has presented a new effective and safe data for desmoteplase which is an thrombolytic drug used for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. It has received fast-track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke.Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 50 market data tables and figures spread in 110 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on Global Brain Ischemia Market Research Report Forecast to 2023Browse full report @Table of Content1 Introduction1.1 Definition1.2 Scope Of Study1.2.1 Research Objective1.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations1.2.2.1 Assumptions1.2.2.2 Limitations1.3 Market Structure:2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Process:2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research:3 Market Dynamics3.1 Drivers3.2 Restraints3.3 Opportunities3.4 Macroeconomic Indicators4 Market Factor Analysis4.1 Porters Five Forces Model4.2 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers4.3 Bargaining Power Of Buyers4.4 Threat Of New Entrants4.5 Threat Of Substitutes4.6 Intensity Of Rivalry5. Global Brain Ischemia Market, By DiagnosisContinueKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2023 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?Related ReportGlobal Hospital Bed Market Research Report - Forecast to 2027The global Hospital Bed market is expected to reach USD 5,291.8 million in the forecasted period and is expected to grow at as a CAGR of 4.4%.Know more about this report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Vinegar And Vinaigrette Market Value Share, Analysis and Segments 2017-2027

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Vinegar is made by fermenting dilute alcoholic liquid such as beer, cider and others. It contains acetic acid and is sour in taste. Vinaigrette is made by mixing edible oil such as olive oil, soybean oil, cider oil, walnut oil, corn oil and others with vinegar or lemon juice. To achieve better taste this mixture can also be enhanced by adding various spices, herbs, or salt. The vinaigrette is used as a salad dressings and marinade. Rising demand for snacks items such as salads, sandwiches and others coupled with increased interest in bold flavors and gourmet cooking is expected driving vinegar and vinaigrette market over the forecast period.Vinegar & Vinaigrette Market SegmentationThe market is segmented the basis of type which includes vinegar & vinaigrette. Vinegar segment is further sub-segmented as balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, rice vinegar, sherry vinegar, garlic vinegar, cava vinegar, honey vinegar, red wine vinegar, malt vinegar and others. Among all these sub-segment balsamic vinegar is expected to have major market share in terms value during the forecast period. Availability of wide variety of product variant in balsamic vinegar sub-segment is expected to drive the sub-segment growth over the forecast period. Furthermore red wine vinegar sub-segment is expected to account for favorable growth during the forecast period. Rising health awareness among the consumers regarding the consumption of red wine vinegar is expected to drive the red wine vinegar sub-segment growth in the near future. Vinaigrette segment is further sub-segmented as emulsified and biphasic. Among all these sub-segment emulsified sub-segment is expected to account for major value share over the forecast period. However, biphasic sub-segment is expected to register relatively higher growth. Increasing consumption olive oil based vinaigrette is expected to support sub-segment growth over the forecast period.Request Report Sample@Global vinegar & vinaigrette market is further segmented on the basis of distribution channel which includes hypermarket/supermarket, convenience stores, specialty stores, grocery stores and online retailing. Among all these segments hypermarket/ supermarket is expected to register relatively higher value share during the forecast period. Increasing penetration of hypermarket/supermarket especially in developing countries coupled is expected to drive the segment growth over the forecast period. Online retailing is expected to register relatively higher growth in vinegar & vinaigrette market over the forecast period. Rising consumer inclination towards online purchasing of products is expected to support the segment growth over the forecast period.The vinegar & vinaigrette market is further segmented on the basis of end-use which includes end consumer, hotel and restaurant/bar. Among all these segments end consumer segment is expected to occupy major share in terms of volume consumption followed by restaurant and bar.Vinegar & Vinaigrette Regional OutlookGeographically vinegar & vinaigrette market is segmented on the basis of region which includes North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East & Africa and Japan. Geographically, Europe is expected to be the major market in terms of value owing to increasing consumer shifting preference towards convenient healthy food options. Among the countries, U.K. is expected to remain major markets in terms of consumptions for vinegar & vinaigrette followed by Germany. North America is expected to represent the favorable market for vinegar & vinaigrette in terms of consumption. In the region the U.S. is expected to represent major value share during the forecast period. Increasing demand for natural and organic ingredients, and products without additives or preservatives is expected to support the market growth in the country. Asia Pacific is expected to represent a rapid growth in vinegar & vinaigrette market. Countries such as China and Japan is expected to be the major consumer for vinegar & vinaigrette across the region.Vinegar & Vinaigrette Market DriversContinuous product launch with variety of flavors is a key trend in the market. In addition organic and gluten free vinegar is the emerging trend in the market. The growing demand of salads coupled with increasing number of fast food restaurants across the globe is expected to support the market growth over the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Vinegar & Vinaigrette Market Key PlayersSome of the key players operating in vinegar & vinaigrette market includes Borges Branded Foods, Fleischmann's Vinegar Company, Inc, The Kraft Heinz Company, Mizkan Group, Annie's Homegrown, Inc and Borges Branded Foods S.L.U. among others.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Horizontal Flow Wrapping Market Growth Expected to Dominate Worldwide by 2027

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Global Horizontal Flow Wrapping Market: OverviewHorizontal flow wrapping is a packaging machine used mostly for wrapping irregular shaped products. Various products such as consumer goods, food items, etc. are packed in a horizontal flow wrapper, wherein a wrapping laminated material is fed manually or automatically in a feed conveyor and creates a tubular shaped packaging around the product. The food products are to be packed in order to maintain the quality and portability and also to avoid man-made pollution. Horizontal flow wrapping is widely used for packaging identical items at a high speed with user-friendly operation. When space is a prime concern for packaging enterprises, the compact design of horizontal flow wrappers aids in packing items at ease.Browse Market Research Report @The horizontal flow wrapping machines are also available with a micro- computer to provide high-speed packaging and touch screen interface where industries require frequent change of product packing. The food industry, is one of the prominent end use of horizontal flow wrapping. For instance, major applications in food industry include, easy packing of pizza bases, confectionary items and fried foodstuff etc. Other non-food applications include, stationary, paper napkins, medical products, disposable cutlery etc. The film material used for packaging is mostly biaxially orientated polypropylene (BOPP), polyester and cast polypropylene among others. The horizontal flow wrapping is available in wide range, wherein key factors such as capacity, production needs and budget are to be considered for buying.Global Horizontal Flow Wrapping Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe packaging is considered to a vital requirement for every application, coupled with the focus on adoption sustainable packaging. The manufacturers of packaging materials are centring towards sustainability in order to resolve environmental issues and encourage healthy living standards. The global horizontal flow wrapping market is driven by the growth in sustainable packaging. The global food industry is in growth phase with the novel inclusion of technology for production of high-quality foodstuff, is a prime growth factor for global horizontal flow wrapping consumption. The growth statistics of the food industry and its applications has a direct effect on the global horizontal floe wrapping market. Some of the factors which aid in driving the sale of horizontal flow wrapping are its compact design feature, touchscreen control, user-friendly, high production speed etc. The flexibility in operation permitting adjustable cutting sizes to pack a wide range of products fuels the growth of global horizontal flow wrapping market.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @Global Horizontal Flow Wrapping Market: SegmentationOn the basis of type, horizontal flow wrapping market can be segmented as follows:-ManualAutomaticOn the basis of capacity, horizontal flow wrapping market can be segmented as follows:-10-500 PPM501-1000 PPMMore than 1001 PPMOn the basis of application, horizontal flow wrapping market can be segmented as follows:-FoodBakery & ConfectionarySnacksFrozen FoodReady to eat foodPharmaceuticalConsumer goodsGlobal Horizontal Flow Wrapping Market: Region wise OutlookThe global horizontal flow wrapping market is divided into seven regions, namely North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America and Western Europe accounts major share in the global horizontal flow wrapping market owing to the strong technological platform for machinery production. The medium to high size bakery products manufacturers are the prominent consumer for automatic horizontal flow wrapping. The horizontal flow wrapping market in Japan is influenced by the growing requirement to maintain the freshness of the foodstuff. Also, growth in the consumer goods packaging is expected to foster growth during the forecast period. The APEJ horizontal flow wrapping market is expected to gain significant market share in terms of consumption, during the forecast period owing to widespread developments such as investments in capacity expansion, mergers and acquisitions in the food industry, consumer goods and medical industry. In MEA region, manufacturers are focussing on supplying automation solutions to the customers to help them increase their productivity with a wide range of horizontal flow wrapping.Global Horizontal Flow Wrapping Market: Key PlayersSome of the prominent players identified in the global horizontal flow wrapping market include:Robert Bosch GmbHITT JetpakThe Redpack Packaging MachineryHarikrushna Machinetech Pvt LtdJOIEPACK Industrial Co., Ltd.HERSONBER INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.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:
Cardiovascular Surgical Devices Market Value Share, Analysis and Segments 2017-2027

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A World Health Organization factsheet states that 17.5 million people the world over die every year because of cardiovascular diseases. This amounts to nearly 31% of the total yearly deaths. A large number of these deaths occur in low or middle-income countries and are primarily caused by strokes or a heart attack. Such ominous statistics are the primary reason driving the growth of the global cardiovascular surgical devices market. Cardiovascular surgery is performed to cure heart tissue defects by replacing heart valves if they are blocked, or grafting or replacing the heart tissue in case of damage. The two main types of heart surgeries are open heart surgery and closed heart surgery.The global cardiovascular surgical devices market comprises beating heart surgery systems, cardiac aberration devices, cardiopulmonary bypass equipment, and perfusion disposables. The device to be used depends upon the type and the purpose of the surgery. Going forward, the cardiovascular surgical devices market is expected to play an important role in improving the quality of life of the aged population, along with those individuals who may suffer from some kind of heart disease.Request Report Sample@Cardiovascular Surgical Devices Market: Drivers and RestraintsAccording to the American Medical Association (AMA), more than 80 million people in the country suffer from some kind of heart disease. An increasingly fast-paced life has given rise to a number of lifestyle-related ailments such as stress, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This affects not only the geriatric population that is at the greatest risk but has also begun to trouble individuals in their 30s and even 20s. While cardiovascular surgery has long been performed, recent innovations including beating heart surgeries, minimally invasive procedures, Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) and other improvements are anticipated to be a major driver of the global cardiovascular surgical devices market. These technological advancements cause fewer side effects and allow patients to spend less time in post-surgical recovery. A growing pool of elderly people in North America, the European Union, China and Japan is also likely to be a key factor benefitting the cardiovascular surgical devices market. They are predicted to ensure that the market grows in double digits throughout the forecast period. In addition to this, rising stress levels, poor nutrition causing obesity and other health issues that are the bane of a modern lifestyle can potentially lead to cardiovascular diseases.Today, insurance agencies and companies have begun providing plans specifically targeting chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. People have become much more aware of how debilitating these diseases can be and they have begun to show greater concern for their health, following the mantra of prevention being better than cure. Government and private insurance company encouragement in creating awareness should definitely benefit the cardiovascular surgical devices market.There are a few challenges that can stifle the growth of the cardiovascular surgical devices market. Alternative technologies are growing at a much faster rate than conventional surgical technology  examples include ablation techniques that are minimally invasive or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Developing countries face a dearth of skilled medical professionals and the high cost of such treatments can be a major deterrent, especially for those unfortunate individuals who are afflicted with a heart disease but cannot afford an insurance cover.Cardiovascular Surgical Devices Market: Key RegionsNorth America, led by the U.S., is the largest cardiovascular surgical devices market as the region has maximum employment in the tertiary sector leading to a stressful, sedentary lifestyle; easy availability of junk and fast food causing obesity; and a population that is rapidly ageing. Europe is the second largest cardiovascular surgical devices market due to the same reasons as North America, while China is expected to become an increasingly important contributor to the global cardiovascular surgical devices market in the days ahead.Visit For TOC@Cardiovascular Surgical Devices Market: Key PlayersSome of the leading players in the cardiovascular surgical devices market are Abbott Cardiovascular, Biosensors International, Bioventrix Inc, Cordis Corp and Terumo Cardiovascular Systems.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Transformer Oil Market Global Industry Analysis, size, share and Forecast 2015-2025

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In order to meet the residential, commercial and industrial energy requirements and ensure a smooth operation of power supply transformer plays an important role. During transformer operation, transformers dissipate heat which can damage the system if not controlled. In order to achieve seamless operation of transformer by preventing from heat damage the oil are used. Transformer oil is used in oil-filled and submersible transformers to maintain temperature of transformer. Application of transformer oil can also be seen in high-voltagecircuit breakers and switches. Since the oil is in constant contact with components it is therefore susceptible to chemical interaction. It is therefore essential to check for the quality of transformer oil at regular intervals since with continuous reaction the chemical composition of the oil may change and this may render it unfit for use.The market for transformer oil is subjected to the demands of the various end-use industries such as chemicals and automotive, and the type of transformer used. The oil used in transformers is hydrocarbon mineral oil. There are two major types of transformer oil used in the industry; naphthenic and paraffinic based. Though bio based transformer oil have gained attention due to stringent environmental issues but their usage is restricted due to limited advantage. The market of transformer oil will be driven by the expanding energy demand and growing installation of power grids in urban scenario. Due to growing population, the power grid companies needs to expand and upgrade their existing capacities causing penetration of transformers to increase which in turn fuel the market for transformer oil. The transition towards renewable sources of energy, strict environmental laws and shift towards organic oils may restraint the market of mineral based transformer oil.Request For Report Sample@Asia is one of the largest consumer of transformer oils followed by North America, South America and Europe. For the forecasted years Asia-pacific transformer oil market will continue to lead in terms of consumption. The demand for transformer oil in Asia Pacific is rapidly growing for emerging markets of India and China. This demand is transformer oil is attributed to the increasing focus on rural and urban development in infrastructure. This involves a shift in focus from high capacity transformer to small and mid-segment transformers for domestic and agricultural uses. The transformer oil markets of China, India and also Brazil will dominate owing to the government initiative for the electricity accessibility to the countrys population. The demand for in the mineral based is anticipated to stabilize due to the shift towards green (bio based) alternatives. The demand for transformer oil in regions of Americas and Europe is related to high capacity industrial transformers. The demand for transformer oil in these regions is anticipated to be slower than those in Asia Pacific owing to the significant development of renewable sources of energy and reduced dependability on conventional sources of energy.Request For TOC@Transformer Oil Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players identified in the transformer oil market are Hydrodec Group PLC, Nynas AB, Calumet Specialty Products Partners, Valvoline,APAR Industries, Sinopec Corporation, Engen Petroleum Limited.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:
Variable Data Printing Labels Market is Expected to Grow at a CAGR of 14% by 2022

Variable Data Printing Labels Market

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Market Scenario:Variable data printing is a form of digital printing where elements such as text, graphics and images are changed from one printed piece to another by using information from an external database. Variable data printing labels allows personalizing the printing requirements according to a specific set of data. The growth of the market is expected to be driven by the ability of variable data printing labels to generate customized product information and serialized number printing at low cost and in less time. The variable data printing label is gaining importance with the rapid increase in the use of printing barcodes in various industry verticals such as pharmaceutical, consumer goods, and food & beverage. With the increase in the concept of barcode scanning for generation of invoices and the increase in demand for huge volume inventory tracking, the variable data printing labels market is growing significantly. The growth of packaging industry is also contributing significantly to the growth of the market. Global variable data printing labels market is expected to grow at around 14% CAGR during the forecast period.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players of Variable Data Printing Labels Market: HP Inc. (U.S.) WS Packaging Group, Inc. (U.S.) Canon Inc. (Japan) Cenveo, Inc. (U.S.) 3M Company (U.S.) Quad/Graphics Inc.(U.S.) Xerox Corporation (U.S.) Avery Dennison Corporation (U.S.) R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (U.S.) Mondi Plc. (South Africa)Study Objectives of Variable Data Printing Labels Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 5 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global Variable Data Printing Labels market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To Analyse the Global Variable Data Printing Labels market based on various factors such as supply chain analysis, and Porters five force analysis To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to regions and their respective key 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 segments by type, composition, application and region 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 Variable Data Printing Labels MarketBrief 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 Analysis3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis4 Global Variable Data Printing Label Market, By Type4.1 Release Liner4.2 Linerless Labels5 Global Variable Data Printing Label Market, By Composition5.1 Introduction5.2 Facestock5.3 TopcoatContinueAccess Report Details @Regional Analysis of Variable Data Printing Labels Market:The Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow the highest in the forecast period due to the presence of developing nations such as China and India, increase in the health & safety concerns among people, and the rapid increase in demand for consumer goods and lifestyle products. China is a leading manufacturer and supplier of printing materials and equipment. Thus, the region showcases huge growth opportunities for the variable data printing labels market.Intended Audience: Variable data Printing labels manufacturers Distributer & Supplier companies End Users consultants and Investment bankers Government as well as Independent Regulatory AuthoritiesAbout 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
Medical Coatings Market Global Industry Analysis, Trends and Forecast, 2016-2026

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Medical device components and electronics require protection to be effective. Electrical charges, moisture, bodily fluids and contamination can render a life saving device useless and ineffective. Medical coatings need to be ideal for most types of substrates, including metals, glass, plastics, ceramics and silicone rubber, and should be sterilizable on all of them. Physicomechanical coatings are those designed with physicomechanical properties such as moisture, chemical and electrical barrier properties as well as tribological (lubricous) properties. The damage to the mucosal lining has led to development of antimicrobial coatings with biological function (antimicrobial activity) and physicomechanical function (lubricity). Medical device coatings are significantly used to enhance performance of devices and augment product surface function. In addition, coatings help in reducing friction between tissues and devices, provide wetting, surface coverage and coating homogeneity. Most of the medical devices require non-stick coatings over electrical insulation, molded, biocompatible or other finishes.Medical Coating Market: DriversThe increasing demand for coatings for life saving devices from medical industry is expected to increase the consumption of medical coatings. In addition, rising demand for life saving devices from emerging economies of Asia Pacific and Latin America is expected to increase the consumption of medical coatings. However, availability of substitutes, product aging, low shelf life and rising costs could hamper the growth of this market. In addition, varying government regulations for medical devices across countries may hamper the growth of medical device coating market to some extent.Request For Report Sample@Medical Coating Market: SegmentationMedical coatings market is segmented on the basis of type, application and region. By type, medical coating can be segmented into lubricants, antimicrobial and hydrophilic coatings. By application, the medical coating can be segmented into medical devices, implants, medical equipment and tools and others. On the basis of region, medical coating market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East and Africa (MEA).Medical Coating Market: Regional OutlookNorth America has the largest market share for medical coating, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. However, Asia Pacific is expected to experience fastest growth during the forecast period. India and China are expected to be the major consumers of medical coatings in Asia Pacific due to presence of an established medical industry. Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia are expected to be other major consumers of medical coatings in Asia Pacific. In addition, Latin America is expected to experience high growth due to rapid economic development and growth in medical industries. Argentina, Brazil and Peru are expected to be major consumers of medical coatings in Latin America.Request For TOC@Medical Coating Market: Key PlayersLarge and medium medical equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturing companies dominate the medical coatings market. Some of the key players in this market are SurModics, the DECC Company, Hangzhou Kangsheng Medical Equipments Co., Ltd., Yangzhou Fuda Medical Devices Co., Ltd., Precision Coating Co., Inc. , Donwell Company, Inc., Merit Medical Systems, Inc., Harland Medical Systems , Applied Medical Coatings, LLC., Dymax Corporation , Raleigh Coatings , Abbott Laboratories , Biocoat Inc AeonClad , Bayer Material Science LLC, Boston Scientific Corporation , Covalon Technologies Ltd., Endura Coatings Ltd , Specialty Coating Systems Inc., and TheraSyn Pharmaceuticals Inc. 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:
Smart Glass in Automotive Market Projected to Gain Significant Value by 2026

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Global Smart Glass in Automotive Market: OverviewA smart glass is a type of glass that modifies and controls the light properties passing through it as per the variation in the light intensity, fluctuation in voltage and heat variation. Initially the scope of the smart glasses was limited to only construction and architectural purposes but nowadays it has widen to aviation, rail, marine and automotive. Rapid research and development in this segment has attracted many private players and government agencies to invest in this technology. Due to this reason the number of players offering smart glass to the automotive company has increased significantly in the recent years. Also the countries like China and India offer tremendous opportunity for automotive market growth, so smart glass manufacturers are trying to expand their business in these emerging economies. There are wide applications of smart glass in any automotive that includes rear and side view mirror, sunroofs, windshield, backlights and sidelights so the smart glass in automotive has a healthy growth potential in the further future. Also there are safety regulations pertaining to the glass used in automotive these days and this leads to the increased usage of this smart glasses in order to be in line with the norms of a specific region. The global smart glass in automotive market is anticipated to have a lucrative CAGR in the forecasted period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Global Smart Glass in Automotive Market: Drivers and RestrainsIncreasing global automotive market and the essential glasses being deployed in these automotive is the key driving factor for the global smart glass in automotive market. Also automotive consumers are becoming aware about this technology and for their luxury and comfort they are implementing this technology in their vehicles that is bolstering the aftermarket of smart glass. Also mandatory rules and regulations of some countries for the safety and security of the passengers is another factor forcing the vehicle owners to deploy smart glasses, thereby leading to growth of smart glass in automotive market. However, high cost associated with these smart glasses are making people to think twice before opting for this technology. Also in some developing regions vehicles users are not aware about this technology. Aforementioned factors might hamper global smart glass in automotive market growth.Global Smart Glass in Automotive Market: SegmentationOn the basis of technology, the global smart glass in automotive market can be segmented as follows:Electro chromic glassSuspended Particle Device (SPD) glassThermo chromic glassPolymer dispersed liquid crystals glassPhoto chromatics glassOn the basis of applications, the global smart glass in automotive market can be segmented as follows:Side/ rear view mirrorSunroofsSidelites/ BacklitesWindshieldOn the basis of glass type, the global smart glass in automotive market can be segmented as follows:LaminatedTemperedOthersOn the basis of vehicle type, the global smart glass in automotive market can be segmented as follows:LCVsHCVsPassenger CarsOthersOn the basis of window type, the global smart glass in automotive market can be segmented as follows:Active smart windowPassive smart windowGlobal Smart Glass in Automotive Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the global smart glass in automotive market is segmented into seven regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan and Middle East and Africa (MEA). Western Europe is the leading region in the global smart glass in automotive market due to the deployment of essential smart glasses in the vehicles being manufactured especially in Germany. Asia Pacific is the second major contributor in the global smart glass in automotive market due to presence of automobile giants such as Maruti Suzuki India Limited, Hero MotoCorp Ltd and other companies, which has led towards installation of smart glass in automobiles. Companies such as General Motors Company, The Ford Motor Company are having a significant contribution in the North America, thus making it a considerable market in the global smart glass in automotive market. Japan is well established in the automotive market, so smart glasses are used on a large scale by the automobile manufacturers in this region. Latin America and Middle East and Africa are at a nascent stage in the global smart glass in automotive market but is anticipated to record modest growth during the forecast period.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Global Smart Glass in Automotive Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the global smart glass in automotive market are as follows:PPG IndustriesSAGE ElectrochromicsGentex Corp.Research Frontiers, Inc.Hitachi Chemicals Co. Ltd.View, IncGlass Apps.AGC, Ltd.SmartGlass International Ltd.Scienstry IncRavenBrick LLCPleotint, LLCAbout 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:
Thioctic Acid Market to Register a Robust Growth by 2022

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This report studies Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid) in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringShyndecFushilai PharmaceuticalMaidesenTaike BiologicalDKY TechnologyHaoxiang BioInfa GroupAsk for sample copy @By Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaBy types, the market can be split intoThioctic Acid CapsuleThioctic Acid InjectionOtherBy Application, the market can be split intoHealth Care ProductsSlimming ProductsOtherEnquire for discount @Key factors for this report:1 Industry Overview of Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid)1.1 Definition and Specifications of Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid)1.1.1 Definition of Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid)1.1.2 Specifications of Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid)1.2 Classification of Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid)1.2.1 Thioctic Acid Capsule1.2.2 Thioctic Acid Injection1.2.3 Other1.3 Applications of Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid)1.3.1 Health Care Products1.3.2 Slimming Products1.3.3 Other1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid)2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid)2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid)2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Thioctic Acid (Alpha Lipoic Acid)View 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:
Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Market 2017-2027 Shares, Trend and Growth Report

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Supercritical fluid chromatography is a technique in which separation phenomenon occurred; it is analytical technique using instrumentation based principle. The instrumentation uses in supercritical fluid chromatography almost identical to high-performance liquid chromatography. The most significant difference from HLPC is the replacement of the most of the liquid mobile phase with a densely compressed gas, almost always carbon dioxide. Supercritical fluid chromatography led to novel analytical applications in the field of chromatography; supercritical fluid chromatography consists a column chromatography methods along with gas chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography. supercritical fluid chromatography has both GC and HLPC properties due to this factor supercritical fluid chromatography become advanced analytical techniques over the remaining one.The supercritical phase represents a state in which liquid and gas properties converge; supercritical fluid chromatography is sometimes called "convergence chromatography."Supercritical Fluid Chromatography market: Drivers and RestraintIncreasing demand of supercritical fluid chromatography reagent in the various industry such as pharmaceutical industry, chemical industry, food industry, etc. the rise in government investments, less expensive procedure of supercritical fluid chromatography over gas chromatography and high-pressure liquid chromatography are the driver for the supercritical fluid chromatography market. However, limited sensitive and specific of detectors in applications involving complex samples could be the major restraints for supercritical fluid chromatography marketRequest Report Sample@Supercritical Fluid Chromatography market: SegmentationThe global market for Supercritical Fluid Chromatography segmented by application, end user, and geography:Based on modalityPreparativeAnalyticalBased on applicationsChemical analysisFood product analysisBiomedical analysisOthersBased on end userResearch laboratoriesPharmaceuticals industryAcademic institutesChemical industryFood industryOil industrySegmented by geographyNorth AmericaLatin AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeAsia Pacific excluding JapanJapanThe Middle East and AfricaSupercritical Fluid Chromatography Market: OverviewThe critical fluid chromatography market is expected to witness huge growth in the forecasted period. Supercritical fluid chromatography is a technique that can withstand a temperature and pressure that is beyond its critical point. It exhibits properties, such as low viscosity and high diffusivity, because of which it is suitable for use as a mobile phase in chromatography. Thus, it is used in a wide range of separation and purification modes, such as natural products, drugs, foods, pesticides, herbicides, surfactants, polymers and polymer additives, fossil fuels, and agrochemicals, among others.Chiral separations can be performed for many pharmaceutical compounds. SFC is dominantly used for non-polar compounds because of the low efficiency of carbon dioxide, which is the most common supercritical fluid mobile phase, for dissolving polar solutes. SFC is used in the petroleum industry for the determination of total aromatic content analysis as well as other hydrocarbon separations.Also, the increasing usage of monoclonal antibodies purification and relatively newer chromatography technique- the Green Chromatography also provide an opportunity for the growth of this market.Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Market: Region-wise OutlookBy region, global Supercritical Fluid Chromatography market is segmented into seven key regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the supercritical fluid chromatography followed by Europe and will continue to dominate the global Supercritical Fluid Chromatography market attributed to growing number of conferences related to chromatography techniques and rise in capital funding by government which is assisting the global supercritical market. Asia Pacific is an emerging market due to high potential growth in biopharma and food & chemical industry.Visit For TOC@Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Market: Key Market ParticipantsThe key market players in the global supercritical fluid chromatography market include Shimedzu, JASCO,FLUITRON INC.Labnics Equipment, Pressure Products Industries, Inc. Thar Technologies, Inc. (formerly Thar Designs, Inc.) Supercritical Fluid Technologies InC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, and Waters Corporation.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and IndiaCONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Analog To Digital Converter Market Shares, Strategies and Forecast Worldwide, 2017 to 2027

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Analog to digital converters (ADC) is an electric component that translates analog signals, physical world signals such as pressure, temperature, current, voltage, distance or light intensity into a digital representation of that signal which can be stored, manipulated, computed, and processed. Analog to digital converters are used to convert signals from analog to digital signals so that the signals can be read by the digital devices.As the global analog to digital converter market is among typical semiconductor market, it is expected to have a steady growth for the forecast period. Next generation communication systems and various other advanced consumer electronics are expected to influence the growth in deployment of analog to digital converter devices influencing a steady rise in the revenue of the global analog to digital converter market.Request Report Sample@Global Analog to Digital Converter Market: Drivers and ChallengesWith increasing government initiative to digitize working processes and encouraging smart living, and increasing disposable income of the population in growing economic countries is rising the adoption of consumer electronics among the people. Innovation in technology is also making use of analog to digital converters in various devices including consumer electronics and automotive equipment. Hence, these factors have a positive impact on adoption and penetration of analog to digital converters driving the revenue growth of global analog to digital converter market.However, few challenges faced by the analog to digital converter devices manufacturers while designing an analog to digital converter device are pressure for product differentiation, continuously improving efficiency of the product or having better performance goals, fast time-to-market and others.Global Analog to Digital Converter Market: SegmentationGlobal analog to digital converter market can be segmented into product type, resolution, application and regions.On the basis of product type, global analog to digital converter market can be segmented into pipelined ADC, display ADC, dual slope ADC, delta-sigma ADC, and others.On the basis of resolution, global analog to digital converter market can be segmented into 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit, 14-bit, 16-bit and others.On the basis of application, global analog to digital converter market can be segmented into consumer electronics, IT and telecommunication, automotive and industrial.Global Analog to Digital Converter Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of regions, global Analog to Digital Converter Market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East and Africa.North America accounts for largest market share in the global analog to digital converter market owing to the advanced technology and easy adoption in the countries such as the U.S. The expansion in the industrial and automotive sectors are offering lucrative growth opportunities for Western Europe analog to digital converter market. Asia Pacific excluding Japan is expected to have maximum potential for the revenue growth of global analog to digital converter market during the forecast period. Latin America, Middle East and Africa, Eastern Europe are among the regions which are expected to witness positive growth during the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Global Analog to Digital Converter Market: Competition LandscapeSome of the key players for analog to digital converter market are Texas Instruments Incorporated, Analog Devices, Inc., Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation, Microchip Technology Inc., Intersil Americas LLC, Sony Corporation, National Instruments, Maxim Integrated, Diligent Inc., and Adafruit Industries.About Us  Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Cochlear Implants market forecast to 2022 insights shared in detailed report

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The Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state also focuses on the major drivers and restraints for the key players.This report studies Cochlear Implants in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, covering  Cochlear, MED-EL, Sonova, William Demant, Microson, Nurotron Biotechnology, Sonic Innovations, Oticon MedicalRequest a sample copy of Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Market Research Report @By types, the market can be split into - Unilateral Implantation, Bilateral ImplantationBy Application, the market can be split into  Adults, PediatricsBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want) - North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan, IndiaThe lisetd pricing for this Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 market report starts at US $3500. Request Discount for Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Industry Research Report @Table of Contents :Industry Overview of Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Overall Market OverviewGlobal Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Regional Market AnalysisGlobal 2012-2017E Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Segment Market Analysis (by Type)Global 2012-2017E Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Segment Market Analysis (by Application)Major Manufacturers Analysis of Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017Development Trend of Analysis of Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 MarketGlobal Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Marketing Type AnalysisConsumers Analysis of Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017Conclusion of the Global Cochlear Implants Market Professional Survey Report 2017 Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022For More Info on Market Research :Related Reports: -Global and Chinese Cochlear Implants Industry, 2017 Market Research ReportThe 'Global and Chinese Cochlear Implants Industry, 2012-2022 Market Research Report' is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Cochlear Implants industry with a focus on the Chinese market.MarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market Size ForecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: +1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: +1 866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:News:Connect with us: LinkedIn| Twitter
Valuechain acquires leading supply chain portal business

Signing Xactio Deal

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British software developer, Valuechain has acquired the Xactio supply chain portal business from Canda Systems.This acquisition supports Valuechains buy and build strategy to integrate complementary technologies focused on advanced manufacturing supply chains.First developed in 2006, by Canda Systems, Xactio is currently used by several global organisations such as Rolls Royce, Ultra Electronics and Gardner Aerospace to streamline internal procurement activities and improve two-way supply chain collaboration.Valuechains CEO, Tom Dawes, explained the strategy behind the acquisition Xactio has a growing blue-chip client base underpinned by an innovative and intuitive supply chain portal technology. More and more manufacturing organisations are recognising that future competitiveness is reliant on the performance of their supply chain partners. The software provides a solution to this challenge, streamlining and automating communication of operational, technical and commercial data for multi-tier advanced manufacturing supply chains.We will be integrating Xactio within our iQluster supply chain intelligence and collaboration platform which has been part funded by the European Commission to establish next generation supply chain optimisation solutions.Chris Haywood, Director of Canda Systems commented Valuechain is a great home for Xactio as we are able to combine over 10 years of supplier portal experience with the significant Valuechain development resources and proven routes to market.Websites:Valuechain EntreprisesLtd.:Canda Systems:Xactio:Contact : Alex Knight, Marketing Communications, Valuechain Enterprises Ltd. 03301 200050 aknight@valuechain.comValuechain enables organisations to compete as world class supply chains. We provide smart manufacturing software to connect factories and supply chains by improving productivity,streamlining collaboration and generating intelligence. Following the award of a 3.2m Horizon 2020 project from the European Commission, we are working with global manufacturing businesses, governments, industry associations and Universities to continually innovate our smart technologies and connect cross-sector collaborative eco systems that can compete as world class supply chains.CANDA Systems Ltd. are a Website Design and IT Support Company, specialising in the supply of Software and IT services to industry. During a project being managed by TEC-CONCEPTS in 2006, CANDA developed a web based solution to improve supplier performance.Working closely with TEC, CANDA have further developed the product and now the Supply Chain Portal XACTIO provides real time data on the web.The Innovation CentreSci-Tech DaresburyKeckwick LaneDaresburyCheshireWA4 4FS
Conveyor System Market - Europe Slated to Lead with Asia Pacific in Tow

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Conveyor system is an important part of the overall material handling system that is required in every industrial processes for various applications. Rapid industrialization coupled with rising demand for technology across various industry in order to automate the entire process is the most important factor predicted to accelerate the demand for conveyor system in the coming years. According to the research report, the global conveyor system market was worth US$4697.1 mn in 2016 and is expected to reach US$6312.5 mn by 2025, surging at a CAGR of 3.5% between the forecast period of 2017 and 2025.Obtain Report Details @Utilization of advanced technique of production and automated equipment has become the primary need of various end user segment for enhancing the quality of goods and to facilitate timely production. This in turn is anticipated to promote the demand for conveying system that are majorly utilized for shipment, transportation, packaging and other manufacturing related activities. However, selection of proper and appropriate conveying system is majorly dependent on various factors such as application areas, pickup points for uploading and downloading and type of products to be conveyed.Belt Conveyors to Lead the Pack as their Demand in Various Industrial Sectors Remains HighDifferent types of conveyor system that are majorly used across various industrial sectors includes roller conveyor, belt conveyor, pallet conveyor, over-head conveyor and others. Wheel conveyor, bucket conveyor, screw conveyor and vibrating conveyor is included within the others segment. In terms of revenue, among the different types of conveyor system available in the market, belt conveyor system held the largest market share in 2016 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. Extensive utilization of belt conveyor across various end user segments including packing lines, dry areas in various food and pharmaceutical industries is the most important factor behind this segments dominance.Conveyor system also finds its applications across various end user segments including food processing, automotive, retail sector, airport and healthcare among others. On the other hand, based on application of conveyor system across various end user segment, the conveyor system market both in terms of revenue and volume is anticipated to be majorly driven by food processing sector across the globe in the coming years. Technologically advanced and diverse conveyor systems are used extensively across various food processing industry in order to meet the need of specific edible products.Europe to Remain Dominant in the Global Conveyor Systems MarketOn the basis of geography, the global conveyor systems market is segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. In 2016, Europe held the dominating market share of the conveyor system market in terms of revenue. This regional market is projected to rise at a CAGR of 2.7% over the forecast period. On the flip side, Asia Pacific region is expected to experience the most promising growth in the coming years. Increasing number of manufacturing facilities combined with the rising demand for automation and efficiency from various manufacturing sector is the primary factor responsible for the robust growth of the conveyor system market in Asia Pacific region.Fill The Form For An Exclusive Sample Of This Report @The global conveyor system market is highly competitive in nature with the presence of large number of conveyor system manufacturers. Some of the major players operating in the conveyor system market includes Daifuku Co. Ltd. (Japan), Schaefer Systems International Inc., Dematic Group and Murata Machinery Ltd. 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.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Semiconductor Production Equipment Market - Increasing Need for Operational Efficiency Ensures Uptake

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Global Semiconductor Production Equipment Market: SnapshotGlobal market for semiconductor production equipment has been covered under the scope of this report. Semiconductor production equipment (SPE) is used in possibly the most advanced and complex manufacturing process in the world, which is, the production of semiconductor devices. Semiconductor products, such as memory devices and microprocessors are used in a wide range of devices such as personal computers, consumer electronics and telecommunications equipment. Chip-containing semiconductor products have multiplied in the past years and this has been a key contributor to the increased productivity in every sector of the world.Technologies used in semiconductor production equipment are constantly changing owing to the dynamic business environment and the rising demand for high performance semiconductors. However, these advancements in chip technology can reduce the presence of existing chips and the semiconductor production equipment used to make them may become obsolete in just matter of years if an aggressive research and development program is not employed to maintain attractiveness in the semiconductor production equipment industry.Obtain Report Details @The demand for semiconductor production equipment is directly proportional to the demand for semiconductors, which, in turn, is proportional to the strength of the economy. The attractiveness of individual semiconductor production equipment firms is thus linked to their capability to design, manufacture and sell products capable of maintaining the standard of the latest and technologically advanced semiconductors at low cost.Overall, the global semiconductor production equipment market is forecast to reach US$79.51 bn by the end of 2025. In 2016, the market was valued at US$41.24 bn. If these figures hold true, the global semiconductor production equipment market will exhibit a CAGR of 7.6% between 2017 and 2025.Electronics Manufacturers Emerge as Major Contributor to Growth Witnessed in MarketThe global semiconductor production equipment market, by equipment type, is classified into four categories: Assembly and packaging equipment, wafer processing equipment, test equipment, and other equipment. As of 2016, the wafer processing equipment contributed to the largest revenue share of global semiconductor production equipment market owing to its wide application areas in the production of semiconductors.The global semiconductor production equipment market, by end-user, is segmented into foundry, semiconductor electronics manufacturer, testing house and others. As of 2016, semiconductor electronics manufacturer contributed to largest revenue share of a little short of 55% in the global market. The rise in demand for semiconductor electronics such as tablets, and smartphones, among others are likely to drive the growth of this segment during the forecast period.Fill The Form For An Exclusive Sample Of This Report @North America Emerges as Leading Regional Market, Asia Pacific to Showcase Lucrative OpportunitiesRegionally, the global semiconductor production equipment market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. By revenue, North America held the dominant share of 43.5% in 2016. The presence of several leading manufacturers as well as rapid advancements in technology are responsible for the dominance of this region. By revenue, Asia Pacific emerged as the second largest market in the same year, followed by Europe. China will be a major contributor to the growth of the Asia Pacific region owing to the development of a number of semiconductor manufacturing facilities (fab) in the region.Some of the leading players in the semiconductor production equipment market are Applied Materials, Inc. (U.S.), Tokyo Electron Ltd. (Japan), ASML Holding, N.V. (Netherlands), Lam Research Corporation (U.S.), Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan), and Advantest Corporation (Japan). Some of the other companies operating in the market are KLA-Tencor Corporation (US), Teredyne (U.S.), Nikon Corporation (Japan), SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd. (Japan), and Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd. (Japan), 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.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) Market

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Carbon nanotubes are advanced materials in nanomaterial category. Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon formed by rolling graphene to form hollow strands with walls with thickness of one atom. They are cylindrical shaped with diameter of one-billionth of a meter and are 100 times stronger and just one-sixth as heavy as steel. The high strength and low weight combined with physical flexibility is their major advantage. High thermal and electric conductivity of carbon nanotubes as led to a rising shift from conventional copper tubes. Carbon nanotubes have emerged as an alternative and efficient tool in transporting drug molecules and also play an important role in body implants, dental filling, and medical device components. CNTs are functionalized with bioactive peptides, proteins, nucleic acids and drugs for targeted drug delivery to the cells and organs. Since the CNTs assure low toxicity and are not immunogenic, they hold great potential in the field of nanomedicine and nanobiotechnology, among many others.Increasing healthcare applications paves way for the robust carbon nanotubes market growthAccording to a study conducted by The University of Cambridge in 2016, the global CNT production capacity has increased tenfold over the last 5 years due to exponential rise in demand. The demand for carbon nanotubes across various industries such as electronics, semiconductors, chemical & polymers, advanced materials, and batteries & capacitors is driving growth of the carbon nanotubes market. Furthermore, the incorporation of CNTs in healthcare therapies such as cancer, hyperthermia, gene therapy, tissue regeneration, and artificial implants have drastically driven growth of the carbon nanotube market. The superior mechanical & transport properties are the major factors for the growth of carbon nanotubes.Request a sample copy of this report@Advent of multi-wall carbon nanotubes fueling growth of global carbon nanotubes marketThe global carbon nanotubes market is segmented on the basis of product type, applications, end user and geography.On the basis of product type,Single wall carbon nanotubesMulti wall carbon nanotubesOn the basis of application,Targeted drug deliveryTissue engineeringGene therapyCancer therapyOn the basis of end user,HospitalsClinicsOthersFinancial backing from the government boosts and dominates the carbon nanotube market in Asia PacificRegional segmentation of the carbon nanotube market by Coherent Market Insights comprises Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. According to the research published by National Centre of Biotechnology Information in Europe in 2012, 29,300 cancer cases were registered every year and carbon nanotubes proved an effective diagnostics in curing the major types of cancer. The increasing government investments in research and development in the field of nanotechnology integrated with healthcare drives growth of the carbon nanotubes. According to the news published in Electronic Engineering Times in 2017, Lux forecast states that, China will increase its global capacity for nanotubes by 30-50%, adding 500 tons every year. The reason for rapid expansion in China is the government funding for nanomaterials production which is around US$ 2 billion. This is expected to position Asia Pacific as a major powerhouse in the global carbon nanotube market. Growth is further augmented by increasing demand for CNTs in applications such as tumor targeting, drug delivery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.The use of carbon nanotube scaffolds in tissue engineering represent a promising carbon nanotube marketKey players operating the carbon nanotubes market include CNano Technology Limited, Hanwha Nanotech Corporation, Kumho Petrochemical Company Ltd. Scaffold designing, fabrication are major areas of biomaterial synthesis which have increased the market demands. Other prominent participants include Showa Denko, Carbon Solutions, Future Carbon GmbH, Continental Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc.Get More Details about this Report@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 @
Cumene Market Analysis By Production (Zeolite, Solid Phosphoric Acid, Aluminum Chloride), By Players Sinopec Group Ltd., Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, 2025

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The global cumene market is expected to reach USD 28.2 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Rising demand for phenol from various key end use applications such as construction materials, pharmaceuticals, and adhesives, coupled with advancements in the production process of the chemical is expected to drive market growth over the forecast period.Access Full report "Cumene Market Analysis By Production (Zeolite, Solid Phosphoric Acid, Aluminum Chloride), By Application (Phenol, Acetone), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2014 - 2025" With TOC @Cumene or isopropylbenzene is derived from the reaction between benzene and propylene. It is produced by using catalysts such as zeolite, aluminum chloride, and phosphoric acid. Isopropylbenzene is mainly used for the production of acetone and phenol. The usage of aluminum chloride and solid phosphoric acid as catalysts in the production process have several disadvantages such as environmental hazard, catalyst non-renewability and high corrosion. These factors have resulted in a shift toward using zeolite as catalysts for production.Phenol application segment dominated the global demand in 2016. Cumene is mainly used for the production of various phenol derivatives, which includes bisphenol A, caprolactam, and alkyl phenols. These byproducts are used in end use industries such as household appliances, adhesives, construction materials and electronic appliances. The global growth in construction, packaging, electronics and pharmaceuticals industry is expected to contribute a rise in demand for phenol byproducts thus benefitting the overall cumene market growth over the forecast period.Excessive exposure of cumene can cause adverse effects on human health such as dizziness, headaches, and unconsciousness. It also causes irritation of skin and eyes. Fluctuating oil & gas prices is a cause of concern for cumene producers. However, major producers have integrated themselves among the value chain to deal with price fluctuations.Further key findings from the report suggest: Zeolite production process emerged as the largest segment in 2016 and is expected to generate USD 17.9 billion by 2025. The segment is expected to grow at an expected CAGR of 4.3% over the next eight years. Phenol segment is expected to grow at an anticipated CAGR of 4.8% over the forecast period. Strong demand from end use industries such as construction and electronics for by products is a major contributing factor for this scenario. The market in Asia Pacific region is projected to witness substantial growth over the forecast period owing to strong demand from countries such as China, India, Japan and South Korea Key industry participants include ExxonMobil, BASF SE, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, Total S.A., Sinopec Group Ltd., Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, and Dow Chemical CompanyTable of ContentsChapter 1 Methodology and Scope1.1 Research Methodology1.2 Research scope and assumptions1.3 List of data servicesChapter 2 Executive Summary2.1 Cumene - Industry snapshotChapter 3 CumeneMarket Variables, Trends & Scope3.1 Market segmentation3.2 Market size and growth prospects, 2014 - 20253.3 Value chain analysis3.4 Regulatory framework3.5 Cumene market dynamics3.5.1 Market driver analysis3.5.2 Market restraint analysis3.6 Key opportunities - Prioritized3.7 Industry analysis - Porter's3.8 Cumene PESTEL analysisChapter 4 Cumene Market: Production Estimates & Trend Analysis4.1 Global cumene market share by production, 2015 & 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)4.2 Zeolite4.2.1 Market estimates and forecast, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)4.2.2 Market estimates and forecast by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)4.3 Solid phosphoric acid4.3.1 Market estimates and forecast, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)4.3.2 Market estimates and forecast by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)4.4 Aluminum chloride4.4.1 Market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)4.4.2 Market estimates & forecasts, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)Chapter 5 Cumene Market: Application Estimates & Trend Analysis5.1 Global cumene market share by application, 2015 & 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2 Phenol5.2.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from phenol, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from phenol, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.3 Phenol resins5.2.3.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from phenol resins, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.3.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from phenol resins, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.4 Caprolactam5.2.4.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from caprolactam, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.4.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from caprolactam, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.5 Bisphenol A5.2.5.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from bisphenol A, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.5.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from bisphenol A, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.6 Alkyl phenols5.2.6.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from alkyl phenols, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.6.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from alkyl phenols, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.7 Others5.2.7.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from others, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.2.7.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from others, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3 Acetone5.3.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from acetone, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from acetone, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.3 Solvent use5.3.3.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from solvent use, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.3.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from solvent use, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.4 Methyl methacrylate5.3.4.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from methyl methacrylate, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.4.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from methyl methacrylate, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.5 Bisphenol A5.3.5.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from bisphenol A, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.5.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from bisphenol A, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.6 Aldol Chemicals5.3.6.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from aldol chemicals, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.6.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from aldol chemicals, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.7 Others5.3.7.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from others, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.3.7.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from others, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.4 Others5.4.1 Market estimates & forecasts, from others, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)5.4.2 Market estimates & forecasts, from others, by region, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)Chapter 6 Cumene Market : Regional Estimates &Trend Analysis6.1 Global cumene market share by region, 2015 & 2025 (USD Million)6.2 North America6.2.1 Market estimates and forecast, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.2.2 Market estimates and forecast by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.2.3 Market estimates and forecast by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.2.4 U.S.6.2.4.1 Market estimates and forecast, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.2.4.2 Market estimates and forecast by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.2.4.3 Market estimates and forecast by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3 Europe6.3.1 Europe cumene market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.2 Europe cumene market estimates & forecasts by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.3 Europe cumene market estimates & forecasts by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.4 UK6.3.4.1 UK cumene market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.4.2 UK cumene market estimates & forecasts by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.4.3 UK cumene market estimates & forecasts by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.5 France6.3.5.1 France cumene market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.5.2 France cumene market estimates & forecasts by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.5.3 France cumene market estimates & forecasts by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.6 Germany6.3.6.1 Germany cumene market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.6.2 Germany cumene market estimates & forecasts by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.3.6.3 Germany cumene market estimates & forecasts by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4 Asia Pacific6.4.1 Asia Pacific cumene market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.2 Asia Pacific cumene market estimates & forecasts by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.3 Asia Pacific cumene market estimates & forecasts by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.4 China6.4.4.1 China cumene market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.4.2 China cumene market estimates & forecasts by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.4.3 China cumene market estimates & forecasts by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.5 South Korea6.4.5.1 Cumene market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.5.2 Cumene market estimates & forecasts by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.5.3 Cumene market estimates & forecasts by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.5 Japan6.4.5.1 Japan cumene market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.5.2 Japan cumene market estimates & forecasts by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.5.3 Japan cumene market estimates & forecasts by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.5 Central South America (CSA)6.4.1 CSA cumene market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.2 CSA cumene market estimates & forecasts by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.3 CSA cumene market estimates & forecasts by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.6 Middle East & Africa (MEA)6.4.1 MEA cumene market estimates & forecasts, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.2 MEA cumene market estimates & forecasts by production, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)6.4.3 MEA cumene market estimates & forecasts by application, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million) (Kilo tons)Chapter 7 Competitive Landscape7.1 Vendor landscape7.2 Competitive environment7.3 Strategy frameworkChapter 8 Company Profiles8.1 Royal Dutch Shell plc8.1.1 Company overview8.1.2 Financial performance8.1.3 Industries and Services Catered8.1.4 Product benchmarking8.1.5 Strategic initiatives8.2 Dow Chemical Company8.2.1 Company overview8.2.2 Financial performance8.2.3 Industries and Services Catered8.2.4 Product benchmarking8.2.5 Strategic initiatives8.3 JX Holdings8.3.1 Company overview8.3.2 Financial performance8.3.3 Industries and Services Catered8.3.4 Product benchmarking8.3.5 Strategic initiatives8.4 ExxonMobil Corporation8.4.1 Company overview8.4.2 Financial performance8.4.3 Industries and Services Catered8.4.4 Product benchmarking8.4.5 Strategic initiatives8.5 BASF SE8.5.1 Company overview8.5.2 Financial performance8.5.3 Industries and Services Catered8.5.4 Product benchmarking8.5.5 Strategic initiatives8.6 China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation8.6.1 Company overview8.6.2 Financial performance8.6.3 Industries and Services Catered8.6.4 Product benchmarking8.6.5 Strategic initiatives8.7 Saudi Basic Industries Corporation8.7.1 Company overview8.7.2 Financial performance8.7.3 Industries and Services Catered8.7.4 Product benchmarking8.7.5 Strategic initiatives8.8 Borealis8.8.1 Company overview8.8.2 Financial performance8.8.3 Industries and Services Catered8.8.4 Product benchmarking8.8.5 Strategic initiatives8.9 INEOS Group8.9.1 Company overview8.9.2 Financial performance8.9.3 Industries and Services Catered8.9.4 Product benchmarking8.9.5 Strategic initiatives8.10 Sinopec Group Ltd.8.10.1 Company Overview8.10.2 Financial performance8.10.3 Industries and services catered8.10.4 Product benchmarking8.10.5 Strategic initiatives8.11 Total S.A.8.11.1 Company Overview8.11.2 Financial performance8.11.3 Industries and services catered8.11.4 Product benchmarking8.11.5 Strategic initiatives8.12 Shell Global8.12.1 Company Overview8.12.2 Financial performance8.12.3 Industries and services catered8.12.4 Product benchmarking8.12.5 Strategic initiatives8.13 LG Chem Ltd.8.13.1 Company Overview8.13.2 Financial performance8.13.3 Industries and services catered8.13.4 Product benchmarking8.13.5 Strategic initiatives8.14 Versalis S.p.A.8.14.1 Company Overview8.14.2 Financial performance8.14.3 Industries and services catered8.14.4 Product benchmarking8.14.5 Strategic initiatives8.15 Rhodia8.15.1 Company Overview8.15.2 Financial performance8.15.3 Industries and services catered8.15.4 Product benchmarking8.15.5 Strategic initiativesWho we areRadiant Insights is a market research and consulting company offering syndicated research studies, customized reports, and consulting services. Our market research studies are designed to facilitate strategic decision making, on the basis of extensive and in-depth quantitative information, supported by extensive analysis and industry insights.GET IN TOUCH28 2nd Street, Suite 3036, San Francisco, CA 94105, United StatesTel : 1-415-349-0054Toll Free: 1-888-928-9744Mail: sales@radiantinsights.com
GaN Semiconductor Devices Market is Expected to Witness Significant Growth During 2017 - 2022

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GaN Semiconductor Devices Market  Synopsis & ScenarioProduct innovation is the master trend of all times. Market players keep introducing innovated products with increased efficiency such as- On 25th January 2016, Fujitsu Ltd. announced about its new GaN high electron mobility transistor. This is developed to be used at high capacity wireless network with coverage over wide range of network.- Cree Inc. has signed an agreement with Avnet Inc. in July 2016 that expands the distribution of Crees LED components which also includes high power chips and LED modules in the American region.GaN Semiconductor Devices Market  OverviewThe Global GaN Semiconductor Devices Market is expected to witness a steady growth with a significant rate of CAGR during the forecasted period (2016  2022)The major growth driver of GaN Semiconductor Devices Market includes growing demand of radio-frequency in semiconductor market, growing market of electric vehicles and photovoltaic inverters, and growing market of consumer electronics especially of LED based lighting and displays among others.Key Players RF Micro Devices Incorporated (U.S.) Fujitsu Ltd.(Japan), Toshiba Corp. (Japan) Texas Instruments Inc. (U.S.) Cree Incorporated (U.S.) Aixtron SE (Germany) Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Japan) Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands) GaN Systems Inc. (Canada) Epigan NV (Belgium)Request a Sample Report @However, high initial cost is one of the factors which are hindering the growth of GaN Semiconductor Devices Market, states the MRFR Research Analyst while commenting upon the deep diving study report published by Market Research Future, presented through more than 100 market data tables and figures spread over 110 pages.Global GaN Semiconductor Devices Market  SegmentsFor an easy grasp, the Global GaN Semiconductor Devices Market is segmented in to 3 major dynamicsSegmentation by Type: opto semiconductor and power semiconductor.Segmentation by Devices: transistors, diodes, rectifier, power ICs, amplifier and switching system.Segmentation by Applications: consumer electronics, automotive, medical, power conditioner, and military, aerospace & defense among others.GaN Semiconductor Devices Market  RegionalNorth-America dominated the Global GaN Semiconductor Devices Market with the largest market share owing to high penetration of GaN semiconductor in aerospace & defence sectors as well as in automotive sectors in the region, and therefore accounting for millions of USD and is expected to grow even further by 2022. GaN Semiconductor Devices Market in Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow at a significant rate of CAGR with an increased revenue generation by 2022. The European market for GaN Semiconductor Devices Market is expected to grow at a considerable rate of CAGR (2016-2022).Browse Full Report @Table Of Content1. Report Prologue2. Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 Limitations2.3 Market Structure2.4. Market Segmentation3. Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size Estimation3.5 Forecast Model4. Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restraints4.3 Opportunities4.4 Mega Trends4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators5. Market Factor Analysis5.1 Value Chain Analysis5.2 Porters Five ForcesContinueThe study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to a SWOT analysis of the key vendors.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
Fiber Optic Testing Equipment (FOTE) Market - Asia Pacific to Remain at Center of Most Developmental Activities

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Global Fiber Optic Testing Equipment Market: SnapshotFiber optic testing equipment (FOTEs) are systems that are used to measure, inspect, and monitor various aspects like power, faults, quality in various fiber optic devices. Fiber optic testing equipment are also used to measure and test entities such as absolute power, reflections, efficiency, noise distortions, and time in various fiber optics applications. In addition, these equipment are used to inspect or monitor medical and biological changes in medical laboratories. Fiber optic testing equipment also find extensive usage to increase the bandwidth of electromagnetic waves of network communications.The global fiber optic testing equipment market is poised to witness significant growth over the next few years, chiefly owing to factors such as their high demand in fiber optics devices in the telecommunication industry. The broadening set of applications of FOTEs in a number of new application areas such as research and development, installation and maintenance, measurement solutions, and safety and monitoring solutions is also fueling the global demand of fiber optic testing equipment. In the next few years, the significant rise in demand for measurement solutions and safety and monitoring solutions across the world is anticipated to create numerous growth opportunities for players in the global fiber optic testing equipment.Obtain Report Details @Transparency Market Research estimates that in terms of revenue, the global fiber optic testing equipment (FOTE) market was pegged at US$571.87 mn in 2016. The market is projected to exhibit a healthy 5.7% CAGR from 2017 to 2025, rising to a valuation of US$936.66 mn by 2025.From a geographical standpoint, the Asia Pacific market for fiber optic testing equipment accounted for over 54% of the global market in 2016 and is likely to retain its position over the forecast period as well.fiber optic testing equipment marketRemote Fiber Test Systems to Witness Most Promising Growth OpportunitiesOn the basis of product type, the fiber optic testing equipment market has been segmented into optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR), optical light source (OLS), optical power meter (OPM), optical loss test set (OLTS), remote fiber test system (RFTS), and optical spectrum analyzers (OSA). Of these, the segment of OTDR fiber optic testing equipment held the leading market share in terms of revenue contribution to the global market in 2016 and is expected to retain its leading position during the forecast period as well.However, the segment of RFTS fiber optic testing equipment is expected to witness expansion at the maximum rate during the forecast period, chiefly owing to their increasing demand for telecommunication network devices across countries such as China, India, Japan, U.K., the U.S., Germany, and Singapore.Asia Pacific to Remain at Center of Most Developmental ActivitiesThe vast increase in demand for fiber optic instruments in telecommunication and defense industry and huge capital investments in communication technologies are expected to emerge as the key driving factors of the Asia Pacific fiber optic testing equipment market over the forecast period. China has the highest number of smartphone and electronic gadget users in the world currently, while Singapore boasts of the highest percentage of smart phone penetration in the world. As a result, Asia Pacific is presently the most lucrative hub for telecommunication network operators, and is thus a lucrative region for fiber optic testing equipment as well.Fill The Form For An Exclusive Sample Of This Report @Middle East & Africa (MEA) held the second leading position in the global fiber optic testing equipment market in terms of revenue in 2016. Increase in demand for portable electronic devices such as smartphones and tablet computers is one of the key driving factors for the fiber optic testing equipment market in Middle East & Africa. The fiber optic testing equipment market in Europe is primarily driven by an increase in demand for safety and monitoring solutions and measurement applications.Some of the leading players operating in the global fiber optic testing equipment market are Anritsu Corporation, Keysight Technologies, JDS Uniphase Corporation, EXFO Inc, Tektronix Inc, Fluke Networks, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, and OZ Optics Limited.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.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Reset Integrated Circuit (IC) Market - Continued Lead of 1V to 5V Segment

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Global Reset Integrated Circuit Market: SnapshotThe global market for reset integrated circuit (IC) is heavily influenced by the growing demand for consumer electronics across the world. The significant increase in the user base of smart phones, tablets, laptops, and wearable gadgets, such as smart watches and smart helmets, is also boosting the demand for reset IC as these electrical gadgets are prone to frequent voltage fluctuations, which can damage their internal circuitry and lead to their malfunctioning, and the usage of reset ICs will prevent the devices from under-functioning and other damaging effects.Obtain Report Details @In 2016, the global market for reset IC was worth US$1.39 bn. Rising at a CAGR of 12.50% between 2017 and 2025, the opportunity in this market is likely to reach a value of US$3.92 bn by the end of 2025. In terms of volume, the market is estimated to account for 6,100.8 mn units over the same period of time.Asia Pacific to Retain LeadThe global market for reset IC is spread across the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Latin America. Presently, Asia Pacific is leading the global market and is expected to remain doing so over the next few years. In 2016, this region held a share of more than 60% of the overall market. Over the coming years, the growing demand for office automation products, IT hardware, and consumer electronics such as smart phones, tablets, laptops, is likely to boost the Asia Pacific market for reset IC substantially.The significant growth in the Asia Pacific semiconductor industry, thanks to strong government initiative policies in the form of tax exemptions, subsidies, and the increasing grants in research and development activities, is also projected to reflect greatly on the Asia Pacific reset IC market in the near future. The improving economic condition and the increasing disposable income, leading to a rising demand for smart phones and tablets, are some of the other important factors behind the growth of this regional market.North America, amongst other regional markets for reset IC, is expected to witness a considerable rise in its valuation over the forthcoming years, thanks to the technological advancements in the medical and healthcare industry in this region.Demand for Reset IC to Remain High in Consumer Electronics IndustryBased on the end user, the global market for reset IC is categorized into the consumer electronics, automotive, industrial, and various other sectors, such as information technology, telecommunication, healthcare, and defense. The demand for reset IC has been higher from the consumer electronics sector and is followed by the automotive industry.Fill The Form For An Exclusive Sample Of This Report @Researchers expect this trend to remain so over the forthcoming years, albeit at the cost of a few shares of the consumer electronics industry since it is already matured. Currently, the production of tablets and laptops has slowed down a bit and the manufacturing of smart phones  although their demand is significantly high at present  will gradually decline in the near future.The automotive sector is anticipated to the report an exceptional growth rate over the next few years, owing to the increase in the connectivity systems in vehicles, such as driver assistance systems, navigation systems, and infotainment systems.Texas Instruments, ST Microelectronics, On Semiconductors, ROHM, Linear Technology, Analog Devices, Maxim Integrated, Cypress Semiconductor, Intersil Corp., and Renesas Electronics are some of the leading manufacturers of reset integrated circuits across the world.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.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Saudi Arabia Medical Devices Market has likely to grow at a CAGR of 9.5% by 2023

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Market HighlightsMarket research future published a half-cooked research report on Saudi Arabia Medical Devices market. The Saudi Arabia Medical Devices market is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~9.5% during the period 2017 to 2023.A medical device is any instrument, appliance including any software, biologic or non-biologic material, to be used for the diagnostic or therapeutic use for management of diseases and disorders.The medical device industry witnessed one of the fastest growth propelled by innovation and rapid uptake of technologies. The medical devices industry has also resulted in the successful fusion of information technology and healthcare. Technology and product development remain the main pillars for the growing market for medical devices. The market involves two segments one high-tech devices with extreme sophistication and another is the low tech improved devices. The high tech segment such as diagnostic imaging devices is witnessing higher rates of growth. The low tech segment is also growing at a good rate but has witnessed growth in developing regions as the market for these in developed regions is stagnant. The other market driving factors are rising public healthcare expenditure in Saudi Arabia, development of large hospitals such as King Faisal hospital in Riyadh, demand for noninvasive therapy etc.Test the market data and market information presented through more than 30 market data tables and figures spread over 45 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content (TOC) & market synopsis on Saudi Arabia Medical Devices Market Research Report - Forecast to 2023.The market constraints are strict and ambiguous regulatory framework, growing concern for security especially data security, differential availability between developed and developing regions, connectivity issues in Saudi Arabia, the interference Sharia courts etc.The future developments will include cloud integration, connected healthcare devices and growing demand for personalized medical wearable devices. Healthcare mobile applications will also lead the market.Major Key Players Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, Medtronic, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV., Baxter Internationa, Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co., Cardinal Health, Al-Salehiya Medical Estableshment, Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries & Medical Appliances Corporation (SPIMACO), Al Amin Medical Instruments Company (AMICO), Al Faisaliah Medical Systems (FMS), Siemens LtdRequest a Sample Report @Saudi Arabia Medical Devices market:The Saudi Arabia Medical Devices market has been evaluated as a growing market and it is expected that the market will touch high growth figures in future. The Saudi Arabia medical devices market is expected to grow with CAGR of ~9.5 % during the forecast period. The growth will be primary channeled by the rising public healthcare expenditure. The falling crude oil revenues will be a future threat to the market.Regional Analysis:The healthcare sector of Saudi Arabia is divided between private and state. The public healthcare expenditure accounts for approximately 75% of total health expenditure in 2014. Local manufacturing represents a poor outlook which is limited to consumables and ordinary articles. The government has established some of the best hospitals in the region such as King Faisal specialist hospital and research center, Riyadh military hospital, Saudi Arabias National Guard health affairs hospital etc. Saudi Arabia is extremely dependent on imports for medical devices and imports account for approximately 92% of total market for medical devices. U.S. medical device suppliers dominate the scenario with European vendors in the second position. Among the regions of Saudi Arabia Riyadh tops the healthcare expenditure list followed by Tabuk, Makkah and Madina.Segmentation:Saudi Arabia medical devices market has been segmented on the basis of product type which comprises monitoring devices, diagnostic devices, diagnostic molecular devices, drug delivery devices, surgical devices, bio implants and stimulation devices, automation and robotics and others. On the basis of therapeutic application; market is segmented into general surgery, diagnostic imaging, respiratory, orthopedics, cardiovascular, dental, neurology, ophthalmology, ear-nose-throat (ENT), nephrology and urology, and others. On the basis of end users; market is segmented hospitals, ambulatory, home and others.Access Report Details @Table of Content1 Introduction1.1 Definition1.2 Scope of Study1.3 Research Objective1.4 Assumptions & Limitations1.5 Market Structure:2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Process2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research3 Market DynamicsContinued.List of TablesTABLE 1 SAUDI ARABIA MEDICAL DEVICES MARKET, 2013-2022 (USD MILLION)TABLE 2 SAUDI ARABIA MEDICAL DEVICES MARKET, BY PRODUCT TYPE, 2013-2022TABLE 3 SAUDI ARABIA MEDICAL DEVICES MARKET, BY THERAPEUTIC APPLICATION, 2013-2022Continued.List of FiguresFIGURE 1 RESEARCH PROCESSFIGURE 2 PORTERS FIVE FORCES MODELFIGURE 3 SAUDI ARABIA MEDICAL DEVICES MARKET, BY PRODUCT TYPEContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact Info:Name: Akash AnandOrganization: Market Research FutureAddress: Market Research Future Office No. 524/528,Phone: +1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
E-Beam Wafer Inspection System Market - Asia Pacific Exhibits Most Lucrative Opportunities

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Global E-beam Wafer Inspection System Market: SnapshotWafer inspection systems are required for timely detection of physical and technological defects present within wafers. Currently, both e-beam and optical technologies are used in the detection of defects in wafers. With the application of e-beams manufacturers of compact devices are able to timely detect faults in wafers, thus saving the additional expenditure, which otherwise they would incur on re-inspection. The technology therefore ensures long-term usage of wafers across various industrial verticals. This has emerged as a key reason, positively impacting the overall trajectory of the global e-beam wafer inspection system market.Increasing applications of thin wafers in manufacturing small or miniaturized devices used in micro-electro mechanical systems, laptops, and smartphones among others have bolstered the demand for e-beam wafer inspection system. Also the market is forecast to gain from the persistently rising activities in the semiconductor industry. These industrial activities will continue rising over the forecast period, delivering the e-beam wafer inspection system market with ample opportunities to gain from.Obtain Report Details @Spurred by the aforementioned factors, the global e-beam wafer inspection system market is forecast to exhibit a CAGR of 17.5% between 2015 and 2025. Rising at this rate, the market will reach US$1.06 bn by the end of 2025, from US$248.3 million in 2016.Detection Imaging to Remain Dominant Segment Based on ApplicationBased on type, the global e-beam wafer inspection system market is segmented into less than 1 nm, 1 to 10 nm and more than 10 nm inspection resolution system. In 2016, e-beam wafer inspection system market was dominated by more than 10 nm wafer inspection systems, followed by the other two segments. However, during the forecast period the less than 1 nm segment will showcase a higher CAGR.On the basis of application, the global e-beam wafer inspection system market has been segmented into defect imaging, lithographic qualification, bare wafer OQC/IQC, wafer dispositioning, reticle quality inspection, and inspector recipe optimization. Of these, defect imaging formed the largest application segment with a share of 38.5% in the market in 2016. It is expected to remain dominant through the course of the forecast period. Besides this, inspector recipe optimization followed by bare wafer OQC/IQC have emerged as the application segments exhibiting strong prospects for the market.Asia Pacific Exhibits Most Lucrative OpportunitiesRegionally, Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa constitute the key segments in the global e-beam wafer inspection system market. Among these nations, Asia Pacific emerged dominant holding a little short of 60% share in the global market in 2016. In addition, North America and Europe have been demonstrating lucrative market opportunities over the last few years. These regions boast high investment in the research and development, which has led to extensive application of high quality wafers across diverse industries. With this, the use of e-beam wafer inspection system has also risen to detect any faults, thus giving significant impetus to the market.Fill The Form For An Exclusive Sample Of This Report @Since Asia Pacific has showcased tremendous growth in the last few years, it offers lucrative opportunities for the market. Especially in emerging economies, the pace of industrialization is considerably bolstered. This has created attractive opportunities for the e-beam wafer inspection system market, as rising industrialization will mean increasing investment in miniaturization thereby boosting the scope of application for e-beam wafer inspection systems.Some of the leading players in the global e-beam wafer inspection system market are Hitachi Ltd. (Japan), ASML Holding N.V. (Netherlands), KLA Tencor Corporation (The U.S.), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Taiwan), NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Netherlands), Lam Research Corporation (The U.S.), Renesas Electronics Corporation (Japan), Integrated Device Technology Inc. (The U.S.), Applied Materials Inc. (The U.S.), and Synopsys Inc. (The U.S.) 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.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Ibuprofen Market to Register a Robust Growth by 2022

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This report studies Ibuprofen in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringXinhua PharmaceuticalIOLCPGranules BiocauseShasunBASFSI GroupXinhua-Perrigo PharmaceuticalHisoarAsk for sample copy @By types, the market can be split intoUSPEPBy Application, the market can be split intoTabletCapsuleSuspensionOtherBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaPurchase a copy of this report for single user price of $ 3500 @Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Ibuprofen1.1 Definition and Specifications of Ibuprofen1.1.1 Definition of Ibuprofen1.1.2 Specifications of Ibuprofen1.2 Classification of Ibuprofen1.2.1 USP1.2.2 EP1.3 Applications of Ibuprofen1.3.1 Tablet1.3.2 Capsule1.3.3 Suspension1.3.4 Other1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Ibuprofen2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Ibuprofen2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Ibuprofen2.4 Industry Chain Structure of IbuprofenView 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:
Smart Inhalers Market is growing quickly with the CAGR of 42.8% by 2022

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Market HighlightsMarket research future published a cooked research report on global smart inhalers market. The global market for smart inhalers is growing rapidly and expected to reach USD 1.63 Billion by the end of 2022.The global smart inhalers market has been evaluated as rapidly growing market and expected that the market will reach high growth figures. Smart inhaler technology is quickly becoming one of the most valuable areas of pharmaceutical engagement in digital health. There has been rise in number of companies that are adopting this digital technology and opting to use it to enhance the management of lung disorders such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), as well as improve the efficacy of the prescribed medications. Wide variety of benefits ranging from improving medication adherence to reducing hospital admissions, which makes smart inhalers the next big thing of respiratory care segment. Over the past 50 years, inhaler devices have revolutionized the respiratory care by delivering the medicines directly into the lungs and avoiding the adverse effects caused by the other modes of medication. However, there has been a point of concern for the doctors whether the patients are taking the medications correctly or not. Because, even if you have the most potent drug in the inhaler; if the patient does not take the medication correctly and on time, you will not see the desired effect of the drug.Test the market data and market information presented through more than 115 market data tables and figures spread over 82 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth TOC & market synopsis on Smart Inhalers Market Research Report Global Forecast to 2022.Smart Inhalers are the digitally operated inhalers which are equipped with the sensors that detect the time of the dose taken by the patient and helps in monitoring the proper use of the inhaler drug. These smart inhalers are connected to various digital platforms which can help in scheduling the medication, setting reminders, tracking the use of medication among others. Smart inhalers have proven extremely beneficial in case of the children having respiratory disorders such as Asthma and COPD. In the trials conducted by Adherium, one of the leading smart inhaler sensor manufacturing company; the smart inhaler sensor was shown to improve adherence by up to 59% in adults and 180% in children with asthma. Currently, the smart inhalers are being developed for the asthma and COPD, but the technology can be used in the treatment of other disorders such as bronchitis and cystic fibrosis in the near future.Global Smart Inhalers Market Players: Adherium, AstraZeneca, Cohero Health, GlaxoSmithKline, Gecko Health Innovations Inc., Inspiro Medical, Propeller Health.Request a Sample Report @Regional Analysis:Depending on geographic region, smart inhalers market is segmented into four key regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of World. Globally, North America is the largest market for smart inhalers. The North America market for smart inhalers is expected to grow at a CAGR 38.6% during the forecasted period. Europe is the second-largest market for smart inhalers which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 47.14%. Asia pacific region is expected to be fastest growing region in Smart Inhalers market.Segmentation:Smart Inhalers market has been segmented on the basis of type which comprises dry powder inhaler, and metered dose inhaler. On the basis of application, market is segmented into Asthma, COPD, and others. On the basis of end user, market is segmented into hospitals & clinics, respiratory care center, and others.Access Report Details @Table of Content1 Market Introduction1.1 Definition1.2 Scope of Study1.3 Research Objective1.4 Assumptions & Limitations1.4.1 Assumptions1.4.2 Limitations1.5 Market Structure2 Research MethodologyContinuedList of TablesTABLE 1 Global Smart Inhalers Market, by Type From 2015 to 2022, (USD Million)TABLE 2 Global Smart Inhalers Market for Dry Powder Inhaler, by Region From 2015 to 2022,TABLE 3 Global Smart Inhalers Market for Metered Dose Inhaler, by Region From 2015 to 2022,TABLE 4 Global Smart Inhalers Market, by Application From 2015 to 2022, (USD Million)Continued..List of FiguresFIGURE 1 Market Structure of GLOBAL Smart Inhalers MARKETFIGURE 2 Research Process of MRFRFIGURE 3 Drivers, Restraints, and opportunities of global Smart inhalers marketFIGURE 4 Porters five forces modelContinued.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact Info:Name: Akash AnandOrganization: Market Research FutureAddress: Market Research Future Office No. 524/528,Phone: +1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Worldwide Process Analyzer - Market by Application and Forecast To 2021

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Publisher's Process Analyzer 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.Global Process Analyzer Market: Product Segment AnalysisGas AnalyzersLiquid AnalyzersThe Players mentioned in our reportEmersonABBHach CompanySiemensHoneywellFLEXIMThermo Fisher ScientificMettler-Toledo InternationalBioTector Analytical SystemsYokogawa Electric CorporationFor More Information About This Report:Global Process Analyzer Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSouth East AsiaGlobal Process Analyzer Market: Application Segment AnalysisPetrochemicalOil and GasPharmaceuticalWater & WastewaterFood & BeverageRequest Sample Copy At:Table of ContentChapter 1 About the Process Analyzer IndustryChapter 2 World Market Competition LandscapeChapter 3 World Process Analyzer 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 Process Analyzer 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
Global Digit Joint Implant Market expected to Gain Popularity Worldwide

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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 Digit Joint Implant in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Digit Joint Implant market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingWright Medical GroupDePuy SynthesStrykerNakashimaOrtotechZimmerTo Receive a Sample Copy of Global Digit Joint Implant Market Research Report @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoFootHandOn 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 Digit Joint Implant for each application, includingHospitalClinicMedical CenterOthersBuy a Copy of Global Digit Joint Implant Market Research Report for single user price of $ 2900@Key Chapters1 Digit Joint Implant Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Digit Joint Implant1.2 Digit Joint Implant Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Digit Joint Implant Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Digit Joint Implant Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Foot1.2.4 Hand1.3 Global Digit Joint Implant Segment by Application1.3.1 Digit Joint Implant Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Hospital1.3.3 Clinic1.3.4 Medical Center1.3.5 Others1.4 Global Digit Joint Implant Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Digit Joint Implant 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 Digit Joint Implant (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Digit Joint Implant Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Digit Joint Implant Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2 Global Digit Joint Implant Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Digit Joint Implant Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Digit Joint Implant Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Digit Joint Implant Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Digit Joint Implant Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Digit Joint Implant Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Digit Joint Implant Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Digit Joint Implant Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Digit Joint Implant Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Digit Joint Implant Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Digit Joint Implant Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Digit Joint Implant Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Digit Joint Implant Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Digit Joint Implant Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Digit Joint Implant Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Digit Joint Implant Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Digit Joint Implant Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Digit Joint Implant Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan Digit Joint Implant Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Digit Joint Implant Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)4.1 Global Digit Joint Implant Consumption by Region (2012-2017)4.2 North America Digit Joint Implant Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Digit Joint Implant Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Digit Joint Implant Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan Digit Joint Implant Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)To View Full Report @Who we areResearch 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. The research encompasses information gathered and examined by subject-matter experts, laying down growth opportunities and developmental strategies for enterprises.Reach at us:Flat No.10, Wing C,S. No. 245/4/2+245/5/1,Baner, Pune-411045Email: sales@researchtrades.comCall us: +91 7507349866Skype ID: researchtradesconWeb:
Load Cell Market - Increasing Usage of Digital Load Cells in Heavy Lifting Industry

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Global Load Cell Market: SnapshotThe global load cell market is witnessing considerable rise in its valuation, thanks to the increasing demand for load cells in healthcare sector. The escalating need for home hemodialysis (HHD) machines has been the key factor behind the augmenting usage of load cells in the medical and healthcare industry. The market is also gaining substantially from the rising application of load cells in the testing applications across the aviation and the aerospace industries across the world.The opportunity in the worldwide market for load cells is likely to increase at a CAGR of 3.50% from 2016 to 2014, surging from US$1.87 bn in 2015 to US$2.55 bn by 2024. With the increasing demand for digital load cells in the heavy lifting industry, the future of this market looks thriving. However, its growth may be affected by the slowdown in the demand for analog load cells across various industries in the years to come.Obtain Report Details @Europe to Continue at Top PositionThe worldwide market for load cells stretches across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. Europe, among these, has emerged as the leading regional market for load cells and is expected to remain seated in this position over the next few years. In 2015, the Europe market for load cells contributed US$561.0 mn in revenue. The high usage of these cells in the oil and gas, aerospace and defense, automotive, and bulk material handling industries has been boosting this regional market substantially.Going forward, the presence of a number of firms, which specifically cater to bulk material handling industries, such as the cement, coal and iron ore mining, and railway sectors, is likely to propel this market for load cells in Europe over the next few years. Germany and the U.K. are expected to surface as the key domestic markets for load cells in this region.North America is another fast-growing regional market for load cells. The increasing demand for these cells from the medical and healthcare, aerospace and defense, and the oil and gas sectors is expected to reflect positively on this regional market in the coming years. The U.S. is expected to lead the North America market for load cells and followed by Canada and Mexico. The Asia Pacific load cell market is also projected to witness healthy growth over the next few years, thanks to the rise in the bulk material handling industry in China, Japan, and South Korea.Fill The Form For An Exclusive Sample Of This Report @Analog Load Cells Leading Global Load Cells MarketTechnologically, there are two types of load cells available in the global market: analog load cells and digital load cells. The majority of load cells found in the market are of analog nature. In 2015, the total share of analog load cells in the overall market was more than 80%. However, over the coming years, the demand for digital load cells is expected to increase remarkably in heavy lifting applications in the near future.The global load cell market is highly fragmented in nature. Honeywell International Inc., Vishay Precision Group Inc., Flintec Group AB, OMEGA Engineering Inc., FUTEK Advanced Sensor Technology Inc., Zhonghang Electronic Measuring Instruments Co. Ltd., Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH, Novatech Measurements Ltd., Yamato Scale Co. Ltd., Thames Side Sensors Ltd., Mettler Toledo International Inc., and Precia Molen are some of the key manufacturers of load cells across the world.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.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Worldwide Predictive Analytics - Market Overview by Region, Type, Application and Forecast To 2021

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Publisher's Predictive Analytics 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 reportIBMOracleSAS InstituteAccretive TechnologiesAngoss SoftwareHPInformation BuildersMegaputer IntelligenceFor More Information About This Report:Global Predictive Analytics Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSouth East AsiaGlobal Predictive Analytics Market: Product Segment AnalysisPredictive modelsDescriptive modelsDecision modelsRequest Sample Copy At:Table of ContentChapter 1 About the Predictive Analytics IndustryChapter 2 World Market Competition LandscapeChapter 3 World Predictive Analytics 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 Predictive Analytics 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
Home Energy Management Systems Market - Europe Is Projected To Be The Fastest Growing Market

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Global Home Energy Management Systems Market: SnapshotHome energy management systems, or HEMS, are enabling devices for home owners that act as intermediary platforms for a user to manage and monitor their overall consumption of energy on a regular basis. HEMS are therefore useful when it comes to conserving energy and minimizing energy losses over an average day. The global home energy management systems market is currently developing at a very swift pace in order to meet with the growing energy crunch faced by the world. The depleting stockpiles of fossil fuels are making it more and more important for all sectors to buckle up and start taking serious efforts to conserve energy.Obtain Report Details @The global home energy management systems market is expected to expand at a phenomenal CAGR of 25.0% within a forecast period from 2013 to 2019. The market is expected to reach US$1.90 bn by the end of 2019, and was calculated at US$393.8 mn at the end of 2012.North America Dominates HEMS Implementation RateThe global home energy management systems market can be segmented on the basis of regions, into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. The market has consistently seen a higher demand for solutions and technologies from developed economies, thanks to their advanced infrastructure in the residential sector, coupled with a higher level of awareness regarding energy conservation, a higher overall energy consumption factors, and the presence of leading players in the market from an earlier span of time.North America was the leading region in the global home energy management systems market for 2012, primarily due to the large scale implementation of wireless technologies. These include the newer ZigBee, as well as conventional Wi-Fi and home area network technologies. In Europe, the HEMS market is expected to expand at the leading rate from a global perspective. Several key nations are planning to fully implement smart meters before the end of 2019 and governments are especially eased up on the regulatory framework dealing with the entrance of newer players into this market.ZigBee Expected to Surge in DemandFrom the perspective of technologies, the global home energy management systems market can be segmented into the more prominent segments of Wi-Fi, ZigBee, HomePlug, and Z-Wave, along with a number of other minority shareholders. Over the coming years, ZigBee is expected to show the leading rate of growth in terms of technological advancements and rate of implementation. Over the coming years, ZigBee is expected to surpass Wi-Fi networking in terms of connectivity for HEMS. ZigBee technologies are better in terms of scalability, are far more tolerant to interference than Wi-Fi technologies, and are easier to make compatible with HAN devices.Fill The Form For An Exclusive Sample Of This Report @On the basis of functionality, the global home energy management systems market can be segmented into user interface, enabling technologies, and control devices. Currently, control devices are leading the market in terms of usage rate and overall demand. However, enabling technologies are expected to gain a higher growth rate over the coming years due to the advantages they show over the other functional segments.The leading players in the global home energy management systems market include Panasonic Corporation (Japan), Honeywell International, Inc., (U.S.), General Electric Company (U.S.), Intel Corporation (U.S.), Cisco Systems, Inc. (U.S.), and Sharp Corporation (Japan).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.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Private Tutoring Market 2017 Ambow Education, New Oriental, TAL Education, Xueda Education, Juren Education Group

Private Tutoring

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The Private Tutoring Market 2017 inspects the execution of the Private Tutoring advertise, encasing a top to bottom judgment of the Private Tutoring showcase state and the aggressive scene comprehensively. This report breaks down the capability of Private Tutoring market in the present and in addition the future prospects from different points in detail.The Global Private Tutoring Market 2017 report incorporates Private Tutoring industry volume, piece of the overall industry, showcase Trends, Private Tutoring Growth angles, an extensive variety of uses, Utilization proportion, Supply and request investigation, fabricating limit, Private Tutoring Price amid the Forecast time frame from 2017 to 2022.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Producers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Private Tutoring Market 2017:1. Ambow Education2. New Oriental3. TAL Education4. Xueda Education5. Juren Education Group6. Manhattan Review7. iTutorGroup8. EF Education First9. MandarinRocks10. Web International English11. Kaplan12. Xiaozhan Jiaoyu13. Tutors in ChinaToward the starting, the report covers the top Private Tutoring fabricating industry players from areas like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It likewise describes the market in view of geological districts.Further, the Private Tutoring report gives data on the organization profile, piece of the pie and contact subtle elements alongside esteem chain investigation of Private Tutoring industry, Private Tutoring industry tenets and arrangements, conditions driving the development of the market and impulse hindering the development. Private Tutoring Market improvement scope and different business procedures are additionally specified in this report.Enquire Here:The Private Tutoring look into report incorporates the items that are right now sought after and accessible in the market alongside their cost separation, producing volume, import/send out plan and commitment to the Private Tutoring advertise income around the world.At last, Private Tutoring advertise report gives you insights about the statistical surveying discoveries and conclusion which causes you to create productive market systems to increase upper hand.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 Synthetic Hydrochloric Acid Market 2017 Major Players - Covestro, OxyChem, BASF, Detrex Chemicals, Solvay

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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 Synthetic Hydrochloric Acid market.Download Free Sample Report @To begin with, the report defines the Synthetic Hydrochloric Acid 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 Synthetic Hydrochloric Acid 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 Synthetic Hydrochloric Acid new project SWOT analysis, Investment feasibility analysis, Investment return analysis, and Development trend analysis. In conclusion, it is a deep research report on Global Synthetic Hydrochloric Acid industry. Here, we express our thanks for the support and assistance from Synthetic Hydrochloric Acid 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 Synthetic Hydrochloric Acid 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 Synthetic Hydrochloric Acid 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:
Global Wearable Technology Market 2017 ADIDAS AG, APPLE, Fitbit, GOOGLE, JAWBONE

Wearable Technology

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The Wearable Technology Market 2017 inspects the execution of the Wearable Technology advertise, encasing a top to bottom judgment of the Wearable Technology showcase state and the aggressive scene comprehensively. This report breaks down the capability of Wearable Technology market in the present and in addition the future prospects from different points in detail.The Global Wearable Technology Market 2017 report incorporates Wearable Technology industry volume, piece of the overall industry, showcase Trends, Wearable Technology Growth angles, an extensive variety of uses, Utilization proportion, Supply and request investigation, fabricating limit, Wearable Technology Price amid the Forecast time frame from 2017 to 2022.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Producers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Wearable Technology Market 2017:1. ADIDAS AG2. APPLE3. Fitbit4. GOOGLE5. JAWBONE6. NIKE7. Qualcomm8. Samsung Group9. SONY10. TEXAS INSTRUMENTSToward the starting, the report covers the top Wearable Technology fabricating industry players from areas like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It likewise describes the market in view of geological districts.Further, the Wearable Technology report gives data on the organization profile, piece of the pie and contact subtle elements alongside esteem chain investigation of Wearable Technology industry, Wearable Technology industry tenets and arrangements, conditions driving the development of the market and impulse hindering the development. Wearable Technology Market improvement scope and different business procedures are additionally specified in this report.Enquire Here:The Wearable Technology look into report incorporates the items that are right now sought after and accessible in the market alongside their cost separation, producing volume, import/send out plan and commitment to the Wearable Technology advertise income around the world.At last, Wearable Technology advertise report gives you insights about the statistical surveying discoveries and conclusion which causes you to create productive market systems to increase upper hand.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
Stand-up Pouches Market is Expected to Grow at a CAGR of 7% by 2022

Stand Up Pouches Market

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Market Research Future published a half cooked research report on Global Stand up Pouches Market. The Stand-up Pouches Market is expected to grow over the CAGR of around 7% during the period 2016 to 2022.Market Highlights:The global stand-up pouches market is majorly driven by reduced storage space of products, pleasant appearance of the stand-up pouches, which result into better brand image. The wide acceptance among consumers owing to its features such as lightweight and portability is further expected to boost the growth of this market. Stand-up pouches are more cost efficient, offer flexibility to print as per custom design, and ensure better shelf visibility. The wide spread use of stand-up pouches by various end-use industries such as food & beverage, packaging and others is also contributing to the growth of this market.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players of Stand Up Pouches Market: Amcor Ltd. (Australia) Berry Plastics corporation (U.S.) Ampac Holdings, LLC (U.S.) Clondalkin Group (Netherlands) Sealed Air Corporation (U.S.) Astrapak Limited (South Korea) Bemis Company Inc. (U.S) Coveris Holdings S.A. (U.S.) Mondi Plc. (Austria) Sonoco Products (U.S.)Market Research Analysis:The standup pouches are important for packaging in food, beverages, pharmaceutical and others. Among all applications, the food and beverage application is expected to grow rapidly. The stand-up pouches are very light weight and provide advantage of compact packaging for the purpose of logistics. The pouches are extensively used for storing frozen food and even for packaging of beverages. Therefore, growth in the concept of flexible packaging will directly influence the standup pouches market.Asia-Pacific region is expected to dominate the stand-up pouches market with highest CAGR owing to the increase in the number of middle class customers in the region, who are more attracted towards the packaging of stand-up pouches. The region is expected to grow due to the rapidly changing lifestyle, increase in the disposable income, extensive growth in population, and the constantly growing packaged food industry.Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global stand-up pouches market, tracking three market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the Global Stand up Pouches Market by its material, type, application and region.By Material Plastic Metal Paper OthersBy Type Aseptic Standard RetortBy Application Food & Beverage Health care Personal Care OthersBy Region North America Asia Pacific Europe Rest of the WorldBrief 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 Analysis3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis4 Global Stand-up Pouches Market, By Type4.1 Aseptic4.2 Standard4.3 Retort5 Global Stand-up Pouches Market, By Material5.1 Introduction5.2 Plastic5.3 Metal5.4 Paper5.5 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
Europe Set-Top Box (STB) Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022

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ReportsWorldwide has announced the addition of a new report title Europe Set-Top Box (STB) Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 to its growing collection of premium market research reports.A Set-Top Box (STB) is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the source signal into content in a form that can then be displayed on the television screen or other display device. They are used in cable television, satellite television, and over-the-air television systems, as well as other uses.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Set-Top Box (STB) in Europe market, especially in Germany, UK, France, Russia, and Italy. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries, type and application.To view a detailed description and Table of Contents please visit:Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Pace Technicolor Arris Echostar Cisco Humax Netgem Apple Sagemcom RokuMarket Segment by States, covering Germany UK France Russia ItalyMarket Segment by Type, covers Cable Satellite DTT IP OTTMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into Residential Use Commercial UseTo Get Sample Copy of Report please visit @About ReportsWorldwide.comReportsWorldwide.com is a leading provider of global market intelligence reports and services. With research reports from top publishers, consulting and advisory firms, ReportsWorldwide.com offers instant online access to a growing database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, geographies and trends.Press Contact:Abigail CrastoSenior Vice President101, Arch StreetBoston, MA 02110USPhone +1 (617) 398-4994Fax +1 (617) 398-4995abigail@reportsworldwide.com
Global Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment Market 2017 Colosio Srl, Birch Machinery Company, Zitai Machines, Simhope, HMT

Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment

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The Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment Market 2017 inspects the execution of the Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment advertise, encasing a top to bottom judgment of the Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment showcase state and the aggressive scene comprehensively. This report breaks down the capability of Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment market in the present and in addition the future prospects from different points in detail.The Global Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment Market 2017 report incorporates Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment industry volume, piece of the overall industry, showcase Trends, Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment Growth angles, an extensive variety of uses, Utilization proportion, Supply and request investigation, fabricating limit, Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment Price amid the Forecast time frame from 2017 to 2022.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Producers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment Market 2017:1. Buhler2. Toshiba Machine3. Frech4. UBE Machinery5. Toyo Machinery & Metal6. Colosio Srl7. Birch Machinery Company8. Zitai Machines9. Simhope10. HMT11. L.K. Group12. Yizumi GroupToward the starting, the report covers the top Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment fabricating industry players from areas like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It likewise describes the market in view of geological districts.Further, the Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment report gives data on the organization profile, piece of the pie and contact subtle elements alongside esteem chain investigation of Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment industry, Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment industry tenets and arrangements, conditions driving the development of the market and impulse hindering the development. Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment Market improvement scope and different business procedures are additionally specified in this report.Enquire Here:The Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment look into report incorporates the items that are right now sought after and accessible in the market alongside their cost separation, producing volume, import/send out plan and commitment to the Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment advertise income around the world.At last, Liquid Silicone Rubber Equipment advertise report gives you insights about the statistical surveying discoveries and conclusion which causes you to create productive market systems to increase upper hand.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 Non - Alcoholic Beverage Market 2017 Size, And Segment Markets By Regions, Types, Applications (Speciality Stores, Online Store, Convinience Stores, Others) And Companies

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"The Latest Research Report Global Non - Alcoholic Beverage Market Professional Survey Report 2017 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Non - Alcoholic Beverage MarketThis report studies Non - Alcoholic Beverage in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2011 to 2015, and forecast to 2021.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringCalcol Inc.DanoneNestle S.A.PepsiCo Inc.Monster Beverage CompanySan BenedettoTaisun Enterprise Co. Ltd.Dydo Drinco Inc.Get Sample copy of this Report @By types, the market can be split intoCarbonated drinksNon-CarbonatedBy Application, the market can be split intoSpeciality StoresOnline StoreConvinience StoresOthersBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaView Report @Table of ContentsGlobal Non - Alcoholic Beverage Market Professional Survey Report 20171 Industry Overview of Non - Alcoholic Beverage1.1 Definition and Specifications of Non - Alcoholic Beverage1.1.1 Definition of Non - Alcoholic Beverage1.1.2 Specifications of Non - Alcoholic Beverage1.2 Classification of Non - Alcoholic Beverage1.2.1 Carbonated drinks1.2.2 Non-Carbonated1.3 Applications of Non - Alcoholic Beverage1.3.1 Speciality Stores1.3.2 Online Store1.3.3 Convinience Stores1.3.4 Others1.4 Market Segment by Regions1.4.1 North America1.4.2 China1.4.3 Europe1.4.4 Southeast Asia1.4.5 Japan1.4.6 India2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Non - Alcoholic Beverage2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Non - Alcoholic Beverage2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Non - Alcoholic Beverage2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Non - Alcoholic Beverage3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Non - Alcoholic Beverage3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Non - Alcoholic Beverage Major Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Non - Alcoholic Beverage Major Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Non - Alcoholic Beverage Major Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Non - Alcoholic Beverage Major Manufacturers in 2015MarketResearchReports.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: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global Load Cells Market 2017 Honeywell, Vishay Precision Group, Flintec Group, OMEGA Engineering

Load Cells

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The Load Cells Market 2017 inspects the execution of the Load Cells advertise, encasing a top to bottom judgment of the Load Cells showcase state and the aggressive scene comprehensively. This report breaks down the capability of Load Cells market in the present and in addition the future prospects from different points in detail.The Global Load Cells Market 2017 report incorporates Load Cells industry volume, piece of the overall industry, showcase Trends, Load Cells Growth angles, an extensive variety of uses, Utilization proportion, Supply and request investigation, fabricating limit, Load Cells Price amid the Forecast time frame from 2017 to 2022.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Producers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Load Cells Market 2017:1. Honeywell2. Vishay Precision Group3. Flintec Group4. OMEGA Engineering5. FUTEK Advanced Sensor Technology6. Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH7. Novatech Measurements Ltd.8. Yamato Scale Co. Ltd9. Thames Side Sensors Ltd10. Mettler Toledo International Inc11. Precia MolenToward the starting, the report covers the top Load Cells fabricating industry players from areas like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It likewise describes the market in view of geological districts.Further, the Load Cells report gives data on the organization profile, piece of the pie and contact subtle elements alongside esteem chain investigation of Load Cells industry, Load Cells industry tenets and arrangements, conditions driving the development of the market and impulse hindering the development. Load Cells Market improvement scope and different business procedures are additionally specified in this report.Enquire Here:The Load Cells look into report incorporates the items that are right now sought after and accessible in the market alongside their cost separation, producing volume, import/send out plan and commitment to the Load Cells advertise income around the world.At last, Load Cells advertise report gives you insights about the statistical surveying discoveries and conclusion which causes you to create productive market systems to increase upper hand.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 Cellular Communication Routers Market 2017 Siemens, Sierra Wireless, Satel Benelux, Weidmuller Interface, Digi International

Cellular Communication Routers

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The Cellular Communication Routers Market 2017 inspects the execution of the Cellular Communication Routers advertise, encasing a top to bottom judgment of the Cellular Communication Routers showcase state and the aggressive scene comprehensively. This report breaks down the capability of Cellular Communication Routers market in the present and in addition the future prospects from different points in detail.The Global Cellular Communication Routers Market 2017 report incorporates Cellular Communication Routers industry volume, piece of the overall industry, showcase Trends, Cellular Communication Routers Growth angles, an extensive variety of uses, Utilization proportion, Supply and request investigation, fabricating limit, Cellular Communication Routers Price amid the Forecast time frame from 2017 to 2022.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Producers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Cellular Communication Routers Market 2017:1. Siemens2. Sierra Wireless3. Satel Benelux4. Weidmuller Interface5. Digi International6. Peplink7. CALAMP8. NimbeLink9. Advantech B+B SmartWorx10. InHand11. Multi-Tech Systems12. LynxspringToward the starting, the report covers the top Cellular Communication Routers fabricating industry players from areas like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It likewise describes the market in view of geological districts.Further, the Cellular Communication Routers report gives data on the organization profile, piece of the pie and contact subtle elements alongside esteem chain investigation of Cellular Communication Routers industry, Cellular Communication Routers industry tenets and arrangements, conditions driving the development of the market and impulse hindering the development. Cellular Communication Routers Market improvement scope and different business procedures are additionally specified in this report.Enquire Here:The Cellular Communication Routers look into report incorporates the items that are right now sought after and accessible in the market alongside their cost separation, producing volume, import/send out plan and commitment to the Cellular Communication Routers advertise income around the world.At last, Cellular Communication Routers advertise report gives you insights about the statistical surveying discoveries and conclusion which causes you to create productive market systems to increase upper hand.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
3rd Future Armoured Vehicles Survivability returns to London this November

http://www.favsurvivability.com/openpr

http://www.favsurvivability.com/openpr

http://www.smi-online.co.uk

SMi Reports: Future Armoured Vehicles Survivability returns to London on 14th-16th November 2017 to maximise force protection for mounted personnel.Senior programme managers from procurement and future land requirements as well as leading solution providers will meet at SMi Groups 3rd annual Future Armoured Vehicles Survivability taking place in London on 14th -16th November 2017As the only meeting of its kind solely dedicated to this capability area, this focused conference aims to deliver a strong emphasis on emerging technologies and how these might be leveraged. As well as hearing the perspectives of senior programme managers from procurement and future land requirements, the meeting aims to ensure thorough participation from the leading solution providers currently at the forefront of innovation in the survivability spaceImportantly, a key differentiator this year will be a dedicated pre-conference focus day on Active Protection System covering soft/hard kill active protection in detail. The three-day programme will cover the core areas of survivability in detail, exploring the latest platforms, vehicle architectures, passive/active protection, mobility, counter-IED, EW, un-manned/autonomous solutions, signature management and much more!Featured speakers will include: Advanced Blast and Ballistic Systems, ARTEC GmbH, British Army, Bundeswehr Technical Centre for Protective and Special Technologies , Czech Military Research Institute, Danish Defence and Acquisition Organisation, DSTL, German Army, IMI Systems, IMP Castle Associates Limited, Israeli MoD, Krauss Maffei Wegmann, Lockheed Martin UK, NATO, Pearson Engineering, SOUCY DEFENSE, Swedish Defence Research Agency, TNO, United States Army, United States Marine Corps, US Army, UTC Aerospace Systems and Vetronics Research CentreWhats new for 2017: National capability development updates from the British Army, DSTL, US Army, German Army, US Marine Corps and many more A key focus on the technology that goes into providing enhanced protection. Hear from industry leaders, including ARTEC, IMI Systems, KMW and Lockheed Martin, A pre-conference focus day exploring the development and integration of hard/soft kill active protection systems (APS)The notable speaker panel will include: Brigadier (ret) Ian Cameron-Mowat, Former Head of Force Protection, Director, IMP Castle Associates Limited Mr Donald Sando, Director, Capabilities, Development and Integration, Manoeuvre Centre of Excellence, United States Army Colonel William Nuckols, Director, Mounted Requirements Manoeuvre Centre of Excellence, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Bond, Commanding Officer, Armoured Trials and Development Unit, British Army Lieutenant Colonel Andy Simpson, SO1 Fighting Vehicle Systems, Platforms Division, DSTL Lieutenant Colonel Karl Heinz Boenke, Team Leader, Infantry Concepts and Mobility, Army Concepts and Capabilities Development Centre, German Army Lieutenant Colonel Eike Sinzig, Team Leader, Infantry Concepts and Mobility, Army Concepts and Capabilities Development Centre, German Army Lieutenant Colonel Gunter Chladek, Section Chief, Land, Joint Electronic Warfare Core Staff, NATO Professor Bryn James, Head of Armour and Protection, DSTL Mr Guenter Fuchs, Head of Section, Indirect Protection, Bundeswehr Technical Centre for Protective and Special Technologies Mr Jeff Koshko, Associate Director, Ground Vehicle Survivability&Protection, Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Centre, United States Army Dr Carsten Weidner, Research & Technology Coordinator, Signature Management, Bundeswehr Technical Centre for Protective and Special Technologies Dr Hans Kariis, Deputy Director, Department of Signature Management and Electro Optics, Swedish Defence Research AgencyFor those who are looking to attend, there is a 300 early bird offer available online ending on the 30th June 2017.Further information is available at online at:3rd Future Armoured Vehicles Survivability14th  16th November 2017Copthorne Tara Hotel, London, UKAbout SMi Group:Established since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the worlds most forward thinking opinion leaders and visionaries, allowing us to bring our communities together to Learn, Engage, Share and Network. More information can be found atSMi Group1 Westminster Bridge Rd, London SE1 7XWMedia: Contact Theresa Chung on tchung@smi-online.co.ukBooking: Contact Andrew Gibbons on agibbons@smi-online.co.uk
Global Salt Market  Share, Size, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017-2025

http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-salt-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/

http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/world-salt-market-report-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/

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IndexBox has just published a new report "World: Salt - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2025". (This report has been designed to provide a detailed analysis of the global salt market. It covers the most recent data sets of quantitative medium-term projections, as well as developments in production, trade, consumption and prices. The report also includes a comparative analysis of the leading consuming countries, revealing opportunities opened for producers and exporters across the globe. The forecast outlines market prospects to 2025.Countries coverage: Worldwide - the report contains statistical data for 200 countries and includes detailed profiles of the 50 largest consuming countries (United States, China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Italy, Russian Federation, India, Canada, Australia, Republic of Korea, Spain, Mexico, Indonesia, Netherlands, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Sweden, Nigeria, Poland, Belgium, Argentina, Norway, Austria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Denmark, South Africa, Malaysia, Israel, Singapore, Egypt, Philippines, Finland, Chile, Ireland, Pakistan, Greece, Portugal, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Czech Republic, Qatar, Peru, Romania, Vietnam) + the largest producing countries.Product coverage: SaltData coverage:- Salt market size and volume;- Salt market trends and prospects;- Global salt production and its dynamics;- Per capita consumption;- Breakdown of production by region and country;- Medium term outlook;- Salt trade (exports/imports);- Prices for salt;- Profiles of the main manufacturers.The report will help you:- Get a bigger picture of the market;- Rewire your business around market trends;- Devise your marketing strategy;- Operate with increased effectiveness.TABLE OF CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION1.1 REPORT DESCRIPTION1.2 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:EU: Salt And Pure Sodium Chloride - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2025Germany: Salt And Pure Sodium Chloride - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2025France: Salt And Pure Sodium Chloride - 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 Maternity Clothing Market 2017 : Amoralia, Noppies, Octmami, Amery, Gennies, HUIBAO, Lovesmama

Maternity Clothing

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A market study based on the "Maternity Clothing Market" across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Maternity Clothing Market 2017. The research report analyses the historical as well as present performance of the worldwide Maternity Clothing industry, and makes predictions on the future status of Maternity Clothing market on the basis of this analysis.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here :Top Manufacturers Analysis Of This Research ReportSeraphineThe GapBellydancematernityJoJo Maman BebeGoddess Bra CompanyAmoraliaNoppiesOctmamiAmeryGenniesHUIBAOLovesmamaTianxiangHappyhouseSumisaJoyncleonKisbbUADDThe report studies the industry for Maternity Clothing across the globe taking the existing industry chain, the import and export statistics in Maternity Clothing market & dynamics of demand and supply of Maternity Clothing into consideration. The 'Maternity Clothing' research study covers each and every aspect of the Maternity Clothing market globally, which starts from the definition of the Maternity Clothing industry and develops towards Maternity Clothing market segmentations. Further, every segment of the Maternity Clothing market is classified and analyzed on the basis of product types, application, and the end-use industries of the Maternity Clothing market. The geographical segmentation of the Maternity Clothing industry has also been covered at length in this report.The competitive landscape of the worldwide market for Maternity Clothing is determined by evaluating the various industry participants, production capacity, Maternity Clothing market's production chain, and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Maternity Clothing market worldwide.Enquire Here :The global Maternity Clothing market 2017 is also analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Maternity Clothing production volume, data regarding demand and Maternity Clothing 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 Maternity Clothing 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
Global Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet Market 2017 Panasonic, Getac, DT Research, Xplore, DRS Technology

Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet

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http://www.marketsnresearch.com/inquiry-for-buying.html?repid=11703

The Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet Market 2017 inspects the execution of the Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet advertise, encasing a top to bottom judgment of the Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet showcase state and the aggressive scene comprehensively. This report breaks down the capability of Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet market in the present and in addition the future prospects from different points in detail.The Global Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet Market 2017 report incorporates Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet industry volume, piece of the overall industry, showcase Trends, Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet Growth angles, an extensive variety of uses, Utilization proportion, Supply and request investigation, fabricating limit, Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet Price amid the Forecast time frame from 2017 to 2022.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Producers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet Market 2017:1. Panasonic2. Getac3. DT Research4. Xplore5. DRS Technology6. MobileDemand7. AAEON8. NEXCOM9. HP10. Dell11. MilDef12. TrimbleToward the starting, the report covers the top Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet fabricating industry players from areas like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It likewise describes the market in view of geological districts.Further, the Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet report gives data on the organization profile, piece of the pie and contact subtle elements alongside esteem chain investigation of Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet industry, Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet industry tenets and arrangements, conditions driving the development of the market and impulse hindering the development. Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet Market improvement scope and different business procedures are additionally specified in this report.Enquire Here:The Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet look into report incorporates the items that are right now sought after and accessible in the market alongside their cost separation, producing volume, import/send out plan and commitment to the Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet advertise income around the world.At last, Rugged Sunlight Readable Tablet advertise report gives you insights about the statistical surveying discoveries and conclusion which causes you to create productive market systems to increase upper hand.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 Electronic Circuit Breaker Market 2017 AVX Corporation, Bel Fuse, Bentek, Bourns

Electronic Circuit Breaker

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http://www.marketsnresearch.com/inquiry-for-buying.html?repid=11704

The Electronic Circuit Breaker Market 2017 inspects the execution of the Electronic Circuit Breaker advertise, encasing a top to bottom judgment of the Electronic Circuit Breaker showcase state and the aggressive scene comprehensively. This report breaks down the capability of Electronic Circuit Breaker market in the present and in addition the future prospects from different points in detail.The Global Electronic Circuit Breaker Market 2017 report incorporates Electronic Circuit Breaker industry volume, piece of the overall industry, showcase Trends, Electronic Circuit Breaker Growth angles, an extensive variety of uses, Utilization proportion, Supply and request investigation, fabricating limit, Electronic Circuit Breaker Price amid the Forecast time frame from 2017 to 2022.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Producers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Electronic Circuit Breaker Market 2017:1. ABB Limited2. Alstom S.A3. Automation Systems Interconnect4. AVX Corporation5. Bel Fuse6. Bentek7. Bourns8. Carling Technologies9. EPCOS AG10. Eaton11. E-T-A Elektrotechnische Apparate GmbH12. Fuji Electric FA Components & Systems13. General ElectricToward the starting, the report covers the top Electronic Circuit Breaker fabricating industry players from areas like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It likewise describes the market in view of geological districts.Further, the Electronic Circuit Breaker report gives data on the organization profile, piece of the pie and contact subtle elements alongside esteem chain investigation of Electronic Circuit Breaker industry, Electronic Circuit Breaker industry tenets and arrangements, conditions driving the development of the market and impulse hindering the development. Electronic Circuit Breaker Market improvement scope and different business procedures are additionally specified in this report.Enquire Here:The Electronic Circuit Breaker look into report incorporates the items that are right now sought after and accessible in the market alongside their cost separation, producing volume, import/send out plan and commitment to the Electronic Circuit Breaker advertise income around the world.At last, Electronic Circuit Breaker advertise report gives you insights about the statistical surveying discoveries and conclusion which causes you to create productive market systems to increase upper hand.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 Commercial TVs Market 2017 Samsung, LG, SONY, Sharp, Panasonic

Commercial TVs

http://www.marketsnresearch.com/request-for-sample.html?repid=11705

http://www.marketsnresearch.com/inquiry-for-buying.html?repid=11705

The Commercial TVs Market 2017 inspects the execution of the Commercial TVs advertise, encasing a top to bottom judgment of the Commercial TVs showcase state and the aggressive scene comprehensively. This report breaks down the capability of Commercial TVs market in the present and in addition the future prospects from different points in detail.The Global Commercial TVs Market 2017 report incorporates Commercial TVs industry volume, piece of the overall industry, showcase Trends, Commercial TVs Growth angles, an extensive variety of uses, Utilization proportion, Supply and request investigation, fabricating limit, Commercial TVs Price amid the Forecast time frame from 2017 to 2022.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Producers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Commercial TVs Market 2017:1. Samsung2. LG3. SONY4. Sharp5. Panasonic6. Seiki (Tongfang)7. Toshiba8. Hisense9. Skyworth10. TCL11. Konka12. Philips (Suning)13. HaierToward the starting, the report covers the top Commercial TVs fabricating industry players from areas like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It likewise describes the market in view of geological districts.Further, the Commercial TVs report gives data on the organization profile, piece of the pie and contact subtle elements alongside esteem chain investigation of Commercial TVs industry, Commercial TVs industry tenets and arrangements, conditions driving the development of the market and impulse hindering the development. Commercial TVs Market improvement scope and different business procedures are additionally specified in this report.Enquire Here:The Commercial TVs look into report incorporates the items that are right now sought after and accessible in the market alongside their cost separation, producing volume, import/send out plan and commitment to the Commercial TVs advertise income around the world.At last, Commercial TVs advertise report gives you insights about the statistical surveying discoveries and conclusion which causes you to create productive market systems to increase upper hand.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
United States Accounting Software Market by Manufacturers, States, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022

Accounting Software Market

http://www.globalinforeports.com/request-sample/246238

http://www.globalinforeports.com/report/united-states-accounting-software-market-by-manufacturers-states-type-and-application-forecast-to-2022-d-77

http://www.globalinforeports.com/check-discount/246238

http://www.globalinforeports.com/send-an-enquiry/246238

http://www.globalinforeports.com

http://www.globalinforeports.com/blog

Accounting Software is a foundational technology for many companies, and as a business grows having a powerful, effective accounting solution becomes increasingly critical. Most accounting software packages offer the same basic features necessary for managing finances: accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, billing and invoicing, purchase and sales orders, and reporting. Beyond basic functionality, the top accounting solutions offer additional features to give users more power, flexibility and customization. Oftentimes accounting solutions are closely integrated with other key software solutions. Most ERP solutions include an extensive accounting module, but buyers should also consider best-of-breed, standalone accounting software.Request for Sample Copy Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Accounting Software in United States market, to split the market based on manufacturers, states, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversIntuitSageSAPOracle (NetSuite)MicrosoftInforEpicorWorkdayUnit4XeroYonyouKingdeeAcclivityFreshBooksIntacctAssit cornerstoneAplicorRed wingMarket Segment by States, coveringCaliforniaTexasNew YorkFloridaIllinoisBrowse Full Report @Market Segment by Type, coversOnline Solutions Accounting SoftwareDesktop Solutions Accounting SoftwareMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoManufacturingServicesRetailThere are 17 Chapters to deeply display the United States Accounting Software market.Chapter 1, to describe Accounting Software 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 Accounting Software, 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 Accounting Software, 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, Accounting Software 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 Accounting Software Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source.Check for Discount @Some points from TOC:-1 Market Overview1.1 Accounting Software Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Online Solutions Accounting Software1.2.2 Desktop Solutions Accounting Software1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Manufacturing1.3.2 Services1.3.3 Retail1.4 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 Force.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-
Worldwide Lithium Ion Battery Industry Report Key Manufacturers Analysis 2021

ReportsWeb

http://www.reportsweb.com/global-lithium-ion-battery-market-research-report-2017

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ReportsWeb.com added Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Research Report 2017 to its vast collection of research Database. The report is spread across 123 pages and supported by 29 company leaders.The Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Research Report 2017is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Lithium Ion Battery industry. In a word, This report studies Lithium Ion Battery in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer. Key companies included in this research are Panasonic Corporation, Automotive Energy Supply Corporation, LG Chem Ltd, Samsung SDI, A123 Systems, Amperex Technology Limited, Coslight, GS Yuasa, International Ltd, Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd, BYD Company Limited, Johnson Controls, Inc, Blue Energy, Blue Solutions SA, China Aviation Lithium Battery, Deutsche Accumotive Gmbh & Co. Kg, Electrovaya Inc, EnerDel, SK Innovation Co., Ltd, Harbin Coslight Power Co., Ltd, Hefei Guoxuan High-Tech Power Energy, Johnson Matthey Battery Systems, Li-Tec Battery Gmbh, Lithium Energy Japan, Lithium Energy and Power GmbH & Co. Kg, Shenzhen Bak Battery, Tianjin Lishen Battery, Toshiba Corporation, Wanxiang Electric Vehicle and Zhejiang Tianneng Energy.Browse complete report @Market Segment by Region, this report splits Global into several key Region, with sales, revenue, market share and growth rate of Lithium Ion Battery in these regions, from 2011 to 2022 (forecast), like North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India. Firstly, Lithium Ion Battery Market On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into Lithium Cobalt Oxide, Lithium Manganese Oxide, Ferrous Phosphate Lithium and Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC). 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 Lithium Ion Battery for each application, including Electric Vehicles, Consumer Electronics, Energy Storage, Medical and Others.Request for Sample @Major points from Table of Contents:1 Lithium Ion Battery Market Overview2 Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Lithium Ion Battery Output, Revenue by Regions4 Global Lithium Ion Battery Supply (Output) , Consumption, Export, Import by Regions5 Global Lithium Ion Battery Output, Revenue, Price Trend by Types6 Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Analysis by Applications7 Global Lithium Ion Battery Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Panasonic Corporation7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Lithium Ion Battery Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Panasonic Corporation Lithium Ion Battery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Automotive Energy Supply Corporation7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Lithium Ion Battery Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Automotive Energy Supply Corporation Lithium Ion Battery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 LG Chem Ltd7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Lithium Ion Battery Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 LG Chem Ltd Lithium Ion Battery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview8 Lithium Ion Battery Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Lithium Ion Battery Market Forecast13 Research Findings and ConclusionList of Tables and FiguresFigure A123 Systems Lithium Ion Battery Production Growth Rate (2012-2017)Figure A123 Systems Lithium Ion Battery Production Market Share (2012-2017)Figure A123 Systems Lithium Ion Battery Revenue Market Share (2012-2017)Table Amperex Technology Limited Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its CompetitorsTable Amperex Technology Limited Lithium Ion Battery Capacity, Production (K Units) , Revenue (Million USD) , Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (2012-2017)Figure Amperex Technology Limited Lithium Ion Battery Production Growth Rate (2012-2017)Figure Amperex Technology Limited Lithium Ion Battery Production Market Share (2012-2017)Figure Amperex Technology Limited Lithium Ion Battery Revenue Market Share (2012-2017)Table Coslight Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its CompetitorsTable Coslight Lithium Ion Battery Capacity, Production (K Units) , Revenue (Million USD) , Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (2012-2017)Figure Coslight Lithium Ion Battery Production Growth Rate (2012-2017)Figure Coslight Lithium Ion Battery Production Market Share (2012-2017)Figure Coslight Lithium Ion Battery Revenue Market Share (2012-2017)Table GS Yuasa International Ltd Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its CompetitorsTable GS Yuasa International Ltd Lithium Ion Battery Capacity, Production (K Units) , Revenue (Million USD) , Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (2012-2017)Figure GS Yuasa International Ltd Lithium Ion Battery Production Growth Rate (2012-2017)Figure GS Yuasa International Ltd Lithium Ion Battery Production Market Share (2012-2017)Figure GS Yuasa International Ltd Lithium Ion Battery Revenue Market Share (2012-2017)Table Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its CompetitorsTable Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd Lithium Ion Battery Capacity, Production (K Units) , Revenue (Million USD) , Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (2012-2017)Figure Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd Lithium Ion Battery Production Growth Rate (2012-2017)Figure Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd Lithium Ion Battery Production Market Share (2012-2017)Figure Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd Lithium Ion Battery Revenue Market Share (2012-2017)Table BYD Company Limited Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its CompetitorsTable BYD Company Limited Lithium Ion Battery Capacity, Production (K Units) , Revenue (Million USD) , Price (USD/Unit) and Gross Margin (2012-2017)Figure BYD Company Limited Lithium Ion Battery Production Growth Rate (2012-2017)Figure BYD Company Limited Lithium Ion Battery Production Market Share (2012-2017)Figure BYD Company Limited Lithium Ion Battery Revenue Market Share (2012-2017)Table Production Base and Market Concentration Rate of Raw MaterialPlace a Direct Purchase Order of Complete Report @Contact 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. 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
Glass Prefilled Syringe Industry to show Impressive Growth of CAGR during the period 2017-2022

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Report Monitor Present's Global Glass Prefilled Syringe Market 2017 Industry Trend, enhances the decision making capabilities and helps to create an effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage.DescriptionThe Glass Prefilled Syringe Market report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Glass Prefilled Syringe industry. This report evaluates the Global market for "Glass Prefilled Syringe ".The Glass Prefilled Syringe Market report provides complete analysis of the Glass Prefilled Syringe by analysing all round market dynamics such as regional market opportunities, drivers, challenges, constraints, threats, and other market trends.To Browse Complete report visit @The Glass Prefilled Syringe Market report contains latest Business Data resulting from various Research sources that helps Decision Makers to deliver a Distinctive and Trustworthy Analysis for Companys Growth.The Glass Prefilled Syringe Market Survey starts with Industry overview of Glass Prefilled Syringe Market covering Major Regions Status, Industry Chain Structure, Definitions and Specifications, with a detailed focus on Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis including Raw Material Suppliers, Equipment Suppliers and Manufacturing Process.Get a PDF Sample of Global Glass Prefilled Syringe Market report atIn Next Part, the researchers has collected and presented information on Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis which comprises of Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source of Major Manufacturers .In following segment, with Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin, Business Region Distribution Analysis, Competition between various Company Profile has been given along with Product Pictures and Specifications in Glass Prefilled Syringe Industry Report.The Key Players Mentioned in Global Glass Prefilled Syringe Market Report are:Becton DickinsonGerresheimerSCHOTT AGWest Pharmaceutical ServicesOmpiCatalentWeigao GroupVetter Pharma International GmbHNipro CorporationMedPro IncTo Read Similar Medical Devices Reports visit at:The Glass Prefilled Syringe Industry Report is also a Great Source of Marketing Type Analysis consisting:1. Glass Prefilled Syringe Regional Marketing Type Analysis2. Glass Prefilled Syringe International Trade Type Analysis3.Traders or Distributors with Contact Information of Glass Prefilled Syringe by Regions4. Glass Prefilled Syringe Supply Chain AnalysisGot any Query? Feel free to ask us at:Lastly, the Report provides Development Trend Analysis for 2017-2022 years which will forecast Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales Price, Consumption Forecast, Market Trend (Product Type) and Market Trend (Application). Also the List of Major Consumers is analyzed and Contact Details are provided to easy communicating.Finally, the Report is concluded with Various Methodology, Analyst Introduction and Data SourcesReports Monitor is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. We have a vast collection of reports, covering maximum industries worldwide. Our process is meticulously planned and executed in order to use maximum resources and explore the market for getting genuine insights. Prime focus is to get reliable data, Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.008, Mihir Co-operative,Above Bharat Suzuki showroom,Fatima Nagar,Pune,Maharashtra,IndiaPune - 411013Contact UsJay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549-5911Email: sales@reportsmonitor.comWebsite:
Global Feed Pigment Market 2017 Outlook, Opportunities, Trends and Forecast by 2022

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Global Feed Pigment Market was worth USD 978.24 million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD 1.156 billion by 2021 with a CAGR of 3.4 %.Browse the report:Pigment is a compound which provides color to the other substance. Feed Pigments provide aid to improve the commercial value of meat derivatives by improving the color, Form, and palatability of the feed. It also acts as anti-oxidants to cure many diseases in animals and making them healthy.Rising demand for meat, growing health consciousness among consumers to take healthy food, rising disposable incomes, and rising need for healthier livestock owing the growth of meat industry are some of the factors driving the market. However, factors like high expense of synthetic pigments and scarcity of natural pigments are restraining the growth of the market.Feed Pigment Market is segmented based on Type, Carotenoids Source and livestock. Based on Type, market is further segmented into Carotenoids, Curcumin, Caramel, Spirulina & Others. Based on Carotenoids Source, market is further segmented into Natural Feed Pigments, Synthetic Feed Pigments. Based on Livestock, market is further segmented into Swine, Ruminants, Poultry, Aquatic Animals & Others. Further based on Carotenoids, market is further segmented into Beta-Carotene, Canthaxanthin, Lutein, Astaxanthin, Lycopene, Zeaxanthin, Other Carotenoids. Carotenoids dominated the market in 2015 owing to its widespread usage.Request a sample of the report:Geographically, market is segmented into Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. Europe accounted for largest share globally owing to the increased awareness about benefits of feed pigments. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market owing to the factors like large population, growing health consciousness among people and rising disposable incomes.Major players listed in the report are BASF SE, Royal DSM N. V., Kemin Industries, Inc., D.D. Williamson & Co., Inc. (DDW), Guangzhou Leader Bio-Technology Co., Ltd, Behn Meyer Group, Innovad AD NV/SA, Novus International, Inc., Synthite Industries Ltd and Vitafor NV.Major Points From The Table Of Contents:IntroductionResearch MethodologyOverviewDrivers, Restraints, Opportunities, and Challenges Analysis (DROC)Market SegmentationGeographical AnalysisStrategic AnalysisMarket Leaders' AnalysisCompetitive LandscapeMarket 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
Global Osmium Powder Industry Market Research Report 2017

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SummaryThe Global Osmium Powder Industry 2017 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Osmium Powder industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Osmium Powder 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 Osmium Powder 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):ESPI MetalsACI AlloysAlfa AesarAkash JewellersNanjing Dong Rui platinumTaian Healthy Chemical...Key Topics Covered:Chapter One Industry Overview of Osmium PowderChapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Osmium PowderChapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Osmium PowderChapter Four Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Osmium Powder by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Five Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Osmium Powder by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Six Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Sale Price Analysis of Osmium Powder by Regions, Types and ApplicationsChapter Seven Supply, Import, Export and Consumption Analysis of Osmium PowderChapter Eight Major Manufacturers Analysis of Osmium PowderChapter Nine Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Osmium PowderChapter Ten Industry Chain Analysis of Osmium PowderChapter Eleven Development Trend of Analysis of Osmium PowderChapter Twelve New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Osmium PowderChapter Thirteen Conclusion of the Global Osmium Powder Industry 2017 Market Research ReportRelated Reports:US Osmium Powder Industry Market Research Report 2017Europe Osmium Powder Industry Market Research Report 2017India Osmium Powder Industry Market Research Report 2017China Osmium Powder Industry Market Research Report 2017Korea Osmium Powder Industry Market Research Report 2017Japan Osmium Powder 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)
Light-Emitting Diode Lighting Module Market 2017 Trends, Growth and Forecast to 2021

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LED lamps consist of two semiconductor diodes, which produce light. They do not contain any mercury and emit almost negligible UV or infrared rays that are converted to white light by the phosphors content in it. Thus, these are environment friendly. These are also resistant to shock and vibration and produce very little heat. It has a life span of almost 50,000 hours, which is much longer than other types of bulbs.Publisher's analysts forecast the global light-emitting diode lighting module market to grow at a CAGR of 19.95% 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 light-emitting diode lighting module market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of LED lighting modules across the several end-user segments, which includes architectural, hospitality, industrial, office, outdoor, residential, and retail.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:-Americas-APAC-EMEAPublisher's report, Global Light-Emitting Diode Lighting Module 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-Cree-GE Lighting-OSRAM-PhilipsRequest Sample Copy atOther prominent vendors-Acuity Brands-Advanced Lighting Technology-Bridgelux-Cooper Lighting-LG InnotekMarket driver-Demand for energy-efficient lighting solutions-For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge-Lack of standardization-For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend-Increase in urban population worldwide-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
Marine Lubricant Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Marine lubricant are the lubricant used in various marine ship applications such as engines, hydraulics, and compressors to maintain low temperature by dissipating the heat produced due to friction. Marine lubricants facilitate various functions such as removing contaminants, preventing wear in all forms, ensuring good bearing operation, completing gas sealing at piston ring level, prevention of corrosion, and reducing friction. Marine lubricants are mainly used in seashore countries. Marine lubricants find extensive application in shipping and oil & gas industries.Request Sample of Marine Lubricant Market:Engines segment accounts for a sizeable share of the market due to the large application area, high consumption, and requiring large amount of lubricants. On the other hand, applications such as heat transfer fluids, gears, and turbines are also expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. The marine lubricants are important for the greater resistance to rust, lower viscosity loss and greater anti-wear capacityMarine Lubricant Market TaxonomyOn basis of product type,Mineral OilSynthetic LubricatorBio-basedGreaseOn basis of application,EngineCylinder OilSystem OilHydraulicCompressorGear OilTurbine OilHeat Transfer Fluids (HTFs)OthersOn basis of End-Use type,Oil & GasCargo ShipsTankersContainer ShipsOthersChoice of marine lubricant is largely dependent on machine, application, operating condition and environment. Mineral oil is better soluble with additives and it has the property to enhance the compatibility with seal and is of low cost. Synthetic lubricants are used at extreme environmental conditions and is relatively more expensive than mineral oil. Due to the increased environmental regulations and degradable property of bio lubricants, they are now gaining traction over other lubricants.Lubricants are available in various viscosities for different equipment function. Different lubricant are used in different equipment. The Ship loading capacities are also considered when selecting marine lubricants.Marine Lubricant Market Outlook - Surging Demand in Asia Pacific Augmenting Market GrowthAsia Pacific is estimated to be the largest market in the marine lubricant market, followed by Europe. China, India and Singapore are among the largest consumers of marine lubricants. The shipping of oil and gas is very high to meet the demand of fuel in these countries.Europe is estimated to be the second largest market in the marine lubricant industry. Though market share is expected to decline due to shifting of shipbuilding and shipping activities to Asia Pacific. This is due to cheap raw material and low labor costs in those countries.Middle East and Africa have small demand of marine lubricants compared to Asia Pacific. Middle East being a hub for oil and gas export, relies on shipping industry for transport of oil to Asian markets. The industry in this region is expected to grow.North America and Latin America are seeing poor growth in marine industry, partly due to energy self-sufficiency and poor port infrastructure in Latin America which discourages shipbuilding operations in this region.The infrastructure development and new alternatives technologies for the shipping industry are the main drivers for the marine lubricant market. The demand for eco-friendly bio-based marine lubricants are increasing due to the government regulations and environmental impact. The demand of base stock group II over base stock group I gives companies opportunity to target more costumers.Check The Trending Report of Marine Lubricant Market:Marine Lubricant Market Challenges This industry depends upon the trades of the countries over a large distances. The decrease in the trades restrain the growth of this industry. Also the sulfur and nitrogen content in marine lubricant is dangerous for the aquatic animals. Hence the government is implementing environment regulations against the marine lubricant industry. These are the challenges across marine lubricant market.Shell is one of the leading company in the major companies of marine lubricant market. The some of the major companies operating in the marine lubricant market are BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Chevron Corporation, Sinopec Corporation, Lukoil, Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd, and Total S.A.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 :
Global Swimming Pool Pumps Market 2017 - Pahlen, Hayward Industrial Products, Pentair, Bestway

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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 Swimming Pool Pumps industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Request For Sample Report @The report, titled Swimming Pool Pumps is an in-depth analysis of the Swimming Pool Pumps market across the world. A brief historic overview of the Swimming Pool Pumps 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 Swimming Pool Pumps market during the forecast period. It also indicates the key market trends shaping up the market.The Swimming Pool Pumps 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 Swimming Pool Pumps 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 Swimming Pool Pumps market, the report provides crucial information about them. The Swimming Pool Pumps 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 Swimming Pool Pumps market.Various analytical tools are applied in the analysis on the Swimming Pool Pumps 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 ManagerOffice-108, Sanskriti AspirationsBaner Road, Pune,MH 411045IndiaPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Global Men's Toiletries Market 2017 - Unilever, Beiersdorf AG, Brave Soldier, LOreal, Baxter of California

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Focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with Production, price, statistics and market share for each manufacturer.The Report describe Global Men's Toiletries 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 2022Download Sample Report @Scope of the report:Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Men's Toiletries for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Men's Toiletries market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Men's Toiletries sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingUnileverProcter & GambleBeiersdorf AGLOrealBrave SoldierBaxter of CaliforniaGet Full Report With TOC @On 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 intoShaving CreamsAftershavesCologneHair Styling GelSkin Care ProductsOn 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 Men's Toiletries for each application, includingTeensAdultsThe OldIf 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.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:Blog:
Global Wearable EEG Monitors Market 2017 - Welch Allyn, Kokoon Technology Limited, Philips Healthcare, Dexcom, Medtronic

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Report studies Wearable EEG Monitors in Global market that focuses on the top Manufacturers, Market Segment by Countries, Split by Product Types (with sales, revenue, price, market share of each type), Split by applications this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Wearable EEG Monitors in each application.To analyze the growth trajectory and present an industry overview of the global Wearable EEG Monitors market, the report titled Wearable EEG Monitors begins with definition, application, classification, industry chain analysis, news analysis, and policy analysis of the market.Throughout, the report has maintained an analytical approach to present an executive-level blueprint of the global Wearable EEG Monitors market. The primary aim of the report is to study the market potential exhibited by the Wearable EEG Monitors industry and evaluate the concentration of the Wearable EEG Monitors manufacturing segment. Through a detailed analysis, the report finds the best avenues of investment for the global Wearable EEG Monitors market. Market classification in terms of geography included in this section of the report will help companies understand individual growth prospects for the Wearable EEG Monitors market across the key geographic regions over the forecast period.To study the Wearable EEG Monitors industry in the global scenario, the report segments the market in terms of products, applications, end-use industries, and key geographic regions. Development trends witnessed by the market in terms of each individual segment are discussed in detail in the report. To provide a detailed industry value chain analysis, the report analyzes the downstream client survey, equipment, supply chain network, upstream raw material, and other valuable information pertaining to the marketing channel.Manufacturing process, product cost structure, and product specifications are other factors evaluated in the report. To present a detailed competitive analysis of the Wearable EEG Monitors market, the report profiles the leaders of the industry. The individual contribution of these companies to overall market performance is also analyzed in detail by the report, together with specifying their respective market share. With the help of the information obtained through the analysis of the competitive landscape, the report estimates the prospective investment feasibility of the Wearable EEG Monitors market.Download Sample Report:The Wearable EEG Monitors market research study has been composed using key inputs from industry experts. Furthermore, the extensive primary and secondary research data with which the report has been composed helps deliver the key statistical forecasts, in terms of both revenue and volume. In addition to this, the trends and revenue analysis of the global Wearable EEG Monitors market has been mentioned in this report. This will give a clear perspective to the readers how the Wearable EEG Monitors market will fare in China.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 ManagePhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Global Antivirus Software Industry Key Trends, Size, Growth, Shares And Forecast Research Report 2022

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Antivirus Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Antivirus Software market, analyzes and researches the Antivirus Software development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeSymantecMcAfeeTrend MicroAVGAvast SoftwareESETBitdefenderFortinetF-SecureG DATA SoftwareAviraQihoo 360KasperskyPanda SecurityQuick HealComodoMicrosoftRisingCheetah MobileAhnLabTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Application, Antivirus Software can be split intoIndividual UsersEnterprise UsersGovernment UsersIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal Antivirus Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Antivirus Software1.1 Antivirus Software Market Overview1.1.1 Antivirus Software Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Antivirus Software Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Antivirus Software Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Individual Users1.3.2 Enterprise Users1.3.3 Government Users2 Global Antivirus Software Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Antivirus Software 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 Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Symantec3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Antivirus Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 McAfee3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Antivirus Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Trend Micro3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Antivirus Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 AVG3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Antivirus Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Avast Software3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Antivirus Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 ESET3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Antivirus Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Bitdefender3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Antivirus Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Fortinet3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Antivirus Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 F-Secure3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Antivirus Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 G DATA Software3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Antivirus Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Avira3.12 Qihoo 3603.13 Kaspersky3.14 Panda Security3.15 Quick Heal3.16 Comodo3.17 Microsoft3.18 Rising3.19 Cheetah Mobile3.20 AhnLab4 Global Antivirus Software Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Antivirus Software Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.2 Potential Application of Antivirus Software in Future4.3 Top Consumer/End Users of Antivirus Software5 United States Antivirus Software Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Antivirus Software Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Antivirus Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Antivirus Software Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Antivirus Software Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Antivirus Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)7 Japan Antivirus Software Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Antivirus Software Market Size (2012-2017)7.2 Japan Antivirus Software Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Global Data Center Construction Market Analysis, Trend, Growth, Size, Status and Forecast 2022

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Data Center Construction Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Data Center Construction market, analyzes and researches the Data Center Construction development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeGoogleYandexNxtGenIBMEquinixAWSAppleRittalBilfingerM+W GroupAWSSISK GroupJones EngineeringSchneider ElectricTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, Data Center Construction can be split intoElectrical ConstructionMechanical ConstructionGeneral ConstructionMarket segment by Application, Data Center Construction can be split intoInternetFinanceTelecommunicationsGovernmentOthersIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal Data Center Construction Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Data Center Construction1.1 Data Center Construction Market Overview1.1.1 Data Center Construction Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Data Center Construction 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 Data Center Construction Market by Type1.3.1 Electrical Construction1.3.2 Mechanical Construction1.3.3 General Construction1.4 Data Center Construction Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Internet1.4.2 Finance1.4.3 Telecommunications1.4.4 Government1.4.5 Others2 Global Data Center Construction Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Data Center Construction 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 Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Google3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Data Center Construction Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Yandex3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Data Center Construction Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 NxtGen3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Data Center Construction Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 IBM3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Data Center Construction Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Equinix3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Data Center Construction Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 AWS3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Data Center Construction Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Apple3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Data Center Construction Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 Rittal3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Data Center Construction Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 Bilfinger3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Data Center Construction Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 M+W Group3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Data Center Construction Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 AWS3.12 SISK Group3.13 Jones Engineering3.14 Schneider Electric4 Global Data Center Construction Market Size by Type and Application (2012-2017)4.1 Global Data Center Construction Market Size by Type (2012-2017)4.2 Global Data Center Construction Market Size by Application (2012-2017)4.3 Potential Application of Data Center Construction in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Data Center Construction5 United States Data Center Construction Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Data Center Construction Market Size (2012-2017)5.2 United States Data Center Construction Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)6 EU Data Center Construction Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Data Center Construction Market Size (2012-2017)6.2 EU Data Center Construction Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)7 Japan Data Center Construction Development Status and Outlook7.1 Japan Data Center Construction Market Size (2012-2017)7.2 Japan Data Center Construction Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)8 China Data Center Construction Development Status and Outlook8.1 China Data Center Construction Market Size (2012-2017)8.2 China Data Center Construction Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)9 India Data Center Construction Development Status and Outlook9.1 India Data Center Construction Market Size (2012-2017)9.2 India Data Center Construction Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)10 Southeast Asia Data Center Construction Development Status and Outlook10.1 Southeast Asia Data Center Construction Market Size (2012-2017)10.2 Southeast Asia Data Center Construction Market Size and Market Share by Players (2016 and 2017)Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Waterborne Uv Coating Systems Market to Witness Comprehensive Growth by 2021

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Waterborne UV coating systems is developed as a replacement for solvent coating systems. In order to meet specific requirements of the industries, these systems are available as UV coating systems within waterborne coating technology and waterborne coating systems within UV coating technology. Waterborne UV coating systems are easy to matt, superior in adhesion and are simple and easy to use. Waterborne UV coating systems are used in a variety of applications such as plastic, paper, soft touch coating, industrial metal, wood flooring, vinyl flooring and wood furniture (especially in kitchen and office) among others.To access full report @Increasing environmental awareness and concern for our surrounding is expected to drive the global waterborne UV coating systems. The presence of stringent environmental standards for emission of volatile organic compounds imposed by various governments and regulatory bodies has played a crucial role in the development of a substitute for solvent coating systems. Waterborne UV coating systems uses water as the solvent unlike the solvent system which utilizes harmful chemicals. Moreover, the waterborne UV coating systems are easy to apply and have its emerging benefits as composite repair, direct to metal applications, sunshine-cure coatings for decking and aerospace application among others.A sample of this report is available upon request @The growing construction and furniture industry, particularly in China is expected to boost the growth of the market. Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest consumer of waterborne UV coating systems in the next few years, owing to the increasing population and growing industry for secondary processed products especially in China and India. Currently, Europe is the largest market for waterborne UV coating systems due to the stringent regulations with respect to the environment in this region. Therefore, numerous automobile companies in this region are replacing solvent coating systems with waterborne UV coating systems.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Bayers MaterialScience, Axalta Coating Systems, Nanovere Technologies, Becker coatings and Sirca SpA are some of the key participants of the waterborne UV coating systems.Key geographies evaluated in this report are:North AmericaU.SCanadaEuropeFrance, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UKEastern EuropeCISAPACChinaIndiaJapanAustraliaOthersLatin AmericaArgentinaBrazilOthersKey features of this reportDrivers, restraints, and challenges shaping the Waterborne UV Coating Systems market dynamicsLatest innovations and key events in the industryAnalysis of business strategies of the top playersWaterborne UV Coating Systems market estimates and forecasts(2015 -2021)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 Wind Power Generator Market Research Report 2017 | Now Available at Researchmoz.us

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Wind Power Generator Market Research Report 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Wind Power Generator market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Wind Power Generator in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Wind Power Generator market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingSiemensGEVestasGoldwindEnerconGamesaUnited PowerMing YangSenvionNordexSamsungMitsubishi Heavy IndustriesRepowerAlstomSinovelArevaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoLarge Wind Turbines (Above 100-150 KW)Small-Scale Wind Turbines (Below 100-150 KW)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 Wind Power Generator for each application, includingOn-GridOff-GridTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Table of ContentsGlobal Wind Power Generator Market Research Report 20171 Wind Power Generator Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Wind Power Generator1.2 Wind Power Generator Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Wind Power Generator Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Wind Power Generator Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Large Wind Turbines (Above 100-150 KW)1.2.4 Small-Scale Wind Turbines (Below 100-150 KW)1.3 Global Wind Power Generator Segment by Application1.3.1 Wind Power Generator Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 On-Grid1.3.3 Off-Grid1.4 Global Wind Power Generator Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Wind Power Generator 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 Wind Power Generator (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Wind Power Generator Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2 Global Wind Power Generator Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Wind Power Generator Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Wind Power Generator Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Wind Power Generator Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Wind Power Generator Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Wind Power Generator Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Wind Power Generator Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Wind Power Generator Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Wind Power Generator Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Wind Power Generator Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Wind Power Generator Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Wind Power Generator Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 Southeast Asia Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.10 India Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Wind Power Generator Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)4.1 Global Wind Power Generator Consumption by Region (2012-2017)4.2 North America Wind Power Generator Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Wind Power Generator Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Wind Power Generator Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan Wind Power Generator Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.6 Southeast Asia Wind Power Generator Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.7 India Wind Power Generator Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)5 Global Wind Power Generator Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Wind Power Generator Production and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.2 Global Wind Power Generator Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.3 Global Wind Power Generator Price by Type (2012-2017)5.4 Global Wind Power Generator Production Growth by Type (2012-2017)6 Global Wind Power Generator Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Wind Power Generator Consumption and Market Share by Application (2012-2017)6.2 Global Wind Power Generator Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2012-2017)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/Countries7 Global Wind Power Generator Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Siemens7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Wind Power Generator Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Siemens Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 GE7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Wind Power Generator Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 GE Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Vestas7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Wind Power Generator Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Vestas Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Goldwind7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Wind Power Generator Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Goldwind Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Enercon7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Wind Power Generator Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Enercon Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Gamesa7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Wind Power Generator Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Gamesa Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 United Power7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Wind Power Generator Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 United Power Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Ming Yang7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Wind Power Generator Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Ming Yang Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Senvion7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Wind Power Generator Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Senvion Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Nordex7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Wind Power Generator Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Nordex Wind Power Generator Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Samsung7.12 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries7.13 Repower7.14 Alstom7.15 Sinovel7.16 Areva8 Wind Power Generator Manufacturing Cost Analysis8.1 Wind Power Generator Key Raw Materials Analysis8.1.1 Key Raw Materials8.1.2 Price Trend of Key Raw Materials8.1.3 Key Suppliers of Raw Materials8.1.4 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials8.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost Structure8.2.1 Raw Materials8.2.2 Labor Cost8.2.3 Manufacturing Expenses8.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Wind Power Generator9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers9.1 Wind Power Generator Industrial Chain Analysis9.2 Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing9.3 Raw Materials Sources of Wind Power Generator Major Manufacturers in 20159.4 Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders10.1 Marketing Channel10.1.1 Direct Marketing10.1.2 Indirect Marketing10.1.3 Marketing Channel Development Trend10.2 Market Positioning10.2.1 Pricing Strategy10.2.2 Brand Strategy10.2.3 Target Client10.3 Distributors/Traders ListMake 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 Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales Market 2017 - Boston Scientific, Stryker, Olympus, B.Braun, Karl Storz, Pentax

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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 Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Request For Sample Report @The report, titled Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales is an in-depth analysis of the Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales market across the world. A brief historic overview of the Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales 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 Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales market during the forecast period. It also indicates the key market trends shaping up the market.The Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales 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 Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales 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 Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales market, the report provides crucial information about them. The Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales 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 Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales market.Various analytical tools are applied in the analysis on the Military Personal Protective Equipments Sales 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 ManagerOffice-108, Sanskriti AspirationsBaner Road, Pune,MH 411045IndiaPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Antibody Drug Conjugates Market Global Industry Insights Analysis and 2024 Forecasts

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Antibody drug conjugate is a significant class of highly potent bio drugs envisioned as a broad therapy for treatment of cancer. Unlike chemotherapy, antibody drug conjugate are proposed to mark and kill only cancer cells. Antibody drug conjugates are compound molecules that comprise antibodies linked to a biologically active cytotoxic drug.By uniting the exclusive targeting capacities of mAB with anti-cancer drugs, ADCs allow for subtle judgment between healthy and diseased tissue. This entails that the antibody drug conjugates kill only cancer cells and ensure that other dynamic cells are less severely affected. This exceptional phenomenon of killing only cancer cells increase the importance of use of ADCs, which would indirectly boost growth of the global antibody drug conjugates market.Request For Report Sample:Commercialization of 7-10 ADCs in the following decade, would lead to revenue to surge to over US$ 10 billion over the forecast period of marketIn terms of marketing, three antibody drug conjugates have received regulatory approval.The U.S. FDA approved one of the ADC in 2001 manufactured and developed by Pfizer/Wyeth, to treat acute myelogenous leukemia. The drug was subsequently withdrawn in June 2010, leaving only two antibody drug conjugates in the market. The two drugs marketed for ADCs are Brentuximab vedotin and Trastuzumab emtansine, developed and manufactured by Seattle Genetics and Millennium/Takeda and Genentech and Roche, respectively. Around 45 antibody drug conjugates molecules are under clinical trials, with the preclinical pipeline expanding at a high rate. Of all the 45 molecules, around 25% are under Phase II or Phase III of development. Frequently used cytotoxins for antibody drug conjugates under trials include auristatin, calicheamicin, maytansine and duocarmycin. Auristatin is the dominant compound accounting for over 50% of antibody drug conjugates in clinical development. Roche has 10 compounds under clinical trials, and this is the most developed pipeline of antibody drug conjugates. Globally, 70%-80% of antibody drug conjugates manufacturing is currently outsourced. There are limited number of contract manufacturers that have high-end manufacturing equipment for development of cytotoxins.Antibody drug conjugates market is still in its infancy, with two approved ADCs to propel the market to two digit billion dollar mark by 2020The global antibody drug conjugates market is segmented on the basis of drug and geography. On the basis of drug, the market is divided into Adcetris and Kadcyla.Request For Customization:Major pharmaceutical company opt for contract manufacturer for development and manufacture of antibody drug conjugatesRegional segmentation of the antibody drug conjugates market by Coherent Market Insights comprises North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. Europe accounts for the largest share in the global market mainly due to presence of many contract manufacturing companies with advanced manufacturing equipment. Lonza is one of the top contract manufacturing companies in Europe, which has operations across France and Germany, with its headquarters in Switzerland. One of the facilities operated by the company is a deck to chemical manufacturing capabilities and develop peptides, small molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients, highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients, cytotoxics agents, antibody drug conjugates, and microbial products. The company also offer proficiency in chemical, pharmaceutical, agrochemical and food industries by providing clients with yields such as high-class active substances, organic chemicals and intermediates.Large number of clinical trial molecules in pipeline to boost growth of antibody drug conjugates marketKey players operating the antibody drug conjugates market include Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Seattle Genetics, Takeda, ImmunoGen Inc, Pfizer Inc., Sanofi, AbbVie Inc, Cellldex Therapeutics, Synthon, and Progenics Pharmaceuticals. Major companies in the antibody drug conjugates industry are constantly working on research and development, as the market is largely untapped and offer highly lucrative growth opportunities. For instance, there are only two antibody drug conjugates available worldwide that are used to treat cancer, and there are over 40 molecules under clinical trials. Considering the alarmingly high incidence rate of cancer across the globe, the antibody conjugates market is expected to ride on a wave of positive growth in the foreseeable future.To know more about the Antibody drug conjugates Market, click the link below,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.comWebsite:
Cellulose Derivative Market - Global Industry Insights, 20162024

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Cellulose is an organic compound which is built from polysaccharide and is present in plants. It is a natural long-chain polymer that has multipurpose uses in various industries such as veterinary foods, wood and paper, cosmetic, fibers, clothes, and pharmaceutical industries. Pure cellulose is available in various forms with very different pharmaceutical and mechanical properties. The difference is related to size, shape and degree of crystallinity of the particles. Cellulose derivatives are water-soluble compounds that exhibit semisynthetic nature. Cellulose derivatives are used in bioadhesive and mucoadhesive drug delivery systems in the pharmaceuticals industry.Request Sample of Cellulose Derivative Market:Cellulose ethers and cellulose esters are two main types of cellulose derivatives exhibiting different mechanical and physicochemical properties. These polymers are mostly used in the healthcare products and formulation of dosage forms. Cellulose derivatives offer characteristics such as high lubricity, thickening, water retention, binding, and film formation. This has led to increase in consumption of cellulose derivatives in mining, construction paper, and personal care industries.Cellulose Derivative Market TaxonomyOn the basis of type of product type global market is classified into:Methyl Cellulose (MC)Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (HPMC)Ethyl Cellulose (EC)Hydroxymethyl Methylcellulose (HMC)Hydroxyethyl Cellulose (HEC)Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC)Hydroxypropyl Cellulose (HPC)On the basis of application, the global market is segmented into:Paints & CoatingsDrilling FluidsWall coatingsConstructionFoods & BeveragesMiningPharmaceuticalsPersonal CarePaperOn the basis of grades, the global market is segmented into:Industrial gradeFood gradePharmaceutical gradeIn the pharmaceuticals industry, cellulose derivatives are used in extended release formulations, osmotic drug delivery systems, enteric coated solid dosage forms, compressibility enhancers, and numerous other applications. Methyl cellulose derivative offers excellent water retention and efficient thickening properties. Owing to these properties, it is widely used in personal care products such as shampoos, liquid soaps, and toothpastes. This in turn, has led to increase in consumption of cellulose derivatives in the personal care industry. Hydroxyethyl cellulose products are extensively used in latex paints, oilfield chemicals, and building materials as they show pseudo plastic solution behavior, resist salts, and form films. Carboxymethyl cellulose is used in viscosity modification or thickening, has excellent water holding capacity and stabilize emulsions in various products such as ice cream.Cellulose Derivative Market Outlook  Numerous Applications in the Pharmaceutical Industry Expected to Fuel DemandIncreasing consumption of cellulose derivatives for manufacture of pharmaceuticals to fulfill demand of advanced drugs such as acyclovir and its growing use in the personal care industry is a major factor fueling growth of cellulose derivative market. Asia Pacific is expected to be the most potential market for the cellulose derivatives manufacturers. This is mainly attributed to robust growth of major end-use industries such as automotive, pharmaceuticals and personal care products industries in the region.Check the trending report of Cellulose Derivative Market:Fluctuating prices of raw material such as high grade cotton, which is used in the production of high purity cellulose derivatives is expected to be one of the restraining factors for the growth of cellulose derivative market over the forecast period. Mergers and acquisitions, innovative product portfolio such as Culminal and Combizell methylcellulose derivatives by Ashland Specialty Chemicals are some of the key strategies adopted by the top players to maintain their position in the market. Some of the companies operating in the global cellulose derivative market AkzoNobel Performance Additives, China RuiTai International Holdings Co., Ltd., The Dow Chemical Company, CP Kelco, SE Tylose GmbH & Co. KG, Ashland Specialty Chemicals, Lotte Chemicals, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.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 :
Global Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales Market 2017 - Pharmascience Inc., Omega Laboratories Ltd., Mylan NV

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The report studies Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales 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 titled Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales is an in-depth and a professional document that provides a comprehensive overview of the global Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales market.Request For Sample Report @The report provides an executive-level blueprint of the Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales market beginning with the definition of the market dynamics. The analysis classifies the Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales market in terms of products, application, and key geographic regions. With focus on presenting a detailed value chain analysis, the study evaluates the set of region-specific approaches forged by the industry. To determine the market potential for Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales in the international scenario, the study delves into the competitive landscape and development landscape exhibited by the key geographic regions.Development plans and policies significantly impact the market dynamic. The report therefore studies in detail the impact of the strategies, plans, and policies adopted by leading vendors of the Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales market. Manufacturing cost of products and the pricing structure adopted by the market is also evaluated in the report. Other parameters crucial in determining trends in the market such as consumption demand and supply figures, cost of production, gross profit margins, and selling price of product and services is also included within the ambit of the report.To provide a detailed analysis on the competitive landscape, the report profiles the key players in the Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales industry. Information present in these chapters includes details of products manufactured by the leading companies, product specification and price, and production capacity. Using reliable analytical tools, the report evaluates the information sourced from both primary and secondary research. Results obtained through the detailed analysis helps in presenting refined forecasts regarding growth prospects of the Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales market. Apart from this, the analysts have also conducted upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis to compile and present an exhaustive study on the Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales market.Access Full Report With TOC @A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Carcinoid Syndrome Management Sales 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.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 ManagerOffice-108, Sanskriti AspirationsBaner Road, Pune,MH 411045IndiaPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Microfiber Market Share, Trend, Demand and Key Manufacturers Analysis and Forecast to 2022

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ReportsWeb.com added Global Microfiber Market Research Report 2017 to its vast collection of research Database. The report is spread across 126 pages and supported by 23 company leaders.The Global Microfiber Market Research Report 2017is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Microfiber industry. In a word, This report studies Microfiber in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer. Key companies included in this research are Toray, Kuraray, Asahi Kasei, Kolon, Teijin, Sheng Hong Group, 3M, Eastman, Sanfang, KB Seiren, Hexin, Duksung, Norwex, SISA, Vileda, Acelon Chemical, Huafon Microfibre, Double Elephant, Far Eastern, Wanhua, Tricol, Meisheng and Hengli.Browse complete report @Market Segment by Region, this report splits Global into several key Region, with sales, revenue, market share and growth rate of Microfiber in these regions, from 2011 to 2022 (forecast), like North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India. Firstly, Microfiber Market Split by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided into Long Microfiber and Short Microfiber. Split by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Microfiber in each application, can be divided into Microfiber Leather and Microfiber Cleaning Cloths.Request for Sample @Major points from Table of Contents:1 Microfiber Market Overview2 Global Microfiber Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Microfiber Output, Revenue by Regions4 Global Microfiber Supply (Output) , Consumption, Export, Import by Regions5 Global Microfiber Output, Revenue, Price Trend by Types6 Global Microfiber Market Analysis by Applications7 Global Microfiber Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Toray7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.1.2 Microfiber Product Type, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Long Microfiber7.1.2.2 Short Microfiber7.1.3 Toray Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Kuraray7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.2.2 Microfiber Product Type, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Long Microfiber7.2.2.2 Short Microfiber7.2.3 Kuraray Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Asahi Kasei7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.3.2 Microfiber Product Type, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Long Microfiber7.3.2.2 Short Microfiber7.3.3 Asahi Kasei Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview8 Microfiber Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Microfiber Market Forecast13 Research Findings and ConclusionList of Tables and FiguresTable Global Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)Table North America Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)Table Europe Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)Table China Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)Table Japan Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)Table Southeast Asia Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)Table India Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)Table Global Microfiber Consumption Market by Regions (2011-2016)Table Global Microfiber Consumption Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)Figure Global Microfiber Consumption Market Share by Regions (2011-2016)Figure 2015 Global Microfiber Consumption Market Share by RegionsTable North America Microfiber Production, Consumption, Import & Export (2011-2016)Table Europe Microfiber Production, Consumption, Import & Export (2011-2016)Table China Microfiber Production, Consumption, Import & Export (2011-2016)Table Japan Microfiber Production, Consumption, Import & Export (2011-2016)Table Southeast Asia Microfiber Production, Consumption, Import & Export (2011-2016)Table India Microfiber Production, Consumption, Import & Export (2011-2016)Table Global Microfiber Production by Type (2011-2016)Table Global Microfiber Production Share by Type (2011-2016)Figure Production Market Share of Microfiber by Type (2011-2016)Figure 2015 Production Market Share of Microfiber by TypeTable Global Microfiber Revenue by Type (2011-2016)Table Global Microfiber Revenue Share by Type (2011-2016)Figure Production Revenue Share of Microfiber by Type (2011-2016)Figure 2015 Revenue Market Share of Microfiber by TypeTable Global Microfiber Price by Type (2011-2016)Figure Global Microfiber Production Growth by Type (2011-2016)Table Global Microfiber Consumption by Application (2011-2016)Table Global Microfiber Consumption Market Share by Application (2011-2016)Figure Global Microfiber Consumption Market Share by Application in 2015Table Global Microfiber Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2011-2016)Figure Global Microfiber Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2011-2016)Table Toray Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its CompetitorsTable Toray Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)Figure Toray Microfiber Market Share (2015 and 2016)Table Kuraray Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its CompetitorsTable Kuraray Microfiber Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)Place a Direct Purchase Order of Complete Report @Contact 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. 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
Global Hospital Beds Market Share by Industry Research 2016 - 2026

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Global Hospital Beds Market: OverviewBeds are among the most essential equipment required in a hospital, as patients are generally not in mobile condition to receive the treatment, and rest is often necessary for them. For the critical conditions that patients are admitted into the hospital, beds are required to be designed in such a manner that provides ideal support and comfort. With growing prevalence of several diseases, the healthcare industry is at an all-time peak and consequently, the global hospital beds market is projected for a healthy growth rate during the forecast period of 2016 to 2024.This report on global market for hospital beds is an in-depth examination of all the factors that are expected to impact the growth rate in the near future, and presents estimations on the future state of the market until 2024. The report is a summation of interviews and discussions with a wide range of key industry participants and opinion leaders. Some of the key players have also been profiled in the report, exploring their market share, product range, regional presence, and recent strategic developments such as mergers, collaborations, acquisitions, and other announcements.Obtain Report Details @The global hospital beds can be segmented on the basis of type, treatment, power, and geography. By type, the market can be divided into general beds, pediatric beds, pressure relief beds, bariatric beds, and birthing beds. By treatment, the market can be categorized into acute care beds, long term care beds, and critical care beds. By power, the market can be segmented into electric beds, manual beds, and semi-electric beds. Geographically, the report studies the opportunities available in the regions of North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World.Global Hospital Beds Market: Trends and OpportunitiesRising geriatric population is one of the prominent factors of this market, as the people aged over 65 generally suffer from several diseases such as arthritis, heart disease, respiratory diseases, Alzheimers diseases, osteoporosis, and diabetes. According to the National Institute on Aging, global geriatric population will rise to 1.5 billion, which makes for a strong demand for hospital beds. Increasing number of hospitalization cases and technological advancements in the field, and improving healthcare infrastructure in emerging economies are other important factors positively influencing the market. According to the report, rising demand for advanced and selective features of hospital beds is a trend that urges investment in research and development of advanced beds. Conversely, high cost of these beds is seen as the primary restraint over the growth rate of the global hospitals beds market.Global Hospital Beds Market: Region-wise OutlookEurope is expected to remain most lucrative regional market during the forecast period, which is a reflection of increasing expenditure in Europes medical industry and healthcare organizations. North America forms the second most profitable region due to robust healthcare infrastructure, whereas Asia Pacific is projected for most robust growth rate, which is a result of vast population base and improving healthcare infrastructure in the emerging economies such as India, China, Japan, Australia, and South Korea.Companies mentioned in the research reportParamount Bed Co. Ltd., Getinge Group, LINET spol. s r.o., ArjoHuntleigh, Stryker, Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., Invacare Corporation, and Medline Industries, Inc. are some of the key players currently operational in the global hospital beds market. Most of these companies have sub-divisional production units in order to meet the demand coming from medical establishments that are replacing their outdated hospital beds with the advanced ones.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:
Premium Nail Polish Global Market by Product Type, Trends, Analysis and Forecasts to 2019

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Nail make-up contributes approximately 11.54% in revenue to global color cosmetics market revenue. Nail polish is the largest contributing segment in the nail make-up category. Premium nail polish forms 38.62% whereas mass nail polish forms 61.38% in the Nail polish segment. Irrespective of various compositions, ingredients, and color availability; premium nail polish can be categorized into two different variants based on price range and target audience. These categories are affordable premium nail polish and up-market premium nail polish. Consumers are using premium nail polish to enhance their make-up styles and fashion statement.Publisher's analysts forecast the global premium nail polish market to grow at a CAGR of 6.23% over the period 2014-2019.For more information atCovered in this reportThe report covers the current scenario and the growth prospects of the global premium nail polish market for the period of 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated through the retail and salon sales of various premium nail polish, which include:Affordable premium nail polishUp-market premium nail polishPublisher's report, Global Premium Nail Polish Market 2015-2019, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers Americas, APAC, Europe, MEA; it also covers the landscape of the global premium nail polish market and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key regionsAmericasAPACEuropeMEAKey vendorsChanelCotyEste LauderKaoL'OralLVMHShiseidoRequest Sample Copy:Other prominent vendorsAmwayClarinsMarkwins Beauty ProductsProctor and GambleUnileverKey market driverProduct innovation and technological advancesFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey market challengePresence of counterfeit productsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey market trendMake an enquiry: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
Blog Software Market Analysis- Size, Share, overview, scope, Revenue, Gross Margin, Segment and Forecast 2022

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ReportBazzar has released its latest research-based report entitled Blog Software market. This report provides a holistic approach to the market growth with a detailed and precise analysis of the overall competitive scenario of the Blog Software market. The report also provides a detailed analysis of key trends playing a prominent role in the Blog Software 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 2016, and a forecast is done from 2017 to 2022.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 Blog Software. 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 Blog Software 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 Blog Software 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 Blog Software market have been reviewed in this study.Browse full report with Table of Content @Some Points Of Table Of Content:1 Industry Overview of Blog Software1.1 Blog Software Market Overview1.1.1 Blog Software Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Blog Software Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Blog Software Market by Type1.3.1 Cloud1.3.2 SaaS1.3.3 Web1.4 Blog Software Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Mac1.4.2 Windows1.4.3 Android Native1.4.4 iOS Native2 Global Blog Software Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Blog Software 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 Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 HubSpot Marketing3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Blog Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 WordPress3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Blog Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Weebly3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Blog Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 BlogIn3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Blog Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 PopSurvey3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Blog Software Revenue (Value) (2012-2017)Ask 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 Us:ReportBazzar30 Wall Street, 8th floor,New York, NY 10005.United States.US: +1 (212) 389-6363India: +91 20 66528525Email Id: sales@reportbazzar.comWebsite:
International Yoga Day & World Music Day at JMA Pilani Rajasthan

International Yoga Day & World Music Day at JMA Pilani Rajasthan

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Both Yoga and Music have a lot to do with triveni sangam of Mid Body and Soul and the world at large is fortunate that both days are being celebrated together.Yoga is an ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice that originated in India. The word yoga derives from Sanskrit and means to join or to unite, symbolizing the union of body and consciousness. In 2014 United Nations declared 21 June every year as International Yoga Day thanks to the initiative of Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The theme for 2017 is Yoga for health as yoga can contribute in a holistic way to achieving triple point equilibrium between mind body and soul.Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole and flows from heaven to the soul. From Australia to America through India and Africa, June 21 is observed as the World Music Day. The legacy is said to have originated in France with Fete de la Musique, a music festival that began in 1982 due to the initiatives by Jack Lang, the French Minister of Culture. However, it is said that the American musician Joel Cohen had put the idea in 1976 itself. According to Swiss Philosopher Henri Frederic Amiel, Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven. For Indians music is divine and several Indian gods are always depicted with their accompanying musical instrument like Shiva with Damaru, Saraswati with Veena, Krishna with Flute, Vishnu with Conch etc.On 21 June, 2017 which also happens to be Summer Solstice, JMA Pilani organized a colourful function in the school play ground to celebrate Yoga day and music day. Miss Parul Dhand student of Class 12, welcomed the gathering and gave an introduction to yoga and yoga day. Mrs Booma Natarajan gave an overview of the four main paths of Yoga with examples for each namely Karma Yoga (Mahabharata Arjun) , Bhakti Yoga (Meera Bai), Raja Yoga (Swami Vivekanand) and Jnana Yoga (Gautam Buddha).There was a thunderous round of applause when she quoted Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudav As much as balance of rider and bicycle is vital for smooth ride across all terrains, balance of mind and body which can be achieved by practicing yoga is necessary for sailing through life. The School Physical Education Teacher Sri Mahendra Singh anchored the yoga sessions in which Principal, teachers, staff and students enthusiastically participated in performing various asanas.The celebrations concluded with the Principal urging the students to enjoy music irrespective of western world Country, Metal, Rock, Punk, Disco, Funk, Pop, Reggae etc or our own Hindustani, Carnatic, Bhangra, Bhajans, Ghazals, Qawwalis, Indi-Pop, Folk, Tribal, Film Songs, Remixes, Fusion and what not.For more details about JMA Pilani seeAbout JMA Pilani: Smt. Jamuna Mishra Academy (JMA) established in the year 2004 which has been making rapid waves in early childhood education is presently one of the most sought after schools at Pilani considered as Oasis in the desert state of Rajasthan well known in India today for top ranking institutions like BITS Pilani University as well as CSIR Laboratory CEERI and globally renowned Birla Science Museum. JMA Pilani is a Co-educational English Medium School with Experienced Teachers, Spacious Classrooms and Modern Amenities designed to impart Quality Education combined with All Round Personality Development and lay the Best Foundation for the Childs Future. JMA which started in 2004 with an enrollment of 60 students for the Nursery, LKG, First Junior and Class I has grown today till Class XII and enrollment of 900. While the school admits both boys and girls, the girl student enrollment has been steadily rising every year and is presently nearly 50% of the total strength. The school has boys NCC, girls band which has been winning laurels every year too. Yoga and Fine arts are not just part of school routine but a way of life for the students.Mrs Booma Natarajan, M.Sc., M.A., B.Ed.Principal, Jamuna Mishra Academy  JMANear Old Pilani Post OfficePilani Rajasthan 333031 IndiaPhone 91-1596-242314Email booma_pilani at yahoo.co.inWebsite:FaceBook: hi-in.facebook.com/JMAPilaniRajasthanRank1/?ref=py_c
RTD Tea and Coffee Global Market by Revenue, Trends, Analysis and Forecasts to 2019

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Publishers research analyst predicts the global ready-to-drink (RTD) tea and coffee market to grow steadily at a rate of 5% during the forecast period. The increasing health concerns among the consumers is driving the demand for RTD tea and coffee. According to the WHO, more than 1.9 billion adults around the world are overweight and of these 660 million were obese. RTD tea is preferred by health-conscious consumers due to its anti-oxidant property whereas RTD coffee is preferred by consumers looking for instant energy.For more information atThe rising caf culture among the urban youth population has also been contributing to the growth of the RTD tea and coffee market. Leading caf chains such as Starbucks, Costa Coffee, and Barista are expanding in the emerging economies and boosting the sales of RTD tea and coffee products. For instance, Costa Coffee opened 76 new outlets in Britain during 2014 and registered around 7% increase in its sales by the end of the year.Segmentation by type and analysis of the global RTD tea and coffee marketRTD teaRTD coffeeRTD tea dominated the market with a market share of 76% during 2014. This research report predicts the RTD tea segment to retain its leadership during the forecast period. RTD tea is more preferred by the health-conscious consumers due to its anti-oxidant properties and low-calorie content.Geographical segmentation and analysis of the global RTD tea and coffee marketAmericasAPACEuropeMEAPublishers analysts expect APAC to dominate the global RTD tea and coffee market with a growth rate of 6% during the forecast period. The massive urbanization, rising disposable income, and the growing caf culture have been contributing to the growth of the market.Request Sample Copy:Competitive landscape and key vendorsThe global RTD tea and coffee market is highly competitive and dominated by few multinational beverage companies. The report predicts this market to witness new product launches and price wars during the forecast period.The leading vendors in the market are -Coca-ColaJBD GroupTing HsinUnileverUni-PresidentOther prominent vendors in the market include Amul, Argo Tea, Arizona, Asahi, Britvic Soft Drinks, Dr Pepper Snapple, F&N Foods, Haelssen & Lyon, Hangzhou Wahaha, HeySong, Ito En, Kirin Beverage, Malaysia Dairy, Marley's Mellow Mood, Nongfu Spring, PepsiCo, Pokka Sapporo Food and Beverage, Suntory, Sweet Leaf Tea, Tai Sun, Tan Hiep Phat, Trade Winds, Vitalon, and Xing Tea.Make an enquiry: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
Global Deep Brain Stimulation Market to Surpass US$ 1.4 Billion by 2024

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Deep Brain Stimulation DevicesDeep brain stimulation (DBS) device, often described as brain pacemaker, aids in alleviating symptoms of Parkinsons disease (PD). The device is implanted at one of the three FDA approved brain sites to block the electrical signals from these sites to the brain. The three FDA approved targeted brain sites are ventrointermedialis (VIM) nucleus of the thalamus, subthalamic nucleus (STN), and globus pallidus pars interna (GPi). DBS surgery is performed on patients suffering from Parkinsons disease for at least four years, and are on medications albeit with motor complications. Though there are other surgical options such as thalamotomy and pallidotomy, deep brain stimulation is the most preferred option, as it does not involve tissue destruction and is a reversible surgical treatment.Request Sample Copy of Research @The global deep brain stimulation devices market was valued at US$ 664.4 million in 2015 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period (2016  2024).Increasing incidence of Parkinsons disease to drive the deep brain stimulation devices market growthAccording to the Parkinsons disease Foundation, there are over 10 million people suffering from Parkinsons disease worldwide as of 2016. As per findings published by the organization, incidence rate increases with age, and only 4% of people with PD are diagnosed before the age of 50 years. In U.S. alone, incidence is as high as 60,000 each year as noted by the Parkinsons disease Foundation. According to Parkinsons Australia Inc., there were approximately 11,544 new cases of PD diagnosed in Australia in 2014, while as per stats released by Parkinson Canada, the number of people suffering from Parkinsons disease in the country is projected to increase to over 163,700 by 2031 (double than the prevalence in 2011). Increasing incidence of PD across the globe is projected to drive growth for deep brain stimulation devices market.Development in technology to increase therapeutic outcome and enhance application of DBS in other disease treatmentAccording to a study published in the Neuron journal in December 2016, deep brain stimulation, targeting entorhinal cortex and hippocampus regions in the brain, demonstrated negative impact on improving memory. Researchers, however, are optimistic about obtaining successful results through further research in enhancing memory, especially in Alzheimer patients.Get discount on this report by CMI @Activa PC+S system by Medtronic Inc., is a closed-loop DBS device being utilized for research purpose among few physicians in Europe. This system records the electrical activity in brain and develops an algorithm of the closed-loop system. The device is being tested in patients with advanced Parkinsons disease. Once commercialized, the closed-loop DBS system would make treatment for Parkinsons disease more effective and customized according to unique patient needs. This is expected to benefit patients significantly and thus augment the deep brain stimulation devices market development.Increasing demand for minimally-invasive treatment options in emerging economies to create opportunities in the respective deep brain stimulation devices marketParkinsons and Alzheimer disease involves long-term administration of medications, making it unaffordable to major section of the population in emerging economies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Advent of minimally-invasive technology has led to increase in demand for such procedures and devices for treatment of chronic disease conditions such as diabetes, stroke, Parkinsons disease, blood clot, and Alzheimers disease. Deep brain stimulation devices being an effective minimally-invasive therapy for Parkinsons patients, is projected to gain significant growth traction in emerging economies such as India, China, Brazil, Israel, and North African countries. This in-turn is expected to fuel the deep brain stimulation devices market growth.Browse Global Strategic Business Report: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.comWebsite:
Bilt-Well Roofing offers Quality, yet Affordable Roof Repair Services in Los Angeles

Bilt-Well Roofing has been expertly roofing LA over 80 years in business. From new installations to skillful repairs and preventative maintenance, they continue to provide quality solutions to the residents roofing problems. With 130,600+ roofs completed, hundreds of thousands of happy customers, competitive pricing, passionate experts and latest technology to back them up, the company guarantees nothing but incredible services. Bilt-Well Roofing believes in delivering solutions that are seamless and effortless, professional in nature and that adheres to Title 24 California building code.Enlisting their services, the Senior Contractor at Bilt-Well Roofing stated, Our several years of experience enables us to handle roofing projects in the most professional manner to best enhance, display and protect your structure. Throughout our operations, we only pick the highest grade of materials to assure longevity and excellent performance. These materials come from trusted and reliable manufacturers to guarantee quality results. Whether you need a complete roof installation or a minor roof repair in Los Angeles, well provide premier solutions to match your budget specification. With our exhaustive knowledge in the industry, we can confidently handle all residential and commercial roofing needs in addition to decking, residential and commercial solar installation services.Bilt-Well Roofing is not restricted to the Los Angeles area only; in fact, they are the most sought-after roof repair company in Orange County, California. They have catered to the needs of the area for over 80 years. Orange County offers a safe, fulfilling and healthy place to work, live and play thanks to the warm, sunny, nearly perfect Southern California lifestyle. With proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the city is appreciated for its excellence, positivity, and innovation. The appreciation translates into a dedication to quality artistry, integrity, stewardship, and respect  similar to the premium quality and incredible solutions that Bilt-Well Roofing has been delivering since 1936.When you give us business, we promise to be good partners, because we believe we can do more while working together. Thats why we strive to do the job right, the first time, not just to win your trust, but to deliver quality as well. Roofing projects require responsive contractors, who take the time to understand their clients needs. Thats what youll get from us. Our team of experts will work with you every step of the way, so when the project is done, everything is up to your expectation; or more. The number of our happy clients is overwhelming; no wonder we get too many referrals and recommendations. This makes us proud, and also pushes us to do better each time, concluded the senior contractor.Bilt-Well Roofing is Orange Countys first choice for roof repair and installation, custom decking, and solar panel installation. Though the area experiences near perfect weather, residents know too well the problems that damaged roof brings about, from break-ins to leakage-associated issues. Bilt-Well Roofing experts do their work well and promise to deliver peace of mind with any custom solution that a client requires.About Bilt-Well RoofingIts a family owned and run business thats been serving Ventura, Orange and Los Angeles counties since 1936.3310 Verdugo RdLos Angeles CA 90065Contracting License #458005Email: roofinfo@biltwell.comPhone: 323.254.2888
Veterinary Drugs Market - Outlook and Opportunity Analysis Upto 2024

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Global Veterinary Drugs Market: SnapshotAcross developed countries the ownership of companion or livestock animals of various known and exotic breeds has remained high since the last few decades. Developing countries are catching up in this regard as well. Across the world, livestock animals are majorly domesticated for their economic value. Dairy products, meat, fibers, and fertilizers derived from companion animals have considerable market value. In addition, their labor is put to use in agriculture and farming. Besides this, humans have grown fond of petting companion animals. Spurred by these factors the demand for veterinary drugs has increased as veterinarians and owners focus more on ensuring the health and wellness of companion pets.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Veterinary Drugs Market:While the market continues reeling under threat from the availability of low quality counterfeit products, the growing affordability of veterinary drugs will keep their demand pacing higher in the coming years. Given the scenario, Transparency Market Research (TMR) forecasts the market to exhibit a CAGR of 5.1% between 2016 and 2024. At this pace, the market which stood at US$17.2 bn in 2015, is forecast to reach US$26.7 bn by the end of 2024Demand for Veterinary Drugs to be Higher in Livestock Animals SegmentIn terms of animal type, the global veterinary drugs market is bifurcated into companion animal and livestock animal. Of these, the livestock animal segment held the largest market share in 2015 on account of the high demand for high quality protein and poultry meat. The companion animal segment will exhibit robust growth as well during the course of the forecast period. The rising pet ownership and the increase in healthcare expenditure on them will boost this segment in the coming years.Based on product, anti-infective, parasiticides, anti-inflammatory, and others comprise the key market segments. Of these, the anti-infective segment held the dominant share in the market in 2015 gaining from the increasing demand for zoonotic diseases. However, between 2016 and 2024, growth witnessed in the parasiticides segment is projected to be higher than other segments. It is forecast to exhibit a CAGR of 6.1% during the forecast period thereby emerging as the most lucrative product segment. The market will witness rising demand for anti-inflammatory drugs as well aimed at improving mobility and quality of life in companion animals.North America to Continue Dominating Overall MarketRegionally, North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa constitute the key market segments. Among these, North America emerged dominant in 2015, accounting for value-based share of nearly 31%. It is expected to remain at the fore of the overall market through the course of the reports forecast period. The region exhibits a higher prevalence of pet ownership as compared to other regions. In the same year, Europe emerged as the second-leading market segment. During the forecast period, Asia Pacific and Latin America is also expected to contribute to revenue generated by the overall market. The increasing incidence of infectious disease among animals will fuel the demand for effective veterinary drugs in Asia Pacific and Latin America.Request for the Sample Report:Some of the leading companies operating in the global veterinary drugs market are Zoetis, Inc., which dominated the overall vendor landscape in 2015, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Bayer AG., Elanco Animal Health (Eli Lilly and Company), Ceva Sante Animale, Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC., Merck & Co., Inc., Virbac, Vetoquinol, and 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:
High Performance Plastics Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20162024

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Over the last couple of decades, plastics have emerged as an inseparable part of humankind, finding application in every fathomable part of daily life. Increased living standards, growing environmental awareness, and sustainable development thinking are driving demand for new and innovative material plastics. High performance plastics are used mainly in high temperature and high pressure applications. These plastics show excellent performance and effectiveness even when exposed to highly reactive chemicals. Due to their high chemicals resistance, low coefficient of friction, superior performance at high temperature, high strength, and high quality electrical resistance, these plastics are highly sought as compared to standard or engineering plastics. These plastics are more expensive and are usually used in very small quantities.Request Sample of High Performance Plastics Market:Fluoropolymers, high performance polyamides, sulfone polymers, liquid crystal polymers, polyketones, and polyimides are among the most commonly used high performance plastics. These materials are used in various end-use industries such as transportation, medical, and electrical & electronics.The transportation segment, which includes automotive, and aviation is the largest end-use segment in global high performance plastics market. This growth is due to high demand for these plastics in manufacturing exterior and interior components used in the aerospace and automotive industries. Superior mechanical properties, high heat stability, and superior chemical resistance of high performance plastics are key factors for extensive use of these plastics over other standard plastics in such key applications. Polyketones is the fastest-growing product type segment in the global high performance plastics. This is due to their unique properties that make them suitable for manufacturing components for various applications such as induction systems, fuel systems, coolant systems, powertrain, engine components, brake systems, shaft seals, pumps & valves, shaft seals, surgical equipment, sockets, biotechnology, and transmission components.High Performance Plastics Market TaxonomyOn the basis of form type, the global market is segmented into:Amorphous PolymersSemi-Crystalline PolymersOn the basis of product type, the global market is segmented into:Fluoropolymers (FPS)Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF)Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP)FluoroelastomersPolyvinylidene Fluoride (PVF)Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE)Ethylene Chlorotrifluoroethylene (ECTFE)Polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE)Other FluoropolymersHigh Performance PolyamidesPolyamide 11Polyamide 12Polyamide 9TPolyamide 46Polyamide MXD6PolyphthalamidePolyacrylamideSulfone PolymersPolyphenylene SulfidePolysulfonePolyethersulfonePolyphenylsulfoneLiquid Crystal PolymersPolyketonesAromatic Ketone PolymersPolyether Ether KetonePolyether KetonePolyether Ketone KetonePolyimidesPolyether-ImidePolyamide-ImidePolyester-ImideOn the basis of application, the global market is segmented into:TransportationAutomotiveAviationMedicalPharmaceutical & BiotechnologySurgical EquipmentDiagnosticTherapeutic SystemDentalIndustrialOil & GasPower GenerationWater TreatmentElectrical & ElectronicsTelecommunicationSemiconductorsElectronic ComponentsDisplayDefense ElectronicsOthersDefenseBuilding & ConstructionRequest To View The Table of content:High Performance Plastics Market Outlook  Asia-Pacific is the largest, and fastest-growing region, globallyAsia-Pacific is the largest, and fastest-growing region in the global high performance plastics. This is due to the growth in electrical & electronics industries in countries such as China, Taiwan, and South Korea, as they are among the largest manufacturers of electrical & electronics components. The key factors such as growing manufacturing plants of key major players in the region, high economic growth, cheap labor, and increasing FDI in emerging economies such as India and China are fueling growth of high performance plastics market in the region. The growing end-use applications of high performance plastics in automotive, aviation, medical, and industrial are also the key drivers for the growth of high performance plastics in the Asia-Pacific region.High manufacturing cost leads to the high price of these plastics, which in turn inhibits market growth. Some of the major companies operating in the global high performance plastics materials market are BASF SE, Daikin Industries, Ltd., Celanese Corporation, Solvay S.A., Arkema SA, Evonik Industries AG, Kuraray Co., Ltd., E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company, SABIC, and Victrex Plc.Check The Trending Report of High Performance Plastics 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 :
Market Industry Size, Share, Development, Growth, Key Players and Demand Forecast to 2022

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Report Monitor Present's Global Medical Transcription Services Market 2017 Industry Trend, enhances the decision making capabilities and helps to create an effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage.The Medical Transcription Services Market report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Medical Transcription Services industry. This report evaluates the Global market for "Medical Transcription Services ".The Medical Transcription Services Market report provides complete analysis of the Medical Transcription Services by analysing all round market dynamics such as regional market opportunities, drivers, challenges, constraints, threats, and other market trends.To Browse Complete report visit @The Medical Transcription Services Market report contains latest Business Data resulting from various Research sources that helps Decision Makers to deliver a Distinctive and Trustworthy Analysis for Companys Growth.The Medical Transcription Services Market Survey starts with Industry overview of Medical Transcription Services Market covering Major Regions Status, Industry Chain Structure, Definitions and Specifications, with a detailed focus on Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis including Raw Material Suppliers, Equipment Suppliers and Manufacturing Process.Get a PDF Sample of GlobalMedical Transcription Services Market report atIn Next Part, the researchers has collected and presented information on Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis which comprises of Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source of Major Manufacturers .In following segment, with Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin, Business Region Distribution Analysis, Competition between various Company Profile has been given along with Product Pictures and Specifications in Medical Transcription Services Industry Report.The Key Players Mentioned in Global Medical Transcription Services Market Report are:AcusisiMedX Information ServicesMModalNuance CommunicationsPrecyse SolutionsScribe Healthcare TechnologiesSuperior Global SolutionsTranscend ServicesTransTech Medical SolutionsMedscribeMTBCWorld Wide DictationGMTVIVA TranscriptionSame Day TranscriptionsDoctorDocsi-ScriptHIPAAAthreonData MedExcel TranscriptionsTo Read Similar Medical Devices Reports visit at:The Medical Transcription Services Industry Report is also a Great Source of Marketing Type Analysis consisting:1. Medical Transcription Services Regional Marketing Type Analysis2. Medical Transcription Services International Trade Type Analysis3.Traders or Distributors with Contact Information of Medical Transcription Services by Regions4. Medical Transcription Services Supply Chain AnalysisGot any Query? Feel free to ask us at:Lastly, the Report provides Development Trend Analysis for 2017-2022 years which will forecast Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales Price, Consumption Forecast, Market Trend (Product Type) and Market Trend (Application). Also the List of Major Consumers is analyzed and Contact Details are provided to easy communicating.Finally, the Report is concluded with Various Methodology, Analyst Introduction and Data SourcesReports Monitor is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. We have a vast collection of reports, covering maximum industries worldwide. Our process is meticulously planned and executed in order to use maximum resources and explore the market for getting genuine insights. Prime focus is to get reliable data, Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.Contact UsJay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549-5911Email: sales@reportsmonitor.comWebsite:
Automotive Adhesives Market to Develop Rapidly by 2021

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Adhesives and sealants are the most versatile bonding agents available today and are used by automakers to make cars lighter and tougher. Adhesives are made from precise blends of synthetic rubber elastomers, resins and agents or additives used to enhance certain characteristics, depending on the end use. Automakers today use aluminum and composites that cannot be welded together but have to be glued to hold the body parts together even at top speed and high pressure. Adhesives do not lose strength and hence are used for these applications. Adhesives bonding renders the vehicles quieter, more durable and safer and are replacing conventional joining techniques such as welding, riveting and bolting.To access full report @Adhesives find numerous applications in the automobile industry and have revolutionized the way automobiles have been designed and built. Adhesives are used to assemble rubber, metal, glass, plastics and numerous other materials during the manufacture of automobiles. Adhesives help prevent the ingress of salt, dirt and water in the car body shell. Adhesives help in improving body stiffness and durability and provide improved crash performance. Every stage of production of an automobile, whether for non-load-bearing body components or structural parts, uses adhesives in one form or other. Adhesives are used in manufacture of engines, body components, gear boxes and mounted parts such as wing mirrors, seats and steering wheels. Interior applications include tray systems, safety systems, seating systems, as well as sub assembly and acoustical material assembly. In addition, adhesives are used for direct glazing, where they contribute to an increased rigidity of the car body.A sample of this report is available upon request @Adhesives can be applied with high speed on the production line, which results in cost reduction and savings. Hence, adhesive consumption per vehicle is expected to increase, as automotive designers continue to exploit the cost saving potential of adhesives. In addition, adhesives help to cut down on noise, vibration and harshness characteristics. Adhesives improve fuel efficiency of automobiles and provide enhanced performance which is a key driving factor behind the advancement of adhesives in the automotive industry.Consistent growth and presence of wide range of suppliers, distributors and manufacturers are the some of the characteristics of the adhesives market. Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Latin America hold potential for growth. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region for the adhesives industry due to growing demand for adhesives in South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Australia and India.North America and Europe are saturated markets and will grow with a low compound annual growth rate in the near future. The adhesive market in the U.S. has lost ground to China due to migration of manufacturing facilities to China but the country continues to play a significant role in the adhesives market.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @The industry remains fragmented, with numerous medium-sized companies with a high level of customization, particularly in the highest-value adhesive segments. The cost of producing adhesives is attributable to the cost of the raw materials along with the requisite service component of training customers and helping them resolve manufacturing issues. Some of the key players in this market are Sika AG (Switzerland), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Bayer (Germany), Henkel (Germany), BASF (Germany), 3M Company (U.S.), Ashland Specialty Chemical Company (U.S.), H.B. Fuller Company(U.S.), Hindustan Adhesives Limited (India), ExxonMobil Chemical Company (U.S) , Dynea International Oy (Finland) , Forbo Adhesives Switzerland (Switzerland), Hexion Specialty Chemicals (U.S) and Covalence Adhesives (U.S.) among others.Key geographies evaluated in this report are:North AmericaU.SCanadaEuropeFrance, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UKEastern EuropeCISAPACChinaIndiaJapanAustraliaOthersLatin AmericaArgentinaBrazilOthersKey features of this reportDrivers, restraints, and challenges shaping the Automotive Adhesives market dynamicsLatest innovations and key events in the industryAnalysis of business strategies of the top playersAutomotive Adhesives market estimates and forecasts(2015 -2021)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:
Butyl Acetate Market Plying for Significant Growth During 2015 - 2021

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Butyl acetate, also known as butyl ethanoate is an organic compound which is majorly used as a solvent for manufacturing lacquers and other products. It is a flammable colorless liquid which is found in various types of fruits. Butyl acetate is commonly used as a synthetic fruit flavoring in certain food products such as cheese, ice creams, candies and baked goods. It is primarily manufactured by the Fischer esterifaction of acetic acid and butanol isomer in the presence of catalytic sulfuric acid. Butyl acetate also serves as a raw material in certain coating, cosmetic and adhesive industries. Various isomers of butyl acetate are produced in the industry such as sec-butyl acetate, tert-butyl acetate and isobutyl acetate.To access full report @The global market for butyl acetate has witnessed a significant growth over the past few years, primarily driven by the growing demand in the Asia Pacific region. Production facilities of the compound are primarily concentrated in North America and Europe, which also serve as the major exporting regions. Developed regions such as the Middle East is anticipated to gain significant share in the butyl acetate industry on account of increasing efforts by their governments to attract various petrochemical and chemical companies.Asia Pacific was the largest consumer for butyl acetate consuming a substantial share of the market over the past few years. The market for butyl acetate in emerging economies such as China has been well-established on account of increasing use of automotive paints and coatings. China also serves as a prominent importer for butyl acetate; hence, the market dynamics in the country are strongly dependent on the exporting regions. European market for butyl acetate is anticipated to witness a slow growth rate as various manufacturers are shifting their focus from Europe to Asia Pacific on account of the wide production-demand gap in the latter region. However, demand for butyl acetate from regions in rest of the world (ROW) is expected to rise significantly, primarily driven by huge investments in Saudi Arabia for establishing butyl acetate manufacturing facilities. The Saudi Arabian government has successfully designed its policies for the purpose of attracting certain large scale chemical companies in the country. In addition, easy availability of raw materials for petrochemicals and strategic location of the country have attracted various companies towards establishing their production units in the country.A sample of this report is available upon request @Increased use of water-based coatings and automotive paints is expected to be the major driving factor for the growth of butyl acetate market over the next few years. Moreover, growing demand for butyl acetate in cosmetic products and adhesives is also expected to contribute towards the growth of the market. However, increasing health concerns regarding the hazardous use of butyl acetate is expected to hamper the growth of the market. Over exposure to butyl acetate causes irritation to human body. Hence, various health organizations have been involved in continuously monitoring the exposure levels. Increasing R&D activities towards developing innovative products such as tert-butyl acetate as a substitute to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are expected to provide new opportunities for the growth of the market.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Alfa Aesar GMBHh & CO KG, BASF SE, China National Petroleum Corporation, Eastman Chemical Company, Ineos Oxide Ltd, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Sasol Limited, and The Dow Chemical Company are some of the key manufacturers of butyl acetate dominating the market.Key geographies evaluated in this report are:North AmericaU.SCanadaEuropeFrance, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UKEastern EuropeCISAPACChinaIndiaJapanAustraliaOthersLatin AmericaArgentinaBrazilOthersKey features of this reportDrivers, restraints, and challenges shaping the Butyl Acetate market dynamicsLatest innovations and key events in the industryAnalysis of business strategies of the top playersButyl Acetate market estimates and forecasts(2015 -2021)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:
Anti Reflective Glass Market by Global Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022

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HTF Market Report released a new research document of 118 pages on industry titled as 'Global Anti Reflective Glass Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022' with detailed analysis, Competitive landscape, forecast and strategies. The study covers geographic analysis that includes regions like United States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia and important players/vendors such as Scohott AG, Corning, Saint-Gobain ..................Summary""Anti-Reflective Glass is a specialised glass product that has been treated to reduce the amount of surface reflection seen from the face of the glass.It is a glass that has been optically coated on one or two sides to diminish reflections and increase the light transmission, to reduce surface glare and increase substrate transmission and brightness offering better contrast definition by reducing surface reflection over a specific wavelength range. Ghost images and multiple reflection can be minimized and possibly eliminated by applying an AR coating on the glass surface.""Request a sample report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Anti Reflective Glass 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 coversScohott AGCorningSaint-GobainAGCNSGGuardian Industries Corp.Abrisa TechnologiesDSMEuropeTec GroupeAVIC Sanxin Co., LtdMarket 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, coversArchitectural WindowsInstrumentation WindowsElectronic DisplaysFront Panel DisplaysOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoDouble layersFour layersOthersBuy this report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Anti Reflective Glass market.Chapter 1, to describe Anti Reflective Glass Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Anti Reflective Glass, with sales, revenue, and price of Anti Reflective Glass, 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 Anti Reflective Glass, 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, Anti Reflective Glass market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Anti Reflective Glass 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 Anti Reflective Glass Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Architectural Windows1.2.2 Instrumentation Windows1.2.3 Electronic Displays1.2.4 Front Panel Displays1.2.5 Others1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Double layers1.3.2 Four layers1.3.3 Others1.4 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 cell culture market was valued at US$ 12,251.3 million in 2015 and is expected to witness a robust CAGR of 7.1%

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Cell Culture  Increased Production of Seasonal Influenza VaccinesCell culture is fast emerging as an important tool for diagnosing and clinically treating various disease such as cancer and Alzheimers. Companies are focusing on diversifying their cell depository and enhancing their expertise by laying major emphasis on recruitment of highly trained professionals in order to gain a competitive edge in the market. The European Collection of Authenticated Cell Cultures (ECACC) is serving the patent depository for Europe for carrying out research by acting as international depository authority. According to VF Bioscience SAS, cell culture technique is also gaining popularity in the field of food and beverages, a trend that is estimated to gain significant traction in 2017. Furthermore, cell culture are also gaining preference as an important ingredient in production of high quality plant actives.Download PDF Brochure @Cell culture process can include various complications such as obtaining fully traceable botanical extracts and raw material supply. Furthermore, increasing focus on ensuring regulatory compliance related to environmental sustainability can hamper efficacy of the product. To overcome these complications in 2017, in place of using wild or field-grown plants, researchers at ABResearch srl utilized the callus cultures and cell suspension cultures for better results. According to News Medical Life-sciences, in 2017, researchers are inclined towards developing culture model that can be used in early treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). AMD is the third major cause for total vision loss and also more prevalent in elderly people.The global cell culture market was valued at US$ 12,251.3 million in 2015 and is expected to witness a robust CAGR of 7.1% during the forecast period (2016  2024).Players in the global cell culture market are making major investments in R&D to introduce advanced products used in the cell culture process owing to rise in number of application and better return on investment. Furthermore, companies are inclined towards novel product development. For instance, Biovest International, in 2009, has developed a product named AutovaxID-C, which is expected to reshape the biologic production made in the industry. The product favors the automated cell growth by replacing conventional cell growth chambers that use to acquire a large space in the laboratory. Various other factors such as increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, high importance of tissue or organ replacement with cell culture process, and increasing demand for antibody production are in turn projected to fuel cell culture market growth. Also, rise in prevalence of age-related macular degeneration is expected to underpin the cell culture market growth. Eye conditions such as diabetic retinopathy in tune with rise in number of diabetic patients globally in turn creates a conducive environment for growth of the cell culture market. AMD ranks third with a prevalence of around 8.7% globally in 2015, according to W.H.O.Get discount on this report by CMI @Major Players acquisitions are expected to fuel product diversificationAn advanced and schematic integration of major players, followed by various acquisitions in cell culture market is fueling the frequency of product introduction in biotechnology and molecular biology field. Also, Advancements in mammalian cell culture techniques under recombinant protein production is propelling the cell culture market to new heights. In 2013, according to MDPI AG., Journal of Pharmaceutical, between 2006 and 2011, around 15 recombinant protein therapeutics were approved by U.S. FDA. Rise in number of biologics have spurred demand for biosimilars, which in turn is expected to fuel growth of the market for cell culture in the near future. In recent times, the global cell culture market has witnessed a high level of strategic mergers and acquisitions leading to development and advancement of new cell culture products. For instance:In 2014, a Japan based stem cell company ReproCELL acquired Reinnervate Limited  a U.K based 3D Cell Culture Company along with a U.S. based human tissue supplier Bioserve, this is expected to help the company in the field of drug toxicity testing, neuroscience and cancer research by producing next-generation toolsIn 2013, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.  manufacturer of life science research and clinical diagnostic products purchased all the assets of a division of MorphoSys AG named AbD Serotec by paying US$ 71.3 million in cash, this is expected to favor the companys antibody manufacturing power in terms of kits and accessoriesIn 2013, Evotec AG acquired Cell Culture Service GmbH  a Hamburg based company  this is expected to strengthen the companys cell-based screening and reagent platformBrowse Market Research Report @Increasing number of research collaborations is expected to improve the time-to-market of highly effective and advanced products.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.comWebsite:
Glycol Market share research by applications and regions for 2017  2024

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Glycol Market size will witness a considerable growth, with increasing demand of the organic compound in wide range of application in textile, paper, leather, automotive, paints and coating industries. Rising demand for the compound in polyester resins manufacturing will add to glycol market growth in forecast time frame. Textile manufacturers are shifting focus on low cost and easily accessible chemical intermediates. Surge in the application of product as a protecting group in organic synthesis will be a major driving force for glycol market growth.Purchase This Report by calling Global Market Insights, Inc. at 1-888-689-0688 (Toll Free) or 1-302-846-7766.Growing demand of product as a coolant and antifreeze will propel the glycol market in forecast time frame. Product application as a heat transfer agent in automobiles, computers, and air conditioning appliances are expected to increase considerably in coming years which will add to glycol market growth. Increasing demand for the product as a raw material for manufacturing polyester fibers especially polyethylene terephthalate is most significant factor responsible for glycol market growth in forecast period.Request for table of contents of this research report @The product affinity for water and high boiling point properties make product even more popular, and its application as a desiccant will continue to witness significant gains in forecast period. Upsurge in preference of the product as a dehydrating agent to remove water vapors from natural gas will lead to glycol market growth in forecast period. Minor application of product includes manufacturing of capacitors, an anti-corrosive substance in liquid cooling systems, vaccines and screen cleaning solutions.Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to witness significant demand of the product in forecast period owing to rising demand of polyethylene terephthalate in packaging industry. Growing demand of product for industrial applications in the region will further support product penetration. Packaging and textile industry are the largest consumer of organic compounds. The product is widely used as a chemical intermediate in fabrics, upholstery, and carpets manufacturing. The region is native to a large number of producers which will supplement rising product demand. Increasing concern over production of ethylene glycol from coal in China will further add to product growth. Further, China investment to raise production capacities will propel glycol market demand in forecast period.Reasons to Buy This Report:1. Glycol Market size & share forecast by product & application 2017-20242. Growth drivers, pitfalls & industry challenges3. Glycol Market growth opportunities & emerging business models4. Competitive benchmarking with market share analysis and company profilesNorth America is projected to provide various growth opportunities for the product owing to surge in product application in polyethylene terephthalate production over forecast period. Product is widely used for manufacturing PET and rising demand from the electrical & electronic and automotive industries in U.S will lead to surge in consumption of product. At the same time, surge in demand for product as industrial alcohol will further add to glycol market growth. EscalatingEurope will continue to witness substantial growth due to upsurge in consumption of industrial solvents mainly in Germany, Spain and Sweden. The region will be leading in terms of use of ethylene chemical intermediates as dissolved fuels in manufacturing industries. European textile industry accounts over 28 percent of world textile exports Europe will hold a major share of global glycol consumption in forecast period due to rising textile and clothing sector.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Global product market is highly fragmented and competitive in nature. Some of the key companies are Huntsman, MEGlobal, Idemitsu, Shell, SABIC, BASF and Dow Chemical Company. The companies are competing to increase market share and their customer base. Manufacturers are investing heavily in expansion projects to meet rising demand of consumers.In 2017, Huntsman completed an expansion project in North America to increase its ethylene oxide capacity by more than 24 percent. Ethylene oxide is used as a raw material for production of glycol for manufacturing agricultural, electronics and personal care products. Emerging countries mainly China offer great business opportunities for glycol market growth owing to surge in petrochemical business.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
Workforce Management Market : Volume Analysis, Segments, Value Share and Key Trends 2017

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Global Workforce Management Market: OverviewWorkforce management (WFM) is extensively engaged by entities, departments, and even individuals to improve their labor efficiency and productivity via an integrated set of processes. A WFM system is able to quantify the type and measure of labor required to complete specific tasks on an hourly or a daily basis and match the skills of employees with particular jobs over time.Global Workforce Management Market: Key TrendsThe world WFM market is prognosticated to achieve a robust growth with a high adoption of verticals such as telecommunications and IT, defense, banking, and healthcare. The advent of workforce analytics and digital technologies has augmented the usage of mobile applications. As a result, the world market could be significantly boosted, coupled with the surging need for workforce optimization. WFM services are anticipated to gain a strong impetus on account of a rising count of enterprises outsourcing their IT functioning to third-party firms.Request a Brochure of the Report @Lack of awareness and knowledge on the part of workforce analytics and its integration could work as a major deterrent in the global WFM market as conventional methods obtain preference in this regard. However, a dire need for WFM solutions and functionalities is predicted to take precedence as organizations display a swift increase in the implementation of initiatives pertaining to workforce optimization, automation, and digital transformation. In this respect, the on-premise deployment market could hold a larger share in the market.The consumer goods and retail WFM market is prophesied to expand at a higher CAGR, owing to a continuous focus on creating a brand name, logistics, market expansion, customer relationship, and other key factors. More opportunities are envisaged to pamper market players in sectors such as healthcare and telecommunications and IT as they adopt WFM solutions for the retention of the best workforce and employee satisfaction.Global Workforce Management Market: Market PotentialGreat Hill Partners is excited to announce its financial investment support to Reflexis, a market leader in workforce management solutions and real-time store execution for retails. The private equity firm based in Boston is pretty impressed with the reputation of Reflexis in its operating domain and confident about its future success. The current leadership team of Reflexis will engage the investment received from Great Hill Partners for cementing the companys position in the WFM market and fortify its technological offerings portfolio.Request for TOC of the Report @Global Workforce Management Market: Regional OutlookOut of all the other major regions of the international WFM market such as Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa, Europe is envisioned to flaunt a vast share. There is a speedy adoption of workforce analytics foretold to be witnessed in Europe as cloud deployment inflates to a convincing degree.Besides this, the public as well as private companies are perpetually looking to the make the best use of their workforce efficiency, which could aggravate the demand for finer WFM solutions and software even more. Factors such as intense competition among European players and tight budgets are foreseen to increase the growth of the Europe WFM market. Unsurprisingly, countries such as Germany and the U.K. are taking to constant implementation and acceptance of important changes in their WFM.Read Complete Report @Global Workforce Management Market: Competitive LandscapeThe crucial advantages offered by WFM solutions, such as increase in operational efficiency, are looked upon as a decisive aspect that is anticipated to drive the interest of key players in the global market. Companies operating in the international WFM market could leverage the need to address concerns over express generation of big data. SMEs are predicted to offer a decent momentum to players on the back of the popularity of software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform and its cost-efficient features, which have made the adoption of WFM easier. ADP LLC, Kronos, Inc., SAP SE, Oracle Corporation, and IBM Corporation are some of theAbout TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todayas supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clientsa 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
Air Insulated Switchgear Market Research, Share, Competitor Strategy, Industry Trends, Forecast to 2025

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Global Air Insulated Switchgear Market: OverviewSubstations that employ air insulated switchgear primarily use air for phase to ground and phase to phase insulation and have been in operation years prior to the introduction of gas insulated switchgear substations. Air insulated switchgear substations are best fitted for expedited installations as they require less construction time. Moreover, it is easy to attend to faults as all the equipment are within view, thus helping with easy maintenance. Such substations are practically feasible because of the low cost of switchgear and construction and quality design. Furthermore, they are one of the first choices for areas with ample space.Request a Brochure of the Report @Global Air Insulated Switchgear Market: Key TrendsThe international air insulated switchgear market is prognosticated to take precedence with a colossal growth expected to be witnessed on account of low capital investment and swelling investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure. The market growth could be hindered due to the threat of substitutes such as gas insulated switchgear which can be installed even underground apart from indoors because it is filled with sulfur hexafluoride and entirely sealed, whereas air insulated switchgear requires more space. Howbeit, air insulated switchgear finds usage in a range of different segments by voltage range, installation, and application, which opens up new avenues for players in the air insulated switchgear market.The indoor air insulated switchgear market is projected to record a faster growth rate as well as dominate other installation segments during the course of the forecast period 20172025. With their usage in applications related to the distribution, manufacturing and processing, infrastructure and transportation, and power generation sectors, air insulated switchgears of 3 kV36 kV are predicted to showcase both a faster and larger growth. By application, transmission and distribution is prophesied to rake in a handsome demand in the global air insulated switchgear market that is attributable to the rising attention on investments and renewable power generation.Request for TOC of the Report @Global Air Insulated Switchgear Market: Market PotentialSiemens India had a perfect day at office in March 2017 when it won an INR 187.4 crore worth project in Dhaka from the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB). The project is expected to incorporate the construction of 33/11 kV air insulated switchgear substations also in Chittagong and Sylhet. The share prices of the company had added 1.3% on a Friday. Siemens had quoted an INR 1,250.35 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), up by an INR 10.80, during the same period. The project is researched to use solutions and products that are all manufactured in Siemens India factories.Global Air Insulated Switchgear Market: Regional OutlookThe researchers envision six key regions, viz. Africa, South America, the Middle East, North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, which could set the tone for the world air insulated switchgear market. Out of these, Asia Pacific is foretold to outshine with a remarkable dominance and higher CAGR throughout the forecast period. Countries such as India and China and Southeast Asia are foreseen to be the major regions propelling the growth of the air insulated switchgear market in Asia Pacific. Besides this, the decent presence of manufacturing facilities, surge in transmission and distribution expenditure, and soaring power generation capacity are prognosticated to help Asia Pacific make a statement in the global air insulated switchgear market.Read Complete Report @Global Air Insulated Switchgear Market: Competitive LandscapeOne of the most frequently adopted strategies by the top companies in the international air insulated switchgear market could be agreements and contracts. However, they are anticipated to be followed by new product launches, acquisitions and mergers, and expansions. Some of the dominating players in the global air insulated switchgear market are Eaton Corporation PLC, General Electric Company, Schneider Electric SE, Siemens AG, and ABB.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todayas supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clientsa 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
Critical Power and Cooling Market Shares, Strategies And Forecasts, Worldwide 2025

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Global Critical Power and Cooling Market: OverviewCritical power and cooling is a key aspect of the global data center industry. Thanks to the high volume of computing hardware required in data centers, power management becomes a crucial requirement for data centers. Ensuring sufficient cooling to enable steady performance is another requirement arising from the large-scale use of computing hardware and is likely to play an important role in the development of the global critical power and cooling market in the coming years. Efficient cooling has emerged as one of the most important needs in modern data centers, while eliminating fluctuations in the power supply is a long-term target of administrative agencies as well as the power industry, resulting in strong prospects for the global critical power and cooling market.Global Critical Power and Cooling Market: Key TrendsThe steady generation of digital data from an increasing number of avenues has driven the need for data centers across the world. This has subsequently driven the demand for critical power and cooling technologies, as power management and temperature regulation of the crucial hardware is a major concern for any data center operators. Power expenses take up a dominant share in the overall operational costs of data centers, while cooling is an essential need to ensure steady performance from computers. This is likely to remain the key driver for the global critical power and cooling market in the coming years.Request a Brochure of the Report @On the other hand, the lack of specialists in the field of critical power management is a key restraint hampering the growth prospects of the global critical power and cooling market. Due to the relative nascence of the critical power and cooling market, usage data illustrating the performance of power management systems has been slow in coming. Due to this, the critical power and cooling industry hasnt been consolidated sufficiently to produce a feasible supply line of competent technicians. This is likely to be a short-term restraint on the global critical power and cooling market in the coming years, though the increasing interest of key players in the data center industry in critical power and cooling technologies is likely to alleviate this concern.Request for TOC of the Report @Global Critical Power and Cooling Market: Market PotentialRecent trends in the global critical power and cooling industry suggest the rise of green data centers is imminent. Scrutiny of the environmental impact of data centers has now led to an economic environment where innovative ways to construct data centers while minimizing their environmental impact has become possible. Nautilus Data Technologies, for instance, plans to construct data centers on floating barges in order to be able to utilize the water to cool equipment. This would cut cooling costs significantly. Innovations such as this are likely to occur at increasing frequency in the critical power and cooling market in the coming years. Environmental regulations are thus likely to play a key role in the development of the critical power and cooling market in the coming years.Global Critical Power and Cooling Market: Geographical LandscapeThe strong presence of computing and technology giants in the U.S. means North America is likely to retain the leadership of the critical power and cooling market in the coming years. Asia Pacific is also projected to play a key role in the development of the critical power and cooling market in the coming years due to the rising prominence of countries such as India in the global data center industry. The Asia Pacific critical power and cooling market is expected to exhibit the highest CAGR of all regional segments of the global market in the 2017-2025 forecast period.Read Complete Report @Global Critical Power and Cooling Market: Competitive DynamicsThe report provides readers with a comprehensive overview of the competitive landscape of the global critical power and cooling market by profiling leading players operating in it. Some of the key critical power and cooling market players are General Electric Company, ABB, Critical Power, Eaton Corporation, Stulz GmbH, Cyber Power Systems, SPX Corporation, Siemens AG, Daikin Industries Ltd., Delta Electronic Inc., and Schneider Electric.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todayas supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clientsa 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
Rigid Transparent Plastic Market share research by applications and regions for 2017  2024

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Rigid Transparent Plastic Market size is likely to witness a significant rise during the forecasted period owing to continuous rise in disposable income and frequently changing lifestyle promotes the product market for packaging purposes. Upsurge in demand for online shopping and packaged food products will also drive industry growth. Also, rising need for ready to use products is expected to bring a substantial upswing in the industry over the forecasted period.Purchase This Report by calling Global Market Insights, Inc. at 1-888-689-0688 (Toll Free) or 1-302-846-7766.Significant rise in demand for clear grade plastics possesses an effective impact on the global rigid transparent plastic market. Replacing glass with these products in several number of applications in automotive industry including vehicle lighting systems and spectacles will fuel industry growth. High product demand will propel advancement in technologies, which will enlarge its application base over the forecasted period. Various key manufacturers are focusing on new designs and molding techniques of the product to enhance durability and effective compact packaging solutions, especially in personal care products to attract more customers, which in turn will have a positive impact on rigid transparent plastic market.Request for table of contents of this research report @Rigid transparent plastic is thermoplastic in nature owing to its superior properties including lightweight and shatter resistance. They are used in end number of applications in aircraft, aquariums, bottles, electronic equipment, pipes, floorings and eyeglasses. Expansion in the product application scope in numerous industries is likely to drive the high demands for rigid transparent plastic market over the forecasted period.On the basis of types, rigid transparent plastic market is segmented into polycarbonate, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, ABS, SBC and polypropylene. Among these, polycarbonates are expected to grow in demand due to its widespread applications in construction, electronics, automotive and aircraft industries. Advancement in economic conditions of several emerging economies including India and China will propel the product industry.Reasons to Buy This Report:1. Rigid Transparent Plastic Market size & share forecast by product & application 2017-20242. Growth drivers, pitfalls & industry challenges3. Rigid Transparent Plastic Market growth opportunities & emerging business models4. Competitive benchmarking with market share analysis and company profilesRigid transparent plastic market can be categorized based on its applications in numerous industries including packaging, infrastructure, food & beverages, automotive, pharmaceuticals, housewares, toys and electrical & electronics. Construction industry is anticipated to grow in demand owing to tremendous product features including high molecular weight, energy efficiency, lightweight and low thermal and electrical conductivity. Also, packaging industry is growing strongly due to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) used in malleable bottles and containers are strong and translucent. They can resist gas and moisture in extreme conditions which is expected to drive the rigid transparent plastic market demand substantially.North America is projected to observe high demand in the rigid transparent plastic market owing a varied range of applications in various chemicals and medical devices. Growing application in chemical industry in the region will boost the demand for PET, used in chemical storage activities due to its low cost and maintenance. Several manufacturers are engaged in research and development operations to develop innovative products offering high performance due to stringent government regulations for reducing harmful greenhouse effects.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Europe is also expected to grow in demand owing to its large automotive and construction base. Rigid transparent plastic market in the region is expected to rise moderately with expanding usage of PT, PC and PVC in various industrial and consumer goods including cables, insulation wires, electrical devices, toys, housewares and spectacles.Asia Pacific, led by China, India and Indonesia is projected to grow with high in various industries including packaged mineral water, food & beverages, medicines and personal care goods, in turn driving rigid transparent plastic market growth. Increasing use of these products for packaging purposes over other substitutes due to their high sturdiness will flourish the rigid transparent plastic market. Changing lifestyle in the region is also a vital driving force for the rigid transparent plastic market growth over the forecasted period.In 2017, British packaging company, RPC group acquired the U.S. based Letica Group for a total amount of USD 640 million in order to expand its operations outside Europe. The acquisition was carried out to strengthen the product portfolio and increase their overall industry share.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
Offshore Support Vessels Market Studies Research 2017 Detailed Analysis of Restrain and Growth Factors

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Global Offshore Support Vessels Market: OverviewOffshore support vessels are a crucial class of vessels essential for the smooth function of offshore oil and gas operations. Offshore support vessels fulfil all the logistical needs of offshore petroleum platforms. Due to this, they have taken on an important role in the global petroleum industry following the acknowledgment of the declining levels of petroleum in terrestrial reservoirs, which has led to intense focus on offshore exploration and production of petroleum. The global offshore support vessel market is thus likely to grow steadily in the coming years thanks to consistent utilization in the oil and gas industry.Request a Brochure of the Report @Global Offshore Support Vessels Market: Key TrendsThe prime driver for the global offshore support vessels market is the rising investment being made in underexplored regions such as Africa and Brazil for offshore petroleum exploration and extraction. The West coast of Africa and the East coast of Brazil have become important regional segments of the global offshore support vessel market and are likely to be developed further in the coming years, resulting in steady growth prospects for the global offshore support vessels market.Other emerging economies such as China and India are also likely to increase their investment in offshore petroleum exploration in the coming years, which bodes well for the global offshore support vessel market. Meanwhile, the North Sea has also become important for the global petroleum industry and exploration and extraction projects in the region could also generate significant revenue for the offshore support vessels industry.On the other hand, the capital-intensive pricing dynamics of the offshore support vessel market have reduced the number of viable players claiming a sizable share in the global market. The steady decrease in petroleum prices in the last two years has also had an adverse effect on the global offshore support vessels market, as it has reduced the spending power of even some of the top companies in the global petroleum sector.Request for TOC of the Report @Global Offshore Support Vessels Market: Market PotentialAdapting to dire pricing dynamics has forced many offshore support vessel manufacturers to fold up or accept inconvenient mergers. According to 2017s Annual Offshore Support Journal Conference, this is likely to remain the status quo in the global offshore support vessel industry in the coming months, with many more players likely to turn to mergers in order to sustain their business. The expected recovery in the petroleum sector in 2017 and 2018 could bring comfort to the offshore support vessel industry.Offshore support vessels designed to minimize their environmental impact are likely to become popular in the coming years. Norway and other countries using the oilfields in the North Sea have been among the first to use electrically powered offshore support vessels, and vessels with onboard batteries could soon become the norm rather than exception in the global offshore support vessel industry. Battery systems can be retrofitted on many existing designs of offshore support vessels, which could further increase the scope of their adoption in the offshore support vessel industry.Global Offshore Support Vessels Market: Geographical DynamicsNorth America, led by the U.S., is likely to remain the leader in the global offshore support vessel market in the coming years. Asia Pacific countries such as China and Latin American countries such as Brazil and Venezuela are also likely to feature prominently in the development of the offshore support vessel market in the coming years, whereas Western African countries could also benefit strongly from the increased offshore petroleum sector operations.Read Complete Report @Global Offshore Support Vessels Market: Competitive DynamicsThe leading companies in the global offshore support vessel industry include Tidewater, Inc., Farstad Shipping ASA, Gulfmark Offshore, Inc., Havila Shipping ASA, Swire Group, Ltd., Siem Offshore, Inc., Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc., Bourbon Corporation SA, The Maersk Group, and Seacor Marine, LLC. With steady consolidation likely to be the order of the day for the offshore support vessels industry in the coming months, larger players could benefit significantly from acquisitions and profitable mergers.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todayas supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clientsa 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
Tissue Diagnostic Market Analysis  2024

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Global Tissue Diagnostic Market: SnapshotWith the increased prevalence of cancer, the market for tissue diagnostics has a gained significant impetus across the world. The infrastructural development in the medical and healthcare industry is another important factor that has boosted the global tissue diagnostics market substantially over the past few years.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Tissue Diagnostic Market:Over the forthcoming years, the rising trend of the quantitative and qualitative analyses of tissue samples, discovery of target specific antibodies in the biopharmaceutical industry, and the growing awareness about tissue diagnosis in emerging economies are expected to act as the most prominent factors behind the growth of this market. Thanks to these factors, the market, which stood at US$3.57 bn in 2015, is estimated to expand at a 9.50% CAGR between 2016 and 2024 and touch a value of US$8.02 bn by the end of 2024.Tissue Diagnostic Instruments to Continue Enjoying Strong DemandThe two main products available in the global tissue diagnostic market are instruments and kits. Among the two, instruments surfaced as the key contributor to this market in 2015, holding a share of more than 77%. With the high usage of tissue diagnostic instruments in labs, hospitals, and diagnostic centers for faster and accurate analysis, their demand is anticipated to increase remarkably over the next few years, maintaining the lead of this product segment. The continual advancements in these instruments, such as reduction in equipment size and increased functionality, coupled with reasonable pricing, are projected to add to the growth of this segment in the years to come.Hospitals, research laboratories, ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), and diagnostic centers are the prime end users of tissue diagnostic products and services. Hospitals, with a majority share, has acquired the position of the leading contributor to this market and is anticipated to retain this over the forthcoming years. The increasing prevalence of cancer, especially various forms of tissue sarcoma, rising healthcare expenditure in emerging as well as developed countries, and the expanding base of the geriatric population are expected to drive the demand for tissue diagnostic products and services in hospitals and other end users in the near future.North America to Report Continued DominanceThe Middle East and Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific have emerged as the predominant geographical segments of the worldwide tissue diagnostic market. With a share of around 40%, North America registered dominance over these in 2015, thanks to a well-established pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and the increase in research activities. Analysts predict that this regional market will remain on the top over the next few years on the grounds of the surging research capital, introduction of improved and technologically advanced tissue diagnostic devices, and the presence of the leading market players in a large number.In the recent times, the North America market for tissue diagnostics has been closely followed by Europe and Asia Pacific and the scenario is likely to remain more or less the same over the forthcoming years. The market for tissue diagnostics in Europe, which was primarily driven by the escalating investments from various research organizations for the advanced study of cancer, is likely to benefit further from the change in healthcare reforms, increasing implementation of government regulations, growth in the pharmaceutical industry, and the technological advancements in diagnostic technology. Asia Pacific, on the other hand, is expected to gain substantially in the years to come from ongoing industrialization and the continual drug discovery.Request for the Sample Report:Abbott Laboratories, Becton Dickinson & Co., Genomic Health Inc., 3DHISTECH, Danaher Corp., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., GE Healthcare, Cell Signaling Technologies, Agilent Technologies, and Roche Diagnostics are some of the key players in the global tissue diagnostic market.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 Wound Irrigation System Market: Analysis and Segment Forecasts To 2022

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Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Wound Irrigation System for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaTo Receive a Sample Copy of Global Wound Irrigation System Sales Market Report @Global Wound Irrigation System market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Wound Irrigation System sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingMedline Industries, Inc.Bionix Medical TechnologiesMolnlycke Health Care LtdTeleflexIrriMax CorporationWestmedCooperSurgical IncB. Braun Medical IncCenturion Medical Products CorporationZimmerOn 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 intoDisposableReusableOn 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 Wound Irrigation System for each application, includingHospitalsClinicsAmbulatory Surgical CentersOthersBuy a Copy of Global Wound Irrigation System Sales Market Report for single user price of $ 4000@Key Chapters1 Wound Irrigation System Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Wound Irrigation System1.2 Classification of Wound Irrigation System by Product Category1.2.1 Global Wound Irrigation System Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Wound Irrigation System Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Disposable1.2.4 Reusable1.3 Global Wound Irrigation System Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Wound Irrigation System Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Hospitals1.3.3 Clinics1.3.4 Ambulatory Surgical Centers1.3.5 Others1.4 Global Wound Irrigation System Market by Region1.4.1 Global Wound Irrigation System Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Wound Irrigation System Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Wound Irrigation System Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Wound Irrigation System Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Wound Irrigation System Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Wound Irrigation System Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Wound Irrigation System Status and Prospect (2012-2022)2 Global Wound Irrigation System Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Wound Irrigation System Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Wound Irrigation System Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Wound Irrigation System Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Wound Irrigation System (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Wound Irrigation System Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Wound Irrigation System Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Wound Irrigation System (Volume and Value) by Region3 United States Wound Irrigation System (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Wound Irrigation System Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Wound Irrigation System Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Wound Irrigation System Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Wound Irrigation System Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Wound Irrigation System Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Wound Irrigation System Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Wound Irrigation System Sales Volume and Market Share by Application4 China Wound Irrigation System (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Wound Irrigation System Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 China Wound Irrigation System Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 China Wound Irrigation System Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.3 China Wound Irrigation System Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)4.2 China Wound Irrigation System Sales Volume and Market Share by Players4.3 China Wound Irrigation System Sales Volume and Market Share by Type4.4 China Wound Irrigation System Sales Volume and Market Share by ApplicationTo View Full Report @Who we areResearch 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. The research encompasses information gathered and examined by subject-matter experts, laying down growth opportunities and developmental strategies for enterprises.Reach at us:Flat No.10, Wing C,S. No. 245/4/2+245/5/1,Baner, Pune-411045Email: sales@researchtrades.comCall us: +91 7507349866Skype ID: researchtradesconWeb:
Infrared Heaters Market Professional Survey Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers 2017

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Report Monitor Present's Infrared Heaters Market 2017 Industry Trend enhances the decision making capabilities and helps to create an effective counter strategies to gain competitive advantage.DescriptionThe Infrared Heaters market report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the Infrared Heaters industry. This report evaluates the United States market for Infrared Heaters.The Infrared Heaters market report provides complete analysis of the Infrared Heaters market by analysing all round market dynamics such as regional market opportunities, drivers, challenges, constraints, threats, and other market trends.The Infrared Heaters Market report contains latest Business Data resulting from various Research sources that helps Decision Makers to deliver a Distinctive and Trustworthy Analysis for Companys Growth.The Infrared Heaters Market Survey starts with Industry overview of Infrared Heaters Market covering Major Regions Status, Industry Chain Structure, Definitions and Specifications, with a detailed focus on Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis including Raw Material Suppliers, Equipment Suppliers and Manufacturing Process.Get a PDF Sample of Infrared Heaters Market report @In Next Part, the researchers has collected and presented information on Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis which comprises of Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source of Major Manufacturers .In following segment, with Sales, Ex-factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin, Business Region Distribution Analysis, Competition between various Company Profile has been given along with Product Pictures and Specifications in Infrared Heaters Industry Report.The Key Players Mentioned in Infrared Heaters Market Report are: Solar Products Inc. Anderson Thermal Devices Tansun Glenro Inc. Herschel Infrared LtdPlace a Purchase Order for this Report @The Infrared Heaters Industry Report is also a Great Source of Marketing Type Analysis consisting:1.Infrared Heaters Regional Marketing Type Analysis2.Infrared Heaters International Trade Type Analysis3.Traders or Distributors with Contact Information of Infrared Heaters by Regions4.Infrared Heaters Supply Chain AnalysisGot any Query? Feel free to ask us @Lastly, the Report provides Development Trend Analysis for 2017-2022 years which will forecast Market Size (Volume and Value), Sales Price, Consumption Forecast, Market Trend (Product Type) and Market Trend (Application). Also the List of Major Consumers is analyzed and Contact Details are provided to easy communicating.Finally, the Report is concluded with Various Methodology, Analyst Introduction and Data SourcesReports Monitor is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. Our aim is to change the dynamics of the Market Research industry by providing quality intelligence backed by data. Your requirement for market forecasting is fulfilled by our exclusive quantitative and analytics driven intelligence. We have a vast collection of reports, covering maximum industries worldwide. Our process is meticulously planned and executed in order to use maximum resources and explore the market for getting genuine insights. Prime focus is to get reliable data, Decision makers can now rely on our distinct data gathering methods to get factual market forecasting and detailed analysis.008, Mihir Co-operative,Above Bharat Suzuki showroom,Fatima Nagar,Pune,Maharashtra,IndiaIndia: +91 2069535353411013Contact UsJay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549-5911Email: sales@reportsmonitor.comWebsite:Follow Us:Google plus:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:
Blood Flow Measurement Devices Market Detailed Analysis and Forecast by 2025

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Global Blood Flow Measurement Devices Market: OverviewThe rising prevalence of cerebrovascular disease and growing population of geriatrics who are more prone to heart diseases, the demand in the market for blood flow measurement devices is swiftly incrementing. Devices such as ultrasound including Doppler and transit-time flow meters (TTFM) and laser Doppler are highly useful in measuring the blood flowing through cross section of blood vessel in a certain duration of time. Given the severe consequences of not being aware of blood pressure, medical practitioners are frequently suggesting the use of blood flow measurement devices and consumers are readily opting for it. As a result, the demand in the global blood flow measurement devices market is expected to increase at a steady rate during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025.Request a Brochure of the Report @Global Blood Flow Measurement Devices Market: Key TrendsAs per a 2012 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 8,000,000 people in the U.S. were suffering from peripheral arterial disease (PAD), in which 12-20% of the population were older than 60 years of age. Apart from the prevalence of heart diseases and increasing number of people of over 60 years of age, the demand in the global blood flow measurement devices is also gaining traction from the escalating demand for advanced non-invasive devices, primarily across the developed regions. In addition to that, growing application of these devices for clinical purposes, for invasive and non-invasive procedures, ease of use, and technological advancements as a result of consistent focus from key players are some of the other factors driving the global blood flow measurement devices market. On the other hand, stringent regulations such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act in the U.S. and high cost of these devices is hindering the market for blood flow measurement devices to attain its full potential in the near future.Global Blood Flow Measurement Devices Market: Market PotentialResearch and development of technologically advanced products including wearables, such as KYOCERAs optical blood-flow sensor, are opening new opportunities for the players in this market. Currently, the healthcare industry is flourishing and consumers are willing to pay extra for regular health check-ups and new products. The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) is also expected to have a positive vibe on the global blood flow measurement devices market, wherein customers can check their well-being on their smartphones, analyzing the data provided by the advanced blood flow measurement devices.Request for TOC of the Report @Global Blood Flow Measurement Devices Market: Regional OutlookCurrently, the developed regions of North America and Europe are the most lucrative region for the players in this market. Countries such as the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and France have robust healthcare infrastructure and high levels of awareness among the consumers related to the availability of blood flow measurement devices. On the other hand, several emerging economies in Asia Pacific, such as India, Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia are actively improving their healthcare facilities. Players in the global blood flow measurement market see Asia Pacific as a potential future market and are actively pursuing steps to make a mark early, ahead of the competition.Read Complete Report @Global Blood Flow Measurement Devices Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the leading companies currently operating in the global blood flow measurement devices market are Cook Medical Inc., ADInstruments, ArjoHuntleigh, Inc., Ace Medicals, Compumedics Ltd., AKW Medicals Inc., Atys Medical, Carolina Medical Inc., Biomedix Inc, Deltex Medical, BIOPAC Systems, Inc., Perimed AB, SONOTEC Ultraschallsensorik Halle GmbH, Medistim ASA, D E Hokanson Inc., Perimed AB, Moor Instruments Ltd., and Transonic Systems, Inc. Via product innovation and strategic mergers and acquisitions, these leading players aspire to stay ahead of their competitors.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todayas supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clientsa 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
Epoxy Curing Agents Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20162024

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Epoxy Curing Agents Market OverviewEpoxy curing agent has wide range of applications in industrial coatings, civil engineering & construction, automotive and metal-to-metal adhesives, composites, electronic potting among others. The various types of curing agents such as aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, amidoamine, polyamide and others have different molecular structure, basicity, and are of different functional groups. These properties allow the epoxy curing agents to control the curing reactions and also control the properties of cured thermosets. The increasing demand for high performance epoxy-based resin formulations for various applications such as paints & coatings, composites, and electronic applications is fueling growth of the epoxy curing agents market. Owing to industrialization in chemicals, aerospace, automobiles, and oil & gas sectors in Asia-Pacific; the region is expected to dominate the epoxy curing agents industry. Polyamide dominates the market due to its major applications in paints & coatings.Request Sample of Epoxy Curing Agents Market:Global Epoxy Curing Agents TaxonomyThe global epoxy curing agents market is classified on the basis of the following segments:By product typeAliphaticCycloaliphaticAmidoaminePolyamideLatent curing agentWaterborne curing agentsPhenolicsOthersBy ApplicationPaints & CoatingsCompositesElectrical & ElectronicsAutomobileConstructionAdhesivesOthersPrevalent Scenario in Epoxy Curing Agents MarketEpoxy curing agents provide various advantages such as improved cure system strength, flexibility, impact strength, cured system chemical, and water resistance. Epoxy curing agents in amino groups are designed for low temperature curing, blush-free film, surface tolerant for applications in marine & industrial maintenance, pipe lining, coating and civil engineering. Waterborne curing agent products are designed for coating applications such as chemical resistant coating, corrosion resistant coating for end use, which include masonry coatings, floor toppings, and general maintenance coatings. Products under the range of amidoamine curing agents provide advantages such as low viscosity, improved adhesion, room temperature cure and are typically used in potting, high solid coatings, concrete coatings, adhesive formulations. Polyamide dominates the epoxy curing agent market with applications in wide range in adhesive applications such as primer, midcoat and topcoat applications on ships, bridges, industrial equipment, automotive, and industrial flooring. Properties of aliphatic amine curing agents such as high degree of chemical resistance, rapid room temperature cure, low color and viscosity, and high heat distortion temperatures for various end use applications, which include solvent-less coatings, chemical-resistant coatings, industrial flooring, adhesives, composites, tooling and casting. Cycloaliphatic amine curing agents have various benefits of chemical resistance, low viscosity and color films, high gloss and hence, finds wide use in coatings and flooring, chemical-resistant industrial formulations, and low temperature cure applications.Companies are investing in R&D to innovate new products for wide range of applications. For instance, a part of investment of US$ 1.6 billion made by Dow chemical in R&D was used to enhance the epoxy technology and provide a wide range of high quality of epoxy curing agent products. Companies are launching low emission and waterborne curing agent products to meet the increasing demand for environmental friendly formulations. Companies such as Huntsman and Dow Chemicals are including environmentally responsible formulations of epoxy curing agent products.Rapidly growing industries such as construction, automotive, composite manufacturing applications across the world, especially in Asia-Pacific region is the major driving factor for the global epoxy curing agents market. Technological advancements in the production and use of epoxy curing agents have resulted in the substantial market growth in North America. The key players are focusing on safe and economical production of epoxy curing agents in compliance to the regulations especially in the European region. Regulations imposed on the limited use of volatile organic solvents in Europe acts as a restraining factor for the growth of epoxy curing agents market in Europe.Request To View The Table of content:Fragmented MarketThe global epoxy curing agents market is highly fragmented due to the presence of many established and local players across the world. Major players involved in the market include Huntsman Corporation (U.S.), Evonik Industries (Germany), Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), BASF SE (Germany), Cargill, Inc. (U.S.), Cardolite Corporation (U.S.), Hexion, Inc. (U.S.), Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (U.S.),Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Japan),Aditya Birla Chemicals (India).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 :
Downstream Processing Market Overviews and Complete Forecast Report For 2025

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Global Downstream Processing Market: OverviewDownstream processing involves the purification and recovery of biosynthetic products especially pharmaceuticals from natural sources. This includes animal or plant tissue including salvageable components that can be recycled and proper treatment and disposal of waste.The five stages in downstream processing include solid-liquid separation, release of intracellular products, concentration, purification by chromatography, and formulation. Some of the methods used for solid-liquid separation are flotation, flocculation, centrifugation, and filtration.Request a Brochure of the Report @Global Downstream Processing Market: Key TrendsThe growth of the downstream processing market is mainly driven by the increasing demand for biopharmaceutical products. This is because downstream processing plays a key role in providing pure and quality biopharmaceutical products. Furthermore, increasing expenditures on research and development of biopharmaceuticals is also driving the markets growth.However, factors such as lack of skilled personnel and high costs involved in procuring instruments is restraining the growth of this market. In addition, purification bottlenecks and lack of single-use options are challenging the growth of this market. Nevertheless, patent expiration of blockbuster biopharmaceuticals is expected to open lucrative opportunities for the growth of this market. Emerging markets of Asia Pacific are expected to provide new growth opportunities to the growth of the downstream processing market.The global market for downstream processing is segmented on the basis of product, technique, end user, application, and region. In terms of technique, purification, clarification/concentration, and solid-liquid separation are the segments into which this market is divided. Of these, purification held the leading share of the market in the recent past due to the increasing demand for biopharmaceutical products that meet regulatory requirements. Thus, the demand for downstream processing is on the rise for enhancing the purity and quality of products, thereby benefitting the purification segment of the market.Request for TOC of the Report @In terms of product, the market is segmented into chromatography columns and resins, single-use products, membranes adsorbers, filters, and other products. Chromatography columns and resins held the leading share of the market in the recent past.Global Downstream Processing Market: Market PotentialMergers and acquisitions are the focus of key companies in bioprocessing industry for sustainable growth. In a recent industry development, Thermo Fisher announced that it is buying Finesse Solutions  the company that had been supplying measurement and control solutions for Thermo Fisher since a long time. Following this deal, bioprocess management technology capabilities of Finesse Solutions will be added to Thermo Fishers life sciences division. Finesse Solutions being Thermo Fishers technology partner for the last couple of years, the formers universal control system combined with the latters single-use technologies is expected to strengthen the position of Thermo Fisher in the high-growth bioproduction market.Global Downstream Processing Market: Regional OutlookNorth America is one of the major markets for downstream processing; the region held the leading share of the global market in recent past. This is because North America tops biopharmaceutical research and is the largest market for pharmaceuticals globally.Read Complete Report @Asia Pacific is expected to display the fastest growth rate in the coming years. China, India, Japan, and South Korea are expected to the key contributors to the Asia Pacific downstream processing market. Moreover, factors such as substantial investments by major market players, developing R&D infrastructure, increasing government support, and emerging academic excellence are fuelling the growth of this regional market.Global Downstream Processing Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the key players that dominate the global downstream processing market include Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Sartorius Stedium Biotech S.A., Danaher Corporation, GE Healthcare, and Merck Millipore.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todayas supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clientsa 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 High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market 2017- Murata , Taiyo Yuden, Suntan, Texas Instruments, AVX , Tecate Group

Global High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market 2017

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The worldwide High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market report launched by Market.biz focuses on a complete and accurate study of High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor industry. Global High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market 2017 report is fundamentally concentrated on current scenario of High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor market. This comprehensive research document will improve the efficiency of the High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor market during the forecast period from 2017 to 2022.The High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor industry report covers different aspects of market such as High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market Segment, High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor categories of the product, market revenue and product cost. The report also shows the High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor market volume for every category during the forecast period.Do Inquiry Before Purchasing the Report Here:Competitive Research of Global High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market 2017 Based on Key Vendors:1 Murata2 Taiyo Yuden3 Suntan4 Texas Instruments5 AVX6 Tecate GroupGlobal High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market 2017: Product Type Segment AnalysisY5VX5RX7RNPOGlobal High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market 2017: Applications Segment AnalysisElectronicsAutomobileAerospaceOthersInitially, the High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market report throws light on the market strategies, High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor growth trends, production capacity and cost structures. The report segregates the global High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor 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 High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor market.Further, High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor report reveals the company details of leading players such as profile information, revenue segmentation, business strategies and their contribution to the Global High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor market share. This report also states information regarding import/export, supply and consumption, price and gross margin of High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor market by regions. Other additional regions could also be added in High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market area.For more information about this report visit at:Finally, the High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor report flashes a complete picture of overall High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor market conditions and drive the players towards profitable market strategies which will help companies involved in operating High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor market to make knowledgeable business decisions. At the last, Global High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor Market 2017 report evaluates the emerging geographical sectors in High Frequency Ceramic Capacitor 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-
Intraoperative Imaging Market : Volume Analysis, Segments, Value Share and Key Trends 2017

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Global Intraoperative Imaging Market: OverviewIntraoperative imaging consists of the use of image-guided technologies that enable clinicians to perform operations, deliver therapies, confirm procedure status, and improve real-time decision making. The image-guided therapy helps surgeons modify treatments by improving targeting of diseased tissues, thereby boosting surgical outcomes. Prominent technologies in intraoperative imaging include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and computed tomography (CT).Over the past decade, these technologies have gained increased adoption in performing various surgeries, such as cardiovascular and spine surgeries with marked success in neurology and orthopedics. A variety of intraoperative imaging tools has gained acceptance in a large number of radiosurgical procedures. The intraoperative imaging market is projected for healthy growth, driven by the accelerating demand for image-guided minimally-invasive surgical interventions.Request a Brochure of the Report @Global Intraoperative Imaging Market: Key TrendsThe surge in demand for minimally-invasive surgeries and the increasing adoption of MRI, CT, and PET to complement the already-existing routine imaging devices are the key factors propelling the market. The significant success of intraoperative MRI imaging in transforming contemporary neurosurgical procedures and brain surgeries has fuelled the market. In addition, the development of high-end technologies by manufacturers has helped clinicians perform complicated surgeries with accuracy, thereby stimulating the demand for intraoperative imaging devices and tools. Advancements in computer-assisted surgery devices and image-guided robots have led to newer applications. Emerging applications include visualization of vasculature and treatment of vascular malformations of the spinal cord; this is expected to unlock exciting opportunities for market players.Global Intraoperative Imaging Market: Market PotentialA large number of medical device manufacturers are focusing on developing intraoperative imaging devices and tools with advanced functionalities that can be used in a wide range of clinical conditions. Several players are also offering upgrades in intraoperative imaging CT scanners and MRIs, which helps in selective tumor targeting.Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. based in the U.S. is a clinical stage company in biotechnology focused on oncology, announced in March, 2017 that it was granted a patent by the Japanese Patent Office for its phospholipid drug conjugate (PDC) optical agents. The patent, known as JP6073961, elaborates on the use of PDCs consisting of CLR 1501 and CLR 1502 in intraoperative tumor imaging in vitro as well as in vivo. The patent expires on May 11, 2030. The PDCs compounds make use of the PDC cancer targeting delivery platform for tumor targeting optimization and facilitates the treatment and diagnostic imaging of cancer. The patent for the product candidate provides a wealth of opportunities for partnerships and collaborations for the biotech company, which is expected to enhance the clinical utility of the intraoperative imaging technology. This will also enable the company to expand its product portfolio in the coming years. The product portfolio mainly includes CLR 125, useful for the treatment of micro metastatic disease; CLR 124, a cancer-targeting positron emission tomography (PET) imaging PDC; and CLR 1502, used in intraoperative non-invasive tumor imaging.Request for TOC of the Report @Global Intraoperative Imaging Market: Regional OutlookNorth America is anticipated to offer lucrative opportunities for companies in the intraoperative imaging market. The impressive growth of the North America market is attributed to constant technological upgrades and advancements in imaging devices, coupled with increasing collaborations among leading players. Furthermore, the advent of platforms aimed at better integration of intraoperative imaging and MRI-compatible navigational systems is anticipated to boost the regional market in the coming years. The increasing adoption of intraoperative imaging systems in Latin America and Asia Pacific, attributed to soaring demand for minimally-invasive surgeries, will catalyze the growth of these regional markets over the forecast period.Read Complete Report @Global Intraoperative Imaging Market: Competitive AnalysisSeveral medical device manufacturers are entering into partnerships and collaborations with leading players to consolidate their market presence across various regions. Key companies operating in the intraoperative imaging market include Koninklijke Philips N.V., Siemens AG, Toshiba Corporation, Brainlab AG, and Medtronic.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
DDI Market Forecast by 2025

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A DDI (DNS, DHCP and IP address management) solution delivers the initiative with the necessary tools to easily and quickly manage the numerous tasks related with internet protocol address management, as well as DHCP and DNS services management across the internet network. Thus, DNS, DHCP and IP address management solution is a necessary tool for the different enterprise management. In recent trends, a DDI ((DNS, DHCP and IP address management) solution is able to reduce OPEX related to IPAM, DNS and DHCP by or more than 50%. This in turn is expected to save headcount for larger enterprises.In addition, numerous features such as upsurge attacks on proliferation of bring your own device (BYOD) at workplace, reduction in operational expenditure (OPEX), DNS server and emergence of Internet of Things (IOT) platforms among others are responsible for the growth of the DDI market.Therefore, the (DNS, DHCP and IP address management)market is predicted to witness a steady growth during the projection period from 2017 to 2025.Global DDI (DNS, DHCP and IP address management) solution market has been segmented on the basis of component, application, deployment, size of organization, end use industry and geography. On the basis of component type, global DDI market has been segmented into services and solution. Additionally, global DDI market has been separated on the basis of application which includes virtualization and cloud, network security, data center transformation and network automation among others. Moreover, the evolution to IPv6 from the IPv4 Internet protocol (IP) is anticipated to contribute expressively to industrial demand. Across the globe, the cumulative focus on consciousness of impending implementations of IPv6, need to streamline IP address management and security risks among others important factors are expected to assist the growth of DDI service provider. Security plays a significant role in this development and is likely to drive the growth of DDI market during the forecast period. In this report, global DDI market is segmented based on deployment type into cloud based and on premises. Various DDI vendors are now focusing on merger and acquisition primarily to strengthen its position globally. Consequently, the DDI market is classified on the basis of end use industry into aerospace and defense, telecommunication, manufacturing, and Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) among others. Increasing the demand of cloud computing in various telecommunication and IT sectors is an important factor that is estimated to impact the DDI market. The DDI vendors are now predicted to rise the use of virtualized services. This is expected to rise the demand of DDI (DNS, DHCP and IP address management)Market in coming years.Browse The Report:Consequently, the various DDI vendors are now extensively spending on research and development facilities to gain competitive advantage. Currently, the rising demand of industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platforms and significant adoption of virtualization by organization significantly is driving the growth of the DDI market during the estimate period. However, on the flip side, lack of consumer awareness and complexity of DDI installation is restraining the growth of global DDI market in coming years.Geographically, global DDI (DNS, DHCP and IP address management)market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle- East and Africa (MEA), Latin America. In 2016, North America held the largest share of the DDI market due to the high technological adoption of innovations such as mobility, cloud and big data among others in this region. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market for DDI market currently, followed by North America. Furthermore, Asia Pacific are probable to grow at a significant rate owing to the proliferation of mobile devices, high density of population and internet usage in the region is expected to contribute to the growth of industry. Furthermore, the growth adoption of 4G and upcoming 5G networks solution is estimated to increase the average internet connection speeds owing to achieve effective IPAM solutions to manage the various IP address pools. This is expected to increase the demand of DDI (DNS, DHCP and IP address management) Market during the forecast period from 2017- 2025.The major players operating in the global DDI market includes BlueCat Networks (Canada),Nokia Corporation (Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise) (France), BT Diamond IP (U.S.), ApplianSys (U.K.), Infoblox Inc. (U.S.),Microsoft Corporation (U.S.), Apteriks (Netherlands), NCC Group (U.K.),Cisco Systems, Inc. (U.S.), EfficientIP (U.S.),Men & Mice (Iceland), FusionLayer,Inc. (Finland), TCPWave Inc. (U.S.), PC Network (Philadelphia) and SolarWinds (U.S.) among others.Make an Enquiry @The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applicationsTransparency 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.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring & Safety Market : Recent Industry Trends and Projected Industry Growth, 2017 - 2025

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Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring & Safety Market: OverviewExposure to radioactive radiations in high levels is linked with various dangerous health complications. Since these radiations are not only odorless but also invisible, there arises a need for an equipment that detects, monitors, and prevents the exposure to radioactive radiations and thus provide safety to people. Medical radiation, detection, and safety equipment are especially required in hospitals and clinics treating cancer and tumors. As per the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 2012, around 14.1 million new cancer cases were registered. This count is only increasing every year. This increase in the prevalence of cancer is expected to fuel the demand for radiation therapy, which in turn will create a need for medical radiation, detection, and safety equipment.Request a Brochure of the Report @Medical radiation, detection, and safety equipment are also essential for applications of nuclear medicine where radioactive tracers are employed to detect cancer early and also help in the monitoring of the progression of the deadly disease by means of visual tracking of the radiopharmaceuticals. Governments across the globe are concentrating on the solving the issues relating to safety against radiations. This is pushing the demand for safety devices, thereby driving the global medical radiation detection, monitoring and safety market. Other government agencies such as International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and CDC for emergency training and education on radiations are anticipated to further the growth of the global medical radiation detection, monitoring and safety market.Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring & Safety Market: Key TrendsThe growing safety awareness among people across the globe is one of the major factors fueling the demand for medical radiation detection, monitoring and safety devices. As the realization of the harmful effects of working radiation-prone environments is dawning upon people working in the healthcare industries worldwide, the demand for safety devices is growing. Growing prevalence of cancer and insurance coverage are factors boosting the growth of the market. The heightened use of radioactive materials across industrial processes such as power production and in the defense sector is encouraging the demand for medical radiation detection, monitoring and safety devices.Request for TOC of the Report @Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring & Safety Market: Market PotentialThe threat of terrorist attacks is constantly looming and this has resulted in the need for reliable and safe devices that offer protection. In this unsafe environment and amidst insecurity, the need for medical radiation detection, monitoring and safety devices is felt. The growth of this market is expected in the coming years as players in the market are striving hard to incorporate the latest technology, increasing their efficacy and enhancing the safety features. As governments across nations impose strict regulations on the emission of radioactive radiations, the market will benefit further.Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring & Safety Market: Regional OutlookBy region, North America is currently in a leading position. It is anticipated that North America will lead in the global radiation detection, monitoring, and safety equipment market on account of the presence of some of the major vendors of the industry, government support through regulations and incentives, and high investments in research and development. Europe is likely to be the second most lucrative market for radiation detection, monitoring, and safety equipment. The rising incidences of cancer in the region are one of the key factors creating a need for these safety equipment.Read Complete Report @Medical Radiation Detection, Monitoring & Safety Market: Competitive LandscapeSome of the key manufacturers of medical radiation detection, monitoring and safety devices are:Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Bar-Ray Products, Inc., Canberra Industries, Inc., Protech Radiation Safety, ProtecX, Mirion Technologies, Inc., Landauer, Inc., Amtek, Inc., and Biodex Medical Systems, Inc.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
Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) Market: Industry Survey and Outlook 2025

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Global Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) Market: OverviewThe global market for next-generation sequencing is likely to witness a progressive growth in the next few years, thanks to the rising adoption across diverse industries. In addition, several lucrative opportunities in untapped markets and the rise in the number of government initiatives are projected to contribute towards the growth of the market. Furthermore, the use of next-generation sequencing in biomarker and precision medicine discovery is expected to supplement the growth of the overall market in the forecast period.Global Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) Market: Key TrendsThe technological advancements in the sequencing platforms and the rising number of applications of next-generation sequencing are likely to encourage the growth of the global next-generation sequencing market in the coming years. In addition, the growing adoption of next-generation sequencing technologies among research academic institutes and research laboratories are projected to supplement the development of the market in the near future.Request a Brochure of the Report @On the contrary, the rising issues in the storage of sequencing data and the dearth of skilled professionals are likely to curtail the growth of the market in the coming years. Nonetheless, the increasing awareness among consumers regarding the advantages of next-generation sequencing through workshops and conferences are projected to fuel the growth of the market.Global Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) Market: Market PotentialThe integration of next-generation of sequencing with the new cloud-based technology is one of the key factors estimated to encourage the growth of the global market in the coming years. In addition, the rising focus on cancer research and the increasing level of competition are predicted accelerate the growth of the market in the forecast period.However, several concerns related to the security of next-generation sequencing data and the standardization and accuracy issues in diagnostic testing are estimated to pose as major challenges for the leading players in the coming years. Nonetheless, the rising use of cloud computing is expected to offer promising growth opportunities throughout the forecast period.Request for TOC of the Report @Global Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) Market: Regional OutlookAmong the key regional segments studied in the research study, North America is anticipated to account for a key share of the global next-generation sequencing market in the forecast period. The presence of a large number of players in the U.S. and the favorable government schemes are the important factors that are predicted to accelerate the growth of the North America market in the coming years.Furthermore, Asia Pacific is estimated to grow substantially in the next few years. The improvement of the healthcare infrastructure in developing nations and the favorable initiatives by government are predicted to fuel the growth of the next-generation sequencing market In Asia Pacific in the near future. In addition, the launch of new and advanced next-generation sequencing services and products are anticipated to contribute substantially towards the growth of the market.Global Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) Market: Competitive AnalysisSome of the prominent players operating in the next-generation sequencing market across the globe are Eurofins Scientific, Gatc Biotech AG, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Perkinelmer, Inc., Illumina, Inc., Qiagen N.V., Agilent Technologies, Inc., Macrogen, Inc., Beijing Genomics Institute, Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., and Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Ltd.Read Complete Report @The entry of new players in the global next-generation sequencing market and the rising number of collaborations and mergers are projected to encourage the growth of the market in the next few years. Additionally, the rising focus of key players on research and development activities are estimated to offer promising opportunities for the leading players in the next few years.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
Adhesives & Sealants Market to Grow at Healthy Growth Rate from 2016 to 2027

Dye Stuff Market

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Market Overview:The Global Dye Stuff Market is expected to witness a significant growth of USD 258.79 million by 2023 with CAGR of 8.3 % between 2016 and 2023.Dye stuff is part of chemical industry since ancient history, main source of dye stuff are natural and synthetic dye stuff. Ultimately, the natural dyestuff was losing the market due to easily availability and cheap cost of synthetic dyestuff. Presently, due to strict government regulations of using synthetic dyestuff, the demand of natural dyestuff is again increasing in the market, in the industry of paper, textile, and leather. Dyestuff is used in various applications such as textile dye, leather dye, paper dye, wood dye, and others, by different types such as disperse dye, direct dye, reactive dye, vat dye, acid dye, cationic dye, sulfur dye, and others. In addition, growth of textile and leather industry are the major industries for consumption of dye stuff especially in APAC region by contributing the major countries such as China, India, Thailand, and South Korea.Key Players and Competitive Analysis:Key Players of the Global Dye Stuff Market are Clariant International Ltd. (Switzerland), Lanxess AG (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Orion Colorchem Industries (India), Setas Color Center (Turkey), Synthesia, a.s (Europe), Synthetic Corporation (South Korea), Avocet Dye & Chemical Co. Ltd (UK), Arkema SA (Europe), Huntsman Corporation (Texas), and others.Get a Sample Report Brochure @Expansion and new product developmet are the key strategies followed by major industry players for growth of dye stuff market for instance on 29th November 2016, Clariant International Ltd introduce a new range of aluminium dyes for indoor and outdoor applications. Its ranges of dyes and aluminium finishing chemicals are manufactured according to strict Swiss safety and environmental requirements. The benefit of this new product development will be, that it can increase more customer on account of exterior applications in especially in Paris, France, and Germany.Regional AnalysisIn geographical terms, Asia Pacific is the largest market of dye stuff due to demand in various industry such as textile, leather, and paper, in China region followed by India. Increasing demand for textile industry in the China, India, Taiwan, and South Korea has made Asia Pacific largest consumer of the global dye stuff market followed by increasing in the consumption of dye stuff market in Europe region. In Europe region, dye stuff market is mainly drive by textile industry. In addition, the third largest market of dye stuff is North America region due to large consumption in textile, paper, and leather industry. Latin America and Middle East also witnessed in growth of dye stuff market due to various application such as textile dye, leather dye, paper dye, wood dye, and others.Access Report Details @Market Segmentation:Global dye stuff market is segmented by source, composition, types, application, and region. On the basis of source the dye stuff market is divided by natural, synthetic dye stuff. Natural dyestuff are dyes derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. From the plants, natural dyestuff found from berries, leaves, roots, wood, and bark. Furthermore, tea, coffee, berries, bark, vegetables, and others can also considered as natural dyestuff. Plant based natural dyestuff such as madder, saffron, and indigo, were raised commercially and were important trade goods in the Asia Pacific and Europe region. On the other hand, the production of synthetic chemical dyestuffs has become huge business in chemical industry, but somehow the manufacture and application of synthetic dyestuff is one of the worlds most polluting productions. They are used in preparing wood, straw, leather, fibers especially the acrylics, and paper discharge printing. Synthetic dyes are available in wide range in market according to their applications, such as cationic dyes, direct dyes, acid dyes, sulphur dyes, azoic dyes, and others.Furthermore, on the basis of composition the dye stuff market is divided by inorganic and organic dyestuff. On the other hand on the basis of types the dye stuff market is divided by disperse dye, azo dye, direct dye, reactive dye, vat dye, acid dye, cationic dye, sulfur dye, and others. Among all reactive dye covers the largest market share especially in India. On the other hand, disperse dyestuff are water-insoluble dyestuff which dye acetate fibers and polyester. Disperse dyestuff molecules are the smallest dyestuff molecules among all the given dyestuff. The main applications disperse dyestuff in the textile fibers market is anticipated to urge the global dyestuff market. The major driving factors for disperse dyestuff market is due to growing consumer demand for color alternatives in various product categories and growth in end user industries. Whereas, direct dyestuff are used on cotton, paper, leather, wool, silk and nylon due having strong features such as soluble in water, has strong affinity to cellulose fiber, comparatively cheap, and easily diffusible into fiber. Next, is reactive dyestuff which chemically reacted with the fibers with the formation of covalent bond between the dye and the fiber Reactive dye most commonly used in dyeing of cellulose like cotton or flax, but also wool is dye-able with reactive dyes. Moreover, on the basis of application dye stuff the market is segmented into textile dye, leather dye, paper dye, wood dye, and others, among all application textile industry occupied the highest market share.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Embedded Systems Market 2017 - Renesas Electronics, NXP, STMicroelectronics

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The Global Embedded Systems Market 2017 examines the performance of the Embedded Systems market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Embedded Systems market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Embedded Systems market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Embedded Systems Market 2017 report includes Embedded Systems industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Embedded Systems Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Embedded Systems Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Embedded Systems Market 2017:1 Renesas Electronics2 NXP3 STMicroelectronics4 Texas Instruments5 Xilinx6 Altera7 Infineon Technologies8 Microchip9 Intel Corporation10 Fujitsu Limited11 ARM Limited12 Kontron13 Analog Devices14 AtmelEmbedded Systems Market Analysis: By ProductEmbedded Systems HardwareEmbedded Systems SoftwareEmbedded Systems Market Analysis: By ApplicationAutomotiveTelecommunicationHealthcareIndustrialConsumer ElectronicsMilitary & AerospaceAt the beginning, the report covers the top Embedded Systems manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Embedded Systems report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Embedded Systems industry, Embedded Systems industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Embedded Systems Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Embedded Systems 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 Embedded Systems market revenue worldwide.Finally, Embedded Systems 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 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.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. The company aims to fulfill market research requirements of both national and international clients. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Tel: +1(857)2390696Web:Email: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Market Research Reports-Browse Latest News-
Digital Wrench Market Size 2017: by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application

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Digital Wrench Market Report provides an analytical assessment of the prime Market Size Forecasters adds 2017 Top 5 Digital Wrench Manufacturers in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa new report to its research database. The report spread across 109 pages and 125 table and figures in it.In this report, the global Digital Wrench market is valued at USD XX million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2016 and 2022.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Digital Wrench in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, IndiaRequest a sample copy of Global Digital Wrench Market Research Report @Global Digital Wrench market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players including Armstrong Tools, Crane Electronics Ltd, Desoutter Industrial Tools, GearWrench, MountzOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into Pneumatic Wrench, Hydraulic Wrench, Electric WrenchOn 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 Digital Wrench for each application, including Automobile Industry, Mechanical, Equipment Repair, OtherRequest Discount for Digital Wrench Market Research Report @Table of Content:Digital Wrench Market OverviewGlobal Digital Wrench Market Competition by ManufacturersGlobal Digital Wrench Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)Global Digital Wrench Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2012-2017)Global Digital Wrench Market Analysis by ApplicationGlobal Digital Wrench Manufacturers Profiles/AnalysisFor More Info on Market Research @Related Reports: -United States Aluminum Composite Panel Market by Manufacturers, States, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022Aluminum composite panel?(ACP) also?aluminum composite material (ACM) is a type of flat panel that consists of two thin?aluminum sheets bonded to a non-aluminum core. Aluminum sheets can be coated with PVDF, fluoropolymer resins (FEVE) or Polyester paint. Aluminum can be painted in any kind of color, and ACPs are produced in a wide range of metallic and non-metallic colors as well as patterns that imitate other materials, such as wood or marble.MarketSizeForecasters.com, a Skyline Market Research LLP brand, is an online aggregator of market research reports. MarketSizeForecasters.com offers a comprehensive collection of full length reports on global and regional markets in 100+ industry verticals. We have partnered with some of the leading business and market research publishing houses and regularly update our online library to offer wide range of reports to our customers.Market size forecastersThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketsizeforecasters.comWebsite:NEWS:
Global Emergency Carts Market 2017 - Ergotron, Capsa Solutions LLC, Enovate Medical, Herman Miller

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The Global Emergency Carts Market 2017 examines the performance of the Emergency Carts market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Emergency Carts market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Emergency Carts market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Emergency Carts Market 2017 report includes Emergency Carts industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Emergency Carts Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Emergency Carts Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Emergency Carts Market 2017:1 Ergotron2 Capsa Solutions LLC3 Enovate Medical4 Herman Miller5 Omnicell6 The Harloff Company7 Medline Industries8 Advantech9 JACO10 Scott-clark11 Armstrong Medical Industries12 Waterloo Healthcare13 Rubbermaid14 Stanley15 InterMetro16 TouchPoint Medical17 AFC Industries Inc18 Nanjing TianaoEmergency Carts Market Analysis: By ProductPoweredNon-Powered (Mechanical)Emergency Carts Market Analysis: By ApplicationHospitalsClinicsAmbulatory Surgical CentresOtherAt the beginning, the report covers the top Emergency Carts manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Emergency Carts report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Emergency Carts industry, Emergency Carts industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Emergency Carts Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Emergency Carts 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 Emergency Carts market revenue worldwide.Finally, Emergency Carts 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 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.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. The company aims to fulfill market research requirements of both national and international clients. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Tel: +1(857)2390696Web:Email: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Market Research Reports-Browse Latest News-
Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market Expected to Be Biggest Emerging Market by 2024

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Global Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market: SnapshotThe thin film drugs were recorded with high market acceptance due to its ease of application and high effectiveness. Moreover, developed economies such as the U.S. and countries in Europe recorded significant sale of thin film drugs. Thin film drugs achieve the desired therapeutic results. Therefore, they have gained attention in the market as a potential treatment option. According to the research report, the global thin film drug manufacturing market is expected to be worth US$15,984.3 mn by the end of 2024 from US$7,337.8 mn in 2015. During the forecast years of 2016 and 2024, the global market is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 9.0%.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market:Demand for thin film drugs is increasing globally, leading to considerable research and development activities in the segment. The Journal of Controlled Release 2015 stated the market for oral thin film products exists with around 10 prescription products and around 29 such thin film products under clinical trials. Thus, the thin film drug manufacturing market is anticipated to expand considerably during the forecast period.Oral Thin Films to Remain Popular due to Ease of HandlingOn the basis of product type, the global thin film drug manufacturing market is segmented into oral thin film, transdermal thin film, and others such as ocular thin film among others. The report indicates that the oral thin film segment will be the most promising one as it comes with maximum advantages. These films deliver drugs through the oral mucosa and are known for ease of transportation, skipping the hepatic first pass effect, convenience of handling, and quick onset of action. In light of these benefits, the oral thin film segment is likely to surge at a significant CAGR of 18.3% between 2016 and 2024. Soaring revenue of this segment is attributable to the growing number of clinical trials and higher number of prescription products. On the other hand, the transdermal thin film segment is also poised to emerge with a substantial share in the global market by the end of the forecast period.North America Emerges as Leading Regional MarketBy geography, global thin film drug manufacturing market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, the and Middle East and Africa. In 2016, North America and Europe accounted for the largest share of the thin film drug manufacturing market. The U.S. dominated the thin film drug manufacturing market in North America, accounting for around 85.3% share in 2016. This dominance is majorly due factors such technological advancements in pharmaceutical research with rising demand of novel drug delivery. The extensive investments in research and development are also likely to benefit the regional market. However, Europe is saturated and growing at slow steady rate while Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness the fast growth during the forecast period with major contribution of countries such as India, Japan and China. New product launches with broaden applications, favorable regulations, and growing awareness are likely to drive the market in Asia Pacific during the forecast period.Request for the Sample Report:Some of the key players in the global thin film drug manufacturing market are Pfizer, Inc., Novartis AG, Wolters Kluwer, Solvay, Allergan plc. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., IntelGenx Corp. The global thin film drug manufacturing market is dominated only by few players, which makes the competitive landscape highly consolidated.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:
Polyurethane Adhesives Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20162024

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Polyurethane-based adhesives are used in bonding solid and relatively inflexible substances and provides high UV resistance. Polyurethane polymers are formed by the reaction of isocyanate and a polyol. Both isocyanates and polyols used in the process contain two or more functional groups per molecule. They are used for bonding wood, leather, metals, cured epoxy, rubbers, tile, glass, plastics, concrete, and brick. Excellent strength, fast curing time, good optical clarity, good abrasion and chemical resistance, and good strength & impact resistance are some of the key features of polyurethane adhesives.Request Sample of Polyurethane Adhesives Market:Threadlocker polyurethane adhesives and sealants have the ability to lock threads against loosening triggered by heavy vibrations and loads. Polyurethane adhesives are very flexible and durable and offer good impact resistance. They offer high degree of thermal resistance and are resistant to chemical abrasion, as well as in the level of their bulk flexibility. They are used to seal fuel tanks and are not damaged by prolonged periods of high temperatures. This type of polyurethane adhesive is flame-resistant. In flooring application, polyurethane adhesives offer excellent high and low temperature operability and adhesion to untreated plastics.Polyurethane Adhesives Market TaxonomyOn the basis of product type, the Polyurethane Adhesives market is classified into:ThermoplasticThermosetOn the basis of technology, the global Polyurethane Adhesives market is classified into:DispersionSolventborneReactiveHot MeltOn the basis of end-use industry, the global Polyurethane Adhesives market is classified into:Building & Construction,Electrical & ElectronicsPackagingAutomotiveFurnitureFootwearPolyurethane adhesives are gaining increased acceptance in the home construction industry, owing to bonding ability to many types of substrates which includes plastic, glass, wood and concrete. Two-part polyurethane adhesives are usually used for bonding ceiling drywall to roof rafters. The first stage mechanism is to immediately avoid a caving-in effect on vertical surfaces and the second stage is to provide a strong and permanent seal. Moisture-curable polyurethane adhesives are extensively used in subflooring and for carpentry applications such as staircases and cabinets. The use of a polyurethane adhesive can prevent separation cracks forming due to seasonal changes which can cause wood to contract and expand. In Automotive industry, polyurethane adhesives are used in for vehicle interiors and for bonding windshields.Request For Customization:Polyurethane Adhesives Market Outlook  Modern Infrastructural needs to be the Major Market DriverAsia Pacific and North America are expected to be the most potential markets for polyurethane adhesives manufacturers. Asia Pacific is projected to witness relatively high growth in terms of value over the forecast period. This is owing to the constantly growing construction industry in developing countries such as India and China. According to IBEF, the Indian construction industry is expected to grow to a value of US$ 5 billion till 2020. Also, various government schemes and foreign investments have augmented growth of polyurethane adhesives market in the region. Growing infrastructural needs in India has attracted various investors such as Silver Spring Capital Management, Altico Capital, The Construction Industry Development Board of Malaysia, and among others.Application of adhesives in industries such as building & construction, packaging, automobile, aerospace, electrical & electronics, and locomotives, especially in Asia Pacific and Middle East regions. Mergers and acquisitions and expansions in various geographies are some of key strategies followed by the top players in the construction chemicals market. In August 2016 Pidilite Industries, a leading manufacturer of construction chemicals, adhesives and sealants with Industria Chimica Adriatica Spa (ICA) of Italy formed an equal joint venture company - Wood Coat. Some of the major companies operating in the global plastic additives market are Huntsman Corporation, 3M, Sika AG, Ashland Inc., Arkema S.A., H.B. Fuller, Illinois Tool Works Inc., Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Scott Bader Company Ltd., and The Dow Chemical Company.Check The Trending Report of Polyurethane 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 :
Global Endoscopy Devices Market 2017 - Boston Scientific, Ethicon, Inc., Fujifilm Holdings Corporation

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The Global Endoscopy Devices Market 2017 examines the performance of the Endoscopy Devices market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Endoscopy Devices market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Endoscopy Devices market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Endoscopy Devices Market 2017 report includes Endoscopy Devices industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Endoscopy Devices Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Endoscopy Devices Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Endoscopy Devices Market 2017:1 Boston Scientific2 Ethicon, Inc.3 Fujifilm Holdings Corporation4 Pentax Medical Corporation5 Stryker Corporation6 Medtronic plc7 Karl Storz8 Richard Wolf GmbH9 Cook Medical Incorporated10 Olympus Corporation11 KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG12 Smith & Nephew plc13 Arthrex14 Blazejeweski15 B Braun16 BAUER MEDICAL17 Chongqing Jinshan Science & Technology18 ConMed19 Check-Cap20 CYMO21 Dantschke Medizintechnik22 Endocure Technologies23 Fujifilm Medical Systems24 Hobbs Medical25 Hoya26 IntroMedicEndoscopy Devices Market Analysis: By ProductEndoscopes (Flexible, Rigid, Capsule)Visualization SystemsOtherEndoscopy Devices Market Analysis: By ApplicationGI EndoscopyLaparoscopyOthersAt the beginning, the report covers the top Endoscopy Devices manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Endoscopy Devices report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Endoscopy Devices industry, Endoscopy Devices industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Endoscopy Devices Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Endoscopy Devices 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 Endoscopy Devices market revenue worldwide.Finally, Endoscopy Devices 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 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.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. The company aims to fulfill market research requirements of both national and international clients. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Tel: +1(857)2390696Web:Email: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Market Research Reports-Browse Latest News-
Kidney Cancer Drugs Market is Anticipated to Show the Robust Growth by 2020

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Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney or renal cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, with around 80-90% of the cancer cases reported being diagnosed as renal cell carcinoma. Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) is another type of kidney cancer present among a few individuals (5% - 10% of the kidney cancer patients in the U.S.). At times, surgical treatment alone is not sufficient for treating RCC; if a person has developed metastatic cancer, he/she could be recommended for additional treatment regimens. Targeted therapies or immunotherapies are the most commonly prescribed treatments for kidney cancer. Targeted therapies are known to act at the cellular level, hence their accuracy and effectiveness increases with reduced toxicity. Therefore, kidney cancer drugs are among the only life-prolonging treatment regimens available for patients with advanced stage metastatic tumor.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Kidney Cancer Drugs Market:The global kidney cancer drugs market is expected to grow at a stable growth rate during the forecast period, due to various factors such as increasing geriatric population and rising incidence of kidney cancer as well as approval of novel drug molecules. However, few factors that are expected to negatively affect the growth of the market are increasing preference for generic drug variants and high prices of branded cancer drugs.The global kidney cancer drugs market has been segmented based on major branded drugs and geography. Based on prominent brands of drugs, the kidney cancer drugs market is divided into: Afinitor (Everolimus), Avastin (Bevacizumab), Inlyta (Axitinib), Nexavar (Sorafenib), Proleukin (Aldesleukin/Interleukin-2), Sutent (Sunitinib), Torisel (Temsirolimus), and Votrient (Pazopanib). In terms of revenue, Sutent was the largest-selling kidney cancer drug in 2013. This is because Sutent is the most commonly prescribed drug in the first-line treatment against kidney cancer and is among the most studied drugs in its class for multiple indications, as it targets multiple receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). In February 2006, the U.S. FDA approved Sunitinib for two indications, namely, RCC and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), making it the first cancer drug to receive approval in the U.S. However, GSKs Votrient is expected become the market leader by 2017 surpassing Sutent and other competitors due to low pricing and superior first-line penetration, displaying the fastest growth rate at CAGR of over 40% from 2012 to 2016 and over 5% from 2016 to 2020. The market growth of Votrient is supported by the fact that during Phase III comparison trials, the drug showed better patient compatibility and safety profile with lower side effects as compared with interferon, placebo and other targeted therapies.North America is the largest market for kidney cancer drugs due the commercial availability of major branded drugs for kidney cancer treatment and presence of large patient pool suffering from various forms of kidney cancer. North America dominated the market mainly due to the presence of a large patient population and the lucrative health care system tailor-made for the pharmaceutical industry. Exclusive patent rights and presence of a large health care insurance base have driven the pharmaceutical market in the U.S., thereby making North America the market leader for kidney cancer drugs. Asia Pacific is expected to observe an admirable growth due to multiple factors such as rising incidence of renal cell carcinoma, growing geriatric population and rapid economic development in nations such as India, China, Singapore, Malaysia and others, that contribute to the growth of kidney cancer drugs market in the region.Request for the Sample Report:At present, the market is highly consolidated and aggressive in nature due to the presence of biggest pharmaceutical giants such as Bayer AG, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Novartis AG and Pfizer, Inc. Among these, Pfizer, Inc. grabbed the largest share of the global kidney cancer drugs market in 2013. Since, Sutent (Sunitinib) and Inlyta (Axitinib) are the leading drugs for the treatment of kidney cancer, the global market of kidney cancer drugs is ruled by one of the worlds largest biopharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, Inc. However, other established market players such as Novartis and GSK are focusing on expanding their geographical presence as well as distribution network in emerging nations, since Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East are developing regions with an increasing incidence rate of various forms of kidney cancer and improving economic conditions.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:
At A CAGR Of 11.14%, Global Health Insurance Market Will Expand During The Period 2016 - 2020

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "At A CAGR Of 11.14%, Global Health Insurance Market Will Expand During The Period 2016 - 2020" to its huge collection of research reports.Health insurance is a type of insurance where the insurer pays the medical expenses on behalf of the insured. The insurer has to pay a monthly premium to the health insurance company, which can be on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. Health insurance covers disability and long term nursing. The healthcare providers cover the costs related to medical treatments, drugs, and other expenses. The coverage depends on the health insurance plan taken by the insurer. Health insurance plans are provided through direct-insurance companies, independent brokers, and employer-sponsored programs. Beside the premiums being paid by the insurer, there are other additional costs that are taken into consideration in health insurance coverage that includes co-insurance, co-payments, deductibles, and stop loss limits.Technavios analysts forecast the global health insurance market to grow at a CAGR of 11.14% during the period 2016-2020.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global health insurance market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the total amount of premium generated primarily in emerging markets, such as APAC, EMEA, and the Americas.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATechnavio's report, Global Health Insurance 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 vendorsZurich InsuranceUnited HealthcareAvivaAXAAllianzTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Other prominent vendorsAetna FoundationAIA InsuranceBlue Cross Blue ShieldKaiser foundationMarket driverGrowth in the number of aging population and increase in life expectancyFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengePressure in cost associated with health insuranceFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendInnovations in healthcare products and solutionsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey 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?Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Global Engineering Plastics Market 2017 - Invista, Ascend, Solvay Rhodia, BASF, Asahi Kasei

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The Global Engineering Plastics Market 2017 examines the performance of the Engineering Plastics market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Engineering Plastics market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Engineering Plastics market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Engineering Plastics Market 2017 report includes Engineering Plastics industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Engineering Plastics Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Engineering Plastics Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Engineering Plastics Market 2017:1 Invista2 Ascend3 Solvay Rhodia4 BASF5 Asahi Kasei6 Toray7 Dupont8 DSM9 Lanxess10 Radici Group11 Shenma Group12 Jiangsu Huayang13 Huafeng Group14 Guorui ChemicalEngineering Plastics Market Analysis: By ProductABSNylonPBTPTFEOtherEngineering Plastics Market Analysis: By ApplicationConsumer GoodsAutomotiveMechanicalPackagingOtherAt the beginning, the report covers the top Engineering Plastics manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Engineering Plastics report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Engineering Plastics industry, Engineering Plastics industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Engineering Plastics Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Engineering Plastics 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 Engineering Plastics market revenue worldwide.Finally, Engineering Plastics 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 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.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. The company aims to fulfill market research requirements of both national and international clients. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Tel: +1(857)2390696Web:Email: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Market Research Reports-Browse Latest News-
Global Epichlorohydrin (ECH) Market 2017 - Sumitomo Chemical, Solvay, Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand)

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The Global Epichlorohydrin (ECH) Market 2017 examines the performance of the Epichlorohydrin (ECH) market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Epichlorohydrin (ECH) market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Epichlorohydrin (ECH) market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Epichlorohydrin (ECH) Market 2017 report includes Epichlorohydrin (ECH) industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Epichlorohydrin (ECH) Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Epichlorohydrin (ECH) Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Epichlorohydrin (ECH) Market 2017:1 Sumitomo Chemical2 Solvay3 Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand)4 Spolchemie A.S.5 Osaka Soda6 Shandong Haili Chemical Industry7 Samsung Fine Chemicals8 The Dow Chemical Company9 Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Group10 Hexion11 Tensar International CorporationEpichlorohydrin (ECH) Market Analysis: By ProductAnalysis LevelIndustrial LevelEpichlorohydrin (ECH) Market Analysis: By ApplicationPaint And CoatingsElectrical And Electronic EquipmentAdhesiveFiberWater TreatmentOtherAt the beginning, the report covers the top Epichlorohydrin (ECH) manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Epichlorohydrin (ECH) report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Epichlorohydrin (ECH) industry, Epichlorohydrin (ECH) industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Epichlorohydrin (ECH) Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Epichlorohydrin (ECH) 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 Epichlorohydrin (ECH) market revenue worldwide.Finally, Epichlorohydrin (ECH) 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 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.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. The company aims to fulfill market research requirements of both national and international clients. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Tel: +1(857)2390696Web:Email: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Market Research Reports-Browse Latest News-
C4ISR Global Market Expected To Reach At A CAGR Of 3.78% Over The Forecast Period 2016 - 2020

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "C4ISR Global Market Expected To Reach At A CAGR Of 3.78% Over The Forecast Period 2016 - 2020" to its huge collection of research reports.As modern combat is conducted at a longer range, the employment of precision technology and a secure communication network ensures mission effectiveness. The systems and services used to ensure seamless communication architecture fall under the domain of C4ISR. The use of C4ISR systems ensures that operators have an advantage when it comes to decision-making, by achieving non-sequential and parallel decision-making capabilities. These systems also augment the situational awareness of combatants, helping them operate against hostile opponents in accelerated combat environment.Technavios analysts forecast the global C4ISR market to grow at a CAGR of 3.78% during the period 2016-2020.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global C4ISR market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated in the overall market from the procurement of new command, control, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and associated services, as well funding for sustainment and modernization of existing systems.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATechnavio's report, Global C4ISR 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 vendorsBAE SystemsElbit SystemsLockheed MartinNorthrop GrummanRaytheonMake an Enquiry of this report @Other prominent vendorsBooz Allen HamiltonCACIGeneral Dynamics Mission SystemsHarrisKongsbergThales GroupMarket driverGrowing acceptance of CREW systemsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeBarriers to adopting new technology and equipmentFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendPreference for integrated C4ISR systemFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey 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?To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @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 @
Asia Pacific Platelet Rich Plasma Market is Expected to Rise at a Remarkable CAGR During 2015 - 2023

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This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the platelet rich plasma market in Asia Pacific considering various macro as well as microeconomic factors such as regulations, applications of platelet rich plasma, and advantages and disadvantages of type of platelet rich plasma, and cost. The report studies the platelet rich plasma market from four perspectives: type of platelet rich plasma, origin of platelet rich plasma, application of platelet rich plasma, and country wise market.This 128 page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Asia Pacific Platelet Rich Plasma Market:Based on the type of platelet rich plasma, the market in Asia Pacific has been segmented into pure platelet rich plasma, leucocytes and platelet rich plasma, and platelet rich fibrin. Based on origin, the market has been segmented into autologous platelet rich plasma, allogeneic platelet rich plasma, and homologous platelet rich plasma. In terms of the application of platelet rich plasma, the market has been segmented into orthopedic surgery, cosmetic surgery, general surgery, neurosurgery, and other surgeries. In terms of country, the market has been studied for eleven major geographies: Australia, the Philippines, China, India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. Additionally, each segment of the platelet rich plasma market has been further subdivided into national markets.The market size for each of the segments and sub-segments mentioned above is provided in US$ Mn considering 2013 and 2014 as base years and forecast from 2015 to 2023. The forecast model considers various factors such as number of surgeries, health care expenditure of the country, advantages of the individual segment, penetration of platelet rich plasma therapy in the country, the cost of platelet rich plasma in various countries, and government regulations. The research methodology is a blend of primary as well as secondary market research, where market estimates based on desk research are further refined considering inputs from expert interviews.This report on the platelet rich plasma market in Asia Pacific also provides qualitative information on major players in the market. It also includes details on current regulatory policies for platelet rich plasma and devices. Major factors driving and restraining the platelet rich plasma market are also discussed in the report, while opportunities from the future perspective are also mentioned. Furthermore, the platelet rich plasma market report provides value chain analysis for comprehensive analysis. Porters Five Forces Analysis will provide the idea of bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants in platelet rich plasma market, threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry in platelet rich plasma market. Additionally, market share analysis of the platelet rich plasma market in Asia Pacific provides detailed information on current competitive landscape of the market. Market attractiveness analysis provides information on most attractive countries for platelet rich plasma.Request a sample of this report to know what opportunities will emerge in the rapidly evolving Asia Pacific Platelet Rich Plasma Market during 2015 - 2023Finally, the report profiles major players in the platelet rich plasma market in Asia Pacific including Harvest Technology, Arthrex, Inc., Stryker Corporation, Zimmer Biomet, DePuy Synthes, AdiStem Ltd., Cesca Therapeutics, Inc., Exactech, Inc., and Rmedica Co. Ltd. Each of the companies is profiled for parameters such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, and recent developments. The report on the platelet rich plasma market estimation and forecast comprises 128 slides and 68 graphs.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:
Global Conical Twin Screw Extruder Market 2017 - Thermo Scientific, Milacron, Esde, Battenfeld-Cincinnati, Zhangjiagang Xinke

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Focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with Production, price, statistics and market share for each manufacturer.The Report describe Global Conical Twin Screw Extruder 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 2022Download Sample Report @Scope of the report:This report studies Conical Twin Screw Extruder in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2012 to 2016, and forecast to 2022.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringThermo ScientificToshiba MachineMilacronHPMCBattenfeld-CincinnatiAmutEsdeFangliZhangjiagang XinkeWuxi KangdaZhangjiagang XinweierFoshan KebelnZhoushan TongfaGet Full Report With TOC @By types, the market can be split intoPVC MaterialWPC CompositeBy Application, the market can be split intoAgriculture IndustryChemical IndustryMachinery IndustryOtherBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaRead 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.Fior Markets provides you the full spectrum of services related to market research, and corroborate with the clients to increase the revenue stream, and address process gaps.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:Blog:
Researchmoz: Pet Insurance In Global Market Expected To Reach 5959.3 Million USD By The End Of 2022

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Researchmoz: Pet Insurance In Global Market Expected To Reach 5959.3 Million USD By The End Of 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the Pet Insurance market status and outlook of global and major regions, from angles of players, regions, product and end Application/industries; this report analyzes the top players in global and major regions, and splits the Pet Insurance market by product and Application/end industries.The global Pet Insurance market is valued at 2895.5 million USD in 2016 and is expected to reach 5959.3 million USD by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of 12.78% between 2016 and 2022.United States will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Pet Insurance.Europe also play important roles in global market, with market size of 1572.8 million USD in 2016 and will be 2983.2 million USD in 2022The major players in global market includePetplan UK (Allianz)NationwideTrupanionPetplan NorthAmerica(Allianz)Hartville GroupPethealthPetfirstEmbraceRoyal & Sun Alliance (RSA)Direct Line GroupAgriaPetsecurePetSureAnicom Holdingipet InsuranceJapan Animal ClubFigure Global Market Size (Million USD) Status and Outlook 2012-2022Source: Annual Reports, Secondary Information, Press Releases, Expert Interviews and QYResearch, Apr 2017Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Pet Insurance for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)United StatesEuropeJapanOtherOn the basis of product, the Pet Insurance market is primarily split intoLifetime CoverNon-lifetime CoverAccident-onlyOtherTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @On the basis on the end users/Application, this report coversDogCatOtherTable of Contents1 Industry Overview11.1 Pet Insurance Market Overview11.1.1 Pet Insurance Product Scope11.1.2 Market Status and Outlook11.2 Global Pet Insurance Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2012-2017)21.2.1 United States Pet Insurance Market Status and Outlook31.2.2 Europe Pet Insurance Market Status and Outlook41.2.3 Japan Pet Insurance Market Status and Outlook51.3 Classification of Pet Insurance by Product51.3.1 Classification of Pet Insurance by Product52 Global Pet Insurance Competition Analysis by Players102.1 Global Pet Insurance Market Size (Million USD) by Players (2012-2017)102.2 Competitive Status and Trend122.2.1 Market Concentration Rate122.2.2 Product/Service Differences12Make 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 @
PTSD Exhibits Emerging Pipeline with 23 Drug Candidates

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The study analysed that the PTSD pipeline comprises of 23 drug candidates, of which one drug candidate is in the Phase III stage of development, two drug candidates are in the Phase II stage of development, seven drug candidates are in the Pre-Clinical stage of development, two drug candidates are in Discovery stage, one drug candidate is in Unknown Clinical stage, one drug candidate is in the Discontinued stage and nine drug candidates are Inactive. PTSD (PTSD) is a neurological disorder that develops in people who have experienced a scary or a dangerous event. PTSD can occur in a person at any age. According to the National Center of PTSD, around seven to eight out of 100 individuals experience PTSD at some point in their lives. Most of the people recover from traumatic situation naturally, but those who continue to experience problems are diagnosed with PTSD. People with PTSD are used to feel frightened even when they are not in a dangerous situation. PTSD generally occurs more often in women than men. Various collaboration between educational institutes, associations, and pharma companies are driving the therapeutic pipeline of PTSD.Browse Report Description at:As per the findings of the research, around 46.0% of drug candidates of PTSD pipeline are being developed to be administered by the oral route, 15.0% are being developed to be administered by the sublingual route, 8.0% are being developed to be administered by the topical route, 8.0% are being developed to be administered by another route or others and 23.0% are being developed to be administered by routes that are not disclosed.Explore Report Sample at:Most of the pharmaceutical companies are developing PTSD drug candidates that are present in the different phases of development. For instance, Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp. has its drug candidate in the Phase III stage of development, Azevan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has its drug candidate in the Phase II stage of development.Browse Other Related Report at:Other key players developing drugs for the treatment of PTSD include One World Cannabis Ltd., Axim Biotechnologies, Inc., F. Hoffman-La-Roche AG, Therapade Technologies LLC, Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. and Purdue Pharma L.P.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:
Industry Analysis and Major Reason for Growth of the Pseudocapacitor Market

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Pseudocapacitor is a device which stores the electrical energy faradaically by transferring electron charges between the electrode and the electrolyte by the means of pseudocapacitance. Electrochemical and electromagnetic energy storage technologies are being based on devices which are capable of displaying high energy density like batteries or the high power electrochemical capacitors. Continuously growing need of the current and the near-future applications, where both the high energy and the high power density are required in the same types of material pseudocapacitors are being used on a large scale. Pseudocapacitance, offers a method of achieving high energy capacity at a very high chargedischarge rate.For purpose of doing in depth analysis, Pseudocapacitor market is been divided on basis of type, materials, application and geography. Based on types the Pseudocapacitor market has been categorized mainly into three types; they are like intercalation pseudocapacitor, redox pseudocapacitor and under potential deposition pseudocapacitor. By material Pseudocapacitor market is been segmented mainly into two types they are like manganese oxide based pseudocapacitor and ruthenium oxide based pseudocapacitor. By application it has been segmented mainly into five types they are like application in laptops, cameras, memory devices, RAM among others .Furthermore, this report will also provide cross functional analysis of all above mentioned segments across the different regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.Browse The Report:Some of the key factors which are responsible for the growth of this Pseudocapacitor market are the growing adoption of inexpensive pseudocapacitive material in the cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impendence spectroscopy; which has seen increasing demand in different applications like electrochemical evaluation, electrodeposition and morphological characterization. Continuously increasing commercialization in the industrial sector, technological advancement, high specific capacitance and electrical conductivity are expected to drive the growth of pseudocapacitor market. The increasing adoption of the solid state battery which offers good safety and high stability is driving the growth of this market during the forecasted period from 2017 to 2025. In addition to that rapid growth of simple fabrication and low ionic conductivity of the solid electrolytes is also anticipated to increase the demand of pseudocapacitors in the upcoming years. Low ionic conductivities, feasibility of small layered thickness and the absence of fluid leakage are also the major reason for growth of the Pseudocapacitor market.The poor electrical conductivity of the MNO2 and the instability of the electrical capacitors in the thin MNO2 fil configuration are the key factors which is restraining the growth of the Pseudocapacitor market. The danger of overheating and low energy density has a very strong impact on the performance of the electrolyte batteries, these constraints in the electrolyte batteries are also acting as a constraint for the Pseudocapacitor market.By type of materials, manganese oxide based pseudocapacitor held the largest market share because of its growing usage in strategic designing and the fabrication of the electrode materials. Nanostructurization and the chemical modification and incorporation of the manganese oxide based pseudocapacitor which is having larger surface area. However, ruthenium oxide based pseudocapacitor is projected to achieve steady growth during the forecasted period from 2017-2025.Geographically, Pseudocapacitor market is being primarily driven by Asia Pacific region. Installation of the smart grid projects in Japan, Singapore and South Korea is driving this market. Modified TIO2 nanoparticles and requirement of pseudocapacitors for the purpose of diffusion through unmodified tio2 nanoparticle is further expected to drive the growth of Pseudocapacitor market in APAC region. This region is anticipated to maintain its dominance in the market during the forecasted period from 2017-2025 owing to the presence of huge number of area load dispatch centers and state load dispatch centers in countries like China, India, South Korea and Japan among others.Some of the leading players operating in Pseudocapacitor market includes Maxwell Technologies Inc. (The U.S.), Nesscap CO. LTD. (South Korea), Panasonic Corporation(Japan) , Ioxus, Inc.(The U.S.), Nippon Chemi-Con Corporation (Japan), YUNASKO (Ukraine),Supreme Power Solutions Co., Ltd.(China),CAP-XX (Australia), LS Mtron (South Korea), NEC-Tokin (Japan) among others.Make an Enquiry @The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Multi-parameter Patient Monitoring Equipment Market Trends and Opportunities for the Industry by 2023

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Global Multi-parameter Patient Monitoring Equipment Market: SnapshotThe primary driver for multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment in the coming years is expected to be the rising population of the geriatric. With their medical needs already at an all-time high, any increase in the near future will only lead to a significant pressure on the manufacturing rates of devices. This applies especially to multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment due to the growing number of patients suffering from respiratory and cardiac diseases.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Multi-parameter Patient Monitoring Equipment Market:Other factors promoting the use of multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment are the advancements in technology created recently that are making them more popular with wireless and mobile device users, and the massive surge of home healthcare services that are causing a high demand for mid- and low-acuity patient monitoring equipment.The resultant rate of expansion of the global multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment market is seen as a CAGR of 4.4% from 2015 to 2023 in terms of revenue. This revenue is expected to reach US$3.47 bn by the end of 2016 and US$4.65 bn by 2023.North America Continues to Take up Majority Demand for Multi-parameter Patient Monitoring EquipmentBy 2023, 51.3% of the total market value of multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment is expected to be taken up by North America. Factors attributed to this majority share include the evolved healthcare system, the high percentage of the elderly, and the specifically higher growth rate of patients with chronic illnesses.The overall market share held by North America is nearly as consistent as its share in 2014, with a slight reduction. This share has been taken up by the booming demand for healthcare devices in Asia Pacific and Europe. The latter holds a very high percentage of geriatric citizens that need regular monitoring, while Asia Pacific is one of the most promising regions for growth in healthcare devices.Hospitals to Remain Key End Users of Multi-parameter Patient Monitoring EquipmentThe function of multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment is to monitor and display relevant patient data for medical assessment. These readings include ECG, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and heart rate. Therefore, the wide utility of multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment has allowed it a high preference in all hospitals across the world. This end-user industry has led the market demand in 2014 and is expected to continue leading it till 2023. Multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment allow a continuous monitoring of patients inside the hospital premises and are an extremely vital and inseparable part of hospital intensive care units and operating rooms, where critical care is needed and is based on patient readings.The overall share held by hospitals in multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment is in a way being challenged by the home healthcare segment. This segment is witnessing a phenomenal rise in demand owing to the advantages it offers, such as reduced hospital visits and a significant reduction in medical expenses. This is a much-needed service for the patients suffering from chronic diseases, cardiac, and respiratory illnesses, whose numbers are currently growing at a very high rate.Request for the Sample Report:The top manufacturers of multi-parameter patient monitoring equipment from a global standpoint include GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Nihon Kohden Corporation, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, and Spacelabs 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:
Global Computerized Physician Order Entry Market to record high demand by 2016-2024

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Zion Market Research, the market research group announced the analysis report titled Computerized Physician Order Entry Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecasts 20162024Global Computerized Physician Order Entry Market: OverviewA system where physicians can directly place an order electronically and the orders are directly transmitted to the recipient is known as computerized physician order entry (CPOE). It can replace the digital transformation of physicians prescribing pattern. It is an electronic method of entering an order instead of paper charts. The main advantage of this system is to reduce errors during transcription. This system is designed to work similar to the paper chart. The computerized physician order entry system is used to in combination with e-prescribing systems so that healthcare professionals should be aware of current medications prescribed to the patient and drug allergies. Usually, this system is utilized for patient safety whereby minimizing medication orders. However, recent systems will allow electronic ordering of tests, consultations, and procedures.Request Free Sample Report @Global Computerized Physician Order Entry Market: Growth FactorsGovernments have taken initiative for the patient safety across the globe is anticipated to foster the global computerized physician order entry market growth. Additionally, this system may reduce the issues such as misinterpretation of the drug name, specification errors, problems with handwriting, and drug interactions. This is expected to drive the global market growth. Computerized physician order system will assist in quick transmission to the pharmacy, radiology department, and laboratory it will refer alternative treatments, which is safer at the lower cost. However, this system is costly and takes time for installation may hinder the global computerized physician order entry market growth.Global Computerized Physician Order Entry Market: SegmentationThe global computerized physician order entry market is classified based on end-user as ambulatory surgical centers, hospitals, laboratories, clinics, and pharmacies. Based on deployment type, the global market is fragmented as web-based, cloud-based, and on premise. The global market is based on component type is segmented as hardware, software, and services. The global computerized physician order entry market is categorized as integrated CPOE and standalone CPOE.Request Report TOC (Table of Contents) @Global Computerized Physician Order Entry Market: Regional AnalysisThe global computerized physician order entry market is segregated based on geography as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. North America contributed the largest market share due to government and is heavily adopting the computerized physician order entry system. In addition, rising awareness and availability of advanced healthcare infrastructure is anticipated to boost the global market growth. Asia Pacific is another region growing at a faster rate owing to government preferences for improved healthcare infrastructure. Europe has achieved moderate growth due to current statutory necessities by the European Commissions eHealth Action Plan.Global Computerized Physician Order Entry Market: Competitive PlayersMajor players in the global computerized physician order entry market are Philips Healthcare and Cerner Corporation, Athenahealth, Inc., GE healthcare, Medical Information Technology, Inc., eClinicalWorks LLC, Carestream Health, Siemens Healthcare, and Allscripts.Browse detail report @Computerized Physician Order Entry Market by Geographical Analysis: North America( U.S.), Europe( UK, France, Germany), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India), Latin America( Brazil), Middle East and AfricaOur value reports provide full, in-depth analysis of the parent market including most significant changes in market dynamics; the report also presents a detailed overview on segmentation of this market. We managed to present as many important information in essential form  thanks to our report You will learn more about former, on-going, and projected market analysis in terms of volume and value, assessment of niche industry developments and Market share analysis. We have not forgotten to present key strategies for major players, emerging segments and regional markets and last but not least, testimonials to companies in order to fortify their foothold in the market.Inquire more before buying this 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:
ePharmacy Market Growth Opportunities and Forecasts Report 2023

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ePharmacy or Internet pharmacy or online pharmacy is an online platform which acts an an intermediary between consumer and the seller for the sale of medicines via online retail platforms. ePharmacies are increasingly becoming popular owing to the benefits it offers such as lower price, access to comprehensive information on prescribed drug, round the clock delivery of medicines, and easy availability of drugs that are otherwise difficult to find. Patients do not have to physically visit the pharmacy store to procure medicines; rather, they can just upload the prescription from doctor on the ePharmacy portal and receive the necessary medicines at their doorsteps.Read the Comprehensive Overview of ePharmacy Market:The market for ePharmacies is yet to achieve full potential in with the development of ethical practices and government regulations supporting the growth of ePharmacy market. ePharmacies can address number of concerns such as easy availability of drugs even in remote locations, medical records of patients, and others. With the help of ePharmacies, consumers can procure drugs from the convenience of their homes via smartphone or a tablet. This can largely help patients those who are severely ill and are not in a condition to go to a brick-and-mortar pharmacy. Additionally, ePharmacies can store large amounts of consumer medical data that can be useful in planning public health policies. Ease in procuring the prescription drugs has boosted the market for ePharmacies; however, it also encouraged the illegal sale of controlled prescription drugs. The sale of drugs through ePharmacies may also result in incidents of self-medication and drug abuse, which can be prevented with the integration of most advanced technologies with drug delivery processes.The global market for ePharmacies was valued at US$ 29.35 Bn in 2014 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17.7% during the forecast period from 2015 to 2023. In 2014, North America was the largest contributor to the global ePharmacy market, in terms of revenue, followed by Europe. Europe is expected to be the fastest growing regional market for ePharmacies, and is estimated to surpass the market size reported by North America in 2023. The major factors driving the growth of ePharmacies market in Europe include increasing penetration of high speed Internet and consumer shift towards online purchase of medicines. Germany is leading the European ePharmacy market attributed by cross border trade which was pioneered by DocMorris. Asia Pacific is projected to display lucrative growth owing to the growing popularity of e-commerce industry, thereby resulting in the market growth of ePharmacies and increasing disposable incomes.Request for the Sample Report:Some of the leading ePharmacies globally, include CanDrugstore.com, drugstore.com Inc., Lloyds Pharmacy Ltd., The SANICARE Group, Domzdrowia.pl SA, eDrugstore.MD, Walgreen Co., CanadaDrugs.com, Rowlands Pharmacy, MediSave, CVS Caremark, CanAmerica Drugs, Inc., and PlanetRx.com. These players are implementing various marketing strategies to increase their share in the market and gain more popularity and consumer acceptance. Marketing initiatives, technological advancements, and switching to different business models are some important strategies adopted by these players. With the potential opportunities displayed by ePharmacies in the untapped markets in Asia Pacific and Latin America, more number of new players are emerging in this segment. The product range offered by these players is expected to increase competition among the players since consumers will have options to choose from.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:
Pain Management Devices Market: Strategies Challenges and Forecast 2023

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Global Pain Management Devices Market: SnapshotPatients suffering from chronic medical conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and obesity are highly susceptible to chronic pains and therefore, their increasing prevalence is providing tremendous momentum to the global pain management devices market. According to various scientific articles published in BioMed Central, over 20% of the adult global population suffers from chronic pain and 10% population are newly diagnosed with chronic pain each year. Changing demographics and widening pool of global geriatric population are bringing a large chunk of population under the chronic illness category. This is, thereby, augmenting the global market.Read the Comprehensive Overview of Pain Management Devices Market:Moreover, the commercialization of advanced and innovative therapeutic products and the availability of favorable reimbursement policies are creating a staggering volume of global demand for pain management devices. However, the side effects such as surgical infection and skin erosion associated with neurostimulation implants are keeping the market from realizing its utmost potential. With all these factors put together, the global pain management devices market is estimated to reach a valuation of US$6.28 bn by 2023 from US$3.75 bn in 2016, progressing at a 7.6% CAGR between 2015 and 2023.Neurostimulation Devices to Remain Most Valuable Product Segment through 2023On the basis of product, the neurostimulation devices segment will continue to represent the lions share in the market. The rising incidence of chronic pain such as musculoskeletal and cancer pain and the commercialization of breakthrough technologies in the field of neurostimulation are driving the growth of the segment. A growing number of people with chronic pain in lower back, limbs, and legs are undergoing implantation of deep brain and spinal cord stimulation devices, which is leading to the greater uptake of effective neurostimulation devices worldwide. The high cost of these devices makes them the leading revenue contributor to the market.The analgesic infusion pumps segment, on the other hand, is poised to post a remarkable CAGR of 10.3% during the forecast period. The high effectiveness, less pain, and superior safety features of the product are making them a preferred choice for pain management.Growing Incidence of Lifestyle-related Diseases and Sports-related Injuries Fuels North Americas DominanceNorth America will continue to be the leading revenue contributor to the global market, accounting for 48.7% of the overall market. The rising prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases and the growing incidence of sports-related injuries are boosting the demand for pain management devices in the region. Moreover, the growth of the region can be attributed to the birthing of innovative technologies and the presence of advanced healthcare facilities along with the improving access to it. The rapidly growing geriatric population can also be held responsible for the dominance of the region.In 2016, Europe was the second leading region. The burgeoning demand for technologically advanced products and increasing adoption of non-invasive and self-administered products are fuelling the growth of the region. However, by the end of the review period, the region is expected to lose its position to Asia Pacific.Asia Pacific will rise at a CAGR higher than any other region during the same period. The growing incidence of neck and back pain among the populace and increasing cases of diabetes and chronic wounds are propelling the growth of the region. The widening base of geriatric population, particularly in Japan and China, is also playing a vital role in the increased sales of pain management devices in the region.Request for the Sample Report:Some of the key players operating in the global pain management devices market are Boston Scientific Corp., St. Jude Medical, Bio-Medical Research (BMR) Ltd., Medtronic Plc, Smiths Medical, Baxter International Inc., Hospira Inc., Halyard Health, and Stryker Corp.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:
Zika Vaccines Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Zika vaccines are developed for immunization & prevention against diseases caused by Zika virus. This virus belongs to genus Flavivirus and is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. The virus can also be transmitted through blood transfusion, sexual contact or from infected pregnant women to the fetus. Diagnosis of this infection is confirmed by detecting viral DNA through PCR. However, only 1 in 4 people with zika infection are prone to develop symptoms. In November 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that zika infection no longer constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) as major cases of zika virus were asymptomatic.A sample of this report is available upon request:In April 2015, a major ongoing outbreak of Zika virus was registered in Brazil, which later affected the population in South and Central America. This outbreak caused mild illness (fever, rashes, joint pains, conjunctivitis, nausea, and muscle pain), though the recent outbreaks showed severe complications such as microcephaly, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and various congenital neurological abnormalities in infants who were born to infected mothers. The link between zika virus and microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome was identified and reported in 2015 in Brazil.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 70 new zika virus infection cases were reported in the U.S. in 2015, which increased to 41,181 cases in 2016. Lack of reporting is a major factor for lower incidence rate in 2015. Increase in awareness can result in more diagnosis and reporting thus generating growth of the global zika vaccines market.Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology found that the extract of San Francisco plant (Codiaeum variegatum) found in Australia, can kill the zika virus. This extract can arrest the virus and stop it from replicating without causing any damage to the host cells.Zika Vaccines Market Taxonomy:There are different types of vaccines that provide protection against Zika virus:DNA-based vaccinesInactivated vaccinesLive-attenuated vaccinesmRNA vaccinesGenetically engineered vaccinesGlobal market by application:Therapeutic VaccinesPreventive VaccinesGlobal market by end user:HospitalsClinicsContinuous increase in human clinical trials and rise in number of zika cases will drive the growth of Zika vaccines marketAs of March 2016, 67 companies and research institutions were working on various kinds of R&D projects and clinical trials aided to develop effective vaccines against zika virus. The FDA approved the first human clinical trial for GLS5700 in June 2016, a zika vaccine being developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals. Further in 2017, a grant was approved for phase 2 clinical trials for a DNA vaccine conducted by NIAIDs Vaccine Research Center (VRC).Browse Global Strategic Business Report :Increasing awareness among the population would aid in controlling the incidence rate of zika infection. The WHO implemented a global framework for creating public awareness through its Zika Strategic Response Framework and Joint Plan in February 2016. This plan outlines all the points to be taken care of at the time of infections. In June 2016, WHO Regional Office for Europe developed a training curriculum to increase awareness by the publication of Zika Risk Assessment for European Region.High investment costs required for R&D and the development of effective zika virus vaccines serves as a restraining factor for the global zika vaccines market.While major of the Zika virus cases occur in tropical regions such as Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela, Colombia and Suriname, there are higher chances of mosquito infections in tropical areas of the U.S. like Texas and Florida. According to Pan American Health Organization, around 1,246 suspected and confirmed cases were reported between epidemiological week (EW) 10 and EW 14 of 2016 in the sub region which involves Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Ecuador.Competitive LandscapeSome key players operating in the zika vaccines market are Cerus Corporation, Biken Inc, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Bharat Biotech International Pvt. Ltd, GeneOne Life Science, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Immunovaccine Inc., NewLink Genetics Corp. and Sanofi S.A. The companies launched various R&D measures and clinical trials to attain immunogenicity against zika virus. In February 2016, Sanofi S.A launched a vaccine research and development project, with the introduction of Dengvaxia (Dengue vaccine) that will aid the company understand the Zika virus and develop an effective vaccine against it. Likewise, Inovio Pharmaceuticals initiated a clinical study of zika vaccine (GLS-5700) in Puerto Rico in August 2016. This trial may provide a potential push to Inovios vaccine if positive results are reported as there was a rapid progression of zika outbreak in Puerto Rico at that time. This could benefit the trial in assessing true efficacy and safety of the vaccine. Rapid progression in clinical trials and approval would augment the zika vaccines market growth.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 @
Toothpaste Market Trends in China: Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017- 2026

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This study focuses on Chinas Toothpaste market trends. In the two past decades, the market has been growing at a fast pace. The dramatic expansions of the manufacturing capabilities and rising consumer consumptions in China have transformed Chinas society and economy. Toothpaste Market Trends in China ,China is one of the worlds major producers for industrial and consumer products. Far outpacing other economies in the world, China is the worlds fastest growing market for the consumptions of goods and services.The Chinese economy maintains a high speed growth which has been stimulated by the consecutive increases of industrial output, imports & exports, consumer consumption and capital investment for over two decades. Rapid consolidation between medium and large players is anticipated since the Chinese government has been encouraging industry consolidation with an effort to regulate the industry and to improve competitiveness in the world market.Request For Free Sample @Although China has enjoyed the benefits of an expanding market for production and distribution, the industry is suffering from minimal innovation and investment in R&D and new product development. The sectors economies of scale have yet to be achieved. Most domestic manufacturers lack the autonomic intellectual property and financial resources to develop their own brand name products.This new study focuses on market trends and forecasts with historical data (2006, 2011 and 2016) and long-term forecasts through 2021 and 2026 are presented.The primary and secondary research is done in China in order to access up-to-date government regulations, market information and industry data. Data were collected from the Chinese government publications, Chinese language newspapers and magazines, industry associations, local governments industry bureaus, industry publications, and our in-house databases.Asia Market Info & Dev Co. is one of the leading sources for up-to-date market information and research on the fastest-growing Chinese markets. We have published over 2,000 reports focusing on the Chinese markets, industry forecasts and company profiles. We provide hard-to-find market data and analyses. Our publications are intended to help international marketers identify business opportunities and promote their product sales in the Chinese markets.Browse Full Report With TOC @TABLE OF CONTENTSI. INTRODUCTIONReport Scope and MethodologyExecutive SummaryII. BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTEconomic OutlookKey Economic IndicatorsIndustrial OutputPopulation and LaborForeign InvestmentForeign TradeFinancial and Tax RegulationsBanking System and RegulationsForeign ExchangeTaxes, Tariff and Custom DutiesMarket TrendsTechnology DevelopmentMarket DevelopmentMajor Industry DevelopmentRegional DevelopmentEnterprise DevelopmentLabor Market DevelopmentIII. TOOTHPASTE MARKET TRENDSToothpaste Market TrendsCurrent Market AnalysesMarket Development TrendsMarket ChallengesMajor ProducersCurrent IssuesPackaging LegislationChinese Retail Market TrendsConsumer Income TrendsConsumer Spending Trends by RegionNortheastNorthSoutheastCentralSouthwestNorthwestMake an Enquiry:About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Details:90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (US-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Read More Related News:
Whey Market 2017 Key Manufacturers Analysis

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Geographically, this report is segmented into several key regions, with sales, revenue, market share (%) and growth Rate (%) of Whey in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast) , coveringEurope covers Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Benelux;Middle East includes Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE and Iran;Africa includes South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria.The major players/manufacturers in EMEA market include ON, Myprotein, Bodytech, Muscletech, Euroserum, FrieslandCampina, Lactalis Ingredients, Arla Foods, Fonterra, Leprino Foods Company, Saputo Ingredients, Davisco Foods, Naked Nutritions.For more information about this report atOn the basis of product, the Whey market is primarily split intoOriginal Whey ProteinFlavored Whey ProteinOthersOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report coversProfessional UseFor KidsFor AdultsOthersRequest a sample copy atFew Important Pointes Table of Content1 Whey Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Whey1.2 Classification of Whey by Product Category1.2.1 EMEA Whey Sales (K Units) Comparison by Types (2012-2022)1.2.2 EMEA Whey Sales Market Share (%) by Types in 20161.2.3 Original Whey Protein1.2.4 Flavored Whey Protein1.2.5 Others1.3 EMEA Whey Market by Applications/End Users1.3.1 EMEA Whey Sales (K Units) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Applications (2012-2022)1.3.2 Professional Use1.3.3 For Kids1.3.4 For Adults1.3.5 Others1.4 EMEA Whey Market Overview by Regions1.4.1 EMEA Whey Revenue (Million USD) Comparison by Regions (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Whey Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Middle East Whey Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Africa Whey Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 EMEA Market Size (Sales and Revenue) of Whey (2012-2022)1.5.1 EMEA Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2022)1.5.2 EMEA Whey Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 EMEA Whey Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Regions, Type and Application2.1 EMEA Whey Market Competition by Players/ Manufacturers2.1.1 EMEA Whey Sales (K Units) and Market Share of Major Players (2012-2017)2.1.2 EMEA Whey Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Players (2012-2017)2.1.3 EMEA Whey Sale Price (USD/Unit) by Players (2012-2017)2.2 EMEA Whey Sales and Revenue by Type/Product Category2.2.1 EMEA Whey Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 EMEA Whey Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Type (2012-2017)2.2.3 EMEA Whey Sale Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2012-2017)2.3 EMEA Whey (Volume) by Application2.4 EMEA Whey Sales and Revenue by Regions2.4.1 EMEA Whey Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Regions (2012-2017)2.4.2 EMEA Whey Revenue (Million USD) and Market Share (%) by Regions (2012-2017)2.4.3 EMEA Whey Sales Price (USD/Unit) by Regions (2012-2017)3 Europe Whey (Sales, Revenue and Price) , by Players, Countries, Type and Application3.1 Europe Whey Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) (2012-2017)3.1.1 Europe Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 Europe Whey Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.2 Europe Whey Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Type3.3 Europe Whey Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications3.4 Europe Whey Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) by Countries3.4.1 Europe Whey Sales (K Units) by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.2 Europe Whey Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.3 Germany Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.4 France Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.5 UK Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.6 Russia Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.7 Italy Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)3.4.8 Benelux Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)4 Middle East Whey (Sales, Revenue and Price) , by Players, Countries, Type and Application4.1 Middle East Whey Sales and Revenue (2012-2017)4.1.1 Middle East Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)4.1.2 Middle East Whey Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)4.2 Middle East Whey Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Type4.3 Middle East Whey Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.4 Middle East Whey Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) by Countries (2012-2017)4.4.1 Middle East Whey Sales (K Units) by Countries (2012-2017)4.4.2 Middle East Whey Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)4.4.4 Israel Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)4.4.5 UAE Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)4.4.6 Iran Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)5 Africa Whey (Sales, Revenue and Price) , by Players, Countries, Type and Application5.1 Africa Whey Sales and Revenue (2012-2017)5.1.1 Africa Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)5.1.2 Africa Whey Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)5.2 Africa Whey Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Type5.3 Africa Whey Sales (K Units) and Market Share (%) by Applications5.4 Africa Whey Sales (K Units) and Revenue (Million USD) by Countries (2012-2017)5.4.1 Africa Whey Sales (K Units) by Countries (2012-2017)5.4.2 Africa Whey Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)5.4.3 South Africa Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)5.4.4 Nigeria Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)5.4.5 Egypt Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)5.4.6 Algeria Whey Sales (K Units) and Growth Rate (%) (2012-2017)6 EMEA Whey Manufacturers/Players Profiles and Sales Data6.1 ON6.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors6.1.2 Whey Product Types, Application and Specification6.1.2.1 Product A6.1.2.2 Product B6.1.3 ON Whey Sales (K Units) , Revenue (Million USD) , Price (USD) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)6.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview6.2 Myprotein6.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors6.2.2 Whey Product Types, Application and Specification6.2.2.1 Product A6.2.2.2 Product B6.2.3 Myprotein Whey Sales (K Units) , Revenue (Million USD) , Price (USD) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)6.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview6.3 Bodytech6.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors6.3.2 Whey Product Types, Application and Specification6.3.2.1 Product A6.3.2.2 Product B6.3.3 Bodytech Whey Sales (K Units) , Revenue (Million USD) , Price (USD) and Gross Margin (%) (2012-2017)6.3.4 Main Business/Business OverviewDiscount on report purchase atContact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb 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.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Open for business, Alternative Temp

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The founder of the Alternative Temp, Kay-ce Eagan, believes that outsourcing administrative, Human Resources, and IT departments have the power to drive the small business owner to ways of the future. The site enables small business owners to outsource aspects of their business to keep it overhead cost low and efficient high. Alternative Temp is available today for small business owners; as well as, job seekers looking for their next position with a great company.With Alternative Temp, youre going to see actual results with a flat rate pricing that helps keep your small business functioning, while we handle your office needs virtually, explained Eagan. The site introduces a more cost-efficient way of doing business in todays economy. In addition, Alternative Temp offers off-site firing with options to fill your needs; plus, offer jobs to the terminated employee(s). The overhead of hiring workers to do jobs in-house can eat away at a small business until it is forced to closed or reduced to operating in the red. Our hope is that clients will be able to easily find affordable solutions to their heavy overhead needs through our diverse services for a flat rate fee. You pay for what you need.Alternative Temp is a virtual outsourcing option for small business owners to utilizes to keep their business progressing towards their goals. Alternative Temp is effortlessly simple to meet the needs of the small business owner. First, a client reaches out to us with an email or phone call. We get to know the business owners needs. A fee is paid based on the needs of the business. Then, we partner with the business to make it great.Currently, Alternative Temps founder is focusing the marketing efforts on the US major cities. In the near future, they plan to expand their horizons to include Central and South America, where web-based companies are decidedly on the rise. Alternative Temp also has innovative new services in the works that will firm up the companys position as a pioneer in the virtual office space.Internet technologies continue to make the world of business more efficient place, concluded Eagan. We believe that Alternative Temp can be a crucial tool for anyone who wants to forge genuine business solutions, find strong employees, and create lasting success."Alternative Temp is a startup founded by a female entrepreneur  Kay-ce Eagan. The company is based Tampa, Florida. The Alternative Temp site is currently the companys main project. It hopes to change the way small business operations through decreasing the heavy overhead prices with virtual outsourcing options.Attn: Kay-ce EaganAlternative Temp23051 Eagles Watch DrTampa, FL 34639Phone: 813.482.2238Email: Keagan@alternativetemp.com
Gingercrush.com  a go-to platform for custom made products starts International Shipping

Gingercrush has emerged as a frontrunner in offering high quality custom products to consumers in India. Starting this June the company will be offering personalized gifts & products made out of India to 25 countries including USA, UK, Singapore, UAE, Canada & Europe.Personalized gifting on special occasions is receiving great response from Millennials & Generation Z. Having grown with the internet and lived through the recession, they do not easily fall prey to the marketing efforts of expensive labels. For a generation that believes in their identities and expressing themselves, a mass-produced $50 t-shirt is not something they would wish to spend on and are always on the lookout for something that uniquely speak to them. At Gingercrush we help them be truly unique and be the true owner of what they own or gift, says Saumya Nidhi Makol, COO Gingercrush.Gingercrush is a one-stop customization resource for products encompassing every member of the family, home, and office. Individuals can choose from a library of designs or create their own for home decor, promotional items, clothing and even shoes to keep for themselves or give as unique gifts. Its easy to recreate an experience or memory with the myriad of options available at Gingercrush.Were very excited to connect with customers worldwide, as in the past few months Gingercrush has received various requests from customers from across the world. We offer the best quality Custom Tees starting USD 6 and have worked with our fulfilment partners to offer one of the best shipping rates in the industry. Most of our international orders will be delivered in 7-12 days. We urge our international customers to purchase more than 1 item so you could get the best value from our special shipping rates. added Saumya Nidhi Makol.About GingercrushOur products are inextricably linked to who you are. Were deeply passionate about providing consumers with an opportunity to be themselves through customization, and were committed to offering the highest quality customized products in an ever expanding array of categories. With us consumers collect memories, not things!Gingercrush is committed to offering the highest quality customized products in an ever expanding array of categories. With us consumers collect memories, not things!GINGERCRUSH201 VRAJ VENU COMPLEX, GOTRI, VADODARA-390021
Air Traffic Control Equipment Global Market, By Product & Data Validation, Analysis and Forecast 2022

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The Global Air Traffic Control equipment market is accounted for $4 billion in 2014 and expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.65% to reach $6.21 billion by 2022. The factors that are favouring the market growth include improved aircraft movement, and construction of new airport and renovation of the existing ones led by the passenger & freight traffic and demand for modernaization and increased capacity. Airport expansion and modernization requires exploitation of air traffic control equipment and its sub-system, which is expected to boost the market growth.For more information about this report:High procurement and maintenance cost of air traffic control equipment is expected to hinder air traffic control equipment industry growth. Lack of skilled labour and inefficient operations at peak hours is restraining the market growth. ATC equipment facilitates air traffic controllers to communicate with the aircraft, provides navigational services, monitors and manages the air traffic. Along with the increase in global air traffic and the need to meet the rise in demand for ATC in the future, ATM systems are being upgraded from ground-based to satellite-based systems.The global air traffic control equipment market is segregated based on product type, application and region. Depending on the product type the market is sub-segmented into three types namely Communications Equipment, Navigation Equipment and Surveillance Equipment. The replacement rate of archaic communications equipment has amplified due to improvement of digital data communication on account of omnipresent use of air traffic control systems. Based On applications air traffic control equipment market is divided into Commercial Aircraft, Private Aircraft and Military Aircraft. Commercial and Military aircrafts are expected to be high growing markets for air traffic control equipment deployment.Request Sample Copy atGeographically air traffic control equipment market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (ROW). Europe and North America accounted for a significant market share of the air traffic control equipment market, due to the increased government efforts for securing air traffic and aircraft. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the national aviation authority of the U.S., has joined forces with unions and the aviation industry in the transitioning of air traffic control facilities from Common Automated Radar Terminal System (CARTS) to the Standard Automation Replacement System (STARS). Asia Pacific is expected to show high growth potential on account of growing demand for effective and efficient infrastructure.Major players in the mining market include Advanced Navigation & Positioning Corp, Comsoft GMBH, BAE Systems Plc, Harris Corporation, Cobham Plc, Intelcan Techno systems Inc, Lockheed Martin Corp, IndraSistemas S.A, Raytheon Compan, and NavAero Inc.What 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 8 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 advancementsCompany Profiling9.1 Advanced Navigation & Positioning Corp9.2 Comsoft GMBH9.3 BAE Systems Plc9.4 Harris Corporation9.5 Cobham Plc9.6 Intelcan Technosystems Inc9.7 Lockheed Martin Corp9.8 Indra Sistemas S.A9.9 Raytheon Compan9.10 NavAero IncInquire 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
Sanitary Protection Market in China Likely to Grow at a CAGR of 4.5% during 20162022

Sanitary Protection Market in China- Strategic Assessment and Forecast 2017-2022

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A recent report by Beige Market Intelligence on Sanitary Protection Market in China  Strategic Assessment and Forecast 20172022 considers the present scenario of the sanitary protection market in China and its strategic assessment for the period 20172022. It also includes a detailed study of market drivers, trends, and restraints. The report also profiles the leading vendors and other vendors in the market.View Report: Sanitary Protection Market in China - Strategic Assessment and Forecast 2017-2022It provides the analysis of key segments of the market in terms of product type, distribution channel, and vendors. It provides a detailed analysis of the revenue from the following segments:By Product TypeSanitary napkinsTamponsPantylinersMenstrual cupsBy Distribution ChannelOfflineFemale specialty storesMass market players (supermarkets, hypermarkets, and discounters)Online storesSanitary Protection Market in China  Market Size and DynamicsAccording to the analysts at Beige Market Intelligence, the sanitary protection market in China to grow at a CAGR of 4.5% during the period 20162022. Increasing per capita income has shifted the consumers preference from using cloth napkins to pads, tampons, and menstrual cups. The consumption of sanitary protection has increased over a period of time in China, from an average 1 piece of sanitary napkin and pantyliner used per month in 1990 to 26 napkins and pantyliners per month in 2015 among women of age 1549. Also increasing workforce participation is one of the major factors, contributing to the increased sale of sanitary protection products in China. Further, it is expected that female earnings in China are expected to increase, which is likely to increase the preference of women for premium sanitary products.The sanitary napkins segment is expected to contribute maximum to the sanitary protection market in China. The demand for tampons and menstrual cups is low in the region. However, with the increasing awareness and the demand for more comfortable sanitary protection products, the demand for tampons and menstrual cups is expected to increase.Sanitary Protection Market in China  Trends, Drivers, and RestraintsThe report includes a detailed study of emerging trends, factors driving the growth, and expected challenges for the market during the period 20172022. Introduction of local tampon brands, period panties, and environment-friendly sanitary products is the latest trend that is going to boost the sanitary protection market in China during the forecast period. Onset of early puberty among the Chinese girls is a major factor driving the growth of the market in the region. Furthermore, influence of the internet on end-users purchasing behaviour and increased awareness about personal hygiene are among the other important factors that are going to drive the market growth during the forecast period.The report also includes impeding challenges in the sanitary protection products market in China. Increased female sterilization and use of IUDs and fluctuation in pricing strategy due to the volatility of raw materials are among the major restraints included in the report that the market is going to witness in next five years.Sanitary Protection Market in China  Market Share and Key VendorsThis market research report profiles major companies in the market and provides the competitive landscape of key players. The report covers the entire market outlook regarding the value chain operating in the market. Major players in the market include the following:Hengan InternationalProcter & Gamble (P&G)Kimberly-ClarkKingdom Healthcare HoldingsSCAUni-charmOther prominent vendors in the market include Fujian Shuangheng Group Co., Fujian Quanzhou Luojiang Foreign Trade CO., Hangzhou Qianzhiya Sanitary Products Co., Jinhan Women & Baby Sanitary Products Co., Lil-lets, Moxie, Natracare, New Sensation Sanitary Product Co., Roselee Sanitary Napkin Manufacturing Co., Shandong Saite New Material Co., Shenzhen Rockbrook Daily Products Co., Win Hope International Industrial Co., Xiamen Amor Hygiene Products Co., Xiamen Yuxiang Sanitary Products Co.Why Should You Buy The Report?The report offers reasonable answers to the following questions which help you to understand the in-depth market analysis.How has the market been performing in China and what are the major changes that are expected to alter the landscape in the coming years?What are various factors that can affect the market in China over the next few years?What are major trends and challenges likely to be confronted by the market in the next five years?What is the market size and market forecast for each product segment?Which companies are the key vendors in the market?What are the strategies used by the leading vendors, and what are key opportunities to grow?Which companies are the emerging vendors in the market?Order a Free Sample Here:Related ReportsGlobal Baby Diapers Market - Strategic Assessment and Forecast 2017-2022Global Female Condom Market - Strategic Assessment and Forecast 2017-2022About Beige Market IntelligenceBeige Market Intelligence provides competitive and insightful business intelligence across various industry verticals. Our expertise and knowledge ensurethat the analysis provided is comprehensive, detailed, and complete. The analysis helps our client organizations to make insightful decisions and devise marketing strategies for their businesses. The actionable insights delivered through our market research provide a comprehensive market analysis at every level of market segmentation in the industry.Our team of expertsensuresthe analysis is not just analyzed and presented but also can be customized depending upon the clients requirement. When it comes to competitive intelligence, we ensure our clients do not look beyond us.Our employment base is spread across the globe. Our analysts come with numerous quality reports and wide industry experience, which ensures understanding of the client's requirement and delivering high-quality research reports.Beige Market IntelligenceBTM, Bangalore - 560076Mail: contactus@beigemarketintelligence.comUS: +1 347 903 9949UK: +44 20 323 99499APAC: +91 99 012 75473
Digital Transformation Pioneer Spokes Digital is Excited to Launch its New Digital Intelligence Platform, TrinityX, to Transform Businesses to Digital Businesses in San Francisco Bay Area

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This Platform helps clients to define digital maturity, map against industry benchmarking and build a digital roadmap.San Francisco, CA--(June 21, 2017) - Spokes Digital Corp., a digital transformation company, is going to launch its next-gen AI-based digital intelligence platform on 21st June 2017 in San Francisco Bay Area. This intelligent platform will analyze competitors digital strategy, find digital weakness and give you a roadmap to success.TrinityX uses 6 layers of digital which are broken into 51 categories and 303 subcategories with a total of 2,324 classifiers for a holistic assessment. Its technology aims to improve digital outcomes, speed of customer acquisition, and quality of digital strategy.TrinityX is specifically designed to help millions of business owners and digital leaders throughout the USA, who are using a simple platform or multiple platforms to monetize their digital presence. It is the first of several new digital transformation platforms being developed by Spokes Digital in partnership with clients to help ecommerce companies, digital marketing agencies, and traditional companies meet the challenges of emerging digital competition, value-based media buying and digital road map planning."Value-based media buying and digital road map planning are creating incredible challenges and opportunities for all stakeholders across the digital business ecosystem," said Varun Patel, CEO and co-founder of Spokes Digital. "By combining scientifically proven benchmarking frameworks and past campaign behavioral analysis with applications and data science, TrinityX is creating client-specific digital roadmap that gives clients the tools and data to plan & manage their digital campaigns strategy."Clients in absence of right digital knowledge, tools, and roadmap make a multitude of seemingly minor decisions every day that have a major impact on their digital business performance. We founded Spokes Digital because we have seen how technology can empower our clients to make better decisions and lead a successful digital enterprise," said Jeff Diamond  President, chief solutions officer, and co-founder of Spokes Digital. "Decades of research and multi vertical experience in digital domain have proven that the right balance of organic, inorganic, paid media, behavioral campaigns, tools, analytics and digital design principles can create effective, highly personalized digital presence. For e-commerce companies and other digital leaders, technology that makes digital campaign planning and self-management easier is the only way that we can scale to meet the growing need while also improving outcomes and reducing costs.""The rising cost of media buying & cost of sales is dramatically shifting the digital landscape and forcing many organizations to re-examine existing business models. Facing this inflection point, companies are being challenged to evolve beyond just delivering message to support the entirety of a customer's actual and behavioral needs," said Namrata Sachan, chief digital officer, Spokes North America. "The winning organizations will be those with the ability to quickly innovate and build effective digital solutions that engage customers and clients to achieve better outcomes. Digital Intelligence platforms like those being developed by Spokes Digital will be a magic wand for clients long-term success.About Spokes DigitalSpokes Digital is built on helping businesses grow in the digital age. We function as a strategic partner to our clients, helping them get ahead of the competition. We solve problems, make brilliant digital products, and improve effectiveness on platforms.As a trusted partner we guide organizations as they seek to redefine and reinvent themselves through digital transformation.With a combined experience of over 20 years we are a consolidation of two digital agencies, Spokes Labs, specializing in performance marketing and Return On Web (ROW) Consulting, an ISO 9001:2015 and award winning top-20 digital transformation & technology solutions company. With over 70 employees and spanning offices in San Francisco Bay Area and Pune, India, we are dedicated to transforming the future of business.Contact Spokes Digital:1. Varun PatelCEO and Co-founder2. Jeff DiamondPresident & Chief Solutions OfficerAddress: 10 Arkansas St,San Francisco, CA 94107Ph:(415) 508-3544Email: innovate@spokesdigital.usWebsite:
Aircraft De-Icing Global Market Research Sources & Application Analysis & Forecast 2022

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The Global Aircraft De-icing Market accounted for 0.84 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach $1.43 Billion by 2022, to register a CAGR of 6.88%. The factors such as increasing demand for passenger safety and comfort and increasing flight delays during the snow are driving the market growth. Maintaining safety airport operations during freezing weather conditions is also driving the rate of technology adoption. Development of the existing airports and rapid transformation of the airports around the world are also set to offer growth opportunities to the major players involved. The foremost restraining factors, for the market include regulatory issues and requirements for lucrative initial investments. Optimizing the de-icing and anti-icing fluids and demand for environment friendly fluids are also some of the essential challenges for the market growth. The growth of the aircraft de-icing market is mainly attributed by the succeeding airline industry and technological advancements.For more information about this report:The Aircraft De-Icing Market is segregated on the basis of Fluid type, System, Equipment, Aircraft type, and region. The Fluid type is further segmented into Type I, Type II, Type III and Type IV. Type I and type IV ADFs are expected to witness steady growth in the North American and Asia Pacific regions. Usage of type II fluids will be predominant in the European region. The systems followed by the aircraft de-icing market are Electro-Mechanical Ice Protection System, Pneumatic Ice Protection System, Electro-Thermal Ice Protection System and Rotor Blade Ice Protection System. The Equipment segment is further classified into De-Icing Trucks, Sweepers and Other equipments. By aircraft type market is segregated into fixed wing aircraft i.e., Military Aircraft, Regional Aircraft, Narrow Body Aircraft and Wide Body Aircraft. On geography basis market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. North America commanded the largest market revenue followed by Europe, driven by the climatic conditions prevailed.Request Sample Copy atThe major industry players in Aircraft De-icing market are Utc Aerospace Systems, Vestergaard Company, The Dow Chemical Company, Laanga Industrial, Sdi Aviation, Denge Airport Equipment, Cox & Company, Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co and Global Ground Support LLC.What 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 8 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 advancementsCompany Profiling11.1 Utc Aerospace Systems11.2 Vestergaard Company11.3 The Dow Chemical Company11.4 Laanga Industrial11.5 Sdi Aviation11.6 Denge Airport Equipment11.7 Cox & Company11.8 Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co11.9 Global Ground Support LLC.11.10 KiitokoriInquire 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
Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Market Future Demand and Growth Analysis with Forecast 2022- World Wide

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Activated Aspartate AminotransferaseMarket ResearchReport Monitor Present's Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Market 2017 Industry Trend Enhances The Decision Making Capabilities And Helps To Create An Effective Counter Strategies To Gain Competitive Advantage.DescriptionThe Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Report Offers A Comprehensive Evaluation Of The Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Industry. This Report Evaluates The United States Market For "Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase".The Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Report Provides Complete Analysis Of The Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase By Analysing All Round Market Dynamics Such As Regional Market Opportunities, Drivers, Challenges, Constraints, Threats, And Other Market Trends.The Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Report Contains Latest Business Data Resulting From Various Research Sources That Helps Decision Makers To Deliver A Distinctive And Trustworthy Analysis For Companys Growth.The Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Survey Starts With Industry Overview Of Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Covering Major Regions Status, Industry Chain Structure, Definitions And Specifications, With A Detailed Focus On Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis Including Raw Material Suppliers, Equipment Suppliers And Manufacturing Process.Get A Pdf Sample Of Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Market Report At :In Next Part, The Researchers Has Collected And Presented Information On Technical Data And Manufacturing Plants Analysis Which Comprises Of Capacity And Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status And Technology Source Of Major Manufacturers .In Following Segment, With Sales, Ex-Factory Price, Revenue, Gross Margin, Business Region Distribution Analysis, Competition Between Various Company Profile Has Been Given Along With Product Pictures And Specifications In Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Industry Report.The Key Players Mentioned In Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Report Are: Audit Diagnostics Abbott Laboratories Beckman Coulter Shino-Test Corporation Guizhou Angel Medical Equipment Hefei Tianyi Biotechnology Institute Yangzhou Comay Bio-Medical Electronics BioSino Bio-technology Beijing Jin Hao Pharmaceutical Anhui Daqian Biological EngineeringBrowse Complete Report:The Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Industry Report Is Also A Great Source Of Marketing Type Analysis Consisting:1.Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Regional Marketing Type Analysis2.Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase International Trade Type Analysis3.Traders Or Distributors With Contact Information Of Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase By Regions4.Global Activated Aspartate Aminotransferase Supply Chain AnalysisLastly, The Report Provides Development Trend Analysis For 2017-2022 Years Which Will Forecast Market Size (Volume And Value), Sales Price, Consumption Forecast, Market Trend (Product Type) And Market Trend (Application). Also The List Of Major Consumers Is Analyzed And Contact Details Are Provided To Easy Communicating.Finally, The Report Is Concluded With Various Methodologies, Analyst Introduction And Data SourcesContact UsJay MathewsWebsite:Follow Us:Google Plus,LinkedinReports Monitor Is A Platform For Companies Looking To Meet Their Market Research And Business Intelligence Requirements. Our Aim Is To Change The Dynamics Of The Market Research Industry By Providing Quality Intelligence Backed By Data. Your Requirement For Market Forecasting Is Fulfilled By Our Exclusive Quantitative And Analytics Driven Intelligence. We Have A Vast Collection Of Reports, Covering Maximum Industries Worldwide.pune
Air Filters Market 2016 Trends, Research, Analysis and Review Forecast 2024

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Air Filters for Food and Beverages Market: OverviewConsumer protection is one of the major concerns in the food processing industry. Food contamination can adversely affect human health. It can also result in loss of consumer loyalty and damage to product brands. In order to avoid these pitfalls, companies operating in the food and beverages industry introduce custom designed air filters to maintain sterile environment during the processing of food and beverages.Airborne bacteria is a serious concern in food processing. Large number of bacteria can pass through air handling systems every hour in open plant applications. HVAC systems mounted on rooftops require proper filter design, which may include a pre-filter bank for course dust contaminates, followed by higher filtration or HEPA filtration. Maintenance of these systems is essential for open plant air processing.In closed system applications, processing and dispensing of food and/or beverages occurs in a closed work cell. Maintenance of temperature, humidity, and air filtration is an essential requirement for closed system environment. A series of HEPA filters is used for such processes.There exists the need for custom-designed air filters for usage in food processing facilities across the globe.View Report @Air Filters for Food and Beverages Market TrendsAir filters are used to eliminate contamination during the production stage in the food and beverages industry. Some specialized filters (e.g. high-performance HEPA filters) help remove germs and viruses. This makes the air sterile. Food air filters lower moisture and improve efficiency of various processes.Rise in demand for air filters coupled with increase in stringent regulations emphasizing hygiene in the food industry are prompting filter manufacturers to design efficient filter systems. Reducing the level of micro-organisms and subsequently improving the air quality in production processes are the major challenges facing manufacturers of air filters in the food and beverages market. This is also expected to be one of the key drivers of air filters in the food and beverages market.Implementation of enhanced filtration methods is mandatory for producers of food and beverages due to the rise in health concerns and enactment of stringent government regulations on food safety. The need to lower energy consumption across several industrial applications is increasing. This is anticipated to boost the demand for effective food and beverage air filtration systems.Decrease in resources of raw materials and natural depositories, and increase in concerns about environmental health hazards are the primary factors estimated to propel the market.Air Filters for Food and Beverages Market SegmentationBased on product, the market can be segmented into dust collector, mist collector, cartridge collector, HEPA filter, and baghouse filter. Based on application, the market can be divided into dairy, bottled water, food & ingredients, and others.Air Filters for Food and Beverages Market: Region-wise OutlookNorth America is projected to remain the major revenue generating region of the market in the near future. Increase in awareness about nutritious and organic food is also driving the market. Companies are focusing on providing enhanced quality food products that adhere to governmental regulations on food safety.Air Filters for Food and Beverages Market: Key PlayersKey players operating in the air filters in food and beverages market include Parker Domnick Hunter, Donaldson Company Inc., Pall Corporation, APC Filtration Inc., and Camfil Group.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 Air Filters Market for Food & Beverages 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:
Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) Market: Significant Growth in Store for UCaaS Market by Revenue and Volume

Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) Market

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Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) is an emerging technology that has rapidly garnered a lot of attention from developer communities and enterprises. The global UCaaS market is poised to witness a significant rise in demand for UCaaS solutions from enterprises and businesses keen on increasing the efficiency of existing processes. A number of these enterprises are now switching from traditional business processes to communications-enabled business processes.The value of the global UCaaS market was pegged at US$8.23 bn in 2015 and is projected to expand at an impressive CAGR of 29.4% from 2016 to 2024 to reach US$79.3 bn by the end of the forecast period.By deployment model, hosted UCaaS solutions led the market in 2015 and the segment is expected to retain its lead through 2024. This is mainly owing to the rising adoption of Internet Protocol (IP) telephony across the world. The low total cost of ownership (TCO) and major advancements in cloud communication platforms are also supporting the adoption of hosted UCaaS solutions across various industry verticals.Obtain Report Details @Based on service, telephony services emerged as the key contributor in the UCaaS market. The segment is expected to continue its lead through 2024 thanks to the growing adoption of hosted telephony as a part of enterprise UCaaS solutions.By delivery model, stand-alone services led the UCaaS market in 2015. However, by 2024, the revenue generated by the integrated services segment is expected to surpass that by stand-alone services. The rising demand for integrated services across various businesses is likely to bring about this shift.Geographically, North America headed the global UCaaS market in 2015 and the region is expected to continue to be the leading revenue generator throughout the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to the presence of a massive tech-savvy workforce and advanced network infrastructure in the region. The demand for UCaaS is likely to increase in the coming years as vendors invest in sectors such as banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), consumer goods, retail, transportation and logistics, and telecom. This is likely to open up new offerings for UCaaS.This 173-page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) Market. Browse to unlock the hidden opportunities in this market@Asia Pacific is forecast to be the most rapidly growing market for UCaaS owing to the rising inclination of large companies toward UCaaS solutions. The region also presents immense opportunities for the establishment of contact center services due to a growing population proficient in the English language. Asia Pacific is a lucrative option for various businesses due to the availability of a comparatively cheaper workforce and rapid growth in emerging economies such as India and China. Campaigns such as Make in India have led to the establishment of offices and manufacturing units in India, which is anticipated to further the need for UCaaS to stay connected with the headquarters situated at a different location. Moreover, the introduction of new mobile phones and tablets is going to increase the demand for unified communication in this region.Recent studies have shown a significant rise in the number of mobile workers across the globe. Growing liberalization around the world has compelled large enterprises to enter cross-border markets, thereby driving the need for collaboration tools to allow employees of a company to effectively communicate with each other, the author of the study comments. UCaaS solutions support this very need and as a result, the market for the same has been receiving a major boost. The impact of this driver will be high during the forecast period with businesses likely to expand operations to developing regions such as the MEA and Asia Pacific, the analyst predicts.The growth of the BYOD trend, multiple benefits offered by UCaaS solutions, and surging penetration of mobile devices are also responsible for the future expansion of the UCaaS market.In contrast, the lack of awareness regarding UCaaS solutions and the benefits they offer threatens to hamper the adoption rate of UCaaS by SMEs. However, this impediment is projected to have a minimal impact on the UCaaS market in the long term.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:
Digital Cameras Market:Key Trends, Industry Opportunities And Projections for Upcoming Years 2024

Digital Cameras Market

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The global digital cameras market is currently influenced by a range of revolutionary trends pertaining to lenses, photo accessories, and other key facets. The post focus feature was introduced to the industry by Lytro through a light-field camera model, which was followed by Panasonic but with a slightly different feature called refocus. Post focus allows the photographer to adjust the focus after the picture is shot. Three more trends, namely 4K video, powerful mobile photography apps, and improved 360-degree video capturing, are expected to continue taking the global market by storm.The report on the global digital cameras market presented here unveils an extensive segmentation by product type, which includes all the determining types of digital camera widely embraced by consumers on an international platform. With a view to exclusively analyze the market in the major regions of the world, the report offers a critical segmentation on the basis of geography.Significant factors such as industry structure, growth drivers, restraints, crucial market trends, market projections, and factors affecting market growth are all comprehensively elucidated in this global digital cameras market report. Using the Porters five forces model, the analysts have offered a deep insight into the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, competitive rivalry, and the threat of new entrants and substitutes.Obtain Report Details @The international market for digital cameras is envisioned to witness robust advancement in the near future with the rising income levels of consumers and technological developments such as HD quality cameras and automation using touch screen. The popularity of digital single lens reflex (SLR) cameras is another major reason for the global market to rapidly gain traction compared to the corresponding markets. It is anticipated that the digital SLR cameras market will grow vastly on the back of falling prices, rise of digitalization, easier usage, and strong demand in similar markets. Moreover, digital SLR cameras have emerged as a significantly growing segment with superior picture quality in the offering.By product type, the global digital cameras market can be categorized into key segments such as compact digital cameras, bridge cameras, mirror-less interchangeable-lens cameras, digital single lens reflex (SLR) cameras, digital rangefinders, line-scan camera systems, integration, and waterproof.Access PDF Brochure atOn the basis of geography, the market can be segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. Manufacturers in countries such as Russia, China, and India are expected to take grip of the lucrative growth prospects as the U.S. and Europe markets demonstrate mature conditions. In terms of a lions share in the global digital cameras market, the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific are predicted to steal the glory from other regions. With the increasing affluence of consumers in Asia Pacific, the region is foretold to have excess demand for digital SLR cameras, thereby contributing to the overall growth of the global market.With an outright profiling of the top companies in the global digital cameras market, the report presents itself as a great resource to gauge the nature of the competitive landscape over the forecast period 20162024. Major players such as Kyocera, Matsushita (Panasonic), Samsung, Sony Corporation, Canon Corporation, Sanyo, Ricoh, Polaroid, Minolta, FujiFilm, Casio Corporation, Japan Victor Company (JVC), Eastman Kodak, Hewlett Packard Company, and Olympus Corporation among others are studied in the 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.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:
Smartwatches Market: Key Players Focus on Evolving market Trends and Dynamics 2025

Smartwatches Market

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A smartwatch is a wrist-worn type of wearable device providing various functionalities to its user and acting as a companion device with smartphones. Smartwatches are mostly need to be paired with a smartphone using any connecting technology such as near-field communication (NFC) or Bluetooth. Smartwatches provide notifications to its user and can also be used to track health parameters such as heart rate, distance traveled, etc.Moreover, smartwatches can also be used as a GPS device. Smartwatch provide high degree of connectivity to its users and are useful for the group that aims health related purposes and fitness tracking. Global smartphone shipments are expected to increase continuously in the coming years due to developing network infrastructure and increasing internet penetration. The global smartwatch market was valued at US$ 701.2 Mn in 2013 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 53.6% during the forecast period 2014  2020.On the basis of price range, the global smartwatches market is segmented into high-end smartwatches, mid-end smartwatches, and low-end smartwatches. Smartwatches with price above US$ 250 are considered under high-end smartwatches segment. High-end smartwatches segment is anticipated to witness strong growth in next few years (2015 - 2017) due to number of large smartphone manufacturers such as Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Inc., and Sony Corporation focusing on the development and launch of their high-end smartwatch models.However, unwillingness to pay above US$ 250 for a smartwatch and low awareness pertaining to wearable technology and products is the major concern for the growth of smartwatches market. Furthermore, limited battery life and its effect on overall performance are expected to restrain the global smartwatch market. Currently, the companies offering high-end smartwatches overrun the global smartwatch market. However, growing commercialization activities, and research and development is anticipated to result in significant number of mid-end and low-end smartwatch models over the forecast period.Obtain Report Details @n 2013, North America was the largest market for smartwatches in terms of revenue. The region has experienced significant adoption of high-end smartwatches due the presence of tech-savvy and health conscious users in this region. Fitness and health are expected to remain the major applications of smartwatches over the forecast period. This is attributed mainly to the high smartphone penetration in the North American region. Furthermore, awareness among end-users and higher purchasing power is anticipated to drive the regional market over the forecast period 2014  2020.Europe and Asia Pacific are anticipated to witness healthy growth over the forecast period. Demand from countries such as China, India, Japan, and Australia is anticipated to drive the Asia Pacific market in the next few coming years. Mass adoption of mid-end and low-end smartwatches in Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Eastern Europe is expected to drive the demand for this market over the forecast period.The smartwatch market has gained significant momentum in recent years due to the entry of several major players in the smartwatch market. Most component suppliers and smartphone vendors such as: Samsung Electronics, Inc., Sony Corporation, and Apple Inc. are expanding their wearable product offerings. Furthermore, most smartwatches available in the market currently work as companion devices; thus, the presence of a large number of existing smartphone users is a key factor anticipated to drive the market in the next few years.Companies manufacturing smartwatches are customizing their operating systems for use in wearable devices. For instance, Google, Inc. has launched Android Wear, a customized version of the Android OS for use in wearable devices. Most hardware manufacturers are entering in the smartwatch market with Android Wear as the pre-installed OS; thus, the Android Wear OS has been experiencing significant growth in the smartwatch market.This 100-page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Smartwatches Market. Browse to unlock the hidden opportunities in this market@The research report on smartwatch market provides a detailed analysis of the different categories of smartwatches, and helps in understanding the driving forces behind the popularity of the wearable products. It also provides an analysis of the major segments of the smartwatch market for the period from 2012 to 2020. The report includes extensive analysis of the industry drivers, restraints, opportunities, and market trends. The study provides comprehensive assessment of the stakeholder strategies and imperatives for succeeding in the business. This research study focuses on providing market data and insights, including the size and growth of the smartwatch market. The report provides a thorough analysis of the emerging industry trends, and the current state of the market. It offers a comprehensive coverage of the underlying technological and economic factors influencing the smartwatch business. The prevalent competition in the market is highlighted through the market share analysis of key players in the market. Furthermore, the value chain analysis is included in the report with an aim to provide strategic insights across the supply chain of the smartwatch market.The report segregates the global smartwatch market based on operating systems, and the price range. Operating systems in the smartwatch market have been categorized into: Android Wear OS, Watch OS, and others. The others segment includes: Tizen OS, Pebble OS, Firefox OS, and LinkIt OS. The study also includes the categorization of smartwatch market on the basis of price range. High-end smartwatches, mid-end smartwatches, and low-end smartwatches are the price range categories included in the report. The report aims to provide a comprehensive cross-sectional analysis of the component, type, and application segments across North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA).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:
District Cooling Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share 2024 | Research Report

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Global District Cooling Market: OverviewThe district cooling (DC) market report by Transparency Market Research provides in-depth analysis of the district cooling market globally. The report segments the market on the basis of application and geography. The report analyzes the global district cooling market in terms of both (cooling) energy sales volume (Tera Joules) and revenues (US$ Mn) for the years 20162024. For this research study, the base year is 2015, whereas the forecast is from 2016 to 2024. The report provides a comprehensive competitive landscape and features companies manufacturing district cooling systems.This 183 page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the District Cooling Market . Browse through to unlock the hidden opportunities in this market @This report includes the key dynamics affecting the district cooling market globally. The analysis in the report provides detailed insights of the global district cooling market. The drivers, opportunities, and restraints of the market were analyzed in detail and are illustrated in the report. The report also provides a detailed industry analysis of the global district cooling with the help of the Porters Five Forces Analysis model.Global District Cooling Market: SegmentationThe research report is studied on the basis of the application and the geography. Based on application, the market is segmented into residential, commercial, and industrial. Commercial application segment dominated the global district cooling market in terms of both energy sales volumes and revenues. Residential application segment closely followed commercial application segment. Residential application segment held around 40% market share of the global district cooling market in 2015.Geographically, the global market is classified into five regions and further into 26 unique country sub-segments. The regional segments are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. The 26 countries which have been separately addressed in this report are the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Germany, France, Finland, Italy, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, South Africa, Brazil, and Mexico. District cooling market in each country and region is further sub-segmented by application into residential, commercial, and industrial.North America held the major share of the global district cooling (DC) market in 2015, accounting for around 50% of the global market share. Middle East & Africa was the second-largest market for district cooling systems, followed by Asia Pacific in 2015. Europe and Latin America held the fourth-largest and fifth-largest share of the global district cooling market in that year.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the District Cooling Market . Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market @Companies Mentioned in the ReportSome of the key market participants in the district cooling market are ADC Energy Systems LLC, Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (EMPOWER), Emirates District Cooling LLC (Emicool), Emirates National Central Cooling Company PJSC (Tabreed), Stellar Energy, Keppel DHCS Pte. Ltd., Logstor A/S, Ramboll Group A/S, Tekla Corporation, Shinryo Corporation, Dalkia, Veolia, Singapore Power (SP) Group, and Alfa Laval AB among others. The report provides an overview of these companies, followed by their financial details, business strategies, SWOT analysis, and recent developments.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:
Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Market: Geological and Competitive Dynamics, Report Overview 2024

Electronic Nose (E-Nose) Market

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An electronic nose (e-nose) is a substitute for the human sense of smells which detects odor and flavor. This device uses electronic sensing for comparison, identification, quantification, and even data storage and recovery. Electronic noses comprise three primary elements: a delivery system, a discovery system, and a calculating system. Presently, industries perform tests with the help of gas chromatographs and human experts to test the flavors and scents of goods during production, as well as to measure their levels of freshness and damage. The e-nose affords a comparatively higher number of benefits. For example, for companies handling large-scale production activities, it is not logistically possible to track the freshness, quality, and cleanliness of each product by means of human sensing. In these cases, the e-nose helps ascertain if the goods meet quality standards. E-noses are cost-effective and cover larger areas.Usage of e-noses as the first line of defense against hazardous environments for health care and consumer goods is expected to grow during the forecast period. Artificial sensors which identify and test a range of parameters could be incorporated into an analytical apparatus and used to scan the general situation, or particularly to detect the leak of dangerous gases or decayed goods. E-noses are essentially a real-time tool identifying hazardous gases at a lower cost. In the food and beverages industry, they are employed to assess the freshness of goods used as both input and output  an essential step to verify product quality. Due to an increasing demand from this sector, manufacturers are estimated to raise their production capacities. E-noses are also helpful to store previously identified readings which could be used for future reference.Obtain Report Details @There is a rising incidence of sanitary and phytosanitary measures with respect to import restrictions in developed nations such as the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Major exporting countries such as India, Bangladesh, China, and Japan take measures to ensure quality product delivery, resulting in a high demand for the e-nose in these countries during the forecast period. A major influence on the market is also the implementation of micro-electro-mechanical sensors (MEMS) in e-noses. However, the bulky size of the device is a major constraint. Developments have been made in MEMS to produce miniaturized versions of e-noses. These sensors have a much greater variety of applications.The global e-nose market has only a few vendors and is therefore not very competitive. It is likely to expand at a low but steady rate. Manufacturers have constantly been engaged in R&D to create a low-cost, mass-producible, transportable device. Due to marginal profits, it is difficult for even the existing players to sustain.Access PDF Brochure atEnd-users of the e-nose include laboratories, food & beverages, crime & security, and the rapidly growing health & security and environmental monitoring segments. With the development of a portable e-nose capable of providing accurate results in an open-air environment, the demand from the crime & security sector is projected to rise as well. The expansion of the food & beverages industry (especially cold and packaged food) plays a role as well. By region, this market is distributed over North America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Asia Pacific. North America accounts for a major share in this market, which is also estimated to grow steadily. The market in Asia Pacific holds a significant potential, owing to the development of the production industry.Key e-nose manufacturers include Alpha MOS in France, E-Nose Pty in Australia, Electronic Sensor Technology in the U.S., The e-Nose Company in the Netherlands, and Odotech in Canada.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:
C2C E-commerce Market Evolving Industry Trends and Insights By 2024

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C2C is a category of e-commerce which allows consumers to interact with each other. This model of e-commerce facilitates transactions of products or services between consumers.In business to consumer model, a consumer approaches a business to purchase goods or services. In C2C model, the business provides a platform where consumers can sell products or services to each other.The main goal of C2C is to help buyers find sellers. This benefits both the parties. A buyer finds a product or a service which would have otherwise been hard to find and a seller benefits by selling the product or a service.Obtain Report Details:The platforms for such transactions are usually provided by third parties, which act as intermediaries between the sellers and buyers. For instance, online portals such as E-bay facilitates sellers to post their goods or services online that is available for consumers to purchase. In such transactions, the third party may charge a transaction fee or commission. Products sold on these websites can be new or second hand.The proliferation of Internet services across the world and the significant increase in the use of smartphones can be attributed as major factors to facilitate the C2C e-commerce market growth.Users can sign-up on online portals providing C2C services and begin to buy or sell desired products or services. The reduction in the costs of these products and services, due to the absence of middlemen, wholesalers and retailers involved in the transaction has further aided to the growth of global C2C e-commerce market.Moreover, sellers are no longer restricted to local regions and can reach national and international audiences. Furthermore, the need of capital investment on outlet stores is eliminated and the inventory costs are reduced.This enables the sellers to sell their products at higher prices and at the same time buyers can purchase them at comparatively cheaper prices. Also, the convenience associated with this model with regards to ample choices available to buyers is an advantage for the subscribers of such portals.The advent and increasing popularity of online payment systems is expected to fuel the growth of C2C e-commerce, globally. However, Internet frauds and identity threats, absence of payment guarantees are the hurdles in adoption of these services.C2C websites have no control over the quality of goods being sold on them as they only act as intermediaries. The possibility of illegal or pirated products sold through such websites is a threat to the C2C market.On the basis of source of revenue, the C2C e-commerce market can be broadly segmented into classifieds and auctions. Classifieds can be further segmented into products and services. In terms of geography, C2C e-commerce market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the C2C E-commerce Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market:North America is one of the leading regions in the global market because of high penetration of Internet and a large number of smartphone users. Asia Pacific is expected to witness rapid growth in the coming years due to the rise in Internet and smartphone users, mainly in China and India.The key players in the C2C e-commerce market include eBay Inc, Amazon.com, Inc., Craigslist, Inc, Taobao.com, OLX, Inc, Quikr India Private Limited , uBid.com, Auctions.com and Airbnb, Inc.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios.About TMRTransparency 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 TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Automotive Intelligent Tires Market: Evolving Technology, Trends and industry Analysis up to 2025

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Automotive tires nowadays require proving far more than only grip and profile. Tires are not only a crucial aspect associated with driving safety but are also important for lowering the hazardous CO2 emission and the overall vehicle operating costs. Intelligent tire systems help to significantly improve fleet management by minimizing tire costs, vehicle breakdowns and fuel consumption. Thus, the advantages associated with intelligent tires include, extended tire life, efficient fuel consumption, reduced vehicular CO2 emissions, optimized fleet management and reduced possibilities of accidents and breakdowns.The global automotive intelligent tires market is being primarily driven by the increase in adoption of connected cars globally. Such cars are equipped with certain wireless services and the internet which help the vehicle to connect to networks and services that are remotely connected. The increasing focus of auto manufacturers to equip connected cars with such tires which can modify its traction by updating the trend patterns in real time on the basis of several road and environmental conditions is boosting the adoption of connected cars which in turn is driving the demand for intelligent tires. Furthermore, a key trend that is expected to gain popularity in the global automotive intelligent tires market during the forecast period is the adoption of battery less sensors for these tires. These sensors ensure comparatively low power which would ensure lifetime service of the intelligent tires.Obtain Report Details @The global automotive intelligent tires market can be classified by vehicle type and by geography. The global market can be segmented on the basis of vehicle type into commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles. The automotive intelligent tires market was dominated by the commercial vehicles segment in 2016 and this segment is set to dominate the market throughout the forecast period from 2017-2025. The commercial vehicles make up the bulk of the end user requirements for intelligent tires since most of the end users of these intelligent tires are fleet operators. However, it is estimated that the passenger vehicles segment would record significant growth during the forecast period and witness increases in its global market share. The global automotive intelligent tires market can be further classified geographically into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East and Africa.In terms of the five geographic segments, North America held the highest share of the global market in 2016 and is anticipated to retain strong hold on the market throughout the forecast period. There has been a steady shift in the focus of auto makers in this region towards the deployment of TPMS or direct tire pressure measurement system sensors, owing to stringent regulations introduced by the government for improving the safety of passengers and this is the major factor boosting the market growth of automotive intelligent tires in North America. Asia Pacific is expected to record steady growth during the forecast period. In this region, the demand for direct tire pressure measurement system is higher and is set to steadily increase in the economies of Koreas, China, Australia and Japan.Access PDF Brochure atThe global automotive intelligent tires market report provides the market share analysis of the key industry participants operating in the industry. The global market is highly competitive with various prominent players looking at enhancing their market shares. These players have been exhaustively profiled and their business overview, financial overview, business strategies and recent developments have been covered under the purview of the report. Some of the major players operating in the global automotive intelligent tires market include Bridgestone Corporation, Continental AG, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Michelin, The Yokohama Rubber Company, Limited, Pirelli & C. S.p.A., Sumitomo Rubber Industries and The Hankook TireGroup 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:
Augmented Reality Market 2016 - key players such as Acep TryLive, Blippar.Com Ltd., Daqri LLC, Google Inc.

Augmented Reality Market

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The new research report on Augmented Reality Market offered by DecisionDatabases.com provides Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016-2023. The report on global augmented reality market evaluates the growth trends of the industry through historical study and estimates future prospects based on comprehensive research. The report extensively provides the market share, growth, trends and forecasts for the period 2016-2023. The market size in terms of revenue (USD MN) is calculated for the study period along with the details of the factors affecting the market growth (drivers and restraints).The major market drivers are increasing adoption of AR in automotive and gaming industry and advancements in technologies in healthcare and medical sector. The market growth might be restricted due to cost factor coupled with privacy issues under the study period.Get FREE Sample Report Copy @Furthermore, the report quantifies the market share held by the major players of the industry and provides an in-depth view of the competitive landscape. This market is classified into different segments with detailed analysis of each with respect to geography for the study period 2016-2023. The comprehensive value chain analysis of the market will assist in attaining better product differentiation, along with detailed understanding of the core competency of each activity involved. The market attractiveness analysis provided in the report aptly measures the potential value of the market providing business strategists with the latest growth opportunities.The report also covers the complete competitive landscape of the worldwide market with company profiles of key players such as Acep TryLive, Blippar.Com Ltd., Daqri LLC, Google Inc., Infinity Augmented Reality Inc., Magic Leap, Inc., Microsoft Corp., Osterhout Design Group, Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sony Corp., Total Immersion and Wikitude GmbH. Geographically, this market has been segmented into regions such as North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. The study details country-level aspects based on each segment and gives estimates in terms of market size.Table Of Contents- Overview1.Introduction2.Executive Summary3.Market Analysis4.Augmented Reality Market Analysis By Component5.Augmented Reality Market Analysis By Display7.Augmented Reality Market Analysis By Application8.Augmented Reality Market Analysis By Geography9.Competitive Landscape Of The Augmented Reality Companies10.Company Profiles Of The Augmented Reality IndustryView More About this Report @About-Us:DecisionDatabases.com is a global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.3rd Floor,Fountain chambers,Nanabhai Lane,Fort, Mumbai - 1E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.comPhone: +91 99 28 237112Web:
Air Management System Market is depended upon to create at USD ~$6.55 Billion, at ~6.5% of CAGR By 2023

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The Air Management System is the important contributors to the comfort on board an aircraft. Air Management Systems is segmented into various types of system, platform, components and market share and growth rate of Air Management Systems. Out of which, the sensors segment is estimated to the highest growth during the forecast period due to the need of various parameters, such as temperature, density, and thickness of ice, among others.The study indicates that the Air Management Systems business is supplying advanced systems that provide safety, healthy and comfortable environment during flight. Electric and pneumatic systems are installed on a broad array of commercial and military aircraft, both fixed and rotary wing.The global The Air Management System Market is expected to grow at USD ~$6.55 Billion by 2023, at ~6.5% of CAGR between 2017 and 2023.Get a Sample Copy @Access the market data and market information presented through more than 100 numbers of pages of the project report Air Management System MarketKey Players: Honeywell International Inc (U.S.), United Technologies Corporation (U.S.), Meggitt Plc (U.K.), Rockwell Collins Inc. (U.S.), Diehl Stiftung & Co. KG (Germany), Shimadzu Corporation (Japan), Liebherr Group (Switzerland), Zodiac Aerospace (France), Dukes Aerospace, Inc. (U.S.), Aeronamic Aircraft Subsystems (Netherlands) among others.Study Objectives of the Air Management System Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the Air Management System market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the Air Management System 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 Pacific (APAC), 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 on the basis of Component, System, Platform, End Users 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 Air Management SystemBrowse Full Report Details @Segments:The global Air Management System market has been segmented on the basis of Component, System, Platform, end users and region.Air Management System Market by Component: Sensors Valves Condenser and Evaporator Air Cycle Machines Heat Exchangers Air Separator Modules Air Mixers Onboard Oxygen Generation System Control and Monitoring Electronic units OtherAir Management System Market by System: Oxygen System Fuel Tank Inserting System Ice Protection System Engine Bleed Air System Cabin Pressure Control System Thermal Management System Distributed Control Systems OthersAir Management System Market by Platform: Fixed Wing Rotary Wing OtherAir Management System Market by End Users: Defense And Military Aircraft And Aerospace Automotive Industrial Transportation Commercial Aircraft Regional Aircraft OthersAir Management System Market by Region: North America Europe Asia Pacific (APAC) Rest of the World (ROW)Get a Good Discount @Regional Analysis:The regional analysis of Air Management System Market is being studied for region such as Asia pacific, North Americas, Europe and Rest of the World. Among these regions, North America is expected to lead the largest market share in the air management system market during the forecast period. It is due to the increasing demand of air passenger traffic and new aircraft is driving the air management system market. The study reveals that Europe region is also showing the positive sign towards the Air Management System Market. Asia-Pacific countries like China, Japan and India have shown considerably fair share in the Air Management System Market but will be growing fast in coming time.ContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Global Air Management System Market Research Report- Forecast 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
Updated at 7:57 p.m.

A former official with the Oregon Department of Energy has pleaded guilty to accepting $291,017 in kickbacks in connection with the sale of state energy tax credits, prosecutors said.

Joe Colello, who previously managed tax credit sales for the department, had told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he was under investigation for expediting the sale of tax credits for a private energy consultant and expected to be charged. He pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon in Marion County Circuit Court to racketeering, receiving bribes, aggravated theft, tax evasion and official misconduct charges.

"I'm dirty," Colello told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an emotional interview Sunday afternoon. "I made mistakes."

According to court documents, Colello accepted cashier's checks on 52 separate occasions from a Seattle-based energy consultant, Martin Shain, who is already under indictment on forgery accusations.

Shain was both a consultant on energy projects and a tax credit broker. Colello, meanwhile, had knowledge that was very valuable to brokers: The list of approved recipients looking to sell their tax credits as well as the buyers in the market for them. That relationship gave Shain an inside track to market his services, complete the sales and earn lucrative commissions.

In June 2012, for example, Shain told the city of Canby that he had placed nearly $30 million in tax credits in the previous two months alone, according to documents obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive. His marketing materials indicated he would charge 2 percent of the project's cost if he could place a tax credit within 90 days.

Colello's checks from Shain showed up like clockwork, sometimes three times a month, from August 2012 to March of 2015. The payments ranged from $1,000 to $14,130, court documents show.

"We had a verbal agreement. At some point, the money just started showing up," Colello told The Oregonian/OregonLive. He said the checks were delivered in Fedex packages.

Shain was indicted last year on accusations of forging documents to improperly obtain nearly $12 million in energy tax credits to support the construction of solar arrays at Oregon State University and the Oregon Institute of Technology.

State and federal law enforcement agencies launched criminal investigations of the solar project after The Oregonian/OregonLive published a Feb. 27, 2015, report raising questions about the authenticity of the documents and Shain's involvement in gaining the tax credits.

State lawmakers also embarked on a comprehensive review of the Energy Department in December 2015  in part because of information provided by whistleblowers.

One of those whistleblowers happened to be Colello.

The documents filed Tuesday said Colello was being jointly charged with Shain. Kristina Edmunson, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said she could not provide any additional information.

The court filing did not fully explain the racketeering charge, which typically targets ongoing criminal "enterprises." The filing lists Colello and Shain as members of the enterprise. It also mentions, in passing, Bob Simonton, a key witness in the Shain forgery case.

Simonton, who formerly worked for the Oregon University System and helped coordinate the solar project involving Shain, has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

"I'm working with the Department of Justice and the FBI on it, so I can't comment," Simonton said Tuesday night.

Shain's lawyer, Jim McDermott, said late Tuesday that, "Mr. Shain denies being part of any racketeering enterprise. Mr. Shain also denies bribing any government officials."

Colello's lawyer, Paul Ferder, did not return multiple calls from a reporter.

Colello claimed he was not involved with the solar deal that gave rise to the forgery case against Shain, though several of the theft charges against him name SolarCity, the developer of the university arrays.

In Sunday's interview, Colello was circumspect about the nature of his relationship with Shain, saying it evolved slowly. But he said he helped get deals, facilitated the sale of related energy tax credits, and received checks in exchange.

Colello worked for the Energy Department for about a decade starting in 2006. The next year, he took over management of the agency's pass-through program, where he matched developers and owners of energy projects looking to sell their state tax credits, with deep-pocketed buyers, such as corporations or wealthy individuals. Such sales were allowed at a state-mandated discount rate, providing the seller with cash and the buyer the opportunity to lower their own tax bills.

A corporation, for example, could buy a $1 million credit for 67 cents on the dollar, or $670,000, then use the credit to offset $1 million in state income taxes over five years.

Business energy tax credits became a billion-dollar bonanza after then-Gov. Ted Kulongoski and the Oregon Legislature supersized the state's long-running program. They transformed the credits into golden ducats worth as much as $10 million per project to developers, businesses, government agencies and nonprofits developing renewable energy and conservation projects.

It also caused administrative chaos at the Energy Department. Officials there lacked the technical, financial and administrative expertise to manage the complex and mushrooming program, as agency audits show and agency management has acknowledged. And some applicants took advantage, manipulating the program to maximize their benefit.

Some of those problems cropped up in the pass-through program. Most tax credit recipients elected to sell their credits to third parties at a discounted price mandated by the state. Colello was the gatekeeper in that process. He said in his peak year, he processed some $200 million in tax credit sales.

"Everybody thought I had a drawer full of cash," Colello said, meaning he was perceived as having money to distribute through the tax credit program. "This was a phenomenal means of moving money."

Colello said he got to know Shain in 2009, when the Seattle-based consultant was hired by the Oregon University System to help develop its big solar initiative. The project was touted as an environmental and economic development victory for the state.

Shain was also working with municipalities around the state on projects to reduce energy use, Colello said.

He said Shain wanted to hear his opinions and ideas on the most efficient way to process tax credit sales. Shain eventually included Colello's name on some of his marketing materials, Colello said. Gradually, he said, Shain started talking about working together on renewable energy projects.

The state indicates that Shain's kickbacks to Colello began in August 2012 and kept going till March 2015.

The theft charges filed Tuesday affected municipalities, including Canby and Wilsonville, transit agencies in Salem and Lane County, colleges and private companies.

Shain was indicted last August by a Marion County grand jury on two counts of first-degree forgery. He is accused of creating a phony invoice from a fictional subcontractor and other documentation that was pivotal in securing nearly $12 million in tax credits for the university solar projects.

McDermott, Shain's lawyer, has acknowledged that the documents are forgeries, but says his client did not create them or deliver them to the Department of Energy. In a bizarre twist, Shain's brother, Phil Shain, claimed responsibility for the forgeries this spring.

Martin Shain eventually earned $2.4 million on the $27 million project. He was originally scheduled to go to trial on the forgery charges in April, but state investigators appealed for a delay to continue their investigation.

Colello's admission is surprising because he was a whistleblower for state lawmakers just two years ago. At the time, he complained that agency administrators had begun allowing tax credit recipients to sell the credits through brokers at much steeper discounts than state rules allowed.

"At a certain point, brokers were controlling all the credits," he said. "We were doing it for free, and were 100 percent successful for a long time."

But he claims he felt pressured to give certain projects and brokers preferential treatment and was told not to question the brokered sales. He said the department eventually stopped verifying the tax credit sales prices altogether and, he contends, some of those prices were bogus.

In fact, it was Colello who was giving preferential treatment to Shain's deals.

The Secretary of State's office conducted a limited review of the brokered sales in September 2015 after receiving a hotline complaint about favoritism. It also hired a investigative audit firm to review the entire tax credit program, including the negotiated sales. Neither review substantiated any instances of favoritism to particular brokers. But the reviews didn't validate the tax credit sales prices that were reported to the agency and didn't identify Shain's brokering firm, RC Shain & Associates.

In early 2015, the Energy Department did adopt temporary rules retroactive to July 10, 2012, to allow the negotiated sales at lower prices. The department insisted at the time it was only cleaning up its rules to reflect longstanding practices that its lawyers had already approved. The agency, however, has refused to release an advice memo from the Department of Justice that purportedly approved the process, citing attorney-client privilege.

Many of Colello's assertions were part of the interview he gave last July to private auditors hired to complete a forensic audit of the tax credit program. They eventually issued a highly critical report of the program and Energy Department management.

The Oregonian/OregonLive contacted Colello last week after receiving a tip that he was under investigation and could soon be indicted. He agreed to meet for an interview Sunday afternoon, during which he was alternately agitated by what he considered to be a deeply corrupted program at the Energy Department, and remorseful for his own actions.

In exchange for his guilty plea, Colello agreed to serve five years in prison and three years of supervised probation, and make restitution of $1.3 million to affected tax credit recipients.

"Now I'm not going to be able to watch my kids grow up," he said.

Hillary Borrud, Anna Marum, Elliot Njus, Jeff Manning, Lynne Palombo and Gordon Friedman of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.

--Ted Sickinger

503-221-8505; @tedsickinger
Here's how good intentions lead to the erosion of government transparency.

In 2013, then-Secretary of State Kate Brown created the Small Business Assistance office to help companies navigate state regulations and do business with government agencies. In the last few years, the office helped address problems with how the Department of Human Services pays vendors, and reported how delays for a plan review from the Oregon Health Authority cost a residential care facility some $70,000 in construction holding costs.

According to the office's annual report, in 2016 they received 4,438 phone calls, worked with 374 businesses and handled 528 total cases.

But the substance of those thousands of calls and hundreds of complaints? It's nearly all secret.

House Bill 3274, at the request of Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, and signed into law earlier this month by now Governor Brown, expands an existing law that makes much of the office's work exempt from public disclosure. The law exempts records "prepared by or received by" the office, with the exception of case reports. It also exempts all "communications to and from" the office.

Rep. David Gomberg, one of two sponsors of the bill, said the law's intent is to protect private information of business complainants  "profits, formulas or strategy," he said. The goal, he said, is to prevent complaints from becoming "research for the competition."

But nothing in the new law mentions business privacy or trade secrets, nor is it clear how much proprietary information is actually provided in these complaints. Rather than allowing for redaction of private business information or giving the complainant the option to remain anonymous, the entire complaint is secret.

This protects not just the businesses  it protects the government agencies being complained about.

Gomberg points out that final reports from cases investigated by the office are public, and this is true. But a case report is rarely produced. Some cases are informational, some aren't fully investigated, some are referred to other agencies, and some just generally don't lead to complete resolution. If the office decides not to pursue a case about a complaint (because it's deemed trivial, frivolous, the office doesn't have the resources, it involves litigation or any of the other reasons listed in Oregon Revised Statute 56.206, Section 2) there will be no public record of the complaint.

Nor does the office create reports when it investigates complaints about local municipalities.

Of the 528 total cases from last year, small business advocate Ruth Miles said only two reports, in which the office recommended changes to a state agency, were generated.

To be clear, no one is saying the Small Business Assistance office is doing anything wrong. The concept behind the office, helping businesses cut through red tape, is laudable. But this is symptomatic of Oregon's overall problem with government transparency, and it explains why the state has more than 500 exemptions to public records disclosure.

In response to a narrow, specific concern, lawmakers passed a sweeping law for a specific agency.

"I think what's happened here is what happens too often," said attorney Jack Orchard, a partner with firm Ball Janik LLP who has represented a number of newspapers in freedom of information matters. "The exemption does not focus on what the supposed problem is. The exemption is just put on as a blanket, and then you have to work backwards from that... Rather than exempt the identity of the complaining party, the entire complaint is confidential."

And who wins? What policy goal is reached by shielding government agencies from public exposure of their inefficiencies and unresponsiveness?

HB 3274 leaves few avenues to hold accountable an office tasked with the goal of government accountability.

It would be wrong to write about transparency without full disclosure  I'm a board member of the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which has hired a lobbyist for the first time this legislative session to fight for government transparency reform. We want fewer, clearer exemptions; caps on fees agencies can charge for access to information; and a requirement that new technology is adopted by the government agencies with transparency in mind.

It's been interesting to be privy to this side of Salem  the behind-the-scenes negotiations and in-fighting. How long do you argue for the bill you really want, and when do you settle for the bill that's better than nothing?

The big win so far this session is passage of Senate Bill 481, which sets timelines for government agencies to respond to records requests. It's a great step forward, thanks to a push from Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum's office and bipartisan support.

But it's just a first step.

The journey continues with Senate Bill 106, which would create a public records advocate nominated by an advisory council. It's Brown's project, but now Secretary of State Dennis Richardson has come up with his own idea to house an advocate staffer in his office. Each version has its problems: Richardson's idea isn't statutory and the advocate would report directly to him. Brown's bill could lead to a long, bureaucratic mediation process.

Seemingly, this has become more of a squabble over political credit than a debate about policy.

The remaining piece of transparency legislation is House Bill 2101, introduced by Rep. John Huffman, which would set up regular review of Oregon's hundreds of public disclosure exemptions. Importantly, it would flag any new exemptions for further review before they go forward.

This expanded exemption for the Office of Small Business Assistance is exactly why we need HB 2101. Someone should have stepped back and asked, "Is this the right solution to the problem?"

This week we learned that an ex-Energy Department official took bribes in connection with state energy tax credits, and that the Oregon Government Ethics Commission is resuming its influence-peddling investigation into former Gov. John Kitzhaber and girlfriend Cylvia Hayes  all reminders that Salem doesn't run smoothly when we aren't watching.

In the face of things like the state budget crisis, a transparency fight over one office might seem trivial, but it's at the heart of what makes our state and our country work.

Democracy doesn't just die in the dark. It dies by degrees.

-- Samantha Swindler

@editorswindler / 503-294-4031

sswindler@oregonian.com
SALEM  Democrats in the Oregon House upped the ante for a corporate tax overhaul Tuesday, when they postponed a vote on the state's $8.2 billion K-12 schools budget for another week to allow more time for tax negotiations.

At the same time, lawmakers in both chambers acknowledged the outlook for a deal is not good. Even the representative who called for the schools budget delay on Tuesday acknowledged it was a last-ditch tactic.

"We're running out of time, but you know what? Sometimes the Hail Mary pass connects," Rep. Barbara Smith Warner, D-Portland, said in an interview Tuesday after the House voted 35-24 along party lines to delay the schools budget vote. The Senate already passed the K-12 budget with bipartisan support earlier this month.

"We've done amazing work on structural revenue reform work in this session," said Smith Warner, a vice chair of the Joint Committee on Tax Reform. "And I think it's critical we give ourselves every opportunity to keep pushing that forward."

Warner, Speaker Tina Kotek and other House Democrats want to replace Oregon's current corporate income tax with a so-called gross receipts tax, which is calculated based on a company's annual sales of goods and services. It's the same type of tax that was included in Measure 97, the mammoth tax initiative voters rejected in November.

The Oregon Education Association teachers union also added to the pressure Tuesday, with the announcement it was beginning to gather signatures necessary to eventually circulate petitions to get two corporate tax measures on the ballot in 2018. One initiative could raise as much as $1.75 billion annually for K-12 and higher education through a corporate gross receipts tax, and the second would make it easier for the Legislature to raise corporate taxes to pay for education.

The Legislature is trying to close a projected $1.4 billion budget gap to maintain current programs and services, through a combination of cost trimming measures and revenue increases. A package of health care taxes could raise $550 million and a cost saving proposal could narrow the shortfall by an additional $270 million over the next two years, but lawmakers still face a significant deficit.

It's unclear House Democrats will be able to achieve more than a symbolic vote on their corporate tax plan, because any bill to raise taxes requires a three-fifths supermajority vote in both chambers. Democrats need at least one Republican to vote with them in the House and Senate, and no Republicans have signaled support at this point.

One tax proposal that could have some promise of Republican support would keep most of the existing corporate income tax rules but raise the rates. It was among several new proposals introduced Monday during meetings of the Joint Committee on Tax Reform. Sen. Alan DeBoer, R-Ashland, has previously said the state needs to raise additional revenue and he described the rate increase proposal as "on the right track."

Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, led the intensive legislative effort over the last year to craft a gross receipts tax that makes economic sense and can pass. But on Monday, sensing the lack of support for his preferred plan, Hass said he would support any plan that would raise more money for schools. For example, the state could raise $530 million in additional revenue over the next two years under the corporate tax rate increase proposed Monday compared with roughly $400 million to $600 million under the latest gross receipts tax proposals introduced the same day.

"I'm hoping for something we could pass that raises some money for education," Hass said in an interview. "I'd rather it be more unifying than dividing."

House Democrats' move to delay the K-12 schools budget vote until June 27 means they'll subsequently have just two weeks left before they must adjourn under the state Constitution.

House Democrats may introduce their own plan to overhaul corporate taxes as soon as Wednesday afternoon, when the House Committee on Revenue is scheduled to meet. The details of the potential plan are unclear, since it would likely surface as an amendment replacing an existing bill.

House Revenue Chairman Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, confirmed the committee might pursue this strategy. "That's certainly one thing we're considering," Barnhart said Tuesday.

Barnhart had few answers to other questions about the corporate tax, such as whether a House Democrat tax plan could get the Republican votes necessary to pass and why the caucus was eschewing the special Joint Committee on Tax Reform formed explicitly to work on the issue this session. Barnhart and Hass are co-chairs of that committee.

"You need to ask other people about it who actually know what's going on," Barnhart said.

Barnhart was clear on one thing, however: It's "not likely" he would vote for a tax plan that increases revenue simply by raising the existing corporate income tax rate.

-- Hillary Borrud

503-294-4034; @hborrud
Joe Colello, a former official with the Oregon Department of Energy, pleaded guilty this week to receiving bribes in connection with the sale of state energy tax credits. Here is what he admitted:

1. Colello used to manage tax credit sales for the energy department. He took bribes 52 times over a few years from a consultant named Martin Shain, according to prosecutors. "I'm dirty," Colello told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an emotional interview Sunday afternoon. "I made mistakes."

2. The checks ranged up to $14,130, in October 2012, but most over the next several years were for just under $5,000. He said they arrived by FedEx. "At some point, the money just started showing up," Colello said.

3. The total was nearly $300,000: $291,017. Shain, accused in the charges of making the payments, is already facing forgery charges in relation to the tax credit program.

4. According to the plea offer, Colello will serve prison time and have to pay restitution and the costs of his prosecution. "Now I'm not going to be able to watch my kids grow up," he told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

5. The charges in state court were racketeering, receiving bribes, aggravated theft, tax evasion and official misconduct charges. He pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon in Marion County Circuit Court.

Read more about the unusual case.

There is likely more to come. The plea offer says he will serve his time concurrent "to any incarceration time ordered in the related Federal case." No further explanation is included as to any federal charges.

But Bob Simonton, a key witness in the separate Shain forgery case, provides a tantalizing clue.

Simonton, who formerly worked for the Oregon University System and helped coordinate the solar project involving Shain, has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

"I'm working with the Department of Justice and the FBI on it, so I can't comment," Simonton said Tuesday night.

-- The Oregonian/OregonLive
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A driver accused of killing a teenager during a hit-and-run in Southeast Portland is on the run after he removed an electronic monitoring device issued when his native Saudi Arabia posted his $100,000 bail.

A Multnomah County Sheriff's deputy predicted it would happen.

Willamette Week's Nigel Jaquiss reports that sheriff's deputy Kari Kolberg labeled Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, 21, a flight risk in an assessment on Aug. 21, two days after he was arrested in the hit-and-run death of 15-year-old Fallon Smart.

Noorah's trial was scheduled to begin on June 26. Shortly after midnight on June 11, the battery on his GPS monitoring device died, court records show.

Officials haven't found him since.

The device was issued as part of Noorah's house arrest, a condition of his release from jail. The Saudi national is a student at Portland Community College, which he's attended since 2014.

Noorah lived with a host family in Portland, records show. The consulate of Saudi Arabia posted his bail and retained counsel for Noorah after he pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter and other charges related to the hit-and-run.

Willamette Week identified that counsel as criminal defense lawyers Ginger Mooney and David McDonald. You can read Jaquiss' full report here.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

@edercampuzano

ecampuzano@oregonian.com
Portland real-estate magnate Jordan Director Schnitzer became a dad last week -- for the fourth time.

The birth of Simon Director Schnitzer via a donor egg and a hired gestational carrier marks the second son for Schnitzer -- who has two daughters, ages 18 and 20.

The baby boy was born several days before his expected due date of Sunday, which was Fathers Day.

Simon was also the first name of Jordan Schnitzers maternal grandfather, who died in 1981.

Schnitzer offered this statement Tuesday:

It is a joy to announce the birth of Simon, who is a healthy and happy baby surrounded by love," Schnitzer said in a written statement. "I am grateful to the surrogate, anonymous egg donor and surrogacy professionals that have allowed me -- along with thousands of families each year -- to realize my dream growing my family.

Schnitzer, 66 years old and a single father, is embroiled in a heated legal fight over parental rights to his first son, Samuel, who is now about 16 months old. Samuel was born via a gestational carrier using Schnitzer's sperm and ex-girlfriend Cory Sause's egg. Sause claims she has a right to see the boy, but Schnitzer says that wasn't part of the deal and has shut her out of the child's life.

A three-week trial to determine parental rights to Samuel is scheduled in September and October in Multnomah County Circuit Court.

Schnitzer became the subject of some public criticism in March 2016, when Willamette Week broke the story that Schnitzer wanted to have a son through the in vitro fertilization and surrogacy process, but that he was giving up any claims if a daughter happened to be born.

-- Aimee Green
Police are responding to a report of a man with a gun assaulting a woman inside a North Portland home.

The Portland Police Bureau's Special Emergency Reaction Team and Crisis Negotiation Team are responding to help officers, police said in a news release. The home is on Fiske Avenue near McCoy Park.

KGW-TV reports the man is inside with a woman and child and that another child escaped the home and called 911.

Police began investigating around 9:10 p.m. Tuesday.

 The Oregonian/OregonLive
SALEM -- Dozens of tenants' rights activists gathered at the Capitol Tuesday to encourage -- and shame -- lawmakers into passing House Bill 2004, which would restrict no-cause evictions.

The bill originally allowed cities and counties to establish rent control policies, but that language was stripped out after pushback from landlord groups.

Protesters sang, danced and performed skits on the Capitol steps and walked through lawmakers' office space to pressure them to vote for the bill.

Sen. Rod Monroe, D-Portland, was the main target of demonstrators' ire. Monroe, a landlord, is seen by activists as a key Democratic holdout against tenant protections in the Senate. The bill narrowly passed the House, only to stall once it reached the Senate.

-- Sarah Silbiger and Gordon R. Friedman
A video from the dashcam of a Corvallis man has been viewed almost nine million times on Facebook.

It all started during an after work commute in the beginning of June. "It was a Friday afternoon," Mike Mathews told The Albany Democrat-Herald. "People are trying to get to their weekends."

Mathews was in Albany, headed home, when he pulled out onto a major street behind a speeding car. The car then slowed down.

"When I got behind him, he I guess decided I got too close," Mathews said.

His dash cam shows the car "brake-checking" Mathews three times in a row by stepping on the brakes in the middle of the road.

When the car went to make a left turn, Mathews followed.

The light turned green and what happened next turned Mathews' drive home into a hit on Facebook.

"It happened in slow motion," Mathews said. "He went sideways. He comes back around. He jumps up on the sidewalk and his car is left at a 45 degree angle hanging on the guide wire."

The car was hung up on the wire with zero wheels on the ground. The driver attempted to reverse but since no wheels were touching the ground, that didn't work.

Mariano Acosta Aguilera

According to the Albany Police Department, the driver of the vehicle, Albany resident Mariano Acosta Aguilera, 51, was arrested on charges of DUII alcohol and reckless driving. He was also cited for not having a driver's license.

Aguilera was booked at the Linn County Jail and immediately released.

For Mathews, the video has been a whirlwind. "Within 48 hours it had 5 million views," he told The Albany Democrat-Herald.

And he certainly isn't mad at Aguilera.

"The second his car was at a 45 degree angle, any animosity between us was over at that point," Mathews said. "I was actually concerned for his safety."

"I guess I would thank him for the adventure," he added.

You can watch the video here:

I knew the dash cam would pay dividends someday. Today I get to share my rewards with you. For licensing and usage, contact: licensing@viralhog.com Posted by Mike Mathews on Saturday, June 3, 2017

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker
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Join Dr Yassir Morsi of La Trobe University and the 2017 Visiting Scholar of the Centre for Global Migrations as he discusses how Muslims re-build and 'become Western' in a free public lecture at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

In western states, today's debate about Muslims is commonly about whether they possess the right cultural or democratic qualities. Many use a white liberal (often poorly expressed) standard to decide this. They use it to determine whether society should see Muslims as rightful members of our nation or whether Islam's lack of these qualities make Muslims a threat and an outsider within.

Dr Morsi asks what happens if we shift the discussion. What takes its place if we move away from a debate that does not begin with the question on whether Muslims 'belong'? What happens if it turns into a conversation on how (and in what ways) Muslims re-build, re-orient, sustain and 'become' (and help define what is) 'western'?

This approach will allow us to move away from notions that immigrants are hindered by their foreignness and of threats of the outsider within.

Dr Morsi is a lecturer at La Trobe University's Politics and Philosophy Department and is author of Radical Skin, Moderate Masks.

Date Thursday, 29 June 2017 Time 12:30pm - 1:30pm Audience Public,Alumni,All University Event Category Humanities Event Type Lecture

Location Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Moray Place, Dunedin. Cost Free Contact Name Centre for Global Migrations Contact Email global.migrations@otago.ac.nz Website http://www.otago.ac.nz/global-migrations

Save this event
Taipei, June 21 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen () expressed hopes that the relations between Taiwan and Honduras will be further strengthened and that the free trade pact between the two nations, which took effect in 2008, will contribute in a maximum manner to the development of the bilateral trade and economic cooperation, creating a win-win situation for the two sides.
Goose Creek, SC (29445)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms during the morning giving way to periods of light rain this afternoon. High 77F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Low 63F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
The Michigan Bean Festival and Michigan Bean Commission are seeking applicants for the 69th Michigan Bean Queen contest.

Applicants must be a high school graduate, 17 to 22 years old, single and female.

The newly crowned Michigan Bean Queen will receive a $1,250 scholarship for college, plaque, sash and official photograph. The newly crowned queen will be required to attend a minimum of 10 events throughout the year, representing the Michigan Dry Bean Industry.

For more information or an application, visit the Michigan Bean Festival website, www.michiganbeanfestival.com

The deadline to apply is July 22.
The Saginaw Valley State University Board of Control Monday unanimously approved a 5.07 percent tuition increase for in-state students as part of the institutions 2017-18 operating budget adopted during the boards regular meeting.

The new general fund operating budget of $120.9 million is a 1.4 percent increase over last years spending plan.

The tuition hike is expected to generate an additional $917,000 in revenue as the school battles declining enrollment.

Beginning in the fall semester, students now will pay $327.30 for tuition and mandatory fees, up from last years rate of $311.50. SVSU said a Michigan undergraduate student taking 30 credits will pay $9,819 for the upcoming 2017-18 academic year. Last year SVSU students were charged $9,345 for a 30-credit hour class load.

James Muladore, executive vice president for administration and business affairs, told board members that the new tuition and fee structure still allows SVSU to maintain its status as the lowest-cost option among the states 15 public universities.

Nationally were pretty much average among our peers, he said. Since 2000 through 2016 weve seen a 49.3 percent increase in tuition.

Yet that increase falls below SVSUs peer institutions during that time frame.

The average increase among the 15 public universities during this interval was 53.6 percent, said J.J. Boehm, SVSU spokesman. Our increase  on the lowest base tuition  is below average over the past decade, which underscores our commitment to affordability for students and their families.

SVSU President Donald Bachand said he empathizes with people that are concerned with the escalating cost of higher education.

I was a first-generation college student who worked full-time while going to school, so I understand that any tuition increase can be challenging for students and their families, he said. At the same time, we have a responsibility to ensure that students receive a high-quality education at the best possible value, and that we continue to invest in their future. 

Bachand said SVSU students dont take a back seat to anyone.

Our students continue to demonstrate that they can compete with the top students anywhere, as shown through their strong performance in all manner of academic competitions in recent years, he said.

SVSU is projecting a 2.6 percent decrease in credit hour production this academic year, but it did receive a 2.2 percent bump in state dollars, from $29.1 million to $29.8 million. However, Muladore said per-pupil funding from the state still lags considerably behind previous levels.

We appreciate the modest increases in our state appropriation in recent years, but we still are behind where we were when state investment in state universities was higher, Boehm said. SVSUs fiscal year state support of $3,577 per student is $1,004 less than the fiscal year 2001 appropriation of $4,581 per student.

The fiscal year 2018, which begins July 1, will see SVSU slash spending by $2.7 million and continue its trend of allocating more of its budget to financial aid, Muladore said.

We are increasing university-sponsored scholarships and financial aid to $15.1 million, compared to $14.3 million last year, Boehm said.

Cost savings, Boehm said, are being realized through employee attrition, sound energy measures and continued reductions to departmental budgets that cover supplies, employee travel and the like.

We have had several faculty and staff retire or otherwise leave SVSU this year, he said. We carefully examine those vacancies. Many of those vacant positions are going unfilled.

Boehm cited SVSUs utility expenses as a prime example of curbing expenses.

We have long been a leader in energy conservation measures, and thats one reason why our annual utility bill has fallen from $3.05 million in 2012 to $2.35 million today, even as our physical campus has expanded over that time, he said.

The board has supported numerous energy conservation projects over recent years, Muladore said.

On Monday the board approved two more at a cost of $800,000. One project involves installing LED lights to the interior of a number of campus buildings. The other one focuses on chiller room upgrades that will automate the process of heating and cooling campus buildings.

After energy savings rebates are received, the total cost to SVSU will be closer to $400,000, officials said.

Well get a payback for these two projects in one to two years, Muladore said. Normally it would take five to six years.
According to Midland resident Dick Touvell, he wouldnt be here today, enjoying his retirement, if it wasnt for three people: Family Medicine Physician William Brooks, M.D., who recently retired from MidMichigan, Urologist Anita Tekchandani, M.D., and Urologic Oncologist David Miller, M.D., M.P.H.

Six years ago, Touvell, executive director emeritus of Chippewa Nature Center, went to his primary care physician for a routine checkup. During a screening, his doctor detected something in his prostate that required further follow up. Touvell was referred to Tekchandani at MidMichigan Medical Center  Midland, who, after running some tests, determined that he had prostate cancer.

After she found the cancer, Dr. Tekchandani referred me to U-M Health, to Dr. Miller, Touvell said. This was before MidMichigan Health affiliated with them, but the coordination of care even then was excellent.

Today, in addition to seeing patients and performing surgery in Ann Arbor, Miller also sees patients at MidMichigan Medical Center  Midland.

Shortly after his diagnosis, Miller performed robotic surgery to remove Touvells cancer.

I was in the hospital for two days, and spent about two weeks recovering at home after the surgery, Touvell said. During that time, I think Dr. Miller and Dr. Tekchandani talked every day, which was great, and I imagine thats what they do for all of their patients. The care was just seamless, and the communication was phenomenal.

After his surgery, Touvell had to return to Ann Arbor to see Miller just once, and was able to complete the remainder of his post-op care in Midland with Tekchandani. Today, he sees Tekchandani once a year for a follow-up appointment.

Touvell has been cancer-free since his surgery, and is thankful he was able to return to his hobbies of hiking, biking, fishing and traveling. Having recently retired after 26 years at Chippewa Nature Center, he continues to learn about the natural world and most enjoys providing lifelong memories with his grandchildren. Touvell also volunteers in the community, most recently joining the board of trustees of the Midland Area Community Foundation.

Touvell said during his experience, he came to understand the importance of screening exams and early detection. At the encouragement of his physician, he regularly underwent prostate screening exams, which led to the discovery and treatment of his cancer at an early stage.

Early detection is key, Touvell said. Its important to talk with your doctor, and have him or her lay out all of your options and the pros and cons. We havent always had screening exams and other tools to take advantage of, but now we do. Its so important that we use them.
Midland city officials this year anticipate receiving $233,830 in federal funds, which through Community Development Block Grants will be funneled to organizations with projects to help low-income individuals.

Its about $6,000 less than budgeted, but the city has a contingency fund to cover the loss. Add carry-over and past program revenue and the total reaches $335,000 for the year, down from the originally anticipated $341,000.

That money is to go to 11 recipients, some of which include Midland County Habitat for Humanity and Midland Area Homes, senior living facilities, and beneficiaries of zero-interest home rehabilitation loans.

But as with many government operations, the wheels are turning slowly and not surely.

For the past 40 years, the federal CDBG program has doled out $2 billion to $4.5 billion every year. Grants are distributed annually to communities by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The money is typically used to help eliminate blight, bring homes to livable conditions by rehabilitation and emergency repairs, fund programs aimed at increasing affordable housing and create jobs through expansion and retention of business.

Municipalities usually get the money in the fall each year, when Congress approves funding.

However, the Trump administrations proposed $4.1 trillion budget for 2018 slashes CDBG program funding  a concern thats been on the minds of Midland officials since at least January.

The program is not well targeted to the poorest populations and has not demonstrated a measurable impact on communities, according to the administration, which says state and local governments are better positioned to serve their communities based on local needs and priorities.

To replace the block grants, HUD will expand alternative financing programs that enable state and local governments to partner with the private sector to improve affordable housing, according to a May 29 Washington Times story, which cited an agency spokesman.

Still, the Michigan Municipal League, of which Midland and many other cities, villages and urban townships are members, sees Trumps 2018 budget proposal as a $54 billion disinvestment in cities. The MML made the notion in a June 16 blog post, stating that the CDBG program is one of the key programs the budget eliminates funding for.

Congress generally gives bipartisan support to the CDBG program and the social safety net it can provide. With President Donald Trumps proposal in mind, members will decide future funding for the program in the next few months.

See a list of city-approved projects in line to receive 2017-18 CDBG funds at http://bit.ly/2sRtt5W

On April 24, city officials reiterated the uncertainty the CDBG program faces with the Trump administrations purview. Councilwoman Diane Brown Wilhelm asked where it would leave all the community organizations that need help if the program were to go away altogether.

The reality is, is that without some of this funding, these programs would either have to be discontinued or cut back, said Brad Kaye, assistant city manager. Many of these organizations are helping people with housing rehabilitation. So whether its they simply cant afford a new roof or whether they cant afford a new heater if it goes out in the middle of winter, things like that, if they dont have the funds, then unfortunately we have to try to help them the best we can to find other funding sources, of which the city would not be able to be the supplier.

After a public hearing that night (there were no comments), council members said they hope the federal money comes to Midland.

As an organization that is impacted by this we hope the money comes, too. It really does mean a lot to all of those organizations, because there are a lot of needs in our community, said Mayor Maureen Donker, who is also executive director of the Reece Endeavor of Midland, for which city officials had recommended CDBG funding.

The city set aside $10,000 to account for changes as federal officials finalize grant amounts. That more than covers the $6,170 loss. It wont result in any changes to planned activities or amounts CDBG sub recipients may receive, according to Grant Murschel, community development planner for the city.

And in some regard, it spells relief  at least until Congress passes a 2018 budget.

At this time, we do not anticipate any changes to the entitlement award amount for the 2017-18 year but it is of course still subject to final Congressional approval, Murschel said in an email.

There was so much talk of CDBG being gutted, Murschel said. But after speaking with U.S. John Moolenaar and HUD, it appears there may not be a substantial effect on the program, Murschel said at a special meeting of the Midland City Housing Commission on Monday.

Generally, urban communities with more low-income residents get a bigger piece of the grant pie. Detroit is in line to get $31 million this year, with another $5 million anticipated in Wayne County, while Flint and Genesee County combine for about $5 million; ditto for Grand Rapids and Kent County.

In the Great Lakes Bay Region, Saginaw may see close to $2 million and Bay City more than $1 million.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department.

Monday, June 19

12:05 a.m.  A Midland man, 36, was arrested in Lee Township for driving while his license was suspended. His passenger, a 26-year-old woman, was arrested on a warrant.

12:34 a.m.  A motorist was caught with an improper license plate at Jerome and Larkin streets.

7:01 a.m.  Property was stolen from the 400 block of Hemlock Street.

10:18 a.m.  A Greendale Township woman, 55, reported someone used her debit card to make purchases totaling $519.90 in the Detroit area. After investigating, it was found a Detroit man, 27, used the card number to rent a car in Warren. A report is being sent to the prosecutor.

10:42 a.m.  A Homer Township woman, 61, reported someone used her debit card to charge a total of $538.42 at various places in the country. The case is being investigated.

11:15 a.m.  Officers made an arrest for retail fraud in the 900 block of Joe Mann Boulevard.

12:12 p.m.  Police were called to the 6800 block of Eastman Avenue for a retail fraud.

2:31 p.m.  Officers were sent to the 3300 block of Lawndale Drive to investigate a case of fraud.

3:03 p.m.  A deputy was called to a Jerome Township home by a man who reported property belonging to him and his fiance was thrown out of the residence. Damage is set at $500. A report is being sent to the prosecutor for review.

3:31 p.m.  A deputy was sent to North Meridian and West Saginaw roads after the traffic light stopped working. Consumers Energy was called regarding the power outage.

3:42 p.m.  Police investigated a case of fraud in the 2100 block of Kentucky Street.

7:07 p.m.  A 22-year-old man was cited for violation of his license restrictions after he was stopped in Lee Township for not wearing a seat belt.

8:16 p.m.  A deputy assisted Child Protective Services with a home visit in Lincoln Township. The visit was for the purpose of asking a registered sex offender to leave, and the person left without a problem.

10:17 p.m.  A 29-year-old man was arrested at a Sanford home for being a parole absconder and for resisting and obstructing.

10:38 p.m.  A deputy accompanied Child Protective Services to a Lee Township home to check the well being of a boy, age 6. The boy was playing games with his father when the deputy arrived.

11:26 p.m.  A deputy issued a trespass warning after being called to a Lee Township home for a report of a woman pounding on the door. The woman was looking for her estranged boyfriend.

Thursday, June 15

10:27 a.m.  Gasoline valued at $23.36 was stolen from a Coleman gas station.

12:48 a.m.  A 49-year-old woman was arrested for domestic assault at a Midland Township home.

4:35 p.m.  A deputy was sent to a Greendale Township home to investigate a report of stolen mail.

8:40 p.m.  Deputies responded to Lincoln Township for a domestic assault involving a 56-year-old Lincoln Township man and his 23-year-old son. A report is being forwarded to the prosecutors office.
To the editor:

Midland County Habitat for Humanity would like to thank the over 250 volunteers who helped during Women Build Week this year.

From building a porch, siding the house, to constructing and roofing a garage and everything in between, volunteers were willing to assist with whatever was needed. We could not have accomplished all that we did on our new home build without the help of our volunteers and sponsors.

We would like to give a special thank you to all the crew leaders: Jerry Hahnfeld, David Summers, Phil Baker, Bill Fothergill, David Wingert, Bob Donald, Rob Mortensen, Mike Babcock, Ray Leinhouts and Don Wilson.

Thank you to the Greater Michigan Construction Academy students, instructors and staff for partnering with us on this project and their work on the initial construction phase of the house.

Thank you to Laracey Home Movers, the Midland Police Department and the Midland County Sheriffs Office for your patience and consideration coordinating a safe and successful experience for everyone, moving the house through Midland to its final destination.

Thank you to the City of Midland for your annual help and support of this event. In particular, thank you to Karen Murphy and Bart Heil.

Thank you to Great Lakes Safety Training Center (Jill Dougherty, Kelly Juday and James McDaniel) for providing safety tips on how important it is for each volunteer to work safely for both themselves and others around them.

Thank you to the several pastors that prayed over our volunteers and the projects being done throughout the week. They include: The Rev. Rhonda Myers  Chapel Lane Presbyterian Church, Pastor Wally Mayton  Memorial Presbyterian Church, Pastor Ed Doerner  Messiah Lutheran Church, Pastor Gerald Ferguson  Trinity Lutheran Church.

Also, thank you to our many sponsors and supporters. Without your financial, volunteer and in-kind support, we would not have been able to help our future homeowner attain her dream of a home for herself and her daughter.

Many thanks to all, including: Lowes of Midland, Chemical Bank, Dow Chemical Employees Credit Union, Chapel Lane Presbyterian Church, The Dow Chemical Company, Greater Michigan Construction Academy, Zonta Club of Midland, Designed by Julie, Fisher Companies, Great Lakes Safety Training Center, Isabella Bank, Valley Electrical Contractors, Inc., Members First Credit Union, Memorial Presbyterian Church, Custom Tile & Design, Midland County Treasurers & Staff, Bierlein Companies Inc., Coffee Chaos, Dow Building Solutions, Dominos Pizza, First United Methodist Church, Gordonville United Methodist Church, Grounds Coffee Midland, The Ladies of Chapel Lane Presbyterian Church, McKay Press, Menu Manager, Starbucks, Thermo-Tech Windows, Tim Hortons, Trinity Lutheran Church, Valspar and Whirlpool.

A sincere thank you to our board of directors for their continued support of the mission and the vision of Midland County Habitat for Humanity.

We look forward to working with everyone again next year at our eighth annual Women Build Week as we seek to put Gods love into action by bringing people together to build strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter.

LAURI IRELAND

Community Outreach Coordinator,

Midland County Habitat for Humanity
BLOOMINGTON  Students at Benjamin Elementary School in Bloomington will have a safe path to walk or ride their bike to school.

A 4,500-foot-long pedestrian and bike trail is being built from the Grove on Kickapoo Creek subdivision to Benjamin Elementary north of Ireland Grove Road in Bloomington.

Around 60 to 80 Benjamin students live in the subdivision less than 1.5 miles from the school, and ride the bus each day during the school year, said principal Marlys Bennington.

Right now, the only path between the subdivision and school would be the road, said Bennington. There are no sidewalks along that road and the speed limit is 45. Its well-traveled. With no sidewalks, theres no safe way to walk to school.

The City of Bloomington and McLean County Unit 5 partnered to secure a grant through Safe Routes to School project, funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The trail project will cost $265,000 and will be completed by August when kids return to the classroom. The grant from IDOT covered $160,000, Unit 5 paid $20,000 and the city paid $85,000, said Jim Karch, director of public works for Bloomington.

The City of Bloomington applied for the grant after we heard about it and thought we qualified. So we reached out to the school to gauge interest. It was a good win-win for this area, said Karch.

Bennington said the trail will give parents the chance to walk to school with their kids, and allow kids to walk or ride bikes in groups.

Its a healthy fitness option for getting to school, she said. Its also a great opportunity for families to access the fields and playground during evenings, weekends and during the summer.

The path is a standalone trail and does not connect to Constitution Trail.

Karch said the trail will run over Kickapoo Creek and through a field that will eventually become a city park.

Kickapoo Creek has been restored and is an award-winning sustainable creek system. It all ties together as an educational opportunity, a place to walk from the school and an area that will serve as a future park, said Karch.

Bennington said the prospect of a park could cultivate an outdoor learning space for the 600 students who attend Benjamin.

It would provide additional learning and park activities for those who live in the neighborhood, too. The neighborhood has 1,500 lots, so it's huge, but being in that far southeast corner of the community, there arent a lot of parks and things for kids to do outside, said Bennington.

We appreciate the City of Bloomington for all their hard work and generosity to get the grants secured and get the path installed to provide this to our families and school, she said.
NORMAL  The Heartland Community College board approved a tentative fiscal 2018 budget Tuesday with total operating revenues of $34.7 million that assumes the district will receive $2.35 million from the state  about 90 percent of what it received in fiscal 2015, the last time Illinois had a full-year budget.

The tentative operating budget calls for $34 million in expenditures.

Final approval of the budget will take place at the board's Sept. 19 meeting, which will be preceded by a public hearing at 6 p.m. in Room 2012 of the Community Commons Building on the campus at 1500 W. Raab Road, Normal.

By then, college officials will know what fall enrollment figures are and  they hope  how much money they will receive from the state, so they can adjust the final budget.

Asked after the meeting what would happen if the state still hadn't appropriated money for the college at that point, President Rob Widmer said, We certainly would not look forward to that happening.

Widmer said that in that event, the college would continue to tighten our budget and figure out how do we continue to offer a quality education for our students.

The current situation is unsustainable, said Widmer, and sends all kinds of mixed messages as to what our state's commitment to higher education is.

During the meeting, Doug Minter, vice president of business services, said the lack of a state budget "casts ongoing shadows of uncertainty." The district received only $700,000 in state appropriations in fiscal 2016 and about $1 million in the current fiscal year.

Heartland also still hopes to receive $300,000 in state funding for Monetary Award Program grants to students in the recently completed school year. The college credited the accounts of students who had been notified by the state that they qualified for the MAP financial aid grants.

The board also approved a capital request to the state to replace pavement along certain campus roads and parking lots which are showing premature deterioration.

The college has made the same request for at least five years, but funding has not come through.

If hell freezes over and this actually occurs, the state would give us $403,000  75 percent of the cost of the $537,500 project, said Minter. Heartland would pay the other 25 percent.

The request next goes to the Illinois Community College Board, then the Illinois Board of Higher Education for consideration in the state's fiscal 2019 capital budget.

In another matter, the board learned that the number of overall credit hours taken by students is down about 5 percent this summer compared to last summer, a decline of 573 credit hours from last year's 10,892. However, Widmer said there are so many variables in the summer that the enrollment drop is not an indication of what could happen in fall semester.
BLOOMINGTON  When Bloomington resident Sonny Garcia left the race for a Bloomington City Council seat in February because a felony conviction left him ineligible, he called it a systematic injustice that limits civic participation for those who have been caught up in the justice system.

Garcia now is campaigning for the creation of a Bloomington Public Safety and Community Relations Board, which would be called on to evaluate public complaints about the police department and to build relationships between the police and residents. If the council approves the commission July 10 as expected, Garcia would like a chance for people with felony records to sit on the seven-member board.

I am not 100 percent sure I would even accept a seat because I have two jobs and time constraints may prevent me from doing that, he said. But this isnt about me. There are others in my shoes who are in similar positions and are very capable of contributing.

While final language for the ordinance still is being written, Mayor Tari Renner said Tuesday that six of the nine aldermen indicated at Monday's council work session they would favor allowing people to serve if their felony convictions are more than seven years old.

Garcia, a community activist especially involved in west-side issues, would be eligible, for example, because his felony conviction for driving on a revoked license is 15 years old.

Most of the language is based on ordinances in other Illinois cities with similar boards such as Springfield, Peoria and Urbana. They had different approaches to determining membership and whether people with felony convictions can serve.

During Monday's committee-of-the-whole meeting, Garcia pleaded with city officials to ease the criminal history restrictions in membership eligibility.

You have the power to hold true to your value and make space for everyone to do good for our community, he said.

At that meeting, Renner suggested adding a provision that board members have no violent felony convictions in their past. Some aldermen said that might not be necessary because membership qualifications already include a reputation for fairness, integrity, impartiality and a sense of public service.

Like with any board or commission, appointees would be vetted and approved by the council, said Ward 1 Alderman Jamie Mathy during Monday's discussion.

In Urbana, no person with a criminal felony conviction or plea is eligible to serve on the Civilian Police Review Board, whose members must possess a reputation for fairness, integrity and a sense of public service, according to its city code. City employees and people currently or formerly affiliated with federal, state, or local law enforcement cannot be appointed.

Bloomington officials have said that no police officers would sit on the city's board.

Springfield has a seven-member Police Community Review Commission, but the citys code does not prohibit those with a felony conviction from serving on it.

It is not spelled out specifically, said Springfield Deputy Mayor Bonnie Drew, adding members are chosen by the mayor and approved by the City Council. What we have done is weve tried to reach out to a cross-section of our community."

Peoria's ordinance for its 17-member Advisory Committee on Police-Community Relations "does not disallow anyone from serving on it because of a past felony conviction, said Assistant City Manager Chris Setti. But members, who are drawn from across the city and groups such as the school district and the NAACP, are appointed or removed for cause by the mayor with confirmation by the City Council, he added.

Champaign is in the process of drafting an ordinance to create a police-review subcommittee of the city's human relations commission.
Taipei, June 21 (CNA) Approximately 18.6 metric tons of smuggled tobacco was seized at the Port of Taichung in central Taiwan early this month, Taichung Customs said on Wednesday, noting that the cut tobacco could have been used to manufacture more than 1.46 million packs of cigarettes in the hands of illegal producers in the country.
Dominique Heaggan-Brown, the former Milwaukee police officer who fatally shot Sylville Smith during an August 2016 foot chase, was found not guilty of first-degree reckless homicide on Wednesday.

Members of Smith's family could be heard crying in the courtroom as the verdict was read. The shooting death sparked days of unrest in Milwaukee.

Judge Jeffrey Conen had instructed the jury of nine women and three men to consider lesser charges in the reckless homicide trial but Heaggan-Brown was cleared of all counts.

The former officer still faces charges in an unrelated sexual assault investigation. He has been fired from the police department.

In the separate case, a man told investigators that Heaggan-Brown sexually assaulted him while off duty two days after the shooting death of Smith.

The alleged sexual assault occurred on the morning of August 15 after a night of heavy drinking at a bar where the two men "sat and watched television as coverage of the Sherman Park protests [over Smith's death] aired," the criminal complaint said.

Outside court, one of Smith's sisters called for peace and his father, Patrick, called the verdict "disrespectful."

"Why are they trained to kill when they supposed to protect and serve us?" Patrick Smith said of police officers. "There is no justice here."

He added, "I want the community to calm down and come together."

Smith's sister Sherelle had a message for young people: "Don't give them a reason to take your life. Do something different in the community, try as hard as you can to be peaceful."

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said he respected the jury's decision.

"We pursued it aggressively and we presented a strong case," he told reporters. "This is just an issue that this community had to decide. They made that decision."

The verdict comes at a time of increasingly strained relations between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve.

Heaggan-Brown was the third US law enforcement officer to be tried for a shooting in the last week. Convictions are rare.

On Friday, Minnesota police Officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of intentional discharge of a firearm that endangers safety for the fatal shooting of Philando Castile during a traffic stop last year.

In Cincinnati, a jury began deliberations Monday in the retrial of former University of Cincinnati police Officer Ray Tensing in the fatal shooting of a motorist during a July 2015 traffic stop.

"The community relies on, depends and respects their law enforcement partners," Chisholm said.

"At the same time, they understand that this tremendous amount of discretionary power is given to police officers -- the power over life and death in certain circumstances -- and they want that to be accountable. But when they look at it closely they're looking at a circumstance which was fairly unique. ... You can't compare this to St. Paul. You can't compare it to Ferguson."

Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn, in a statement via Twitter, said, "A year ago I told the public I'd seen nothing in the video that was a violation of the law or policy. The jury saw the same evidence and came to the same conclusion."

The prosecutor argued that Heaggan-Brown fatally shot Smith as the suspect attempted to surrender. But the former officer's attorney countered that his client made a split-second decision to protect his life and that of another officer.

The jury began deliberations on Tuesday, less than a year after the shooting in northwest Milwaukee's Sherman Park neighborhood.

Heaggan-Brown, 25, faced 60 years in prison.

Body-camera video from another officer -- played for the jury last week -- showed that Heaggan-Brown shot a second bullet into Smith's chest after the suspect hurled his weapon over a fence and had his hands near his head. Smith was on the ground when he received the fatal shot.

The jury heard closing arguments and deliberated about five hours Tuesday.

"Mr. Heaggan-Brown knew at the time he fired that second shot that Sylville Smith had already disarmed himself," Chisholm told the jury, CNN affiliate WISN-TV reported.

"He knew that Sylville Smith was attempting to surrender."

But defense attorney Jonathan Smith argued his client followed training and fired the second, fatal shot because he believed his life was in danger.

"The state admits that the first shot was a justified shot," the lawyer told the jury, according to the station.

"And our argument is that justification did not change over the course of 1.69 seconds between shots."

The defense rested Monday after calling its lone witness, Robert Willis, an expert in police use of force, according to WISN.

Willis testified that Heaggan-Brown acted in "accordance with his training," CNN affiliate WTMJ-TV reported.

His testimony centered on the 1.69 seconds separating the two shots. He testified the officer's decision to fire again was made before he even pulled the trigger. The second shot was justified, Willis told the jury, because officers are trained to assume a suspect may have more than one weapon.

Heaggan-Brown experienced the encounter in "real time," not in frame-by-frame motion as it was shown to the jury, Willis said, according to WTMJ.

"So when we see the trigger being pulled, we have to not consider that the moment of decision," he said. "It's not. We have to go back -- and I can't tell exactly how many frames but we have to go back two-tenths or three-tenths of a second -- we have to go back several frames ... to delve into the decision-making process that goes into firing this shot."

Willis, who wrote the use of force manual used by Milwaukee police officers, told the jury that Heaggan-Brown justifiably responded to a "deadly threat," WISN reported.

Last week, members of Sylville Smith's family gasped as body camera footage of the August 13 foot chase was played in court.

The reaction to the video, including sobs from Smith's family, caused the judge to clear the courtroom. The defense attorney called for a mistrial, saying the family's response could influence the jury, according to CNN affiliate WITI-TV. Conen denied the request.

Officer fired over a different investigation

The shooting sparked days of unrest in the Sherman Park section of Milwaukee, a city long torn by racial tensions.

Prosecutors said his first shot was justified, but not the second, according to WISN.

Heaggan-Brown's former partner, Ndiva Malafa, testified last week they were chasing Smith, 23, because they saw he had a gun.

"I saw Mr. Smith exit the vehicle. I observed the firearm and at that point, we made eye contact. At that moment, I believe I started to -- I see him running northeast. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Heaggan-Brown chase him as well," Malafa testified, WITI reported.

Malafa's body camera footage was played several times in court, according to WTMJ. Malafa also guided the jury through the footage frame by frame, the station reported.

The video picks up as Malafa jumps out of this squad car. The shaky footage shows him trailing behind Heaggan-Brown, who is chasing Smith. The suspect ran across a lawn, turned a corner and headed toward a fence but slipped before reaching it.

Smith was armed with a Glock .40-caliber Model 22 semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine containing 23 rounds.

An autopsy showed that Smith had a gunshot wound through his upper right arm and another to his right upper chest.

In the body camera audio, which was activated 30 seconds after the shooting, Heaggan-Brown was heard yelling at Smith: "Stop reaching." He moved Smith's hand away from his waist, the criminal complaint said.

Heaggan-Brown had previously said he believed Smith "was reaching for his waist so he discharged his weapon a second time."

In an interview with WITI, Smith's brother Sedan said: "It's the longest 30 seconds of my life to be able to just watch the video."

CNN's Janet DiGiacomo, Carma Hassan, Darran Simon, George Montgomery and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.
DECATUR  The E6 fire engine that Decatur firefighter Micah Bubba Wakeman rode to the rescue of countless others carried him on his final journey home Tuesday.

The gleaming red and white truck, with lights flashing but sirens silent, sat outside Life Foursquare Church in Decatur, the site of Wakeman's funeral.

The 16-year Decatur Fire Department veteran, who lived in Mount Pulaski and also loved farming, died in a tractor rollover accident June 13. The married father of four children was 43.

The truck, polished to a gleaming perfection and draped with black mourning bunting, waited for about an hour after the hourlong service. The delay was to give Wakeman's colleagues, and fellow firefighters from all over Central Illinois, time to offer him one last salute and pay their respects.

Then an honor guard in dress uniform and white gloves carried their friend from the church as other white-gloved hands rose in a slow-motion salute. Proceeding slowly behind police squad cars, the funeral procession filled with other fire, police and emergency vehicles, their lights also flashing, wound its way on the three-mile journey to Illini Cemetery in Warrensburg.

The bright weather had matched the upbeat tone of Wakeman's funeral service, which was described as a tribute to an extraordinary life well-lived rather than mourning one cut short far too soon.

Wakeman's friend Tracy Dyer, who worshiped with him at Mount Pulaski Christian Church, where Wakeman was an elder, set the tone from the beginning. Clutching a guitar as part of a four-piece band, Dyer told the hundreds of mourners he guessed they hadn't expected to hear a band at a funeral.

Well, that's because you've been duped, he said with a smile. This is not a funeral, this is a celebration.

"This is a celebration of how one not-so-little man has made an impact here and all over the world from Uganda to Haiti, to Guatemala to the Ukraine, he said, referring to his work on mission trips and as a foster parent.

Wakeman's funeral service featured a rolling montage of pictures from his life capturing his smiling, mustached face with children clinging to his neck in in far-flung parts of the world or at home with his wife Laura, and their children Ashton, Emily, Josie and Zeke, and foster children like TeNejah and Taylah.

He was described as a caring, conscientious and hardworking man who spent almost every waking moment lending others a hand.

He was the kind of man that God intended men to be, said the Rev. Mark Weber, pastor of Mount Pulaski Christian Church.
CHICAGO (AP)  Authorities say a man gunned down a woman believed to be his wife during an argument early Wednesday on a major Chicago expressway before he shot and killed himself.

Police had not been able to identify the couple as of late Wednesday morning, but they completed the initial stage of their investigation and reopened the Chicago Skyway, which connects Chicago and Indiana, about five hours after the 4:15 a.m. shooting.

The two were driving on the expressway when the vehicle stopped and the woman climbed out, Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. The man followed her for a short distance, shot her several times before he climbed back in the vehicle and shot himself, he said.

The car traveled a short distance before it crashed. Nobody else was injured. Witnesses told investigators the two were shouting at each other shortly before the shooting.

Guglielmi said investigators believe that the two were married but they were continuing to try to verify their identities.

The shooting highlights what is a growing concern for both Chicago police and the Illinois State Police: A growing number of instances of gunfire on the main roads in and out of the city.

The number of shootings on Chicago-area expressways has climbed from nine in 2012 to 54 last year, according to the state police.

CHICAGO (AP)  Police say a man and woman have been found dead with gunshot wounds on the Chicago Skyway, prompting an early-morning closure of part of the expressway that connects the city with Indiana.

Chicago Fire Department spokesman Walter Schroeder says crews responded to reports of a shooting around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday. A statement from police says the woman had multiple gunshot wounds and the man was shot in the head. It says the deaths were being investigated as a possible killing and suicide.

Police spokesman Officer Ron Gaines tells the Chicago Tribune the woman was shot in the back, and both were found unresponsive at the scene.

The Illinois Department of Transportation closed the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 east of the Dan Ryan Expressway because of the police activity.

This story will be updated.
If, like me, you've spent a lifetime trying to achieve inimitable French cool and are still yet to succeed, Her's effortless "je ne sais quoi" is only bound to frustrate you further.

The duo, comprised of Victor Solf and Simon Carpentier, have risen exponentially in the past two years to become France's go-to answer alt-RnB  recently releasing Her Tape #2, a six-track EP which examines that intricacies of intimacy. Their latest visual for single "Blossom Roses" sees the band head to the seaside in suits for what they claim is the first video where they really "embody [their] music."

"'It was important for us because the song has the most intimate and poetic lyrics we've ever written," Victor and Simon say of "Blossom Roses. "As we face personal issues, this song reminds us how important love is to overcome difficult times. Whether it's about maternal love, carnal love or friendship, we believe love is key."

Watch the moody video and catch Her this summer on their North American tour (dates below).

June 21 /// New York, NY /// SummerStage



June 22 /// Brooklyn, NY /// Baby's All Right

June 24 /// Rothbury, MI /// Electric Forest Festival

June 28 /// Toronto, ON /// The Velvet Underground

June 29 /// Montreal, QC /// Club Soda

July 15 /// Henham Park /// Latitude Festival

August 13 /// Budapest, Hungary /// Sziget Festival

August 18 /// Hamburg, Germany /// MS Dockville

August 19 /// Cologne, Germany /// C/O Pop Festival
The one and only Queen Elizabeth II promised that the United Kingdom will continue to fight against anti-gay discrimination during the Queen's Speech today in front of Parliament. The speech is usually given annually at the start of every Parliamentary year to outline the policies that ministers hope to work on and laws that need to be approved.

"My government will make further progress to tackle the gender pay gap and discrimination against people on the basis of their race, faith, gender, disability or sexual orientation," the Queen said. It is the first time that any mention of LGBTQ rights has been included in the Queen's Speech.

While the inclusion may seem relatively minuscule and expected in the grand scheme of things, it comes at a time where it's absolutely essential for the LGBT community of Britain. According to a new survey, nearly half of LGBTQ people that reside in London say that they are victims of a hate crime, while over 68% say that they worry about becoming victims in the future.

When also considering the political turmoil in the UK, including the threat of LGBT rights from more conservative political parties, the acknowledgement from an actual Queen and influential monarch that her government will fight for LGBT rights and anti-discrimination policies is all the more reassuring, and something that we should demand from other certain world leaders. Watch the entire speech below.
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Patna: Faced by the threat of losing all of their properties after the Income Tax department issued a notification of attachment of their lands and buildings, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP and daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi, on Wednesday met with the IT officials after defying summons twice in the last few weeks.

Bharti, who allegedly owns dozens of so-called 'benami' properties in Patna and Delhi to the tune of hundreds of crores, arrived at the IT office in New Delhi on Wednesday along with her husband and business partner Shailesh Kumar where she was questioned for nearly six hours to find out about their various sources of income and to trace the movement of the ownership of lands and buildings in question.

On Monday, the IT department attached their properties after the couple refused to appear before it first on June 6 and then again on June 12.

Bharti's lawyer told the IT officials that she could not appear before it due to security concerns for the RJD MP.

Bharti, along with her husband, mother Rabri Devi, two sisters Chanda and Ragini, and brother and Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejaswi Yadav, face multiple charges of acquiring properties under fictional or fake names, money-laundering, and evasion of tax.

The head of the family Lalu Prasad Yadav, meanwhile, remains out on bail in multi-crore rupees fodder scam that took place in the '90s when he was the Chief Minister of Bihar.
Patna: Setting up stage for more political drama in Bihar leading to speculations about the future of the Grand Alliance in the state, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the leader of the Janata Dal  U, ahead of his June 22 meeting of the party workers, announced his decision to support the NDA on its choice of Ram Nath Kovind as the next President of India.

A spokesperson for the JD-U, apparently with the blessings of Kumar himself, said that the party had unanimously decided to support the candidacy of Kovind who resigned a day ago as Bihar's Governor after the NDA announced his name as the next President of India to replace outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee.

"Mr. Kovind is the first Bihar Governor to be nominated for this post and we couldn't be more happier with the choice," Ratnesh Sada, the MLA from Sonbarsa in Saharsa district, and a party spokesperson, said on Wednesday.

JD-U National General Secretary K C Tyagi, confirming Sada's statement, said that the party would skip the Grand Alliance meeting in Delhi tomorrow that is scheduled to put front a candidate of its own.

Tyagi further said that the JD-U decided to support the candidature of Kovind because his tenure as Bihar Governor was very successful and he carried his duties with dignity and aplomb that is expected from the head of a state.

"This move, however, must not be seen from a political lens as this is an isolated incident and the Grand Alliance in Bihar remains intact and strong," Tyagi hurriedly added.

Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday made it clear that his party had no intention of supporting Kovind as the next President of India and instead would be supporting any other candidate put forward by the Congress and RJD jointly.

"We are going to meet in Delhi tomorrow and will support the candidate that the opposition parties would nominate jointly," the former Chief Minister of Bihar said.

When asked what did he think about his political ally and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar going against the Grand Alliance and coming out in support of Ram Nath Kovind, a candidate put forward by the NDA, Yadav chose not to answer.
Lenovo is taking on Dell EMC and HPE with its biggest portfolio refresh since it acquired IBMs x86 server business three years ago, offering a lineup of servers, switches, SAN arrays and converged systems intended to show that its a serious contender in the data center and software-defined infrastructure market.

The product launch, staged in New York Tuesday, was the first major event for Lenovos Data Center Group, in business since April. Lenovo wants to be a global player not only for the enterprise data center but also in hyperscale computing.

Lenovo is tied for third in server market share with Cisco and IBM, well behind HPE and Dell EMC, according to IDC, and has a particularly steep uphill battle ahead in North America.

The company unveiled 14 new servers, seven storage devices and five new networking fabric products at its Transform event.

This is the broadest portfolio announcement in the history of Lenovo, said Kamran Amini, executive director for the companys server and storage lines.

The ThinkServer and System x server lines will continue to be supported but going forward the new servers, storage and networking products will carry the ThinkSystem brand, complementing the ThinkAgile converged-system product family.

I believe Lenovos new branding schema is actually a pretty big deal, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. Thats partly because the company has fully put the acquisition of IBMs System x group in the past, but is also stepping forward with a comprehensive portfolio that reflects its vision of the current server market.

The company has also revamped its global channel strategy, noted Kirk Skaugen, president of the Data Center Group and up until last year general manager of Intels Client Computing Group. We took some stutter steps after the IBM server business acquisition, Skaugen acknowledged.

For example, over the past few years, Lenovo stopped offering some certifications for channel partners, Skaugen noted. That move may have slowed down Lenovos momentum in the market, since resellers who put in the time to get certified as official channel partners are typically offered incentives such as better sales margins. Without those incentives (a reseller) may just wait for the phone to ring rather than getting out there and proactively driving sales, Skaugen said.

The idea is that a more coherent global channel strategy, coupled with the new business unit structure, will allow Lenovo to more efficiently sell end-to-end solutions globally. Were bringing everything under one roof, Skaugen noted, and that is going to allow us to be more agile and move faster.

Its not unusual for a company to take a while to come up with an optimal sales and product strategy following a big acquisition, and Lenovo has been through the process before.

Similar to the market dynamics following the companys acquisition of IBMs PC group a decade ago, it took some time for Lenovos own personality and vision of the server market to come clear and solidify, King said. Id say these new and updated systems go a long way to accomplishing that.

ThinkSystem Servers

Lenovo says that its rack and tower servers will help customers implement software-defined and hyper-converged systems. Theyre designed to run in-memory databases, large transactional databases, batch and real-time analytics, ERP and CRM applications and virtualized server workloads.

The new servers include the ThinkSystem SR950, which scales from two to eight processors in a 4U form factor. Front and rear access to all major subsystems allow it to be serviced without requiring removal from the rack.

Among the newly designed ThinkSystem blades are the SN550 and SN850, which can be plugged into the Lenovo Flex System chassis, designed to let users install different, multiple processors and standard Ethernet as well as Fibre Channel switches. The SN550 and SN850 blades will support the upcoming Intel Xeon Scalable Family processor based on the companys Skylake architecture, as well SAS, SATA and NVMe disk drives.

The SD530 with the ThinkSystem D2 chassis is the new ThinkSystem entry into the 2U4N form factor, offering the option of having different I/O modules to match workload needs.

The servers will be available in the third quarter and more specs, as well as pricing, will be unveiled after Intels Skylake launch in July.

SAN Arrays

The new line of storage area network (SAN) arrays includes the ThinkSystem DS2200, aimed at small and medium-size businesses (SMBs). It can hold up to 12 3.5-inch or 24 2.5-inch hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs) internally, and supports up to 96 drives total (using three expansion units).

On the high end of the line, the DS6200 offers 12Gbs SAS, up to 16Gbs Fibre Channel, or up to 10Gbs iSCSI throughput. It can hold up to 24 2.5-inch HDDs and SSDs internally, and supports up to 240 drives total. Pricing for the SAN arrays, available in the third quarter, starts at $7,000 for the DS2200 and goes up to the mid-$20,000 level for all-flash storage with the DS6200.

Switches

New switches include the ThinkSystem NE1072T, which offers 48 10GBase-T and six 40Gbps QSFP (Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable) uplink ports. Other switches in the product family include the 32-port, 10GbE (10Gbps Ethernet) NE1032 RackSwitch; the 24-port 10GBase-T ToR (top-of-rack) NE1032T data center cloud switch; the NE2572 25 Gbs/100Gbs Ethernet aggregation leaf switch, designed to aggregate traffic from server nodes and connet to the network core; and the NE10032,100Gbs Ethernet spine switch. Prices for the switches, to be released next quarter, were unavailable at launch.

The servers, switches and SAN arrays join Lenovos ThinkAgile converged systems. The ThinkAgile brand was first introduced last year with the launch of the HX series of hyperconverged appliances.

Working with companies like Microsoft, Nutanix and VMWare, Lenovo is positioning its ThinkAgile systems to provide a beachhead into the world of software-defined infrastructure. The idea is to integrate hardware and software into systems that allow users to deploy computing, networking and storage resources through software commands rather than, for example, swapping in purpose-built hardware when they want to make changes.

The ThinkAgile family will include the Lenovo ThinkAgile SX for Microsoft Azure Stack, announced earlier this year and set to be released in the third quarter, for hybrid and private cloud deployments.

The weakest link

Though Lenovo offers the XClarity systems management tool, software is the weakest link in its software-defined infrastructure portfolio. Lenovo has I would say for the most part a partner-led strategy for software-defined (technology), said Ashish Nadkarni, an IDC analyst. In that space its mostly a partnership with some other ISV or some other company that is willing to provide the software to run on Lenovos hardware  they do the engineering and deliver it as a single SKU.

Though the strategy allows Lenovo to say they offer best-of breed software, it has risks, Nadkarni said. In fact, Lenovo has worked with hypercoverged storage vendors Simplivity and Nimble, only to see them acquired by rival HPE earlier this year.

As Lenovo readies the release of its ThinkSystems and ThinkAgile products, plans for its next big move likely involve an acquisition.

On the sidelines of the Transform event, Lenovos Skaugen acknowledged that software is a missing piece in the companys software-defined infrastructure story. When asked if Lenovo will look to make software acquisitions, Skaugen simply replied yes though declined to say whether enterprise cloud software vendor and current partner Nutanix is in the companys sights.
Uber is now a driverless vehicle, after CEO Travis Kalanick stepped down Tuesday.

Kalanick had already decided to take an indefinite leave of absence from the company, but now hes leaving for good. The move came at the request of the board of directors, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The company has already lost Kalanicks right-hand man, Senior Vice President of Business Emil Michael, following a number of gaffes including his suggestion that the company target a journalist who had been investigating the company.

Uber recently laid off another key figure, Vice President of Technology Anthony Levandowski, who headed the companys self-driving vehicle efforts. He had become embroiled in a lawsuit brought against Uber by Alphabets self-driving car subsidiary Waymo alleging theft of trade secrets, just one of the difficulties Ubers next boss must deal with.

With Uber driverless, two types of business stand to benefit.

First are competing ride-hailing companies. Theres plenty of interest in this space, with a dozen or so companies trying to break into the market in Paris alone, to judge by those exhibiting at a recent startup conference in the city. Thats significant, as Paris is where Kalanick is said to have come up with the idea for Uber.

The other companies that stand to profit from Ubers losses are autonomous vehicle designers, who now face less competition for key staff  and may find some technologists at Uber now more willing to switch employers.

Uber is already struggling to recruit enough engineering expertise of its own. As of Wednesday, it listed 124 vacancies in its advanced technology group and 310 additional engineering vacancies across the company, including roles in machine learning and in its artificial intelligence labs.

The departure of Kalanick and Michael may allow the company to change its widely criticized corporate culture.

With its plans to replace drivers with self-driving vehicles now receding into the distance, Uber is already making moves to make its drivers happier. Late Tuesday, Head of U.S. Operations Rachel Holt and Head of Driver Experience Aaron Schildkrout sent an email to Uber drivers and delivery partners promising a 180-day program of changes. These will include the introduction of tipping, payments for waiting time and cancelled trips, and bonuses for transporting teenagers.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, will pay a 3-day state visit to the Republic of Zambia at the invitation of the Zambian President, His Excellency Edgar Lungu.



The visit by President Akufo-Addo would be the third visit to be paid by a foreign Head of State to Zambia, following visits from President Rajaonarimam Pianina of Madagascar and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.



It would be recalled that at a media briefing on May 29, 2017 in Accra, Zambias Minister for Foreign Affairs, Harry Kalaba, stated that President Akufo-Addo would undertake his visit from June 26 to 29, 2017.



Activities while in Zambia



He said that President Akufo-Addo, while in Zambia, would hold bilateral talks with President Lungu, and, among other activities, would be the Special Guest of Honour at the opening of the 5th Zambia International Trade fair in Ndola.



Mr Kalaba pointed out that the Zambian Government recognised the importance of enhancing cooperation with other Africa countries in achieving sustainable development.



It will be recalled that President Edgar Lungu was in Ghana for the inauguration of President Akufo-Addo on January 7, 2017.



Ghanas exemplary democracy



Speaking to journalists during the inauguration in Accra, President Edgar Lungu noted that Ghana was a testament that democracy in Africa was alive and was a well-entrenched system of governance for African countries to embrace.



President Lungu stated that Ghana had demonstrated to the world that democracy in Africa was an inherent way of life worth emulating by other African countries, adding that



Ghanas veritable democracy of successful elections and peaceful transition of power is a mark worth emulating by other African countries.



Need to strengthen ties



Later, President Lungu conferred with President Akufo-Addo and said there was the need to strengthen ties between the two countries whose relations were historical.



President Akufo-Addo accepted an invitation by President Lungu for the visit to Zambia to further cement ties, especially on trade.



President Lungu was of the view that the chambers of commerce of the two countries should be meeting more often to exchange ideas on areas of possible investments in the respective nations.

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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Captain Dennis Mahama Adam (Retired), father of Major Maxwell Adam Mahama who was gruesomely murdered at Denkyira-Boase in the Upper Denkyira West District of the Central Region, has cautioned the public against taking vengeance over the death of his son.



He called on his friends, the citizenry who sympathized with the family to take heart and allow the security agencies to thoroughly conduct investigations into the matter and unravel the ,main culprits behind the dastardly act.



According to him, Ghanaians should not be swayed by conduct of residents of Denkyira-Boase by visiting violence on the wrong persons.



Dont let us do what the Denkyira-Boase people did by catching the wrong person and lynching him. ,Dont let us do that at all. I have confidence in the police, I have confidence in the army and above all the president of the republic of Ghana who has declared and given orders to the security to bring out the culprits, so we shall get justice for Maxwell he declared on Tumu-based Radford Fm.



The retired army Captain said the he trust the information that has come out so far about the investigations and believes that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) boss, the Inspector General of Police and the Ghana armed Forces will come out with the best result in order to prosecute the perpetrators.



About 60 suspects have so far been arrested in connection with the incident with the latest being 7 who were on Friday remanded by an Accra Central District Court including; Akwasi Baah, Solomon Sackey, Kwame Agyei, Joseph Appiah Kubi (aka Kum Dede), Akosua Takyiwaa (aka Maabono), Esther Dauda (aka Asha) and Michael Kumah (aka Kojo Anim) to reappear on June 21, 2017



All suspects have been provisionally charged with two counts of murder contrary to section 46 of the criminal code and other offences act of 1960, Act 29 as well as conspiracy to commit crime to wit murder: contrary to section 23(1) and 46 of the criminal and other offences act 1960 (Act 29).

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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Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said that Ghanas first leader, Kwame Nkrumah, plunged the country into chaos and virtually eradicated democracy.



Ex-President Kufuor, who was interacting with the leadership of the International Democratic Union (IDU) which paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Accra on Tuesday said Dr Nkrumah misused Ghanas resources and plunged the country into poverty.



Explaining further, he pointed out that by 1963, our then President Nkrumah, left of centre politician, moved the country into a one-party state with a lot of intolerance; he built a whole prison just 22 miles of Accra for detention of political opponents.



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.



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]



He indicated that it was after 1992 that the country became stable and democracy was introduced and hopefully has been strengthened over the years.



The IDU, of which the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is a member, is a working association of over 80 Conservative, Christian Democrat and like-minded political parties of the centre and centre right.



The NPP was able to join the IDU courtesy the intervention of Mr Kufuor when he was the president of the Republic of Ghana.



Therefore, the leadership of the Union deemed it fit to pay a courtesy call on him before the commencement of a meeting by the IDU in Accra.

Source: classfmonline.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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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 Ghanas 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.

Source: GNA









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The Public Communications Director of the Nigerian Police Force, Chief Superintendent [Supt.] Jimoh Moshood has confirmed to NEAT FMs morning show dubbed Ghana Montie that apprehended Billionaire kidnapper, Chikwudubem Onwuamadike alias Evans has a local Ghanaian name in his Ghanaian passport.



But Supt. Moshood was handicap to give out the exact local name when asked by host Kwesi Aboagye  but maintains that investigation is ongoing so we do not want to reveal that name now to the public.



The issue of the notorious kidnaper who was arrested two weeks ago in his mansion in Nigeria with a Ghanaian passport was made public by the Inspector General for the Nigeria Police Force, Ibrahim Kpotun Idris.



Speaking at the West Africa National Security Conference at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra, the Nigeria security capo said the kidnapper; Chikwudubem Onwuamadike was found to have a Ghanaian passport.



He has two houses in Accra and "his family is based in Ghana here," Kpotun Idris told the meeting of security officers.



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.



However, Supt. Jimoh Moshood in an interview with NEAT FM noted that their office has picked up intelligence indicating that the billionaire kidnaper has a gang probably operating in Ghana.



I cant be able to give a single case but weve had complains from Ghana and another neighboring countries to Nigeria. We are not ruling out other possibilities because he has a Ghanaians passport with a Ghanaian name. That is even a crime, but we cant reveal his Ghanaian name now to the public, he noted



Jimoh Moshood also noted that the Nigerian police force will collaborate with the Ghanaians police to investigate how Evans had his passport and other relating issues that will pop out. We will work with the Ghana police to gather all other information needed from them.





Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Washman007









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The ability of a notorious Nigerian kidnapper to obtain a Ghanaian passport is a reflection of the porous security in Ghana that must be addressed immediately, Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, an international relations expert and Director of Academic Affairs at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, has said.



He also said it showed how poorly Ghana had managed its affairs because over the years some other foreigners had also had access to Ghanaian passports.



His comments follow remarks by the Inspector General of Police for the Nigeria Police Force, Ibrahim Kpotun Idris, revealing that a top Nigerian kidnapper who was arrested by the Nigerian Police two weeks ago had a Ghanaian passport as well as properties and a family in Ghana.



The Nigerian IGP had further disclosed that Chikwudubem Onwuamadike, known simply as Evans in Nigeria, confessed to being a former drug trafficker. The Nigerian police chief said the suspect always charged his ransom in dollars.



Mr Idris made the revelation at the ongoing West Africa National Security Conference at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra on Tuesday, 20 June, 2017.



Last week, we arrested a kidnapper... He has houses in Ghana and his family is based here in Ghana and thats the only kidnapper that kidnaps and demands ransom in dollars. He has collected about $6million so far in ransom and he can keep his victim for as long as six months even if it means paying this ransom in instalments. Its sad that he keeps somebody for six months and doesnt release the victim until that money is paid in full, Mr Idris said.



I was told his family is in Ghana and he has two houses in Ghana and I even have the addresses. Finally, the importance of actionable intelligence sharing cannot be overemphasised as today, through some exchange of information; Nigerians are celebrating the arrest of the Nigerian-Ghanaian. I say Nigerian-Ghanaian because hes a Nigerian but he also has a Ghanaian passport and that is something you people have to look at, the Nigerian police chief cautioned.



Speaking on this development in an interview with Accra News Abena Korantemaa Agyapong on Wednesday June 21, Dr Antwi-Danso said: It is worrying that the Nigerian kidnapper had access to a Ghanaian passport. This is an indication that we are not managing our affairs well. It shows that everybody can easily get a Ghanaian passport no matter where the person is coming from.



How come our security is so loose that anybody can get access to our passport? That is very disturbing.



When asked whether this development would be a blot on Ghanas international image, he said: We will be noted as a country whose security is very lax, a country with loose security arrangements. But that wont damage our relationship with them. It only reinforces the need to strengthen.

Source: Accrafm









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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Professor Ransford Gyampo, Head of the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, has indicated that he at a point cautioned the late Major Maxwell Mahama not to make his gun visible to others, especially when off duty.



Prof Gyampo, who taught the late Major Mahama at the University of Ghana, explained on Accra FM on Friday June 9: I know he was a very respectful person. I remember at the University of Ghana, he one day came to class with his pistol and made it visible, and some of the students got scared upon seeing the gun. And, so, I drove him out of the class, but as he was walking out from the class he humbly explained to me that he had to quickly rush to class from work and that was why he brought the pistol to class.



I understood that explanation and advised him that in such a case, he should try and hide the pistol from people especially when he was attending class because not everyone would feel comfortable with a gun around.



When I heard the report, whether it is true or not I cannot tell for now, that the people who lynched him spotted a gun on him, I quickly remembered that advice I gave to him some years ago, but nonetheless the people who carried out this heinous crime must be made to face the full rigours of the law, they must be punished by the law to serve as a deterrent to others.



We all know it is very painful and traumatic when attacked by robbers or thieves, but that doesnt justify instant justice.



The late Major Maxwell Mahama will be buried today, Friday June 9, at the Osu Military Cemetery with full military honours after a vigil was held in his honour on Thursday night.



As part of the burial ceremony, some roads in the capital have now been closed to motorists.

Source: classfmonline.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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Having been overwhelmed by the high profile corruption scandals that have hit his six month old government, President Akufo-Addo is now banking hopes on the support of Ghanaians and God to fight the canker he promised would never happen when he is elected President.



Addressing Ghanaians resident in the United Kingdom recently, President Akufo-Addo helplessly said to the extent that God gives me health and strength; I am going to do my best to make sure that the fight against corruption is won.



The almost-daily reported cases of corruption are contrary to President Akufo-Addos campaign promise that there will be no place for corruption in his government. The New Patriotic Party government has been struggling to come clean on the many allegations of corruption being reported, six months after taking over the leadership of the country.



Even as the government has been hit with accusations of corruption since January this year, President Akufo-Addo is yet to institute one investigation into any of the allegations and/or, punish any officials involved.



The Presidents loud silence and perhaps, inaction in various alleged cases of corruption calls into question his commitment to rooting out the canker.



Leading members of the NPP have been fuming over corrupt practices in the barely six months-old government which they say, are known to President Akufo-Addo, but he has overlooked them and instead, keeps reechoing his promise to fight corruption.



Social media communicators of the NPP have in recent time resorted to using syndicated message to warn Ministers and appointees of the Akufo-Addo administration to desist from acts of corruption or risk being exposed.



One such message, which is on the walls of most NPP facebookers, reads and let me make this point clear. Any appointee of the Ghanaian government who engages in any act of corruption, misappropriation or malfeasance of the poor taxpayer's money should count some of us as the lead campaigners for such person's dismissal and onward prosecution. Some of us are from very poor background and we know and understand the damage such acts has done to the majority of the people. Ghanaians changed the NDC to see a difference not a continuation. Don't be caught or else......



Another staunch member of the NPP based in Kumasi, Daveleo Dorwobor, is also accusing the Akufo-Addo government of corruption, insisting that governments decision to award a contract to Zoomlion Ghana limited to collect governments proposed towing levy indicates that President Akufo-Addos promise to fight corruption is a facade.



On his facebook wall, Mr. Daveleo wrote any government that happily engages Zoomlion for any contract, I am sorry, is nothing but a very corrupt government. And it seems the NPP has fallen flat into the corruption trap. I shall be back.



Sources at the seat of government have told The aL-hAJJ that members of the NPP are overly worried that the looting going on in the infant Akufo-Addo government may soon get to the public and that will be detrimental to the President and the NPP, hence the warnings.



Stunned by the level of corruption in the new NPP government, Brong Ahafo regional Youth Organizer of the party, Kwame Baffoe aka Abronye DC has, out of anger, resigned from a presidential taskforce set up by Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, to retrieve alleged stolen state vehicles.



Reports are that some senior officials at the seat of government are selling some of the seized or retrieved state vehicles to themselves and their cronies at chicken feed prices. This, sources say, angered Abrony DC, leading to his resignation.



Short of confirming the scandal that has hit his taskforce, Abronye DC said, President Akufo-Addo and some senior officials at the Flag Staff House frustrated his resolve to retrieve state vehicles from past government officials.



The exercise, he said, would be a futile one because government officials who are supposed to be supporting the retrieval of the missing state cars are rather supporting wrongdoing by calling for the return of the said cars to those thought to be in illegal possession of them.



Let me use your platform to tell those officials at the Flagstaff House that most of the confiscated cars are parked at the Regional Coordinating Council. They can go and pick them and return to the people we retrieved them from. I, Abronye DC, will not worry myself and drive to Sunyani to go for the cars.



I dont care anymore if anyone steals state cars, whether NPP or NDC, they can make away with state cars; I dont care. I cannot be doing this donkey work anymore for some officials at the Flagstaff House to tell us that we should return the cars because the seizures are creating tensions in the country. How on earth can somebody be doing this? Henceforth, no journalist should call me to ask me about stolen cars.



Cash for Appointment



Bigwigs of the governing party have also, openly accused other party kingpins of taking bribes and other goodies from NPP members with hopes of securing them positions in the Akufo-Addo government.



Last recently, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djabah disclosed that Northern Regional Chairman of the NPP, Daniel Bugri Naabu, took money, cow and other goodies from party members with hopes of convincing the President to appoint them to their preferred positions.



"I want him to stop telling lies about me and to stop collecting peoples things and promising them jobs he cannot give. When he goes and does that, after he has collected their money and their cows and goats, then he will come and put the trouble on Otiko. Otiko will not accept it. If Bugri wants trouble from me then the trouble will come, she fumed.



Just when the Otiko and Bugri Naabu scandal was about losing steam after the duo were instructed to apologize to the party, Deputy Central Regional Organizer of NPP, Mathew Botchwey affectionately called California also blew the lid on how his Chairman, Robert Kutin was allegedly collecting money from outsiders in for appointments.



California revealed that one Abdallah, identified as a son of the producer of Mercy Cream, paid the sum of Hundred Thousand Cedis (GH100.000.00) to Robert Kutin to influence his chances of securing a DCE slot but all to no avail. Chairman Robert Kutin has since denied the charge and has threatened court action.



Allegations of bribery have also characterized appointment of MMDCEs and other appointments to state institutions and other acts of corruption including questionable sole-sourcing contracts at COCOBOD among others.



Corruption Here, Corruption there



Mr Bugri Naabu and the Northern regional branch of Contractors Association have also accused their regional Minister, Salifu Saeed, of extorting money from contractors and businessmen in exchange for government contracts.



This allegation was contained in a statement signed by Chairman of the association, Alhaji Iddal and one Alhaji Tono Man. This was said to have irked Mr Naabu who was reported knocking on the doors of the President Akufo-Addo to sack the regional Minister.



Director of Operations at the Presidency, Mr Lord Commey, has also been accused of taking GHC250, 000 a week from a kingpin of the opposition NDC at National Lottery Authority to save him from being sacked by President Akufo-Addo.



The former NPP National Organizer has however refuted the allegation in a lengthy and strongly worded rejoinder, insisting the allegation was false and unfounded.



Harbor Fiasco



There are reported cases of missing vehicles, goods and other items confiscated at the various ports since the NPP dispatched some of its members to takeover the management of the countrys ports.



Sources at the ports say importers and freight forwarders have for some time now been complaining about missing seized imported vehicles and goods.

Prime among the missing items since NPP took over the management of the country was the mysterious disappearance of 10 bags of cocaine worth $30 million from the Tema port.



Ken and Agyarko Scandals



Two Cabinet Ministers in the Akufo-Addo government have so far had their fair share of corruption allegations with one being cleared of the charges in a widely criticized parliamentary committee report.



Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, was accused by MP for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga and two others of bribing minority legislators on the Appointment Committee with GHC3000 each to facilitate his approval.



The money was said to have been channeled through Chairman of the committee, Joe Osei Owusu and Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak. However, a committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament chaired by Joe Ghartey cleared Mr Agyarko of the allegation in a report that has been described by anti-corruption agencies and campaigners as face saving report.



Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta is also battling to clear his name in a conflict of interest and inside trading accusation lodged with CHRAJ over a $2.25 billion bond issued to Franklin Templeton whose board member, Trevor Trefgarne is also board chairman of the Finance Ministers company, Enterprise Group.



Policy Think Tank, Strategic Thinkers Network (STRANEK), is also demanding that Mr. Ofori Atta resigns from his position pending the outcome of CHRAJs investigations.



Ministers blocks DVLA?



In what has been described as swift move to prevent another corruption scandal hitting the Akufo-Addo government, Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has instructed the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to suspend its intended introduction of Smart Drivers License and Vehicle Registration Cards.



A letter dated June 14, 2017 ordered that the two projects be suspended until the necessary approvals have been sought. I wish to refer you to the discussion I had with you on the subject for which drew your attention to the need to obtain approval from the Ministry and Cabinet before implementation of such major projects.



Corruption on the Rise



President Akufo-Addos claim his administration is winning the war against corruption has been rubbished by anti-graft campaigner and former NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, P C Appiah Ofori, who says corruption is on the ascendency.



Corruption is seriously wreaking havoc to our economy because we have monies that are supposed to be used for various developmental projects diverted into personal pockets crippling the economy, he disclosed on Kumasi-based Abusua Fm.



A Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Koku Anyidoho, has said corrupt practices so far recorded in the Akufo-Addo government is a tip of the iceberg, insisting, there are more shocking revelations and rot at the presidency yet to hit the public domain.



Responding to Abronye DC, the NDC deputy General Secretary said he does not respond to utterances by Abronye however, his outburst has more hidden agenda and Ghanaians will be shocked in the coming days.



According to him, it has emerged that officials at the seat of government are selling Toyota Land Cruisers at GHS2000. The truth will certainly come out. Ghanaians should embrace themselves for more discovery of rot at the presidency, he noted.

Source: alhajjnewspaper.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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Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia last Saturday won the hearts of Muslims in Accra when he assured them of shouldering the cost of the annual Eid El Fitr activities at the Independence Square and the subsequent Eid El Adha the first by a Vice President.



He made the promise when he attended the ceremony marking the end of the Quranic commentary by the National Chief Imam at the Abossey Okai Central Mosque, Accra.



Every year when Eid El Fitr is due, a committee goes about soliciting funds to rent canopies and other items for the celebration at the Independence Square.



One of members of the Eid Committee, Alhaji Musa Baba expressed his gratitude to the Vice President because, as he put it, he would no longer go about cup in hand seeking support for the celebration.



The Vice President said besides the forthcoming Eid El Fitr, he would fund subsequent events.



He had earlier hosted the first Iftar, the communal breaking of the fast at the Flagstaff House; invitation which was opened to all parties, the NDC receiving 30 invitations.



He told the hundreds of guests that the religious activity to which he invited them was not political adding unity should be upheld by all Ghanaians.



The National Chief Imam while expressing the gratitude of Ghanaian Muslims to the Government of Nana Addo and Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia said that we ought to show our gratitude to Allah and to this government for their efforts to unite the Muslim Ummah (regardless of party colors) and we ought to thank them very much for the courtesies being accorded us especially the STATE IFTAR at the Flagstaff house which has never happened before although we have been hosted before but not at the flagstaff house and not in this form and style.



Continuing he said I dont do politics as everyone knows but I am setting the records straight. We must show our gratitude to Allah and to the people who do good to us by praying for them if we can.



The Vice President welcomed his guests thus It is a pleasure to welcome you, my noble guests, on behalf of his excellency the President and the Government, I would like to express my gratitude for accepting my invitation to this Ramadan Iftar (Breakfast) gathering, hoping that such religious meeting will continue to reach common principles to achieve reforms for our nation as a whole, and our beloved country, Ghana, in particular.



One of the cardinal tenets of Islam has to do with the devotion of the self to a month of abstinence. The month of Ramadan, which we are yet to conclude, is a month when Muslims around the world are constantly reminded of values that are crucial to leadership driven by public morality and targeted at effective governance. These values include: tolerance, patience, fairness, forgiveness, charity, sacrifice, truthfulness and so on. Ramadan is a period of contemplation, reflection, compassion and reconciliation for the benefit of self and society, both materially and spiritually, he said.



The observance of Ramadan, he went on, should be a means to bring strength and the earnest will to live in peace together with fellow humans. It is a month when we extend our hands to all of humanity in genuine brotherhood.

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 President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, swore in the former Chief Justice of the Republic, Georgina Theodora Wood, as a Member of the Council of State.



It will be recalled that on the 14th of February, 2017, President Akufo-Addo announced the composition of the membership of the Council of State. Since there was no living former Chief Justice, at the time, the President was unable to propose a name for the approval of Parliament, in accordance with Article 89(2)(a)(i).



It is for this reason that the President on Tuesday swore in the former Chief Justice as a Member of the Council of State, after the retirement of Chief Justice Georgina Wood.



In his remarks, after the swearing-in ceremony, President Akufo-Addo, in the presence of other Members of the Council, noted that I think that this is a body that will benefit considerably form your experience, from all that you have been doing in your life, up till now.



The membership of the Council, the President noted, puts together people from all walks of life and from different contributions to our national development.



However, yours is unique, the first female head of the Judiciary, the longest serving Chief Justice we have had in our history. Those, in itself, provide a rich vein of information and of service that you can add, the President added



The President continued, I know that your work will enhance even more the work that is being done (by the Council of State). I am happy that I have had the opportunity to swear you into office, and I know that you are going to do a good job for all of us.



On her part, Georgina Wood thanked President Akufo-Addo for the honour to serve on the Council of State.



She assured the President of her full co-operation, contribution and assistance in service to the people of Ghana.



Mr. President, 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 through various means  job creation, improving the economy, 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 and the experience that I have gained over this 47 years, she added.

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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The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, has praised Prof. Kwesi Botchwey and his team for coming out with a report that explains factors that led to the defeat of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) during last year's elections.



Mr. Antwi-Boasiako however fears the current crop of unrepentant" NDC leaders would not attach any form of seriousness to the document which numbers over 455-page.



Considering the volume of the report, Mr. Antwi-Boasiako also known as Chairman Wontumi noted that You don't expect executives who are constantly at loggerheads like Kofi Portuphy, Aseidu Nketia and Kofi Adams to read the report. The report is likely to end up in a dustbin since most of the executives are not interested in it".



He continued that Prof. Kwesi Botchwey and his team have embarked on a fruitless exercise. No on in the NDC would listen to them because the same set of leaders that caused their defeat are still at post. The committe has played a vital role but the saga would end up being a circus".



According to Antwi-Boasiako, until the party NDC is exorcised from "corruption" , they would struggle to cross 1 million votes in future general elections.



Speaking to Peacefmonline.com, Chairman Wontumi stressed that the previous NDC adminstration led by ex-president John Mahama, made corruption look like a legit act and that contributed heavily to their defeat.



He therefore challenged Prof. Kwesi Botchwey to include the disastrous role former President Mahama played in the party's defeat.to his report and shame him for misleading the party.



"Ghana under Mahama was a failed state. He and his cronies who were incharge made corruption look legit, forgetting that Ghanaians were waiting to punish him severely in the elections.



If you should ask my opinion on why they lost the elections, I will say the leaders of the NDC didn't treat their founder with respect. They pushed him out from the party and made his wife feel terrible as well.



Ghanaians also wanted them out to know the circumstances under which our late former president Prof. Mills died. It was a mystery to be solved and lastly, Ghana under the Mahama led government killed our economy. A lot of business folded up and unemployment rate kept soaring high", he said.



The 13-member Kwesi Botchwey committee has presented a 455-page report to the partys executives and charged them to listen to the voice of the grassroots.



The committee has also recommended that it was time for the party to find means of collating its own results from the polling stations to the top independently.



The report, titled, listening to the grassroots, said the NDC must take urgent steps to restore the integrity of the register and advises that it was important for elders and eminent people go round to sooth people and calm tempers to restore an environment of trust and unity in the party so as to create the foundation for the partys restructuring.





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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The search is on for the bloke who stole a Canadian bars signature mummified toe.

We didnt know our friends in the Great White North were allowed to keep legitimate human body parts as cocktail garnish either, but here we are, angry at the dude who stole the disembodied digit.

I drank a shot with a mummified human toe in it. Dawson rite of passage. #tourstories #thiswasinmymouth #sourtoecocktail A post shared by Santana Berryman (@santanaberryman) on Jun 2, 2017 at 3:56pm PDT

The toe, which is the most important ingredient of The Sourtoe Cocktail at Dawson Citys Downtown Hotel, was nicked by a man whod signed up to try the local tradition: a whiskey shot with the famous appendage dropped right in.

A post shared by Kent Henry (@kent.henry29) on Apr 6, 2015 at 6:18am PDT

Those who drink the cocktail are meant to let the toe touch their lips, but theyre never meant to put the thing in their mouth, or god forbid, swallow it. The last time someone did ingest the foul nugget was in 2013, and it was such a huge deal the national broadcaster made a documentary about him.

Toe Captain Terry Lee, the traditional guardian of the toes, released a statement after the disappearance. Old mate writes we are furious at the despicable act, and stunts like this adversely affect the whole community, not just the Downtown Hotel.



We fortunately have a couple of back up toes, but we really need this one back.

Lee has vowed to enforce the CAD $2,500 fine, unless the toe  which was donated by a bloke whod had it amputated  is safely returned to the Downtown Hotel.

Fortunately, the spud in question left his Sourtoe Cocktail certificate, which bears his name, at the bar. The hotel also passed along details of his appearance and accent to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who are investigating the incident.





Godspeed, little toe.

A post shared by Yukon Hotels (@yukonhotels) on Apr 15, 2016 at 8:24pm PDT

Source: Global News / CBC.

Photo: @yellow_brick_road / Instagram.
Are you ZANEROBEs next MVP? Theyre looking for a gun up-and-comer to come on board as Junior Operations and Customer Service Support (SYD). The role is diverse and will require someone who is super organised and can manage expectations and requirements across departments. If you have a keen eye for detail, strong communication skills and a history of killing it at customer service roles, get in touch now.

Do you have an obsession with social media AND fashion? Are you looking to get your foot in the door at a key childrens fashion retailer? Are you ready to explore your own creativity and contribute to an existing social media strategy? Huxbaby is on the hunt for a Social Media & Digital Marketing Intern (MELB) to join the team. You will be assigned a mentor and will be expected to work fairly independently on your own projects. Getting excited? Let them know here.

COOPER ST has been a stalwart of Australian fashion for almost 30 years. Join them as a Junior Fashion Designer (SYD) and be mentored by an experienced senior designer. You will need strong CAD and Adobe Suite skills, efficient time management and at least 3 years experience. If youre keen to get into a fast paced role creating monthly collections, shoot them your details now.

Like to keep things to the point? Check out these roles:

Gowns get you going? Join Suzanne Harward as a Bridal Couture Sample Sewing Machinist / Dressmaker (MELB). You will have 5 years experience in garment construction and excellent time management skills. Get all the info now.

Become a Fit Model (SYD) for top model house Carl Kapp. Must-haves include good communication skills and attitude. Get in touch here.

Free on July 23? Be a Bridal Dress Assistant (MELB) for Bridal Expos Australia. Youll dress models for the runway in bridal gowns from exclusive designers. Apply now.

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The question of what exactly happened to Otto Warmbier in North Korea will, sadly, probably never be answered.

Warmbier died mere days after being evacuated in a coma from the DPRK on humanitarian reasons, with US medical care discovering the 22-year-old had suffered a severe neurological injury, and had effectively been unconscious for as long as a year.

Coronial investigators in the United States had received Warmbiers body and were expecting to conduct an autopsy on him, but balked at the last minute when they revealed the internal post-mortem would not go ahead, after his family urged the coroner to not go ahead with it.

On paper, this seems like a strange decision; after well over a year in North Korean-captivity, definitive answers might have provided some sense of closure to the family.

But in reality, Warmbier had been unconscious for so long that any autopsy was unlikely to answer any questions as to what exactly happened to him.

Werner Spitz, a forensic pathologist with a string of high-profile cases in his resume (including the likes of JFK, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Jon-Benet Ramsey, for example), asserted that the amount of information that a potential autopsy could reveal would be extremely limited in Warmbiers case.

After a year of this fellow being unconscious, it is a futile effort. He essentially died a year ago. But being on life support maintaining him artificially there are a lot of things that will not show any longer.

In essence, any cuts, bruises, or abrasions that might point to physical abuse would have healed by now. Any bone breaks or damage to internal organs suffered might have left scars, but after a years worth of healing  supported by life support  it would be next-to-impossible to tell exactly when the initial injuries occurred.

An autopsy may have been useful in examining Warmbiers brain for signs of anoxia  restricting the supply of oxygen to the brain. Spitz states that, in this case, an autopsy might have been useful, but it still would not provide a definitive explanation.

Certain areas of the brain are more susceptible to oxygen deprivation than others. When those areas are affected, that tells you a lot about what happened in the past. And since he was conscious and well when he went there, and shortly he became unconscious, that all adds up together not necessarily in their favour over there.

The problem here being that for any definite answer to be drawn, investigators would have to be in possession of medical history and documented history of treatment from North Korea itself, which is (obviously) not very forthcoming. In cases of anoxia, likely causes range from drug overdoses to strangulation or asphyxiation.

But without cooperation from the DPRK, it is  tragically  a case that will simply never be fully understood.

Warmbier was initially arrested in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years hard labour for, allegedly, stealing a propaganda poster from a hotel while on a sponsored trip.

His family has not commented publicly on the post-mortem investigation.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald.

Photo: Twitter.
A Melbourne man has died after contracting an incredibly rare mosquito-borne virus in Phuket.

The man, who was in his 60s, fell ill with Japanese encephalitis while visiting the Thai capital in early May. Upon return to Australia, he reported lethargy and significant difficulties staying awake. After being admitted to Royal Melbourne Hospital, he was transferred to the intensive care unit. It was there the man died.

The virus itself is very rarely reported in Australia, with only ten cases on record since 2001. While we have the mosquitoes capable of carrying the virus, it exists primarily in wild birds that arent native in Australia, and in pigs, which are similarly removed from areas where the virus is more prevalent.

Its not yet known how exactly the man fell ill with the virus.

Its estimated that the odds for a tourist contracting the illness in an area like Thailand are somewhere in the vicinity of one in 500,000, to one in a million. Of those who do fall ill with Japanese encephalitis, 20% or 30% will die from the resulting brain infection.

Steven Tong, a doctor who treated the man, said unfortunately this guy was just very, very unlucky.



Despite the incredibly low chances of being bitten by a mosquito with Japanese encephalitis, there are a couple of vaccines available to Australians. Experts also recommend using regular old insect repellant and mosquito nets where possible.

You can catch up on more details about the virus, some of the precautions you can take against it, right HERE.

Source: ABC / The Age.

Photo: Mario Tama / Getty.
An officially certified gronk in Algeria has been sentenced to two years behind bars for holding his relatives baby over a high-rise balcony, posting a photo of the act on Facebook, and writing 1,000 likes or I will drop him.

Pretty shortly after the dumb-as-rocks photo was shared online, social media users called for the dude to be arrested and tried for child abuse. Police then went ahead and did just that, charging him with endangering the bewildered kids life.

In court, the man claimed that the offending image had been photoshopped by other users. The kids father also urged for him not to be locked up, claiming that he was just goofing around. Regardless, the judge binned that claim.

Psychologist Dr Noura Rahmani told The New Arab she believed the man was unaware of the magnitude of this heinous act which he has committed.



In the future, the child may suffer from episodic fits resulting the fear he endured in this act.

Yeah, look. Dont dangle young kids off balconies.

Source: BBC.

Photo: BBC / Facebook.
Who says you cant find love in the artificially manufactured conditions of a reality show? Not Georgia Love and Lee Elliott, thats for sure, who are celebrating their one year anniversary after meeting on The Bachelorette in front of half a dozen cameras and a donkey.

(Belated question: did Lee ever explain the donkey schtick? Or was he going for the subtle hung-like-a-donkey metaphor?)

Both parties in question have posted extremely an extremely gushy Instagram about how its been one whole year since they met, which is hilarious imo because at that moment in time Georgia was also dating a dozen other hopefuls.

One year ago today whilst out walking my donkey I randomly met not only my best friend but the love of my life, wrote Lee. I cant believe its only been a year, I feel like Ive known you my whole life. I cannot believe its been a year since this night! wrote Georgia. A year since my life indelibly changed as 15 guys stepped out of a limo to meet me and one just happened to be out walking his donkey just at the right time.

GUYS WE GET IT, THE DONKEY WAS TOTALLY RANDOM HAHAHAHA.

A year since he first made me laugh, gave me his jacket and looked at me with the most mesmerising eyes Ive ever looking into, Georgia continued. I began to fall for him that very moment and I havent stopped since.

Awwwww. Alright, congrats guys. Now, when the hell do Matty J and Sophie Monks respective seasons start?



Photo: Channel 10.
In excellent news for fans of prestige British miniseries and those who enjoy literally drinking blood, a brand new take on Dracula is being formulated by the champs who brought BBCs Sherlock to life.

Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffatt are in talks with the UK media giant to take on Bram Stokers deadset classic tale in the same style as Sherlock. If all goes to plan, youll be feasting on movie-length eps of that Transylvanian goodness.

Both of em are currently working on separate projects, and pen hasnt been put to paper on the prospective show, but Variety reports that international producers are already jockeying for some of the action. As if you wouldnt, given the success of their previous Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman-led project.

For his part, Gatiss already seems pretty keen.

There is a downside to all of this, and that is the fact any future instalments of Sherlock are looking mighty unlikely after this years Christmas spesh. The plus side? We get to do a hell of a lot of speculation as to which lucky actor the show will thrust into superstardom.

Give it to Viggo Mortensen, tbh.

Source: Variety.

Photo: Sherlock / BBC.
The Butler Did It par Read more [...]
A Royal Bank of Canada sign is pictured in downtown Toronto on Dec. 2, 2011. Royal Bank of Canada said Wednesday it is cutting 450 jobs, primarily from its head office locations in the Greater Toronto Area, as it tries to revamp its business in light of shifting client preferences THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, right, and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis appear at news conference following a Diplomatic and Security Dialogue Meeting with a Chinese delegation including State Counselor Yang Jiechi and military Chief of Joint Staff Fang Fenghui, at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
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.
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.

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!
Chevron's pollution case in Ecuador still face litigation in Canada and Brazil



Ecuadorian inhabitants and activists are still arguing to this day that Chevron should be held financially responsible for the pollution in the Amazon rainforest from 1960's to 1990's

NEW YORK

Petroleumworld 06 21 2017

Chevron Corp. won a big victory Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a case that began with an effort to hold the company liable for massive oil pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon. But the long international war over who's responsible for the degradation of the rainforest is far from over.

Litigation continues in Canada and Brazil. Back in the U.S., the energy giant has asked a federal court to force the lead lawyer for Ecuadorian villagers to pay the company tens of millions of dollar in attorneys' fees. Chevron's legal fee motion can be interpreted as a warning to other plaintiffs' lawyers who might use tactics similar to those employed in the Ecuador case.

To understand this imbroglio, it helps to hear the story chronologically. In 1993, a group of American lawyers sued Texaco in Manhattan federal court over the contamination of a large swath of rainforest in northeast Ecuador. Brought on behalf of poor villagers, the suit was dismissed by U.S. courts and restarted in Ecuador in 2003. (By then, Chevron had acquired Texaco.) In 2011, an Ecuadorian trial court ruled against Chevron and assessed damages, which now stand at $9.5 billion. Chevron, which had no assets in Ecuador, vowed never to pay. The company alleged that any pollution traceable to Texaco had become the responsibility of the Ecuadorian government to clean upand, in any event, the verdict was tainted by egregious misconduct by the plaintiffs' lawyers, led by Steven Donziger of New York.

In an unusual twist, Chevron sued Donziger in 2011 back in Manhattan, obtaining a U.S. judgment that he'd violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by turning the Ecuadorian suit into the equivalent of an extortion scheme. Last year, a federal appeals court upheld that finding and said Donziger engaged in coercion, fraud, and briberyallegations he continues to deny. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Donziger's appeal, making it impossible for him to seek to enforce the $9.5 billion Ecuadorian judgment in the U.S.

Chevron has a strategy

to tie us up in procedural

knots so the trial

happens as far down the

road as possible.

Undeterred, lawyers allied with Donziger have launched separate enforcement actions in other countries where Chevron has assets. In Canada, a judge ruled in January that the Ecuadorian villagers couldn't seize and sell off Chevron's Canadian facilities to satisfy the judgment. The judge reasoned that Chevron's Canadian subsidiary wasn't the defendant in Ecuador and is legally separate from the parent corporation that was.

Donziger said via email that his side expects to win an appeal in Canada to be argued this fall. Chevron, he added, has a strategy to tie us up in procedural knots so the trial happens as far down the road as possible.

The plaintiffs have also sought to enforce the Ecuadorian judgment in Argentina and Brazil. In a statement, Chevron emphasized that public prosecutors in both countries have urged their respective courts not to recognize the Ecuadorian judgment. Donziger said that his side is pressing ahead in Brazil, but that Argentina is in a state of abeyance for various reasons.

Finally, there's the question of attorneys' fees. Under the RICO act, a victorious plaintiffChevron, in this instancemay seek reimbursement for its legal expenses from a vanquished defendant. Chevron has asked the U.S. trial judge to order Donziger to turn over more than $32 million to cover the company's expenses in the RICO case. In a filing yesterday, Chevron's lead trial lawyer, Randy Mastro, said that in light of the Supreme Court's decision to stay out of the case, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ought to go ahead and decide the fee issue in the company's favor.

Donziger countered that because Chevron's racketeering suit against him didn't seek money damages and was decided by a judge, rather than a jury, the company has no legal basis under RICO to collect such fees. He added: I fully expect to prevail on this issue.

For his part, Chevron Vice President and General Counsel, R. Hewitt Pate said in a statement that the Supreme Court's refraining from reviewing the case constituted an important step toward bringing this illegal scheme to a final conclusion.

A step, yes, but a true conclusion remains elusive.






Will haute cuisine supervised by the famous Jean-Marie Lacroix soon be a dining option at several Philadelphia area arenas and stadiums, with escargot and liver pate available alongside the expected hot dogs and Chickie's and Pete's crab fries?

Comcast Spectacor announced on Wednesday its acquisition of Brulee Catering. A leading Philadelphia-based provider of food services for high-profile venues and private events, Brulee is helmed by the award-winning Lacroix, who earned his "Four Bell" renown at the Four Seasons' Fountain Room and then opened a signature restaurant at The Rittenhouse Hotel that still bears his name.

Brulee Catering is being acquired from Philadelphia-based GuestCounts Hospitality, steered by Barry Gutin and Larry Cohen. The pair feel "great about this transaction and the future of Brulee," said Gutin. Lacroix, their partner since 2010, will continue to head Brulee. It's a prestigious addition to Comcast Spectacor's Spectra Food Services and Hospitality division, which already serves more than 200 client properties across the U.S. and Canada.

Brulee is the exclusive food service provider at several area venues, holding multiyear contracts, and serving three million visitors annually at places like the National Constitution Center, Independence Visitor Center, Please Touch Museum, the Free Library on the Parkway, Dilworth Park, Independence Seaport Museum, and the new Museum of the American Revolution.

In addition, Brulee's extensive catering business handles more than 4,000 private events annually in the Philadelphia region and the Jersey Shore and has earned a 'Best of Weddings' designation by The Knot in the Philadelphia region, according to Brulee's website.

Coming just a week after Spectra's sell-off of its ticketing arm to Learfield, Comcast Spectacor president and CEO Dave Scott said "this acquisition marks a strategic step forward as we continue to expand Spectra into new high-growth areas, which includes premium catering for a broad range of clients."
What's happening inside the Delaware County Courthouse in Media is not exactly their fight, but nurses who work at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Chester and at Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill plan to be outside on the front steps protesting Wednesday morning.

"We want to highlight workplace-violence issues," said Randa Ruge, a union organizer with the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents about 1,100 nurses and other professional and technical workers at the two hospitals.

Inside the courthouse, the battle is between the for-profit buyers and the nonprofit sellers of the Crozer-Keystone chain of hospitals.

The sellers, appearing before Orphans' Court President Judge Chad Kenney, say that the buyers, Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. and Prospect Crozer LLC, are reneging on a deal they made, and that they still owe about $21 million, including interest, on the amount they agreed to pay to buy the hospitals last year. Hearings begin Wednesday and are expected to last for a few days.

The buyers disagree, saying the sellers willingly reduced the price and should not expect to receive any more money.

Under Pennsylvania law, when a nonprofit hospital or hospital system is sold to a for-profit company, the proceeds from the sale go to a community charitable foundation charged with some of the same charitable aims carried out by the hospitals  to uphold the health of the community.

On Jan. 8, 2016, the Crozer-Keystone Health System, a nonprofit, agreed to sell its assets, including its four Delaware County hospitals (the other two are in Ridley Park and Springfield) to Prospect Medical Holdings, backed by the private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners L.P.

Prospect specializes in buying financially troubled hospitals.

The total price would be $300 million, with most of the money covering debt and liabilities, and the balance, $52,996,000, due the charitable organization, named the Crozer-Keystone Community Foundation. Prospect also promised to invest an additional $200 million in Crozer facilities in the first five years after it took over.

When the sale closed last July 1, Prospect paid $20 million and later paid $12.9 million more. But it still owes the balance of the almost $53 million, plus interest, to the hospital system, which would turn the money over to the foundation, said Rocco P. Imperatrice 3rd, a Newtown Square lawyer representing the health system.

"These funds are incredibly important for the programs," Imperatrice said. The foundation focuses on improving maternal health, helping seniors age at home, working with teenagers, and supporting cancer care and research.

Imperatrice said the hospital system could have insisted on the entire $53 million at closing, but agreed to a delayed payment schedule to accommodate the new owners' cash-flow situation as they waited to receive reimbursement from health-insurance companies for patient care.

In legal documents, Prospect said the hospital system and foundation had agreed to adjust the final price "due to anticipated payment delays," and therefore had "no right to additional monies."

Dan Grauman, chief executive of Veralon Partners Inc., a Philadelphia-based hospital management consulting firm, said he had never heard of this kind of dispute in decades of monitoring acquisitions. "It's fair to say it's rare," he said, "because the central point of any contract is the purchase price, the funding and the timing of it."

By the time the two sides begin their arguments Wednesday, the nurses outside the courthouse will have finished their rally. They say Prospect has also reneged on its promise to invest in the hospitals.

"They have come in what used to be a pretty good community hospital, and they have refused to invest in the hospital the way they said they would," Ruge, the union organizer, said of Delaware County Memorial Hospital.

For example, she said, 308 nurses were employed at Delaware County Memorial when the sale closed a year ago. Now, there are 240, leaving the remaining nurses stretched thin in handling patients. She also said the staff hasn't been properly trained to handle the changing mix of patients at the hospital, including more patients with drug-related and mental illnesses. One such patient, she said, attacked a nurse, causing a concussion.

The sale of the tax-exempt Crozer to Prospect Medical Holdings would be the Philadelphia region's biggest transfer of a tax-exempt health system to a for-profit since the 1998 sale of eight Allegheny Health Education and Research Foundation hospitals to Tenet Healthcare for $345 million.
No one likes taxes.

So you'd think that a Philadelphia city tax program that gave companies a $10,000 tax credit would be wildly popular.

And you would be wrong.

That's the Philadelphia Re-Entry Program (PREP) tax credit, designed to encourage companies to hire people with criminal records. It was so ineffective that, in the course of its nine-year history, only $472,124 tax credits were issued out of $80 million available for that purpose. No more than two dozen business participated, even though many more routinely hired people coming out of prison.

Getting the credit "was not a pleasant experience," said Duane Bumb, senior deputy director of commerce, in that kind of bureaucratic understatement developed over years.

And so, on Wednesday, the city launched a new variation  the Fair Chance Hiring Initiative  designed to encourage companies to hire people with records by getting companies the money more quickly and by making it easier to fill out the paperwork. It will begin July 1.

"I think it's transformative for what the city is trying to accomplish," said Bob Logue, owner of Quaker City Coffee Co., a small business that he and partners developed to employ people with records.

"One of the biggest barriers facing people upon reentry continues to be the challenge of finding employment," Mayor Kenney said in remarks prepared for a City Hall announcement Wednesday. "Unlike the existing PREP tax credit, the Fair Chance Hiring Initiative will offer direct reimbursements for each qualifying position, rather than employers relying on tax credits."

Part of PREP's problem was that it took so long for companies to see the benefit, a credit applied against the Business Income & Receipts Tax (BIRT). To qualify, companies had to employ someone for a full year, fill out the paperwork and get it certified, and then allow the city's Department of Revenue to audit its payrolls. Then, when the next tax bill came due maybe a year later, depending on timing, and if the company passed muster, it wouldn't have to pay as much.

Also, if businesses were small, they might not even owe enough to the city to make it worth the trouble. By 2016, as part of the city's plan to reduce the tax burden on small business, two-thirds of the city's enterprises weren't paying a dime in Business Income & Receipts Taxes, said Marisa Waxman. first deputy revenue commissioner in the Department of Revenue.

If the goal was encouraging companies "to hire these returning citizens, you'd want a program that nudges them toward that action in the most efficient way possible, and you can see this wasn't working," Waxman said.

Under the initiative announced Wednesday, businesses can apply for what amounts to a grant. To get funds, they have to seek employees recruited through RISE, the city's reentry services program, which will have provided job-readiness training. They have to explain in their application how the employee's job can lead to a career. They have to agree to pay at least $12.10 an hour, for a minimum of 21 hours a week.

And then, after six months, they can draw on that grant at a rate of $5 per hour worked, up to $5,000 per person. And if the person leaves, they can still get the money, as long as they accept another person from RISE into the same position.

"This population really wants to work for a stable business. They really want to grow roots somewhere," said Ceciley Bradford-Jones, RISE's executive director. She said too many programs simply churn employees through low-paying jobs where they can't earn enough to live. "We know what it takes to survive in Philadelphia. We can't keep low-balling it."

The city has set aside $500,000 for the first year, with the idea of tweaking the program and eventually phasing out the PREP tax.

Logue said the chief advantage of the new initiative is its predictability. Companies can hire and know in advance what they'll receive.

"For a small business owner, cash flow is paramount," he said. "This is a simple business plan. You calculate your business on a 12-month cycle, so you can literally do the math. You know in six months, you'll get $5 for every hour worked."
Samantha Toggas, Temple graduate and apprentice welder, at the Philadelphia shipyard in front of the project tanker ship "American Freedom," the 27th ship built at the yard. Read more

Samantha Toggas, 26, learned metalsmithing and soldering at Tyler School of Art. After graduating with a bachelor of fine arts degree, she took a detour and got trained in welding  a skill that has landed her in Philly Shipyard's apprentice program.

Toggas is one of only two women in the current crop of 75 apprentices. She likes the steadiness and variety in welding, and plans to buy a house in South Kensington.

"I learn something new every day and work around guys who are like my family," she said. She would like to see more women in shipbuilding careers. "They bring high school students here. I've seen a few girls, which is really cool, but there needs to be more. Talk to women, too, about these jobs, not just the guys. That needs to start in middle school and in high school."

Toggas was introduced Tuesday to Patrick T. Harker, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, who met with an apprentice class and then toured the shipyard.

"In workforce development, we're looking at a variety of ways to develop the skills that businesses need for the future," Harker said. "Here, they are going back to a tried-and-true method of bringing people into the workforce."



The Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia has compiled an apprenticeship guide, which describes five apprenticeship programs in the region and aims to encourage more employers.

In 2004, what was then the Aker Philadelphia Shipyard began the apprenticeship program to ensure it had skilled workers to meet production needs. To date, 322 would-be shipbuilders have accepted apprentice spots  140 are still with the company, including 14 supervisors and seven in the management ranks.

Nearly 12 percent of the shipyard's 1,200 workers began as apprentices. "It's the backbone of our recruiting the next generation of shipbuilders," said CEO Steinar Nerbovik. The number would be higher, but in 2011 the nation's second-largest commercial shipbuilder furloughed a couple hundred employees due to the economy and a downturn in shipping. Some apprentices took other jobs.

The average age of the current apprentices is 30, with the oldest 38 and the youngest 19.

Classes of 10 each begin in January, April, and August. Recruits come through word of mouth, high school career and technical education programs, and trade schools. To qualify, applicants have to score well on a test in basic math, reading comprehension, problem-solving, measurement, and mechanical aptitude.

"The ones who score the highest get first pick," said Mike Giantomaso, vice president of human resources. After an interview, background check, and drug and alcohol screening, they work 40 hours a week, are union members, earn $16.06 an hour or $33,400 a year, and get benefits, a pension, and time off.

John Beinlich, 35, was waiting tables in November 2006 when he heard about the apprentice program and called. "The lady at the desk said, 'Yes, we are testing for apprentices. Come down.' "

Beinlich, from Ridley Park, began as a general apprentice in shipbuilding. Over the years, he moved up from a team leader in machinery installation to supervisor and now foreman. "I was a C student in high school, but I came here and got focused," he said. While working, he earned an associate's degree at Delaware County Community College and is considering a bachelor's degree in leadership or construction management.

Apprentices spend three years learning to be welders, shipbuilders, pipe fitters (called outfitters), and machine operators. The company spends about $200,000 to train and pay each apprentice during the three years. "That's the difficult part for a lot of companies. They just can't absorb that cost," Giantomaso said.

Information is available on the Philly Shipyard website, www.phillyshipyard.com, where visitors can sign up to take the test. "Once we open up the testing, we will notify them," Giantomaso said. Testing is usually once a year, and the next round will likely be in 2018, he said.
A Pew Charitable Trusts survey aimed to discover why small and medium-sized businesses dont offer retirement savings plans to their employees (AP PHOTO/LM Otero, File) Read more

New research from the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that small- to medium-sized businesses  those with five to 250 employees  are least likely to offer retirement-savings plans.

Just over half  53 percent  of the small and midsize American employers surveyed offer a retirement plan to workers, Pew said in a report released this week.

Ninety-three percent of employers surveyed said they believe their employees would prefer higher salaries over better retirement benefits, which may be why many companies put a greater priority on pay, paid time off, and health plans, the report said.

Pew researchers surveyed more than 1,600 businesses nationwide in 2016, contacting owners, top executives, and human-resources managers in an effort to identify the obstacles to, and motivations for, offering retirement plans. The report, one of the few centered on retirement plans since the Great Recession, surveyed employers that both do and do not offer such plans.

Why don't these businesses offer plans? The survey found, to no surprise, that business owners are afraid of high costs. Thirty-seven percent of employers that do not offer retirement plans pointed to such barriers as the financial cost, and 22 percent said the organizational resources needed to start a plan proved to be a challenge. About 17 percent said they do not offer retirement plans because their employees aren't interested.

Why, then, do some businesses offer plans? Employers said they want to help workers save, and also to attract and retain talent. Most who offer plans also match some contributions, which boosts employee participation and helps build savings more quickly.

Relatively few employers use other savings sweeteners, Pew found. For example, just 32 percent use automatic enrollment, while only 14 percent use automatic escalation of contributions.

"Five states are now looking at implementing auto-deduction IRAs, including California, Oregon, Illinois, Connecticut, and Maryland," said John Scott, director of the Retirement Savings Project at Pew. "Oregon will likely be first out of the gate this fall."

Though most employers surveyed were at least somewhat familiar with 401(k) plans, far fewer knew about other options, such as Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) plans, Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRAs, or myRAs, all of which are designed for small firms or individuals.

About 92 percent of employers that provide retirement benefits said they offer a defined contribution plan, such as a 401(k), a SIMPLE plan, or a profit-sharing plan. Twenty-three percent said their business offers a defined benefit plan, such as a traditional pension, while 22 percent said they offer a hybrid plan that includes both a defined contribution and a defined benefit plan. And 35 percent reported that their business offers more than one retirement-plan type.

Most companies without plans said tax credits to offset start-up expenses would improve the likelihood of their offering retirement plans.

Businesses in the South and the West are about half as likely to offer plans as those in the Northeast, Scott said. That mirrors Pew's analysis of state-by-state access to employer-sponsored retirement plans, which showed that full-time, full-year employees in Florida, New Mexico, and Texas reported the lowest rates of access to retirement plans.
In this image made from July 6, 2016, video captured by a camera in the squad car of St. Anthony Police officer Jeronimo Yanez, the Minnesota police officer is shown after shooting into the vehicle at Philando Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minn., as the 4-year-old daughter of Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, starts to get out of the car and is grabbed by an officer. The video was made public by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, Tuesday, June 20, 2017, just days after the officer was acquitted on all counts in the case. Read more

I was going to write something else tonight, but suddenly the idiocy of a Democratic senator from West Virginia doesn't seem particularly important. Late this afternoon, I took a minute or so to watch the police dash-cam video of last July's police-involved killing of Philando Castile, the African-American man who was shot seven times during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minn., last summer. Let's say it was a minute and seven seconds, because I had to watch the key footage  the seven seconds when a very routine police traffic stop turned into the violent death of a legally armed black driver  a second time. Because I couldn't believe what I was watching the first time I saw it. And because the video of this tragedy  taking place in front of his fiancee's 4-year-old daughter, no less  is so nauseating.

The video was released just a few days after the officer who fired the lethal shots  Jeronimo Yanez  was found not guilty of murdering Castile and endangering his fiancee, who filmed the aftermath and posted that harrowing footage on Facebook Live, and her daughter. From a purely public relations standpoint, it's understandable why the authorities tried to keep this under wraps as long as possible, It also explains why police unions and their legion of political allies are fighting so hard to limit the public's ability to see these kind of videos. Because the proper exercise of the public's right to know what its government is doing happens to also undermine the moral authority of that same government.

But now  in the (barely) better-late-than-never department  you can watch the sickening video yourself. Every citizen should.

It's no secret that a civil society gives enormous leeway to our law-enforcement officers to make difficult snap judgments on when to use lethal force. That leeway has saved innocent lives, and obviously the jury at Yanez' trial gave enormous weight to that tradition. Still, is that leeway earned when Castile  a popular school cafeteria worker with no felony criminal record  is clearly heard on the video volunteering the information that he is carrying his legally permitted handgun? Or when Castile tells the officer, in response to his command to not take the weapon out, that he is in fact not taking it out? None of his seemingly proper actions stopped a decision to kill with seven shots, the decision that took only seven seconds.

And there's more going on here than can be captured in the video. The video doesn't show that Castile  who was returning from the grocery store  was stopped because cops were looking for a criminal suspect with "a wide-set nose," a feature shared by many African-Americans, or that Castile, a regular guy with a regular job, had been stopped for minor traffic violations a remarkable 52 times. It doesn't show that the officer, Yanez, had recently watched a police "training video" called "The Bulletproof Warrior" that critics  with a lot of justification  say amps up levels of paranoia among the cops who watch it.

How else to explain making such an awful, deadly decision in just seven lousy seconds? Something else I learned tonight is that there's a "thing" on the internet called "the 7-second challenge." Because 7 seconds is such a short, thrilling time period to complete a complex task. Name five breeds of dogs! Touch all the walls in your house! Take off your socks and put them back on, inside out! Write your name backwards!

Somehow, shooting a compliant motorist who happens to be black didn't make the list.

Now, here comes the sternly worded part of the post where I tell society how to solve this terrible problem. But you know what? I'm out of ideas. You can write 100 new laws, but it doesn't matter when American juries have made it clear that virtually no action by a police officer in these scenarios will be considered a crime. The rise of dash-cam and now body-cam videos has helped to inform the public  and yet police shot and killed just as many suspects in 2016 as they have in prior years. Even asking police to impose more discipline on officers who behave badly means pretending that police unions don't have a ridiculous amount of power in this country. Somehow, some way, and it may take years  probably more years than I left on this good earth  we need to change what goes through the mind of the American police officer in those seven seconds. Our national soul depends on it. But I have no clue how we get there.
Sara Beth Speichers international ministry career began in the summer of 2013 with a trip to Ensenada, Mexico.

Since then, shes returned to Mexico five times.

If you want to travel a lot of places, you have to learn to travel cheap and travel thrifty, Speicher said. Really, its fun for me.

This fall, Speicher, who graduated from Fremont High in 2013, will continue with international ministry. At Penn State University, Speicher will be an intern with RUF International.

Speicher is one of 67 interns at colleges nationwide with RUF, Reformed University Fellowship, a Presbyterian Church in America campus ministry. However, shes one of just six interns with the international program.

RUF-Is mission is to welcome people from all different nations and then explore the Bible with them and equip them as leaders to serve in Gods kingdom, Speicher said.

Showing hospitality and showing Gods love, that comes first, Speicher said of working with international students that are most often not Christians.

When I was a foreigner to God, he welcomed me in, she added. That was the first step, and then came the message and the Gospel. Thats my motivation behind it and why I was lured into RUF International.

In RUF-I groups, weekly dinners are held and students are welcomed to stay after to explore Christian faith, Speicher said. Inviting international students into homes and sharing a meal transcends cultural differences.

She said not many of the 20-plus international students who regularly participate in RUF-I at Penn State are Christian. The international students who attend have a desire to learn about and integrate in the culture, she said.

The number one thing is welcoming them, Speicher said. Its not necessarily developing or maturing in faith, its totally just introducing the idea.

Speicher did not choose Penn State. Instead, RUF tries to place interns on a campus where they will be a good fit.

To pay for her time at Penn State, Speicher is looking for $32,000 in donations and pledges from monthly and one-time supporters at www.givetoRUF.org. To keep in touch with donors and others, she blogs about her faith and internship at www.livefreegivefreely.com.

Speicher said she has known she wanted to go into ministry since high school.

In 2010, she travelled to Mississippi to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. With First Lutheran Church youth, she volunteered at a home that got hot water for the first time  five years after the disaster. The group stayed at Camp Victor in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and Speicher was one of many volunteers from across the country to help rebuild the Gulf Coast.

When she traveled with First Lutheran Church in the summer of 2013 to Rancho el Refugio in Ensenada, Mexico, for a week, she knew shed return to Mexico in the fall by herself.

The trip to the camp, Rancho el Refugio, was with children from the Lily of the Valley Orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico. In the fall, she spent nearly four months at the orphanage, just south of the border near San Diego.

Of about 80 children at the orphanage at the time, she helped four kindergarteners throughout the day, assisted orphanage staff in the dorms and looked to connect with the children and teenagers.

The way I connected with all of the kids was through arts and crafts activities, she said. A lot of friendship bracelet making.

For teens, she connected through card games.

She also spent many hours with babies in the orphanage.

It was really hard work, Speicher said. But all of that hard work made me rely on God for different things that I could usually provide for myself  I loved those kids there, and I still do.

Until this year, she returned each summer since then and once more in the fall of 2014. In the fall, shell visit for a wedding of a girl of the same age who she befriended on the trips.

Originally, she wanted to return to Mexico for a few years after college graduation. Instead, she said the internship with RUF-I will help her become more prepared for future ministry positions.

They will nurture me to a point where I could go back (to Mexico) and not get burnt out, Speicher said, and kind of have a rhyme and a reason to what Im doing, not just being the worker.

Speicher said she will graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in August with a degree in agricultural leadership and a minor in international agriculture and natural resources.

UNL does not have an RUF-I program, but does have RUF. RUF-I is found on campuses nationwide with the highest international student populations. Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania, has about 9,000 international students.

In addition to RUF and other activities, Speicher participated in Young Life. Young Life leaders outreach at local high schools to guide teens in their faith.

With Young Life, Speicher got to know a group of Lincoln Southeast sophomore girls, and continued with the same group as they progressed through high school.

Speicher went to China for a study abroad trip this spring for her minor in international agriculture. It wasnt a mission trip, but she experienced Christianity in a vastly different culture.

After meeting someone by chance, she went to a Catholic church in China and had discussions about their faiths.

It was really cool, because I did not intend for that at all, Speicher said. Honestly, he walked up to me in the middle of the street. I had no connection to him at all, to have that unfold it definitely felt like it was meant to be.

Brian Brown, UNL RUF campus minister, said Speicher has been serving since he met her. Three years ago, Brown met Speicher when she was helping serve snow cones with RUF on campus.

From the first conversation, I knew that she had a heart that wanted to serve others, Brown said. The RUF internship is a beautiful way to do that.
The charter-school operator Aspira Inc. of Pennsylvania abruptly laid off 18 of its 23 security employees at Olney Charter High School on Tuesday in the midst of a union-organizing drive.

Members of what Aspira calls the school's "safety team" said they were summoned to the human resources office at the nonprofit's headquarters in Hunting Park and told they were being terminated because of "budget problems."

"They never discussed anything before about a budget anything," said Louis Alvarez, who had been a member of Aspira's safety team at Olney for two years. "This came out of nowhere."

Staffers were told that they would receive their last paycheck Friday and that their health insurance would end June 30.

Alvarez and others at the charter school, with 1,780 students, said they believe they were terminated in retaliation for trying to organize a union to represent staffers who provide security at Olney, including defusing fights and screening for weapons.

"We were trying to unionize for unfair labor practices, a hostile work environment, and unsafe working conditions," said Alvarez, 34, an Army veteran.

Safety team members are 12-month employees. Some were expecting to provide security for students who have returned to complete academic credits or attend summer school.

Others such as Gregory Thomas, 55, who had worked at Olney for four years, said the employees also were tapped during the summer for maintenance and painting duties.

A spokesman for Aspira denied the layoffs were tied to union efforts.

"Like most district schools, Olney Charter is experiencing significant budget pressures, and the staff reductions  including but not limited to members of the safety department  are being implemented to address both financial and operational efficiency challenges," spokesman Nathan Cross said in a statement.

"Needless to say, the decision was made for legitimate, nondiscriminatory business reasons. Students, parents and staff can be assured that Olney and Aspira have a plan in place, for the summer months and the 2017-2018 school year, to maintain the safe environment they have come to expect," Cross said.

Olney was a troubled district high school that the School Reform Commission turned over to Aspira to operate as a charter school in 2010.

Aspira is a nonprofit that focuses on Latino youth and education. In addition to Olney, it operates three other charter schools in the district and the statewide Aspira Bilingual Cyber Charter School.

Alvarez and Thomas said they were involved in efforts to organize as an affiliate of AFT Pennsylvania, the parent group of the union that represents Olney's teachers and professional staff.

After a struggle of several years, Olney teachers voted two years ago to affiliate with the Alliance of Charter School Employees, Local 6056, a part of AFT Pennsylvania. The first contract was approved last month.

"We have not had a raise in three years," said Thomas, who said they were paid $13 per hour. "I had no idea layoffs were coming. None at all."
Photo: Kelly Bracken

Much of this issue of POLICE focuses on officer safety. We made a conscious decision to do this because the June issue is our annual buyer's guide, so it tends to be the issue that officers keep the longest.

Officer safety is not just about the physical well-being of officers but also emotional health. That's why we asked Stephanie Samuels of Copline (Copline.org) to write an article about coping with stress. Stephanie is a psychotherapist, who works exclusively with law enforcement officers, and is an expert on PTSD. Her message is to find healthy ways to decompress, keep your friends  even non-police friends  and family close, and find someone you can talk to.

We also turned our attention to a once taboo topic, officer suicide. This is by far the number one killer of active and retired law enforcement officers. Managing Editor Melanie Basich first addressed this topic in a May 2003 special report, and now 14 years later, she is revisiting it, as more and more police suicides fill the news. The focus of this feature article is how to recognize suicidal ideation in fellow officers and yourself and what to do about it. We can't discuss this issue enough. Too many families are missing loved ones because of the terrible toll your profession takes on emotional health.

In addition to discussing psychological hazards that face officers, this issue addresses officers' physical safety.

Which is why one of the first things we did when planning this issue was contact Dale Stockton, founder of Below 100 (Below100.org). Dale is a retired police captain, the former editor of a now-defunct competitive magazine, and a really good guy. He has dedicated his life to training officers to take simple precautions that can save their lives. His article,"An Officer Safety Reality Check," details the basic tenets of the Below 100 program, including such lifesaving advice as "wear your vest," "wear your seat belt," and "watch your speed."

To Dale's list I'll add another one, "Carry your tourniquet, if you have one." Tourniquets are proven lifesavers in the hands of properly trained officers. In the past five or so years that tourniquets have been routinely carried in the field by law enforcement officers, those officers have used them to save fellow officers, civilians, suspects, and even themselves from bleeding out. If your agency is not issuing tourniquets or allowing trained officers to carry tourniquets they purchased for themselves, then it's time to start the discussion. You can use my article for background and then do a search online for "officer saves life with tourniquet." That search will yield dozens of articles about officers using these inexpensive and easy-to-use tools to save lives.

Now let me address what will likely be the most controversial story in this month's POLICE, "Managing High-Speed Pursuits." As you probably know, high-speed vehicle pursuits are extremely dangerous for all involved and even for those who aren't involved but who just happen to be on the streets at the time the participating vehicles race toward them. The death toll of officers, suspects, and bystanders from car chases is staggering.

Just as we went to press, a West Virginia police lieutenant was killed in a pursuit while driving into an intersection. Local officials are being tight-lipped on this incident, pending a state police investigation. But we do know his patrol car collided with another law enforcement vehicle and three law enforcement vehicles were involved. The other two involved officers were treated and released at a local hospital. The lieutenant was apparently ejected.

This is not the first time I have heard of officers being killed in collisions with fellow officers during high-speed pursuits. Yes, I know police pursuits are caused by the bad guys, and the responsibility for any tragedy that results belongs to them. But thoughtful people in law enforcement need to take a long, hard look at pursuit policies and tactics, coordination of the involved vehicles, and when it's time to break off the chase.

Please use your seat belt; wear your vest; keep your speed down; carry a tourniquet and know how to use it; be careful driving even in pursuits, and if your job or your life are becoming too much for you, talk to someone. We don't need more officers dying from preventable causes.
Patrolman First Class Sean Aaron Hudson (Photo: Milford PD)

A Milford, DE, police officer died unexpectedly on Saturday, according to the police department, but no further details on his death were released.

The police department notified the public of Patrolman First Class Sean Aaron Hudson's death Tuesday morning, asking for prayers for the family during this difficult time, reports Delaware Online.

Sgt. Robert Masten, a spokesman with the department, thanked the community for their support in a statement and said "there will be no further correspondence about this unfortunate matter."

The 34-year-old had worked as a police officer since 2010, when he began his career at the Harrington Police Department. He returned to his hometown last year and joined the Milford Police Department. Earlier this year, he was promoted to Patrolman First Class after saving the lives of two people overdosing from heroin.

His father, Keith Hudson, was the former Milford police chief.

Officer Hudson is survived by his wife and his 9-month-old son.
A former Milwaukee police officer was acquitted by a jury Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a man last year. The shooting set off days of protests and riots in the city.

Dominique Heaggan-Brown, the former officer, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide late last year for fatally shooting Sylville K. Smith, who fled from a traffic stop in August 2016.

Jurors reached their verdict on the second day of deliberations, according to the Associated Press, which also reported that some of Smiths relatives shouted and cursed at the jurys decision.

On Wednesday, Smiths estate filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee and Heaggan-Brown, reports the Washington Post.

Before he was charged in Smiths death, Heaggan-Brown was arrested on a sexual assault charge. The Milwaukee Police Department fired him because of those charges, for which he is expected to stand trial in August.
Lt. Jeff Neville (Photo: Linked-In)

An officer for Bishop International Airport was stabbed Wednesday in what the FBI is now investigating as an act of terrorism in Flint, MI, sources told NBC News.

The attacker allegedly shouted "Allahu akbar" before stabbing Lieutenant Jeff Neville, who was bleeding from the neck, sources and witnesses at Bishop International Airport said.

Neville is a member of the airport's Department of Public Safety and a retired Genesee County Sheriffs Department lieutenant.

Law enforcement officials said the suspect is from Quebec and has a Canadian passport.

FBI Special Agent in Charge David P. Gelios said at a news conference Amor Ftouhi, a 50-year-old Canadian citizen, entered Bishop International Airport in Flint around 9:45 a.m. and went to a restroom before dropping both of his bags, coming out with a knife and yelling "Allahu Akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great," before stabbing Officer Jeff Neville in the neck, reports Fox News.

Ftouhi said something similar to "you have killed people in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die" as he was being arrested, according to Gelios. He also used a 12-inch knife with an 8-inch serrated blade, he added.

The Canadian citizen was motivated to come to the airport and conduct this act of violence out of a "hatred of the United States," according to Gelios. He legally entered the U.S. at Lake Champlain in New York on June 16, and then made his way to Flint, according to Gelios.

Federal prosecutors have charged Ftouhi with committing violence at an airport. The entire attack took place outside of the TSA screening area at the airport.

Flint Airport Director of Public Safety Christopher Miller said Neville is in "satisfactory condition," and "doing fine" after undergoing surgery. Miller said Neville "fought him 'til the end" until the suspect was able to be handcuffed.

The FBI said this is believed to be an isolated incident and that there was "nothing to suggest a wider plot."
High-speed police pursuits can be deadly for police officers, innocent bystanders, and suspects. A 2015 USA Today article reports that from 1979 to 2013, 139 police officers were killed during or as a result of high-speed pursuits. During that same time frame, more than 5,000 passengers and bystanders were inadvertently killed due to high-speed police chases, and tens of thousands of people were injured. Suspects also endangered themselves by choosing to run from the law. USA Today says 6,300 suspects died in high-speed pursuits during the time frame of its research. It's no wonder that in 1990, the Justice Department called police chases "the most dangerous of all ordinary police activities."

To reduce the dangers of high-speed vehicle pursuits, law enforcement agencies need to understand the causes of high-speed pursuits, the legal issues involved, the problems behind such pursuits, and the strategies for reducing high-speed pursuits.



Worth the Risk?

In California, only 5% of high speed pursuits were an attempt to catch someone suspected of committing a violent crime; the majority of the pursuits started for a minor traffic or vehicle infraction. In 1998, a study funded by the Justice Department revealed that the most common violation for suspects who caused high-speed pursuits was car theft. The second most common offense was having a suspended license, and the third was avoiding arrest.

High-speed vehicle pursuits can be some of the most dangerous operations in law enforcement, so they must be managed by policy and command oversight. Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn believes that the risks involved with high-speed pursuits do not justify the rewards. In an interview for that 2015 USA Today article Flynn said, "Overwhelmingly, someone is fleeing because they've got a minor warrant, their car isn't insured, they've had too much to drink...the sanctions imposed by courts nationwide for merely stealing a car don't justify anybody taking any risk."

James Vaughn is the chief instructor at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy Driver Instructor Course. In 2004, he showed his class of officers a video of a police chase that ultimately ended with the fleeing vehicle being rammed by a police cruiser, leading the passenger and her child to be ejected. The driver's offense was possessing a small amount of crack. Vaughn asked if a suspect could be shot for possessing a small amount of crack and equated the two events. Vaughn says that many officers "perceive a fleeing suspect as something personal." He goes on to say that thankfully, "there has been an evolution of the profession through better training and better policies."

The Courts and Pursuits

Vaughn's lecture raises the subject of the legality of vehicle pursuits as a use of force and the liability that can result from their consequences. It has been reported that vehicle pursuits are the second greatest source of awards and judgments against law enforcement agencies.

The constitutionality of high-speed pursuits has come under scrutiny in recent decades, focusing on what the courts sometimes view as a "disproportionate use of force." In the 1973 case Johnson v. Glick, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals published a test to determine whether police used excessive force. This test has four aspects: 1) the need for the force, 2) the relationship between the need and the amount of force used, 3) the extent of the injury, and 4) the officer's motives. An action that does not pass this test is a violation of the suspect's 4th and 14th Amendment rights.

High-speed pursuits often begin as the result of a traffic stop over a relatively minor offense. The Glick test was used in 1985 during the ruling on Tennessee v. Garner, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that established officers cannot legally kill unarmed persons just because they are running away from the officers. In its ruling, the Court noted that the need to catch Garner, who was suspected of burglary, did not outweigh the suspect's life because he did not pose a considerable threat to society even though he committed a felony.

In 1989, the Supreme Court again made a decision regarding disproportionate force, this time with regard to non-lethal force. In Graham v. Connor, the Supreme Court used both the Johnson v. Glick and the Tennessee v. Garner opinions to determine that force should be proportionate to the danger posed by the subject, the seriousness of the offense, and the harm in failing to capture the subject.

Pursuit Policies

Since high-speed pursuits are so dangerous, why are they so prevalent? Perhaps the frequency of high-speed pursuits is due in part to the Broken Window Theory, which George Kelling and James Wilson discussed in their article titled "Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety." This theory posits that uncontrolled minor crimes leave room for major crime to slowly creep into the community.

A 2008 study titled "Police Pursuits in an Age of Innovation and Reform" by the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that 91% of all high-speed pursuits begin with the suspects committing "non-violent" crimes. Departments have implemented vehicle pursuit policies to deter crime, building the (more or less accurate) perception that fleeing the police in a vehicle, even after a non-violent crime, will result in being caught and facing serious consequences.

On the other hand, the Milwaukee Police Department has instituted a no-pursuit policy if the suspect did not commit a violent felony. Alderman Bob Donovan, a member of the Public Safety Committee in Milwaukee said during a TV interview, "We've seen a significant level of disorder as a result of this policy," and that the city's no pursuit policy is "fueling crime across Milwaukee." Critics like Donovan claim that because criminals are becoming aware that these "no pursuit policies" are in place, they think they are more likely to be able to get away with small crimes. The data supports this argument. Motor vehicle thefts, in which Milwaukee police are instructed not to engage in high-speed pursuits, increased from 12 per day in 2013 to 18 per day in 2014. Chief Flynn told USA Today, "These kids were finding out, well, nothing happens to me. They had the prestige of being cool to their friends, the thrill of the danger and no consequences."

This is the conundrum facing law enforcement agencies. How can they reduce the number of high-speed pursuits while still maintaining departmental integrity so that justice is enforced equally and thoroughly?

Pursuit Strategies

When it comes to reducing high-speed pursuits, there are various strategies that a law enforcement agency can employ in order to maintain an effective response plan. There are pluses and minuses for each. If a department changes the policy to instruct officers to never pursue fleeing suspects in vehicles, problems with consistent enforcement may arise. On the other hand, high-speed pursuits can be extremely costly, both in terms of people killed and injured and in terms of lawsuits against the involved agency.

When the pursued subject constitutes a significant risk to the public, officers may need to deploy spike strips. One strategy to curtail unsafe high-speed pursuits is a simple change in policy. In 2010, the Milwaukee Police Department began restricting high-speed pursuits to suspected violent felons. From the period of 2010 to 2014, injuries from high-speed pursuits in Milwaukee dropped. The Florida Highway Patrol adopted a similar policy in 2012. Highway Patrol officers were told to only chase criminals suspected of violent felonies, drunk drivers, and reckless drivers. In 2010 and 2011, high-speed pursuits by the Florida Highway patrol numbered 697. In 2013 and 2014, the number dropped to 374.

Agencies can also increase training on high-speed pursuits. High-speed pursuits can happen so suddenly that officers often have little time to think before they must make critical decisions. In 2007, Florida Highway Patrol sergeants were surveyed and the study found that 80% did not think that patrol officers received an adequate amount of pursuit training. One way that a law enforcement agency can help train its officers for high-speed pursuits is using a pursuit management continuuma visual chart that shows what level of force should be used for what type of offense.

A pursuit management continuum has three levels for both the suspect's actions and for the officer's responses, the Police Policy Studies Council says. For the officer, the levels are Level 1 Control, Level 2 Control, and Level 3 Control. For fleeing suspects, the levels are Level 1 Flight, Level 2 Flight, and Level 3 Flight.

Level 1 Flight is violations such as minor traffic crimes and other low-threat crimes, to which an officer should respond with an action from Level 1 Control, including simple trailing and stationary roadblocks. In this first level, since the threat to the public is not severe, officers can use techniques that are relatively safe for both themselves and the suspects they are trying to stop. If the suspect does not stop, or if a police officer witnesses a more serious offense, then the situation escalates to Level 2, which includes serious traffic offenses and crimes that present a high risk to public safety but do not justify deadly force such as driving while intoxicated. An officer should respond with Level 2 Controls, including rolling roadblocks or controlled deflation devices (spike strips). As officer and suspect action goes up the continuum, the more dangerous the situation is for those involved as well as bystanders. A Level 3 offense would be a life-threatening felony, something that justifies a deadly force response. A Level 3 Control could be ramming the suspects' car or using firearms. Using Level 3 controls should be reserved for the most egregious offenses in emergency situations.

Officers can also use GPS to track a fleeing vehicle instead of pursuing. One such technology, StarChase, has been deployed at various law enforcement agencies.

The StarChase system includes a control panel installed inside the officer's vehicle that the officer can use to arm, aim, and fire the system. The launching component holds the GPS trackers and is installed on the front of the officer's vehicle. When an officer is chasing a fleeing vehicle, he or she can then arm the system, shoot a GPS tracker onto the fleeing vehicle, and terminate the pursuit. Police can then follow up on the vehicle once it is parked to apprehend the suspect.

In a study of 36 agencies, Dr. Geoffrey Alpert of the University of South Carolina found that StarChase was more than 80% successful in leading police to criminals, and that many of the unsuccessful deployments were affected by weather.

Decision Points

Since vehicle pursuits pose a danger to police officers and bystanders alike, law enforcement management ideally should develop and implement a policy that identifies management approval at key decision points for the pursuit to begin and continue. Decision Point One: Do the officers have approval to initiate a pursuit? This decision should be made based on the agency's policy.

Decision Point Two: Should the pursuit continue beyond its initial moment? This decision must be made based on the totality of circumstances involved and agency policy. For this decision to be effective a superior must direct the pursuit.

Decision Point Three: Should officers from other agencies become involved? The supervisor who is directing the pursuit should maintain communication with other jurisdictions as the pursuit moves into their territory. The primary reason for another agency to become involved is if the initiating agency abandons the pursuit or it needs support.

Decision Point Four: What strategies, tactics, or techniques can be used to physically stop the fleeing vehicle? Once again, agency policy, good police management, and legal mandates must guide the decision-making process and any action taken should require command approval.

Decision Point Five: Should the pursuit be terminated? This decision may be made at any time, beginning with the request to initiate the pursuit, or any time prior to apprehension of the fleeing vehicle. This decision may be made by the initiating officer or management, but management will have greater objectivity and the expertise to make the most effective decision.

Each of these decisions is best made by management. Officers involved in a pursuit are extremely busy, and they are also feeling a rush of adrenaline. They need guidance commanders who are not participating in the pursuit.

Accountability and Assessment

Currently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) uses a voluntary reporting system for law enforcement vehicle pursuits. This means that police departments are not required to report all data from pursuits that occur within their jurisdictions. Police departments can opt out, for example, of giving NHTSA an accurate count of officers, bystanders, and suspects injured or killed as a result of high-speed chases. To keep the department accountable, agencies should require that all of their data to be sent to NHTSA, regardless of how it makes the department look. This will pressure the department to actively reduce the number of pursuits and increase safety when pursuits do occur.

The first step in assessing the effectiveness of implemented strategies is to collect data before the changes are put in place. At least a year's worth of data should be collected so that future data will have a comparative sample. If data is collected only over a couple of months, then the sample size is too small, and it becomes hard to assess the effectiveness of implemented programs.

Crime rises when agencies declare a no-pursuit policy. So the goal is not to prohibit pursuits but reduce their number. When looking at pursuit data, simply recording the number of pursuits will not show anything substantive. Even though there will be an expected drop in the number of high-speed pursuits due to officers being instructed to only pursue certain types of offenders, data should still be collected regarding related injuries, fatalities, costs, and the number of pursuits. By collecting all of the different types of data, law enforcement agencies (or the outside sources they hire to analyze the data) can determine whether or not their implemented strategies have been effective.

After the data is analyzed, agencies can adjust their policies and procedures as needed. Once these amended policies are in place, the process must start over with data collection from the new policies. This process should continue until the department is content with the amount of data it has recorded.

High-speed pursuits are a very dangerous task that law enforcement officers sometimes must undertake. Such pursuits are more common than many would assume, and an unfortunate number of them end in crashes resulting either in casualties or fatalities. However, if police agencies understand the causes of high-speed pursuits and how to reduce their likelihood, they will be better prepared to improve officer and bystander safety.

Patrick Oliver served as chief of police for the cities of Fairborn, OH, and Grandview Heights, OH, and as ranger chief of Cleveland Metropolitan Park District. He has significant experience with pursuits, having worked 11 years as a trooper with the Ohio Highway Patrol. Oliver is currently director of the criminal justice program for Cedarville University.

Samuel Kirchhoff is a criminal justice student at Cedarville University.
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By Nathan Layne and Julia Edwards Ainsley

NEW YORK (Reuters)  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 Flynns business activities. That includes payments by three Russian companies and a Netherlands-based company, Inovo, controlled by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin, they said.

The FBIs 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 Flynns company operated.

A person recently interviewed by the FBI in connection with the Flynn investigation said agents from the bureaus 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.

Flynns 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 Flynns 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 Trumps 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 Gulens 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 Turkeys foreign minister and energy minister, who is Erdogans 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 Groups 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 Alptekins 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)
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A Federal judge in Hawaii tweaked his previous injunction blocking Trumps Muslim to allow studies and policy reviews on its impact. One of Trumps versions of the truth about his Muslim ban includes suggests that this is temporary until the government has had a chance to study the issue.

One could conclude Judge Derrick Watson is, therefore, calling Trumps bluff, by lifting the portion of the injunction that precludes studying the impact Trumps Muslim ban.

In reality, he is simply complying with a ruling made by the ninth circuit of appeals last week, while upholding the thrust of his ruling (and on which the ninth circuit agreed)

Although Donald Trumps childish complaints about the unfairness of courts ruling against the unconstitutional intent of his Muslim ban, relatively more mature members of the Trump administration say, they are being careful to comply with this order.

In fact, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told Politico Homeland security is treading carefully to avoid accusations that they were defying court orders.

Judge Watsons order makes clear that the government can study the impact of Trumps Muslim ban provided for internal reviews that internal review procedures do not burden individuals outside of the executive branch of the federal government.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of Trumps Muslim ban this term.
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Meet Democrat Randy Bryce, an iron worker who launched a campaign against Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and raised $100,000 in the first 24 hours according to his campaign.

Activist, Ironworker, life-long resident of Wisconsin, & running for Congress against Speaker Paul Ryan, Bryce describes himself. Oh, hes also a single dad.

In this campaign video, the 20 year iron worker Bryce talks about how we need to look out for one another. He opens on Paul Ryan celebrating the signing of Trumpcare and moves on to his own mom, who has a preexisting condition  MS.

Eric Levitz of New York Magazine referred to Bryce in this ad as, Bruce Springsteens discography has taken on human form  and now its trying to kick Paul Ryan out of Congress and noted that, The ironworker is a cancer survivor, Army veteran, political coordinator for his union, and member of the Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerces board of directors. His memorable Twitter handle  @IronStache  evinces a savviness for social media.

Watch here:

Activist, Ironworker, life-long resident of Wisconsin, & running for Congress against Speaker Paul Ryan.  RBFChttps://t.co/uGnQdVUhMx  Randy Bryce (@IronStache) June 19, 2017

My values are my neighbors values, and we know that Washington has gotten way off track, Bryce said on his campaign site. Whether its healthcare or jobs, national security or education, our democracy or the environment  theres not one issue where Paul Ryan and Donald Trump are headed in the right direction. Its time for a change in Congress.

My mother has multiple sclerosis, my father is in assisted living, and I survived cancer in my 20s to have a miracle child in my 40s, said Bryce. What Paul Ryan and the Republicans are doing to take health care away from millions of us, to make it cost more and cover less, and to allow the protections weve gained to be stripped away  its just unacceptable.

Bryce is a long shot for a district that doesnt seem to like Paul Ryan but keeps sending him back to Congress anyway. However, according to Bryces campaign:

In other news, Democrat Randy Bryce, who launched a campaign in WI-1 vs Paul Ryan yesterday, raised $100k in first 24h, per campaign.  Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) June 20, 2017

One thing is for sure  seeing someone run for office who works for a living and understands healthcare as it actually is for working Americans is refreshing.
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By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters)  U.S. senators called on Congress on Tuesday to take back its authority to determine whether the country goes to war, saying recent U.S. strikes in Syria were not covered by existing authorizations for the use of military force.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has begun considering legislation that would cover military action in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Yemen against the Islamic State, al Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups.

I have always believed that its important for Congress to exercise its constitutional role to authorize the use of force, the committees chairman, Republican Senator Bob Corker, told a hearing on Tuesday.

As President Donald Trump has ordered stepped-up military activity in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere, members of Congress also want Trump to present a strategy for defeating Islamic State and other militant groups.

Its difficult for us to carry out our responsibility unless we know what the commander in chief needs, Senator Ben Cardin, the committees top Democrat, said.

The Trump administration, like former President Barack Obamas, has been using a 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against al Qaeda passed after the Sept. 11 attacks as the legal basis for a wide range of military action since.

Although there is bipartisan support for Congress to debate and vote on a new AUMF introduced by Republican Senator Jeff Flake and Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, the measure faces stiff opposition.

Lawmakers have introduced war authorizations repeatedly in the past several years. But they have failed to advance amid sharp divisions in Congress over whether, or how, to limit commanders use of military resources.

Many war-weary members of Congress also do not want to vote for anything that might become a foreign military quagmire consuming taxpayer dollars or leading to widespread U.S. casualties.

Trump has ordered stepped-up military operations against Islamic State and delegated more authority to his generals. U.S.-led forces said on Tuesday they had shot down an armed pro-Syrian regime drone near the border between Iraq and Syria. A U.S. warplane shot down a Syrian army jet over Syria on Sunday.

Democratic Senator Tom Udall voted for the 2001 authorization while he was a member of the House of Representatives. I would have never imagined that vote supporting U.S. troops in Syria in 2017 and engagements with the Assad regime, he said.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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The Congressional Black Caucus is expected to decline an invitation to meet with Donald Trump, because the President has done nothing to advance their agenda, and they dont want to give him a photo-op.

Politico reported, The Congressional Black Caucus is expected to reject an invitation to meet with President Donald Trump, according to four sources close to the group. The Trump administration, sources said, has done nothing to advance the CBCs priorities since the groups executive board first met with Trump in March. And members are worried the request for a caucus-wide meeting would amount to little more than a photo op that the president could use to bolster his standing among African-Americans.

The Congressional Black Caucus is showing Trump that they arent going to play a role in his reality television presidency. The White House strategy appears to be to withhold information from the public as they trot out Trump to make a few scripted remarks and pose for the cameras with assorted guest stars each day.

The CBC wants action, and since Trump has less than zero interest in doing anything to advance their agenda, there is no point to having a meeting with the President. The meeting would look great for Trump, but it would be a waste of time for the Congressional Black Caucus.

If Trump wants a publicity stunt, he can summon Dennis Rodman to brief him at the White House on North Korea. The CBC has no interest in wasting time hanging around the Trump circus.

One can almost see the power of the presidency diminishing each day under the incompetent hand of Donald J. Trump.
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Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, blamed Democrats for the Steve Scalise shooting, claimed that 90% of the media are Democrats, and said that because of the threat posed to him Democrats he wont be holding town halls.

Here are some of Nuness comments from The Fresno Bee:

He went on to say that more and more activity of fake news and fake media, as well as statements from his Democratic colleagues, have continued to incite protests and threats against those in public office.

.

Ninety percent of the media is the arm of the Democratic Party, Nunes said. Five percent is legitimate journalists, like you here in the KMJ news studio and 5 percent are right-wing.

.

The media is trying to discredit him, he added, because he knows that Democrats have been using the intelligence agencies to investigate people for political reasons. So too are his colleagues on the opposite of the aisle. The Democrats know that I know who was doing the unmasking, he said. I know who leaked (inside) information (to the media).

Devin Nuness tortured logic goes like this. Ninety percent of the media are Democrats. Democrats are also responsible for the shooting of Steve Scalise because their rhetoric incites violence. The media is also working against Nunes by conspiring with Democrats to discredit him to cover up the real spying that Democrats are doing against their opponents for political reasons.

Rep. Nunes is nuts. It is no wonder that he is Trumps mole on the inside who is trying to sabotage the House Russia investigation. Nunes doesnt need to step aside from the investigation. He must be removed from the House Intelligence Committee because he is clearly not mentally fit enough to serve in a leadership position.
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Some Democrats, liberals, and progressives are freaking out because they didnt win special elections in heavily Republican districts that they were supposed to lose. There are two statistics that drive this point home and serve as a reminder that the freak out is based more on emotions than political reality.

For those who are thinking that Democrats did poorly in these special elections, here is a chart showing the Democratic gains from Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report:

Republicans won each of these seats in 2016 by solid double-digit margins, but Democrats gained 12 points in Kansas, 8 points in Montana, 6 points in Georgia, and 7 points in South Carolina. In 2016, Trump won South Carolina by 14, Montana by 22, Kansas by 20, and Georgia by 5 points. There is a reason why the Trump administration chose the representatives from those districts to serve in the cabinet. These are very safe Republican seats. The Democratic candidates were not only on hostile political turf. They were outnumbered by a lot.

The other important statistic relates specifically to the Georgia special election:

#GA06 not a baseline. $50M or nearly $200 per voter was spent. Can't imagine we'll see same levels of spending everywhere in 2018 /11  Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) June 21, 2017

GA-06 was an insane outlier, where a normal special election got blown out of proportion and turned into this national spectacle.

As I tweeted last night:

8) Fun fact: 94 GOP House seats in 2016 were closer that GA-06. Keep this in mind when people talk about the "loss" in Georgia.  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) June 21, 2017

There are 94 other Republican-held seats that had closer margins in 2016 than GA-06. No matter what activists and Democrats may have convinced themselves of otherwise, the district wasnt as close to flipping as they thought.

Winning a special election wont make everything right with the world again. A special election would be meaningless and wouldnt change anything politically. The real fight that Democrats need to win is on health care. Trump could care less who wins these special elections, but he is desperate for a signature legislative achievement. If Democrats really want to hand Trump a devastating defeat, they can do so by winning on health care in the Senate next Thursday.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms this morning, turning windy with light rain possible this afternoon. High 76F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low 64F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
In life, one will only experience two or three extraordinary moments that will truly seem like it came out of the pages of a book. I am lucky enough to have already experienced one of these inspiring events, which has taught me how to overcome whatever obstacles come my way. The story of my surreal trip to Switzerland is a valuable memory, which will always remind me about what it means to be a family member.

In the summer of 2014, my grandparents and I took a vacation to Basel, Switzerland. We had been planning this trip for about two years because I knew that I wanted to take German in high school, and I had a desire to practice the little bit of German I had already learned from my father.

We were all exhausted when we reached the hotel room  which was understandable, as it was almost midnight in the United States. But my grandfather seemed a bit more fatigued than usual. I chalked it up to jet-lag and the fact that he was going to turn 70 the next day.

After a few hours of relaxing in the room, my grandparents and I headed down to dinner. We all sat down, me sitting next to my grandfather, and my grandmother sitting across from us. After we ordered, we began to discuss our plans for the next day and how beautiful the view of the Rhine River was, when I noticed that my grandfather was shaking. My grandmother noticed about the same time as I did and immediately stood up and walked over my grandfather.

I thought that this was normal at first, as he had recently had a neck surgery and this might've just been a side effect, but when I saw that half of his face was drooping, I knew that this was anything but normal. My heart began to pound and thoughts were racing around my head, but I knew I had to stay calm and do what I could in the moment.

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Two hours and an ambulance ride later, my grandmother and I found out what had happened: My grandfather had had a stroke. Right away, I had so many questions: Will he be OK? When will we get home? How long will we be here? Unfortunately, no one could really answer those questions.

Through the week that followed, most of my days were spent at the hospital, sitting in a metal folding chair, practicing my German with the nurses. Neither of my grandparents spoke German and only a few of the nurses and doctors spoke English, so we struggled to get by on my broken German.

Luckily, the staff that could speak English spoke it very well, so we soon understood that my grandfather would be well enough to go home at the end of the week. My parents had already traveled to my grandparents' house in Texas and planned to meet us at the local hospital once we arrived back in the States. So we packed up and traveled home with the nurse assigned to monitor my grandfather during the flight. When we finally boarded the plane, I thought everything would be OK. Hopefully.

In the weeks after my grandfather had the stroke, my parents and I kept in close contact with him and my grandmother to make sure everything was still OK. Today, he still has some side effects, but he's mostly like his old self.

Through all of this, I learned what it means to be part of a family: to stop focusing on myself for a moment, accept that things don't always go as planned, and be truly supportive of the ones I love. Next year, my grandmother and I are going to take the trip we never got to take. I'm looking forward to what this next adventure might bring.
For the 29th year, the Friendship Wagon Train will be making its way across southeastern Minnesota, raising money for Camp Winnebago, a camp for children and adults with developmental disabilities, and reminding people what "roughing it" was really like.

An estimated 100 volunteers will travel by horse-drawn wagon or in a saddle for the week. Every year, the wagon train has taken a different route on its 130-mile journey. This year, it heads out of Owatonna on Saturday, spends the first night in Claremont and the second night in Kasson.

It will arrive at the History Center of Olmsted County around 3 p.m. Monday for an overnight camp and then spend the entire day there on Tuesday, giving rides to the general public.

The rides are free, but organizers are asking for a free-will donation to Camp Winnebago, 100 percent of which goes to the camp, said Monica Davis, a Mayo Clinic employee and assistant to the wagon master, John Davis, who is also her husband.

Davis said the wagon train has raised close to a million dollars over the nearly three decades it has run. Some volunteers stay for the entire week. Others join at different times of the week or fall away to return to the 21st century.

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"We have people coming and going all week," Davis said. Volunteers comes from different states, including Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Alabama and California.

The idea of the wagon train originated with John Davis, a self-employed carpenter. Monica Davis attributed the wagon train's longevity to people's commitment to Camp Winnebago. The funding helps people with disabilities to attend camp and help them establish a sense of independence. And it also frees up parents and families to do things they can't usually do when raising someone with disabilities.

"The main thing is we want people to feel welcome and invite them to come out and take a ride," Davis said.
A Byron man accused of a crime for sexual contact with a girl less than half his age has been sentenced in the case.

Kent Ralph Cutting, 32, pleaded guilty in April to one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct-victim 13-15. He was sentenced Monday to 20 days in jail, stayed for 120 days; placed on probation for 10 years; ordered to attend a sex offender program and must register as a predatory offender, among other conditions.

The investigation began June 18, 2016, when a woman contacted Rochester police after she saw her daughter "making out" with an older male in a park. When the woman confronted the man, he provided his name and said he was 20 years old.

The responding officer identified the man as Cutting, who told the officer he'd met the girl that day at the park after becoming acquainted through an online application. Cutting said he hadn't asked her age, but thought she was 18 because he's seen 18-year-old girls that are her size "and just like her," the complaint says.

Cutting told the officer that though his drivers license indicated he was 31, Cutting just found out he's only 20, court documents say, and he and his mother "are attempting to get his age changed."

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Cutting reportedly allowed the police to search his phone.

Though the victim was "reluctant," she confirmed the two had met through an online app and arranged for Cutting to come to her house the day before, when her parents were gone. That's where the sexual contact occurred, the complaint says.

Cutting initially denied going to the girl's house, but eventually admitted he had been there and they "kissed a little bit." He told an investigator he was 21 and graduated from Byron High School in 2003; when the investigator pointed out Cutting would have been 8 years old when he graduated, Cutting admitted he was actually 31, the reports say.

Analysis of Cutting's phone revealed messages between the two that indicated they'd had more sexual contact than the girl had described. Cutting was arrested about two weeks later at his workplace.
Organizers of a new display  Locks of Compassion  in Rochester's Peace Plaza hope it's the key to helping local refugees.

Playing off the Locks of Love that were auctioned off in Paris to benefit refugees, Catholic Charities launched a new campaign Tuesday to raise funds for its programs. Tuesday was a notable day to introduce the project as it was World Refugee Day.

Mayor Ardell Brede, Catholic Charities Director of Advancement Mary Alessio and Mayo Clinic's Dr. John Knudsen introduced the Fence of Compassion in front of the historic Chateau Theater to a crowd of supporters. The chain-link fence attached to a flower box was created by the Rochester Area Builders' Below 40 young professionals group.

People are encouraged to purchase a padlock donated by Master Lock for $10. Then after decorating the lock with words hope or drawings, the lock can be added to the Fence of Compassion. The fence will stand there until Aug. 30.

The Winona Diocese's Catholic Charities works as private/public organization to resettle refugees from all over the world, of many different religious faiths. About 40 percent of its funding comes from donors.

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Brede said Rochester is known as a compassionate city and this new project is a fits with the values of the community. Alessio added that basing the display in the Peace Plaza gives Mayo Clinic patients and visitors an opportunity also to participate.

Catholic Charities plans to have a booth at Thursday on First & Third to sell padlocks and help people decorate them. Three downtown businesses  Victoria's Ristorante & Wine Bar, Tangerine Gifts, and Lasker Jewelers  are also selling the padlocks to support the project.
WABASHA  A decision that has long been rumored to be in the making, Mayo Clinic will be withdrawing its regional service from Wabasha.

The divorce of Clinic and city is finally official after years of acrimony. It was announced in separate news releases on Monday.

Saint Elizabeth's Medical Center's news release didn't mention Mayo Clinic Health System once while announcing plans to open a primary care clinic next month led by Dr. Dennis Spano and nurse practitioners Sharon Riester and Kayla Dascher; those three are among many who have resigned from MCHS over the last 12 months.

Mayo Clinic, in its news release, attributed the decision to "a changing health care environment across the country."

Regional tensions have been simmering along the river corridor since Mayo announced in February 2015 that it was ending labor and delivery services in Wabasha and Lake City, while consolidating services in Red Wing. Mayo had invested $3.8 million at the Wabasha facility in 2000 while signing a 15-year agreement.

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Additional reductions of services prompted the city of Wabasha to form a Rural Health Task Force in January 2016. After months of discussions with Mayo brass, Wabasha City Administrator Chad Springer says talks "intensified" a few weeks ago before finally becoming official this month.

Reducing its services got Mayo strong criticism from the Task Force, the Wabasha Port Authority and the general public; Springer still called Mayo's impending departure a bittersweet moment.

"No one is a winner here, but we're getting what we feel (is best) for health care in the city of Wabasha," Springer said Tuesday. "We all took some bumps and bruises along the way. We're pleased with the outcome, but wish we didn't have to go through this whole process to get where we are today."

This week's announcement marks the latest bump in the road for Mayo Clinic in Southeast Minnesota. Union members have picketed outside Mayo sites in Rochester, Lake City and Albert Lea over different issues in the last 18 months. A complaint is pending with the National Labor Relations Board over a lingering contract dispute in Albert Lea, while Mayo has also faced criticism from legislators for its decision to outsource its food service department. A former Mayo doctor has also filed a civil lawsuit.

Mayo also made waves last week when it announced it would be consolidating services in Austin while shifting some services away from its Albert Lea site .

Mayo weighs in on the changes

Mayo says its decision to transition out as the sole provider of primary care services in Wabasha came after "many discussions" with leaders at Saint Elizabeth's and Ascension, the health system that owns St. Elizabeth's, and feedback from Wabasha leaders. Mayo is expected to continue offering services until the end of September, at which point employees will be given the option of continuing to work in Wabasha or transitioning to another MCHS site.

Additionally, Mayo notes it has adopted a new model of care featuring dedicated teams serving patients in each area of practice  primary care, hospital and emergency  in response to changes in the health care market.

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Those challenges have coincided with a change of leadership, where long-time leader Tom Witt was replaced a few months ago by Brian Whited as CEO of MCHS in Cannon Falls, Lake City and Red Wing.

"The shift in the care model along with primary care provider shortages challenged our ability to continue to provide medical staff to St. Elizabeth's as we have historically," Whited said, in a written statement. "Both our clinic and St. Elizabeth's also began further integrating within their respective systems, which posed additional challenges related to differences in standardized care protocols, equipment and electronic health records. These challenges impact our ability to offer patients the continuity of care they deserve."

Mayo patients will soon receive a letter informing them of transition options. The most likely locations would be Lake City (22 miles), Plainview (24 miles) or Mondovi, Wis. (40 miles).

St. Elizabeth says it's in the process of "recruiting additional clinic providers and support staff with the goal of offering a broad scope of primary care services to Wabasha and the surrounding communities." Spokeswoman Jenny Schlagenhaft said it's too early to tell whether that means OB services would be returning to Wabasha.

"We are grateful to our associates, volunteers, and community residents across our service area who continue to offer outstanding support for Saint Elizabeth's Medical Center," CEO Tom Crowley said.

What's next?

With more than 400 staff members, St. Elizabeth's is one of the largest employers in Wabasha County. It also enjoys enthusiastic support of the community, generating $15 million in donations over the last 15 years.

St. Elizabeth's has experienced a drop in patients across the board between 2014 and 2016. Inpatient and outpatient visits both fell by around 2 percent, while home care visits dropped by nearly 16 percent.

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Springer says the community has always been committed to maintaining a high-quality rural health care facility  with or without Mayo's presence. After Mayo's departure, St. Elizabeth's plans to apply for federal designation to operate as a Rural Health Clinic.

"This (announcement) solidifies one of the largest employers in Wabasha, and for that we are grateful," Springer said. "One of the other big pieces is it gives St. Elizabeth the ability to chart their own future and not be dictated to by an outside force."
Comedian Bill Dana died last week. Dana, a Jew of Hungarian descent, rose to fame in the early 1960s by portraying a bumbling Latino immigrant called Jose Jimenez. His trademark line  My name Jose Jiminez, uttered with a thick accent  was enough to produce gales of laughter from live television audiences. I was never sure why.

Before he culturally appropriated Jimenez, Bill Dana appropriated Dana. His real name was Bill Szathmary.

Szathmary served as an infantryman in World War II. He was awarded the Bronze Star.

After the war, and after graduating from college, Dana began his career in comedy. It was then that he changed his name.

Adopting Anglo sounding names was a common show business practice, especially among Jews. Indeed, for Jews the practice extended beyond Hollywood.

My uncle changed his name one day during the depression while standing in line looking for a job. One of the guys ahead of him reported that no Jews were being picked. At that moment, he stopped being Mirengoff. He got the job.

How did the Latino community take to Danas cultural appropriation? Very well, at the time. According to one television historian, the Hispanic community embraced it. He was honored by the Hispanic Media Coalition.

Some might call this an example of false consciousness  the most absurd concept in the lefts arsenal until cultural appropriation. Others might call it evidence of a healthy ability to laugh at oneself.

In the late 60s, Dana became concerned that his Jose Jimenez act was being perceived as a negative stereotype. He abandoned it. Later, he regretted the decision, and revived the character.

For me, ethnic jokes are the funniest. Ethnic caricatures like Jose Jimenez amuse me less. However, they are funnier, and in a rational world less offensive, than much of what passes for comedy these days  saying nasty and naughty things about people liberal audiences are told to hate (to use Susan Vass description).

RIP, Bill Dana.
Republican Karen Handel handily handled Democratic manchild Jon Ossoff in the special election to fill Georgias Sixth District congressional seat last night. The race was expected to be a cliffhanger. We were told that we wouldnt know the outcome until the early morning hours today. By 10:00 p.m., however, it was clear that Handel would prevail. With 100 percent of the votes tabulated, Handel won by about four points or 10,000 votes (out of a total of about 260,000).

The Hollywood/San Francisco crowd invested big time in Ossoff. For the California left, it was the night that the lights went out in Georgia. Roger Simon rightly declares Hollywood a YUUUGE loser last night.

The lynch mob media (as Senator Cotton calls it) also heavily invested in the race  as one could see from the looks of the crew commenting last night on CNN. You didnt even have to turn up the volume to figure out what was happening. How great is this?

Election Night Anchor Face is fast becoming one of my favorite things. pic.twitter.com/EXe4jD5HAv  T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) June 21, 2017

Until Ossoff lost, of course, this may have been the most important congressional race ever. It was to be an omen. It would be a portent. Now were back in the USSR. Mary Katharine Ham put it this way on Twitter last night:

Update: Formerly vitally important election with national implications that can't be overstated now scheduled to be irrelevant by 10 am.  Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) June 21, 2017

Washington Examiner politics editor Jim Antle let loose with a steady stream of punning tweets with musical themes last night. When Handel was declared the winner he observed that it would take a while before we knew which factor was Handels messiah.

Ossoff raised $23.5 million to Handels $4.5 million. Outside Republican campaign funds partially redressed the balance. The New York Times breaks down the numbers here.

PJ Medias Tyler ONeil considers the cash in an excellent post here. Ossoffs huge war chest might have hurt him. In the last two months, the Democrat reported receiving nine times more donations from California than from Georgia. In the nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area alone, Ossoff reported receiving 3,063 donations, nearly four times the Georgia total of 808 gifts.

From a distance, it seemed to me that Handel probably fit the district a bit better than Ossoff. For one thing, she actually lived there. Ossoff lived outside the district with his girlfriend. At one time he lived in the district. He could remember his old address there.

The Washington Free Beacons Brent Scher covered the race in the spirit of Andrew Breitbart. He documented his two-hour trek from Ossoffs house to the Sixth District. He was rewarded for his efforts with his exclusion from an Ossoff campaign event on the night before the election.

In the end the California contributions may have boomeranged. Handel pounded on the Pelosi factor that an Ossoff victory would enhance. ONeil notes: Most of the Handel ads attacking Ossoff tied the Democrat to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It appears that that message worked.
Republican Karen Handel has what looks like a commanding lead in the special Georgia congressional race. With about 80 percent of the vote counted, shes up by 52.4 to 47.6 over boy Democrat Jon Ossoff.

The folks at FiveThirtyEight have all but given up on Ossoff. A few minutes ago, Nate Silver said:

Handel is ahead by around 12,500 votes right now, and we expect that there are about 25,000 mail votes still left to count, along with various other election day votes. If the remaining election day votes are a wash  a big assumption  Ossoff would need to win the mail-ins 2-to-1. I suppose thats not impossible, but its a steep hill to climb.

David Wasserman was more direct:

Im ready to stick a fork in it  and please note that this is my personal projection  Handel defeats Ossoff, Republicans breathe gigantic sigh of relief.

The Democrats placed an enormous amount of hope, not to mention dough, in this race. It looks like they have come up empty.

If so, they will try hard to spin this as a moral victory, or something. Dont buy it. This is a bad result for them.

UPDATE: CNN has called the race for Handel. Excellent!

,
Unfortunately, it isnt the federal government. Its Apple, Inc.:

A recording of an internal briefing at Apple earlier this month obtained by The Outline sheds new light on how far the most valuable company in the world will go to prevent leaks about new products. The briefing, titled Stopping Leakers  Keeping Confidential at Apple, was led by Director of Global Security David Rice, Director of Worldwide Investigations Lee Freedman, and Jenny Hubbert, who works on the Global Security communications and training team. According to the hour-long presentation, Apples Global Security team employs an undisclosed number of investigators around the world to prevent information from reaching competitors, counterfeiters, and the press, as well as hunt down the source when leaks do occur. Some of these investigators have previously worked at U.S. intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency (NSA), law enforcement agencies like the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, and in the U.S. military.

It must be refreshing for them to have gone to a place where people really care about stopping leaks. I wonder what the ex-FBI guys thought about the Bureaus former Director proudly proclaiming himself to be a leaker.

When I see a leak in the press, for me, its gut-wrenching, an Apple employee says in the first video. It really makes me sick to my stomach. Another employee adds, When you leak this information, youre letting all of us down. Its our company, the reputation of the company, the hard work of the different teams that work on this stuff.

This is the attitude we need to see in the federal bureaucracy.

This has become a big deal for Tim, Greg Joswiak, Apples Vice President of iPod, iPhone and iOS product marketing, says in one of the videos. Matter of fact, it should be important to literally everybody at Apple that we cant tolerate this any longer.  To make sure of it, Apple has built an infrastructure and a team to come after these leakers, Joswiak says, and theyre being quite effective.

Apple has a Worldwide Investigations team:

She then introduces David Rice to talk about the New Product Security team, a part of the larger Global Security team that Rice says is really a secrecy group, were a little bit misnamed. Rice worked at the NSA as a Global Network Vulnerability Analyst for four years, and before that was a Special Duty Cryptologist in the U.S. Navy. Hes directed the Global Security team at Apple for more than six years, according to his LinkedIn page. Hubbert also introduces Lee Freedman, who previously worked as the Chief of Computer Hacking Crimes at the U.S. Attorneys Office and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, according to LinkedIn. He joined Apple to lead Worldwide Investigations in 2011.

If Apple can do it, is there any reason why the federal government cant? Apples task is actually far more vast:

Rice compares Apples work of screening factory employees to that of the TSA. Their peak volume is 1.8 million a day. Ours, for just 40 factories in China, is 2.7 million a day. That number surges to 3 million when Apple ramps up production, he adds, and all of these people need to be checked every time they enter and exit the factory. 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, Rice says.

In contrast, the leakers currently bedeviling the federal government come from a handful of current and former senior government officials, all or nearly all in the intelligence agencies or the FBI. There cant be more than a few hundred suspects.

The Global Security team in China has been busting their ass to solve the problem of leaks stemming from Apples factories, Rice says, describing the efforts as trench warfare non-stop.

Do you think anyone in Washington is conducting trench warfare against leakers? I dont either.

Workers will stash parts in bathrooms, clench them between their toes, throw them over fences, and flush them down the toilet for retrieval in the sewer, Rice says. We had 8,000 enclosures stolen a long time ago by women putting it in the underwire of their bra, he says.

Washington leakers rarely go to such extremes, yet they never seem to get caught.

Apple works tirelessly to identify leakers. They never give up:

Apple embeds members of a team within Global Security, called Secrecy Program Management, on some product teams to help employees keep secrets, he explains. But when sensitive information does get out, Lee Freedmans investigations team steps in to figure out what happened and who is responsible. These investigations go on a long time, Freedman tells the employees. For example, one investigation that led to a leaker on an Apple campus took three years. We dont take a defeatist mentality and say, Oh well, its going to leak anyway.

Chinese leakers generally do it for the money, while American leakers are more likely to have connections to journalists:

Hubbert prompts him to talk about two major leakers who were caught the previous year, one who worked at Apples online store for a couple years and one who worked on iTunes for about six years.

Both these leakers were providing information to bloggers, Rice says. One of the leakers started talking to a journalist over Twitter, Freedman says, while the other had a preexisting friendship with a reporter.

There is no reason why the federal government, with its vast resources and a far smaller pool of suspects, cant catch leakers at least as effectively as Apple can. And the stakes are much higher: national security vs. the shape of the next iPhone. It seems that at some level below that of the president, the will to stop the leaks is missing.
Check out this anti-Trump screed by Michael Gerson in todays Washington Post. Gerson writes:

Trump has been ruled by compulsions, obsessions and vindictiveness, expressed nearly daily on Twitter. He has demonstrated an egotism that borders on solipsism. His political skills as president have been close to nonexistent. His White House is divided, incompetent and chaotic, and key administration jobs remain unfilled. His legislative agenda has gone nowhere. He has told constant, childish, refuted, uncorrected lies, and demanded and habituated deception among his underlings. He has humiliated and undercut his staff while requiring and rewarding flattery. He has promoted self-serving conspiracy theories. He has displayed pathetic, even frightening, ignorance on policy matters foreign and domestic. He has inflicted his ethically challenged associates on the nation. He is dead to the poetry of language and to the nobility of the political enterprise, viewing politics as conquest rather than as service.

Thats not all:

Trump has made consistent appeals to prejudice based on religion and ethnicity, and associated the Republican Party with bias. He has stoked tribal hostilities. He has carelessly fractured our national unity. He has attempted to undermine respect for any institution that opposes or limits him  be it the responsible press, the courts or the intelligence community. He has invited criminal investigation through his secrecy and carelessness. He has publicly attempted to intimidate law enforcement. He has systematically alarmed our allies and given comfort to authoritarians. He promised to emancipate the world from American moral leadership  and has kept that pledge.

Some of these charges are both true and important. But did you notice what is missing from Gersons list?

Disagreement with a single policy decision made by Trump.

The second half of Gersons column consists of hand-wringing about what Republicans and conservatives should do in response to the Trump malignancy, as he views it. Should we create a conservative third party? Should we back impeachment? Should we primary Trump in 2020? Should we support the Democrat that year?

Or should we try to outlast Trump  closing the shutters and waiting for the hurricane to pass, while rooting for the success of a strong bench of rising 40-something leaders (Marco Rubio, Mike Lee, Nikki Haley, Tom Cotton, Ben Sasse).

In the absence of more than a few major policy disagreements with Trump, I think the answer to the question of what Republicans and conservatives should do is obvious: Support President Trump.

Not uncritically. Not come hell or high water. Not (if I can help it) with bad arguments. But support the president.

We should not create a third party. We should not, on the facts we know or the facts that seem likely to emerge, back impeachment. Rather, we should push back strongly against such talk.

We should not support a primary challenge to Trump unless his policies veer to the left or it becomes apparent that he cant be reelected. We absolutely should not support his opponent in 2020.

As things stand now, these are not close calls.

Gerson says individuals and parties have long-term interests that are served by integrity, honor and sanity. There is nothing dishonest, dishonorable, or insane about supporting a president who, in most cases, is making decisions one views as good for the country. Integrity and honor are only disserved if, in supporting him, we argue dishonestly  intellectually or factually.

Some Trump supporters may be doing so, but most of the dishonesty I see is coming from the Trump-hating left.
The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, has appealed to the federal government to pay the outstanding fuel subsidy claims to its members to pay back their bank loans.

The Executive Secretary of the association, Obafemi Olawore, made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Lagos.

NAN reports that some oil marketers had on June 18 appealed to the federal government to pay their outstanding debts of $2 billion (about N720 billion) owed on importation of petrol products and the accrued interests on bank loans.

Mr. Olawore said that the immediate payment of the accumulated subsidy claims would salvage the banks from total collapse over the huge debts owed them by marketers.

According to him, the delay in repayment of the loan debts owed the banks by marketers had led to retrenchment in the banking and the oil and gas sectors.

We (marketers) are afraid that if the money is not paid on time, this may attract the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to take over our businesses.

The debts had imparted grossly on marketers, while only very few marketers are presently importing insignificant quantity of petroleum products into the country, he said.

Mr. Olawore said that the plea was to avert the scarcity of petroleum products in the country.

The executive secretary said that inability of the marketers to import fuel had impacted negatively on loading activities at the Apapa and Dockyard private depots.

Mr. Olawore said that the NNPC had become the sole importer of petroleum products, while marketers were queuing to get the products on credit.

He said that the federal government paid over N300 million daily as fuel subsidy.

Mr. Olawore said that anytime there was problem in the banking sector, it was always traced to the oil sector, because of the unpaid loans collected by marketers borrowed.

Once we (marketers) are unable to pay, the banks will have problems, he said.

Mr. Olawore said that some banks might be having problem with their correspondence banks abroad due to the unpaid loans.

This can have negative effects on the financial sectors stability, which is not good for the economy.

A situation where the banks are being owed N800 billion constitute major threat to the continuous existence of the sector, he said.

(NAN)

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Israel on Wednesday threatened to use all its strength from the start in any new war with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah,

Chief of the Israeli air force, Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel, gave the warning during the annual Herzliya security conference near Tel Aviv.

Mr. Eshel said qualitative and quantitative improvements in the air force since the 2006 Lebanon war meant it could carry out in just two or three days the same number of bombings it mounted in those 34 days of fighting.

If war breaks out in the north, we have to open with all our strength from the start, he said, pointing to the likelihood of international pressure for a quick ceasefire before Israel can achieve all its strategic goals.

Israeli politicians and generals have spoken often of an intention to hit hard in Lebanon if war breaks out, in an apparent bid to deter Hezbollah.

Mr. Eshel said in 2014 that another conflict could see Israeli attacks 15 times more devastating for Lebanon than in 2006.

At the conference, Mr. Eshel noted that many elements busy achieving their goals in Syrias civil war were interested in preventing any fresh hostilities in Lebanon, where Israel says Hezbollah has built up an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets.

Since early in the six-year-old Syria war, Hezbollahs energies have been focused on propping up President Bashar al-Assad in alliance with Iran and Russia, throwing thousands of its fighters into battle against Syrian rebels.

The Shiite group has not altered its view of Israel as its foremost enemy, and Israels military has said it regards Hezbollah in the same way.

Although Israel has kept to the sidelines of the war in Syria, Israeli aircraft have targeted suspected Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah, operations complicated by Russian and U.S. air activity in the region.

The skies of the Middle East are a lot more crowded than before, with lots of players, Mr. Eshel said, pointing to the need for the air force to operate surgically to avoid mistakes.

On the other hand, such strikes, he said, also act as a deterrent to Hezbollah, whose missile capabilities could mean that the air force and the rest of the Israeli military will fight any future Lebanon war with their own bases under attack.

Mr. Eshel cautioned residents in southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, to leave their homes if a new conflict erupts, saying the Iranian-backed group uses civilian homes as launching bases for missiles and rockets

No fewer than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, most of them troops fighting Hezbollah, were killed in the 2006 war, which displaced a million people in Lebanon and up to 500,000 in Israel.

(Reuters/NAN)

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Egypt sent fuel on Wednesday to the Gaza Strips only power plant to help alleviate an energy crisis that has left the Palestinian enclaves two million residents with less than three hours of electricity per day.

The delivery, a sign of improved relations between Hamas and Egypt after years of friction, was the first official import of Egyptian diesel to Gaza since Hamas took over the enclave in 2007 and could provide seven hours of power for three days.

Fuel from Egypt used to be smuggled through tunnels, many of them now destroyed by Cairo, which said they were conduits for weapons and militants battling Egyptian forces in the neighbouring Sinai Peninsula, an allegation denied by Hamas.

Gazas power plant has been off-line for two months due to a payment dispute between the Palestinian Authority, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Gazas Hamas Islamist rulers.

The Palestinian Authority has cut payments for its Israeli electricity supply, arguing that Hamas is not reimbursing its share of the cost, and Israel has therefore cut the power supply by almost a third.

Diesel tankers, flying the Egyptian and Palestinian flags, crossed into Gaza two days after the Israeli supply cuts began.

The imports were agreed at talks in Cairo this month between Gazas Hamas chief, Yehya Al-Sinwar, and Egyptian security officials.

Sources close to those negotiations said the deal was also facilitated by Mohammad Dahlan, a Fatah rival of Abbas living in Abu Dhabi.

Any worsening of the energy crisis could cause the collapse of health services, local health officials said. Hospitals largely rely on generators for power, as do Gaza residents who can afford the high cost of fuel to run them.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbass decision to cut the payments was coupled with calls from Palestinian officials for Hamas to relinquish control of Gaza, which Hamas seized from fighters loyal to Abbass Fatah movement in 2007.

Hamas-appointed deputy finance minister in Gaza, Youssef Al-Kayali, said the one million litres (264,000 gallons) in the shipment on Wednesday could be followed by another one million litre delivery later in the day or on Thursday.

(Reuters/NAN)

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For the first time in 43 years, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain on Wednesday did not wear her crown as she delivered the traditional Queens Speech and State Opening of Parliament.

The Queen was without her traditional regalia  robes, a golden carriage and a heavy crown. The Queen attended the event without her royal paraphernalia as a result of the recent snap election called by British Prime Minister Theresa May.

The unexpected election meant that the State Opening of Parliament was fixed just days after Trooping of Colour ceremony which traditionally marks the Queens official birthday every year.

The proximity of both event meant that there wasnt enough time for rehearsal and preparation for the events which require grand planning. The Queens Speech was originally set for June 19.

Trooping of Colour usually requires a Sovereigns Escort from the Household Cavalry Regiment, and the Queens route lined by hundreds of service personnel, the Mirror writes.

So, for the first time since 1974, the Queen was dressed in a blue dress with matching hat; devoid of the traditional grandness required for the ceremony.

She also travelled by car instead of the traditional horse-driven carriage to deliver her speech. Instead of wearing the heavy crown, it was carried by an officer of state. The Sword of State and Cap of Maintenance were also carried.

The event was devoid of its usual fanfare that traditionally accompanies the Queens arrival at the parliament. She was not accompanied by heralds as she walked to the Chamber of the House of the Lords to sit on her throne to deliver her speech.

The last time the Queen scaled down on the usual pomp of the Queens Speech was in March 1974 when the then Labour leader, Harold Wilson, defeated Edward Heath in a snap election similar to that called by Mrs. May on June 8.

Mrs. May lost her majority in the election and needed the fringe Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland to form a government. Though an agreement between the Tory and the DUP hasnt been finalised.

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The first set of nursing graduates were on Wednesday inducted at the University of Jos, 10 years after the university established its Department of Nursing.

The university started graduating nursing students in 2013, but they had not been inducted for professional practice by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, which regulates the profession in Nigeria.

The 52 newly qualified nurses have among them 18 males, one male student having died in the course of the five-year programme.

The Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the university, Simon Yiltok, described the induction as the climax of studies for any medical science course.

This occasion is the first to be conducted for graduands of Nursing Science since we started producing graduate nurses in 2013, Mr. Yiltok stated at the ceremony.

This is coming 10 years after the department was established.

This is a programme that is highly sought after in any university where the programme is run. In the last admission (2016/2017 session), we (the Faculty of Medical Sciences) accepted over 25,000 candidates for screening, 29.6 per cent of them applied for Nursing Science, Mr. Yiltok stated.

In his address at the ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Sebastian Maimako, admonished the graduands to be good ambassadors of the institution through quality and professionalism in their practice.

The students were inducted by the Registrar and Secretary General of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, Faruk Abubakar, who was represented at the ceremony by the Director of Administration of the council, Magaret Eze.

Mr. Abubakar charged the inductees to ensure strict observance of the code of ethics of the nursing profession.

Earlier, the Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences Mr. Yiltak, appealed to the university authorities to retain first class students to lecture in the institution.

Nwankwo Ngozi was the best graduating student, while another female graduand, Ati Awashima, was awarded the best graduating student in professional exams.

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At least one police officer and a Borno State government truck driver were confirmed dead on Tuesday night after gunmen believed to be Boko Haram fighters ambushed a large convoy of travellers being escorted by armed soldiers, officials said.

The ambush, at about 10 a.m. on Tuesday, was on a large convoy of commercial, private and government vehicles travelling from Maiduguri to the southern part of Borno State, passing through the Damboa road.

Armed escort of soldiers is often required to travel through the recently reopened Maiduguri-Biu federal highway.

The road, which also has a link to the gates of Sambisa forest, had been closed for about two years after Boko Haram captured towns and villages along its axis. It was only opened for commercial motorists in February 2016.

But since its opening, Boko Haram gunmen have staged several attacks on vehicles plying the road.

The latest of such attacks was that of Tuesday morning, which occurred at Abbari-Dalwa village located about 30km from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Hours after the attack, news began to filter into Maiduguri that about 8 police officers and several civilian travellers may have been killed by the terrorists.

Authorities at the various security outfits in Borno State were, however, not forthcoming with information on what actually transpired.

About 10 hours after the attack, the Borno State Police Command at a press conference at about 8 p.m. confirmed the daring assault.

The Borno State Police Commissioner, Damian Chukwu, informed journalists that only one of his officers died in the ambush that also claimed the life of a Borno State government truck driver conveying drugs to an IDP camp in Damboa.

He said a unit of soldiers who normally carry out such exercise once in a day was escorting the convoy of over 200 vehicles.

He also explained that in the convoy were 63 personnel of the Nigeria Mobile Police Force on a special duty in Askira-Uba Local Government Area in southern Borno State.

He also said a team of police officials from the state command were also conveying the corpse of a police sergeant who died of natural causes about four days ago, to the same local government area.

Mr. Chukwu explained that due to the increasing demand for more police presence especially in the liberated areas of Borno State, his command made a request for more hands, and the Inspector General of Police okayed the demand.

It was based on that approval by the IG that one officer and 62 men of the Nigeria Police Mobile Force were deployed from Delta State to Askira, he said.

And the vehicle conveying the deployed unit who were in an 80-sitter bus, had to join the convoy of civilian travellers being escorted by the soldiers.

They started the trip around 10 a.m.; and by 11.30 we received information that they were ambushed. Suspected insurgents who were firing anti-aircraft rifle on the bus conveying the policemen ambushed the whole convoy of about 200 vehicles. They had to scamper for safety and in that process six of them were injured.

The rest 56 of our special deployment managed to escape without any injury and their guns were intact.

But from what we gathered, the Borno State government driver who was driving the policemen left the vehicle and ran away. The gunmen attempted to take the bus away, but later left it after ridding it with bullets.

Mr. Chukwu said the deceased police officer was one of those escorting a corpse.

The story is not the same with our men that are in the burial party.

The driver (of the ambulance) was shot and injured, but a sergeant, Bala Tiiseh, who was escorting on the front of the lorry was killed. One Mustapha Modu, a driver of Borno State governments truck, was killed.

There are lots of other civilian occupants of the lorry, comprising relatives, friends and well-wishers of the deceased, who are still missing in action.

We learnt that in that attack, there was a stampede; people ran in different directions for safety.

Earlier, PREMIUM TIMES had gathered from some of the surviving police officers who returned to Maiduguri that the Boko Haram gunmen carted away a FNC rifle, a police lorry, as well as military, commercial and privately-owned vehicles.

The police commissioner did not, however, confirm the loss of equipment and vehicles.

The military has not issued any statement on the incident and its spokespersons in Borno did not pick or return calls.

Reports from some of the attacked police officers, however, suggest that the soldiers too may have suffered casualty in the attack.

Tuesdays daring attack by the Boko Haram on such a well-protected convoy occurs two weeks after the insurgents attacked Maiduguri in a coordinated move.

The insurgents, who have lost most of the territory they once controlled to soldiers, have thus shown they are still able to carry out coordinated attacks. The Boko Haram insurgency has caused about 100,000 deaths, mainly in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states, since 2009.

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The Health Minister, Isaac Adewole, has written to the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Nigeria Police Force over the enforcement of the National Tobacco Control Act.

In the letter addressed to Abubakar Malami and Ibrahim Idris, the attorney general and inspector general of police respectively, Mr. Adewole requested for their collaboration in the enforcement of the law.

It has become imperative to strengthen our collaborative efforts and to urgently start implementing and enforcing the provisions of the NTC Act 2015 in order to protect and promote the health of the citizens, Mr. Adewole, a professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said in the letter obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.

Though the NTC Act 2015 requires Regulations for full implementation, I have announced on behalf of Nigeria the enforceable provisions in accordance with the Law during the commemoration of the 2017 World No Tobacco Day.

The letters by the health minister, also sent to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, were dispatched between June 6 and 12 to the agencies.

The National Tobacco Control Act was signed into law in 2015 by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES last month, the Health minister said the implementation of the tobacco control Act had been slow because the draft regulations needed the National Assembly approval.

However, during this years World No Tobacco Day event themed Tobacco: A Threat to Development, Mr. Adewole announced a list of regulations to be implemented by the Nigerian government including:

1. Prohibition of the sale of tobacco products to and by anyone below age 18.

2. Ban of sale of cigarettes in single sticks; cigarettes must be sold in packs of 20 sticks only.

3. Smokeless tobacco shall be sold in a minimum of a pack of 30 grammes.

4. Ban of sale or offer for sale or distribution of tobacco or tobacco products through mail, internet, or other online devices.

5. Prohibition of interference of tobacco industry in public health and related issues.

6. Prohibition of smoking in anywhere on the premises of a child care facility, educational facility, and healthcare facility. Other prohibited for smoking include playgrounds, amusement parks, plazas, public parks, stadia, public transport, restaurants bar, and other public gathering spaces.

7. Prosecution of owner or manager of any of the places listed above who permits, encourages or fails to stop smoking in the above listed places.

8. Prohibition of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship of any kind.

9. Compliance with specified standards for content as set out by Standards Organization of Nigeria.

I write to seek your total support in ensuring the urgent implementation and enforcement of the provisions of the NTC Act 2015 in order to protect and promote the health of the citizens, Mr. Adewole added.

According to the World Health Organization, tobacco kills over seven million people annually, and is an increasing risk factor in non-communicable (NCDs), including cardiovascular disease, cancers and chronic obstructed pulmonary disease.

A 2012 Global Adult Tobacco Survey, GATS, in Nigeria showed that more than 20 billion sticks of cigarettes are consumed annually in the country; 5.6 per cent adults (about 4.5 million) currently use tobacco products out of which 4.1 million are men and 0.5 million women.

The survey further showed that 29.3 per cent of adults (about 6.4 million) are exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke when visiting restaurants, hotels, and other public settings.

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Nigerian refugees who fled Islamist militants are returning from Cameroon and risk creating a new humanitarian crisis, the head of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi, said on Wednesday.

The UNHCR issued a similar warning in May when about 12,000 refugees returned to the border town of Banki in Borno State, which was already housing 45,000 displaced Nigerians.

Mr. Grandi said another 889 refugees, mostly children, arrived in Banki on June 17 from Minawao camp in Cameroon.

The new arrivals, and we hear reports of more refugees seeking to return  put a strain on the few existing services, he said in a statement.

A new emergency, just as the rainy season is starting, has to be avoided at all costs.

It is my firm view that returns are not sustainable at this time.

Banki, once a thriving town, was razed to the ground by the time the Nigerian army retook it from Boko Haram insurgents in September 2015.

Mr. Grandi said the severely overcrowded town could not provide adequate shelter or aid and its water supply and sanitation were wholly inadequate, creating the risk of disease.

Although Boko Haram attacks have been fewer in recent months, more people are on the move and there are 1.9 million Nigerians displaced across the northeast, the World Food Program (WFP) said in a report on June 14.

The WFP said insecurity persists in parts of Northeast Nigeria, disrupting food supplies, seriously hindering access to basic services, and limiting agricultural activities, worsening an already dire food security situation.

The WFP said no fewer than five million people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in north-eastern Nigeria have no secure food supply.

(NAN)

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Nigerias Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, has defended his role in the anti-corruption war of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Mr. Malami, in response to criticisms of his role by a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, said he was committed to the anti-corruption efforts of the administration.

In a statement by his spokesperson, Mr. Malami also said he had directed that a Notice of Appeal be lodged against the ruling of the Code of Conduct Tribunal acquitting and discharging false assets declaration case preferred against the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr. Sarakis acquittal was condemned by the PACAC members including its chairman, Itse Sagay, a law professor.

Femi Odekunle, a professor and member of PACAC, also recently criticised Mr. Malami and accused him of not being forthcoming in the anti-corruption fight.

The attorney general, however said he was disappointed that such accusation and statement could be made by those who ought to know better.

Read the full statement from Mr. Malamis office below.

The attention of the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to a publication in the PUNCH Newspaper of 18 June, 2017 titled, Buharis anti-corruption panel lambasts Presidency, Judiciarysays AGF, others not serious about graft war attributed to the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption in which the commitment of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation towards the war against corruption was questioned.

To say that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN frowns at the statement is an understatement. In fact, he is highly disappointed that such accusation and statement could be made by those who ought to know better.

The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is saddened and flummoxed at the attempt to cast aspersion on his integrity, dedication and commitment to the war against corruption which undoubtedly is one of the major cornerstones of the present administration.

There is no gainsaying that the incumbent Attorney General of the Federation has shown and demonstrated so much passion, drive, will and enthusiasm in prosecution of transgressors of the law ever seen in the annals of this country.

The truth of the matter is that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is totally, fully and completely committed, dedicated and supports the war against corruption in all its form and ramification.

Towards this end, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation since his assumption of office has initiated numerous reforms and programs to drive the war against corruption including the recently launched National Anti-Corruption Strategy, 2017.

The National Anti-Corruption Strategy plan is a five-year strategy plan to combat corruption and corrupt tendencies in the country to the barest minimum. It is the first of its plan in the history of the country.

The Honourable Attorney of the Federation wishes to assure Nigerians that despite some recent setbacks recorded in some of the cases involving politically exposed people; that the war against corruption is fully on course.

It shall be fought resolutely, painstakingly, doggedly, purposefully and determinedly with all the constitutional and legal arsenals at the disposal of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The Federal Government is more than ever before committed towards the complete eradication of the scourge of corruption and graft in the country.

In this regard, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation has directed that a Notice of Appeal be lodged against the ruling of the Code of Conduct Tribunal acquitting and discharging false assets declaration case preferred against the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki.

And to those in a hurry to condemn due to the temporary setbacks recorded lately, they should tarry awhile because a legal process is deemed not concluded until it terminates at the Supreme Court which is the highest court of arbitration in Nigeria.

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Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Abuja are rejecting members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, posted to them for the compulsory one-year service, despite a policy directive by the Nigerian government against their rejection.

The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, had warned that no corps member should be rejected, in line with the government policy forbidding MDAs from denying NYSC members a place to carry out their primary assignment.

Mr. Osinbajo gave the warning on May 25 during the swearing-in ceremony of the 2017 NYSC Batch A Stream I corps members at the Permanent Orientation Camp, Kubwa, Abuja at which he was represented by the Director, Human Resources, Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Amina Abubakar.

The acting president stressed that the policy was still in effect, urging parastatals to ensure its full implementation.

Despite the warning, however, some corps members in Abuja are being confronted with rejection by agencies of the federal government where they were posted for their primary assignment.

The affected corps members are from the 2017 Batch A (stream 1), who completed their three weeks orientation programme last week.

PREMIUM TIMES spoke to many affected corps members, all of whom asked that only their first names be used to avoid any form of victimisation as they were still seeking for places of primary assignment.

Safiya, one of the affected corps members, was posted to the Public Complaints Commission for her primary assignment. But the commission told all the corps members posted there that it does not accept NYSC corps members.

Another corps member, Halima, also said she was rejected by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. She said the agency claimed to have over 180 corps members serving there and therefore cannot accept more.

The corps members posted to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, also revealed and they were all rejected by the agency.

A corps member, Ebuka, who was posted to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, also revealed that the corporation refused to accept any corps member and offered no reason for their rejection.

Reacting to the development, the spokesperson of NYSC, Bose Aderibigbe, said the corps was trying to ensure that all corps members are accepted and settled into their places of primary assignment.

NYSC is aware of the situation and right now, a circular has been passed across to all MDAs, warning them against rejecting any corps member, Mrs. Aderibigbe said.

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Justice Surajudeen Onigbanjo of the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, on Wednesday ordered the Lagos State government to refrain from carrying out further eviction of the settlers at the Otodogbame waterfront, describing the governments previous actions as unconstitutional.

Mr. Onigbanjo had twice postponed giving judgment on the matter, citing issues of jurisdiction raised by the respondents as reasons for the deferment.

He later ruled that the court had the jurisdiction to address the matter.

On Wednesday, hundreds of Otodogbame residents filled the Lagos court premises as they waited anxiously for the judges decision.

In delivering his judgment, Mr. Onigbanjo observed that the gulf between both parties wasnt insurmountable as they made it appear.

According to the judge, the land occupied by the applicants is under the control and the management of the executive governor of the state.

From the affidavit evidence made available to me, the applicants never claimed ownership of the land, but have over the years settled on the land. It will be wrong for them to be forcefully evicted from a land they have been for several years, said Mr. Onigbanjo.

Mr. Onigbanjo, in his judgement emphatically stated that the respondents failure to provide alternative settlement before embarking on the forceful eviction of the applicants is unconstitutional.

That both parties are hereby ordered to carry out proper consultation on how to resolve the relocation of the applicants.

That the respondents are hereby restrained from further carrying out evictions of the applicants from the settlements, if alternative settlements are not made available, the judge ordered.

In an earlier statement released by the commissioner of information and strategy, Steve Ayorinde, the government had said officials of the states ministry of environment demolished the houses to prevent an environmental disaster and another round of deadly skirmishes that led to the razing of the community in November.

Over 30,000 thousand residents of Otodogbame, Ilubirin and Ebute Ikate waterfront communities in Lagos State were forcibly evicted by Lagos State authorities on November 9 and 10, 2016 respectively, an Amnesty International, a human rights group statement said.

The organisation had condemned the evictions of residents of waterfront communities by the Lagos State government.

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The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday said Nigeria would remain a united country.

Speaking at a meeting with the 36 state governors in Abuja, Mr. Osinbajo told the governors that they must ensure the security of lives and property in their states, adding Nigeria is indissoluble.

The meeting is part of a series of meetings the acting president is having with ethnic, religious and political leaders to douse tensions in the country.

The tensions got worse after a Northern youth coalition asked all Igbos living in Northern Nigeria to leave.

The call has been condemned by local and national officials including the federal government.

We must not allow careless use of words to degenerate into crisis, Mr. Osinbajo told the governors.

BASIC AGREEMENTS

Mr. Osinbajo also said that he reached a number of agreements with a cross section of leaders from the north and south-eastern part of Nigeria, whom he met with earlier in the week.

He said the meetings with the two sets of leaders agreed that Nigerias unity should not be taken for granted adding no one wants to see us go down the path of bloodshed or war.

The acting president also said the meetings agreed on the Nigerian 1999 constitution as the basis for the countrys unity. He said it was agreed that the constitution is the basis for the legal contract that exists between all Nigerians.

Our meetings were frank and open as I hope this will be. We were able to agree on most of the critical issues that were discussed and in most cases changed perceptions that may have been long embedded in their minds.

We also agreed that under no circumstances should we condone hateful speeches and that governments should take all steps necessary to bring to book all those who preach violence, in particular the kind of expressions of dissent that can cause violence.

We also agreed that we need to do more to engage our youth productively, create some jobs and multiply the economic opportunities available.

More importantly we agreed on the need for leaders to speak out forcefully to counter divisive speech or any kind of war mongering.

We agreed that leaders at all levels speak out forcefully against any kind of divisiveness or divisive speech. And we expect that our political leaders will do so without waiting to be prompted, he said.

The acting president said most of those who spoke expressed the view that sometimes when leaders do not speak up promptly, the problems degenerate no matter what they are.

This applied to both the statement made by the young people in the south-east as well as the youth in the northern states.

We discovered that there was a need for much greater resonance in the way that these things are done and for the leaders to speak up more forcefully.

We believe that if the leaders do not speak up forcefully enough, if for any reason matters are allowed to degenerate, not only does leadership lose their legitimacy, they run the risk of things going completely out control, Mr. Osinbajo said.

He commended the leaders from the North and South for their openness at the consultations saying that they were extremely responsible even in their criticisms of what they felt were issues that should have been better handled.

I think that their criticisms were fair and balanced. I must commend them for their sense of responsibility and their leadership, he said.

KEEP POLITICS ASIDE

Mr. Osinbajo urged the governors to unite with themselves and the federal government to resolve various challenges that arise on a constant basis for the benefit of all Nigerians regardless of party affiliations.

He called on the governors to resist the temptation to play politics especially with matters of security.

Sometimes intensions are perceived on the account of the fact that they have wrong perception about a particular thing.

I think it is in our place to ensure that we dig down the fact and ensure that people are given the fact and ensure that we dont colour them with politics, he said.

The meeting was also attended by some ministers, heads of the nations security agencies, and top officials in the presidency.

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The Fulani communities in Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State have called on Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to intervene in what they described as genocide being perpetrated against them.

They alleged that a local militia in the area has been killing Fulanis and destroying their property on the orders of the chairman of the local government, John Yep.

In a statement on Wednesday signed by four of their elders, the Fulani communities said trouble began for them when the militia started protesting the arrest of one Umaru CID, a ring leader of the group in Nguroje town by security operatives.

They said the arrest was as a result of ongoing litigation over a land dispute.

On the 16th of June, 2017 security personal moved in the early hours and affected some arrests in Nguroje during which some suspected ring leaders of a group that has been fomenting trouble in the area got into the net of the security.

On getting information about the development, the Chairman of the Local Government, Mr. John Yep immediately led some Mambilla Youths to storm Nguroje alleging that the arrests was instigated by the Fulani. This led to a total siege on Nguroje and its environs, they said.

They also said while the assault lasted, the council chairman ran across some villages mobilising his kinsmen under their militia group called Mun Nor Ambassadors of Peace being the political attack dogs of a prominent politician from the area.

Through this process, the council chairman was able to sell a dummy to his tribesmen across the entire local government painting a wrong and malicious picture that his kinsmen, the Mambilla ethnic group, was being attacked by the Fulanis.

In fact he made a personal Radio message through the Taraba State Broadcasting Service (TSBS) Gembu Booster Station calling on his kinsmen to execute the genocide on the stations transmissions of Saturday evening and Sunday morning respectively.

What followed thereafter was a coordinated and simultaneous attack on over 300 Fulani communities

It is therefore with a heavy heart that we wish to draw the attention of the world to the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing being perpetrated against the Fulani in Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State in the last four days.

This carnage has escalated to all parts of the local government and is still going on with full impunity as the state government has remained unconcerned since then, they said.

They also said that four days after the violence began, the Taraba State Government has failed in its prime responsibility to protect their lives and property.

They alleged that the state government failed to provide logistics support to the few soldiers deployed to the area.

It has become necessary to call on the Acting President to as a matter of urgent National Security evoke the relevant sections of the Constitution and also do the needful by declaring emergency rule to allow for full fledge emergency services and the protection of our remaining people.

We wish to further stress that the magnitude of this senseless killings deserves nothing less than a judicial commission of inquiry to be instituted by the Federal Government and the United Nations as we are not ready to accept any window dressing by the Taraba State Government.

This is because four days after this carnage the government did not utter even a word nor issue a statement condemning the killings on the Mambilla Plateau, they said.

POLICE REACT

The spokesperson of the police in the state, David Misal, who also addressed the journalists on Wednesday in Jalingo, the state capital, said the violence was caused by a civil case handled by a court in Gembu, the local government headquarters which led to the remand of a Mambila man in prison custody.

The children of the Mambila man went to the home of the complainant, who is a Fulani man by name Mr. Riwi Ahmadu and demanded for the release of their father or else they threatened to deal with him



When the demand was not met, they actualised their threat by setting ablaze the house of the complainant and inflicted injuries on him and property worth millions were destroyed, he said.

Mr. Misal also said the police swiftly intervened on the matter and arrested those who attacked Mr. Ahmadu.

He said those arrested are being investigated for criminal conspiracy, mischief by fire and attempt to commit culpable homicide.

He also said investigations have indicted some prominent elders in the community and they are being arrested.

He said both sides in the conflict took up arms against themselves instead of waiting for the law to take its course.

Mr. Misal said more security personnel comprising of mobile and conventional police officers were deployed to the area and that the state commissioner of police, Yakubu Babas, has relocated to the affected area in order to monitor the situation himself.

On casualty, Mr. Misal said, seven people are being confirmed dead and a number of houses as earlier stated were set ablaze.

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A 36-year-old man, Henry Asuquo, alleged to have raped his 15-year-old half-sister, was arraigned at a Tinubu Chief Magistrates Court, Lagos, on Wednesday.

The accused, a security guard, who resides at Saint Saviour St., Sura, Lagos Island, is facing a two-count charge of rape and sexual harassment and assault.

The prosecutor, Nurudeen Thomas, told the court that the offences were committed between March 2013 and June 2017 at the apartment of the accused.

He said that the victim had been staying with her half-brother of same mother since she was brought to Lagos from the village at the age of five.

He alleged that the accused had been sexually assaulting the girl since she was 11 years.

The accused had been sexually assaulting the girl on different occasions whenever his wife was not around, raping her and having anal sex with her.

When the girl started reaching adolescent she started fighting back; since then the accused would beat her to a pulp for any slight mistake.

On June 11, when he tried raping her again, the 15-year-old grabbed his scrotum.

While he was writhing in pain, she had the opportunity to run to the nearest police station to report, Mr. Thomas told the court.

He said that the offences contravened Sections 263 and 264 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised)

The accused pleaded innocent of the offences.

In her ruling, the Chief Magistrate, Kikelomo Ayeye, granted bail to the accused in the sum of N1 million, with two sureties each in like sum.

She adjourned the case until July 5 for mention.

(NAN)

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The police on Wednesday arrested the fugitive Indian judge who was sentenced to jail for defamatory remarks against the countrys judiciary.

The police transferred the former Calcutta High Court judge, CS Karnan, to jail to serve time.

He was sentenced in early May by the Supreme Court to six months in prison for contempt of court before he slipped under authorities radar and dodged arrest.

Karnan, who retired on June 12 while on the run, wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January, accusing 20 Supreme Court judges of corruption.

Mr. Karnan was arrested by the police from a resort near the southern city of Coimbatore late Tuesday. The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected his plea to suspend the sentence and also denied him bail.

Justice Karnan is being taken to Calcutta by a police team by plane. He will be taken to the citys Presidency jail soon after he lands there, his lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara said.

The 62-year-old, who alleged he was being victimised because he belonged to Indias low-caste Dalit community, became the first serving judge in the country to be sentenced to prison.

The months-long confrontation between the judge and the Supreme Court had dramatic twists and turns that hit the headlines in the national press.

Top judges had ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Mr. Karnan to determine if he was mentally ill soon after the controversy broke out. Mr. Karnan shot back, ordering mental evaluation for the judges instead.

He also retaliated to the Supreme Court sentence with a counter-order sentencing Supreme Court judges to jail, saying they were guilty of caste discrimination.

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The visiting Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications, Anne Berner, on Wednesday attributed her countrys socio-economic development to the governments commitment to ensuring high-quality education for all.

Ms. Berner was visiting Nigeria to attend the 16th Meeting of the Nordic and African Foreign Ministers on Ensuring Sustainable Development through Trade and Investment: The Africa-Nordic Engagement.

Education is an important factor contributing to economic growth, and an area where Nordic partners have added value.

In Finland, we believe that the key to our economic success has been in ensuring high-quality education for all.

What is very clear is that girls education makes economic sense, in addition to being just and fair.

Investment in women boosts economic development, competitiveness, job creation and Gross Domestic Product. No economy can afford to ignore such a huge potential, she said.

Ms. Berner, who is also the Finnish Minister for Nordic Cooperation at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, also noted the role of the private sector in promoting sustainable development in Finland.

The dual minister described Africa as a continent with vast natural resources and human capital, as well as enormous markets.

She also announced that the Prime Ministers of the five Nordic countries, had recently launched an initiative called the Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges.

According to her, the initiative will focus on innovative Nordic solutions for carbon-neutral development, sustainable cities, food and welfare, as well as gender equality.

Today, with ever greater interdependence between Europe and Africa, we in the Nordic countries are expanding our partnership with African countries.

Africa is a continent of vast natural resources and human capital, and potentially enormous markets.

The mere presence of Nordic and other companies in Africa is a testimony to that potential, she said.

The Ambassador of Finland to Nigeria, Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury, restated her Embassys commitment to the promotion of trade between Nigeria and Finland.

According to her, there will be more win-win and mutually beneficial trade relations opportunities between Nigeria and Finland in the near future.

Last year we had a very successful visit to Nigeria by our Deputy Minister for External Economic Relations, with a business delegation.

And I am looking forward to more exchanges and increased trade between our countries, she added.

The Finnish compulsory education system consists of a 6-year primary school education, followed by a comprehensive 3-year period in middle school.

Education in Finland has no tuition fees and fully subsidised meals are served to all full-time students.

There is also a day care programme (for babies and toddlers) and a one-year `pre-school

(or kindergarten for six-year-olds).

(NAN)

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The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has blamed the Nigerian media for the controversy surrounding the rumoured replacement of Christian Religious Studies, CRK, with Islamic Religious Knowledge, IRK, in secondary school curriculum.

Reports, mostly in the social media, alleged that the federal government had through the Nigeria Educational Research Development Council, NERDC, made the new changes forcing Christian students to study IRK.

Mr. Adamu said on the contrary, the government simply made the choice of IRK mandatory for Muslim students and CRK mandatory for Christian students.

The minister made the clarification on Wednesday while addressing State House correspondents after the meeting of the Federal Executive Council, chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

You journalists especially those of you on social media are not helping this nation by bandying things that are absolutely false, Mr. Adamu said.

The issue of Christian Religious Knowledge that all the national media, social media took up and deceived even the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria because they believed it.

I read in the papers that they asked the acting president to confirm, there is no truth in it at all. It was just somebodys imagination probably somebody who wishes to raise tension in the country after the Biafra issue and then the quit order given by some young people in the north so the person just followed suit trying to stoic the embers of religion. There is no truth whatsoever I repeat, Mr. Adamu said.

The Education Minister said the policy in question was put in place in 2012 and was given effect in 2014 before the coming into office of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, thus confirming a PREMIUM TIMES report.

One of the things I did as minister was to speak to the national council on education to disarticulate history from the social studies curricula because we believe we want our young people to know our history.

You cannot know who you are without knowing who your ancestors were in the past. And the national council of education did accept and agree that the teaching and learning of CRK has been made compulsory for all Christians students and teaching and learning of Islamic studies is compulsory for all Muslim students.

So, you are actually accusing the ministry of the opposite of what it has done. I think I just need to tell you even if you are not the ones in the social media you, they must be your compatriots, please tell them to be more responsible in handling the issues especially at this time in history, he said.

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The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, has refuted claims by the Oyo and Osun State governments that they released N13.63 billion to the university in the last six years.

The union, which had been protesting the non-payment of salaries and allowances to its members for several months, also denied the accusation by the owner states that the unions were preventing the audit firm, KPMG, from carrying out the audit of the universitys accounts.

A statement signed by ASUU chairman, Biodun Olaniran, and Secretary, Toyin Abegunrin, said there was a deliberate misinformation by the Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Niyi Olowofela, on the financial status of the institution.

Our Union, ASUU, is aware of the persistent claim by the Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Niyi Olowofela, on the operation of alleged 97 bank accounts by the LAUTECH and the release of N13.63 billion by the owner states between 2011  2016, the statement said.

Olowofela also claimed that members of staff unions were the ones preventing the audit firm, KPMG, from carrying out the forensic exercise, on which the owner states premised their decision not to release funds to the university.

Our union is disturbed but not surprised, about this deliberate misinformation and manipulation of facts about issues on ground. While ASUU is not a mouthpiece for the university administration, it is strange that the governments which put LAUTECH administration in place cannot demand accountability from the same appointees.

They prefer to confuse issues by putting blames on the doorstep of the workers of the university and putting the lives and careers of about 30,000 students in jeopardy.

The operation of the accounts solely lies with the university administration and it must be held responsible for any infractions thereof.

The union argued that the wage bill of LAUTECH is about N365 million per month, which amounts to N4.38 billion per year.

Therefore for 2011-2016, the total wage bill expected as subvention from the owner governments stood at N26.28 billion, ASUU submitted.

This amount does not include allowances, gratuities and pensions that accrued. It is also necessary to note that the University administration used Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and reserves to offset salaries for 18 months.

The IGR is derived essentially from fees paid by different categories of students. Therefore, it is appalling that the Commissioner for Education who is also a University Professor will be peddling lies alleging that N13.63 billion will pay even salaries of members of staff for six years.

The union also pointed out that between 2011 and 2016, there was no release of capital grant and overheads to LAUTECH.

Regarding capital development, infrastructure, acquisition of equipment and staff training, LAUTECH has barely managed to be credible as a university through ASUU-inspired Federal Government intervention programmes such as TetFund and NEEDs Assessment, it noted.

It is particularly regrettable that the level of indebtedness of the owner states to the university succinctly captured by the Olanipekun Visitation Panel is being down-played by the commissioner just to pursue the shadow they call forensic audit.

The union also argued that the locus of financial policy and the repository of the financial documents of LAUTECH are the University Council and administration which are the appropriate organs to be asked to account.

Our union, ASUU, should not be dragged into the encumbrances surrounding the financial auditing by KPMG and this should not be linked with non-payment of salaries.

Our union wants to point out the unexplained and unacceptable silence of the University administration on the claims highlighted above; a pointer to either the acceptance or connivance with the owner state governments to destroy LAUTECH, ASUU added.

The Oyo State education commissioner had recently urged ASUU and other unions not to disrupt the activities of the audit firm by calling an industrial action, saying the audit report would help in better management of the institution.

He also said the owner states were at the verge of releasing funds to the university, but it was necessary for the audit report to first ascertain the state of finances at the institution.

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A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory on Wednesday granted bail to two teenagers accused of raping a 13-year-old girl.

The suspects, James Teikura and Elijah Kufre, 17 years old each, were charged to court by the Nigeria Police Force after they were accused of raping a 13-year-old whom they allegedly captured at a bush path where she had gone to ease herself in April 2016.

According to the charge, the defendants were accused of involvement in criminal conspiracy to forcefully have sex with the girl by threatening her with a knife. They also allegedly warned her not to reveal the information to anyone, lest she would lose her life.

The defendants, both residents of Kubwa in the Nigerian capital, are students of a school known as Makaranta Dutse Alhaji along with the victim who was allegedly raped after she was captured at the bush path close to the school.

Their lawyer, Casmir Adaga, made the application for their bail on Tuesday after they pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge brought against them.

The counsel to the prosecution, Kufre Ebong, did not object to the application, but prayed the court to ensure such conditions as will make the defendants attend trial.

Delivering the ruling, the presiding judge, A.S Adepoju, said the defendants are to be allowed bail with a condition of N5 million each and two sureties in like sum.

The sureties must be civil servants of not less than level 8 cadre.

The alleged victim, now 14, was impregnated after the incident and has since been delivered of a baby boy.

Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, regarding the matter, Mr. Ebong said the defendants had during the investigation admitted that they raped the victim, but later denied any involvement while taking their plea in court.

He, however, expressed satisfaction with the bail conditions, saying the essence of bail is to allow the defendant attend trail.

Asked to speak regarding the freedom of the defendants and the safety of the victim, Mr. Ebong said he believes she is safe and not under any threat.

The counsel for the defence, however, said the bail conditions are slightly stringent, adding that the defendants may not be immediately able to meet the conditions.

The conditions are a bit stringent because getting a level eight civil servant like the court has demanded is not going to be easy, he said.

The father of the victim, Chidera Idoko, a businessman who deals in timber, said he had been pained by the effect the entire incident has had on his daughter.

My daughter has now stopped schooling, I even had to take her to my mother in the village, because its not easy for me. I have been frustrated by the protracted nature of the proceedings especially at the previous court where the matter was taken.

The defendants were earlier arraigned at an upper area court in Abuja, but as explained by Mr. Idokos family friend, Beneath Nnemeka, the matter did not reach a logical conclusion at the court.

The Wednesday case was adjourned till October 10.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has invited a senator from Anambra State, Stella Oduah, for questioning over the N255 million car purchase scandal.

Ms. Oduah, a former Minister of Aviation, would be grilled about her role in the controversial purchase of bulletproof cars which ridiculed the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan, the Nation reported.

The paper said Ms. Oduah was slated to appear before anti-graft detectives on Wednesday for questions that would border mostly around a petition the agency received over the N255 million spent in purchasing the exotic BMW vehicles.

Although EFCC sources confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that Ms. Oduah is under investigation for her role in the car purchase scandal, they were unable to ascertain when she will appear for questioning.

We have a petition about the car purchase scandal, an official said. But we dont know when shes going to appear.

The officials declined to identify the petitioner.

The senator declined comments on the matter to PREMIUM TIMES throughout Wednesday. Calls and text messages to her telephone lines were neither acknowledged nor responded to.

In 2013, Ms. Oduah was embroiled in the car purchase allegations in 2013, when reports emerged that she had compelled the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, an agency under her as Minister of Aviation, to procure the vehicles for her.

The purchase drew nationwide controversy, and activists like Femi Falana, urged EFCC to conduct a thorough investigation with a view to prosecuting the former minister.

But Ms. Oduah, who was elected into Senate even as the scandal raged in 2015, has always maintained her innocence.

She said in response to a query by Mr. Jonathan in October 2013 that the procurement was duly provided for in the NCAA budget that year, which also adopted lease payments in instalments over 36 months.

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A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday ruled that it would no longer entertain any more adjournments at the instance of Olisa Metuh.

The former Peoples Democratic Party spokesperson is standing trial alongside Destra Investment on a seven-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N400million, which he allegedly received from the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, in 2014 without justification.

Justice Okon Abang, in a terse ruling on Wednesday, expressed dissatisfaction that the court has had to adjourn severally at the instance of the defence. He was giving ruling on another application by Mr. Metuhs counsel, Onyeachi Ikpeazu, asking for an adjournment.

Mr. Ikpeazu, who was absent in court, had at the last sitting on June 20, applied for an adjournment, noting that he would not be in court for the sittings adjourned to June 21 and 22, 2017. He said he would be at another matter at the Federal High Court, Enugu on the dates.

He had cross-examined Samben Nwosu, the seventh defence witness, at the last sitting, and was to continue with the examination today.

Aside from the application, Mr. Ikpeazu, also sent in a letter, in which he prayed the court to adjourn to any date other than June 26, 2017.

Justice Abang, while noting that the prosecution had long closed its case on February 9, 2016 ruled that: This matter has been adjourned severally, and the Supreme Court has ordered that the court where the matter is being tried should avoid unnecessary delay on the matter.

The matter was however in the interest of justice adjourned to June 23, 2017 for continuation of trial.

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Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday 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, Mr. 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, Mr. Osinbajo said Mr. 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.

Mr. 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 to 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, Mr. 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, Muhammadu Abubakar III; Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi; and the Etsu Nupe, Yahaya Abubakar.

Others were, Muhammed, the Emir of Jamaa in Kaduna State; Lawal Hassan, the Emir of Gummi; the Coordinator of the Northern traditional rulers council, Sakaruyi of Karo, Emmanuel Kyauta, and the representative of the Emir of Katsina, Sani Lugga, the Waziri Katsina.

The Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Gambari; Mustapha Agwai II, Emir of Lafia in Nasarawa State; Kyari El-Kanemi, Shehu of Bama representing Shehu of Borno and the Gbong Gwon Jos, Jacob Jang, also attended the meeting.

Also at the meeting were Abubakar, Emir of Gombe; Ndakwo Oboni II, Attah Igala, Kogi State; Muhammadu Ibn Abali, the Emir of Fika in Yobe; Attahiru Muhammed, Emir of Anka in Zamfara and James Ayatse, the Tor Tiv.

Adamu 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.

Mr. 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.

(NAN)

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Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday ordered the remand of five men accused of abducting some pupils and staff of Nigeria Tulip International College, Isheri, Ogun State.

The federal government arraigned the defendants on a five-count charge bordering on involvement in the acts of hostage taking, receiving ransom and acts of terrorism.

The crime carries life sentence under the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013.

The defendants are- Bekewei Agbojule, Egbasimokumo Ayeomi, Godspower Olopele, Toki Okuba and Super-Allen Baye.

The defendants were arraigned for the alleged kidnap of some pupils and members of staff of the college onJanuary 13.

In the five-count charge, the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation alleged that the defendants conspired among themselves and with others at large to commit the offence.

It said further that they demanded N800 million as ransom after abducting and detaining their victims.

They were said to have later reduced the amount to N50 million which they allegedly received before releasing the victims.

It will be recalled that the defendants were brought to court on June 20 for arraignment but the arraignment was stalled due to the absence of an interpreter.

The defendants had told the court that they only understood pidgin English very well.

At the resumed hearing, the prosecuting counsel, Aminu Alilu, informed the court that the interpreter was present and urged the court to read the charges for the defendants in order for the defendants to take their plea.

When the charges were read to the defendants, they pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution applied that the defendants be remanded in prison custody to await their trial.

The defendants were however not represented by a counsel.

Justice Tsoho, in a short ruling, ordered the remand of the defendants in prison custody and adjourned the matter until September 28 for commencement of trial.

(NAN)

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The constituents of Kogi West Senatorial District on Wednesday submitted a petition to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, demanding the recall of Dino Melaye from the Senate.

Mr. Melaye, a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, represents the district at the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

A leader of the constituents, Cornelius Olowo, told the News Agency of Nigeria at the INEC headquarters, shortly after submitting the petition, that the electorate in Melayes constituency were resolved to recall him.

He said that the petition, which had signatures of more than 52 per cent of the electorate in the area, was submitted at the office of INEC Chairman.

Mr. Olowo said that the move to recall Malaye was based on his abysmal performance since he was elected to represent the district in 2015.

He accused the senator of distancing himself from his constituents, saying that the lawmakers performance was low.

In the last two years, some senators have been meeting with their people quarterly. They update them on what has been happening and seek their contributions on issues and their aspirations to be presented at the senate.

For the past two years, Senator Malaye has not organised one town hall meeting anywhere in Kogi West to meet with the people to present his scorecard or stewardship.

He has been completely disconnected from the people. Since he won his election and the legal battle at the court, he is no longer reachable.

He has no constituency office in Kogi West as we speak, as a way to reach him on matter of interests from the people that elected him, Mr. Olowo said.

He said that the petition had signatures of registered voters in the senatorial district, who endorsed the recall.

We have over 360,000 registered voters in Kogi West and after about one week of collection of signatures, we were able to gather over 188,500 signatures, endorsing the recall of the senator.

We have submitted the petition at the office of INEC Chairman. It is now left for INEC to go and do confirmation of the signatures before going on the process needed for the recall, he said.

On the allegation that the state governor, Yahaya Bello, was sponsoring the recall and that people fought over the money disbursed for the exercise, Mr. Olowo said it was untrue.

He said that the genuineness of the demand would be confirmed when INEC would visit the area for confirmation of the signatories.

He expressed optimism that INEC would do what was required of it over the petition.

The Director, Voter Education and Publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, confirmed the receipt of the petition by the commission.

Yes, such petition was submitted today (Wednesday), he told NAN in a short message reply on telephone.

The Nigerian law requires 50 per cent of registered voters in an area to sign to recall a lawmaker.

Mr. Melaye has since condemned the move, saying it would fail and was being sponsored by Kogi Governor Yahya Bello.

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Senate President Bukola Saraki said on Wednesday that he had not been formally notified of an appeal by the federal government against his acquittal by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

Mr. Saraki was discharged and acquitted of false asset declaration charges by the tribunal exactly a week ago.

The outcome stunned many Nigerians, with some civic groups calling on the United Nations to intervene in Nigerias legal system that they perceived as too lenient towards impunity.

On Tuesday, the Buhari administration announced it had appealed the June 14 verdict of the tribunal, chaired by Danladi Umar.

The appeal notice, which contained 11 charges, was signed by Rotimi Jacobs, the lead prosecuting counsel, Saliu Isa, spokesperson for the Attorney-General, told PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday.

Mr. Malami also confirmed on Wednesday that he authorised the appealm

But the Senate Presidents spokesperson, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said his principal had not been served of such process.

Were not aware of the notice, Mr. Olaniyonu told PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr. Saraki, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, was slammed with 18-count false asset declaration charges in September 2015, three months after his emergence as leader of the Senate, in defiance of an internal arrangement of his party.

The Code of Conduct Bureau, which filed the charges, relied predominantly on evidence submitted by an official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Michael Wetkas.

After several adjournments, the prosecution finally concluded its case before the tribunal on May 4, 2017, and Mr. Sarakis counsel immediately entered a no-case submission, which was subsequently upheld by Mr. Umar last week.

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Our attention has been drawn to a grand plan by some enemies of Benue State brandishing themselves as coalition of civil society organisations to petition and protest against the milestone achievements recorded by the office of the adviser to the Benue State Governor on MDGs, NEPAD and Development Corporations, under the leadership of Dr. Magdalyn Dura.

According to our findings, the persons behind this plot are individuals who have constituted themselves as merchants of blackmail going about to intimidate public servants with fictitious claims of corruption with the aim to extorting monies from such officials.

We find it worrisome that the various security agencies have not investigated the activities of these persons who have failed to engage in meaningful economic ventures but taking blackmail as a source of livelihood. Suffice to say that this latest ploy by these faceless individuals to intimidate the brain behind the achievements in Benue State under SDGs that has won accolades from all strata of the society has exposed them as enemies of development and the society in general.

It is on record that projects executed to improve the livelihood of the Benue people are dotted in every part of the state. From health, education, sanitation to economic empowerment, the footprints of SDGs are everywhere for all to see. Although, we are in the era of politicking where praises and criticism are chiefly done based on political leaning, but the giant strides recorded by SDGs under two years have been praised by most Benue people irrespective of political party affiliation.

The office of the Special Adviser on Development Cooperation, SDGs and NEPAD has been able to extensively intervene in health through the construction of 42 fully equipped modern Primary Health Care Centres with referral vehicles and drugs.

In education, classroom blocks have been constructed and steel framed desks and benches as well as exercise books have been supplied to all schools in six participating Local Government Areas of the state (LGAs) including Agatu, Ohimini, Oju, Ushongo, Gboko and Tarka.

Indeed, SDGs under Dr Dura has constructed and installed machinery for the Orange Cleaning and Packaging Plant in Ushongo and Yandev towns. The Soybeans Cleaning and Packaging Plant in Wannune Tarka, the Benniseed Cleaning and Packaging Plant in Oju, and Garri Processing Plants in Ogwule Kaduna and Ogoli Onyangede in Agatu and Ohimini Local Government Areas respectively with the attendant effects of boosting the local economy and to gainfully engage our people thereby also reducing unemployment and crime amongst several other interventions.

That is why we find it most irresponsible and irritating for any sane being(s) to contemplate any move to dent the image of Dr. Dura who has overtime stood on the part of grassroots and human development. We are convinced by this move that certain persons have sworn to ensure that Benue State is not identified with anything positive but negative.

As indigenes of the state, we have resolved not to stay aloof anymore and allow these real enemies of ours to continue to determine how we are viewed in the country and beyond. Therefore, we will mobilise all well-meaning sons and daughters of Benue at home and in the Diaspora to stand up for this one good thing we all have attested to. No one can feign ignorance over the people oriented works done by SDGs under Dr Dura.

We will therefore follow through with the obnoxious plans of these blackmail merchants to expose them for what they truly are. As they plan to protest in Abuja alleging imaginary corrupt activities of the SDGs, we shall also provide details of the activities of the office of the Adviser to the Benue State Governor on MDGs, NEPAD and Development Corporations for all to see.

We call on the Dr Dura not to be deterred by the rantings of these lazy people who have chosen the part of darkness to eke a living. We equally advise that adequate publicity should be made of most of these achievements to silence these naysayers.

Signed:

Ode Adejo

President

Eunice Abakume

Secretary

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The Nasarawa State Government says it will float an online medium to project its achievements and boost interactions between government and members of the public.

Abdulhamid Kwarra, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Lafia that the medium would particularly provide a platform for feedback from the people.

He said that some workers of the defunct Nigerian Newsday Newspaper, a state-owned publication disbanded in 2014, would be absorbed into the new medium.

Government will leverage on the media experience of the editorial staff to float the medium, while others are being redeployed to the information ministry, he said.

He expressed optimism that the medium would have the desired impact in view of the massive appeal of the social media through which news move faster and wider.

Mr. Kwarra said that the medium would make it possible for the state to tell its own story so as to save government from embarrassing falsehood and fake news constantly flooding the cyber space.

He said that government opted for an online medium to minimise cost associated with publishing hard copies.

(NAN)

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The senator who was stoned by his constituents in Katsina State, Abu Ibrahim, has accused a former lawmaker of portraying him a liar and attempting to incite people against him.

PREMIUM TIMES reported the stoning with the lawmaker blaming his opponents for the action.

On Wednesday, a Katsina State High Court fixed October 3 to hear a case filed by a former Majority Leader, Katsina State House of Assembly, Sani Liti-Yankwani, challenging his trial at an Upper Shariah Court for defamation.

The former house leader was dragged to the Sharia court by Mr. Ibrahim, who instituted direct criminal complaint against him.

The senator had accused Mr. Liti-Yankwani of portraying him as a liar, thereby attempting to damage his political career and incite the people against him.

Mr. Ibrahim had cited four newspaper publications in which the former majority leader allegedly made the remarks, which according to him, was tantamount to defamation of his character.

During the High Courts sitting on Wednesday, counsel to Mr. Liti-Yankwani, Alex Ajode, prayed for adjournment as the copies of the Upper Shariah Court proceedings were just served on the respondents counsel, Hauwa Wada.

Mr. Wada did not challenge the application for adjournment, and the judge, Maikata Bako, adjourned the case till October 3 for hearing.

In the originating summon, the former majority leader had joined Mr. Ibrahim and the Sharia court judge as respondents.

Mr. Liti-Yankwani is asking the high court to quash the entire proceedings of the Upper Shariah Court, and order the transfer of the case to a court of competent jurisdiction.

He told the court that the proceeding before the second respondent in case number CFR1/394/2016 was irregular, a breach of the Constitution and established rules of practice and procedure in criminal trials.

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The Jigawa State Pilgrims Welfare Board, JPWB, on Wednesday said it had refunded N13.36 million to Muslim pilgrims who performed the 2016 Hajj.

The spokesperson of the board, Ibrahim Hashim, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in Dutse.

Mr. Hashim said that the money was refunded to 2,374 pilgrims who performed last years Hajj.

He said that the refund was for services not rendered to the pilgrims while in the Holy Land.

He listed them as: tent security and Saudi Ministry of Hajjs deposits.

He noted that two of the pilgrims who were unable to make it to the Holy Land were refunded their deposits from it.

Mr. Hashim said each of the pilgrims was refunded N2,900 at 13 designated centres across the state.

(NAN)

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A free Poland can now offer these distinctions to those who ensured its freedom, President Andrzej Duda told former oppositionists on Wednesday, the 35th anniversary of the launch of the Solidarnosc Walczaca (Fighting Solidarity) anti-communist movement.

President Duda thanked the opposition activists on behalf of his generation for "the freedom that we have today and that you struggled for with endurance".

When Fighting Solidarity was being created, its activists were not interested in "half-measures, a half-communist country", they demanded freedom for Poland, the president said.

The dream that the communist system would one day collapse seemed totally unrealistic at that time, Andrzej Duda went on. "The impossible became possible thanks to people like you", President Duda said.

The ceremony at the Presidential Palace was attended by Fighting Solidarity founder MP Kornel Morawiecki.

Kornel Morawiecki established Solidarnosc Walczaca (Fighting Solidarity) in 1982, after the imposition of martial law in Poland (Dec. 13, 1981). Fighting Solidarity comprised those Solidarity activists who did not agree with the moderate programme represented by the trade union and favoured more radical actions.

Fighting Solidarity issued underground newspapers, organised street demonstrations and broadcast underground radio programmes. It boycotted the Round Table agreement and results of partially-free parliamentary elections of June 4, 1989. (PAP)
MAYS LANDING  Anne Pape hates to see perfectly good food go to waste.

But that is sometimes what happens if the produce is slightly damaged, misshapen or overstocked and stores dont want it.

So Pape, whose family owns Pleasantdale Farms in Hammonton, decided to try to save the imperfect and surplus produce while helping area residents get access to affordable healthy foods.

Her business, Farm Fresh Fix, will take orders and then deliver the Fit Box of produce to designated sites, typically on a weekly basis.

On Tuesday, she was at Atlantic Cape Community College, where employee Jesse Kurtz picked up both a $12.95 big box and a $6.95 snack box. The large box, typically 8 to 12 pounds of produce, contained four red and green peppers, four zucchini, four pears and three apples. The smaller snack box had three pears, three apples, two peppers and a cucumber.

I just called my wife and asked what we need, he said. This is my second time doing it, and its very convenient.

Pape said she is working with produce wholesalers, and as the local season progresses, she will have more produce from local farms.

Being in the industry, I see what goes on with food waste, and I was trying to find a way to keep edible food from going to waste, she said. There is nothing wrong with it.

She has applied to get SNAP certification so she can accept food stamps, and is looking for partners, especially in areas where residents might have difficulty finding fresh produce. She said she could deliver to housing complexes, organizations or churches.

Participants order online in advance and pick up their boxes on specified days. She is currently delivering weekly at the Atlantic Cape campuses in Mays Landing and Atlantic City.

Jean McAlister, dean of resource development at Atlantic Cape, said the partnership is part of their effort to assist students in obtaining healthy food. The college is also working with the Community Food Bank to set up food pantries on the colleges campuses in the fall.

The faculty noticed there is a need, McAlister said.

Groups interested in participating can get more information online at farmfreshfix.com.
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP  After being charged with aggravated assault in 2015, Justin Tamanini, of Mays Landing, was arrested and charged with DWI with a minor in the vehicle after a car crash Monday, police said.

Tamanini, 23, was the driver of a car involved in a single-vehicle crash at about 10:35 p.m. in the parking lot of the Mays Landing Diner, 6177 Harding Highway, police said.

As a result of the crash, the vehicle caught fire, but it was put out quickly by the Mays Landing Fire Department, police said.

Tamanini and his 2-year-old daughter, who was not restrained in a car seat, were not injured, police said.

He was charged with DWI, possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia, police said. Additional criminal charges are expected to be filed against Tamanini, and the crash investigation is ongoing, police said.

In August 2015, Tamanini was charged with aggravated assault after Egg Harbor Township police said he held a gun to his ex-girlfriends head at her Cardiff section home, police said.

Tamanini also was charged with simple assault, burglary, criminal mischief and terrorists threats, police said.

Cheryl Fry, then 18, said Tamanini broke into her home, grabbed her by the throat and threatened to kill her, police said.

The Hamilton Township Police Department was assisted with its investigation by Mays Landing Fire Department, Hamilton Township Rescue Squad, the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency and the Ocean City Police Department, who provided a drug-recognition expert.
ATLANTIC CITY  Sister Jeans Kitchen, which for decades has served the homeless and those in need, will soon move to the closed St. Monicas Catholic Church.

The group is expected to make settlement on the property Aug. 15, officials said. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority approved up to $1 million in funding for the improvements to the church, which was closed two years ago as part of a consolidation by the Diocese of Camden.

The relocation of Sister Jeans Kitchen is the second phase of the Pacific Avenue Midtown Redevelopment Project, along with the relocation of the John Brooks Recovery Center already in progress, said Chris Howard, executive director of the authority. This relocation will be a significant upgrade from Sister Jeans current facility and will provide a cleaner and safer environment for its critical services.

The move takes the kitchen, now in the Presbyterian Church across from the closed Trump Taj Mahal, outside of the authoritys Tourism District. The district includes the entire Boardwalk, the Marina District, Gardners Basin and 10 roads that lead into the district, including several on the citys northern end. City zoning laws regulate development in the rest of the resort.

A retired casino chef, Sister Jean Webster started the kitchen in 1986 after she saw a homeless man searching for food in the garbage and invited him into her home for dinner. Sister Jean died in 2011, but the kitchen continues to operate, serving 300 to 400 people a day.

All of this is being done to make Atlantic City better, said Bob Mulcahy, chairman of the CRDAs board of directors. The future of their current building is bleak; the building is not structurally sound.

The improvements include kitchen updates and the demolition of a small building on the property, Mulcahy said.

The Presbyterian Church, located at Pennsylvania and Pacific avenues, has serious structural issues, said Wally Shields, construction official for the city.

It has had issues. How bad they are, I dont know, Shields said. It would be extremely costly to rehab it.

The move to St. Monicas will also make it safer for those waiting in line, said Lance Landgraf, director of planning for the authority, adding that people waiting to get a meal currently line up along Pacific Avenue. As part of the move, people will be allowed to line up indoors at the new facility.

Mayor Don Guardian, a member of the board, said the new location will be a better fit for the soup kitchen.

The new location, which is two blocks away, will be closer to where people live, Guardian said. There are no others looking at St. Monicas, and this is an excellent social-service use for it.
A tornado appeared Monday evening near Greenwood in Sussex County, Delaware, according to the National Weather Service, based in Mount Holly, Burlington County.

With a maximum path width of 200 yards, the estimated maximum wind speed was 85 mph, which registers as a EF0, NWS said. An EF5 has wind speeds greater than 200 mph.

A path of straight-line winds began in a wooded area near the intersection of Adams Road and 583A, which is behind the Delaware Electric Cooperative facility on U.S. Route 13 in Greenwood, according to the NWS and 6abc.com

Several trees were snapped and uprooted, NWS said.

The south end of a warehouse at the Delaware Electric Cooperative was pushed in with two large garage doors blown out. A section of the roof was also significantly damaged, NWS said.

A tornado also touched down between the Nanticoke River, which flows through Sussex County, and the intersection of Sugar Hill Road and St. Johnstown Road and tracked northeast for about 0.6 miles before lifting, the NWS said.

There was substantial damage to a farm with a couple of small barns destroyed. Several trees were snapped or blown over along with damage to a few nearby power poles and wires, NWS said.

A large unoccupied chicken coup, about 200 feet in length, was lifted and moved several feet off its foundation with some metal roof panels on the north end that were twisted in a southerly direction, NWS said.

Across the street from the farm on Sugar Hill Road, a couple sections of large central pivot irrigation systems were lifted and tipped onto their side. Each section of the irrigation weighs about 8,800 pounds, NWS said.

The Delaware Emergency Management Agency, Sussex County Emergency Management, Delaware Electric Cooperative and Greenwood residents gave information to the National Weather Service about the tornado's damage.
MAYS LANDING  A New York City man accused of bringing $1 million worth of heroin to Atlantic City will remain in jail pending his trial, Superior Court Judge Patricia Wild ruled Wednesday.

A defense attorney for Steven Torres, 24, argued his client was not part of an alleged drug-trafficking operation from Mexico that was busted June 15 in a parking lot near the Irish Pub in Atlantic City. Instead, he argued his client was just another person in the vehicle that allegedly contained 7.7 pounds of heroin.

Two other men, Steven Rodriguez, 22, and Edwin Gomez, 31, both of New York City, also were set to have their hearings Wednesday.

Rodriguez was released on the condition he be monitored, report his status every other week and have no contact with the other defendants.

Gomezs hearing was rescheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday because his defense attorney did not receive evidence relevant to the case before Wednesday.

The three men face several charges that include first-degree possession of heroin with intent to distribute and second-degree conspiracy to distribute heroin.

The defense argued Torres should not be kept in jail because he has a job, a supportive family around him and no previous criminal record.

His family, many of whom were in court Wednesday, gasped and held their heads in their hands when Deputy Attorney General Jen Fipp said Torres could spend up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the first-degree charge.

The judge ordered Torres be kept in the Atlantic County jail pending a trial, arguing that bringing such a large amount of drugs to the area made him a threat to the community.

Torres family declined to comment after the hearing.

All three men were represented by different public defenders.

The heroin was brought from Mexico to New York City, authorities said. It was then delivered to Atlantic City by Rodriguez, Gomez and Torres, according to the New Jersey attorney general.

The Attorney Generals Office said the heroin appeared to be laced with fentanyl. However, the judge said the office should not have said that because the heroin was not field-tested by law enforcement. Fipp said the officers on the scene did not test the heroin because fentanyl can be deadly if ingested.

The heroin was sent to a lab to be tested, which could take up to six months.

The investigation into the three men was conducted by the Atlantic City Task Force and federal agents.

Fipp said all cases investigated by the task force are prosecuted by the attorney general.

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 U.S. Customs Homeland Security Investigations from Cherry Hill, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
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.
For about two centuries in this country, arrested people have been required to put down money as a motivation to return for trial. Not only did that result in unfairly jailing poorer people without a trial, it also took the focus off whether a suspect would endanger the community if released.

In the centuries ahead, 2017 will be regarded as the year cash bail was abandoned in favor of a remarkably more effective system  with New Jersey as the leader of the nationwide movement.

Since the states landmark bail reform act took effect Jan. 1, judges have decided within 48 hours of arrest whether to detain or release defendants based on their risk to public safety. Before deciding, they review a public safety assessment for each defendant and a preliminary law enforcement report. They also consider a prosecutors recommendation, if any.

In the first three months, of the more than 10,000 people arrested in the state, just 12 percent were detained. The rest were released on their own recognizance or, if merited, with monitoring and restrictions.

The United States spends at least $14 billion per year on pretrial incarceration, says the Pretrial Justice Institute. It says there are nearly a half-million people awaiting trial in jail, mostly because they cant afford bail.

Incredibly, two-thirds of American prisoners have not even been convicted.

Rising bail amounts have shifted the U.S. jail population toward those awaiting trial, from 51 percent in 1983 to 63 percent in 2015, says the Justice Department.

Other states are following New Jerseys lead.

Starting in July, judges in Maryland will consider alternatives to bail for nonviolent defendants. Voters in New Mexico approved a constitutional amendment to reform their bail system. Lawmakers in California and Texas are considering major changes to their bail systems.

In New Jersey, there have been some issues with the new system, and they have been appropriately addressed.

A Little Egg Harbor Township man was arrested in January on charges of soliciting sex with a minor and then released, despite being a registered sex offender.

Since his prior offense occurred when he was a minor, it didnt figure in the evaluation of his threat to public safety. The county prosecutor appealed the release decision and he was then detained.

Addressing such issues, the state Attorney General last month directed prosecutors to seek detention in more cases, including those involving gun crimes and sex offenses. Judges deciding whether to detain or release a suspect can consider prior convictions not in the public safety assessment and can order a defendant detained if prosecutors request it.

The next day, the state Supreme Court acted on changes to defendant assessments requested by the Attorney General, making it more likely those accused of gun crimes and repeat offenders will be detained until trial.

This kind of adjustment to the new system  based on a review of empirical data and the legitimate concerns raised by various segments of the criminal justice community, as the administrator of state courts put it  is a reassuring sign that the public remains protected.

The New Jersey Law Journal this month judged bail reform a success and called it a giant step forward in criminal justice reform, with no diminution of public safety.

We agree, and consider it an example of the important improvements society can make when government officials at all levels work without regard to politics.
Fee-for-service could cut mental health services

Regarding the June 11 story, Local mental, behavioral providers last to switch to fee-for-service model: While the piece is fundamentally correct, I fear the headline may mislead readers. As CEO of a non-profit community mental health provider, I want to clarify our concerns over New Jersey moving to a fee-for-service (FFS) funding model.

Although New Jersey is one of the last states moving to a FFS model, many states that have made the transition are facing the type of problems that N.J. community mental health organizations are fearfully anticipating. For example, when Michigan moved to FFS, 10,000 residents lost services. Nearly a third of community mental health providers in Massachusetts were forced to close clinics between 2013 and 2015 because funding didnt cover the actual cost of services. In Kansas, mental health funding plummeted; patients were put on waiting lists and offered fewer services.

New Jersey needs an effective statewide mental health safety net. States that transitioned to FFS didnt heed the warnings of their mental health communities and the most vulnerable in those states are suffering the consequences. New Jersey shouldnt blindly follow other states purely to save money at the expense of those with mental illness. Those challenged with mental illness deserve better and community mental health centers are positioned to meet their needs with adequate funding.

Citizens should urge their state legislators to support the Community Mental Health Safety Net Act.

Greg Speed

Petersburg

CEO/president, Cape Counseling Services

Memorial race shouldnt have raised foreign flag

Regarding the May 29 story, Sports writer loses job over tweet on Japanese Indy winner:

First of all, the writer for the Denver Post expressed his opinion on a public internet service and not in the newspaper. Even the president expresses his opinions by tweeting, but does he get fired? Expressing opinions is a freedom of choice, which I was under the impression we all had the right to express.

The Indy driver being Japanese is not exactly the point of discrimination. The point I believe the reporter was feeling, and myself, was that for them to display the Japanese flag at that memorial event was an abominable display of irresponsible proportion and a slap in the face to the men and women and their families who served and died for this country. That driver team was not representing Japan. This event is not the Olympics. Memorial Day is for Americans.

In my opinion, the reporter should be reinstated and the Denver Post should issue an apology for being closed-minded. Get in the 21st century, Denver.

Sheldon Koger

Manahawkin
Air Senegal SA, the new Senegalese national airline, has signed a contract for a firm order of two ATR 72-600s at the Paris Air Show.

With an estimated value of approximately 50 million euros at catalogue price, the contract was formalised today in the presence of Maimouna Ndoye Seck, Senegals Minister for Tourism and Air Transport and Elisabeth Borne, French Minister for Transport.

Delivery of these two turboprop aircraft, which will constitute the initial fleet of the airline, will be made in November 2017. Air Senegal SAs inauguration ceremony will be held on December 7, 2017, in conjunction with the inauguration of the new Blaise Diagne International Airport in Diass, located some 50 kilometers from Dakar.

The reinstatement of a national airline is part of the wider scope of a government plan called Plan for an Emerging Senegal (PES), aimed at establishing new economic and social policies in the medium to long term, to revitalise the economic growth of the country and to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants.

Since the liquidation of Senegal Airlines, domestic air services have been disrupted within the country, commented Mamadou Lamine Sow, Chief Executive Officer of Air Senegal SA. Our ambition is for this new airline to play a major role in Senegal, and in all of West Africa. After a year of assessment, conducted by a team of experts assisted by a consulting firm, and on the basis of the airlines business plan, the choice of the initial fleet focused on the ATR 72-600s. It is Air Senegal SAs wish to offer its passengers a pleasant and affordable experience aboard a modern aircraft. We are confident that ATR is the best choice to meet the requirements of the market.

Christian Scherer, ATRs Chief Executive Officer, added: We are delighted to welcome both a new airline and a new country into the ATR family. According to our market forecasts, Africa and the Middle East should need 300 turboprop aircraft by 2035, and 400 new routes should be created. With the ATRs, Senegalese passengers will benefit from a transport offer that will generate many business opportunities, thereby helping to boost the local economy.

As part of its development, Air Senegal SA next plans to acquire single-aisle aircraft, followed by high-capacity aircraft, which should enable it to operate the famous ParisDakar route.

About the ATR 72-600:

Passenger capacity: 68 to 78 seats

Engines: Pratt & Whitney 127M

Maximum power at take-off: 2,750 horsepower per engine

Maximum weight at take-off: 23,000 kg

Maximum load: 7,500 kg

Maximum flight range at maximum load: 900 nautical miles (1,665 km)
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Barbados sees YOY growth in licensed captive insurance companies

Barbados was recognized by the OECD's Global Forum as a transparent and highly cooperative jurisdiction - receiving the ranking of "largely compliant" during 2016. The OECD's Global Forum is the highest global authority on transparency and the exchange of information for tax purposes. For context regarding Barbados' "largely compliant" ranking by the OECD's Global Forum, other nations with the same "largely compliant" ranking include: Austria, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Additionally, Barbados recorded a net addition of 11 captive insurance entities for the fiscal year ended March 2017 - raising its total from 235 captives in 2015/2016 to 246 captives in 2016/2017. Though Barbados serves a truly international market, approximately 81% of the companies originated from either Canada or the USA.

"As evidenced by the steady growth in new captive insurance registrations, it is clear that Barbados retains its status as a preferred jurisdiction in which to conduct international business," said Senator, the Honorable Darcy Boyce, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Energy, Immigration, Telecommunication and Invest Barbados. "The reasons for such growth are clear. Barbados has long been recognised for its network of double taxation agreements, transparency, strong regulatory environment, forward thinking legislation, world-class infrastructure, a well-educated labour force and its ability to foster international trade."

"We will maintain our focus on the enhancement of Barbados' ability to legally and ethically facilitate international trade - trade that brings prosperity to all nations that choose to participate in the global economy. Importantly too, we will continue to encourage the creation of businesses of substance," affirmed Senator Boyce.

About Invest Barbados

Invest Barbados (IB) is an economic development agency of the government of Barbados. IB is responsible for attracting, winning and sustaining foreign direct investment and international business for Barbados. The corporation is also responsible for helping to develop and manage the Barbados international business brand.

About Barbados' international business sector

Barbados' international business sector contributes approximately 10% to the nation's GDP and is comprised of approximately 4,000 entities. Significant vertical markets within the international business sector include: financial services, niche manufacturing and information and communications technologies.

Media contact: Rob Ireland, Claritas Communications Inc., +1-416-301-9585, Rob.Ireland@Claritas-inc.com

SOURCE Invest Barbados
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )



Browse 64 market data tables and 44 figures spread through 144 pages and in-depth TOC on "Hexamethylenediamine Market - Global Forecast to 2022"

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The demand for hexamethylenediamine is mainly driven by the growing consumption of nylon 66 in different end-use industries, such as automotive and textile. The automotive industry is shifting from traditional materials toward engineering plastics to attain better productivity and efficiency of components. The growing use of nylon 66 products and components in the automotive industry is anticipated to drive the market for hexamethylenediamine in the coming years.

Request for Sample PDF of Report @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=109635705

Nylon synthesis is the fastest-growing application segment of the hexamethylenediamine market

Based on application, the nylon synthesis segment is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Nylon has superior mechanical property, rigidity, and chemical & heat resistivity and is widely used as fiber in textiles, carpets, and molded parts. Nylon is used to manufacture various products & components in the automotive and electrical & electronics end-use industries. The growing usage of nylon across various industries, such as automotive, textile, consumer goods, and electrical & electronics is anticipated to boost the hexamethylenediamine market across regions.

Automotive is the largest end-use industry segment of the hexamethylenediamine market

Hexamethylenediamine is majorly used in the synthesis of nylon 66, which is widely used in the automotive industry to manufacture various products and components, such as connectors & housings, under-the-hood components, wheel well, and lighting components, such as headlamp structural housings, headlamps & fog lamps, and reflectors & lighting sockets, among others. Nylon is extensively used in automotive products and components as it offers excellent chemical and physical properties, along with design flexibility, as compared to metal. The growing automotive industry is anticipated to drive the nylon market, which will further drive the hexamethylenediamine demand in the coming years.

Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing regional segment of the hexamethylenediamine market

The Asia-Pacific hexamethylenediamine market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. China, India, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea are the key countries contributing to the high demand of hexamethylenediamine in the Asia-Pacific region. Increasing demand for hexamethylenediamine from the nylon 66 application market is the major growth driver for the hexamethylenediamine market in this region.

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Some of the key players in the Hexamethylenediamine Market are BASF SE (Germany), E. I. du Pont de Nemours (DuPont) (US), Asahi Kasei Corporation (Japan), Toray Industries, Inc. (Japan), Merck KGaA (Germany), Evonik Industries AG (Germany), Solvay S.A. (Belgium), Ashland Global Holdings, Inc. (US), Invista (US), Ascend Performance Materials (US), Rennovia, Inc. (US), and Compass Chemical (US).

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Polyetheramine Market by Type (Monoamine, Diamine, and Triamine), Application (Epoxy Coating, Polyurea, Adhesives & Sealants, Composites, and Fuel Additives), and Region - Global Forecasts to 2022

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Epoxy Curing Agents Market by Type (Amine-Based Curing Agents, Anhydride Curing Agents), Application (Coatings, Construction, Adhesives, Composites, Wind Energy, Electrical & Electronics), and Region - Global Forecast to 2022

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
CHICAGO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Born on the streets of Paris, Courvoisier lives by a codeone of dedication, vision and respect for tradition, cultivated over 200 years of history as France's premium producer of Cognac. Courvoisier has the conviction to craft only the finest Cognac by honoring a visionary code of controlling the entire cognac production process from grape to glass. The way the brand has chosen to live and evolve has shaped its newest campaign  Honor Your Code.

Courvoisier Photo Credit: Courvoisier Cognac Photo Credit: Courvoisier Cognac Photo Credit: Courvoisier Cognac

These values have forged a partnership between Courvoisier and rapper, actor, model and fashion icon, A$AP Rocky, who joins the family as Brand Ambassador starring in print and digital creative, partnering on collaborations and hosting exclusive experiences as part of its new campaign.

Before he became known as A$AP Rocky, Rakim Mayers cultivated his code growing up in New York by committing to being ambitious, inspiring and enticing. His vision was always to recognize growth and to be better than he was yesterday. With his promise to always strive, always prosper and to persevere through any struggle, A$AP Rocky honors his code to this day with his drive and ambition.

"I think your code is equivalent to your standards and your morals. It's whatever you believe in. And you should always stand by and honor what you believe in," says A$AP Rocky. "Courvoisier's commitment to quality, old-school production methods, design and art speaks to me."

Like A$AP Rocky, Courvoisier is focused on makingnot just making it. Founders Louis Gallois and Emmanuel Courvoisier set out to make a superior Cognac in the 18th century, not to become the toast of Paris society and the imperial court. But by focusing on creating, that's what happened. The house eventually established residence in a chateau on the scenic banks of the Charente River in the town of Jarnac, just east of the town of Cognac, where Courvoisier's grape to glass code is followed to this day.

"As a creator, A$AP Rocky embodies the progressive ideals and bold artistry on which Courvoisier was founded, making him an ideal partner for the brand," says Gary Ross, Vice President, Beam Suntory World Spirits.

Through the partnership with A$AP Rocky and an inspiring campaign, Courvoisier demonstrates the real-life applications for honoring your code. A legacy it validates every day. A legacy of excellence crystallized in a bottle.

To learn more about the Honor Your Code campaign and partnership with A$AP Rocky, visit www.courvoisier.com/us, and follow Courvoisier Cognac on Twitter @CourvoisierUSA using the hashtag #HonorYourCode.

About Beam Suntory Inc.

As the world's third largest premium spirits company, Beam Suntory is Crafting the Spirits Brands that Stir the World. Consumers from all corners of the globe call for the company's brands, including the iconic Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon brands and Suntory whisky Kakubin, as well as world renowned premium brands including Knob Creek bourbon, Yamazaki, Hakushu and Hibiki Japanese whiskies, Teacher's, Laphroaig, and Bowmore Scotch whiskies, Canadian Club whisky, Courvoisier cognac, Hornitos and Sauza tequila, EFFEN and Pinnacle vodka, Sipsmith gin, and Midori liqueur.

Beam Suntory was created in 2014 by combining the world leader in bourbon and the pioneer in Japanese whisky to form a new company with a deep heritage, passion for quality, innovative spirit and commitment to Growing for Good. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Beam Suntory is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan. For more information on Beam Suntory, its brands, and its commitment to social responsibility, please visit www.beamsuntory.com and www.drinksmart.com.

SOURCE Courvoisier

Related Links

http://www.beamsuntory.com


PHILADELPHIA, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aberdeen Japan Equity Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") (NYSE: JEQ) held its Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Meeting") on June 21, 2017. At the Meeting, stockholders of the Fund voted to re-elect two Class III Directors to the Board of Directors.

As of the record date, April 28, 2017, there were 13,377,692 outstanding shares of the Fund. 93.32% of the outstanding shares were voted at the Meeting representing a quorum.

The description of the proposal and number of shares voted at the Meeting are as follows:

To re-elect two Class III Directors to the Board of Directors:



Votes For Votes Against Abstained Richard Herring 9,828,149 2,527,686 128,892 Anthony Clark 10,207,049 2,152,610 125,068

Directors whose term of office continued beyond the Meeting are as follows: Radhika Ajmera, Martin Gruber, David Harmer and Rahn Porter.

Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. The Fund's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the fund's portfolio. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective.

If you wish to receive this information electronically, please contact [email protected]

aberdeenjeq.com

SOURCE The Japan Equity Fund, Inc.
PHILADELPHIA, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aberdeen Singapore Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") (NYSE: SGF) held its Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Meeting") on June 21, 2017. At the Meeting, shareholders of the Fund voted to re-elect two Class I Directors to the Board of Directors.

As of the record date, April 28, 2017, there were 7,418,948 outstanding shares of the Fund. 80.41% of the outstanding shares were voted at the Meeting representing a quorum.

The description of the proposal and number of shares voted at the Meeting are as follows:

To elect one Class II Director to the Board of Directors:



Votes For Votes Against Abstained Richard Herring 4,742,962 1,206,284 16,553

Directors whose term of office continued beyond the Meeting are as follows: David Harmer, Rahn Porter and Moritz Sell.

Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. The Fund's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the fund's portfolio. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective.

If you wish to receive this information electronically, please contact [email protected]

aberdeensgf.com

SOURCE Aberdeen Singapore Fund, Inc.
CANNES, France, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AdParlor, a leading social and video ad tech company, announced today that Facebook showcased the company's technology at the 2017 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The company was recognized for developing innovative new creative analytics technology that is driving strong performance with the new Instagram Stories ad unit.

AdParlor

Front and center was a campaign case study that demonstrated the application of AdParlor's unique Intelligence Tags technology to identify which product categories, calls-to-action, and color schemes drive the highest return on advertising spending (ROAS) for Today's Shopping Choice.

"We're big believers in the power of Instagram Stories, and have been working since day one to help advertisers understand how to be effective with this new format," Paul Van Winssen, VP of Platform Partnerships at AdParlor said. "It's an incredible honor to be recognized by Facebook for the positive impact our technology is having on our clients' campaigns."

Intelligence Tags, or Intel Tags for short, is technology that uses image recognition, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to automatically tag media assets. The tags are used to provide insight into which elements of creative drive the best results on a macro-level  a task that would otherwise be time-intensive and incredibly difficult.

The result is a deeper level of insight into what works and why. This, when applied, translates to more relevant and efficient advertising. Intelligence Tags are currently being used by several retail and eCommerce brands to drive better results for their Facebook and Instagram advertising.

To learn more about AdParlor's Intelligence Tags, visit http://adparlor.com/intel-tags.

About AdParlor

When advertisers want their social advertising campaigns to have the greatest impact, they enlist AdParlor. AdParlor's advertising solutions and strategies use data-driven approaches to get the best performance from Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Twitter advertising for over half of the Fortune 1000. For more information, visit adparlor.com.

Contact

Rion Martin

Senior Communications Manager

[email protected]

SOURCE AdParlor

Related Links

https://adparlor.com


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. and ZURICH, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- eAgile Inc., a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, announced today the release of their eLink solution for mobile eCommerce. eLink is the first to combine smartphone-based one-tap ordering, product authentication and customer engagement functions with enterprise-level track and trace visibility into a single solution. eAgile's announcement is concurrent with the news that Apple's iOS 11 update will provide NFC (Near Field Communications) capabilities to the iPhone 7 and 8.

"eLink is one of those rare innovations that can provide immediate benefits across an entire organization," states Gary Burns, eAgile's CEO. "Logistics receives supply chain visibility, marketing can communicate with end users, consumers can order through their phones, owners protect their brands, and we've barely scratched the surface of potential applications."

eAgile is one of just a few companies with the infrastructure and experience already in place to help businesses leverage this new technology. Now with smartphones on both major operating systems, Apple iOS and Android, offering NFC capabilities, demand will only increase to match the expansion of new users.

"We're offering brand owners the ability to capitalize on the new realities of eCommerce and everyone's love of smartphones. The trend shows 50% of eCommerce is from smartphones, which is driven by an estimated 10 billion mobile devices. Those numbers are hard to ignore," says Peter Phaneuf, President of eAgile. "The perfect way to start to compete in an eCommerce-driven marketplace is when you can fund the investment through gains in mobile sales and efficiencies. That's what eLink is showing it can provide."

eAgile's patented eSeal products were first introduced in 2014 and brought the supply chain efficiencies and security benefits of UHF RFID to the healthcare, nutraceutical and over-the-counter markets. eLink takes their eSeal innovation further by integrating the consumer engagement capabilities of NFC into a single tag, single chip solution. The resulting dual frequency solution helps businesses communicate with their customers through their smartphones in more impactful and cost-effective ways.

Operating from a vertically-integrated manufacturing facility where they design, test and manufacture a wide variety of RFID products and software, eAgile has earned a reputation for seamlessly integrating customized solutions with minimal disruption to client operations. The growth of their eSeal product line has allowed them to showcase their experience integrating RFID into filling lines and conveyor systems, maximizing data capture in challenging environments.

eAgile sets the industry standards in IoT solutions by providing high quality, cost effective products that help make RFID easy. From tag conversion to data management software to building complete RFID infrastructures, eAgile has unmatched expertise and capabilities. eAgile's commitment to innovation, quality and providing customer focused solutions drives every aspect of the business. Information: https://www.eagile.com/eLink.

LOGO: Send2Press.com/mediaboom/17-0621s2p-elink-logo-300dpi.jpg

This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com

SOURCE eAgile Inc.
Abu Dhabi Airports today welcomed the inaugural Pegasus flight arriving from Istanbul, Turkey. The maiden flight marks the commencement of a direct service three times a week between Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) and Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport (SAW) by Pegasus Airlines.

The inaugural flight arrived at 3:25 am (local time) on Tuesday 21st June and was welcomed with the traditional water cannon salute at the capital's airport.

The new low-cost route will be operated by a Boeing B737-800 with 189-seat capacity. London flights connecting to Abu Dhabi via Istanbul depart from London Stansted at 14:00 three times weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with the flights connecting on from Istanbul at 21:45. The flights return from Abu Dhabi Airport at 04:25 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

With the addition of Abu Dhabi to its network, Pegasus now connects 105 destinations in 40 countries. Pegasus connects Abu Dhabi airport to 55 destinations in the world, including London Stansted airport three times weekly. Pegasus guests can book their flights directly from www.flypgs.com, the Pegasus mobile App or via official agent sales channels with fares starting at 118 one way from London Stansted.

Commenting on the launch of its latest destination, Pegasus Airlines' Chief Commercial Officer Guliz Ozturk said: As Turkey's leading low-cost airline, with scheduled flights to 105 destinations in 40 countries we are delighted to be launching flights to the majestic city of Abu Dhabi, our second destination in the United Arab Emirates. Our guests will be able to fly from 55 destinations to Abu Dhabi airport via Pegasus' hub at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen. We are confident that our low fares and wide ranging travel services will drive more traffic between Abu Dhabi and our extending network of destinations.

Commenting on the new flights, Ahmed Al Shamsi, Acting Chief Operations Officer at Abu Dhabi Airports, said: We are very pleased to welcome Pegasus on board as Abu Dhabi continues grow as a key global aviation hub. The addition of another airline flying to and from our key airport reaffirms our success in providing world-class airports and aviation services to all our customers; passengers and airlines. We are committed to offering Pegasus unparalleled service, whilst welcoming its passengers to the world-class city of Abu Dhabi.
DRESHER, Pa., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascensus, a leading technology and service provider that helps more than seven million Americans save for the future, has released its annual trends report, Inside America's Savings Plans. The report highlights the leading trends across the retirement, college savings, and health savings account (HSA) industries.

Ascensus analyzed data across over 47,000 retirement plans, nearly four million 529 college savings accounts, and over 200,000 HSAs for which it provides recordkeeping and administrative services. The firm also highlighted HSA industry data from partner Devenir, a national leader in providing customized investment solutions for HSAs and the consumer-directed healthcare market. The following trends reflect how Americans are taking steps toward saving for their financial future.

Millennials are beginning to outpace older generations in terms of saving.

Young employees are beginning to participate in their employer's retirement plan early in their careers. Employees under age 25 represent just nine percent of savers on Ascensus' platform. But data shows they are taking proactive steps to save as they advance in their career, with the average 401(k) account balances of savers ages 25-34 nearly double that of their under 25 cohorts. Employees ages 25-34 represent the largest percentage of retirement savers on the Ascensus retirement platform, at just over 26%. This suggests that over one quarter of retirement savers recognize the importance of starting to save early.

Millennial parents are the driving force for new account growth in the 529 market. While millennial parents represent a smaller percentage of overall 529 account owners on the Ascensus platform, data suggests they have become a driving force for new account growth. In 2016, there were over 800,000 account owners between the ages of 25-34 on the Ascensus College Savings platform, up from just 450,000 in 2011.

Millennials are building a foundation of health savings. HSA owners under age 25 and ages 25-34 represented 20% of all HSAs on the Ascensus platform in 2016.

Savers are making real progress toward their goals but are still facing an overall savings deficit.

401(k) account balances across all generations are lower than will likely be required to cover retirement goals. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean American income in 2016 equaled $49,630 . 1 Savers nearing retirement at ages 45-54 in this compensation range had just over $25,000 saved as of 2016 year end.

The overall average 529 account balance would only partially fund a post-secondary education. According to The College Board, the average annual cost of an in-state, public four-year university during the 2016-2017 academic year was just over $20,000 ; the average annual cost of a nonprofit, private four-year university was over $45,000 . 2 529 account owners on the Ascensus platform had an overall average of just $22,000 saved. However, this average has increased year over year for account owners of all age segments, suggesting that more families appreciate the importance of saving early and often. In addition, every dollar saved in a 529 account is one less that the beneficiary or family will have to borrow to fund a post-secondary education. While the average 529 balance might not cover all college costs, these savings vehicles can serve to reduce student loan debt in the future.

Healthcare expenses continue to rise exponentially for retirement-age Americans, while average HSA balances increase gradually. The Employee Benefit Research Institute estimates that a man would need $127,000 and a woman would need $143,000 saved by age 65 for a 90% chance of covering healthcare costs in retirement. As of 2016 year end, savers ages 65+ had an average HSA balance of just $3,618 as compared to $3,422 in 2015. However, these retirement-age savers likely have additional savings accounts, IRAs, and funding sources that they plan to use for future healthcare expenses.

Account owners and plan sponsors alike are seeing the value in making saving automatic.

Automatic features boost retirement plan participation, setting employees on the right track. Plans designed with automatic enrollment features see an average participation rate of 78 percent, nine percent higher than participation in plans without automatic enrollment. Plans that combine automatic enrollment and automatic increase have an average participation rate of 81 percent.

Employees are leveraging payroll direct deposit capabilities to make the 529 investment process automatic and easier to manage. More employees are opting to establish payroll direct deposit into their 529 accounts, making small contributions with each payroll cycle. Employers are supporting this increased interest among employees, too. Ascensus has seen a 13 percent year-over-year increase in the number of employers making payroll direct deposits into 529 accounts.

With automatic gifting contributions, the college savings process becomes a joint effort. Ascensus College Savings' Ugift service enables 529 plan account owners to provide family and friends with a unique code to make gifting contributions online at their convenience. In the last five years, Ugift contributions have increased by over 500 percent, with $109,560,000 total Ugift contributions made in 2016.

By pairing HSAs with high deductible health plans and enabling payroll direct deposit, employers are helping employees build a foundation of health savings. In 2016, 37 percent of HSA market growth was attributed to high deductible health plans offered by employers. Additionally, 46% of all dollars contributed to an HSA came from an employer. By offering payroll direct deposit into the accounts, employers are helping employees make contributing to health savings a habit. The average employee contributed a total of $1,786 to an HSA in 2016.

"Americans are making progress as they save for life's most important milestones and they are embracing the available investment tools of 401(k)s, 529 plans, and HSAs," said Bob Guillocheau, CEO and president of Ascensus. "We are thrilled to see the marked improvement across the board. Our main objective is to help Americans reach their savings goals and provide the necessary solutions to make their dreams a reality. We hope our data will offer financial institutions, financial advisors, and savings plan sponsors much-needed insight into how they can guide their clients and employees on a path to financial success."

For additional trends and insights from Ascensus, visit http://pulse.ascensus.com.

1 National, State, Metropolitan, and Nonmetropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, May 2016, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2 Average Published Undergraduate Charges by Sector, 2016-17. Source: The College Board, Annual Survey of Colleges.

About Ascensus

Ascensus helps more than 7 million Americans save for the futureretirement, college, and healthcarethrough technology and service solutions. With more than 35 years of experience, the firm offers tailored solutions that meet the needs of banks, credit unions, states, governments, financial professionals, employers, and individuals. Ascensus supports approximately 50,000 retirement plans, more than 4 million 529 college savings accounts, and a growing number of ABLE savings accounts. It also administers more than 1.5 million IRAs and health savings accounts. For more information about Ascensus, visit www.ascensus.com.

Before investing in any 529 plan, you should consider whether your or the designated beneficiary's home state offers a 529 plan that provides its taxpayers with state tax and other benefits that are only available through the home state's 529 plan. You also should consult your financial, tax, or other advisor to learn more about how state-based benefits (or any limitations) would apply to your specific circumstances. You also may wish to contact directly your home state's 529 plan(s), or any other 529 plan, to learn more about those plans' features, benefits and limitations. Keep in mind that state-based benefits should be one of many appropriately weighted factors to be considered when making an investment decision.

Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information such as specific benefits, limitations, rules and guidance are included in a 529 plan's offering statement; read and consider it carefully before investing.

When you invest in a 529 plan you are purchasing municipal securities whose value will vary with market conditions. Investment returns will vary depending upon the performance of the portfolios in the 529 plan you choose. Depending on market conditions, you could lose all or a portion of your money by investing in a 529 plan. Account owners assume all investment risks as well as responsibility for any federal and state tax consequences. Carefully read any disclosure statements and detailed information relative to your investment goals or needs, or consult with a tax advisor for their specific tax applications or consequences.

SOURCE Ascensus

Related Links

https://www.ascensus.com


Foot and ankle surgeons are the foot and ankle experts. If you were in need of heart surgery, you wouldn't see a general physician to perform your heart surgery, you would want someone who is an expert in heart surgery. Same with your feet and ankles  it's best to see the right experts to properly diagnose and treat the very part of you that helps you get around.

Today's foot and ankle surgeons are not your father's podiatrists; we are a new generation of specialists and are the leading experts in foot and ankle careboth surgically and non-surgically. We diagnose and treat all conditions affecting people's feet and ankles  from the simple to the complex  in adults and children. Our training includes four years at a podiatric medical school and a minimum three-year foot and ankle surgical residency program. We are certified by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery in foot surgery and/or reconstructive rearfoot/ankle surgery and the majority of my colleagues are Fellow Members of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons.

On a typical day, I can start my day in surgery repairing a patient's hammertoe, bunion deformity or an Achilles tendon rupture and end my day caring for ligament issues, diabetic foot conditions, ankle sprains, fractures and heel pain in my office without surgery. Either way, my patients get the expert diagnosis by a qualified foot and ankle surgeon to get them back on their feet and to their daily lives.

If you need to find a foot and ankle surgeon near you, visit FootHealthFacts.org, the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeon's patient education website or make an appointment with your family physician, diabetes educator or nurse practitioner for a referral to a local foot and ankle surgeon in your care network.

Dr. Rubin practices at the Foot & Ankle Specialists of Virginia, in Mechanicsville. He is board-certified in both foot surgery and reconstructive rearfoot and ankle surgery by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery and a Fellow Member and the current President of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Dr. Rubin holds a podiatric medical degree from the Temple College of Podiatric Medicine in Philadelphia. He completed his residency at St. Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia, as well as a trauma and reconstruction fellowship at the department of Orthopedic Surgery in Malmo, Sweden. He is also a frequent lecturer and instructor at foot and ankle surgical conferences nationwide and a published author.

The American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons is a professional society of 7,400 foot and ankle surgeons. Founded in 1942, the College's mission is to promote research and provide continuing education for the foot and ankle surgical specialty, and to educate the general public on foot health and conditions of the foot and ankle through its patient education website, FootHealthFacts.org.

SOURCE American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons

Related Links

https://www.foothealthfacts.org/


GREEN BAY, Wis., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE: ASB) today announced it will release second quarter 2017 financial results on Thursday, July 20, 2017, after market close. The Company will host a conference call for investors and analysts at 4:00 p.m. Central Time (CT) on the same day.

Interested parties can access the live webcast of the call through the Investor Relations section of the Company's website, http://investor.associatedbank.com. Parties may also dial into the call at 877-407-8037 (domestic) or 201-689-8037 (international) and request the Associated Banc-Corp second quarter 2017 earnings call. The financial tables and an accompanying slide presentation will be available on the Company's website just prior to the call. An audio archive of the webcast will be available on the Company's website approximately fifteen minutes after the call is over.

ABOUT ASSOCIATED BANC-CORP

Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE: ASB) has total assets of $29 billion and is one of the top 50 publicly traded U.S. bank holding companies. Headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Associated is a leading Midwest banking franchise, offering a full range of financial products and services from over 200 banking locations serving more than 100 communities throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota, and commercial financial services in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. Associated Bank, N.A. is an Equal Housing Lender, Equal Opportunity Lender and Member FDIC. More information about Associated Banc-Corp is available at www.associatedbank.com.

Investor Contact:

Jessica Vanden Heuvel, Vice President, Director of Investor Relations

920-491-7059

Media Contact:

Jennifer Kaminski, Vice President, Public Relations Senior Manager

920-491-7576

SOURCE Associated Banc-Corp

Related Links

http://www.associatedbank.com


Barbados sees YOY growth in licensed captive insurance companies

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Barbados was recognized by the OECD's Global Forum as a transparent and highly cooperative jurisdiction - receiving the ranking of "largely compliant" during 2016. The OECD's Global Forum is the highest global authority on transparency and the exchange of information for tax purposes. For context regarding Barbados' "largely compliant" ranking by the OECD's Global Forum, other nations with the same "largely compliant" ranking include: Austria, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Additionally, Barbados recorded a net addition of 11 captive insurance entities for the fiscal year ended March 2017  raising its total from 235 captives in 2015/2016 to 246 captives in 2016/2017. Though Barbados serves a truly international market, approximately 81% of the companies originated from either Canada or the USA.

"As evidenced by the steady growth in new captive insurance registrations, it is clear that Barbados retains its status as a preferred jurisdiction in which to conduct international business," said Senator, the Honorable Darcy Boyce, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Energy, Immigration, Telecommunication and Invest Barbados. "The reasons for such growth are clear. Barbados has long been recognised for its network of double taxation agreements, transparency, strong regulatory environment, forward thinking legislation, world-class infrastructure, a well-educated labour force and its ability to foster international trade."

"We will maintain our focus on the enhancement of Barbados' ability to legally and ethically facilitate international trade  trade that brings prosperity to all nations that choose to participate in the global economy. Importantly too, we will continue to encourage the creation of businesses of substance," affirmed Senator Boyce.

About Invest Barbados

Invest Barbados (IB) is an economic development agency of the government of Barbados. IB is responsible for attracting, winning and sustaining foreign direct investment and international business for Barbados. The corporation is also responsible for helping to develop and manage the Barbados international business brand.

About Barbados' international business sector

Barbados' international business sector contributes approximately 10% to the nation's GDP and is comprised of approximately 4,000 entities. Significant vertical markets within the international business sector include: financial services, niche manufacturing and information and communications technologies.

SOURCE Invest Barbados
At the start of her more than 30-year career at Bechtel, Rusinko worked as a construction field engineer on the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, a nuclear power plant in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Along with her experience in the nuclear power sector, she has held senior engineering management roles on complex technical projects including the national used nuclear fuel repository project at Yucca Mountain in Nevada and the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in Washington state.

"It's a distinct honor to be elected to the NEI's Board of Directors," Rusinko said. "I look forward to helping NEI support the advancement of the nuclear power industry."

Bechtel has been an active member of NEI since the institute's inception in 1994. The company's technical specialists and nuclear experts help shape policy for eight NEI task forces, including Seismic, Control Room Habitability, Combined Operating Licenses, Emergency Preparedness, Early Site Permit, New Plant Security, Small Modular Reactor Security, and Small Modular Reactor Licensing. Bechtel has served the nuclear power market for more than 60 years, providing nuclear design, construction, and operating plant support for more than 150 nuclear power plants worldwide including the ongoing front-end engineering and design of a new, two-reactor plant in Wales, UK.

Rusinko is a registered professional engineer and Six Sigma champion with a master's degree in engineering from The University of Alabama  Huntsville, and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of South Carolina. She received a Global Leadership Award from the Society of Women Engineers in 2016 and serves on that organization's corporate partnership council.

About Bechtel:

Bechtel is one of the most respected global engineering, construction, and project management companies. Together with our customers, we deliver landmark projects that create long-term progress and economic growth. Since 1898, we've completed more than 25,000 extraordinary projects across 160 countries on all 7 continents. We operate through four global businesses: Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; Oil, Gas & Chemicals; and Mining & Metals. Our company and our culture are built on more than a century of leadership and a relentless adherence to our values, the core of which are safety, quality, ethics, and integrity. These values are what we believe, what we expect, what we deliver, and what we live. www.Bechtel.com

Media Contact:

Fred deSousa

[email protected]

tel. +1 571-364-5733

SOURCE Bechtel

Related Links

http://www.Bechtel.com


DALLAS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Miron Crosby, a bespoke boot brand created by sisters Lizzie Means Duplantis and Sarah Means, announces the opening of its flagship storefront in Highland Park Village. The 490-square-foot boutique and design studio is located in a second floor retail space above The Honor Bar and Rag & Bone.

The Miron Crosby brand is inspired by the sisters' experiences growing up on their family's West Texas cattle ranch and the result is a collection of artisanal boots hand-lasted in Texas by the 160-year-old manufacturer Rios of Mercedes  cousins of the Means sisters  crafted with luxurious leathers, exotic skins, and stitching. In addition to boot stock offerings, a concierge design service is also available, allowing clients to modify existing silhouettes with an array of materials and colors to create a one-of-a-kind pair. Each pair can also be customized with a monogram, ranch brand, logo, even a handwritten message sewn onto the lining. "Since our family has access to the Rios factory, I've always been able to design my own boots," says Sarah Means. "When I lived in New York, people would stop me to ask where I got my boots. I realized I had nowhere to send them, and nowhere to shop for them myself."

"By allowing our customers to customize a pair of boots, we are hoping to afford them the opportunity to build an heirloom," says Lizzie Means Duplantis. "We are creating boots that signify special events in people's lives, something tangible that will always evoke a fond memory." In its inaugural SS2017 collection, Miron Crosby blends design elements inspired by Chihuahuan Desert flora and fauna, Southwestern Native American tribal art, and Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School architecture. The inaugural line features an iconic tall cowboy boot, a popular shorty, and a novel midi-boot in an array of leathers enhanced by thoughtful design and craftsmanship to evoke a bygone era of American handcrafts.

The boutique and design studio  the Means sisters enlisted Dallas-based Droese Raney Architecture for interiors, Ashlar Projects for branding, and Foxcroft Studios for merchandising  offers wares for women, men and children. In addition to boots, the sisters have collaborated with artists and designers to offer an assortment of unique accessories. Turquoise jewelry and belts consigned by Shiprock Santa Fe Gallery; gold and silver metalwork, including belt buckles, barware and jewelry from Comstock Heritage; private-label leather and exotic belts from Chacon; and contemporary beaded jewelry from Mignonne Gavigan New York complement their assemblage of Western-influenced footwear.

Miron Crosby is located at 25 Highland Park Village, Suite 201, Dallas, TX 75205. For additional information, please visit www.mironcrosby.com / @mironcrosby.

SOURCE Miron Crosby

Related Links

http://www.mironcrosby.com


ARLINGTON, Va. and INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bloomberg Law and Hall Render today announced the publication of Health Care Joint Ventures, a new portfolio that addresses legal issues that arise in joint venture transactions involving health care providers. The portfolio, which was authored by Hall Render health care practice attorney David A. Lips, is now available to Bloomberg Law subscribers. To download an excerpt of Health Care Joint Ventures, visit http://on.bna.com/tosA30cKaDP.

The portfolio provides an in-depth analysis of the issues that arise in health care joint ventures and how they apply to different types of joint ventures, including those between competing hospitals and those between hospitals and physicians, either acting individually or as physician groups. Antitrust and tax-exemption considerations as well as fraud and abuse issues are examined in detail and Health Care Joint Ventures concludes with insightful discussions of additional joint ventures types, contractual joint ventures, group purchasing organizations, and independent practice associations.

"Joint ventures give hospitals and physicians opportunities to expand their businesses, enhance their reputations and grow their patient bases; however, they are also fraught with legal risk," said Hall Render attorney David A. Lips. "This portfolio addresses those risks by the type of joint venture and by the kind of participants who choose to partner in this way. It was a privilege to author this portfolio and also to add annotations to transaction documents for practical guidance on Bloomberg Law's Health Care Practice Center."

"With health care reform front and center, industry participants continue to pursue partnerships and alliances such as joint ventures and this portfolio provides a detailed roadmap for navigating these very complex transactions," said Scott Falk, Vice President and General Manager, Health Care & Litigation, Bloomberg Law. "We are grateful for the efforts of David Lips who has authored a portfolio that gives attorneys an appreciation for some of the key factors for establishing health care joint ventures  and a better eye for recognizing obstacles to be addressed that could become serious issues if not addressed proactively."

Bloomberg Law portfolios are written by expert practitioners and feature deep-dive analysis and practice tools, such as checklists, sample client letters, forms and other supporting material, on a wide range of key legal topics. For information on the full range of health care resources available on Bloomberg Law, including practical guidance on health care joint ventures, visit http://on.bna.com/GrJP30cKaNX.

Bloomberg Law will be exhibiting at the American Health Lawyers Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco, June 25  28, 2017.

About Bloomberg BNA

Bloomberg BNA provides legal, tax and compliance professionals with critical information, practical guidance and workflow solutions. We leverage leading technology and a global network of experts to deliver a unique combination of news and authoritative analysis, comprehensive research solutions, innovative practice tools, and proprietary business data and analytics. Bloomberg BNA is an affiliate of Bloomberg L.P., the global business, financial information and news leader. For more information, visit www.bna.com.

About Bloomberg Law

Bloomberg Law helps legal professionals provide world-class counsel with access to actionable legal intelligence in a business context. Bloomberg Law delivers a unique combination of practical guidance, comprehensive primary and secondary source material, trusted content from Bloomberg BNA, news, time-saving practice tools, market data and business intelligence. For more information, visit www.bna.com/bloomberglaw.

About Hall Render

As the nation's largest health care-focused law firm, Hall Render is distinguished by its attorneys' extensive knowledge and experience. More than 200 health attorneys in 12 offices across the country provide the nation's best health systems, hospitals, physician organizations and other health care industry partners with legal and strategic counsel on all aspects of health care regulatory, business, compliance, litigation and operational matters. Commitment and experience complement the firm's understanding of the evolving landscape of today's health care industry, distinguishing Hall Render as one of the nation's preeminent health care law firms. Learn more at: www.hallrender.com

SOURCE Bloomberg Law; Hall Render
LE BOURGET, France, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE:BA] and Donghai Airlines today announced the airline's decision to convert 10 737 MAXs on order to 737 MAX 10s at the 2017 Paris Air Show.

The order, valued at $1.2 billion at current list prices, will be posted to the Boeing Orders & Deliveries website once all contingencies are cleared.

The Shenzhen-based carrier will join the 737 MAX 10 launch customer team as one of the first airlines in the world to introduce the newest member of the 737 MAX family.

"Donghai Airlines is honored to partner in launching the 737 MAX 10, which has increased capacity and the lowest costs ever for a single-aisle airplane," said Mr. Wong Cho-Bau, Chairman, Donghai Airlines. "We look forward to using the new model to play an important role in enabling us to expand operations and provide outstanding value to our customers."

Donghai Airlines started freighter operations in 2006 and expanded to offer passenger services in 2014. Donghai Airlines currently has a fleet of 15 Boeing 737-800s serving more than 35 cities across China. With an extended air-route network, the Shenzhen-based carrier plans to start international long-haul flights between 2021 and 2023 and grow its fleet to 100 airplanes by 2025.

"We are delighted to extend our relationship with Donghai Airlines, one of the fastest-growing airlines in China," said Ihssane Mounir, senior vice president, Global Sales and Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "The 737 MAX 10 will bring new levels of efficiency and greater in-flight experience to Donghai's existing all-Boeing single-aisle fleet."

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.

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 737 MAX is the fastest-selling airplane in Boeing history.

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

Related Links

http://www.boeing.com


LA JOLLA, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MISSIONLINE? Together MISSION + ONLINE create an unsurpassed call to action. For example:

PanoramicBest.com is a direct link to the 'Pumpkin House'. Curbed New York reports that this unconventional NYC mansion overlooking the Hudson has been listed for sale by Sotheby's.

CommissionArchitecture.com The LA Times profiles America's newest museum, the Marciano Foundation, and Kulapat Yantrasast's wHY Architecture, the firm that transformed a Los Angeles landmark.



CollectEmeralds.com - reveals a video of the superb Rockefeller gemstone sold by Christie's, New York, on June 20, 2017 at CollectMagnificentJewels.com.



ResistBest.com will petition Congress to reconsider America's intended 2020 withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord.



TheWebsBestAuctions.com highlights a curated online sale of branding keywords from Stampler Auctions on June 25, 2017.



SkateboardBest.com brands a comprehensive social media campaign for the Foundation for Women. By introducing skateboarding to Liberia to help "make education fun" throughout Africa, more than a dozen MISSIONLINES have earned the Foundation some 8,000 Facebook 'likes' since March.

'Dot-com' is virtually synonymous with 'the Web'. Why would any advertiser use #, @, or a not-com address when a dot-com domain name curated to promote brand understanding can be directed - and redirected - to almost any online target? Thousands of unforgettable web addresses make MISSIONLINES.com an unrivaled marketing strategy.

Contact:

Maria Munroe

858 246 7630

[email protected]



Photo(s):

https://www.prlog.org/12646947



Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE Missionlines.com

Related Links

http://www.missionlines.com


KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Several prominent members of Kansas City's contractor community are joining with Burns & McDonnell as part of an all-star team of contractors united to build a new single-terminal KCI. The team will submit a joint proposal to the Kansas City Council on July 27 as part of the City's Request for Qualifications and Proposals (RFQ/P) process for design and construction of a new terminal. The City is expected to select a winning team by Aug. 10.

Teaming with Burns & McDonnell are:

JE Dunn Construction

McCownGordon Construction

"We are thrilled to announce that JE Dunn and McCownGordon are joining our KCI team," says Burns & McDonnell chairman and CEO Ray Kowalik. "We have committed to build our hometown airport with the world-class construction and building trades talent right here in Kansas City and this team definitely measures up. This is the right team to build an airport that Kansas Citians will point to with pride for many years to come."

"We're excited and proud to be on the local team led by Burns & McDonnell. Not only do we have the experience and resources locally, but we are all passionate about what's best for the Kansas City community. We look forward to adding value to the team through our relationships with local labor and subcontractors and through our broad aviation experience," says Gordon Lansford, III, president & CEO of JE Dunn Construction.

"McCownGordon is committed to the continued growth and success of the region and we are proud to be part of the all-star team assembled to build a new single-terminal KCI," says Ramin Cherafat, chief operating officer for McCownGordon. "The time is right for this project and this team is right for Kansas City."

The Kansas City Council has committed to a public vote on the terminal plan and contractor team that is selected. A recent poll of Kansas City, Missouri residents showed only lukewarm support until learning the details of a privately-financed single-terminal concept that would also be built with Kansas City firms and Kansas City labor. Support jumped from 38 percent to 55 percent when survey respondents learned that the airport project would be privately financed with no risk to taxpayers and be built with a local firm or firms.

"We know there is a long way to go in the process but we believe we have assembled the right team to build our hometown airport," Kowalik adds. "No one will be more committed to this project's success than this team."

For more information on Burns & McDonnell's KCI proposal, click here.

About Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell is a Kansas City-based firm that's been committed to the people and growth of our hometown since we were founded in 1898. The 3,000 employee-owners based in Kansas City actively volunteer within the community and have donated millions of dollars to causes that support our great city from United Way to Science City. We are made up of more than 5,700 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world. We strive to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employee-owners. Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned and is proud to be No. 16 on Fortune's 2017 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit burnsmcd.com.

JE Dunn Construction was founded in 1924. Today JE Dunn is the 10th largest domestic general building contractor in the United States with offices in 20 locations. JE Dunn has completed over half a billion dollars in airport and air transit building projects recently and currently is working on aviation construction projects in Nashville, Atlanta, Portland, Scottsdale, Dallas/Fort Worth, and more. Our vision is to be an indispensable business partner for our clients by first understanding their purpose, goals and customers and then delivering transformational solutions with certainty of results. We maintain a commitment to integrity, collaboration, wisdom, quality, value, sustainability, and safety  the philosophy and principles of our business operation which is both family and employee-owned. JE Dunn's purpose is to enrich lives through inspired people and places. www.jedunn.com

About McCownGordon

McCownGordon Construction is recognized as one of the region's largest construction managers with offices in both Missouri and Kansas. Focused on core values of integrity, relationships and performance, McCownGordon is committed to building collaborative partnerships and specializing in construction management, design-build, sustainable construction and general contracting. With strong experience and expertise in a variety of market sectors, the company has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Kansas City by the Kansas City Business Journal for the past 12 years. More information about McCownGordon Construction is available at www.mccowngordon.com.

Contact: Kristi Widmar, Burns & McDonnell

816-448-7379

[email protected]

SOURCE Burns & McDonnell

Related Links

http://www.burnsmcd.com


45-year old Thomas Fischer has been named as General Manager of the Steigenberger Hotel Munich, which will open its doors in December 2017.

Himself a native of Munich, Mr. Fischer is able to offer wide-ranging experience in the hotel branch. He most recently worked as a General Manager for Corinthia Hotels & Resorts in London and Budapest, and prior to this fulfilled the same role for Kempinski Hotels & Resorts in cities including Frankfurt and Moscow. Mr. Fischer has completed a Masters degree in Business Administration and the General Manager Program offered by Cornell University in the USA.

COO Thomas Willms is delighted with this latest managerial appointment: Thomas Fischer has a wealth of experience in the international hotel sector. Having been born in Munich, he is also highly familiar with the location. We are sure that the opening of the Steigenberger Hotel Munich will be a great success under his leadership.

With the upcoming new opening, Deutsche Hospitality strengthens its presence on the domestic market and will be represented in the Bavarian metropolis not only by the IntercityHotel Munich, but also by the Steigenberger brand. The hotel will offer 292 rooms and suites. Guests will be provided with a restaurant serving up regional and international specialities and a bar with a cosy lounge complete with fireplace. There will also be a 14-room conference and events area as well as a gym, health and beauty spa facility.
OAKLAND, Calif., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cal/OSHA is reminding employers with outdoor workers they must provide fresh water and encourage workers to stay hydrated in order to prevent heat illness, especially during heat waves. The National Weather Service has extended its forecast for excessive heat in California through this Friday, June 23.

"Outdoor workers should have enough fresh, pure and suitably cool water so that they can drink at least one quart per hour during the workday, and should not wait until they are thirsty to hydrate," said Juliann Sum, Chief of Cal/OSHA. "This is particularly important during extended periods of triple-digit heat. Employers should remind workers of the importance of staying hydrated and ensure they have easy access to drinking water at the worksite."

When temperatures reach 95 degrees or above, employers are required to implement high heat procedures to ensure outdoor workers are protected. Procedures include effective monitoring of all workers through methods such as a mandatory buddy system for workers or regular communication with workers who work alone. Industries affected by high heat procedures are:

Agriculture

Construction

Landscaping

Oil and gas extraction

Transportation or delivery of agricultural products, construction materials or other heavy materials

California's Heat Illness Prevention Standard requires employers to train workers on the signs and symptoms of heat illness, provide shade when temperatures exceed 80 degrees, allow workers to take cool down rest breaks in the shade and develop emergency response procedures and train workers on how to execute those procedures when necessary.

Cal/OSHA inspects outdoor worksites in agriculture, construction, landscaping, and other operations throughout the heat season.

Cal/OSHA's Heat Illness Prevention special emphasis program, the first of its kind in the nation, includes enforcement of heat regulations as well as multilingual outreach and training program for California's employers and workers. Online information on heat illness prevention requirements and training materials are available on Cal/OSHA's Heat Illness Prevention web page and the Water. Rest. Shade. campaign site. A Heat Illness Prevention e-tool is also available on Cal/OSHA's website.

Cal/OSHA helps protect workers from health and safety hazards on the job in almost every workplace in California. Cal/OSHA's Consultation Services Branch provides free and voluntary assistance to employers to improve their health and safety programs. Employers should call (800) 963-9424 for assistance from Cal/OSHA Consultation Services.

Employees with work-related questions or complaints may contact DIR's Call Center in English or Spanish at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734). Complaints can also be filed confidentially with Cal/OSHA district offices.

Members of the press may contact Peter Melton or Paola Laverde at (510) 286-1161, and are encouraged to subscribe to get email alerts on DIR's press releases or other departmental updates.

The California Department of Industrial Relations, established in 1927, protects and improves the health, safety, and economic well-being of over 18 million wage earners, and helps their employers comply with state labor laws. DIR is housed within the Labor & Workforce Development Agency. For general inquiries, contact DIR's Communications Call Center at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734) for help in locating the appropriate division or program in our department.

https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaDIR

https://twitter.com/CA_DIR

http://www.youtube.com/CaliforniaDIR

http://www.dir.ca.gov/email/listsub.asp?choice=1

SOURCE California Department of Industrial Relations, Cal/OSHA

Related Links

http://www.dir.ca.gov/


THE WOODLANDS, Texas, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CB&I (NYSE:CBI) today announced it has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $40 million by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) to provide engineering, procurement and construction for an ethane cracking furnace expansion project at DuPont's Sabine River Works ethylene plant in Orange, Texas.

The new cracking furnace will have an ethylene capacity of 200 million pounds per year. The facility will utilize CB&I's SRT (Short Residence Time) pyrolysis heater technology. CB&I was previously awarded a contract for the ethylene technology license, engineering and supply of the new furnace, which was fabricated at CB&I's facility in Thailand.

"This award adds to CB&I's winning streak of ethylene projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast," said Luke V. Scorsone, Executive Vice President of CB&I's Fabrication Services operating group. "CB&I's ability to deliver single-source supply of every phase of this project  from concept to mechanical completion  provides DuPont with a cost-effective, low-risk solution as they expand their ethylene copolymers capacity to meet market demand."

About CB&I

CB&I (NYSE:CBI) is a leading provider of technology and infrastructure for the energy industry. With over 125 years of experience and the expertise of more than 40,000 employees, CB&I provides reliable solutions to our customers around the world while maintaining a relentless focus on safety and an uncompromising standard of quality. For more information, visit www.CBI.com.

Important Information For Investors And Shareholders

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding CB&I and represents our expectations and beliefs concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. When considering any statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or use or contain words, terms, phrases or expressions such as "achieve," "forecast," "plan," "propose," "strategy," "envision," "hope," "will," "continue," "potential," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "predict," "intend," "should," "could," "may," "might" or similar forward-looking statements, we refer you to the cautionary statements concerning risk factors and "Forward-Looking Statements" described under "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of our Annual Report filed on Form 10-K filed with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2016, and any updates to those risk factors or "Forward-Looking Statements" included in our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC, which cautionary statements are incorporated herein by reference.

Investors: Scott Lamb, +1 832 513 1068, [email protected]

Media: Gentry Brann, +1 832 513 1031, [email protected]

SOURCE CB&I

Related Links

http://www.cbi.com


BOSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Celtra, the creative management platform for digital advertising, today announced a $15 million investment led by Unilever Ventures and WPP. Unilever and WPP are partnering to use Celtra's market-leading creative technology across Unilever's global marketing organization and its ecosystem of service providers, technology vendors and media suppliers.

Celtra aims to help advertisers maximize their creative potential and use creative as a lever to achieve better results in digital advertising.

"Creative is the conduit for the marketer's message. It should always be on point and carefully refined," said Miha Mikek, Founder and CEO of Celtra. "Celtra's platform helps transform brands, agencies, creative producers and other partners into highly performant, data-driven, effective digital storytellers."

Unilever was among the first global advertisers that recognized the potential of the approach.

"Creative is an increasingly complex challenge for large advertisers and one that is constantly changing due to rapid evolution of media consumption. People deserve advertising that feels native to each medium and delivers emotional value. Celtra helps us deliver that at global scale," said Keith Weed, Chief Marketing Officer at Unilever.

Agencies, as trusted partners and advisers of brands, play a pivotal role in the process and WPP is a key partner in the use of Celtra's Creative Management Platform across Unilever.

"We believe the market is due for a creative management solution that can deliver real-time data driven creative at scale and tailored for every individual, across media channels. Celtra is a leader in this space. This investment is in line with WPP's commitment to technology, data and content, which, along with horizontality, new markets and new media, comprise the Group's four strategic priorities," said Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive Officer at WPP.

About Celtra

Celtra is a Cloud-based Creative Management Platform for digital advertising. They have pioneered HTML5 authoring with integrated creative serving, designed from the start for mobile advertising. It is an agnostic solution enabling the most advanced video, display and native ad products with the greatest distribution reach in the industry. Since 2011, Celtra has acquired over 400 clients globally across the digital media and advertising landscape. Their platform powers ads for more than 3,500 brands and 2/3 of Fortune 500 advertisers.

Celtra is headquartered in Boston, with offices in New York City, San Francisco, London, Ljubljana, Singapore and Sydney. For more information, visit Celtra at www.celtra.com or @CeltraMobile on Twitter.

Media Contact:

Cristy Garcia

Celtra

646-577-4332

[email protected]

About Unilever Ventures

Unilever Ventures is the venture capital and private equity arm of Unilever. They invest in early stage, promising companies, accelerating growth by providing access to Unilever's global ecosystem, assets and expertise. The fund looks to invest in tomorrow's world-beaters in Personal Care and Digital Transformation. Key focus areas within Digital Transformation include content creation, artificial intelligence, data analytics, e-commerce, internet of things, mobile marketing and video, in both developed and emerging markets. Unilever Venture's existing investments include Clavis Insight, Percolate, Blis, Gousto, Instacart, Blow, Nutrafol, Sun Basket, Iluminage Beauty, Froosh, and Voltea. For further information, please visit: www.unileverventures.com

About WPP

WPP is the world's largest communications services group with billings of US$74 billion and revenues of over US$19 billion. Through its operating companies, the Group provides a comprehensive range of advertising and marketing services including advertising & media investment management; data investment management; public relations & public affairs; branding & identity; healthcare communications; digital, eCommerce and shopper marketing and specialist communications. The company employs over 205,000 people (including associates and investments) in over 3,000 offices across 112 countries. For more information, visit www.wpp.com.



WPP was named Holding Company of the Year at the 2016 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for the sixth year running. WPP was also named, for the sixth consecutive year, the World's Most Effective Holding Company in the 2017 Effie Effectiveness Index, which recognizes the effectiveness of marketing communications. In 2017 WPP was recognised by Warc 100 as the World's Top Holding Company (third year running).

SOURCE Celtra

Related Links

http://www.celtra.com


RESTON, Va., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology company, was awarded a prime position on the Strategic Partners Acquisition Readiness Contract (SPARC) vehicle by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The multiple-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract has a five-year period of performance and a total contract value of $25 billion for all awardees, if all options are exercised. Leidos is one of 62 contractors eligible to compete for task orders under the contract. Work will be performed primarily in Windsor Mill, Md.

SPARC provides strategic, technical, and program management guidance and support services to facilitate the modernization of business processes and supporting systems. Under the contract, Leidos will apply technical expertise in various professional services including design, development, requirement, testing, security control assessment, and independent verification and validation.

"We have extensive experience in providing innovative technology services and we look forward to continuing a tradition of excellence through the SPARC vehicle," said Leidos Health Group President, Jon Scholl.

About Leidos

Leidos is a FORTUNE 500 science and technology solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $7.04 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2016. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 30, 2016, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

SOURCE Leidos

Related Links

http://www.leidos.com


SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cloud Foundry Foundation, home of the industry-standard platform for cloud applications, closed a record-setting Silicon Valley Summit, and today announced the call for papers for the 2017 European Summit will close on June 23. The 2017 European Summit will take place in Basel, Switzerland, from October 11-12 at the Congress Center Basel.

With support from Platinum Sponsors Google, SAP, IBM and Pivotal, Cloud Foundry Silicon Valley Summit 2017 set new attendance records and attracted media coverage in more than 365 unique articles with a social media audience reach of nearly 18 million impressions. News outlets attending the conference included Container Journal, IDG, InfoQ, Reuters, TechCrunch, ZDNet and more.

The Summits come amid explosive growth of Cloud Foundry worldwide with 2,400 contributors since inception, 51,000 commits in the last 12 months alone, 70,000 people participating in global community events and 64 total members making Cloud Foundry the industry leader in the growing cloud application platform market. According to internal research, Cloud Foundry has 35 percent of the total market across all deployments. Cloud Foundry's total market value is approximately $2.8 billion, rising to $5.25 billion in a few years, according to market research firm Gartner and Cloud Foundry Foundation global survey research.

In addition to officially rolling out its Cloud Foundry CertifiedDeveloper (CFCD) program -- with 5,000 developers already trained -- the Foundation also announced that Microsoft had joined as a member, bringing all of the world's largest public cloud providers together into the global initiative with only one exception. The Foundation also announced that Kubo, a project to enable deployment and ongoing management of the Kubernetes container orchestration tool, had joined as an incubating project, with initial committers from Google and Pivotal.

Last year, more than 700 businesses, developers and vendors from across Europe gathered at the sold out Summit in Frankfurt to share best practices and hear senior executives from leading organizations like Allianz, Bosch, Fidelity, Siemens, Volkswagen, Rakuten and the Dutch Government describe how Cloud Foundry has helped them build and deploy robust, resilient and flexible cloud-native applications across multiple cloud platforms.

"The increase in size and relevance each year for the Cloud Foundry Summits show that they continue to be a great place for our community to catch up on the latest advances in the cloud-native ecosystem, hear about real-world use cases and deployments, and share ideas and best practices," said Abby Kearns, executive director, Cloud Foundry Foundation. "This year was no different in Silicon Valley, and we look forward to providing developers and IT managers an invaluable experience in Switzerland."

Attendees will join other developers and CIOs to gain first-hand access to Cloud Foundry roadmaps, training and tutorials, and to see how others are using Cloud Foundry to support continuous innovation and application portability. Attendees will also have access to Cloud Foundry Developer Certification (CFDC) at Summit. Performance-based, community-based and independent of any distribution vendor, Cloud Foundry Developer Certification is the guaranteed way to demonstrate cloud skills and allow developers to be highly productive while working on top of Cloud Foundry.

Cloud Foundry is an open source technology backed by the largest technology companies in the world, including Cisco, Dell EMC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Google, IBM, Pivotal, SAP and SUSE, and is being used by leaders in manufacturing, telecommunications and financial services. Only Cloud Foundry delivers the velocity needed to continuously deliver apps at the speed of business. Cloud Foundry's container-based architecture runs apps in any language on your choice of cloud  Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure, OpenStack, SoftLayer, VMware vSphere, and more. With a robust services ecosystem and simple integration with existing technologies, Cloud Foundry is the modern standard for mission critical apps for global organizations.

About Cloud Foundry Foundation

The Cloud Foundry Foundation is an independent non-profit organization formed to sustain the development, promotion and adoption of Cloud Foundry as the industry standard platform for cloud applications. Cloud Foundry makes it faster and easier to build, test, deploy and scale applications. Cloud Foundry is an Apache 2.0 licensed project available on Github: https://github.com/cloudfoundry. To learn more, visit: http://www.cloudfoundry.org.

Contact:

Jessica Rampen

Cloud Foundry Foundation

[email protected]

650-787-3548

SOURCE Cloud Foundry Foundation

Related Links

http://www.cloudfoundry.org


LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. and LAS VEGAS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- GS1 US has recognized six companies with GS1 US Excellence Awards for their achievements in implementing GS1 Standards to transform business processes and drive innovation during a ceremony at the GS1 Connect conference on June 20, 2017 at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Roger Milliken Career Achievement Award was posthumously awarded to Ken Traub, a technology visionary who made significant contributions to the development of the world's most widely used supply chain standards.

GS1 US Excellence Awards

The companies honored have demonstrated strategic vision and produced positive results in community engagement, customer satisfaction and/or process improvement in three distinct categories:

GS1 US Innovation Award : Coca-Cola North America and REI CO-OP

The Innovation Award honors companies for their transformative use of the GS1 System of Standards to bring about an enhanced experience for businesses and customers.



GS1 US Operational Excellence Award: Dot Foods and Target

The Operational Excellence Award recognizes companies who successfully applied GS1 Standards to improve business processes, operations, industry collaboration and/or the consumer experience.





The Operational Excellence Award recognizes companies who successfully applied GS1 Standards to improve business processes, operations, industry collaboration and/or the consumer experience. GS1 US Small/Mid-Sized Business Excellence Award: Tegu and Upper Lakes Foods

The Small/Mid-Sized Business Excellence Award highlights GS1 Standards implementation stories from small and mid-sized companies, and how standards helped drive their businesses forward.

"These companies exemplify the innovation, efficiency and collaboration needed to thrive in today's ultra-competitive business environment," said Bob Carpenter, president and CEO, GS1 US. "Their creative use of GS1 Standards to solve emerging challenges and bolster company goals are to be commended."

Roger Milliken Career Achievement Award

Ken Traub, an expert in computer engineering and an advisor to GS1 US and GS1 global for more than 15 years, was posthumously honored with the Roger Milliken Career Achievement Award. Over the course of his prolific 30 year career, Mr. Traub spearheaded numerous efforts to advance GS1 Standards around the world and developed many GS1 US solutions. He was the lead editor and major contributor to the design and development of Electronic Product Code (EPC)-enabled RFID, the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS), and the Global Standards Management Process (GSMP), which is the consensus-driven process by which standards are created. Mr. Traub's achievements transformed how standards are applied and leveraged in the global marketplace. Described by his peers as having an intellectual curiosity about everything from mathematics to physics, Mr. Traub had also been developing thought-leading content about emerging technologies such as blockchain and the Internet of Things.

"The GS1 community is unanimous in recognizing Ken's many accomplishments and intellect. Ken contributed a respected and strategic perspective that laid crucial groundwork for innovation in healthcare, retail, grocery, foodservice and many other industries. We honor him as a driving force whose leadership, guidance and vision left an indelible impression on us all," said Carpenter.

The Roger Milliken Career Achievement Award honors individuals who demonstrate outstanding innovation and leadership in the application of GS1 Standards and industry best practices to improve supply chain collaboration. Roger Milliken was known for being a catalyst for transformational best business practices across multiple industries. Among his many achievements, Milliken revolutionized the design of the textile plant, transformed how businesses controlled their inventories, supported energy efficiency well before the green manufacturing movement, and developed quality initiatives that set the standard for modern-day operational excellence. The award program continues in his memory.

To learn more about GS1 Connect, visit www.gs1connect.org. For more information on GS1 Standards, please visit www.gs1us.org.

About GS1 US

GS1 US, a member of GS1 global, is a not-for-profit information standards organization that facilitates industry collaboration to help improve supply chain visibility and efficiency through the use of GS1 Standards, the most widely-used supply chain standards system in the world. Nearly 300,000 businesses in 25 industries rely on GS1 US for trading partner collaboration that optimizes their supply chains, drives cost performance and revenue growth while also enabling regulatory compliance. They achieve these benefits through solutions based on GS1 global unique numbering and identification systems, barcodes, Electronic Product Code-based RFID, data synchronization, and electronic information exchange. GS1 US also manages the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC). www.gs1us.org

SOURCE GS1 US

Related Links

http://www.gs1us.org


DALLAS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) today was recognized as one of the most community-minded companies in the nation as part of The Civic 50, an initiative of Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. It is the third time Comerica has been named to this prestigious list since 2012 and the first time in consecutive years.

"The Civic 50 continues to set the standard for corporate civic engagement nationwide," said Nathan Bennett, Comerica's chief diversity officer and head of Talent Acquisition.

The Civic 50 winners were announced at the Points of Light Conference on Volunteering and Service in Seattle, where leaders in volunteerism and civic engagement are gathering to discuss social innovation, cross-sector collaboration and citizen engagement that can drive change.

"In the fifth year of honoring the most community-minded companies in the nation, The Civic 50 truly highlights the commitment to community and civic engagement of America's leading brands. This year's honorees contributed more than $1.4 billion and 10.1 million volunteer hours in their communities around the country," said Jennifer Lawson, president of networks at Points of Light. "Encouraged by calls for responsible citizenship from shareholders, employees and customersbut also driven by a desire to build trust and define their brandsCivic 50 companies are putting communities at the center of business."

The Civic 50 winners are public and private companies with U.S. operations and revenues of $1 billion or more, and are selected based on four dimensions of their U.S. community engagement program:

Investment : How extensively and strategically does the company apply its resources to community engagement in the United States , including employee time and skills, cash, in-kind giving and leadership?

: How extensively and strategically does the company apply its resources to community engagement in , including employee time and skills, cash, in-kind giving and leadership? Integration : How does the company integrate their U.S. community engagement programs into key business functions, including employee engagement, marketing/PR, diversity and inclusion, recruiting, stakeholder relations and skill-development?

: How does the company integrate their U.S. community engagement programs into key business functions, including employee engagement, marketing/PR, diversity and inclusion, recruiting, stakeholder relations and skill-development? Institutionalization : How does the company support community engagement in the United States through organizational policies, systems and incentives?

: How does the company support community engagement in through organizational policies, systems and incentives? Impact: How does the company measure the social and business impact of their U.S. community engagement program?

"The program is really a roadmap for us, as we seek the best use of our colleagues' time, talent and resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where we do business," said Patricia McCann, Comerica's National Civic Affairs manager.

"Involvement" is a core value of Comerica. In 2016, Comerica employees donated their personal time and talents, about $1.3 million worth in volunteer hours, to make a positive difference in the bank's communities. Comerica also contributed more than $8 million to not-for-profit organizations in 2016, and the bank's employees raised nearly $1.7 million for the United Way and Black United Fund.

The Civic 50 survey was administered by True Impact, a company specializing in helping organizations maximize and measure their social and business value. The survey instrument consists of quantitative and multiple-choice questions that inform the Civic 50 scoring process. The Civic 50 is the only survey and ranking system that exclusively measures corporate involvement in communities.

To learn more about The Civic 50, to see a full list of the winners and to access the highlights, trends, benchmarking data and best practices from the 2017 Civic 50, please visit www.Civic50.org.

About Points of Light

Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, mobilizes millions of people to take action that is changing the world. Through affiliates in 250 cities and partnerships with thousands of nonprofits and corporations, Points of Light engages four million volunteers in 30 million hours of service each year. We bring the power of people where it's needed most. For more information, visit www.pointsoflight.org.

About Comerica

Comerica Incorporated is a financial services company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and strategically aligned by three business segments: The Business Bank, The Retail Bank, and Wealth Management. Comerica focuses on relationships, and helping people and businesses be successful. In addition to Texas, Comerica Bank locations can be found in Arizona, California, Florida and Michigan, with select businesses operating in several other states, as well as in Canada and Mexico. Comerica reported total assets of $73 billion at March 31, 2017.

SOURCE Comerica Incorporated

Related Links

http://www.Civic50.org


CLIFTON, N.J., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Comodo, a global innovator and developer of cybersecurity solutions and the worldwide leader in digital certificates, announced today the appointment of Carlos Solari as vice president of cyber security services. Carlos will help lead efforts to expand on a growing Managed Security Services (MSS) line of business. MSS as it relates to the web, the Internet of Things and Industrial Control Systems is at the front lines of cyber security.

Solari has a vast knowledge of IT and national cyber security, most notably serving as CIO for the White House from 2002-2005, where he was instrumental in the development and implementation of the strategy and enterprise architecture for major systems renovation, covering all aspects of the enterprise computing serving the White House and its supporting offices. Prior to joining the White House, Solari had 20+ years of public service experience, including 13 years in the army and six with the FBI's Criminal Investigation Division managing several large-scope, full life-cycle IT programs for the FBI.

Solari's previous roles in the private sector include Mission Secure Inc, where he focused on the security of industrial systems, with Computer Science Corp where he served as GM/VP of global security services for Fortune 500 companies and government clients and as cyber security lead at Alcatel Lucent / Bell Labs Solari. It was at Bell Labs that he and colleagues worked to define the methods for design of security embedded in systems  security by design  where he wrote (with contributors) Security in a Web 2.0+ World.

"I'm truly thrilled to join the Comodo team where security innovation is the one constant, in the DNA of the company, for solving very difficult cyber challenges," said Solari. "One can't help but get caught up in the energy of this young, vibrant, multi-national company bringing security solutions to market that challenge the status quo of old thinking with the new and innovative."

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
NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ContentPort, Inc., a leader in international content distribution and MBC America, the US subsidiary of South Korea's leading broadcaster, MBC, today announced that MBC America's premium television services will be distributed via ContentPort's OTT platform to subscribers throughout North, Central and South America.

The MBC services---MBC America, MBC's flagship channel; MBC Drama HD, the only 24/7, Korean HD service available internationally; and MStoreBuy, MBC's Home Shopping service--will launch on ContentPort's end to end, fully localized OTT platform.

The ContentPort platform has an advanced interface, allowing one touch selection of live and on demand content. Catch Up TV provides automatic recording of 14 continuous days of aired content while nPVR allows viewers to curate their own video libraries. The App provides personalized suggestions via recommendation engines and features Mail Messaging and home country time and weather. The SMS provides flexible subscriber ordering and updates to programming, payments and personal information in secure environments.

The ContentPort platform addresses Apple (iOS) and Android tablets, smartphone and TV devices, Samsung, LG and Sony Smart TVs, Amazon Fire, Chromecast, Macs, PCs and other devices.

The MBC Package is sold month-to-month for $13.99, preceded by a free first month trial. The system allows unlimited App downloads and includes 2 concurrent streams. Two additional streams can be purchased for $1.99/month.

Speaking about the launch, Nahee Kim, Managing Director, MBC America said: "We are delighted to be expanding our business with ContentPort. ContentPort has been a valuable partner in helping successfully distribute our channels to MSOs and we expect our business to grow with them significantly via their highly advanced OTT platform."

Commented Marvin M Berchin, CEO, ContentPort: "We are excited to bring MBC's content to viewers in new ways. We think our full service platform establishes innovative, highly enjoyable ways for viewers to watch content wherever and whenever they wish."

About ContentPort

ContentPort's OTT platform provides international programmers with a high end, cost effective, one stop shop to expand viewership and reach customers worldwide. www.cport.tv

About MBC America

MBC America is a subsidiary of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), one of South Korea's most successful broadcasters. MBC America provides award-winning content to viewers on DirecTV, US cable and telco operators and through mobile applications, Smart TVs, and other new technologies. www.mbc-america.com

Press Contacts

ContentPort

[email protected]

MBC

[email protected]

SOURCE ContentPort, Inc.
WASHINGTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the Corporate Whistleblower Center, "We are urging an employee of a government contractor that is out of compliance on a major government contract to call us anytime at 866-714-6466 about rewards. In a recent instance a whistleblower received approximately $30 million dollars for this exact type of information. The types of federal contracts we are focused on can produce huge taxpayer losses if the company/contractor is not living up to what they promised to do. As a result, the whistleblower rewards for this type of information can be huge as we would like to discuss." http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com

Federal Contractor Fraud

The types of whistleblower/employee the Center would like to hear from can prove their employer is not being honest about the quality of the product/services their company promised to provide the federal government-include:

An employee of a defense contractor that lying to the government about the capabilities of a navy ship, an air force plane or a weapons system.

An employee of a software company that is selling the federal government defective or not functional software or computer programing services.

An employee of a solar or wind generation company that is lying about their profitability or functionality of their product after receiving a federal grant or funding.

An employee of a transportation or logistics company that can prove their employer is overbilling the federal government by inflating fuel or operating costs for national or global services for the Department of Defense.

An employee of company overbilling the EPA for Super Fund Site cleanup services.

In the instance of the whistleblower of the $30-million-dollar reward in late May 2017 the Department of Justice announced one of the nation's largest vendors of electronic health records software will pay a total of $155 million to resolve a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging the company misrepresented the capabilities of its software.

The Department of Justice's alleged the software company was not honest and manipulated their software to pass certification testing without meeting the certification criteria for standardized drug codes. Allegedly the company also modified its software by "hardcoding" only the drug codes required for testing. In other words, rather than programming the capability to retrieve any drug code from a complete database, the company simply typed the 16 codes necessary for certification testing directly into its software.

The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, "Because some federal contracts can be so enormous and because federal contractors routinely overbill the federal government or deliver products that do not meet the specifications of the contract----we are urging an employee/whistleblower to call us anytime at 866-714-6466 to discuss the reward potential for this type of information. As opposed to going to your manager at the government contractor and complaining-which could get you fired-please call us first about how the federal whistleblower program works. Why sit on a winning lotto ticket without ever knowing what it could be worth?" http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com

Simple rules for a whistleblower from the Corporate Whistleblower Center: Do not go to the government first if you want to become a whistleblower: The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, "Major whistleblowers frequently go to the government thinking they will help. It's a huge mistake. Do not go to the news media with your whistleblower information either. Any type of public revelation of a whistleblower's information could destroy the prospect for a reward. Do not try to force a government contractor or individual to come clean about overbilling the federal government out of millions of dollars or failing to abide by the terms of contract with the federal government."

The Corporate Whistleblower is the premier advocate for whistleblowers in the United States. Unlike any group in the US, they assist potential whistleblowers with packaging their information and providing the whistleblower with access to the most accomplished whistleblower attorneys in the nation. For more information a potential whistleblowers in any state can contact the Corporate Whistleblower anytime at 866-714-6466 or visit http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com

For attribution please refer to the May 2017 Department of Justice press release that discusses this matter:https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/electronic-health-records-vendor-pay-155-million-settle-false-claims-act-allegations.

Media Contact:

Thomas Martin

[email protected]

866-714-6466

SOURCE Corporate Whistleblower Center















ALBANY, New York, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The report provides detailed analysis of the current and emerging trends of culture media market. The market size has been provided for media type and end-user segments. Based on media type, the market is segmented into dehydrated culture media, prepared culture media, chromogenic culture media and in terms of end users the market is segmented into hospitals, diagnostic centers and academic and research institutes. The report provides forecasts for revenue (US$ Mn) of the products from 2017-2025.

The global Culture Media Market stood at US$5.2 billion in 2016 and is projected to be worth US$10.1 billion by the end of 2025 expanding at a CAGR of 7.7% between 2017 and 2025.

According to media type the market is segmented into dehydrated culture media, prepared culture media, and chromogenic culture media. The dehydrated culture media segment dominated the global culture media market. The trend is anticipated to continue during the forecast period. Growth of the segment is attributed to requirement of large quantity of dehydrated culture media in academic and research institutes. Dehydrated culture media is convenient to use with little space required on the shelf, is waste free, has long shelf life, easy to add and control sensitive autoclave components, and is cost effective.

Prepared culture media was the second largest segment of the global culture media market. Prepared culture media is a ready for immediate use for the isolation of microorganisms. These are prepared in petri plates, bottles, dip slides, and test tubes. Plated media are more cost effective than tubed media and also provide a larger surface area for growth of microorganisms. The chromogenic culture media segment is expected to gain market share during the forecast period. Growth of the segment is attributed to growing application of chromogenic media for isolation of microorganism in the diagnosis of various infections. Chromogenic media has chromogens that produce color on binding with the substrate, and hence provide faster and easy isolation of microorganisms Moreover, increased use of chromogenic culture media in the food and beverage industry for quality testing is likely to drive the segment.

According to end users, academic and research institute segment drives the global culture media market and is expected to dominate the market by registering high CAGR growth of 8.2% during the forecast period. Increasing research activities in pharmaceutical and biotechnology which require large quantity of culture media is expected to boost the growth of the culture media market during the forecast period. Increasing research activities in countries such as Israel, Turkey, and Egypt drive the market. For instance, the Government of Israel offers various financial and technological support programs for biotechnology companies in the country. Israel has over 160 biotechnology companies, with more than 1,700 students graduating from life sciences. Life science research represents approximately 35% of the civilian activities in the country.

Inquire for a Sample Copy of Report - http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=26273

Hospitals segment is the second largest contributor for the growth of global culture media market in terms of end users. According to Eurostat, hospitals accounted for the largest share of the health care expenditure ranging from 25.8% in Slovakia to 45.0% in Denmark, Estonia, Sweden, and Greece. Large scale research activities in countries such as Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Belgium augment the culture media market in Europe. Presence of nonprofit organizations such as Life Science Switzerland (LS2), the University of Basel, and the University of Zurich where extensive research activities are carried out on molecular life sciences will drive the culture media market in Europe. Hospitals in Europe provide various ancillary services along with inpatient care. This has also fueled the growth of the segment. According to Eurostat, hospitals accounted for the largest share of the health care expenditure ranging from 25.8% in Slovakia to 45.0% in Denmark, Estonia, Sweden, and Greece. Hospitals in Europe provide various ancillary services along with inpatient care. This has also fueled the growth of the segment. Diagnostic centers are the least contributors in terms of revenue for the growth of culture media market, with its major share from comes from Asia Pacific.

Major players operating in the culture media market are Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Merck KGaA (Merck Millipore), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., bioMerieux SA, Becton, Dickinson and Company, HiMedia Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., EIKEN CHEMICAL CO., LTD., NEOGEN CORPORATION, Scharlab, S.L. and others.

Browse Press Release: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/culture-media-market-media.htm

The review presented is based on the findings of Transparency Market Research report, titled "Culture Media Market: (Media Type - Dehydrated Culture Media, Prepared Culture Media, and Chromogenic Culture Media; End User - Hospitals, Diagnostic Centers and Academic, and Research Institutes) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Volume, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2017 - 2025."

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http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/cell-culture-market.html

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SOURCE Transparency Market Research
BOSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CyberX, the industrial cybersecurity company protecting ICS infrastructures worldwide, today announced that it is sponsoring an educational SANS webinar about "New Threat Vectors for ICS/SCADA Networks  and How to Prepare for Them."

Webinar presenters Mike Assante, Director of Critical Infrastructure & ICS at the SANS Institute, and Phil Neray, VP of Industrial Cybersecurity at CyberX, will cover rapidly-evolving ICS threat vectors that are top of mind for the ICS cybersecurity community.

Sponsored by SANS, the premier source for cybersecurity education SANS webinar will cover emerging threats to critical industrial infrastructure

The webinar will he held on Tuesday, June 27 at 1pm EDT (17:00:00 UTC). Those interested in attending can register here. (Note: If you're not a SANS member, you can create a free account to register.)

The webinar will discuss key ICS threat vectors and threat actors including:

Automated ICS malware such as Industroyer/CrashOverride and Stuxnet : This emerging class of targeted malware hijacks industrial devices without requiring human intervention, communicating directly with them using native industrial protocols. It's easy to imagine the same advanced hacking tools being used to lock down production facilities and hold companies up for ransomware.

: This emerging class of targeted malware hijacks industrial devices without requiring human intervention, communicating directly with them using native industrial protocols. It's easy to imagine the same advanced hacking tools being used to lock down production facilities and hold companies up for ransomware. Theft of corporate IP : According to the Verizon DBIR, trade secrets are the #1 data type breached in manufacturing companies. Sensitive details about proprietary processes, formulas, and designs can often be inferred from ICS components such as HMIs and PLC ladder logic. Cyber-adversaries include nation-states, competitors, and cybercriminal organizations seeking to sell valuable corporate secrets to the highest bidder.

: According to the Verizon DBIR, trade secrets are the #1 data type breached in manufacturing companies. Sensitive details about proprietary processes, formulas, and designs can often be inferred from ICS components such as HMIs and PLC ladder logic. Cyber-adversaries include nation-states, competitors, and cybercriminal organizations seeking to sell valuable corporate secrets to the highest bidder. Nuisance malware such as WannaCry : While regular patching is indisputably good advice for IT networks  as in the recent WannaCry example  it can be incredibly difficult for legacy production systems that run 24x7 and have limited maintenance windows. This may explain why WannaCry shut down assembly lines at manufacturers such as Renault and Nissan. These systems are also more vulnerable to other non-targeted threats such as the 2016 malware infestation at the Gundremmingen nuclear plant.

: While regular patching is indisputably good advice for IT networks  as in the recent WannaCry example  it can be incredibly difficult for legacy production systems that run 24x7 and have limited maintenance windows. This may explain why WannaCry shut down assembly lines at manufacturers such as Renault and Nissan. These systems are also more vulnerable to other non-targeted threats such as the 2016 malware infestation at the Gundremmingen nuclear plant. Hacktivists: This category includes single-issue activists  such as eco-activists and GMO activists  that target energy, pharmaceutical, chemical, and food production companies.

"While we must continue to be vigilant against threats to our critical infrastructure such as the electrical grid, non-utilities such as manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and chemicals are also juicy targets for cyberattackers," said Phil Neray, VP of Industrial Cybersecurity at CyberX. "We've also seen how quickly advanced hacking tools are shared between nation-states and cybercriminals. Fortunately, defenders now have access to sophisticated ICS monitoring, behavioral analytics, and anomaly detection capabilities to mitigate these risks."

About Mike Assante, Director of Critical Infrastructure & ICS at the SANS Institute (Twitter: @assante_michael)

Michael Assante is currently the SANS lead for Industrial Control System (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) security. He previously served as VP and CSO of the North American Electric Reliability (NERC) Corporation, where he oversaw industry-wide implementation of cyber security standards across the continent. Prior to joining NERC, Mr. Assante held a number of high-level positions at Idaho National Labs and served as VP and CSO for American Electric Power. He has testified before the US Senate and House and was an initial member of the Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency. Before his career in security, he served in various naval intelligence and information warfare roles and was honored in 1997 as a Naval Intelligence Officer of the Year.

About Phil Neray, VP of Industrial Cybersecurity, CyberX (Twitter: @rdecker99)

Phil began his career as a Schlumberger engineer on oil rigs in South America and as an engineer with Hydro-Quebec. He has a BSEE from McGill University, is certified in cloud security (CCSK), and has a 1st Degree Black Belt in American Jiu Jitsu. Prior to CyberX, Phil held executive roles at enterprise security leaders such as IBM Security/Q1 Labs, Guardium, Veracode, and Symantec.

About CyberX (Twitter: @CyberX_Labs)

CyberX provides the most widely-deployed cybersecurity platform for continuously reducing risk to critical industrial infrastructures. Deployed in the world's largest environments and backed by military-grade cyber experts from the IDF, the CyberX platform uniquely combines continuous monitoring with M2M behavioral analytics and proprietary ICS-specific threat intelligence to identity advanced cyberattacks in real-time.

By monitoring ICS/SCADA/OT networks for targeted attacks, ransomware and industrial malware, the CyberX platform enables organizations to prevent costly production outages, catastrophic safety failures, and theft of corporate IP.

CyberX has gained considerable industry recognition including being named a "Cool Vendor" by Gartner. The company is also the only industrial cybersecurity vendor selected for the SINET16 Innovator Award sponsored by the US DHS and DoD, and the only ICS security vendor recognized by the International Society of Automation (ISA).

An active member of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and the ICS-ISAC, CyberX's groundbreaking ICS threat intelligence research was recently featured in the popular McGraw-Hill book series, "ICS Hacking Exposed." For more information visit CyberX-Labs.com.

Media Contact

Elizabeth Safran

Looking Glass Public Relations

408-348-1214 (M)

[email protected]

SOURCE CyberX

Related Links

https://cyberx-labs.com/en/home


MINNEAPOLIS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Settlements have been reached with certain defendants in a series of class action lawsuits involving natural gas.

Why was this notice published?

Settlements have been reached with certain defendants in a series of class action lawsuits involving natural gas.

What are these lawsuits about?

The lawsuits allege that certain companies involved in the production, marketing, or sale of natural gas engaged in an unlawful conspiracy to manipulate the price of natural gas. Plaintiffs further claim that commercial and industrial purchasers of natural gas who purchased natural gas other than from utilities or local distribution companies and for their own use or consumption in Kansas or Missouri may recover for the effect that the alleged conspiracy had on the prices of the natural gas they purchased. Plaintiffs allege that, as result of the unlawful conspiracy, they and other purchasers paid more for natural gas than they would have absent the conspiracy. The settling defendants deny Plaintiffs' claims.

Who's included in the Settlements?

In the State of Kansas

All industrial and commercial direct purchasers of natural gas for their own use or consumption during the period from January 1, 2000 through October 31, 2002 (the "Class Period"), and which gas was used or consumed by them in Kansas. Excluded from the Class are (a) entities that purchased natural gas for resale (to the extent of such purchase for resale); (b) entities that purchased natural gas for generation of electricity for the purpose of sale (to the extent of such purchase for generation); (c) defendants and their predecessors, affiliates and subsidiaries; (d) the federal government and its agencies; and (e) Reorganized FLI, Inc. (f/k/a Farmland Industries, Inc.).

For purposes of this Kansas Settlement Class definition, a "direct purchaser" means an industrial or commercial entity that bought natural gas for its own use or consumption directly from any of the Defendants, or from a seller other than a local distribution company.

In the State of Missouri

The settlement class includes industrial and commercial direct purchasers of natural gas for their own use or consumption during the Class Period, and which gas was used or consumed by them in Missouri. Excluded from the Class are (a) entities that purchased natural gas for resale (to the extent of such purchase for resale); (b) entities that purchased natural gas for generation of electricity for the purpose of sale (to the extent of such purchase for generation); (c) defendants and their predecessors, affiliates and subsidiaries; (d) the federal government and its agencies; and (e) Reorganized FLI, Inc. (f/k/a Farmland Industries, Inc.).

For purposes of this Missouri Settlement Class definition, a "direct purchaser" means an industrial or commercial entity that bought natural gas for its own use or consumption directly from any of the Defendants, or from a seller other than a local distribution company.

This is the second notice in this case. The first notice involved settlements in Kansas, Missouri, and Wisconsin with American Electric Power Company, Inc. and certain of its affiliates; Coral Energy Resources, LP; Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC and certain of its affiliates; and ONEOK, Inc. and certain of its affiliates. The Court has now approved two additional settlements, for natural gas purchases in Kansas and Missouri only, with CMS and El Paso, as defined below.

These settlements do not affect any claims you might have against the Settling Defendants relating to purchases in the State of Wisconsin.

Who are the Settling Defendants?

Settlements have been reached with Defendants CMS Energy Corporation, CMS Energy Resources Management Company (f/k/a CMS Marketing, Services and Trading Company), and CMS Field Services, Inc. (collectively, "CMS"), and Defendants El Paso Corporation (n/k/a El Paso LLC) and El Paso Merchant Energy, L.P. (n/k/a El Paso Marketing Company, L.L.C.) (collectively, "El Paso") (CMS and El Paso are, collectively, the "Settling Defendants"). A complete list of Defendants is set out in the Long Form of Notice available at www.NaturalGasAntitrustSettlement.com.

What do the Settlements provide?

The Settlements create a total settlement fund of $15,125,000.00 in cash, plus any interest accrued (the "Settlement Fund"), before deductions for court-approved expenses and attorneys' fees. The Class Representatives and Class Counsel have agreed, and the Court has preliminarily approved, an allocation of those funds to class members in Kansas and Missouri based primarily on the volume of natural gas sold in each state and differences in the claims and remedies available in each state. Before deductions for attorneys' fees and expenses, the Settlement Fund is allocated as follows: $9,528,750 to the Kansas Class; and $5,596,250 to the Missouri Class.

Class Counsel will ask the Court for reimbursement from the Settlement Fund of a portion of their costs and expenses incurred to date, in accordance with the provisions of the Settlement Agreements. Class Counsel will also ask the Court to award attorneys' fees not to exceed thirty-five percent (35%) of the remaining Settlement Fund after any fees and expenses are reimbursed. In addition, up to $100,000 in administrative fees will be paid from the Settlement Fund to the claims administrator that will assist with the processing of notices, requests for exclusion, and other settlement-related tasks. Additional amounts may be paid to the claims administrator to assist with the processing of claims in the event the Court finally approves these settlements. Class Counsel may also request that an amount be paid from the Settlement Fund to each of the Class Representatives who helped the lawyers pursue these claims on behalf of all members of the Class (known as an "incentive award"). The Court will ultimately approve the amount of attorneys' fees, costs and expenses, and any incentive awards.

What are my rights?

If you wish to remain a member of the Settlement Classes you do not need to take any action at this time. If you stay in the Settlement Classes, all of the decisions by the Court and these Settlements will bind you, and you will be unable to sue the Settling Defendants about the alleged misconduct or legal issues in these cases, or be part of any other lawsuit against the Settling Defendants about such issues. Please carefully review the specific provisions of the Settlement Agreements, including the release of claims contained therein, at www.NaturalGasAntitrustSettlement.com

If you do not want to be legally bound by the Settlements, you must exclude yourself in writing or you will not be able to sue, or continue to sue the Settling Defendants about the alleged misconduct or legal claims that were or could have been asserted in these cases. If you exclude yourself from the Settlement Classes, you may not intervene as a party plaintiff in any of the Actions. If you would like exclude yourself from the Settlement Classes, then you must send a letter that includes the following: (a) your name, address, and telephone number; (b) any trade names or business names (and addresses) you or any parent, subsidiary, or affiliate that purchased the natural gas used during the Class Period; (c) an estimate of the total dollar amount or volume of natural gas purchased by the entity(ies) listed in subparts (a) or (b) and the names of all entities from or through whom such natural gas was purchased; (d) a statement saying that you want to be excluded from In re Western States Wholesale Natural Gas Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1566 (D. Nev.) Settlement; (e) the statement that "[name of person or entity] and all of its parents, subsidiaries and affiliates hereby request to be excluded from the proposed class settlements described in the notice of settlements pertaining to the Actions;" (f) in the case of an entity, identify the title or position of the person signing on behalf of the entity, and state that the person is duly authorized to sign on behalf of such entity; and (g) your signature or the signature of the duly authorized person identified in subpart (f). All exclusion requests must be sent to Natural Gas Claims Administrator c/o Dahl Administration P.O. Box 3614, Minneapolis, MN 55403-0614 and must be postmarked no later than July 10, 2017. The Court will exclude from the Settlement Classes any member who validly requests exclusion. You may also enter your appearance through an attorney if you so desire.

The terms of the Settlement Agreements, including the releases of claims discussed above and detailed at www.NaturalGasAntitrustSettlement.com, require that a class member must participate in or opt out of all of the settlements and all of the classes in which it is a member. For example, if a Kansas class member also qualifies as a member of the Missouri class, that entity must either participate in all classes/settlements (by doing nothing) or opt out of all classes/settlements (by submitting the information in the preceding paragraph). CMS and El Paso have not settled any claims related to purchases in Wisconsin, and any rights you may have regarding any Wisconsin purchases are unaffected by these settlements.

If you wish to object to any aspect of the proposed Settlements, you must do so in writing no later than July 10, 2017. The Settlement Agreements, along with details on how to object to them, are available at www.NaturalGasAntitrustSettlement.com. The U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada will hold a Fairness Hearing on August 9, 2017 at 9:00a.m., at the Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse, U.S. District Court, District of Nevada, Las Vegas, 333 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas Nevada 89101, to consider whether the Settlements are fair, reasonable, and adequate. If there are objections, the Court will consider them at that time. You may also appear in person at the hearing, but you do not need to do so. If you wish to appear, however, you must first provide written notice of your intention to appear. We do not know how long these decisions will take. The hearing may be moved to a different date or time without additional notice, so it is a good idea to check the website, at www.NaturalGasAntitrustSettlement.com, for information. Please do not contact the Court about this case.

The Court has appointed the law firms of Polsinelli PC, Barry Law Office, LLC, and McCallister Law Group, LLC to represent settlement class members in Kansas.

The Court has appointed the law firms of Polsinelli PC and Barry Law Office, LLC to represent settlement class members in Missouri.

This is a Summary Notice. For more details, call toll free 1-855-234-7131, visit www.NaturalGasAntitrustSettlement.com, or write to Missouri Kansas Natural Gas Administrators, c/o Dahl Administration, PO Box 3614, Minneapolis, MN 55403-0614.

MEDIA: Jeffrey Houdek, 952-516-6507

RELATED LINKS: www.NaturalGasAntitrustSettlement.com

SOURCE Dahl Administration, LLC

Related Links

http://www.NaturalGasAntitrustSettlement.com


MAUMEE, Ohio, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN) today announced that the company has been recognized with the 10 parts per million (PPM) Quality Award by PACCAR Inc., a global technology leader in the design, manufacture, and customer support of premium light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt, and DAF nameplates.

Dana's manufacturing facilities in Lima, Ohio; Sterling, Illinois; Danville, Kentucky; Wellingborough, U.K.; and Sorocaba, Brazil, were honored for their commitment to excellent quality and warranty performance in providing PACCAR with products that achieved 10 PPM or better level of quality.

"Throughout the world, our trucks have earned a reputation for unsurpassed quality. Part of this success goes to our trusted suppliers," said Debra Poppas, vice president of global quality at PACCAR. "We look forward to an ongoing relationship with Dana as we continue to deliver the highest quality and best performing products to our customers."

"We value our long-standing position as a trusted supplier to PACCAR, and Dana shares their commitment to driving a culture with a strong focus on quality," said Mark Wallace, executive vice president of Dana and president of Dana Commercial Driveline Technologies. "These awards acknowledge our dedication to continuously improving customer value by producing reliable driveline solutions that deliver superior performance and fuel efficiency."

Dana supplies PACCAR with a range of Spicer steer axles, steering shafts, and driveshaft assemblies, as well as Victor Reinz engine gaskets.

About Dana Incorporated

Dana is a world leader in highly engineered solutions for improving the efficiency, performance, and sustainability of powered vehicles and machinery. Dana supports the passenger vehicle, commercial truck, and off-highway markets, as well as industrial and stationary equipment applications. Founded in 1904, Dana employs approximately 27,000 people in 34 countries on six continents who are committed to delivering long-term value to customers. The company reported sales of more than $5.8 billion in 2016. Based in Maumee, Ohio, the company's operations were selected as a 2017 Top Workplace in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan by The (Toledo) Blade. For more information, please visit dana.com

SOURCE Dana Incorporated

Related Links

http://www.dana.com


LOS ANGELES, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- InstaBrand, a data-driven global influencer marketing company, today announced it is now operating as Open Influence. The rebrand is reflective of the company's evolution as well as its plans for continued growth and development across the globe. The shift in corporate identity comes with a new website, www.openinfluence.com, however the company's ownership and staff remain unchanged.

"Open Influence aligns much better with our core capabilities and overarching company mission," said Eric Dahan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Open Influence. "We execute international campaigns across multiple platforms, and are constantly expanding our database to ensure we can offer brands access to the entire influencer economy. Open Influence better communicates the talent and platform agnostic nature of our business."

In conjunction with announcing its new company name, Open Influence also released the results of its latest influencer survey today. The company polled more than 400 mid-tail influencers (defined as having 75,000 to 500,000 followers) to gain insight into their needs and perspective on the influencer marketing industry. Key findings include:

78 percent of respondents are self-managed and do not have third-party representation

88 percent of respondents reported Instagram as their most active platform

40 percent of respondents said budget is the biggest challenge when working with brands, followed by creative requirements at 23 percent and advertiser communication at 21 percent

48 percent of respondents reported an even split between getting work through agencies and working directly with brands

Open Influence boasts the industry's largest collection of influencer data, and its proprietary platform leverages machine learning and image recognition to analyze more than 70 million pieces of content from over 300,000 influencers and counting. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles with satellite offices in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Milan and London, with plans to open offices in Hong Kong and Dubai, United Arab Emirates in the coming months.

For access to the full set of survey results please click here. For more information on Open Influence and its services please visit www.openinfluence.com.

About Open Influence

Open Influence is a data-driven global influencer marketing company that helps brands and advertisers engage and grow their desired audiences through social media. Open Influence is both platform and talent agnostic, and works with the entire spectrum of influencers; from social celebrities to micro-influencers. The company's proprietary platform boasts the industry's largest collection of influencer data, and leverages machine learning and image recognition to analyze more than 70 million pieces of content from over 300,000 influencers and counting. Its team collaborates closely with every client to develop award-winning creative strategies, and its advanced audience analytics allow brands to target based on location, education, age, gender, consumer preferences and more. Headquartered in Los Angeles with satellite offices across the globe, Open Influence offers support in 15 languages and has managed campaigns for top brands from a variety of industries including Calvin Klein, Hyundai, Corona, AirBnB and Verizon. For more information on Open Influence and its services, please visit www.openinfluence.com.

Media Contact

Troy Marderosian

(310) 777-7546

[email protected]

SOURCE Open Influence

Related Links

http://www.openinfluence.com


"At DigiCert, we strive to practice what we preach by not only advocating for high standards but implementing them ourselves to protect our systems and the customers who rely on us," said DigiCert CSO Jason Sabin. "The growth of connected devices and networks increases the need to prioritize good security practices, given the potentially grave and large-scale consequences. Our work with the OTA and other industry partners is more important than ever in raising awareness about the importance of identity, encryption and data integrity."

"DigiCert consistently demonstrates leadership in developing and advocating best practices for online security and privacy," said Craig Spiezle, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Online Trust Alliance. "As seemingly everything is becoming connected, DigiCert's commitment to high standards and innovative PKI management platforms is important for long-term growth and safety of these new class of connected devices."

While reviewing industry progress to adopt leading online security and privacy practices, the 2017 OTA Honor Roll notes the growing progress toward encrypting the web by default. This year's survey unveiled dramatic growth in TLS, commonly referred to as SSL, with adoption increasing from an average of 23 percent in 2015 to more than 65 percent in 2017.

The Honor Roll also measures the growth rate of use of extended validation (EV) certificates, the strongest form of certificate owner identity vetting, which increased by 13 percent over 2016. The OTA recommends EV over domain validation (DV) certificates to protect against an increasing trend in cyber criminals using DV certificates for phishing campaigns and other online deception.

Since 2008, the OTA has published the Honor Roll to drive awareness and adoption of best practices for online security and privacy. Each year, more companies qualify for the Honor Roll, even as the OTA increases the standards by which organizations are measured.

About Online Trust Alliance

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. OTA's 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 the OTA visit https://otalliance.org. Follow @otalliance.

About DigiCert, Inc.

DigiCert is a leading provider of scalable security solutions for a connected world. The most innovative companies, including the Global 2000, choose DigiCert for its expertise in identity and encryption for web servers and Internet of Things devices. DigiCert supports SSL/TLS and other digital certificates for PKI deployments at any scale through its certificate lifecycle management platform, CertCentral. The company has been recognized with dozens of awards for its enterprise-grade management platform, fast and knowledgeable customer support, and market-leading growth. For the latest DigiCert news and updates, visit digicert.com or follow @digicert.





SOURCE DigiCert, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.digicert.com


PLANO, Texas, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) has once again been named to The Civic 50, a select group of companies recognized by Points of Light for community service. DPS is among 50 of the nation's top companies being honored for best using their time, talent and resources to improve the quality of life where they do business. The company also took the top spot in the consumer staples sector.

The honor reflects DPS's efforts to foster physically active, engaged and sustainable communities.

"We know that when we make a difference in a community, it benefits our employees, customers and consumers who live and work there. That's the right thing to do, and it's good business," said Vicki Draughn, vice president of corporate affairs for DPS. "It is an honor for our actions to be recognized by Points of Light for the fifth year in a row."

Selected companies of The Civic 50 were evaluated on factors such as investment, integration, institutionalization and impact of community engagement. DPS's key philanthropic pillars and partnerships include:

Fit & Active Lifestyles: DPS's Let's Play initiative, launched in 2011, is helping kids and families engage in active lifestyles by providing the tools, places and inspiration to make play a daily priority. Through Let's Play, the company has partnered with KaBOOM ! and Good Sports to build or improve playgrounds and provide sports equipment to youth-serving organizations in need. DPS's $38 million commitment to Let's Play will benefit more than 13 million kids across the U.S., Canada and Mexico by the end of 2019.

DPS's initiative, launched in 2011, is helping kids and families engage in active lifestyles by providing the tools, places and inspiration to make play a daily priority. Through Let's Play, the company has partnered with ! and to build or improve playgrounds and provide sports equipment to youth-serving organizations in need. DPS's commitment to Let's Play will benefit more than 13 million kids across the U.S., and by the end of 2019. Environmental Initiatives: DPS has three environmental partnerships to address the challenges of recycling and water conservation. In support of an industry container recycling goal of 60 percent by 2030, DPS has partnered with Keep America Beautiful to fund the placement of 6,500 recycling bins in parks and other public spaces by 2019 through a nearly $2 million commitment and last year signed onto the Closed Loop Fund , investing $5 million over 10 years to support the expansion of recycling infrastructure. And since 2012, the company has partnered with The Nature Conservancy to protect and restore several watersheds serving Texas' three-largest metropolitan areas.

DPS has three environmental partnerships to address the challenges of recycling and water conservation. In support of an industry container recycling goal of 60 percent by 2030, DPS has partnered with to fund the placement of 6,500 recycling bins in parks and other public spaces by 2019 through a nearly commitment and last year signed onto the , investing over 10 years to support the expansion of recycling infrastructure. And since 2012, the company has partnered with to protect and restore several watersheds serving three-largest metropolitan areas. Hometown Giving: Since 2008, DPS has raised nearly $17 million for United Way agencies, including almost $3.2 million last year alone, through a combination of employee giving and corporate match. In addition, last year the company expanded its Hometown Giving plank with a three-year, $1 million partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America to support efforts to engage graduating high schools through its Alumni & Friends Network.

"In the fifth year of honoring the most community-minded companies in the nation, The Civic 50 truly highlights the commitment to community and civic engagement of America's leading brands," said Jennifer Lawson, president of networks at Points of Light. "By elevating critical stakeholder voices from employees, customers and communities into their mission statements, The Civic 50 companies are putting themselves at the center of change to create more enduring and sustainable business models."

Results of The Civic 50 were announced at the Points of Light Conference on Volunteering and Service in Seattle. The Civic 50 survey was administered by True Impact, a company specializing in helping organizations maximize and measure their social and business value. The survey instrument consists of quantitative and multiple-choice questions that inform The Civic 50 scoring process. The Civic 50 is the only survey and ranking system that exclusively measures corporate involvement in communities.

To learn more about The Civic 50, to see a full list of the winners and to access the highlights, trends, benchmarking data and best practices from the 2017 Civic 50, please visit www.Civic50.org.

About Dr Pepper Snapple Group

Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) is a leading producer of flavored beverages in North America and the Caribbean. Our success is fueled by more than 50 brands that are synonymous with refreshment, fun and flavor. We have seven of the top 10 non-cola soft drinks, and nine of our 10 leading brands are No. 1 or No. 2 in their flavor categories. In addition to our flagship Dr Pepper and Snapple brands, our portfolio includes 7UP, A&W, Bai, Canada Dry, Clamato, Crush, Hawaiian Punch, IBC, Mott's, Mr & Mrs T mixers, Penafiel, Rose's, Schweppes, Squirt and Sunkist soda. To learn more about our iconic brands and Plano, Texas-based company, please visit www.DrPepperSnapple.com. For our latest news and updates, follow us at www.Facebook.com/DrPepperSnapple or www.Twitter.com/DrPepperSnapple.

About Points of Light

Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, mobilizes millions of people to take action that is changing the world. Through affiliates in 250 cities and partnerships with thousands of nonprofits and corporations, Points of Light engages 4 million volunteers in 30 million hours of service each year. We bring the power of people where it's needed most. For more information, visit www.pointsoflight.org.

SOURCE Dr Pepper Snapple Group

Related Links

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"The field of HTA continues to gain visibility and importance as health systems across the world strive to improve health outcomes, manage spending and promote life sciences innovation. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to contribute to this field by working closely with the HTA community, and by expanding partnerships with individuals and organizations doing related work," said Dr. Tunis.

"Dr. Tunis has been an active participant in the global HTA community for over 20 years, and has contributed to advances in alignment between HTA groups and regulators, providing early guidance to life sciences companies to help ensure that clinical development plans align with HTA evidence preferences," said Wim Goettsch, who leads the Directorate of the European Network for Health Technology Assessment. "I look forward to intensify with Dr. Tunis the collaboration between HTAi and EUnetHTA in order to strengthen the quality, efficiency and impact of HTA."

Dr. Tunis has served as Vice President on the HTAi board for the past two years, and he currently serves on a number of advisory boards for a wide range of domestic and international public and private health care organizations on issues of comparative effectiveness, evidence based medicine, clinical research, reimbursement and health technology policy. Prior to founding CMTP, Dr. Tunis was the Director of the Office of Clinical Standards and Quality and Chief Medical Officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and prior to that was the Director of the Health Program of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment.

About the Center for Medical Technology Policy (CMTP)

Based in Baltimore, Maryland, CMTP is an independent, nonprofit organization working to strengthen the quality, relevance, and efficiency of clinical research. We do this by bringing together stakeholders from throughout healthcare  public and private payers, regulators, researchers, clinicians, and patients. Together we ask: What are the most important research questions to address, and what are the best methods to answer those questions? Visit www.cmtpnet.org for additional information.

About Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi)

HTAi is the global scientific and professional society for all those who produce, use, or encounter HTA. HTAi has members from over 65 countries and embraces all stakeholders, including researchers, agencies, policy makers, industry, academia, health service providers, and patients/consumers. HTAi is a neutral forum for collaboration and the sharing of leading information and expertise. Visit http://www.htai.org for additional information.

SOURCE Center for Medical Technology Policy

Related Links

www.cmtpnet.org


ROCKVILLE, Md., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- DrFirst, the market leader in e-prescribing and delivering intelligent medication management solutions that improve patient safety, today announced that attendees of the 2017 Annual Physician-Computer Connection Symposium can learn about real-world results of intelligent medication management at DrFirst's table. The 26th annual medical informatics event, hosted by the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS), will take place on June 20-23, 2017, at the Ojai Valley Inn in Ojai, California.

Many healthcare organizations have realized that technologies designed to address patient safety challenges have not yet resulted in satisfactorily reduced adverse drug events (ADEs), medication history omission errors, hospital lengths of stay and avoidable hospital readmissions. Simultaneously, cost pressures on these facilities have risen due to inexperienced staff, incomplete or inconsistent workflow processes and efficiency-based reimbursements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

To resolve those issues, DrFirst's intelligent medication management platform focuses on the entire medication management process, aligning medication reconciliation and care transition cycles while seamlessly integrating with legacy health information systems, including Epic. DrFirst's solutions decrease the risk of medication errors occurring during subsequent care transition cycles by compressing medication reconciliation intervals. Maximizing the efficiency of all medication and clinical processes yields cost savings and expanded throughput, allowing healthcare systems to care for more patients. When advanced processes are combined with better quality data, all stakeholders win. Physicians, care teams and patients avoid the repercussions of transcription and omission errors that harm patient safety, negatively affect reimbursements and create process inefficiencies.

Fully integrated with the intelligent medication management platform, DrFirst's MedHx and SmartSuite solutions enable hospitals and health systems to simplify clinical workflows, elevate data quality and increase care team productivity. With the market's most complete source of medication history, MedHx ensures the highest level of accuracy of patient medication history data through multiple data feeds, adding community data sources and driving patient participation, thereby supplying clinicians with the information they need for enhanced decision-making at the point of encounter.

By leveraging DrFirst's SmartSuite products, provider organizations can lessen the data validation and entry burden on medical staff, conditioning data in an intelligent manner and automating data population. These advancements in data completeness and accuracy, as well as process automation, produce even greater efficiencies in medication reconciliation, minimizing patient treatment delays and contributing to positive patient outcomes.

"It's time for the industry to move from Meaningful Use to 'Intelligent Use' and we're pleased to lead that charge with our comprehensive intelligent medication management platform," said G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. "Built on our foundation of data-driven technology, this patient-centered platform supplies the tools, technology and innovation required to finally achieve the goal of consistently delivered high-quality care. It is clear that process efficiencies yield improved patient safety while reducing physician burnout, allowing doctors to spend more time with patients versus data entry."

About DrFirst

DrFirst, the nation's leading provider of e-prescribing and medication management solutions, enables stakeholders across the healthcare industry to intelligently utilize comprehensive real-time data and connectivity to increase their patient safety ratings, efficiency and profitability. Today, over 170,000 healthcare professionals and over 60% of Electronic Health Record vendors depend on DrFirst's innovative software solutions to improve clinical workflows, expedite secure collaboration across a patient's care team and drive better health outcomes. The company's integrated technologies include its award-winning electronic prescribing platform, the most comprehensive medication history available, clinically specialized secure messaging, as well as patient medication adherence monitoring and benefits checking. In addition, DrFirst was the first to offer e-prescribing for controlled substances (EPCS), and is considered the industry standard for providers nationwide. For more information, please visit www.drfirst.com or connect with us @DrFirst.

DrFirst Media Contact:

Jenna Warner

Amendola Communications

480-664-8412 x 19

[email protected]

SOURCE DrFirst

Related Links

http://www.drfirst.com


Landis+Gyr IoT network and devices enable new smart grid applications

ATLANTA, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Landis+Gyr today announced completion of an innovative multi-year grid modernization project with EPCOR that included deployment of the Gridstream AMI solution for advanced metering infrastructure and grid management in Edmonton, Alberta.

EPCOR provides electric service to nearly 395,000 residential and commercial customers in their Edmonton service territory. Landis+Gyr's network infrastructure and advanced meters are already enabling improvements to billing, customer service and outage management. Voltage data and other indicators also provide support for system troubleshooting and power quality management.

"Advanced metering is one of the key first steps in our smart grid plan to improve operational efficiency, resource planning and system reliability," said Rob Reimer, Director, Metering & Wholesale Energy, Distribution & Transmission at EPCOR. "By improving billing accuracy and meter functionality along with having regular access to demand, load and voltage data across our system, we are better able to support operations, customer engagement and our energy efficiency goals."

In addition to advanced metering, EPCOR is looking at ways to leverage the network for communication with intelligent grid devices for applications like fault detection and distribution switching operations.

"Landis+Gyr congratulates EPCOR for this important infrastructure upgrade effort. This project offers another demonstration of our commitment to meeting the technology needs of utilities with future-ready solutions enhancing distribution operations," said Prasanna Venkatesan, Executive Vice President, Americas at Landis+Gyr. "We look forward to assisting EPCOR as they look to expand the capabilities of their network."

The EPCOR project represents the third large-scale advanced metering deployment for Landis+Gyr in Canada, following the completion of projects at Fortis Alberta and Hydro-Quebec.

Landis+Gyr's RF mesh network provides IPv6 capable endpoints and intelligent routers that offer flexible communication options for connecting with a variety of energy management equipment, such as load management devices, streetlight controllers, distribution automation devices and home area network equipment. Software applications, such as advanced grid analytics and meter data management, utilize data from the network to aid utilities with reliability, power quality, voltage management and distribution planning.

About EPCOR Utilities Inc.

EPCOR's wholly-owned subsidiaries build, own and operate electrical transmission and distribution networks, water and wastewater treatment facilities and infrastructure in Canada and the United States. The company's subsidiaries also provide electricity, natural gas and water products and water services to residential and commercial customers. EPCOR, headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, is an Alberta Top 70 employer. EPCOR's website address is www.epcor.com.

About Landis+Gyr

Landis+Gyr is leading grid modernization across the globe with solutions for utilities that improve reliability, energy efficiency and consumer engagement. The company's comprehensive portfolio includes standards-based smart grid networks and intelligent devices, analytics and data management, renewable integration and energy storage. Landis+Gyr employs 5,700 people supporting customers in 31 countries. With sales exceeding US$1.5 billion, it operates as an independent growth platform of the Toshiba Corporation (TKY:6502) and is also 40% owned by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ). More information is available at landisgyr.com

SOURCE Landis+Gyr

Related Links

http://www.landisgyr.com


Fantesca's proprietors, Duane & Susan Hoff, reigned as King & Queen of the Krewe of Mid-City this 2017 Carnival season. As longtime members of the Krewe, it was important for the Hoffs to use their reign to give back to a state they have loved for over fifteen years. As they watched the historic flooding take hold in 2016, they recognized a need to support long term relief efforts and discovered the work being done by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.

The Baton Rouge Area Foundation is among the largest community foundations in the country. The Foundation has granted more than $150 million in disaster relief after hurricanes, floods and the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Foundation established the Louisiana Flood Relief Fund in early 2016 to help people affected by the spring flooding in Louisiana. Since then, people and companies have contributed more than $7 million to the fund, and the Foundation has granted almost the entire amount to nonprofits providing relief and recovery services, including assistance to poor and elderly homeowners and help for local schools.

Fantesca is proud to support the efforts of the Foundation with this donation to their Louisiana Flood Relief Fund.

About Fantesca Estate & Winery: Fantesca Estate & Winery is a family owned, limited production, boutique winery located in the Spring Mountain appellation of Napa Valley. Proprietors, Susan and Duane Hoff, have owned and operated Fantesca since 2004. Fantesca is world-renowned winemaker, Heidi P. Barrett's, first new project following her success at Screaming Eagle. Barrett produces Fantesca's Russian River Chardonnay, All Great Things  a Napa Valley red wine blend, and her only Spring Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. With only 3,500 cases of wine produced annually, Fantesca's wines are available exclusively to Allocation Members and guests of the winery.

Fantesca Estate & Winery  2920 Spring Mountain Road  St. Helena, California 94574  www.fantesca.com

SOURCE Fantesca Estate & Winery

Related Links

http://www.fantesca.com


WASHINGTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Final Exit Network has petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to reverse a 2015 Minnesota conviction, saying Minnesota violated its First Amendment-protected right to freedom of speech.

The Florida-based non-profit corporation, Final Exit Network, Inc., was convicted in Hastings, Minnesota in 2015 on a charge of assisting in a suicide. The proof at trial, however, established that Final Exit Network's volunteer Exit Guides did not assist Doreen Dunn, 57, an Apple Valley, MN resident, in her self-deliverance. In keeping with Final Exit Network's usual practices, they only instructed her on the process.

The Supreme Court of Minnesota redefined the word assist to prohibit speech that enables a suicide. Final Exit Network argues in its petition for review, docketed in the Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday, June 13, that no American court has ever stretched the word "assist" to prohibit pure speech, without any conduct.

The Network's petition in the United States Supreme Court emphasizes the information the Network gave Dunn "is readily available in bookstores, libraries, and online and is depicted in movies, documentaries, and articles of every sort," and Minnesota may not make it a crime to repeat this information.

The Network's petition takes pains to clearly define the difference between the Minnesota case and the recent case of Michelle Carter, a teenager who was convicted in Massachusetts last week of involuntary manslaughter for causing the suicide of her boyfriend through text messages and phone calls in which she clearly encouraged him, shaming him into staying in a vehicle as he was dying of carbon monoxide poisoning.

The Carter case has alarmed free speech advocates. The ACLU of Massachusetts, for instance, issued a statement that "Ms. Carter's conviction could chill important and worthwhile end-of-life discussions between loved ones across the Commonwealth." Robert Rivas, Final Exit Network's general counsel, who defended the Network at the Minnesota trial and authored the Network's petition in the U.S. Supreme Court, disagreed.

The Massachusetts court found that Carter could be convicted if her "conduct caused the victim's death." The court ruled that at trial, Carter's "verbal conduct" would have to be proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, to have "caused" her 18-year-old boyfriend's death by "overcoming any independent will to live he might have had."

"The requirement of 'causation' in the Massachusetts case makes all the difference in the world," Rivas said. "Final Exit Network was not convicted of 'causing' Ms. Dunn's death."

The Network's petition for U.S. Supreme Court review said the instructions to the jury in the Final Exit Network case "made no reference to causation as an element of the crime," and no "evidence of causation was introduced at trial."

The evidence at Final Exit Network's trial showed that its volunteers never solicit or encourage a "suicide," and they check and double-check many times before a member exits to ensure that the member's choice is being made freely and competently by the member alone. Members of Final Exit Network are not even accepted into the Exit Guide program unless they first establish they are suffering intolerably from an irremediable condition.

To read the entire petition, go to:

http://www.finalexitnetwork.org/Supreme-Court-MN-vs--Final-Exit-Network.html

For further information, contact Final Exit Network's general counsel, Robert Rivas, in Tallahassee, Florida, at 850-591-1492 or [email protected].

SOURCE Final Exit Network
PITTSBURGH , June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Fine Wine & Good Spirits Premium Collection store at 5656 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, will host a special tasting and bottle signing featuring four premium wines poured and discussed by La Spinetta winemaker Giorgio Rivetti, 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, Friday, June 23.

Giorgio Rivetti received international accolades for his wines, including more than 50 scores of 95 or more from wine publications such as Wine Spectator and wine critics such as Robert Parker and James Suckling. A native of the Piemonte region in Italy, Rivetti earned Three Glasses from the Gambero Rosso, Italy's most prominent wine award, more than 30 times.

Rivetti will offer samples of the following wines to those 21 years of age and older.

La Spinetta Bionzo Barbera d'Asti Superiore 2010 (750 mL), Code 43761  $49.92 (save $12.07 )

La Spinetta Il Nero di Casanova Sangiovese 2012 (750 mL), Code 44498  $21.99

La Spinetta Fontana Vi Barbera d'Asti 2012 (750 mL), Code 78435  $14.99

Indigenous Selections Rosso Piceno 2015 (750 mL), Code 78445  $12.99

He will also sign pre-purchased bottles, answer customers' questions, and share stories, history, and interesting facts about his wines.

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


SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP alerts investors in FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FLT) to the securities class action pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and to the August 14, 2017 Lead Plaintiff deadline.

If you purchased or otherwise acquired securities of FLT between February 5, 2016 and May 2, 2017 and suffered losses contact Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP. For more information visit:

https://www.hbsslaw.com/cases/FLT

or contact Reed Kathrein, who is leading the firm's investigation, by calling 510-725-3000 or emailing [email protected].

On March 1, 2017, Capital Forum reported that FleetCor's business model improperly relies on overcharging customers and padding fee income through late fees even when customers pay on time. This news drove the price of FleetCor shares down approximately 3% to close at $164.75 that day.

On April 4, 2017 Citron Research published a report, similarly based on customer, competitor, and former employee interviews, accusing Fleetcor of being a "predatory company by design, whose core strategy is to methodically rip off its customers, using business practices and fees that are designed to deceive." This news drove the price of FleetCor shares down approximately 6% to close at $141.60 that day.

On April 27, 2017 Citron Research issued a follow-up report explaining how FleetCor developed a scheme to categorize customers based on the level of improper fees that could be charged without the customers complaining. This news drove the price of FleetCor shares down approximately 4% to close at $145.65 that day.

On May 1, 2017 Chevron sued FleetCor for breach of contract. This news drove the price of FleetCor shares down approximately 7% to close at $138.00 on May 2, 2017.

When, on May 3, 2017, Citron Research reported on Chevron's lawsuit the price of FleetCor shares fell approximately 5% to close at $131.26 that day.

On May 3, 3017, Citron and Benzinga reported on the filing of Chevron's lawsuit. This news drove the price of FleetCor shares down approximately 5% to close at $131.26 on May 3, 2017.

"We're focused on events as they unfold and certainly on Company's reported business practices that, if true, appear to contradict earlier statements to investors," said Hagens Berman partner Reed Kathrein.

Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding FleetCor should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new SEC whistleblower program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 510-725-3000 or email [email protected].

About Hagens Berman

Hagens Berman is a national investor-rights law firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices in 10 cities. The Firm represents investors, whistleblowers, workers and consumers in complex litigation. More about the Firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. For the latest news visit our newsroom or follow us on Twitter at @classactionlaw.

Contact:

Reed Kathrein, 510-725-3000

SOURCE Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP

Related Links

https://www.hbsslaw.com


Dr. Oedekoven's presentation titled Baldrige-Based Leadership: Leading for Quality, Innovation, and Continuous Improvement will share lessons learned from his experiences in business, the military and global higher education. In addition, he will discuss organizational culture towards knowledge management with a focus on innovation.

In his role as president and CEO, Dr. Oedekoven works with large and small companies on business process improvement, strategic planning and organizational development in both the private and public sectors. He has been creating and leading effective teams at all organizational levels from first-line leader through strategic leadership for nearly 30 years. Dr. Oedekoven is also a retired Brigadier General in the National Guard.

The distinguished lecturer series is a benefit for students of the Forbes School of Business and Technology at Ashford University. Launched in 2014, the lecturer series provides a forum for guest speakers to share their extensive business knowledge with the Ashford community.

For more information on the Forbes School of Business and Technology at Ashford University, visit https://www.ashford.edu/online-degrees/business. To register for the July 11 distinguished lecturer series event, visit https://bridgepoint.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6gIHlZ784kRBFSR.

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, or email [email protected].

About Forbes Media

Forbes Media is a global media, branding and technology company, with a focus on news and information about business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership and affluent lifestyles. The company publishes Forbes and Forbes Asia magazines, as well as Forbes.com. The Forbes brand today reaches more than 94 million people worldwide with its business message each month through its magazines and 39 licensed local editions around the globe, websites, TV, conferences, research, social and mobile platforms. Forbes Media's brand extensions include conferences, real estate, education, financial services and technology license agreements.

SOURCE Ashford University

Related Links

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SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Latham & Watkins LLP1 is pleased to announce that Leslie R. Caldwell will join the firm's San Francisco office as a partner in the White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice in September. Caldwell most recently served as the Presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division. She is a nationally renowned white collar lawyer who brings key insights and extensive experience, having been involved in many of the most closely watched corporate criminal, fraud and foreign bribery matters of the past decade.

"I am honored to have had wonderful opportunities in public service and to now be joining Latham & Watkins," Caldwell said. "The level of skill and talent of Latham's lawyers in major government investigations and criminal prosecutions has always impressed me. I'm excited to join the team in the Bay Area as the firm further expands its white collar investigations and litigation platform. I look forward to working with the firm's clients on business-critical matters, as well as to being part of Latham's fantastic global team."

Caldwell has dedicated most of her career to handling federal criminal cases, representing both the government and those under government investigation. As head of the Criminal Division, she oversaw more than 600 lawyers who prosecute the most sophisticated federal criminal cases across the country, helped spearhead changes in criminal law and legislation, and formulated criminal enforcement policy. Caldwell also worked closely with the nation's 93 United States Attorneys in the investigation and prosecution of major criminal matters in their districts. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Caldwell was in private practice for nearly a decade. Before that, she was the first Director of the Department's elite Enron Task Force, and previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in both the Eastern District of New York, where she tried more than 30 cases, and in the Northern District of California, where she was Chief of both the Criminal Division and the Securities Fraud Section under U.S. Attorney Robert S. Mueller, III.

Alice Fisher, who also previously led the Criminal Division and who is now a partner and member of Latham's Executive Committee, said: "I'm beyond thrilled to welcome Leslie to Latham and have a fellow head of the Criminal Division join the firm's ranks. Leslie possesses diverse experience at the front lines of criminal enforcement, and clients will benefit from her strategic trial prowess, intellectual firepower and responsive, hands-on approach to their most complex legal challenges."

Caldwell will join a team at the forefront of white collar defense and investigations. She adds to an impressive list of former government officials and federal prosecutors who have recently joined Latham's White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice, both in the United States and internationally, including former Deputy White House Counsel to President Obama and Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Nicholas McQuaid, former Head of the Fraud Division at the UK's Serious Fraud Office Stuart Alford QC, and others.

Former White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, a Latham partner who now serves as global Co-chair of the firm's White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice, added: "I've known Leslie for 14 years and she is a natural leader and talented strategist who has been battle-tested at the highest levels. She will work tirelessly to achieve the best possible solution for any issue that our clients face and I am delighted to be working with her again."

Ruemmler worked with Caldwell in numerous roles, including during their recent service in the Obama administration and previously on the Enron Task Force, along with fellow Latham partners Fisher and Complex Commercial Litigation Practice Chair Sean Berkowitz.

With her move to Northern California, Caldwell will be one of few lawyers in the Bay Area with such extensive national and high profile government experience.

Kirt Switzer, Office Managing Partner of the firm's San Francisco office, said: "Leslie is a phenomenal addition to our dynamic team here in the Bay Area and complements our very active California white collar and trial practices. The group, which has recently handled significant confidential counseling and investigations as well as high profile trials including U.S. v. Pacific Gas and Electric Co., InfoSpan Inc. v. Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, and SEC v. Moshayedi, will be an excellent home for a noted lawyer like Leslie. She has rightfully earned her reputation as one of the nation's preeminent white collar lawyers, and we are thrilled to welcome her."

Jamie Wine, Global Chair of Latham's Litigation & Trial Department, added: "I'm particularly pleased to welcome Leslie at this time. As a firm, we have made it a priority to continue to strategically grow and expand our litigation and trial capabilities globally. In just the last few weeks, we have welcomed three talented partners on the East Coast. It's a perfect complement to add Leslie's keen insight and substantial experience to our West Coast presence as well."

Caldwell, who was a partner at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP in New York from 2004 to 2014, received a BA in Economics from Pennsylvania State University and a JD from the George Washington University Law School.

About Latham & Watkins

Latham & Watkins is a global law firm with more than 2,400 lawyers in its offices located in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States, including: Barcelona, Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Century City, Chicago, Dubai, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New York, Orange County, Paris, Riyadh, Rome, San Diego, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. For more information on Latham & Watkins, please visit the website at www.lw.com.

Notes to Editors

1Latham & Watkins operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in the United Kingdom, France and Italy and affiliated partnerships conducting the practice in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. Latham & Watkins operates in Seoul as a Foreign Legal Consultant Office. Latham & Watkins practices in Saudi Arabia in association with the Law Office of Salman M. Al-Sudairi.

Contacts

Alice Fisher, Partner and Member, Executive Committee: +1.202.637.2232

Kathryn Ruemmler, Partner and White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice Co-chair: +1.202.637.2179

Kirt Switzer, San Francisco Office Managing Partner: +1.415.395.8885

Jamie Wine, Partner and Global Litigation & Trial Department Chair: +1.212.906.2904

SOURCE Latham & Watkins LLP

Related Links

http://www.lw.com


PORTLAND, Maine, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Beacon Group welcomes Captain Alan Haggerty, USN Retired, as Senior Advisor for the firm's Aerospace, Defense and Government practice. Captain Haggerty will work alongside Senior Vice President of Defense Matt Keegan and Beacon's President and Chairman Cliff Farrah.

A tenured professional with an impressive career working both for the government and in the private sector, Captain Haggerty has hands-on success in Naval technology development, system acquisition and innovation leadership.

"Al is an excellent addition to our wonderful senior advisor team." Says Senior Vice President and ADG practice leader Matt Kegan. "His knowledge in defense technology, policy, and all things naval complemented by his industry experience fits perfectly with the team and adds deeper insight into our navy related knowledge base. I am very happy he has come on board."

Captain Haggerty formerly served as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for International Technology Security, Office of The Secretary of Defense. As advisor to the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD AT&L) and Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) he counseled on defense export control policy, and on matters of international science and technology cooperation, technology security, space systems security, counterintelligence and industrial base protection.

"Beacon's Senior Advisory Team is one of the core assets of our Aerospace and Defense practice. The addition of former DUSD Haggerty continues to add to our robust team and we look forward to seeing his unique perspective add value to our clients," said Cliff Farrah, Beacon's President and Chairman.

Captain Haggerty, USN Retired has served as executive leadership and management at the highest levels of complex government and industry organizations, with consistently outstanding results. He currently serves as a consult to DIUx. A formal naval officer, he is well published and continues to maintain clearance.

Media Contact: Natalie Barr, [email protected]

SOURCE The Beacon Group

Related Links

https://www.beacongroupconsulting.com


NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE: GHL), a leading independent investment bank, announced today that George Mack will join the Firm as a Managing Director and Co-Head of Financing Advisory & Restructuring for North America, based in New York.

Mr. Mack was most recently Head of the Global Restructuring and Finance Group at Barclays Capital. He has 18 years of experience advising on the restructuring, purchase, sale and financing of companies in a wide range of industries in all stages of financial distress. He began his career at Lehman Brothers, where he worked until its acquisition by Barclays.

Scott L. Bok, Chief Executive Officer of Greenhill, said, "We are pleased to enhance our restructuring advisory team with the addition of a banker of George's experience and expertise. In addition to our continuing efforts to build out our industry sector teams, we are also seeking to deepen our transaction advisory capabilities, both for restructuring and M&A."

Eric Mendelsohn, Head of Greenhill's Financing Advisory & Restructuring Group for North America, said, "Our restructuring team had a strong performance in 2016 and is on track for another good year in 2017. We are building on that success by increasing the scale of our team. Adding another senior banker who has played a leadership role in restructuring for a major global financial institution is a major step in that direction. We plan to further expand our team as opportunities arise."

Greenhill & Co., Inc. is a leading independent investment bank entirely focused on providing financial advice on significant mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, financings and capital raising to corporations, partnerships, institutions and governments globally. It acts for clients located throughout the world from its offices in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Melbourne, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto.

Contact: David M. Trone

Director of Investor Relations

Greenhill & Co., Inc.

(212) 389-1800

SOURCE Greenhill & Co., Inc.
MILL VALLEY, Calif., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Glassdoor, one of the world's largest and fastest growing job sites, today announced the winners of its annual Employees' Choice Awards, honoring the Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 across North America and parts of Europe. Unlike any other workplace awards, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback, by completing a company review, about their CEOs leadership, along with insight into their job, work environment and employer over the past year.

This year, the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards for the Highest Rated CEOs feature six distinct categories across the U.S., Canada, UK, France and Germany. In the U.S., Glassdoor has revealed the 100 Highest Rated CEOs (honoring CEOs at employers with 1,000 or more employees), and the 25 Highest Rated CEOs at Small & Medium Companies (honoring CEOs at employers with less than 1,000 employees).

The top ten Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 in the U.S. are:

1. The Clorox Company's Benno Dorer (99 percent approval)

2. World Wide Technology's Jim Kavanaugh (99 percent approval)

3. Boston Scientific's Michael F. Mahoney (99 percent approval)

4. Memorial Sloan Kettering's Craig B. Thompson (99 percent approval)

5. Fast Enterprises' Martin Rankin (99 percent approval)

6. NVIDIA's Jen-Hsun Huang (99 percent approval)

7. Bain & Company's Bob Bechek (98 percent approval)

8. SpaceX's Elon Musk (98 percent approval)

9. HubSpot's Brian Halligan (98 percent approval)

10. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg (98 percent approval)

The top five Highest Rated CEOs at Small & Medium Companies in 2017 in the U.S. are:

1. Sprout Social's Justyn Howard (99 percent approval)

2. Slingshot's Taylor Olson (99 percent approval)

3. Eliot Management Group's Brady Harris (99 percent approval)

4. Illuminate Education's Lane Rankin (99 percent approval)

5. Skuid's Ken McElrath (99 percent approval)

"CEOs tell us the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award is one of the highest honors they can receive because it truly reflects employee opinion about the job they do every day. I congratulate all of the winners on this significant honor," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "We know that CEO approval ratings correlate to overall employee satisfaction and trust in senior leadership, which contributes to long-term employee engagement, ultimately helping an employer's recruiting and retention efforts."

Glassdoor's 100 Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 list features winning chief executives across diverse industries spanning consumer goods, technology, health care, manufacturing, retail and more. The Clorox Company's Benno Dorer (No. 1, 99 percent approval) is among 52 CEOs debuting as a Highest Rated CEO, along with SpaceX's Elon Musk (No. 8, 98 percent approval) Cheesecake Factory's David Overton (No. 34, 94 percent approval) and General Motors' Mary Barra (No. 65, 91 percent approval). Of the eight women CEOs who make the top 100, the three highest rated women are Enterprise Holdings' Pamela Nicholson (No. 21, 96 percent approval), In-N-Out Burger's Lynsi Snyder (No. 36, 94 percent approval) and Deloitte's Cathy Engelbert (No. 40, 94 percent approval).

On the 2017 list of the 25 Highest Rated CEOs at Small & Medium Companies, the top five CEOs are all newcomers to this list.

This year, there are 17 CEOs who are recognized by employees in multiple countries, including only three CEOs who have made four lists: EY's Mark Weinberger (U.S. Large, Canada, UK, Germany), Microsoft's Satya Nadella (U.S. Large, UK, France, Germany) and SAP's Bill McDermott (U.S. Large, Canada, France, Germany).

When employees submit reviews about their employer on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate several factors tied to their employment experience, including sentiment around their CEO's leadership, in addition to rating workplace attributes like senior management, among others. Specifically, when rating their CEO on Glassdoor, employees are asked to report whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing.

Among the more than 700,000 employers reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 67 percent.

Employees' Choice Award winners for the 2017 Highest Rated CEOs and Highest Rated CEOs at Small & Medium Companies are determined using Glassdoor's proprietary algorithm, taking into account the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews shared by U.S.-based employees between May 2, 2016 and May 1, 2017. At a minimum, employers considered for the large list must have received at least 100 company reviews, including at least 100 CEO approval ratings and at least 100 senior management ratings, while employers eligible for the small & medium list must have received at least 35 company reviews, including at least 35 CEO approval ratings and at least 35 senior management ratings, respectively, during the eligibility period. For reporting simplicity, CEO approval ratings are displayed as whole numbers, though calculations extend beyond the thousandth place to determine final rank order. Complete report methodology can be found and downloaded here.

SEE THE 2017 WINNERS: All winning CEOs across this year's six categories can be found by visiting:

100 Highest Rated CEOs  U.S.

25 Highest Rated CEOs at Small and Medium Companies  U.S.

25 Highest Rated CEOs  Canada

50 Highest Rated CEOs  UK

10 Highest Rated CEOs  France

10 Highest Rated CEOs  Germany

WHAT MAKES A GREAT CEO?: According to a study from Glassdoor Economic Research, highly rated CEOs are statistically linked to companies with great cultures. Among measures of company culture, the biggest driver of high CEO approval ratings is employee satisfaction with senior leadership. The study also reveals a strong link between CEO approval rating and financial performance.

VIDEO + CEO INTERVIEWS + EMPLOYEE COMMENTARY: Glassdoor is showcasing interviews with winning CEOs, revealing best practices into how they lead, fun facts about their journey to the top, and insights into what makes them tick in and out of work. Download, embed and see our video interview with the #1 CEO at The Clorox Company. Plus, see interviews in various Glassdoor blog posts featuring winning CEOs at SpaceX, Hilton, Sephora and Enterprise Holdings, among others, or request them by emailing [email protected]. Employee commentary about winning CEOs, their senior management team and company culture are also available upon request.

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is one of the largest and fastest growing job sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for approximately 700,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms.

"Glassdoor" and logo are proprietary trademarks of Glassdoor, Inc.

SOURCE Glassdoor

Related Links

https://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm


NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- About Freight Brokerage



A freight broker is any company or an individual that acts as an intermediate between the shippers and carriers. The shippers provide freight for transportation while carriers have enough capacity to move the freight. Thus, freight broker aids both shippers as well as carriers. For shippers, freight brokers help them find trustworthy carriers that are difficult to locate by shippers. For carriers, freight brokers assist them in filling their truckloads and earning money for the transportation





Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04951600/Global-Freight-Brokerage-Market.html







Technavio's analysts forecast the global freight brokerage market to grow at a CAGR of 4.19% during the period 2017-2021.



Covered in this report

The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global freight brokerage market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated by different vendors through the sales of freight brokerage services which include LTL, FTL, temperature-controlled and others. The others type of services includes dry van and flatbed trailers.



The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:

 Americas

 APAC

 EMEA



Technavio's report, Global Freight Brokerage 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

 C.H. Robinson

 XPO Logistics

 Expeditors

 Echo Global Logistics



Other prominent vendors

 TQL

 Landstar

 Worldwide Express

 Cerasis

 Cargomatic

 BNSF Logistics

 GlobalTranz

 Coyote Logistics



Market driver

 Rising industrial demand for freight transportation

 For a full, detailed list, view our report



Market challenge

 High complexity in heavy freight transportation industry

 For a full, detailed list, view our report



Market trend

 Growing transportation and logistics industry

 For a full, detailed list, view our report



Key questions answered in this report

 What will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?

 What are the key market trends?

 What is driving this market?

 What are the challenges to market growth?

 Who are the key vendors in this market space?

 What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?

 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?



You can request one free hour of our analyst's time when you purchase this market report. Details are provided within the report.



Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04951600/Global-Freight-Brokerage-Market.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


NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Persistence Market Research (PMR), in its report, projects the global pressure relief devices market to register 5.3% CAGR during the forecast period 2017 to 2025. In 2016, the market was evaluated at revenues worth US$ 2,280.4 Mn; by 2025 this number is estimated to reach nearly US$ 3,600 Mn.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161114/438683logo )



Demand for pressure relief devices is on a surge in developing economies including Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East & Africa (MEA). With the advent of medical tourism in various APAC countries such as Vietnam Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and Philippines, the market in this region is expected to witness considerable growth. Provision of after sales will be the key focus area of the global pressure relief devices market. Various global players have signed strategic partnerships & collaborations with regional players for offering sales and aftersales services in developing markets.

Growing Number of Patients with Hospital-acquired Ulcer Poised to drive Market Growth in North America

According to a study by Hill-Rom, growing number of patients with hospital-acquired pressure ulcer has led to a robust adoption of pressure ulcer devices in North America. In addition, rising prevalence of obesity and growing geriatric population has also driven the demand for pressure ulcer devices. These factors are expected to drive growth of the market in this region. However, reimbursement stands as a critical factor, considering the fact that products are highly priced. Private insurers in North America are adopting reimbursement restrictions for pressure ulcer treatment, which in turn will restrain market growth in this region.

Increasing out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure is current trend in both developed and developing countries of APAC. This is expected fuel demand for medical devices including pressure relief devices in this region. In addition, provision of government initiatives is expected to offer better healthcare facilities across developing economies, which is further expected to fuel demand for pressure relief devices in APAC. In contrast, affordability of purchasing new pressure relief devices is a major challenge for large number of population across this region. This is because of limited support from government policies covering pressure ulcer treatment in developing economies, and lack of health insurance. These factors are expected to impede market growth in Asia Pacific.

A sample of this report is available upon request @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/2826

Sales of Pressure Relief Devices to Long-term Care Centers to Reach Nearly US$ 1,700 Mn by 2025-End

Long-term care centres will continue to remain most lucrative end-users of pressure relief devices, with revenues estimated to reach nearly US$ 1,700 Mn by 2025. Demand for pressure relief devices from long-term care centres is expected to witness expansion at 6% CAGR through 2025. In addition, hospitals are estimated to be second largest end-users of pressure relief devices. Revenue garnered by demand for pressure relief devices from hospitals is expected to surpass US$ 800 Mn in 2017.

By product type, specialty beds will remain sought-after in the market. Sales of specialty beds is expected to exhibit 5.8% CAGR through 2025. Specialty beds are expected to account for over 50% market share by 2025-end. In addition, sales of pressure relief mattress is projected to reach nearly US$ 600 Mn in 2017. In contrast, mattress overlays are expected to witness a comparatively low CAGR in the market.

View Report Table of Contents, Figures, and [email protected] http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/pressure-relief-devices-market/toc

North America to Remain the Largest Market for Pressure Relief Devices

North America will remain the largest market for pressure relief devices. Sales of pressure relief devices in this region will reach nearly US$ 800 Mn in 2017; by 2025 this number is estimated to surpass US$ 1,000 Mn. In addition, APAC is expected to witness fastest growth in the market. Sales of pressure relief devices in APAC is projected to expand at 6% CAGR through 2025. In contrast, MEA is expected to exhibit sluggish expansion in the market during the forecast period.

"Key players identified in PMR's report include Arjohuntleigh AB, Hill-Rom Global Holdings B.V., INVACARE CORP, PARAMOUNT BED CO., LTD., Talley Group Limited, STRYKER CORPORATION, SIDHIL LIMITED, MEDTRONIC PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY, SMITH & NEPHEW PLC, Apex Medical Corp, Proma Reha, s. r. o., Besco Medical Co., Ltd., Hirtz & Co. KG, GF Health Products, Inc., ADL GmbH., Linet spol. s r.o. "

Global Pressure Relief Devices Market Report 2017-2025 is available for $4900 (Single User License) @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/2826

Persistence Market Research Overview

Persistence 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

Persistence Market Research

U.S. Sales Office:

305 Broadway, 7th Floor

New York City, NY 10007

+1-646-568-7751

United States

USA - Canada Toll-Free: 800-961-0353

Email: [email protected]



Web: http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com

SOURCE Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.
"Guillermo has been active with the Florida Bankers Association and a dedicated advocate for the banking industry for many years," said FBA President and CEO Alex Sanchez. "His commitment and loyalty to the association, to the state of Florida and to his community set a high bar for each of us to strive for in our own personal and professional lives."

Under his leadership, from 2013 to the present, Continental National Bank's assets have grown from $340 million to over $490 million. Diaz-Rousselot has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the industry. Presently, he was elected to the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. For three consecutive years, he served on the board of the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) Advisory Council, as well as the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) Advisory Council. He has also served as Director for the American Bankers Association and Chairman of the Minority Council for the ICBA (Independent Community Bankers of America). At the state and local level, Diaz-Rousselot is a Board Member of the Center for Financial Training and also a Board Member of the Citizens Crime Watch of Miami-Dade County.

"It is an incredible feat that Guillermo has been named Banker of the Year by the Florida Bankers Association. I am proud of him and the team we have at Continental National Bank and continue to see the future very bright with him in the helm of this great institution," said Continental National Bank Chairman Jacqueline Dascal Chariff.

The FBA's Banker of the Year is selected using the following criteria:

An outstanding commitment of involvement and services in his/her community;

A concern for the continued success of banking;

A dedication to conveying the value of banking to the public;

A reputation for excellence and distinguished achievement within the banking industry.

The Florida Bankers Association (FBA) serves as the primary resource through which Florida financial service providers work in unity to influence the state and federal legal regulatory environment in which they serve their customers. Established in 1888, the FBA is one of Florida's oldest trade associations and has a membership of more than 250 financial institutions ranging in size from small community banks, thrifts and trust companies, to medium-sized banks operating in several parts of the state, to large regional financial institutions that are headquartered in Florida or outside the state. Deposits of the members of the FBA make up 95 percent of total deposits in the state of Florida.

Continental National Bank is a full-service community bank established in 1974 in Miami as the first Cuban-American-chartered national bank in the United States, serving its customers for over 43 years. With five branches conveniently located throughout Miami-Dade County, and with more than $490 million in assets, Continental National Bank was awarded the five-star "superior" rating by Bauer Financial and has been recognized as a top community bank. The Bank offers a full range of financial and lending products and services for retail, business and institutional clients.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

NATALIA ARANA

305.643.8281

[email protected]

SOURCE Continental National Bank

Related Links

https://www.continentalbank.com


Hino's Master Elite Technicians, a designation reserved for the highest certified Hino truck technician, complete one of the industry's most comprehensive training programs. The Competition takes this training to the next level and brings the best-of-the-best of this highly skilled group for varying simulated service-related situations. After a qualification round to establish 24 finalists, and a final day of strong competition, the diligence of seven-time finalist Billy Stanley, Rush Truck Center - Houston finally paid off as he won the title. Rounding out the top six were:

Billy Stanley , Rush Truck Center Houston, TX - Champion Greg Zubek , M&K Truck Center, Summit Kelley Broeren , Milwaukee Mack, Green Bay, WI John Hevia , TruckMax, Hino of Miami Tony Isajiw , Milwaukee Mack, Green Bay, WI David Taylor , Potomac Truck Center, Gainesville, VA

John Musial, Sr. Director of Service Operations for Hino Trucks commented, "This competitive platform challenges our technicians and is a driving force behind improving diagnostic skills to deliver the highest level of customer satisfaction and ownership experience. This group of technicians continues to grow and are leaders in their field. Exceptional talent is about hard work and we commend their dedication to becoming the top technicians in the industry."

This year's champion, Bill Stanley had this to share, "I would like to thank Hino for this amazing opportunity. I have been at Rush Truck Center for over 12 years, and this was my seventh time in this competition. Winning gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment, knowing that all of your training and hard work has paid off. I look forward to visiting Japan and the chance to see the skills competition there as well."

About Hino: Hino Trucks, a Toyota Group Company, assembles, sells, and services Class 4-7 conventional commercial trucks in the United States. Their headquarters are located in Novi, Michigan and boasts a network of over 200 dealers nationwide committed to achieving excellence in customer service and support. Hino Trucks is the premier medium duty nameplate in the United States with a product lineup that offers the lowest total cost of ownership, superior fuel economy, industry-leading environmental friendliness, unmatched reliability and maneuverability, and the most comprehensive bundle of standard features in the market. For more information, visit our internet home page at www.hino.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

SOURCE Hino Trucks

Related Links

http://www.hino.com


"Having gotten to know the HouseCanary team over the last three years, it's been exciting to watch their growth and vision for redefining real estate data and analytics and transforming the industry," said Alex. "The residential market is critically important to everyday homeowners and to the national economy, and HouseCanary's genuine passion to make valuation and risk assessment consistent and reliable for all market players has been inspiring  I'm beyond excited to be joining a group of true innovators."

Adding Alex to a technology and analytics lineup that features Chris Stroud, Jim Adams, and Chris Conway gives HouseCanary a Predictive Analytics Dream Team primed to transform the residential real estate industry.

Co-founder and Head of Research Chris Stroud draws on his experience as an economist and his dissertation research on Dynamic Models of Financial Risk at University of Texas, San Antonio. He leads HouseCanary's research team in creating the most accurate predictive analytics through machine learning, dynamic modeling, and cloud computing. CTO Jim Adams has developed and operated high-risk, mission critical services across private, government, and military sectors. Most recently having built Amazon's mobile platform, he has been leading several HouseCanary teams to develop the most scalable, on-demand real estate platform. SVP of Product Chris Conway has over a decade of start-up experience at e-commerce, real estate, and financial services marketplaces. As an early hire at Trulia, he helped grow its consumer audience and revenue by 30x before its IPO. At HouseCanary, he leads the product and design teams building powerful analytics that help customers make better real estate decisions.

"Alex's energy, vision, and knowledge are a perfect complement to HouseCanary's dynamic group," explained Jeremy Sicklick, CEO and co-founder of HouseCanary. "His addition rounds out a team ready to turn residential real estate on its head."

About HouseCanary:

Founded in 2014, HouseCanary's mission is to help people make better real estate decisions. Built on a foundation of great data, powerful models, and predictive analytics, the HouseCanary platform aggregates millions of data elements, including more than four decades of property data and a rapidly expanding arsenal of proprietary calculations and analytics, to accurately define and forecast values and market influences. HouseCanary is financed by notable investors including Hillspire (Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt's family office), Alpha Edison, ECA Ventures, Raven Ventures and others top Silicon Valley investors. The company is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information about HouseCanary, please visit www.housecanary.com.

Please contact us with any questions or comments at [email protected] or 855-218-9597

SOURCE HouseCanary

Related Links

http://housecanary.com


The 225,000 square-foot expansion doubles HCI's research capacity. Research enhancements include a biotechnology center, complete with the latest advanced genetic sequencing and imaging equipment. Scientists and researchers at the center will leverage the additional space and technology to study the leading disease killer of children, to trace familial cancers, to accelerate the development of new treatments and cancer prevention strategies, and to enhance training programs for the next generation of cancer researchers.

"This new research space is essential to HCI's mission to relieve the suffering of cancer patients by better understanding cancer, and applying that understanding to the development of new ways to treat and prevent cancer," said Mary Beckerle, PhD, CEO and director of HCI. "HCI is more committed than ever to accelerate progress against cancer. We will now be able to expand our research to address the most devastating cancer challenges, including childhood cancers and cancers that run in families. The work we are doing here in Utah will bring comfort and cures to millions of families around the world."

The Primary Children's and Families' Cancer Research Center will house many unique resources and technologies available to its faculty, including: cancer biostatistics, genetic counseling, genomics and bioinformatics analysis, research informatics, and the Utah Population Database. With the addition, HCI will have one mile of laboratory bench space. The new building has been designed to promote collaboration among the research teams, including a 120-seat auditorium, 30,000 square feet of contiguous space unifying the cancer population sciences research faculty, and public meetings spaces on each floor.

"From the very beginning, our goal has been to build an unrivaled cancer treatment and research campus that is at the forefront of scientific discovery," said Huntsman. "With this expansion, we're one step closer to realizing our vision to eradicate cancer from the face of the earth."

Principal support for the $173 million project (inclusive of financing costs) was provided by HCI founders the Jon M. and Karen Huntsman family, Huntsman Cancer Foundation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Intermountain Healthcare, and the State of Utah. Throughout its history, more than one million individual donors have supported Huntsman Cancer Institute.

"Jon and Karen Huntsman have done more than anyone to bring world class cancer care and research to Utah," said Utah Governor Gary Herbert. "Through their kindness, they have offered hope to thousands of patients and their families. This new research facility stands as proof that there is more reason for hope and optimism than ever before."

The new building addition extends from the southeast corner of the original research area and marks HCI's fourth major construction phase. The first phase, The Jon M. Huntsman Research Center, was completed in 1999, with three floors of research labs and a floor of outpatient clinics. The second phase, a cancer specialty hospital with 50 inpatient rooms, opened in 2004. In the fall of 2011, a major expansion to the hospital was dedicated, doubling clinical capacity and inpatient rooms.

Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah is the official cancer center of Utah. The cancer campus includes a state-of-the-art cancer specialty hospital as well as two buildings dedicated to cancer research. HCI treats patients with all forms of cancer and operates several clinics that focus on patients with a family history of cancer. As the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Mountain West, HCI serves the largest geographic region in the country, drawing patients from Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. HCI scientists have identified more genes for inherited cancers than any other cancer center in the world, including genes responsible for hereditary breast, ovarian, colon, head, and neck cancers, along with melanoma. HCI manages the Utah Population Database - the largest genetic database in the world, with more than 16 million records linked to genealogies, health records, and vital statistics. The institute was founded by Jon M. and Karen Huntsman. Mr. Huntsman is a philanthropist, industrialist, and cancer survivor.

Media Contacts:

Tonya Papanikolas

Public Relations, Huntsman Cancer Institute

(801) 587-7639

[email protected]

Ashlyn Hewlett

Method Communications

(801) 461-9772

[email protected]

SOURCE Huntsman Cancer Institute

Related Links

http://www.healthcare.utah.edu/huntsmancancerinstitute


ARMONK, N.Y., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Zain, Kuwait's leading telecommunications company, today announced their collaboration to launch a new cloud disaster recovery service that will provide IBM and Zain's enterprise customers with cloud-based business continuity capabilities and faster disaster recovery of their critical IT systems, without incurring the infrastructure expense of a second physical site. Through the new service, customers will benefit from the added flexibility of keeping their data in-country on IBM Cloud.

The disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) market size in the Middle East is $100.64 million and is expected to see a compound annual growth rate of 44.8 percent through 2021. The Middle East region is experiencing a significant increase in DRaaS adoption due to the increasing number of cyberattacks and other data threats like security breaches, software and hardware failures, and power outages, according to MarketsandMarkets.

The new cloud disaster recovery service will help protect IBM and Zain customers against data loss from their own servers or from other cloud services, and can maintain readiness without the need to invest in additional physical space or stand-by hardware. The service will provide replication of critical applications, infrastructure, data and systems to IBM Cloud so customers can recover from an IT outage within minutes.

"In the face of increased cyberattacks and other IT threats, unplanned downtime is a business risk that can damage both business operations and corporate reputations," says Laurence Guihard-Joly, general manager of IBM Global Resiliency Services. "Through this new cloud disaster recovery service, IBM and Zain customers can confidently manage any cloud environment and take proactive steps to differentiate their business resiliency capabilities and meet 'always-on' expectations."

"Today's announcement comes as part of our vision to transform Zain into a digital lifestyle provider," said Zain Kuwait's Chief Executive Officer Eaman Al Roudhan. "The business needs of our corporate customers are continuously changing, and offering them innovative solutions to help maintain resiliency is a top priority for us."

The cloud disaster recovery team will monitor developing disaster events 24/7 and help ensure that the infrastructure of IBM and Zain customers is equipped to handle the latest threats to keep data, applications and transactions secure. The new service will also enable customers to adjust and customize their resiliency strategies to their own requirements to optimize recovery time.

The new service underscores IBM's expanding business continuity and resiliency services portfolio. In today's "always-on" world, IBM offerings like DRaaS and Cloud Resiliency Orchestration are built to simplify and automate the disaster recovery process, increase workflow efficiency, and reduce risk, cost, and system testing time for clients around the world. With more than 50 years of business continuity and disaster recovery experience, today IBM has over 300 resiliency centers across 68 countries.

Zain's strategy of being a sustainable digital communications company has long focused on the customer experience and using technology to create more value for the customer. The launch of this service is one of the major steps in the company's strategic plan to introduce more distinctive digital services dedicated to corporate and enterprise customers. Zain believes that corporations are unique by nature and require unique services that recognize and satisfy their needs promptly and efficiently, and today's announcement is a testament of that belief.

About IBM Global Technology Services

IBM Global Technology Services offers end-to-end IT consulting and business services supported by an unparalleled global delivery network that is transforming its business to lead in an era of Cognitive and Cloud. As a cloud services integrator, GTS is managing the services and underlying infrastructure in an integrated and unified way. It is modernizing clients' IT environments to help them meet the increasingly complex customer demands. GTS provides clients with innovative technology solutions that help them to improve their business processes and in turn, profitability.

Media Contacts

Conor Golden

IBM Media Relations

[email protected]

212-671-9422

Lina El Desouky

External Relations Leader, IBM Middle East and Pakistan

[email protected]

+971 54 307 2694

SOURCE IBM

Related Links

http://www.ibm.com


QINGDAO, China and ARMONK, N.Y., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM Watson Health (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Baheal Pharmaceutical Group will bring Watson for Genomics to clinicians across China. As IBM's primary channel partner for Watson for Genomics in China, Baheal will establish an ecosystem within China to sell the molecular data interpretation technology to clinicians and researchers across the country. The new multi-year agreement comes less than 3 months after Baheal and IBM launched a strategic alliance to distribute Watson for Oncology in China.

Last year, the Chinese government launched a $9.2 billion precision medicine initiative to invest in the growing field of genomics, which holds particular promise in oncology.(1) Physicians and researchers have made groundbreaking discoveries on the genetic drivers of cancer, which in some cases turn out to be the best indicator for the right treatment. Yet, even if a patient's genome is sequenced, few doctors have access to the tools they need to turn that information into better treatment decisions. Precision oncology could help improve cancer survival rates in China, where one-fifth of all deaths are caused by cancer. (2) Every year in China, more than 4.3 million people are diagnosed with cancer.(3)

Watson for Genomics analyzes massive bodies of genomic, clinical and pharmacological knowledge to help uncover potential therapeutic options that target the tumor's genetic alterations. Then, Watson produces a report for physicians that identifies genetic alterations that are actionable based on literature as well as drugs and clinical trials that target those alterations. Watson for Genomics has been tested and validated at more than 20 leading cancer institutes worldwide, and is now commercially available.

"Despite the promise of precision medicine, data-driven challenges make it difficult for oncologists to bring genomic advances to their patients," said Gang Fu, Chairman, Baheal Pharmaceutical Group. "We believe Watson will help accelerate this growing field so that research advances can be accessed for patient benefit more quickly. We are proud to now serve as IBM's primary distribution channel for both Watson for Genomics and Watson for Oncology."

Baheal Group has a proven track record delivering value to hospitals across China working with more than 12,000 hospitals today, and the company has already implemented Watson for Oncology at 8 hospitals.

"With the rapid proliferation of clinical, research and genomic data, we are proud to work with Baheal Group to bring the promise of cognitive computing to doctors and researchers all across China," said Rob Merkel, General Manager of Oncology and Genomics, IBM Watson Health. "Watson for Genomics can empower oncologists to deliver genomic insights to their patients faster and easier than it can now be done. We believe this has the power to scale expertise and ultimately help oncologists make more informed decisions."

IBM Watson Health is actively partnering with organizations like Baheal within China's healthcare and technology community to establish an ecosystem that will bring the benefits of machine learning into clinical practice to serve the needs of doctors and patients while maintaining compliance with local laws and regulations, including data privacy and security requirements.

Sources

[1] http://www.nature.com/news/china-embraces-precision-medicine-on-a-massive-scale-1.19108

[2] Goss et al. "Challenges to effective cancer control in China, India, and Russia." The Lancet Oncology, Accessed at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045%2814%2970029-4/fulltext

[3] Cancer Statistics in China. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Jan 2016.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/caac.21338/full

About Baheal Group

Baheal Pharmaceutical Group, established in 2005, focuses on the investment and operation in the health industry. Baheal has established multiple ecosystems that function as a platform to best utilize resources in the health industry through the integration of global brands, Internet application, medical services and investment.

About IBM Watson Health

Watson is the first commercially available cognitive computing capability representing a new era in computing. The system, delivered through the cloud, analyzes high volumes of data, understands complex questions posed in natural language, and proposes evidence-based answers. IBM Watson Health is a business unit that helps improve the ability of doctors, researchers and insurers to innovate by surfacing insights from the massive amount of personal health data being created and shared daily. For more information on IBM Watson, visit: ibm.com/watson. For more information on IBM Watson Health, visit: ibm.com/watsonhealth.

Media Contacts

Yan Wang

Baheal Pharmaceuticals Group Media Relations

86 13811484257

[email protected]

Jim Lin

IBM Media Relations  China

86 13911126101

[email protected]

Christine Douglass

IBM Media Relations  U.S.

415-535-4479

cgd[email protected]

SOURCE IBM

Related Links

http://www.ibm.com


NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- iCapital Network, the financial technology platform focused on democratizing access to alternative investments for the high-net-worth community, today announced multiple milestones solidifying its overall hedge fund capabilities. Since acquiring the HedgeFocus platform from Credit Suisse in early 2016, iCapital has deepened its hedge fund diligence bench strength, bolstered its hedge fund menu and reinforced its strategic relationship with Fidelity Institutional in response to recent investor demand.

iCapital regularly surveys its member network  composed of approximately 1,600 registered investment advisors (RIAs), financial planners, wealth managers, brokerage representatives, private bankers, family offices and other sophisticated investors  regarding alternative investment appetite, current allocations, preferred strategies and projected future investments. Most recently, iCapital's survey findings revealed that more than 75% of respondents say they are likely to invest in hedge funds over the next 12 months.

"We constantly listen to our network about what they want in terms of products. In this case, we're hearing from our advisors and investors that hedge funds are an important part of their efforts to build thoughtfully constructed, diversified, institutional-quality portfolios," said Lawrence Calcano, Chief Executive Officer of iCapital Network.

Deeper Bench Strength

iCapital has bolstered its due diligence capabilities with the appointment of Joseph Burns as its Head of Hedge Fund Origination & Diligence where he will be responsible for building relationships, identifying high quality fund opportunities, overseeing the firm's hedge fund diligence efforts, and developing the hedge fund pipeline. Prior to joining iCapital, Mr. Burns was a Founding Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer at hedge fund specialist, Pulse Capital Partners. Previously, he was COO and Chief Risk Officer at TCS Capital Management, a global equity hedge fund, the Head of Global Research at Ivy Asset Management and a portfolio analyst at Soros Fund Management.

"Joe's deep experience in hedge fund manager selection and his extensive industry network make him the ideal fit to assume responsibility for our hedge fund origination and diligence efforts," said Nick Veronis, iCapital Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Head of Origination and Due Diligence. "Our top priority is to offer our investors, RIAs, broker-dealers, private banks and family offices access to the highest caliber alternative investment opportunities, and Joe's contributions will be a critical part of our effort to deliver on that priority," said Mr. Veronis.

Extended Menu of Hedge Fund Offerings

iCapital offers a curated selection of alternative investments, including private equity, private credit, real estate, venture capital and hedge funds, to its private network of qualified investors and advisory professionals.

Since the HedgeFocus acquisition, iCapital has concentrated on filling out its hedge fund menu with a range of managers across key categories, offering two or more managers and fund options in each category and multiple off-shore options for investors. Collectively, the hedge fund managers on the iCapital platform oversee more than U.S. $100 billion in assets.

"As we consolidate our position as the preferred alternative platform, a robust hedge fund menu is central to our commitment to offering a broad array of outstanding asset classes, capabilities and strategies to our network," said Eileen Duff, Managing Partner and Head of Distribution for iCapital. "Since acquiring the HedgeFocus platform from Credit Suisse more than a year ago, we have selectively and methodically concentrated on evolving our hedge fund footprint to ensure a compelling offering for advisors and their high-net-worth clients," said Ms. Duff.

Expanded Fidelity Relationship

iCapital has expanded its strategic relationship with Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions  the division of Fidelity Investments that provides clearing and custody services to registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, family offices and banks. Fidelity's intermediary clients will now have direct access to iCapital's hedge fund offerings. This latest development builds on iCapital and Fidelity's relationship, announced last year, which provided Fidelity's financial intermediaries access to iCapital's private equity fund offerings.

iCapital's proprietary technology is fully integrated with Fidelity's advisor platform Wealthscape and available through Fidelity's Alternative Investments Product Center, and provides advisors with access to investments at minimums as low as $100,000. iCapital provides a full array of due diligence support and educational materials to accompany the expanded hedge fund offerings on the Fidelity platform.

"Advisors continue to look for efficient ways to incorporate alternative investments into their clients' portfolios. Our expanded relationship with iCapital Network provides them with access to more hedge fund offerings and the tools to evaluate them," said Gary Gallagher, Senior Vice President, Investment Products at Fidelity Institutional.

About iCapital Network

iCapital Network is a financial technology platform that provides modular alternative investment solutions for registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, private banks, family offices and other sophisticated investors. The state-of-the-art online portal offers a curated menu of private equity, private credit, venture capital, real estate and hedge funds, extensive due diligence support, an automated subscription process and integration with a wide range of custodial platforms and reporting packages. The firm's customizable technology and specialized suite of services is also used by asset managers and financial institutions to streamline and automate their private fund operations. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.icapitalnetwork.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/icapital-network-inc | Twitter: @icapitalnetwork

Disclosures: This material is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as, and may not be relied on in any manner as legal, tax or investment advice, a recommendation, or as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to purchase or a recommendation of any interest in any fund or security offered by iCapital. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Alternative investments are complex, speculative investment vehicles and are not suitable for all investors. An investment in an alternative investment entails a high degree of risk and no assurance can be given that any alternative investment fund's investment objectives will be achieved or that investors will receive a return of their capital. The information contained herein is subject to change. The award referenced herein makes no guarantee as to future performance and may not be representative of a platform user's experience. Securities may be offered through iCapital Securities, LLC, a registered broker dealer, member of FINRA and SIPC and subsidiary of Institutional Capital Network, Inc. iCapital is a registered trademark of Institutional Capital Network, Inc. All rights reserved.

iCapital is an independent company and unaffiliated with Fidelity Investments. There is no form of legal partnership, agency, affiliation, or similar relationship between this third-party service provider and Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Clearing & Custody SolutionsSM provides clearing, custody, or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Members NYSE, SIPC. 805935.1.0

For iCapital Network media inquiries, please contact:

Emma Murphy

Tel 718-875-4545

Cell 347-968-6800

[email protected]

Morgan Cretella

Tel 718-875-7606

Cell 919-602-2806

[email protected]

SOURCE iCapital Network

Related Links

http://www.icapitalnetwork.com


"We've recognized the LMS requirements of organizations exactly like DEED," said Brian Kleeman, VP and CTO of ICS. "Which is why we set out to develop a next-generation system for providing our customers with a powerful, mobile-responsive application that facilitates all aspects of a successful integrated learning program."

A major concern for DEED was the migration process for transitioning their existing data and courses out of their current system and into Asentia. ICS's expert implementation team used their LMS switch-kit tools to successfully execute DEED's transition in less than 30 days with virtually no system down-time.

"Not only did we assist DEED with a seamless upgrade to an advanced, state-of-the-art system, we allowed them to realize a substantial cost savings," said Ed Gipple, President ICS. "They are thrilled with the service provided by our support team and we are excited to continue facilitating their LMS growth with our partnership."

About Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED)

DEED ensures quality standards-based instruction to improve academic achievement for all students. Their core services include public school funding, fiscal accountability  compliance and oversight, school effectiveness programs, and active partnerships. For more information about DEED: https://education.alaska.gov/

About ICS Learning Group

ICS Learning Group, established in 1998, is a leading provider of custom training solutions and the Asentia LMS platform. With expertise in instructional design, multi-media development, and instructional technology, ICS develops training solutions for both corporate and government organizations.

For more information about ICS Learning Group and Asentia, visit http://www.icslearninggroup.com or http://www.asentialms.com

Contact Information Ed Gipple ICS Learning Group Inc. http://www.icslearninggroup.com 410-975-9440 Ext: 102

SOURCE ICS Learning Group

Related Links

http://www.icslearninggroup.com


LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lundin Law PC, a shareholder rights firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit against FleetCor Technologies, Inc. ("FleetCor" or the "Company") (NYSE: FLT) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws between February 5, 2016 and May 2, 2017 inclusive (the "Class Period"). Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares during the Class Period should contact the firm prior to the August 14, 2017 lead plaintiff motion deadline.

To participate in this class action lawsuit, click here.

You can also call Brian Lundin, Esq., of Lundin Law PC, at 888-713-1033, or e-mail him at [email protected].

No class has been certified in the above action yet. Until a class is certified, you are not considered represented by an attorney. You may also choose to do nothing and be an absent class member.

According to the Complaint, throughout the Class Period, FleetCor made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that the Company owes its earnings and growth to overcharging customers, disseminating misleading marketing materials, and engaging in predatory sales practices. When this information was released, shares of FleetCor fell in value, causing investors harm according to the Complaint.

Lundin Law PC was founded by Brian Lundin, a securities litigator based in Los Angeles dedicated to upholding shareholders' rights.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

Contact:

Lundin Law PC

Brian Lundin, Esq.

Telephone: 888-713-1033

Facsimile: 888-713-1125

[email protected]

http://lundinlawpc.com/

SOURCE Lundin Law PC

Related Links

http://lundinlawpc.com


FORT WAYNE, Ind., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 2017 adds a new milestone for Indiana-born insurance company, BeniComp. Established in 1962 by Fort Wayne resident, Donald L. Short, BeniComp celebrates 55 years of business stability under the leadership of second-generation family business owner, Doug Short.

Indiana House Majority Leader, Matt Lehman, presented a commemoration of achievement to Doug Short and BeniComp for continued success throughout the years during a celebration at BeniComp's Fort Wayne office.

Indiana House Majority Leader, Matt Lehman, congratulates BeniComp President, Doug Short, for 55 years of business stability.

"I look at Doug as someone that we're going to rely on as we look at the ACA and what's going to happen in the state of Indiana," Lehman said. "We will have to make some changes. Those of us who are elected officials will bring people like Doug who can bring that passion and that knowledge outside the box. Doug can help Indiana implement reforms that will improve coverage and affordability by helping us redefine insurance for future generations of Hoosiers."

"The knowledge we've gained from our large client base over the years has allowed us to purpose-build innovative health insurance solutions that identify health risks early - before they become claims," said BeniComp President, Doug Short. "We combine the right mix of intuitive technology and actionable data to lower trend with meaningful outcome-based incentives."

By coupling an HDHP with outcome-based deductible incentives, BeniComp provides employers the ability to identify, realign, and manage their risk in order to truly control the cost of health insurance premiums.

About BeniComp

Founded in 1962, BeniComp is a full captive insurance company offering health insurance solutions in nearly all 50 states. Now spanning three generations, BeniComp's services have received numerous awards for innovation and best practices and include: BeniComp Advantage, BeniComp Select, and IncentiCare. BeniComp has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Employee Benefit News, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Medscape and other publications for its solutions. For more information about BeniComp, visit www.benicomp.com.

Media Contact:

Brenda Morales

Director of Marketing

Phone: 260.469.2920

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE BeniComp Insurance Group

Related Links

http://www.benicomp.com


Capital raised on explosive growth in commercial fleet market The financing comes as Samsara, which makes Internet-connected sensor systems for industrial and transportation applications, has emerged as a next-generation leader in the $8 billion vehicle telematics market. It has established a broad customer base in transportation, food and beverage, energy, and field services, and is rapidly gaining share with faster-than-market sales growth.

Samsara's complete hardware-software platform combines data from sensors, GPS, cameras, and mobile apps in an integrated, cloud-based solution. Samsara's technology drives operational gains ranging from safety and regulatory compliance to lower operating cost and increased customer satisfaction. Samsara's growing list of enterprise-scale deployments include long haul trucking companies, Fortune 500 food producers, passenger transit operators, local governments, and public utilities.



Funding to accelerate growth, fuel long-term R&D investments

Samsara is well-capitalized for long term growth. By reinvesting revenues from product sales, the company had over two thirds of its Series A and Series B financing remaining on hand upon raising this round. The new financing brings the company's total capital raised to $80 million, fueling Samsara's accelerating growth  the 100-person company plans to double headcount to 200 by year's end  and enabling long-term investments in research and development.

"Thanks to our faster-than-market sales growth, we didn't need additional outside funding for day to day operations," said Sanjit Biswas, Samara's co-founder and CEO. "But we believe that Samsara's approach to IoT can have a broad impact across large markets. We've already seen the technology benefit customers ranging from vehicle fleet operators to water utilities to energy producers. This new financing lets us invest in long-term technology development to explore new applications for our platform."

Building on a history of innovation

Samsara was founded by Biswas and CTO John Bicket, who together previously founded and led Meraki, the cloud networking technology leader that was acquired by Cisco Systems for $1.2 billion. Samsara had raised $40 million in two earlier rounds led by Andreessen Horowitz.

"The traction and acceleration of growth that Samsara has seen are impressive but not at all surprising. The team is successfully replicating the playbook they developed at Meraki in an even bigger market," said Hemant Taneja, Managing Director at General Catalyst. "Their ambitious vision of the 'industrial internet' is already delivering significant value to the industrial businesses that power our economy and they're just getting started. We're incredibly happy to be on board."

Taneja joins Marc Andreessen, founding partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Sanjit Biswas, and John Bicket on Samsara's board of directors.

About Samsara

Samsara's industrial IoT platform creates a digital representation of customers' physical assets and operations. Supporting emerging businesses and Fortune 500 enterprises alike, Samsara reveals insights that improve safety, efficiency, compliance, and customer satisfaction. With integrated hardware + cloud technology, Samsara is scalable, affordable, and easy to use. Samsara was founded by Sanjit Biswas and John Bicket, co-founders of Meraki (acquired by Cisco Systems for $1.2 billion) and is funded by Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst.

To request a free trial, visit www.samsara.com.

About General Catalyst

General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that makes early-stage and transformational investments. The firm backs exceptional entrepreneurs who are building innovative technology companies and market leading businesses, including Airbnb, BigCommerce, ClassPass, Datalogix, Datto, Demandware, Gusto, The Honest Company, HubSpot, KAYAK, Oscar, Snap, Stripe, and Warby Parker. The General Catalyst partnership leverages its broad experience to help founders build market-leading businesses. General Catalyst has offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City, and Cambridge, MA.

SOURCE Samsara

Related Links

http://www.samsara.com


Since the program began nearly a decade ago, Anytime Advocates has saved policyholders over $1,000,000, marking a significant industry milestone that highlights the value and need for professional claims assistance and dispute resolution services for travel insurance policyholders. Over 90 percent of claims advocacy customers have been satisfied with the outcome.

All travelers that purchase a policy through InsureMyTrip have access to Anytime Advocates and the following services:

Claims assistance

Receive expert advice on how to navigate the claims process and file a claim properly with your travel insurance provider.

Dispute resolution

Anytime Advocates will check the status of a claim. If a claim is denied, an advocate will work on behalf of the customer to learn why or to help with the appeal process.

"We understand travel insurance policies better than anyone else in the industry. If you buy directly from a travel insurance provider, you'll pay the same price for a policy  but you won't get us. We go to bat for you and work hard to get your covered travel insurance claim paid," says InsureMyTrip CEO Jim Grace.

Travel Insurance Expert:

Lynne Peters

401-773-9210

[email protected]

InsureMyTrip

It's simple. InsureMyTrip finds you the right travel insurance plan, every time.

InsureMyTrip is the authority on travel insurance. We are committed to empowering travelers to make the best possible insurance decisions by leveraging our technology, data intelligence, and expertise.

SOURCE InsureMyTrip

Related Links

http://www.insuremytrip.com


TEL AVIV, Israel, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Team8, Israel's leading cybersecurity think tank and company creation platform, announced today it has added Intel to its global cyber syndicate. This new strategic relationship will help Team8 develop disruptive companies that address the biggest problems in cybersecurity and provide organizations with an advantage over cyber threats.

Intel will join current Team8 cyber syndicate members Microsoft, Cisco, Qualcomm, AT&T, Citigroup, Accenture, Nokia, Temasek, Mitsui, Bessemer Venture Partners, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Marker LLC. The companies in the cyber syndicate work closely with Team8 during the exploration, ideation and validation phases of its company creation process.

Intel will work with Team8 to secure future computing, IoT, Mobile, Automotive and Cloud technologies. Intel and Team8 will collaborate to identify security gaps in future networks, technologies and infrastructures with a view to developing new cyber paradigms to address these challenges. Intel will also explore new business opportunities with the ensuing companies created by Team8's foundry.

"Intel is committed to cybersecurity and we are always looking for the best and the brightest to further our capabilities and provide industry leading security," said Rick Echevarria, Vice President, Software and Services Group and General Manager, Platform Security Division at Intel Corporation. "Team8 provides a unique vantage point and deep experience that makes them a natural fit for future Intel's security offerings."

"Our mission is to tackle the biggest problems in cybersecurity and give organizations the advantage over cyber attackers. Adding Intel to our syndicate is a critical extension that will give us a unique insight to the security challenges associated with the mobile, cloud and IoT revolutions," said Nadav Zafrir, Co-Founder and CEO of Team8 and former Commander of Israel's Technology & Intelligence Unit 8200.

Team8 was founded by veterans of the IDF's Intelligence & Technology Unit 8200; Nadav Zafrir (former head of the unit), Israel Grimberg (former head of its cyber division) and Liran Grinberg (former distinguished officer). Since its launch in 2014, it has announced the launch of two companies, illusive networks and Claroty, with several more companies currently operating in stealth. illusive networks specializes in deception technology used to detect targeted attacks, while Claroty's industrial security platform secures and optimizes critical industrial infrastructure sites such as power grids, steel mills, chemical, food and beverage sites and oil refineries.

About Team8:

Team8, Israel's most prestigious cybersecurity think tank and company creation platform, develops disruptive companies that challenge the biggest problems in cybersecurity today. The Team8 innovation process combines a research team with intimate knowledge of both offensive and defensive aspects of cybersecurity, access to the best cyber talent, and a global syndicate that provides access to customers, partners and key influencers. Team8 was founded by leading cybersecurity experts Nadav Zafrir, Israel Grimberg and Liran Grinberg, all with deep ties to Israel's famous IDF Technology & Intelligence Unit 8200. It is backed by Microsoft Ventures, Cisco, AT&T, Accenture, Qualcomm, Nokia, Citigroup, Temasek, Mitsui, Bessemer Venture Partners, Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and Marker LLC. For more information on Team8, please visit http://www.team8.vc

Media Contact:

Matthew Krieger, GKPR for Team8

[email protected]

+972-54-467-6950



SOURCE Team8
BOSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SimpliSafe, one of the nation's largest security companies, this month launched its new SimpliCam security camera, created by the same engineers behind its category-disrupting home security system. The camera can be used on its own or alongside the SimpliSafe security system. In addition to offering 24/7 HD video streaming and motion-triggered alerts, SimpliCam includes security-focused features like advanced privacy settings and visual verification alarm response.

Introducing SimpliSafe's Smart Security Camera: SimpliCam

SimpliCam's privacy settings have been woven into the fabric of the user experience, given increasing consumer concerns about privacy in the emerging era of "connected" devices. SimpliCam was built with a stainless steel privacy shutter that closes over the camera lens when users come home and opens when they leave. In addition, the mobile app provides manual control of the shutter, so users are always in the driver's seat when it comes to their privacy needs.

"As a security company, we understand that privacy in the home is sacred. We built our cameras to respect that," said Chad Laurans, SimpliSafe's founder and chief engineer.

Users that pair a SimpliCam with a SimpliSafe alarm system will enjoy a new and unique security feature: visual verification. Users can authorize SimpliSafe's professional alarm center to view footage of alarms in progress and provide visual verification to the police, giving law enforcement a live description of a burglary in progress. This could arm the police with detailed information like where in the house the intruders are, what articles they've taken out of the home, and even from which door they may be fleeing. Visual verification could also lead to even faster police response times and increase the odds of burglars getting caught. Users can also capture HD footage of an intruder's face to download and share.

SimpliCam also brings a security-first mindset to the alerts that customers receive on their smartphones. For instance, the camera will only notify you when there is something important to see. SimpliCam is calibrated to distinguish between human movement and branches swaying outside a window. The camera is even smarter when paired with SimpliSafe's security system, because it can then capture footage connected to all the events detected by the rest of the system's sensors.

SimpliCam gives users access to a 24/7 HD live stream of their home via a smartphone. While many HD streaming cameras are WiFi-hungry, SimpliCam's bitrate compression algorithm delivers a crystal clear picture without slowing down your home's internet. This is particularly important for a security camera, as users may want to place multiple cameras throughout their home.

"SimpliCam is a powerful and smart security camera. And true to our roots, we're offering it at a revolutionary price," said Melina Engel, SimpliSafe's head of marketing.

SimpliCam is available now online at SimpliSafe.com and in Best Buy stores nationwide.

Key Features of SimpliCam

Advanced Privacy Protection

SimpliCam was built with a stainless steel privacy shutter that closes over the camera lens when users come home and opens when they leave. The mobile app provides manual control of the shutter, so users are always in the driver's seat when it comes to their privacy needs. SimpliCam secures its users' video feeds with a level of data encryption on par with that used by major U.S. banks and the U.S. military.

Visual Verification

Users can pair SimpliCam with SimpliSafe security systems and enable visual verification. This will enable SimpliSafe alarm monitoring professionals to provide police with live visual verification of burglaries in progress and detailed information that could help increase arrest rates.

Capture Critical Evidence

See what happened before, during, and after your camera detects activity. With an optional recording plan, you can record, store, and share critical footage with police and neighbors. Record anytime at the push of a button from your phone, tablet, or computer.

Smart Motion Detection

False alerts are frustrating. No one wants to get bombarded with alerts every time their camera sees a tree moving. SimpliCam solves the cry-wolf problem. Its intelligent sensors are calibrated to detect the unique heat signature of humans and ignore distractions.

Crystal Clear HD Streaming

HD video files are large and can cause choppy playback and slow load times. SimpliSafe's engineers developed a variable bitrate compression algorithm, allowing for for crystal clear HD video that loads quickly and plays smoothly.

About SimpliSafe

Founded in 2006 by Chad Laurans, SimpliSafe offers professionally-monitored home security systems and HD security cameras. SimpliSafe's mission to make "every home secure" is carried out in its commitment to provide top-of-the-line security products and services without barriers like aggressive salesmen, expensive fees, and long-term contracts. Anyone can set up a SimpliSafe home security system in under an hour with no wiring, no drilling, and no tools. Today, SimpliSafe protects over a million Americans and has been featured in CNET, The New York Times, Fortune, The Today Show and more. To connect with SimpliSafe visit the SimpliSafe Facebook and Twitter profiles and SimpliSafe.com. The company is based in Boston and employs approximately 450 people.

SOURCE SimpliSafe

Related Links

http://simplisafe.com/simplicam-security-camera


HOUSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ION Geophysical Corporation (NYSE: IO) today announced a new 2D multi-client program offshore Gabon, EquatorSPAN II, in cooperation with the Gabon Ministry of Petroleum and Hydrocarbons, Direction General des Hydrocarbures of Gabon (DGH). The program includes over 1,900 km of new high-quality, deeply-imaged seismic data and is supported with industry prefunding.

EquatorSPAN II addresses the need for greater understanding of geologic conditions and basin evolution in support of future offshore license rounds. The program will image the deep basin architecture, define the limits of the various basins along the equatorial margin and identify potential petroleum systems. In addition, EquatorSPAN II integrates available offshore well data to regionally calibrate key stratigraphic horizons.

EquatorSPAN II is the newest addition to ION's data library, which includes over 500,000 km of 2D data and over 100,000 sq km of 3D data in exploration and production hot spots around the world. The program will tie to existing ION data sets including EquatorSPAN I, CongoSPAN and NigeriaSPAN to enhance the West African regional framework.

Joe Gagliardi, SVP of ION's Ventures group, commented, "Deepwater oil exploration offshore West Africa has thrived over the last 20 years and this region remains an important component of many E&P companies' exploration portfolios. In conjunction with existing and planned BasinSPAN surveys in adjacent countries, EquatorSPAN II will enhance the knowledge of the entire basin."

To learn more, visit iongeo.com/EquatorSPAN.

About ION

ION is a leading provider of technology-driven solutions to the global oil and gas industry. ION's offerings are designed to help companies reduce risk and optimize assets throughout the E&P lifecycle. For more information, visit iongeo.com.

Contacts

ION (Investor relations)

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Steve Bate, +1 281.552.3011

[email protected]

ION (Media relations)

Vice President, Communications

Rachel White, +1 281.781.1168

[email protected]

Direction General des Hydrocarbures of Gabon (DGH)

Directeur General des Hydrocarbures

Jacob Tsioba Thaty, +241 01 77 58 96

[email protected]

Directeur General Adjoint Amont

Edgard Mbina-Kombila, +241 01 77 31 68 Ext. 2144

[email protected]

Directeur de l'Exploration

Fanny-Flore Bissielo ep. Moukoumbi +241 01 77 31 68 Ext. 2154

[email protected]

The information herein contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements may include information and other statements that are not of historical fact. Actual results may vary materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include risks associated with the timing and development of the Company's products and services, the competitiveness of offers, pricing pressure, decreased demand, and changes in oil prices; and political, execution, regulatory, and currency risks. Additional risk factors, which could affect actual results are disclosed by the Company in its fillings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-Ks filed during the year. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE ION Geophysical Corporation

Related Links

http://www.iongeo.com


BOSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- John Hancock was named a Grand Stevie winner at the 2017 American Business Awards last night at the 15th annual banquet in New York City, in recognition of the quantity and quality of the company's submissions. Grand Stevie trophies are awarded for the Best of the ABA Awards, and are given to companies that submit the best body of work to the competition. In all, John Hancock received 23 awards in addition to the Grand Stevie: three Golds, six Silver and 14 Bronze.

John Hancock was named a Gold Stevie winner in the category of Information Technology Team of the Year (All Industries) for its submission "2016 Enterprise IT Successes Through Rebranding," and picked up a Bronze in the same category for: "The Need for Clean Data." It won Gold again in the category of Customer Service Success  Financial Service Industries.

"On behalf of John Hancock, I am very pleased to congratulate our many talented teams on receiving these important recognitions. We are proud of our dedication to consistently improving our products, service, and technology for the benefit, ultimately, of our customers," said John R. Hatch, Vice President, Operations.

The American Business Awards honor a spectrum of American business people and organizations -- from non-profits, emerging start-ups, major public companies and government agencies, to corner-office executives, product developers, marketers and web development teams. More than 3,600 entries were submitted to The 2017 American Business Awards and more than 190 executives nationwide participated in judging. For a complete list of all 2017 American Business Awards' Stevie Award winners visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

About John Hancock and Manulife

John Hancock is a division of Manulife, a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. Operating as Manulife in Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, our group of companies offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Assets under management and administration by Manulife and its subsidiaries were $1 trillion (US $754 billion) as at March 31, 2017. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife can be found on the Internet at manulife.com.

The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers and administers a broad range of financial products, including life insurance, annuities, investments, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com.

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the new Stevie Awards for Great Employers. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

SOURCE John Hancock

Related Links

http://johnhancock.com


BOSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- John Hancock was named the winner of two Stevie awards in the Communications or PR Campaign/Program of the Year category for its work with global communications firm Weber Shandwick on a campaign introducing a new healthy food benefit to the company's John Hancock Vitality life insurance. John Hancock Vitality is an innovative approach to life insurance that rewards people for living healthy.

The integrated campaign,"John Hancock Rewards Vitality Policyholders for Healthy Eating," targeting consumers, media and industry influencers was recognized with a Gold Stevie Award in Marketing for Consumer Products and a Silver Stevie in Media Relations. With the new HealthyFood benefit, John Hancock Vitality policyholders can save up to $600 each year on their grocery bills, and earn program points that lead to savings on their annual premiums -- as much as 15 percent.

"We are very excited to be recognized at the American Business Awards for the work we've done with Weber Shandwick to bring John Hancock Vitality and the HealthyFood benefit to life," said Brooks Tingle, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Strategy at John Hancock Insurance.

John Hancock was presented with these awards, as well as 21 additional Stevie awards for other company initiatives, at the 15th annual American Business Awards banquet held in New York City.

The American Business Awards honor a spectrum of American business people and organizations -- from non-profits, emerging start-ups, major public companies and government agencies, to corner-office executives, product developers, marketers and web development teams. More than 3,600 entries were submitted to The 2017 American Business Awards and more than 190 executives nationwide participated in judging. For a complete list of all 2017 American Business Awards' Stevie Award winners visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

"Each year the judges find the quality and variety of the nominations to be greater than the year before. The 2017 competition was intense and every organization that has won should be proud," said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.

Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2017 Stevie winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

1. HealthyFood savings are based on qualifying purchases and may vary based on the terms of the John Hancock Vitality program.





Insurance policies and/or associated riders and features may not be available in all states. Some riders may have additional fees and expenses associated with them.

Premium savings are in comparison to the same John Hancock policy without the Vitality program. Annual premium savings will vary based upon policy type, the terms of the policy, and the level of [the insured's] participation in the John Hancock Vitality program.





Vitality is the provider of the John Hancock Vitality Program in connection with the life insurance policy and Healthy Engagement Rider.





John Hancock Vitality Program rewards and discounts are only available to the person insured under the eligible life insurance policy.





Rewards and discounts are subject to change and are not guaranteed to remain the same for the life of the policy.

Insurance products are issued by John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.), Boston, MA 02210 (not licensed in New York) and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York, Valhalla, NY 10595. MLINY061917081

About John Hancock and Manulife

John Hancock is a division of Manulife, a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. Operating as Manulife in Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, our group of companies offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Assets under management and administration by Manulife and its subsidiaries were $1 trillion (US $754 billion) as at March 31, 2017. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife can be found on the Internet at manulife.com.

The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers and administers a broad range of financial products, including life insurance, annuities, investments, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com.

About Weber Shandwick

Weber Shandwick is a leading global communications and engagement firm in 79 cities across 34 countries, with a network extending to 127 cities in 81 countries. The firm's diverse team of strategists, analysts, producers, designers, developers and campaign activators has won the most prestigious awards in the world for innovative, creative approaches and impactful work. Weber Shandwick was the only public relations agency included on the Advertising Age Agency A-list in 2014 and 2015 and the only PR firm designated an A-List Agency Standout in 2017. Weber Shandwick was honored as PRWeek's Global Agency of the Year in 2015, 2016 and 2017, The Holmes Report's Global Agency of the Year in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015 and The Holmes Report's Global Digital Agency of the Year in 2016. The firm deploys deep expertise across sectors and specialty areas, including consumer marketing, corporate reputation, healthcare, technology, public affairs, financial services, corporate social responsibility, financial communications and crisis management, using proprietary social, digital and analytics methodologies. Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). For more information, visit http://www.webershandwick.com.





About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Insurance
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) will host a conference call for investors at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Tuesday, July 18th, to review second-quarter results. Alex Gorsky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Dominic Caruso, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Joseph J. Wolk, Vice President, Investor Relations, will host the call.

Investors and other interested parties can access the webcast/conference call in the following ways:

The webcast is accessible at Johnson & Johnson's website: www.investor.jnj.com. A webcast and podcast replay will be available approximately three hours after the conference call concludes.

By telephone: for both "listen-only" participants and those financial analysts who wish to take part in the question-and-answer portion of the call, the telephone dial-in number in the U.S. is 877-869-3847. For participants outside the U.S., the dial-in number is 201-689-8261.

A replay of the conference call will be available until approximately 12:00 a.m. on July 26, 2017 . The replay dial-in number for U.S. participants is 877-660-6853. For participants outside the U.S., the replay dial-in number is 201-612-7415. The replay conference ID number for all callers is 13664644.

Presentation materials will be available on www.investor.jnj.com.

The press release will be available at approximately 6:45 a.m. (Eastern Time) the morning of the conference call.

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.

SOURCE Johnson & Johnson

Related Links

http://www.jnj.com


NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RapidSOS today announced that Jonathan Peachey, former CEO of Virgin Group North America, is joining the RapidSOS Advisory Board. RapidSOS' advisors bring extensive expertise across industries. Peachey joins the Advisory Board to contribute his expertise in telecommunications, entrepreneurship, and technology from his 20-year career developing transformative international businesses.

"We are thrilled to bring Jonathan's experience in developing and growing over a dozen businesses to RapidSOS," said Michael Martin, RapidSOS CEO. "Jonathan's knowledge of startups, technology, and telecom will be invaluable as we work to transform the outcomes of millions of emergencies globally."

For 15 years, Jonathan worked closely with Sir Richard Branson, one of the world's most inspiring and prolific entrepreneurs. He held several senior positions at Virgin Group, ultimately serving as CEO of Virgin Group North America, where he was responsible for the development of a portfolio of companies that included Virgin America and Virgin Mobile.

In 2013, Jonathan left Virgin to become CEO of Filip Technologies, creator of 'FiLIP'  an award-winning wearable phone and locator for kids that enabled parents and kids to stay connected, and kids to get help in an emergency. FiLIP was the first consumer wearable with fully independent cellular voice-calling capability to achieve FCC and PTCRB certifications, and was launched with major wireless carriers AT&T and Telefonica.

"My experience at Filip Technologies taught me how critical it can be to get the right information to the right people as quickly as possible in the event of an emergency," said Peachey. "After spending several years working on technology to keep families safe and connected, I am thrilled to join RapidSOS as they work to provide a rich data link from any device directly to 9-1-1 and first responder systems."

RapidSOS is partnering with leading technology companies to link wearables, connected cars, mobile phones, and IoT sensors directly to 9-1-1 and first responders.

About RapidSOS

RapidSOS is an advanced emergency technology company. RapidSOS is developing technology to predict and preempt emergencies before they occur, dynamically warn people in harm's way, and link data from any connected device directly to first responders in an emergency. Formed in 2012 and backed by some of the world's top technologists, RapidSOS was named "2016 Start-Up of the Year" by the Consumer Technology Association, a Top Innovation of 2015 by MIT News, and Top 3 Innovative World Technologies by SXSW. Learn more at www.RapidSOS.com.

Contact:

RapidSOS

Michelle Cahn

[email protected]

(347) 879-0024

SOURCE RapidSOS

Related Links

http://www.RapidSOS.com


NESS ZIONA SCIENCE PARK, Israel, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Israeli biotechnology company Kadimastem (TASE: KDST) announced today that it had received approval from the IRB (Helsinki Committee) of the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital for the phase 1/2a clinical trial in ALS patients using the cell therapy product developed by the Company. The commencement of the clinical trial is subject to the approval of Ministry of Health's Supreme Committee for clinical trials in humans, which is expected to convene in the upcoming months.

After receiving the Ministry of Health's approval, the Company intends to commence the trial in ALS patients under the Ministry's supervision. The trial will include 21 patients and will be conducted by the Department of Neurology of the Hadassah Ein-Kerem Medical Center in Ein-Kerem, a world-leading center in the field of ALS.

Kadimastem's product, AstroRx is a cell-based treatment for ALS, based on astrocytes produced from stem cells. Kadimastem's unique technology enables large-scale production of the cells according to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standard. The cells will be injected into the patients' spinal fluid using a standard injection procedure, performed routinely in hospitals worldwide.

Yossi Ben-Yossef, the company's CEO, noted, "The approval of the Hadassah Hospital IRB is a very important milestone towards the clinical trial and for the company. During the trial, ALS patients will be treated for the first time using the unique cell-based product developed by the company, which is the result of years of innovative research. We believe that we can introduce a breakthrough in the field, and we are hoping to repeat the good results we have demonstrated so far in humans as well."

Prof. Michel Revel, the company's Chief Scientist, added, "The Hadassah Hospital IRB's approval is very encouraging for the Company, as this is an important step in the clinical trial's approval process. This is a significant milestone in the company's progress towards reaching its goals."

About Kadimastem

Kadimastem is a biotechnology company, operating in the field of regenerative medicine - a groundbreaking field in which the malfunctioning of organs which leads to diseases is repaired by external cells, tissues or organs. The company specializes in the development of human stem cell-based medical solutions for the treatment of diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases, such as ALS and Multiple Sclerosis. The company was founded in August 2009 by Professor Michel Revel and Yossi Ben Yossef, and is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: KDST). Kadimastem employs 35 people, of which 11 are PhDs, and its 1,700m2 offices and labs are located in the Ness Ziona Science Park.

Kadimastem was founded based on patent protected technology that was developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Prof. Michel Revel's laboratory. Prof. Revel, who serves as the company's Chief Scientist and director, developed Merck KGaA's blockbuster drug, Rebif for the treatment of MS (sales of around $2.4 billion sales in 2014).

Based on the company's unique platform, Kadimastem is developing two types of medical applications: A. Regenerative medicine, which repairs and replaces organs and tissue by using functioning cells differentiated from stem cells. The company focuses on transplanting healthy brain cells to support the survivability of nerve cells as cell therapy for ALS, and transplanting insulin-secreting pancreatic cells for the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes; B. Drug screening platforms, which use functional human cells and tissues to discover new medicinal drugs. The company has two collaboration agreements with leading global pharmaceutical companies.

The company is headed by Yossi Ben-Yossef, an entrepreneur with extensive experience in life sciences companies. The company's chairman is Dr. Eli Opper, formerly the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Labor and Trade, and its investors include Altshuler Shaham Investment House, foreign investors (Julien Ruggieri and Avi Meizler), and the company's founders.

Kadimastem has an extensive scientific advisory board, featuring prominent scientists and pioneers: in the embryonic stem cells field, Professor Benjamin Reubinoff and Professor Joseph Itskovich, in the neurodegenerative disease field, Professor Tamir Ben-Hur, and in the diabetes field, Professor Shimon Efrat and Professor Eddy Karnieli.

Contact:

Yehuda Feinberg

Tel: +972-73-7971604

Email: [email protected]



SOURCE Kadimastem
KENT, Ohio, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kent Displays Inc., the makers of Boogie Board eWriters, is announcing successes in its approach to the global protection of its intellectual property (IP) rights, including its patents, trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights. Invented in the U.S., the Boogie Board eWriter is a popular electronic writing device sold globally that provides the feel of a natural pen-on-paper writing experience.

"We take the enforcement of our intellectual property very seriously," said CEO, Dr. Albert Green.

The company's strategy includes a case pursued with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in which foreign manufacturers have been identified to have violated patents held by Kent Displays.

"Our strategy involving the ITC courts has been very deliberate and a big success for us. We will continue our proactive approach to defend our IP utilizing tactics that will not risk exposing our trade secrets to potential infringers," Green said. "In addition to the ITC action, we are exercising our rights to pursue increasingly aggressive avenues, including federal courts."

This development comes on the heels of other successes for Kent Displays, including take downs of infringing goods and committed partnerships with distributors and retailers to thwart violators of its intellectual property.

"We're scoring these victories because our distribution network, our retailers, and our consumers appreciate the authenticity that comes with our highly-valued eWriter products," Green said. "That especially includes the large number of consumers in China who love our brand. And there should be no doubt that the feeling is mutual we are an American company that creates and supports thousands of jobs in China."

Kent Displays, known for its technological innovation, breakthrough design, and sophisticated global marketing, has several unannounced new products set for release this year and beyond. "We are taking the proactive steps necessary to ensure that the fruits of our innovation go to those who deserve its reward that includes our collaborative partners in China and across the globe," Green said.

About Kent Displays, Inc.



Founded in 1993, Kent Displays is a world leader in the research, development, and manufacture of patented roll-to-roll no power LCDs. The company is a global leader in eWriter display technology and the maker of Boogie Board brand eWriters  among the world's fastest-growing communication and writing tools. Hailed for its incredibly natural writing experience, Kent Displays has sold millions of Boogie Board eWriters in 40 countries worldwide.

In addition to its established mass consumer products business, Kent Displays is actively expanding its proprietary eWriter technology into OEM markets including consumer electronics, mobile electronics accessories, security, healthcare, and education. Kent Displays has won numerous global and North American business awards for manufacturing, business growth, and innovation, including the Toy Industry Association's coveted Toy of the Year award in 2016.

For more information about Kent Displays or Boogie Board eWriters please visit kentdisplays.com and myboogieboard.com.

CONTACT: James Alay | Manager, Marketing Communications

[email protected] | 330.673.8784 x271

SOURCE Kent Displays, Inc.

Related Links

http://kentdisplays.com


BOSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kingfisher Talent, the Boston-based consortium for biotech executive search and leadership development, announces the addition of Merle Kummer, a leading figure in life science R&D leadership.

"Merle brings a unique value proposition, specifically in biotech innovation, that will bring immense value to our clients as we continue to push the boundaries of traditional executive search," said Lucy Watson-Baker, President. "We are delighted to welcome her to the team."

Kummer's work on building innovation capability for life science teams accelerates the development of novel new treatments to the patients that need them. A pioneer in the practical application of new discoveries in the cognitive and interpersonal mechanisms of innovation, she brings cross-disciplinary creativity into the everyday work of life science teams.

As creator and facilitator of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development's acclaimed course Leadership for Drug Development Teams, she has significantly contributed to building the careers of a generation of high-performing biopharma leaders. As Principal of Kummer Consulting, she has delivered breakthrough R&D performance improvement for leading innovators including Biogen, Shire, and Alexion. Her de-risking approach to decision-making enables companies to synthesize knowledge across scientific, regulatory, financial, and commercial domains to make sound strategic choices in the fast-changing world of life science.

"I'm excited to join the Kingfisher team," said Kummer. "We know that bringing in a new executive is an opportunity for transformational change. I look forward to leveraging Kingfisher's deep level of understanding and trust developed in the executive search process to help companies excel in advancing drug development."

About Kingfisher Talent

Kingfisher Talent is a Boston-based consortium of recognized industry experts in executive search and leadership development. Working exclusively in the biotech sector within the Bay state, Kingfisher provides biotech companies with a competitive advantage throughout the entire talent lifecycle from attraction through onboarding and development of talented leaders. Kingfisher Talent is a woman-owned business, and women are strongly represented throughout the consortium.

For further information, please visit www.KingfisherTalent.com

Contact:

Lucy Watson-Baker

President

857-400-8448

[email protected]

SOURCE Kingfisher Talent

Related Links

http://www.KingfisherTalent.com


Krystal's Sweet & Cold menu features creamy, soft-serve ice cream cones and cups, satisfying sundaes, Kool-Aid slushies in fun fruit flavors like Green Apple and Grape, refreshing Caramel Mocha Frost blended coffee, and rich, hand-spun milkshakes. The brand has partnered with the iconic Kool-Aid brand for its high-flavor slushies.

"Our guests are passionate about our hot & steamy Krystals," says Alice Crowder, Vice President of Marketing at Krystal. "The perfect pairing to that savory flavor is a sweet, cold treat, and we're confident that our new product line will help deliver an even more delightful taste experience."

The Sweet & Cold menu was designed to give guests more of what they craved, and to give them more options from which to choose. Krystal is known for not cutting corners when it comes to flavor and this menu also adds great options for a morning or afternoon snack for many restaurant-goers.

"When our guests think of Krystal, they think of delicious, satisfying, quick meals and treats," continued Crowder. "Krystal's hot and cold crave-able treats are the perfect complement to summertime fun."

About The Krystal Company

Founded in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1932, The Krystal Company is the oldest quick service restaurant chain in the South. Its hamburgers are still served fresh and hot off the grill on the iconic square bun at more than 350 restaurants in 11 states. Krystal's Atlanta-based Restaurant Support Center serves a team of 6,000 employees. For more information, visit http://www.Krystal.com or http://www.facebook.com/Krystal or follow the brand on Twitter and Instagram @Krystal.

About The Kraft Heinz Company

The Kraft Heinz Company is the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, with eight $1 billion+ brands. A globally trusted producer of delicious foods, The Kraft Heinz Company provides high quality, great taste and nutrition for all eating occasions whether at home, in restaurants or on the go. The Company's iconic brands include Kraft, Heinz, ABC, Capri Sun, Classico, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Lunchables, Maxwell House, Ore-Ida, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Planters, Plasmon, Quero, Weight Watchers Smart Ones and Velveeta. The Kraft Heinz Company is dedicated to the sustainable health of our people, our planet and our Company. For more information, visit www.kraftheinzcompany.com.

Peyton Sadler

305-631-2283

[email protected]

SOURCE The Krystal Company

Related Links

http://www.krystal.com


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lacework, a provider of cloud workload security solutions, has been named to Red Herring's Top 100 North America 2017, a prestigious list honoring the year's most promising private technology ventures from the North American business region. Selections for the 2017 edition of the Red Herring 100 North America award are based upon technological innovation, 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, publisher and CEO 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."

Lacework Polygraph is the industry's first zero-touch cloud workload security platform that delivers insights into workloads - from users, to applications, processes, VMs, containers, and machines  enabling instant detection of breaches and insider threats, for public, private and hybrid cloud deployments. With Polygraph, Lacework eliminates the reliance on labor-intensive policy and rule development and time-consuming log correlation activities that characterize today's alternatives. Unlike other solutions on the market today, Lacework Polygraph was developed to provide end-to-end visibility so security professionals get a complete picture of an attack or insider threat and respond more quickly and effectively.

"Today, traditional static security solutions based on rules and policies are not flexible enough, and too labor intensive, to follow the pace of change we see in dev ops. At Lacework, we allow organizations to rapidly identify anomalies and spend more time and energy implementing the required changes to remediate them in the future," said Jack Kudale, CEO, Lacework. "The Red Herring 100 is widely regarded as influential for discovering the most promising private ventures and technologies from around the world. We are honored by this recognition from Red Herring as it is yet another validation to the innovation our team is developing with our Polygraph platform."

Red Herring has been selecting the most exciting and promising start-ups for more than two decades. Twenty criteria underlie the scoring and process, which include, but are not limited to: level of specialty, disruptiveness of the solution in its respective markets, technological advantage, and CEO/team experience and track record. This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the company's actual track record and standing, which allows Red Herring to see past the "buzz" and make the list a valuable tool for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry. Brands such as Alibaba, Google, Kakao, Skype, Spotify, Twitter, and YouTube have all been singled out in Red Herring's storied history.

"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 Lacework embodies the drive, skill and passion on which tech thrives. Lacework should be proud of its achievement - the competition was incredibly strong."

The Lacework Polygraph platform provides a complete picture of the entire cyber kill chain for end-to-end visibility so security professionals can connect and visualize elements of an attack or insider threat to respond more quickly and effectively. To learn more about Lacework and the benefits of the Polygraph Platform, please visit the company's website and follow the company on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Lacework

Based in Mountain View, California, Lacework is the industry's first zero-touch, cloud workload security platform that provides breach detection, insider threat management, workload insights, and investigation analysis. After nearly two years of dedicated development and testing, Polygraphs, Lacework's flagship offering, has been built to significantly compress the breach detection cycle, reduce false positives, provide high precision alerts, and simplify investigation analysis. Lacework's solution provides security for dynamic datacenter, cloud and container workloads without requiring any policies, rules or manual tagging. Lacework automatically discovers customers' workloads, applications and users, along with their interactions, by creating Polygraphs. For more information, please visit https://www.lacework.com/.

Media Contact

Matt Russell

Lumina Communications on behalf of Lacework

(646) 741-8359

[email protected]

SOURCE Lacework

Related Links

https://www.lacework.com


IRVINE, Calif., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Proove Biosciences, Inc. announces a new peer-reviewed study demonstrating that treatment decisions informed by Proove Opioid Risk result in better patient outcomes and positive physician impact. This study, entitled "Prospective, Longitudinal Study to Evaluate the Clinical Utility of a Predictive Algorithm to Detect Opioid Use Disorder in Chronic Pain Patients" has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy (Impact factor 1.4).

Researcher Katrina Lewis, M.D. of Benefis Healthcare System's Pain Medicine department teamed with Proove scientists to conduct a multi-center, prospective study across 76 clinics involving 5,315 patients to determine the clinical utility of an algorithm-based precision medicine profile to assess risk for opioid use disorder (OUD). Building on three peer-reviewed clinical validity studies showing stable predictive accuracy up to 96.7%, and dozens of published studies showing that the 17 component factors of this technology correlate with opioid risk behaviors, this new study evaluated whether Proove Opioid Risk impacts physician decision-making and, if so, do patients get better.

Results show that when clinicians use Proove Opioid Risk, patients experience less pain without opioid abuse. 91% of patients reported pain reduction after receiving care guided by Proove Opioid Risk. The average pain reduction was 42%, or a reduction from 6.7 to 3.9 on a 0 to 10 numerical rating scale (p= 5.27 x 10-152). Almost 40% of patients had more than a 50% reduction in pain, and 13% reported complete elimination of pain.

At least 90% of physicians stated Proove Opioid Risk benefited their patients, with 27% indicating "significant benefit." Those benefits included: opioid discontinuation (p=1.17 x 10-6), advised another provider (p=3.16 x 10-3), confidence in medical regimen p=1.81 x 10-15), and changed opioid or dosage (p=1.39 x 10-6).

Dr. Ashley Brenton, Director of R&D at Proove explains, "With many tools and technologies available to clinicians, patients, and payers, this study demonstrates that Proove Opioid Risk is clinically superior. It not only avoids opioid abuse, but also helps physicians make better decisions to reduce patient pain and support more rational opioid utilization, such as reducing utilization in high risk populations."

About Proove Biosciences: Proove Biosciences is the leader in precision medicine for the condition that lies at the nexus of health  pain. Proove delivers precision medicine solutions for the nation's most prevalent and expensive health condition by investing heavily in research that has won awards from leading medical societies and been published in peer-reviewed journals. Discovered by NIH-funded scientists, Proove has translated into clinical practice the genetic variants and phenotypic factors contributing to pain sensitivity and chronic pain risk. Proove's medical advisory board is led by those NIH-funded researchers and the company has licensed some of its technology from leading academic centers, such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Utah, and other institutions. Positioned as The Healthcare Decision Company, Proove's patented technology platform combines genetic, clinical, environmental and lifestyle information to help clinicians better evaluate pain sensitivity, assess risk for opioid use disorder, predict therapeutic response to pain medications, and assess drug metabolism for the many medications used in chronic pain patients. Based in Irvine, California, Proove has been recognized on the Inc. 500 and the Deloitte Technology Fast500 as one of the fastest growing companies in North America. For more information, please visit www.proove.com or call toll free 855-PROOVE-BIO (855-776-6832).

SOURCE Proove Biosciences, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.proove.com


LONDON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Highlights

 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.

 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 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.



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.

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

 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

 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

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4946497/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com

For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc. (CSE: LDS), (OTCQB: LDSYF), (Frankfurt: LD6, WKN: A14XHT) ("LDS" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has acquired ten acres in Adelanto, California for the development of a contract cultivation project.

The land parcel acquired by the Company for a total cash consideration of USD$500,000, is located in close proximity to the 22,000 square foot Adelanto facility currently being retrofitted by the Company for use in its planned business operations pursuant to the management agreements with NHMC, Inc. and CSPA Group, Inc.

The newly acquired ten acres is suitable for up to ten individual 20,000 square foot cultivation facilities. These facilities together could potentially produce as much as 25% of the total bio-mass necessary to supply LDS Scientific's projected annual manufacturing and production requirements to produce oil and distillate for CannaStrips. The Company intends to develop and own the facilities, which will be leased to permitted cultivation entities that hold Conditional Use Permits in Adelanto. The Company, through series of operating and management agreements, will have a right of first refusal to acquire the bio-mass produced in the new cultivation facilities. The integration of this project into the Company's supply chain will allow for a continuous supply of clean bio-mass for manufacturing the purest and safest products possible. The CEO of LDS, Brad Eckenweiler commented, "This project is an integral part of the Company's overall strategy to control its production and manufacturing capabilities at every level of the supply chain. From seed to sale we intend to control the quality, effectiveness and the cost to the patients." The Company intends to submit its development plans to the City of Adelanto in July 2017 for approval.

About Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

The Company's technology produces infused strips (similar to breath strips) that are not only a safer, healthier option to smoking, but also a new way to accurately meter the dosage and assure the purity of the product. In addition, with the entering into its management services agreements with NHMC, Inc. and CSPA Group, Inc., the Company has begun its foray into being directly involved in the growing of medicinal ingredients for, and the manufacturing of, its products. From seed to sale, the Company's products and ingredients will be tested for quality and composition throughout the formulation and production processes, resulting in a delivery system that is safe, consistent and effective.

On behalf of the board of directors of Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

Brad Eckenweiler

CEO & Director

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

[email protected]

1-866-347-5058

Cautionary Disclaimer Statement:

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's limited operating history and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE Lifestyle Delivery Systems Inc.

Related Links

https://lifestyledeliverysystem.com


PARIS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a $104 million contract to develop, produce and field a threat simulator for future combat aircrew training.

The program, known as the Advanced Radar Threat System Variant 2 (ARTS-V2), will use radar threat emitters to simulate advanced medium-range surface-to-air missiles (SAM) to support legacy and 5th generation combat aircrew training requirements.

"We are very pleased to have been selected to provide this important capability. It is vital our aircrews train against current and evolving surface-to-air threats," said Bob Saxer, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense Emerging Programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "Our ARTS-V2 system has been designed to provide pilots an affordable, maintainable, high-fidelity training experience."

The contract calls for the development and delivery of a Production Ready Assembly (PRA) article and options to produce up to 20 systems.

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.lmco.com


TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945

TORONTO, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -  Manulife is hosting an Investor Day in Hong Kong today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time June 21 (9 p.m. June 20 to 5 a.m. June 21 eastern time), and in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam June 22 from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time (3 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. eastern time).

Manulife's senior management will present the Company's strategic direction with an emphasis on its Asia and Wealth & Asset Management businesses, customer centric focus and progress on digital innovation.

Interested parties may access the live webcast through Manulife.com/Events-Presentations. An archived version of the webcast audio will be available the day after the live event at the same location for six months. The Investor Day slide presentations can also be found at Manulife.com/Events-Presentations.

Wednesday, June 21 Agenda

Speaker Topic Donald Guloien, Chief Executive Officer Delivering on commitments, driving shareholder value and preparing for the future Roy Gori, President A compelling opportunity and clear priorities to win Steve Roder, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Commitment to shareholder value creation Roy Gori, President Phil Witherington, Interim CEO Asia Executing on our Asia opportunity Linda Mantia, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Driving Customer Centricity and Innovation Kai Sotorp, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manulife Asset Management, Executive Vice President, Global Head of Wealth and Asset Management A global wealth and asset management platform with solid growth momentum

Thursday, June 22 Agenda

Speaker Topic Phil Witherington, Interim CEO Asia Manulife's significant Emerging Asia opportunity Paul Nguyen, VP & General Manager, Manulife Vietnam The Vietnam opportunity

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people achieve their dreams and aspirations by putting customers' needs first and providing the right advice and solutions. We operate as John Hancock in the United States and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2016, we had approximately 35,000 employees, 70,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 22 million customers. As of March 31, 2017, we had $1 trillion (US$754 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made almost $26.3 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.

SOURCE Manulife Financial Corporation

Related Links

http://www.manulife.com


NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mesothelioma Compensation Center is now urging an electrical worker or any electrician who has recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma to call anytime at 800-714-0303 for access to two or three of the nation's most skilled, experienced, and capable mesothelioma attorneys. The group's number one goal for people with mesothelioma is to get the best possible financial compensation. This might explain why they are so passionate about a person with mesothelioma hiring the absolute top mesothelioma attorneys in the nation. http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com

Electrician/Electrical Worker Asbestos Warning Sign

An electrician or electrical worker could have had exposure to asbestos by having contact with the following products:

Electric wiring insulation

Protective clothing that contained asbestos including gloves, pants and coats

Insulation

Cement siding

Textured paints

Decorative plaster

Electrical panel and partitions

Electrical ducts

Cement wallboards & cement siding

Electrical cloth

The Mesothelioma Compensation Center says, "The reason the financial compensation for an electrical worker or electrician can be so significant is because prior to 1980 the individual most likely had non-stop exposure to asbestos. The only work groups that could have had equal or more exposure to asbestos would be a US Navy Veteran, shipyard worker, plumber, insulator, or welder.

"If we had one vital tip for an electrical worker or electrician with mesothelioma it would be call us at 800-714-0303 to ensure you have the nation's top mesothelioma attorneys working on your financial claim.

"We recommend the nation's most skilled and qualified mesothelioma attorneys because these experts produce the best financial compensation results for their clients nationwide. We want people with mesothelioma to get the best compensation, but to do so they will need to team up with the nation's top mesothelioma attorneys as we would like to discuss." http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com

For a listing of most major electrical utility companies in the United States please refer to the following website: http://www.bestenergynews.com/solar/utility_co/utility_companies.php.

The Mesothelioma Compensation Center specializes in assisting specific types of people who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma. The Center's top priority is assisting US Navy Veterans, shipyard workers, oil refinery workers, public-utility workers, chemical plant workers, manufacturing workers, power plant workers, plumbers, welders, electricians, millwrights, pipefitters, boiler technicians, machinists, nuclear power plant workers, hydro-electric workers or oil and gas field production workers who have been diagnosed with this rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure. In most instances a diagnosed person with mesothelioma was exposed to asbestos in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's. http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com

According to the CDC the states indicated with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington, and Oregon. However, an electrician or electric utility worker with mesothelioma could live in any state including California, New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, or Alaska.

The average age for a diagnosed victim of mesothelioma is about 72 years old. This year between 2500, and 3000 US citizens will be diagnosed with mesothelioma. US Navy Veterans comprise about one-third of all people who will be diagnosed with mesothelioma each year in the United States.

The Mesothelioma Compensation Center says, "Before you hire a law firm to advance a mesothelioma compensation claim for yourself or a family member please call us anytime at 800-714-0303 to ensure you are talking directly to the nation's very best mesothelioma attorneys." http://MesotheliomaCompensationCenter.Com

For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html

Contact:

Michael Thomas

8007140303

[email protected]

SOURCE Mesothelioma Compensation Center
PALO ALTO, Calif., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MetricStream, the independent market leader in Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Apps and Solutions, recognized high performers at the GRC Journey Awards ceremony, held on the evening of June 6, 2017 at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, MD. The annual awards ceremony celebrates and recognizes individuals, customers, and partners who are leading their organization's GRC Journey, championing GRC programs, and achieving superior business performance through GRC.

The awards ceremony was part of the MetricStream GRC Summit, held June 4-7, 2017. Based on the theme, "GRC for High Performers," the summit brought together GRC thought leaders and domain experts to debate and explore strategies and solutions to today's most dynamic business challenges, including cyber threats, third and fourth-party risk, corruption, and business continuity.

The GRC Journey Awards were presented in five categories, recognizing the achievements of various individuals and organizations. Presenting the awards were Susan Palm, SVP of GRC Solutions at MetricStream and Yo Delmar, VP of GRC Solutions at MetricStream.

The award categories were:

GRC PROGRAM EXCELLENCE AWARDS

The GRC Program Excellence Awards recognize MetricStream customers who have built a world-class integrated GRC program across the enterprise. These customers understand that for GRC to be truly effective, it needs to be pervasive  from the board and C-suite, down to the front lines.

The awardees in this category were:

Assurant, Inc.

Sterling National Bank

TCF Financial Corporation

GRC JOURNEY AWARDS

The GRC Journey Awards recognize customers who have a well-planned and thoughtfully implemented GRC program. These companies have made exceptional progress along their GRC journey with a clear vision of integrated GRC, a high level of GRC maturity, and strong processes to adopt GRC across the enterprise.

The awardees in this category were:

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)

Fannie Mae

First Citizens Group

Kohl's Corporation

Raymond James Financial

Salesforce

GRC VISIONARY AWARDS

The GRC Visionary Awards recognize individuals who have a passion for GRC and a strong vision for their organization's GRC journey. They are the driving force behind their organization's GRC program, and they champion the cause of GRC across the business. They are also renowned thought leaders in the industry.

The awardees in this category were:

Knute Ohman , Vice President, GRC Program Manager, TCF Financial Corporation

, Vice President, GRC Program Manager, TCF Financial Corporation Dr. Ram Mohan Rao , President, Aurobindo Pharma

GRC PRACTICE LEADER AWARDS

The GRC Practice Leader Awards recognize individuals who are working hard to ensure that GRC programs and technologies are implemented effectively across the organization. Backed by a deep expertise in GRC, practice leaders understand the organization's GRC vision, and lead its implementation.

The awardees in this category were:

Akhenaton Marcano, Assistant General Manager, Group Operational Risk & Controls, First Citizens Group

Hema Lakshminarayanan , Director  GRC & Security Analytics, Verisign, Inc.

, Director  GRC & Security Analytics, Verisign, Inc. Lady Michelle Valdez , Senior Manager, Enterprise Risk Management, SunPower Corporation

, Senior Manager, Enterprise Risk Management, SunPower Corporation Sadhana Deot , Director of Quality, Reliability, & Regulatory, Trimble, Inc.

, Director of Quality, Reliability, & Regulatory, Trimble, Inc. Scott Beers , Vice President, Operational Risk Management, Sterling National Bank

, Vice President, Operational Risk Management, Sean Davison , Information Security Analyst, Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company

, Information Security Analyst, Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company Sundeep Chahal , Head of Group Operational Risk Shared Services, Barclays

, Head of Group Operational Risk Shared Services, Barclays Vice President of Corporate Audit at a leading financial services firm

GRC PARTNER AWARDS

The GRC Partner Awards recognize MetricStream's business partners who have provided exceptional service and GRC expertise to our customers. Partners demonstrate a deep commitment to GRC, and work closely with MetricStream teams to provide hands-on assistance to clients, and to ensure that GRC implementations are successful.

There were three awards in this category, and the awardees were:

GRC Journey Partner Award for Global Center of Excellence - KPMG

GRC Journey Partner Award for Customer Engagement  PricewaterhouseCoopers

GRC Journey Emerging Partner Award  Estuate and Protiviti

"It is our privilege to celebrate individuals and organizations who are truly leading the way with world-class GRC programs," said Shellye Archambeau, CEO at MetricStream. She continued, "Their leadership, vision, and perseverance are inspiring, and their GRC journeys are a testament to the performance gains and growth that a well-executed GRC program can deliver."

About MetricStream

MetricStream, the independent market leader in enterprise and cloud applications for Governance, Risk, Compliance (GRC) and Quality Management, makes GRC simple. MetricStream apps improve business performance by strengthening risk management, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, vendor governance, and quality management for hundreds of thousands of users in dozens of industries, including Financial Services, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Energy and Utilities, Food, Retail, CPG, Government, Hi-Tech and Manufacturing. MetricStream is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with an operations and R&D center in Bangalore, India, and sales and operations support in 12 other cities globally. (www.metricstream.com).

Media Contact:

Molly Palm

US: +1 (925) 451-1468

[email protected]

SOURCE MetricStream
LONDON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Summary



A total increase of 2.3% is expected in the global upstream oil and gas production over the 2017 to 2021 period. The average capex spending is expected to decrease by 3.4% when compared with the March 2017 report. Also the number of planned projects has increased by 20 when compared with the March report. The number of planned projects expected to come online in the 2017-2025 period would be the highest in South America and Africa among regions, followed by North America.



Scope



- Global oil and gas production outlook by region for the period 2017 to 2021

- Key economic metrics for the global upstream industry by major regions and companies

- Global liquids and natural gas production outlook by region for the period 2017 to 2021

- Global capex spending outlook on planned projects by key regions and companies



Reasons to buy



- Identify opportunities and challenges in the global upstream industry

- Facilitate decision making on the basis of strong outlook of planned oil and gas production

- Develop business strategies with the help of specific insights on the global production and capex outlook

- Assess your competitor's capex and key economic metrics

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4948765/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

http://www.reportbuyer.com


NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, which specializes in providing retirement products and related services to organizations and their employees, as well as individuals, announced the appointment of Dr. Ellen Ochoa to its Board of Directors. Mutual of America partnered with Korn Ferry's Board and CEO Practice to conduct a national search, which resulted in Dr. Ochoa's appointment.

Dr. Ochoa is the director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. She is the Center's first Hispanic director and its second female director. "I am delighted that Dr. Ochoa has joined Mutual of America's Board of Directors," said Thomas J. Moran, Chairman of the Board. "Her leadership, expertise and her lifetime of dedicated service to our country will enable Dr. Ochoa to make a significant contribution to the Board as the Company continues its commitment to help individuals save for a financially secure future."

Dr. Ochoa joined NASA in 1988 as a research engineer at Ames Research Center and moved to Johnson Space Center in 1990 when she was selected as an astronaut. In 1993, she became the first Hispanic woman to go to space and has logged nearly 1,000 hours in orbit.

Born in California, Dr. Ochoa earned a bachelor's degree in physics from San Diego State University and a master's degree and doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University. As a research engineer at Sandia National Laboratories and NASA Ames Research Center, Dr. Ochoa investigated optical systems for performing information processing. She is a co-inventor on three patents and author of several technical papers.

Dr. Ochoa has been honored with the Harvard Foundation Science Award, Women in Aerospace Outstanding Achievement Award, Hispanic Engineer Albert Baez Award for Outstanding Technical Contribution to Humanity and the Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award, in addition to various NASA awards. She is especially honored to have six schools named for her. Dr. Ochoa is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). She serves as a member of the National Science Board and chairs the Nomination Evaluation Committee for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

About Mutual of America

Mutual of America specializes in providing retirement products and services to organizations and their employees, as well as to individuals. Since 1945, Mutual of America has remained committed to offering plan sponsors, plan participants and individuals carefully selected, quality products and services at a competitive price and the personal attention they need to help build and preserve assets for a financially secure future. For more information, visit mutualofamerica.com.

SOURCE Mutual of America Life Insurance Company

Related Links

http://www.mutualofamericas.com


HOUSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- National Asset Services (NAS), one of the Country's leading commercial real estate companies, has successfully delivered a lending source for refinancing an 18-member, tenant-in-common (TIC) multifamily property, preserving the co-owners original 1031 Exchange benefits and options.

National Asset Services, one of the Country's leading commercial real estate companies, has successfully delivered a lending source for refinancing Chartwell Court Apartments, an 18-member, tenant-in-common (TIC) multifamily property in Houston, Texas. Refinancing with the TIC structure in place preserved the co-owners' original 1031 Exchange benefits and options.

With a reputation of developing loan maturity options for commercial real estate investors, NAS assumed management responsibility of Chartwell Court Apartments in 2015. Company executives immediately initiated a multi-faceted strategy to increase the property's revenue by increasing occupancy through aggressive leasing, while creating a better living experience by addressing deferred maintenance issues. The property's exterior was also painted.

The property's occupancy and revenue growth, along with NAS' strong reputation for closing, were key factors in securing a capital source for refinancing the asset.

NAS worked with Keystone Mortgage Corporation in securing financing for Chartwell Court Apartments. The Southern California-based company, known for its expertise as a commercial financing advisor, is an example of NAS' network of highly reputable industry resources.

Obtaining refinancing for a property, with a small number of TIC co-owners is uncommon in today's environment. Securing capital for a large TIC group is an even more highly unusual event.

"Karen Kennedy and the entire NAS team worked tirelessly to make the Chartwell Court refinance a reality. Their management of the property is the best I have ever experienced; they are my safety net!" commented Ralph O. Farinas, a Chartwell Court TIC Co-owner. "We spent about two years in court to replace the previous manager and engaging NAS made it all worthwhile. They have that very rare combination of honesty and results."

Chartwell Court Apartments was one of hundreds of properties purchased by TIC investors in the mid 2000's during the wave of financing with highly leveraged, 10-year CMBS loans. As the commercial market began contracting in 2009, many properties faced economic challenges, due to market conditions as well as mismanagement. With the industry still experiencing the wave of CMBS loan maturities, capital sources are reluctant to refinance a tenant-in-common property, unless the TIC structure consolidated into one legal entity. Refinancing a property with the TIC ownership structure in place, ensures that the investors original 1031 Exchange options remain intact after close of the refinancing.

"Our ability to leverage our strong industry relationships made the possibility of refinancing an 18-member, tenant-in-common property a reality," commented Karen E. Kennedy, President and Founder of National Asset Services. "The option to refinance, while keeping the existing TIC structure in place was the very best possible outcome for our clients invested in this property."

Originally built in 1995, a group of TIC investors purchased the apartment community in 2007. Chartwell Court is located about two miles west of Interstate-45, approximately 17 miles north of downtown Houston. The 253,553 square foot complex consists of 243 units housed in 20, two-story buildings, a leasing office and clubhouse. All units have an attached garage and community amenities consist of a fitness center, business center, cyber cafe and coffee bar. There is a resort-style pool with an outdoor grill.

About National Asset Services (NAS)

NAS is a commercial real estate management that works with over 90 investment groups in properties of a nationwide portfolio valued at over $2 billion. The company manages a wide range of diverse commercial real estate: Office, medical office, multifamily, retail, student housing, assisted living and industrial flex properties. The company manages solely owned and multi-owner properties. NAS offers a wide-range of asset management capabilities. They include: Real estate strategy analysis; long-range business objectives; monitoring changing market conditions; investor relations; real estate and investor accounting; loan modification and workout solutions; exit and hold strategies; leasing & marketing; tenant retention plans; research studies; site selections; feasibility studies; insurance risk management; capital improvement planning and tracking; property tax appeal services and cost segregation services.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, NAS operates regional offices in Chicago, Illinois, and Austin, Texas.

For more information about NAS, visit www.nasassets.com.

Contact:

JW Robison

[email protected]

424.227.6888

SOURCE National Asset Services

Related Links

http://www.nasassets.com


SILVER SPRING, Md., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- N Wellington Associates, a healthcare consulting company, announces two new safety products to help remind parents and caregivers to be mindful of their babies and toddlers in hot extreme weather conditions particularly in hot cars.

Our new Wellington's Safety Reminder is a visual low-tech removable car decal for inside the car and a removable car magnet for outside the car. These visual safety reminder products are colorfully designed with effective printed messages to remind parents. They are easy to use, and you can affix them to your car, remove them, reaffix them to the car, or leave them on the car for as long as you wish. To affix the Car Decal, peel off the removable colorful image and affix it to the dashboard. To affix the Car Magnet, affix the colorful removable car magnet to the driver side of the car on the outside.

These products are designed to help remind parents and caregivers that their little children are in the car particularly in hot weather, and to help reduce the risk of preventable weather related hot car fatalities when one or both are affixed to the car. These are helpful reminders.

Nora Wellington, CEO/Founder and the developer of these products, knows that parents and families do take personal responsibilities, but there are times when lives become very busy, when morning routines change and distractions could lead into tragedy for the child, and disaster for the family. Wellington says that these safety reminder products, is her little way of helping families, and of trying to make some difference.

In 2012 the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) led a study through Arbogast on children's safety and hot cars. The statistics is devastating. According to KidsandCars.org, 87% of those who have died of heat stroke in the car were 3 and younger. Some advocacy groups and researchers are pushing for legislations.

As we expand our service offerings, we hope that parents and caretakers will find the Wellington's Safety Reminder products beneficial; to help them remember their little ones in in the car, particularly in hot weather. For more information, please visit our website www.nwellingtonassociates.com and contact us at (301) 933-9246 with any questions.

N Wellington Associates LLC, a small size healthcare consulting company, assist post-acute healthcare organizations and facilities with interim leadership as well as with Quality of care, Quality of Life, and Safe Environment for their patients and residents. We believe in self-development and growth, as we keep abreast of long term care industry trends for the elderly, the vulnerable and those with physical disabilities requiring skilled nursing care.

Contact Information:

N Wellington Associates

Nora Wellington

Email: [email protected]

Tel. (301) 933-9246

SOURCE N Wellington Associates

Related Links

http://www.nwellingtonassociates.com


SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A new trial date will be set on July 12, 2017 in a case against Sutter Health involving claims that it terminates and punishes doctors who advocate for patient care.

Just twenty-seven days before trial was set to begin, Sutter Health attorneys asked the court to continue the trial, because Sutter Health had filed a Petition for Writ Mandate with the Sixth District Court of Appeals seeking to set aside a trial court ruling that denied Sutter Health's motion for summary judgment, and the Petition is still pending.

In its Petition, Sutter Health argues that a Writ is necessary, because the trial court erred and that error is "significant to all Californians concerned with the provision of cost-effective quality health care." Sutter Health's Writ also contends that the trial court's ruling "would endanger health care for millions of Californians."

The lawsuit filed by Barta Law on behalf of Dr. Diana Blum, a Neurologist who was a Shareholder Physician with the Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group, accuses Sutter Health of engaging in unlawful and unfair business practices, including wrongfully terminating and punishing doctors who disagree with, and refuse to follow, various policies and practices of the giant health care system. Those policies and practices, as detailed in the lawsuit, include reducing "Leakage" (the referral of patients outside the Sutter Health Network), pressuring physicians increase their productivity and "Through put" (seeing more patients and billing more RVUs), and pressuring physicians to prescribe only generic medications regardless of specific patient needs.

The lawsuit alleges that Sutter Health violated a California law and public policy aimed at protecting physicians from retaliation, which states: "a physician and surgeon is encouraged to advocate for medically appropriate health care" and "no person shall terminate, retaliate against, or otherwise penalize a physician and surgeon for that advocacy."

The lawsuit is pending in Santa Clara Superior Court, Downtown Superior Court located at 191 North First Street, San Jose, California. Dr. Blum is represented by Barta Law, a Physician Advocacy firm located in Newport Beach, California.

SOURCE Barta Law

Related Links

http://www.barta-law.com


The Glassdoor list highlights top leaders who employees love working for in countries throughout North America and parts of Europe. Among US chief executives recognized by employees, Mr. Dowling received an impressive 91 percent approval rating based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews shared by Northwell Health employees on Glassdoor's website throughout the past year. That's compared with an average CEO approval rating of 67 percent among the 700,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor.

"I'm honored to be recognized for my leadership by Northwell employees  my colleagues. The truth is employees at every level are truly the lifeblood of our health system," said Mr. Dowling. "Our health care professionals and the support teams that treat our patients at the most-vulnerable times of their lives require not only expert clinical skills but compassion as well."

When employees submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes like senior management. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing.

"CEOs tell us the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award is one of the highest honors they can receive because it truly reflects employee opinion about the job they do every day. I congratulate all of the winners on this significant honor," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "We know that CEO approval ratings correlate to overall employee satisfaction and trust in senior leadership, which contributes to long-term employee engagement, ultimately helping an employer's recruiting and retention efforts."

Mr. Dowling joined Northwell Health in 1995 as executive vice president and chief operating officer after 12 years in New York State government, including serving as commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services. He was tapped to lead the health system as president and CEO in 2002 and has since grown Northwell to 22 hospitals, more than 550 outpatient facilities and over 62,000 employees. During his tenure as CEO, Mr. Dowling is credited with building the largest integrated health system in New York, developing the country's largest corporate university in the health care industry, the Center for Learning and Innovation, and helping to create a visionary approach to medical education highlighted by the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, founded in 2008, New York State's first new allopathic medical school in 40 years.

Understanding that employee and patient satisfaction are inextricably linked, Mr. Dowling speaks to approximately 150 new hires from across the region at a weekly orientation program (called "Beginnings") for newly hired employees, sharing the organization's vision and expectations. He sets the tone for Northwell's culture of caring and accountability by remaining accessible and a regular at events throughout the health system.

"Those of us who work with Michael Dowling are clearly thrilled  but not necessarily surprised  by his selection as one of the nation's highest-rated CEOs," said Joseph Moscola, senior vice president and chief people officer at Northwell Health. "Given his long tenure with the organization, hands-on management style and approachable manner, Michael Dowling is revered by employees at all levels of the health system, as reinforced by Northwell's own employee satisfaction surveys."

See the complete list of all Highest Rated CEOs in 2017: https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Highest-Rated-CEOs-LST_KQ0,18.htm

About Northwell Health

Northwell Health is New York State's largest health care provider and private employer, with 22 hospitals and over 550 outpatient facilities. We care for more than two million people annually in the metro New York area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 62,000 employees  15,000+ nurses and about 3,900 physicians, including more than 2,800 members of Northwell Health Physician Partners  are working to change health care for the better. We're making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institute. We're training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine and the School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. And we offer health insurance through CareConnect. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu.

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is one of the largest and fastest growing job sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for approximately 700,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms.

Contact: Jason Molinet

516-321-6701

[email protected]

SOURCE Northwell Health

Related Links

https://www.northwell.edu


JERUSALEM, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- NovellusDx announced today the completion of the first phase of an in-vitro study to characterize the functional activity of ERK1/2 mutations, and their response to BioMed Valley Discoveries' lead compound BVD523.

"The MAPK signaling pathway is canonical and controls cell growth, proliferation, and survival. It has aberrant signaling activity in many cancer types due to a very large number of mutations of diverse types. Because of its importance, the MAPK pathway has been at the focus of drug discovery and development for many years" said Michael Vidne, PhD, Chief Commercial Officer at NovellusDx. "We are happy that we are able to accelerate the drug development and potentially help it reach more patients with our novel, live-cell based assay to monitor the activity of mutations and their response to drugs."

About BioMed Valley Discoveries

BioMed Valley Discoveries is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on addressing unmet medical needs in a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic areas. In addition to the ERK inhibitor, BVD's portfolio includes an oncolytic bacteria that has completed enrollment for Phase I, a selective phosphoinositide 3-kinase gamma inhibitor in late preclinical testing, and two early-stage antibodies targeting the tumor microenvironment.

Operating since 2007, BioMed Valley Discoveries was established by Jim Stowers Jr., founder of the asset management firm American Century Investments, and his wife Virginia, to advance new medical innovations to improve the lives of patients with difficult-to-treat diseases. BVD is owned by a supporting organization of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a non-profit, basic biomedical research organization. Profits from BioMed Valley Discoveries accrue to the benefit of the Stowers Institute.

About NovellusDx

NovellusDx' mission is to provide functional information about mutations and their responses to drugs, so that oncologists can treat patients with precision therapies, and bio-pharmaceutical companies can develop drugs more effectively. NovellusDx approach is to monitor the functional effects of mutations and observe the effects of drugs, drug combinations and drug candidates on the activity level caused by the mutations. NovellusDx headquarters and R&D are based in in Jerusalem, Israel.

Contact

On behalf of NovellusDx:

Evan Weinberg, Burns McClellan

212-213-0006

SOURCE NovellusDx
BOSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- New Valence Robotics (NVBOTS ) , the only provider of Built to Share automated 3D printing solutions, today announced the launch of the Certified Material Developers Program, which will enable material, polymer, and chemistry companies to test and develop new 3D printing materials.

New Valence Robotics NV Pro with NVCloud

As a member of the Certified Material Developer Program, organizations can experiment with any material with melting temperatures up to 500 degrees Celsius. In preliminary testing, NVBOTS had validated the ability for the NVPro to print numerous materials, including ABS, polycarbonate, ULTEM 1010, Carbon Fiber ULTEM, PEEK, Carbon Fiber ABS, TPU, and a wide array of metals.

The Certified Material Developer program is limited to the first 50 qualified applicants. Leveraging the Built to Share NVPro, which offers the first automated part ejection in the industry, member organizations will be able to rapidly iterate through testing and verifying their materials for 3D printing. The NVLabs division of NVBOTS will support program members with its expertise to help Material Developers with configuring and enabling the NVPro to test any plastic or composite material that program members want to get verified.

"We are excited at MakeShaper to be part of the NVBOTS Material Developer Program and provide certified 3D printing materials for continuous 3D printing on NVBOTS supported devices," said Bryan Bonacum, Vice President of Sales at MakeShaper. "With over 30 years of manufacturing expertise, we look forward to providing NVBOTS' customers with the highest quality materials to give proven and repeatable results."

The NVPro is paired with NVCloud software that allows users to print parts anytime, from any cloud-connected device  while providing administrators with full control of production schedules and workflows typical in engineering and production settings. This combination of capabilities makes the NVPro uniquely suited for continuous 24-7 operation in multi-user environments, which further facilitates rapid iteration of material testing and certification.

"The NVPro is perfectly suited for materials development because of the printing throughput during the calibration and verification phases," said Forest Sears, Materials Engineer at NVBOTS. "24/7 3D printing paired with unique 3D print IDs mean customers have more freedom with design of experiments compared to any other 3D printing solution. For example, a three-level, five variable, full factorial test is 243 printed parts without replicates -- you can only effectively manage that many parts on an NVPro. The NVBOTS Certified Material Program reflects the collaborative history of 3D printing and pushes the NVPro towards its goal of printing any material anywhere in the world."

About NVBOTS

The mission of NVBOTS is to make enterprise 3D printing as easy as printing on paper. The company's NVPro 3D printer is Built to Share. It offers the first automated part ejection in the industry (patent #US 9,289,946), and is paired with NVCloud software that allows users to easily print parts anytime, from any device  while providing administrators with full workflow control. These capabilities make the NVPro uniquely suited for continuous 24-7 operation in multi-user environments. NVBOTS is headquartered in Boston, MA. For more information, visit NVBOTS.com or follow us on Twitter @NVBOTS and on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:

Shane Arnold, for NVBOTS

[email protected]

781.799.8593

SOURCE New Valence Robotics

Related Links

http://nvbots.com


WELLINGTON, Fla., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Last month someone asked the question: "Are kids being educated at Wellington's Eagle Arts Academy? Today, with the unveiling of Florida's new school grades, the answer is a resounding YES!

In just the third year since opening its doors as a Palm Beach County charter school, Eagle Arts Academy has just earned a "C" grade in the latest Florida state school rankings. This is up from a "D" grade the year before. The latest numbers, provided by officials at the Palm Beach County School District, show Eagle Arts Academy improved in almost every measured category:













ELA* Achievement: This year: 46 Last Year: 40 UP 6 POINTS ELA Learning Gains: This year: 50.7 Last Year: 36 UP 14.7 POINTS ELA Learning Gains

of the lowest 25% This year: 43.7 Last Year: 25 UP 18.7 POINTS Math Achievement: This year: 33 Last Year: 24 UP 9 POINTS Math Learning Gains: This year: 43.5 Last Year: 25 UP 18.5 POINTS









*English Language Arts Math Learning Gains

of the lowest 25% This year: 40 Last Year: 19 UP 21 POINTS Science Achievement: This year: 42.5 Last Year: 25 UP 17.5 POINTS Social Studies Achievement This year: 51 Last Year: 65 DOWN 14 POINTS

The numbers are not officially be released by the state until July, but the school's latest results were provided to Eagle Arts Academy by the Palm Beach County School District during a training session. The purpose of the session was to teach schools how to properly interpret the state's latest rankings.

In addition to the state grade, other results also show remarkable student performance. Specifically, the school had 100 percent of its eighth graders pass the math EOC exam this year.

"We made several changes this year, and each one was motivated by what was in the best interest of our children. Today, these new results validate every decision we made," said Greg Blount, Founder of Eagle Arts Academy. "The fact that Eagle Arts Academy is up almost across the board illustrates why we did what we did."

Blount thanked Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Robert Avossa for supporting Eagle Arts Academy's School Improvement Plan this year. He also acknowledged the support of the District's charter school office.

"I especially want to acknowledge Palm Beach County School Board Member Marcia Andrews for her support of our school over this past year," added Blount.

The new state school grade follows internal district testing that also showed Eagle Arts Academy gains over last year.

Those scores, part of the District's iReady Diagnostic & Instruction for Reading and Mathematics program, showed Eagle Arts Academy students improved an average of 26 points in reading and 17 points in math.

Contact:

Elliot Cohen

Eagle Arts Academy

561-676-4949

[email protected]

SOURCE Eagle Arts Academy
"We are only scratching the surface on the impact of gender parity in aging," explained Paul Hogan, founder and chairman of Home Instead Senior Care, Inc., at the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Conference in New Orleans this week. "Not only are women more likely to get Alzheimer's disease or other dementias, but they are overwhelmingly the main caregivers for aging parents. And we are seeing this gender parity in aging is intersecting with gender parity in the workplace."

According to SHRM, working female caregivers spend on average approximately 60 percent more time caring for aging loved ones, compared to their male counterparts (9.1 hours a week vs. 5.7 hours). Furthermore, research from Home Instead shows that women are twice as likely as men to spend more than 30 hours a week on caregiving, as many women are a part of the sandwich generation  caring for an aging parent or relative while also caring for their own children.

All this time can have consequences at work for those who are lacking employer support. According to the Home Instead survey, approximately one in ten working daughters report that their jobs are at risk. In that same survey, 91 percent of female caregivers report having had to take action to accommodate being an employee and a caregiver. The most common actions include taking paid time off, switching from full time to part time, avoiding certain responsibilities and turning down promotions.

"While it has been good to see the national dialogue about the need for women to 'lean in' to their careers as they become mothers, now it's time for us to begin discussing how women can do the same as a daughter," says Jisella Dolan, chief advocacy officer at Home Instead. "And while not every working woman will be a mother, most will experience caring for a parent as a daughter."

To help employers foster more supportive work environments for employees who are caregivers for an aging family member, today at the SHRM Annual Conference Paul introduced the Caregiver Friendly Business Practices:

1. Empower employees to ask for what they need

Guilt often prevents employees from asking in the first place. And employers lose good employees when they just quit because they think there is no other option.

2. Have a policy ... to be flexible (and human) when needed

Ensure managers are trained  and empowered  to demonstrate empathy and to think outside the box when the work-family policy just can't apply.

3. Have a back-up plan

Employees can't always give a heads-up before a caregiving need occurs, which is why employers should begin putting back-up plans in place to ensure assistance is at-the-ready. This back-up plan can be scalable to the company size  from enacting the same principles as many large companies do for maternity leave for caregiving leave, to small businesses considering partnering with other local businesses to cross-train employees so you have more support during employee caregiving emergencies.





Large companies already make this happen with maternity leave. Apply the same principles to caregiving leave.

4. Offer support

For large businesses, this may be an Employee Assistance Program that can help find home care, assisted living or hospice resources. For small businesses, this may be a list of local providers and information on local resources.





For all businesses, this simply may be listening and/or connecting employees who may have experience with this personal situation.

5. Respect caregiving needs

Employers must give caregiving for parents the same weight and flexibility as caring for children. This means including caregiving for parents in any language outlining family-leave policies.

While women make up two-thirds of family caregivers, these practices that employers must adopt to be more caregiver friendly, as well as other resources, are gender-neutral.

A new website also launching today, DaughtersintheWorkplace.com, includes an interactive quiz that helps educate the adult children of aging parents about the protected family-leave rights that may be available to them. Additionally, the website includes conversation starters and health tips for working caregivers, as well as communication tips for employers and signs caregiving employees need support.

"Unfortunately, many family caregivers often don't even realize the benefits they are eligible to receive from their employers," explained Drew Holzapfel, ReACT (Respect a Caregiver's Time) convener. "Working caregivers might not know they can use FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) for senior care, or they might not know how to access their EAP (Employee Assistance Program). Flex time may also have a stigma to these employees."

Fortunately, forward-thinking employers are adopting more caregiver friendly practices. Most recently, several major employers were featured in a report from ReACT and AARP titled, "Supporting Working Caregivers: Case Studies of Promising Practices." ReACT represents 40 organizations that employ more than 1 million workers across the country.

While these employers are leading the efforts for more caregiver support in the workplace, there is still much to be done for the more than 34 million family caregivers caring for aging loved ones in the United States. Family caregivers and employers can view program resources and tips at www.DaughtersintheWorkplace.com. Or, contact your local Home Instead Senior Care office for additional resources and to learn how their professional CAREGiversSM may be able to assist. Find an office near you by visiting www.homeinstead.com/state/.

ABOUT HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE

Founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska, by Lori and Paul Hogan, the Home Instead Senior Care network provides personalized care, support and education to help enhance the lives of aging adults and their families. Today this network is the world's leading provider of in-home care services for seniors, with more than 1,000 independently owned and operated franchises that are estimated to annually provide more than 50 million hours of care throughout the United States and more than 10 other countries. Local Home Instead Senior Care offices employ approximately 65,000 CAREGivers worldwide who provide basic support services that enable seniors to live safely and comfortably in their own homes for as long as possible. The Home Instead Senior Care network strives to partner with each client and his or her family members to help meet that individual's needs. Services span the care continuum from providing companionship and personal care to specialized Alzheimer's care and hospice support. Also available are family caregiver education and support resources. At Home Instead Senior Care, it's relationship before task, while striving to provide superior quality service.

Family caregivers tips to help achieve better balance and health (compiled from ReACT and the Home Instead Senior Care network):

Be realistic. Take time to understand how much you can do to take care of a loved one, do well at your job and stay healthy. Honesty is the best policy. Be honest with yourself and your employer about what you need. Create a plan that contains ways you can complete your work and still meet your loved one's needs. Think Creatively. Think outside the box to offer solutions that work for you, your employer and others facing their own caregiving challenges. Get plenty of rest. Think about ways you can enhance the quality of your sleep. This will help you feel empowered and handle life's daily challenges. Take one day at a time. Face the challenges of the day, but try not to look too far ahead. Caring for an older adult is unpredictable and requires a measured approach. Arrange for help including respite care. Check with your employer about any back-up emergency services your employer might offer through an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Think about ways others can help you. Check with your Area Agency on Aging (www.n4a.org) for community resources or contact your local Home Instead Senior Care office to learn how professional caregiving can help you. Educate your employer. Your employer may not understand the kinds of issues you are facing. Do what you can to explain the kinds of challenges you are facing. Look for ways to give back. If your employer offers flexibility and help, think about ways to pay it forward with your manager and co-workers. If you are able to do something extra, step up to the plate! Be organized. Honing your organizational skills could go a long way toward staying on top of your work and easing your anxiety. Find a free online calendar at https://www.thebalance.com/free-online-calendars-1357935. Find support. Use your company's EAP to find out what assistance your employer may offer. Join a support group in your area. Expand your network by looking to your faith community or friends for emotional support. You can connect with others going through the same circumstances. Make time for coffee or a move, or join friends in an exercise class at your local YMCA.

i Between March 21-28, 2017, 1,001 working female caregivers in the United States and Canada, aged 45-60, were surveyed by Home Instead, Inc., franchisor of the Home Instead Senior Care network.

SOURCE Home Instead Senior Care

Related Links

https://www.homeinstead.com/


SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Madhuri Trivedi, an engineer, scientist, entrepreneur and immigrant, has launched her new company OrangeHealth and is currently seeking investors for its product. Trivedi is seeking seed funding in the range of $500k to further launch the app in various geographical areas, add more features, and launch a peer-to-peer platform app for sharing information. The new app will provide peer-to-peer crowd sourced community support with deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) to better manage diabetes.

OrangeHealth company Product Info, Revenue, Pricing

She also has created and launched a new mobile health improvement app that is already used by more than 6,000 people to manage allergies, find a doctor, is used for predictive analytics for eating habits, and reminders at the time of eating.

"Prevention is key for managing illness like diabetes, but it's just as important that people can gain the information and support," says Trivedi.

"Right now, because of some challenges in my immigration status, while I have the technical support to build the app, I need funding to help with its launch because I am unable to work. The only way to get this app off the ground is through investors willing to support this important work," adds Trivedi.

She wrote heavily about precision medicine in April 2104, received a job offer in 2014 with Harvard Medical to create a cancer vaccine, artificial protein. President Obama in the 2015 State of Union Address, launched precision medicine initiative. Trivedi has been unable to take the Harvard position because of immigration denials and challenges. While at General Electric, Trivedi's labor certificate for immigration was approved as "a person of exceptional ability" EB2 category. GE, however, didn't file the next step so she could work in the U.S.

After leaving GE, with the Harvard medical job offer and her entrepreneurial start-up, Trivedi filed for immigration under "a person of extra-ordinary ability" EB1 category, which DHS denied. Trivedi has a number of letters of support from professionals associated with her scientific and technical work .

Trivedi has a long career as an expert in her field. While at Raindance, Trivedi developed the world's first digital-equivalent to personal computer instrument for genome sequencing used for drug discovery in 2009. Here she was part of a 20 people start up that went on to generate hundreds of millions for revenue. Dr. Jonathan Rothberg, founder of the startup, was awarded National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama and made $700 million selling the sister company to Life Technology. Trivedi did not make any money from the sale of the company.

She has made major significant contributions in extraordinary ability and national interest while working at Fortune 10/50 corporations, successful entrepreneurial startups. Only individuals with both exceptional technical ability as well as persistence and commitment can deliver what Trivedi has in a high-risk environment with do or die start up success.

About OrangeHealth

OrangeHealth provides quality and affordable healthcare tools and services through a software portal and peer to peer network. For more information, visit OrangeHealth.wixsite.com/ orangehealth.

Media Contact

Madhuri Trivedi, CEO OrangeHealth

Phone: 650-273-6071

Fax: 708-774-4859

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @madhuritrivd

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/trivedim

SOURCE OrangeHealth
NEWARK, N.J., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic Corporation of North America and TransitScreen, Inc. today announced a strategic alliance to bring advanced IoT applications to smart cities around the U.S. The agreement will provide city residents and visitors with real-time transit and transportation information to enable more informed commuting and travel decisions.

The partnership extends both companies' missions to use technology to make lives easier. Combining Panasonic's CityNOW platform solutions, which are helping people live safer, healthier, more convenient and more energy efficient lives, with TransitScreen's experience in simplifying complex data, software development, and personalized, human-centric design, the two companies will transform the infrastructure supporting urban transportation.

"At Panasonic we're committed to building a connected world that will improve quality of life for people across the globe," said Tom Gebhardt, Panasonic Corporation of North America Chairman and CEO. "Partnering with TransitScreen allows Panasonic to augment its CityNOW solutions in transportation and mobility with rich transportation data, supporting all types of mobility customers. TransitScreen's IoT technologies will create a smoother, more seamless experience for residents and visitors alike in key cities by providing people with the transit and local event information they need right when they need it."

United Nations estimates suggest the urban population will increase by 2.5 billion people by 2050. As people flock to cities around the world, getting from point A to point B will only become more complex. This partnership will leverage connectivity, big data and analytics technologies to reduce congestion and travel time, lower transportation related emissions and promote walkability.

The technology provides real-time, multi-screen displays detailing transit arrival times, local points of interest, and live events at transit agencies, smart bus shelters, airports, street kiosks, stadiums and arenas, municipal buildings, and university stadiums.

"Panasonic is one of the iconic brands of the digital era. Combining their nearly hundred year history with our team's creativity and design capabilities will create remarkable opportunities for innovation," said Matt Caywood, TransitScreen cofounder and CEO. "With Panasonic as our hardware, solutions, and integration partner, we will have the chance to bring our human-centric technologies to a national scale."

The partnership will kick off in Denver, CO with integration in Panasonic's CityNOW base at the Denver Pena Station Next, a connected community leveraging Panasonic's smart and sustainable technologies to support residents, businesses and visitors. The Panasonic and TransitScreen partnership will scale to other U.S. cities in the future.

About Panasonic Corporation of North America

Newark, NJ-based Panasonic Corporation of North America is a leading technology partner and integrator to businesses, government agencies and consumers across the region. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic was featured in Fortune Magazine's 2016 ranking of 50 companies that are changing the world and doing well by doing good. Specifically cited were its smart and sustainable technologies, including its contributions to smart cities and the electric vehicle revolution. Learn more about Panasonic at us.panasonic.com/news.

About TransitScreen

TransitScreen provides real-time displays of transportation options at your location, helping people make informed, sustainable decisions to improve quality of life in cities. Based in Washington, D.C., the company provides data in all major cities in the United States, as well as select others across the world. For further information, visit www.transitscreen.com.

SOURCE Panasonic Corporation of North America

Related Links

http://us.panasonic.com


LANCASTER, Pa., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Armstrong World Industries (NYSE: AWI) and Worthington Industries (NYSE: WOR) are celebrating the 25th year of the Worthington Armstrong Venture (WAVE). For a quarter century, WAVE has designed and manufactured the most innovative commercial suspended ceiling and drywall grid systems and accessories on the market, resulting in sustained and unmatched venture success for both parents.

Worthington Chairman and CEO John McConnell said, "Both Worthington and AWI are proud of this joint venture and what it has become. It all began when we brought the best of our two companies together to create a model joint venture in countless ways, including an outstanding safety record. We look forward to its continued prosperity for years to come and we thank all WAVE employees for their dedication and commitment."

AWI CEO Vic Grizzle said, "The WAVE story is truly remarkable. Twenty-five years ago it was founded on little more than a handshake and the good will and commitment of some very passionate leaders who had the ingenuity to leverage Worthington's steel sourcing and metals manufacturing capabilities and the Armstrong brand, distribution network and sales team. That simple, breakthrough idea has proven to be incredibly powerful and profitable. We salute the WAVE team and wish them another 25 years of continued success."

With a focus on providing customers with total ceiling solutions that save time and money, WAVE's most recent innovations include LED lighting integration solutions; pre-engineered drywall ceiling suspension systems that are up to four times faster to install than traditional track and channel framing; and extruded aluminum perimeters, transitions, and trims for use with suspended panels or drywall to seamlessly finish a room.

About WAVE

Headquartered in Malvern, Pa. and founded in 1992, WAVE, a joint venture between Armstrong World Industries and Worthington Industries, has grown to become the global leader in commercial and residential ceiling suspension systems with market-leading positions everywhere it does business. WAVE has over 600 employees and a global manufacturing network of nine facilities in China, France, India, the United Kingdom and the United States.

About Armstrong World Industries

Armstrong World Industries, Inc. is a global leader in the design and manufacture of innovative commercial and residential ceiling, wall and suspension system solutions. With over 3,800 employees and fiscal 2016 revenues from ceiling operations in excess of $1.2 billion, AWI operates from a global manufacturing network of 26 facilities, including nine plants dedicated to its WAVE joint venture.

About Worthington Industries

Worthington Industries is a leading global diversified metals manufacturing company with 2016 fiscal year sales of $2.8 billion. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Worthington is North America's premier value-added steel processor providing customers with wide ranging capabilities, products and services for a variety of markets including automotive, construction and agriculture; a global leader in manufacturing pressure cylinders for industrial gas and cryogenic applications, CNG and LNG storage, Cryogenic transportation and storage and alternative fuel tanks, oil and gas equipment, and consumer products for camping, grilling, hand torch solutions and helium balloon kits; and a manufacturer of operator cabs for heavy mobile industrial equipment; laser welded blanks for light weighting applications; automotive racking solutions; and through joint ventures, complete ceiling grid solutions; automotive tooling and stampings; and steel framing for commercial construction. Worthington employs approximately 11,000 people and operates 84 facilities in 11 countries.

Uncertainties Affecting Forward-Looking Statements

Disclosures in this release and in our other public documents and comments may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements provide our future expectations or forecasts and can be identified by our use of words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," "outlook," "target," "predict," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "seek," and other words or phrases of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. Forward-looking statements, by their nature, address matters that are uncertain and involve risks because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. As a result, our actual results may differ materially from our expected results and from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. A more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied is included in the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis" sections of our reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. We do not undertake or assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements beyond what is required under applicable securities law.

SOURCE Armstrong World Industries

Related Links

http://www.armstrong.com


"Partners Urgent Care has been offering an affordable and convenient health care option in the communities they serve across the Boston area since 2015," said Gregg S. Meyer, MD, MSc, and Chief Clinical Officer at Partners HealthCare. "The centers have been well received with high marks for the quality of care provided and we look forward to providing more people across Eastern Massachusetts with access to convenient care close to home and work."

Partners Urgent Care provides convenient and affordable medical care to adults and children older than one. The centers are open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, including weekends and holidays, and offer treatment for a wide range of illnesses and injuries from coughs and colds to cuts and broken bones. All of the new centers are equipped with digital x-ray and on-site lab capabilities. Unique amenities such as complimentary Wi-Fi and snacks and beverages, children's activities and in-room cable TV are also offered.

Walk-ins are welcome and same-day appointments are available at most centers. Patients covered by most commercial and public insurance plans can be seen at any Partners Urgent Care location. All Partners Urgent Care locations are open to everyone and it is not necessary to be an existing patient of Partners HealthCare.

Partners Urgent Care operates with the clinical and quality oversight of Partners HealthCare, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital and MedSpring, assuring the highest quality of care. Patients who require follow-up care can be assisted with access to the Partners HealthCare system, or referred back to their primary care physician, other health practice or community health center, as requested.

For non-life threatening conditions, urgent care centers offer a cost-effective and time-saving alternative to the emergency department. Most visits last less than an hour and co-pays are consistent with that of a routine office visit. For conditions threatening a patient's life, limb or vision, an emergency department is the most appropriate setting for care.

About Partners HealthCare

Partners HealthCare is an integrated health care system, founded by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, that offers patients a continuum of coordinated and high-quality care. In addition to its two academic medical centers, the system includes community and specialty hospitals, a managed care organization, a physician network, community health centers, home health and long-term care services, and other health care entities. Partners is a non-profit organization that is committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Partners is one of the nation's leading biomedical research organizations and is a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information, please visit www.partners.org.

About MedSpring

MedSpring focuses on delivering quality medical care, exceptional service and great value to patients. MedSpring operates 37 MedSpring Urgent Care centers in Austin, Chicago, Dallas, and Houston, and 6 Partners Urgent Care centers in greater Boston with additional locations under construction. For more information, including thousands of patient reviews and cost-savings compared to an ER, please visit www.medspring.com.

SOURCE Partners Urgent Care

Related Links

http://partnersurgentcare.org


WOONSOCKET, R.I., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) today was recognized by Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service, as one of the fifty most community-minded companies in the United States. The Civic 50 provides a national standard for superior corporate citizenship and showcases how companies can use their time, skills and other resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business.

The Civic 50 companies were announced at the Points of Light Conference on Volunteering and Service in Seattle, where leaders in volunteerism and civic engagement are gathering to discuss social innovation, cross-sector collaboration and citizen engagement can drive change.

"We are fortunate at CVS Health to have colleagues and customers who are generous with their time, expertise and giving to make meaningful differences in the communities we serve," said Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO, CVS Health. "As a pharmacy innovation company committed to helping people on their path to better health, we're always looking to identify new and effective ways to make our communities healthier places to work and live."

CVS Health's recognition among the Civic 50 follows the recent release of the company's 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility Report which highlights a year-round commitment to driving community impact. In 2016, CVS Health contributed more than $90 million in community support through CVS Health Foundation giving, corporate grants, gifts in-kind and employee volunteerism which grew year-over-year by 65 percent. In addition, the company continued to innovate to meet the evolving health care needs of the community. For example, last year CVS Health connected more than 100,000 people with limited resources to preventive health services through a program called Project Health.

CVS Health also encourages its colleagues to participate in year-round pro-bono projects and skills-based volunteerism. For example, through a program called Pharmacists Teach, the company's pharmacists have visited high school health classes across the country, teaching more than 275,000 students about the dangers of drug abuse.

"At CVS Health, our purpose is helping people on their path to better health and we are committed to leveraging our resources, skills and experience to make a difference in our communities," said Eileen Howard Boone, SVP, Corporate Social Responsibility and Philanthropy, CVS Health, and president of the CVS Health Foundation. "We're honored to be recognized for that as a part of the Civic 50."

This recognition is the latest in a series of third-party acknowledgments for CVS Health, including being ranked #45 on Fortune's Most Admired Companies list and included among the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine.

The Civic 50 survey was administered by True Impact, a company specializing in helping organizations maximize and measure their social and business value. The survey instrument consists of quantitative and multiple-choice questions that inform the Civic 50 scoring process. The Civic 50 is the only survey and ranking system that exclusively measures corporate involvement in communities.

For more information about CVS Health's approach to corporate social responsibility, visit https://cvshealth.com/social-responsibility.

To learn more about The Civic 50, please visit www.Civic50.org.

About CVS Health

CVS Health is a pharmacy innovation company helping people on their path to better health. Through its nearly 9,700 retail locations, more than 1,100 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy benefits manager with nearly 90 million plan members, a dedicated senior pharmacy care business serving more than one million patients per year, expanding specialty pharmacy services, and a leading stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, the company enables people, businesses and communities to manage health in more affordable and effective ways. This unique integrated model increases access to quality care, delivers better health outcomes and lowers overall health care costs. Find more information about how CVS Health is shaping the future of health at https://www.cvshealth.com.

Media Contacts:

Joe Goode, CVS Health

(401) 770-9820; [email protected]

Mary Gattuso, CVS Health

(401) 770-9811; [email protected]

SOURCE CVS Health

Related Links

http://www.cvshealth.com


DALLAS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Each summer, Pool & Spa News (PSN) releases the Top 50 Pool Builders list  a competitive ranking of the finest pool builders in North America. In addition to the Top 50 Builders List, the magazine honors the five companies with the highest scores in customer service. Premier Pools & Spas' Dallas Location topped 2017's list.

Premier Pools & Spas Dallas Location Rated 1st in Customer Service

Shan Johnson & Mike Ribnikar, co-owners of the Dallas location, recalled an example of when they went above and beyond to serve one of their customers. When a scheduling snafu left a project without an excavator on what was supposed to be the groundbreaking day, the homeowner lost faith and began to look for ways to back out of the deal. Rather than coerce their customer, to follow through with the legal contract, Ribnikar took a risk and added a completion date to the agreement. Ultimately, Premier Pools & Spas made up the lost time, completed the project ahead of schedule and turned a wavering customer into one of their biggest advocates.

When asked to comment about the Dallas location's earning number one in customer service, CEO of Premier Franchise Management (Premier Pools & Spas Franchisor), Paul Porter, said, "Customers are the ones that provide us with the opportunity to make a living and ultimately are responsible for growing our business. It is our [Premier Pools and Spas] mission to exceed their [the customers'] expectations and turn them into brand ambassadors. For Dallas to be ranked number one in a tough market against 400 other builders is one thing, but to be ranked number one in the entire country, with over 6,000 builders, really shows that everybody in that organization truly embodies this mission. They have a laser focus at creating customer intimacy and exceeding expectations."

Co-owner Johnson said, "Don't focus on the money. Focus on doing what's right, every time, and you'll have everything you could ever wish for." It's no wonder the highly coveted #1 in Customer Service honor was awarded to Premier Pools & Spas Dallas. They have a commitment to excellence that is instilled upon all members of their staff and construction crew and it is evident in the raving reviews from their happy customers.

About Premier Pools & Spas

Since its inception in 1988, Premier Pools & Spas has set industry standards by providing high-quality results within customers' budgets. The company has been the recipient of numerous awards on both the national and local level including #1 Ranked National Pool Builder by Pool & Spa News in 2012. The Dallas location opened in 2011 and has placed in the Top 50 Builders list the past 4 years. Premier Pools & Spas Dallas also boasts a Better Business Bureau rating of A+.

For more information, please visit www.premierpoolsandspas.com or call (855) 212-2210.

Media Contact:

Shelley Nelson

Phone: 209-559-1555

Email: [email protected]

Related Links

Premier Pools & Spas Website

Premier Pools & Spas - Dallas Website

SOURCE Premier Pools & Spas Dallas

Related Links

http://www.premierpoolsandspas.com


NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area.

You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network  it's easy and free! Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform

EXPERT ALERTS

Changes to Cuba Policy

Trump Administration's Changes to Cuba Policy

Overtime Lawsuits Should be FLSA Wake-up Call

States Have Powerful Tools in Opioid Epidemic Lawsuits

'Gainful Employment' No True Test in Assessing a College

Gender and Racial Socialization in Education

MEDIA JOBS

Technology Reporter  Dow Jones (CA)

Staff Writer  Central Banking Publications ( London /NY)

/NY) Reporter, International Terrorism and Extremist Movements  Wall Street Journal (DC)

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES

5 Camera-Bag Essentials Every New Photographer Should Own

Successful Women in PR: Leaning In & Climbing Up

Blog Profiles: Music Festival Blogs

-------------------------------------------------------------------

EXPERT ALERTS:

Changes to Cuba Policy

Mark Grabowski, Esq.

Associate Professor, Communications Department

Adelphi University, Garden City, N.Y.

"[The proposed changes to America's Cuba policy] are bad news for Americans and Cubans. But, if there's a silver lining, it's that tech and telecom will be exempt from the rollback and will be able to continue to make inroads in Cuba. A senior White House official today indicated that expanding telecommunications and internet access to Cubans are among the Obama-era exemptions Trump will leave in place. Getting Cuba online is one of the best and quickest ways to bring about change there. The new connectivity will have a momentum all its own. The Obama Administration knew this and that's why they focused on expanding tech in Cuba. Google recently became the first foreign internet company to operate in Cuba. In fact, even if we roll back to where we were before Obama started loosening sanctions, it shouldn't hinder tech. Congress's embargo gives the president more leeway over telecom than over other sectors."

Two groups of Adelphi University students and faculty were among the first U.S. scholars to explore and experience Cuba on the brink of transformation in January 2016. Grabowski taught Global Perspectives: Cuba in Transition; the student journalists who participated posted stories directly from Cuba (see http://cubastories.com).

Website: http://www.adelphi.edu

Contact: Kali Chan, [email protected]



Trump Administration's Changes to Cuba Policy

John Drew, M.A., M.F.A.

Assistant Professor, Communications Department

Adelphi University, Garden City, N.Y.

"I am deeply troubled by Trump's heightened aggression towards Cuba, although I am not surprised, since he has shown great interest in and capacity to undo some of the most noteworthy accomplishments of the Obama presidency. What Trump has failed to realize is that American tourism and economic development on the island makes it much harder for the Cuban regime to get away with repressive human rights tactics. In fact, one could say that more international and internet-enabled and savvy eyes and ears on the island can be seen as a way of heightening surveillance on the Cuban regime's human rights record; thus, if this record was really the Trump administration's most pressing concern in Cuba, they would be better suited to further expand American travel and economic investment in Cuba. What we have seen today, however, is perhaps far more worrisome. Last month, Russia resumed oil shipments to Cuba for the first time in more than a decade and there are now reports emerging that Putin and the Cuban regime are discussing the re-opening of a Russian military base on the island. One would think that with all the news reports about potential Russian interference in the recent U.S. presidential elections, that the country's executive leadership would be doing everything it can to prevent Russia from developing further opportunities in which to interfere or influence U.S. domestic policy and political outcomes. And yet, by suddenly isolating Cuba after the previous administration had just created major momentum towards building a potential alliance in Cuba, the Trump administration has given Russia a very enticing opportunity to exploit this renewed isolation, and the fact that Venezuela is all but a failed state now means that Cuba has very few countries to turn to for help. And given that the Cuban economy remains one of the most vulnerable in the region suggests that the Cuban regime will seek assistance and build economic alliances wherever they may present themselves, i.e., enter Russia. It remains to be seen how much more difficult the U.S. treasury department will make it to legally travel to Cuba, but as a professor who has seen firsthand what sort of impacts materialize by taking American students to Cuba and introducing them to one of our nearest and friendliest neighbors, you can be sure I will do everything I can to hold up this tradition and to resist yet another and increasingly dangerous foreign policy blunder by the current presidency."

Two groups of Adelphi University students and faculty were among the first U.S. scholars to explore and experience Cuba on the brink of transformation in January 2016. Drew taught Global Perspectives: Cuba in Transition; the student journalists who participated in posted stories directly from Cuba (see http://cubastories.com).

Website: http://www.adelphi.edu

Contact: Kali Chan, [email protected]



Overtime Lawsuits Should be FLSA Wake-up Call

Audrey Mross

Employment Law Attorney

Munck Wilson Mandala, Dallas

Overtime lawsuits have spiked in recent years, particularly in the energy sector, and businesses should take a close look at their payroll practices and ensure that they are in compliance with the FLSA wage-and-hour guidelines. Says Mross: "The FLSA's administrative exemption is routinely misapplied by employers, and this case is a wake-up call to businesses that use a loose interpretation of the 'duties test' in order to obtain the desired outcome of exempt status. Employers may have breathed a sigh of relief when the planned December 2016 doubling of the minimum salary for most FLSA white-collar exemptions was put on hold via an injunction. And they may be assuming that agency enforcement of FLSA classification will wane as the DOL faces a 20 percent cut in its annual budget under the new Trump administration. But this case is a good reminder that individuals and groups of employees can still file lawsuits and the judiciary will hear their plea. The biggest take-away here is that these FLSA classification disputes may not be resolved via summary judgment, meaning employers leave their fate in the hands of a jury, who are often pre-disposed to favor employees in these types of cases."

Contact: Robert Tharp, [email protected]



States Have Powerful Tools in Opioid Epidemic Lawsuits

Kent Sullivan

Attorney

Jackson Walker LLP, Austin, Texas

"I expect a significant wave of lawsuits against the companies and organizations connected with the spread of powerful prescription opioid drugs. States will be very tempted by the significant potential damages that may be awarded in court to try to recoup some of the costs of treatment. There is, of course, a way to successfully defend these cases, but at the beginning, state governments have a huge advantage under Medicaid fraud and consumer protection statutes. You have a huge hammer over these companies' heads, and they can be at risk of losing more than actual damages. The damages are often multiplied if you're found liable, and the states can often recover attorneys' fees. As government healthcare has expanded, so have anti-fraud actions by states. These lawsuits are not part of the traditional private party litigation framework, where the burden of proof is higher. In many cases, the defendants consider settling to avoid the significant risk and high cost of litigation."

Sullivan was chief deputy AG to then-Attorney General Greg Abbott in Texas and led the reorganization and expansion of the AG's Civil Medicaid Fraud section.

Contact: Kit Frieden, [email protected]



'Gainful Employment' No True Test in Assessing a College

Aaron Gottlieb

Bankruptcy Attorney

Godwin Bowman & Martinez, Dallas

Just before it was set to take effect, the Department of Education has stopped the implementation of a rule designed to hold for-profit colleges accountable for marketing claims concerning employment rates for graduates. Had the Borrower Defense to Repayment rule taken effect, for-profit colleges would have had to prove their programs led to the "gainful employment" of graduates or risk the loss of federal aid. Says Gottlieb: "There is no doubt that the student loan bubble may burst in the near future due to the crushing amount of student loan debt. However, some responsibility must still remain with the student loan borrower to carefully choose which colleges and programs to attend. If a for-profit school provides the student an education and degree for which the student paid tuition, then a 'gainful employment' requirement following graduation seems to be too broad a brush to wield in determining whether the for-profit school made a material misrepresentation. Several lawsuits have been dismissed over the past five to 10 years on the basis of student borrowers' reliance on publications which listed inaccurate employment rates of graduates. The courts have consistently considered this information mere 'puffery,' rather than any sort of guarantee."

Contact: Rhonda Reddick, [email protected]



Gender and Racial Socialization in Education

Angela Campbell, Ph.D.

Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor, School of Education; Co-Director, Center for Urban Education, Equity, and Improvement

Cabrini University

"Educators must prioritize the preservation of human dignity in all teaching, learning, scholarship, and liberating processes. We the People transform spaces for inclusive excellence, empowerment, and emancipation."

An educational leader and scholar activist, Campbell focuses her work and research on adolescent gender and racial socialization, such as rites-of-passage programs, school-and community-based partnerships, and culturally relevant pedagogy and programming to create welcoming, inclusive school climates. Her academic interests include socialization practices in schools, multicultural and social justice education, adolescent gender identity, as well as character and youth development programs. Campbell is available to discuss Charter school reform, multicultural education, adolescent gender identity, youth programs, and education reform strategies that support students' academic and socio-emotional development.

Website: www.cabrini.edu

Contact: Lori Iannella, [email protected]

****************

MEDIA JOBS:

Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/

Technology Reporter  Dow Jones (CA)

Staff Writer  Central Banking Publications ( London /NY)

/NY) Reporter, International Terrorism and Extremist Movements  Wall Street Journal (DC)

*****************

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES:

Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line.

5 CAMERA-BAG ESSENTIALS EVERY NEW PHOTOGRAPHER SHOULD OWN. As a new photographer continues to learn and develop their craft, eventually they'll get to a point where their equipment gets in the way of producing the images they desire. A decent camera body with a kit lens is enough to get started, but eventually you'll want to upgrade to take your photography to the next level. Here is a list of some essential items every photographer should have in their bag: http://bit.ly/2rR3tYB

SUCCESSFUL WOMEN IN PR: LEANING IN & CLIMBING UP. There have been countless studies and think pieces published recently about the number of women in PR and their role in the field. Across the board, public relations is a field dominated by women and they're found at every level in the office  but the numbers dwindle as soon as you hit the top. This can be found from the smallest agencies to the largest corporations. So, we decided it was time to recognize and celebrate the women who have made it to the top  and gain their insight on how they got there. Together we can recognize and celebrate some of the wonderful and successful women in public relations: http://prn.to/2t2voBS

BLOG PROFILES: MUSIC FESTIVAL BLOGS. Each week, PR Newswire's Audience Relations team selects an industry/subject and profiles a handful of sites that do a good job with promoting and contributing to the conversation. This week, they look at music festival blogs: http://bit.ly/2ssjNfj

****************

PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire.

SOURCE ProfNet

Related Links

http://www.profnet.com


MORGANTOWN, W.Va., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Protea Biosciences Group, Inc. (OTCQB: PRGB) ("Protea") announced its development of new technology that enables the direct molecular imaging of the distribution of metabolites and peptides in human clinical tissue samples. The results were presented by Dr. Erin Seeley, Principal Scientist at Protea, at the 65th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, June 4-8, held in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The results showed the ability to image the distribution of both metabolites and peptides in tissue that had been preserved with formalin fixation and paraffin embedding (FFPE) protocols, which is the common method for preserving clinical samples. While preserving the tissue for archiving, FFPE preservation can limit subsequent molecular analysis.

"Although the analysis of peptides and proteins on tissue is a relatively routine procedure, the direct analysis of metabolites in the preserved tissue is unique," stated Dr. Seeley. She continued, "These results demonstrate the first time that Protea's LAESI (Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization) platform has been shown to image metabolites in tissue without removing paraffin, which provides more certainty around molecule localization. Using our LAESI platform combined with MALDI provided complementary results, demonstrating the utility of applying both imaging modalities."

The results show Protea's ability to achieve seamless molecular imaging of both peptides and metabolites in FFPE tissue. LAESI is a proprietary bioanalytical technology that directly detects and maps molecules without the need to apply chemicals or introduce tags or tracers.

"We now have the ability to analyze banks of archived clinical samples, which can provide new insights into biological pathways of disease, response to treatment, and even aid in diagnosis," stated Haddon Goodman, Vice President Corporate Development. He continued, "Our development of methods for analyzing FFPE tissue with our proprietary LAESI platform and MALDI workflows will enable our ability to analyze archived tumor samples. This new technology, will be used to advance our development of a new class of cancer diagnostics."

About Protea Biosciences Group, Inc.: Protea Biosciences Group, Inc. (OTCQB:PRGB) provides innovative bioanalytical solutions to the pharmaceutical and life science industries by applying the Company's proprietary technology to identify and characterize the proteins, metabolites, lipids and other biologically-active molecules which are the byproducts of all living cells and life forms. Protea provides revolutionary capabilities that enable the identification and spatial display of biologically-active molecules in tissue and cells. Molecular imaging can be obtained without sample preparation, labeling or antibody techniques, thereby integrating for the first time direct identification of molecules with anatomic pathology. The Company is using its technology to develop a new class of diagnostics for the differential diagnosis of cancer.

Forward-Looking Statements; This press release may contain statements relating to future results or events, which are forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects", "intends", "plans", "may", "could", "should", "anticipates", "likely", "believes" and words of similar import may identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts, but instead represent only the Company's belief regarding future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of the Company's control. It is possible that the Company's actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. Further, information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company's business and financial and other results, are contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or correct any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that subsequently occur or of which we hereafter become aware.

Protea and LAESI are registered trademarks of Protea Biosciences Group, Inc.

www.proteabio.com

SOURCE Protea Biosciences Group, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.proteabio.com


Existing liposuction surgery has to this point been focused on women. As such, there have been many cases of less than desired effects for men who have thicker skin and higher fat density compared to women. '3 Balance Optimized Liposuction Surgery For Men' is a new liposuction surgery concept in which men can also expect significant effects as it was developed by thoroughly considering the 3 key elements of body contouring, skin elasticity and physical constitution of men. Director Hwang In Sung of Proud Male Liposuction Clinic, who has experience in plastic surgery, dermatology and urology, developed the relevant surgery method based on more than 10,000 liposuction and female type breast surgery cases.

Dr. Hwang In Seong from Proud Liposuction Clinic explained, "The reason the 3 Balance Optimized Liposuction Surgery for men has been recognized is 360-degree fat decomposition and elimination is achieved considering body contouring, and incision and non-scarring suturing that is suitable for men skin tissue." "The process requires technology and expertise that can break the fat layer which in men is harder than women and suck out the exceptionally large quantity of fat."

"The ratio of male patients who visit the clinic for re-operation due to dissatisfaction after having liposuction at a general plastic surgery clinic is extremely high", he added. "A reason to choose '3 Balance Optimized Liposuction Surgery' is that it is a specialized liposuction surgery for men".

Proud Urology

http://www.proudclinic.co.kr

SOURCE Proud Liposuction Clinic
LONDON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Summary



In Q1 2017, the biggest LNG supply contract was signed between Magnolia LNG LLC and VGS Group on January 11, 2017. As per the contract, LNG will be supplied from the Magnolia terminal in the US to the Krishna Godavari Floating terminal in India, for a 20-year period. The second biggest contract was signed by Texas LNG LLC for supply of 3.1 mtpa of LNG from the Brownsville terminal in the US for the period 2021-2041. Other key companies to sign contracts in the quarter include Petronas LNG 9 Sdn Bhd, Qatargas Operating Company Limited, and Polish Oil and Gas Company.



Scope



- Details of long-term LNG contracts signed in Q1 2017 by country and company

- Comparison of LNG contracted capacity and share by importing countries between Q1 2017 and Q4 2016

- Comparison of LNG contracted capacity, and share by key seller and purchaser companies between Q1 2017 and Q4 2016

- Count of contracts and contracted capacity signed by key purchaser companies during 2015 to 2017



Reasons to buy



- Obtain information available on the long-term LNG contracts globally for Q1 2017 and Q4 2016

- Identify countries and companies involved in signing of the long-term LNG contracts for both the quarters

- Facilitate decision making on the basis of long-term LNG contracts data

- Keep abreast of recent long-term LNG contracts signed across the globe

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4948766/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

http://www.reportbuyer.com


This annual award recognizes the leaders from among 4,500 private companies across North America, celebrating innovation and technology in their respective industries. The Red Herring editorial judges recognized Quali for its blueprint-based approach that gives application developers, testers and architects access to replicas of complex production environments on private, public and hybrid cloud deployments.

Quali presented its winning strategy for cloud sandboxes at the Red Herring North America conference in Los Angeles on June 14, 2017. The Top 100 Winners were announced at a special awards ceremony that concluded the event.

"We are very pleased that Red Herring has recognized Quali as a Top 100 North America Winner," said Lior Koriat, CEO of Quali. "This distinction highlights the rapid progress we are making to help cloud providers, telcos and enterprise customers deliver their products to market much faster, while improving quality and lowering costs. Customers worldwide are recognizing the value cloud sandboxes bring to their most critical IT initiatives, helping accelerate R&D innovation and unleash productivity across their labs, data center and cloud deployments."

Red Herring's Top 100 Global list has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising companies and entrepreneurs. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, and eBay would change the way we live and work.

"2017's crop of Top 100 winners has been among our most intriguing yet," said Red Herring chairman Alex Vieux. "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 Quali embodies the drive, skill and passion on which tech thrives. Quali should be proud of its achievement - the competition was incredibly strong."

About Quali

Quali is the leading provider of enterprise sandbox software for cloud and DevOps automation. With its flagship CloudShell platform and blueprint-based approach Quali gives developers, testers, and architects access to replicas of complex production environments that work on private, public, and hybrid cloud deployments with its innovative cloud sandboxes. Cloud Providers, Telcos, Technology Vendors and Enterprises including several of the Global 100 use Quali software to innovate faster and deliver their products and services to market faster with higher quality and reduced costs. More information about Quali is available at www.quali.com

Contact:

J. Bonasia for Quali

[email protected]

415-730-5017

SOURCE Quali
LONDON, UK, and TORONTO, Canada, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Finastra today announced that Rabobank has selected the global payment services hub from Finastra (previously D+H) to centralize cross-border payments.

The Netherlands-based bank is implementing the Finastra global payment hub solution in order to enhance its ability to respond to customer demand and industry developments and realize improved payments infrastructure and reduced cost of ownership. The solution enables Rabobank to consolidate legacy payment operations, simplify operations, and reduce operating expenses. A rules engine will provide the flexibility needed to add new functionality to respond to changing industry and customer requirements quickly and easily.

The Finastra solution is able to meet a majority of the bank's needs out-of-the-box, with minimal customization. However, additional features and functionality can easily be added to meet the bank's evolving needs. For example, the solution is compatible with SWIFT's global payments innovation (gpi) service. These capabilities and more ensure that the bank's investment will be future-proofed.

"After careful consideration and analysis, Rabobank found the global payment services hub to be able to meet our cross-border payments requirements right away," says Heimen Schuring, Head of Channel Support & Payment Engine, Rabobank. "We look forward to replacing legacy systems with a single solution that not only meets our current needs, but can also expand to satisfy future demand."

"We are excited that Rabobank has selected our global payment services hub for cross-border payments," says Mikael Lindh, Head of Payments Sales, EMEA, Finastra. "Financial institutions today face significant challenges, including pressure to increase efficiency while reducing cost. However, many are realizing that the right solution can help them meet these challenges, including providing more robust cross-border payments and improved capabilities."



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
BOSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RISI, the leading information provider for the global forest products industry, announced that registration for the Fourth Asian Pacific Hygiene Products Symposium has opened today. At the conference, delegates will immerse themselves in all aspects of the hygiene products and nonwovens industry to understand the latest trends, challenges and opportunities in the evolving global market. The conference will take place November 6-8, 2017 in Shanghai, China at the InterContinental Shanghai Expo.

RISI's team of experts will be joined by high-level hygiene products and nonwovens industry leaders to discuss the future market trends in supply and demand in Asia Pacific and beyond. This year's agenda focus on outlooks for the hygiene markets from now to 2020. Attendees can expect exciting presentations on topics like:

Key industrial factors impacting Asian and Chinese economics

Future market trends in supply and demand

Emerging market and new entrants to the hygiene industry

Baby diaper demands and quality trends like absorbency

The role of online sales and its influence on traditional markets

The Symposium combines the Asia Pacific Nonwovens Symposium and the Tissue Symposium; this merger first occurred in 2015 to optimize discussion of both markets. H.B. Fuller, P&G, Ontex, Fiber Vision, Kimberly-Clark, and Spoolex Group are just some of the companies to attend the 2016 Symposium.

At this year's event, there will be ample opportunities to network with industry leaders and potential customers during lunches, breaks, and a special cocktail hour. Presentations will also provide valuable perspectives on market trends and challenges affecting the hygiene market in China and beyond.

Last year, the symposium drew more than 130 attendees from 76 countries to hear about the latest advancements and trends in the Asia Pacific hygiene market. This year's attendees can anticipate a similar strong turnout.

For more information about the Asia Pacific Hygiene Products Symposium, click here.

About RISI (www.risi.com)

RISI is the leading information provider for the global forest products industry. The company works with clients in the pulp and paper, packaging, wood products, timber, biomass, tissue and nonwovens industries to help them make better decisions.

Headquartered in Boston, MA, RISI operates additional offices throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia.

For Press Enquiries, please contact:

Kimberly Rizzitano

Events Marketing Manager

O: +781-734-8996

E: [email protected]

SOURCE RISI

Related Links

http://www.risiinfo.com


BOSTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global economic consulting firm The Brattle Group announced today that regulatory economist Dr. Agustin (Augie) Ros has joined the firm's Boston, MA office as a principal.

Dr. Ros has more than 20 years of consulting and agency experience in regulatory and antitrust economics in network industries, particularly energy and telecommunications. He specializes in costing and demand analysis, cost of service and performance-based ratemaking, competition analysis and disputes, damages, and econometric modelling. He has provided expert reports before agencies in more than a dozen countries and before an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration panel.

"Augie's experience with regulatory systems and competition issues in the energy and telecommunications sectors globally expands on Brattle's already deep capabilities," noted Brattle President Alexis Maniatis. "Augie is especially well-positioned to assist clients in different jurisdictions to learn from our experience and expertise in other international markets."

His recent work includes marginal costing and pricing of electricity smart grid-enabled service offerings and competitive implications, evaluating the effects of retail electricity competition, estimating total factor productivity for electricity distribution and telecommunications used for performance-based ratemaking plans, and calculating damages in a class action involving a wireless billing dispute.

Dr. Ros is an Adjunct Professor at the International Business School at Brandeis University where he teaches a course on regulatory and global antitrust economics. His agency experience includes work at the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Mexican Competition Commission. His econometric research on regulatory and antitrust issues has appeared in The Energy Journal, Journal of Regulatory Economics, Review of Industrial Organization, Review of Network Economics, Telecommunications Policy, and Info.

Dr. Ros holds a B.A. in economics from Rutgers University and a M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana. He speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese.

The Brattle Group analyzes complex economic, finance, and regulatory questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. We are distinguished by the clarity of our insights and the credibility of our experts, which include leading international academics and industry specialists. For more information, please visit www.brattle.com.

SOURCE The Brattle Group

Related Links

http://www.brattle.com


BEIJING, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) ("Renren" or the "Company"), which operates a social networking service and internet finance business in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017.

First Quarter 2017 Highlights

Total net revenues were US$20.9 million , a 94.3% increase from the corresponding period in 2016.



Advertising and IVAS net revenues were US$11.6 million , a 90.2% increase from the corresponding period in 2016.

were , a 90.2% increase from the corresponding period in 2016.

Financing income was US$9.3 million , a 99.7% increase from the corresponding period of 2016.

, a 99.7% increase from the corresponding period of 2016. Gross profit was US$6.4 million , a 172.6% increase from the corresponding period in 2016.

Operating loss was US$17.6 million , compared to an operating loss of US$19.2 million in the corresponding period in 2016.

Net loss attributable to the Company was US$16.2 million , compared to a net loss of US$23.2 million in the corresponding period in 2016.

Adjusted net loss(1) (non-GAAP) was US$11.0 million , compared to an adjusted net loss of US$15.9 million in the corresponding period in 2016.

(1) Adjusted net income (loss) is a non-GAAP measure, which is defined as net income (loss) excluding share-based compensation expenses and amortization of intangible assets. See "About Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below.

First Quarter 2017 Results

Total net revenues for the first quarter of 2017 were US$20.9 million, representing a 94.3% increase from the corresponding period in 2016.

Advertising and IVAS net revenues were US$11.6 million, representing a 90.2% increase from the corresponding period of 2016. Advertising revenues were US$0.1 million for the first quarter of 2017. Internet Value-Added Services (IVAS) revenues were US$11.5 million, representing a 110.4% increase from the corresponding period in 2016. The increase was mainly due to the revenue from our Renren mobile live streaming service. Monthly unique log-in users decreased from approximately 37 million in March 2016 to approximately 34 million in March 2017. Login users' monthly average time spent increased 22.5% year-over-year.

Financing income was US$9.3 million for the first quarter of 2017, compared to US$4.7 million in the corresponding period of 2016. The increase was in line with the increase of financing receivable from US$170.6 million as of March 31, 2016 to US$270.1 million as of March 31, 2017.

Cost of revenues was US$14.5 million, a 72.3% increase from the corresponding period of 2016.

Operating expenses were US$24.0 million, an 11.6% increase from the corresponding period of 2016.

Selling and marketing expenses were US$6.1 million, a 33.1% increase from the corresponding period of 2016. The increase was primarily due to the increase in advertising and promotion expenses.

Research and development expenses were US$5.8 million, an 8.3% increase from the corresponding period in 2016. The increase was primarily due to the increase in headcount and personnel related expenses.

General and administrative expenses were US$12.1 million, a 4.6% increase from the corresponding period in 2016. The increase was primarily due to the increase in related professional fees for a proposed transaction.

Share-based compensation expenses, which were all included in operating expenses, were US$5.1 million, compared to US$7.2 million in the corresponding period in 2016.

Operating loss was US$17.6 million, compared to an operating loss of US$19.2 million in the corresponding period in 2016.

Realized gain on short-term investments was US$0.1 million, compared to a loss of US$0.1 million in the corresponding period in 2016.

Income in equity method investments was US$4.1 million, compared to loss of US$11.9 million in the corresponding period in 2016.

Net loss attributable to the Company was US$16.2 million, compared to a net loss of US$23.2 million in the corresponding period in 2016.

Adjusted net loss (non-GAAP) was US$11.0 million, compared to an adjusted net loss of US$15.9 million in the corresponding period in 2016. Adjusted net loss is defined as loss excluding share-based compensation expenses and amortization of intangible assets.

Business Outlook

The Company expects to generate revenues in an amount ranging from US$21.5 million to US$23.5 million in the second quarter of 2017, representing a 49.6% to 63.5% year-over-year increase. This forecast reflects Renren's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

Conference Call Information

The Company will not host a conference call. Please contact our Investor Relations Department if you have any questions.

About Renren Inc.

Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) operates a social networking service (SNS) and an internet finance business in China. Our SNS enables users to connect and communicate with each other, share photos and access mobile live streaming. Our internet finance business includes primarily auto financing. Renren.com and our renren mobile application had approximately 242 million activated users as of March 31, 2017. Renren's American depositary shares, each of which represents fifteen Class A ordinary shares, trade on NYSE under the symbol "RENN".

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These 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," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the business outlook for the second quarter of 2017 and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as Renren's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. Renren may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Renren's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: our goals and strategies; our future business development, financial condition and results of operations; the expected growth of the social networking site market in China; our expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of our services; our expectations regarding the retention and strengthening of our relationships with key advertisers and customers; our plans to enhance user experience, infrastructure and service offerings; competition in our industry in China; and relevant government policies and regulations relating to our industry. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in our annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Renren does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement Renren's consolidated financial results presented in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"), Renren uses "adjusted net income (loss)" which is defined as "a non-GAAP financial measure" by the SEC, in evaluating its business. We define adjusted net income (loss) as net income (loss) excluding share-based compensation expenses and amortization of intangible assets. We present adjusted net income (loss) because it is used by our management to evaluate our operating performance. We also believe that this non-GAAP financial measure provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our consolidated results of operations in the same manner as our management and in comparing financial results across accounting periods and to those of our peer companies.

The presentation of this non-GAAP financial measure is not intended to be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the table captioned "Reconciliation of non-GAAP results of operations measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures" at the end of this release.

For more information, please contact:

Investor Relations

Renren Inc.

Tel: (86 10) 8448 1818 ext. 1300

Email: [email protected]

RENREN INC. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (UNAUDITED)



(Amounts in US dollars, in thousands, except shares,







December 31,



March 31, per share, ADS, and per ADS data)



2016



2017

















ASSETS

































Current assets:















Cash and cash equivalents





$ 79,370

$ 52,071 Restricted Cash







30,390



30,781 Short-term investments







410



416 Accounts and notes receivable, net







4,702



4,621 Financing receivable, net







301,773



269,988 Prepaid expenses and other current assets







20,749



23,769 Amounts due from related parties







13,419



18,613 Equity method investment-current







-



33,591 Total current assets







450,813



433,850

















Non-current assets:















Long-term financing receivable, net







330



89 Property and equipment, net







28,666



28,612 Long-term investments







695,348



677,527 Other non-current assets







1,687



1,685 Total non-current assets







726,031



707,913

















TOTAL ASSETS





$ 1,176,844

$ 1,141,763

















LIABILITIES AND EQUITY

































Current liabilities:















Accounts payable





$ 5,561

$ 5,715 Short-term debt







37,202



44,528 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities







19,781



19,174 Payable to investors







182,951



162,987 Amounts due to related parties







10,914



10,903 Deferred revenue and advance from customers







5,954



5,432 Income tax payable







7,860



8,696 Total current liabilities







270,223



257,435

















Non-current liabilities:















Long-term debt







95,390



80,934 Long-term payable to investors







59,916



60,437 Other non-current liabilities







12,849



14,085 Total non-current liabilities







168,155



155,456

















TOTAL LIABILITES







438,378



412,891

















Shareholders' Equity:















Class A ordinary shares







720



722 Class B ordinary shares







305



305 Additional paid-in capital







1,266,592



1,271,733 Statutory reserves







6,712



6,712 Accumulated deficit







(542,746)



(558,924) Accumulated other comprehensive income







6,883



8,324



































TOTAL EQUITY







738,466



728,872 TOAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY





$ 1,176,844

$ 1,141,763

RENREN INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (UNAUDITED)





For the Three Months Ended (Amounts in US dollars, in thousands, except shares,



March 31,



December 31,



March 31, per shares, ADS, and per ADS data)

2016



2016



2017



















Net revenues

















Advertising and IVAS

$ 6,098

$ 10,788

$ 11,599 Financing income



4,681



9,536



9,347 Total net revenues



10,779



20,324



20,946



















Cost of revenues



(8,414)



(15,883)



(14,499)



















Gross profit



2,365



4,441



6,447



















Operating expenses:

















Selling and marketing



(4,619)



(5,464)



(6,148) Research and development



(5,339)



(5,323)



(5,784) General and administrative



(11,584)



(10,069)



(12,112)



















Total operating expenses



(21,542)



(20,856)



(24,044) Loss from operations



(19,177)



(16,415)



(17,597)



















Other income (expenses)



2,932



1,151



(6) Interest income



238



328



315 Interest expenses



(3,279)



(3,793)



(2,305) Realized (loss) gain on short-term investments



(117)



42



100 Impairment of long term investments



-



(67,307)



- Total non-operating loss



(226)



(69,579)



(1,896)



















Loss before provision of income tax and loss

(income) in equity method investments, net of tax



(19,403)



(85,994)



(19,493) Income tax expenses



(582)



(898)



(780)



















Loss before loss in equity method investments, net

of tax



(19,985)



(86,892)



(20,273) (Loss) income in equity method investments, net of tax



(11,866)



(6,402)



4,095 Loss from continuing operations



(31,851)



(93,294)



(16,178)



















Discontinued operation

















Income from operations of discontinued operations, net

of income tax



391



-



- Gain on deconsolidation of the subsidiaries, net of

income tax



8,310



-



- Income from discontinued operations, net of tax



8,701



-



-



















Net loss attributable to Renren Inc.

$ (23,150)

$ (93,294)

$ (16,178)



















Net loss per share from continuing operations attributable to Renren Inc.shareholders:

















Basic

$ (0.03)

$ (0.09)

$ (0.02) Diluted

$ (0.03)

$ (0.09)

$ (0.02) Net income per share from discontinued operations attributable to Renren Inc.shareholders:

















Basic

$ 0.01

$ -

$ - Diluted

$ 0.01

$ -

$ - Net loss per share attributable to Renren Inc.

shareholders:

















Basic

$ (0.02)

$ (0.09)

$ (0.02) Diluted

$ (0.02)

$ (0.09)

$ (0.02) Net loss attributable to Renren Inc. shareholders per

ADS*:

















Basic

$ (0.34)

$ (1.37)

$ (0.24) Diluted

$ (0.34)

$ (1.37)

$ (0.24)



















Weighted average number of shares used in calculating

net loss per ordinary share from continuing operations

attributable to Renren Inc. shareholders:

















Basic



1,020,390,797



1,024,521,024



1,026,375,051 Diluted



1,020,390,797



1,024,521,024



1,026,375,051 Weighted average number of shares used in calculating

net income per ordinary share from discontinued

operations attributable to Renren Inc. shareholders:

















Basic



1,020,390,797



1,024,521,024



1,026,375,051 Diluted



1,032,344,050



1,024,521,024



1,026,375,051



















* Each ADS represents 15 Class A ordinary shares.



















Reconciliation of Non-GAAP results of operations measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures



















Adjusted net loss









































For the Three Months Ended (Amounts in US dollars, in thousands)



March 31,



December 31,



March 31,

2016



2016



2017



















Net loss

$ (23,150)

$ (93,294)

$ (16,178) Add back: Shared-based compensation expenses



7,204



5,372



5,143 Add back: Amortization of intangible assets



21



-



- Adjusted net loss

$ (15,925)

$ (87,922)

$ (11,035)

SOURCE Renren Inc.
ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- RG, a management and technology services firm, has announced Liam Speden as Chief Technology Officer to lead the company's technology investments as it continues to expand its intellectual property and data science portfolio. The company has also appointed Christopher Samulski as Director of Software to continue the enhancement of the Jaguar Family of Advanced Scheduling Tools (JFAST), and development of future software products & services.

Speden brings extensive experience in shaping and implementing transformative business solutions across a range of private and public-sector industries. Prior to joining RG, Liam led the development of new products and capabilities at Autodesk and Organizer, both Silicon Valley based technology companies.

"Liam's experience leading high-performance teams to develop and apply emerging technology to solve complex challenges aligns both with our strategy and our culture of innovation. His background makes him an expert, and his passion makes him part of our team," said Brad King, CEO.

Samulski, who has been with RG since 1997 and is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army National Guard, returned from active duty to his new role as Director of Software. "Chris is a respected leader and has worked with our software products for a large part of his career here. This combination makes him a natural fit for leading our development team as we take JFAST to the next level," said Andrew Robinson, President.

With these two new leaders in place, RG will accelerate expansion of its intellectual property advantage through applied research and technology transfer.

At RG, we partner with our clients to test and refine every solution to meet their exact needs. We take pride in tackling complex management challenges with fresh and innovative insights and in transforming our clients' vision into reality.

Contact:

Lindsay Phillips

Director, Marketing

RG

703-739-5663

[email protected]

www.teamrg.com

SOURCE RG

Related Links

http://www.teamrg.com


This admission-free venue will feature space artifacts and rare photographs from the extensive private collection of The W Foundation (operator of The Space Station Museum). Space education programs are also planned throughout the summer in the Palace's small theatre. This privately funded, volunteer staffed exhibit is open Tuesday  Sunday (10am-5pm).

Since its founding in 2011, The Space Station Museum has seen over 105,000 visitors and hosts an annual event called Novato Space Festival. The museum has also been featured in media such as The Travel Channel's Emmy award-winning show, "Mysteries at the Museum."

There is a ribbon cutting ceremony planned on July 8th at 1pm with legendary astronaut Al Worden.

For more information on future events or becoming a volunteer, please go to www.SpaceStationCA.org

SOURCE The W Foundation

Related Links

http://www.thewfoundation.org


WASHINGTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Administrator Linda McMahon, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, today announced the SBA Ignite Toura national outreach campaign aimed at fueling small businesses with tools and resources to grow their companies and create more American jobs. McMahon will tour more than 60 cities in two years.

Throughout the tour McMahon will be listening to entrepreneurs, small business owners and community leaders about tax reform, regulation and access to capital; educating small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs about SBA products and services that can help them succeed; advocating for small business and being the VOICE of small business in Washington, D.C.; and encouraging small businesses to continue driving economic growth by creating jobs and helping the economy thrive.

'The mission of the SBA is to help small businesses grow, create jobs and help our economy thrive. Over the next two years, I will literally be on the move," McMahon said. "I want to get to know small business owners and entrepreneurs across America and learn about the obstacles they face while growing a business. I also want to encourage entrepreneurs to tap into SBA resources for start-up and growth solutions."

The Ignite Tour will be in Salt Lake City on June 21. Additional cities this summer include:

Pittsburgh

Puerto Rico

Seattle

Portland

Anchorage

Detroit

Milwaukee

Please join the conversation at #SBAIgniteTour

About the Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and since January 13, 2012 has served as a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. www.sba.gov.

Contact: Carol Wilkerson 202-205-8520

Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook

Release Number: 17-44

SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration

Related Links

http://www.sba.gov


Glassdoor released its annual report honoring the Highest Rated CEOs, which highlights top leaders employees love working for at Small & Medium Companies in the U.S.

Among chief executives recognized by employees in the U.S., Chisholm received an impressive approval rating based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews Classy employees shared on Glassdoor throughout the past year. Out of the 700,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 67 percent; Chisholm has a current approval rating of 97 percent.

"It's truly an honor to be recognized by Glassdoor and the Classy team, and to appear on this list alongside so many other inspiring leaders," said Chisholm. "We believe a healthy and thriving culture is paramount to growth, so it's incredibly rewarding to see our Glassdoor reviews continuously reflect the transparent and inclusive environment we're striving to create for every team member."

"CEOs tell us the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award is one of the highest honors they can receive because it truly reflects employee opinion about the job they do every day. I congratulate all of the winners on this significant honor," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "We know that CEO approval ratings correlate to overall employee satisfaction and trust in senior leadership, which contributes to long-term employee engagement, ultimately helping an employer's recruiting and retention efforts."

When employees submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes like senior management. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove, or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing.

Earlier this year, Classy signed Glassdoor's Equal Pay Pledge and was also recognized by Glassdoor as one of the Best Places to Work.

See the complete list of all Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 in the U.S. SMB category: https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Highest-Rated-CEOs-at-SMBs-LST_KQ0,26.htm

About Classy

Classy is the world's leading fundraising platform for social enterprises with the goal of solving social problems more effectively and efficiently. Since launching in 2011, Classy has helped more than 3,000 social enterprises including Oxfam, World Food Program USA, and National Geographic to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Classy also hosts the Collaborative, a three-day summit and awards ceremony that convenes impactful social enterprises and celebrates achievements in the sector. Based in San Diego, California, Classy employs a staff of over 200 people and was recognized by Glassdoor in 2017 as one of the Best Places to Work. Other recent recognition includes Fast Company's 2016 10 Most Innovative Companies for Social Good, Entrepreneur Magazine's 2016 10 Most Brilliant Companies for Social Impact, and a "Rising Star" recognition in the first-ever Forbes Cloud 100 list. Classy is backed by investors including JMI Equity, Mithril, and Salesforce Ventures. For more information, visit www.classy.org or follow Classy on Twitter: @Classy.

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is one of the largest and fastest growing job sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for approximately 700,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms.

Classy Media Contact:

Monica Finch, [email protected]

Glassdoor Media Contact:

Lisa Holden, [email protected]

SOURCE Classy

Related Links

http://classy.org


This is Seegene's first MOU forged with a Mexican government agency. The both parties agreed to perform collaborative studies to evaluate the clinical applications of bovine TB detection assays as well as studies on zoonotic TB diagnosis and control for those who work in the livestock industry in Mexico. Seegene will launch the product in Mexico by year-end.

Dr. Hugo Fragoso Sanchez, quarantine/monitoring director of SENASICA (Servicio Nacional De Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria) said, "We plan to deploy bovine TB detection assays developed with Seegene's core technologies to the nationwide disease monitoring and surveillance program in Mexico. It carries great significance in that it is the nation's first implementation of bovine TB molecular diagnostics (MDx) to prevent and control livestock diseases."

Bovine TB diagnosis is generally based on the immunological method, yet it has many restraints because detection results are not accurate and fast enough. When tested and confirmed as bovine TB positive, cattle are slaughtered to prevent further spread of the disease, resulting in heavy economic losses and serious health threat in the cattle industry. According to DOF(Diario Oficial de la Federacion), the Official Journal of the Mexican Federation, the economic losses caused by bovine TB in Mexico were estimated hundreds of US million dollars, due to a limited exportation of cattle.

Furthermore, bovine TB, also known as zoonotic TB caused by M. bovis is affecting Mexico and other countries yet their actual damage has not been highlighted because conventional diagnostics cannot differentiate between M. bovis and M. tuberculosis. MDx is the solution expected to improve current situation as it is capable of identifying all those pathogens.

Seegene's CEO and Founder, Dr. Jong-Yoon said, "Seegene's multiplex MDx technology enables fast and accurate diagnosis at affordable cost. While traditional immunology-based detection method cannot identify the causative agent of infection on bovine TB, Seegene's multiplex MDx assay detects and differentiates Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium bovis BCG, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This would greatly improve Mexican quarantine and inspection system."



In April 2016, Seegene established a joint venture Amplibio Seegene Diagnostics (ASD) with a Mexican biotech company Amplibio. Based on technology and know-how transferred from Seegene, ASD will develop and roll out localized products to gain price competitiveness. Seegene will establish a market presence in Mexico first and aggressively penetrate fast-growing Latin America market in the area of human and non-human MDx.

CONTACT:

Yoon Chung

Phone: 82-2-2240-4082

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Seegene

Related Links

http://www.seegene.com


DALLAS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sendero CEO & Founding Partner Bret Farrar has won a Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award recognizing the Highest Rated CEOs for 2017 in the U.S. SMB category. Glassdoor, one of the world's largest and fastest growing job sites, released its annual report honoring the Highest Rated CEOs, which highlights top leaders employees love working for at Small & Medium Companies in the U.S.

CEO & Founding Partner, Sendero

Farrar founded Sendero in 2004, and has led the firm through sustained growth of 20-30 percent annually. His leadership and commitment to encouraging employees to find purpose in everything they do has empowered Sendero to build an award-winning culture, recognized by placing three times on the Dallas Morning News Top 100 Workplaces list and winning a top-10 place on the 2017 Glassdoor Best Places to Work list.

Farrar speaks frequently on values, culture, and employee engagement, and has developed a B2B "culture exchange" concept to share innovative strategies with like-minded company leaders. Among chief executives recognized by employees in the U.S., Farrar received an impressive 99% approval rating based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews Sendero employees shared on Glassdoor throughout the past year.

"It is an incredible honor to be included on this list of talented CEOs," said Farrar. "I am grateful for the support of our outstanding people, who've played a major role in crafting our unique and strong company culture. This milestone would not be possible without them."

"CEOs tell us the Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award is one of the highest honors they can receive because it truly reflects employee opinion about the job they do every day. I congratulate all of the winners on this significant honor," said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. "We know that CEO approval ratings correlate to overall employee satisfaction and trust in senior leadership, which contributes to long-term employee engagement, ultimately helping an employer's recruiting and retention efforts."

When employees submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes like senior management. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing.

Among the 700,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 67 percent.

See the complete list of all Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 in the U.S. SMB category: https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Highest-Rated-CEOs-at-SMBs-LST_KQ0,26.htm

About Sendero

Sendero's mission is to be the management consulting partner most respected for their people, culture, and the results delivered to clients. Their experts provide guidance in strategic planning, technology enablement, organizational effectiveness, and analytics across a variety of industries. Sendero is committed to partnering with clients to navigate the unique challenges of their business while focusing on designing practical, high-value solutions. With offices in Dallas and Houston, Sendero is focused on making an impact for their clients and community.

Sendero Media Contact:

Caitlyn Byther

972.388.5806

[email protected]

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is one of the largest and fastest growing job sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for approximately 700,000 companies in more than 190 countries. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms.

Glassdoor Media Contact:

Lisa Holden

[email protected]

SOURCE Sendero

Related Links

http://www.senderoconsulting.com


SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced the program for Open Source Summit North America, taking place September 11-14 in Los Angeles, CA.

The Linux Foundation Open Source Summit is the premier open source technical conference in North America, gathering 2,000 developers, operators and community leadership professionals to collaborate, share information and learn about the latest in open technologies, including Linux, containers, cloud computing and more.

This is the first year for Open Source Summit, which combines the existing LinuxCon, ContainerCon and CloudOpen conferences with the all new Open Community Conference and Diversity Empowerment Summit:

LinuxCon

LinuxCon is the event where the leading maintainers, developers and project leads in the Linux community from around the world gather together for updates, education, collaboration and problem-solving to further the Linux ecosystem.

ContainerCon

Containers are revolutionizing the way we automate, deploy and scale workloads, and ContainerCon is the place to learn about how to best use these technologies to your advantage. The event brings together leading experts in both the development and operations community to share ideas and best practices for how containers are shaping computing today and in the future with a focus on DevOps culture, automation, portability and efficiency.

CloudOpen

CloudOpen is the only event providing space for education and collaboration designed specifically to advance the open cloud. The conference gathers top professionals to discuss cloud platforms, automation and management tools, DevOps, virtualization, containers, software-defined networking, storage & filesystems, big data tools and platforms, open source best practices and much more.

Open Community Conference

The Open Community Conference provides world-class content and networking for building empowered and productive open source communities. The event provides presentations, tutorials, panel discussions, and networking opportunities that bring together some of the leading practitioners to share their expertise in how you can build powerful communities. The Open Community Conference is led by Jono Bacon, a global leader in community strategy and management, author of The Art of Community, and community leadership consultant to many organizations including Huawei, HackerOne, Microsoft, GitLab, Creative Commons, Sony Mobile, ClusterHQ, and others.

Diversity Empowerment Summit

After receiving a large number of high quality diversity-related submissions for Open Source Summit North America, The Linux Foundation added a new Diversity Empowerment Summit to the schedule in order to accommodate all the great talks. The goal of the summit is to help promote and facilitate an increase in diversity, inclusion, empowerment and social innovation in the open source community, and to provide a venue for discussion and collaboration. In addition to the sessions at DES, many diversity-focused talks were also accepted for the other four events.

Over 200 educational sessions are on offer at Open Source Summit. In addition to previously announced keynote sessions, breakouts will be offered across technical, leadership and professional open source tracks.

Session highlights include:

The Open Road to Autonomous Driving - Dan Cauchy , Automotive Grade Linux

Code Detective: How to Investigate Linux Performance Issues - Gabriel Krisman Bertazi, Collabora

Aim to Be an Open Source Zero - Guy Martin , Autodesk

How to Fail Fast and Rise Again - A Case Study on Transforming to Cloud Native - Ken Owens , Cisco DevNet

First 90 Days - Building an OSS Practice - Nithya Ruff , Comcast

Raspberry Pi Hacks - Ruth Suehle , Red Hat

From Zero to Serverless in 60 Seconds, Anywhere - Alex Ellis , AD

, AD Choose Your Own Adventure: Finding the Right Path to Containerization - Erica von Buelow , CoreOS

Data Science: A Containerized, Cloud-Native Approach - Daniel Whitenack , Pachyderm

The lineup of sessions can be viewed here. Note the Diversity Empowerment Summit agenda will be announced next week.

Registration is discounted to $800 through June 24, and academic and hobbyist rates are also available. Applications are also being accepted for diversity and needs-based scholarships.

Members of the press who would like to request a complimentary press pass to attend should contact Dan Brown at [email protected].

Open Source Summit North America is made possible by Diamond Sponsors IBM and Intel; Platinum Sponsors Cisco, Google Cloud Platform, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Red Hat and SUSE; and Gold Sponsors Cloud Native Computing Foundation, {code} by Dell EMC, CoreOS and VMware.

Additional Resources

YouTube: The Linux Foundation Event Experience (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WUeelICQ2U )

LinuxCon North America 2016 Event Recap

(https://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/linuxcon-north-america)

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world's top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found atwww.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page:https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Media Contact:

Dan Brown

The Linux Foundation

415-420-7880

[email protected]

SOURCE The Linux Foundation

Related Links

http://www.linuxfoundation.org


GREENBELT, Md., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Greenbelt, Maryland, delivers end-to-end engineering, integration, test, and research capability necessary to develop high quality mission solutions for the DoD, Intelligence Community, NASA, and other US Government customers announces the award of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Strategic Partners Acquisition Readiness Contract (SPARC) Contract.

SPARC is a 10-year, $25 billion, multiple award contract designed to provide cost-effective, innovative solutions for procuring information technology (IT) professional services to all operating divisions within the Department of Health and Human Services. IT services include planning, requirements, design, development, testing, maintenance, IV&V and data services.

"We are thrilled that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has awarded the SPARC contract to SGT," said CEO, Dr. Kam Ghaffarian. "SGT is committed to partnering with CMS and working with the agency to accomplish its important mission in the years ahead.

SGT provides technology solutions and services to the United States government for space programs, national security and civilian operations. For more than 20 years, our dedicated staff of nearly 2,500 employees has delivered high-value engineering, mission operations, IT and science solutions that yield high-performing and cost-effective government programs.

Contact: Shelley Johnson

Phone: 301.489.1108

Email: [email protected]

http://www.sgt-inc.com

SOURCE SGT, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.sgt-inc.com


TAMPA, Fla., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Shriners are getting ready for their 143rd Imperial Session. This is the Shriners' annual convention and it is the first time Shriners International will hold their traditional event in Daytona Beach.

The City of Daytona Beach will host two Imperial Sessions back to back in 2017 and again in July 2018. The convention in 2017 is expected to draw more than 10,000 visitors from around the world.

Imperial Session is an annual business meeting and gathering of the international fraternity comprised of nearly 200 temples (chapters) in several countries. Imperial Session will run from July 9 to July 13, with events mainly taking place at the Ocean Center.

The week-long activities will begin with another first, the Walk, Ride or Drive for LOVE which will be held at the Daytona International Speedway. Shriners Hospitals for Children patients, families, community members and Shriners will walk or drive the track to raise funds and awareness for the hospitals.

As part of Imperial Session, Gary Bergenske of Orlando, Florida is expected to be named the organization's newest Imperial Potentate, or executive leader, for the 2017 - 2018 term. His wife, Anne will become the First Lady of the organization and will announce her fundraising program benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children, the official philanthropy of Shriners International.

"Imperial Sirs Chris Smith and Gary Bergenske and their ladies are excited to welcome you to the 'World's Most Famous Beach' Daytona Beach, Florida," said Director General, Stumpy Harris. "We look forward to welcoming our friends to a unique celebration in a wonderful family-friendly destination."

Considered a highlight of the weeklong event, Shriners Hospitals for Children will reveal two new national patient ambassadors for 2017 - 2018 with the premiere of a video documentary of their heartwarming and encouraging real life experiences. Imperial Session will begin with a Public Opening on Sunday, July 3. For more information and a full schedule of events, visit the Imperial Session website or follow us on social media www.facebook.com/ShrinersInternational.

About Shriners International

Shriners International, a fraternity based on fun, fellowship and the Masonic principles of brotherly love, relief and truth, founded Shriners Hospitals for Children as its official philanthropy in 1922. What began as one hospital, is now a world-renowned health care system with 22 locations in three countries. The fraternity, which has nearly 200 chapters in several countries and thousands of clubs around the world, continues to support this unique health care system. Please visit shrinersinternational.org to learn more.



About Shriners Hospitals for Children

Shriners Hospitals for Children changes lives every day through innovative pediatric specialty care, world-class research and outstanding medical education. The 22 locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico provide advanced care for children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries and cleft lip and palate.

Shriners Hospitals for Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and relies on the generosity of donors. All donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. For more information, please visit shrinershospitalsforchildren.org.

SOURCE Shriners International

Related Links

http://shrinersinternational.org


SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, SIIA named Smart Sparrow as a finalist for multiple categories in the 2017 CODiE Awards, recognizing the learning design pioneer's best-in-class instructional design technology. Smart Sparrow was acknowledged for (1) Best Authoring / Development Tool for Educators, (2) Best Science Instructional Solution, and (3) Best Social-Emotional Development Solution.

"We are thrilled to be honored by the SIIA for our work to bring beautiful, intelligent design to education technology," said Dror Ben-Naim, Ph.D, founding CEO of Smart Sparrow, finalist in the Best Authoring / Development Tool for Educators. "Empowering educators through technology is critical to providing more engaging and effective online learning experiences that lead to improved student outcomes. Our work with forwarding thinking institutions like Arizona State University (ASU) and the Northeast Resiliency Consortium (NRC) reflect our shared commitment to learning innovation, and they have offered wonderful insight into the learning needs of today's students."

BioBeyond, an exploration-based course for non-science majors first launched in 2015, is a finalist in the Best Science Instructional Solution category. The online course was built on Smart Sparrow's authoring platform, and teaches introductory biology as an exploration of the unknown, instead of just mastery of the known. It moves postsecondary students away from pure fact memorization, getting them excited to form a deeper understanding of scientific reasoning, develop problem solving skills, and understand modern science. The course was created in partnership with ASU and the Inspark Teaching Network, a collaborative community of science educators working to change the way science is taught.

The Dot Resiliency Series, also built on Smart Sparrow's platform, is a finalist in the Best Social-Emotional Development Solution category. The series, created in partnership with NRC, reveals learners' innate abilities to think and act resiliently. Students are guided through metacognitive exercises to consider their experiences, think about their strengths and weaknesses, and practice new skills. Lessons use adaptive learning to provide a personalized learning experience for each student that builds upon their prior knowledge. It begins with a capstone game to assess current resiliency, then providing suggestions on which resiliency topics the student should focus on next.

"I am impressed by the level of innovation and creativity demonstrated by the 2017 CODiE award finalists. These products are opening doors for learners of all ages by combining new technologies with research about how people learn in order to respond to student and educator needs," said Bridget Foster, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the Education Technology Industry Network (ETIN), a division of SIIA.

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the industry's only peer-reviewed awards program. Educators and administrators serve as judges and conduct the first-round review of all education nominees. Their scores determine the SIIA CODiE Award finalists, and SIIA members then vote on the finalist products. The scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners. Winners will be announced during a CODiE Award Winner Ceremony in San Francisco on July 26 at the Education Impact Symposium, hosted by the Education Technology Industry Network (ETIN), a division of SIIA.

Details about each finalist are listed at http://www.siia.net/codie/Finalists

About Smart Sparrow

Smart Sparrow is an adaptive elearning platform for authoring next-generation courseware. It enables any educator to create amazingly engaging, personalized learning experiences and then continuously improve them through built-in learner analytics  so students are better supported and more motivated to succeed. Smart Sparrow believes in providing the tools that support great teaching, and putting faculty first to unlock the full potential of adaptive learning. www.smartsparrow.com

SOURCE Smart Sparrow

Related Links

http://www.smartsparrow.com


LONDON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Solar Photovoltaic Material Market: Overview



Solar photovoltaic materials are the materials that are used in manufacturing of solar panels or modules which are installed for generating electricity. Solar photovoltaic materials are basically of two type's crystalline and thin film. Crystalline is further divided into polycrystalline and gallium arsenide whereas thin film is of three types' namely amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium diselenide. Out of all the solar photovoltaic materials, polycrystalline is the most dominant material because of its good efficiency and easy manufacturing process. Thin film materials like cadmium telluride and copper indium diselenide is expected to grow in the near future.





Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4950283/







The report estimates and forecasts the solar photovoltaic material market on the global, regional, and country levels. The study provides forecast between 2016 and 2024 based on volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) with 2015 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the product segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. Value chain analysis also offers detailed information about value addition at each stage. The study includes drivers and restraints for the solar photovoltaic material market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period.



The study also provides key market indicators affecting the growth of the market. The report analyzes opportunities in the solar photovoltaic material 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. Furthermore, the report analyzes substitute analysis of solar photovoltaic material and global average price trend analysis.



Global Solar Photovoltaic Material Market: Segmentation



The study provides comprehensive view of the solar photovoltaic material market by dividing it into end-user and geography. The solar photovoltaic material market has been segmented into crystalline, polycrystalline, cadmium telluride, copper indium diselenide and others. End-user segments residential, commercial, and industrial have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends.



Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for solar photovoltaic material in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, the report comprises country-level analysis in terms of volume and revenue for end-user segments. Key countries such as the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, the U.K., China, India, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual end-users in all the regions and countries.



The report includes Porter's Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the solar photovoltaic material market. It comprises qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-users and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material 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 comprises price trend analysis for solar photovoltaic material between 2016 and 2024.



Global Solar Photovoltaic Material Market: Competitive Analysis



The report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Major players profiled in the report include BASF SE, Mitsubishi Material Corporation, Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation LLC, LDK Solar Co. Ltd., Okmetic, Wacker Chemie AG , Applied Materials, Inc, Shin-Etsu Chemicals Co., Ltd., Atecom Technology Co., Ltd., Topsil GlobalWafers A/S, Silicor Materials, Inc., Targray Technology International, Inc. 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).



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. 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 team's expertise and market understanding.



The global solar photovoltaic material market has been segmented as follows:



By Material Type



Crystalline

Polycrystalline

Cadmium Telluride

Copper Indium Diselenide

Others



By End User



Residential

Commercial

Industrial



By Region



North America

U.S.

Canada

Europe

Germany

France

U.K.

Italy

Spain

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

China

India

Japan

ASEAN

Rest of Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

GCC

South Africa

Rest of Middle East & Africa

Latin America

Chile

Brazil

Mexico

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4950283/



About Reportbuyer

Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers

http://www.reportbuyer.com



For more information:

Sarah Smith

Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 208 816 85 48

Website: www.reportbuyer.com

SOURCE ReportBuyer

Related Links

http://www.reportbuyer.com


LOS ANGELES, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Solid Commerce, the leading all-in-one solution for multichannel eCommerce merchants, announced today the integration of Jet.com into its platform. Jet.com, which was acquired by Walmart in 2016, is an innovative e-commerce marketplace headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Solid Commerce's integration with Jet allows online retailers to reach Jet's growing base of younger, affluent shoppers drawn by Jet's innovative "Prices Drop as You Shop" feature and Jet's large variety of products ranging from fashion, electronics to home goods and other categories.

Using the Solid Commerce platform, online retailers can their expand product catalog from their web site onto Jet and synchronize their inventory and orders across multiple eCommerce channels such as Walmart, Amazon, eBay and 30+ others. With direct integrations into UPS, FedEx and US postal providers such as Shipping Easy, Solid Commerce's platform also provides Jet sellers with complete shipping management capabilities.

Eran Pick, CEO of Solid Commerce, said, "While a number of platforms can only perform certain functions of the sales process on Jet, Solid Commerce's unified platform offers the full range of listing, inventory & order management as well as full shipping functionality, creating a more streamlined eCommerce operation for online retailers. Our goal is to enable merchants to sell more and save time doing so."

In addition to its integration with Jet.com and multiple shipping carriers, Solid Commerce also integrates with numerous 3rd party applications such as QuickBooks and NetSuite providing online retailers with added value to their eCommerce business operations. For a full list of integrations see: http://www.solidcommerce.com/integrations-overview

More information about Solid Commerce can be found at www.SolidCommerce.com.

About Solid Commerce:

Solid Commerce is the leading "all-in-one" multi-channel ecommerce platform that enables retailers to centralize and streamline their ecommerce operations with one unified platform. With a cloud-based solution, merchants can manage listings, inventory, orders and shipping across more than 30 online channels and shopping carts including Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Jet.com, Shopify and others. The Solid Commerce platform manages more than $1.5 billion of orders per year. Based in Marina Del Rey, California, the Company has additional offices in Hong Kong & Tel-Aviv.

For more information, visit solidcommerce.com

SOURCE Solid Commerce

Related Links

http://www.solidcommerce.com


LONDON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Songtradr, the fastest-growing music licensing platform in the world, announces today, a long-term partnership with Milamber Ventures PLC (NEX: MLVP), the premiere UK-based media, technology and education growth accelerator, to establish essential business development and territorial expansion of Songtradr in the UK.

This partnership with Milamber Ventures PLC expands Songtradr's presence to a key market where commercial music licensing is a highly fragmented industry for European based brands, filmmakers and advertising agencies. The focus will be on sales, marketing and content acquisition.

"Songtradr has been experiencing rapid growth with our disruptive licensing model, and we have looked for the most strategic of partnerships globally to help support us across European territories," said Paul Wiltshire, founder and CEO of Songtradr. "Milamber Ventures PLC has deep insight in music and media business growth, and that's a strong proof point towards successful prowess in the business and usage of music, and of rights ownership."

This expansion into the UK follows Songtradr's recently doubled growth into more than 150 countries and over 75,000 artists, songwriters and catalogs. The platform provides music buyers in the advertising, TV and film industries with unprecedented access to commercial music from all over the globe.

"Songtradr is at the cutting edge of what is now the digitization and simplification of the music industry, providing an essential and streamlined service to both creators and users of music," said Charlie Dilks, Managing Partner at Milamber Ventures PLC. "Their platform is best in class and the experience of the team involved is unprecedented. The Songtradr platform already has many talented UK artists and songwriters on board, and there is no doubt it will be very well received in the UK by both music buyers and creators of music alike."

About Songtradr:

Songtradr connects music creators globally to film, TV, brands and other media in a fully-automated worldwide marketplace for music licensing. Music creators maintain complete control of their rights and are empowered with the tools they need to monetize their music assets. Using Songtradr's proprietary search and variable license pricing technology, music supervisors, brands, filmmakers and other creatives can now easily license music from the world's best emerging artists, bands and composers.

About Milamber:

Milamber Ventures PLC is a growth accelerator business focusing on Creative Media, Technology and Education. As well as funding and access to funds, Milamber specialises in the incubation and delivery of business development programmes for high value, innovative growing businesses. Milamber helps companies to navigate the wide spectrum of opportunities to grow their businesses either organically, via collaborative partnerships, with or without funding events, through mergers and/or acquisitions, either locally or on a global scale.

CONTACT:

Sam Tannenbaum, MWWPR for Songtradr,

[email protected]

SOURCE Songtradr

Related Links

http://www.songtradr.com


"Spirit's history and expertise in designing and manufacturing large aerostructures using composite materials will add to the ACC's already strong intellectual membership," said Spirit Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer John Pilla. "We're excited to collaborate with other industry leaders to work on new ideas and share information that will benefit the aerospace industry as a whole."

The ACC was established in 2015 in support of the Advanced Composites Project, part of the Advanced Air Vehicles Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. The project's goal is to reduce product development and certification timelines by 30 percent for composites used in aerospace applications.

Member organizations in the consortium participate in research focused on three areas: prediction of life and strength of composite structures, rapid inspection of composites and manufacturing process and simulation.

Spirit AeroSystems is one of the largest manufacturers of aerostructures in the world with design and build capabilities for both commercial and defense customers. The company installed one of the world's largest autoclaves used for curing large composite structures at its Wichita, Kan., facility in 2016 to support increasing production levels in the company's composite fuselage business and has 35 autoclaves worldwide. Spirit will continue to expand its product development and composite production capabilities in the ACC.

On the web: www.spiritaero.com

On Twitter: @SpiritAero

About Spirit AeroSystems

Spirit AeroSystems designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers. With headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia. The company's core products include fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components for the world's premier aircraft. Spirit AeroSystems focuses on affordable, innovative composite and aluminum manufacturing solutions to support customers around the globe. More information is available at www.spiritaero.com.

SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems Inc.

Related Links

http://www.spiritaero.com


URBANDALE, Iowa, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Spotlight Innovation Inc. (OTCQB: STLT) today announced that on June 15, 2017, it was made aware by OTC Markets of promotional activities surrounding the Company's common stock.

According to the OTC Markets the activities were promotional newsletter emails encouraging investors to purchase the Company's common stock and this promotional activity coincided with higher than average trading volume and fluctuations in the Company's stock price. The Company was unaware of the promotional activity until informed by OTC Markets, and is unaware of the full nature of the promotional activity, the extent of the email dissemination, or the responsible parties.

In its investigation into this matter, the Company has made direct inquiries of its executive officers, directors, its controlling shareholders (i.e., shareholders owning 10% or more of the Company's securities) and its third party service providers. Neither the Company, nor its executive officers, directors or, to the Company's knowledge, its controlling shareholders (i.e., shareholders owning 10% or more of the Company's securities) have been involved in any way with the creation or distribution of promotional materials including these email newsletters. Additionally, neither the Company's executive officers, directors nor, to the knowledge of the Company, any controlling shareholders or any third party service providers, sold or purchased shares of Common Stock of the Company within the last 90 days, except as it relates to the purchase of convertible instruments as described in our periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Further, the Company has not, other than disclosed in its periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, issued any shares or convertible instruments allowing conversion to equity securities at prices constituting a discount to the current market rate at the time of the issuance. From January 2016 to June 2016 the Company engaged CEOCast, and since July 25, 2016 the Company has engaged IRTH Communications as its provider of investor relations services, public relations services, marketing, or other related services. The Company has made direct inquiries of its current investor relations service provider concerning whether they have directly or indirectly been involved in any way, including payment of a third party, with the creation or distribution of promotional materials related to the company and its securities. This vendor has declined to comment on said promotional activities.

The Company is not affiliated in any way with the authors of these promotional newsletter emails. Certain statements contained in the promotional materials as supplied to the Company by OTC Markets may be materially false and/or misleading. The Company encourages those interested in the Company to rely solely on information included in its press releases combined with its filings and disclosures made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Spotlight Innovation Inc.

Spotlight Innovation Inc. (OTCQB: STLT) identifies and acquires rights to innovative, proprietary technologies designed to address unmet medical needs, with an emphasis on rare, emerging and neglected diseases. To find and evaluate unique opportunities, we leverage our extensive relationships with leading scientists, academic institutions and other sources. We provide value-added development capability to accelerate development progress. When scientifically significant benchmarks have been achieved, we will endeavor to partner with proven market leaders via sale, out-license or strategic alliance. For more information, visit www.spotlightinnovation.com or follow us on www.twitter.com/spotlightinno.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements herein include statements regarding Spotlight Innovation's efforts to develop and commercialize its various technologies, and to achieve its stated benchmarks. Actual outcomes and actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties, such as: the inability to finance the planned development of the technologies; the inability to hire appropriate staff to develop the technologies; unforeseen technical difficulties in developing the technologies; the inability to obtain regulatory approval for human use; competitors' therapies proving to be more effective, cheaper or otherwise more preferable; or, the inability to market a product. All of which could, among other things, delay or prevent product release, as well as other factors expressed from time to time in Spotlight Innovation's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As a result, this press release should be read in conjunction with Spotlight Innovation's periodic filings with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made only as of the date of this press release and Spotlight Innovation undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

SOURCE Spotlight Innovation Inc.

Related Links

http://www.spotlightinnovation.com


WASHINGTON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, an employee-owned, full-service independent partnership associated with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (member FINRA/SIPC), announced today that Paul Staadeker and Jeremy Staadeker of The Staadeker Wealth Management Group have joined Steward Partners as Directors and Founding Partners. The Staadeker Group, formerly of Wells Fargo Advisors, where they managed $175 million in client assets, joins Steward's Washington, D.C., office. Additionally, Steven Libov has joined Steward Partners as Senior Vice President and Partner. Libov, formerly of Janney Montgomery Scott, where he managed $92 million in client assets, joins Steward's midtown Manhattan office. Year to date, Steward Partners has added over $2 billion in recruited assets under management and 18 new wealth managers.

"We've had a remarkably busy six months here at Steward Partners," stated Steward's CEO, Jim Gold. "We are expanding our RIA and seeing more opportunities in the world of succession planning. Moreover, many independents, insurance planners and family offices have been looking to our model for partnership opportunities. We want the partnership to grow, but more importantly, we want it to evolve," said Gold.

With that evolution come more transitions. As reported last month in On Wall Street,* Steward Partners has a well-established process for handling each new transition. "A transition happens across all areas. It doesn't happen in a vacuum," said Valarie Margaritopoulos, head of operations for Steward Partners, noting that Steward's transition specialists manage the impact on administration, human resources and more.

METRO D.C. EXPANSION

The addition of The Staadeker Group, formerly at Wells Fargo in McLean, Virginia, broadens Steward's already strong footprint in the Washington metropolitan area. "The area just outside of D.C. is rich with talent, and teams in this market are hungry for this type of model," said Jeremy Staadeker. "We've seen what Jeff Gonyo, the divisional president, and his partners have already done in Washington and Bethesda, Maryland, and we are excited to be a part of something special."

Paul Staadeker agreed, adding, "The Steward Partners model, its association with Raymond James and its leadership team were very impressive to me. I've seen the industry change multiple times over my career, and I felt this partnership, its culture and the future direction of wealth management can best be served at Steward."

"I wasn't looking to make a change at this point in my career," said Libov. "But as I began to think about my own team dynamic and personal retirement, I decided to seek out a partnership that would fit me both culturally and logistically. I also thought it would be prudent to explore options beyond the four walls where I was housed at the time and find the best place for my clients to continue with the financial plans that we created. Steward Partners and its relationship with Raymond James made the decision an easy one. This is where my clients and I need to be."

Since November 2013, Steward Partners has added 64 advisors with nearly $50 million in trailing 12-month production and over $6.8 billion in assets under management. Earlier this year, Steward Partners announced the opening of the firm's ninth and tenth locations, in Clearwater, Florida, and Boston respectively.

About Steward Partners Global Advisory

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional offices in Albany, N.Y., Andover and Boston, Mass., Bethesda, Md., Clearwater, Fla., Keene, Manchester and Portsmouth, N.H., and New York City, Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, is an employee-owned, full-service independent partnership catering to family, institutional and multigenerational wealth.

For more information, visit us at www.stewardpartners.com.

About Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.

Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., is a financial services firm supporting more than 3,700 independent financial advisors nationwide. Since 1974, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, has provided a wide range of investment and wealth planning related services through its affiliate, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Both broker/dealers are wholly owned subsidiaries of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE-RJF), a leading diversified financial services company with 7,200 financial advisors serving approximately 3 million client accounts in more than 2,900 locations throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Total client assets are $649 billion.

Steward Partners Holdings and Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC, maintain a separate professional business relationship with, and our registered professionals offer securities through, Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Steward Partners Investment Advisory, LLC, 1776 I Street NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20006. Toll Free: (844) 801-8268.

The Staadeker Group is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services.

*https://www.onwallstreet.com/news/steward-partners-recruits-600m-advisers-opens-new-office

Press Contact:

Gregory Banasz

202-930-6008

[email protected]

SOURCE Steward Partners Global Advisory, LLC

Related Links

http://www.stewardpartners.com


CHICAGO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- There's still time to enter to win Reliance Dental's Bright Smile Scholarship, but students will have to act fast as the deadline is July 15th.

Reliance Dental, manufacturer of dental acrylics and other supplies for over a century, introduced the Bright Smile Scholarship program earlier this year to help promote better oral health habits among college age people. The program will award $2,500 to help with college, grad school or dental hygienist education costs to a student who practices and helps promote good oral health habits.

RELIANCE DENTAL Bright Smile Scholarship

Recent research shows only a little over 50% of Millennials make regular visits to the dentist, the lowest percentage of any age group. They are away from home, busy with college and adjusting to a new lifestyle, and going to the dentist becomes a low priority. The result is an upturn in Millennials who need major dental work because they have failed to see a dentist for several years.

Bright Smile Scholarship applicants must get sign off as practicing good oral health habits by a licensed dental office. "We're hoping driving students to a dental office to get sign off for their scholarship application will encourage them to do more, like getting an annual check up," said Tom Rissman, CEO of Reliance Dental. "Any increase in oral care for this group is a plus."

In addition, applicants are required to submit a poster or social media design promoting the benefits of good dental habits. This will get Millennials thinking about their own dental care, and judging of these designs will be a key factor in who ultimately receives the scholarship.

The idea for the scholarship came from Reliance's marketing agency TBI. TBI president Tom Baer says, "We did our research, and as far as we can tell, no one has ever used a scholarship as an incentive to encourage better oral care. This program will help both dentists and patients."

Applications for the scholarship can be made at scholarship.reliancedental.net through July 15, 2017. The scholarship will be awarded in early August.

The program is open to any student, 17 or older who has been accepted to a 2 or 4-year institution of higher learning in the 50 United States or District of Columbia.

More information, including complete rules can be found at scholarship.reliancedental.net.

About Reliance Dental

Reliance Dental Manufacturing, LLC, a privately held company located in Alsip, Illinois, has been producing dental acrylics and supplies for dentists worldwide for over 100 years, and is renowned for providing only the highest quality products, surprisingly affordable prices, and personal attention to every customer. Reliance manufactures DuraLay Brand pattern resin and temporary crown and bridge products, as well as DuraSeal temporary filling acrylic and a full line of denture re-line and rebase materials (DuraBase, DuraBase Soft, DuraLiner II, Dura Rely-A-Soft and DuraConditioner).

For more company information visit www.reliancedental.net or call 708/597-6694.

Media Contact: Tom Baer

TBI Marketing

Chicago, IL

847-274-9003

[email protected]

SOURCE Reliance Dental Manufacturing, LLC

Related Links

http://www.reliancedental.net


(In US Dollars unless otherwise stated)

TORONTO, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Superior Gold Inc. ("Superior Gold" or the "Company") (TSX.V:SGI) is pleased to announce that it has received approval from the Department of Mines and Petroleum ("DMP") of Western Australia to commence development and operation of its 100% owned Hermes project, which is located approximately 65 kilometres southwest of the Company's Plutonic Gold Mine, 800 kilometres north east of Perth, in Western Australia ( Figure 1 ).

The final environmental approval for the Hermes Project included the Clearing Permit, which is valid from July 1, 2017, and as such ground disturbance/clearing can commence on that date.

Initially work will commence with the construction of the haul road, which will connect the Hermes orebodies to the mill at the Plutonic Mine, where it will be processed. The Hermes deposit is expected to be mined as a conventional open pit, contractor operated mining operation. The contribution of the ore from Hermes is anticipated to allow Superior Gold to reach its targeted annual production of 100,000 ounces of gold.

The Company anticipates that construction of the haul road will take up to three months to complete and will be followed by pre-stripping activities prior to the commencement of mining.

Chris Bradbrook, President and CEO of Superior Gold stated: "We are very pleased to have been granted approval to commence construction work on the Hermes project, on schedule, in July. We expect that the Hermes project will commence production in 2018, when it will become an important contributor to our current production profile. Additionally, we aim to commence drilling and exploration around Hermes to expand the overall mineral reserve and mineral resource and extend the mine life. We would like to thank Significant Environmental Services for assisting the Company with all environmental applications and submissions for the Hermes Project."

Full details about the mineral reserves and mineral resources for the Plutonic Gold Mine and Hermes are included in a NI 43-101 Technical Report dated February 13, 2017 (with an effective date of September 30, 2016) that can be found under the Corporation's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) which was filed on February 15, 2017.

Plutonic Gold Mine

For the two consecutive quarters since acquiring the Plutonic Gold Mine in October 2016, Superior Gold has produced 43,763 ounces of gold and generated $12.8 million in free cash flow. For further information please see Press Release entitled "Superior Gold Inc. Announces First Quarter 2017 Financial and Operating Results" available on the Company's website at www.superior-gold.com.

Outlook and Strategy

In the near term, the Company is focused on re-establishing the Plutonic Gold Operations as a stable gold producer capable of producing 100,000 ounces of gold annually. To achieve this goal, Superior Gold intends to focus on its growth strategy which includes:

Focusing on quality high-grade ounces

Optimizing recoveries

Increasing incremental production from underground and open pit sources

Resource and reserve additions through property wide exploration

Leveraging the excess mill capacity

With the proceeds raised in the completion of the initial public offering, and the cash being generated by the Plutonic Gold Mine, the Company has the liquidity available to execute on its near-term growth and exploration strategy.

Qualified Person

Scientific and technical information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Simon Lawson who is a member of the AusIMM and a "qualified person" within the meaning of NI 43-101. Mr. Lawson is an employee of the Company and serves as the Chief Geologist.

About Superior Gold

Superior Gold is a Canadian based gold producer that owns 100% of the Plutonic Gold Operations located in Western Australia. The Plutonic Gold Operations include the Plutonic Gold Mine, which is a producing underground operation with a central mill, the Hermes open pit development project and an interest in the Bryah Basin joint venture. Superior Gold is focused on expanding production at the Plutonic Gold Operations and building an intermediate gold producer with superior returns for shareholders.

Forward Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws that is intended to be covered by the safe harbours created by those laws. "Forward-looking information" includes statements that use forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "potential" or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Company's objectives, goals or future plans, and statements regarding exploration results and exploration plans.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made. Furthermore, such forward-looking information involves a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. See "Risk Factors" in the Company's prospectus dated February 15, 2017 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for a discussion of these risks.

The Company cautions that there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking information contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

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.

SOURCE Superior Gold
NEW YORK and MUMBAI, India, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, was recognized in The Civic 50 as one of America's 50 most community-minded companies by Points of Light, the world's largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. The Civic 50 provides a national standard for superior corporate citizenship and showcases how companies can use their time, skills and other resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business and drive noticeable change.

"We are honored to be recognized and stand alongside many other respected U.S. brands that are deeply engaged in the local communities where they operate and are contributing to key societal needs," said Surya Kant, President of TCS, North America, UK and Europe. "At TCS, we believe the hallmark of a purpose driven organization is leading with citizenship values, empowering a culture of service and creating a positive impact for society and humanity."

Driven by its mantra of 'Impact through Empowerment,' TCS has prioritized its corporate social responsibility efforts in health, education and planet; building a broad-based, collaborative and cross-sector effort that reaches more than two million young adults while leveraging its own intellectual, technological and human capital to supplement financial philanthropic investments. More than 40% of TCS employees in the U.S. volunteer in their local communities, and $12+ million in social good has been created by pro-bono technology services for 50+ non-profit organizations. TCS has built a national technology infrastructure to enable mentoring of girls, young women and students from minorities and low income groups.

"In the fifth year of honoring the most community-minded companies in the nation, The Civic 50 truly highlights the commitment to community and civic engagement of America's leading brands," said Jennifer Lawson, president of networks at Points of Light. "By elevating critical stakeholder voices from employees, customers and communities into their mission statements, The Civic 50 companies are putting themselves at the center of change to create more enduring and sustainable business models."

TCS' flagship student engagement program, goIT, has engaged more than 13,000 middle and high school students across 54 cities in the United States and Canada with hands-on experiences in computer science, inspiring them towards tech careers in all sectors. Launched in March 2017, Ignite My Future in School will engage 20,000 teachers and more than one million students over the next five years to prepare them for 21st century careers. In partnership with Discovery Education, Ignite My Future in School will enable educators, administrators and school districts to become ambassadors of a transdisciplinary approach and introduce computational thinking within the context of core subjects such as English, mathematics, social studies, science, and the arts.

TCS has been a leading STEM education proponent for the past decade, through highly scalable cross-sector initiatives such as US2020, Million Women Mentors (MWM) and national partnerships with STEMConnector, Npower, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. TCS is a founder and technology partner of MWM, which has generated 1.8 million pledges and 850,000+ mentoring engagements to date between career professionals and young women keen to succeed in STEM careers.

"This recognition reinforces our belief that an enterprise's true purpose is to serve the community and improve the quality of life. Today's societal challenges can be addressed through the combined power of purpose, people and technology," added Balaji Ganapathy, Head of Workforce Effectiveness, Tata Consultancy Services. "Congratulations to all The Civic 50 organizations, each of whom demonstrate the value of doing well by doing good."

The Civic 50 winners are public and private companies with U.S. operations and revenues of $1 billion or more, and are selected based on four dimensions of their U.S. community engagement programs: Investment, Integration, Institutionalization and Impact. Administered by True Impact, The Civic 50 is the only survey and ranking system that exclusively measures corporate involvement in communities.

To learn more about The Civic 50, to see a full list of the winners and to access the highlights, trends, benchmarking data and best practices from the 2017 Civic 50, please visit www.Civic50.org.

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS):

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT, BPS, infrastructure, engineering and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata group, India's largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has over 387,000 of the world's best-trained consultants in 45 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of U.S. $17.6 billion for year ended March 31, 2017 and is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) in India. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com

To stay up-to-date on TCS news in North America, follow @TCS_NA. For TCS global news, follow @TCS_News.

SOURCE Tata Consultancy Services

Related Links

http://www.tcs.com


FARMINGDALE, N.Y., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Telephonics Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Griffon Corporation (NYSE: GFF), announced today that it has been awarded year two of a multi-year, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) production contract valued at approximately $37M from Lockheed Martin for AN/APS-153(V)1 radar retrofit kits with Automatic Radar Periscope Detection and Discrimination (ARPDD) capability. As part of the U.S. Navy's ARPDD Retrofit Program  Phase Three, year two, this award is a follow-on phase to a previously awarded multi-year contract. Telephonics ARPDD systems will be installed on the U.S. Navy's MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopters, providing advanced maritime and littoral surveillance.

The AN/APS-153(V)1 is the successor to the AN/APS-147 and in addition to ARPDD, provides other advanced search capabilities including small target detection, Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging and a fully integrated Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) interrogator. Initial deliveries of the retrofit kits begin in spring 2018 and kits include one Radar Data Processor (RDP), one Antenna Pedestal (AP) and one Receiver Transmitter (RT).

"Telephonics is extremely proud to continue our support of this critical naval program, providing a surveillance system designed to meet the demanding mission needs of U.S. Navy crews around the globe," said Mr. Kevin McSweeney, President of Telephonics. "The AN/APS-153(V)1 will provide enhanced capabilities to the Navy, enabling increased maritime and littoral domain awareness in all types of weather conditions, both day and night."

For more information about Telephonics and its surveillance technologies, please contact Lisa Ahrens at [email protected] or visit www.telephonics.com.

About Telephonics

Telephonics, founded in 1933, is recognized globally as a leading provider of highly sophisticated intelligence, surveillance and communications solutions that are deployed across a wide range of land, sea and air applications. Telephonics designs, develops, manufactures and provides logistical support and lifecycle sustainment services to defense, aerospace and commercial customers worldwide.

Visit us at www.telephonics.com or on our social media channels:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

LinkedIn

Google+

About Griffon Corporation

Griffon is a diversified management and holding company that conducts business through wholly-owned subsidiaries. Griffon oversees the operations of its subsidiaries, allocates resources among them and manages their capital structures. Griffon provides direction and assistance to its subsidiaries in connection with acquisition and growth opportunities as well as in connection with divestitures. In order to further diversify, Griffon also seeks out, evaluates and, when appropriate, will acquire additional businesses that offer potentially attractive returns on capital.

Headquartered in New York, N.Y., the Company was founded in 1959 and is incorporated in Delaware. Griffon is listed on the New York Stock Exchanges and trades under the symbol GFF.

Griffon currently conducts its operations through three reportable segments:

Home & Building Products consists of two companies, The AMES Companies, Inc. (" AMES ") and Clopay Building Products Company, Inc. ("CBP"):

Companies, Inc. (" ") and Clopay Building Products Company, Inc. ("CBP"): AMES , founded in 1774, is the leading U.S. manufacturer and a global provider of long-handled tools and landscaping products for homeowners and professionals.

, founded in 1774, is the leading U.S. manufacturer and a global provider of long-handled tools and landscaping products for homeowners and professionals.

CBP, since 1964, is a leading manufacturer and marketer of residential and commercial garage doors and sells to professional dealers and some of the largest home center retail chains in North America .

. Telephonics Corporation, founded in 1933, is recognized globally as a leading provider of highly sophisticated intelligence, surveillance and communications solutions for defense, aerospace and commercial customers.

Clopay Plastic Products Company, Inc., incorporated in 1934, is a global leader in the development and production of embossed, laminated and printed specialty plastic films for hygienic, health-care and industrial products and sells to some of the world's largest consumer products companies.

For more information on Griffon and its operating subsidiaries, please see the Company's website at www.griffon.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of the company's management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the company's management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Information concerning risks and uncertainties that may impact the company's results and forward-looking statements are set forth in Griffon Corporation's filings with the SEC. The company does not undertake to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

 2017 Telephonics Corporation. 815 Broad Hollow Road, Farmingdale, NY 11735. All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.

Investor Contact: Company Contact:

Michael Callahan Lisa Ahrens

ICR, Inc. Telephonics Corporation

203.682.8311 631.755.7785

[email protected] [email protected]



SOURCE Telephonics Corporation

Related Links

http://www.telephonics.com


NEW ORLEANS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CareRise, a leading risk management and ratings company in the (PAC)/post-acute care healthcare sector, announced today that it has appointed Terry Sullivan, M.D., as its Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Sullivan has over 30 years of experience in healthcare and has served as Strategic Medical Director for one of the country's largest skilled nursing facility chains. He has also held key leadership roles in several Medicare Advantage plans and has worked extensively in the fields of liability insurance, clinical software technology, and global healthcare manufacturing. Dr. Sullivan served as chairman of the Colorado Board of Health and has extensive experience in public health and the post-acute care industry. He is a graduate of Georgetown Medical School and is board certified in Internal Medicine.

"I am excited to be a part of CareRise, a patient-centered organization that is using technology to drive innovative solutions in the areas of quality, performance improvement, and risk reductions. Risk management is critical in an industry as heavily scrutinized as (PAC)/post-acute care; the CareRise service platform combines the best of professional nursing consultation and the latest technology in order to drive superior outcomes for both the patient and business. In an increasingly consumer-driven industry, online real-time tools like CareRise Index are essential for patients and families to be able to shop around in order to make the best informed decisions about the healthcare they will purchase," Dr. Sullivan said.

"We are elated to have Dr. Sullivan on board, as we are currently rolling out our latest CareRise Index offering to providers and organizations nationwide. Education and 'getting our message out' is a key element in our ongoing mission. Dr. Sullivan's vast experience, knowledge and genuine passion and enthusiasm for our industry fits right in with me personally and our company," said Tim Goux, founder of CareRise.

CareRise is a full-service risk management company combining its proprietary clinical and software enabled programs, all towards enhancing quality care and minimizing risk exposures. CRI|CareRise Index is the latest offering from CareRise, and its platform provides a new, state of the art, near real-time ratings platform for all post-acute care facilities. CareRise Index measures all of the key factors that matter to patients, residents, and all healthcare professionals working in the healthcare continuum. Core elements of the CRISCORE rating are quality and risk measures, staffing verifications, and patient satisfaction surveys.

CareRise and CareRise Index are available to skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, specialty hospitals, self-insured programs/captives, and insurance companies. CareRise can be accessed directly, or through its distribution partners which are global leaders in the medical sales and insurance brokerage sectors.

About CareRise Holdings

CareRise is a specialty risk management and ratings company that provides its proprietary and proven clinically-driven, technology-enabled services to post-acute care/senior living properties, insurance companies, and self-insured programs/captives/RRGs - nationwide and internationally. To date, CareRise has won four U.S. Patents for its creations. For more information CareRise, please visit www.careriseindex.com/tg, www.carerise.com/tg, www.facebook.com/careriseindex.

SOURCE CareRise

Related Links

http://carerise.com/


NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Aspen Institute Business & Society Program today announced its 9th class of First Mover Fellows. These accomplished individuals are working within companies to help solve the world's most pressing social and environmental challenges. First Movers is the leading global network of intrapreneurs and equips Fellows with the skills and confidence to drive innovations inside companies that add value to the business while positively impacting the lives of consumers, employees and communities around the world.

More than half of the Fellows in this year's class work at companies that have been represented in past Fellowship classes, signaling the company's satisfaction with the program design and delivery. We are honored to again have First Movers representing the following companies: AT&T, Baxter, BBVA, GE, Google, IDEO, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss & Co., LinkedIn, Nike, Pratt & Whitney, State Street, Toyota, Zurich Insurance and VF Corporation. The 2017 class of Fellows also represent a diverse set of functional responsibilities, such as business development, marketing, talent management and community affairs.

"The experienced business professionals whom we select for the First Movers Program are igniting innovation for impact within their companies. We need these corporate social intrapreneurs to ensure that business has the capacity to meet the public's expectations to deliver products and services that create value for all," said Nancy McGaw, creator and director of the First Movers Fellowship Program. The initial Fellowship year includes three seminars built around the core themes of innovation, leadership, reflection and community. "The curriculum we offer inspires bold thinking and helps Fellows build momentum for change. We are proud to welcome these talented individuals into the First Movers community, a network which now includes over 170 Fellows all over the globe."

First Movers Design Team member Matthew Breitfelder, chief talent officer and managing director at BlackRock, the largest money manager in the world, underscores how critical it is today for companies to encourage this kind of intrapreneuial talent. "First Movers bring multidimensional perspectives to their work and prod their companies to operate in ways that drive competitive advantage. They look over the horizon to consider what products, services and practices deliver long-term value to both business and society. We need this kind of talent to thrive  in business and beyond."

Fellows were nominated by leaders in their industry, company colleagues or Aspen Institute staff. They were selected for having a proven track record in innovation, coupled with a compelling idea about an innovation project to undertake during the Fellowship. The First Movers Fellowship Program was developed by the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, which has a broader mission to build the courage and conviction of business leaders to think long-term and act in the best interests of society.

The 2017 Aspen First Mover Fellows

Estelle Aymard , Integrated Reporting and Sustainability Measurement Lead, Zurich Insurance Company

Barruch Ben-Zekry , Director, Sustainable Products and Materials, VF Corporation

Amanda Billiot , Executive Director of Human Resources, Pratt & Whitney

Ricky Buch , Senior Strategic Marketing Leader, GE Power

David Clark , Vice President, Safety Environment and Sustainability, Amcor Ltd.

Shekinah Eliassen , Associate Marketing Director, eCommerce Shopper Marketing (Amazon.com), The Clorox Company

Neil Giacobbi , Associate Vice President, Citizenship & Sustainability, AT&T

Chris Grantham , Circular Economy Portfolio Director, IDEO

Samantha Hennessey , Google.org Regional Manager, Google Inc.

Somi Kim , Senior Director, Healthcare Solutions, J&J Design, Johnson & Johnson

Faith LeGendre , Business Outcome Strategist, Cisco Systems

Samir Luther , Product Manager, Account Opening, Capital One Bank

Chonlak Mahasuvirachai , Digital Business Lead, SCG

Mark McDivitt , Managing Director, Head of ESG Solutions, State Street Corporation

Russell McLemore , Senior Director, Innovation Accelerator, NIKE, Inc.

Eric Noshay , Senior Director, Renal Therapy Services, Baxter International Inc.

Reymundo Ocanas , Executive Vice President, Director of Corporate Responsibility & Reputation, BBVA Compass

Becca Prowda , Director, Community Affairs, Levi Strauss & Co.

Elena Sacca Smith , National Community Relations Manager, Toyota Financial Services

Sehraj Singh , Country Head - Public Policy & Government, LinkedIn India

Meg Sullivan , Chief Business Development, Marketing and CSR Officer, Paul Hastings LLP

For more information about the 2017 class, please visit: www.aspeninstitute.org/firstmovers2017

The Aspen Institute First Movers Fellowship Program is the leading global network and professional development program for corporate social intrapreneurs. First Movers are accomplished innovators inside companies who are creating new products, services and management practices that increase business value and make the world a better place. Since 2009, the Fellowship Program has strengthened the capacity of social intrapreneurs to lead change within their company and industry, which collectively, over time, will redefine how business is done and how success is measured. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/firstmovers.

The Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, founded in 1998, works with business executives and scholars to align business decisions and investments with the long-term health of society  and the planet. Through carefully designed networks, working groups and focused dialogue, the Program identifies and inspires thought leaders and intrapreneurs to challenge conventional ideas about capitalism and markets, to test new measures of business success and to connect classroom theory and business practice. For more information, visit www.aspenbsp.org.

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

SOURCE The Aspen Institute

Related Links

http://www.aspeninstitute.org


WORCESTER, Mass., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE: THG) and its subsidiary, Chaucer, today announced that the Central Bank of Ireland has approved the formation of a Dublin-based company, Chaucer Insurance Company DAC (Chaucer Dublin), to write international specialty insurance business.

"Chaucer Dublin will provide us with enhanced specialty capabilities, enabling us to better serve our partners and customers while advancing our Hanover 2021 strategy," said Joseph M. Zubretsky, president and chief executive officer at The Hanover. "With the addition of this new platform, Chaucer offers its clients the benefits of both Lloyd's and company market platforms, providing greater flexibility, and increases its access to business worldwide."

"The formation of Chaucer Dublin is a win for brokers and clients, providing them with greater access to Chaucer's underwriting talent," said John Fowle, chief executive officer at Chaucer. "We look forward to providing new and innovative insurance solutions, benefiting from our established expertise and the strength of Ireland's financial services capabilities, international outlook, regulatory capabilities and proximity to London."

Michelle Moore, former managing director and chief operating officer of Markel Europe, will lead Chaucer Dublin. Michelle is a highly respected industry executive with over 20 years of experience in the international insurance and reinsurance markets, including senior executive roles in Dublin, London and Bermuda.

ABOUT THE HANOVER

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. is the holding company for several property and casualty insurance companies, which together constitute one of the largest insurance businesses in the United States. The company provides exceptional insurance solutions in a dynamic world. The Hanover distributes its products through a select group of independent agents and brokers. Together with its agents, The Hanover offers standard and specialized insurance protection for small and mid-sized businesses, as well as for homes, automobiles, and other personal items. Through its international member company, Chaucer, The Hanover also underwrites business at Lloyd's of London in several major insurance and reinsurance classes, including marine, property and energy. For more information, please visit hanover.com .

SOURCE The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.hanover.com


ST. LOUIS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

WHO: Equifax Workforce Solutions, a leader in human resource compliance, analytics and verification services, and a business unit of Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

WHAT: Will present an educational webinar, "Found Money: How Employers Can Get the Most out of WOTC."

WHEN: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. EDT (12:00 p.m. CDT / 11:00 a.m. MDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT)

WHERE: To register, visit: http://workforce.equifax.com/WOTCimpact?source=news.

DETAILS:

Reducing federal income tax liability through participation in the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program can provide employers with beneficial tax relief. In this complimentary webinar, Equifax Workforce Solutions will help attendees better understand WOTC and other targeted job credits and share a legislative update to help businesses optimize their existing programs.

During the presentation, Shannon Leska, director, Associate Services at ANN Inc. will join Carlie Christensen, director, Equifax Government Relations for Equifax Workforce Solutions and current president of the National Employment Opportunity Network (NEON), to discuss the fundamentals and opportunities associated with WOTC. Leska and Christensen will also offer tips for standardizing and simplifying screen completion, explore best practices for WOTC maximization and consider the potential impact of 2017 tax reform efforts on these credits.

In addition, Jason Fry, senior director of Product Management at Equifax Workforce Solutions will provide perspective on the key elements of a successful WOTC program. Drawing on a study from Equifax, Fry will speak to the broader impact and benefits of WOTC as it relates to employee retention.

Attendees: Business leaders and HR professionals interested in learning more about the current state of WOTC and what this means for their organizations are encouraged to attend this informative presentation.

This session is part of a series of educational webinars presented by Equifax Workforce Solutions.

About Equifax

Equifax is a global information solutions company that uses trusted unique data, innovative analytics, technology and industry expertise to power organizations and individuals around the world by transforming knowledge into insights that help make more informed business and personal decisions. The company organizes, assimilates and analyzes data on more than 820 million consumers and more than 91 million businesses worldwide, and its database includes employee data contributed from more than 7,100 employers. Equifax Workforce Solutions, an Equifax business unit, is a leading provider of human resource compliance, analytics and verification technology and services.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. It is a member of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index, and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol EFX. Equifax employs approximately 9,700 employees worldwide.

Some noteworthy achievements for the company include: Named to the Top 100 American Banker FinTech Forward list (2015-2016); named a Top Technology Provider on the FinTech 100 list (2004-2016); named an InformationWeek Elite 100 Winner (2014-2015); named a Top Workplace by Atlanta Journal Constitution (2013-2016); named one of Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies (2011-2015); named one of Forbes' World's 100 Most Innovative Companies (2015-2016). For more information, visit www.equifax.com.

Note to editors: Trademarks and registered trademarks referenced herein remain the property of their respective owners.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

1550 Peachtree Street, NE

Atlanta, Georgia 30309

Pam Stevens

Media Relations

314.214.7235

[email protected]

SOURCE Equifax Inc.

Related Links

http://www.equifax.com


Following his #1 New York Times bestseller YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA, EVERYTHING IS MAMA is a hilarious ode to motherhood, once again illustrated by Miguel Ordonez. Dads all over the world got to share a special story with their little ones with Jimmy's first bookand now it's Mama's turn to shine. EVERYTHING IS MAMA is a lighthearted look at the world from your baby's point of view, as different animals try to teach their children that there are other words in addition to MAMA for familiar objects and activities.

"I wrote my first children's book because I wanted my baby's first word to be DADA. It worked. But her second, third and fourth word was MAMA. She even wanted MAMA to read "DADA". Everything is MAMA. If you have a three-year-old, they'll love the pictures. And if you have a one-year-old, they'll love how it tastes," said Jimmy Fallon.

"While trying to teach his daughters, Winnie Rose and Frances Cole, their first words'Dada' for example, 'apple,' or 'boat'Jimmy learned very quickly that everything is 'Mama.' No matter the person, place or thingit's Mama. And that's what this book is all about," said Jean Feiwel, publisher of Feiwel & Friends.

EVERYTHING IS MAMA will be on sale October 10, 2017, but is available for pre-order from all major retailers immediately.

EVERYTHING IS MAMA

Written by Jimmy Fallon

Illustrated by Miguel Ordonez

Published by Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

Hardcover Picture Book

$16.99

ISBN: 978-1-250-12584-2

On Sale: October 10, 2017

NOTE TO THE PRESS:

As host of The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon has expanded the boundaries of late night television, treating audiences to memorable celebrity interviews, creative musical bits, and groundbreaking viral videos. The four-time Emmy winner began his career in 1998 with six successful seasons at Saturday Night Live, and went on to host SNL three times -- most recently in April 2017 for the show's first-ever live coast-to-coast broadcast. His appearance coincided with the launch of "Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon," a 3D motion-simulator attraction at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. In 2009, Fallon returned to NBC as host of the award-winning Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and quickly made the show his own, entertaining millions of viewers every night with his unique talents and charm. His comedy album Blow Your Pants Off, featuring collaborations with Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, and Justin Timberlake, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's comedy album chart and won the 2013 Grammy for Best Comedy Album. Fallon has written two best-selling books based on the popular Tonight Show segment Thank You Notes, and his children's book YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA debuted at #1 the New York Times Best Sellers list.

Macmillan Publishers is a global trade book publishing company with prominent imprints around the world. Macmillan publishes a broad range of award-winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats. U.S. publishers include Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Company, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Picador, St. Martin's Press, and Tor Books. In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, Macmillan publishes under the Pan Macmillan name. The German company, Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage, includes among its imprints S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Rowohlt, and Droemer Knaur. Macmillan Publishers is a division of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a large, family-owned media company headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.

CONTACT:

Allison Verost

Vice President, Marketing & Publicity

Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

646-307-5738

[email protected]

SOURCE Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

Related Links

http://www.macmillan.com


BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- NRPR Group LLC (NRPR), an award-winning strategic positioning agency founded by public relations industry leader Nicole Rodrigues, is excited to announce its latest client wins in Q2 2017. The newest companies to join team NRPR's client roster include:

Lookhu : Lookhu is an online video service that allows users to stream a wide selection of popular and exclusive movies, TV shows, its own original content, and more live or on-demand.

: Lookhu is an online video service that allows users to stream a wide selection of popular and exclusive movies, TV shows, its own original content, and more live or on-demand. Neurovalens : Neurovalens delivers innovative solutions in the field of neuroscience, bioscience and neurophysiology. Their new product Modius is set to revolutionize the healthcare market by helping consumers achieve leaner, healthier bodies.

: Neurovalens delivers innovative solutions in the field of neuroscience, bioscience and neurophysiology. Their new product Modius is set to revolutionize the healthcare market by helping consumers achieve leaner, healthier bodies. Love Tribe Apparel : Love Tribe Apparel is a stylish clothing brand for bold fashionistas, made in socially responsible factories, that believes the world is stronger standing together as a tribe.

: Love Tribe Apparel is a stylish clothing brand for bold fashionistas, made in socially responsible factories, that believes the world is stronger standing together as a tribe. Samitra Salon : Samitra is San Francisco's prestigious, referral-based beauty salon specializing in custom facials, coloring, cut and style.

: Samitra is prestigious, referral-based beauty salon specializing in custom facials, coloring, cut and style. The Tanning Boutique: The Tanning Boutique is a sun and sunless tanning spa and beauty boutique providing customer service at it's finest to Angelenos since 2003.

"These past few months have been a very exciting time for our agency," said Rodrigues, who was recently named #16 CEO in Los Angeles by Owler and one of PR News' Top 50 Game-Changers of PR. "Signing five new clients in Q2 as we celebrate just three years as an agency proves that hard work, persistence, and dedication to excellence are the keys to a great PR, social media, and digital marketing machine. We're grateful to get to work with these amazing companies and do what we do best for their visionary leaders."

To accommodate its rapid growth, NRPR Group has expanded into new offices in Beverly Hills, on the bustling corner of Wilshire and La Cienega Blvd. This moves comes shortly after NRPR Group was named #49 on the Los Angeles Business Journal's list of Top PR Agencies, moving up 11 spots from #60 in 2016.

"NRPR's new home is symbolic for so many reasons," said Rodrigues. "Our agency is growing up and doing it the right way. To have the Los Angeles Business Journal recognize our efforts is such an honor. We've officially stepped up to the next level and our team is ready for what's next."

In addition to NRPR Group's news, Rodrigues herself was recently hand-selected to join Women Of Wisdom, a development and mentorship program designed exclusively for female entrepreneurs, and also just launched NRPR Group's Corporate Social Responsibility program, Make It Happen. Make It Happen is an ongoing program that kicked off with a speaking tour for Rodrigues, where she visited various Los Angeles and Bay Area schools to talk with students about setting goals, building their personal brands, and persevering through life's ups and downs.

"It's very humbling to look back at everything we've accomplished in such a short amount of time," said Rodrigues. "To watch this team excel and to also get the opportunity to make a difference in other people's lives, through both Women of Wisdom and our Make It Happen program, is truly an incredible feeling."

About NRPR Group LLC:

NRPR Group is not your typical public relations or social media marketing agency. We're an award-winning strategic positioning firm with a talented group of hybrid publicists, content creators, strategic marketers, and creative minds. We're changing the PR game and our clients are reaping the rewards. From startup to grown up, we help companies of any size reach their business objectives through our creative services. For more information, visit http://nrprgroup.com/ and find us on social media: Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , and Pinterest.

SOURCE NRPR Group LLC

Related Links

http://www.nrprgroup.com


LOS ANGELES, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Michelson 20MM Foundation became the newest member of the America Forward Coalition in an effort to champion innovative, effective solutions to America's pressing social issues.

Established in 2007, the America Forward Coalition achieves measurable outcomes in more than 14,500 communities nationwide. The coalition drives progress in multiple areas including: education, workforce development, and criminal justice reform.

"Joining forces with the coalition allows us to develop strategic partnerships as we scale our initiatives in higher education, technology, and workforce development. All of which, aim to deliver better outcomes for populations in need," says Dr. Gary K. Michelson, who founded the Michelson 20MM Foundation, alongside his wife, Alya Michelson.

With over 70 social innovation organizations, the America Forward Coalition impacts eight million American lives every year. The coalition has leveraged $1.5 billion dollars for social innovation, driving millions of federal resources towards programs with measurable results.

Dr. Michelson and Alya are dedicated to delivering better outcomes for populations in need. The Michelson 20MM Foundation plans to amplify the coalition's impact with its efforts.

"America Forward believes in the social innovators of this country and their power to unlock mass potential for our country," he says, "we couldn't agree more."

The Michelson 20MM Foundation joins a growing list of organizations under the America Forward Coalition umbrella. For a complete list, visit www.americaforward.org.

About the Michelson 20MM Foundation

The Michelson 20MM Foundation supports and invests in leading edge entrepreneurs, technologies, and initiatives with the potential to improve postsecondary access, affordability, and efficacy. Michelson 20MM was founded thanks to the generous support of renowned spinal surgeon Dr. Gary K. Michelson and his wife, Alya Michelson.

For more information, visit www.20mm.org.

SOURCE The Michelson 20MM Foundation

Related Links

http://www.20mm.org


HYDERABAD, India, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In the first project of its kind outside the United States, Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) is working with Sify Technologies to provide software-as-a-service (SaaS) to radiotherapy centers across India. The innovative service, which hosts oncology information and treatment planning software in the cloud and allows clinical teams to focus on treating patients, is being implemented as part of a multi-million dollar investment in treatment equipment and software across Cancer Treatment Services International CTSI's network of cancer hospitals in India and South Asia.

"CTSI is rapidly expanding its network across the region, and the cloud-hosted solution enables us to focus on delivering high quality, consistent care to our patients," said Vishal Bali, CTSI's Chairman. "Our flagship Hyderabad facility, operated under the name American Oncology Institute (AOI), is the first in India to implement this innovative solution for remote software hosting and better connectivity with our clinicians. These unique capabilities differentiate our hospitals and facilitate the use of evidence-based protocols and tools, such as cutting-edge treatment planning technologies, across the AOI network."

In line with a two-year implementation plan, the first three sites  including Hyderabad  are already clinical and other CTSI centers in India will follow suit in the coming months. It is the first SaaS project of its kind for Varian outside North America and forms part of a larger order from CTSI for 12 advanced Varian linear accelerators  including 10 top-of-the-range TrueBeam systems  to be installed at CTSI hospitals across the region.

Joe Nicholas, co-founder and executive director of CTSI, said, "We are delighted with how this project has come to fruition. It has been delivered on time and the result is very impressive. Our clinical teams now have access to a robust centralized electronic system and are no longer working in isolation."

"With a unique SaaS model such as this CTSI subscribes to the software, as part of the service packages provided by Sify that include all required IT infrastructure and hosting, rather than buying it," says Steve Laws, Varian's head of software sales in the EMEIA region. "It makes sense for them because as well as offering economies of scale, it means their clinical teams are freed up to focus on treating cancer patients."

Raju Vegesna, chairman of Chennai-based Sify Technologies, added, "Together with Varian, we wanted to build a solution that would eliminate many of the problems facing Indian hospitals, which tend to work in isolation. We have come up with a common platform stored in a private cloud, through which all practitioners in the network have instant access to all data. With this model, all radiation planning can be done remotely in a process that has been streamlined from disease detection to treatment. The local doctors have continuous peer group collaboration and knowledge sharing."

"With private storage, we never run short of space and no patient data is eliminated," he added. "We firmly believe this is how oncology treatment will be handled going forward in India and across South-East Asia. It is a complete break with the past and offers huge benefits. And if we can do this here, in India, we can do it anywhere in the world."

In the first quarter of its current fiscal year, Varian announced it had booked $18 million of a $35 million order from CTSI for the India project. "This is our first software-as-a-service project in the region and demonstrates our ability to meet the growing need from customers for cloud-hosted software solutions," said Varian CEO Dow Wilson.

About Varian Medical Systems

Varian Medical Systems focuses energy on saving lives and is the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating and managing cancer. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Varian employs approximately 6,400 people at sites around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com and follow @VarianMedSys on Twitter.

About Sify Technologies

Across 1400 cities in India, more than 9000 Enterprises access Sify's ICT services that's focused on the Data Center and Cloud platform and connected through a pan-India MPLS capable network. The services run the full gamut from Telecom connectivity services to Data Center transformation services along with Application and Security Services on the same infrastructure making it a truly converged ICT solutions and services provider in India. Sify also builds products that interface with multiple services in the ICT space; either built in-house or collaboratively with the best-of-breed solution providers. Sify Technologies and www.sifycorp.com are registered trademarks of Sify Technologies Limited.

About CTSI

CTSI is a leading provider of comprehensive treatment for cancer patients in emerging and frontier markets. Founded by physicians and businessmen with substantial experience in the development, operation and networking of cancer services, CTSI provides innovative and technologically-advanced treatment solutions through an IT-based model that allows integration and centralization of core services. The company began international operations at its flagship cancer hospital in Hyderabad, India, and is rapidly expanding a network of cancer hospitals across India and South Asia. For more information visit www.cancertreatmentservices.com.

Press Contact

Neil Madle

Varian Medical Systems

+44 7786 526068

[email protected]

Praveen Krishna

Sify Technologies Limited

+91 44 22540777 (ext.2055)

[email protected]

SOURCE Varian Medical Systems

Related Links

http://www.varian.com


MINNEAPOLIS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- General Mills (NYSE: GIS) today announced that Ivan Pollard has been named global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), effective July 10, 2017. Pollard will report to Jeff Harmening, Chief Executive Officer and be accountable for establishing the company's first global marketing and media planning function responsible for marketing strategies, connections planning, and building organizational capabilities globally.

Ivan Pollard will join General Mills as its new global Chief Marketing Officer, effective July 10, 2017. Pollard comes to General Mills from Coca-Cola North America where he was senior vice president of strategic marketing. Pollard will report to General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening and will work to establish the companys first global marketing and media planning function.

Pollard was most recently senior vice president, strategic marketing for Coca-Cola North America. During his time at Coca-Cola, Pollard was responsible for developing strategies to more effectively deploy a more than $2 billion global media spend. In the North American Coca-Cola business, Pollard instituted new data driven approaches to connections planning, management of digital platforms, media, sponsorships, and content creation.

"Ivan's diverse global experience brings us a fresh perspective on our brands and a deep understanding of how to operationalize integrated, modern marketing in the digital age," said Jeff Harmening, CEO of General Mills. "We have tremendous opportunities to unlock global growth by improving the effectiveness of our marketing efforts and our teams are eager to build on the work they have started."

Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Pollard was a global partner in Naked Communications, the world's largest connections planning company, and had leading roles in global agencies such as BMP [now DDB Needham], and Wieden+Kennedy. Pollard was a founding partner of Unity which later merged with the Ingram Partnership.

"I was drawn to General Mills by their beloved brands and the quality of their marketing talent, but I decided to join because of the good I see them doing in the world and the untapped opportunities I see for business growth. I'm excited to be part of their next chapter," said Pollard.

From England, Pollard holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Nottingham.

About General Mills

General Mills is a leading global food company that serves the world by making food people love. Its brands include Cheerios, Annie's, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Fiber One, Haagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills generated fiscal 2016 consolidated net sales of US $16.6 billion, as well as another US $1.0 billion from its proportionate share of joint-venture net sales.

SOURCE General Mills

Related Links

http://www.generalmills.com


BROOKLYN, N.Y., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Victoria Fine Foods continues to bring innovation to the pasta sauce aisle with on-trend products and meal solutions created for today's busy, health-conscious consumer. These products, as well as Victoria Fine Foods' premium pasta sauces, will be shared at the 2017 Summer Fancy Food Show on June 25-27, 2017 at the Javits Center in New York City.



Brooklyn-based Victoria Fine Foods, founded in 1929, is committed to using only the finest ingredients and the most authentic slow kettle-cooking process for a true homemade taste. In keeping with the brand's philosophy of Ingredients Come First, Victoria Fine Foods is the first major pasta sauce company to put its ingredients on the front of its premium sauce label.



Victoria Fine Foods' innovations and brand extensions continue to lead the category:



Chef Collection is the Victoria brand's new restaurant-quality, delicious, heat and serve meal solution featuring premium, "clean label" ingredients. Inspired by the energy and authenticity of our hometown, Brooklyn, we created a product that allows you to simplify your life without compromising quality. These gourmet-pasta-in-premium-sauce meals deliver all the homemade flavor, without all the time. Compare Chef Collection ingredients to the competition here http://victoriafinefoods.com/chefcollection/ and choose which one you would feed your family. Available in two delectable varieties: Penne Marinara & Penne Alla Vodka. Sold in 24 oz. jars.



Marinara with Avocado Oil - our flagship, slow-cooked Marinara gets an updated twist with Avocado Oil. For our Marinara with Avocado Oil, we saute fresh onions and garlic in rich Avocado Oil. Now you can enjoy the traditional Italian flavor you already love with Avocado Oil. Sold in 24 oz. jars.



"Victoria is committed to providing the best tasting products with the highest quality ingredients," says Marc Simon, VP Marketing/General Manager, B&G Foods. "If you look at the labels of our premium sauces, you will see they have very short ingredient lists and are made from foods that you recognize. We are proud to continue Victoria Fine Foods' tradition of Ingredients Come First with our two newest offerings."



All of the Victoria premium sauces that will be featured at the 2017 Summer Fancy Food Show use 100% Italian tomatoes, 100% imported olive oil and fresh onion, garlic, and herbs which are slow kettle-cooked to deliver a homemade taste. Unlike many other major pasta sauce brands, Victoria never adds preservatives, water, paste, or sugar to its sauces.



For product photos, fact sheets and show information, please visit: http://sffs.vporoom.com/VictoriaFineFoods .

About Victoria Fine Foods

Victoria Fine Foods is a Brooklyn-based business founded in 1929. The Victoria brand offers a variety of premium pasta and specialty sauces, savory condiments and tasty gourmet spreads. Using traditional cooking methods, Victoria sauces are slow kettle-cooked in small batches to ensure rich flavor and a homemade taste. Committed to its values of quality, honesty, authenticity and community, Victoria believes Ingredients Come FirstTM. For more information, please visit www.victoriafinefoods.com and follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .

About B&G Foods

B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE: BGS) and its subsidiaries manufacture, sell and distribute a diversified portfolio of high-quality, branded shelf-stable and frozen foods across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Based in Parsippany, New Jersey, B&G Foods' products are marketed under many recognized brands, including Ac'cent, B&G, B&M, Baker's Joy, Bear Creek Country Kitchens, Brer Rabbit, Canoleo, Cary's, Cream of Rice, Cream of Wheat, Devonsheer, Don Pepino, Durkee, Emeril's, Grandma's Molasses, Green Giant, JJ Flats, Joan of Arc, Las Palmas, Le Sueur, MacDonald's, Mama Mary's, Maple Grove Farms, Molly McButter, Mrs. Dash, New York Flatbreads, New York Style, Old London, Original Tings, Ortega, Pirate's Booty, Polaner, Red Devil, Regina, Sa-son, Sclafani, Smart Puffs, Spice Islands, Spring Tree, Sugar Twin, Tone's, Trappey's, TrueNorth, Underwood, Vermont Maid, Victoria, Weber and Wright's. B&G Foods also sells and distributes Static Guard, a household product brand. For more information, please visit www.bgfoods.com.

SOURCE Victoria Fine Foods

Related Links

http://www.victoriafinefoods.com


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. and WASHINGTON and PARIS, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vigilant Biosciences, Inc., a leading innovator and developer of solutions that aid in the early detection and intervention of cancer, announced today that it will be a Bronze Sponsor of the International Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (IFOS) Ear, Nose, & Throat (ENT) World Congress 2017, one of the world's leading conferences for the international ENT industry, being held June 24-28 2017 in Paris, France. Vigilant will also be an exhibitor at the conference, showcasing its OncAlert Oral Cancer product line in booth 3.24a.

During the Congress, Vigilant Biosciences will host a symposium, "Interim Analysis of an Oral Rinse Point-Of-Care Assay Correlating with Biopsy Outcome for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a High Risk Oral Clinic," on Monday, June 26 at 07:45 at the Palais des congres de Paris, room 352A. The symposium will be led by Elizabeth Franzmann, M.D., a member of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Director of Head and Neck Research and Associate Professor at the Miller School of Medicine Department of Otolaryngology, and Scientific Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Vigilant Biosciences. The symposium will present an interim analysis of ongoing European clinical studies in support of Vigilant Biosciences' OncAlert Oral Cancer RAPID Test.

"We are seeing an increase in oropharyngeal cancer rates globally, and new tools to aid in the diagnosis of oral cancer at an earlier stage, are critical to reducing the high death rate associated with this disease," said Dr. Franzmann. "Our OncAlert Oral Cancer product line can help detect oral cancer earlier, when it is more treatable, leading to better outcomes. We are excited to be one of the leading sponsors of the IFOS ENT World Congress this year and to share our mission and data from our European research and OncAlert product line with esteemed ENT physicians from around the world."

Also this month, Vigilant Biosciences will present research in support of its OncAlert product line at the Annual Meeting of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) , taking place June 22-24, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Vigilant Biosciences' abstract, "Oral Salivary Rinse Accurately Correlates with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma; Potential for Utility in Early Detection," will be available for viewing as an E-poster throughout the meeting. The poster discusses research demonstrating that either CD44 or total protein continue to perform well for discriminating head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and supports research demonstrating that point-of-care and lab assays incorporating these biomarkers represent novel tools for discrimination of risk.

Vigilant Biosciences' OncAlert Oral Cancer product line includes the OncAlert Oral Cancer RAPID Test and the OncAlert Oral Cancer LAB Test. The tests are based on the first and only commercially available technology that accurately measures CD44, a tumor-initiating and stem cell-associated biomarker, and total protein levels  markers clinically validated to be associated specifically with oral cancer. These tests are optimized for easy use by collecting samples via an oral saline rinse and measured either via a point-of-care lateral flow assay or a laboratory kit. The test results, along with other clinical factors, can aid in the early diagnosis of oral cancer, potentially even before visual or physical indicators.

The OncAlert Oral Cancer product line is currently sold in select European markets through multiple distributors and the company is working with additional distributors throughout Africa and Asia-Pacific to expand access to the test around the world.

About Oral Cancer

According to the World Health Organization, there are more than 529,000 new cases of oral (lip, oral cavity and pharynx) cancer each year worldwide, with mortality rates that reach up to 292,000 deaths each year. In the United States, more than 49,750 individuals will be diagnosed with oral cancer this year  around 132 new cases of oral cancer are diagnosed each day. More than 9,750 people will die in the U.S. this year, as a result of the disease. Historically, the death rate associated with oral cancer is particularly high due to late stage diagnosis and intervention.

Currently, the vast majority of patients are detected through a visual and physical exam when symptomatic and are likely late stage. As a result, oral cancer often goes undetected to the point of metastasizing. More than 40 percent of those diagnosed with oral cancer die within five years, due to late stage diagnosis. In contrast, early detection (stage I and II) of oral cancer yields survival rates of up to 90 percent. For those who survive oral cancer diagnosed in the later stages, the treatment is painful, debilitating and often disfiguring. In addition, patients often struggle with eating and drinking, communicating and self-image.

About Vigilant Biosciences, Inc.

Vigilant Biosciences is a leading innovator and developer of solutions that aid clinicians in the early detection and intervention of cancer. The Vigilant Biosciences OncAlert Oral Cancer product line and OncAlert Labs product line include point-of-care and lab-based products and services that are simple, accurate and cost-effective and that can empower healthcare practitioners to improve potential outcomes through earlier intervention. The OncAlert Oral Cancer LAB Test and the OncAlert Oral Cancer RAPID Test are CE Marked and available in select international markets outside the U.S. The OraMark Test is a Laboratory Developed Test that is only available in the U.S. exclusively through OncAlert Labs, LLC, a CLIA-certified laboratory and a member of the Vigilant Biosciences family of companies. For more information, visit www.vigilantbiosciences.com and www.oncalertlabs.com.

The University of Miami and Dr. Franzmann hold intellectual property used in the study and have the potential for financial benefit from its future commercialization. Dr. Franzmann is the Chief Scientific Officer, consultant and an equity holder in Vigilant Biosciences, licensee of the IP used in the study.

SOURCE Vigilant Biosciences, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.vigilantbiosciences.com


WINDSOR, Conn., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that it has hired Jeff Cimini to lead the company's Retirement Product organization.

Cimini will oversee the team responsible for all aspects of the centralized retirement product functions, including product management, development, strategy, pricing, competitive intelligence, Voya Institutional Trust Company, as well as the advisory services programs that Voya offers to plan sponsors and their participants. Cimini and the team will expand Voya's efforts to deliver value-focused solutions that drive positive retirement outcomes.

Cimini will be based in Voya's Windsor, Connecticut office. He will be a member of the Retirement leadership team and report to CEO of Retirement Charlie Nelson, effective July 3.

"As we look to advance outcomes for plan sponsors and participants, we must continue to develop innovative solutions that deliver value and address a broad range of financial wellness needs," said Nelson. "Jeff has extensive knowledge and experience across many areas of the 401(k) market, including investments, product development, sales and strategy. He brings an accomplished, client-focused perspective to Voya with a successful track record managing high-performing teams. I look forward to working with Jeff as we continue to help all Americans become financially and emotionally ready to retire."

Most recently, Cimini was head of strategy for TIAA's Institutional Financial Services division, and also served as head of sales and client services for TIAA's select institutional clients. Previously, he was head of Personal Retirement for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. His background includes more than 20 years with Fidelity Investments, where he held roles of increasing responsibility and leadership across the defined contribution marketplace. Jeff's experience includes stable value portfolio management, fund analysis, investment consulting and sales, consultant relations, defined contribution investment only (DCIO) sales and investment consulting services. In addition to retirement, Cimini managed sales and distribution for the Fidelity Investments Life Insurance Company division and served as president of its three life insurance entities.

"Voya is on a transformational journey in an industry that serves an important cause and is positioned for significant growth," said Cimini. "I'm excited to be joining a team that is focused on helping Americans retire better and that demonstrates this commitment with a passion equal to mine."

Cimini holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Masters in finance from Boston College.

Voya, a leading provider of retirement products and services in the U.S., serves approximately 47,000 plan sponsor clients and more than 4.5 million individual retirement plan investors.1 Voya also operates a leading broker-dealer that serves a growing retail market.

1. Pensions & Investments Defined Contribution Record Keepers Directory published April 3, 2017.

Media Contact:

Joe Loparco

Voya Financial

Office: (860) 580-2677

Cell: (860) 462-6525

[email protected]

About Voya Financial

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings  to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13.6 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $11 billion in revenue in 2016. The company had $505 billion in total assets under management and administration as of March 31, 2017. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible  one person, one family, one institution at a time  Voya's vision is to be America's Retirement Company. Certified as a "Great Place to Work" by the Great Place to Work Institute, Voya is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible and has been recognized as one of the 2017 World's Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute, as well as one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S., by Newsweek magazine. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.

SOURCE Voya Financial, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.voya.com


TAMPA, Fla., June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) (WellCare) has received the prestigious 2017 "The Civic 50" award from the national non-profit, Points of Light for being a "Sector Leader" in the health care industry and engaging in outstanding community service. Every year, "The Civic 50" program recognizes 50 companies in the U.S. that go above and beyond to serve the community. This year, WellCare's recognition was announced by Points of Light during the Conference on Volunteering and Service in Seattle, Washington, on June 20.

Points of Light commended WellCare for demonstrating a strong dedication to investing time, talent and resources to better the communities where they do business. WellCare's core values include volunteerism and establishing effective partnerships in order to improve the quality of life and health outcomes of their members and the community as a whole. That's why, WellCare created volunteer and community engagement opportunities for their associates through the "WellCare Associate Volunteer Efforts" (WAVE) and "Day of Service" initiatives, which aid vulnerable, underserved, disabled and senior populations.

In 2016, WellCare's volunteer efforts were coordinated by more than 200 department team captains, engaging nearly 4,000 associates and contributing over $250,000 of volunteer time in the community. It's evident through these efforts that WellCare has succeeded in building a culture of "giving back" to those they serve.

"Our members are at the center of everything we do," said Rhonda Mims, senior vice president, chief public affairs officer at WellCare. "As a result of that, we continually strive to help our members lead better and healthier lives and strengthen the communities in which they live through our WAVE and Day of Service programs."

"In the fifth year of honoring the most community-minded companies in the nation, 'The Civic 50' truly highlights the commitment to community and civic engagement of America's leading brands," said Jennifer Lawson, president of networks at Points of Light. "By elevating critical stakeholder voices from employees, customers and communities into their mission statements, 'The Civic 50' companies are putting themselves at the center of change to create more enduring and sustainable business."

Points of Light is a nonprofit organization that supports millions of volunteers and their causes around the world as they strive to make a difference. Through "The Civic 50" program, Points of Light is able to highlight companies that effectively turn community service into solid business practices in an effort to spread nationwide goodwill.

About WellCare Health Plans, Inc.

Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) focuses exclusively on providing government-sponsored managed care services, primarily through Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, to families, children, seniors and individuals with complex medical needs. The company serves approximately 4.1 million members nationwide as of March 31, 2017. For more information about WellCare, please visit the company's website at www.wellcare.com or view the company's videos at www.youtube.com/user/WellCareHealthPlan.

About Points of Light

Points of Light is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that encourages individuals, companies, foundations, government agencies and nonprofit organizations to make a lasting and positive change in the world. They contribute to over 250,000 service projects each year in 30 different countries with more than 30 million hours of volunteer service.

SOURCE WellCare Health Plans, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.wellcare.com


HARRISBURG, Pa., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Applications are being accepted for grants to protect Pennsylvania's non-game animals, native plants and their habitat.

For more than 30 years the Wild Resource Conservation Program (WRCP) has helped to protect Pennsylvania's native biodiversity by supporting research, conservation, and education projects.

This year WRCP is soliciting grant applications in the areas of surveys, research and conservation and management.

"Our native species are facing more challenges today than ever," said Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn. "Habitat loss, competition from invasive species, pollution, and the imminent threat of climate change means that we must focus our resources on applied science and conservation projects that reduce or eliminate the effects of these stresses."

Secretary Dunn noted a House GOP-proposed budget could have possible negative effects on future funding of Wild Resource Conservation Program and other grant-based department programs

Launched in 1982, the program is funded through DCNR and voluntary contributions, and supports research and protection efforts to conserve Pennsylvania's diverse native wildlife resources, including bird and mammal species, amphibians and reptiles, insects and wild plants.

Applications are being accepted through 4 p.m. Aug. 15. Applications again will only be accepted electronically through DCNR's eGrants online grant application system. To apply for a grant or learn more about the application process go to visit https://www.grants.dcnr.state.pa.us/Dashboard/WRCPGrants

MEDIA CONTACT: Terry Brady, 717-705-2225; [email protected]

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

Related Links

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us


GANEI TIKVA, Israel, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The General Assembly the Mediterranean Towers (TASE: MDTR) chain of retirement communities announced, on June 19, 2017, the appointment of Mr. Yair Seroussi as Chairman of the Board, and also the appointment of Mr. Moti Kirschenbaum as a director in the company.

Seroussi served, in the past, as Founding Partner and Chairman of EuroPort, through which control of the chain of retirement communities was acquired, jointly with partners, in 2010.

Seroussi is currently active in the field of investment in private equity and tech vcs., he serves on the board of technology company DSPG. Seroussi also serves as Chairman of the Eli Hurvitz Institute of Strategic Management at Tel Aviv University, and a member of the board of Governors of the Hebrew University. He recently joined the advisory committee of the venture capital fund Glilot Capital.

Seroussi brings vast experience in the Israeli and international business sector. He was Chairman of Bank Hapoalim for seven and half years, head of Morgan Stanley Israel for 16 years, and senior official at the Ministry of Finance.

Yair Seroussi stated: "Mediterranean Towers is one of the leading companies in its field, and I am proud and excited to work with its outstanding management staff towards continuing to promote the company's leadership and success".

The chain "Mediterranean Towers" is the leading and most veteran company in the field of retirement communities in Israel. The company has been active for over 30 years, and owns seven retirement community properties: the home in Bat Yam, the home in Kfar Sabba, the home in Savyon, the home in Ramat HaSharon, the home in Nordia, the home in Jerusalem and the home in Ganei Tikva, in which the initial occupancy stages began in late 2016. The company also has additional residential units under construction in Ganei Tikva. In total, the company owns over 1,650 residential units. The chain maintains high occupancy rates, and is considering the continued initiation or acquisition of additional projects in the field. The company's CEO is Doron Arnon.

SOURCE Mediterranean Towers
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Srinagar, June 17 : Several armed militants on Saturday appeared at the funeral of Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Junaid Mattoo in south Kashmir's Kulgam district and offered a "gun salute" as tens of hundreds attended the funeral.

Mattoo was killed along with two of his associates in Arwani village of the district district in a gunfight with the security forces on Friday.

He was buried in Khudwani village, where hundreds of mourners offered the slain LeT commander's funeral prayers.

Reports said before the burial of the commander four funeral prayers were offered by mourners, who came to the village from all areas around the village and even from other parts of south Kashmir.

The security forces avoided a face off with the people by allowing them to attend the funeral.

Mattoo, a notorious militant was LeT district commander and took part in a number of militant activities. He was involved in the killing of a police constable on Thursday in Kulgam's Bogund area and also in the killing of an assistant sub-inspector and a constable near a bus stand in Anantnag last year, police said.

Arms, ammunition, magazines and grenades were recovered from the site of the shootout on Friday.

When the security forces were cordoning off a house where the militants were holed up on Friday, locals started pelting stones at the security forces and clashed with them. Two locals were killed in firing.

In reprisal killings, LeT militants ambushed a police jeep and killed six policemen, including a Station House Officer, and disfigured their bodies on Friday evening.

Authorities have imposed restrictions in Srinagar and other sensitive places in the Valley on Saturday, while separatists have called for a protest shutdown against the killing of the LeT militants.
London, June 17 : Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday led a solemn minute of silence in memory of the victims of a fire at a high-rise residential tower block in west London that left at least 30 people dead.

Coinciding with her 91st birthday, the British monarch joined the people gathered in front of Buckingham Palace to pay tribute to the victims of the blaze that erupted on Wednesday at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, Efe news reported.

She was accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Her visit followed protests over the deadly fire.

Previously, the monarch had released an unprecedented statement in which she said that the UK remained "resolute in the face of adversity", in reference to the terror attacks in Manchester and London, as well as the deadly fire.

"In recent months, the country has witnessed a succession of terrible tragedies. As a nation, we continue to reflect and pray for all those who have been directly affected by these events," read the statement.

"United in our sadness, we are equally determined, without fear or favor, to support all those rebuilding lives so horribly affected by injury and loss," it added.

The Queen, who on Friday visited some of the surviving residents of Grenfell Tower, said she had been "profoundly struck by the immediate inclination of people throughout the country to offer comfort and support to those in desperate need."

Some 70 residents of the fire-ravaged tower were still missing. Protests were held in London on Friday as residents demanded more support for those affected by the fire, BBC reported.

Between 50 and 60 people stormed Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall as members of the public said the homeless needed help "right now".

There were also angry scenes outside the Clement James Centre, in North Kensington. Dozens of demonstrators surged towards the entrance and there were scuffles outside as organisers appealed for calm.

The London Metropolitan Police service said that there were likely no more survivors, which could further increase the death toll and bring it into triple digits.
Darjeeling, June 18 : Massive protests in Darjeeling and sporadic incidents of violence in Kalimpong and Kurseong marked the GJM-called "black day" in the north Bengal hills on Sunday while its 12-hour strike in Dooars -- foothills covering parts of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts -- received lukewarm response.

However, there were no reports of fresh clashes between the agitators and the security forces in Darjeeling.

Thousands of protestors took out rallies on the streets of Darjeeling amid tight security, including by army patrols, to mark the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha's protest against alleged killing of its three activists in police firing and also pressing the demand of a separate state of Gorkhaland.

Led by the GJM activists, protestors carried the coffins of the three activists allegedly shot dead by security personnel in Darjeeling's Singmari during clashes on Saturday.

Holding aloft the tricolour, GJM youth members led the rally from Chawk Bazar, the famous lower market area on the Hill cart Road in Darjeeling, passionately shouting pro-Gorkhaland slogans.

Shouts of "Police go back" and "Gorkhaland-Gorkhaland" reverberated through the picturesque hills as some Gorkha activists claimed that the protest has shifted from the political to the commoners' movement in the hills.

"There are more than 15,000 people in the rally today. This is not just GJM. People of the hills have come together to demand separate Gorkhaland. Let's see how far we can go," a young woman protestor told a TV channel.

Superintendent of Police Akhilesh Kumar Chaturvedi told IANS that the rally "was by and large peaceful. There were no instances of violence in Darjeeling today".

He also rebuffed GJM's claims of gathering more than 15,000 people, putting the attendance somewhere around 2,000.

The rally was preceded by a silent march of the civilians on Sunday morning, demanding peace to be restored in the hills.

Sporadic violence was reported from elsewhere.

GJM supporters allegedly vandalised two cars in Kurseong and torched three panchayat offices in the neighbouring Kalimpong district while a prominent library in Kalimpong town went ablaze with the administration blaming 'GJM-backed goons' for it.

Terming the situation "very very volatile", GJM leader Amar Singh Rai claimed that a separate state of Gorkhaland is the biggest priority for them and rebuffed any possibility of discussions with the Bengal government.

"We will seek a discussion with the Centre. But only on one agenda -- a separate state of Gorkhaland," he added.

GJM activists also blocked roads and staged demonstrations at many places in the Dooars -- foothills covering parts of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts -- in support as the agitation in the hills spilled onto the plains.

They blocked the road near Dalsingpara tea estate in Jaigaon, choking the only road connecting India and Bhutan.

However, unlike the hills, the GJM-called strike only managed to achieve partial success as most of the shops stayed open in prominent towns like Jalpaiguri, Malbazar, Dhupguri and Nagrakata and public transport plied as usual.

According to the North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC), buses from Jalpaiguri to various places in Dooars and Cooch Behar district ran in sufficient numbers.

However, the effect of the strike was better felt at the regions close to Bhutan border that boasts a higher amount of Nepali population.

The gateway to Bhutan at Chamurti was kept closed by the Bhutan government to avoid any possible scuffles.

The GJM announced an indefinite general strike from last Monday in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts and the Dooars to oppose the government's purported decision to make study of Bengali language compulsory in state-run schools -- despite the government clarification this would not be applicable in this region -- and to press for a separate state of Gorkhaland.
Chandigarh, June 19 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Monday that his government had inherited a debt burden of over Rs 2.08 lakh crore from the decade-long rule of the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP rule in the state.

"My government had inherited a shocking Rs. 2,08,051.96 crore debt, as per the White Paper tabled in the House, and the crisis was worse than anyone had anticipated or imagine," he told the Punjab assembly.

Earlier, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal tabled a 'White Paper' in the house giving details of the finances and total debt of Punjab.

Amarinder said that despite the state's poor financial condition, he had announced the waiver of loans for small and marginal farmers to take forward several of his pre-poll promises to the people.

Based on the interim report of an experts group under economist Dr. T Haque, the Chief Minister on Monday announced waiver of crop loans Afor small, marginal farmers up to 5 acres, with Rs 2 lakh relief for other marginal farmers, irrespective of their loan amount.

He also announced hike in ex-gratia for families of the farmers who suicide families to Rs. 5 lakh from the existing Rs 3 lakh. While announcing continuation of free power subsidy for farmers, he appealed to the big farmers to give up the same voluntarily and immediately announced that he was doing so for his own farms.

Coming down heavily on the erstwhile Akali Dal government for "the total mess it had left the state in", the Chief Minister said: "The 'White Paper' clearly brings out the financial mis-management, imprudence and bankruptcy of thoughts and skills of the previous regime, and shows that the Congress government has inherited an empty treasury.

"The fiscal deficit of the State as on March 31, 2017 stood at Rs. 26,801 crore, which is likely to increase after actual figures of 2016-17 are available."

Amarinder also announced a new Lok Pal bill, which would bring the Chief Minister, ministers and all bureaucrats in its ambit.

Even as the Akali Dal legislators walked out, Amarinder lashed out at the opposition "for raising unfounded issues out of restlessness".

He demanded that the the opposition leaders y should come clean with the names of those involved in sand mine auctions during their regime.

Amarinder reiterated his government's stand on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, saying they would not allow the canal to be constructed at any cost as the state had no surplus water to share with others.

Citing facts and figures to show the success of the government's war on drugs, the Chief Minister appealed to the opposition to join hands in the effort. He warned all those involved in drugs to quit or face stringent action.
New York, June 20 : 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.
Beijing, June 21 : 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.
Lucknow, June 21 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that yoga was acting in a big way to bond people and the global community.

Speaking at the third edition of the International Yoga Day here, Modi pointed out how the UN had accepted his proposal in record time to celebrate June 21 as the International Yoga Day.

As a result, yoga related events were taking place around the world, he added.

He called for standardization of yoga and pointed out how the young were captivated by yoga, an age-old tradition propounded by saints and seers.

Yoga was a great medium to bring cohesion in the society, Modi said, adding no one in the world was questioning the benefits of yoga.

"I request people to make yoga a part of their life. We may not master yoga or become teachers but we should not stop from doing yoga," he said. "Yoga not only enlightens the body but also the soul."

The Prime Minister described yoga as a free life insurance, which everyone can avail to better their health.

Owing to heavy rains and water logging at the venue, Modi jokingly told the large gathering -- where people used the yoga mats to shield themselves -- that he had now learnt the benefits of the yoga mat as well.

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Lucknow, June 21 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi did yogic exercises amid rains for some 15 minutes here on Wednesday as he underlined the importance of yoga in connecting the global community and creating jobs.

Leading the celebrations of the third edition of the International Yoga Day here at a rain-drenched Ramabai Amedkar Sthal, Modi said yoga was a path to attain wellness and was akin to a free life insurance.

"There was a time when yoga was confined to sages meditating in the Himalayan caves. But now yoga is becoming a part of people's daily life not just in India but across the world," the Prime Minister said in his address to thousands.

The crowd was estimated to be 45,000 strong, slightly less than the 51,000 which was expected, due to heavy rains that lashed Lucknow since morning.

"There are many countries which don't know our language, are not aware about Indian culture or traditions but they too are practising yoga. Much like it connects the mind with the soul, yoga is playing an important role in connecting the world," said Modi, dressed in a white track suit.

Modi said since the UN declared June 21 as the International Day for Yoga, awareness about yoga had been rising the world over leading to creation of a new job market.

"Today, there is hardly any country where there is no attraction or awareness for yoga. In the last three years, new yoga training institutes have developed, demand for yoga trainers and training institutes have been rising. Youths are now steadily adopting yoga as a profession.

"In countries across the globe the demand for yoga teachers is rising, creating a new job market. Indians are the most preferred choice," he said.

He also said efforts were on to standardise yoga practices in India as also the world.

The Prime Minister underlined that yoga in life was as important as salt in food.

"Salt not just makes food tasty but also adds nourishment value to it. It is cheap and is used in very small quantity but none can deny its significance.

"More than fitness, more than being healthy, people now yearn for wellness. And there is no better way to attain wellness than yoga," said Modi.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minster Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma were among those present at the event.

After addressing the gathering, which cheered him from time to time, the Prime Minister joined the gathering in the open air venue, amid heavy rains, and practised yoga for more than 15 minutes.

Surrounded by heavy security, Modi walked to the mat reserved for him and waved to the crowd. Many tried to shake hands with him.

The Prime Minister did yogic exercises and 'pranayam' as demonstrated by a group of yoga teachers on the stage.

He left after 15 minutes even as Naik, Adityanath and others continued to do yoga.

Modi it set to fly back to New Delhi in an Indian Air Force plane.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, Adityanath said yoga helps to unite people.

"Yoga is an ancient Indian practice and all ancient scriptures including the Vedas have accepted the importance of yoga. Yoga is a way of life and helps to unite people," Adityanath said.
Chennai, June 21 : The police team searching for Calcutta High Court's former judge C.S. Karnan knew about his hiding place in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu for three days before moving in to arrest him, the West Bengal police chief said on Wednesday.

"We knew about his (Karnan's) whereabouts three days back. We were tracking phone calls of people close to him and we also have our own sources," Director General of Police Raj Kanojia told IANS here.

Kanojia spoke at the Chennai airport before boarding a flight to Kolkatta.

According to him, this was a unique case he had handled in his entire service and "maybe no other police officer will be handling such a case in a long time to come".

"Tracking Karnan was difficult. It was a difficult case," Kanojia said.

Karnan, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt but was untraceable, was arrested near Coimbatore on Tuesday. Coimbatore is around 500 km from here.

Karnan was eluding arrest for more than a month.
Moscow, June 21 : Russophobic obsession in the US goes beyond all bounds and the new sanctions by Washington on Moscow have been imposed for no reasons at all, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

"I cannot say anything except regrets about this Russophobic obsession of our US colleagues. It already goes beyond all bounds," Lavrov said after holding talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in the capital on Tuesday.

Lavrov also said that the new sanctions surely do not improve the atmosphere and they are imposed for no reason at all, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US Department of the Treasury imposed additional trade sanctions on Russia, blacklisting 38 individuals and entities over their alleged actions in Ukraine.
Patna, June 21 : Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) has decided to back NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind in the Presidential election, JD-U legislator Ratnesh Sada said on Wednesday.

Sada, who represents Sonbarsha constituency in the state assembly, told IANS on telephone: "The party has decided to support Kovind. The decision was taken at a meeting of our legislators."

Nitish Kumar told his MLAs that Kovind, who was the Bihar Governor before he was picked by the Bharatiya Janata Party for the top post, was "a good man", Sada said.

Coming out of the party's core committee meeting chaired by Nitish Kumar, Sada said most of the MLAs have assured the Chief Minister of their support.

However, a formal announcement was awaited later on Wednesday or Thursday as the party would continue with the legislators meeting.

Sada said that the legislators have unanimously left the final decision to Nitish Kumar.
Mumbai, June 21 : Veteran actor Anupam Kher has thanked the Indian film industry for making his journey enriching.

"Namaste! On my way to the premier of my 500th movie 'The Big Sick' in New York. Thank you Indian Film Industry for making my journey enriching," Anupam tweeted.

He also shared a photograph of himself from the Global Legionnaire Of Laughter event held in New York.

"Honoured, proud and humbled to be recognised as a Global Legionnaire Of Laughter at the Jerry Lewis hosted event in New York," Anupam captioned the image.

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 acting 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.
San Francisco, June 21 : Ever wondered how journalists and bloggers get access to the information related to Apple's upcoming products? A 'leaked' recording of an Apple internal briefing has revealed that most of the times, such leaks originate directly from its employees.

"Last year was the first year that Apple [campuses] leaked more than the supply chain. More stuff came out of Apple [campuses] last year than all of our supply chain combined," The Outline quoted David Rice, former member of the US National Security Agency (NSA), as saying from the recording.

According to The Outline, the internal briefing on Apple's fight against leaks was led by former members of US spy agencies who have spent years in investigating, and eventually unmasking, one leaker.

Most of the Apple's leaks come from manufacturing facilities in China. To prevent these leaks, the company searches its Chinese workers as they enter and leave factories where Apple products are made.

The recording revealed that Apple screens 2.7 million employees a day in 40 factories in China.

According to media reports, Apple and its contract manufacturers have cracked down on some leaks at manufacturers in recent years.

One of the biggest leaks was in 2013 when employees at factories assembling the iPhone stole some 19,000 enclosures and then sold them in the black market.

These enclosures reveal the screen size, ports and other key elements of a device.

"But the leaks have significantly come down over the years. In 2014, that number was down to 387 and by 2016, Apple only had four stolen enclosures," the report added.

However, more breaches are now happening on Apple's campuses in California than its factories abroad.

Though the company has asked its employees not to talk to anyone including their families about their work, that seems not to work.

The leaked recording about a briefing on leaks shows the limitations of Apple's efforts, the report added.
Patna, June 21 : Bihar's ruling grand alliance led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stayed away from the third edition of the International Yoga Day celebrations here on Wednesday.

Besides the Chief Minister and his Ministers, even senior leaders of the grand alliance of the Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress were missing from the yoga events.

"Neither Nitish Kumar, nor Tejashwi Yadav his deputy and younger son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad attended the celebrations," a government official said.

However, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including four Union Ministers and senior party leaders took part in the celebrations, which were attended by hundreds of people across the state.

The state government did not hold any special event to mark the International Yoga Day, the official added.

Union Ministers Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ram Kirpal Yadav and Radhaa Mohan Singh, however, took part in the event across the state.

Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Paswan, who is also the chief of the Lok Janshakti Party, an ally of the BJP, attended the event in his parliamentary constituency in Hajipur. He practiced yoga with hundreds of people there.

Union Minister for Law and Justice and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad attended the yoga event at a park here.

"There should not be any politics over yoga. We want to use yoga to unite the country. Nitish Kumar should have practiced yoga at Gandhi Maidan," Prasad said.

Ram Kirpal Yadav, who is the Minister Of State (Independent Charge) Rural Development, attended a yoga programme at the Paliganj Adarsh Gram in his parliamentary constituency of Patliputra, while his colleague Radha Mohan Singh, who is Minister of Agriculture, attended a Motihari event.

BJP state chief Nityanand Rai and senior party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi also took part in yoga events here.

JD-U spokesperson Sanjay Singh dared the BJP leaders to first enforce total prohibition in the country or at least in the BJP-ruled states, only then will the JD-U join the Yoga Day celebrations from 2018, he said.

"It is not us, BJP has been doing politics over yoga by branding it with PM Modi and using it as a part of its agenda," Singh said.

Nitish Kumar, who practices yoga every morning, told the media on Monday: "I also practice yoga and would like people too to practice it." He, however, opposed the political propaganda over the issue and termed the BJP leaders brouhaha over Yoga Day as nothing more than a publicity stunt.
Lucknow, June 21 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent some 20 minutes out in drizzle here on Wednesday doing yogic 'asanas' as lakhs of enthusiasts in various states stretched, twisted their bodies and performed breathing exercises on the third International Yoga Day.

But moderate to heavy rains in several parts of India prevented many more from taking part in mass demonstration events of the ancient Indian physical, mental and spiritual practice.

Leading the celebrations at a rain-drenched Ramabai Amedkar Sthal in the Uttar Pradesh capital, Modi described yoga as a binding factor for the global community and underlined its importance towards creating health, wealth and wellness.

Addressing a gathering of over 45,000 people, the Prime Minister, wearing a yoga-themed white T-shirt and white trouser, said yoga was as important as salt in food and urged all Indians to embrace yoga as a part of life.

He said yoga power has had a profound impact on the world.

"There are many countries which don't know our language, are not aware about Indian culture or traditions but they too are practising yoga. Much like it connects the mind with the soul, yoga is playing an important role in connecting the world."

Modi said since the UN declared June 21 as the International Day for Yoga in December 2014, awareness about it was rising leading to a new job market.

He said new yoga training institutes had developed and demand for yoga trainers and training institutes had been rising. "Across the globe, the demand for yoga teachers is rising, creating a new job market. Indians are the most preferred choice."

Modi then walked over to a yoga mat, did yogic exercises and then flew back to New Delhi.

Outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee attended an event at Rashtrapati Bhawan that drew about 200 employees and family members.

In Madhya Pradesh, Congress workers and agitating farmers performed 'shavasana' -- the dead body posture -- to denounce the June 6 killing of peasants by police during protests seeking remunerative prices for farm produce and loan waiver.

In Gujarat, BJP President Amit Shah joined yoga expert-turned-industrialist Baba Ramdev in Ahmedabad. The event was billed as the world's "largest" yoga gathering but a heavy downpour since early morning played spoilsport.

In rain-soaked Delhi, Lt. Gov. Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal did yogic exercises at Connaught Place. Hundreds attended seven other major events in the city.

Celebrities and commoners in Mumbai did yoga on land, water and under water as well. Over 10,000 naval personnel and their families and Army officers took part in celebrations aboard ships and special yoga camps in the city's military areas.

People did yoga on the decommissioned aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, 15 other warships and even underwater in submarines, Defence Ministry spokesperson Rahul Sinha told IANS.

In Left-ruled Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan pressed people to be "secular" while embracing yoga.

"Yoga should not be mistaken as a religious ritual. It can be practised by all and it is just a physical exercise. But today it has come to light that some have hijacked yoga by reciting hymns. Yoga was in existence even before the hymns came into existence," he said.

In Bihar, the ruling alliance led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stayed away from the celebrations. But Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Union Ministers, took part in the ceremonies attended by hundreds.

It was a low key affair in predominantly Christian Mizoram after an influential civil youth group asked people to refrain from doing yoga exercises. The main event was held at the Assam Rifles Ground in Aizawl.

Events were also held in hundreds of other places including in West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Chandigarh.
Chennai, June 21 : Director Adhik Ravichandran says he made forthcoming Tamil action-drama "Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan" aka "AAA" as a fan of its lead star Simbu and his efforts paid off.

"As a hardcore fan of Simbu, I'm well aware how his fans would like to see him on screen. I have made 'AAA' keeping all that in mind and going by the response so far, I believe it has paid off. The film will be a treat for Simbu's fans," Adhik told IANS

Simbu plays an older character called Ashwin Thatha in the film.

Adhik is all praise for the efforts Simbu made to gain weight for the role.

"It wasn't an easy role to pull off. He could have easily said no to the role but he took it up as a challenge and worked very hard. He gained a lot of weight for the role and wore prosthetic make up to play his part," he said.

The film also stars Shriya Saran and Tamannaah Bhatia.
New Delhi, June 21 : Wishing all music lovers on the occasion of World Music Day on Wednesday, some of the Indian musicians say the celebration of music should not be restricted to one day since the "world breathes music, every moment, everyday".

While legendary sarod player Amjad Ali Khan gave his blessings to all music enthusiasts, fusion group Midival Punditz shared a song from their archives on social media.

Here is what musicians had to say on World Music Day:

Amjad Ali Khan: A day in honour of Music. Wish all music lovers a very peaceful World Music Day. God Bless.

Midival Punditz: One from our archives. This was a recording we did in 2006, on World Music Day.

Ayaan Ali Bangash: To be a musician is in itself a blessing as you are really not answerable to anyone but yourself.

Amaan Ali Bangash: Wish you all a very Happy World Music Day!

Papon Angaraag: Wishing everyone a very happy world music day. Though every day should be a music day! Leaving for Spain to perform at IIFA Rocks!

Prosenjit Chatterjee: The music is not in the notes but in the silence in between.

Rekha Bhardwaj: Celebrating World Music Day today!

Zaeden: Happy World Music Day. What are you currently listening to?

Amit Trivedi: Happy world music day to all you lovely people who love music. Music forever Harshdeep Kaur: Aaj Bhangra paun nu jee karda (Today I feel like dancing) Celebrating World Music Day with friends!

Karsh Kale: Wow... I am on a mural created for World Music Day in Bandra. I have officially tagged Mumbai.

Benny Dayal: Wishing everyone a world music day... May all your lives be inspired with more n more music.

Kailash Kher: Happy world music day to all my awesome fans and music lovers listen and dance to the beats of your soul. Love and live music. When I started in music in 2001, didn't even know there is a day particularly called World Music Day, now feels every day is World Music Day.

Clinton Cerejo: Does World Music Day apply to all music or just world music?

Sunidhi Chauhan: It's World Music Day today. Just realised... A very happy and prosperous one to all my musicians and music lovers.

Shekhar Ravjiani: Music and love know no boundaries and languages. That's why I am releasing my second Marathi single 'Saavli' on World Music Day.

Meiyang Chang: Tamilian, Indian Chinese and Assamese singing a Punjabi song on World Music Day! Funjabi! Sarsa, Agnee Mohan, Papon.

Sona Mohapatra: World Music Day? The 'world' breathes music, every moment, everyday. Today is no different, me thinks.
Mumbai, June 21 : The Shiv Sena on Wednesday claimed credit for the central government granting permission to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to accept the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

"This was Sena President Uddhav Thackeray's demand a few days ago and later our minister Diwakar Raote also raised it," said a party official.

Nearly eight months after demonetisation, just before midnight on Tuesday, the Centre issued orders to the RBI to accept the old scrapped Rs 500-Rs 1,000 currency notes lying with all the District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs).

Significantly, the development took place barely three hours after the Shiv Sena on Tuesday evening announced its support to presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind and its intention to vote with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for first time in 15 years.

As per the new orders, the DCCBs can deposit the demonetised notes collected during the five-day period post-demonetisation of November 8, 2016, with the RBI within the next 30 days.

The DCCBs had been barred from accepting the old notes from November 14 last year and according to Raote, around Rs 2,271 crore is lying with the cooperative banks in Maharashtra alone.

The government has also permitted the banks and post offices, which had collected the old notes prior to December 30, 2016, to deposit these with the RBI, under the Specified Bank Notes (Deposits by Banks, Post Offices and DCCBs) Rules, 2017.

The Sena official pointed out that after the DCCBs were barred from depositing the old notes, it became impossible for Maharashtra's 31 district cooperative banks with some 3,750 branches to provide fresh agricultural loans and facilitate other rural activities, and simultaneously, they had to pay interest to depositors.

Of these banks, the Pune District Cooperative Bank was the worst-hit holding in old notes Rs 811 crore, followed by Satara DCB at Rs 399 crore, Nashik DCB Rs 376 crore, Chandrapur DCB with Rs 356 crore and several others with more than Rs 100 crore-plus, said the official.
Novosibirsk (Russia), June 21 : Russian companies which have had a long experience in working with India can take a lead role in participating in the Make in India programme, Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday.

"We have initiated a series of policy and procedural changes to facilitate tie-ups, including joint ventures and technology partnerships between Indian and foreign companies.

"Russian companies, which already have a long experience of working in India and working with India are well placed to take a leading role in this process," Jaitley said about his government's flagship programme at the plenary session of the 5th International Forum for Technological Development TECHNOPROM here.

"In the days to come, we hope to fully harness the energies, entrepreneurial spirit and enterprise of the private sector in the area of defence manufacturing. Here again, Russia as India's largest, oldest and most trusted partner in defence hardware and equipment, would have a comparative advantage in partnering with Indian companies for realizing 'Make in India' potential in defence production," he said.

Jaitley invited Russian companies to come forward with proposals for technology transfer to Indian companies and facilitate manufacturing of more advanced components and sub-systems.

"This can start with platforms of Russian origin where the requirement is in large numbers and is recurring in nature," he said.

Jaitley cited as an incentive that industrial licensing for manufacturing of defence equipments has been significantly liberalised and for manufacturing of parts, components, sub-systems, production equipments and testing equipments, no license is required from the government.

"Even for the items for which license is required, the initial validity has been increased from 3 years to 15 years. As a result of this liberal approach, the presence of private companies in defence production sector has risen manifold in last two years," he said.

Jaitley said another area where Russian industry and business houses can join hands with Indian companies is research and development.

"Russian companies can be natural partners of the Indian companies as most of our defence equipments and inventory are of Russian origin. A large industrial base and supply chain can be created for manufacturing of spare parts and components of such platforms to be made in India by Indian companies either through transfer of technology form Russian OEMs or through joint ventures between Indian and Russian companies," he said.

The minister was attending the plenary session of "Make in Russia: Double Purpose Industrialisation" of Technoprom-2017 at this Russian city.

During Jaitley's visit, the first meeting of India-Russia Joint Committee on Science and Technology was held co-chaired by Jaitley and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

The meeting was held along with 5th edition of TECHNOPROM an annual forum focussing on innovation and technology.

Russia has launched a "Do It In Russia" initiative to promote local manufacturing and technological development, as well as 'dual purpose industrialisation' wherein Russian firms are being encouraged to manufacture items for civil industrial use.

The joint science and technology committee meeting finalised range of bilateral areas of cooperation projects including space and marine technologies, IT, deep ocean engineering as well as modelling and simulation.

Jaitley will now travel to Moscow to co-chair India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military Technoligical Cooperation with his Russian counterpart, Gen Sergey Shoigu on June 23.
Beijing, June 21 : China said on Wednesday that all the countries involved in the North Korean crisis should shoulder the responsibility of finding a solution and efforts on Beijing's part alone would not resolve the issue.

China's statement came in response to US President Donald Trump's criticism in the wake of the death of an American student following his detention by North Korea, Efe news reported.

"We have been playing an important and constructive role ... all parties should shoulder responsibilities," in the North Korea conflict, said Chinese Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Geng Shuang.

Geng's statements came after Trump's comments on Tuesday in which he said that efforts made by China and President Xi Jinping regarding the neighbouring country had not been successful.

American student Otto Warmbier died after being repatriated while in a coma from North Korea, where he was detained.

The Chinese spokesperson said that in recent years "China has stepped up its efforts to promote peace talks" on the Korean peninsula.

When asked about reports in the US on Tuesday about China's invitation to Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner to visit the country, Geng said he was not aware of any details, although he stressed: "China and the US have been in close touch at all levels."

"This is crucial for the steady development of our bilateral ties," he said.
Bengaluru, June 21 : Bangaluru-based healthcare start-up Cardiotrack, which provides predictive diagnosis for cardiovascular diseases, on Wednesday said it has entered into an agreement with a Mexican state to set up operations and also invest in a unit to train people.

A Letter of Intent (LOI) to this effect was signed with the Governor of Nuevo Leon, Jaime Heliodoro RodrAguez, Cardiotrack said in a statement here.

"Cardiotrack will set up operations in Nuevo Leon's capital Monterrey and also invest in a unit to train people. This collaboration will create close to 200 jobs in Nuevo Leon," the statement added.

Cardiotrack is an innovative IoT (Internet of Things) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) healthcare diagnostics solution designed to fulfill the basic requirements of primary healthcare centres (PHC).

Deployed at PHCs in emerging markets, including rural India, Cardiotrack, in the absence of a cardiologist, diagnoses and captures heart health data for their patients.

The platform enables instantaneous cardiac monitoring and flow of information through Android-based smart devices between a physician and a cardiologist, thus providing primary healthcare physicians in non-urban areas a way to detect early signs of cardiovascular disease in their patients.

"We are pleased to have partnered with the Governor of Nuevo Leon for setting up operations in his state. Our focus is primary care and improving the quality of the diagnostics available at PHCs," said Ashim Roy, Co-founder, Cardiotrack.
Patna/New Delhi, June 21 : The opposition on Wednesday suffered a big blow with JD-U deciding to back the NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind in the President's election boosting the numbers for the ruling side while the rivals made it clear that they will put up a candidate.

The setback for the opposition came at a meeting of JD-U legislators and MPs in which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and several MLAs expressed their opinion that the NDA candidate and his credentials are good given that he hails from a Dalit community and has a humble background. With possible support of JD-U, the vote share of NDA in the electoral college go up to almost 63 per cent.

"The party has decided to support Ram Nath Kovind. As the party has decided to support Kovind, there is no need for it to attend the meeting of opposition parties being held in New delhi," said JD-U spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan.

He also said his party's decision has been conveyed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

Earlier, JD-U Chief Whip Ratnesh Sada told reporters in Patna that the party has decided to support Kovind.

Wednesday's decision yet again confirms Nitish Kumar's style of taking decisions on his own irrespective of his allies' position and his political opposition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Soon after the BJP had announced Kovind's candidature on Monday, Nitish Kumar had good words to say about the former Bihar Governor on whom, he also made a courtesy call. Nitish Kumar is known to take independent decision like his welcoming the demonetisation decision and surgical strikes last year and the JD-U voting for UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee while sharing power with BJP in the state.

The JD-U decision came as a shock for the 17-party front led by Congress which is meeting in New Delhi on Thursday to decide on its strategy in the Presidential election, most probably putting up a candidate in what the Left parties called an "ideological battle".

It remains to be seen whether BSP, which has also said that it cannot oppose a Dalit candidate unless the opposition has a more popular Dalit nominee, attends the opposition meeting.

For the record, the Congress said the question whether they would be putting up a candidate against Kovind will be known only after Thursday's meeting.

However, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury was more clear when he said there would be a "strong candidate" against Kovind.

"The question is of a political battle -- whether the basics of our Constitution would be protected or RSS would convert the country into a Hindu Rashtra (nation)," Yechury said.

Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, whose father Mulayam Singh Yadav is toeing a different line, said that his party would go with the opposition led by Congress.

"There should be no talk about whether a Dalit should be there (be a President)... caste or religion. Whoever would be the protector of the Constitution should be above caste and religion," he said adding that his party would attend the opposition's meeting on Thursday.

CPI leader D. Raja acknowledged that the JD-U move, if correct, was a setback to the opposition.

"17 paties came together on the issue of Presidential election and if some parties take a different decision...We have a meeting tomorrow. Let us see how many parties are going to attend," he said.

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 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.

The NDA, including Shiv Sena and the PDP of Jammu and Kashmir, which has extended support to Kovind, 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 63 per cent in the July 17 battle, with JD-U contributing 1.91 per cent.

The Left parties, which were earlier garnering support for former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, are slated to meet on June 22. Among the candidates the Left is looking at is Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the iconic B.R. Ambedkar.
Kolkata/New Delhi, June 21 : Former Calcutta High Court judge Justice C.S. Karnan was on Wednesday jailed, a day after he was arrested in the case of contempt but last-ditch efforts by his lawyers to get relief from the Supreme Court failed.

The controversial judge, who was given six months imprisonment on May 9 for contempt by the Supreme Court and had remained untraceable, was brought to Kolkata from Chennai by plane by a team of West Bengal Police led by top official Raj Kanojia and lodged in Presidency Jail.

The 62-year-old judge was taken directly from the airport to the jail. In Chennai airport, he told reporters that he was "fighting against corruption". He said he had no complaint against police as they knew he had done nothing wrong.

Earlier in the day, a vacation bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to give him bail or suspend the sentence.

"We can't suspend the sentence as the order of the sentence was passed by a seven-judge bench," the judges said.

The bench's response came as Karnan's counsel Mathew J. Nadumpara urged it to grant bail to the former judge, who was arrested in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu by the West Bengal Police on Tuesday.

As he told the bench that "equity demands" his client be granted bail, Justice Chandrachud said: "All equity is subject to law and judicial discipline."

"Sorry, Mr. Nadumpara," the judge said, asking the counsel to mention the matter before the Chief Justice on the reopening of the court after summer break on July 3.

Justice Karnan's arrest came 42 days after top court on May 9 held him guilty of contempt for his utterances against the Chief Justice of India and other judges of the apex court and sentenced him to six months imprisonment. The same day, Justice Karnan left Kolkata for Chennai and was virtually untraceable since them. He retired from service earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal Police team said they knew about Karnan's hiding place in Coimbatore for three days before moving in to arrest him.

"We knew about his (Karnan's) whereabouts three days back. We were tracking phone calls of people close to him and we also have our own sources," Kanojia told IANS in Chennai before boarding a flight to Kolkata.

According to him, this was a unique case he had handled in his entire service and "maybe no other police officer will be handling such a case in a long time to come".

"Tracking Karnan was difficult. It was a difficult case," Kanojia said.
Chennai, June 21 : Non-banking finance company Hinduja Leyland Finance Ltd has decided to scrap its initial public offering plans and has withdrawn its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, parent firm Ashok Leyland Ltd said on Wednesday.

In a regulatory filing in the BSE, Ashok Leyland said the Board of Directors of Hinduja Leyland Finance had decided to withdraw the DRHP and this was done on June 16.

According to Hinduja Finance, selling shareholder Everfin Holdings has granted its consent for the withdrawal of DRHP.
Rome, June 21 : Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Wednesday slammed the European Union's delayed response to the crisis in the Mediterranean, where over 69,000 migrants have crossed to Italy this year and at least 2,000 have perished on the journey.

"Despite some progress, the speed of the EU's reaction remains dramatically below that needed by the Italian government to manage the migratory phenomenon," Gentiloni said here.

The Italian premier also sharply criticised the "utmost rigidity" of the EU budget rules, comparing this with the "flexibility" the block allowed member states in handling the migration emergency.

"We want to know if the EU is committed (to handling the migrant crisis) also in terms of resources, or if we have to cope alone," Gentiloni said ahead of a two-day summit of EU heads of state and government taking place in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, where migration policy, security and defence will top the agenda.

Over 85 percent of migrants from Africa to Europe arrived in Italy this year, severely straining its reception facilities.

Only around a third of Italy's 8,000 city governments have offered to shelter asylum seekers.

More than 190,000 asylum seekers are living in state-funded shelters in Italy.
New Delhi, June 21 : Anti-hunger activist Ankit Kawatra, who has been committed to solving hunger and malnutrition in India, is all set to receive the prestigious Queen's Young Leaders Award with 60 others from all 53 Commonwealth countries.

Kawatra, 25, will be honoured by Queen Elizabeth II at a ceremony to be held in the Buckingham Palace on June 29.

In 2014, Kawatra quit his corporate business job and founded a not for profit organisation Feeding India that works towards solving problems of hunger, malnutrition and food wastage, mainly by redistributing extra food from restaurants, canteens, households, corporates etc. to help people in need.

He started working for the cause after witnessing massive amount of extra food being thrown away in a wedding and feels that his mission is to end hunger in his lifetime.

"India wastes 67 million tones food every year which is more than the national output of Britain. If no one else was working on it, I had to take the first step to channelise the excess food," Kawatra said in a statement on Wednesday.

Starting from a team of five, the NGO today works in 43 cities with 4,500 volunteers and has served more than 8.5 million meals to vulnerable individuals such as children, women, old age citizens, disabled people etc.

"Getting the award is a great honour, something that I could not even dream of. I believe that this is a landmark for both countries, especially since UK and India have a shared history on so many fronts," Kawatra said.

Earlier this year, the best of British and Indian culture was celebrated by the Queen at a glittering Buckingham Palace reception attended by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to launch the UK-India Year of Culture 2017.

According to Kawatra, an Indian's presence at the Buckingham Palace today "symbolizes the long way the two countries have come, and proves once again, how we can do so much more if we work together peacefully".

Kawatra will also participate in a 10 day residential programme before receiving the award.

He will stay at the University of Cambridge for the first few days as a part of different learning workshops and exercises and then travel to London to network with some of the world's leading business heads and philanthropists at political events.

"Through the residential week, I want to highlight the importance of solving hunger and encourage people to take action towards the 725 million people around the world who do not even have basic food and nutrition," he said.
Bhubaneswar, June 21 : A joint team of the ONGC and Unesco has carried out a preliminary survey for the conservation of Chilika Lake to help the country's largest coastal lagoon secure the world heritage site tag, said an official on Wednesday.

"With the objective to declare Chilika Lake as a Unesco World Heritage Site, both Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) will work together," said Shigeru Aoyagi, Unesco Chief Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

"In order to get world heritage site recognition, it should have outstanding global value in terms of biodiversity and eco-system. The state government has assured us to provide full support to conserve the lake," he added.

During their visit to the periphery areas of the lake, they interacted with various stakeholders in the village and local officials, where certain focal areas were identified to begin with, so that the efforts could finally lead to the declaration of Chilika Lake as a heritage site.

They also met Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who appreciated the ONGC-Unesco efforts for the comprehensive development of the eco-system of the lake, particularly the wetlands of Mangalajodi, which is intrinsically linked to the conservation of migratory and endemic birds.

Shigeru Aoyagi assured that he would put in his best efforts to enable the declaration of Chilika Lake as an Unesco World Heritage Site.

He said a comprehensive dossier with a detailed development plan of the ecosystem, including that of the inhabitants, by involving various central and state government ministries would be prepared.

ONGC Director D.D. Misra said the company would carry out a comprehensive conservation and development plan in and around the lake area.

He said the Unesco had also proposed to set up a world class conservation centre with a climate change observatory with state-of-the-art data and monitoring facilities.
New Delhi, June 21 : Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who is among the opposition's likely presidential candidates, on Wednesday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Her meeting with Gandhi came after the opposition suffered a big blow with JD-U deciding to back the NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

There are speculations that the opposition parties may field Meira Kumar, who is also a Dalit, as their candidate in a bid to counter Kovind.

Her name was among the few, apart from Sushil Kumar Shinde and Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar, which were earlier doing rounds as likely opposition nominee for the presidency.

The opposition parties will meet on Thursday to finalise their choice of candidate.
Bengaluru, June 21 : The Karnataka government on Wednesday announced waiving of crop loans of up to Rs 50,000 of over 22 lakh farmers from cooperative banks in the state.

"Crop loans of up to Rs 50,000 borrowed by 22,27,506 farmers from cooperative banks in the state will be waived," Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told the assembly.

The waiver of short-term loans will cost the exchequer Rs 8,165 crore.

The decision followed opposition demand to mitigate farmers' hardships and to give them relief from the severe drought of 2016.

"Crop loans due up to June 20 will be waived, with farmers' total borrowings from cooperative banks standing at Rs 10,736 crore so far," the Chief Minister said.

Siddaramaiah also urged the Centre to waive crop loans that farmers borrowed from state-run and regional rural banks.

Admitting that the loan waiver would impact the state's finances, Siddaramaiah, who also holds the Finance portfolio, said that as the farmers were in distress due to drought, it was his government's duty to respond to their plight.

"Crop loans that farmers took from cooperative banks are only 20 per cent of the total borrowings, including 80 per cent from grameen (rural banks), nationalised (state-run) and other banks owned by the central government and its agencies," the Chief Minister told the state lawmakers.

Claiming victory over the ruling Congress, main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) urged the government to increase the loan waiver limit up to Rs 1 lakh.

"Waiving crop loans of up to Rs 50,000 is not a big achievement. We expected the Karnataka government to waive loans of up to Rs 1 lakh. Had Siddaramaiah decided earlier, he would have saved the lives of 1,197 farmers who committed suicide due to debt," Bharatiya Janata Party state unit President B.S. Yeddyurappa told reporters.

State Farmers' Association and Green Brigade President Kodihalli Chandrashekar also urged the government to write off the entire crop loans (totalling Rs 10,736 crore).

"Karnataka should follow other states in waiving the entire crop loans. I appeal to Siddaramaiah to doube the cooperative loans waiver limit to Rs 1 lakh," said Chandrashekar, an independent lawmaker who represents Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha.

Karnataka is the fourth state to write off farm loans after Punjab, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Demanding complete waiver of crop loans, Karnataka Sugarcane Growers' Association President Karburu Shanthakumar said the government's decision to waive loans of up to Rs 50,000 would lead to more problems for farmers.

"Farmers have no money to repay loans (above Rs 50,000) to avail fresh crop loans during the current kharif season. I urge the state government to waive the total loans for their benefit," Shanthakumar said.
Nagpur, June 21 : A 30-member French business delegation led by Paul Hermelin, Special Representative for Bilateral Economic Relations, will arrive here on Thursday with aims to expand Indo-French bilateral cooperation, an official statement said here on Wednesday.

The high-powered delegations, comprising heads of major world-renowned French companies will present their expertise and know-how with focus on sectors like renewable energy, urban development and Smart Cities.

Nagpur is among three cities - including Chandigarh and Puducherry - selected to receive technical assistance from the French government through the French Development Agency as part of its support towards the implementation of the Smart Cities Mission in India.

During the visit, Hermelin will meet Nagpur Municipal Corporation Mayor Nanda Jichkar and NMC Municipal Commissioner Ashwin Mudgal, who are taking a keen interest in the Smart Cities programme.

The French delegation will go out in the field to visit the upcoming Maha Metro, the newly unveiled electric cars facility and the riverfront development sites.

Civic officials will make a detailed presentation on the implementation of the Smart Cities Programme and the French side will offer technical solutions from its side.
New Delhi, June 21 : Unfazed by JD-U's decision to back NDA's Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, major opposition parties will meet here on Thursday amid indications that former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar could be their nominee for the presidential election.

Meira Kumar met Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Wednesday. Though there was no official word about the meeting, it is widely believed that Meira Kumar could be the opposition's choice against Kovind.

Like Kovind, Meira Kumar belongs to the Dalit community. She was the first woman speaker of Lok Sabha and also has been a Union Minister.

Ahead of meeting of opposition parties, Communist Party of India leader D. Raja said that JD-U was one of the opposition parties which had come together to field a common candidate in the presidential polls and its parting ways will not have any bearing on the stance of other parties.

"It is one party. We are 17 parties who came together on the issue. (Bihar Chief Minister) Nitish Kumar has taken such a position, it is for him. It does not mean all others follow Nitish Kumar," Raja told IANS.

Gandhi had taken the initiative to talk to opposition parties to evolve a consensus candidate in the presidential election. Nitish Kumar was among the leaders who met her and JD-U leaders took part in all meetings of the grouping.

JD-U leader Sharad Yadav was also a member of the sub-committee formed by opposition parties to decide the presidential candidate.

The Left parties are keen to put up a candidate against Kovind in what they call an "ideological battle".

Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Wednesday that there would be a "strong candidate" against Kovind.

"The question is of a political battle -- whether the basics of our Constitution would be protected or RSS would convert the country into a Hindu Rashtra (nation)," Yechury said.

It remains to be seen if BSP, which has also said that it cannot oppose a Dalit candidate unless the opposition has a more popular Dalit nominee, attends the opposition meeting.

For the record, the Congress said the question whether they would be putting up a candidate against Kovind will be known only after Thursday's meeting.

Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, whose father Mulayam Singh Yadav is toeing a different line, said that his party would go with the opposition led by Congress.

"There should be no talk about whether a Dalit should be there (be a President)... caste or religion. Whoever would be the protector of the Constitution should be above caste and religion," he said adding that his party would attend the opposition's meeting on Thursday.

The other name doing the rounds as possible opposition candidates is of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who also belong to the Dalit community.
Chennai, June 21 : Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK faction on Wednesday announced its support for NDA Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

The decision was announced here by Chief Minister K. Palaniswami.

Speaking to reporters, he said the party supports the candidature of Kovind as the next President.

Palaniswami said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had requested the party's support for Kovind over phone and the decision was taken after consulting the party legislators and ministers.

The other AIADMK faction led by former Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam is also expected to support Kovind.
New Delhi, June 21 : External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said that Yoga belongs not merely to India but to the whole world and added that it is a science to attain inner-peace.

"Yoga belongs not merely to India but to the whole world. Its inclusion as World Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO underlines its global significance, benefits for the entire humanity and growing reach," Swaraj said while addressing a gathering of diplomats at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra here on the occasion of 3rd International Day of Yoga.

"Yoga is not merely about physical well-being through asanas (postures) or pranayam (breath control), it is a science to attain inner-peace, it is the art to attain equanimity. It is a full system to arrive at harmony within ourselves, with nature and with the world," she added.

She said over the last two years, Indian missions and posts all over the world have "channelised great enthusiasm and interest" for yoga in their host countries.

"Special events at iconic global locations across the globe have taken place with the participation of hundreds of thousands of yoga enthusiasts at several places. Heads of states, heads of governments, senior dignitaries and celebrities have graced these events," the minister noted.

She thanked the international community for the "tremendous response" India received for its proposal of adopting June 21 as the International Day of Yoga at the United Nations and its inclusion as World Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, and also the "support our missions and posts are getting abroad in successful celebrations of International Day of Yoga every year by the host countries".

She asked the gathering to end the yoga session with prayers for the world peace by chanting 11 shlokas which end with "shanti, shanti, shanti", that is, peace for all.
Bengaluru, June 22 : Four persons, including a police constable, were arrested here for allegedly trying to sell Turkish lira equivalent to Rs 71 crore to two businessmen for Rs 27 lakh, said a top police official on Wednesday.

"On a tip off, the accused were trapped at a multiplex parking lot in the eastern suburbs where they came to deliver the Turkish currency to the businessmen," Bengaluru Commissioner of Police Praveen Sood told reporters here.

The accused were identified as Nagaraju, 40, a police constable from Chitradurga district, Shivaraju, 50, Murali, 40, a Kannada film producer, and Aravind, 40, a realtor from Davangere.

"One more accused, Channa Reddy, is absconding. We have formed a team to nab him," said Sood.

Police seized the liras, a 9mm revolver, a car and an identity card of the Karnataka CID from the accused.

"The prime accused (Nagaraj) claimed to be a sleuth with the State Intelligence Bureau by flaunting the ID card," said Sood.

The accused had approached city-based businessmen Chellasamuel and Shakeer and offered to sell lira worth Rs 71 crore. Though the duo initially agreed to the deal, they grew suspicious and alerted police.

Though Turkey demonetised the lira in possession of the accused in December 2015, it is valid as a legal tender and can be exchanged till December 2019.

A case has been registered at against the accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Section 25 of the Arms Act.
Rome, June 22 : Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Wednesday said he will "in all probability" meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow in August.

"Yes, we are verifying whether this visit will take place. It has been planned for a long time and now all the conditions are in place," said the Vatican second-in-command.

"I believe I will meet President Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church's top officials because this needs to be a high-level visit," Parolin continued.

Parolin made the remarks to journalists on the sidelines of a conference at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University.

His planned visit to Moscow follows an historic meeting in Cuba between Pope Francis and head of the Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, in February last year.

It was the first encounter in history between a Roman Catholic pope and a Russian Orthodox patriarch in the nearly 1,000 years since Eastern Orthodoxy split with Rome.

The papal meeting had finally become possible because the Orthodox church no longer felt that the Catholic church was trying to expand its influence in Russia and Ukraine, said representatives of Patriarch Kirill.

Kirill met Francis because Putin - with whom Kirill has an especially close relationship - saw an opportunity reduce Russia's isolation amid western sanctions over Ukraine and criticism for its Syria bombing campaign, according to many observers.

The main topic of the discussion between Kirill and Francis - persecution of Christians in the Middle East - played to the Russian President's advantage, analysts said.
SkuVault is the solution we needed to grow while balancing the maximizing of sales and safeguarding the customer experience by not overselling.

Tidy Living is excited to announce that it has partnered with SkuVault to allow for a faster ramp-up of business with plans to further expand warehouse operations across the US and Canada. Since officially launching online March 1st this year, Tidy Living has already fulfilled over 6,500 orders, with demand increasing. Tidy Living intends to double its online product catalogue in June, which includes an expansion into kitchen and bathroom organization products.

Tidy Living currently offers its products for sale on TidyLiving.com, Ebay, Amazon, Walmart, Groupon, Houzz, Bonanza and has a backlog of websites in the US, Canada, and even Europe that have approached Tidy Living about selling through them in 2017. With quick customer adoption and business complexity, Tidy Living reviewed technology solutions to allow it to set the foundation for the next phase of its growth and selected SkuVault due to their capabilities.

"It's apparent that SkuVault is a solution designed by operators to meet the needs of the sales team. SkuVault's inventory management capability across multiple sales channels, warehouses, dynamic kitting and replenishment is crucial for us. Tidy Living will be adding a second warehouse in the US and one in Canada, as well as increasing our product assortment from 100 items to 1,000. SkuVault is the solution we needed to grow while balancing the maximizing of sales and safeguarding the customer experience by not overselling," explained Tim Mayeur, COO of Tidy Living.

SkuVaults mission is empowering eCommerce retailers to optimize operations so that they can scale and compete in the growing eCommerce market. This mission is throughout their culture and the basis for the warehouse management technology platform they have built.

"We love helping companies streamline their processes that are facing the pains of accelerated growth, so they can focus on scaling to their next milestone. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with Tidy Living," said Danny Shaw, Director of Business Development at SkuVault.

About Tidy Living

Based in Ontario, California, Tidy Living is a leading supplier and manufacturer of organizational products for the home. The company has been producing products for organizing personal spaces in the home and supplying them to retailers since 2005, but has just recently launched its online division. Customers in the US and Canada will have access to laundry accessories, garment care, organization tools and home storage that is designed to make their lives easier and less stressful.

About SkuVault

SkuVault is an inventory & warehouse management system that integrates with ChannelAdvisor, ShipWorks, Amazon, Bigcommerce, ShipStation, eBay, Shopify, and more, and is complete with barcoding and jam-packed with other cool features to help eCommerce retailers prevent out-of-stocks, improve warehouse efficiency, and reduce human error.
At Julys Quantitative InfraRed Thermography conference (QIRT-Asia 2017), held in Daejeon, South Korea, Santa Barbara-based, Electro Optical Industries will attend for the first time. The bi-annual international conference and exposition brings together Infrared Thermography (IRT) specialists from industries and academia to discuss groundbreaking ideas and developments in the field.

As specialists in electro-optics since 1964, Electro Optical Industries manufactures a wide range of blackbodies, collimators, test benches,integrating spheres and other specialized products to provide leading-edge IR test equipment to universities, research labs, manufacturers and test centers all over the world. Along with their South Korean partner, SS Tech, EOI will be displaying several of their high-performance solutions to accurately test and calibrate systems from visible to far IR cameras and multi-spectral sensors for civil, industrial and defense applications.

The QIRT Conference will take place from July 2nd-6th at the Interciti Hotel, in Daejon, Republic of Korea. For more information on the conference, visit: http://qirtasia2017.com/

About the Company: Electro-Optical Industries is a world leader in electro optics and infrared test equipment, thermographic cameras for process control monitoring and infrared wide area surveillance systems for protection of a variety of applications. Founded in 1964, Electro-Optical Industries has products in over 45 different countries with a customer list of over 1,000, including some of the best-known companies worldwide.
This project with emocha will allow us as clinicians and researchers to examine a new platform that has potential to expand our medicine bag with a technological aid that helps patients achieve a successful recovery.

emocha Mobile Health, a Baltimore-based startup company focused on medication adherence, today announced that it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research award by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Through the NIH Fast-Track mechanism, the Phase 1 award will total $225,000, with an additional $1.5 million for Phase 2 granted upon achieving milestones. The project will demonstrate the feasibility of video directly observed therapy for patients undergoing the initiation phase of buprenorphine treatment through office-based opioid treatment (OBOT) programs. Outcomes of interest will include adherence, retention in care, measures of illicit opioid use and abstinence, and medication diversion.

Directly observed therapy (DOT), the practice of observing a patient ingest every dose of medication, is the worldwide standard of care in tuberculosis (TB) and methadone maintenance treatment. While DOT can be resource-intensive, it is the gold standard for securing adherence in TB.

emochas video-based DOT technology makes DOT cost-effective and scalable. emocha is quickly becoming the market leader for video DOT among public health departments monitoring TB patients, and has also deployed the technology for hepatitis C monitoring. In a recent Johns Hopkins study of emochas platform for TB, patients achieved 92% average adherence to medication calculated on a dose-by-dose basis, and providers saved more than $1,400 per patient over a six-month period.

For prescribers of buprenorphine for opioid use disorders, reports of medication diversion and nonadherence are barriers to treatment expansion. Research has shown that approximately one half of persons treated with buprenorphine are not retained in maintenance treatment, and that patients treated with methadonewhich requires DOTmay have better retention and outcomes. Extending the platform to take-home buprenorphine treatment for opioid addiction is a natural next step for emocha.

emocha looks forward to developing the technology for OBOT in partnership with the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, two of the leading academic medical centers for substance use disorders. I am excited for this opportunity to partner with emocha to learn if this new technology can support patients who are engaging in treatment for opioid use disorders with buprenorphine, said Dr. Judith Tsui an associate professor of medicine at the UW School of Medicine.

This project with emocha will allow us as clinicians and researchers to examine a new platform that has potential to expand our medicine bag with a technological aid that helps patients achieve a successful recovery, said Dr. Jeffrey Samet, Chief of General Internal Medicine at Boston Medical Center.

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Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R44DA044053. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

emocha is on a mission to solve nonadherence in public health. Our adherence platform radically improves the way patients take medication and engage with their providers.
More and more people are enjoying Canada Day and Fourth of July vacations in Belize The Maple Leaf and Stars and Stripes will be flying around Belize

Belizes shared history and close ties with her North American neighbours will once again be celebrated by The Lodge at Chaa Creek with barbecues and specially discounted Belize vacation packages offered throughout July 2017, the Belizean jungle lodges marketing administrator said.

Our northern neighbours have always been important to both Belize and Chaa Creek, Roberto Harrison said, and once again this year were acknowledging those relationships with a barbeque and free nights stay for Canadian and American citizens who book a four day stay during July 2017.

Mr Harrison said the celebrations begin with Canada Day in Belize on the first of July and continue through to the Fourth of July, with the discounted Belize vacation packages on offer throughout the month.

Chaa Creeks month-long American Independence Day offer of pay for four and get the fifth night on us has been popular in the past, and this year we wanted to make sure we included our Canadian friends in what is becoming an annual tradition, Mr Harrison said.

With a reputation as Belizes Destination within a Destination due to the extensive amenities, attractions and activities on offer within a private 400-acre nature reserve that contains over 70 ancient Maya sites, Chaa Creeks guests are completely cared for from the moment they are picked up at Belizes international airport until they are dropped back off, Mr Harrison explained.

Onsite attractions include a restaurant and lounge featuring farm-to-table dining with fresh ingredients from the Maya organic farm, an infinity pool, an internationally recognised Hilltop Spa, Natural History Museum, butterfly exhibit and an extensive network of trails for horseback riding, hiking and guided nature walks.

The July celebrations are also a time to reflect upon the special relationship, close ties and cultural similarities between all three nations, Mr Harrison said.

Were all former British colonies who retain very warm, close ties to England. We share English as a common language, are vibrant melting pots based on multiculturalism and democracy, and are all committed to protecting our natural resources with huge national parks and protected wilderness areas and coastlines.

And with continual upgrading and expansion of air services, including the recent direct Toronto to Belize flights, were getting closer to each other all the time, he added.

Both Canada and the US are home to large numbers of Belizeans while Belize, a popular retirement destination, has seen a growth in US and Canadian expat communities over the years, fuelling the number of barbecues, parties and other celebrations seen across the nation in July, Mr Harrison said.

This year Canada is hosting a photo exhibition at the House of Culture in Belize City, according to Canadas High Commissioner to Belize, Deborah Chatsis, who said, In 2017 were celebrating Canadas one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of confederation. In order to celebrate that in Belize, we decided to bring this exhibit here...

Karolina Guay of the Canadian High Commission pointed out similarities between Canada and Belize that include vibrant multiculturalism and a focus on environmental protection. Were very keen on protecting the environment, which is another thing Belize does very well,  Ms Guay said.

Mr Harrison explained that, after saluting Canada at the start of the month, Chaa Creek will host its annual Fourth of July barbecue.

Chaa Creek has been hosting Canada Day and American Independence Day dinners and barbecues for years, and its a trend that Im happy to see is growing. Theres a lot of contact and goodwill between our countries, and it shows.

The Maple Leaf and Stars and Stripes will be flying around Belize next to Belizes flag, and there will be plenty of barbecues and picnics with burgers, sausages, steaks, potato salads and all the trimmings.

Of course, here at Chaa Creek well be serving North American-themed meals and drinks in the restaurant and lounge, which is an annual occurrence everyone looks forward to.

Its always a great time and July is a great month to be here, Mr Harrison said.

Further information about Chaa Creeks Canada Day and Fourth of July vacations can be found by contacting travel agents or Chaa Creek directly, he added.

The Lodge at Chaa Creek is a multi-award winning eco resort set within a 400-acre private nature reserve along the banks of the Macal River in Belize. It was recognised by National Geographic with first place honours at the 2017 World Legacy Awards held in Berlin.

ENDS
enmo Technologies, a leader in mobile IoT, today announced expansion into Japan via availability of a Japanese language user interface for its SaaS Platform and appointment of Brilliant Technologies Company and Clavis Company, both part of Macnica Inc., as its distributors in Japan.

Our SaaS Platform, which we launched in English, is used by developers to rapidly prototype Bluetooth-based IoT Smartphone Apps, said Mike Speckman, chief business officer at enmo. To make it even that much easier for developers worldwide to use our Platform we will localize it, starting with the Japanese-language user interface we are launching today. Next up is Chinese-language user interface for our Platform.

Localization is not just translating a user interface into a local language, its much broader than that  it includes local support (technical and sales/marketing). Brilliant Technologies and Clavis will provide such local support to enmo customers in Japan. We are delighted to two of the pre-eminent distributors in Japan - Brilliant and Clavis - represent us, continued Speckman. And customers now have the convenience of a 1-stop shop in Japan, they can purchase IoT devices we support and access to our Platform through Brilliant and Clavis.

We are very excited to be able to distribute enmo in Japan, said Shoichi Teshiba, company president of Brillant Technologies. We expect the combination of IoT devices on our line-card and enmo will be very well received by IoT customers.

We too very much look forward to promoting enmo, said Takemasa Sato, company president of Clavis. We believe the full IoT solution chain we now offer, IoT device and enmo technology, will greatly speed-up IoT development our enterprise, industrial, healthcare, and government customers.

Customers in Japan interested in learning more about enmo or accessing the enmo Platform can contact Brilliant (Hiroyuki Matsuya, matsuya-h(at)btc.macnica.co.jp) or Clavis (Motoki Kato, kato-m(at)clv.macnica.co.jp).

About enmo Technologies

enmo (http://www.enmo.mobi) is an enterprise mobility startup based in the San Francisco Bay Area, enmos SaaS Platform used by developers to quickly prototype Mobile IoT Smartphone solutons (IoT device firmware, Smartphone App, Cloud connectors). Mobile IoT are battery-powered IoT devices whose sensor data are read by Smartphone Apps. enmos value includes (1) enabling new and valuable Mobile IoT use cases, and (2) faster time-to-market and lower development costs.

About Brilliant Technologies Company and Clavis Company

Brilliant Technologies Company and Clavis Company are division companies of Macnica, Inc. Since its establishment in 1972, Macnica Inc. has specialized in the supply of wide a variety of high-value-added electronic parts and network equipment, particularly semiconductors, to the electronics, information and communications industries. The company is justly known as a leader in the high-technology fields in which they operate. In recent years, Macnica has expanded its lineup to provide in-depth technical support to customers in addition to the supply of devices. Its customers include Japans leading electrical and electronic products manufacturers. The company has its headquarters in Yokohama, and its 70 sales office are located in USA, Canada, Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany, Italia, Spain, France, Poland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, China, Singapore, Thailand, India, and Malaysia. For more information, visit http://www.macnica.co.jp/en/.
David Wolk, the CEO of Goodway Group  the programmatic partner agencies trust to drive campaign performance and media efficiency  has won a Glassdoor Employees Choice Award recognizing the Highest Rated CEOs for 2017 in the U.S. SMB category. Glassdoor released its annual report honoring the Highest Rated CEOs, which highlights top leaders employees love working for at Small & Medium Companies in the U.S.



Among chief executives recognized by employees in the U.S., Wolk received an impressive approval rating based on the anonymous and voluntary reviews Goodway employees shared on Glassdoor throughout the past year. Wolk will rank in the top 25 on Glassdoors Highest Rated CEOs, U.S. SMB with a 97% percent approval rating from employees.

I am absolutely humbled by this award, says Wolk. I think a company is only as good as its corporate culture and at Goodway we have placed a real emphasis on open communication, collaboration and transparency. I am proud to lead such an exceptional group of people.



CEOs tell us the Glassdoor Employees Choice Award is one of the highest honors they can receive because it truly reflects employee opinion about the job they do every day. I congratulate all of the winners on this significant honor, said Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. We know that CEO approval ratings correlate to overall employee satisfaction and trust in senior leadership, which contributes to long-term employee engagement, ultimately helping an employers recruiting and retention efforts.



When employees submit reviews about their company on Glassdoor, they are asked to rate various factors about their employment experience, including their overall satisfaction and other workplace attributes like senior management. As part of these ratings, employees are also asked to rate whether they approve, disapprove or are neutral about the job their CEO is doing.



Among the 700,000 companies reviewed on Glassdoor, the average CEO approval rating is 67 percent.



See the complete list of all Highest Rated CEOs in 2017 in the U.S. SMB category: https://www.glassdoor.com/Award/Highest-Rated-CEOs-at-SMBs-LST_KQ0,26.htm

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About Goodway Group

Goodway Group is the programmatic partner agencies and advertisers trust to drive campaign performance and media efficiency. Proud to be completely independently owned and operated, Goodway provides programmatic expertise that meets its clients needs  and no one elses. Through managed planning and buying services across all paid digital media, Goodway delivers trustworthy marketing expertise and authentic results because Goodway knows the truth is what matters most. Goodway Group. Honestly Smart Digital.



About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is one of the largest and fastest growing job sites in the world today. Set apart by the tens of millions of reviews and insights provided by employees and candidates, Glassdoor combines all the jobs with this valuable data to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for approximately 700,000 companies in more than 190 countries. For labor market trends and analysis, visit Glassdoor Economic Research. For company news and career advice and tips, visit the Glassdoor Blog and for employer-related news and insights to help employers hire, visit the Glassdoor for Employers Blog. Visit Glassdoor.com or download our apps on iOS and Android platforms.



Glassdoor Media Contact:

Lisa Holden, pr(at)glassdoor(dot)com
Entrance to the Orleans Ballroom at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel

In a city famous for its festivals, the continuity of a new festival is cause for celebration. The Festival de San Fermin, or Running of the Bulls, is now in its tenth year. As the preferred hotel partner of the festival, the New Orleans Hotel Collection featuring seven fine hotels throughout the city, has created a very special Spanish Wine Dinner to celebrate the start of the festival on the Thursday prior to the now famous Saturday morning run through New Orleans.

The Spanish Wine Dinner dinner will be held on Thursday, July 6th at the historic Orleans Ballroom of the Collections highly rated Bourbon Orleans Hotel located at 717 Rue Orleans in the French Quarter. Adding to the festivities, a toast will be raised by the General Manager to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Orleans Ballroom, which was originally opened to the public in July of 1817.

A cocktail mixer will start at 6:30 p.m. and the wine dinner event will start at 7:30 p.m. Three Spanish wines have been selected to complement the four course dinner, ending with a Tawny Port from the Douro Valley of Portugal. Chef Stanley Broussard, a New Orleans native, has designed a delectable menu offering a true taste of Spain in celebration of the festival. The highlight of the four course menu will be the Chefs braised short rib with fig barbecue sauce and fingerling potatoes. This hearty dish is designed to give runners the fortitude needed for the upcoming race.

A special guest will join the evening, Governor Bernardo de Galvez, ruling governor of the Spanish territory from 1777 to 1785. As an added treat, live flamenco guitar music by acclaimed musician Riccardo Crespo will be playing during the evening. Dinner guests are encouraged to wear the traditional garb of Festival participants - all white cotton or linen pantelones, white shirt and brilliant red sash - but all manner of red and white are acceptable.

The special price for the four course dinner including wines, service, taxes and gratuities is $99 per person. The dinner is a fundraiser to support the Running of the Bulls festival and the 501C(3) animal charities that the organization supports. Dinner guests are offered reduced price valet parking at the hotel entrance.

For tickets or more information about the New Orleans Hotel Collection Spanish Wine Dinner - including a full menu and list of wines served - please visit http://www.neworleanshotelcollection.com/nolabulls. For more information about the Festival de San Fermin, better known as the Running of the Bulls in New Orleans, visit http://www.nolabulls.com.

About the New Orleans Hotel Collection

The New Orleans Hotel Collection is a group of seven fine hotels in the New Orleans region owned by local investors. Comprised of the new Jung Hotel and Residences (opening November 2017), Bourbon Orleans, Dauphine Orleans, Hotel Mazarin, The Whitney, Crowne Plaza New Orleans Airport, and Hotel Le Marais, these boutique and small upscale meeting hotels are in prime locations throughout the city. For more information, visit the New Orleans Hotel Collection website at http://www.neworleanshotelcollection.com.
The Honorable Catherine Hughes snips the celebratory ribbon, marking the opening of Qualfons second contact center at the Providence Campus The focused approach you take every single day to your purpose and to this country is very notable indeed. We express our gratitude.

Qualfon, a mission-driven business process outsourcing (BPO) company and global provider of contact center services, was publicly commended by Guyanas Minister of Public Telecommunications and Minister of Business for its investments in the South American country of Guyana. Congratulatory messages were delivered during a celebration marking the opening of the second of three contact center facilities planned at the 10-acre Providence Campus.

I want to congratulate the company on completing another phase of this expansive project. I also want to commend Qualfon on its exemplary track record in Guyana, said the Honorable Dominic Gaskin, Minister of Business, Republic of Guyana, as he pledged continued support for Qualfon.

The Honorable Catherine Hughes, Guyanas Minister of Public Telecommunications, said the government remains confident in Qualfon and acknowledged the company mission to Be the best BPO. Make peoples lives better. The focused approach you take every single day to your purpose and to this country is very notable indeed. We express our gratitude, she said. Our prospects right here in Guyana are amazing. With the anticipated influx of investors and business partners . . . the immediate future looks good for you and us.

Known as one of the largest contact center campuses in the world, Qualfons Providence Campus features a new contact center, adding 55,000 square feet and 992 more workstations. By doubling its operational footprint at the campus, Qualfon makes way for an estimated 2,200+ job opportunities, 800 of which are expected by the end of 2017. The campus also offers an interfaith chapel, healthcare clinic, as well as green features that make it environmentally sustainable.

This creates a huge opportunity for Guyana to capitalize and create more awareness around its customer service capability, said Kirk Laughlin, Managing Director of Nearshore Americas, a news publication and premier authority on contact center outsourcing in the Caribbean region. I look forward to watching your country emerge. Guyana is considered a unique outsourcing destination in the Caribbean region because of its native-English-speaking population and competitively priced services. Over the past five years, industry analysts and investors have taken note, giving rise to the local BPO industry growth.

Qualfon CEO Mike Marrow expressed his gratitude for the employees in Guyana, noting their role in Qualfons 12-year success history in the country. Today, we are approaching 3,000 employees in Guyana, and I honestly look forward to someday getting to 30,000. That is my dream, he said. We look forward to many more years in Guyana.

In 2005, Qualfon began investing in Guyana, converting a former textile plant into a contact center. With the initial success of that operation, Qualfon went on to open another contact center as well as the 10-acre campus. As the largest private employer in Guyana, Qualfon employs thousands of people and has a designated Mission Office to care for employees, their families, and the local community. Through a network of services that include free educational and degree programs and humanitarian efforts, the company actively works to make lives better.

Qualfon President Christina Morris, who oversees operations in Guyana, emphasized her focus on building a culture of leaders backed by career growth and investments in each person. We bring in a lot of young people, and I want to see those people build careers. I want to see them move up through the ranks and continue their education and skill sets, so they can make their lives better, their families lives better, as well as this community better, she said. I am very confident that we will continue to build leaders.

About Qualfon: Qualfon is a mission-driven BPO company and a global provider of contact center services and back-office processing. With experienced BPO leadership and a strong track record of business growth dating back to our founding in 1995, Qualfon helps companies reduce costs and deliver superior customer experiences. Today, we have approximately 12,000 employees serving international brands across many industries, and our intelligent outsourcing locations span the United States, the Philippines, Guyana S.A., and Mexico. Qualfons mission to Be the Best BPO, Make Peoples Lives Better means we invest in our people and, in return, they take better care of you and your customers. Qualfons employee retention regularly exceeds the industry average, which creates a people-driven value chain: Our employees stay longer, providing you a higher quality service at a lower price. http://www.Qualfon.com
STACS DNA is a full service company that strives for complete customer satisfaction. STACS Dollars helps our clients get exactly what they need.

STACS DNA, the sample tracking software company, today announced the STACS Dollars Program. Customers using STACS software in forensic DNA labs are awarded free STACS Dollars that can be used towards customization services each year.

While STACS is highly configurable so that it can be used out-of-the-box, some labs have unique requirements. STACS Dollars help them to budget for customization. Customers using either STACS-CW for casework labs or STACS-DB for database labs  or both  receive STACS Dollars valued at 10% of annual support and maintenance fees.

Some software companies expect customers to take it or leave it. That is not STACS DNAs philosophy, says Jocelyn Tremblay, President and COO of STACS DNA. We are a full service company that strives for complete customer satisfaction. STACS Dollars helps our clients get exactly what they need.

Not only does STACS DNA strive for complete satisfaction from every customer  all customers receive all product enhancements, creating a win-win for the entire STACS community.
The HOMER International Microgrid Conference is the only event of its kind focused on bringing together global, not just domestic, leaders and influencers in the renewable energy community.

HOMER Energy, developer of the industry-leading HOMER Pro software for modeling hybrid renewable energy systems, and the global leader in microgrid decision analysis and design optimization, announces that it is accepting registration for its Fifth Annual International Microgrid Conference, to be held in Denver, Colorado, September 18-20, 2017. A Call for Speakers is also open until June 30.

The HOMER International Microgrid Conference is the only event of its kind focused on bringing together global, not just domestic, leaders and influencers in the renewable energy community. Both an educational and networking event, the conference allows attendees to connect with others in their industry to discuss projects and collaborative opportunities. 2017 presentation topics include The Current Microgrid Market State, Microgrid Finance, Grid Connected Case Studies, a HOMER User Group Forum, and more.

Karl Rabago, Executive Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center, at the Pace University School of Law in White Plains, New York will give a keynote on Microgrids and Reforming our Energy Vision, a New York perspective; Cathy Zoi, former CEO of Sun Edisons Frontier Power and co-founder and President of Odyssey Energy Solutions, a new business helping to bring distributed, renewable electricity to communities and businesses in emerging economies, will also give a keynote address. HOMER Energy CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Peter Lilienthal, Ph.D., will address participants on Microgrid Lessons from the Global Market.

Beginning with our first conference in Mexico in 2013, the HOMER International Microgrid Conference has been the only event focused on experience over theory, says HOMER CEO and co-founder Dr. Peter Lilienthal. Additionally, our conference is special because of its strong international attendance, and because it brings together both the financial and technical aspects of microgrids. For this years event, we are looking forward to offering even more training for users of HOMER Pro, and are happy to be bringing it home to our own state - Colorado, USA.

I enjoyed the spirit of the HOMER conference where participants can openly share and discuss their experiences of developing, building, and operating microgrids says Juergen Zimmermann, ABB Australias Technology and Business Development Manager for Microgrids. Its more than just another commercially organized event.

Attendees and speakers from 28 countries have attended previous HOMER International Microgrid Conferences, sharing their experiences with implementing microgrids in developed and developing countries, remote and grid-connected systems, and applications with different reliability and resilience requirements. Limited sponsorship packages for the conference are still available. Full details about the event are available at the conference website, http://www.microgridconference.com

For more information on HOMER Energy, visit http://www.homerenergy.com. Follow us on Twitter @HOMEREnergy.

About HOMER Energy

Founded in 2009 by Peter Lilienthal, Ph.D., and Marilyn Walker, Ph.D., Boulder, Colo.-based HOMER Energy is the exclusive developer and distributor of HOMER Pro software, originally developed at the US Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). HOMER Pro has grown to be the global standard for microgrid decision analysis and feasibility studies. HOMER Energy are the microgrid modeling experts, providing software, training, and consulting services that identify how to build and navigate the complexities of cost effective and reliable microgrids that combine traditionally generated and renewable power, storage, and load management. Its mission statement, Clean Power Everywhere, embodies HOMER Energys goal to be the foremost provider of solutions for clean, affordable energy in all corners of the world, for everyone.
Brian Garrett, B.S. Biology, LEED Green Associate Product Manager, Labconco Corporation

Drawing on years of experience, Brian Garett, a product manager and laboratory ventilation expert from Labconco will point out common misconceptions about hood safety and the cold hard facts about saving energy in the lab. He will demonstrate how true high-performance fume hoods can and should operate, will place a spotlight on decades old Biosafety Cabinet (BSC) conventions, and explore the vast improvements seen in the newest type of Class II BSC.

This webinar is ideal for those involved in laboratory planning, management or safety. Attendees will be able to overcome misinformation, which has led many modern laboratories to waste money while allowing unnecessary safety risks to persist.

Through this webinar, participants will better understand how lab hood air usage directly impacts the bottom line and be able to identify a true high-performance fume hood. Attendees will also be able to develop a well-rounded strategy for ensuring maximum safety and still lower operational cost.

Garrett received a Bachelor of Science from Truman State University. He currently serves as a product manager for Biosafety Cabinets & Ductless Fume Hoods at Labconco Corporation. In 2010, he was accredited as a LEED Green Associate with US Green Building Council. Before joining Labconco, he was a Laboratory Director for the Institute for Environmental Health Laboratories, where he focused on planning and management of two labs in the beef industry, analyzing food-borne pathogens.

LabRoots will host the webinar June 29, 2017, beginning at 9:00 a.m. PDT, 11:00 a.m. CDT. To read more about this event, discover the continuing education credits offered, or to register for free, click here.

About Labconco

Serving the scientific community since 1925, Labconco Corporation manufactures laboratory equipment, specializing in ventilation enclosures such as chemical fume hoods and biological safety cabinets. In addition, Labconco produces other lab equipment, such as glassware washers and freeze dryers. Labconco has ISO 9001 certification, one measure of its commitment to quality and consistency in design and manufacturing. Manufactured in Kansas City, Missouri and Fort Scott, Kansas, Labconco equipment can be found in academic, industrial, life science, pharmaceutical, environmental, forensic and clinical laboratories worldwide.

About LabRoots

LabRoots is the leading scientific social networking website, which provides daily scientific trending news and science-themed apparel, as well as produces educational virtual events and webinars, on the latest discoveries and advancements in science. Contributing to the advancement of science through content sharing capabilities, LabRoots is a powerful advocate in amplifying global networks and communities. Founded in 2008, LabRoots emphasizes digital innovation in scientific collaboration and learning, and is a primary source for current scientific news, webinars, virtual conferences, and more. LabRoots has grown into the worlds largest series of virtual events within the Life Sciences and Clinical Diagnostics community.
Collecting award for 2017 People's Choice Award Thailand

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) held the 2017 Peoples Choice Awards Thailand Voted by Chinese Tourists to recognize companies in Thailands tourism industry in 14 categories, such as airlines, hotels, restaurants, and travel. Based on tourists votes that were submitted on the official website; http://www.peopleschoiceawardsthailand.com.

Flight of the Gibbon were honored to pick up the award at the ceremony held at Central World in downtown Bangkok on Monday 12th June 2017. They were among 400 honored guests from the tourism field and related parties such as tourism associations, Thai and Chinese press and candidates.

Picking up the award on behalf of Flight of the Gibbon was Suwanus Yibpikul, whom said We are proud to be the only Zipline in the country nominated for this award, which is testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire team, we look forward to providing a leading Zipline eco canopy tour experience to not only our Chinese guests but people from around the world.

About Flight of the Gibbon

Flight of the Gibbon is a leading global eco-adventure tour operator and the number one eco-tourism attraction in Thailand, thrilling customers with spectacular rainforest Ziplines that are among the longest and highest in the world.

Our Mission

Flight of the Gibbon connects people with Asia's nature, history and bygone stories while conserving nature and traditional livelihoods. Flight of the Gibbon is remembered as a once-in-a-lifetime experience with uniqueness, mystery and surprise that visitors taste, smell, see, hear and feel.
The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) is a 2017 recipient of the prestigious C.K. Prahalad Award for Global Business Sustainability Leadership, presented by the Corporate Eco Forum. REBA is being honored with the award for demonstrating how collaboration is critical to widespread adoption of renewable energy.

REBA demonstrates what is possible when diverse stakeholders put their egos aside and work together to solve huge problems, said P.J. Simmons, Chair of CEF. The four partnering organizations are modeling what a successful collaboration looks like.

REBA is a collaboration between Rocky Mountain Institutes Business Renewables Center (BRC), BSRs Future of Internet Power initiative, World Resources Institutes Charge Initiative, and World Wildlife Funds Corporate Renewable Energy Buyers Principles, also supported by WRI. Collectively, REBA works with more than 100 multinational companies that represent enormous demand for renewable power.

REBA is honored to be presented with this award, commemorating Dr. C.K. Prahalad's commitment to sustainability in business, said Herve Touati, managing director, Rocky Mountain Institute. Today, corporate leaders are proving the value of strategic action on climate and energy, and the work of the Business Renewable Center  a core pillar of REBA  to facilitate 60 gigawatts of new wind and solar power is just beginning.

BSR is proud to support this dynamic platform that helps the private sector accelerate the adoption of renewable energy, said Kelly Gallo, manager of BSRs Future of Internet Power Initiative. Were profoundly honored to be acknowledged with our REBA partners for our collective efforts to work with business in creating a more just and sustainable world.

Corporate demand for renewable energy is rapidly changing the way utilities plan investments in power generation, said Letha Tawney, director, utility innovation, World Resources Institute. From Virginia to New Mexico to Nebraska, we are seeing unprecedented collaboration between companies and utilities that is growing the share of renewable energy on the grid. Innovative new policies build a runway for renewable energy to take off in the next decade. REBA brings together top experts with business and power sector leaders to pioneer new approaches that open up options for renewable energy in states where there were none before.

REBA proves we can go farther and faster when we act together, said Marty Spitzer, World Wildlife Funds senior director of climate change and renewable energy. Not long ago, corporate buyers couldnt access renewable energy. The Buyers Principles amplified companies voice, helping REBA unleash a sea change in purchasing options. Ultimately, REBAs success is the success of corporate buyers, utilities and their regulators, developers and service providers who together are transforming the U.S. electricity system.

The C.K. Prahalad Global Sustainability Leadership Award, created in 2010 to honor founding CEF Advisory Board member C.K. Prahalad, recognizes exceptional, globally significant private-sector action that exemplifies the fundamental connection between sustainability, innovation and long-term business success in a globalizing world.

ABOUT REBA

The Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) is led by four nonprofit organizations that combine deep expertise in transforming energy markets: BSRs Future of Internet Power, Rocky Mountain Institutes Business Renewables Center, World Resources Institutes Charge Initiative and World Wildlife Funds Renewable Energy Buyers Principles (also supported by WRI). Collectively, REBA works with more than 100 iconic, multinational companies that represent enormous demand for renewable power. REBA is designed to simplify renewable energy purchasing and to help large companies buy 60 gigawatts of additional renewable energy in the US by 2025.

ABOUT THE C.K. PRAHALAD GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP AWARD

The C.K. Prahalad Global Sustainability Leadership Award, created in 2010 to honor founding CEF Advisory Board member C.K. Prahalad, recognizes exceptional, globally significant private-sector actionwithin or outside the CEF membershipthat exemplifies the fundamental connection between sustainability, innovation and long-term business success in a globalizing world. C.K. Prahalad Award winners are determined through private votes cast by CEFs 24-member advisory board, which includes representatives from government, academia, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. The voters chose from a roster of finalists, selected following an open nominations process. Past award recipients include the following:  2010: Walmart Brazil and CEO Hector Nunez  2011: Coca-Cola and CEO Muhtar Kent  2012: Dow Chemical Corporate Vice President and CSO Officer Neil Hawkins; The Sustainable Apparel Coalition; and Unilever and CEO Paul Polman  2013: FEMSA Foundation Director Vidal Garza Cantu; Nike CSO and Vice President of the Innovation Accelerator Hannah Jones; and UPS CFO Kurt Kuehn  2014: Robert B. Carter, Executive Vice President, Information Services/CIO, FedEx Corporation; Global Water Challenge (GWC); Tamara TJ DiCaprio, Senior Director of Environmental Sustainability, Microsoft  2015: NRG Energy and CEO, David Crane  2016 Siemens and CEO Joe Kaeser with special honors to Christiana Figueres and Douglas Tompkins.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Kevin Haley

Rocky Mountain Institute

khaley(at)rmi.org

Kelly Gallo

BSR

kgallo(at)bsr.org

Daniel Melling

World Resources Institute

dmelling(at)wri.org

Melanie Gade

World Wildlife Fund

melanie.gade(at)wwfus.org

MR Rangaswami

Founder, CEF

mr(at)corporateecoforum.com
"Phi Kappa Phi is pleased to see a broad diversity in the projects awarded Literacy Grants this year," said Society Executive Director Dr. Mary Todd.

The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nations oldest and most selective all-discipline honor society, today announced its 2017 Literacy Grant recipients. The grants of up to $2,500 were awarded in support of 14 literacy projects across the nation.

The Literacy Grant Program, established in 2003, provides funding to Phi Kappa Phi chapters and active members for new and ongoing projects that reinforce part of the Society's mission "to engage the community of scholars in service to others." Drawing from a multidisciplinary society of students and scholars from large and small institutions, the grants help fund projects ranging from traditional reading initiatives to those fostering learning in cultural, digital, financial, health, historical literacy and beyond.

The 2017 recipients and their respective projects are:



Michelle Allison, Brookwood's Leveled Reader Library

Alexandra Kelly Brooks, Juvenile Detention Center Science Outreach Program

Valarie Burke and Katelyn DiBenedetto, Project Transforming Tomorrow

Russell Carpenter, Community Reads

Lesley L. Casarez, Families Who Read Together

Rhonda Cooksey, HIKE Up Literacy

Dalia Karina Delanuez, Tiny Book House

Benjamin Jacob, My Story Matters: A Literacy Project

Leah McCurdy, Bringing To the Mountain! to Their Ears

Tulsi Patel, Para Tu Salud: Una Campana de Alfabetismo (For Your Health: A Literacy Campaign)

Will Porter, Mozambique Music School

Muthukrishnan Sathyamoorthy, Born to Read for Minority Children

Tettra Scott, Improving Literacy Begins with Parents 2017

Emily Taylor Beighley, Paws and Tales

"Phi Kappa Phi is pleased to see a broad diversity in the projects awarded Literacy Grants this year," said Society Executive Director Dr. Mary Todd. "Literacy, by definition about more than reading alone, is knowledge of a particular subject. Phi Kappa Phi members love of learning is central to the successful transmission of knowledge, whatever the subject."

The winning projects were selected for a grant based on a number of criteria including the projects scope, student and community involvement, impact, duration and ability to achieve success.

In addition to literacy grants, Phi Kappa Phi awards $1.4 million each biennium to qualifying students and members through study abroad grants, graduate fellowships, awards for post-baccalaureate development and member and chapter awards.

To learn more about this years recipients and projects, please visit http://www.phikappaphi.org/literacy.

About Phi Kappa Phi

Founded in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Phi Kappa Phi inducts approximately 30,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni annually. The Society has chapters on more than 300 select colleges and universities in North America and the Philippines. Membership is by invitation only to the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate students and 7.5 percent of juniors. Faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction also qualify. The Society's mission is "To recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others." For more information, visit http://www.phikappaphi.org.
HowStuffWorks, a leading publisher of informative podcast, video and editorial content today announced that Cracked.com founder Jack OBrien has joined the team to launch the companys West Coast operations out of Los Angeles. OBrien is tasked with HowStuffWorks expansion into comedy, a quickly growing podcast genre.

OBrien joins HowStuffWorks after 11 years as founder and editor-in-chief of Cracked.com. During his tenure, he cultivated the distinct, satirical voice that Cracked is known for, led creative hiring for the publication and hosted The Cracked Podcast. OBriens unique experience makes him the ideal choice to lead HowStuffWorks west-coast growth and move into comedy.

HowStuffWorks has been one of my favorite podcast creators for a long time -- Stuff You Should Know is actually the first podcast I ever listened to, said Jack OBrien, Creative Director & Head of Comedy at HowStuffWorks. Theres a natural overlap between the voice I created at Cracked, and the voice Josh and Chuck have cultivated on Stuff You Should Know. Our new West Coast studios give us an opportunity to tap into Los Angeles growing community of young, comedic talent. Im really excited to launch a series of new, creator-driven comedy brands, and couldnt have picked a better partner to work with to do that.

HowStuffWorks is excited to invest in comedy as the first step in expanding the types of new shows launching in the coming months. Podcasting has experienced significant growth in the last several years and has quickly become a mainstream medium known for the intimate connections that it creates between hosts and listeners. This intimacy lends itself particularly well to comedy, which is fast-growing genre within podcasting.

We have grand plans for growing and expanding our audience and leadership position in the podcast space, said Jason Hoch, Chief Content Officer at HowStuffWorks. We started by bringing on creative geniuses from iconic brands and our move into comedy is the first of more new genres to come. So much of the HowStuffWorks listener base has grown up with us and we arent slowing down anytime soon.

OBriens hire comes on the heels of Mental Floss co-founders Will Pearson & Mangesh Hattikudurs addition to the HowStuffWorks family and the launch of new podcast Part-Time Genius. Earlier this spring, HowStuffWorks debuted the premiere season of FoodStuff and released the second season of The Stuff of Life.

About HowStuffWorks

Founded in 1998, HowStuffWorks is a leading publisher of informative video, podcast and editorial content. The parent company of 14 leading brands including Stuff You Should Know, Stuff You Missed in History Class, Stuff Mom Never Told You, and Part-Time Genius, HowStuffWorks writers, editors, podcasters and video hosts share all the things they are most excited to learn about with highly-engaged fan-bases across multiple platforms, devices and distribution partners. With an expansive and award winning collection of audio podcasts and video series, HowStuffWorks reaches a network of nearly 30 million unique visitors a month, and is #3 in global downloads. For more information, visit http://www.howstuffworks.com.
Encouraging families to make healthy food choices and enjoy meals together Shopping, cooking, and eating together form important childhood learning experiences and support healthy cognitive, physical, and emotional development, leading to healthy lifestyles in the future.

To encourage families to make healthy food choices and enjoy meals together, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation has joined forces with Boston Childrens Museum and Boston Public Market to present Fresh Fridays, a series of free outdoor events at the Museum this July. Fresh Fridays will feature demonstrations of kid-friendly recipes, a farm stand offering free locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables where kids can shop, and music.

Were thrilled to be working with two organizations that help bring food and family together, said Karen Voci, President of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation. We want to make it easier for families to shop for and cook fresh, healthy food and enjoy meals together  and these events will make doing that fun.

Fresh Fridays will take place from 5:30PM  7:30PM on July 7, 14, 21, and 28, outside Boston Childrens Museum on Fort Point Channel. Visitors can enjoy the waterfront along with a variety of free family-friendly activities, including:



Demonstrations by Boston Public Market highlighting kid-friendly recipes, simple cooking techniques, and opportunities to experiment with different food combinations.

Mobile farm stand for children and families to select and bring home three choices of complimentary locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables from Boston Public Market vendors.

A chance to taste and learn about new foods.

Fresh Fridays reinforce the importance of healthy and communal eating habits for families, said Carole Charnow, President & CEO of Boston Childrens Museum. Shopping, cooking, and eating together form important childhood learning experiences and support healthy cognitive, physical, and emotional development, leading to healthy lifestyles in the future.

During Fresh Fridays, visitors can enjoy fresh produce of various flavors, colors, and textures, experience how different food combinations work together, and sample foods that they may never have tried before.

One of the Boston Public Market's public impact goals is to educate children about the importance of healthy eating and local food sourcing, said Cheryl Cronin, CEO of the Boston Public Market. By introducing children to the process of selecting fresh produce and turning it into something delicious, they are empowered to try new things and appreciate good food. Were thrilled to partner with Harvard Pilgrim Foundation and Boston Childrens Museum to bring our kids educational activities out into the community.

On social media, tag the event #FreshFriday and for additional information, visit http://www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org/FreshFriday

About Boston Children's Museum

Boston Childrens Museum engages children and families in joyful discovery experiences that instill an appreciation of our world, develop foundational skills, and spark a lifelong love of learning. More information about Boston Childrens Museum can be found at http://www.BostonChildrensMuseum.org

Become a fan of the Museum on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

Hours and Admission

Fridays 5:00 p.m.  9:00 p.m., all visitors $1.

About The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation

Created in 1980, The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation supports Harvard Pilgrim's mission to improve the quality and value of health care for the people and communities we serve. The Harvard Pilgrim Foundation provides the tools, training and leadership to help build healthy communities throughout New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. In 2016, the Harvard Pilgrim Foundation awarded more than $2.4 million in grants to more than 900 nonprofit organizations in the region. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded more than $140 million in funds. For more information, please visit http://www.harvardpilgrim.org/foundation and view video.

About The Boston Public Market

The Boston Public Market is an indoor, year round marketplace for locally sourced groceries and specialty agricultural products, where residents and visitors can find fresh, seasonal food from Massachusetts and New England. The BPMs mission is to provide fresh, healthy food to consumers of all income levels, nourish our community, and educate the public about food sources, nutrition, and preparation. The Market houses 40 local farmers, fishers, and food entrepreneurs selling items such as farm fresh produce; meat and poultry; eggs; milk and cheese; fish and shellfish; bread and baked goods; beverages; flowers; and an assortment of specialty and prepared foods. Everything sold at the Market is produced or originates in New England. The Boston Public Market, located at 100 Hanover Street above the Haymarket MBTA station, is currently open 8 a.m.  8 p.m. Monday  Saturday and 10 a.m.  8 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, visit bostonpublicmarket.org, Facebook (Facebook.com/BostonPublicMarket), Twitter (@BosPublicMarket), and Instagram (@BostonPublicMarket). Follow activity at the Market by using #BostonPublicMarket.
Rhapsody Outdoor Musical Instruments now invite preschoolers to explore the power of music.

The joy of making music on the playground can now be enjoyed at any age. Landscape Structures Inc., a Delano, Minn.-based commercial playground equipment manufacturer, has expanded its collection of Rhapsody Outdoor Musical Instruments with six instruments that are a bit smaller and lower to the groundsized just right for kids ages 2 to 5. This superior collection of chimes, metallophones and drums now welcomes musical newbies as well as polished musicians to explore the power of rhythm.

Originally introduced in January 2016, this playful and elegant collection lends itself to any environmentplaygrounds, community centers, schools, senior centers and more. With the addition of the junior Rhapsody instruments, this playground activity is now ideal for childcare centers, preschools and other early childhood facilities. Learn about the instruments included in the new line of Rhapsody Outdoor Musical Instruments:



Warble Chimes Kids can bing and bong their way along one full octave on this richly toned instrument.

Jingle Metallophone Eight brilliant notes ring out on this fully inclusive instrument.

Ditty Metallophone Little ones will enjoy making up tunes with the eight major notes these flat bars make.

Drums High-quality drum skins are made from polycarbonate, textured on the underside for a professional finish to stand up to the rigors of play and temperature extremes; choose from the Kundu Junior Drum, Kettle Junior Drum or Goblet Junior Drum.

Landscape Structures consulted with a musical advisor on the development of the original line of Rhapsody Outdoor Musical Instruments to ensure every instrument in this patent-pending collection achieves precision manufacturing and consistency in tones. That's how the new junior collection delivers the same great sound. Even more, all of the Rhapsody instruments are manufactured to endure years of music making in the elements.

See all 12 of the Rhapsody Outdoor Musical Instruments in action and learn more at playlsi.com.

About Landscape Structures Inc.

Since 1971, Landscape Structures Inc. has been the leading manufacturer of commercial playground equipment in the world. The employee-owned company designs community and school playgrounds that encourage kids of all ages and abilities to learn persistence, leadership, competition, bravery, support and empathy through play. Landscape Structures pushes the limitsof design, inclusion, playto help kids realize there is no limit to what they can do today and in the future. For a better tomorrow, we play today.
Omega is proud to be working with the Bob Woodruff Foundation in supporting service members, veterans and families to offer opportunities for hope and healing

RHINEBECK, NY  Omega Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to lifelong learning, has been awarded a grant from the Bob Woodruff Foundation to provide scholarships to veterans who have experienced military sexual trauma to attend the five-day program, Healing from Military Trauma, offered June 25-30, 2017. As a grant recipient, Omega joins the Bob Woodruff Foundation grantee network, a collaboration of top-tier programs and advocates investing in the next chapter of our veterans.

Research shows us that female veterans who have experienced trauma are hesitant to seek care at VA facilities, said Anne Marie Dougherty, executive director of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. With this grant, the Omega Institute will provide critical mental healthcare in a safe, welcoming environment tailored for our women who served.

The Bob Woodruff Foundation works to ensure post-9/11 service members, veterans and their families are thriving long after they return home. This team navigates the maze of over 46,000 nonprofit organizations to find and fund innovative programs in communities where post-9/11 veterans, their families and caregivers live and work.

For more than 25 years, Omega has offered hope and healing to veterans and their family members. With a focus on effective complementary and integrative medicine practices, Omega offers retreats for veterans and training opportunities for health-care professionals and caregivers that address post-traumatic stress and promote resilience.

America is in the midst of an unfolding national crisis with a growing population of returning veterans suffering from various forms of trauma. The damage to individuals, families and society at large is enormous. Omega is proud to be working with the Bob Woodruff Foundation in supporting service members, veterans and families to offer opportunities for hope and healing, said Carla Goldstein, chief external affairs officer at Omega.

Healing from Military Trauma offers a safe and healing environment for participants to explore facing and releasing traumatic stress and increasing resilience. The program will be facilitated by Lori S. Katz, PhD, a clinical psychologist and developer of the Warrior Renew treatment program. With 20 years of experience as a clinical psychologist with the Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Center, Katz is also a researcher and author of six books. Program registration is by application only.

To learn more about the Bob Woodruff Foundation visit BobWoodruffFoundation.org, and follow the Bob Woodruff Foundation on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information visit eOmega.org/veterans, and follow Omega on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google+.

About Omega Institute for Holistic Studies

Founded in 1977, Omega Institute for Holistic Studies is the nation's most trusted source for wellness and personal growth. As a nonprofit organization, Omega offers diverse and innovative educational experiences that inspire an integrated approach to personal and social change. Located on 250 acres in the beautiful Hudson Valley, Omega welcomes more than 23,000 people to its workshops, conferences, and retreats in Rhinebeck, New York, and at exceptional locations around the world. eOmega.org

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Researchers have discovered that Yosemite toads have surprisingly fine-scale preferences when selecting alpine meadow pools for breeding.

The Yosemite toad (Anaxyrus canorus) is a rare species found exclusively in Californias 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 Services 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 toads 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 pools 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 pools 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 dont 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 dont have the right kind of pool habitat for adults to select for breeding or to sustain the development of tadpoles through metamorphosis, it doesnt matter how hard you work to save the species.

While the specific cause of the Yosemite toads 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, its 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 toads range to share their findings.

We are sharing what weve learned so that the information can be applied to conserve this species, Liang said.

###

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.
Jack Noppe, Intelex Intelexs core mission to empower sustainable business is an ideal fit with my personal passion to contribute to our planet.

Intelex Technologies, the leading global provider of cloud-based Environmental, Health, Safety and Quality (EHSQ) management software, announced today the appointment of Jack Noppe as Chief Product Officer.

In his role, Noppe will lead the Intelex product team and guide the overall EHSQ platform vision. He will focus on enhancing Intelexs market leading platform to strengthen customers sustainable business practices by transforming their EHSQ performance, their organizational culture, and their industries.

Jack embodies the energy and purpose that will drive Intelex forward, said Mark Jaine, President and CEO at Intelex. Intelex strives each day to help customers find greater success. Jack understands exactly how technology and collective intelligence can be used to implement and maintain sustainable business practices.

Noppe has more than 25 years of experience developing and executing long-term business strategies to help organizations meet evolving business needs and customer priorities. He previously served as Chief Technology Officer for Kinaxis, a cloud-based SCM and S&OP applications provider. There, he played a key role in guiding the long-term product vision and strategy for their supply chain platform. Additionally, hes worked with leading global technology companies such as Terapeak, Shopify, IBM and Cognos. Noppe holds an Executive MBA from Queens University. He is a member of Forbes Technology Council, and a member of the Information and Communications Technology Council, Canada.

Intelexs core mission to empower sustainable business is an ideal fit with my personal passion to contribute to our planet, Noppe said. I look forward to joining a company that has already done so much to help organizations move forward in the spirit of corporate goodwill.

About Intelex Technologies:

With more than 1,000 clients and 1 million users, Intelex Technologies Inc. is a world leader in environmental, health, safety and quality (EHSQ) management software. Since 1992 its scalable, web-based platform and applications have helped clients across all industries improve business performance, mitigate organization-wide risk, and ensure sustained compliance with internationally accepted standards (e.g., ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001) and regulatory requirements. Intelex is one of Canadas fastest-growing tech companies and has been named one of the countrys Most Admired Corporate Cultures and Best Managed Companies, as well as a top employer by Aon Hewitt and Canadas Top 100. For more information, visit http://www.intelex.com.
#liveunpacked in Gulf County, Florida

Earlier this year, Gulf County, Florida, unveiled its new adventure-focused branding, live unpacked, so, to kick off summer, its team is defining what that means. On Instagram, Facebook and with a new VisitGulf.com site launch, the concierge team members offer up their favorite summer Gulf County adventures.



Food inspires a lot of my adventures! We love to cook our catch. Ive tried fishing, cast netting, crabbing, scalloping and pulling for crawfish. We throw in some farmers market veggies to complete our fresh, bay-to-table meals!  Kelli Godwin, Gulf County concierge via Instagram

I share my adventures with my canine fur baby Nixie. I can take her most anywhere in Gulf County  from pet-friendly beaches to walking trails and even some restaurants. Nixie inspires me to get out and see all the beauty of home with fresh eyes every single day.  Adrianne Woodward, Gulf County concierge via Gulf County Live on Facebook

The tidal pools make me stop what Im doing and head right down to the beach. These mini pools of water come in at the shoreline and beg for attention. My daughter and I love sitting, splashing or even making them glow on a night when the phosphorus is out.  Crystal Folin, Gulf County Concierge via shelling stories on VisitGulf.com

Jennifer Adams, director of the Gulf County Tourist Development Council, who oversees the concierge team says: Our `live unpacked tagline is about breaking out of our comfort zones and seizing new adventures, big and small, every day. Our concierge staff members live that message and are passionate about connecting visitors to Gulf County. We hope people will call or email our concierges so they can check things off their bucket list.

Gulf County concierge staff points travelers in the right direction with an online or phone session  that covers lodging as well as adventures and different waterways  BEFORE visitors even get to Gulf County. Visitors can find them online and at our Welcome Center. For concierge service: https://www.visitgulf.com/concierge-program

About Gulf County

Gulf County, located in Northwest Florida, is designed by nature. Our 244 miles of shoreline, year-round adventures and wildlife encounters beckon to explorers. Our waters  Gulf of Mexico, St. Joseph Bay, Indian Pass Lagoon, Intracoastal Waterways and Dead Lakes  offer diverse experiences and untouched beauty. We have biking, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, snorkeling, camping and more. People here like to play hard and get dirty, seizing unexpected adventures every day. But when folks want to relax, we flow with the current, watch spectacular sunsets and walk with turtles at dawn. Learn more about our adventures: https://www.visitgulf.com and on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. #LiveUnpacked

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Patient Advocates Carrie Van Steen, Tracy Barclay and Lisa Rosenthal met with Rep. Jim Himes Dr. Richlin, a partner at Fairfield Countys leading fertility practice, says: About 50  60 percent of our patients have coverage provided by Connecticuts State Mandate, which makes fertility treatments like IVF more accessible and affordable.

Reproductive Medicine Associates of Connecticut (RMACT) joined the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association at Advocacy Day in Washington, DC on May 18. RMACTs Surgical Director Dr. Spencer Richlin and two of its Patient Advocates, Carrie Van Steen and Lisa Rosenthal, met with delegates from all seven of Connecticuts representatives offices, including Senator Christopher Murphy, Representative James Himes and Representative Rosa DeLauro.

Based on direction from RESOLVE and ASRM, RMACTs Advocacy Team delivered three messages on Capitol Hill: the importance of access to infertility care, the need for lasting in vitro fertilization (IVF) coverage for wounded veterans and the understanding that infertility treatment is pro-family. This last message is intended to directly contrast personhood laws; while Connecticut does not have personhood laws, it is important to educate legislators and to discourage other states from implementing personhood laws that would directly affect the ability to use fertility protocols to build families.

Along with these messages, RMACTs Advocacy Team delivered impassioned letters on behalf of RMACT patients, friends and family. RMACT gathered more letters than any other practice nationwide and because of these efforts Connecticut had more letters than any other state. The letters acted as an important vehicle for patients who wanted to add their voices but were not able to attend the activities in Washington, DC. RMACT collected over 300 letters during the practices letter campaign kick off event alone.

Although Connecticut has comparatively progressive policy, it is important for our representatives to understand how and why this positively affects residents, says Dr. Richlin, a partner at Fairfield Countys leading fertility practice. About 50  60 percent of our patients have coverage provided by Connecticuts State Mandate, which makes fertility treatments like IVF more accessible and affordable.

RMACT considers patient advocacy part of its responsibility. In addition to annually participating in Advocacy Day, RMACT spreads important messages about infertility, including its prevalence and how patients can find treatment. Dr. Joshua M. Hurwitz recently met with representatives to explain the urgent need of fertility preservation for cancer patients. Earlier this month, there was unanimous and bipartisan support in the Connecticut state legislature Bill 7124, which requires health insurance providers in the state to provide fertility preservation treatments for patients diagnosed with cancer starting in January 2018 .

Fertility care is pro-family, it enables every person the opportunity to have a family, said Lisa Rosenthal, Connecticut State Team Captain for Advocacy Day. This is a powerful message, and one with a strong voice behind it as ASRM and RESOLVE joined forces for the first time this year. RMACT was grateful to have the opportunity to represent our patients, our RMACT team members and our state.

About Reproductive Medicine Associates of Connecticut (RMACT)

RMACT specializes in the treatment of infertility, including assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as intrauterine insemination (IUI), in-vitro fertilization (IVF), and Pre-implantation Genetic Screening (PGS). RMACT, Fairfield Countys largest fertility clinic and egg donation center, is one of 11 leading In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) centers nationwide chosen by In Vitro Sciences to participate in its Centers of Excellence program. RMACT has offices in Norwalk, Danbury, Stamford and Trumbull, and an affiliate office now in Poughkeepsie, NY. RMACT also offers infertility treatment financing and support services, such as nutrition counseling, individual and couples psychological counseling, acupuncture and yoga, through RMACTs Integrated Fertility and Wellness Center.

The RMACT team includes lead physicians Drs. Mark P. Leondires, Spencer S. Richlin and Joshua M. Hurwitz, as well as fertility specialists Drs. Cynthia M. Murdock, Shaun C. Williams and Ilana B. Ressler. All six physicians are Board-Certified Reproductive Endocrinologists and are members of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). Five of the doctors are Castle Connolly "Top Doctors" and members of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), the Fairfield County and Connecticut Medical Societies. RMACTs IVF laboratory is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), and CLIA; other accreditations include the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) and the American Institute for Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM). For more information visit http://www.RMACT.com or find us on Facebook.
ISONAS Inc., a leading Pure IP access control system manufacturer, today announced that the company has appointed Kenneth Minard, as the new Regional Sales Manager on the east coast. Mr. Minard will be responsible for growing sales on the east coast in states east of the Mississippi river and work closely with ISONAS partners and customers. ISONAS has built long-term relationships with a team of certified integrators, distributors and manufacturer rep firms that Mr. Minard will be partnering with and working to expand those relationships to new heights along with their business. He will also be working closely with the ISONAS inside sales team to ensure that customer service and support exceed expectations.

Mr. Minard comes to ISONAS with more than 31 years of experience, which includes a Bachelors degree in Management and a wealth of physical security, account management and sales experience. He started his career with account management and sales positions held at Diebold and Simplex Time Recorder. From there, he worked as a Sales VP and a Life Safety & Security Solutions Director at Acree Daily Integrated Systems Group and Resource One Solutions and most recently at UTC Climate Control & Security as a District Sales Manager. Im excited to join ISONAS and work for a company in the emerging technology sector of access control and propel the Pure IP revolution forward, states Kenneth Minard, Regional Sales Manager East at ISONAS. My goal is to continue building a team of sales professionals in the East who bring a diverse technical background and expertise to ISONASs long standing customer base.

ISONAS is committed to making their partners successful and driving Pure IP access control to the next level. By adding players to their team with this same dedication shows their drive to maintain strong relationships in the channel. We are extremely confident that Mr. Minard can help drive the Pure IP message on the east coast and continue to educate customers about the simplicity and flexibility of the ISONAS access control solution, states Robert Lydic, Global VP of Sales at ISONAS. Mr. Minards account management and sales experience will be a great resource for ISONAS and we look forward to having him drive sales and build a great team.

Pure IP technologies have become the future in access control technology and Mr. Minard understands the value and simplicity that a Pure IP access control solution brings customers. With a hosted cloud software platform in Pure Access, and the next evolution in IP access control hardware with the RC-04, he has a winning combination to make customers successful. For further information, visit http://www.isonas.com.

About ISONAS Inc.

Since 1999 ISONAS has been revolutionizing access control with one simple solution and is todays leading manufacturer of Pure IP Access Control hardware. When paired with their industry leading cloud hosted software solutions or 3rd party full featured access control software, a complete access control platform is formed. An ISONAS system provides the perfect product solution for securing facilities while reducing costs and providing all of the advantages that Pure IP technology brings to the door. ISONAS is based in the global technology hub of Boulder, Colorado, and has one goal; to change the global access control market, and provide a product solution that is secure, reliable, trusted, and more technologically advanced than anything before. Today, the company is realizing that vision with the ISONAS solution installed globally in over 30 countries in a wide variety of vertical markets. ISONAS has been recognized as one of Boulder Countys fastest growing companies as well as by industry partners such as Milestone Systems, year after year for its powerful video and access control integration. For more information, visit: http://www.isonas.com or call 800-581-0083.

Company Contact

Melissa Stenger, VP of Product Management & Marketing

ISONAS Inc.

Phone: 303-951-7216

Email: melissas(at)isonas(dot)com

ISONAS PR Contact:

Monique Merhige, President

Infusion Direct Marketing & Advertising, Inc.

Phone: 631-846-1558

Email: monique(at)infusiondirect(dot)com
Applied Systems today announced that it has launched NIG Commercial Lines products for integrated eTrading via Applied TAM, the most widely used broker management system in the world. Through this agreement, all Applied TAM users now have access to NIGs Property Owners product, including the Live-Chat functionality, via imarket, with NIGsTradesman product launching shortly.

Brokers continue to build out their digital operations strategy, and demand for eTrading continues to rise from our broker partners as part of this transformation, said Jaime Swindle, director of Broker eTrade, NIG. We are excited to enable a more connected experience with our broker partners by further extending our full cycle e-Product range.

Applied TAM allows brokers to automate daily operational processes, customer policy information, and insurer connectivity, enabling users to be more productive and focus on the core business of selling insurance and servicing their customers. Through an automated and easy-to-navigate interface, Applied TAM provides deep visibility into day-to-day brokerage operations to reduce time spent on administrative tasks and better respond to client needs, integrates Commercial Lines eTrading within the application, decreases errors and omission risk, and provides a seamless employee onboarding and training experience. Applied TAM automates business operations for more independent insurance brokers than any other broker management system.

Customer demand for more personalised service and products is requiring brokers to adopt technology that provides the greatest access to insurers and ensures timely service, said Jeff Purdy, senior vice president of International Operations, Applied Systems. As Applied furthers its growth and commitment to the UK market, we continue to invest significant resource in integrated eTrading, particularly for Commercial Lines products, and are delighted to take the next step in our partnership with NIG to deliver their range of full-cycle e-Products to our customers.

About Applied Systems

Applied Systems is the leading global provider of cloud-based software that powers the business of insurance. Recognised as a pioneer in insurance automation and the innovation leader, Applied is the worlds largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. By automating the insurance lifecycle, Applieds people and products enable millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most.
Joseph P. Capone, Esq.

The Law Offices of Michael T. van der Veen is pleased to announce Joseph P. Capone has joined the firm.

Joseph P. Capone Esq. is a well-respected trial attorney who has been practicing law in Philadelphia for over 30 years. His practice runs the gamut from criminal defense work to personal injury cases.

A member of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bars, Mr. Capone is a graduate of Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1987. Mr. Capone served as a Law Clerk for the First Judicial District for the Honorable Joan A. Brown in the Court of Common Pleas from 2007 through 2016. He has also served as a Judge Pro Tem in the Court of Common Pleas.

Said Firm Chairman Michael T. van der Veen, Joe is that rare combination of someone who is a terrific lawyer and person. We are thrilled he has joined our very hard-working team.

The Law Offices of Michael T. van der Veen is considered one of the premier personal injury and criminal defense law firms serving individuals and families across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. With decades of experience fighting for clients, and a history of outstanding litigation success, the firm is pleased to have earned a much-deserved reputation as one of Pennsylvanias toughest, hardest-working law firms.

For more information, visit the firms website: http://www.mtvlaw.com.
www.symplr.com I would like to thank the esteemed panel of judges for selecting me as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year award winner.

symplr, a leading provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) based healthcare compliance and credentialing solutions, today announced that President and CEO Rick Pleczko received the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 Award in the Technology category in the Gulf Coast Area.

The award recognizes entrepreneurs who are excelling in areas such as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Pleczko was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a special gala event at the Marriott Marquis on June 15.

Its an exciting time at symplr, and Im extremely honored to receive this award not only for myself, but for our entire team, said Pleczko. During my career Ive been extremely fortunate to work with great teams to bring ideas to life and to market. I would like to thank the esteemed panel of judges for selecting me as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year award winner.

Pleczko joined symplr, leveraging his experience in the technology industry to transform the healthcare compliance space, making it easy for healthcare organizations to track and manage the credentials of physicians, visitors, staff and contractors to ensure patient safety, compliance with external regulations, quality of care, and mitigate financial risk.

Prior to Joining symplr, Pleczko was the founder, president and CEO of Idera which he grew to become a multi-national company with a broad product portfolio used by over 12,000 companies worldwide. Before that, he served in executive roles for a number of software technology companies including NetIQ Corporation, Mission Critical Software, Platinum Technology, and LBMS. Pleczko has also served as an Entrepreneur in Residence for Austin Ventures, and is active as a board member and advisor for a number of early stage companies

Since 1986, EY has honored entrepreneurs whose ingenuity, spirit of innovation and discipline have driven their companies success, transformed their industries and made a positive impact on their communities. Now in its 31st year, the program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as:



Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company

Pierre Omidyar of eBay, Inc.

Mindy Grossman of HSN

Robert Unanue of Goya Foods

Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn

Andreas Bechtolsheim and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks

Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani

James Park of Fitbit

As a Gulf Coast Area award winner, Pleczko is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced at the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 18, 2017. The awards are the culminating event of the Strategic Growth ForumTM, the nations most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by EY, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored in the US by SAP America, Merrill Corporation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

In the Gulf Coast Area, regional sponsors include Colliers International, DLA Piper, ADP, Solomon Edwards, Chatham Financial, Pierpont Communications and Houston Business Journal.

About symplr

Founded in 2006, symplr is an industry leader in compliance and credentialing Software as a Service solutions that help healthcare organizations mitigate risk and ensure compliance. symplr has a single mission: to make healthcare compliance and credentialing simpler for all constituents of the healthcare community. For more information or to contact symplr, visit http://www.symplr.com/ or (866) 373-9725.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year

Entrepreneur Of The Year, founded by EY, is the worlds most prestigious business awards program for entrepreneurs, chosen from an independent panel of judges including entrepreneurs and prominent leaders from business, finance, and the local community. The program makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global awards program of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 145 cities in more than 60 countries. ey.com/eoy

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 o
Our growth is driven by the same fundamental belief that got us here: every enterprise can and should be successful with AI. What makes Next IT special is our relentless focus and ability to deliver on business results for our customers.

Next IT, the conversational AI company, today announced a barrage of achievements and milestones in the first six months of 2017. Highlights included new contracts across five industries, broadened partnerships, increased off-the-shelf understanding and integration libraries, expanded body of research, and new leadership.

Next IT signed new enterprise clients spanning across several industries, including energy and utilities, healthcare, financial services, technology and IT services. In May, Next IT announced a partnership with KTSL to deliver conversational artificial intelligence (AI) across their IT Helpdesk and Service Management solutions using Next ITs Alme platform.

The Alme Platform improved client speed to market, expanding the companys understanding libraries to over 1.5 million symbolic patterns of language that have been curated from real-world experiences and validated by subject-matter experts. With the recent Alme 4.0.2 release, Next IT has successfully integrated into over 400 unique enterprise systems, pushing and pulling data to personalize interactions. Through these and other product enhancements, focused on efficiencies gains, Next IT set a record for deploying a scalable intelligent assistant which can support over 1,000 unique intents with rich, action-oriented dialogues and proprietary backend integrations in under two months.

Next ITs research team continued to grow its body of research earning industry accolades for published papers and a presentation at FLAIRS 30 in association with the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.

In January, the company also appointed a new leadership team, lead by industry and company veteran Tracy Malingo as President, to focus on growth, operational excellence, innovation and continued maturation of the platform and enabling products.

Over the past two years, enterprises have rushed to develop and adopt AI strategies, which has driven demand for Next ITs technology and services. Despite remarkable maturation of AI tools and technologies in recent years, few have the track record of Next ITs Alme platform, which has been driving business outcomes in production environments for nearly two decades. Point solutions are hitting the market on a near-daily basis, but Fortune 500 companies are demanding scalable AI solutions that solve real business problems with seamless connections to systems-of-record as well as reliable management tools for AI oversight and governance.

Our growth is driven by the same fundamental belief that got us here: every enterprise can and should be successful with AI. What makes Next IT special is our relentless focus and ability to deliver on business results for our customers, said Tracy Malingo, President at Next IT. When you combine our approach with our future-ready and tested technology, its clear why Next IT is the first call for companies that expect ROI from AI. Most importantly, this momentum validates our message to the enterprise: dont buy into hype, invest in results.

In a recent Forrester report titled Predictions 2017: Artificial Intelligence Will Drive the Insights Revolution, the analyst firm predicted that insights-driven businesses will steal $1.2 trillion per annum from their less-informed peers by 2020. Next ITs Alme platform leverages data generated from customer interactions, strategic integration points, and analysis tools to drive ROI and generate insights for large enterprise customers and Fortune 500 companies like Charter Communications and Alaska Airlines. Since 2002, Next ITs customers have been at the forefront of utilizing omni-channel conversational AI to develop customer relationships and optimize employee performance.

For more information about Next IT, please visit: http://nextit.com/

About Next IT

Founded in 2002, Next IT has been at the forefront of language-understanding technology and intelligent assistants for over a decade. Alme, Next ITs flagship product, is the worlds most trusted conversational AI platform. Customer experience leaders including Aetna, Alaska Airlines, Amtrak, Charter Communications, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the U.S. Army all rely on Alme to provide their customers with remarkable experiences every day.

Next IT is proudly based in Spokane, Washington. For more information, please visit: http://www.NextIT.com
Alzheimer's is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States

An estimated five million people in the United States have been diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease. It is estimated that by the year 2050, 16 million people will be affected by the disease. Publishing in honor of Alzheimers and Brain Awareness Month, this Junes edition of Fighting Alzheimers sparks a conversation about the future of Alzheimers research and treatment while discussing the needs of caregivers across the country as we manage the exponential growth of the disease.

Alzheimers is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States. It is also one of the most mysterious diseases affecting Americans, and few if any advancements have been made to treat or cure the disease in the past couple of decades. However, there is hope. With innovative diagnostic tools and dozens of clinical trials underway, a cure is within reach  as long as we continue to put funding and resources into research. While we wait for a cure, we need to remember that, unlike most other deadly diseases, individuals can live with Alzheimers for 20 years or longer after their diagnosis. This results in a greater need for qualified caregivers and continuous resources and support for them.

Richard Lui, MSNBC Journalist and Alzheimers Association Celebrity Advocate, graces the cover of the campaign. Speaking directly to his role as a caregiver to his father and offering his advice to others, Richard says: Find the fellow caregivers. Dont make it everything you talk about at work, but make it part of who you are, like you do your kids and your family. Its part of my life, and its not all negative.

The print component of Fighting Alzheimers is distributed within the Wednesday, June 21 regional circulation of USA Today, with a circulation of approximately 300,000 copies and an estimated readership of 900,000 within the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, DC/Baltimore, Boston and South Florida markets. The digital component is distributed nationally, through a vast social media strategy and across a network of top news sites and partner outlets. To explore the digital version of the campaign, click here.

This edition of Fighting Alzheimers was made possible with the support of GE Healthcare, Alzheimers Association, Caregiver Action Network, UsAgainstAlzheimers, Suven Life Sciences, United BioSource Corporation, Meridian Senior Living, Brightview Senior Living, FallCall Solutions, AFFIRMATIVhealth, UnitedHealthcare Group, Keep Memory Alive, Global Alzheimers Platform Foundation, Alzheimers Disease Resource Center and many more.

About Mediaplanet

Mediaplanet specializes in the creation of content marketing campaigns covering a variety of industries. We tell meaningful stories that educate our audience and position our clients as solution providers. Our unique ability to pair the right leaders with the right readers, through the right platforms, has made Mediaplanet a global content marketing powerhouse. Our award-winning stories have won the hearts of countless readers while serving as a valuable platform for brands and their missions. Just call us storytellers with a purpose. Please visit http://www.mediaplanet.com for more on who we are and what we do.

Press Contact:

Jamie Bradley

Jamie.bradley(at)mediaplanet.com

646-922-1404
Clinicient Inc. and Value Stream Partners, LLC are excited to announce a developmental partnership to collaborate on new healthcare technology tools in support of their shared missions. Clinicient, a leading provider in outpatient rehabilitation business solutions, and Value Stream Partners (VSP) an expert in analytics and administration of Episodic Bundles, are logical partners to develop new tools for the evolving healthcare marketplace.

Healthcare is rapidly shifting from fee-for-service to episodic bundled payments; focusing on quality, cost reductions, and improved outcomes. Helping patients through the journey of a treatment episode not only encourages the recovery process, but also manages patient expectations and encourages the appropriate site of care at the appropriate time. Value-based care emphasizes outcomes-based incentives and risk to participants who assume responsibility for patient outcomes over the length of an episode, when much of the care a patient receives is not provided by the at-risk health care entity. This expanded role requires keen insights into the movements of patients throughout each patients evolving care pathway.

The success of cost and quality management will depend on developed Care Navigation tools, influenced by practitioners, and will lead to the development of new clinical and continuum of care services. Systems automating the constant refinement of care design will provide best practice support in the planning and delivery of care for all patients.

Thus, the alliance will focus first on completion of a unique Care Navigation Technology suite created by clinicians for clinicians. The collaboration will also look to deploy uniquely valuable clinical services, to meet a basic tenet of value based care: incent the best providers to deliver the most effective care at the right time and in the right place, Jay Katz, MD, orthopedic surgeon and VSP Member. This clinically driven approach will result in tools, methods, and pathways developed, used and continuously refined by clinicians.

Instead of duplicating existing services, or providing solutions that are merely technology, Clinicient and VSP seek to transform the methods and delivery of coordinated care, in support of providers entering and participating in risk arrangements. As a more-than-technology approach, the partners intend to leverage these innovations through a franchise designed to provide the assistance required in any market, scalable nationwide. This will provide existing clients of the partners, including Physical Therapy clients of Clinicient to become central to the design and deployment of these programs.

The companies are currently collaborating with systems engaged in value-based care models to measure the success of these new projects in improving outcomes, increasing patient involvement in care, and driving costs towards efficiency. Moreover, this partnership marks the first of many collaborations the companies are discussing with several other healthcare firms to create a full suite of innovative tools and services.

About Value Stream Partners, LLC: Founded in Tucson, Arizona in 2014, VSP combines administrative and analytic services, network development and care navigation designs, and services to support strategic alignment and turn-key administration for health systems entering bundled payment programs. For more information call (520) 441-1000 or visit http://www.vspnow.com/.

About Clinicient: Clinicient, a leader in outpatient rehabilitation business solutions, develops Insight Care Navigator, the first therapy-specific care coordination system to seamlessly connect therapists, orthopedic surgeons, other providers and bundle administrators. The system is designed to work seamlessly with Clinicient Insight Patient Engagement, Insight EMR and Insight Revenue Cycle Services to provide the tools and information needed to ensure patients receive the best care, at the lowest cost, in the most appropriate setting in bundled care arrangements. Clinicient is headquartered in Portland, Oregon; for more information call (877) 312-6494 or visit http://www.clinicient.com or follow Clinicient on Twitter @Clinicient.
The Washington County Department of Business Development is pleased to announce that Washington County, Maryland has been designated a Tier 1 for the More Jobs for Marylanders Act by the Maryland Department of Commerce.

New and existing Washington County manufacturing businesses will have the opportunity to take advantage of tax incentives tied to job creation over a 10-year period. The Act encourages additional investment in new equipment through accelerated and bonus depreciation thus freeing up capital more rapidly. Companies can then use this additional capital for upgrading facilities, hiring employees and spurring growth.

Additionally, this Act will strengthen the Countys workforce by providing grants, scholarship and tax credits for workforce training programs.

Receiving this designation allows our manufacturers to reinvest in the community and increases our resources for attracting more manufacturing companies to Washington County, said Kassie Lewis, director, DBD. With this type of incentive, we can rise to the challenges facing our current workforce with confidence and provide resolutions.

For greater detail on the More Jobs for Marylanders Act and what it means to be Tier 1, click here.

For more information, contact Public Relations Manager James Jenkins at 240-313-2384.

About the Washington County Department of Business Development

Washington County Department of Business Development (DBD) is a county agency providing assistance to new and expanding businesses throughout Washington County, Maryland. The DBD interacts with a vast network of public, private and nonprofit organizations to address the business needs of the community, as well as attract new companies to the county. Visit hagerstownedc.org for more information.
Badger 2016 Annual Impact Report For us, the BIA is a rigorous process that spans every department, taking over six months to complete. In the end, we gain invaluable information for measuring and ensuring were doing more of what really matters.

W.S. Badger Co. Inc., the maker of over one hundred certified organic and natural skin care products, recently published its 2016 Annual Impact Report highlighting its recertification as a B Corp and its ongoing commitment to the environment, transparency, a thriving workplace, and stronger communities.

Every two years certified B Corps must undergo an intensive review process called the B Impact Assessment (BIA) which is audited by the third party non-profit B Lab to prove that a companys policies and practices do indeed support its mission. Badger recently completed its fourth BIA with a score of 141 points, three points higher than its last assessment, making gains with a new purchasing philosophy and in renewable energy usage. The minimum required for recertification is 80 points, and the median score of businesses that take the BIA is 55.

I am immensely proud of what this report says about our impact on our community, the region, and the world. Using our business as a force for good is how we make a positive and meaningful difference for people and the planet. You could say that its inherent in our companys DNA, said Rebecca Hamilton, co-owner of Badger and vice president of product development and research. For us, the BIA is a rigorous process that spans every department, taking more than 300 employee hours and over six months to complete. In the end, we gain invaluable information for measuring and ensuring were doing more of what really matters, and the inspiration and clarity for creating a long-term impact plan.

In addition to being a certified B Corp, Badger is also a New Hampshire Benefit Corporation, a legal corporate status that allows businesses to write their greater purpose and mission into the DNA of the company and follow a triple bottom line model. Benefit Corporations are required to provide transparency and accountability on their social and environmental performance through the publication of an annual impact report, which is subject to third party assessment standards.

2016 Report Highlights Include:



Completion of a new LEED silver equivalent addition, doubling in size and manufacturing capability

Purchase of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) for all electricity not already generated from renewable resources

Raising wages for regular employees to $15/hour plus benefits; more than twice the Federal minimum wage

Achieving 12.2% growth in workforce, with 90 regular employees at years end

Contributing nearly a hundred thousand dollars in charitable and in-kind product donations

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 41 percent per unit of products made, using 2014 as a baseline

Achieving an 86 percent waste diversion rate through recycling and composting, surpassing a goal of 60 percent

Conducting a year-long employee engagement program focused on sustainable sourcing

ABOUT BADGER

Badger is a family run and family-friendly company that has been making healthy products for people and the planet since 1995. Badger was born when Badger Bill, a carpenter at the time, created a recipe of natural ingredients strong enough to soothe his rough, dry, cracked hands. Now a team of over 100 employees, Badger produces almost all of its products in Gilsum, N.H. Inherent in Badgers DNA is its status as a B Corp, a certification earned through B Lab, a third party nonprofit that requires companies to meet rigorous standards of transparency as well as environmental and social performance. Badger has been a certified B Corp since 2011 and in 2015 became one of New Hampshires first businesses to register legally as a Benefit Corporation, a for-profit status that incorporates the pursuit of positive environmental and social impact in addition to profit.
Zemcar is fully insured for unaccompanied minors and is the first live stream video enabled ridesharing app in the world. Zemcar slogan offers familys trusted drivers, for everyone you love.

JP Licks, Boston's best place for homemade ice cream, frozen yogurt and fresh-roasted coffee, and Zemcar, a new transportation solution to make life easier for families - and a great new side gig for local people looking for more income as a driver - have partnered to create a Boston Neighborhood Campaign to Benefit Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB). The partnership, focused on celebrating neighborhood-oriented businesses in Greater Boston, will kick off with a Maker Event Featuring Conversation with on Ice Cream and Mobile Apps with the three companies CEOs on June 21 at JP Licks Jamaica Plain store.

Josh Kraft, Boys & Girls Club CEO, and a group of young people from the Hennigan Club will join JP Licks CEO Vince Petryk and Zemcar Founder Bilal Khan for an hour of maker conversation on ice cream and mobile apps. Zemcar is pledging the gift of opportunity through a charitable donation for every active driver registration and new customer download and sign-up during the campaign.

The campaign, DRIVE or RIDE with Someone Youd Share an Ice Cream With runs for twelve weeks, beginning June 21st and includes:



Charitable Donation: Users can download the Zemcar app with the promotional code JPLICKS. For every new rider, Zemcar donates $1.00 to BGCB. For every new driver who completes 10 rides, Zemcar donates $100.00 to BGCB and the drivers also get $1000 bonus after 200 rides*. Learn more at http://www.zemcar.com

Coupon from JP Licks: Every Zemcar download and sign up receives a JP Licks coupon for a free cone or coffee.

Learn more about Zemcar  or interview as a driver - at any of the JP Licks 13 Locations. Come meet the team at Office Hours at JP Licks in Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill, Assembly Square & more! Check http://www.zemcar.com for details.

Zemcar is celebrating the magic, community, great ice cream and coffee so many Boston neighborhoods love at JP Licks. Each JP Licks store  13 in the Greater Boston area - is more than a local ice cream shop  it is a neighborhood icon, where people of all ages feel welcome. Zemcar makes life easier for families and together, both companies want to support busy Greater Boston families and neighborhoods.

Every family should have a safer, insured alternative when public transit or family members are not an option for transportation, said Zemcar Chief Engagement Officer, Lisa Eisenbud. We are replicating the way families make connections in their community through the Zemcar smartphone app, said Bilal Khan, Founder. Zemcar is fully insured for unaccompanied minors and is the first live stream video enabled ridesharing app in the world. Zemcar slogan offers familys trusted drivers, for everyone you love.

For over thirty-five years, JP Licks has stayed true to serving the people of each unique neighborhood in which we do business - in 13 stores, four in Boston and nine in neighboring towns. We are all about providing opportunities to the people we serve, Vince Petryk, Owner and Founder.

At Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, providing kids with a safe environment under the supervision of caring adults is a critically important part of our mission, said Josh Kraft, Nicholas President and CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston. We are grateful to receive the funds from this program that will support our Club staff as they work to help our members achieve their full potential.

About Zemcar

Zemcar is a mobile app based transportation company, providing trusted, insured ride hailing for families. Founded in Boston, Zemcar is a unique solution, providing the only video-enabled ride share in the world. Zemcar has come to market with a C-Suite of local parents who understand child welfare, transportation and technology. Founder Bilal Khan is the former Chief Product Officer, IoT for Verizon and an MIT Sloan School graduate in Management and Engineering. Khan has joined forces with the dynamic team of executives including Lisa B. Eisenbud, an expert in child and family services as well as start-up and turnaround executive management, and Marc Shpilner, a highly skilled and successful transportation industry entrepreneur, to bring the app to market. Zemcar is the only rideshare company in Massachusetts insured for unaccompanied minors and the Zemcar app has the worlds first rideshare industry live stream video from inside the car to the customers phone.

For more information visit http://www.zemcar.com or click Facebook Twitter Linkedin

About JP Licks

J.P. Licks is Boston's best place for homemade ice cream, frozen yogurt and fresh-roasted coffee. Vince Petryk founded the first location in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston in 1981, and has grown the chain to 13 Greater Boston area stores.

For more information visit http://www.jplicks.com/presskit.pdf

About Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston

Since its founding in 1893, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB) has been helping young people, especially those who need us most, build strong character and realize their full potential as responsible citizens and leaders. BGCB does this by providing: a safe haven filled with hope and opportunity, ongoing relationships with caring adults, and life-enhancing programs. The organization serves nearly 16,000 young people ages 6-18 in 11 Clubs and YouthConnect. BGCB is an affiliate of Boys & Girls Clubs of American and The United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. For more information, visit BGCB on the web at bgcb.org.

Press Contacts:

For Zemcar: Lisa Eisenbud, (617) 580-3005 x205, press(at)zemcar.com

For JP Licks: Anna Topping, Marketing Coordinator, (617) 553-5106, Anna(at)jplicks.com
Progressive Dental will host a luncheon on June 24, 2017, at 12:30 p.m. at the Ritz Carlton Hotel during the Southern Academy of Periodontology (SAP) 2017 Annual Meeting in Sarasota, Florida. Uniting Bart Knellinger, Progressive Dentals founder and CEO, and Dr. Gregory Toback, board-certified periodontist and creator of HP3, this luncheon will discuss how to acquire and convert more niche, high-dollar cases and compete in the ever-changing dental marketplace.

Developing the field of periodontology since 1920, the SAP is considered a premier periodontal society that serves a 10-state region. From June 22-25, 2017, the SAP will hold its Annual Meeting in Sarasota, FL to offer the latest strategies for successful periodontists.

Bart Knellinger and Dr. Gregory Toback will host a luncheon after the SAP Scientific Session. During the luncheon, Knellinger and Dr. Toback will combine clinical implementation and business concepts to examine how periodontal practices can overcome corporate dentistry, how to communicate with price shoppers and how to manage a declining referral base. Attendees will discover means to attract and close the niche cases they enjoy by using innovative marketing techniques. By understanding the changing dental industry and the benefits of an evolving business model, this team helps stand-alone periodontal practices compete.

The topics covered in this luncheon are discussed in more detail during HP3 or High-Performance Periodontal Practice. Founded by Dr. Toback in 2010, HP3 is a 12-month CE series dedicated to bringing periodontal practices into the modern dental marketplace. In 2016 Progressive Dental, an award-winning dental marketing and consulting firm, partnered with Dr. Toback to further the HP3 series.

Visit http://www.hp3mentoring.com to learn more about the HP3 CE series and Dr. Toback. To find out more about Knellinger and Progressive Dental, visit http://www.progressivedental.com or call 727-286-6211 to schedule a complimentary dental marketing consultation.

About the Company

Progressive Dental (PD) is a one-stop consulting firm specializing in marketing and promoting dental professionals through individualized marketing campaigns, practice development, continuing education, advertising and more. PD has become one of the fastest growing companies in the industry, due to constant innovation, growth and long-term client retention, and ranked on the Inc. 5000s list of fastest growing private companies in America in 2016, and on the Inc. 500s list in 2014 and 2015. The company has partnered with some of the largest dental organizations in the country, and continues to offer its full-range of services to dental clinicians around the world. For more information about Progressive Dental please visit the website at http://www.progressivedental.com or call 727-286-6211 to schedule a complimentary dental marketing consultation.
2017 Imperial Session Logo We look forward to welcoming our friends to a unique celebration in a wonderful family-friendly destination, said Director General, Stumpy Harris.

Shriners are getting ready for their 143rd Imperial Session. This is the Shriners annual convention and it is the first time Shriners International will hold their traditional event in Daytona Beach.

The City of Daytona Beach will host two Imperial Sessions back to back in 2017 and again in July 2018. The convention in 2017 is expected to draw more than 10,000 visitors from around the world.

Imperial Session is an annual business meeting and gathering of the international fraternity comprised of nearly 200 temples (chapters) in several countries. Imperial Session will run from July 9 to July 13, with events mainly taking place at the Ocean Center.

The week-long activities will begin with another first, the Walk, Ride or Drive for LOVE which will be held at the Daytona International Speedway. Shriners Hospitals for Children patients, families, community members and Shriners will walk or drive the track to raise funds and awareness for the hospitals.

As part of Imperial Session, Gary Bergenske of Orlando, Florida is expected to be named the organizations newest Imperial Potentate, or executive leader, for the 2017 - 2018 term. His wife, Anne will become the First Lady of the organization and will announce her fundraising program benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children, the official philanthropy of Shriners International.

Imperial Sirs Chris Smith and Gary Bergenske and their ladies are excited to welcome you to the Worlds Most Famous Beach Daytona Beach, Florida," said Director General, Stumpy Harris. We look forward to welcoming our friends to a unique celebration in a wonderful family-friendly destination.

Considered a highlight of the weeklong event, Shriners Hospitals for Children will reveal two new national patient ambassadors for 2017 - 2018 with the premiere of a video documentary of their heartwarming and encouraging real life experiences. Imperial Session will begin with a Public Opening on Sunday, July 3. For more information and a full schedule of events, visit the Imperial Session website or follow us on social media http://www.facebook.com/ShrinersInternational.

About Shriners International

Shriners International, a fraternity based on fun, fellowship and the Masonic principles of brotherly love, relief and truth, founded Shriners Hospitals for Children as its official philanthropy in 1922. What began as one hospital, is now a world-renowned health care system with 22 locations in three countries. The fraternity, which has nearly 200 chapters in several countries and thousands of clubs around the world, continues to support this unique health care system. Please visit shrinersinternational.org to learn more.

About Shriners Hospitals for Children

Shriners Hospitals for Children changes lives every day through innovative pediatric specialty care, world-class research and outstanding medical education. The 22 locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico provide advanced care for children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries and cleft lip and palate.

Shriners Hospitals for Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and relies on the generosity of donors. All donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. For more information, please visit shrinershospitalsforchildren.org.
Tracey Miller and Kelly Cahill, of The Cahill & Miller Group Our community is fortunate to have excellent schools and caring teachers, and we wanted to do something nice for them and say thank you'. Past News Releases RSS Cahill & Miller Realty Group...

The National Education Association describes National Teacher Day as a day for honoring teachers and recognizing the lasting contributions they make to our lives. As a unique way to honor local educators, real estate duo Tracey Miller and Kelly Cahill, of The Cahill & Miller Group and Allen Tate REALTORS, purchased pizzas and provided lunch for more than 100 teachers at Fort Mill High School.

Our community is fortunate to have excellent schools and caring teachers, and we wanted to do something nice for them and say thank you, said Kelly, an avid reader who volunteers at her childs school. Both Tracey and I have children in high school, and feel these are the teachers that often get overlooked.

Longtime supporters of teachers and students, in the past the Cahill & Miller Group has donated bicycles and helmets to a local Fort Mill elementary school through the Angel Tree program. The Angel Tree program is through the school and anyone can choose a child to sponsor, added Tracey, whose husband is an educator in the Fort Mill School District. We give a lot of our time to volunteering in the community and through the schools.

The Cahill & Miller Group also participated in career day this spring at Gold Hill Middle School, educating 5th graders about real estate. We helped them do a simple math exercise that showed them how to figure square footage and also showed photos of homes and what it costs to purchase the homes, concluded Kelly.

About Tracey Miller/Kelly Cahill, Allen Tate REALTORS

Allen Tate REALTORS Tracey Miller and Kelly Cahill, who are licensed in both North and South Carolina, have been real estate professionals for more than 18 years and business partners since 2012. They service York County, Ballantyne, and South Charlotte, NC. Whether preparing to sell or purchase a home, it is key to partner with the right Realtor. Selling or buying a home is one of the most important decisions one will ever make, and partnering with the right Realtor can make the difference between a successful experience and a frustrating one. The Cahill/Miller team has an extensive marketing plan to place ones home in the best position to sell. For more information, please call Kelly at (803) 389-0080 or Tracey at (803) 487-2357. The office is located at 870 Gold Hill Road, Suite 105, Fort Mill, SC.

About the NALA

The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. The information and content in this article are not in conjunction with the views of the NALA. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
We have an entire content marketing team devoted to writing informative articles that may interest Fort Lauderdale consumers.

Express Glass Repair & Board Up of Fort Lauderdale, known as one of the leading glass repair shops in Broward County and all of South Florida, is proud to announce new posts to its blog category index. The company uses its industry-leading blog to provide a 'one stop shop' for busy Fort Lauderdale residents to learn about glass repair and home repair issues.

We have an entire content marketing team devoted to writing informative articles that may interest Fort Lauderdale consumers, commented Yaniet Santos, General Manager of Express Glass. However, just writing content means nothing if we don't organize and promote that content. We're announcing new posts specific to Fort Lauderdale, today, and interested parties can use the category index to find the latest articles from May, 2017.

To view the article category index and find the new articles, visit http://www.expressglassfl.com/blog/category/sliding-glass-door-repair/.

To view information specific to Fort Lauderdale, visit http://www.expressglassfl.com/fort-lauderdale-glass-window-repair/. An example new post explains how the company is the #1 sliding glass door repair company in the eighth largest city in Florida at http://www.expressglassfl.com/blog/sliding-glass-door-repair/1-sliding-glass-door-repair-co-8-largest-city-fort-lauderdale/.

Getting Repair Information to Those Who Need It in Florida

Today's busy consumers expect information at their fingertips. If they have a broken sliding glass door or a faulty home window, they expect to Google a repair company, find that company, and then order the repair job in just a few minutes and just a few clicks. Or, if they want first to educate themselves on glass repair issues, they aren't likely to drive to their local library and look up some book published in the 1970s about do-it-yourself repairs. Instead, they'll turn to Facebook or a search engine like Bing, Yahoo, or Google, and look for information on home repairs. By producing blog content in a timely fashion, Express Glass is serving this information need. But, producing the information may be a necessary (but not sufficient) condition to appeasing the information hunger of today's Florida homeowners. By promoting this concept, and announcing new posts via press release, Express Glass & Board Up is taking that next step to get information into the hands of busy consumers at the moment they want it.

About Express Glass Repair and Board Up

Express Glass and Board Up Service Inc. is a family owned and operated glass repair business with more than 20 years of experience. Their professional technicians and the large variety of inventory make Express Glass the top glass repair service. If customers are looking for Ft. Lauderdale sliding glass repair and replacement as well as glass repair in Delray Beach or West Palm Beach, please reach out to the company for a free estimate. If customers need a 24/7 Sliding Glass Door repair service in Fort Lauderdale or Boca Raton or Miramar, technicians are standing by. The company specializes in sliding glass door repair and window glass replacement and repair; technicians will handle any glass replacement situation efficiently. Home or business glass repair is the company's main priority.

Express Glass Repair and Board up

http://www.expressglassfl.com/
These six beautiful pups are being sheltered right here in Mercer County...We hope everyone rallies to aid us in our sponsorship and help fund EASEL's mission of humanity.

Noto Insurance Advisors has revealed the latest campaign in their celebrated Agents of Change community enrichment movement benefitting the people of Lawrenceville and the greater Trenton area. The newest initiative supports EASEL Animal Rescue League by sponsoring a years supply of food and medicine for six precious dogs currently being sheltered. Donations to this worthy cause may now be made at https://www.crowdrise.com/donate/project/saving-pups-with-easel/notoinsuranceadvisors/?widget=true.

EASEL is a nonprofit organization on a grassroots mission to end the killing of unwanted animals in Mercer County. A circle of dedicated volunteers rescue, foster and care for homeless dogs, cats and horses until permanent loving homes can be found. They also provide shelter, obedience training and plenty of tender loving care. Human-animal bonds are strong and EASELs vision is a community environment of respect for animals which provides a safe and nurturing habitat for all. Just $100 provides one dog or cat with enough food and medicine for an entire year. Noto Insurances goal is to sponsor six adorable dogs currently residing with EASEL: Capone, Jimmy, Meatball, Moose, Scottie and The Dude.

These six beautiful pups are being sheltered right here in Mercer County, said Peter Zangrilli, Personal Financial Representative and newest member of Noto Insurance Advisors. One of the reasons I decided to join the Noto Advisors team is because theyre so invested in helping those in need on a local level. And surely any community may be judged by the kindness and care shown to its most vulnerable members  our domesticated animals. We hope everyone rallies to aid us in our sponsorship and help fund EASELs mission of humanity.

The caring Noto team is busy mobilizing support for EASEL through a vibrant social media and email awareness campaign, while featuring cute photos of the dogs theyre sponsoring on their website. The team has also spotlighted the initiative in their monthly community magazine, which is delivered to thousands of households in and around Lawrenceville and the Trenton metro area every month. Helping customers and friends to live well and thrive, the electronic version of current and archived issues of Our Hometown may be enjoyed at http://www.notoinsuranceadvisors.com/Our-Hometown-Magazine_39.

Passionately committed to strengthening their community, Noto Insurance Advisors has pledged to donate $10 to the initiative for each and every referral they receive for an insurance quote for the duration of the campaign. Readers who would like to have a donation made on their behalf to help feed Capone, Jimmy, Meatball, Moose, Scottie and The Dude may recommend friends and family members for no-obligation quotations at http://www.notoinsuranceadvisors.com/Saving-Pups--With-EASEL_30_community_cause.

Noto Insurance has made an ongoing commitment to positively impact the communities they serve by vigorously seeking out and supporting a new local worthy cause every two months. They invite concerned community members to suggest ideas for future campaigns by visiting http://www.notoinsuranceadvisors.com/Add-Community-Cause_59. To keep tabs on past and future Community Causes, readers may bookmark http://www.notoinsuranceadvisors.com/community-cause.

About Noto Insurance Advisors

The team at Noto Insurance Advisors is committed to offering the best insurance and financial services in the industry. In addition to providing clients with top-notch protection, coverage, and advice, Noto Insurance Advisors actively assists the local community by investing time and resources into charity campaigns directed at improving the quality of life of residents throughout New Jersey. More information on the agency may be found at http://www.notoinsuranceadvisors.com/. A caring expert may be reached by calling 609-895-8450.
Factors considered include proportion of female STEM graduates and presence of online resources for women in STEM, among other factors indicative of support.

SR Education Group, a leading education research publisher founded in 2004, has just released its findings regarding online colleges and their support for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields of study. The organization researched factors indicative of support for women in STEM and assessed schools across several categories. The results are compiled into a report of the 2017 Top Online Colleges for Women in STEM, which lists 64 colleges offering fully online degrees and providing exceptional support.

SR Education Groups study utilizes the definition of STEM fields provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which includes agriculture and natural resources, architecture, biology and biomedical sciences, computer and information sciences, engineering and engineering technologies, health studies, mathematics and statistics, and physical and social sciences. In order to be considered for inclusion in the Top Online Colleges for Women in STEM list, schools were required to offer at least 10 fully online STEM degrees at the bachelors level or higher.

For colleges that met the criteria, SR Education Group calculated a STEM-Friendly Score, which reflects the level of support for women in STEM. The algorithm employs data from the NCES, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and schools official websites. Factors considered include proportion of female STEM graduates and presence of online resources for women in STEM, among other factors indicative of support. SR Education Group assessed the colleges performance in each category, weighted each factor based on relative importance, and combined all weighted scores to determine overall STEM-Friendly Scores. 285 colleges were considered, and 64 made the list.

The report, released on GuidetoOnlineSchools.com, also highlights a list of the Top 15 Online Schools Supporting Women in STEM. The featured colleges all received the highest possible score in the online support category and are ranked by STEM-Friendly Score. Southern Methodist University earned the #1 spot, with an impressive 93.54 out of 100. All colleges included in the ranking scored above 78.

In addition to evaluating schools support for female STEM students and calculating STEM-Friendly Scores, SR Education Group also manually researched annual tuition rates for each school in order to develop a list of the 2017 Most Affordable Online Colleges for Women in STEM. The resource, available on OnlineU.org, lists the 25 top colleges offering the lowest annual tuition rates. Texas Tech University is ranked first, with an annual rate of $6,480. The average rate of the ranked schools is $12,207. Two colleges made both the most affordable and top online support for women in STEM rankings: George Washington University, ranked 6th for affordability and 12th for online support, and Colorado State University-Fort Collins, ranked 19th for affordability and 11th for online support.

About SR Education Group

Headquartered in Kirkland, WA, SR Education Group was founded in 2004 by CEO Sung Rhee. The companys mission is to create authoritative online resources for students seeking an online education program that best suits their budget and career aspirations. SR Education Group is passionate about making quality education attainable for everyone and believes that objective information about education, careers, and educational financing should be free and easily accessible. For more information, please visit http://www.sreducationgroup.org/.
Access discount programs offer consumers deep discounts online and through mobile devices. As more consumers struggle with stretching their dollars, the companies that are able to offer savings solutions stand to earn a lot of engagement and goodwill. Access discount programs enable them to do that with minimal effort. Past News Releases RSS Access Development Recognized as...

Access Development Honored by The...

Access Development Recognized by...

Engagement and loyalty leader Access Development will be promoting its discount platforms at the upcoming National Association of Health Underwriters Annual Convention & Exhibition in Orlando from June 25 - 28, 2017.

Conference attendees are invited to booth #800 to discover how Access can help companies generate higher profits by adding value for both policyholders and employee groups.

For policyholders, Access discount programs help retain members by helping them save hundreds of dollars on everyday purchases. These benefits are a proven success with insurance groups nationwide, including many farm bureau organizations.

For employer groups, Access offers Access Perks, a discount program for employees. Access Perks features over 350,000 merchant locations offering deep discounts at local restaurants and retailers as well as popular national brands. The service helps employers add tangible, needed value to employees at a low cost.

These programs build engagement because they solve a problem everyone faces, which is saving money on regular purchases, says Ryan Marvel, Access Perks vice president of new business development. As more consumers struggle with stretching their dollars, the companies that are able to offer savings solutions stand to earn a lot of engagement and goodwill. Access discount programs enable them to do that with minimal effort.

Visitors to the Access Development booth will have an opportunity to win a vacation resort stay, t-shirts, free memberships, and more. The Access team will also show visitors deals in their home zip codes to emphasize the difference between Access and other discount programs.

For more information about Access Development, please visit http://accessdevelopment.com.

###

About Access Development

For over 30 years, Access Development has helped organizations connect with their customers and build revenue, engagement and loyalty through custom incentives, employee benefits, and discount programs. The companys private discount network of over 350,000 merchant locations is Americas largest, providing discounts of up to 50% on everyday items to millions of end users. Access also offers the nations largest mobile commerce platform, featuring over 200,000 merchants offering exclusive show your phone mobile coupons. For more information on Access, please visit http://www.accessdevelopment.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
LRO users will now save a significant amount of time while also improving the quality of data they have access to. It is yet another example of Rainmaker's never-ending effort to innovate and make our clients' jobs easier and more productive.

The Rainmaker Group, leading provider of revenue management and leasing effectiveness software to the multifamily housing industry, today announced the release of a major enhancement to LRO (Lease Rent Options), its industry-leading revenue management platform. The powerfully enhanced, yet simplified Pricing Call Dashboard aggregates key data elements for pricing decisions across diverse multifamily portfolios, dramatically reducing the amount of time users need to prepare for pricing calls.

The Pricing Call Dashboard now pulls important metrics for all communities and unit types in a portfolio together in a single place, so users have everything they need on one screen to monitor pricing as well as prep for and run pricing calls. The revamped Dashboard allows users to quickly identify properties and unit types that are performing well, as well as those that may need attention.

"The redesigned Dashboard is a game changer for our customers. We have ensured their time spent on call preparation is optimized and as efficient as possible," said Jon Pastor, Rainmakers Chief Technology Officer. "Previously, preparing for a day of pricing calls required pulling a vast number of individual reports for each property, which could take several hours. LRO users will now save a significant amount of time while also improving the quality of data they have access to. It is yet another example of Rainmaker's never-ending effort to innovate and make our clients' jobs easier and more productive."

LRO users are now able to see all of a selected property's unit types at once in the Dashboard, while embedded links connect them directly to other key reports like Competitor Age, Lease Compliance and New Pricing. Custom input controls in the Dashboard offer the ability to show and hide metrics as needed, and customers can now view traffic and lease conversion statistics for the past 7, 14 and 30 days.

"One of our missions has always been to give asset managers, owners and property management companies a detailed view of leading and lagging revenue-orientated data for their entire portfolios," said Pastor. "With these innovative upgrades to LRO, we are meeting that mission more successfully than ever."

This major enhancement is released in time for this years National Apartment Association Education Conference, where a panel of industry leaders will examine the varying revenue management strategies in play during changing market conditions. The portfolio-wide visibility that the new dashboard provides helps users to further pinpoint revenue management strategies for individual properties and sub-markets. The execution of these strategies will be discussed during the panel session Archetypes of Pricing to Optimize Revenue in Varied Market Conditions, at the 2017 NAA Education Conference, Thursday, June 22, at 11:15 a.m.

About Rainmaker

The Rainmaker Group, headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, is the leading provider of revenue management and leasing effectiveness software to the multifamily housing industry. The Company combines unique demand data, proprietary algorithms, robust technology, and deep industry expertise to deliver best-of-breed demand management solutions. The Companys solutions continually analyze hundreds of variables to forecast supply and demand levels and formulate more than 1 billion optimal prices on a daily basis. Recognized as one of the top privately held companies in the United States, Rainmaker has been named to Inc. 5000s Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies for the last six consecutive years, and was named to the Atlanta Business Chronicles List of the 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Atlanta. In February 2017 RealPage, Inc. announced its agreement to acquire Lease Rent Options (LRO) and related assets from The Rainmaker Group for $300 million.

Rainmaker's client base includes more than 300 multifamily customers, including Equity Residential, AvalonBay Communities, MAA, Lincoln Property Co, Simpson Property Group, TruAmerica and Greystar. For more information, please visit http://www.letitrain.com.
Rewarding Belgian Chocolates & Melting Chair Massages Come Celebrate Women Who Kickass@Work & Party for Good Join the Club

Exclusive celebration rewarding women professionals, is happening on Monday July 3rd, 2017, from 12 pm to 130 pm, and is being held at KC Chocolatier on 2nd Street in Santa Monica. To guarantee an invite RSVP to Carlos(at)RecruitingforGood(dot)com.

Recruiting for Good, Founder, Carlos, "We are looking to celebrate and reward women who kicka$$ at work, a fun party for good. It's our way to say thanks."

Nominate Best Performing Employee

Companies, executives, and senior management can nominate employees who standout at work and deserve recognition, by nominating and submitting names to Recruiting for Good. Chosen employees will receive special invite for exclusive event.

About

Recruiting for Good, is a fun social staffing company that has been connecting talented technical professionals to great jobs since 1998. To find the best talent often, find your next kick*ss job and party for good email Carlos(at)RecruitingforGood(dot)com
First spot allocation round for undergraduate admission in Delhi University to begin from November 20: Registrar.
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 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.

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 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.

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.
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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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Walgreens and Theranos declined to comment.

In November, Walgreens filed a $140 million lawsuit against Theranos, accusing Theranos of a breach of contract.Walgreens ended its relationship with Theranos in June 2016. It had operated Theranos Wellness Centers, where people could go have their blood tested in the company's stores.

Until October 2016, Theranos's business model was based around the idea that it ran blood tests using proprietary technology that requires only a small amount of blood. Since then, the company has pivoted to focus solely on the company's miniLab technology.

A settlement with Walgreens would be the last in a series of major settlements between Theranos and investors, as well as the state of Arizona.

Theranos said that it had settled up with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

agreed to pay Arizona $4.65 million

settled two lawsuits
The NCBC is a subsidiary of Vodafone Ghana.

The NCBC is reported to have defaulted in capital gains tax to the tune of GH9,018,000. The Ghana Revenue Authority also issued a distress order on Tuesday, June 20th, 2017.

READ ALSO: Massive dismissals hit Vodafone Ghana

According to the Head of Special Revenue Mobilisation task force at the GRA, Henry Sam, they were forced to issue the distress order because the company failed to comply with its capital gains tax obligations from September 2016 till date.

There have been series of engagements with the NCBC which is a subsidiary of Vodafonein their financial statements; they have taken away the capital gains tax. But in doing so, there are certain conditions that have to be met; the company must provide proof of ownership to those depreciable assets and that has been a bone of contention between Vodafone and NCBC.

They have not been able to provide evidence of the acquisition of the equipment that entitles them to claim capital allowance in their financial statement, he added.

Meanwhile, Vodafone held a meeting with GRA on Tuesday and indicated that it has engaged its tax consultants, KPMG, for the submission of the appropriate documents to back their claims.

However, Henry Sam said they will be open for an assessment after Vodafone pays thirty percent of the total payment as the law demands.

Responding to the issues Vodafone Ghana said it is holding discussions with GRA.

READ ALSO: MTN pays Gh 637m taxes

In a statement signed by the Director of External Affairs and Legal, Gayheart Mensah, he said: the NCBC (which sells fibre to telecoms companies) is undertaking a reconciliation of GRAs computation its taxes.

Vodafone is a tax compliant company and currently pays indirect taxes of around GHS25m on a monthly basis to the GRA. We are a law abiding and responsible corporate organisation and are engaging with the GRA to reconcile the figures. To facilitate the process, the NCBC has contracted KPMG to assist. We are persuaded that this will be closed by the end of the week.

The NCBC acknowledges the mandate of the GRA to assess and collect taxes due to the government from business organisations. Consequently, the GRAs demand of NCBC is within its legitimate line of duty, which the NCBC remains supportive of.
The 35-member delegation, led by the Chief Executive Officer of GIPC, Yoofi Grant hosted a Doing Business in Ghana session themed: Ghana, Open for Business, Opportunities and Partnerships on 15th June to showcase specific investment potentials to high-level business leaders and financiers.

A diaspora seminar was also hosted by the Centre in collaboration with the Ghana Embassy in Washington with the purpose of creating awareness of efforts being made by the government to improve the Ghanaian business environment as well as showcase existing investment potentials.

Another business session focused on Ghana was held in Philadelphia in collaboration with the US Department of Commerce and Chamber of Commerce in Philadelphia. The exclusive session focused on B2Bs and building partnerships with top business executives operating in Philadelphia.

The GIPC-organised Investment Promotion Mission to USA had the objective to showcase specific investment potentials in Ghana and support local private sector players in their search for international business partners and deepen growing levels of trade and investment between Ghana and USA.

The USA has, between September 1994 and March 2017, registered a total of 345 projects valued at over $4.5 billion in Ghana. The major sectors of interest of these companies registered with the GIPC are services, manufacturing, and tourism.

READ ALSO: GIPC joins annual investment meeting in Dubai

GIPC stakeholder events and missions are part of the Centre's strategy to showcase the Ghanaian private sector and introduce them to various local and international business platforms.

In a related development, prior to his departure to the US, Mr Grant met with key members of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) as part of the Centre's effort to gather feedback from its key stakeholders on aspects of the GIPC Act 2013 (Act 865) currently being considered for review.

The meeting, held in a co-operative atmosphere, had the two parties engaged in fruitful deliberations on issues that boarded on incentives and support for local businesses.

Mr Grant reiterated President Nana Akufo-Addos words of a government-focused on a Ghana built by Ghanaians for Ghanaians, with mutually beneficial partnerships.
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 on 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.

Man vacuums meth at Iowa car wash to conceal shipment from narcotics officer WATERLOO | A Minnesota man was apparently trying to use a car wash vacuum cleaner to hide a 

Campbell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute meth as a drug felon in February.

According to court records, authorities searched a Kern Street home 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 includes 36 convictions including a 2015 conviction for allegedly assaulting his pregnant girlfriend.
Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu is among 100 student journalists selected from all over the world to attend the conference in the Scottish capital Edinburgh. Asiedu, a final year student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism, has interned with Pulse Ghana since March 2016.

READ ALSO: PRESEC topples Accra Academy in a dramatic contest

This years conference will include workshop by Google News Lab and Facebook. Senior managers from the BBC, CNN, AJ+, Sunday Times among others will also be present for a series of talks.

Aside Asiedu, another Ghanaian student, Eric Okyerefo (also of the Ghana Institute of Journalism) will represent Ghana at the conference.
The above are the words of a student who pursued a masters programme at the Ghana Institute of Journalism last year but has not been able to graduate.

This is because the graduation ceremony which was to have taken place in February this year has been postponed indefinitely.

School authorities have blamed the situation on the absence of a Governing Council in the school.

But the student, who spoke to Pulse.com.gh on a condition of anonymity, said she has lost all hopes now.

...I needed it [certificate] for something very important. But I would just have to hold on and wait for them, because I was supposed to use it for something outside Ghana. So Im waiting, she said.

She, like several other students, have been left stranded, as they are being forced to wait as school authorities say they have no idea as to when a new Council will be in place.

READ ALSO: Government to reconstitute UEW Council this week

As one of the students puts it on a social media platform, Facebook: People need their certificates to further their education, apply for jobs and upgrade themselves at their workplaces and whoever is responsible is dragging his/her feet. Education should not be toyed with in the name of politics.

For one other student, the situation is worrying. He said that even though he already has a job, this was just an added thing I wanted.

He said that some of his colleagues who needed the certificate for employment are the ones heavily affected.

So why the absence of a Governing Council?

Whenever there is a change of government, Councils appointed by the previous government are set aside for the incoming government to inaugurate a new one.

This trend is growing very fast and it is really affecting students at the various universities.

At the University of Education, Winneba, a graduation ceremony expected to take place in April was postponed indefinitely over the absence of a Council.

Governments response

Meanwhile, the government has assured that the Governing Councils of the various tertiary institutions will be reconstituted in a few days time.
The students, who were Standard Six boys of the Kirimon Primary School on the Samburu-Laikipia counties border reportedly went to classes with clubs and machetes, to protest against being punished by female teachers.

Three teachers were seriously injured in the process. Others had to escape to their homes and nearby bushes in order to avoid the attack.

A police officer arrived at the scene and fired several times in the air but yielded no results.

He also sustained injuries as the students hurled stones at him.

Parents and residents who rushed to the school to help the teachers and the policeman were also attacked.

READ ALSO: Teacher beats pupil to death

More than 700 pupils were ordered to go home following the incident.

This happens to be the third time such an incident is happening in the school.

Similar incidents took place in 2010 and 2013.

We have experienced this before but todays (Monday's) attack was the worst because the boys sneaked into classrooms with swords and rungus, a teacher who requested anonymity told journalists.
The move means Macron loses a crucial centrist partner as he seeks to pull together a government to push forward his ambitious pro-business reform agenda.

Bayrou's small centrist MoDem party was in an alliance with Macron's 14-month-old Republic on the Move (REM) movement, and Bayrou was one of three MoDem ministers in the cabinet.

Macron hopes later Wednesday to complete a partial reshuffle of his month-old government following parliamentary elections that handed him and his MoDem allies a commanding majority.

"I have taken a decision not to be part of the next government," Bayrou said, adding that he would hold a press conference at 5:00 pm (1500 GMT).

MoDem is facing allegations it used European parliamentary funds to pay assistants actually based in France.

The other MoDem minister, former defence minister Sylvie Goulard, also announced her resignation on Tuesday.

Bayrou was a key backer of Macron's movement during the presidential campaign, and his support was crucial in winning centrist votes for the new president.

When Bayrou threw his weight behind Macron's fledging movement, the future president hailed it as a "turning point" in his campaign.

MoDem won 42 seats in the parliamentary election while Macron's party crushed its rivals by winning 308 seats, giving their centrist alliance a solid majority in the 577-seat National Assembly.

Government spokesman Christophe Castaner said Bayrou's move was a "personal choice" which "simplifies the situation."

"He wanted to defend himself in this affair," Castaner told French radio station Europe 1.

Bayrou has dismissed the allegations, saying there had "never been" fake jobs among his party's European Parliament staff.

Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation this month into claims in the Canard Enchaine newspaper that MoDem was using European parliamentary funds to pay assistants who were actually based in France.

Earlier this month, Bayrou himself announced plans to ban lawmakers from hiring family members, one of a raft of measures aimed at cleaning up politics after a slew of scandals.

He said at the time that the government aimed to restore confidence in politicians, which was severely rattled by revelations over the alleged fake parliamentary job that conservative MP Francois Fillon gave his wife.
Dzamesi will appear before Parliament on Wednesday, June 21, 2017

The general public has largely been against the move by the government to send over 100 persons to some Holy cities for a Christian pilgrimage.

READ ALSO: Tax cuts on spare parts must benefit consumers

The Christian Council of Ghana has stated: it does not want taxpayers to bear the cost.

However, the Ministry insists it is only playing a facilitating role and it is not in to make profit.

According to the Minister, arrangements for the first batch to embark on the religious journey is far advanced to be halted.

READ ALSO: First batch of Christian pilgrims to leave for Israel on July 15

On July 15, I will be leading a group of hundred people, he told Accra-based Citi FM Tuesday. And once we get there, we will sign a memorandum of understanding between the Ministries of Tourism, Interior and Religious Affairs of Israel and our Ministries for a better preparation towards future excursions.

He added that the Ghana Embassy in Israel will be involved to ensure that our citizens [Ghanaian pilgrims] will encounter no challenged with accommodation and transportation.
He said the day should be observed as such.

The day marks the Eid ul-Fitr, celebrated by Muslims worldwide to make the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting.

READ ALSO: Rawlingses wishes Muslims happy Eid ul Fitr

Eid-ul-Fitr is an Islamic festival celebrated to mark the end of Ramadan, a month-long fasting period for Muslims.
The judge, Thomas Estes placed his conviction "on file" for the next 12 months.

This implies that no sentence will be imposed if he stays out of trouble over that time.

But shortly after the end of the court proceedings, Ismail was taken into custody by United State Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mary Carey, communications director for Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan said.

Ismail has been in the United States since 2013, after having arrived from Ghana to seek asylum.

According to his lawyer, before his arrest, Ismail was due to have an immigration hearing about being granted permanent resident status next March.

READ ALSO: This Ghanaian woman died after trying to cross the US border into Canada

But the 27-year-old was arrested after a woman that he had been dating reported him to the police. The two had begun the romantic relationship after meeting through the online dating application Tender.

So what went wrong?

According to the woman, who is a UMass student, Ismail came to her dorm room in Butterfield Hall and asked her to print out a document on the recent bombings in Syria.

She said that when she told him that she was not comfortable doing what he asked for, he reportedly said "I'm a terrorist" and that he planned to blow up the dorm.

The woman, who was troubled by the comment, decided to end the date at that point.

She said that she subsequently escorted Ismail from the building, and right after called the police.

She also refused to stay in her dorm room as she was still shocked by the comment from Ismail.

The university was, therefore, forced to find new accommodation her.
The presiding judge, Ebenezer Kwaku Ansah, said that the boy, who is 17-years-old should be sent to the borstal home during the remand period until the police is able to establish that he is eighteen.

Thirty-one others also believed to be part of the crime were remanded into police custody.

The suspects have been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Twenty-six people also brought to the court today [Wednesday], have been discharged by the court.

The discharge was granted upon the request of the prosecution, who explained that investigations were still on-going hence their inability to start trying them. The suspects were immediately rearrested after their release.

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 items include furniture with some of a price tag of GH 3,200.

Speaking to journalists after the donation on Wednesday, 21 June, Michael Addo, Deputy Executive Director of NACOB, said: This morning, as part of the World Drug Day Celebration, we are making this presentation, telling the whole world that if you involve yourself in drugs and you are arrested, you will not live to enjoy the proceeds of the crime that you committed.

READ ALSO: NACOB donates assets of drug baron to rehabilitation centresWe will have to seize them, we have been seizing houses, we have been seizing vehicles, and these are furniture that we think will go a long way to help the rehab centres. That is why we have called them here this morning to donate to them.At least they can be used at the reception or the waiting room. The inmates that are being rehabilitated can also relax in them. I believe it is going to facilitate their rehabilitation in bringing them back into society.Nayele Ametefe was arrested at Heathrow Airport in 2014 with 12kg of cocaine and has since been handed an eight-year jail term by the Isleworth Crown Court in the UK.Just last week, former Executive Secretary of NACOB Akrasi Sarpong revealed that Nayele, until her arrest in the UK, hired BMWs in Ghana on a daily basis at a great cost.

READ ALSO: Nayele Ametefe's assets confiscation case adjournedAccording to him, Nayeles ostentatious lifestyle raised the suspicions of NACOB officials who then placed her under close surveillance until her arrest in the United Kingdom.Speaking on UTV on Friday June 16, Mr Sarpong said: In 2009, she was the first person we called for when I was at NACOB and she went underground. At that time in 2009, she was renting BMWs on a daily basis for a huge sum of money.He added: She is a smart girl. Anybody who does this type of work, the persons IQ is very high, they are very smart.
According to ClassFM, the donation was done on Wednesday, 21 June 2017.Nayele Ametefe was arrested at Heathrow Airport in 2014 with 12kg of cocaine and has since been handed an eight-year jail term by the Isleworth Crown Court in the UK.Just last week, former Executive Secretary of NACOB Akrasi Sarpong revealed that Nayele, until her arrest in the UK, hired BMWs in Ghana on a daily basis at a great cost.According to him, Nayeles ostentatious lifestyle raised the suspicions of NACOB officials who then placed her under close surveillance until her arrest in the United Kingdom.

READ ALSO:Poor distribution of campaign cash caused NDC  Kwesi BotchweySpeaking on UTV on Friday June 16, Mr Sarpong said: In 2009, she was the first person we called for when I was at NACOB and she went underground. At that time in 2009, she was renting BMWs on a daily basis for a huge sum of money.He added: She is a smart girl. Anybody who does this type of work, the persons IQ is very high, they are very smart.
You don't expect executives who are constantly at loggerheads like Kofi Portuphy, Aseidu Nketia and Kofi Adams to read the report. The report is likely to end up in a dustbin since most of the executives are not interested in it", Mr Boasiako, who is also known as Chairman Wontumi told Peacefmonline.com.

He argued that Prof. Kwesi Botchwey and his team have embarked on a fruitless exercise. No one in the NDC would listen to them because the same set of leaders that caused their defeat are still at post. The committe has played a vital role but the saga would end up being a circus".

Chairman Wontumi further stressed that the former president, John Mahama should be blamed for the partys defeat.

"Ghana under Mahama was a failed state. He and his cronies who were in charge made corruption look legit, forgetting that Ghanaians were waiting to punish him severely in the elections.

If you should ask my opinion on why they lost the elections, I will say the leaders of the NDC didn't treat their founder with respect. They pushed him out from the party and made his wife feel terrible as well.

"Ghanaians also wanted them out to know the circumstances under which our late former president Prof. Mills died. It was a mystery to be solved and lastly, Ghana under the Mahama-led government killed our economy. A lot of business folded up and unemployment rate kept soaring high", he said.

The NDC on Monday received the 455-page report from the Kwesi Botchwey-led committee which was tasked to investigate the partys defeat in the 2016 election.

READ ALSO: Botchwey Committee submits report to NDC

The committees responsibility was to among other things make recommendations for the restructuring and reorganisation of the party to position it for the next general election in 2020.

The report has since recommended a "peacemaking and healing tour".

Prof. Kwesi Botchwey who presented the 455-page report said the NDC must assemble "credible" personalities in the party to lead the tour.

We also have a recommendation that the party takes steps to restore the integrity of the biometric register and the expanded Electoral College. Additionally, we recommend that steps be taken to restore the capacity and effectiveness of the partys organs, especially to the branch level. We believe these organs are most critical because they are the partys immediate connections with the people. We are, after all, a truly mass party.
The telecom giant made this payment to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in 2016.

MTN together with some of its subsidiary companies paid about GHS1.1 billion paid out of the companys 2016 total revenue of GH2.7 billion.

The Corporate Services Executive of MTN, Cynthia Lumor, who disclosed this, during an annual Volta Regional Editors Forum held in Ho, said the company, which has been in operation for the past two decades, saw a 19.8 percent rise in its revenue over the period.

READ ALSO: Kotoko through to the FA Cup quarters

This, she attributed largely to the increasing demand in data services on the network.

Mrs. Lumor also noted that in line with the corporate vision leading the countrys digital revolution, MTN is continually investing towards a robust network through fibre optic extension and upgrading of cell sites so as to meet high data demand.

She added that, steps are being taken to minimize operational inefficiencies, fibre cuts and curb incidents of mobile money fraud to reach more people.
The idea behind Casamigos, the brainchild of Clooney and his two friends Rande Gerber, who is Cindy Crawford's husband, and Michael Meldman, was born when Clooney and Gerber bought neighboring properties in Mexico and got into drinking tequila so much so that they decided to create their own, Clooney told CNBC in 2016.

"Casamigos really started by accident as far as a company," Gerber told Business Insider in an interview in March. "As you do in Mexico, we would drink a lot of tequila. We'd go out to bars and restaurants, and bartenders would recommend them. Some were good, some not so good, and some expensive. There came a point where George turned to me and said, 'Why don't we create one that's perfect for us?'"

Gerber and Clooney spent two years meeting with distillers and tried 700 samples of tequila until they found the perfect recipe. They wanted to find one they could drink all day long that didn't have a burning aftertaste or leave them feeling hungover.

Initially, the spirit was made only for their consumption, but when the duo started ordering about 1,000 bottles a year, the distillery told them that they would need to have the drink licensed.

Meldman then joined the team, and they found a distributor in the US. In 2013, they launched the company and made the drink available to the public. Gerber stressed that they wanted to keep it affordable.

"George doesn't need the money. I didn't need it. Mike didn't need it," he told Business Insider. "It wasn't the reason behind launching a tequila. We wanted everyone to be able to drink it, and not be exclusive."

A 750-milliliter bottle now costs between $45 and $55.

It became one of the fastest-growing tequila brands, doubling its volume between 2014 and 2015, according to Ad Age. It is now sold in 20 countries  including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Spain, Italy, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica  but Gerber says he and Clooney still taste every batch.
Thousands of mourners had gathered in Virginia in an outpouring of support for the teen, who was described as bright and generous by those who knew her, according to The Associated Press.

But flowers left at Hassanen's memorial at the Dupont Circle fountain in Washington, DC, were set ablaze on Wednesday. Police have arrested 24-year-old Jonathan Solomon of South Carolina in connection with the incident.

"At this time, the incident does not appear to be motivated by bias," a police spokeswoman told the New York Daily News.

Police told the Fox News affiliate that Solomon was setting several items in the park on fire and didn't appear to be targeting the memorial.

Darwin Martinez Torres, a 22-year-old from Sterling, Virginia, has been charged with murder in connection with Hassanen's death. Police say Hassanen was killed after a traffic dispute and that the cause of the killing was "road rage."
The exposed information did not include highly sensitive information like Social Security numbers, and much of it was publicly available voter-registration data provided by state government officials, a company spokesman told Business Insider on Tuesday.

"Since this event has come to our attention, we have updated the access settings and put protocols in place to prevent further access," Deep Root said in a statement. "We take full responsibility for this situation."

Deep Root didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

But the exposed database combined people's personal information and political inclinations  including proprietary information gathered via predictive modeling tools  to create a detailed profile of nearly 200 million Americans that would be a "gold mine" for anyone looking to target and manipulate voters, said Archie Agarwal, the founder of the cybersecurity firm ThreatModeler.
Polls officially closed at 7 p.m. ET  with the exception of two locations that remained open for an extra 30 minutes after experiencing technical issues.

The race pitted 30-year-old Democrat and political neophyte Jon Ossoff against Handel, who is Georgia's former Secretary of State.

Ossoff called Handel to concede the race after results made it clear she would emerge the winner. In a fiery speech he gave afterward, Ossoff thanked his supporters in the district, which he said he become "the epicenter of politics" in recent months.

"At a time when politics has been dominated by fear and hatred and scapegoating and division, this community stood up, women in this community stood up  you did  and you picked this campaign up, and you picked me up, and you picked Alisha up, and you carried us on your shoulders," Ossoff said. Alisha Kramer is Ossoff's fiancee.

Ossoff added that while the results were not "the outcome any of us were hoping for," it was "the beginning of something much bigger than us." He ended by thanking supporters again and continued, "The fight goes on. Hope is still alive."

They havent figure out how to beat Trump

Handel spoke to her own supporters shortly after Ossoff made his concession speech.

After acknowledging that it was a "very, very tight" and "contentious" race, Handel thanked voters and government officials who supported her. She singled out Trump to thank him for his support, and when she did, attendees cheered and began chanting his name.

Handel also took a moment to thank House Majority Whip Steve Scalise for his support. Scalise was critically wounded last week when a James Hodgkinson, a fierce Trump critic, opened fire at the Republican congressional baseball practice.

"What happened out there on the ball field was a terrible tragedy," Handel said. "And we need to all continue to lift up, see any others who were injured that day, and we need to also lift up this nation so that we can find a more civil way to deal with our disagreements," she continued. "Because in these United States of America, no one should ever feel their life threatened over their political beliefs and position. And I say that ... in regards to both sides of the political aisle."

Handel also credited Ossoff for being "gracious" in his concession.

Trump congratulated Handel on her victory, tweeting, "Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!" A text from the Trump campaign declared: "Congrats to Karen Handel on a HUGE win in GA! Democrats lose again (0-4). Total disarray. The MAGA Mandate is stronger than ever. BIG LEAGUE."

Vice President Mike Pence also weighed in and tweeted, "Congrats Karen Handel! Great campaign & great victory! With @realDonaldTrump in the White House & you in Congress, we will #MAGA!"

House Speaker Paul Ryan released a statement shortly after outlets predicted a Handel victory. Ryan congratulated Handel on her "hard-earned and well-deserved" win.

"Democrats from coast to coast threw everything they had at this race, and Karen would not be defeated," Ryan's statement said. "The people of Georgia's 6th Congressional District are the big winners tonight because they have elected a representative who is going to tirelessly fight for them and their interests."

Ryan, who campaigned with Handel and urged the district's voters to cast their ballots for her, added that she is "eager to get to work."

"I'm excited to have her in the House of Representatives, and I look forward to working with her as we tackle our country's most pressing problems," the statement concluded.

The Republican National Committee also congratulated Handel on her victory. "

See the live results below:

Georgia's special election was billed as a potential referendum on President Donald Trump, who heavily endorsed Handel's candidacy.

Polls leading up to the results indicate an extremely tight race  Handel registered a last-minute lead of 0.2% over Ossoff according to a RealClearPolitics polling average.

McDaniel told Fox News' Martha MacCallum after polls closed, "It's going to be tight. It's going to be neck-and-neck." She added that she had seen Handel pick up momentum towards the end of the early voting period.

The election saw record-high early-vote turnout, and strategists said Tuesday's turnout will likely blow previous records out of the water as well.

Read below about why and how the race to fill a congressional seat in a non-election year catapulted to national attention to become the most expensive House race in US history.

Georgia's 6th district seat unexpectedly opened up when former congressman Tom Price was tapped by Trump to head up the Department of Health and Human Services.

Price represented Georgia's 6th for 12 years, and the district has been held by Republicans for almost 40 years. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich represented it for 20 years, from 1979-1999.

When Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced a special election would be held in April to determine who would replace Price, it immediately sparked nationwide attention, as Democrats and Republicans viewed it as an opportunity to shape the electoral landscape into the 2018 midterm elections.

The special election kicked off with a crowded field  11 Republicans, 5 Democrats, and 2 independents faced off against each other.

Ossoff quickly emerged the Democratic frontrunner, while Handel was viewed as the likely Republican candidate. In the first round of the election in April, Ossoff garnered about 48% of the vote, while Handel got 20%.

In order to declare victory in the first round of Georgia's special election, a candidate needs to break the 50% vote threshold. Though Ossoff was close, neither candidate got the required vote share, so the election moved to a runoff, which took place on Tuesday.

The results of the first round were "a wake-up call" for Republicans, Chip Lake, a Republican strategist in Georgia and former Capitol Hill chief of staff, told Business Insider.

Republicans are typically favored to win the district because it's an open, suburban seat in the South, which is where the party runs strongest. Ossoff's strong showing in the first round galvanized Democrats looking to punch back at Trump, and set off alarms among Republicans aiming to defend their seats.

Rachel Paule, a Democratic grassroots organizer in the 6th district, said the biggest indicator of local Democratic sentiment she'd seen was the number of "secret liberals who came out of the woodwork" after Trump was elected last year.

A Republican congressman "was just sort of a given, and a lot of people were afraid to speak out because this is such a conservative area," Paule said of Georgia's 6th District. She said Ossoff's candidacy had given her and fellow organizers a chance to "make meaningful change" by flipping the seat.

The national Democratic and Republican parties also took intense interest in the race. To date, Handel and Ossoff have collectively raised more than $50 million  which makes Georgia's 2017 special election the most expensive House race in US history.
ROCK RAPIDS | It almost sounds like an episode of "Leave It to Beaver."

Deirdre "Dee" Slack bought and moved into a home in Rock Rapids in 2013. Immediately, she heard that she'd bought "Beaver's house."

The home at 408 South Carroll Street was home to Norman and Marilyn Mathers and their family from 1947-49. Jerry Mathers, their son, was born in Sioux City in 1948 and resided in Rock Rapids until the family moved to California.

Jerry Mathers went on to fame playing Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver in the iconic family sitcom that ran from 1957 to 1963 and has enjoyed popularity in syndication ever since.

Mathers returned to Rock Rapids on Friday for the annual Heritage Days festival. He attended a musical revue, led the parade as grand marshal, greeted thousands of people, posed for hundreds of photos and signed at least 350 autographs.

He also traveled to his first home and stood outside to have his picture taken.

Deirdre Slack, who is is the same age as Mathers and a fan of his show, was at home at the time. She missed the Hollywood star's appearance at her front door, however.

"I was asleep," Slack told me on Tuesday, laughing and shaking her head about missing this brush with greatness. "I want to write Jerry Mathers a letter and apologize!"

After hearing the circumstances surrounding Slack's nap, I think Mathers would understand. Slack is recovering from surgery on her right rotator cuff, the latest in a string of ailments she's overcome.

Her physical setbacks began not long after she made her first home purchase, buying "Beaver's" old house in October 2013.

"In 2014, I fell in the back yard and broke two vertebrae and compressed two discs," she said. "I am so lucky I wasn't paralyzed."

In 2015, Slack fell while walking out the back door. She tore a meniscus in that mishap and needed another surgical procedure.

Earlier this year, she fell while visiting her sister at nearby Inwood. Slack hurt her shoulder, which required surgery to address a torn rotator cuff. "It's my right shoulder, so I haven't been able to do anything with my right arm," she said.

Slack, who has been getting therapy twice per week, was so focused on recuperating that she didn't remember what time the Heritage Days parade took place on Saturday morning.

Instead, she relaxed at home and dozed off, likely about the time Mathers, who had served as grand marshal, dropped by to look at his first house.

Despite this minor bobble, the weekend was a roaring success for Rock Rapids residents, visitors and Heritage Days planners. Crowds swelled along the parade route, making it one of the largest parades in recent years.

Jerry Mathers and his wife, Teresa, were greeted with enthusiasm everywhere they went.

"We had a huge crowd," said Angie Jager, director of the Rock Rapids Chamber of Commerce. "No. 1, because of Jerry Mathers. No. 2, because we had great weather."

One couple told Jager they drove three hours one way to meet Mathers; another man drove 2,000 miles from Seattle, Wash., to spend the weekend in Rock Rapids and to meet the "Leave it to Beaver" star.

The celebration culminated a dream effort for Kenneth Barker, a retired high school English and speech/drama teacher here.

Barker, who met Mathers at a family get-together in Kingsley during the 1950s, had followed his career ever since and began working to get the "Beaver" back in Rock Rapids eight years ago.

"I tried for a couple of years and then realized I couldn't get him here by myself," said Barker, 82. "I needed the help of people like Angie Jager and our mayor, Jason Chase, and the Heritage Days Committee."

When Mathers consented to visit a few months ago, Barker helped in the planning push. He even visited the assisted living facilities and nursing homes, dropping off DVDs of "Leave it to Beaver" episodes so residents could watch the show prior to Jerry Mathers' visit on Sunday morning.

The entire affair was so exciting, it trumped Barker's own Heritage Days experience as parade grand marshal three years ago.

"I was to be the parade marshal in 2014," Barker said. "The parade got rained out."

Again, it sounds like an episode perfect for "Beaver Cleaver."
The photo was originally tweeted Associated Press congressional reporter Erica Werner on Tuesday.

Ivanka, who is an adviser to President Donald Trump, was at the Capitol to discuss pro-family tax reform policies with a group of lawmakers, including Rubio.

Twitter users quickly began mocking images of Rubio's and Ivanka's encounter.

Rubio appeared to poke fun at himself, saying he was actively "investigating" the hug.

Rubio said his team believed they had "unclassified photographic evidence" of the incident.

He jokingly tweeted that he would also be looking into video footage and was seeking anyone who might have had video footage of the encounter.

Rubio tweeted another angle of the hug and jokingly added "faces blurred for security purposes."

He finished his tweets by saying the pair hadn't actually been attempting a hug when the photo was taken.
The Labour leader failed to bow when he entered the House of Lords to hear the Queen's speech, unlike Theresa May, the Speaker, John Bercow, and Black Rod.

You can watch the moment here:

This is already being reported as a "snub" by the Labour leader to the Queen. But was it?

This appears to be backed up by footage from previous Queen's speeches, where neither Corbyn nor David Cameron bowed, instead leaving it to Black Rod, the Speaker and the Serjeant-at-Arms.

The Queen's speech contained a watered down version of the Conservative manifesto, following the party's failure to achieve a majority in the House of Commons. Pledges to bring back grammar schools and scrap free school meals were among those dropped by the government.
Jason Fried, CEO of the web development company Basecamp, has another excuse: He's already implemented them.

"I'd love to continue to give more and more things to make people happier and more comfortable," Fried told Business Insider. "I'm just running out of ideas for it."

Basecamp's approach to employee benefits is to view standard-of-living as a top priority. Instead of worrying how much more productive employees will be or how much additional revenue a given perk will yield, Fried views the perks as virtues in and of themselves.

In addition to generous salaries, healthcare plans, 401(k) matching, and time-off policies, Basecamp employees receive a $5,000 annual vacation stipend; $100 a month for home massages; $100 for fresh produce; 16 weeks paid parental leave; and tenured sabbaticals every three years. They also work shortened 4-day, 32-hour weeks during the summer.

One of the simplest reasons Basecamp can afford to give people all these perks is that the company is small  it has just over 50 employees. But Fried said it also helps that the company is entirely self-funded, with no board of directors.

"We do what we want to do, and we make quick calls," he said.

Whenever an employee has an idea for a new perk, they submit the idea through a shared internal document. Then it's put to a vote among the staff, and if enough of them like it, Fried weighs whether it's feasible.

"Basically, if people ask for something that's reasonable, we give it to them," he said.

Basecamp has some peers in the creative perk department. Digital marketing company Steelhouse, for instance, offers employees $2,000 a month to take any vacation they choose. Earlier this year, the company also implemented monthly three-day weekends known as Steelhouse Days.

A number of other larger companies have taken steps to be more employee-friendly in recent years, particularly with parental leave. In August 2015, Netflix began offering salaried employees unlimited paid parental leave for a whole year. (Four months later, it started offering hourly workers 16 weeks of paid leave, where before they received 12 weeks.)

Only a handful of people have left Basecamp  which launched in 1999  in the last several years, Fried said. Some leave within the first year, typically because they aren't a good fit, but if they make it past the one-year mark they tend to stick around for quite a while. More than 60% of the staff has been there for four years or more. The perks might have something to do with it.

Fried's ultimate goal is to keep people at the company, but not at the office.
Dangote disclosed this fact during a chat with the journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, June 2017. He categorically stated that the country is losing about N140 billion weekly to traffic gridlock on all roads linking the city.

The economy loses more than N20 billion daily. It affects businesses across the country. All our operations in the hinterland in Ilorin and Kano are operating at 40 percent capacity."

Apapa is a commercial city of Lagos with the countrys largest and busiest seaports (Tin-Can Island and Wharf Ports) and a site of many big manufacturing conglomerates in Nigeria.

Today, there is no road linking the South-West to the North. You have to go all the way through Ajaokuta, Obajana, Lokoja and you have to go through the uncompleted road Obasanjo started 13 years ago, Mr Dangote stated.

The Nigerian businessman also used the occasion to address its commitment towards addressing the problem through the corporate social responsibility of the Dangote Group and Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN).

Because it is very embarrassing! We cant just sit and have a road like that where it is the heart of the trade of the country. More than 60 percent of our countrys import and exports come through the port and we leave it unattended.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government, represented by the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing and Nigerian Port Authority signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) over the weekend with Dangote Flour Mills and Flour Mills of Nigeria.

Mr Dangote also used this opportunity to address some aspect of the construction including the involvement of FMN and the use of AG Dangote Construction Company to execute the project.

Both Dangote and Flour Mills are pumping in over N2.5billion for a two-kilometre double lane on each side making a total of four kilometres. we had started on our own and Flour Mills said they will join us."

He also noted that: government changed the design because they want all the cables and pipes underground, to ensure a more robust solution.

To help in bringing the cost down, I have to force AG Dangote Construction Company to do this project at zero profit.
A celebrity bakeoff will be staged as part of the Baileys Bakefest to give these promising talents a platform to showcase their baking skills.

For at least one of four of the finest upcoming treat makers in Nigeria, the Baileys Bakefest might be that moment that the seemingly endless kneading, baking and dressing comes to.

The big break they have been longing for might finally be in the offing and it may be a question of who wants it most.

At the press conference, Fimisade Osiyemi was paired with Mai Atafo and Segun Adesina was paired with Funke Akindele.

Alex Ekubo was paired Tolu Samaiye while Waje and Yemisi Ariyo were paired.

Will it be Tolu Samaiye from #BakefestTeamAlexx&Tolu or Yemisi Ariyo of #BakefestTeamWaje&Yemisi? Can Segun of #BakefestTeamFunke&Segun rule the day or will Fimisade from #BakefestTeamMai&Fimisade conquer all competitors?

Beyond the family fun, good music and all the prizes to be won, this might be the key reason not to miss out on the Baileys Bakefest - a chance to be part of history in the baking.

To attend the Baileys Bakefest on Monday 26 of June, all you have to do is follow @BaileysNigeria and send a direct message for your free invite.

Date: June 26, 2017.Venue: Muri Okunola Park, Victoria Island.
The State Police Public Relations Officer [PPRO], DSP Bala Elkana who confirmed the arrest of Usman, said he had been parading himself as a medical doctor for over two years and was apprehended at the Out Patient Department of the Minna General Hospital.

It was gathered that Usman who was an ordinary hospital attendant, usually directed male patients away from the doctors into a room where he would massage and suck their private parts until the patient discharges sperm into his palms.

He would then proceed to lick the sperm and allow the patients to go without prescribing any drug for him claiming that was the cure for their ailments. It was learned that the suspect had sucked and licked the sperm of 10 victims before he was exposed.

His cover was blown by his last victim identified as Sani Baitachi who could not discharge on time, which made him slap the suspect. This led to an argument which led to Usmans arrest. It was at this stage the hospital management was brought into the matter and it was discovered that he was not a qualified medical doctor.
Vanguard reports that Oreyomi who resides at 9, Dokun Street, Ewuga, Shagamu, was arrested by operatives attached to the Shagamu Police Division who also rescued the boy who was almost at the point of death.

It was gathered that the boy was found naked on the bare floor with his hands and legs chained with padlocks at both ends of the chain by his father, who said he took the action to curtail the boy's stealing habit.

The boy was also said to be covered in blood with bruises all over his body, a sign that his father had also beaten him mercilessly.

When asked by the police why the boy was in the position, Oreyomi accused him of stealing his N2,000.

A resident in the area, Modupe Okeshola, alleged that it was not the first time the teenager would be dehumanized by his father over several unfounded allegations.

This is how this boy has been dehumanized by his father. Even if he stole, is this the right way to discipline a child? He even padlocked the chains so that nobody can rescue him.

We had to call the police because we were afraid that the boy might die, Okeshola said.

The Divisional Police Officer [DPO] of the Shagamu Division, Aduroja Moses, who led a team of policemen to the house to rescue the boy, said he had been taken to a hospital where he is receiving treatment while the father had been arrested and is currently in detention.

From what the police gathered, the suspect had earlier flogged the son leading to cuts all over his body. He later chained his hands and legs, and locked both ends with padlocks, Moses said.

Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer [PPRO], ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the Commissioner of Police had mandated that the suspect should be charged to court at the end of investigations.
The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that the monarch was allegedly involved in a community crisis which reportedly claimed the life of an 80-year-old High Chief, who was also the Elejoka of Ibalogun, Chief Bello Ojo.

The deceaseds daughter, Mrs Bunmi Fajana, alleged that his late father was manhandled by some people suspected to be thugs while rescuing his 14-year-old son allegedly abducted by the thugs.

The states Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Alberto Adeyemi, confirmed the development to the NAN.

He said the old man slumped and died while in company of others going to inspect property destroyed following the confusion that trailed the arrest of the monarch.

According to community sources, the arrest, said to have been carried out in the early hours of Tuesday, was effected by SARS, who reportedly stormed the community and whisked away some people, including the monarch.

The source, however, could not ascertain the number of those arrested, saying that those arrested were already being detained at the police station.

The source alleged that the police, who came around 4a.m in eight pick up vehicles, marked SARS, allegedly vandalized some of the property at Idowus palace before they could gain entrance to arrest the monarch.

The Police Public Relations Officer said that the monarch was arrested for parading himself as the traditional ruler of the community, when he is not, an action, he said was capable of causing crisis in the community.

He also said Idowu would be charged to court for impersonation.

According to the PPRO, the community already had a traditional ruler recognized by the state government, saying that Idowu came from Ogun state to install himself as another king, thereby causing anarchy in the community.

Adeyemi added, The real Olufon was installed and was recognised by the state government.

But he (Idowu) came from Ogun state and installed himself as another Oba against the tradition of the community and law of the country, he said.

The police spokesman alleged that several personal efforts by the state Commissioner of Police in the state, Alhaji Abdullahi Chafe, to resolving the chieftaincy crisis in the community had not yielded fruits.

He alleged that Idowu had turned down several invitations extended to him by the CP for dialogue.

The chairman of the Traditional Council in Oye Local Government reported him (Idowu) to the CP, the commissioner invited him several times for a meeting to have his own side but he refused to show up.

And we will not sit back and allow anybody to cause the breach of the law in any part of the state.

We are going to charge him to court and if he is found guilty, that is seven years imprisonment, the PPRO declared.

In his reaction, Idowu denied the allegation that he installed himself as an Oba of the community.

He said contrary to insinuation, he was not based in Ogun state as alleged by the police but that the head of the kingmakers in ruling house, Chief Abraham Akanle, who installed him, was based in Lagos.

NAN reports that under Omu Ekiti, it was gathered, Ifon, Ibalogun and Arin Omu are the three quarters that came together to run a confederation system of government in the community.

It was learnt that Akanle, who holds the traditional title Obaisa of the community, had, while installing Idowu as the new Olufon, dismissed the previous exercise as an exercise in futility, saying he had the sole right to present Olufon to the people and the government.
WATERLOO | A Cedar Falls man and his teenage son are home safe after they became lost while fishing and spent the night in George Wyth State Park.

The rescue effort, which kicked off Wednesday morning, included police officers sounding sirens and concluded with a ride in a fire department rescue boat.

The two, Thomas Frazier Sr., and son, Martel, werent injured.

The father said he had been fishing at Wyths Brinker Lake before, but this is the first time they had set out in the newly expanded north pool that had been part of a quarry operation.

They arrived Tuesday evening, walked to a spot to put in a few lines.

VIDEO: Drone helps in rescue of stranded boaters near Algona ALGONA  An Algona man and his 10-year-old granddaughter were rescued from the Des Moines Ri

It got dark too quick, and we tried to find our way out, Thomas Frazier Sr., said.

We just kept going in circles until we came back to the bank where we were fishing at. There were some cement slabs, and so we stayed on those, he said.

They planned to give it another try in daylight and tried to rest overnight. For supplies, they brought drinking water and had jawbreakers and licorice for snacks.

We stayed up the whole time. We tried to lie on that concrete, but it was hard and cold. We got cold, and wed get up and walk around to stay warm. We thought about building a fire, but we didnt."

After dawn, they realized the path out wasnt any clearer.

We was going around in circles, kept taking the wrong way and kept coming back to the same spot, the father said.

Thats when they called 911.

Black Hawk County Dispatchers plotted Fraziers cell phone, and Waterloo police drove into the park and ran their sirens in an attempt to give the fishermen a signal to help them navigate.

It turned out they were on the other side of the lake, and a fisherman in a boat spotted them. Waterloo Fire Rescue was called, and the departments boat reached the pair and returned them to lakes parking lot where their car sat.

Before the ordeal of finding their way home, the two didnt have any luck fishing.

They werent keepers  undersized bass, so they had to go back, and a small blue gill, he said.
But her husband's family have been on her neck to either withdraw the case or be sent out of her house.

Read her story here:

"My name is Patricia, a 29-year-old married woman with two kids. I have been married for five years now but now, I am sure my marriage is heading for the rocks.

My problem now is that my brother-in-law, Benjamin, raped me two months ago and when I reported him to the police and he was arrested and charged to court, my husband's family have been putting the blame on me, claiming that I framed him up.

Benjamin is the Black Sheep of the family and a good-for-nothing loafer who believes he should be taken care of my other family members even though he is above 30.

Benjamin dropped out of the university because of his cult activities and since then, he has refused to be useful to himself. He goes after each of his siblings and makes trouble for them whenever they refuse to give him money.

In all of these, his mother and other family members still pamper him because he is the last child of the family and I think they are afraid of him and what he can do to them if they get him angry.

He is so rough and uncouth that they are practically afraid of him. All he is after is getting drunk, running after women even though he does not have a job. He has been arrested several times over allegations of rape, fighting, and stealing.

I knew there was going to be trouble when he came to our house and after spending a week and there was no sign of his leaving, I asked my husband, , when his brother would leave.

But Victor told me he would stay for some time as his siblings had all agreed that he should leave home for some time so that their mother does not die an untimely death because of his problems.

But his stay has been a nightmare for me as he wants me to do everything for him; Benjamin wants me to wash his clothes, clean his room as well as make his meals and serve him.

If I refuse to do those things, Benjamin would get angry and had even threatened to beat me up on more than three occasions. Whenever I complain to my husband, he would tell me to be patient and play along with him.

But he took the liberty too far when Victor traveled to see the mother. That day, Benjamin had gone out very early in the morning and by 9 pm, he had still not returned.

I was worried and called him to find out where he was as it was getting late but he warned me not to disturb him, saying he is a man and can stay out as long as he wanted.

At about 12 am, I was aroused from my sleep with loud knocks on the door. Before I could get to the door, I heard Benjamin's voice threatening to break down the door if I refused to open the door for him.

I was still groggy from sleep when I opened the door and a drunk Benjamin stumbled in and landed a slap on my face for keeping him locked out. Before I could gather myself, Benjamin punched me and floored me on the floor.

I was still dazed from the punch when he tore my clothes and before I knew it, my brother-in-law had pounced on him and forcefully raped me. I was trying my best to get him off me but he was too strong.

I cried, begged him and screamed but no help came till he was done and staggered to his room. I laid there in a heap and cried so much, wishing it was all a dream and that I was dead.

I called my husband to tell him what his brother had done but he told me to keep calm and not tell anyone what happened. I was shocked that Victor could say that.

In the morning, I went to the police and laid a complaint and I was given two officers who went home with me and arrested Benjamin. He was locked up for four days before he was charged to court and remanded in prison custody.

But my problem now is that my husband's family are blaming me for reporting Benjamin to the police, saying I should have allowed the family to deal with the issue.

All of them, including my own husband, say I want their brother to be jailed and everyone wants me to withdraw the case so they can handle it within the family.

But my lawyer and some human rights activists say I should never withdraw the case as they are willing to fight for me. The most annoying thing is that my husband who should fight for me has issued me an ultimatum that if I do not withdraw the case, he ould divorce me.

Patricia."

The teaser for the day was:

How Nigeria voted:

She should not withdraw the case for whatever reason - 40%

She should withdraw the case to save her marriage - 6%

She should go ahead with the case and damn the consequences - 49%

She should go along with the family and withdraw the case for peace to reign - 4%
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, made the call on Wednesday in Abuja while addressing participants at investigative hearing on healthcare services, organised by House of Representatives Committee on Health Care Services.

Specifically, the hearing focussed on Compliance rate of HMOs to the NHIS contributions and utilisation of funds by the health care providers and inhumane treatment of enrolees.

Adewole, represented by the Director of Health Services in the ministry, Mr Wampada Balami, said that the hearing would afford the committee the opportunity to determine the necessity of HMOs in the NHIS.

He said that while over N351 billion premium had been received from the NHIS by the HMOs, only four per cent of Nigerians have been covered so far.

He urged the house to direct the immediate stoppage of further disbursement of funds to the HMOs.

The minister described the efforts of the National Assembly to reposition the scheme as a step in the right direction.

He said that the amount quoted as premium was incorrect as the Federal Government paid five per cent from its coffers to the NHIS aside the deduction from enrolees.

The scheme needs to perform better if it must justify the huge sums being expended by government. The role of expanding coverage of enrolees is that of the NHIS and not HMOs.

There have been complaints by previous and present NHIS leadership of attempts to undermine their authority by representatives of HMOs who are on the board of the agency.

Such a situation breeds conflict of interest; the presence of HMO representatives on the board tends to challenge the powers of the NHIS to regulate and sanction erring organisations, Adewole said.

Supporting the ministers position, the Executive Secretary of the NHIS, Prof. Yusuf Usman, expressed gratitude to the committee for the investigation, saying that for 12 years, the HMOs had not been called to account for their misdeeds.

He said, more than 70 new born babies and over 100 women die daily from avoidable mortality, even though they are on the scheme.

Millions die across the states and there seemed not to be time to fight these anomalies until now.

The number of Nigerians covered by the NHIS after 12 years is 1.5 per cent of the population.

Countries like Kenya and Rwanda have achieved better health care delivery without HMOs; healthcare financing in Nigeria is nothing but a huge fraud.

If you want to hear the truth, hear it from me today, because my way of making the scheme work is to hold the HMOs accountable.

We must sink this boat of corruption that has killed the healthcare sector of our country, Yusuf said.

Declaring the hearing open earlier, the Speaker of the House, Mr Yakubu Dogara, represented by the Deputy Minority Leader, Mr Chukwuka Onyema, decried the poor rate of coverage by the scheme.

Dogara called on stakeholders to demonstrate patriotic spirit in their deliberation, saying that the task of making the nations health sector work for the benefit of all lay with all Nigerians.

On their part, the HMOs, represented by their chairman, Dr Tunde Ladele, told the committee that NHIS position centred on hatred for health maintenance organisations.

All the actions of the Executive Secretary since July, 2016 pointed to a clear case of open hatred for the operators of health maintenance organisations.
Dr Taiye Oni, the Permanent Secretary, Ondo State Ministry of Health, gave this warning while monitoring the entrance examination into the Ondo State School of Nursing and Midwifery for the 2017/2018 session in Akure.

Oni noted that such training by the private hospitals was contributing to some sharp practices by some actors in the state health sector.

He said the State Government would not allow the trend to continue but nip it in the bud so as to ensure quality health service delivery in line with the agenda of the present administration.

The Permanent Secretary said that with the new policy of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, most Schools of Nursing and Midwifery would now award Higher National Diploma and degree certificates.

He disclosed that the state School of Nursing and Midwifery would soon be upgraded to a degree awarding institution.

Oni, therefore, lauded the management of the school for conducting a credible entrance examination for the 1,600 candidates seeking admission into the 50 available spaces.

Also speaking, the Director, Department of Nursing Services of the ministry, Mrs Alice Ogundele, observed that nurses, were in high demand around the world to deliver high quality health care.

Ogundele said most countries of the world including Nigeria, had not been able to meet the specified ratio 1 nurse to 4 patients in a ward, hence the high demand continued.

In her remarks, the principal of the school, Mrs Idowu Edward, said the school had carved out a niche for itself by the performance of its students in external examinations, which had not been less than 95 per cent at any point in time.

Edward said the nursing profession had improved in quality and were in higher demand than before, as the population increased.

According to her, students will be admitted strictly on merit in order to enhance the future of the profession.
The Federal Government filed an 11 grounds notice of appeal against the ruling of the Danladi Umar-led tribunal after it dismissed the government's 18-count false assets declaration charge against the former Kwara state Governor on June 14.

The Attorney-General revealed that his commitment to President Muhammadu Buhari's fight against corruption is a big driving force for his decision to take the case to the Court of Appeal.

He made this revelation on Wednesday in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Salihu Isah and the Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution, AGF Office, Okoi Obono-Obla.

The statement read, "The Honourable Attorney of the Federation wishes to assure Nigerians that despite some recent setbacks recorded in some of the cases involving politically exposed people; that the war against corruption is fully on course.

"It shall be fought resolutely, painstakingly, doggedly, purposefully and determinedly with all the constitutional and legal arsenals at the disposal of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

"The Federal Government is more than ever before committed towards the complete eradication of the scourge of corruption and graft in the country.

"In this regard, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation has directed that a Notice of Appeal be lodged against the ruling of the Code of Conduct Tribunal acquitting and discharging false assets declaration case preferred against the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki."

The Federal Government is expected to take the case to the Supreme Court if it doesn't get a favourable ruling at the Court of Appeal.

After accusations from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Saraki was charged to court in 2015 on false declarations of assets when he was Kwara state governor.

In defiance, the Senate President filed a no-case submission before the tribunal in May 2017, saying all evidence presented by the prosecution lacks merit.
The Governor called on the current Minister of Works, Power and Housing on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, after he received the report of the Special Committee on Federal Government Assets in Lagos State.

He urged the minister to use his influence as a representative of the state in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to ensure the return of the assets, as, "They are no longer in use for the purpose the apex government acquired it".

Praising the committee's report, the Governor said, "The report of the committee has come at a time when the state government is in dire need of space for development projects that would improve the socio-economic wellbeing of its residents in line with the socio-economic realities of present times.

"We hope this initiative will end the long standing dispute between the federal and state governments over the disused lands, buildings and disputed quarters in various parts of the state.

"These assets are no longer in use for the purposes for which they were originally released to the federal government. We are hopeful this report will get favorable response from the federal government now that these assets are no longer in use for the purposes they were acquired."

The committee, chaired by, Chief Femi Okunnu, former Federal Commissioner for Works, lamented the state of the abandoned assets of the Federal Government in the state.

Tracing the history of the assets, Okunnu said, "Title to the whole of Ikoyi including Osborn Foreshore, Banana Island is vested in the government of Lagos State. We have other areas we have covered.

"The state owned Festac Town. The title to the town is vested in the government of Lagos State. Federal Housing Authority (FHA) is the tenant of the Government of Lagos State indeed. Also, the title to the Trade Fair site is vested in Lagos State.

"The government of Lagos State acquired the Land of the Trade Fair site. But the federal government gave a promise to pay the state compensation which was to be paid to the original owners of the land. That compensation was not paid.

"It is the federal government which should prove title to any land, which it claims to own in Lagos State. The land on which the International Trade Fair Complex was situated was acquired for the purpose of the trade fair, but the place had been turned into market.

"Federal Secretariat gives me sadness because I built it when I was the Federal Commissioner for Works. The land upon which federal secretariat is situated is part of the Crown land, which is now state land.

"The title to the Crown land is vested in Lagos State. But Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson agreed to release that land to the federal government when they wanted to build federal secretariat.

"We hope that discussions between Lagos State Government and federal government on hand over of federal lands, state lands within Lagos and disuse or surplus lands which federal government, especially defence and prisons are still occupying in Lagos are resolved.

"Large parcels of the land are now surplus to what is required under the land. We hope that discussions between Lagos State and federal governments will be held to settle this palaver once and for all."

The committee includes human rights activist, Femi Falana,Mrs. Victoria Alonge, a partner at Simmons Cooper, and Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Lands Bureau, Olabode Agoro, among others.
Symington said this when he paid a courtesy call to Aregbesola on Tuesday, June 20,2017 at the Bola Ige House, Osogbo, Osun state.

The Ambassador also described the Governors social protection programs as a dividend of good governance.

In his response, Aregbesola said America has evolved to be a major factor in world growth and development to the extent that whatever decision the country takes on any burning issue shakes the world.

When an entity is as powerful as America, such entity needs to be very careful about every major decision it takes because of other countries.

ALSO READ: Gov Aregbesola seeks restructuring of Police Force

An entity whose decision can affect other nations of the world must be very careful.

Americas human and international relations must not be taken for granted, if you love America it is to your own benefit and if you hate America it is to your own disadvantage, Vanguard reports.
Singhatey made this known on Tuesday in Abuja during the celebration of the 2017 World Refugee Day with the theme We stand together #with refugees and IDPs.

He said the Solidarity Fund was in compliance with the decision of the Mediation and Security Council to support the Federal Governments Plan for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of North-East Nigeria.

He said that the humanitarian crises in the insurgency affected states of the North-East was enormous, adding that it was constantly being assessed by the ECOWAS Commission.

Singhatey said that the dire situation in the North-East deserved special attention, adding that it had necessitated the international community and ECOWAS Commission to engage in several interventions.

He said that the ECOWAS Commission, working with partners had donated one million dollars worth of food items to support the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and 300,000 dollars for Nigerian refugees in Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

The ECOWAS Commission vice president said that it also donated 400,000 dollars for the support of affected communities in the North-East.

According to him, a recent statistics by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates over 65 million out of the eight billion worldwide population are refugees, asylum seekers and IDPs.

Singhatey said that the African region represents about 30 per cent of the total number of refugees worldwide with a record of 180 million refugees as at 2016.

He said that in West Africa, displacement and sufferings were caused by conflicts and other natural and human made causes.

Singhatey said that failing to address the situation of refugees and other persons of concern amount to inviting adverse consequences for the environment.

He said that the Commissions Department of Social Affairs and Gender leads the humanitarian works with the goal of a borderless, prosperous and cohesive region with the capacity to effectively prevent and mitigate conflicts.

He said the goal was also to limit the impact of conflicts and disasters on citizens and residents with a view to achieving human centered development.

Singhatey said that the commission would continue to support the efforts of the Nigerian Government in assisting refugees, IDPs and other persons of concern.

Also speaking, Mr Jose-Antonio Canhandula, UNHCR Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS tasked Nigeria to join the new approach, which he said was the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework.

He said that the framework was already being piloted by other African countries, including development actors and private sector in Chad, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda.

Canhandula, however, said that UNHCR was working with various partners to foster the protection of refugees and IDPs, to collectively seek ways to increase support to the government in assisting people.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the occasion was attended by Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented by Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning.
According to reports, the Police command in Borno confirmed the deaths in what was described as a suspected Boko Haram attack along the Maiduguri-Damboa highway.

Damian Chukwu, the Borno Police Commissioner, who confirmed this on Tuesday said that the dead persons included a police man and a truck driver.

You would recall that since the Maiduguri-Damboa highway was reopened, motorists ply the road strictly on military escort.

Initially it was only the military that provides the escort, but later the police was invited to join, Chukwu said.

He said that the convoy left Maiduguri with the military in the front while the police was at the rear.

The convoy had about 200 vehicles among which included an 80-seater bus conveying a newly deployed Mobile Police Unit from Oghara in Delta heading for Askira Uba one of the newly liberated communities.

The convoy also had a burial party of a late Special Investigation Bureau police woman who died last week, Chukwu said.

He added:The convoy started moving around 10:30 pm and by 11:30 we got information that they were ambushed around Abari-Dalwa village about 30 kilometres from Maiduguri.

Six of the Mobile Police Men in the bus were injured, but as I speak to you they are responding to treatment at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

Chukwu said that non of the policemen lost their weapons to the attackers.

A police Sgt. Bala Tiishe was killed in the vehicle.

A civilian, Mustapha Modu, driving a truck conveying drugs for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) was also killed, Chukwu said.

He said all other policemen in the convoy were unhurt.

Some eyewitnesses told newsmen in Maiduguri that the convoy was ambushed around Dalwa village by suspected terrorists using anti aircraft guns and heavy weapons.

Malam Bala Wambai, a traveller who witnessed the attack, said that the attack happened around 11:30.

The terrorists decided to attacked the convoy from the rear after the military escort had passed around Dalwa.

They specifically targeted a Borno State Government school bus conveying some mobile policemen, Wambai said.

ALSO READ: 9 soldiers, 40 terrorists killed in fresh attack

He said a number of police men were injured in the attack which lasted about 30 minutes.

Our vehicle was just few meters away from the bus conveying the police men, so we all ran into the bush for cover.

When we came back we discovered that a large number of them were injured while many were missing, Wambai said.

John Yusuf, another traveller, said that the attackers were eventually chased away by a combined team of soldiers and policemen who responded to distress calls by the victims.
ODEBOLT | Three boys under the age of 12 caused nearly $80,000 in damages to playground equipment at Odebolt-Arthur and Battle Creek-Ida Grove School last week after playing with lighters underneath a plastic slide, according to local authorities.

The boys, ages 11, 9 and 7, were lighting wood chips on fire when the flames grew out of control and set the equipment on fire, according to a news release from the Sac County Sheriff's Office.

The Odebolt Fire Department arrived at the school, 600 Maple St., shortly before 5 p.m. Friday.

By the time firefighters had extinguished the flames, between $70,000 and $80,000 in damage had occurred, the release said.

The Iowa State Fire Marshal's Office is assisting local authorities with an ongoing investigation. Criminal charges are pending, the release said.
Fayose said this on Wednesday, when he held a rally to mark the third year of his governorship victory.

He said A government in nepotism cant stand the test of time. The economy of this country has shrunk under this government. I say they will go, they must go. Nigerians are hungry and angry.

Im not one Nigerian that will chicken out to join a political party. We will remain here telling them truth, telling them the economy is not working, we stand them for the truth.

Adding that The policy of Buharis government is anti-Ekiti. If you check properly, nothing was budgeted as a project for Ekiti in 2017 budget. That is why Nigeria must be restructured so that a state can control its own resources.

The APC-led federal government is fighting everybody, the judiciary and legislators, as well as the press, were not spared. They are running a lawless government and that was why they refused to release Col. Bello Dasuki and El-Zakky Zakky despite court orders. This is not the kind of Nigeria of our dream.

The APC will be upset in 2018, we will crush them and that is why you have to be strong and firm. I am a leader in Nigeria and nobody can gag or cow me because this country belongs to all of us. Today, Nigerians are hungry and angry. There is so much nepotism and poverty in the land, so this government must go.

Nigeria must be restructured. You cant get peace when there is no justice. You must do budget that will represent the interest of everybody; this country belongs to all of us. This is not the kind of Nigeria we craved for. There must be equity.

They have no choice than to restructure this country for good. They have abandoned their manifesto. They are no longer talking about it.

This victory march is meant to thank the people of Ekiti State and to finally break down the wall of Jericho, because I know we shall triumph for I have the people behind me. After winning, I am going to Abuja to be President of Nigeria. I will take power from Buhari in 2019 and that shall come to pass, he added.
Prof. Ismail Junaidu, Executive Secretary, NERDC made this known in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday.

Junaidu called on Nigerians to discard reports from some quarters that the subject had been removed from the schools curriculum.

The Management of NERDC hereby reiterates categorically and unequivocally to all Nigerians that the subject offerings (Civic Education, Social Studies, Christian Religious Knowledge, Islamic Studies and Security Education) under the Religion and National Values Curriculum are distinct.

 The subjects are as listed and taught separately on the time table.

In this Curriculum, no child should be coerced or compelled to learn or be taught in school any religious studies subject but only one (out of the two) that restrictively relates to the belief system professed by the child and his/her parents.

Junaidu added that teachers had been trained in the six geopolitical zones to be able to teach these distinct subjects.

He said the teachers were also aware of the mode of teaching the Religion and National Values Curriculum as distinct subjects on the time table.

In view of the claims therefore, NERDC hereby states that CRK is still taught in schools as a separate distinct subject with the accompanying Teachers Guide.

CRK is not a theme in Civic Education. Civic Education is a distinct subject on its own which teaches the rudiments of good citizenship.

There is no subject in the Nigerian School Curriculum called Islamic Arabic Studies nor anywhere in the world as being speculated, he said.

He added that French was a compulsory subject from Primary 4 as dictated by the National Policy on Education Section 2, sub-section 23.7p 13.

The executive secretary said efforts were in top gear to print the Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Studies Curriculum separately in order to maintain their characteristics and distinctiveness.

NERDC stands for integrity and excellence in educational research and development.

The management stands for education for human dignity, economic reconstruction and value reorientation.

We, therefore, sincerely appeal to politicians and fifth columnist to desist from dragging education into the political melee capable of destabilising the education sector and mortgaging the future of upcoming generation of Nigerians, he said.

ALSO READ:FG releases N54bn for settlement of pension liabilities

He said that at the commencement of the present administration, the Minister of Education sought and obtained the approval of the National Council on Education to make CRK and IRK compulsory for Christian and Muslim students respectively.
Ibejemite told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Wednesday that erosion had almost destroyed homes in the area.

He said that people now flee their homes whenever it was about to rain due to the havoc it causes in the community and called for drastic measures to stop the erosion.

Ibiejemite noted that the situation was beyond the control of the community, as only the government could successfully intervene in such circumstances.

He noted that if urgent action was not taken, houses around the area might collapse.

The community leader said that though the rain had not been much this year, the situation was already beyond control.
The commissions Director, Corporate Affairs, Mr Ibitoye Abosede, stated this in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday.

Abosede said the projects, included regional roads, hospitals, bridges, electricity, shoreline protection, reclamation and school hostels.

He quoted the Representative of Rivers State on the board of the commission, Harry Dabibi, as saying that the NDDC had so far awarded 1,688 projects.

He added that 742 had been completed, 134 had been inaugurated, while 34 others were awaiting inauguration.

He urged all NDDC contractors to fulfil their obligations to the commission by delivering the projects on schedule and according to specification.

Contractors that are not on site or fail to keep to specifications will have themselves to blame because the NDDC will not hesitate to take appropriate measures to bring them to book, he warned.

He said that the big time projects were progressing satisfactorily and expressed satisfaction on the level of work at the 4.72-Km Kaa-Ataba Road and bridge project in Khana Local Government Area.

Dabibi, however, stated that NDDC expected the contractor to put in more efforts to quicken the pace of work.

He noted that some of the problems that had previously slowed down the pace of work on NDDC projects had been addressed.

According to him, the contractors are now paid as soon as they present their Interim Payment Certificates (IPC).

He charged contractors working for the NDDC to buckle up as the Commission would not entertain excuses for non-performance.

Our contractors must prioritise prompt and early completion of projects. Where there are challenges, we should know immediately.

The Rivers State NDDC representative said he was happy with the quality of work on some important projects like the Abalama internal roads in Asari Toru Local Government Area.

Dabibi described the completed projects as not only commendable but a testimony to the commitment of some local contractors to the objective of delivering quality projects to the people.

He decried the level work on the 3.65-km Okrika-Borokiri Road with three bridges connecting Kolabi, Abotoru and Okpoka creeks to Port Harcourt.

Dabibi said that work on the project had slowed down, and pointed out that NDDC was making efforts to quicken the pace of work at the site.

He said that the Niger Delta Regional Specialist Hospital in Port Harcourt comprising Orthopaedic and Cardiovascular units, was being replicated in Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Delta states.

He said that when completed, the Orthopaedic hospital would deal with the correction of injuries to the skeletal system, associated muscles, joints and ligaments while the cardiovascular unit would treat heart problems.

Dabibi also commended the contractors handling the Nigerian Police barracks at the Special Protection Unit, base 6 at Omagwa in the outskirts of Port Harcourt.
Diah made the appeal in Jalingo, when he received a delegation of Taraba Farmers Protection Association, led by its chairman, Mr Ibrahim Bitrus, who paid a solidarity visit to the lawmakers.

Contrary to speculations that the bill is targeted at a particular ethnic group, its intention is to promote peaceful coexistence and reduce clashes between farmers and grazers, Diah stated.

The Speaker regretted that some sections of the bill were being altered or misinterpreted to cause mischief, and advised anyone interested in the bill to get a certified true copy from the House of Assembly.

He said that the House had set up a seven-man committee to conduct a public hearing on the bill, and urged stakeholders to take advantage of the hearing to make inputs into it.

While assuring the association that the bill, when passed into law, would be for the good of the state, he urged its members to attend the public hearing, saying that three hearings would be held with one in each of the three senatorial zones.

Earlier, Bitrus had told the Speaker that the bill was long overdue, describing it as the best solution to the incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

We are here to register our support for the bill because we are convinced that when it is passed and signed into law, peace and order will be guaranteed.

We want to assure the legislators of our unflinching support toward the passage of this bill. We also want to assure the House that we shall mobilise Taraba residents to support it, Bitrus said.

The association thanked Gov. Darius Ishaku for making fertiliser available to farmers in good time, saying that the gesture would boost food production in Taraba.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that hundreds of farmers, who converged at the Trade Fair Complex in Jalingo, had accompanied Bitrus to the House to register their support to the bill.
Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, in a statement quoted Kjemprud as commending INEC and Nigerians for the successful conduct of the 2015 general elections.

The ambassador also commended the commission for the steps taken so far to improve the electoral process.

He invited the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and his team to observe the Norwegian Parliamentary Elections and undertake a Study Tour of the country between Sept. 6 and Sept.13.

Accepting the invitation, Yakubu said that the INEC had always been interested in observing elections in older democracies like Norway, to learn useful lessons.

ALSO READ:Indicted INEC staff refund bribe money

He stated that the commission was working towards making the 2019 general elections better than that of 2015.

Yakubu said there were 70 million registered voters currently on the Voter Register, while no fewer than 1,040,000 Nigerians had so far registered in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

We now have 45 political parties. We used to have 40 political parties, but five have just been registered, while there are 103 pending applications.
The kidnappers allegedly kidnapped pupils and members of staff of Nigeria/Tulip International College, Isheri, Ogun, on January 13, 2017.

When the matter was called, the defendants, Bekewei Agbojule, Egbasimokumo Ayeomi, Godspower Olopele, Toki Okuba and Super-Allen Baye, said that they only understood Pidgin English very well.

The judge, Justice John Tsoho, adjourned the matter until June 21 to enable the court to provide an interpreter.

It is regretted that the court could not locate an interpreter to translate proceedings to Pidgin English which the defendants understand.

Therefore, the court will adjourn the matter until tomorrow to look for a competent and unbiased interpreter, Tsoho said.

The Federal Government is arraigning the defendants on a five-count charge bordering on involvement in the acts of hostage taking, receiving of ransom and acts of terrorism.

The crime carries life sentence under the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act, 2013.

In the five-count charge, the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation alleged that the defendants conspired among themselves and with others at large and demanded N800 million as ransom after abducting and detaining their victims.

They were said to have later reduced the amount to N50 million which they allegedly received before releasing the victims.

The prosecution, led by Mr Aminu Alilu, also alleged in counts four and five of the charge that the defendants along with others at large, on Dec. 16, 2016 in Lagos, seized six other people at gunpoint.

They allegedly demanded a ransom of two million naira from the family members of the victims and received the money before releasing them.
Obaseki gave the directive when he paid condolence visit to Ukpenu community in Esan West Local Government where a widow was found dead on her farm on Tuesday.

The governor, represented by Philip Shaibu, his deputy, called on vigilance groups and hunters in the area to rise up to the challenge and collaborate with security agencies in providing protection for farmers.

He said that the government was already investigating how the suspected killer herdsmen gained entry into the state.

Obaseki also advised the people to go to their farms in groups and assured them that government was working out lasting solutions to the problem.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 68-year-old victim, Mrs Margaret Odiamehi, was a widow and mother of six children.

The first son of the deceased, Mr Joseph Odiamehi, said his mother went to her farm and never returned.
MASON CITY | The City Council discussed many possibilities for a fireworks ordinance before voting to allow use of them on July 3-4 and on Dec. 31 and up to 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 1.

They also prohibited use of them within 200 yards of nursing homes, other care facilities and the Hospice unit. It already had prohibited use within 200 yards of a hospital.

Cerro Gordo supervisors ban use of consumer fireworks MASON CITY | Cerro Gordo County supervisors on Tuesday banned the use of consumer fireworks 

Two weeks ago, the council approved on first reading a plan that would allow use of them from July 2-6.

On Tuesday, Councilman Bill Schickel said he had not heard a compelling reason to allow them and said he favored banning their use in the city.

John Lee said he still favored a concept he put forward two weeks ago, to allow them from July 2-4. Janet Solberg said most of her phone calls were in favor of allowing discharge of fireworks.

Travis Hickey said, "I'm OK with letting people have fun with them for a couple of days."

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

When Schickel realized the votes weren't there to support a ban, he said he was willing to compromise and went along with the July 3-4 proposal.

Councilman Paul Adams did not. On the first vote two weeks ago, Adams said his research showed that most fireworks injuries occur to children 15 and under. That was the main reason he was against allowing usage.

"My stance hasn't changed. I still support a ban," he said Tuesday night.

Clear Lake among Iowa cities considering fireworks restrictions MASON CITY | The Clear Lake City Council will consider an ordinance Tuesday night restrictin

A new state law permits fireworks sales for several weeks around the Fourth of July and New Year's Day but allows cities and counties to set their own rules on usage.

Clear Lake, Cerro Gordo County and several other cities in North Iowa have voted to ban usage or continue bans already in place.
The judge issued his verdict on Wednesday, June 21, 2017, ruling the evictions as unconstitutional, saying it violates the rights of the residents, especially as it happened without consultation or a resettlement plan in place.

ALSO READ: The poor left homeless by ruthless modernisation bid

He also ordered the state government to start consultations with the evicted residents and devise a resettlement plan.

The court case against Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and other Lagos officials was filed by Justice and Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), a Lagos-based human rights organization, and dozens of waterfront communities in the state.

The Otodo Gbame community is a slum of shanties occupied by peasants, mat-weaving fishermen and divers.

Thousands of residents were rendered homeless when the poor fishing community was set on fire then bulldozed on March 17, 2017, with many of them getting chased into the lagoon on boats.

At least three people died during the forceful eviction process enforced by armed police that came in helicopters, gunboats and police trucks.

Lagos authorities denied the accusations, saying a fight between different groups in the community caused the fire.

Ambode has been accused of waging a war against the poor with his dreams of rapid urbanisation badly affecting low income residents of the state more.
The Head, Press and Public Relations of the commission, Mr Ikechukwu Ani made this disclosure in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said that one ASP was compulsorily retired while one SP, two DSPs and one ASP were demoted.

He said that decisions were taken at the commissions plenary meeting in Abuja.

Ani said eight senior police officers were also given severe reprimand while six other officers received the punishment of reprimand, four received warning letters, one got letter of advice and seven others were exonerated.

He said that the commission also approved the reinstatement of 14 senior police officers following appeals and petitions received by it.

ALSO READ:Police warn officers against collecting money at port gate

Ani said three officers had their seniority restored and another three reinstated and retired.

It considered and approved the compulsory retirement of three officers, who also appealed their punishments and affirmed its earlier decision on reinstatement of two other officers, he said.

He said that 11 appeals were rejected while approval was given for the promotion of one Deputy Superintendent of Police (ASP)
According to the actress who is making her comeback to the industry after three years with the movie, "Alter Ego" is the first movie to truly address PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

"We don't talk about that in Nigeria, so, when you see someone that is mentally traumatized, the first thing that comes to your mind is 'this person is crazy," the actress said.

"We don't talk about depression in Nigeria. We don't talk about how it affects children, especially children that have been abused.

When you ask a lot of adults, even a lot of people in this room, you might find out that some people have been abused as children. And if we want to tell ourselves the truth, how many of us were actually able to tell our parents about this?

In Africa, it's always a taboo to say 'uncle, somebody touched me.' They will practically ask you one million questions ' 'What did you say to him? How were you sitting? What were you wearing? As if it's your fault, you become the victim."

According to the actress, "Alter Ego" sets out to address how sexual abuse affects victims as kids and as adults.

"So, we want to start addressing this, not only how it affects children psychologically at that age, but even as adults.

"Sometimes, you see people as adults behave in a certain way, but because we have not diagnosed this problem - because in Africa, you are either just crazy and should go to Yaba Left, but we don't think about the fact that people actually have psychological trauma and that PTSD actually affect Africans. We think it's an Oyibo disease."

"So, I think that's what "Alter Ego" is trying to do and I hope no other movie has done it."

Directed by Moses Inwang and produced by Esther Eyibio, the movie also features Wale Ojo, Kunle Remi, Jide Kosoko and Tina Mba.
Yakubu made the call in Ibadan on Wednesday, at an International Conference organised by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.

The theme of the conference is Enfranchising the African Diaspora: Comparing Notes across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Yakubu was represented by a National Commissioner of INEC, Prof. Anthonia Simbinne.

He said that the conference was organised to underscore the importance of the card reader and electronic voting towards deepening the electoral process and allowing Diaspora voting.

The chairman said that although the 2015 elections cost approximately N100 billion, conducting Diaspora voting in the next 18 months would gulp millions of dollars.

He explained that Diaspora voting would start with registration of Nigerians in Diaspora.

The commission is ready for Diaspora voting, but problematic issues related to Diaspora voter registration components must be resolved, he said.

Yakubu said that there was the need for deeper and further consultations with stakeholders in as much as the Diaspora voting was desirable and possible.

It is important to state categorically that the commission is committed to implementing any and every activity that will improve the electoral process and accessibility of franchise to all Nigerians.

The introduction of card reader and electronic voting has led to instances where polls have had to be cancelled due to non-use of smart card reader, he said.

In her address, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said that the discussion about Diaspora could no longer be relegated.

Represented by her Special Assistant on Media, Abdulraham Balogun, she said that there was the need to examine certain dynamics, intricacies and realities of the Nigerian Diaspora.

According to Daburu-Erewa, there are several ways African nations can move to enfranchise their Diaspora when adequate legislative frameworks have been affirmed.

I do not propose an absolute or sweeping legislative framework. The political climate of individual nations should dictate the texture of the policy formulation, she said.

ALSO READ:INEC certifies 5 new parties

The Head, Diaspora and Transnational Studies, Institute of African Studies, Dr Senayon Olaoluwa, said that the conference was organised to attend to the political needs of Nigerians in Diaspora.

Olaoluwa said that the place of the Diaspora on their homeland development could no longer be undermined.

The Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, said that the institution had continued to offer leadership by being the first to have a programme focusing on the Diaspora and Transnational Studies.

Olayinka said that African Diaspora could not continue to be pushed to the margin.
Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- which make up the G5 -- agreed in March to set up the joint counterterrorism operation and the African Union had sought UN backing.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre highlighted the unanimous vote at the council, calling it proof of "maximum political support" for the G5 force.

"At a time when terrorism is striking everywhere in the world, we cannot let the Sahel region become a new haven for terrorist organizations from the entire world," Delattre told the council.

"It is our security which is at stake in the Sahel, not just the security of the G5 countries."

The United States had argued that UN authorization was not legally necessary because the troops will be operating on the territory of the five countries.

After two weeks of negotiations, France dropped the request for formal UN authorization and for a special UN report on financing for the force.

The 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.

Funding needed

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.

Addressing the council, Mali's ambassador expressed gratitude for the support but said the force will need logistical and financial support.

"I appeal for increased and substantial support from our bilateral and multilateral partners to mobilize the necessary means to ensure the force is operational and effective," said Issa Konfourou.

France had initially pushed for a report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on much-needed logistical and financial support, but in negotiations that language was dropped.

The 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, the leading financial contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, wants to scale back funding.

The resolution notes that a pledging conference will be held to raise funds for the force but states that the G5 countries "have the responsibility to provide" the troops with adequate resources.

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.
In a report the Federal Supreme Court said Temer -- who was away in Russia Tuesday -- benefited from bribe funds, even if he did so using someone else to collect or deposit the bribes.

Temer has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

But Brazil's top court said it had accumulated enough evidence of bribes being paid to merit an investigation into Temer for "passive corruption."

Prosecutor Rodrigo Janot will use the report as the foundation of the corruption case against the conservative president.

"Faced with silence from the president and his former assistant, there is irrefutable evidence... showing strongly that passive corruption (on Temer's part) took place," the document said in part.

The report referred to the president's relationship with suspended lawmaker Rodrigo Rocha Loures, who is in jail.

Rocha Loures was filmed with a suitcase stuffed with a 150,000-dollar payoff from a JBS executive.

The court's report alleges that Rocha Loures accepted bribes from JBS on Temer's behalf.
Belgium's national crisis centre said the suspect had been "neutralised" and the situation was under control.

The confrontation in Belgium comes a day after a man mowed down Muslims near a mosque in London, and a radical Islamist on a terror watch-list rammed a car laden with weapons into a police vehicle in Paris.

The incident happened just before 1900 GMT, causing Brussel's Gare Centrale to be evacuated. The nearby Grand Place, a major tourist destination, was also evacuated.

"There was man and a small explosion took place near him. Soldiers neutralised him with gunfire. No one (else) was injured," federal police spokesman Peter De Waele said by phone to AFP.

Social media images showed an intense yet contained ball of fire in the station's underground arrival hall.

"I went down to the mezzanine level, someone was shouting. Then he cried 'Allahu Akbar', and he blew up a trolley,"Nicolas Van Herrewegen, 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.

'Under control'

About an hour after the events, the situation was "under control", the federal crisis centre said in a tweet.

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 government buildings in Brussels since the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks when a link to Belgium was first established.

Firefighters were called to the scene after the report of the small explosion, RTBF broadcaster reported.

Brussels has been on high alert since Islamic State 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 jihadist cell behind the November 2016 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

Belgium suffered a further shock last August when a machete-wielding man shouting "Allahu akbar" attacked two policewomen in the industrial town of Charleroi, before being shot dead.
In addition, 43 people were injured as of 2100 GMT, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

The violence erupted just a day after the CAR government and rebel groups agreed to an immediate ceasefire, a deal brokered by the Catholic community Sant'Egidio in five days of negotiations in 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 can't allow an attack to happen without reacting," said 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, which had signed Monday's peace accord.

Sporadic fighting has continued since Saturday between Christian 'anti-balaka' militias and the FPRC after its leader Hamad Issa was killed in the town, according to several sources.

"We know that much remains to be done. It is vital that the ceasefire agreed to by the parties is carried out immediately," said UN special representative on CAR, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga.

Battling between armed groups in the Bria area from May 15 to 18 left five people dead, 29 wounded and more than 40,000 others displaced, according to the UN.
CLEAR LAKE | Clear Lake-based nonprofit organization Opportunity Village announced its new name, One Vision, on Tuesday.

One Vision CEO Jeff Nichols said in a news release that he believes "our new name will carry us into the future while still recognizing our past.

The organization was founded more than 50 years ago as Handicap Village by a group of Clear Lake individuals. They were seeking to provide a place for people with disabilities to connect with one another and live with privacy, dignity and purpose.

The organizations founders accomplished this while also providing individuals a home on an 80-acre campus in Clear Lake.

Over the years, services expanded beyond Clear Lake. In 1984, the organization began providing services in Mason City and eventually added organizations in Lake Mills, Garner, Humboldt, Eagle Grove, and Choices Made Independently in Webster City to its service areas.

In 1994, Handicap Village changed its name to Opportunity Village to better represent who we were as an organization, Nichols said. As our organization continues to grow geographically and our services continue to diversify, we needed to reaffirm our vision as an organization. We are no longer a single place separate from those around us.

In 2010, Northwoods Living and Northwoods Products & Services in Fort Dodge merged with Opportunity Village. The organization currently provides services for 156 individuals and employs approximately 160 people in the Fort Dodge area.

In 2012, the landscape of how services were provided at Opportunity Village changed. The organization began a process of transitioning individuals living in segregated group home settings to smaller homes in communities of their choosing.

This was after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled people with disabilities have a qualified right to receive state-funded supports and services in the community, rather than segregated facilities.

The organization currently provides services to more than 550 people in numerous locations across 30 different North Iowa communities. A majority of services are provided in community-based settings.

Opportunity Village considers transforming campus into senior housing CLEAR LAKE | Opportunity Village officials are contemplating turning the nonprofit's 80-acre

One Vision was selected as the new name of the organization following a months-long process that involved gathering feedback and input from staff, board members, community members and the people it supports.

Nichols said he is excited about the name change "because it symbolizes how our founders came together with a common vision and how that still helps guide our efforts today."

As Opportunity Village did for a very long time, we will continue to do as One Vision  supporting people in numerous ways as they connect with their individual purpose," he said.
She brought legal challenges against Maduro's plan to reform the constitution, which his opponents say is a ploy to cling to power. She also brought charges against judges loyal to the president.

The Supreme Court said in a ruling Tuesday that it was admitting a lawsuit against Ortega "for alleged serious errors in the carrying-out of her functions."

The suit was brought by pro-government lawmaker Pedro Carreno, who accused Ortega of lying about the judges.

His suit is a preliminary step towards bringing charges against Ortega and potentially removing her from her post.

Opposition leader Freddy Guevara said an attorney general could only legally be removed by the state legislature and that lawmakers would resist it.

The legislature is controlled by an opposition majority, but the courts have consistently overruled it in Maduro's favor in more than a year of political rows.

The opposition later Tuesday formally called on Venezuelans to disobey the government.

"The current regime has sidestepped the constitution, therefore its authority and decisions are unconstitutional," said congressional speaker Julio Borges.

"They cannot be recognized or obeyed by anyone."

Prosecutors say 74 people have been killed since April in violence during daily protests by demonstrators demanding elections to remove Maduro from office.
Ex-rebels of the Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) signed a peace deal on June 20, 2015 aimed at curbing separatist uprisings in Mali's north after a 2012 rebellion was hijacked by jihadists, throwing the nation into chaos.

A ceremony to hand the president the national reconciliation charter written by a committee of experts was boycotted by the CMA, which said none of its recommendations made in early April at a peace conference were taken into account.

The absence of its suggestions, it said, "consequently means there is no chance of reaching agreement, and even less for bringing peace and national reconciliation," according to a statement seen by AFP.

The charter and peace conference were supposed to advance a peace process which among other provisions aims to integrate one-time rebel commanders into positions of authority in the north, and operate "mixed patrols" of former rebel groups with the regular army.

Mali's mediator at the peace conference, Baba Hakib Haidara, maintained the document was "guided... by the conclusions of the national reconciliation conference, recognising the deep-rooted causes of the crises that have marked our country since independence," speaking at Tuesday's ceremony.

Mali's jihadists did not sign the peace deal and have continued to wreak havoc despite an ongoing French-led military intervention in 2013 to remove them.

In a sign of their growing confidence, an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance claimed responsibility Monday for an attack on a tourist resort near Mali's capital that left five people dead.
Kenneth Bae, who was arrested in 2012, sentenced to 15 years hard labour, then freed after a secret mission to Pyongyang led by then-US intelligence chief James Clapper, said he was reasonably well treated in prison as he was a diplomatic bargaining chip.

"Everything depended on the US government's attitude," Korean-American Bae told South Korean broadcaster YTN in an interview broadcast live.

He said he had always thought it was "unimaginable" that a US citizen could die in a North Korean prison, and that he himself was never beaten or otherwise severely maltreated by the regime.

Bae said he had had to work long days in the fields doing manual labour, including planting beans and moving coal, a strenuous regime that caused him to lose 27 kilograms (60 pounds) during his period of detention.

But top Pyongyang officials, including a prosecutor, always made it clear they were going to trade him for diplomatic benefits, asking him "why the US government was so quiet" on his case and had not tried to free him immediately.

The prosecutor "told me the US had moved much quicker to secure the release of female journalists in 2009," Bae said, referring to Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were released after a short period in North Korean detention following a visit from former US president Bill Clinton.

The prosecutor "even said that he thought I would be there until his retirement," Bae, whose two-year stint in detention is the longest period a US citizen has spent in a North Korean prison in recent years.

Warning from Pyongyang

The 48-year-old published an account of his imprisonment and spoke with various media outlets after his 2014 release but said he stopped speaking out after Pyongyang warned his "jabbering" was imperilling the release of two American detainees -- including Warmbier.

"Since last year, I refrained from public activities out of concern that it could harm American and Canadian detainees in the North," Bae said in the interview.

But Warmbier's death had forced him to reconsider his position, he added.

"I came here today so that the death of the young man will not be futile but raise awareness about those detained in North Korea," he said.

Sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel while in the country as a tourist, 22-year-old Warmbier was medically evacuated from Pyongyang in a coma last week but died in the US Monday.

In the past North Korea has used the detention of US citizens to obtain high-profile visits from the likes of former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Clinton to secure their release.

Three 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.
Attorney General Ali bin Fetais al-Marri, one of the most senior legal figures in Qatar, said the case "is very clear" that the alleged hacking emanated from "countries responsible for the siege".

It is the first time Qatar has accused any other countries of carrying out the attack.

The alleged hack of the Qatar News Agency website on May 24 attributed explosive remarks to Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, sparking a series of events that led to the region's diplomatic crisis.

The remarks covered sensitive political subjects such as Iran, Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Israel and the United States.

They were quickly seized on by news organisations outside Qatar, but Doha said they were false.

"We have evidence to show that iPhones originating from the countries laying siege to us have been used in this hacking," said Marri.

"We have enough evidence to point the finger of blame at these countries."

Marri, speaking in Arabic, did not name any nations, but when pressed said the hack originated in "neighbouring countries".

He said the hack was carried out in more than one country.

Less than a fortnight after the cyber attack, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and other allies severed on June 5 all links with Qatar over accusations that Doha supports extremism -- a claim it denies.

As well as diplomatic isolation, other measures taken included closing Qatar's only land border, banning its planes from using their airspace and barring Qatari nationals from transiting through their airports.

Qatari nationals were told to leave those countries within 14 days, and some 11,000 citizens from the Saudi-led alliance countries living in Doha were ordered home -- a deadline which passed on Monday.

Marri, speaking at a Doha press conference, added that he would be able "very soon" to give specific phone numbers for those who he claimed were responsible for the alleged hack.

Investigators in Qatar had also traced internet service providers used to the Saudi-led allied countries, he said.

"We have sent the information to the countries concerned and we are awaiting their response," said Marri.

He added: "As far as we are concerned the case is very clear."

The subsequent inquiry ordered by the Qatari government into the hack used investigators from the FBI and the United Kingdom.
The escort plane, a Sukhoi SU-27, demonstrated it was armed by rocking its wings, after which the NATO plane flew off, Interfax reported.

Russian state television aired defence ministry footage of the incident, reporting that it took place over neutral waters.

NATO and national air forces decided to monitor flights after last week tracking "an unusually large number of Russian military aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea," a NATO spokesman said in a statement sent to AFP.

NATO insisted the crew's actions were "routine" to identify the plane while "maintaining a safe distance at all times" and then break away.

Shoigu on Wednesday was flying to Kaliningrad, a highly militarised Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, to take part in a meeting with defence officials there.

At the meeting, he warned that "the situation near Russia's western borders is tending to get worse," the ministry said on its website.

"This is tied with the upsurge of military activity of NATO countries in Eastern Europe," Shoigu added.

The meeting came after NATO held military exercises at the weekend in Poland on the Lithuanian border close to Kaliningrad.

NATO is deploying four international battalions in Poland and each of the former Soviet Baltic states -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Moscow sees the NATO build-up in the region as demonstrating a desire to contain Russia.

On Wednesday, Sweden summoned Russia's ambassador after a Russian Sukhoi fighter jet flew unusually close to a Swedish reconnaissance plane above the Baltic Sea.

"The Russian behaviour is unacceptable" and had increased the risk of a serious incident, Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told the TT news agency.

That incident, in international airspace, happened on Monday, a Swedish army statement said.

Also on Monday, a Russian fighter conducted an "unsafe" intercept of a US reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea, the US military said Tuesday.

Russia's defence ministry said, however, that its fighter plane reacted after the American reconnaissance plane made a "provocative turn" towards it, while another US reconnaissance plane entered the same area 10 minutes later.

Russian fighter jets routinely approach and identify aircraft in the skies over the Baltic and Kaliningrad, but most of these actions stay within safe limits.

Both Washington and Stockholm said the latest incidents went beyond those limits.
MASON CITY | A Mason City man accused of injuring a woman during a sexual assault attempt in November was given a partially-suspended jail sentence this week.

Michael J. Chojnacki, 23, was found guilty by a Cerro Gordo County jury earlier this year on a misdemeanor charge of assault causing bodily injury.

He was sentenced to 365 days in jail with all but 30 days suspended. He was ordered to pay a $315 fine, plus $120 to the Crime Victim Compensation Program.

Chojnacki was put on probation for two years.

The Mason City Police Department charged Chojnacki with intent to commit sexual abuse causing injury.

Mason City man charged with attempted sexual abuse MASON CITY | A Mason City man has been charged with felony assault with intent to commit sex

He was accused of assaulting a woman while attempting to force her into a sex act.

The woman was injured during the assault, police said.

The jury was given the option of finding Chojnacki not guilty or finding him guilty of either assault with intent to commit sexual abuse causing injury, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, assault causing bodily injury or assault.

 Mary Pieper
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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!
HAMPTON | The owners of a now-closed Hampton lumber business have been ordered to pay $3.5 million to a Missouri bank for alleged fraud and non-payment of a note.

The Exchange Bank of Missouri filed a civil lawsuit in Franklin County District Court in March 2016 against F.C. Lumber Inc. and Roger and Kaye Peters, directors of the corporation.

The Peters operated Franklin County Lumber in Hampton, which closed in December 2015.

The lawsuit alleged the F.C. Lumber had overdrafts on its Exchange Bank Account totaling $2.7 million, according to court documents, and owed $771,872 for a promissory note.

The bank alleged the Peters created the multi-million dollar overdraft by kiting checks, a form of fraud that involves using non-existent funds in a bank account.

Owners of former Hampton business sued for $3.6 million HAMPTON  A Missouri bank is suing the owners of a now-closed business in Hampton for more t

Judge Colleen Weiland issued a ruling on the case earlier this month. Weiland also ruled the couple is responsible for paying 3.12 percent interest on the judgment, accruing from Feb. 25, 2016.

The bank has asked the Peters pay its attorney fees, which total $106,451. A ruling hasn't been issued on that request.
The opening ceremony was also attended by Mr Venkaiah Naidu, minister for urban development and Mr Siddaramaiah, chief minister of Karnataka.

Construction began on Phase 1 in 2007 and public services started in 2011 with the opening of the MG Road - Baiyappanahalli section of the east-west Purple Line.

The first section of the north-south Green Line opened in February 2014. The two lines intersect at Majestic station.

The opening of the southern section of the Green Line takes the total length of the Green Line to 24.2km. Phase 1 has a total length of 42km with 41 stations, two depots, one Operational control centre and one back-up control centre.

Alstom was awarded a 114m contract by Bangalore Metro Rail (BMRCL) in 2009 for the design, manufacture, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the train control and signalling and telecommunications systems on both lines.

The contract also included deployment of Alstom's Urbalis 200 automatic train control solution.
Maryland Democrats are proposing a restructuring of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority that would also include dedicated funding for the transit operator.

The proposal, released June 19 by suburban representatives and reported in local media, would shrink the WMATA board from 16 to three members, namely, the secretaries of transportation of Maryland and Virginia, and Washington, D.C.s transportation director.

The current board is composed of appointees from the three jurisdictions and the federal government.

The plan would have to be approved by lawmakers in the city and both states and ratified by Congress.

Sufficient dedicated funding, which the agency has pegged at $500 million annually, would likely be raised through taxes. WMATA is not tax-supported, and relies on subsidies from the three jurisdictions and the federal government.
Continued economic uncertainty worldwide increases the likelihood of shorter cycles and lower levels of funding in the charity sector. As a result, public and private grant-makers are reluctant to make longer-term funding commitments.

The notion of short-term vs. multi-annual core funding, which provides funding over several years, has different implications for innovation and the people that are retained and recruited within the charity sector. Despite the recent trend towards short-termism, RAND Europe's evaluation of the Atlantic Philanthropies migration programme demonstrated the value in long-term funding. In 2004, the Atlantic Philanthropies began making grants in the Republic of Ireland to help bring about lasting improvements in the country's ability to manage migration and improve migrants' access to justice and services. During the 1990s, Ireland began to experience a substantial increase in migration, which peaked in 2006-07. These trends exerted pressure on the existing legislative framework regulating migrants' rights, put demands on the government's departments and services, and had implications for community cohesion. In 2004, the Atlantic Philanthropies began making grants in the Republic of Ireland to help bring about lasting improvements in the country's ability to manage migration and improve migrants' access to justice and services. By 2014, it had awarded $40 million to 18 civil society organisations in the Republic of Ireland and also supported organisations working to influence European Union policy affecting immigrants. RAND Europe's independent evaluation of this grant-making program demonstrated the value that long-term funding had in helping build the capacity to secure further funding, establish new partnerships and survive a transition phase as an organisation.

An ideal view of the grant-giving process is one in which competing for funding drives organisations to excel in creating innovative ways to tackle the issues they are concerned about. In theory, short-term cycles lead to organisations constantly seeking secure fresh sources of funding, which, in turn, encourages organisations to try new things and distinguish themselves from competitors. Even when the economy is performing well, there can be a tendency to apply a short-term approach to funding in an attempt to foster innovation.

However, a case can be made that innovation is more likely to occur if grantees are not busy securing their organisational survival on a grant-by-grant basis, and have time to reflect on what might improve the way they deliver their work, such as trying new methods or approaches. In this regard, the short-term approach to funding could have the opposite effectstifling innovation rather than encouraging it. A multi-annual core funding cycle can help to meet an organisation's running and programme costs, so it can focus more on the wider operational and policy objectives.

People, the greatest asset in the charity sector, could also be affected by the move towards shorter-term funding cycles. Working in the charity sector requires a unique skill set and relevant experience, so recruiting and retaining the right people can be a challenge. Short-term, project based or annual funding for civil society organisations results in short-term employment contracts, which leads to unstable employment and a big turnover of staff. This can decrease organisational learning and growth, and creates instability.

When staff leave or project funding is not renewed, servicesoften to the most vulnerable in societyare interrupted or discontinued. This can be appropriate if organisations are not delivering the services they promised or are not delivering them in the right manner. However, a short-term funding system can not only affect the 'bad apples' not doing their job, but also high-performing organisations that need longer-term funding to survive and thrive.

A case can be made that multi-annual core funding might be more likely to enable grantees to deliver services, retain staff, collaborate with other organisations, grow and mature, and develop or change their ways of doing business. Of course, unlimited renewal of funding is unfeasibleeven for the most successful organisationsas funding priorities change, services might be mainstreamed, and other organisations may seek access to funding to try new ideas. However, providers of multi-annual core funding could be encouraged to develop long-term strategies, such as building capacity for future funding, to prepare for the inevitable challenges that arise when an individual funding stream ends.

In the current economic climate, the prospect of a wide-spread shift to multi-annual core funding does not seem likely. Restrictive annual funding cycles will continue to impose insecurity around funding levels and related organisational risks. Ultimately, it is service users who bear the impact of a system based on funding short-term projects, often left with the more difficult choices of finding new sources of support. While uncertainty is bad for grantees, it is probably affecting those who are thought to benefit most from a grantthe end-usersmore than anybody else.

Daniel Ferrell-Schweppenstedde was an analyst at RAND Europe when he participated on the project team that evaluated the Atlantic Philanthropies Migration Programme.

This commentary originally appeared on Grant Solutions 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.
Samsung has a history of launching the Galaxy Note devices at the IFA event in Berlin. The Galaxy Note 7 was launched on August 2. Now it is almost time for Samsung to return the ill-fated Note lineup to glory once again.

This time we have the specific date along with the month as previously rumored. Yes. A new report from Korean news publisher Naver states that Samsung might launch the phablet on August 26. Although that is almost a month later than last year. It will still allow Samsung to stay ahead from its biggest archrival Apple. According to the report, the event is to be held in New York.

The Galaxy Note 8 promises to showcase an impressive first dual camera from Samsung along with an Infinity Display that is even bigger than the Galaxy S8. The metal-glass phone will be an absolute 6.3-inch monster. The rumors of an on-screen fingerprint scanner have all been buried now as Samsung is expected to feature the sensor at the back. The device is, expected to run on latest Snapdragon chipset. All in all, we expect the upcoming phablet to be a monster of a device.

Source
In early January, then-President-Elect Trump bragged that he had helped put the kibosh on a plan to shift production of the Ford Focus from Michigan to Mexico. So where are they building it? In China. Fords decision to shift production across the Pacific proves how the marketplace actually works: Presidential strong-arm tactics cannot dilute rational economic decision-making.

Trump had attempted to grab credit for Fords decision not to build a $1.6 billion Focus plant in Mexico, despite the fact that Ford executives had said repeatedly that the decision had nothing to do with the President, his policies or his threats. They said their decisions are based on whats best for the business  ultimately the investors. The move to China demonstrates that. As a company statement announcing the decision said, by finding a more cost-effective way to deliver the Focus, Ford positions itself to re-deploy the money saved into growth areas, such as SUVs, commercial vehicles, and autonomous and electrified vehicles. For example, the efficiencies and savings will help Ford invest $900 million in its Louisville plant where the company will produce a new version of the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator  preserving about 1,000 jobs.

The truth is, offshore production facilitates the maintenance  and even the creation  of jobs at home. Take the jeans company based in Mauldin, S.C., that exports 85 percent of its denim duty-free to Mexico, where it is cut and sewn into their jeans, and then shipped back to the United States to be sold. That practice, made possible by NAFTA, has allowed the South Carolina plant to compete and survive  and maintain jobs for its 2,700 workers. That is the way trade works. Part of it, logically, involves job creation in Mexico or China or other countries. But in the process, it allows thousands of jobs  millions nation-wide  to survive. Mercantilists might prefer if they could cling to every job. But trying to do that would only make the overall price of the product uncompetitive. By offshoring some jobs in lower-wage countries, companies like Ford make their operations more competitive and millions of jobs more secure.

A well-thought-out and planned corporate decision to offshore production preserves far more American jobs than any politicians threats ever have. The fact is, companies making products with a large knowledge component do not make products from top-to-bottom in any one country. In an era of increasingly sophisticated manufacturing that relies more on computers and robotics than low-wage workers, centers of innovation in highly-developed economies like the United States will exert a greater pull than before. For proof, consider GMs announcement last September that it will cease manufacturing an automobile engine at a factory in Mexico while moving jobs to a plant in Canada, near Waterloo, Ontario, Canadas equivalent of Silicon Valley. The decision underscores how multinationals are fine-tuning their approach to making things: Increasingly, they differentiate between labor-intensive manufacturing  like stitching denim into blue jeans  and more advanced, machine-intensive pursuits that rely on automation and software. And, given that state-of-the-art products fetch a higher price, it is presumably worth paying a premium to the relatively limited number of well-trained workers involved in their creation.

Trying to keep production of the Ford Focus in Michigan was not the first example of Trumps attempts to substitute bluster and bullying for market economics. Last Fall, soon after the election, he used $7 million of the State of Indianas money to persuade Carrier to spare about 800 of its Indianapolis jobs from an impending move to Mexico. The bad news? Over the next few years many of those jobs will be made redundant by improved technologies - according to no less a source than the parent companys CEO. That's one of the problems when government tries to pick winners and losers. It takes little time for the wins to turn into economic losses. The lesson? If you want to preserve jobs, focus on the market fundamentals. A strong business case beats strong-arm tactics.
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ALGONA | Officials have identified the woman who was killed in an Algona house fire early Tuesday morning.

Jessica Lierley Southard, 29, of Des Moines, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a news release from the Kossuth County Sheriff's Department.

Karen Lierley, 69, of Algona, was injured. She was treated and transferred to another facility, a Kossuth County Regional Medical Center spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Patrice Lierley, 63, of Des Moines, the other occupant of the house, was treated and released.

One dead, two hurt in Algona house fire ALGONA | One person was pronounced dead at the scene of a house fire in Algona early Tuesday.

The Algona Fire Department received a 911 call at 2:33 a.m. Tuesday reporting a house fire at 211 Brookridge.

Upon arrival, the fire department discovered heavy smoke and located the fire in a bedroom in the house.

The State Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the fire.

 Ashley Miller
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 06/21/2017



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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 is weighing in on the brewing tension between her bachelors Lee Garrett and Kenny Layne "I asked for a diverse group of men because I don't have a type and I truly thought that would give me the best opportunity to find my husband, but sometimes opposites and different types don't attract -- at least when it comes to a house full of guys," Rachel wrote in her People blog."I didn't foresee how much conflict would arise between the men, but it never stopped."The feud between Lee and Kenny began when Lee interrupted his buddy's alone time with Rachel at the cocktail party during Monday night's episode. Kenny acknowledged that the incident allowed Lee two conversations with the Bachelorette that night -- leaving Kenny feeling robbed, played and dismissed.Rachel said drama is to be expected in The Bachelor franchise, but a huge "blowup" fight is out of line."I remember how it was on [ Nick Viall ]'s season to have an argument with another person on this journey. We're not all here to be friends with each other -- we're here for one relationship," Rachel explained."But when you let that anger get the best of you and I can hear you screaming at top of your lungs at another guy while I'm trying to have a conservation on the other side of the mansion and can't focus because of your tantrum, it's a problem!"Kenny was the guy yelling at Lee, who eventually called the pro wrestler "aggressive." However, Kenny later confessed to Rachel he regretted losing his temper and overreacting."I understand Lee cut Kenny's time short, but the fit Kenny threw was so big it bled into important one-on-one conversations I desperately needed to have with the more patient men. I was honestly disappointed in a lot of the men that night," Rachel admitted in her blog."Yes, I only have two eyes, but if someone is on this journey who doesn't belong, I'll figure out that for myself even if it takes me longer than it should. It was sweet of guys like [ Peter Kraus ] to ignore that fighting and focus on me, but I had already heard enough."Rachel therefore cut the cocktail party short and went right into the Rose Ceremony on Monday night's episode when she eliminated Bryce Powers Brady Ervin and Diggy Moreland because she wasn't feeling the "romance" with them.But the drama followed Rachel and her group of guys to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. During the week's only group date, tension heightened when Kenny discovered Lee had warned Rachel about his temper."As you saw, the drama I had hoped was left back in [Los Angeles] instead carried over into the after party that night. Every other one-on-one conversation I was having ended up being about one of the other guys' issues instead of about the relationship that I was supposed to be forming with the man sitting in front of me," Rachel vented."I did my best to dig for answers to lay some beefs to rest, but I wasn't getting much clarity from Kenny or Lee."The episode concluded with Kenny pulling Lee aside for a chat outside as other bachelors anticipated a huge brawl and maybe even some blood shed.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 06/21/2017



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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.

has officially introduced its very first guest judge.NBC has announced American Ballet Theatre star Misty Copeland will serve as a guest judge on for its July 18 and July 25 episodes.Misty will join regular judges Jennifer Lopez Derek Hough and Ne-Yo during Round 3 of the dancing competition called "The Cut." All the while, Jenna Dewan Tatum serves as host and mentor of the acts.During "The Cut" round, more than half the acts will be sent home, and only the Top 2 acts from each division will move on to "The Divisional Final."Misty is the first African-American principal ballerina in the history of American Ballet Theatre."When judging the best of the best, we knew we needed an all-star guest judge with passion and credibility to mentor these incredible dancers," Lopez said in a statement. " Misty Copeland is at the top of her game and we are so honored that she was able to lend her expertise and experience to the stage."Misty joined American Ballet Theatre in 2001 and in 2007 became the company's second African-American female soloist and the first in two decades.In 2015, Misty was promoted to principal dancer, becoming the first African-American woman in this position throughout the company's 75-year history. A couple of her major roles have included Odette/Odile in "Swan Lake" and Juliet in "Romeo & Juliet."Misty has also performed on Broadway and is a New York Times bestselling author.just commenced its round of duels in which two dance acts in a division square off for only one spot in "The Cut" round.The individual, duo, trio or group to eventually win will walk away with the $1 million grand prize.
MANLY | The State Fire Marshal's Office is assisting investigating a fire that destroyed a home and apartment building in Manly Monday afternoon.

The cause is undetermined at this point  and may not be able to be determined  due to the extent of the fire, Manly Fire Chief Bob Rush said Wednesday. The fire does not appear to be suspicious or criminal in nature at this time, he said.

"Both buildings appear to be a total loss," he said.

Rush said the fire is believed to have started in the garage of a single-family home, 217 E. North St. Five fire departments provided assistance during the fire, which Rush said was reported around 2:29 p.m. Monday.

Fire destroys one building, damages another in Manly MANLY | A fire destroyed one residential building in Manly and damaged the one next door Mon

The home is owned by John Choate of Manly, according to online property records.

Property records indicate the neighboring apartment building, 211 E. North St., is owned by Cam Properties LLC of Des Moines.

The manager of that LLC is listed as Mitchell K. Kressin, according to filings with the Iowa Secretary of State's Office.

Fifteen people were displaced by the fire, Rush said, but no one was hurt. The Salvation Army has provided assistance, Worth County Emergency Manager Ray Huftalin said Monday.
CLEAR LAKE | Years ago, a young musician approached band director Lud Wangberg and asked him how he was ever going to learn a difficult piece of music.

Smiling, Wangberg told him, "Go in the woodshed. Put the music down on the wood pile. Practice it until you can play it."

Many memories have been shared this week about Wangberg, legendary band director in Clear Lake for more than half a century, who died Saturday in Rogers, Minnesota. He was 94.

Longtime Mason City music teacher and musician Harvey VonWald said Wangberg had the kind of personality in which he could get along with anyone.

"I don't remember him ever being angry," said VonWald, who first met Wangberg more than 50 years ago when VonWald was teaching in Northwood before a long career in the Mason City school system.

"I still have a plaque he gave me years ago. It was in appreciation for my 50 years in the Clear Lake Municipal Band," he said.

VonWald said Wangberg was a great musician. "He could play the French horn as fast as anyone," he said. "Carlton Stewart (noted Mason City band director) said, 'Lud could play in anybody's band.'"

Jim Reynolds, a retired Clear Lake band instructor, first played for Wangberg as a fifth- and sixth-grade student, then in the Clear Lake High School Band and then in the Clear Lake Municipal Band.

"He loved kids," said Reynolds. "He was always enthusiastic. He never got down on himself or anyone else. He was always a lot of fun."

Reynolds said a lasting tribute to Wangberg is the large number of his students who have had careers as professional musicians or music teachers.

Mike McEniry, who retired this year as a Mason City High School band director, said he played for a few years with the Clear Lake Municipal Band while Wangberg was the director.

"He spent his life with music. As the municipal band director, he really knew how to pick a program that would entertain the audience and that the band enjoyed playing," McEniry said. "He was always positive and upbeat and had a great sense of humor."

No. 27: Community bands In 1921, the Iowa Legislature passed the Iowa Band Law, authorizing communities with less th

Wangberg taught at Clear Lake High School for 34 years and directed the Drum & Bugle Corps, as well as the choirs at Zion Lutheran Church and Galilean Lutheran Church.

He was instrumental in building the bandshell in City Park where he directed the Clear Lake Municipal Band from 1951 to 2006. The bandshell is named in his honor.

Wangberg came from a musical family. His father was a baritone soloist and violinist, and his mother was a soprano who played the mandolin.

Despite the musical heritage and Wangberg's given name, Ludvig, he was not named after Beethoven, he said in a 2006 interview with the Globe Gazette. He was named for a Norwegian immigrant who was his father's friend.

In that same interview, he recalled that at age 10, he saw John Philip Sousa lead his band at Madison, South Dakota, and especially loved the way he conducted "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

He decided then he would some day lead a band  and he did, for more than 50 years.
Arnab Dutta traces how Bira 91 is already among the top two in the premium segment in all the cities that it is present in today and how it is giving larger brands Kingfisher and Budweiser a run for their market share.

Two years, four products, seven cities; that is how Bira 91, the Indian beer with a Belgian heart, introduces itself as it gets ready to expand into eight new cities and extend its portfolio of brands in 2017.

Ankur Jain, founder of B9 Beverages that owns the Bira 91 brand says that the product is already among the top two in the premium segment (priced Rs 80 or above for 330 ml) in all the cities that it is present in today and it is giving lager brands Kingfisher, Budweiser and others a run for their market share.

Jains Bira 91 made its debut in a handful of pubs in Bengaluru in 2015.

There was not much advertising, but the company organised tasting sessions with pub owners and beer groups to build familiarity with the brand.

The aim was to create a brand that was heavy on taste, young and unorthodox and positioned in between cheap Indian labels and expensive foreign ones.

This was the brief extended to its design team led by Dev Kabir Malik, director creative identity and packaging at B9 Beverages.

The first step was to get the name right. Malik says, We chose Bira because we were looking for an Indian sounding name. But it had to be short and easy to pronounce by anyone anywhere in the world. The 91 stands for the Indian telephone code.

Malik who also runs a design agency called DKMD says, We began with the intent to create a creative lifestyle brand that was unorthodox and independent (and not just a product).

This objective was fleshed out in the logo and the name by flipping the B in name Bira.

This was then refined and redrawn as a custom logotype for greater recall, inability, and because the four letters looked better this way, Malik adds.

It took the team six months to sign off on the logo. because everyone was keen to develop a completely unique look.

Also the mix had to be just right where the brand flaunted the Indian connection but appealed to a global audience.

This was also the objective behind bringing the monkey in as brand mascot. The monkey stands for fun and accessibility; it was also different from the regular tiger-lion mascots that most alcohol brands go for says Malik.

Interestingly according to a report by Nielsen Global (The state of the US beer market) globally drinkers of craft beer pay a lot of attention to design.

The reason being the growing clutter of brands in this segment and consumers prefer to make a choice over the counter rather than making their mind up beforehand.

Marketing and label innovation play a significant role in getting noticed and added to shoppers carts. Standing out visually is also important when you consider that beer purchase decisions are more likely to be made at the shelf than overall fast-moving consumer goods purchases, the report said.

While design has played a big role, Jain and his team believe that Bira has been able to position itself in this manner because it sharply focused on the customer.

Jain says he knew the market, the audience and their palate.

He also knew what appealed to their design sensibilities. After spending seven years in the corporate world, Jain decided to try his luck in the Indian beer market in 2009.

He started with Cerana Beverages, a company that imported and distributed premium craft beer brands from Belgium, Germany, and the US.

Jain launched Bira 91 in 2015. The timing was fortuitous. According to a report on the Indian beer market by BMI Research earlier this year, the craft beer market in India is set to gallop at a breakneck pace.

With more than 80 operating microbreweries versus just two in 2008, sales of craft beer are rising 20 per cent year-on-year, the report said.

During the past two years, Bira 91 has launched four products and expanded into seven Indian cities.

Last year it launched in New York. The next phase of expansion will see Bira 91 selling in Gurugram, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Puducherry, among other markets.

The brands journey has not been entirely smooth, however. The company severely under-anticipated demand and ran into a supply shortage last summer. It also faced a crisis when some of its supplier relationships broke down and that led Jain to invest in capacity building.

After sourcing from Belgium for over a month during the peak season, Jain roped in an Indore based brewery in 2016. This year it is also adding a new bottler from Nagpur.

To build capacity, Jain raised close to $10 million from investors last year.

The firm had received $6 million as Series A funding. And in January 2016, venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, along with individual investors like Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, (founders of Snapdeal) Mayank Singhal (Temasek Holdings) and Deepinder Goyal (founder Zomato) invested in the company.

With 250 employees and offices in seven cities, Jain is now looking at quadrupling revenue to Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) in 2017-18.

The domestic beer market is expected to double in the next five years. Also people are going for more premium products, he says.

The plan is to capture the top position in countrys premium beer market where global leader Budweiser rules.

Our volume off-take is at par with Budweiser or higher in most markets. We are either number one or number two in our present markets. In Delhi, for example, we will sell 65,000-70,000 cases this season compared to Budweisers sale of 40,000 cases, says Jain.
Stars go for the loveliest holidays -- exotic locations with a lot of adventure thrown in.

We bring you their travels in a special series.

Amy Jackson explored Cannes while she was there for the Cannes Film Festival.

Ranveer Singh had a superb Swiss holiday.

Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmu went to London for their babymoon.

Television couple Shabbir Ahluwalia and Kanchi Kaul went on a holiday to Maldives.

This week, it's time to travel to Prague with our desi girl, who has been killin' it globally!

Priyanka Chopra made sure to share pictures from her Prague diaries.

Daddy's little girl was too tired to smile when she landed at Prague.





Whatta view!

Being all touristy at the Charles Bridge.





'Nostalgic.. the beautiful Vltava river,' PeeCee captions this picture.





It was time for dinner with her team.

'What's the look of the day?' she asks make-up artist Yumi Mori.





Gregory Kaoua then gets ready to do her hair.





And voila! Priyanka is ready for the camera once again!

Indulging in the local food.





'Shoot life selfie.. when nothing is surprising anymore!! #bigbrowneyes #surpriseme,' she writes with this picture.





Prague, by the night.

Priyanka ends her Prague diaries with this message: 'Thank u #prague for being such a wonderful host. I had the best time exploring the city while working crazy hours. Thank u #hanka and Czech crew for looking after me so much. Loved the memories I'm taking back.. @etro @cristinaehrlich Ps- check out the locks behind me. To signify forever love... aaaahhh.'

Photographs: Kind courtesy Priyanka Chopra/Instagram
The BJP has been pushing the two AIADMK groups to merge and then get the Sasikala clan out of the party and government.

T E Narasimhan and Gireesh Babu report.

The crisis in Tamil Nadu's ruling party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, has escalated.

Seven months after the death of J Jayalalithaa, its supremo and the state's chief minister, the party has split into at least three factions.

All within a year after it was re-elected to office.

With a Presidential election in the offing and a legislative assembly session, political experts are speculating on what lies ahead.

Without Jayalalithaa's commanding presence, the AIADMK first split in February.

One faction was led by her loyal aide and three-time chief minister, O Panneerselvam, who formally succeeded her as head of the government.

After having resigned, he alleged he had been forced to do so by Jaya's successor as party chief (titled 'general secretary'), head of her household while she was alive, V K Sasikala.

Sasikala and MLAs loyal to her elected E K Palaniswami, a minister in the Jaya cabinet, as CM.

Right after this, Sasikala was convicted in a long-standing case involving charges of graft and accumulation of disproportionate assets -- where Jaya was the prime accused -- and given a prison term.

Before going into prison, she appointed T T V Dinakaran, her nephew, deputy general secretary of the party.

It was expected that Dinakaran would be Sasikala's eyes and ears for the duration she was in prison and Palaniswami would take directions from him.

Dinakaran was, shortly after, booked and arrested on charges of trying to bribe an Election Commission of India official to get a favourable order on allotment of the official party symbol to his group.

Senior ministers joined Palaniswami in announcing they were distancing Dinakaran and the Sasikala family from the party and government.

However, Dinakaran got bail and came out of jail on June 1.

32 MLAs visited him, making the contours of another split clear.

This has created a new crisis for the Palaniswami government.

Some senior ministers still say the Sasikala family and Dinakaran will be allowed no role in party or government.

'Our stand continues to be the same, as in April,' said Finance Minister D Jayakumar after internal discussions on June 5.

Responding to this, Dinakaran said: 'No one has the power to expel me or Sasikala from the AIADMK.'

Speaking to reporters after meeting his aunt for nearly 90 minutes, he asked how Jayakumar had the authority to issue such a statement.

Choosing his words, Dinakaran said he had kept away from the party for six weeks, expecting that his absence would help the Panneerselvam and Palaniswami factions to unite.

But, he said, they were not even ready to talk to each other.

Palaniswami, still the CM, has the deemed support of 90 MLAs.

Panneerselvam has 12 and, as mentioned earlier, another 32 have met Dinakaran.

This is in a 234-member legislative assembly where the Opposition parties number 97.

M K Stalin, the working president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, has said they are ready to do their duty in the assembly.

The Panneerselvam faction's relevance is now in question. His 12 MLAs had joined him in February and he has been unable to attract any more, despite the ongoing tussle between the others.

'Only the general secretary of the party can take action against me. I am very much in charge of party affairs,' says Dinakaran.

Sasikala, he says, had asked him to wait for 60 days.

If the party is not united even after that, 'We know what to do.'

The 60 days end on August 5.

With almost four years left in the current assembly's life, none of the factions wants its dissolution, which is likely to follow if the government fell.

Panneerselvam declared his faction would do nothing to displace Palaniswami.

The Dinakaran faction is also expected to go slow on this front.

What the Bharatiya Janata Party and its government at the Centre would do is being discussed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi separately met Panneerselvam and Palaniswami more than once.

Both factions have separately invited the PM to participate in the birth centenary events of AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa's mentor.

Both sides have planned separate events in December. Unwittingly or otherwise, they are now engaged in a competition to woo the BJP.

Panneerselvam issued a tweet on a possible alliance with the BJP for the coming civic polls.

'We will take a decision once local body elections are announced,' was the statement from his Twitter handle.

This was later removed, the faction saying it would decide on a tie-up with 'any party' only after the local body poll dates were declared.

Dairy Development Minister K T Rajendra Balaji says the BJP is the option of the future.

"What is wrong with supporting the BJP? You cannot keep saying they are not bothered about other castes or communities. They were the one who made a Muslim, Dr Abdul Kalam, the President of India," he added.

The AIADMK's unified support to the BJP is considered crucial to ensure a victory for the latter's nominee in the Presidential polls, scheduled on July 17.

The AIADMK has a 5.36 per cent vote share in the electoral college. And both the EPS and OPS camps seem firmly with the BJP on this.

According to sources, the BJP has been pushing the two groups to merge and then get the Sasikala clan out of the party and government.

IMAGE: From left, V K Sasikala, O Panneerselvam, E K Palaniswami. Photograph: PTI Photo
Chinas efforts to rein in North Korea have not worked out, US President Donald Trump has said but appreciated Beijing for its attempts to pursue its closest ally to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

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 said in a tweet which came hours before the US and China were set to meet in Washington to talk about North Korea.

The meeting comes amid concern that North Korea is preparing a sixth nuclear test.

There was speculation earlier this year that North Korea was set to provoke Trump with its sixth nuclear test since 2006. However, the reclusive state has instead carried out a series of missile launches.

In a report, The New York Times said that Trumps tweet is an extraordinary admission of failure in his strategy for dealing with the rogue regime of Kim Jong-un.

White House press secretary Sean Spice said the US has been very forceful in its political and economic pressure that has been applied on North Korea.

I think well continue to apply that. Obviously, China has played and can continue to play a greater role in helping to resolve this situation, and we will continue to hopefully build on the relationship and the dialogue that weve had with China, Spicer said.

I think there have been some positive steps that theyve taken, both at the UN and economically, to help strengthen the case against North Korea. But Im not going to get ahead of where we may or may not go. And obviously, we hope that those discussions with China are productive and continue to move us forward, he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Trump at his private Florida estate in April, a meeting that both leaders said warmed relations between the countries.
Boeing also won a $4.5-billion contract for 10 C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, and will soon start delivery of $3 billion contracts to supply 22 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and 15 CH-47F Chinook heavy lift helicopters., reports Ajai Shukla.

The Indian Navys Boeing P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft -- reputedly the worlds most fearsome submarine hunters -- have proved themselves in joint patrols with the United States Navy in the Indian Ocean, tracking Chinese submarines.

Last July, a pleased Indian Navy signed a billion-dollar contract with Boeing for four more P-8Is to augment the eight aircraft it already flies. Delivery will begin in 2020.

But, with Chinese submarine activity growing in the Indian Ocean, the navy wants more P-8Is on station.

The navy has now signed a $100-million contract, requiring Boeing to maintain spare parts and personnel in India, ready to respond to any defects or failures in the P-8I fleet over the next three years.

The so-called performance-based logistics contract requires Boeing to continue the warranty services it has so far provided under an initial production contract, which will expire in October.

This contract will substantially bolster Boeings performance-based support to the Indian Navy and should maintain or increase the operational capability of the eight-aircraft fleet, said Boeing.

Since the P-8I is based on a commercial Boeing 737-800/900 airliner, material support will also be sourced from the Boeing Commercial Aviation Services Fleet Services division. This is yet another lucrative triumph for Boeing, which has won more than $10 billion worth of Indian defence contracts since 2009.

Besides $3 billion worth of P-8Is, Boeing won a $4.5-billion contract for 10 C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, and will soon start delivery of $3 billion contracts to supply 22 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and 15 CH-47F Chinook heavy lift helicopters.

Pratyush Kumar, president of Boeing India and vice president of Boeing International said, With this contract, the Indian Navy can be assured of achieving exceptional operational capability and readiness of the P-8I fleet.

Despite the navys growing reliance on the P-8I fleet, which has replaced ageing Soviet-era maritime patrol aircraft like the Tupolev-142 and Ilyushin-38, the navys P-8Is remain handicapped by New Delhis reluctance to sign a cooperation pact called the Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement.

Indias refusal prevents Washington from providing CISMOA-controlled equipment, which would allow Indian and US submarines and P-8 aircraft to operate together smoothly.

To keep track of hostile submarines in the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, naval pilots fly their P-8Is on eight-to-10 hour surveillance missions over these waters.

To strike enemy warships and submarines, the P-8I carries seven tonnes of weaponry on board, including advanced Harpoon missiles and heavyweight torpedoes.

IMAGE: The Indian Navy's P-8I fleet. Photograph: PTI Photo.
Kumar's support to the NDA candidate will be a major setback for opposition parties who are meeting on Thursday to decide on their presidential nominee. M I Khan reports from Patna.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumars Janata Dal-United has decided to support National Democratic Alliances presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

After meeting with JD-U MLAs, Kumar on Wednesday decided to extend support to Kovinds candidature.

JD-U spokesperson K C Tyagi also said that the party will not attend the meeting of opposition parties on Thursday, saying the meeting is now "irrelevant" for his party after its support for Kovind, a low profile Dalit leader whose nomination by the BJP has drawn support from several non-NDA parties.

Earlier, JD-U MLA Ratnesh Sada told reports that Kumar has told the MLAs that the party will support Kovind.

Nitish Kumar has decided that the JD-U will support Kovind, Sada told after coming out of the core committee meeting chaired by Kumar.

According to JD-U leaders, party MLAs had authorised Kumar to take a final decision on support to Kovind ahead of the core committee meeting of the party at 1 Anne Marg, official residence of chief minister.

Kumars support to Kovind will be a major setback for the opposition parties led by the Congress.

Earlier too, he had supported the government's decisions like demonetisation, which had invited flak from its allies.

A JD-U leader had earlier told Rediff.com, Nitish Kumar will support Ram Nath Kovind on two grounds, first for his connection with Bihar (he was Bihar Governor) and second that he is a Dalit.

With inputs from PTI

Photograph: PTI Photo
From Peru's historic citadel of Machu Picchu to the United Nations sprawling lawns in New York, yoga mats were spread at iconic landmarks across the world as yoga practitioners today performed asanas to mark the third International Yoga Day.

Top UN diplomats, officials, envoys, yoga practitioners and people from all walks of life attended a grand event organised by Indias Permanent Mission to the UN to mark the day at the world body's headquarters in New York.

IMAGE: People practice yoga by the stones of the Stonehenge monument at dawn near Amesbury, Britain. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters



Hundreds of specially designed yoga mats were spread across the UN's sprawling north lawns, facing the imposing UN General Assembly hall and the UN Secretariat building, as people from all walks of life descended on the UN headquarters to participate in the Yoga Session with Yoga Masters.

Chants, hymns, prayers and the sound of Om reverberated across the UN as leading yoga practitioners led the gathering through sessions of yoga and meditation to celebrate the traditional wellness regime that originated in India.

The UN also issued special stamps commemorating the Yoga Day. The UN postal agency, UN Postal Administration issues the new special event sheet to commemorate the day that has been marked annually since 2015.

IMAGE: Yoga enthusiasts show how it's done at the Great Wall of China. In fact, China will be holding the most yoga events after India across the world. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

Delivering the secretary general's message on the Yoga Day, a top UN official has said that yoga can make an important contribution in achieving a healthy life and promoting well being for all at a time when the world is striving to achieve sustainable development goals.

At the iconic and historic citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru, one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World, Yoga practitioners stretched themselves in various asanas to mark the day.

Both Machu Picchu and yoga are recognised by the UNESCO as common heritage of the world.

The IDY celebrations started with a welcome address by Jose Fernando Astete Director of the Machu Picchu Archaeological site.

Sandeep Chakravorty, Ambassador of India to Peru said that both Machu Picchu and yoga are invaluable world heritage and legacy for humankind.

This being the peak tourist season for visit to Machu Picchu, the international visitors touring the historic citadel also joined the celebrations enthusiastically.

IMAGE:Women participate in a yoga even at the Kuopio Market in Finland. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

In China, a record number of people participated in yoga events held in several cities across the country.

A large number of Chinese practitioners besides Indian diaspora took part in the celebrations at the old premises of the Indian Embassy in Beijing

Twenty Yoga ambassadors from the Morarji Desai Institute in India demonstrated a power-packed yogic asanas. Members from 12 Chinese yoga groups also took part in the event.

"Our assessment is that the yoga events held in China this year is the largest," Charge d'affaires of the Indian Embassy, Amit Narang told PTI.

"Participation in the events in various cities exceeded all expectations and the numbers are unprecedented," he said.

Chinas prominent Yoga school 'Yogi Yoga' set up by Indian yoga specialist Manmohan Singh Bandari and his Chinese wife Yin Yan held special yogic performance with their students at Ritan Park.

IMAGE: Yoga enthusiasts practice yoga at a wetland park on International Yoga Day, in Zhangye, China. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

In Shanghai, about 1,000 Yoga enthusiasts took part in the main event held at the Dongping National Forest Park at the Chongming Islands, which was jointly organised by Consulate General of India, Shanghai along with Chongming County government.

About 1,000 Yoga lovers from Chongming island participated in the Yoga celebrations, a statement from the Consulate said.

Shanghai became the seventh city to host the 3rd IDY launch, which is being celebrated across twelve cities in Eastern China from June 1725.

Besides Shanghai, Yoga events were held in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, with theme of 'Ten cities, ten days, bringing together 15,000 yoga lovers closer to India  promoting healthy and harmonious lifestyles'.

The other cities in the region which held Yoga events included Lishui), Wuyi, Huzhou, Zhenjiang, Hangzhou  Tonglu, Wenzhou, Jiaxing, Suqian, Xuzhou, Taizhou and Wuxi.

The Indian Consulate in Guangzhou organised two big yoga festivals with yoga gurus from India.

IMAGE: Some sun, sand and yoga... What else do you need in life? Yoga enthusiasts clicked on the beautiful island of Krk in Croatia. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

In Dhaka's Bangabandhu National Stadium, hundreds of people participated in the IDY event with parliamentary speaker Shirin Sharmin Choudhury opening the celebrations amid enthusiasm.

Indian and Bangladeshi yoga gurus demonstrated asanas at the stadium.

Sports associations, yoga associations, yoga institutes, students from various schools, colleges and universities in Bangladesh participated in the early morning event.

The programme began with the screening of a video message of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A new yoga app on Common Yoga Protocol was released along with a special edition of Bharat Bichitra, a regular High Commission publication, on Yoga.

Yoga sessions were also organised in northwestern Rajshahi and southeastern port city of Chittagong.

Various Bangladeshi yoga organisations and institutes also organised separate programmes.

IMAGE: Since June 21 was declared as International Yoga Day, the practice has spread far and wide across the world. In Cancun, Mexico, people get ready for some yoga! Photograph: Press Information Bureau

Nepal also joined the world to mark the day as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba underlined the need for imparting the ancient knowledge of yoga to students at school-level.

During a function in Kathmandu, Deuba said, "Yoga must be taught at school-level keeping in mind its mental and physical benefits, and the balance it creates between heart and mind."

Deuba released 'Dainandin Yogabhyas', a book written by Acharya Bal Krishna and 'Yoga Sandesh' published by the Indian Embassy.

Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri was also present during the function.

IMAGE: Hundreds of people gathered at Trafalgar Square in London to participate in the celebrations on third International Yoga Day. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

In Pakistan, the Indian High Commission celebrated the Yoga Day on June 18.

Members of the diplomatic community along with High Commission officials based in Islamabad enthusiastically participated in the event led by Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale.

Bambawale welcomed the participants at the event and highlighted the efforts of the Indian government in promoting ancient Indian traditions of healthy living.

A yoga session was conducted by the participants as per the Common Yoga Protocol issued by the Ministry of AYUSH.

The United Nations General Assembly had made a declaration in December 2014 that every June 21 would be observed as International Day of Yoga, a move that India lobbied hard for.
Brimming with excitement and energy, thousands of people across the country gathered in large numbers at various parks and public squares to mark the third International Day of Yoga.

As the day progresses, the number of people participating in the celebrations is expected to rise.

Participants gather in Guwahati in Assam to celebrate World Yoga Day.

Participants practice yoga on a seafront promenade in Mumbai. Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters

People perform yoga at India Gate in New Delhi. Photograph: Kamal Singh/PTI Photo

Yoga enthusiasts take part in a Yoga training session at Nehru park in New Delhi. Though it rained in the Capital, people still turned up in large numbers for the celebrations. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo

A Muslim girl attends a yoga lesson at a school in Ahmedabad. All parts of the country are celebrating this day with much vigour and zeal. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

NCC cadets participate in a yoga session at Kolkata Maidan. Photograph: Swapan Mahapatra/PTI Photo

Yoga onboard aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. Photograph: @SpokespersonMoD/Twitter

Members of the Indian Navy perform yoga on the flight deck of INS Viraat, an Indian Navy's decommissioned aircraft carrier in Mumbai. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Himveers in yoga sessions in forward areas of Uttarkashi. Photograph: Press Information Burea/Twitter

1 (TN) girls battalion of the National Cadets Corps, comprising girls from six schools, performed yoga under the guidance of the Art of Living Foundation at the Sankara Vidyashramam matriculation school in Thiruvanmiyur, in south Chennai, on the occasion of International Yoga Day (image above), reports A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com.

Captain Prathima Nagar said, "The PMO told us to hold the event between 7 am and 7.45 am. Accordingly we are holding yoga sessions in five places in the city.

Above and below: Yogis at the Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati perform various asanas.
When the elevator doors opened and I turned the corner toward the chairman's office at the Republican National Committee Headquarters, I looked at the wall and nearly laughed out loud.

I was going to interview the new female RNC chair, Ronna Romney McDaniel, and what greeted me was rows and rows of pictures of her predecessors. All but one were men.

"Yes, they are all guys. I'm very happy to add a feminine touch to this wall," Romney McDaniel later said to me with a grin as we stood next to that photo wall of men.

Romney McDaniel is only the second woman to chair the RNC in history and the first in a generation. She was picked by the Republican President she helped elect: Donald Trump.

As chair of the Michigan GOP, Romney McDaniel worked to deliver the key state for Trump -- the first time a Republican presidential candidate has won Michigan in almost 30 years.

"I went to his very first rally in March, I think, right after he'd announced his candidacy, and there were 3,000 people there. I've never seen that for a candidate during a primary. And obviously, my uncle ran for president," she said.

That uncle is Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who lost Michigan to Barack Obama that year by nearly 10 points.

During the 2016 campaign, Romney repeatedly slammed Trump in the harshest of terms -- calling him "a phony" and "a fraud," not to mention a threat to the economic and national security of America.

"It was just a difference of opinion as to where the country needed to go," Romney McDaniel said, "but it didn't affect my relationship with my Uncle Mitt."

3 generations in politics

Politics runs so deep in the Romney blood that 2016 was likely not the first familial difference of opinion about a candidate.

After all, Mitt's father and Ronna's grandfather, George Romney, was also a governor who ran unsuccessfully for president.

"And my mom ran for Senate, and my dad had run for attorney general. And I thought, 'I've gotta go get into party politics so I can figure out how to win and get some of my family members across the finish line,'" she laughed.

Many women in politics say they had very few, if any, female role models. Romney McDaniel not only has her mother as a role model but also her grandmother, who ran for Senate in Michigan in 1970.

"For a period of time, my grandmother, Lenore Romney, and my mother, Ronna Romney, were the only two women in the Republican Party to ever secure the nomination for Senate. And they were leaders. They were pioneers in our party," she said proudly.

But that early exposure to politics initially turned her off.

"I'd seen the negative side of it at a young age. I was 19 when my mom ran for Senate, and it was a pretty tough race. And you walk away and you think, 'I don't know if I want to be part of that world,'" she remembered.

Despite her famous name and political pedigree, Romney McDaniel, 44, ended up in politics the way a lot of women around the country do. Something happens at a local level that they get passionate about, and they get involved. Her pivotal moment came when her kids lost their favorite teacher.

"Part of the reason I got involved was I saw a teacher get laid off at our school. And we were in a budget crisis in our state, and they couldn't decide if they could bring her back on because we hadn't passed a budget. And I thought, 'This is just ridiculous,'" she said.

Getting more women involved in the GOP

Romney McDaniel told me one of her main goals as RNC chair is to attract more women to the GOP. She hopes having a woman in charge will help.

"I think it signals that the Republican Party is a party for women. For a long time, we've been put kind of to the side, as if we're single-issue voters or we're just a special interest group," Romney McDaniel said. "We need to do a better job reaching out to women."

In presidential elections, Republican candidates have fallen behind with women nationally -- Mitt Romney lost women by 11 points to Barack Obama and John McCain lost women to Obama by 13 points. During the 2016 campaign, then-candidate Trump's treatment of women became a hot-button issue after vulgar comments surfaced on an old Access Hollywood tape. The President went on to lose among women nationally by 13 points to Hillary Clinton.

Romney McDaniel says that the need to bring more women in extends to all parts of the political process -- especially fundraising.

"I hate generalizing. But what I've seen, from what I've observed, fundraising's an issue for women candidates," she said, noting she sees female candidates struggle to ask for money and to find female donors.

"A lot of the major donors, and I don't know if it's on the Democrat side, are men. So we need to cultivate more women givers. Women are very comfortable giving to charities or things they believe in, but not as much political givers."

She says recruiting women for run for office is also harder than it should be.

It's a phenomenon that does not appear to be Republican or Democratic but, rather, female. Democratic women tell me they face the same challenges when talking to prospective female candidates for office. Many are reluctant to dive in, insisting they lack experience or fear losing.

"One candidate I was just talking with, she said to me, 'I've never run for something -- I didn't know I was gonna win.' And there is a risk component, especially as you get further up in running for Senate or governor. And you're giving years of your life to something, and you don't know if you're gonna come out with a victory," Romney McDaniel said.

Much like her Democratic counterparts, she is trying to change that dynamic.

"We need more women to realize they are 100% qualified for that position and that they should run. You know, if you're a mom of young kids, sometimes you're not gonna feel like that's the right time in your life to run for office. But I think they have a really valuable voice to add to the discussion," she said.

Parenting from afar

Romney McDaniel knows firsthand the challenges of balancing politics and parenting. She was elected RNC chair in January, which was the middle of the school year for her two children: Abigail, 14, and Nash, 12. Romney McDaniel and her husband, Pat, decided that it was best for their kids not to be disrupted, so she headed to Washington, DC, alone.

"It is tough. Well, first of all, I have the best husband in the world. It is a team sport for us. But he recognizes, my kids recognize that this is an opportunity to support our President," she said.

"I think [for] any working woman, it's not unique to me, balance is tough. It's hard to balance giving everything you need to your kids and then being successful at work. And we're always juggling, and we have two full-time jobs."

Like many women working in politics who have young children, Romney McDaniel relies heavily on her husband to take on responsibilities at home, which he sees no shame in -- just the opposite.

"It's given me a great opportunity to spend more time with the kids, and we're just -- we're thrilled for Ronna and the opportunity that she has, and she really is a role model for not just our kids but for others," said Pat McDaniel, who runs the Detroit office for the insurance company Hylant.

A big part of the RNC chair job is traveling around the country, largely to raise money. For Romney McDaniel, that means trying to figure out how to parent from afar.

Some of it is doing mom logistics -- like ordering groceries on Amazon Prime from her hotel room.

"I was at home this weekend and I'm like, 'We're low on paper towels and dish washing soap.' My husband was laughing. He's like, 'I got home last night and I saw these packages on the door and I thought, oh, thank you. Thank you, Ronna, that you realized we needed these things.'"

She also tries to do homework with her kids remotely.

"My son's reading Mr. Lemoncello's Library, so I'm reading it along with him out here so that we call and I can make sure he's actually doing his reading," she said.

I got to meet Abigail and Nash when they visited D.C. during their spring break, and it was clear they are remarkably understanding about their mother's long-distance job.

"Yeah it's difficult and we miss her, but she's doing something that's really extraordinary, so I mean, I understand," Abigail told me.

And -- who knows? -- 14-year-old Abigail could end up as the fourth generation of women in her family to get into politics. She is clearly soaking it in.

"You get to do these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that are just, not a lot of other kids get to do, and that's really amazing, and I'm really proud of her for all she's doing," Abigail told me.

Romney McDaniel joked that like most parents of teenagers, she is just trying stay cool for her kids.

"You're swag, Mom," Nash told her, which Romney McDaniel joked made her so happy she was going to embroider it on a pillow.

A raw moment

The toll of being away from her kids was on display earlier this month at a CNN event to launch this series, Badass Women of Washington. I asked each of the five women who attended whether they thought women really could have it all.

Romney McDaniel happened to have one of those extremely tough working mother days. One of her children had pink eye, and she felt guilty not being there.

"I don't know if you can have it all," she answered honestly, as she began to cry.

"I don't want to cry. It's hard to have it all," she continued, wiping away tears. "But we have to do it because it's women like us who have young kids who don't step up. If we don't take these leadership roles, our voices won't be heard."

Every mother on that panel and in the audience could relate. We have all been there.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday led over 50,000 yoga enthusiasts in performing asanas amid showers on the International Yoga Day as he underlined the importance of the ancient practice in connecting India with the world and promoting wellness.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the Yoga event at Lucknow's Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan where he was joined by another 50,000 people. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

Yoga, he stressed, has the power of health insurance at zero cost. We can save the people from many problems if 1.25 billion countrymen achieve this through healthy body, mind and intelligence, he said.

The speciality of yoga is keeping the mind stable...it teaches the art of living with a healthy mind amidst the ups and downs of life, said Modi, visibly happy with the heavy turnout at the sprawling Rambai Ambedkar Maidan despite inclement weather since early morning.

Today yoga has become a part of common mans life. There are many countries which do not know our language, traditions or culture but the entire world is getting connected with us because of yoga, said 66-year-old Modi, who was attired in a white T-shirt and loose trousers.

Amid chants of Modi-Modi, the prime minister said yoga, which connects body with mind and intelligence, is playing an important role in connecting the whole world.

Recalling as to how the United Nations gave its nod for the International Yoga Day, he said there might not be any country where yoga-related programmes are not held or attraction or awareness towards it has not grown.

Along with Modi, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and several dignitaries performed various yogic asanas.

IMAGE: Despite the rain, people turned up in large numbers to participate in the event.

Photograph: Press Information Bureau

Stressing on the relevance of yoga in employment too, the prime minister said yoga institutes have come up in large numbers in the past three years and demand for yoga teachers has also grown.

Youth are preparing themselves in yoga institutes, accepting yoga as a profession...there is a demand for yoga teachers in all the countries... a new job market is being created through yoga in which the people of India get top priority, he pointed out.

Unlike the earlier times when people used to practice yoga as per their own ways, there is now an effort both in the country and outside to perform yoga in a scientific manner by standardising it, he said, adding that once it was only performed by the munis and rishis in the caves of Himalayas.

UNESCO has given nod to yoga as the heritage of human culture... today in many states of the country yoga has been adopted as part of their education so that future generations get apprised of this science of ours to help it become the part of their lives, he said.

Speaking on the benefits of yoga, Modi said the importance of wellness is more than being healthy and fitness and yoga is an easy way to acquire this wellness.

There is no question mark on yoga anywhere in the world... Yoga has been evolving with time and generations and it has been developing... On this important occasion, I urge people of the world to make yoga a part of their lives...whether we become masters of yoga or not, achievers or not, but we need to become its practitioners..., Modi said.

Nearly 5,000 yoga enthusiasts from the Muslim Rashtriya Manch -- the Muslim wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh -- participated in yoga day activities throughout the state.

In Lucknow alone, around 2,000 office bearers and workers of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) took part in yoga day activities at Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan, Raees Khan, MRMs UP and Uttarakhand in-charge said.

More than 50 students along with four teachers of Shia PG College, Lucknow also participated in the yoga day, said Maulana Asoob Abbas, the spokesperson of the All India Shia Personal Law Board.

Apart from this, close to five dozen Muslim men and women performed various Yoga asanas in Sambhal on Wednesday.

A large number of divyaangs (physically-challenged persons) also participated in the third International Day of Yoga programmes held throughout the state.

WATCH: PM Modi at Yoga Day celebrations

The prime minister, who is himself a yoga enthusiast, stressed that those who start practicing it realise that their body parts have become supple and that they have become active.

We do not require any special power to understand this, he stressed.

Drawing a comparison with salt to underline the importance of yoga, Modi said though salt is needed only in small quantity and is easily available, it is vital not only for taste but also for the body.

If there is no salt in the food the whole day, it not only spoils the taste but also harms the body... It is used only in small quantity, no one can negate its importance in the bodys constitution or its requirement... We can have the same place for yoga as salt in life, he said.

Modi said there was no need to perform yoga round-the-clock as only 50 to 60 minutes are enough.

In a lighter vein, Modi said yoga enthusiasts at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan were not only spreading a message that yoga is important in life, but they were also demonstrating as to how yoga mats could be used to protect them from rain.

People of Lucknow have turned up despite rains... your effort is praiseworthy, he said referring to people taking cover under yoga mats to save themselves from the downpour.

A tight security cordon was thrown around venue and all arterial roads were under strict CCTV vigil.

The day also witnessed a number of foreign nationals participating in the event despite inclement weather.

"It was a special occasion for me to perform various (yogic) postures here, and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it," said 48-year-old Mao Ki, a resident of Japan, while leaving the venue after completion of the programme.

Inmates in various jails of the state also enthusiastically participated in the yoga day under supervision of expert teachers in jail. The response was fantastic, as it induced a feeling of positivity among the inmates, UP Jail minister Jai Kumar Singh told PTI.

The Samajwadi Party celebrated the International Day of Yoga day by undertaking 'cycle yatras' across the state. Directives were issued to partymen by SP National President Akhilesh Yadav to take out cycle yatra at all district headquarter from 6 am and later perform yoga as per their convenience at their homes.

Though Akhilesh has been extended an invitation by the Yogi government for the event in the city, he did not turn up at the venue. When the SP was in power, it had shunned official celebrations on this day.

If the opposition decided to cycle on the day, the farmers decided to strike the corpse pose. A group of farmers performed 'shavasana' or the corpse pose on a national highway to symbolically protest killing of farmers in Mandsaur and "anti-farm" policies of the Modi government.

Farmers under the banner of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) performed 'shavasana' on the Lucknow-Barabanki Highway. BKU spokesman Alok Verma said, "Hundreds of farmers performed 'shavasana' on Lucknow-Barabaki Highway near Safedabad between 9 am to 11 am as part of our protest today".

A similar protest was organised by farmers on the Lucknow-Sitapur Highway.

A special yoga session for farmers was organised in Pratapgarh, in which close to 70 farmers took part.

"The farmers got motivated after seeing PM Narendra Modi perforing various yoga asanas," yoga event organiser Janki Sharan Pandey said.

Rains failed to dampen the spirits of yoga enthusiasts in the state.

Giving details of the weather situation, Lucknow District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said that it rained heavily with high speed wind for about 30 minutes starting at 4.00 am. Rain continued till the end of the programme.

"Due to rain and wind, 21 participants complained of hypothermia (shivering and cold) and headache. Some of them were treated in temporary hospitals set up at the venue. All of them were later brought by ambulances to Lokbandhu Hospital.

"For primary treatment they were admitted for 2-3 hours. They were discharged after their condition became normal," the Lucknow DM said.
A group of farmers on Wednesday performed shavasana or the 'corpse pose' on a national highway to symbolically protest killing of farmers in Mandsaur and 'anti-farm' policies of the Modi government.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed yoga in Lucknow along with the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the farmers under the banner of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, performed shavasana on the Lucknow-Barabanki Highway.

BKU spokesman Alok Verma said, "Hundreds of farmers performed shavasana on Lucknow-Barabaki Highway near Safedabad between 9 am to 11 am as part of our protest today."

Naresh Tikait, president of the Union, had said that farmers from all over the country will perform yoga and block highways between 9 am to 12 noon as a mark of protest.

A similar protest was organised by farmers on the Lucknow-Sitapur Highway.

BKU leaders said farmers have been hit due to the 'doublespeak' of the National Democratic Alliance government as its leaders had promised to implement the Swaminathan Commission report, 'but even after three years in power we have got no assurance'.

The farmers were also protesting the killing of farmers in police firing in MP earlier this month.

In Bhopal, Congress leaders performed shavasana to highlight farmers' plight in the state at the party's headquarters.

State Congress spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said the programme was organised to highlight the farmers' plight in MP.

He said their event was also to protest the killing of five cultivators in police firing in Mandsaur recently and the increasing incidents of farmers' suicides.

He said Congress leaders across the state organised such programmes.

IMAGE: Madhya Pradesh Congress president Arun Yadav led party workers perform shavasana as part of protest against the killing of farmers by police firing in Mandsaur, during the 3rd International Yoga Day at Lal Parade ground in Bhopal on Wednesday. Photograph: PTI Photo
When it comes to speed limits on our roadways, speed itself can become relative.

A study reported by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader last week showed that raising the speed limit on interstate highways, which South Dakota lawmakers approved in 2015, did not function simply as an adjustment of the law to match the speed at which motorists were already driving. It was also an invitation to drive even faster.

Two years ago, lawmakers decided to raise the limit to 80 miles per hour (mph), which was seen as a means of accommodating what drivers were already doing. Research showed that, at the former limit of 75 mph, motorists were driving an average 86 mph.

Now, with the 80 mph zones in place, the average speed has ticked up to 88 miles per hour.

Citations for speeding have risen. This includes an alarming spike in the number of citations issued for motorists driving faster than 100 mph.

Another statistic to note is that the number of highway fatalities went up slightly last year after years of steady decline.

So, the conclusions that can be drawn from this seem clear.

When a law is charged to accommodate existing behavior that is straining at the boundaries of legality, existing behavior tends to adjust to the new legal normal in order to push those boundaries again. In other words, when the speed limit on interstates was raised to more closely match the average speed people were driving, the motorists made a corresponding acceleration.

The fact that more motorists are being busted for exceeding 100 mph is worrisome. At that speed, there is far less room for error and more opportunity for disaster. And if more than one vehicle is involved in a crash involving a motorist driving in the triple digits, it's not likely to end well for a lot of people.

To be fair, the rise in fatalities must be kept in perspective. For one thing, the overall rate last year was still the second lowest in 55 years, although the reversal of the downward trend is worth noting. Also, it must be acknowledged that the rise in distracted driving may have exerted some influence on the statistic (although, the image of a motorist driving 88 mph  or faster  AND fiddling with a smartphone is genuinely disturbing).

The results of this survey are a cause for alarm, according to an official from the group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. The organization notes that higher speeds decrease the chances of motorists surviving crashes. That fact would seem obvious, although it didn't prevent lawmakers in 2015 from pursuing the course anyway.

But they're being aided and abetted by motorists, who are proving to be their own worst enemies when it comes to expanded speed limits on the interstates. While it's probably too soon to draw any concrete conclusions on the impact of the speed limit change, the trend certainly isn't promising.

This editorial appeared in the June 12 edition of the Yankton (South Dakota) Daily Press & Dakotan.
ECHR rule exposes homophobic nature of Russian "gay propaganda law"

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, ECHR rule exposes homophobic nature of Russian "gay propaganda law", 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a1faa4.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.

After Russian "gay propaganda law" was ruled discriminatory by ECHR today, Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia Research Deputy Director, said:

"This legislation has always been nothing short of homophobic."

"The law is blatantly discriminatory and violates the right to freedom of expression, and its introduction has contributed to a climate of homophobia and violence targeting LGBTI people in Russia."

"We strongly welcome today's ruling, not least given the renewed urgency over investigating the reports of the terrifying campaign of mass abduction and torture of men perceived to be gay in Chechnya."

"We reiterate our call on the Russian authorities to repeal its homophobic legislation, end discriminatory practices and fully respect every person's right to freedom of expression. They should also effectively investigate all instances of homophobic violence in Russia."

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Uzbekistan: Muslims' long prison terms, Protestants' short terms

Publisher Forum 18 Author Mushfig Bayram Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as Forum 18, Uzbekistan: Muslims' long prison terms, Protestants' short terms , 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a20a64.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.

A Tashkent court jailed eleven Muslims who met to pray and discuss their faith for up to six years. Several testified about torture (including officers' threat to rape the wife of one in front of him). The court ignored the testimony. Three Protestants were given 15-day terms.
Title "It Was as if My Village Was Swept by a Flood" - Mass Displacement of the Shilluk Population from the West Bank of the White Nile

Publisher Forum 18

Publication Date June 2017

Country South Sudan

Reference AFR 65/6538/2017

Cite as Forum 18, "It Was as if My Village Was Swept by a Flood" - Mass Displacement of the Shilluk Population from the West Bank of the White Nile, June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a210e4.html [accessed 11 November 2022]
Cote d'ivoire: Continued Human Rights Capacity Building and Technical Cooperation Required

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 19 June 2017 Reference AFR 31/6549/2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Cote d'ivoire: Continued Human Rights Capacity Building and Technical Cooperation Required , 19 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a23584.html [accessed 11 November 2022] Comments UN Human Rights Council. Thirty-fifth session 6 June - 23 June 2017. 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.

Amnesty International welcomes progress made in creating a supportive legal environment for human rights defenders in Cote d'Ivoire, particularly with the adoption of the law on the protection of human rights defenders in 2014 and its decree of implementation in 2017.

Amnesty International is concerned, however, that the closure of the United Nations Operations in Cote d'Ivoire and the simultaneous end of the mandate of the Independent Expert is likely to reduce international support and scrutiny at a time when human rights challenges are increasing in the country. As the independent expert notes in his report, the security situation in Cote d'Ivoire remains fragile.(1)

Despite some progress in the protection of human rights defenders, there is more to be done to address remaining restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly. Journalists and trade unionists continue to be targeted because of their work.(2) A draft law on the press, currently under review, contains provisions which curtail the right to freedom of expression, and includes sections related to defamation, offending the President and "false news."

The recent killings of at least eight people during mutinies and clashes with demobilised soldiers demonstrate the need for greater accountability and civilian control over the security forces. They also highlight the need for truth, justice and reconciliation in relation to crimes committed during and since the 2010 and 2011 crisis.

Amnesty International encourages Cote d'Ivoire to seek sustained technical assistance from the OHCHR as the mandate of the Independent Expert comes to an end. In particular, we urge Cote d'Ivoire to facilitate the establishment of an OHCHR presence in the country once UNOCI closes, and regular visits by thematic Special Procedures.

We call on Cote d'Ivoire, in cooperation with this Council, to keep the country's human rights situation on the Human Rights Council's agenda during the next two years, and ensure continued reporting by the OHCHR to follow up the implementation of recommendations set out in the final report of the Independent Expert. This would make clear that Ivoirian authorities are serious in their commitment to improve the human rights situation in the country.

(1) - Rapport de l'Expert independant sur le renforcement des capacites et la cooperation technique avec la Cote d'Ivoire dans le domaine des droits de l'homme, A/HRC/35/43, para. 74

(2) - Dozens of members of a teachers' union were demoted and transferred to remote areas of the country on vague grounds, after participating having participated in a series of strikes by public sector workers in January 2017. On 12 February 2017, six journalists were arrested and detained in Abidjan for their coverage of the mutinies. They were charged with "publishing false news" and "inciting soldiers to mutiny" and detained for two days without access to a lawyer.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Mosul blast kills French and Kurdish journalists

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Mosul blast kills French and Kurdish journalists, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a27554.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.

Employed by #5bis Productions, Villeneuve was a very experienced video-reporter who had covered wars all over the world. Haddad, who worked for many French media outlets, briefly found a refuge at the "House of Journalists" in Paris in 2008. He returned to France last year for treatment in Lyon to a hand injury caused by a sniper shot while reporting in Fallujah.





RSF shares the concern of the family and friends of Veronique Robert, another French video-reporter who was badly injured by the same explosion. She, Villeneuve and Haddad were all on assignment in Mosul for the France 2 TV channel's current affairs programme Envoye Special.





They were accompanying Iraqi army forces in areas held by Islamic State in the old town, on the west bank of the River Tigris. Samuel Forey, a freelance journalist who was with them, was slightly injured and was evacuated to Baghdad. He has been covering the battle to retake Mosul for various media including Figaro, Telerama and Inrocks.





Immediately after the explosion, all three received initial medical attention from US military medical units based in Al-Qayyara, south of Mosul.





"Iraq is one of the world's deadliest countries for journalists," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. "In 2015 and 2016, it was one of the three countries where the most journalists were killed in the course of their work. War is obviously dangerous but every death or injury is a victim too many. No one should have to pay such a high price just for reporting the news."





A total of 28 professional and non-professional journalists have been killed in Iraq since the start of 2014 (including Stephan Villeneuve and Bakhtiar Haddad). According to RSF's tally, three journalists have been killed since the battle to retake Mosul from Islamic State began in October 2016. Many journalists have also been wounded in the course of covering the clashes between Islamic State and the Iraqi army and its allies.





Much of the fighting in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, is taking place in districts with very narrow streets, increasing the dangers for journalists, who are also exposed to Islamic State sniper fire, artillery, improvised explosive devices and mines.





The Islamic State fighters in Mosul are still detaining ten Iraqi journalists and media workers who they have held for nearly two years. Islamic State seized all of the media outlets in Mosul in 2014, turning the city into a news and information black hole until the Iraqi army and its allies launched their offensive on 17 October.





Iraq is ranked 158th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
Masked men with machetes and knives attack four media outlets

Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 19 June 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Masked men with machetes and knives attack four media outlets, 19 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a28344.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.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) deplores the simultaneous attacks that masked men armed with machetes and knives launched against four radio and TV stations in Gabon's capital, Libreville, on 16 June in an attempt to get them to broadcast a threatening video message by a former presidential candidate.

The four media outlets targeted by the presumed supporters of former presidential candidate Roland Desire Aba'a Minko were TV+, Radio Africa No. 1, Gabon Television and Kanal 7. Minko's message called for the president's resignation.





At TV+, a privately-owned opposition TV channel, employees were forced to lie on the ground and a "bomb" was placed among them. At Radio Africa No. 1, a pan-African radio station, employees were threatened with machetes and knives and a "bomb" inside a bag. Both bombs turned out to be fakes.





The attackers managed to get into state-owned Gabon Television but quickly left when the security forces arrived. They tried to get into Kanal 7 but failed because it was closed. As Radio Africa No. 1 did not have the technical means to broadcast the assailants' video message, it was only broadcast by TV+.





"We strongly condemns these intolerable and unprecedented attacks on Gabonese media outlets, said Clea Kahn-Sriber, the head of RSF's Africa desk. We welcome the fact that an investigation is under way and we hope that all possible light will be shed on the responsibilities of the assailants without obstructing freedom of expression and information in Gabon."





Initially a candidate in last August's presidential election, Minko stood down two days before the poll, urging his supporters to vote for the main opposition candidate, Jean Ping.





In the message that was finally broadcast only by TV+ for about 15 minutes, Minko threatened to set off bombs in government locations if President Ali Bongo did not resign in favour of Ping within 72 hours. Minko subsequently turned up with a fake bomb at the offices of the European Union delegation, where he was arrested without putting up any resistance.





Franck Nguema, the head of TV+, filed a complaint the same day and referred the matter to the ministry of defence and interior. The justice department has opened a judicial investigation.





The entire Gabonese political class, including Ping's spokesperson, has condemned the attacks. President Bongo's widely disputed reelection eight months ago set off a major political crisis and led to attacks on media outlets of all tendencies.





International Criminal Court representatives are due to begin a three-day visit to Gabon tomorrow to investigate the post-election violence.





Gabon is ranked 108th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2017 World Press Freedom Index, having fallen 13 places since 2015.
CALGARY, Alberta, June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Critical Control Energy Services Corp. (Critical Control or the Corporation) (TSX:CCZ) is providing an important update to the proposed plan of arrangement (the Plan of Arrangement), the details of which are contained in the information circular dated May 26, 2017 (the Information Circular) mailed to all shareholders of record as of May 25, 2017 for the Corporations Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders to be held on June 29, 2017.



Under the proposed Plan of Arrangement, all registered shareholders must return a properly completed Letter of Transmittal and Election Form to Computershare Trust Company of Canada in accordance with the instructions contained therein prior to the Election Deadline of 10:00 am (Mountain Standard Time), June 27, 2017.

Any shareholder who holds their common shares in a brokerage account, must contact their broker to advise their election such that the broker can complete the Letter of Transmittal and Election Form on their behalf prior to the Election Deadline.

Shareholders may either elect to:

exchange all or a portion of their Common Shares for a new series of Preferred Shares on the basis of 0.0775 Preferred Share for each Common Share held (the Share Exchange), up to the aggregate maximum of 29,992,500 Common Shares (the Maximum Conversion Shares), subject to proration; or



exchange none of their Common Shares into Preferred Shares (the Status Quo Election).

No fractional Preferred Shares will be issued; the nearest whole number of Preferred Shares will be issued, with fractions equal to 0.5 or more being rounded up.

Shareholders who elect to make a Share Exchange and who would receive fewer than 100 Preferred Shares on the exchange of their tendered Common Shares will receive a cash payment of $0.155 per tendered Common Share (the Cash Consideration).

Shareholders who fail to submit a Letter of Transmittal and Election Form and who hold 1,290 or fewer Common Shares will automatically receive the Cash Consideration (the Minor Shareholders).

If fewer than the Maximum Conversion Shares are voluntarily tendered for exchange pursuant to the Share Exchange, all of the Common Shares of holders who either: (i) failed to submit a Letter of Transmittal and Election Form (other than Minor Shareholders); or (ii) failed to validly make the Status Quo Election for all of their Common Shares (Non-electing Shareholders), will be exchanged for Preferred Shares on a pro rata basis until the Maximum Conversion Shares limit is reached (the Automatic Share Conversion).

If an Automatic Share Conversion is required, Non-electing Shareholders who receive fewer than 100 Preferred Shares on the pro rata exchange of their Common Shares will receive the Cash Consideration and will not receive Preferred Shares. If a Non-electing Shareholder receives the Cash Consideration, its redeemed Common Shares are excluded for the purpose of calculating the Maximum Conversion Shares.

If a registered Shareholder does not want to be subject to the Automatic Share Conversion, they must ensure that Computershare Trust Company of Canada receives their Letter of Transmittal and Election Form prior to the Election Deadline.

About Critical Control

Critical Control provides solutions for the collection, control and analysis of measurement and operational data related to oil and gas wells across North America. We provide services to capture the data, cloud-based software to visualize and manage it and the business intelligence to make quicker and more informed operational decisions.

For further information

Alykhan Mamdani

President & CEO

Tel (403) 705-7500

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information generally refers to disclosure about an issuers business, capital, or operations that is prospective in nature, and includes future-oriented financial information about the issuers prospective financial performance or financial position.

The forward-looking information in this press release relates to the proposed terms of the Plan of Arrangement. No assurance can be given that the Plan of Arrangement will close on these terms or that the Plan of Arrangement will close at all. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this press release due to prevailing economic conditions, failure to obtain the requisite regulatory and security holders approvals, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Corporation.

The Corporation assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information in this press release, unless it is required to do so under Canadian securities legislation.
Disturbing civilian death trends in Iraq-Syria air war: A researcher's view

Publisher IRIN Author Alex Hopkins Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as IRIN, Disturbing civilian death trends in Iraq-Syria air war: A researcher's view, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a29e04.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.

Kafaa al-Mustapha and two of her relatives were on their way to work in the Raqqa countryside when their car was hit by an alleged coalition airstrike last month. All three of the women, along with up to 20 other agricultural workers, were reportedly killed. They are among more than 700 estimated civilian victims of airstrikes by the US-led international coalition fighting so-called Islamic State in the last three months in and around Raqqa.

The attack that killed Kafaa was just one of 160 reported "coalition casualty" events Airwars, which archives the war against IS, tracked in Iraq and Syria during May 2017. According to our estimates, last month was second only to March as the deadliest for civilians since coalition airstrikes began in August 2014.

We have seen an unprecedented and sustained rise in reported civilian deaths since January, when the campaigns to liberate Raqqa and Mosul began to escalate. Airwars is not alone in noting this trend: UN investigators have cited a "staggering" loss of civilian life from coalition airstrikes in Raqqa, and there is now serious concern for the estimated 100,000 people still trapped in Mosul's Old City.

Spiralling death toll

In just five months - from January to the end of May of this year - Airwars tracked a third more likely civilian deaths from coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria than during the entirety of 2016.

Our most recent detailed assessment revealed that in May alone, likely civilian deaths from coalition airstrikes rose by 23 percent compared with the month prior. With the Raqqa offensive now well underway, we are already tracking up to six incidents per day in that city alone, with fears of worse to come (and putting the Airwars monitoring team under exceptional pressure just to record it all.)

As I enter these events into Airwars public database each day, the stories I encounter have become distressingly familiar. Documenting the devastation, combing through eye-witness testimony and watching frequently graphic videos, I see the extraordinary danger ordinary Iraqis and Syrians face.

Within the last three months I've watched the growth of arguably the most shocking trend of all: the frequent killing of entire families in likely coalition airstrikes. At least 57 women died in Iraq and Syria during May alone in such actions - a record for any month - along with a minimum of 52 children.

In a typically harrowing event, multiple local sources reported that Iraqi forces rescued a baby from a house in west Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 11 June. He had survived the shelling, but the rest of his family perished. One source, describing the event on Twitter, blamed "US planes" for the strike, however others didn't say who was responsible.

In Mosul - now in the eighth month of a brutal campaign to dislodge IS - it has become increasingly difficult to determine who is to blame for a casualty event. Conflicting reports often point to both the coalition and Iraqi forces, and sometimes also IS.

In Syria, however - where thanks to our excellent researchers I am sometimes able to list up to 50 individual sources for any given incident - there is generally less doubt as to who is responsible for the killings. During May, we assessed 59 percent of all incidents we monitored in Syria as likely to have been carried out by the US-led coalition. Reviewing these incidents day after day, I can't help but feel that coalition protections for civilians are woefully inadequate.

More alarming still are accounts of civilians being killed as they attempt to flee the carnage - often at the urging of the coalition and its allies. On 5 June, in one of several such events recently tracked by Airwars, up to 21 civilians are said to have died when the coalition allegedly struck boats ferrying people to safety across the Euphrates River. Coalition members need to protect non-combatants who are following what are at times contradictory evacuation orders.

Those lucky enough to have escaped are often wounded, malnourished, and severely traumatised. Among the most upsetting events I've encountered this month was the report of the death of eight-year-old Hashim Abdul Fattah Al-Ali. He was sitting with his parents in their home in Abu Kamal, Deir Ezzor, when the explosion from a nearby airstrike was said to have put him into such panic that his heart failed - the third such case we've seen alleged this year.

The Trump effect?

In addition to publishing these disturbing reports, my job involves analysing official data as Airwars seeks to understand the increasing death toll. While the coalition likes to talk about numbers of airstrikes, a far more reliable metric is targets bombed. In Mosul, in May alone, 1,577 objects were bombed - an increase of 55 percent on April - adding credence to US President Donald Trump's campaign promise to "bomb the shit out of ISIS".

The spike in casualties we've seen in Raqqa, however, is even more troubling. To some extent, given how densely populated parts of Mosul city are, it was expected that civilian death tolls would be high. But the villages and towns that surround Raqqa governorate's capital hold comparably fewer civilians - and yet numerous and large-scale casualty events have become the norm since March.

In Raqqa, there appears to be little correlation between what is being destroyed and civilian fatalities. In a recent study, I discovered that the number of targets bombed in Raqqa decreased by 39 percent from February to March. Consequently, we expected to see civilian deaths decrease - instead they rose more than fivefold to an all-time high of at least 275 civilians likely killed in the area.

In short, more civilians are dying in Raqqa even when fewer targets are hit - reinforcing what Airwars has believed for some time: that the high increase in deaths from coalition actions is most likely related to changes in the rules of engagement - or to offensive procedures on the battlefield - exposing civilians to greater risk.

For the last six months, Airwars has also tracked more civilian casualties tied to coalition raids in Iraq and Syria than those carried out by Moscow. In May, with Russian strikes heavily reduced across Syria, we saw upwards of 2.5 times more alleged coalition civilian casualty events than Russian. Given the international outcry over Russia's notoriously brutal campaign in Syria, this puts the US-led coalition in an increasingly compromising position. Moreover, it damages its credibility.

The warnings from the UN and various NGOs are stark and clear: hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped between IS snipers and mines, plus coalition and allied air and artillery strikes. With the Mosul battle in its final terrible days, and the Raqqa campaign now moving into the city itself, it is imperative that the coalition and its ground allies exercise more restraint in their bombing - and urgently improve safeguards to reduce the very high death count.
Largest ever stock of cholera vaccine headed for Yemen

Publisher IRIN Author Naomi Stewart Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as IRIN, Largest ever stock of cholera vaccine headed for Yemen, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a2a914.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.

Kafaa al-Mustapha and two of her relatives were on their way to work in the Raqqa countryside when their car was hit by an alleged coalition airstrike last month. All three of the women, along with up to 20 other agricultural workers, were reportedly killed. They are among more than 700 estimated civilian victims of airstrikes by the US-led international coalition fighting so-called Islamic State in the last three months in and around Raqqa.

The attack that killed Kafaa was just one of 160 reported "coalition casualty" events Airwars, which archives the war against IS, tracked in Iraq and Syria during May 2017. According to our estimates, last month was second only to March as the deadliest for civilians since coalition airstrikes began in August 2014.

We have seen an unprecedented and sustained rise in reported civilian deaths since January, when the campaigns to liberate Raqqa and Mosul began to escalate. Airwars is not alone in noting this trend: UN investigators have cited a "staggering" loss of civilian life from coalition airstrikes in Raqqa, and there is now serious concern for the estimated 100,000 people still trapped in Mosul's Old City.

Spiralling death toll

In just five months - from January to the end of May of this year - Airwars tracked a third more likely civilian deaths from coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria than during the entirety of 2016.

Our most recent detailed assessment revealed that in May alone, likely civilian deaths from coalition airstrikes rose by 23 percent compared with the month prior. With the Raqqa offensive now well underway, we are already tracking up to six incidents per day in that city alone, with fears of worse to come (and putting the Airwars monitoring team under exceptional pressure just to record it all.)

As I enter these events into Airwars public database each day, the stories I encounter have become distressingly familiar. Documenting the devastation, combing through eye-witness testimony and watching frequently graphic videos, I see the extraordinary danger ordinary Iraqis and Syrians face.

Within the last three months I've watched the growth of arguably the most shocking trend of all: the frequent killing of entire families in likely coalition airstrikes. At least 57 women died in Iraq and Syria during May alone in such actions - a record for any month - along with a minimum of 52 children.

In a typically harrowing event, multiple local sources reported that Iraqi forces rescued a baby from a house in west Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 11 June. He had survived the shelling, but the rest of his family perished. One source, describing the event on Twitter, blamed "US planes" for the strike, however others didn't say who was responsible.

In Mosul - now in the eighth month of a brutal campaign to dislodge IS - it has become increasingly difficult to determine who is to blame for a casualty event. Conflicting reports often point to both the coalition and Iraqi forces, and sometimes also IS.

In Syria, however - where thanks to our excellent researchers I am sometimes able to list up to 50 individual sources for any given incident - there is generally less doubt as to who is responsible for the killings. During May, we assessed 59 percent of all incidents we monitored in Syria as likely to have been carried out by the US-led coalition. Reviewing these incidents day after day, I can't help but feel that coalition protections for civilians are woefully inadequate.

More alarming still are accounts of civilians being killed as they attempt to flee the carnage - often at the urging of the coalition and its allies. On 5 June, in one of several such events recently tracked by Airwars, up to 21 civilians are said to have died when the coalition allegedly struck boats ferrying people to safety across the Euphrates River. Coalition members need to protect non-combatants who are following what are at times contradictory evacuation orders.

Those lucky enough to have escaped are often wounded, malnourished, and severely traumatised. Among the most upsetting events I've encountered this month was the report of the death of eight-year-old Hashim Abdul Fattah Al-Ali. He was sitting with his parents in their home in Abu Kamal, Deir Ezzor, when the explosion from a nearby airstrike was said to have put him into such panic that his heart failed - the third such case we've seen alleged this year.

The Trump effect?

In addition to publishing these disturbing reports, my job involves analysing official data as Airwars seeks to understand the increasing death toll. While the coalition likes to talk about numbers of airstrikes, a far more reliable metric is targets bombed. In Mosul, in May alone, 1,577 objects were bombed - an increase of 55 percent on April - adding credence to US President Donald Trump's campaign promise to "bomb the shit out of ISIS".

The spike in casualties we've seen in Raqqa, however, is even more troubling. To some extent, given how densely populated parts of Mosul city are, it was expected that civilian death tolls would be high. But the villages and towns that surround Raqqa governorate's capital hold comparably fewer civilians - and yet numerous and large-scale casualty events have become the norm since March.

In Raqqa, there appears to be little correlation between what is being destroyed and civilian fatalities. In a recent study, I discovered that the number of targets bombed in Raqqa decreased by 39 percent from February to March. Consequently, we expected to see civilian deaths decrease - instead they rose more than fivefold to an all-time high of at least 275 civilians likely killed in the area.

In short, more civilians are dying in Raqqa even when fewer targets are hit - reinforcing what Airwars has believed for some time: that the high increase in deaths from coalition actions is most likely related to changes in the rules of engagement - or to offensive procedures on the battlefield - exposing civilians to greater risk.

For the last six months, Airwars has also tracked more civilian casualties tied to coalition raids in Iraq and Syria than those carried out by Moscow. In May, with Russian strikes heavily reduced across Syria, we saw upwards of 2.5 times more alleged coalition civilian casualty events than Russian. Given the international outcry over Russia's notoriously brutal campaign in Syria, this puts the US-led coalition in an increasingly compromising position. Moreover, it damages its credibility.

The warnings from the UN and various NGOs are stark and clear: hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped between IS snipers and mines, plus coalition and allied air and artillery strikes. With the Mosul battle in its final terrible days, and the Raqqa campaign now moving into the city itself, it is imperative that the coalition and its ground allies exercise more restraint in their bombing - and urgently improve safeguards to reduce the very high death count.
Burundi: Senior UN official urges steps towards political dialogue amid ongoing fragility

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Burundi: Senior UN official urges steps towards political dialogue amid ongoing fragility, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a2b874.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.

Amid Burundi's fragile security situation, marked by recent grenade attacks in the capital, Bujumbura, a senior United Nations political official told the Security Council today that regional actors and international partners must press for confidence-building measures that would be conducive for holding an inclusive and credible political dialogue in the country.

Recent weeks have seen grenade attacks in the capital, and repression and intimidation by security forces and associated groups, said Assistant Secretary-General Taye-Brook Zerihoun, updating the Council on the situation in Burundi.

He said that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as well as human rights non-governmental organizations continued to report targeted arrests, arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of real or perceived opposition members and supporters, as well as extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances.

Citing OHCHR, Mr. Zerihoun pointed out that incitement to hatred and violence have increased since April  with regular testimonies and video recordings of rallies by the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling CNDD-FDD.

He noted that the Government had not resumed interaction with OHCHR since it had suspended it in mid-October 2016 adding that the Commission of Inquiry on the human rights situation there regretted the lack of Government cooperation and access to the country.

The Commission of Inquiry has collected more than 470 testimonies of human rights violations allegedly committed in Burundi since 2015, to be presented in its final report to the Human Rights Council in September, Mr. Zerihoun said.

Given the current climate, implementation of proposals contained in a 12 May report of the National Commission for the Inter-Burundian Dialogue would likely lead to an escalation of the crisis, he said.

That report  which affirmed that a majority in Burundi supported a revision of the Constitution, a lifting of presidential term limits and changes to other provisions of the Arusha Agreement  had been denounced by opposition parties, as had the subsequent creation of a constitutional review commission.

Turning to other issues, he said the socioeconomic and humanitarian situations have also deteriorated.

Three million people in Burundi are in need of humanitarian assistance. Nearly 2.6 million others experience acute food insecurity, with over 700,000 in need of emergency food assistance. Mass displacement continues, due to natural hazards, food insecurity and socio-political factors, he explained.

Moreover, some 209,000 people are internally displaced. The number of Burundian refugees in neighbouring countries exceeds 400,000. Humanitarian actors have scaled up their response but have yet to reach the capacity required to meet emerging life-saving needs, he added.

Also briefing the Council, Jurg Lauber, of Switzerland, Chair of the Burundi Configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission, speaking via video link from Geneva, said the East African Community summit in Dar es Salaam was a key event that had demonstrated the importance of regional engagement, with Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda and Chair of the Community, reiterating his personal commitment to the Community-led mediation and calling for resumed socioeconomic cooperation with Burundi.

The summit provided clarity on the direction of the mediation process. Mr. Mkapa, former President of Tanzania, had presented a proposal outlining a series of steps to overcome the current situation and create the preconditions for democratic elections in 2020, which was welcomed by member Heads of State and Government.
With armed groups spreading in Central African Republic, UN expert urges action

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as UN News Service, With armed groups spreading in Central African Republic, UN expert urges action, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a2c504.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 situation in the Central African Republic is unsustainable, an independent United Nations expert today 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 Ms. 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.
Mali: UN condemns terrorist attack at hotel on the outskirts of Bamako

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Mali: UN condemns terrorist attack at hotel on the outskirts of Bamako, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a2cc44.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 Secretary-General Antonio 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 today 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.

Mr. 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.
Bees, hens and greenhouses help restore livelihoods in Iraq  UN agriculture agency

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Bees, hens and greenhouses help restore livelihoods in Iraq  UN agriculture agency, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a952e4.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.

Thousands of vulnerable Iraqi and Syrian refugee families affected by conflict in northern Iraq aim to profit from new livelihood ventures of the United Nations agriculture agency.

Funded by Germany, a project supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will train Syrian refugees in the Erbil and Dohuk governorates in greenhouse vegetable cultivation, and assist Iraqi families with hens to produce eggs and meat along with training and tools for bee-keeping and food processing.

Families are struggling, some resorting to reducing their meal sizes or the number of meals each day, selling productive assets, or buying food on credit, said Fadel El-Zubi, FAO Representative in Iraq. Through restoring and providing alternative livelihoods, this project will support Government efforts to reduce long-term dependence on emergency food assistance and enable people to recover as quickly as possible.

Years of conflict in Iraq has left 3.2 million people food insecure, including those who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. As more than three million remain displaced, stretched resources of host communities are increasingly under pressure.

Another 240,000 Syrian refugees are living in Iraq, 97 per cent of whom are staying in communities or camps in northern Iraq.

During the first week of June, 2,400 people from 150 villages  either displaced by conflict or residents of areas where displaced people or refugees were living  received 9,600 hens, poultry feeding and drinking equipment, and 80 tons of feed.

Over the course of a year, the hens will produce approximately 1.38 million eggs and 1,200 kilograms of meat. Each family received 23 hens, which will yield some 3,450 eggs and 30 kilograms of meat  enough to provide both food and income.

Another 2,400 people will receive training, tools and equipment for bee-keeping for honey production, and dairy and fruit processing, to produce a variety of dairy products, fruit jams and dried fruit for sale.

Some 3,000 Syrian refugees in Qushtapa camp in Erbil governorate and Domiz 1 camp in Dohuk governorate will receive training in greenhouse vegetable production. Due to high market demand, 10 greenhouses at each camp will initially focus on growing tomatoes and cucumbers. Income from vegetable sales will then enable families to buy extra food and other necessities. Camp residents and those from surrounding communities will be able to purchase greenhouse produce during two vegetable seasons each year.
UN rights chief calls for investigation into 'landscape of horror' in DR Congo's Kasai provinces

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN rights chief calls for investigation into 'landscape of horror' in DR Congo's Kasai provinces, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a95704.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.

Detailing harrowing reports of killings, mutilation and entire villages destroyed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's restive Kasai provinces, the top United Nations human rights official today called on the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent international investigation into the widespread rights violations and abuses there.

The humanitarian and human rights situation has deteriorated dramatically [over the last three months] and various actors are fuelling ethnic hatred, resulting in extremely grave, widespread and apparently planned attacks against the civilian population in the Kasais, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein told the Council  the highest UN intergovernmental forum on human rights issues.

Most concerning, the High Commissioner said, was the arming of a militia  the Bana Mura  allegedly to support authorities in fighting the Kamuina Nsapu, and which has carried out horrific attacks against civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups.

Refugees from multiple villages [] 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, said Mr. Zeid.

He added that teams deployed by his Office (OHCHR) witnessed children as young as two, whose limbs had been chopped off, and babies with machete wounds and severe wounds.

One two-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 foetuses mutilated.

Allegations of widespread human rights violations and abuses

Mr. Zeid also spoke of allegations of rights violations by members of the security forces, including summary executions and rape during operations against villages allegedly controlled by the Kamuina Nsapu militia. He also recounted reports of human rights abuses by the militia, including targeted killings of the armed forces, police, public officials and civilians perceived to cooperate with them, as well as individuals whom they accused of practicing sorcery.

Violence flared up in the DRC's Kasai regions in August 2016, when a customary chief was killed by Forces armees de la Republique democratique du Congo (FARDC), as DRC's armed forces are known. The Kamuina Nsapu militia (named after the chief) then set about avenging the killing, committing widespread atrocities as well as recruiting children into its ranks.

The gravity of the situation was further underscored by the discovery (in April, this year) of forty-two mass graves by OHCHR and the UN mission in the country (known by its French acronym, MONUSCO).

More than 1.3 million people have since been displaced within the country as well as thousands forced to flee across its borders.

In his remarks, Mr. Zeid recalled the killing of two UN experts who were found dead after being abducted while investigating the situation in the country. Their killings must also be fully investigated, and I remain in close touch with their families, he stressed.

'By bringing justice to the Kasais, we may be able to prevent further crimes elsewhere in the DRC'

Also in his remarks, Mr. Zeid noted that while there has been some progress in ensuring accountability in other parts of the DRC, the severity of the allegations in the Kasais and lack of action on part of the Government to investigate and bring perpetrators to justice has necessitated the need to establish an independent investigation mechanism that can establish the facts and determine individual responsibilities.

This will also send a strong signal about the need to uphold human rights in the rest of the country, where lack of progress in implementing the 31 December Agreement, and continued restrictions on political rights and freedoms, are generating frustration and deepening grievances, said the High Commissioner, noting that he would also remain in touch with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

By bringing justice to the Kasais we may be able to prevent further crimes elsewhere in the DRC, he added.
Aid workers race to contain Yemen cholera outbreak, UN agencies report

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Aid workers race to contain Yemen cholera outbreak, UN agencies report, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a95f44.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.

A race is under way to contain the cholera epidemic in Yemen where 20 out of 22 governorates are affected, United Nations agencies said today.

The disease is endemic in Yemen and is characterized by severe watery diarrhoea and fever.

Nearly 1,200 people have died in the latest outbreak and there are more than 172,000 suspected cases in the crisis-torn country, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Together with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), WHO says it is attempting to stop cholera being exported from the worst-affected areas.

In Raymah in western Yemen, mortality rates are almost twice the national average.

We see that the numbers are going up, it's really trying to race against the spread and try to get treatment and water and sanitation measures to every corner, especially to those corners that are basically exporting the bacteria to other places Tarik Jasarevic a spokesperson for WHO told reporters at the regular bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.

The more than two-year conflict in the country has devastated the country's health facilities; less than half are fully functional and many public health professionals have not been paid in months.

And although cholera can be treated quickly if caught early, WHO said in a statement that getting help in a middle of a conflict is not so easy.

The agency added that its health, water, sanitation and hygiene partners need $66.7 million to scale up the cholera response.

To date, WHO has helped to set up 144 diarrhoea treatment centres and 206 oral rehydration points, along with more than 1,900 beds for cholera patients in 20 governorates.
United Arab Emirates (UAE): End the arbitrary imprisonment of prominent rights defender Ahmed Mansoor

Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, United Arab Emirates (UAE): End the arbitrary imprisonment of prominent rights defender Ahmed Mansoor, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a96714.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 Martin Ennals Foundation, FIDH and the nine human rights organizations that make up the jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA), today renewed their appeal to the government of the United Arab Emirates to release immediately and unconditionally Ahmed Mansoor, the last remaining human rights defender in the UAE who had previously been able to criticize the authorities publicly.

Ahmed Mansoor received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2015.

Three months ago today, in the pre-dawn hours of 20 March about a dozen security officers arrested Ahmed Mansoor at his home in Ajman, about 150 kilometres northeast of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.

"We urge the UAE government to end the incomprehensible three-month imprisonment of Ahmed Mansoor. This is really about the UAE failing to respect basic principles of justice" said Dick Oosting, Chairperson of the MEA Board.

"The purported case against Ahmed Mansoor beggars belief. States have the duty to bring to justice those whom they suspect of having committed criminal offenses. Yet what is clear is that the UAE authorities have arbitrarily deprived him of liberty and taken him away from his family for peacefully exercising his human right to freedom of expression. The three-month lapse and total lack of transparency indicates, likewise, that the authorities merely wanted to silence him".

On 20 March, the UAE authorities stated that Ahmed Mansoor was accused of using social media websites, including to "publish false and misleading information that harm national unity and social harmony and damage the country's reputation," under the UAE's repressive 2012 Cybercrime Law, which authorities have used to imprison numerous human rights activists and which provides for long prison sentences and severe financial penalties.

On 28 March, a group of United Nations human rights experts called on the UAE government to release him immediately, describing his arrest as "a direct attack on the legitimate work of human rights defenders in the UAE." They expressed their fear that his arrest "may constitute an act of reprisal for his engagement with UN human rights mechanisms, for the views he expressed on social media, including Twitter, as well as for being an active member of organizations such as the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, and an active supporter of others, including Human Rights Watch."

The next day, the UAE authorities responded directly to the statement, disputing the allegation that Ahmed Mansoor's detention was arbitrary, and stating that he "has the freedom to hire a lawyer and that his family has full access to the place of confinement and is allowed to visit him."

The government has detained Ahmed Mansoor in Abu Dhabi. It is too far from his home for regular visits from his family, who have only been able to see him once in the last three months. The authorities appear determined to isolate Ahmed Mansoor from his own family.

Despite government assertions that he is able to do so, it appears that he has not been able to appoint an independent lawyer of his own choosing. This is a necessary component of the right to a fair trial.

The right to see a lawyer is a basic right of anyone detained as outlined in article 16 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which the UAE has ratified.

The ten human rights organizations that make up the jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders reiterate their call to the UAE authorities to release Ahmed Mansoor immediately and unconditionally, since the charges against him relate solely to his human rights work and his right to freedom of expression. In the meantime, he should be granted immediate and regular access to his family and a lawyer of his choosing. The UAE must end their harassment of human rights defenders and critics of the authorities.
Egypt: Cancel Alexandria Death Penalty

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 June 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Egypt: Cancel Alexandria Death Penalty, 21 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594a99014.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.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi should cancel a death sentence confirmed by the country's highest appeals court on April 25, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. The sentence followed a trial that violated the defendant's due process rights. If carried out, it would be the ninth execution related to an incident of political violence since the military removed the former president in 2013.

An Alexandria criminal court originally sentenced Fadl al-Mawla, an employee of the Engineers' Club in Alexandria and a preacher affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, to death in 2016 in connection with the killing of a taxi driver during a protest three years earlier. During the trial, the court denied defense lawyers' requests to hear exonerating testimony from witnesses.

"Egypt's justice system remains highly politicized, characterized by rampant due process violations," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The last thing the authorities should be doing in this period of extreme political polarization is to put people to death following unfair trials."

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch called on Egyptian authorities to place a moratorium on the death penalty in view of the sharp rise in the number of death sentences, turbulent political upheaval, and failure to pass a comprehensive transitional justice law in Egypt since the military removed former President Mohamed Morsy in 2013.

The case stemmed from an August 15, 2013, march in Alexandria organized by the Muslim Brotherhood to protest the brutal dispersals of mass sit-ins opposing the military's removal of Morsy the day before. The dispersals on August 14, 2013, resulted in the deaths of at least 904 people at two protest sites in Cairo.



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The Alexandria march blocked traffic on the seaside corniche road, and some of the protesters carried weapons, according pictures posted by residents on social media. Protesters clashed with the police and government supporters. By the end of the day, at least seven people had been killed. At some point during the march, an altercation began between protesters and a taxi driver.

In a video filmed from a balcony, a yellow-and-black Alexandria taxi can be seen maneuvering quickly from one end of the crowd to the other. It accelerates through marchers, possibly hitting some, before it runs into the rear of another car and becomes stuck in traffic. Scores of marchers quickly swarm the taxi, and a sound resembling a gunshot is audible. The person filming the video says, "They shot him?" In another video that begins shortly after the apparent gunshot, the crowd of marchers can be seen attacking the taxi while the person filming screams, "They're killing him!" The videos do not clearly show the identities of those in the crowd.

In the hours after the march, police set up checkpoints and arrested more than a dozen alleged participants at locations around Alexandria, according to the verdict handed down in June 2016. Police arrested 12 men on Abu Qir Street in the Fleming neighborhood, allegedly confiscating a 9mm pistol, and five other men, including al-Mawla, on Army Road, in front of Alexandria's Engineers Club as "they tried to escape," the verdict stated.

Prosecutors alleged that al-Mawla beat the taxi driver, a Christian named Mina Raafat Aziz, and fatally shot him with a birdshot pistol to spread "sectarian strife" in the country. But problems with the state's case arose from the beginning.

The key witness, Aziz's passenger, a man named Amr Ahmed Ghanem, told an interviewer on video immediately following the incident that two "thugs" he recognized from his neighborhood killed Aziz. Later, he changed his story, telling prosecutors that al-Mawla stopped the taxi after seeing a cross hanging in Aziz's car, beat Aziz, and shot him with the pistol.

A defense lawyer told Human Rights Watch that the court allowed him to question Ghanem in court but did not address Ghanem's contradictions in the judgment.

The defense lawyer said that the court refused to let any defense witnesses testify, including a neighbor of al-Mawla who rode to work with him on the day of the march and an acquaintance of al-Mawla who was present during the attack on the taxi driver and said he did not see al-Mawla there.

Egypt's criminal procedure code gives judges the discretion to deny defense requests to call witnesses during trial if the defense has not submitted their testimony in advance or presented them for interrogation at the beginning of a trial. Al-Mawla's legal team had not done so. Egyptian defense lawyers involved in political cases like al-Mawla's often decline to present witnesses in advance out of fear that National Security agents will arrest or otherwise intimidate them.

The defense lawyer said that the defense team submitted footage captured by Engineers' Club security cameras showing security forces raiding the club and conducting arrests. A video posted by the club on YouTube showed the damage caused by the raid and included interviews with two witnesses. The lawyer also said that the defense submitted an official statement from the club saying that al-Mawla had been at his workplace during the protest. Police did not recover the birdshot pistol allegedly used to kill Aziz.

In its judgment, the court wrote that it had heard the defense arguments but was satisfied with the prosecution's evidence and did not need to hear from the defense witnesses.

Prosecutors used Egypt's colonial-era Assembly Law, passed in 1914, to charge all 17 defendants collectively with the killing of Aziz and six other people who they said had died during clashes between marchers and residents involving firearms, knives, and Molotov cocktails. The Assembly Law bans any gathering larger than five people that endangers "public peace" and allows courts to convict anyone who participated in the gathering for acts, including murder, committed by other participants. It is the subject of a lawsuit filed in administrative court by Egyptian human rights activists, who contend that parliament voted to repeal the law in 1928 and that it should no longer be in effect.

Prosecutors also charged the defendants with stealing Ghanem's property, destroying Aziz's car, endangering a public roadway, possessing unlicensed weapons, and belonging to a banned group.

In its ruling, the court stated that the evidence supported a verdict of "intentional murder" against al-Mawla, but not the other defendants, for allegedly shooting Aziz in the chest from a range of approximately one meter. The other defendants, the court stated, had committed the lesser crime of "wounding or beating until death," which implies unintentional murder.

The court sentenced al-Mawla to death. It sentenced a former Muslim Brotherhood official and member of parliament, al-Mohamedi Sayed Ahmed, to 15 years in prison, and the 14 other defendants to five years in prison.

In March and April, Human Rights Watch sent letters to six Egyptian institutions, including the presidency and Defense Ministry, expressing serious concerns about death sentences handed down in both military and regular courts. Human Rights Watch urged President al-Sisi and Defense Minister Sedki Sobhi not to approve any further death sentences. Egypt should move quickly toward abolishing the death penalty.

Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a punishment that is not only unique in its cruelty and finality, but also inevitably and universally plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error. At least 10 other people currently face execution in connection with alleged political violence, six of them sentenced in a regular court and four in a military court, after appeals courts confirmed their death penalties earlier in June.

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
CALGARY, Alberta, June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NXT Energy Solutions Inc. (NXT Energy or the Company) (TSX:SFD) (OTCQB:NSFDF) announces that following a request from the TSX, the previously stated intention to seek shareholder approval to extend the expiry date of certain stock options at the Annual and Special General Meeting of Shareholders on June 21st, has been withdrawn. Approval for the resolution will no longer be sought.



NXT Energy is a Calgary based company whose proprietary Stress Field Detection ("SFD") survey system utilizes quantum-scale sensors to detect gravity field perturbations in an airborne survey method which can be used both onshore and offshore to remotely identify areas with exploration potential for traps and reservoirs. The SFD survey system enables our clients to focus their hydrocarbon exploration decisions concerning land commitments, data acquisition expenditures and prospect prioritization on areas with the greatest potential. SFD is environmentally friendly and unaffected by ground security issues or difficult terrain, and is the registered trademark of NXT Energy Solutions Inc. NXT Energy provides its clients with an effective and reliable method to reduce time, costs, and risks related to exploration.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may include forward-looking statements. When used in this document, words such as intends, plans, anticipates, expects and scheduled, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a wide range of risks and uncertainties, and although the Company believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will be realized. Any number of factors can cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Risk factors facing NXT Energy are described in its most recent MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2016 which has been filed electronically by means of the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") located at www.sedar.com. Such forward-looking statements are made as at the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them, either publicly or otherwise, to reflect new events, information or circumstances, except as may be required under applicable securities law.

Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) nor the OTC QB Markets accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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.
Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Thousands Fleeing Kept Waiting Near Front Line

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 June 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Thousands Fleeing Kept Waiting Near Front Line, 21 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594aa22f4.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.

Update: Following the publication of Human Rights Watch's report "Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Thousands Fleeing Kept Waiting Near Front Line" on June 21, 2017, Human Rights Watch received the following statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government.

(Beirut) - The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Peshmerga forces are stopping thousands of civilians fleeing territory held by the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) for up to three months at checkpoints, including on the front lines, apparently based on general security concerns, and in many cases preventing their access to humanitarian assistance, Human Rights Watch said today. The KRG is obliged to facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to all civilians in need and to allow those fleeing to reach safety.

The civilians, including entire families, have been fleeing Hawija, 60 kilometers south of Mosul, and Tal Afar, 55 kilometers west of Mosul, which have been under the control of ISIS since June 2014. There are still 80,000 civilians in Hawija and another 20,000 in Tal Afar, United Nations staff told Human Rights Watch.

"All armed forces in Iraq should be doing their utmost to help civilians reach safety, and to get food, water and medicine," said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The situation will become even more urgent when anti-ISIS forces begin operations to retake Hawija and Tal Afar."

Four individuals with their families, who had been stopped at checkpoints, and two people with direct knowledge of the movement of people fleeing these areas told Human Rights Watch that at each of the four checkpoints where families tried to enter KRG-held territory, Peshmerga forces stopped civilians for days, weeks, and even in one case up to three months, in many cases leaving them vulnerable to ISIS mortar and suicide attacks and without food and badly needed assistance.

One man who was held at a checkpoint with his family for three days in Maktab Khalid, a destroyed village on the frontline and within ISIS shelling range, said: "I spent those three days scared that ISIS would kill all of us, and, at the same time, that my children would freeze to death. Those three days were the most horrible days of my life."

Another described how his 6-month-old baby died of lack of milk as his family waited to be allowed to cross.

One of those with direct knowledge of the movement of people fleeing via the Maktab Khalid crossing told Human Rights Watch that on several occasions in April and May 2017, Peshmerga forces prevented dozens of civilians from crossing for up to 14 days and prevented humanitarian organizations from delivering humanitarian assistance to them. Another person with direct knowledge of the movement of people fleeing via the Peshmerga's Daquq checkpoint, 17 kilometers from the frontline, also said that Peshmerga forces prevented civilians from crossing there for up to 16 days and limited their access to aid.

An Iraqi government official said that he interviewed dozens of families who had passed through Maktab Khalid over the past year who said that when they arrived Peshmerga forces took their names and then told them that they would only allow them to cross once the size of the crowd had reached at least 300 families. He said that he raised concerns about not allowing the civilians to cross in a timely way with the Kirkuk governor and Peshmerga commanders, and was told these measures were needed to screen civilians for ISIS affiliation before allowing them through.

This stated security rationale, however, contradicts statements from families who told the official and Human Rights Watch that they were only allowed to cross when large numbers amassed at the checkpoint. Other families said that when they arrived, a large number of families were already at the checkpoint, they were only kept for a few hours before being allowed to cross.

Since April 18, more than 5,000 people fleeing Tal Afar attempted to enter KRG-held territory via a Peshmerga checkpoint in Shindukhan, a village on the front lines, and were held by Peshmerga forces there for one to three days with no food, water, or shelter before they were taken to Sahlej, a nearby village 10 kilometers from the frontline and within ISIS shelling range, said one of the people with direct knowledge of the movement of people fleeing in the area.

According to the UN, Peshmerga forces held an estimated 200 civilians fleeing Tal Afar for more than two months at a checkpoint in al-Fadhilya, 15 kilometers north of Mosul and 22 kilometers from the frontline. Aid agencies and partners were not allowed direct access to provide aid. A source following developments said that in early June, after three months, the families were allowed through and on to camps for displaced people.

In June 2017, Human Rights Watch shared its findings with the KRG's High Committee to Evaluate International Organizations' Reports and asked for comment but at the time of publication had not received a response.

Security forces may have genuine security concerns and are entitled to screen those fleeing ISIS-controlled areas. But authorities should make medical care, including first aid, promptly available to everyone at screening sites. Authorities running the screening centers should locate them as far from hostilities as possible. Authorities should also promptly identify vulnerable people and give them priority in the screening process, including those needing immediate medical assistance, and provide them with any assistance needed including shelter, food, milk for infants, and water.

Under international humanitarian law, parties to the conflict should take all feasible steps to evacuate the civilian population from the vicinity of fighting or military objects, and take all feasible precautions to protect civilians from harm. All parties are also obliged to facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to all civilians in need. KRG authorities should ensure prompt independent judicial review of detention and allow detainees to have access to lawyers and medical care and to communicate with their families. Anyone held for an extended period without being able to leave should be considered as being detained.

"These families have lived for years under the horrific abuses of ISIS, months with limited food, water, and medicine, and have just risked their lives trying to get to safety," Fakih said. "Delaying people fleeing ISIS from reaching safety and getting the help they need is inhumane."

Families Describe Being Held at Checkpoints

Many families fleeing Hawija and Tel Afar have tried to enter KRG-held territory via several main checkpoints, including at Maktab Khalid, 15 kilometers west of Kirkuk; Daquq, 30 kilometers south of Kirkuk; Shindukhan, 40 kilometers northwest of Mosul; and al-Fadhilya, 15 kilometers north of Mosul.

Human Rights Watch interviewed four men who said they and their families were kept at Maktab Khalid for between one and three days.

One man from Hawija said he arrived at Maktab Khalid in November 2016, with six members of his family and enough food for one meal for the whole family. He said that Peshmerga officers prevented him and his family and hundreds of others from crossing for three days, saying they would only let families cross once the number waiting was big enough. The family sought shelter in a destroyed, abandoned building with no blankets. During that time, on a few occasions, officers gave him a bit of dry bread, which he gave to his children, he said.

Despite raising concerns with a Peshmerga officer at the checkpoint about ISIS attacks and his family's security, he said the officer dismissed these saying, "Your safety is not our responsibility. We are not responsible if ISIS attacks you because you are not yet in our territory." He added:

By the third morning, my 9-year-old daughter was no longer moving or speaking, because of the severe cold and the lack of food. When they finally let us through, I had to carry her the whole way. Finally, an officer gave her some water.

Another man, 25, from Hawija, who arrived at Maktab Khalid on December 24 with his family and about 300 other people said Peshmerga officers informed him that they would only allow the families to cross once there were more than 500 people there. He said he was able to call relatives in Kirkuk who delivered them food via Peshmerga officers there but that in the three days they were there many other families went without. "We were lucky, but many families spent those days without any food," he said. "I saw old men and women too weak to walk by the last day."

Another man from Hawija said he reached Maktab Khalid in January, with his family and about 200 other people, only to have Peshmerga forces stop them there for days without any food. He said:

My 6-month-old son, Khalid, started crying on the first day, it was so cold and we had no milk to give him, because my wife had not eaten for three days. I went to the Peshmerga officers and asked if they had any food or milk, but they said they didn't. I begged them to let us cross but they refused, saying the number of people had to be bigger before they would let us all cross. I knew Khalid would die, and he did the next day. It was a sad day for me. I escaped ISIS in order to give my children a chance to survive and have a better life, but I lost him. I had to bury him right there in the desert.

The man said that his daughter, Khalid's twin sister, survived but suffered severe dehydration. She was still receiving medical treatment when Human Rights Watch interviewed him on May 23.

The person who had knowledge of people who were stopped at Maktab Khalid said that 140 civilians were stopped on April 3 for 14 days and that assistance was only provided on Day 10; that 81 civilians were stopped on April 18 for six days; 31 on May 5 for 12 days, with assistance after nine days; 61 including eight with critical health conditions, on May 27, with two critically ill civilians allowed to cross around May 30, and the rest held for nine days.

One of the people with knowledge of the Daquq checkpoint said that eight families were stopped on April 3 for 16 days, with a local aid group only able to provide them 10 assistance kits containing food and water.

Then, on May 15, the source said the Peshmerga stopped a family with a sick elderly family member. The ailing woman was taken to a hospital on May 20, but returned later the same day. Her situation continued to deteriorate and on May 24 the family requested that the Peshmerga forces take her back to the hospital, but they refused. The person said that the Peshmerga refused permission for aid to be delivered at the end of May and as of June 6, the family was still stuck there, and had been joined by two more families.

An Iraqi government official confirmed the presence of the three families, saying the relatives had contacted him with the same concerns.

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Lebanon: Hold Soldiers Who Beat Protesters to Account

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 21 June 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Lebanon: Hold Soldiers Who Beat Protesters to Account, 21 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/594aa6a24.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.

Lebanese military personnel who beat and kicked protesters demonstrating against a third extension of parliament's term on June 16, 2017, should be held to account, Human Rights Watch said today. The military should make the results of their investigation public.

Protesters said the beatings occurred after some of them threw eggs and tomatoes at cars they believed to be carrying members of parliament. Human Rights Watch spoke with six protesters, including five who said that army personnel hit them with batons, punched them in the face, and kicked them, next to the Beirut municipality building near parliament. Several videos taken at the protest appeared to corroborate their accounts. The military confirmed to Human Rights Watch that it has opened an investigation.

"Military authorities have an opportunity to show they are willing to hold their personnel accountable for the unlawful use of force," said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The military prosecutor should make public the results of its investigation and hold anyone responsible for unlawful force accountable, and security services should make serious changes to the way their personnel respond to protests."

The small protest in downtown Beirut was over the Lebanese cabinet's agreement on June 14 to extend the parliament's term for a third time, in order to put a new electoral law into effect. Lebanon has not held parliamentary elections since 2009.

The protesters interviewed said that prior to the attack, an officer wearing an army uniform with three stars, positioned behind a security barrier blocking one of the roads near parliament, told them to leave the area, claiming that it was a military zone. They said that more than 10 soldiers then attacked the protesters. Video of the incident shows an army officer raising the security barrier without apparent provocation and army personnel moving forward and beating protesters.

A second video shows a group of soldiers repeatedly kicking and hitting two protesters with batons as they lay on the ground. In another video, army personnel can be seen kicking a different protester as he lay on the ground. Human Rights Watch spoke with the protesters in these videos and also reviewed a medical report documenting heavy bruising on one of the protesters.

The National News Agency reported a June 16 statement by Parliament Police that said, "After some demonstrators attempted to break into the security barrier and assault protection guards... and after they [demonstrators] forcibly stripped one of the servicemen from his arms and shoved him on the ground, the Parliament's guards had to intervene to free their comrade from the demonstrators' grip."

Protesters asserted that they did not physically confront any security force members and that they were all unarmed. Human Rights Watch has not seen any credible reports that security or army personnel were injured. Protesters denied that they had tried to cross the barrier or used violence against security forces, and no videos published from the protest corroborated the Parliament Police statement.

In an earlier incident the same day in nearby Riad Al Solh, protesters told Human Rights Watch, private security guards beat them when they attempted to stop a convoy they suspected was carrying a member of parliament from passing.

Protesters expressed outrage at the level of violence used against them. "You could sense how much they wanted to do us harm," one protester told Human Rights Watch. "This is the most horrible part of what happened."

"They are teaching us not to protest and call for our rights," another protester said.

In a media interview, the Defense Minister Yaqub al-Sarraf said that the security forces were army personnel assigned to protect parliament, and that any guilty party would be held responsible.

In response to an inquiry from Human Rights Watch, the army wrote that, "These members follow the command of the Parliament Police and their relation to the Army is only administrative. His Excellency the Minister of National Defense Mr. Yaqub al-Sarraf has mandated Judge Saqr Saqr, the Government Commissioner to the Military Court, to investigate the issue. Judge Saqr has referred the case to the Military Police to conduct necessary investigations and take appropriate measures against whomever the investigation reveals as responsible for what has happened." Judge Saqr, the military prosecutor, told Human Rights Watch that his office had opened an investigation.

On June 17, the Beirut Bar Association announced that it had formed a committee of volunteer lawyers to seek accountability for the violence. You Stink, the group that organized the protest, held a news conference on June 17 condemning the attacks and calling for the release of security footage of the incident.

The Lebanese constitution and international law protect freedom of assembly. However, Human Rights Watch and local human rights organizations have long documented the unlawful use of force by security agencies against protesters in Lebanon. On August 22 and 23, 2015, Lebanese security personnel used rubber bullets, teargas canisters, water cannons, rifle butts, and batons at a protest in downtown Beirut over a waste management crisis and corruption.

Impunity for violence by security forces is a recurring problem in Lebanon. Even when officials have initiated investigations into previous incidents of excessive, and in some cases, lethal violence against protesters, the investigations have often not been concluded or made public. All publicly available information indicates that Lebanon has previously failed to adequately investigate incidents in which security forces, including the army, used force against protesters, such as the violent dispersal of Palestinian protesters in Northern Lebanon on June 29, 2007, which left two Palestinians dead and at least 28 injured; and the violent dispersal of protesters in Hay al-Sellom, a poor neighborhood in Beirut, on May 27, 2004, which killed five protesters and wounded dozens.

"This is unfortunately only the latest incident in which protests in Lebanon have been met with violence," Fakih said. "If protestors threw eggs or tomatoes, security services could have detained them peacefully, but beating people as they lie helplessly on the ground is clearly unacceptable."



Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Sofia, Bulgaria -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/21/2017 --Clearsight Antivirus announced today that it will provide its first free antivirus software protection program for schools and other education customers. "We wanted to help schools and colleges create a safe and secure network, and we realize that's hard to do on a shoe string budget" said Vice President Dmitry Chendev. "Schools spend thousands on antivirus programs every year, and by using Clearsight Antivirus, we save them thousands without them losing the high quality software."



Clearsight Antivirus was founded in 2010 by a group of people with a background in the software security industry and antivirus companies. The company offers three free software antivirus programs for homes, Mobile devices and businesses.



Clearsight Antivirus Lite for Education program offers workstation real-time protection from viruses and spyware, daily updates and detects viruses on removable devices.



"Whether consumers need an antivirus program for their home, school or business, Clearsight Antivirus has the tools to fulfill every software protection need," said Chendev. If customers require a higher level of protection, they have the option to upgrade to a premium account for a very low price. Clearsight Antivirus Premium provides central management and Windows server cover, removable device infection detection and removal, full scheduled scanning, surf guard protection, zero hour protection (protects from the second a new virus is released), multiple engines and free technical support. It also includes two scanning engines for Premium users.



To support their free services and continue to strengthen their programs, Clearsight Antivirus Endpoint will ask consumers for donations. However, consumers are not required to donate to use the services, however technical support is for a fee.



"Our team is dedicated to giving consumers high-quality antivirus programs and superior technical support," said Chendev. "We will make sure that your computers receive the highest level of protection available."



After being in business for a little more than seven years, Clearsight Antivirus software has been awarded and recognized by various companies. OPSWAT Certify our solutions for Malware detection level. Virus Bulletin, a UK based organisation who independently tests antivirus products, have honored Clearsight Antivirus with a VB100 Virus award multiple times throughout the years. Additionally, consumers on Download4a rated Clearsight Antivirus' software programs five stars.



"The Clearsight Antivirus team is honored to see their hard work reflected in our awards and costumers' reviews," said Chendev. "We look forward to continuing to build our brand and strengthen our programs."



"Although we do offer a free solution for business we also offer a distribution and reseller partnership program. For interested potential partners to capitalize on the Premium sales and support services that can be offered to paying businesses, who would like corporate-class protection and support." hints Dmitry Chendev.



To learn more about Clearsight Antivirus and their services, visit http://www.csantivirus.com.
November 2022 is Subscriber Appreciation Month

We're launching a full month of surprises to say thank you to our most loyal subscribers!
NEW YORK, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

About the 3rd Annual Cyber Security for Defense Summit

https://cybersecurityfordefense.iqpc.com/

"Over the course of the last year, the cyber domain has only become more intense and complicated. Russia, China, and North Korea have made serious progress within cyberspace, making cyber the forefront of conversation as we move into realization of the Force of the Future. We are now up against Chinas own specialized military network warfare forces, North Koreas secretive Bureau 121 hacker unit, other nation-states, hacktivists like Anonymous, and other criminal enterprises," said Kevin Steinberger, Program Director, Institute for Defense and Government Advancement.

Federico Simonetti, Chief Technology Officer, Extenua, said, The world has been focusing on several aspects of data security, except not enough on the most critical component: Authentication

Moving to the cloud requires rethinking the entire Authentication philosophy; what was good within the borders of the firewall-protected LAN isnt good enough anymore in the cloud

Delegating authentication and federating active directories only widens the surface of attack

Punching holes in the firewall to allow externals to authenticate is out of the question

BUT there is a right way to do it, and thats what I am going to explain at the 3rd Annual Cyber Security for Defense Summit June 28 at 2:50 PM Eastern."

Steve Visconti, President & CEO, Extenua, discusses Ransomware In The Boardroom on SecuritySolutionsWatch.com. In May 2017, there was a global ransomware cyberattack as has never been seen before. This single attack affected more than 200,000 computers and wreaked havoc on financial institutions, healthcare organizations and transportation to name just a few. To put the problem in perspective, in 2015 the industry saw nearly 3.8 million ransomware attacks, whereas 2016 saw approximately 638 million attacks. 2017 is expected to see a triple digit rise over last year. Additionally, ransomware continues to morph. It is estimated there are over 32,000 variants currently. This is costing businesses billions of dollars and will likely cost lives if the industry does not take active steps to minimize its impact. This is a very serious problem which is why we developed a solution to protect your data in a way which is impervious to current iterations of ransomware, said Mr. Visconti.

For the complete interview please click here or here:

http://www.securitysolutionswatch.com/Interviews/in_Boardroom_Extenua_Visconti.html

Extenua has released a most timely white paper about ransomware. This free white paper discusses the challenges of keeping ransomware (Cryptolocker, WannaCry, and the like) out of the corporate data storage, whether it is local, in the cloud or hybrid.

CLOUD2DRIVE-PROTECTED ONLINE STORAGE IS IMPERVIOUS TO RANSOMWARE BY USING SILVERSHIELD

Even in case your systems are infected by a ransomware, you will simply be able to format your computer,

reinstall your operating system, and restore all your data from an always-healthy backup.

Download the complete White Paper (in PDF format) by clicking here or here: http://dl.extenua.com/no-ransomware.pdf

About Steve Visconti, President & CEO

Steve Visconti is responsible for Extenuas strategic direction and day-to-day business operations. As CEO, Mr. Visconti brings to Extenua over 25 years experience in both domestic and international business development, sales, marketing, and management success. Steves leadership experience includes top technology companies and startup ventures including Cisco Systems, Inc., Airespace, Ascend, Chipcom, and Banyan Systems. His understanding of technology and market conditions, together with the ability to lead high growth companies and build shareholder value, has contributed to his proven performance record and several successful startup successes.

About Federico Simonetti, Chief Technology Officer, Founder

Federico is a serial entrepreneur and hardcore software designer and developer. In his career he has founded several companies in Europe and in the US, growing them and bringing them to successful exits. Dr. Simonetti is a former professor of Operating System Security at the University of Milan, his areas of major expertise are information security and artificial intelligence. Federicos recognized deep and broad understanding of computer security, encryption and computer forensics have been called upon by both private and public sector organizations assisting in preventing and solving many crimes from business fraud and anti-terrorism.

About Extenua

Extenua Inc. is an award-winning developer of enterprise security software that provides end-to-end data security for cloud and on-premise storage as well as SFTP server for Windows. Extenua's customers include Fortune 500 companies IBM, Fujitsu, Boeing, Nokia, Sony, Toyota, Kaiser Permanente, US Bank and Motorola as well as government institutions, security agencies, and thousands of small and mid-size businesses. Additional information about Extenua and Cloud2Drive is available at www.extenua.com Extenua Inc. is a privately-held corporation based in San Jose, California.

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To Present At 3rd Annual Cyber Security for Defense Summit June 28, 2:50 PM Eastern

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MONEY20/20 EUROPE

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Cyber Security Summit: D.C. Metro

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INTERPOL WORLD 2017

Congress: 4-6 July 2017

Exhibition: 5-7 July 2017

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Chicago

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IoT Evolution Expo

July 17-20, 2017

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Dallas, Texas

https://securityexpo.asisonline.org

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Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday issued a harsh warning to the countrys political opposition, telling critics of his more than 30-year rule to prepare your coffins if they persist in accusing him of threatening civil war if his party is defeated in the polls.



Speaking at an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of his 1977 defection to Vietnam after serving as a junior officer in Cambodias murderous Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen said that only he and his family can defend social order and the countrys constitutional monarchy.



Analysts speculation that Hun Sens frequent warnings of chaos in Cambodia may reflect divisions in the countrys military are themselves a potential cause for war, Hun Sen said in his June 21 speech given in Anloung commune in the Memot district of Tbaung Khmum province.



Your tongues themselves are a cause for war, Hun Sen said in remarks aimed at Cambodian political analysts and others opposed to his rule. If you persist in these insults, you should prepare your coffins.



Please dont incite chaos! Hun Sen added, saying that he and his family are solely responsible for the protection of the country, its constitution, and its accomplishments during his years in office.



To protect political and social stability in Cambodia, the countrys ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) must be ready to eliminate as many as 100 or 200 of its opponents, Hun Sen added.



[But] if you have no part in destroying the peace, you will not be a target for elimination, he said.



Remarks unfair to others



Speaking to RFA, Phnom Penh-based analyst Lao Mong Hay said Hun Sens remarks suppose that others in Cambodia care nothing for the countrys progress and well-being.



Statements like these assume that others dont hold these same views, meaning that they dont love the monarchy or support the countrys achievements, he said.



Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades, has warned repeatedly that electoral wins by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in local elections on June 4 and in parliamentary polls in 2018 would bring instability and war to the country.



And in May, defense minister Tea Banh said that Cambodias party-controlled military would smash the teeth of anyone protesting a CPP win.



Slightly more than 7 million Cambodians, or 89.52 percent of registered voters, turned out for commune council polls on June 4, a record turnout in a test of public opinion ahead of 2018 general elections.



According to government-affiliated Fresh News, unofficial results showed the CPP won 22 provinces while the CNRP won two major cities, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, as well as Kompong Cham province.



Reported by Sokheng Saut and Maly Leng for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Richard Finney.




The incoming chief executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, has said she will fight "pro-independence forces" in the city and begin fostering a sense of Chinese identity among very young children, sparking fears that she will try to brainwash them into loyalty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.



Lam, who takes office formally on the 20th anniversary of the July 1, 1997 handover to Chinese rule, said her administration would "strictly" enforce existing law, which she said bans "pro-independence behavior."



"I believe most people in Hong Kong never consider independence to be feasible," Lam told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.



"The next Hong Kong government will strictly carry out its duties according to the law, because all pro-independence behavior violates local laws. We must strictly enforce the law," Lam said.



She also unveiled proposals to begin the "education" of Hong Kong's children as early as kindergarten, saying that the city's young people must learn of the "dangers" posed by pro-independence thinking.



"In future I think we should make Chinese history a compulsory part of the curriculum from the first year of secondary school, and we must do more to encourage children to experience Chinese culture," Lam said.



"Outside of the schools, we need a diverse range of activities aimed at making sure our youth ... understand the latest developments in our country," she said.



'Hostile forces'



Former top Beijing official for Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Chen Zuo'er accused "localist" groups that insist on a Hong Kong focus, as well as groups open to greater autonomy or independence for the city, of being "hostile forces."



"These hostile forces have created all kinds of straw men with which to distort and attack the real principle of 'one country, two systems'," Chen told local media. "[They do this] in order to disguise their own anti-China and anti-communist stance, which opposed Hong Kong's return to the motherland."



He dismissed suggestions that the city will be able to choose its own direction when the 50-year period of the handover agreement elapses in 2047.



"The so-called notion that if we don't like the way things are going in 2047, we can change them, is dangerous nonsense," he said, warning that Hong Kong must legislate to enshrine China's deeply unpopular national security and subversion laws in its separate legal jurisdiction.



Attempts to pass such laws through the city's Legislative Council in 2003 sparked a mass popular protest on July 1, 2003, and the attempt was dropped for the time being.



"This can't be put off forever," Chen warned. "But until [that time], we will use existing laws to pursue independence activists with criminal investigations."



A hardening line



Current affairs commentator Li Ruishao said Beijing's line appears to have hardened following recent ties between pro-independence activists in Hong Kong and Taiwan.



He called the city's independence movement a kind of "straw man."



"Why is Beijing going after pro-independence activists in such a fake manner, when it is pretty obvious to everyone that that independence will never enter the mainstream in Hong Kong?" Li said.



"And yet they set up this straw man and continually attack it. I don't know what they'll attack once it has been destroyed."



"Perhaps ... then, even the slightest, most trivial thing will be turned into a watermelon to fire at," he said.



Chan Ho-tin, convenor of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party, said Lam's warnings make no legal sense.



"She said that pro-independence behavior is in breach of our own laws ... if so, she should immediately detain me, rather than just saying I have broken the law," Chan told RFA.



"But I don't think she would be able to tell us exactly which of our laws I have broken," he said.



'Patriotic brainwashing'



Former Occupy Central student leader and lawmaker Nathan Law accused Lam of trying to reintroduce Beijing's highly unpopular "national patriotic education" proposals, which also sparked mass student protests in 2012, by stealth.



"This just shows that Beijing hasn't yet given up its proposals for patriotic education in Hong Kong," Law said. "They are continuing to harp on endlessly about patriotic brainwashing."



"People should be warned that this so-called national identity education idea is just patriotic education in a new guise, something they have been trying to impose for the past 12 years."



He denied suggestions from Beijing that Hong Kong and Taiwan independence activists are plotting to endanger national security.



"In all of our time in Taiwan, even in our informal chats, not once did the issue of sovereignty come up," Law said. "They are just trying to label us. This is a divisive attack that has no basis in reality."



Joshua Wong, former Occupy Central student leader and general secretary of the fledgling political party Demosisto, echoed Law's comments.



"It proves that Carrie Lam is just following the hard line of the Beijing government and would like to introduce this kind of patriotic education in the future," Wong told government broadcaster RTHK.



Hong Kong identity



The row over the identity of Hong Kong's young people comes as the percentage of young people identifying as Chinese reached its lowest point since the handover, according to an opinion poll by the University of Hong Kong.



The poll found that 37 percent of respondents identified as Hongkongers, and 21 percent as Chinese, while others chose more ambiguous options like "Hongkongers in China" or "Chinese in Hong Kong."



But only 3.1 percent of the 18-28 age group said they identified as Chinese, the lowest result since the poll began in 1997.



Overall, more than 73 percent chose Hongkongers as their strongest identity, followed by Asians at just over 70 percent, "members of the Chinese race" at 64 percent, and "Chinese" at 62.5 percent, the survey found.



Reported by Lam Kwok-lap for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.




A group of Kachin Independence Army soldiers take a break in northern Myanmar's Kachin state in an undated photo.

A coalition of political parties in northern Myanmars Kachin state said on Wednesday that the national armys offensives in Tanaing township and the Hukong Valley against an ethnic armed group could harm the governments efforts to end decades of ethnic separatist civil wars and forge peace.

Government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) began fighting in the Tanaing gold and amber mining region on June 16.

A statement issued by the Kachin Political Cooperation Committee (KPCC), which includes the Lhaovo National Unity and Development Party, Kachin Democratic Party, and Kachin State Democracy Party, also said that villagers have lost trust in the central government and the local ethnic majority because of land grabs that accompany the hostilities.

Local people have to move out when fighting occurs in their area, and they lose their lands and farms, said KPCC member Jaw San Naw.

More than 100,000 people in Kachin State have lost their land, he said. Thats why we released this statement because we are concerned about them.

Civil conflicts can be solved only if ethnic people can manage the land and natural resources in their regions without any central control, requiring the implementation of the agreements made in political negotiations, the statement said.

Thousands of people have moved out of the seven wards that comprise the Tanaing gold and amber mining area since June 6, a day after the Myanmar army dropped fliers warning them to evacuate by mid-June before beginning a military clearance operation.

They have sought shelter in Christian churches and Buddhist monasteries or have returned to their hometowns elsewhere in the country.

The fliers warned that if residents failed to leave the area by June 15, the military would consider them to have connections to the KIA.

The KIA controls the areas where the mines are and depends on amber and gold mining activities as a source of income, levying a five-percent tax on mine operators.

Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has made ending decades-long civil wars and achieving lasting peace in the country the cornerstone of her government, which has been in power since April 2016.

Reported by Kyaw Soe Lin for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Suicide among Myanmar refugees in Thailands biggest camp increased at an alarming rate during the past two years, according to a study by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The study, which was released on Monday  the eve of World Refugee Day  found that only one person committed suicide in Mae La camp in 2014, but the number escalated to 14 each year in 2015 and 2016.

During the same three-year period, 96 people attempted to kill themselves at the camp, the study said.

The trend is increasing in the past couple of years, said Dana Graber Ladek, chief of IOM mission in Bangkok. This actually needs more services, such as by counselors and psychiatrists in the camps, to prevent suicide.

Mae La camp in Thasongyang district of Tak province, about 500 km (312 miles) north of Bangkok, harbors about 40,000 refugees, mostly ethnic Karen from eastern Myanmar. It is the largest of nine refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, where about 100,000 people resettled after the Myanmar military regime launched offensives against ethnic rebel forces during the 1980s.

Ladek said collaborative efforts between nongovernmental groups and government agencies could help identify the cause and ways to prevent suicides.

The Interior Ministry of Thailand takes this refugee situation very seriously, and its not a situation that one agency can address, Ladek told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. He added that the effort would require a collaborative approach on many different levels.

The study said no conclusive cause for the surge in suicides had been established. But, it said, family conflicts, financial situations, alcohol and drug abuse and depression could have contributed to the rising figures.

Middle-age people, mostly those who have spent their entire lives in the camp, were statistically at higher risk of suicide, the study said. It said the most common methods used were hanging and drinking herbicides which are easily available because many refugees work on farmlands.

Government officials respond

Officials of a Thai government agency that manages the camp said they were aware of the suicides. They responded by fielding psychiatrists who provided counseling to vulnerable individuals and set up checkpoints to stop drug trafficking into the camp.

We have our representatives staying with refugees in the camp who observe and are ready to talk with them 24/7, Kwanruen Srichan, director of Border and Refugee Affairs Section, told BenarNews during a phone interview.

We are expecting that attempted and completed suicides would decline, she said.

Thailand began hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the 1970s. More recently, Thailand has received populations threatened by armed conflict and ethnic persecution in Myanmar, according to Amnesty International (AI).

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said more than 80,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand had resettled in other countries since 2005. It said tens of thousands had returned to Myanmar after the new democratically elected government announced its commitment to voluntary refugee repatriation.

But the 100,000 refugees remaining in nine camps are facing reduced funding, decreased resettlement opportunity and poorer services, officials said.

This is very complex, Ladek said. All the reasons are contributing to the problem.

Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, but officials said the country has been committed to providing the humanitarian needs of refugees and asylum seekers.

In addition to the 100,000 people living in refugee camps, AI said there were about 8,000 asylum seekers from more than 50 countries in Thailand.

Another 330 UNHCR-registered refugees and asylum seekers are being held in immigration detention centers in difficult living conditions and many have been forcibly repatriated.

On Tuesday, AI said that despite Thailands role in hosting and supporting large refugee populations, the nation had failed to consistently protect their rights.

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, AI said in a statement.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Two Tibetan monks missing since last year after being detained by police in Sichuan have been sentenced to prison terms of from four to five years for engaging in separatist activities, Tibetan sources say.



Gendun Drakpa, 40, and Lobsang Sherab, 36, were convicted of passing politically sensitive information to contacts outside Dzoege (in Chinese, Ruoergai) county in the Ngaba (Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a Tibetan living in India told RFAs Tibetan Service.



They were put on trial sometime around June 17, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity and citing sources in the Dzoege region.



They were not allowed to seek the assistance of a lawyer and were not given a chance to speak in their own defense, the source said. They were also not allowed to meet with their parents or other relatives.



Drakpa was sentenced to five years in prison, while Sherab was handed a four-year term, the source said, adding that Tibetans attending the trial as witnesses were forced to surrender their mobile phones to police.



It was not clear what information the monks were accused of passing or who the recipients were.



Shouted for help



When he was detained on Aug. 24, 2016, Drakpa was working as treasurer of Ngabas Thangkor Soktsang monastery, where Sherab was a worker in the monasterys store, sources told RFA in earlier reports.



Sherab and his roommates thought at first that the Chinese police officers entering their quarters had come to rob them, and shouted for help, sources said.



But the security personnel pointed guns at them and told them to keep still, one source said, adding, One monk who resisted was forced down by five officers and was injured in the struggle.



Sherab was then shoved into a vehicle and driven away without even being allowed to put on his clothes, he said.



Authorities in Tibetan-populated areas of China closely monitor Tibetans use of mobile phones and social media and harshly punish the spread of news or images of self-immolations and other protests challenging Chinese rule, sources say.



Reported by Lobe Socktsang for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.




A Chinese coast guard ship (L) uses a water cannon on a Vietnamese ship in disputed waters in the South China Sea, May 2, 2014.

A truncated visit this week by a Chinese military officer to neighboring Vietnam has raised eyebrows among foreign affairs analysts who are questioning whether the incident could indicate an about-face in relations between the two communist allies who are embroiled in a territorial dispute.

Chinese General Fan Changlong, who is part of the delegation visiting the capital Hanoi this week, abruptly left Vietnam on Tuesday after a private meeting with Vietnamese defense officials.

Public and private accounts of the incident vary. Chinese and Vietnamese state media report that defense relations are going well and that the parties reached an agreement on personnel training between their defense ministries.

But analysts, citing government sources, said a discussion over disputed territory in the South China Sea, where China is building artificial islands and military infrastructure, may have prompted a row leading to Fans early departure, which caused him to skip a cross-border exchange program.

They cited Vietnams efforts to form strategic military partnerships with the United States and Japan, and a recent move by Vietnam to allow a foreign company to exploit oil in the Vanguard Bank area of the South China Sea where a Chinese fishing vessel cut a Vietnamese boats cable in May 2011, triggering street protests in Hanoi.

Vietnam has long claimed Vanguard Bank is part of its continental shelf, and not part of the disputed territory with China. The two countries, however, have agreed not to explore or exploit oil in disputed areas of the sea.

Le Hong Hiep, a research fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and an international relations scholar at Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City, said he could only speculate on the matter since there is no official information about it.

In the past, Vietnam has been under pressure to maintain its growth rate, so it has had discussions on enhancing oil exploration on the South China Sea, he said.

Vietnams activities in the South China Sea have touched China's interests, and as usual, China will find ways to discourage the country from pursing them, he said.

It is therefore not difficult to understand if the conflict in the South China Sea is related to the exploitation of marine resources, he said. And perhaps this is the reason why Fan Changlong cut short his visit to Vietnam.

Carl Thayer, a Southeast Asia expert based in Australia who has taught at several defense universities, said it is likely that Fan asked Vietnam to stop the oil exploitation in Vanguard Bank, which indicates that the country has not complied with an agreement with China not to explore and exploit oil reserves in the disputed area.

Le Hong Hiep agreed with Thayers assessment and said China wants to put pressure on Vietnam to stop its activities and to comply with the two parties agreement so as to not complicate the situation.

This also depends on each sides interpretation of the agreement, he said.

Vietnam's exploration and exploitation of oil on its continental shelf does not complicate the situation, because Vietnam has sovereignty over that region, Hiep said. However, China sees it as a disputed area, so actions such as unilateral oil exploration and exploitation may be a complication.

Possible miliary clash

Thayer, who noted that China is deploying 40 ships and several Y-8GX6 turboprop anti-submarine warfare aircraft to the area, raised the possibility that a military clash between China and Vietnam could occur during the next few days.

Hiep, however, declined to forecast the outcome, but added that if hostilities did occur, they would pose a major challenge to the countries bilateral relations, which could have the same or even a greater effect than did the oil rig crisis of May 2014.

In that crisis, China deployed a giant oil-drilling rig in the South China Sea about 120 miles from Vietnams coast near islands claimed by both countries and within Hanois 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone set by international law.

The event sparked a bitter bilateral row, with both sides accusing the other of ramming ships patrolling the area.

Thayer also said that Fans rumored cancellation of activities in connection with the fourth Vietnam-China friendly border exchange in Lai Chau and Yunnan provinces on June 20-22 would be the most significant setback in bilateral relations since the 2014 incident.

This setback would also be a sign that China is being more assertive in response to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs visits to Washington and Tokyo in order to curtail the development of Vietnams defense and security relations with these two countries, he said.

Phuc and high-raking delegations visited the U.S. in May, and Japan in early June.

If true, this would be a clumsy and counterproductive act by China, he said.



Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Emily Peyman. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
English French Dutch

Press Release

Outside trading hours - Regulated information*

Dublin/Brussels, 21 June 2017 (8 a.m. CEST)

Today's KBC investor visit to Ireland:

Updated KBC Group strategy: ' More of the same, but differently'.

Updated Capital deployment plan and financial guidance 2020.

KBC Bank Ireland Digital First Customer Centric strategy.

Today, Johan Thijs, KBC Group CEO, the other members of the KBC Group Executive Committee and the senior management of KBC Bank Ireland will welcome the analyst and investment community and the media for an onsite visit in Dublin.

KBC will give an update of KBC Group's strategy, capital deployment plan and financial guidance up to year-end 2020.

KBC will also demonstrate how digital transformation has taken place in the different core markets of the group and what initiatives are in place and planned. KBC intends to invest a further 1.5 billion euros in digital transformation between 2017 and year-end 2020.

Lastly, KBC Bank Ireland will detail how it will implement its 'Digital First' customer-centric bank strategy as announced on 9 February 2017, when KBC defined Ireland as a core market.

KBC Group's strategy: More of the same, but differently.

KBC aims to be among the best performing financial institutions in Europe and the reference in bank-insurance in its core markets.

KBC Group's strategy beyond 2017 continues to build on the existing fundamentals, a business model which has proven to be very successful and which is supported by the strong PEARL company culture. KBC will focus on:

strengthening in a highly cost-efficient way the integrated bank-insurance business model for retail, SME, private banking and mid-cap clients in its core markets (Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ireland);

sustainable and profitable growth within the framework of solid risk, capital and liquidity management;

creating superior client satisfaction via a seamless, multi-channel, client-centric distribution approach.

By achieving this, KBC wants to be among the best performing financial institutions in Europe.

Johan Thijs, KBC Group CEO explains the plans for the coming years: 'In the coming three years, KBC wishes to continue to provide its clients with a unique bank-insurance experience. Also in the digital world we provide an integrated response to our client's banking and insurance needs, in offering the benefit of a comprehensive one-stop financial service with a wider, complementary and optimised range of products.

Our geographical footprint (six core countries of Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Ireland) and current client segments will remain unchanged. If available, we will make selective add-on acquisitions in our core markets taking into account very strict financial and strategic criteria.

As we find ourselves in an ever changing environment and are faced with changing client behaviour and expectations, changing technology and digitalisation, a challenging macroeconomic environment, increasing competition, etc., we will fundamentally change the way we implement this strategy. So, it will be more of the same, but differently.

A diversified income basis becomes more and more important. Therefore we will increase income generation through fee business and insurance business (in addition to interest income). We will continue to build our non-life and risk/life insurance business, boost asset management in core countries (especially outside Belgium) and broaden our 'one-stop shop' offering to our clients via partnerships with fintechs or even competitors and also offer businesses related to bank-insurance (e.g., advisory services, etc.).

Going forward, digitalising the back-end will be as important as front-end digitalisation, in which we have invested significantly in the past years. Hence, client-centricity will be further fine-tuned into 'think client, but design for a digital world'. Clients will continue to choose the channel of their choice: physical branch or agency, smartphone, website, contact centre (KBC Live), apps. The human interface will still play a crucial role but will be augmented by digital capabilities, such as face-to-face underpinned by robo-advice, and chatbots like in the KBC K'Ching app in Belgium. Clients will drive the pace of action and change. Technological development will be the driver and enabler.

This approach requires further internal simplification (processes, systems, products, etc.) to remain a safe and trusted partner for our clients who are looking for convenience, ease of use, zero effort, here and now, anywhere and anytime. Therefore we will further increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our processes and data management to offer our clients a convenient and pleasant experience in a fast and decisive way.'

Full press release attached.
Kroger is pulling the plug on two new stores planned for the Richmond region.

After years of delays, Kroger has scrapped plans to build a grocery store in Colonial Heights at the site of the former city courthouse at 401 Temple Ave.

The chain also has canceled plans to build a new Kroger on Mechanicsville Turnpike, just west of Compass Point Lane, in Hanover County. Instead, the company will spend $3.5 million to improve an existing Kroger store not far from where the new store would have been built.

One analyst said Krogers actions may be evidence that the Richmond area has more grocery stores than the regions population can support.

Richmond has seen an explosion of new investment from food retailers in recent years, and the fact that about half of Martins stores were not picked up by competing food retailers would indicate perhaps that the demand is subsiding despite significant arrivals from Publix, Lidl and Wegmans, said Jon Springer, retail editor for the industry publication Supermarket News.

Springer said Cincinnati-based Kroger, the nations largest traditional supermarket retailer, has said new store returns have continued to exceed the cost of capital to build them, but its recent new stores have not been achieving the returns the company would have liked.

This is in part because of an overabundance of square footage devoted to food in many markets  likely Richmond among them, Springer said.

Kroger is also preserving capital for investment in other kinds of growth such as acquisitions of stores from retailers that have gone out of business, store renovations and addition of e-commerce capabilities, Springer said.

Kroger representatives informed Colonial Heights officials of the companys decision not to move forward with the store during a closed session of a specially called City Council meeting Tuesday. The chain later released a statement.

We understand that our decision to not build the Colonial Heights store may seem confusing or cause frustration, and we sincerely apologize to those who anticipated our store opening. Our company has made a decision to focus our efforts on improving the customer experience at existing stores through renovations and innovative technology, the Kroger statement said.

As a result of this new direction to focus on our 18 existing stores in the Richmond market, Kroger will invest approximately $3.5 million into its Mechanicsville Turnpike location to enhance the store in its current location, instead of building a new store, Krogers statement said.

The Colonial Heights and Mechanicsville stores had been in the planning stages for some time.

Plans for the Colonial Heights store date back to 2013. In late 2015, Kroger bought the former Colonial Heights courthouse site for $2.56 million with plans to build a 95,000-square-foot store. The 9-acre courthouse lot is about a quarter-mile west of Interstate 95.

We are disappointed for several reasons. It was going to generate over 200 jobs and revenue for the city, said Colonial Heights Mayor T. Gregory Kochuba.

That whole area over there would be given a face-lift. Were very disappointed, he said.

Kochuba said the sales contract with Kroger for the property contained clauses that requires the city be given first right to buy back the property at a discount.

The second clause is that if Kroger markets the property, we have the right to say yes or no to whomever they sell it to. The property is a very valuable piece of property once the roundabout is complete, Kochuba said.

The roundabout, which is under construction, will replace a signalized intersection on Temple Avenue at the nearby I-95 interchange. The road work is part of $20 million in improvements being made at the interchange.

Krogers statement said the company will work closely with Colonial Heights to find a new, viable tenant for the property and cover the cost of demolishing the courthouse.

We want what is going to be best for the city. We dont want to just settle for anything. Its right at the entrance to the city, Kochuba said.

We are just going to explore our options. This kind of caught us off guard a little bit, Kochuba said.

Kroger commands the No. 2 market share in the Richmond region in terms of grocery sales, behind No. 1 Walmart, according to an annual market share report released this week by the trade publication Food World.

Plans for the withdrawn Mechanicsville store were announced in September 2015.

A 113,530-square-foot store with an 18-pump fuel center was to replace the 55,000-square-foot Kroger located about a quarter mile east at 6335 Mechanicsville Turnpike.

That existing Kroger, which opened in 2002, was the first newly constructed store in the region after the chain entered the Richmond market in 2000.
Skandiabanken ASA will host its Capital Markets Day in Oslo today at 10.00 CET.

Skandiabanken's key financial targets for 2017 - 2019:

Return on equity (ROE) of 14 per cent

Cost-to-income ratio lower than 35 per cent

Annual lending growth exceeding 10 per cent

Skandiabanken will strengthen and expand its concept:

Take a leading position in the market for savings by offering automated, individual advice available to all customers. Increase the product range within insurance, starting with payment and debt insurance. Will also expand into the market for the smallest SMEs, offering the best customer experience with a fair deal, DIY-concept and transparent pricing. Skandiabanken will continue to challenge the established together with the customers.

The presentation is available at: https://skandiabanken.no/IR/

The Capital Markets Day can be seen live or in recording at: http://webtv.hegnar.no/presentation.php?webcastId=58368926

Contact details, Investor Relations:

Brede Selseng, Head of IR Skandiabanken ASA, +47 971 62 171

Henning Nordgulen, CFO, Skandiabanken ASA, +47 952 65 990

Media contact:

Ole Bernhard Larsen, Chief Communication Officer, Skandiabanken ASA, +47 959 40 045
PETERSBURG  Aretha Ferrell-Benavides was looking for a challenge after three years at the helm of a 13,500-person Dallas suburb. She found one.

On the eve of her formal introduction Wednesday as Petersburgs incoming city manager, consultants tasked with pulling the city from the brink of financial ruin told the City Council it needed a $20 million cash infusion to make up a deficit and comply with its own reserve policies.

But the city cant tax its way out of revenue problems, and officials are scrambling to find things to sell after a decade of imbalanced budgets that drained rainy day funds, triggering pay cuts and a hefty cut to local public school funding.

Welcome to the Cockade City.

Thats what attracted me to it, a smiling Ferrell-Benavides said Wednesday of Petersburgs challenges. To have the opportunity to come in and make a difference in a community like this, its worth its weight in gold.

She will make $165,000 annually and receive about $7,000 for relocation expenses, comparable to her predecessor, William E. Johnson III, who was fired after the depth of the citys financial troubles bubbled to the surface in early 2016.

Were looking forward to a new beginning, better times for the city of Petersburg, Mayor Sam Parham said.

Ferrell-Benavides, a 48-year-old native of Fort Worth, Texas, bested four others on a shortlist of contenders for the top job, and handily dispatched another finalist, Parham said.

She was definitely head and shoulders above the other candidate, he said. She had clear, precise answers and a 90-day plan of action.

Details of that plan were not shared Wednesday as Ferrell-Benavides committed to meet with department heads and residents until she felt confident in her understanding of the citys needs.

Chief among them: Retain businesses and attract new development to build a tax base capable of sustaining the citys coffers. Ferrell-Benavides said the city of Glenn Heights, Texas, where she has served as city manager since May 2015, also was struggling with growth and experiencing low employee morale when she first walked in the door as deputy city manager three years ago.

At my going away (party) yesterday, they talked about how I was accessible, Ferrell-Benavides said. I didnt wait for them to come to me; I came to them.

Thats the kind of attitude City Councilman Charles Cuthbert said the council was looking for.

Her energy and her warm personality and her expressions of commitment to help Petersburg solve its problems stood out, Cuthbert said. My sense is that she truly views these problems as an opportunity.

She is slated to begin her duties in Petersburg on July 10, alongside a new city finance director, Blake Rane, and police chief, Kenneth Miller, who is coming to Petersburg from the Virginia Beach Police Department.

Rane is leaving his job with the town of Lake Park, Fla. Prior to that, he worked for the city of Mulberry, Fla., and for Office Depot as a consultant. He also did consulting work for Baenziger and Associates, the Florida-based search firm the city agreed to pay about $80,000 to help recruit candidates, according to his resume.

Ferrell-Benavides resume lists more than 25 years of work in government, including for the state of Maryland; the Chicago Public Housing Authority; the city of Sunnyvale, Calif.; and Los Alamos, N.M., She also has held multiple jobs with the District of Columbia.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., and a Master of Arts in public administration degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Ferrell-Benavides also was a finalist for a position as city manager of Tacoma, Wash., in May.

The mayor of Glenn Heights did not return an interview request Wednesday.

Many of the citys top jobs, including that of city manager, have been staffed by consultants from the Washington-based Robert Bobb Group, which the city hired last October to help with its financial struggles.

At one point last year, the city had $75,000 in its checking account. Petersburg began the fiscal year July 1, 2016, about $19 million in arrears and $12 million over budget. Things have improved, but much remains undone as the September stop date on the Bobb Groups contract looms.

I believe in Petersburgs ability to move forward, Ferrell-Benavides said.

A press conference announced Tuesday for 2 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the citys annual financial report and results of a forensic audit was called off Wednesday afternoon.

Parham said he was told the cancellation had to do with a post-midnight vote the City Council did not take at Tuesdays regular meeting related to the hotly contested sale of the citys utility system. A city spokesman said the 2 p.m. presentation was called off because of logistics surrounding Ferrell-Benavides arrival.
More than 60 soldiers are preparing to deploy to Southwest Asia to support U.S. forces fighting Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria.

The 275th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, a U.S. Army Reserve unit stationed out of Fort Lee, will provide logistical support including supplies, transportation and ordnance to forces downrange in Operation Inherent Resolve, according to Fort Lee spokeswoman Sarah Gauvin.

Like their fellow service members in the National Guard, Army Reserve soldiers split their time between their civilian jobs and military commitments. But unlike the guard, which activates for state emergencies, reserve forces serve only federal missions like overseas deployments and disaster support.

A ceremony at Fort Lee is set for Thursday for family members and friends to send off their soldiers.

Before deploying to Southwest Asia, the battalion will train at Fort Hood, Texas.

The 275th battalion last deployed to Iraq in 2011 in support of Operation New Dawn, the name given to the U.S. militarys action in Iraq during the troop drawdown. It was tasked with continuing to supply soldiers in the fight while also closing or relocating operating bases in Iraq.

The unit was the last logistics battalion to leave Iraq, essentially turning out the lights at the close of more than eight years of conflict.
A Virginia State Police trooper and a Richmond police officer were injured in a collision during the pursuit of a suspect Wednesday evening in South Richmond.

The trooper was taken to a hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. The officer, who was riding with the trooper, was treated for minor, air bag-related injuries.

Police said two people from the other car involved, a Mercedes, were in custody and that charges were pending.

The crash occurred during a short pursuit on Hull Street, state police said. Richmond police said the vehicle caught their attention because it was blocking the entrance to a terminal.

Richmond police said the car sped off before officers took action, and Richmond alerted the Virginia State Police.
Brussels, Belgium, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- United Nations International Day Of Happiness Founder, and Illien Global CEO Jayme Illien, has touched down at the 21st International Conference on Economics and Security, sponsored by Airbus, at the Royal Military Academy Brussel, to discuss the future of global security.

Illien arrives at the annual global security summit from visits to Turkey, as well as Iraq, and Syria, where Iraqi Army, and Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by US led coalition, launch new assualts against ISIS, in Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria, respectively.

Day one begins with a NATO seminar aimed at nurturing transatlantic dialogue to identify stakes, challenges, and opportunities, after the elections in major NATO countries in 2016 and 2017.

The following days will bring together economists, political scientists, and others from around the world to share ideas, and discuss future developments in the areas of arms races and alliances, military spending, and the economics of security, terrrorism, and the arms trade, among other topics.

Jayme Illien Founded the United Nations International Day of Happiness in 2012 when he gained the support of all 193 UN Member States, and former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, to adopt UN resolution 66/281, in support of the UNs call for Gross Global Happiness.

Mr. Illien is looking forward to discussing solutions to urgent and serious international security issues with friends and colleagues from NATO, EPS, and around the world. A sustainable global security for all is an essential part of achieving the UN's 2012 call for Gross Global Happiness, said Sidney Kyle a spokeswoman for Diplomatic Advisors International.

Jayme Illien is United Nations representative for Economists for Peace and Security. Founded in 1995, EPS is a UN accredited organization of leading economists and security experts, with UN ECOSOC special consultative status.

Economists for Peace and Security works to promote non-military solutions to world challenges, and more broadly to work towards freedom from fear and want for all.

Economists for Peace and Securitys leadership and trustees is comprised of prominent figures and policy experts including 17 Nobel laureates (among them Joseph E. Stiglitz, Amartya Sen), former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and former Prime Minister of Greece Georges Pompandreou.

As United Nations adviser, Illien worked on a range of issues, including poverty eradication, food security, and financial system regulation. In the security dimension, Illien has worked on small arms trade treaty, chemical weapons convention, nuclear disarmament, and mercenaries.

Prior to serving as United Nations Iraq adviser, Illien was a candidate in the clandestine officer programme of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Before being recruited by the US Department of Defense, Illien was Global Head of dbFX an online currency trading service of Deutsche Bank serving high net worth clients, hedge funds, and emerging market financial institutions with over $768 billion in annual transactions across 180 countries. Illien also served as CEO North America for Advanced Currency Markets prior to its successful acquisition by Swissquote Bank.

For more information on Diplomatic Advisors International, Economists for Peace and Security, Royal Military Academy Brussels, Airbus, US Department of Defense, NATO, United Nations, Deutsche Bank, and/or Swissquote Bank, please visit:





www.diplomaticadvisors.com.

www.epsusa.org

www.rma.ac.be/en/

www.airbus.com

www.defense.gov

www.nato.int

www.un.org

www.db.com

www.swissquote.ch

www.illienglobal.com








To win the Virginia governorship, Ralph Northam needs a message of his own  not a warmed-over version of Terry McAuliffes.

Northams campaign says hes working on it; that summer will yield for fall an emphasis on improving rural and urban economies untouched by the current expansion.

The lieutenant governors lopsided victory for the Democratic nomination  he defeated former U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello by nearly 12 percentage points  is viewed by activists as a better-than-encouraging sign for November.

But Ed Gillespie, the Republican nominee, will not go gentle into that good night  not in a lower-turnout gubernatorial election that can magnify the strength of the reliable, albeit narrowing, GOP vote.

Gillespie is a cagey, smooth-talking competitor who nearly retired U.S. Sen. Mark Warner in 2014. Gillespie wants to avenge that loss with an updated version of the tax-hostile, jobs-friendly meme that he hurled at Warner.

The Democratic primary wasnt as much about Northams vision for Virginia as it was his differences with Perriello on issues that resonate with the partys grass roots.

That Northam was firm on abortion rights and Perriello had been squishy. That Northam wanted tougher gun laws while Perriello hedged. That Perriello opposed twin natural-gas pipelines and Northams position was  and remains  mostly hot air.

Northam, balancing his loyalty to the pipeline-supporting McAuliffe with his need for the votes of pipeline-opposing greens, says he isnt taking a position on the projects until science weighs in. What Northam doesnt say is that a governor is pretty much helpless to stop the pipelines; that the issue will be decided by federal regulators.

Virginias enduring distaste for Donald Trump  he lost the state to Hillary Clinton in November and, ever since, his approval rating has been sinking  will stoke Democratic enthusiasm for Northam.

But the office for which Northam is running is not critic-in-chief of an unpopular Republican president, but governor of a state whose population increasingly reflects the nation as a whole.

McAuliffes approval rating  just more than half of Virginians say that he is doing a good job  means that Northam can promise a continuum; that he will preserve the policies that are the underpinnings of McAuliffes popularity.

This includes an emphasis on diversifying a state economy that, as the fiscal aftershocks of sequestration demonstrate, is over-reliant on federal largess, drawing more than 1 in 4 dollars from Washington, D.C.

But because campaigns are about the future, Northam must tell his own story, make clear what he would do free of McAuliffes shadow.

The Northam narrative has yet to fully emerge. His focus apparently will be on the economy, concentrating on regions overlooked or left behind as joblessness  measured statewide  which has steadily fallen over McAuliffes term. It is holding at 3.8 percent.

This month, Virginias labor force expanded for the 14th consecutive month to a record 4.3 million. But employment is largely contracting in Southside and Southwest Virginia, where textiles and coal  because of global trade and falling energy prices  have evaporated as legacy job-generators.

Its a topic on which Northam, so his handlers believe, can speak with authority. He is a native of the rural Eastern Shore, where farming and fishing once reigned. He migrated to a city  Norfolk  to practice pediatric neurology, mastering the business of medicine.

In a state where a governor is limited to a single non-renewable term  Virginia, alone, has such a restriction  running to succeed a popular chief executive of the same party is, on one level, the equivalent of the departing politician seeking re-election.

Thus, Northams thrust on the economy demands something old and something new.

The former would be the frothy salesmanship McAuliffe brought to economic development. The latter would include Northams proposal, rolled out in February, to make community college and job training free in high-demand fields such as cybersecurity and health care. In return, students would be obligated for a year of public service.

Plus, advancing a Wagnerian theme of his own is a diversionary tactic. Northam perhaps prevents Gillespie from picking away at the McAuliffe legacy. Also, Gillespie wont be able to depict Northam as more interested in treading water than navigating the currents of change.

This looking-back-while-looking-forward approach has been used by Democrats and Republicans.

In the 1985 gubernatorial election, Jerry Baliles said fellow Democrat Chuck Robbs investments in education would be part of larger emphasis on economic development that demanded improvements in transportation, later paid for with a promise-breaking tax increase.

Twenty years later, Tim Kaine said that Warners tax increase for schools, cops and human services  Warner also went back on his word not to raise taxes  required doing the same for the road system that hadnt been properly financed since the Baliles era.

In 1997, Republican Jim Gilmore said his plan to cut the car tax would perpetuate George Allens effort to control government spending.

What Gilmore didnt say is that the cost of his scheme would be far more than he claimed as a candidate, approaching a budget-busting $1 billion a year  and instilling, even in some Republicans, a wariness of tax cuts that potentially imperil Virginias ability to pay for basic services.

That includes Gillespies proposal for an across-the-board cut in the state income tax.

He says it would prune cash flow to the state by $1.4 billion. But those revenues wouldnt be available, for example, for higher education, forcing public colleges and universities to take even more out-of-state students who pay premium to attend a Virginia school.

Its a safe bet that Gillespie is pining that Northam, who wants to do away with the sales tax on groceries, attacks the income-tax cut as unaffordable. For Gillespie, theres no easier way to affix to Northam a tried-and-true GOP putdown: tax-and-spend liberal.

Its not a new message, but at least Gillespie has one.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RiskIQ, the leader in digital threat management, today announced that it has been recognized as one of the leading private companies in the Americas, as selected by Red Herring for its elite Top 100 North American Startups ranking.



"Organizations have made huge investments to extend their digital presence and make their offerings digitally relevant to their customers. Digital has also become the prime focus for hackers and criminals, affecting business operations, consumers and brands on a global scale. As such, enterprises need a more complete set of tools to manage cyber risks, said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. RiskIQ has it. Disruptive technology and first-mover advantage that address diverse external web, social and mobile threats. The intelligence, automation and interoperability powering their platform, and the operational savings that it delivers is compelling. This explains why RiskIQ has been awarded the Top 100 North America recognition."

Red Herring selects award recipients among more than 1,200 privately financed companies in the U.S. and Canada. Red Herrings editorial staff determined the honorees by evaluating startup companies on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, and intellectual property, management quality, market strategy, and opportunity. The distinction was due in part to RiskIQs successful market penetration of large, leading organizations across major industries, their overall business model and outlook, as well as their inventive, platform approach to digital threat management.

RiskIQ addresses security issues outside the firewall through a scalable platform that fortifies an enterprises digital presence to find, assess, and mitigate external exploits and attackers, optimizing an organization's resources while protecting customers and business reputation, said Scott Gordon, chief marketing officer at RiskIQ. We are extremely honored by Red Herrings acknowledgment of our business achievement and innovative Digital Threat Management Platform, which is currently in use by thousands of security organizations and international brands to defend against external threats.

The RiskIQ Digital Threat Management Platform is a SaaS-based threat intelligence and integrated application suite that addresses security issues across web, social, and mobile channels. The RiskIQ application suite enables security teams to optimize a broad range of investigation, analysis, and mitigation tasks. Three core applications are:

RiskIQ Digital Footprint: A digital footprint discovery, generation, and management solution able to discover, map, and monitor the external web infrastructure and assets associated with an organization

RiskIQ PassiveTotal: A tool that expedites cyberthreat investigation and research, benefiting security analysts and incident responders through comprehensive, correlated internet data sets and collaboration capabilities

RiskIQ External Threats: An integrated threat detection and response solution that allows companies to understand active exploits and adversaries targeting their business while automating identification, triage, and mitigation

Join more than 20,000 security analysts using RiskIQ. Free entry-level access to the Digital Threat Management Platform and applications are available through RiskIQ Community Edition.

About RiskIQ

RiskIQ is the leader in digital threat management, providing the most comprehensive discovery, intelligence, and mitigation of threats associated with an organizations digital presence. With more than 75 percent of attacks originating outside the firewall, RiskIQ allows enterprises to gain unified insight and control over web, social, and mobile exposures. Trusted by thousands of security analysts, RiskIQs platform combines advanced internet data reconnaissance and analytics to expedite investigations, understand digital attack surfaces, assess risk, and take action to protect business, brand, and customers. Based in San Francisco, the company is backed by Summit Partners, Battery Ventures, Georgian Partners, and MassMutual Ventures. Visit RiskIQ.com or follow us on Twitter.

Try RiskIQ Community Edition for free by visiting https://www.riskiq.com/community/.

 2017 RiskIQ, Inc. All rights reserved. RiskIQ is a registered trademark of RiskIQ, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are property of their respective owners.
Attorney General Mark Herring is hosting a pro bono legal clinic in Roanoke next week for veterans.

The clinic is a partnership between the state Attorney Generals office, the Virginia Department of Veterans Services and the Virginia State Bar. Volunteers will provide Virginia veterans and their spouses with estate planning services and documents such as wills, powers of attorney and advance medical directives.

Last year, the Attorney General's office held a series of similar pro bono veterans legal services clinics, which the office said helped more than 150 veterans and their spouses.

Herring will not be in attendance at the Roanoke clinic.

The clinic will be on June 28 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Virginia Western Community College's Brown Library. Interested veterans can register for one-hour time slots on a first-come, first-served basis by filling out an application on the Attorney General's website here or at their local Department of Veterans Services Benefits Field Office. Participants must fill out an application in advance of the clinic. Walk-ups will not be accepted.
Halifax, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Pam Cooley, Founder and President of CarShare Atlantic is pleased to invite media representatives to attend an important announcement about a new mobility service soon available in Halifax.

Ms. Cooley and Mr. Benoit Robert, Founder and CEO of Communauto, partner of CarShare Atlantic, will present to media how this new way of gettingaround Halifax works. Transportation Standing Committee Chair Councillor Tim Outhit, Ms Jennifer Angel Acting President and CEO of Waterfront Development and David McCusker from HRM Planning and Development and the Integrated Mobility Plan team will be speaking at the announcement.

Media representatives will be able to test the new service and take advantage of an impressive photo opportunity on-site. A media page will also be available shortly after the event.

During the event, CarShare Atlantic staff will be demonstrating the new offer to community partners and CarShare Atlantic members.

Who : Pam Cooley, President of CarShare Atlantic

Benoit Robert, CEO of Communauto

Jennifer Angel, Acting President and CEO, Waterfront Development

Councillor Outhit, Chair of Transportation Standing Committee of the Halifax Regional Municipality

David McCusker, HRM Planning and Development

Date: Thursday, June 22nd, 2017

Time: 11:00 a.m.

Location: Waterfront Development  Cunard Lot, 1325 Lower Water Street.

Contact Information:

For further information or to confirm your presence with Pam Cooley, please use the following contact information.

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f932f39a-cda0-45a8-8f01-820d548afaac
CHRISTIANSBURG  The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors met Monday night to discuss upcoming priorities  but it could not get past the prevalent party-line split thats permeated its politics for some time.

The board, on numerous major issues  for years  has split 4-3. That included the recent highly publicized decision to sell the former Blacksburg High School property to a real estate arm of Shelor Motor Mile.

The board has had a 4-3 Republican majority since January 2016. Before that it had a 4-3 Democratic majority for eight years. Prior to that, Republicans held a 4-3 edge for several years.

During the years of the Democratic majority, the board had split votes on numerous issues as well, including what was one of the largest one-time tax increase in the countys history.

The board has passed other tax, school budget and property sales on 4-3 votes, too, in previous years. Rare has there been a major issue that did not pass with a split vote.

On Monday night, the board began the meeting with a dinner before each member was asked to provide a short wish list of goals theyd like the see the locality accomplish.

When it became her turn to speak, outgoing Democratic Supervisor Annette Perkins turned the discussion to what she said is a perception in the community about the boards partisan divide. Board Chairman Chris Tuck, a Republican, quickly questioned her assertion, saying that the board has in the few years hes served voted unanimously on issues more often than it has been split.

As Perkins maintained that party-line votes have occurred frequently, Tuck interjected by saying bull. He told Perkins that hes looked back at votes since he joined the board in 2012 and has found that split, party-line votes are infrequent. Tuck did not clarify whether he was talking about all the votes the board takes. In that case, the board does take many routine unanimous votes on regular governmental matters that dont prompt public scrutiny or discussion.

Some Republican board members Monday responded to Perkins comments by saying their jobs are to respond to the demand of the people in their districts.

Its not because Im trying to be against you, said Supervisor Darrell Sheppard.

Perkins responded that each supervisor represents the entire county and sometimes needs to make decisions for residents who may hold different views than their neighbors.

Republican Supervisor Gary Creed responded to Perkins comments by saying lets not play Hopscotch.

When I came on the board, it was 4-3 the other way around, Creed said.

The conversation over the partisan divide concluded when Tuck interrupted Perkins, who fired back at the chairman by asking Why are you talking so much?

Tuck, who glanced at a clock on the wall before responding, said he wanted to make sure other supervisors had equal time to comment. Perkins fired back that Tuck always had issues with her speaking her mind.

Larry Linkous, a Republican who served on the board from 1991 to 1995, said he thinks national politics has affected the local level in recent years.

I think both parties have shifted a little further to each side, Linkous said. Im not so sure its Democratic versus Republican. I think those folks have shifted to both ends.

Matt Gabriele, a Democrat who left the board in 2015, said he doesnt recall many party-line votes. If there were such splits, the divisions were mostly about taxes and education, he said.

At least when I was there, Gabriele said. It became more partisan at least in the last year.

One issue that passed along party lines when Gabriele was on the board was the 12-cent tax increase that went toward the construction of a handful of school projects that included the construction of the new Blacksburg High School.

Gabriele also pointed to well-known former Supervisor Bill Brown, a Democrat who Gabriele recalls sometimes sided with Republicans on matters. Brown himself couldnt be reached for comment Tuesday.

I think ... a lot of national politics are kind of trickling down the local level, Gabriele said. Voters are expecting their local political leaders to act more like their national ones, where partisanship is more pronounced.

David Hagan, one of the owners of Shelor Motor Mile, disagrees that partisanship was at play when the board passed his deal with the county on the old Blacksburg high school property.

I dont know that we received a party-line vote. Those people, they voted with their hearts, he said. They voted what they thought was best for the county. They spoke from their heart.

Hagan said hes presented other projects to the board before that created far less contention than the sale of the old high school. He pointed to a deal involving the construction of a hotel on the former site of Bethel Elementary School just south of Radford. A recent vote on that project passed 7-0, he recalled.

Meanwhile, the countys 4-3 partisan split will remain for at least another two years, based on the boards staggered terms. Three supervisor districts are on the ballot this November.

Republican incumbent Todd King, Republican Steve Fijalkowski (who will succeed Creed) and Democrat Sara Bohn (who will succeed Perkins) are running unopposed. So Republicans will hold their 4-3 edge.
A Fredericksburg woman accused of bilking the government out of at least $246,959 worth of Medicaid, Social Security and food stamp benefits pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday.

Raven Zaal, who owned and operated Ravens Childcare Connections, a licensed in-home day care in Fredericksburg, pleaded guilty to health care fraud, theft of Social Security funds and theft of food stamp funds.

She faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced Sept. 22 by U.S. District Court Judge John Gibney, though federal sentencing guidelines will likely call for a lower term.

Among other questions Gibney asked her before accepting her plea was whether Zaal understood that in all likelihood she will receive some prison time.

Yes, she said.

Zaal, 39, told Gibney on Monday that she suffered some mild traumatic brain damage in a traffic accident in 2015 and has back problems, but that she understood everything she heard Monday.

She is the mother of a severely disabled child. An eight-page criminal information filed against her last month said Zaal was receiving Medicaid-funded home health care for her daughter for disabled child care and respite services.

The child was frequently out of the home attending school or summer programs, the government alleged. Nevertheless, in pleading guilty, Zaal admitted that from 2011 to 2016, she carried out a scheme to use fraudulent time sheets to obtain Medicaid money  intended for the care of her child  to pay the salaries of her employees.

She also admitted she did not report her 2011 marriage or assets in a joint bank account with her husband or other assets that would have made her ineligible for the Supplemental Security Income she was receiving for her daughter.

In addition, Zaal failed to report income from her business and other sources that would have made her ineligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from 2011 to 2015.
HERSHEY, Pa., June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) was recognized for the fifth time as one of Americas 50 most community-minded companies in The Civic 50, an annual recognition for companies that best use their resources to help improve the communities in which they do business.



The Civic 50 award is the only recognition that exclusively measures corporate involvement in communities and is an initiative of Points of Light, the worlds largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. This Civic 50 award, created in 2012, has been awarded to Hershey all five years it has been presented.

Our passion for supporting vibrant and thriving communities has been a part of Hershey for more than a century, said Leigh Horner, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility, The Hershey Company. This inspires us to be catalysts for change by unleashing our employees to apply their time and talents as volunteers and by giving financial support to community issues that matter most to us.

On a global scale, Hershey is focused on sharing its goodness with the world by leveraging the skills and talents of its employees, as well as the resources of its business, to implement programs that help the greater community flourish. The company continues to positively impact the community through its shared social purpose  Nourishing Minds  by providing children with the basic nutrition they need to learn and grow. Through applying its expertise in food production and processing to support programs and partnerships in Ghana, the United States, Canada and China, Hershey is on track to nourish one million minds by 2020.

The company also expanded its Learn to Grow program, which provides agricultural training to more than 48,000 cocoa farmers across Cote dIvoire, Ghana and Nigeria. Through education, womens empowerment and policies that help prevent illegal and forced child labor, Hershey aims to help build healthy and productive communities  a goal that is further outlined in the companys recently released 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility Report.

Additionally, Hershey is gearing up for its annual global week of service, Good to Give Back Week, happening this July. Throughout the week, thousands of employees will work with the companys non-profit partners to give back to local communities around the world. During an annual meal-packing event with Rise Against Hunger, the company expects to pack its one-millionth meal, with all meals sent to communities in need around the world. Throughout the year, Hershey employees are encouraged to give back to communities and is among 64 percent of Civic 50 companies that offer employees paid time off to volunteer.

Encouraged by calls for responsible citizenship from shareholders, employees and customersbut also driven by a desire to build trust and define their brands  Civic 50 companies are putting communities at the center of business, said Jennifer Lawson, president of networks at Points of Light.

To view a complete list of The Civic 50 companies for 2017, visit Civic50.org.

About The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company, headquartered in Hershey, Pa., is a global confectionery company known for bringing goodness to the world through its chocolate, sweets, mints and other great-tasting snacks. Hershey has approximately 18,000 employees around the world who work every day to deliver delicious, quality products. The company has more than 80 brands around the world that drive more than $7.4 billion in annual revenues, including such iconic brand names as Hershey's, Reese's, Hershey's Kisses, Jolly Rancher and Ice Breakers. Building on its core business, Hershey is expanding its portfolio to include a broader range of delicious snacks.

At Hershey, goodness has always been about more than delicious products. For more than 120 years, Hershey has been committed to operating fairly, ethically and sustainably. Hershey founder, Milton Hershey, created the Milton Hershey School in 1909 and since then the company has focused on giving underserved children the skills and support they need to be successful. Today, the company continues this social purpose through 'Nourishing Minds,' a global initiative that provides basic nutrition to help children learn and grow. From neighborhoods across the United States to the streets of Shanghai and Mumbai and villages of West Africa, our goal is to nourish one million minds by 2020.

To learn more -

Visit: www.thehersheycompany.com

Follow:

http://www.twitter.com/hersheycompany

https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-hershey-company?trk=top_nav_home

http://www.facebook.com/hersheycompany

http://www.youtube.com/hersheycompany

http://www.instagram.com/hersheycompany

About The Civic 50

The Civic 50 was created in 2012 to measure corporate civic engagement and recognize companies that incorporate socially responsible practices and community leadership into their culture.

The survey evaluates companies based on several criteria including how extensively and strategically resources are applied to community engagement, how a community engagement program supports business interests and integrates into business functions. Other criteria include how a company supports community engagement through its institutional policies, systems, and incentives, and how a company measures the social and business impact of its community engagement program.
PALO ALTO, Calif., June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) (HPE) today announced that it has promoted Antonio Neri to President effective immediately. Previously, Neri served as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Group, responsible for the development and delivery of the IT infrastructure solutions at the core of the worlds largest and fastest growing organizations, which includes servers, storage, networking, technology services, converged data center infrastructure, Telco and cloud solutions.

In addition to leading the companys four primary lines of business, in this new role Neri will oversee the companys efforts to streamline and optimize the go-forward company following the completion of the spin-mergers of its Enterprise Services and Software divisions. These efforts, which the company calls HPE Next, are focused on driving growth and profitability, and ensuring the company will be well positioned to win in the markets where it competes.

Antonio is a veteran technology executive who has led some of the most important businesses and initiatives at HP during his 22 years with the company. From overseeing the reinvention of our Technology Services business and the divestiture of our H3C business in China, to the integration of critical acquisitions like Aruba, SGI, SimpliVity and Nimble, Antonio has been invaluable to me as we have worked to establish the new Hewlett Packard Enterprise, said Meg Whitman, chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. His promotion reflects the importance of his contributions to the company as leader of the Enterprise Group, which represents more than 80 percent of the go-forward companys revenue.

Prior to HPs separation into two companiesHewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc.Antonio served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for HP Servers and HP Networking business units, responsible for setting the R&D agenda, bringing innovations to market, and go-to-market strategy execution. Prior to that role, he led the HP Technology Services business unit providing support and consulting services for HPs Enterprise products and solutions. Antonio joined HP in 1995, as a customer service engineer in HPs EMEA call center.

Antonio holds a Computer Engineering degree from Universidad Tecnologica Nacional in Argentina and is a Professor of Arts and Drawing.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

HPE is an industry-leading technology company that enables customers to go further, faster. With the industry's most comprehensive portfolio, spanning the cloud to the data center to workplace applications, our technology and services help customers around the world make IT more efficient, more productive and more secure.
POMPANO BEACH, Fla., June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Point Blank Enterprises (Point Blank or PBE), the worldwide leader in the production of soft body armor and related protective solutions, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Archibald as its new President of The Protective Group or TPG.



Mike is a transformational, high-impact leader experienced with both Fortune 100 corporations and mid-sized privately held industrial companies. Mr. Archibald brings a unique background and expertise in industrial operations and lean manufacturing combined with extensive strategic marketing and commercial sales experience within the segments of power generation, oil & gas, defense, and general industry. Mr. Archibald will lead TPG's ongoing efforts to offer state of the art products while expanding TPG manufacturing capabilities.

Founded in 1971, TPG has been developing lightweight composite armor solutions that have been deployed by all branches of the U.S. Military, including the Army, Special Operations Forces, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force, as well as international armed forces around the world. TPGs products span the gamut  from body armor systems to aircraft and vehicular armor  providing Warfighters with the best protection possible. Within body armor, TPG manufactures and supplies the U.S. Military with diverse hard armor offerings, including SAPI, ESAPI and XSAPI plates, as well as National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Level III and Level IV plates for Law Enforcement.

Since 2001, TPG has also supplied aircraft armor to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) and today, their Ballistic Protection System (BPS) protects over 90% of the Department of Defenses rotary wing fleet, with over 2,000 BPS systems delivered to the Iraqi and Afghan theaters. Additionally, TPG has a growing presence in vehicular armor, producing lower weight vehicular armor kits for several military vehicles, including the Bradley, Patriot, Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, and MRAP. Combining its products with its systems integration capabilities, such as rapid digitalization/scanning, 3D modeling, ground vehicle and aviation platforms, TPG works closely with the Department of Defense and its prime customers to develop survivability solutions for Americas Warfighters and its allies.

Commenting on the new appointment, Daniel Gaston, Chief Executive Officer of Point Blank Enterprises said, Mikes experience and leadership will be a significant asset to our executive team. He brings senior leadership with a proven record with extraordinary results. His extensive experience in leading business operations will be vital as we look to produce innovative solutions for our military and law enforcement customers. We welcome Mike to his new role and look forward to the bright future of TPG.

With 20 years of senior management experience, Mr. Archibald brings a broad range of expertise, including executive operations, product and business development, and engineering roles at a number of large organizations. Prior to joining PBE/TPG, he served as Senior Executive at General Electric Energy Management leading the Global Aftermarket Services, Power Conversion Division, CEO of Converteam North America, and Division President and CEO of the Americas for the Siemens Energy- Oil and Gas.

Mr. Archibald received his Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Youngstown State, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. His continuing education has included Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Harvard Business School, and Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

About Point Blank Enterprises, Inc.

Point Blank Enterprises, Inc. (PBEI) is a leading provider of high performance protective solutions, including bullet, fragmentation and stab resistant apparel and related accessories. Through its key brands, Point Blank Body Armor, Protective Apparel Corporation of America (PACA), Protective Products, PARACLETE, The Protective Group (TPG), and the Advanced Technology Group (ATG), the Company ranks as the largest global supplier of ballistic armor systems in the world. The Companys ballistic solutions have been credited with saving countless lives for the most important customers in the world, including the U.S. Armed Forces, Department of Defense, Federal Government and law enforcement, corrections and security personnel, both domestically and abroad. First Tactical industry leader in public safety apparel and accessories along with Gould & Goodrich who offer the highest quality holsters and duty gear for law enforcement are part of the PBEI family. For more information on our Company, please visit our website at www.pointblankenterprises.com.
FAITH leaders will release doves of Rotherham Minster in memory of the victims of both the Grenfell Tower fire and Finsbury Park mosque attack.

Christian ministers and Muslim imams will meet there on Friday morning to scatter the birds, expressing solidarity with those affected.

Adrian Dexter, pastor at Liberty Church on Station Road, who is coordinating the release, said: In light of recent events in Finsbury Park and North Kensington, I believe it is important to have a public response to show our solidarity with the Muslim community and also the friends and families of the residents of Grenfell Tower.

Our Muslim friends stood by us in our grief, when the white British community came under attack in Manchester and in London. And we are very grateful for their support in such terrible times.

I do feel it is now our turn to stand together with our Muslim friends in their grief, as their community has come under this senseless and evil attack.

Doves were chosen due to their significance as bringers of peace in many cultures.

Adrian said: This is symbolic of our prayer for our Muslim friends and our diverse communities  that peace would be released over our town, borough, county and nation.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Santa Fe Gold Corporation (OTC:SFEG), a U.S.-based mining and exploration enterprise with emphasis on Gold, Silver, Copper, Precious, Industrial and Base metals and owner of multiple claims, including the Malone Mines complex incorporating 20 associated mine sites, the Playas Lake Bed area of Hidalgo County, New Mexico and a mine opportunity with a potential major Porphyry Silver discovery, is pleased to announce it's financials comprising two complete years and three additional quarters for Fiscal 2016 - 17 through its recent third quarter (first quarter calendar of 2017) have been completed and are expected to be released forthwith.



Management regrets the unexpected delays which arose for obtuse reasons as alluded to earlier, with further complications that later unfolded and took great effort and time to resolve.

Meanwhile the company has continued to execute on its ongoing agenda to procure additional acquisitions and achieve production as soon as possible. A new NI 43101 report is expected soon along with feasibility studies and more detailed plans for the ongoing development covering the initial mining production objectives for the first phase of anticipated full production.

Management is totally committed to rebuilding Santa Fe Gold to new heights and once compliant, will redouble its efforts to accelerate all new developments that have been undertaken.

Advanced planning and engineering of mine plans and production methods have been underway for some time in addition to its more recently announced plans to mine and stockpile ore from its high grade silver mining property, Malone Mines Complex and several other properties as yet unannounced. Preliminary studies already indicate the presence of a significant vein system above a possible major Porphyry Silver Deposit located at depth and adjacent to the upper epithermal vein system as well as economically viable grades at other properties including the Malone Mines Complex and additional mining properties, as yet unannounced, under Santa Fe Gold's control.

As previously mentioned, Santa Fe Gold is also developing feed stock for production utilizing various types of economically viable ore deposits. Production methods contemplated to begin during 2017 include conventional mining and milling, placer production (both wet and dry) and underground mining with direct smelting and leaching, and mine feed is expected to be sourced from at least three mines.

Mine Engineering, Stockpiling and Production Rates

While the near term objective is to build up to 200 tons per day of mill feed ready for processing in the latter half of 2017, production rates can be expected to increase to upwards of 400 tons per day as operations ramp up during 2018, beyond which higher levels of production and processing may allow for even greater increases in production, as additional mine feed is developed and efficiencies can be augmented as operations continue to scale up to full optimization and maximum output.

A more extensive engineering study has begun and ore availability at the Malone Mines Complex is currently being evaluated for their suitability for near term production. Management has acquired all of the cores and extensive data from a major drilling program undertaken during 2008 and 2009. Indications and analysis from the drilling results suggest that economically mineable quantities of both gold and silver exist at the historic site. Ore grades as high as 0.60 ounces per ton gold and 11.6 ounces per ton silver are indicated in this drilling and study.

Once mine engineering is complete and geophysical information is completely analyzed and ore body sizes are confirmed, an outside professional mining contractor will be employed to open the property and ensure that maximum production is achieved as rapidly as possible. Permitting is also expected to be completed within the anticipated timeline ahead of operations and preparations for commencement of production.

High Grade Silver Mine and Porphyry Silver Discovery Update

The silver property, located above and adjacent to an additional potentially sizable Silver Porphyry, continues to be evaluated for startup of mining operations. The mine analysis includes trenching of a vein that is at the surface followed by further drilling once the vein directions and dimensions can be determined with emphasis on known and recently identified veins.

The geology of the district has historically demonstrated unusually high grade vein structures near the surface as well as underground. Preliminary exploration and excavation work on the property yielded samples with over 400 ounces per ton of Silver within the epithermal vein system. More detailed research and analysis of the property has further indicated the existence of ore samples in excess of 2,000 ounces per ton silver concentrated within the particularly promising, exceptionally high grade vein structures, as is common in epithermal systems.

Engineering & Production Methodology

The most favored production methods available for processing such high grade ore would likely be direct smelting of higher grade material (ore in excess of 200 ounces per ton silver). A cost analysis of the direct smelting approach is currently underway. Lower grade ores (< 200 opt ounces per ton) will be available to feed a mill or direct sale to known outsider purchaser(s).

Additional Properties and Revenue Opportunities

Recently we outlined two other properties, as yet unannounced, were also being considered for development of feed stock for milling. These are expected to be in place soon as ore types are identified and become available for production. The most applicable and efficient methods of production will be employed from conventional mining and milling to leaching methods that fit the ore types along with gravity treatment of the available placer ores.

Later this year, it is anticipated that substantial production will be increasingly sourced from several properties and additional revenues are contemplated from other sources, including direct sale of high yield tailings that Santa Fe Gold also already has under its control or under acquisition.

President and CEO Tom Laws Comments:

"Santa Fe Gold continues to progress towards a restart of production with important groundbreaking new developments pending and several additional highly significant announcements anticipated once the company is fully compliant with a more detailed outline of our scaled up new five-year strategic plan. This strategy will allow Santa Fe to expedite revenue production and capital creation extremely cost effectively and will also allow for further evaluation and development of affiliated properties derived from revenue-generated funding of and reinvestment in new projects, leading to additional longer term production for the company as output and revenues build and profits accrue."

$90 Million Tax Benefit Could Add Substantial Value

The company has inherited the benefit of a greater than $90 Million tax loss which should mean the company will potentially be the beneficiary of multiple years of tax free income into the end of this decade. As revenues and income increase, this should help differentiate Santa Fe Gold from most other miners and also have the added benefit of affording a significant premium to increasing operations and cumulative reserves over its peers and therefore could accrue as substantial additional valuation to the company over time, especially with incremental revenue growth and resultant higher multiples that usually affords.

Cumulative gross revenues of $757 million are anticipated to produce net taxable income estimated at $184 Million. Given taxes normally applicable, with tax losses applied, taxes should be greatly reduced over the period.

Significant Production Plans Underway

Mr. Laws further commented: "Plans to begin production as soon as possible are well under way. We now believe substantial revenues can be generated from these mines over multiple years and are confident of at least a seven-year mine life, with revenues derived from dual processing both from the smelting of high grade ore and direct delivery of suitable ore to a refiner or purchaser."

Audit Completion and Release of Financials Imminent

Mr. Laws concluded: Once again, we apologize for the unanticipated difficulties surrounding our financials that with great effort and determination have since been successfully resolved.

The filings are expected to be Edgarized and promptly released. Once the audited financials are filed, the company should then be considered fully up to date and in complete compliance.

The company should then be eligible for promotion to a higher exchange for fully reporting companies, the OTCQB marketplace.

About Santa Fe Gold

Santa Fe Gold is a U.S.-based mining and exploration enterprise and owns the following mining assets: The Knights Peak region of Grant County, New Mexico comprising the Malone Mines, Patanka, Hillcrest Barranca and Principal Mines, altogether incorporating some twenty mine sites and all located at Knights Peak, together with an extensive expanded area surrounding the Malone Mines in the southern region of Burro Mountains, New Mexico. The companys Development Team continues to be extremely active in acquiring additional properties over recent months as it finalizes analysis of a number of attractive, economically viable opportunities and executes on the company's acquisition program that is totally focused on positioning the company to resume mining and production operations expected later this year.

For more information and to register for updates: Please visit www.santafegoldcorp.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Please refer to the Forward Looking Statements link at the bottom left of Santa Fe Gold's website for all relevant disclosures.
The Palace of Westminster

PRIME Minister Theresa May will set out the Conservatives legislative programme in the Queens Speech later  despite still not agreeing a minority government deal.

Brexit is expected to dominate the speech, which will cover a two-year period instead of one.

It is also expected to include domestic violence and car insurance measures.

The speech comes as the Tories are still trying to agree terms with the Democratic Unionist Party to secure their support for Mrs Mays minority government.

The document is written by the government but read by the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament.

It is the main ceremonial event of the Parliamentary calendar  but this years will look different, with much of the usual formalities dispensed with and the Queen wearing day dress instead of her usual robes.

The speech will be delivered at 11.30am.
Mandatory labeling of jewelry in Russia to begin in 2024 The deadline for mandatory application of physical marking on jewelry made of precious metals and precious stones in Russia has been postponed from March 2023 to March 2024. That resolution was signed by the Government of the Russian Federation. It is...

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...
De Beers, which is 85 percent-owned by Anglo American, has raked in $530 million from its fifth sales cycle of the year compared to $522 million last month.

Sales for the fifth cycle of 2016 were $564 million.

The latest sales values were quoted on a consolidated accounting basis and were before capitalisation of pre-commercial production revenues at Gahcho Kue in Canada.

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, said De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver.

It was not yet clear whether De Beers managed to aggregate diamonds from South Africa ahead of the sale.

South Africa's minerals minister, Mosebenzi Zwane, had been refusing to grant an exemption to De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) to export diamonds to Botswana for aggregation.

The move forced DBCM to approach the local courts to force the minister change his position.

Diamonds produced by De Beers in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Canada were aggregated in Gaborone like they used to be in London.

Once the aggregation process was complete, rough diamonds of higher value were then re-imported back to the producing countries, South Africa included, for cutting and polishing.

About 40 percent of diamonds mined in South Africa by De Beers were allocated to local diamond cutters and polishers.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has claimed that the Chinese companies  Anjin and Jinan  that operated in Marange used him as he was made to wave dummy cheques.

The Chinese diamond miners had pledged $10 million to develop communities affected by mining activities, but nothing materialised.

You have grievances as people of Manicaland and we are aware of that. We know that you had expected money to be deposited in the Community Share Ownership Scheme like what happened in Zvimba (Mugabes home area), but it never came. The Chinese used us and that is why we kicked them out, Mugabe was quoted by NewsDay as saying to thousands of his supporters in Mutare.

Even me, an old man, I feel used. They made me walk around waving dummy cheques, yet they never fulfilled the promise they gave. We then had a misunderstanding with the Chinese and we kicked them out along with the South Africans and the Lebanese. They lied to me, but we will not forget the people of Manicaland.

Harare withdrew operating licences of the diamond mining companies, including the Chinese, and established the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) to promote transparency and stop smuggling.

The Chinese resisted the consolidation of diamond operations in Marange, but Mugabe claimed that they were defeated in court.

They went to court, but lost. This has slowed us down, but I can assure you that once we are mining and selling our diamonds, we will fulfil the promise made, not by government, but by the Chinese, he said.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




Sarine Technologies has announce that the Sarine Profile digital diamond display solution is expanding its global reach with its first entry in Thailand's jewelry retail market. The popular Thai jewelry brand Aurora is implementing the Sarine light performance report to its in-store experience.

David Block, Chief Executive Officer of Sarine, stated, "The continued expansion of Sarine Profile into Thailand is further proof of consumer demand for technology-based information about their diamond at the point-of-sale."

Aurora Diamond sees importance in enhancing their customers buying experience by providing comprehensive imaging and grading information of the diamonds quality and beauty, by adopting Sarines light performance technologies.

Aniwat Srirungthum, CEO of Aurora Group, expressed his intention to strengthen the brand's presence in the diamond business.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Assian Bureau, Rough & Polished




The four-day Thailand Gems & Jewelry Fair 2017 held from June 15 to 18 at IMPACT Challenger 2, Muang Thong Thani, Bangkok, Thailand. Participants from many countries joined in trade negotiations, fashion shows, MOU-signing ceremonies, networking activities and seminars.

A total of 12,944 visitors participated in the Thailand Gems & Jewelry Fair 2017, with 5,728 visitors from overseas and 7,216 from within Thailand. The countries with the highest number of overseas visitors at the TGJF 2017 were China, India, Myanmar, Japan and USA.

TGJTA President Suttipong Damrongsakul announced that the Thailand Gems & Jewelry Fair 2018 would be held during mid-2018, reflecting the great success of the 2017 fair.

The Thai gems and jewelry industry is proud to successfully host the first international mid-year fair in Bangkok, Thailand, with the Thailand Gems & Jewelry Fair 2017, he said. The fair would not have been possible without our partners in the public and private sectors, from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Tourist Police, and gems and jewelry fair associations across the Asia-Pacific region. Thank you all for your kind participation and we hope to see you again next year!



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished




A delegation of ALROSA visited OJSC BELAZ in the Republic of Belarus on Wednesday. Sergey Ivanov, President of ALROSA and Vladimir Kozlov, the companys Vice President got acquainted with the production of the dump trucks, which are well-known all over the world, and discussed the terms of possible equipment supplies for ALROSAs new projects with the top management of BELAZ.

According to Sergey Ivanov, "Currently, the trucks produced by the Belarusian company account for one half of ALROSAs heavy equipment fleet. It is important for us to understand the capabilities of our partners to further meet the needs of ALROSA in new equipment, also taking into consideration the commenced development of the Verkhne-Munskoye kimberlite field. We are also interested in creating a purely gas-power engine and a dump truck that would operate on liquefied natural gas. The work in this direction is already underway, and sooner or later we will get a dumper with the technical specifications we need. Yakutia is not only a diamond area, but it also rich in gas, so a dump truck on liquefied gas will allow us to reduce the cost of buying fuel. We discussed these and other issues with Piotr Parkhomchik, Chief Executive Officer of BELAZ."

The top managers of ALROSA visited the main production departments of the Belarusian company, got acquainted with commercial and perspective models of dump trucks, visited the Museum of Labor Glory, where they were told about the history of BELAZ. Then the guests were shown the operation of the BELAZ-75710 mining dump truck with a payload capacity of 450 tons, intended for transportation of rock mass in difficult mining conditions of deep quarries. The President of ALROSA personally took part in the test drive of the truck at the test site.
Today's Daily Dose brings you news about Aldeyra's allergic conjunctivitis trial results; BioTime's HIV-associated lipoatrophy trial results; Catalyst Bio's progress in hemophilia B program; Epizyme's encouraging data from a phase II trial of Tazemetostat in follicular lymphoma or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; Loxo's follow-on public offering; Mallinckrodt exploring new use for H.P. Acthar Gel and Sorrento's ZTlido plaster demonstrating superiority over EU reference product Versatis in adhesion.

Read on...

Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc.'s (ALDX) phase 2b clinical trial of topical ocular ADX-102 in patients with allergic conjunctivitis did not meet the primary endpoint of one-point improvement relative to control component.

However, the trial demonstrated statistically significant efficacy of 0.5% ADX-102 over vehicle in reducing ocular itching over one hour post-challenge, noted the Company.

Aldeyra currently plans to initiate phase III clinical testing with 0.5% ADX-102 following discussion with the regulatory authorities in the second half of this year.

ALDX closed Wednesday's trading at $4.65, down 8.82%.

BioTime Inc.'s (BTX) European pivotal trial of Renevia for the treatment of HIV-associated lipoatrophy has met the primary endpoint of creating a sustained hemifacial volume at six months in the treated patients.

Facial wasting or facial lipoatrophy is the loss of subcutaneous fat from the face and is associated with medication for treatment of HIV infection. Signs of lipoatrophy include the loss of subcutaneous fat primarily in the temporal region and cheeks and this tends to produce an emaciated appearance.

Early data from the study that was reported last November indicated that Renevia was safely administered with no serious adverse events and 3-D imaging suggested that volumetric improvements were sustained through a one-year follow up.

The Company will be filing for Renevia CE Mark by the end of this year.

BTX closed Wednesday's trading at $3.09, down 8.58%.

Catalyst Biosciences Inc. (CBIO) announced that dosing of first patient cohort in a phase 1/2 proof-of-concept clinical trial of CB 2679d/ISU304 in individuals with severe hemophilia B has been completed.

The trial is being conducted by the Company's collaborator ISU Abxis Co Ltd.

The Companies plan to have top line data from the trial by the end of 2017.

CBIO closed Wednesday's trading at $4.36, up 0.93%.

Epizyme Inc. (EPZM) on Wednesday reported positive interim efficacy data from its ongoing phase II trial of Tazemetostat as a single-agent treatment for relapsed or refractory patients with follicular lymphoma or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

According to the interim data as of June 1, 2017, the subset of follicular lymphoma patients with EZH2 activating mutations have a 92 percent objective response rate. Patients with follicular lymphoma with EZH2 wild-type have an objective response rate of 26 percent. Promising activity was also observed in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients with EZH2 mutations, which includes recently enrolled patients, with an objective response rate of 29 percent, added the Company.

EPZM closed Wednesday's trading at $12.35, up 10.76%.

Loxo Oncology Inc. (LOXO) has priced its underwritten public offering of 3.15 million shares of common stock at $72.00 per share. The gross proceeds to Loxo Oncology from this offering are expected to be approximately $226.8 million. The offering is expected to close on June 20, 2017.

The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 472,500 shares of its common stock.

The Company's lead product candidate is Larotrectinib (LOXO-101), and the following clinical trials are underway with this compound.

-- A phase 1/2 study in pediatric patients with advanced solid or primary Central Nervous System tumors, dubbed SCOUT.

-- A phase II study in patients with advanced solid tumors harboring a fusion of NTRK1, NTRK2 or NTRK3, dubbed NAVIGATE

-- A phase I study in adult subjects with advanced solid tumors that have progressed or are non responsive to available therapies and for which no standard or available curative therapy exists.

Also in the pipeline are:

LOXO-292, under phase 1 trial in patients with advanced solid tumors, and LOXO-195 to treat patients with TRK fusion cancers who become resistant while receiving another TRK inhibitor, such as larotrectinib, which is all set to enter into phase 1/2 trial.

LOXO closed Wednesday's trading at $74.76, up 1.51%.

Mallinckrodt plc (MNK) has enrolled the first patient in its phase IIb study designed to assess the efficacy and safety of H.P. Acthar Gel as a treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The study, dubbed PENNANT, will enroll patients ages 18 to 75 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and symptom onset who will be randomized on a 2:1 basis to receive subcutaneous (SC) H.P. Acthar Gel 0.2 mL (16 units) daily or SC matching placebo 0.2 mL daily for 36 weeks.

H.P. Acthar Gel is an injectable drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of 19 indications, including infantile spasms and multiple sclerosis. The drug, which used to cost $40 a vial in 2001, is now priced at $34,000 per vial, according to reports.

The net sales of H.P. Acthar Gel were $1.16 billion in fiscal year 2016, up nearly 12% over the prior year.

MNK closed Wednesday's trading at $42.15, down 2.34%.

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) has been granted exclusive commercialization rights in Europe for antifungal CRESEMBA by Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd.

CRESEMBA is indicated for treatment for adult patients with diagnosed invasive aspergillosis and mucormycosis, two serious infections associated with high morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised patients.

The European countries where Pfizer will have exclusive rights to distribute and commercialize CRESEMBA include Austria, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, where it is currently available.

In addition, Pfizer will be responsible for additional CRESEMBA launches, predominantly in Europe, which are expected throughout 2017 and 2018. Basilea will remain the marketing authorization holder for the European Union.

PFE closed Wednesday's trading at $32.69, up 0.34%.

Sorrento Therapeutics Inc.'s (SRNE) subsidiary SCILEX Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced that its investigational medicated plaster, ZTlido, has demonstrated superior adhesion against the EU reference product Versatis during a recently completed comparative adhesion performance study.

ZTlido is under development for the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia.

SCILEX plans to resubmit the NDA for ZTlido to the FDA and the MAA to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom, and other member states (EU countries) in the second half of 2017.

SRNE closed Wednesday's trading at $1.75, up 9.37%.

TG Therapeutics Inc.'s (TGTX) updated clinical data from its ongoing Phase I/Ib trial of TGR-1202 in combination with ibrutinib in patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Mantle Cell Lymphoma seems to be promising.

According to the updated data, the combination of TGR-1202 plus ibrutinib appears well tolerated with no Grade 3/4 transaminitis, pneumonitis, diarrhea, or colitis observed, with longest patients on study 29.5+ months.

About 94% of CLL patients achieved a Complete Response (CR), Partial Response (PR), or a Partial Response with lymphocytosis (PR-L), and there was a 79% ORR (objective response rate) in patients with MCL, including 1 patient with a CR and 1 additional patient with a radiographic CR, revealed the Company.

TGTX closed Wednesday's trading at $11.20, up 5.16%.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Baltimore, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Baltimore, June 21, 2017  When it comes to security, a lot rides on the blossoming ecosystem known as the Internet of Things that will influence just about every part of society. According to Lt. Gen. Alan Lynn, USA, critical to what the U.S. Defense Department seeksboth in-house as well as from industryis bold innovation that delivers security. The way the Internet was built, for example, means people can ride on it anonymously. That must change, Gen. Lynn stated.



The general is the director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), and commander of the Joint Force HeadquartersDepartment of Defense Information Network (JFHQ-DODIN). He shared these thoughts at the AFCEA International Defensive Cyber Operations Symposium (DCOS) in Baltimore. Videos of the generals keynote address as well as presentations by other speakers at the symposium are now available online.

Gen. Lynn shared a succinct list of near-term needs with attendees that included software-defined networking, identity algorithms, large data analytics and business analytics. He also highlighted a few key contracts rolling out this year that tally in the billions of dollars for the industrial base. Leading the pack is DISA's plans for MilCloud 2.0, a contract valued at about $498 million. MilCloud is the agencys venture into a military cloud system designed to be more secure than commercial cloud, he said.

In terms of cybersecurity, plenary speaker Dr. Steven H. Walker, acting director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), pointed out that securing networks, data and, more broadly, any system that runs code, remains a truly difficult national security challenge for the nation.

Hacking no longer falls within the domain of bored high school kids. Sophisticated criminals and terrorists perpetrate attacks, some backed by the deep pockets of adversarial nation-states. Yet because no silver bullet to solving the nations cyber problem exists, interagency partnerships, such as one between DARPA and DISA, are imperative, he stated.

Dr. John A. Zangardi, acting chief information officer, Defense Department, agreed. He added that the swiftly changing cyber domain also demands a dynamic and dedicated partnership between the Defense Department and industry. This relationship is critical to developing both the technologies and the work force needed for the United States to maintain the edge over adversaries.

The department also is working on boosting security by reducing its attack surface, Zangardi added. To this end, DISA has issued guidance that military agencies can use to connect to commercial cloud providers via cloud access points, or CAPs. Though unpopular, he said, from a cybersecurity perspective, CAPs help the Defense Department determine whether cloud services can accommodate data classified at the higher security levels.

Because most vendors have connections to the Internet, the department needs to make sure that DOD data at [classification] level four and above is hosted in a secure commercial environment, he stated.

DCOS photos, presentations and editorial coverage also are available online.

AFCEA International, established in 1946, is a non-profit membership association serving the military, government, industry and academia. Join online.

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Travis Kalanick, co-founder and chief executive of ride-hailing company Uber, resigned Tuesday after a revolt by a group of investors. However, he will remain on Uber's board of directors.

Just last week, Kalanick announced that he was taking a leave of absence from the company, following the release of an investigation report about Uber's work culture, and partly to grieve the sudden death of his mother in a recent boating accident.

But, that decision was not satisfactory for investors, who demanded Kalanick's immediate resignation in a letter on Tuesday, the New York Times reported.

Kalanick reportedly said, "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."

New York Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation that Kalanick's exit came under pressure after hours of discussion involving Uber's investors.

Five of Uber's major investors demanded the resignation. As per the report, the investors included the venture capital firm Benchmark, one of Uber's biggest shareholders, whose partner Bill Gurley is on Uber's board.

In a statement, Uber's board reportedly said that Kalanick had always put Uber first and his decision is a sign of his devotion and love for Uber. The board also said that his stepping down as chief executive would give the company room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber's history.

Kalanick, 40, helped found the ride-hailing service in 2009. The troubles began earlier this year after a former Uber engineer alleged sexual harassment at the company, resulting in internal investigations.

The San Francisco start-up with a valuation of nearly $70 billion faced complaints about sexual harassment, discrimination, and workplace culture, following which the firm fired 20 employees. The company is now lacking other major executive positions as well, including COO, CFO, and CMO.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
(Agencia CMA Latam) - Morgan Stanley Capital International reported today that Argentina would remain in the "frontier market" category, to which it was demoted in 2009. Morgan Stanley's decision will have an adverse impact on Argentinean shares tomorrow since analysts and investors expected that MSCI would upgrade the country to the "emerging market" category.

Analysts believe that tomorrow the Merval Index of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange will post significant losses once it opens because market players had already priced Argentina's promotion to "emerging market."

According to a statement released by MSCI, Argentina will remain on its category review list because there is still suspicion by investors as "recently implemented market accessibility improvements, including the removal of capital controls and FX restrictions, needed to remain in place for a longer time to be deemed irreversible."

MSCI is a provider of stock, bond and hedge fund indexes used as benchmarks. The MSCI had demoted Argentina from "emerging market" to "frontier market" in February 2009. However, the exit from default, after an agreement between Mauricio Macri's government and holdouts in the United States Justice, boosted expectations of a change in how investors see the country.

According to Andres Vilella Weiz, an analyst at Balanz Capital, tomorrow the market will react negatively and sink since investors have already taken for granted for many days that Argentina would rise to the "emerging market" status.

According to Jorge Suarez, an analyst at Mateo and Marchioni Sociedad, Merval will open on Wednesday in the red and that trend will be replicated throughout the week, as the news took investors by surprise.

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
(Agencia CMA Latam) - The labor reform bill should face a bumpy road in the Brazilian Senate floor after one of the three committees in charge of analyzing the legislation voted against it, in an unexpected move that soured market sentiment and pushed the local stock market further into the red.

The labor reform bill passed a House of Representatives vote in April and is now under scrutiny by senators. The Senate Economic Affairs Committee had already approved the legislation, but today the Social Affairs Committee rejected the proposal - ten senators voted against the bill, while nine of them cast favorable votes.

The result was unexpected since the government coalition has eleven of the twenty seats available on the Committee, and showed that even Michel Temer's allies view the labor reform as a controversial subject.

The draft legislation authorizes, among other things, direct agreements between employers and employees to prevail over labor law, eliminates mandatory contributions from workers to unions and establishes the so-called seasonal work - when employees are subordinate to one company in spite of irregular working hours.

However, the proposition also asks President Michel Temer to veto some controversial points. This initiative aims to keep the law unchanged to avoid the need for a new House of Representatives vote on the matter.

The contentious points oblige pregnant women to work in conditions of medium or small insalubrity and remove a 15 minutes period of rest assured to women before overtime and authorize consecutive 12-hour workdays with 36 hours of rest, for example.

Senators that voted against the labor reform in the Social Affairs Committee were concerned mainly with those controversial points. The rejection is not enough to halt voting procedures. The bill is yet to be analyzed by the Senate Constitution and Justice Committee and then reach the Senate floor for a concluding vote.

Investors, however, were concerned with the friendly fire against the labor reform and believe that the government now faces a higher risk of a Senate veto to the legislation.

That, in turn, would be negative for stocks and the Brazilian real, which have surged since the end of last year amid rising expectations that Congress would approve all of the current administration proposed measures to strengthen the and reduce the public debt.

Confidence in the reform's approval, though, has been diminishing since May, when Joesley Batista, one of the owners of the Brazilian meatpacker JBS, accused Temer of receiving bribery and endorsing draft payments to a former lawmaker.

After that, some of the governing coalition parties displayed increasing dissatisfaction to support Temer's proposals, and market players viewed today's defeat in the Senate committee as a direct result of that political tension.

"The government can't afford to lose even a Jackstraws game because that will only show more weakness," said Alvaro Bandeira, chief economist at Homebroker Modalmais.

The Ibovespa, Brazil's benchmark stock market index, closed 2.01% down, to 60,766.15 points, the lowest level since January 2nd.

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Canadian stocks are poised for modest gains in early dealing today, but Bay Street remains on edge after crude oil briefly dropped into bear market territory yesterday.

Oil has steadied above $43 a barrel this morning, but a bearish U.S. oil from recent highs due to the global supply glut that OPEC has been unable to prevent.inventories could spark another move lower. Prices are down about 20 percent

With weakness emerging in a number of sectors, including mining, the TSX Composite Index dropped to 6-month lows last week but is stubbornly clinging to the 15,000 mark.

Markets will be paying attention to beleagured lender Home Capital (HCG.TO) who said it is selling a $1.2-billion commercial mortgage portfolio to KingSett Capital to pay down debt.

Goldcorp Inc. (GG, G.TO) agreed to sell its 100% interest in the Camino Rojo oxide project, located in Zacatecas, Mexico. Goldcorp will receive 19.9% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Orla Mining, and a 2% Net Smelter Return royalty on revenues from all metal production from the project.

Superior Gold (SGI.V) is ready to starts its Hermes project, the company said today.

Struggling retailer Sears Canada Inc (SCC.TO) is preparing to seek court protection against creditors in the coming weeks, Reuters reports. Management has already said it might not make it through the year.

Travis Kalanick, co-founder and chief executive of ride-hailing company Uber, resigned Tuesday after a revolt by a group of investors. However, he will remain on Uber's board of directors.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Canadian stocks were flat Wednesday. Energy stocks struggled as crude oil futures extended a sudden collapse into bear market territory.

August WTI oil fell 98 cents, or 2.3%, to settle at $42.53/bbl, sliding through support to hit a 10-month low. That's despite news that crude inventories fell 2.5 million barrels in the week to June 16, surpassing analysts' expectations for a smaller decrease.

The TSX Composite Index wsa down 1.07 points to 15,148.53, staying near recent 6-month lows.

Struggling retailer Sears Canada Inc (SCC.TO) is preparing to seek court protection against creditors in the coming weeks, Reuters reports. Management has already said it might not make it through the year. Shares plunged 25 percent.

Bombardier's (BBD.B.TO) Derby, UK plant won a nearly 1 billion pound train deal, besting a German rival. Bombardier also won an order from India's SpiceJet Ltd. for as many as 50 turboprop planes worth $1.7 billion

Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) said it is cutting 450 jobs in Toronto. Shares were down 0.6 percent.

Goldcorp Inc. (GG, G.TO) agreed to sell its 100% interest in the Camino Rojo oxide project, located in Zacatecas, Mexico. Goldcorp will receive 19.9% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Orla Mining, and a 2% Net Smelter Return royalty on revenues from all metal production from the project.

Algoma Central Corporation annouced the closing of its previously announced offering of $75 million bought deal financing.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
Louisville, KY, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Appriss Health, provider of the most comprehensive platform for substance use disorder in the U.S., today announced that its co-developed CONNECT Empowering Opioid Exchange project won a 2017 FedHealthIT Innovation Award with its partner Federal Health Architecture (FHA).

The CONNECT Empowering Opioid Exchange project was envisioned as part of Appriss Healths and FHAs ongoing work to address the prescription drug and opioid epidemic. The Department of Defense (DoD) asked Appriss Healths partner, FHA, to envision a solution to aggregate prescription drug information from multiple states and deliver it in a clinicians workflow at the point-of-care. Appriss Health worked with FHA together on an approach leveraging state prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), PMP InterConnect and PMP Gateway to integrate with CONNECT to enable DoD to identify use, misuse and abuse of opioids by active duty soldiers. This information enables early identification, prevention and management of substance use disorder (SUD) within existing federal workflow and across state lines, where approved.

This project builds upon CONNECT, FHAs security gateway that implements nationwide healthcare exchange specifications, and bridges the gap between federal agencies and multiple statewide prescription exchanges. CONNECT was expanded to enable RESTful transactions to query patient prescription drug information from the existing inter-state prescription drug data sharing exchange, PMP InterConnect, and integrates it into health IT systems via PMP Gateway. PMP InterConnect (PMPi) facilitates the transfer of PDMP data across state lines. Today, 44 states have agreed to interstate data sharing via PMPi. PMP Gateway (Gateway) is a fully-managed service integrating PDMP data and insights into electronic health records (EHRs), including Epic, Cerner and other major EHRs, in hospitals and health systems as well as pharmacy management systems.

The CONNECT Empowering Opioid Exchange project enables DoD to address a vital readiness issue and can be leveraged by other federal agencies. By providing a trusted, open source solution that is committed to keeping our citizens and military safe, and pursuing a more effective and efficient methodology of monitoring and using prescription drug information, better patient treatments can be developed across the U.S.

Appriss Health is honored to be recognized by the FedHealthIT Innovation Awards alongside government and industry leaders from across the federal health technology and consulting sector, said Rob Cohen, president, Appriss Health. We are proud to share this honor with our partner FHA, as well as with other projects from other esteemed government agencies including Veterans Affairs, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Institute of Health, Food and Drug Administration, and the Administration for Children and Families, amongst others.

Cohen continued, We know that 44 Americans die each day due to prescription opioid overdoses and 91 die from all opioids, a fourfold increase since 1999. And that for each prescription opioid overdose death there are 12 treatment admissions, 25 ED visits, and 105 people who abused or were dependent on opioids. Every day we approach our work with this weighing heavily on our minds. That is why we are steadfastly-dedicated to transforming PDMPs into revolutionary clinical tools that are at the center of the opioid epidemic response. Our initiatives include sharing information across state lines, integrating information and advanced analytics into clinical information systems in the healthcare workflow, and extending PDMPs beyond just risk identification to point-of-care vehicles for providing clinicians and patients with the resources and tools they need to change outcomes and save lives.

Cohen concluded, This award further substantiates the fact that government agencies have recognized that the PMPi and Gateway model in place now is well-positioned to facilitate in-workflow access to multi-state PDMP data and analytics.

About Appriss Health

Appriss Health provides the nation's most comprehensive platform for early identification, prevention and management of substance use disorder (SUD), within clinical workflow. We provide government agencies with a repository of controlled substance dispensing information combined with advanced analytics, and deliver real-time clinical decision support, critical insights and interventions to physicians, pharmacists, and care team members through millions of patient encounters each year. Our solutions enable the assessment and management of clinical risk in order to positively impact patient safety and population health outcomes. For more information, please visit www.apprisshealth.com.

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Attachments:

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VANCOUVER, B.C., June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Condor Resources Inc. - (Condor or the Company) (TSXV:CN) is pleased to announce the acquisition of a 100% interest in the Andrea epithermal gold-silver project in the Department of Ayacucho, approximately 480 km south-east of Lima in the south-central Andes. The mineral rights on the 8 sq km property were recently acquired by application to the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines. Andrea is approximately 20 km north of the Breapampa mine owned by Minas Buenaventura, and situated at elevations ranging from 4100 to 4600m.



Condor acquired the Andrea project because it hosts a compelling high sulphidation epithermal type gold and silver target within a core area approximately 800m in diameter. Gold and silver mineralization (up to 4.2 g/t Au) is hosted in hydrothermal breccias with vuggy silica. The surface area exposure of the largest siliceous breccia is about 200m in diameter, with a halo of advanced argillic assemblages. The alteration and mineralization is hosted within Miocene to Pliocene aged Tertiary volcanics.

I am excited by the exploration potential of our newly acquired Andrea project, stated Ever Marquez, Condors VP of Exploration, Based on my experience in the south-central Andes, these high sulphidation type targets can yield significant discoveries when explored with drilling; we do not believe this project has ever been drilled.

An initial reconnaissance mapping effort was recently completed, and 117 rock chip channel samples were collected and analyzed by ALS Peru S.A. in Lima. Exploration sampling and mapping was concentrated in the central part of the project within a much larger advanced argillic alteration envelope. The sample results also confirmed the presence of anomalous pathfinder elements typical of high sulphidation epithermal systems. Condor geologists found no evidence of previous exploration activities or small scale mining on the concession.

Gold assays in the samples range from negligible to 4.2 g/t Au, with 23 of the samples showing anomalous gold values exceeding 50 ppb, including 13 samples exceeding 500 ppb, and 7 samples greater than 1 g/t. Samples taken in the 800m diameter breccia core area  81 of the 117 samples  exhibited more consistent gold values, ranging from 5 ppb to 4180 ppb, and averaged 41 ppb. Measurable silver values were present in all but 6 of the 117 samples, but none of the silver assays exceeded 1 g/t.

More details of the Andrea project can be found on our website at www.condorresources.com/s/ProjectAndrea.asp.

Condor is an explorer and project generator focused exclusively on Peru, and our objective is the discovery of a major new precious metals or base metals deposit. Project acquisition and development is managed by our Lima based exploration team.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Lyle Davis

President & Chief Executive Officer

For further information please contact the Company at 1-866-642-5707, or by email at info@condorresources.com, OR

Renmark Financial Communications Inc.

Barry Mire: BMire@renmarkfinancial.com

Tel: (416) 644-2020 or (514) 939-3989

www.renmarkfinancial.com

Mr. Brian D. Game, P.Geo, is the Qualified Person under NI 43-101 who has approved the technical content of this news release.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control: The sampling program was undertaken by Company personnel under the direction of Ever Marquez, Condors VP Exploration. A secure chain of custody is maintained in transporting and storing of all samples. Samples were delivered to and assayed by ALS Peru S.A. in Lima, a laboratory whose quality control system complies with International Standards ISO/IEC 17025:2005 and ISO 9001:2015, respectively. Analysis by aqua regia digestion system with 51 element ICP-MS analysis was conducted on all samples. Gold was assayed using a fire assay with atomic absorption spectrometry/ICP-MS and gravimetric finish when required. Systematic assaying of sample duplicates and commercially prepared blanks and standards was performed for analytical reliability by the laboratory. Bedrock rock chip samples are selective by nature and are unlikely to represent average grades within the bedrock when drilled.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information: All statements, trend analysis and other information contained in this press release relative to markets about anticipated future events or results constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are subject to business and economic risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results of operations to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the date the statements are made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements even if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Atlanta, GA, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ScottMadden, Inc., one of North Americas leading energy consulting firms, recently released its Spring Energy Industry Update. Themed Its the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), this report will give you bottom-line insights, distill recent events, and help you as you prepare to anticipate and respond to emerging trends including blockchains. Indeed, it may be the end of the world as we know it, but by the same token, it is a time of unparalleled opportunity and possibilities, and so there is much to accomplish and feel fine about.

Utilities are responding and adapting to the improvements in technology, which could yield energy transaction efficiencies as well as enhance the role of energy in technology-enabled smart city infrastructure. In the report, ScottMadden takes a closer look at distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain. Blockchain leverages the power of network interconnectivity, distributed databases, and state-of-the-art cryptography.

Blockchain and similar technologies are changing the finance industry and have the potential to change the energy industry, said Jon Kerner, partner and technology practice lead at ScottMadden. Distributed ledger and peer-to-peer and Internet of Things transactional technologies are being evaluated across a number of uses that could disrupt how energy companies interact with their customers and other stakeholders and provide new opportunities for them.

If you were unable to join our Energy Industry Update webcast, the complimentary recording is now available. Hear what our industry experts have to say about solar curtailment, Australias response to distributed generation, and the trends toward smart cities in this new session.

About ScottMaddens Energy Practice

We know energy from the ground up. Since 1983, we have been energy consultants. We have served more than 400 clients, including 20 of the top 20 energy utilities. We have performed more than 3,000 projects across every energy utility business unit and every function. We have helped our clients develop strategies, improve operations, reorganize companies, and implement initiatives. Our broad and deep energy utility expertise is not theoreticalit is experience based.

About ScottMadden, Inc.

ScottMadden is the management consulting firm that does what it takes to get it done right. Our practice areas include Energy, Clean Tech & Sustainability, Corporate & Shared Services, and Grid Transformation. We deliver a broad array of consulting services ranging from strategic planning through implementation across many industries, business units, and functions. To learn more, visit www.scottmadden.com | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

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Security threats caused by organised transnational crimes is one of the core issues confronted by leaders attending this weeks 20th Secretariat of the Pacific Immigration Directors Conference (P.I.D.C.) meeting in Samoa.

Held at Taumeasina Island Resort, the meeting was officially opened by Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi yesterday.

The meeting is co-hosted by Samoa and New Zealand with the theme: Our Waka; or The Modernizing Approaches to the Regional Migration Challenges for a Safe and Prosperous Pacific.

Tuilaepa said the theme vividly depicts the P.I.D.C. as a united entity, circumnavigating the challenges of migration security in the Pacific.

The ever evolving security threats due to organized transnational crimes place all our Pacific states at risk and it is vitally significant that these are properly addressed at all fronts, Tuilaepa said.

The complexity of these crimes requires effective planning, timely response, advanced equipment and collective efforts from all P.I.D.C. member countries."

Undeniable, with the constant advancement and sophistication of electronic communication and information technology, cybercrimes have intensified, placing our electronic systems at enormous security vulnerability and most countries are rapidly falling prey to these and other illegal activities."

The ransom-ware is one of the newest digital security challenges that has rapidly grown over the last 12 months. This malware when contracted blocks a computer or encrypts data in systems, making it impossible to access information.

He also spoke about the negative impact of the climate change, which remains a formidable challenge for Pacific States.

The detrimental effects of climate change will cause internal and external displacements to many of our people living on low lying islands. These are serious and complex security concerns which are not easy to address."

The Pacific Island Forum leaders have been very proactive in pushing for concerted response to climate change at the regional and international levels.

He said the Paris Agreement and the Green Climate Fund are some of the profound outcomes of these efforts.

I am very pleased to see that the P.I.D.C. through its strategic plan will position itself in the future to become the coordinating center in the Pacific for migration liaison, with strong emphasis on research, effective and timely information and Intel sharing and assisting member countries to build and improve staff professional development."

It is also encouraging to note that the P.I.D.C. has included labor mobility in its plan, which most of the P.I.D.C. member countries are benefitting from with bilateral agreements with New Zealand and Australia."

This is further strengthened by the conclusion of the P.A.C.E.R Plus negotiations.

Samoa is committed to stand together with organization such as P.I.D.C to address security challenges that we face as a region and to support all efforts to strengthen the security of each nations borders.

As host country to the P.I.D.C Secretariat, we welcome every opportunity to dialogue with member countries, and other regional and international partners in advancing our quest against cybercrimes, human trafficking, arms, drug and people smuggling, illegal fishing and organized gangs. Samoa will continue to support the P.I.D.C to deliver its mandate.

There are 19 P.I.D.C member countries; however, there are territories that are not yet part of the PIDC family.

It is important that they are encouraged to become part of this regional network in order to jointly develop and maintain a secure, peaceful and prosperous Pacific.

Deputy Chief Executive of Immigration New Zealand, Toosavili Nigel Bickle says their government is honoured to co-host the conference.

The PIDC has been operating for 20 years now with its core objective to build the capacity and capability of member countries to mitigate immigration risks and harm.

Having secure borders and working collaboratively with strong immigration legislative and policy backing in advancing economic development in the region with the increasing opportunities for us all in the Pacific to benefit from tourism, trade and investment mitigating harms of transnational crime and risks associated with it.

Regarding the theme, Toosavili said the need to reflect on some notable achievements over the past year particularly; the successful establishment at the PIDC Secretariat as a new legal entity in Apia; the appointment of the new Head of Secretariat, Maumalo Ioane Alama; successful transition of Akuila Ratu and Sachin Singh who have moved country and stepped into the new environment incredibly well.

Also the development of a forward programme at work that supports our shared objective and interests.

Toosavili presented a Te Waka a Kupe to Prime Minister. It represents the waka that was used by Kupe to track Te Wheke o Muturangi, the octopus. Kupe and his crew of fishermen from Hawaiki one day had their bait and catches swiped by a large octopus.

As an act of venegence, Kupe and his men built a large canoe to track down the octopus and kill it. They chased it all over the Pacific and when their supplies became exhausted they spotted a long white cloud indicating land nearby.

Upon reaching the land, they discovered a new land which later became known as Aotearoa. After a period of rest and stocks replenished they continued on their search for Te Wheke and found him  finally conquering over their foe.

Te Wheke o Muturangi, which was thought of as a bad omen, was what had lead Kupe and his crew to a new land they now called Aotearoa, a land Kupe knew future generations would call home.

In relation to this forum, the waka has moved our people and made us mobile people with the ability to migrate from destination to destination. Te Waka a Kupe is presented to the Government of Samoa for their contribution to this conference and ensuring that our waka is forever moving forward in the right direction  which is secure now that PIDC has found a new home here in Samoa.
The staff of Air New Zealand visited the SENESE Inclusive Education bearing gifts yesterday.

They donated computers to help the school.

Air New Zealand Travel Consultant and Community Liaison Officer, Talise Samuelu, said this is their way of giving back to the community.

This year we tried to get involved with the community and this is one of the projects weve been doing, she told the Samoa Observer.

We had two similar projects last year and one this year as this is the last one for this financial year."

The whole idea of these projects is just to give back to the community and we are trying to carry this forward so ideally we want to do it again next year."

So this is just one of the activities and project weve been putting together throughout the whole year.

She went on to say they chose SENESE because they want to meet the kids and do some fun activities with them.

Today we put together six computer screens as well as some snacks for the kids and reading books as well to help them improve their learning skills.

We also thought we include some fun activities hence why we had a Zumba activity.

Representative of Senese, Sagato, thanked the staff of Air New Zealand for their generosity.
The LIFE-Con THINK PINK Initiative presented a donation of $10,000 to the Samoa Cancer Society yesterday. This was done in the spirit of supporting Breast Cancer Awareness with the Theme Beyond Treatment Calls for our Support!

The LIFE-Con THINK PINK Initiative was in honor of Former Miss Samoa Miss South Pacific 2002, Manamea Apelu Schwalger who is a Breast Cancer Survivor and Advocate.

Samoa Cancer Society Executive Officer Shelley Burich commended the platform LIFE-Con has created for national awareness on the services and work of the Society.

She emphasized the need for community mobilization to strengthen Cancer awareness and advocacy. The overall goal is Samoa to know of the services offered by the Society and most importantly for Government to explore potential services beyond treatment that can help our people.

Samoa Cancer Society has been in operation since 1998 and has developed to where it is today by the generous support of Government, Development Partners, Supporters and the response from our communities.

Nevertheless it is a Non Governmental Organization that will need the continuous Funding support to keep its doors open and provide the much needed services it provides for Samoa. This is the essence of the LIFE-Con THINK PINK Initiative, because through Samoa Cancer Society direct assistance and support can be facilitated for our people.

One of the most significant outcomes of the LIFE-Con THINK PINK Initiative also in support of Samoa Cancer Society is the establishment of the Miss Samoa Winners Alumni. Represented by the Alumni Chair Verona Parker Miss Samoa Miss South Pacific 1996.

Verona acknowledges that the THINK PINK movement was born out of love and therefore the Alumni is formed to continue this message of love and hope in honor of their sister Manamea. The Alumni will continue the cause with a PAINT SAMOA PINK  I le MANA o le Alofa Project coming up in October amongst other community projects they will lead and support.

The Miss Samoa Alumni President is Mary Jane Mckibbin Schwenke  Miss Samoa Miss South Pacific 1997, Secretary  Cheri Robinson Moors Miss Samoa Miss South Pacific 1998 with 11 Winner members.

The THINK PINK Initiative is the brainchild of the EMD Co. Ltd. LIFE-Con Explosion and Director Kevin Schuster acknowledged the overwhelming support of the Business Community to this LIFE-Con Charity.

In particular the Samoa Events Incorporated SEI, Samoa Water Authority SWA, Samoa Faafafine Association SFA, the LIFE-Con Sponsors and Supporters as well as everyone that participated in the inaugural LIFE-Con Explosion 2017.

All the contributions has directly and indirectly assisted in advancing the advocacy efforts of the Samoa Cancer Society. In addition EMD Co. Ltd. has committed to provide free Marketing Support through Social Media Management, Advocacy and Visibility as well as the LIFE-Con Talents to aid the work of the Society in moving forward.

Overall It takes the collective efforts of many to battle cancer in Samoa. It also takes the right resources to combat this deadly disease. The work of Samoa Cancer Society as a National Cancer Resource Center can help prevent unnecessary premature deaths.

Knowledge saves lives.

In all of the challenges cancer has thrown at me, I see the hand of God in all of this. God bless all of you who have given generously towards the Think Pink Initiative Manamea Apelu Schwalger.
Wesley College rolled out their welcoming fala to comedian, Tofiga Fepuleai, who is in Samoa for his I gant belive it tour. He is revealing his show tonight at Taumeasina Island Resort.

On Monday, Tofiga had a busy day as he noted on his Facebook page.

We started off at MagikFM 7:30am and then we headed to Levaula College to share some laughs with students and staff. It was nice to catch up with my nephew and principal of Levaula College Amosa Tapuai.

We then headed to Samoa College to entertain and share my life experiences with students and staff. One of the highlights of the day was the singing from both schools and the hospitality.

An awesome way to spend our morning visiting the schools.
We live in a great time.

A time defined by amazing technology and super intelligent humans.

Yes we have so many smart people with many brilliant ideas. There are experts in all sorts of different things  depending on what youre after  there is always an expert to help you achieve it.

Its wonderful isnt it?

The dilemma is that despite the mounting number of experts we have, the worlds problems dont seem to be decreasing. If anything, we live at a time defined by problems, problems and more problems.

Samoa is no exception.

Everyday, there are meetings after meetings, consultations after consultations, framework of this and that and those countless workshops are taking place. Why are they necessary? Because people are trying to address these problems. Thats where experts are sharing their knowledge and how they can be applied to these issues. It could be any issue, social, economic, political, spiritual or any other and you will observe this trend. We are talking about meetings on end.

In Samoa today, there is no doubt that there are many great intentions when it comes to the issues we face. That explains the multiple meetings every week.

But its hard to ignore the fact that we are not addressing any of these problems at all. If anything, they seem to be deteriorating

So what are we doing wrong? Why is it that after a gazillion meetings, workshops, conventions, seminars or whatever you prefer to call them, nothing seems to change? Why have things become considerably bad despite so much effort to change them for the better?

Where are we missing it? What are we not doing right?

There are many answers. The one point we feel is worth highlighting in this instance is that life and its challenges involve real people with real problems. Which means the solutions we are looking for should also be real and tangible solutions, not the feel-good ones that allow us to tick the boxes at the workshops.

Ultimately, the goal is to translate what is being achieved at these meetings, workshops and what have you so that it will have an impact on ordinary people whose lives are affected by it.

If these things dont make a difference at the grassroots level, whats the point? Who cares about what fancy name you give to a workshop and how flash the venue it is held at?

Which brings us to Samoa. We find that a lot of the time the talk about issues beats around the bush too much. We come up with all this fancy talk to try and hide the reality of our problems when they are so glaringly obvious to see.

Take the issue of poverty and hardship for instance. What are we doing about poverty here? What is the government doing about those poor people apart from singing along to someone elses tune about eliminating poverty?

Hardship is real in Samoa. Look at the growing number of beggars and young children resorting to a life of petty crime and street menacing? Are those not signs of poverty?

What about job creation? Are there enough jobs in Samoa? If the answer is no, what is the government doing to create more jobs?

These questions are not new. They have been around for ages and yet they have never been adequately addressed. And there has been no shortage of talking about them too.

The problem we see is that certain people are only there to protect their own interests. Thats why they love this system of having talkfests, getting the boxes ticked with one workshop after another, going to this and that meeting and so forth.

And yet real people with real problems continue to suffer. We see them everyday. Now lets be reminded here that poverty and hardships are hurting our people, resulting in many of our social problems  including violence and other petty crimes.

Those women and children suffering from domestic violence is a direct consequence of societys failure to address poverty and hardship. We can have this and that commemoration but at the end of the day those women will have to go home to their banged up husbands who are stressed out from earning lousy money for all their work. This is one of the real issues.

And we believe the government should take the lead to address them.

Start by stopping corruption, sending the perpetrators to jail and then they use some of that money to pay these men well so they dont take their frustrations out on their wives and children.

The church should help out too. It should stop demanding from church goers and instead give a little. Whats the point of those monstrous church buildings when people are crying in their sleep because they are tired of being robbed using the name of God?

The truth is, many people are struggling to put food on the table because of the lack of income. What is happening now is the gap between the rich and poor in Samoa is getting wider and there is a deep sense of frustration boiling beneath the service. Its a disaster waiting to happen  as a matter of fact, we are already seeing the result.

Thats what we think anyway, what about you?

Have great Thursday Samoa, God bless!
Member of Parliament, Olo Fiti Vaai, has claimed that the government is financially desperate with their decision to tax the Head of State and Church Ministers.

He has also questioned the factuality of figures provided by the Ministry of Finance on the budget for 2017/2018 where the surplus is in millions and yet the government intends to tax church Ministers.

His concerns were raised when Parliament convened yesterday to debate the budget tabled by the Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, last month.

If the figures are accurate in terms of surplus, it increases year after year, Olo said.

Mr Speaker, I believe the V.A.G.S.T [Value Added Goods and Services Tax] should not be increased until the end of time.

Secondly why are we levying taxes against the church ministers, if the figures are accurate that the surplus is in millions? Then why do we need to add anymore burden onto the public?

Olo pointed out that its members of the public who end suffering.

This word faifeau is just a cover when the reality is that its the public that is paying for the taxes. Its not their money, so they dont care about their salary being taxed because its the public that is being taxed again.

Outside Parliament, Olo told the Samoa Observer the government is desperate for money.

I didnt think our government was that desperate, he said.

When I looked at the surplus that is collected from last year and this year, its more than $30million. And yet they intend to add more taxes, they are looking at adding taxes on alcohol. Then theres church ministers the government wants to tax. That is how desperate they are. Now I didnt know it was this bad.

According to Olo, if the government is claiming that the economy is doing well, why do they need more taxes.

The government claims that Samoas economy is in a good place, this is according to the figures the Ministry of Finance is giving us.

He added that members of the public are tired of paying taxes.

Our taxes started off with seven percent, then it increased to 15%. If the government was in a stable financial status, the government would repeal the V.A.G.S.T given that the economy is in a good place.... but I guess its not. Hence the need to find out whether the figures are accurate.

Going back to taxing of Church Ministers, Olo said anyone who can read between the lines would know the taxing of church ministers is literally an increase of the V.A.G.S.T.

They are taxing the faifeau, but who is providing the money for the peleki and the alofa? Its the public, thats how I look at it. They just front the faifeaus name yet its the public that is paying for it and its literally an increase of the V.A.G.S.T.

Minister of Finance, Sili Epa prior to tabling the budget for 2017/2018 in his financial statement earlier this month, noted that during the Revenue Review that was announced at the 2016/17 Budget Statement was tasked to examine Samoas current taxation arrangements, including:

 Examining current tax bases and rates and providing advice on the extent to which they reflect reasonable contributions by tax payers;

 Identifying anomalies in current tax bases, tax rates and tax exemptions;

 The efficiency and effectiveness of tax collection and tax enforcement.

The Review was also asked to examine current taxation procedures and recommend improvements it considers will support the purpose and objectives of the review including:

 Reviewing the current arrangements for the granting of exemptions and concessions;

 Improving procedures for dealing with arrears;

 The use of tax holidays or other concessions;

 The use of tax credits.

Sili pointed out to the Speaker that the main features of the Review recommendations are:

 Strengthening compliance with existing tax requirements, including compliance by taxpayers and improving the effectiveness of the revenue collecting agencies, including the Ministry for Revenue;

 Removing a number of exemptions and concessions to improve the equity of the tax system;

 Increasing non-tax fees and charges and indexing these fees and charges to ensure that the revenue raised more accurately reflects the costs of providing the services to which these fees and charges relate;

 Increasing a number of duty and excise rates;

 Introducing an equalization charge on EPC; and

 Introducing a Telecommunications levy.

The Review has also recommended changes in current taxation arrangements designed to:

 Ease the income tax burden on lower paid employees and sole traders; and

 Lower export taxes and some duty and excise rates to support the competitiveness of Samoan businesses. These changes would be introduced over the next financial year with timing dependent on changes to legislation and administrative procedures which would be required.

The net anticipated revenue gains from this package of reforms are estimated to be $14.1 million in 2017/18, increasing to $30.6 million in 2020/21, said Sili earlier this month.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi told Samoa Observer in an earlier interview the government has not ruled out the possibility of raising the Value Added Goods and Services Tax (V.A.G.S.T.).

Standing at 15per cent today, it is one of the taxes being reviewed as part of the Ministry of Revenues efforts to review all existing laws on income tax. The Minister of Revenue, Tialavea Tionisio Hunt, told the Sunday Samoan the V.A.G.S.T. is definitely being reviewed. Setup Timeout Error: Setup took longer than 30 seconds to complete.

For the V.A.G.S.T, there might be an increase but not a big one, he said. It will just be two and a half cents. But nothing has been finalized yet.

Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, also confirmed the plan.

Ive heard stories about it, and I heard that an extra two cents will be added to the existing cost of V.A.G.S.T, Tuilaepa said. He went on to say that this is just a small raise.
LAS VEGAS, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FinancialForce, the leading cloud ERP for the new services economy, today announced the winners of its fifth annual 360 Customer and Partner Excellence Awards. The awards recognize outstanding customer achievements across all FinancialForce solution lines in categories including Best Customer Experience, Exemplary Use of Platform and Community Champion of the Year. New to the awards program this year are two prestigious partner excellence awards for both System Integrators and ISVs.



This years program received another record-breaking number of submissions from customers all over the globe. Finalists and winners were featured on stage today during the final day of FinancialForce Community Live in Las Vegas, the companys largest customer conference to date.

Congratulations to all of this years 360 Customer and Partner Excellence Award winners and finalists, said Tod Nielsen, CEO at FinancialForce. I am inspired by the incredible journeys many of our customers and partners have taken, and how technology continues to improve their businesses and their ability to deliver great customer experience. Were excited to be helping companies transform to deliver more services and will continue to build on our flexible and agile ERP solutions to better equip organizations for the new services economy.

"For organizations in every industry, we are in a time of change. The winners of this competition are fantastic examples of how to use FinancialForce's platform to enable business model transformation at speed, and how back office visibility and efficiency can improve customer experience." - Ben Kepes, 360 Awards Judge, Business Leader, Technology Evangelist and Entrepreneur.

This years panel of judges included: Tod Nielsen, CEO of FinancialForce, Fred Studer, CMO of FinancialForce and Ben Kepes, Business Leader, Technology Evangelist and Entrepreneur. Judges selected winners in the following eight categories:

FinancialForce Financial Management (FM) Excellence: Recognizes customers who have demonstrated innovation, greater efficiencies and improved effectiveness in business processes, customer service, supply chain/inventory control, financial reporting, revenue management and other financial management best practices while leveraging the power of FinancialForce Financial Management and the Salesforce Platform.

Winner: INTO University Partnerships, a global education partnering organization that forms long-term joint ventures with globally-ranked, ambitious universities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Asia. INTO University Partnerships was selected for its efficiency in using automated revenue recognition to eliminate days of manual work each month as well as its innovative approach in using FinancialForce to run its complex finances.

FinancialForce Professional Services Automation (PSA) Excellence: Recognizes customers who have demonstrated dramatic improvements and innovation in professional services productivity, utilization, customer service, cross-departmental visibility, resource management and other professional services best practices while leveraging the power of FinancialForce PSA and the Salesforce Platform.

Winner: Greenway Health, a single vendor for all Healthcare IT and revenue cycle services, was selected for utilizing FinancialForce PSA to create a deeper bond between sales and services. As a result, it achieved faster insights and reporting, resulting in more than 1000 hours of saved time per year.

FinancialForce Human Capital Management (HCM) Excellence: Recognizes customers who have demonstrated innovation and success in human capital management including onboarding, recruiting, benefits management, records management, talent management, and employee engagement while leveraging the power of FinancialForce HCM and the Salesforce Platform.

Winner: Superior Industries, a manufacturing company, implemented FinancialForce HCM in October 2015 and, as a result, saved hundreds of hours of manual data entry time. Users, HR managers and IT have rallied around the seamless user experience and improvements to HR practices.

Best Customer Experience: This award recognizes customers who have demonstrated initiative, excellence and creativity in how they utilize FinancialForce solutions, on top of the Salesforce Platform, to improve their customer experience. Winners are selected based on how they have included FinancialForce applications as part of their customer-centric strategy, and the impact the front and back office integration has made on their business.

Winner: Jacobus Consulting, a previous 360 winner, was selected for its dedication to advancing its mission of healthcare by empowering clients to achieve what matters most. By supporting providers with strategic advisory and information technology services, Jacobus Consulting is a consistent example of how companies can utilize ERP in a single cloud platform to impact customer success..

Exemplary Use of Platform: Recognizes customers who use two or more FinancialForce solutions and have demonstrated a strong belief in how multi-app usage is a game-changer for the success of their business. Winners are those who have a vision for leveraging applications across Salesforce Platform to underpin the future of their work.

Winner: Medidata Solutions, a company that provides industry-leading, cloud-based solutions for clinical research, was selected for implementing a PSA and financials system that will scale with them in the future. Since implementing FinancialForce, Medidata has seen dramatic improvements in productivity, customer service, cross-departmental visibility and limited-resource management planning.

Community Champion of the Year: Recognizes individuals who are the most actively engaged within the FinancialForce Community, regularly initiating and participating in the top discussions and influencing and supporting other members with their comments, feedback and ideas. The winners are those who hold the highest reputation levels and have been instrumental in driving forward the community by helping other community members to strive for excellence through FinancialForce applications.

Winner: Michael Slawnik, from Interlochen Center for the Arts, is dedicated to empowering others within the FinancialForce community. Nominated by peers, he is an active and engaged member who is always working to provide advice and solutions for those in needensuring their businesses utilize FinancialForce to the fullest.

FinancialForce Partner Excellence, Systems Integrator: Recognizes both system Integrators and ISV partners who have delivered problem-solving and innovative solutions to customers by leveraging FinancialForce applications and technology. Winners are those who have a proven track record of customer success as well as continued commitment and vision for transforming businesses in partnership with FinancialForce.

Winner: Icon Cloud Consulting is a premier FinancialForce implementation partner that is growing quickly with 150+ customer implementations completed across numerous industries. As users of FinancialForce PSA, Icon Cloud has been able to triple its headcount and revenue over the past five years.

FinancialForce Partner Excellence, ISV: Recognizes both system integrators and ISV partners who have delivered problem-solving and innovative solutions to customers by leveraging FinancialForce applications and technology. Winners are those who have a proven track record of customer success as well as continued commitment and vision for transforming businesses in partnership with FinancialForce.

Winner: Chargent, the leading payment solution on the Salesforce AppExchange, provides connectors for FinancialForce Accounting and Billing Central. The partnership helps customers organize all of their payment data alongside all of their accounting data, further enabling the 360-degree view of the business.

About FinancialForce

FinancialForce is the leading cloud ERP for the new services economy. The #1 ERP native to the Salesforce platform, FinancialForce unifies data across the enterprise in real-time, enabling companies to rapidly evolve their business models with customers at the center. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, FinancialForce is backed by Salesforce Ventures, Technology Crossover Ventures, Advent International, and UNIT4. For more information, visit www.financialforce.com.




Samoa first hosted the 18th Pacific Immigration Directors Conference, (P.I.D.C) in 2015. From there the wheels went into motion for the P.I.D.C to relocate to Apia from its Suva Fiji location.

That is now a reality with the dedication of the new P.I.D.C Secretariat in Apia located on the 3rd floor of the Development Bank building yesterday to commemorate the relocation coupled with Samoa again hosting the 20th annual P.I.D.C meeting in Apia this week.

The P.I.D.Cs return to Apia on a permanent basis also signifies a new era in regional border security and control.

And its a milestone, attested Samoas Immigration Minister and Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.

By hosting the P.I.D.C headquarters it reaffirms Samoas commitment to fostering multilateral cooperation within the members, added Prime Minister Tuilaepa.

The government and the people of Samoa welcome the P.I.D.C to our shores and is evident by the swift execution of the necessary documents to facilitate a smooth transition from Suva to Apia.

The relocation signifies the values of the P.I.D.C family and in recognition of the role that P.I.D.C plays in bringing together states and territories of the Pacific towards the common interest of protecting our borders.

One the of main characters leading with facilitating the relocation is the Chief Executive Officer with the Ministry of Prime Minister and Cabinet Agafili Tomaimano Shem Leo.

With the increase of illegal activities relating to people movement as well as drugs and arms smuggling, there is an imperative need for immigration authorities in the region to engage to manage the Pacific gateways to ensure the safety of borders, thereby contributing to broader regional objective, said Agafili.

The events this week in Apia marks a significant chapter in the organizations short history and the culmination of a journey that we value and respect.

It also marks a new journey as we sail on the vaa name P.I.D.C together into unchartered waters.
To develop and encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship among Samoans is the goal of a Trade Fair and an Awards ceremony being planned by the Small Business Enterprise Center (S.B.E.C).

The Trade Fair is scheduled for the 28th and 29th of June in front of the Government Building.

The event will showcase the work of more than 100 small businesses from all over the country that are supported by S.B.E.Cs Small Business Guarantee Scheme.

Chief Executive Officer, Alatina Ioelu, said S.B.E.C is looking forward to the event.

He said it is about showcasing small businesses to the public as well as seeking trade opportunities to supply local retailers, hotels and restaurants. They will also be exploring opportunities to export.

The fourth trade fair was held in American Samoa and the idea behind that Trade Fair was trying to get American Samoa to see the variety of products that we have but we also tried to access that market because its so close and yet we do so little with American Samoa, he said.

The idea at the time was we alternate. However there were a lot of technical issues that we couldnt resolve with American Samoa hence why we are now doing our own Trade Fair.

The Trade Fair is part of the build up to the Business Awards.

This is an opportunity for our clients not only to network but also showcase the products that they do, said Mr. Ioelu.

The business awards is more of a motivational activity for our clients to improve their products and services.

There are a number of clients that have the potential to improve the quality of their products and services but we do not have the avenue to put them through that so we thought an award is the perfect platform to try and push these clients to the next level.

The cost of the whole event is approximately $100,000.

The preparation for the event needed more than $100,000 but we have some sponsors who came in to lend a hand.

Mr. Ioelu revealed that six businesses have gone through to the final.

The award is in collaboration with Taumeasina Island Resort as well as the Govt. of New Zealand and Samoa, he said.

The contenders for the awards were selected from S.B.E.Cs client portfolio using a stringent set of criteria and from the 100 of clients in the sector, six were able to make it to the final competition with judging done over a period of three months.

Each sector with two to three judges made up of experts in the field and the winners will be announced by the judges and sponsors of each sector at the Business Award.

Mr. Ioelu was not at liberty to divulge who the finalists will be.

We cannot release the list of businesses that made the final but what I can say is that the businesses that have gone through the final are all the businesses that have gone through the S.B.E.C programme, he said.

We are also hoping to have the award as an annual event but we want to make it as a national event not just the S.B.E.C award.

The idea is that we will be proposing to the govt. to take this event as a national award and to involve the actual sector in the selection, the judging and the whole taking it to the next level.

The events involve businesses in Upolu and Savaii.
Traumatic brain injury is in great need of better therapies. Its victims are often young, including athletes and those in the military.

Bruce Chandler May, a physician from Santa Barbara, says he has found such a therapy. Hes the president and CEO of a company thats developing the therapy, Inflammatory Response Research, Inc. Mays in San Diego for the BIO International biotechnology convention to meet potential partners in government and private industry.

I ran into May by serendipity Sunday evening when we were were both passengers on a Lyft ride. Heres his story in question and answer format.

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Q: How did you make this discovery?

A: I practice trauma medicine at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, and I discovered synergy between two existing molecules, levocetirizine, which is the top antihistamine in the world, and montelukast, an asthma drug which is the top leukotriene modulator in the world.

We plan to combine the two molecules as a First Response injectable for the military. It will be the first new therapeutic in over 30 years, a safe and effective treatment for traumatic brain injury and blast injury.

Q What stage of development is this in?

A: We have established proof of concept for multiple diseases. The next stage is to manufacture the compound in various forms, initially as a lyophilized powder (freeze-dried) or autoinjector delivery system for the military. Inflammatory Response Research, Inc. presently has 8 issued patents in five countries, with recent notice of allowance for traumatic brain injury in Europe.

Q: How precisely did you discover this synergy between the molecules?

A: My background is in engineering, medicine and law. I currently work in a trauma and respiratory disease setting at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. During the throes of H1N1, the flu pandemic, we found physicians were treating influenza with TamiFlu, which simply prevents the preformed vial particle from exiting the cell. No one was addressing inflammation created by the virus. Subsequently uncovered was the remarkable synergy between levocetirizine and montelukast to treat a myriad of disease states.

I realized that the mechanism could treat traumatic brain injury and trauma.

Q: And with whom will you be discussing this discovery at the convention?

A: Weve been in contact with the Department of Defense and the FDA. The company has scheduled meetings with several large pharmaceutical companies and the National Institutes of Health to move the project forward

Q: How does this therapeutic help TBI cases?

A: Levocetirizine is an ideal molecule in a test tube. It decreases inflammation in the brain and other organs.. Montelukast blocks leukotriene D4 at the cell level. Leukotrienes are similar to histamine, but 100 to 1,000 times more potent in the lung than a similar weight of histamine. In addition to the intrinsic, i.e., basic mechanisms of action of levocetirizine and montelukast, there is synergy at multiple target within the immune system.

Q: Have you tested this in animal models?

A: Weve used the combination to treat both outpatients and inpatients since 2008.

Q: What are your expectations?

A: Were extremely excited about the prospect of making this therapeutic available not only for military applications such as blast injury, but for sports-related injuries, motor vehicle accidents and other forms of major trauma.

Q: Why are you attending the BIO convention to discuss this therapeutic?

A: Its a beautiful convention to meet a cross-section of very profoundly interesting, educated and informed people in the biotech industry. And I love coming every year to BIO International because of the wonderful cross-section. Whether its your own product or someone elses, you always learn something.

Science Playlist  On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now Space station flyovers visible from San Diego this week 0:55 On Now UCSD's 'ghost drivers' begin testing people's reaction seemingly empty cars 1:29 On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Big passions, big giving: Malin Burnham 2:30 On Now Big passions, big giving: Darlene Shiley 2:40 On Now Big passions, big giving: Joan and Irwin Jacobs 2:45 On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds

bradley.fikes@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1020
Plans for a long-sought convention center and resort hotel on Chula Vistas waterfront cleared a major hurdle Tuesday when San Diego port commissioners and the citys council members approved an agreement with a Houston developer to build the nearly $1 billion project.

The actions of the two governmental entities set in motion a series of steps culminating in a more formal development and lease agreement that will clear the way for a possible construction start by the end of 2019.

The project, two decades in the making, calls for a 1,450-room hotel, a 275,000-square-foot convention center and resort-style amenities, including a lazy river, on a 36-acre site where aircraft manufacturing and a power plant once stood at the foot of H Street.

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Port and Chula Vista council members hailed the development as one that promises to not only transform the South Bay waterfront but will also induce other developers to invest in the more than 500-acre master-planned Chula Vista bayfront.

The South Bay and Chula Vista bayfront are the economic future of the port, said Port Commissioner Ann Moore, who represents Chula Vista on the board and was credited with helping bring the project to fruition. The hotel and convention center will create a whole lot of jobs and also will put a lot of money into the economy for a long time to come. This will be a catalyst for the future development of the waterfront.

If design work and continued negotiations on a more specific financing plan and lease move forward as expected, the bayfront project could open by 2022.

The ports financial consultants are projecting an annual economic impact to the region of nearly $400 million, in addition to the creation of 3,700 permanent jobs.

Public subsidies, though, will be required to make the convention center project pencil out.

Houston-based RIDA Development, chosen by the port in 2014 to carry out the project, will be required to contribute at least $688 million, while the San Diego Unified Port District and city of Chula Vista will be expected to come up with roughly $300 million, which amounts to about one-third of the projects price tag. That investment would include the still undetermined cost of constructing a 1,500-space parking garage that would be available to the project, as well as the general public.

Port officials say that the two governmental entities should be able to cover their financial obligations for the project from a number of sources, including existing bayfront lease revenues, sales and hotel room taxes generated by the development, and future lease revenues from the convention center project. However, those latter rent payments wouldnt start trickling in until after the first 18 years of the lease.

The bulk of the financial return to the port district will come in the last 29 years of RIDAs 66-year lease. The port estimates those later-year revenues at nearly $2.4 billion.

RIDA is in discussions with Gaylord Hotels, a large convention hotel brand of Marriott International, to manage the hotel and convention center. Years before it was acquired by Marriott, Gaylord had applied to tackle the project but ultimately withdrew during the recession.

RIDA CEO Ira Mitzner reassured port commissioners that the project will in no way compete with San Diegos much larger downtown convention center. What it can do, he said, is help complement the center when the city is hosting large, citywide meetings as it is this week with a large biotech gathering.

This is going to benefit not only Chula Vista and the county and the city of San Diego but the entire region, Mitzner said. It will make this region all the more competitive.

RIDA is currently partnering with Gaylord on a convention center complex outside Denver. The size of the convention space envisioned for the Chula Vista bayfront appears to be somewhat smaller than some of the four existing complexes Gaylord operates in Florida, Texas, Tennessee and the Washington, D.C., area.

Besides the Chula Vista hotel and convention center, RIDA also is seeking priority rights to build a 550-room hotel next door.

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lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-2251

Twitter: @loriweisberg
The San Diego Animal Support Foundation is holding one of its major adoption events of the year at Grossmont Center next month.

The nonprofit group will team with Grossmont Center to bring nearly two dozen rescue groups and shelters with hundreds of adoptable dogs and some cats for the third annual Dog Days of Summer MEGA Adoption Event.

The free adopt-a-palooza will be from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 15 within the interior of the La Mesa shopping mall off Grossmont Center Drive.

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Nonprofit agencies in attendance will include:

Animal Rescuers Without Borders

Animal Welfare Foundation

Chula Vista Animal Care Facility

Chihuahua Rescue San Diego

El Cajon Animal Shelter

Friends of Cats Shelter

Happy Hearts German Shepherd Rescue

Hollys Garden Small Breed Rescue

Labradors & Friends Rescue

All Breed Rescue

Lionels Legacy Senior Dog Rescue

Maltese & More Rescue

Passion For Pitties

San Diego Spaniel Rescue

The San Diego Animal Support Foundation (brings) potential adopters and lots of dogs together in one fun, happy, stress-free environment, facilitating the matchmaking process, said coordinator Darlene White.

The San Diego Animal Support Foundation hosts adoption events, provides spay/neuter funding to pet owners, maintains a network of nearly 40 local rescue agencies and animal shelters, and works on projects that benefit homeless animals.

It relies on tax-deductible contributions from private donors. It does not operate a shelter of its own.

Participating adoption agencies are given free booth space for the day from Grossmont Center, as it has for previous adoption events.

For more information, email San Diego Animal Support Foundation at Info@SDShelters.org, visit sdshelters.org or call (619) 847-8755.
The 5th Marine Regiment marked the 100th Anniversary of its founding in a ceremony June 16 at Camp Pendleton.

The commemorative event at the 5th Marines Memorial Park, in the San Mateo area of the base drew 150 Marines, Sailors, guests, and community members.

The Regiment was activated June 8, 1917 just before U.S. armed forces deployed to France during World War I.

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The Regiment earned its nickname, the Fighting Fifth, on the battlefields of western Europe during World War I. The 5th Marines played a historical role in the Battle of Belleau Wood and other victories in France. The French government awarded the Regiment the Croix de Guerre with two palms and one gilt star.

Today, Marines in the Regiment wear the Fourragere, a French unit award, on the left shoulder of their uniforms to honor the regiments legacy of valor.

The Regiment was organized under the 1st Infantry Division, and later the 2nd Infantry Division during World War I.

Since then, this unit has participated in every major conflict since, including WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Fighting Fifth is known as the most decorated infantry regiment in the Marine Corps and continues a long history of warfighting prowess.

The regimental headquarters recently completed a tour as the command element for the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response Central Command, which supported the fight against ISIS in the Middle East and two battalions currently serve with the 15th and 31st Marine Expeditionary Units.
Escondido is exploring the possibility of outsourcing its library services to a private company.

Such a move could take roughly 30 employees off the citys payroll and pension plan, although officials say some would likely be absorbed into other city jobs.

City Manager Jeff Epp said the city is evaluating the potential cost savings, and that additional rigorous analysis would need to be done before any change might occur. The city has also contacted Library Systems & Services LLC of Maryland, which manages public libraries, and expects the firm to eventually make a presentation at City Hall.

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The Escondido Library was blasted by the San Diego County Grand Jury in a March report that found the library inadequately serves the community. The panel cited poor facilities  the 36-year-old main library was built when the citys population was roughly half of the 147,000 people it is today  as well as data that shows the library has failed to adapt to meet the needs of its customers.

For instance, in fiscal 2014, Escondido Library patrons checked out 607,191 items, including electronic materials  a dramatic drop from 2007-08, when 833,400 items were checked out. By comparison, the county library branch in Poway  a city one-third the size of Escondido  had 736,000 items checked out in 2013-14, an increase of 40 percent over recent years. Circulation figures across all of the countys libraries has remained relatively constant the past five years, statistics show.

Escondido city officials responded last week to the grand jury report, saying they partly agreed with the findings and have recently begun the process of crafting a $50 million bond issue to build a library adjacent to Grape Day Park.

However, the city said, some of the data isnt a good gauge of the librarys use. For example, while fewer people might be using the librarys computers, more are taking advantage of a high-speed wireless connection that patrons can use to power their own laptops, phones and other devices.

The city also said the reports finding that fewer people are active users of the library  from 111,715 in 2007-08 to 95,304 in 2014-15  is because a new database created a couple of years ago deleted the names of users who hadnt checked out anything in more than two years.

As for the possibility of outsourcing, Epp said the city is only exploring whether it would save money to transfer day-to-day library operations to a private company. He said if outsourcing occurs, the librarys Board of Trustees would probably continue to function as it does now, as would the library foundation and volunteers.

The Escondido Public Library is and will always be a public library, as will the building, the land and the collections, Epp said. Whether we use public employees or private employees, we are working to expand the number of hours that the library is open to the public.

Still, Councilwoman Olga Diaz said shes concerned about how city leadership is going about the analysis, and fears the council majority will want to privatize the library to the detriment of Escondido citizens.

My concern is that decisions about substantive changes ... will be made without public participation or public input, Diaz said. What I would like to see, if in fact they want to pursue outsourcing, is a full analysis of the cost of the library as its currently operating and compare that to an analysis of costs if we were to go to the county library system as an option, and an analysis of cost if we were to go with this private firm theyve been talking to extensively already.

Epp said the public will have plenty of opportunity to comment on the plans once the city has completed its investigation. He said to have public hearings before cost-saving figures have been obtained wouldnt make any sense.

At least twice in past years, Escondido has explored the possibility of partnering with the county library system, as 11 other cities in the county do, but has ultimately rejected the idea out of a desire to retain local control.

Epp said if the cost savings are substantial and the council opts for outsourcing, some library employees would be absorbed into other city jobs while others would be given the choice to go to work for the private company or find other library jobs in other cities.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
The founders of the nonprofit Ride Above Disability Therapeutic Riding Center in Poway each remember the moment they knew where life was taking them.

For Program Director Allie Sarnataro it was while she was volunteering 15 years ago at another equestrian therapy center. The very first child who came in was in a wheelchair and could barely pull herself up.

We put her on the horse and she was sitting up tall, steering, laughing, Sarnataro said. It blew my mind. I knew this is what I needed to do with my life.

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For Katie Cram, the centers equine specialist, it was years ago, after watching a boy at a riding center being passed from one instructor to another because they couldnt stand his attitude.

He was super smart but had zero filter and came off as .. rude and a know-it-all she said. He hated coming to the lessons at first. Cram said she continued working with the boy and, over time, a huge change occurred  he bonded with a horse and his lessons became the favorite part of his week.

Realizing I could take a kid and make it entertaining for him and teach him to have a connection with horses like I had growing up  I thought, yes, this is what I want to do, she said.

For Wayne Jackson, Ride Aboves executive director, it came about five years ago while he was finishing up a 20-year career with the U.S. Marine Corps. After several tours in Iraq  where he became involved in a charity that helped child refugees  he began volunteering at a North County horse center where he met Cram and Sarnataro.

He was typically there every Thursday, but had to miss a few months because of work. When he returned, he had what seemed like a typical session with one of his regular students.

That evening my phone started to blow up, Jackson said. The childs mother had posted on Facebook a description of her normally emotionless son, who on the drive home from the riding center was smiling from ear to ear. He told his mother today was the best day because Wayne was back.

For him to be able to feel an emotion, process it, show the emotion on his face, explain what he was feeling and why he had it  it was a huge thing, Jackson said. That was it, the hook was set for me. This was what I was going to do.

The trio formed Ride Above in 2014 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit, with the goal of helping a wide variety of special-need students at the lowest price possible, and showing that lessons are about so much more than just riding a horse. Theyre now hoping to expand the organization to serve more students.

The center  in Poways Sycamore Canyon, on property donated by the Rolling Hills Boarding Stable  has 37 students who take four or five lessons monthly. When another therapeutic riding center in the area recently shut down, Ride Aboves waiting list mushroomed. Jackson and his colleagues are trying to raise money so they accommodate the growing need.

Every time a butt hits a saddle it costs us a little bit over $90  and we only charge $47, Jackson said. The rest of it we make up with direct public support, fundraising and I beg shamelessly.

The center has a policy that everyone whose doctor says it will not hurt them physically to ride will be accepted regardless of behavior, weight or age. They help students with severe and not so severe mental and physical disabilities. Their youngest client is three and their oldest is 70, though their website says they serve students from 2 to 102.

Holly Baltera said her 8-year-old daughter Lauren, who is autistic and non-verbal, began coming to the center in November and has loved it from her first lesson.

Things she never thought she would do shes dong, Baltera said. She just loves it. Her face is grinning from side to side. She cant get enough of it. Its amazing.

So amazing that the family has doubled Laurens monthly lessons to eight.

She has a bond with the horse and the people and the place, Baltera said. They are extremely cautious here. You know they are going to take care of the most important things. Its a great group of people here.

Mara Penick brings her 27-year-old daughter, Kimberly, to the center once a week. Kimberly is deaf, weighs just 58 pounds, and suffers from various ailments that affect her balance.

Like many of the students, it takes a team of instructors and volunteers to accompany her on a ride  one leading the horse, two on each side, a sign-language interpreter and others.

When she comes she feels really special, Penick said. This is one of the best nonprofits youll ever find. Almost all are volunteers and they do it because they have such big hearts.

Ride Above is hoping for corporate sponsorship and encourages private donations. Jackson said more money will help them teach more students and perhaps to even lower the prices more.

To learn more about Ride Above visit radtrc.org or call 858-349-1692 | Email: Katie@radtrc.org

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
Wasting little time in the face of a threatened lawsuit, the Poway City Council decided this week to begin shifting toward district council elections instead of at-large voting.

City Attorney Morgan Foley said the council voted in closed session Tuesday to have city staff bring back a resolution July 18 that would seal the citys intent to establish district elections

The rush to change voting methods was instigated by a letter sent to the city last week by Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman alleging Poways election system violates the California Voting Rights. He gave the city until July 21 to start making changes, and said if it didnt happen, litigation would follow.

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Other North County cities including Oceanside, Vista, Carlsbad and San Marcos received similar letters from Shenkman over the past several months and all have agreed to move to district elections.

City officials have said fighting a voting-rights lawsuit could cost millions of dollars and would likely be a losing proposition.

Escondido moved to district elections in 2014 after being threatened with a similar lawsuit by a different group.

Shenkmans letter to Poway said minorities are underrepresented in city leadership positions and that a district method could better the odds of electing a Latino to the council.

Poway has a 15. 7 percent Latino population, but has never had a Latino council member and in fact only once has someone of Latino heritage even tried to run.

Usually when district boundaries are formed the intention is to have at least one with a minority-majority population. Officials have said that may not be possible in Poway, but if a South Poway district is established it could bring the disparity closer.

Foley said the public will be able to comment during the July 18 meeting. Should the council proceed, a demographer will meet with the council in August with a boundary plan that could be finalized in September, Mayor Steve Vaus said.

The boundaries could cause political intrigue for the current council since three of the four council members all live in what is considered North Poway. The fourth lives not too far away in the center of the city.

Under the proposal, the mayors job would remain a position voted on by all residents.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
Hamilton, Bermuda 21 June 2017 - Reference is made to the stock exchange notice dated 23 May 2017 and the Annual General Meeting of Hoegh LNG Holdings Ltd. (the "Company) held 23 May 2017 and a subsequent Board Meeting approving the issuance of shares to each of the below listed directors (the "Directors") of the Company as part remuneration for services rendered by them for the period commencing 26 May 2016 and ending 23 May 2017.

Each Director received 1,381 shares on 21 June 2017 and a total of 8,286 new shares were issued. The shares constitute a total remuneration of USD 90,000 based on the closing price of NOK 90.75 of the Company's shares on 23 May 2017 and an exchange rate of NOK 8.3602 per US Dollar, which is the exchange rate quoted on the Norges Bank website at 23 May 2017.

The new number of issued shares in the Company following the share issue is 77,244,746 and the new share capital is USD 772,447.46.

The following Directors have received shares (the number of shares held by the respective Director after the share issue is included in brackets):

Morten W. Hegh (1,381 shares. Please also see below).

Leif O. Hegh (1,381 shares. Please also see below).

Andrew Jamieson (7,094 shares).

Ditlev Wedell-Wedellsborg (7,094 shares. In addition, Ditlev Wedell-Wedellsborg owns 11,800 shares in the Company through Niki Invest Aps.) and 16,210 common units in Hoegh LNG Partners LP through DWW Landbrug Aps.

Chris Finlayson (2,738 shares).

Jrgen Kildahl (2,285 shares).

Disclosing regarding Morten W. Hegh and Leif O. Hegh - mandatory notification of trade

Immediately following the share issue, each of Morten W. Hegh and Leif O. Hegh transferred the above mentioned shares to Leif Hoegh & Co. Ltd. (LHC), which is indirectly controlled by Leif O. Hegh and family trusts under which Morten W. Hegh is the primary beneficiary for a price of NOK 81 per share.

Also, Morten W. Hegh transferred 1,961 common units received as part remuneration for his services as director of Hoegh LNG Partners LP (HMLP) to LHC 21 June 2017 at a price of USD 18.75 per common unit.

In addition, Brompton Cross VI Limited, a primary insider in the Company (see further below), transferred 21 June 2017 its holdings in the Company and HMLP to LHC. Brompton Cross VI Limited transferred 31,916 shares in the Company at a price of NOK 81 per share and 20,000 common units in HMLP at a price of USD 18.75 per common unit.

Following the above transactions, Morten W. Hegh and Leif O. Hegh hold no common shares in the Company personally and Morten W. Hegh holds no common units in HMLP personally.

Leif Hoegh & Co. Ltd. holds a total of 31,979,953 shares, representing 41.4% of the shares in the Company and 311,591 common units in HMLP.

In addition, the below Brompton Cross entities, which are co-investment vehicles for management of Hoegh Capital Partners, indirectly controlled by Leif O. Hegh and by family trusts under which Morten W. Hegh is a primary beneficiary, hold the following ownership interests in the Company and HMLP, as applicable:

Brompton Cross VII Limited holds 40,800 shares in the Company, representing 0.05%of the shares in issue, and 25,000 common units in HMLP.

Brompton Cross VIII Limited holds 28,500 shares in the Company, representing 0.04% of the shares in issue.

Brompton Cross IX Limited holds 28,500 shares in the Company, representing 0.04% of the shares in issue.

The percentage has been calculated based on a total of 77,244,746 shares in issue.

* * *

About Hoegh LNG:



Hoegh LNG provides floating energy solutions and operates world-wide with a leading position as owner and operator of floating LNG import terminals; floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), and is one of the most experienced operators of LNG Carriers (LNGCs). Hoegh LNG's vision is to be the industry leader of floating LNG solutions and the strategy is to continue to focus its growth plans in the FSRU market, with the objective of securing long-term contracts with strong counterparties at attractive returns. Hoegh LNG is a Bermuda based company with established presence in Norway, Singapore, the UK, USA, South Korea, Indonesia, Lithuania, Egypt, Colombia and Turkey. The company employs approximately 115 office staff and 500 seafarers.

Contacts:

Sveinung J. S. Sthle, President and Chief Executive Officer, Telephone +47 975 57 402

Steffen Freid, Chief Financial Officer, Telephone +47 975 57 406

Erik Folkeson, Head of IR, Telephone +47 414 21 769

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act or the Continuing Obligations of Oslo Brs.
The Vista woman who nearly died after she was attacked by a shark at San Onofre State Beach seven weeks ago is progressing amazingly quickly in her recovery, her doctor said Tuesday.

Leeanne Ericson was swimming at San Onofre State Beach when a great white shark tore into her right buttock and upper leg on April 29.

Witnesses said the 36-year-old mother of three disappeared under the water after the shark struck. Her boyfriend, on a surfboard next to her, dove in and pulled Ericson onto his surfboard and with the help of several bystanders rushed her to shore. Ericson was flown to Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla, where she has remained since then.

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In a news conference Tuesday, trauma surgeon Dr. Gail Tominaga said over the past several weeks Ericson has endured seven surgeries and skin grafts and has successfully fought off infection. She lost a lot of soft tissue on the back of her leg and buttocks in the attack, and suffered severe damage to her sciatic nerve, leaving her with no sensation in her foot and difficulty lifting it.

While her leg will never be totally functional...she will be able to walk, Tominaga said. She is actually progressing amazingly quickly for all her injuries.

I was the director of trauma in Honolulu for eight years, and we never saw a shark bite wound this bad.  Dr. Gail Tominaga, trauma surgeon treating Vista shark attack victim

Ericson has asked for privacy and did not attend the press conference, but Tominaga said her patient wanted to thank everyone  from the people who helped her on the beach to the medical team that has helped her recovery.

Tominaga said the shark bite injury was unique, given the massive loss of tissue.

I was the director of trauma in Honolulu for eight years, and we never saw a shark bite wound this bad, she said. Either they die before they come, or they are not this extensive.

Ericson was lucky. After the attack, nearby surfers including one trained as an emergency medical technician  helped get her stabilized at the scene, even using a surfboard leash as a makeshift tourniquet around her injured leg.

I think everything aligned up perfectly, because there was a lot of people there that could help her right away so that she would not have a lot of blood loss, Tominaga said. And they got her here quickly. So I think the people there at the beach were a major component of getting her here quickly and not having her bleed so much.

Still, Tominaga said doctors did not know initially if she was going to survive. She said it helped that Ericson was in good health before the attack, and has worked hard on her recovery.

She wants to get better, she is participating with her care, and she is pushing the envelope to do more, the doctor said.

A GoFundMe account set up by Ericsons family had raised more than $90,000 as of Tuesday. A little less than two weeks ago, Ericson posted an update on her recovery.

My kids have visited me a few times and cant wait for their mommy to be back home, she wrote. For now I need to focus on healing so I can get back to my family as soon as possible.

Her mother posted that Ericson had taken about 40 steps, and indicated she would be headed to a place for continued rehab.

Tominaga declined to say when Ericson might be leaving Scripps, or whether she was heading to rehab for continued help or directly home.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
When Kevin Nealon departed his native Connecticut in hopes of launching a career in show business in the late 1970s, his first thought wasnt to head to Los Angeles.

When I moved out west, I kind of landed San Diego, says Nealon, who lived in North Park. I worked for a temporary-help agency called Manpower down there. They got me a job as a department store Santa Claus, and for a week, I worked at the San Diego Zoo at the reptile cage. It was crazy because I was 24, and I didnt look anything like Santa. I remember the kids would be so scared theyd actually pee on my lap.

Nealon has carved out a career in comedy since those fraught holidays posing as Ol Saint Nick, maintaining both his relevance and an edge throughout the intervening decades.

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Despite his impressive resume  from his run on Saturday Night Live from 1986 to 1995 to his star turns on the Showtime cult hit Weeds and the current CBS sitcom hit Man With a Plan  it was a single appearance that Nealon holds in higher regard than them all. After pursuing stand-up for seven years, the budding star scored a segment on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1984, the equivalent of reaching the peak of Mount Everest for any comedian.

My dream was to do Carson. That came to fruition, and I dont think anything has kind of superseded it. It was the highlight of my career, says Nealon, who first flexed his comedic muscles in San Diego, both performing and enjoying shows at the former Improv or the La Jolla Comedy Store.

Learning how to do stand-up was easy because I enjoyed what I was doing, Nealon says. I remember the first time I ran into Eddie Vedder and he said, Dude, I used to come and watch you at the Improv. Id surf down in San Diego and at the end of the day Id see you! I enjoyed developing a style and coming up with stand-up, learning how to get comfortable onstage and performing in general.

Its those principles that Nealon uses to this day, including the current stand-up tour that brings the comedian back to the place that started it all with a Sunday gig at Solana Beachs Belly Up Tavern.

Its hard to describe my act. Ive heard friends say that my comedy kind of sneaks up on you and hits you over the head a few seconds later. Its nonthreatening, absurd observations and notions. Im not going to be (my foul-mouthed character) Doug Wilson from Weeds. 

As for whether he misses his perch anchoring Weekend Update on SNL poking fun at the politicians of the day, Nealon says hes mostly had his fill.

Sometimes Ill miss it, but not often. Thankfully I have a diverse interest in show business. I get to do a lot, so Im not pigeonholed into one thing. I stay excited all the time, so Im really lucky.

That doesnt mean he doesnt have thoughts about a certain omnipresent target of many comedians jokes.

Typically Im not a political pundit, but if somethings funny and I come up with it, Ill say it, Nealon explains. I did a line the other night: I used to believe that anyone could grow up to be president. Now I believe that you never have to grow up to be president. 

Kevin Nealon

When: 8 p.m. Sunday, June 25

Where: Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach

Tickets: $45-$47

Phone: (858) 481-8140

Online: bellyup.com

LeDonne is a freelance writer.

Twitter: @outdoorlivingsd

michael.rocha@sduniontribune.com
Francis Oladipos parents traveled from Nigeria to see their U.S. Navy sailor son receive his masters degree from National University on Saturday.

But, as always in Navy life, fate and the seas get a vote.

Oladipo serves on the Anchorage, a San Diego amphibious transport dock ship. It was off shore last week for training.

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The ship was delayed. There were no helicopters available to deliver Oladipo in time. The Anchorage got back home on Saturday  missing graduation by just hours.

Welcome to The Intel, a blog examining the hot military news of the day

Then, National University got a call from the naval base.

His captain called us and said, Is there any way we can get this guys degree? said National University President David Andrews yesterday. We said, Absolutely.

So Oladipo donned a new uniform  the traditional cap and grown of a masters candidate  and walked in front of his parents, wife and son to receive his diploma on Tuesday.

Instead of the 20,000-person event held at Petco Park on Saturday, it was a small ceremony in the National University presidents office.

But university officials wore their full regalia. Andrews read a portion of the commencement speech that was delivered on Saturday. And a half dozen of Oladipos shipmates turned out in dress white uniforms.

Id say excited is an understatement right now, Oladipo said. Im so delighted. Im short of words. Im so grateful.

Present were the sailors parents, Michael and Kikie; his wife, Mary, and their toddler son, Emmanuel.

Oladipo has served in the Navy for three years and is a petty officer 3rd class. He received a masters degree in public health through the National University School of Health and Human Services.

I do this for my son, my family. I believe this is going to be motivating factor for him, the sailor said, holding the toddler. If I can get a masters, he should be able to get some thing way better.

National University, a private nonprofit college based in San Diego, estimates that about 25 percent of students are active or former military personnel. The school was founded in 1971 by a Navy retiree.

jen.steele@sduniontribune.com

Facebook: U-T Military

Twitter: @jensteeley

Military Videos  On Now D-Day paratrooper from Coronado jumps again in France  at age 96 On Now Remembering war's fallen, one name at a time On Now In Ramona, an airplane and an aviator provide living lessons on World War II 1:43 On Now Video: Navy's newest vessel sails into San Diego and a new future in surface warfare On Now Video: U.S. Navy files homicide charges over warship collisions On Now Stopping Marine hazing On Now Video: U.S. Navy Air Crew Grounded After Creating Vulgar Sky Drawing On Now Navy says Asia Pacific ship collisions were avoidable On Now Hundreds of recruits get sick at Marine boot camp On Now Cutler Dawson Talks Navy Federal

jen.steele@sduniontribune.com

Facebook: U-T Military

Twitter: @jensteeley
Disappointing some immigrant advocates, Los Angeles County officials voted Tuesday to authorize $3 million for legal assistance for immigrants facing deportation but to bar those who have violent criminal pasts.

The Board of Supervisors vote came a day after the citys Budget and Finance Committee approved up to $2 million for the same purpose.

The votes ended a debate about which immigrants should qualify for help through the newly created L.A. Justice Fund, although the proposal that the city is considering would include an exemption for individuals with a meritorious claim.

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The countys $3-million contribution to the L.A.J.F. can only go so far, said Supervisor Hilda Solis, a champion of the fund, in a statement.

Emi MacLean, an attorney with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, argued for broader inclusion. This countys proposal would define people by their worst act, she said at the meeting Tuesday.

The L.A. Justice Fund, which will include an additional $5 million from private philanthropic groups, was unveiled last December by Mayor Eric Garcetti and Solis in anticipation of a crackdown on immigrants by incoming President Trump. Implementation of the fund was held up in April over protests regarding the exclusion of immigrants with a history of violent criminal offense.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said she wished there were a way to include some of those immigrants.

Many people have paid their dues to society  have paid their price and served their time, she said in remarks before the vote. I simply want to speak up for those people.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who opposed the creation of the fund in December, cast the lone dissenting vote. County taxpayers should not be forced to bear the cost to provide free legal representation for those facing deportation, she said in a statement.

The county will enter into an agreement with the California Community Foundation to manage and disburse the funds.

The full Los Angeles City Council is expected to approve a similar agreement on Friday.

The foundation will award nonprofit agencies money to provide legal advice to immigrants and to represent them in court.

The proposed county agreement lists family members of citizens and other lawful residents as priorities to receive services, as well as children, veterans and victims of domestic violence or human trafficking.

The decisions this week come about five months after Trump signed executive orders to begin planning for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and to step up immigration enforcement.

In May, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that arrests of people living in the country illegally during Trumps first 100 days in office were up nearly 38% over the same period in 2016. Arrests in Southern California, however, have remained relatively flat.

The decisions also follow the state Legislatures passage last week of a budget that would funnel $45 million to community organizations to provide immigrants with legal assistance and other services. Gov. Jerry Brown has until the end of the month to sign budget-related legislation, but he has indicated he supports the idea.

Nearly 10% of the nations 11.1 million undocumented immigrants live in Los Angeles and Orange counties, according to the Pew Research Center.

A 2016 report found that immigrants in California who have legal representation are four to five times more likely to succeed in immigration court than their counterparts who lack such representation.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the immigrant rights advocacy group CHIRLA, said in an interview that her organization has seen a jump in clients since Trump took office, sometimes meeting with more than 100 new clients in one day, compared with a previous daily average of 20 new clients.

The demand is high, and I think the fund will really help us see more people, Salas said.

nina.agrawal@latimes.com

Twitter: @AgrawalNina
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.

ALSO

Firefighters battle 850-acre wildfire near Big Bear

Scorching Southern California heat wave expected to peak Tuesday

Skiers hit the slopes in bikini tops as Californias endless winter endures a heat wave

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.
It started with a near-miss between two cars headed west on Interstate 8 two years ago.

It ended after a confrontation on a Del Cerro street between the drivers of those vehicles: one of them a security guard wearing a tactical vest he had ordered online, the other a sheriffs detective in plainclothes and driving an unmarked car.

A significant portion of that confrontation was captured on cellphone video, which showed at one point the detective putting Robert Branch III in a hold that caused him to briefly lose consciousness.

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On Tuesday, lawyers delivered their closing arguments in the San Diego Superior Court trial involving Branch, who faces criminal charges stemming from the May 4, 2015, incident. They offered opposing interpretations of the evidence, including whether Detective Paul Ward used an appropriate level of force, whether Branch reasonably feared for his life and what caused the situation to escalate.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Runyon argued the situation would not have turned out the way it did if Branch had handed over his drivers license and registration when asked and allowed the detective to pat him down for weapons.

Because Branch refused to follow the commands, the detective chose to detain him, the prosecutor said. He said Ward placed Branch in a legal carotid restraint during the confrontation.

Mr. Branch had an absolute duty to comply with Detective Wards detention because (Ward) was acting lawfully, Runyon told the jury.

But the defense lawyer contended it was the detectives behavior, not Branchs, that made the situation change for the worse. The moment Ward (gets out of his car) to confront Branch  thats the moment this case went off the rails, attorney Marc Kohnen said.

He argued that Ward did not follow his training when he approached Branch without calling for a uniformed officer to respond, and that the decision to confront Branch and put him in a chokehold was fueled by anger.

This is not a lawful arrest, Kohnen said. This is road-rage by cop.

Branch, 27, faces felony and misdemeanor charges including reckless driving, resisting an officer by force and attempting to use pepper spray on the detective.

The jury is expected to start deliberating Wednesday.

dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @danalittlefield
After a three-hour hearing, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to make veteran prosecutor Summer Stephan the interim district attorney for the next 18 months.

(Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

In making the decision, the supervisors didnt heed calls made over the past several weeks and by some speakers at the hearing to require that anyone getting the appointment pledge not to run as a candidate for the full term in 2018.

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Instead, supervisors expressed confidence in Stephan and brushed off suggestions of appointing a caretaker to finish the term of District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who announced in April she would resign in July from the job she has held since being elected in 2002.

The board chose Stephan over two other candidates, former Deputy District Attorneys Adam Gordon and Greg Walden. Both had applied for the job and pledged they would not be a candidate next year. They urged the board not to be part of what they called Dumanis succession plan to maneuver Stephan into the post.

All five of the supervisors supported Stephans appointment, but the vote to name her to the position on Tuesday without another hearing was 4-1, with Supervisor Kristin Gaspar opposed.

In the weeks leading up to the hearing, political professionals had said winning the appointment would give Stephan a significant advantage heading into the 2018 election, allowing her to essentially run as an incumbent. Stephan is the only announced candidate in the district attorney race.

A similar situation occurred in 2009 when the late William Kolender resigned as sheriff and the board named his top deputy, current Sheriff Bill Gore, as an interim.

Gore easily won election over two other candidates the following year and in a re-election bid in 2014. He intends to run again next year.

Of the 34 speakers at the hearing, 24 spoke in support of Stephan. They included ministers, representatives of organizations fighting human trafficking  an issue Stephan has worked on in the District Attorneys Office  representatives of law enforcement labors groups that have endorsed her election bid and several of her fellow prosecutors.

They commended her leadership and capability to take over the job right away.

Several other speakers did not specifically endorse Gordon or Walden but said they wanted the county supervisors to appoint a caretaker  and leave the decision on who will be the next district attorney to voters in a race where no candidate would have the advantage, real or perceived, of incumbency.

Perhaps the most forceful voice in opposition to Stephan came from Cheryl Crowe, whose 12-year-old daughter Stephanie was murdered in the familys Escondido home in 1998. Stephan was the lead prosecutor in the notorious case, pursuing murder charges against Stephanies brother and two of his friends.

But the case disintegrated just before trial when DNA evidence implicated Richard Tuite, a transient who was later convicted and then acquitted at a second trial after the first conviction was overturned.

Charges were dropped against the youths, and the Crowe family later won $9 million in lawsuits against police and others involved.

Cheryl Crowe, mother of Stephanie Crowe, who was murdered in 1998, looks back at Summer Stephan as she tells the county Board of Supervisors why she objected to Stephan being named interim district attorney. Stephan was the lead prosecutor in Stephanies case. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Stephan has defended her role by saying she inherited a flawed case and did her best with what she was given. But in a blistering 22-page letter delivered to the supervisors last week, Crowe angrily refuted that, accusing Stephan of hiding evidence and lying in her application to be the interim district attorney about her work on the case.

An emotional Crowe, who now lives in Oregon, told the supervisors that contrary to Stephans statements in her application that she had acted with compassion and ethics, Stephan was mean, unethical and incompetent in her daughters case.

Summer Stephan wants this job so she can put the word incumbent next to her name on the 2018 ballot, she said, as the packed hearing room fell silent. Dont put your thumb on the scale. Dont give her an edge she does not deserve.

Stephan did not address the Crowe case but mentioned other work she has done over the years as she rose from a trial prosecutor to a branch supervisor in North County and recently as one of the offices chief deputies, a top management position.

She successfully prosecuted a man who was sentenced to 189 years in prison for a shooting rampage at Kelly Elementary School in Carlsbad in 2010 that injured two students. She also has pressed for legislation to curb human trafficking and served on committees on the issue.

I feel really honored and grateful to have the confidence and trust of the supervisors to be selected as the most qualified person, Stephan said after the vote.

But the decision did not sit well with some. Jessica Hayes, head of the San Diego County Democratic Party, said appointing anyone other than a caretaker would be unethical and create a cloud of corruption over the supervisors.

Dumanis announcement to step down early was not a surprise. Last year, her future plans had been the subject of much speculation in political circles. In October, she told The San Diego Union-Tribune she had not decided if she would seek re-election but would be very supportive if Stephan decided to run.

In December, Dumanis announced she would not seek a fifth, four-year term in 2018, and told top managers in the office that Stephan was her preferred successor.

Dumanis and Stephan also separately had 10 meetings last year with individual members of the Board of Supervisors, most of those occurring between July and December. The supervisors said the subject of the interim appointment did not come up at the meetings, though some did discuss Stephans plans to run for district attorney in 2018.

And this year, when Dumanis announced she was resigning on July 7, she also said she is considering a run for the Board of Supervisors next year.

One speaker told the supervisors on Tuesday that the office of district attorney is not a monarchy.

Supervisor Greg Cox, however, rejected criticism that Dumanis was orchestrating a succession plan. The DA does not get to choose her successor, Cox said.

After the meeting, Gordon said he wasnt surprised by the outcome.

I think the entire process went pretty much as expected, he said. I think what was important was having voices in the community heard. Now we can move forward, and the community has a great opportunity to evaluate all the candidates in 2018.

Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com

ALSO:

Stephanie Crowes parents say DA candidate Stephan using my dead daughter to promote her political ambitions

DA Dumanis, elected on criticism of Crowe case, now endorsing one of its prosecutors as her replacement

Dumanis preferred successor as DA gets endorsement, then declares candidacy

UPDATES:

8 p.m.: This article was updated with more details from the Board of Supervisors hearing.

This article was originally published at 5:20 p.m.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer is unveiling on Wednesday a package of incentives to tackle San Diegos severe shortage of affordable housing for people of low and middle incomes.

The dozen proposals include streamlined project approvals, bonuses for densely-built projects, lower parking requirements in transit areas and loosened regulations for granny flats and business owners living in their workplace.

They would also shrink fees developers pay to provide parkland, modernize how a projects effect on traffic congestion is calculated, and make it easier for private developers to lower construction costs by using city-funded environmental studies.

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The proposals follow through on the mayors promise during his State of the City speech in January to prioritize housing affordability in San Diego, where studies show 70 percent of residents cant afford the $525,000 median home price.

The states housing shortage and the unaffordable housing market it spawned has left the dream of home ownership out of reach for the majority of San Diegans, Faulconer said. The only way to change that is to build more housing that people can actually afford. Hard working folks who love San Diego and want to live in San Diego should not be priced out of San Diego.

The proposals come as many other government agencies and community groups have increased their focus on the problem of housing affordability.

County supervisors approve affordable housing plan

Many say there is a unique opportunity to pass sweeping reforms with the development community and environmentalists coming together in support of dense housing projects, especially along transit lines, because sprawl worsens pollution and congestion.

City Councilman Scott Sherman, chairman of the councils Smart Growth and Land Use Committee, has been exploring many of the issues addressed by the mayors proposals and some others, such as accelerating redevelopment of Huffman-style apartment buildings.

Meanwhile, Councilwomen Barbara Bry and Georgette Gomez have suggested the city raise taxes to boost local construction of affordable housing.

Many of the proposals wont make a difference unless the local development community embraces them, and many are predicting that will happen.

I think what the development companies are looking for is an opportunity and this provides that, said former Mayor Jerry Sanders, who now serves as chief executive of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. Its certainly not all the way but its good start, and I think were looking for incremental starts. Theyre looking for dependability so they can do their planning and know how the fees will be structured and that theyll be fair.

A 2015 study by Point Loma Nazarene University found that, on average, 47 percent of the cost of housing projects in the city of San Diego is due to regulatory hurdles. That was the highest rate of the areas the university studied.

Mary Lydon, a member of a community coalition called Housing You Matters, praised the mayors proposals on Tuesday.

Its a great step for the city of San Diego, said Lydon. What the mayor is putting forward is not going to solve all of the problems, but these are some things to alleviate the housing crunch were in. We need to do more as time goes on.

Lydon said the mayors timing is perfect.

Theres an alignment with the city and the county and many organizations  from builders to environmentalists  about the need for housing affordability, she said.

Key among the mayors proposals is expanding the citys low-income density bonus to housing units reserved for residents with middle incomes  150 percent of areas median income, or $110,000 annually for a family of four.

Developers would be allowed to build more units than zoning allows in an area if they agree to reserve at least 10 percent of the total units for middle-income residents.

The goal is creating incentives to build middle-incoming housing for developers, who typically focus mostly on high-end units because they are the most profitable, said Jack Straw, the mayors director of land use and economic development policy.

A second proposal would expedite project approvals for developments that are environmentally sustainable by clarifying the criteria for such a designation.

This will eliminate a bottleneck and allow us to expedite truly sustainable projects, said city planning director Jeff Murphy, explaining that project with just one solar panel now qualify. The industry is extremely excited about this concept because its a much quicker, simpler process to go through.

Faulconer also wants to loosen regulations on additional dwelling units on a property known as granny flats and to begin allowing junior companion units  a granny flat inside a single-family home.

The citys Planning Commission last month approved that proposal, the first of Faulconers incentives to begin making its way through the citys approval pipeline en route to the City Council.

The mayor would also make it legal in many more commercial zones for the owners of small businesses, such as a bagel shop, to live in their workplace.

Another incentive would provide developers with a simple checklist making it easier for them to rely on environmental analysis the city has already conducted when approving a development blueprint for the surrounding community.

On parks, the mayor would encourage construction of more housing units by calculating developer impact fees not on the total number of units but on either square footage or the number of bedrooms.

Those fees might also be lower under a proposal to count as parkland large regional parks near many neighborhoods, such those surrounding Balboa Park and Mission Bay Park.

The mayor also wants to lower parking standards in transit-priority areas based on the idea that residents there will have less need to own vehicles.

Another incentive would be a proposal to switch traffic congestion solutions from adding capacity to finding ways to boost traffic flow.

The mayor also plans to begin producing an annual report of how many housing units are built each year, how much they cost and how much effect each of his proposals is having.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
A 20-year-old man suspected of shooting and crashing into several vehicles in Chula Vista was arrested after leading officers on a high-speed chase Tuesday night.

Police arrested Tyler Turner on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and felony evasion around 10:30 p.m., about 90 minutes after the incident began.

Shortly after 9 p.m., police were called to Paseo Magda near Regulo Place where a driver had crashed into two cars, a guard rail and a trailer and was firing a gun. By time officers arrived, they found damaged vehicles, including two that had bullet holes, but the suspect had left, driving away in a black car with Texas plates, said Chula Vista police Lt. Eric Thunberg.

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Several witnesses followed the suspect and were talking on the phone with a police dispatcher, helping lead police to where the man had fled, Thunberg said.

Officers were heading to a home on Cathedral Oaks Road where they thought he had gone when they spotted him driving away in a black Ford Explorer shortly before 10 p.m.

Officers tried to pull the car over and the suspect led police on a pursuit north and south on state Route 125, at times driving at speeds of up to 100 mph. After about a five-minute pursuit, the man exited the freeway and drove back onto city streets, Thunberg said.

He abandoned the SUV on Wooden Valley Street near Santa Elisabeth Avenue and police learned he had gone into a nearby home. After about a half hour, officers were able to talk him into coming out of the house, Thunberg said.

Although he had surrendered peacefully, after Tyler was placed into a police car he began screaming and hitting his head inside the car, Thunberg said. Officers removed him and put him in a wrap restraint with a spit mask over his head before putting him back into the car.

The lieutenant said he was taken to the hospital to be checked out before being booked into jail..

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
NEWTON, Mass., June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sensors Expo & Conference (#Sensors17), the nation's leading event focusing exclusively on sensors and sensor-integrated systems, announced today over 300 leading innovators will exhibit at this years event to take place June 28th-29th (Pre-Conference Symposia on June 27th) at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, CA. This years participants span more than 20 product categories including Aerospace, Chemical/Gas, Energy Harvesting, Instrumentation, Optical, Temperature and Wireless, among others. Sensors Expo is also pleased to welcome 70 new companies to the roster this year including Imec, InvenSense, Inc., Kistler Instrument Corp., Laird, Maxim Integrated, Mentor Siemens, and Verizon Wireless, underscoring the continued momentum and explosive growth of the sensors industry. With Expo Floor Pavilions, onsite dynamic theaters, innovative product showcases, and live demos, Sensors Expo covers every cutting-edge technology available today. To learn more or to register, please visit sensorsexpo.com.

EXPO HALL PAVILIONS

Attendees will have the opportunity to visit eight Expo Hall Pavilions to see the latest sensing technologies and identify new ways to improve products and expand capabilities using sensors. Featured pavilions include:

Embedded Systems

Energy Harvesting

IoT & Wireless

Medical Sensors Design  NEW

MEMS/MEMS Innovation Area

Startup Zone

University Pavilion

EXPO FLOOR THEATERS

The Expo Floor Theaters provide onsite education to attendees looking to expand their industry knowledge from leading vendors, participate in demos and hands-on breakdowns and understand more about what is driving sensors development and innovation. Featured theaters include:

NEW HIGHLIGHTS

Additional highlights of the 2017 Sensors Expo include:

SENSORS GIVES BACK

New this year, Sensors has partnered with the Silicon Valley Community Fund (SVCF) to give back to the local San Jose and surrounding area. The largest community foundation in the world, SVCF engages donors and corporations from Silicon Valley, across the country and around the globe to make the region and world better for all. Attendees will be given the opportunity to donate to this worthy cause during the registration process and a donation will be presented to SVCF at the event on behalf of the Sensors community.

EXHIBITOR FEEDBACK

The ROHM Group companies look forward every year to showcasing its latest products and technologies in the sensing, communication, and power fields at the 2017 Sensors Expo & Conference, said Satya Dixit, Sr. Director of Solution Marketing & Applications. A number of cutting-edge solutions will be exhibited, ranging from a Ring-Type Blood Pressure/Heart Rate Monitor and Machine Health Monitoring to a Soil Environment Sensor and an RFID Data Logger.

According to Mary Weston, IoT Integrated Customer Marketing, Analog Devices, Analog Devices has been at the forefront of the IoT for over 50 years as a leader in technologies that bridge the physical and digital worlds. Were pleased to continue our Sensors Expo participation this year with our latest technologies around energy harvesting, wireless sensor networking, MEMS, optical sensing, and more.

Toyohiko Mimuro, Head of Corporate Strategic Planning Department, Sensor System Business Company, TDK Corporation notes, TDK Corporation is looking forward to bringing together its group companies  EPCOS, TDK-Micronas, Tronics and InvenSense  to present our comprehensive portfolio of sensor solutions for the first time at Sensors Expo 2017.

Download our digital brochure to learn more or follow us on social media Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Sensors Expo & Conference

Sensors Expo & Conference will take place June 27-29 at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Sensors Expo is supported by the event's official publication, Sensors Magazine, the industry's leading resource and authority on sensing, communication, and control. Sensors Expo is produced by Questex LLC, a global, diversified business-to-business integrated media and information provider, headquartered in Newton, MA.
Volunteers used drones Wednesday to search for an 85-year-old Scripps Ranch man with Alzheimers who went missing last Thursday.

Relatives of Tainheng Sun discovered he was missing after they arrived at their home on Maple Grove Lane about 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Sun, who likely left around 5 a.m., was later spotted about 8 a.m. on Stonebridge Parkway near Via Santa Pradera, about a mile east from his house.

Two days later, he may have been spotted near Legacy Canyon Place and Legacy Road  about 3 miles west of his home.

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Family members told police that in addition to Alzheimers, Sun was also taking medication for depression.

On Wednesday, nine drone pilots searched the West Sycamore area of Mission Trails Regional Park for signs of the man. Earlier, volunteers had walked trails in the park looking for Sun.

Its been four or five days; theres a chance, said Bob Ilko of the Scripps Ranch Civic Association, which was coordinating the search.

Police, volunteers and specially trained search dogs looked for Sun for three days before calling off the search Sunday, a police department spokesman said.

Sun speaks very little English, does not drive and has no access to transportation. He is known to take short walks in the neighborhood, police said.

He was described as 5 feet 4 inches tall and 140 pounds with brown eyes and gray hair. Anyone with information about his whereabouts was asked to call San Diego police at (619) 531-2277.

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
After months of criticism that shelter dogs are left in kennels for days without walks, the county Department of Animal Services has started a new program aimed at making sure the animals leave their cages more consistently.

As the summer approaches, we would like to have a system in place to make sure that all dogs are being walked daily, coordinator Rosa Rascon wrote to shelter volunteers last week.

The new master dog walk list .. will prevent dogs from being missed or walked twice before another dog has had its first walk of the day, she wrote.

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The alert was sent to volunteers hours after U-T Watchdog reported on complaints by volunteers that dogs were being wrongly classified as untreatable and unadoptable  a classification that regularly leads to euthanasia  in part because they are not walked enough and become stressed.

The same report said two volunteers had recently been dismissed without explanation, although they suspected it was in response to unauthorized efforts to adopt out a dog that was scheduled to be killed.

Under the new policy, every dog will be walked for 15 minutes every day, which would be a big improvement for many of the animals.

Volunteers have complained for years that too many animals languish in their cages for days or weeks at a time, which can contribute to a condition known as kennel stress and make it more likely they will be killed.

County officials said the 15-minute daily walks policy will improve a less formal system developed by the volunteers.

Since volunteers have had a self-managed dog walking system, DAS decided to add a checkbox on the existing dog walk list and have our volunteer liaisons manage the system to confirm that each dog in the shelter has been walked or been out of its kennel for the day, spokesman Tegan Glasheen said.

According to the email Rascon sent to volunteers last week, the department needs nine volunteers a day to walk the 78 dogs at the central San Diego shelter in Linda Vista. The San Diego shelter has a pool of 139 active volunteers.

David Garcias, the Service Employees International Union Local No. 221 president who represents about 125 animal-services workers, said the county is making matters worse for members by ordering the daily walks.

Because of a public relations problem, the county has made a decision to add mandatory overtime and pull staff away from their duties such as helping with adoptions and dealing with dangerous animals to walk the dogs every day, he said. If they invested on the front end with appropriate staff recruitment, training and support, then they wouldnt have had to choose between caring for animals, coordinating volunteers and protecting the public.

Volunteers say more help is needed and the county should not have suspended its volunteer-recruitment program last year. As more volunteers stop donating their time, and others are dismissed, there are fewer people to do help.

They also complain that the department should not be limiting dog walks to 15 minutes.

Volunteers are the only people working at the shelter whose sole reason for being there is the well-being of the animals, said volunteer Ryan Clumpner. It is deeply troubling that the department is attempting to restrict the ability of volunteers to help prepare dogs for adoption through socialization, training and exercise.

Clumpner said county officials continue to harm animals under their care by not allowing new volunteers into the system and by restricting the amount of time each dog can be outside the kennel.

Rationing volunteer time is punishing the dogs for a management disagreement between people, he said. The end result of the new policy will be more dogs euthanized for behavior issues arising from prolonged confinement.

County spokesman Michael Workman told the U-T earlier this month, No new volunteers are needed at this time. We think we have it covered with the 450-plus on board now.

County officials say the volunteers are not always aware of the various factors that influence decision-making across the department. They say they have enough volunteers to serve all of the animals despite suspending the recruitment process.

The county also notes that the euthanasia rate has declined in recent years  to less than one in seven, or 17 percent  as a result of changes they instituted and a new commitment to working with independent rescue groups.

After an initial newspaper report in 2015, the county hired a management consultant to recommend improvements across the department, many of which were implemented.

Dawn Danielson, longtime head of Animal Services, also retired after the initial stories. She had a different philosophy about dog walking, telling the U-T in 2015, Its nice to get the dogs out, but its not required. We want them to be able to urinate and defecate in their kennels because it helps prevent infections.

The Board of Supervisors nonetheless voted earlier this year to outsource the department, likely to the San Diego Humane Society, as soon as July 1, 2018.

Previously

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
The position of the Catholic Church and many other religious organizations on contraception and abortion is widely known, and while people are free to disagree with that position, we can all agree that the church should have the right to support and promote those views and apply them to church-owned and church-sponsored institutions.

The controversy over the Affordable Care Act and the rights of religious employers stems from three things  a failure to use common sense, a fundamental disagreement over what constitutes a religious employer and a purposeful misreading of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Related: Dont let Trump restrict a womans access to birth control

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For example, are Catholic universities like Notre Dame or Georgetown or the University of San Diego religious employers?

Is Mercy Hospital, a Catholic hospital founded by the Sisters of Mercy, a religious employer?

Is Catholic Charities a religious employer?

You would think so, but under existing federal regulations, Catholic hospitals, Catholic universities and even Catholic Charities are generally not considered religious employers.

If you wonder how thats possible  and a lot of people do  you need to look at how the federal government defines a religious employer.

Federal regulations establish a four-part test to determine whether or not an organization is a religious employer, and to be considered a religious employer, an organization has to pass all four parts.

1) The purpose of the organization has to be the inculcation of religious values, i.e., to preach, evangelize or recruit new members.

2) The organization has to primarily employ people who share the religious tenets of the organization.

3) The organization has to primarily serve persons who share the religious tenets of the organization.

4) The organization has to file tax returns under IRS code sections that only apply to churches.

So, Notre Dame could be considered a religious employer  but only if it had exclusively Catholic faculty and served only Catholic students.

And a Catholic hospital could be considered a religious employer  but only if it hired just Catholic doctors and nurses and only if it served just Catholic patients.

And Catholic Charities could be a religious employer  but only if they provided assistance strictly to Catholics.

The problems with this definition are obvious. To religious employers, the debate isnt so much about birth control as it is about government encroachment. Common sense says a Baptist college or a Catholic hospital or a Lutheran charity are religious institutions.

When criticized, the federal government maintained it was doing nothing to hinder anyones freedom of worship, but the First Amendment doesnt say anything about freedom of worship. It says that the government will do nothing to hinder the free exercise of religion  explicitly recognizing that people carry out their faith seven days a week  not just on Sundays.

With respect to Catholic institutions, we serve people not because they are Catholic but because we are Catholic. Our health ministries, educational ministries and charitable ministries exist because they are how we practice our faith. Limiting charity or health care or education to just Catholics would violate everything we stand for.

If anything illustrates the misguided nature of the contraception mandate, take a look at how the federal government has fought for five years to make the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of celibate Catholic nuns, provide contraceptive coverage for their members.

When the government browbeats religious organizations into changing or abandoning our beliefs, it violates our basic rights as Americans under the Constitution. The government doesnt get to decide what religious beliefs or what religious denominations it likes or doesnt like. Period.

What will eventually happen to the contraception mandate is anyones guess at this point. The courts, for example, have sided thus far with the Little Sisters and the rhetoric from the new administration has been sympathetic to its repeal. In the end, we hope common sense will prevail.

Bustos is associate director for media relations for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego.
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
Sheriffs checkpoint

Responding to concerns about persons driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, sheriffs deputies will conduct a DUI and drivers license checkpoint in Poway from Friday, June 23, from 7:30 p.m. to Saturday, June 24, at 3 a.m. The deputies will evaluate drivers ability to safely operate motor vehicles and to see if they have a valid drivers license. A California Office of Traffic Safety grant will fund the checkpoint.

NJROTC opening

Retired U.S. Navy Comdr. Bradley Davis, the senior naval science teacher at Ramona High School for the past two years, has decided not to renew his contract, so Ramona Unified School District is advertising for candidates to replace him. Applications are due by 3 p.m. June 30. Qualification details are on the districts website, www.ramonausd.net under Human Resources, Employment Opportunities, Certificated Vacancies. Among requirements, candidates must have at least 20 years of active duty service in the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard and have earned a bachelors degree.

Thursday night series

A Thursday night series titled Simply Marriage will start June 22 and continue weekly through Aug. 10 at 7 p.m. in Calvary Chapel Ramona, 114 14th St. The series explores practical tools for marriage from the word of God.

Chamber at county fair

Ramona Chamber of Commerce will be at the San Diego County Fair promoting the town on Saturday, June 24. Members of the business organization may bring promotional items, flyers, business cards, etc. to the chamber office, 960 Main St., to go in the chamber swag bags that will be given away at the fair. Call 760-789-1311 for more information.

Country Fair art

Art by all ages and in all media is being accepted for the Ramona Country Fair Art Contest, scheduled for Aug. 25. Entries will be accepted at the chamber office, 960 Main St., until Aug. 18 at 4 p.m. Guidelines include:

<bullet> Photos, 8 by 10 inches, unframed/one entry per person

<bullet> Other artwork no larger than 11 by 14 inches.

<bullet> Artists name and age on the back of the art/photo.

For more information, call the chamber office, 760-789-1311.

Launch Camp

Launch Camp, a weeklong day camp for children entering grades one through five will be held at the North Coast Church midweek campus at 1710 Montecito Road from Monday, June 26, through Friday, June 30. There will be games, activities, crafts, songs, Bible stories, team competitions, snacks, water events, bounce houses, new friends, and more. For cost and more information, call 760-742-3400. Registration is online at pccc.org/north-coast-church-ramona.html.

Overdue tax payments

San Diego County property owners who are late on their taxes still collectively owe nearly $93 million and must pay by the end of the month to avoid further penalties, the county treasurer said.

More than 98 percent of our taxpayers have already stepped up to pay on time, Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister said. For the small minority who havent, we want to remind them to pay now or pay more later.

Almost 37,000 property owners have not paid one or both of their 2016- 2017 property tax installments, accounting for $92.9 million in property taxes still owed. Delinquent taxpayers already have incurred a 10 percent late fee on each unpaid installment, and if they dont pay by June 30, theyll accrue an extra 1.5 percent penalty per month, or 18 percent per year. Payments must be made or postmarked by June 30 to avoid the extra penalty.

Three earn degrees at USD

Three Ramona residents have graduated from the University of San Diego and were honored at ceremonies on May 28.

John Barnum earned a bachelors degree in English.

Danielle Silvaggio, who graduated cum laude, earned a bachelors degree in Mathematics.

Vicky Torres earned a bachelors degree in Business Administration.

With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. Its eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education.

Chloe Sells on deans list

Chloe A. Sells of Ramona is on Baylor Universitys Deans Academic Honor Roll for the 2017 spring semester. To be named to the deans list, a student must be an undergraduate with a minimum GPA of 3.7 while enrolled in a minimum of 12 semester hours. Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas and has 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. Sells attends the College of Arts and Sciences.

All Star Learners

Second- through sixth-graders are invited to play games while they improve their math and reading skills in the All Star Learners program in Ramona Library, 1275 Main St., Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 3 to 4 p.m. The free program will be from June 20 through July 27. For more information, visit the library or call 760-788-5270.

Recycled art sculptures

The Ramona Community Art Group, sponsored by 2Create Gallery and The Art Center, will build recycled art sculptures to be placed in the community. Persons interested in being a part of this community art project may contact 2Create Gallery at 2creategallery@gmail.com or view projects in progress at www.ramonacreative.com.
Five Ramona organizations are seeking Community Enhancement funds from the County of San Diegos Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenue.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors hearing on Community Enhancement requests June 12 and 13 included presentations from the five groups. Ramona Chamber of Commerce seeks $106,000, Ramona H.E.A.R.T. Mural Project Corporation wants $39,140, Ramona Pioneer Historical Society requests $23,600, Ramona Town Hall Inc., seeks $20,000, and Ramona Outdoor Community Center Inc. requests $12,150. The supervisors will provide recommendations, which will likely be approved June 27 during their budget deliberation session.

Each county supervisor has a Community Enhancement budget of $1.08 million, not including returned funds from 2016-17 awards, and will decide how much of his or her budget will go to each group requesting funds. Supervisor Dianne Jacob will have $1.08 million to distribute to District 2 or multiple-district groups. Ramona is among communities in District 2, which Jacob represents.

Although the revenue is only from TOT money collected from lodging facilities in the unincorporated portion of the county, organizations in incorporated cities are also eligible for funding.

Most organizations traditionally receive less than the amount they requested. The money is not based on the previous years allocation, and there are no adverse consequences of asking for more money than will be granted. Each county supervisor also has a discretionary Neighborhood Reinvestment Program budget, so some Community Enhancement requests can be fulfilled by that source.

Last year, Ramona Chamber of Commerce requested $95,000 of 2016-17 TOT revenue and received $75,000. This years $106,000 request would provide $60,000 for the annual Community Awards Gala, Ramona Open Studios Tour, Taste of Ramona, Safe Merchants Trick or Treat, Christmas Tree Lighting, Casino Night, Cruise Night and Bike Poker Run events, $18,500 to promote agritourism, $13,000 for the Economic Development Backcountry Coalition program that also includes Julian, Borrego, Valley Center, and Alpine, $8,500 for the Last Wednesday Workshop business development series, and $6,000 for maps and guides.

Ramona H.E.A.R.T. Mural Project Corporation would spend $23,760 for a mural with a topic to be determined on the west wall of the Ramona Fitness Center at 558 Main St., $7,880 for a mural on the west wall of Rons Tire and Brake at 2560 Main St. that will depict the San Diego Raceway where cars once raced in Ramona, and $7,500 for a mural on the north wall of Daves Auto, Truck, and RV Services at 310 13th St., which will likely feature a multi-generational family reunion. Ramona H.E.A.R.T. Mural Project Corporation received all of its $35,040 request last year.

During the 2016-17 process, Ramona Outdoor Community Center Inc., asked for $124,000 and received $53,365. This years $12,150 request would provide $8,000 for expenses related to the Ramona Rodeo and parade and $4,150 for expenses related to the rodeo grounds and facilities.

Ramona Pioneer Historical Society received $20,000 of its $21,000 request last year. The $23,600 requested this year would allow $15,000 for the salary of the operations manager, $4,200 for operation expenses, $2,400 for humidifiers for the Millinery Shop and Scenery Room and for archival boxes, and $2,000 for upkeep including supplies.

Ramona Town Hall Inc., would spend $15,000 on restoration of the town hall building and $5,000 for new entry doors with secure access and egress. It asked for and received $15,000 last year.
One is considered a senior-level shot caller, doling out advice to younger gang members, coordinating a lucrative drug-trafficking and prostitution business and giving the go-ahead for killings as a brutal form of discipline.

The other is said to lead a younger clique of gang members, guiding criminal enterprises from armed robberies to murders.

The U.S. Attorneys Office in San Diego, which is prosecuting the pair as part of a wide-ranging racketeering conspiracy, is now exploring whether the totality of the alleged crimes warrants the death penalty for the two men, Randy Alton Graves, 51, and Terry Carry Hollins, 32.

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Federal death penalty cases are rare nationwide, and even rarer in San Diego. There are currently 61 inmates on federal death row; two are from California, neither of whom are from San Diego, the Death Penalty Information Center reports.

Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, three people have been executed.

Last week, local federal prosecutors set in motion a process to decide whether this is the right case for the most extreme sanction. On Wednesday, a judge appointed two experienced death-penalty attorneys to assist the lawyers representing the defendants. Those defense teams will grow in the coming weeks as they bring on veteran death-penalty investigators, law clerks and mitigation specialists.

Their goal is to create whats called a mitigation package to present to prosecutors. It will lay out arguments for why their clients dont meet the threshold for capital punishment.

If local prosecutors decide to go forward with the recommendation, it will be up to the attorney general in Washington, D.C., to make a final determination of whether to pursue death. A decision could be more than a year away.

Graves attorney, Jeremy Warren, contends this is not an appropriate case for the death penalty.

Mr. Graves was not a participant in any violent crime alleged in the indictment and therefore should not be a candidate for being killed by our government, Warren said.

This death-penalty investigation process has been done twice in San Diego in recent memory: In 2007 prosecutors here explored going for the death penalty for Francisco Javier Arellano Felix because of his status as a drug kingpin, and in 2006 for two Mexican Mafia prisoners charged with murder and other crimes.

In the end, the attorney general declined to pursue capital punishment in both cases.

Federal guidelines spell out some of the criteria considered in a potential death-penalty case: the strength of the evidence, the role of the defendant, whether the defendant has shown interest in agreeing to a life term or accepting responsibility, and whether the crimes were committed to obstruct justice or in retaliation for the victims cooperation with law enforcement.

That last condition could weigh strongly against Graves and Hollins.

Both are accused of running their crews with iron fists, having zero tolerance for snitches and few qualms about silencing them permanently, according to a 95-page complaint, which charges a total of 17 people.

Graves, aka Sweets, is described in court documents as an O.G. or original gangster of the West Coast Crips, a decades-old street gang that boasts several hundred members split into smaller groups. In San Diego, the gang claims a territory that includes Sherman Heights, Logan Heights and Grant Hill, on the edges of downtown.

Besides running a drug sales and prostitution operation, Graves oversaw the gang in general, often being the one who gave advice, issued orders and handled bigger problems, the FBIs task force investigation found. He called younger members his soldiers and Hollins his young general.

Hollins, aka Caby, led a younger subset of the gang, called 3-Babiez, the documents say. In December, he and two others were arrested on suspicion of stealing about $1,000 from a Logan Heights business in an armed robbery, authorities said.

Prosecutors accuse Hollins of participating in a 2012 killing of a rival gang member in retaliation for a carjacking. And he was also present when his crew shot fellow gang member Meashal Fairley four months later in front of a nightclub, the records state. Fairly was suspected of cooperating with law enforcement.

When one of Fairleys friends voiced anger at the killing, she was gunned down at a Halloween costume party. Hollins and some of his crew posed for pictures at the crime scene, and in cellphone videos bragged about being willing to kill anyone, even women, the complaint states.

The killings continued to shake the gang. When a pregnant woman then criticized the gang for the deaths of her two friends, she was targeted, prosecutors said. She and her fetus survived a shooting, but Graves encouraged others to find her in the hospital and finish her off, the records say.

Mount up, load up and yall handle this, he is recorded as saying in a wiretapped conversation with a fellow gang member. The message has been that for years  you snitch, you go, period.

In February, Hollins believed fellow gang member Paris Hill gave a statement to police about another killing. Suspecting Hill was cooperating with police, Hollins called Graves and asked for advice on what to do. The court documents say Graves told someone he replied that what Hill did was in violation and violations get dealt with. Period. No ifs, ands or buts.

On March 1, Hollins told Hill to come with him and they ended up at a party, where Hill was shot and killed. Some partygoers had been warned that a youngster was going to get disciplined that night, the compliant says.

When Hollins was arrested after the killing, their were concerns his girlfriend might snitch. Graves then OKd her killing, authorities say. Yeah she gotta go, she shared too much, he was recorded as saying.

Authorities immediately put the girlfriend into protective custody. Wiretaps caught the gangs members expressing frustration at their inability to find her.

Two of the defendants have pleaded guilty to their roles in Graves drug-trafficking business, and two others appear ready to do so next week.

The slayings, and the numerous other criminal acts outlined in the charging document, make for a complex case. Graves attorney said in court last week that hes still going through the more than 70,000 wiretapped conversations  about half of which involve his client.

Attorneys for both men argued to the judge that it will take time, up to a year if done right, to prepare their arguments against the death penalty. That will include learning everything possible about Graves and Hollins backgrounds, family history and mental health, and understanding all angles of the case. The assistant U.S. Attorney, Stephen Wong, has argued that it can be accomplished in much less time  90 days. The judge is expected to set a timeline this week.

San Diego defense attorney Knut Johnson, who represented one of the Mexican Mafia figures during a death penalty consideration, said the job the defense has in front of them now shouldnt be taken lightly.

This is the most important type of criminal case the federal system can handle, and they have to be handled with the utmost seriousness, said Johnson, who isnt involved in this case. To understand why someone shouldnt be executed for doing something very bad, assuming they even did it, you have to go back and present a complete portrait of the person, going back to before birth.

Both the death-penalty lawyers appointed to the case have years of experience in such matters. Mark Fleming and Dean Steward both were brought on to represent a leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang charged in a racketeering conspiracy of murder and attempted murder in Santa Ana. The white supremacist leader escaped death in 2006, getting four life sentences instead. Fleming was also on the death-penalty defense team of Jared Loughner, who wounded then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in an assassination attempt in Tucson, Ariz., and killed six others. Loughner pleaded guilty and avoided capital punishment.
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aspire Bariatrics, Inc., a commercial-stage medical device company announced today that it received approval to market the AspireAssist, a novel device for the treatment of obesity, in Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and that the first cases using the AspireAssist have been performed in Australia.



Until the AspireAssist, the only available option to treat obesity in people with severe obesity has been bariatric surgery. Although effective in weight loss, bariatric surgery is not favored by many patients because of its irreversibility and their concern about complications, said Dr. Patrick Walsh, BSC, MB CHB, FRACP, of Intensiv Weight Loss of Queensland, Australia. The AspireAssist provides comparable weight loss to bariatric surgery but is reversible, with few and minor complications.

We are pleased to be able to offer the AspireAssist as a treatment option for people with obesity in Australia. Australia has been one of the most forward-thinking countries in the treatment of obesity and we look forward to expanding our presence there, said Katherine Crothall, PhD, President & CEO of Aspire Bariatrics.

About Aspire Bariatrics, Inc.

Aspire Bariatrics is a commercial-stage medical device company with a minimally-invasive, endoscopic device, the AspireAssist, to treat obesity. In June 2016, the Company received premarket approval (PMA) from the FDA. AspireAssist Therapy is an alternative to bariatric surgery, providing comparable weight loss, but with far better safety, complete reversibility, and at a significantly lower cost than bariatric surgery. The therapy provides a holistic approach to patient development of improved eating behaviors, reflected in significant improvement in quality of life and high satisfaction with the therapy. www.aspirebariatrics.com.
New York, New York, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Michael Goren, CEO of Group IST, announced that Group ISTs pioneering People-to-People Cuba programs, operated together with Variety Cruises, are compliant with the new policies announced by the current administration and are moving full steam ahead.

Goren continued, We have been operating in Cuba for more than 4 years, and will continue our extensive People-to-People programs which use three of Variety Cruises 50-72 passenger vessels, the 49-passenger Panorama, the 3 masted sail cruiser, the elegant 34-passenger Variety Callisto, and the newest addition to Variety Cruises fleet of motor yachts, the luxury 72-passenger Variety Voyager. In fact our Cuba programs are unique because our small vessels enable us to access ports and islands that the large cruise lines cannot, such as Isla de Juventud  the Isle of Youth, Maria La Gorda, Cayo Largo, and the historic Cienfuegos.

Group ISTs Sights and Sounds of Cuba and The Cuban Panorama cruises engage with locals on a content-rich 8-day journey. Embarking in Havana to Cienfuegos (or the reverse), guests begin their Cuba experience exploring the music, architecture, and art of this vibrant Caribbean capital all while staying on one of Variety Cruises three mega yachts. Each People-to-People itinerary includes the charming colonial city of Trinidad and on the Callisto and Panorama, a stop to see the tobacco farms in Vinales. All this with the cruise travel advantage- no packing and unpacking!

The award-winning Variety Cruises vessels are well known for their average of one-to-two-crew-to-passenger ratio and personal service. Group ISTs staff is always available to accommodate special requirements of all their guests.

Group IST Makes Solo Travel to Cuba More Affordable

Group IST is making their special People-to-People cultural Cuba experience more affordable for solo travelers on nine Group IST Cuba cruise departures by waiving single supplements. Group IST is offering a special reduced rate on the following departure dates; November 17th, 24th, December 1st, 8th, 15th in 2017, and in 2018, January 5th.

The small ship voyage experience is ideal for the solo traveler. Each yacht is an intimate on-board community of like-minded people who share a cultural curiosity and passion for learning about all aspects of Cuba.

Whether traveling to have meaningful exchanges with the locals or experience the culture of the destination, guests traveling solo to Cuba on Group IST can save from $1000 to as much as $4,500 on the 9 designated departures (depending upon the category of the cabin). Rates for the sailings include in-depth guided land visits, insuring a safe, built-in group to experience Cuba; yet the solo traveler can enjoy the privacy of a single cabin.

For more information visit: www.groupist.com ; or contact your local travel agent.

ENDS

About Group IST

The Group IST passion remains unchanged since 1980: an alchemy that blends enriching oneself educationally and exploring the true identity of a destination, while enjoying the comforts and unique benefits of a small ship sailing the seas.

For more information, visit http://www.groupist.com or contact your local travel agent.

Follow Group IST Small Ship Voyages on Social Media:

Twitter: @GroupIST Instagram: @groupistvoyages Facebook: @groupistTravel

GROUP IST/ US Editorial Contact:

The Bradford Group

Karen Hoffman/ Bianca Pappas

Tel: (212) 447-0027

Fax: (212) 725 8253

E-mail: info@bradfordglobalmarketing.com

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ad151483-6c40-4329-8cce-d057a87d8cf8

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/82fa7f69-dcdc-4642-b0f3-24c02689205e

Attachments:

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IRVINE, Calif., June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Propel Media, Inc. (OTCPink:PROM), a performance focused digital media and advertising company, today announced its acquisition of DeepIntent Technologies, an integrated data and programmatic buying platform.



DeepIntent has developed a powerful data-driven approach to programmatic advertising that integrates into its data management platform traditional first-party data (such as client CRM data) and cookie-based third-party user data in order to build an enriched profile of a brands target audiences. These profiles are supplemented with real-time consumer interest data using DeepIntents proprietary Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms. With a deeper holistic view of each users interests and behaviors, DeepIntents Demand Side Platform accurately prices the value of each user with respect to the goals of the advertiser while simultaneously allowing brands to feel confident that their ads will only appear in a brand safe environment.

Marv Tseu, President of Propel Media said, We are excited to be joining forces with DeepIntents founders, Christopher Paquette and Mohamed Nouh, and the entire DeepIntent team. We believe that DeepIntent is a very good fit with our current business and will augment what we do today as well as move us into new areas. This acquisition gives the Company the ability to supplement our current offerings with programmatic inventory to enhance our advertisers campaigns across all screens, including desktop, mobile, tablet and connected TV.

Chris Paquette, CEO of DeepIntent said, The future of digital advertising belongs to those companies who are able to consistently provide predictable performance and scale for their clients media investments. Were thrilled to be joining the team at Propel Media and believe that their experience and reputation for delivering ROI for their clients, when combined with DeepIntents technology and access to scaled programmatic inventory, will generate significant returns for our clients.

About Propel Media

Propel Media connects digital marketers with unique audiences through intent-based technology that delivers superior performance with measurable results. We Do Digital Differently with a distinctive approach to digital powered by proprietary contextualization technology and a unique supply of ad inventory. Headquartered in Irvine, California, Propel Media is distinguished by its ability to deliver consistent results and its commitment to providing the highest level of client services to its partners.

For more information, visit: www.propelmedia.com

About DeepIntent

DeepIntent is an integrated data and programmatic buying platform that combines unique insights into user interests and affinities with first, second, and third-party data assets in order to reach the highest value audiences for its advertsers. DeepIntents platform features a fully integrated data management and demand side platform that transacts across billions of ad opportunities daily. Headquartered in New York City, DeepIntent delivers results for the worlds largest brands and agencies.

For more information, visit www.deepintent.com

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those statements regarding Propel Medias capital structure, ability to execute its operating plan, anticipated financial flexibility and future financial performance and any other statements that are not statements of historical fact. These statements may be identified, without limitation, by the use of forward-looking terminology such as anticipates, expects, will or comparable terms or the negative thereof. Such statements are based on managements current estimates, assumptions that management believes to be reasonable, and currently available competitive, financial, and economic data as of the date hereof. Forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of events, factors and conditions, many of which are beyond the control of Propel Media and not all of which are known to Propel Media, including, without limitation those risk factors described from time to time in Propel Medias reports filed with the SEC. Among the factors that could cause Propel Medias actual results to differ materially are: loss of key advertising customers; inability to acquire new advertising customers; limitations on its ability to acquire new users profitably or at all; inability to protect its intellectual property; inability to comply with the covenants in its credit facility; inability to obtain necessary financing or enter into equity arrangements with existing or new institutional shareholders; inability to execute its acquisition strategy; inability to effectively manage its growth; failure to effectively integrate the operations of acquired businesses; competition; loss of key personnel; increases in costs of operations; continued compliance with government regulations; and general economic conditions. Further, investors should keep in mind that Propel Medias financial results in any particular period may not be indicative of future results. Propel Media is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise, except as required by law.
Draper, UT -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/21/2017 -- Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.



As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.



Webmasters and content providers began optimizing sites for search engines in the mid-1990s, as the first search engines were cataloging the early Web. Initially, all webmasters needed to do was to submit the address of a page, or URL, to the various engines which would send a "spider" to "crawl" that page, extract links to other pages from it, and return information found on the page to be indexed. The process involves a search engine spider downloading a page and storing it on the search engine's own server, where a second program, known as an indexer, extracts various information about the page, such as the words it contains and where these are located, as well as any weight for specific words, and all links the page contains, which are then placed into a scheduler for crawling at a later date.



Draper, UTAH Reason #185 Why Sourcing Your Local Reputation-Management Needs and Custom Blog Content Creation to http://www.G3-Development.co/ is Intelligent



By 2004, search engines had incorporated a wide range of undisclosed factors in their ranking algorithms to reduce the impact of link manipulation. In June 2007, The New York Times' Saul Hansell stated Google ranks sites using more than 200 different signals. The leading search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo, do not disclose the algorithms they use to rank pages. Some SEO practitioners have studied different approaches to search engine optimization, and have shared their personal opinions. Patents related to search engines can provide information to better understand search engines.



In 2005, Google began personalizing search results for each user. Depending on their history of previous searches, Google crafted results for logged in users. In 2008, Bruce Clay said that "ranking is dead" because of personalized search. He opined that it would become meaningless to discuss how a website ranked, because its rank would potentially be different for each user and each search.



In December 2009, Google announced it would be using the web search history of all its users in order to populate search results.



Google Instant, real-time-search, was introduced in late 2010 in an attempt to make search results more timely and relevant. Historically site administrators have spent months or even years optimizing a website to increase search rankings. With the growth in popularity of social media sites and blogs the leading engines made changes to their algorithms to allow fresh content to rank quickly within the search results.



In February 2011, Google announced the Panda update, which penalizes websites containing content duplicated from other websites and sources. Historically websites have copied content from one another and benefited in search engine rankings by engaging in this practice, however Google implemented a new system which punishes sites whose content is not unique. In April 2012, Google launched the Google Penguin update the goal of which was to penalize websites that used manipulative techniques to improve their rankings on the search engine.



The Real Reasons Why To Use Social Media:

1. If ones business can't be found  they are not engaging with the "True Market."



2. Social Media (YouTube) is 64% more effective  than traditional advertising.



3. Ones "True Competition"  is guaranteed to be engaged in Social Media.



4. One will find customers  15 times faster with Social Media.



5. One can reach the "True Market"  by simply engaging the right people.



6. By ignoring this Social Media Market, they are not creating opportunities  while the competition is.



7. Social Media saves massive amounts of time if one uses it right.



Site owners started to recognize the value of having their sites highly ranked and visible in search engine results, creating an opportunity for both white hat and black hat SEO practitioners. According to industry analyst Danny Sullivan, the phrase "search engine optimization" probably came into use in 1997. The first documented use of the term Search Engine Optimization was John Audette and his company Multimedia Marketing Group as documented by a web page from the MMG site from August, 1997.



Early versions of search algorithms relied on webmaster-provided information such as the keyword meta tag, or index files in engines like ALIWEB. Meta tags provide a guide to each page's content. Using meta data to index pages was found to be less than reliable, however, because the webmaster's choice of keywords in the meta tag could potentially be an inaccurate representation of the site's actual content. Inaccurate, incomplete, and inconsistent data in meta tags could and did cause pages to rank for irrelevant searches. Web content providers also manipulated a number of attributes within the HTML source of a page in an attempt to rank well in search engines.



About G3 Development

G3 Development is set out to proactively serve the business community by providing solutions in entrepreneurialism, business development, social media and venture capitalism.



To provide leadership in establishing strength with our client's international businesses, being built on a foundation of innovation, advocacy, technology and business integrity.



http://www.g3-development.co/

877-229-9183
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/20/2017 -- Overview



Automation is the latest advancement set to revolutionise the global retail market. The retail automation market is expected to witness steady growth, owing to such avant-garde collaboration between global retail and consumer goods sector, and the global electronics and IT industry. Considering the fact that retail industry drives the growth of several business and trade ventures around the world, the influence of automation will bring more efficiency to billions of retail transactions.



Visual merchandising, planogram, and big data in retail are the key trends fuelling the demand of automated services in retail markets. Effective automated products and programs that speed up the sales mechanism, create efficiency in product supplies, and develop easily-accessible business platforms that can produce a lucrative environment for the growth of the retail automation market globally.



The global market for retail automation is gaining traction in Asia Pacific, Western Europe, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). The two most lucrative regions for the growth of the global retail automation market are North America and Europe.



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Retail Automation in North America



Of these two regions, North America is the current market leader, holding the greater pie of retail automation market share. The North American retail automation market is likely to register high growth rate during 2014-2020 period.



North America remains a lucrative market for retail automation globally, with the US and Canada witnessing steady demand. North American consumers have adopted the prominent trend of relying on retail automated products and services for business transactions, which has made an affirming impetus on the retail automation market. Economic progress and rising purchasing power of consumers are some of the trends, specific to North America, that make the outlook of retail automation market considerably positive.



The European Retail Automation Market



Europe, on the other hand, is closing in on North America in order to become the leading key region in the global retail automation market. Several retail chains and multiple product lines established in Europe are helping the setting up of retail automation in European nations. The European regional market is primarily segmented into UK, Germany, Spain, France and others. Britain's exodus from EU is likely to impact the implementation of automation in UK's retail market. But, the economic stability in other European countries is expected to create a supportive dais for building up the retail automation market.



Factors Benefiting the Growth of Retail Automation Market



North America and Europe, collectively, will continue their prominence in the global market, with respect to the market size, revenue share, and overall demand. The factors that will incite this growth are,



Growth of Local Retail & Customer Reception



Local retail markets are growing in several parts of North America & Europe. Combined with a positive consumer response, automated retail will continue flourishing in niche retail markets.



Overflowing Investments on Automation Products & Services



Retail giants dominating the existing retail market are investing in automated programs and devices for creating efficient output. The cost advantage is increasing the demand for automated retail services.



Proliferation of Shopping Centres and Supermarkets



Consumers in the US and European countries prefer buying from hypermarket and malls, which is great platform for automated retail kiosks.



Challenges in the Global Retail Automation Market



The retail automation market in North America and Europe is growing steadily, but there are a handful of factors that may restrain or slow down its growth. In the US and Canada, a key challenge for retail automation is its greatest disadvantage -- the loss of job. Labours and working professionals at retail outlets are a major contributor of the region's economy. Rising unemployment levels could plunge the local economy, having a rippling effect on the national economies of North America.



In Europe, the instability of economies across its constituent nations is restraining the growth of its retail automation market. Improving financial conditions in Turkey, Russia and Poland could influence the expansion of automated retail products; however, theundulating economies of Spain, Italy as well as Britain, can impede the adoption of automation in European retail sector.



Besides, maintaining the continuous supervision of retail kiosks, high dependency on electricity and the implications arriving from variable internet regulations are some other restraints recoiling the progress of retail automation in Europe and North America.



Segmentation



The segmentation of the retail automation market is done on the basis of geography, the operator type and the product type.



Geographic Segmentation



North America (sub-segmented into United States, Canada & others)

Europe (sub-segmented into Spain, France, UK & others)



Operator Type Segmentation



Unattended Terminals

Human-Operated Terminals



Product Segmentation



Currency Counter

Barcode Reader

Bill Printer

Cash Counter

Cash Register

Card Reader

Self-Checkout System

Weight Scale

Kiosks/Vending Machine

Others



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Key Competitors



Electronic companies such as Seiko Epson, Fujitsu, First Data Corp., Siemens, Toshiba and Wincor Nixdorf are some of the top players in the global retail automation market. Most of these ICT companies are headquartered in Europe, making the region a credible platform for new manufacturers and startups in retail automation. Meanwhile, North American retail giants such as Walmart and Kroger are developing their own devices and services to reap benefits from the amalgamation of retail and automation.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/20/2017 -- 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.



Synopsis



The 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.



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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 Buy

Understand the industry dynamics, growth trends and key challenges to assist in decision making

Identify business opportunity across the value-chain with information on product prices, and opportunity analysis

Benchmark various industry participants present and identify performers, laggards and emerging players

Use the data and analysis to develop business plan, formulate strategies, analyze companies and benchmark countries for investment

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According to a new analysis of modern and ancient cat DNA, todays domestic cat is a descendant of both the Near Eastern and Egyptian populations of the wildcat subspecies Felis silvestris lybica, which was domesticated several times in different locations around the world, with two major waves of domestication. The findings were published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

The wildcat (Felis silvestris) is distributed all over the Old World. Scientists distinguish five wild, geographically partitioned subspecies: Felis silvestris silvestris, Felis silvestris lybica, Felis silvestris ornata, Felis silvestris cafra and Felis silvestris bieti.

Modern genetic data analyses revealed that only one of them, Felis silvestris lybica, was ultimately domesticated.

Cats were domesticated some 10,000 years ago by the first farmers in the Near East, said study co-authors Dr. Eva-Maria Geigl and Thierry Grange, from CNRS and the University Paris Diderot.

They naturally approached human communities because of mutual interests: they were attracted to villages because of the large numbers of rodents themselves enticed by the grain stores of barley and wheat.

This development could have only been beneficial for humans: not only did they rid themselves of rats, but also of snakes and other venomous species that also figured on the menu of Felis silvestris lybica.

Historical and archaeological records have long given credence to this hypothesis of increasing proximity, and potentially more, between cats and humans since the dawn of agriculture.

The skeleton of a cat was found in Cyprus in the tomb of a child dating from 7500 BC, the researchers said.

A tomb containing nothing but the bones of several unrelated cats was discovered in an Egyptian cemetery dating to around 4500 BC. Once it had been deified in Egyptian images as a helper of the Sun King, Ra, the feline was depicted in hunting scenes from the second millennium BC, before appearing in domestic images, under the seat of the man or woman of the house, even sometimes with a collar.

Genetic studies conducted in modern cats confirm the genetic proximity between todays domestic animals and Felis silvestris lybica, but the exact mechanism by which cats spread remained shrouded in mystery.

In order to trace the origins of the domestic cat, the authors examined DNA of 230 ancient and modern cats from Europe, north and east Africa, and southwest Asia, spanning around 9,000 years, from the Mesolithic period to the twentieth century CE.

We have specimens of European cats that lived 9,000 years ago, Balkan cats from 6,000 years ago, and cats living in Anatolia from between 6,000 years ago and the end of the Ottoman Empire, the scientists said.

We also analyzed dozens of mummified cats from Egypt during the Ptolemaic era (from the third to the first century BC). Yet only six of these mummies yielded results. The DNA of the others was too greatly deteriorated due to poor storage conditions in these hot, dry regions.

According to the researchers, Felis silvestris lybica is indeed the ancestor of todays domestic cats.

However, to their great surprise, they discovered not one but two waves of domestication.

The first major event was probably in the Fertile Crescent about 7,500 years ago, from wildcats originating in Anatolia.

Cats can then be seen moving with human populations as early as 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, as farmers spread from the Near East into Europe, and also with seafaring communities, the authors said.

We see the spread throughout the entire continent of the genetic signature of the Anatolian variant of lybica.

Cats appear to have traveled along maritime trade routes, as well as with military expeditions, which is also supported by historical evidence.

In medieval times it was compulsory for seafarers to have cats onboard, to combat the rats and house mice that were a frequent pest on ships.

The second major wave of domestication occurred in the Greek and Roman periods, when a fad for Egyptian cats led to a movement of domestic cats descended from North African Felis silvestris lybica to Europe.

At this point we begin to see a real craze for Egyptian cats, the local variant of lybica, which was in fact mentioned in the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus (fifth century BC), the scientists said.

The fad for Egyptian cats very quickly spread through the ancient Greek and Roman world, and even much further afield, since cats were found in Viking ports established on the Baltic Sea between 500 and 800 CE.

The team also analyzed one of the rare genetic markers of domestication in cats: the coloring of their fur.

The gene coding for spots and mottling is found only in domestic cats, while the fur of wildcats is always striped, the authors said.

And here we stumbled on a surprise: spots only began to appear under the Ottoman Empire, between 500 and 1300 CE, becoming more common after 1300 both in the Ottoman Empire and in Europe.

This is a very late development in relation to other species. But while this phenomenon constitutes irrefutable evidence of selection by humans, it does not in any way mark the start of companionship between cats and humans, which goes back much further.

_____

Claudio Ottoni et al. 2017. The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1, article number: 0139; doi: 10.1038/s41559-017-0139
[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 tells 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.

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 Global desk.

This article was made possible with support from Monsanto.
Popular smartphone manufacturer Oppo will release its new handset Oppo R11 outside China next week. Last week the handset made its debut in China.

According to GSMArena, Oppo R 11 is currently available only in China. But, the company is now all set to launch its latest handset outside the home country. The sale of this handset will begin in Taiwan on June 21, 2017.

Currently, the cost of this handset in China is 2999 Yuan or approximately $440, though it will be a little bit higher in Taiwan. The new Oppo R11 will cost NT$ 15,990 or approximately $525 in Taiwan. Oppo R11 is the successor model of the Oppo R9 that released last year.

Oppo R11 is equipped with a number of great specs. This successor model of Oppo R9 has a 5.5-inch display. No doubt, it is the AMOLED FHD display. According to The Android Soul, the smartphone runs 4GB of RAM. The device supports an internal memory of 64GB.

The interesting fact is Chinese mobile manufacturer Oppo recently launched another new handset Oppo R11 Plus with the Oppo R11. This Oppo R11 Plus has a bigger 6-inch display and this handset contains 6GB of RAM. Though, the device contains the same 64GB internal memory like the Oppo R11.

The recently launched Oppo R11 is packed with the latest Snapdragon 660. Oppo is famous for producing the camera-centric devices, and the front side of the said handset features 20MP selfie shooter. The device supports the dual rear camera, one is 16MP and another is 20MP. Both the camera supports HD or high definition.

The selfie camera features the portrait shoot, custom self-timer, and the developed bokeh effect. Consumers can have the latest Android 7.1 Nougat in the new Oppo R11. The handset contains 3,000mAh battery.

Apart from this, Oppo R11 features a fingerprint sensor at the front and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The smartphone also supports Bluetooth 4.2 and 4G VoLTE. In a word, Oppo packs the new handset with a number of important features.
Police reported that they had discovered more than 75 Nazi artifacts outside Buenos Aires in Argentina. The residence was mentioned to belong to a collector which they hadnt named yet but the artifacts were believed to belong to high-ranking Nazi officers in Germany during World War II.

According to New York Times, the federal police commissioner for the protection of cultural heritage, Marcelo El Haibe stated that they had discovered the Nazi artifacts in the collectors home. They first investigated the room and found out that behind a suspicious bookcase is a hidden passageway that could be entered using the door on the wall.

With that said, the officers then saw more than 75 artifacts which belong to the World War II era. They had noted that the pieces were authentic Nazi artifacts. Having the collectors name not disclosed, the officers believed that the objects belong to high-ranking Nazi party members. The artifacts consisted of Nazi knives, Nazi symbols, sculptures, medical devices and even Adolf Hitlers portrait bust.

Yet, the thing that captured them most is the magnifying glass seen in an original photograph showing Adolf Hitler holding onto it. The head of Argentinas federal police, Nestor Roncagli then stated that they had already asked historians and confirmed that the magnifying glass found in the hidden room is the same magnifying glass held by Hitler shown in the photograph.

Aside from those, a large statue of the Nazi eagle above a swastika and several toys were also discovered in the hidden room. The toys were said to be used by children but were used under the Nazi propaganda. There were jigsaw puzzles and little wood pieces to build houses, but they always featured party-related images and symbols, El Haibe stated on ABC News.

The officers then deemed that the artifacts were entered in Argentina by some high-ranking Nazi or Nazis after World War II as the country served as somewhere where fleeing war criminals seek refuge. "Finding 75 original pieces is historic and could offer irrefutable proof of the presence of top leaders who escaped from Nazi Germany," president of the DAIA, Ariel Cohen Sabban concluded.

Nonetheless, it was revealed that agents along with the international police force, Interpol raided the house last June 8. However, the information regarding the collector who lived in the residence wasnt still given. The collector was said to still be free as of now but still remains under investigation by a federal judge.
A new study published in Physiology & Behavior, suggests that eating in front of a mirror will enhance your dining experience.

According to researchers at Nagoya University, eating in front of a mirror "tricks" the brain into thinking another person is eating with you, a.k.a. the "social facilitation of eating."

"We wanted to find out what the minimum requirement is for the social facilitation of eating," lead author Dr. Ryuzaburo Nakata said. "Does another person have to actually be physically present, or is information suggesting the presence of others sufficient?"

In the study, 16 participants (between the ages of 65 and 74) were asked to eat caramel or salted popcorn for 90 seconds, rating their enjoyment of the popcorn in different situations. The participants were asked to do this three times -- while eating alone, in front of a mirror, and finally while watching a video of themselves eating.

Following the experiment, researchers discovered that people eating alone reported food as tasting better when they could see themselves reflected in a mirror. In fact, eating in front of a mirror improved the popcorn's "goodness" by 21 percent, "sweetness" by 25 percent, and overall quality by 12 percent.

Researchers then followed-up with an additional experiment, where participants were asked to eat in front of a photo instead of a mirror. The photo experiment yielded the same results.

"Studies have shown that for older adults, enjoying food is associated with quality of life, and frequently eating alone is associated with depression and loss of appetite," author Nobuyuki Kawai said. "Our findings therefore suggest a possible approach to improving the appeal of food, and quality of life, for older people who do not have company when they eat -- for example, those who have suffered loss or are far away from their loved ones."
Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon of two particles, such as photons, that remain connected even when they are separated by a large distance. Specifically, if something happens to one particle, it will automatically affect the other one, even though they are separated. To non-physicists, this might sound a bit like magic -- or pseudo-science at the very least -- and even Albert Einstein, whose research contributed to current quantum theory, described the concept as "spooky action at a distance."

But now, physicists have been able to produce entangled photons (or packets of light) in outer space, reports the Chicago Tribune, even without quite understanding how the phenomenon of quantum entanglement works. In a study published in the journal Science, physicist Jian-Wei Pan at the University of Science and Technology of China described how he and his team were able to produce these entangled photons on a satellite orbiting the Earth and then beam the particles to two different ground-based labs that were 750 miles apart, without losing the particles' mysterious linkage.

Specifically, on the satellite Micius, which launched last year, a high-energy laser was fired through a special kind of crystal, thereby generating entangled photon pairs. The photons were transmitted to two ground stations in China: one in the city of Delingha and one in the city of Lijiang, about 750 miles away from each other.

Quantum entanglement is exciting because it could one day be used for "quantum communication" or the means of communicating secure or confidential messages without cables, wireless signals or code. Because any interference with an entangled particle immediately affects its partner, these communications cannot be hacked. Entangled particles could also be used to build a "quantum internet," allowing for secure and lightspeed communication, which could have useful applications for hospitals, credit card companies and government agencies that are prone to cyber attacks.

The next step that Pan would like to investigate is sending quantum particles from the ground to the satellite and setting up a channel that would allow for the transmission of tens of thousands of entangled pairs per second. "Then the satellite can really be used for quantum communication," he said.
About 200 people in Bangladesh were killed by lightning strikes last year. It struck again as 22 people were hit by lightning in the same region in the last 48 hours.

Experts said that climate change has aggravated the problem. They also attributed it to deforestation and the loss of taller trees such as palms that serve as lightning conductors. The experts believed that the death toll could be higher as some are unreported, according to Phys.org.

Among those who were hit by lightning strikes in the last 48 hours were a couple and their young daughter. They were working on their peanut farm when they were hit by a lightning.

The disaster officials are now looking for ways to prevent the death toll from lightning strikes. They are also planning to plant a million palm trees. The meteorological department had also trained about 20,000 students on how to avoid being hit by lightning.

Meanwhile, the intense storms that hit Bangladesh since last week had triggered floods and landslides. This led to casualties such as increasing death toll and unsheltered people. There are about 4,500 people that were remained lodged in 50 shelters in southeastern Bangladesh. The death toll has reached up to 170, according to First Post.

The worst-affected district is the Rangamati, in which 116 bodies were recovered and about four missing persons believed to be dead. There are also many evacuees looking for shelters, and authorities have opened two new shelters, according to Deputy Commissioner Manzurul Mannan.

The Commissioner also added that the evacuees had enough supplies of food and other goods. They had already received about 2,100 packets that contained 30 kg of rice each.

It is reported that Bangladesh, described as the "Country of Bengal" and located in South Asia, is always experiencing heavy storms, floods and landslides every year during rainy season. However, this rainy season is the worst since 2007.
A new study indicates that the bacteria in airborne diseases such as colds and flu could spread up to 4 meters and stay alive in the air for 45 minutes. With this finding, the researchers could find the new treatment for infections and treatment of people with cystic fibrosis.

The research was led by scientists from the Queensland University of Technology and The University of Queensland (UQ). Professor Lidia Morawska, the lead author of the study and the Director of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, said that the research examines the longevity of airborne pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, which are a multi-drug-resistant germ linked with hospital-acquired infections when they are discharged by human coughs and sneezes.

Professor Morawska said that these pathogens could spread up to 4 meters and stay viable for 45 minutes after being coughed into the air. The scientists developed a novel technique that targets the short-term and long-term aging of bio-aerosols from people without being contaminated from the ambient air. The technique is known as Tandem Aged Respiratory Droplet Investigation System or TARDIS, according to Science Alert.

In the research, the scientists sampled airborne cough droplets from two patients with cystic fibrosis and chronic pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. They discovered that the bacteria in the cough droplets from the patients decayed in two different time spans.

Once the cough droplets hit the air, they dried out, cooled and became light enough to stay airborne. The scientists also discovered the concentration of active bacteria in the dried droplets showed rapid decay with a 10-second half-life for most of the bacteria. On the other hand, the subset of bacteria had a half-life of over 10 minutes, as noted by EurekAlert.

This indicates that the pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria are unaffected to rapid biological decay. This could trigger an airborne infection risk particularly to people with respiratory problems.

The study could help the scientists in developing the novel treatment for airborne disease including cystic fibrosis. It is also advisable that people with airborne diseases must cover their mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing to prevent the spread of bacteria that might infect other people.
Two miles beneath the surface of the ocean is the abyssal zone -- waters so deep that light does not touch it any more. In this part of the Earth, there is little that humans know. However, Australian scientists were able to gather some creatures from the seafloor. These are not exactly friends of the Little Mermaid.

A team of researchers from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization explored the deep seas off Australia's east coast in an expedition. Discover Magazine noted that in the team's daily dispatches, it was able to detail results of its research. The team saw images of animals that looked like they were made of stuff from nightmares. Among these animals included glowing starfish, toothy predators and even slender-stalked crinoids.

Because of the stark differences between the conditions of the ocean's surface and deep sea creatures, the latter looked malformed and disfigured. However, they are actually very well adapted to their unique environment.

One of the most iconic creatures from the deep sea includes the viperfish. With wicked fangs and stretchable mouths, they could be terrifying. However, they are tiny enough for humans to hold in the palm of their hands.

The Washington Post noted that raising these creatures could take some advanced form of technology to overcome their environmental hurdles. Scientists were able to pull up over a thousand sea creatures from the deep sea. Each of them will have to be studied and cataloged in the coming months.

No matter how horrifying these animals seem, however, there is something more alarming than the nightmarish deep sea creatures. It is trash.

Chief Scientist Tim O'Hara said in a news release that they found "highly concerning levels of rubbish" 100 kilometers off the coast. He said that the team "found PVC pipes, cans of paints, bottles, beer cans, wood chips and other debris from the days when steamships plied our waters. The seafloor has 200 years of rubbish on it."
The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently given the approval for two missions, the Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) mission and Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. The probes will each look for Earth-like planets and detect gravitational waves.

According to Science, the PLATO mission has been approved for construction and scheduled for a tentative launch in 2026. It will search the skies for alternative Earths that can support life.

PLATO will be a mid-sized mission, with a budget under 500 million (US$557,425,000). The spacecraft will carry 26 telescopes on board. Each of these telescopes will be 12 centimeters in diameter and can continuously observe 50 percent of the sky.

PLATO will create a list of genuine Earth analogs, which will consist of exoplanets that have about 1.5 times the mass of the Earth and are located in the habitable zone of their Sun-like host stars. The catalog will open up the possibility of studying the evolution of planetary systems, PLATO member Isabella Pagano said.

Meanwhile, the LISA mission is scheduled to start detection of gravitational waves in space from 2034. Gravitational waves are ripples in the universe that are created when galaxies collide and supermassive black holes at their centers spiral together and merge, thereby producing explosions that shake the universe.

"We have no idea what we will discover, but perhaps we can get closer to the line that divides gravity from quantum physics," ESA's director of science Alvaro Gimenez Canete said, BBC reports. This may take us there." NASA is expected to contribute about 20 percent of the approximate 1 billion (US$1,114,850,000) cost of the LISA mission after the success of U.S. ground-based detector Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory (LIGO), which made the first detection of gravitational waves.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized a Colorado company's shipments of a product intended to keep marijuana out of the hands of children.

On April 28 of this year, CBP took a shipment of 1,000 storage cases en route to Stashlogix of Boulder, Colo. Stashlogix designed the boxes and was importing them to sell to marijuana, tobacco and pharmaceutical consumers stateside. The product was being sold to people who had children and wanted to keep drugs safely locked up and out of reach.

Marijuana is legal for recreational use in eight states plus Washington, D.C., and medical use is authorized in 21 additional states. But it remains illegal for all purposes under federal law. In the view of CBP, Stashlogix's containers are "drug paraphernalia," even though everyone involved acknowledges the product is aimed at preventing drug use by children.

The case highlights the ever-growing disconnect between permissive state laws and restrictive federal policies on marijuana use. And it underscores how the strict application of decades-old federal drug rules can, at times, increase the risks of marijuana use in places where it's already legal.

Back in 2014, the burgeoning legal marijuana industry had a problem. The nation's first recreational pot shops opened in Colorado that year, selling not just the plant itself but all manner of sweet and savory snacks infused with it. That brought a raft of news reports about the dangers of children accidentally ingesting marijuana products.

The actual risk to kids was generally overstated. But it was nevertheless true that new marijuana products were flooding the market. Consumers didn't have much experience with them. And many of them were in the form of sweet edible products, palatable to children, dogs, grandparents and anybody else who might happen to be walking by.

Surveys indicate that over half of current marijuana users nationwide are parents. But only 11 percent of them actually lock up their pot.

"People didn't have ways to safely store these items out of reach of kids, other than up on shelves or in sock drawers," Skip Stone, a former civil engineer in Boulder, said in an interview. So in 2014, he and a partner launched a company called Stashlogix, creating cases and containers "for the storage and transport of medicine, tobacco & other stuff."

The company's most popular product: Small, lockable cases complete with tiny jars and odor-neutralizing inserts. "People love the product," Stone said. "They use it for all sorts of things, but cannabis is definitely one of them. They keep it locked, they feel safer, they feel more responsible."

Things were going great. Business was brisk and Stone hired three employees. But it all came crashing to a halt a few months ago, when he received the customs notice in the mail.

"This is to officially notify you that Customs and Border Protection seized the property described below at Los Angeles International Airport on April 28, 2017," the letter read. The agency had seized 1,000 of Stone's storage bags, valued at $12,000. CBP said the bags were subject to forfeiture because "it is unlawful for any person to import drug paraphernalia."

In a separate letter explaining the ruling, CBP acknowledged that "standing alone, the Stashlogix storage case can be viewed as a multi-purpose storage case with no association with or to controlled substances." However, it noted that the storage cases come with an odor-absorbing carbon insert that could be used to conceal the smell of marijuana.

U.S. drug paraphernalia laws are written extremely broadly, allowing authorities to consider not just the products themselves but also how the products are being used in the real world. The CBP letter goes on to cite favorable reviews of the storage case on blogs like the Stoner Mom and the Weed Blog, indicating that marijuana consumers use the cases to store their pot at home.

In sum, according to CBP, the evidence suggests "that there exists one consistent and primary use for the Stashlogix storage cases; namely, the storage and concealment of marijuana." That's legal justification for keeping the cases out of the country even if the product's purpose is to conceal marijuana from children and lock it out of their reach.

Jaime Ruiz, a spokesman for CBP, said in an email that the agency can't discuss the specifics of this case, but added that they are required by law to seize and forfeit drug paraphernalia.

The ruling has turned Stone's business upside down. In addition to the $12,000 lost in the blocked shipment, Stone said he has an additional $18,000 in product overseas that has to be declared a loss because he can no longer get it shipped to Colorado. The financial difficulties imposed by the ruling have caused him to lay off all three of his employees.

Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, said the incident is "incredibly frustrating" and counterproductive. "The whole point of this product is to minimize harm to [children] that we're trying to protect," she added.

At the moment, Stone is appealing the ruling. He is also trying to find a stateside manufacturer for his cases, as Customs can't block shipments of goods produced domestically. Theoretically some other federal agency, like the Drug Enforcement Administration, could still interfere with that production. But the DEA hasn't traditionally placed a high priority on paraphernalia cases (with one high-profile exception).

"It's going to take an act of Congress to clear up some of these contradictions between state and federal law," he said. "These paraphernalia laws are outdated. Keeping kids safe should be more important than outdated regulations."
HARTSVILLE, S.C.  Thirteen local photographers took home ribbons for their works in Carolinas 10. The winners were announced at an opening reception and gallery crawl on June 8.

All entries into the photography competition are hanging in the Black Creek Arts Center and the Hartsville Memorial Library on College Avenue and can be viewed during regular operational hours.

The opening reception for the annual competition, hosted by Black Creek Arts Council and the Friends of the Hartsville Memorial Library, was sponsored by Sonoco and Darlington County Photography Club.

Trey Davis took top honors with the Best of Show for his photo, Prestwood, of Prestwood Lake.

Christopher Neals Winter Skies won first place in the Carolinas category of photographs taken in North or South Carolina. Earning honorable mention were Jennifer Pietrzak with Morning Dewand Trey Davis with Reflection.

In the Cell Phone category, photographers were able enter images from their cell phones. Cheryl Hoffmans Rollins took first place. Becky Askins-Weavers Foggy Morning and Toni Martins Doorway in Venice received honorable mentions.

In the 18-and-under category, Sarah Childers Christmas Lights earned first-place honors. Angela Acostas State Fair and Elizabeth Askins All Squeezed Out each received an honorable mention.

In the Foodie category, Brad Pederson won Best in Category with Shine. Honorable mentions went to Dan Askins III with Only in the South and Susan Askins for Doing it the Old Fashioned Way. The Foodie category included pictures depicting any type of food.

More than 80 works are included in the exhibit. Judging was done by Black Creek Arts Council board members, Friends of Hartsville Memorial Library board members and a sponsor representative. They judged on technique, creativity and overall appearance. Artists names and titles were absent from photographs at judging.

I think this was a record turnout (for entries), said Joe Rice, branch manager of the Hartsville Memorial Library.

He said the quality of the entries were outstanding.

Attendance (on Thursday) was very good, he said I am looking forward to next year.

The response to this event has always been exceptional, and the quality of the works submitted is amazing, Allison Pederson of Black Creek Arts Council said in a news release from Black Creek. We really enjoy bringing photographers of all levels and ages into one community event. This years Best of Show was a first-time winner and submitter, which goes to prove anyone can win. All you have to do is submit. We are looking forward to next years exhibit and seeing many more members of the community submitting.

Visitors to the exhibition on Thursday night voted for their favorites and two Peoples Choice Awards. One at each location was awarded. The recipients were Abigail Catoe with The Bodyguard, from the 18-and-under category Black Creek, and Lee Benoy with Hamlet Station at Night at Hartsville Memorial Library.
JOHNSONVILLE, S.C.  When Richard Allen experienced his newly purchased freedom in 1794, he envisioned a church and fellowship to advance the spiritual, emotional and social status of former slaves, slaved and free Africans. He sought to transform lives through spiritual enlightenment in a blacksmith's forge.

The inspired forefathers of Bethlehem AME Church, located in the Longwoods farming community of Johnsonville, had the same type of transformation for people of lower Williamsburg County.

A group of God-fearing people came together and organized a church on the property formerly known as the "The Longwoods Plantation" around 1868. The first church was built about 150 feet east of where the present structure stands. It was a two-story wooden structure made of hand-cut pine slabs for the outer walls with hand-drawn cypress shingles for the roof. Stairs to the upper floor were on the outside. There were no glass windows. The openings were covered with wooden shutters, and hinges of leather or iron forged on the plantation were used to keep the shutters intact. Handmade benches were used for pews.

The congregation met on Sunday, May 21, to celebrate the 110th anniversary of their forefathers' vision.

"It is in the joy of knowing Jesus that my family and I greet you on this momentous occasion, the 110th anniversary of Bethlehem AME Church," said the pastor, t he Rev. Joe M. Knowlin. "Your willingness to work to make Bethlehem a shining example in the community is evident by the love and pride you have for the church. The willingness you show by your steadfastness is evident as you participate in the various activities and ministries of the church.

"Thank you for all you do to make Bethlehem the church where love abides. Please know that we appreciate all you do and look forward to serving you for many years to come."

Other church officials attending were Bishop Samuel L. Green and Elder Allen W. Parrott.

Located on approximately two and a half acres of land, the church was used as a school for the children of the community, which offered rigorous training in reading writing and mathematics. There were no utilities or facilities, electricity, water or kitchen. A wood-fired heater was used for heating the church and oil lanterns were used for lighting.

In 1950 the church was rebuilt under the leadership of the Rev. Fred Kinlock and the assistant pastor, the Rev. Frank Barcus.

In September 2002 the church building was destroyed by fire. The congregation met for 2 y ears at the Rick and Susan Goings Boys and Girls Club in Hemingway, under the direction of Michael Williams, director. The congregation under the leadership of the Rev. Franklin Scott began to make plans for building a new sanctuary. The groundbreaking ceremony was held exactly one year from the date of the fire. Members 70 years and older were asked to turn the first shovels of soil. The new sanctuary was constructed on four acres acquired from Percy Lawrimore.

Since the construction of the new building, numerous achievements have been made. A Boy Scout Troop, a Girl Scout Troop and an Angel Food Project were organized. A new sign has been erected, and the grounds have been landscaped. A church van has been purchased, and renovations and repairs continue to be made where necessary, but most important, the mortgage was liquidated with a mortgage burning ceremony on May 22, 2011.
The US Coast Guard (USCG) said that around 8pm on Wednesday it was made aware of a potential threat onboard the Maersk Memphis berthed at Charlestons Wando Welch Terminal.

UPDATE - USCG says no threat found, original source detained for questioning

The Maersk Memphis is currently moored at Charleston's Wando terminal which has been evacuated while law enforcement units from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies investigate the threat, the USCG said in a statement.

A 1nm safety zone has been established around the vessel and a Unified Command Established.

ABC News 4 quoted Capt. Greg Stump, commander for Coast Guard Sector Charleston, that a YouTube conspiracy theorist made a claim about a threat aboard the Maersk Memphis, and authorities are investigating the threat out of an abundance of caution. The video can be viewed below.

CNN reported that the search is isolated to a certain section of the containers, and is expected to go into Thursday morning.
Local reports said Masa is encouraging the government to consider a review of the policy, including exemption being restricted to just the International Transhipment Container trade to all ports in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan, and not include indigenous, locally-made products from Peninsula Malaysia and all types of cargoes.

Masa chairman Faizul Ismail said in a statement a clearer explanation is required on whether the exemption will only affect general and containerised cargo or whether it would be applicable to all cargoes.

Faizul highlighted the risk of abuse of controlled and subsidised goods distributed by the federal government when they are carried by foreign-flagged ships. These goods may not land in East Malaysia, when proper controls are not in place for the foreign flagged ships. This is not the case when goods are carried by Malaysian-registered ships and discharged fully at ports there, he reiterated.

There is also the risk of local shipowners being driven out of the market if they cannot compete with the foreign-flagged shipowners and operators.

Faizul also noted that the exemption from the cabotage policy could lead to the potential dumping of old ships from neighbouring countries to trade in Malaysian waters and there should be a cap on the age of these vessels before they are allowed to to trade in Malaysian waters.

The Sarawak and Sabah Shipowners Association (SSSA), the Sarawak Shipping Association (SSA) and Shipping Association Malaysia (SAM) had already commented on the issue as early as last month, urging the government to reconsider lifting the three-decade old cabotage policy.

Partial exemption from the policy on transhipment containers from major Peninsula Malaysia container ports such as Port Klang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas to major container ports in Sarawak and Sabah has also been in place for some years now.
Pursuant to the writ of summons handed down by the High Court of Labuan in Malaysia, OCBC is claiming against Nam Cheong International Ltd as borrower under a credit facility, and against Nam Cheong as guarantor to the credit facility.

Singapore-listed Nam Cheong said it is currently reviewing the writ of summons and seeking legal advice on this matter.

Embattled Nam Cheong has been holding discussions with its principal lenders to address its debt maturities and various obligations owed to financial lenders and trade creditors.

Amid the severe downturn of the offshore sector, the OSV builder has struggled to win sales for its build-to-stock vessels as the lacklustre market has been inundated with too many vessels.

Nam Cheong said it has deferred the schedule of deliveries of its vessels currently under construction, both at customers requests and also at the groups initiatives.

The group continues to take steps as part of ongoing measures to position itself to ride out the challenging market environment, including a review of cash flow projections, costs cutting measures as well as discussions with various parties regarding possible transactions to contain operating costs, Nam Cheong stated.
The 28m long tug Svitzer Mermod is reported to have carried out a number of remotely controlled manoeuvres in Copenhagen harbour earlier this year. The vessels captain, stationed quayside in the vessels Remote Operating Centre (ROC) within Svitzer HQ, berthed the vessel alongside, undocked, turned 360 degrees and then piloted towards the Svitzer HQ before docking again.

Built to Robert Allan design, the tug is equipped with a Rolls-Royce Dynamic Positioning System which was linked to the remote controlled system. Sensors installed aboard the vessel combined different data inputs and transmitted them to the ROC, providing the captain with situational awareness.

Rolls-Royce president  marine, Mikael Makinen, witnessed the event, describing it as an honour to be present at what I believe was a world first and a genuinely historic moment for the maritime industry.

The demonstration actually took place back in February but the two companies decided to delay an announcement until after they had agreed to continue their cooperation, which they have just done. A further 18 months of testing remote and autonomous operations will now follow, with class society Lloyds Register also continuing to take part.
Press Release

June 21, 2017 Sen. Bam wants DOJ to explain contradictory resolutions in Espinosa case A senator wants the Department of Justice (DOJ) to explain its contradictory issuances regarding the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa and fellow inmate Raul Yap inside his jail cell in Baybay City Provincial Jail last year. "The DOJ's recent ruling in favor of the accused police officers was made with blatant disregard for the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Senate," Sen. Bam Aquino in Senate Resolution No. 413. Sen. Bam was referring to the DOJ's June 2 resolution which indicated that there was no record of "evident premeditation" and "necessary force" was used to implement the search warrant against Espinosa. The latest decision reversed the earlier DOJ resolution dated March 2, which recommended the filing of murder charges against 19 members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), headed by Supt. Marvin Marcos. In that resolution, the DOJ stated that "the killings are qualified by evident premeditation since the attack was well planned". "The recent turnaround in the DOJ ruling is deeply concerning as there is no clear and compelling reason to reverse its initial resolution," said Sen. Bam, adding that the new DOJ resolution contradicts the agency's earlier decision as well as the findings of both the NBI and the Senate committees which investigated the incident. After its own investigation, the NBI disputed the claim by the CIDG-8 team that the killing happened in the course of a shootout between Espinosa and Yap and the CIDG team. Based on its findings, the NBI concluded that the killing was a rubout, premeditated and with criminal intent. In its report, the Senate Committees on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs and Justice and Human Rights also maintained that the mayor's murder was premeditated. "This sends the message that the supposed law enforcers frontlining the current administration's war on drugs are exempted from the rule of law," the senator said.
Press Release

June 21, 2017 Transcript of ANC's Headstart Interview of Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon Q: The Senate minority will be filing a resolution today denouncing the DOJ's downgrading of the charges. How was the DOJ wrong? SFMD: A lot. Firstly, during the hearing in November 2016, Sec. Aguirre said this is a premeditated killing. Q: On the Espinosa? SFMD: On the Espinosa, He said it was a premeditated killing. Why? The fact that the PNP applied for a search warrant to search a detention cell is unusual and smacks of a premeditated plan, in this particular case, to kill Espinosa. Number two, the SOCO was informed at 3:38 in the morning that there will be a raid at 4 o'clock in the morning. Q: Too late? SFMD: Too early. Before they conducted the raid, the SOCO was told that they will conduct a raid and you better be there. Number three, there was an overwhelming force; 19 police personnel served a warrant on a provincial jail. These are the circumstances that led Sec. Aguirre. I have it here - on the record - I asked Sec. Aguirre, these circumstances, Mr. Secretary, would lead you to a conclusion that there is a premeditation here. Mr. Aguirre said "I think there is premeditated killing on Mayor Espinosa." A premeditated killing is murder. From the mouth of Sec. Aguirre, he said there was a premeditated killing or murder. So why did he downgrade? That's point one. Point two, why did the judge immediately grant the downgrading? The judge should have allowed the case to proceed on the basis of the murder information filed. If the evidence that it is merely homicide, then the accuse in this particular case can be convicted of homicide. The judge gravely abused his discretion here. I don't want to say there was collusion, but these circumstances would raise doubts in my mind. As a former justice, indeed something is fishy here. There is a conspiracy to go around the rule of law. It is really unfortunate because this encourages impunity. If we do not do something about this, then people will just lost their faith in our ability to enforce rule of law. Can you imagine 19 operatives would "raid" a provincial jail and would allegedly recover a gun. And yet the judge here would allow the downgrading of case from murder to homicide and allow bail. You may ask the question, what is the remedy of the people? This is very unusual issue, because under our procedure it would be the DOJ who would have control over the prosecution. And the DOJ said there was no murder and it's only homicide. What's the remedy? Fortunately the Supreme Court in one case - in the case of Narciso vs Cruz - the court said that the private complaining party - meaning the family of Espinosa in this particular case - could bring the issue to the Court of Appeals and the SC, raise the grave abuse of discretion committed by the judge in allowing the downgrading. Q: In the CA or SC? SFMD: In the CA first in order to correct this patently abusing discretion committed by the judge. Q: The DOJ memo claims no taking advantage of superior strength with the aid or armed men. SFMD: First, on no premeditation. I'm reading the transcript during the hearing last year, where Aguirre said there was a premeditated killing. Under our Revised Penal Code, premeditation qualifies killing as a murder. Number two, they said there was no abuse of superior strength. There were 19 policemen who served the warrant at 4:30am in a provincial jail. How can you say that there is no abuse of superior strength? It's obvious the mere fact that there were 19, an overwhelming number in trying to serve a simple warrant in a provincial jail, allegedly to look for a gun. In our hearing and upon my questioning, the PNP said they knew of the gun one week ago. If there was gun and they knew about it one week ago, why they did not confiscate it? And Aguirre admitted that there was no need for a search warrant. All these circumstances led us to a conclusion that there was a conspiracy, there was a collusion here between the DOJ, the PNP, and it is possible that this judge who allowed the downgrading of the case. The SC should now look into the behavior of this judge, because this is so unusual that these things happened. Q: This case was actually investigated by 2 committees...what action other than the filings of a resolution can the Senate take? SFMD: First, the judicial remedy is what I have mentioned, meaning the relative can bring it up to the CA or the SC. Even if in theory the DOJ has the control of the prosecution. But in this particular case, obviously the prosecution is part of the collusion in order to downgrade the case, hence you cannot trust them to elevate this matter to the SC. In fact ordinarily, the investigative body that filed this case is the NBI, but the NBI is under the control and supervision of the DOJ. Q: What can the Senate do? Can you file perjury cases against Aguirre? SFMD: Theoretically we can file. This is a cabinet secretary and the tenure in the cabinet is upon the wish and confidence of the President. We can put political pressure. Also we can join as intervener the appeal that will be done. There is also a possibility that the Senate can join the family of Espinosa as petitioners in appeal before the CA or SC. Q: President Duterte said that no love lost for Mayor Espinosa and he even said that he will defend Supt. Marcos kasi drug lord naman ang pinatay. SFMD: Yes, but the principle that is stoned in our system is that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Even if you are a murderer, appropriate evidence must presented in court. In other words, you cannot be convicted on the basis of media reports. The fact that they are drug lords, assuming that they are, but evidence must be presented that they are drug lords and the fact that they are drug lord did not justify the murder of Mayor Espinosa under these circumstances. Otherwise there will be anarchy. Q: This is about police abuse? SFMD: This is about abuse of government authority. Q: If it's now downgraded to homicide, what happened to the 19? SFMD: Right now they are already on bail. They are free. The penalty is less than life imprisonment. Q: Can they go back to service? SFMD: They should not be allowed to go back to service. And that's the area of inquiry that we must do, because in November they said that the administrative matter will be decided - I don't remember their deadline. There is a mechanism in PNP, which is supposed to cleanse their ranks of the scalawags like these. Q: Do you think Sec. Aguirre's action was influenced by the expression of support by Pres. Duterte for Marcos and his police officers? SFMD: I don't want to speculate on the motives. I just want to see and hear...it is very clear that whatever motivated Sec. Aguirre, the motivation was wrong. He was ill motivated by this. In fact, on the basis of what we've seen, there could even be malice. He admitted it was premeditated and suddenly, five months or six months after he turned around and directed the prosecutor to downgrade. And here, the judge, why he was so fast in downgrading it? That's the area, which the court may want to look at. Ordinarily the judge should allow the case to proceed and let it be questioned in the appellate courts. Q: What can be done to the judge? SFMD: Firstly, we must allow the judicial process to proceed, meaning that it should be elevated to the CA and SC. Once the SC has ruled that there is a grave abuse of discretion on the part of the judge, I would strongly advocate that an administrative proceeding should be initiated against the judge, because either he is incompetent or in collusion. Q: Does a complaint have to be filed against the judge? SFMD: The SC can take moto propio action and have the judge investigated. Q: On the Senate investigation on bank glitches SFMD: We must be very careful not only on the part of the Senate, but also on the part of the media. We must exercise prudence. We should be prudent in investigating bank glitches. We need to assure public of the stability of our banking system. We should not speculate because we must reassure of our people of the stability of the banking industry. We must reassure our people that nothing is wrong. No depositor lost money. They have complained but the deposits were preserved and returned. There was no hacking, because we cannot afford to shake the belief of our people in the banking system. He must be very careful. We must not be part of any effort to destabilize our banking industry. Q: On the HoR and Court of Appeals issue over the Ilocos 6 SFMD: The House is acting within its bounds when it started to conduct as to how the sin tax, which amounts to billions, is being spent. That is within the prerogative of Congress especially now that we are trying to raise taxes. Certainly it is within the prerogative of the HoR to inquire how the sin taxes are being disbursed in this part of our country. In my estimate last year, tobacco-producing provinces were entitled to P9 billion in excise taxes on tobacco. It has already been decided in 19050's that the legislative has the right to compel a witness to attend and answer questions, which are propounded on them, unless it will incriminate them. You have not right to refuse to answer questions. If you do so, without any basis, you can be cited in contempt and detained The resource persons also have the right to seek judicial relief. They will argue that their refusal is not contemptuous, but they can bring the issue to the judicial system. Q: Can they refuse to answer? SFMD: No, they cannot refuse unless they would say that their answer would incriminate them in a criminal case and their answer can be used in a possible criminal case. Q: We're talking about the people's money and their refusal is already irritating Congress. SFMD: It's beyond irritation, because if you allow a witness not to respond, even if it will not incriminate the witness, then you cannot conduct any hearing and you cannot draw the necessary data for you to come up with appropriate legislation. Remember Karen the inquiries are in aid of legislation. If the resource person refuses to answer, you have no basis. Q: What you are saying is they should answer but they're not and went to CA? From there? SFMD: I have made public my view. The House is questioning the authority of the CA to issue a writ of habeas corpus. The House has every right to question, but they should bring this to the appropriate body, which is the SC. In other words, the procedures should be followed. We should avail of the remedies under the law. They should go on a petition for review in the SC. Q: Can the House file an admin case against eh CA justices? SFMD: That is within their prerogative to do. But they should first establish that there was an error, there was a grave abuse of discretion and there was malice by bringing this to the SC. Filing an administrative against to what you perceive as a grave abuse of authority is not the remedy. The remedy is to bring it up for review in the SC. If the SC says there was malice, incompetence on the part of the justices, then on that basis maybe you can file ad administrative case. Q: How can that be done where you're talking about you are three co-equal branches of government. SFMD: That is why we have a system of check and balance. That is the role of the SC to act as referee to say and to rule as to who is wrong and who is right. We cannot assume that we are always right. Q: Can Congress really abolish the CA? SFMD: Theoretically, since the CA is created by law Congress can abolish. But having said that, we will oppose it in the Senate. It will never happen. The CA is precisely established as part of the hierarchy of our court system. If we remove the CA, all the cases in the RTC will go to the SC. Q: If Congress insists on this, could there be a constitutional crisis? SFMD: I don't think so. But that's possible. I would appeal to our friends in Congress: bring it to the SC. That is the more reasonable manner by which this dispute can be settled. Q: On a more political point of view, are you curious with the fact that you have Gov. Marcos and Cong. Farinas, etc... SFMD: I would just rather express opinions on the basis of what proper behavior there should be in terms of process that we should follow. For the orderly disposition of this very sensitive issue, they should bring it to the SC and once and for all, the SC should decide whether or not it was proper for the six employees to claim that they could not answer, because asking the question is within the prerogative of the Congress and refusing to answer should not be tolerated, unless it is based on the ground that the answer could incriminate the witness and the answer can be used against him or her. Q: We have gov't employees not answering the question. What is the most sever penalty that Congress can give? SFMD: Congress is not supposed to impose penalties except by law. Q: The maximum is detention? SFMD: The maximum to compel them to answer is to detain them until they give the answers. Q: Technically you can detain them for months? SFMD: Technically, yes, especially when the SC says you have no right to refuse to answer the question, because nothing is incriminating. Q: If they are fearful of their lives? SFMD: Well, in the Senate we have our own witness protection program and we provide security to the witness. So it should not be the basis for refusing to answer. The only justification for refusing to answer a question in a congressional inquiry is when the witness claims that his or her answer could be used against him or her in a criminal case.
Press Release

June 21, 2017 Drilon: DOJ move to downgrade raps vs Espinosa killers can be brought to CA Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, a former justice secretary, said that a petition could be filed in the Court of Appeals (CA) to question the move of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to downgrade charges against policemen involved in the killing of the Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., raising a possibility of the Senate joining as a co-intervener. Citing a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Narciso v. Cruz (G.R. No. 134505), Drilon said that the private offended party - in this particular case, the family of Espinosa - could bring the issue to the CA. "Considering the overwhelming evidence against the accused, the families of the offended parties can question before the Court of Appeals the decision of the DOJ and the Regional Trial Court to charge the accused with the lesser offense of homicide on the ground of grave abuse of discretion," Drilon said. "The Senate has a stake in this case. The Senate unanimously took the position that Mayor Espinosa was murdered as he was killed with evident premeditation and abuse of authority," he said. "What the DOJ did was really deplorable- when they acted contrary to evidence gathered, not only by its department, but also by the Senate and the National Bureau of Investigation,," he stressed. Drilon said that the move should be brought to the higher court "in order to correct this patent abuse of discretion committed by the DOJ and by the judge," as he questioned the "undue haste" exercised by the judge in acting on the DOJ's motion to downgrade. He said that in ordinary circumstances the judge would allow the case to proceed and let it be questioned in the appellate courts. Drilon further explained that a court acquires jurisdiction over the case once a complaint or information is filed with it and is not bound to recognize or adopt a subsequent resolution of the DOJ. In fact, reliance on the resolution of the Secretary of Justice, or worse in this case, by an Undersecretary of the DOJ would be an abdication of the trial court's duty and jurisdiction to determine a prima facie case. The Supreme Court in the case of Leonardo Flores v. Raul Gonzalez and Eugene Lim (G.R. No. 188197, 3 August 2010), categorically stated that the trial court should make an assessment separate and independent from the evaluation of the prosecution or the Secretary of Justice, he noted. Once the issue is brought to the Supreme Court and it has ruled that there is a grave abuse of discretion on the part of the judge, Drilon said that he will strongly advocate that an administrative proceeding be initiated against the judge, "because either he is incompetent or in collusion with government authorities." The minority leader also asked the Philippine National Police to update the public on the status of the administrative case against Marcos and his cohorts.
Press Release

June 21, 2017 SENATE PANEL HEARS BILLS SEEKING TO AMEND THE SSS LAW The Senate Committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises conducted a hearing on bills seeking to amend Republic Act No. 8282 to give the state-run Social Security System more powers to enable it to grow their funds. Senator Richard J. Gordon, committee chair, noted that the fund life of the SSS was shortened by ten years due to the across the board increase in pension fund payment of P1,000/month. Thus, there is a need for the SSS to find ways to ensure continuous pension fund viability to serve members in perpetuity. "Aside from being more aggressive in getting more members, the SSS should be given the leeway to invest its funds in worthwhile endeavors so it can generate more resources so that our people will receive more than a paltry amount when they retire or when they die. I think this is one of the legacies that any country should aim for," he said. Gordon said the hearing also aims to determine compulsory coverage for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs); and the appropriateness of providing unemployment insurance benefit for covered employees. "The volatility of the working conditions of OFWs make them more vulnerable to the contingencies sought to be guarded against by the SSS. Thus, compulsory social security coverage should be extended to the OFWs," the senator explained. "WE propose that the SSS should provide unemployment insurance enough to meet the family's basic needs while the breadwinner is unemployed and is seeking employment." he also said. Those invited to the hearing from the government sector were Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez; Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno; Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III; Samuel Dagpin, chairman of the Government Commission for GOCCs; and Alex Avila, OIC-Executive Director of the National Wages and Productivity Commission. From the SSS, invited were Chairman Amado Valdez; Emmanuel Dooc, President & CEO, George Ongkeko Jr., Senior Vice President & Chief Actuary; and the commissioners of the SSS. Donald Dee, president of the Employers' Confederation of the Philippines, was also invited to represent the private sector.
Press Release

June 21, 2017 HELP MARAWI RISE FROM THE ASHES OF WAR - GORDON To enable Marawi City to rise from the ashes of war once the armed conflict ends and at the same time spur the development of Mindanao, Senator Richard proposes to convert Marawi City and the other municipalities around Lake Lanao into tourism attractions. Gordon pointed out that as the best natural asset and tourism gem in Lanao del Sur, a tourism development plan should be made capitalizing on the beauty of Lake Lanao and its surrounding areas and make them comparable to other cities in the world built around lakes. "We must all aim for the common good. Yung Marawi, dapat ngayon pa lang isipin na natin kung paano makakabangon pagkatapos ng giyera. The losers here are the people but they could be the biggest winners if we aim for the common good that after this battle that is going on there, we can convert Marawi and Lake Lanao and all the other areas around Lake Lanao, like some cities in Europe and other parts of the world, as tourism attractions. Gordon is set to file a bill which seeks the creation of a Lake Lanao Development Authority to undertake the development and promotion of the lake and its surrounding areas as tourism attractions, like Lake Tahoe in the United States and Lake Geneva in Europe, among others, which are major tourist attractions. "I have already proposed this before. Ngayon, we will include the train system in Mindanao, the development of the highways, and the construction of new airports para maging mas accessible ang Lake Lanao for tourists," the senator said. "Ang ganda-ganda ng view sa taas ng Lake Lanao, then near it is Maria Cristina Falls. We can have yacht clubs and boating around the lake. This can become a major tourism destination once it is developed and promoted properly. The roads should be widened and repaired to ensure safe and convenient travel. The residents could also open B & Bs (Bed & Breakfast), canteens or sell local delicacies or souvenir items. This will promote a culture of tourism among the people there. A strong tourism industry will not only help in Marawi's rehabilitation, it will also bring economic development not only to Marawi but also to the whole of Mindanao," he added.
Press Release

June 21, 2017 Keynote Speech of Senator Loren Legarda

Launching of the UP Resilience Institute

20 June 2017 | Bahay ng Alumni, Diliman, Quezon City Throughout history, the complexity of development problems has been widely examined for insights into better approaches and solutions. Yet, the problems have persisted and the tasks for well-intentioned development leaders have become even more daunting. Our world is wrought with danger. Climate change has intensified natural hazards, and disaster risks have been compounded by other human-induced factors such as poverty, unplanned urbanization, ecosystems loss and weak governance. A 2015 report by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) showed that between 1995 and 2015, "90% of major disasters have been caused by 6,457 recorded floods, storms, heat waves, droughts and other weather-related events. The five countries hit by the highest number of disasters are the United States (472), China (441), India (288), the Philippines (274), and Indonesia, (163)."[1] In that 20-year period, 606,000 lives were lost and 4.1 billion people injured, left homeless or in need of emergency assistance as a result of weather-related disasters.[2] Last year alone, disasters displaced 22 million people all over the world. According to the World Bank, 26 million people are thrown into poverty every year because of disasters, which cost the global economy US$ 520 billion annually.[3] In the coming years, the scenario could be worse. The United Nations Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 points to growing global inequality, increasing hazard exposure, rapid urbanization, and the overconsumption of energy and natural capital as major factors that would "drive risk to dangerous and unpredictable levels."[4] At the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held in Cancun, Mexico last month, nations reaffirmed their commitment to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and agreed to establish baseline data against which to measure progress in reducing disaster losses. By 2020, all countries should systematically account for disaster losses and have strategies in place to reduce it. The UNISDR stresses that data is key to disaster prevention as it helps improve our understanding of disaster risk and how underlying factors drive up losses. Having data baselines in place will help guide national and local strategies for reducing disaster risk. Among the strategies agreed in Cancun[5]: Conduct of disaster risk assessment of existing critical infrastructure by 2019;

Invest in collection of data and information on disaster risk and losses, taking into account the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples and addressing intensive and extensive risk, underlying risk drivers, and ensuring that they are tailored to local contexts;

Strengthen normative and regulatory frameworks at all levels for disaster risk reduction, improved land use, building codes, enforcement and accountability as well as make resilience affordable, reduce the economic incentive for vulnerable development, foster private and public partnerships, allocate budget for disaster risk reduction and make resilient investment gainful;

Make disaster risk assessments a prerequisite for infrastructure and housing investments;

Consider the risk of loss in infrastructure and housing and its consequences in the development of economic strategies and budgets. In all of these, science is crucial. The best strategies for disaster risk reduction are possible only with the guidance of science. Especially for the Philippines, an archipelagic country with one of the longest coastlines in the world, we need probabilistic maps and impact-based forecasts and risk-informed warnings through multi-hazard early warning systems. We need science in strengthening building codes and making risk-sensitive land use plans that are linked into yearly investment plans of governments. Hazard maps can provide a good foundation for the work of our planners and builders. We need science in capacitating the private sector, especially the micro, small and medium enterprises, as we urge and support them in creating business continuity plans that reflect corporate strategy on how to swiftly spring back to operations after each disaster. We need science in providing the depth and breadth of information that the public needs to make decisions and take early action. The role of the UP Resilience Institute is crucial here. I envision this to be a center for topnotch research on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Not only will it be a primary source of climate information, it will also disseminate information and essential tools for the public, especially the local government units (LGUs). The Project NOAH or Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards has been instrumental in improving disaster preparedness in the country. It has been very helpful particularly in providing accurate information and timely warnings to our agencies and communities. I am glad that it will be integrated within the UP Resilience Institute. Fundamentally, building resilience requires a risk-informed population. Everyone can help the government sustain our country's socio-economic gains, make a difference in poverty reduction and eventually ensure the achievement of sustainable development goals when perennial disaster losses are substantially reduced. There will be many more typhoons, earthquakes and other natural hazards that will come our way. The challenge at hand is to do more and to do better in prevention and risk reduction, to build back better following disasters, and build better from the start. I wish to end by reiterating our roles as builders, not just of communities of today, but communities of the future. Let us build a safer, more resilient and sustainable world for all. Thank you. ________________________________________ [1] The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters, UNISDR, 2015 [2] Ibid. [3] Data is Key to Disaster Prevention, Robert Glasser, UNISDR, 2017 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/594045bde4b0d99b4c920f59 [4] Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 [5] Leaders' Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction, The Cancun High-Level Communique - 24 May 2017 http://www.preventionweb.net/files/53439_thecancunhighlevelcommuniquof24may2.pdf
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Police using batons at a Berkeley City Council meeting Tuesday night arrested two people and struck protesters, including a 73-year-old man, after a demonstration erupted during a vote over whether to continue the Police Departments participation in a law enforcement training program called Urban Shield.

The meeting at Longfellow Middle School in south Berkeley turned chaotic when community members unfurled a banner and began chanting, Stop Urban Shield, as some mounted the stage where council members were seated. Council members were quickly ushered out of the room.

Officers ordered people off the stage, and two who refused were arrested, said Sgt. Andrew Frankel of the Berkeley Police Department.

Virginia Cooke, 34, of Oakland and Samir Shrestha, 31, of El Cerrito were booked on suspicion of disrupting a City Council meeting and resisting arrest, Frankel said. They were later released.

When the meeting ended, people chanted outside, Let them go, referring to the two arrests, said Mohamed Shehk, a spokesman for Critical Resistance, one of the groups opposing Urban Shield.

The demonstration escalated when residents tried to intervene as officers led Cooke and Shrestha to patrol cars, Frankel said.

Shehk said officers hit demonstrators with batons and threatened them with a tear gas launcher, but it was never deployed.

Frankel did not dispute that police used batons on protesters.

It would not surprise me if batons were used, Frankel said. Yes, one of our launchers did come out of one of the vehicles. No gas was ever deployed.

Lewis Williams, a 73-year-old Berkeley resident, followed the demonstrators outside, where he said police began pushing really violently against us.

As Williams stood in the crowd, he said, someone knocked off his glasses and when he bent down to pick them up, a baton struck him on the head.

I felt this blow on top of my head and then blood came streaming out, Williams said. It seems totally gratuitous that they would hit me like that. I didnt see it coming.

The City Council eventually voted 7-2 to continue the citys participation in Urban Shield for one more year while forming a subcommittee to review the programs training, meet with the police commission and work with the citys police and fire departments to identify alternatives.

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Urban Shield, funded by the federal Department of Homeland Security, trains law enforcement officers for disasters, terrorist attacks and crisis interventions. The event was held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton in September and drew over 500 protesters, with 20 detained after blocking fairground entrances.

The protesters believe Urban Shield militarizes police departments and pits them against communities of color. Frankel countered that the program has helped train Berkeley officers in such situations as serving warrants and responding to medical emergencies.

Mayor Jesse Arreguin voted to continue police involvement in the program for another year but said Wednesday he hoped the city would end its participation after that.

I think it would be irresponsible for the City Council to pull out immediately. I cannot put our officers and residents in harms way, Arreguin said.

He agreed with protesters concerns that Urban Shield hyper-militarizes police forces, but said alternative training programs still need to be identified before pulling out completely.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.3 rattled El Cerrito and other parts of the East Bay on Wednesday afternoon, according to the U.S Geological Survey.

The quake struck at noon at a depth of about 3 miles and lasted for nine seconds, the USGS reported. The shaker was centered near El Cerrito High School and was felt in nearby Kensington and in Berkeley, USGS reported.
San Francisco is exploring, once again, whether to arm police officers with stun guns in an effort to better subdue suspects and decrease shootings, with a working group set to present its findings Wednesday to the city Police Commission.

Proposals to acquire the electric shock weapons have been repeatedly defeated over the past decade, making the San Francisco Police Department the last major city force in the country without them, even though the police officers union wants access to them.

But this time, the focus of the debate has shifted.

The main concern in the past were deaths around the country associated with being shocked, but the question now being pressed by critics is whether the devices are effective enough  and what that means for an officer and a subject in an escalating, dangerous encounter.

Their utility is really limited, said John Burton, a Pasadena attorney who has represented plaintiffs in an estimated 30 lawsuits involving the weapons and who plans to make a presentation to the Police Commission, which will not hold a vote on the issue on Wednesday.

He noted that stun guns  which are typically Taser-brand weapons made by Arizonas Axon  shoot two dart-like electrodes that are supposed to strike a person, with a current between the electrodes then incapacitating them. Thick clothing or a backpack can get in the way.

You got to get two darts to land, and its got to be a good spread, Burton said. You have to be more than 7 feet away, but after 15 feet, the shot becomes impossible. The darts arent parallel and its just so easy to miss with that second dart.

Some San Francisco police officers, though, want another use-of-force option, even if they might only rarely turn to it. Former Chief Greg Suhr was a Taser proponent, suggesting the devices could have averted the fatal, video-recorded shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview neighborhood in December 2015.

Woods, a suspect in a stabbing who was allegedly still carrying a knife, was shot by several officers as he ignored commands and shuffled slowly along a sidewalk. The officers, whose actions are still under investigation, had failed to subdue him with beanbag blasts and pepper spray.

Police Chief Bill Scott, who took command in January, has said he supports Tasers, a view shared by the officers union. Martin Halloran, the union president, said officers needed more less-lethal options, especially after the Police Commission passed a more restrictive use-of-force policy in December emphasizing the sanctity of life.

We have the least amount of less-lethal options available to us now more than ever before, Halloran said. Give us the tools needed to do our job and do it efficiently.

Some experts, though, said a Taser might not have worked on Woods, who was wearing a puffy jacket.

My biggest concern as a cop is a cold weapon  a weapon that is not doing what it is supposed to, said Michael Leonesio, a retired Oakland officer who oversaw the departments roll-out of stun guns and who is also presenting to the Police Commission. The officer still thinks it works, it still fires the cartridge, but it doesnt take the subject down. So now what happens?

The presentation by the working group comes as part of the Police Commissions effort to implement a slate of recommendations made by the U.S. Justice Department in the wake of the Woods shooting.

While the Justice Department said the city should strongly consider deploying stun guns, the report also recommended that the department and the commission work with stakeholders and community members to make an informed decision.

Tasers are used by thousands of police forces around the country and have been scrutinized for years. A Justice Department study released in 2011, which looked at hundreds of cases in which people died after being stunned, recommended that police avoid shocking suspects repeatedly. Most of the deaths were linked by authorities to underlying health problems, drug use or other issues.

Axon is now pushing a Taser that generates a weaker current than past models. Steve Tuttle, a company spokesman, said the lower voltage does not affect an officers ability to use the weapon successfully, though some experts disagree.

A Los Angeles Times examination of police data found that at least eight of 36 people shot by officers in 2015 were wounded or killed during encounters in which officers said they tried to use a Taser without success.

The newer Taser model was released in 2013. According to the newspaper, while Tasers failed to subdue subjects in 35 percent of deployments in 2011 and 2012, the figure was 40 percent in 2013, 36 percent in 2014 and 47 percent in 2015.

Tuttle said Los Angeles had tracked each trigger pull, when most law enforcement agencies look at the entire incident when measuring success.

He noted that officers can try to fire a second Taser or use the device in drive stun mode, pressing it against a person to gain compliance. In looking at entire incidents, he said, agencies see a success rate between 84 and 94 percent .

Leonesio estimated that during his time in Oakland, Tasers failed about a third of the time  and that was with the older, stronger model. While officers can train for weapons failure, he said, its difficult with Tasers because the officer may be left in a dangerous position near the subject.

An officer might feel compelled to escalate to using lethal force, he said, or to shock a person repeatedly.

Im not condemning the weapon, Leonesio said. There is a place for it. But because of the output that they have now and because of all the research that has been done now and because of what we know about the weapons now, if I was in San Franciscos shoes, I wouldnt do it. It would not be a high priority.

Tuttle said Taser was able to introduce a less-powerful model because technology had progressed enough for the weapon to be more efficient using less power. Burton, the plaintiffs attorney, said the move was a response to lawsuits filed against the company.

In the process, he said, Axon has gone into overdrive with warnings intended to shield the company from liability.

Dont do it on a hard surface, dont tase somebody with a heart condition, or with asthma, Burton said. Well, how are you going to know that? These are impossible if the police are using them in dynamic, fight-type situations.

Police Commissioner Sonia Melara, who heads the Taser working group, said commissioners wont vote on whether to equip officers with Tasers until they hold at least two community meetings. The city has not estimated the cost of obtaining Tasers.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo
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
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a citywide ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products Tuesday, saying the candy tinctures and bright-colored wrapping help lure children into a life of addiction.

But the law met resistance from small grocers and smoke shop owners  many of them immigrants  who are grappling with other taxes and costs, including tobacco retailer licenses, cigarette litter abatement fees and the new $2-per-pack cigarette tax that state voters approved last year.

Some said they anticipate losing business to Daly City, which has no prohibitions on flavored tobacco, once the measure takes effect in April. Some also said the law pits one vulnerable population against another: It aims to protect the African Americans, teenagers and the LGBT community to whom these products are marketed but hurts San Franciscos Arab and Sikh store owners.

Dont get us wrong, we agree that cigarettes cause cancer, said Salim Nasser, owner of the New Star-Ell liquor store on Divisadero Street. But theyre not doing anything to help small businesses.

He and roughly half a dozen other store owners came to the supervisors meeting carrying signs with such slogans as Stop Criminalizing Our Communities and DPH = Duplicitous Player Haters  a reference to the Department of Public Health.

Store owners said the law would deprive them of an anchor product and open the door for an unregulated market of street cigarette vendors. Some of them noted the products cited in the ordinance are all available via online retailers.

Supervisors Malia Cohen, who sponsored the anti-flavored tobacco ordinance, said she recognized the impact it would have on mom-and-pop shops. Even so, she maintained that the April start date gave them ample time to sell their existing inventory of vapes, cigarillos, e-cigarettes and hookah tobacco, and replace it with something else.

We are not looking to put small stores out of business, she said at the board meeting on Tuesday. We want to help them make this transition from selling a poisonous commodity to selling something that will benefit the neighborhood.

Supervisor Ahsha Safai, who co-sponsored the ordinance, deemed it a righteous jab at advertising campaigns that he said carried over from the last century.

Can you imagine its 2017, and were dealing with something that happened back in the 1950s? he asked his colleagues at the meeting. He said the eye-catching wrappers and fruit tints are meant to cultivate the next generation of smokers to fill an industry.

Low income communities of color are feeding one of the most deadly industries in the U.S., he said.

San Francisco is among several Bay Area cities taking a stand against flavored tobacco. Two years ago Berkeley created 600-foot buffers around schools where the sale of flavored and menthol tobacco products is forbidden. Santa Clara County outlawed the products in October, and the Oakland City Council is contemplating a similar ban.

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The loose coalition of store owners who attended Tuesdays meeting said they plan to take legal action.

This is going to completely put me out of business, lamented Asad Sharifi, owner of Cheaper Cigarettes in the Sunset. He and other opponents feared the law would cause San Franciscos commercial strips to be littered with vacant storefronts.

Theyre going after all the stuff we make our money on, Sharifi continued. Cigarettes just bring people in the door.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @rachelswan
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A $220,000-a-year senior manager at San Francisco International Airport is out of a job following a bizarre episode in which he allegedly showed up at a church during a Spanish-language service wearing an ICE jacket.

An airport spokesman declined to say whether the departure of former facilities director Peter Acton was directly connected to the June 4 incident at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in San Rafael. But spokesman Doug Yakel confirmed that Acton has been released from employment by the city and county of San Francisco.

City Hall sources told us that Acton, 56  one of a dozen senior managers who reported directly to Airport Director Ivar Satero  had initially been put on leave and was under investigation for work-related violations that included the possible misuse of a city vehicle in connection with the church incident.

According to the predominantly Latino worshipers at the church, a man fitting Actons description showed up in a San Francisco city vehicle wearing a jacket that resembled those worn by Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers. They said that ICE was spelled out on the jacket and that it had an official-looking emblem on the back.

Witnesses said the man had photographed car license plates in the parking lot and videotaped people inside the church.

However, San Rafael police were not called to investigate until three days after the incident, when complaints began coming into Democratic Rep. Jared Huffmans office and a local immigration legal services agency.

Acton, who lives near the church, told police he had prior unresolved complaints about noise from church services and went there June 4 to gather evidence to support his claims, according to a police-issued statement that did not identify Acton by name.

As for the ICE jacket? Acton told police that he had purchased it online. Investigators concluded it was a novelty item and wasnt realistic enough to warrant charges of impersonating a federal officer.

Acton did not respond to our calls seeking comment.

Inve$tigate: In keeping with its tradition of big-name and big-bucks investigations, the University of California will pay up to $210,000 for an independent look into allegations that President Janet Napolitanos office interfered with a recent state audit into its spending habits.

UC will pay the law firm of Hueston Hennigan a blended rate of $595 an hour for partners who work on the investigation and $395 an hour for associates. The tab will be capped at $165,000, unless the UC regents give the OK to spend more.

In addition, UC is tapping former state Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno to help with the investigation for a fee not to exceed $45,000.

The investigation was prompted by a state audit that found that Napolitanos office had squirreled away $175 million and had tampered with campuses responses to a state survey on the effectiveness of programs run by the presidents office.

While $210,000 for an investigation is a hefty price, it is just a fraction of the $1 million that the presidents office spent investigating allegations of wrongdoing by former UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi. That probe, headed by former U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, led to Katehis resignation in August.

In 2012, UC paid $445,879 to the security consulting firm Kroll Associates to help with a task force headed by former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso looking into the pepper spaying of student demonstrators by UC Davis police.

More recently, the presidents office spent $57,671 on the probe into how outgoing UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks received a free campus gym membership, personal training sessions and an elliptical machine  perks that totaled all of about $5,000.

Monica Lozano, who chairs the Board of Regents, declined to discuss the review of the presidents office while it is under way.

As for the other investigations, UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein said UC had a legal and ethical responsibility to determine the facts when there is credible evidence that might suggest improper activity.

And finally: Emirates Team New Zealand has been thrashing Larry Ellisons Oracle Team USA at the Americas Cup in Bermuda, and the Americans will need a dramatic turnabout to keep the title.

But judging by one recent news report, the regatta is also stirring political waves for the island nation of Bermuda over the cost of the event.

The Bermuda government has spent up to $77 million securing the rights to host and stage the 35th Americas Cup, said Radio New Zealand, and many locals believe the money would have been better spent on social infrastructure such as schools.

Sound familiar?

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross
In keeping with its tradition of big-name and big-bucks investigations, the University of California will pay up to $210,000 for an independent look into allegations that President Janet Napolitanos office interfered with a recent state audit into its spending habits.

UC will pay the law firm of Hueston Hennigan a blended rate of $595 an hour for partners who work on the investigation and $395 an hour for associates. The tab will be capped at $165,000, unless the UC regents give the OK to spend more.

In addition, UC is tapping former state Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno to help with the investigation for a fee not to exceed $45,000.

The investigation was prompted by a state audit that found that Napolitanos office had squirreled away $175 million and had tampered with campuses responses to a state survey on the effectiveness of programs run by the presidents office.

While $210,000 for an investigation is a hefty price, it is just a fraction of the $1 million that the presidents office spent investigating allegations of wrongdoing by former UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi. That probe, headed by former U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, led to Katehis resignation in August.

In 2012, UC paid $445,879 to the security consulting firm Kroll Associates to help with a task force headed by former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso looking into the pepper spaying of student demonstrators by UC Davis police.

More recently, the presidents office spent $57,671 on the probe into how outgoing UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks received a free campus gym membership, personal training sessions and an elliptical machine  perks that totaled all of about $5,000.

Monica Lozano, who chairs the Board of Regents, declined to discuss the review of the presidents office while it is under way.

As for the other investigations, UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein said UC had a legal and ethical responsibility to determine the facts when there is credible evidence that might suggest improper activity.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross
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.

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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
It may be one of the most exclusive clubs on Twitter, a diverse group of users who share, it seems, one big thing in common  theyve been blocked by President Trump.

Among them are comedians, veterans, entrepreneurs, journalists, a professional athlete, a mom, staunch liberals and registered Republicans.

Most were surprised when the presidents Twitter page informed them they would no longer be able to follow his updates or respond to his tweets. They feel cut off, some say. Censored.

But Trump is not the only public official who routinely blocks constituents on social media.

Californians have taken to Twitter to express exasperation at being blocked by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Kamala Harris.

In Kentucky, the Democratic Party is keeping a running list of people Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has blocked on Twitter, using the hashtag #BevinBlocked.

Amy Osborne/Special to The Chronicle

Its not just happening on Twitter. In just two years, Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has blocked 450 people from his Facebook page, according to the Washington Post.

In nearly all cases, constituents frustrated at being silenced by elected officials are searching for ways to fight back and make their voices heard.

This battle  over whether losing access to social media maintained by a public official violates citizens constitutional rights  is raging in a new and untested arena: social networks owned by private corporations.

Its definitely become a larger problem, because it mirrors where we have our discussions now as a society, said Aaron Mackey, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online civil rights group.

Many legal experts believe losing access to elected officials social accounts violates constituents First Amendment rights to free speech and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

In some states, like California, elected officials block lists  detailing exactly which accounts they have blocked or muted on social media  may also be subject to open-records laws.

But for individuals who suddenly find themselves blocked on social media by their elected representatives, the path forward remains murky at best.

Some, like a disabled Army veteran in Arizona, have taken a literal approach: ProPublica reports that the veteran has been delivering actual blocks to the office of Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., three times a week.

Others, like South Bay paralegal and open-records activist Angela Greben, have looked to the courts to intervene.

We still have the right to due process, she said. If Im blocked or muted (by a public official), I should be informed that Im being blocked or muted and given the right to appeal that action.

Greben has for the last two years assumed the mantle of pushing public officials to reveal who they have blocked on social media. As a result, she has herself been blocked by many officials across the country.

They dont want to hear about it, she said.

Last year, Greben requested to see which accounts San Mateo Mayor David Lim had blocked or muted on Twitter.

Lim declined, saying his Twitter account was personal and not subject to public records requests.

Then, in March, Californias Supreme Court determined public employees communications are subject to public disclosure under the states Public Records Act  even if that communication takes place on personal devices.

Greben resubmitted her request.

He responded with a redacted list, she said. It was a pretty lousy response.

Then she filed a petition in court to compel the city to fully comply with her request. They settled and sent her a full list of accounts being blocked or muted by the mayor. Lim, it turned out, had muted Greben  a softer version of blocking that still let her see his tweets but meant he would not see her replies.

There were exactly four people who I blocked in my eight years on the council. Their level of discourse sunk to a level that even as an elected official I felt I shouldnt have to tolerate, Lim said. If you walk into my office and start yelling at me, I can walk out of the office. To me, it was the same.

Since the city settled with Greben last month, Lim has unblocked everyone  four accounts total  and vowed not to block or mute any Twitter users for the remainder of his term.

The city of San Mateo has since revised its social media policy to explicitly state that social media pages of city agencies or officials cannot block or mute people.

Joe Papp, a professional cyclist and self-described progressive Republican, said he is also prepared to go as far as filing suit against the president to regain access to his Twitter feed.

He is one of the #BlockedByTrump bunch, as they have become known on Twitter, who have joined with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University to demand that Trump unblock people who disagreed with, criticized, or mocked him on the social network.

Blocking users from your Twitter account violates the First Amendment, the Knight Institutes letter to the White House read. When the government makes a space available to the public at large for the purpose of expressive activity, it creates a public forum from which it may not constitutionally exclude individuals on the basis of viewpoint. This is true even if the space in question is metaphysical rather than physical.

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This month, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that the presidents tweets should be considered official public statements.

Echoing some legal arguments as to why blocking constituents on social media tramples on peoples rights, Papp said Trump blocking him is the same as being tossed from a town hall meeting or public forum for holding a protest sign.

Papp, who had set his Twitter app to notify him whenever the president sent a tweet, said he first noticed something strange: As the Internet continued to debate, defend and decry his decision to withdraw from an international climate-change agreement, Trump seemed silent.

When he clicked through to Trumps personal Twitter page, he realized what had happened. Trump had blocked him.

Papp was shocked, then confused. He hadnt even said anything offensive, he thought.

I was not even trolling him, Papp said. Usually I used words like sir, tried to be respectful, even when I disagreed.

Days later, the president blocked VoteVets, a progressive veterans advocacy group, after the group had tweeted a critique of Trumps path to the White House and implied his campaign had colluded with an adversary of the United States.

I watched myself get blocked by the president of the United States in real time, said Will Fischer, VoteVets director of government relations. It was surreal. But I absolutely believe Donald Trump did this himself.

Free-speech issues arise when politicians block people from any accounts being used to conduct official business, said David Greene, the civil liberties director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Papp said he is prepared to take his push to be unblocked by Trump as far as needed.

This is something that I would hope people are chilled by regardless of their party or ideology, he said. The president is using this medium to comment on policy and make official announcements while also trying to control how it appears his message is being received.

Of course, this wasnt the first time Papp found himself blocked by a powerful person. Earlier this year, he said, he was blocked by two of Trumps sons: Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

Marissa Lang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mlang@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @Marissa_Jae
Make no mistake: Amazon.coms proposed $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market is not just about organic fruits and veggies.

Yes, Amazons purchase of Whole Foods poses a monumental threat to regular grocery chains, whose shares were decimated Friday. But once completed, the deal will make Amazon a major physical retailer overnight. And that means Amazon will have breached the last line of effective defense protecting traditional chains like Target, Sears, and Gap in San Francisco from the online giant in Seattle.

Though brick-and-mortar chains have lost significant market share to Amazon over the years, they could take some comfort that people still like to visit stores. Online sales are growing at a double-digit rate every year, yet stores still capture most dollars. In 2015, by the most recent government data, e-commerce accounted for only 7.2 percent of all retail sales in the United States.

In other words, it only seems like everyone buys everything at Amazon. For all of the companys power, there are limits to online shopping. With certain merchandise, consumers still want to experience the real thing and get in-person customer service.

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Amazon was initially successful because they could see that with some products, some categories, you dont need physical stores, said Nadia Shouraboura, a former top executive at Amazon who oversaw global supply chain and fulfillment.

But the company always knew that some categories  food, apparel and some electronics  required a real world presence, she said.

John McNellis of McNellis Partners, a real estate development firm in Palo Alto, said it was inevitable that Amazon would expand into brick and mortar for one reason: E-commerce generates little or no profit, he said. McNellis Partners specializes in malls and shopping centers.

And the company to blame for those economics is ... Amazon. The retailer popularized free delivery, which forced competitors to match it. Now shoppers naturally expect the service at no charge. But getting a product from a warehouse to a home or business costs a lot of money, McNellis said.

As long as there is free delivery, the e-commerce system is flawed, McNellis said.

Indeed, the retailer turns out razor thin profits. Last year, Amazon generated only a $2.37 billion profit on sales of $136 billion, a margin of less than 2 percent, according to the companys financial data.

According to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, thats all part of the plan. Percentage margins are not one of the things we are seeking to optimize, he once told Harvard Business Review.

Now, Amazon is pressuring the industry with same-day or even one-hour delivery. In San Francisco, Prime Now deliveries arent dispatched from its big distribution center in Reno or even its closer-in center in Tracy. Instead, they come from a smaller warehouse in the Dogpatch neighborhood.

For the two- and three-day delivery standards, you can have warehouses out in the middle of cornfields in Kansas, but for same-day delivery you need premium fulfillment facilities closer in to the city, said Byron Carlock, who oversees real estate for the PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting firm. Major online retailers are seeking space closer to large cities.

But such industrial space is increasingly hard to find.

A report last year by PwC and the Urban Land Institute found that e-commerce retail requires three times as much warehouse space as brick-and-mortar chains. In 2017, only 5.5 percent of the 9.2 billion square feet of warehouse and distribution space in the United States has not yet been leased or purchased, according to JLL, a commercial real estate firm.

Thats where big-box chains enjoyed a major advantage over Amazon. Over the past five years, Best Buy has been remaking its supply chain so its stores can fill online orders, effectively making 1,000 Best Buy stores in the United States mini-warehouses. And more than 70 percent of Americans live within a 15-minute drive of a Best Buy store.

Walmart has gone further, toying with the idea of having store workers double as delivery personnel, driving packages to customers on the way home.

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Amazon has been experimenting with physical stores. The online giant recently opened an automated physical store in Seattle, called Amazon Go, in which shoppers can pick out their groceries and leave without having to stop at a checkout station.

The retailer has opened bookstores  one is coming soon in Walnut Creek  and pop-up stores in malls, including Westfield San Francisco Centre. The company is trying to open a grocery store in Sunnyvale (plans for one in San Carlos have been abandoned.)

In the deal, Amazon will gain roughly 460 stores, most in the range of 30,000 to 45,000 square feet in size  or 18.2 million square feet in prime real estate in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. (Thats not even counting Whole Foods 11 distribution centers, its seafood processing centers, kitchens or coffee roastery.)

This is a good opportunity for Amazon to get access to great locations that are very, very close to the consumer, said Shouraboura, the ex-Amazon executive who now runs retail technology startup Hointer.

Most importantly, Amazon will gain crucial experience in running physical stores, in which consumers interact with real people, not algorithms.

When you get into the brick-and-mortar space, you want to be a destination that offers an experience that people want to come to, said Alicia Hare, a former top executive at Target who now runs West Coast operations for SYPartners, a consulting firm in San Francisco. Whole Foods has historically done that very well. Thats very helpful for Amazon to learn before they extend anywhere else.

The interesting question: Will Bezos seek to keep Whole Foods lush operating margins? Or will he cut prices and bring his take-no-prisoners approach from e-commerce to the produce aisles?

Thomas Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. He is author of Rebuilding Empires (St. Martins Press), on the future of big box retail in the digital age. Email: tlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByTomLee
When 6-year-old Juliana and her 19-month-old brother, Julian, didnt come home from a Fathers Day celebration with their dad at 7 p.m., the agreed upon time, their mother started to worry.

She drove past their fathers Santa Rosa home on the 700 block of Slater Street, but couldnt get ahold of him. By 7:30 p.m. Sunday, she called the police.

Officers obtained a warrant to enter Alvaro Botelho da Camaras apartment Monday around 9:50 a.m. and found he had killed his two children before hanging himself, Lt. Mike Lazzarini of the Santa Rosa Police Department said Tuesday.

They are my precious innocent children that were beyond loved by their family, friends and community, the childrens mother, Connie Rodriguez Camara, wrote in a public statement published Tuesday in the Press Democrat.

As community members were left reeling from the double murder-suicide, family members of Botelho da Camara in Brazil were shocked to hear he could commit such a crime.

He loved his kids so much. He loved life, his sister, Carla Carvalho of Brazil, told The Chronicle in a private message exchange on Facebook.

He must have had such great pain and suffering for what he did. Only he knows the motive for his barbarity, the 39-year-old added in Portuguese.

Connie Rodriguez Camara and her husband had been separated for several months and had often argued about whether he should have access to the children, she wrote in her statement.

I sought help on numerous occasions and said many, many, many times my children were in danger in their fathers care and I didnt receive the urgent help I needed to save them, she wrote.

On April 29, police were called to mediate an argument between the couple over a disagreement involving the children. Police were called again nearly a month later on May 31 to help settle an argument over custody, Lazzarini said.

Both times, the arguments were resolved and the situation never escalated into violence, he added.

Camara had nothing remarkable, just an arrest for driving under the influence in his past, Lazzarini said.

The couple reached a child custody agreement on June 14, just four days before the killings. A judge ordered that Camara be granted visitation rights on weekends, including Fathers Day, Lazzarini said.

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And for those four days, there werent any issues. No arguments where police were called, Lazzarini said.

Nothing prepared anyone for what they found when they finally gained entry into Camaras apartment.

Everybody is very distraught, Lazzarini said. Theres no question about that. The family is very upset from the experience. The community is upset.

The manner in which the children were killed has not been released, pending autopsy results, which are expected later this week, authorities said.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
Every once in a while, even the president says something that makes sense. One hundred and thirty-two days into his term, at 12:06 a.m., Donald Trump tweeted, Despite the constant negative press covfefe.

Disclaimer from the outset: I am part of that constant negative press. Proudly.

Covfefe? The Twitterverse exploded with questions, and Sean Spicer, the press secretary stated, The president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant. And then the item got buried under the news of Comey, Sessions and obstruction of justice.

But in one of his follow-up tweets, Trump wrote, Who can figure out the true meaning of covfefe ??? Enjoy!

This is a man incapable of a philosophy longer than 140 characters, and yet he got it right. Covfefe means nothing. Some days there is no explanation for why the good guys do not win. But in the meantime, savor the mystery.

There is no reason why fire killed those people in the Grenfell Tower or why three UPS drivers were murdered in San Francisco.

In the outer, outer, outer Excelsior, the workings of the universe also seem random. There was no rationale as to why Brian and I lost the triplets. Or why Tim died from AIDS. Or why both of my sons were born drug exposed, and will always be considered special.

John Lennon once sang that Life is what happens to you while youre busy making other plans. There is as much wisdom in that as there is in covfefe.

When Zane was a baby, before even his first expulsion, as I was changing his diaper, I noticed what I thought was the largest hunk of snot that I had ever seen in a childs nose. I took a swipe at his nostril and out came a lima bean.

Now I was tired, as was evidenced by the fact that at 3 in the afternoon I was still in my bathrobe. But what made this even more inexplicable was that I never cook lima beans. I do not serve lima beans. Ive never actually tasted lima beans. This dates back to Nurse Vivian, who had a reputation for ruining vegetables. Example: She boiled kidney beans in vinegar and corn with mayonnaise. So the night she surprised us with succotash, I took a stand. She coaxed, but if I inherited nothing else in my Irish genes, I got the stubbornness, and I said, I am never going to eat a lima bean. This is just about the only promise that Ive managed to keep for 51 years in a row.

So I asked Tita Ann Mabutas, who had been babysitting Zane, and she said, Oh, yes, I fed him leem-a beans three days ago.

When she looked panicked, I said, Tita Ann, it happens. Babies get lima beans in their nose. I just want to know how.

Tita Ann told me of a baby who grew a plant out of his belly button, and so she theorized that Zane had stuck one in his ear, and it had traveled down his eustachian tube into his nose.

There was a more pragmatic theory: that I was a lousy housekeeper who hadnt noticed the leftover vegetable in his high chair, which Zane found and stuck in his proboscis three days later to see if he could get his old dad going. The lousy housekeeper theory would also explain the bathrobe at 3 in the afternoon.

And the third possibility is divine intervention. The universe may have decided that my boycott had gone on too long, that it was time for me to stop and smell the lima beans.

What do you think? Sloth? Passage through the eustachian tube? Lima bean transubstantiation? Me, Im going with the third answer because I like a little mystery. When it comes to faith, its just as likely that the universe has a reason as that it has no reason at all, so I might as well pick the solution with the puzzle, because it makes life more interesting.

Eleven years have passed since the miracle of the lima bean. I dont know any more answers to the meaning of life, other than perhaps covfefe. All I know is that this week that little boy walked home from school on his own for the very first time. A decidedly different kind of miracle.

It strikes me that I have just said a nice thing about Donald Trump, so with regret I must report that I am no longer part of the constant negative press. Make that just most-of-the-time-negative press.

Kevin Fisher-Paulsons column appears Wednesdays in Datebook. Email: datebook@sfchronicle.com
Contra Costa County loves its jails.

On Tuesday, county supervisors voted to accept a $70 million state grant to expand the West County Detention Facility in Richmond. And because the board apparently believes in handcuffing county residents, the county will chip in $25 million for construction  and then $5 million a year more than what it currently pays to operate the jails.

Contra Costa Sheriff David Livingston gets the 150,000-square-foot expansion hes been in hot pursuit of for two years while county residents get stuck singing jailhouse blues.

Livingston maintains that the expansion will include a high-security wing that will allow the transfer of about 400 inmates now housed at the overcrowded Martinez Detention Facility. Livingston has also said he needs the extra space to help inmates by providing mental health, substance abuse programs, job training and re-entry services.

How thoughtful.

Heres a thought: You shouldnt have to go to jail to get basic health and job services. You know, if more people had access to the services, maybe they wouldnt be getting thrown into jail.

The money that is available would be better spent on programs to keep people out of incarceration and to deal with re-entry, said Richmond Mayor Tom Butt, who opposes the jail-expansion plans.

Of course, directing corrections funds toward crime prevention would be bad business for those in the jail business  those who profit off mass incarceration.

Take Contra Costa County, for example. It contracts with the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys Immigration and Customs Enforcement division to operate a federal immigration detention center in the West County Detention Facility. The county receives about $6 million a year from the feds to run the detention facility, about $3 million after costs are deducted. Thats a 50 percent profit.

At the end of the day, it just doesnt make any sense to expand your jail when youre renting out 20 percent to ICE, Butt said. Youve obviously got excess capacity if youre renting it out.

If the county was truly interested in crime prevention it would do what Richmond did. Years ago, Richmond was considered one of the most dangerous cities in America, but the number of killings in the city fell from a high of 47 in 2009 to 24 last year.

Violence-prevention programs, such as the Office of Neighborhood Safety, have been credited with making Richmond safer. To steer at-risk youth clear of the streets that are, in rough neighborhoods, one-way paths to the slammer, you must provide access to opportunity.

Stop throwing the book at people who start at the bottom.

But no  were headed in the wrong direction. Last month, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered federal prosecutors to seek the harshest possible penalties for drug-related offenses. Remember, Livingston was one of six California sheriffs who took heat for a February meeting with Sessions, the guy whose role in making America great again is making sure prosecutors put more black and brown people into jail.

While talking to Butt, I thought of an idea that could change the world.

And its huge, bigger than anything those diversity-averse hacks in Silicon Valley have ever seen. And while this thought is really far out, you dont need an Uber to get where Im heading.

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Just think: What if more money was allocated to keep people out of jail than  wait for it  putting and keeping people in jail?

If nothing else, its one way to reduce soaring housing costs in the Bay Area.

It all makes sense to me, but clearly some people dont agree with that, Butt said.

In Livingstons plan, there will be new visiting areas for inmates to spend time with their children, as if jail visitation is just another item in an otherwise amicable custody agreement.

In his world, if kids have a more comfortable space to see their parents during Mothers Day and Fathers Day visits, why fool with programs that could help keep people out of jail?

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr
Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

With wrecking ball force, the Trump team is crushing environmental rules, Wall Street regulations and immigration laws. Now its moving into the night-school classroom by dialing back oversight on financial practices by for-profit colleges.

Just days before reforms are due to take effect, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is hitting the pause button on two regulations that would let defrauded students off the hook for steep loans and set standards to limit future abuses linked to lofty promises of good paying jobs. DeVos said the Obama-era regulations were unfair and wants to plan a better course, a process that may take years to develop.
Olivier Douliery/Bloomberg

Former President Barack Obama was rightly mocked for an overblown, under-honored vow to lead the most transparent administration in history. The best that can be said for President Trumps transparency is that he never promised anything of the kind.

Trump is as hostile to the medias power to tell the truth as he is dependent on it to disseminate falsehoods. When it became clear that his campaign was buoyed by misleading social-media dispatches, Trump repurposed fake news as a slur against real journalism. His war on the enemy of the people, the Stalinist epithet he has applied to the press, has only escalated during a presidency that is making Obamas openness record look like Edward Snowdens.
Are there lessons from Chinas extraordinary urban transformation and rapid-fire expansion for the Bay Area, and, specifically, for San Francisco? After all, San Francisco has long prided itself as a city of scale, a multiracial, multiethnic urban oasis that is at once tolerant and livable. However, rapid gentrification that has swept neighborhoods has eroded that reputation and extended growing class and racial divides. San Francisco is increasingly becoming privatized, where public spaces are privately operated and where Uber and Lyft rides and Google buses claim the streets.

Chinas cities, too, are becoming more privatized, where public goods are turned into private acquisitions and what seems old and traditional is being demolished. For example, China has established its own version of gated communities, or sealed residential quarters. These include huge residential and commercial developments as large as 30 to 50 acres, with populations ranging from 200,000 to 300,000. These resemble more of a city within a city, with buildings ranging from six to 10 stories. One benefit of this privatized space is exclusive parking with controlled access and a closed perimeter, an enormous premium as roads become congested and parking becomes scarce and contested.

In China, privatization is an outgrowth of a government development philosophy that emphasizes urbanization, marketization and modernization. Chinas megacities have been created nearly overnight. Onetime fishing village Shenzhen and its surrounding areas have grown from a population of 50,000 to 18 million in just 35 years. At the same time, these megacities have developed enormous class divides, Chinas version of the tale of two cities.

A huge migrant population, numbering 280 million, is on the move, seeking work in the industrial corridors in and around the growing urban middle-class clusters. For perspective, if this population were a separate country, it would be the seventh most populous in the world.

As a result of this urbanization, the historical character of cities such as Shanghai is being undermined and transformed. Shanghais famous alleyways are now seen as places that need to be cleaned and remade smooth and quiet into passageways for cars and for shopping enclaves.

Meanwhile, Chinas reputation as the Kingdom of Bicycles is in decline in the face of the push for automobiles as one of the pillars of the new society and for the status it represents for those who can afford to purchase one.

Yet, Chinese cities, like Shanghai and even Shenzhen, still have a vibrant edge separate from their privatized, modern spaces for wealthier residents. These include the remaining alleyways, the street vendors and small shops, the wet markets, and the public dancing (primarily seniors, also known as the dancing grannies).

The huge influx of migrants from other provinces that has taken place in the past 20 to 30 years have created what are called villages in the city, places where migrants have reconstructed a new form of urban culture. As such, according to UC Berkeley architecture and urban design Professor Margaret Crawford, these villages represent a genuine bottom up urbanism in a city where top-down mandates play an ever-increasing role in city building.

For San Francisco, in an age of gentrification and squeezed neighborhoods, where the private trumps the public good, the need for a bottom-up urbanism is as great as in a rapidly urbanizing China. Affordable housing, a critical need in San Francisco and urban China, needs to be complemented by support for the immigrant shops, restaurants and street food and other bottom-up community developments that strengthen rather than displace residents; that embrace rather than undermine the grittier, more diverse parts of daily life of neighborhoods in San Francisco  or Shanghai or Guangzhou.

Robert Gottlieb and Simon Ng are the authors of Global Cities: Urban Environments in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China (MIT Press, 2017).
After a devastating loss in an extensively  and expensively  targeted Georgia congressional race, Democrats on Wednesday erupted in an explosion of finger pointing and second-guessing, blaming the defeat on party leaders, an inexperienced candidate and an uninspiring message.

Karen Handel, a veteran GOP local and state officeholder, beat Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old former congressional aide, by a surprisingly easy 52 to 48 percent in the suburban Atlanta district in what was the nations most expensive House race ever.

San Franciscos Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, was an easy target for disappointed Democrats looking to place blame for the loss. Throughout the campaign, Republicans worked overtime to tie Ossoff to Pelosi and what for years the GOP has derided as San Francisco values. TV ads, mailers and other campaign efforts painted Ossoff as little more than Pelosis puppet.

Pelosis visibility in a losing race was a cause for concern among a number of rank-and-file House Democrats.

I think youd have to be an idiot to think we could win the House with Pelosi at the top, Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Texas, told Politico Wednesday. Nancy Pelosi is not the only reason that Ossoff lost. But she certainly is one of the reasons.

Pelosis supporters were quick to respond, arguing that a victory in the ruby-red Georgia district was always a long shot for Democrats.

That is an extremely Republican district that we had little chance of winning, said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, a longtime Pelosi ally. It doesnt matter who our leader is, the Republicans will always run against them, someone else in our caucus or Willie Horton, referring to the convicted Massachusetts murderer Republicans used to make Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis look weak on crime during the 1988 campaign.

Pelosi tried to put the best face on the loss Wednesday.

In a note to her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi cited the progress Democrats looking to seize historically Republican seats made in four special elections, as they narrowed the GOP margins from November.

Every effort was made to win last night, Pelosi said. But we dont agonize, we organize  organize inside the House and mobilize outside for the good of the American people.

Pelosi was more pragmatic in a closed Wednesday morning caucus with House Democrats, Politico reported.

A loss is a loss. It is a setback, Pelosi told the members. But not good news for Republicans, who went all-out to defend what should have been a safe seat.

And Pelosis team was quick to defend her from Democrats looking to tag her with Ossoffs loss.

Right, lets abandon the partys best $ raiser & consensus builder because Rs dont like a Democratic woman that gets things done, Drew Hammill, a top Pelosi aide, tweeted late Tuesday night.

But its impossible to deny that the result in the high-profile special election was beyond disheartening for Democrats, who had touted the contest as a golden chance to show how President Trumps national unpopularity could be used as a springboard to taking back the House in 2018.

It didnt work, as gleeful Republicans were all too happy to point out.

Democrats bold claims to compete for GOP-held suburban seats blew up in their faces in Georgia, said Jack Pandol, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Trump himself chimed in with a series of Tuesday night tweets.

More on Georgia House Race In Georgia, Republican thanks Trump after expensive House win

Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and 0! All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0.

Kellyanne Conway, a top aide to the president, was more succinct.

Laughing my #Ossoff, she tweeted.

The loss also adds fuel to the long-running dispute between progressive backers of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and the mainstream party leaders who backed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary.

Winning GOP-held districts like the one in Georgia requires doing something drastically different than establishment Democrats have done before  specifically, running on a bold progressive vision, Jim Dean, chairman of the progressive group Democracy for America, said in a post-election statement. The same tired, centrist Democratic playbook that has come up short cycle after cycle will not suffice.

But party leaders worked quickly to buck up disappointed Democrats.

The Georgia race was just one of 435 that will be contested next year, and Democrats still have a unique opportunity to take control of the House in 2018, said New Mexico Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

There are somewhere between 94 and 71 districts more competitive than the one Democrats lost Tuesday, and the party only needs to win 24 of them, he said in a long memo to DCCC members and staff. We will take the many lessons learned ... and apply them to the battlefield.

But there were some important takeaways from Tuesdays contest.

Democrats lost: Despite raising $25 million, Ossoffs going home and Handels going to Congress. While Democrats might try to cast the 52- to 48-percent margin in a strongly Republican district as a moral victory, close doesnt count when it comes to trimming the GOP margin in the House.

Republicans barely won: The GOP was forced to spend millions in a desperate effort to hang onto a district that normally should be a slam-dunk victory. In South Carolina Tuesday night, Republicans barely kept a seat they won by 20 percentage points in November. If even the deep-red seats are in play, what does that mean for the partys toss-up races next year?

Experience matters: Handel, 55, served on the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, was elected Georgias secretary of state, lost a tight primary battle for governor in 2010 and finished third in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in 2014. Thats a lot of times voters saw her on the ballot. By contrast, Ossoff sported a thin resume in his first run for political office. He worked five years as an aide to Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson, and that was about it.

What about Trump? Ossoff went into the April primary vowing to make Trump furious. But by election day, the president had virtually disappeared from his stump speeches as Ossoff tried to connect with Republicans who might be turned off by partisan attacks. It didnt work, and many Democrats already are arguing that future candidates need to be full-time attack dogs, making the unpopular president and his policies the focus of every contest.

New message? Progressives argue that if Democrats are going to lose, they should lose fighting on their own turf, going all out with candidates willing to fight for issues like single-payer health care, free college tuition, green energy, tough environmental rules and a stronger safety net. But mainstream Democrats argue thats a recipe for failure in GOP-held districts, where in the words of Rep. Lujan, victory will involve fielding strong candidates with diverse profiles that fit unique Republican-leaning districts.

John Wildermuth and Carolyn Lochhead are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com, clochhead@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth, @carolynlochhead
For five years, conceptual artist Ben Davis rode his bicycle by the Conservatory of Flowers and wondered what it would look like as a screen for a light show.

On Wednesday night at 9:15 p.m., he will find out, along with an expected 10,000 spectators, when his installation Photosynthesis flashes to life as the pinnacle of the Surrealistic Summer Solstice free concert in Golden Gate Park and probably the peak moment in the citywide celebration surrounding the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love.
Melting in California's furnace-hot heat?

Here's a tip: Head to the coast where high temperatures are expected to remain cooler despite the major heat wave. (Check out our gallery above some specific locations.)

The Golden State is currently baking under a dome of high-pressure pushing heat to the ground, with inland temperatures expected to peak Thursday afternoon and soar into the high-90s and triple digits.

Concord could reach 107, Santa Rosa 105, Morgan Hill 101, San Jose 98 and San Rafael 96staggeringly high temperatures that have led the National Weather Service to issue an excessive heat warning advising people to stay out of the sun in certain areas of the state.

Toward the coast, the temperatures will decrease as a gentle breeze in the forecast could push cool air over the water onto land, especially if there's morning coastal fog.

"One of the reasons the coastal areas are staying on the cold side are we're not having off shore-flow, the wind isn't blowing from the land to the ocean," says Matt Mehle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in the Bay Area. "It's flowing the other way."

Those looking for a break from the sweltering inland heat will want to head to San Francisco where the downtown high could hit 81hot for the city, but refreshing to anyone melting in Livermore's 107-degree weather.

The city's beaches such as Ocean Beach and Fort Funston will offer natural air-conditioning with the high in the mid-60s. To the south in Half Moon Bay and Pacifica, where a fog bank often hovers over the water off the coast, the high will likely be in the mid-60s.

Farther south in Santa Cruz, the high could reach the upper-70s, and to the north in Stinson Beach and Tomales Bay, the coast will be relatively warm with peak temperatures in the low-80s.

"The coast gets warmer going north," says Mehle. "There's less cloud cover."

On Friday, Mother Nature is expected to turn down the heat on Friday and Mehle says that through the weekend we could see those hot inland temperatures drop 15 to 20 degrees.
Bill Hutchinson / The Chronicle

OAKLEY (BCN)  A former Oakley Union Elementary School District employee was arrested earlier this month after she allegedly accessed a school's computers and deleted records, city officials said.

On May 6, 2016, school district officials contacted Oakley police to report that someone accessed their computer system and deleted all of the grades from the first and second trimester at Laurel Elementary School. District officials estimated the damage to be in excess of $49,000.
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A 33-year-old man drowned last week while practicing face-down meditation on the Yuba River.

Yoav Timmer, a citizen of Israel, died at Rice's Crossing, northwest of Nevada City, around 3:30 p.m. on Friday, June 16, The Union reports. Timmer was practicing a type of meditation that involves floating face down in the water for a period of time. A friend meditating nearby checked on Timmer, according to the Sacramento Bee, and found him unresponsive.

Timmer's companion attempted life-saving measures and drove to the nearest home to call 911. Authorities pronounced Timmer dead after attempting to revive him, The Union says.

The death was the first in a series of drownings in Northern Californian rivers that have led officials to post several warnings about the dangers of the cold, swift waters resulting from melted snowpack runoff.

Two days after Timmer was found dead, authorities responded to another suspected drowning on the Yuba River, this time near the Hampshire Rocks campground on the South Yuba River.

Jairus Johnson-Neal, 21, was seen floating downstream of his friends on Sunday, June 18 according to a statement from the Placer County Sheriff's Office. His friends attempted to pull him from the river, but were unsuccessful due to the water conditions. Divers later recovered the 21-year-old's body 12 feet below the surface.

On Tuesday, Placer County officials once again reported a drowning in the region. According to KTLX, a 20-year-old swimming with friends succumbed to the cold temperatures and fast currents of the American River in Auburn. A search helicopter helped locate the body later that day.

Officials from Placer County urged swimmers to practice caution in the water in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

"PLEASE, stay out of the cold and rapid water in our local rivers," authorities wrote. "If you must enter the water, wear a life jacket. Summer officially began today, and many more weeks of cold, fast flows are predicted."

Read Michelle Robertsons latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.
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San Francisco police detained a motorcyclist who they said drove his bike at a group of protesters demonstrating against the federal health care bill in an apparent attempt to hit them, according to witnesses as well as photographs and videos from the scene.

A few dozen people were staging a die-in early Wednesday afternoon on Seventh Street near Mission Street when the man on a red motorcycle appeared, said one of the protesters, 43-year-old Tracey Brieger of Emeryville.

She said the activists, some of whom held up posters that looked like tombstones to decry the Republican health care bill designed to replace the Affordable Care Act, had planned to block the intersection for about 10 minutes.

They had been lying in the street for about 7 minutes when a motorcyclist turned the wrong way on the one-way street and drove toward the protesters, witnesses said.

He was revving and revving, he was gunning it, aiming at people who were laying down, said Brieger.

The man was soon surrounded by police and detained, witnesses said. In video footage of the confrontation, officers appear to point weapons at him and order him off his bike.

Police Department officials did not immediately provide details on the case.

The red 2015 BMW motorcycle captured in photographs is registered to San Francisco resident Jeffrey Dillon, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. On social media, Dillon is seen posing with the bike and is the administrator of a Facebook group called the White Privilege Club.

This isnt a racist site/group, it is the exact opposite. It is a celebration of our culture and who we are, Dillon posted on the group page.

I am proud of who I am and my people, he wrote. The media and these social justice warriors are going to try to shame us with the words white privilege, well we will throw it right back at them and wear it as a badge of honor.

As the motorcyclist drove toward the people on the street, many rolled to the side to get out of the way, Brieger said.

I thought he was playing chicken, said 65-year-old Bruce Allison of San Francisco, who was also at the demonstration.

He said the motorcyclist yelled at the demonstrators, If you want to go to the hospital, here you go, as well as, You will have health care if you people stop protesting.

After the demonstrators rolled out of the way, the man made a U-turn and came back at them in the other direction, Brieger said.

After he was detained, she said, he told some of the protesters, You guys were blocking the intersection and now youre not. See how that works?

Sarah Ravani and Filipa Ioannou are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com, fioannou@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani, @obioannoukenobi
San Francisco Police Commission/Courtesy

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday reappointed longtime city Police Commissioner Petra DeJesus, rejecting Supervisor Ahsha Safais controversial bid to replace her with a political ally.

Safai, who chairs the committee that vets commission nominations, had backed union leader Olga Miranda for the seat. Miranda is president of the Service Employees International Union Local 87, where Safai once served as political director. Miranda campaigned for Safai before he was elected to the board last year.
Large strips of San Francisco streets will soon be bathed in the warm, white light produced by 12,500 new streetlights that the citys Public Utilities Commission is planning to install by the end of this year.

As part of a concerted push by San Francisco to refurbish and modernize the citys infrastructure, the PUC is replacing outdated street lamp heads with brighter, more energy-efficient light-emitting diode fixtures.

The new lights are expected to improve visibility on the citys streets, enhancing safety for motorists and pedestrians, while sharply curbing electricity usage and maintenance costs.

Better light, lower maintenance costs and more energy efficient  the business case for our LED streetlight conversion project could not be clearer, said PUC General Manager Harlan Kelly in announcing the initiative.

The city has installed about 7,000 LED fixtures over the past five years, making the PUCs push to more than double that figure by the end of the year by far the largest LED streetlight upgrade to date.

The PUC is responsible for about 25,500 streetlights, about 60 percent of all streetlights in the city. The remaining 40 percent are mainly owned and operated by PG&E. The city is also separately working on a plan to modernize the roughly 5,500 street lights, including ornamental and antique fixtures, that arent part of the LED replacement plan.

The fixtures being replaced, known as high-pressure sodium lights, have been used extensively to brighten city streets nationwide since they were developed in the 1970s, and they tend to give off a duller, yellowish glow. Cities across the country, including San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles and Phoenix, have taken up similar measures to switch out their existing street lights for LED fixtures.

At a cost of $200 each, the streetlight replacement project will cost the city around $2.5 million, according to PUC spokesman Charles Sheehan. But those costs will be offset, he said, within four years thanks to energy savings.

The SFPUC estimates that the lights will save San Francisco more than $983,000 annually compared with the high-pressure sodium fixtures, which use more energy and tend to burn out within three to five years. The PUC calls the LED fixtures virtually maintenance-free for up to 20 years. The LEDs are also expected to save enough energy each year to power 752 homes.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said through a spokeswoman, Its not every day that the city can improve public safety, save money and move us closer to our environmental goals in one fell swoop.

Each light will take less than 30 minutes to replace, and no street closures are expected in connection with the project. The PUC will need to replace only the heads of the streetlights, and will leave the existing lamp post poles and arms untouched. Sheehan added that the PUC was also actively experimenting with technology that would allow for the lights to be remotely controlled and monitored.

Beyond cost and energy savings, LED streetlights also significantly increase visibility, said Nancy Clanton, who operates a lighting engineering and design firm in Boulder, Colo. In conjunction with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Clanton conducted visibility tests comparing how well drivers could see at night using high-pressure sodium or LED lights.

Weve found that the high-pressure sodium is such a big loser in this whole game that you can get by with half or almost a third of the wattage of LED lights and have greater visibility at a much further distance, Clanton said.

Clanton also pointed out that the technical specifications of the lights the PUC will be installing are also in line with the types of fixtures recommended by the American Medical Association.

Last year, recognizing the widening adoption of LED streetlights across the country, the AMA released guidance advising communities to adopt fixtures that emit a minimal amount of harsh blue-rich light, which the organization said can disrupt peoples sleeping patterns.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa
When Joshua Browns Tesla slammed into the side of a tractor-trailer last year at more than 70 mph, the fatal accident became the worlds first known car crash involving a partly autonomous vehicle.

Now, government investigators say that in the minutes leading up to the collision, Brown was audibly warned six times to keep his hands on the steering wheel. He was also warned visually, seven times, on his Teslas dashboard.

In all, Brown had his hands off the wheel for 90 percent of his final drive, according to Tesla vehicle data reviewed by the National Transportation Safety Board. The agency has released a roughly 500-page report detailing the facts of the case, but declined to provide a final judgment because the investigation is continuing.

Included in the evidence are details about the highway, both vehicles involved and information on Browns activities immediately before the accident.

Browns final drive in his Tesla lasted 41 minutes, according to the report, and 37 were spent with Autopilot enabled. Autopilot is Teslas high-end cruise control that can help a vehicle stay in its lane semi-autonomously. The company declined to comment on the report.

Tesla requires its drivers to keep their hands on the wheel even when Autopilot is engaged. But Brown appears to have ignored those warnings, even as he manually increased the autopilots speed 2 minutes before he crashed into the truck, according to the report.

Earlier reports by the safety board on the crash have concluded that in addition to going hands-free for the majority of the trip, Brown also made no effort to brake, steer or otherwise avert the deadly accident.

Movies

Lawsuit over Inside Out

Child development expert Denise Daniels filed a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Co. Tuesday, claiming the companys Pixar studio stole her idea to make the 2015 animated film Inside Out. The suit states that every year between 2005 and 2009, Daniels and her team pitched an animated television program, The Moodsters, to Disney. The show featured five anthropomorphized emotions that live within every child  similar to the characters of Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness and Disgust in Inside Out.

According to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Daniels and her team pitched and disclosed the idea underlying The Moodsters to Disney-Pixar with the understanding ... that Daniels would be compensated if Disney-Pixar used the idea.

Daniels has filed for breach of implied-in-fact contract, and is seeking unspecified damages. Inside Out won an Academy Award for best animated film and grossed more than $356 million in the United States, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Daniels claims she has received no compensation from Disney.

Chronicle News Services
Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

California entrepreneurs can now file to create or update information online about limited liability companies  a cumbersome process that was before just done through mail.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced the digital tool Wednesday at a press conference in San Francisco. This new option will streamline the process of creating a business in California, where 375,000 statements of information for new or existing limited liability companies were filed last year.
Board members of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District on Wednesday delayed voting on a plan to create the nations first greenhouse-gas limits for oil refineries, saying the proposal had changed so many times in recent weeks that they couldnt fairly evaluate it.

One member of the board of directors even complained that she hadnt seen the final revisions, issued Tuesday afternoon, until she showed up for Wednesdays meeting.

The move marks the latest delay for a rule that the district has spent years developing, and it left many of the directors visibly frustrated. But Director John Gioia, a Contra Costa County supervisor, said rushing a vote could leave the regulation more vulnerable to legal attack from the oil industry.

I think everybody here who wants to vote for this motion, its all for the same reason  we want enforceable caps, Gioia said. But the ends dont justify the means.

The proposal calls for establishing firm limits on the amount of greenhouse gases each of the Bay Areas five refineries can emit in a year. That basic principle won approval from the board in May.

But since then, the districts staff has added a substantial twist, proposing that the caps be raised to account for emissions from refinery expansion or upgrade projects that the district has already approved but that havent been built or havent fully come online.

That change angered environmentalists, who said it would allow greenhouse gas emissions from the refineries to rise as much as if the Bay Area added another refinery. District staff countered that the change was necessary to protect the rule from an expected legal challenge.

That wasnt the only change, and Gioia complained that he had seen four versions of the proposal in the last three weeks. Oil industry representatives as well as environmentalists speaking before the board on Wednesday criticized what they characterized as a rushed process.

Some directors pushed for a vote anyway, arguing against further delay on a rule they have long sought.

We dont need to be perfect  we do need to be bold and courageous politically, said Shirlee Zane, a Sonoma County supervisor. Striving for perfection is going to kill our attempt to do something wonderfully historic today, which is to say to these refineries, Youve got to cap your emissions.

David R. Baker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dbaker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DavidBakerSF
The San Jose City Council has approved the start of exclusive negotiations to sell 22 largely undeveloped acres to Google, with the goal of bringing large-scale development and thousands of jobs to the area around the citys downtown transit hub.

City officials said that if Google buys the property, it plans to add outdoor plazas, retail shops and up to 8 million square feet in office, research and development space. The project could bring up to 20,000 jobs, mostly at Google, according to Nanci Klein, San Joses assistant director of economic development.

This will be an important opportunity to increase jobs in the city, Klein said.

The proposed project would be near Diridon Station, a transit hub for Caltrain, Amtrak and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. In the future, city officials expect the site to have a BART station and high-speed rail stop, and they believe a deal with Google could accelerate the areas growth.

The council voted Tuesday in favor of a market-rate deal for the property that does not include public subsidies to Google for the project. Mayor Sam Liccardo said that represents an improvement from the mid-90s when San Jose paid Adobe $34 million to move there.

Its important for us to be reflective about that context, Liccardo said.

Klein estimated that if Google completes all 8 million square feet, that could generate $8 million in annual property tax revenue. Google is interested in the area because it is close to transit and many of its employees already live in San Jose, she added. The move comes as the Bay Area is grappling with snarled traffic. At rush hour, it can take roughly an hour to go the 15 miles from Google headquarters in Mountain View to San Jose, and the company shuttle buses are stuck in the same traffic jams as private vehicles, although they can use carpool lanes.

Mark Golan, vice president of real estate and workplace services for Northern California at Google, said it shares San Joses vision for the development of the Diridon area.

We know this is just the beginning, but we are excited about the possibility of bringing office, retail and open spaces to downtown San Jose that are connected to mass transit, Golan said during the council meeting.

Not everyone in the community is gung ho for the project. Several residents expressed concerns over whether people will be displaced. Some said the project will bring more high-paid Google employees to San Jose, raising overall rents.

I hope Google helps our community and not just pushes us out, said Sarah Delte, a single mother who works at Jack in the Box. It would be a real blow if we had to move out of this city.

Silicon Valley Rising, a coalition that advocates higher wages and benefits for workers, pushed City Council members to set requirements for Google on wages and jobs related to the project. The group also asked the council to consider the impact that the project could have in displacing residents and engage with the community on the process.

We want this project to benefit San Jose, and not leave working people behind, said Sarah McDermott, a research analyst with Unite Here Local 19, which represents cafeteria workers.

San Jose, home to eBay, PayPal and Cisco, recently has drawn the attention of Google and Apple because many of their employees already live there. Last year, the City Council approved Apples plans to develop up to 4.15 million square feet in San Jose. Thats an area bigger than its spaceship-shape main building in its new Apple Park in Cupertino.

Liccardo said that while the city will listen and engage with the community, he is against adding too many demands before the city even starts negotiations.

There are a lot of ways it can fail, Liccardo said. One of the ways it can fail is that we are going to demand so much up-front.

Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendylee
Hap-fee holidays

United Parcel Service is adding a charge of under $1 for shipments to residential customers during peak delivery periods in November and December. UPS said it will add 27 cents for residential deliveries from Nov. 19 to Dec. 2 and Dec. 17-23. The fee will be 81 to 97 cents for overnight, second- or third-day deliveries deliveries Dec. 17-23. There will be additional fees for oversize packages and on some international air routes.

Seoul train

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies has struck its first commercial deal: licensing its technology to a Korean consortium for a train connecting Seoul to a city about 200 miles away, Bloomberg reports. Hyperloop technology uses magnetic levitation to transport people and goods at airplane-like speeds. The company raised $30 million from Edgewater Partners last year. Its higher-profile rival, Hyperloop One, has raised $141 million in equity. Both are based on an idea promoted by Elon Musk, who isnt involved in either company.

Man buns? Really?

Hes been overshadowed by Barbie for decades, but now Ken is finally getting some attention. Mattel is introducing 15 new looks for the male doll, including different skin tones, body shapes and hair styles. Ken hadnt changed much since he was introduced 56 years ago as Barbies blue-eyed, chiseled boyfriend. Now, Associated Press reports, hell be sold in three body shapes: slim, broad and original. Hair options include cornrows and man buns, and there will be seven choices of skin tones. His updated fashions? Skinny ties, plaid shirts, graphic tees.

Compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techchronicle
When 6-year-old Juliana and her 19-month-old brother, Julian, didnt come home from a Fathers Day celebration with their dad at 7 p.m., the agreed upon time, their mother started to worry.

She drove past their fathers Santa Rosa home on the 700 block of Slater Street, but couldnt get ahold of him. By 7:30 p.m. Sunday, she called the police.

Officers obtained a warrant to enter Alvaro Botelho da Camaras apartment Monday around 9:50 a.m. and found he had killed his two children before hanging himself, Lt. Mike Lazzarini of the Santa Rosa Police Department said Tuesday.

They are my precious innocent children that were beyond loved by their family, friends and community, the childrens mother, Connie Rodriguez Camara, wrote in a public statement published Tuesday in the Press Democrat.

As community members were left reeling from the double murder-suicide, family members of Botelho da Camara in Brazil were shocked to hear he could commit such a crime.

He loved his kids so much. He loved life, his sister, Carla Carvalho of Brazil, told The Chronicle in a private message exchange on Facebook.

He must have had such great pain and suffering for what he did. Only he knows the motive for his barbarity, the 39-year-old added in Portuguese.

Connie Rodriguez Camara and her husband had been separated for several months and had often argued about whether he should have access to the children, she wrote in her statement.

I sought help on numerous occasions and said many, many, many times my children were in danger in their fathers care and I didnt receive the urgent help I needed to save them, she wrote.

On April 29, police were called to mediate an argument between the couple over a disagreement involving the children. Police were called again nearly a month later on May 31 to help settle an argument over custody, Lazzarini said.

Both times, the arguments were resolved and the situation never escalated into violence, he added.

Camara had nothing remarkable, just an arrest for driving under the influence in his past, Lazzarini said.

The couple reached a child custody agreement on June 14, just four days before the killings. A judge ordered that Camara be granted visitation rights on weekends, including Fathers Day, Lazzarini said.

And for those four days, there werent any issues. No arguments where police were called, Lazzarini said.

Nothing prepared anyone for what they found when they finally gained entry into Camaras apartment.

Everybody is very distraught, Lazzarini said. Theres no question about that. The family is very upset from the experience. The community is upset.

The manner in which the children were killed has not been released, pending autopsy results, which are expected later this week, authorities said.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
FLINT, Mich.  A police officer was stabbed in the neck at the Flint airport by a man with a knife Wednesday in what authorities are investigating as a possible act of terrorism.

The suspect was immediately taken into custody, and federal prosecutors hours later said the Canadian man was charged with committing violence at an airport. They identified him as Amor Ftouhi of Quebec.

The criminal complaint says Ftouhi stabbed Lt. Jeff Neville with a large knife and declared Allahu akbar, the Arabic phrase for God is great. The FBI, which is leading the investigation, said Ftouhi said something similar to you have killed people in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and we are all going to die.

The FBI added in the criminal complaint that Ftouhi asked an officer who subdued him why he didnt kill him.

Neville was in stable condition after initially being in critical condition.

The attack just before 10 a.m. at Bishop International Airport prompted an evacuation and extra security elsewhere in the Michigan city about 50 miles northwest of Detroit. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump was briefed on the stabbing.

Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said everything is on the table as far as a motive for the attack. He said the primarily regional airport was shut down and secure and that no other threats had been identified.

Witnesses described seeing the suspect led away in handcuffs by police, Neville bleeding and a knife on the ground.

The cop was on his hands and knees bleeding from his neck, Ken Brown told The Flint Journal. I said they need to get him a towel.

Cherie Carpenter, who was awaiting a flight to Texas to see her new grandchild, told Flint TV station WJRT she saw the attacker being led away in handcuffs. She described the man in custody as appearing blank, just totally blank.

Genesee County Commissioner Mark Young, a friend of Nevilles who retired from the Genesee County sheriffs office in 1997, said Neville left that department two years after him. He said Neville served in various capacities with the sheriffs office including in the jail, on road patrol and as a court officer. Neville retired from that department as a lieutenant.

Jeff Karoub and Mike Householder are Associated Press writers.
Estimados amigos,

Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia.

Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro.

Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras.

There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.

You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.

No soy alguien que sabe, sino alguien que busca.

Only Gold is money. Everything else is debt.

Las grandes almas tienen voluntades; las debiles tan solo deseos.

Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada.

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.
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You may not have heard, so under the radar have things been thus far, but the Bay Area got its newest museum this week. Situated in Oaklands Jack London Square, at the intersection of Politics and Art, the Museum of Capitalism opened Sunday, June 18.

The culmination of several years of planning, the startup cultural institution is a formidable effort. Featuring more than 80 artists and artist teams, the first exhibition at the 10,000-square-foot museum is supported by a $215,000 grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.
A taste of old New York will remain on the Upper East Side's Lexington Avenue, where longtime restaurant Donohue's Steak House received a reprieve. The 67-year-old restaurant was poised to shut down this week after failed negotiations with the landlord; now, however, the Post reports that a last-minute lease has been inked, ensuring that the many regulars will be able to eat their steaks and burgers for at least the next decade.

Owner Maureen Donohue-Peters and her landlord agreed to a $22,000-per-month lease, which is reportedly not a dramatic increase from the previous lease. Donohue-Peters also divulged news of a new Donohue's that she'll open in the former PD Hurley's space on the Upper West Side. Luckily, the building that will house the new restaurant is owned by her family. From the Post:

Donohues, opened in 1950, is a time capsule of Eisenhower-era Manhattan with wood-paneled walls, a checkerboard tile floor and red tablecloths. US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and former top cop Bill Bratton and his wife, Rikki Kleiman, have been spotted in black-leather booths. All walks of life mingle easily at a moodily lit bar at the front of the house.

"The restaurant is an extension of my living and dining room," Donohue-Peters told the Times in a profile from 2015. "No one comes in here high on a horse. Whether they're making $12,000 a year or $25 million a year, all my customers are treated the same."
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Federal wildlife managers are using cruel, outdated and ineffectual methods of protecting livestock in Northern California by killing coyotes, wolves and other predators, conservation groups declared in a lawsuit Wednesday seeking the first government environmental analysis of such tactics in two decades.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, asks only for a judge to order the U.S. Department of Agricultures Wildlife Services office to take a new look at the effect of its predator-killing programs in 13 Northern California counties. But representatives of the conservation groups said their goal was to gain new protections for the predators as well as their prey.

Its long past time that Wildlife Services joined the 21st century and updated its practices to stop the mass extermination of animals, said Collette Atkins, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that filed the suit. Nonlethal methods for dealing with human-wildlife conflicts have been shown to work.

Eric Molvar of Western Watersheds Project, another participant in the suit, said, Killing native wildlife at the behest of the ranching industry is morally unconscionable and scientifically unsound.

The Agriculture Department declined to comment on the suit.

The 13 counties stretch from Sutter, Nevada and Sierra north to Siskiyou and Modoc on the Oregon border. The suit said the agency conducted its last environmental assessment of its wildlife damage management program in 1997 and authorized a variety of methods to control or kill predators, including aerial gunfire, sodium cyanide bombs and leg-hold traps.

The agency issued a proposed updated assessment in May 2015, under President Barack Obamas administration, that endorsed the same methods, and invited public comment, Atkins said.

According to the lawsuit, conservation groups asked for final action in January and for preparation of a full environmental study, and were told by officials in the new Trump administration that a decision would be forthcoming in the next several months.

Asked for an update Wednesday, Andre Bell, an Agriculture Department spokesman, said, I cant speculate on a date for completion.

Nationwide, the suit said, Wildlife Services killed more than 2.7 million animals last year, ranging from coyotes, black bears and mountain lions to tens of thousands of beavers and prairie dogs, in its livestock-protection programs.

The agency unintentionally kills thousands of animals in nontarget species, the suit said, including species protected by federal or state laws, such as gray wolves and California condors.

Leg-hold traps used by the agency are internationally recognized as inhumane and have been banned in many countries, the suit said. It said animals sometimes chew their own limbs off trying to escape, and may die of exposure because Wildlife Services often fails to check its traps.

California voters banned the use of leg-hold traps in 1998 except when authorized by agencies to protect human health and safety.

The suit also said numerous studies since 1997 have shown that killing wolves, mountain lions, bears and other predators does not protect commercial livestock and may even increase their losses.

According to studies, Atkins said, when animal-control officers kill coyotes, the herd often responds by reproducing at a higher rate. When some mountain lions are killed, she said, others move into the territory.

By contrast, the suit said, nonlethal protective measures are more humane and effective.

The conservation groups said Marin County redirected funds in 2000 from predator killing to the use of livestock guard animals  including dogs and even llamas  along with fences, light and noise sensors, and compensation to farmers for livestock losses. Annual losses since then have declined from 5 percent to 2.2 percent, the suit said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
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Atlanta-based musician Raury protested Dolce & Gabbana while on the runway modeling for the Italian fashion house.

During the finale of the brand's Milan Men's Fashion Week show, Raury whipped off his yellow hoodie to reveal the phrases "PROTEST," "DG GIVE ME FREEDOM" and "I AM NOT YOUR SCAPEGOAT" scrawled across his chest. He stood briefly, his fist thrust in the air, as other models streamed past him.

Dolce & Gabbana has recently come under fire for unabashedly dressing First Lady Melanie Trump  including a $51,500 coat  and then responding to criticism with a meta-campaign called "Boycott Dolce & Gabbana."

The brand rolled out a line of $245 T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan and a video of fake protesters encouraging people to boycott the 32-year-old brand.

"It's irony! A joke!" designer Domenico Dolce told Vogue before the Millennial-themed runway show on Saturday. "People use heavy words very easily these days. There is too much aggression."

Raury, a 21-year-old musician and social media influencer, doesn't see it that way.

"As a young man from Stone Mountain, Georgia, the birthplace of the Klu Klux Klan, I really felt this mockery of boycotting," Raury explained in an interview with GQ after the show. "Boycotting is real. Dolce's entire campaign says it's not real."

The musician said he learned about the Melania Trump controversy a day before his runway stint and perceived that the other young influencers in the Millennial-themed show were unaware of the ongoing political discussion.

He told GQ that it felt as if Dolce & Gabbana "was literally trying to use the youth to wash their hands of any sort of heat."

Dolce & Gabbana has yet to respond to the musician's protest or comments. Raury, however, left his GQ interview with a word of warning to other fashion designers: "Honestly, fashion, music, movies, art, people, construction workers, human beings, everyone mingles with politics at work."

Read Michelle Robertsons latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.
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California mountain lions are strong enough to kill and eat a grown man and have provoked near-hysteria in Bay Area communities where they have increasingly surfaced, but the sharp-clawed carnivores arent as bold as their reputation, a unique study suggests.

The big cats are so frightened by recorded human voices that they typically drop everything, turn tail and run, according to an experiment involving 17 radio-collared pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The paper, to be published Wednesday in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, said 10 of 12 mountain lions subjected to audio recordings of broadcasters like Rush Limbaugh and Rachel Maddow abandoned kills and fled immediately, regardless of the political slant of the commentary.

Pumas know we are the top dog in this landscape and they are pretty afraid of us, said Justine Smith, the lead author of the study conducted when she was a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz. Although people should always exercise caution, they can take these results and breathe easier.

The findings, part of the university-run Santa Cruz Puma Project, offer some of the first hard evidence that cougars are afraid of humans and retreat at the sound of their voices. Its an important insight as human development in California encroaches further into lion habitat and makes encounters more common, Smith said.

In a study that sought to avoid an awkward mauling that might come with the use of actual human bait, university scientists early last year tracked deer kills by 17 cougars that had been fitted with GPS and radio telemetry collars.

The researchers tied down the carcasses and set up motion-activated cameras that were triggered to capture footage for 30 seconds when the cougar returned to feed. A 10-second recording of either a human voice or  as an experimental control  frogs croaking would then play.

The voice recordings were low-key snippets of male and female broadcasters including Limbaugh, Maddow, Glenn Beck and Amy Goodman. Nearly every lion reacted the same way no matter the gender, tone or political affiliation of the speaker, said Smith, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley.

They would look straight at the speaker and then just run in the opposite direction, she said. It was a very visceral fear response that we were observing.

When the frog audio played, only one of the 17 cougars fled. Of the 12 that heard both sounds, only a young puma and a very old one did not flee the human voice. Smith believes the older lion, a male who died of starvation a year later, was so desperate for food that he couldnt afford to abandon a hard-earned kill.

For the most part, the collared lions eventually returned to their venison, but five never came back.

The Puma Project, led by Chris Wilmers, an associate professor of environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz, is the most comprehensive analysis yet of the mysterious habits of California cougars.

Previous studies of the more than 40 collared animals in the Santa Cruz Mountains showed that they kill more deer in residential areas, but spend less time feeding when they are near humans. Researchers believe they abandon prey more often around people and then must kill more deer because they are hungry.

Were seeing that human disturbance  beyond hunting  may alter the ecological role of large carnivores, said Wilmers, a co-author of the voice-recording study. As we encroach on lion habitat, our presence will likely affect the link between top predators and their prey.

There have been 16 verified mountain lion attacks on humans in California since 1890, including six deaths. That includes the April 1994 fatal attack on Barbara Schoener, 40, who was partially eaten by an 80-pound cougar while jogging on a trail in the Auburn State Recreation Area in Placer County.

On Jan. 24, 2007, a mountain lion jumped Jim Hamm as he hiked in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Humboldt County. His wife, Nell, beat the tawny predator with a branch, forcing the cat to let him go.

Wilmers said human-cougar encounters in the Bay Area mostly occur because mountain lion travel corridors have been blocked by development. One such incident occurred in May 2014 when a large male puma hid behind a small hedge on a busy street in Mountain View for nine hours as pedestrians and bicyclists passed only a few feet away.

The confused cat eventually was tranquilized amid a community furor and released in the hills, but he was later killed trying to cross Interstate 280.

He wasnt the only cougar to run into trouble since the Puma Project launched in 2008, according to Wilmers. At least a half dozen of the animals have been hit and killed trying to cross Highway 17, particularly along the treacherous Laurel Curve in Santa Cruz County.

One of the dead was both collared and pregnant. Another apparently was hit by a car, lost its collar and was later photographed by a trail camera with a giant, bloody scrape on its haunch. That cougar was eventually killed by trappers under a depredation permit issued after it killed a farmers goats.

The Puma Project is working with Caltrans to design fencing that would channel wildlife into culverts under Highway 17. The biologists also plan to study how cougars react to other noises associated with humans, including the barks and howls of dogs.

Regardless of the findings, the muscular felines can still be dangerous, and the study bolsters long-standing advice that people stand tall, act aggressively and never run away when confronted by a puma.

As research continues, Smith said, it should be comforting to know that the stealthy cats may be as afraid of us as we are of them.

Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @pfimrite

California cougars

Scientific name: Mountain lions, known scientifically as Puma concolor, are members of the Felidae family of mammals, and are called by more names than any other cat  including puma, panther, catamount and cougar, depending on the region.

Population: There are as many as 5,000 pumas in California, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. In 1920, the states estimated cougar population was 600.

Hunting: Thousands of the big cats were killed between 1907 and 1963, when bounties were offered for shooting them. Cougar hunting was banned in California in 1990, when the animals were given special protected status under the California Wildlife Protection Act.

Online extras

To read the puma study, go to http://bit.ly/2sNSE94.

Find video of pumas reacting to human voices in the UC Santa Cruz study at http://bit.ly/2rJzX6S.
Only two humans inhabit the tiny island of Jukdo off the coast of South Korea, so maybe that's why the island's resident golden retriever took such an interest in the stranger with the contraption on his back.

Lugging an unwieldy street view camera, a technician from the mapping service Daum journeyed to Jukdo to photograph the half-mile-long-by-third-of-a-mile-wide rock despite the fact that Jukdo lacks streets.
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We don't know who stole the famed amputated toe from the Sourdough Saloon in Dawson City, Yukon, but the Royal Canadian Mounties are on the case.

As Sherlock Holmes would say, the game is afoot.

The bar used the mummified toe in its signature drink, the "Sourtoe Cocktail." The withered appendage is submerged in a tumbler of Yukon Jack served to a customer, who must then drink the liquor.

"You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but your lips must touch this gnarly toe" is the bar's slogan.

Doing a toe shot gains one membership in the Sourtoe Cocktail Club and a certificate attesting to the libationary achievement.

But on Saturday, the thief absconded with the toe and disappeared into the night.

The loss of the gruesome ingredient is not taken lightly by the bar, which is located in the Downtown Hotel.

"Toes are very hard to come by," "Toe Captain" Terry Lee told the Global News.

According to Lee, the suspect is a "cheechako" (newcomer) from Quebec. He had a French accent and boasted that he might steal it before he downed his drink, Lee said.

"We are furious," Lee said in a statement. "This guy asked to do the Toe after the 9 to 11 p.m. toe time hours and one of the new staff served it to him to be nice  and this is how he pays her back. What a low life."

The alleged miscreant is apparently is no criminal mastermind. He left his certificate  supposedly with his name on it  at the bar. Police are investigating.

The missing toe is not the original toe used by the Downtown Hotel bar, which began serving severed-toe shots in the 1970s. The story goes that in the 1930s Prohibition era, a dogsledding rumrunner lost a toe to frostbite while making his way to the Alaskan border and preserved it in a jar of alcohol. The toe ended up in the hands of a Capt. Dick Stevenson, who used it dare people into drinking shots.

Over the years, several toes have been stolen and a few accidentally swallowed by enthusiastic whisky chuggers. There have also been a few people who have deliberately gulped down toes. The bar now imposes a $2,500 fine for swallowing a metatarsal, according to the Toronto Star.

With toe theft and/or ingestion an ongoing threat to the bar's bottom line, the saloon prudently maintains several backup toes, preserved in salt. They were donated over time following medical procedures, frostbite and one via a close encounter with a lawnmower, the Star reported.

The Downtown Hotel is offering a reward for information leading to the recovery of the toe.
DUNWOODY, Ga.  Republican Karen Handel won a nationally watched congressional election Tuesday in Georgia, and she thanked President Trump after she avoided an upset that would have rocked Washington ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Incomplete returns show Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, winning almost 53 percent of the vote over Democrat Jon Ossoff, who won just over 47 percent in Georgias 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!

It was Handels 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.

Handels margin allows Republicans a sigh of relief after whats 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. Georgias 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 in November 2018. 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.

Its that fighting spirit, that perseverance and tenacity that I will take to Washington, she said Tuesday night.

In South Carolina, Republican Ralph Norman won a special election Tuesday to fill the congressional seat vacated by Mick Mulvaney, battling to a victory closer than many expected to replace the new White House budget director.

Bill Barrow and Kathleen Foody are Associated Press writers.
LONDON  Weakened by a disastrous election, British Prime Minister Theresa May ditched some of her most controversial campaign pledges and suggested she was willing to soften her approach to leaving the European Union as Queen Elizabeth II delivered the governments legislative agenda to Parliament Wednesday.

The focus on Brexit was clear as eight of 27 bills outlined in the Queens Speech dealt with the technicalities of ending Britains membership in the EU. The speech is written by the government and delivered by the monarch at the ceremonial opening of each new Parliament.

The prime minister, in comments delivered after the speech, promised to work with humility and resolve to overcome the divisions in Britain.

We will do what is in the national interest, and we will work with anyone in any party that is prepared to do the same, she said.

May called the June 8 snap election expecting an overwhelming victory that would silence dissenters and give her a mandate to push ahead with plans to leave the European Union and drastically limit immigration as Britain ends its 44-year membership in the EU. Instead, May lost her majority as many voters shunned the governments approach to Brexit and rebelled against seven years of austerity.

May on Wednesday slimmed down her legislative program, omitting several policies touted during the Conservative Partys election campaign, including plans to change funding for the care of older people, which opponents dubbed the dementia tax. Also missing were plans to end free school lunches for the youngest children and limit winter fuel payments for the elderly only to those on low incomes.

Nor was there a mention of President Trumps previously announced, but as yet unscheduled, state visit. Mays invitation, extended within days of Trump taking office, has been sharply criticized by all parties.

The prime ministers office said nothing had changed. The visit was not mentioned in the speech because no date has been set, it said.

British businesses generally welcomed the prime ministers softer rhetoric, while calling for her to provide more detail on her plans.

This welcome change in tone needs to be backed by clarity and action now, said Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the Confederation of British Industry. Firms will expect all politicians to put pragmatism before politics, starting with Brexit.

The 91-year-old Queen Elizabeth went ahead with the ceremonial opening of Parliament despite the announcement that her husband, Prince Philip, was in the hospital. Buckingham Palace said Philip, 96, was hospitalized as a precaution for treatment of an infection.

The queen wore a blue hat dotted with a circle of yellow-centered flowers that prompted many on social media to suggest that she was offering a nod to the EU flag.

Danica Kirka is an Associated Press writer.
JUBA, South Sudan  South Sudan no longer has areas in famine, but almost 2 million people are on the brink of starvation and an estimated 6 million people  half the population  will face extreme food insecurity between June and July, according to reports by the government and the United Nations released Wednesday.

South Sudans famine was the first to be formally declared anywhere in the world since 2011s crisis in Somalia.

The situation remains critical, according to reports by South Sudans National Bureau of Statistics and the U.N.s updated food and security analysis.

People are in a catastrophic situation, said Serge Tissot of the Food and Agricultural Organization.

In February, South Sudan declared two counties in Unity State to be in famine. Although those areas are still in critical condition, early detection and a rapid response succeeded in pulling them out of famine, a Phase 5 classification, the World Food Program said.

The United Nations warned that South Sudans crisis is worsening and that removing the label of famine doesnt mean the situation has actually improved.

Even though weve taken it (famine) off the table, we have more people in Phase 4 than ever before, said Joyce Luma, the World Food Programs country director. If we dont assist this population, 1.7 million people will soon be in famine.

Famine is declared when three conditions are found in a single location: at least 20 percent of the population faces extreme food shortages, at least 30 percent of children under 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition and people are dying at double the normal rate.

An estimated 45,000 people still face starvation in Leer, Koch and Mayendit counties with additional areas across the country having deteriorated as well.

In former Jonglei state, an area that previously had one of the lowest levels of acute malnutrition, roughly 20,000 people are experiencing catastrophic food insecurity.

Its when people dont know where their next meal will come from, World Food Program spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said.

At a recent food distribution in the town of Old Fangak, 10,000 people came to register for a World Food Program food drop.

All I eat are vegetables and leaves, said Nyatang Toy as she waited in line last week to receive her ration cards.

The skinny 7-year-old walked for three hours from her village to collect food for her parents and five siblings who were too weak to come with her, she said.

How can we be at this stage where people are starving and were dropping bags of food from the air? said Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canadas minister of international development.

Sam Mednick is an Associated Press writer.
JERUSALEM  President Trumps son-in-law and chief Middle East adviser, Jared Kushner, made his first solo visit to the region Wednesday, holding separate meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an attempt to restart long-dormant peace talks.

Sitting down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Kushner and other U.S. officials discussed potential next steps to make progress on Trumps goal of a genuine and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the White House said. The meetings are aimed at laying the groundwork for a resumption of negotiations for the first time in three years.

The United States officials and Israeli leadership underscored that forging peace will take time and stressed the importance of doing everything possible to create an environment conducive to peacemaking, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

Kushner, whose family has a long relationship with Netanyahu, met with the Israeli leader in Jerusalem for about 3 hours before heading to the West Bank city of Ramallah for a late-night meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Trump administration faces the same obstacles that have doomed previous attempts by a string of Republican and Democratic administrations: deep disagreements over key issues such as borders, dueling claims to Jerusalem and the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

But Kushner enjoys some advantages that could allow him to make at least some progress. Trump made a successful visit to the region last month and appears to have forged a good working relationship with both sides.

The new atmosphere of goodwill, along with concerns of potentially provoking the unpredictable president, could give Trump leverage in extracting concessions from the sides.

Netanyahus office released a short video showing Kushner, along with envoy Jason Greenblatt and U.S. Ambassador David Friedman, arriving at the Israeli premiers office in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu warmly greeted Kushner with a smile and hug. This is an opportunity to pursue our common goals of security, prosperity and peace, Netanyahu said.

The president sends his best regards, and its an honor to be here with you, Kushner said.

Reporters were barred from covering the meetings and did not have an opportunity to ask Kushner questions.

Trump has tasked Kushner with the ambitious goal of laying the groundwork for what he calls the ultimate deal  but deep divisions remain, clouding chances of a significant breakthrough in one of the longest Mideast crises.

This month marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war  a seminal event in which Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians claim these territories for their future independent state. Netanyahu opposes a return to the 1967 lines and also rejects any division of Jerusalem.

Josef Federman is an Associated Press writer.
Is the headline about the verdict in todays newspaper? Will it be in tomorrows edition? Or Friday?

The countdown has begun for the jury to return a verdict in one of the biggest lawsuits involving agriculture in many years. And unlike the $5.7 billion lawsuit that Beef Processors Inc. has filed against ABC News for its pink slime reports, this $5.7 billion lawsuit affects not just two corporate entities, but tens of thousands of farmers.

For the past three weeks, a jury of six Kansas residents have been in a Kansas City federal courtroom listening to testimony about the drop in the corn market in late 2013 after China began rejecting shiploads of U.S. corn and eventually U.S. distillers dried grains made from corn refined into ethanol. China had purchased multiple shiploads of corn and the livestock feed, but when the ships arrived in China it was rejected because it contained genetic traits from Syngenta which were unapproved by the Chinese government.

Although those genetics have since been approved, the initial shock rolled through the corn futures market, and worked its way down to local grain elevator bids that were well below prices prior to the report of the rejected shiploads.

Was Syngenta responsible? Yes, contend the farmers and their attorneys who presented a preliminary class action case against the Swiss-based global seed and chemical company. They say Syngenta knew China had not approved the genetics and should not have sold the seed to farmers for planting in 2013 because of the lack of approval.

Was it Syngentas fault? No, says the company, because Chinese politics got in the way, and there were other reasons that the bottom dropped out of the corn market. They cited a big crop being harvested, compared to the diminished 2012 drought-stricken crop, and the corn market was burdened by a surplus.

Decatur attorney Chris Ellis (no relation as far as we have been able to determine) is one of the 12 members of the executive committee of lawyers working with the federal judge to organize the multiple state class action lawsuit against Syngenta.

He cited last weeks testimony by one Kansas farmer who explained that he only grows genetically modified corn. He accepted the fact that his livelihood is subject to numerous things that are outside of the control of any farmer, most obviously the weather. And while he is more than happy to accept that risk year after year, the damage caused to his family farm by Syngenta was unacceptable.

How much damage? Ellis says witnesses testified that the past, present and future economic loss suffered by Kansas growers is over $183 million. It is anticipated that the jury will be asked to award this and punitive damages to Kansas farmers. Kansas is not Iowa or Illinois, but in 2016 produced nearly 700 million bushels of corn on 5.1 million acres. That would qualify it as the seventh-largest corn-growing state.

What about Illinois, which is barely edged out by Iowa each year for the top spot? The federal court, based in Kansas City, began with a test case of Kansas farmers and their allegations against Syngentas corporate decisions. Once the verdict is in, likely this week, decisions will be made by Chris Ellis, his executive committee colleagues and the judge about how to proceed with the remaining cases from the other Corn Belt states where farmers have signed on to class action lawsuits.

Any trial involving Illinois farmers will have local flavor, because two Macon County farmers have been selected to represent all Illinois farmers in presenting their case in the federal court. Steve Wentworth, who farms north of Forsyth, and Roger White, who farms south of Elwin, will be testifying how they were impacted by Chinas sudden halt in buying corn.

Their testimony, if the jurors in the cases find Syngenta at fault, will be important in determining how much damage should be awarded to farmers. So far, there is no estimate, but Chris Ellis and his colleagues say the damages could be substantial, and Syngenta, which was recently valued as a $39 billion company, should compensate them.

The Kansas verdict will be important for the case, so watch the headlines.
DECATUR  Elliott T. Murphy was sentenced to 55 years in prison Tuesday for his role in a 2009 mob attack that left one man dead and another seriously injured.

Murphy and his half brother, Deonta Johnson, were identified by police and prosecutors as the leaders of a group of teens who robbed their victims and stomped on their heads and bodies.

Murphy was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in April in his second trial in the case.

On Tuesday, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison on the murder conviction, to be served at 100 percent, and 15 years for the attempted murder conviction, to be served at 85 percent. The sentences are to be served consecutively, according to Macon County court records, and Murphy will receive credit for time in custody since 2009.

The attacks began shortly after school let out on Aug. 24, 2009.

Jerry Newingham, 61, was riding his bicycle on West Sawyer Street when a group of about eight teens attacked and robbed him, repeatedly punching him and stomping on his head, police and prosecutors said.

Most of the same teens later found 46-year-old Kevin Wilson sitting in Garfield Park and attacked him in the same manner. He survived, but suffered serious injuries.

Six other teens were convicted in the case and sentenced to serve terms in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Murphy had been sentenced to 80 years in prison after a jury convicted him in 2011 for the mob attack. Johnson, 21, was also convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder and sentenced to 65 years in prison.

Their convictions were overturned by the 4th District Appellate Court in 2013. The three-judge panel ruled that Murphy's lawyer had a conflict of interest. It also ruled that the judge who transferred Johnson to adult court did not consider treatment advantages in the juvenile justice system.

A new trial date for Johnson has not yet been scheduled.
DECATUR  The E6 fire engine that Decatur firefighter Micah Bubba Wakeman rode to the rescue of countless others carried him on his final journey home Tuesday.

The gleaming red and white truck, lights flashing and sirens silent, sat outside Life Foursquare Church where Wakeman's funeral was held. The 16-year department veteran, who lived in Mount Pulaski and also loved farming, died in a tractor rollover accident June 13. The married father of four children was just 43.

The truck, polished to a gleaming perfection and draped with black swags of mourning bunting, waited for about an hour after the hourlong service. The delay was to give Wakeman's colleagues, and fellow firefighters from all over Central Illinois, time to offer him one last salute and pay their respects.

Then an honor guard in dress uniform and white gloves carried their friend from the church as other white-gloved hands rose in a slow-motion salute. Proceeding slowly, and led by squad cars, symbolically one each from Decatur Police and the Macon County Sheriff's Office, the funeral procession finally moved off.

It was filled with other fire, police and emergency vehicles, their lights also flashing, as it wound its way on the 3-mile journey to the interment at Illini Cemetery in Warrensburg.

The funeral procession passed under a ceremonial arch formed by two extended aerial ladder trucks surmounted by an American flag snapping smartly in the breeze. The bright weather had matched the upbeat tone of Wakeman's funeral service, which was described as a tribute to an extraordinary life well-lived rather than mourning one cut short far too soon.

Wakeman's friend Tracy Dyer, who worshiped with him at Mount Pulaski Christian Church, their home church where Wakeman was an elder, set the tone from the beginning. Clutching a guitar as part of a four-piece band, Dyer looked out at hundreds of mourners, including firemen, police and first responders, and said he guessed they hadn't expected to hear a band at a funeral.

Well, that's because you've been duped, he said with a smile. This is not a funeral, this is a celebration. This is a celebration of how one not-so-little man has made an impact here and all over the world from Uganda to Haiti, to Guatemala to the Ukraine ...

Wakeman's strong Christian faith had led him on missions work to those countries and others and to serve as a foster parent for kids in need. Wakeman's funeral service featured a rolling montage of pictures from his life capturing his smiling, mustached face with children clinging to his neck in far-flung parts of the world or at home with his wife Laura, and their children Ashton, Emily, Josie and Zeke, and foster children like TeNejah and Taylah.

Speakers at his funeral constantly referred to his fireproof Christian faith and his strong passion to share it with others. He was described as a caring, conscientious and hardworking man who spent almost every waking moment lending others a hand.

He was the kind of man that God intended men to be, said the Rev. Mark Weber, pastor of Mount Pulaski Christian Church. We could be here for hours and talk about all that Micah meant to us and all that he did; this could be one funeral that could go on for 6 hours and we would not exhaust who he was and what he did. He was that special.

In the end, his friends and colleagues had to fit their memories and tributes into about an hour. And while the atmosphere was upbeat with occasional laughter at funny stories and memories, the sadness at the departure of a good and well-loved man was there, too.

Sobbing from the mourners could be heard as a message was read out from 20-year-old daughter Ashton to her dad, describing how, for once, she was lost for words to say how she was feeling.

But the thing I can think to say, and the thing that I think we all need to say, is 'thank you' ... thank you, God, for letting us have some of my daddy in our lives, because not many people are blessed with a Micah Wakeman ...

There were more tears punctuating an intense quiet that fell over the church sanctuary at the end of the service as a lone fireman prepared to ring a bell nine times in three sets of three rings, the traditional way firefighters salute and bid farewell to a comrade.

In a show of solidarity and support, firefighters from Springfield and Champaign covered fire stations in Decatur on Tuesday so Decatur firemen could attend the service. The number of Decatur firefighters present, active duty and retired, numbered more than 100.
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Staten Island File Photo

The Go! Healthy Food Box Program is back!

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  With a promise of the freshest vegetables available, the Children's Aid Society announces two locations for its "Go! Healthy Food Box Program." The food initiative with its a $10 sack or box of assorted produce comes to Staten Islanders via a USDA grant.

It is available to all borough families starting in July. The program runs through November.

Kindly send this link to a friend or family member: It was a very successful program in 2016. And, at least you'll make a pal aware of it.

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Ilene Pappert, Goodhue Director, holds up a recipe for the contents of the farm fresh produce now able to be reserved at Goodhue. (Courtesy of Beth Bainbridge)

Location #1: The Goodhue Center gym entrance at 304 Prospect Ave., New Brighton.

Pick up at the Goodhue location is Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m. from July 11 to November 14. Cooking demonstrations and samples are available. And participants go home with printed recipes.

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Trevor Hipp holds up fresh carrots, part of the goodies in the "Farm Box" subsidized by the Children's Aid Society. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)

Location #2: Richmond Early Learning Center lobby at 159 Broadway, West Brighton

These are the dates for produce distribution:

July 18

August 1

August 15

September 19

October 17

October 31

November 14

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Gingered beet salad at the Goodhue Center, an example of the samples offered at the 2016 weekly pickup. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)

The cost for pick-up at both locations is $10.

To sign up for the Goodhue pickup, go to the Goodhue Center gym every Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m. and pay one week in advance. EBT/debit/credit cards and Health Bucks are accepted as well as cash.

To sign up for the Richmond Early Learning Center location's pickup, go to the Go! Healthy food box table in the lobby at the Center every Tuesday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Sign up and pay for the box one week in advance. Cash as well as EBT/debit/credit cards and Health Bucks are accepted.

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Pamela Silvestri | silvestri@siadvance.com

Produce is delivered to each location by Gerardi's Farmers Market.

The New Brighton farm stand trucks Jersey fresh produce to Staten Island daily during the growing season. And a chunk of that will go to the Go! Healthy Food Box program.

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Trevor Hipp of Manhattan handles food distribution at Goodhue in New Brighton each Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m. (Courtesy of Beth Bainbridge)

Each box features 7 to 9 locally-grown fresh fruits and veggies.

Go! Healthy is funded by USDAs Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). For more information contact 800-221-5689 or go to Snap-Step1.USDA.gov.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police Officer Manuel Orellana and his K-9 Angel were recognized recently for their work at the Staten Island Kennel Club Show as part of the American Kennel Club's Canine Officers Program, which honors dogs who work in a public service role.

The Staten Island Kennel Club presented the "Canine Officers Appreciation Certificate" to the amazing team, who work with the New York Police Department Canine Unit -- a successful team for 2 1/2 years.

On March 16, 2017, an autistic teenager went missing.

Police Officer Orellana and his K-9 bloodhound Angel were called to search. As a starting point for the scent, Policer Officer Orellana and K-9 Angel used the missing teenager's pillow case. The K-9 team tracked for approximately 2 to 3 New York City blocks from the teen's residence, where they found the missing teenager in good health, and was then reunited with family.

On Oct. 25 of last year, Officer Orellana and his K9 Angel responded to a call of a male suspect with a firearm riding on a bicycle. The suspect was lost during a foot pursuit in which the suspect dropped the bicycle.

Officer Orellana made a scent pad and used the seat of bicycle to get a good scent of the suspect. K-9 Angel was given the scent pad as her starting point and she tracked for over 1 mile. Angel's tracking came to an end at a private residence where the suspect was located. The suspect was apprehended without any further incidence.

Office Orellana and his canine partner succeeded in getting the suspect and the weapon off the streets.

All in attendance that day learned about the vital role Office Orellana and his K-9 Angel play in keeping the public safe. It was an opportunity, for many to express their appreciation for service that the police department does, and many personally thanked Officer Orellana and K-9 Angel.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's summertime and that means it's time again for Yoga by the Beach with Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R,C,I-Brooklyn/Staten Island) and 5 Boro Power Yoga of New Dorp.

As always, the six yoga events on Staten Island will be free for the community to attend and enjoy. The events will take place on the Midland Beach Promenade near the intersection of Fr. Capodanno Blvd. and Jefferson Avenue.

The popular yoga events will take place on Saturday, July 15 at 9 a.m.; Thursday, July 20 at 7 p.m.; Tuesday, July 25 at 7 p.m.; Wednesday, August 16 at 7 p.m.; Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m.; and Saturday, Sept. 9 at 9 a.m.

Attendees should wearing comfortable clothing and bring a towel. Please plan to arrive 15 minutes early to prepare for the event.





"Once again I am partnering with the sponsor of the events, 5 Boro Power Yoga of New Dorp, to host six yoga sessions on the East Shore this summer and I encourage everyone to come out for these fun community events," said Malliotakis.

"Yoga relaxes and recharges your body while also improving your mental, physical and spiritual health. The best thing about yoga is that anyone, regardless of physical ability, can participate at their own pace."



To sign up for these free yoga events, please call the office of Assemblywoman Malliotakis at 718-987-0197.



Assemblywoman Malliotakis represents the 64th District, which consists of parts of Kings and Richmond counties. For more Information, please visit Assemblywoman Malliotakis' official website.



Take a look at the photo gallery for a glimpse into past yoga events.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- A Brooklyn man caught in a prescription drug trafficking ring on Staten Island pleaded guilty last week, officials said.

Vincent Mansicalco, 55, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute oxycodone in Brooklyn federal court, authorities said.

He faces 30-37 months in prison when he is sentenced.

Maniscalco and a bunch of Staten Island defendants conspired to distribute oxycodone and heroin in Staten Island and Brooklyn.

The ring operated over a five-month period from September of last year to January of this year, officials said.

Charged in Brooklyn federal court were lifetime parolee Michael Calabria, 49; his brother, Joseph Calabria, 52; Glenn DePaolo, 59; Maria DePaolo, 55, and ex-convict Ugo Gallo, 46, authorities said.

Also accused in the scheme were borough residents Stephen DelPriore, 55; Devida Lombardo, 46, and Carol Monforte, 57.

Their case are still pending in federal court.

Authorities did not provide street addresses for the suspects.

"These defendants allegedly pushed heroin and oxycodone for months, contributing to the opioid plague that has caused great suffering on Staten Island," said Robert L. Capers, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a statement.

Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill said the defendants, as alleged, "endangered the lives of those who live and work around them by contributing to the supply of highly addictive narcotics that have led to numerous overdoses and deaths."

Capers and O'Neill announced the arrests in February along with James J. Hunt, special agent-in-charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York Division, and Angel M. Melendez, special agent-in-charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations.

According to a criminal complaint, the DePaolos, Maniscalco and Monforte supplied oxycodone to Joseph Calabria, who distributed the drug to others.

Joseph Calabria was heard a number of times on wiretaps discussing oxycodone purchases with those four defendants, said the complaint.

The foursome typically refilled oxycodone prescriptions containing 120 to 180 pills and sold most of the drugs to Calabria, the complaint alleges.

A second criminal complaint accuses Michael Calabria of supplying heroin to Gallo, who then distributed the narcotics.

Michael Calabria transacted tens of thousands of dollars with Gallo, and Calabria generally sold heroin to customers in $10 bags, that complaint said.

Delpriore is accused, along with Michael Calabria and unnamed others, of conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute heroin.

The Calabria brothers, Lombardo and others allegedly conspired to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute oxycodone.

Each defendant could face up to 20 years behind bars if convicted, said prosecutors.

Advance records show Michael Calabria and Ugo Gallo have criminal records.

Calabria is on lifetime parole after serving a sentence of three years to life for a 1990 drug-dealing conviction in Brooklyn.

Gallo, then living in Great Kills, pleaded guilty in February 2014 to a felony drug-sale charge for peddling heroin to an undercover cop and was later sentenced to two years in prison, said the Advance.

He was paroled in May 2015, according to online records of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
CLINTON  At least one person has been airlifted from a serious crash Tuesday afternoon near Clinton.

The DeWitt County Sheriffs Office said the investigation is continuing, but the crash has closed the southbound lane of the U.S. 51 bypass near Clinton. Southbound traffic is being redirected through Clinton at the Business 51 north bypass about one mile north of Clinton.
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Recently the newly appointed Honorary Consul of Guyana to Sint Maarten Mr. Cleveland Beresford, paid a courtesy visit to Prime Minister the Honorable William Marlin.





Mr. Beresford is the first Honorary Consul of that country in this regard, he will be the point person for all consular issues and cooperation between Sint Maarten and Guyana.





Mr. Beresford in his capacity as Consul also held introductory meetings with the Department of Foreign Relations on his rights and privileges as well as areas of mutual interest.





Photo caption  Honorary Consul of Guyana Mr. Cleveland Beresford & Prime Minister The Honorable William Marlin.




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The St. Maarten Tourist Bureau (STB) on Monday hosted an interactive and informative session today for its stakeholders and partners featuring presentations by St. Maartens marketing firms Spring OBrien/MMGY Global, in the North American Market & Aviareps in the Benelux Market.





It was the first time in many years that the STB initiative such an exchange in order for invited stakeholders to hear directly about how the destination is being marketed. The gathering featured a broad cross-section of players in the hospitality field including hoteliers, the Chamber of Commerce, St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association, Port of St. Maarten and Princess Juliana International Airport.





Head of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau Rolando Brison opened the event at Sonesta Great Bay and gave a general update of STBs marketing efforts for the year thus far. Roy de Ridder of Aviareps then presented his firms results after the first year of promotional activities for St. Maarten in the Benelux market.





De Ridder used the opportunity to explain about the type of Dutch/European traveler that should be targeted, the fact that Aviareps spent most of the past year better acquainting St. Maarten in the Dutch market and will be now looking to capitalize on those efforts and translate them into conversions and bookings.





For the American market, Julie Questa of Spring OBrien/MMGY Global presented broad examples of how they want to market St. Maarten in the US, focused around a campaign called Visit the St. Maarten You Dont Know. She explained that while St. Maarten is known, it is not extremely well known, so the firm will play on that aspect and push St. Maarten as a truly unique, new product/destination.





She also stressed to the gathering that just 43% of US citizens are passport holders and how to cater to the travelling American which amounts to about 75 million people. How to specifically target these travelers is important since the figure of 43% renders moot any mass marketing efforts in the US.





Following the presentations all stakeholders received the opportunity to ask question and offer suggestions and recommendations. Pledging to work together with the STB, these included, but were not limited to:





- Focus on creating cruise conversion strategies





- Using the marketing firms to disseminate stakeholder press releases.





- Place more focus on the low season





- Closer working relationship between STB, the firms, Harbor and Airport





- Using new technology such as Pixel to track and measure results





- Continued support for Trip Advisor and Expedia





- Tighter targets grouping for more effective marketing spend





- Better data and research





- Convincing those travelers (Dutch) going to Curacao to try St. Maarten as an alternative





- Using travel portals such as booking.com for marketing





- Ensuring that results can be measured.





Executive Board Member of the SHTA Ricardo Perez said he was: Very thankful as a stakeholder to have been invited to the presentation. We commend the initiative since our expertise can assist in directing future policy and direction. Also the work done regarding branding can now be put into work by the professionals rather than having to start from scratch. We look forward to the next session where we can get into more detail planning.





Brison concluded by thanking all stakeholders for their very active participation in the event, Sonesta Great Bay for hosting and the staff of STB for facilitating. He said cooperation across the board is the only way St. Maarten will remain competitive, mixed with innovation and outside the box thinking on how we can best position our product for the benefit of all.





Caption: Executive Board Member of the SHTA Ricardo Perez (right) makes a point to Roy de Ridder of Aviareps during the event on Monday morning. (DCOMM Photo).




ARROWSMITH  When Leo Hisle heard a loud noise while sitting in his Arrowsmith home off of Route 9 on June 10, he thought it was just the wind.

I was home and heard something and couldnt figure out what it was at first, he said.

He was relaxing at home while his wife, Amy, was with their daughter, Danielle  also known as D.J.  who were out. D.J. had flown home from Georgia to celebrate Amys birthday, which was the day before.

Her gift was a relaxing mother and daughter spa day and so on Saturday morning, Amy slid off her jewelry and the two took off for what was to be a comfort day.

Later, back at home, Leo heard the noise and soon realized the 100-year-old, two-story home was on fire. He also realized there wasnt any time to do much about it.

Hisle described the next few hours as chaotic. There was nothing left of their home. There was no one hurt, but two of the family pets were saved, while others were lost.

D.J. and Amy returned and more family and friends soon arrived to provide comfort and whatever help was needed. It was D.J. and several of her friends, though that began the hunt for whatever could be saved from the home.

Its not easy to get your brain around what has happened, Leo said. But she and her friends quickly made it their mission to make something good out of something bad.

Even while firefighters were watching over the smoldering rubble, D.J. and her friends went to the area of where her parents bedroom once stood in search of the jewelry her mother had removed that morning.

It was like searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack, Leo added. There was nothing left of the house, but they went searching for that jewelry.

Eventually, after more than two hours of hunting in ashes and dust, five pieces of jewelry were found, including Amys wedding ring, an anniversary ring and the class rings of both Amy and Leo.

It was a miracle, Leo said. Its amazing how something like that can bring you happiness after something so bad.

Since then, a local jeweler with no connection to the family, has stepped forward and offered to repair the rings at no charge. A representative from Jostens has contacted them to begin repairs on the school rings, also at no charge.

Its more than about the rings, though, Leo said. The fire showed them how people, particularly from a small, rural community, will step up in a time of need.

The couple is now living with Amys mother a few miles away. The Hisle's still dont have a cause for the fire, but are grateful for the help they have received while the house is being rebuilt.

We are overwhelmed with the generosity of everyone who has come to the house to search in the debris for personal belongings or bringing food and clothing over to Moms, she said. We have been blessed and shocked by the amount of support we have received.

Leo said the couple takes it day by day, but having something like the rings saved means so much.

I have no words to describe what everyone has meant to us, he said. Its overwhelming. Its priceless. Its a blessing.
DECATUR  The state's budget impasse could stall construction again on Richland Community Colleges Student Success Center, just a few months after the work resumed following more than a year's delay.

Without a state budget in place, work on the facility would stop June 30, officials said Tuesday. The announcement came during a meeting at which the college's board of trustees also approved a budget that included no state funding and represented a $1 million spending cut from this year's budget.

The potential shutdown comes at a particularly critical time for the center, said Vice President of Finance and Administration Greg Florian. The facility is about 60 percent finished, yet the roof is only partially completed, few of the windows are in place, and there is exposed drywall on the inside.

The potential for long-term closure of the building and creating damage with exposure (to weather)  it certainly causes some concern for the integrity of the building, Florian said.

Unless state lawmakers find a way to pass a budget within the next 10 days, there will not be money available to continue construction, according to a letter sent to the college from the Illinois Capital Development Board.

Under the original agreement, the state was to provide $5.1 million toward the $6.3 million cost of the 22,000-square-foot space Student Success Center. Richland used its $1.175 million share of funding to set the basic foundation for the building, which would house academic advising, orientation, admissions, testing, financial aid, career and transfer services.

Responding to questions from board members, Florian said that enclosing the facility to protect it from weather would require another two to three months of construction at a cost of roughly $800,000.

The board rejected an offer from the Illinois Capital Development Board that would have the college pay to complete construction, with the state to reimburse it when funds became available.

The decision puts Richland in what President Cris Valdez called a "lose-lose" situation, as the schools financial situation prevents it from investing the millions of dollars in the building that were promised to them by the state.

With this  you feel the real effects of a government that doesnt work, Valdez said.

The state is about to enter its third year without a budget, the result of ongoing division between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly. Lawmakers are set to return to Springfield today for a special session in hopes of passing a spending plan before the fiscal year begins July 1.

Work on the Student Success Center began in late 2014, but was halted in summer 2015 when lawmakers failed to pass a budget that year. After nearly 17 months of the unfinished structure sitting in front of the main entrance to the college, work started again in February with funds made available in a stopgap budget passed last summer. The delay added an extra cost of $485,000, which was to be covered by the state.

In other business, the board approved a $32.8 million budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The total amount is down from $33.8 million for the current fiscal year. The budget has roughly $13.7 million dedicated to the education fund, which covers the core mission of the college. That is down from $14 million in the education fund in the current budget.

Because of the ongoing state budget issues, college officials projected it would not receive any state money for the second straight year. Before the impasse, state funds made up 14 percent of Richlands total budget.

The tone of discussion was grim during the budget hearing before the board meeting, as Florian said more cuts would likely be needed in the coming year.

Several board members suggested that cutting benefits for college employees could be a way to save money.

We need to start reducing significant dollars at this institution, said Trustee Dale Colee. What I am is realistic that we need to get this under control, or we wont have any employees here.

Trustee Wayne Dunning said he understood those concerns, but added that benefits are often the best way to recruit and retain employees.

The benefits to me, if Im looking for a job, is the first thing Im looking at, Dunning said. They say, Why should I leave where Im at to provide my services here with those benefits?

Valdez said changes need to be considered to benefits, but that salaries remain the largest operating expenditure in the budget. Salaries account for roughly $10 million and benefits about $2 million, according to a presentation given during the meeting.

If we gave no benefits to our employees ... we still would not get anywhere close to what we did this year with layoffs, Valdez said. We have more staff than is necessary with the number of students we have.

Where those cuts could be made remains to be seen, as Florian said after the meeting that officials will have to wait for fall enrollment numbers. In addition, he said officials will spend the fall semester studying different programs to determine necessary staffing levels and whether the student demand for the program is at a level worth keeping it around.

By Christmas, well probably have an idea of what programs to eliminate, if were going to do any further reductions, Florian said.

The proposed budget is another effort to right what officials say is a two-year $2,6 million, or 13 percent, decrease in revenue caused by the budget impasse and years of dwindling enrollment.

Since the start of spring, the college has eliminated five administrative positions, laid off 18 employees, eight full time and 10 part time, and offered buyouts to an additional 14 full-time staff. It also closed its child care center in May.

Those layoffs will have a net savings of $1,055,000, approximately 11.3 percent of operating salaries and benefits, officials said.

Richland student Lee Trimble said she definitely hears the concerns on campus about the financial state of the university. As the lone student representative on the board, she said after the meeting that she understands the tough choices that need to be made.

I trust (the board) to come to the right choices, she said. Its an interesting dilemma that were going to have to make a decision. We cannot spend money when we dont have money.

The only major increase in the new budget comes from privately raised foundation dollars for work on the Carroll School of Business. That money, which is kept in a restricted fund for operations and maintenance, amounts to an additional $2,645,523.

In an effort 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.

The new budget estimates a 3 percent decline in revenue received from tuition due to an expected drop in enrollment, Florian said.
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SPRINGFIELD  On the eve of a special legislative session, Gov. Bruce Rauner delivered a live address to the people of Illinois tonight from the Old State Capitol.

The Republican governor said on Thursday that he would call state legislators back to the Capitol for a special session to hammer out a budget deal and end an unprecedented impasse that could enter a third year.

The following is a transcript of the speech as provided by the governor's office:

Good evening,

Thank you for joining us here in the historic Old State Capitol in Springfield.

It was here in Representative Hall that Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech that would change the course of history, where he proclaimed: a House divided against itself cannot stand.

Our history reminds us of our states great capacity for change  and for our limitless potential when those elected by the people put the peoples interests ahead of all else.

Right now, our state is in real crisis  and the actions we take in the days ahead will determine how history remembers us. We can all do better. We MUST all do better for the citizens of Illinois.

Weve asked the General Assembly to come together in a special session for the next 10 days  not as Democrats and Republicans  but as leaders who share bipartisan concern for our states future.

We must agree on a balanced budget plan, and get it to my desk before the end of the states fiscal year  one week from Friday.

Last week, we reviewed a compromise budget plan that I can sign  one that we can all support. It moves us to middle ground on key issues. It is truly balanced. It funds schools, higher education, and human services. It provides a real path to property tax reduction.

The plan also stands tall for fundamentals. Spending reductions. Limits on expenses. Debt reduction. And term limits on legislative leaders and statewide officeholders, including the Governor.

If we can agree to pass it, this plan will send a message across our state and around the nation that we are serious about making Illinois a more attractive destination for investment, new businesses, and new jobs.

If we can agree to pass it, we will stop this unnecessary crisis.

Failure to act is not an option. Failure to act may cause permanent damage to our state that will take years to overcome.

Over the next 10 days, we have an opportunity to change the State of Illinois for the better. To give our people a future they can believe in. To give job creators a reason to come, and families a reason to stay.

We CAN reach an agreement. After all, we share a common mission. We seek to achieve a greater good, to create a better life for our children and grandchildren here in Illinois.

The proposals before us represent a common-sense compromise to put us on a better path.

So, on the eve of what may become one of the most important legislative sessions in Illinois history, were asking the General Assembly to do what those who came before us did that changed the course of history: have the courage to dare to do what is right ... to act for the people.

And together, we will create a brighter future for every family across Illinois.

Thank you. God bless you. God bless our beloved State of Illinois. And God bless the United States of America.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms during the morning becoming more widespread this afternoon. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 74F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph, becoming N and increasing to 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Cloudy and windy this evening, becoming partly cloudy after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 39F. Winds N at 20 to 30 mph.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Greg Hood is in the lead in the Canberra fundraising stakes for the Vinnies CEO Sleepout on Thursday.

In his first sleepout, he has raised a whopping $64,704, well on his way to achieving his fundraising target of $65,000.

Sleeping rough will be Tim Kirk of Clonakilla Wines, Neville Tomkins of Scouts Australia, Daryl Karp of the Museum of Australian Demoracy at OPH, Paul Vane-Tempest of Ashurst Australia, Fiona Fonti of Rehabilitation Specialists, Barnie van Wyk of Vinnies Canberra/Goulburn and Catherine Rey of St John Paul II College. Credit:Steve Keough Photography

As of Wednesday, Mr Hood was also third in Australia for fundraising, behind Bank SA chief executive Nick Reade (nearly $138,000) and Perth-based Crown Resorts CEO Barry Felstead, who had raised nearly $105,000.

Next in line for the Canberra CEOs, is the Australian War Memorial's director Brendan Nelson, with $18,160, also close to his $19,000 target.
A Kambah woman has been acquitted of drug trafficking in the ACT Supreme Court after police found drugs and about $40,000 in cash at her home during a raid in January 2015.

The woman, Sharon Ann Stott, faced a judge-only trial this week on six charges, pleading guilty to three charges linked to the raid and not guilty to other charges including trafficking in a controlled substance.

Stott and a man who seems to have since disappeared, Charlie Vo, were arrested when police officers found about $40,000 in cash, methylamphetamine and cannabis hidden throughout the home during the 2015 raid.

Justice Michael Elkaim found Stott not guilty of trafficking in a controlled substance not cannabis, possessing the suspected proceeds of crime and possessing a prohibited substance.

He also gave her seven days to pay two $50 fines for possessing ammunition and cultivating one cannabis plant.
The CFMEU has handed over a cheque for $20,000 to the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children in Canberra following a fundraising drive by its members.

The union's ACT secretary Dean Hall presented the cheque to hospital staff.

The CFMEU's Dean Hall hands over the $20,000 cheque to the hospital.

"Our workers have dug deep to look after the community. That's what we do: your family is our family," Hall said.

In the lead up to Good Friday, CFMEU members held barbecues on ACT construction sites, as well as selling flags to hang from cranes to raise money. The Tradies Club also made a donation as part of the appeal.
Power utility AGL Energy, which operates some of the nation's dirtiest coal-fired electricity generators, has appointed Graeme Hunt to replace its outgoing chairman, Jerry Maycock.

Mr Hunt, 60, a former managing director of Broadspectrum when it was trading as Transfield Services, is one of the country's most experienced senior executives. He has been a director of AGL since 2012. Born in Newcastle, he joined BHP in Wollongong in 1980 after finishing university.

Mr Maycock's last public commitment at the energy utility is to chair the AGL general meeting in September.

"Graeme's tenure on the AGL board means he already has a deep understanding of our strategic imperative in relation to prospering in a carbon-constrained future," Mr Maycock said. "His appointment will support continuity of strategy for AGL at a time of transformation in the energy sector."
In the wake of yet another Rio Tinto director resignation under a scandal-heavy cloud it's only fair to ponder whether this company is accident-prone, unlucky or if there is a bigger underlying governance malfunction behind its series of poor director and senior management choices.

The sensational news from London on Wednesday that Rio director and former Barclays Bank executive John Varley has been charged by the UK Serious Fraud squad over a deal the bank did during the global financial crisis is another credibility blow for Rio.

The fact that, until the news broke, Varley had been the director in charge of finding a new Rio Tinto chairman makes the revelations all the more humiliating - a corporate governance and public relations nightmare.

It is not known whether Rio had been aware of the long-running investigation that culminated in Varley being charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to a fundraising in June 2008 in Qatar. If convicted, these offences carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
My Parramatta High School sweetheart told me she was flying to London to catch up on my 27 years abroad. My heart soared. A few swapped messages later I told her what was really on my mind  fellow Australian, stay away. Why I gave the warning is a cautionary tale of being an Oz abroad. After decades of being sofa-surf host to the hotel-allergic Sydneysiders I was typing words of unwelcome:

"The morale in London is so low at the moment, with Brexit, blades and burning towers, you've made a good call to hang out with the gloating French. We are a nation best left to our own self-inflicted sufferings."

The northern summer has turned hot but the mood is dark. Blow after blow has hit since the spring: a Westminister drive-through killing; a nail-bomber at a Manchester kiddie concert; knifemen slayers striking a pub street by Borough fruit market. That last assault had brought out the plucky inner-Churchill in us all: "Keep Calm and Carry a Pint" was the rallying cry honouring a Londoner photographed fleeing terror while saving his lager from grim Islamist butchery.

Last Wednesday the pluck snapped. London woke up to see Grenfell Tower, a high-rise of the poor in wealthy Kensington, burning like a wicker man. The social housing block had been clad on the cheap to prettify it for surrounding posh people in what amounted to Little Lucifer fire-starters. This adornment had been hammered to a soundtrack of a Conservative government "Red Tape Challenge", a dob-in-a-rule campaign to rid Britain of the "monster" of health and safety regulations.
The political reality, that politicians are more inclined to do what is popular than what is right, is an ongoing challenge to good governance. Playing to the crowd can sometimes, paradoxically, undermine precisely the democratic values that underpin the privilege of Australian citizenship, especially when it involves a cynical appeal to fear. When changes to the parameters of citizenship are contemplated, we should all be concerned with both the process and the likely impact. In this instance, both are wanting.

That's just one of the concerns with the legislation Mr Dutton introduced to Parliament last week which, unlike a similar bill that lapsed in the Senate in 2014, has a good chance of becoming law with the enthusiastic backing of Pauline Hanson's One Nation and Nic Xenophon's indication that he is "broadly supportive".

"Australian citizenship is an extraordinary privilege". Few among us would challenge that statement from the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton. It's in the preamble to the government's discussion paper on its proposed changes to citizenship requirements. The changes potentially exclude any prospective citizens whose English isn't yet good enough to understand the statement, or who dare to disagree with it. This government has made no case for why the level of English required to qualify for citizenship should be raised as high as is required to gain undergraduate entry to most Australian universities, and so high that many Australian-born citizens would not pass.

After calling for public feedback on its proposed changes to the citizenship test, the government inexplicably chose to keep the submissions secret. That runs contrary to the foundational democratic principles of free speech the government spruiks in its discussion paper. How else to interpret it than as an attempt to stifle public debate on an issue that calls for openness and transparency?

The legislation gives the immigration minister power to overturn citizenship decisions of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, some decisions of which Mr Dutton has characterised as "silly" and Tony Abbott has described as "bizarre". That is a direct affront to the rule of law and the separation of powers. Then there's the likely impact of the changes, if they are passed. The argument over what level of English proficiency should be required to be eligible for citizenship was settled 10 years ago under the Howard government. It is plainly wrong to require a higher standard of English  and indeed a higher standard of civic literacy  from naturalised citizens than from those born locally. The fear that this legislation could create a permanent underclass of permanent residents who will never qualify for citizenship is justified.

There has been no evidence offered that the hundreds of thousands of citizens naturalised according to the present requirements have been deficient in their ability or willingness to contribute to Australian society. Instead, by innuendo, the great many are being tarred with the same brush as the very, very few citizens of this country, whether naturalised or local born, who have succumbed to radical extremism. "Recent terrorist attacks around the world have justifiably caused concern in the Australian community", the discussion says. "In the face of these threats, there is no better time to reaffirm our steadfast commitment to democracy, opportunity and our shared values." There's also the dog whistle in Mr Turnbull's call to "join us as Australian patriots", reminiscent of Mr Abbott's "team Australia" comments.

Does this sort of rhetoric unify and affirm, or does it divide and exclude? We wish the former, but fear the latter. The same goes for the proposed citizenship changes.

"A note from the editor"  to have Herald editor Lisa Davies' exclusive weekly newsletter delivered to your inbox sign up here: smh.com.au/editornote
Excuse me? In 2017, a federal politician - the leader of a party - wants us to discriminate, ridicule and segregate young children with a disability?

Round them up, and shove them somewhere, so their able peers can go ahead in "leaps and bounds in their education" rather than be "held back by those".

Students with disabilities are putting a strain on teachers and schools, Pauline Hanson has told Parliament. Credit:Andrew Meares

One Nation's Senator Pauline Hanson was very specific about who THOSE culprits were yesterday; children with autism.
Alan Tudge, Michael Sukkar and Greg Hunt could be charged with contempt of court. Credit:Andrew Meares Tudge said some were "divorced from reality". They seemed "more concerned about the terrorists than the safety of the community". Benson packaged their texts with quotes from judges at the hearing in question, all but one of which he took from the ABC website. His lawyer confirmed that, like the ministers, he had no other source. The Victorian Court of Appeal had been considering the sentence handed down for two men convicted of terrorism over a plan to run down and behead a police officer at an Anzac Day march in 2015.

Hunt, Sukkar, and Tudge may have left it too late for an apology. What infuriated the judges was that they hadn't yet made a decision. The minister's texts, amplified through The Australian, could be seen as an attempt to influence their decision. Much worse, they ran the risk of being damned whether they took account of them or not. "On the one hand if we dismiss the appeals, then we will be accused of engaging in an ideological experiment or being hard-left activist judges, or on the other hand, if we increase the sentences ... the respondents may have an understandable grievance that we were doubtlessly affected by what three prominent ministers for the Crown had to say," Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said. "Can I add to that?" added Justice Stephen Kaye. "If we dismiss the appeals, it may be said we are reacting, perhaps overreacting, against the content of what your client said."

The technical term is "scandalising the court". Justice Kaye said he had never seen anything like it in more than 40 years in the law. Warren and Justice Mark Weinberg agreed. The three had invited the three ministers to appear before them on Friday to explain why they should not be tried for criminal contempt of court. It was their last and only opportunity to put a case before the judges decided whether to refer their conduct to the Office of Public Prosecutions. None turned up. Instead, they sent the Commonwealth Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue, QC, who made it clear he was representing them in their "role as ministers within our system of government". He had his work cut out. The video shows him opening by reading a statement in which the ministers neither withdrew what they had said nor apologised. Then after 39 minutes of excruciating questioning, he received his own text.

"I have just received instructions from Mr Sukkar that he is content to expressly withdraw the statement about hard left activist judges," he informed the court. "Does he apologise for it? He doesn't apologise," Kaye noted, amid nervous laughter from the packed public gallery. "Sounds like somebody's on the telephone," Weinberg observed, before adding: "Could I ask whether any of your three clients are lawyers or legal practitioners with any experience in the law at all?" All three were lawyers. None had turned up. "In other instances where these kinds of developments have occurred, the minister has taken the opportunity to retract the statement and apologised to the Court," the Chief Justice pointed out.

And then another text, amid more nervous laughter. "My instructions have evolved somewhat in the course of the morning," Donaghue stammered. "I can convey to the Court that I have received instructions to withdraw three of the statements in the article." "Ideological experiments" and "divorced from reality" were also withdrawn. And, on further questioning, the statement about the judges being appointed by Labor governments was withdrawn. They had "multiple appointments to judicial offices for governments of both the Coalition and Labor," Warren pointed out. Loading
There's nothing like an anti-Shakespeare protest to remind us that Shakespeare is a radical. Yes, William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, bastion of the establishment, whose portrait adorns every page of the new British passports as a watermark, authentic proof of British cultural supremacy. A radical?

This month, the Public Theater of New York opened a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, unambiguously portraying the blustering, narcissistic title character as Donald Trump. Because Caesar is stabbed to death in the play, corporate sponsors withdrew their support, protesters interrupted a performance, and death threats spewed out indiscriminately at theatre companies across the country.

The Public Theater of New York rehearse their version of Julius Caesar, which portrays the blustering, narcissistic title character as Donald Trump. Credit:AP

The protests, of course, miss the point, as anyone who took two minutes to google "Julius Caesar plot" would know. Caesar's murder is no cause for celebration in the play. Oscar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater, responding to the controversy, said: "Those who attempt to defend democracy by undemocratic means pay a terrible price and destroy the very thing they are fighting to save." No society can thrive when it is founded on an act of murder.

Shakespeare was obsessed with leadership. In play after play he scrutinised failed leaders and challenged beloved ones. This could have been dangerous, and Shakespeare seems to have walked a fine line, politically, thriving at a time when less careful artists were caught up in the machinery of the Elizabethan police state. His plays were set in Ancient Rome, Medieval Britain, and mythical lands, but they always spoke urgently to the present day.
On the face of it there's nothing super-controversial about atheism. After all, it's basically just a statement along the lines of "I don't believe in the supernatural".

No, it's also because atheists have failed to make a strong organisational case to become a meaningful lobby group because we have a tendency to well, act like a bunch of jerks.

Clementine Ford: 'I don't want my son to think the people he can turn to for help are Daddy and a million other women.' Credit:Simon Schluter

That's not just because Australia's non-atheist community get to have cozy little get-togethers in Parliament House , in which a subset of a subset of a subset of Australian Christians buddy up with politicians that continue to ensure that LGBTIQ citizens have fewer civil rights and less protection from schoolyard bullying.

Professor Richard Dawkins. Credit:Foundation for Reason and Science

The greatest exponent of this sort of worldview was the late, great Carl Sagan via his groundbreaking science and cosmology series Cosmos in the early eighties. When talking about the still-unknown origins of the universe in the episode 'The Edge of Forever', he laid out a case for scientific thought that struck me then and now as having a gentle humility to it:

"In many cultures, the customary answer is that a God or Gods created the Universe out of nothing," he explained. "But if we wish to pursue this question courageously, we must of course ask the next question: where did God come from? If we decide that this is an unanswerable question, why not save a step and conclude that the origin of the Universe is an unanswerable question? Or, if we say that God always existed, why not save a step, and conclude that the Universe always existed?"

However, that attitude - that the unknown is a wonderful thing to explore, not something to be closed off by adhering to dogma - has been less in evidence in recent times as atheism seems to have become less a travelling companion to science and knowledge and more an excuse to jump on the Islam-creates-terrorists bandwagon (out of which the US atheist author Sam Harris has made a career) or to express remarkably misogynist opinions.

It's become a massive problem in the international atheist community, due in no small part to comments made by the likes of Richard Dawkins, whose ill-considered "Dear Muslima" letter basically told women that since they didn't experience the level of repression of those in Muslim theocracies they should shut the hell up when guys get pushy - and though he later apologised for that, he did subsequently tweet that women that drink can't be trusted when they claim to have been sexually attacked.
Almost two thirds of adult Australian news consumers say they are either "very" or "extremely" interested in news stories but 56 per cent also admit to actively avoiding the news either often or occasionally.

In an era marked by a sense of more frequent terrorism, economic dislocation, and increasingly polarised politics, readers appear to be regulating their consumption.

Almost two thirds of adult Australian news consumers say they are either "very" or "extremely" interested in the news. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer

Women tend to avoid the news fractionally more because many report it having a negative effect on their moods.

These are among a slew of findings from a massive international survey of news and social media consumption trends involving 36 countries, released on Thursday.
Yesterday, Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan led a group of his staffers to the Tavoush border villages of Baghanis, Voskevan, Voskepar and Koti on a fact finding mission on Azerbaijani shelling of civilian settlements.

The fact finding group spoke with community leaders and residents, and inspected homes hit by Azerbaijani fire.

The groups findings will be published and presented to various international organizations.
Yet donations are only the most obvious potential channel of influence for the CCP in Australian politics. A small but growing number of Chinese-Australians with close links to the CCP now seek to occupy roles in this country's political structures. Malcolm Turnbull, Huang Xiangmo, Craig Laundy and Yang Dongdong at a 2016 Chinese New Year festivities. It's a trend that goes to the heart of concerns raised by the federal government and security services about the undisclosed sway in Australian politics of Beijing's agents of influence. But it's also worrying some Chinese-Australians, led by those who came to Australia to escape party control. Serving the motherland abroad Before coming to Australia at the end of 1989, Yang was deputy secretary of a branch of the Chinese Communist Youth League in Shanghai. Yang proudly reminisces on social media about his time in the party hierarchy, sharing old photos of himself at party meetings.

Craig Laundy, Malcolm Turnbull, Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu and Yang Dongdong at a Chinese New Year event. In 1988, his name was inscribed in the Chinese Communist Youth League honour roll. He was named "Shanghai New Long March Shock Trooper" for his work as a cadre devoted to the Youth League's mission of promoting the party. When pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square were massacred on June 4, 1989, a shocked Australian prime minister Bob Hawke offered all Chinese students in Australia protection visas. Arriving in Sydney after the massacre, Yang Dongdong appeared "desperate" to establish his eligibility for such a visa, according to Chin Jin, a prominent member of the Sydney anti-communist party group, Federation for a Democratic China. Yang joined the federation and attended protests. Eventually, he was granted permanent residency and then citizenship. From anti-communist to faithful servant

There are few traces of Yang's early Australian anti-communist activities in his more recent dealings. Yang now promotes himself as one of the strongest supporters of the CCP in Australia, says his old anti-communist friend Chin Jin. Yang is a member of the Overseas Committee of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, as well as its subsidiary, the Shanghai Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. In one of his companies' profiles of Yang, the groups are described as part of the CCP's United Front Work Department, a unique lobbying organisation that works secretly to mobilise overseas Chinese to advance Beijing's interests. In a brief interview on Wednesday, Yang said the Shanghai federation is "a communist party association". Yang's 2014 application letter to be admitted to the Overseas Committee of the Shanghai Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese  which he posted temporarily online  details his activities on behalf of the Chinese government. At the end of the document, he refers officials who wish to make further inquiries about him to the Chinese consulate in Sydney or the embassy in Canberra. Yang, whose business activities have included a Sydney telecommunications shop, also claims in the application that that he has supplied phone services to visiting Chinese presidents, the Chinese Olympic committee, Chinese diplomats and even the Chinese navy when in Australia. Former diplomat Chen Yonglin confirms these claims, which suggest Yang had somehow acquired a high level of trust from Chinese officials at the consulate and embassy (which also hosts China's intelligence services). When quizzed about his supply of telecommunications services, Yang said on Wednesday he had provided mobile phones to the consulate and embassy "a long time ago." He said he could not recall if he supplied phones to the navy or visiting officials. Chen Yonglin, a political officer in the Sydney Consulate until he defected amid a storm of controversy in 2005, says that Yang developed "an intimate, close connection with the Consulate".

Chen says Yang once reported to the consulate that ASIO had approached him to provide information about these phones. ASIO's policy of not commenting on operational matters means this cannot be verified. Yang's application also states that he supplied phones to Chinese state-owned enterprises like China Eastern Airlines and China Central Television, a business relationship that suggests he is trusted by some in the Chinese government. Contracts with state-owned enterprises are a classic way of rewarding loyalty. The activist and networker At the now-infamous 2008 Olympic Torch Relay in Canberra, at which thousands of Chinese students were bussed in for angry and sometimes aggressive displays of patriotism, Yang was leader of two "order maintenance corps". He had earlier told a Chinese state media outlet that he would protect the torch from Tibetan independence activists. Inspired by what he saw, he penned an article titled "This evening by the lake we did not sleep  a record of Australia protecting the Olympic flame". He organised a number of anti-Dalai Lama protests to disrupt the Tibetan leader's visits, including one in 2015. "On the many occasions when the Dalai Lama scurried to Australia, [he] did much to actively promote the successes of the new Tibet to mainstream Australian society," Yang's 2014 application states.

Yang is also the vice president of the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Reunification of China, another lobbying group aligned with the CCP's United Front Work Department. Yang's group works closely with the similarly named Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China, headed by Chinese-Australian billionaire Huang Xiangmo whose activities have recently come under intense scrutiny. The generous political donor is among the most powerful figures in the Sydney Chinese community. In 2015, ASIO confidentially warned the major political parties that, given Huang's close ties to the CCP, there was a risk his political donations may come with strings attached. Via several Australian organisations with an ostensible focus on business development, including the Australia China Business Summit, Yang has gathered contacts in the Liberal Party. In 2015, prime minister Tony Abbott wrote to him ("Dear Dong Dong") thanking him for his hospitality. He was snapped joining a toast last year with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and China's Ambassador Ma Zhaoxu. He has been photographed with a range of Liberal Party heavyweights including Andrew Robb and Gladys Berejiklian (who with Liberal powerbroker John Sidoti handed him a community service award). Yang claims to be close to only one politician: the member for Reid. China's new friend

Laundy, who is heir to one of the largest pub empires in Australia and lives in an $8 million mansion in Hunter's Hill, won the federal seat of Reid for the Liberal Party in 2013. It was the first time the Liberals had held it since the seat's creation in 1922. Centred on Burwood, Drummoyne and parts of Strathfield in Sydney's inner west, around 10 per cent of Reid's voters were born in China. After his election, Laundy was promoted to the front bench as assistant minister for multicultural affairs. Now serving as assistant minister for industry and science, the Turnbull ally is earmarked as a future cabinet minister. With a large and diverse Chinese community living in his electorate, it's unsurprising for Craig Laundy to seek its members' support. Complaints that Chinese-Australians have been under-represented in Australian politics are justified. But Chinese involvement in local politics takes on a different hue when it is driven by figures such as Yang, who appear to be simultaneously working to advance the CCP's aims. Laundy's election campaign in 2016 received energetic support from Yang, who is also a founder of the Liberal Party's Chinese Council. The Labor Party was blindsided by a highly effective Chinese-language media campaign, with Yang writing an article praising Laundy and rallying dozens of Chinese-Australian to take to the streets to campaign for the Liberal Party candidate. Laundy, though, say that Yang's election role was unremarkable and he was just one of 300 volunteers under the control of his campaign director.

Promoting the friendship Laundy has become one of federal politics' most vigorous promoters of the China-Australia friendship. He's candid about his desire to work with the Chinese consulate in Sydney. In 2016, Yang's business group arranged for him to meet China's Consul-General Gu Xiaojie. The Consulate later reported that during this meeting, the MP expressed his willingness to "closely cooperate with the Consulate ... and to deepen practical cooperation [between the two countries]". When Laundy met the billionaire donor Huang Xiangmo in December 2015, the ACPPRC reported that the Liberal MP "highly praised how the ACPPRC under Huang Xiangmo's leadership had done much work for Australia and China". He "expressed his admiration for Huang's penetrating opinions on Australia's culture, economy, history, and so on, and expressed appreciation for the contributions of Huang's compassionate philanthropic services." When Yang organised a protest against the visit by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the Yasukuni Shrine in March 2014, Laundy appeared alongside Yang waving Chinese and Korean flags. Laundy also promised to deliver a petition from the protesters to the foreign minister, the prime minister and parliament, and to call on them to support the protest. Laundy wasn't contradicting his government's position, but his spear-carrying on an issue cranked up by Beijing's propaganda machine raised eyebrows among China watchers.

Keeping an eye on the Tibetans Yang claims in his application that he "had a federal parliamentarian make a speech in parliament opposing Abe's veneration of spirits". Later, a People's Daily article  headlined "Voices of Opposition to Abe's Visiting Yasukuni Shrine Appear in the Australian Parliament for the First Time"  triumphantly reported on Laundy's and fellow Liberal backbencher David Coleman's criticism of Abe. In July 2015,when Tibetans staged a protest outside China's Sydney consulate in Camperdown, Yang's business group claimed on social media that Craig Laundy had issued a statement "strongly condemning the conduct of the thugs who attacked the Chinese Consulate in Sydney". In his media release, Laundy wrote that after talking to "Reid's local Chinese-Australian community" he condemned the "violence" of the protesters, who had done no more than take down the Chinese flag. He made no mention of the cause of the protest, the death in a Chinese prison of a prominent Tibetan monk. On Wednesday, Laundy dismissed that any of his advocacy had ever been influenced by Yang. "He's never asked me to support any position."

Laundy says he spoke out about the shrine visit because of outrage felt by his Chinese and Korean constituents. "The reason I raised the Abe issue in parliament [is because] ... I did the research and took a position myself." After mining magnate Clive Palmer made insulting remarks about Chinese people, Yang Dongdong led the anti-Palmer protests. Laundy turned up too, along with Sam Dastyari and fellow Liberal MP David Coleman. In his application Yang claims to have lobbied parliamentarians and the government to put pressure on Palmer, finally leading to Palmer's grovelling public apology. Noting his consistently pro-Beijing stances, China's state-run media appears to treat Laundy as a go-to man for comment. The MP has been quoted in several CCP controlled newspapers praising China's contribution to Australia and has featured on the cover of BQ Weekly, the magazine of Air China, under the headline "Chinese Migrants Represent the Australian Dream: In an Exclusive Interview Federal MP Laundy Says No to Anti-Chinese People". All about free trade Laundy insists his only interest in mainland China is "how our first generation or second generation Australians of Chinese descent can leverage their networks and take advantage of the free trade agreement".
The chief executive officer of magazine publisher Bauer Media Australia, Nick Chan, has left the company barely a year after taking the helm.

Senior executives have denied there is any connection between Chan's departure on Tuesday and actress Rebel Wilson's legal victory against the company last week over defamatory articles it published of her.

The German-based company publishes a raft of leading Australian magazines, including Woman's Day, Australian Women's Weekly, TV Week and Harper's Bazaar.

Bauer's New Zealand chief executive Paul Dykzeul has been named as Chan's replacement and will now lead the company's Australian and New Zealand operations.
It was a mystery that had people talking on Wednesday morning: why were so many flags flying at half-mast?

Sydney residents noticed flags on the Harbour Bridge and Anzac Bridge flying low and put the question out to Twitter.

Flags at half-mast on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Wednesday.

Fairfax Media columnist Michael Pascoe was not alone in his musings, with others raising the same query.
Former Marist Brothers Hamilton headmaster Brother Christopher Wade has been found guilty of child sex offences against a Marist Hamilton student in the mid 1970s, and a second student at a Kogarah Marist school from 1977.

Brother Christopher  real name William Henry Wade, 78  pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting the boys while headmaster at both schools, but was found guilty of the offences on Wednesday after a judge-alone trial before Sydney District Court Judge David Arnott.

Convicted: Former Marist Hamilton principal William Henry Wade, known as Brother Christopher, was convicted of child sex offences against a Marist Hamilton and a Marist Kogarah student. Credit:Mags King

"I was in year 8 and I was sick so my teacher told me to go the principal's office so my parents could be contacted," said Wade's Hunter victim.

"A lady ushered me into his office and he called me darling and told me to sit on his knee. Then the abuse occurred. He's the principal and he's supposed to be the main protector, but he did that."
Opposition leader Luke Foley is promising to "massively increase" solar generation in NSW if elected in 2019 by installing panels on the rooftops of government buildings including schools, hospitals and police stations.

In his budget reply speech to be delivered on Thursday, Mr Foley will also call on the government to invest in battery storage technology to avoid blackouts and pledge to not build the F6 extension through the Royal National Park.

According to speech excerpts released by his office, Mr Foley will note that on February 10 this year "NSW ran out of power"  a reference to the strain on the electricity grid during extreme heatwave conditions.

Mr Foley will say that due to inaction by the Berejiklian government, NSW is "staring down the barrel at the possibility of blackouts this coming summer."
The NSW government has lost at least $1.3 million due to an Opal card loophole that allows users to tap off with a negative balance and throw away the card, potentially saving $15 or more on a single journey.

Despite the NSW Audit Office flagging the loophole in its annual reports for the past two years, the number of passengers exploiting the system has surged.

Figures show that, between July 2015 and June 2016, the amount owing to the state more than tripled from $427,000 to $1.3 million.

The number of cards with a negative balance in circulation jumped from 134,000 at June 30, 2015, to 363,000 in 2016.
Police are investigating after a man was found dead in a car in Sydney's eastern suburbs on Wednesday night.

The man's body was discovered in a white hatchback parked near a primary school close to the corner of Mons Avenue and Marine Parade in Maroubra about 9.45pm.

The dead man had suffered a number of injuries and police say they are treating his death as suspicious.
The NSW government should consider creating a standalone asbestos dumping offence and a new regulator to confront the dumping black market, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has found.

The ICAC made the recommendations after finding Craig Izzard, a dumping inspector, engaged in serious corrupt conduct, helping offenders avoid detection in exchange for cash, mobile phones and firewood.

Former rugby league player Craig Izzard has been found corrupt by the ICAC for agreeing to accept bribes in exchange for not investigating illegal dumping. Credit:Peter Rae

An investigation into Mr Izzard exposed a range of problems with the handling of asbestos, including an illegal market fuelled by the high costs of legal disposal.

Mr Izzard, a former rugby league player with the Parramatta Eels and Penrith Panthers, agreed to help facilitate an illegal skip bin business in Rossmore in Sydney's west in 2015 in exchange for a share of $10,000.
The Labor party is mourning the death of former federal minister Con Sciacca, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten paying tribute to him as "an icon, a true believer and a fearless warrior."

Mr Sciacca, who died on Wednesday after a long battle with cancer, held the southern Queensland seat of Bowman for 15 years and served as Paul Keating's minister for veterans affairs.

Con Sciacca died on Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. Credit:Jim Rice

"He remains widely regarded as one of Australia's best veterans affairs ministers," Mr Shorten said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Con was always one of those people who excelled in everything he turned his hand to."
Clive Palmer is suing The Courier-Mail for defamation over an opinion piece published in the Queensland newspaper.

The former federal MP has featured heavily in the media in recent months as he faces scrutiny over the collapse of Queensland Nickel.

Clive Palmer has featured heavily in the media in recent months as he faces scrutiny over the collapse of Queensland Nickel. Credit:Tony McDonough

After claiming he was too sick to give evidence to liquidators of QN, Mr Palmer was ordered to appear before the Federal Court in Brisbane in May.

Clutching a vomit bag and using a breathing apparatus and a pillow, he claimed he was suffering memory loss after ingesting a morphine-based painkiller.
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.
Queenslanders use social media less frequently than the rest of their interstate counterparts, a report has found.

The Sensis Social Media report showed 74 per cent of Queenslanders used social media, compared with a national average of 79 per cent.

Queenslanders used social media slightly less than other Australians, a survey has found. Credit:Reuters

Sensis Digital spokesperson Rob Tolliday said Queenslanders were also more likely to meet up with their social media friends in real life.

"We did see that people in Queensland are the most likely to have actually seen in person the people that they're friends with or following them on social media," he said.
The rhetoric around Amazon is small businesses should be trembling in their boots. John Winning, CEO of Appliances Online, isn't buying it. He says it is business as usual for the company.

Amazon is a US-based an online shopping portal that is expected to launch an Australian presence this year. Many products sold on it tend to be commoditised and there are concerns among small businesses that Amazon's arrival will erode their margins. Winning doesn't share this view.

"We aren't really doing anything different to prepare for Amazon. The best way to prepare for Amazon, or any competition, is to be the best you can be and build loyal customers through genuine care and remarkable experiences," he says.

Competitors don't distract Winning. "We want to be the best we can for our customers, which means listening to what they have to say and looking for ways to improve our service to better suit their needs."
Russian hackers targeted 21 US state election systems in the 2016 presidential race and a small number were breached but there was no evidence any votes were manipulated, a Homeland Security Department official has told US Congress.

Jeanette Manfra, the department's acting deputy undersecretary of cyber security, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Department of Homeland Security officials say Russia's campaign included email hacking and online propaganda.

US intelligence agencies have concluded the Kremlin orchestrated a wide-ranging influence operation that included email hacking and online propaganda to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump, a Republican, win the White House in November.

The Russia issue has cast a shadow over Trump's first five months in office. The extent of interference by Russian hackers, and whether they or others could interfere in future elections, has been the source of speculation and media reports for months.
A $50 million redevelopment of a wildlife park known for its daggy ads, kangaroos and paddle boats will make it the "Disneyland of Victoria", its backers say.

A 500-bed hotel, a vineyard and a meerkat exhibit are among plans for the glammed-up Gumbuya Park, 70km south-east of Melbourne.

The new owners hope to attract tourists heading to Phillip Island's penguin parade.

The revamped park will have 54 attractions including a water park, eight new eateries, a dinosaur exhibition, chocolate factory and microbrewery. Staff numbers will rise from 56 to 500.
A Melbourne imam has been spared an immediate jail term for officiating at the wedding of a man in his thirties and a teenage girl.

Ibrahim Omerdic, 62, was earlier this month found guilty of solemnising an invalid marriage after conducting a wedding ceremony between a girl and a man 20 years older than her, in September last year.

Former Imam Ibrahim Omerdic won't be going to jail. Credit:Jason South

The ceremony was conducted at a Bosnian mosque in Noble Park. The girl was 14 at the time and the man 34.

Omerdic pleaded not guilty to the charge but was convicted following a contested hearing before magistrate Phillip Goldberg.
An inmate has been stabbed inside one of Victoria's maximum security prisons.

Ambulance Victoria was called to Barwon Prison on Tuesday night and took a man to hospital with upper body injuries.

An inmate was stabbed in Barwon Prison on Tuesday.

Police have been notified and are investigating, Corrections Victoria said on Wednesday.

AAP
A magistrate has banned the brother of accused Bourke Street killer Dimitrious Gargasoulas from setting foot in a Melbourne suburb.

Angelo Gargasoulas, 26, is not allowed to enter Windsor as part of new conditions added to the community corrections order he is serving after time in jail for pleading guilty in March to a series of assaults.

Angelo Gargasoulas at the Melbourne Magistrates Court for a hearing in March. Credit:Penny Stephens

During an appearance in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday, deputy chief magistrate Jelena Popovic also ordered Gargasoulas live at the one address for the remainder of his 18-month corrections order.

Gargasoulas did not object to either new condition.
Charges are likely to be upgraded for an 18-year-old Capel mother after her four-month-old baby died in May 2017 from a "catastrophic brain injury".

Cassandra Doohan faced Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday, charged with aggravated grievous bodily harm after her daughter, Anastasia Hand, died in Princess Margaret Hospital on May 28.

The four-month old girl, Anastasia Hand.

The baby had been found unresponsive by her father in their Capel home two days earlier and rushed to Bunbury Hospital.

The police prosecution said the baby had suffered a catastrophic brain injury and a post mortem found bleeding to the brain and suggestions of abuse.
Mosul: The Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its famous leaning minaret has been blown up, an Iraqi military statement said.

It was from this medieval mosque that the militants' leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled "caliphate" spanning parts of Syria and Iraq three years ago.

Islamic State's Amaq propaganda agency accused American aircraft of destroying the mosque, while Iraq said IS did it.

"The Daesh [IS] terror gangs committed another historical crime by blowing up the al-Nuri mosque and its historical al-Hadba minaret," the Iraqi military statement said.
Democrats seethed, second-guessed and sought to regroup after a disappointing special election defeat in Georgia that had been labelled 'a referendum on Donald Trump', with the party's campaign chief in the House of Representatives outlining alternative paths to taking power, and some lawmakers questioning anew the leadership and political strategy of Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader.

By fiercely contesting a congressional race in the conservative Atlanta suburbs on Tuesday, Democrats had hoped to make an emphatic statement about the weakness of the Republican Party under President Trump. Their candidate, Jon Ossoff, raised about $US25 million, largely in small donations, and assertively courted right-of-centre voters with promises of economic development and fiscal restraint.

But as the returns came in and Mr Ossoff remained stubbornly behind Karen Handel, a veteran local officeholder, Democratic frustrations burst into full view. Lawmakers and strategists fretted about the party's inchoate message, and some called the race a sign that Democrats should not bet too heavily on converting red-tinged suburbs to win a majority in the House.

Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, who has been a vocal critic of his party's overarching political strategy, said Democrats needed to recognise that they were "toxic" in huge parts of the country.
Manila: Islamist militants seized an elementary school in the restive southern Philippines on Wednesday, holding 31 hostages, including students, for about 12 hours before escaping into a vast marshland area, the military said.

The militants, from a splinter group called the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, seized Malagakit Elementary School in the town of Pigcawayan as they were retreating from a nearby government outpost they had attacked, the military said.

Captain Arvin Encinas, a military spokesman, said the gunmen took over the school at dawn on Wednesday, triggering skirmishes and the evacuation of about 1,000 residents in the area.

They took hostages, including six students, to prevent troops from advancing. Two pro-government militiamen were wounded in the firefight, the military said.
London: Coincidence or a subliminal message? Queen Elizabeth has stirred up social media as she opened parliament in a hat looking very much like a European Union flag.

Delivering a formal speech in which Prime Minister Theresa May's government laid out its strategy for exiting the EU, the monarch sported a blue chapeau decorated with an arc of blue flowers each with a bright yellow disc at its centre.

It was all a bit Brussels and Strasbourg, where the EU flag  a blue ensign with a circle of yellow stars on it  holds pride of place,

"Queen delivers speech outlining Brexit plans wearing a hat that looks suspiciously like a EUROPEAN flag," the right-wing, anti-EU Daily Mail newspaper tweeted.
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Wednesday appointed his son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince, according to a royal decree carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

The decree removed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef - the king's 57-year-old nephew - and replaced him with Mohammed bin Salman, 31, who was previously the deputy crown prince, SPA reported.

The move marks a stark upheaval in the leadership of the wealthy kingdom, a key ally of the United States and the Arab world's largest economy.

The newly-appointed crown prince was also named deputy prime minister and maintained his post as defence minister, according to SPA.
Registration of Specialists is cumbersome and frustrating.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of Health Emil Lee who had an independent study conducted at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) the Inspectorate and the Department of Public Health said the report from that study which was conducted by a Dutch consultant Everard van Kemenade is intended to get the real status of the of health care on St. Maarten. Minister Lee said after receiving the report his first objective was to get all stakeholders involved to work together. He said if healthcare is to be improved all stakeholders must agree to work together.

The Minister said he has since held a meeting with management of SMMC and his Ministry which he felt was very productive. Minister said at that meeting he was looking into getting an agreement signed by all parties since they all agree that all stakeholders must work together to improve healthcare on St. Maarten, however that agreement was not signed. He said that while it looks as though the situation is not improving he assured that things are improving but not at the speed he would have liked especially since SMMC director is currently not on the job.

With the regards to the amount of specialists that are leaving SMMC because of poor working relationships. SMN News asked the Minister if he addressed that situation with the management of SMMC since he is not aware of that situation. I am not aware of who is leaving and on what schedule and the reasons they left.

The Minister further explained that his Ministry is working on a new healthcare system which includes the New General Hospital. He said while the hospital is just a building one of the things that has been in place are properly trained personnel and qualified specialists is a critical part of the healthcare system, thus is the reason they are also working on the BIG legislation which is a critical part. He said that legislation is now in its first draft and it has to go through the various channels before implementation. Minister Lee said that specialists that are registered in the BIG registry of the Netherlands could work on St. Maarten but specialists that come from other countries have a difficult time getting registered on St. Maarten. He described the process as cumbersome and it affects visiting physicians and even those on the French side that wants to work closer with SMMC. Minister Lee said while St. Maarten/ St. Martin is one island and they want to share resources the current legislations makes it problematic. Minister Lee said that SMMC expressed their frustration in getting specialists that come from other countries approved since the process is cumbersome and not user-friendly. He said because of the Van Kemenade report they are able to streamline the process and make it simpler for everyone.
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.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Education Silveria Jacobs confirmed that the Inspectorate met with all stakeholders at NIPA including the AVE board, unions, students and staff of the institution. The Minister said she has since received a report from the Inspectorate with recommendations which is already on the action plan.

The Minister called on students and all those that has grievances to follow the procedures in place to file complaints and not run to the media to create negativity or give the institution a bad image.

Minister Jacobs made clear that students or no one has to send a letter to her via the media as everyone knows where and how to reach her.

The Minister said she will not comment on the labor-related issues but guarantees that all stakeholders will send out a joint press release addressing the issues surrounding NIPA.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Bureau Telecommunications and Post St. Maarten (BTP)  in collaboration with Internet Society (ISOC)  will be hosting the 3rd Annual Caribbean Peering & Interconnection Forum (CarPIF), to take place in Sonesta Maho Beach Hotel on July 5th and 6th 2017.

The CarPIF is an initiative of the Packet Clearing House (PCH) and the Internet Society and supported by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG). Its a highly recognized forum in the region that offers a platform to acquire knowledge on Internet Development, content delivery & peering, Internet Exchange points and the digital infrastructure as a driver for innovation & economic growth in the Caribbean.

During the upcoming forum, several international speakers will give lectures on a large variety of internet topics such as; ICT infrastructure developments, Internet Exchange Points, local connectivity, E-commerce, digital payments and content delivery.

The Director of BTP, Mr. Anthony Carty, stated that its of great importance that regional Internet Exchange Points (IXP) - such as Sint Maartens OCIX - are being utilized to its full potential. It allows users to exchange local traffic, and by keeping the internet traffic local, the overall quality will be better, and there will be less latency due to more efficient routing. Another big benefit is that it can also reduce the costs of bandwidth in our region. IXPs are instrumental in making the internet faster and cheaper, and we, therefore, give our full support to forums like CarPIF were these important matters will be discussed.

BTP is encouraging all stakeholders in the ICT industry to participate at the CarPIF Forum. It offers a great opportunity to network, advance business and secure new opportunities for growth.

The event is free of charge, but registration at BTP is required. More information to be found on www.conntectedcaribbean.com
PHILIPSBURG:--- Last week, yet another annual report was added to the long list of reports that Parliament has in its possession. The General Audit Chamber, one of the High Councils of State, submitted for the seventh time, its annual report in both the Dutch and English languages. Hence, Members of Parliament, who are not versed in the Dutch language have no excuse about not being able to read or understand the Chambers annual report. I would like to commend the Chamber for producing a very good report. Its critical, yet objective and minces no words as it lets the governor and parliament know what is going on in government as far as the areas of responsibility of the Chamber are concerned. Since the annual report is a public document, the Chamber may want to consider a more friendly layout.

If Parliament is serious about executing its supervisory task then the Chamber has supplied Members of Parliament again with an excellent instrument to do such. Unfortunately, the previous annual reports have been blatantly ignored by parliament. SMCP truly hopes that Parliament will do something about this report. Our government and even our parliament have grave objections to the establishment of an Integrity Chamber because they believe that integrity assessments can be carried out by our High Councils of State. Yet all the annual reports of the High Councils of State thus far have been totally ignored which is an indication of great disrespect for the Councils as institutions as well as for the research and hard work carried out by the personnel of these Councils.

In the 2016 annual report, the Chamber points out many instances where the government and specifically ministers have failed to do their jobs. The report states that when government is made aware of weaknesses and deficiencies in the organization and even draft plans to deal with these, the implementation is found wanting. The Chamber also reports that several ministers and ministries did not cooperate in providing the requested information, which impacted the audits that were carried out in 2016. The Chamber even wonders if lack of cooperation and failure to provide information are becoming the standard practice in government. If ministers and ministries are unable or unwilling to provide information to the General Audit Chamber which has the legal authority to request such, can you imagine the refusal and resistance that the High Councils of State will encounter if they are charged with integrity investigations?

The Chamber also pointed out serious shortcomings in the way government manages its finances. Government spent money that was not available, particularly in the area of hiring personnel. This was pointed out in the previous annual reports as well but has been totally ignored by government. In addition, appointments by government-owned companies lack all form of transparency. Furthermore, according to the National Ordinance Promotion of integrity of ministers, the government must seek the advice of the General Audit Chamber when appointing new ministers. It appears that for the screening of all of the ministers in the current cabinet no advice from the Chamber was sought.

During 2016, the Ministries of Justice, Finance, and General Affairs were guilty of not cooperating and not providing the requested information to the General Audit Chamber. Even though the ministers charged with these ministries were notified of such the Chamber never received any reaction to their notification.

The above are just some of the problems listed in the General Audit Chambers 2016 Annual Report concerning the functioning of government. Since the reports of the High Councils of State are meant to help Parliament carry out its supervisory task, the report at hand contains enough material to enable parliament to call out government and ministers on a number issues such as: a lack of transparency regarding appointments, hiring personnel when there is no money allocated for such, the inability to present a solid and auditable financial statement, providing proper insight about how public funds are used, etc. Parliament, there is a lot of work to be done!

I must say something here about the blatant disrespect on the part of parliament for the General Audit Chamber. During 2016, a delegation of the Dutch Parliament and a delegation from the Dutch Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Affairs visited the General Audit Chamber. Yet our own parliament did not see the need to even meet with the Chamber to discuss its 2015 annual report.

Unfortunately, our parliament also shows a similar disregard for the other High Councils of State as well. The Advisory Council, as well as the Ombudsman, have, over the years, diligently submitted their annual reports but Parliament has yet to discuss these and additional interim reports in a Central Committee and follow up on these reports by calling government and ministers to parliament to give an account for the problems and failures listed in these reports. To date, Parliament has received sixteen annual reports from the three High Councils of State but they have never yet been discussed in Parliament. How or when does Parliament plan to tackle all of these reports?

Wycliffe Smith

Leader of the Sint Maarten Christian Party
POINTE BLANCHE:---- Port St. Maarten has a representative at the 20th Annual General Meeting of the Port Management Association of the Caribbean (PMAC) which is taking place in the Cayman Islands from June 21-23.

On Wednesday, the PMAC opened with an Executive Committee Meeting followed by a Strategic Session and Welcome Reception in the evening. On Thursday, opening remarks will be delivered by the chairman followed by internal organizational business matters. On Friday, there will be a number of technical sessions for the delegates attending the 20th Annual PMAC meeting.

Port Management Association of the Caribbean delegates will be reviewing the Strategic Plan 2013-2017 and creating an upcoming plan as it relates to 21st century continuous and sustainable growth for member ports in collaboration with cargo carriers with respect to better insight into growth perspectives. More emphasis will be placed on discussions related to big data for better, decisive and efficient decision-making.

Presentations will be given on the following subjects: Yacht Market Outlook; Correct planning, equipment, and the practice of safety protocols for mitigating the risks to life in ports.

Oil spills in ports  How to plan, prepare, mitigate, and react; From Vessel Traffic Service to Ship Traffic Control. Natural evolution of modern solutions; Improving warehouse operations through automation; Discussion on current trends in ferry service and blue sky vision for Caribbean routes; Dredging and Towing Service at Degrad Des Cannes.

The three-day annual general meeting will conclude with an awards dinner on Friday evening.

Port St. Maarten is looking forward to meeting with port executives and managers across the Caribbean to engage in topics of mutual interests that range from challenges faced by small ports in the Caribbean to best practices that can enhance the Ports operational efficiency and in turn increase growth potential, Port Management said on Wednesday.

Port St. Maarten is busy preparing to roll out the port community system interconnecting all stakeholders using the already in-house terminal operating system GLS which is provided by IT Partners BV.

Port St. Maarten has implemented since 2010 the IT Partner GLS system for its Cruise and Cargo activities. The Port has an extensive real-time database which is nowadays referred to as big data. Utilization of the port community system will enhance business intelligence and strategic business decisions, Port St. Maarten Management pointed out.

PMAC conducted its inaugural meeting in Antigua on 26 June 1998, having succeeded the Port Management Association of the Eastern Caribbean established on 16 May 1988.

The main objective of PMAC is to improve the proficiency of member ports and the quality of services offered to their users, specifically through the facilitation of relevant training designed to maximize human resources, and effectively meet the ever-increasing challenges of the global environment.

Moreover, amidst developments within the maritime industry, the Association strives to remain relevant by providing critical services to members, which entail the sharing of experience, information, and ideas, as well as advocacy and representation at multilateral levels.

PMACs mission is to foster operational and financial efficiency, and to enhance the level of service to the mutual benefit of Caribbean Ports and their stakeholders, through the sharing of experience, training, information and ideas.

Current membership includes port organizations from the following islands, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Saint Martin, French Guyane, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, Cayman Islands, Sint Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Turks and Caicos Islands. There are also a number of associate members.
Medineering to Present at the 21st IFOS ENT World Congress in Paris

Posted by Publisher Internet

The Munich based surgical robotics startup Medineering announced today that the company will exhibit its robotic product innovation for minimally invasive transnasal endoscopic surgery from June 24 to 28, 2017 at the IFOS ENT World Congress in Paris. The Endoscope Guidance System* will be available for ENT- and skull base surgeons who want to benefit from adequate robotic assistance.

The company will show the system in the exhibition area, Level 2, Booth No 2.07 (shared booth with Brainlab). Dr. Maximilian Krinninger, CTO and co-founder of Medineering will be available at the booth from June 26 to 28. The ENT World Congress, which takes place only every four years, is hosted in the Palais de Congres de Paris, 2 Place de la Porte Maillot, Paris, France.









Medineering, headquartered in Munich, develops, manufactures and markets an application-specific and convenient robotic portfolio to make the benefits of robotic assistance available to a broad number of patients. The portfolio consists of the Intelligent Positioning Device and compact application-specific robots assisting surgeons in complex anatomical regions. Dr. Maximilian Krinninger and Dr. Stephan Nowatschin founded Medineering in June 2014. The startup has grown rapidly and the young and international team consists of highly specialized robotic engineers, marketing experts and regulatory specialists.
Lumenpulse Completes Going-Private Transaction

MONTREAL, QUEBEC  (Marketwired)  06/21/17  Lumenpulse Inc. (TSX: LMP) (Lumenpulse or the Company), the parent company of the Lumenpulse Group, a leading manufacturer of high performance, specification-grade LED lighting solutions, is pleased to announce that the transactions contemplated by the previously-announced statutory plan of arrangement under the provisions of the Canada Business Corporations Act involving the Company and 10191051 Canada Inc. were completed earlier today. Pursuant to the plan of arrangement, a group led by Mr. Francois-Xavier Souvay, the Founder, President and CEO of Lumenpulse, several other existing shareholders of the Company and Power Energy Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada, have indirectly acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Lumenpulse for $21.25 per share in cash.

Consideration for the purchased Lumenpulse shares has been paid to TSX Trust Company, as depositary under the arrangement, and will be forwarded to former shareholders as soon as reasonably practicable after the date hereof (or, in the case of registered shareholders, as soon as reasonably practicable after a properly completed and signed letter of transmittal is received by the depositary together with the share certificate(s) and/or Direct Registration System (DRS) Advice(s) representing shares formerly held by them).

As a result of the transaction, the common shares of Lumenpulse will be de-listed from the Toronto Stock Exchange shortly and the Company will apply to cease to be a reporting issuer in all the provinces and territories of Canada.

Editors Notes:

About Lumenpulse Group

Founded in 2006, the Lumenpulse Group designs, develops, manufactures and sells a wide range of high performance and sustainable specification-grade LED lighting solutions for commercial, institutional and urban environments. The Lumenpulse Group is a leading pure-play specification-grade LED lighting solutions provider and has earned many awards and recognitions, including several Product Innovation Awards (PIA), three Next Generation Luminaires Design Awards, two Red Dot Product Design Awards, a Lightfair Innovation Award, and an iF Design Award. The Lumenpulse Group now has 670 employees worldwide, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Canada, and offices in Vancouver, Quebec City, Boston, Paris, Florence, London and Manchester. Lumenpulse Inc., the parent company of the Lumenpulse Group, is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol LMP. For more information, visit .

About Power Energy

Power Energy Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada established in 2012, with an objective to invest in the sustainable and renewable energy sector. Power Energy invests in and develops companies that can provide stable and growing long-term recurring cash flows. Power Energy currently holds investments in two companies: Potentia Renewables Inc., a renewable energy power producer active in North America, and Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, a U.S.-based owner and operator of hydropower facilities.

In connection with the above, 10191051 Canada Inc. has filed an early warning report under the Companys profile on SEDAR. The address of 10191051 Canada Inc. is 751 Square-Victoria Montreal (Quebec) H2Y 2J3.

Contacts:

For information (or to obtain a copy of the early warning

report filed by 10191051 Canada Inc. in connection with this

press release), contact: Lumenpulse Inc.

Peter Timotheatos

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

514-937-3003
Four Eastpointe citizens filed a federal lawsuit against Mayor Monique Owens Wednesday alleging their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when they were not allowed to speak during audience participation at a recent city council meeting.
What has to happen? 5 keys to an Irish victory over Navy Saturday

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Statement by Ahmed Boukhari, Representative of the Frente POLISARIO to the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation-C24 13 June 2017 United Nations

Mr President,

On behalf of the Sahrawi people, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to address this important Committee where our country is still on its agenda as the last African colony.

Morocco has been occupying our country since 1975 in flagrant violation of the resolutions of the African Union, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the opinion of the International Court of Justice of 16 October 1975 and the recommendations of the Special Committee contained in the report of the mission that it had sent to Western Sahara in May 1975.

The crimes that it has committed and continues to commit against our people are unspeakable and history will judge them fully someday and reveal their tragic dimensions.

From day one,Morocco resorted to the use of prohibited weapons such as NAPALM with which it bombed the locality of Um Dreiga in February 1976, the Sahrawi Guernica. Dozens of our fellow citizens were executed in the desert and buried in mass graves, some of which were discovered in 2013 and exhumed in the presence of the UN.

Six hundred civilians and 151 soldiers captured on the battlefield are still unaccounted for. Some were thrown from helicopters. Dozens of our fellow citizens, women and men, are still victims of violence, rape, torture, harassment, in several cases leading to death in prisons or during the repression of demonstrations. More than sixty political prisoners have been held in Moroccan prisons for years, including Gdeim Iziks group, whose members were sentenced to life imprisonment by the military court of a politically motivated occupying country.

The specific report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights of September 2006 states that human rights violations by Morocco are due for the most part to the fact that the Sahrawi people have not exercised their right to self-determination.

To cite the most recent testimony, the Human Rights Committee, in its conclusions adopted on 2 November 2016 (CCPR/C/MAR/CO/6 referred to in the recent report of SG S/2017/307 of 10 April, (I quote):

itsconcern about continued reports of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment perpetrated by the Moroccan State inWestern Sahara (unquote). The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, who visited Western Sahara in 2013, reached the same conclusion.

Many observers and journalists who tried to come to the occupied territorywere expelled. In paragraph 72 of the report, the UN Secretary-General says that, (I quote): The Government of Morocco confirmed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that some 187 foreigners were forcibly expelled from Western Sahara under the argument of (I quote) undermining national security(unquote). No witnesses are allowedto see what is happening in this open prison.

Morocco admits only part of the truth when it confirms, according to paragraph 73 of the report, that 776 demonstrations of protest against the occupation took place last year in Western Sahara, of which 66 according to Morocco were suppressed by force. In paragraph 75, the report says, (I quote) Sahrawis continue to be discriminated against in their economic, social and cultural rights and that little has been done for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara who are not consulted on the exploitation of their natural resources (unquote).

Mr President,

The Sahrawi people are victims of a colonialist attack that has lasted 42 years. We have faced armed aggression on the battlefield where thousands of Sahrawi martyrs have fallen in defence of the right to live in our free and sovereign country. In 1979, Mauritania signed a peace accordand ended its occupation of the south of our country. Sixteen years later, when the United Nations and the African Union asked us in 1991 to have trust in the peaceful way, the referendum on self-determination, we responded positively to the call. Having declared the independence of our country on 27 February 1976 and having been a Member of the Organisation of African Unity since 1984, accepting the referendum was a tangible proof of cooperation.

Where is the referendum today? Who obstructs it? We have been waiting for 25 years.

The facts show that Morocco accepted the solution of the referendum with the option of independence and manoeuvred to involve the UN and the Organisation of African Unity in a shampoll, by granting the right to vote to thousands of Moroccan settlers who were transferred to our country during and after the military invasion. The UN and the OAU did not want to legitimise the fraud. That is why Morocco ended its participation in the process in April 2004, but we still hear it saying that the self-determination referendum was abandoned by the UN because it considered it unrealisable. This attribution to the UN is simply false. Each year, the Security Council extends the mandate of the UN Mission for the referendum in Western Sahara. Since 2015, the African Union has been calling on the UN to establish a date for the self-determination referendum. The UN has a list of voters and a detailed plan contained in the Houston Agreements that the two parties had negotiated and signed in 1997. The UN can hold the referendum within three to four months. The only thing needed is political will.

The failure of the Security Council to respond to the Moroccan obstruction of the referendum has undermined the credibility of the UN and has led Morocco to believe that it has been granted a right to impunity. In fact, the UN Mission is today a prisoner of the occupying power that forces it to look the other way, not even to inform New York of facts of extreme gravity that took place. Its cars still have Moroccan registration numbers.It is the only peacekeeping operation created since 1978 that has no prerogatives to protect human rights. It cannot interact with the population or the human rights defenders. On 16 March of last year, its political and civilian components, 87 officials, were expelled by Morocco within a 48-hour threatening deadline. In his briefing to the Security Council meeting on 17 March, Mr Feltman, UN Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs said, We see this action [expulsion] as contrary to the international obligations of Morocco under the Charter and the Agreement on the Status of the Mission with regard to MINURSO.

Morocco has refused since 2012 to continue direct negotiations with the Frente POLISARIO in contravention of Security Council resolutions. A year later, in 2013, it declared as persona non grata the former Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General, Ambassador Christopher Ross. In January of this year, it demanded his resignation, which it obtained. In March 2016, it prevented SG Ban Ki-Moon from visiting the occupied territory where MINURSO is based;it publicly denigrated him and then expelled the civil and political component of MINURSO.

In August last year, Morocco took us to the brink of a military confrontation when it decided, in violation of the terms of the ceasefire, to build a roadfor commercial traffic to Africa in the ElGargarat area, which is a zone restricted by the military agreements with the UN.

The situation created in the area led the Security Council to ask the UN SG in the latest resolution 2351 (2017) to examine and seek solutions to the problem created by Morocco in ElGargarat.

In this resolution, the Security Council called for the direct negotiations between us and Morocco to be held without delay and wanted the Secretary-General to submit to it a clear roadmap within six months. Morocco has done its utmost to delay the designation of the new Personal Envoy of the SG and thereby the negotiations.



In the meantime, the African Union of which our country is a MemberState admitted Morocco last January after signing and ratifying the Organizations Constitutive Act. Article 4 of the Act stipulates that the borders of the Member States of the Union are those existing on achievement of independence. Morocco obtained its independence in 1956. This means that it must withdraw from the territories of another State of the Union, which it has illegally occupied since 1975. This would enable the resolution of the conflict. Facts and Moroccan official statements in recent months show however that Morocco will not respect what it has signed and ratified. We have within the African Union a Trojan horse that stands once again to threaten continental unity and security. At the same time, Morocco does not miss any opportunity to denigrate the African Union in order to prevent the natural and institutional cooperation between the Union and the United Nations to achieve a just solution to a conflict that is on the agenda of the two organisations.

Mr President,

The Sahrawi people have full confidence in the work of the Committee.

The General Assembly each year adopts a resolution calling on the Committee to follow closely the question of Western Sahara. This requires that it is only logical to go to the field. The last mission was sent on 12 May 1975, 42 years and a month ago. I reiterate our invitation and our full cooperation with that mission.

In addition, Mr President, we believe that it would be useful for the Committee to decide on a date for the special meeting on Western Sahara that has already been agreed. This will serve to bring the subject to the daylight and torelease it eventually from the invisible chains of silence.

Furthermore, I would like to convey to the Committee our desire that it takes a decision on the plundering of the natural resources of our countrysuch as phosphate and the fishing ground. The plunder annually gives Morocco around $ 5 billion, which serves to strengthen the occupation and, hence, to take us farther away from peace. We have filed lawsuits against some foreign companies involved in the plundering, and hopefully the European Union will be able to respect international law and the ruling of its Supreme Court of December last year in which it made it clear that Western Sahara is not part of Morocco. According to the Court, it is (I quote), a distinct and separate Territory(unquote). This means that the natural resources of our country should not be involved in any commercial transaction with the occupying power.

Mr President,







The Committee has on its agenda a highly sensitive conflict that saw 16 years of bloody war, which has brought insecurity and instability to the whole region. Solving it is fundamental because the risk of regression is real. There is a people that continue to see that their country is under illegal occupation in the XXI century, while being forced to live under repression in the occupied territory, or in exile or on the brink of the resumption of war. The international community should not accept failure. It has the means that it should use to put an end to this injustice.

Morocco must come to the next negotiations, which the Security Council has called upon us to do, in a spirit of honest cooperation free from hidden agendas and delaying tactics, so that a just and lasting solution can be achieved by the UN and the AU to a question of decolonisation that will undoubtedly serve to restore stability and security in our region.

The Committee, in keeping with its decolonising mandate, will contribute to making this just solution possible.

Thank you very much! (SPS)

062/090




Algiers, June 21, 2017 (SPS) - the head of the Saharawi National Human Rights Commission, Abba El Haissan has the UN to take responsibility, by accelerating the process of self-determination of Sahrawi people the President of the National Saharan Human Rights Commission. Saharawi people

El Haissan explained the situation of the Sahrawi refugees and the suffering caused by the harsh weather conditions. The presentation is part of a workshop held in Algiers on "refugees and the right of peoples to self-determination," organized by the Algerian National Human Rights Council, in commemoration of World Refugee Day and African Refugee Day.

The Saharawi activist highlighted the alarming humanitarian situation caused by the reduction of humanitarian aid, calling on UN to impose international legality.

The president of the CNSDH spoke about the flagrant violations of human rights of the Saharawi in a context of occupation, affirming that the Moroccan occupation to the territory of the Western Sahara is the denial of all the rights.

The president of the Saharawi National Human Rights Commission highlighted the generosity of Algeria for the reception of the Sahrawi refugees and refugees from other countries, by offering the necessary protection according to the Geneva Convention of 1951.

El Haissan quoted the UN Secretary General's statement of June 3, when he expressed concern about the reduction of food for the Sahrawi refugees because of the lack of funds.

Representatives of human rights organizations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and lawyers specializing in international law attended the event.

The central themes of the day, revolved around Algeria and refugees, refugees and human rights, the situation of the Saharawi refugees. SPS

125/090/TRA
Algeria, June 21, 2017 (SPS) - The Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Tuesday that tackling the issue of refugees is "an integral part of the overall solution to the Sahrawi issue", renewing Algeria's support for the Saharawi people's right to self-determination.

During his intervention in a study day on "Refugees between international, regional conventions and reality " organized on the occasion of the International Day of Refugees and the Day of African Refugees, Ambassador Lazar Soualm, Director of Human Rights, Social Development and Cultural, Scientific and International Affairs of the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressed that "addressing the Sahrawi issue can not in any way be separated from the question of Saharawi refugees who have suffered for over forty years away from their usurped lands. "

In this regard, he recalled Morocco's "will to know the size of the voters, including refugees, in order to manipulate the votes by including Moroccan elements whose role is confusion and fraud."

Mr. Sualem highlighted the suffering of the Saharawi refugees scattered across a number of countries in the world as a result of Moroccan repression, recalling the presence of a permanent office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in this region to establish programs of support for the existing Saharawi refugees.

On the other hand, he expressed his regret that the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was the only UN body that did not have a human rights mandate. SPS

125/090/TRA
Managing any business through the uncertainty of Brexit and beyond is a challenge, but agriculture and related industries perhaps face greater change than any other sector. However, short of enrolling in a full-time college course, it can be difficult for tomorrows leaders to obtain the skills required.

Thats why the Worshipful Company of Farmers and Duchy College have joined forces to launch a new Leadership and Management Programme (LAMP), targeted at 20-30 year-olds who are keen to progress their career to the next level. Whether youre planning to take over the family farm in a few years, are setting up your own rural business, or are seeking the next step in a larger organisation, its vital that you acquire the necessary skills to manage staff and lead them forwards, explains course manager Chris Godolphin.

Having the confidence to create a business plan, motivate staff, refocus on different enterprises, and work with professionals to improve profitability through volatile times are all vital elements of a good leader, he adds. Taking a few days away to learn these skills and develop a new perspective could be the most profitable investment you ever make.

The LAMP will be held at Keele University, Staffordshire, over five days from 23-28 October 2017, with financial assistance available through the Worshipful Company of Farmers. It will include a working case study, whereby delegates analyse an existing business and advise how to improve it; workshops on communication, leadership and management techniques; as well as individual profiling and development. Delegates will also receive mentor support for a full year after the course, while also creating a lasting network of friends and peers.
The Fellowship, which was awarded to Andersons Partner Mike Houghton in November last year, is due to conclude in October 2017. The final report findings will be revealed at the annual Trehane Dinner on 17 October, with the full report released the following day at the inaugural RABDF Dairy Business & Policy Conference  also held in conjunction with The Trehane Trust.

Mike explains that his findings have resulted from a number of investigative meetings in the UK and US, as well as in the Netherlands and Belgium. His first finding is the dairy sector needs 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 Mike.

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.

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.

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, explains Mike.

It is worth reviewing how the 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.
It took a transatlantic ship, enormous crates, special gantries, and before all that a high-tech laser scan  but finally Jim Dines latest artwork is installed at the Chazen Museum of Art.

The massive work, yet to be titled, consists of four trapezoidal panels measuring 26 and 19 feet long, lifted and secured around a skylight in the museums gallery of ancient art.

The images are inspired by ancient sculptures and drawings that Dine  one of Americas most legendary living artists  made at the Glyptothek museum in Munich, Germany.

The figures seem to emerge from the black background as apparitions from the past, reminders of the masterpieces that served as the foundation of Western art. They feel at once familiar and abstract  like the immortal, yet fallible, figures embedded in the constellations of a night sky.

Im absolutely shocked by it, I have to tell you, Dine, 82, said Tuesday morning as he watched the completion of the installation of the huge canvases he had worked on for two years in his studio in Paris, France.

Its so successful, he said, crediting his two assistants, Jason Treffry and Dan Clarke, for helping the museum orchestrate the projects complex logistics.

The room was nothing before. Now as a room, as an installation, it makes it much more successful, he said. Im proud of that. Im glad (Chazen director Russell Panczenko) asked me, Im grateful to him, to have had this opportunity. Ill never have one like this again. So its great  its a pleasure.

The project came about because of the longtime friendship that Panczenko and his wife, Paula McCarthy Panczenko, executive director of UWs Tandem Press, have with Dine and his wife, Diana Michener. Dine was visiting the universitys art museum, then known as the Elvehjem, more than a decade ago when Panczenko showed him the skylight in Gallery 1, dedicated to Greco-Roman antiquities.

Thats just the place for a frieze, Panczenko recalled the two men discussing. I said to Jim, What do you think? 

Dine said that for him to take on a commission, Panczenko would have to contact the gallery representing the artist. One phone call convinced Panczenko that a large-scale work by Dine was not in the museums budget.

Many years later, the idea of a commission came up again. Dine was not represented by a gallery at the time, and the two men struck a deal. Panczenko wont reveal the projects cost, but said it was covered by funds from the museums endowment. (Paintings by Dine often go for six figures on the art market.)

I dont get the opportunity to do something on this scale. I probably would have done it for nothing, and in fact it almost was (done for free)  considering its two years work, Dine said in the gallery Tuesday.

But it was such a pleasure to make. And  extremely painful, and took me a long time to get it to where it is now. Its only in the last two or three weeks before it shipped, did I consider it reached some degree of finished. Nothings ever really finished.

After exact measurements were made of the skylight space, which had settled at odd angles in the 1970 building, Dine began the artwork first with charcoal on white canvas. But he didnt like the result  so he painted the canvas black and brought it back to white with a variety of media, he said.

The mural, which will be unveiled with a public reception Thursday evening, will serve the Chazens educational mission well by linking ancient art with the work of a contemporary, living artist, Panczenko said.

Why do we have Greco-Roman art? Because its a kind of cultural past of the West, he said.

Its inspired artists for hundreds of years, if not a couple thousand years  and why not bring home a mural by an artist who is inspired by it?

Here is a product of that inspiration. Its a wonderful way, I think, of putting together the source of inspiration and the product of the inspiration, Panczenko said. As a university museum, we make those points in class all the time, but heres a real demonstration of it, to look at and think about and talk about. So it becomes real, rather than just an abstract discussion.

In 2014, Dine donated 67 of his artworks to the university museum, which had undergone an 86,000-square-foot addition and was renamed the Chazen in 2011. The large bronze skull titled Ancient Fishing by Dine sits outside the museums front entrance on University Avenue.

Dines mural was shipped from Paris on a freighter to Montreal, Canada, where it was put on a train to Chicago and then trucked to Madison. Planning for its arrival was a two-year process, said Eli Reynolds of Reynolds Transfer and Storage, the Madison company that lifted the crated panels into and up to the ceiling of the second-story gallery.

A complex series of cleats hold up the canvases, made with aluminum and wood frames. Dine has no concerns about the natural light pouring in because the work is black and white, he said.

The only thing that could happen over the years is that it might yellow a bit in the areas where oil stick was used, because the oil would yellow, he said, but Im not so worried about that.

Christy Wahl, a Ph.D student at UW-Madison who specializes in modern art and also works at the Chazen, watched in awe as the works installation was completed Tuesday.

It really reinvigorates the space, she said of the artwork.

I love the juxtaposition of a contemporary, living artist reinterpreting these ancient works. It really makes them alive, she said. And just the concept: I think all museums should do this  have an artist really think through the space and the artwork in it.
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The Clarks Hill Plaza shopping center at 800-816 E. Main St. on Stamfords East Side has stood for decades as a neighborhood institution, but its owner decided the property would need major work to maintain that status.

An ongoing renovation of the approximately 24,000-square-foot shopping plaza reveals the strategy of a number of retail property owners in southwestern Connecticut. In a strong market, landlords are not content to let their holdings age indefinitely. They see renovations as vital investments.

The idea was to mirror it after successful centers like the Rye Ridge shopping center or Riverside Commons shopping center, said James Ritman, Stamford-based executive vice president at Newmark Knight Frank, the commercial real estate firm representing Clarks Hills ownership. It needed a face-lift. It needed to be transformed.

Making changes

Many shopping centers are succeeding, with the Fairfield County retail vacancy rate running at about 5 percent, according to Newmark Knight Frank.

Clarks Hill had maintained a full roster in recent years, with tenants including a grocery store, restaurants, a photo shop and a dry-cleaning business. Standing a couple of blocks from downtown Stamford and few minutes drive from the nearest I-95 exits, it draws from potentially tens of thousands of daily passers-by.

But the property, built in 1976, had deteriorated since its last renovation in 1984. Newmark Knight Frank recommended renovations to Clarks Hill owner Joe DiScala. A number of residents of surrounding apartment buildings, several of which have been built in the recent years, also lobbied for updates to the property.

I think it was sort of an eyesore for the city, Ritman said. It wasnt an asset to the community around here or the city itself. It was tired looking and run down. It wasnt a high-end center.

After the old tenants moved out and the retail spaces were demolished, developer Fareri Associates joined the project last year. DiScala picked the firm because of its track record of revitalizing properties such as the site of a former Howard Johnson hotel in Greenwich that became a J House hotel, Ritman said.

The multimillion-dollar refurbishment that started earlier this year includes new ventilation and mechanical systems, new roofing and the installation of wood-finish facades and stone walkways.

Clarks Hill could house eight to 12 tenants. The north end of the plaza would house dining establishments, a grocery store could move into the northwest corner where the former market stood and non-food establishments would operate in the west row of the complex.

Renovations are nearly complete. After drainage permits are secured, the approximately 100-space parking lot would be repaved and the chain-link fence surrounding the property would come down. At that point, the plaza would be ready for occupancy.

No leases have been signed yet at Clarks Hill Plaza, but letters of intent with potential occupants are being exchanged, according to Ritman. Tenants would pay $50 to $55 per square foot on an annual basis.

Weve been very thoughtful and patient in order to make sure the right initial deals get done, Ritman said. Its sort of a domino effect.

Realtors and property owners elsewhere in southwestern Connecticut also underscore the importance of maintenance. Garett Palmer, a broker with Goodfellow Real Estate in Danbury, said upkeep is particularly important as the retail landscape shifts from product-based to service-based tenants. Shopping centers are also attracting tenants in the medical sector, heightening the need for clean and attractive properties.

Palmer represents Brookfield Square, an eight-tenant shopping center at 270 Federal Road in Brookfield. The mix of tenants includes restaurants, financial-services firms and retail outlets.

We do some sort of upkeep every year  at least with landscaping and mulch, he said. Every year there needs to be some sort of upkeep with these properties.

Challenges

In Greenwich, following tenant complaints about North Street Shopping Centers dilapidated condition, the plaza near the Connecticut-New York border in the towns Banksville section received a round of much-needed repairs during the past few years.

Before the renovations, the center looked like it was in disrepair, said Greenwich commercial Realtor Ron Brien of Alliance Commercial Realty. It needed major renovations to spruce it up, and thats what (the owner) did. Its a quality renovation.

Despite the new signs, storefronts, roof and resurfaced parking lot, Brien estimates the shopping centers vacancy rate runs much higher than the rest of Greenwichs commercial spaces.

A lot of stores and businesses are hesitant to locate there, because its isolated, Brien said. Its hard for stores to do a lot of volume there.

For moribund properties, revitalization can take time. In East Norwalk, a section of the Ludlow Shopping Center remains deserted following a November 2015 fire that forced a half-dozen stores and restaurants there to clear out. At the plazas East Avenue storefront, Giant Laundry is putting the finishing touches on a new laundromat that is scheduled to open by next month.

Macaela Bennett, Chris Bosak, Keila Torres Ocasio and Alexander Soule contributed reporting.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; Twitter: @paulschott
Thanks to the internet and the battalion of social media platforms its spurred, people now have unprecedented power to share information that holds businesses accountable.

Related: 10 Habits of Ultra-Likable Leaders

Yelp has made it so restaurants that peddle bad food and poor service cant keep customers walking in the door. TripAdvisor helps travelers determine the right hotels and attractions to invest their hard-earned money in, for their next vacation. Angies List alleviates the stress of finding a reliable service provider for our home repairs, health and pet care.

And, when it comes to the corporate C-suite, this same level of transparency is just as, if not more, important.

As a CEO -- the person responsible for employees livelihoods and the company's success at meeting revenue goals and earnings targets -- public perception matters. In an era when executives are subject to regulatory scrutiny, performance-based compensation and the potential for their mistakes and innovations alike to go viral in minutes, its important to know how our industry leaders measure up.

The National CEO Likeability Study, aimed to do exactly that. This new report serves to provide a true market view of CEO ratings based on over a quarter million inputs from community members of Owler, the business professionals platform. The study breaks down the countrys most-liked CEOs by industry and city, across public and private organizations.

What we found

Here's a shocker: The leaders of Silicon Valley darlings like Facebook and Google dont even crack the top 10 of best-liked public CEOs. Instead, the upper echelon of popular public company CEOs includes a balance of B2C and B2B names across various sectors.

Costcos Craig Jelinek and Marriotts Arne Sorenson took the top two spots, while Capital Ones Richard Fairbank, Graybars Kathleen Mazzarella and Hyatts Mark Hoplamazian rounded out the favorites list. Notably absent from the top 10 were familiar tech leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai and Jeff Bezos.

The study also found that public company CEOs average rating was slightly lower than that for CEOs of private organizations. This difference could be attributed to the pressure on public executives to hit earnings numbers, limiting the time they put into building goodwill with employees and customers.

Music City Nashville and the Midwest have the highest concentration of beloved CEOs. Quantity apparently doesnt always mean quality. Surprisingly, bustling corporate hubs like Los Angeles and Chicago arent home to the greatest volume of most liked leaders. Instead, Nashville comes in with the highest average CEO likeability score, followed by Miami, Columbus, Kansas City and Minneapolis. Although New York just made the top-10 cut (ranking ninth), tech industry epicenters like San Francisco and Silicon Valley came in at 23rd and 26th, respectively.

Related: Why Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes Should Be Banned
STAMFORD  A West Side clothing store owner has been accused of being the wheelman in a residential burglary.

Police said Johan Cifuentes, 29, of Peveril Road, was driving the getaway car and was the mastermind behind a Glenbrook home burglary in April that was interrupted when a neighbor saw one of the men climbing through a front window.

Two of the suspects were arrested moments after the burglary when an officer spotted the black BMW SUV described as the getaway vehicle.

Outside the SUV police said they found several items, including a Samsung cellphone and three prescription pill bottles, that belonged to the Sutton Drive West homeowner.

One of the two men originally charged told police Cifuentes plotted the burglary, saying the residents owned several restaurants and likely had plenty of cash around the house, according to an arrest affidavit.

One of the men also told police Cifuentes drove them to the West Side where he got into a white BMW SUV, the affidavit said. The two men then drove the black SUV to Cifuentes Peveril Road home where they were stopped by police, the affidavit said.

Police said the black SUV was registered to Cifuentes girlfriend, the affidavit said. The woman said Cifuentes leased the vehicle, the affidavit said.

Cifuentes turned himself in Wednesday and was initially held in lieu of a $100,000 court appearance bond. However, he was released later that morning after his bond was lowered at his arraignment to $25,000.

Cifuentes attorney, Daniel Weiner, argued during the arraignment that his client has owned a Colombian clothing store on West Main Street for more than two years.

Weiner said his client had no record and has been in Stamford for 11 years.

We are still investigating (the accusations) and we are hoping to get down to the bottom of it shortly, Weiner said.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com;
Most everyone has a place in mind that remains special throughout life for many different reasons. For me, though the list seems endless at times, the place in the bottom of my heart happens to be way up north in Burnett and Washburn counties. My affection for this place began in 1945 when I was just a kid.

To stay in touch with both counties, subscriptions to the Burnett County Sentinel are renewed each year to keep me informed with whats happening in the Indianhead portion of our wonderful state. Publisher Tom Strangl recently welcomed the Sentinels new news editor Sean Devlin, who happened to live in Madison for eight months bartending at two local places while writing for the Brodhead Independent Register. That, for me, added another special touch to each weekly edition.

Another outstanding neighborhood publication is the Spooner Advocate whose June 9th Weekender North edition stirred additional interest.

And, when Bridge, Websters Community and School Newspaper arrived, it became frosting on the cake with news about Webster High Schools band and choir trip to Madison in April to watch the UW band play at the Kohl Center. Also included were the places they visited, pictures of Websters 48 graduating seniors and exciting news about their scholarships totaling $86,050.

If that doesnt open more than a few eyes, considering Websters population of 636, Im not sure what will. To those who grow up in small towns with great big hearts, life and its many great pleasures often go well beyond what outsiders can even begin to imagine  surprises that fill many hearts forever.

Clipped from the Spooner Advocates Weekender were some questions and answers about 2,000 varieties of cheese, mentioning the giant wheel of cheddar cheese given to Queen Victoria (1837-1901) for a wedding gift weighing more than 1,000 pounds, and that macaroni and cheese is the most popular cheese recipe in the United States.

It included a recipe Ill soon be making for my 17-year-old grandson, Nate Murray, who craves mac and cheese recipes as long as mushrooms arent added.

Baked macaroni and cheese

 pound elbow macaroni

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon powdered mustard

3 cups milk

 cup yellow onion, finely diced

1 bay leaf

 teaspoon paprika

1 large egg

12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Fresh black pepper

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup Panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta to al dente. While pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt butter. Whisk in flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it has few lumps. Stir in milk, onion, bay leaf and paprika. Simmer for 10 minutes and remove bay leaf. Temper in the egg. Stir in  of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese. Melt butter in saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top macaroni with bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

While in an up north mood, with rhubarb ready to pick for favorite desserts, jams and sauces, here is a delicious recipe copied some time ago in a magazine, having been shared by the Wuollet Bakery in Wayzata, Minnesota.

Theres plenty to learn about Reino Wuollet, who opened his family bakery in 1944 to become a Twin Cities landmark.

Rhubarb tart

1 cup all-purpose flour

5 tablespoons confectioners sugar

 cup melted butter

 cup sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

 teaspoon salt

 cup flour

2  cups chopped rhubarb

 cup chopped nuts

 cup brown sugar

Combine 1 cup of flour, confectioners sugar, and  cup melted butter. Mix well with a wooden spoon and spread by patting with the back of a spoon in an 8X8-inch square baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. While it is baking, combine 1/2 cup sugar, well beaten eggs, salt, additional  cup flour and chopped rhubarb. When the baked crust is removed from the oven, pour the rhubarb filling over the crust and sprinkle with a combination of nuts and brown sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

Letters with recipes continue to trickle in, this one from Theo Christensen responding to the recent interest in chocolate cakes. Its described as being an unusual and a favorite recipe when the club was putting together the Law Students Wives Club Cookbook in 1965  back when life survived on a $10 per week food budget.

Wacky cake

1  cups flour

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cooking oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup cold water

Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt into an ungreased baking tin. Punch 3 holes into the mixture. Pour oil in one, vinegar in one and vanilla in last. Cover with water, stir and bake about 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

The recipe had been submitted by Mary Jane Getlinger and Mary Waltz.

Christensen also included a recipe for people who dont like cake.

Surprise birthday cake

20 squares graham crackers

 cup butter

 cup sugar

Crush, mix, and pack into a buttered 8X8-inch square pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool.

8 ounce package cream cheese

 cup powdered sugar

 pint whipping cream

1 or 2 cans prepared cherry pie filling (personal preference)

Mix together cream cheese and powdered sugar. Beat whipping cream and fold into creamed cheese and powdered sugar mixture. Layer cherry pie filling on a cooled crust, then add creamed mixture on top. Chill before serving.

Mike Repas is a great cook who has shared many recipes in the past, but this is the first one using rhubarb.

Rhubarb cobbler

2 cups fresh rhubarb, diced

1 cup sugar

 cup water

2 tablespoons flour

 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated is best)

Topping:

1  cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

 cup whole milk

4 tablespoons Crisco, or other shortening

Combine the first five ingredients in an 8X8-inch baking pan. Mix topping ingredients together and spoon over the rhubarb blend. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
Education ranking and review website Niche recently released its 2017 list of the safest school districts in the country.

Click through to see the 10 safest school districts in Connecticut. Visit Niche for the full report.

The ranking assessed 8,211 U.S. public school districts using data from the Civil Rights Data Collection, National Center for Education Statistics and a parent/student survey. Niche gave the most weight to results from the survey and combined that with other stats including school-related arrests, law enforcement referrals, expulsions, out-of-school and in-school suspensions.

On a state-wide level, six southwestern Connecticut schools landed in the list of top 10 safest school districts. Six Connecticut districts made the top 100 nation-wide.

Glastonbury was named Connecticut's safest district and the 19th safest district in the country. New Canaan came in at number two in the state number 24 nation-wide.
L ondon needs an extra 200,000 building workers to solve a looming skills crisis and deliver homes for the capital, the boss of Berkeley Homes has warned.

Chief executive Rob Perrins said Brexit pressure intensified existing stress on the industrys skills base against a backdrop of political demands to build more homes.

Transitional arrangements for EU building workers, accounting for up to half the London workforce according to Perrins, are a key industry demand in Brexit talks.

He said: Weve got an ageing population, and an ageing workforce and weve got the EU issue, and we also want to double supply.

I think theres a 200,000 shortfall just for London housing to build the homes that London requires. Its a big number just for housing.

Berkeley has doubled the number of its apprenticeships in the past year and is working with further education colleges.

But Perrins added: The trouble with the FE colleges is that they love doing the softer (courses) like management, but doing construction you need machines and its more expensive.

London housing starts overall have fallen 30% in the past year as Brexit uncertainty compounds the impact of previous rises in stamp duty and cuts to mortgage tax relief on the housing market.

The Wish List Cut stamp duty to 0.5% Abolish stamp duty for the over-sixties Transitional deal for EU workers Reduce planning complexity Industry partnership with further education colleges and government on skills

Perrins said stamp duty should be cut back to 0.5% across the board. Because of stamp duty nobody is moving and we need mobility of labour. It is a tax on London.

Perrins said there was little chance of London starts picking up in the near future.

All boardrooms crave certainty. More uncertainty decreases peoples appetite for risk and they want a higher return.

It makes banks lend less and it makes it harder to raise capital.

However, Berkeleys shares rose 73p to 3300p, or 2%, as the companys 53% jump in pre-tax profits to 812.4 million for the year to April beat City hopes.

The group said it remained on target to deliver 3 billion in profit over the next five years, while sales reservations have recovered to 2015 levels.

Peel Hunts Clyde Lewis said: Concerns about the macro and political environment remain (especially in London), but we continue to believe the impressive land bank contains plenty of unrecognised value in a market that remains severely undersupplied.
T he tectonic plates of the global advertising business are palpably shifting this week at Cannes Lions, the industrys annual festival of creativity and networking.

There is a sense in the hot Mediterranean air that change is coming, in unpredictable ways that could threaten the big ad agency groups. For a start, entries for the Cannes Lions awards, the Oscars of advertising, have fallen by 2000, or 4.5%, to 41,000 this year.

Some companies including WPP and Unilever have sent fewer people amid belt-tightening. And, in a shock move, Publicis Groupe said yesterday that it will not take part in next years festival.

The world economy looks to be slowing, and Dentsu Aegis Network, a leading media buyer, has downgraded its growth forecast for the global ad market in 2017. Jerry Buhlmann, its global boss, fears a retreat from globalisation because of Donald Trumps presidency and Brexit.

There are other structural changes shaking the industry. The most obvious sign at Cannes this year has been the influx of consulting and tech companies, on a mission to steal business from the traditional agencies.

Software giant Oracle has rented a beach, called The Oracle Deck, with DJs implausibly pumping out gangsta rap. Consultancy Accenture has a yacht and is sponsoring a beach, too. McKinsey and IBM are also here, trumpeting their credentials in design and customer experience.

The consulting and computing firms are getting involved in marketing, especially in areas such as digital and data, because they want to package it up for clients as part of a bigger strategy around the need for business transformation in a connected world. These new entrants already have access to the chief executive in the clients boardroom, unlike the ad agencies that talk to the chief marketing officer.

Worries about the digital-media supply chain such as brand safety on YouTube, online fraud, inaccurate measurement and ad-blocking have added to a feeling that the existing players have been doing a poor job and its time for new thinking.

Online advertising has had an annus horribilis, starting with an investigation by the US Association of National Advertisers into non-transparent practices in June 2016.

Yet the rush to digital continues. Along the Croisette, the beachfront promenade at Cannes, are reminders that the tech platforms have the power, the distribution and the data  at the expense of the agency groups.

Google and Facebook have rented private beaches for years. Now newer tech firms are splashing out in the battle to woo agencies and advertisers, even as Google and Facebook, the digital duopoly, suck up virtually all the growth.

Snapchat has a 60ft-high, yellow Ferris wheel for festival-goers to ride. Oath, the newly merged AOL-Yahoo business, has stuck garish, electronic screens with the companys branding all over the entrance of its swish hotel. Spotify, which is on a schmoozathon ahead of its expected stock-market float, is hosting beach parties on consecutive nights.

Cannes Lions has become Silicon Valley by the south of France, Daryl Lee, global chief executive of media agency UM, says. That means the creative work is in danger of being ignored.

However, technology remains the talking point because it is bringing so much disruption to every business. For advertising, the problem is that tech has brought greater complexity and given consumers the power to skip ads.

The need for simplicity has been a frequent refrain from marketers this week. Thats another structural problem for agency groups, which have bought up dozens of specialist agencies. They need a more agile, joined-up approach focused on digital and data smarts, not trading muscle, and the 30-second televison spot.

So agencies are waking up, belatedly, to the need to reinvent themselves. In the run-up to Cannes, WPP merged two of its biggest media agencies, Maxus and MEC, hoping to turn the new company into a more data-led business. Rivals such as Havas and Omnicom have also been streamlining and reducing the number of agencies they operate.

WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell tells me that agencies are facing the biggest structural change since media and creative departments separated 20 years ago. The market is shifting so quickly because of technology and other things, he says.

Braced for change: Sir Martin Sorrell / REUTERS

Agencies have proved adept at coping with change before. Its not as if clients need less help with navigating this uncertain world.

The continued rise of Amazon, which has expanded in bricks-and-mortar with the acquisition of Whole Foods, is a reminder that some of the worlds biggest advertisers, the consumer goods companies, are highly vulnerable because they sell through third-party retailers and dont have a direct relationship with the consumer.

As one ad man whose agency was recently bought by a consulting giant puts it, surveying the Cannes horizon: Its all up for grabs.

The tectonic plates are moving. Expect an earthquake.

Gideon Spanier is head of media at Campaign
T he party was meant to be over ahead of this years Cannes Lions as Ascential, the organiser, suggested it would tone down some of the excess and focus on business.

But the rose wine is flowing and the parties continue, albeit with heightened security after last years terror attack in Nice.

Ed Sheeran and Fatboy Slim are due to play a private gig for News UK in a chateau in the hills tonight and Solange Knowles will be performing for Spotify on the beach. Earlier in the week, Stevie Nicks sang for AOL-Yahoo at its beach party and The Weeknd performed for MediaLink on a cliff-top hotel.

Then there are the companies renting yachts, with more than two dozen accredited boats, largely belonging to ad tech firms, in the harbour. The celebrity count remains high, from Gwyneth Paltrow to Dame Helen Mirren, even if the chat is that there are fewer big-name speakers.

After all, what would Cannes look like if the party were really over?
D oorstep lender Provident Financial plunged the most since last years Brexit meltdown today after a botched overhaul of its loan collections business bounced it into a shock profit warning.

The FTSE 100 giant saw its shares plunge 16% after it said profits at its consumer credit division would be 60 million this year, down from the 115 million last year.

The shares fell to 2405p from 2865p, the biggest drop for the company since 24 June when UK stocks tumbled across the board after the Brexit vote.

The loans company, based in Bradford, has been trying to modernise its door-to-door payment collections group, dispensing with its part-time self-employed agents and bringing in 2500 iPad-wielding full-time workers.

Provident, led by chief executive Peter Crook, said the business had experienced higher operational disruption than planned from the move and had struggled to fill some roles.

The strategic rationale for the change remains strong and I am confident that it will deliver the substantial benefits previously communicated, Crook said.

However, RBC Capital said the problem would lead to a loss of confidence in managements ability to deliver and their growth plans.

The firm has tripled its valuation over the past 10 years as banks pulled back from subprime lending.
T he largest shareholder in model trains maker Hornby has made a bid to take control of the company to restore boardroom stability following a spat with investors.

Phoenix Asset Management, which owns almost 30% of the Scalextric and Airfix owner, said it has agreed to buy the shares of second-biggest shareholder New Pistoia Income.

Earlier this year New Pistoia attempted to force out Hornby chairman Roger Canham, who is also a director at Phoenix, after clashing over strategy.

The deal would bring Phoenixs stake to 55%, which under takeover rules requires a full bid for the firm. It has proposed 32.375p a share, offering no premium to potential sellers.

The offer came as Hornby said prospects for the group had improved following the completion of the first phase of a major turnaround.

Revenue dropped 15% to 47.4 million as it exited concessions and slashed stock, and it made an underlying pre-tax loss of 6.3 million versus last years 5.7 million.

But boss Steve Cooke said: we are now planning to deliver sustainable profit and net cash generation into the medium term.
MILWAUKEE  A Milwaukee jury needed less than two days of deliberations to acquit a former police officer in the on-duty shooting of a black man last year that sparked two nights of violence on the city's north side.

Jurors on Wednesday found that Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is also black, was not guilty of first-degree reckless homicide when he shot 23-year-old Sylville Smith after a brief foot chase following a traffic stop Aug. 13. Smith had a gun when he ran, but the case hinged on whether he was a threat when Heaggan-Brown fired the shot that killed him.

Body-camera video showed Heaggan-Brown shooting Smith once in the arm as he appeared to be throwing the gun over a fence. The video showed the second shot  1.69 seconds later  hit Smith in the chest as he lay on the ground.

Prosecutors argued Smith was defenseless at the time of the second shot because he had thrown the gun over the fence. Defense attorneys argued Heaggan-Brown had to act quickly to defend himself.

Smiths family members reacted angrily to the verdict, swearing and storming from the courtroom. Outside, one man shouted obscenities at a sheriffs deputy as he was held back by other family members.

Later, his father, Patrick Smith, said the killing was in cold blood, but urged people not to react violently to the verdict.

I really dont want them to act irrationally toward the cops, because all cops aint bad, he said.

No protests were immediately evident. Mayor Tom Barrett said police would have a strong presence in the Sherman Park neighborhood hit by the previous unrest, and urged any demonstrations be peaceful.

Smiths family filed a civil lawsuit against Heaggan-Brown and the city, family attorney David Owens announced after the verdict. He said it had become clear since the shooting that Heaggan-Brown never should have been on the force.

Heaggan-Browns attorney, Jonathan Smith, said the former officer was thankful for the acquittal and believed he was justified in using deadly force.

There is not joy in a case like this. I think we must be mindful that a young man lost his life, said Steven Kohn, another of Heaggan-Browns attorneys.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, who made the decision to charge Heaggan-Brown, said he did not agree with the verdict but would respect it.

Heaggan-Brown was fired from the police force in October after being charged with sexual assault in an unrelated case. The sexual assault case was not mentioned during the trial because it is being handled separately and knowledge of it could prejudice the jury.

Smiths shooting was among a string of killings of blacks by police in recent years that have increased debate about race and policing. Heaggan-Browns acquittal came less than a week after Minnesota officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted in the shooting death of a black motorist seconds after the motorist informed him he had a gun. Yanez testified the driver, Philando Castile, disregarded his commands not to take out his gun and he feared for his life.

In Milwaukee, Smiths death brought to the surface long-simmering tensions between black residents and police, and demonstrators assembled near the site of the shooting in Sherman Park hours after it happened.

Two nights of riots followed, with protesters throwing rocks, bricks and bottles at police officers. The protesters burned eight businesses and a police car and when it was over, 40 demonstrators had been arrested and a handful of officers hurt.

In the encounter with Smith, Heaggan-Brown and two other officers had approached Smiths rental car because it was parked more than a foot from the curb and they believed a drug deal was about to take place.

In Heaggan-Browns bodycam video, he began chasing Smith immediately after stepping out of his patrol car.

Heaggan-Browns camera shows him briefly pointing the gun at Smith as he begins the pursuit. He put his gun back in his holster as Smith turned into a path between two houses.

Smith slipped and fell near a fence, dropping his gun. He started reaching for it as he stood up, with his left hand holding the fence.

When the video is slowed frame-by-frame, Smith is seen holding the gun by the barrel to throw it over the fence. Prosecutors argued that Smith no longer posed a threat.

The two shots by Heaggan-Brown came in quick succession, striking Smith once in his right arm and then the fatal shot to the chest.

The 12-member jury included four African-Americans.

The Milwaukee acquittal also came as jurors in Ohio concluded their third day of deliberations in the murder retrial of a white University of Cincinnati police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black motorist. Ray Tensings first trial ended last November in a hung jury after some 25 hours of deliberations on the murder and voluntary manslaughter charges.

The Milwaukee verdict was in line with recent history.

Data show 82 officers nationwide have been charged with murder or manslaughter for on-duty fatal shootings since 2005, said Philip Stinson, a criminologist at Ohios Bowling Green State University. Thirty-four of those cases, or 41 percent, have ended in non-convictions. Twenty-nine officers, or 34 percent, have been convicted, often for a lesser offense. Other cases are pending.

Stinson said the race of the officer charged didnt appear to matter to judges or juries weighing these cases. Of the 12 black officers charged in the cases he tracked, three were convicted, five were acquitted, one had the case dismissed and three are pending.

I think that the police subculture trumps the race of the officer. Black officers act in the same ways as white officers do, Stinson said. A police officer is a police officer.

Amy Forliti of the Associated Press contributed to this report.
C ity bankers seem passionately supportive of John Varley and his fellow Barclays high-ups now heading for the dock.

These guys werent villains, they say. If anything theyre heroes. Their fundraising in Qatar saved British taxpayers from having to bail out Barclays on top of Lloyds and RBS.

It meant Barclays was able to keep what is now Britains only serious investment bank. It saved shareholders billions of pounds in fees, profits and damage to the share price.

If the legal establishment wanted a scapegoat, why not pick on the real culprits: Fred Goodwin and the top brass at HBOS?

The answer is simple: evidence and legal process. The SFO does not just pick and choose its cases to satisfy the whims of the public. It sifts through complex evidence until it feels it has enough proof to win criminal prosecutions in court.

In the cases of the RBS and HBOS collapses, that level of evidence wasnt there. At Barclays, it self-evidently was. Until we get to see it, we shouldnt rush to judge either the prosecuted or the prosecutors.

Ford trumps Donald

To Donald Trumps litany of failures  the Mexican wall, Muslim travel bans, repealing Obamacare  today we can add his protectionist agenda.

After being vilified by the President in his first days in office for planning a new plant in Mexico, Ford scrapped the idea and pledged a rethink. Now, six months later, the results of that review are in. Instead of Mexico, the new Ford Focus plant will be built in China.

Dont underestimate the significance of this snub. For all-American Ford to take a decision like this, it must no longer fear the president. It has gone for the decision that makes most long-term economic sense.

The US has an increasingly ineffective leadership unable to push through its leaders damaging agendas. Business is breathing a sigh of relief. Sound familiar?

Train to nowhere

Gordon, the big blue locomotive in Thomas the Tank Engine, would be grumpy at todays nil-premium takeover bid for Hornby. But then, Gordons grumpy about everything.

In truth, Phoenix doesnt really want to buy this business outright. Having defeated the attempted putsch by its rival shareholder New Pistoia, its bought the loser out to bring stability to the company. The resulting majority stake means it has to launch a takeover offer.

Shareholders at least now have a willing buyer for their shares, but most will stay on the platform and sit this one out.
N o carriage, no robes, no crown  the dressed-down ceremony for todays Queens Speech seems wholly appropriate for a Government that has just received such a dressing down from the people. Gone are all the pretensions for a great programme of domestic reform or economic renewal. This is a Government that is just about managing. There are a few sensible measures, such as on domestic violence and insurance reform, but any administration could have introduced them. There is a mass of complex legislation for Brexit, which no previous government contemplated. The Queens Speech spells out the daunting scale of what is required  from recreating a customs regime to recreating co-operation on nuclear safety. We can only imagine what the country could be achieving if it werent consumed by all this.

The centrepiece is described as a Great Repeal Bill, presented as if it were rolling back years of European red tape. In fact, it imports all that red tape into law  a Great Regulation Bill. It follows a pattern this Government has established of telling little white lies. Who really believes Donald Trumps state visit was cancelled because of his concern about the public reaction rather than the Prime Ministers? Who now thinks the deal with the DUP was only delayed out of respect for the tragedy at Grenfell Tower? Who today falls for the idea that you have to make Labours Keir Starmer a member of the medieval Privy Council to have a modern conversation about the terms of Brexit? As if the Rt Hon Diane Abbott can be trusted with the nations secrets but not a former Director of Public Prosecutions. Enough of this nonsense. We need a different approach.

Compromise

This Government is one of the weakest in our history, and it has one of the biggest undertakings of the modern age: disentangling us from over 40 years of lawmaking with our near neighbours. It should acknowledge the scale of the task and the impossibility in this parliament of achieving it alone. It needs to compromise and make allies. The DUP has demonstrated just what an unreliable partner it will be. Its MPs were not elected to prop up a Tory Government but to get results for their community. These experienced deal-makers will take every opportunity to extract their pound of flesh. Every bill, every amendment, every opposition motion, will depend on a daily coalition deal. It makes the whips the most powerful ministers in this Government.

In the face of this dawning reality the Prime Minister promises humility. If that had been her approach these past 11 months perhaps she might have avoided this humiliation. But from the first day of her coronation as Tory leader last July, Mrs May behaved as if she had a mandate to undo the work of the previous government that she had been part of. She also interpreted the close result in the EU referendum  17 million votes for Leave against 16 million for Remain  as an emphatic vote not just for Brexit but for a hard Brexit, leaving all economic and security arrangements with our closest trading partners. Those who questioned this interpretation were dismissed as Quislings.

Now it is her Government that is on the receiving end of the electorates will  and the Conservative Party, which looked set for ascendancy 12 months ago, fears for the future. It is caught in the Brexit wringer, losing support among urban voters, working people, students and ethnic minorities. Its strategy appears to be  to borrow an old analogy  a combination of John Travolta and Mr Micawber: staying alive and hoping something will turn up. That is not a plan for success.

It will take a new approach to Brexit, a new effort at co-operation and  before long  new leadership to have a chance of turning things around. Thats the only way to stop Jeremy Corbyn and the hard Left reaching No 10, which would  as is evident from their alarming calls for extra-parliamentary action  make a bad situation much worse.
G oing for a cheeky Nandos is already a pretty thrilling occasion, and now its about to get cultural too: there will soon be an art gallery inside the Soho branch.

The restaurant on Frith Street will host a pop-up gallery showcasing the work of seven South African artists, all of whom have their art on the walls of Nandos restaurants across the country.

Feast Your Eyes: A Taste of South African Art will run from July 14-16, with visitors able to buy the works on show. No more will the decision of which two sides to choose be the hardest one you make inside a Nandos.

Artist Henk Serfontein will be around for visitors to talk to about their art over the weekend (July 15-16), and mosaicists and beaders will also be creating live art within the gallery.

Summer exhibitions in London 1 /12 Summer exhibitions in London RA Summer Exhibition 2017 Want an insight into what is making the contemporary art world tick? You cant go wrong with the Royal Academys annual summer exhibition, which features the worlds most internationally renowned artists, including Mark Wallinger, Gilbert and George and Yinka Shonibare. Most of the artworks are for sale too, so if something takes your fancy you could end up taking it home.



13 June - 20 August, Royal Academy; royalacademy.org.uk Fahrelnissa Zeid Fahrelnissa Zeids paintings are a vibrant burst of colour and abstraction, and Tate Modern is offering a chance to see these dazzling works up close. This major retrospective shows the synthesis of Islamic, Byzantine, Arab and Persian influences fused with European ideas - dont miss your chance to experience them.



June 13 - October 8, Tate Modern; tate.org.uk Perfume: A Sensory Journey Through Contemporary Scent Perfume is a kind of art that you wear on your skin - or so this exhibition argues. This multi-sensory exhibition will features ten iconic perfumes and their creators, and how they have changed our perceptions of fragrance over the last 20 years.



June 21 - September 21, Somerset House; somersethouse.org.uk Into the Unknown: A Journey Through Science Fiction Science fiction isnt just aliens bursting out of stomachs and Darth Vaders heavy breathing, you know. This vast festival-style show explores the phenomenon through art, design, film and literature. It kicks off by placing visitors inside an episode of Black Mirror, and journeys through dystopian worlds, in what our critic Ben Luke described as a tribute to human imagination.



Until September 1, Barbican Centre; barbican.org.uk Franklin: Death in the Ice If it all gets a bit too hot (unlikely), head to Greenwich for an arctic journey as the National Maritime Museum explores the mysterious fate of Sir John Franklin and his crew on their final expedition. What happened - scurvy, starvation or cannibalism? This exhibition tries to get one step closer to finding the answer.



July 14 - January 7, National Maritime Museum; rmg.co.uk Matisse in the Studio Heres a perspective on Matisse that you wont have seen before: the Royal Academy offers an exclusive glimpse at objects from his private collection, showing the ways that they influenced his work. The diverse collection includes African masks and Chinese calligraphy, precious items that werent high in material value but allowed him to go beyond the limits of Western art.



5 August - 12 November, Royal Academy; royalacademy.org.uk Dreamers Awake This major exhibition on the enduring influence of surrealism spans work from the 1930s to the present day. Featuring over 100 works by women artists, it will include a vast spread of art from greats including Leonora Carrington, Louise Bourgeois, Tracey Emin, Mona Hatoum and Gillian Wearing.



June 28 - September 17, White Cube; whitecube.com A Museum of Modern Nature Londoners dont often feel at one with nature, but we all are - and this summer show from the Wellcome Collection will tell us how. It will tell the individual stories of how people connect with nature by displaying items borrowed from the public, offering a big snapshot of how we tihnk about nature and our planet in the 21st century.



June 22 - October 8, Wellcome Collection; wellcomecollection.org Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power The Tate Modern will celebrate the work of Black artists in a vital time in Americas history, beginning in 1963 at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of the works are on display in the UK for the very first time, and visitors will be introduced to the work of more than 50 influential American artist.



July 12 - October 22, Tate Modern; tate.org.uk BP Portrait Award 2017 Its a classic, but a goodie. The National Portrait Gallery once again hosts the prize for the very best in contemporary portrait painting, which is now in its 38th year. Three artists have been shortlisted, and the winner will be commissioned to paint a portrait that will enter the gallerys permanent collection. The winner will be announced June 20.



June 22 - September 24, National Portrait Gallery; npg.org.uk Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains This audio-visual spectacular exploring the rise and times of the legendary Pink Floyd is bound to gather crowds all summer. Exploring their music, design and staging, it leaves no stone unturned and is a treat for superfans as well as the uninitiated.



Until October 1, Victoria and Albert Museum; vam.ac.uk Sargent: The Watercolours This rare opportunity to see John Singer Sargents watercolours offer the chance to reassess works that have often been dismissed as travel souvenirs. 80 paintings from private and public collections will show his impeccable technique and distinctive way of seeing the world. And you can pop to the lovely Dulwich Pavilion while youre there!



June 21 - October 8, Dulwich Picture Gallery; dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk

Other artists with works on show are Marlise Keith, Luzamba, Nomthunzi Mashalaba, Norman OFlynn and Shakes Tembani.
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So, in the blue-eyed, good guy corner are the Autobots, led by heroic Optimus Prime alongside his second-in-command Ironhide, who has a nifty water gun, medic Ratchet and Bumblebee  more on him later. In the red-eyed, bad guy corner are the Decepticons, led by the malevolent Megatron, along with his devilish companions air commander Starscream, ruthless mad scientist Shockwave and sweep commander Scourge.

Where do they come from?

The ravaged planet Cybertron, where the Autobots and Decepticons fought a ruinous civil war, which still continues to this day. Why and how long have they been on Earth? They arrived on our planet four million year ago in search of The Cube  or the AllSpark  which, as Optimus Prime points out, holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life and has been lost to the far reaches of space. The heroic Autobots live among us in plain sight, watching over our humans in secret, waiting protecting. Which is decent of them.

How do they manage to protect us in plain sight?

They convert, silly. The Transformers are a species of sentient, living robotic beings who can change their bodies at will, rearranging their component parts into an alternate form  generally vehicles, weapons, animals or machinery. So, for instance, the loveable Bumblebee  who becomes the protective guardian to human hero Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) in the first three Transformers films  hides as a busted-up, yellow Chevrolet Camaro (interestingly, Bumblebee was originally a Volkswagen Beetle, but director Michael Bay feared a comparison with Herbie the Lovebug). Hence, the Transformers are known as robots in disguise and theyve integrated themselves into humanity.

However, some humans, such as vile government official Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) in Transformers: Age Of Extinction, are less keen on their existence on Earth and are hell-bent on the Transformers destruction. Be them Autobot or Decepticon  hes not bothered  they all must die. Which is a tad ungrateful given that the Autobots prevented the human race from being enslaved and shot into outer space by the Decepticons in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third slice of the franchise, which also depicted the decimation of Chicago.

Is it all about robots?

What has also undeniably helped to make the Transformers franchise so successful is not just the ingenuity of the Transformers, their combat skills and their disguises, but the human element. The franchises executive producer Steven Spielberg suggested to Bay that the films focus should be about a boy and his car, and it is this central love story  between awkward teen Sam and Bumblebee  that drives (sorry) the narrative for the first three movies. In the fourth film the central relationship and driving narrative force is between Mark Wahlbergs Texan inventor and single father Cade Yeager and Optimus Prime, who has been forced to hide from evil government forces under Cades barn.

Other key humans in the Transformers films, apart from Sams girlfriend Mikaela Barnes (Megan Fox) and Cades daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz), are the US soldiers, led by Josh Duhamels rugged Lt Col William Lennox. Talking of the soldiers, did you know that some of those fighting were real military men and that the US Ministry of Defence provided authentic uniforms for the actors? Not only that but those are real military jets being flown by real military jet pilots in the first Transformers film.

Another fun fact: in the United States Army Ohio National Guard there is an actual Optimus Prime. The guardsman had his name officially changed on his 30th birthday. Well, its better than changing it to Mudflap (another Autobot) I suppose.

The eyes have it: could Optimus Primes change of eye colour from blue to purple hint at something more sinister?

What can we expect from this film?

So, whats in store in the latest thrilling instalment of the franchise, The Last Knight, which again stars Wahlberg and has the tantalising sight of Optimus Primes eyes going from blue to a potentially villainous purple? What can it possibly mean? Has the valiant warrior gone bad? And whereabouts is he hiding?

Cade, charged once again with saving the human race, teams up with Bumblebee as well as an English Lord, Sir Edmund Burton (Sir Anthony Hopkins), and Oxford professor Vivian Wembley (Laura Haddock). Expect a return for Megatron who lines up with Decepticon cronies Hooligan, Mohawk and Onslaught. Sounds ominous and suitably exhilarating.
I ts usually fair to assume that any restaurant within eyeshot of Oxford Street is not a place to go. With all but a few exceptions, they are overpriced, underwhelming and aimed at people who dont know any better.

But despite its place within spitting distance of the Disney store, Neo Bistro was always full of promise.

After all, it has been dreamt up by a team which involves Alex Harper, the former head chef of The Harwood Arms (Londons only Michelin-starred gastropub no less) and Mark Jarvis, the man behind Anglo in Farringdon which Grace Dent described as a British version of Noma when she visited last year.

Those familiar with Anglo will find similarities in Neo Bistros menu, which pulls together seasonal produce in creative assemblies but still keeps things resolutely simple. You could call it modern British meets new Nordic if you felt so inclined, but its actually far less pretentious than any hybrid of those descriptions would suggest.

In fact, its very name is a celebration of this informality. It references the neo-bistro movement which kicked off in Paris in the 90s, spearheaded by chefs wanting to make top-end cuisine more accessible by merging it with bistro-style service and settings. In other words, Frances answer to the gastropub.

Beetroot and duck

Of course, this style of eating is nothing unusual in London anymore, hence there isnt anything particularly gobsmacking about the notion of kicking off with sourdough and whipped seaweed butter. Gobsmacking, no. But lip smacking, yes. The sourdough is perfectly sour and satisfyingly chewy, the butter utterly light and deep with umami flavour - it could be a signature dish all on its own.

And from there on in, the quality doesnt drop. A dish of beetroot and duck sees cured meat intertwined with crunchy boiled beetroots, a rich beetroot puree and silky blobs of foie gras in an assembly as much about texture as taste.

A medley of potatoes and walnut, adorned with a charred spring onion, is a refreshing riff on a potato salad and much more than the sum of its parts, while turbot laced with white anchovies is seductively delicate.

Of all the renegade pairings that shine, best-in-show is the marriage between lamb and eel. Orchestrated by a light gravy, the rare gamey meat and the oily smoked fish masterfully offset each others bolshy flavours, creating a rich and earthy symphony of the sort that Beethoven would be proud. Probably.

Potatoes and walnut

Being a man of good taste, we imagine he would have approved of the wonderful natural wine list which accompanies these dishes, too. Like the food pairings which make this restaurant so exciting (and unlike some natural wine lists) they are unusual but not too odd, funky but not too preposterous, and made to be different but much more so to be delicious.

If the neo-bistro movement was all about interesting food in accessible surrounds, then Londons homage has done it proud. The six-course tasting menu for 42 is good value, and the a la carte far more affordable than that. Even the location is an especially handy one, and thanks to nearby Bond Street station you barely have to set foot on Oxford Street if you dont want to.

Neo Bistro: The Lowdown

Final Flavour: Creative combinations make for exciting eating

At what cost? Starters from 8, mains from 15, wine from 4.50 a glass

Visit if you like: Anglo, The Dairy, Smoke & Salt

Find it: 11 Woodstock Street, W1C 2AE; neobistro.co.uk
A cclaimed chef Robin Gill is hosting one of his Bloodshot Supper Clubs as part of London Food Month.

Gill, who is behind seasonal British restaurants The Dairy, The Manor and Counter Culture  all in Clapham  plus Paradise Garage in Bethnal Green, will be hosting his raucous, all-night event on Saturday at The Dairy.

Gill came up with the concept with Nuno Mendes  head chef at celebrity favourite Chiltern Firehouse and Taberna do Mercado in Spitalfields  both of whom struggled to find anywhere to go to eat and drink once theyd finished in the kitchen.

They launched the Bloodshoot Supper Club exclusively for restaurant and food industry employees. Now for London Food Month, the club is opening for a public-only session.

Kicking off just before midnight, the event will have food cooked by chefs at The Dairy plus Calum Franklin from Holborn Dining Rooms and Patrick Powell, formerly of Chiltern Firehouse. Cocktails will be made by Irish whiskey distillery Roe & Co, with DJ Chewy taking over the DJ decks. Gill said: They are a lot of fun and quite raucous.

Tickets are 75 and include cocktails and a four-course menu served with wine, beers and more cocktails.
W hen Barbie had her regeneration in 2015 and 2016, with new dolls sporting a variety body shapes, skin tones and hair textures, her boyfriend Ken got well and truly left behind.

Typically a blonde, Caucasian muscle machine, the beauty ideals that Ken projected were just as unrealistic and one-dimensional as former factory-perfect Barbie dolls before him.

But with contemporary issues arising about male beauty standards and problems surrounding masculinity, Mattel has realised that it is definitely time for male dolls to get a more realistic renovation.

The doll maker has just unveiled a new collection of dolls, which offer refreshingly diverse selection of Ken dolls for children to play with.

Barbie's new crew of suitors have three body types, four different skin tones and four hair colours, making it the most varied collection yet.

And while we can all despair at the inclusion of the popular 'man bun' hairstyle in Ken's new look, Mattel have finally deviated from his usual golden, floppy locks - giving Ken both cornrows and an afro.

The new dolls, which will arrive in toy shops later this year, will also have four ethnicities: African  American, Latino, Asian and Caucasian.

'Man bun' Ken is here / Mattel

And if you thought the hipster trend had bypassed Barbie, think again. The popularity of cactus print and plaid shirts have made their way into Ken's new wardrobe, as well as a more classic shirt and tie, or jeans-and-checked-shirt look.

The much-debated body type that Ken hosts has branched into three sections in the modern range, with broad and slim forms joining the typically built figure of years gone by.

Barbie Dolls 2016 1 /9 Barbie Dolls 2016

Though this step forward doesnt include a male plus-size Ken - the renovated form allows for a slightly more diverse appearance goals for young boys.

So despite still being invariably handsome - perhaps a diversity in face shape and style will be the next move - Kens rejuvenation is definitely a positive stop forward for parents.
T oday is Summer Solstice, which is typically celebrated as the sun is rising on a morning between 20th and 22nd June every year.

This is when the sun is at its highest axis above the UK in the Northern Hemisphere, and is therefore titled midsummer: the longest day of the year.

On Solstice day, crowds often gather at Stonehenge  the national landmark near Salisbury  and await the sunrise, as this ancient site is renowned to be where prehistoric civilisations celebrated the solstice.

This morning, Morning Gloryville also hosted a Morning Rave in the Shard as the sun rose, with the intention of Weaving together the ancient and the modern and co-creating a New Pilgrimage to honour the Sun.

Whoever has that much energy in this heat must be commended, however yoga and massage were also included in the highly spiritual event, so there was time to relax.

For those who feel as though they missed out, check out our Summer Solstice gallery to see the best snaps from the day.
A n aristocrat accused of abusing Brexit campaigner Gina Miller online admitted he had been foolhardy and unwise but insisted he believed his Facebook posts were private.

Viscount Rhodri Colwyn Philipps, 50, faces trial next month for three messages posted in September and November, as Ms Miller fought for Parliament to have a say over triggering Britains departure from the European Union.

It is alleged Philipps, who lives in Knightsbridge and is the 4th Viscount St Davids, wrote: 5,000 for the first person to accidentally run over this bloody troublesome first-generation immigrant. It is claimed he later added: If this is what we should expect from immigrants, send them back to their stinking jungles.

At Westminster magistrates court yesterday, Philipps suggested his prosecution was politically motivated and demanded to know why others accused of abusing Ms Miller were not in court.

He told Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot: I dont pose a threat. What I wrote was perhaps foolhardy and unwise, but it was for a private group of people, not directed towards Ms Miller.

The case against me is perhaps because of my name, because its newsworthy.

It also emerged at the hearing that the aristocrat could face a further charge over an email sent recently to the police officer investigating him.

It is a statement threatening his career through senior officers in the Metropolitan Police Service, said prosecutor Kate Mulholland. The Crown are considering witness intimidation charges in relation to this.

Guyana-born mother-of-three Ms Miller, 52, spearheaded a successful court battle to force the Government to consult Parliament before triggering Article 50 to leave the EU. She was the target of abuse online during the battle at the Supreme Court. She is expected to give evidence at Philippss trial about the impact of his Facebook posts.

"Philipps applied to be able to cross-examine Ms Miller himself and, at other times during the fractious hearing, made accusations about her qualifications.

"He also interrupted the prosecutor repeatedly. Judge Arbuthnot ruled that a barrister would be appointed to question Ms Miller if Philipps was not legally represented at the trial, saying that the aristocrats tone was hectoring.

Philipps denied three charges of sending a menacing public communication, and is due to stand trial on July 10.
A marauding mob of youths hurled bottles at police after a block party in north London descended into violence.

Riot police and armed officers descended on the Stamford Hill Estate shortly before midnight on Tuesday night, while a police helicopter hovered overhead.

As the dramatic scenes unfolded the area, in Lynmouth Road, was placed on lockdown and a large cordon was put in place.

Shocking video posted on social media shows scores of police officers defending themselves with shields and batons while youngsters, some said to be armed with knives, caused chaos and forced panicked bystanders to rush from the area.

A 19-year-old man was stabbed and rushed by paramedics to hospital, police said.

Witness Faisal Ravat described the scenes as almost like a riot.

He told the Standard: There was a police helicopter was hovering up there for quite a while.

There was so many riot police there trying to push the crowd of youngsters back.

It took at least an hour [to clam down] after I got there and it started well before I got there.

"Once things calmed down for a bit and police decided to go back but as soon as they got in their van they were attacked with glass bottles.

Pete Heywoode said on Twitter that he saw one youngster swing an axe at some lads while Jake McKeown wrote that a car was destroyed by hammers and bats leaving its windows smashed in and flat front tyre.

Another Twitter user, Merlin Jobst, added: Cops with dogs and riot gear cordoning off every entrance to my estate on Stamford hill. Loads more inside. Apparently for a block party.

Shomrim, the volunteer Jewish community patrol, tweeted: "Large Police response to StamfordHill after youths gathering ends in a second night of violence and blood.

"Lots of machetes and swords seen."

A Met Police spokeswoman confirmed that the group were believed to have come from a nearby 'block party'.

She added: Officers attended and found a large group people at the scene, and there were reports of persons believed armed with knives. Extra officers were called to attend.

As officers attempted to disperse the group bottles and other objects were thrown at police. However, no officers were seriously injured.

Officers eventually dispersed the large group from the area at around 12.40pm, and by around 1.40pm officers had left the scene.

There have been no arrests in relation to the stabbing at this time.

One person from the large group was arrested in connection with the disorder officers faced, and is currently in custody at a north London police station.

The injuries suffered by the stab victim were not life-threatening, police added.

Any witnesses, or anyone with any information, can contact police in Hackney via 101, or via Twitter @MetCC.

To give information anonymously call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.
A Dane County jury deliberated for about 45 minutes Wednesday before finding a former Cottage Grove man guilty of trying to kill his wife with a hammer last year.

Randy J. Frye, 35, pointed at his estranged wife, Jessica Fry, before being led from the courtroom and shouted an accusatory statement referring to their daughter. His attorney, Daryl Jensen, urged Frye to calm down as bailiffs dragged him toward the door out of the courtroom.

The jury of eight women and four men found Frye guilty of attempted first-degree intentional homicide for the May 9, 2016, attack on his wife at her home in Cottage Grove. He now faces up to 65 years of combined prison and extended supervision when he is sentenced in about two months after a pre-sentence investigation by the state Department of Corrections.

Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds said she wanted more information about Frye in light of an earlier plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, which Frye had dropped last week.

According to a criminal complaint, Frye showed up early in the morning at his wifes home, argued with her about child visitation related to their divorce proceedings, and then pulled a hammer from a bag and began hitting her. Jessica Fryes sister heard her screams and came to her defense. She told police that during the attack she heard Frye say, Im going to kill you all. Were all going to die.

Frye cut his own throat after the hammer attack was stopped.

In closing arguments Wednesday, closing out the two-day trial, Assistant District Attorney Valerian Powell said that Fryes intent to kill Jessica Frye had been proven by statements he made to his wife and her sister and to police. And he said that Fryes attempted suicide was evidence of a guilty conscience.

Jensen said that if Frye had actually been trying to kill his wife, the blows to her head would have been more severe and more damaging. Instead, he said, her life was never really in danger, and the injuries she suffered were not life-threatening.

That showed reasonable doubt, Jensen said, that Frye had committed attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

But in a rebuttal closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Hilton said that it was unreasonable to say that Frye lacked the will to kill Jessica Frye, resulting in non-fatal injuries.

Just because Jessica was lucky doesnt mean the defendant gets a free pass, Hilton told the jury.
A rmed police formed a ring of steel around Westminster as part of a major security operation around a Day of Rage protest aimed at bringing down the Government.

Roads around Westminster and Buckingham Palace were closed to traffic as scores of officers lined Parliament Square ahead of the demonstration.

Sniffer dogs swept the area as large groups of activists were set to descend on central London in protest Downing Street against brutal austerity, cuts and anti-immigrant attacks.

Furious demonstrators will also take to the streets in reaction to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, a line of the protest some have condemned as despicable".

Police have made a ring of steel in the area ahead of the protest and the Queen's Speech / Jeremy Selwyn

Dramatic pictures from the scene show firearms officers with automatic weapons at key patrol points. Dozens of riot vans are parked on standby ahead of the event which will coincide with the Queen's Speech.

All roads into Parliament Square were closed, including Westminster Bridge, with crash-proof barriers set up on each road leading to the square.

One barricade was set up at the beginning of Westminster Bridge next to Big Ben and another was put in place in Whitehall.

The demonstration is set to take place as Theresa May lays out her legislative programme for the next two years in the Queens Speech.

Armed officers were pictured in the area ahead of the events / PA

Organised by Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary (MFJ), the Day of Rage demonstrators will march towards Parliament at 1pm.

Attendees have been urged to keep their activities peaceful, amid concerns that the disaster may be hijacked for violent means.

On the demo, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: "To everyone planning on demonstrating against Theresa May's Government over the next few weeks, it is vital that these protests are peaceful."

Crash barriers were in place before demonstrators took to the streets / Jeremy Selwyn

Volunteers at the Clement James Centre, who are working closely with those affected by last weels tragedy in north Kensington, have spoken out against the demo.

One charity worker, Howard Taylor, said: "I cannot emphasise enough how against this many of the affected residents I've spoken to are and they do not want their grief hijacked for any violent or destructive means.

"They're angry, they're grieving but they are working to bring about positive change & action through conversations with the right people."

Surrounding roads were closed as police descended on Parliament amid fears of violence at the protest / PA

Conservative MPs have branded the alleged hijacking as a despicable.

Jacob Rees Mogg said: Inciting a day of rage when Parliament reassembles after an election is an attempt to replace democracy and the rule of law with mob power. No democrat can support it.

Organisers are seeking the permanent right to remain in the UK for all Grenfell Tower residents, and for survivors to take over unoccupied flats in Kensington and Chelsea.

The Day of Rage demo is one of several expected to take place on Wednesday, with Stand Up To Racism holding a protest at 6pm.

London Socialist Party is also hosting a Facebook event called "May Must Go! Protest the Queen's Speech" which is scheduled for 4pm.

Hundreds have indicated online that they will be attending the protests.
F ar-left protesters have been accused of trying to hijack the grief of Grenfell Tower survivors, using it to push their own political agenda for violent or destructive means.

Large numbers of activists are planning a Day of Rage demonstration on Westminster aimed against Theresa Mays Conservative Government on Wednesday.

Organised by Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary (MFJ), the protest is a reaction to the Grenfell Tower fire and brutal austerity, cuts and anti-immigrant attacks.

But leaders of the march on Downing Street have been branded despicable by community groups working closely with the victims of last weeks tragedy that left at least 79 people dead.

Volunteers at the Clement James Centre, who are providing aid to survivors, said they cannot emphasise enough how much Grenfell residents are against the demo.

Protesters have been warned to keep their demonstration peaceful / PA

One charity worker, Howard Taylor, said: "I cannot emphasise enough how against this many of the affected residents I've spoken to are and they do not want their grief hijacked for any violent or destructive means.

"They're angry, they're grieving but they are working to bring about positive change & action through conversations with the right people."

They want their voices about this to be heard just as loudly. If the streets are closed, we cannot effectively continue our aid operation in the area, and if any violence ensues, the issue takes a whole new direction.

Others have claimed the hard-Left protestors are despicably using the tragedy to pedal their own agenda.

North Kensington: Message scrawled near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire / AP

Conservative MP for Romford Andrew Rosindell told the Daily Mail: "What is particularly shocking is that they are pretending it is about the tragedy at Grenfell Tower.

It just seems like the hard-Left using it as an excuse to forward their agenda, which is despicable."

Fellow Tory MP Jacob Rees Mogg said: Inciting a day of rage when Parliament reassembles after an election is an attempt to replace democracy and the rule of law with mob power. No democrat can support it.

Amid concerns over potential violence at the demo, attendees have been urged to keep their activities peaceful.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: "To everyone planning on demonstrating against Theresa May's Government over the next few weeks, it is vital that these protests are peaceful."

The demonstration will take place as Theresa May sets out her legislative programme for the next two years in the Queens Speech today. It will see demonstrators march to Downing Street at 1pm.
T wo more victims have been named as an inquest opened into the deaths of five people killed in the Grenfell Tower blaze.

Married couple Omar Belkadi, 32 and Farah Hamdan, 31  who lived on the 20th floor with their three children  were the latest to be named among the dead in the inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court.

Mr Belkadi died from inhaling fire fumes and Mrs Hamdan was killed by smoke inhalation, the court heard.

Their two daughters, Six-year-old Tamzin and eight-year-old Malek, were initially feared dead but were found in hospital by relieved relatives more than 24 hours after the fire.

Their family said on Thursday that one of them was in a coma and the other had been sedated. Their six-month old baby sister is still among the missing.

The court also heard that 39-year-old Abufars Ibrahim, who is believed to have lived on the 23rd floor, died of multiple injuries.

He was reported as being stuck in the flat with his mother, who is in her 70s, and his sister who is 35. It is not believed they escaped.

Anthony Disson

Anthony Disson, a 65-year-old grandfather, died from inhalation of fire fumes.

Mr Disson had reportedly phoned his sons at 3am to say he was trapped in his bathroom. He later told a friend: Tell my sons that I love them.

Fifty-two year old Khadija Khalloufi, who was separated from her husband as they tried to escape, also died of from inhalation of fire fumes, the court was told.

Dr Fiona Wilcox, the senior coroner for Westminster, looked tearful at one point during the hearing as she opened and adjourned the inquests.

The coroner offered her condolences to the families and friends of the victims, as well as all those affected by the blaze.

She also thanked the emergency services before Detective Chief Inspector Matt Bonner, from the Metropolitan Police's homicide and major crime command, outlined the investigation.

Earlier in the day the funeral for 23-year-old Syrian refugee Mohammad Alhajali, who was the first fatality of the disaster to be formally identified by police, was attended by his family and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Scotland Yard have also formally identified talented artist Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, also known as Khadija Saye, 24, as one of at least 79 victims who perished in the disaster.

Ms Saye was a friend of Labour MP David Lammys, who described her as having done amazing things.
R esidents of a luxury housing block have been slammed online after complaining that the arrival of Grenfell Tower survivors will lead to a fall in property prices.

The Standard revealed on Wednesday that 68 social housing" flats in the 2 billion Kensington Row scheme have been acquired to permanently house families from the nearby tower.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said: Our priority is to get everyone who has lost their home permanently rehoused locally as soon as possible, so that they can begin to rebuild their lives.

But several residents of the luxury complex, which features a gym, swimming pool and 24-hour concierge service that will be off limits to Grenfell families, complained the move was unfair

Workmen put the final touches on flats designated for Grenfell victims / Jeremy Selwyn

One woman, who bought her flat two years ago, told the Guardian: We paid a lot of money to live here, and we worked hard for it.

Now these people are going to come along, and they wont even be paying the service charge.

Some Grenfell Tower residents are to be re-homed in a 2bn luxury block

Another claimed the flats would end up being sub-let.

He told the paper: Im very sad that people have lost their homes, but there are a lot of people here who have bought flats and will now see the values drop.

It will degrade things. And it opens up a can of worms in the housing market.

However, others did agree with the move, complaining some of the flats were completely empty.

The comments, on the day inquests were opened into the deaths of five of the blaze victims, led to outrage online

375 Kensington High Street Property - In pictures 1 /12 375 Kensington High Street Property - In pictures Families whose lives were devastated by the fire at Grenfell Tower are to be housed in a luxury development berkeleygroup.co.uk 68 families are to be rehomed in the block berkeleygroup.co.uk The families will live in the award winning 2bn development berkeleygroup.co.uk The 68 flats are being acquired by the City of London Corporation as part of the response to the tragedy berkeleygroup.co.uk Inside a flat at 375 Kensington High Street - Located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea berkeleygroup.co.uk A spokesman for the Berkeley Group confirmed they were finalising plans berkeleygroup.co.uk Penthouses in the block can go for up to 13m berkeleygroup.co.uk The families will be offered permanent homes in the building berkeleygroup.co.uk The luxury flats are located just a couple of miles from Grenfell Tower berkeleygroup.co.uk

Journalist Natalie Bloomer tweeted: Rich people with so much sympathy for Grenfell survivors but god forbid they have to live near them.

And student Vonnie Sandlan complained: This is horrendous.

Plenty of sympathy for the victims of Grenfell tower, until it comes to where they'll live.

Loading....

Another tweeter wrote: Milk of human kindness, these people.

I guess money always trumps humanity.

Families will be moved into a luxury block at one of London's most desirable addresses / Nigel Howard

The 68 flats have been purchased by the City of London Corporation in a deal brokered by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

The newly built homes are in two affordable housing blocks are on a site where private homes are on offer from 1,575,000 to 8.5 million.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said the "expectation is that these new properties will be offered as one of the options to permanently rehouse residents from Grenfell Tower".

Mr Javid said: "The residents of Grenfell Tower have been through some of the most harrowing and traumatic experiences imaginable and it is our duty to support them.

Devastation: Grenfell Tower / PA Wire/PA Images

Extra public money has been found to fit out the flats more quickly, and the developer has taken on more staff and relaxed working hours rules, the DCLG said, with the aim of having the homes ready by the end of July.

Eleanor Kelly, chief executive of Southwark Council and spokeswoman for the Grenfell Response Team, said: "Rehousing those residents affected by the Grenfell Tower fire as quickly as possible is our main priority, and I am pleased that a significant amount of housing has now been identified."

The announcement came after much anger from survivors and victims' families in the aftermath at the official response to the deadly blaze.

Last week, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for empty homes near the scene of the fire in north Kensington to be requisitioned to house families.

An independent public advocate to help bereaved families after major disasters was announced in the Queen's Speech earlier on Wednesday.

The speech confirmed plans for a public inquiry into the tragedy and a new strategy for resilience in major disasters could include a Civil Disaster Reaction Taskforce to help at times of emergency, and an independent advocate will support those affected and help them at inquests.

After the speech Theresa May apologised for the failures by local and national government in responding to the Grenfell Tower fire.

Addressing the Commons on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said the initial support on the ground for families was "not good enough" with people lacking basic information about what they should do and where help was available.
P rince Charles visited the scene of the Finsbury Park terror attack on Wednesday, meeting worshippers and an imam who protected the suspect until police arrived.

The Prince of Wales chatted with Mohammed Mahmoud, who has been praised for his calming actions and words after the attack.

Joined by members of the public, the Prince was shown floral tributes that have been left at the scene.

He then went into the centre to meet members of the community and speak to religious leaders.

Prince: Flowers have been left at the scene / AP

Speaking to faith leaders sitting in a circle, he said he felt joy at being with them "despite the very sad, unfortunate circumstances" and that he remembered with "great fondness" his visit there 30 years ago.

He said: "But I did particularly want to bring a message from the Queen on this particular occasion.

"She has specifically asked me to tell you how shocked she was by what happened, particularly as the victims were worshippers who had been attending Ramadan prayers - and her Majesty's thoughts and prayers are with you all.

"And if I may say so, I can only but join my particular thoughts and prayers to her Majesty's on this occasion, and to say that for many years I have taken a great interest in the Muslim community in this country."

Visit: Prince Charles at the Muslim Welfare House / AP

Charles added that he was "deeply impressed" by the imam who shielded the suspect until police arrived and "his remarkable actions on that occasion".

"Thank goodness we have wonderful leaders," he added.

Before the meeting Charles also greeted Yassin Hersi, 45, who was injured in the attack.

"Are you sure you should be here?", he asked the man, who was on crutches and had his right leg in a cast.

Prince Charles: He delivered a message from the Queen / PA

He paused to read some of the hundreds of messages left by the public outside Finsbury Park Tube station.

One colourful poster, decorated with glitter hearts and flowers and signed with many names simply asked: "Where's the love?".

Another image showed cut out figures holding hands around a dove, symbolising peace, while white butterflies adorned the wall above the nearby bouquets.

And north London football team Arsenal sent a bouquet to mark the tragedy.

His visit came just two days after a van was driven at people outside the Muslim Welfare House in Seven Sisters Road.

Makram Ali, 51, who had collapsed just before the attack, was later pronounced dead, while another nine people were taken to hospital.

Four victims are still receiving treatment, with two people still critically ill.

Suspect Darren Osborne, 47, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and terrorism offences. He remains in custody.

Following the meeting, Charles met groups of faith leaders from the community and secondary school children from the nearby Skinners' Academy.

Asked by reporters how the Duke of Edinburgh, who has been admitted to hospital as a precaution following an infection, was feeling, he replied: "He's getting better."

The Skinners' Academy students recently won a national enterprise competition for work with the Prince's Trust and Mosaic, a mentoring initiative founded by the Prince 20 years ago.

Part of the Prince's Trust, it helps young people from deprived areas with a focus on Muslim communities.
T he Prime Minister has apologised for failing victims in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Theresa May told Parliament she has taken the responsibility to put things right as she outlined plans to help residents rebuild their lives.

The comments were made as MPs debated the Queens Speech which was delivered in Parliament on Wednesday.

She told MPs: Im sure the whole house will join me in sending our deepest condolences to the friends and families of all those who lost loved ones and today we also think of those who survived but lost everything.

One lady I had met ran from the fire wearing no more than a t shirt and a pair of knickers. She had lost absolutely everything.

So let me absolutely clear. The support on the ground for families in the initial hours was not good enough.

People were left without belongings, without roofs over their heads, without even basic information about what had happened, what they should do and where they could seek help.

That was a failure of the state, local and national, to help people when they needed it most.

Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May at the Queen's Speech today. / AFP/Getty Images

As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure. And as PM I have taken responsibility for doing what we can to put things right.

Mrs May added: That is why each family whose home was destroyed is receiving a down payment from the emergency fund so they can buy food, clothes and other essentials.

And all those who have lost their homes will be rehoused within three weeks.

There will also be an independent public enquiry chaired by a judge to get to the truth about what happened and who was responsible and provide justice for the victims and their families who suffered so terribly.

Mrs Mays remarks came after criticism of the way authorities handled the fire, which ripped through the high rise building in the early hours of Wednesday, June 14.

Protests erupted across the capital on Friday night as fury came to a head over the help and information given to Grenfell residents.

People stormed Kensington town hall while a separate group of protesters marched to Whitehall in anger.

Theresa May met survivors in hospital before inviting some of the residents to Downing Street at the weekend to hear their concerns.

Since the tragedy, the Government announced it was triggering a 5 million emergency aid fund to help those affected.

At least 79 people are now presumed dead as rescue workers continue to search the 24-storey building.
A ctivists are planning a mass Day of Rage demonstration during the Queens Speech.

Their objective is to draw attention to "brutal austerity, cuts and anti-immigrant attacks".

The protest, which will take place outside Westminster on Wednesday afternoon, has been organised in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy as well.

The Met Police said an appropriate policing plan has been put in place, with armed police already spotted patrolling near Downing Street and Parliament.

Activists have been urged to keep their activities peaceful amid concerns that the clashes may break out during the protest.

Large numbers of demonstrators are set to descend on Westminster as part of the protest, which has been organised by the Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary (MfJ).

Heres everything you need to know about the Day of Rage:

Where and when is it?

Protesters are set to march on Westminster at about 1pm on Wednesday, with the demonstration expected to last until into the evening.

The activists are meeting at Shepherds Bush Green in the morning to make signs and banners aimed at Theresa May and austerity cuts across the UK.

According to the Facebook page for the event, the group aims to shut down London through the protest.

Anti-Tory protesters are planning a march on the Houses of Parliament after the Queen's Speech / Rex

Armed police were spotted at Westminster on Wednesday morning preparing security measures for the protest.

It will take place during the Queen's Speech, during which Mrs May will set out her legislative programme for the next two years.

What are the demonstrators protesting?

The protest has been organised in response to the Grenfell Tower fire, in which 79 people perished last Wednesday.

Organisers have blamed the rotten capitalist system for their deaths, claiming that years of austerity led to neglect of the tower block.

At least 79 people are believed to have died in the Grenfell Tower inferno / Jeremy Selwyn

The MfJ has also claimed that politicians are looking to divert rage and fury by promising reports and investigations while not rehousing the victims.

It has been claimed that fire-resistant cladding would have cost contractors just 5,000 extra on the Kensington tower block.

What are the protesters calling for?

Organisers have set out a series of demands for the Government, which they call for during the march outside Westminster.

They include:

Full amnesty and permanent right to remain in the UK for all Grenfell Tower residents who dont have immigration papers

House Grenfell survivors locally by taking over un-occupied houses, flats & mansions in Kensington and Chelsea

Reverse the privatisation of council housing and build council homes nationwide.

Seize and publish records of the companies involved with Grenfell Towers regeneration and their dealings with Kensington & Chelsea council

Who are the Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary?

The protest has been organised by the MfJ, a group aimed at building a new Britain through protests marches.

The organization was reportedly set up in 1995, and has protested issues ranging from austerity cuts to court rulings over the past few years.

In 2012, it organised a similar march in a bid to bring down the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition government.

According to its Facebook page, the group is dedicated to exposing the truth about racism, sexism and anti-gay bigotry and the growing inequalities within our society.

Why are some Grenfell Tower victms angered by the protest?

Community groups working closely with the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy have condemned activists for trying to hijack the grief of survivors of the fire.

Volunteers at the Clement James Centre, who are providing aid to survivors, said they cannot emphasise enough how much Grenfell residents are against the demo.

Others have claimed the hard-Left protestors are despicably using the tragedy to pedal their own agenda.
C onservatives and the DUP remain "miles apart" on key elements of a proposed deal to shore up Theresa May's minority Government, it is claimed.

Sticking points are thought to involve DUP demands for additional funding for Northern Ireland, with reports suggesting they are seeking 1 billion for health and similar figures for infrastructure.

The failure to bridge differences casts doubt on Mrs May's ability to get her Queen's Speech through Parliament, with senior minister Damian Green acknowledging it is possible that no agreement will be reached in time for the crunch Commons vote on the package on June 29.

While the DUP has historically voted with Conservatives in a majority of divisions, party sources indicate that the support of its 10 MPs should not be "taken for granted".

They have a record of opposing Tory austerity and welfare measures in the last parliament, and it is understood that they could support opposition amendments in these areas during the six-day Queen's Speech debate.

Democratic Unionist Party MPs (DUP) - In pictures 1 /12 Democratic Unionist Party MPs (DUP) - In pictures Ian Paisley Jr: The son of the Rev Ian Paisley Charles McQuillan/Getty Images Emma Little-Pengelly (centre): Her father Noel Little was a member of the Ulster Resistance involved in a foiled plot to procure weapons for loyalist paramilitaries. PA Nigel Dodds: His office was targeted by the Continuity IRA in 2003. Getty Images David Simpson: The Free Presbyterian has voted against same sex marriage PA Sammy Wilson: He courted controversy in 2016 when he was recorded allegedly agreeing with a member of the public who said get the ethnics out AFP/Getty Images Gavin Robinson: Partys youngest face in Westminster. PA Gregory Campbell: He has supported bringing back the death penalty in the case of mass murder. Rex Features Jeffrey Donaldson: He was in the Ulster Unionists negotiating team for the Good Friday Agreements PA Jim Shannon: He has topped the Westminster expenses list BBC

DUP insiders are thought to be arguing that failure to reach agreement on a "confidence and supply" deal could cost the Conservatives more in the long run, as they would be forced to come cap in hand for the party's support on a vote-by-vote basis in the years to come.

One source told the Press Association: "They thought they had us in the bag and they wouldn't have to pay a price for it."

Senior Conservative sources said talks with the DUP were ongoing in the hope of reaching a confidence and supply arrangement, under which the Northern Irish party would not join the Government but would guarantee to ensure its survival by voting with it on financial measures and no-confidence motions.

The DUP is also looking for a more generous deal from the Treasury over the planned devolution of corporation tax powers, as well as cuts in air passenger duty.

A DUP source said officials within the Northern Ireland Office are urging caution on a deal because of concerns that the Government could compromise its status as an honest broker in peace process talks.

Theresa May responds to John Major criticism over DUP deal

But Mr Green insisted that there was still "every possibility" of agreement.

"The talks have been taking place in a constructive way," the First Secretary of State told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Clearly, two political parties, we have some differences, but we have a lot in common.

"We're both unionist parties at our heart.

"We're both, obviously, very concerned with combating terrorism, we both have similar views about delivering a good Brexit for this country, and, obviously, we're both very, very concerned with the Irish border issue.

"All talks of this kind take a long time, they are still continuing."

Liberal Democrat chief whip Alistair Carmichael, a former Scotland secretary, said any deal with the DUP which meant extra cash went to Northern Ireland would also require increased funding for Scotland and Wales.

"It will stretch far beyond the North Channel of the Irish Sea," he said.

"They need to spread their largesse.

"I'm a Scot, I never turn down more money.

"The question is where does it come from and how are you going to pay for it?"

He also warned against the constitutional risks of a DUP deal "playing one part of the UK off against another".

"If we have learned nothing else in the last 10 years we have surely learned that the future of the UK as a constitutional union is not to be taken for granted."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
A ctivists decended on Westminster for a Day of Rage protest after Theresa May set out her legislative programme for the next two years in the Queens Speech.

The demonstration organised by Movement for Justice by Any Means Necessary [MJF] saw protesters marching from Shepherds Bush to Downing Street on Wednesday afternoon and is aimed at bringing down the Government.

Mrs May became the first prime minister in decades to lay out a legislative programme without a guaranteed House of Commons majority as the Conservatives have yet to reach a deal with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party.

The MFJ said the protest was in reaction to brutal austerity, cuts and anti-immigrant attacks and last weeks Grenfell Tower tragedy. Further protests are planned by activist groups at 4pm and 6pm.

Read how the events unfolded below:
L arge numbers of activists are planning a Day of Rage protest in London that coincides with the Queens Speech, aimed at "bringing down the Government."

The demonstration will take place as Theresa May sets out her legislative programme for the next two years in the Queens Speech today.

Organised by Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary (MFJ), the protest is a reaction to the Grenfell Tower fire and brutal austerity, cuts and anti-immigrant attacks.

The MFJ event page reads: "Politicians and many community and religious leaders will be looking to divert our rage and fury into inquiries, investigations, reports, court hearings, and parliamentary processes.

North Kensington: Message scrawled near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire / AP

"We will not accept those brush-offs and diversions, we will not settle for less than the destruction of May's coalition of austerity and bigotry - we must bring down this government."

Attendees have been urged to keep their activities peaceful, amid concerns that the disaster may be hijacked for violent means.

On the demo, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: "To everyone planning on demonstrating against Theresa May's Government over the next few weeks, it is vital that these protests are peaceful."

The MFJ protesters have also been condemned for attempting to "hijack" the grief of Grenfell Tower victims.

Volunteers at the Clement James Centre, who are working closely with those affected by the tragedy, have spoken out against the 'Day of Rage' demo.

One charity worker, Howard Taylor, said: "I cannot emphasise enough how against this many of the affected residents I've spoken to are and they do not want their grief hijacked for any violent or destructive means.

John McDonnell: Theresa May's position as PM untenable

"They're angry, they're grieving but they are working to bring about positive change & action through conversations with the right people."

Protesters have been warning to keep their demonstration peaceful / PA

And Conservative MP for Romford Andrew Rosindell told the Daily Mail: "What is particularly shocking is that they are pretending it is about the tragedy at Grenfell Tower.

"It just seems like the hard-Left using it as an excuse to forward their agenda, which is despicable."

It is one of a number of protests to be held on Wednesday to coincide with the Queens Speech which is expected to be dominated by Brexit.

The MFJ protest will see demonstrators march to Downing Street at 1pm.

Theresa May: The protests come on the day the Prime Minister sets out legislature in Queen's Speech / PA

Organisers are seeking the permanent right to remain in the UK for all Grenfell Tower residents, and for survivors to take over unoccupied flats in Kensington and Chelsea.

Stand Up To Racism has organised a demo for 6pm called: "Protest the Queen's speech - no to May/DUP racism & bigotry!"

London Socialist Party is hosting a Facebook event called "May Must Go! Protest the Queen's Speech" which is scheduled for 4pm.

Hundreds have indicated online that they will be attending the protests.
A man who told police that he deliberately struck a pedestrian two years ago as he drove through a busy Madison intersection was ordered committed to the state Department of Health Services for 40 years after he pleaded no contest to first-degree reckless homicide, but was found not legally responsible for his actions because of a mental illness.

Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke said that what Adam Sutter did on June 18, 2015, was as severe as it possibly could get, deserving of the maximum time he could spend under state supervision.

This case was no different than taking a gun, pointing it at someone and firing it off, Ehlke said. The conduct was absolutely outrageous.

Sutter, 27, of Sauk City, will be housed at a locked state mental health facility but under state law he can petition every six months to be released. He would still remain under DHS supervision if released.

Sutter was charged after he struck and killed Sara B. Wolf, 36, of Madison, as she crossed South Stoughton Road at East Washington Avenue. Southbound traffic on Stoughton Road had a red light, and Wolf had nearly made it across to the west side of the intersection when she was struck by Sutters car, which was southbound.

Ehlke, who viewed a city traffic monitor video of the incident, said it was difficult to watch.

I literally jumped back in my chair as I watched that car approach, he said.

Wolf, who worked for the American Family Childrens Hospital, died hours later at UW Hospital, where her husband, Andy Dzieminski, was working in an operating room that night for the hospitals anesthesiology unit.

I was informed my wife was the Jane Doe patient who had come to our trauma suite a couple of hours earlier, Dzieminski said in court Tuesday. She was tentatively identified by a prescription bottle found in her bag, and they used her emergency contact information to find me.

She died just after 1 a.m., he said, as he held her hand after she had been removed from life support. He called her the most beautiful soul Ive ever known, generous both materially and in her concern for others. She was a writer, and only a semester shy of a masters degree at UW-Madison, Dzieminski said.

I hope you can never shake these memories, Dzieminski said to Sutter. I hope they keep you awake at night. I hope you wake up sweating and screaming. And I hope my wife haunts you forever when you burn in hell.

Sutter did not make a statement in court when given an opportunity by Ehlke.

State Assistant Attorney General Emily Thompson, who argued for the 40-year commitment, said that in reviewing the traffic video of the incident, its apparent that Sutter sped up as he approached the intersection. Wolf was only about two steps from the curb to which she was headed when Sutters car struck her on the passenger side, and it appeared that he hugged the right side of the road so that he would hit her, Thompson said.

She said a State Patrol analysis put his average speed at 48 mph as he approached Wolf.

She never saw him coming, Thompson said of Wolf.

According to a criminal complaint, Sutter told police, I wanted to hit her, and I just kinda speeded up and hit the lady.

Thompson and Sutters lawyer, state Assistant Public Defender Mario White, agreed that Sutter suffered from a mental illness at the time of the crash. Reports from two doctors who examined Sutter both supported a finding of mental illness.

Sutter first began experiencing psychotic episodes when he was 15, White said, and has been treated since. But Thompson said investigators found that Sutter had last received a 90-day supply of risperidone, used to treat schizophrenia, in April 2014, more than a year before the crash.

Thompson argued that if Sutter was not under state control, he would stop taking his medication and go back to driving around aimlessly, which he liked to do, and that would be a problem.

White asked that Sutter be given a 20-year commitment. When hes medicated, White said, Sutter can control his behavior.
V eteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner had MPs in hysterics as he joked that politicians should "get their skates on" for the Queen's Speech so she could make the first race at Ascot.

The 85-year-old politician joked at Black Rod, who summons MPs to the chamber for the Queen's Speech, to: Get your skates on. The first race is at half past two.

The speech, originally scheduled for 11.30am on Monday but delayed until Wednesday, forced the Queen to miss the morning at Royal Ascot, known as one of her favourite events on the year.

MPs roared with laughter at the quip, with Lieutenant General David Leakey also struggling to keep a straight face as he summoned MPs.

The Queen opening Parliament on Wednesday / PA

The Queen is set to attend races on Wednesday afternoon, having delivered the speech to Parliament.

She set out Prime Minister Theresa Mays legislative programme for the next two years, concentrating largely on the upcoming Brexit negotiations.

Mrs May had delayed the speech to carry out negotiations with northern Irish party the DUP, which is expected to prop up a Conservative government after the Tories lost their majority in the general election.

Mr Skinner, known for his republican views, has become famous for his outbursts in the Commons, earning the nickname of the Beast of Bolsover.

He was expelled from the Commons during a heated debate in April 2016, after he branded former Prime Minister David Cameron dodgy Dave.

Dennis Skinner has become known for delivering one-liners in the Commons / PA Archive/PA Images

He has also heckled Black Rod during the Queens Speech in past years.

The Queen is dashing from the State Opening of Parliament to Royal Ascot - and is expected to make it to time for the royal carriage procession.

She swapped the Imperial State Crown for a hat and changed out of her ceremonial gown at Buckingham Palace, before making a fast car journey from London with a police escort to the racecourse.

Mrs Mays pledge to slash immigration below 100,000 was left out of a stripped-down Queens Speech to Parliament.

Manifesto pledges and policies around grammar schools, means-testing winter fuel payments, and boosting fracking were also omitted in a speech that laid bare her loss of authority.
T heresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have been caught on camera making awkward small talk as the pair arrived for the Queens Speech.

The two rivals were filmed exchanging a few brief words as they walked together into the House of Lords ahead of Wednesdays address in Parliament.

The Queens Speech, which marks the State Opening of Parliament, was delivered to MPs and peers to set out the Governments plans for the next two years.

Many wondered what the politicians were talking about as the sound quality is almost too poor to capture the dialogue.

But in the clip the Prime Minister turns to Labour leader Mr Corbyn to ask whether he his wife is sitting in the gallery watching the ceremony unfold.

The leader of the Opposition replies no and adds that he should have rang for tickets but did not. He then pulls a face.

The only time Mr Corbyn and Mrs May are seen talking together in public is mainly at Prime Ministers Questions.

The two leaders failed to meet each other head-on during the election campaign after Theresa May ruled out taking part in a leaders debate.

PM Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn walking back after listening to Queen's Speech. / AFP/Getty Images

Wednesdays Queens Speech unveiled 27 bills and draft bills which the Government plans to pass into law over the coming two years.

Also mentioned were plans to improve the countrys ability to deal with disasters similar to the Grenfell Tower blaze and crack down on extremism following the recent wave of terror attacks.

But among the items missed from the speech were several Conservative manifesto promises as well as any mention of Donald Trumps state visit to the UK.

Usually all state visits to Britain are outlined in the Parliament address, leading many to suggest it has been put on the backburner.

Downing Street said President Trumps visit did not feature in the Queens Speech because no date has yet been set.
T heresa May's pledge to slash immigration below 100,000 was left out of a stripped-down Queens Speech that laid bare her loss of authority today.

Some 27 Bills and draft Bills were unveiled, along with measures to improve the countrys ability to respond to disasters such as the Grenfell Tower inferno and to combat the extremism behind the London and Manchester attacks.

But the speech was most notable for the long list of Conservative manifesto promises that have fallen by the wayside, less than two weeks after the Prime Minister saw her majority and power evaporate in the polling booths.

Casualties included new grammar schools, means-testing winter fuel payments, boosting fracking, reviving foxhunting and scrapping free universal school meals for infants.

The inglorious political mood was matched by the pared-back ceremony for the State Opening of the new Parliament.

State Opening of Parliament 2017 - In pictures 1 /32 State Opening of Parliament 2017 - In pictures The Queen at the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster BBC Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Ford (centre) carries the Imperial State Crown as it arrives at the Palace of Westminster and the Houses of Parliament through the Norman Porch for the State Opening of Parliament ceremony PA The Queenand The Prince of Wales during Queen's Speech in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London PA Yeoman of the Guard prepare for the ceremonial search ahead of the State Opening of Parliament by The Queen in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London PA Prime Minister Theresa May and leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn walk through the House of Commons to attend the state opening of Parliament AP The Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales arrive in the House of Lords at Houses of Parliament Carl Court/WPA Pool/Getty Images Prime Minister Theresa May and leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn walk through the House of Commons to attend the state opening of Parliament AP Jeremy Corbyn at the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster BBC Yeoman of the Guard carry out the 'ceremonial search' ahead of the State Opening of Parliament REUTERS The Queen's crown is carried into the State Opening of Parliament Reuters Reuters The Queen and Prince Charles are driven to the Palace of Westminster for the State Opening of Parliament Reuters The Queen leaves driven in the Royal Bentley car from Buckingham Palace AFP/Getty Images Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Ford accompanies the Imperial State Crown as it leaves Buckingham Palace AFP/Getty Images Guards make their way to form up ahead of the State Opening of Parliament PA Guardsmen arrive outside Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard Reuters Armed police patrol as part of the major operation for the state opening of Parliament PA Members of the Household Cavalry prepare ahead of the State Opening of Parliament AFP/Getty Images Members of the Household Cavalry arrive for the State Opening of Parliament Reuters Gathered public look on as guardsmen parade in front of Buckingham Palace AFP/Getty Images Baroness Mone (centre) ahead of the State Opening of Parliament PA Crowds gather at Buckingham Palace ahead of the State Opening of Parliament Chris Jackson/Getty Images Police on patrol in Westminster Jeremy Selwyn Police check down sewers outside Parliament today Jeremy Selwyn

For the first time since 1974, the Queen wore a hat instead of her crown, day clothes instead of robes, used a car instead of her carriage and eschewed the traditional royal procession into the House of Lords.

Although No 10 said Mrs May remained committed to her ambition to cut net immigration to the tens of thousands, ministers told the Standard that there is no sign of any work being prepared in Whitehall to make this a reality.

The target was mentioned neither in the speech nor in the voluminous notes accompanying it.

This was in contrast to the notes for the 2010 Queens Speech, which stated the ambition for net levels to be in the tens of thousands not hundreds of thousands.

Other marked gaps included any mention of President Trumps planned state visit to the UK  suggesting it has been shelved indefinitely.

Business leaders were alarmed that there was no mention of Londons vital Crossrail 2 north-south rail plan.

Mrs May unveiled plans for a Civil Disaster Reaction Taskforce in the wake of last weeks fumbled response to the Grenfell Tower fire.

The Queen and the Prince of Wales today / PA

A new Commission for Countering Extremism will examine plans to combat terrorist propaganda. Complex laws to deliver Brexit overshadowed the programme, just as they will dominate the work of MPs for the next two years.

Technical measures include passing four decades of European Union rules and regulations into UK law, and attempting to take control of borders and fishing grounds.

They include the repeal of the 1972 Act which took Britain into the European Economic Community.

An increased police presence was in place for today's proceedings / Jeremy Selwyn

Mrs May struck a confident tone in a written introduction, saying: This is a Government with purpose. Determined to deliver the best Brexit deal. Intent on building a stronger economy and a fairer society.

Committed to keeping our country safe, enhancing our standing in the wider world and bringing our United Kingdom closer together. Putting ourselves at the service of millions of ordinary working people for whom we will work every day in the national interest.

But there were nagging doubts about what the Prime Minister can achieve, even after the pared-back list, with no sign yet of a final deal with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionists.

The Queens Speech promised a consultation on social care  but made no mention of the charging plans that led to the U-turn on the so-called dementia tax.

Police search the area with sniffer dogs / PA

It said ministers would bring forward measures to help tackle unfair practices in the energy market, but made no mention of the energy cap promised during the campaign.

The tally of 27 measures is typical for a Queens Speech  but light for one due to last two years. An Immigration Bill abolishes EU free movement rules after Brexit, but does not include the target for net migration.

Mrs Mays spokesman said: We remain committed to the target. Ministers said: The target has not been dropped but there is no sign of Government departments planning the sort of measures that would be needed to hit in this Parliament.

"They would not get through the Commons without a majority. Today, shadow chancellor John McDonnell was branded a dangerous man after arguing that the Tories have no right to govern as large-scale protests were due to take place in London.

Armed police near the Houses of Parliament earlier today / PA

Hundreds of police officers were deployed around Parliament. Mr McDonnell, who urged so-called Day of Rage protesters to remain peaceful, said: We are now in a situation where I dont think they have got the right to govern.

"We have a government now that has not got a majority and has ripped up the manifesto which it stood on  I dont think that is democratically legitimate.

He said he supported getting a million people on the streets to try to influence government policy, but also try to change the Government ... people have the right to express anger. Violence does not work, its counter-productive.

Conservative former Cabinet minister Stephen Crabb tweeted: Verbal acrobatics from John McDonnell over Day of Rage & threat of protest violence... dangerous man.

First Secretary of State Damian Green said peaceful protest was part of a democracy but warned against violence.
P olice are urging a millionaire antiques dealer who inspired thousands to search for a mysterious chest of gold and jewels to end the treasure hunt as he is putting lives at risk.

Author and antiques dealer Forrest Fenn claimed he has hidden a cache of jewels and other artefacts somewhere in the American Rocky Mountains, sparking treasure hunters to search for the gold.

But New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas has issued a plea for him to stop the hunt after pastor Paris Wallace disappeared last week during a search.

Police believe a body discovered in the area is that of Mr Wallace and the latest death related to the effort to uncover Mr Fenn's treasure.

The treasure has been hidden somewhere in the Rocky Mountains / Getty Images

Last year, searchers spent weeks looking for Randy Bilyeu, another Colorado man who disappeared in the New Mexico back country while looking for the loot.

His remains were found several months later.

Mr Kassetas told reporters that Mr Fenn should retrieve the treasure from wherever he hid it and stop what he called "nonsense and insanity".

"He's putting lives at risk," the chief said, adding that he planned to contact Mr Fenn personally to ask him to call off the hunt.

Mr Fenn has dropped clues to the treasures whereabouts in a cryptic poem in his memoir, The Thrill Of The Chase.

He told the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper on Monday that he had been considering how to make the search safer or cancel it but has not made any decisions.

Mr Fenn called Mr Wallace's disappearance tragic.

The 52-year-old pastor travelled to the Espanola area last week and was reported missing by his wife on Wednesday after he did not return home and hotel staff told her that his belongings were still in his room.

Police and wildlife officials searched forest and county roads and popular hiking trails.

After looking at his laptop, authorities learned of other locations where he might have gone. They eventually found his vehicle along the Rio Grande.

At the edge of the water, officers saw two red ropes tied together and to a large rock. Receipts in Mr Wallace's vehicle indicated the ropes belonged to him.

Rescuers spent two days searching the river until rafters spotted a body downstream - about seven miles from where he was last believed to have been.

Mitzi Wallace, the pastor's fellow treasure hunter and wife of 30 years, said it would be a mistake for Mr Fenn to end the hunt, and she would continue to search for the treasure with her 19-year-old son, including in the area where authorities believe her husband died.

"Our treasure is that time we spend together," she said.
S imon Cowells Grenfell Tower tribute single has already shot to the top of the iTunes chart just a few hours after being released.

The new version of the Simon and Garfunkel classic, Bridge Over Troubled Water, opens with an emotional verse by rapper Stormzy and features a star-studded line up of British musical talent.

Stars including Rita Ora, Robbie Williams, Liam Payne, Emeli Sande and Craig David have all recorded lyrics for the charity song, to raise funds for the victims of the horrific incident.

Listeners were left "in tears" when Cowell debuted the track at 8am on Wednesday morning as it played for the first time across multiple radio stations.

Loading....

Here is who sings what on the brand new release:

Intro: Stormzy rap

When you're weary - Robbie Williams

Feeling small - James Blunt

When tears are in - Rita Ora

Your eyes - Craig David

I will dry them all - Dan Smith (Bastille)

I'm on your side - Liam Payne

When times get rough - Emeli Sande

And friends just can't be found - Kelly Jones (Stereophonics)

Like a bridge over troubled water - Paloma Faith

I will lay me down - Louis Tomlinson

Like a bridge over troubled water - Labrinth

I will lay me down - Jorja Smith

Grenfell Tower: Chart-topping stars arrive to record charity single

Rap by WSTRN

When you're down and out - Leona Lewis

When you're on the street - Jessie J

When evening falls so hard - James Arthur

I will comfort you - Roger Daltrey (The Who)

I'll take your part - Ella Eyre

When darkness comes - Anne-Marie & Ella Henderson

And pain is all around - Louisa Johnson

Like a bridge over troubled water - Robbie Williams, all voices

I will lay me down - James Arthur

Like a bridge over troubled water - Choirs

I will lay me down - Rita Ora
K im Kardashian has accused the paparazzi of photoshopping her famous behind to make it look bad.

The reality TV star, 36, hit the headlines in April after she was pictured with what appeared to be cellulite on her bottom.

The pictures sparked a backlash from fans who questioned the many natural selfies she has posted in the past on social media.

But Kardashian has now defended her figure, claiming the images were deliberately altered to look way worse.

Piers Morgan Discusses Kim Kardashian on GMB

Speaking on US chat show, The View, she said: I saw these awful photos of myself when I was on a trip in Mexico and people were photoshopping them and sharpening them.

I definitely was not in my best shape. I hadn't worked out in about 12 weeks. I'd had two surgeries on my uterus. We documented that on the show.

She continued: So I was already not feeling like myself and when people were like sharpening them and making them look way worse and then those were going around, I was like Ok, I'm going to get it together and I started working out with this bodybuilder girl that I found on social media.

Kim Kardashian - In pictures 1 /96 Kim Kardashian - In pictures AFP via Getty Images Just married Kim Kardashian and Kanye West 'Just Married' wedding image in 2014 E! Going for gold Kim Kardashian Ultra Beam 2017 Shoot Kim Kardashian Family Robert Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, and Khloe Kardashian arrive at the KIIS-FM's 2008 Wango Tango concert held at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on 10 May 2008 in Irvine, California Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Emotional on E! Kim Kardashian cries on E! in 2012 asking herself if she should end her marriage with Kris Humphries E! Bikini selfie Kim Kardashian posts a picture of her posing in a selfie wearing a white bikini in 2013 Kim Kardashian Breaking the Internet Kim Kardashian breaks the Internet with the front cover of Paper Magazine in 2014 Paper Magazine 2006 Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian arrive at the International Launch of Dom Perignon Rose Vintage 1996 Champagne by Karl Lagerfeld on 2 June 2006 in Beverly Hills, California Getty Images 2007 Kim Kardashian blows out her birthday cake candles at her birthday party at Les Deux on 21 October 2007 in Los Angeles, California Noel Vasquez/Getty Images 2007 Kim Kardashian walks the runway at the Christian Audigier Fall 2007 fashion show during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week held at Smashbox Studios on 21 March 2007 in Culver City, California Mark Mainz/Getty Images 2008 Television personalities Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, and Kris Jenner attend the season two launch of 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' at Les Deux on 19 March 2008 in Hollywood, California Charley Gallay/Getty Images 2008 elevision personality Kim Kardashian arrives at the 7th Annual "Los Premios MTV Latin America 2008" Awards held at the Auditorio Telmex on 16 October 2008 in Guadalajara, Mexico Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images 2009 TV personality Kim Kardashian arrives at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre on 20 September 2009 in Los Angeles Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images 2009 Kim Kardashian arrives at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center on 8 February 2009 in Los Angeles, California Frazer Harrison/Getty Image 2010 TV Personalities Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian and Kim Kardashian make an appearance at Borders Century City to sign copes of their book "Kardashian Konfidential" on 2 December 2010 in Los Angeles Frazer Harrison/Getty Images 2010 Kim Kardashian attends Heidi Klum's 2010 Halloween Party at Lavo on 31 October 2010 in New York Getty Images 2010 Gabrielle Union, Kim Kardashian, Ciara and Kelly Rowland attend Tracy Reese Spring 2010 fashion show at the Salon at Bryant Park on 14 September 2009 in New York Bryan Bedder/Getty Images 2010 Kim Kardashian visits the Oktoberfest on 22 September 2010 in Munich, Germany. Florian Seefried/Getty Images 2010 Kim Kardashian on a visit to London on 12 September 2010 Chris Jackson/Getty Images 2010 Kim Kardashian arrives at the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on 29 August 2010 Frazer Harrison/Getty Images 2010 Reality television star Kim Kardashian poses next to her wax figure on 1 July 2010 at Madame Tussauds, New York Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images 2010 Kardashian and Justin Bieber attend the TIME/CNN/People/Fortune 2010 White House Correspondents' dinner pre-party at Hilton Washington Hotel on 1 May 2010 Larry Busacca/Getty Images 2010 Kim Kardashian walks the runway at the Heart Truth Fall 2010 Fashion Show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Tent at Bryant Park on 11 February 2010 in New York Jemal Countess/Getty Images 2011 Kim Kardashian arrives at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on 28 August 2011 in Los Angeles, California Jason Merritt/Getty Images 2011 Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian attend the Kardashian Kollection Launch Party at The Colony on 17 August 2011 in Hollywood, California Jason Merritt/Getty Images 2011 Kourtney Kardashian (3rd from L), Khloe Kardashian and Kim Kardashian pose with models backstage at the Beach Bunny Swimwear 2011 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim at the Raleigh on 16 July 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images 2011 Kim Kardashian poses during her fragrance launch at Debenhams, London on 8 June 2011 Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images 2011 Musician Elton John and TV Personality Kim Kardashian attend the 19th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party at the Pacific Design Center on 27 February 2011 in West Hollywood, California Larry Busacca/Getty Images 2011 Producer Sean 'Diddy' Combs and TV personality Kim Kardashian arrive at The 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on 13 February 2011 Larry Busacca/Getty Images 2011 TV personality Kim Kardashian arrives at the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at The Shrine Auditorium on 30 January 2011 in Los Angeles Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images 2011 TV personality Kim Kardashian arrives at the 16th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards at the Hollywood Palladium on 14 January 2011 in Los Angeles Christopher Polk/Getty Images 2012 Kim Kardashian attends 2nd Annual Midori Green Halloween Party at Avenue on 27 October 2012 in New York Getty Images 2012 Kim Kardashian and Kanye West leave the Valentino Haute-Couture Show as part of Paris Fashion Week Fall / Winter 2012/2013 at Hotel Salomon de Rothschild on 4 July 2012 in Paris, France Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images Kanye West and Kim Kardashian arrive for the screening of "Cruel Summer" at the 65th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France on 23 May 2012 Francois Mori/AP 2013 Kim Kardashian arrives at The Hollywood Reporter's 22nd Annual Women In Entertainment Breakfast at Beverly Hills Hotel on 11 December 2013 in California Jason Merritt/Getty Images 2013 Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend the Costume Institute Benefit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on 6 May 2013, celebrating the opening of Punk: Chaos to Couture Timothy A.Clary/AFP/Getty Images 2013 im Kardashian surrounded by Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputies leaves the Stanley Mosk Courthouse after attending her divorce hearing from Kris Humphries on 12 April 2013 Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images 2013 Nicki Minaj and Kim Kardashian attend the 21st Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party at West Hollywood Park on 24 February 2013 Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images 2013 Kourtney Kardashian, Kim Kardashian and Kelly Osbourne and actress/singer Miley Cyrus attend the 21st Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party at West Hollywood Park on 24 February 2013 in California Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images 2014 Rihanna and Kim Kardashian attend The Inaugural Diamond Ball presented by Rihanna and The Clara Lionel Foundation at The Vineyard in Beverly Hills, California on 11 December 2014 Getty Images 2014 Kim Kardashian arrives to promote her new fragrance "Fleur Fatale" at a Spice Market event on 18 November 2014 in Melbourne, Australia Scott Barbour/Getty Images 2014 Kim Karadashian set pulses racing with her cover for British GQ Magazine GQ Magazine 2014 Lewis Hamilton, Nicole Scherzinger, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West attend the GQ Men Of The Year awards at The Royal Opera House on 2 September 2014 2014 Kim Kardashian and Kanye West kissing at their wedding in Florence, Italy E! News 2014 Kanye West and Kim Kardashian attend attend the "Charles James: Beyond Fashion" Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 5 May 2014 in New York Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images 2015 TV personality Kim Kardashian arrives at the LACMA Art + Film Gala in Los Angeles, California, on 7 November 2015. Reuters 2015 Kanye West (L) and Kim Kardashian attend the 'China: Through The Looking Glass' Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 4 May 2015 in New York Mike Coppola/Getty 2015 Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Kris Jenner attend the Balmain show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2015/2016 on 5 March 2015 in Paris, France Getty Images 2015 Alia Wang, Aimie Wang, Kim Kardashian, North West, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj attend the Alexander Wang Fashion Show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015 at Pier 94 on 14 February 2015 in New York Craig Barritt/Getty Images 2015 Kim Kardashian, North West and Kanye West attend the Alexander Wang Fashion Show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015 at Pier 94 on 14 February 2015 in New York Craig Barritt/Getty Images 2015 Kim Kardashian attends The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards at the Staples Center on 8 February 2015 in Los Angeles Larry Busacca/Getty Images 2016 Kim Kardashian attends the Givenchy show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2017 on 2 October 2016 in Paris Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images 2016 Fashion model Kim Kardashian West is seen on day five Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2017 on 1 October 2016 in Paris, France Rex Features 2016 Kim Kardashian attends the Balmain show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2017 on 29 September 2016 in Paris, France Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images 2016 Kim Kardashian at the Balmain show after party during Paris Fashion Week on 28 September 2016 Rex 2016 Kim Kardashian West attends the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden on 28 August 2016 in New York Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images 2016 Television personality Kim Kardashian attends "Famous by Kanye West", a private exhibition event at Blum & Poe art gallery in Los Angeles, California on 26 August 2016. Rachel Murray/Getty Images 2016 Madame Tussauds staged a waxworks party in honour of the Queens 90th birthday attended by stars chosen by the public, with a selfie-taking Kim Kardashian, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adele, Barack Obama and David Beckham among the guests in attendance. Alex Lentati 2016 Kim Kardashian West arrives for the Gala to celebrate the Vogue 100 Festival at Kensington Gardens on 23 May 2016 Jeff Spicer/Getty Images 2016 Kim Kardashian West attends the "Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology" Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on 2 May 2016 in New York Larry Busacca/Getty Images 2016 Kim Kardashian posted a topless selfie with Emily Ratajkowski weeks after her nude selfie Kim Kardashian 2016 Kim Kardashian attempts to break the Internet again posting a naked selfie on 07 March 2016 Kim Kardashian 2017 Kim Kardashian attends Harper's BAZAAR Celebration of "ICONS By Carine Roitfeld" at The Plaza Hotel Getty Images 2017 Kim Kardashian is seen at 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' in Los Angeles, California Splash News 2017 Kim Kardashian Ultra Beam 2017 Shoot Kim Kardashian 2018 Calvin Klein campaign led by Kim Kardashian West, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner Calvin Klein 2018 Kim Kardashian posing topless on her social media channel Kim Kardashian 2018 Kim Kardashian with pink hair in Tokyo Rex Features 2020 Kim Kardashian's 40th Birthday Kim Kardashian Kim Kardashian's 40th Birthday Kim Kardashian Kim Kardashian's 40th Birthday Kim Kardashian 2020 Kim Kardashian announced her family's iconic reality show is over after 14 years on air E!

Kardashian was photographed in several bikinis while holidaying in Mexico to celebrate her sister Kourtney Kardashians birthday.

The alleged unedited images of Kim infuriated some of her Instagram followers with one branding her all fake head to toe while another called her the queen of Photoshop.

Piers Morgan also took aim at the reality TV star after she described herself as flawless.

The great thing about these pictures is shes not flawless he said on Good Morning Britain. Shes like every other woman and every other man. None of us are flawless  present company excepted. The unexpurgated, uncensored, un-airbrushed Kim Kardashian.

Morgans co-presenter Susanna Reid praised Kardashian for her curvy figure and encouraged women to celebrate cellulite.
R on Howard is reportedly in talks to take over as director on the forthcoming Han Solo film.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker could be brought in to replace Phil Lord and Christopher Miller who have sensationally quit the project mid-production.

According to Deadline, Howard has emerged as the frontrunner to take over the eagerly-awaited Star Wars spin-off following the surprise announcement.

Fans and film industry insiders were shocked to hear that the directing duo had been dropped from the film at such a late stage amid creative rifts.

Eagerly-awaited: The Han Solo cats are without a director (Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm via AP)

On Tuesday evening, Disney announced that the directors had been taken off the project after experiencing creative differences with Star Wars screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy.

Kasdan penned classic films including Empire Strikes Back and co-wrote the screenplay for the new film with his son, Jon Kasdan.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Teaser Trailer

According to reports, the group had differing style and vision and also disagreed about the character traits of the young Solo.

People need to understand that Han Solo is not a comedic personality. Hes sarcastic and selfish, a source told the Hollywood Reporter.

The film, starring Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson, has been in production since February at Pinewood Studios in London.

Howard won the Best Director Oscar for A Beautiful Mind back in 2001 following acclaimed projects Apollo 13 and Cocoon.


S imon Cowells charity single for the victims of the devastating Grenfell Tower fire has left listeners in tears.

Liam Payne, Rita Ora and Robbie Williams were among 50 artists who lent their voices to the track which dropped at 8am on Wednesday morning.

Music veterans and rising stars came together to record a version of Simon and Garfunkel classic, Bridge Over Troubled Water, after Cowell pledged to raise funds for those affected by the blaze which killed 79 people.

Cowell was praised for creating the track, which radio listeners said gave them chills and left them crying on their way to work.

One person tweeted: #BridgeOverTroubledWater is so beautiful and touching, sitting here crying a little bit. Amazing, words can't describe.

Grenfell Tower: Chart-topping stars arrive to record charity single

Another wrote: A big shout out to all the artists for this, its beautiful and so is the cause #ArtistsForGrenfell.

Cowell invited some of the biggest names in music to record the track over a three day period at Sarm Studios in West London  half a mile from Grenfell Tower.

The track, which was played across multiple radio stations from 8am on Wednesday morning, will also air on ITV before Coronation Street later tonight.

Charity single: Proceeds will be distributed via The London Community Foundation

All proceeds will go to Artists for Grenfell and will be distributed via The London Community Foundation.

Other artists who lent their support to the track include Nile Rogers, James Blunt, Carl Barat, RAYE, Stormzy, Bastille, Anne Marie and Ella Eyre.

Cowell - who said he was left heartbroken by last week's tragedy - shared news of the single on his official Twitter page and urged the nation to buy the single and make further donations via artistsforgrenfell.com.

He wrote: Thank you to everyone for their help and support in making this happen.

Stars arrive at recording studio to make Grenfell Tower charity song 1 /24 Stars arrive at recording studio to make Grenfell Tower charity song Stormzy. PA Singer Ella Eyre, who was raised in Ealing. PA Actor and screenwriter Noel Clarke. PA Tulisa Contostavlos PA Singer Shakka, who is local to the area. PA 'Love Me Again' singer John Newman. PA Gareth Malone PA Pixie Lott. PA Kelly Jones PA Nigerian singer songwriter Mr Eazi. PA Singer and rapper Donae'o. PA Artist Deno. PA Louisa Johnson PA Raye. PA Jorja Smith. PA Shane Filan. PA Emeli Sande. PA Matt Terry PA


T he upcoming Han Solo Star Wars spin-off is facing a production shake-up after its directors pulled out midway through filming.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller dropped out of directorial duties, citing creative differences.

Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, confirmed the news in a statement and informed fans that a new director will be announced soon.

She said: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are talented filmmakers who have assembled an incredible cast and crew, but its become clear that we had different creative visions on this film, and weve decided to part ways. A new director will be announced soon.

Out: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty ) / Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

Lord and Miller, who previously teamed up to make The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street, said: Unfortunately, our vision and process werent aligned with our partners on this project.

We normally arent fans of the phrase creative differences but for once this cliche is true. We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew.

Alden Ehrenreich will star as Solo in the film which will reportedly focus on the space smugglers early days before he became involved with the rebel alliance.

Donald Glover will play a young Lando Calrissian in the spin-off which will also star Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Last year's Rogue One became the UKs highest-grossing film of 2016, despite being released in December.

The Disney-produced film, starring Felicity Jones and Riz Ahmed, made 52.7 million during the last 17 days of 2016, according to comScore.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - In pictures 1 /9 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - In pictures Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Lucasfilm

The film is slated for release in 2018.
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 if he can change labor laws given the French history of union strikes and violent street riots that forced previous presidents to back off.

But U.S. politicians can learn a lot 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.
Whether shes wearing silly hats or speaking in characters voices while reading books to children, Ginnie Perez is right at home in her dream job working as the teen librarian at the Lied Scottsbluff Public Library.

Perez was looking for a more permanent position than what she was doing so she turned to local city websites to see what was out there. When she was looking at the positions offered, she didnt know exactly what she was looking for.

I wanted to be a part of something bigger, but I didnt know what that was, she said.

After spending some time scouring each position offered, she came across a notification for the position of teen librarian at the library. As soon as she read what the position entailed and what her responsibilities would be, she knew it was the right job for her.

I read the description and fell in love with it, she said. I couldnt be more happy with what the job description was and what the duties were.

Perez spent hours on the application to make sure it was perfect. She was thorough. She looked for ways to make it better. When she found a better way, she ripped up the pages of the application and started from scratch. When she was finally satisfied she had the best application she could create, she turned it in.

She went into the interview with the confidence she was the right person for the job. When she left, she felt strongly she was going to be the new teen librarian.

The thought of being part of the community is something to take pride in, she said. This was what I was looking for.

As part of her duties, Perez also helps childrens librarian Deb Carlson when Carlson travels to elementary schools to get kindergartners interested in coming to the library. She also travels to schools to talk about programs the library has for teens, including the popular summer reading program.

We hit a new record for teens registered on the first day for the teen summer reading program and that is largely in part due to her hard work and passion, Carlson said.

Her joy in working with children makes her a perfect fit at the library.

Perez was born in San Diego, California, at Camp Pendleton. She moved to the Panhandle in August 2014 because her mother was here, California is expensive and she was looking for a change of scenery. She has enjoyed her time here so much, she decided to plant her roots here.

The smaller community affords kids more opportunities, she said.

She has found the people of the Panhandle friendly, helpful and welcoming.

As teen librarian, Perez is able to express her creativity. She creates and executes programs that are designed on the level of a teen, whats fun for them and what will make them want to get involved. There is a predetermined mood with teens where they feel they have to be cool, she said.

If I can get past their need to impress everyone and enjoy themselves, well all be successful, she said. The challenge is to bring a fresh outlook on those who arent so keen on reading.

In her short time at the library, Perez, and her children are already a permanent fixture. Carlson has jokingly said Perez is never allowed to leave.

She is a gem, Carlson said. She is hardworking and has really embraced the job.

Perezs ambition and creativity is noticed by everyone, especially Library Director Noelle Thompson.

She thinks outside of the box and gets things done, Thompson said. The teens and preteens in our community are lucky to have someone committed to bringing them great programs and services.

Perez knows, if she had stayed in California, she would never found the opportunity that changes her life every day.

I believe everyone is in a place for a reason, she said. Im starting to find my reason here.
Nevada Geraldine (Gerry) Blue, 89 of Bridgeport, Nebraska passed away Saturday, June 17, 2017 at Skyview of Bridgeport surrounded by her family.

Her memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 24, 2017 at 9:30 a.m. at Church of Christ in Bridgeport with Pastor Jonathan Seng officiating. Inurnment will follow at Oregon Trail Memorial Cemetery. There will be no visitation, cremation has taken place. Memorials can be made to the Bridgeport Public Library. Tributes of sympathy may be left at www.bridgeportmemorialchapel.com. Bridgeport Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Nevada (Gerry) was born November 11, 1927 at Broadwater, Nebraska to Clyde and Inis (Sutton) Coker. She received her education in Broadwater, Bridgeport and California. She received her GED from Bridgeport in 1971. She married Milford (Milky) Blue in Hastings, NE on April 15, 1946. To this union six children were born. She was a stay at home Mom for many years. She worked at the Sioux Ordinance Depot in Sidney. After her husband passed away, she worked at Berts 5 & 10 store, Gerry Industries and then at the Nursing Home in Bridgeport. She retired in 2003.

She was active in the VFW Auxiliary, Girl Scouts and later in the Eagles Auxiliary. She spent many Friday and Sunday nights cooking hamburgers at the Eagles. Her greatest treasure was having grandchildren and great grandchildren over for cookies and milk.

She is survived by her sons Arthur Blue of Bridgeport, Clyde (Joan) Blue of Scottsbluff, Terry Blue of Leesville, SC and Mike (Jan) Blue of Scottsbluff; daughters Colleen Blue of Bridgeport and Lynn (Doug) Hulinsky of Bayard; grandchildren Sharon (Brett) Schluterbusch, Anthony (Nicole) Sacco, Theresa (Pam) Blue, Andrea (Vince) DelCoglin, Chris Blue, Andy Blue, Amanda (Will) Spencer, Jaime Blue, Jared Blue, Tiffany (John) Lee, Richard (Anna) Blue, Toni (Nate) Rice, Terri (Brandon) Stuart and Skylar Blue and 21 great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband Milky, her parents and her nine siblings.
Nebraskans know how to honor veterans. Our states strong commitment to the men and women who serve was on full display in May, when we came together to carry out the largest honor flight for Vietnam Veterans in history. The trip was made possible by the generosity of Nebraskans from all across our state, young and old.

Ensuring veterans have access to quality health care is one of the many ways we thank them for their selfless sacrifice to our nation. But for years now, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has remained clouded by controversy. Despite steps taken to address the issues at the VA, scandals continue to linger, showing our veterans are not always put first.

In the spring of 2016, Kuauhtemoc Rodriguez, the Chief of Specialty Care Clinics at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs office, made a startling confession: two years after the scandal that revealed our veterans were dying as they waited for health care, the VA hadnt completely changed. Rodriguez told local news that schedulers were purposely deleting patient appointments and marking the changes as made by the patients, including, in some cases, making it appear as though deceased veterans had called to change appointments. This continued even after he told VA Director Deborah Amdur about the problem.

Enough is enough.

Its time for real reform at the VA, and thats why I recently supported Senator Marco Rubios Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act (VAAWP). Members of the Senate can come together, and we recently passed this legislation unanimously. It builds on previous work done by Congress and ensures that those who earned health care benefits by serving our country arent forgotten.

Since the passage of the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act (Choice Act) in 2014, which expanded health care options for veterans and allowed VA officials to fire poor-performing employees, Congress has continued to uncover mismanagement and misconduct from VA employees. Many VA employees are excellent at their jobs, and they work tirelessly to serve our veterans. Unfortunately, todays civil service rules still often fail to reprimand those who dont live up to the VAs promise of treating those who served in our armed forces with dignity and respect.

The VAAWP would reform our nations civil services system within the VA while keeping due process for workers. Personnel decisions would be accelerated by tightening up the timeline for firing processes and through the lowering of the burden of proof needed to dismiss bad actors. It would also allow the VA Secretary to reduce benefits and rescind bonuses for those who are underperforming. These reforms would apply to both senior executive positions and the rank and file.

The VAAWP also empowers whistleblowers, like Kuauhtemoc Rodriguez, to serve as the first line of defense against corruption by allowing them to come forward without having to fear retaliation from bureaucrats. Under this bill, the secretary would be directed to provide training on whistleblower protections and general workplace management. The secretary would also report to Congress on employee morale.

We must ensure that those who risked their lives defending our country have access to timely and effective health care. Last Congress, I was proud to spur change within the VA through the CHIP IN for Vets Act, which gives local communities, like Omaha, a pathway to assist with the design and construction of VA health care facilities. I will continue to work on legislation like the CHIP IN for Vets Act and the VAAWP so that our veterans are assured the quality health care they have earned.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
This page is archived. Data published after 5 April 2022 can be found on the renewed website. Go to the new statistics page

Published: 21 June 2017

Total energy consumption fell by 4 per cent in January to March

According to Statistics Finland's preliminary data, total energy consumption in January to March amounted to 373 petajoule (PJ), which was four per cent less than in the corresponding period in 2016. Electricity consumption amounted to 24 terawatt hours (TWh), or three per cent lower than one year earlier. Carbon dioxide emissions of the energy sector declined by eight per cent year-on-year.

Total energy consumption

*preliminary

Among fuels, the consumption of coal decreased most, by 13 per cent. The consumption of natural gas went down by 12 per cent, and that of peat by nine per cent. The consumption of oil fell by two per cent. The consumption of wood fuels remained at last year's level.

The volume of electricity produced with hydro power was 24 per cent lower than in January to March 2016. Net imports of electricity remained at last years level and its share in total electricity consumption was 22 per cent. The volume of electricity produced with wind power more than doubled.

In January to March, diverse energy products were imported into Finland to the value of EUR 2.3 billion, which was 46 per cent more than one year earlier. Most energy products were imported from Russia, whose share of the value of imports was 65 per cent. Energy products were exported to the value of EUR 1.1 billion, which was 52 per cent more than one year previously. Most energy products were exported from Finland to EU countries, which accounted for 82 per cent of the value of exports.

Stocks of coal amounted to 14 TWh at the end of March, which was 30 per cent less than one year earlier. At the end of March, it was estimated that the peat stocks contained 10 TWh of energy peat, or 19 per cent less than one year earlier.

Total energy consumption by source (TJ) and CO2 emissions (Mt)

Energy source I/2017* Annual change-%* Percentage share of

total energy consumption* Oil 1) 1) 75,146 -2 20 Coal 2) 35,498 -13 10 Natural gas 3) 26,010 -12 7 Nuclear Energy 4) 64,646 -2 17 Net Imports of Electricity 5) 19,080 0 5 Hydro power 5) 11,597 -24 3 Wind power 5) 4,766 97 1 Peat 20,349 -9 6 Wood fuels 98,672 0 27 Others 6) 17,039 -13 5 TOTAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION 372,802 -4 100 Bunkers 10,156 6 . CO2 emissions from energy sector 12 -8 .

* = Preliminary data. = Category not applicable1) Oil: includes the bio part of transport fuels.2) Coal: includes hard coal, coke, blast furnace gas and coke oven gas.3) The consumption of natural gas does not include raw material use.4) Conversion of electricity generation into fuel units: Nuclear power: 10.91 TJ/GWh (33% total efficiency)5) Conversion of electricity generation into fuel units: Hydro power, wind power and net imports of electricity: 3.6 TJ/GWh (100%)6) Others: includes exothermic heat from industry, recovered fuels, heat pumps, hydrogen, biogas, other bioenergy and solar energy.

Source: Statistics Finland, Energy supply and consumption

Inquiries: Ville Maljanen 029 551 2691, energia@stat.fi

Director in charge: Ville Vertanen

Publication in pdf-format (259.5 kB)

Updated 21.6.2017

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Energy supply and consumption [e-publication].

ISSN=1799-7976. 1st quarter 2017. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 11.11.2022].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ehk/2017/01/ehk_2017_01_2017-06-21_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.
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
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Ousted Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu on Wednesday announced having informed President Klaus Iohannis about Parliament's plenary vote the same day on a successful no-confidence motion against his Cabinet.

"I have informed the President about Parliament's vote. That was perfectly normal," Grindeanu said at the Government House.

agerpres.
At a joint plenary session on Wednesday, Parliament passed a censure motion called "Romania cannot be confiscated. We defend democracy and Romanians' vote," according to the Chamber of Deputy Secretary Ioana Bran.

The motion passed 241 to 10, with all ballots being valid.

agerpres.
Senator Traian Basescu of the People's Movement Party (PMP) says the ruling coalition of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) on Wednesday lost its parliamentary majority following a successful vote on a censure motion against its own government, claiming that "it's normal for them to lose the governing also."

"[PSD national leader] Dragnea and [ALDE national leader]Tariceanu you lost! Without the votes of the minority MPs the censure motion wouldn't have passed. The PSD-ALDE alliance lost the majority. Therefore, it's normal to lose the governing. The decision is with Iohannis," Traian Basescu wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

A censure motion called "Romania cannot be confiscated. We defend democracy and Romanians' vote," was adopted in the joint plenary meeting of Parliament.

agerpres.
Maybe you saw that Associated Press story, dateline Singapore, with the headline that a "Downton Abbey" movie was "in the works."

Well, yes. A movie followup to the British family drama and PBS favorite has been talked about ever since the series ended its run.

In fact, the movie has "been in the works for some time," Michael Edelstein, president at NBCUniversal International Studios, told the AP at the Singapore opening of "Downton Abbey: The Exhibition."

We all want that. (We do, don't we?) But before production can start next year, the movie needs a script. And a cast.

"We are working on getting the script right, and then we've got to figure out how to get the (cast) together," Edelstein told the AP. "Because as you know, people go on and do other things. But we're hopeful to make a movie sometime next year."

Cast members at the opening were reportedly surprised, having heard nothing about the movie. Laura Carmichael, who played Lady Edith Crawley, said, "Well, tell my agent, because we're still waiting to know."

Us too. But fingers crossed.
"The Mist," 9 p.m. Thursdays on Spike  One star (out of four)

Stephen King is fascinated by the idea of people trapped together and falling victim to their worst instincts.

For an improbable three summers, residents of a small town in Maine were imprisoned by a mysterious barrier in "Under the Dome" on CBS. The gap left by that series' end is filled, beginning Thursday, by "The Mist," a Spike TV adaptation of King's 1980 novella, previously a 2007 Frank Darabont movie.

Here, rather than a dome, it's a killer mist that traps residents of the inevitable small Maine town. Bugs are involved. Also frogs. Probably ghoulies and ghosties too.

Something, in the opening, graphically kills a dog. (Don't watch that part.) But before the mist even rolls in, the residents of Bridgeville have problems.

I'd tell you what these are, but that could amount to spoilers, and honestly, you probably won't care anyway. "The Mist" is terrible, murky and boring, with bursts of violence and gore.

The characters could hardly be any less likable, with the exception of a young teen girl (Gus Birney) and her gay best friend (Russell Posner).

Making sense of this mess is probably impossible (either my screener was missing scenes or the plot makes a big and confusing jump in the middle of the premiere) and not worth the effort. Unless, that is, you love seeing bad people get their faces eaten off, or you really, really miss "Under the Dome."
EAST ST. LOUIS  A Metro East man is behind bars after being accused of threatening President Donald Trump.

Joseph Lynn Pickett was originally charged by complaint in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis on June 15. He was indicted Wednesday on a charge of threatening the president.

The St. Louis office of the U.S. Secret Service received a tip about Pickett on June 15, Special Agent Vincent Pescitelli wrote in an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint.

On his Facebook page, Pickett threatened Trump and then taunted the Secret Service when he wasn't immediately arrested, Pescitelli wrote.

He wrote honestly am I really going to have to kill trump before our fine Government (the jack booted thugs they are) actually takes me into custody, according to the complaint.

Still waiting, he wrote, adding that he hadn't heard a knock on the door, seen any black SUVs in his driveway, heard any helicopters and hasn't yet fallen victim to a drone strike, Pescitelli's affidavit says.

Pickett wrote that Trump sold our country to The Russians and was a Benedict Arnold, the complaint says, and also wrote that Trump needed a blade in the neck.

He sent a message to someone saying, Please call the cops on me now so I have an,excuse (sic) to use my firepower, then mentioned two assault rifles and two pistols, adding Oh I'm so afraid of the police now, the criminal complaint says.

He also told Secret Service agents that he had thoughts of hurting himself and others, the indictment says.

Pickett's public defender could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.

Pescitelli said that Pickett worked at the Lowe's in Granite City until six to eights months ago, when he was fired for threatening a colleague.

Court documents indicate he last worked in February, and gets by on food stamps and support from a relative. He also lists $150,000 in medical bills.

His Facebook page lists his location as Edwardsville.
JEFFERSON CITY  Abortion restrictions at the center of a second special session called by Gov. Eric Greitens are one step closer to his desk, but they could still face significant hurdles in the Senate.

The Missouri House on Tuesday passed a stricter, more comprehensive proposal than the one senators passed last week. House members acted days after the governors top policy adviser called on them to substantially improve the Senates version.

The underlying bill pre-empts a St. Louis ordinance that bans employers and landlords from discriminating against women who have had an abortion, use contraceptives or are pregnant. Abortion rights opponents have argued, despite religious exemptions in the bill, that it could infringe on the free speech rights of facilities that counsel pregnant women against abortion.

Additionally, the measure mandates annual inspections of abortion clinics and tougher regulations for submitting fetal tissue to pathologists.

The House plan goes further to answer the governors call, banning abortion clinic staffers from requesting that ambulances responding to medical emergencies at their facilities avoid using sirens or flashing lights. It also gives Missouris attorney general the ability to prosecute violations of abortion laws without notifying local prosecutors, and requires doctors to inform women of the medical risks of an abortion 72 hours before the procedure.

Amending the bill all but guarantees the special session  costing taxpayers roughly $20,000 each day  will stretch into a third week next week so the Senate can consider the changes.

There, its future is less certain. Senate leaders have admitted their chambers more lenient proposal only made it through after intense, behind-the-scenes negotiations, with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle arguing the issue didnt warrant an extraordinary session and was instead a tactic to bolster Greitens conservative credentials.

This feels like a political stunt to many of us, said Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, on Tuesday. Its being sold as an effort to show how pro-life the governor is.

House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, disputed that notion.

The fact that weve got a governor who is willing to engage and work on these issues has been positive and helpful, Richardson said.

The arguments surrounding the proposed restrictions are familiar ones.

Republicans have long insisted regulations on abortion providers protect the health of women by ensuring the procedure is performed in safe, clean facilities. Democrats contend that restrictions in Missouri have become so stringent that few providers can meet them, with the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis currently the only facility providing abortion in Missouri.

The GOP-led Missouri Legislature routinely writes laws limiting access to abortions, two of which were struck down by a federal judge in April. Citing a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt, U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs blocked Missouri requirements for the states abortion clinics to meet standards for surgical centers and for their doctors to have hospital privileges.

That ruling was one inspiration for Greitens to call a second special session in his first year serving as Missouris chief executive.

Richardson said he was confident the state would prevail if the current bill becomes law and was challenged. But Democrats said they expected a court to eventually overrule the new restrictions, too, should they make it across the finish line this summer.

The same thing will happen with this bill, said Rep. Stacey Newman, D-St. Louis. You already know this is going straight to litigation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  On the eve of Senate Republicans revealing their version of a health insurance overhaul, the Trump White House on Wednesday brought six Missourians here to talk about their problems with the current Affordable Care Act.

The six were from central and western Missouri, where Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City announced recently it would pull out of Obamacare exchanges at the end of the year. Some said the Affordable Care Act had worked for them in the beginning, but that rising premiums and deductibles had made coverage unaffordable, and that the pullout of the last provider in their counties makes them worried that they will have no viable insurance coverage options at all.

One, 45-year-old Candace Fowler, a farmer from Henry County, Mo., said she has a rare eye disease that threatens her eyesight without treatment. By years end she could have no insurance options in the Obamacare exchange. She and the other Missourians, as well as a doctor from Iowa, spoke to reporters after telling their stories to Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and other top Trump administration officials in a West Wing meeting.

So it is very much concerning to me what they are going to do in trying to replace Obamacare, Fowler said.

Referring to Price and the other Trump officials, she said: They didnt offer any plans, they didnt offer any inside advice about what is going to happen in the future. But it did feel like we, at least, had people who are listening, and that goes a long way.

President Donald Trump often meets with people telling similar stories as he travels the country. Republicans are attempting to use these stories to bolster their claims that Obamacare is broken beyond repair and build support for their controversial attempts to replace it.

But Democrats, who have criticized both the American Health Care Act passed last month by House Republicans and the secrecy surrounding Senate Republicans efforts to come up with their own bill, say the problems these Missourians talked about Wednesday were because Republicans are purposely undermining Obamacare.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., accused the Trump White House of sabotage in withholding or threatening to withhold federal subsidies designed to prop up the state exchanges.

They are creating this level of uncertainty that is leading to the disruption of these individual markets, McCaskill said. But even with the premium increases, the vast majority of the people who get their insurance in Missouri on the exchanges are still going to have reasonable costs because of the subsidies that they get from the government.

For one Missouri family, however, the current options seem to have run out for the father.

Stephanie McClain, 37, is an insurance agent in Clinton, Mo., who sells health care coverage. Her husband, Tommie, 40, decided to go back to school two years ago and has been buying insurance on the exchange. Their four children are covered under her policy, but they now have discovered that with the pullout of BlueCross in their county, they cannot afford to add Tommie to her work policy.

They are unsure of what we will do in 2018, Stephanie McClain said.

At the beginning, the Affordable Care Act "worked to some extent, said Stephanie McClain.

People that had cancer could get coverage," she said. "People that couldnt afford coverage, they could get it for $30 or $40 a month with cost-sharing, at a $500 deductible. It made sense. But over the years, it has just dwindled away. There are no options. Premiums are high, deductibles are high - if you qualify.

McClain said she has not seen any evidence of Clayton-based Centene, which announced last week it would offer insurance in some Missouri counties it did not disclose, coming into the counties where she sells insurance.

McCaskill has offered legislation that would allow people in bare counties without exchange options to buy into the Washington, D.C. market that members of Congress and their staffs can take advantage of. She and other Democrats argue that Obamacare can be fixed, but Republicans  citing stories like the Missourians told  say the entire Affordable Care Act infrastructure needs to be dismantled.

Democrats point to analysis showing that the GOP plan in the House offered could put 23 million Americans out of health care altogether through Medicaid cuts and skyrocketing premiums for older Americans. But some in that category are already facing the prospect of lost coverage under Obamacare.

Jim Blundell, 63, of Lincoln, Mo., told Price and reporters that with the Blue Cross pullout he wont be able to afford insurance and faces the prospect of having to pay a tax for non-coverage until he qualifies for Medicare next year. He was laid off by Waterloo Industries in Sedalia, Mo., in 2013, he said, and his wife has been in a nursing home under Medicaid coverage.

Besides Price, several other top Trump officials met with the group, including counseler Kellyanne Conway.

She said that repealing and replacing Obamacare was not merely a campaign promise, it is an imperative for the president.
As the Trump administration considers more troops for Afghanistan and greater involvement in the Syrian civil war, Congress can no longer afford to stand idly while its war powers authority is usurped and eroded by the executive branch. President Donald Trump inherited counterterrorism wars on multiple fronts from his predecessor, Barack Obama, who inherited them from his predecessor, George W. Bush.

All sent American forces into battle based on the authority Congress granted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. At the time, al-Qaida was exploiting a power vacuum in Afghanistan to operate training camps and plan the 9/11 attacks. Massive U.S. military deployments in Iraq and Syria were not on lawmakers minds.

Instead of containing Islamist radicals, the 2003 Iraq invasion gave rise to al-Qaida in Iraq, which morphed into Islamic State. Islamic State fighters now have a footing in Libya and other North African states. Afghanistans instability has opened yet another expansion venue as ruthless Islamic State fighters compete with the Taliban for territorial control.

U.S.-backed government forces are losing ground, which is why Trumps defense secretary, Jim Mattis, proposes adding 3,000 to 5,000 U.S. troops to an existing force of 9,800. Mattis sense of urgency is understandable. But after nearly 16 years, Congress needs to assert its oversight authority before these deployments morph again into something worse. Senate Republicans are pressing this point.

In 2014, I wrote, absent congressional action, the president will continue to operate under an outdated authorization, leaving the door open for future presidents to claim undue and unbounded powers that will, over time, erode the balance of power fundamental to our constitutional system, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned during a hearing Tuesday. Three years later, that statement remains true. It is also one that I think most members of Congress will agree with.

Were now six months into this administration, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told Mattis during a June 13 hearing. We still havent got a strategy for Afghanistan. It makes it hard for us to support you when we dont have a strategy.

The Syria deployment is escalating tensions between Washington and Moscow as Russian-supplied Syrian government warplanes threaten American ground positions. U.S. forces have shot down a Syrian jet and drone in the past week, prompting angry threats from Russia. A Russian fighter jet buzzed a U.S. Air Force spy plane over the Baltic Sea on Monday. On Wednesday, a NATO jet pulled alongside a plane carrying Russias defense minister over the Baltic.

Americans deserve to know how all this is making us safer. If Trump has a strategy and goal, he should spell them out so Congress can grant or deny its legally required stamp of approval.
At high school graduation parties this month, after congratulating the grad, make a note to ask where they plan on attending college.

Thanks to the state budget crisis, the higher education destination for many Illinois teens is out of state. Every year, about 32,000 Illinois high school grads go out of state, while only about 16,000 out-of-staters come here. Thats a net loss of 16,000 students.

Under Gov. Bruce Rauner, funding for public four-year universities has been cut by $1.4 billion, or 60 percent. Funding for community colleges has dropped by two-thirds, or nearly half a billion dollars. These funding cuts have caused state universities to eliminate 1,400 jobs.

By failing to fund MAP grants, Rauner has put over 100,000 Illinois students at risk of being unable to gradu-ate.

There are no short-term solutions: State universities cant fund capital improvements or borrow their way to relief because downgrades from credit agencies have lowered their bond rating to junk status.

The crisis stretches across communities and campuses. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, which is cutting $16 million from its budget, is lending money to help Southern Illinois University Carbondale survive. The SIUE East St. Louis Learning Resource Center was forced to take a six-month hiatus in 2016, leaving students and community members without valuable career development resources.

So what can college communities and students do amid Rauners wreckage?

First, see how your legislators have responded to the states higher education crisis. Remaining silent is unacceptable.

Legislators can stop the destruction and start rebuilding our public universities. The most important step is putting our communities ahead of Rauners political agenda.

But dont just take it from me. Before they leave town, ask college-bound seniors what they think about the damage being done to our public universities. Their high school civics lessons will still be fresh in their minds  they can probably even explain how the state constitution says its the governors responsibility to introduce a balanced budget for the Legislature to act upon  and they can truly put this unfolding tragedy in perspective for you.

Susana A. Mendoza  Chicago

Illinois comptroller
These days most new bourbons seem to fit into one of two general categories: young bourbons lacking an age statement with a marketing emphasis on boutique craftsmanship, and well-aged bourbons that are highly limited and expensive. Today I try two new limited edition bourbons distinctly in the latter category.

Knob Creek 25th Anniversary celebrates a quarter century since the introduction of Knob Creek, one of the first premium small batch bourbons (before that was such a crowded category). Made by Jim Beam, it is a single-barrel offering bottled at cask-strength (120- to 125-proof) and aged 12 to 13 years.

Wild Turkey Masters Keep Decades is the second Masters Keep release, a follow-up to a seven-year-old bourbon released in 2015. Decades is a blend of 10- and 20-year-old bourbon.

Tasting Notes

Knob Creek 25th Anniversary ($125)

122-proof (61% ABV), barreled 2/25/2004

Color: Dark mahogany

Nose: Roast corn, vanilla, and cedar

Palate: Praline, cherries, and toasted oak

Finish: Very long with vanilla, allspice, and wood

Wild Turkey Masters Keep Decades ($150)

104-proof, mix of 10-year-old and 20-year-old bourbon

Color: Deep copper

Nose: Spice cake, raisins, and oak

Palate: Resin, ginger, allspice, and toffee

Finish: Medium in length with clove and malted cereal

Both bourbons are surprisingly similar, with lots of woodsy spice yet enough sweetness to avoid being called over-oaked. Each is very enjoyable neat, as neither has too much heat (particularly impressive for the 122-proof Knob Creek).

Both feature a combination of finesse and full flavor that pairs well with almost any cigar. For the Knob Creek 25th Anniversary, Id particularly suggest a rich Broadleaf cigar like the Mi Querida or Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial. For the Wild Turkey Decades, try a balanced yet full-flavored cigar like the Davidoff Nicaragua or RoMaCraft Aquitaine.

The price of each bourbon is the biggest downside, especially considering the excellent bourbons each company makes at far lower prices (Rare Breed and Russells Reserve from Wild Turkey, and the regular Knob Creek Single Barrel or Bookers from Beam). These are bourbons Id suggest you try first at a bar before splurging for a bottle. Still, for fans of Wild Turkey and Knob Creek, respectively, Wild Turkey Masters Keep Decades and Knob Creek 25th Anniversary keep the character of their younger brethren while showing off the depth of flavor that extra aging and expert barrel selection can achieve.

Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys
Canada's government on Tuesday introduced legislation that would expand oversight of its security and intelligence agencies while enabling the country's electronic spy agency to assist the military with cyber operations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau intended the legislation to make good on a 2015 campaign pledge to modify a law passed by the former Conservative government that boosted powers of police and intelligence agencies.

The legislation would create a National Security and Intelligence Review Agency responsible for oversight of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), cyber-spy agency the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and other departments including the Canadian Border Services Agency.

It would replace current oversight bodies at the two spy agencies and review "every other department and agency of the government of Canada that has a security or intelligence function," Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters.

It would work alongside a separate oversight committee of members of parliament that has been proposed in another bill, Goodale said.

Given the Liberal majority in Parliament, the bill is expected to be passed into law, though it is unlikely to be debated until fall at the earliest. One expert said he remained uneasy that the government was expanding its cyber capabilities.

The government also proposed to clarify CSE's mandate and said the cyber-spy agency will be allowed to take action online to defend Canadian networks and stop cyber threats.

CSE monitors electronic communication and helps protect national computer networks.

"For any type of potential cyber threats," the measures would allow CSE "to prevent an attack that comes on us rather than waiting for an attack to actually occur," Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said at the press conference.

Ron Deibert, director of The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, said he was concerned to see the Canadian government expand potential operations.

"We're at a time when cyberspace is under threat, and it's already very unstable," said Deibert, a well-known expert on digital surveillance and internet censorship. "There are many governments that have built up offensive capabilities and now we're actively contributing to that."

The agency will also be allowed to assist the Canadian Armed Forces with cyber operations.

The legislation would also create an independent intelligence commissioner that would oversee the authorization of certain types of intelligence gathering and cyber operations.
Taurangas new sailmaker is bringing the advantages of big city industry contacts to what was a one-man band.

Sam and Lorena Burton took over the business from Tony Thornburrow last October, with the renaming of the business as Doyle Burton Sails showing the on-going connection Sam has with Doyle.

It puts him in the unique position of being an independent business, but able to bring to Tauranga the same technology that is available in the big city.

Sam left Tauranga in 2001 to pursue an apprenticeship with Doyle Sails in Auckland at the biggest sail loft in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the largest open area sail lofts in the world.

After completing his apprenticeship Sam went over to the Doyle loft in Sydney, where he remained for a year before taking up an opportunity to sail Americas Cup boats in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, as a performance charter business.

I took that on for three years until I came back to where it all started in Auckland, says Sam.

And from there I was sort of looking at what else there was I guess, being there for the last five years.

Sam agrees he was shoulder-tapped for the job, with Tony telling him: Hey Im going to be retiring in a couple of years are you interested in taking it on?

They were back and forth for a couple of years finalising a move-in date, which sort of happened in October.

And we were straight into it as soon as we took on the loft, says Sam.

Tony was there to work with us, did a great job of the handover and from there we just hit it running.

It wasnt goodbye forever. He comes back and gives us a hand every now and then. Hes awesome to have and helps us out a lot.

They are busy and its great with suppliers and customers being helpful and supportive.

Tony handed over the bulk of the cruising customers; I guess the racing customers if not Tony they would go to Auckland. Having both markets definitely keeps us busy, says Sam.

He estimated the business is about 50:50 cruising/racing. The racing sails are Stratis, which is a Doyle sail membrane they make in Auckland and ship worldwide, so we have Stratis for the race sail.

The cruising sails are measured in Tauranga, cut in Auckland and the membrane panels are sent back to Tauranga where they are sewn together.

They [Auckland] have a plotter but it doesnt cut, it only draws, says Sam.

It draws the line but you have to hand-cut them. Imagine how long that takes. Youve got to be quite smart these days building sails.
The fatal shooting of a man who presented a shotgun and attempted to shoot police has been deemed justified.

Waikato Police acknowledge the Independent Police Conduct Authoritys report which finds that the fatal shooting of Nicholas Marshall in Hamilton on July 12, 2016, was justified.

Marshall was shot by Armed Offenders Squad officers after he presented a shotgun and attempted to shoot at them while police conducted a search warrant at warehouse in Hamilton, after receiving information he was involved in supplying methamphetamine and manufacturing firearms.

Waikato District Commander Superintendent Bruce Bird says staff had little choice but to respond with firearms when Marshall refused requests to get on the ground and instead pointed a pump-action shotgun at them and attempted to chamber rounds.

As the Authority noted, staff were presented with a very real risk of death or serious harm by Marshall who needed to be urgently stopped.

Due to the rapidly evolving situation, other tactical options were neither viable nor appropriate, with Marshalls actions ultimately leaving staff with no other option but to use lethal force to keep themselves and others safe, with the Authority finding that the shooting was justified, says Bruce.

While this was a tragic end that nobody would have wanted, I commend the officers who responded and who acted with professionalism and considerable courage.

This was a highly-charged and dangerous situation and I am grateful that there were no further injuries or yet more tragedy.
A missing kayaker rescued from the waters near Thames is being deemed a lucky guy after his kayak capsized.

The Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter was tasked to Te Mata around 10pm, to search for a man who was overdue from a kayak fishing trip.

The Coastguard also assisted in the search.

The crew conducted an extensive search of the area around Waikawau on the West Coast of the Coromandel and at around 10.40pm were advised that a person was attempting to get their attention from the shoreline, says a spokesperson for the rescue chopper.

The helicopter landed at Kereta and uplifted the man, in his 40s, who was the missing kayaker.

His kayak had capsized at around 3pm and he had used his partially submerged kayak to swim/paddle to shore.

Unfortunately his mobile phone had become waterlogged, despite being in a waterproof pouch. He was not wearing a wetsuit.

On crews arrival, the man was hypothermic, obviously distressed and extremely fatigued. A bystander had come across him and attempted to turn a torch on and off to get emergency services attention.

The crew flew the patient to Thames Hospital in a moderate condition.
Its a little known battle from Taurangas history  but it probably did more to shape the destiny of this city than any other engagement of the New Zealand Wars.

The Battle of Te Ranga was fought 153 years ago today, in what is now known as Pyes Pa.

It came almost two months after the better-known Battle of Gate Pa, in which local Maori successfully repulsed Crown troops in what was one of the rare defeats for the British Army during their time in New Zealand.

However, the Crown inflicted revenge weeks later when they surprised Maori who were building a new pa at Te Ranga.

Defenders were caught in the open while constructing trenches, and Crown troops led by Colonel Greer (after whom Greerton is named) launched their attack.

The British suffered few casualties as a result of the engagement  around 13 dead and 39 wounded, according to historian James Cowan. He puts the figure of the Maori dead at 120, which some modern historians believe included women and children.

Following the crushing defeat, most Maori surrendered, handing in their weapons to Crown authorities at Te Papa, just north of the modern Tauranga CBD.

This morning a ceremony was held at the battle site, attended by elected members from both Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

Ngai Tamarawaho historian Des Tata will also be giving a lecture on the battle and its significance tonight at the Tauranga library.

Very little of [this history] was taught at school, so were already on the back foot with our history in Tauranga, says Des.

If it wasnt for the confiscations, you would not have a Tauranga today.

The free lecture starts at 5.30pm at Tauranga City Library. Bookings are essential, so call 07 577 7177 to reserve your place.
More than a week since SUR first published the revelations over public figures involvement in an illegal landfill site in Nerja, the accusations and developments continue, with around 40 people under suspicion.

SUR has had access to a document that former mayor, Jose Alberto Armijo, signed in June 1998, authorising the dumping of rubbish in an area near to the mouth of the Rio de la Miel in Nerja. The land in question forms part of the natural park of the Sierras Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama.

The dump was being used until September 2016, when it was closed by the Guardia Civils environment protection unit, Seprona.

Since then an investigation has been under way in a court in Torrox, and 40 people, including former mayor of Nerja Armijo, and current mayor Rosa Arrabal, are being questioned about their involvement. Other councillors, including Jorge Bravo and Jose Maria Rivas, are also being investigated, which has led to questions being asked about how such an environmental disaster was allowed to continue for so many years and why residents complaints went unanswered.

Armijo told SUR last Saturday that the dump was known about and tolerated.

While political party, Ciudadanos called for the PP, PSOE and IU to distance themselves from those councillors being investigated over the case last Saturday, the PP replied by asking for coherence and support for its councillors and ex-councillors.

Experts involved in the case have estimated a cost of 10.7 million euros to clean up the dumping site and the judge in charge of the case has accused those involved of supposedly creating a company to manage the site, in order to save money by not treating waste correctly which the judge has said is also tantamount to fraud.

Operation Rubbish, as it has been labelled, using the English word, only adds to Nerja Town Halls problems with regard to the environment. Considered to be the biggest case of waste mismanagement in Spain, it comes at a time when the local authority is under immense pressure over the paralysis of its waste water treatment plant. The project, which should have been completed in 2016, is still just 76 per cent complete, due in part to financial problems faced by Isolux-Corsan-Corviam, the company responsible for its construction.

In addition to the Rio de la Miel site, a further 9,000 cubic metres of illegally dumped rubbish has been accumulating in the Barranco Viejo-Loma de la Vacas area, which is private land near the town centre, since 2007. The current tripartite administration (PSOE, IU and EVA-Podemos) reported the situation to the public prosecutor last month.
The candidate list for the Nov. 7 election has been finalized after the June 13 filing deadline.

In the Seddon District 2, both candidates are running unopposed. Incumbent candidates in the Rocky Gap district face opposition.

Newcomer Stephen Kelley is running for a seat on the board of supervisors. Current Seddon representative and board chairman Nick Asbury is not running for re-election.

On the school board, current member Gerry Schepers is running for re-election.

In the Rocky Gap District 4 race for a seat on the board of supervisors, current member Karen Hodock will face off against newcomer Keith Costello.

On the school board, current member and board chairperson Jerry Harman will face off against another newcomer, Sharon Puckett.

Seddon District

Stephen Kelley, a retired machinist, served for 11 years on the school board in the 1990s. He has also served on the social services board for two terms and currently serves as chairman. His term on the board expires this week. He has also been on the planning commission and volunteers for various groups, including the American Legion, VFW, the Veterans Memorial committee, the school systems JAM program and the HOPE Packs ministry. He is an active member of Central United Methodist Church.

He is a past member of The Bland County Fair Committee, Relay for Life and the Appalachian Trail ministry.

Kelley said he is running for a seat on the board of supervisors because he enjoys serving the community.

I like doing things for people, and I like serving the county, he said.

Kelly said county issues include water and sewer, the school system and economic development around the interstate interchanges.

I think we have made great strides with getting water and sewer in the county, he said. I think weve got some work to do with the school system. And I think the truck stop coming in is great for Bland County; we are excited about that. The county needs to continue development along the interstate.

***

Regarding the school board race, Gerry Schepers said Bland County, like all the counties in Southwest Virginia, is facing significant challenges as young adults exit the area for opportunities elsewhere.

This has a critical impact on the school system as enrollment drops, which results in a loss of funding while facilities, busing needs and requirements for accreditation remain constant, Schepers wrote in an email.

It is important that the citizens of Bland County play an active role in determining the path as Bland County makes decisions that will determine the future. I am pleased that Stephen Kelley has agreed to run for the Board of Supervisors for the Seddon District and look forward to working with him, he added.

The current school board members said the Bland School System is one of the largest employers in Bland County and the largest line item in the county budget.

A successful school system is critical to the success of Bland County. Young adults that are raised and educated in Bland are more likely to remain as citizens of the county, Schepers said. A small school system has many challenges but also can offer special experiences not available in a larger institution.

Schepers said he plans to continue his focus on security, quality education at fully accredited schools, fair wages to teachers and the other school system employees and a strong focus on managing costs as enrollment continues to drop.

I look forward meeting with the citizens of Bland County in town hall meetings as the election gets closer, Schepers said.

Rocky Gap District

In the board of supervisors race, incumbent Karen Hodock said she is running for re-election because the county has some really great projects started that I would like to see to completion.

The projects include the Loves Truck Stop, water/sewer projects, internet expansion, the Rocky Gap Greenway Project and the Veterans Memorial.

I really enjoy being a part of the team who is planning and working on these projects, Hodock wrote in an email. I am also excited to see the accomplishments that will take place with the newly formed partnership between the county administration and school board administration to work on maintenance and improvement projects.

Her opponent, Keith Costello, said in an email that he is running for office because he believes in the principles of limited government, free enterprise and traditional American values. He is a professor of computer information systems at Wytheville Community College.

I want to help maintain those principles in Bland County. I believe the best principles are conservative principles, he said, pointing to conservative author and thinker Russell Kirks list of 10 conservative principles that summarize the thought processes he believes are important to governing Bland County.

I believe that guiding Bland County government in this way will strengthen our county, making it a better place to live and work, he wrote. These principles lead to personal freedom, where all Americans are treated equally giving us the ability to pursue the American dream and economic freedom which means a growing local and state economy with reduced tax rates and reduced government spending, so we all have a chance to earn more money and local businesses can hire more people.

He said he believes in facing issues head-on and taking the necessary actions to improve the lifestyles of county citizens.

Costello said the important issues facing the board are economic development to attract businesses and jobs into the county, maintaining adequate government services without overburdening county taxpayers, making access to various forms of technology and the Internet more available to citizens and businesses, local government infrastructure, and fiscal responsibility for state mandated services and functions over which the county has no direct control.

Hodock and Costello ran against each other during the last District 4 race in 2013. In that race, incumbent Hodock won with 41 percent of the vote. Her challengers, Costello and David Taylor, split the remaining 59 percent with Costello capturing 32 percent and Taylor 27 percent.

***

Regarding the school board race, incumbent Jerri Harman said she is running for re-election because she believes she has the strong leadership skills, experience, education and background needed for a successful school division in the future.

Having the honor and privilege to lead the school board as chairman for the past four years, I have an in-depth understanding of the issues facing our school division, community and county, she said.

In an email, she said she is familiar with both sides, as a previous employee and how as school board member, which enables her to have a better understanding of the school division as a whole.

I want to continue to use my background in accounting, technology, and public administration to enable Bland County Public Schools to offer an outstanding education to our students, Harman said. I have also served on various committees, such as the Bland County Facility Committee, Bland County Public Schools Technology Committee, JAM Advisory Committee, and Bland County Public Schools Salary Committee, and would like to continue with the work these committees have begun. It truly is a team effort, and I want to continue working with the team for the betterment of our students, community, and county.

Harman said the major issues facing the school board are dropping enrollment, needed repairs and maintenance, the ability to offer competitive salaries and finding funding sources.

Her opponent, Sharon Puckett, worked as the secretary at Rocky Gap High School for 34 years. She retired seven years ago. She said she has wanted to run for the school board since she retired and is finally able to do so.

An associate member of the Rocky Gap Ruritan Club, she serves as the chairman of the clubs beautification committee, which oversees the Rocky Gap Greenway Project. She is a member of the Rocky Gap United Methodist Church, where she serves as the pianist.

Puckett said she is running for a seat on the school board because she wants to serve the students and teachers.

I want it to be like it was when I worked there, she said. I dont think they have the family relationship like we had. I know it is a different time, but I just want to help the teachers and kids, especially the kids.

Puckett said there needs to be a better relationship between board members and teachers.

Sometimes I think you get what you give, she said. If you are nice to them, they are nice to you and are willing to work for you. I tried to be good to teachers when I was secretary, and they were kind back to me.

To reach Millie Rothrock, call 228-6611, ext. 35, or email mrothrock@wythenews.com.
ABINGDON, Va.  Nearly a dozen students left the classroom for a farm in Washington County, where they picked blueberries and then used the fruit to make a tasty jam.

This summer, the students from high schools across the region are participating in the Upward Bound program at Virginia Highlands Community College in Abingdon.

Northwood High School sophomore Lexie Norris combed row after row of blueberries. Occasionally, she taste-tested a couple to make sure they were sweet and ripe enough for the jam, which was made the following day.

Youre not buying the berries from the store, she said. We are out here picking them and will get the chance later to eat them in jam. Its a full-circle process, and I get to see that.

The berries were picked at the Berry Patch, which is nestled on a gravel road on acres of farmland on Alpine Road. The students fanned out in the field and each walked away with a basket full of blueberries.

Upward Bound is a federally funded educational program aimed at preparing students for life after graduation from high school. Emery Reid, academic coordinator for the program, said the main goal is to help students get access and support to further their career goals.

The Upward Bound program really gives students exposure and experiences they might not have chosen themselves, Reid said. We want to focus on careers, and our program aims to have these students attend at least two years of college after they graduate from high school.

A fairly new class being offered to students in the program at VHCC is Appalachian Studies, which is taught by Ben Casteel, horticulture instructor at the college.

His class focuses on the culture, physical geography and biodiversity, Reid said. When theyre taking a hike, theyre taking in the scenery but also are learning about native vegetation and how it was used by settlers. Theyre also taking in different areas of music and culture, too.

One of the first stops in the class was the Berry Patch. The berries that the students picked were washed, smashed, and turned into jam.

Casteel has a long relationship with Eddy and Pam Guinn, owners of the farm, and knew it was the place where the students could learn about locally grown fruit.

I used to pick berries with them and sell at the Abingdon Farmers Market back in the day, Casteel said. They are so generous in allowing the students to pick these berries for our jam.

Eddy Guinn said they are proud to be part of an enriching program like Upward Bound and always welcome the students to their farm.

I really appreciate them getting the chance to come out here and do it, and Im glad to help them, Guinn said. I used to teach school, and Ive never met a bad kid. I enjoy having them.

Marissa Phipps, a senior at Holston High School, said she never had an interest in learning about the agriculture field until a teacher told her about Future Farmers of America and encouraged her to take a class. Ever since, shes been hooked.

This trip really is showing us how the agriculture and cultivation of these plants can affect people, Phipps said. Im now an active agriculture student at Holston and a few teachers told me how much fun it was and that just blossomed and now thats all I do is agriculture stuff.

Phipps said she is already looking forward to the future and plans to major in large veterinary medicine at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.








Current advisory has TS Cindy stationary.

Swirling in the Gulf of Mexico

Waiting for her ticket out of town.

Bret has been written out of the Soap Opera.

I know you're wondering.......

Is this Morgan blown away with no body?

Tina going over the falls but no body found....

Can Bret return?

No models show that currently.

But it's moisture lingers in the Caribbean.

Though most of it is being swept away...

If not for the ULL forming South of Cuba..

...might have had a chance to be a contender!!









Bret's remnants would have to survive that deep diving trench.

In fact moisture is being pulled North and NE





Now let's look back at the GOM









In the GOM Cindy is hopelessly in love with an ULL

Like the moth to the flame it hangs there...

...suspended in motion swirling stationary.

Rooted to it's core staring at the ULL

Perhaps the ULL longs for Cindy.

Hard to say...





This is not a Category 4 Hurricane plowing towards Miami or Charleston or Houston so I'm being a bit silly tonight. It is what it is and it is a minimal tropical storm loaded with all the extras with weather that will rain itself out for the next few days when it finally moves towards land. Steering currents are weak. We need a hero to take this girl and take her breath away.









Bad boy feature coming in from the West...

...beginning to be visible.

Cindy will begin to move towards Texas.

Cindy's moisture will inundate Louisiana and other states.

Cindy should be picked up following the ULL

Towards land and then jerk back suddenly.

As if she was taking a ride on . . .









That's the plan.





Discussion from the NHC below.





http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT3+shtml/202034.shtml?





Tomorrow is another day.

And I doubt Cindy will look much different.

Last visible image from tonight is better than last night.









It is what it is...

...it's a messy lopsided, minimal tropical storm.

Some intensifying is expected before landfall.

Oh and from the dying frontal boundary..

..energized my tropical moisture Atlanta had flooding today.





http://www.weather.gov/

Put in your zipcode and check out your warnings!





From the NHC below....













Seems a life time since we had a busy season.

Hasn't been that long but here we are...

Looking for tropical systems in all the wrong places.

People complaining Bret was short lived.

People complaining Cindy looks poorly.

It is what it is...

it is JUNE.





We had two named storms in June.

Can you imagine what July or August might be like?

September Remember...

Til then it is what it is









And tomorrow the center of Cindy should say Hello Texas..

...but her moisture is going to say Hello USA.

And THAT is what tropical storms are made for...

..they provide moisture up into the heartland.

Summer crops grow better here than in Russia.

GOM moisture moves inland.

When you have too much rain in Atlanta it's not good.

When you don't have enough rain in a corn field...

...the corn field burns up.

Since time began tropical storms have been washing up inland.

Providing beneficial rains people have prayed for...

Sometimes people get in the way.





Do NOT drive into a covered road way.

Turn around don't drown.

Seek higher ground if you area floods.

And watch the NWS for constantly changing warnings.





So tomorrow Cindy makes her move towards Texas.

I'll be back tomorrow with constant updates.

Cause this girl is leaving town tomorrow!

Out of the GOM towards land.

Might dawdle but it's going!













Okay now you know...

...was one of my favorite movies.

Wore cowboy boots all over LA in the early 80s ;)





Keep reading if you haven't read my blog earlier today.

Sit a spell and tap your boots.

Make a plan for the rest of Hurricane Season.

Because I think the drought is over...





Sweet Tropical Dreams

BobbiStorm

Follow me along on twitter @bobbistorm

















Both together shown below.









Note how long Cindy's tail goes down into the Caribbean.

And remember this is ALL ABOUT RAIN.

And probable flooding from the rain even inland.

Especially inland.

Tornadoes.





Based on visual imagery and surface observations the NHC decided to upgrade PTC3 to Tropical Storm Cindy with 45 MPH winds currently stationary and spinning over the warm waters of the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Shear has so far kept it's intensity low and hindered it's organization. Recon should be in the storm later this afternoon and we will have more information regarding the inner workings of TS Cindy that cannot be ascertained by watching loops online. The NHC leaves open the ability to later make this a Subtropical Storm vs a Tropical Storm. If they do that I'll explain it but basically a Subtropical has strong weather far away from the center, whereas with a normal TS or Hurricane the strongest winds are close to the center. There are other differences but for now let's go with what it is and it is TS Cindy.





It's worth noting there still are some multiple centers in the larger storm that is Cindy and that is common in large, poorly defined Tropical Storms especially early in the Hurricane Season. Again we currently have 2 Tropical Storms at the same time in the month of June and our next named storm will be the D storm as Arlene formed way back before we got really busy. You might want to keep this list handy as we seem to be speeding through it at almost record time.









Back to Cindy and it's forecast track.









Models have come together today.

The Texas Louisiana Border is probable landfall.

That's known as the Sabine River ....

...it's no stranger to tropical storms.

Low lying areas, bayou like prone to flooding.

Landfall could be a bit to the West of there ..or East.

Landfall is less important with Cindy than the whole package.









I want you to look at the above image.





Below is the morphed composite.









Watch the amount of dark oranges and reds..

...moving up into the GOM.





There is almost a never ending supply of tropical moisture.

Okay, at some point it will stop.

But not for a while.





I'm not going to show you models as currently they are not important. You can go to Spaghetti Models or any site you like such as www.tropicaltidbits.com and the models are available. This is not as much about the exact location of a well defined eye making landfall as we would have in a hurricane, but a broad area of intense moisture displaced well to the East of the center of the storm pulling up copious amounts of tropical moisture today, tomorrow and the day after across the whole SE along the rim of the Gulf of Mexico and as far inland as Atlanta. There was a small tornado near Hilton Head today. It's raining in many places in the SE and there have already been a batch of tornado warnings today in the Florida panhandle. This is NOT about landfall, it's about the huge moisture shield moving in tandem with Cindy. Levi Cowan used the word copious today in his discussion on Tropical Tidbits, it's a good word and worth your time to check out his site. It's also featured top left on www.spaghettimodels.com.









Look how much moisture we are talking about.

The radar roll currently is lit up.









The above is not a model forecast.

The above is the current radar across the SE.





Below is a model for 5 Days.









This is what we call a slow motion disaster.

Or rather it has the potential to be one.

The heaviest rainfall should be East of landfall.

Then with time extrapolate that inland.





Another problem with this storm is the potential for inland flooding. Interior Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama moving up either into the Appalachian Mountains and or into the Piedmont.





Tropical Moisture + Old Stalled Out Frontal Boundary + Topography with Mtns = FLOODING.





You add those factors up and you get what often goes down in history as epic flooding. This will play out well past landfall, so we have time to see if the worst will happen or if instead the steering currents change and it moves out faster. Oh and did I mention Tornadoes? Let's mention tornadoes again as weak, large, lumbering tropical storms are very prone to tornadoes far away from the center that you see on a map. Way outside the "cone" for landfall and movement tornadoes can spin up. The many problems of weak Tropical Storms vs compact, well formed hurricanes. Less wind, more rain and flooding impacts. More chances of random, fast moving tornadoes forming in bands over several days.





Basically everyone from Texas to Florida and points inland need to worry on this Tropical Storm.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCMAT3+shtml/201433.shtml use this link to see the exact location of the watches and warnings and know they will be updated again at 5 PM. It's a unique set up and I hope I have conveyed that enough to you. Because normally if you live in say Mobile and see a cone aimed at Beaumont Texas . . . normally you would feel safe and clear to go about life like normal. There is nothing normal about Cindy. I cannot say this enough times.





Back to Bret in the Caribbean.









Bret has moved off the coast of South America.

It's path may go further North into the Caribbean.

It is forecast to die out down the road.

Time will tell.





Some models do keep Bret alive.

Most models kill it off.

Keep watching until it's buried!









I'm a writer and a specialist in Hurricane History. I'll leave the graphics and modeling to others. The image above is the main page at www.hurricanecity.com and if you look carefully it's confusing as it seems as if Bret links up with Cindy. What that actually shows is the track of each system so far. Could some remnants of Bret remain and reform where Cindy first showed itself as a yellow circle? Anything seems possible in 2017. But what it does show is the general pattern of storms for now to trace there way around the strong High, end up near the Yucatan and head into the Gulf of Mexico. Move the High a bit more to the East and they could come up over Cuba towards Florida just as easily. Make the High a bit stronger and they could move towards landfall in Central America. A close up of the area I wanted to highlight is below.









I won't go long on Bret as the NHC doesn't think it will be here long.

Enough to know it is there and creating weather.

And in places often dry such as the ABC islands.

There are actually deserts in the Caribbean.





What I do want to show right now is the newest wave off of Africa.









Note poorly formed but INTENSE Cindy.

Beautifully formed but weak Bret.

And another strong wave coming off of Africa.





A very distant model for July 4th.

Not reliable but interesting.

Most interesting is the strength of the High.









Don't concentrate on the Low in the Atlantic.

Concentrate on the HUGE High Pressure





I'll be back later with more information.





The NHC cannot say it enough...

Be #Hurricanestrong.

They are doing their part...

..YOU have to do yours!





http://flash.org/hurricanestrong/





http://www.publix.com/pages/publix-storm-basics





Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbisstorm on Twitter.

Follow me on Twitter for immediate updates.





Ps One of my favorite singers and songs.









Next name up on the list is Don.

Are you Hurricane Strong for Don or Emily or Franklin?

This could be the year the Emily name gets retired.....





Something to think on...





















































Labels: bret, cindy, countrymusic, cowboy, flooding, History, hurricane, hurricanestrong, models, NHC, rain, season, Storm, tornadoes weather, tropical, upgrade, urban
1/35 & 1/32 scale Vietnam diorama

Get To Da Choppa! by Suresh Nathan

Get To Da Choppa!



True Details' 1/48 scale Ki-27 Wheels and Spats are available online from Squadron for only $4.99! Introduction I had planned to do this for a while. It features the Revell Huey and Cobra in an evacuation scene. In the foreground will be an M113 ACAV knocked out by an RPG. It's a diorama so not too much superdetailing was planned. I had to be flexible with the incident. I tend to work backwards in these projects depending on the markings of the vehicles. My reading so far was that UH1D gunships were used with troop carriers (slicks). The gunships were later called Cobras and these were later replaced by the AH1G cobras beginning around 1968. Problem is a number of the famous units cut their teeth on UH1D gunships so they have the history and the nice markings. I was unable to find a unit that featured both UH1H (or D) and AH1G with sharkmouths. So anything accurate for the time would have to do. The idea of the Vietnam war being a multinational effort appealed to me. I settled on the UH1H in Bushranger configuration. This aircraft has a long Australian service history serving first with the RAAF in Vietnam as a Bushranger (the Australian version of the US gunship). The aircraft carries battle repair scars from two incidents in Vietnam and was rebuilt after a crash landing in a rice paddy. These were easily the most heavily armed UH1Hs in Vietnam but perfomed both cobra and slick duties.



The AH1G bears the markings of the Squatter Swatter piloted by Capt Hugh Mills who is featured in the Squadron book. The M113 is really nothing special and is meant to portray a generic armored personnel carrier in the field. Construction Diorama Planning something like this is complicated especially from the point of view of balance. I lost no time in making the base as per the maximum specifications that would fit on the shelf. That done, the models were mocked up and put in place. The mockup was used as a basis of a sketch and I was able to get the positions of all the players optimally in this way. I wanted a diorama with a tight configuration that could bring in armor and aircraft elements that were iconic of the Vietnam War. That usually involves a crash scene or maintenance scene. With helicopter scenes however evacuation and defense is uniquely possible and especially more so in Vietnam. The main land features were formed in styrofoam and completed with a veneer of plaster. Groundwork was added and formed to look windswept by rotor wash. The base was painted and water formed with acrylic paste again to simulate rotor wash. Once thoroughly dry, the place for the M113 was cut out and the ACAV glued in place with more acrylic paste . Long grass was then glued through drill holes to represent a rice field. Once satisfied with the general configuration of the helicopters I formed the figures around the models. The figures were an important part of the diorama and there would have to be many. Thirteen figured were cobbled together from the spares box, the Dragon US Helicopter Crew set, MB Head for the Huey set . I couldn't find any more pilot sets here and in Australia so I had resorted to casting them in resin. I do not usually copy figures like this prefering to sculp them instead. Painting 13 figures is a procrastination nightmare and once I got that done I put the project away for months. Models The main models were the Revell UH1H, Revell AH1G. The M113 ACAV was detailed with the Eduard set which I had lying around. The upgrade is by no means crucial for a project like this. This was base painted and initial weathering completed. The APC was painted early in the process and mounted so as to be weathered on the base. The UH1H is configured as an Australian Bushranger. The Bushrangers had a number of unique features. Principal amongst this were the armament. I made the crew seats from copper and brass. The pilot seats were detailed using brass and copper and the seat belts were from Eduard. Eduards choice of colors is baffling to me as they always seem too bright so I toned it down a bit using washes. The final operation configuration of the Bushranger for the remainder of its service in Vietnam was: 2 x M-60 General Purpose Machine Guns  this came from the Dragon kit, lightly modified; 2 x M158 7 round reusable rockets tubes  scratchbuilt using styrene tube and coppersheet and the mount had to be modified to accommodate this; 2 x XM-21 forward mounted miniguns  from the Revell kit but mounted forward. Bushrangers like the A2-110 returned to Australia on 8 December 1970 so the dioram is a depiction accurate to 1960 to 1970 (simple). The rotors in the Bushranger were yellow and black as opposed to the yellow tip seen traditionally. I added clear sheet on the trailing edge and painted it to (sort of) simulate movement. After many attempts at both this and the AH1G I sort of just settled (still not happy). The AH1G was an interesting build. It needed to be suspended above the diorama using a metal rod but be removable for painting and transport. I made the rocket tubes this time from all copper and brass and was much happier with the result. A neodymium magnet was secured to the inside of the fuselage and the model balance around an optimal point which was secured with epoxy. The AH1G model fell off its mount many times and had to be repaired repeatedly. The cockpit was detailed from references. It isnt entirely accurate but with the canopy on, the main visible details are quite adequate. The pilots were put in place and special attention given to ensuring the handles and levers are actually gripped and not suspended as you see in many dioramas.

















Thumbnail panels: Painting and Markings All markings on the UH1H were custom made. These were either handpainted, printed on the home printer or cobbled together from the spares box. The markings of the AH1G were from the kit. Both vehicles were painted in enamels, varnished with Future-Tamiya Flat acrylic, weathered with turpenoids and drybrushed sparingly. I used drop filters and oil washes for weathering. Weathering on the AH1G was kept in check to show an aircraft that barely landed in the field. The UH1H and M113 were weathered liberally. The figures were all done in artists oils on acrylic. The Special Forces camouflage uniform is accurate for the field of operation. Conclusion I was very relieved with the final completion of this diorama. What started as a quick build for a group build ended up dragging over a year due to other commitments. Any military history enthusiast should have a diorama of the Vietnam War like this in his collection. This depiction with Australian, South Vietnamese and American forces in one Diorama remains as relevant now as it was nearly 50 years ago. References Gunslingers in action Squadron/Signals Publications UH1H in action Squadron/Signals Publications M113 in action Squadron/Signals Publications Internet (too many to name) Text and Images Copyright  2017 by Suresh Nathan

Page Created 21 June, 2017

Last Updated 21 June, 2017 Back to HyperScale Main Page
The wireless models sell for just $99, and the wired models reviewed here are even less-expensive at $69. Those price points normally scream Budget! with all the price-to-performance tradeoffs that label infers. You wont find that with either of these two products.

Pondering things quintessentially French evokes thoughts of fine wine, elegant cuisine, and romance. Thats all well and good for Francophiles. When audiophiles think of France, venerable speaker manufacturer Focal is likely to come to mind. And while Focals speakers can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, the company builds some amazingly affordable headphones. The Spark in-ear (as well as the wireless headphones reviewed in this story ) are cases in point.

The Focal Spark are light to the point where I would frequently forget that I had them in my shirt or pants pocket. They weigh a mere 14 grams, which is a tad more than Apples ear buds, which tip the scales at 10.2-grams. Focals Spark comes styled with a bullet-shaped ear plug with an aluminum finish. Inside youll find a 9.5mm-diameter electrodynamic mylar driver that Focal says delivers frequency response from 20Hz to 20kHz. With an impedance of 16 Ohms and a sensitivity of 103dB, youll have no problem driving the Spark with just about any mobile smart device or digital audio player.

Unlike most in-ear headphones, the Focal Spark come with a flat, rubber cable. The cable has a great fit and feel to it. It will also reject transferring rubbing-induced noise. I pulled the cable across clothing and ran my fingers up and down the cable without any noise coming through.

Focal says that the cable is supposed to be anti-tangle; however, that doesnt mean I never had to untangle the cable. It never got into a Gordian knot, a phenomenon that Apples headphones are notorious for, but it did help mitigate the extent of the tangle. In my experience, unless a headphone comes with a high-quality nylon braid or a coated surface, it will always catch to some degree.

Focal The Focal Spark has a thin, flat cable with an inline remote.

The right cord has a traditional three-button remote. The middle button toggles play/pause modes, while the top and bottom buttons adjust volume. Clicking the center button twice advances to the next song while triple clicking reverses. Clicking and holding the play/pause button will activate Siri. The volume buttons will mysteriously stop working if you use Apples 3.5mm-to-Lightning adapter. Therefore iPhone 7 users will have a problem. Focal confirmed with me that the issue exists, but did not say when or if this would be fixed.

The inline remotes barrel is substantive and easy to hold in your hands. The buttons are well spaced, so that even though they are the same shape, you can make them out by touch alone.

The inline remote doubles as an omnidirectional microphone. I conducted several calls without issue and people on the other end of the call could always hear me clearly. The microphone was simply excellent. Thats no small feat for an in-ear-monitor.

Basic, but useful accessories

The Focal Sparks accessories are basic, but useful in every sense. How many times have you read a litany of included extras on a package only to discard them in actual use? The Focal Spark comes with three pairs of translucent silicone tips in small, medium, and large sizes. With my particular ear-shape, the large tips fit just fine. The Sparks tips had sufficient grip to make a solid seal, and they never fell out of my ear even when I was active. And if I yanked the cable with enough force to pop one of the ear plugs out, it never hurt, which was a pleasant surprise.

Focal The Spark includes three pairs of ear tips.

A zippered hard case for stoinge the headphones, which is small enough to put in my pocket. I cant say the same for all headphone cases. This one has a smooth nylon exterior branded with Focals distinctive logo. The inside of the cases top cover has a mesh pocket where you can store the silicone tips or other small accessories, such as Apples 3.5mm-to-Lightning adapter.

Focal The Sparks included case is small, practical, and of high quality.

Superb top-to-bottom sound

I used the Focal Spark with an iPhone 7 and an Astell&Kern AK70, playing a variety of jazz, classical, and rock with AAC- and losslessly encoded tracks. The sound of the Focal Spark was big, balanced, and consistently natural throughout my listening period. The Spark lit up Sades classic, Smooth Operator. Top to bottom, the sound was smooth. The kick drum and percussion had solid impact and surprisingly good dynamics.

Focal Detail of the laser-etched Focal logo.

Turning to Alicia Keys No One from As I Am, Didos Blackbird, and Jessie Wares Wildest Moments, the Focal Sparks bass response was immediately apparent. I didnt find myself wanting to crank up the low end; and when it kicked in, I felt as though it had life and energy. I didnt find anything clinical with the Focal Spark, regardless of the content I threw at it.

On the contrary, the Focal Spark rendered the masterful artistry of Yo-Yo Mas cello from Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone. Listening to The Lady Caliph: Dinner was utter bliss. Soundtracks like Gabriels Oboe, from The Mission, and the Main Theme from Casualties of War also drew me in.

The Focal Spark have a clear audiophile pedigree and will render music just as the artist intended. The result? A beautifully inviting and enthralling musical experience.

Female vocals were exceedingly smooth and warm. Allison Krauss, Adele, and Sarah McLachlan, to name but a few, were spot on. I especially enjoyed listening to tracks such as Maggie Said and Texas, from Natalie Merchants self-titled 2014 album..

Theres not much of a downside with the Focal Spark. However, compared to the upper echelon of in-ear-monitors, youll find that youre primarily giving up some midrange transparency and ability to render fine musical details and micro dynamics.

Audiophile sound on a budget

From the first note, the Focal Spark will put you on notice that theres a high-end pedigree behind these headphones. Simply put. the Spark deliver stylish looks and serious audiophile sound on a budget. Solid build quality and an attention to detail are just icing on the cake. If youre looking for a great sounding pair of headphones for much less than $100, dont buy anything until youve auditioned the Focal Spark.
Google on Tuesday announced a highly anticipated launch of its new job search aggregation technology, following last months announcement of its Google for Jobs program at the companys annual I/O conference.

The initiative will allow Google users to search for jobs either on mobile devices or personal computers, and to use a set of filters to obtain highly targeted results pulled from many different sites across the Web.

During his keynote presentation last month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai noted that the company has wanted to use its machine learning capabilities to find ways to make an immediate impact on peoples lives.

Google has invested a great deal of time, effort and resources to enhance its machine learning for job search capabilities over the past year, Pichai noted, pointing to last years introduction of a Google Jobs API, a vertical machine learning model.

Machine Learning

The Google Jobs API utilizes two proprietary ontologies to deliver results that match both employers and job seekers needs. The occupational ontology, based on the O*Net Standard Occupational Classification, includes 30 broad job categories on top, followed by 1,100 occupational families, and then 250,000 specific occupations.

The skill ontology includes 50,000 specific hard and soft skills with various relationships.

The Google search technology allows users to filter job searches by various criteria  for example, commuting distance or specific methods of transportation  such as bus, rail or car. It can filter by seniority, benefits, employment type or other information.

Google tested the API with several partner firms, including Johnson & Johnson, FedEx, CareerBuilder and HealthSouth.

Eighteen percent of applicants at Johnson & Johnson were more likely to apply for work once the technology was added to the mix, Pichai said. The technology was able to search for jobs across all levels of experience and wage levels, including jobs that are particularly hard to search for, such as retail and hospitality jobs.

Click Image to Enlarge

The Google Jobs API on the J&J careers site enables candidates to find open positions across the company in a much more intuitive and relevant way, said Sjoerd Gehring, global vp of talent acquisition at Johnson & Johnson.

Based on completely different search technology and a different taxonomy, the Google Jobs API is able to serve up more relevant jobs which the candidate might have missed out on otherwise, he told TechNewsWorld. Ultimately, this partnership brings more relevant jobs to candidates, creating more economic opportunity.

Threat Level

Google is working with a number of different organizations  among them LinkedIn, Monster, WayUp, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor and Facebook  to bring users the most comprehensive job listings possible, said Nick Zakrasek, a product manager at Google.

Google is publishing open documentation for all job providers  including third-party platforms and direct employers, whether large or small  so that their job openings are more discoverable, he added.

The Google technology competes directly with Indeed, which also aggregates job searches across multiple sites, noted Michael Jude, a research manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

However, our experience shows clearly that search is useful only if it has all the jobs, said Paul DArcy, senior vice president at Indeed.

For this reason, Indeed focuses on comprehensiveness, working relentlessly to get every job on Indeed, including jobs from 3 million employers that post directly to Indeed. Most of these jobs are not available on any other job site, he told TechNewsWorld.

Job search is one of the most important searches in ones life, he continued. Weve always assumed the largest companies in the world would enter the jobs space. Indeeds strategy remains the same: We continue to focus on relentlessly innovating to help people get jobs. This is our sole mission, and we have nearly 5,000 employees dedicated to building the technologies and services that provide job seekers the best chance to get hired.

Google had no information to share regarding how its service compares to Indeed, said spokesperson Susan Cadrecha.

However, to ensure even more jobs are listed over time, were publishing open documentation for all jobs providers, from third-party platforms or direct employers, big or small, detailing how to make their job openings discoverable in this new feature, she told TechNewsWorld.

Facebook earlier this year launched its own job search capabilities, but that effort is not likely to have much of an impact, Frosts Jude told TechNewsWorld, due to the stigma many employers associate with using social media sites for job searching.

Facebooks partnership with Google may have brighter prospects, however.

We launched the ability to apply to jobs on Facebook to make it faster and easier to find the right job, said Gaurav Dosi, product manager at Facebook.

Weve been thrilled to hear from people and business owners alike that Facebook has helped take the work out of their search, he told TechNewsworld, and we think this partnership with Google will make everyones search that much easier.

What Google Gains

The new job search technology will serve two purposes, said Zach Fuller, an analyst at Midia Research.

It will function as a driver of additional revenue by making Google act as a recruiter for talent, while diversifying the stream from Adwords-based advertising, he told TechNewsWorld. It also will serve as a testing ground for Googles AI capabilities.

By implementing AI into the process, I perceive it is a way for Google to familiarize users with what will be a core technology for the company, Fuller said.You have to wonder what took Google so long to do this, remarked Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Google is definitely behind the curve on searching for jobs, but with the largest search engine in the world, it makes perfect sense that using Google would be more natural for people because we google for everything, he told TechNewsWorld.

Its possible Google may have another motive  gathering additional information to find talent for its own company, McGregor suggested.

With the high competition for critical high-tech talent, he said, this may give Google a leg up on the job pool.
President Donald Trump aims to save taxpayers US$1 trillion over the next 10 years with a little help from Americas high-tech industry.

Our goal is to lead a sweeping transformation of the federal governments technology that will deliver dramatically better services for citizens, the president said Monday at a roundtable session of the American Technology Council, composed of the leaders of 18 U.S. tech firms including Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.

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, he declared.

Outdated federal IT is a big problem, the president acknowledged, but were going to be working on it and were going to solve the problem, and up to a trillion dollars in savings for taxpayers over the next 10 years. Over a trillion.

Although savings from upgrading federal IT could be substantial, the $1 trillion number may be overly optimistic.

The presidents estimate of $1 trillion in savings over a decade sounds like it was made up in the fly, Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, told TechNewsWorld.

The president also told participants in the roundtable discussion that his administration is fixing airport systems, upgrading Defense Department and Veterans Administration systems for seamless transfer of information between the agencies, and working diligently on immigration so tech companies can get the foreign workers they need to continue to innovate.

Wheres the Money?

The president last month signed an executive order calling for modernization of federal IT.

The modernization plan required by that order isnt due until August, so well have to wait for that to learn what, specifically, modernization entails, said Julian Sanchez, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

It will be months, if not years, from there before we can assess whether its actually being implemented effectively, he told TechNewsWorld.

The focus of the order is on upgrading antiquated federal hardware and software. That will require money  money that appears to be absent from the presidents budget.

If youre talking about an IT overhaul of the federal government, I didnt see a comprehensive plan in any of the budget documents that I went through, said Chris Bronk, an assistant professor in the College of Technology at the University of Houston.

An IT overhaul also would require leaders, which seem to be missing at the moment.

Youre not going to get results from big changes if you dont have federal executives with a mandate to make the changes, Bronk told TechNewsWorld.

The Trump administration is just slow at bringing people into federal jobs, he pointed out. We dont even have a federal CIO yet. Without a federal CIO, how can you have a federal modernization strategy?

Shared Services

The executive order also calls for moving to shared IT infrastructure and cloud services, a process started by the Obama administration.

Moving to shared infrastructure and cloud services entails up-front costs, but has the potential to save the government a decent amount of change in the long run by exploiting economies of scale  and by scaling better as the demands of individual agencies change  as well as making it easier to harden federal systems against cyberattack, Catos Sanchez noted.

Sweeping changes in federal IT have been proposed before, but they tend to lose steam quickly.

Consider that the government maintains a massive underground facility where federal employee records are still maintained on paper after decades of failed efforts at a digital transition, Sanchez observed.

You have all the usual hurdles of sweeping technology changes in large institutions coupled with the red tape  some of it there for sound reasons, like avoiding corruption or ensuring the privacy of citizens sensitive data  that makes federal procurement a slower and more cumbersome process than most businesses have to deal with, he added.

Archaic hardware and software is just part of the problem.

There is no central buyer of IT solutions and services. That means individual institutions, agencies and groups negotiate with vendors they choose, explained Pund-ITs King.

That tends to make systems costlier and more complex than necessary, and stymies integration efforts, he continued. Unless those issues are also targeted by the presidents plan, its hoped-for benefits will be difficult or impossible to achieve.

Closing Industry-Government Divide

The presidents attempt to give the nations tech industry a bigger role in transforming federal IT has promise, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Past administrations have told the tech industry, we want your guidance,' he told TechNewsWorld. This is the first time Ive seen a president say, Our IT infrastructure is out of date. Its the first time Ive seen the whole IT discussion go all the way to the president.

Whats more, a government-industry partnership could help close the virtual divide between the sectors.

We hope that divide closes, because its important they cooperate, McGregor said.

Drawing on insights from Silicon Valley  something the previous administration also tried to emphasize  could yield real gains if theres the will and focus to follow through on a transformative approach, Catos Sanchez added.

However, it could also easily become an excuse for annual photo ops with tech celebrities, which doesnt yield anything concrete, he acknowledged.

Ill hope for the former, said Sanchez, but I wont be shocked if we get the latter.
In 2009, Travis Kalanick co-founded Uber, the ride-hailing company that would eventually reach 570 cities across the world and is now worth close to $70 billion. But after six months that have seen the firm hit with one scandal after another, Kalanick has now stepped down as CEO.

The New York Times reports that five of Uber's major investors - First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, Menlo Ventures, Fidelity Investments, and Benchmark - sent a letter to Kalanick on Tuesday, titled "Moving Uber Forward," which demanded his resignation.

Kalanick accepted after "hours of discussions," but he will reportedly remain on Uber's board and continue to control a majority of voting shares as the company searches for a new CEO.

"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," Kalanick said in a statement.

Kalanick suffered personal tragedy in May when his mother died and his father was seriously injured in a boating accident. Last week, in the wake of an investigation into company culture (a response to sexual harassment allegations), Kalanick announced he was taking a leave of absence.

Kalanick's resignation follows months of controversy for Uber. It has had to deal with sexism claims and the fallout from the resulting investigations, Greyball, the Hell software, a lawsuit over alleged self-driving technology theft, the medical records scandal, and Kalanick's argument with a driver and visit to a South Korean escort-karaoke bar with other Uber executives.

Uber has confirmed the resignation in a statement. It said Kalanick had "always put Uber first" and that his resignation as CEO would give the company "room to fully embrace this new chapter in Uber's history."
President Trump's relationship with those in the technology industry has often been frosty at best. Barring the odd exception, such as long-time supporter Peter Thiel, most of Silicon Valley's leaders have battled against Trump and his policies since the beginning of his campaign.

The relationship was further soured through the introduction of the controversial immigration ban at the start of the year. Trump's executive order preventing entry to the US for seven Muslim-majority countries saw tech rivals unite in their condemnation of the president's actions.

More recently, the decision to pull the US from the Paris agreement was also met with disdain by hundreds of tech and non-tech companies alike, and led to Elon Musk quitting Trump's advisory councils. But the White House hopes to build bridges with the industry during what it has dubbed "Tech Week."

The event, which will see a number of tech policy discussions take place throughout the week, began on Monday with the inaugural meeting of the American Technology Council that Trump established through an executive order in May.

During the meeting, Trump announced he is aiming for up to $1 trillion of tax savings over the next decade through a "sweeping transformation of the federal government's technology." According to Trump's son-in-law and chief advisor, Jared Kushner, the DoD still uses 8-inch floppy disks on some of its legacy systems, and federal agencies operate 6,100 data centers which could be "consolidated" and migrated to the cloud.

Tomorrow will see Trump meet with at least four drone companies - Kespry, AirMap, Airspace, and PrecisionHawk - to discuss the future of the industry. Other meetings are scheduled this week, including one that will cover 5G technology. The White House also plans to announce "additional tech reforms at the Department of Veterans Affairs on Friday."

Here's a full list (via Recode) of all those who attended Monday's meeting. Notable absentee Facebook was invited but blamed "scheduling conflicts" for its non-attendance. Elon Musk was also invited but declined to attend, unsurprisingly. While Twitter, which Trump seems to love, appears not to have been invited at all.

Tech CEOs:

Ajay Banga, MasterCard CEO

Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO

Zachary Bookman, OpenGov CEO

Safra Catz, Oracle Co-CEO

Tim Cook, Apple CEO

John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins, Chairman

Pat Gelsinger, VMware CEO

Alex Karp, Palantir CEO

Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO

Tom Leighton, Akamai CEO

Bill McDermott, SAP CEO

Steve Mollenkopf, Qualcomm CEO

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe CEO

Ginni Rometty, IBM CEO

Eric Schmidt, Alphabet Executive Chairman

Julie Sweet, Accenture CEO

Peter Thiel, Founders Fund Partner

From the White House:

President Donald J. Trump

Vice President Mike Pence

Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the President

Ivanka Trump, Assistant to the President

Chris Liddell, Director of Strategic Initiatives

Reed Cordish, Assistant to the President for Intragovernmental and Technology Initiatives

Gary Cohn, Director of National Economic Council

Dina Powell, Senior Counselor for Economic Initiatives

Stephen Miller, Senior Advisor to the President for Policy

General H.R. McMaster, National Security Advisor

Tom Bossert, Homeland Security Advisor

Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury

General John F. Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security

Mick Mulvaney, Director of Office of Management and Budget

Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce

Seema Verma, Administrator for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Presidents of Universities

Michael Drake, President of Ohio State University

Carol Folt, Chancellor of University of North Carolina

Rafael Reif, President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Google just announced on their Android Developers blog that they will be ending support for the Android Market app on June 30. This is the store that existed before Google Play and is only found on devices running Android 2.1 Eclair or earlier. While this may prove mildly inconvenient for people clinging to old smartphones, what's more surprising is the fact that Google was still supporting the old app store.

It's been 7 years since Eclair was launched, and based on the latest Android distribution numbers, Eclair and older versions don't event register on the usage stats anymore. Its market share has now shrunk to a negligible share of below 0.1%, with Gingerbread (2.3) nearing a similar fate with a 0.8% figure.

The decision means that devices on Eclair and below will no longer be able to install apps through an official source at all, and will only have the option to manually install APK files of the apps they want. Downloading install packages from unknown sources is not advisable, not to mention Google currently provides security patches for Android versions 4.4 (KitKat) and above.

In its Android Developers blog, Google notes that most app developers are no longer supporting these Android versions in their apps given these devices. The store's discontinuation will happen without any notification on the device due to 'technical restrictions', according to the company.

For reference, according to the latest data released by Google, Android 7.0 is now present on 8.9% of devices and Android 7.1 on 0.6% devices, totaling 9.5% for Nougat. Marshmallow (2.3) has 31.2% market share, followed by 30.8% for Lollipop (2.1 and 2.2) and KitKat (4.4) has 18.1%.

Image credit: Android Central
Toshiba, a staple in Japan's economy for more than 140 years, has selected a consortium led by the Japanese government as the preferred bidder for its memory business.

Toshiba said it selected the consortium, consisting of Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, Bain Capital Private Equity LP and Development Bank of Japan, because it presented the best proposal in terms of valuation and respect to certainty of closing, retention of employees and maintenance of sensitive technology within Japan. That last bit is important as Japan didn't want trade secrets leaving the country.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed although analysts have previously estimated Toshiba Memory Corporation to be worth around $20 billion.

In its announcement, Toshiba said it intends to reach an agreement for purchase with the consortium before its annual shareholders meeting on June 28. Assuming that goes as planned, the Japanese tech giant would like to close on the transaction by March 2018, pending regulatory approval and so forth.

Toshiba, known as Tanaka Engineering Works until it merged with Tokyo Electric in 1939, has struggled as of late. Shortly after finalizing its purchase of OCZ, Toshiba got wrapped up in an accounting scandal in which profits were inflated by as much as $1.2 billion. That incident resulted in the resignation of CEO Hisao Tanaka.

In late 2015, Toshiba sold its image sensor business to Sony for $155 million before slashing 7,800 jobs.
It has been confirmed that a Republican National Committee contractor has accidentally exposed the personal data of nearly 200 million Americans to risk.

Personal Risk

On June 12, a researcher for UpGuard, Chris Vickery, discovered an unsecured Amazon S3 bucket maintained by a Republican-affiliated data analytics firm. Deep Root Analytics is a data analytics firm that helped the RNC target political advertisements and get out the vote efforts.

In total, there were more than 1 TB of data that contained addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, and political information relating to more than 60 percent of the U.S. population. In terms of registered voters, this collection included data on nearly the entire voting population, as 200 million people were registered to vote in the 2016 elections.

Aside from the personal information, the data warehouse also included information on citizens' religious affiliation, ethnicity, and stance on controversial political issues. Data collection is part of any political campaign, but the sheer scale of these efforts are bound to raise concerns among privacy advocates.

"This is deeply troubling," Privacy International's policy officer Frederike Kaltheuner told BBC. "This is not just sensitive, it's intimate information, predictions about people's behaviour, opinions and beliefs that people have never decided to disclose to anyone."

Deep Root Analytics' cofounder Alex Lundry has apologized for the lax security and has said that he does not believe their organization's data were hacked.

The data were collected from a wide range of sources such as forum threads, social networks, and organizations involved with the Republican Party. The goal of this operation was to give the GOP as much information as possible regarding voters. In that sense, it worked since such data were at the heart of Donald Trump's electoral victory.

Unsecured Data Warehouse

The problem is that these data were stored in an unsecured location that could be accessed by anyone with an internet browser. There wasn't even a simple password system in place. All it took to access this information was navigating to the Amazon sub-domain "dra-dw." The domain name was later determined to stand for "Deep Root Analytics Data Warehouse." A data warehouse is a term used to describe a large collection of data meant for analytical purposes.

The fact that this kind of data was left unsecured is yet another reminder that the election might be over, but the consequences will live on regardless of one's political leanings.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook views augmented reality as revolutionary technology, and popular furniture company Ikea has stepped up to share that vision.

The two companies have teamed up to create a new augmented reality app to help customers make "reliable buying decisions" when purchasing Ikea products.

Apple, Ikea Augmented Reality Partnership

At WWDC 2017, Apple demonstrated the ARKit, the company's augmented reality platform for developers looking to creating apps powered by the technology.

At the conference, Ikea was mentioned in the iOS 11 keynote as a partner for the ARKit, with the goal of "changing the whole experience" of how customers shop for items such as furniture.

Not much else was known about the partnership about Apple and Ikea. However, in an interview, Ikea digital transformation manager Michael Valdsgaard told Swedish website Digital.di what the company's plans are for augmented reality and its partnership with Apple.

Ikea is revealed to be developing an app that utilizes pictures that customers take of their homes. The app will position photo-realistic renders of furniture on top of where the customer thinks about placing them in their home. For example, customers who are not sure if a sofa would look good in their home can place a render of the furniture on the picture of their living room.

Ikea has had an augmented reality catalog app for years, with an early version allowing customers to scan pages of an Ikea catalog to take a look at furniture in augmented reality. However, the partnership with Apple and the usage of the ARKit will improve the app's quality and consistency.

According to Valdsgaard, the augmented reality technology of Apple is so good, allowing for the positioning of furniture to be precise down to the millimeter. The augmented reality versions of the products are accurate in terms of size and their lighting according to the customer's image of their homes.

There will be between 500 to 600 Ikea products available on the augmented reality app upon its launch, with more to be added. The company is currently developing the app as an in-store tool, but there are plans to allow users to use the app in their homes and then place the furniture that they like in the shopping cart of Ikea's e-commerce website to purchase them.

Ikea is hoping to launch the app alongside the rollout of iOS 11, which will debut in the fall alongside Apple's new iPhone models. However, Valdsgaard admitted that the deadline is tight, which means that the app may be delayed from that timeframe.

There is no official name yet for the app, but Valdsgaard suggested PLATSA, which means "to belong" or "to place" in Swedish.

Apple And Augmented Reality

Apple and Cook are excited for augmented reality, with the company investing resources into the development of the technology.

Augmented reality could be the "next big thing" for Apple, especially as the company looks to integrate the technology into its flagship product, the iPhone. There are also rumors that Apple is working on augmented reality glasses, as suggested by leaked safety reports.

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Snapchat will soon get more TV-like shows along with numerous ads, as Snap Inc. and Time Warner ink a two-year agreement worth $100 million.

This doesn't come as much of a surprise, though. The social media company has been striking deals with networks here and there to beef up its original content, including but not limited to ABC, BBC, ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Vice Media.

Snap Inc. Wants More Shows From Time Warner

According to the official announcement, the partnership between the two will entail the development of what they call "made-for-Snapchat Shows."

Time Warner is said to produce 10 shows per year that last between three and five minutes, with genres ranging from scripted drama and comedy to daily news and documentaries.

"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," Nick Bell, Snap Inc.'s vice president of content, says.

By the same token, it has also promised to purchase ads on Snapchat, which means users will soon see more of HBO, Turner, and Warner Bros. on the platform.

"As a company that has driven the evolution of media, this is an exciting and natural move as we bring together some of our leading video properties and brands with Snapchat's dynamic platform," Gary Ginsberg, the executive vice president of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Time Warner, says.

Currently, Snap Inc. broadcasts one show a day, but it plans to boost production to three by the end of 2017. Needless to say, the deal with Time Warner won't be enough to achieve that goal, but at any rate, it's one big step toward that direction.

It's also worth mentioning that Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Netflix are some of the competitors that the company are going toe-to-toe with. Most notably, the Cupertino brand recently released its first original show called Planet of the Apps, which stars William James Adams or will.i.am, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba, and Gary Vaynerchuk, founder of VaynerMedia.

Snap Inc. Shares Increase

After word came out that Snap Inc. and Time Warner have reached an agreement for original content, the social media company's shares rose by about 3 percent.

That spells good news for the Snapchat developer, as it's coming at a time when its shares dropped back to its $17 IPO or initial public offering.

Snap Inc.'s Q1 2017 earnings report shows that Snapchat has 166 million daily active users, approximately 8 million of which tune in to the platform's shows, CEO Evan Spiegel said.

The Bottom Line

To sum things up, Snap Inc. is pushing for more original content on Snapchat, teaming up with Time Warner to jump-start production. From the look of things, it was a good move too, considering its current situation.

With all said and done, what do you think of the company's deals with various network cables, particularly the agreement with Time Warner? Feel free to leave a comment below and let us know.

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The rumor mill has so far been unclear on when Samsung will officially announce the Galaxy Note 8, but new reports have finally pegged a date for the smartphone's unveiling.

Earlier this month, a report claimed that Samsung was looking to launch the Galaxy Note 8 in August to be able to debut ahead of the next iPhone models of rival Apple. It seems that the company will achieve this goal.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 To Launch In Aug. 26

A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Samsung is planning to hold a launch event in New York City for the Galaxy Note 8 in the second half of August.

A succeeding report by Korean website Naver then nailed the specific date that Samsung is targeting for the event, which is Aug. 26. The date was revealed by a Samsung official.

While Naver can be considered as a reliable source, the fact that Aug. 26 falls on a Saturday reduces confidence in the date. This is because Samsung usually holds its product announcements, called Unpacked events, in the middle of the week. Samsung only launches products on weekends when part of a conference, and the closest major event to Aug. 26 is the IFA 2017 in Berlin, which kicks off on Sept. 1.

IFA 2017 was reported as one of the possible events when Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Note 8, as the company has launched Galaxy Note smartphones in previous IFA events. The Samsung official told Naver that the scheduled date could move by a few days, which means that there is still a chance that the company will unveil the Galaxy Note 8 in separate events in Berlin and New York City.

Samsung Learns From Galaxy Note 7 Fiasco

Whether Aug. 26 is the exact date of the Galaxy Note 8 unveiling or another date in late August, it appears that Samsung has learned its lesson from the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note 7 in early August last year, with the company rushing the release of the smartphone to give it a significant lead time before Apple released the iPhone 7. However, the move backfired for the company, as the Galaxy Note 7 was recalled twice and eventually shut down due to exploding batteries.

The Galaxy Note 8 is a very important product for Samsung, as it is the company's chance to move the public image of the Galaxy Note line away from the Galaxy Note 7's burning batteries. The extra time that Samsung has given to the Galaxy Note 8 should help the company avoid another embarrassment for the upcoming smartphone while still beating the iPhone 7s and iPhone 8 to the market.

However, despite the extra time, it is unclear if Samsung was able to fix the worst feature of the Galaxy S8 before carrying it over to the Galaxy Note 8. This feature is the fingerprint scanner, which was placed at the back of the Galaxy S8. The sensor's location made it awkward to reach and exposed the camera lens to the risk of constant smudges from the user's fingers.

Samsung apparently ran into trouble in embedding the Galaxy Note 8's fingerprint scanner under its display, forcing the company to keep the sensor at the back of the smartphone. Whether that is true, however, will be revealed in just over a month's time.

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First came the Ryzen aimed at Intel's Core in the consumer market. Now comes AMD's Epyc processor targeted at the Xeon line in the data center scene.

Officially unveiled at an event in Austin, Texas, the chip is kickstarting some much-needed competition in the business. From what the company has demonstrated so far, the current monopoly at play now faces a welcomed threat.

AMD's Epyc Brings The Heat To Intel's Xeon

Based on AMD's Zen architecture, the Epyc 7000 series is touted to offer up to 32 Zen cores and 64 threads. Compared with its predecessor the Opteron, it's said that each of its cores will deliver a 52 percent faster clock cycles per instruction.

"With our EPYC family of processors, AMD is delivering industry-leading performance on critical enterprise, cloud, and machine intelligence workloads. EPYC processors offer uncompromising performance for single-socket systems while scaling dual-socket server performance to new heights, outperforming the competition at every price point. We are proud to bring choice and innovation back to the datacenter with the strong support of our global ecosystem partners," Lisa Su, AMD president and CEO, says.

Here's a breakdown of the Epyc product lineup:

Model Core/Thread Base Frequency Max Boost TDP Epyc 7601 32/64 2.2 GHz 3.2 GHz 180W Epyc 7551P 32/64 2.0 GHz 3.0 GHz 180W Epyc 7501 32/64 2.0 GHz 3.0 GHz 155/170W Epyc 7451 24/48 2.3 GHz 3.2 GHz 180W Epyc 7401P 24/48 2.0 GHz 3.0 GHz 155/170W Epyc 7351P 16/32 2.4 GHz 2.9 GHz 155/170W Epyc 7301 16/32 2.2 GHz 2.7 GHz 155/170W Epyc 7281 16/32 2.1 GHz 2.7 GHz 155/170W Epyc 7251 8/16 2.1 GHz 2.9 GHz 120W

To get a better look at things, AMD published benchmarks (PDF) for the Epyc 7601, much like in the way it did for Ryzen, stacking it up to Intel's Xeon E5-2699A V4, which is around the $4,000 price range.

Highlights of the chipmaker's findings include up to 25 percent improved integer performance and up to 59 percent better floating point performance.

Meanwhile, it also put the midrange Epyc 7301 against its Intel counterpart the E5-7630, claiming that it's 70 percent faster than its rival in the $800 price point.

AMD's Breathes Life Into The Competition, Meets Overwhelming Support

From server manufacturers to cloud-service providers, many showed support for the Epyc processors. That just goes to show that AMD isn't alone in terms of seeing competition in the data server chip market.

Server manufacturers unwrap Epyc-powered offerings: Companies Asus, Dell, Gigabyte, HP Enterprise, Inventec, Lenovo, Sugon, Supermicro, Tyan, and Wistron all have products planned for Epyc.

Primary hypervisor and server operating system providers backs up Epyc: Microsoft, Red Hat, and VMware are supporting Epyc.

Key server hardware ecosystem partners chime in: Singing a similar tune, Mellanox, Samsung, and Xilinx are also in on the deal.

"Super 7" data center service providers voice Epyc support: Baidu, Microsoft Azure, 1&1, Bloomberg, Dropbox, and LexisNexis announced support for the new chips.

Long story short, AMD is stirring up the competition against Intel in more ways than one, introducing the Ryzen and Epyc lines.

Particularly, the company's new data center chip has the best chance to topple the leader in the industry, which is evidenced by the promising performance it's offering and the widespread support it's receiving from numerous manufacturers.

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At the Lenovo Transform event in New York City, Lenovo senior VP Christian Teismann showed off a laptop concept that definitely looks like it is a device from the future.

The most evident feature of the showcased laptop is a flexible screen that runs across more than half of the device. While flexible display technology is certainly real, it might be a while before Lenovo is able to release such a laptop into the market.

Lenovo Shows Off Foldable Laptop

The foldable laptop, an image of which was also shared on Lenovo's official Twitter account, is described by the company as the future of personalized computing.

The laptop concept does not feature a hinge and instead folds right across the flexible display. It comes with a built-in keyboard and the signature ThinkPad pointing stick of Lenovo but has no trackpad. There are, however, left and right mouse buttons and a flat mouse wheel located at the bottom portion of the laptop.

Instead of using the trackpad to input mouse commands, the laptop will be capable of carrying out voice commands spoken by the user, supported by advanced artificial intelligence to serve as a digital assistant to users. The laptop will also come with a stylus that is designed to resemble a pencil, which will allow users to write on the device's display.

The only details offered by Lenovo on how they will make the laptop's screen extremely flexible for the unique form factor is that it will be made from "advanced materials" with "new screen technologies," which does not say a lot about the company's plans.

"This is more than just design, or look and feel," Teismann said, adding that the laptop will introduce new ways for users to speak to it, write on it, and for the laptop to talk back to the user. The foldable laptop will be always connected and always on, according to the Lenovo senior VP.

Flexible Laptop: Just A Dream Or Possible Reality?

The flexible display shown off by Lenovo in its laptop concept is certainly not new. In 2014, a pair of reports featured flexible screens, with Samsung touting a material called graphene that could make the technology possible for smartphones and LG showing off 18-inch television screens that can roll up like a yoga mat.

In October last year, Xiaomi was reported to be working on a bendable smartphone with a flexible touchscreen. Several photos and a 30-second video clip of a prototype of the device surfaced, hinting that the smartphone could be on its way.

However, the problem is developing the rest of the laptop's hardware beyond its flexible screen to be able to fit in what appears to be a super-slim form factor. The components should also be designed to withstand the movements of the folding laptop.

Flexible displays have been showcased in events such as the CES for years, but the technology has not yet developed to the point that it has become widespread. This likely means that it will take several years at least before Lenovo's crazy laptop concept becomes a reality, if it ever becomes more than a rendered image on a slideshow.

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About a third of the global population experiences over 20 days of deadly heat per year. Findings of a new study now estimate that this number will rise by at least 50 percent by the year 2100.

Killer Heat Days

In a new study, researchers from the University of Hawaii looked at the heat waves that occurred between 1980 and 2014 and then identified a threshold past which indicates the condition of humidity and heat can be fatal.

By comparing their findings with climate predictions for the next eight decades, the researchers found that heat-related deaths will become more common in the future. The analysis also revealed that if the level of carbon emissions continue, dangerous heat waves may affect up to three-fourths of the global population.

Study researcher Camilo Mora of the University of Hawaii and colleagues created an interactive global map with data from computer simulations and past heat waves to determine what will be the frequency of heat waves under different scenarios of carbon dioxide emissions.

Under current levels of carbon emissions, the map shows the entire eastern United States will experience a significant number of killer heat days. Other regions, which include Southeast United States, Central Africa, much of Central and South America, Pakistan, Australia, and much of Asia, will experience more killer heat days.

The researchers showed that the overall risk of illness or death linked to heat has steadily increased since 1980.

About 30 percent of the global population now live in climatic conditions with killer temperatures at least 20 days per year, but the percentage of people who will become at risk by 2100 will increase to 48 percent regardless if the emissions are drastically lowered. About three-quarters of the world's population will likewise be under threat by 2100 if the emission of planet-warming greenhouse gases is not reduced at all.

"An increasing threat to human life from excess heat now seems almost inevitable, but will be greatly aggravated if greenhouse gases are not considerably reduced," Mora and colleagues wrote in their study, which was published in Nature Climate Change on Monday, June 19.

The researchers explained how rising temperatures can be fatal.

"Your sweat doesn't evaporate if it is very humid, so heat accumulates in your body instead," Mora said. "People can then suffer heat toxicity, which is like sunburn on the inside of your body. The blood rushes to the skin to cool you down so there's less blood going to the organs."

How Societies Can Adapt To Rising Temperatures

Although people can't change how their bodies react to heat within a short timescale, there are ways that can allow people and societies to adapt to climate change. People can use technologies such as air conditioning. Governments can also come up with ways to keep people from dying because of the heat.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for instance, has encouraged cities in the country to mitigate the increase in temperatures by observing sustainable building practices. Some cities now also factor in the rising temperatures into planning and already started planting more greenery and using heat-reflective building materials.

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